VI: Welcome to the Family

Thanks go to JKR for creating Severus Snape.

Thanks also go to Apple Blossom for beta reading.

Chapter VI: Welcome to the Family

The arrangement turned out to be better than expected. Cassandra started teaching again on the first of September, and Eydis became a part of the Potter family. And not just Eydis, as a matter of fact.

Severus was not too happy in the beginning. Yes, he could see that the whole Potter-Weasley clan had taken a shine to his daughter. He could see that the little one was well taken care of. And he could also see that Cassandra thrived in her role as a teacher and that she did not love Eydis any less just because she did not spend twenty-four hours a day with her. But still his stomach clenched every time he stepped out of the fireplace in the Potter kitchen. As much as they all loved his daughter and as much as they smiled at him when he arrived, Severus could just not get rid of the feeling that he was not welcome.

But his feelings were about to change the day Ginny Potter returned from St. Mungo's with her third child in her arms.

She had gone into labour on a Friday afternoon in early November. She and Harry had Flooed to the hospital later that night, and Molly Weasley, hen mother as she was, had refused to leave her daughter's side. And that was why Severus and Cassandra ended up staying the whole weekend at the Potters', babysitting, although Severus had been more than reluctant at first. He was still not too fond of James and Albus Potter. But as Cassandra and Eydis were both sleeping over, he decided that he might as well do the same.

It was late on Sunday night when the Potters returned. It was hard to tell who looked more exhausted, Ginny or Harry, and for once Severus could sympathise with the young man. He too had been a mess for several days after Eydis' birth, waking up ten times a night just to run to the crib to make sure that the little one was still there.

The congratulations were quickly exchanged, and while everybody else was fussing over the new baby, Severus retreated to the guestroom to pack up his and his family's belongings. The Potters were home again, and surely they could take care of their sons themselves now.

It was there Ginny found him.

'Thank you for looking after the boys,' she started. 'James tells me you are quite the story teller.'

'Cassandra did most of the story telling,' Severus replied without looking up from his bag and quietly omitting the fact that he had told the boy the story of The Wizard's Hairy Heart without even once having to look into the book.

'You have a good hand with children,' Ginny went on. 'Albus simply adores you.'

Now Severus did look up and frowned. Adore was certainly not a word he was used to be associated with.

'Severus, I hope you know that Harry and I consider you, Cassandra and Eydis as part of the family.'

Severus opened his mouth to deliver a biting comment about Potter views of his old Potions master, but Ginny cut him short.

'Yes, even Harry,' she said in a determined tone. 'And we would very much like you to be the godfather of our daughter.'

Severus' eyebrows threatened to shoot up into his hair. 'You cannot be serious, Mrs. Potter.'

'I am very serious, Severus,' Ginny replied. 'And would you stop calling me Mrs. Potter?'

He scowled and decided that this conversation required his best teacher-voice.

'Ginny,' he started, pronouncing the word unnecessarily clearly. 'I am not godfather material.'

To that, Ginny snorted. 'Severus, ten years ago nobody would even have considered you being father material. And now look at you. Do you even realise how you light up every time you lay eyes your daughter?'

Severus huffed. The girl must have gotten one Bludger too many to the head. He, Severus Snape, former Death Eater, Bat of the Dungeons and Worst Nightmare of Any Hogwarts Dunderhead did certainly not light up. Ever.

'Please, Severus,' Ginny went on. 'At least consider it. You and Cassandra are like family to us. And James and Albus surely consider Eydis to be their little sister. So please, think about it.'

Severus was still frowning when the door opened and Molly entered the room with her granddaughter in her arms.

'Have you persuaded him yet?' she asked.

And Severus' frown became even deeper. 'Is everybody in on this?' he demanded to know.

Ginny grinned. 'Actually, yes. It was Harry's idea. And Cassandra was quite confident you would say yes. Eventually.'

Severus closed his travel bag with a little more force than necessary and glared at the two Weasley women. 'My dear wife might just be mistaken for once.'

He was just about to stalk out of the room when Molly stood in his way and more or less thrust the infant into his arms.

'There, little one,' she cooed. 'Say hi to your godfather, Lily Luna.'

Severus' felt his stomach clench, and his hands started to shake. He had not been prepared for this. He had not been prepared for Ginny's proposal, and most certainly he had not been prepared to be reminded of Lily.

He mumbled something about having to think about the proposal and was out of the room in a blink of an eye. His feet carried him out of the house, through the garden and out into the open field behind the house. And he did not stop before a massive stitch made him gasp for air and clasp his side.

Out there, alone on the snow-covered field, Severus Snape sank to his knees.

Lily. Lily Evans. The only friend he had ever had in his old life. The girl he had once loved with all his heart. The girl he had lost in a most terrible and gruesome way. He had grieved for her the better part of his adult life. And he had lain down his life in order to give her son the tools to take down the monster that had killed her. And her eyes had been the last thing he had seen before he had ... died.

But he had not died. He had survived. He had been given a second chance, had started a new life and found a new love, his true love. And he had not thought about Lily for years.

A strange feeling crept into his stomach, a feeling he couldn't define. Was it guilt, he wondered. Did he feel guilty that he had all but forgotten about Lily Evans?

