Loving Lily: A Snily Story

Chapter 22 - A Good Father

Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
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As autumn approached and another academic year began, Lily and Harriet were deeply saddened that Severus had to return to work.

Since he had a family waiting for him at home, Professor Snape no longer held lengthy office hours.

Severus was quick to hurry home as soon as the school day ended, yet that didn't fill the void of his absence in Lily and Harriet's hearts.

In September, the leaves on the trees of the thick forest that surrounded the Snapes' cottage began to change color.

Through shades of rusty brown, bright orange, and vivid red, it was easy for shapes, animals, and other details about the world to become camouflaged.

Those leaves did not however, manage to conceal the figure of James Potter.

He had wandered to that part of the forest one evening on his extensive search to discover the location where Severus had hidden his little family, the little family that James suspected had been stolen from him.

The Snapes' cottage remained cloaked under a powerful concealment charm, but although anyone prowling nearby couldn't see the small residence, that didn't mean that its inhabitants couldn't notice threats that came too near.

On the evening that James Potter unknowingly crept outside the home that Severus shared with Lily, two faces frowned at him from the window.

"Just ignore him, Sev." Lily whispered to Severus while they watched James from their safe positions behind the glass, "He'll grow tired after a bit.....he'll leave......he won't come this way again."

".........Or, Potter will remain unsatisfied and return to this very location, desperate to discover what he seeks. He'll hunt us, Lily, and hunt us and hunt us........until he gets what he wants." Severus brooded ominously.

Lily looked over at Severus with a frown while he suggested, "I may.....however.......be capable of making sure that Potter doesn't bother us any longer?"

"Severus Snape!" Lily gasped.

Severus flinched like a scolded boy when his beloved called him by his full first and last name.

"No matter our situation, you know that I would never condone you to commit murder!" Lily  exclaimed as Harriet laid her head down on her mother's chest.

"It wasn't murder that I was suggesting, Lily." Severus replied with a tense frown.

"Then what were you suggesting, Sev?" Lily asked with an incredulous scowl.

Severus gave his answer unwaveringly, "I was suggesting......my love.....that we give Potter exactly what he wants, a visit with the child that you bore."

Lily's scowl melted into a frown as she looked at Severus and asked, "I'm sorry Sev.....but I'm afraid I don't understand?"

Severus's black eyes glittered with cunning as he glanced from Lily to Harriet.

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James Potter had vowed to himself that he would comb the world over until he had found either his living son or what had become of his dead child's remains.

His search grew longer with each passing day.

James Potter's quest had been remarkably futile until the night that he returned to his parents' fine estate to find a letter that sat waiting for him on the mahogany desk in his spacious bedchamber.