By: MysticalPoet
The relationship between Lily and James had been a stormy one for a year, ever since she came home with Harry. James, an Auror, and a damn good one too, almost always had to work. Lily had her hands full taking care of the baby, Harry, but James expected her to keep the house clean. Today, James had come home early to find her fast asleep. Severus and I had come over to watch James for the day so Lily could clean and catch some sleep. I was pregnant, and wanted to make sure I was ready for what was coming up.
We didn't expect for James to walk in. "Lily, I'm—" he began, but cut himself off abruptly when he saw us sitting on their loveseat and Lily fast asleep on the catch. He exploded. "Is this what my wife does while I'm gone?" he yelled. Lily woke up abruptly.
"No, James, not at all," I began to explain, but it was too late.
He cut me off. "Then why are you sitting here, acting like you have all the reason in the world to be here, and where in the Hell is my son?"
Lily had fully woken up now, as was made obvious by the bellow that startled all of us. In all my seven years of attending Hogwarts, I had never seen her like this. "YOUR SON?" she asked dangerously. "YOU'RE NOT THE ONE WHO WENT THROUGH THE CONTRACTIONS, THE CARRIAGE OF A CHILD THROUGH THE SUMMER, AND THE LABOR, AND WHO IS NOW EXPECTED TO TAKE CARE OF HIM WHILE KEEPING THE HOUSE METICULOUSLY CLEAN! WHO IS IT THAT DOES THAT? ME!!! I'M THE ONE RAISING HIM, YOU'RE NEVER EVEN HOME TO TAKE CARE OF HIM! I'VE HAD TO GO SHOPPING, KEEP THE DISHES CLEAN, KEEP THE CARPET CRUMB-FREE, KEEP THE CLOTHES AND BLANKETS CLEAN, AND MAKE THE FOOD!!!"
Harry woke up at this time, so I went to get him. I could hear the babe's pitiful wails drifting to me. It seemed as if I was the only one who could hear the child's wails though, because James had given me a look that could rival Medusa's. "I'm going to get Harry," I said, in my soft voice. "He's crying, and you two are, apparently, indisposed for the moment. Severus, Harry, and I will go for a walk and let you work this out.
"You will not leave," he said to me dangerously, his eyes glittering dangerously. "It's bad enough that you had to go and marry a Slytherin, against my will, might I add, but for you to be taking care of my—our child while I'm gone with your husband is simply unacceptable." Harry's wails grew louder. "Lily, get Harry," he snapped irritably. Obediently, she went to get the child. In this phase of wrath, if he wasn't obeyed, your life was forfeit.
James had been pushing me aside, physically and mentally, for some time now, and I was sick of it. "JAMES POTTER! YOU LISTEN TO ME." Was that really my voice? I wish I hadn't done that. "SINCE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SEVERUS AND ME STARTED, YOU HAVE SHUNNED ME, AND I'LL TELL YOU, I'M SICK OF IT!" Wow, I guess I really was sick of him. "I KNOW YOU WANTED ME TO BE WITH SIRIUS SO WE COULD ALL BE MARRIED, JESSICA TO REMUS AND LILY TO YOU, BUT I WAS NOT HAPPY WITH HIM!" My voice grew soft, because I had begun to grow hoarse and because my fury had reached the point where I could easily have cursed him. "The relationship between Sirius and myself was not one of love. It was one of obligation to you. I don't owe anything to you. I never have. The relationship between Severus and myself was one of pure love. He is the only Slytherin who didn't turn to evil. He is also my only love." It was time to switch the topic to Lily before I sounded self-centered, although I had a lot more to say.
"The reason why we came here and Lily was sleeping is because you have been expecting too much of her," I said. Everyone, including Lily, who had returned, and the young Harry, were staring at me in amazement. Normally, I was the one who spoke as little as possible. "People always expect too much of women. They expect the women to keep the house running, while the men bring home the bacon. Lily was never that kind of person. As her husband, you, James, should know that. I was born for that sort of thing, but your beloved wife, your Lily, wasn't. She was born for adventure." Severus squeezed my hand softly.
James stared at me in amazement, but cocked his head and looked at his wife thoughtfully.
Setting the child down (who then ran to me), Lily said softly, "She's right, you know. I wasn't made for this. Try my mac and cheese and you can tell that."
At that, everyone began to snicker, and James said, "You're right, honey. I've been underappreciating you. I'm sorry." He walked over to his wife and kissed her deeply. I smiled at Severus and mouthed to him, "We should go." He took my hand, and Lily, pushing James away for a moment, said, "Could you take Harry for the night?"
Severus and I smiled at each other and I said, "Of course. I'll pack a bag for him. I'll take the Pack'N'Play, as well. Our crib hasn't arrived yet." Severus proudly patted my (rather large) stomach, and I smiled at him. "If you don't mind, Severus," I added speedily.
"Of course not, love," he said in his rich, throaty voice. How I loved him!
"Thank you," Lily said to me, looking grateful. "He always has water just before he goes to bed, so he doesn't wake up with bad breath."
