A/N: This story is a companion piece to 'A Kiss for the Netherfairies' and 'Getting the Best of the Gloomilows", but it can be read as stand-alone. Some things you might stumble over (Remus being alive, the mentioning of Noria and Irma... ) are explained in those stories.

As brilliant as the Harry Potter books doubtlessly are, there are unfortunately quite a few missing pieces of information which seem to be plot-holes in the books. The main focus of this story is on finding anwers to all of the nagging questions that remained. (For details, see footnote please)

The Death Eater, the Maiden and the Prophesy

If somebody had told him last year that he would be visiting his parents' grave with the former Death Eater, Order-Spy and most hated teacher, Harry would have seriously questioned that person's sanity. But a year ago, he had been oblivious of many things, such as the fact that Severus Snape had been friends with his mother, that he had always been on the side of the Light and that he had protected Harry throughout all his Hogwarts years. Neither had he known that Snape – Severus – was his second godfather.

This was probably the most startling secret that had been revealed to him only a month ago – by the Potion Master himself, no less. From what Harry understood, it was Hermione who had somehow convinced him to talk to Harry and try and mend their truly rotten relationship. Though how exactly Hermione had come to know about it and how she had managed to persuade the unapproachable man to actually approach him remained a secret.

Hermione had been made some kind of assistant to the Potions Master lately, and spent a lot of her free time brewing for the hospital wing since then. Quite unmistakably, she had developed an agreeable working relationship with their acerbic professor – agreeable even to the extent that he apparently would listen to her counsel. Another thing that would have been impossible to imagine only half a year ago. Well, to be entirely honest, it still was.

But although Harry couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to the new relationship between his friend and their professor than both let on, he found himself rather grateful for it. Once the first step towards reconciliation between both former arch enemies had been made, others had followed. Baby steps, yes, but it was progress no less. And then Harry had made a huge leap, when he had invited his newfound godfather to spent Christmas at Grimmauld Place with him and some of his closest friends, among who – wonders never ceased – he also now counted Draco Malfoy. It surely had been an equally huge leap for Severus when he accepted the invitation.

So far, the holidays had been surprisingly harmonious. Severus had given Harry the most meaningful present he had ever received for Christmas: vials upon vials containing memories of his mother. It had almost made him cry. It was in this sentimental mood that he had quite spontaneously asked his mother's former best friend to accompany him to Godric's Hollow on Boxing Day.

He had initially intended to come back here with Hermione. After their disastrous visit last year, he felt that they both needed closure. Apart from Nagini's attack right after their visit to the graveyard, coming here to honour his parents' memory had brought him some form of peace, and Harry intended to make this his new Christmas tradition. But Hermione had blanched at the idea. She still had nightmares of the attack and no desire to face her demons. Harry had been resigned to go by himself, but after Severus so willingly shared his memories of his mother with him, the idea to ask him along for company had seemed the right thing to do.

After a moment of hesitation, his mother's childhood friend had agreed, and Harry found himself grateful for the company. Though this place was no more haunted for him than the graveyard in Little Haggleton, the chamber of secrets in Hogwarts or certain places in Britain's forests, it was still a bit unsettling to be back here. But he couldn't allow the ghost of Voldemort to dwell in the village where his parents had lived and now rested – a place that should only hold memories of them.

They were even literally cast in stone on the market square. For Muggles, it was a war memorial. But for wizards, it honoured three people who had fallen in an altogether different war – the last victims and defeaters of the Dark Lord.

Under a Disillusionment-charm, Severus and Harry apparated to the little church square in the heart of Godric's Hollow. They didn't want to startle any Muggles with their sudden appearance, and the likelihood for that was great. The village church would probably be highly frequented on Christmas, and they had no idea at what time services were held. But they had obviously arrived at a good time – service was in progress; the church portal closed. Thanks to the cold and rainy weather, no one was out in the street.

They removed the disillusionment charm and looked around. Everything was just like Harry remembered from his last visit, except that this time, they had arrived in daylight. The pub and the post office were both closed for the holidays. On their left, just a few paces ahead of them, was the war memorial. Harry knew what to expect when he and Severus passed on their way to the churchyard. It transformed when they were right beside it, and instead of the Obelisk, they saw a statue of three people – a man, a woman, and a baby.

Severus stopped dead in his tracks, clearly startled. "I've never seen this before..." he said, surprise in his voice. "I didn't even know they had erected a monument to serve as a reminder of the murder committed here..."

