Chapter Text
“ Luna, I already told you not to touch the bowtruckle! “
“ His name is Twinkle and he was lonely, papa! “
Severus sighed, feeling ten years older as a six year old twirled around him at the sound of classical music from their small, bluish green vinyl record player near the kitchen’s opened window. Severus had been collecting some poppy flowers for his potions and Luna, his little helper , was now getting distracted by that green creature. Its size allowed it to hide between the yellow strands of her hair, only coming out once in a while when Luna let out a giggle.
In the kitchen area, on an old oak table writing away on old pages was Xenophilius Lovegood. Quietly observing a tired potion master move around their beautiful garden, a refreshing summer breeze making his forest green robes ruffled as he delicately stepped between hollyhocks and foxgloves.
As Xeno watched, the writer began to recall the day when the couple first welcomed their only child to the world.
Wailing a thunderstorm and uncoordinatedly squirming like a puppet without strings against her bearer’s arms. Covered in fresh blood and other fluids from her journey to the surface. Their Luna Lovegood was a total mess. A little ogre, as Severus had commented , a weirdly shaped goblin. Completely, utterly, unbelievably precious . The raven had been half awake with lingering pains of the after-birth. The labour had taken a lot of energy from him, yet he couldn’t stop smiling as his daughter was finally laid against his heaving chest.
Her blonde hair was a perfect mixture between fallen snow and adult sunflower. Her skin, from what they could assume as she still hadn’t had her bath then , was a delicate white with spots of gentle pink on her cheeks and the tip of her round nose. Her eyes were like silver mirrors and she just loved using them to stare at everyone and everything in innocent curiosity.
She was an exact copy of her sire, that couldn’t be denied.
That day, Severus had cried more than he probably ever did in his whole life. He cried in both pain and joy, gratitude and hate, exhaustion and tranquillity. He cried and cried, tracks of tears running down his cheeks and sobs bubbling up and out his throat. Only Xeno’s arms and his daughter’s weight in the raven’s embrace were grounding him to the present and not be lost in intense emotions.
Never in a million years would they have ever thought to feel this kind of love in their lives. Not with the war ragging ever so prominent over their shoulders. Not with Severus being made to play spy like a mere chess piece in a game. Not with death being just a breath away from them.
It was intense, exhausting beyond doubt but one fateful night, it all seemed to stop.
The dark lord had been killed and an innocent baby hailed as saviour. All wixen celebrated in the streets that day, yet only a few understood the implications. What was really going to happen next wasn’t a time of peace but a time of waiting.
He-who-must-not-be-named was not dead, not really , but awaiting to return.
War was not over but simply at a halt.
Xeno didn’t enjoy thinking about it.
He knew it was a reality, an unavoidable fate but he selflessly wished to enjoy the present as much as possible. His life with Severus and their daughter. Happy in their home and away from the growing darkness.
While they still can.
While there is still a present.
“ Dare I ask why you are smiling? “
A smooth voice interrupted his thoughts but didn’t make his smile flatter. Quite the opposite, Xeno just smiled brighter. The owner of the source of his happiness for years now was to his right, the one and only Severus Snape. The bearer of his child, his lover, his life partner and one day, soon Xeno hoped , his husband.
They’ve talked about it, their wedding plans. They would do it during winter, in the forest surrounding their home. When the leaves were bare and snow covered their path. Luna would be their flower girl and they would be happy.
But only when the war was over.
When they are no longer afraid of having others know about their life, about their love, about their family.
When there is no longer a danger of them knowing.
“ I was thinking about you, my dear. You and our daughter make me a very happy man “
Dark eyes narrowed at him, it was easy to see his words were not so easily believed but his overly sweet compliments no longer sent the other man frowning. Xeno also remembered a time when such comments would get him a nasty hex to the back and insulting words to deepen the wound.
Severus had been a year above him and hadn’t known about his existence. Afterall, who would recall an awkward ravenclaw who spent more time with his head in the clouds than studying.
Xenophilius was a nobody, a half-blood too shy and strange to make proper friends. For someone like him, Severus was on a pedestal too high for him to reach.
A majestic star in the sky.
Yet, one day he had stumbled upon the fifth year slytherin in an abandoned room. Xenophilius had been searching for some quiet corner where he could organise his documents and notes for his most recent idea. A new type of tabloid where the untold stories were finally exposed to the world. While most journalism was after the big headlights and most recent gossip, his would be for the oddities and peculiarities.
