Chapter 12: Back to the moors
Severus was glad to get away from Hogwarts castle, piercing eyes and giggling students. On the other hand he dreaded the journey on the express. What if Potter and Black attacked him again? Hagrid wasn´t on the train. As far as Severus was aware of, the only adult on the train – at least the only one he´d ever seen – was the food trolley witch. He wasn´t sure whether the elderly woman would be of much help against his arch-enemies.
His fears turned out to be unbased. The headmaster must have done a brilliant job on Potter. He saw the boy only when he went to the toilet (wand clasped in his hand, hidden in a fold of his robes) from afar. The boy was speaking to Lily and Severus´ heart sank. Before he could gather the courage to interfere though, Lily had handled the situation on her own and Potter retreated to the compartement he shared with his friends.
The first short conversation with Mrs. Evans brought the unexpected information that Petunia intended to present her boyfriend to the family that very evening. Severus was not pleased. Probably it´d be a long evening and he´d rather have spent some time with Lily than with Petunia and the fat boy he had spied at from behind the curtains the summer before. Severus and Lily helped Mrs. Evans prepare the meal in order to have a bit of time for exchanging news with her.
-x-
Petunia came to the kitchen ten minutes before her friend was supposed to arrive. She eyed Lily and Severus critically. "Not one word about your... abnormity," she hissed. "And don´t you have a decent shirt?" She examined Severus´s shirt dissaprovingly. Its sleeves were some centimeters too short for him and a button was loose. Of course he owned better shirts, Mrs. Evans saw to that, but it was one of his father´s and he liked the thought of having something, which didn´t cost Mr. and Mrs. Evans´ money.
"Petunia is right, dear," said. "We have to get you a different shirt. Come, my husband will lend you one." She took the boy upstairs.
When they came back five minutes later, Severus was wearing one of shirts. Its sleeves were long enough and the dark red suited him well, but he was a bit too slim for it.
Petunia sighed. "That´s better. I only wish we could do something about your long hair."
"I´m not going to cut my hair!"
"I was afraid you were going to say that. Can´t you at least bind it together?"
"No!"
-x-
Petunia´s boyfriend – it was indeed the fat boy from last summer – called at exactly 6pm. Petunia introduced him to her parents, but made no move to introduce Lily and Severus.
Mrs. Evans stepped in. "Vernon," she said, "meet our younger daughter Lily and our son Severus. They came home from boarding school only today."
Vernon shook hands with the two and Severus couldn´t help but feel pleased by being introduced as a son. Petunia destroyed the feeling by pointing out that he was only a foster-brother and not really a relative of hers. Mr. Evans brought most of the good feeling back by glaring at his daughter angrily. Though Severus had refused to call the Evans Mum and Dad, he was happy they felt they were his parents.
The conversation was boring. Mostly it was about Vernon and his career plans. There was one awkward moment when the young man asked about Lily and Severus´ school, but they managed not to mention magic.
Severus was glad when Petunia and Vernon finally took their leave for a nightly stroll, and he wasn´t the only one. Mr. and Mrs. Evans expressed their relief when Vernon had left the house without discovering what Lily and Severus were.
The boy was tired and got ready to walk over to his house. Lily asked for permission to walk with him and her father granted it. Severus held the door open for the girl and they walked down the path to the garden fence in silence. As soon as they were on the pavement, Severus took Lily´s hand in his with a content sigh.
"Finally," he whispered and Lily beamed at him.
-x-
They went to the Snape house in silence. Severus kissed Lily as soon as the door had closed behind them. "I longed to do this so much!" he whispered when he led the way to the living room sofa.
Lily sighed and sat beside him. "So did I, love." She rested her head against his shoulder. "I´m so sorry about last week."
"It´s over, let´s not talk about it."
"We have to! There are things you have to know!"
"Not today. Please!"
"OK. Not today." They kissed again.
-x-
This night Severus slept better than any time since the incident by the lake. In the back of his mind he had feared that Lily´d be repulsed by what had happened, that she´d be ashamed for him but the last evening had proved him wrong. Lily was furious at Potter and the others, but by no way was she ashamed of him; sorry and worried but not ashamed. She'd sought his company like before and she'd clearly enjoyed the closeness they had shared when kissing. Life was good after all.
