They Didn't Know We Were Seeds
Lily hugs her mother. "Bye Mum," she says.
The woman gives her shoulder a pat and when Lily pulls back, she sees her expression is one of mild bafflement. "You're just visiting with Severus and his mother overnight, aren't you?"
"Yes," she answers, frowning.
Her mum smiles and grasps Lily's chin in her hand. "That hug reminded me of an off-to-school-and-I-won't-see-you-til-Christmas hug."
She fights the embarrassed flush rising to her cheeks. Lily hadn't meant for it to feel that way for her mum. She'd just wanted to hug her tight in case things don't go as planned. Lily knows all too well what it is like to not be able to look back at your last moments with someone with fondness. "I might want to turn it into a couple of days instead," she fibs. Lily hopes her mother might believe her and when she looked up, it seems she did. There was that crinkle of amusement that Lily knew well around her mum's eyes.
"That's fine," she agrees. "Just send a letter, hm?"
She nods and feels the tension bleed right out of her shoulders. Her mum believes her and that is enough.
"Bye Mum," she says again before grabbing her rucksack and walking out the front door. She is going to meet the headmaster at the park she and Severus used to play at when they were actual children. It'd been the least popular of Cokeworth's four parks when she was young and that hasn't changed this time either. As she bounds outside into the day's filtered sunshine, Lily blinks when she sees Petunia is waiting with crossed arms.
She stops, a bit annoyed with her sister. Lily can't be late. This is important. "Yes," demands Lily a little more snippy than probably required.
"You're not going to Severus's are you?" she questions, wearing a scowl that matches Lily's own.
She clamps down on the urge to show her surprise. "Of course I am," she says, rolling her eyes.
Petunia makes a scoffing noise. "That old man in the park is not Severus's grandfather. That's the headmaster of Hogwarts! James has shown me his chocolate frog cards before."
Lily's heart thuds hard against her chest and for a speechless moment, she stares at her sister. "Are you going to tell Mum?" she asks.
"What are you doing with him?" counters Petunia. Some of the hardness in Petunia's expression fades and unease takes its place. "He's not… blackmailing you into something or taking advantage of you, is he?"
She almost laughs at her sister's very sweet and valid concern. The thought of the Dumbledore taking advantage of Lily or blackmailing her for something or other is preposterous. He'd never do that. Internally, she winces. Not to her at least. "No," she tells her sister. "It's not like that." Taking a deep breath in, she considers what to say. "I didn't want to get anyone excited," she starts. "But he's taking me to meet a recently retired quidditch coach. He thinks I could make a league team when I graduate."
Petunia blinks. "Really?" she says. "I know you play, and James says you're one of the team's best, but you don't really talk to much about it in your letters or anything."
"I guess I just never realized how good I was," Lily tells her sister. "I don't know if I want to go professional, but I'm sure meeting the coach will help decide one way or another."
"I still don't get why you didn't want to say anything," her sister persists, upset.
She sighs. "I don't know if I want this yet and getting everyone excited about me being a pro quidditch player when it might not happen seemed mean." Petunia still doesn't look convinced, but Lily is growing impatient. The headmaster might leave without her if she doesn't show up soon. Huffing, she tightens her grip on her satchel and says, "I need to go." Walking forward a few halting steps, she stops beside her sister and asks, "Will you please not tell anyone? Not even James?"
The sharp edge of Petunia's features fade. "I won't," she promises. "Just… Tell me how it goes when you get home?"
Relief floods Lily's system. She smiles. "Yes, sure," she agrees.
She is startled then when her sister wraps her in a hug. "Good luck," she says.
Lily returns the hug, feeling guilty as she squeezes her sister. "Thank you."
When Petunia lets her go, she all but jogs away from home and for the park. When she arrives at it, she sees that the headmaster is sitting on one of the old swings, swaying slightly. There is an odd, almost faraway look to his eyes. "Hello, Ms. Evans," he says when he sees her.
"Hi," she returns, still off-kilter from her confrontation with Petunia.
He looks at her, an eyebrow quirked. "Is everything all right?"
"No," she answers. Lily knows no good will come of hiding what happened with her sister. She might need help to back up her lie in the future. "My sister saw you."
Standing from the swing as she meets him by the structure. The headmaster looks at her, frowning. "Your sister recognized me?"
