Disclaimer: I acknowledge that I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters or universe. No offense is meant by the situations portrayed in this or any other fanworks.

NOTE TO HATTIE POTTER READERS: I know some of you have me on Author Alert, so I'm just putting a warning up saying that this story may not be your cup of tea. It's darker, violent, and has extremely sexual elements. It in no way foreshadows what will be happening with Hattie Potter. I like it a bit fluffier to be honest, and this one won't be. So you might want to skip this one. I'll be back updating Hattie in a couple of weeks, I'm working on it now.

Chapter One

"Oy, Snape."

He looked up from his Defence Against the Dark Arts textbook and covered up the spell he was still tweaking. He lifted his thin hand to pull away a curtain of black hair to see his peer clearly. It was Mona McCabe, a fellow Slytherin. She was a gangly, frizzy-haired pain in the ass. Lucius Malfoy loathed her because she was, as he said, a tinker – a gypsy. Or if he wanted to be politically correct – a traveller, but he didn't want to be politically correct.

"What do you want?" Severus asked, scoping the area for Lily.

She planned to meet him here, in the library, to study for their OWLs, but he hadn't seen her. He even saved a table for them.

"They say yer an expert in potions or whatever, right?" Mona asked.

"Who's they?" Severus asked.

"Ah, feck, Sev' I don't know," Mona said, her Irish accent distorting her speech. "Me friends or whatever. I don't know if I'm gonna make it through potions and I was wonderin' if yeh'd help me cheat."

Severus laughed at her, and he enjoyed the look of frustration that appeared on her pale, freckled face. "Why would I help you cheat?" he asked.

"I've got stuff yeh'll want," she replied.

"I don't do that muggle shit you smoke," he said.

She laughed. "Forgot yeh weren't pure blood," she said, feeling superior. "I've got literature yeh'd be interested in."

"I'm surprised you even know what literature is," Severus said. "It isn't erotica, you know, and I don't read that. I'm not interested."

"Ah, yeh must be right," Mona said, a smile sneaking onto her stupid, snub-nosed face. "I must be a complete moron. So yer not interested in scribed lectures from Lord Voldemort, right?"

Severus Snape almost did a double take. "What?" he asked.

"I've overhead Malfoy talkin' about Voldemort and how yeh've been burrowing Malfoy's copies," she said, "but I've got some here yeh can keep."

"How did you get it?" Severus asked, upturning his nose.

Of course Lucius would be able to get his manicured fingers on copies of Voldemort's lectures, but how would this thing get her own hands on it? Hardly any of the Slytherin students had their own copies – they usually just heard about it from their parents.

"Me ma works with him," Mona replied. "And I don't need to lug it around with me for status like some of our peers."

For whatever reason, Voldemort didn't record any of his thoughts on paper. He simply lectured his opinions and feelings to large gatherings of soon-to-be Death Eaters, and many of them recorded his speeches as he said them. But they were still limited in number as not many followers wanted to carry around his extreme views in their pockets. The only ones that did were the most devoted, the ones who weren't afraid of any repercussions.

Severus knew there was also a market for memories of people who sat in on the rallies, but he had no pensieve to view these thoughts, nor did he have the financial ability to buy these memories.

Severus looked the girl up and down before replying, "I don't believe you."

"I've got it here right now to show yeh," Mona said, pulling some papers out of her backpack. "I'm not giving yeh 'em all before yeh deliver."

"I doubt they're His words," Severus said, checking again for Lily.

She'd be pissed if she knew what Mona was offering him. She'd also be pissed if she knew he was considering cheating just to be able to have his own copies.

"Doubt all yeh like," Mona replied, handing him the pages.

He noticed a black, muggle paperclip holding them all together, and he quivered at the thought of them, that filth, holding together His words. Similarly, it wasn't written on parchment, it was printed on paper with a typewriter – he recognized it from things his father typed up. He took it from her anyway.

She waited, her hands crossed tightly against what she hoped would eventually become breasts, watching his face skim the papers. Severus and Mona had never gotten along because Severus never really got along with anyone. He always acted so superior, hanging out with Lucius, six years his senior, and that mudblood friend of his. It didn't help that she and Lucius hated each others' guts.

Snape always intrigued Mona, though. There was something about his singularity that appealed to her. She knew she would never be that person. She was better at being one of a group, maybe the loud one or the stupid one, but she was definitely one of many.

"All right," he finally said. "I believe you."

He began to hand them back to her, but she waved a hand. "Naw, those are yers," she said. "Down payment. I've got more when the deal's finished."

