Life Eternal
By Alecto Perdita
Epilogue - The Place We Come To Rest
Beta'ed by Amanda Saitou
Rating: R
Posted: September 8, 2005
Revised: September 17, 2005

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the intellectual property of J.K. Rowling, and is being used in this fanfiction for fan purposes only. All situations, opinions and characters not belonging to J.K. Rowling are the intellectual property of Alecto Perdita.

Summer ended and life's pace picked up again for the Snape family. Sinclair and Jessica returned from their extended honeymoon the week that Severus was preparing to return to Hogwarts. Shavonne was getting ready to begin her apprenticeship in London and Siobhan's shop was as busy as ever, although business had slowed a bit after the Midsummer Ball. After sitting down to the last breakfast they would have together as a family until the next holidays, an owl suddenly swooped in through the open window and dropped a letter onto their table. It flew across the room and settled on the mantle over the fireplace, turning its attention to preening its feathers.

Before Severus could do anything else, Shavonne snatched up the envelope and exclaimed, "It's from Cedric."

He sat back and scowled unpleasantly while nursing his cup of coffee. "What a pleasant way to start the morning." He drawled.

Jessica shot him a glare before urging her new sister-in-law, "Read it."

"To the Snape family, including the Professor," Shavonne paused for a second and giggled. "I hope you're all well and I imagine you must be busy now that the summer's over. My last two jobs since leaving England took me to Italy and then Russia. Florence was beautiful and Moscow was cold, but I guess that goes without saying."

"What inane commentaries." Severus grumbled under his breath. Potter had never been succinct and it didn't appear as if he would ever learn how to be either.

"Oh, hush," Siobhan scowled lightly.

"I'm actually back in England now and I'm staying with my cousin right now. I don't know what possessed me to go back and visit them. It turns out that my uncle has passed away from a heart attack two years ago and my aunt has since moved out of the house. I was so surprised to learn my cousin had married a witch and they have a healthy one-year-old baby boy. They've been very hospitable so far and have even asked me to be the godfather. I'm going to stay here for a while and take some time for myself. Soon, I won't have much of that left. I hope to see you all soon. With the best of wishes, Cedric."

"Well, that's good to hear."

"Hopefully, he'll visit soon."

Siobhan laughed at the enthusiasm of her children. She turned and winked at Severus, "It's almost like Cedric's one of the family."

Severus almost spat out the sip of coffee he had just taken. "You must be jesting!"

She simply laughed and turned back to her children. He looked back into his murky beverage and couldn't help but think certain parts had been written especially to him.

-x-x-x-

When Severus went to pick up his supplies from the apothecary in Diagon Alley the next day, he stopped by Flourish & Blott's to buy a copy of Bram Stoker's Dracula. He wasn't sure what prompted him to make the purchase.

It took him less than a week to finish the novel. He found the prose and the themes to be trite, sensational, and completely and utterly Victorian. The Count Dracula could hardly be considered a worthy literary villain. With that done, he retreated quickly back into the more practical world of nonfiction.

But Severus still didn't understand why Abraham would allude to Potter as Mina Harker, the younger man was nowhere as pure or even as moral as the epitome of conservative male fantasy. He thought of the lightning bolt-shaped scar that evil had craved into Potter's forehead so soon after birth, and he was sure it still remained to this day.

Unlike Mina Harker, he did not think the scars of Potter's taint would ever fade (1).

-x-x-x-

Life quickly fell back into its normal routine when Severus returned to Hogwarts. Day in an day out, he tried to fill the heads of impossible children with some semblance of knowledge, assigned detentions, took arbitrary points from Gryffindors, made potions, verbally taunted Minerva, suppressed the urge to murder Albus at least twice a week, and gave out some more detentions. There was also his nosy family calling him over the Floo network at various times.

On some mornings at breakfast in the Great Hall, the family owl would drop one of Potter's regular letters, forwarded to him by either Siobhan or Sinclair. Potter wrote about his new godson, visiting old friends who had passed away tragically, and possible career plans and alternatives for the future. Siobhan, Sinclair, Jessica, and Shavonne each took their turns in writing back to Potter, and each letter forwarded to Severus came with a plead for Severus to write back for once. He returned the letter after reading it and refused every time.

That was how the two months passed until just two days after All Hallow's Eve, the morning edition of the Daily Prophet came out with its most shocking headline since the one declaring the return of the Dark Lord Voldemort. Harry Potter had been spotted in Diagon Alley and had been hauled off by Aurors to the Ministry of Magic, where they finally determined this was no impostor. The entire Great Hall had never seen such cacophony of noise before, and both Albus and Minerva were absent at breakfast.

