Author Note:
First, thank you for those who sent reviews (et la prochaine fois Esmé, en anglais je te prie ), that was nice. The first part was short, and I guess they will all be, more or less, but the story in itself will be quite long (as I plan it for now anyway). I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well, even if it's a bit... well, let's say it... cheesy.
Anyway, enjoy the reading guys, and don't forget to review!
Choices and Abilities (Part II)
Next morning, Severus woke up early; he knew what he had to do. He had made his choice. To his huge satisfaction, the Great Hall was almost empty when he went down to eat his breakfast, and when he glanced at the Gryffindor table, he did not see neither Lily nor the Marauders. He sat down to the Slytherin table, alone, but felt, oddly, as if he was being watched. He lifted up his head and saw Professor Dumbledore turn away his eyes from him. He did not like nor dislike him particularly; he wondered for a moment if Dumbledore was actually watching him or if it was just an effect of his imagination, then his thoughts slipped to a more important matter.
Back to the Slytherin common room, he started to implement his plan.
When he got into Potion Class, where he usually paired with Lily, she'd already sat down with another tall, brown-eyed girl from Gryffindor, and she didn't even looked at him when he sat down next to Avery.
Once he had noticed that Lily and Severus weren't sitting next to each other, Potter obviously looked very pleased, and he and Black made jokes during the whole class, talking very loudly and laughing hard. Even when the teacher said, "twenty points from Gryffindor, Mr Potter and Mr Black," they did not look upset at all and kept talking. Severus thought he heard "… pissed at him, and for good" and at this moment, caught Lily's shiny green eyes, who quickly turned away from him.
"Wait and see, Potter, wait and see," he muttered for himself, grinning.
He managed to catch up with Lily after Potions.
"Look, I'm really sorry, okay?" he said, though knowing it wouldn't work.
"We've discussed this already, Severus. Let it go."
"Well, you should at least go and see how Mary's doing, if you really care about her, shouldn't you? That's what I'd do, anyway."
"What do you —," she started — but he was gone already.
Though Lily didn't like Mary MacDonalds much, she felt she had to visit her at the infirmary, just to see if she was okay. Besides, though she wouldn't admit it to herself, she was quite puzzled by Severus' weird suggestion.
"Oh, hi, Lily! Nice of you to have come," Mary said.
"I just wanted to know how you were doing," Lily replied. "Those Slytherins are really evil! How could they do that to you, for no reason? I mean, I really hate —"
She was interrupted by a long call. She looked up and so one of the most beautiful birds she had ever seen; he looked like a parrot, though much taller, his bright feathers multi-coloured; he had wide dark eyes, and his large beak was orange.
"That's… just…" Lily was amazed. Mary laughed.
"Let me introduce you to Sev!" There was a twist in Lily's stomach.
"Sorry?"
"His name is Sev, he said it himself. He can talk, you know! Yesterday, I woke up, and it was there, on my bedside table, yelling « Hello, Mary, I am truly sorry for what Avery did to you and I hope you will recover well ». Sometimes he comes up with some sentences, but you can't make him talk. Well, I asked Pomfrey, and she said it was probably a very well-successful metamorphosis. Can you imagine? Someone made this out of a teacup! I have absolutely no idea who sent it though. Maybe a secret admirer," she said after a pause, and she laughed.
Lily stared, amazed, at the bird, and then tickled his beak with her fingers.
"Hello, Sev," she whispered, and then she roared with laughter.
She caught up with him the next morning, before her Transfiguration class.
"Hey, Sev!" she said, when she bumped into him, his grey hair floating behind him, but he didn't answer, went straight passed her, and kept walking down the corridor, as if he had not heard.
"Sev? Hello!" She ran after him in the corridor.
"Oh, so you're talking to me now?" he said, a wide smile covering his pale face.
She laughed, and Severus had forgotten how he enjoyed this laugh, like little bubbles exploding over their heads.
"What you did for Mary… it's truly wonderful, you know."
"You know perfectly well that I didn't do it for her."
Lily blushed.
"Well, now she thinks she's got a secret admirer or something… anyway," she said in a low voice, "I've got to go to my class. You definitely have to teach me how you did it, though!"
And she walked away gracefully, leaving Snape gazing into space, in the corridor that was now crowded with people; he was standing there and did not move until he was brought back to reality by a huge guy who bumped against his left shoulder; he moved away, and thus did not here the woman in the portrait that hanged above him saying to her friend, a bearded man with a fat belly, "What a lucky boy he is, being loved by such a beautiful creature!"