He'd done something. She knew that he had. She'd been on edge all of last school year, waiting to be jealous. Expecting to see the first year version of her husband, who didn't even know there would ever be a Hermione Granger, chasing after, wanting, another witch with all of his heart.

It hadn't happened.

Oh for certain, they were friends and more than casually acquainted with one another. There were the nods of recognition when they saw one another in the library, Great Hall, or wherever, but they didn't even seem to be that close of friends. Not as he'd described it to her over forty-five years ago.

He'd described them as best friends, much like she, Ron, and Harry had been. She didn't see that. At all.

She'd thought maybe their first year things had been weird, different, each of them finding their way in school without a Dark Lord in the mix.

Unexpectedly, or maybe not, given the climate was so different than when he'd originally come to school, Severus had been sorted into Gryffindor not Slytherin. She could tell his older self had been a little surprised by that change.

She wasn't.

If the Sorting Hat recognized anything, it would know that her wizard had enough bravery for about ten wizards. He was certainly daring and chivalrous. There had never been a time in their forty-six years that she'd felt mistreated or undervalued.

His feelings? Yes, he was still stoic, but those who knew him well, as she and Albus did, knew what to look for. He was affectionate to their children and now their grandchildren.

This year, though, she hadn't seen one shred of evidence that Severus Snape was in love with Lily Evans. She thought maybe she'd expected a lightning bolt resulting in hearts and cupids last year. So, this year, she had waited for it. Expected to feel as if he'd, through no fault of his own, via the younger Severus, scooped her heart out and stomped on it.

Nothing.

Instead, she watched, fascinated, as he forged a friendship with Remus Lupin of all people. She knew that turn confounded her husband as well. Again, it wasn't surprising to her.

They were out in his personal lab this Friday evening two months into his younger self's second year. They both had the weekend off. No grandchildren this weekend, either. That was a rarity, as it seemed they always had small guests in their home, whether it be their rooms at Hogwarts or their actual home.

"What did you do, Erik?"

The question came after she watched him take inventory and make lists of what he wanted to add. Weekend off or not, there were still things to do. For both of them.

Forty-six years later she still loved to watch him work, even doing something like this. He was so meticulous and exacting. That hadn't decreased as the years passed.

He was contemplating making the wolfsbane potion for Remus. He hadn't said so, but she knew him. His younger self had befriended the wizard. He would want to ensure that wizard was healthy, and that no one was in danger of being hurt by his younger self's only friend.

"I'm not sure what you're asking me, Marie. I've done a lot of things. If you actually want an answer, which I can tell by your tone that you do. Please ask me what you actually want to know."

"Funny man. You know damn well what I'm asking you about. I haven't seen him say more than a dozen or so words to Lily Evans since the two of them walked through those doors."

He shrugged dismissively, as if he wasn't paying any mind to what she was asking him. She knew better. And he was aware that she did.

"Don't you dare do that to me as if I don't know. What did you do?"

"I may have gone to talk to them. Told him that she was not the witch for him. Told her that she needed to be honest with him about his feelings for her not being reciprocated."

"Oh," she said simply and choked back a sob.

She wasn't sure why that … hurt so very deeply. It did, though. What did that mean that he would … warn them?

The fact that Thomas and Millicent had met when they were eleven years old and were quite happy still almost twenty-five years later maybe.

He turned to face her then, having heard the sob no doubt. He looked perplexed.

"This upsets you?" His forehead was furrowed. He sounded as confused as he looked. It was an odd look on this man. He rarely ever looked as if he didn't understand something.

"Why would you do that?"

"Do what? Tell them the truth. Make them see it years earlier than they did otherwise? She didn't love him! I just pushed her into telling him sooner rather than later. In fact, she never actually did tell him - me - originally. I likely saved their friendship. I have observed them in classes. Last year he was hurting, bitter, and not understanding what happened. Or why. He was questioning how he'd read her so wrong. I see improvement this year. He'll get over it eventually, and remember when they first met and were friends. Likely they will be able to talk to one another again instead of having a falling out due to insults and evil. His interest in the Dark Arts is still there. That hasn't changed, and as he looks into those things more and more, chances are she will still have the same opinion of them. And of him as a result of them."

"Why?"

He huffed. "You should talk. Did you not think I'd notice the robes he arrived in were not the ones I arrived in originally?"

"I didn't come face to face with him. Or her."

"What does my seeing Lily have to do with this, Marie?" No Marie Rose. Just Marie.

"You are in the same house with her, Erik! You're friendly with Remus. James and Sirius do not seem to be tormenting you."

"You are right, it is all very different."

"Maybe she would…"

"Do not! Do not go there, Marie. She does not love him. Me."

"But you love her."

"At this moment in time you are correct, yes. Severus Snape loves her, but as I said I see that he is healing this year."

"That's not my question."

He slammed his hand down on the table. She jumped a bit at the gesture. He'd never, in all the time that they'd been together, done anything like that.

"I am not sure why this is turning into a discussion on the verge of an argument. I am married last I checked, to you, for forty-six years now."

"Yes, but he…"

"Do not do this to me or to yourself. I do not want her. It does not matter that things are different."

"But he could…"

"Forty-six years, Marie. I look at her now and wonder how I could have ever thought that was love. I mistook a scrap of kindness and positive attention for an emotion that it simply was not and made it into something catastrophic." He shrugged, regarding her and his eyes got softer. Kinder. "I did it for you, not for me anyway. I was willing to watch it unfold personally, but you did not deserve to."

"What?"

