Summary: AU: SSHG: In a world where Severus and Hermione grew up together and are in a good place in their relationship, the Marauders and Lily steal Hermione away to "save her" from his alleged Darkness.

Beta Love: The Dragon and the Rose

Warnings: If you love Lily and the Marauders, you probably won't like this fic.

Two Sides of a Coin

A short story by Corvus Draconis

I say there is no darkness but ignorance.

William Shakespeare

She'd been at his side for as long as he could remember, at the peak of his achievements and the lowest of his failures. Through mistakes and repentance, she had stayed with him, and he could not even imagine a life without her in it. He could not imagine anyone else able to accept— everything that he was.

His magic.

His heritage.

His devotion.

She was as entwined around his heart as the coils of the world serpent, and with every beat of his heart, he was bound more tightly to her very being.

The marriage— it was but a mere formality.

The magic— it was but a confirmation.

But here, this night, they would consummate their bond of trust, binding their lives to the other in the "gift" of his father's secret heritage: the Darkness that had smouldered within him since the day he was born.

His father had thought his bloodline safely dead, having married a nice, normal girl, but his mum had been far from normal. She'd been a witch, and her magic had preserved his father's ancient bloodline in Severus. And while his father may have forsaken his heritage, Severus had a choice: to find a mate that could accept what he was and bind herself to him as he to her, ascending into what he truly was or be like his father and repudiate his blood, quell the Darkness with booze and mundanity, and deny his very being the life it craved: a life with one who could and would share his soul.

Now, with nothing but the glistening ring of magic upon his finger, he captured her in his arms, his mouth teasing hers to join him in the first awkward experimentation. The Darkness whispered in his blood, sensing that its time was nigh— sensing all the years of control, of abstinence, or tentative insecurity had finally come to an end. He had never wanted to belittle her by taking her virginity in some dark, cramped broom closet. He had never wanted to make her feel like just some attraction to his cock, no.

She was special.

She was—

Hermione.

His fire.

His inspiration.

The temper to his inner rage.

His anchor.

His compass.

His bossy little lunatic who seemed to think he was truly worthy of love—

Yet, when he looked into her eyes that seemed like molten chocolate, he had to believe there was something special within himself to deserve such trust. He knew he'd do absolutely anything for her if she would only ask.

But the only thing she asked for was the comfort of his presence, his touch, his companionship. She asked for his opinion, his advice, his desires. She asked him to share in her life, and how he could not when she asked for so little when everyone else asked for everything?

To ask her to marry him came compulsively over a pile of books as they studied for their N.E.W.T.s.

Her response?

"Honestly, I thought you'd never ask."

But did that mean—

Was that a—

"Yes, Severus. I will marry you."

"Well, that is, unless you had someone else in mind."

He'd startled, staring at her only to see her smiling at him. "Only you," he'd whispered, fumbling with the ring he'd so carefully mothered like a hen over an egg for the last few months.

The Darkness swirled around it, eager to taste her essence and lick across her soul.

He'd pulled back, horrified that she would turn from him in fear. It was not the way he had intended her to find out about the Dark.

The truth.

But she had allowed it upon her finger with the same warmth he had always known.

The Dark had gleefully frolicked upon her, licking across her soul like a cat in the cream. Her eyelashes had fluttered.

A gasp.

A shudder.

And she had eagerly pulled towards him.

Towards him! Not away.

And they would have been married by magic before dawn had it not been for his iron control— his need to do things right.

Whatever right was…

The lines were kind of blurry now that he had his witch in his arms.

"You're sure?" he whispered, wanting, needing to know that it was no dream, no surge of simple lust that pushed and demanded rather than asking properly. "There is no going back from this. My heritage. My bloodline. You will share it all."

Hermione breathed in his breath and smiled up at him, her nose rubbing against his. "Severus, I always do my research. Would you like to see my notes on the subject?"

She grasped his head in her hands and breathed heavily on his mouth. "While I do appreciate your chivalry, I'd really rather you make love to me right now before I explode."

Severus swallowed hard. "Well, if you put it that way—" The growl was out of his throat before he could catch it, and their kiss was deep and needy with absolutely no finesse. He had had no previous lovers, nor had he wanted them. He had no experience to pool on save what little he had found in books. He trembled at the thought of disappointing her, forging the path to their future together with a lacklustre performance.

He needn't have worried.

She allowed him to guide her hands and he could barely register a coherent thought as she drew his hands to where the most she could manage was a whimper of his name. His cock informed him that it was quite prepared to go on instinct, thank you very much, and she was more than ready for him by the time he realised his body wasn't exactly dumb to what had created billions of conceptions before he had his go at it.

Style be damned, but it felt so right to be joined to her, united in their heated passion— a passion so thick and intense that whatever quick pains may have come from their first union was quickly pushed to the side in favor of breathy want and sheer need.

They could work on style points later.

They would have— forever, after all.

It was the gift— the price— of the Dark that wanted nothing more than its line continued. A willing consummation, and Embrace, a Turning. It would never let such a gift to its line simply fizzle and die out as Severus' father had tried so desperately to manage.

And was it really so different? The Dark, the Light?

That his eyes saw so much more when the sun was down than up?

That the very scent of nightfall was infinitely more alluring than the heat and blinding colour of day?

What did it matter when he had as much right to live and love— to take a mate in which to share his life? What was a label if it came only from the side who chose to see things solely in the washed out brightness of the "light"? While Darkness was, perhaps, the very absence of visible light, black was also the very essence of every colour.

Yet he saw so many colours—

Perhaps it was all but a label given by humans in a feeble attempt to define and hopefully control their world— give it a name and thus pretend they have actual power over it.

All he knew was that Hermione cared not for such labels and had accepted all of him without hesitation, without bias or judgement.

It was something no other had been able to give him.

Not his parents, most assuredly.

Not his teachers.

Not his House.

Not Lily, who had once sworn they would always be friends only to promptly fling that away to the winds upon discovering her personal popularity and being fully indoctrinated in the all-too-typical pro-Gryffindor, anti-Slytherin bias, unlike his Hermione.

No, Hermione had no time for such "poppycock."

She said that the books were far more interesting than Gryffindor's incessant internal drama, and she probably wasn't wrong.

Hermione had approached his inheritance like she approached everything else: research, facts, hypothesizing, and experiments to prove a theory. Mind, her proof that he wasn't a bloodthirsty, mindless creature of Darkness was in the simple fact that he hadn't killed her in cold blood and cast her aside like trash, but she did her best with what she had.

He was, she said, a creature of intelligence and reason, capable of true feeling. He would be, she supposed, capable of great good or evil, compassion or cruelty depending on his choices, support, and will. He, just like anyone else, was tempered and moulded by his experiences, but he could choose to be better than his peers, his past, or his inescapable genetics.

He had to admit, he loved when she got righteous for his sake.

And now— another instinct bloomed within. Darkness pooled, swirled, seethed and burbled.

But not to destroy— to claim.

It seeped from his nostrils, his mouth, his eyes as he made love to his beloved wife— his mate. Claws emerged from hidden sheaths, fangs erupted from a changing jaw, and his eyes pulled in and collected light in the very opposite of how a lantern would emit it.

"Hermione," he rumbled lowly.

Dark fog, like scentless smoke, formed and curled around her body and caressed her even as he held her in his arms.

