“I never trusted him. Somehow I always knew he was capable of this sort of thing. If I ever get the chance, Emily, I'm going to even the score.” Something in his voice made her shiver.

“Would you kill him in cold blood?” she asked quietly.

He thought for a moment. “No, I don't think I could do that. If he made the slightest move, though, against me or mine, I would do it and be glad.”

They were both quiet for a few moments.

Emily started again. “I guess you were right. I never would have believed it, myself. This must have been why they were questioning us that night.”

“They thought that Sirius had betrayed the Potters to me and that I had taken word to the Dark Lord.”

Emily looked up with worry. “How did you ever convince them that you hadn't done that?”

“Something you said made their theory doubtful and then Dumbledore came and he was brilliant. He said, 'Severus Snape is no more a Death Eater than I am.' They had to believe him and they let me go.”

“I still can't get over it. They loved each other almost as much as James loved Lily. I know he loved James more than he ever pretended to love me.”

“You are so trusting, Emily.” Severus had his arm around his wife and squeezed her close to kiss her forehead. “It's the only thing that makes it possible for you to love someone like me.” After a moment he started trailing kisses to interesting places.

“Severus,” she said with a note of warning in her voice.

“Emily, I miss you. When can I have my wife back?” He was murmuring huskily into her neck.

Emily put her hand on his cheek and kissed him. “They say by the end of the week.” She smiled up at him. “The benefit of all this time here is that certain restrictions will be lifted when I get home.”

---

Emily was walking through the hospital on the morning that she was to be discharged and was present when Alice and Frank Longbottom were brought into the emergency ward.

“They've been hit by Crucio after Crucio,” said Rufus Scrimgeour. “The Lestranges and young Barty Crouch were trying to find out if their master had somehow survived and been incarcerated. This will kill Bartemius and his wife.”

“What's been done for them?” asked Emily.

“We haven't found a spell that will ease their sufferings,” answered one of the Healers.

“There's a charm...” said Emily, thinking of Severus's sixth year Charms text. She took out her wand and closed her eyes, picturing the notes Severus had written and his comments to her when she asked about it. “Do you mind if I try it?” she asked.

“We're out of ideas,” said the other Healer, “so whatever you have to try is better than nothing.”

Emily focused and said the words. Instantly, Alice relaxed. Emily repeated the spell with Frank and he relaxed, too.

“It is not the most effective of spells. It only reduces the effect and probably should be used at the same time as the curse or as soon as possible. Hopefully it will bring them some ease.”

The other Healers smiled at her. “See how it already has worked,” one of them said.

Emily looked at her mother who shook her head with a doubtful smile. The eyes of the patients told a sad story. The suffering might be gone, but the two Aurors were unlikely to return to their former selves.

---

Emily was thoughtful as she returned to Hogwarts that afternoon. Severus had a double fifth year Potions class, so Emily went up to the Headmaster's office. He conjured a soft chair for her and offered her tea. Dumbledore then started the conversation by offering his condolences for the loss of her son.

“Thank you, Headmaster, but I'm here to discuss a rather difficult conversation I had last summer.”

“Indeed, Emily?”

“Last summer, on our wedding anniversary, actually, we were invited to a dinner party at Malfoy Manor. While there, I had a private conversation with the Dark Lord in which he asked me to be the mother to his heir.” Emily spoke quickly and tonelessly to her tea cup.

“I take it he didn't really ask.”

“He didn't know that I was pregnant at the time.” Emily suppressed a sob at the thought of her son. “When he realized it, he said that it was fine, we would wait until after the baby was born in the New Year.”

“He actually wanted an heir?”

“He specifically said that he didn't need one, but that an heir might come in handy.”

Dumbledore looked over his glasses and Emily found herself remembering the dress that made her feel naked, the look in the Dark Lord's eyes, and her own shame, followed by her husband's love and comfort. He did not say much to her other than that it proved his belief that Voldemort did indeed intend to return to the Wizarding world at some point. He thanked her for the information and then looked kindly at her, again.

“Is there something else, Emily?”

“It's Sirius, Professor.”

