His Greatest Wish, by AndromedaMarine

A/N: I apologize for the long wait in updating. Real life is inching its way into my top priorities and I regret to say that at best, I'll be updating two or so chapters a month. But don't fear! I am NOT abandoning this story. This story is far from done. Thanks to all my faithful readers and reviewers who've stuck with me. I hope you keep on sticking with me. :)

A Promise in the Snow

Lily had her cloak, gloves, and scarf already snug on her body when Sev came down the stairs. They held hands but didn't speak as they made their way down to the Entrance Hall, foregoing breakfast when both admitted to not being hungry. It was early enough that almost no one was up, and certainly no students had yet ventured out onto the pristine white grounds. Hagrid's hut could just barely be seen from the giant front doors, smoke already spiraling through the air as it rose from the chimney. Lily gently squeezed Sev's hand before letting it go, and running forward into the snow. It took them several minutes to make deep tracks down to the tree by the lake, where Lily collapsed onto her back and gazed up at the sky, which was grey with clouds. She could see snowflakes starting on their journey to earth, floating on the wind without any purpose but to land. Sev sat carefully next to her, not trusting the snow with his weight as readily as Lily did.

"Sev?" Lily asked, her eyes closed and her cheeks bright pink from the chilly air.

"Yeah?" he replied, choosing not to look down at her for fear of losing himself.

"Which do you believe in more: love at first sight, or friendships that last a lifetime?"

Startled by the question, Sev didn't know how to respond. He remained silent for several moments, mulling it over. He certainly believed in love at first sight—it had happened to him when he first saw Lily that summer day when they were nine. But he'd also believed in lifelong friendships—once upon a time, before fifth year. "Is there one you want me to pick more than the other?" Sev settled for asking. He knew she believed in both, regardless of what she'd seen in his memories.

Lily lifted herself up to her elbows, the snow crunching down a little under her concentrated weight. "Why do you say that?"

"Only because I've experienced one outlasting the other."

Her cheeks reddened further, but she ignored it and moved to sit right beside him. She rested her head on his shoulder, feeling him shift down a little so she was more comfortable. His arm went around her waist and she smiled, her temple against the shoulder of his thick cloak. "Sev, I've known you for almost six years, and you've known me for—"

"—much longer than that," he finished softly. "Lil, what are you trying to say?"

She turned her head to look up at him. His dark hazel eyes were softer than they'd appeared in the past, reminding Lily that this man was so complex and mysterious and mentally much older than her—but she felt as though none of that mattered. "You love me." It wasn't a question—it was more of a statement, but there was a slight inflection at the end of her voice which made Sev think that Lily was unsure of herself.

"I do," Sev replied so easily it surprised him. He'd never actually admitted it to her before now, despite how loudly his actions spoke for him.

"It's strange," Lily continued, still gazing up at him, "the knowledge that you're…well, old enough to be my father…seems irrelevant. You don't look like it…you don't act like it…and you said yourself that a lot of it is fading, as if it never happened." Her gaze dropped to look out over the lake. Ice and snow made it impossible to distinguish lake from land. "I can't help but feel as though…despite the fact Voldemort's on the run, he isn't caught yet, he's still powerful. Things could happen and I—I could lose you. Who knows…how much time we'll have together?"

Sev heard the worry in her voice, worry that stabbed his heart because despite all his efforts to make England a safer place for wizards, Lily still had more compassion in her soul than anyone else he knew. "Hey," he said, his arm tightening around her to bring her closer to his side. His bottom and legs were getting numb from the snow, but the warmth from Lily was enough to keep him going for fifty lifetimes. "I promise that I will always be there for you, Lily, no matter what—you'll never have to look far for me, even if we're as far apart as the east is from the west. And I want you to know that you don't have to feel as though you need to do anything, to prove anything at all to me. You're perfect the way you are, and any wizard worth his wand would wait a lifetime if it meant being with you."

Lily didn't know what to say. She kept her eyes forward, breathing in deeply to submerge the emotions in a haze of calm. I love him… she thought to herself, not quite sure when she should say it to him. They hadn't kissed yet, and Lily didn't know when they would—despite how much she wanted to she knew deep in her mind that even though many girls her age had already received their first kisses, with Sev it was much, much different.

Sure, she'd kissed his cheek and he'd occasionally press his lips to her hair, and whenever he did that she felt little shivers go down her spine—she loved those shivers…but somehow she knew she wasn't quite ready. Especially knowing the truth about Severus Prince.

"It's so nice out here," Lily said contentedly, leaning into Sev's side. Sev got the feeling she wasn't talking about the snow-covered grounds of Hogwarts, and briefly tightened his arm around her. "Sev, do you have any ridiculously enormous plans for Christmas?"

