Chapter 1: Green Eyes
Author Note: I do not own anything related to Harry Potter
Lily Evans poured herself another glass of firewhiskey taking a rather long sip. She still had trouble believing it was all over. That Voldemort was dead. It was only six months ago, when the man's corpse had appeared in front of an auror station clearly hit by some rather foul spell and brought about the end of the First Wizarding War of Britain. A war that had dragged on for decades, ended without any explanation or understanding and now, after all this time, the scars of war could heal. But for Lily, the pain was simply too great. She had lost too much and it left her forever changed. Her friends, her family, even her son were lost. She still remembered that day, when everything had gone to hell.
She and her husband James had been in hiding at the time, when news of a major attack reached them. Believing their son would be safe thanks to the FIdelius charm, they made the decision to help especially since the situation had proved so dire.
They had saved many lives that day, but Harry, her son… he was killed, betrayed by someone who her husband trusted like a brother after killing their secret keeper Peter. The event changed her as well as her view of her husband, whose antics had become increasingly unbearable.
And so, she divorced him and fighting for several more years, came to work here at Hogwarts, protecting the students within instead of battling in the field. It was soothing work for the most part save for one problem or rather, one house. House Slytherin. Home to some of the worst of Britain, the fact that Dumbledore allowed the house to exist in its current state bothered her.
One especially troublesome student though, was one Henry Snape. Lily took another sip from her drink. The boy was very much like his father, Severus.
With long, pitch-black hair, pale white skin, and angular features, he looked almost exactly like a young Severus. In fact, the only differences were the perfectly shaped nose and the ice blue eyes that he possessed which made it seem certain that he would be a heartthrob when he got older.
It was the similarities beneath the skin however, that made her truly disturbed. The boy was exceedingly bright like his father and unfortunately, seemed destined to use that gift for the Dark Arts.
If she was in charge, she'd expel him along with all the other Dark Art dealing hellions. Instead, she was expected to teach them like any other. She took another drink, this time downing the entire glass. Class would begin soon she thought bitterly. Quickly casting a sober up charm, she wrote the topic up on the board: "The Levitation Charm". Hopefully they wouldn't bother the Gryffindors too much today.
As the students filed in, she quickly did a mental tally making sure they were all here on time. Counting them, she eventually saw Henry, who had his eyes covered by his extra long bangs today. Eyebrow raised, she watched as they all sat down.
Today would be reasonably straightforward as it was to be there first time channeling their magic into charms and spell itself was reasonably safe with few possibilities for errors.
"So class, today we will be learning the levitation charm, one of the most important and essential spells of this class. Now, remember to move your wands like so."
Lily demonstrated with a graceful 'swish' of her wand. "Now everyone, repeat after me: Wingardium Leviosa"
Soon the class began waving their wands as well, albeit in an imprecise manner compared to her own. All except of course, Henry Snape. He simply leaned his head onto his hand, disinterested as all of the other students struggled.
Lily bit her lip as she saw trying to think of an appropriate response. Given that he was Severus' son, he probably already knew the charm. Still, his lack of respect was wearing thin. Turning to the other students she watched as one red-head seemed to be trying by sheer force of will to lift the feather in front of him by waving his arm around like a maniac. Moving to intervene, she found she didn't have to as the bushy-haired girl next to him grabbed his hand.
"Stop, stop, stop, you're going to put someone's eye out. Besides, you're saying it wrong. It's Levi-O-sa not Levio-SA."
"You do it then, if you're so smart. Go on, go on."
Henry chuckled as he watched the two, his eyes lazily moving to Hermione, a smirk coming onto his face.
"Wingardium Leviosa" Hermionie said before easily lifting the feather and giving Ron a knowing smile.
Ron on the other hand looked like he was fuming. Meanwhile, Henry's chuckling grew louder until it was finally a laugh.
"You think that's funny?"
"I do, Weasley, think twice next time before challenging your betters." Henry responded with an all-too familiar sneer.
"I haven't seen you do it, you weirdo."
Eyebrow arched, Henry waved his wand as the books beside him hovered much to the shock of the whole class that gazed up at the books with wide eyes.
"Heh, know your betters." Henry sneered once more enunciating each word.
"5 points from Slytherin for your attitude Henry." Lily said finally intervening snapping the class back to attention. Internally however, she was trying to keep her shock in check. An eleven year old casting nonverbal spells? Evidently Severus taught the boy well.
Henry rolled his eyes before turning away from her, letting the books drift back into their proper place leaving Lily fuming. This child… was even worse than Severus at that age.
The class continued and aside from a small explosion, everyone eventually managed to lift the feather. As the students filed out, Lily gave another look at Henry, who was last to go, seemingly lost in thought. The boy's stern expressions mirrored Severus' perfectly. It was then that she realized that she needed to dissuade the boy from mimicking his father too well.
"Henry?"
Henry raised an eyebrow and slowly trudged over to her desk. "Yes?"
"So I see that you are already capable of nonverbal spells." Lily said tapping her fingers against the desk, "I'm very impressed."
Lily gave the boy a smile but Henry was unfazed. "Thank you."
"But I was just noticing, that you seem to be rather... aloof."
"I'm fine." Henry said turning his gaze away from her.
Lily however, was unperturbed. "You know," Lily began, letting her heart speak for her, "Severus was also rather distant from those around him. I hope that you can find a better temper than he did."
"I understand Professor." Henry responded, the edges of his lips tugging downward.
Seeing they were done, Henry turned his back to her, bringing his long bangs with it and in that moment, Lily squinted in confusion. For beneath that dark, black curtain, she could have sworn she saw the twinkle of two green emeralds look back.