A/N: On the eve of the British GP, I bring you all another chapter. The third chapter of the same day in universe, but rest assured, the next update will take place at the commencement of their semester. The Next chapter has been a bit tricky to write, I've written multiple drafts of it and have thrown out a bunch of them and restarted so I fear it'll be a longer than one week break between this update and the next.
Chapter 13 A Long Day's End
After their lunch they flooed back to Esmerelda's quarters, and their head of house took the two of them on a tour of the Horned Serpent wing of the castle. All of their possessions had already been sent to the common room, so they wasted no time in getting the tour underway. The Horned Serpent wing played host to a number of classrooms—namely Potions and Arithmancy, as well as all the dorm rooms and their common room. Their wing was situated near the south side of the castle, meaning most dorm rooms had a pretty spectacular view of the landscape as the mountain fell away from them. Professor Sawyer's little cottage was in direct view of The Horned Serpent wing so they had a great perspective of all the creatures he was raising in the little plots of land surrounding his humble abode. Esmerelda lead them around the wing, showing them the different classrooms that were used for Arithmancy and Potions, and also giving them a brief history lesson on the Horned Serpent House. Despite being aware of some of the history of the house, thanks to Lily's correspondence with Marlene, they listened intently to their Potions Professor, eager to soak up any knowledge that they could.
Their guided tour finished with them arriving at the entrance to the Horned Serpent Common Room. They had just gotten off a flight of stairs and were now walking along a long corridor with a very high ceiling, and archway-like stained glass windows that gave the trio a direct view of the southern part of the castle's grounds. Their destination however, laid at the end of the corridor. As they exited the staircase—which thankfully didn't move and was very much glued in place, unlike Hogwarts—Severus and Lily spotted a statue at the far end of the hall. Said statue marked the entrance to the Horned Serpent dorm room, and true to house form, the statue was a Horned Serpent. Behind the statue was a solid stone wall, but like the entrance to the Slytherin common room at Hogwarts, the wall would slide away to reveal the entrance to the common room upon the correct utterance of the password. The statue itself wasn't abnormally large, nor was it made of expensive material, but it sure was distinctive and striking to say the least. As the Professor led her two charges down the corridor towards it, Severus and Lily saw that it was made of stone dyed black, had striking blue eyes, and had a white underbelly. They stopped a few feet from the statue, prompting the stone creature to spring to life, straightening up and staring its three visitors straight in the eye.
"The statue is sentient, and will only let you pass if you utter the correct password," Esmerelda informed the group. She turned back to face the Serpent. "In this case, it is rather simple, 'Kelpie'."
The serpent bowed, and the wall behind it began to move, bricks opening to form an arched passageway through what was once a wall of solid stone that lead to the common room. "Does the serpent have a name, Professor?" Severus asked, as they stepped into the cold passageway.
A small smile curled the Professor's lip as she nodded. "Yes as a matter of fact he does. He goes by the name, Horner," she answered.
"Horner. Cool name," Lily mused.
They reached the door at the end of the hallway and opened it. They were met with an influx of muted light upon entering the room. The room they entered was large and spacious, with a litany of furniture, couches, chairs, tables and desks arrayed across the room. It was decorated with a palette of blues, whites and blacks, a lot like Horner's color scheme in many ways. The ceiling was high, probably close to twenty five feet, and a few lamps and lanterns hung from the intricate stonework above them. At the far end of the room there were two doors side by side about fifteen feet apart, presumably they lead to the dorms. The room was similar in layout to the Slytherin common room, with the high ceilings and old lamps that hung from it, yet the colors were distinctly Ravenclaw. Then again, Slytherin and Ravenclaw were the two houses most often compared to the Horned Serpent so it shouldn't have come as too much of a surprise.
"This place is huge!" Lily exclaimed, staring around the room in awe.
"It looks a lot like the—"
"Slytherin common room. Indeed it does, although I think you'll find the natural light not filtered by lake water makes it look far more inviting," Esmerelda finished.
"I found myself making the same comparison when I first stepped in here all those years ago," Esmerelda added fondly.
