Star Wars
fiction, but alas!
My Muse thought otherwise. Thus I am presenting you the first chapter of
this short story (there will be one more chapter).
It doesn't interfere with my other HP-story "The Chaos Begins". You can
either see it as a standalone or fit it into "Chaos" as some sort of background
story.
Ok, enough Author's Note!
A big thank you to my Beta and friend Vanguard and to Riley (go read her
story "Pawn to Queen"!), ergonykos and Wolfie from the Snapefans-list.
DISCLAIMER: The Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling and Warner
Brothers ©. I do not intend to make money with this story (as if I could).
Now, please, this is my first try at Angst-fiction. Be nice and review.
Flame me, criticise me – whatever! But tell me what you think.
A Night In The infirmary
From: Caius Julius
Chapter One: Disturbed Sleep
Lily sighed.
It was the day
after the Christmas Holidays had ended and she had nothing better to do than to
lie in the infirmary – thanks to influenza.
Oh it wasn't that
she was feeling particularly bad. Her nose was rather red and she had quite a
cough. Granted, some fever as well. But that overprotective nurse,
Madam Pomfrey, had
insisted she stayed at least this night in the hospital wing.
As she helped her
to yet another handkerchief she remembered how James and Sirius had insisted on
staying by her side. But the young nurse had shooed them
out of the room
rather resolute. Said something like she didn't want whole Gryffindor House to
catch the flu just because some immature fifth-years couldn't leave
their friend's
side for a day.
Once her James and
Sirius were gone, Lily had to drink some really bad-tasting potions and was put
into a warm, comfortable bed next to the window.
After checking
that her patient would be alright, Madam Pomfrey bid Lily good night and left
for her own quarters.
And thus, Lily was
alone. She hoped she would fall asleep soon, because there was no-one else in
the room – currently, she was the only one who was ill.
It was rather
boring.
She reached for
the hot chocolate Madam Pomfrey had put on the small desk next to Lily's bed
and sipped. It was a little too hot.
Looking out of the
window she began to count the stars shining brightly in the cold winter night.
After she had reached 100 Lily finally fell asleep.
She dreamed. But
like many dreams when one suffers from fever, it made no sense. She was in
Transfiguration – it was midsummer - and McGonagall declared
instead of
teaching she wanted everybody to take a cool bath in the lake. Next, Lily found
herself in the water, but when she wanted to get out she found that she
wasn't in the lake
but in some sort of cauldron and somehow she was very small, because she could
see chopped ingredients swim next to her.
She desperately
tried to get out of the cauldron and finally succeeded in grabbing its edging.
When she climbed out of it, she could hear distant, muffled voices
and felt herself
pushed back into the cauldron.
"No! It's so hot…"
she heard herself say. One particular voice came nearer – it sounded familiar.
The cauldron began to bounce.
"Ms Evans. Lily,
it's alright. Lily?"
She opened her
eyes. And looked into the worried face of Professor McGonagall. She felt
something warm – no, hot – on her stomach.
When she looked down she saw a large brown spot on her blanket. It
smelled distinctively like chocolate.
I must have accidentally spilled it when I was asleep, she mused.
"Professor, I am sorry. I –"
she begun but McGonagall cut her off.
"No harm done, Lily. You just
need a new nightshirt and another blanket. Nothing that cannot be provided.
Lily laid back and nodded sleepily. Only
now did she notice that the whole room was fully lit and that she and
McGonagall weren't its only occupants.
She noticed Madam Pomfrey and
another student – wasn't that a Slytherin prefect? They bend over a stretcher.
Lily could hear the nurse give hushed
but agitated orders. It
seemed rather serious.
"Professor," Lily frowned.
"What happened?"
McGonagall briefly looked
over her shoulder to Madam Pomfrey.
"Another case of influenza it
seems. A very bad one." She noticed towards the student. "Mr. Garrent literally
ran into me while I made my usual way around the corridors.
He said one of his housemates
was ill and needed medical help immediately."
McGonagall looked back at the
nurse. Lily followed her gaze and watched as the ill student was lifted from
the stretcher to a bed.
It proved to be difficult
since the boy convulsed. Finally, Madam Pomfrey succeeded and shouted for the
Prefect to get her some potion.
That stopped the convulsions
and the boy only whimpered a bit before falling asleep.
Sighing deeply, Madam Pomfrey
checked him a last time and went to Lily's bed. She gave her patient a small
smile.
Lily remembered the brown
mess on her bed and blushed slightly.
"I, ehm, I seem to have
spilled my chocolate, Madam. I am sorry."
Again, Madam Pomfrey smiled.
"Don't be. It's no problem. The house-elves will see to it. If you want, you
can move to another bed. We have plenty of them, you know."
