Chapter 7: Expecto Patronum
Severus I
1976
"No no no no no…." Severus couldn't remember when he was. He had been trapped in the white void, his inner potions lab in ruins, since the last time he'd been put to sleep, which was… eventually. "No no no no no, when is it, when is it?"
"I don't know," Professor Snape said calmly. He had rested his hands on Severus's shoulders. "Severus, listen to me. You can make it. We can make it."
"Everything's everything," Severus blubbered. "It's too much…. I can't… I can't, I can't, I can't do it, take it all out!"
"You know I can't."
"Who am I?" Severus's breathing grew heavy. "Am I me?"
"Listen to me," Professor Snape said. "Look at me. Who am I?"
Severus looked up at the disheveled man, his sallow skin and yellow teeth. "The professor."
"I am the professor."
"You are the professor."
"And who are you?"
Severus shook his head and went to crouch down, but Professor Snape gripped his arms and kept him standing.
"Who are you?"
"I don't know!"
"If I'm the professor, who are you?"
Severus took a few short breaths. "I'm the student."
"You're the student."
"I'm the student. I'm the student. I'm the student." Severus's voice broke as he repeated himself. Eventually, he stopped shaking. "But… I'm more you than me."
"No," Professor Snape said. "You will always be you."
"I am me." Severus took a few steady breaths. "I… I can't… I don't want to wake up."
Professor Snape was silent.
"I," Severus continued, "I… it keeps happening, professor…. It's the same thing, over and over again. I can't wake up."
"We have to," Professor Snape said. "You will never heal if you remain in here."
"No," Severus said, shaking his head. "I'm not going back out there. Take my body, but don't make me go back out." His eyes were fixed on the white ground, and his eyes were too dry to well up.
Professor Snape… pulled Severus into a hug. Severus shook like a leaf as his older self said softly, "I won't. I will not now, nor will I ever, deprive you of your life. I will help you through this. You will prevail. But I need you to trust me."
"What do I do?" Severus barely had a voice left. "What do I do?"
"Close your eyes."
Severus did as he was told, and he felt Professor Snape let go of him.
"Do you know the form of your Patronus?"
"A doe," Severus answered. "Lily's doe."
"And when did you first discover it?"
Severus was silent. "... the evening I defected from… him."
"And it led us to Dumbledore, yes?"
Severus nodded.
"What memory did you think of?"
"It was-"
"Don't say it out loud. Think of it once more. And when it's in your mind, open your eyes."
Severus nodded, calming himself down as he began to think back to that night. The night when he chose Lily over the Death Eaters, over the Dark Lord. The memory that brought him back from the Dark….
Severus was running along the green riverbank to the spot, their spot. In one hand, he held two sticks, and in the other, he held a crumpled piece of paper that he'd drawn on. He'd copied something down from one of his mum's old schoolbooks, something called the Patronus Charm. He'd barely had time to read through it, but it seemed simple enough to teach Lily.
He spotted her lying beneath the trees at their spot. She looked as though she was sleeping, her dark red hair sprawled out along the ground and her hands folded and resting on her chest. She looked like a princess out of a storybook, or so Severus had heard. He wasn't too familiar with Muggle fairy tales… or any fairy tales, for that matter, but he knew a princess when he saw one… probably.
He quietly went to lay down next to her, but as he sat down, Lily's eyes flew open, and she looked at him with a toothy grin. "Finally!"
Severus gave her a small smile, and he asked, "Did you wait long?"
"Forever!" Lily sprawled her arms and legs out to exaggerate. "So, what's that in your hand?"
"Oh." Severus set the sticks down and uncrumpled the paper. "This is something called the Patronus Charm."
"Patronus?"
"It's used to fight dementors." Severus noticed Lily's body stiffen at the word.
"Wait… why would you have to fight them? Don't they stay at Azkaban?"
"Sometimes they come out to hunt-"
"Severus!" Lily shrunk back, her face curling into a frown as tears welled up. "You didn't tell me they could leave!"
Severus froze. "Wait, no no, Lily, it's alright, they wouldn't go after you-"
"But what if they did?!" Lily was crying. Lily was crying….
"Look, Lily, look!" Severus pointed to what he'd drawn on the paper: a spiraling motion. "This is the spell you use to protect yourself! I know the incantation!"
"You do?" Lily sniffled. "You promise?"
"I promise!" Severus showed her the word written next to the picture. "See, look. Expecto Patronum."
Lily wiped her eyes and sniffed as she looked at it. "Isn't it Patronus?"
