A/N: I do not own any of the pensieve scenarios presented in this chapter that are taken from the books. I only own Dinah's reaction to them. Severus and all characters besides Dinah belong to JKR.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Evil

Dinah was now in the dungeons where the old Potions classes had been held, and where Severus now conducted his Defense Against the Dark Arts lectures. It was the same room where she had had her own incident, years ago. The memory made her shudder, but she had to focus on Severus right now.

It appeared to be a joint Gryffindor-Slytherin class, because Severus was there along with Lily and all four of the obnoxious boys. They looked to be around third year students now.

"Congratulations, Severus!" Slughorn was saying, one arm slung around Severus's shoulders as the two of them stood at the front of the room. "No one has yet prepared a more perfect concoction on their first try than you have to this date." Severus was giving Slughorn more of an agitated look than anything else, but he smiled and his pale face flushed when Lily began clapping loudest of the group. The boys, James and Sirius at the lead, were instead making mocking expressions. Slughorn handed Severus a small vial of something as a prize, and turned the class loose for the day.

Lily ran up to him; "Sev! That was so great! You're the best potions-maker ever, aren't you?"

Dinah smiled as Severus flushed. 'Sev' was a very cute nickname, and felt somehow appropriate for the younger, more energetic and personable Severus she was seeing in these scenes.

"Sev," James Potter mimicked, and Sirius and the pudgy one, Peter, snickered. Remus Lupin, the fourth boy, seemed less interested. "You're the best ever."

"Shut up, Potter!" Lily and Severus retorted at the same time, and then giggled together for a moment.

"Shut up yourself, Snivellus!" James yelled back.

"Stop calling him that!" Dinah shouted, but nobody could hear her. The scene dissolved into greens and blues again, and she was standing on the Hogwarts grounds. Severus was older still, probably a fifth or sixth year. He was still pale and slender, looking a bit young for his age group, but not excessively so like Tommy might have been. He looked stressed and Lily looked frustrated. She was complaining about things that he had done along with some friends named Avery and Mulciber. Dinah frowned and walked closer. Was this Severus's turning point toward becoming a Death Eater?

Severus wasn't listening much to the things Lily was saying. Rather, he seemed more interested in pointing out all of James's many faults. Although, apparently James had done something to 'save' him in the past. Dinah wondered what that could be. But Severus seemed to think that it hadn't been such a noble thing after all. In fact, he seemed to truly despise James. It was all about James, Dinah noticed, not Sirius as she might have expected from what she already knew. Soon she knew why.

"He fancies you!" Severus blurted out, his face bright red.

Dinah felt a heavy weight fall in her chest. The look on Severus's face at that moment was so intense. As he blathered on nearly incoherently about James, she was reminded of Speasy a few days previously, reacting to Wortham's accusations about Mae. But it was more than that. She'd never seen Severus quite like this before, and it was finally clear to her. Severus's feelings for Lily were much stronger than that of a crush, much stronger than 'best friends'.

He was in love with her.

Even at this young age Lily was gorgeous. Her shining red hair and bright green eyes were resigned as she sighed and met Severus's gaze. Once she admitted to him that she disliked James's attitude as well, he went back to being happy. So happy that he ignored her next words and her worried expression, as she voiced her concern that what Severus, Avery, and Mulciber did was evil.

Dinah's heart sank at the words. But maybe with Lily on his side, he wouldn't go too far.

She recalled, though, that that hadn't happened in the least just as the scene switched again.

Severus and the four boys were sitting nearby each other while taking their O.W.L.s. The boys were snickering at each other as they watched Severus scribble furiously, his face right up against his parchment. Dinah had to smile, though. He was as dedicated as always.

The O.W.L. session was dismissed, and she followed behind Severus as he walked out onto the Hogwarts grounds. He headed in the direction of the lake before plopping down under a large oak tree, reading. She watched him for awhile. He was making notes in one of his Potions books. The book was, in fact, filled with notes about how to change instructions, apparently for a better end result. He really was a genius in the matter, it seemed. But his expression was what intrigued her the most. He didn't seem evil or anything of the sort at this moment, just dedicated. Just doing something that he truly enjoyed.

