Chapter - 20: Return to Reality
Severus P.O.V
"Snape!"
"Go away!" Severus replied, not looking up at the speaker. He was in one of the spare rooms in the dungeons, so anyone who saw him sitting here would know not to interrupt. Unfortunately, it was mandatory to leave the door open, for some absurd reason.
"Severus!"
This one was more shocked, and surprised, and belonged to someone who was supposed to be missing. Severus looked up quickly, not expecting Lily to be standing right in front of him.
"Lily?" He knew he sounded incredulous. Before he could register it, his body had thrown him across the room, and he was pulling Lily into a hug.
Just as quickly, he let go, moving away from her with an awkward grimace. He was glad to see her and to know she was safe. He didn't love her like his mother had loved Tobias before he was born, but Severus loved Lily the way Petunia had loved Lily before he came into their lives.
The fact that it was his arrival that changed both relationships wasn't lost on him, but it was a problem for another time, when Lily wasn't standing there, just staring at him.
"How did you get here?" He blurted.
All three of them blinked and Severus spoke again. "I mean, how great to see you here!"
Somehow, he managed to get in the necessary amount of enthusiasm, much to Peter's growing amusement. Why Peter was there, and when he had joined was something Severus didn't care to ask about or know.
Lily shook her head, looking exasperated. "Never mind that, Sev. How long has it been? What's going on? Why are we supposed to be missing?"
Severus took a fortifying breath. "Lily, you and Pettigrew there went missing over 3 weeks ago. In fact, you both disappeared so thoroughly from Hogwarts, that it was concluded that you were kidnapped. By him. So, yeah, you aren't supposed to be here. You're supposed to be dead."
Lily's only reaction was to roll her eyes. "Cut out the dramatics Sev. What's going on in the school? How did us being missing affect everyone else?"
Severus sighed over the onslaught of questions from Lily. He had so much catch-up work to do. He had spent most of the last three weeks searching for how they went missing and what happened.
And the marauders, with their newly renewed 'games', were really constricting his schedule and peace. He was never going to get the rest of his work done, and he was already late. Lily would probably be the death of him, but Severus sat back down with a long-suffering sigh.
He ran through all of his theories on their disappearance, and the fact that they reappeared in the dungeons. Slughorn never checked on the Slytherins, and Severus knew Narcissa had gone out with Lucius. It wasn't too much of a stretch to see Peter and Lily following them.
"Well, we might as well sit down. This is a long story." Severus said.
"Can we go see - "
Severus interrupted Pettigrew. "It all started when you left the castle..."
"Well, that's not disastrous at all!" Lily stated frowning. "Most of the school seems perfectly content to ignore everything that's going on."
Severus nodded. "It seems that way."
Pettigrew made a sound to interrupt, but Severus didn't want to listen to any of the marauders for longer, even if it was only Pettigrew.
"What are you planning to do now?"
Lily looked far away, and Pettigrew finally got the chance to speak.
"Lily! Can we please go find the marauders?"
Severus rolled his eyes. "It would be better to avoid them, actually."
Pettigrew scowled at him, and Severus was as impressed as he would be about a harmless fly scowling at him. Pettigrew wasn't even that threatening when he spoke.
"What would you know of that, Snape?"
"More than you, obviously." Severus deadpanned. "Your friends have gone back to terrorizing the school with your what're they called? Games?"
"Practice." Pettigrew shot back. "It's practical spell work, applied in a real-life environment."
Severus almost muttered a petty, 'as if something could be a fake-life situation,' but thought better of it when Lily spoke up.
He hadn't expected her to support his thoughts of never seeing the marauders again, but it still hurt when she said, "If it's been three weeks, then Remus would've gone to visit his family."
Severus rolled his eyes. "An idiot would know that Lupin was a werewolf if they spent over a year in his company. He really isn't subtle at all. They aren't subtle."
Lily ignored him as usual, heading to the door. "Well, we're going to the hospital wing then!"
Severus grimaced and flicked his wand. The door snapped shut and Lily turned to him, looking irritated.
"Maybe you should try talking to your Head of House first?" Severus said, trying to look as bored as possible. "So that she knows her two runaways… er, kidnapped children have returned."
Lily almost dismissed him; Severus could see that. But she also knew better than to go around the school without informing everyone that she wasn't actually kidnapped. She had some sense of self-preservation and common sense, as compared to Pettigrew, who was tapping his foot impatiently.
"We'll talk to McGonagall then, Sev, but I'm going to see Remus after that."
Lily smiled at him pleasantly and Severus almost sighed. She wanted to speak to him later, then. When Pettigrew wasn't there. And she would possibly tell him where she had been and what was so important that she had left Hogwarts for it.
"I'll see you around then," Severus removed the spell with another flick and Lily left with a jaunty wave. Severus scowled at Pettigrew, until he too scampered off and then, he leaned back in his seat and thought about the consequences everyone was going to face.
"Snape."
Severus took a deep measured breath and forced himself not to snap. He looked up to Regulus Black's framed in the doorway of the room. It hadn't even been two hours and he was getting annoyed with the interruptions. But this was one person he couldn't avoid unless he wanted to be ostracized and murdered.
"Yes, Black?"
Regulus didn't say anything, stepping fully into the room and snapping the door shut. The polite behavior from him was out of character.
"You've been spending time with your mudblood and my blood-traitor brother's friends."
Severus tamped down on the anger than rushed through him. "Indeed."
Regulus nodded, leaning against another desk casually, as though this conversation was nothing but a pleasant talk between friends.
"And?" Regulus prompted.
Severus had nothing to say to Regulus, but the younger boy expected something from him. He had his questions that he wanted answers to and he would get them with whatever means necessary.
"You brother's doing well." Severus said, smirking inside.
"I don't care for my brother," Regulus shot back, mouth twisting into a sneer. Severus saw through it immediately. Regulus had answered too quickly. "Besides, that's not what I want to know."
"Well, what do you want to know?"
Regulus frowned in Severus' direction, the most emotion Severus had seen from him. "Your mudblood friend is back at Hogwarts, not kidnapped any longer."
Severus refused to say anything. Regulus already knew all the gossip, anyways. The Black shook his head, dark hair falling into his eyes, which he impatiently pushed away.
"See you around, Snape," Regulus said, striding out of the room, abruptly, just like everything he did.
The Blacks were all so impatient and unpredictable and much too unreadable because of that. Severus knew there was a method to their madness, but knowing their method was the only way to bring them down from the pedestal they were on.
Severus didn't know what Regulus Black wanted from him. All he knew was that he didn't want a part of it. Not even aligning himself to such a prestigious house was worth it. After all, the mightiest always fall the hardest.
