Chapter Ninety-Nine

In the days following their return to Spinner's End, Lily continued to recuperate. Severus remained with her as she stayed home from work, but by the third day, Lily had insisted that Severus go back to St. Mungo's, saying she could manage fine on her own for a few hours.

By the end of the week, Lily had returned almost to normal, which included her fiery spirit. Perhaps it was due to the boredom from being confined to the house for so many days, but an unusual amount of anguish had culminated in Lily's normally kind heart.

When Severus returned home from work that day, he found her standing in the kitchen scrubbing dishes, bent over the sink.

"You know, you could use magic to do that," he joked, coming from behind and wrapping his arms around her.

Lily reacted in a way that surprised Severus. Dropping the dish rag and a plate to the floor, the latter of which shattered, Lily viciously whirled around. Water was collecting around the shards, and Severus stepped back, alarmed.

"Lily, what-?"

Balling her hands into fists as her sides, Lily exclaimed, "That bloody, arrogant, sodding-!"

"Lily, what happened?" Severus implored. "Calm down and tell me! Please!"

Lily stormed out of the kitchen and into the sitting room. Severus followed her, at a complete loss as to what could have upset her so much.

She plopped onto the couch in a very uncharacteristic fashion. Severus joined her, keeping a little distance between them.

Reaching tentatively for her arm, Severus asked, "Did something happen while I was gone?" His face darkening, he added lowly, "Did someone visit?" His mind instantly went to Dumbledore.

"No, no one visited," Lily spat. "But it's Dumbledore who I'm pissed at!"

"You're just now realizing what he's done?" Severus asked.

"Well, no..." Lily now grumbled. "I had a whole week to let it sink in."

In spite of the seriousness of her attitude, Severus smiled ruefully. "Lily, now that this realization has suddenly struck you, perhaps you understand better my reasons for not trusting the man all these years?"

"Yes!" Lily exclaimed, standing and throwing her hands up in the air. "Honestly, Severus, how did you do it? How could you stand his intrusions? I swear, next time I see him-"

"Next time we see him, we're going to work together with the Order, just like you told me months ago. As much as I am loathe to admit it, we need his help, Lily. Manipulative or not, Dumbledore wishes to bring V-Voldemort down just as much as anybody. I didn't tell him everything, you realize. He has no idea about Harry Potter, for example."

"But how will you explain the prophecy? Won't it all happen all over again, only it'll be about another child? Won't Dumbledore still be the one to hear it?"

"A different child, yes, Lily, not Harry. Dumbledore doesn't need to know everything. Merlin knows he kept enough from me the first time around. I think it's time I returned the favor... gave him a taste of his own medicine." Severus smiled deviously.

Calming, Lily sank back into the sofa and sighed. "I guess... I'll go along with what you're planning, Sev, but only because it's what you want. And to think I thought you should've confided in Dumbledore in the past," she mumbled bitterly.

Bringing an arm around her shoulders, Severus pulled Lily to him. "Enough of this, Lily. Don't beat yourself up. How many times have you given me the same advice? Besides, you're just finished recovering finally. I'd hate to see you relapse."

"I won't relapse," Lily mildly argued.

Severus thought she rather sounded like a child just then, but didn't say so. The last thing he wanted to do was give her another reason to get worked up.

"All right," Severus conceded. "Just... try to keep the bigger picture in mind. You do realize that I'm giving you the same advice you would have given me? It's because of you, Lily, that I'm able to sit here relatively calmly now and tell you these things."

Lily relaxed against her husband's reassuring touch and sighed. "You're right."

Deciding a change of subject was needed, Severus queried (and he couldn't believe he was the one suggesting it), "When are you going to let your friends see you? You've refused visits all week. I daresay Mary is probably especially antsy to see you."

"Tomorrow's Saturday, right?" Lily asked.

"Yes."

"Tomorrow, then. You're right, Sev. I haven't exactly been myself lately."

"But understandably why," Severus pointed out.

"Do you suppose we could, er... have a few more people besides James and Mary over?"

"How many people were you thinking?" Severus inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"I think Petunia and Sirius have been wanting to see each other again, and this would be a convenient setting. And Remus, of course, should be welcome."

Severus scowled at the thought of having so many people in their home. "You certainly seem more like your usual self again," he quipped. "Very well, but you are not to over-tax yourself. I can ensure the home is clean and make dinner. You are to relax... take a nice, long bath, put on your best dress."

"Sev-" Lily started to argue, but Severus would hear none of it.