"Severus," she whispered, her eyes half-lidded, her breathing heavy.

"There is no going back now," he whispered. "This is forever and always. I will love you long after the skies burn and the land falls into the sea."

"So romantic. Nothing like a little End of the World on my honeymoon," she replied teasingly. She drew him into a slow, lingering kiss. "I want no one else. Nothing else— well, perhaps one other thing."

"Hrrrr," he growled, Darkness dripping from his mouth like wisps of heavy fog. "And what would my beautiful mate desire?" The change was already accelerating, taking and twisting his form into something distinctly other.

"Sprogs," Hermione said softly, even shyly.

The Darkness thrummed with the ecstasy of the future, curling around her tightly.

"Oh, my gorgeous girl— you will have just as many sprogs as you desire," Severus descended upon her mouth as the Darkness surged out of him and into her— nose, mouth, eyes, ears, pores.

She bucked against him, her body convulsing in his dual embrace as he enfolded her in his arms, magic, and soul.

"Beloved," he breathed into her skin. "Let me show you just how much I love you."

As they joined together in a devastating climax, all of the lights in Cokeworth suddenly went out.

"What a dump," Sirius scoffed, brushing stray bits of weed off his shoulder.

James shrugged, cracking his knuckles with the opposite hand. "You sure this is the right place, Lils?"

Lily nodded. "I'm sure they'll be here. We used to—" Lily trailed off uncomfortably. "It was a… special place."

"Special place, eh?" Sirius mused, smirking and stroking his wand like one would a cat.

James smacked Sirius in the back the head. "Come on, mate, we have a job to do."

Sirius wrinkled his nose. "I think you're barmy, Lils. No one would ever actually let greasy old Snivellus touch them. Let alone let him use his shrivelled little coc—"

James smacked Sirius upside the head a bit harder than the first time. "Merlin, Pads, will you just stop? Lily wants us to help her save Granger from the Dark side. You heard Dumbledore the other night. Something really big is going down and soon. We're going to need all the help we can get."

"Not Granger," Sirius snorted rudely. "She'd rather boss us around and tell us how we're pronouncing things wrong than actually help a bloke out, yeah?"

"Look, we really need to get her away from Sev," Lily fretted. "He's Dark, okay? He's seriously dangerous."

"We've been trying to tell you that for years, Lils," why's it so important that we need to do this now?" Sirius whinged. "Not that I don't fully appreciate a good opportunity to teach Snivvellus who his betters are."

"Why here? Why now?" James asked, scrunching up his face in obvious confusion. "Pads is right. Why the hurry all of a sudden?"

"I heard him talking to her," Lily murmured softly. "She plans to join him."

"To see You-Know-Who?" James blurted out in horror. "That's bloody mental!"

Lily hissed at him. "For God's sake, will you be quiet?!"

Lily cautiously pressed her hand to an overgrown wooden door where ivy seemed to almost completely cover the stone, wood, and steel. It slowly creaked open. "Come on, we don't have much time."

"We should wait until we can have Wormtail and Moony—"

"There's no time!" Lily snapped just as the distant lights from Cokeworth proper abruptly went out and the park around them instantly plunged into total darkness.

There was a sudden cold blast of icy magic that seemed to suck the very life out of the air like a Dementor. Even the stars themselves seemed to dim as the light of the full moon emerged from the concealing clouds.

Sirius and James exchanged worried glances, but they followed after Lily, wands out and at the ready.

Lily knew Sev was going to turn Hermione. She'd heard them talking in furtive whispers one evening back in the stacks in Cokeworth's town library. Turning. Full moon. Permanent life changes. He was obviously infected with lycanthropy and wanted to infect Hermione too.

It had to be lycanthropy—

Why else would he want to meet with her specifically on the night of a full moon?

Many thought Sev was surely a vampire, but she always had her doubts about that. Besides, the rumours at the school said Sev was frequently caught skulking about outside during full moons— always full moons— and then, after that one time he started becoming scarce instead. He would just disappear. That was far too much of a coincidence.

She'd stumbled across them purely by chance, undeterred by the anti-Muggle wards they had put up. It had been a moment of wistful nostalgia that had brought her there— memories of a time when she, Sev, and Hermione had once been the best of friends. Such times were now long past, but she remembered them much more fondly than she usually let on.

She wasn't sure when Sev had fully descended into a cursed, Dark existence, but taking Hermione along with him was completely inexcusable. Hermione was clearly addled in the head— way too clouded by her loyalty to her old friend to see the truth: Sev was dangerous. He'd likely kill her in his attempt to turn her.

He had to be stopped before he murdered someone.

Hermione had to be stopped before she let him do it!

Lily knew she couldn't do it alone, so she had to recruit some help. At least James and Sirius were willing to help even if they didn't know the exact reasons why. How could she tell them that Sev was a werewolf?! They'd never believe her.

The little abandoned cottage might have been a groundskeeper's at one point back when Cokeworth wasn't a dive of pollution and factories, and the only thing saving it seemed to be that no one but three young kids had found it. A part of her wondered if their accidental magic as children had protected it from Muggles even remembering it was there.

To them, it had seemed so magical— a place where Petunia and their families wouldn't ever find them.

For Hermione, her parents had always been so busy with work. For Lily, escaping Petunia was everything. For Severus— well, his family life was the worst.

It was no reason to go werewolf and join YKW, though!

A little voice in the back of her mind told her that Sev would never endanger Granger of all people, but she ignored it.

Dark was Dark.

Evil.

Murderous.

He'd surely kill her without even meaning to.

Sev had fallen down a Dark path which would do nothing but destroy everything, just like everyone else in Slytherin. That disgusting Mulciber and Avery— that arrogant pureblood prick, Lucius Malfoy.

Of course, Sev hadn't believed her when she said hanging around people like Mulciber and Avery was just asking for trouble. He had claimed that it wasn't like you could avoid your own housemates anymore than she could stop hanging out with Marlene and Alice. Well, that wasn't fair! They were Gryffindors, not wannabe Death Eaters!

Hermione had told Lily to go get stuffed when she told her to drop Sev if he was going to continue to hang with Slytherin, and they'd had a big falling out.

Didn't they understand?

It was for their own good!

Slytherin was bad! Dark was bad!

When they found their way into the house, it was surprisingly clean, as if they'd been working on cleaning and sorting through the old debris and made it into a real living space. There were boxes skewed about, some open, some not, but it wasn't the main room that horrified her.

No, the bedroom was what unsettled her.

Before she could even register that Sev was entwined with Hermione in the middle of a bed surrounded in moving boxes—

Before she could fathom they were naked—

That Sev's pale skin pressed against Hermione sun-browned skin and unruly curls—that Sev was looking very un-werewolfy despite the full moon—

James and Sirius had already cast their spells directly at Snape, taking him out in his post-coital cuddle, seemingly all too eager to break up whatever they saw as horror filled their eyes.

Was it her imagination?

Surely it was.

It seemed like the dark of the room seemed to move on its own, becoming denser in some places and more scattered in others as the spells pierced the unlit save by moonlight room.

Severus had awoken thanks to James and Sirius' spells, struggling against the spells that both bound him and levitated him into the air. He looked groggy and confused at first as if he'd been in the deepest sleep of his life, but his expression changed from disoriented to utter rage as he focused on James and Sirius and then unmistakable betrayal at her— most definitely at her.