The boy woke well rested to his bedroom already bathed in bright sunlight. He got up quickly and hurried to the Evans´ house for breakfast.
"Finally!" cried Mrs. Evans cheerfully and put a plate of his favourite breakfast dishes in front of him. "You didn´t stay up all night reading again, did you?"
"No, Mrs. Evans," said Severus between two forkfuls of scrambled egg. "I was quite tired and sleeping in my own bed was very relaxing."
"I need to go to the market garden. What about it? Do you want to come?" Mr. Evans joined the conversation as he entered the kitchen.
"That would be great, dad. We could get some seeds for the herb patch." Lily beamed at her father.
"I thought you´d like that."
They finished breakfast quickly and went shopping. Mr. Evans got a new hose and Lily and Severus chose some seeds from the market´s rich supply.
"What about an ice-cream?" Mr. Evans asked when they left the shop. Lily and Severus agreed. They carried their purchases to the car and went back to the shopping center where they found themselves a quiet table in an ice-cream parlour.
While they waited for their ice-creams, Mr. Evans told the story how he ruined his old hose. "So I ended up stepping on the rake, ruining the hose and I hit myself with the rakestick. I always thought things like that happened only in slapstick movies."
They laughed.
"Yesterday evening I happened to look out of the window when you left," Mr. Evans touched the heart of matters when the waiter had brought their ice-creams.
Lily took a spoonful of strawberry ice-cream.
"You certainly know, what I saw." continued.
Severus understood at once. How could he be so careless! Had he waited only two minutes longer, their secret´d been safe but, no, he had spoiled everything. After a whole year of waiting he had been too stupid to wait two more minutes. "You saw me hold Lily´s hand," he said into the awkward silence.
"I did." was very earnest. "How long have you been... holding hands?"
"Since Lily returned from France." Severus was earnest, too.
"You are aware that she´s only fifteen."
"Yes, Sir." Of course! He wasn´t but eight months older!
"You have been holding hands and ...?" Mr. Evans looked at the boy questioningly.
"Dad!" Lily finally joined the discussion.
"Lily?"
"That´s embarassing! You´re talking about me as if I wasn´t here!"
"Sorry! So you want to answer my question?"
Lily blushed.
Severus put down his spoon. He had to save the girl from this awkwardness. As Mr. Evans seemed determined not to drop the matter, it seemed better to get done with it. "Sir," he said solemnly, "we have been holding hands and sometimes kissing, but nothing more."
"Nothing more?"
"No. Nothing more. You don´t need to be worried." What did the man think of him? Part of Severus was hurt by the suggestion his foster-father´s words implied.
"There will be nothing more."
"Dad, stop this!" Lily looked hurt, too.
was not easily stopped. "You remember that conversation we had some years ago, Severus?"
"The one about where I was to stay at night? I do, Sir. I never broke the word I gave you then, and I don´t intend to." Please, please, believe me and drop the topic! How am I supposed to ever look into Lily´s eyes again after this!
"Lily, I want your word, too."
"What do you think of me? By the way, did you have this conversation with Petunia and Vernon, too?" Why wasn´t Lily in Slytherin? He hadn´t thought of changing the topic. This move was elegant and at the same time cunning. Oh, what a wonderful girl!
was taken aback. "No, but don´t change topic. There will be no more afternoons at the Snape house unless I get your word that nothing, uhm, will happen there, which your mother and I will not approve of."
Lily was furious now. "This is not fair. You´re treating us like criminals. It´s not criminal to like each other."
"It´s not. But both of you are very young and there are certain forms of ´liking each other´, which are not fit for your age. I want your word, that nothing inappropriate is going to happen."
"You have my word, dad. We´re going to behave well." Lily gave in.
Mr. Evans started eating what was left of his ice-cream.
Severus tried some of the ice-cream, but somehow it wasn´t as delicious as before.
-x-
Severus feared the moment he´d have to face Mrs. Evans. Somehow the thought of having this discussion with the gentle woman was even more awkward than having it with her husband. He sighed with relief when Mr. Evans promised not to tell her anything as long as Severus´d sleep on the living room sofa in case he stayed overnight at the Evans´ house. The boy thought it was a fair prize for avoiding that conversation with his foster-mother.