"Do those two doors at the end lead to our dorms Professor?" Lily asked, glancing at the far end of the room.
"Ah! Yes, I was just about to mention that. The girls dorms is through the left, and the boys is through the right. Since you two are rising fourth years, you shall find your dorms through the fourth door down the hall on both sides," Esmerelda explained. "Oh and your things have been delivered already as well, forgot to mention that."
"Thank you Professor. Um…can you tell us what time will dinner be?" Severus asked, his stomach giving a growl.
"It's usually taken at Six Forty or thereabouts. I'll be back here at Six Thirty and I'll show you the way to the Meal Hall from our wing. Oh, and it'd be best if you remained in the wing for now, just so you don't get lost. Let's leave the exploring for tomorrow, alright?"
"Yes Professor," Severus and Lily said dutifully, although Severus could detect a slight hint of mischief in Lily's falsely assuring tone. The ever-observant Severus also didn't miss the slight curl of her lip either.
Giving them a firm nod, Rosier whirled around and exited the room.
"I'm gonna go…see what my dorm is like, Lily. Do you wanna meet back here in a while?"
"Sure Sev," Lily replied. "Meet in half an hour?"
"Works for me," Severus agreed. Sharing a brief kiss, that earned them both a smile, they headed through the common room.
Severus opened the right door, gave her one last smile, and vanished through it out of sight. Lily herself headed through the left door, and was immediately faced with a corridor that expanded straight and to the left. She shut the door, and followed the hall as it turned left, and was met with the sight of fourteen doors. Seven on each side of the hall—facing one another in a pairing. There appeared to be one pair of opposite-facing doors per year from the looks of things. Lily breezed past the first three pairs of doors and arrived at the fourth pair, just as Esmerelda had instructed her. On both of the fourth year doors—were plaques, however one was blank, and the other had Lily's name written on it.
Lily Marie Evans
There appeared to be space for at least four, maybe five more names, meaning that there were perhaps eight to ten girls in Horned Serpent fourth years. She spared a brief thought wondering who her three or four roommates would be before grasping the handle and pushing open the door. It gave a slight creak as it edged open, but Lily barely paid it any mind as her attention was brought to the spacious room before her. There were four beds, one of which had a trunk at the base of it—so that one's mine the—and they were arranged in pairs, two beds along opposite walls, facing one another. To the left of each bed sat a two-tiered bedside table with a lamp and enough space for a few books and other smaller possessions; and to the right stood a tall wardrobe that looked to be made of Mahogany. On the left side of the room, past the beds was a door that presumably lead to the bathroom, she definitely planned on checking that out soon; on the right were a few desks and chairs presumably for studying, working on assignments and the like. Overall, Lily was grateful for the space, it seemed more sparsely decorated than her old dorm-room back in Gryffindor tower, but she'd trade it for the additional space any day of the week.
Lily headed over to the foot of her bed and pried open her trunk; she briefly debated the merits of unpacking now versus later, but decided on later and opted to take a shower first. Withdrawing a yellow and white summer dress, a change of undergarments, and a towel along with her set of toiletries; she moved past the four beds to the bathroom and headed on in.
Half an hour later, Lily stepped out of her new dorm room and headed down the hall back towards the common room. Despite the well-cast cleaning charm Esmerelda had used earlier to clean her blouse after she'd gotten sick, she felt much better knowing that she was no longer wearing formerly vomit-stained clothing. She smoothed out a few crinkles in her clothing and after deeming herself presentable, she entered the common room. Severus, it appeared, was waiting for her. He was sat half a room away on one of the chairs with a book propped open in his lap. He seemed so engrossed in the tome he'd hardly noticed the quiet creak of the door as it was edged open by Lily. For a moment, she stood in the doorway, admiring the way he pursed his lips, or small creases formed in his brow as he read through his book. She'd never told him this, but one of her favorite things was seeing Severus at work, or thinking over something. Seeing him concentrating had never failed to send her heart into raptures, as he applied his brilliant mind that she loved so dearly to whatever task lay in front of him.
