James darted to the persistent clatter, another knock rapping against the wood surface of the home's entrance as he approached. The man's eyes were adorned with dark circles, his stare anxiously peering past his wire rimmed glasses as he opened the door to the porch. Lily stood before him, bleary eyed and windswept, her cheeks reddened with a distressed flush, the color skimming her freckled skin like a bird dipping from flight, its feet trailing absently over a lake's placid surface.
"Lily," He murmured, letting out a sigh of relief as he threw the door open and stepped onto the porch beside her, his hands unsure of what to do. His wife looked up at him, her eyes wet and swollen, her body slackened into submission under her anguish,
"I was wrong," She whispered, feeling misplaced on the snowy stoop of her home, her husband's gaze burning into her, his hazel eyes red from tears, sitting in his skull like two dying embers, "I'm sorry, James." The woman lifted her tremulous hands to her face, as muted cries emanated from her lungs, her hands swathing her eyes, "I'm so sorry." Lily could not restrain her noisy sobs, Snape's voice haunting her, caught in the icy wind, piercing her ears like icicles. James watched the woman for a moment before he opened his arms and awkwardly enfolded her into them, soon curling around her confidently, the smell of her hair welcoming him, her breath hot on his neck in an unspoken greeting. Lily collapsed against the man in surrender, his heartbeat thumping against her breast, as familiar as a traveler returning home.
Autumn
James sat on the ground with Harry, ruffling the boy's hair as he unwrapped a brown paper covered parcel for the little boy. Lily sat contently on the couch, her feet tucked under her as she lounged, watching James fiddle with the book, Harry's round face filled with curiousness. With a flourish of James' wand, the book's picture began to move, an elephant's trumpeting rumbling from the pages as the dark haired child ran his small hands over the animal in awe. James chuckled as the boy flinched in surprise and cooed with admiration, his green eyes widening as a lion stretched out in the waving savannah grass. Lily watched the scene unfold, her child gazing up into James' face in total wonder, total reverence. And as she surveyed the scene, her mind strayed absently, where it often did during quiet moments.
Severus smiled his crooked smile, his eyes returning the babe's devoted gaze as he sat with the child before the hearth of Spinner's End. Harry beamed up at the pale man as he was scooped into his lean arms, Snape's hold as gentle as a moonbeam enfolding the smallest of pebbles. The young child giggled in his father's arms, his plump cheeks the ruddy ones of a cherub, his hands greedily clutching onto the man's spindly fingers. Snape grinned down at the child with immense pride, lifting its smooth forehead to his lips where he placed a tender kiss above the boy's right eyebrow. Harry gurgled in the man's embrace, his tiny limbs wriggling in pleasure, drawing a soft laugh from the thin man. The pair fit into each other's hold like a jigsaw puzzle, limbs intertwining, consumed by each other. Severus looked slowly up at Lily, his eyes like two galaxies, twinkling from the deep frontier of his eye sockets, reaching her miles away. His lips curved languidly in a smile, he offered her this token, keepsake, reluctant even in imaginings.
Lily was reluctantly shaken from her daydream by a sharp rap at the door, something in her stomach sinking faintly. There were voices, several low voices mixing in with Harry's excited babbling, his face turning to his mother as a panda lumbered across the page,
"Mama!" James stood and dusted off his black slacks, ruffling the small boy's black hair as he left the room and headed towards the door. Lily's heart thrummed restlessly beneath her breastbone, the sound of the door being opened and an icy voice infusing the still pleasantness of the room. She heard James' voice rise, a tremor in his tone, fear.
"Lily," His voice bellowed, Harry's arms rising instinctively toward the sound, his lips parted in shock, glistening wet from spittle, "Take Harry and leave!" The babe clenched his fists closed several times, mumbling, "Dadda" hesitantly as he looked up at his mother, jade eyes wide with expectation. Lily bolted from the sofa and scooped her son up into her arms, the child beginning to wail hysterically against the crook of her neck, his arms stretched out towards his father's voice. The woman rushed up the steps of the house to Harry's bedroom; her heart cringing as she vaguely heard her husband shouting curses below. She pressed the wailing babe to her breast as she backed away from the door, her fingers anxiously caressing the boy's black hair.