"What?"
"It's the Patronus Charm, not the Expecto Patronum Charm."
Severus snorted, and Lily turned to him, her face reddening as her face scrunched up more, tears continuing to flow down.
Severus quickly said, "Sorry, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have laughed! It's complicated…. Here, I brought us some wands!" He grabbed one of the sticks he'd found along the riverbank. "Here's yours."
Lily looked at it. "It's just a stick," she choked out.
"I know," Severus said. "But we'll get our wands later. This is practice."
"Practice?"
"Yeah, every witch and wizard has to practice. Here, let me show you the movement." Severus picked up his own stick, and he performed the wand movement very slowly as he laid on his back. "Copy me."
Lily sniffed and did as he said. She slowly and gently did the same circular motion as Severus. It felt like ages, just the two of them doing the same thing over and over, but Severus didn't mind. He noticed she wasn't crying anymore, but her eyes were still puffy, and her cheeks were stained with tears.
After some time had passed, Lily asked, "Now what?"
"Right," Severus said. "You have to think of a good memory."
"A good memory?"
"The best memory." Severus looked back up at the branches above. "You have to feel the way you felt when you felt it."
"Okay." Lily went silent as she continued the repetitive motion.
Severus looked over and saw her brow was furrowed, focusing on performing the spell. He stopped himself from smiling. "Are you feeling it?"
"Not yet. I don't know what to choose."
"What about…." Severus paused. "... is there something that makes you happier than anything else?"
"Not a memory?"
"Well… remember that thing. Think of the best memory with that thing in mind."
"Alright." Lily smiled softly as she continued. "I've got it!"
"Now, repeat the incantation: Expecto Patronum!"
"Expecto Patronum!" Lily stabbed the air with her wand, giggling.
"Careful! You'll poke that poor dementor's eye out!"
Lily continued giggling. "Good! That'll show him not to mess with an Evans!"
"Come on! Let's get 'em!" Severus pounced up, wand and paper in hand, and he gestured for Lily to follow him.
Lily hopped up as well, brandishing her wand, and the two of them started running up and down the river, casting spells at the invisible dementors, driving them away from Cokeworth.
"Expecto Patronum!"
"Expecto Patronum!"
"Expecto Patronum!"
"Expecto Patronum!"
"Expecto Patronum!"
After a few hours of running around, Severus and Lily collapsed back at their spot, wands in hands. Lily continued to draw the same shape through the air, whispering to herself, "Expecto Patronum!"
"What did you think of?"
Lily turned her head. "What do you mean?"
"When you're casting the spell… what are you thinking about?"
Lily shrugged. "Anything with you in it." She gave him a small smile.
Severus's little heart skipped a beat. "Oh."
"What about you?"
Severus felt himself blush. "Well…."
"Are you alright? Your face is red."
"Is it?"
"I think you might have a heat stroke."
"What's that?"
"... I dunno, Dad tells me I'll get it when it's too hot out."
"If it's a Muggle thing, shouldn't you know it?"
"Not my fault that no one told me! But are you feeling okay?"
"I feel fine." He was lying.
"Good!" Lily gave him another small smile as she turned back to look up at the leaves. "Expecto Patronum! Expecto Patronum…!"
Lily I
Sunday, 29 August 1976
"... Expecto Patronum!"
Lily woke in the middle of the night, tears streaming down her face, the words leaving her lips softly. It had been a long time since she'd remembered that day, back when Snape was Severus… back when Severus was Sev. For some reason, she kept thinking back to those days, ever since she'd read that damn article in the paper. She had never known Mr. and Mrs. Snape that well, only that they argued constantly, that Mr. Snape didn't like anything, and that Mrs. Snape was always in a sour mood. When she had read about Mrs. Snape's murder and Mr. Snape's life sentence and subsequent suicide, she couldn't help but think of what Sev… of what Snape… of what Severus was going through… or what he had already gone through.
Lily sat up, taking slow breaths to calm herself down, and she wiped her eyes dry. Pulling the thin covers off, she swung her legs out of bed, resting her feet on the floor, hovering for a second before finally standing up. She quietly opened and closed the door to her bedroom and walked softly past her parents' bedroom, before making her way downstairs and onto the couch. She looked over at the grandfather clock near the dining room: 2:44 AM.
