A/N: Coming up, their trip to the Grand Canyon(I've never been and have always wanted to go, so apologies if I got any details wrong), some interesting revelations about Severus' final year at Hogwarts, and a discussion on Lily and Severus' changed views on Dark Magic.
Chapter 7 Wonder of the World
Severus came back down the following morning bright and early, but despite waking at an earlier hour than usual, Azalea was already there waiting for him. They drew together for half an hour, Azalea offering tidbits of advice where she could, and giving her verdict through smiles and frowns on a case-by-case basis when Severus presented his creations to her. They carried on for about half an hour, until Severus informed Azalea that he had some things to settle in his office. Upon entering, a letter was laid smack-dab in the middle of his desk from none other than Dennis Peterson. Apparently, his sole supplier of LRD Meds was willing to reverse his price-hike back to their original price, which while taking Severus by surprise, he wouldn't dream of complaining about. When he told Lily about it later that day, proudly showing his old friend the letter and contract, she wore a slight smirk on her face and gave him one of those subtle smiles she usually wore when she knew something he didn't. Irregardless, Severus was quite pleased with Peterson's uncharacteristic 'change of heart' as he'd phrased it.
The rest of the week passed by very quickly and before they knew it, it was time for their trip to the Grand Canyon. Severus' office slowly began to fill up with Azalea's doodles at a rate of roughly one per day, most of which being Azalea's…expressionist takes on Thunderbirds of all ages. Lily continued to get on well with her research and was now beginning to move into some practical work regarding weaving various spells together, and Severus attempted to support her where he could. Severus and Lily decided to make a pre-dawn trip out of it since Severus said he knew the area surrounding the Canyon, at least the part of it he'd be taking them to, quite well. The night before their trip, Lily sat both Harry and Azalea down in her room and said that they'd be having a very busy day tomorrow, stressing the importance of sleeping early and getting a good night's worth of sleep. For Azalea, this meant snuggling in next to Mummy, so Lily pre-empted her daughter's request by telling Azalea she could sleep beside her. Needless to say, Azalea was quite happy about that and slept through the night tucked in next to her mother. While Azalea was cooperative and heeded her mother's advice, Harry was given a stern talking to not by his mother, but by Severus when he caught the boy tip-toeing out of his room down to the kitchen at half past-ten.
As a result, Harry was quite bleary-eyed and hazy when his mother came into his room at five o'clock to wake him. With Severus' help, Lily was able to get her children showered, dressed and ready for their day-long trip in rapid time; and they were out the door of the farmhouse at five twenty on the dot. Lily was dressed in some of the less-rugged muggle clothing she had, finally having an excuse to wear it away from the reserve. A striped shirt with her sleeves rolled up to her elbows tucked into some high-waisted jeans along with a backpack completed her ensemble. Harry and Azalea were dressed smartly as well, and thanks to Severus' assistance—something Lily greatly appreciated, they were readied for the day in record time.
"Alright Harry, be a dear and help your sister with her shoes please?"
"m'kay," Harry mumbled, his tiredness from his late-night snack run evident in his bleary eyes and sluggish movement. Harry knelt down and helped Azalea put her shoes on, then stood to his feet.
"Can we go yet?" he whined.
"You will get to see it young man, but not quite yet, you just have to be patient," Lily said sternly, warning Harry that his whining wouldn't be appreciated, not one bit, especially this early in the day.
Harry pouted and grumbled to himself under his breath, whatever he said not quite reaching his mother's ears. Lily spent the last few minutes before their departure ensuring that her backpack was filled of all the stuff she'd need for their trip. Minutes ticked by and Severus eventually stood to his feet, the rest taking it as the signal that it was now time for them to depart. Severus had showed Lily the place they'd be apparating to and Lily had even practiced it herself a few times during the week, getting a feel for apparating again in a new environment. One week on, she was well-practiced at apparating but this would be the first time she'd be going with someone else.
"I think it's about time we set off," Severus announced.
Harry, Lily and Azalea followed Severus outside. The sky was still dark, save for the faint glow of innumerable stars above them and the dim light of the moon. Through the tree-line, they saw the faint, purplish light of the sun threatening to peek above the horizon. It'd only be a few more minutes now.