"Neither did I," Harry said. "Until we came by it, last year. It's weird, seeing them cast in stone. Seeing a memorial dedicated to myself as a baby."

A trace of his Potion Professor's derision crept back into his voice as he sneered: "What can you do – you were born a hero."

"It's not something I ever asked for, you know?" Harry retorted a bit testily. "Contrary to what you always thought, I never enjoyed being a celebrity for surviving the murder of my family."

Severus looked at the involuntary hero of the wizarding world and sobered. He was being unfair again. The boy certainly was not to blame for the role that had been forced upon him. "You're right," he conceded, surprising Harry and himself with his almost-apology. "Your fame was predestined with the prophesy. 'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord... marked as his equal'... You were to become an icon of hope when Dumbledore's warnings came true and the Dark Lord returned. It was supposed to secure you the support of the wizarding public. Dumbledore doubtlessly hoped that putting you in with a Muggle family like the Dursleys would assure at the same time that all this hero worship wouldn't reach you and go to your head."

Harry snorted. "Well, I guess that plan worked perfectly! At no time was I in danger of becoming bigheaded or feeling important while living with them."

Again, Severus experienced an unexpected surge of remorse and sympathy for the Boy who lived, but who certainly paid a high price for his survival. He had known Petunia, after all. Though he doubted that she or her caricarture of a husband had been physically abusive like his own father, he knew that cruelty was not limited to beatings. No, Harry's childhood had certainly not been a walk in the park, and yet he had never given a second thought to the circumstances of his upbringing. He couldn't have allowed himself to care.

They left the memorial behind and walked over to the kissing gate next to the church, which marked the entrance to the graveyard. This time, Harry knew where to find the grave of his parents and lead the way.

"There," he needlessly said when they stopped in front of the moss-covered tombstone. Without the decorative cover of pristine snow, it looked even more triste and sombre than it had last year. But the snow had been an exception, doubtlessly due to rogue Dementors roaming the country and upsetting the weather. It hardly ever snowed here in the South-West.

Severus stepped next to him, looking at Lily's grave for the first time ever. He'd been wondering what kind of feelings standing here would evoke; worrying that it might open up wounds he wasn't sure had entirely healed; fearing the resurfacing of memories that would bring it all back.

But the moment ebbed away without a surge of emotion. He didn't feel anything he hadn't felt all the while before whenever he thought of Lily: lingering traces of guilt, regret, and sadness. When she died, he had lost the only person he had ever counted as friend. If there had been chances to make new friends along the way, he had let them pass without notice. Minerva, for instance. Beneath the competition they had going between their houses, despite their constant bickering, she had always treated him decently. Last year, he had no doubt of that, she would have stood beside him and lent support – if he had let her. But he had never opened up to her.

There was no shortage of people who had extended a hand to him. His aunt Noria and Irma, even the werewolf. As a student, Severus had despised him for being one of the Marauders and a coward, but since then, over twenty years had passed. It probably wasn't fair to hold his actions as an adolescent against him after all this time. He had definitely not been a coward in their fight against the Dark Lord, and he had paid a high price for it. It was a bit hypocritical, Severus had to admit, to continue blaming him for being a sycophant, when he himself had spent half of his life licking the boots of his 'master'. Unfortunately, he also had a tendency to carry grudges. He had no real desire to make friends with Lupin, but there was no doubt that the werewolf would happily accept an olive branch if Severus were inclined to offer it and try for anything more than collegial acceptance.

And then there was Hermione of course, who had repeatedly and most fervently voiced her interest in – associating with him. He still didn't dare call it 'romantic interest', though there was no denying the facts. But he needed to keep his head straight, as difficult as it was around the determined witch. Thanks to her, he could now add Harry to the list of people who wanted to redefine the boundaries of their established relationship. Harry, who wanted him to be here and share his memories of his mother with him. Who was so blunt in his attempts to make amends that it almost hurt. The boy was desperate for a new beginning in their messed-up relationship. Merlin knew why it was so important to him.

There was potential for friendship, even for a misanthrope like him – if he allowed people to approach him. The question was if he dared to accept what they offered. Friendship came with expectations and commitment, and meant opening oneself up for hurt, heartbreak and disappointment. He'd known that ever since he had called the woman at whose grave he was standing a mudblood. He had first lost her friendship, then Lily herself. Such a bitter loss.