"James showed her his chocolate frog cards and you were in them I guess."
He raises his gaze over her head and to the street. "She was the blonde girl that walked past some ten minutes ago, wasn't she?"
Lily nods. "That's Petunia."
"What did you tell her?"
She exhales and crosses her arms. "I didn't have a lot of time," she begins. "I told her that you're taking me to see a retired quidditch coach because you think I have talent."
Dumbledore strokes his beard. "You are rather quick on a broom."
"I convinced her not to say anything," Lily replies. "It probably won't be a very big issue long-term." She tightens her hold on her satchel's strap. "I'll just say later I decided I didn't want to be a professional quidditch player."
He looks down at her. "I could speak to a coach or two," he says. "Have you given much thought to your future past the destruction of these Horcruxes?"
She gives the old man an uncomfortable smile and glances away. "I'd begun training to be a healer before I became pregnant with Harry." Toeing a rock by her feet, she says, "Maybe I will try again and become one this time."
"A worthy goal," murmurs the headmaster. "If you would like to pursue other options, however, I am willing to help you."
She looks up, meets Dumbledore's gaze, and nods. It is something she will remember, though, if she will use his hand up she doesn't know. Once she would have unthinkingly, trusting the old man wholly, but now she knows better. Before she asks for anything she will talk with Severus. He knows and understands the workings of the headmaster's mind better than anyone. "Let's go," she says instead of thank you.
-O-
They walk into the shed, Lily trailing after Dumbledore. Eyes darting around the dusty, shadowed surroundings, she suppresses a shiver. "This place looks like no one has been inside in years."
"Perhaps they haven't," offers the headmaster as he moves towards the middle of the shed; rotting floorboards groan beneath his feet. "I imagine the secluded nature of the Gaunt property doesn't lend to many curious visitors."
Lily nods, thinking of how the Riddle home, where Voldemort murdered his father and grandparents, is not far from here as well. If a group of bored teenagers is going to explore anywhere in the area, it will be the manor of a triple homicide, not a depilated shed. From a few steps behind Dumbledore, she watches him stoop down and raise one floorboard, and then another.
"Ah," he says. "I believe I have found it."
Lily's heart hammers in her chest and she rushes to the headmaster's side. Putting her hands on her knees, she peers between the floorboard and the dirt ground beneath. In the shed's dim light, the faintest glint of gold can be seen. "You're right," she replies. "Sev said the ring is gold."
Dumbledore draws his wand and murmurs several enchantments over the ring. Nothing happens. "Tom must have only placed the one curse," he says.
Lily shivers. "I think it's more than plenty," she says, recalling how Severus told her what it did to the headmaster in the other-future.
Albus nods. "Mr. Snape has taught you that rather clever cutting curse of his, has he not?"
She furrows her brows and looks at the old man out of the corner of her eye. "What of it?" she asks as the headmaster reaches into the gap to pull out the ring.
He blows off the dust and holds it up to the room's weak light for them to see more clearly. "It has been explained to me Severus and I contained the curse to my hand. It would not have lasted, I understand."
"Yes, it wouldn't have," agrees Lily, blood thrumming in her ears as she tries to think of a way to get the ring away from the headmaster. She thinks she knows what he's plotting and Lily is terrified. She now understands why Dumbledore agreed to have her here to retrieve the ring. She's not half as experienced a witch as Severus is a wizard. There's no way she can dare to hope to stop the headmaster should he try something stupid. Yet Lily's also Severus's closest friend and as such, should know some of his most clever spells.
As he brings the ring down from the light, Lily's starts to grasp for courses of actions that don't involve her wand. "I spent time researching the spell he could have cast on this ring," explains Albus. "There are several I found and all but one showed severance of the infected appendage ended the curse."
Lily doesn't want to know how he found or tested so many different horrifying curses. All she wants is for the headmaster to not do what she knows is coming. Instead of grabbing for her wand, she takes out her portkey from Severus. Squeezing it tightly, she pleads, "Sir, it could be the one curse that didn't end with the severance of the appendage."
"That one took me a particularly long time to find," he replies. "I had to visit several friends and peruse their rare collections before I found the curse." He looks at her, eyes glinting with what Lily could only describe as madness. "These friends are not any Tom would have known during the time this Horcrux was made."