Severus tucked them into his bag, wedged between two other textbooks. "I'll let you know when I've figured out a system," he replied. "But I've got to ask: why are you having trouble with potions?"

Mona shrugged, playing with a braid mingled in with her hair between her fingers. "I'm not tedious enough or whatever. And I've don't got the memory for any of that shite. Too many of the ingredients sound the same and why does it matter how many times you stir it? It's a waste of time, I'd rather be bakin' or something," she said. "Plus, Slughorn isn't exactly helpful unless yer brilliant or know someone he thinks is brilliant."

"What else are you taking?" Severus asked, trying to recall what classes she had with him.

"The basics, yeh know, Transfiguration, Potions, Defence, and whatnot. For electives I'm taking Divination, Muggle Studies, and Care of Magical Creatures," she replied.

Severus tried to decide what question flying through his mind to ask first. "You're taking an overload?"

"Yeah," she replied. "Trying to bring up my other marks with shite I know."

"So... Muggle Studies?"

"Gotta know what yeh hate," Mona replied. "Hatin' somethin' out of ignorance is a waste of time."

Snape chuckled. He appreciated her way of looking at things – he understood it.

"Yeh laughin' at me?" she asked, feeling defensive.

"No," he said. "I get it, that's all. How are you doing in Transfiguration?"

"I got ol' Barty tutoring me in it, in exchange for me helping him with Divination," she replied.

"You really think Divination can be taught?" he asked.

Severus knew the girl thought herself to be a seer, although, now that he considered it, he never heard her call herself a seer. Maybe it was everyone else that thought her that. He just knew that at every meal she predicted someone's love life or grades over the table for them. She'd pull out this set of cards and pull some bullshit that the girls would cream over.

"I think it can be faked," she replied.

"So you're admitting that you-"

That's when Lily showed up, taking a seat beside Severus. "Hey," she said, with her beautiful smile. Lily looked to Mona. "Hey, it's Mona, right?"

"Yeah," Mona said.

"We have Potions together," Lily said.

"I know," Mona replied. "I'll see yeh, Sev."

"Hold on," Lily said. "Any chance you'd give me a reading? I hear you do it for anyone with some extra coin, and I've been saving up."

Severus gave Lily a look. She wasn't the type to believe in this nonsense. Mona looked her up and down, deciding. "Yeah, sure," she said, sitting down. "What do yeh want to hear about?"

"What are my choices?" Lily asked.

Mona pulled out a deck of cards. Severus knew it wasn't a Tarot deck. It was some combination of cards that she, herself, had made. She said it was for more accurate readings, but Lucius said it was so that she could bullshit better. Severus believed the latter.

"Yeh can ask a question," Mona said, "Or I can make a vague prediction about whatever topic pleases yeh. Most people ask about their love lives with what's his face, but some ask about how their relatives are doing 'cause they've got a bad feeling. Do yeh got a bad feeling?"

"No," Lily said. "I don't."

"Narcissa Black asks me every Saturday how Lucius Malfoy feels about her," Mona says. "We've got to do it over owls, now that she's gone. I wish she'd get a bad feeling, yeh know?"

"Is it extra for confidentiality?" Severus asked, dryly.

"Only when Malfoy is involved," she replied. "I just forgot to tell Narcissa."

"What about my future?" Lily asked. "Do I get to be everything I want to be?"

"What do yeh want to be?" Mona asked, sounding a bit disgusted.

Lily hesitated, thinking for a moment. When she looked at Severus, she said, "A great mum."

Severus hoped his cheeks weren't burning as much as they felt. He knew what that meant. He had a shitty mum and she wanted to show him that not everyone was like that.

Mona snorted, and replied, "I haven't heard that before. Yeah, I can do that."

Severus watched as Mona took off her glasses, shuffling the cards. She handed them to Lily. She said, "Shuffle these and divide them into... three parts: one for yeh, one for yer hubby, and one for yer kid."

Severus hadn't seen her do it up close before, and he hated that he was interested. Perhaps Lily was just as interested as he was, and that's why she was going through this sham. Lily shuffled and divided it into three parts. She watched Mona carefully, who closed her eyes.

Mona lifted a single finger, and hit the edge of the table. Every time she hit, a card flipped off the top of one of the decks and placed itself on top of it. Severus had the feeling that this wasn't something she learned in Divination. But it was a cute parlour trick, nothing more.

She only hit it three times, and she opened her eyes, confused. The small amount of colour in her cheeks had faded completely.

