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Lily was pushed into a small, dark room. "Don't you fucking touch me!" She hissed at Severus as she wrenched her arms away. "What the fucking hell is wrong with you?!"

Once the door was safely closed and locked, he whipped around to face her. "What's wrong with me? You, wandering around this place after dark by yourself! What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"Take a fucking look at yourself!" Lily shouted. "You joined the Death Eaters, no surprise, really! What more do you want?!"

"You and I both know you're smarter than that! You could have been killed or – "

"Or bloody found by you! Remember? I'm a dirty little mudblood!"

Severus rolled his eyes. "I guess we're picking up where we left off years ago."

"Honestly?" Lily stared at him, dumbfounded. "You made it clear that you wanted nothing to do with me! So kindly fuck off!" She tried to yank the door knob, however, it was locked. Severus had the key. She scowled. "Let me out. Now."

"Have you gone mad?" Severus stared at her. "Do you have any idea of what will happen to you if you're out there?!"

"Honestly, it couldn't be much worse than what will happen to me in here!" She retorted. "Unlock the bloody door and let me out."

"You're too stubborn for your own good." He muttered and tossed the key to her. "Get yourself into shit. Get jumped 'till you bleed. Get your brains splattered all over the floor for all you care! But if you come to me, blubbering for a way out, don't expect any favors!"

Lily paused. "A way out? Is there a way out of here?"

Severus shook his head. "Are you going to stay here or leave?"

"Tell me about the way out!" Lily raised her voice.

"Tell me you're going to stay here!" He matched her volume.

Lily scoffed in frustration. "I'm not promising you anything."

"Then get out."

Lily glared at him with intense hatred. Severus was testing her. Only he could be so infuriatingly challenging and stubborn for the pointless sake of argument. He had her trapped, and they were both fully aware. She decided he wasn't going to get under her skin. "What do you want?" Severus ignored her. Instead, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit one up. Lily wrinkled at the habit; the smoke in such a small space was acrid. "Well?"

He only exhaled smoke and glared back at her.

"What benefit do you have in keeping me here?" Lily repeated.

"It's not my benefit, but yours." He sneered. "You take a step out of this room, and what happens to you?"

"We both know what happens, you bloody creep." Lily spat back. "Why should I trust you? How do I know this isn't a vice?"

"You'll just have to trust me."

Lily scowled at him. She refused to let him have the upper hand. "Prove it."

"Prove what?"

"Prove to me why I should trust you."

Severus took a long drag from the cigarette and glared back at her. "Alright. Would your relentless distrust be appeased if I told you how you got here?"

"I was locked out of the kitchen with a bloody feather duster and then you found me and dragged me upstairs." Lily slumped in the leather armchair across from him. It reminded her of the stiff armchairs Mrs. Potter kept in her manor. What was it with pureblood families and their obsession with uncomfortable furniture?

"Begging your pardon, little Miss Evans, but would Mulciber or Avery suit your fancy?" He sneered. "I don't think so. Where were you between your wedding day and waking up here? What happened to you; do you recall?"

Lily stared at her hands. Of course she didn't know. "I was dreaming." She said tonelessly. "I don't remember it well, but it was dark, there were voices, and … I think there was an earthquake. The corridor caught fire and I was paralyzed. One of your friends had his foot on my back…" Lily trailed off. "That's all I remember."

"An earthquake?" He asked skeptically, a ghost of a sarcastic smirk played his lips.

She rolled her eyes at him. "As I said, I was dreaming."

"And then?"

"And then I woke up, laying on a sack of beans with a house elf berating me while a friend I thought to be dead handed me a dirty dress."

Severus exhaled a puff of smoke. "Amazing, isn't it?"

"Pardon?" Lily's eyes were irritated from the smoke. The room was already dark, the haze only made it worse. "Amazing?"

"Amazing that you, a young muggleborn, hidden and running for countless months, while being stalked by the most twisted and sick inhabitants of this castle, manages to get caught so swiftly, yet helpless." His eyes glinted. "And yet she stands before me, alive, healthy, and untouched. Amazing."

Lily felt uncomfortable. It wasn't the leather armchair, but how Severus was looking at her. She had a dark suspicion that he did something unpleasant to her whilst she was unconscious. "I fail to see how that's amazing at all. If it weren't for stupid Potter, I wouldn't be here!"