"Harry take Uncle Sev's hand," Lily said to her son. Harry did as he was asked, shuffling his tired feet through the gravel to grasp Severus' hand.
"Azalea, hold on tightly to me, we're going to apparate. Do you remember what apparating is?"
"Is that the thing when get stretched like a spaghetti?" Harry asked curiously.
Severus suppressed a snort of amusement.
"Yes Harry, that's exactly correct," Lily replied, nodding gently. "So you're going to hold on tightly to Severus and we're going to apparate to our destination."
"Why can't we take the car?" Harry asked, looking forlornly at the garage obscuring the Pickup and Mustang from view.
"Because we won't arrive there on time to see the sunrise, would you rather have woken up at three o'clock instead to drive there?"
Harry's green eyes widened in alarm, he gasped and shook his head vehemently. Waking up at three was way too early, especially since he hadn't gotten a lot of sleep as it was to begin with.
"Hold my hand tightly Harry, and take a deep breath," said Severus. His eyes found Lily's and the pair of them shared a resolute nod. "We're going to apparate in three, two, one—"
Harry scrunched his eyes shut and squeezed Severus' hand tighter when all of a sudden he felt as if he were being stretched lengthwise through a pipe and twirled around in every which way. Harry groaned and his stomach tensed, but just as the sensation became utterly unbearable, it was gone, and Harry opened his eyes to a little more light than there had been before. Severus was still holding his hand tightly, and as Harry peered around, everything was bathed in warm, gold, orange and purple rays as the sun in the distance slowly started to creep above the horizon.
It was then, Harry noted, that there was almost nothing between himself and the horizon, no firs, no hills, just flat land and—oh. Well. The land wasn't quite as flat as he'd thought after all. A few feet away, Lily and Azalea were experiencing precisely the same thing as their gazes fell towards the massive chasm about a hundred meters away from them. Lily had seen it before, having practiced apparating to his location before taking Azalea side-along, but she'd never gotten to see the canyon as it was now, basked in a rainbow of colors as the sun rose higher above the horizon.
"This is beautiful," Lily whispered, staring entranced at the canyon, as did Harry and Azalea.
"It is, isn't it?" Severus remarked from a few meters away. "It is considered one of the seven wonders of America after all."
"Wow…" Harry breathed. He released his hand from Severus and walked a little closer towards the canyon. "That is so cool!" he said exuberantly.
Harry's drowsiness was gone in the blink of an eye, replaced by awe as the boy eagerly took in the sight of the Grand Canyon bathed in the rays of the rising sun. There was hardly a soul for miles around, reserving that special moment for just Severus, Lily, Harry and Azalea. Lily, Severus and Azalea joined Harry closer to the edge of the chasm, but still dozens of meters away. In the early morning, it was still quite cold out despite the fact that it was only September, so they huddled closely to one another for warmth. The rising sun bestowed upon them a more brightly lit view of the sprawling mass of the Grand Canyon, the hundreds of crevices and ravines that made it up. Lily retrieved her camera from her backpack and snapped a few photos to forever encapsulate the magical moment. Lily continued to take photos as the sun rose higher and higher above the horizon, slowly revealing itself. Eventually, the sun rose fully above the horizon, lighting up the expanse of desert around them for miles around.
"I have a proposal for the three of you," Severus said, breaking the long-lasting silence between them.
Lily nodded. "Let's hear it."
"There's a bit more to explore around here," said Severus, gesturing to their surroundings. "Things like look out points, and various other bits of the canyon you may find interesting, so we can do that if you want…or, we could return back to Flagstaff and we can go for breakfast."
"I'm fine with either option, although I will admit I'd like to explore the area for a bit longer," Lily replied, sounding indifferent to either choice. "What do you think, Harry? Azalea?"
"Can we explore a bit more?"
"Can we eat? I'm hungry."
Harry and Azalea's wildly contrasting responses caused Severus to chuckle.
"How about this, we explore for a little longer, then we head back to Flagstaff for breakfast. There's a breakfast place there I want to take you lot to, they make some of the best pancakes and waffles in the world."
