Hi everyone! Sorry this is a day late, the first week of classes was exhausting. I don't own Harry Potter, just this plot!
Severus arrived back at Prince Manor, slightly overwhelmed, but he was able to compose himself before he went back to find Lily. He walked out of the library and back to his bedroom, where Lily lay, although not asleep. She was reading, like the bookworm that she was in her childhood. Severus had a small smile on his face as he looked upon the girl who he had loved for almost all of his life.
"Hello, Lily. How are you feeling?"
"Besides bruised, battered and tired? I'm alright. Happy to be out of there."
"I'm pleased you are here," Severus said.
"I think we need to talk about everything," Lily said. "I want you to explain your side of the story."
"I don't know where to start, Lily. I was told that you were murdered by Dumbledore, by The Dark Lord. I have been following the Dark Lord's orders and Dumbledore's as well. I have been more honest with the Dark Lord and more willing to do the Dark Lord's orders than Dumbledore's. However, now that you're alive, I don't know who to believe at this point, especially since I was told by the Dark Lord that you and Potter were dead," Severus began.
"I have lied, cheated, raped, and killed. I never felt good doing those things though. I have always hated having two masters. Neither of which I have enjoyed serving. I think I have been lying to myself all these years and suppressing my emotions. There is a lot that I've been hiding I believe. Anyways, I was told by Dumbledore to adopt our children, who are Hermione and Harry. Hermione has purple eyes with gold flecks and black hair, and Harry has green eyes with shaggy black hair."
"I have found it odd that Dumbledore assigned me both of the children that turned out to be ours. Could he know about us and the children? If he doesn't know, then he assigned me Harry simply to annoy me because of Potter. Hermione was and is a know it all, who until recently felt the need to prove herself at every question asked of her in class. Frankly, it was annoying. So, either Dumbledore knows, or he's simply trying to make matters worse for me. Dumbledore also hates that Harry is in Slytherin. I think it makes him extremely nervous that Harry will completely join the Dark Lord when he is older. "
"Both Harry and Hermione will start training with the Dark Lord and Bellatrix this summer. They are in the top three of their class, and are both incredibly smart. Harry was abused by his family and had both mental and emotional trauma, which he has surprisingly recovered well from. It is most peculiar."
Lily stared at him for a few seconds. She was oddly calm.
"Is that everything?" she asked.
Severus gave a quick nod with his head and remained standing at the foot of his bed. Lily placed a bookmark in the book to mark her place and set the book on the nightstand.
"What I'm about to tell you, I don't want you to hold it against me. I thought the twins were James', since you and I used protection. I never told James that I would be having twins, either. When I gave birth to the twins, Dumbledore paid me a visit and said that I needed to give one of the twins up. So, I told the mediwitch to choose one and take her to a muggle couple. I knew that she had taken the girl, but I had no idea where. I know that Amelia Bones was told of this, since she was close to James and I. A few months before I was captured, Dumbledore came to me and told me to change our Secret Keeper to Peter Pettigrew, who he thought was completely on our side. It is true that Sirius was being pursued by Voldemort. Dumbledore did not sell us out as you probably thought. When Dumbledore found out Peter was not indeed innocent, likely from you, he never made any attempt to move us to safety."
"He did then, in theory, send us to our deaths. When Voldemort came to us, he did try to kill us, and Harry too, but then I guess realized that we would be better for torture and information. So, he left fake bodies in our place. Harry was left in his crib, and I have no idea what happened to him, until Voldemort came to me and bragged that he had both of my children under his control thanks to their father, which was when I figured out that they were your kids as well. It took me by surprise, as I'm sure you could imagine."
"Anyways, when I arrived at Malfoy Manor, James and I were put into different cells, so I was basically alone. I was fed, thankfully. I made conversation with the house elf, named Dobby. He was the one who brought me food. I was often tortured or raped by bored Death Eaters. So that was how I spent ten years of my life. Voldemort would come down and taunt me occasionally. It was simply just rough a majority of the time. I cried, a lot."
Lily finished her story with a shrug. Severus, who had been listening patiently, had already made up his mind over who he supported, and that was himself and his family. He wouldn't support Dumbledore, and he wouldn't support the Dark Lord. They had both ruined his life.
"Lily, I hold nothing against you, but I promise that I will keep you safe. I had a revelation just now. Both the Dark Lord and Dumbledore have failed me, and in turn you and the children. I only want to support you, the children, and myself. I'm sure you feel the same. There is so much emotion, and pain that all of us have endured. I want to make that up to you, and in doing so, I will help defeat both Dumbledore and the Dark Lord."
"I'm glad your attitude toward them has changed. I believe that you and I are smart enough to make this happen," Lily said, calmly. "For now, I want you to continue as you were, because we do not need you getting killed through this. Over the Easter Holidays, I want the children to meet me then, as I want them to meet me when I am stronger and not as bruised and battered. I know that you must think that I am oddly calm for what I've been through. I'm not, my emotions are swirling around like a tornado inside, but I've gotten good at masking them and occlumency. I've had a lot of practice time."
