TW: This chapter contains some coarse language, violence and mild suggestive adult themes.

Snape tore up the drive way. Gravel sprayed under each foot fall. The wind caught in his face as it tugged at the hedges growing either side.

He vaulted over the gate and he slowed, scanning the area around him. Silently, he cast a detection charm. No one had arrived yet. Maybe they still had a chance.

Snape strode to the front door and banged the knocker. No one answered. He knocked again. "Tobias! Open up!" He continued to scan the yard and horizon beyond.

After a few moments the door was opened by Diana. "Sorry Severus, I was jus -" Snape pushed past her and into the hallway.
"Tobias?" he repeated as he checked the dining room.
"Oh, in the lounge, with the lads, as always. What is this about?"

"You have to get out."

"Excuse me?" Diana frowned, "I'm sorry young man, but I'm afraid this is my house and I won't be-" Snape forced his way into the lounge.
There they were. The four of them 'lads.' Laughing at some ridiculous muggle program. Just like before, Derek was the one to look up.

"Severus!" he cried, "I was beginning to lose hope!" Duncan was beaming at him and got up to embrace Snape.

Tobias sat transfixed by the wand in Snape's hand.
"Tobias," he called him back, "You need to go, all of you. They're coming here!"
Wide black eyes met his. "You're lot? You brought them here?!"

"Not by purpose you dolt!"

"Who?" asked Derek.

"But you led them here!" Tobias paused. "Aren't there laws or police to stop this happening!?"

"Stop what happening?"

"In this case they're not applicable," replied Snape. "Where's Briony?"

"Briony? Well, she'll be at the parlour."

Snape ran a hand through his hair. "Shit."

"What the hell is going on!" shouted Lucas.

Tobias and Snape looked at each other. The older man went to open his mouth but Snape shook his head. "No. No, you can't."

"Can't what?" asked Derek.

Tobias shrugged. "Haven't left me with much of a choice, have you, boy," he muttered.

Snape's heart thuddered in his chest. He was painfully aware they'd be caught if they lingered much longer and Briony was running out of time. This would only slow things down. "We have to get going," he urged Tobias. "You can explain to them later."

Tobias looked at him, searching his face.

"Severus Snape is a wizard," Tobias told his family.

Snape could hear his own uneven breathing. Suddenly, Lucas started to laugh. "You've got to be kidding us," he told Tobias. "A wizard? Really, of all the stupid, idiotic ideas-"

"It's true," Snape replied softly.

"Sure, now if you don't mind," said Lucas, resuming his seat. "I'm going to watch T.V."

Snape sighed. He really had hoped it wouldn't come down to petty power displays. He turned and aimed his wand at the screen.

"Reducto." The glass blew instantaneously, the shards suspended in the air in front of them.

Derek stared at him in shock. Duncan gaped at the screen and Diana had gone very, very pale.

"I'm afraid," she began shakily, turning to Snape, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
"Yes, I know, but you all need to come with me. There are people coming who will-"

"Out!" she screeched. "Out now! We do not condone acts of the Devil!" Her face contorted before his eyes. Gone was the bustling Molly Weasley, now there only stood fear, in its purest form.

Severus turned to Tobias for help. His father just stood there, emotionless. Watching everything unfold.

"Derek," Severus implored the man in front of him and ignored the woman screaming hysterically.

Derek glanced back at the television, where Lucas lifted a shard of glass out of the air.

"The Devil's work!" Diana shouted into Snape's ear.

"Oh shut up, you infernal woman!" He turned on her.

Derek snapped around. "How dare you talk to my mother like that!" He shouted. "We let you into our home, we took you in!"

"Derek, listen, I-"

"You never belonged here! You never belonged with us!" Derek had now gone red in the face. "I can't believe I called you a brother."

Severus could feel the walls closing in on him, inside his head, shutting himself away from what was unfolding in front of him. Severus had had enough, there was only so much of this he could withstand. Snape was already crystallizing around him. That was when he realized. He had let them in.

He glanced back to Tobias. The man just shook his head sadly, but the glint was back in his black eyes. This is how they were, he and his father. There wasn't anything that could change that.

You can't change other people. He had learnt that from Lily. You can only change yourself.

"I think it's time you left, boy," his father reminded him. "By the sounds of it, you've a spot of work to do."

Snape nodded. "Farewell then."

He left the house quickly but remained in the yard. Snape couldn't care less whether they saw him performing any more magic. He kept his eyes on the shadows as he cast several protective charms. They weren't as strong as they could be but hopefully they'd last until he found Briony. Snape turned back to the drive way and sent a patronus cantering away as he went.

The hedges provided sufficient coverage until he reached the lane. Snape slipped into the gutter as he heard the first scream. He didn't start, only ran harder. It wouldn't take them long to find him.

