Title: Faraway
Author: Snarky Hero and Spoiled Prince
Pairing: Will be SSLE, some JPLE
Rating: PG-13, for now
Warning: AU
Disclaimer: Okay, if we owned Harry Potter, Severus Snape wouldn't have died and all Gryffindors would be kissing his shoes by now. So yeah, we don't own any of the Harry Potter characters. They belong to JKR, no matter how much we beg her to give them to us.
Summary: What happened if Severus was able to save the Potters on that faithful day? What if Lily saw the great man he really was and fall for him? What if Severus wants nothing to do with her anymore? Will Lily abandon her husband and son to pursue her true love? Will Harry turns out like the boy we all know when he was never the Boy-Who-Lived? Will Voldemort ever be stopped now that he was never weakened?
***
Faraway
Prologue
"I'm sorry."
"I'm not interested."
"I'm sorry!"
"Save your breath."
It was night-time. A redheaded girl wearing a dressing gown stood with her arms folded in front of a portrait of a fat lady. In front of her was a dark-haired boy with pale skin. His face was contorted with regret and shame.
"I only came out because Mary told me you were threatening to sleep here."
"I was. I would have done. I never meant to call you Mudblood, it just –"
"Slipped out?" There was no pity in the girl's voice. "It's too late. I've made excuses for you for years. None of my friends can understand why I even talk to you. You and your precious little Death Eater friends – you see, you don't even deny it! You don't even deny that's what you're all aiming to be! You can't wait to join You-Know-Who, can you?"
The boy opened his mouth, but closed it without speaking.
"I can't pretend any more. You've chosen your way, I've chosen mine."
"No – listen, I didn't mean –"
" – to call me Mudblood? But you call everyone of my birth Mudblood, Severus. Why should I be any different?"
He struggled on the verge of speech, but with a contemptuous look she turned and climbed back through the portrait hole.
The boy stood there for a whole minute before he whispered, "Because you're the one I love."
***
It was a cosy looking living room. There were five people in the room. The redheaded girl was the only woman there. She looked more of a woman than a girl now. The other occupants of the room were gathered in a low table, with the woman the only one in the couch. Hundreds of envelopes covered the surface of the table. It appeared that they were working on wedding invitations of one James Potter and Lily Evans, according to the names on the invitation.
The room was far from quite. The men were chattering while writing names on the envelopes, a handsome dark-haired man was throwing paper balls at a ragged-looking brunette. A mousy-haired man with pointed nose was diligently working on the envelopes, fidgeting once a while. The last occupant of the room was a spectacled messy-haired man. He was scowling at the envelopes before sighing and asking the woman.
"Lils, you want to invite that horsed-face sister of yours?"
"James Potter! Don't you ever say that about my sister in front of me again!"
"Fine, I won't say it in front of you." James muttered under his breath.
"And yes, of course I will invite Petunia. She may not be the best sister in the world but she's still my only sister."
That caused a round of snorts from the others.
"And of course you'd want to invite that dear old friend of yours. What was his name? Oh yeah, Snivellus right?" James asked bitterly.
Lily glared at him. "His name is Severus! And yes, I will invite him. He is my friend, James."
"Not so much of your friend now that he's hanging around with a bunch of Death Eaters." The dark-haired man stopped throwing paper balls at his friend to look up to her. "Always knew he would end up dark. Slytherins, Voldemort's cronies all of them."
"Sirius!" The brunette reprimanded him wearily while Lily was throwing daggers to Sirius with her stare.
"No, Moony. I'm just stating a fact here. We can't let him attend the wedding. What if little Snivelly take his friends with him to the wedding? What do you think would happen then, huh?"
"Severus would never do anything to hurt me!" Lily was practically fuming by now.
"Yeah, because he has the hots for you! More of the reason he would try to ruin the wedding." Sirius argued.
"Look, Lily," James tried to placate his fuming fiancée, "I know Sniv—er, Severus is your friend and you care for him. I know, and I understand." Although judging by his expression, everyone would know that he doesn't like it. "I know you want him to attend the happiest day of your life. But Sirius is right. We can't risk having him in our wedding. Nobody knows for sure where his loyalty lays."