"I see you've already made yourself comfortable then," Lily remarked, causing his head to snap up and his eyes to find her's.
He smiled. "Indeed. We have this place to ourselves the next two weeks so I figured I might as well make myself at home," he replied.
He set the book on the table as Lily crossed the room towards him, to his surprise, she sat herself down on his lap, and crossed his free arms over her. "Mmm…have I ever told you how much I love seeing you read?" She asked, snuggling back into his chest.
"You do?"
"Yeah I do," Lily replied, smiling serenely. "It just…it shows that your brilliant mind is at work, trying to get to the bottom of whatever problem it is you're facing. You just look so cute when you—"
"Excuse you!" Severus interrupted, mock-anger in his tone. "Me? Cute? Lily, are you sure apparating and taking the Portkey didn't jumble your brain and turn you into a dunderhead? I much prefer the term handsome, if you must describe my looks."
"Alright then, handsome it is," Lily laughed, the slight shaking of her frame sent pleasant vibrations through Severus in turn.
"So what do you want to do now? Up for a bit of exploring?"
"Nah…we already explored the entire wing this afternoon. I say we just stay put and relax a bit. It's been a long day."
"I know we've explored the wing Sev…" Lily said slowly, her back still to his chest so he couldn't see her smirk. "But what about exploring beyond the wing, like we did back at Hogwarts."
"No," Severus said firmly. She could feel his shaking head even. "No, that's not a good idea, and you can't convince me otherwise. Do you really want to risk invoking Esmerelda's, or even worse, Maxwell's ire this early into our time here?"
"Well of course I don't plan on getting caught," Lily said indignantly, huffing in exasperation. "I just thought it'd be—"
"Let me tell you why this plan is foolish and ill thought. One, they know the castle far better than we do, they'll probably be able to find us quite easily if they realized we left the wing. Two, we might get lost ourselves and even if they never notice we leave, we won't be back here in time for Esmerelda to bring us to the Meal Hall at Six-Thirty. Three, we don't know what hazards and quirks this castle has so I wouldn't want to risk discovering any of its nastier features the hard way. If you gave me more time I could rattle off more reasons for you, but that is just a brief summary as to why it's a poor idea to go exploring now."
"Did you have that rehearsed?" Lily teased, her brow raised in apparent amusement.
"Yes I did, as a matter of fact," Severus said pompously. Lily stood from his lap and turned to face him with her hands on her hips. "Ever since you had that little smirk when Professor Rosier told us to stay in the wing, I knew you were up to something."
Lily gave a long suffering sigh, but from that alone, Severus knew he'd won. "Alright fine we can stay, but what do you wanna do now then?"
Severus nodded over at a table a short distance away, on top of it rested a chess board. "You up for a game of wizard's chess?"
Lily didn't even bother deigning him with a verbal reply, she gamely reached for his wrist and tugged him to his feet. "You're on Sev."
In the end, they played three games, Severus had won the first in fairly convincing fashion, with Lily claiming the second in a closely-contested battle to pull even with him, the last had gone down to the wire, with Severus just able to eke out the win with his rook, knight and two pawns to Lily's pawn and bishop. Lily challenged him for a fourth match, desperately eager to have a chance to match him but a quick glance at the clock told her there would be no time, it was Six Twenty-Five after all. They quickly packed away the chess set just as the wall slid open to reveal Professor Rosier.
"Hello Professor," Lily greeted, scrambling to her feet.
"Evenin' Professor," Severus added.
"I see you two have been enjoying yourselves with a bit of chess," the professor remarked, eyeing the discarded tome and the chess set between them.
"Well we most certainly didn't go out exploring professor, so we had to find something fun to do," Lily chuckled.
"If you're as hungry as I am, then you had better follow me," was all the professor said to that. Rising to their feet, Severus and Lily followed Rosier from their common room. Merlin knew they were starved—Lily particularly so after throwing up her breakfast upon arrival, and given the excellence of Hogwarts' food, they were eager to compare how the American school's fare stacked up in comparison. They followed their professor with smiles on their faces and rumbling stomaches.
