as always, if there aren't any reviews, I will stop updating this story here
Albus Dumbledore furrowed his silver brows as he read the Daily Prophet from a week ago.
The front page showed an announcement of Severus Snape being accepted to work in the Ministry of Magic and as much as he'd like to see the young man for himself, Sirius Black's murder still tainted his reputation and he was barred from entering the place; having to rely on the few Aurors who were also part of his Order of Phoenix to know the latest news.
Speaking of the indirect news he got, he was surprised that Bartemius Crouch Sr. had the approval from the Minister to allow the Aurors using the Unforgivable Curses to eliminate the Death Eaters. He hoped it hadn't come to this but as people said, sometimes one had to fight fire with fire.
Snape's dark eyes continued to stare at him and Albus sighed, wondering yet again why the man sought to work in the Ministry when his Potions Master position and new curricular books for students had brought him wealth. He should be living well, why would he subject himself to the mundane office work?
Perhaps something sinister was in play?
At that, the wizened wizard narrowed his blue eyes. But as it was, he didn't have much evidence against Snape and could only hope that he would make a mistake someday.
Severus didn't have much to say about Marvolo spying on his memories, especially after witnessing the other man's reactions through the Invisibility Cloak. He was initially in disbelief; ready to convince himself it was all an act to gain his vulnerable self's trust.
But it was nearly two weeks since that incident, and Marvolo never stepped into Prince Manor ever again. He tried not to think hard of it; however there was a niggling idea in his ever paranoid mind.
Was Marvolo afraid of him?
He admitted causing the man's near-death back in his seventh year was a bit overdramatic, but how else should he react upon knowing his magical core was nearly nonexistent after waking up from his coma? That he almost became a Squib all thanks to that damned Sirius Black?
As much as the Grim Reaper liked to show him how the arrogant teen was suffering in the afterlife, Severus wished he hadn't killed the boy so soon.
Death was a mercy from the cruelty of the world, after all.
Sighing, he rose himself from the bed and went to prepare for his work at the Ministry of Magic. After breakfast, he went to wear his usual black contact lenses, arm holster for his wands and dragonhide glove on his silvery left hand, flexing the ethereal fingers and admiring the seamless connection between his hand with the rest of his arm before putting it on.
It was nice to have a bit of imperfection on his new body. And besides, generally everyone had accepted the reason he wore the glove was due to an unfortunate potions accident. He just had to keep the suspicion away from people like Albus Dumbledore and Alastor Moody; the latter gave him the creeps ever since he attended the Potters' wedding.
Severus decided to take the visitor's route on his way to work, simply because he didn't want to compromise Prince Manor's location to the Ministry (even though it was Unplottable to everyone except those who had the Portkey pendants) and ignored all the stares the Muggles had on him for wearing all black. Upon arrival, he immediately pulled out his hazel wand and gave it to the security guard per the Ministry's current proceedings.
"Your spare wand, sir?" the man asked after checking it.
Severus stopped in his tracks to retrieve his wand, "Pardon?"
"All Ministry workers have to register a secondary wand, so that if the first one is lost, we can still check if it's really you who got in here."
Severus thought hard on what was told. On one hand, he was in the right crowd for having a second wand, but on the other hand, he couldn't use the would-be chosen wand just as much. He ultimately decided on his beech wand, considering the phoenix feather core was commonly used in wizarding Britain compared to his other wands.
"First wand: Thirteen inches, hazel and dragon heartstring and nine years in use. Second wand: Twelve inches and a half, beech with a phoenix feather-core, about four years in possession?"
"Yes."
The guard hummed and handed Severus both wands, to which he quickly thanked him and went to the Department of Mysteries.
The mysterious ninth floor could be fully seen only by the employees in the department and after exchanging curt greetings with fellow workers, Severus made his way to his designated work station: the Hall of Prophecies.
He was grateful that his new job didn't catch as much eyes as his Potions Master position and knew he could have fun experimenting with new spells, potions and apparatuses; but the idea of him freaking out by an explosion of product failure still rattled him to his core and the quiet, ominous aura of the Hall didn't dissuade him as much as those noises.
And so, after settling at his desk near the entrance, Severus then began his work to check on the people mentioned in the prophecies from an ethereal book, seeing if some of them were either fulfilled or failed.
His disguised eyes narrowed as they fell onto the 28th June 1980 note, wondering what Sybil Trelawney's prophecy had to do with those three people:
The Dark Lord.
Harry Potter (?)
The Rogue Prince.
He couldn't wait to get his hands on it soon.
Lord Voldemort was rather distraught.
Ever since he knew of what Severus Prince had gone through in his young life (he was only nearly 21, for Merlin's sake!), his hard childhood living in Wool's Orphanage seemed inferior. There was the experimentations made by those Muggle doctors and the Second World War, alright; and he was really pissed off with Armando Dippet and Albus Dumbledore for not allowing him to seek refuge from the Blitz (admittedly, his action of terrorizing the students with a basilisk was not the brightest idea) but in spite of everything, Hogwarts was his home. People generally liked him there (or rather, fancied him because he inherited his father's looks and was persuasive) and found it hard to disagree with him.
But the ancient castle had not been Severus' solace. If what Lucius Malfoy kept telling about the boy's feud with James Potter and his goons were correct, he could just imagine a young Severus hiding in the shadows to avoid being hurt, being humiliated in public all due his friendship with the prettiest girl in their year.