She was right, Severus noticed Lily's spark was gone. She was calmer, more subdued, quiet, although he noticed how quickly she picked up his book on the bedside table. That was one trait he doubted would ever disappear.
"I understand you've been through a lot, Lily, but I must ask you a few questions before you settle in," Severus asked in a low rumble.
"I'm listening," Lily said.
"Do you want to stay here long term or move to another Order house after you are physically healed? You should know that I still care for you, but I won't take advantage of you if you don't care for me anymore." Severus had to keep his voice from trembling. He had to be honest with himself, he still wanted Lily to care for him.
"I would rather remain here than elsewhere. You're the only one with inside information on both sides and I don't want Dumbledore knowing I'm alive. Any person who knows that I'm alive must take the Unbreakable Vow, unless they're children of course," Lily said, with a slight sigh.
"Very well," Severus said. His heart felt like it had been stamped on. "I will go get bruise cream and some various healing potions for the trauma inside. I will also get you a dreamless sleep potion. You need to rest."
Lily nodded, but kept her eyes on his face. He hadn't looked at her in a few minutes, and she knew exactly why. Severus stood to leave and started to walk, but stopped once Lily spoke.
"Severus, I still care for you, I just need time and patience," Lily said. It was the loudest she had spoken since she had gotten there.
Severus inwardly smiled, but he showed no emotion. He simply nodded and left the room. As he stalked towards his potion's lab, he couldn't stop thinking about what Lily had said to him, and her story. She had been through a lot, and the Dark Lord had done nothing but hide her from him. If he truly cared about his emotions, then he would have allowed him to see Lily. Clearly, this wasn't the case. The Dark Lord wasn't as forgiving and as allowing as he had originally thought. No, even though Severus was clever, he had been tricked by one of the greatest wizards of all times.
There had been several times where Severus had merely felt as if he were simply an information carrier. Voldemort had never wanted his presence unless he had information. He had always gotten the Cruciatus Curse if he didn't have information, so he always made sure to have information, even if it was very minimal. And to think that this had all started because he called Lily a mudblood to impress his fellow Slytherins…
Before he knew it, he was at his lab door. Opening it, he looked around the room. It was a state. There were books everywhere, potion's ingredients were spread around the room. He felt the need to start cleaning it. He went around to each pot and scourgified them, while the jars were being placed back on their shelves in alphabetical order, the way he liked them. Finally, he accioed all the papers around the room to one neat pile, to sort out later. Using one last scourgify charm, the room was finally clean and organized again.
"Accio bruise balm, Accio skelegro, Accio healing potion, and Accio dreamless sleep," Severus commanded, flicking his wand at the shelf of ingredients for each potion.
He tried to look through the papers to see which ones were scraps and which ones were useful. He picked out all the scraps and got to the bottom of the stack, where he found the family tree that he had created with the potion last year. He immediately grabbed it, alongside the potions, and went back up to his bedroom to show Lily.
Harry, Hermione, and Draco were sitting in the common room trying to figure out the charmed necklace that Severus had given Hermione.
"Do you think Sev would be able to answer right now?" Harry asked.
"I don't know," Hermione replied nervously.
"There's no harm in trying," Draco said from his spot near the fire. "If you don't try you're going to go crazy with the wait."
"Fair enough," Harry and Hermione chorused.
"What should I say," Hermione asked.
"Maybe, Hey, Dad, we're doing okay, we miss you, we hope you're well with the thing you have to deal with?"
Hermione nodded and concentrated on the golden locket; eyes closed. Hi Daddy,she began, I hope you're doing okay and that nothing is going wrong. I miss you, and Harry misses you too. We're doing okay, but the professor they brought in for potions is horrible. His name is Professor Slughorn and he doesn't write the ingredients on the board like you do. Bye.
Hermione let out a breath of air as he finished. There was a small pause where she stared at the locket, waiting for some sort of response. After nearly 10 minutes of waiting in silence, Draco finally suggested a game of Exploding Snap. It was nearly curfew, but he felt the need to get Hermione's mind off of her father. Hermione agreed, but it took a lot of persuasion from both Harry and Draco. Hermione, who was still slightly distracted, was losing horribly. That is, until she felt the locket warm against her chest nearly 20 minutes later.
"It's Sev!" Hermione exclaimed suddenly.
"What's it say, Hermione?" Harry asked.
Hermione pulled the locket out from under her shirt, and read it aloud to the other two.
"Hello children," she began. "Everything is well and under control. You are missed as well, and I have learned a great deal about things, which I will tell you about when I return. For the mean-time, try to learn as much as you can about the lives of the Dark Lord and Dumbledore. Goodnight."
Harry leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees. "What do you think he means?"
"He's trying to tell us something. He's learned something valuable, and he wants us to try to figure it out for ourselves," Hermione said.
"Harry?" Draco asked.
"Yeah?"
"Did you bring your invisibility cloak?"
"Yeah, why?"
"I think we need to try to get into the restricted section in the library after hours to research their pasts," Draco said. His face held a wicked smirk.