As expected, the dinner was just as good as what they ate across the pond and they were delighted to see an array of cuisines available for them to choose. There was a wide selection of western dishes hailing from all across the North America and Europe, complemented by some East Asian food which had been on the rise in popularity in America in recent years. Severus and Lily for the most part kept to themselves although they politely greeted the few Professors that lived at the school over the break. Eating in the massive meal hall at a small table with five professors was strangely intimate for Severus—having been reminded of what it was like eating in the Great Hall back at Hogwarts with the Professors over Christmas Break. Out of all the Professors aside from Rosier, Professor Wainwright, the Herbology Professor seemed to be the nicest and remained most engaged with the two of them. Severus in particular was quite talented at Herbology, and Lily was delighted to see him strike up some conversation with the Professor.
When Dinner finished, they headed back to their common room with Professor Rosier showing them the way just in case, she didn't want them getting lost after all. When they arrived at the statue of Horner, the Horned Serpent greeted them with a barely-visible grin, baring his stony teeth in an expression Lily found endearing. The Professor bade the two goodnight and swept away back to her own office on the other side of the wing. Now that the light shining through the window was dimmed—the glow of the moon through a low-hanging ceiling of clouds being the only source; the lamps on the wall that Lily and Severus knew were dormant had ignited to life and gave the massive room a warm, toasty feeling. Holding hands, Severus and Lily headed for the nearest cluster of sofas and sank down onto the plushest one they could find.
"Now that really hit the spot," Lily chuckled, sprawling out onto the sofa like a cat.
"Not quite as nice as Hogwarts' but yes…it was good," Severus agreed.
"Y'know Sev…I have high hopes for this school. From what I've read there isn't really so much of a house rivalry over here, the four houses kinda get along quite well from what Marlene's told me. I hope things work out better here."
"I hope so too. But there's something I've been meaning to ask you, Lily." Severus looked conflicted, almost nervous and it was a stark reminder of what he'd been like months and years ago, earlier on in their friendship. "It's been…bugging me for a while," he confessed.
"Is it something serious?" Lily asked, her almond-shaped eyes softened in concern.
He laughed, shaking his head, but he seemed devoid of humor. At least his nervousness and apprehension over whatever it was he intended to ask her was abating. "No, Lily. I…It's not that serious. It's just that…well I want to know why you wrote here…asking for us to be admitted."
The smile that bloomed on her face warmed his heart, as did the feeling of her warm fingers on his. "It's quite obvious isn't it Sev? I love you. Even before I grew to…love you like I do now, I loved you as a friend before that," she spoke, her voice soft, yet assured as if it were the most simple thing in the world.
"I know that, and I…I am grateful for it. But your other friends…why did you leave…when you could have had them?"
"You know Sev, family means everything to an Evans, I really, truly mean that. Nothing beats family," Lily explained. Expelling a sigh, she leaned back against the armrest. "You are family to me, and not as a brother I mean and friends…" her voice trailed off, Severus could detect a sense of wistfulness in her tone. "Friends come and go, but family stays forever, and I know your time at Hogwarts hadn't been the greatest, so—"
"That's an understatement if I've ever heard one," Severus said, snorting loudly.
"Yeah, but you get my point. I mean…I know what they've done to you…those evil boys, Black and Potter especially, they were cruel and should've been kicked out of school," Lily said firmly. Her eyes were harsh, like hardened emeralds. "That and I could sense we were growing apart. Little by little you were changing, you weren't my—my Sev anymore," she added, her tone softening and growing despondent.
She glanced up from her lap and met his gaze, the vulnerability that Severus could see, eyes darkening by the second shattered his heart. "You were becoming…becoming more like them, Sev! Like your roommates and I—" her voice caught and Severus swiftly shuffled across the couch to envelop her in a hug. "I didn't want to lose you—" she choked out, burying her cold nose in his shoulder. "You were—are, my best friend. I loved you and it was painful, seeing you hurt…and changing, you were—you were becoming less like the Sev I once knew each and every day. Your roommates Sev…they're evil just like Potter and Black and it seemed—it seemed as if you were changing, to be more like them, and I had to stop it!" She sniffled, clutching at his shirt with fists so tight she almost ripped the fabric.