Azalea and Harry's eyes widened at the prospect of food, but before they could comment, Lily and Severus were already ushering them onwards towards a lookout point a short distance away. Exploring the periphery of the Canyon was unlike anything else Lily, Harry and Azalea had ever experienced. The massive complex of chasms and ravines seemed to stretch on for miles and miles with seemingly no end in sight. They were only able to explore a small segment of it, stopping at various lookout points for Lily to take photos that encapsulated their adventure. To Lily's surprise, they were still the only people there despite the sun already having risen a substantial amount into the sky. Severus explained that he'd brought them to a less well-known part of the canyon that was inaccessible to Muggles unless they had a helicopter on-hand or were willing to jump across the canyon Evel Knievel-style. Needless to say, they remained unbothered for the duration of their trip and were able to take in the majesty of the Canyon in peaceful solitude.
They continued exploring for a while longer until Harry and Azalea grew tired, at which point Severus and Lily decided to apparate back to the reserve. Lily then hopped into Severus' pickup truck with Harry and Azalea and set off down the main road towards town. Severus had given her instructions on where to park and where to wait for him; he'd be joining them a little while later after meeting with Frank. So, while Severus apparated onto the range to go have his morning meeting with Frank, Lily put the truck in gear and got going towards town. The drive was short and uneventful, Lily putting the radio on to the morning news and learning of the day's developments. The station stated that one of NASA's Space Shuttles landed safely yesterday, briefly reminding Lily of her Pre-Hogwarts childhood when she and her family used to watch the Apollo launches. She briefly entertained the thought of one day bringing Harry and Azalea to Cape Canaveral so they could see a Space Shuttle launch first-hand.
Before long, they arrived in Flagstaff, with Lily following Severus' precise instructions to park on the street where the pancake and waffle place was located. Lily found a place to park and killed the engine; she kept her eyes on the alleyway across the street Severus said he'd apparate to.
"Are we gonna eat yet, mummy? I'm hungry," Azalea whined, rubbing her abdomen as she squirmed about in the booster-seat.
Lily took her eyes off the alleyway and gave her daughter a reassuring smile. "Just a little while longer, pumpkin. Uncle Severus'll be here soon and then we'll go eat," she said soothingly.
She briefly glanced at Harry, who was fast asleep and had his head was propped up against the door, snoring softly as he caught up on some much-needed shut-eye.
"Soon?" Azalea asked.
"Soon, indeed pumpkin," said Lily, Azalea nodded in response.
A quiet pop sounded out from the alleyway soon after, Lily's eyes going wide as a familiar figure stepped out of it. She undid her seatbelt and opened the door, the noise alerting Harry and waking him from his power nap. She briefly spotted Severus walking towards them as she helped Azalea down from the elevated truck cabin, while Harry got down himself on the other side. Severus arrived and Lily lobbed him the keys which he promptly tucked in his pocket.
"Ready?" Severus asked.
"Yep."
"Can we go?"
"I'm hungry," came their three responses.
Severus merely chuckled and lead them off down the street to where their breakfast awaited them. They walked along the street relatively unimpeded, arriving at the door to a small diner of sorts at the end of the street. It looked relatively modest, but was fairly busy with over half the tables inside occupied.
"Here we are," said Severus, indicating the door.
"Did Mister Whitehall introduce this place to you?" Lily asked, curiously peering through the glass at the interior of the restaurant.
Severus shook his head. "Nope, I found this place myself." He pulled open the door, and motioned for Lily, Harry and Azalea to enter, whereupon he followed them in.
Compared to Bianchi's Deli, the diner was a whole lot louder and less—well, Severus-like, than Lily would've expected. To her surprise Severus seemed quite used to it all, and quickly guided her and her children over to a free booth by the window, greeting a few of the waiter and waitresses they came across on the way. Lily and Azalea sat on one side, Severus and Harry on the other, and no sooner had they situated themselves were they approached by a waiter carrying a few menus.
"G'morning sir, ma'am," said the server, who looked as though he were no older than a college student. "How can I help you today?"
"If you'll give us five minutes to decide, that would be splendid," said Severus, accepting the stack of menus that the server had been carrying.
"O'course, sir," said the server, nodding his head. Flashing Severus and Lily a worn smile, he left them in peace and wandered over to another table.
