Albus Dumbledore stopped dead in the middle of the corridor, in the midst of the crowd, when he recognized the tall, hooded figure standing at the griff statue, waiting for him patiently. The people surrounding the dark wizard were teachers as well as students, with their wands out, pointing at him, though none of them seemed truly ready to attack him. They rather looked scared to death.

"Ah, professor," Voldemort hissed with a sly smile when he saw the headmaster approaching, and he lingered on the s's a little longer. "Please, be so kind and tell your colleagues and students to lower their wands. I am not here to kill. At least not them." And he curled his lips into a cold smile.

"And who are you here to kill, then, Tom?"

Voldemort clicked his tongue impatiently.

"Why, Lily Potter, of course."

Several Gryffindor students gasped. They were now looking at Dumbledore with a plea in their eyes.

"Are you certain, Tom, that I will just give you Lily Potter, let you kill her and then send you on your way?"

"Yes."

"No, Tom."

Albus's eyes were prickly and ice-cold. He, too, drew out his wand.

Voldemort laughed. "Don't be foolish, professor. You don't want me to harm any of your loyal friends. And you surely don't want me to kill your Potions Master, either, do you, Dumbledore?"

This time, it was the Slytherins who gasped and looked at Dumbledore with the very same plea in their eyes.

"Are you saying you are holding Severus Snape hostage?" Albus asked calmly.

"And punishing him with the Cruciatus curse for disrespecting his own House and me, yes," said Voldemort and his red eyes glinted with malevolence.

Everybody fell silent. Teachers were looking at one another, sharing concerned glances. None of them exactly liked Snape, that much was clear, but the idea of him being tortured with Cruciatus had truly crossed the line of every scenario they'd ever wished for Severus to find himself in.

"You have three hours. When I return, I will return with an army. And don't make me remind you, Dumbledore, of what my army consists of… If Lily Potter doesn't stand in front of the gate, ready to die, I will kill all men, women and children alike, and I will bring this whole castle to the ground. I hope I made myself clear. Three hours, Dumbledore. Not a minute longer."

xxx

"Alohomora," she muttered and slipped into the gap between the door and the doorframe. It was about ten o'clock in the evening, all was quiet and dark.

She found Severus lying on his side, with knees drawn close to his chest. His eyes were closed.

"Sev? Are you awake?" she whispered at him, careful not to wake him up in case he wasn't.

It was no surprise for her when he nodded and sat up, waiting for her to approach him.

Severus inspected her pale face, illuminated only by the moonlight, and then wheezed a question out of himself:

"Are you all right?"

"Yes, Sev, I'm fine. And you?"

He nodded. He looked at her with solemn eyes. "About earlier…" he began but stopped himself right there.

"Yes?"

Severus shook his head. Apparently, he was in a fight with himself. And then, all of a sudden, he pointed at a spot on her cardigan.

Lily looked there, following his finger, but she had no idea what it was about.

His hand slithered into the cardigan, where her wand was, undeniably reaching for it.

Lily caught his hand promptly. "The nurse said no wands..."

Severus's eyes pierced into hers with certain impatience and reproach. Lily nodded at him and said:

"All right, I know you wouldn't hurt me, sane or insane. Here you go, Sev."

She offered him the wand and he took it. Then, he straightened himself (while hissing in pain) and made a circular movement above his head...

A silver doe, bright as day, shot out of the tip of the wand, walking weightlessly through the room and its walls. Lily's mouth went wide open.

"But that's... That's my patronus!"

His lips twitched upwards. He nodded in agreement.

"How can you cast my patronus?"

He left the question unanswered.

"Sev…?" she said, shaking him gently, but his eyes were fully focused on the silver animal. He refused to give her any more information without her thinking about it first, much like when they were kids doing homework together. He would never just give her the solution, only hints, and then he would always wait till she figured it out herself.

She turned towards the doe, following it with her eyes wide.

"One person can only cast one type of patronus - that much is clear. It is impossible to cast somebody else's. Which means that you've let me influence your magic in quite a profound way… Which means…"

When she turned back to face him, her eyes were welling with tears.

