Chaser 3
Appleby Arrows
Round 3, Season 9
Prompts: Write about someone who ignores an important warning
(Quote) "I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other."-Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
(Genre) Tragedy
(Dialogue) "You're better than this."
Word Count: 1,240
A/N Thank you so much to DaughteroftheOneTrueKing, Ikuni Hattori, and the rest of my teammates, without whom I would have had no inspiration or motivation to write this.
It was Dumbledore who told Severus of Lily's demise. He couldn't breathe at first, but once he got his bearings about him, he had immediately rushed to the Potters' house, no longer caring about what Voldemort would do if he found him there
Severus grasped at Lily's limp body, holding her close to his chest. Nothing had ever hurt more in his entire life than knowing that Lily, the only person whom he had ever loved, was gone forever.
And it was all his fault. He hadn't listened to Lily when she had warned him against going down the path he had been taking. Now he had paid for his mistake with a debt worse than his life— hers.
Severus had truly thought that Lily would never talk to him again after that day when he had called her a mudblood. To say he was surprised when she asked him to speak with her one day after Potions was an understatement.
Lily dragged him to, of all places, the tree where he had ruined everything.
"Severus, I forgive you for calling me a mudblood, but I won't be forgetting about it any time soon."
"Is that all you want to tell me, or is there more?" Severus asked, unwilling to reveal how much her words impacted him.
Lily rolled her eyes in her usual way. She had always been the only person who understood and tolerated Severus's moods and behaviors. "Look, I still care for you, Severus. I know what you've been through, and I understand why you have become the person that you've become. But I don't like what you're getting yourself into. Just because you've been hurt and bullied in the past does not mean you can do the same to others now."
"Where are you going with this, Lily?"
Lily sighed. "You are going down a path with no return. This isn't who you are, Severus. You're better than this. You are capable of doing such amazing, wonderful things that help people, not destroy them."
Severus grew angry then, tired of people telling him what and what not to do. "How dare you? For once in my life, people respect me instead of stepping all over me. I have power and money and everything I have ever wanted. And now you walk in, after ignoring me for several months, I might add, and tell me that I should give it all up?"
He turned and started to storm away, but Lily's voice stopped him. "People don't respect you; they're terrified of you. And I'm not asking you to give it all away."
He didn't turn around when he asked, "Then what are you asking me to do?"
Lily walked up to him and gingerly placed her hand on his shoulder. "I'm asking you to exchange it. Maybe you wouldn't have as much money as you have ever wanted, but you'd have respect— true, hard-earned respect. You'd have the power to do good and change the world for the better. Don't you want that, Severus?"
Severus shook off her hand and walked away.
"You're going to regret this someday, Severus! Mark my words!" Lily shouted after him.
Severus could not believe his luck when he overheard Sybil's prophecy.
After his interview with Albus, where he was careful to not let his poker face slip, he went to see the Dark Lord and share with him what he had heard.
The Dark Lord was furious when Severus finished his explanation. He immediately pulled out his wand and fired the Cruciatus Curse at Severus. "That filthy mudblood and her traitor husband think they can have a child that will destroy me?!" He roared. "No one can get rid of me! I will kill the Potters to prove that."
Severus paled, and not from the bout of pain he had just endured. "My Lord, are you sure that is the best course of action?"
Voldemort glared at his inferior. "How dare you question me, Severus?"
"My Lord, would it not be more in your favor to spare the family and only kill the child?"
A sickening smile slowly spread across Voldemort's face. Before Severus could even get the chance to brace himself for whatever his master was planning, Voldemort dove into his inferior's mind.
"Ah, so that's why you are trying to keep me from going after the Potters," Voldemort murmured some moments later. "I must say that I am disappointed in you for having an infatuation for a mudblood, but I suppose it is a forgivable offense. I will do my best to spare the woman's life, but if she gets in my way, her blood is on her own hands."
For the first time since he was a child, Severus felt completely helpless. He had no idea who to turn to or who he could trust. He had burned all of his bridges when he had gone to the Dark Lord's side.
Lily was right; he did regret his choices, but now he had no way of going back. And now all he could hope to do was find a way to protect Lily. After all, it was his fault that her life was in danger. If only he hadn't gone to Voldemort with that prophecy… but how could he have known that his master would have taken it to mean Lily's child? Surely there were plenty of other children who fit the criteria of the prophecy.
None of that mattered now. He had made his choices, and now he had to do everything in his power to reverse them and change them for the better, and that meant accepting the blame and asking for someone to help.
Only one name came to his mind: Albus Dumbledore.
Surely Albus, the only person who Voldemort feared, would be able to protect Lily.
Baby Harry cried out loudly, snapping Severus out of his memories. He looked at the small child, and he couldn't help but notice that he had his mother's eyes.
Severus reached into the crib, picked Harry up, and rocked him in his arms until he fell asleep. Gently, so as not to wake the baby, he placed a kiss on his forehead, then laid him down in his crib. He covered the small child with his blanket and kissed his forehead once more. Harry stirred slightly, but he calmed a moment later.
With a final glance at Lily, Severus made his way downstairs and out of the house, wondering the whole way home which path he was now supposed to take.
A few weeks later, as he was reading a muggle horror story, a quote from the book spoke to him.
"I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other." It was a passage from Frankenstein. Lily had recommended it to him years ago, but until now he hadn't bothered to read it.
Never in all his life had words taken the breath from his lungs, but those words of Mary Shelley did just that to him.
Suddenly, things were so simple to him. He no longer had Lily, the only person whom he had ever loved, but he had rage. It was at that moment that he decided to use both to avenge her death.
Severus now had a purpose in life again.