9 Months after the end of the war, a destitute Severus Snape, practically living rough, gets news that will change his life forever.

Severus Snape Lives! / POST DH / EWE

Eventual HG/SS

WARNINGS: Abuse, Neglect, Character Death, Rape, Sensitive/taboo topics.

The ministry scroll had arrived with a stressed looking post owl and he looked at it with distaste as it perched on the dusty window of his shabby bedsit. The bedsit was on the wrong side of Diagon Alley, not quite knockturn but not at all 'family friendly' either. It wasn't quite light, and it wasn't quite dark. And since Severus wasn't accepted freely on either side of the divide, this tenuous no-man's land suited him just fine. Even if he often longed for the comfort of his once chambers at Hogwarts.

His house had been 'conveniently' burned to the ground near the end of the war during his tenure as headmaster. At the time, the loss of his house had barely rankled him, it was a pit of bad memories to begin with, but the loss of many of his books...stung. After the ending of the war, and after his surprising survival and subsequent Azkaban stay, he'd eventually been pardoned of all crimes due to his position as a spy but they failed to exonerate him from the measures put in place to restrict the 'activities' of all who were known to tread on the darker side of things.

For 'public comfort and safety' he was not allowed to return to his job as teacher, which had also stung. Though reviled by the students for his attitude, he was a damn good teacher, and Hogwarts potion scores had never been higher and potions related injuries lower, than when he was at the helm. Minerva would've had him back, but the board went over her head, and he was too proud to ask her to fight for special favours. They had been close, but the rift between them from his year as headmaster was still holding them both back. Neither quite knew what to say to the other. So when the ministry seized more than just the lion's share of his gold to go towards 'reparations', he refused to go cap in hand to the Gryffindor matriarch. She had enough problems rebuilding something resembling a functioning school from the tatters she was left behind by Dumbledore and Voldemort.

It had been the bright idea of the ministry, to restrict former death eaters and dark sympathisers, that were not dead or in Azkaban, to menial and low level work. The amount of money they could earn was also restricted. The idea was to keep dark sympathisers from rising to positions of power, though the reality was it created a cheap work force, bordering on slavery. Or where that failed, the witches and wizards conveniently fell from the radar and into destitution. Out of sight, out of mind and either situation was a win for the ministry.

So between his current situation, and his wonderful Azkaban stay courtesy of the same people, whatever the ministry had to say, he very much doubted he wanted to know. However the urgent hooting from the owl, along with anxious wing flaps made him raise his eyebrow and take possession of the official scroll.

The owls that witches and wizards used were not ordinary owls of course, and they often could sense things in a similar way to kneazles and other magical familiars could. Whatever it was contained within, it was clear from his manner that this owl was not just another affronted beast of burden, offended by Severus's lack of interest in the message it was conveying. This bird was not going to be content to leave once he removed the letter from it's person, uncaring if he incinerated the thing as long as he removed it from the owl to allow it to get on with its daily business. No, this owl clearly and urgently wanted him to actually read that scroll. Since Severus took more stock in the instincts of the bird, than he would of most members of the ministry, he accepted the official parchment (unlike he usually would with the usual ministry fare) and put it on his 'to read' pile on the side table, rather than the much more frequented 'ignore' pile, otherwise known as the bin.

He was once more shocked when the owl continued to hoot at him, when he did not read the parchment right away. Realising he was not going to get any peace until he read said parchment, he opened it with a flourish and brought it to his eyes with a snarl "Here you go daft bird, I'm reading it, now you...can...". His words trailed off, as the colour drained from his face. The owl gave a sad hoot when he collapsed onto his raty bed, still clutching the missive in his hand, yet not quite believing what it had to say.

The form was long winded, and a standard ministry one. The magic that powered these forms was the same sort of automatic and old magic charm as the Hogwarts book of names, automatically generated at the time of the event without the need of a caster. It was the same sent to all who received it, with the specific details penned onto the empty lines. And it was those specifics, hastily and uncaring words scrawled that were making his stomach knot as he read every one with a building amount of nausea.

oOo

Official Notification of Change of Guardianship.

Addressee: Master Severus Tobias Snape

Date Commencing: 10:39am, May 2nd

The aforementioned person is now named the sole and legal guardian of the child(s) detailed below.

...

CHILD ONE

Name: N/A - un-named

Sex: Male

Born:19:59 May 1st.

Mother: Alice Avery nee Dogworth (deceased)

Father:Severus Tobias Snape

...

This change is due to:

...

( ) Mutually agreed change of guardianship

( ) Incarceration of the previous guardian

( ) Neglect / Failure to adequate provide care by the previous guardian

(x) Death of the previous guardian

( ) Other

Master Severus Tobias Snape As the new legal guardian of Un-named Male Child you are henceforth from this date, solely responsible for all aspects of care and well-being of the aforementioned child(s), until which point they reach their majority. If at any point it is reported to the Ministry that you fail to provide adequate care, the child(s) may be removed from your custody and placed into the care of another ministry approved family, should one not be available, the child(s) will be removed into a Ministry Approved Care Facility.

oOo

Severus Snape, was a father.

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