"But I'm still here Lily," Severus said softly, his chin resting atop her curls, "I'm still here and I'll always be here. You'll always have me," he reassured, wrapping his arms around her in turn.
She laughed slightly, and Severus felt much better hearing her. "I know Sev. But for a time…I was worried. I didn't want to lose you, not when I love you so much."
She slipped through his arms and pulled back from his soothing embrace. Quickly, she wiped her wrists once—then twice over her eyes and nose. "I decided to—to write that letter, because—because I love you Sev, and one day…one day I hope we'll really be family, but I already view you as family and you are! You're an Evans in all but name, and as I said—" she paused, her smile growing by degrees that warmed his wounded heart in lieu of her misery. "—I'd do anything for family."
He smiled slightly in turn, not a big toothy grin, but something far more genuine. "I'd do anything for you too, Lily."
"I know Sev. I know," she replied softly.
Like a cat on the prowl, she lazily hoisted herself onto his lap, sitting astride him. Her hands rose to his thick, midnight-black locks, threading her fingers through the strands.
"You want something?" Severus asked, his brow raised.
Despite herself, she laughed, full laughter that shook her entire frame.
"Oh yes I do, Severus Snape, I do want something indeed," she said at long last, once she'd recovered from her bought of laughter.
"And what is it you want?" Severus asked, looking up at her, his arms wrapping around her waist protectively.
"You."
She sank onto his lap and her lips found his. It was a sensation that never grew old, and he'd be lying if he said he wanted it to. This time however, this kiss seemed different. Lily's lips moved against his with greater urgency, with a greater sense of need, he could practically feel her passion through his fingertips, and boy was it scorching. Her hands left his hair and moved to his shoulders—playing with his collar aimlessly, bracing herself against him. Severus was so distracted by the kiss, by the heavenly feeling of Lily's soft lips caressing his like a pillowy cloud, he hadn't noticed her dainty fingers moving to his shirt buttons. She'd undone five buttons and was setting to work on the sixth when Severus realized what was going on and with a sharp yelp, he broke the kiss. His hands, which had previously found a home on her waist, holding her against him and tracing lazy circles over her skin through her dress—he grabbed her almost painfully and pushed her off of him with surprising force.
"Severus what the fuck?" Lily yelped, falling off of him onto the seat. She was glaring daggers at him, eyes boring so deeply—deeper than his father's belt had ever dug. "What the fuck was that?"
He flinched, eyes falling in shame as his hands worked of their own-accord to undo Lily's work. "S—sorry, I—I didn't mean, I never meant to—"
"Well you did Severus," Lily growled, "you shoved me. Now why the hell did you do that?"
"I—It's not important, I just didn't feel…ready—was surprised, is all. I honestly didn't mean to—"
Her hands on his wrist cut him off mid-sentence. She had been angry, her fury had bubbled to the surface the instant Severus had shoved her off his lap—shoved her away from him once he'd realized what she was doing. Her eyes were harsh—her glare as fierce as ever, but now…all that anger had gone, evaporated as if it was nothing but a puddle of water on hot Summer's day. Her hand—surprisingly strong, pried his away from his half-unbuttoned shirt and she couldn't help but gasp at what she'd found. Severus pushed her hand away and quickly resumed buttoning up his last few buttons—glaring at her as he did so.
"Sev can I see?" Lily asked quietly.
She made no move towards his buttons, but the fearful look he sent her way told her all she needed to know. "No. No…I—I'm going to go to sleep." He got to his feet awfully quickly, one of his hands ghosting over his buttons subconsciously to see that they were all buttoned.
"I'm sorry, I—it's been a long day. g'night Lily," Severus whispered, he stood from the couch and left the room without another word, vanishing through the door that lead to the row of boys' dorms.
Lily shut her eyes, sighed, then groaned, all in the space of five seconds. "Oh Sev…what has he done to you?"