Lily laid down on the couch, looking up at the ceiling. It had been two full months since Tuney had moved out, and about a month and a half since she had started that typing course in London. As much as the two of them didn't get along, part of her missed her sister's obnoxious snoring, something which amused Lily to no end. Once, when Severus had snuck over, they had heard her napping-
Lily pushed the thought out of her head. Severus, Severus, Severus! She closed her eyes and counted to ten in an attempt to calm herself down. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Sev- She opened her eyes, letting out an exasperated sigh as she got up from the couch, made her way into her room, and dressed.
Lily went out the back door carefully, minding the squeak it usually gave out whenever used. She shut it behind her and walked out into the night air, which was the coolest it had been since the heat wave had passed a few days ago. She had never walked Cokeworth's streets at this time of night before; most people knew better, yet here she was, making her way to Spinner's End to look at Snape's- at Severus's house. Every house in this town looked the same to her: the same dull brickwork, the same cracks in the pavement, the same thin layer of soot that seemed to seep into the framework. And yet, somehow, Spinner's End managed to out-depress any other area. And of all the houses in Spinner's End, the Snape House was, somehow, the worst one.
Lily stopped in front of the Snape House, taking in the sight. Every single brick was dead, every crack dry… even the soot looked more lifeless than one would expect from soot. The gate to the house was rusted, almost impossible to open without angling it properly, something that only a Snape could know. It would be a fresh day in Cokeworth before she would ever, ever, consider willingly living in such a place. Oh God, I'm sounding like Mum and Tuney. Lily looked up at one of the windows on the second floor. She had never actually set foot inside, and she could only guess where Severus's room was. Unsurprisingly, the lights were off; even if Severus was home for the summer, which he wasn't, it was still 3 AM.
Lily looked around, checking to see if anyone else was out and about, something she knew was unlikely. She could barely even hear a fly, which was saying something considering Spinner's End's reputation. She supposed the area wasn't so bad, aside from the obvious lack of maintenance, and the smell, and the people…. Actually, maybe the area was that bad. Deciding enough was enough, she departed, making her way to the spot… their spot.
Lily found herself lying beneath the trees in her usual place, staring up at the shadows of leaves as they danced in the night breeze. She tried feeling what she had felt when she'd come here with Severus: wonder, excitement, joy. It was all tainted, now. Every good memory by the river was tainted by that one memory by the lake. Her worst memory. And the thought of it made her feel sick at the thought of Severus wanting to reconcile, only for her to forget the meeting. That night, that bloody time, 7:30, was their last chance, and she could feel it when she had seen him later on throughout the week. He was done.
Well, if he was done, so was she. Maybe Marley was right? Maybe it would be good for her to keep her distance? Make new memories with the friends she had, and not pine for something irreparable. She hadn't even heard what he'd wanted to say, so it was possible the meeting would've been fruitless. Maybe he had planned on using his vulnerability to try to win her back, as though she was a trophy…? But she'd seen how he-
Lily cleared her head. She couldn't dwell on this. The more she thought about him, the worse she felt, and that wasn't a sign of a healthy relationship. He had chosen his way, and she had chosen hers. She still had Mary, and Remus, and the Slug Club-
But not Severus. And maybe not even Marley.
Lily closed her eyes and felt the cool grass beneath her palms, a few of the blades tickling the back of her neck. She opened them again, looking back at the branches above, her gaze drifting past them and up at the night sky. She had never seen a starry night in Cokeworth; the air was always sick from the industry of the textile mill. It was only ever at Hogwarts that she'd seen stars for the first time, or at least had the chance to look for them. She raised her hand, pointing at the sky and drawing a circle in the air. But she couldn't think of a happy memory to go with it. Everything… everything… was tainted. Everything was wrong.
"Expecto Patronum," Lily muttered bitterly. As the words escaped, she felt a few tears stream down the sides of her head. The spell wouldn't hold off the dementors… not tonight… not anymore. "Expecto Patronum… Expecto Patronum…."
Severus II
1976
"... Expecto Patronum!"
Severus drew a circle in the air with his finger, and a silvery light emanated from it… formless.
"Progress," Professor Snape said. "And it only took you… however long we've been in here."
"It's a seventh-year charm."
"That means nothing." Professor Snape had conjured a chair to stiffly sit on. "Not to us."
Severus lowered his hand shakily. He wasn't thinking of anything other than the memory. If he lost focus, it would all come back. He had spent however long drawing a circle in the air and chanting 'Expecto Patronum' as a form of meditation, the only form of comfort he could think of. "How are repairs coming along?"
"It's complicated," Professor Snape replied. "The gestaltation has done more damage than I had anticipated. Our two labyrinths have merged into a single one, branching off on the 4th of June. The tunnels have been twisted into knots…. We may need to restructure it."