At the top was the two lovers, upside-down. Below them was death, also upside-down, and beside it was the hanging man, right-side-up. "Merlin," Mona said. "I apologize for me language against yer virgin ears, but I've fecked it up."

"No," Lily said. "Tell me what it means. Why are they all upside-down? Did I shuffle wrong?"

"No, yeh couldn't have," Mona said. "I've stopped halfway through."

"Why did you stop?" Severus asked.

"Something didn't feel right," Mona said. "Me gut told me to stop. I shouldn't have."

"Tell me what it means," Lily said.

"It'll be incomplete," Mona replied. "It could be wrong."

Severus chuckled. "It's probably wrong anyway," he said.

"Don't be cheeky," she replied.

"Read it anyway," Lily replied. "For a laugh."

Mona looked into the greens of Lily eyes and sighed. "All right," Mona said, "but don't pay me. This reading probably ain't worth much."

"The Two Lovers generally symbolizes a love already present. It could be a love that someone feels for yeh and yeh will return, or a love yeh feel for someone that they will return. Or it could already be a mutual love, like in poor Cissy's case," Mona began. "Because it's upside-down, I'm tempted to say that the love has turned sour, or it's failed, but I can't be sure. The Two Lovers rarely signifies two specific people, I've got people cards for that."

"Now there's death, also upside-down," Mona continued. "He's a tricky bugger because everyone panics when they see 'im, but he doesn't always signify death. He can also signify a turn, or a passing of events. Like graduating from Hogwarts would probably show the Death card. But he's upside-down, which could mean it's static, that nothing changes."

"Now the Hangman is like death, he's not always bad," Mona said. "He signifies the in between, the wait between now and what comes next. He doesn't usually signify a person either. So I don't know where yer kid comes in."

"What made you upset?" Lily asked. "None of this seems bad."

"Well, each of these cards rarely signify specific people," Mona replied, "but if they did... I don't know."

"What do you mean?" Lily asked.

"Come on Lily," Severus replied. "It's not like any of this actually matters."

"No," Lily said. "I want to know. What if you read it like these represented specific people?"

"Yeh asked me if yeh'd be a good mam, right?" Mona said, "which means that yer kid would be in the second line of cards because she's part of the action. Like, if someone was asking me if she was pregnant, like Cissy dear, then the kid would be in the final line because he'd be the result. But yer result would be yer kid's happiness, which means this kid has to be in there early to affect the end result."

"So what are you saying?" Lily said.

"I'd say yeh and yer beau are the two lovers, and since yer upside-down, yer incapacitated, yeh know?" Mona said. "Yer kid's either death or the hangman, but I think she's the hangin' man. She's suspended, waiting for somethin'. Death is whatever's feckin' this whole thing up, and yer kid's killed it."

"How do you know she's killed it?" Lily asked.

Mona shrugged. "She's the only one standin', yeh know? It makes sense," she replied. "But Sev's right, this ain't an exact science, it could be bullshit, yeh know? Don't go on birth control because of this shit, 'though don't tell Cissy that."

Lily rubbed her chin, staring at the cards. "Why do you call my child a she?"

Mona just shrugged again. "Dunno, me gut, I guess," Mona replied.

"You defined Narcissa's as male," Lily replied.

"Yeh, well," Mona said. "Like I said, not an exact science."

Mona looked over the cards once again before shuffling them into the deck. "Can you do another reading?" Lily asked.

"No," Mona replied, sharply. "Me mind's all over the place now. I'd be affecting the readin', tryin' to make it make sense, so it wouldn't be true."

"Another time, then?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, maybe," Mona said, standing up from the desk. "Or if yeh want somethin' else done, I can do that anytime."

"Okay," Lily said. "I'll let you know."

"Yeah," she replied, and with that Mona walked off.

"What was that about?" Severus asked.

"Oy, Tinker!" Sirius Black, from the other side of the library, shouted to Mona.

Mona flipped him off before walking out of the library.

"You aren't curious about what she does?" Lily asked.

"No," Snape replied. "It's a hoax. She's teaching Barty Crouch how to do it."

"Why would he want to know Divination?" Lily asked.

Severus shrugged. "So you're curious about your future," he said.

"Don't be like that," Lily replied. "Did you see her face when she pulled out those cards?"

"No," Snape replied. He was too busy watching Lily's reaction.

"She was scared, Severus," Lily replied.

"She's just screwing with you," Snape replied. "She's a fake. It looks good if she gets a scary prediction from time to time."