Severus ignored the noise, his gossiping colleagues, and the Daily Prophet. Instead, he read Potter's latest letter about his visit with an old friend paralyzed in the war that had been forwarded to him that same morning.

Hogwarts had never seen as much chaos as that November 2nd. The students couldn't concentrate on their schoolwork and the teachers found it impossible to keep their students attention, no matter how many house points they took. It was impossible to avoid the rumors and speculations since it was all any of the students would talk about. The students of Hogwarts diverted all energy to devising the most ingenious and creative theories- if not ridiculous as well- about where Harry Potter had been for the last six years and what he had been doing.

Snape was even more irritable and unreasonable than usual. Everyone in Hogwarts was assured in the knowledge that it was because of Harry Potter's return, since everyone knew about the mutual and legendary hate shared between the two men. The Potions Professor must have been so agitated by the situation that he went so far as to take points from his own House. Imagine that!

Former Potions Substitute Professor Granger turned up at lunch demanding to see Headmaster Dumbledore, but the Headmaster and his Deputy were still nowhere to be found by then. Professor Granger refused to leave until she did and ended up substituting for Professor McGonagall's afternoon classes.

Professor Malfoy was also annoyed with the fuss over the Boy-Who-Lived. He was constantly seen mumbling obscenities toward Harry Potter under his breath that day and even going so far as to publicly insult the hero in one of his classes. However, those who knew Professor Malfoy and most of the Slytherins didn't see any real loathing behind the veil of harsh words.

Owls were seen all over the school grounds, both in and on route to delivery. The school owls never got any rest that day between delivering letters after letters. Two duels broke out between fractions of the Gryffindor and Slytherin Houses over Professor Snape's honor of all things. Apparently, the reappearance of Harry Potter and Snape's subsequent reaction revived old suspicions and accusations. Twelve people were hospitalized in the hospital wing by dinner that evening.

However, everything paled in comparison to what happened at dinner. About ten minutes to seven, the first of the professors, with Snape among them, and the students arrived at Great Hall. They were all collectively stunned to find Headmaster Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall to his right as usual, and Harry Potter in Snape's usual seat to the left of the headmaster. The professors were all crowded by the teacher's entrance to the side and the students were frozen in the center of the Great Hall in-between the House Tables.

Professor Granger was the first to react as she raced toward the Boy-Who-Lived. Harry Potter stood and caught her in a tight embrace. The students continued to watch in stunned silence as Professor Granger began crying softly in Harry Potter's arms. With Snape in the lead, the rest of the teachers standing in the doorway moved toward the Head Table as well.

More students flooded into the Great Hall and froze when they saw Professor Snape loom over Harry Potter and Professor Granger. Everyone, even the headmaster appeared the slightest bit anxious, in the Hall held their breaths and there remained only an overwhelming silence trembling on the edge.

"You're in my seat, Potter." Snape's words were heard clearly over Professor Granger's quiet sob.

"You know me, Professor. Since I appear to be the guest of honor for tonight, do you mind lending me this place of honor for one night?" Harry Potter said with a slight smirk.

The two men stared at each other long and hard as Professor Granger began to recompose herself.

Snape was the first to look away with an expression of disgust. "You would do as you wish anyway, Potter."

And a few gasped as Snape sat down in the empty seat to Harry Potter's left. He even drew a handkerchief from somewhere and offered it to Professor Granger. The students stared openly with gaping jaws. Snape noticed this and glared at them before barking, "Well, sit down already, unless you're looking for detention."

This sent all the students scrambling for their respective House Tables while Harry Potter's chuckles rumbled through the Great Hall and confused looks were shared between everyone. The Great Hall was filled in record time as the news of Harry Potter's arrival spread through the school at a speed that broke the sound barrier. The cheering for Harry Potter was deafening when Headmaster Dumbledore re-introduced the Man-Who-Lived.

Throughout the meal, all eyes were on Harry Potter and also Professor Snape by association. No one understood why Snape had chosen to sit next to Harry Potter or why Harry Potter had not protested the arrangement at all. They wouldn't even spare each other a glance, much less exchange even one word. Harry Potter made conversation with the headmaster and answered questions passed to him down the length of the Head Table.

Snape ignored Harry Potter and Harry Potter ignored Snape in return. Many a students were disappointed that night and even more Galleons were lost in the betting pool.

When Snape rose from the table just before dessert was served, Harry Potter grabbed one of Snape's sleeves. All sound died in the Great Hall at that sight and Snape glared furiously at Harry Potter. Despite the silence, only those closest to the Head Table heard the short conversation that ensued.

"Yes, Mister Potter?"