That betrayal darkened his expression into something primordial and deep from the Abyss.

"Lily," he hissed as his body flexed, and the room seemed to shake. His eyes were blacker than black, the whites gone as smoke seeped out between his lids. Blackness seemed to cling to his stained, yellow teeth— teeth seemingly coated in oil. His body thrashed against the bindings.

Coils seemed to arise from his body.

"You promised," he snarled. "You SWORE!"

Lily cringed at the accusation.

They had all promised as children to keep the place a secret from everyone else. Surely that didn't count! It wasn't legally binding! They were just kids! This was important. She was trying to save Hermione from Sev's Darkness!

"You can't take Hermione with you into your own Darkness, Sev!" Lily cried.

James and Sirius had yanked a dazed Hermione between them, naked, vulnerable.

"May Magick fail you all," Severus cursed. His eyes full of dark fire. "May it judge you as wanting and unworthy!"

The ground shook as the cabin walls seemed to pitch inward. Shadows moved, folding in as thick tendrils reached out— searching, searching—

James and Sirius stagger-dragged Hermione out as Lily pointed her trembling wand-arm at Hermione to keep her asleep and Severus to stop his magical onslaught.

"Somnum Penitus!" Lily cried, her shaky wandwork hitting both Severus and Hermione with the deepest sleep spell she could manage.

The magic seemed to writhe wildly around her like a brassed-off serpent, fighting her will and her spell. She staggered backward as Severus's face twisted into a snarling mask of impotent rage and the promise of terrible retribution at some point fast coming. His body started to go limp, but not before his gaze burned into her soul.

Lily tumbled backwards against the wave of magic, clutching her wand as she hurriedly exited the hidden cabin.

The savage howl that rang out across Cokeworth chilled the residents to the bone. Parents gathered their children close as others called the police to report the cries of some dangerous wild animal on a rampage, even as the faint triple crack of James, Sirius, and Lily's departure sounded off as they carried an unconscious Hermione Granger away.

You-Know-Who's Dark Minions Strike Again, Muggles Slaughtered and Magical Families Mutilated and Left for Dead, Displayed in Public

Victims of the formerly silent war have started to pepper Britain in all areas both Muggle and magical. Death Eater activity has been reported in rural and highly populated areas. Victims of seemingly random attacks have been left gruesomely displayed in plain sight. Fear and panic have spread across Britain as no predictable pattern has yet been discerned.

Aurors have been tracking any and all use of Dark magic in the hopes it will lead them to discover confirmed Death Eaters. No one, no matter how well they may be thought of, has been spared the traces.

H. B. Prince Apothecary Opens in Ministry

Providing the Only Ministry-Approved Fertility Potion Available!

The H. B. Prince Apothecary opened in the Ministry just last month and has already taken the potions world by storm. Their offering of the only non-addictive, no side-effects fertility potion has created long lines of customers eager to obtain this most highly sought-after potion.

The only apothecary ever to be settled within the Ministry proper, H.B. Prince Apothecary is the sole provider of top-quality potions to the Aurory, clinics, and all departments within, as well as St Mungo's.

"Your place is going to explode if you get any more customers, mate," Moody said dryly as he replaced some of the knocked over bottles.

Severus curled his lips in a sneer. "Then they can pay for my new place."

Alastor snorted appreciatively. "Such humour."

"Quite serious," Severus said, reaching out right one the displays for Long Night Wizard's Tonic. He righted a photo that had tipped, his eyes narrowing. He reverently touched the moving figure of a witch with a headful of bushy chocolate curls as she stirred a simmering cauldron.

"Did she really develop the Long Night Wizard's Tonic?"

"It was purely accidental," Snape said softly, placing the picture back on the wall. "We were trying to brew a potion to help stabilise blood pressure in shock patients at Mungo's where blood replenisher was ill advised."

"Did it work?"

"It's all in the dosing," Severus said with an arched brow. "Hermione was utterly mortified, of course. She didn't want to be known as the witch who created the ultimate libido potion."

Alastor snorted in amusement. Then his face turned more serious. "I've been trying to trace her since Murphy retired. He was our very best tracker and tracer, but even he couldn't—"

Snape's fist clenched. "They get to walk around, pretending it's all perfectly okay. Pretending they are so good and light and always in the right. They stole away the one witch in all the world that I trusted completely and without reservation. And now they are safe and secure in their little hideaway at Hogwarts. Protected. Sheltered. All because there is no body— all because my changes did not allow for memories to be extracted without revealing what I am."

Moody sighed. "I used to think like that too. And then you saved my life. Didn't ask for a single thing in return. I used to think Dementors were the bloody scariest Dark creatures on the face of the planet, but you, my friend, are one damned scary piece of work. I know I owe your wife a proper apology for all the shite I gave her for trusting you."

Snape shook his head. "At least you didn't kidnap her from her wedding bed," he said, a hint of Dark tendrils stirring around his aura.

"Ironically enough, it was your Dark signature that has allowed us to narrow our traces to human-based Dark magic. I owe Amelia a round of drinks over that one too."

"Keep that up, and all you will be left wearing is your tartan knickers, Alastor," Snape said, suppressing a shudder. "Please, not in here."

Moody snorted. "No worries there. Besides, I prefer to go regimental."

Snape shot him a horrified look. "Definitely do not share."

Alastor just shrugged. "Nothing we haven't all seen, laddie."

"We most definitely have not seen your bits, nor do I ever intend to," Severus informed him, pouring tea and passing him a mug before promptly downing his own.

"Not that I'm some sodding expert on mating bonds between anything, let alone whatever the hell your father's line is, but can you not feel her through your bond?"

"It wasn't fully established— not all of it," Severus said heavily. "She was still adjusting to the change. I was still imprinting. We were torn from each other before it could complete. My senses only remember what she was. What she is now— I cannot really say. The honeymoon was supposed to be a time when we became together— adjusted together. It's not like I can go to my father and ask how it was supposed to go. I can only say what instinct tells me: that she should be with me. That we need each other, and every day we are not together, it becomes harder to control staying in this insufferable meat sack!"

Severus flinched and closed his eyes. "I'm sorry. I—"

Moody shook his head. "Severus, if working with the DoM has taught me anything it's that your sense of control is way beyond anything I've ever seen. That being said, I promise you we're going to find her."

Snape took in a deep breath. "I know. When we do—" He closed his eyes. "I will be sure to remember who my allies are."

Alastor nodded grimly.

Lily carefully tucked Harry into his bassinet and left him in the care of Peter before taking her evening walk out on the grounds for a bit of fresh air. It was a nightly habit, but what Peter didn't know was that she would always go to the Whomping Willow and try to break Hermione out of her endless sleep.

Night after night since the fateful evening she had orchestrated Hermione's rescue from Sev, she tried to break Hermione out of the sleeping spell she had cast to no avail.

All she had wanted was to save Hermione from Sev's Dark inclinations.

All she wanted was time to convince Hermione to leave Sev behind and join the Order to fight the Dark.

The Light, the Order— it was the key to winning the war.

Only, things were going pear-shaped.

Sev had withdrawn deep within the Ministry rather than becoming what everyone had insisted he would. He hadn't gone to be another of YKW's Dark minions. He hadn't actually been a werewolf either.

But something truly frightening had risen up to attack her when she'd— they'd— rescued Hermione.

