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"You're him, aren't you?" Kensi asked as she and Severus walked down the lane toward the Potter's house. They had taken the train up from London to Godric's Hollow.
"You've waited all summer to ask me that, haven't you?" Severus had expected the question as soon as Kensi had come through the barrier at King's Cross in June, not at the end of July.
"I wasn't sure." She made a point of looking around.
But if he knew anyone in the world he knew his daughter. She was prevaricating. "Yes, you were."
"Okay, so I was. Why didn't you say?" She put a hand on his arm and stopped him. "You were a hero. Why did you leave? How could you have left to be a Muggle?"
At least she hadn't said Muggle was if it were pejorative, as he might have done at her age. Severus sighed. There was too much to tell and perhaps as much as five minutes to tell it in. And truthfully, some of it he'd never be ready to explain, not to Kensi anyway. Her high regard for him was too important. "It's rather complicated. And I didn't know I was a hero when I left. Do you understand that I did many bad things when I was young?"
"Yes. We studied you. In history. I can't believe you never said." She looked up at him and let some of her confusion show. Even at twelve she could control what she let others see. He was amazed that she hadn't been sorted into Slytherin.
He probably should have said something. Especially after she got her Hogwarts' letter. Maybe he'd hoped that after all this time, he'd been forgotten. "It's...difficult to speak of. What did they say about me in class?"
"That you'd made mistakes and that you redeemed yourself by spying for the light for years. That you were killed by Voldemort." Kensi started to walk again.
He followed after her. Rather like he'd done since she was born. "Do you have questions?"
"About what you did? I know that now. I just don't know why?"
What could he say to that? "I'm sorry. Are you angry with me?"
"No." She was quiet for a few steps more. "Do you use magic anymore?" she asked.
"Very little." He created the odd potion or two when she was sick, or when one of his mates at the pub was ill, but by and large, he did things the Muggle way.
"But magic is so amazing. How could you stop?"
He didn't feel worthy of it most days. "It wasn't that hard."
"I wish I could practice over the summer." She held up her hand. "I know I can't. Even at Lily's."
Severus stopped at the low gate and waited. After a moment, it opened, and he and Kensi started up the long drive. Potter's house was not what Severus had expected. A two storey A-frame, with big windows. Large, but not ostentatious.
Potter and his daughter were waiting for them. As soon as Lily caught sight of Kensi, she raced down the steps.
"You're here! I didn't think you'd ever get here."
The two girls embraced. "It was a long walk from the station." She looked at Severus. "This is my father. Steven Snape."
Lily looked up at him, and it was like looking into the past. Severus took a breath. "It's good to meet you, Lily."
"And you, sir." She had better manners than her father had had. And she turned to Kensi, "Come see my room," Lily said, and they both ran off without another word.
"She looks like her grandmother."
Potter nodded. "Yes. I've heard that. I wish I'd known her to be able to say." He seemed to pull in on himself and then he looked up at Severus. "Lily has been so excited to have Kensi come to visit."
"Thank you for inviting her," Severus said. "She's been looking forward to it all summer."
"Come in," Potter said, holding out his hand. "Let me fix you some lunch before you head back. What time is your train?"
"Later in the afternoon." Did he want to have a meal with Potter? Part of him wished to hear about the magical world and part of him wanted to get away as fast as he could before he was tempted by it.
"Let's eat some lunch. The boys are with Ginny for the weekend. But they'll be at my birthday party tomorrow night." Potter opened the door and ushered him in.
Somehow he ended up at Potter's table, being offered beef stew with crusty bread. Severus could hear the sound of footsteps and laughter up stairs, but the two girls had not appeared.
"Will you call them to eat?" He wanted a buffer between Potter and himself. There was too much that had festered too long.
Potter shook his head. "Lily is too excited to eat. I'm sure they'll come down looking for something when they're hungry. How has Kensi adjusted to being back in the Muggle world?"
"She wants to practice magic."
"Lily said she's quite a good student. Top of her class in fact." Potter didn't sound surprised. "Minerva tells me she hasn't seen a Muggleborn student as good as Kensi since Hermione was at school."
