Chapter 3
Needless to say, Severus hadn’t punished Zoe for her tantrum in the apothecary once they returned to Spinner’s End, nor for wandering away from him in Diagon Alley. He hadn’t had the heart to leave her in a position where she couldn’t be absolutely sure of his whereabouts within the house especially because, since their return, Zoe had barely left his side. Even as he had moved about the kitchen preparing a stew for dinner, the girl had stayed beside him, often times with a fistful of his frock coat in her little hand.
After consuming a warm meal, she had seemed to perk right up, however, even becoming her normal, stubborn self at bath time. Severus was rather relieved for, as her emotions eased, so did his.
Or so he had thought.
He had been lying in bed awake for hours. To say that he’d been disconcerted by his encounter with Yaxley that day would have been an understatement. The man had never before made him fearful, but the way he’d leered at Zoe and talked of Severus’s selection of a mother for his child had settled within his mind and stayed there, tormenting him. Normally, he would have scoffed at such heavy-handed threats and moved on. After all, it wasn’t as if Yaxley could honestly start any kind of pureblooded uprising under the watchful eye of Kingsley Shacklebolt, Harry Potter, and the Aurors that executed their orders within the Ministry.
But Severus wasn’t at ease.
He didn’t know what it was; perhaps he was just resorting back to his former instincts and vigilance from the war or maybe it was some sort of ingrained instinct to protect the world in which his daughter would grow up. Either way, he wasn’t getting any sleep at all and he had an important meeting with a client in the morning.
There was also the monumental event today of which he was still reeling. Zoe had spoken at last. Severus found that, although her first words to him had been shaky and filled with fear, he was completely elated. Her speech hadn’t been choppy or disconnected as he had feared it would be due to her lack of practice. No, she had spoken coherently and with full sentences as if she had been talking all along. It was hard to describe, really, the feeling hearing his daughter’s voice for the first time had elicited. It had been soft and without impediment. He was overjoyed; perhaps it was relief.
No. It was pride. For, though he’d been a father for four years, he’d never been called father. To finally hear Zoe address him as Papa had sent a feeling of warmth into his soul that he’d never experienced before. It was almost as if it was only now an official title--Severus Snape, Zoe’s Papa. That notion was ridiculous, of course, but that’s what it felt like nonetheless.
As that bit of contentment washed over him, Severs was ripped from his thoughts as the door to his bedroom slowly creaked inward and he heard what he thought to be a light shuffling across the floor. He sat bolt upright and looked out across the foot of his bed and the floor beyond but the darkness of the room made it difficult to see anything and his eyes weren’t what they used to be.
He turned swiftly around and grabbed his wand from the table beside his bed, lighting the end of it immediately. Holding it aloft, he searched out in front of him but, aside from the bedroom door being slightly ajar, there was nothing there. Severus frowned. Was he being paranoid? It had probably just been a light breeze through the house that had pushed the door open.
Severus relaxed then and put out his wand before placing it back on the table to his right. He did one last sweep with his eyes across the room and lay back down onto his pillow. That had been strange.
You’re becoming jumpy with age, Snape, he thought inwardly.
He had finally resolved himself to sleep and closed his eyes when movement on the bed beside him once more made him alert. He sat up and quickly turned to see a small heap moving towards him under the duvet to his left. Grabbing up his wand once more, he placed a hand under the edge and pulled back the covers to find Zoe huddled beneath wearing the long, white, cotton nightgown he had dressed her in for bed and an oversized pair of wool socks on her feet.
It had taken an uncommonly long time to get the little girl to go to sleep that night, but Severus had been certain that, once she’d finally nodded off, she would be all right and remain in her own bed.
Apparently, he had been wrong, for here she was, wide awake and waving at him in greeting.
Zoe looked up at him and smiled mischievously as if it was a game of hide-and-seek and he had just discovered her clever hiding place. He scowled down on her before reaching for the long, forest green dressing gown lying at the foot of the bed. He shrugged into it before standing and tying it securely around his waist.
–You are supposed to be in your own bed,†Severus admonished her before holding out his hand toward her to indicate she should come with him. Zoe didn’t comply; she merely spread out on the sheets, placed her head on one of the pillows and closed her eyes. After a few moments, she opened them slightly to see if her father was still watching her. Severus was, his arms folded across his chest—he wasn’t amused. Zoe grinned.
