Chapter Text
When Severus Snape first learned that The Prophecy he had overheard and reported to The Dark Lord was about Lily Evans (he absolutely refused to call her by her married name), he went to his Master and begged for him to spare her life. And, although the charismatic leader agreed, even going so far as to tempt his pet Potions Master with the promise of giving him the Muggleborn witch as a reward IF she stepped aside and let him kill her son, Severus knew that she would never agree to such a thing. The Lily he grew up with would rather fight to the very end to protect her only child.
As a result, Snape turned to the only other person that he knew was powerful enough to protect her and her family, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore. It wasn't an easy task and, in the end, the desperate man had to take an Unbreakable Vow, agreeing to become a spy for the Order to secure Lily's safety. Only, his efforts were all for naught. Shortly before the week of 31 October 1981, the Potters' hiding place was discovered.
Snape sent off his Patronus, warning of the imminent threat to the Potter family to Dumbledore, before making his way to Godric's Hollow, the location Voldemort mentioned just before he Disapparated from his circle of followers at Lestrange Hall. As he stepped out of his own Apparation into a small wooded area near the Hollow, Severus spotted two figures fleeing the house at the end of the street together, one that he readily recognized as Corbin Yaxley, a fellow Death Eater, the other from his years at Hogwarts. To his surprise, the smaller wizard morphed into an Animagus form and slunk further away into the shadows along the ground while the other took to sky on a broom.
"Pettigrew," Severus hissed under his breath, "So you're The Dark Lord's favorite new sycophant. Dumbledore's going to have kittens when he finds out he had a mole, or in this case, a rat in the Order all this time." As he Disillusioned himself and crept closer, intending to capture the foul little man, Snape saw a flash of green light coming from one of the upstairs windows of the cottage before a powerful explosion knocked him to his knees, tearing the sleeves of his shirt on a thorny shrub in the process. As he regained his feet, Severus saw that the force of the blast had taken a portion of the roof off from where he'd seen the spellfire. But, the real shock came when Snape saw that the Dark Mark on his freshly exposed left arm was rapidly fading to a dull grey...an undeniable sign that the Dark Lord was dead.
Forgetting all about Pettigrew for the moment, the shaken Potions Master hurried towards the smoking wreck of a house, hoping that Lily had somehow survived. When he stepped through the broken doorway, however, Severus' wish for a good outcome began to quickly fade. There on the floor in front of him was the body of one of his former school bullies, James Fleamont Potter, laying on his back with unseeing eyes.
Carefully stepping over the deceased man without a second thought, Snape rushed up the stairs two at a time, his worst fears coming to light as he saw the bloody, unmoving form of Lily on the floor next to a crib with a crying infant calling for his mother. Ignoring the boy, for the moment, Severus dropped to his knees, cradled his friend to his lap and searched for any signs of life.
"Sssev'rus?" rasped Lily, bloody bubbles forming in her mouth as she tried to speak, "Ha'ry?"
"Shhh, don't speak Lily, let me heal you," murmured Severus, casting diagnostics and cringing at the sight of numerous Dark curses lighting up on a scan appearing above her rapidly cooling body.
"Sssave...Ha'ry...Sssirus...g'dfa'her...tttwelve...Gri'ma'ld Place," she stuttered as her eyes drifted closed from the effort.
"Lily? Please, hold on," he begged, running counter spells as fast as he could manage after pouring a healing potion down her throat, "Please stay, Lily," Snape beseeched again, feeling her thready pulse weakening beneath his fingertips, "Forgive me. This is all..."
"Ffforgive you, Sssev..." Lily whispered, her body going limp as she breathed her last.
A heart wrenching howl of grief broke across the deepening gloom of the evening, startling the sobbing boy in the crib into a temporary silence.
And, in those split seconds of sorrow, the magical bonds of the Unbreakable Vow on Severus Snape's left arm shattered in a brilliant golden light.
