Epilogue

"And that's really what happened, Uncle Sev?" the little curly-haired girl asked him with wide eyes. "Because that would mean that you're a real hero!"

Severus looked at the five-year-old whirlwind with a fond smile. Somehow, with time, he had still gotten a family, including enough children to never feel a moment of boredom in his life. Not that the last years had been boring for him. To his surprise, he enjoyed doting on Hermione's little ones as all of them were surprisingly well-behaved and interested in anything he had to say. Spending time with them was much different than teaching at school, probably because none of them was scared of his sometimes broody expression. For some strange reason, those three little children adored him and he used the chance to shamelessly spoil them whenever they came to visit him. He gave them everything he had always missed as a child, attention, affection and a considerable amount of his time that he usually spent with reading to them or teaching them whatever they desired to know.

"This story was full of heroes, Carliene and your mummy is one of them," he said.

The girl chuckled. "I know that," she said, pulling a face. Uncle Ron and Uncle Harry don't let me hear the end of it. It's like the only thing they talk about when they come visiting. It's really boring. Do you think I'll also have such exciting adventures when I'm finally allowed to go to Hogwarts?"

Severus rolled his eyes. "Heaven forbid. But if you are anything like your daddies, there will be lots of excitement waiting for you. I swear they almost drove some of the teachers into early retirement."

Little Carliene nodded excitedly. "Uncle Sev? What happened to Voldemort? Did they lock him away in Azkaban? Or is he dead?" The little girl wrinkled her forehead. "No, he can't be. Otherwise, mummy would have gotten her magic back, right?"

He nodded with a sigh. Over the years he had gotten used to Hermione's magic and he had no longer qualms about using it for the right things. After Hermione had finished her potion apprenticeship with him, the two of them had come off with a great many spells and potions, because even though Hermione could not cast any spells herself, her knack for arithmancy was of great importance when they developed new things. Their newest project was finding a cure for Cruciatus-induced damage and finally, it appeared like they were only one step away from finishing the necessary potion.

It wasn't long until the bushy-haired Gryffindor had made a name of her own and no one cared if she was a squib or a witch. Hermione had been right: she could do anything - and she had. Writing a book had only been the first step on her way and it had made her a rich woman because of course everybody wanted to read the true story about Voldemort's rise, his youth and also his downfall. While the twins eagerly opened their eye-cancer inducing joke shop in the middle of Diagon Alley, Hermione had really outdone herself with that book. She had managed to put everything on paper the world wanted and needed to know, without saying too much or endangering his secrets. Severus Snape was a war hero these days and no one said any different. It was a small miracle.

Severus looked at the girl, sitting in front of him on the floor and smiled. "No one is calling him Lord Voldemort these days," he said with a grin. "That would imply this man still held any form of power, which he does not. "No, he is not in prison. They did consider Azkaban for him, but as he and your mum are magically linked, that was not an option. No one wanted the saviour of the wizarding world to suffer the effects of dementors through the bond. After a while, the MInistry decided that a life without magic, money, servants or followers was enough of a punishment for the man and even though there was a hefty protest from some parties, time has shown that they were right."

Carliene looked at him with wide eyes. "So he's still alive? Where is he?"

Severus smiled. "Going by Rita Skeeter's last newspaper article he is living in his mother's house these days. Some years ago this place wasn't more than a shed and it's not much better now. As far as I know, Bellatrix Lestrange lives with him, as she refused to leave her master's side, even though he lost everything that earned him this title once. Draco and his father were very thorough to strip him of anything valuable and important."

"You mean the new Minister?" the little girl asked with a concentrated expression. That little curly redhead had her mother's intellect, making connections and assumptions right and left. He had no doubts that she would follow in her mother's footsteps, without being overly compliant, like Hermione had been. Growing up as a daughter of the infamous Weasley twins the girl had established a good sense of humour and a tolerance to mischief.

"Exactly. Back then Draco hadn't been Minister though, but he and his father had a special interest in bringing Tom Riddle down. One could almost call them vindictive."

And Draco wasn't the only vindictive one. Rita Skeeter had developed an obsession with her former capturer. It had not taken her long to air every one of the man's dark little secrets, dissembling his name and reputation bit by bit. Severus still did not like the disagreeable woman and refused to exchange a word with her, but he could not deny that she had been useful in his former master's downfall. No one feared him any longer, which was probably the greatest punishment for him, apart from losing his magic.