James and Sirius had started to just answer everything as if they'd been dosed on a permanent kind of Veritaserum. They all had the most frightful nightmares. They hadn't had a decent night of sleep, let alone sex since Harry had been conceived. Aurors were constantly following them everywhere anytime they left Hogwarts to the point where they didn't dare leave Hogwarts save when their teaching duties took them to supervise Hogsmeade weekends.

That Auror Moody had been on them like a fly on shite since—

They weren't the bad guys!

They were trying to save everyone!

How was she supposed to know why her spells somehow set off alarms at some tracking office that were supposedly identified as being of Dark origin?!

She wasn't Dark, damnit. That was Sev and all his slimy Slytherin friends.

James and Sirius couldn't get a job as Aurors because of some suspicious Dark residue that clung to them like a second skin, that nothing ever seemed to scrub away.

What the hell did that mean?

Why did James and Sirius have a shadow that looked like some Halloween spectre?

They weren't the bad guys!

Why was this happening to them?

Why wouldn't Hermione wake up? If she would just wake up so Lily could explain things then Hermione could prove everything had been perfectly justified.

As Lily walked into what was the living room of the Shrieking Shack, a part of her realised that something had gone horribly wrong. A strange, organic, resin-like material had grown and hardened around Hermione, encasing her in a cocoon of miasma surrounded by an obsidian shell. When she put her hand on it, she pulled back immediately with a yell. Her hand smarted, burnt not by heat but by a burning cold. The cold seemed to crackle along the surface, and vapour geysered out like the breath of a dragon.

But for a moment, Lily had a vision of some distant moon orbiting Saturn, shooting geysers of ancient seas into Saturn's outer ring. She shook it off, disoriented.

Hermione had been stuck in a sort of stasis since they'd pulled her out of Cokeworth, and ever since then a sort of barrier had surrounded her, anchoring her in the first place they had hidden her: the shack. It had been James and Sirius that had recommended it, and Lily hadn't known why they'd known of the place. It had been perfect, she'd thought, as a temporary place until she could get Hermione to see reason.

But something was protecting Hermione as she slept away, suspended by the will of something Lily couldn't seem to breathe through.

Hermione couldn't be moved, couldn't be reasoned with.

Everything was falling apart.

Dumbledore had assured her they would be safe at Hogwarts— far safer than out there, but Lily didn't want to be stuck at Hogwarts forever! She wanted to go out and have fun! To travel and see the world! To live her life to the fullest!

She didn't want to live the rest of her life sequestered within a bloody school!

"Why won't you help us!?" she cried, her level of frustration rising with the impatient flare of her magic.

The chrysalis thrummed, pulsing like a heartbeat.

Swirling tendrils of miasma rose from the surface, and the odour became so acidic and acrid that Lily soon found herself coughing uncontrollably.

She staggered backwards, choking and gasping for air, and hastily covered her mouth and nose with her robe sleeve. She retreated back into the tunnel and out, escaping the tree just as it came roaring back to life.

She ran as the feeling of oppressive dread chased her from the shack. She had to go cuddle Harry. Holding her sweet baby boy would make everything come back into focus.

"James, where's Harry?" Lily cried as she practically flew into the quarters they shared in Hogwarts' Divination tower.

"I thought he was with you," James blurted, standing hurriedly. "I came home and you were gone. Harry wasn't in his crib. I thought you took him with you!"

"No! I left him with Peter!"

"Peter?" James said blankly, his head turning to look at his wife. "Peter wasn't here. In fact, I saw him leaving Hogwarts for some meeting."

"Did he have Harry with him?!" Lily screeched.

"No! I didn't see him carrying a bloody baby with him!"

"But I had Peter watch him!"

"Well someone must have him because Peter wouldn't just leave Harry alone!"

"Well, let's go see if he talked to Sirius or Hagrid or Albus or, or Poppy! Now! Come on!"

"Lily, I can just send out a Patronus! Just— hold on. Wait a second. C'mon, breathe!"

Lily wasn't showing any sign of calming down, however. "Harry! HARRY!"

She tore apart their rooms and then ran from their chambers, yelling frantically for her baby son as all of Hogwarts stirred in her wake.

Wizarding Children Disappear Across Britain: Death Eaters Blamed!

Children all across Britain are disappearing, and many believe You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters are involved. To what end is currently unknown, but rumours of YKW desiring immortality by stealing it from the young only fans the fires of paranoia and outright panic.

Hogwarts and the other magical schools so far seem to be impervious to attack, save one, where baby Harry Potter was stolen away off the grounds by a trusted close friend of the Potter family and Hogwarts Potions teacher: Professor Peter Pettigrew.

The accusation seems to have split the family down the middle as James Potter adamantly refuses to believe his best mate capable of such terrible things and yet Lily Potter insists that she left baby Harry in Pettigrew's care.

Professor Pettigrew, however, remains missing in the wake of the kidnapping, and many speculate as to what really happened that night even as the fear of other children being taken continues to rise.

The Ministry has ordered all school-age children to remain sequestered at their schools until the situation is resolved with no exceptions for holidays or any outside trips, such as Hogwarts Hogsmeade weekends, which have been canceled until further notice.

All Portkeys on school grounds have been banned with the penalty of being caught with one being expulsion and thus immediate loss of the school's protection. All incoming mails are being scanned by Aurors before being released to the school in order to stave off any possible opening for You-Know-Who's agents to slip in unnoticed.

Lily was frantic and desperate to save her infant son, and she realised that she might have to go and dance with the devil if that's what it took to get her baby back.

Maybe, just maybe, the side of light just wasn't getting things done fast enough.

Surely saving her son was a justifiable reason to do whatever she had to do? It was about preserving her family! Let James go and rally Sirius so they could just come to the conclusion that Peter had to have been Imperius-ed and would never willingly betray them.

She knew better.

No matter what James said.

What Dumbledore said.

Peter wasn't some innocent victim in this. He was a kidnapper— a monster.

Lily flinched. It would take a monster to fight a monster.

As she stepped into the arboretum-facing store, she was immediately greeted by the sheer enormity of it. Half the store seemed like a bookstore filled with reference and potions theory books. It led into the apothecary proper, where a gentle dimness protected delicate and rare ingredients from the harmful degradation of excessive light.

A large crowd of shoppers browsed shelves containing an extensive array of pre-made potions, and the chatter around her was a dull roar that covered her entrance.

Lily swallowed hard, pulling her cloak around herself, checking her hood to make sure her telltale long red hair was well-concealed from casual glances. The Aurors were always lurking about, accusing her, James, and Sirius of using Dark magic. They weren't able to prove it by the spells recorded on their wands, but they were watching— always watching— and she had no idea why they were so focused on them instead of truly evil people.

At least Dumbledore had their back.

Taking a trip to the Ministry of all places was super risky— dangerous in both a time of war and outside of the protection of Hogwarts. She had to think of Harry. Harry was who mattered most to her. He was a baby. Her baby! She had to protect him. Save him.

"Looking for something in particular?" a scathing voice ripped through the chatter around her and cut to the quick. "Or are we just browsing?"

"Sev—" Lily whispered, swallowing hard.

The apothecary was empty— utterly empty. There was no one around, just as if they had never been there in the first place.

"You have some bloody gall to dare come in here and stand in front of me, Mrs Potter," Severus growled lowly, his voice both deep and dangerous.

