The Promise Ring - by The White Lily

Chapter 38: Lily's Torment

Snape walked over to the cauldron in the centre of the room and peered into it. "Is it supposed to be that colour?"

"Get away from it!" cried Lily teasingly. "You know that you and Potions don't mix!"

"Oh, all right," he grumbled good-naturedly. He paused briefly. "Well? Is it supposed to be that colour?"

"Of course it is, you idiot! Have I ever brewed a potion wrong?"

"Well… there was that one time in second year with the Swelling Solution…"

"You know that wasn't my fault!" she protested then continued darkly. "It was all Potter's fault. How am I supposed to concoct a Swelling Solution when there's a firework in my cauldron? How he got to be a Prefect, I'll never know, with all the mayhem he's caused over the years! Ooh!" The cauldron had just begun glowing with a pale light. "That means that it's time to add the hair and then we're done!"

She carefully extracted a long red hair and a long black hair from a vial and slowly lowered them into the potion.

There was a noise like a thunderclap and suddenly the potion was glowing too brightly for them to look directly at it. The glow slowly faded to nothing and the couple inched forward to peer into the bottom of the cauldron. "YES!" Lily cried, then grabbed Snape and began to exuberantly dance around the room. "It worked!"

Snape looked entirely different with a huge smile lighting up his face, unashamedly twirling Lily. They broke apart again and reached into the cauldron, each emerging with a silver ring.

"I will love you forever, Lily Evans," vowed Snape sincerely.

"I will love you forever, Severus Snape," vowed Lily in return.

They slipped the rings onto one another's fingers and then leaned forward to seal their vows with a kiss.

Harry turned away, not really wanting to see his mother kissing Snape of all people. At that moment, however, the room flickered with a strange silver and green light and Harry fell into the next scene.

Snape was standing on the road from Hogsmeade to the Shrieking Shack, peering intently behind him. A large patch of mud was dribbling down the side of his face into his hair and onto his shoulder. "I know you're there, Potter!" he called. "You're in trouble now! I know that you're banned from Hogsmeade from that last prank you played on me."

The road was silent. "Rules are for lesser mortals, aren't they, Potter, not Quidditch Cup winners, like yourself? Even though you're a Prefect, you can't help yourself from breaking every rule in sight, can you? Professor Dumbledore will have your Prefect badge for this!"

"Not if you can't prove anything," came a disembodied voice from halfway down the road. "Later, Snape!"

"Ah, but I can prove it," sneered Snape. "I can prove it because I've finally worked out how it is that you get away with all these pranks. Accio Invisiblility Cloak!"

"Snape!" grumbled the sixth year version of Harry's father as the silvery cloak flew off he and his three friends. Remus calmly attempted to Summon the cloak back, but Snape held on to it too tightly. Sirius was growling with outrage, while Peter simply looked terrified. "It was just a bit of fun! Give it back. I saved your life, remember?"

"Of course, Potter," scoffed Snape, stuffing the silvery Invisibility Cloak into his bag. "And whose fault was it that my life was endangered in the first place? You were saving your own skin. You all would have ended up in Azkaban if I'd died."

Remus' face blanched, while Sirius went a dark purple colour and stumbled forward, muttering angrily, but James held him back. "Don't do anything stupid, Sirius," the taller boy soothed. "You have to admit, he's right. What you did was completely irrational, not to mention decidedly Slytherin."

"Don't insult my house like that," Snape snarled. "Such a thoughtless moron would never have made it into Slytherin. Now, if you don't mind," he smiled rather nastily and patted the soft lump on his bag where the Invisibility Cloak lay, "I'll just take this up to the castle and show it to Professor Dumbledore."

"Go on, James," urged Peter in a whisper pitched too low for Snape's ears. "That Memory Charm we found in the library! It's the only way. You'll need to do it, I'm hopeless at Charms."

Harry's father reluctantly lifted his wand, aiming it at Snape's retreating back. "Oculivate." Snape must have heard or felt the charm coming because he whirled and tried to raise a hasty shield, but the white light easily broke through the flickering shield and hit him full in the face.

