Chapter 7: Penetrate My Soul
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters written by J.K Rowling or owned by Warner Bros. I am writing this for entertainment purposes ONLY.
After what had happened the night before, it hurt for her to sit. She was also now extremely skittish and the smallest of noises made her jump. Draco noticed, but said nothing. Pansy had him whipped and he knew it. She was not her usual boisterous self. Instead she was a shell, and when Severus Snape saw her that morning, he excused himself from the Great Hall to avoid doing something he would regret.
During Potions, he noticed she kept her head down, and her eyes on her own cauldron, mindlessly stirring, but still producing a passable draught. After class, Snape held her back, his face concerned. "Are you okay?" He asked, daring to place a hand on her shoulder. "You aren't yourself today."
Lane fought to look him in his eye. She wanted to cry, to scream what Filch did to her the night previous. "I'm just a little under the weather." She lied instead, avoiding confrontation at all costs, even if it meant sacrificing a piece of her soul.
Snape closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm worried about you." He let the words tumble from his lips, a sentence he had not uttered since he was her age. "I really am."
"Thank you, Professor, but I will be fine." She packed up her ingredients and left, hoping that going to class would take her mind off of what could possibly happen that evening.
Snape watched her go, holding a long strand of auburn hair between two fingers. I can't believe it worked, he thought, victorious. He brought the hair to his office and added it to a potion, stirred until it began to smoke, touched it with his wand and whispered a few words. Seconds later, a name swirled to the surface in letters made of smoke. "Lily Evans."
"Merlin's beard." He sat back in his desk chair, releasing the breath he'd been holding. His suspicion had been correct, Lane Dappleport was at least, in part, Lily Evans. But how? He found his way to the Restricted Section of the library to do some research on souls and reincarnation.
Lane Dappleport's hands never shook. She had all the confidence in the world, usually. But now, she had none, and her whole body trembled in fear. It was seven o'clock, and she stood outside the office where her world changed. The door opened, and Filch ushered her inside. He motioned for her to take a seat and he sat quietly, as if waiting for someone else to show. Fifteen minutes later when no one did, he bid her to stand up. She stood, following his every order to a T. He led her to the wall, where the shackles hung, and began to strap her to the wall. She'd given up fighting, what was the use, when no one would care or listen? She was just an orphan after all, with no special parents who'd sacrificed themselves to save her life. She was no one, and would always be no one.
Filch began to caress her face, gently as he could. His hands moved slowly down her chest, where they paused to hold her breasts, one in each hand, as if weighing one against the other. His eyes danced wildly, drunk with power, With no one to stop him he could do as he pleased, and teach this little minx a lesson she'd never forget. His hands moved further down, over her stomach to her inner thighs. He ripped her panties completely off, the fabric fell down to her ankles in shreds. Lane closed her eyes, not wanting to see his face as he touched her most intimate parts.
"Alohamora!" The voice thundered, and her savior in a black cloak burst into the room. Shocked, she saw Professor Snape reach Filch in two strides and hold his wand to his throat. "Headmaster, you may come in." To Lane's horror and embarrassment, Professor Dumbledore entered the office, to see the crime for himself. Her face reddened and she closed her eyes and began to cry.
Dumbledore helped her down from her chains and held her as she sobbed, chest heaving. "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for everything! I know I've been a terrible person! I don't know what's wrong with me, I've always been this way!"
"Ssshhh, it's all right now, Ms. Dappleport. He won't ever bother you again." Snape produced restraints from the tip of his wand and forcefully restrained Filch until someone from the Ministry could retrieve him. Dumbledore made sure that Lane was okay and offered her a chunk of chocolate from a pocket inside his robe.
"Thank you, Professor. I swear from now on, I'll be an excellent student! I'll pass all of my N.E.W.T.S with flying colors!"
"I don't doubt it for a second, my dear." He patted her gently on the head and excused himself, leaving only Severus and Lane alone in the room together.
"Lane, I knew something suspicious was going on. You could have told me! I'm your Professor after all, and head of your House." Snape knelt down to her level, and took her hand in his own.
Lane marveled at the man so many people saw as cold, standoffish, and downright mean. She'd always seen this other side of him, gentle, caring and compassionate. His flesh was cool to the touch, where hers ran hot, and when they touched, the air began to tingle with electricity. Lane stared quizzically at Snape who couldn't believe it either.
