Chapter Seven: Love Never Fails

"And so we became lovers," Rose said. "Sometimes he came to my flat right away, sometimes we met somewhere else and went there afterwards. He rarely spent the night, though. Several times he had to leave abruptly, saying that he was 'summoned'.

"And he never told you more about himself?" Harry asked incredulously.

"No, he never did. He wanted to forget, that was what he came for. And I never asked.

I can see that this is hard to understand, but we were happy, creating a world of our own, an…"

She stopped, thought for a moment, then continued with a wry smile, "an enchanted island of refuge in the rough sea of everyday life."

Again she paused, lost in memories, longing in her eyes.

"Then I discovered I was pregnant…"

Harry's eyes grew wide with surprise.

"You mean…?"

"David is Severus' son," Rose said calmly and Harry suddenly knew why the young man had seemed familiar: Snape's son! Sweet Merlin!

"Did he know? Snape, I mean?"

"Yes, I told him on his last visit before…"

"How did he react?"

She grimaced.

"Oh, he was shocked, absolutely shocked, just kept staring at me for several endless minutes. Then he became furious, furious with himself, furious with me, accusing me of having lied to him about being on the pill, which wasn't true, by the way. He was pacing the room, cursing and shouting, wouldn't listen to me, there was no way of calming him down. I could only wait for his anger to abate eventually, leaving him numb and exhausted, finally giving me the chance to hold him in my arms and tell him, that although I had no idea how it could have happened I was looking forward to having his child. He didn't respond, only gave me one of his long, hard stares; when he had to leave, however, there was an air of fierce determination about him."

She shrugged. Silence; both of them lost in thought.

"But he died before his son was born," Harry finally ventured.

Rose didn't answer. She was looking at a point above Harry's shoulder, a strange little smile on her lips.

"No, he didn't," a deep voice answered and before Harry could turn his head to look at its owner, a man stepped around the table and sat down in the chair next to Rose. They exchanged a look and a smile. The man was tall and lean, with close-cropped, greying black hair, a sallow face and a large, hooked nose. He was wearing an elegant dark grey business suit with a white shirt and a maroon tie with a fine golden pattern. He regarded Harry with an ironic curl of his lips.

Harry could only stare at this familiar face, completely at a loss and dumbstruck. The face was older, the twenty-one years had made the old lines deeper and had added some new ones, but apart from that it had not changed much, although the patina of time had made the ragged features less ugly; however, the notorious trade-mark expression of perpetual scorn was still firmly in place.

"I saw you die," Harry whispered.

The man shook his head slowly.

"No, Mr Potter. You saw me lose consciousness."

"And how…?"

"You are supposed to be the hero of the wizarding world. Can't you figure it out yourself?" came the sarcastic reply.

The younger shook his head mutely, but his compressed lips revealed his effort of maintaining his self-control.

Severus Snape regarded him with a mocking smile, satisfied with the reaction he had provoked. Rose let out a disapproving breath, which he answered with an apologetic shrug.

"Well, Mr Potter, the answer is immunisation against Nagini's venom and Fawkes. I had taken precautions since Voldemort's return and especially so after I had learned of Rose's pregnancy, when all of a sudden the idea of surviving the final battle became more and more attractive. So the snake's poison couldn't harm me, but without Fawkes I would still have died from blood loss. I didn't know about the phoenix, the appearance of the bird must have been Dumbledore's doing, I assume; anyway, when I woke up he was perched on the back of a chair and the tears he started to shed healed the wound. The bleeding stopped, I managed to grab his tail and with the amazing strength phoenixes can develop in emergency situations, he pulled me from the Shrieking Shack. Outside, when he noticed how weak I was, he offered me a second dose of tears so that I could gather enough strength to apparate."

The words had been spoken in a calm, neutral voice, the speaker giving a report, his face as void of emotions as his voice and his words.

Silence, Harry trying to digest the information.

"I heard a thump at my door and when I went to investigate, there he was, all in a heap on my doorstep," Rose took over, putting an affectionate hand on Snape's arm.

OooOOOooo

She would never forget the feeling of absolute shock when she cautiously opened her door and discovered her lover's semi-conscious, dirt- and blood-encrusted form on her door mat. She dragged him into the hall, hoping that by moving him she would not aggravate his injuries. Then she tried to wake him, to speak to him, to make him react, but only got weak moans for answers until she gave up in despair and muttered something about calling an ambulance and taking him to A&E. All at once his eyes shot open, his cold, claw-like hand fastened around her wrist. There was panic in his eyes, his mouth opened and closed, his breath came in ragged gasps. He was not able to speak coherently, but from the few syllables he uttered it became clear that hospital treatment was the last thing he wanted. Rose was afraid he would have a seizure if she insisted and so she sat down next to him again, trying to calm him, frantically searching for a solution. Her own first aid skills would endanger him rather than help him. He needed medical help, without it he would most probably die, but where could she take him if not to a hospital? Another moan from the injured man and he still kept her wrist in a vice-like grip. Shit! What on earth was she going to do with him?

Then an idea struck her. Her cousin Martin was a medical student, he could be persuaded to give her some advice without asking too many questions.

She priced Severus' fingers open, ignored his weakening sounds of protest and went to phone her cousin at once. He arrived an hour later, cast one glance at the man still sprawled on the floor and absolutely refused to become involved in this affair. He was only in his second year, he didn't have the equipment and the expertise, they couldn't provide the care, and where had the man got these injuries anyway, wasn't this a case for the police?