Snape stood stock still, staring straight ahead without moving.

"It's meant to be Obliviate!" gasped Remus in horror. "Merlin knows what you've done, James! Snape? Are you all right?" He made to go towards Snape, but Sirius grabbed his arm.

"No," he said. "We've got to get out of here. Grab the cloak and let's go."

"I agree with Remus," said James stubbornly. "We need to get him to Madam Pomfrey! I'll take all the blame, if you like. The rest of you can get the cloak and go."

Snape fell to the ground hard as Sirius roughly yanked his bag from him and pulled out the Invisibility Cloak.

Harry's father reached down to try to help him to his feet, but jumped back as Snape batted his hands away. "Go away!" Snape cried desperately. "Don't touch me!" James tried again, but Snape was adamant, nearly punching him in the nose with one particularly vicious blow.

"Okay," said Harry's father resignedly, chasing after his quickly retreating friends and disappearing under the Invisibility Cloak. "He needs help, but he won't accept it. We'll just have to leave him."

"Did you see his face?" giggled the invisible Peter in the distance. "What a joke! If anyone deserved whatever that curse was, he did."

The sound of four voices laughing rather nervously drifted back towards Harry as Snape brought the small silver serpent ring on his finger to his mouth and whispered, "Lily, I need you."

There was a pause, then… "Whoa!" cried Lily as she suddenly appeared right next to Snape and collapsed in a heap on the ground. "Are you all right, Severus?" she panted. "I felt you calling me and I was just thinking about how to get to you and it Portkeyed me…" Lily trailed off, noticing Snape's silence. "Sev? What's the matter?"

Snape, who had been staring at the ground, raised his eyes to look unsteadily up at a spot slightly above her face. "Potter cursed me," he said, an edge of desperation in his voice that Harry had never heard before. "I was too slow to stop it and now I'm – I'm blind. You're so beautiful, Lily, I might never see your face again. I can't be a wizard if I'm blind! I can't see: I can't aim my wand; I don't know where I am; I can't brew a potion; oh, Merlin, I can't even read a book..."

"Severus!" she said firmly, grabbing his chin and forcing it up towards her face. "It will be all right. Let's get you to Madam Pomfrey. Chances are, she can fix this in a jiffy. And whether this can be fixed or not, I'll still love you, Sev. We'll get them expelled for this," she assured him vehemently as she pulled him to his feet and started helping him along the winding road back to the castle. "They can't go around blinding people and expect to stay at Hogwarts."

Snape stumbled on a rough patch in the road and would have fallen if it hadn't been for Harry's mother beside him, holding him tightly. "This is all my fault," said Lily softly. "I should never have agreed to have a Butterbeer with Helen and let you walk back alone."

Snape snorted, stumbling again but seemingly comforted by Lily's tone. "At least I'm sure it's you now. How many times do I have to tell you that things like this are not your…"

Harry's heart softened, ever so slightly, and he tried once more to escape from the Pensieve, wanting to go and tell Dumbledore about Snape's capture. Again, there was no familiar feel of rising and Harry was left watching his mother gently guiding Snape down the road towards Hogwarts. The colours flickered again and Harry found himself on Platform Nine and Three Quarters, the Hogwarts Express waiting to make the journey to Hogwarts.

"I'm Head Girl, Sev!" Lily cried from halfway across the platform. "Can you believe it?"

"I always knew you would be, love," Snape replied, picking her up and whirling her in a circle, before pulling her close. "I missed you," he murmured into her hair.

"I missed you too, Sev," replied Lily.

"So tell me," he grinned, "who's Head Boy? I'm longing to grind Potter's face in the fact that he could never be Head Boy after that prank last year!"

"Well, actually…" Lily started, obviously not really knowing how to tell Snape that he was wrong.

But Lily didn't have to finish, because Snape guessed what she had to tell him from the look on her face. "Oh NO!" cried Snape. "They can't have!"

"They did," Lily said grimly. "I have to put up with that prat all year. I have to work with him! Everyone knows how much we hate him!"