"Oy, Evans!" Sirius Black started walking over. "Are you working on your Herbology paper? I could use some of your lovely assistance."

"Drop dead," Lily said.

"Come on," Sirius replied. "Lupin's not willing because I copied his last assignment and I yelled at the Tinker, but-"

"She didn't appreciate being called a tinker," Lily said.

"Yeah," Sirius said. "You don't even have to help me, just let me see yours."

"No," Lily said.

"Well, what about you Snivellus?" Sirius asked.

"In the words of the tinker," Snape replied, "Fuck off."

"Did I see your future being read?" Sirius asked. "You askin' about your future with Snape? I bet it'd be less cloudy if you went out with Potter, Merlin knows he asks enough."

"Fuck off, Black," Snape repeated.

Sirius smirked. "Looks like I struck a nerve," Sirius replied. "If you change your mind, Evans, you know where to find me. And you know where you can find Potter." And Sirius skulked off again.

"Severus..." Lily started.

"I know," he replied. He looked at his wrist to pretend he was late for something. "I've got some things to do. I'll see you later, all right?"

Lily already had the talk with him – the talk where she told him that she only wanted to be friends, and he said it was okay because if he couldn't have her, he just wanted to be around her. But he hated that everyone teased him about her because it was only a reminder that she wouldn't be his, not yet. She could change her mind. It wasn't impossible.

Severus moved to the common room, working well into the night trying to figure out how he could cheat for Mona McCabe. It was strange that she was willing to be tutored by other students, but she didn't even want to be in contact with him. He had asked around and she was being tutored for charms as well as transfiguration (she was writing off, A History of Magic, apparently).

He was not surprised when around two in the morning, Mona came down into the Slytherin Common Room, stretching, looking exhausted. "Howya, Sev," she said.

"It's not possible," Snape replied. "We won't even be in the same room, and it's going to be anti-cheating charm heavy. I'm not risking my future for yours. Why do you need to do well anyway?"

"Why?" Mona asked, slumping down in one of the sofas, with a laugh. "Yeh mean, 'cause I'm a traveller, yeh don't think I want to have a future?"

Severus thought about it for a moment, then replied, "Well, yes."

"Ah Merlin, yeh eejit," Mona said with a laugh. "I'm hoping for a Ministry job, yeh know something cushy and I'll have a bit o' power. They look for good marks, so I need good marks. Why, what do yeh want to do?"

Severus shrugged. "I haven't decided yet," he said. "I don't mind working with you, if you'd like. I know you're decent at herbology, so it will just be more about remembering what goes where."

Mona nodded. "Yeah, okay," she said. "I'll do me best."

"What are you doing awake, anyway?" Severus asked.

"Ah, just another nightmare," she replied. "I get them sometimes when a reading goes off, like your mudblood friend."

"Don't call her that," Snape replied.

"O' course," Mona replied. "Lily. Sorry."

So Snape took to helping Mona study in the evenings. She was a combination of lazy and just flat-out dumb, either not remembering or even caring how many times to stir, what way to season the cauldron, and so on. Mona had begun giving him pages of Voldemort's words as they studied, so he'd spend the remainder of the evening pouring over his theories and his ideas. He hadn't heard much from Voldemort since Lucius graduated.

He talked to Mona about them, too. Severus was surprised at how relaxed she was, compared to the followers he knew. Severus knew she believed in it, and he knew she'd follow Voldemort off of a cliff if he led them there, but she also saw some of the holes in his arguments.

"Yeah, we can't get rid o' all the mudbloods because we need 'em to stop the inbreedin', so that we can keep getting stronger rather than weaker," she said. "Don't get me wrong, they're just as dangerous as muggles, but we need 'em."

"So then why do you call Lily a mudblood?" he asked. "You know it's derogatory."

"Well, she is," Mona replied. "She's pretty and brilliant and all that, and when she marries she'll produce one helluva a kid, one that can kill death himself, but she's a muggleborn. She wasn't raised in our world and she doesn't understand it. She's been raised with their fears and warmongering and hate."

Severus thought of his own upbringing. There was a lot of hate there. "So, what about purebloods given up for adoption into Muggle homes?" Severus asked.

Mona shrugged. "Dangerous as well, I suppose," she replied. "But yeh don't see many of them."

Severus didn't reiterate these conversations to Lily. They simply studied for their OWLs, making casual conversation. Lily asked how tutoring Mona was going, but she didn't ask what Severus got in return for tutoring – he decided that she probably didn't want to know. Mona, like the rest of the Slytherins, were known for their beliefs.