Severus handed out the menus to Lily, Harry and Azalea; but before he could begin perusing his own, Lily already had a question for him.
"Sev, what's best here?" she asked, frowning slightly as she scrutinized the menu she held.
"I do enjoy the waffles best, but the pancakes aren't all that bad either," Severus replied as his eyes pored over his own menu.
"Mmm…in that case I think I'll try them," Lily said decisively. "Perhaps the waffles with berries and—
"Mummy, can I have this one?" Azalea asked, tugging on Lily's sleeve with one hand and pointing at her menu with another.
"You want the waffles with whipped cream?" Lily asked, her brow arched in apparent amusement.
Azalea nodded fervently, her eyes positively shining at the sight of whipped cream of all things on the menu.
"Alright then," said Lily. "But promise me you'll finish all your studies later, okay Pumpkin?"
A little frown creased Azalea's brow as she nodded. "I promise mummy," she said determinedly.
Lily nodded as well, evidently satisfied with Azalea's promise.
Their server returned a short while later to take their order and they promptly placed their order for waffles all around, two glasses of orange juice, and a pot of coffee. Smiling, the server informed them their food would be ready in fifteen minutes and took his leave.
"So, how did you guys enjoy seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time?" Severus asked, gazing intently at all three of them in turn.
"I was tired," Harry whined, his tone lending further evidence to his statement. "B-but I liked it."
"I liked it too," said Azalea, sounding more awake and cognizant than Harry.
"I loved it," Lily said lastly, grinning merrily. "Got plenty of photos for my album, and I might be so bold as to proclaim that they're my best ones yet."
"Really?"
"Absolutely," Lily grinned.
"Can we see the photos mummy?" Harry asked from across the table.
"Not yet. They'll take time to develop, sweetie. You want to see them move, right?"
"Uh-huh," said Harry, nodding his head.
"Then give mummy some time and she'll be able to develop them, okay?"
Harry let out a little sigh and nodded. "M'kay."
"If you're interested in photography, Lily, maybe you should try take some photos of the birds on the range sometime?" Severus suggested, hoping Lily would heed his advice.
"That's something I've been meaning to get back into for some time," Lily admitted quietly. "But if I can make the time for it going forward, I'm certainly gonna try take some shots of them."
Azalea in particular seemed to like Lily's idea, Severus presumed it was because it'd make drawing the thunderbirds easier for the just-starting-out-artist.
Before today, Severus hadn't known that Lily had taken up photography, presumably after the war. Then again, perhaps it shouldn't have surprised him as much considering that she'd put up a ton of pictures in her room.
"So, what are we gonna do after this?" Harry asked, his gaze shifting between Severus and Lily. The two adults shared a look, shrugged, then turned back to Harry.
"I don't know what I'll be doing," Lily said with a shrug. "But you, young man, will be working on your maths, won't you?"
Harry nodded sheepishly, his hopes dashed that maybe his mother would've forgotten.
"After I do my adding and m-minusing, can I go out and play?"
"We'll see about that when you're finished with your studies, Harry," Lily replied, to which her son nodded.
Their food arrived, balanced precariously on their waiter's tray. He set down the four helpings of waffles, each with different toppings. Severus and Lily both chose maple syrup and mixed berries, while Harry chose maple syrup with butter and Azalea had maple syrup with whipped cream. Their server, whose name was Luke—according to his name-tag, brought over the pot of coffee and cups of juice next. Severus and Lily thanked Luke appreciatively and tucked into their meal.
"Mmm—this smells delicious," Lily said appreciatively after taking a whiff of her waffles.
"Can we start?" Harry asked eagerly, his mouth watering as his eyes devoured his full-plate of waffles.
"Of course you can, sweetie," said Lily, smiling.
Harry and Azalea didn't need anymore prompting, they tucked into their waffles with gusto, devouring their fare like a couple of ravenous wolves. Drenched in maple syrup and lathered with whipped cream, Lily was practically wincing as she observed her children scarfing down their food, Severus on the other hand could only shake his head mirthfully. The two adults eventually got started on their own waffles and coffee, all the while passively watching over Harry and Azalea's terrible excuse for table manners.
"Mmm—so I was wondering Sev, later this evening, would you be free to help me with my project? I want to run some stuff by you and get your take on things, if that's alright?"
