The Story of Severus: Chapter Nine
Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns everything.
By: Susan
Summary: Snape's past has been left a mystery. Why did he join Lord Voldemort? Why did Dumbledore clear him? Did he have a relationship with Lily Potter? How was he connected to Lily and James? And what about the prophecy?
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Severus Snape had waited hours; for hours he remained powerless in his body, his mind lying awake while his body slept.
He was restless. How could he not be, after planning what he had planned? It had taken him the night to realize what he had to do.
Severus Snape had never been one to ask for help, and had been all too obvious to him as to what he had to do. He didn't want to ask for help. But his stubbornness in asking for help was not outweighed by his love for Lily.
Nothing was outweighed by his love for Lily.
He had started by moving just the slightest bit, just to see if he had the power. It had taken him almost an hour of struggling, but he had moved his pinky.
It was one finger closer to Lily Potter.
He had finally fallen asleep, more exhausted than he had ever been, and when he awoke the next morning, he could not move. He had forgotten that he was cursed. And with all that time it took to move his pinky in the slightest possible way, he knew he would never be able to make it to the one person who could help him.
How would he save Lily? Could she be saved?
Snape struggled through the afternoon, trying to expel these terrible thoughts from his mind. He couldn't afford to wonder what would happen if she could not be saved. He had to have hope.
Every moment, he tried to move his hand, to perhaps shake it slightly, to pull himself out of the prison within himself; the daze he was in. And every moment he realized that it was impossible. How could he save her?
He lost himself for hours, a blur inside of his own mind. And, suddenly, his eyes focused on his clock, and he emerged from the fog and confusion of his mind.
It was nearing nine. And a dull ache from his mark that was steadily growing greater told him that it was almost time. Almost time for the death of his love by his own hands.
And the terrible irony of it all was that he was unable to move anything more than his pinky.
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It was Halloween night, and while Lily Potter's green eyes were closed, she was hardly asleep. The warm, feathery light breath of James tickled her neck as he slept beside her; his strong arm gathered tightly around her waist.
It wasn't an ominous bad dream this time. It was hardly even anything more than a slight twinge at the bit of her stomach, something that told her something was wrong.
Desperately wrong.
She slid closer to James, shivering, as a gust of wind twirled through the slightly ajar window.
This was the first time that she hadn't welcomed decorating her home for Halloween, the first time she hadn't carved pumpkins and enchanted them to glow and grin at passerby. Why would it matter? No one could see her or James; they were invisible in their own home.
She had to admit, Sirius had been very smart about the idea of making Peter secret keeper. It was a good thought; nobody would go looking for them through Peter if they knew that Sirius could have been involved. Sirius and James had always been like brothers.
Another gust blew in through the window, ruffling James' hair. He moaned softly, and she giggled, trying hard not to wake him.
But her smile vanished when she felt that familiar twinge that something was not right. She rolled over, trying to make herself more comfortable, and landed on James' fingers. He opened his eyes and moaned again, this time in pain.
"Must you?" She let a flicker of a smile invade her face.
"Sorry, James," she responded, and rolled back into place, then shut her eyes. "Good night, sweetheart."
He let out a fierce yawn. "Don't think I haven't noticed that you've been staying up the past couple of nights."
She sighed as he placed his hand on top of hers, and then rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.
"I just haven't been tired, that's all."
"Something's the matter."
"Nothing's the matter."
"Tell me."
"There's nothing to tell."
James sat up, now fully awake. "There's nobody here, Lily. Nobody can hear it but me."
She was silent for a moment, then nodded. "All right, if you must know, I've been thinking."
"About?"
"Oh…Just things."
"What sorts of things?"
"Just…When I met you after Hogwarts."
"When Dumbledore invited us to an Order meeting? Why that?"
She took his hand and gripped it tightly, knowing she wouldn't be able to explain what she wanted. "I realized after not seeing you, and by the way you acted…"
"That I'm absolute perfection, and you were wrong to turn me down over and over?" Lily smiled for a moment, then looked wistfully back at him. He picked his glasses up from the bedside table, rubbed the lenses on the blanket, placed them on, then blinked at her through them. "What's wrong?"
"James…What if I hadn't turned you down and fought with you over and over? We would have had so much time together…Time that we didn't have, and can't ever get back."
He narrowed his eyebrows at her. "We have our whole lives ahead of us, Lily."
She didn't meet his eyes, just nodded and whispered yes.
"What's wrong, Lily?"
"I keep," she sighed, and James put a cool hand on her arm, "I'm afraid, James, I'm afraid. We haven't heard from Peter since he and Sirius switched places, and I keep getting butterflies in my stomach, and I'm worried about Albus and Remus…and Frank and Alice, I mean they're in hiding now, but…Oh, James…" she sighed again, and he stared at her.
Quietly, he put his arms around her, wanting nothing more than to reassure her everything was all right. How could he? The way she felt about this situation was unbearable to him. People were dying left and right, and they were sitting, safe in the secrets of Peter Pettigrew. They hadn't heard anything from Peter; who knew if everyone they cared about was safe?
And, she had a point, to wonder what they could have been. The day they had met, two years after they had left Hogwarts had caused him to fall in love with her all over again.
The moment he had seen her walk in the door, his heart had ached. He'd hadn't forgotten her during those two years apart, but he had put her far in the back of his mind, as Remus had advised.
And she had walked into that room, and he had fallen in love all over again.
James took off his glasses, lay back down on the bed and wrapped his arms protectively around Lily.
"What do you think would have happened if I had given you a chance, James?"
He surveyed her intently for a moment; those beautiful emerald eyes he had one day dreamed would love him were glassed in tears. "Lily, I think everything happens for a reason, and there must have been a reason that you fell in love with me after school ended."