Severus was gone, having run off to his dorm and it was all her fault. It had seemed so natural, like the next step in their relationship and she'd just…gotten to work unbuttoning his shirt, until he shoved her off of him. At the time, she was confused, and angry as well, why would he have reacted that way? Why on earth had he shoved her? He'd never done those things before…but when she'd caught a brief glimpse of what lay beneath his buttoned shirt, and saw that angry red and black circle on his chest, all that anger she felt towards Severus disappeared into the night. A mark like that, it was a burn mark, and it must've been deliberate…and she could think of only one person that would've done something like that, that would have hurt, rather, burned Severus so deliberately. Tobias Fucking Snape. Her anger, that had disappeared as fast as it had come on, reared its ugly head again; although this time, it wasn't directed at Severus, Tobias Snape was the target of her ire.
She silently seethed, images flashing before her mind's eye of Tobias beating his son for no good reason. She'd known for quite some time that Tobias was physically as well as emotionally abusive, the signs had been there, Severus' aversion to physical contact, Lily's attempts at getting him to open up and tell her about his home life, not to mention his unfounded fear of her parents the first few times she'd brought him home for lunch or dinner or just to hang out. Severus had gotten over most of those fears in recent months once they'd begun their relationship in the Winter. He was more open about what he'd experienced at home, confirming her suspicions, he was also more open around her parents and was a lot more comfortable interacting with them, he loved her parents and was at ease with them. He'd even seemed to be moving past his aversion to physical contact and was comfortable initiating hugs and kisses a lot more now.
Lily would be lying if she said she hadn't thought about advancing their relationship a little more, seeing just what Severus had beneath his robes. Frankly, she wanted to move beyond just gentle kissing and light petting, she'd hoped he'd be open to it to given that he'd become so much more accepting of physical contact in recent months. Boy, was she wrong. The moment he realized what she was doing he was pushing away from her and pulling in on himself just like he used to all those months and years ago. Her eyes had never left his, green held black for what seemed like an eternity as she kissed him, and her hands worked of their own accord, she never saw what had caused Severus' reaction, but when he was re-buttoning his shirt, she'd gotten a good glimpse of his scarred chest. What looked like lashings and a burn mark, were indelibly implanted in her mind; the sight of his scarred chest, angry red lines standing out against his pale skin hit her like a freight-train and her anger she'd felt simply vanished.
Groaning loudly into the emptiness of the room, the callousness of her actions finally washed over her. She realized that Severus had likely never shown anyone his scars, he was far too ashamed of them, ashamed of admitting weakness and showing anyone—even her, that there were times he was weak and at the complete mercy of his father, or the Marauders. Sighing, she plucked up her courage and decided to go after him, he was due an apology after all, and she was due an explanation. She stood from the couch, unruffled her dress and went after him into the boy's dorms. She found the door to his dorm, fourth down the hall just like hers, taking a deep breath, she knocked lightly on the wood.
She could've sworn she heard a gasp of surprise behind the door, but it was quickly followed by a "come in, Lily."
She quietly pushed open the door and stepped into the room. The layout was just like her own dorm, two of the four beds along opposite walls with a study section on one end of the room and a a door to the bathroom on the other. Severus was sitting upright in his bed, a book propped open in his lap when her eyes found his.
"Yeah Lily?" He asked quietly, glancing back down at his book.
She awkwardly cleared her throat and walked over to his bed. "May I sit?" She asked, gesturing to the foot of his bed.
Severus merely nodded.
Murmuring her thanks, Lily sat, her legs hung off the side of the bed and her hands were clasped in her lap. "Sev I—um…I'd like to apologize. What I tried to do…earlier, I—it wasn't right. And I never meant to—to make you uncomfortable, or hurt you, or do anything like that. I just…I thought you'd be open to it. I'm sorry."
Sighing softly, Severus set his book aside on his bed-side table. He seemed conflicted—his eyes at least reflected that to Lily. "It's fine," he said quietly. To her shock, he seemed pained admitting it—he almost seemed angry even, she hoped it wasn't directed at himself. "I—I just don't think we should go there. Not—not yet, at least."
