Lily Evans – the resplendent Lily Evans clad in decadent leather and lace – was extending a whip towards him...
Wait a moment, what was it that she just said?
Master?
For a split second, Severus had no idea what was occurring around him. Was this some surreal dream?
Then comprehension slowly dawned on him. His Lily thought that he took her as his slave in earnest – that he wanted to dominate her.
Where on Earth did she get this idea?
The cause of her misunderstanding mattered little compared to the gravity of the misunderstanding itself. Severus immediately sought to correct it.
Gently moving the extended whip-wielding hand to the side, he dared to look straight into Lily's eyes, and spoke quietly and tenderly:
"No, Lily, this is not why you are here. I will not be using a whip on your precious flesh, and you will most certainly not be calling me 'Master'." Then taking a deep breath, he dove right in: "Severus, Sev, pet, toy, servant, slave, submissive – any of these names and more at your disposal, but never 'Master'."
"I – I don't understand," Lily whispered, still shocked.
Severus could not help his sardonic half-smile. "Don't you? I have been yours for years, all those years ago. I think you divined as much, even if you insisted on pushing me away. Now that I have you here, I fully intend on satisfying my greatest desire: I want to be yours in every way possible. You will want for absolutely nothing – I will be more than eager to tend to your every need. Your wish is my command: in the most literal of senses."
"But... but you asked to have me as a slave! You looked at me so sternly, and spoke so roughly, and then made me dress in – in this!"
Severus could not help the chuckle that escaped his mouth; he felt almost relieved. This was a misunderstanding that he could easily correct.
"Oh Lily, if you only knew! I was just trying to control myself – playing an act for Voldemort. For if he knew the truth, he would never let me keep you... and the clothes," here Severus turned scarlet, "they were the only ones I had. Sorry... I – I should have transfigured them. I honestly didn't think. I suppose th-the excitement... of seeing you this way... well, I guess it somewhat incapacitated my brain." With a swift flick of his wand, and another sheepish "sorry", he transfigured her leather corset into a modest black evening gown.
He then dropped to his knees, and at the same time dropped the last of his defenses. Gone were the coldness, the aloofness, the pretense. His eyes gazed up at her with hope and longing.
"I want you to dominate me," he pleaded simply. "I want to belong to you in every possible way. I want you to do with me whatever you please – punish me, use me, tease me. I want to be made to kneel naked at your feel. I want to be ordered to serve your every need. I want to be whipped. I want to relish every second of pain and humiliation imposed by your hand, and I want to feel completely under your control the entire time."
Lily stared blankly at her former best friend. She marveled at how he managed to create a situation that was simultaneously the realization of all her most erotic fantasies of the past ten years, and the most grotesquely repulsive thing she could ever imagine.
On the one hand, she could not help the rush of desire that she felt at having this man kneel at her feet and beg her to dominate him. Was this not what she had always secretly dreamed of? This complete submission?
But on the other, it was no submission at all. He was making her dominate him. And it was this perversion in the roles – his claim of wanting to feel under her control, when it was painfully obvious that the real control was entirely his – that repulsed her. Sure, he would serve her, obey her even, on the surface – for as long, and only as long, as he wanted to. And she had no other choice but to play along, by his rules.
Lily Evans felt something between indignation and anger as she glared at her former best friend.
"Completely under my control?" She inquired with venom.
"Yes, Mistress," was his breathed reply.
"You vow to obey my every command?"
"Yes, Mistress," and the mix of adulation and hopefulness in his gaze almost made her reconsider.
But she would not give in, instead pronouncing bitterly: "Then I command you never to come into my sight again."
Severus immediately stood up and began pacing anxiously around the room. This he had not foreseen.
Lily's command brought to his attention the absurdity of the situation he had crafted. He wanted to be Lily's utterly and completely... to be her toy, her servant, her slave – whatever she chose to make of him. He wanted to submit. But if she did not desire his submission, how could he do so? Whatever roles he devised for them inside his house, outside of it, reality reigned: and in reality, she was his captive, even if the perverse games he imposed on her consisted of him playing her slave.
