Severus completed his Potions training and became a full-fledged Potions Master. He took over the Potions curriculum completely the year after Voldemort was killed. By adjusting the master syllabus slightly and tightening expectations he was able to produce young wizards and witches who had some competency even if they stopped the discipline after the O.W.L.s levels. His work was published in several periodicals and he began to get a reputation for his research. His N.E.W.T.s students were highly valued in the professional world.

As Head of Slytherin House Severus gained a reputation of overall fairness and high discipline. His students frequently plotted mischief as they learned their craft and developed the attributes of their house. As they were caught, they were punished to the extent of their misdeeds. Since he was as harsh as necessary with the young members of his own House, Severus was ruthless toward members of other houses when he caught them, too.

Professor Snape came to be known as a scourge of the hallways, especially at night. He had a tendency of suddenly appearing in places where students ought not to be, and he had perfect recall of the detentions he issued. Many students caught snogging in the hallways thought their detentions were entirely unfair under the circumstances. It was clear to many of them that they were caught as the Potions Master was bringing his own wife to make romantic use of certain spots around the castle. They dared not complain, however, as the demeanor of the Potions Master was unyielding.

Gryffindor House became complicated. His experiences with one family seemed to exemplify the spiraling nature of the situation. In the year following Voldemort's demise the first son entered Hogwarts. He was a serious young man with red hair and a respectful demeanor. He had an adventurous streak that landed him in detention once or twice, but was no more mischievous than any of his classmates. A serious student, he seemed destined to excel in all of his subjects. Professor Snape could work with a student like that from any house.

His younger brother arrived two years later and was a bit more fun-loving. With the younger brother's instigation, Gryffindor house got into more intricate schemes and trouble. It was nothing Professor Snape could not handle, having seem the Marauders at first hand, but it was the beginning of a disturbing trend.

The third brother, who arrived five years after the first, was in some ways the worst of the bunch. He was not a trouble maker, but he did spend an inordinate amount of the professors' time in trying to find ways to improve his grades and his overall standing and reputation among the staff. Professor Snape didn't mind his obsequiousness, however there was definitely a time for a professor to help students and a different time for a man to spend an evening making love to his wife. This brother didn't understand the difference and would knock on a professor's door whenever a question occurred to him.

It was when the twins arrived, the year after the oldest brother finished his education and while the second one was a Prefect, that Professor Snape started suggesting to the Headmaster that perhaps Hogwarts didn't need a Gryffindor House. Quite precocious, the twins found several ways to leave the castle without using the doors, and seldom walked through a hallway without leaving a Dungbomb behind. Perhaps the most talented wizards of the family, the two squandered their intelligence on running scams rather than working on their studies. They seemed particularly fond of pranking Slytherin students and their Head of House as well. They encouraged their classmates in Gryffindor to do the same. They never formed a circle to compare to the Marauders, but they were just as destructive and prone to be found in detention.

The Gryffindors had indeed adopted Professor Snape as their personal nemesis. When he pointed out the problem to the Headmaster, he usually got an indulgent look. The House Head, Professor McGonagall, would punish the perpetrators, but somehow her punishments did not deter them from the next scheme. Severus took consolation in the fact that Gryffindor was so busy getting into trouble that Slytherin regularly won both the House Cup and the Quidditch Cup during those years.

Although frustrating at times, this rivalry was an occasionally enjoyable way for the Potions Master to keep his Defense skills fresh. He never knew when he would need to turn around and diffuse fireworks or protect a younger student from a hex cast by an older one. Many times he would go to bed at night, put his arms around his wife, and ponder with contentment a job well done because he had prevented the school from being burned to the ground or because he had quickly released an entire classroom full of second years from a crying jinx.

Hope Snape grew from babyhood to girlhood under the watchful eyes of the Hogwarts staff and several hundred students. She was a striking child with curly black hair, dark blue eyes and a lovely face. The fact that her nose was definitely an odd shape tended to bring one's eye back for another look, after which the beholder usually decided that she was quite attractive. The Headmaster in particular seemed to enjoy staring into the blue eyes of the girl, remembering another blue eyed young girl of high spirit who was lost to the Wizarding world far too soon.

As the child of both her parents, Hope was quiet and studious. As the child of her father, she could be depended upon to defend herself quickly and ruthlessly, long before she was given her first wand. It became necessary, when she was still quite a little girl, to keep her away from mischievous students, for the students' safety. As the child of her mother, she was generally easygoing but occasionally quite willful, developing a knack for bending others to her will. Fortunately the mother had an even more formidable will and knew when to curb her daughter.

Emily realized with the passing years that she would soon be left without occupation when Hope officially became a student at Hogwarts. She had cherished a dream for several years and then given up on it. She knew there were many years before she would be too old for this dream so she decided not to drag her marriage through the abyss of fretting over what may or may not happen. As time went on, Severus had too much to worry about as it was.

Albus was starting to approach each school year with heightened expectations and as Hope's entrance year approached he seemed to be particularly excited. The staff were having a time keeping up with him as he went over every preparation for that school year, again and again. Emily knew it was due to a future classmate of Hope's that this excitement was growing and the scowls on her husband's face grew more entrenched. She spent her evenings kissing and smoothing away the wrinkles as well as she could and was usually repaid for her efforts by a night with the Severus she had always known.

After talking it over with her family, Emily decided that she would return full time to St. Mungo's when Hope went to school. Due to her work at Hogwarts and in Hogsmeade, she was accepted with full accreditation as a member of the staff. Headmaster Dumbledore arranged for the Floo connection between the Potions Master's quarters and the hospital to be re-established. While the family was vacationing at the home of Emily's mother Margo, Emily began working some shifts.

A/N: I wimped out a bit by condensing the next ten years into a single chapter. I wanted to get to first year.