In the end, nothing we do or say in this lifetime will matter as much as the way we have loved one another. -Daphne Rose Kingma
A lonely breeze blew through the morning summer air as Lillyanna stood on the top of the sea cliff behind her home. She grasped hold of her wavy reddish hair as the wind blew it skywards in an attempt to shield her vision from the rolling waves of sapphire as they swept up on the shore below. Her white dress pressed against her body as the sea breeze came in faster, but she stood strong. Breathing in the salty air, she dreamt of the horses she grew up with, her family home, and her reason for being on the edge of that cliff. He had been her own, her one and only true passion that still willed to fuel inside her blood. Yet as she stood alone she pictured his face, the way it had been before his death, and jumped.
Part One
Sighing heavily, Lillyanna began to step forward with the large group of first years who were now beginning to crowd outside the main hall. Tall and slim for her age, she stood at about 5'1 and her long strawberry hair fell shortly past her waist. Her bright green eyes radiated the sheer brilliance kept hidden behind them. Lillyanna was born to a Professor at the school, and so naturally she was familiar with it from birth. Her father had passed away when she had been young, so she had been solely raised by her mother and partly her grandfather on a ranch near Hogwarts. Green grass covered hills surrounding the school and all the neighboring villages and ranches. Though she knew much about the school, being there for her first year was very nerve-wrecking. The crowd surrounding her was loud and obnoxious as other first year students were excitedly talking about their surroundings. Lillyanna had made many plans for her life, carefully and dutifully nit picking through each event she planned to take place in. First Hogwarts, then receive a teaching degree and follow in her mothers and grandfather's footsteps. Hopefully though, she thought, she could surpass their greatness, but that would not be an easy task. Her grandfather was the Headmaster of the school, and her mother an experienced professor. Lillyanna didn't plan her life for anything but her education and home life, she didn't plan to fall in love nor marry though she dreamed of both often. She felt that no one could love her because of her control-freakish lifestyle.
A loud bang startled the students waiting to rush into the main hall as Professor McGonagall shut the door behind her. "Now, you will all enter the main hall quietly and stand in front waiting for me to call your name to be placed into your houses. The 4 houses are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slitherin." She paused, waiting for the students to quiet down, "Your house will be like your family while you are here. Any good deeds and you will gain points for your house, any rule breaking and you will lose points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup." The students began to rustle around noisily with excitement. "Now, come with me."
The doors opened and the students were struck in awe by what they saw. Four main tables stood in the main part of the room while the teachers tables sat at the front. Second, Third, and so on students sat watching as the new first years enter the room noisily. The ceiling was a grand view of a clear blue sky, with small puffy white clouds hovering in the mist. Candles floated above each table and above the teachers table. Though she had seen it all before, Lillyanna knew it was an astonishment to see it for the first time like this. Professor McGonagall went up to the front of the room to a tiny stool that had an aged wizards hat sitting on it. She pulled out a list and named off the first student. "Severus Snape." Lillyanna watched as an average height boy walked confidently up to the stool. He sat down with a sly smirk on his face and the Professor placed the sorting hat on his head. Before even 3 seconds had gone by the hat screamed, "Slitherin!" and the boy slipped off the stool and walked proudly over to the slitherin house table. Amazed by his calmness, Lillyanna cringed as she heard her name called next. Her mother smiled and motioned for her to sit down on the stool. Taking a deep breath Lillyanna waited to feel the rough fabric of the old hat on her head. "Hmm.." it said, "You are very intelligent, seemingly skilled for your age...I see your mother runs Gryffindor House, she must be very proud...you would be excellent in Slitherin, oh with a mind like that you could achieve great things...yes...Slitherin!" The hat had decided her fate. Lillyanna smiled quickly for show and stepped off the stool, wincing at her mother, and walked over to the Slitherin House table. She walked towards the boy whom she had seen go up first. He sat alone at the edge of the table, looking out the window and keeping to himself. She sat next to him, sighing heavily and turning to face him. "I've been waiting to come to this school for a long time, since I've been exposed to the lifestyle all my life," she smiled when he turned to face her. His nicely combed jet black hair hung just below his chin and rounded outwards and inwards. His eyes held a resemblance to the blackest she'd ever seen the night sky. Funny how his pale skin reflected off his seemingly dark features, she thought. He stared into her eyes for a moment, and finally mumbled a response. "Yes, I have been waiting as well, and I knew I would be placed in Slitherin for it runs in my blood, my father and grandfather were both in Slitherin." Still facing her, he studied her soft features and decided she was worth running a conversation with. "Wow, it must be nice to have a bloodline run like that, my Father was in Slitherin, but my mother and grandfather were both in Gryffindor. They pretty much raised me, that's how I know so much about this school. See the woman who let us in?" She pointed at Professor McGonagall, "that's my mother, and see the older man sitting at the table in the center? With the long white beard?" she pointed again, "that's my grandfather." His eyes grew larger as he comprehended what she had said. "Your mother and grandfather are both professors?"
"Yup, well my grandfather is the headmaster of the school, maybe you know him? Albus Dumbledore?" He nodded in silent agreement.
"So, your name is Severus right? Severus Snape?" She asked softly.
