M.O.L.

Chapter 22

Resist

'She's insane,' Severus thought instantly. 'In this reality, Lily has gone stark raving mad from having to live with Potter. There is no way that toy version of James is mine, in any universe.' He looked at the creature that was inhabiting Lily's form. Her odd behavior earlier made sense to him now. That led Snape to wonder if his self from this world was just as bonkers, or if he took advantage of her uninhibited manner, and didn't really love her.

Despite all of these factors, Sev couldn't bring himself to be snarky with her. "Don't worry. One day," Sev lied deftly. "We'll tell him the truth."

This made Lily glow and she lunged across the food tray to throw her arms around Severus' scrawny neck, nearly choking him with her enthusiasm. In-between her crying on him and kissing him, he heard her saying, "Yes, one day. When Tom Riddle comes here and teaches those witches and wizards a thing or two."

"You stupid woman," a voice spoke from the doorway. Without seeing the speaker, Snape knew who it was. Sirius Black asked, "Want to get both of you killed?"

Letting go of Severus, Lily turned to Sirius. Acting all coy, her hand grasped Black's shoulder. It traveled all the way down his arm to his hand which she pressed to her cheek. "You know that's the last thing I want."

In shock, Sev was wondering if this Lily was the castle slut.

Sirius shook his hand out of Lily's, then scolded, "Then don't go mentioning you know who. To anyone, anytime."

"Yes Lord Black," Lily said before curtsying. "I better get Prince Harry's lunch to him." She scurried towards the house elves and the food.

When she was out of earshot, Sirius turned toward Severus. "That was too close." In a voice calmer than Snape expected he asked, "You didn't tell her anything? Did you?"

"Uh, no," Sev sputtered. He wondered what Black thought he'd told Lily.

"That's good." Sirius' hand rested kindly on Severus' shoulder, but Snape instinctively cringed. "You all right Sev?" Then it looked as if Black remembered something. "How stupid of me. I had heard you had the Crusio-stick earlier. Must still hurt."

To cover his contempt, Snape nodded. It hadn't physically hurt, it was just weird. A kind Sirius Black; to Sev it was as crazy as a brazen Lily.

"You know," Sirius went on. "I almost forgot why I came here." There was a pause before he asked, "Where is the elf wrangler?"

Snape shrugged his shoulders.

"You didn't see Miss. Granger?"

"Not since this morning." Remembering Longbottom's advice to act dumb, Sev stopped himself. He changed his tone to one with less confidence. "Maybe an elf knows."

Black nodded. With a wink and a pointed finger he advised, "Keep your nose clean, eh, Sev."

A violent growl wrapped Snape's gut as Black walked away from him, towards the busy house elves. The idea of Sirius Black being that familiar to him was making him nauseous. Between that and the mental exhaustion that nagged at him, Severus didn't know what to do with himself. Part of him wanted to curl up on the hearth and sleep for hours. He was about to give into that feeling when someone new burst into the kitchens.

"Where is that little tart!" It was this worlds version of Bellatrix that cackled. She looked around the room for the object of her disfavor.

"She's not here," Sirius informed.

"Wha'd you do dear cousin, warn her?"

For a moment Sev thought it might be Lily that Bella was looking for.

Sirius' reply was, "Why would I do that?"

"Why indeed." Bellatrix slinked closer to her cousin. "You remind her, when you find her, clothes or not, a mud blood doesn't refuse a summons from my son." She swept from the room with a looking as foul as she ever did.

There was a strange light of sympathy in Sirius' eyes as he stood there. It almost made Severus feel sorry for him. "Tell me Hermione hasn't run away?" Black asked.

All Snape could do was shrug. He had no idea if the girl had run off, though he knew why she would want to.

Sirius' warning sounded more like a musing. "It will be worse if she has, and they catch her."

There was still nothing Severus could say. He knew nothing about what was going on in this place, other than is was horrid to be there. Again the two men shared forlorn looks. Sirius' was concern for a young girl. Severus' was complete confusion.

When Black finally left Snape could hear sobbing coming from a ground level cupboard. Tentatively he opened it up to find Hermione curled up inside. He stared at her for a moment before asking, "What are you doing down there?"

A loud sniff came from the young woman before she answered. "Hiding. What else can I do?"

At a loss, Severus was not used to not having an answer, not even a snarky one. He guessed that the 'summons' from Prince Harry wasn't a request for lunch or anything else one in charge of house elves could provide. If the son was like the father, it seemed that he wanted to ply his affections on a girl that didn't want them.

Anger swelled in Snape's mind as he thought about everything that had happened to him in the last few hours. In his most menacing voice he said, "Resist."

Hermione looked as if she didn't know what the word meant.

"Fight," Severus snarled.

"Fight?" Hermione looked puzzled. "That will only get one dead."

"There are some things worth dying for."

The fearful look on Granger's face only became deeper. Snape did not take his eyes away from that look. He could see in the girl's mind that these words coming from who she thought he was, was unbelievable. He got the impression that in this world, he actually was a coward . . . Or did a very good impression of one.

Back in the world our Snape came from, the one from the nightmare reality was in Dumbledore's office cowering in a corner muttering, "Albus is a wizard. Albus is a wizard."

tbc