"And the lab?"
"Still flooded." Professor Snape stood and looked into the cauldron he had grabbed before the flooding. "Once you've Occluded properly, we should be able to resume our work. Although, this is a considerable setback."
"I know."
"Continue meditating. Don't be distracted."
"Right." Severus raised his hand up and cleared his head of everything but that memory… at least, he tried to. There was another memory, something he'd nearly forgotten….
"... Gryffindor." Severus had drawn four squares on a piece of paper, laying it out on the grass while he and Lily laid on their bellies. Each square had one of the four symbols for the four Houses. "That's where all the brave people go."
"Really?" Lily was twirling a flower in her hand.
"Yeah. Godric Gryffindor was a warrior."
"Oh…. Does that mean brave people can't be in the other Houses?"
"No," Severus said. "It just means courage is the only thing Gryffindor cares about. Not much brains, really."
Lily giggled. "Would you be mad if I was in Gryffindor?"
Severus paused. "Do you want to be in Gryffindor?"
"I dunno…. What about the other Houses? The badger one?"
"Oh… Hufflepuff."
"Hufflepuff?!" Lily started laughing.
Severus smirked. "That's the House where… actually, I don't know who gets Sorted there. Maybe the leftovers."
"That's mean, Severus!" Lily's smile was gone.
"W- wait, that's not-"
"I'm sure they have plenty of good witches and wizards!"
Severus wasn't sure how to respond. He didn't really like Hufflepuff that much, at least not what he'd heard from his mother.
"I think I'd be a good Hufflepuff," Lily said. "Whatever it is."
"I've heard they live near the Kitchens," Severus said. "Close to Slytherin."
"What's Slytherin like?"
"It's the House where all the sensible people go," Severus said.
"You mean all the smart people?"
"No, that's Ravenclaw. They have all the booky, weird people. Don't have any common sense, as far as I know."
"And Slytherin does?"
"Slytherin's all about common sense. Wisdom. Resourcefulness. Cunning. Ambition."
"Cunning…. So, they're a bit sneaky, then?"
"They can be, yeah."
Lily set the flower down. "I'm not really the sneaky type."
"Are you ambitious?"
"Well, I know I wanna be the best witch!"
"That sounds like a yes!" Severus grinned. "I want to be in Slytherin, too!"
"You want to be a sneak?"
"No! My mum was in Slytherin. And I want to be the best wizard ever. Like Merlin!"
"Merlin was a Slytherin?"
"The best Slytherin, trained by Salazar Slytherin himself!"
"You're making that up!"
"Am not! Mum told me!"
Lily rolled onto her back, huffing. "Well, I want to be in Gryffindor. I'm not a sneak."
Severus was silent for a moment. "Is it that bad?"
"Well…" Lily seemed to think about it. "I guess it doesn't really matter, does it? It's not like we'll stop being friends over it. Right?"
"Right," Severus said. He hoped that would never happen. "But… wouldn't you want to be in the same House?"
"Does it bother you that much?"
"A bit."
"Fine. Let's try to get into the same House, then."
Severus smiled and nudged her. "You'd better be in Slytherin."
Lily returned his smile and nudge. "You'd better be in Gryffindor!" Severus pretended to gag, making Lily burst into laughter. "It can't be that bad!"
"Could be." Severus gave her a cheeky grin.
"How do people get sorted?"
"I think they use a hat."
"Like a witch hat?"
"Yeah."
"How does that work?"
"It's magic. I hear it can talk."
"A talking hat? Where's its mouth?"
Severus shrugged. "All I know is you wear the hat, and then you get Sorted."
Lily looked around, and then back to Severus. "Take off your jacket."
"Why?"
"Come on, let's Sort each other!" Lily got up, kneeling next to Severus.
Severus followed suit. "With a jacket?"
"We can pretend it's a hat."
Severus hesitated. "Alright." He took it off, sniffing it while Lily wasn't looking. He couldn't tell if it was clean or not, but he handed it to her. "So, what now?"
Lily draped the jacket over Severus's head, enshrouding him in darkness. He heard her say, in a super-serious voice, "Hmm, yes, very… interesting." She giggled a bit, but she quickly recovered for this super-serious process. "You've got lots of courage, Mr. Snape! You must be… a Gryffindor!" She pulled the jacket off his head, and his eyes fell on her giddy face.
