Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!

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A gentle rain had started to drip from the gray sky and the small droplets of chilly water landed on Severus's black robes as he stepped out of the dark carriage. The vehicle had been enchanted to take him to the Potter mansion and then back to Hogwarts. For that, Severus was glad. He didn't want to worry about speaking with a nosy coachman.

James Potter's estate loomed ominously in front of Severus.

The grounds were sprawling, the house itself was massive, carved out of a heavy stone that looked especially foreboding on the dreary morning.

Severus drew in a breath and walked up to the front door, hesitantly using the knocker to announce his presence.

The large door opened and a second later, Severus found himself facing a butler with a scowl nearly as melancholy as his own.

"Good morning, sir. May I ask your name?" The butler spoke to Severus.

"My name is Severus Snape. I represent Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Due to an unforeseen absence in our staff, I've come to collect your employer's usual donation. I believe Mr. Potter was expecting the treasurer today?" Severus calmly replied.

"Yes, sir. You are correct, I shall inform the master of the change. Welcome to the Potter estate." The butler nodded, moving out of the way and allowing Severus to step inside the house.

As his feet landed on the threshold, Severus looked around the foyer of his rival's home and he wrinkled his nose at the shameless display of grandeur.

"In the meantime, if you'll follow me, sir…..." The butler nodded at Severus as he gestured towards the hallway.

Severus's black eyes flickered back to James's servant and he obeyed, following the man down the lengthy corridor.

In silence, Severus and James's butler walked together, the gloomy day peeking in through the windows of empty rooms as they passed by.

When the butler arrived at the parlor, he bid Severus to come in and have a seat as he spoke again, "Please allow me a moment to collect the master, sir. He'll surely be in to see you straight away."

"Of course." Severus replied with a nod.

Both men, miserable in their own separate ways, looked at each other calculatingly. Without another word, James's butler turned around and left the room.

It was such a dark morning that the oil lamps on the small tables next to Severus had already been lighted.

As Severus looked around, he clutched his wand in the pocket of his robes.

Severus would collect the money, sure, but he hadn't come merely to take James's filthy donation.

Severus had come to the Potter mansion to investigate.

Severus had come to the Potter mansion to find out if he needed to take Lily.

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James had just barely woken up when his butler came in after placing Severus in the parlor.

Nervously, the butler announced, "Master, there's someone here to visit you."

The butler dutifully walked over and began to dress James as he stood from his bed and removed his nightshirt.

"Oh, that's right." James sniffed, "The treasurer? From Hogwarts? I believe I was scheduled to see him today. My donation is due."

"...Not exactly." The butler said tensely, "I was informed that the treasurer is absent. There's a man that claims he was sent instead. He told me his name is Severus Snape."

James's brown eyes widened.

"Oh~?" James asked with a wicked grin, "I see….."

The butler looked uneasy and he quickly spoke, "If you don't wish to meet with him, sir, then I can tell him-"

"Oh no, Reginald." James laughed, "I wish very much to meet with Severus Snape! Hurry up and tie my cravat! I don't want to keep the potions professor waiting…….."

James was aware of Severus's position as one of the faculty members at Hogwarts.

Eileen had kept him well-informed……..

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Severus was just contemplating stealthily moving out of the parlor and creeping through the manor when he heard footsteps approaching.

Bracing himself, Severus focused his gaze on the parlor doorway as if a lion were about to charge into the room.

A moment later, James Potter strolled in, dressed in clothes that cost more than Severus earned in a month, with the same arrogant grin plastered on his handsome face that he had worn throughout their school years.

"Severus!" James smirked, greeting him as fondly as if they were old friends, "Sorry to keep you waiting! My darling wife just wouldn't let me go this morning…..."

The ridiculous statement was just a filthy fabrication but Severus didn't know that. Those untrue words that fell from James's lips were a terrible, vicious blow to Severus.

Though Severus tried to keep his expression stoic, the pain on his face was plainly visible.

Did Lily really enjoy James's bed that much?

Lily………..

No, Severus knew he had to focus on his task.