-x-
The holidays became better after that day.
Severus and Lily spent as much time as Mr. Evans would let them at their lab. They worked diligently on their potions, but also got their share of kissing.
Vernon visited the family frequently and Severus found he wasn´t so bad, once you knew him a bit better. Of course Petunia was still nasty and Vernon sided with her, but Severus thought this was OK. He´d side with Lily, too, if need be.
They were nearly discovered at the beginning of August, when their OWL results arrived. The post owls delivering them crashed right into Vernon and Petunia made matters worse with throwing a tantrum.
Vernon tried to hit the birds. The owls hooted and flapped their wings. Mrs. Evans tried to save her coffee-pot. Lily and Severus tried to catch the owls. Unfortunately the two birds insisted on giving their letters to the right student.
"You try the other owl!" cried Severus and hurried around the table. Finally he managed to get hold of the bird, which had refused to give the letter it was carrying to Lily. He removed the letter from its leg and gave it a piece of toast. Immediately the owl left through the open window. Lily caught the other bird, freed it of its delivery and sent it off with a piece of cheese.
They went upstairs to Lily´s room, leaving it to Mrs. Evans to sort out things with Vernon. As soon as the door had closed on them, they opened their letters eagerly. Severus hoped that he had passed Transfiguration.
He got his wish. He´d only got an A, but it was a pass grade and that was all he had dared hope for. He also had an A in History of Magic, but all his other subjects were Os.
Lily had one O less, but only one A and two Es instead. On an overall view, they both had reason to be happy with their results. They started making plans for their NEWT studies immediately while they waited for Mrs. Evans to tell them whether the coast was clear.
The woman came upstairs a while later and they had a celebration with hugs and ice-cream. Later, Severus felt he should have known that things weren´t going to stay that good.
-x-
"How come your worst subject is Transfiguration?" Mrs. Evans asked as she put two large bowls of chocolate ice-cream on the table. "I understand that History of Magic is boring. You told me so, but I thought you liked Transfiguration!"
Severus´ face had gone blank. How could he explain? How could he tell about his humiliation?
"The questions were very difficult, mum. Maybe we didn´t work hard enough." Lily stepped in.
"Well, maybe. You must have been exhausted after all the hard work for your other subjects. Oh, I´m so proud of both of you." Mrs. Evans beamed.
"Thanks, mum." – "Thank you, ." Severus was relieved that the woman had dropped the subject so easily.
"About those owls, dears. They caused quite some trouble. Vernon asks questions. I managed getting rid of him for the moment, but I´m afraid, he´ll resume asking when he meets you again."
"What shall we do?"
"I´d like to get you out of the house for some days, to be honest. Until the worst excitement is over."
"Where are we to go?"
"I thought you could go on a hiking trip again. If you don´t mind, that is."
Lily and Severus exchanged glances. "We´d like that. It´s the right time to pick arnica. But will dad allow it?" Severus thought rather not.
"I called him. He´ll be home early."
-x-
Severus hadn´t much hope for Mr. Evans to let him and Lily spend some days in the moors. After their conversation at the ice-cream parlour, he was sure the man´d picture him molesting his precious daughter the moment a bush was between the youths and Mr. Evans. Although the boy´d loved to spend some time alone with his girlfriend, he couldn´t resent Mr. Evans his worry. He´d be worried too if he had a stunning daughter like Lily and found out she was kissing her foster-brother. And he´d certainly not trust said foster-brother to stay away from her not matter how many promises the boy made.
came up to Severus´ expectations completely.
"I´d rather not have them in the moors unsupervised," the man said as his wife informed him of her plans. "It´s far too dangerous."
"Dad," said Lily with a brilliant smile, "it wasn´t too dangerous last time and we were younger then, remember?"
Mr. Evans glared at his daughter.
"She´s right, dear," consented Mrs. Evans. "You weren´t here. The situation was desastrous. All those feathers and shrieks. I don´t know who was louder, the birds or Petunia. Anyway, Vernon´s suspicious. We can´t have him know about Lily and Severus´ being magical. It really is the best to get the two away for some days."
"I still think it´s too dangerous," insisted Mr. Evans.