"Yes." Severus replied and looked back towards the window. He hadn't planned on making friends at Hogwarts, merely to achieve a high education and begin teaching the Defense of the Dark Arts, since that was what he was most interested in. This girl, she just came right up to me, its like she didn't notice I wanted to be left alone, considering I sat away from everyone else...he thought. She seems alright though, she's very pretty...she seems to have the friendliness aura surrounding her, maybe that's why I can't stop looking at her... He woke up from his trance and found he had turned away from the window and had begun to gaze at her. Lillyanna had been staring at him as well, trying to figure out what was underneath all the darkness that seemed to radiate from his skin. He's a mysterious one, very dark...yet he seemed to open up when I talked to him, I wish I could figure out what made him so dark and cold... Professor Dumbledore had begun to speak and rain began to fall outside. "I would like to welcome all first years to Hogwarts, as well as a welcome back to all the other years." he paused shortly until the commotion died down. Severus stared out the window once more, watching the rain fall steady and hard and trying to clear his mind. Professor Dumbledore continued, "I hope this year will prove to be a success to all of you. Now, let us begin the feast." He waved his hand and bountiful amounts of food appeared on the tables. Lillyanna turned from staring at the boy and turned to the food that had appeared in front of her. Deciding she wasn't very hungry, she grabbed a roll from a large plate in front of her and turned back to Severus. "So what are you interested in? Do you have plans for your time here at Hogwarts?" He looked over at her and for a moment it seemed as if they were the only two people in the room. "I'm interested in the Defense Against the Dark Arts, I plan to be the teacher for it here someday." he replied. He watched as her eyes beamed with excitement and as she smiled happily. "I want to be a professor here too! I want to teach either Transfigurations or Defense Against the Mystical Arts." Severus smiled at her, and then turned back to the window, pretending to not care much. Noticing that he wasn't eating, Lillyanna leaned over and whispered in his ear. "Do you want to come somewhere with me?" Severus stared at her for a moment, judging the gleam in her eyes. "Alright." was all he said. Lillyanna stood up from the table and ran up to where her mother and grandfather were seated. "Can I go up to the North West tower with my friend?" Her mother studied her for a minute, but knowing her daughter was responsible she waved her off. Lillyanna smiled and ran down and grabbed Severus' wrist before he could get off the bench. The walked together to where the Head of Slitherin house was seated. Amagore Ramosis was an old friend of Lillyanna's, so she knew he would let her go the minute he smiled and hugged her. "My friend and I are going up to the North West tower, we'll be back to the dorms by nightfall."
"Alright, be careful Lillyanna."
Still holding his wrist, Lillyanna dragged Severus out the doors of the Main Hall and into the spiraling hallways. Leading the way she hardly spoke as she walked, but instead studied his stern features. "Where are we going exactly?"
"To a secret place no other student knows about but me, my grandfather doesn't use it anymore so he let me use it as a kind of sanctuary place that I can use to be alone," she paused to watch his reaction, and saw nothing. They came to a long hall with dozens of doors on each side. They walked swiftly through to the end of the hall, turning a small corner and facing another door, hidden from the rest. Lillyanna reached into her cloak for her key, and slowly opened the door, grimacing at the painful creak. "Come on," she said as she grabbed his wrist once more, pulling him up a long spiral staircase with her. After walking up stairs for about 3 minutes they came to another door, this one smaller then the other. Taking out her key again, she opened the door and stepped inside, motioning for him to follow. "Oh, wow." was all he could mutter at the sight of a fairly decent sized completely round room with windows on all sides. Against one wall a medium sized bed sat neatly folded and made together. Next to it was a small night table, with nothing but a clock on it. On the opposite side of the bed and night table, there was a large bookshelf, filled with many books on magic and potions. Severus walked over to it and glanced over the books, clearly amazed. "This place is amazing," he said as he watched her go over to one of the windows and lift up a small rug on the floor. Underneath the rug was a tiny trap door that she lifted open and pulled out a square wooden chest. Severus walked up to her and knelt down on the floor on his knees, watching her take a small golden key off one of the window sills and open the chest. She opened the chest slowly, as if she rushed it would break into a million pieces. Taking out a small picture frame she looked at it closely and handed it to Severus. The picture was a dark reddish haired man holding a tiny little girl, maybe about 3 years old. The man and the little girl were smiling, and looked perfect together. "That's my father and I, when I was three years old, its the only picture I have of him, he died a month after that picture was taken." Severus looked up at her and saw a single tear roll down her cheek as she painfully remembered her father. Compassion swept through him for the first time and he couldn't help but cry himself. "Oh, Lillyanna.." he leaned over and held her, so that she was almost lying in his lap. Looking into her eyes he could see the pain that was locked inside them. Holding her tighter he let himself release his anger and hatred and cry, just like she was. Lillyanna wiped away her tears and glanced up at Severus, watching his cool dark eyes melt behind hot stingy tears. Emotionally driven they let their lips get closer. Touching them gently together they formed a soft kiss, and let each other melt into the other. As their lips were driven together by sheer compassion, Severus couldn't comprehend what was going on, and for once in his life, he wasn't in control of his surroundings. Wrapping her arms tightly around his neck, Lillyanna released herself from his lips, watching his eyes tremble with dismay. "I...oh...I'm...I'm so sorry Severus...I just..." but before she could finish he placed his finger on her lips to quiet her, and leaned down to kiss her once more. She pushed him away gently, and reached over to the chest she had opened before. Pulling out a tiny globe, she placed it in his hands. "What is this?" he said as he stared at the crystal globe and back at her. "It's a Wish Sphere, you tell it what or who you wish to see and it shows it. Look, say my name to the globe." Severus said her name and watched in amazement as her face appeared on the globe, just as it looked in front of him, teary eyed and hazy. "I want you to have it," she said softly as she closed his hands around it, peering into his eyes. "This way if I'm ever not around, you can look at me with this..." Lillyanna stood up and offered her hand to help him stand. "Thank you, I...I've never been given a gift like this before, it means a lot to me..." Smiling, she took his hand and they walked back to the dorm rooms together.