Slipped Away
Chapter Two
Disclaimer: Characters © JK Rowling (HP)
[A/N: Sorry for the long wait between chapters! I've been busy lately and my muse sort of died on me for a while *shame* reviews and critiques are welcome. Anything to help me improve my writing ability. Thanks.]
The room was lit faintly by a single candle resting quietly on a side table in the room. The furnishings where extremely bare, which knowing Snape, this didn't surprise Lily in the least. He'd never been one to have a lot of things around.
Snape had quietly allowed her in and was now setting across from her in a quite collected manner. Yet his eyes told another story. They seemed to peer directly into her soul. A questioning stare. Lily fidgeted a little while trying to come up with a reason why she'd appeared at such an unreasonable hour on his doorstep. Anything, anything would be a better explanation then the hard truth that her once loving husband was now just a common cheater. Perhaps her reasoning for running from this truth was the mere fact that…she herself wasn't ready to face it.
Severus sat collectedly in the threadbare armchair while he waited for Lily to speak. Something was bothering her, that was for sure. Something that, more then likely, had to do with that Potter fellow. Just the act of allowing his name to even enter his mind was enough to make Snape shudder in disgust. All the more reason for his contempt was the fact that James had ended up marrying her. Snape knew that this feeling really shouldn't have been bothering him anymore but yet, it was still. It's not like he himself had ever pondered the thought of what would've happened if Lily had married him instead. One thing's for sure…if she had've, she wouldn't dare be as upset as she clearly appeared to be now.
All these thoughts were quickly banished from his mind as Lily finally began to speak. He listened intently.
"I'm sorry for coming over at such a late hour." A glance at the clock said it was past midnight.
"But I just felt like I had no one else to speak with about this." She bit her lip nervously as she spoke. Eyes looking everywhere else expect towards the figure setting before her.
"No need to apologize. If anything's made you upset, anything, you can tell me. After all, I've been your friend longer then you've been married."
His words stung slightly. She wasn't sure if he was attacking James or not with that sentence. Probably he was, knowing how far back their hatred for one another went. How could she blame him? James did put him through torment almost everyday of their schooldays at Hogwarts.
Thinking back she felt shame on what James and his cronies had put her old friend through.
"I just want to get this out of the way right now before you continue. You coming here alone, at night no less was extremely foolish. And I see that you didn't at least prepare yourself with a wand. With the dangers lurking about now was a dangerous move on your part."
His words shattered her train of thought only to bring her around to feeling defensive. First he was asking what was wrong, and now he was belittling her like a child. Sure his thoughts were probably in the right place, but still the sudden switch surprised her. She thought that he could be trying to figure out why she'd come alone. Her mouth instantly went dry.
As if on cue, Snape continued.
"Now that I think of it, why did you come alone in the first place? Surely if James cared about you he would've at least accompanied you here. Or…did you two have some sort of argument before you arrived?"
The more he spoke the more Lily realized that there was no way she was going to get out of the situation without bringing up James. It was something she dreaded because she knew Snape's seething anger would no doubt show itself.
Not delaying the inevitable any longer she spoke.
"Well, yes we did actually have a fight before I came here. Otherwise James would've followed me here. And as for me not carrying a wand, mere foolishness on my part. I was in such a state of anger I forgot it. That's all."
As she continued she stared at the floor. Shame filling her as more words came out.
"James and I have….been having issues the past few months. I know you probably don't wish to hear them but…I found out recently he's been cheating on me."
Her face was red with embarrassment.
Snape's cold dark eyes were expressionless as he spoke.
"Surely you would've know this would occur. You knew of his promiscuous attitude way before you two even got married."
Snape chose not to bring himself up into the matter, but he felt that Lily would get the hint anyway.
"I know, I know all that!" she snapped, anger now replacing her shame. "But it's not just that. I thought he would change after we got together. Things were fine for a while but now it's all gone to hell."
Not able to take it anymore, Lily finally allowed the tears she'd been holding in for so long to flow. It did nothing to ease her pain, though.
"And…and to add on top of that…I think I'm pregnant…" she choked out through her tears. Now the main reason why Lily had been so emotional and unreasonable became clear to Snape.
To say that Snape was angry at this was an understatement. It was bad enough that Lily left him for his most hated enemy James, but the possibility that she could be carrying his child was too much to bear. However, he managed to keep a steady head while in her presence.
The only betrayal was a slight chewing of the inside of his mouth.
"Lily, has James ever made a threat to you? That he'd harm you in any way?" A flicker of disgust passed over his eyes as he said the name.
Lily managed to choke back a sob in response.
"No, of course not he'd never harm me. How dare you suggest such a thing."
Snape couldn't repress a small smirk.
"He may not harm you physically but he apparently has no qualms of harming you emotionally it seems." he said softly.
Lily had no comeback for his words this time. He spoke the truth. It may not be physical pain, but emotional pain was sometimes worse.
Snape glanced at the clock on the wall which told him it was almost two in the morning. It didn't surprise him that he was still wide awake. He'd often had issues with insomnia.
"Since it's past midnight I suggest it would be safer on your part if you stayed here for the night." He gestured toward the couch. "You can sleep there as my bed only fits one person." "Unless you wish me to walk you back to your house. Letting you leave without any protection or supervision is something I will not allow." He was standing now waiting carefully for her response.
"No, you're right. Leaving now would be a foolish thing to do. I'll just bed down on the couch tonight and tomorrow you can take me back home."
With a wave of his wand the couch was already made up for a comfortable night's sleep. With that he bid her good night and turned to go to his own bedroom.
As Lily lay down something else kept nagging her in the back of her mind.
"Sev…?" she asked quietly in the darkness. (Snape had already turned off the light.)
"Yes?" he flinched slightly at hearing the old nickname Lily had given him used once more. It brought with it bad memories and pain. Thankfully the light was out or Lily would've clearly seen tears stinging his eyes.
"When you take me home in the morning, please try not to bite James' head off"
She said sleepily. The events that occurred were slowly catching up with her making her dead tired.
"I'll try…" was Snape's response. But as he turned to go to bed, he felt that he wouldn't be able to stop himself when he saw the slimy git.
