AN: one shot written for the QLFC season 9 round 3

Position prompt: Beater 1: The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe: Write about someone hiding a big secret.

Additional prompts used:

Prompt : (setting) nighttime

Thanks to my fellow Puddlemere united team members for beta-ing.

WC: 1189

Titel/Link: Hiding in Plain Sight

Lily let out a sad small smile as she watched her sister put her baby boy to bed. It shouldn't be Petunia taking care of him. It should be her. Harry is her son after all. Petunia's eyes met Lily's through the window, and with a small nod and smile, Lily closed her eyes and Apparated away. She still had a bone to pick with an old friend.

With a small pop, she appeared in a very familiar alley way, just a street away from the playground where she spent hours playing around. Despite not having been here in a long time, and the darkness of night, Lily made her way along the street with the practised ease of doing the route more times then one could count.

Stopping short of her old friend's house, Lily moved behind some bushes. It was the perfect place to hide. As kids, both she and Severus had spent hours hiding here, waiting for Severus' father to leave for the pub. The hiding spot was perfect as it gave Lily a full view of the house, but hid her from everyone's sight, unless they knew exactly where she was, and they were standing in the correct spot.

From where Lily was sitting, she could see Severus pacing in the front room. She couldn't believe he was stupid enough to stay in the one place where she could find him, but then again, as far as Severus was aware, she had been killed only a few days ago. It was only Severus' actions which had saved her. Actions which had killed her husband, and if successful, would have killed her son. And it was that, which Lily could not forgive, her son's life was way more precious than her own.

Lily touched her wedding ring, I miss you, James, she thought. This one's for you. Without even having to try, Severus had caused a rift in the Evans household as kids; now as an adult, he had broken apart the Potter household. Lily may have made up with Petunia, but the Potter family would forever be one short. Tonight, Lily was making sure that her family would be the last that Severus tore apart.

As the night slowly progressed, and nobody else arrived at Spinner's End, Lily finally felt confident enough that Severus was alone. With practised ease, Lily left the small hidey-hole and went behind the corner, just out of view of the house. It was risky taking her eyes off the house, but the hiding place was just too small for Lily to change. And Lily wanted to change in clothes that could never be linked to her. She didn't want anybody to go and investigate her death. She liked being dead, it stopped people from looking for you. Having Petunia know was more than enough. Harry would know in due time, but for now, being dead, gave her the most leeway.

A small hair band was the first of the items out of her bag, and was soon in her hair. Her hair firmly tied in a bun, ensuring none of her hair would be left at the scene. Next was a pair of gloves, they would protect her from leaving fingerprints and DNA. Next, she grabbed a big oversized hoodie. It was a standard one, bought in a muggle shop only hours before on the other side of the country. Some plain standard trousers followed suit, before Lily traded her standard sneakers for a pair of boots a couple of sizes too big. It looked weird, but Lily wanted Severus to think she had nothing.

Double checking her pocket for the small vial of poison that she had brought, Lily smiled. The time had come. Pulling the hood over her head, Lily slowly made her way to Severus' house.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Lily banged on the door. She was confident enough that her clothes would obscure her enough, that even if one of the neighbours saw her, they would not be able to identify her as the Evans girl that used to live a couple of blocks away.

"What do you— " Severus stopped, "Lily?"

Lily nodded, "Sev, help me, please." Tears started to stream down Lily's cheeks. Lily hoped that the tears and the surprise of her being alive would be enough for Severus to let his guard down, if not, she would resort to threatening him with her wand. Luckily for her, it was.

"Lily! Come in!" Severus immediately ushered Lily inside the house, the sight of his old friend, that he had thought dead, stopping him from thinking clearly.

"Dead"

Lily took a deep breath.

"Harry..."

More tears flowed down Lily's cheeks.

"Can't —"

Lily took some quick breaths pretending to be gasping for air.

Snape could only understand snippets of the words that Lily was saying.

"Breath in and out, Lils," Severus sat, bending down in front of the chair that he had guided her into. "In and out."

Even though only minutes passed, it seemed like hours to Severus as the woman he loved sat in front of him having a panic attack.

"Damn it, why did I lock my lab," Severus mumbled to himself.

Unfortunately, he wasn't quite enough, for Lily heard him. Keeping the tears on her cheeks and the shallow breathing, Lily smiled internally. Severus only locked his lab when he was drinking and planning on getting drunk.

The first time Severus had gotten drunk, he had thought he would be able to make a potion and nearly blew up the potions classroom. Luckily, Slughorn had been around. Severus had been in detention for months, and hadn't touched a drop of alcohol while still at Hogwarts.

"I'll grab you a blanket and you can stay the night," Severus said, turning away from Lily to make his way upstairs.

As soon as Severus left the room, Lily jumped into action. She quickly filled up Severus' glass with fire whiskey from the bottle next to the glass, added the poison, and emptied part of the bottle, making it look like he'd drank more than he actually had.

Seconds later Lily was leaving the house before Severus even made it back down. The darkness of the night, once again hid Lily as she made her way over to the old hidey-hole. From there she could see how Severus came back down, looked around confused until he saw the bottle of fire whiskey.

Lily had the perfect view as Severus emptied his glass, and then the bottle. It was only seconds later that Lily saw Severus reach for his throat as if he couldn't breath. With a satisfied smile on her lips, Lily once again left the hidey-hole.

Killing Severus hadn't brought back James, but it had made her feel slightly better. Doing it the muggle way, would hopefully keep the wizarding world from finding out anytime soon.

As Lily entered the alley way, she stopped to take off all the extra clothes. The hoodie, trousers, gloves, and shoes went back into her bag. Satisfied, Lily Aparated away from her old home town for one last time.