“Albus, please,” he protested.

“Albus, then. When Severus and I...” She wasn't sure how to word it. “When we came together, he was intent upon joining the Death Eaters because he was so disappointed in his love for Lily. I would never believe that Sirius could feel like that over me, but it appears that he must have been a Death Eater. You don't think he could have been as upset over me as Severus was over Lily?”

“Emily Snape, I don't think it would ever have occurred to Lily Potter to worry about such a question,” said the Headmaster, smiling warmly. “In Sirius's case, I don't think it is the sort of thing for you to worry about. Perhaps we can get another opinion, though.”

Dumbledore stood and threw some Floo powder into his fireplace. Emily didn't know whom he called and didn't understand the conversation from the end she heard. Several minutes later, though, a sandy-haired young man stepped out of the fireplace. Emily looked at him critically. He was aging prematurely, the cost of his condition, and there were lines on his face that can only come with the sorrow of a man left alone after the treachery of one friend causes the death of two others.

“Remus!” Emily said, standing to hug him. “I'm so sorry for your losses.”

“I hear that you have suffered a loss, too, Emily. I'm so very sorry.” He sat in the chair that was conjured for him and looked at Dumbledore expectantly. “You had a question for me?”

“We were pondering whether Sirius may have been broken-hearted enough to turn to the Death Eaters,” summarized the Headmaster. “Emily is somewhat worried about the question.”

Remus looked embarrassed. “Oh, well, Emily, you know he never thought seriously about you...”

“So he wasn't broken-hearted?” Emily asked eagerly.

“Angry, certainly, and his pride was hurt, but he claimed he was more upset over wasting time he could have spent with other girls. Although I do think you touched his heart more than that, Emily. I know he missed you after you married Snape, and he liked you more than any girl he knew. He just wasn't the sort to get that worked up over a girl, ever.” Remus looked at her sheepishly.

Emily jumped up and hugged him. “Thank you, Remus. I was worried—I've been thinking that if I'd done things differently I might have avoided...well you know. I feel a lot better, now. Anyway I'm sorry that you had to come here to indulge a girlish worry.”

He held her hands as she sat back down. “It's not silly, Emily. I've stayed up nights asking myself the same question. Is there something I did or didn't do that would have made a difference? I think James and Sirius thought I was the traitor, or rather, Sirius convinced James of that.” Remus Lupin's face was as dark as Emily had ever seen it.

Albus Dumbledore cleared his throat. “If you two don't mind, I have paperwork I must attend to or Minerva will take out her wand. Remus, could you walk Emily back down to the dungeons? She's just gotten out of the hospital and may not be quite up to the staircases, should they move when she's on them.”

“Certainly, Albus.”

“Thank you, Headmaster,” said Emily, putting her hand in his.

“Albus, dear, Albus,” he responded, patting her hand with his other one.

Emily was grateful several times for Lupin's arm holding her own as they descended to the dungeons. About halfway down the stairs, Remus suddenly chuckled. “Did you really have Snape in your bedroom while we were all crashed in the sitting room of your apartment?”

“Yes.” Emily blushed at the memory.

“It was a scam worthy of the Marauders themselves, to bring their archenemy so close to them unknown, you know.”

Emily smiled. “I hadn't thought of that. We walked right past you, twice. Thank you for clearing up after dinner that night. I know you must have done it.”

“I got Peter to help.” Remus smiled at the memory and then his face saddened at the more recent memory. “Poor Peter...”

“Did he ever have a life of his own?”

He thought for a moment. “There were some girls. I don't know if they ever amounted to much. He didn't do much that wasn't for his mother.”

They reached the main floor of the castle. Emily patted Lupin's arm and thanked him for his help. “I think I should go the rest of the way by myself. I hope things go well for you, Remus.”

“Thank you, Emily. Take care of yourself.”

A/N: Thank you for reading and reviewing and especially to Trickie Woo for beta reading.

The past several chapters have alluded to events described more clearly in books 1, 3 and 7 of canon. Obviously, all of this world has been created by JK Rowling and she deserves all of the credit for the main storyline, especially in these chapters.