"There's something I have to tell you, something you won't believe." He murmured.
"With all due respect, Professor, please try me." Lane released her hand from his and waited for the news he had to share.
"I've found out who you are." He waited a beat, "You are the reincarnated soul of Lily Evans. Also known as Lily Potter."
"Um, hi, no I'm not. I'm Lane Dappleport. I've always been Lane Dappleport."
"Yes, that is your given name in this life. But when Lily Potter died to save her son, she was given a second chance at life. She just so happened to get lucky enough to come back during the time he was alive and the same place as her son as well."
"But I'm me. I'm a Slytherin. She was a Gryffindor. We're nothing alike." Lane insisted.
"You're more alike than you think." Snape told Lane the story of how they grew up together, went to school together, and how he loved her, until the day she died and after, even though she'd married James. He told her stories of how she acted out in school, until something shook her to her very core and she changed almost overnight.
"And you think I'm her second chance?" Lane couldn't believe her ears.
"And... mine as well." Snape couldn't stop himself from taking the chance he'd always wanted to. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him, feeling her warmth envelope him like a hot bath. He sniffed her hair, even her hair smelled like Lily's. But this wasn't Lily! His mind screamed. This was Lane, his student, and as much as he wanted it, a relationship with her was forbidden. No one needs to know, a piece of him argued.
Lane didn't stop the embrace. Something deep within her stirred, and old feelings she'd never knew existed came flooding into her. Love, admiration, care, every good feeling she'd never known was there, filling her and spilling out. She lifted his face to hers, and brought her lips to his in a gentle kiss, then deeper and more soulful. Everything she'd ever wanted to do in her past life but was too afraid to follow through was now happening, and joy and excitement added themselves to the mix.
"I'm so sorry, Sev." She moaned, feeling his lips begin to explore her skin, lighting it on fire. "I wanted to be with you so badly... but my family, they never would have understood and when Petunia didn't get in as well, things only got worse." Lane stopped his kisses and forced him to stare into her eyes. "You were always the one, always."
"Oh, Lily, we could have run away together, could have gone to America, where no one knew us." Snape whimpered.
"Sev, we were too deep inside the Order, He would have found us." Lane caressed his cheek, kissed his brow. "Thank you for taking care of my boy. I know it mustn't be easy for you. But it means everything to me. Now that I know he's on the right path, I can be free."
Snape panicked, he'd only just gotten Lily back, was he losing her again? "Free?" Snape held her tighter, afraid to let go, to lose her.
"I must go, my work on Earth is finished now. A part of me will always exist in Lane, the best parts of me, to be sure. She will always have my soul, but she must be Lane now. Lily is no more."
Severus Snape choked back sobs, "No, please, not again."
Lily's voice whispered in his ear, "She will always love you and take care of you, better than I ever could." And with that Lily was gone, with Lane back in her place.
"Professor? Are you okay?" He continued to hold her tight, but Lane didn't fight it. Something about it felt natural, as if it were supposed to be this way.
"I love you, Lane." Lane couldn't believe her ears, and couldn't believe her reply: "I love you too, Severus. It's always been there, in the back of my mind, every class, every interaction, somehow I knew."
Severus made sure the door to the office was closed and locked, and then removed his robes. Lane followed suit, finding herself eager for what was about to happen.
"Is this okay?" He asked, making sure she was comfortable.
"Yes," she breathed, "I feel like I've waited two lifetimes."
He smiled, then gently touched her everywhere, drinking in the feeling of her silky smooth skin beneath his fingertips, wondering at the gooseflesh he sent up and down her body with his lips. When he determined she was more than ready for him, he slowly lowered himself onto her, taking her deeply and making her gasp with pain. "I'm sorry, love, it always hurts for women, the first time." He explained. She nodded and insisted he continue. When he had the go ahead, he began to slide out and push back in, driving himself as deep as possible, and making her pant. Pain had given way to pleasure quickly, and he kept going until she climaxed for him. He came not long after and they lay together, limbs entangled, sweaty and messy and sticky with love.
"What just happened?" Lane laughed. "Today has been wild."
"I wouldn't believe you if you'd told me yesterday." Snape agreed. "But I'm glad it did, are you?"
"Of course. I've never been this happy in my whole life."