The dark mark swirled into the sky above, the clouds gathering overhead. As he reached the top of the hill he saw them.

They formed a line on the horizon. The unearthly rays from above tinting their golden masks green. Fire and sparks flared from their wands as the Death Eaters torched the township.

Now the muggles had realized they were under attack. Their screams suffocated the air as they surged in and out of their buildings, flooding the street in a confusion.

Snape ducked from the lane into the space between two of the buildings as flash of green passed by his head. He waited several moments. They had not noticed him. Snape run around the back of the building.

Out in the street the second assail of curses were being fired. At this point they had little aim. The idea was not to direct hits, merely display power. A stunning spell bounced off a nearby wall and shattered the adjacent window

Snape scanned the crowd of unfamiliar faces. Briony was most likely inside, tucked away. He continued to run through the back of the buildings in an attempt to locate the parlour. Snape was halfway down the street when he heard a noise behind him.

He turned and froze into a crouch.

A back door slammed open as a figure was thrown out onto the ground.
"Please!" He recognized the voice immediately

"Please what? Please with cheese sauce? A fine saucy girl you'll make for me..." The Death Eater staggered down the steps, a hard laugh boiling in his throat. Snape lept to his feet. "ADAVADA KEDAVRA!"

Greyback landed with a dull beside Briony. She scrambled up into a sitting position, staring wildly at Snape. He grunted a greeting and picked up the discarded wand.

"Well," started Briony, struggling to get her breathing under control. Suddenly she turned on him. "Did you bloody well have to draw it so close!?"

Snape considered her for a moment, before offering her his hand. She continued to stare at him. He sighed. "I had to wait for a clear shot, didn't I?"

"Did you? Do you have any idea what he was going to do?" Briony took his hand.
"Yes," he said, pulling her to her feet. "More than you know." He scanned the street. "They won't spend long here. They'll lose interest and before long come go looking for the Farm House. You need leave: you all do." Snape met her eye. "I couldn't convince your family to leave but perhaps you can. Take the vehicles, horses, anything that will take you as far from here as quickly as possible. I'll buy you as much time as I can-"

Severus stiffened. Really, he should have known better. Known that infernal nuisance of a women would choose as precarious a time as this to pull him into what, could only, be known as a 'bear hug.' Honestly, did she know she rivalled Hagrid?

"Briony," Snape hissed, pushing her away. "You have to go, now." He shoved her again "Go!" With one final glance back, she ran off in the direction of the house.

Snape vanished the body and moved towards the lane. Wordlessly, he fired a stunning spell at the nearest Death Eater. He apparated to the opposite side of the lane. Snape aimed again.

"We're under fire!" screeched Alecto, "Watch you backs!"

He fired a cruciatus at the witch, only to have it blocked by another Death Eater. They turned and fired an inferno, sending the building beside him ablaze. Again he apparated and fired.

"Hold fire!" roared Malfoy over the screams of the muggles. The Death Eaters stopped and Lucius swept around them, waving his wand as he went.

"What is it?" Bellatrix hissed.

"There's only one signature," he murmured in reply.

Her face upturned in glee. Slowly, she stalked the ground in a wide circle, wand drawn. "Come out, come out, where ever you are. Come, come, Snivellius, you can't hide forever." She cackled and Carrow began to follow suit.
"We know you're hiding somewhere, why don't you come out?" her voice was a high pitch whine.

"Come out and play with the big boys!" snarled her brother. Amycus fired a cruciatus into the hole he had been, moments before.

The streets had now emptied of muggles, who had either fled inside or out of the township. The wind swept through. It tangled in the Folk's hair, tossed loose clothing and banged on the unshut doors.

Bellatrix and the Death Eaters continued to circle the lane. Backs straight and eyes bright. Suddenly the air was, once more, alight with curses.

But he had seen this happen before. A killing curse was already on his lips when he turned on the Death Eater behind him. They were nothing if not predictable. Snape took the opportunity to apparate as the noise escalated around him.

"There is an easier way to do this!" bellowed Bellatrix. She threw her mask to the ground. It bounced slightly, rolling into the gutter near where Snape now crouched.
Her voice suddenly mellowed, turning sickly and sweet. "We can all go up to the farm and have a tea party. We have all been so longing to meet your charming muggle relations." She fired into a building, setting the window alight.
"After all," she added light heartedly, "Your dearest Mother was so welcoming."

Snape stiffened.

"Don't you want to introduce us, Snivellus?" crowed Rosier. "We promise we won't bite-"
Snape sent a petrifying jinx at Rosier and apparated. He popped behind Carrow, fired a stunning spell, apparating again to narrowly miss the sister's hex. At this point the group had begun firing with renewed vigour. Several Death Eaters fell from their allies' spells and other's snarled in response, merely blocking the friendly fire.