"Never mind, love," said Snape, pulling her to him. "I'm sure it won't be too bad. I'll help you if he's not willing to pick up his end. It'll be alright."

The light flickered again and Harry found himself in what looked like the Slytherin head dormitory.

"I have to go, Sev," said Harry's mother, shoving the books scattered on her bedspread into a neat pile. "I've got to meet up with Potter to discuss the preparations for the next Hogsmeade weekend."

"Don't let him get under your skin, love," called Snape amiably from where he lay on Lily's bed, contentedly working on an essay of some sort.

Lily stopped in the doorway and looked back. "He's actually been very helpful this year. He hasn't pulled any pranks or disrupted the meetings, even when he's not being watched. It's like he's completely changed."

"It's probably just an act," said Snape sourly. "He's saving up for something big, that's what he's doing."

"But what if it's not? What if he's not the boy he used to be? Could you forgive him?"

Snape looked startled, then his face hardened. "Forgive him?" he spat. "He almost killed me! He blinded me for a week! Why should I?" Lily simply nodded her head sadly and left, as though it was the answer she had expected, but not the one she had hoped to get. Snape sat fuming on her bed, watching her retreating back.

The scene changed again.

"Lily, I need to speak to you."

Lily looked up from the table in the library that she was sharing with James. Taking one glance at the look on Snape's face, she excused herself and guided them both to a quiet section of the library.

"My Promise Ring disintegrated about half an hour ago," he said, extending his left hand to show her the silvery dust coating his palm.

"What?" she exclaimed. "I've never heard of a Promise Ring doing anything like that! What does it mean? Have you looked in Mystical Magical Artefacts?"

"I just looked it up," said Snape grimly, holding up the book in question. "Here, have a look." Without another word, Snape stalked out, the tears flowing freely down his cheeks the only indication that he was upset and not angry.

Another scene materialised around Harry.

Snape was sitting at the side of the lake, hurling small stones into the water with all the force he could muster. Lily sat beside him with her face buried in her knees, helplessly twisting the silver ring on her finger. "I'm sorry," she sobbed. "This is all my fault, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Go to him," said Snape in a tightly controlled voice. "And he'd better treat you well or so help me…"

Lily abruptly raised her face to look at him. "No! I swore a vow, I'm not breaking it."

Snape got up and started walking away. "You are not breaking any vow because I am releasing you from it. You love him, not me. Go to him. I want you to be happy. But…" He paused for a moment and looked back uncertainly. "Will you keep wearing my ring? I mean, you don't have to wear it on your finger if you don't want to, but somewhere?"

"Yes," said Lily croakily, "I will wear it for as long as you love me."

Snape turned away to hide his tears and was halfway to the castle when he turned and stared back at Lily framed against the sunset. "Goodbye, Lily," he whispered. He looked lost for a moment before suddenly patting his pockets and pulling out a small Muggle-style camera. Turning quickly, he snapped the picture of her and his face twisted into the familiar glare that Harry saw on the elder Snape's face every day. "She's too good for you, Snape," he whispered savagely. "You always knew that she belonged with someone like Perfect Potter. You don't deserve her. You don't deserve anyone like her. Just remember that." Then he stuffed the camera back into his pocket and continued his dejected journey back to the castle.

Turning back, Harry recognised the photo as being in his album: the one where his mother had run away from him because she thought he was his father. The fact that Snape had donated one of the precious photos he owned of his parents – a photo that was obviously enormously significant to his professor – suddenly brought things home for Harry. His knees gave out and he fell to the ground, staring after the man who did not seem quite so much of a "greasy git" any more.

The light flickered once more and Harry was in the Great Hall.

"Black, you take that back NOW!" yelled Lily. "You have NO RIGHT to say that about Severus! This is entirely my fault!"

Sirius simply grinned and indicated Snape, who was looking stricken. Snape managed to choke out, "He's right, Lily. Just leave me alone, please?" He strode away without looking back and Lily dejectedly gazed after him for a moment before rounding on Sirius.

