Nearly a year had passed since Lillyanna had told Severus of her pregnancy. Now, the baby had come and it had been a beautiful baby girl they decided to named Alaysia. Alaysia was born with deep black hair like her father and shocking green eyes like her mother. The resemblance between Lillyanna and Alaysia was astounding, even from little Alaysia's first breath. She had her fathers strict features and her mothers warm lips and brows. Severus had married Lillyanna a month after she had told him the news of Alaysia. They had been wed on the fields right by the Atlantic Ocean. Lillyanna had looked stunning, her dress a deep green with white, translucent laces fraying from her waist. The sea breeze had blown through her hair gently as she and Severus tied the small strings of marriage around their fingers. Though small, the bond which was love would hold them together forever. Everything in their lives was just as they had wished it to be, until things began to come unwound.
An abrupt cry woke Lillyanna as she was dreaming of horses back home. Snapping out of her dream she sat up and rubbed her eyes, stumbling out of bed to attend to baby Alaysia. "Shh..shh...its okay baby," she whispered as she picked Alaysia up gingerly in her arms. Making sure not to wake Severus, Lillyanna walked into the small kitchen and warmed up a glass of milk and poured it into a small bottle. "There there, my sweet..its alright, I'm here," Lillyanna cooed as she smiled at her beautiful little girl. Alaysia had stopped crying and had begun to already drift back into sleep, gently sucking at the tip of the bottle. Placing the baby back into her crib, Lillyanna looked at the clock and groaned. It was 3:40 am and she had been up all night, tossing and turning until she had finally fallen back asleep. Now she stood awake again, and wasn't sure she should attempt to sleep again. Deciding to stay awake, she walked over to the arm chair by the fireplace and conjured up a fire. She picked up her book on the small table next to the chair and began to read. A loud noise outside interrupted her, and she ran to the window to see what was going on. Outside on the lawn by the entrance to the school were two figures, arguing and apparently beating each other up. She couldn't make out who they were, but stood by the window and listened.
"You listen here, Hagrid, I have been given my orders from my Lord and I will complete them," the figure farthest from the school yelled.
"I can't let you do this Lucias, it's a horrible thing to even think of doing and because you are on the dark side I can't let you get through!"
Shocked by what she was hearing, Lillyanna quickly assumed that the 'Lord' Lucias was talking about was indeed Voldemort. What does he want with the school? She thought to herself. Then, it hit her, a smack in the face that quickly made her dizzy and nauseated. Severus had been involved with the Death Eaters at one point, and when he had left them and sworn to never come back, Voldemort had threatened to destroy his life when it was at its best. Lillyanna remembered it well...
Flashback---
Lillyanna was sitting in her chair by the fire, relaxing and reading a book, when the door to the room suddenly burst open. An injured Severus stumbled inside, clutching his right side. "Oh god Severus!" she screamed as she ran to his side, grabbing him just before he fell to the ground. Dragging him to the bed, she ran into the bathroom and got a warm washcloth to place on the burn on his side. "Ah!" he screamed in pain as she rubbed antiseptic and the washcloth over his side. "Severus you have to stay still, please, tell me what happened...it wasn't..." she paused, staring into his eyes and watching the guilty plea form in them. "Oh god it was him, wasn't it? Oh Severus...why?" He winced in pain and looked up at her, trying to gain back his composure. "I went to Voldemort today to tell him I wasn't going to be in the Death Eaters anymore, and he got absolutely furious," Severus began, "He hit me with a flame spell which burned me, luckily I managed to get away, he might have killed me," now gasping for breath, he lay down and collapsed from lack of energy. After a minute or two, Severus began again. "He...he threatened me..." he watched as her eyes got large and as she knelt in closer to him, "He said that he would come back for me, right when my life had gotten to its best, he would come back and destroy it."
Lillyanna clutched her chest. This must be it, this must be the sign that Voldemort has returned. Looking out the window again she saw that neither of the two men were outside, and the night was clear and silent again. Breathing heavily now, she rushed towards the bed and woke up her husband. "Severus, Severus please wake up, oh god please," she whispered as he sat up groggily, staring at her with a sneer. "What...its 4:00 am! god, what is it?"
"Severus, I think Voldemort has come back for you," was all she could say before giving in to the welling tears in her eyes. Severus sat there for a moment, recalling that fateful night himself. He shuddered and wrapped his arms around Lillyanna, attempting to comfort her even though his own sobs began to befall him. He looked into her eyes and watched as she dropped her gaze and rubbed her eyes with her hands. She couldn't bear to look at him, it was too heartbreaking. Severus placed a finger under her chin and pushed her mouth up to his, kissing her carefully and lovingly. "What do we do now?" Lillyanna asked as Severus pulled away. "I don't know, Lillyanna, I don't know." He glanced nervously over at the Alaysia's crib, and the tears began to fall again.