The pleasant silence was broken by a shout of, "Hey, Snivellus!"

Severus clapped the book shut and his face took on a panicked expression similar to the one on Dinah's own face as they both turned to where the four Gryffindor boys were marching toward them, a sinister mischief in at least James and Sirius's eyes. Severus stood and was about to scramble away, but didn't make it in time. A beam from James's wand knocked everything he was holding out of his hands.

Dinah glared at the boys, especially at Sirius's smug expression. She knew this man. She had thought she liked him. Now, she wasn't so sure anymore. This behavior was uncalled for. Severus hadn't been doing anything to them; in fact he had tried to run away. He had been minding his own business and they were mocking him for nothing more than their own morbid amusement.

She couldn't look at all at what they did next. Severus was upside down in the air and they were gloating that they could see his underwear. To Severus's credit, he was strong under pressure. He didn't show any weakness. But that didn't stop the other boys.

What stopped them was Lily.

She showed up on the scene, demanding that they put him down and really digging into James and his group for their atrocious behavior. Odd that the two of them were supposed to get married in the future, in Dinah's opinion. Lily certainly seemed to dislike him. And honestly, Dinah couldn't figure out what a nice girl like her could possibly see in a cocky, self-important git like James.

But Severus wasn't grateful.

He called his best friend a Mudblood.

Dinah winced. Perhaps it had been inevitable, but she hated to hear that word coming from Severus's mouth. It had been said without thinking and in a moment of distress, but he couldn't take it back now. And she could see in his stricken face that he knew it, too.

Lily's expression was for one moment surprise and then quickly turned to disgust. She turned away from him and ordered James to do whatever he wanted, before storming off in a huff.

The scene switched.

Severus was sitting in front of the portrait leading into the Gryffindor common room, his ear stuck to the wall, listening. Waiting. He looked more anxious and upset than Dinah had ever seen him. She bit her lip and knelt next to him, waiting to see what would happen.

The portrait opened and Lily came out, her face as angry and disgusted as it had been in the last scene. Perhaps even more so.

"I'm sorry!" Severus blurted, looking more distressed by the minute.

Lily would hear nothing of it.

"I'm sorry!" he said again, begging. Pleading. Desperate. Dinah wanted to hug him, but it would be a useless gesture.

But Lily's response was the opposite. She chided him for his behaviors, said nobody even understood why she still spent any time with him, and accused him of wanting to become a Death Eater along with his Slytherin friends. But when she made the accusation, Severus had no retort. No response.

It was clear then, to Lily and Dinah. He did intend to become a Death Eater. And he apparently didn't understand what was wrong with that, either. But surely there was a way to get through to him.

Lily shook her head. "You've chosen your path and I've chosen mine."

"Wait, what?" Dinah exclaimed, before remembering that Lily couldn't hear her. The red-haired girl went back into her room, leaving the broken, miserable looking Severus alone outside.

This was too much. He'd chosen his path? He was no older than sixteen! There was still time to help him. Lily couldn't give up on him now, she was all he had! If she left him alone, then it was guaranteed that he would become a Death Eater. Couldn't she see that? To throw a long-term friendship away at a mistake he made in the heat of the moment... even if it was a horrible one.

Dinah could no longer resist hugging him, but her arms went right through his shoulders, instead wrapping around herself as she leaned forward and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them she was one with Severus. Their bodies and heads were blended together in the same position, clutching themselves, staring at the ground, thinking.

She wondered if she would have responded like Lily. If she would have been like that at the age of sixteen. So certain that you were now an adult, that the decisions you made now would be the ones you stuck with for the rest of your life. Unaware of how young you truly were, and of how much things could change. Would she have abandoned him too?

That was the problem with Gryffindors. Sometimes they just tried to be too noble. Right now Dinah felt like a Hufflepuff.

Loyal.

Since she hadn't been in Lily's place on that day, she would never know for sure how she would have reacted. But she knew that Lily had ultimately chosen James. Lily's feelings for Severus hadn't been romantic in any way. Maybe they could have been at some point, but they weren't now. Dinah, on the other hand... the feelings that ran through her when she looked at Severus. She couldn't – wouldn't ever abandon him. Not now. And almost certainly not then either, had she been given the choice.

