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Disclaimer
Everything, every location, every character belongs to JK Rowling, Bloomsbury Pub., Warner Brothers or whoever might currently hold the rights of Harry Potter. There are exceptions- the title is taken from a John Steinbeck novel, the Life Shield Charm and the transmitter owl are mine. I swear, I don't make money out of this.

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East of Eden

by Clio
Spring 2001

Chapter 4
The darkest hour

"You !" James gasped when Snape turned around. "I knew it! Get away from the child, Snape."

He shot a quick glance over to where Lily lay on the floor, while keeping his wand pointed at Snape's chest. "Lily!"

She smiled weakly at James, who turned back to Snape. "What have you done to her? What have you done to my son? You goddamn traitor." His face turned red with anger.

Snape slowly lifted his hands over the head. "Me?" he asked mockingly. "Can't you see I'm here to save your arse, you arrogant idiot?"

If his words were meant to calm James, he was failing spectacularly. But probably their were not.

"Liar! You are a Death Eater! Voldemort's bloody Death Eater! You are here to kill my son." James was shouting now, his voice breaking. Sparks came out of the tip of his wand.

"James, no," whispered Lily, "he's here to help."

James blinked uncomprehendingly at his wife. Snape used the moment of distraction to draw his wand. Having seen the movement from the corner of his eye, James shot a body-binding spell at Snape, who dived behind the couch.

"You coward!" James roared, now almost mad with rage. He started to hurl uncontrolled curses at the couch. When the piece of furniture exploded in flames, Snape jumped out from behind it, and while throwing some badly aimed curses at James he ran over to a worn-out arm chair for cover. Black smoke, which made the two opponents gasp for breath, began to rise from the burning couch.

From his cover Snape aimed some spells at James. Two of them only left dark torch marks on the wall. The third spell hit James in the arm. Immediately blood began to seep through the sleeve of his Muggle shirt. Crying out loud in rage and pain he didn't hear Lily begging desperately. "No. James. Severus. Stop. Oh, please stop." She begged in vain, for Snape and her husband were locked in a death duel now.

One spell gave the next. A powerful "Corrumpis" curse made parts of the wand collapse, another minor explosion curse set the already destroyed bookshelves on fire. Spell by spell the living room was torn apart. And in the crib in the middle of the room the infant was crying his lungs out.

Then two mighty curses met halfway. An uncontrolled outburst of destructive magic followed, which peaked in a powerful explosion of blinding white light. Another wall collapsed, parts of the ceiling came down and the lights went out.

The image in the orb on Dumbledore's desk became misty and it quavered for a moment before it went back to normal.

In the smoke and dust-filled darkness only the frantic wails of the baby were to be heard for a few seconds. Harry could only barely see one figure moving within the slowly clearing clouds of smoke. It was Snape, who was struggling to get to his feet amidst some heavy oak beams and rubble from the ceiling. His right leg seemed to be injured. As soon as he put his full weight on it he collapsed on the floor again. James was nowhere to be seen.

Eventually Snape was able to steady himself in a standing position by leaning upon the remains of a chair. Dazed as he was, James' spell out of nowhere hit him square in the chest.

"EXPELLIARMUS!" Snape stumbled backwards into the half destroyed hallway, where he fell on his back.

His wand flew high up into the air, and in an impressive curve it came down right into James' hand. He caught the wand with a triumphant cry, broke it into pieces, and went after its owner. "Where are you, you bastard?"

In the dimly lit hall Snape again tried to get up in vain when he saw James coming towards him. James threw the pieces of the wand into the face of the man lying at his feet. "You Slytherin piece of crap! Now you'll pay."

"Listen! James, I would never hurt Lily! Don't you know that? Snap out of it, bloody hell!" Snape sounded frightened.

James face was contorted with emotion now. "You still have the nerve to ... to... . You filthy liar. And to think Dumbledore trusts you, you traitor! " James' voice snapped.

"Dammit, Potter, you arrogant twit, listen to me!"

James made a threatening step towards Snape and raised his wand. Snape swallowed whatever he was about to say and began slowly to crawl backwards in the futile attempt to get away from James, who was towering over him.

"Incenso! Incenso!"

Series of fire-charms hit the floor next to Snape, who now desperately scrambled backwards. His eyes, wide with fear like a cornered animal, never left James' face. His hands were frantically running over the carpet in the search of anything that he could use as a weapon, but they only touched the many pieces of glass on the floor, that cut them open mercilessly.

"Listen, Potter!", he cried, "Sirius, your secret-keeper, is the traitor, who..."

"Oh, nice try, but you're wrong here. AND NONE OF MY FRIENDS WOULD EVER BETRAY ME!" James roared and aimed his wand at Snape's head. "Got to hell, Snape".

"AVADA KEDAVRA" sounded through the hallway followed by a green flash of light.

James, hit by the deadly curse, stumbled backwards until he reached the stairway. With an uncomprehending look on his face he fell down the stairs where his body hit the landing with a sickening thud.

In the dark hallway Snape lay trembling, clutching a wand in his bleeding hands.

For a moment he just lay there flat on his back with his eyes closed, panting from exhaustion. Then he looked at the wand he had found. It was Voldemort's wand, which had been send flying into the hallway when his owner had vanished. As hard as he could Snape hurled the wand against the wall, from where it rebounded. It clattered down the stairs like James' body had before it.

After a moment of silence Snape dragged himself over into the destroyed living room on all fours, where he, deaf to the wails of the child, moved over to where Lily lay. Propping himself up against a pile of rubble he pulled her body into his arms.

"Lily!"

She was barely alive. Her eyelids fluttered in her pale face, but they remained closed. " Harry, ... how's Harry? " she croaked.