Severus dabbed his mouth with a napkin, set it down, then nodded. "Shouldn't be a problem, my schedule's fairly open as it is. What did you want to ask me?"
"I'm not gonna discuss it here," said Lily, her eyes drifting to their neighbors. "But it's stuff that's right up your alley, and I wanted to get your opinion on it to see if it matches mine."
Severus' brows furrowed, but he gave a single nod nonetheless. "That's fine with me," he said, whilst cutting away at a bit of Waffle, then stabbing it with his fork. "Provided that you're willing to listen to my feedback and—"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Lily muttered sharply, a hint of warning in her voice.
Severus only shrugged. "It's not supposed to mean anything," he replied nonchalantly, but Lily's hackles still continued to rise. He lifted a syrup-soaked piece of waffle to his lips and chewed, then swallowed, Lily's eyes following the lump in his throat as it descended lower. "I just mean that in the past you haven't been all that receptive of my opinion regarding Dark Magic. I'm saying, Lily, that I hope you've grown to be more accommodating regarding such areas of magic now."
Lily's vitriol dissipated as quickly as it'd come about, her expression falling from one of defensiveness to one of what looked to Severus like shame. "Oh. I'd…I'd assumed—well, never mind, you're right," she said quietly. "I'd be happy to listen to you Sev, I just—sorry, I get a little—"
"—Defensive at times, yeah, I know, I've seen it first-hand more times than I can count," Severus said with a mirthful chuckle. Lily's quiet silent snort betraying her amusement as well despite her attempts to hide it. "And in all fairness, I'm not so different."
He cracked a sad smile, one which he saw mirrored in Lily's face across from him. "Remember our fights in school? 'specially the ones we had in fifth year?"
Lily's regretful smile only deepened. "All too vividly. I still regret what happened that year to this day."
"You and Uncle Sev used to fight?" Azalea asked, surprising the two of them that Azalea had been listening in.
"Sometimes we did, but all friends quarrel from time to time," Lily explained, not quite telling the whole truth of the delta that'd formed between herself and Severus during their time in warring houses.
Azalea seemingly accepted her mother's words, then returned her attention to her dwindling supply of waffles.
Lily sighed and shook her head. "I'd like to get your insight on it though, Sev, if it isn't a problem for you. And I think you'll find that I'm a little more…liberal when it comes to my views on magic and its many forms."
"Yes, well, we both drank the Kool-Aid aplenty back when we were in school, didn't we?" Severus chuckled, then raising his cup for a sip.
Lily's brows furrowed, a blank expression passing over her face. "Drinking the—the what, now?" she asked confusedly.
"It's a saying," Severus explained. "It basically means that we fell for the…in a way, you could call it propaganda, that our houses were spewing. Slytherin was a cesspool of recruitment for the dark lord…and as for Gryffindor, perhaps you'd be able to comment on that."
Lily grimaced regretfully and expelled a quiet sigh. "I think the most-parroted talking point, often seen as a rallying cry come to think of it, was that Slytherin equals bad, and that all those sorted there were as good as born with the dark mark on their forearms." Lily's regretful look deepened as her gaze lowered to the table. "Sixteen and seventeen year olds routinely thought it fine to hex even first year Slytherins…And McGonagall, bless her soul…but she turned a blind eye to much of it, so she's culpable as well."
"In some specific cases, that wasn't far from the truth, you know," said Severus, wearing a solemn look.
"Pardon?" Lily cocked her head to the side in apparent intrigue, her uncertainty etched plainly onto her features.
"Mulciber for instance, Vincent Mulciber. He always had a penchant for cruelty going back as far as…well, at least from when I'd met him and became roommates with him," Severus explained calmly, Lily nodding to show she understood. "Slytherins shouldn't all have been tarred with the same brush, yet at the same time, Mulciber exhibited a special brand of cruelty that was, frankly, terrifying for any eleven year old."
"You're right, it isn't fair to tar them with the same brush as you put it, but Mulciber was probably the most deserving of all the hatred and vitriol within Gryffindor that they had for Slytherin. You do remember he was expelled a few weeks before graduation, right?"
