Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
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Although McGonagall had cast a charm to keep them both safe, Lily hadn't seemed to recover well from standing out in the thunderstorm.
For the rest of the spring, Severus noticed that she had to report to the infirmary several times a week for some sort of...exam…..with Madam Pomfrey.
Lily never spoke to him about those visits.
Severus chose not to pester her with questions, but he did decide to continue his research.
One sunny afternoon, he sat reading his latest library book underneath the shade of a small tree in the courtyard.
The volume's spine bore the title: Records of Magical Encounters from Oceans and Rivers.
Severus became engrossed in his reading.
His dark eyes narrowed as he read through one passage of particular interest:
Beyond selkie, mermaid, sea nymph, and sprite, the siren sits above all. With little regard for human life, a great disdain for man, and an appetite for golden blood, this predator of the seas is extremely volatile in emotional disposition and more than equipped physically to deal with any threat. In possession of magic that far surpasses most ordinary witches or wizards' abilities, the siren can dominate both sea and air with little effort and a great resistance to most weapons of iron or curse. The only rescue for one doomed to the depths of the watery trenches is to choose a-
"All alone out here, Snivelly?" A hateful voice called.
Severus's heart lurched as he looked up from his book.
James Potter walked towards him with an arrogant sneer on his face.
Severus relaxed slightly when he noticed that James was alone, that meant perhaps he wouldn't attack.
James Potter rarely chose to wage a fair fight.
Fair was not a word with which his enemy was very well acquainted, Severus had learned that.
"Do you have so little to do that you find yourself with enough time to heckle people while they read?" Severus shot back at James.
"Where's Evans?" James sneered, "In the loo? I'm surprised you didn't follow her there to wipe her bum."
"Lily and I are best friends, Potter." Severus snapped with a stoic frown, "Remind me again of the bond you share with her?...She doesn't talk about you very much…...unsurprisingly…She and I have much more interesting topics to discuss."
An ominous glare clouded James's face as Severus flaunted his friendship with Lily.
Severus spoke no lies.
Lily never mentioned James.
Before James could open his mouth and fire back an insult-laced retort, Severus looked past his nemesis.
He felt his tense expression relax as he watched Lily enter the courtyard.
"What are you doing, Potter?" Lily hissed at James while she walked by and scowled at him.
James blinked as he watched her continue straight on her path towards Severus without a pause.
"I….." James stammered.
"Come on, Sev." Lily said as she walked over to Severus, "Let's go find a more private place to chat, shall we? I have loads to tell you."
She made certain to speak with added volume.
Severus had been comfortable in his spot under the tree until James had shown up.
He resigned himself to the fact that it would be best to move as he stood, closed his book, and prepared to walk off with Lily.
Before they left, Lily took Severus by the hand, intertwined their fingers, and made sure to place a gentle kiss on his cheek.
Severus's pale face tinted pink for a moment but his lips curled in a victorious smirk as Lily purposely ignored James Potter.
James watched them weave their way out of the courtyard until they disappeared from view.
The jealous rage that burned in his heart threatened to make him snap his wand between his bare fingers.
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"Don't worry about him, Sev." Lily said as they walked to a distant part of the castle's grounds and sat down on the green grass.
"I'm not worried." Severus lied.
How could he not worry about the Marauders when they looked for every available opportunity to attack him?
A part of Severus secretly dreaded his next school year.
The last of his Slytherin friends would graduate before then…...that meant Severus would be left alone in his fight with no one to come to his aid, no one except Lily anyway.
He took solace in the knowledge that he had the entire upcoming summer before his concern became a reality.
Summer, that was what Severus decided to change the topic of their conversation too.
"The holiday will be here soon." Severus shrugged as he looked at Lily, "Then you and I won't have to worry about Potter for a while."
"Actually, Sev," Lily said as she looked down and tucked a stray piece of her red hair behind her ear, "I wanted to talk to you about that."
Nervousness gripped Severus.
A frown of dismay clouded his face while he looked at Lily.
"...Madam Pomfrey sent a letter home to my mother." Lily confessed as she nervously glanced up and met Severus's dark gaze.