Harry Potter took a sip from his goblet first, before asking in a nonchalant manner. "Maybe you could fill me in on what I've missed."

Snape stared at Harry Potter some more before saying, "Do as you wish."

Harry Potter released Snape's sleeve and turned to his dessert as the Potions Professor swept out of the Great Hall like an oversized bat. There would be all the more scandalous gossip that night and unseemly remarks made in the privacy of the common rooms and the dormitories.

-x-x-x-

Harry had almost forgotten how damp, dark, wet-smelling the corridors of the Slytherin dungeon were. He had left halfway through dessert so he could avoid the after-dinner crowd. He didn't think Severus wanted the whole school to know the Man-Who-Lived was visiting him so late at night. However, the word "secret" didn't exist in the standard Hogwarts vocabulary and everyone at Hogwarts would know about it halfway through the breakfast bangers.

He stopped in front of the potions' classroom where he had spent seven years. The door was locked and refused to open. He thought better than to try and force it open, and he approached the door to Snape's office adjacent to the classroom instead.

He raised his hand to knock.

"Come in."

The door swung open under his fist.

Harry hesitated for a second before stepping into the office. They just stared at each other for about the first minute or so. Severus was seated behind the desk, still dressed as if he had just come from teaching a class. He looked as Harry had last seen him since he left in the middle of July. That was a strangely comforting thought for Harry.

Though Harry reverted to his true appearance, he had changed, but the metamorphosis was subtle. He acquired a nice tan from the weeks he spent in Florence and the week he toured Greece afterwards. A bit of that Darkness had abated with the breaking of the Lifelust and the Bloodlust curses, and the weeks spent in the sun appeared to help even more. He no longer wore the colored contacts and his eyes were once again the brilliant green Severus had unconsciously wanted to see again.

"I see you managed to escape your fan club." Severus drawled in an almost cautious manner.

Harry smirked. "Well, you know me."

"Indeed…"

After a few more moments of silence, Harry approached the desk carefully. His footsteps resounded painfully loud, even though there was no audible echo. He placed his hands carefully on the tabletop, as if it would crumble under his touch. Transferring his weight to the desk, he leaned forward slightly and smiled in a way that was awkward, shy, and endearing all at once.

"So how have Siobhan, Jessica, Sinclair, and Shavonne been?" Harry asked.

"Why don't you ask them yourself? You should know. They're the ones writing to you every week." Severus snorted.

"I noticed I haven't received any letters from you."

"I have no reason to write you, Potter."

"I know," Harry bowed his head slightly, but Severus could still see the bright green eyes he had been searching for unconsciously since he found out Cedric was really Harry. "But I still missed you though."

For a moment, Severus' breath was caught in his throat. "Why ever?"

"I just did," Harry shrugged. "I've grown used to you…"

"One can grow used to fungus given time."

"It's a good thing you don't kiss like fungus then."

"You can't possibly mean to…" Severus trailed off.

The idea was beyond preposterous.

Harry's face turned red at the very suggestion. "No! I just mean… If this has taught us anything, it's we don't know nearly as much about each other as we previously thought."

"Is this a proposition of some sort?"

"To be friends." Harry rushed to reply.

Severus looked up fully into Harry's face and they both knew something had been irrevocably changed in that instance.

"May I offer you a drink, Potter?"

"I would like that, Professor. One question though, have you've always kept your liquor in your office?"

"It's in my quarters, you dolt."

Severus didn't seem to mean it in an affectionate way, but Harry thought it was a good enough start.

The End

(1) Mina Harker received a burn on her forehead when a communal wafer was pressed to her forehead to bless her after drinking Dracula's blood. The burn, a symbol of her contamination, healed completely after Dracula's defeat. For those of you that have seen/read League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Mina Harker never turned in the original source novel.

And that's it, the end of Life Eternal! I hope you have enjoyed reading this piece as much as I had writing it (which actually can't be that much now that I think about it...). Please don't kill me for this open ending. Whether or not there will be a sequel to follow this, they both have their entire lives ahead of them.

There was actually a lot of backstory that I created that never got the chance to be utilized in this fic. If you're interested, some of that information is available in my final commentaries at http/ Also if you have an LJ, I would love it if you would take the poll about your final feedback at http/ Even if you don't have an LJ, you're free to comment in the post (my journal is open to anonymous comments) with your opinions, or even email me if you want.

Lots of love and kisses to my wonderful beta's: amandasaitou and epysiarch. You guys are the best, and I really hope you're alright epysiarch. I would especially like to thank those of you awesome readers that seemed to have reviewed almost every week without fail. Thanks for helping me to feel this was not all written for naught. Thanks for all your reviews ahead of time!