Disclaimer: Except for some OCs, the characters here and the world they inhabit are the creation and property of JK Rowling. This chapter takes place within the time line of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Several nights after the Malfoys' dinner party, Emily was wakened by Magical Law Enforcement. Aurors Kingsley Shacklebolt and Nymphadora Tonks were at her door, demanding to come in and search the house yet again.

“I should just give you people a key,” said Emily. “Try not to track so much mud on my grandmother's hardwood floors this time?” She went yawning into her sitting room to await the inevitable questioning and hopefully to gain some information as well.

“Death Eaters killed Alastor Moody tonight,” said Auror Tonks. “We take that very seriously. Meanwhile, your husband cursed George Weasley's ear off.”

Emily looked up in horror. “Is he going to be all right?”

“They stopped the bleeding, but he will never look the same.”

“Oh, that poor boy,” said Emily, thinking of both George and her husband.

“We have to ask, Mrs. Snape. Do you know where your husband is?”

“I have no idea where he is tonight,” said Emily truthfully.

“When did you last see him?”

“Last week.”

“Where was this?”

“Malfoy Manor.”

“We've had it surrounded for over a month. No one has been there, even you.”

“Then I don't know where I really was,” said Emily, unable to hide her confusion. “They took me to a place I knew as Malfoy Manor.”

“Has your husband been here?”

“Auror Moody put protective spells on this house. They prevented any Death Eaters from entering and I wouldn't begin to know how to tamper with them. You can check them if you like.”

Kingsley gave Emily an odd look. “We will.”

The squad who had been searching the house came to the sitting room. “Nothing?” asked Shacklebolt. They shook their heads. Several minutes later Emily was ushering them out of the house. She kissed her daughter goodnight again, and then turned off lights and straightened up a little bit as she made her way back to her bedroom, where she found her husband waiting for her. An instant later they were clasped together.

“I watched from across the street and Apparated directly up here after I watched them leave. How are you handling all of this?”

“I can handle anything when I'm in your arms. Why you and not him tonight?”

“Potter's wand cast a spell of its own. He can't have known that spell, it's one of the Dark Lord's specialties. Anyhow, the master's wand, or rather Malfoy's, was shattered. The Dark Lord is worried about Potter's wand now and wants to find one that can beat it. He had thought any other person's wand would work, but it becomes clear that deeper magic is in effect."

“I severed George Weasley's ear. It was a mistake, but it proved my continuing loyalty, and I was sent to my wife. I was told to remind you that you owe the Dark Lord, and I'm supposed to stay with you until I'm summoned. Can we go someplace safer than this?”

“I was told that George will be fine, although his ear will not grow back.”

“That's good news. I was aiming for someone who was about to kill Lupin.”

“You were trying to save a Marauder?” She smiled up at him.

“Don't tease me, Emily. Is there some place we can go?”

“As it happens, I have the perfect spot.” She smiled again as she clasped him to herself firmly and turned.

Severus found himself in the sitting room of the apartment Emily had lived in almost since school had ended, the same apartment in which they started married life.

“How is this possible?”

“I never sold it when we moved to Hogwarts, I just leased it and the renters moved out the day after—the same day we were last together. I moved a house-elf here and he's kept the linens fresh and the pantry stocked. You have several changes of clothes and I have robes for work here. I put all the protections I know over it. Can you make it Unplottable?”

Severus looked around the room in a daze. “The Dark Lord plans to take over the Ministry within the next week or two. There should be a day when I can perform those spells here, and perhaps at Spinner's End, too. Too many people know about your mother's house. We should leave that one out in the open. Emily, this is fantastic.” He tugged her toward the bedroom. “It's so oddly familiar.”

They knelt on the bed facing each other and just looked at each other for several minutes. Severus reached for his wife and kissed her gently, nudging her lips open and exploring her mouth for several moments. Soon they realized they were completely undressed and they shifted position, caressing and kissing each other as their bodies moved closer and closer together.

Emily woke as the sky lightened. Her husband had her clasped firmly within his arms and she smiled at him. They were living in a nightmare, but waking up like this gave them moments of sanity. She slipped out of the bed and left him a breakfast on the table. She conferred with the house-elf for a few minutes and Apparated back to her mother's house.

Hope was in the kitchen, reading the Daily Prophet and eating some cereal. “Where have you been?” she asked.

“I've been at the other place. We have a guest there.”

The teenager jumped out of her chair. “Can I go?”

“Maybe later today. He's exhausted right now. I'm going to head back over, but I wanted you to know where I am. I need to let the hospital know I won't be in for a few days. I think I'm finally worried sick from the strain of having my house searched so many times. It will probably be a week before I can stand to be around people again.” Emily looked elated and excited at that moment, but not the least bit worried or sick.

“I was hoping to go to Diagon Alley.”

“I'm not sure that's a good idea. When you return to Hogwarts, we can get what you need in Hogsmeade. It should be safer there.”

“Mama?”

“Yes dear?” Emily touched her daughter's hair at the use of the childish endearment.

“Is this ever going to stop getting worse?”