"Severus... This is so much more than any words… It… It goes way beyond 'I love you.'."

She noticed how he was shrinking uncomfortably in the bed. With a gentle thud, she pulled him towards her, hugging him tightly. Then she placed one hand on Severus's - the one holding the wand. A surge of love overpowered her senses. She could feel the love running through his body, affecting his magic and his heart beating furiously against his chest. She could feel the happy memory he was using through his wand. It was a memory of… her.

"Expecto Patronum," she said softly, her fingers wrapped around his. The doe now became so bright they could barely see anything in the room. Lily's heart was bursting with emotion. Still holding Severus close to her chest, she changed her usual happy memory to the very moment she was in right now and the doe grew so bright that it shone through the stone walls, through the ceiling and through the floor in all possible directions.

She could feel how his happy memory changed as well, matching the present moment, too. They were now sitting in each other's arms, thinking of the same present moment, casting the same patronus with the same wand. The magic around them grew so strong that they heard the walls crack.

A nurse banged the door open just a few seconds later, but stopped dead at the sight. Completely perplexed and speechless, she watched the doe take a few more leaps.

"W-wow," the nurse breathed out. "I-I said no wands."

Lily's green eyes glinted with glee when she met the nurse's eyes. Even Severus seemed to be smiling now, although he did seem particularly exhausted from producing so much magic in such a weakened state.

Lily looked at the dark circles under his eyes. "The nurse is right. You need to rest. I'll be on my way."

She got up from the bed and put on her cloak. "I am sorry for sneaking in like that," she told the nurse.

The nurse sighed in defeat. "It did do wonders for him, though. Maybe… Maybe you could stay for the night."

Lily stared at her wide-eyed. "But won't the doctor mind?"

"Doctor Jills doesn't need to know if you don't tell him."

Lily nodded with a smile. "All right. I'll stay."

"Good. But DO make sure Mr Snape gets his eight hours of sleep."

"Severus won't fall asleep without a sleeping potion."

"We have plenty of it," said the nurse and left.

"Did she say Jills?"

Severus nodded. "Kristen Jills inherited her incredible talent for potions from her father."

"Incredible, you say? Then why did you never say anything nice to her in your classes?"

Severus shook his head. "She… Reminds me of you too much."

"Yes, I get that, but why - "

He shushed her with his finger. "Don't try to understand me, Lily."

His finger was now touching her mischievous smile. But before she could say anything, they heard a tapping sound.

"W-what was that?"

Lily drew out her wand. The tapping got louder. It was coming from the window. Severus slythered under the window and made a quick movement with his hand, pulling the curtains open in an abrupt manner.

He let out a ragged sigh and blushed in embarrassment when he realized he was looking at an owl. He opened the window and let the animal in. It flew straight towards Lily.

"Hi there," Lily whispered surprisedly, but not without a smile, and took the letter.

If anyone can find you, it is this owl - say hi to Higgs.

No other explanation.

"Say hi to Higgs?" Lily blinked in confusion but decided to obey. Turning towards the owl again, she said: "Hi, Higgs."

The owl opened his beak to reveal yet another object - a tiny ball. He spat the ball onto Lily's palm and it unfolded into yet another letter.

Pardon me for this much caution.

Lord Voldemort has just visited our school and threatened to bring it to the ground if we don't give him what he wants - and that is you. Now, I truly don't have any intention of doing that. Therefore, we are evacuating. If Voldemort wants to give any orders inside the castle, he will have to do it without us.

New Hogwarts will be ready in no time, although the plans for this scenario are centuries old. Meet me at our usual place, you-know-where.

The bad news is: He has Severus. It might already be too late.

The good news is: Our Slytherin students have agreed to evacuate, as well. At least the majority of them. Also, a lot of them are wearing new badges on their robes with a certain - quite weird - animal.

Come as quickly as you can.

Albus

Severus, who had been peeking over Lily's shoulder the whole time, twisted his lips into a smirk.

"No sleep for me tonight, then."

A few minutes later, the nurse walked in with a large bottle in her hands.

She blinked in confusion.

They were gone.