–Are you no longer speaking?†he asked. His heart seemed to drop at the thought that perhaps her words earlier had been a fluke or some sort of one-time occurrence. Now that he thought about it, she hadn’t uttered a word since they had come home. Why hadn’t that occurred to him before? He had obviously been quite distracted.
Zoe shrugged as she kicked absently at the edge of the duvet at her feet.
–Come,†Severus said impatiently. He was annoyed that she hadn’t answered back when he asked her the question. –Back to bed. Now.â€
Zoe remained in her position on his large bed and folded her arms over her chest, stuck out her bottom lip and started to pout. Severus rolled his eyes before leaning down and picking her up. He positioned her on his hip and she immediately wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head on his shoulder. Supporting her with one arm, he grabbed his wand with his free hand and pocketed it inside his dressing gown then strode out of the room.
Once in the tiny corridor, he made an immediate right and pulled open the door that concealed a narrow stairwell that led up to the attic and started to climb. As he did so, he felt Zoe cling on a little tighter to him.
Minerva had been horrified to find out that, instead of converting his study into Zoe’s bedroom so that the two of them could sleep on the same floor, Severus had cleaned out the attic to be used as the child’s room. He hadn’t done it because he never wanted to see his daughter or because he was selfish and wished to keep his study, as Minerva had implied. No, the truth was that, even as a selectively mute toddler, Zoe could be very persuasive and she had been adamant about keeping the attic.
Of course, Minerva had remonstrated Severus; she told him that he was the adult, the parent, and that he should have put his foot down. When he thought about it, maybe he should have, but Zoe genuinely seemed to enjoy her attic bedroom and Severus would have been lying if he said he didn’t entirely appreciate the idea that her toys and books remained secluded from the rest of the house. Upstairs, Zoe had her own private nursery and the floors downstairs remained free of the debris and havoc that often ran rampant through a child’s space.
Minerva had also feared for Zoe’s safety on the stairs, but Severus had scathingly retorted that he was a wizard, thank you very much. He had used Cushioning Charms on every inch of both stairwells in the house, including every step. The door at the foot of the stairs was even charmed to allow Zoe to pass right through it should she lose her footing when it was closed. From there, she would fall into yet another Cushioning Charm on the first floor landing or the sitting room floor, respectively. There were even mornings when Severus had awoken to the sounds of Zoe’s giggles as she bounced down each step on her bottom, collapsing into absolute squeals of laughter upon finally coming to a stop.
Upon ascending the final step into Zoe’s bedroom, Severus took a hold of the little girl and tried to put her on the floor so that she could walk to her bed on her own. However, she clung to him.
–Zoe, let go,†he ordered.
When she didn’t comply, he walked resolutely over to her white, wrought iron daybed and sat down so that she was now sitting on his lap and, with both hands, he reached around the back of his neck and peeled her arms from around him. He picked her up slightly and sat her on the very edge of his knees so that they were facing each other. Zoe looked up at him with sadness and fear. He didn’t know why she was suddenly fearful. He hadn’t been harsh with her, yet, she had to understand that he was not going to coddle her when she couldn’t sleep.
–You are to stay in your own bed at night. Even if you cannot sleep, you are not to go wandering around the house and you most certainly may not sleep in my bed,†he told her firmly.
Zoe hesitated then nodded.
–Good.†Severus pulled the comforter back and placed Zoe onto the mattress then pulled the covers up to her shoulders. She simply stared up at him anxiously and for a moment, Severus contemplated why she seemed so nervous but he quickly brushed the curiosity aside and chalked it up to her being upset that she wasn’t getting her way.
He sat next to Zoe until she closed her eyes then quietly stood and made his way back toward the staircase. He hadn’t even placed his foot on the first stair down, however, when he heard the unmistakable creak of the little girl’s mattress and her socked feet pounding onto the hardwood floor. He spun around just in time to see Zoe disappear and reappear a split second later directly in front of him. She flung her arms around his leg, attaching herself to him. Severus looked down and frowned, startled by her actions--not only by her sudden display of accidental Apparition, but also by her clinginess.
–Zoe…†He reached down to try to detach her from his leg, but she wasn’t having it so he knelt down in the hopes that the bending of his knee would loosen her grip. Yet, as soon as he got to a level she could reach, she relinquished her hold on his leg and threw her arms around his neck once more.