“I do believe that it will. It may take a while.” She kissed the top of her daughter's head and left the kitchen to make the arrangements that needed to be made.

After a very few minutes, Emily Apparated back to the apartment where she found her husband wandering from room to room as if he were looking for something.

“Did you lose something?”

He brightened at the sight of her. “No, I have everything I need right here, now.”

“Did you eat your breakfast?”

“I was waiting for you.”

“Well then, we should get started.”

She watched him as they ate breakfast and chatted. As she watched, some color returned to his face. He could even smile a little bit as he looked at her. His days spent constantly with Voldemort receded from him, and he was happy to have this respite here in their first home together. Emily gathered the dishes and went to wash them. Severus came to help her, and after she washed her hands one last time and wiped them dry, he lifted her into his arms and carried her back to the bedroom.

Severus woke again to discover that someone was enjoying a bubble bath in the adjoining bathroom.

“Are we reliving our first experiences as lovers?” He didn't bother to cover himself before walking from one room to the other. Emily recalled how she had blushed under Severus's scrutiny the first time he had insisted that he wanted to wash every inch of her body, and how she had blushed at her first full sight of him undressed. She recalled how quickly she had lost that shyness because after all, it was Severus.

“Reliving old memories, making new ones, either or both. I just want to thoroughly enjoy your presence while I have it.” Emily glanced into his eyes, but her attention was caught elsewhere. Severus might not have noticed where Emily's eyes kept straying. He was entranced by the glimpses of wet skin that he saw under the bubbles. It wasn't long before he had climbed in to the tub with her and pulled her onto his lap.

The next time Severus awoke, he discovered that his wife and daughter were playing chess in the sitting room. He could hear Brendon zooming around the flat with a toy broom. He smiled at the sense of home he felt, in spite of the fact that a war was going on over their heads and in spite of the fact that he was a wanted man. He put on his dressing gown, and stood in the doorway admiring the women in his life.

His daughter, with her striking blue eyes and overlarge nose under curly black hair, somehow achieved an unconventional beauty that required a second and even third look. Even so, it was clear that she was her mother's daughter. He looked at his wife, whose beauty had grown in his eyes since the day he married her. He had long since decided that she was the most beautiful woman in the world to him, but it seemed that at her age, she had grown into a beauty of which her younger face had only given hints.

“Ah-ha! He's awake!” said Emily, jumping up to give Severus a hug and a kiss.

Hope jumped up, too, and hugged her father. “I'm so glad to see you, Daddy. How are you?”

“I am quite happy to be with all of you. I'm starting to feel rested, too.”

“Are you hungry?” asked Emily. “We were thinking of getting pizza from that Italian bistro. You know, the one—“

“I do indeed know the one,” responded her husband with a look in his eyes that kindled a similar one in her own eyes. He leaned down to kiss her.

“Ew! You can take that somewhere else!” said Hope. “I'll go order it and bring it back. Do you two think you can get yourselves under control by the time I get home with it?”

“For you, anything,” said the father, placing a smacking kiss on his daughter's head.

Hope put on a lightweight cloak, pulling the hood up so that her face was in shadow, and looked out the windows to check for bystanders before going out the door.

“It seems a shame that she's had to learn safety procedures just to be in our family,” said Emily.

“Every Wizarding family needs those procedures whether they realize it or not. She's better off to be so well trained and prepared.”

“Perhaps,” said Emily, a worried look still on her face.

Severus put his hand through the sash of Emily's bath robe. “How long do you think we have?”

She moved toward the bedroom door. “Long enough.”

After another day Severus was finally rested enough to spend time with his family. The two parents decided that in the time they had, they should train their daughter in more advanced defense than she had been taught at school. Severus worked with her on some spells used in dueling and on some potions, while Emily showed her some healing charms, and the special Side-along Apparition that Healers used to bring injured people to the hospital. It wasn't sure whether Severus would be on staff at Hogwarts in the coming school year, and they wanted their daughter prepared to meet different exigencies. The two parents were delighted to find that their daughter appeared to grasp these lessons quickly and well. It offered some relief to the worries of both.

As they worked, they all watched the antics of young Brendon, trying the same spells with a toy wand. The results were mixed, as the wand was not made to focus magic, but the wandless magic of childhood was as strong in the boy as it had been in his older sister. The father ducked, and thought to himself that his son would be very interesting to the Dark Lord. He must find a way to help Potter end this soon.

They also took advantage of their time to compare notes on their experiences of the past month. Severus explained the horrors of hiding with the Dark Lord, and Emily described getting searched by Magical Law Enforcement several times. They described their loneliness without each other and whispered promises of the life they still hoped they would someday have.

Finally one morning, the Mark on Severus's arm started to burn, signaling that their time together was over. The father of the Snape family kissed his son and daughter goodbye, before embracing his wife and kissing her tenderly. “We may be able to live together openly after this,” he said, leaving unsaid the other half of the sentence: “If I'm not killed.” She understood both halves of the sentence and tried not to cling to him too tightly. As he Disapparated, Emily watched his smile grow grim. She knew well the facial expression he used with the entire world except her. Perhaps soon he would not need it.