Of blood and serpents

Part One

Chapter five

Those who Hide.

A flurry of emotion ran through Severus. The predominant being dread. He stared at the speckles of blood and gently retrieved what looked to be the offending piece of glass which had a thin coating of brown rusted blood that flaked away at his touch. ' should I call Dumbledore? no he'll think me a fool.' he thought, as another thought burgeoned 'perhaps I am a fool.'

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She was cold and her arm hurt where it had been cut breaking through the glass.. She had tried to be careful. She witheld a small whimper, clenching her teeth as she sniffled. She had found a hidout if not the hidout. She curled on the wet muddy floor of the cave and managed to fall into a fitful sleep.

She woke afraid, her arm burning and stinging feeling swollen she rolled over and gingerly touched the wound which felt puffy and wet and oozing slightly. She closed her eyes again, pressing her arm close to her side shivering. she was afraid of the hurting in her arm, but the fear she felt of seeing Severus sent cold lances of terror through her. 'he'll be so angry I left, I can't go back, i can't...' she cried a bit more, barely noticing she didn't feel cold anymore and was instead starting to feel too hot. her mind grew heavy with grogginess and heat. Thoughtlessly she turned in her restless slumber onto her back, her arms splaying in the mud and filth of the floor. The cool felt good on her skin and she groaned softly at the feeling. 'I'll just stay until I feel better.' she thought, then she stopped thinking as she slipped further away.

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Severus found himself in the neighbor hood asking muggles if they had seen a young girl of six or seven in the area. None had, although many gave him curious glances. 'Aren't you that Snape boy?' one had asked and he'd sneered at the woman, ignoring her when he realized she knew nothing of use. Agitated he tore through the house searching every nook and cranny in case he had missed her or she had returned. No luck. His next option was to find some of her hair for a search spell. He entered his old room and for a second just looked around. The bed was unmade after he had pulled the covers mostly off and the bundle of bedding still lay in a roll on the bed. The candle beside the bed was quite low now, in fact it may not even be usable with how low it was. 'couldn't that fool child just ask for another one?' he thought scowling, a memory answered. terrified green eyes, wide with fear. his stomach churned with his breakfast. 'of course not, she's terrified of me.' His eyes down cast that's when he saw it.

an old black book peeking out from under the bed. quickly he snatched it up, the feeling of the leather familiar, as was the smell of the old musty pages. dark memories flooded him. Dark memories of a boy cowering in this room, shame and rage, old familiar friends. For a second he focused it on the girl, 'how dare she read this, is this a joke to her?' his grip on the book tightened, his knuckles white. He tossed the book on the bed and sat down clenching his teeth. his annoyance and rage sufficiently revived. 'perhaps I should let her go, the little idiot.' But the thought of Dumbledore's rage when he found out made him hesitate. 'where would she go then?' again his eyes swept the room, the closet straight ahead caught his interest and he got up and opened it with some interest, peering inside. The box of his old school supplies had been rummaged through. He picked through the items noticing almost right away that some of the notes didn't match his own spindly writing. He pulled out a swath of papers and as he flipped through he realized she was copying information from text. her writing was a sloppy scrawl but it was some what readable as she clearly attempted to neatly copy the information. He put it down and next pulled out a large leather bound book. Inside the front cover was large sloppy writing that said 'happy birthday lily, from Hagrid.' and he gave a small snort, opening it.

Plants were copied here, clearly not all of which she had encountered on her own, but that which she had found various books. Severus suddenly remembered his own yearning in this room, his boredom. For the first time he related her to that young boy, both sullen and bored and a spark of guilt bloomed in him.

It was that thought of the lonely boy that lonely boy and this lonely girl that caused his mind to click. He stood abruptly, dropping the book back into the bin and strode to the bed where the old leather tome lay flipping though the pages hurriedly...

he found it yes.

He knew where she had gone.

The air outside was nippy, the sun hiding behind overcast clouds seeming to make the neighborhood perpetually grey. Not as if the neighborhood was pleasant to begin with. even on a sunny day. Severus found the old path and walked down it as if he had yesterday rather than a decade ago in his youth.

The ground became muddy and the stink stronger as he neared the river, the mud squelching beneath his shoes. Gritting his teeth he made his way back to the old hovel.

It was dark inside. A deep penetrating darkness and for a second he thought that there was no way the child would ever crawl into that darkness, that he was wrong and he would have to begin his search again.