Severus felt very grateful that his foster-father stuck to that argument and didn´t tell his wife the real reason for his objections. He´d really not like the woman to find out. The conversation with her husband had been embarrassing enough to last for a lifetime.
"If you´re uncomfortable with the moors, then maybe they could stay at Severus´ house for some days." Mrs. Evans mused.
Severus smiled. There was no way Mr. Evans was going to let them stay alone in a house. In a house like ´in a building with a bedroom´.
"The moors it is," growled Mr. Evans and shot Severus a stern look.
The boy hurried to hide his smile but Mr. Evans had seen it and Severus lowered his eyes guiltily.
-x-
The preparations were short and not many. As Mr. and Mrs. Evans helped them pack and details like ´How to pitch up a tent´ weren´t discussed again, they were ready to leave within an hour. Mr. Evans drove them to the moors and he and Severus spent the journey discussing (a) where they´d go to, a discussion which Severus thought was necessary and (b) what Severus was not to do, a discussion which Severus found highly embarrassing, especially seeing that Lily was sitting beside him and blushing vigorously.
Mrs. Evans had insisted on them staying away for several days, so their luggage was quite heavy. Severus remembered that Lily had been exhausted at their last hiking trip from carrying her things and he decided not to repeat his mistake.
"We´ll find a nice place for our tent today and start collecting herbs tomorrow," Severus suggested. "This way you won´t get too exhausted."
"Are you afraid I´m going to be a pest?" Lily grinned.
"A bit."
"Which direction?" Lily looked around.
"We´ll start south. I fixed our route with your dad."
"He´s mistrusting us."
Severus agreed on that, but he was not ready to discuss it. Undoubtedly it was he and not Lily who was not really trusted. "Nonsense. He cares for us and he wants to know where to find us. That´s OK." Severus started south. He carried the tent and the food bag in addition to his private rucksack. Lily had the sleeping bags.
Severus looked out for a place to pitch the tent. On one hand he didn´t want to stay too close to the road, on the other hand he wanted to find their lair quickly – for Lily´s sake.
It was after lunch when he found a suitable place. By then he was glad they could finally settle down. Carrying nearly all the luggage to relieve his girlfriend had seemed a good idea in the beginning, but now his back said different.
-x-
After pitching up the tent they had supper (tin of soup) and after this they enjoyed the evening. When it grew dark, they lay down and observed the stars for a while. They looked for constellations like they had done when they were younger. It was less of an adventure now, because they found them too easily after five years of astronomy lessons. Nevertheless Severus thought it was a great thing to do. Lily had accepted his offer to use his shoulder as a pillow and he could smell her hair while they watched the nightly sky.
The evening wasn´t going to stay this pleasant though.
"We have to talk about what happened at Hogwarts," Lily said after having listed the moons of Jupiter.
"I don´t want to." Had she to spoil the moment with that? Severus sighed inwardly. He had been so happy moments ago and now he was reminded of the worst experience of his life – which was to say something.
"Nor do I, but it´s necessary. We might as well do it now and have it done."
"Mmh." Have it done? Was there a chance that she wouldn´t bring it up again?
"I´m sorry. I made things worse."
"It was not your fault. I was careless and they got me."
There was a short silence. "There was no need to call me Snivellus." This had been nagging at him for a while.
"That was for adding ´filthy´." Lily turned and kissed her friend. "Forgiven?"
"Weeks ago."
The girl settled back on Severus´s shoulder.
"I lost my mirror that day," the boy said. They were never going to be able to communicate at school again, at least not as carelessly as they had been doing.
"I know."
"How come? Who told you? It happened after you left."
"Black."
Severus sat bolt upright. "Ouch!" Lily rubbed her head.
"Black told you?" Severus felt the blood go cold in his veins. Black? Had he attacked Lily, too, and the girl hadn´t told him?
Lily explained how she had tried to check on Severus and Black had found out about the true nature of their relationship. The boy was beside himself. The knowledge about their relationship was a weapon in Black´s hand. A very dangerous one. "Is he blackmailing you?" Never had he feared an answer like this.
"We got a deal."
"A deal? Tell me!" A deal? What had Lily done? Who made a deal with an evil monster like Sirius Black?
"My mirror for his silence."
"Nothing more?" Severus could hardly believe that.