He had just gotten into the room when he was faced with those onyx orbs, staring at him as if he had just committed the most atrocious crime. Xeno had flushed, a deer caught in headlights and his feet simply refused to move either further into the classroom or away from it as fast as possible.
Either way, he wasn’t given the choice. Xenophilius didn’t even have time to process what was happening when a blue spell was thrown at him and he felt himself be dragged out of the room by an invisible force. A shout of ‘ Don’t ever come back here! ’ echoing through the hall but all the blushing ravenclaw could think about was how good raven hair looked in a high ponytail, showing all that unmarked neck.
After that first meeting, it was as if fate was playing with the both of them or perhaps they just became more aware of each other’s presences. They kept accidentally meeting around Hogwarts, sometimes in public, other times on their way somewhere, other times in quiet nooks and crannies.
Severus would look up from his usual spot at the library and notice the fidgeting, flushing white haired teen, who kept giving him glances from between shelves.
Xenophilius would be silently eating at the Great Hall, one hand on his fork, another madly writing on his notebook but when he would feel the weight of a gaze to the back of his head, he would turn around and make eye contact with the potion genius.
At some point they began speaking.
It was impossible not to, especially after so many run-ins with each other. Severus, the intelligent young man that he was, and still is , began explaining to him the magnificence of potion-making and Xeno, the lovestruck boy that he continues to be , would eat all his words and keep them close to his heart. Only when Severus would nudge him once in a while to share something about himself, he would give a shaky sigh and explain his journalistic ideas and show his notes with worry in his eyes.
People tended to not be very kind to him but not Severus.
Never Severus .
Xenophilius’s ideas were met with a tender smile and praise from the older boy. Severus gave him encouragement for trying something new and even offered to help him out with anything he might know and which would be interesting enough to be published.
Xeno secretly thought that anything that came out of the raven’s mouth was the most interesting piece of knowledge anyone had ever said.
Time kept on passing.
They went from strangers to close friends. They shared their insecurities and hardships with each other. Severus’s bullies, his drunk father, his cold mother. Xenophilius’s lack of friends, his dead mother, his sick father. He would assist Sev with his potions and gathering ingredients and Severus would tutor him on his upcoming exams after supper.
Some time later they became lovers .
Stealing kisses under dark archways, giving longing glances between tables, passing quick notes in the library under Madam Pince’s harsh glare. They were new to romance, still testing the grounds of their new, uncertain relationship but eager to see where it would get them.
Xeno presented Severus a promise ring during his graduation and, a year later, when he himself graduated, he proposed to Severus. They moved out of their parents house after Severus’s potion mastership and acquired a house of their own with the money they managed to save. An ugly little thing near a village, in desperate need of renovations but theirs .
The war continued.
They got jobs, Xenophilius got an internship in the Prophet and Severus got a position as a helper in the Apothecary. At some point Severus met Lily again and after a teary filled conversation, they rekindled their friendship.
At some point, the topic of Dumbledore’s order against the dark lord was brought up. Lily confirmed she was part of the order and in turn got Severus and him to join as well.
Severus wasn’t too happy about it but he didn’t want his friend to possibly face death while he had a said with it. Xeno was getting tired of senseless killing and idiotic ideologies and, as always, wherever Severus went, he went too.
One was never far from the other.
Meanwhile, Severus’s slytherin ex-classmates didn't know about his relationship and kept on pressuring him to join their group. How their lord was so impressed by his abilities in potions and how useful it would be for them. How he would surely get into a higher position in their group, easily make his way into the inner circle, if only he joined .
Severus ignored them but Xeno fumed, growing protective over his partner.
Good things kept happening, even amidst so much tragedy.
Severus got pregnant, a huge surprise for them since they didn’t know he was a carrier type, and then Lily did too. Everyone was so happy, so overjoyed. Even the marauders had been getting along with Severus, after many apologies but- but-
Things can’t always go well.
“ Xeno “
He hadn’t even realised he had gotten lost in old memories until his beauty called for him. His silver eyes glanced towards the slytherin and their daughter, their Luna , who was propped up against her bearer’s hip with her arms around her neck. The mentioned bowtruckle on her shoulder. All three were looking at him but only Severus’s eyes hinted to concern.
“ You alright, Xeno? “
Xenophilius smiled and got up, engulfing his family in a tight embrace. Luna giggled in delight, her tiny friend hid behind her neck and Severus let out a huff with a look of adoration.
“ Of course, my dear . I couldn’t be better “