"Sev, please."

"Oh, please. Please tell me what brings you here to darken the door of my place of business. Do you need a potion to increase your comeliness? Does your husband's cock not have the stamina to satisfy you adequately? Do you perhaps suffer from a most uncomfortable yeast infection? Or is it the mutt's birthday and you would like to purchase a bottle of anti-flea and tick potion as a gift?"

Lily's face burned bright red with embarrassment. "Sev! I need your help!"

Snape's lips curled into a vicious snarl as his yellowed teeth flashed. "And what makes you think I give a fucking damn about what happens to you after what you did?"

"I was trying to save her!"

"Save her from WHAT?!"

"You!"

Snape cracked his neck as he moved it side to side like a snake. "Oh, and that justifies stealing my wife from her wedding bed? From my side? My life? Her choice— and you. You are so right, aren't you? So pure. I'm sure you've never ever had a touch of jealousy in your life. Your light is so very strong that it pours from your eyes and shoots out your arse whenever you fart. Please tell me why Mrs perfect Potter needs my help, hrm?"

"W-wife?" Lily blinked in total astonishment.

"Yes, you tore my wife from my side, not that it mattered to you, much less your darling husband and his best mutt, Black," Snape sneered at her as he practically spat the words in her face.

"That's not true," Lily cried. "That's impossible!"

"Oh, and I'm sure you'd know wouldn't you?"

"I saw it! I saw the vision! If we managed to save her from you, You-Know-Who would fall!"

Severus snorted. "So, after a school career of charms you decide to become a Seer? How glorious for you to saddle yourself with the weight of such power."

"They've come true, Sev!" Lily defended. "All of them!"

"Then, why haven't you Seen your way out of this crisis?" Severus said with a sneer.

"It doesn't work that way!"

"Nice of you to realise some things are beyond your ken."

"I need your help! Harry was kidnapped! My son, Sev! He's a baby!"

Severus straightened, his pale fingers running down his line of buttons on his frock coat. "Why is that my concern?"

"Sev, he's just a baby!"

"So? There are many babies out there. Shall I go save one who is starving in Africa? South America? The United States? Perhaps one in Greenland? Ireland? Nova Scotia? Perhaps, I shall save an entire orphanage of children and be ahead of the score?"

"Don't talk about my baby like he's nothing!"

Severus was suddenly towering over Lily, his face twisted in anger.

"And why would I give a damn about what you care about, Mrs Potter? You who left two of your best friends behind on your hunt for popularity that you seated yourself so firmly on the side of light's patsies? You, who have no compunction about betrayal for your own personal worldview—twisting what is right and light to favour your oh-so-close superiority."

"Look, I might have jumped the gun, Sev, but I really need your help! This is a baby! My baby! You wouldn't let a baby die would you?"

Severus' gaze seemed to darken, shadowing his pale face.

"Of course I would," he said, a strange, dark phantom mist dripping from his mouth like a dragon's smoke. "I'm evil, after all. Darkness incarnate. Pitiless. Dangerous. Evil. Uncontrollable. Unhinged." He punctuated every word as though two letters made a distinct word.

Lily took a fearful step back without even realising it.

"Sev—"

"Mrs Potter," Snape snapped, his lips pressed together as he spoke. "Buy something or leave my establishment at once."

"She's alive, Sev!" blurted Lily.

Severus froze in place, his fierce black eyes like shards of obsidian. For a moment, Lily could've sworn she saw claws unsheathe from his fingertips like cruel, diamond-tipped daggers. His hands slammed on both sides of Lily's head, capturing her as his face came dangerously close to her. "You're a liar."

"I know where she is," Lily whispered, her voice almost a faint mouse-like squeak. "I can take you to her."

For a moment, Snape's lips seemed to pull back from his increasingly sharp-looking teeth, a flash of elongated canines hinting at something far more other than human— predatory, dangerous.

"Where. Is. She?" His eyes were blacker than black so much so that the pupils had disappeared into the irises.

"I—" Lily straightened, her green eyes narrowing. "I'll tell you where she is when my Harry is safe."

Severus stiffened, his anger rolling off him in waves. He then turned away from her, and in a blink of the eye was across the room as if he hadn't been near her at all. "No."

Lily's eyes widened in utter panic. "What?!"

"You will take me to Hermione and then, and only then, will I help you find your son and only my wife is unharmed and alive."

"Nuh-no! Harry has to be safe first!"

Severus crossed his arms across his chest and glared at her. "Then you will get no help from me, Mrs Potter. Get out of my store right now. Just looking at you makes me want to commit terrible acts of heinous violence."

"Sev, please!"

"If you want my help, Mrs Potter," Severus hissed, spitting out her honorific like a curse, "then you know my terms. I am sure there are plenty of other people out there perfectly willing to be your willing indentured servant for far less. Go out there and find them if my terms are too onerous for you."

"SEV! Why won't you HELP me?!" Lily wailed shrilly.

"How dare you ask me such a question," Severus snarled. "Even with all the other reasons aside, I don't trust you. You made damned sure of that. So, you can either take me to her and prove she is both alive and well, or you can rot along with your dead son."

Lily's face drained of blood, going as pale as alabaster.

"You're a monster!"

"So it has oft been said." He sneered at her. "I was born one. What is your excuse?"

Lily fought back a piteous whimper, wringing her hands as she thought of Harry. "You promise to save him if I take you to her?"

"I promise to find him and bring him back in whatever state he is in when I do. I cannot promise you anything else. I cannot bring back the already dead."

Lily began to sob uncontrollably. "No, no, no. He won't be dead! He won't!"

Severus stared at a book page, flipping it absently. "Then, I suppose you had better get a move on before all you have left are bones and memories for I doubt any Dark Lord would spare a child that fueled his immortality."

Lily trembled then shrieked, "Fine! I'll take you to Hermione first!"

Severus did not move.

"SEV!"

He turned to her slowly. "Swear it."

"What?"

"Swear it on your magic. Your soul. Your baby boy. Swear that you will take me to Hermione, who will be unharmed and that there will be no traps, no entanglements, and no attempts to stop me from retrieving her from you or anyone you associate with. If they do, you will, upon your life, immediately throw yourself between them and me or her. Swear it."

"But—"

"Or leave."

Tears flowed down Lily's cheeks. "Fine! I swear on my magic to take you to Hermione Granger. There will be no traps and no attempts to stop you from retrieving her from me or anyone associated with me. Any attempts to stop you, I will, upon my life, stand between them and you or her, lest my magic desert me as an oathbreaker. So mote it be."

She winced, drew her wand to her mouth and kissed the tip. It glowed a brilliant blue.

She looked down at the floor. "How do I know you'll do your best to find my Harry? To save him?"

Severus narrowed his eyes, and suddenly he was right in front of her, his dark eyes fathomless. "Because, Mrs Potter, my word is my bond, and I have never had to swear upon my magic for this to be so."

Lily set her jaw, fighting back tears. "Let's go."

Suddenly the bookstore was bustling with people again, the low roar of conversation seeming so loud and obvious.

"Ambrose," Severus called out. "Please mind the store while I tend to business elsewhere."

"Yes, sir," the wizard at the counter said with a quick nod.

Lily looked around, feeling quite disoriented. Then she turned and hurried out of the store with Severus following close behind.

