Snapedom

This story introduces the marvelously witty, funny, and strong-willed Leonora as Eileen's mother and Snape's grandmother--and also McGonagall's lover. She utterly charmed me as a reader, but at the same time, I can see how difficult it must have been for Eileen to be her daughter. Eileen has been estranged from both her mother and her son for years, until she receives a letter from her mother telling her that Severus needs their help.

The author labels the story as AU because both Snape and Lupin survive, but it doesn't really contradict the canon that is presented in DH, if you can accept that Snape was not dead when Harry left him in the Shrieking Shack. I think the book said that "he moved no more," and it's not like Harry checked for a pulse, after all. ;-) He could easily have been unconscious, hanging onto life by a thread. Lupin's "resurrection" is also logically explained as an effect of his lycanthropy. So I think it meshes nicely with canon as the happy ending for Snape that could have, and should have been.

Leonora is charming--but not necessarily the best mother in the world; certainly Eileen doesn't think so. Eileen isn't blameless either; she disowned her son twenty years ago for taking Lupin as his lover, although it's not entirely clear at first whether it's Lupin's gender or his lycanthropy that offended her. She's also involved with an anti-werewolf protest group.

And yet, when Snape is in danger, Eileen and Leonora set aside their differences to save him. And of course Lupin comes back into the picture, as well, as a widowed single father, and all the various parties struggle to reconcile their conflicting feelings for each other, and decide whether they're going to make the attempt to be a family or go back to their old estrangements. I highly recommend this story to Snape fans, particularly those who would like to read some speculation about what his family would be like.