"No, Lily. If this is what you want, then I am willing to oblige, but you are to take care of yourself." Seeing the disgruntled expression on her pretty face, Severus amended gently, "I only say this because I care about you. You had me worried for a while there when you were under the curse. I will not see you unhappy."

Even tough Lily was a strong woman with a fiery temper to rival Severus's brooding moods, she didn't want to push the matter with him this time. He was a man of his word, stern and unwavering, but extremely loyal and true.

"All right," she said, her face easing into a smile, "but promise not to say anything to upset my... our friends."

"I'll think about it," Severus replied, smirking.

x x x x x

The next day, Severus woke with a headache. He wondered if he was mental for agreeing to have so many Gryffindors in his house.

Our house, he mentally corrected himself.

Even after all this time, Severus still had to remind himself that Spinner's End wasn't his alone anymore. Looking around, he knew this was the case. Ever since Lily had moved in, she had added feminine touches here and there. The old threadbare furniture had been reupholstered, and the curtains were new and fresh. Still, the place wasn't impressive, and Severus could only imagine Potter turning his nose up at their modest living conditions.

After a quick shower, Severus headed downstairs for an early breakfast. He had let Lily sleep in, knowing her body still was not back to its full potential. He left a plate for her, placing a Warming Charm on it.

After that, he set to tidying up the downstairs, which consisted of the sitting room and kitchen only. Theirs was not a large house, and the more Severus cleaned, the more he wondered if having people over was the best idea.

He was on the verge of suggesting they go out somewhere, but then his thoughts were interrupted by Lily's soft steps as she padded down the stairs.

Seeing the state of the downstairs, Lily smiled.

"It looks wonderful, Sev. You didn't have to go through all this trouble." Spotting the food in the kitchen, her smile widened. Going to him, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. "You're too good for me. You really are sweet at heart. I won't hear otherwise from anyone else."

Smirking, Severus walked with Lily to the kitchen. "Only for you, Lily." Sobering as he watched her take a seat, Severus was about to inquire about changing the evening's plans, but Lily spoke.

"I'm so excited about tonight. You went through so much hassle, but it'll be great."

"Er... right," Severus replied. Remembering how disasterous their last outing had been with others, Severus changed his mind. Maybe staying home wasn't such a bad idea.

"Are you sure you're all right with this?" Lily asked, noticing his discomfort.

"It's... fine," Severus replied guardly.

Her shoulders drooping, Lily said, "But it's not. You don't seem very pleased. Why did you bother to clean the house if you don't want guests?"

Severus took the seat across from Lily and stared at her, much in the way he had years ago with his mother.

"I want you to be happy," he explained, "and if making you happy means having your friends over, then we'll do it."

"Sev, I don't- I mean, when are you going to say they're your friends, too? I know going to the pub downtown didn't work out so well, but we were having a good time until the Death Eaters showed up. You were almost friendly, even."

"It's wasn't horrible," Severus admitted, "but we're talking about several more people than Potter and Mary, and it's our house. I'm sure Potter lives in a mansion, and your sister... well, we both know Petunia won't approve of our humble abode."

"If any of them dare turn their nose up at us - no, Sev, not just you, us - then I'll take it as a slight against both of us. But I think you're worrying about nothing. James doesn't care about being wealthy."

Severus wasn't convinced, but he didn't wish to further argue the point. They spent the rest of the day preparing for the evening, and Severus had to repeatedly tell Lily to sit down and relax. She eventually made her way up the stairs and took the bath Severus hoped she would, and an hour later, she came down the stairs wearing a simple yet elegant black dress, which clung to her frame nicely, stopping just below her knees. Lily had managed to pull her hair into a French twist, which was held in place by several bobby pins.

"Lily," Severus breathed, "you look... amazing."

Lily giggled and allowed him to take her into his arms at the bottom of the stairs.

"What about you, Sev? I'd love to see you in something ravishing." Lily winked, teasing him.

"I suppose I can comply," Severus remarked wryly, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "The house is clean, and dinner is stewing in the oven. I shall be back in a few minutes."

Kissing her lightly, Severus went up the stairs to get ready, leaving Lily to read in the sitting room. After his second shower for the day, he went into their bedroom and searched for something nice. He didn't own many decent Muggle clothes, let alone something dressy, and since Lily was wearing a Muggle dress, he figured he ought to wear something Muggle as well. Finding a clean pair of dress trousers, he slipped them on, finding that they were too large around the waist. They had belonged to Tobias, so Severus magically readjusted them. He found a white button-down shirt and added it. He left the top button undone, choosing not to wear a tie, as that seemed too formal.