The shock of the suddenly broken spell was enough to snap Severus out of his spiraling anguish and he reflexively brought down his Occlumency shields to control the growing tide of emotions. It was all the respite Snape needed to realize the full implications of what had just happened. For whatever reason, the Headmaster failed to heed his repeated warnings about the urgent need to relocate the Potters' to another safehouse. And, now, Snape was no longer bound to his vows to this leader of the Light, he need never risk his life as an unwilling spy nor take on the position at Hogwarts as the new Potions instructor.
Despite the horrific setting, Severus couldn't help the small smile that broke across his face, especially, as he had held no aspirations of ever becoming a Professor...that whole spying business didn't appeal to him much, either. The feelings of relief didn't last long as a tiny whimper drew his attentions back to the room. Lily's body was still splayed across his lap and the boy in the crib was beginning to sniffle and call out 'Mum' once more.
After gently placing a kiss to Lily's forehead and reverently setting her down onto the floor, Snape slowly got to his feet and fully took in the sight of baby Potter for the first time. The toddler had the same unruly black hair as his late father but, the intense green eyes of his mother...it was a bit unsettling. Then, Severus noticed the lightning bolt shaped scar on the boy's forehead and let out a low hiss, he knew this was a sign of a curse, and a failed one at that, as the boy was still alive and relatively unharmed. How that had happened was anybody's guess and one he didn't have the time to explore...at least, not in this place. They would both need to leave, and soon.
Aiming his wand at the youngster, Snape first cast a gentle Tergeo over Harry's entire body, which not only cleared up the small amount of blood seeping from the wound but, a soiled diaper, too, which his prodigous nose had just detected. A soft drying and warming spell was next in order as Severus wasn't sure if the child was shivering from the cool temperatures invading the room from the missing roof or from shock but, he figured he'd best cover all the basics.
"Right, what's next?" Snape muttered to himself as he looked about the place. If he was going to take Lily's son to his mutt of a godfather as she requested, he wasn't about to leave the child with the, most likely, unprepared wizard. Spying a large carrying bag hanging on a hook near the nursery door, Severus checked the contents. ('Fresh nappies, a change of clothes, an assortment of children's potions. Good, that's a start.')
A small sound got his attention and as Snape looked back at the boy, he saw the little one reaching his hands towards him, indicating he wished to be picked up. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Severus let out a deep sigh. He knew this was an inevitability but, it didn't make things any easier, the only other small child he had any experience holding had been his own godson, Draco, and that had been some months ago.
Spotting one of those wrap-around carriers, Snape fiddled about with the device until he got it properly affixed about his torso, then, carefully lifted the toddler out of his crib and settled him into the sling. Making another quick decision, he set about shrinking all the furnishings in the room, placing a lightening charm over them and putting everything within the larger, middle pocket of the diaper bag. "Alright, what's next," he said, looking down into the face of the softly cooing toddler, "I don't suppose you know where your father's study is by chance?"
Getting nothing but a drooling smile in response, Severus left the nursery and headed down the hallway, checking behind every door that he came across. The last place on the left was the office that he needed to find. After checking for wards, traps and any other nasty surprises, Snape sent an Alohomora at the only locked drawer on the large wooden desk near the window. Inside, he found what he looking for...the Potter's will naming Sirius Black as Harry's godfather. Next to the folder containing the will, as well as, other documents listing the Potter's properties and investments, was a small bag which held several vault keys.
Once all of these items were secured in another large side pocket of the carrier bag, Snape hurriedly checked the remaining rooms for anything else that the boy might need. Satisfied that he'd gotten everything, including a sufficient number of toys, baby bottles, a photo album and the family grimoire, Severus took a deep breath and focused on the address Lily had given him, 12 Grimmauld Place.
Holding the, now drowsy, toddler's head gently to his chest with one hand, Snape Disapparated the pair of them away just as he heard the sounds of other people entering the house downstairs.