"Nothing more. I threatened him I´d give you to the vultures if he pushed me too far. He took the mirror. Feared to get nothing instead."
"Give ME to the vultures? What about you?"
"He pointed out before that you´d get in bigger trouble in Slytherin than I in Gryffindor." Lily hesitated for a moment. "He said life wouldn´t be easy for a mudblood-snogger in Slytherin house. He hinted you were bullied for being a halfblood."
Severus closed his eyes and tried to calm down. He´d known it. Black had destroyed the respect Lily had for him, Severus, with one sentence. How could a girl like Lily – beautiful, clever, popular, wonderful – want to be with a boy, who was at the receiving end of regular bullying? Who would love the school scape-goat?
"Severus, are you being bullied for being a halfblood?" Lily´s voice startled him from his thoughts. He refused to answer. Admitting it, saying it out loud, would make it more real. Worse. The minutes stretched in silence. "You are, aren´t you? Why didn´t you tell me?"
"How could I?" Severus was aware how bitter he sounded, but he couldn´t help it. "Life is light-hearted and easy while I´m with you. You can´t expect me to ruin this by complaining how bad it is when you´re not around. You couldn´t have done anything about it, anyway."
"Poor you!" Lily hugged her friend and silent tears wetted her cheeks.
Severus couldn´t believe it. He had done it. He had admitted what his life at Hogwarts, what his whole life was like and she still was there. She still clung to him as if her life depended upon him. He returned the hug and enjoyed the sweet smell of Lily´s hair.
Some minutes later, Severus suggested to go to sleep. He felt exhausted, both physically and emotionally, and Lily agreed.
-x-
With a sigh Severus arranged his sleeping bag beside the tent. As much as the boy´d love to share the tent with his girlfriend, to enjoy her comforting presence after the evening´s emotionally draining revelations, it was not possible. Too well he remembered his foster-father´s expression in the rear-view mirror. No, the man had made it perfectly clear that he wasn´t prepared to tolerate Severus´ presence in his daughter´s bedroom.
The boy was a bit hurt, because he wasn´t trusted to treat Lily with respect. Anyway, he was not going to jeopardize his position with the Evans family. Confessing to himself that living with the Evans was the only spark of happiness left in his live, was sad, too. No, he was not going to give Mr. Evans a reason to send him away.
"Severus, where are you?" Lily sounded worried.
"Out here!"
"What are you doing there?"
"Sleeping!"
"Outside?"
"Your dad doesn´t want me to sleep in your room. I assume he wouldn´t like me in your tent either." Severus was sure he blushed, but luckily nobody was near to see it. Not that it would be well seen in the darkness.
"You´re being ridiculous." Sweet, innocent Lily. A part of Severus thought that the girl wasn´t even aware why exactly her father was suspicious of his foster-son.
"I´m keeping my word."
"You´re going to freeze."
"Nonsense. It´s warm out here." At least warmer than at an orphanage in winter, Severus imagined.
-x-
The next few days were delightful. It was as if the embarrassing conversation of their first evening had never happened. Severus had feared to find pity in Lily´s beautiful green eyes, but there was none. There were happiness and joy and love. Severus decided he definitely liked the way his girl was looking at him when she didn´t have to hide her feelings.
They spent the days collecting herbs, chatting, hiking, kissing. Yes, life was happy when Lily was around.
"Is that a hipbush over there?" Lily craned her neck to get a better view.
"I think so," Severus agreed, "but it´s too early for hips."
"I found a recipe for a truth serum, which requires hip leaves and green hips."
"A truth serum? Whatever are you going to do with a truth serum, girl?"
"Feed it to you and find out whether you love me," Lily teased, her eyes twinkling. Severus thought that while the twinkling eyes looked kind on Dumbledore, they made Lily simply – kissable.
"You want to know? Come here and find out!" he teased back.
Lily giggled. "I´ll rather go for the hips." She started towards the bush.
"Come here, you!" growled Severus and went after her.
Lily laughed and sped up. She was almost running now and her long hair dangled with every step.
The boy persued her, not really running either. He caught her right by the bush and wrapped his left arm around her waist. With his right hand he picked a green hip and presented it to the girl. "You´d rather believe this than that?" he asked and pecked Lily on the mouth.