"Is it true that the Minister and my mum have been enemies at school? Uncle Ron once said something like that, but I don't believe him. Mummy is working for the Minister, after all," the little girl said and wrinkled her nose.

Uncle Ron should start to learn to mind his own business, Severus thought. He should concentrate on his Quidditch career or on shagging his ever-changing girlfriends. This way he at least doesn't annoy the people around him. But to his little goddaughter he said: "Draco and your mum haven't always been the best of friends, I believe. But once they got to know each other, they came to appreciate having an intelligent conversation partner."

Carliene chuckled. He was sure she could relate to that problem, as she preferred spending time with him instead of playing with her hordes of cousins. He did not mind, as he found her presence equally enjoyable as Hermione's, who came to visit him every other day and still wore her pendant most of the time. This way she was never far and usually they exchanged thoughts about their different project back and forth every single day. Hermione was always only a thought away for him.

She was a busy woman these days, her current position as the minister's undersecretary not helping in the least. It had been a brilliant move from Draco's side. Not only that Hermione was probably the most effective person he could have found for the job, she also was also a war hero and built a bridge to some parts of the wizarding world that so far had felt excluded by the government. Hermione wasn't only a muggle-born witch and a Squib, she also had a passion for magical beings and fought passionately for their rights. Draco interestingly supported her and Severus could see that he did not only do it out of calculation. Over the years he had seen the boy change and grow into a thoughtful and well-behaved man. And even though his godson was still a Slytherin at heart, he had not become a second Albus Dumbledore. Severus had made sure of that.

For a while, the little girl did not say anything more and buried her nose in the book he had given her to read from his library. But after a while, she looked up at him with a contemplative expression. "Do you think Voldemort still tries to find and capture my mum? He is still linked with her and could undo all his problems by getting her, right? What if he tries to come to power again? I don't like that he's still out there, somewhere."

"There is no reason to be afraid of him any longer," he said soothingly. "He is barely even sane any longer and the woman living with him now, is barely more than a house-elf for him."

It was true. Without Bellatrix, the man would probably have starved to death - well, or as close as he could ever come to death. A few years ago Tom Riddle had pleaded with the ministry to execute him through the veil, as he said he could no longer stand this pitiful existence. It was shortly after a gigantic snake had been found dead close to his home, implying that the former Dark Lord had really started to get rid of his Horcruxes in the attempt to end his life. Unfortunately for him, there was one Horcrux left he did not know about. Therefore the attempt to kill him by sending him through the veil ended with the man simply stepping through, much to the astonishment of the audience. Just then Lord Voldemort realized that he was damned to a life without magic and from there on his sanity had started to disintegrate into madness. If Rita Skeeter was to be believed, he only talked to snakes these days, completely ignoring the dark-haired Black-sister that had sworn to serve him, until she took her last breath. It was the best punishment he could imagine for Bellatrix, craving her master's attention day by day but never getting even a word of thanks from him.

"Those two are not a danger any longer, you can be sure of that. They don't even leave that shithole of a house any longer," he said, before remembering to not use such foul language with a five-your old. Carliene giggled. "Don't tell your mum I said that," he hastily added.

"I might be persuaded not to," the cheeky little thing replied, looking at him with a wide Weasley-grin. "How about we go to your lab and you show me how to brew a tickling potion? Or could we make some itching powder?"

He looked at her with a raised brow. "What do you need that for? Did Adam tease you about your unwillingness to play Quidditch with him, again?"

"He might," the redhead admitted with a carefully neutral expression, that reminded him of himself. Merlin, when had she started to pick that up?

Severus looked at her with a sigh. "Alright, I'll show you how to do it," he finally said with a fond smile on his lips. There was no doubt that his little god-daughter was going to be a Slytherin, one day. And she had already wrapped him around her little finger.

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A.N.: Alright guys. This is the end of this story. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Several words regarding that ending: it was a deliberate decision to not give Hermione her magic back. I wanted her "mistake" to have consequences. It often appears to me, that in many stories every mistake can somehow be undone. But that's not real life. We all know, that we often wish to take something back or turn back time, but can not. So I decided to let that show in my story, too.

At some point, I might add a few outtakes to the story. I am not sure if I do this, but I have some scenes in mind that I deliberately chose to not write, as they did not really contribute to the story. Would you enjoy reading that?

Thank you to everyone taking the time to read and comment. Your support means the world to me!