"Y-you know, I heard the other day that somebody saw the – the Dark Mark on Snape's arm. Mad-Eye Moody even stated that Snape is officially a D-death Eater." The mousy-haired man talked for the first time, fidgeting under Lily's stare.
"You sure about this, Peter?" the brunette asked him.
"You can ask Mad-Eye." Peter offered.
"What do you think, Remus?" James asked the brunette.
"I don't know. If Moody has officially stated Snape as a Death Eater then he must have had Dumbledore's confirmation. So…" Remus trailed off, looking apologetically at Lily.
Lily was no longer glaring by now. She looked crestfallen.
"Fine." She whispered. "Don't invite Severus."
The atmosphere was a little tense after that. Everyone was looking sombre, though you could see tiny smug smiles on Sirius and James' faces.
"I'm gonna go prepare us some tea." As Lily step out of the living room a lone tear escaped her almond-shaped green eyes.
***
A man stood on a hilltop, forlorn and cold in the darkness, the wind whistling through the branches of a few leafless trees. He was panting, turning on the spot, his wand gripped tightly in his hand, waiting for something or for someone…
All of the sudden, a blinding jagged jet of white light flew through the air. The man dropped to his knees and his wand was flown out of his hand.
"Don't kill me!"
"That was not my intention."
An old man appeared right in front of him. Any sound of his appearance had been drowned by the sound of wind in the branches. He has white hair and beard so long that it reaches his waist, his blue eyes harsh and calculating behind his half-moon spectacles. He stood before the younger man with his robes whipping around him, and his face was illuminated from in the light cast by his wand.
"Well, Severus? What message does Lord Voldemort have for me?"
"No – no message – I'm here on my own account!"
The man who was called Severus was wringing his hands: he looked frantic, with his straggling, black hair flying around him.
"I – I come with a warning – no, a request – please –"
The older man flicked his wand. Though leaves and branches still flew through the night air around them, silence fell on the spot where they faced each other.
"What request could a Death Eater make of me?"
"The – the prophecy… the prediction… Trelawney…"
"Ah, yes," said the old man. "How much did you relay to Lord Voldemort?"
"Everything – everything I heard!" said Severus. "That is why – it is for that reason – he thinks it means Lily Evans!"
"The prophecy did not refer to a woman." said the old man. "It spoke of a boy born at the end of July –"
"You know what I mean! He thinks it means her son, he is going to hunt her down – kill them all –"
"If she means so much to you," said the old man, "surely Lord Voldemort will spare he? Could you not ask for mercy for the mother, in exchange for her son?"
"I have – I have asked him –"
"You disgust me," said the old man, there was an unveiled contempt in his voice. Severus seemed to shrink a little. "You do not care, then, about the deaths of her husband and child? They can die, as long as you have what you want?"
Severus said nothing, but merely looked up at the man.
"Hide them all, then." he croaked. "Keep her – them – safe. Please."
"And what will you give me in return, Severus?"
"In – in return?" Severus gaped at him. He was quite for a long moment before answering, "Anything."
***
The room was bare but for one person. The old man was sitting in front of his desk. Stacks of papers were scattered on his desk. He appeared to be concentrating on it, but for anyone who knows him, it was obvious that his mind was far away from the papers.
The fireplace suddenly blared to life, a tall dark-haired man step out of the green flame. Albus Dumbledore looked up from his papers to see Severus Snape wearing a panic expression.
"Severus!"
"It's not the wolf, it's that coward Pettigrew!"
Dumbledore fell silent. His disappointment was written clearly in his face. He gave a soft sigh and muttered, "I have clearly overestimated Peter's loyalty to his friends. Peter was never the bravest boy, but I never imagined he would betray his best friends."
"There's no time for dwelling over regrets. That rat blabbered out to the Dark Lord that he's the secret keeper for the Potters. If it is true then you need to evacuate her – them!" Severus snapped.
"Yes. Yes, of course, my boy. I will inform the rest of the Order immediately." Dumbledore answered with a troubled expression.
"You need to do it very soon. The Dark Lord is planning to ambush them tonight."
This is our first fic. Be nice to us, kay? So, review please…