Lily sighed
Hello everyone! This is my second piece of HP-Fiction. When I sat at my computer on Sunday, I originally had planned to write the next chapter of my 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?