Lily realised in that singular moment when Sev saw the massive chrysalis that had formed around Hermione that it was her that had caused it. She had forced Hermione into her silent stasis, and magic had done its best to preserve her.

She realised it when Sev's gasp drove him forward, his hands touching, caressing, embracing the outer shell of the protective resin and magical barrier.

The cold that had frozen her hands— he didn't even seem to notice.

"Hermione," he whispered into the surface. "I'm here."

His body quaked as he gazed at Hermione in total despair. "My love—"

Crystalline claws emerged from his fingertips, digging into the surface of the chrysalis. Dark vapour seeped out of his mouth like seething dragon's breath.

The moment his steaming, smoky breath touched the protective barrier, it started to shiver and crack open. The resinous material cracked and broke away. The crystal-like surface grew soft and allowed his claws to tear it open. Glowing fluid and magic gushed outward to expose a still-naked and vulnerable-looking Hermione cradled in a strange, organic pillow.

Hermione's eyes opened— black and filled with a swirling galaxy of stars. "Severus."

That single word was breathless, needy, filled with desire.

"My love," Severus answered. With but a gesture, he was already naked, caring not that Lily was still standing there. He embraced his wife in his arms and his welcoming heat.

"You're here. You're really here," Hermione whispered, gasping as his mouth found her neck and kissed down the line of her neck and shoulder. Dark vapour swirled around his body and then around hers.

"Hermione," he whispered again and again.

"I need you," she pleaded. "I need you, Severus."

"All that I am is yours," he swore. "Everything. Always this will be so."

Their ardour rose with their desperate need to continue what had been stolen from them on their wedding night. The Dark seemed to sense their situation had changed— that speed was essential— and as Severus' mouth covered his mate's, something seemed to pass between them, forsaking the traditional, much slower assimilation.

Severus' body seemed to darken into the colour of deep space, and Hermione's followed suit. Hermione's cries of rising passion filled the shack, her outcry turning to a scream of satisfaction as a blast of Dark vapour and magic blew outward, both heat and ice mixed into one simultaneous nova.

Meanwhile, Lily was frantically touching herself, unable to relieve herself of the rising, horrible, all-encompassing need for sexual release. Even as she whimpered, stroked, and moaned, the floor seemed to give way to a black hole.

Tendriled, bony hands reached out from it and pulled up a wraith-like form of shadow and infinite places. She bore in one hand, a torch. On her head was a crown with a crescent moon. Rising beside her, serpents slithered up her legs and entwined her arms. Dogs with glowing red eyes rose like baleful grims in the graveyard. Horses the colour of soot and creosote snorted and reared up beside her. She turned her head, and there were three heads, each choosing a different direction.

"I am Hekate. My domain is the night, the Darkness, the mysterious path. My torch lights the darkness, leading both into the dark and away to the light. Magic and witchcraft are but the same to me. Knowledge of the plant, herb, and tree, the poisons, the life-givers— ghosts rise and fall within my wake. Sorcery swirls around my feet." The goddess' lips curled upward. "And I am here to consecrate your consummation into My Domain."

"Dearly beloved," the wraith-like spectre that both commanded and invoked fear purred. "We gather here in this Blessed Darkness to witness the union of two most loyal beings."

Spectral, shadowy serpents coiled around her arms as black dogs snarled in attentive fervor. Obsidian horses reared and neighed as the moon escaped the clouds and cast its radiance through the very walls and into the Shrieking Shack.

"Here we praise the consummation of he who was born into my Service and choose to follow it and she who was not born into it but embraced it in kind out of loyalty, trust, and even love."

"For only the most powerful amongst my beloved can embrace both power, loyalty, and emotions such as love outside the most selfish banal specifics. Not all of those under my wings shall be so blessed to carry both the torch and the dark, nor do they commune with the dead, but each has their powers under the night. This is not a curse or a crippling thing. All who walk within my triple gaze have different tools for different fates, and all of them are but brothers and sisters beneath my moon and stars."

Her voice changed like a whisper, an echo, and a hiss.

"We gather here tonight not to mourn or to howl. We gather in this Darkness to celebrate the hour. Here in the Darkness, one year postponed. My devoted, my beloved were taken from their home. Here, we do witness their union under the night. Here, we do celebrate their triumph over light."

The spectre triple goddess shrugged, and a mist of the blackness of space filled with stars shimmered off her. "To both of you I give you gifts yet to be discovered, but one I will reveal from the depths I have covered. Fertility I grant you to spread the Dark upon the worlds. May the spread beyond the stars and reach with wings unfurled. May you remind the arrogant that the Dark once came first; frightened beings played with fire make their nightmares disperse."

"But remember my aspects, triple and divine. We both lead into darkness and out as We are inclined."

"Take with you my blessings, both hidden and not, but know that each one is as it aught."

The goddess turned to Lily, her eyes like fathomless expanses of space. "Leave this one living with her god and the light. Let her shiver in the darkness and live with her fright. Let my children howl her to sleep when the moon is full and the sky is grey. Let her envy the bond you have forged again today."

The goddess smiled, and it was not a kind one.

"May arousal remind you of what you attempted to prevent. May every coupling you engage in bring nothing but lament. But to your child, should he live, I will give him fascination— that he may know and learn of both sides of Creation."

"Howl, my children. Neigh at the moon. Hiss into the Darkness, as I give one final boon: a form that is fitting of your devotion, your faith, and also your love. Unleash upon this world what shall never be rid of."

There was the sound of an aethereal gong that seemed to ring out both above and below as both Severus and Hermione let out a reverberating roar. Their bodies burst into a vortex of void plasma filled with the night sky, and then expanded, growing larger and larger as the goddess's low, malevolent chuckle echoed in Lily's covered ears and beyond.

Alastor Moody stepped out of the shadows and stared down at Lily's supine body as she simultaneously tried to shut out the reality of what had happened right in front of her versus the driving, uncontrollable need for sexual release.

"Mrs Lily Potter," he said sternly. "You're under arrest for kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, and conspiracy. You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence should you not mention when questioned something which you later rely on at Wizengamot. Anything you do say may be given in evidence."

When James and Sirius saw the familiar form of Lily leading the unmistakable tall figure of Severus Snape to the Whomping Willow, they couldn't have been more surprised or horrified. They made to transform and run quickly to the willow pathway, but suddenly Albus Dumbledore was standing in front of them.

"Good evening," he said, stroking his beard. "I don't recall having heard you were visiting, Mr Black. Tell me, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

Sirius fidgeted.

James butted in. "Sni— Snape was up to something. We're here to make sure he doesn't take advantage of Lily while she's frantic to save my son."

Albus stroked his beard again, eyeing the visibly nervous younger wizards. "Master Snape is here at Lily's invitation," he said thoughtfully. "I spoke with them both before they went for a walk to enjoy this wonderfully cool night air."

James and Sirius exchanged worried glances.

"I tried to convince Master Snape to take on the temporary Potions teaching position here at Hogwarts as Peter has not yet returned, but he is, unfortunately, otherwise engaged in running a very successful business." Dumbledore idly unwrapped a sweet and popped the sugary confection into his mouth.

"Uh, not to be rude, Headmaster, but we—"

"Ah yes, well, do come up to my office and sign the guestbook so you can be on your way," Albus said.

"Is that really nec—"

"I wouldn't wish for the Aurors to come calling and find our records to be inaccurate or missing anything, yes? Especially since they seem to be popping up here so frequently of late."

