Chapter Six: Patronus

"Did you know that a person's Patronus can change?"

Severus turned to Lily with a raised eyebrow, unsure where this sudden topic of conversation had come from. "Yes..." he replied, waiting for her to explain whatever was on her mind. That smile told him it was something interesting at least.

"I wondered if mine had changed lately, so I decided to look. Care to guess what it is now?" Lily asked. She was excited to have found that her doe was gone, leaving something in its place that made her heart soar.

A person's Patronus reflected what gave them security, what they turned to in order to feel safe. Lily had only learned to produce one once she was in a relationship with James, her doe forming in reaction to the stag that represented James Potter. But now? Now her Patronus was the form it should always have been, she recognised that the moment she had seen the shape it had taken.

"A goldfish." Severus managed to keep his response deadpan, no matter how much the ridiculous notion amused him. Lily gasped in mock horror at his suggestion, melting away his facade and leaving behind a smirk.

"You wound me, Sev," she said with a dramatic sigh. "A goldfish indeed!"

"I could have said a flobberworm," he replied, smirking as she smacked his arm in response to his teasing. He had always known which buttons to press, though he was not inclined to make her genuinely angry.

"I'll have you know that it represents you, you ridiculous man."

That had him absolutely stunned. He had not thought that her Patronus would change in response to their new relationship, that it might take on a form that represented him as his own represented her. Though it did make him wonder if his would have also changed from the doe that had once mirrored her own.

Lily knew him well enough to read the look on his face, smiling softly in reaction to just how surprised he seemed. "For someone so intelligent you really don't see yourself or your importance very clearly," she told him, leaning in and kissing his cheek. Though she knew just why that was. Between his father and the Marauders his sense of self worth had been ground down into dust. She would have to see about fixing that.

Severus did not know what to say to that, which was rare for him. He had learned to have a retort for pretty much anything. And yet his witch stunned him to silence. It was true, he had not thought his presence in her life would have had such an impact that he might have influenced her Patronus. Something in his heart felt a little lighter, a little less weighed down by what life had chosen to throw at him in the past.

"I would like to see it," he managed eventually and of course she happily obliged.

"Expecto Patronum!"

A misty light left her wand, swirling and shifting until it took on its form. A beak opened in a silent scream of glory as the bird soared over the garden where the two were sitting. Lily smiled as she watched her Golden Eagle fly in front of them. The eagle symbolised freedom and the courage to look ahead. It was no surprise to her that this was the form her Patronus had chosen to take on. Severus was her freedom and her courage, as she knew she was his.

Severus watched the Patronus with an undeniable smile. A Golden Eagle. He could not resist seeing for himself if his own Patronus had changed now and as the incantation left his lips he watched the jet of light leave his wand. The doe was no more, a bird formed out of the light. Not a Golden Eagle like the one in front of them, it was something different. It took him a moment to recognise it as a Red Kite.

Patience, observation and vision of the way forward. Lily. Though the two forms did not match perfectly they were balanced out in such a way that it was more powerful that they were not the same. Her Patronus was him as his was her. That was a true sign that two people had found the person for them. Completion without one overtaking the other in personality or in magic.

Golden Eagle and Red Kite flew together for a moment before vanishing entirely, having detected no threat to protect against. Severus' hand found Lily's as he returned his gaze to her, his heart skipping a beat at the way she looked at him. He had been so sure he would never be looked at in such a way, with such love. Yet there he was getting everything that he had ever wanted.

"I think I must love you rather a lot, Severus Snape," Lily said to him, her voice soft and certainly with a tone of teasing familiarity.

"And I you, Lily Evans," he replied, not trusting his voice above more than a whisper.

They both felt it instantly, the tingle of raw magic weaving its way over them. It wrapped around the two of them, twisting and turning as it entwined the two of them in its light. Neither dared to move or speak as the woven cocoon of magic was completed before it burst into a brilliant golden light all around them like a thousand fireflies. Then it was gone.

"What just happened?" Lily whispered, almost not daring to speak.

"I don't know.." But he would find out. Something important had happened there, something that neither of them had intended or knowingly set in motion. But magic had risen up around them and had done.. something. All they had to do now was figure out what in the world that something might have been.

"Neither of us was raised around magic, not really.. maybe Lucius would know?" Lily suggested. He was surprised to hear her suggest his friend but it also gave him a lot of hope for the future and the friendship that might just be forming there. Lucius had an unenviable life in a loveless marriage, he wanted to at least be able to be there for him and have the most caring person he knew be by his side.

It did not take long to call Lucius through the Floo and soon enough he was stepping through into their sitting room. Once they explained what had happened to him they watched as he looked from Severus to Lily in complete surprise. He did not often let his emotions show to this degree but there was no hiding such a degree of surprise. This was huge and neither of them had a clue.

"That is... incredibly rare," Lucius began. "You don't hear of it much any more. The only couple I know of to have such an experience would be Arthur and Molly Weasley." The two were soulmates, anyone who saw them together knew it without a shadow of a doubt. This made Severus realise that what had happened must truly be significant.

"Well, are you going to enlighten us?" he asked, raising an eyebrow as he viewed the blonde man in front of him. He wanted answers and was not feeling patient about it.

"The short version," Lucius began, unable to hide his smile. "Is that the oldest of magic recognised your bond and sealed it with its blessing. Among any circle of our society you are basically married and bonded for life. Congratulations." Somehow they had managed to invoke that magic that was usually only called upon in Pureblood marriage ceremonies, or had been before it fell out of favour due to revealing couples that were entirely unsuitable.

Lily and Severus looked at each other, shock melting away into smiles that held nothing but love. Magic itself has blessed their bond, their love. Who could really ask for more than that?