What in the name of Merlin was going on? His daughter was bold, defiant, and fiercely independent, despite her young age. Aside from the occasional encounter with a stranger, he had never known her to need him so much. He raised his arms up to try to pull her away, but as he touched her wrists, he was suddenly aware of the fact that the little girl was trembling and the wetness now seeping down the collar of his dressing gown onto his collarbone clearly indicated she was also crying.
–What is it?†he asked, as his own sense of anxiety washed over him.
He wrapped one arm securely under his daughter’s bottom and moved the other up to her back, as he rose onto his feet. Zoe clung to him for dear life, wrapping her legs as far around his torso as they would reach, and continued to blubber against his robe.
–He was there, Papa,†she cried. –He wa-was in my dr-dream.â€
Severus was no stranger to nightmares himself, but never in his life had he consoled a frightened child over such a thing. He didn’t really know the protocol. Perhaps, investigation? Find out what had scared her? It seemed like a logical first step, anyway. He pulled back slightly so that Zoe could look up at him.
–Who was in your dream?†he asked, though he thought he already knew the answer.
–The ba-bad man from D-Diagon A-Alley. He tried to ta-take me away from you and O-Ollie and Mi-Min.â€
Zoe burrowed her face into his shoulder and sniffled. Severus was at a loss for what to do, so he merely rubbed her back gently, trying to be comforting. He didn’t want his daughter to be constantly fearful, especially of the aberrations of the unconscious world. He wanted her to be strong. He certainly didn’t want to fuss over her every time she was frightened. She needed to learn to battle her own demons--even the imaginary ones.
However, he had obviously underestimated the trauma their encounter that afternoon had caused the little girl. After the anxiousness he had experienced, however, he shouldn’t have been surprised. Yaxley’s actions, after all, had troubled him, why wouldn’t they have equally scared Zoe, if not more? And what could he possibly do now to reassure his daughter that she was safe at home?
Zoe continued to sob openly and Severus could do nothing but stare at the wall guiltily. If he weren’t such an inept father, perhaps he would know what to do. As it was, only meaningless words came to mind.
–Zoe,†he began, –Hush. That’s enough. It was just a nightmare, a dream, and therefore not real. You are perfectly safe--â€
–Papa, don’t leave me alone,†Zoe begged fearfully over his explanation, her big blue eyes boring into his, silently pleading.
Severus was struck almost physically and his heart melted. There was absolutely no way he could leave this child up here by herself.
With that thought, he promptly turned and carried her back down the stairs. He walked resolutely into his own bedroom and closed the door quietly behind him.
Severus walked over to the plush armchair next to the window and sat down, positioning Zoe so that she was cradled against him, her little legs stretched out across his lap. Her eyes were already beginning to grow droopy--as were his for that matter--but she still cried and sniffled against his chest.
–There is no need to cry anymore,†he told her quietly.
–I was so sc-scared, Papa. I tried to g-get away, but I c-couldn’t r-run fast enough.â€
Severus wrinkled his brow. It was odd how simple such a terrifying thing could be and yet, he utterly identified with what his little girl was feeling.
Zoe was resting against his right arm, but with his left hand, Severus reached up and delicately wiped the tears away from her cheeks with his thumb.
–I won’t let anyone hurt you. I swear it,†he whispered into her ear. Zoe nodded her understanding.
They remained sitting quietly for several minutes. Severus watched as the waning moon outside traced itself across the sky. He listened to the familiar sounds of the night: the creaking of the old house; a light breeze rustling through the tree outside his window; the distant hoot of an owl and the soft, rhythmic breathing of the little girl beginning to doze off in his arms, her warm body gradually becoming limper with fatigue. Ever so softly, he began to hum in a deep baritone, not really knowing or caring if the tune of Hey, Jude was appropriate for this situation.
When he was certain Zoe was sound asleep, he stood and carried her to his bed. Holding her a bit awkwardly with one arm, he reached down with the other and pulled back the duvet on the opposite side from where he slept and laid her delicately down onto the sheets, placing her head last upon the pillow. He took two extra pillows and placed them on either side of the sleeping child in case she should roll about then pulled the blanket up over her to keep her warm.
He looked down on her tenderly. He’d never wanted a child--never even considered it--yet here he was, four years into fatherhood, watching his daughter sleep, and he couldn’t imagine what he would be doing without her.