Thrum.

Thrum.

Albus looked up. A sound like that of a great heart beating seemed to reverberate through the ground and into the air like the twang of a tuning fork.

Thrumm.

Thrumm.

The foliage all over the grounds seemed to whisper, shake, and shiver. The grass seemed to grow thicker and taller in an instant, The willow sprouted a bushy growth of new leaves. The water in Black Lake started to lap and make waves against the shore. The night birds began to cry as they abruptly took flight. Bats formed into great clouds that darted to and fro against the night sky.

Shadowy shapes rose up to fly high over the Whomping Willow.

Dark, draconic shapes, whose wings unfurled like galaxies, the flaps causing a storm of crystalised ice to both orbit and scatter—

The larger of the two let out a resounding roar, and both shapes launched into the air, their bodies dripping both starlight and darkness as one would shed water in the pouring rain. They flew over Black Lake and with an echoing BOOM—

And then they were gone.

"Well, that was a right fine exit," Moody said, moving a stunned-looking Lily in front of him with his wand. "Headmaster. I fear I must remove your Divination professor for questioning with regard to the kidnapping and unlawful detainment of Madam Hermione Snape."

"Madam— Snape?" Dumbledore blinked as he tilted his head in frank astonishment.

"She was stolen away from her own marital bed on the eve of their wedding," Moody said darkly. "I was a personal witness when Mrs Potter led Severus Snape directly to the location of his missing wife right here on Hogwarts' grounds. There will be several charges brought against her even before we can determine if she had any accomplices."

"Here at Hogwarts?" Albus said. "Where?"

Moody scowled. "That house near the Whomping Willow."

"I see," Dumbledore replied slowly, a series of wrinkles forming where his bushy eyebrows creased together.

"That is most disturbing to hear, Auror Moody," Dumbledore said. "We will, of course, fully cooperate with whatever your investigation should require of us."

"Thank you, Headmaster," Moody said, urging Lily forward. "Always a pleasure," he grunted. "Let's go, Mrs Potter."

Dumbledore's narrow-eyed gaze did not miss the look of pure unadulterated panic simmering within his assistant flying instructor and his longtime best mate.

Voldemort drummed his fingers idly on the ritual table.

The symbols and circle were drawn.

His knights knelt, keeping the irritating, crying babies from moving across the lines.

Seven babies were the perfect number. Seven potential, full lives would fuel his own bid for immortality.

Best of all, they would also fuel the hidden Horcruxes under the flagstones, so he would be doubly protected in his immortality.

It was perfect.

He just had to wait for the full moon to apex over his ritual circle and power the moonstones he had set on the points of his seven pointed star.

He needed no gods or people to be great.

He would forge his own future and become immortal.

The idiotic Ministry would bow before him.

The full moon at last reached its peak, and the silvery moonlight filtered through the black diamond he had carefully set above the circle. Shards of light scattered to the moonstone foci and magical tendrils fully spread across the symbols painted in virgin blood— something that had been far harder to find than even the black diamond.

No matter.

It wouldn't matter when he was immortal.

The ground below began to tremble and shake as the star seemed to fill up with stars and space, falling into the infinite— the fathomless.

The babies fell screaming their little lungs out into the void, their stupid squalling silenced by the cold vacuum of space.

Voldemort smiled.

He was ready.

It was time.

He pulled on the Dark magic that would bind the dying-escaping souls of the infants to power his Horcruxes and his new immortality as his faithful knights chanted the incantations—

Only the souls never came.

Dark magic— tendrils like the arms of an enormous octopus— rose up from the swirling void in the floor. They stabbed each of his knights in the chest, seemingly going right through them, then jerked sharply, dragging their screaming bodies into the swirling pit of darkness. The chanters in the background staggered backwards in shock, but the magic ensnared them by the ankles and dragged them— scraping, grasping, crying— deep into the magical vacuum.

Voldemort could only stare. This was not at all what he had expected. Was this part of the sacrifice? More souls required for the greater empowerment of his immortal being?

But why couldn't he feel his power rising?

Why couldn't he sense the incoming souls?

Talons that seemed to be made of the same Dark space field emerged from the swirling circle in the floor— talons followed by arms followed by shoulders, horns, wings, fangs.

Dual sets.

Bodies that screamed dragon yet refused to demonstrate but the barest of solidity of form that was recognisable as species pulled themselves up from the void as if it were water. Shadows dripped from their body as water would.

"Avada Ked—"

SNAP!

The larger dragon's jaws closed around Voldemort's head and chest.

SNAP!

The smaller but no less intimidating dragon's jaws enclosed the body from the waist down.

They pulled the screaming form of Lord Voldemort into the swirling Void as the magic circle collapsed upon itself and dissipated, then entire building imploding into nothingness— flagstones, firmament and all.

Hhhhhhhkktt! Hhhhkkt! Hkkkt! KKKTTTTHIP!

Hermione hacked up a blob of cosmic slime and writhing nightmare tentacles like a cat with a hairball right in front of Amelia Bones and Alastor Moody. The slime slithered, and the tentacles sort of inch-wormed their way back to the deceptively normal-looking "cat" sitting on the desk.

The now-exposed rescued babies opened up their eyes and looked around like they had just had the very best sleep of their young lives.

"Buhbuh!" a blond baby boy giggled, bashing the black-haired baby boy over the head with his silver serpent-embossed rattle.

The black-haired baby bawled and tried to smack the blond with his toy broom, but he missed and ended up smacking a red-headed child direct to the face.

The red-headed ball of freckles immediately turned bright red and screamed at the top of his little lungs, proceeding to start kicking and crying up a storm.

A sandy-haired baby boy sucked his thumb quietly and stayed safely wrapped in his swaddle.

A pair of twin girls with dark olive skin and silky dark hair sucked each other's thumbs and showed no particular interest in where they were at the moment.

A baby boy wrapped in a singed blue blanket with equally singed brown hair and a soot-covered little face was attempting to look innocent, but no one seemed to be taking the bait.

Hnnnnnnuunnkkkk!

The black cat next to the sienna one hocked up a large snow globe filled with a swirling galaxy inside— a galaxy that sometimes formed into the screaming face of a man who Amelia recognised as a former employee of Borgin and Burkes, one Tom Marvolo Riddle, who rumours said was calling himself Lord Voldemort these days.

Or rather had been.

"Tom Riddle," Alastor Moody said, scowling. "I remember that bloody bastard's face. Always knew he was into Dark magic but could never manage to prove it. Seems a moot point now, eh?"

The people in the room eyed the two cats smugly perched on the desk.

"Well then," Amelia said with no little sadistic satisfaction. "Apparently immortality isn't quite what it's cracked up to be."

The two cats groomed each other absently, just like normal cats.

Amelia, not buying that for a second, sighed. "Alright, someone needs to inform the families that their babies are safe. But I want them checked at the DoM clinic to make sure they aren't going to— throw up a ruddy galaxy or anything. As for the Potter lad—"

The two cats on the desk seemed to scowl simultaneously.

"The Longbottoms have volunteered to take care of him along with their own son, Neville. I believe it would be best. Stable. Good family. Less tedious drama."

Amelia nodded to Alastor in clear relief. "Good. I'm glad. Since we miraculously have cells filled with tattooed Death Eaters in their starkers, I'd say we have full dockets for the Wizengamot until well into next year. Until then—"

"Ma'am," a younger Auror butted in. "Why are they still starkers?"