"High praise indeed," Severus said. He couldn't work up the scorn he might have used twenty years ago. But then, there was no need. "She's not Muggleborn."
Potter inclined his head. "Muggle-raised then."
"Indeed. However, you didn't ask me to stay for lunch so we could exchange small talk."
"And why wouldn't I? You're the father of my daughter's best friend. Perhaps, I just want to get to know you."
From anyone else, that might have sounded off, but Potter had the clear-eyed confidence that made it seem perfectly reasonable. And maybe it was.
He'd been out of touch for so long. Even when he'd been part of their world, he hadn't ever been part of polite Wizarding society. Damn, Potter for making him feel that way again. "I sincerely doubt that. And I also think," Severus said, standing, "that this was a mistake."
"What? Wait? Did I say something to offend you?" Potter had that half-hurt, half-perplexed look on his face that he'd sported for many of the years Severus had known him at school.
"No. Of course not." What was it about Potter that rubbed him the wrong way? He rarely got angry anymore. And yet, here he was, standing in Potter's dining room, ready to break something. "Please deliver my daughter back to me in one piece next week." He let the 'or else' linger.
While he might not be the duelist he once was, he'd bet he could still take Potter apart.
Potter stood too. "Don't go. I did want to talk to you. Just about what you've been doing --"
Irritation rose in him. "You know what I've been doing. I'm surprised that I haven't had a flood of wizards coming after me now that they know I'm alive."
"I didn't tell anyone. Not even Kingsley."
"Oh, really?" As if he believed that.
"Yes, really." Potter met his eyes. "There was no reason to. You've found some measure of peace, and I'm not going to see it disturbed without a good reason."
Severus folded his arms over his chest. He needed to remember that Potter was an adult now. And a confident one at that. "And how do you explain my daughter?"
"She's a Muggleborn witch, who might or might not be related to a dead war hero." Potter smiled. "She does look like you."
That damned Prince nose. "God, help her." He glared at Potter. "So, you're saying no one knows or cares I'm alive?"
"I didn't say no one cares. I'll wager that Minerva would like to have a word or two with you. And possibly the Malfoys. Draco looked devastated at your funeral, and Narcissa cried."
The Malfoys. Damn. He regretted not being able to tell them he'd survived. At the time, he'd thought they would have hexed him for his betrayal of the Dark Lord. Why did it even matter after twenty years? "How have they fared?" he allowed himself to ask.
"Quite well, just as you'd expect they would." Potter's tone held no bitterness or anger, just a quiet resignedness that spoke volumes. "Draco became a potions master and opened a shop. He's done well for himself. He married well, too. Daphne Greengrass' younger sister Astoria. She was in Ravenclaw."
None of that surprised Severus. Draco had always been a smart boy who knew how to land on his feet. "Lucius and Narcissa?"
"Lucius spent a few years in Azkaban after the war, but was released early for good behavior. And he's spent the last fifteen years doing good work, helping the community. He's still a bastard," Potter said, but there wasn't the kind of heat in his words that there would have been twenty years earlier. "But possibly not as prejudiced as he was then."
Or he hid it better than he had. "Narcissa?"
"Passed away about ten years ago." Potter looked down. "I was sorry. She saved my life right before the Battle of Hogwarts. And she and Andromeda had reconciled, so I saw her often when I visited Teddy."
Something jolted in Severus' stomach. It shouldn't matter that much to him. Not after so many years. "I see. And has Lucius remarried?"
"A Muggleborn witch."
"Not --"
"Hermione, no. Not likely. Ron would have had something to say about that. Elizabeth Hamilton. I didn't know her at all. She went to school about ten years after you did. They've got one child. Rumor has it she was Muggle gentry, a Lady. She's quite wealthy."
Severus appreciated the Slytherinness of Lucius' choice. "Did Draco have children?"
"A son. Scorpius."
"Scorpius? You're joking." Surely Draco wouldn't have named a child anything so absurd.