But this young Severus was alone now. He had lost his best friend and all he had left were the Death Eaters.

His fate was sealed.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, and the scene changed.

Severus was standing in a dark, stone room, empty of even the smallest piece of furniture. And he was older – much older, in fact. He had to be twenty years old or nearly so and was starting to take on more of the features he had now. He was a rather handsome young man, in Dinah's probably biased opinion. Yeah, she was probably the only person who thought so.

But she didn't care.

Still, what was this room?

A huge door creaked, and a cloaked figure stepped in. The figure removed his hood, and Dinah shrunk back. The man was tall, with a smooth, hairless head. His face was thin and pale, his lips red and his nostrils flattened and minimized to nothing but two sharp slits in his vacant, sinister face. The eyes were black, cold, and heartless.

Voldemort.

"What is it you have to tell me, Severus?" The evil man's voice was low and smooth, potential danger rumbling beneath every word.

"My Lord," Severus bowed. His own eyes were darker and blanker than Dinah had seen them before, but there was still more light in them than in Voldemort's. "I have overheard a prophecy." And he recited what he had heard. A prophecy that could be referring to none other than Harry Potter.

The other man's dark eyes flashed, and Dinah found herself hiding behind Severus, looking at Voldemort over his shoulder. That was what she had been supposed to defeat, potentially, according to her own prophecy? "Thank you, Harry Potter," she whispered.

"Ah, Severus," Voldemort hissed, clenching one hand – very slowly – into a fist, holding barely visible anger and fear at the prophecy under the surface of his spoken words; "What useful information you have delivered. Now, what does this mean? 'Neither can live while the other survives', indeed. Then I must be the one to destroy. I believe I know the identity of this family."

Severus bowed his head, "It is my pleasure to serve you, My Lord."

"Don't tell him that!" Dinah exclaimed, and then smacked herself on the head. She was pretty bad at getting used to this pensieve thing, wasn't she?

"Yes," Voldemort was saying; "The evidence is clear. We shall eliminate the boy and his parents before any harm can be done." Dinah had the sudden thought that Voldemort was acting pretty cavalier about the fact that this prophecy threatened to defeat him. Did he really have such confidence that he could not be defeated?

"I will be happy to do the honors," Severus's mouth twitched with excitement, and Dinah made a little noise of distress. Handsome, maybe, but couldn't stand to see the Death Eater Severus. This wasn't who he really was.

"No!" Voldemort shouted, and Severus stepped back, subdued. "I must be the one to destroy my mortal enemy. That boy and his family. That... Harry Potter!"

Dinah jumped, as Severus had just taken a step back into her – well, through her actually, but she had expected to be knocked over. Having a hard time with this pensieve thing, she was indeed.

She walked around and the instant she saw Severus's face thought she might burst. He had turned whiter than a sheet, his eyes wide and desperate. It was worse to look at than when he was a child, because now he looked more like the Severus she knew. "No," he whispered, "The Potters? Not-"

"You question my orders?" The danger in Voldemort's voice was now loud and clear.

"Please!" That didn't stop Severus from begging, his voice cracking with desperation. "The boy – the father – that's fine, but please – not Lily – not the mother – spare her, if you would just spare her and her alone I would-"

"HOW DARE YOU!" Voldemort screamed, and both Severus and Dinah flinched.

Dinah, for a moment, managed to feel some of Lily's disgust from earlier. So this Death Eater Severus would just have James and Harry killed, then? And then he actually expected Lily to come back to him? Where did he come up with these oblivious views? Was it his family life, the friends he had chosen at Hogwarts? Probably a combination of all of it had led him down this path. Dinah let out a long breath and forced herself to remember how different he was now, and how he had been okay as a child. He would get better... somehow.

"You ask me to change my plans because of your lust after a woman? Your priorities concern me, Severus..." Voldemort took a threatening step forward.