The next morning, Lillyanna woke to Severus getting out of bed, gently laying her down for she had fallen asleep in his arms. "Mmm..." she groaned as she felt him leave her alone on the bed. Shielding her eyes from the bedroom light, Lillyanna got up to check on Alaysia, who lay sound asleep in her crib. "She never was a problem child," Lillyanna muttered to herself as she walked into the bathroom and gazed lazily into her reflection. Severus was in the shower, mindlessly humming the tune to a song Lillyanna had never heard before. She picked up her brush to make an attempt to comb out the stressed tangles in her strawberry hair. As she was washing her face she heard the shower shut off and watched in the mirror as Severus climbed out, covering himself in a towel and beginning to dry off. He walked out of the bathroom to the dresser and put on some clothes while Lillyanna dashed into the shower, realizing she only had 40 minutes till breakfast.
When arriving at the Main Hall, Lillyanna and Severus sat down and began to eat, watching as some familar students dropped in here and there. All of course, cowering from Severus. After breakfast, everyone rushed to their first class, including the teachers. Lillyanna stepped casually into her classroom, noticing that she was the last one there. "Morning everyone, hope you all had a good nights sleep and a good breakfast 'cause we have a test today as you all should be aware of," Lillyanna watched gleefully as the students with brains smiled happily and while the students who seemed to have left their brain on the train back to London looked nervously around at eachother murmuring 'What test?'. Lillyanna picked up a stack of parchments, each a packet of about 4 papers. She tossed them out at the class and watched as each landed easily in front of each student. "The test has begun!" she grinned devilishly as she walked over to her desk. Test day had always been her worst nightmare as a student, but as a teacher it was the most devious fun. She quickly got bored with her book, so she decided to go hang out with Severus for awhile, since he was alone in his room most likely tired of grading parchments. Lillyanna cast an enchantment on the class to prevent talking/cheating. A tiny gray bird appearing on the desk and sat peering over the students. She walked out of the room, letting everyone know where she'd be if they needed her and that the bird had its eye on them. Lillyanna opened the door to the potions class, seeing Severus huddled over mounds of parchments, just like she had figured. Conceiving the idea that he hadn't noticed her entrance, she walked quietly over to him, and right when she was leering over his crouched back grabbed his sides in an attempt to scare him. And scare him it did, he jumped a good 5 feet in the air and fell back down breathing heavily as if he had just run 50 miles. "Oh my god, what the...!" was all he could mutter as he turned around and saw Lillyanna rolling on the floor laughing hysterically. "Oh, its you," he sneered as a smile formed on his lips as he got the joke. "Oh man you are WAY to funny Severus," she cried as she continued laughing till tears formed in her eyes and her sides began to split with pain. "Okay okay, we've had enough laughter for one day," he said as he picked her up off the ground and stood up to face her. "Ooo, well now Severus, don't think it's a good time or place to have fun now," she hinted as she fluttered her eyelashes at him. He looked at her blankly and when a smile finally came to his face he watched as she began to come up to kiss him. Before she could reach his face, he pulled out a Milky Way and took a big bite out of it, watching her mouth drop open and laughing as she smacked him on the arm. She pouted a little and then walked over to him, snatching the Milky Way out of his hand and running off with it. "Hey that's mine!" he yelled as she ran back through the hallway. But something stopped her short and she dropped the candy bar to the floor, feeling her stomach churn and a chill run down her spine. Severus caught up to her and his mouth dropped open, feeling suddenly dizzy he grabbed her shoulders and stood in front of her. There in the hallway stood Lucias Malfoy, clutching his walking stick with the silver snake symbol on the top. Grinning devilishly, Lucias walked swiftly towards Severus, who was now forcing Lillyanna behind him as to protect her. "Well hello, Severus, fancy meeting you here," he said with a mean smirk. "Do what you will with me, but leave her out of it," Severus muttered. Lucias shifted his weight onto his left foot. "Well, Severus, I would but see I have been sent on a mission to harm you, now, how can I do this without killing you...oh yes, I could very easily kill the girl, now couldn't I? Oh, but that would be too easy, I prefer a challenge," Malfoy sneered as he pushed Severus and Lillyanna hard to the ground. He then tugged on the silver snake charm on his walking stick and pulled it out, revealing his wand. He raised his hand like a hungry snake leering over its prey and began to mouth a spell. A loud yet familiar voice startled Lucias and he put his wand down, turning around. "Lucias, put down your wand, you have no need for it here." Albus said as he walked towards Lucias. "Well hello, Dumbledore, I see you've caught me. Too bad really, because nothings going to stop me when I'm on Voldemort's orders, I am a deatheater after all, eh?" He turned back to Severus and saw he had gotten up, and was now holding out his wand. "Leave, Lucias, or else I'll make you disappear myself."
