It was almost noon when Lily heard the persistent tapping in her bedroom. Tearing herself away from the book she was reading, She made her way over to the window and opened it, causing a dark brown owl carrying a large stuffed envelope to fly in. It was from Hogwarts. She eagerly untied the letter from the owl's leg and gave it a pat on the head. Ripping the enveloping she first pulled out her O.W.L. test results.
Arithmancy - O (Outstanding)
Astronomy - O (Outstanding)
Charms - O (Outstanding)
Defense Against the Dark Arts - O (Outstanding)
Herbology - E (Exceeds Expectations)
History of Magic - O (Outstanding)
Potions - O (Outstanding)
Study of Ancient Runes - E (Exceeds Expectations)
Transfiguration - E (Exceeds Expectations)
Lily squealed excitedly and ran down stairs, letter in hand, to show her parents. When she painfully collided with someone on the stairs.
"Watch were you're going, freak." Petunia barked and stomped the rest of the way to her room. Lily watched her every move with an intense glare but decided to focus of her own happiness than her sister's bitter jealousy.
"Mum!" Lily yelled as she walked down the remaining stairs. "Dad!"
"We're in the sitting room, Lily!" Her mother called back. She raced into the room and stood in front of their view of the television.
"I got my test results!" She informed them happily, extending the paper towards them. Her dad eagerly grabbed it from her and scanned it over with her mum looking over his shoulder.
"I'm so proud of you." Her father said standing up and giving her a tight hug. Lily's mother got up and followed suit.
"Would you mind if I go find Severus, to show him?" Lily asked when they both were sitting down again.
"Go ahead." Her father said with a nod of his head. Lily smiled brilliantly and nearly skipped off.
Lily was finally in view of his house when she stopped in her tracks. Severus's mother was sitting on the back porch. Eileen Snape was rarely outside and if she was it was always in the front. That's why Severus always had Lily come to the back of the house.
Since Lily was already spotted it would have been rude to turn around and walk away so she slowly and nervously walked up to her.
"Hello, Mrs. Snape." Lily greeted in a soft, friendly manner. Eileen looked at her blankly and said nothing.
"Is Severus home?" Lily bit her bottom lip.
'What if she hates me and that's why she's not talking.' Lily though in a panic.
Suddenly the sullen-looking woman gave Lily a large smile. Lily noted that she was missing some teeth but pushed that superficial thought to the back burner of her mind and smiled back.
"You must be Lily." She said simply. Lily nodded her head in confirmation.
"Yes, Ma'am." She responded politely.
"Severus talks about you all the time." She laughed.
Lily blushed and said, "Only good things I hope!"
The screen door let out a loud creak as it was opened and slammed shut on it's on. Eileen and Lily both let out a small sigh of relief to see that the source was Severus.
"What were you talking about?" He curiously asked, his eyes moving back in forth between his mother and girlfriend.
"Nothing at all, Severus." His mother said with a small chuckle and gave his hand a pat of reassurance. "Now go have fun with your girlfriend."
Turning a deep shade of red Severus muttered, "Mother!" in a sharp tone.
Lily laughed and grabbed his hand, lacing her fingers in-between his.
"It was great to talking to you, Mrs. Snape." Lily said.
"And it was great to finally talk to you." Eileen said. "I know I embarrass Severus but you two have been friends for years now, I think he should have been a gentleman and properly introduced us long ago."
Severus began walking as fast as his legs could talk him, dragging Lily along since they were still holding hands, until his house was out of sight. As they sat down in a secluded part of the woods Lily stared at him in confusing.
"Are you angry that I was talking to your mother?" Lily asked. Severus, who was looking at everything but Lily, shook his head 'no'.
"Then what are-"
"Can we please drop the subject." Severus interrupted her while finally looking face to face. Lily looked hurt at his tone so he leaned over and placed a small kiss on her lips.
"I'm sorry." He said in a whisper. Lily waved him off.
"So," Lily complied to his wish as she reached into her pocket and pulled out her O.W.L. results. "Did you get your letter today?"
"I did." He replied and fished his paper out of his back pocket.