"I remember that very clearly, it was the talk of the dungeons for the remainder of my time at Hogwarts," Severus replied, his eyes twinkling slightly.
A discerning frown crossed Lily's face as she peered closer into Severus' twinkling eyes, for some reason he found it all amusing, though for what she reason she hadn't a clue. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"
Severus opened his lips to respond, but was cut short by a loud burp from Harry, drawing the gazes of the two adults towards him.
"'scuse me," he said sheepishly, ducking his head and returning to his food.
Lily and Severus both chuckled fondly, but Lily wasn't to be distracted and returned her gaze to Severus in earnest, expectantly waiting for him to explain himself.
Allowing himself a little smirk, Severus said; "I may or may not have let slip what Mulciber did to Macdonald a couple years prior."
Lily's look of utter shock made Severus' smirk widen a little more. She leaned closer, and in a nigh-silent whisper, she asked; "You're telling me that was you? You reported him for…for cursing Mary?"
"Among a number of other things, yes," said Severus, nodding solemnly. "He was a menace not just to those outside of Slytherin, but those within as well. I…regret just standing by and letting him do those…those things when I was his friend, so I sought to make at least a little difference before I left that world behind."
"For what it's worth Sev, I'm proud of you for doing that," Lily said earnestly. Upon seeing his skeptical look, she added; "Seriously, it mustn't've been easy having to put up with his…erm, nonsense, on a daily basis, and by outing him for cursing Mary…that meant there was one less future Death Eater we had to deal with."
"That's what my intentions were. Call it a…parting gift if you will," he said with a shrug.
"Well if that's your form of a parting gift, I'm sure you'll be pleased to hear that you made Mary and a whole lot of other people happy by doing so. You do remember what Mulciber did, don't you?"
A pinched look quickly rose to the fore on Severus' face, quickly followed by a singular, tight nod. "As if I could ever forget it."
Lily nodded, feeling a slight twinge of regret for reminding Severus of that. When she'd heard what Mulciber did to Mary, albeit without proof other than word-of-mouth, she was enraged that Severus hadn't done anything to step in. To use a coercion jinx that was one-step below the Imperius curse was something that could get the user locked up in Azkaban, and since there was no concrete evidence of what Mulciber had done other than Mary's own first-hand account; neither Severus nor the other witness, Avery, had been willing to step forward at the time, Mulciber was allowed to walk free. Mulciber strutting through the halls in the aftermath of cursing Mary enraged Lily to no end, and upon confronting Severus about it days later and learning he thought of it as nothing more than a joke, she knew the boy she'd loved since childhood was dying a quick death. Hearing now, that it was that same boy who'd outed Mulciber, who for all his faults was a good friend to Severus, filled her with such joy she thought she'd burst.
She was interrupted from her musings by a light prodding on her arm. Turning, she saw Azalea looking up at her with her big, brown eyes. "Are you going to finish your food, mummy?"
Lily recognized the question for what it was. So, with a smile, she cut off a little of her waffle and plopped it down on Azalea's plate, much to her daughter's joy. Harry and Azalea were already finished with their breakfast and growing restless, so Lily and Severus hastened to finish their own meals. After eating their last bite, they paid their tab and left the restaurant; whereupon Severus suggested they take a walk around for a little while to burn off some of the calories. Liking his suggestion, Lily, Harry and Azalea agree and the quartet set off towards the park in the middle of the city. All around them, the sounds of nature intermingled with the louder, more chaotic noises of the small city. Birds chirping, engines revving, people chattering, and the whistling of the wind through the firs all formed a cacophony of noises that most wouldn't associate with one another. Arriving at the park, the sounds of nature began to overwhelm the manmade assault on the senses they'd just endured, as they were enveloped in the peaceful quiet of the park.
They continued strolling through the peaceful park for another hour until Harry and Azalea started growing tired and their requests to go back to the car grew louder and more frequent. Sighing in acquiescence, Lily and Severus decided to head back, much to Harry and Azalea's relief. Upon reaching home, Harry barely made it to his room before flopping down on his bed. fast asleep. He hadn't even removed his shoes yet. Azalea on the other hand had fallen asleep during the car ride back to the reserve, not even the bumps in the gravel could wake her. Upon their arrival at the reserve, Harry trudged upstairs for his nap whilst Lily brought Azalea up to her room and tucked her in for a nap. For now, Lily knew their studies could wait, her babies needed their beauty sleep first and foremost. With Harry and Azalea slumbering peacefully, Lily set a timer for them both and headed downstairs to the sitting room to get started on her work. She was joined a little while later by Severus who'd brought his paperwork from his office so he could work nearby her.
