Altercations
After a few moments of frozen shock, Snape nodded politely. "Miss Evans." Her eyes narrowed. "Er, I meant Mrs. Potter. You got married after all. I remember that." He firmly shut his mouth to stop the babbling.
After a few unspeakably awkward moments, Lily marched forward and took the seat across from his desk. "It's time we clarified a few things."
Deep down, Snape had to admit that he'd been avoiding her. They stopped being best friends years ago, and he knew he wouldn't be properly able to comfort her for the loss of James. It wasn't as if he could pretend to have liked the man. And any expressions of sorrow over James's death would likely not be believed by anyone.
"Where's Harry?" he blurted, unable to think of anything else to say.
"Asleep. I left him with Remus." At Snape's raised eyebrow, she continued. "He arrived last night. It's been a great comfort to have him with me."
So at least the werewolf was there for her. Not the ideal companion, but still better than Black. Marginally. "Well, that's good." Stupid, stupid Severus! He just couldn't think of anything to say…
"You weren't at supper last night. Or breakfast this morning. Or lunch."
"I've been busy." Normally, Dumbledore insisted that he take part in every meal, but the Headmaster was gone.
An elegant eyebrow arched. "Too busy to eat?"
"The house elves brought me something." An elf by the name of Miri had inexplicably adopted him about a month ago and she ensured that he ate regularly.
"Mmm." She ran her fingers though her hair again. He could sense her frustration at his responses and resolved to be more communicative. "I didn't know you were teaching here."
"I replaced Professor Slughorn."
She nodded carefully. "So the rumors about you were false."
"What rumors?"
"That you'd joined Voldemort. Dumbledore wouldn't have hired a Death Eater, so…" Snape flinched in shock at the name, although he felt nothing from his left arm.
Lily was studying his reactions. "Umm, well, you see…" Why did he stammer so much around her? Somehow he doubted that admitting to the truth of these rumors would go over well. On the other hand, he didn't think he could lie to her. Deciding that honesty was the best policy, he took a deep breath and looked at her straight in the eyes. "The rumors…were accurate."
She pulled back slightly, disgust flickering across her features briefly.
"I…I did join the Dark Lord." In retrospect of course, it wasn't the brightest decision he'd ever made.
"Then why would Professor Dumbledore to hire you?" She crossed her arms firmly across her chest.
Where to start? Really, the prophecy was the beginning. "I overheard the prophesy."
She interrupted, "The one about Harry?"
He nodded.
"What does it say? Dumbledore didn't tell us." Now her eyes were bright with excitement.
"He…he didn't?"
"He said it was about 'the one to defeat Voldemort,'" Snape flinched again and her eyes narrowed, "and that the exact contents were unimportant. But apparently Voldemort," she said the name quite pointedly and he tried not to flinch again, "targeted us because he thought it referred to our Harry. I've been wondering about the exact wording."
Snape told her. "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies."
She stared thoughtfully at the desk for a few moments. "Was that all?"
"No, but it's all I heard." His throat suddenly felt very dry. "The Dark Lord doesn't know any more of it than I do."
There was a very long pause. The need to make a full confession was pressing. After all, he'd put her and her family in horrible danger. And she deserved to know the truth.
"I…I was the one who told the Dark Lord about the prophecy."
Another long pause. Then Lily cleared her throat. "Let me get this straight. You joined Voldemort, then overhead part of a prophecy about my son, and then crawled back to your master to share it with him. Using that information, he began to hunt us down, forcing us to go into hiding. And that is why James is dead and Harry was nearly killed."
He felt sick. Everything she was saying was completely true after all.
She stood up abruptly. "I can't believe I ever saw anything good in you, Snivellus." Moments later she was out the door.
Snape felt an odd sense of relief, now that Lily knew the full truth. True, she hated him now, but at least she knew. The burden of guilt had been lessened. Slightly.
And it wasn't as if they could ever be friends again.
He'd long since accepted this, long since accepted the hopelessness of trying to regain what was forever lost. Now the important part was merely ensuring she remained relatively happy and healthy. He could do that from a distance.
