E Pluribus Unum

A/N - Sorry that I am going to make you awit a while for lemons, there was just to much plot-wise to fit in to squeeze lemons in (did you see the clever pun?). Kate is a goddess all hail Kate!

Brian - Thank you!
deblovesdragon - Not cheesy! Sweet!
tamargirl - You have made this little Slytherin girl giggle. :)
Glenda - You will have to fight Kate for that one, LOL.
Droxy - I thought Albus deserved to get what he wanted for a change.
Helen - Lots of fluids, honey. I\'d ship you a pot of my chicken soup, but it doesn\'t travel well, sorry.
Ghaeth. :)


Chapter 33 – What Father Christmas Brought

Severus held the delicate watch in his hands, staring at the girl, brunette hair carefully arranged and chocolate eyes bright with amusement. Had he received an invitation twenty years ago, had he seen this image, had he gone to her ball, bid on and won Kathryn then -- all these maybes -- what kind of life might he have had? What kind of man would he be today?

He tried to remember eighteen, tried to force his mind back twenty years to the boy he had been and found he could not remember it as clearly as he once could. All these years, he had flogged himself for the actions of that boy and yet, looking at this tiny image -- all bright colors and smiling eyes -- new thoughts occurred to him.

Whose fault was it that he became a Death Eater? His own, of course; he topped the list, but how many other people had moments in their lives when they might have stopped, reached out a hand and changed his destiny? Kathryn’s mother had never sent a portrait of her daughter to Severus’ father; she hadn’t considered a Snape to be good enough for her precious girl. The Marauders had tormented and tortured him all his years of school; they could certainly take partial blame for the man he became. Still, in the end, did it matter? He had been one person, now he was another, and what did it matter any more how he got there? Maybe the past was just the past and he could let it go now.

He put the watch into his pocket and stepped back into the front room. Kathryn was seated on the couch still, clutching Ryan and crying and the sight of it tore at him. Had he offended her somehow by leaving the room so abruptly?

“Kathryn?” She looked up at him and wordlessly handed him a small silver locket. He opened it and looked into the eyes of a glaring teenage boy who gave him a disdainful once-over. “I know I’m ugly but it’s no reason to cry, woman.” He pulled out his handkerchief and handed it to her. She laughed a short, rather bitter sound and accepted the scrap of fabric.

“You are not ugly.” She blew her nose and kissed Ryan. “I just looked into those eyes and knew that at eighteen, you would never have given me a second glance.” She sat there, clutching the baby and looking forlorn.

“No eighteen–year-old boy is intelligent enough to pick a decent girl. Teenage boys are all idiots, Kathryn; they look at a pretty face and a big smile and miss the vacant inattention in the girl’s eyes. At eighteen, I thought Narcissa Malfoy was the perfect woman.” He spat that out with some embarrassment and Kathryn’s wide-eyed gaze made his lips twist in self-disgust. “Now I look at her and cannot fathom how I could have been so stupid.”

“She is very pretty.” Kathryn said in a doubtful tone, trying manfully to defend his younger self. He barked a laugh and shook his head.

“You, however, are beautiful.” He cupped her chin in his hand and watched a smile bloom on her lips. Ryan grabbed at his hand and he smiled at the baby.

“Let’s see what else we got for Christmas.” She dazzled him sometimes with how much she believed in him; it could be quite humbling.


They finished ripping into the presents with a contented feeling of well-being in their hearts. Ryan got clothes and toys from all their friends and also from the circle of young Hogwarts girls who adored him.

“He’s five months old and already has a harem.” Severus muttered as another set of adorable booties was tossed into the pile. Kathryn chucklt hit his outburst and went back to reading a book on Arthurian Legends that Potter had bought for her.

His own gift from Potter had been a charmed CD player that worked in a magical environment and a collection of Sex Pistols CD’s. Severus had grinned at the present, remembering a certain event in his seventh year when he had snuck off school grounds to see them in concert and the horrible detention he had received for that infraction of the rules. As bad as the detention had been, it had also been worth every minute that he had spent scrubbing the school corridors.

Lupin must have told Potter about the incident. These charmed Muggle devices were enormously expensive, but then Potter could afford it, he thought wryly. The Potter family fortune rivaled the Malfoy’s own and Potter could afford anything he damn well wanted.

He had received books and potions ingredients from Miss Granger. She had apparently rifled his stocks checking to see what he was either low on or missing altogether; her methodical nature amused him. The books had surprised him: \"The Feminine Mystique\" and the complete works of Kerouac were not what he had expected from her.

