"So you're saying it was a new curse, invented by You-Know-Who?"

Lily nodded, still staring at Severus' body, shaking under the duvet. Poppy came closer to him to inspect him. Lily caught her hand and warned her that the effects were infectious. Poppy thanked her for the warning, drew out her wand and performed a series of diagnostic spells instead.

"His heart rate is very high and arrhythmic," she said worriedly. Lily could see it herself - his heartbeat was visible through the ribs and it went up and down like a madman.

"If it doesn't get better, it could kill him. His body is too weak to sustain such a load."

"Is there anything we can do?"

"I don't know. But since it was You-Know-Who who did this, I'd say there's no other choice than just wait for it to wear off. Still, I'm going to try easing his heart rate, at least."

Poppy was successful. And although Severus was still experiencing some pain and electric twitches, his heart rate seemed to be slower and more regular. When Madame Pomfrey left the bedroom, Lily sat down next to Severus to have one last look at him before leaving. "I hope it ends soon," she sighed.

Nothing changed for two days, just like Voldemort had said. She spent those days fully immersed in one thought only: "We need to stop this psychopathic snake." She decided to make use of all the books that were available in the living room to try and find something which could give her a hint on how to do that.

"Who else but us, when else but now," she mumbled and old muggle saying to herself while diving into that chapter about horcruxes again.

On the third day, she was sitting at Severus' side again, watching him sleep. The curse was slowly wearing off, the twitches were less and less frequent and he didn't look so much in pain anymore.

She saw how the duvet was heaving up and down on his chest with each breath he made. Although she didn't know if it was safe to touch him now, she couldn't resist but do so. Slowly and gently, she lifted the duvet and put her hand on his skeletal chest, where the heart was, to feel the heartbeat. Immediately, she felt a very uncomfortable electric shock but it was nothing too unbearable, so she kept going. She ran her hand down his frail ribcage. It felt morbid and so wrong and yet she couldn't help but continue. Tears of unknown origin were streaming down her face now and she felt so pathetic. Feeling ashamed of herself, she shot a look at Severus' face to make sure he was still sleeping.

And to her surprise, she found out that she was being watched by a pair of black eyes.

"You're conscious?" she said in surprise, lifting her hand immediately.

Severus gave her a little thin-lipped smile. "Yes."

Lily blushed but decided not to talk about what she just did. Instead, she asked him: "How are you feeling?"

"Better," he squeezed out of himself while trying to suppress another one of those twitches.

"The curse is finally wearing off," she whispered with a teary smile. "You scared me, Severus. Don't ever do that again. If that stupid snake wants to curse me in the future, than he will curse me and not you, understood?"

Severus chuckled. "Stupid snake," he repeated. "Others do not even dare to call him by his name and you… You just…"

Severus fell silent because he noticed the change in Lily's eyes and it was making him slightly uneasy. For years, he'd been staring into them but he never saw this before. He could almost swear that what he was seeing in them was… Love.

If anyone can kill the Dark Lord, it will be her, he thought.

But did he want the Dark Lord to die? He wasn't sure. After all, the Dark Lord was the one who gave him some prestige, some recognition, which was exactly what he longed for all his life but never had. However, if he had to choose between Lily and him, he would choose Lily. As much as he hated this about himself, he would choose her over the greatest wizard who ever lived, over the wizard, who was succeeding at giving the wizarding society what they deserved - their pride and supremacy over muggles.

Severus hated muggles from the bottom of his heart and genuinely wished they'd all just be dead.

And as for dark magic… He felt like everytime Lily asked him not to perform dark magic, she was asking for a part of himself so big - and she probably didn't realize how big it was - that he couldn't just give it up. The Dark Lord, however, allowed him to use dark magic and even taught him some precious skills himself. And what's more important - he spared Lily and allowed him to keep her. And now they were closer to each other than they'd ever been… All thanks to the Dark Lord. And she was all his. She was here, staring in his face with love in her eyes, right at the very moment. There was no James, there was no son. As cruel as it may sound, he felt joy at their deaths.

"You seem so lost in thought now," Lily's voice broke his train of thoughts gently. "What are you thinking about?"

Severus' eyes searched for hers. He was almost a hundred percent sure that honesty would bring him only problems, so instead of revealing his true thoughts, he said only:

"I'm thinking about how glad I am that you're here."

Lily's eyes filled with emotion. She leaned over him. "I'm glad you're here, too."

She smiled at him so warmly that he literally felt his heart melting for her.

"I'll let Poppy know that you're awake and safe to touch."

"Lily?"

She stopped midway and turned towards him. "Yes?"

"You might as well get professor Dumbledore. Please."

"Okay," she nodded and left the room.