Since his hair was now touching his collar bone at the longest layers, he decided to try pulling it back, something he hadn't done in months. The ponytail rested at the base of his head a minute later, but some of the shorter hairs in the front escaped, framing his face. Severus wondered if he ought to remove the tail, but figured the look was a good one and proceeded downstairs.

Upon seeing him, Lily stood, placing the book she had been reading back on the shelf.

"You look rather amazing yourself, Sev," she remarked. Grasping the tail, she smiled. "I'm glad to see your hair's longer again. You look nice like this."

"When will they be arriving?" Severus asked, blushing slightly, not used to this amount of attention.

"In fifteen minutes."

"And I trust everyone is coming who you intended?"

"Yes, I was able to get in touch with everyone. It should be a nice time."

Severus kept his comments to himself, figuring he would see how the evening actually went until he decided on whether or not it was a nice time.

Just as he finished his thoughts, someone knocked at the door, and Lily remarked, "Someone's early."

She went to the front door, followed closely by Severus. Upon opening the it, Lily found Petunia standing there. Her blonde hair was curled and pulled half-up. Like Lily, she was wearing a dress, only hers was dark blue.

"Tuney," Lily greeted her sister, inviting her in. "You look lovely."

Petunia gave her sister a brief smile. "It was... unexpected of you to have me over."

Severus conceded that point. Never once had Lily's family been to Spinner's End, but especially Petunia, who had turned his nose up for years at Severus for living on that street, would have never thought of stepping into his home a few months ago.

"You should know, Petunia, that I could have died a week ago." Lily explained the events to her sister, and Petunia's expression went from shocked to concerned to accusatory.

"And neither of you thought to inform us of this?" she demanded, glaring at Severus.

"We didn't have time to think about that," Severus cut in. "This was a serious battle, Petunia. We got her to safety, and she spent three days at Hogwarts in a coma before she was cured and brought home. Lily-"

"I didn't want any visitors, and I'm afraid I didn't want you to worry needlessly. I'm sorry, Petunia. But look, it's over now. And you shold know - Severus cured me." Lily smiled appreciatively at her husband.

"Well... good," Petunia said carefully. "I guess that training you're doing... something like a doctor... that's paying off, then?" Her eyes turned to Severus.

Severus nodded.

Gazing at Lily again, Petunia stated, "But you can't do something like that again, Lily! We're still your family, and we have a right to know!"

"I'm sorry," Lily apologized for the second time. "It won't happen again. I promise."

"Well... all right, then," Petunia replied reluctantly.

Another knock issued forth from the door, and while Lily and Petunia were talking, Severus took it upon himself to greet whoever was there. He wasn't surprised to find the rest of the crowd: James, Sirius, Mary, and Remus.

"Hello, Severus!" James said earnestly. "Awfully and strangely uncharacteristically thoughtful and kind of you to have us over."

Severus stepped aside to let the group in. "It was Lily's idea," Severus replied, knowing that James had been hoping for a reaction.

Seeing Lily, James's smile widened, and he gave her a quick hug, which made Severus uncomfortable for a moment.

"You look wonderful, Lily. I'm glad you've made a full recovery," James was saying.

Mary was just behind him, and she and Lily exchanged greetings and hugs. Hanging back with his friends, James watched his future wife interact with Lily and Petunia.

"Is it true, Severus, that you found the cure for Lily?" Remus asked.

"Yes," Severus said quietly.

"Good one, Snape," Sirius said, his eyes on Petunia. "If you'll excuse me-" He sauntered over toward Petunia, who immediately blushed as he took her hand and kissed it.

Swallowing down the bile that was threatening to overspill into his mouth, Severus muttered his excuse and went into the kitchen to check on dinner. He wondered now if he really was mental for having the Marauders over his house. For some odd reason, they seemed to be treating him almost as one of their own, and Severus had to try hard to keep himself from saying something cutting.

Glancing at the group in the sitting room, Severus bitterly thought, I was never good enough for your little club in school, but now that I've got Lily and I'm in the Order, suddenly I'm an honorary Gryffindor.

Severus watched as Lily left the others and entered the kitchen. Seeing the sour expression on his face, she whispered, "What's wrong, Severus?"

"This evening had better be worth it," Severus muttered.