"Shhh, Harry," Lily whispered desperately, a harsh streak of lightning slicing the black night behind the nursery's billowing curtains, the child's cries augmenting as thunder shook through the cloudy Halloween night. Suddenly, James broke into a wordless howl below, pristine as it fought its way through the man's lips and soon slackened on his tongue. Harry writhed in his mother's arms, fat tears rolling down his flushed cheeks, snot dribbling from the child's nose. Lily covered Harry's mouth with her hand as a cutting silence overwhelmed the home, the boy's cries fading away into demure whimpers. The woman went stiff as footsteps began traversing the hall, coming closer to Harry's room. Her son squirmed in her arms, his pudgy hands curling around bunches of her shirt's fabric, his small breaths warming the skin of Lily's neck as the voices broke into a cruel laughter, swiftly silenced by another, penetrating voice. An electric bout of silence followed, Lily felt as if she could sense every miniscule happening around her, every breath that came from her son's mouth, and every thundering boom that echoed in her home. An endless noiselessness. She looked down at the child in her arms, at the black crown of hair and rapidly, she began to weep at her own luminescent green eyes, staring back up at her with the upmost trust. Lily paced to the child's crib, her motions feeling delayed as if she were coasting through a dream, the air around her stagnant with terror. The woman lifted her son and placed a tender kiss on his brow, his black featherlike hairs brushing her cheek, her lips unwillingly parting from the babe's skin as she realized it could be the last time. She lay her son down in the bed and kneeled before him, her face inches away from the crib's bars, tears stilled on her cheeks like glistening beads of sand, slipped from a hour glass, forgotten by the weight of time,
"Harry, you are so loved," The woman breathed to the little boy, wrapping her fingers around the spindles of his cot as shouts permeated through the floorboards, the sour tones tainting every inhale, "So loved." Lily's attention was suddenly caught by voices, cruel voices approaching, coming nearer. She faced her son again and touched his soft cheek in reassurance, the child's tears halting as he looked up at her innocently. "Harry, Mama loves you," Harry's fingers sought the woman's hand as Lily broke in restrained sobs, "Dada, loves you." The woman smiled sadly at the tiny boy as she stood and faced the entryway, trying to focus on the intruder's voices, especially the one that was hauntingly familiar, thin and cold as it pierced her ears like a dart. Before she had time to draw her wand, there was deafening crash and the door tumbled down onto the floor as two death eaters rushed in, flanked by Voldemort himself. The woman stepped in front of her son defiantly, her knees shaking with fright as she gritted her jaw and boldly faced the gaunt man. A sickening smirk bled onto Voldemort's tightly drawn mouth, his nostrils flaring in delight. Lily dropped her hand into the crib, Harry's small fingers curling around her as he burst into a fit of tears.
"Step aside, silly girl." The man hissed severely, his brow furrowing when she did not oblige, his pale skin folding like curdling milk when she moved in front of the crib, shielding Harry with her body. Voldemort took a step closer and raised his wand menacingly, "Step aside," he repeated, his voice sharp with fury. Lily locked her jaw and did not move, her hair tumbling down over her face in wild waves, her eyes alight with an unfamiliar courage.
"No," The woman uttered steadfastly, her green eyes glinting valiantly as she took a step back against the crib, her movements precise and feral.
"Very well," The man muttered, his cold eyes illuminated by another streak of lightning, his wand arm poised and ready, "Avada Kedavra!" I love you Harry, Lily thought to herself before the flash of emerald light split into the room from the sneering man's wand, chasing a shriek from the pit of her lungs. Suddenly, the scream evaporated from her tongue and all was warm. All was fiercely calm. I love you.
A/N: Okay… I know you guys are going to hate me for not having Lily go back to Snape. I'm sorry but I really had to stick to the way that JK Rowling wrote it. I strongly believe Snape's love for Lily is so beautiful because it is so tragic. But don't lose hope quite yet, because again, this isn't the last chapter, THIS IS NOT THE END. The next chapter will be the last but I'm not putting it up until I get some feedback for this chapter, just in case I have to go back into this chapter by request. Hopefully when I do put it up it will give all you readers some closure. Thanks for the comments my lovelies and please KEEP REVIEWING! ~Elaine~