"STOP!" screamed Bellatrix. They were immediately silent, all for the briefest pop-
"CRUCIO!"
The curse knocked Snape out of the air and onto the ground. He writhed on the ground under Bellatrix's gaze.

"Beg, Blood Traitor," she hissed. "Beg like the swine you are!" Bellatrix twisted her wand. Snape would not make a sound.

Behind her, Avery fired, the spell splitting down his middle, opening cuts along the length of Snape's body. His blood began to spill over the gravel lane.

"You have failed Severus. Again," Avery took of his mask to spit in his face.

The seconds seemed to drag on under Bellatrix's cold eyes, until finally- "You. Bore. Me." She sneered, casting him aside. "Malfoy!" the witch bellowed.
The wizard came forward slowly. Snape held his breath.

"You initiated it," spat Bellatrix, "Now you finish it. But just know this, Snivellius," she bent down by Snape's ear and hissed, her wand at his neck. "The Dark Lord will rise again. He always has and He always will. Even if it is us who must carry on in His eternal image. And that, isn't something an insolent halfblood, and insolent blood traitor like yourself, will ever be able to alter." She stood and faced her brother in law, her eyes dark with anticipation.

Malfoy loomed over him. The Death Eater's mask was still covering his face, but Snape could see his familiar grey eyes through the slits.
Severus pounded against the walls of Malfoy's mind, desperately searching for a way in, for a way he could make the other man cave. Malfoy meet his gaze and the cold, grey eyes hardened. He raised his wand, lips moulding into the shape of the curse.

Time seemed to stand still.

And then it came. It was just a flicker. For a split second, their minds met at the border. And Malfoy was no longer bearing over him as an executioner. There only stood Lucius.

Severus cast them the first shield spell before Bellatrix even hit the ground.

Lucius spun around to cast another as Severus lunged for his wand. They advanced together, stepping to the same internal beat.

Just so you know, we're even now, Lucius told him, sending a stunning spell into Amycus.
Hardly. Severus grunted as he ducked the next cruciatus. Slowly, the Death Eaters began to fall back. Their morale had never been strong enough. Perhaps back when the Dark Lord had first anointed them with his presence, when Voldemort himself was young and charismatic. When they had all been young enough to be taken in by a mad man and told power was of greater value than the ties of family and friendship, dark magic was stronger than love and to care was to show unforgivable weakness.

But they were no longer young, Severus reflected, as the last of his former comrades fell under his wand. Lucius stood beside him, breathing heavily. The other wizard stared at him.

"What?" Snape barked at him.
"You are aware you are still bleeding?"

Snape glanced down. His robes were drenched and the wounds open. Turning his wand on himself he closed the wounds with the counter curse. "I took Pain-Less and Blood Replenishing Potions before I left," he explained to his friend.

Lucius just looked at him and laughed. "Trust you, of all people, Severus." He cast off the mask. "It's only taken me the last twenty-four years," Lucius murmured to himself. "But you, you managed it in six."

Snape shrugged. "You can't waste time here, Lucius." He scanned the township. "The Aurors will be here soon."

"You sent them a message?"

Snape nodded.

"How?"

Silently, he drew the patronus from his wand. It frolicked around them, dancing over the bodies of the Death Eaters. Dancing over the bodies of my once called friends thought Severus.

"You never were one of us," Lucius said beside him. "You were always too balanced. Can I ask, what made you change your mind?"

He looked up from his musings. "It was her's." He gestured to the doe.

"I thought so."

"Hmm," Snape grunted. "Will Narcissa mind much about her sister?"

"Such a great loss to the family," Malfoy replied dully.

"You could just tell her you were pruning the tree."

Malfoy chuckled bitterly. "Will you... keep an eye on her for me?" Snape met his eye.

"You should know by now you don't have to ask." His friend nodded an understanding.

Malfoy was about to dissapparate when he paused, and turned back. He gripped Snape's shoulder. Behind them figures were already emerging on the horizon. "I want you to know, Severus, that I honestly consider you-"

"Go!" Snape hissed suddenly. Lucius stood back, nodded and departed

The Aurors were already at the site by the time he realised the sun was setting. It was peeping through the hedgerows and would be dark soon.

"Mr. Snape!"

He didn't recognize the Auror rushing up to him, but he supposed it was fortunate the man wasn't threatening him with a wand. The downside was he was accompanied by Potter and Weasley, of all people. Who was the dunderhead who decided to send Weasley.

"Snape," Potter was at his elbow, trying to shake him back into reality. "You've been injured!"

"Yes," he snapped, tearing himself from Potter's grip. "I can see that. I've also healed myself in the time it took you to get here."

In the meanwhile, Weasley was inspecting the carnage. "You did this?" he gestured to the bodies, "By yourself?"