Inhaling deeply, filling herself with courage, she decided to broach the gap Severus usually tried to pull away from. But she wanted him to know she understood, and that her understanding, her knowledge of what lay beneath, didn't alter her perception of him in the slightest. "It's your father isn't it?" Severus' sharp intake of breath and his narrowed black eyes snapping onto her's shored up her already concrete knowledge of the origins of his wounds. "They don't matter to me Sev. Not at all. And if—if you don't want to show me them…not now at least, that's perfectly fine and I won't p-pressure you,. I just want you to know that I won't think different of you for it, should you eventually decide you want to show me…them. I'm sorry for prying earlier, and doing that without—without asking, it's my fault and I shouldn't have done that," she said morosely.
His gaze had softened—slightly, but his eyes still remained untrusting. For a long moment, he remained silent, his eyes blankly staring at her's before moving to the quilt under upon which he sat. "It's difficult," he said quietly. "I…don't want to talk about it."
Lily nodded understandingly, she reached out for his hand, only going half-way to gauge his response. He met her in the middle and they both gave a gentle squeeze of each other's fingers. "I understand, Severus. And I really am sorry for what I…tried to do earlier. I swear on my honor as a Horned Serpent that it won't happen again." She was as solemn and as sincere as could be.
"Alright Lily, I accept your apology. And I'm sorry for—for shoving you off me earlier. I was just…surprised, I never meant to do that."
"Apology accepted as well Sev."
"Say…instead of hanging around in here, do you wanna come back out with me? I saw a record player in the common room so…d'you wanna dance?"
"Muggle electronics work here?" Severus asked, his brows knitted confusedly.
"Yeah!" Lily exclaimed, she seemed barely able to keep the excitement she felt from overtaking her. "Marlene told me about it, I guess I'd forgotten to mention it. I even brought a few records along!"
"Oh god no, please tell me you didn't. Not your records, anything but that!" Severus groaned, his head falling into his hands as his hair fell around his face in a thick curtain.
"Oh I most certainly have Severus!" She kicked aside the quilt and dragged him to his feet. "Come on, this'll be fun!" She was practically marching him out the door back towards the common room with Severus stubbornly resisting her every step of the way.
Severus sighed tiredly, his head hung low in defeat as Lily shepherded him from the dorm back into the common room, walking as if she'd had springs put in the soles of her shoes.
"Wait right here, I'll be right back," she said, before dashing through the door that lead to her own dorm.
Severus spotted the record player in the corner of the room, just sitting there and collecting dust. For a brief moment debated the merits of destroying the machine with a well-placed blasting hex. A Bombarda ought to work quite well, but then I'd have to deal with Lily's ire afterwards…no thanks. Sighing, he pocketed his wand and sank down onto one of the sofas. Not a moment later, Lily had burst out of the door to the girl's dorms, holding a record in her hand, and wearing a triumphant smile as she approached him. Severus caught a glimpse of the record in her hand, and groaned half-heartedly upon seeing what she was carrying. As she swept past him, she gave him a cheeky grin and a wink, before prancing over to the record player. She took her record out from the sleeve, and set it down on the player. Ensuring it was in properly, she dropped the needle and her music began to play.
"On your feet Sev!" Lily barked, in a manner that was awfully reminiscent of a drill sergeant at a boot camp. She reached for his hand to haul him to his feet, but stubbornly, he resisted.
"No."
"Don't be such a spoilsport, I said get up!" She insisted, tugging with greater force.
"And I said no," Severus retorted, yanking his hand out of her grasp.
"Fine then! Be that way, be a spoilsport then!" Lily said, sticking her tongue out at him childishly.
The first track on her Dion album, Runaround Sue, blared out into the large room, aided by powerful speakers on either flank of the player. To Severus' amusement, Lily began to dance, and Merlin was she awful, yet he found it strangely endearing watching her move devoid of any grace or talent. She danced as if no one was watching—which would've been entirely true if Severus hadn't been there. He tuned out the song playing in the background—it was nothing but a minor detail, all his senses were instead attuned to Lily and her terrible dancing skills. As he watched her, dancing about without a care in the world, throughly losing herself in that insufferable Dion Album, a thought struck him hard, embedding itself deep within his consciousness and refusing to leave.