He stared at her, unblinking, as he anxiously waited to hear what she would say next.
Somewhere deep inside of himself, he had the instinctive feeling that he wasn't going to like the news she intended to give him.
"My mother and Madam Pomfrey agreed that I should go with her…...this summer…..on her trip with her friends." Lily nodded.
Severus clenched his jaw as he sucked in a breath.
He felt like he had been punched in the gut.
"...With your Mother?" He asked in a voice barely louder than a whisper.
Lily nodded before she stammered, "I…...I don't really want to go, Sev. I just want to spend the summer with you….but it'll be alright! The time will pass quickly…..I'll be back a week before school starts…..We'll still have a few days together."
As Severus frowned forlornly at Lily, it brought him a small amount of comfort to see that she also looked deeply unhappy about the change in their plans.
"It'll be alright." Lily repeated as she nodded.
Severus looked at Lily with an expression of despair.
His heart broke while he watched tears well in her emerald eyes.
After a moment of silent reflection, Lily collapsed into a sad sob as Severus leaned forward and caught her in his soothing embrace.
She wrapped her arms around him tightly and cuddled against him while she nuzzled into the crook of his neck and breathed in his familiar scent.
Severus's scent reminded Lily of aged leather, smoked lavender, and bits of parchment.
His scent was the only thing that consoled her that afternoon.
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A month after their sad discussion, Lily held Severus's hand while they rode home on the Hogwarts Express.
Severus carried her luggage into the house for her once they arrived.
Later, as they stood on the riverside that evening, while he prepared to turn, go to his own home, and join his mother for dinner, Lily gave him a wry smile.
"Don't forget about me?" She asked Severus with a smile, "It won't be terribly long until I'm back."
"I could never forget about you, Lily." Severus replied as he furrowed his brow in disbelief, "...You'll only be gone a few weeks, that's no time at all."
"Right, no time at all." Lily nodded in agreement.
Severus took a step back but Lily reached out to him.
She had been the one to initiate the kisses they had shared before, but on the hill next to the river that evening, with the sunset behind them as they faced the prospect of a summer apart, Severus felt a rush of boldness course through his veins.
With his heart pounding, he stepped forward and pressed a gentle kiss to Lily's lips.
Full of sweet sentiment and tender yearning, they were both drunk with the dreamy desire of escaping their separation.
Severus's dark eyes stared down into Lily's green gaze as he pulled away.
He was usually the one to watch her, but that evening, she kept her sight focused on him instead until he disappeared from her view after he crossed the river's bridge and headed towards the dingy, brick house he called home.
Lily felt that overwhelming urge threaten to consume her again with the need to pull Severus far away and keep him all to herself.
A tear ran down her fair face as her emerald eyes flickered to the running water of the river while she fought against her own selfish impulses.
"It will get easier, my Lily-love." A voice called out behind her.
Lily frowned as she turned and saw her mother standing by the large tree in the Evans' backyard.
"Will it, Mum?" Lily asked, "How do you know?"
"Because it did for me." Mrs. Evans reassured her daughter as a mischievous smile curled her red lips.
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That summer was the longest of Severus's life since he had met Lily.
He missed her every hour of every day.
Between his parents' constant arguments, the abuse he endured from his father, and the unbearable heat of the season, Severus chose to focus his thoughts on how much he looked forward to Lily's return.
With the headmaster's permission, he had borrowed a couple of books from Hogwarts' library before he had left school.
Severus spent entire afternoons that summer staring down at the volumes' contents while he contemplated the information displayed on their pages:
The siren is unlike other creatures of female sex. It is a willful, spiteful, wild being that originally crawled forth from the mysterious bottoms of the deep sea, steeped in beauty, and plagued by greed. A single kiss unites a siren with her mate for life, but few have the emotion to shoulder such a tremendous bond. Most of the monsters delight in the slaughter, consumption, and destruction of the men they claim.
Should you meet such a being on the open, lawless sea, take heed that song is your best weapon. If you are fortunate enough, the proper amount of gold can save your life, or a pure spear, dipped in the proper blood. However, be warned, the proper blood, not the spear itself, is where the real defence lies.