"While I'm sure it comes as a surprise to you, Weasley," sneered Snape, "For those with some degree of skill, it's hardly-"

"I thought I saw you with someone though?" interrupted the unknown Auror.

"This is Mr. Everdeed," Potter introduced them. The man offered Snape his hand. Snape looked at him as if he had offered him a slug. Everdeed opened his mouth again but Snape cut him off.

"How about you scout instead of wasting more oxygen, considering I have effectively done your incompetent job for you?"

Everdeed shut up, turned away, mumbled something about Snape's lack of manners and followed Weasley to search the area. "Did you really have to do that?" sighed Potter. Snape raised an eye brow. "He was really looking forward to meeting you."

He rolled his eyes.

"But you were with someone, weren't you?" asked Potter, quietly. "Malfoy?"

"You know full well Draco's working at St Mungo's."
"Malfoy Senior. I don't suppose you're going to tell me where he is now?"

"Escaped."

"Ah, right. So you emlet/em him go."

"What difference does it make? He won't be bothering you at all." He pushed past Potter.

"We'll need a statement," the youth called after him. "And they'll probably offer you the First Class again!"

"They could offer me a bloody knight-hood and I couldn't care less," he said over his shoulder. Snape looked up and stopped.

On the hill stood Tobias and his family.

Snape shook his head in disgust. "I told you to go!" he snarled when he reached where they stood. "Why the bloody hell didn't you listen!"

"Severus," said Briony, stepping forward. "I came back and they wouldn't listen. I wanted them to see, I wanted them to understand." Her eyes were almost brimming over with tears.

"You're not supposed to watch, you idiot!" he snapped at her. Snape swept his hand over the township. "You're not supposed to see things like that."

"The magic-" Lucas went to interrupt

"This isn't about the magic. You're not designed to see war."

"Neither are you," Derek told him.

"Oh believe me," Snape turned on him, "Believe me when I say, nothing will ever prepare you for war. But when you watch it happening in your own home it certainly leaves an impression."

"But it's over," Tobias decided to remind him, or rather, his family. He couldn't tell which. "We're safe, we're together."

Snape just looked at him. "There was a time when those people were my friends, were my only family. So forgive me if I'm not in the celebrating mood."

"With those people?" Lucas asked incredulously.

"Would you ever believe it." Snape sighed heavily. He needed to find Narcissa, let her know what had happened before she started to worry.

"Severus, I'm sorry for how I lashed out," said Derek. But he noticed how the man didn't come forward to at least shake his hand. "Truly, I am."

"I'm not a martyr, Derek," he told him. "You want forgiveness, go ask your God."

Diana gasped behind them, suddenly shocked into finding her breath again. "The nerve," she muttered to herself.

Briony walked to his side. "This wasn't what you deserved," she told him, taking his hand. Snape frowned at the action, but met her gaze. Her eyes were soft and brown and full of tears. "I never understood that, not until now. But you deserved so much more than this."

"I need to go." Snape told her.

"Where will you go?" asked Duncan.

"I need to find my sister." He told his friend. "I need to tell her that her husband is alive."

"Will you come back and visit me and Briony?"

Snape shook her head. Duncan cast his eyes down. Slowly, not to scare his brother, Duncan wrapped his arms around Severus' middle. "Thank you for making the magic."

"That's... quite alright," replied Snape stiffly. "But I need to go, Duncan."
"Just promise," the man whispered, "promise you're my favourite brother."

"I-" Snape sighed. It really didn't look like he was going to get out of this one. "I promise." Duncan released him.

"Tobias," Snape called to the man who was watching the Dark Mark in the sky. Watching the bodies below the hill and the burning township. He wondered if his father blamed himself in any small part.

Severus had realised he would probably never know who killed his mother. Or why his father hated them both. He could ask the man now; the opportunity was there. If only Tobias would respond.
It wouldn't change what had happened, though. It wouldn't bring Eileen back. As always, there was only one logical choice. And that was to move forward.

As he departed from the hill Snape finally forgave. What he had played a part in starting as a young man was over. It may happen again, in time, but the Death Eaters were at their end.

The Snapes had never been a part of his dark world and had known little beyond comfort. He could not begrudge them their ignorance.

He could not change Tobias, by hating him. So the only rational solution was to forgive him, not for Tobias' benefit, but at least for Severus' own.

The Snape family watched as the wizard swirled into the night sky as a dark smoke.

"What did he mean," asked Diana, frowning, "When he said 'watch it happen in your own home'?" She turned to her husband. "What did he mean Tobias?" He continued to watch the night sky. Beside her, Lucas went to open his mouth.

It was Duncan who answered for them. "Dad used to get mad with Severus." He remembered back to when he tried to teach his brother to ride the horse. "He was harsh with him. Dad would kick him and yell. Don't worry, Mum," he turned to Diana. "I've taught Severus how to be gentle."