You Plus Me Equals Destiny
It was Lily Evan's final day at Hogwarts. She couldn't believe how fast the year had gone by. Time does seem to fly when you have amazing friends (and not to mention a gorgeous boyfriend). Anyways, there were still a few things Lily wanted to do before she left the school for good. First of all, she wanted to say goodbye to one of her favorite teachers, Horace Slughorn. She went into the dungeons and entered the Potion Master's office.
"Professor Slughorn?" Lily looked around to see that he wasn't there. So instead she decided to leave behind a gift for him to remember her by. She grabbed a small bowl and filled it with water. Then, she pulled out her wand and conjured up a lily pad and set it inside to float on the water's surface. Next, she performed a spell so that whoever came to look at the bowl after her would get to see the lily pad magically transform into a beautiful fish. This was one of Lily's favorite spells. She had remembered learning it in Transfiguration during her 6th year at Hogwarts.
Lily was on her way back to the Gryffindor Common Room to finish packing up her things when she ran into her friend Severus.
"Lily!" said Severus walking fast to catch up to her.
"Hey Sev." Lily smiled at her best friend. Sure, many people didn't like the fact that a young and beautiful girl such as herself was such close friends with somewhat of a geek like Severus, but she couldn't care less. He was the first real friend she ever had. She was so proud of him for not giving into all of James's stupid teasing and taunting. Yes, she did love James, but in the end Severus was always the better person.
"So, can you believe it is finally our last day in this hell hole?"
"Severus!" Lily smacked him playfully on the arm. "You know your only saying that because you'll never have to deal with James and his lot again."
"If only that was true..." said Severus disappointedly.
"What do you mean?" asked Lily.
"Let's face it Lily, you're most likely going to end up marrying that twit. And we're best friends so I'm sure I will be seeing plenty of him in the future."
"How could you possibly know that? I mean, I don't even know that Sev."
"Are you saying that you have finally come to your senses about being with that dunderhead?"
Lily laughed. "Severus, be nice."
"Yeah, yeah," said Severus laughing along with Lily.
"Well I had better get back upstairs. I have to finish packing up the rest of my things."
"Alright, but can we meet in the Great Hall for our last dinner here?"
"No problem," said Lily. She then gave Severus a hug goodbye and headed up to the common room.
Severus was nearly at the dungeons when he heard the most unpleasant sound on earth. It was none other than James's annoying voice.
"Still haven't given it up, have you greasy?" James was slowly walking closer to Severus.
"You're going to have to be a bit clearer Potter, not everyone knows what is going on inside that abnormally small brain of yours."
Angered, James pinned Severus against the cold stone wall. "Get this through your slimy head you git, Lily will never be interested in you. All hopes for that went out the door the day she laid her eyes on me."
"If that were true, then why would she be uncertain of sharing the rest of her life with you?" Severus spat back.
James had gone from angry to furious and without thinking, punched Severus square in the nose. Never had he used physical violence on him. He only bullied Severus with silly spells and incantations.
Within moments Severus fell dizzily to the ground from all of the blood pouring out of his nose. Somewhat scared of what he had done, James took off like the arrogant prat he was.
It was around 5 o'clock when Severus remembered that he had asked Lily to meet him for dinner in the Great Hall. He had spent most of his time in the Slytherin boys' dormitory trying to make his nose look presentable. Severus didn't want to go to Madame Pomfrey because of the embarrassing story behind his broken nose so he was trying to fix it himself. Unfortunately, he wasn't any good with glamour enchantments or healing spells so there wasn't much he could do. (Potions, however, was a completely different story). After looking at the clock, he finally decided to face Lily the way he was.
Lily was patiently waiting for Severus outside of the Great Hall. She hadn't seen her boyfriend James all day, which was odd because he had always practically glued himself to her…but before she could think any further on the subject, Severus walked up to her with his hand covering his nose.
"Hey there Sev," said Lily looking at him curiously. "Umm, is there any particular reason you're covering your nose? Wait, let me guess, you got a pimple?" Lily was giggling at him which only made the situation worse.
Noticing he didn't even so much as smile at her joke, Lily began to feel worried. "Sev, you okay?" She reached out to remove his hand. Severus didn't even try to stop her. He knew it was inevitable that she would eventually see what had happened.
Lily gasped when she saw his nose. It was slightly crooked and was a disgusting shade of both red and purple.
"Severus, what on earth happened?"
"It's nothing. Really Lily, don't worry about it." Severus didn't want to cause any drama between her and James. He knew it would just lead to another broken bone. He wasn't that daft.
"Don't lie to me. You know I hate it when you lie, and I can always tell when you aren't being honest with me."
"Lily you're making this into a bigger deal than it really is. I-"
"Severus, tell me, now."
He knew Lily was beginning to get angry with him. To him, this was way worse than any broken bone so he decided to just come out with it.