"Because you can't hide a Portkey, wand, knife, or any other insidious anything on your naked body, Olsen!" Moody barked.

"Also, any and all clothing seems to instantly vapourise on contact with their skin, oddly enough," Amelia said with a shrug.

The black cat burped, a wisp of shadowy darkness escaping its mouth.

"Odd that the babies don't seem to have that particular issue—" Olsen muttered to himself.

"Well, the very next time that we have a full moon Dark magic run-by-a-sodding-megalomaniac ritual going on, do feel free to throw yourself in and see if your clothes stick to your spotty arse, Olsen," Alastor snapped. "Until then, however, get these babies to the clinic. NOW!"

The startled young Auror scrambled to obey even as the babies giggled amongst themselves.

Moody sighed. "Alright, let's get the parents informed so these babies get back to their loving homes. They've had a ruddy long few days, yeah?"

"The end of the war could be a nice thing to make officially public and all," Amelia said dryly.

Moody shook his head and huffed, "One step at a time, slavedriver."

"That's Madam Slavedriver to you, Auror Moody."

Incoming first-year Harry Potter looked out across Black Lake as their boats drifted along towards Hogwarts, and his chest swelled with excitement.

"What do you think, Neville? Do you think we'll be in Gryffindor? Just like mum and dad?"

Neville grinned. "Maybe, Harry! Wouldn't that be great? Mum said she really loved Herbology, and I hope it will be as fun for us as it was for her!"

"I really want to to be an Auror just like our parents," Harry proclaimed.

Neville grinned. "You'd have to get great grades in all of the core subjects, Harry!"

Harry jutted out his chin. "I can do it!"

"Hey, Potter, I heard from Weasel that your real parents are mopping floors at the Ministry," Gregory Goyle heckled.

"My real parents raised me," Harry scoffed. He narrowed his eyes at Goyle. "I hear yours are naked and in Azkaban."

Goyle's face turned an ugly red and he tried to stand up. The boat shook and tossled.

"Greg, sit down you ruddy idiot!" someone yelled.

SPLOOOSH!

The boat flipped over and the children that had been in it were all screeching and sputtering in the cold water.

The giant squid immediately surfaced, righted the boat, and thumped the children back in before disappearing under the waves.

"YOU IDIOT!" Pansy Parkinson screeched shrilly as she shivered, giving Goyle a glare that could strip paint.

Goyle wisely didn't say anything else and quietly folded his hands in his lap, staring morosely out over the water all the rest of the way to the castle.

RRRrrrrrrrraaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

A clarion roar sounded off as a great wyrm soared in the skies overhead, its expansive wingspan stretching out over the lake, seemingly from horizon to horizon.

Rrrrrraaaaaaah!

An answering call came from atop Hogwarts where a dragon jenny replied to her mate, her gargantuan nest settled on top of Hogwarts' spires.

The drake landed with great wingbeats, the wind causing the waves to jostle the boats.

The children ooohed and ahhhhed, enraptured by the sight.

The drake tore apart a carcass seemingly made of stars and galaxies, and the jenny tore it up even smaller, distributing pieces to her nest of hungry dragonets.

"Whoa!"

"Wow!"

"They're really real!"

"I've heard they teach at Hogwarts!"

"That's stupid. Dragons don't teach at a school!"

"I heard they aren't really dragons at all!"

"Whatever."

The children kept watching the parapets of Hogwarts even as they trailed upward. The dragons seemed to tire of being watched, and the large drake covered its family with one wing, making them all disappear as if by magic.

Hermione and Severus stood together on the ramparts of Hogwarts, their robes billowing behind them as the returning students settled in to their towers and their new lives, returning lives, and assorted lives at Hogwarts. Their potions business both popular and stable, it had left them time to settle as teachers at Hogwarts— Hermione teaching Potions and Severus teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts.

They didn't need the money, no.

Between the Prince inheritance, their apothecary business, the Malfoy family's reward for "saving their infant son from the unholy alliance of Abraxas Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange", and countless rewards from capturing the Dark Lord Volde-ported-to-the-Void and his Death Eaters—

Well, the Snape family was far, far from being destitute.

Not that they lived beyond their means or even large, no.

Save for their most impressive nest above Hogwarts, they lived modest lives, whose main pleasures in life (other than raising their family) was their expansive library and state-of-the-art potion brewing setups. Their spawn, children, hatchlings— well, whatever they truly were—grew up well-loved and nurtured, but certainly not spoiled.

Bedtime was strictly enforced. Teeth were always brushed. Books and toys were to be returned to their respective shelves before bed. Studies were always finished before play, and there was no mocking of Muggle education before they came to Hogwarts, either.

They weren't allowed to devour their nannies into a pocket dimension, either.

It made mummy really cranky.

It made daddy give them the scowl of perpetual damnation where there was never ice cream or biscuits or warm hugs either.

And no eating their fellows, peers, teachers, bullies, or even certified dunderheads, either. No matter how annoying or deserving they might be.

Hermione purred softly, snuggling up against her mate.

"Hrrr," Severus said, one Dark wing extending to wrap around her and pull her close. While their forms often changed and adapted to a particular situation, they often returned to the human, or mostly-human, ones in fond remembrance of their beginnings together.

"Next year, Solomon and Sophia will be old enough for Hogwarts officially," Hermione said. "Are you excited?"

"No," Severus said drolly. "I have no desire to watch them lose their minds and their common sense the moment they are sorted into a gang."

Hermione playfully swatted him. "Honestly, Severus. It's not that bad."

"Harrumph," he muttered, but there was no true fire or ire in his words. Hermione and he had become close at Hogwarts, after all. He looked down into her face, and his features softened.

"I love you," Hermione said, tendrils of Dark plasma rising from her head like sentient hair.

"And I, you, my beloved," he replied, his head dipping to tenderly capture her mouth. He smiled as he thought of something, and she looked at him with suspicion.

"What are you thinking of, love?" she asked.

Severus' smile was truly wicked. "I'm thinking that next year dear old Albus will get to deal with our children."

Hermione's eyes widened and then she burst out laughing.

Severus spun her around and dipped her body, his face pressed against hers in both tenderness and passion. "How many decades can we torture him, my love? Even after we have gone and left to nest ourselves in some other place— our children shall remain here to plague him still."

"Can we at least adopt Minerva?" Hermione asked, biting her lip.

Severus sighed wearily. "I suppose."

Hermione beamed at him, her face full of moonlight and happiness.

And so it was as the Snape "children" filtered into the world, little by little, some always staying behind to keep Albus perpetually on his toes. But Severus kept his promises, just as he always did. He allowed Hermione to adopt Minerva into their family, whisking the old cat Animagus off to new adventures where humans were nothing but fairy stories and life was the vastness of the cosmos under Hekate's most wise triple-headed gaze.

If Minerva had any complaints at all, she never once voiced them.

Not meow, not ever.

And every so often, the inheritors of Amelia Bones' old office would swear they saw a silver tabby cat appear to knock an old snow globe off the shelf and then disappear in a puff of dark space vapour.

And so they lived Darkly ever after.

Fin.

A/N: We hope you enjoyed this story. Please thank Dragon and the Rose for staying up past her pumpkin hour to finish betaing this fic.