The day passed relatively smoothly for Severus; the only hiccup being a minor incident in which one of the birds accidentally bowled over a tree, cutting his wing in the process. It was nothing the rangers couldn't handle, however, so despite reporting the incident to Severus, they were able to patch up the Thunderbird just fine. Despite his rangers' proficiency at handling minor injuries, Severus still insisted on coming along to monitor their treatment of the bird. He kept a close eye on the rangers as they stitched shut the slash in the bird's wing, and applied a numbing salve to the area all the while calming the bird down. Aside from that incident, Severus was pleased that the rest of his afternoon passed by uneventfully. Severus managed to get back to his paperwork, and he felt as though he was rather productive all things considered; but his mind still occasionally wandered to what Lily might ask him when they had their dialogue about her charm after dinner.
Dinner passed by fairly quietly, Lily and Severus mainly discussing their day and Harry asking to be caught up on what happened with the incident earlier. Once dinner was finished, Lily bathing and otherwise supervising Harry and Azalea's nightly rituals, then tucking them into bed. They were all tuckered out from the day so she hoped they'd sleep through the night, but she'd leave the door to her bedroom ajar in case Azalea was having trouble sleeping. She tucked in Azalea first, reading her a bed-time story while Harry brushed his teeth in the bathroom across the hall. Once Azalea was out, she tucked Harry into bed, but there was no need for a bed-time story, he was out the moment his head hit the pillow. Smiling, she pulled the quilt up to his chin and carefully patted down her son's mop of hair. She switched off the light and shut the door to Harry's room, then traipsed downstairs to the sitting room where she knew Severus would be waiting for her. She heard the faint sound of his footsteps coming from the kitchen, so when she reached the bottom of the stairs she almost ran into him as the two of them entered the sitting room at just about the same time. Lily quickly noted the bottle of scotch in one hand, and the pair of glasses in the other, then raised a brow. Severus only shrugged in response and gestured for her to go ahead, which she did.
"Whiskey, Sev? Really?" Lily asked curiously as she sat down on the couch.
"I felt in the mood for it," he said with a shrug. He walked into the room after her, then set the two glasses and bottle down on the table, sat down next to her. He conjured some ice-cubes for both glasses and leaned back into the couch. "I don't drink all that often and I figured something as touchy as Dark Magic warrants a stiff drink, don't you think?"
Lily couldn't begrudge Severus being cautious, Dark Magic after all, had been a very contentious topic between the two of them in times past. Stretching all the way back to their fourth and fifth year, when Lily noticed her best friend slowly succumbing to the allure of Dark Magic and the pathways it opened up, their arguments on the nature of such magic began in earnest. The result of said arguments often leaving them blue in the face after arguing, then shouting at one another. Now though, her views had changed, so had Severus' as a matter of fact, she hoped they'd be able to meet somewhere in the middle during their dialogue. Lily subconsciously licked her lips, then nodded for Severus to pour her a stiff one. Severus did, her gaze resting listlessly on the neck of his scotch as the auburn liquid within sloshed into her glass. Severus then repeated the process with his own, Lily continuing to watch Severus pour his own drink until the glass was half full. He set the bottle down with a clink, and Lily's wandering mind suddenly sharpened.
"I think both of our opinions regarding dark magic have changed, though, haven't they Severus?" She eyed him for a brief moment before lifting her drink to her lips and taking a tentative sip, her innards warmed and her tension receding as the liquid trickled down her throat.
Severus watched her take her first tentative sip, then did the same, also feeling some of his accrued stress leave him with that first sip. "I think that should be safe to assume," he said quietly. "You no longer hate Dark Magic on principle, do you?"
Lily shook her head swiftly, then drank some more. "And you no longer actively support its use, do you?"
Severus shook his head, though not without hesitation. "In normal situations…no, but under life-threatening circumstances…I think anything goes."