Severus smiled. "My turn." He took the jacket and draped it over her red hair, covering her face. He felt his own face grow red as he tried his hand at imitating that same, super-serious voice. "W-well," he began, "you've… hmm, you're pretty kind, and you're plenty brave…. And you're not not smart…. You'll be the greatest witch of your age…." He paused for a moment. "... I can't decide."
"Well, try harder, hat!"
"Okay," Severus said quickly. "Um… maybe…."
"Fine, I'll be in Slytherin."
Severus tried to hide his smile, despite Lily's complete lack of vision. "Right. Slytherin it is!" They knelt together for what felt like forever.
"Sev?"
"Yeah?"
"You have to take the hat off."
"Oh, right." Severus took the edge of his jacket and folded it up, exposing Lily's face to him. He froze in place as she gave him a soft smile, his hands holding the jacket in place. He'd seen a few pictures and ornaments of a bride and groom in this same pose- He quickly pulled the jacket off her head, putting it back on. "There. Now we're Sorted."
"Good!" Lily grinned. "... maybe I should've Sorted you into Hufflepuff?"
Severus snorted. "No way!"
Severus smiled sadly to himself. He'd been so naive back then; knowing what he knew now of Slytherin, there was no way Lily would've fit in, assuming the Sorting Hat even allowed for it. Her life would have been a living nightmare in the girls' dorm: as strong as he knew she was, everyone had a breaking point, and Slytherin girls knew how to break people. He didn't even want to think about it… the thought of her sitting in the common room, crying, avoiding the dorm, day in and day out.
"You're distracted," Professor Snape said sharply.
"R-right," Severus said, nodding.
"It's a good memory."
"You can-"
"Do try and remember that I know what you're thinking."
Severus nodded.
"If you get distracted, the memories will return. Focus."
"Can it be another memory, or-"
"As long as you remain happy, yes."
Severus nodded again. He focused his mind, letting go of all other thoughts as he continued moving his hand through the air….
Lily II
Sunday, 29 August 1976
It was 5 AM when Lily returned home. She quietly entered through the backdoor and slowly moved through the kitchen and made her way to the stairs-
"Morning, Lily."
Lily nearly jumped out of her skin and turned to see her dad sitting in his chair by the fireplace. "... morning, Dad."
"May I ask why you left the house in the middle of the night?"
"I… I needed some time by myself."
"Not meeting someone?"
"No, I… well, I walked through Spinner's-"
"You walked through Spinner's End in the middle of the night, alone, after the Snape murder?"
Lily didn't answer, prompting her dad to continue.
"Do I have to explain how dunderheaded that is?"
"... no, Dad."
"I'd ground you if it wasn't so close to term…." Her dad took a shallow breath, stifling a cough. His lungs had been in bad sorts, seemingly worsening after he had been diagnosed with lung and throat cancer. Lily knew this was the only reason he wasn't shouting. "Did you go to see that Snape boy?"
"... I stopped in front of the house."
Her dad looked her directly in the eye. "And?"
"And nothing else. He stayed at Hogwarts for the holiday. I went to sit by my spot by the river."
"Are you still upset about him?"
"D-dad!"
"I'm not a fool, dear."
"I…." Lily paused. "... I don't like how things turned out."
"Because he's one of those blood purists you've been talking about." Her dad stood up and walked over to her. He stopped beside her, rubbing her shoulder. "You should've known better than to make friends with his sort. Nothing good ever came from people like the Snapes."
"You mean poor people, Dad?" Lily wanted to believe her father couldn't be like this, but she knew better.
"This isn't about that; they weren't good people, Lily! And odds are, their son is no different than them."
Lily looked away from him, and her eyes began to sting.
Her dad continued. "I remember when he came to visit us-"
"One time, and you never let him back in."
"Once was enough. I saw how hungrily he looked at you. The boy was desperate for attention, and he chose to latch onto you and suck you dry. You deserve better than his sort."
Silence filled the air as Lily kept her mouth shut, and she could feel her face grow red with frustration. The last thing she needed was to say something she'd regret.
"Get to bed," her dad said gently. "We have to leave for London in a few hours."
Lily was confused. "Aren't we leaving on the 30th?"
"Your mother and I wanted to spend a day with you and Pet in London."
"Oh…."
"Is something wrong?"
"No, I just… I'm not sure if she even wants to see me."
"Do you want to see her?"
Lily nodded.
"Well, that settles it. We'll spend tomorrow with her, if she's available."
"It's a Monday tomorrow. She might be busy."
"Ah, sorry. I meant today. It's Sunday morning, after all." Her dad smiled. "Now, off to bed. We'll figure it out."