Finding his courage and reeling in his thoughts, Severus ignored James's boast. Choosing to fight back with his wits, Severus retorted, "Really?...I heard about Lady Potter's unfortunate…..condition. I hope you weren't troubling her any further."

James realized that Severus was attempting to ensnare him in his own lies and that made him angry.

James glared at Severus and Severus kept his facial expression calm as he asked, "How is Lady Potter?"

"You know…….she's gone 'round the bend, but, it is what it is." James shrugged.

"Perhaps there's some way I can help. I am the new potions master after all…..Which is a subject you always struggled in, if I remember correctly, Potter." Severus rebuked James.

James laughed, showing his white teeth as he smiled at his enemy, "I doubt there's any way you could be of assistance, Snivellous."

"Let me see Lady Potter and I'll make an assessment." Severus bargained.

Oh, if Severus could look upon his dear Lily once more…….

……..Even if it was true and she loved James and despised him.

………..Even if it was true and she was mad as a hatter.

"Lady Potter is in no condition to be seen by anyone other than me." James snarled and the animosity in his voice elicited fear from Severus.

Severus wasn't worried about his own well-being though………

"...Then give me your donation and I'll be on my way." Severus replied in his low, slow voice.

James sat down across from Severus and wrote out a check.

In one smooth motion, Severus stood, glided over to James, and snatched the check out of his rival's hand.

The butler had been lingering in the hall and as Severus walked to the parlor doorway, he found James's servant waiting to escort him out.

Before Severus left, he looked back at James and said very clearly, "Let me know if you change your mind, Potter."

"Have a safe journey back, Snivellous~." James sneered.

Severus did not press the matter any further, his investigation was complete for the time being.

Perhaps Lily really was ill and she really had fallen in love with James…….

Yes, perhaps that was true and perhaps Severus was really a hippogriff!

James's insistence on hiding Lily away meant little to him, Severus could sense it as soon as he stepped into the house……

Dark magic.

Powerful, strong, seductive, dark magic.

Lily hated dark magic.

Something was wrong in the Potter household……..

Something was very wrong, indeed.

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James held the charm that imprisoned Lily in her room and after the incident with Sirius, Lupin, and Peter, he added another that would silence any and all of her cries.

Lily could no longer scream for help from guests.

But just because she couldn't call out didn't mean that she couldn't hear.

Trapped in her room, Lily saw every carriage that came and went. Lily's green eyes had widened as she watched Severus step out of the carriage that morning.

Severus!

Her dear Severus!

To think of what a cruel thing it was, that he would be there in that horrible place and not take her with him…….

While Severus and James talked in the parlor, Lily sat with her ear pressed to the door, tears streaming down her cheeks as she listened to her lover's voice flowing through the air like the sound of elegant music.

When she heard the rustling movements and footsteps which signaled that Severus was getting ready to leave, she raced over to her window.

Grasping the heavy candelabra at her bedside, as soon as Lily saw Severus walk out of the house and towards the carriage, she attacked the glass. She knew it wouldn't shatter, but she hoped to attract Severus's attention with the noise of her onslaught.

Whack!

Whack!

Whack!

Whack!

Little Harry woke up and started crying at the noise as Lily broke the glass window over and over again, desperate to gain Severus's attention.

"WAAAAAA!"

"WAAAAAA!"

Outside, Severus noticed an odd noise and he started to turn around……..

Just as he did, James came barging into Lily's room and his eyes narrowed with rage as he saw her at the window with the candelabra.

"WWWAAAAA!"

"You vile wretch!" James shouted as he dove forward and tackled Lily out of the way, knocking her to the ground as the candelabra clattered loudly to the floor.

"WWWAAAAA!"

Severus glanced up at Lily's window, where the intrusive noise had seemed to come from, but by that time, James had Lily out of view and the glass had righted itself so Severus shrugged it off.

Outside, Lily heard the horses hooves' beat against the stone as Severus's carriage pulled away. Lily closed her eyes in defeat while James pushed her head down into the floor as Harry wailed in the background.

"WWWWAAAAA!"

