Tobias
Severus was still hesitant, even at seeing how Lily nodded and voiced that she wished to know the truth that he was keeping from her. 'I just hope she is ready for this part of the truth…' he thought since he had been the one to steal that memory from her to protect her. To allow her peace rather than live in fear the way he had when he had been her age. He gently squeezed Lily's hand as they stepped closer to the pensieve before lowering themselves to look into it as the floor seemed to jolt casting them down into the reflective surface as they fell through it, down into the memory that Severus had placed within it.
The memory materialized as Lily remained beside her father, seeing what she had in her dream. Their home as it had been when she had been only five years old. Pictures, both muggle and magical lining the mantle, as well as even the walls. Even pictures that looked like they had been drawn by crayons hung on the lower parts of the wall. Mainly consisting of ones that were her father and her, as well as places they had taken walks to in the forest during the warm summer nights. Ones of even Twinkle since to Lily the small house elf was a part of the family. There were the usual book shelves, but at the time of the memory they were all but littered with various practice books for her muggle studies that her father had already started to introduce her to as well as numerous picture and non-picture books that she had begged her father for any time they went to Diagon Alley.
She felt her hand being squeezed once again as she glanced to her side at her father to see he looked a bit misty eyed at seeing the house as it had once been. Though it was a moment before she glanced around again to see that from the door to the kitchen came her father carrying her when she had been a small child. The younger Lily was smiling ear to ear and laughing about something that had happened in the kitchen. Though try as she might, Lily could not remember what had happened. "Dad, why can't I remember this day? Or what we had been doing in the kitchen?" Lily asked her father turning away from the memory versions of her and her dad.
"That will be revealed shortly…" was all Severus would say as he kept his dark eyes on the memory versions of him and Lily. 'I just hope she will not be angry with the end of this memory…' he thought sadly.
Figuring she would not get any more of an answer from her father now, Lily went back to watching the younger version of herself with her father. They moved over to the couch as Severus sat down with Lily on his lap seeming a little worn out but Lily was still full of energy.
"Daddy! I want to do it again! How do I do it again?" Lily asked in an excited tone as she shifted so she was looking at her dad, not even seeming to fully register how worn out he looked.
"How about you not do it again at least until Twinkle calms down…" Severus spoke in a pleading voice as he looked to his daughter to see she gave him a confused look for a second before nodding to show she would do as he asked. "That's my girl." Severus said in a relieved tone. It was then that the older Lily took note of the yelling and frantic tone of Twinkle coming from the kitchen.
The older Lily looked to her father again as she could see the faint hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth from what she could see. "What did I do to upset Twinkle that much?" she asked since she had never heard Twinkle sound that worked up except for a few times. Each time was when Lily had done something that had inadvertently worried the little house elf.
"You threw a bit of a fit during breakfast, resulting in a slight outburst of your magic. Twinkle refused to let you have too much sugar on your cream of wheat and you got upset resulting in sugar flying everywhere." Severus said with a slight chuckle in his voice. "You found it amusing because of how you got what you wanted while Twinkle and I were both frantic trying to stop the sugar and multiple other things from flying around the kitchen."
Lily tried once again to remember, but she still found that it was impossible. There was nothing there. Just emptiness when she tried to remember anything about this day. So she once again turned back to the memory versions of her and her father as in the background, Twinkle seemed to finally calm down her little rant while she was cleaning up. 'Even though Dad and Twinkle do not always see eye to eye, whenever she goes on one of her little rants or freak out moments he lets her be herself.' Lily thought as she could not help but feel happy about that since she had read that some house elves lived lives that were beyond horrible. But at least her friend Twinkle did not.
For some time they stood there to the side, invisible, watching the memory versions of themselves as Lily had moved from the couch to sit on the floor before the table in front of the couch with some parchment, a quill and some ink as she began writing. Though her hand writing was not that developed, after a few moments, Severus had moved off the couch and sat beside his daughter and gently took the quill from her hand only to write a simple sentence.
The cat says meow.
"Now try to copy that and use your best writing." The memory Severus urged in a kind tone as he handed the quill back to the five-year-old Lily who giggled and set to trying to copy what her dad had wrote about half way down the parchment due to her attempts taking up the top half with ease. They continued to do that for some time before Severus moved them back to the couch as he sat there for a moment, asking Lily if she wanted him to read to her. Something that beyond excited the young Lily as Severus chuckled before going to the book shelf and grabbing a children's book about a unicorn.