He had been entirely clueless as to how to tackle the situation that had arisen tonight, yet gazing down on the innocent life lying peacefully before him, Severus thought that perhaps he had done all that was needed; he had listened to her, held her, told her everything was going to be fine. Perhaps he wasn’t as hopeless as he thought.
Zoe shifted slightly then causing a large section of her dark brown hair to fall across her eyes. Severus reached down and lightly moved the wavy lock away from her face.
–Goodnight, Zoe,†he murmured as the girl let out a soft, but unmistakable snore--definitely a trait she inherited from him. He smirked. –Sweet dreams this time.â€
He then walked across the floor to his wardrobe, pulled a pair of flannel pajamas from a drawer and pulled the draw-stringed bottoms on to accompany his nightshirt. He discarded his dressing gown back to the foot and crawled into bed. With one last glance at the little girl to his left, Severus pulled the duvet up to his chest and allowed the sweet sensation of contentment to wash over him as he too drifted off to sleep.
/
Severus awoke the next morning to a weight on his chest. It wasn’t so heavy that he couldn’t breathe and, owing to the fact that he was still very tired, he had decided to let it stay there and allowed himself to try to drift back into sleep.
That proved a futile endeavor for he heard a childish giggle and suddenly, two tiny fingers were shoved unceremoniously up his nose. He cracked a single, stern eye at the little girl lying belly down atop him, her elbows digging into his pectoral muscles and her knees rather close to a more sensitive part of his anatomy. He lifted his hand and took her fingers from his nose, then shifted her legs to his side.
–You snore loud, Papa,†Zoe stated, her face inches from his own.
–I hardly think that is valid justification for plugging my nasal cavities with your grubby fingers,†he admonished.
Zoe giggled again and rolled onto the mattress beside him. She lay on her side, but kept her head propped against his belly as she looked up at him.
–My hands ain’t grubby,†she said, holding one appendage up to him for inspection. He took her hand and looked it over thoroughly.
–Aren’t grubby. Hmm… I suppose they’re not.†Severus conceded. –Nevertheless, shaking me awake would have been preferable.â€
–What’s ‘preferable’?â€
–Better.â€
–Oh. Okay, Papa.â€
The both of them were quiet for several moments after that. Severus looked across his torso, watching his daughter as she bent to bring her feet up to his pillow, curling her toes into the fabric of the pillowcase. He reached out and started to play with a strand of her hair, smoothing it. He took a deep breath.
–Is this… talking… going to be a regular thing now?†he asked, somewhat cautiously, somehow worried that, were he to broach the subject, she may regress into silence once more.
Zoe looked into his eyes briefly, but then looked away and shrugged her shoulders. She wrung the fingers of one hand in her nightgown.
–I dunno,†she said after a moment. Then she wrinkled her brow at him. –Papa, do you want me to talk?â€
Yes, it is music to my ears, child.
Severus sighed deeply and sat up, pushing his back against the headboard. He then picked his daughter up and sat her on his lap so that they could look at each other face to face. He pushed a lock of her hair behind her ear.
–I would like nothing more than to hear you speak on a regular basis, Zoe; it’s a much more efficient method of communication than guessing hand gestures, facial expressions, and body language, I assure you. However, you have to do what you think is best for you. If you don’t feel comfortable talking to people, then I can hardly make you do it.â€
Zoe nodded. Severus couldn’t be sure that she really understood what he was saying, but he hoped that she would at least see that she shouldn’t fear talking to him.
Though they had started out with something of a silly conversation, the girl still seemed rather subdued and Severus was certain that it had everything to do with their encounter with Yaxley in Diagon Alley the day before. Though Zoe was typically somewhat skittish around new people and the fact that she had encountered the stranger without her father near to reassure her, he still found it odd that the little girl’s thoughts were lingering on this. Normally, she was very resilient; easily forgiving, forgetting, and moving on--more like her mother than him in that respect.
–Zoe…†he began, trying to be almost conversational. –When you got away from me yesterday--â€
–I didn’t mean it, Papa,†Zoe said automatically, obviously worried that he was cross with her.
Severus raised his eyebrows and held up a hand for silence. –First rule for speaking: Interrupting when someone else is talking is very rude. You should wait for them to finish.â€
Zoe bit her lip sheepishly, but nodded. –Okay, Papa.â€
Severus continued.