"Please, I'm sure we can find a way to destroy the Horcrux and not the ring," begs Lily as she steps closer.
He looks to the ring between his fingers. "Basilisk venom would crack the stone into pieces and ruin its properties."
Lily's breath catches as she sees the headmaster bring the Horcrux to slip over his ring finger. "No!" she shouts, tackling into him and activating the portkey.
A blink of the eye later, they are falling onto the outskirts of what must be the Prince Manor's front lawn. Trying to climb the headmaster to get to the ring still gripped between his fingers, Lily yells, "There are other ways to destroy Horcruxes! We can find them!"
Before she can grab the ring, she's levitated away from the headmaster by a spell. "What in Merlin's name is going on here?" demands Mr. Prince, wand in hand.
Lily, however, only has eyes for the ring. "Get that away from him!" she howls as the old man sits up and tries to regain his bearings.
Mr. Prince, thankfully, listens and sends a stunner at the headmaster. He topples over and the ring falls from his frozen fingers. Lily exhales in relief and sags into the levitating charm on her. She is then lowered back to her feet by Severus's grandfather and the spell is canceled.
"Thank you," she says to him.
The old man's lips pull into a frown. "You're welcome, though, I cannot say I understand what is happening." He crosses his arms and tilts his head. "Care to explain, Ms. Evans?"
She nods. "He was going to put the ring on! Damn the curse!" she growls, gesturing at the still frozen headmaster.
"Fool," grumbles Mr. Prince as he moves forward and around the headmaster. Reaching down he picks up the ring. He goes slightly pale then. "Though, perhaps it was not entirely his idea," he remarks. "Uncork that vial and bring it here, would you?"
Lily does as instructed. A moment later, the Prince patriarch drops the ring into the vial. Scrubbing a hand down the side of his cheek he remarks, "I had the most inexplicable urge to place it on my hand."
She furrows her brows and stares into the vial. "Really?" she murmurs.
Mr. Prince nods his head. "A compulsion charm is on it in addition to the curse, perhaps," he comments before turning his back on Lily and un-stunning the headmaster.
Slowly, Dumbledore pushes himself off the ground. Righting his askew glasses, he stares up at Mr. Prince and her and blinks miffed eyes. "I think I may have miscalculated."
She scowls at him. "Even before you picked up the ring you planned to put it on," she snaps.
Dumbeldore lowers his face toward his knees and sighs. As he rises up and dusts off his robes, he says, "I did agree to have you accompany me for a reason, but it is not the one you believe."
She scoffs.
"You are far less rigid than Mr. Snape," the headmaster starts and Lily feels a little of her doubt ease away. That is true, she is. "I had hoped, perhaps with some persuasion, you would agree to put off destroying the ring in favor of letting me find a way to break the curse so that I may use the ring before we destroy the Horcrux." He strokes his beard. "Or, perhaps, separate the stone from both." The headmaster's gaze turns to Mr. Prince. "You held it in your hand. The urge to wear it was deeply unsettling, wasn't it?"
"It didn't even already have a foothold in me to manipulate," says Severus's grandfather, an irritated inflection to his words as if he hated that he and Dumbledore could agree on anything.
Dumbledore nods, satisfied with the other man's answer. "I… was quite overwhelmed once I had it in my palm. It made my initial plan seem like quite the waste of time and so, I shared my backup in hopes that you would not stop me from performing it and, instead, help."
Lily clenches her jaw and glares at the headmaster, briefly muted into silence from the shock of his declaration. When she can speak again, she tells him, "I would have, but I would never trust you again." She deepens her scowl and declares, "Severus would have us obliviate you and never look to you for guidance again."
The headmaster's face turns into one of contrition. "It would have been well-deserved," he agrees.
Lily doesn't feel much better from his answer, but she does relax slightly. Keeping an eye on the headmaster, she turns her attention to Mr. Prince. "May I have the ring?" she requests.
Mr. Prince after a short hesitation hands it to Lily. "What do you have in mind for it?" he asks. "Severus has given me some of the poison."