Unlike Lily, his red-haired angel, he never had a chance to be carefree, to be young.
Growing up in the Snape household meant growing up fast. Even before his magic had started surfacing and he was just a normal child with no distinguishing features save for his oversized honker, Severus had been subjected to a strict regimen by his father. Tobias had acted as a normal father in those days, strict of course, but never crossing the line that demarcated abuse. He would wake early, before six and begin his chores, working for at least four to six hours of the waking day around the house and spending another six studying. He was homeschooled in his early days, missing out on Kindergarten but attending Cokeworth primary from five years old onwards. Everything he did was regimented, every time he did something his father was always there, waiting for him to slip up. He never had a chance to simply relax, or let his hair down, even, the only times he could afford to do that was when he was with Lily. At home, with his father, or at Hogwarts with his Housemates or with the marauders breathing down his back, he'd always been strung as tightly as a spring; but with Lily…he could relax. He could be free.
It was one of the things he loved about her, her love of life and carefree nature, her ability to simply exude joy and cheer, he'd never felt as light, nor as happy until he met her. Maybe…maybe now I can finally be free. From it all. She's given me that. It was an interesting idea, being young and pretending the world didn't exist, pretending there was no dark lord on the horizon, nor was there a shroud of darkness surrounding him now, there was only light. It was up to him whether to embrace it or not, but the light now outshone the dark, the light from his ever-radiant Lily. In a life of darkness, he'd given her a window into what it was like to be young, and to be free; he could experience those things now too if he really wished to, but he'd grown up far too quickly out of necessity to properly enjoy them. He felt old, and it felt wrong to act so…youthful and full-of-life as Lily did, he felt as if his time for youth, and blissful ignorance of the world around him had passed him by. She must've noticed his staring since she'd stopped dancing, her hands were on her hips as she gazed at him scrutinizingly, The Wanderer played in the background.
"Is everything alright Sev? You're staring." Lily said, flicking her wand at the record player to pause the music.
"Hmm?" He sounded like he'd hardly heard what she said at all. He must've been super deep in thought then. "Yeah…yeah everything's fine. Just thinking, is all."
"I think there's more to it than that Severus," Lily said lightly, almost smiling. His lip almost curled at the sheer sense of knowingness in her tone, she knew him too damn well.
"Everything's fine, but I'm just a bit tired, I think I'm going to head to bed. For real, this time," Severus said quietly, standing up from the couch. "Feel free to carry on dancing, Lily, if that's what you want," he said over his shoulder as he left the room.
"Alright Sev, see you tomorrow then. I love you."
He'd just reached the door leading to the boys' dorms as her words reached him. Looking over his shoulder, he smiled. "I love you too, Lily."
She wasn't in the mood to dance now, now that Sev was no longer here, so she sank down onto the sofa and jabbed her wand at the record player. The Wanderer started back up again and Lily sighed contentedly, sinking into the pillows. For now, she was content just to listen to her tunes; much to Severus' chagrin, her mother's obsession with Dion had passed on to her. This must've been at least the twentieth time Sev's listened to it. No wonder he left early, Lily mused, chuckling to herself at the thought. She hardly noticed her eyelids growing heavy, nor the gradual shut-down of her brain as sleep came upon her swiftly. She didn't even have the time to turn the music off.
A/N2: JSYK, the song choice Runaround Sue was not a motif for Lily or anything of the sort, she won't be cheating on Severus or doing anything like that lol. Lily is not, and shall not be a scarlet woman, that's just me projecting some of my love for early 60's music onto her. Also I may or may not have snuck in a little easter egg towards the beginning of the chapter in regard to the statue at the entrance to their common room. Who knows what I'm talking about? If you do, please comment, I'd like to hear your thoughts. Thanks for reading and hopefully I can get the next chapter out within a week or so.