For several moments, he tried to come to terms with the paradox that he had created: that of his unwilling Mistress. But at the end, there was only one way. He had long determined that in this one matter he would persist even if it meant disobeying her wishes: he would give her his submission, whether she wished it or not.
And also... he did not know why – perhaps it was merely a way to justify his actions, or perhaps he really did believe it – but he told himself over and over again, that she did wish for his submission. She just wouldn't admit it even to herself.
Yes, Severus Snape would insist on this twisted relationship, and would use any means necessary to achieve it.
"No." He stated simply.
"No? You refuse to obey me?" Lily's voice was rising.
"In this way, yes. I refused not to serve you, Lily." Then quieter, but still firmly, he added: "I'm sorry."
Lily let out a shrill, bitter laugh. "So what kind of slave are you, Sev? You claim that you want me to control you, and then blatantly refuse to obey! Admit it: this is just a game. You are in control, and this twisted pretense of my domination over you is just something to appease your own erotic fantasies. At least call things by their own names: no matter who is holding the whip, I am still your slave here."
Severus sighed. "I do not wish to have this argument with you, Lily. I will only insist that you never again refer to yourself as slave."
"Or else?" She raised a challenging eyebrow at him.
He knew well what he had to say, no matter how much it hurt him to do so: "I believe the Dark Lord has outlined the consequences well enough."
God, I am being a jerk. She has every right to be angry – and I sure hope she takes out this anger on my buttocks.
Lily shuddered. "I see. So to preserve my son's life, I have to play along as your Dominatrix."
"Precisely," Severus answered simply, and closed his eyes. The sight of Lily's lovely orbs, filled with hatred and fear, was too much for him to bear.
It's all for the better. This is the only way to make her stay. She will be safe this way, and Harry too. And I... I will finally get my lovely Lily.
Yes, I will serve her, and make her see that whatever she thinks, I really do belong to her – body and soul.
She remained silent. Perhaps all that had to be said had already been said. He had wished for more from this evening – for so much more. But somehow he understood that it was not to be. Now was not the time to show his devotion, or to ask for his punishment.
"Are you hungry?" He asked blandly.
"No."
"Would you like to retire for the night?"
"I suppose."
Wordlessly, he showed her to his bedroom, and with a flick of his wand, cleaned the sheets on the bed. "This will be your room. Please let me know if you require anything."
He was about to turn and leave, but she appeared to have misunderstood.
"Will you be sharing the bed with me?"
"Not if you don't wish me to." His voice sounded dry and tired. And he was surprised that he actually wanted – no, needed – to be alone.
"I most certainly don't!" Was her indignant response, and with a respectful "goodnight", he left the room.
Severus Snape had a lot of thinking to do. Now that he had been forced to admit that Lily was here as his dominant Mistress against her will, he could not carry on with his idealized notions of their relationship. For in truth, no such relationship existed, save the fabricated version that somehow made its way from the confines of his mind into forced reality.
And the forced reality needed to be enforced. There was no magical understanding between him and Lily, so instead there had to be clear delineations.
Bracing himself for a largely sleepless night, Severus sat at the dining table with the goal of producing such delineations.
The next morning, Lily woke up to a most tantalizing smell. For a moment, she could not recognize her surroundings, and her senses somehow created the illusion of the most pleasant deja vu: some time in her childhood, waking up in her parents' house, to the enticing smell of her mother cooking her favorite breakfast, looking forward to spending the day with Sev...
Sev.
Suddenly, the chill of reality hit Lily full-on. She remembered the previous night. Recalled her terror, her anger, her resentment, her hate.
With a scowl, Lily stood up from the bed, noticing that she still wore the evening gown from the night before.
As she walked downstairs, she absentmindedly wondered what the day would bring. Nothing good, she was sure.
The first thing it brought, however, was not all that bad.
As she made her way into the kitchen, Lily knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the pleasant smell she had identified earlier was that of waffles. Dressed in a black bathrobe, Severus stood in front of the stove, humming softly. What an enchanting picture of domesticity her captor managed to present!
Hearing her approach, Severus turned, and offered Lily a shy smile. "Good morning, Mistress. I made waffles with raisins and whipped cream... I remember you liked that when you were younger; I hope you still do?" He could not keep the eagerness out of his voice, however much he tried.