The OWLs came quickly, Snape noticed that if Mona was worried, she was too proud to show it. After Defence Against the Dark Arts, Mona stepped out to light a cigarette. Snape was too consumed in his exam to give her a nod, but he would have ignored her once she popped the cigarette in anyway. For whatever reason, Pure Bloods seemed to be immune to cancer. Smoking started as a status thing, smoking because she could, but it developed into a bond that she loved. Of course Snape, a halfblood, couldn't smoke freely like she did.

She watched from a distance as the lousy Gryffindors tormented him, but she did nothing about it. She talked absently to a few of her friends about how she did. She wasn't counting on an "O" for Defence Against the Dark Arts, but she thought she might have managed to pull off an "E." She knew enough Dark Magic that she should know enough of the counter spells to be all right.

She looked up, watching Lily going to Snape's rescue. Mona didn't feel guilt for not standing up for him. He had the little mudblood to protect him and care for him. She turned back to her conversation until she looked up, startled. It was strange hearing Snape calling her a mudblood, let alone a filthy one. Mona watched Lily as she stormed off, but as Potter and Black continued their bullying, Mulciber and Avery stepped in to defend him. Mona found herself moving with a few other Slytherins to stop them.

The fight was broke up before it began. On the Sunday before the Potions exam, Mona noticed Snape was particularly stressed preparing for the exam, but she didn't ask about his outburst with Lily Evans. Mona threw up after her potions exams, finally revealing that she was a bundle of nerves.

And then the OWLs disappeared as quickly as they came. Mona gave Snape a large pile of transcriptions of Voldemort's speeches in the Common Room. It was fairly empty, and Severus had just been staring blankly at a textbook. "Thank yeh," she said. "Truly, I mean it, Sev. I've been thinkin' about doctorin', yeh know? Potions'll look good."

"Well, thank you," Snape said, "for these."

Mona couldn't help but notice that his original enthusiasm had faded a bit. She took a seat across from him. "Are yeh all right?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said. "What about you?"

"I'm fine," she said, with a chuckle. "Just me nerves, yeh know?"

"Potions went all right though?" he asked.

"Yeah, thanks to yeh," Mona said. "Almost vomited into me last concoction though."

"I saw that," he said.

Throughout the tutoring, Mona became increasingly attached to Severus. She found it developing into a crush. She never thought he would take the time to tutor her, let alone talk to her about the papers she gave him. She appreciated how thorough he was with everything he did, and she frequently imagined him being thorough with her. She knew he was damaged, and she could deal with damaged, hell most of her family was just one big damaged package.

She asked, "Can I write yeh? To tell yeh me potions mark, when I get it."

Snape looked up at her. "Yeah," he said. "I'd like to know."

"I can send yeh more pages too," she said.

"I'll let you know," Snape replied. "It'll take me a while to sift through these and... I think I might need to take a step back."

"Because of what we were talkin' about before?" Mona asked.

"What were we talking about before?" Snape asked, rubbing his temples. He felt like they had talked about everything, everything in terms of Voldemort, anyway.

"Yeh know," she replied, watching his carefully. "The muggleborns."

"Yeah," he said. "That's why I'm taking a break."

Mona nodded. "I thought so," she said. "If yeh change yer mind about Him, I'll be goin' to a few rallies over the summer. I'd be glad to take yeh along."

"I'll consider it," he replied. "Keep me updated."

Snape spent the remainder of the school year desperately trying to apologize to Lily, and Mona watched carefully from the sidelines, usually with a cigarette between her lips. Lily told Severus to forget about it, but Severus couldn't. He had insulted her. She blamed the Death Eaters he hung around with, Mona not excluded, but Severus knew it was something else – a festering frustration with his relationship with her. The closer he got to Voldemort, the farther away he went from her, but it felt like she was pushing him in that direction.

He felt relief when the school year finally ended. It meant that he and Lily would be alone with each other and her family. It also meant that he went back to his hellhole, but it was worth it to be without the Gryffindors and Slytherins which put them both in the worst lights.

Snape wrote the first letter to Mona, as soon as he got his OWL grades. She hadn't invited him to any rallies, and he didn't mind. He got a reply the same day. Potions, Divination, and Herbology were her only "O"s, and she claimed that Barty Crouch sabotaged her Transfiguration marks because he was "shite at faking being a prophet."