Rose listened to him, while holding Severus' hand all the time, feeling his pulse, fearing that he would pass away any minute. Scared out of her wits and utterly exhausted she started to cry uncontrollably – and at long last her cousin relented. He promised to help, but refused to take on any responsibility as to the outcome of this dubious business. Rose almost fainted with relief.

Together they carried Severus to the bedroom, got rid of his clothes and cleaned away as much of the blood and dirt as possible. Martin examined the patient thoroughly and diagnosed extreme blood loss, complaining that, as they had no means of giving him the blood transfusion he needed and would have received in hospital and could only wait for nature to take its course, either his body would muster enough resources to recover or the man would die. There was not very much they could do, except hope for the best and pray. So they made him as comfortable as possible, making sure that he was warm, taking turns in watching him and making him swallow small spoonfuls of a self-made electrolytic drink, while he remained more or less unconscious most of the time…

Then, after seven long days of sleep alternating with semi-consciousness, after seven days of watching over him, waiting for signs of life, hoping that what little medical help they could give him would suffice, after seven days of constant fear that he wouldn't survive Rose woke with a start from a nap in the chair by his bedside to find herself looking into black eyes watching her. At first she didn't realize what it meant. She blinked and stared and blinked again and then it dawned on her.

"Severus," she whispered, "oh my God, you're awake."

She sank to her knees next to the bed, taking his hand, covering it with kisses, then she buried her head on his chest, stammering incoherent words of love and relief.

His free hand found her head and gently stroked her hair.

Neither of them heard the front door open. Rose had supplied Martin with a spare key. So it was only when there were footsteps coming into the bedroom and stopping abruptly, when her cousin's shocked voice shouted a curse and the footsteps hurried over to the bed that Rose lifted her head.

"He's better!" she said.

Martin stopped dead, took a closer look at the patient and uttered an exclamation of surprise. Black eyes met his, making him sit down on the bed.

"Hello," he said with a shaking voice, "I'm Martin. Rose called me when she found you. It was a near miss, I can tell you. I thought you wouldn't make it, mate."

Shaking his head and grinning wryly he started another thorough examination, uttering soft noises of satisfaction now and then.

"You know – this is absolutely amazing. You're still weak, of course, and still weeks away from a full recovery, but all you need now is proper care, rest and lots of food and drink."

The black eyes closed for a moment. When they opened again, the patient tried to clear his throat.

"Thank you," he whispered and a single tear was running down his stubbly cheek…

oooOOOooo

Harry Potter was staring into his empty coffee cup. None of them spoke, their silence enveloped them, separating them from the buzz of the busy room.

"You started a completely new life," the younger man finally remarked.

"He had prepared everything beforehand, from the day he had learned that he would have a child. Transferred his money, bought a house, moved his possessions," Rose said.

Harry shook his head in wonder.

"And we never knew, we never even guessed! When your body wasn't found, when your portrait at Hogwarts wouldn't move or speak!"

"I wanted it that way," Snape said quietly, finally looking up and meeting Harry's eyes with a mocking smile.

"After you had seen my memories – and in my weakened state you saw more than I intended you to know, after you announced my carefully hidden secrets to the wizarding world, there was no way for me to continue living among my kind. I had to start a new existence."

Harry winced.

"I'm sorry, Sir, but…"

Snape shrugged.

"It doesn't matter any more."

He sighed.

"Sooner or later it was to be expected that someone would stumble over me. In a way I'm glad it was you, Mr Potter, you know more about me than the others, you can understand my motives, I hope. I feared Minerva and the other older teachers would make the connection when David went to Hogwarts, but he was sorted into Ravenclaw and this must have distracted them from the family resemblance. The boy kept the secret well and today, after twenty-one years, people have lost interest in me, so I'm quite confident that despite this meeting I can spend the rest of my life in peace, away from the wizarding community."

His eyes bored into Harry's. The younger man answered the glance without blinking.

"I won't tell anybody about this encounter, but I would like to meet you again, Sir," he said quietly.

"Whatever for?"

"To talk to you – about yourself, about my mother."

Black eyes were rolling towards the ceiling.

"Is there anything you still don't know?"

"There are lots of things I don't know," Harry answered. "For example, why you are wearing Gryffindor colours."

"What?" Snape looked completely baffled.

"Your tie, Sir."

Snape pulled out his tie and examined it as if seeing it for the first time.

"Gryffindor… Potter, honestly, I didn't realize. Rose bought the tie…"

"I liked the colours and the pattern, I wasn't aware of any symbolic value," Rose added with an amused smile.

"… and I like it as well, so what? I don't give a damn about house colours any longer, Potter."

With an exasperated sigh Snape straightened the tie again.

"Very well, Potter, in case you'll come up with more of these pressing questions…"

"How did you know we were here?" Harry interrupted.

Snape sighed impatiently and produced a slim silver mobile from the pocket of his jacket.

"As simple as that: Ingenious Muggle technology. Rose texted me, told me about your meeting on the platform and asked if I minded her talking to you."

He took out a business card and dropping it on the table, he got up.

"Good-bye, Mr Potter."

"Bye, and thank you for the coffee," Rose said.

They left. Harry watched them wind their way between the tables and chairs, the tall man putting his arm around the woman's shoulders affectionately. He picked up the card.

'Severus Snape, manager,' it said, 'department of research' and the name of a large pharmaceutical firm. He hadn't even bothered to change his name.

Harry stowed the card in his pocket carefully. They would meet again, there were many questions to be asked and answered…

The End

Thanks to J.K.Rowling for inventing these inspiring characters