–When you got away from me yesterday, how long was it before you were found by that man?â€
Zoe shrugged and looked away for a moment before looking into his eyes. –I don’ wanna see the scary man again.â€
Severus sighed. The child had a one-track mind; he needed to keep her on topic.
–Zoe, did he say something to you?†Severus asked. –Did he ask you anything?â€
Again, Zoe looked away from him, bringing her hand up to play absentmindedly with the pale pink bows that lined the collar of her nightgown.
–He says I was pwetty and wan’ned ta know my name. But I din’t tell him, Papa, ‘cause I wasn’ talkin’ back then.â€
Severus couldn’t help but smirk at her implication that her lack of speech was a distant occurrence.
–Are you sure that was all he said to you?†he asked earnestly.
Zoe looked up and nodded. Severus wrinkled his brow.
–Why did you call him the ‘scary man’?â€
Zoe shrugged and squirmed on his lap. Severus imagined she didn’t really understand herself why Yaxley had been –scaryâ€; it had just been an instinct to her--a very good instinct.
Severus decided then to forget about the incident. Unless Zoe started having more nightmares or showed any indications that she was still affected by their encounter, he was content not to bring it up again. With any luck, she would forget about it all together in due course.
After a minute of silence, Zoe started to hum a disconnected little melody as she leaned forward and played with the buttons at the neck of his nightshirt. Soon, she was bouncing up and down on his lap lightly to the beat of the music she was producing. Severus smirked, but was glad the interruption of an owl at the window ceased her hopping for he was starting to find it hard not to wince when her skinny posterior made contact with his thighs.
–An owl! And owl!†Zoe exclaimed as she vaulted off her father’s lap to stand on the bed. Soon, she was jumping up and down on that as well, apparently quite excited for the correspondence that wasn’t even likely to be for her.
Keeping one eye on his child to make sure her bouncing remained contained to the center of the bed, Severus took his wand from the side table and waved it toward the window, opening it. The owl flew directly over Zoe’s head and she squealed as the air from the bird’s wings ruffled her hair about. Severus put a finger in his now-ringing ear.
–Zoe,†he said calmly, taking the missive the barn owl had dropped in his lap. It didn’t wait for a reply before soaring back out of the window. –Second rule of speaking. When you are indoors, you use an indoor voice. Squealing does not fall under this category.â€
–Okay, Papa,†Zoe giggled. She jumped a few more times before collapsing down onto the mattress and crawling up to the pillows to lean against his shoulder and look at the letter he had received.
Had it been a letter from one of his clients, Severus might have blocked the little girl from trying to read it, but this letter, as it was, was from Minerva. Instead, he looped his arm around her little body and opened up the folded parchment.
–Can you tell me what that says?†he asked, pointing to the date on the right side of the letter.
Now that Zoe was talking, Severus couldn’t help but be curious as to whether she had actually learned the letters and numbers he had tried teaching her for the last year. For all he knew, the smiles and nods he had received when he’d asked her if she understood had been for show on her part.
–That’s a one and a… seven,†Zoe said, pointing at the individual numbers.
Severus nodded, suddenly nearly overwhelmed with pride. She had been learning after all.
–Seventeen,†he said. –It is the seventeenth day of the month.â€
–Seventeen,†Zoe repeated. –And it’s the Christmas month. Decemember.â€
–December.â€
Again, Zoe repeated him. Severus moved down to the bottom of the letter and pointed at the signature there.
–What does this say?†he asked, now curious if Zoe could recognize a familiar name.
–That’s a ‘M’. An’ that’s ‘R’ an’ a ‘A’,†she stated immediately, again pointing at the letters individually, but in no particular order. –I don’ ‘member that one.â€
–I believe that is a ‘V’.â€
–Yeah, ‘V’. An’ that’s the one with a dot.â€
–An ‘I’,†Severus said. –What about these two letters here?†He pointed down to the only two remaining in the name.
–Er… ‘E’ an’, er… ‘N’.â€
Zoe looked up at him for confirmation and Severus inclined his head. Zoe smiled.
–Try to sound the letters out now,†he instructed, pointing his own finger at the signature and moving it slowly from letter to letter as Zoe made the sound for each one. He only needed to get through the first three before her entire face lit up with excitement.