Severus pulled out his wand and conjured a wreath, unaware of how much his gesture mirrored that of Hermione, who had done the same last year. It was a wreath of evergreens and white lilies, beautiful in it's simplicity. He briefly thought of adding a ribbon inscription, but desisted. He didn't really know what to say. 'Sorry' didn't even cover the basics, even if regret was the predominant feeling whenever he thought of her. He was sorry that she was dead, sorry for being partly responsible for the fact, sorry for having fulfilled his promise only by the letter, but never with his heart. Sorry for having lost her friendship, and sorry for the fact that she hadn't been able to love him the way he had loved her, a long time ago. But saying 'sorry' for acts that were more profound than accidentally bumping into someone was something he just couldn't do. The worse the offence, the less adequate he felt those words of apology to be.

He probably could have used the word for a ribbon inscription that he had once used with Albus: 'Always'. For he would always remember Lily, always miss her, and always carry these regrets. But he was afraid that Harry might misunderstand such a dedication. Albus surely had, believing that Severus was still pining over her. Severus had not made the effort to correct him. The only person he had felt the need to explain himself to had been Hermione.

Harry reached into the pocket of his coat and pulled out a floral arrangement that he had put together with Hermione's help earlier, and enlarged it again. He wasn't particularly good at conjuring, and even less talented at arranging flowers. Befitting the season, his wreath had fir and Christmas roses, amarillys and ivy. It didn't have an inscription, either. He put the wreath beside Severus' smaller one, looking solemn. For a moment, they remained standing there in silence, each lost in his own thoughts and memories.

"Would you like to go for a walk?" Harry asked then.

"Go for a walk?" Severus echoed dubiously. A rather peculiar request.

Harry blushed. "I thought we could talk..." he said, and launched into a rushed explanation, as if he wanted to get it all out before Severus could hex him. "Without the others, I mean. About my mum and about what happened that night. I really don't meant to pry, and if you don't want to talk about it, that's fine, I understand. It's just that there is so much I don't understand, and I don't know who else to ask..."

"Breathe, Potter!" Severus commanded, shaking his head. People always talked to him as if they expected him to tear their heads off. Except Hermione, who didn't seem to have such concerns. Maybe word had not gotten out that, contrary to public opinion, he didn't eat children.

He sighed. It's not as if wasn't used to being asked all kinds of nosy questions lately. "You may ask, but I reserve the right not to answer," he conceded.

"Fair enough," Harry said, who could hardly believe his luck. He hadn't really expected his tight-lipped teacher to agree. He turned towards the northern exit of the graveyard, which led onto a small, bordering lane.

"Now, what is it that you want to know?" asked Severus as they were following the path, which only had few houses on the other side.

"I don't even know where to start," Harry sighed, running a hand through his already shaggy hair. "So many things that happened that night still don't make sense to me."

"At the beginning?" Severus suggested, only mildly sarcastic. "It's usually a good starting point."

"But it all began at least a year before that night – when you overheard Sybil making the prophesy. Why were you even in the Hogshead that day?"

"To apply for the position of 'Defense against the Dark Arts' teacher, of course. The position had been jinxed by the Dark Lord in the mid 1960's, and Dumbledore needed to find a new teacher every year."

"But weren't you doing your mastery in Potions at the time? Why then DADA?"

"Because Slughorn was still teaching Potions – he only went into retirement a year later. The DADA job was going to be free by summer, and the Dark Lord wanted me in Hogwarts. Had I gotten the position, he would have removed the jinx on it."

"But you didn't get it..."

"No. Dumbledore suspected that I had taken the Dark Mark. He didn't want me anywhere near the castle after having ended up with the jinxed position when interviewing a certain Tom Riddle years earlier. That's why he suggested to do the job interview in the Hogshead."

"Why do the interview at all, if he already knew that he was not going to give you the job?"

Severus shrugged. "To keep up appearances. And to fish for information. Thanks to the fact that I knew how to shield my mind, he didn't get any. The interview was rather short. I chose to hang about a little longer when I learned that he was going to do another interview with Sybil Trelawny. If nothing else, I was going to inform the Dark Lord whether or not she got the job."

"But you were caught listening at the door..."

"I wasn't listening at the door!" Severus said indignantly. "Or rather, I hadn't intended to. I was just on my way to the loo and passed the room when I suddenly heard a strange voice starting to speak. It stopped me dead in my tracks. Unfortunately, Aberforth saw me standing in there. He's always been rather distrustful and immediately came rushing out. He confronted me vociferously and tried to drag me away from the door. He made such a ruckus that I didn't hear the second half of the prophesy. Then the door flew open and Dumbledore came out, and I saw Sybil, who looked rather confused. I was told rather rudely to take my leave."