"What's the matter?" Lily was baffled at her husband's sudden change in mood. "I thought you were all right with this. If you didn't want to have them over, saying something earlier would've been a good idea." Lily's tone was hurt, and her eyes were narrowing in annoyance.

"I'm sorry, Lily," said Severus, not sounding sorry at all, "but I'm trying to put the past behind me, but that's no easy thing to do when I have two lifetimes worth of-"

"Two lifetimes worth of what?" Mary asked as she stepped into the kitchen. Lily and Severus's heads snapped around to see the girl. Realizing she had interrupted something, Mary apologized, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean- I was just going to ask where the loo was."

"Upstairs," Lily stated.

Mary quickly exited, and Lily glared at Severus. "You have to be more careful about what you're saying," she hissed.

Turning a pale red on his cheeks, Severus clenched his teeth. "Very well. Very well, Lily. For you. I'm doing this all for you. Get their drinks. Dinner will be ready in ten minutes."

Lily sighed and put on a happy face, returning to her guests, as that's what she assumed they were since Severus obviously didn't want them there.

As promised, ten minutes later, Severus had everything on the table, which he had magically enlarged to fit everyone. A pork roast with potatoes and carrots was the main course, and the other men graciously tucked in.

"It smells delicious," remarked Sirius. "I suppose being good at Potions makes you a good cook, Snape?"

Severus shrugged, choosing to say as little as possible. The meal commenced, and because of the larger group, conversation kept alive easily, leaving Severus the opportunity to remain silent most of the time. Lily was seated on his right, and to his left, Remus was cutting away at the meat on his plate. Besides Severus, Remus had kept quiet most of the time.

Severus was the first to excuse himself, and he cleared the table. At times like this, he wished he had a bigger house, as there was no place to go for any privacy. Saying he was taking the rubbish out, Severus stepped out the back door and threw the bag into the dust bin. He remained standing out there for a couple of minutes, looking up at the sky.

Although chilly, it wasn't an uncomfortable temperature, and the clear sky afforded a great view of the stars. Hearing the door creak, Severus jumped and turned, expecting Lily, but Remus was stepping out of the house.

The other boy pulled something from his shirt pocket, and Severus was surprised to see a packet of cigarettes.

Offering one to Severus, Remus asked, "Do you?"

Severus shook his head, making a face of disgust. "That's a horrible habit, you know," he said. "My father occasionally smoked, but drinking was his main bad habit."

Remus shrugged, lighting up and taking a long drag. "It helps with the stress of... you know."

"Your transformations," Severus said quietly.

"Yes. Thank you for... you know, never telling anyone about that in school. That was decent of you."

Choosing to ignore Remus's remark, Severus commented, "I didn't know you smoked."

Remus shrugged again. "Bad habit, you're right, but like I said... Anyway, thank you for having us to your house, Severus. I'm glad Lily is okay."

Severus grunted. "Lily likes people."

"And you don't?" Remus asked, a touch of amusement in tone.

Against his initial thoughts, Severus now realized that the dinner had gone well. Maybe the Marauders had finally accepted him.

"It depends on the person... people."

Remus finished the cigarette and threw it down, putting it out with his shoe. He picked it up.

"This may surprise you, Severus, but I don't care for most people, either... Too many insincere and fake people in this world, but my friends are genuine. I think you're the real deal, too."

Truly uncomfortable now, Severus blurted, "You could take Wolfsbane for your condition, you know."

"I can't afford it."

"I could... make it for you."

Remus was silent for a long time, then said softly, "That would be especially decent of you, Severus. Maybe even so far as nice."

Severus half-glared at the other boy and saw Remus smiling. The door opened, and Lily was peaking her head out.

"There you two are," she said, a smile creeping across her face. "Come in before it gets any colder. I'm about to serve dessert, and I know how much you both love chocolate."

Remus chuckled. "That I do, Lily." Lily left them alone again, and Remus glanced back at Severus. "I didn't know you had a sweet tooth, Severus."

"There is a lot you don't know about me, Lupin."

"You could enlighten me."

"Perhaps."

Entering the warmth of his house, Severus was welcomed with laughter and delighted chatter. He watched Remus as he joined his friends, and Lily was serving dessert.

"What are you just standing there for, Severus?" James called. "It's time for dessert!"

Although his impassive face didn't reveal anything, Severus felt his insides warm. This was real, not a dream. This was his actual home, not a fantasy home. These were people who wanted him.

He sat down and joined the party.

Author's Note: And so we indulge in a bit of happiness and a smidgeon of fluff before things get ugly and nasty again. (evil grin)