Chapter 6
"But we had to go find Hermione, Mum!"
"She didn't know about the troll, Aunt Lily, it would have gotten her if we weren't there!"
"And why couldn't you have simply told a teacher?"
"They'd all disappeared as soon as the prefects got up to take us back to the dorms."
"What about informing a prefect then?"
"We told Ron to go tell his brother Percy, but they had to worry about all the students, not just Hermione!"
Throwing her hands up in the air out of frustration, Lily paced back and forth before the pair of infirmary beds her son and godson were occupying. Neither of the boys was seriously hurt, thank Merlin, but they weren't backing down from their position, either. Off to one side, Remus, Sirius, and Frank were all content to stand back and let Lily get her fury out in one go before they tried to intervene. Minerva had already told them, privately, that it was entirely likely that without Harry and Neville's interference, Hermione Granger would indeed have been killed by that troll before the professors could arrive from the dungeons.
Getting Lily to see that, though, while still coming down from the unpleasant place her fear had taken her would be a challenge and a half.
"You're not getting out of this without a punishment, I hope you both realize that," the red haired woman growled, still pacing. "Points removed or not, I'm going to insist you each get at least one detention, and then you will both be grounded during winter holidays, and don't you dare think for a second your mother won't agree with me on this Neville Franklin Longbottom!" In the silence that followed Lily's final outburst, one could have heard a pin drop in the infirmary.
Which was why the quiet cough from the main doors instantly attracted everyone's attention.
Dumbledore was standing there, flanked by Severus and Minerva, all of whom looked more than a little shocked to actually see Lily at Hogwarts, though for various reasons, of course.
The Transfiguration Mistress was the first to move, hurrying forward as she glanced over the boys. Seeing that they were fine, she then focused on the irate redhead. "I do appreciate your enthusiasm in reprimanding the lads, Lily, but I think your punishments are a wee bit over the top in this instance."
Lily glared, ignoring the derisive snort that came from Sirius. "I don't, Minerva. I've spent too long trying to teach Harry not to rush into dangerous situations to simply let this side, and Neville knows better as well."
"My dear girl," Dumbledore interjected, moving towards her as well. "Surely their success outweighs the initial wrongdoing in this matter-"
"Albus." He prudently stop talking when Lily glared. "You and your staff can handle this as you wish. But the consequences I assign to the boys outside of school is none of your business or concern."
"Of course, my dear. Well, seeing as their scrapes have been suitably looked after, perhaps it is time to send the boys off to bed?"
"What about Hermione?" Neville asked, both he and Harry glancing towards a bed further down the row, where a bushy-haired girl was fast asleep.
"She'll be quite safe here, and with that Calming Draught in her system, won't be waking up until morning anyway," Madam Pomfrey said firmly, emerging from her office. "And I quite agree with the Headmaster, it's past time for you boys to be asleep."
Neville nodded, sliding off of his bed and joining Minerva, getting a pat on the shoulder from his dad as he went by. Harry paused before following, as he looked up at his glowering mother. "I'm sorry, Mum."
Lily continued to scowl. "And what will you do if something like this happens again?"
"Go get a teacher."
"Good. Because if you don't, it'll be no broomstick or quidditch for a year." Both Sirius and Minerva's heads whipped around at that, to stare at Lily with just as much horror as her son.
Still standing by the main doors, Severus let out a single bark of laughter.
The woman transferred her glare to him. "Severus. A word, if you will." Everyone else went ahead and dispersed at her cold tone, Minerva leading the boys out while the men took shelter in Madam Pomfrey's office. Even Albus subtly left the infirmary, letting the doors ease shut behind him.
"...I apologize for my behaviour towards your son when the term started," the man said after a while, when it became obvious Lily wouldn't be making the first move. "After ten years of blaming myself for your death, having him suddenly arrive was, a shock, to say the least."
"And the fact that he looks so much like James didn't help either, I know." Sighing as her intense emotions deflated, Lily took a seat on the nearest bed. "I've often wondered how I'm going to cope as he moves into his teenage years."
"You'll manage. You always do." Carefully, Severus moved to sit on the bed opposite her.
"Why do you even teach here at all?" Lily suddenly asked. "I know you can't possibly be happy with this life."
"I'm not. But it's the only employment I could find after he was defeated. Besides which, Albus claims he'll need me if-" The sudden halt caused the woman to look up at him.
"If what, Severus?"
"...if the Dark Lord ever returns."
Those six words were very nearly enough to send Lily into another fit. It took Severus a good long while to calm her down again, and then of course he had to explain about Dumbledore's suspicions, and the trap the old wizard had gotten all the teachers to help him set inside the school. "I went to check, as soon as that idiot Quirrel delivered the news about the troll, and nearly got bitten for my troubles."
"What's the old fool playing at?" Lily demanded, back to pacing. "Putting the children at risk, and for what? To capture a wraith that might not even be here at all?!"
"Most of the students will be smart enough to avoid the third floor after his Welcoming Feast comment about a 'gruesome death'. The Gryffindors, on the other hand..."
Lily felt like banging her head against a stone wall. "Of course. That's why he wanted Hagrid at Harry's birthday party, to share stories that made him to want to be in Gryffindor, around others who'll encourage the 'charge first, think later' mentality. And why he doesn't want anyone punishing Harry too much for following through on that exact course of action."
"Rather manipulative of a man who used to be in Gryffindor himself," Severus added under his breath.
"I'm going to kill him."
"Albus? Or the Dark Lord?"
"Both, if I have to! I lost my husband because of those two, I'm not going to lose my son as well!" Finally at the end of her emotional rope, Lily stopped pacing, closing her eyes and hunching in on herself. "I can't lose Harry too."
A hand, very tentatively, touched her shoulder. She opened her eyes to see Severus standing beside her, a pained expression on his face.
"I swear to you, Lily, on my magic, I'll do everything I can to keep him from getting hurt or killed." After a moment, she nodded her acceptance of the promise.
"And, I'm sorry, Severus, for ignoring you for sixteen years. I thought you'd become a different man, someone I wouldn't recognize and couldn't trust. Obviously, I thought wrong."
"I wouldn't say I'm not different," he wearily informed her, prompting a smile from the woman.
"Maybe certain elements are different, but you're still the same boy who respected intelligence above all else and couldn't stand dunderheads who stirred their cauldrons the wrong way."
Severus coughed, trying to ignore his embarrassment.
"Which reminds me - whatever happened to the things I taught you about positive reinforcement? Trying to scare your students into behaving in a dangerous environment is all well and good, but what happens when they become too scared to innovate?"
"The true potential Potions Masters among them don't become too scared-"
When Madam Pomfrey poked her head out of her office half an hour later, long after the three men hiding within had all Flooed home, it was to discover the Dungeon Bat of Hogwarts in the middle of an intense discussion with Lily Potter considering the benefits of retaining an old and known-to-be outdated textbook as opposed to an updated one with revised and tweaked formulas. Shaking her head, the Mediwitch retreated again, with a plan in mind to Stun the pair if they'd not yet departed by midnight.