Lily tried drifting away from him over the summer. She got a part time job at some muggle-joint, and he knew that she did it to get away from him. She said it was to get working experience, but what kind of company takes a muggle jobs into consideration? He found himself writing to Mona more often, if only to get away from the mess that was his parents downstairs. He asked about her living arrangements. Did she really live out of a trailer?

That's when he got the invite to a Voldemort rally. He simply told his parents would be leaving, and he walked over to Lily's in the evening to let her know. Petunia answered the door, giving him a look of disdain. She didn't greet him. "Lily!" she shouted and walked away, leaving the door open.

Lily came bounding down the stairs, her fluffy hair bouncing with every step, though when her green eyes locked onto his black ones, she hesitated before coming down. He wondered who she thought was at the door. "Severus," she said. "What brings you here?"

"I'm going away for a week," he replied. "I just thought you'd like to know, in case you wanted to hang out or something. It'll save you from going over to my place."

He couldn't remember the last time she went to his place, but he didn't say that. "Oh?" she replied with a smile. "Where are you going?"

"Mona McCabe invited me somewhere, in exchange for getting her an 'O' in Potions," he said.

"I always knew you were a good teacher," she replied, "when you care, anyway. Where are you going?"

Severus hesitated. He could lie and have her catch him in it, or he could tell the truth and watch her snap at him. He thought maybe she needed to snap. Maybe after she yelled and screamed she'd feel better – his mother was like that sometimes. "A rally," he replied.

"A rally?" she asked.

He didn't reply, and her eyes widened. "You're not serious," she said.

"There's no harm in going-"

Lily slapped Severus, hard across the face. "I can't believe you'd even consider-"

"I'm either going to hate it or I'm going to love it, either way there's no point in being ignorant about it," he snapped. "I can't just turn the other cheek like you do – and pretend that nothing is happening around me. Things are happening, Lily."

"How dare you say that to me," Lily replied, lowering her voice. "They want to kill me and my family."

"They just think you're inferior," Snape replied, calmly.

She pushed him lightly outside, closing the door behind her.

"Am I inferior, Severus?" she asked.

"No," he replied. "Of course not."

"Well you certainly act like I'm inferior," Lily said. "You won't even let me help you when-"

"Like you have any idea what that's like," Snape replied. "You don't have Gryffindor grunts picking on you every day. You're brilliant and you're beautiful, they just want your attention. And if they have to pick on me to get it, then they do."

"Then if I'm such a burden for you, maybe I shouldn't hang around with you at all," Lily replied.

"I didn't mean it like that," he replied.

"Then what did you mean it like?" she asked. "You know that you don't need me for them to put a target on your back."

"So you want to insult me now?" Severus said. "By all means, apparently all you can see in me is flaws."

"Well you turn your compliments into insults," Lily said. "Do you want me to turn my compliments into insults too?"

"As if you can even think about one nice thing to say about me," Severus said.

"You're a brilliant teacher," Lily said. "God knows what sort of student I'd be without you."

"You've never needed me," he replied.

"This self-esteem issue you're having, it's getting tiring," Lily said. "Does she make you feel valuable, this budding Death Eater?"

"You're the one that had her read your fortune," Severus said. "What was all that stuff about being a good mother about? Did you just want to rub it in my face that I couldn't have you?"

"I am not a possession, Severus," she said.

"I know that," he said. "Merlin, you twist all of my words."

"I just wanted you to know that not every mother is like yours," Lily said.

"Well, thanks for that," Severus replied condescendingly. "I'm off then to catch the Knight Bus so I can meet up with my budding Death Eater friend."

"Have a good time," she said through her teeth.

"Oh I will," Severus replied. "Because you know what I like about Mona? She doesn't just lap up everything Voldemort says. She questions it, and you know she questions his theories about muggle-borns in particular. But you wouldn't know that because you only see her as a Death Eater. Maybe one of these days she'll save your life."

"She's already predicted me dead, Severus," Lily replied as Severus walked down her porch.

He walked backwards to watch her as he said, "Well, she stopped the reading, didn't she? You said yourself that she looked terrified."

"Maybe because she saw that my kid killed death," Lily replied, "and if my kid kills death, what will dear Mona eat?"

"Maybe you're reading it wrong," Severus replied. "Maybe your kid ate death."

"Don't hurry back," Lily said.

"I won't," Snape replied.

But by the time Severus reached his house, he already felt a sinking sensation in his stomach. He hoped his guilt would fade with Mona, but he had a feeling that once he saw Voldemort with his own two eyes, he would only feel worse.