–Min! It’s Min! Min sent you a letter, Papa!†she exclaimed.
–Indeed, she did.â€
–What does it say?†Zoe settled down slightly and cuddled in closer to him as if ready to hear a long story.
Unfortunately, the letter was quite short--two sentences, inviting him and Zoe to tea in her office at Hogwarts that afternoon. Severus pointed down at the words and moved his finger across them as he slowly read out the invitation to his daughter. She listened raptly, but once he’d finished, she was hopping exuberantly on the pillow beside him, looking up at him with those entrancing blue eyes.
–Can we go, Papa? It’s been a long, long time when I saw Min.â€
–May we go,†Severus corrected. –And last week was simply ages ago, wasn’t it?â€
Zoe nodded. –Can we?â€
Severus rolled his eyes. Apparently, an emphasis on proper grammar would be on the agenda for upcoming lessons. If he could convince Zoe to talk to anyone besides him, she may even be able to attend the local Muggle school during the next academic year and start interacting with children her own age. This gave him an idea…
–If we were to go see Minerva, would you talk to her as well?†Severus asked his daughter casually.
He had several meetings set up for the day but, considering this new development, he would cancel them all in order to allow the girl’s godmother to revel in the same pride he was currently experiencing.
Zoe’s face fell slightly and she looked away from him, fidgeting. He supposed she hadn’t thought about actually talking to anyone else. However, Minerva would be over the moon to hear Zoe speak and he didn’t know if he’d be able to break it to the Headmistress that the girl was speaking now, but only to him. Before he made a decision and cancelled his plans, he wanted to see how Zoe would feel about demonstrating her new ability to others.
After several moments of silence, Severus pulled Zoe out from his side and sat her on the mattress beside him so that she was facing him. He reached out and gingerly touched her chin, guiding her eyes up to his.
–I meant what I said earlier, Zoe. If you aren’t comfortable with it, I will not make you speak to others.â€
Zoe seemed to process this information, shifting her eyes around the room. Finally, she looked at him again and her face screwed up into a wince.
–Maybe I could…,†she said slowly, letting the possibility hang in the air.
–Maybe you could what?†he asked.
–Talk to Min,†Zoe clarified. Then she looked up at Severus with wide eyes. –But I don’t wanna talk to no one else, Papa.â€
Severus allowed his mouth to twitch upward. –You won’t have to unless you want to,†he reiterated, reaching out a hand to tuck another stray lock of her hair behind her ear.
Zoe’s stomach grumbled loudly then. She looked down toward it for a moment then looked up at him and giggled.
–It sounds like it’s time for breakfast,†Severus commented dryly, flinging his blankets off his legs and turning to sit on the edge of the bed.
Zoe was on her feet on the floor an instant later, rushing toward the door. She hastily opened it up and exited, turning left toward the stairs down to the ground floor.
–Zoe,†Severus called to her as he made his way toward his wardrobe. There was silence for a moment, then the girl came back and stood in the doorway, watching him expectantly.
–Do we go down to breakfast in our nightclothes and socks?â€
–I don’t think so…,†the girl said as if she couldn’t remember, but was saying what she thought he wanted to hear.
–We don’t,†Severus said firmly. –Go upstairs. I’m sure Ollie has already laid out robes for you to wear today. Bring them here and I’ll help you dress. Have you used the toilet this morning?â€
Zoe shook her head sheepishly, sticking her fingers in her mouth. Severus pursed his lips; he would break her of that habit sooner rather than later.
–Use the toilet first, then bring me your clothes,†he instructed. Zoe nodded and exited, this time straight across the hall to the loo. Severus nodded in satisfaction as a flick of his wand closed his bedroom door.
As he dressed in his standard black trousers and black robes, he began to replay the morning’s conversation in his mind. He afforded himself an indulgent smile. Minerva would be, without a doubt, over the moon to hear Zoe speak, but absolutely nothing compared to the enormous pride he felt for Zoe’s accomplishment. He was no longer worried that his little girl would be an outcast amongst her peers.
The Power of Words by MetamorphmagusLupin
Chapter Notes: Hello everyone! This is the third and final chapter to this story. I hope you have enjoyed it.
Chapter Endnotes: This is the end for this story, but keep an eye out for future glimpses into the lives of Zoe and Severus.
Also, PLEASE REVIEW! You make me one happy camper when you do! Have a great day!