Prologue

I.

Orrville, Ohio, United States

Severus Octavian Snape sat back in his thestral-drawn carriage, staring out at the towering rows of corn as his eyebrows knitted broodingly. He had just dropped his son William off at Norris Lake Quidditch Camp and was on his way back home from the airport, where there was a national Floo system.

Living in the middle of Amish Country, Ohio, Severus had plenty of time to brood. Especially at times like this, when he felt really alone. It had been ten years, TEN years, since the death of the Dark Lord at his hand, but it meant nothing to him now. With his son gone away for eight weeks, and his wife having left him and taking custody of their other son, he was alone. He truly loved Lily, from the time he first met her on the Hogwarts Express to the time when she gave birth to their twin sons, Harry and William. Even when she chose to continue her career teaching Charms at Hogwarts over moving to the United States after the war, he still loved her. Lily didn't understand... wouldn't understand... that Sev had to get away from the bad memories that plagued him from the war. The things he had been forced to do to keep her and the boys safe...

"But the past is the past," Severus thought as the carriage pulled up the dirt path to his home. "There is only the present and the future."

II.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Scotland

"Miss Tonks, take your seat! This is the fourth year in a row you have been in summer school for failing Charms! You should know the rules in my classroom by now!" Lily Evans snapped irritably.

"Yes, Professor!" Nymphadora Tonks said as she sat down in her seat.

"Alright everybody. Your assignment today is to read through the chapter about conjuring charms. A 12-inch summary is due by the end of today," Lily said before walking over to her chair and sitting down.

Lily's foul mood could be blamed on lots of things. It boiled down, though, to the fact that she was getting lonely. She had sent her son, Harry, off to Norris Lake Quidditch Camp in the US for the next eight weeks. Not for the first time in the last ten years, her thoughts turned to her other son, William, and her ex-husband, Severus Snape.

"Has it really been ten years since our divorce?" Lily wondered. "It feels like just yesterday that Sev had told me he wanted to move out of Britain. I am beginning to see why he gave up teaching Potions here at Hogwarts. They truly can be a bunch of dunderheads. But I don't see why he had to move halfway around the world to 'get away from memories'. If he had just agreed to move to a different part of the UK, or maybe even onto the Continent, I wouldn't have left him. The past is the past, though, and nothing we can do will change it."