I smiled at her. "All right." I grabbed the few things he would need that we didn't already have and said to him, "Come along, handsome." He grabbed on to my hand and clung to it tightly as we Flooed back home to our Queen Anne house on Rowena Boulevard. It was a nice place, painted a placid blue with a white frame on the outside. On the inside, all of the walls were a pale pastel yellow. Severus had put me in charge of decorating the house, which I gladly did. It was a beautiful house. All of the walls were that lovely shade of yellow. All other wood was painted white, and there was black iron decorations. I smiled peacefully as I entered the house, as I had done since it was built, two years ago.
"Come on, Harry," I said to the child. "I have some toys you can play with. Follow me!"
That morning, when I returned him, Lily and James seemed a lot friendlier as they broke the news to me. "We're going into hiding," Lily said, so softly it was barely audible.
"Voldemort is trying to find us. We have to hide. We will bury the secret within a Secret-Keeper, who, we hope, won't reveal our location to anyone. These days, even walls have ears," James continued.
"I'll be the keeper," I volunteered.
Severus gave me a stern look. "No, darling. What with your pregnancy and all, I don't want to add the stress of having to keep a secret of this magnitude to you."
I could understand his position, although I still wanted to do it. I was never really much of one to stand up for myself, however, so I just gave in.
"Actually," James said, "We were thinking of using Sirius, anyway. No spouse to bug him, find out what it is."
I rested my head on Severus's shoulder. "All right. Can we even send you owls?"
"Not even owls. They could give away unwanted information. I'm so sorry." Poor Lily. Her face looked so haggard and drawn. Even though her marriage was no longer in jeopardy, her life was instead.
That was the last time Severus and I ever saw Lily and James Potter.
About three months later, Severus and I were still grieving the death of my beloved friends. We had heard about their son living, but we doubted it was true, so we grieved for him as well. Their funeral was beautiful. Lily would have hated it, would have protested, "I don't even know half of these people! What are they doing, coming up to talk about how grieved they are that we're dead and how close they were to us?"
My baby had been born, a beautiful little girl that we named Amy. She had raven black hair, like my aunt, who we had named her after, but she possessed blue eyes. None of us could decide where they came from, because the person closest related to me with blue eyes was my cousin Brianna, who was still in fifth year at Hogwarts.
When we weren't grieving, we were taking care of her. Severus quit his job so that he could help me, and lived on both Muggle and wizard welfare. My child was born the day the Potters were killed: Halloween. Two lives taken, only one brought back in their place. Taking care of Amy was time consuming, and it was what I was doing approximately one month after the death of Lily and James. Severus was out that day, when Peter Pettigrew came in. "S-Sirius wants to kill me!" he gasped.
I stood up abruptly, waking Rachel up, who whimpered drowsily, then went back to sleep. "What?" I asked in hushed tones. "Why?"
"He knows I know he told the secret!" Peter informed me.
They did end up giving Sirius the position? I hadn't known this. "He gave away the secret?" I hissed. "I knew Sirius was a dog (no pun intended), but I didn't know he'd sink that low! And now he wants to kill you?"
"Yes," he whispered. "He's tracking me down as we speak. Get out of here, you and the baby. I think he might cause some major damage. His spells always went a step too far, if you remember. Write a note to your husband, and you and the baby get out of her. Quickly!" he hissed.
I ran into the Black Forest. (Yes, the one in Germany. I was fascinated with the country's history, and the country's geography, so we had decided to live there. ) Amy woke up abruptly and cried, my every step jarring what would have been a long, loud, wail. Finally, Amy just gave up and closed her mouth. I ran and ran until I was hopelessly lost, when I slowed it down to a run. The damage couldn't get us here. A large bang proved me wrong as it knocked me unconscious and pinned me to the ground, pinning Amy as well.
When I woke up, I had a headache that could kill. I could barely think clearly enough to realize that I was on top of Amy. I tried to roll over and discovered that I couldn't. I considered changing into my Animagi form, a cat, but I realized that, even if I got out before it came down on me, and crushed me it would still crush Amy. I could still conform my tongue to speak to cats, however. I called out for help in kitty speak, and a cat slowly, nervously came to us.
"What is your problem?" it asked. By it's deep, husky voice, I could tell it was a tabby cat.
"My child and I are stuck under something. Would you call some friends over to help us out?" To ask if the cat could would be to breach the cat's system of etiquette.
"At once," the tabby replied. It bounded off, and soon, there were about twenty cats surrounding us. They lifted it off, and I wept to find that it was a piece of my very own house. "My thanks you with you. May your children be many and strong," I said, thanking them in the traditional cat way.