" Shh. Don't worry. He is ok."

"Are you alright, Severus? What happened?"

"I'm fine, just a few scratches." Snape grimaced. "I think my leg is broken. But I believe ... I believe we made it. Voldemort is dead."

" He is dead? I looked into his eyes when I tried to reason with him. I wanted to stall until you came. It was so creepy, ... unreal." Lily's voice broke.

" I know, Lily, I know. But he is gone now." Snape gently stroke her hair with his bloodied hand.

"Where... where's James?" Lily whispered.

Snape withdraw his hand from her hair as if he had burned it. " I ... don't know."

With a weak yet determined voice Lily demanded "Sev, don't. Don't lie at me. Where is James?"

Snape closed his eyes. "He is dead, Lily."

Lily flinched in his arms and let out a short whimpering sound. After a moment of silence she whispered. "How? You didn't... . Did you kill him?"

Snape began to rock back and forth as the words started to pour out of him. "Lily, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Everything ...just has gone wrong, so terribly wrong. I didn't ..."

Lily interrupted him. "Sev, listen to me." Her voice was unexpectedly firm. " Voldemort's curse, it has somehow hit me, I think. I'll die."

Spasms were now running through her body and Snape tightened his grip to prevent her from slipping out of his arms. His face was horrorstruck. " NO, Lily. No! Surely help is on the way. Dumbledore will be here any minute."

Snape forced a smile upon his features and whispered imploringly: "Everything will be fine. Everything will turn out well. And..."

Lily interrupted Snape's hasty words once again. " No, ... no, Sev." She whispered. "And Harry, ... all alone." Lily opened her eyes and looked searchingly in Snape's face. "Severus, do you hear me, ... you must protect Harry. Promise it."

Snape swallowed hard. "I promise, Lily."

A faint smile appeared on the face of Harry's mother. The spasms diminished and stopped, and her fists unclenched slowly.

"Lily?" Snape shook the limp body in his arms. "LILY! All will be fine! Lily, no. NO!" He clutched Lily desperately to his chest. In a frantic search for the transmitter owl Snape looked around. When he found it on the windowsill, he turned his face directly to the onlookers gathered around the little receiver orb. He looked horrible. His face was covered with blood, dust and sooth. His desperate cries rang through the orb. "Dumbledore, anyone, can you hear me? Dumbledore, where are you? Help her! Don't leave me alone here!"

At this point the Headmaster waved his wand over the crystal ball on his desk and the image faded. Harry stared into the golden mist that replaced it. For some time he was not able do anything but gaze into the ball. His mind was blank.

His mother, she had died in so much pain.
"You must protect Harry" Her last words echoed through his mind.

Snape.


He had been there. And he had killed his father.

SNAPE HAD KILLED HIS DAD!

Harry jerked away from the orb at this thought. He saw that Dumbledore was intensely watching him with his glittering blue eyes.

"He has killed my Dad." Harry whispered, tears starting to roll down his face. He turned towards Snape, but found his seat empty. Unnoticed of him Snape had gotten up towards the end of the record. He was now standing by the window in the back of Dumbledore's office, his hands gripping the windowsill. His forehead rested against the cold pane of the window, from which the rain was pouring down in rivers on the outside.

"YOU KILLED MY DAD!" Harry shouted at him. He could see Snape's shoulders square before he turned around to face Harry.

"You are..., you are a damn..." Harry fell silent when Snape's fierce black eyes burnt into his.

"Yes, I killed your father." He slowly said in his soft voice, as if reasoning about every single word. "He was not the first one, though. I know what I am, Harry."

Harry said nothing. He just held Snape's gaze.

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "Ahem. Those were dark times indeed."

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reads my fanfiction!!
I hope you will enjoy this chapter, which is kind of the centerpiece of my story! It's my ...er...favourite (lacking a more appropriate word here). You'll see what I mean. I wonder if people will keep calling this a Snape redemption story after reading this chapter...

Special thanks to everyone who reviewed.

Samia: Of course I'm going to finish it!!!
g.gito: I'm trying my best to keep all people in character and the plotline compatible to the books, but only Rowling knows what really happened that night in Godric's Hollow. You're right though, Lily reasoning with Voldemort slipped my mind when writing. Still the Shield Charm is possible- what if Lily was reasoning with Voldemort in order to hold him until Snape could perform the Charm with her. Why else would you reason with a lunatic like Voldie?
Julie, Ada Kensington: thanx guys! * bows in front of her screen *
Sphinx: Did James indirectly cause Lily's and his own death? Intriguing question, isn't it? In the books at least Snape seems to think along those lines. In PoA, Chapter "The servant of Lord Voldemort" he says to Harry something like: You'll die like your father, too arrogant to believe he was mistaken in his secretkeeper. Indeed that dialogue ( plus the priori incantatem order of appearence) inspired me to write this fic. Snape with a beard? I don't think so either. But young men, when they want to look important or dangerous, love beards, because they make you look older! ; )
Qaera: Hope my plot can live up to your expectations.
MMM: OH MY GOD, you, the Author of most outstanding HP fics, are actually reading my story!!!
*recovers from a fit of joy* Well, McGonagall leaves the room, because maybe underneath the stern cover is a soft heart, that can't bear to see two of her former students die, even if it's just in a crystal orb. Snape being an idiot and James making a fool out of himself: They are just themselves. I would prefer to call it fateful circumstances. It's the concept of classic tragedy - being yourself will inescapablely unleash whatever fate has in store for you. Oh, and isn't hitting someone physically much more satisfying than waving a wand?
As for the mutual friend of Snape and D. - well spotted! I really had someone in mind, when I wrote it. There will be another hint to that person towards the end of the story, but it is actually someone from another HP fic which is already lurking in my head.