Seeing the cover as Severus moved Lily to his lap and started to read to her, the older Lily found that she recognized it. That book had been her favorite one when she was little. Though that was not all she noticed, that the scene in the room now matched that of the one she had seen flashes of in her dream before. More so as she saw her younger self giggle only for the memory Severus to lean down and kiss her on the cheek causing a new fit of giggles from the young Lily. Almost out of a subconscious reaction Lily went to step back only for her father to look back at her with worry on his face.
"Lily?" Severus asked as he looked to her after he had felt her move due to how he was still holding her hand in his to be a support system for her while she was seeing what happened on this day.
"I…I saw this part in a dream I had earlier…" Lily said in a nervous tone as she felt like her mouth had gone suddenly dry and her voice went closer to a whisper with each word.
"You did?" Severus asked focusing fully on his daughter.
"Just that we were on the couch like we are there…then a figure appeared and that you shielded me from who or whatever it was then nothing…" Lily said, her voice growing softer and softer with each word.
"We can back out now." Severus offered as he could see the fear in his daughter's eyes. Something he wished this would not have brought to light.
"N-no. I want…no I need to know what happened." Lily said in a shaky but determined voice as she felt her hand move from her father's only to within a few seconds feel that he had moved closer to her and put his arm around her shoulder to hold her close to his side. Something that in truth was the one place that she felt safest. In her father's embrace.
The memory continued to play out for a short while longer before there was a knock at the door. Something that jolted both of those in the memory, as well as Lily only for Severus to hold her tighter to his side. "Just remember, this is only a memory, whatever happens, has already happened. Nothing here will be able to hurt you." Severus whispered to Lily holding her securely to his side as he knew full well what was about to unfold.
The memory Severus shifted, moving Lily from his lap to rest on the couch, telling her to wait there, only to turn and head to the front door. Due to it being his memory, Lily and Severus were forced to follow behind the memory Severus to see things as he had once seen. When he opened the door, two people stood there, ones that Lily did not recognize, though between the two of them, both had features that were like those of her father. The male, a tall man with dark hair and features like her father. The woman was not that attractive, seeming to have a sallow almost sour look to her face, something Lily thought the sour look was due to the cruel looking man beside her.
The memory of Severus stood there, what little color there was in his face, draining away as his eyes were only locked on the man, not even seeming to take notice of the woman. After several moments, Severus seemed to find his voice. "What are you doing here?" he asked, trying to mask the emotions that found their way into his voice as he seemed to be frozen in place. Something that confused Lily. All due to how her father never seemed to fear anything, apart from something happening to her. But never any person.
"As stupid as ever." The man said in a cruel voice as he shoved his way past Severus as the woman followed behind him, though Lily noticed that the woman had looked toward her father with a hurt look on her face.
"Get out of my home!" Severus ordered once he regained his footing and put his hand back on the door. His intent very clear. That he wanted the two to leave and then he planned to shut them out.
"So, you finally learned to have a backbone?" the man challenged as he stalked closer to Severus who Lily could tell even from where she was beside her father that the memory of him was faltering.
"Leave! Now!" Severus demanded as he drew his wand in the same movement as him letting go of the door.
Before anything more could be said or done, a small voice came from the direction of the living room. "Daddy? What is going on?" the small voice of Lily asked, drawing the attention of the two observers as well as the three adults in the memory. Though the look on her face shifted from one of questioning to that of fear when she saw how her father had his wand drawn and trained on the other man.
"Daddy?" the other male asked in a mocking tone. "Of course, you would sire a weakling like that." He said in a spiteful tone as he looked toward her and even went to go toward Lily only for Severus to rush forward and grab the man by the arm stopping him in his tracks.
"Don't you dare go near my child!" Severus ground out as he glared at the man whose arm he had grabbed.
"Seems you have forgotten what you were taught…" the man said in a low tone as he turned and in a movement, that Lily barely saw, balled his left hand into a fist only for it to collide with her father's face forcing him to let go of the man as he fell back to the floor.
"Daddy!" both Lily's yelled as the younger one glared at the man with a strange light in her blue eyes as various objects from around the house, books, picture frames, cushions from the couch, anything her magic could lift was thrown at the man as she stood there continuing to glare at him. However, soon she had no more she could throw at the man as he stormed over toward her, grabbing her by the front of her shirt as she looked up at him, but now she had a look of horror on her face. That is until he brought a hand down across her face as he let go of her the second his hand made contact allowing Lily to be sent to the floor at the base of the stairs as she hit her head sending her into a daze from the look on her face. She made no move to get away from the man as he advanced on her again due to how she saw nothing but hate and loathing in his eyes, something she was not used to since her father had at times been distant but when he looked at her there had always been love.