"And may it be the same with you," they responded, leaving. It was time for me to get out of this place. I extracted my wand from my pocket and whispered softly to it, "Point me." The wand would always point north, and I had to go north to get back to Rowena Boulevard. It pointed in the exact opposite direction I was facing, and I followed it for quite a bit. Finally, I found what was once the back of a house on Rowena Boulevard. I walked up to it and inspected it from what had once been the person's backyard. Finally, I was able to figure out where I was. This was 443 Rowena Boulevard, and I lived on 444 Rowena! I looked to my right, and saw that the house was completely demolished. If my husband ever came home, he probably assumed that I was dead, that I was one of the thirteen killed.
"Pity, isn't it?" a cold voice from next to me asked.
I jumped, waking Amy up again, and looked next to me to find the almost elven face of Lucius Malfoy. "How many were killed? Who was killed?" I asked, rocking Amy gently.
"Thirteen, and they counted you, Mrs. Snape, as one of them because they couldn't find you in what used to be your house. You or the child. Today, your husband was found as well, killed by a furious follower of the Dark Lord." At the time, I didn't know that the man was lying.
"Sev is gone?" I asked softly. I didn't cry. My grief was too great to be expressed in tears.. He nodded, and I clung to my child and murmured softly, "They might take my best friends, they might take my house, they might take my husband, but they can't ever take my child or myself!"
I wish I had noticed the horrible grin on his face as he said, "Come with me. I'll show you his body and prove it to you."
Oh, why was I so gullible?
I followed along, trusting him although I didn't know why. He led me to a house in a nearby street. "Your husband is in here," he told me. I recognized the house as Remus and Jessica's house. "They're not gone, too, are they?" I asked softly.
"No. They're still alive, but barely. They're in St. Mungo's. "
What a well-spun web of lies!
I entered the place, holding on tightly to Amy, and the door shut, and I could hear it locking.
It was only then that I heard a slight hiss. "So, it's Brittany. Come to me at last. You could have been powerful, you know that? You didn't listen to me, though. Never listened to a word I said."
"Because all you had to say was garbage, MacNair," I whispered.
"Brittany, you have no clue how I've wanted you. Before he left, the Dark Lord promised me I could have you. I finally do. Looks like today's my lucky day." He chuckled. "Look, you even brought a child. When she's old enough, I can take her as well."
It's been fifteen years, and he hasn't taken her. I haven't allowed him to. He's taken me, time and time again, each time against my will, but at least he hasn't taken Amy. The windows are unbreakable and he took away my wand so I couldn't Apparate out. I've been planning this day for some time. Amy, with her dark raven curls and eyes that are still blue, is going to help me. We're escaping together. MacNair has a meeting with the Dark Lord, and, because he's never had many, I can guarantee that he'll forget to bring my wand.
He's just left, and I was right. I grabbed my wand quickly and thought. "Hold on to me tightly, Amy," I instructed her. She did so, and I said clearly, "Apparatium Forbidden Forest!"
We were free. It took me to the Hogwarts end, thank God. I ran all the way up to the school, not even stopping to say hello to Hagrid. Amy ran along with me joyously. I arrived at the door, opened it, and flew inside. I would have gone right to Professor Dumbledore's office, but I was stopped by one fact: I didn't know the new password. All I could do was stand and wait for the professor to come down. I did so, but I only had to wait for about five minutes before Dumbledore came down with someone else…someone I recognized quickly. I ran right to him, as a matter of fact.
"Severus!" I cried joyously. "I heard you were dead!"
His arms surrounded me in an almost crushing embrace. "I heard the same thing about you, Brittany. I can't tell you how horrible I felt when I found out you had died while I was gone, Amy as well. Did Amy die?" he asked me.
"She's right here. Amy," I explained breathlessly, "This is your father, Severus Snape."
She smiled at my beloved shyly. "It's nice to meet you, Father."
He grabbed her in a tight embrace, and grabbed me as well. "I can live again," I heard him murmur. It was then that I noticed his hair.
"Severus, darling, what have you been doing that's more important than cleanliness?" I demanded.
"Grieving for you and Amy," he said, hugging us again. I could just stay in his arms forever.
"Go clean immediately," I told him sternly. Amy and Professor Dumbledore started sniggering. "What?" I demanded.
At the same time Amy said, "You sound like you're his mother," Professor Dumbledore said, "He's been needing for someone to order him around for a while now. I, along with the rest of the school, will be happy about this. You may, if you wish, teach here so you can make sure that this doesn't happen again."
I laughed at Amy's comment, and said to Professor Dumbledore, "Truly? I could?" If you could die of happiness, I would have.
Since Amy had never even held a wand, we had to skim through the training throughout the summer so she could become a fifth year as she should be. I have had three other children, one girl, a boy, and another girl. Amy has since married Harry Potter, and my three are all in Hogwarts. Sev and I both teach the children Potions, and our love grows stronger for each other every day.
~*~*~Disclaimer~*~*~:
One, two, three, five,
It ain't mine, go see a hive!
~*~*~Author's Note:~*~*~
Nicely done, Dilemma!
Dilemma (my muse): Thanks, Britt! I rather liked it myself!
Me: And all we were doing was making Christmas treats!
Dilemma: And speaking of Christmas treats...
Me: If you review, you get some!
Both: Ta!