A/N: Idea for a possible Harry Potter/Librarian crossover.

Severus Snape stalked the busy streets, cursing under his breath. Why oh why had he allowed Minerva to talk him into taking a vacation? And why had he allowed Poppy to purchase him tickets? To the USA, of all places?

He scowled along, sending pedestrians scurrying in all directions. Even now that he had seen his fiftieth birthday, his black hair showed no grey yet and his stalk was strong and determined as ever.

Though he had never expected to see his fiftieth birthday. The venom from Nagini had, ironically, saved his life. The torn artery would have killed him had the venom not swollen the tissue in his neck that pressed it close just in time. The swelling also hindered the venom from spreading further into his body. When Poppy and Minerva came to retrieve him, they found him alive, though barely.

It was two weeks before he regained consciousness. By then, the school had been cleaned up, the students sent home, the Order hunting the remaining Death Eaters, Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley planning their wedding, Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood revising the curriculum, and Harry Potter had gone missing.

Minerva had asked him to return to Potions and become Deputy Headmaster – Potter had ensured that he was considered a war hero, curse the brat! But he did accept the offer; after all, Hogwarts was the only home he had ever known and after that last horrible year of the war, he had wanted to join the reparation efforts.

The missing Potter had seemingly not been on the forefront of anyone’s mind. Only later did he find out that Potter had not simply gone ‘missing’. He had most certainly told his friends that he was leaving, and stayed in sporadic contact with them. He simply wanted to be away from the Wizarding World and the fame. Ginny Weasley apparently had a fit over that, and their involvement ended.

Almost fifteen years later, and Snape was still at Hogwarts. Minerva, now an active eighty-five year old, would likely remain Headmistress for a few more years. He still had not decided if he wanted the job again after she retired, though Minerva had certainly hinted that he should. He was unsure. Hogwarts was his home, but often a nasty voice in the back of his head said that there must be more to life than just Hogwarts.

He sneered at a pedestrian that did not move out of his way soon enough, only to be met with twinkling green eyes.

“Why hello Professor,” the bane of his existence said merrily, “fancy meeting you here.”

A near-shouting match, infuriatingly vague answers from Potter and a few threats from Severus later, the situation had resolved itself with Severus and Potter sitting in a private booth in what was apparently Potter’s favourite café, Potter with a large Latte and Snape with an Espresso.

“You didn’t tell your friends you were here,” Snape remarked.

“If I had, you would never have come within two hundred miles,” Harry laughed.

It struck Snape suddenly that he had never heard Potter laugh before. Smile, occasionally. But this all-out, merry laugh was something Potter had never done, not in all his years at Hogwarts. Severus was also painfully aware of how much Harry sounded like Lily when he laughed like that.

“Certainly not,” he sneered, but with far less hostility than before, “did you know I would be here?”

The infuriating brat nodded calmly, sipping his ridiculously large cup of Latte. “Of course I knew. And I wanted to see how you were. After all, the last time we saw each other was hardly pleasant.”

The snake. The memories. The green eyes that slowly grew dimmer as he sank into darkness – no, it was not a pleasant experience, for either of them.

“I did not realize you were not dead,” Potter said with some remorse, “I am sorry…”

“You could not know,” Snape cut off, “and you had more important things to do. After which you left so quickly that you probably did not even know I had been retrieved alive.”

“I learned that a few months after I left,” Harry admitted, “news did have trouble keeping up with me back then, I was moving around so much.”

Snape eyed him curiously. “So what is it that you do, Potter? Why are you here? You clearly live here, considering they,” he waved at the waitresses, “seem to know you.”

The boy – no, he was a man now, wasn’t he? In his early thirties, like Granger and Weasley – smiled brightly. “I do live here. I work here.”

“Where do you work?”

Harry pointed at the large building behind them. “Have you visited the library yet, Professor?”

“The library?” Snape curled his lip in distaste, “don’t tell me that YOU actually started to enjoy books.”

“Books, other things,” Harry shrugged, “I am the Librarian. One of them, anyway.”

“You left our world, to become a librarian?” Snape said in disbelief, “I would have expected that of Granger.”

“Hermione would love the Library,” Harry agreed fondly, “I had never thought I would work there. But, Flynn said I would enjoy it.”

“Flynn?”

The younger man nodded. “My fellow Librarian. About ten years ago, after five years of travelling, I ran across him. He was in a spot of trouble and I helped him out. After that, he dragged me back to the Library.”

Harry laughed again, his eyes bright and happy. “Flynn says some men are born heroes, some men achieve heroism and some men have heroism thrust upon them. He says I am one of the few who suffer all three, and that made me uniquely qualified. Meanwhile, the Library had expanded to such a size that a Wizard Librarian was no luxury – though I think having both Flynn and me around drives Judson to despair sometimes.”

Snape marvelled at the change in Potter. Gone was the angry, grown-up-too-soon boy with Lily’s eyes but without Lily’s laughter and joy in them. Now they truly resembled his mother’s. He was relaxed, confident, happy with his life and his friends.

“Well, if sorting out books all day makes you happy,” Snape couldn’t help but jab, “at least the world is safe from your abysmal potions skills, Potter.”

“There’s more to being a Librarian than meets the eye, Professor,” Potter said, finishing his coffee.

“I’m sure,” Snape drawled, “it must be ever so exciting.”

“You have no idea,” Harry checked his watch, which had bleeped ominously. “I’m to meet Flynn at the airport in two hours.”

A mischievous smirk appeared on his face, “Would you like to come with me, Professor? See what boring things we Librarians get up to?”

“And break my back hauling books around? No thank you,” Severus frowned.

“Oh, come on, Professor,” Harry got up and motioned for the other man to follow, “It’ll be fun. And it’s not like you have better things to do than scare off pedestrians, now, is there?”

Damn the brat. Snape got to his feet and followed. At least he would be able to reassure Potters fanclub at home that he was in good health and had stopped risking his life in favour of holding a dull, but harmless job.