"A freak, and a monster!" the man said as he went to grab Lily again only for Severus to rush over between them once he had gotten back to his feet.
"I told you to stay away from my child!" Severus ground out as he raised his wand only to do a curse that sent the man back and through the door and even over the porch to land in a heap on the front yard. He spoke then to the woman without looking at her. "If you ever come to your senses and leave that man, then you may be allowed in mine and my child's life. But until then, leave and neither of you are to ever darken this door again!" only for the woman to lower her eyes and walk out as Severus slammed the door and locked it before he turned gathering Lily up in his arms and rushing to carry her to the couch.
"Who were they, daddy?" Lily asked as her voice showed that she was still out of it from hitting her head and from being struck as there was an angry red mark on her left cheek where the man had struck her.
"My parents…" Severus said in a low tone as he put her down on the couch and started to check her over. "Hold still…" he said waving his wand over her cheek causing the red mark on her face to fade then vanish completely and from the look on her face, so did the pain. Though before Lily could speak again Severus whispered. "Please forgive me…" he whispered as Lily gave him a confused look as he uttered a single spell over her. "Obliviate…" he whispered as he knew the spell would wipe away the memory of the entire day from her memory as she nodded off shortly after the spell was completed.
Lily felt herself being pulled upward, along with her father who was still holding her secure to his side. It only took a few seconds before they were back out of the pensieve and in her father's room. She stood there, trying to fully process what she had been shown while her father banished the pensieve back to the cabinet where it had been stored before that.
"You wiped my memory of that day after you forced them to leave…" Lily said in a soft voice as she was still trying to understand everything.
"Yes, to spare you the harshness of that memory since you were only a small child." Severus admitted as he lowered his arm from his daughter's shoulders and stepped away from her. "Because as I told you, I was beat almost constantly at the hand of that man when I was a child, I did not want you to have that same scar." He admitted as he turned to face Lily. "I wanted you to only know happiness. For your greatest worry on any given day to be what picture book you wanted me to read to you. Or which basic lessons you wanted me to teach you." He admitted since in truth he missed those days with near every fiber of his being. More so since back then, his precious daughter had always been happy, not troubled by the ailment that now plagued her. He wished he could turn back time and then freeze it so that she would only know happiness.
Lily looked to the side thinking on what her father had just said and on what she had seen. 'He wiped my memory of that day to try and allow me to continue living a peaceful life, even though it was that way only for another three years…before Harry was taken away…' she thought as a single tear found its way down her cheek opposite of her father so he did not see it. 'Everything he has done since mum died was to take care of me…to try and protect me from what he may have already suspected was to come.' She thought to herself closing her eyes to hold back any other tears that may try to surface. 'Even with the past he had, he has worked hard to make the right choices now.' She could feel her father's dark but gentle gaze on her. He was waiting, hoping that she would find it in her heart to forgive him.
After a few more moments of thinking to herself, Lily opened her blue eyes and looked toward her father before turning to fully face him. "I know now that you made mistakes in your past, but you have worked so hard to make things right." She said seeing relief wash over her father's face at hearing her say that as he nodded showing that she was right. Stepping closer she threw her arms around her father as she rested her right cheek against his shirt. "We are all the other has, so we cannot be fighting about what was done in the past." She said as she felt her father move his arms up around her. "I love you dad. Now and forever." She said as she hugged her father tighter.
"And I love you, more than anything." Severus whispered to Lily as he held her close.
Unknown to Severus, a hooded figure stood to the side of his room, watching the interaction as she could not help but smile at the two. 'I am so proud of you, Lily. For giving him the second chance he deserves so much…' the figure thought as she continued to watch as she knew that they would be alright. Or so she hoped because she was sure the future held many challenges for Severus and Lily.
A/N: Finally finished this chapter! I know it is a bit on the short side, but that is because I split the last chapter and this one because of how this part was taking me a while so I figured best to split them up. We are getting steadily closer to Lily, Draco, and Harry starting their first year! I will be putting up a few polls in regards to Draco with which house everyone thinks he should go to. I know which one Lily will go to, same with Harry, but Draco is one I have been debating on for a long time. The poll should be up later today if not tomorrow. Also, later today I will be announcing on my profile which story won getting a holiday special this year. Now onto the usual note. I want to extend a very special thank you to Alia Prior, HoneyBear84, and NatNicole for reviewing the last chapter. I really appreciate you guys taking time to leave your views on the chapter. Also, I want to thank everyone who has read, favorited and followed this story so far. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter and the ones to come.