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Chapter 53 "Lily's Wrath"
Damius let his head rest against the wall next to the door to their quarters. Draco was whizzing around the corridor, giggling as he played in some imaginary fantasy world of his own creation.
Damius could hear Lily on the other side of the door, crying quietly, and he wished that he could do something to comfort her. Unfortunately, as he found out when he had come back from the walk with Draco, Severus has used some kind of advanced charm to lock the door.
"Lily." Damius said quietly through the door. "It's alright."
"But it's not." Lily said thickly through her tears. "What if he does something stupid?"
"Severus won't do anything on the spur of the moment like that. It's not like him." Damius said soothingly.
"Damn straight I wouldn't." The elder Snape brother was strolling down the corridor, his eyes glittering. Draco ran up to him, and Severus swung him up into his arms. Damius stood to face his brother, eyeing him with some apprehension.
"What happened?" Damius whispered so Lily couldn't hear on the other side of the door.
"They won't bother us anymore." Severus hugged Draco to him and the boy snuggled in. He didn't get much time with Severus, who he started to think of as his daddy now. He was a better daddy then the other blonde one was, anyway, but he was busy alot of the time. So he hung out with Lily and Damius instead.
Severus tapped his wand wordlessly on the door to unlock it as Damius continued watching him strangely. He had seen his brother fight Death Eaters, knocking them down like flies, and he had no doubt that Severus could take care of two measly people...but he couldn't believe that Severus would simply kill someone like that. There had to be something else going on.
They stepped inside the room, but stopped in their tracks at the sight of Lily. She was standing in front of them, blocking their way. Even though tears were running down her cheeks, her eyes blazed with angry fire, and it seemed as if she towered over them, though in reality she was the shortest one there.
"How dare you, Severus!" she screamed. "Don't you ever do that again!"
Draco cowered in Severus' arms at the outburst and he quickly handed the boy to Damius.
"Lily, I'm sorry, I wasn't-" he made to take Lily's hand, but she ripped it away. Damius squeezed inside behind Severus, still holding Draco, and bolted for his and Draco's room to escape Lily's wrath. He had never seen her so angry before.
"What? You weren't thinking?" she poked him hard, her chest heaving. "Running away, locking me here. I was screaming for you to come back. Didn't you here me?"
"Lily-"
"You know what? i don't want to hear it. God only knows what you did!" Lily pushed him backwards and he almost fell but managed to steady himself. Fresh tears were spilling from Lily's eyes as she screamed.
Severus' body was cold. Lily had never screamed at him like this. But then he had never given her reason to. He totally deserved what he was getting right now.
"Lily, I was caught up in the moment..I didn't mean it." Severus said softly, but Lily shook her head. The tears were heavy now, and she was biting her lip in an effort to control them, but it did no good.
Severus pulled her into a hug, which she fought off half-heartedly. Running a hand over the back of her head, he whispered soothingly in her ear. "I didn't do anything, Lily. I just sort of blackmailed Abraxas, but nothing more then that. I told him that I would say that he was involved in Lucius' campaign and he would wind up in jail. Nothing else, I promise."
There was no response from Lily, and Severus felt his heart sinking. What he had done scared Lily, he knew that. She had probably been sitting here thinking about what he might do in his frenzy. "I'm sorry, Lily. I was just terrified that we would lose Draco. I didn't mean to hurt you."
Stepping away from Lily so that he was facing her, he reached out to cup her chin. He tipped her face up, and then caressed her wet cheek with a few fingers. Her eyes were still red, but from crying now instead of angry fire. Leaning forward, he pressed his lips to hers and was relieved when she kissed him back.
"Don't you ever do that to me again. You scared me, Severus. More then you can imagine." she whispered against his lips, and it sounded like a warning.
"I know." Severus admitted honestly.
Lily threw her arms around him again and pressed her face into his shoulder. They stayed like that for a long time, Severus placing gentle kisses on Lily's neck as she hid in his shoulder.
"You're such a bastard, you know that? I just can't be mad at you for trying to keep everyone together."
"It's my job, Lily." Severus smiled into her hair.
"Thank you." Lily whispered sincerely into his ear, and then they were quiet again. After a minute she pulled away from him, looking horrified.
"Your job."
"Yes, to protect-"
"No. Your job. You're a teacher-" Lily began, and Severus eyes widened.
"Go, Severus. I'll see you later and you can tell me the whole story." She kissed him firmly and pushed him out the door. "Thank you, Sev. For everything you've done for us, and for everyone."
That parting statement stayed with him through the rest of the day, through his classes, and through his meeting with Dumbledore, who learned about the class he was absent from and chided him about running out when he had classes to teach. It stayed with him through dinner, through getting Draco ready for bed and saying goodnight to him and Damius. It was with him until he was finally alone with Lily, laying face to face in their bed.
He replied to the statement then. "It was all for you, Lily. None of this would have happened without you. You were the reason I came to Dumbledore in the first place. In reality, you are the reason that Voldemort was destroyed, and all the sequences after that."
Lily touched his face gently. She did not know how to reply to that, and Severus saved her yet again, by kissing her forehead and smiling.
"Now I'll regal you with the story of my epic adventures in the Malfoy kingdom today."
There's only going to be a few chapters to this story; I'm trying to wrap up al the loose ends.