Lily nodded stiffly. He remembered my favorite food.
Severus put a plate on the table, and pulled a chair out. Lily sat, and gingerly started to eat. After placing a mug of steaming coffee next to her, Severus stood a few steps away, awaiting the next opportunity to serve her.
"Aren't you going to sit?"
"I – I thought I better be ready in case if you need anything else," Severus replied sheepishly, a pretty blush spreading across his otherwise pale cheeks. He was still so new to all of this.
"Sit," she commanded simply, and he obeyed. "And eat something yourself." This, too, he wordlessly followed.
After breakfast, Severus asked his Mistress whether she might like to take a shower, while he cleaned up the kitchen. Not knowing what else to do, and feeling increasingly awkward, Lily acquiesced.
Freshly showered and wrapped in a fluffy white bathrobe, Lily was somewhat surprised when Severus sought her out and pronounced seriously: "We need to talk."
He walked her to the living room, and seated her gently on the couch. He then went to fetch a piece of wrinkled paper covered in messy writing. Kneeling at Lily's feet, his eyes downcast, Severus placed the paper carefully on her lap.
At the top of the page, in large underlined letters read a single word: Contract.
With dreadful anticipation of what the rest of the document would hold, Lily proceeded to read.
"This contract affirms that from this day on, the undersigned Severus Tobias Snape (henceforth referred to as 'submissive' and 'slave', depending on the circumstances outlined below) shall become the property of the undersigned Lily Rose Evans Potter (henceforth referred to as 'Mistress'). The two undersigned parties agree to the following conditions:
Submissive with serve, obey, and please his Mistress to the utmost of his physical ability.
Inside the house, when in company of only his Mistress (and possibly in other company as well, as dictated by his Mistress), submissive is to be always in the nude, so that his body may be readily accessibly to his Mistress at all times.
Unless unexpected circumstances prevent it, submissive is to be spanked daily by his Mistress with the leather whip to remind him of his place.
Should submissive disobey his Mistress in any way, she will punish him as she sees fit.
Submissive is to sleep on the living room couch, unless otherwise instructed by the Mistress.
As a form of greeting, submissive will kneel at his Mistress's feet, and place one kiss on the tip of each of her feet, regardless of whether they are bare or clad in shoes.
Submissive is to follow whatever grooming instructions Mistress sets for him.
Submissive's body belongs entirely to his Mistress, and as such, he is not to reach orgasm without Mistress's permission.
At least once every day, submissive shall show his devotion by licking the soles of his Mistress's feet, whether they be bare or clad in shoes, in the latter of which cases, he shall suckle diligently on the heels.
After one week of testing, if the submissive has adequately pleased his Mistress, she shall collar him as her full-time slave. If she does not find his service during the test week adequate, she will punish him severely. The same will be repeated the following week, and every week after that, until Mistress deems submissive worthy of becoming her collared slave.
Once collared, the slave shall wear the mark of his Mistress's ownership proudly at all times, both within and without the house.
Under Mistress's discretion, a leash may be attached to the slave's collar to lead him around the house and on joint walks outside.
The collared slave will sleep on the flour next to Mistress's bed, at her feet, unless she allows him the great honor of joining her in the bed.
Signed:
Severus Tobias Snape"
The last line remained blank, awaiting her signature.
Lily felt a chill of mortification pass down her spine as she read, at the same time as the inevitable heat of arousal spread between her legs. Here it was, outlined in excruciating detail: her future with this strange man. On the one hand, the things he wrote were positively erotic. The thought of the degradations he was so eager to suffer at her hand send through her body a thrill of power. But this was delineated, enforced power. And as such, it was no power at all. She was nothing but a puppet in his hands.
"I don't have a choice, do I?" At the soft nod of his downcast head, Lily signed the paper.
Severus dared to look up at her then, and she was momentarily stunned to see on his face a wide smile of utter bliss, the like of which she had only ever seen once. It had been on his fourteenth birthday, when she had forgotten to get him a present, and instead presented him only with a hastily-crafted card and a "birthday kiss" – it had not been much, just a peck on the lips, but Severus had declared it to have been his best birthday yet.