"Your arguments are not bad," Lily admitted.
Laughing and kissing at the same moment was possible.
-x-
They spent the next days with picking herbs and chatting and, although the topic of what had happened back at school hung over Severus´ head like sword of Damocles, he found that it were the best days of his life. He trusted Lily to not bring the topic up again if she could avoid it and he was confident she´d be able to do just that.
So their days were filled with light-hearted chatter and laughter. They made plans what to do with the herbs they collected, realistic as well as absurd. They developed phantasies about concocting brews, which gave the drinker all kinds of deseases, took off limbs and caused loss of hair. It was perfectly clear for both, whom they would like those brews to use on, but it was never said aloud.
And then there were their evenings by the tent. Evenings spent cuddling and kissing. Although Severus would – true to his word – send Lily into the tent every evening before wrapping up in his own sleeping bag beside it, he had never spent so much time with his girlfriend. The boy was quite sure that his foster-father wouldn´t like the thought of him snogging his foster-sister too much either, but wasn´t that what all teenage couples did? And they never went too far after all.
It was their fifth night in the moors, when Severus was hit by some heavy raindrops. The boy snuggled deeper into the sleeping bag. For a moment he thought about fleeing into the tent, but then it´d take more than a bit of water to make him break his word. had asked him to promise to stay out of Lily´s bed and he, Severus, was not going to break his word by means of a technicality like the fact that there was no bed in that tent.
The rain wasn´t too heavy, but cold and after a while it became too much for the sleeping bag. Severus felt the water soak his clothes. Shortly after midnight the rain became a downpour. Not that it made any difference, as the boy was soaked to the skin by then.
"Severus?" Lily must have heard the rain.
"Yes?" The boy tried to keep his teeth from chattering.
"Is this rain I hear? Come in! You´re going to catch a cold!"
"It´s only a few drops." He hadn´t suffered for hours to give up now.
"By the sound of it, it´s pouring. Come in!"
"I´m warm in my sleeping bag." Why couldn´t that girl just give up?
"You come in or I´ll come out. You don´t want me to get wet, do you?"
"Extortionist."
"What will it be? Both inside or both outside?"
"I´m coming!" Severus knew when he had lost. He crawled into the tent, dragging his soaked sleeping bag behind him. He just hoped that was going to understand.
Severus´ torture had all but ended when he agreed to spend the night in the tent. Lily made him take off his wet clothes and although the girl swore she´d never touch him while he was wet and cold, Severus was sure that ´d kill him right there and then if he caught them. Or throw him out of the house, which was just as bad.
Lily insisted on Severus to put on something warm. She refused to give him one of his shirts, but forced a ridiculous pink sweater, which had once belonged to Petunia, on him. First Severus tried to escape his fluffy, pink fate, but the girl wouldn´t give in and at last the boy put it on. He couldn´t be humiliated more than last June in front of his girlfriend, could he? And when Lily hadn´t left him after his pants being exposed to the entire school, she wasn´t likely to do so for him allowing her to dress him in a pink sweater. At least there was no bunny on it. Thanks god for small mercies.
-x-
The rain didn´t stop. It poured all night and the next day. For a few hours it was fun to sit so close and chat and giggle and occasionally perform a mock hunt in the tent, which always ended the same way – Severus being victorious, Lily giggling like mad and the boy snatching a kiss from his girlfriend. But soon it became boring. There´s only so much to do for a teenage couple in such a small space that would not send their parents on the war-path. In addition the air in the tent soon became moist due to Severus´ wet sleeping bag and clothes.
The next day made it clear that the boy had caught a cold. He sneezed, occasionally first but within hours it changed to regularly. They had neighter magical nor muggle medicine with them and so both teenagers were glad that was going to pick them up the next day.
The walk back to the meeting point wasn´t fun either. It rained and despite their attempts to keep themselves dry – they used the tent as a portable roof – they were soaked to the skin when they reached ´ car.
Severus was glad that his foster-father was already waiting for them. He was wet and cold and he felt he was developing a fever. Lily didn´t look much better and the boy was concerned he might have shared not only a few kisses but also his germs with the girl.
"Come into the car, quickly," cried and took their bags to pack them into the boot. "There are towels and dry clothes in that bag on the back seat," he explained when he sat on the driver´s seat. "And your mother made you a Thermos of hot tea."