"Great!" Lily cried out. "Let's exchange."Lily snatched the paper out of his hands and placed hers on his lap. Quickly and carefully, Lily looked at his scores one-by-one.
"Sev!" She said in amazement. "You got an 'Outstanding' in every subject."
She lowered the paper to look at him and he lowered hers.
"You almost got an 'O' in everything." He pointed out.
"Almost doesn't count. Sev, can you imagine how many people will be knocking your door down with job offers."
He shrugged at her words and muttered, "I highly doubt it."
Lily ignored his negative words and pressed on.
"What do you think you'll do after Hogwarts?"
Pausing to think, Severus felt a panic arise in him. He still wanted to work with the dark arts but Lily would be disgusted that he would even consider a job like that in such a bleak moment in history.
"I was thinking maybe an Auror." He said, thinking quickly. Lily looked pleased and Severus saw her move closer to him.
"I was think of becoming an Auror, also!" Lily exclaimed. "Imagine if the two of became crime fighting partners."
Watching her face fill with excitement made Severus sick with guilt. But he simply couldn't tell her what he truly aspired to be, because this time around he had more to lose. This time she was his best friend, girlfriend, lover…his everything. He had made the mistake of loosing her once and was wasn't about to let that happen again.
"Sev?" Lily called into the open door after knocking and waiting for a few moments. The two of them planned to meet at his house today so they could floo to Diagon Alley for their school supplies but so far no response was coming from anywhere in the house.
Quietly, Lily stepped in the house and took in her surroundings. She had seen the place before but Severus was always rushing her in and upstairs that she never got a really good look of it. The place looked exactly like Lily had pictured it in her mind. Everything appeared to be a mixture of 50's muggle and wizard culture with layers of dust caked on it. Going deeper inside, Lily gazed at the pictures on the wall. None of the faces were smiling causing Lily to feel a twinge of pity for Severus having to live such a life. Thinking of the portraits that hung on her own wall she felt guilty that she had taken the smallest moments with her family for granted. Wishfully thinking about the future, Lily promised herself that if she and Sev ever started a family that their home would be full of similar portraits to that in her current home.
At the corner of her eye Lily saw a picture that made her smile. Finally something happy. A picture of Severus Snape, no more than a year-old, naked on the ground grinning a nearly toothless grin. Just as Lily reached up to touch it, to remove the dust from such a precious photo, she heard a crashing noise coming from the living room. Stricken with fear, Lily slowly made her way into the room and felt her fears wash away at once when she saw that it was just her boyfriend stepping out of his fireplace.
"Lily!" Severus stuttered in surprise when he looked up. "What are you doing in here?" Lily's head tilted to the side, slightly, and her eyebrows furrowed together.
"We're supposed to be getting our school things today and your door was wide open so I came in." Lily muttered the last bit with embarrassment. She didn't want it to seem like she was snooping around.
"Oh." His voice was void of any emotion and it drove her crazy. Was he happy to see her? Was he upset that she was in his house without permission?
"So," Lily began awkwardly. "Where've you been?"
"I was-" He paused. "At a friends house."
Lily raised her eyebrows and gave a force smile.
"Really? Like who?"
Severus, ignoring her question, wrapped his arms around and kissed her head.
"We should probably get going if we want to get all of our supplies today." He said as he stepped back from their embrace. Lily looked at him in confusion.
"Is there something you're hiding from me?" Lily asked, folding her arms across her chest. Severus sighed loudly and shook his head.
"I went to talk with Malfoy." He admitted with a tone of guilt. It drove him crazy that she could pull any information from him without even trying.
"Malfoy?" Lily spat out his name in surprise. "About what?"
'Think, think, think…' Severus thought in a panic.
"I was thinking about our conversation about future careers and thought that I'd talk to him since he has many connections at the Ministry."
Lily looked at him unconvinced but decided to drop the subject matter for the time being.
"Let's get our supplies." Lily stated, voice void of any emotions. Severus watched as she strolled over to the fireplace and grabbed a handful of floo powder.
"Well, come on then." She snapped. He inwardly flinched at her harsh tone but willingly did as she said, and the two of them were off.