Harry had only just heard his mother roar, "BLACK!" when the room flickered again.

Snape was at a desk holding a quill, a piece of almost blank parchment before him, marred only by one sentence written in deadly blank ink. I accept.

Yet another scene formed around Harry as the desk faded away.

Snape was on his knees in Dumbledore's office, with Dumbledore himself looking down at him gravely. "I am a Death Eater, Headmaster. Do as you will with me; I am ready to face the consequences, but please believe me." Snape took a deep, shuddering breath before continuing. "He wants to kill the Potters and put Lily under the Imperius Curse. Voldemort thinks that if her husband and child were dead, her will to live would be almost nonexistent and she would not be able to throw off the curse. He wants her power, Headmaster. He won't even try to persuade her to the cause because of her parentage. He will destroy everything she cares about to weaken her, put the curse on her, and use her until she is burned out. And if she does not submit, he will kill her. I love her, Headmaster. Please believe me. I do not wish to see her harmed."

The memories continued.

The Death Eaters stood in a faithful, silent semi-circle behind Voldemort as he raised his wand. A glowing purple sphere appeared around Voldemort as a protection in case the spell bounced. "Imperio. Stand aside, you silly girl!" he called. "Stand aside, now!"

Lily stiffened, but threw off the curse with little discernable effort. "Not Harry, please no," she cried frantically, "take me, kill me instead –"

"Imperio," Voldemort tried again, but it was no more use than the last time, as Lily easily threw off the curse.

"Not Harry!" she cried, shielding her child with her body. "Please… have mercy… have mercy…"

Tears burned in Harry's eyes as he saw the look on Voldemort's face. Voldemort had realised that Lily would never submit to the curse while her child lived and would never allow her child to die while she was still alive. "Avada Kedavra," cried Voldemort. There was a flash of green light and Voldemort seemed surprised when Lily did not even attempt to raise a shield to protect herself. Harry found himself screaming along with his mother as the green light hit her and she fell to the floor, her face full of the horror of the knowledge of her doom, her eyes blank and staring.

Voldemort let his shield drop and turned to young Harry, who looked up at him with wide green eyes. "Avada Kedavra," he whispered, sure that the defenceless child could do nothing to protect himself. But he was wrong.

Harry's skin flashed as the curse hit him on the forehead and the curse bounced back, hitting Voldemort squarely in the chest. A shield was up around Harry. Lily had left herself unprotected because all her power had been given over to protecting her son.

Changed by the shield left by the boy's dead mother, the Killing Curse did not take life and leave the body behind as a useless husk. It disintegrated the body and left a behind a smoky presence, less than a ghost, more than just air.

The remains of Voldemort gave a roar of rage, then speared upwards towards… There should have been a ceiling. And a roof, Harry decided. At least, there had been before…

Looking around, Harry realised that there wasn't much left of the house at all. Young Harry was squalling inconsolably in his crib and all the Death Eaters had left when an obviously shattered Severus Snape Apparated in, knowing that he was too late as he hopelessly stared around at the devastation. He stumbled desperately through the ruins, finally kneeling and holding his love's lifeless body to him. As he rocked her gently, he turned his face to the sky and let out a heart-rending cry of agony and loss.

As the long cry faded, Snape leant down to bury his face in her shoulder, his body shaking uncontrollably in his grief. The colours flickered again.

This time the colours did not fade into another scene, they continued to swirl molten silver and green, filling Harry once again with the love he had felt when he held the ring. The sharp pang of loss spreading through him was now clearly identifiable as Snape's pain at the loss of his mother's love and then her life. Harry looked around nervously trying to discern what was happening.

"Son of my heart's beloved," came a quiet voice.

"Who is it?" Harry cried as he whirled with his wand held at the ready.

"I cannot understand you," it continued softly. "Speak in my language; I can feel the ability in you."

Suddenly it clicked and Harry looked down at the small silver ring he was holding in his hand. It had become a tiny, but perfectly formed, silver snake, rearing up with its tail curled under it. The Promise Ring's tiny emerald eyes fixed Harry with a steady gaze as it flickered its miniature forked tongue. "Hello," Harry hissed in Parseltongue. "Can you help me to get out of here?"