Sev's brow furrowed. "No, not any more than usual. I expect my mum and I will exchange gifts and then I thought we'd get together like we usually do at your house."

"My house, ugh, no—Petunia and that walrus of hers have already made it clear they'll be there and I don't trust her one bit." She buried her face in his cloak. "Can we just stay at your house this year? Your mum wouldn't mind, would she? I mean, she's always been nice to me and she seems to like that you and I are best friends—oh! Have you told her yet…you know…about us?" she said all this very quickly and Sev had to concentrate to follow her.

"Lil, I don't think Mum'll mind. And no, I haven't told her yet, I suspect it would go over better if I didn't rattle it off in a letter. You can imagine her reaction: 'Dear Mum, how are you? Lessons are going swimmingly! Oh, by the way, Lily and I are dating now, love you, bye!'" He said it in such an amusing sarcastic voice that Lily burst out laughing into his cloak. "Now really, love, how would your mum and dad react if you told them like that?"

Lily's heart immediately sped up when she heard his endearing word. She swallowed. "I admit my dad wouldn't be too pleased." She smiled up at him. "But he loves you anyway so I don't think they'll have any problems." Their noses were only inches apart, and suddenly Lily felt as though if she broke their gaze she would drown.

Sev wanted nothing more than to kiss her, and she looked as though she wanted the same. But something stopped him, perhaps the knowledge that they were in a different sort of relationship. He smiled at her and leaned down, kissing her forehead instead.

Lily was just about to say something when the high-pitched laughs of Tess Worthington, Mary Macdonald, and Laura Kingsley echoed down across the snow to them. "Bollocks," Lily cursed, her head turning back to Sev after she looked up the hill.

"Excuse me? Since when have you used that word?"

"Oh, since those three have been giving me a load of doxy venom over the whole Potter fiasco. You'd think Mary would be ecstatic that her precious Potter is still 'on the market,' but apparently the idea that I turned down someone who likes me doesn't sit right with them."

"Poppycock," Sev said instantly.

"My thoughts exactly. I mean, you're a Gryffindor. You've never given any of them reason to not like you—"

"I bet Potter has."

The three girls reached them.

Instantly Sev noticed that Laura Kingsley was looking at him with a distinctly different expression on her face than Mary and Tess—it made Sev feel a little uncomfortable and almost unconsciously he created more contact between himself and Lily on the snow.

"What are you two doing out here all alone?" Mary asked in such a way that Lily wanted to smack her.

"None of your business," Lily retorted. She got along only mildly with Mary on her good days, but rarely talked to Laura and Tess. Alice was her closest girlfriend. "What I'm doing out here with Sev is none of your concern."

"I'm only worried about you," Mary said with a false cheer to her voice. She looked around at Tess for support; the girl immediately nodded. Laura was ignored. "After all, James believes something fishy is going on."

The mention of Potter made Sev bridle. Lily felt him tense next to her and she suddenly had a very strong urge to stand. She did so and pulled Sev up next to her. "Mary, you can take your idea, and shove it where it can never be seen again. Do I make myself clear?" Lily's voice was low and dangerous.

"Why you—" Mary turned bright red but didn't finish her sentence, because Laura tugged at the sleeve of her robes. She tilted her head in the direction of the castle and Sev looked up only to see the distinct black hair of James Potter contrasting with the pure white snow in the background. Amos Diggory was several steps behind, and Gideon Prewett was next to James. Fabian Prewett and Cordon Diggory were nowhere to be seen.

I don't have the time or patience for this, Sev thought to himself. In less than a second he'd wrapped his arm around Lily's waist and set them off in the direction of Hagrid's hut, where he knew James Potter wouldn't follow him. The former Chaser had run-ins with Hagrid trying to sneak past the hut into the Forbidden Forest, and Sev could only wonder why Potter didn't use his invisibility cloak like he'd done in first year with Sirius. He filed it in the back of his mind to ask Sirius about that later.

They made it to Hagrid's hut before Potter and his friends made it to the three girls, Laura staring after Sev and Lily with a strange look of longing in her face.

Lily had noticed this. "Say, Sev," she mentioned quietly as he knocked on the huge wooden door, "why do you suppose Laura's looking at you like that? It's almost as though she…wants…something."

Sev shook his head. "I haven't a clue," he said uneasily, relieved when Hagrid opened the door and enthusiastically ushered the two fourth-years inside.

"What're yeh two doin' out here so early?" Hagrid asked, although there was no doubt he was happy to see them. "C'mon in, I've got a kettle on if yeh want some tea."

"That would be lovely, thank you," Lily answered with a smile, tugging Sev along with her to Hagrid's enormous table.