Draco’s usual exquisite gift this year was a silver portrait frame. Delicate swirls of filigree graced the edge, in the shape of twining serpents so real they seemed ready to slither away at any moment, and the goblin maker’s stamp on the back told him it was a very expensive gift. Of course, it was also quite beautiful and he cared more about that than the price.

Albus had sent him Christmas boxers with winking lights all over them. Kathryn had suppressed her laughter after one glance at his expression, but the slight choking noises gave her away. Minerva had sent him a pair of earmuffs in jet-black wool and a matching muffler, while Poppy had sent him a book of poetry by Tiberius Fenny who wrote poems about modern wizarding life. Severus knew that there was quiet support in the gift from Poppy and tucked the pocket edition into his coat.

He looked at the pile of loot and shook his head. Two years ago he had been happy to get the two presents from Minerva and Albus. Now he got a small mountain of gifts for Christmas, including getting one from Potter, which had to be the most radical change of them all.

He finally reached for the green and black wrapped box with a silver bow and a tiny angel tag that he knew was from Kathryn. She had reached for his at the same time and they looked at each other with trepidation as they went to open each other’s gifts.

He pulled away the paper to reveal an ebony box with an Oriental dragon carved into the cover. He lifted the lid and, nestled inside the black silk lining, there were two daggers with a strange almost iridescent oily sheen to them and a wave pattern along the edge of the blades. They were long and straight with wrapped hilts and the dragon motif was repeated with an inset metal relief on each hilt. He thought they were beautiful and obviously very old.

He carefully removed one blade and felt a strange thrum along his arm as he held it.

“They are the Oni no Hissatsu, they’re demon killing blades.” Kathryn’s voice held a touch of awe as she looked at them and Severus raised an eyebrow at her. “I wrote to my Sensei in Japan about our little problem and he sent these for you.” She continued and he had to wonder about all the things she was leaving out. The blades were far more than just steel, no matter how many times they had been folded by the smith who made them. There was a fluidity to the way the blade in his hand moved as he twisted his wrist into the proper grip that spoke of something near sentient.

“Did Lady Freddy forge these too?” He asked, but Kathryn shook her head.

“They were made by the same swordmaker who forged Taishou, my own blade.” She answered, her head resting on her hands as she watched him play with the knife.

“Taishou?”

“Crushing Victory.” She grinned at him. “The Muggles around him thought he was mad; they found that his swords had real wills of their own and many of his blades were destroyed.” Severus jerked his head up in horror at that thought. “The truth is, though, that they had only one purpose and resented being used for anything else. That resentment could turn to anger at whoever wielded them and their propensity for hurting their owners is what gave them a bad name.” Severus looked down at the blade in his hand and felt no sense of danger from it; there was warmth and an almost affectionate feeling coming from the knife.

“That purpose would be hunting Demons, am I right?” He felt the knife warming in his hands as he spoke and knew the answer before Kathryn replied.

“Yup. The swordmaker’s family was butchered emonemons in his youth and he dedicated himself to eradicating their kind. Use the blades for Demon killing and they will never turn on you. Taishou was forged for a princess, to be her defense against all harm, so it doesn’t have the same bias as his other blades. However, it can only be wielded by a woman.” She shrugged and he stood, taking a knife-fighting stance, and brought the blade up in a sweeping arc, flicking the tip out at the apex of the curve. It felt like an extension of his arm and he grinned savagely. He was looking forward to trying it out on Fenchurch and Gideon.

While he carefully replaced the blades into the box, he listened to paper tearing as Kathryn opened the substantially smaller box he had given her.

“Oh Severus.” Her whispered voice made him relax; she was staring into the box with a misty-eyed smile and he smirked, quite satisfied by her reaction.

“A small token of my fondness, Madam.” He waved off her thanks and she chuckled at his mock-formality.

“You are a dreadful romantic deep down inside, aren’t you, Severus?” She looked at him with loving eyes and a laughing mouth as he pasted on his best Evil Bat expression.

“If so, it must be buried very deep inside.” He sneered, though his eyes never left the delicate porcelain cake topper that she was turning in her hands. A miniature Severus and Kathryn, dressed in wedding robes, stood together, hands clasped on a pedestal while a rose trellis arched over them. While he watched, the tiny Severus grabbed the tiny Kathryn and kissed her.

“I think I had better put them somewhere private.” Kathryn chuckled, as the porcelain couple became entangled in a deep embrace.

“Perhaps that would be wise.” Severus raised a brow at the shameless pair. “Then perhaps we should take their suggestions to heart.” She returned his smile with a rather wicked grin of her own and handed Ryan off to Winky, who watched them depart with sparkling eyes.