The Raven and the Snake

Epilogue

Ariadne Black stepped out of her cottage, stretching in the warm light of the sun. She had been busy working on a potion in her personal lab and needed a break.

It was a beautiful day as she walked along. Ten years had passed since the Battle of Hogwarts. She was planning on attending a memorial party on the grounds in just a few days. Soon after, the children would need to decide which wizarding schools they intended on going to.

She made her way up the little hill in front of her house when she spotted the kids. Delphi was having tea on a blanket with the house-elves under Ariadne's employ. Merry, Winky, and Kreacher were all clean and smiling. Winky holding the infant house-elf that she'd had since joining the household.

Delphini was stroking Antigone's head while Merry braided her white hair. She smiled up at Ariadne, her pale purple eyes alight and happy. Ariadne smiled back, but her as her eyes slid away from, she spotted two more children.

A girl with a shock of bright red hair was standing over a sallow little boy who sat on the ground just under a tree. The girl had lifted something away from the boy's hands, jeering. As Ariadne watched, the boy started to cry.

"Lilith Fredericka Georgiana Black, what are you doing?" Ariadne raised her voice to chide the child.

Lillith spun on the spot, her expression going from sneering to apologetic in a heartbeat. "Nothing, mum! Rey was just being a crybaby as usual."

Ariadne stalked right up to them, hands on her hips. "Give your brother back his book, young lady."

Lillith's bottom lip stuck out petulantly. She shoved the book back into the little boy's hands. "Fine. I'm going to the creek to fish for plimpies."

The little redhead took off, not caring to listen to her mother calling after her. With a sigh, Ariadne brushed her hand through her dark curls.

"Kreacher, go and look after her, will you?" She asked exasperated.

Kreacher rose immediately with a chuckle. "Of course, ma'am."

He was so much happier these days. He hardly resembled his old self anymore. Since Ariadne had sought permission from Harry to invite Kreacher into her household, Kreacher spent a great deal of time with the children.

Ariadne had been surprised. She had expected Kreacher to be tired of dealing with screaming babies, but she'd thought it only right to ask. He did have more experience raising wizard children than anyone else she knew.

She had been certain he would take to Rey at least. Rey, named for Regulus Black, his old master, was a sweet child. She'd thought he would be most excited to help raise him, but it wasn't the calm and peaceful Rey or the sweet Delphini who was originally the daughter of Bellatrix that Kreacher had been most charmed by.

Kreacher had loved Lillith most of all. Lillith who was wild and tomboy-ish, who ran amok and caused the most mischief. Lillith with her flaming red hair and skin darker than either of her to siblings, but was still the splitting image of Ariadne.

As Kreacher followed after the girl and Delphini continued with her tea time, Ariadne sat down next to the boy. "What are you reading, Rey?"

Rey gave a little shrug, not meeting her eyes. He was exactly his own father in miniature, small and swallow. He cradled the book to himself protectively.

Ariadne reached over, wrapping an arm around his skinny shoulders and nudging the book so she could get a look at the cover. She gave a little laugh at the title. Snape: Scoundrel or Saint? By Rita Skeeter

That was Ariadne's heavily edited copy. She had been gifted the book by half a dozen different people, but this was the first copy she'd read. The binding of the book was a little stretched, pages looking frayed. It wasn't really that old, but certainly looked it after she poured over it endlessly, scowling and filling the margins with notes.

More than half of the words written by Skeeter had been blacked out with ink, rewritten in cramped little words in the margins that were as full as the pages. Ariadne had snarled at the flowery sentences and felt that every bad word against Severus Snape needed to be refuted.

She regretted a little that she hadn't accepted the interview with Skeeter. She had pointedly ignored the woman when she'd asked for an exclusive, feeling that anything she said to Rita would just be twisted to fit the woman's needs. Rita Skeeter didn't like being told her ludicrous opinions were wrong, greatly preferring fiction to fact.

Rey's face turned a little red. He held the book closer to his chest, head bowed. It wasn't a book that Ariadne would have normally allowed the children to take from her private library. Rey must've had to scale to shelves or otherwise use a levitation charm to get ahold of it.

"Do you like it?" She asked conversationally, not feeling the need to scold him at all.

His little lips were pulled into a stiff line. He squirmed a little. "Yeah..."

She smiled. "You don't seem too sure."

He paused, a little crease appearing between his brows. She itched to smooth it out, but allowed him to work through his thoughts.

"Is it all true?"

"What Rita wrote? Not really. She has a vivid imagination."

"What you wrote." He clarified, looking up at her finally.

Her heart twinged looking down into the child's eyes. Even after all these years, those eyes made her heart feel like it was doing flips. He had inherited his father's eyes exactly.

"Every word." She smiled, hugging the child.

Rey squirreled around in her arms, complaining that she was squishing him. She pressed a kiss to the top of his head. His black hair was straighter and prettier than hers by far. He laughed a little and when he caught his breath he looked at her again, his face flushed.

"Am I going to go to Hogwarts?"

"Do you want to?"

He tilted his head while he thought about. His little hand reached up to trace his lips while he pondered. The perfect picture of his father all over again.

"I think so."

Ariadne smiled, feeling a little sad. "We'll be going to the school in a few days for the reunion. You can take a look around and decide for sure if that's what you want, alright?"

He nodded. He opened the book, opening it right to a picture that hadn't been added to the book by Rita. Ariadne had slipped in the picture she'd taken from old school records. It was old and shabby, but the people were still clearly visible. A little Snape looked out at them from the picture, small amongst all of his Slytherin housemates. He gave a tentative wave.

Ariadne smiled and leaned back against the tree. She closed her eyes, relaxing. Life threw many curveballs. She had lived longer than she might have expected to after all of the things she had done, but she was happy.

She rested her cheek on her son's head, breathing in slowly while he continued to flip through his book. Every now and then he'd read something aloud in parseltongue to black snake that coiled at his side, one of Antigone's brood.

If she listened harder, she could hear Lillith down by the stream, laughing to her own snake while they worked together to catch plimpies. Delphini was chatting with the house-elves that she treated as her family, not subordinates.

It was beautiful and peaceful. In a few days they would go to Hogwarts where they would see more family and mourn those that could not be there. Exactly as it ought to be, bittersweet and beautiful.