Perhaps Another Time, Severus [A Severus Snape Fanfiction]

2008-Merry Christmas!

2008

Snow fell outside as Shaylah tidied the living room, her children's footsteps clattering through the house. Severus emerged from the basement with vials ready to be sent back to Hogwarts, arms encumbered with bottles of varying shades. Before Christmas break there had been an awful Quidditch match where several students ended up in the Hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey had requested for Severus to send stock whenever he was able so that she could replenish her stores.

Holly and garland decorated the walls, candles smoldering throughout the house. A cozy feeling had settled into the bones of the place, absorbing the new life and happiness that dwelled within. When Severus had first returned, after years of it sitting abandoned, the murky memories seemed to seep from the walls. It took time and paint to breathe new life into it, slowly changing it from what had been to what was. Their home in Spinner's End became a place that brought joy and held the memories of the family they had created, not the haunting whispers of his past.

Rose ran around Severus' legs, her brother chasing after her. Their father joined the chase as the front door was opened and Vex, Prix and their son Max filed into the house, arms filled with gifts and dishes. Max immediately joined the ongoing chase, doing his best to tackle Severus as they rounded the corner into the hallway.

Shaylah met Vex during her work in the Auror office at the Ministry and it took every bit of training she had ever received to keep her hands from trembling during her introductive handshake with a ghost. All she could see was the boy she had failed, his pale, lifeless face as she filled in his grave, the stars that weighed on her as she mourned, and the flower she had left behind.

Vex had found work in the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects. Due to his proficiency with charms and spells he was an invaluable asset. Somehow, despite the jarring memories she was doomed to carry through this new, wonderful life, she and Vex immediately fell into something similar to what they had once had. Quickly finding familiar footing in a new friendship.

Shayla met Prix while working with the healers at St. Mungos, during her check ins with any of the Aurors who were wounded in the line of duty. Her reaction was similar to seeing Vex for the first time, though Prix talked quickly, only occasionally glancing up from her clipboard to inform Shaylah of the wounds received, making the interaction a bit more manageable in the presence of a ghost she used to know.

Vex spent some time in the facility due to the extraction of a counterfeit object that went awry and Prix had been the one in charge of his care. It took almost no subtle encouragement from Shaylah for Prix to finally follow the feelings that had stayed with her into another lifetime.

The three of them entered the living room to find Severus telling the kids a story about a pink woman who once tried to capture Hogwarts in her grasp but was thwarted by the Boy Who Lived. The children sat at his feet with wide eyes, Prince, a spitting image of Severus, pushed his shoulder length hair behind his ears as he listened intently to his father's story.

During the last fourteen years, both versions of Severus she knew had fused, though like her, he still held fractured memories from their past and the future they would never see, three merging paths that sometimes played tricks on the mind. Shaylah dealt with the same winding mergers, all three lives she had lived coalescing into what she saw in front of her.

Many of the things she had told him about their future had changed when they achieved their goal all those years ago. The Order was never reinstated, because there was no need for it and Barty had gone mad within the prison walls, according to the rumors. Though they didn't live in ignorance, they knew that Voldemort could still rise. Shaylah had only prevented him from returning at that moment.

The front door opened and Rose jumped from her spot on the floor, rushing to the door in her bright green dress, jumping with excitement. "Did you catch any more bad men while you were away?" she asked with utter delight as she jumped into Nate's arms. He had indeed gotten excellent marks on his exams and followed the path of becoming an Auror himself. He had risen in his department, becoming one of the best, as Shaylah always knew he would.

Carrie scooped Rose into her arms as Nate took the gifts she had been carrying, all too aware that Rose would bombard them. "What is it, seven more years before you get to come to Hogwarts and sit in my class?" she asked. Carrie had found her true passion in Muggle studies and had been teaching the subject for the last year.

"Yes!" Rose answered Rose, thrusting her arms into the air with excitement, "Daddy will teach me too!"

"That's right," Carrie added as they joined the rest of the group in the living room. Greetings were exchanged along with hugs and rowdy excitement from the children. Everyone had fallen into easy conversation when an older man with gray peppering his beard and temples entered the house, a giant smile plastered on his face. "Dad! You made it!" Shaylah exclaimed, jumping for her chair and wrapping her arms around him. The children followed suit, wrapping their arms around his legs.

They all gathered around the table and enjoyed a meal, laughter and stories bleeding into the air of the old house that had now become their home.

Voldemort still lurked in the shadows outside, trying to become what he had been in their original lives. Though he had been unsuccessful, they never fully let down their guard. Severus especially. This second life meant more to him than Shaylah would ever understand, knowing what Shaylah had gone through, what he had gone through to send her back, he wouldn't allow that to happen again, wouldn't put their carefully built lives in danger.

It was a different dynamic, not having to hide. They didn't have to tell lies about how they were raising their children, assuring the Dark Lord that they were being bred with hate in their hearts. There were no meetings to attend, no screams slicing the air in the middle of the night. Women weren't forced to breed for blood status, their autonomy ripped away. Shaylah was never forced to discuss the deaths of her friends as if it were a triumph or lie to those who meant most to her to hide something forbidden. Somewhere there were flowers waiting to wilt, but here, there were never any planted. No neat row of lovingly dug graves behind a haven to mark her greatest failure. Though she hadn't come across them, she hoped Cross and Brawn were out there, continuing lives that had so brutally been ripped from them.

When the meal was finished, they gathered in front of the tree which was decorated with silver tinsel and ribbon, gifts pouring from beneath its full branches. A photo was taken for the occasion, all of them smiling and Carrie holding Rose in her arms.

Then Shaylah's father had their family stand in front of the tree, posing in an all too familiar way. When her father handed her the photo, she quickly disappeared into the kitchen, her heart in her throat. Severus followed behind, finding her with her hand clasped over her mouth, a tear already trailing down her cheek. "What's wrong, Shay?" he asked as he wiped it away.

Shaylah pulled the discolored and creased photo from the pocket of her sweater, she had carried it with her for the last fourteen years, a reminder. Much like her ring, it had become a part of her. She held it next to the picture they had just taken, the photos so similar. Not long after they moved into Severus' childhood home, Shaylah had been struck with why the scenery in the frame looked so familiar. She had seen very few photos from Severus' childhood in their original lives, so few existed. But one in particular, had been in the front room, exactly where their Christmas tree now stood.

Two separate paths had led to the same place, two different times held in her hands. The children's features were different, and so was the background, but the looks on their faces, and their positions were the same. So much had coalesced into the life they now had, the life they had fought for. She had led two different lives now with the same man beside her and somehow that made it all the better, all the more worth it.

Severus smiled as he cupped her face in his hands and placed a soft kiss on her brow. "I will always love you in every timeline," he said, "Merry Christmas, love."