While Severus should have been concerned with what he read, he slept peacefully each night as he clung to a silent hope.
If his suspicions were correct..,...then it could really be possible that perhaps Lily had already claimed him…...as her mate?
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The summer from third to fourth year often brought changes for Hogwarts' students.
Severus noticed that he grew taller during that time, although the portion and frequency of his meals failed to increase with his appetite.
From June to August, his voice audibly deepened from a smooth, even tenor to a deep, rich baritone.
He had internalized the words he had read from Hogwarts' books.
He certainly wouldn't face Lily with a spear or blood.
He had no gold to offer……….
According to his hours of private study, music seemed to be his only recourse.
During some lonely afternoons, he lessened his solitude by sitting on the bridge over the river that ran between his and Lily's houses while he sang softly to himself.
Severus lacked a large amount of musical education, but with a little practice, and a few references taken from his father's old piano instruction pamphlets on music, he managed well enough.
His indulgent, velvet voice carried through the air while he sat on the bridge during the last week before school began as he sang a gentle melody to himself.
Severus enjoyed songs that sounded vaguely melancholy while holding messages of secret triumph.
They reminded him of his love for Lily.
As he stared out across the narrow river, he failed to hear his darling approach.
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Lily had returned from her trip moments earlier.
She hadn't bothered going into the house to greet her father or sister…...Severus had been the first person she had wanted to see.
The summer had been difficult for her as well, in far different ways than it had for Severus.
At the end of it all, she just wanted to look at him again and hear his voice.
That afternoon, Lily's painful desire to be near Severus was temporarily satisfied.
The sweet cadence of his song's low, rumbling purr reached her ears and widened her eyes as she saw him sitting on the bridge.
As she gazed at Severus, goosebumps prickled down Lily's spine while her scarlet hair lifted itself by its roots.
She noticed he had gotten taller that summer and more handsome somehow too, though his face had not changed.
Her response to seeing Severus was far more dramatic than that of any normal witch as he unknowingly awakened something ancient deep inside her as Lily felt her nipples tighten pleasantly.
When she could stand the sweet torture of his song no longer without wailing along to it, she dared to call out and interrupt him in a voice choked with emotion, "...Sev?"
Severus abruptly stopped singing as his eyes widened.
He gasped as he whirled around and saw Lily standing next to him as if she'd never left.
Severus rushed to his feet, but he barely managed to open his arms before she flung herself into them.
"I missed you so much!" Lily whispered while she clutched onto him.
"...And I missed you." Severus whispered seriously as he bent his head towards hers.
Severus took a deep breath while he noticed the stark change in Lily.
She had always smelled lovely, yet his sensitive nose couldn't help but detect the new hint of salt water and ocean spray that wafted from her red tresses.
"Did you enjoy your trip?" Severus asked as Lily looked up, gave him a quick kiss, and stepped back.
"Enjoy……" She laughed, "That's an interesting word, isn't it?"
Severus blinked as his dark eyes flickered over her.
"Your voice certainly has changed, Sev!" Lily exclaimed with a blush as she wrestled with the desire to give Severus a longer kiss.
He felt his pulse race as arousal rushed through his body while he noticed the other changes that Lily had undergone during their time apart.
Her scarlet hair had grown longer, much longer, than it had been at the start of the summer.
Her emerald eyes shone brighter, her figure had developed more, and from what Severus could see of her arms and legs as she stood in her shorts and shirt, there was a definite undertone of…….sculpted muscle….beneath her pale, feminine form.
"It seems my voice isn't the only thing that's changed." Severus declared as he furrowed his brow and met her gaze.
Lily's need for him led her to ignore his compliment.
He frowned when he noticed how deeply troubled she looked as she stared into his eyes and courageously asked him, "Kiss me, Sev?"
Severus sucked in a breath at her brazen request.
He stepped forward and gently placed a loving kiss on Lily's lips.
Lily and Severus had both endured difficult summers, for reasons they neglected to share with each other, but as they stood there and kissed on the same riverbank they had met, suddenly everything seemed right in their world again.
Severus and Lily would need that comfort to face what lay ahead.
Their next years at Hogwarts would prove to be more than challenging.