"It's not that!" Severus face was like that of the desperate child she had seen in previous pensieve scenes. "Lily is – she's-"

"Enough! Crucio!"

"NO!" Dinah shouted, and tried to push Severus away from the horrible beam that shot out from Voldemort's wand, but she ran through him and to the other side. So she covered her face and didn't look behind her. Couldn't look behind her. She heard Severus make a few, strained noises, but he didn't scream. He was strong. He had always been strong.

When Voldemort spoke again, Dinah assumed it was over and safe to look. Severus was half-kneeling, half-standing, wiping blood from his mouth and nose, but the desperate look hadn't left his eyes.

When Voldemort had given the final word that the plan would proceed as expected and as soon as possible, he left the room. Severus looked around, panicked, and finally apparated away.

Dinah followed with him, floating through the swirling gray pensieve liquids to a spot on an unknown hill. Severus had gone to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore talked to Severus with a trace of impatience, and expressed his own disgust at Severus's wish to have only Lily spared. Still, Dumbledore promised he would try to protect the family. Severus, for a tiny moment, looked relieved.

Dinah was on the hill again, but the scene had changed. The Severus she saw now looked strikingly like his mother as he collapsed on the ground in front of Dumbledore, despairing and broken.

Lily had been murdered.

Dinah felt tears stinging her eyes again when she saw Severus in so much pain. He looked more like the Severus she knew now, not the Death Eater version that had been so hard to see. But he had lost everything. For real this time. And yet, Dumbledore was there.

Dumbledore, that all-knowing sage who was there for you when no one else in the world was. There was always Dumbledore.

The pact was made. For Lily's sake – not Harry's or James's, as Severus had to make blatantly clear – but for Lily's sake he would go with Dumbledore and try to protect her son. Even if it meant being a double agent and putting his life in danger in the future.

If Voldemort ever came back.

Dinah was in Dumbledore's office listening to a Severus who looked much more familiar ranting and raving about how horrible Harry Potter was. Just like his father, apparently. Arrogant, selfish, thinking he was above it all because of the prophecy. The words hit Dinah hard. People had said some of the same things about her, and they had been totally unfounded.

As usual, nothing perturbed Dumbledore. Severus was only seeing what he expected to see. Harry was a good child. And then something about Professor Quirrell, whoever that was...

Next Severus was squaring off in some sort of practice battle with a rather obnoxious-looking man dressed in much too bright colors. Dinah had to laugh as the battle unfolded. She recognized the man as Gilderoy Lockheart after awhile, someone she had read about on occasion but never really been interested in. She hadn't really understood all the hype surrounding him. Besides, Severus was much more attractive.

And much more intelligent and skillful, apparently. He quickly put the other man out of commission before sending in Draco Malfoy to battle Harry Potter. Everything was going well, until Draco released a snake via the Serpensortia spell... and Harry started talking to it.

Dinah had to force herself not to look away. The scene unfolded in the same way as her own. Harry was telling the snake to leave a boy alone, but everyone else assumed he was encouraging it to hurt the boy. What actually bothered her the most, though, was the expression on Severus's face. It wasn't especially readable, but he was definitely not thrilled with it. More like shocked, the way he was staring in disbelief as everything occurred. How would he react if he ever found out that she was a parselmouth?

Now Severus was in Dumbledore's office again, but he looked even more like he did now. Years had begun to pass by fast in the pensieve, apparently.

The Dark Mark was starting to burn, on both Severus and Igor Karkaroff's forearms. Voldemort would be revived soon, and then, Dinah feared, life would get much more difficult for Severus.

The next scene revealed the beginning of those difficulties. The old Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, was vehemently insisting to Dumbledore that Lord Voldemort had not returned, no matter what Harry Potter said. Severus was standing and watching the exchange, looking more and more agitated – and in pain - by the minute as he clutched his left arm. Finally he stormed forward and pulled back his sleeve, shoving his arm in Fudge's face and demanding that he look at it. The dark mark was active and alive on his pale skin.

Dinah flushed at the expression on his face, and almost laughed at the fear on Fudge's. Severus was starting to seem like the most courageous man she had ever known.