"How can you act so surprised after all of these years? All of the things you gave up? The complaints you have never made about doing chores at home and then coming here to do more work? After all of the things you've done not just for me but our children? Specifically for Thomas? Not to mention the Harrison children. You ensured they got help in dealing with their father's death and their mother taking her own life. I wouldn't have thought of that. And don't tell me I had as big of a role in how he - any of them - turned out as you did. That was you. You have never asked for anything. I have never heard you complain once about any of this. Maybe you have internally, or when I haven't been present. I don't know. I did not want to be the cause of your pain, inadvertent or not. I did not want you to have to witness … that. I did not want you to wonder about me. My preference is you. One hundred out of one hundred times I will choose you. I think they are both better off for it, truthfully. I hope that they can be … friends."

"I do, too," she said softly.

He closed the distance between them then, taking her into his arms and she shuddered against him. He kissed the top of her head, sliding his cheek against it in a gesture so familiar by now. He was hers. Everything about him from the feel and scent of him was hers. Her memories. Her life was firmly planted in these sensory triggers.

Severus.

"I am sorry. Perhaps I should have told you, but I just wanted to do something for you for a change. You do so much for everyone else. Honestly, my thought was solely of you. My feelings had very little impact on the decision."

"I believe you. I just, I see her. She's so lovely…"

"You are far lovelier."

She scoffed, rubbing her cheek against his chest. "Now you are lying."

"I am not. Forty-six years ago. Today. I'll say the same thing. I repeat, if you didn't hear me the first time. I choose you, Marie Rose Clary."

"I choose you, too."

"Well, I should hope so. You certainly had no better options."

She snorted. "Viktor…"

"Do not!"

"Jealous of someone not even born yet, Professor Prins?"

"You looked lovely for him. So, yes."

"It wasn't actually for him. It was for everyone who thought I was just a frumpy, smart girl who couldn't look pretty. I just chose not to care!"

"And while I can admit I will not relish having to watch that unfold again, unlike my personal situation, he did not influence the path your life took, so leave it as it is."

"Oh?"

"I'd like to see you again like that I think."

"You aspire to be a dirty old man?" she teased.

"You caught me!" He shook his head. "We already have four great grandchildren older than that girl will be."

"I suspect we'll have more than four by that time."

He slid his hand to her cheek, stroking it with his thumb as he regarded her. Probably looking for a sign that she wasn't done being mad. She wasn't really mad. She just had braced herself for it to happen and when it hadn't. Well, she wasn't sure what it meant. She wasn't sure she did at this moment even truthfully.

"I apologize if I upset you, my Marie Rose. That was not my intent."

"I know."

"I am going to work with my younger self."

"I know," she said again.

"What?"

"I know. You're going to teach him to make the wolfsbane potion."

"How did you…"

"Because I know you."

"I still can't believe I've befriended Lupin!"

She chuckled. She could because she imagined that he realized when they taught at Hogwarts together, Remus wasn't as terrible as he remembered. He was also intelligent. It was one of the things she liked about Remus. She could talk to him. He didn't talk to her as if she was a child. Well, at first he had, but eventually he realized she wasn't an imbecile.

"Mr. Snape," Severus said at the end of the day's potions class. "See me before you leave, please."

"Did you get less than an O on something," Potter said, but it wasn't said in so scathing a tone as Severus remembered.

"No," his younger self said defensively. Severus saw him stiffen as if preparing for a fight.

"Relax," Lupin said, settling what his older self imagined was intended to be a comforting hand on his younger self's shoulder. "He's just trying to get a reaction out of you. We all know you'd never get less than that, especially in this class."

His younger self nodded, glancing with obvious disappointment in his eyes as Lily went off with James, Sirius, and Peter Pettigrew. He sighed inwardly, wishing he could tell the boy.

So very much.

"You wanted to see me, Professor Prins," he said once everyone else had left and it was just the two of them.

"I'm wondering if you would like to assist me on a project. It'd be extra credit. Evenings and some weekends."

"Yes," he said and Severus couldn't help but chuckle at his younger self's enthusiasm.

"You don't even know what I'm asking of you."

"I don't care. This is by far my favourite subject."

"You are a natural. Come see me in my office after dinner tonight and we will embark on this project together."

"Okay," he said, leaving the classroom with more confidence in his step if Severus wasn't mistaken.

He'd cleared with Albus making the potion. Albus' eyes had shimmered with mirth when he told Severus to be sure both of their names were on the patent. He still had not sat down with Albus and told him how it was they'd come to be in that house of his all those years ago.

He always assumed that he'd have to eventually, but now he doubted that the younger versions of themselves would have to be sent back. They could likely just go on living their lives without a clue. There didn't seem to be an impetus for them to do so now, which would mean they likely would not have to reveal themselves to them. Erik definitely wanted to reveal himself to Severus.

One day.

His younger self needed to know.

Everything.

And so their "experimentation" toward making a potion that would assist Remus Lupin with his affliction began that evening.

With it, a sort of kinship and comfortableness with himself came that he wasn't sure he'd ever experienced before. Young Severus wasn't such a bad person he was able to discover as they worked together. He was exacting and precise even at this age. Already his mind saw things in formulas that others with thirty years' experience didn't.

He always valued his intellect. He knew he was above average, but to witness it first hand was a bit disconcerting.

No wonder people hated him.

And seeing him as a professor to a student. It was no wonder he took the tone with Hermione he had. They were somewhat similar. The major difference was that Severus chose not to raise his hand in class endlessly.

Story ©Susan Falk/APCKRFAN/PhantomRoses.com