"That's where you're wrong." Severus flicked the cigarette into the empty brick fireplace. Lily noticed handfuls of burnt out cigarette butts scattered among the dead logs. "You were a target long before Potter contacted the Ministry. We intercepted an owl from a Marlene McKinnon; a blood traitor believed to be harboring two muggleborn women. Nonetheless, one was found, quite easily. Mary MacDonald. Poor girl surrendered her magic, and her slaughter was unnecessary."

She bristled with anger. "Why didn't you do anything to save her? You knew what was going on, why not throw them off our trail?"

Severus shrugged. "Mary was killed before anything reasonable could be done. Intervention would have made me look suspicious." He picked at the cracked leather of his chair. "Once we arrived at the abandoned room, near Hogmeade, I knew who the other muggleborn was. This one was much too clever. This one had an unquestionable fear and respect for Death Eaters; of course she slipped from our fingers. We changed our strategy. Instead of looking for the runaway girl, we went hunting for another in pursuit of her."

"Another? You mean James?"

"Everyone knew Potter fancied you." He said bitterly. "It was too easy. We already had Death Eaters drinking Polyjuice, disguised as Potter's servants." Severus lit another cigarette. Lily said nothing. She looked into the abyss of the dead fireplace. She felt empty; everything was artificial. The whole time Lily truly believed she could outrun and outfox the Death Eaters, but they were a step ahead of her. Only now did she realize how foolish she was for letting James in and agreeing to marry him. Of course everyone knew he fancied her. Not a week went by at Hogwarts and James didn't make a loud confession of his love in front of the whole school. Lily never paid any mind as they annoyed her and often made her late to classes, however, she was ignorant to think no one else would notice. Lily stood up and snatched the cigarette from his fingers. "What the hell …" Severus growled.

"Shut up." Lily took a long drag. The smoke made her throat dry, but she did not cough. She threw herself back down into the stiff leather armchair. "So what happens now?" Lily asked emotionlessly as she took another drag.

Severus lit another cigarette. "Don't know. Depends on you."

"Me?"

"Don't you want to stay safe here?"

Lily burned the leather arm of the chair with her cigarette; watching the smoke arise from the ashy grey dot. "If there isn't a way out, what's the bloody point?" She mumbled. "I'm nothing more than fat to the feast."

"Stop that."

"Oh shut up, will you?" Lily took another drag and glared at Severus. "Stop pretending you care. You're probably itching to hand me over to your stupid Death Eater friends."

Severus suddenly stood up and ripped the cigarette from her lips. He tossed it into the fireplace and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Have you no bloody clue what could have happened to you? How fucking stupid you've been? When I found you, you were tied to a bed, wearing practically nothing! Avery Nott was licking your face, about to fuck your bloody brains out!"

"Shut up."

"There was a line! There was a line of Death Eaters, hungry for a taste of a pretty little oblivious muggleborn!"

"Shut! Up!"

"Your bloody James Potter cowers like a pathetic animal! I alone fought off Nott and any other sick fuck who dared look at you with lustful sin in his eyes! I brought you here to keep you out of their grip!" He gripped the collar of her dress. Lily, was shaking with panic. He only showed his violent temper towards James; usually in the form of sinister curses of his own invention. "There you go! Fucking prancing around the corridors and rooms like a bloody fool! Have you any idea of how fortunate you are that I found you before any other of these insatiable beasts?! Do you fucking realize you could be dead by now?! Do you want to get fucking jumped?"

Lily slapped Severus. She moved as far away from him as she could into the dark haze of the small room. Tears were slipping down her cheeks. "You need to leave." Lily choked out. "Go."

Severus did not move. He looked at her with a mix of rage and worry. "Lily …"

"Go!" She shrieked. "Get out of here!" Her hands brushed a wooden surface and automatically fumbled for something to throw at him. "I don't want to see you again!" Lily hurled an inkpot across the room. The room flooded with light from the outside corridor for only a second. She could make out a four poster bed, a cluttered desk, and the two armchairs. The ink was oozing down the wall.

"So be it."

"No. No! Sev, No!" Lily was plunged into darkness once again. Severus was already gone. He had locked the door behind him. Lily banged her fists on the door, yelling out for him, but nothing was returned. "Why did you hit him?! You bloody idiot, he could have helped you!" She thought to herself as she collapsed onto the bed. This bed had those ridiculously heavy and pointless shams, but they reeked of stale cigarettes and formaldehyde. Her body ached all over. Between scrubbing the floors, peeling potatoes, and carrying heavy pots of soup and bags of flour, nothing compared to the guilt. Eventually, her aches and pains carried her to a restless sleep.