"Ooh, you fill me with fear, Severus," Lucias chuckled as he whipped out his wand and said a curse and aimed it at Lillyanna. A bolt of red lightning shot out of his wand at her chest, sucking the breath out of her body. Gasping for air and not being able to breathe Lillyanna lay helpless on the floor, struggling against suffocation. Severus cried out and fell to her side, holding her up as she began to grow unconscious. As if falling asleep she collapsed under her heavy chest and lay unconscious on the floor. Not knowing any sort of way to undo the curse, Severus placed his lips over his mouth and began to give her mouth to mouth. "Oh Severus, you actually think the muggle's form of lifesaving techniques will work against a curse?" Lucias laughed as he gazed over at Albus, who was standing there, staring sternly at him. "What are you looking at, Dumbledore? Why don't you watch as I kill off your granddaughter?"
"I can't let you do that, Lucias, for you see I hold your wand, and therefore I hold your power." Lucias glanced down at his hand and noticed his wand had disapeered, and realized Albus was holding it, and beginning to break it with his fingers. "Albus, please, you think that will stop ME?" said Lucias, trying to act cool even though beads of sweat began to fall from his forehead. With that, Albus snapped the wand in half and threw it to the ground, a final symbol of defeat on a wizard. Feeling utterly helpless, Lucias ran out of the building as fast as he could, yelling back to them that he would never be back, but his Lord would be.
A few hours later, Lillyanna awoke inside the hospital room, with Severus at her side. "Ough, what happened?" she muttered lazily as she tried to sit up. Severus pushed her down gently. "You were cursed by Malfoy, you passed out, but your grandfather broke his wand therefore shutting off the spell." Lillyanna sat blankly for a minute, then remembering the whole situation. "So is he gone? Will he be back?"
"Yes, I'm afraid...he said Voldemort would come back, I think he's going to come back for me this time." Lillyanna couldn't think of what to say, startled with fear she hugged Severus, letting tears stream down his back. "Its alright, no matter what happens we will always be together, just remember that." But those were not the words she wanted to hear. Clutching his back she hugged him tighter, feeling a million emotions flood through her body. First fear, then love, then hatred, then sorrow, all leading up to utter dismay. "Severus, I'm...I'm so scared, I...I don't know what to think," she finally muttered as she sat back from him, looking into his dark eyes. He seemed so calm on the outside, but one look into his eyes showed complete terror. He was once again that scared little boy, only this time it wasn't love he was afraid of.
The next day was completely normal, no one knew of Lucias' visit or of Voldemort's threatened return. Instead, Dumbledore felt that it would be best to keep this quiet, only between the staff. Hoping for the best, Lillyanna trudged through the day, pretending to be in a great, worry-free mood. But deep inside, she was terrified and worried out of her mind. Nonetheless, she had a baby to care for, couldn't be in a sad mood for that, she thought. That evening when Severus was to return to their room, Lillyanna sat on the armchair by the fire, reading a book but not paying attention to the words she was reading. She had too much on her mind and nothing was helping her relax. She had taken Alaysia to her mother's room so the baby could stay there that night. Lillyanna had told her mother she needed a night off to speak to Severus. So there she was, sitting by the fire, worry-striken when Severus opened the door and walked in hurriedly, nearly slamming the door behind him. Leaning against the door, she could hear him panting loudly and walked over to see what was wrong. Severus looked fine, but she could tell something had happened to make him run like that. "Severus? Whats wrong?"
"Someone was following me, down the hall," he whispered. "I don't think they know I'm up here though, they didn't see me enter this room." Lillyanna stood there, practically dumbstruck by the thought of more worries added onto her mountain of a pile already. "Severus, I need to talk to you," she said finally without looking into his eyes. He walked over to her and put his arms around her, encompassing her in a warm hug. "What is it?" Leading him to the bed she sat down and patted beside her to tell him to sit as well. "I'm worried more then before Severus, I have this horrible feeling in my gut telling me to keep you safe at all costs, I don't want to lose you..." His eyes shown with compassion as he took her head in his hands, motioning her face closer to his. "Trust me, you won't lose me, nothing is going to happen, everything will be alright."
"I wish I could believe you! But with all thats been going on what am I to think?" Lillyanna stood now, walking over to the fire and facing its smoldering flames. Severus walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing her neck. "Theres nothing we can do, except wait and hope for the best," he muttered, thinking to himself what a miserable plan that was. She turned to him now, looking at his hands and slowly grabbing them in hers and placing them on her lips. Looking up from his hands to his eyes she watched as the fear and compassion collided in spades of flickering light. "I love you, Severus Snape," she whispered as she wrapped her hands around his neck and pulled herself up to his lips, kissing him deeply and lovingly. Wrapping his arms around her, he carried her over to the bed, laying her down softly and climbing on top of her. He felt his life spill out before her then, draining him of all worries and hopes. All he saw was her as he drove into the beauty that was her.
He smiled then, laying beside her and gazing hazily into her lovely eyes. That would be the last time she would see him smile like that.