"But then Dumbledore must have known that you overheard the prophesy..."

"He suspected it, but he couldn't be sure. Aberforth assured him that he caught me right away, and Aberforth himself hadn't heard a thing. Besides, what could he have done about it?"

"Legilimised and oblivated you?" Harry offered.

Severus stared at him with raised brows. "Dumbledore surely could be ruthless if need be, and he had indeed tried to use Legilimency to find out how much I had heard. But he found that I had rather strong shields, and to overcome them, it would have needed much more force – an outright attack, in fact, in front of several witnesses, no less. Apart from that, Oblivate is not an easy spell to cast on a strong-minded person who is willing and able to defend himself. No, Dumbledore could only trust Aberforth and hope that I hadn't heard anything crucial to pass on."

Harry didn't object, but was silently wondering if Dumbledore had known – and had decided to let things take their course. If the prophesy had never reached Voldemort, neither he nor his parents would have become a target, he'd never have become 'the Chosen One' and would never have been made a weapon. Then what? Would Voldemort have succeeded and ruled the wizarding word? Or would it all have happened anyway, just because it had been predicted? Was it all fate, or had there ever been a chance to stop the things from developing as they had? He decided not to even think about it.

"You told me that you saw my mother once, before I was born...", he resumed the conversation. "Was it after you overheard the Prophecy?"

Severus nodded, his face mirroring the painful memories that were surfacing. "Yes. It was in April, about two months later."

"Why did you seek her out? I know you hadn't spoken to her in years..."

Of course, the boy had to ask that. But Severus really didn't know how to answer that question. He truly had no idea what had driven him to Godric's Hollow that evening. Probably the fact that his life had reached an all-time-low at the time. Unable to remain in denial about the Dark Lord's true goals and his character any longer, he had been utterly disillusioned, even despaired. He had wanted out, to turn his back and leave it all behind. But no one turned his back on the Dark Lord.

He hadn't been able to stop thinking how right Lily had been about everything, and how he wished that he had listened to her warnings. His associating with purebloodideologists had cost him everything that had ever been good in his life, and for what? To serve a madman on his way to world domination in a flock of sycophants? He had never been a religious man, but the urge to confess, to ask forgiveness, to seek deliverance had become overwhelming and had driven him to Lily. He had needed to see a friendly face, had longed to hear a kind voice and to speak to someone who was sane. Of course, he hadn't dared to really carry through with it; had just been standing there outside their house in the rain. But for some reason, Lily had looked out the window and seen him. And had pulled him inside.

"It was because of the prophesy, wasn't it?" Harry ventured a guess, when Severus still hadn't replied. "You sought her out to warn her about the danger they were in..." Harry very much wanted to believe that Severus had realised his horrible mistake and had come to set it right – as right as in any way possible. But to his surprise, his godfather shook his head.

"No. I had no idea that the prophesy even referred to a child or that it had anything to do with her. I had no idea until then that Lily was pregnant."

"You didn't know that it was about an unborn child?" Harry's brows had risen sceptically.

"If I had suspected it, don't you think the idea that the Dark Lord might approach the problem in King Herod's style would have occurred to me?" Severus stiffly asked back. "Telling him the prophesy could have condemned countless newborns to certain death." Severus still felt guilty about many things, but Harry's assumption that he would have sanctioned the cold-blooded murder of innocent children stung.

Harry's frown deepened. " 'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies...'" he cited. "Who else could it refer to but to an unborn child?"

"I only overheard the first half of the prophesy!" Severus vehemently explained. "The phrasing is different: 'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies...' The word 'approaches' made neither me nor the Dark Lord think of a child waiting to be born. 'Born as the seventh month dies' could have referred to any living person whose birthday happened to be the end of July. The Dark Lord expected the danger to come from a young, but adult wizard, born to people who had defied him in the past. Unfortunately, there were quite a few potential candidates, and he set his Death Eaters on gathering information on all of them."

Severus paused before adding gravely: "That it might actually refer to a yet unborn child only occurred to me when I met your mother and found her expecting." He had felt an icy shiver run down his spine when he had heard Lily say that she and her husband had now thrice defied the Dark Lord in turning down his offers, and that she was starting to fear not only for their own lives, but also for that of her child, now that his birth date was approaching. The expressions used in context had made him realise what the prophesy could also mean. He had been almost relieved to hear her say that Alice Longbottom was pregnant, too, and expected to give birth at July's end, whereas Lily was due in early August.