And oh, how the Dark Lord tried to smother the gnawing guilt in his heart. That he shouldn't feel sorry for Severus Prince's sufferings; after all Lord Voldemort only wanted the best for his army of Death Eaters.
Yet, the imagery of the young man's bleeding soul lying in waiting for him in the white space, in the old oak tree by the Cokeworth River flashed in his mind.
Heaving out a sigh, he turned to the numerous books and scrolls about avian anatomy he gathered on his desk. Nagini had queried about those earlier but he only shooed her away; knowing that even though the brown snake was his companion, she was still thankful of Severus for saving her and thus her priority would be toward the young man first rather than him.
As Lord Voldemort traced the words of Levicorpus and Liberacorpus on one of the parchments, his red eyes narrowed.
Perhaps it wouldn't hurt for Tom Riddle to learn how to love, if only to spare Severus Prince from further heartbreak. After all, wouldn't a hard-thought gift made the perfect present of forgiveness?
(And he could prove Dumbledore wrong in his talks about he can't feel love.)
Lily Evans-Potter was bored out of her mind.
She knew she shouldn't feel this especially with her son being so cheerful and actively playing with his toys, yet she could not help thinking what could have been if only she and James sorted out their grief of losing their parents well and waited until the war was over before having a child. She felt trapped here, even with people like Bathilda Bagshot coming to visit their home.
Speaking of James, he had gone out on yet another Order mission while Peter Pettigrew was away ever since they returned to Godric's Hollow and had babysat Harry for a day. Cursing He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named for the whole war under her breath, she hoped Albus Dumbledore will find a solution soon so that they could live in peace again.
Lily Evans was after all, a free spirit.
But if James could have a night out with his friends… so could she. It's just she didn't have many girl peers within the Order of the Phoenix; both Marlene McKinnon and Dorcas Meadowes had been killed, the latter was just two weeks ago. Sighing, she took Harry's blue blanket and swaddled him with it before leaving a note in case James came home early (he often did not) and Apparated to the Longbottom house, their children having a quick baptism together after both her and Alice Longbottom were discharged from the hospital with Albus Dumbledore named as Harry and Neville's godfather.
Lily steeled herself, reconsidering her choice for a minute but quickly shook her head, her stubborn nature determined to have a night off and she knocked on the door three times, "Mrs. Potter, ma'am."
An elderly woman greeted her with narrowed eyes, "What do you want?"
"Um… I- I was in the Order of the Phoenix with your son and his wife; I'm wondering if you can take care of Harry for a while, I have to tend on something important," Lily started. "James still hasn't returned home… and this matter is urgent."
Augusta Longbottom sniffed in annoyance but she took Harry anyway, her eyes softened as she looked into the boy's bright green eyes, "How long you will be gone?"
"Two or three hours at most," Lily said, inwardly cringing to herself. Was she selfish for being a young woman who had to be a mother so soon, who only wanted to have fun in her adolescent years? At least Alice was a few years older than her.
"I'll wait for you, then," Augusta hummed and closed the door.
Lily let out a relieved sigh; it was a lucky thing that Harry was not fussy with other people. Now being free from her responsibilities for a few hours, she was determined to make the most of it. Gripping her willow wand, she then left to Hogsmeade and strode toward the Three Broomsticks only to freeze upon her arrival.
Severus Snape and Francesca Zabini were sitting amongst the customers, having a bottle of Butterbeer on each side. The woman was especially animated as she seemed to recount something, while Snape had his dark brows furrowed as if in confusion and mild amusement.
"A statue of me in the Slytherin common room?" he said with a small smile after Lily disguised herself with some glamor spells and sat nearby the couple, "you got to be kidding me."
Lily frowned; Snape had a statue? What for? But her musings stopped as Zabini went on with a suggestive grin, "It's true, though! Looks good in silver but honestly the real man is always the best."
There was a beat of silence and Lily watched as Snape's face turned slightly darker under the light. "Oh, shut up," he scoffed; however the blush on his pale visage said otherwise, and Zabini took pleasure at his bashful reactions.
Lily continued to observe from the corner of her eyes as the two chatted, sipping on her drink every now and then to not cause any suspicions with her heart clenched slightly whenever they had a soft laugh. And she was jealous that Zabini had a better relationship with her childhood friend than she ever was.
How she wished she had accepted Snape's apology back in their fifth year. Her envy grew in her chest and she knew she was supposed to be happy with James Potter who did not degrade her in front of others, but she missed how Severus Snape's rare yet genuine smiles warmed her heart; how he wouldn't impose himself in front of her unlike James, how he left her alone after the 'Mudblood' incident (until she went to antagonize him, that is).
How he did not impregnate his partner without proper consent and left her miserable in the midst of a war. She had read the news of Zabini's new position at Hogwarts in the Daily Prophet and knew Snape- no, Severus must had suggested it for the woman's own safety.
Her wand shook in her hand and Lily waited until they left, transforming into her Animagus self, which was a cat with copper fur and followed them; her paws made her stealthy enough to be unnoticed by the two.
After Severus took his leave nearby the Hogsmeade train station, Lily readied herself. If she couldn't be happy with her husband, so would Snape with his partner. Besides, all Slytherins were Death Eaters, right? She only played her part as a member of the Order of the Phoenix.
And thus, she had no regrets as she turned back into human and pointed her wand at Zabini.
"Avada Kedavra!"