Well here we are, the epilogue, the final chapter… hope you enjoy it. Thank you for sticking around this long, and extreme thanks to anyone who reviewed, especially to those of you who reviewed multiple chapters. And thank you in advance for any reviews on this one; I look forward to reading them.
Oh, and don't forget to read the note at the end please.
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Thirty years. Almost to the day.
Thirty years ago Voldemort had died – and this day had been celebrated as a national holiday ever since, despite technically being the day after. After all, the former Dark Lord had died just mere minutes before midnight.
It had not been so much of a holiday for Severus. For him, it was a reminder of what else had happened that day. The day that he had lost his freedom, the day of his enslavement. At least it had crossed another year off his list, putting him one year closer to finally being free.
And now that year, that day had arrived. Thirty years later. Twenty-nine years of an illusion of freedom for ten and a half months of the year, broken up by one and half months of coming back to reality. Of course, he hadn't always managed the full ten. After all, he couldn't hope to avoid Harry Potter completely for all of that time.
He felt almost nervous, walking through Hogwarts towards the Room of Requirement, where he was due to meet his master. He had anticipated this day for so long, and yet now that it had arrived, he felt almost scared. Had he ever, truly, been free in his life? He had gone from being a child under the influence of his father, to a Death Eater under the Dark Lord's control… and then he had served Dumbledore and the Order, before finally being bound to his master.
Being free scared him. But he would not give it up for the world.
His wife walked beside him. Narcissa Snape, once named Malfoy. It had taken a long time for them to renew their friendship, for him to accept that she was not like her deceased husband, that she had not served the Dark Lord willingly. Even once he had accepted it, he refused to get close to her, believing it to be unfit for her to socialise with a slave.
An opinion she had firmly contradicted.
Courting her had not been easy. For a start, he had been forced to seek approval from his master, and despite knowing that Harry would never say no, it had still been one of the most nerve-racking things he had ever had to do. Just getting her to believe that Harry's permission was needed had taken days, and been excruciatingly humiliating.
But he had done it, and Harry had been all too willing to say yes. And true, that was not the only time that his permission had to be sought. Indeed, over the years it had become a regular thing. Nothing had been more humiliating than to be forced to ask to be allowed to sleep with his girlfriend.
It had been embarrassing for Harry, too.
He had not asked permission to marry her. No, she had done that, had spoken to his master before proposing, thus denying Severus any excuse for saying no. And the wedding had been easy – although slaves in the past had been forbidden to marry free women, Severus had never legally been a slave, so the problem had never existed.
Harry had had to be present at the ceremony, of course. Snape could not sign this type of legal document without his master's presence and signature. He had been surprised though, when Harry had brought a wedding gift of another legal document - this time, giving to Narcissa all of the possessions which Severus had previously been forced to sign over to his master.
Snape no longer worked at Hogwarts; he had left shortly after his wife became pregnant. Instead, Harry had him 'on loan' to Narcissa, allowing the slave bond to operate. His master had once offered to transfer the bond, to give him properly to his wife, but Narcissa had declined, stating that she wanted a husband not a slave. Hermione, who had found the transfer spell, just shrugged and said personally she wouldn't mind the former either.
Shortly after, she had met the man she had later married.
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They entered the Room of Requirement as a couple, arm in arm. As they saw the two occupants of the room, Severus detached himself from his wife, bowing deeply.
"How are you feeling, Severus?" asked Harry, now in his late fifties and the proud father of three.
"Tired of being a slave, Master."
"Good. I'm tired of being a master." Harry smiled briefly and nodded in greeting to Narcissa. "Amy decided not come?"
Amy was their daughter, who had just recently come of age. "No, she's staying with Draco at the moment."
It wasn't really surprising. Amy had grown up seeing her father disappear for six weeks every summer, and had soon identified Harry as the culprit. Naturally, she had hated him for it. And of course as soon as she had learned the reason for his absences, this hatred increased tenfold, even when both of her parents tried to convince her that it was not Harry's fault. She had, in fact, accused him on more than one occasion of enjoying her father's slavery.
Severus had not been happy with her.
Ginevra Potter entered the room, and he bowed again. "Mistress."
She smiled at him, and held up the documents in her hand, passing them over to him. "They're already signed, Severus."
He looked almost disbelievingly at the words in front of him. Two signatures, signing his immediate emancipation, removing the guardianship that had been a legal reality for almost thirty years. "Thank you, Mistress."
"You're welcome."
With everyone present, Hermione took charge. The Transfiguration teacher – recently promoted to Deputy Headmistress - was the reason that they had been allowed to use the school for this spell. "Okay, let's start. Severus – I'm sorry, but you'll need to be on your knees again."
Harry smiled softly and added encouragingly, "This is the last time, Severus. The last time ever."
He fell gracefully into a kneeling position, his head bent almost to the ground. The position felt normal, after decades of practice, but he kept that thought in mind. The last time. The very last.
Harry first removed the second spell that had been placed on him, the one giving him his limited freedom. He felt the mind link open for just a second, then disappear entirely. The link had actually come in useful on one occasion, when a former Death Eater had kidnapped him intent on gaining revenge. Harry had used the link to find his location, and then proceeded to both rescue him and imprison one more criminal in one fell swoop.
With one ritual over, Harry began the second, the incantation that would grant Snape his freedom. It was far quicker than the previous one, just two words. It felt rather insignificant for such a powerful spell really, as had the original curse, but then the killing spell was also only two words. Harry and Hermione had both spent weeks researching the spells, making sure that they had chosen the correct one.
As the spell was cast, it was as if a huge weight had lifted from his shoulders, and he gasped for breath. The feeling was unbelievable, indescribable, and he simply felt stunned. He lifted his head, started to say "Thank you Master," only to realise that he was no longer required to use that honorific. "Thank you, my Liege," he said instead, aware of the fact that the bond had not gone completely but simply altered, keeping his allegiances to his former master in place despite his freedom.
"Severus," said his new liege lord, "please, call me Harry."
"Thank you, Harry," he said, still overwhelmed. He allowed himself to be brought to his feet, and then clung to his wife in a desperate hug. Turning back, he added with gratitude, "Thank you Hermione… my lady…"
"It's Ginny. Just Ginny."
"Thank you, Ginny."
"Severus," said Harry gently, "you don't have to thank us. You're free now. Don't hang around here. Go home. See your daughter, invite Draco and his kids over. Spend time with your wife. Go and buy something valuable, or something else you haven't been able to do these past years. Be free."
He looked at the man who had tried his hardest to make his life bearable for the past three decades, and then nodded, his respect showing in his eyes. Then he turned and left without speaking. No bows, no honorifics. Just left Harry Potter's presence, his wife following behind him.
The three still standing in the room looked at each other.
"It's finally over."
"Thirty years. Sometimes I just never thought it would end."
Ginny nodded. "All our children grew up with him as a slave, serving them. They've never known him any different. I'm half surprised they turned out so well."
Hermione snorted. "The way you punished them that time they made him kneel, I'm not." She looked at the two of them, two of her oldest friends, and then smiled, gestured to the door. "Come on Harry, let's take your own advice. Let's go home."
They left, following in the wake of the man who was no longer a slave.
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Author's Final NotesWell there you have it. A happy ending. Just took them thirty years to get there of course.
Obviously there's no way to do a sequel to this story. However, I did wonder about possibly doing a short one-shot about the Severus/Narcissa romance mentioned in the epilogue – would that interest anyone? I make no promises, but if enough people like the idea then I might consider it.
Hope you enjoyed the story.