"Oh! That explains it," said Harry, feeling relief. His godfather's cold indifference when passing on the prophesy had been hard to reconcile with the man he was just getting to know. With everything he had come to know about the man he had hated with such a vengeance all these years, with everything he'd seen in his memories, he had finally come to understand how his mother could have called him a friend. Yes, he could be mean, unfair and insulting, but fundamentally, Severus Snape was a decent person. "I know that you've not always done what is right... But you've never consciously done something so profoundly wrong, so morally reprehensible."

Severus raised an eyebrow. "Like taking the Dark Mark and pledging loyalty to a narcissistic megalomaniac who was planning to take over the wizarding world?" he asked sarcastically.

"But it wasn't like that," Harry objected, taken aback by Severus' harsh reaction. "Voldemort wasn't as insane in the beginning as he was towards the end – I saw it in the memories Dumbledore showed me. Before he shredded his soul into pieces, he was a powerful, charismatic and over-ambitious wizard who had a real talent for knowing what made people tick, and who knew how to use that to his advantage."

"He certainly had a talent for spotting weaknesses and hidden desires and knowing how to exploit them best. But when I joined him, he had already murdered his entire family in cold blood, as well as Myrtle Warren, Hepzibah Smith and at least two other victims. He had already created five Horcruxes. He was hardly sane."

"Well, then why did you join him?" Harry challenged. "Did you know he was a murderer? I suppose he didn't go bragging about it... Did you know that with all this talk about Pureblood supremacy he actually meant the mass murdering of Muggleborns and their families? Did you realise he was a madman?"

No, of course Severus hadn't been aware of all that. It had been the zealots among the Dark Lord's followers who had voiced such things, never the Dark Lord himself. No matter what people thought about Purebloods – the majority of them did not condone the murder of innocent children, not even Muggleborns. They had just dreamed of a world where they wouldn't have to feel threatened by the breathtakingly fast evolving Muggle-world they could neither understand nor keep up with. They had wanted to set the rules for Muggleborns and force them into accepting and submitting to the old wizarding ways and traditions, not to wipe them out. They all had dreamed about being given the respect and the recognition they deserved, to live the lives they wanted without having to compromise or make concessions. For too long, Severus had kept his eyes shut, blissfully oblivious to the fact that some of them considered every means to accomplish their goals justified. When he had finally been unable to deny the truth any longer, he had been in too deep already.

"I'm not trying to justify that you joined their forces," Harry said, when Severus didn't answer. "But I know you didn't do it because you were indifferent about all those lives."

Here's a list of all those questions and plot-holes that I just couldn't stop wondering about, and which will be answered in this story:

- How could Severus Snape be so callous as to pass on the Prophesy when it put a death sentence on an innocent child?

- Why did the Dark Lord wait over a year and a half before making his move on the Potters?

- When and how did the Potters go into hiding?

- Why was the Fidelius cast only so late, and why did Voldemort strike right after?

- How did anyone know what had happened to the Potters as soon as it happened?

- How is it possible that Dumbledore did not go there himself to investigate? Or did he?

- How did Dumbledore know immediately that Harry needed to live with the Dursleys?

- When did Dumbledore cast the spell on baby Harry that was necessary to form the 'Bond of Blood'?

- How was Hagrid able to reach Godrics Hollow so fast, given that he couldn't apparate there?

- Why and when did the Fidelius charm on the house fail so that Hagrid was able to enter the house?

- How does the Fidelius work at all, and what exactly is 'Unplottability"?

- Where was Harry in between being picked up by Hagrid and arriving at Privet Drive?

- Since when did Dumbledore know about the Horcruxes?

- Why would anyone believe that Sirius betrayed his best friend?

- Why did Remus and Sirius suspected each other?

- How was Sirius able to find Peter after his treason?

- What happened to Voldemort's wand and body?

- Why did Voldemort spend 12 years sulking in Albania, waiting for someone to find him there?

- How could Peter and Quirrell have known to look for him in a remote forest in Albania in the first place?

- How did Pettigrew manage to bring Voldemort his wand?

- Why should Severus be the one to tell Harry about Voldemort's soul part in his scar?

- How could Dumbledore fail to notice that his DADA Professor was possessed by Voldemort in Harry's first year?

- Why did he move the Stone from Gringotts to Hogwarts and protected it so poorly?