Lily, as she tucks it in the pocket of her shirt explains, "We're not destroying it now." She looks at the headmaster, who's eyes are wide, clearly surprised that she won't after what just happened. "I am going to bury it in my family's garden until we can find a way to extract the stone." It is a lie. She is not going to bury it in the family garden. However, she suspects being so seemingly "honest" will keep the headmaster or Severus's grandfather from digging in her mind to find the real hiding place. Internally, Lily groans in dismay. She will need Severus to teach her occlumency this year so she can protect the hiding place. At least NEWTs aren't going to be an issue this year.
Mr. Prince raises an eyebrow. "Your family are Muggles, aren't they?" he says, making his opinion clear in so many words.
She shoots a glare at the old man, angered. "What of it?" demands Lily. "You think he will ever think to look in my family's garden should he discover it has been moved?"
"No."
"Exactly," says Lily with a sniff. "It's very clever."
Albus nods. "Yes, I would say it is." She stiffens slightly when the man steps forward, but he stops and offers her a soft smile. "I am very sorry, Ms. Evans," he tells her. "I never meant for this to take the turn it did."
"I understand," she replies, even though she doesn't.
He continues to smile at her. "Thank you for doing me this monumental favor."
She shrugs. "I wouldn't just yet. Severus is going to have to be told what happened and he may just convince me this is just as bad an idea as my gut is telling me." She waves at him and at Mr. Prince. "Ta!" she concludes before stepping backward, just off the Prince grounds, and disapparating. The stunned expression of Mr. Prince and Dumbledore is the last thing she sees before she lands in the field a short walk from Severus and his mother's home.
-o-O-o-
When he looks up from his book, Severus has to do a double-take when he sees Lily walking towards his home. At first, he is disbelieving, but it fades quickly. Ichabod runs for the window, barking excitedly. Snapping his book closed, Severus is thankful that his mother is off on a date with the Avery squib. He twists his mouth into a sneer at the thought. Who'd have believed he'd ever be thankful his mum was on a date with some man?
Now on his feet, Severus goes out the door to meet Lily with Ichabod. His friend smiles down at his dog and pats the flattie's head. "How are you, boy?" she coos.
Severus, unimpressed, crosses his arms and demands, "What are you doing here?"
"Wasn't this always the plan?" she asks. "I'd come over after we finished with the ring and tell you all about it."
He looks over at the clock hanging on the wall opposite the door. "I didn't expect you until dinner." He deepens his frown. "Mum isn't even here now."
Lily slumps in place, smile falling from her face. "Yeah, there's been some complications…"
Severus purses his lips. "Come in," he demands. Once she and Ichabod are both in his family's cottage, they take a seat on the lounge room's sofa and Lily explains everything.
"So I'd like to learn occlumency now," she concludes, chuckling. "Or I suppose you could obliviate me, but I don't know if that's a good idea…"
He's furious about what Albus tried to do. Even more so that he was going to attempt to convince Lily to lie to him about the destruction of the Horcrux. Yet… Severus does see the merit in trying to save the stone. He glances at Lily. She's staring at him with a hopeful look. He exhales. The Horcrux would be safe it was hidden by them. The stone once separated from the ring (if possible) will also be safe in the hands of the headmaster. Doing this could mean they will have a very large and very useful favor to call on from Albus in the future too.
These things in mind, he decides to agree to the plan Lily has proposed. "It wouldn't be smart to obliviate you," says Severus. "What if something happens to me? Who would know where to retrieve it from?"
Lily nods her head. "Yeah, I thought that would be too easy," she agrees.
Severus gets to his feet and checks the clock once again. They have an hour, perhaps an hour and a half before his mum will be back from her date. "Let's go to the park and bury it now," he tells her. "I want this done and dusted."
"It's not going to be done, though," says Lily as she follows him out of the house. "Instead of destroying it, we're… We're leaving it in one piece."
He looks back at her. "Yes, but the Lord doesn't know where it is. That is almost as good as in many ways."
"Will we tell Dirk and Priscilla?" asks Lily.
Taking her hand to disapparate, he nods. "We have to. It's the only way we can continue to make this agreement we have work."
She smiles. "Oh, good," she replies. "I was afraid I'd have to row with you a bit first."
The world disappearing around them, Severus chuckles. "Not about this."
We've reached a chapter 100 again :) How did you enjoy this very Lily-centric chapter? What happened with the ring? Their decision to not destroy it just yet?
Thank you for reading!