As Hagrid bustled around the fireplace with the whistling kettle, Sev peered up and out one of the windows facing the lake. He could see Potter's black head heading back towards the castle, everyone but Laura Kingsley following for a warm breakfast in the Great Hall. Laura remained standing immobile next to the oak tree, her back facing the grounds. Sev felt rather uneasy about his fellow Gryffindor's strange behavior, and pushed it to the back of his mind so he wouldn't start worrying Lily again.

Hagrid set two enormous mugs in front of Lily and Sev and eased himself down into the gigantic chair across from them. "How've you two bin?" Hagrid asked with a jolly cheer in his eyes. His hut smelled like Christmas.

Soon the two Gryffindors lost track of time and it was well past lunchtime when Hagrid insisted on escorting them back up to the castle. By that time, Laura had disappeared back into the castle. Final exams would start on Monday, but both Sev and Lily felt comfortable enough to leave another day of studying for Sunday.


The Circle of Seven plus Regulus all enjoyed a quiet and uneventful trip home for the Christmas holidays the next Saturday. With fall term exams over, they could all relax and enjoy their well-earned freedom—at least whenever Alice and Lily weren't reminding them all that they were 'only' a year away from the O.W.L.s. Regulus seemed to find great amusement in telling everyone five times over that he had two years compared to their one, but all he received were two angry glares from Alice and Lily.

Sev remembered to ask Sirius about Potter's disuse of the invisibility cloak, only to be answered as such: "Oh, that old thing? Potter's old man confiscated it from him after he got a Troll on a Defense exam in October. Mr. Potter himself Flooed to the school to collect it before the first Hogsmeade weekend." This news pleased Sev immensely.

During the next two and a half weeks the only thing Lily didn't do was sleep over at Sev's house. Other than that she practically lived there, appearing for meals and proceeding to dominate Sev's time. Eileen didn't mind, but the Evans's had a few complaints that she wasn't home for dinner most of the time. The explanation that she couldn't bear to live with Petunia didn't fly with her parents anymore, especially when Mark and Rose reminded her that she was only a month away from turning fifteen and she should learn to grow up and handle such things as annoying, vindictive, petulant sisters. This only prompted Lily to spend more time at the Prince home.

"I can't wait till I'm of age," Lily grumbled one afternoon after Christmas Day. Sev looked up from the book of Ancient Runes he was given by Dumbledore their first year and let it fall onto his lap.

"Why do you say that?"

"Then I could get my own flat and not have to worry about avoiding Petunia every minute I'm home."

Sev decided not to mention that she could always live with him at the Prince Manor, as he would be of age before her and intended on asking for her hand in marriage before the end of their seventh year at Hogwarts. Instead, he said, "It's more than that, isn't it? You could Apparate and cast spells and not have to worry about being in trouble with the Ministry."

Lily threw a pillow at him. "You're not helping me develop my patience, Sev."

"I didn't know you had any to begin with," he jested with a smirk. She threw another pillow at him.

"How's Remus been doing with the Wolfsbane?" she asked, abruptly changing the subject.

Sev sighed. "Much better than he would be with the old formula. I can have a conversation with him in absolutes by asking yes or no questions, but that gets tiresome after a while and all he really needs is the company." Sev had spent almost every full moon with Remus in the security of the Room of Requirement, but for December's full moon that coming Saturday Remus would have only his parents to help tide him through the painful weekend.

Lily got up from her chair and squeezed herself next to him on his. "Do you think they'll ever find a cure for it? Do you think you could?"

"Lycanthropy is tricky. It's not any sort of disease, Lily. It's a curse. An apparently incurable curse. Wizards and Warlocks and Potions Masters have been trying for centuries to solve it…but it's like those unsolvable Muggle math equations and whatnot. You could have the smartest minds working on it for millennia and never get any nearer to an answer."

"That sounds dreadful. I feel so sorry for Remus, you know. He has to go through that awful transformation every month for the rest of his life."

"He knows that, Lil," Sev answered softly.

"Do you…do you think he'll find someone?"

Sev didn't answer for a few moments. "You mean like a girlfriend?"

Lily nodded. She couldn't hide how much she worried about this, since Remus was her friend she wanted him to be happy.

"I think someday he'll find someone who loves him despite the fact he's a werewolf." This made Sev wonder if the romance between Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks was fated in this life. "But promise me, Lily, don't try to play a matchmaker. He'll do fine on his own, trust me."


The continued silence about Voldemort's whereabouts worried Sev. He knew that the dark wizard was up to something, but no word in the papers and more importantly, no word from Dumbledore, made Sev think something bad would happen soon.

The Hogwarts Express left King's Cross station on January 1, 1975, carrying everyone back to their pseudo-home until term ended in June, and for some reason, Sev found himself looking forward to Valentine's Day.