"James caught me on my way to the dungeons earlier. We got into it and so he punched me."
"That's not like James to get physical. What did you say to him Severus?"
"Lily, he was bragging about having you as his girlfriend so I simply told him of your doubts…"
"Severus!"
Great, now he was probably going to get hurt again and Lily was mad with him. Why did everything always have to take a turn for the worst with him?
"I am sorry Lily." He then turned to leave.
"No Severus. Don't be. I mean, yes it was wrong of you to say that to James, but it was the truth and it still gives him no excuse to hit you."
"Really?"
"Yes, but promise me something will you?"
Severus smiled. "Anything."
"Let's keep our conversations between just the two of us from now on. I tell you a lot of things I don't tell most people Severus, because you are my best friend. I need to be able to trust you."
"Do not worry. I promise never to speak of our conversations again."
Lily hugged Severus and said, "Thanks Sev. You're wonderful, you really are."
Severus hugged her back, enjoying the moment between them.
"I'm going to go have a quick talk with James then I'll meet you back here in time to eat okay?"
"Lily, why do you need to speak with Potter right now?"
"Sev, I will not simply allow him to harm my friend and get away with it."
"Please just let this go, I don't want to cause any problems-"
"Stop worrying. I am going to go talk to James. I will be back in a few minutes."
And with that, Lily set off to find James.
After searching for what felt like forever, Lily finally found James up in the Astronomy Tower.
"James, we need to talk," said Lily sternly. Before she found James she had told herself to show no emotion around him. She was angry and she wanted him to know it.
"Hey babe, sorry I haven't been around much today. I just wanted to take in my last day here ya know?"
"You know, you really are a bad liar James."
"What are you going on about?"
James tried to pull Lily closer to him, but she pushed him away.
"Babe, what's wrong?"
"Where do you get the right to hurt Severus like that?"
"What are you-?"
Lily snapped at James's act of playing stupid. "Stop it! I know you broke his nose James!"
"The greasy git deserved it! He tried to break us up!"
"He didn't have to try James! We were half way there as it was."
"W-what?" Lily had caught James off guard. He didn't actually think that Snape was telling the truth earlier.
"Look James, I loved you, I won't deny it, but you've changed. You used to harmlessly talk badly about people you didn't like and then it escalated into using magic on them, and now it's physical abuse. I-I can't be with you anymore James. Hurting my best friend was the last straw. I'm sorry."
James looked as if he had been hit in the head with a bludger. He didn't know what to say. He was captain of the Quidditch team. Nearly every girl was in love with him. And now, he was being dumped?
"Goodbye James," said Lily leaving him to stand there.
When Lily got back to the Great Hall she found Severus sitting at the corner of the Slytherin table alone.
"So," said Severus getting up to meet her. "How did the talk with Potter go?"
Severus had to admit he was feeling slightly nervous. What if James had lied to Lily and convinced her that the whole dispute was his fault? What if Lily changed her mind about being angry with Severus and was now going to break off their friendship to stay with James? What if-
"Sev, everything's okay you don't need to be nervous."
"How did you know I was nervous?"
Lily smiled. "Please, I've known you my entire life."
"Ah, that's true. So Potter wasn't angry or anything?"
"Try shocked... I ended it with him."
Now it was Severus's turn to look as if he had been hit with the bludger. Out of all the things he thought would happen, this was most certainly not one of them.
"Yeah, he looked almost exactly like that. Nice impersonation Sev," said Lily sarcastically.
"Sorry it's just I didn't expect that to happen."
"Nah, it was coming for a while now. I sort of knew all along that we wouldn't last."
"Well I cannot say that I am completely sorry for that," said Severus who was now smiling back at Lily.
Lily rolled her eyes in amusement. "I take it your offer from 4th year still stands?"
"Yes Lily, of course."
"You truly are one of a kind Severus... I know I originally told you that I couldn't have more than a friendship with you because of how long we had known each other, but I think I'm starting to see things differently."
"What exactly are you trying to say?" asked Severus who was beginning to get his hopes up. This was something he had not done since the day he asked Lily to be his girlfriend. Then stupid Potter came along and ruined everything.
Lily leaned towards Severus and kissed him on the cheek. "You know me better than anyone Severus. You don't just look at me, you see through me. Being with James made me realize this... And I know this may have taken a bit longer than you would have hoped, but…yes."
"Yes to what exactly?"
"Oh don't turn daft on me now Sev," said Lily jokingly.
Severus said nothing. She was finally accepting his offer from 4th year to be his girlfriend. 'Finally' he thought to himself.
Hand in hand, the two walked into the Great Hall to enjoy their last feast together at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
It has been exactly 5 years since that glorious day. Severus and Lily were now married and had a beautiful daughter named Holly. Severus had gone through so many terrible things in his life that he never thought he would get the chance to be happy. And now, sitting next to his wife as he looked down at their child, he couldn't help but to believe that this was destiny.