To Severus' surprise, shown clearly by dilated pupils and an arched brow, Lily nodded in ready agreement. "That's fair. So. Are you ready to answer my questions?"
Feeling all juiced up on liquid courage, Severus set his three-quarters-empty glass down and nodded. "Shoot."
Lily didn't need any further prompting. The first question of many to come that night rolled off her tongue, followed in short order by one of many gulps of whiskey flowing in the opposite direction. Between their valiant efforts, they finished Severus' bottle of scotch within the hour, but thankfully Severus still had the presence of mind about him to stop Lily from pursuing another bottle. He only had so many bottles of hard liquor on hand, and he wasn't looking to exhaust half his supply in one night. The liquor dulled their focus, and as a result, they only remained on-topic for perhaps an hour at best, beyond that point, the drunken intellectual sides of Lily and Severus both rose above the haze and they shot the shit about the theory of Dark Magic beyond Lily's work-in-progress spell. Even though he was half-drunk, Severus could still register surprise that Lily was so well-read when it came to Dark Magic. It was almost as though she knew nearly as much as he did. If he were in a more lucid state of mind, perhaps he'd have been able to make the connection to her healing past during the war, but alas in his foggy-brained state he wasn't able to do so.
They arrived at the unanimous conclusion that pretty much split the difference between their prior viewpoints they held back when they were students. Lily, as a proud member of Gryffindor House, was lead to believe that all forms of Dark Magic irrespective of the nature of the individual spell, were bad and that they should all be tarred with the same brush. Severus, on the other hand, was of the opinion that the study, and even the experimentation of Dark Magic wasn't all that bad and was an active proponent of its use. Lily was staunchly against anything to do with Dark Magic, even the mere study of it; Severus was on the opposite end of the spectrum and believed that it was the key to becoming a more powerful and respected wizard. The truth, as with most things, laid somewhere in-between their two viewpoints—which were only reinforced by the respective environments Lily and Severus found themselves in. In the here and now, they'd both come to agree on the fact that at the end of the day, the magic that one wielded was not what mattered most, but the intent with which they wielded it. There were plenty of normal spells that could be nearly, if not just as destructive and damaging as Dark Magic, a fact that Lily came to realize during the war—whereupon she came to the realization that intent was far more important than the magic itself when determining what was acceptable, and what was not.
Granted, Dark Magic, as the name suggested, was more often used to the detriment of others, hence why it was more often associated as an evil form of magic. Though Lily herself had used Dark Magic plenty of times during the war, usually in a healing capacity, mind you, to undo the damage that various dark spells inflicted on her comrades. So in that sense, she could even be considered a somewhat well-practiced Dark Magic user. Severus himself still kept up with his reading, but it'd been many years since he'd performed Dark Magic in any significant capacity, but his views had evolved over the years to the point that they were surprisingly close to matching Lily's. Lily revealed to him that perhaps the tipping point regarding her change in stance on the employment and study of Dark Magic occurred when she learned that the leader of her side, Albus Dumbledore, still dabbled in it occasionally, and that he was arguably the most instrumental regarding her decision to begin using Dark Magic to treat her ailing patients. Severus didn't harbor much ill-will towards Dumbledore anymore, but the mention of him by Lily was enough to make his jaw-clench, something that Lily failed to notice in her current state as she waxed poetic about how he'd helped change her opinion.
As the hands on the clock neared midnight, Severus decided to call it quits on the evening. Their bottle had been drained a while ago and he was already beginning to feel the effects of needing a goodnight sleep. As he got up, he noticed that Lily was already half-asleep on the couch and likely wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon. He quietly summoned Poesy to wash the glasses and told her not to disturb Lily. His house elf nodded her head eagerly, then silently popped away to the kitchen to do as she was asked. Lily, now fully asleep, didn't feel a thing as Severus conjured a pillow under her head, and a blanket to drape over her body. He trudged up the stairs to his room, and only just managed to change out of his clothes and into his pyjamas before flopping down on his bed and falling asleep.
A/N2: James'll be making his appearance in the near future, and in the context that he appears in, a lot of his good side will be highlights. So, if you're a fan of James, I think you'll like the way he's portrayed. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and thanks for reading!