And he had other friends. Of course, he'd betrayed them all when he'd gone to Dumbledore to save Lily. He buried his head in his arms, trying to think of a friend that he hadn't betrayed at some point. He couldn't. Feeling nauseous, he tried to focus on the book again.
Supper time came and went. Miri arrived with a helping of steak and kidney pie and forced him to eat it. She was shockingly bossy for a house elf, "Master needs to eat now, and his mind will be clearer for it." Folding her little arms she watched every mouthful.
Knowing from experience that if she was ordered to leave, she would likely burst into tears, start banging her head against the wall, and chant something along the lines of "Bad bad Miri! Is being a bad elf!" – without actually leaving – he dutifully swallowed just enough to satisfy the little tyrant. He reflected that while the house elves were supposedly servants, Miri won every argument with him simply because he always gave in once she started punishing herself. Scowling, he forced another mouthful down his throat. He didn't remember any of the Malfoy elves behaving in such a manner. Nor had he heard any of the staff at Hogwarts complaining about their assigned elves. Only he had ended up with the crazy one.
Finally he dropped the fork and glared, daring her to force him to eat another bite. Philosophically, she picked up the plate and smiled cheerfully.
"Tha's a good master, that is." She sounded like she was praising a performing poodle. "An' Miri put nice silky sheets on Master's bed so's you can sleep tonight. Master needs his sleep or Master is going to collapse."
"You WHAT?" With a cheerful grin and a crack, Miri disappeared leaving Snape to glare at the spot she'd just vacated. If she'd actually replaced his sheets, he'd chop her up for potions ingredients.
Another knock sounded shortly after Miri's departure. It was Professor McGonagall this time, hands firmly planted on her hips.
"Severus Snape! The Headmaster's absence is NOT an excuse for you to ignore his wishes. You know he wants all the staff members present for most meals." Dumbledore had made an exception for Trelawney after she'd started loudly predicting the gory deaths of various students over her mashed potatoes. Unfortunately, he still insisted that all Heads of Houses, including Snape, come to each meal and remain for at least twenty minutes.
"And Merlin, if the rest of us can manage it, so can you! I don't care how important your research, or whatever it is you're doing down here, is!"
He felt like a schoolboy again. Instead of answering, he settled for watching her with a blank expression, having learned at an early age that this tended to unnerve people.
She merely pinched her lips tightly together. "I fully expect to see you in the Great Hall tomorrow morning at breakfast."
"Yes ma'am," he mumbled sulkily.
"Fine. There is something else I wished to discuss with you." He quirked an eyebrow.
"I heard about the fight yesterday."
"So?"
"So does the concept of justice mean nothing to you? Did it ever occur to you that your punishment might have been a little unfair?"
"Really, Minerva, I haven't a clue what you are blathering about." Even though he still called her Professor McGonagall inside his head, he was slowly adjusting to Dumbledore's first name policy.
"Your students started a fight…"
"Now really, your little lion attacked first."
"He was provoked!"
"By mere words. The brat should have controlled his temper better, and he certainly deserved far worse than a mere detention with Filch."
"But thirty points from Gryffindor! And not a single point taken from your own house, I noticed."
"My students will be punished." He was immensely proud of them for sticking together, and planned to teach them to use Levicorpus during their "detention," a spell which would prove helpful to them in future altercations with Gryffindor House. Of course, the boy who goaded the Gryffindor had five hundred lines too. I must not aggravate peaheaded morons who are too thick-witted to be expected to control their tempers.
"But I see no point in deliberately reducing my chances at winning the House Cup."
"Some of us," McGonagall gritted out, "being more honorable than that, like to try to win the cup fairly."
Snape smirked at her. "Please do so. It improves my chances of winning."
With a huff, she stalked out.
Disclaimer I have never owned a country, a continant, an ocean, or Harry Potter.
Dedication This chapter is dedicated to the flaming ReViEwEr for offering some helpful criticism.