Then he heard a ragged cough emanate from the darkness. Severus did a quick sweep of his surrounding to make sure no muggles were present before removing his wand from his robes and in a low voice he spoke.

"Lumos." the light of the wand didn't quite penetrate the complete darkness of the cave but he was able to discern a small shape near the back. "Lillian" He spoke, raising his voice as he stooped his head to enter the cave. Her stillness unnerved him and an icy feeling closed around his heart as he approached.

The wand light revealed pallid sickly skin with a sheen of sweat, a dirty child with black hair and cherubic cheeks with lips parted.

She was ill. Severus wasted no time in picking her up, having to lay his wand in the filth of the cave to do so he quickly had her over his stooped shoulder, it was awkward but possible to leave the cave. He did so, quickly retrieving his wand before he left. She was limp over his shoulder and heavier than she looked, Severus noticed muggles peeking though darkened windows and he sneered.

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Lily felt herself become weightless. 'am i floating?' came the disembodied thought that was quickly devoured by the darkness of unconsciousness.

She woke in the dark feeling too hot, smothered even she groaned in the dark attempting to rid herself of the heat when suddenly pain lanced up her arm.

"Don't move." a quiet voice said and she whimpered, confused and delirious she began to cry.

"-m sorry, please..." she began to cry pain behind her eyes blooming from the strain as she sobbed.

"Be still child." tears still ran down her cheeks and she felt a weight removed from her eyes then. A damp cloth had been over her face. Severus removed it deftly to squeeze the water from it and soak it again in a bowl filled with cool water. They regarded each other, now that lily could see. Lily squinting in the now in the bright light, the intensity of the candle hurting her eyes after being in the dark. Severus was sitting beside the bed wrapping her arm in something, his long slender fingers quick and gentle. Lily remembered being in the cave but not leaving, she closed her eyes to the light turning her head away, her stomach churning

"Drink." There was water suddenly being pushed towards her and she obeyed, only then realizing how parched she was, she drank the water greedily, accepting the cup with her good arm. He took the glass back when she was finished and instead of turning away she glanced shyly at him.

"How did you know where he hid?" she asked, voice rough, her thoughts were not quite fully formed yet. When Severus didn't continue she did. "He used to live here.. are you his dad? where did he go?" It was more questions she asked then the whole of summer or last Christmas, and she was bold with exhaustion and delirium. Severus's deft fingers stopped their ministrations of wrapping the wound seeming to freeze. 'are you his dad?' her words echoed.

"I was the boy once. this was my room." He answered slowly, unsure of why he answered at all. Confusion and surprise lighted her eyes silence spanned between them as Severus continued his ministrations.

He doted on her those few days in summer while she was ill, he bathed a cloth in cool water for her, brought her meals, cleaned her wound. Then on as she became more aware he returned with something of a gift. A book.

"I believe you were reading this.."He said as he placed the book on her lap. her eyes lighted immediately , her fingers skirting the cover reverently. her eyes hopeful and excited.

"Really?" She breathed drawing the book closely to her.

"You may which ever books I approve, and only if you ask first." a smile broke like sun through clouds. Severus didn't believe he'd ever seen her so happy before as she nodded.

"Thank you Severus." the murmured.

Understanding had finally bloomed between them. It was not simply smooth sailing from their on but it seemed as if the rocks were smoother, a path lain perhaps to something more between them. More than heavy silence, resentment, fear and anger. For the first time Severus looked at her he saw a child that wasn't much different than the child who had written in an old shabby leather book, and the girl saw a boy she needn't be afraid of any more.

Part One: Fin.

AN: So part one is finished, I'm going to see about starting part two now. I don't know if I'll start it as a separate story or not. I'm a little torn both ways. anyways let me know what you think! Is my characterization of Snape accurate ? I know I'm a bit sloppy on grammar or writing, two things actually kept me from publishing this story for two years. One: couldn't find a beta, still haven't but whatever... Two, my entire plot line, and time graph chart and writing got wiped four years ago by an ex boyfriend by accident along with all my other stories. It kind of wrecked me but I've always had a place for this story in my heart and even though all that material was lost I still want to finish it. Now four years later here I am again!

thanks, and I'm sorry for the grammar and stuff. At this point i'm trying to get the story out there.

Thanks for reading!