Lily nodded and climbed out
of the bed. She went past a few beds before choosing one not too far away from
the Slytherin boy.
Professor McGonagall and
Madam Pomfrey were tactful enough to turn their back to her while she changed
shirts.
"Now, how is he?" Lily heard
McGonagall ask in a low voice.
"A bad case of pneumonia – we
were not a second to late." The nurse answered exhausted.
"Pneumonia? Where does one
catch that during the Christmas Holidays?"
Madam Pomfrey only shrugged.
"Well, you know children. He probably broke into a lake while ice skating or something
like that."
Lily was surprised to hear
her Head of House snort at that.
"Skating? Certainly, I know
children – but can you imagine Severus Snape ice skating?"
Pomfrey looked at Snape.
"Well, no. Not really." She sighed.
"Whatever it was, we better
leave now. Lily and Severus need rest."
McGonagall nodded and turned
to Lily.
"Now, Ms. Evans," she smiled.
"Try to sleep. I wouldn't want you to miss Transfiguration the day after
tomorrow."
"Thank you, Professor," Lily
said and lay back in her bed.
Finally, both women left and
Lily was once again surrounded by darkness. Except that she was no longer
alone. She glanced at Snape lying two beds away.
Although his breathing was a
bit shallow and slightly unsteady, he was obviously fast asleep.
Well, Severus Snape
was surely not the companion she would have wished for. Lily almost admitted to
herself that she rather preferred no companion at all.
Again, she looked out of the
window, now farer away, and counted the stars. But when she came 132 and no star
was left she still felt very awake
and all her tiredness seemed
to have vanished. She sighed. Maybe stars didn't work anymore. She could try
sheep instead.
But the woollen-furred
animals didn't help, either. Slightly annoyed, Lily saw that the moon had
wandered quite a bit. It was getting late – or rather: early.
She thought hard what else
she could do to fall asleep. She didn't want to disturb Madam Pomfrey. It
wasn't that she was fatally wounded or something.
Due to Snape she tried not to
cough too loud. Lily shook her head. Think of that: I almost suffocate to
let Snape sleep undisturbed !
But it seemed her efforts to
protect the Slytherin's sleep were in vain. Snape became more and more restless
any minute. Even his whimpering came in shorter intervals.
It was unnerving.
"Oh god, Snape," she
whispered annoyed. "Can't you lay still for just five minutes?"
She watched him again.
"Obviously not." Lily sighed.
"It's… it's cold." A faint
voice said.
Oh, just fine. He's waking
up.
"Of course it is. You've got
the flu, Snape; or pneumonia or whatever."
"Let me out." More desperate
this time.
Lily rolled her eyes. "It
would be most unwise to go outside when you're feeling cold, Snape. Now would
you please shut off? Other people – namely me – want to sleep."
Angrily, she turned her back
to him, hoping to silence him with this gesture.
In vain.
"No, please. It's cold here
and it hurts so much… please." His voice became fainter and more pleading.
Pleading, Snape? No,
impossible.
Lily couldn't help but turn
to him.
"Listen, Snape, I know you
are not feeling well, neither am I for that matter, but I cannot change it. I
am sorry. It will be over soon, you will see."
Rather reluctantly, she began
to feel sorry for the Slytherin. Maybe he was human after all.
But her kind words had no
effect because Snape's whimpering became only more desperate. Lily thought of
some other encouragement to calm him down.
"No, please," Snape pleaded
once more. "Please, I didn't meant to be a disgrace to you. Please." He began
to convulse again.
Lily just stared at him.
Disgrace her? What did he mean?
"Snape – Severus, you didn't
do anything, really, I was already awake. Just –"
"Not again, no. Please, father…"
he sobbed the last word.
"Please, forgive me, father.
Let me out of here. It's so cold, so cold. Father, please. Nooooooo!" he moaned
while struggling harder with the blankets.
Now Lily was thunderstruck.
What had he just said? Did this mean what she thought it did?
Without a second thought, she
was out of bed and hurried to his side. It was like she had feared. He wasn't
awake.
She held a hand to his
forehead – he had high fever. Snape had grabbed the blanket so hard, his
knuckles were turning white.
As he continued to beg for
mercy she grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him.
"Severus, come one, wake up!
It's just a dream. A dream, do you hear me?"
Suddenly, he opened his eyes
and jerked bold upright, breathing hard. His eyes were full of fear and pain –
such a vast contrast to the usual black nothingness.
He scanned his surroundings,
obviously in terror of something – or rather someone.
Lily let go of him. "It's
alright, Severus. Your in the Hospital wing – at Hogwarts. Were alone."
These words seemed to calm
him down a bit. But Snape still looked past her to see if she spoke the truth.
He turned his gaze towards her
but It took him a few seconds
to recognise who she was.