Lily nodded and kissed him on the cheek. "Sorry about tonight, Dad."
"Of course. Now, get a bit more sleep."
Lily heard the door to her parents' bedroom shut as she shut her own bedroom door. She didn't bother changing; instead, she laid down on the bed, over the covers, and looked up at the ceiling for a while. Part of her dreaded seeing Tuney again; the last time they'd spoken on amicable terms was… well, to be perfectly honest, she wasn't even sure anymore. All she knew was that they had been consistently cold with each other.
She thought back to the day she'd left for Hogwarts for the first time, the first day Tuney had called her a freak. Could she have said something different that day? But what had she even said? She knew it was about the letter she'd tried to send to Hogwarts, and how-
Lily stopped herself. She couldn't dwell on it; she couldn't live in the past. She had to move forward with her life. Maybe she could be more diplomatic when they met? Diplomacy wasn't a particularly strong attribute of hers, but their relationship wouldn't improve if she didn't try. She had to try.
Severus III
1976
"You have to try," Professor Snape said.
Severus had broken his concentration. While he wasn't overwhelmed, his mind was processing the conflicting memories: those that overlapped, and those that didn't… yet. "It'll be the same thing."
"Not this time. I've reorganized everything." Professor Snape waved his hand, and the white void was restored to Severus's potion lab. While the cauldron and four flasks remained on the desk, the walls were lined with countless bottles, each with different dates. "The labyrinth is only suitable for a single mind, not for a plurality."
"What about Occlumency?"
"It is still possible, but it won't be the same maze of smoke and mirrors. This time, I have constructed it for our mutual needs. Our memories, or my memories, will remain bottled; they won't open unless you yourself open them."
"We couldn't have done this before?"
"This is your mind; I couldn't have done anything, because I hadn't yet introduced my memories to you." Professor Snape gestured to one of the walls, which was mind-bendingly longer than the opposing wall, despite the room being a perfect square. "This is where I've stored my memories. They will remain here for now. While you may remember them at will, I will ask that you Occlude them, for both our sakes."
Severus nodded. "I will. And…."
"And what?"
"... I'm sorry."
"Stop apologizing."
"No." Severus looked the professor in the eye. "I put us in this mess, against your advice. If we're going to work together, I need to learn how to listen better. I can't promise I'll be perfect, but I'm going to try."
Professor Snape stared at Severus with an odd expression. After a moment of silence, the professor said, "Very well. In the meantime, let us focus."
"Professor?"
"Yes?"
"For Occlumency… or rather, for Legilimency… what if someone tries to look into my mind? The labyrinth did its job for us, but we don't have that anymore."
"Where are we?"
Severus looked around. Shouldn't it have been obvious? "A potion lab."
"And what am I?"
"A Potion Master."
"And we are surrounded by ingredients, yes?"
"... yes?"
"Then the answer should be obvious. Our misdirection will take on a new form, that of potioneering."
"How?"
"We are surrounded by our life, our memories and our emotions, each bearing truth. And so, we must brew many truths into many lies. Take any memory, apply a few drops of whatever emotion you choose, and let it simmer. Bottle it for use later."
Severus took a moment to take in what he'd been told. If this was the way forward…. "We have to try. I'm going to try."
Professor Snape gave him a slight nod. "Very well. Do you need time to prepare?"
"No. If… if it happens again, put me to sleep."
"It would take considerable power for me to do so."
"I know. Do what you can." Severus slowly breathed in and out. "Do you think I can do this?"
"Do you?"
Severus thought about it. He had to, if he wanted to keep himself focused. He knew fully-well what might await him outside: a dusty, disheveled room, a creaking bed, more pain… and screaming. But he knew what awaited him if he didn't wake up… and he didn't want to think about it. The way forward was clear. "I have to."
"Ready yourself. Focus."
Severus closed his eyes, his mind on the river, on the branches above… on her. Watching her trace the air with a stick, filling it with the best portions of her life, whispering to magic words. "Expecto Patronum…. Expecto Patronum…. Expecto Patronum…!"
Severus IV
1976
Severus Snape awoke.
END OF ACT I
Thank you to everyone who's read up to this point! I appreciate the comments and support from the previous chapters, and I love to hear what you have to say about the story so far.
Act I is currently planned to be the shortest Act due to the time frame in which it takes place. When I posted the first chapter, I had already completed a majority of the Act. Act II may take a while to write, so there will be a break (probably a long break) between now and the next chapter.