"Yes," hissed the tiny snake, "but we shall talk more once we are out of this vessel for thoughts."

Harry felt himself rising through the air, green and silver swirled violently below him, and suddenly he was back in his dormitory. He looked down at the snake in his hand, still stunned at the fact that it seemed to be an entity in its own right.

It gave a frustrated little hiss that seemed to Harry like the snake equivalent of a sigh. "Yes, I can talk. No, I did not before because there was no reason to do so. My heart despised you, for you carry your father's stamp most openly. But, son of my heart's beloved, I have no choice now. I saw that you know of my heart's torture. Can you save him?"

"No," replied Harry firmly, quickly making the connection between the Promise Ring's heart and Snape. "First of all, Dumbledore wants me to stay here. Second, I can't get there even if I wanted to. And third, there's nothing I could do if I did get there, because it's me that Voldemort's after. Now, I have to go warn Dumbledore. They'll be able to break through the wards in less than an hour! He might be able to save Snape."

"I can bring you to my heart's side in a moment," said the tiny snake, "and as for your third point: can you even comprehend what is possible when using a Promise Ring in defence of its heart?"

"What do you mean?" asked Harry suspiciously.

"You know that I would usually augment your power about two-fold." Harry nodded dubiously. "Good. When used in defence of the ring's creator, a Promise Ring will expand your power at least one hundred-fold. No curse has ever been known to be successful against someone defending the heart of his or her Promise Ring. Your power is not small by itself and you hold the power of my heart's beloved in you as well."

"But if Voldemort kills me, he will have all that power as well as his own!" cried Harry. "I can't risk it! I want to save Snape, but I just can't risk it." Harry paused before adding, "He wouldn't want me to risk it either."

"You risk nothing," replied the tiny snake calmly. "Think about it. If Voldemort strikes at you without shielding, he will be defeated once again. He was always very careful never to threaten the heart of any Promise Ring. But either he does not know of my existence or thinks that I am lost. He will strike or he will run. Either way, my heart is safe and so are you."

Harry stared at the glowing Pensieve for about a minute, thoughts and memories tumbling over in his brain.

"If Voldemort comes into possession of the power you bear, he will be almost entirely unbeatable."

Snape's agonised screams.

"He will strike, or he will run."

Voldemort's high, cold laughter.

"And what would it be like for us if you died when we could have saved you?"

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were still alive.

"You see why we must make sure to keep you alive, Harry?"

"You risk nothing."

Finally, he remembered his realisation over the summer: Voldemort could never win when there were people who loved each other; people who were willing to risk their lives for the people who made their lives worth living; people who were willing to live without fear.

"No," said Harry. "I won't go without Professor Dumbledore's permission."

"Then ask him," replied the ring simply.

Harry decided that this was the best idea the ring had come up with all night. He raced out into the now-empty common room and through the portrait hole. "Sorry!" he yelled to the Fat Lady, as he portrait banged open against the other wall. She merely huffed grumpily before returning to cover the portrait hole. Harry didn't turn back when he heard the Fat Lady cry out again, "What is going on tonight? Where are you? Come back here!"

The other person bothering the Fat Lady must have been going in the other direction; although Harry checked over his shoulder as he ran, he didn't see anyone behind him. "Canary Creams!" he panted to the gargoyle guarding the entrance to the Headmaster's office, then raced up the moving staircase. "Professor!" he shouted as he pounded on the door. "Professor, I need to speak with you!"

When the door swung open, Harry was shocked to see that it wasn't Professor Dumbledore who stood there. It was Professor McGonagall.

"I need to speak to Professor Dumbledore!" cried Harry, doubling over as he gasped for breath.

"I'm sorry, Potter, but the Headmaster is absent. He will be back by morning."

"It'll probably be too late for Professor Snape by then!" panted Harry.

"Oh my!" breathed McGonagall, ushering him into the office. "He's been discovered?"

