Written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition:
Position: Beater 1 for the Holyhead Harpies
Prompts:
Write a story based on Disney's The Fox and the Hound.
4. (object) tea leaves
5. (restriction) no dialogue
9. (quote) 'If you smile when no one else is around, you really need it' - Andy Rooney
Word Count: 1,095
The first time the Potters defy Lord Voldemort, it is down to James' flying skills and Lily being too stunned to mind being dragged onto a broom.
The second time is down to Lily abandoning duelling in favour of charming the beam above them to fall and apparating as the house collapses around them.
The third time, however, is different.
The third time isn't down to James, or Lily, or in fact any member of the Order. It isn't down to quick thinking or relying on a well-practised skill, but instead had begun ten years earlier in a quiet village far away from Godric's Hollow.
It seems logical to Lily and Severus that they should be best friends as children. For Lily, Sev gives her a whole new world in which she feels right at home. For Severus, Lily brings a splash of colour into his otherwise monochrome life.
Every day they meet in the meadows, and every day Lily tells Sev the latest drama within her family, and Sev tells Lily tales of Hogwarts and magic. Although neither of them admits it to the other, they aren't nearly as excited to go to Hogwarts as they pretend. If they could have it their way, they would stay forever, Lily and Sev, in their meadow for the rest of their lives.
But, of course, all children must grow up.
For a while at Hogwarts they stay close—they even find a new spot by the lake to escape to, though not every day anymore. Lily tells Sev about the drama within Gryffindor house, her classes, and James Potter and his trouble-making friends. Sev smiles, and laughs, and nods in all the right places while their words echo around his head. Gryffindors and Slytherins are natural enemies, Severus. You can't be friends.
By their third year, Lily and Sev have become Lily and Snivellus, and one is desperate for their old friendship while the other is desperate for love. When, in Divination, they peer into their teacup and see an axe in the leaves, they read the book and write down 'obstacles' while ignoring 'separation.'
Through fifth year, they barely speak—it seems Sev has started to listen less to Lily and more to them. Muggle-borns are our natural enemies, Severus. You can't be friends with a Mudblood. And when he says that word to her she cries and calls him Snivellus and knows it hurts him just as much as he hurt her.
Lily avoids the lake for their final two years. James tells her it's for her safety—it's too open a spot and attacks are far too common—but she knows her heart would break to go near it. Sometimes she thinks she sees a flash of black hair near where they used to sit, and for a second she thinks it might be wishful thinking until she remembers she hates him. They're natural enemies, after all.
Lily isn't surprised when she hears about the mark on Sev's arm; it seems to her like a natural addition to his dark hair, and dark moods, and dark words. Still, every time she comes face-to-face with Death Eaters, she breathes a sigh of relief when his hunched frame is missing. She likes to think she'd be able to forget the little boy who made leaves dance for her if she had to duel him. She also likes to think that one day pure-bloods and Muggle-borns could live peacefully together. These days, wishful thinking is the only thing that keeps her going.
But he is never there, and she never has to face him, and she never has to seem weak. She thinks she is pregnant, but won't tell James in case he stops her fighting. She knows she can't sit at home waiting for him to come back. She thinks it might have something to do with dreams of revenge on Seve—no, Snivellus—because she almost believes herself now when she tells herself she hates him. Her mother's voice nags in the back of her mind, telling her she can love and hate someone at the same time, but she silences it with memories of Mudblood.
Then comes the day when Lily wishes she'd told James, and she wishes he'd bound her to a chair so she could be at home, and safe, and not facing her worst nightmare. She'd shared in the Order's panic when He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had turned up as they'd tried to sabotage a leaked plot of an 'explosion' at a church. They'd all suspected it was a trap, but they'd gone anyway. But Lily isn't looking at the towering figure of the Dark Lord. Next to him stands a figure in robes that look slightly worn even in the moonlight, slightly hunched over, with feet too big to support his small build.
Lily sends spell, after curse, after jinx, at Death Eater, after Death Eater, each time praying that it isn't the underfed boy who painted Hogwarts in words. She thinks she'd rather battle Voldemort than her old best friend. Later, she reminds herself to be careful what she wishes for.
Lily always prided herself on being brilliant at charms and one of the best in her year at duelling. She'd be embarrassed at how quickly she falls to the floor if she isn't so scared. The silver mask of the Dark Lord looms over her, and instead of reaching for her fallen wand, her hand seems to move of its own accord to her stomach. She closes her eyes, praying that James makes it through and that Sev remembers her as his friend instead of the Mudblood he thinks she is now.
She waits for the flash of green, confused when nothing appears. She opens her eyes to see a shield shimmering around her. She can sense Voldemort's anger even behind the mask, but also his confusion. They simultaneously look around. Lily can see James matching Bellatrix. She can't see Sev. She spots Mad-Eye running at Voldemort at the same time as he does himself. She can't see Sev. Lily grabs her wand, still looking for her saviour. As she turns to battle another Death Eater, she thinks she sees a flash of black hair in the treeline, but this time, she knows it isn't wishful thinking. Sev smiles at her and for the first time in years there is no one else around and she knows he means it. She smiles back at the little boy before her, still surprising her with the secrets the world can hold.