He lifted his head and stared blankly into the darkness. He almost expected to see Lily's ghost in front of him, as he had done so many times in his old life. But the air was still, there was not even a flicker that was associated with the appearance of a ghost. Nothing. He was alone. All alone.

'Am I free?' he whispered into the night. 'Have I repented?'

Had someone looked out onto the field that night, they would have seen nothing but a dark figure cowering on the frozen ground. But Severus did not feel alone. In his thoughts, he was not even kneeling in the snow not far away from the home of Harry Potter. In his thoughts, he was at the playground at Spinner's End, looking down at his ten year-old self and a red-haired girl with eyes green like spring clover. He heard the girl laugh. And when she looked up at him, she was smiling.

How long he had been kneeling in the snow, Severus did not know. But when he rose, his robes soaked and his legs aching from the cold and the awkward position he had been kneeling in, he felt at peace. He had finally said goodbye. At least to one of his ghosts.

Cassandra was waiting for him at the backdoor when he returned to the house, a thick woolly shawl wrapped around her shoulders.

'Are you alright?' she asked.

And Severus just nodded and wrapped his arms around her, inhaling the comforting scent of her hair.

'I am sorry we took you unawares,' she whispered. 'I should not just have assumed that you would like the idea of becoming a godfather.'

'You are very well aware of the fact that I do not appreciate surprises,' he tried to chide her. But his voice was too soft and his embrace too tender to fool her.

'Then you will do it?' she asked.

And to his own surprise, Severus smiled and nodded.

~ ~ ~

Had Severus known what it meant to be a part of the Potter-Weasley family, he would have turned down Ginny's request. By Merlin, he would have hexed the little witch and fled. But he had not, and now he had to suffer for it.

It was virtually impossible to just Floo to the Potters', pick up Eydis, inquire about her day and then Floo back to Hogwarts without being invited for dinner. And the invitations to spend the weekend with the entire clan became more pronounced every week as well.

At those occasions, Severus swore inwardly, counted silently to ten and more than once hoped that a band of Death Eaters would burst into the house and put him out of his misery. But even he understood that the Potter-Weasleys meant well and that it would be rude to decline.

Molly Weasley was the worst of them all. Not only did she constantly pester him about being too pale and too thin and that he had to eat more, but every time he picked up Lily or Eydis, the woman made a truly horrid noise of delight.

'Oh, Severus,' she would exclaim. 'You are such a wonderful man. Simply adorable.'

And as much as he scowled at her, the Weasley matron would just not change her mind.

All this considered, it was not surprising that the Snapes were invited to celebrate Christmas at the Burrow. And as much as he struggled, Severus knew that it would take a much braver man than him to turn down Molly, Ginny and Cassandra. And so he was outvoted and had to resign himself to spending Christmas Day in Ottery St. Catchpole.

The house smelled of gingerbread when they arrived. And the first thing Severus caught sight of when he stepped out of the fireplace was an enormous Christmas tree decorated with hideously blinking Muggle Christmas lights. Arthur's idea for sure. But before he could deliver a biting comment, Severus found himself being attacked by James and Albus, who demanded that he read them a story, built a snowman with them and bewitched their toy dragons to roar like real ones, and preferably all at once. And he saw Cassandra wink at him as she brought Eydis to the nursery, and he knew that he was on his own.

Fascinating, he thought to himself hours later as he was sitting in a comfortable chair in the sitting room, sipping his mulled wine, his eyes resting on his wife who was cradling their daughter in her arms. Truly fascinating.

If somebody had told him a couple of years ago that he would be spending Christmas with the Weasleys and Harry Potter, reading fairy tales to two little boys and accepting a ghastly knitted jumper from Molly without being Imperiused, he would have declared them mad without hesitation. A couple of years ago, he would not even have considered celebrating Christmas at all and especially not with these people.

But times had changed. They truly had. And so had he.

His heart warmed as he saw Cassandra looking up at him, and he ventured smiling at her. It was a tiny smile, almost imperceptible. But he was Severus Snape, after all. And Severus Snape was not known for smiling. Not in public anyway.

When she rose to take his hand and pull him out into the snowy garden, he followed her only too willingly. And when the back door closed behind them, he wrapped his arms around her and held her tight, never wanting to let go again.

'I am glad you haven't hexed anybody yet,' she said with a broad grin when he had let go of her in the end and they had settled on the stairs of the porch.

'I was very close when Molly presented me with that ridiculous jumper,' he snarled.

'You will wear it, of course.'

Her voice was dripping with irony. But still, Severus cocked an eyebrow and replied dryly: 'I am considering donating it to Nicodemus' basket. The tabby is getting old and deserves a warm bed.'

He cherished the sound of her laughter and pulled her towards him to feel the sound vibrate in his chest. And they sat like this, huddled up in the cold Christmas night for quite a while before Cassandra spoke again.

'I know we agreed on no presents, but I'd like you to have this.'

Severus looked down at the tiny box she had put into his hand, opened it and frowned. It was a ring, forged of silver, three snakes encircling a black crystal.

'This is your ring,' he stated, confused about her reasons for giving him the Black family ring.

But when he eyed it closer and saw that the engraving had been changed: the phrase Toujours Pur had been erased and replaced by Toujours Fidèle – Always True.

And when he looked into Cassandra's eyes, Severus understood.