Harry nodded breathlessly. "Yes. They were torturing him. He's got the password to get the Death Eaters through the wards with his Portkey, but he Memory Charmed himself, so Voldemort's going to keep him under the Cruciatus until it breaks down."

McGonagall pressed one hand to her heart. "Well, there's nothing we can do," she said sorrowfully as she sat down at Dumbledore's desk and began scribbling quickly on a piece of parchment. "I shall contact Professor Dumbledore immediately, of course, but it will be all he can do to get back here in time to defend against the attack. By the time they attack, Severus will be beyond help. Go back to your dormitory, Potter. There's nothing more you can do here."

"Professor?" asked Harry hesitantly. "There is something we can do."

"What is it, Potter?" she asked, looking up from her letter to Dumbledore.

"I have my mother's Promise Ring from him," said Harry. "I found it in a box of my parent's stuff this summer. It tells me –"

"Tells you, Potter?" asked McGonagall sharply.

"Oh yeah, it's a snake and I'm a Parselmouth, so I can speak to it."

McGonagall leaned back, shaking her head. "Will wonders never cease? Go on, Potter."

"It says that if I went there, I would be able to protect Professor Snape using its power."

"No!" said Professor McGonagall sharply. "You cannot go! The headmaster told you why, we cannot afford to risk your life!"

"Yes, I know that," said Harry in frustration, "but it tells me that I wouldn't be in any danger. With Professor Snape's ring as well as my own power, I know I can do this, Professor! But I didn't want to go without permission. Please, Professor, he's going to lose his mind or die!"

Professor McGonagall looked at him with pity in her eyes as she shook her head. "You know how powerful I am, Professor," Harry continued arguing. "I can hold my shield at full power, protecting four people, for the entire lesson of Defence Against the Dark Arts. We tested it once! The shield that my mother put up protected me against the Killing Curse once before and that's less than one hundredth of what I've got with his ring. You and I both know that it's strong enough. I can easily hold them all back for a few minutes so that I can get to Professor Snape and then Portkey us both back here with my pin. I promise I won't do anything but sit there and shield. I'll even –" Harry paused as his throat closed up on the words. "I'll even ignore Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, if that's what you want. They're both there and they're both alive."

Was the soft sob Harry thought he heard from Professor McGonagall just his imagination? Her face didn't change expression, but Harry was sure he had heard something. He pressed his advantage. "There were Death Eaters everywhere and I know I probably can't do anything to save the Weasleys, but I can save Professor Snape. Professor Snape doesn't deserve this, Professor! He spies for us, he risks his life for us. The least we can do is try to save him!"

Professor McGonagall's face crumpled and she drew out a dainty red and gold striped handkerchief to dab tears away from the corners of her eyes. "Go, Potter," she said tightly. "Just go, before I change my mind."

"Thank you, Professor," said Harry, putting up one hand to check that his Portkey back to Hogwarts was on his collar before turning back to the ring. "Okay," he hissed softly, slipping it onto his right ring finger. "Take me." Harry felt a familiar jerk behind his navel as the Promise Ring activated. It felt slightly different to a Portkey though; for a moment, Harry fancied he could feel someone's arms around him, holding him tightly as the wind howled around him and the headmaster's office swirled out of view.

To be continued...

A/N: Sorry about the cliffhanger, but this chapter's already enormous, as is the next one. I had to put the break somewhere! : ) All right, all right, so that's not the only reason - I'm just a little bit evil as well. The next chapter is betaed and ready to post. I may be induced into early posting by chocolate, shameless grovelling, and/or quality reviews. Extra brownie points for those who don't usually review! But I won't make you wait too long either way. ; )

Out of seventeen guesses for the spy, there are now five correct and one that has the right idea, but the wrong person. I'm pretty pleased with those statistics! : ) The spy is revealed in the next chapter, so I'll post a list of White Lily Certified Gloaters at the end. For your last chance for a guess, DON'T post it to the review board, but feel free to contact me at mslilley@yahoo.co.uk...