Stroking his stomach, she whispered, "The moment I realized you weren't going to badger me anymore, that you grew up so much in our time apart…That was the moment I knew."
James smiled. "It was right away then," he said quietly.
"It was," Lily whispered, placing her hand on his warm cheek, wanting nothing more than to be with him forever. "I love you."
"I know," he whispered back, nuzzling her beautiful neck with his lips. "I love you too."
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The minutes passed by ever so slowly, one by one by one. A twitch of the pinky. An ache of the arm. A chime of the clock. A breeze from the window.
Ten o'clock. From behind the mist of Snape's directed actions, his mind was alert. Suddenly, his arm began to ache more terribly than ever, and he felt a cold wave of terror shock his body.
He used his remaining strength to try and move his body, to will it from removing itself from the bed, but it was all in vain. As much as he tried, his body stood and cloaked itself.
He wanted so desperately to scream, to yell, to stamp his feet like a child. But this was no matter for a child. Tonight would end lives, unless he did something about it. He thought suddenly about Lily and James' poor baby, who'd lose his life tonight for something that was beyond his parents, or any others control.
That poor child, dead before he could get to know his mother, the most amazing woman he'd ever known. And she would join him in his grave, as would her husband.
He may not care for James in the slightest, but Snape was quite aware that death was not fair. Neither Lily, nor James, nor their child deserved to have their lives ended tonight.
Snape began to fight his body as it placed his wand in the pocket of his robes. Each second was closer and closer to the unspeakable and he wouldn't go down without a fight. He wouldn't let Lily die because he wasn't strong enough, wasn't worthy enough to love her.
He heard a voice echo in the back of his head; a command. Gritting his teeth, he used all his strength one last time, pouring all his thoughts of Lily out, hoping it would be enough.
A moment later, Snape found himself millimeters from the ground, his split lip had bleeding once more. He had an ache to his head that was almost unbearable. He sat up. Severus Snape sat up on his own.
Slowly, as if he could not believe that his hand was moving, he reached out and touched his lip. The blood staining the tips of his fingers was a sight that he somehow welcomed. It was his fingers that felt the blood. His lip that felt the pain.
He smiled for a second, then stood unsteadily back up. The clock said a quarter after seven, and another terrible ache to his arm told him he hadn't much time. He was an instant from apparating, when he stopped, picked up the picture from his bedside table, and stared at it once more, wondering if this would be the last time he saw the girl in it.
He thrust the picture inside his robes, then apparated to someone who he knew would be able to help. Albus Dumbledore.
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Meanwhile, Lord Voldemort paced from left to right in the black air, waiting. He called to Snape precisely twelve moments ago, and had sent warning shots of pain hourly. Although he was under the Imperious curse, Lord Voldemort did not have true control over his body, unless he was directly in front of him and could use specific vocal commands.
From a distance, it seemed using general commands could present a problem. Like arriving tardy to something that had the possibility to change the future of the wizarding world.
But Lord Voldemort could not afford to let Snape jeopardize something that he had worked in his life for. The boy wouldn't live long enough to vanquish him. His parents escaped him three times. It would not happen again.
He would have to go alone.
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With a pop, Snape landed on the grounds outside of Hogwarts. He stood up, dusted off his robes, and took off at a run to the lake in front of it. He whisked his wand out, tapped his arms and sailed across it on his newfound wings.
He had never been so grateful that he had been accepted into Hogwarts' human transfiguration class.
Manuevering the wings was a different story, and landing presented a problem. When he finally gave up trying to gracefully land and hit the ground, he was flat on his back and staring into the crooked face of Albus Dumbledore.
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A scream erupted through the Potter house, and Lily awoke to it. Shivering, she placed a robe over her nightgown and tiptoed to the crib to hold her screaming child. James, it seemed, could sleep through anything, and hadn't been awoken by Harry's cries.
"Shh…" she whispered softly, lifting and cradling him in her arms. "Mummy's got you, don't cry." The crying subsided, and James opened his eyes.
"Good, you got him to stop," he said with a laugh.
"I thought you were sleeping," Lily said accusingly, then held out Harry to James.
"I was before this little one woke me up," James said, but he wrapped his arms around him anyway. "Chuck him out, that's what we should do," he joked.
"Don't even make fun like that," Lily said, "Look at him, nobody could do such a thing."
They both stopped and stared at Harry, this little child who made them happier than they had ever been before. His giant, sparkling, green eyes and tiny mess of black hair were a perfect mix of Lily and James' features. James put his other arm around Lily and kissed her. She lay against him, finally feeling safe.
A terrible crash from the floor below stopped the comforting feeling in its tracks.
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"Severus Snape?" Dumbledore asked humorously. "What brings you to my castle at this time of the night? It's lucky I was out for a walk, or you might not have been able to get in, eh Severus?"
Snape bit his lip to keep from raging. Lily could be dead and Dumbledore was pretending it was funny that he was here?
"I need your help, Professor!" Snape shouted, quickly climbing up to his feet, still no match to Dumbledore's impressive height. "Lily is in trouble!"
Dumbledore's eyes widened. "How is that possible? Sirius…He didn't…" he was quiet for a moment, in stunned disbelief.
"The Dark Lord…He's gone after them- he's gone to their home…He wants to kill the boy."
He stared at Dumbledore, suddenly noticing that the frail old man that he had always been was not there, and an electrifying, terrifyingly powerful man was standing before him. His white beard was no longer a sign of weakness or age, but of wisdom and strength. He clenched his fists and turned to Snape, who drew back in fear.
"Thank you for alerting me," Dumbledore said, then started at a run across the grounds to apparate to Godric's Hollow. Snape followed him quickly, hoping that he had not been too late.
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