"Thank you, Sir," Severus sneezed and started drying his hair with a towel.
"Turn round," Lily ordered. "I want to get out of my wet clothes or I´ll catch a cold, too."
Severus obeyed. Beside him Lily changed into a dry track-suit.
"You get out of those wet things, too, boy. What is that you´re wearing, by the way?" turned in the driver´s seat after his daughter had changed. He scrutinized Severus with a twinkle of amusement in his eyes.
"I had to borrow a pullover from Lily, Sir."
"Pink is not your color, you know."
"Yes, Sir." Severus sneezed again. Lily looked out of the opposite window and the boy changed into dry clothes, too.
"Have some hot tea now, both of you!" was concerned. "Severus, you seem ill, already. Will you need a doctor?"
"No, Sir, just a cold."
-x-
´Just a cold´ turned out to come with fever and chill. The Evans´ decided that Severus was too ill to sleep in his house and Lily gave up her room for him. The girl went to sleep on the sofa.
When the boy showed no sign of improvement after a night´s sleep, called a doctor.
"Take a deep breath," the doctor ordered. "Good, again please. – Cough now!" He examined the boy carefully. "I´m afraid, , we have a pneumonia here." He finally said. "Let him stay in bed, give him hot tea and this." He handed a prescription.
"Is it contagious? My daughter will want to entertain him. Can I allow this?"
"As you told me, he cought it due to cold, I see no problem. But she should not sleep in the same room."
"She won´t. Thank you, doctor."
went to get Severus´s medicine at once.
"Poor you," Lily sat on the bed. "You´ll feel better once you got your medication."
"I´m sure I will."
"Can I get you something?"
"No, thank you. I don´t need anything." At least nothing I can have with your parents next door.
-x-
"I don´t understand this. It says, the fever should go down within hours." Mrs. Evans consulted the instructions for use what must have been for the hundredth time. "You have been taking this for two days now."
Severus was still lying in Lily´s bed. He looked paler than ever and coughed and sneezed all the time.
"How did you catch that anyway. Lily´s not ill," continued.
"He slept outside, Mum," Lily explained. "In the rain. At least for a while. I told you you were being stupid," she scolded the boy.
Severus sneezed. What was he to say? He wasn´t sure he´d be up to telling the background story behind this when he was at his best, he definitely wasn´t going to while he had a fever.
"Why would he do a thing like that?"
"Dad gave a little ´Don´t crawl into my daughter´s bed´-speech on our way to the moors."
"What?"
Severus sneezed again.
"We have been, well, kissing and dad knows." Severus was sure he blushed. Obviously Lily was a lot more courageous than he was. Well, she was a Gryffindor, wasn't she?
"And he made the boy sleep in the rain?" There was concern in Mrs. Evans´ voice. Now, that was a surprise. Severus´d have wagered she was going to tear his head off.
"No, he didn´t say he had to sleep outside. Severus exaggerated in keeping his word to stay away from me."
"Poor boy. A pneumonia is a high price for that. Try to sleep a little, dear. We´ll make you some fresh tea."
-x-
A little later Lily returned with the promised pot of tea and a cup of coffee for herself.
"I wrote to Dumbledore," she informed the boy as she poured a cup of tea for him. "I really don´t see why you should suffer when a healer could restore your health within hours." She added some honey to the tea.
After helping Severus sit up, she handed him his cup.
"I hate tea with honey in it," the boy complained.
"Rubbish! It is good for you!"
"I´d rather have coffee!"
"Coffee? I´d rather think not! You are ill!"
"Oh, come on! Just one sip! When Dumbledore sends a healer, I´ll be up and about by this evening."
"Right! And then you can have a whole pot of coffee, if you want it."
"Lily!" the boy whined. "You´re torturing me!"
"Drink that tea!"
"Blah!"
"Drink it!"
Severus gave in and took a big sip. "That´s disgusting!"
"If you empty that cup, I´ll read to you and I´ll kiss you. I taste of coffee." Lily all but smirked.
Five minutes and some complaints later, Severus fell back on his pillow with a faint taste of coffee on his lips and listened to Lily reading his favorite muggle story about the Canterville ghost.