Potter smirked and shook his head. "In the same house as Al. Bright boy."
"Not Gryffindor?" Because that would be too much.
"Ravenclaw."
Severus laughed. "And your other son, Gryffindor?"
"Yes. The big surprise was when Rose Weasley, Ron and Hermione's daughter, was sorted into Slytherin."
Severus choked back a snort. "I'll wager Weasley had a stroke."
"Not as bad as you might have thought. And his son was sorted into Hufflepuff. But in truth, being sorted into Slytherin isn't the stigma it used to be. There's a good mix of Muggleborns and pure bloods in all houses."
"So the world has changed that much?" He hadn't ever believe that it could.
"It's been more than twenty years. A lot of the prejudices have, if not faded, then mellowed with time. Hermione might have been the first Muggleborn to make it into the upper echelons of the Ministry, but she wasn't the last." Even now, he could hear Potter's pride in Granger's accomplishments.
Severus raised an eyebrow. "What is she doing?"
"She's deputy minister of Muggle-Magical law enforcement."
"In line for Minister?"
"Possibly. She's not sure she wants it."
If times had been different, Granger would have made a great Slytherin. Of course, if times had been different, she wouldn't have been in the position she was in now. "And you?"
"Head Auror." Potter smiled.
And rounding out the mighty trio, "Weasley?"
"Was an Auror for a while, but quit after being injured early on. He went back to school and got an apprenticeship and does quite well for himself."
Okay, he would bite. Because it was clear from Potter's expression that Severus would find it amusing. "Doing what?"
"Potions. He bought into Draco's shop, and they do custom potions."
Severus managed not to choke. "Draco and Weasley? That seems rather...unlikely."
"It works for both of them. In the last few years, they've become good friends."
"You don't sound like you object."
"Why should I? Draco isn't the ferret who turned us into Umbridge in fifth year anymore. The war and the aftermath made us all grow up."
"I find that hard to believe."
"You weren't here to help --" Potter held up his hand. "With good reason. But it made sense for us to at least appear to be getting along."
Severus inclined his head. "Now that we've reminisced sufficiently. Was there something else you wanted?"
"You haven't said much about your life?"
For a moment, he thought about not answering and just leaving. But these were different days. "As you know, I teach. What else did you wish to know?"
Before Potter could answer both girls came down and demanded to be fed. Saved by the bell, as it were.
After the girls went back upstairs, Potter set tea on the table.
"My train leaves in just over an hour. I should start walking back to the station." Severus said taking a sip of his tea. For whatever reason, the afternoon had passed rather pleasantly. Many of his questions had been answered. And he had given Potter as little information as he could. It didn't matter that Potter could probably figure out anything he wanted.
"So, tell me how you survived?"
He'd been expecting that question a lot sooner.
"I'm not stupid."
"I'll grant you that."
"Then you tell me. Would I have ever gone into the Dark Lord's presence without being prepared for betrayal?"
"I saw you die."
"You didn't even bother to check. And I had taken precautions and was prepared for most types of attacks." He hadn't actually expected to be food for the snake, but he hadn't discounted the possibility either. Good thing, too.
Potter nodded. "All right. Why teach?"
"I think I've already told you that. Are we done?" Severus stood up. "I do think it's time for me to leave."
"Lily, Kensi," Potter called, his voice enhanced by his wand. "Come down and say good bye to Mr. Snape."
Both girls came flying back down the staircase. Kensi hugged and kissed him, and he nodded to Lily.
Potter walked him to the door. "You could come back for the party tomorrow night?"
"I think not. I want to remain dead to the Wizarding world."
"Why? You were cleared. You could start fresh here."
"I'm going to continue teaching in that Muggle school for five or ten more years, and then I'm going to change my name to something else, and find another one and do the same thing again." He knew it would be hard to start over again, but it was necessary. He was going to help twice as many students as he hurt. It wouldn't clear the slate, but it would be a start.
"You know, you've paid for your mistakes."
"I'll never pay for them." Severus turned his back and went out the door. Potter would never understand that. But then, he didn't have to.
-finis part 2