"Evans." Just one word. Faint
but already in that tone of voice which he used to address all Gryffindors
with. "What? Why are you staring at me like this?"
"Because, Snape, you had a
really terrible dream and were tearing my already stressed nerves apart. I just
wanted to help."
He snorted and sneered at
her. "Help? Me? With what?"
She rolled her eyes. "If you
could drop your pride once, Snape, and tried to act like a human being and not
like Slytherin's Pride and Joy!"
At this Snape looked away. "I
am not a Slytherin – not really." He said quietly, his voice now totally devoid
of any animosity.
Lily even thought she had
spotted sorrow in his eyes for the split of a second. But maybe it was just
because they shone with fever.
"Who says that?" she asked
sympathetically. "Your father? Did he say you were a disgrace to him?"
He looked back to her, eyes
flashing with anger. "Don't talk about things you don't understand!" he hissed.
"You are no Slytherin. My father is the head
of a very old and honourable
family. There are certain rules that must be followed. If one crosses a line he
has to deal with the consequences.
Even you should be
capable of understanding that." He glared hatefully at her.
Now it was her turn to snort.
"Yes, of course, Snape. Keep thinking that and get yourself killed. I am not
blind, or dumb for that matter.
I heard you beg your
wonderful father for mercy. Very honourable to abuse his 15-year old son."
"I will not be talked to like
that!" Snape was red with anger but Lily saw that he was struggling to keep the
façade up.
She sighed. "Look, Snape. If
you would talk about what he did to you… it'd probably help a lot.
I know we are not quite
friends – not even remotely – but here I am. I will listen if you want to
talk."
He gave a short laugh.
"Excuse me, but I don't think that is necessary. It was not the first time, you
know. And parents do have the right
to be strict to their
children if they don't want to be terrorised by them. But of course you don't
understand."
He lay down and rolled on his
side, away from her.
"If you say so!" Lily said
angrily and turned to her bed.
"It is not that you really
care, anyway," she heard him whisper sadly, more to himself than to her.
At that she stopped. "You
know," she said silently. "My parents never raise a hand against me and still I
do as they please. Parents should
care for their children and
protect them. Not treat them cruelly until they are too scarred to disagree.
And trust me, I want no kid to be mistreated
by their parents." She
paused. "Whatever you did, your father had no right to punish you for it the
way he obviously did."
Slowly, she went to her bed.
There was the faintest rustle
of blankets.
"I… I went to London." He
said in a hushed voice.
"To the muggle part. I heard
you and Black talk about some film you watched in a cinema the other day."
Lily turned again and looked
at Severus. He lay on his back and stared at the ceiling.
"You wanted to go to a
cinema?" she asked as she seated herself on a chair next to his bed.
He nodded.
"I have never been to one. My
father forbade it. But I just wanted to know what it was like."
"And did you enjoy it?"
He smiled at the memory.
"Yes, very much. It was really interesting."
Then his face became dark.
"It was Christmas Eve. Father
usually visits some friends of his. Therefore I went to London that day, so he
wouldn't know I was gone."
"But he did, didn't he?" Lily
asked carefully. It was obvious where Severus' story was heading.
He nodded. "Derron, my
brother, he found out somehow. I don't know how but when I returned home and silently
went up to my room
Derron was already there –
with father. They wanted to know where I had been – you know,
my father always wants to be
informed of where I go. I should have known it was a rhetorical question but I
said I had just been wandering
around for a few hours." He
paused and closed his eyes briefly.
"He used some of his more
creative curses on me. Said that he was very disappointed with me. That I had
acted against his orders
and even had had the guts to
lie to him. He… held the curses for a few minutes."
When Severus saw her shocked
face he gave her a small smile.
"It wasn't that bad. It could
have been worse. Well, it was, later." He added in a whisper.
"He dragged me down to the
basement. We have a manor, you know, a typical Slytherin one. Some centuries
old, with the usual basement – cells and such.
So father went into a cell
and began the lecturing. He said that lying to him was impertinence alone but
what was much worse was what I had actually done.
That I… that I wasn't worth
being a Slytherin because I hadn't treated our house's rules with the due
respect. That he was ashamed to have me as a son.
He said that in the old days
people like me would have been killed like one kills an injured horse." He
sobbed silently.
Lily couldn't believe her
ears. How could a parent say that to a child?
"He was ashamed that you went
to a cinema?" she asked disbelievingly.
Severus nodded. "It is like
fraternising with the enemy, father said, going to a muggle city and such." His
voice cracked a bit.
"I had betrayed everything
Slytherin stood for. And he wanted me to feel just how ashamed he was."
"What did he do to you?" Lily
asked in horror, although she feared what she would hear. When Mr. Snape had
cursed Severus for lying to him – what would he do now?