"The next time I see you pull something like that, I'm going to use that candelabra on you! Do you understand?!?!" James hissed as Lily opened her eyes and scowled at him defiantly.

Harry was still wailing and James huffed in irritation, roughly letting go of Lily as he stood up

"WWWAAAAA!"

"Shut that thing up!" James commanded Lily, scowling over at Harry, "It's bloody annoying!"

Lily tried to hold onto hope, to gather her will to continue battling James…...

She had heard Severus mention that he was the new potions master at Hogwarts.

Hopefully, he would keep that position for some time…….

Hopefully, Harry wasn't a squib.

Eleven years was all Lily would have to wait.

Just eleven.

Crawling up from the floor after James stomped out of the room, Lily went over to Harry's crib and smiled down at her baby boy as his cries quieted under his mother's gaze.

Harry.

Harry may be what would free Lily from James's grasp.

Harry was Lily's last hope.

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Severus considered asking some of his wealthy friends for help, but he decided that wasn't the best place to start.

Severus had access to his own wrath, or at least, he could…..

Returning once again to his childhood home in Spinner's End, Severus found his father at work in the factory and his mother sitting across from the small fireplace in her bedroom, knitting a blanket.

"Severus, my dear." Eileen said, standing to greet her son as he entered her room, "How rare to have a visit from you! How have you been, my dear?"

Eileen's smile was fodder for Severus's love starved psyche. Instead of smiling back though, Severus looked at Eileen forlornly.

Eileen may have been a villain but she was still a mother and her smile faded as she instinctively knew what was on her son's mind.

"You aren't still on about that muggle girl, are you?" Eileen asked Severus in a voice that was much less loving than the one with which she had greeted him.

"She's muggle born mother. She's actually quite talented in magic, I'll have you know. And yes, I am still on about her. I'm in love with her and I'm frightened that she's in terrible danger." Severus confessed.

"My dear boy, she chose another over you. Why care for someone who doesn't care for you?" Eileen asked with a sigh sitting back down in her chair.

Severus cleared his throat, "If there's any way I could just speak to my grandfather, I could-"

"-Nonsense, my darling, nonsense." Eileen chided, reaching a hand out of Severus as she interrupted him.

Slowly, Severus stepped forward and clasped his mother's hand in his own.

Eileen laughed, "I love you with all my heart, my boy! I'm your mother! If you need help, I'll look into it. There's no need to trouble your grandfather with such trivial-"

"-My inheritance is not trivial." Severus said cuttingly, "I don't care what grandfather thinks of Lily, I know he supports true love, and when he sees my devotion to her, that will move him to help me."

"Listen closely, my son," Eileen said seriously, looking at Severus as she rose from her chair once more and put her hands on either side of his pale face, "I am your mother. I bore you. I raised you…. and there's nothing I would ever do to hurt you! I can help you, but if you'd like to contact your grandfather, I won't stand in your way."

Severus sighed in relief and nodded at Eileen, "Thank you, mother."

"Of course, my darling boy." Eileen smiled as she kissed Severus on the forehead and sat back down in her chair.

As soon as Severus turned his back though, Eileen scowled dangerously after him while the glow from the fireplace danced over her aging face.

Just before Severus left, Eileen slipped her wand out and gave it a flick, murmuring under her breath, "Obliviate."

The wretched spell hit Severus squarely in the back and he turned back around.

Eileen hid her wand under the blanket that she was knitting just before Severus looked at her and furrowed his brow, "Mother…...why have I come here?"

Eileen blinked innocently and she prompted her son, "You were asking why the mudblood girl chose Mr. Potter over you, remember, my darling?"

Severus looked very confused for a moment and as he thought of Lily, he asked sadly, "...Why did she?"

"I simply don't know." Eileen shrugged, trying to hide her smirk as she added, "Everyone says that she's gone mad~. Remember?"

"...Yes." Severus said after a lengthy pause, trying to understand what had happened to him.

Severus remembered that Lily had married James.

Severus remembered that she and James had a son.

Severus remembered hearing that Lily had lost her mind.

But Severus had no recollection of his visit to the Potter estate or the need for his plan to save Lily at all……..