A/N: Thank you for all of your comments on the previous chapter. I apologize for the late update; with school starting again and finding out that my grandma might have pancreatic cancer, things have not been easy lately, but I will do my best to update every six or seven days. Enjoy~
"Oi…Sev."
Severus turned his head away from James, pretending he couldn't hear him. He knew that his friend was trying to slip him a note, but with only four days left of school, Severus wasn't taking any chances: he couldn't land himself in yet another detention.
He figured he had spent more than half of his weekday evenings and Saturdays in detention this year. Thanks to Umbridge, he had missed Gryffindor's final Quidditch match of the year, where James scored over twenty goals, a huge improvement from his first match of the year, where he hadn't score once. The Ravenclaws had won the Quidditch Cup last year, but this year, the Gryffindors finally came in first place.
"Sev," James hissed louder still. He nudged Severus with his elbow, trying to get him to take his secret note, but Severus continued ignoring him.
For the past several weeks, there had been rumours going around that the governors and Ministry were working together to shut down the school. Severus couldn't push that horrible idea out of his mind, nor could he force himself to forget what he read in the Daily Prophet yesterday about Dumbledore's possible resignation. Dumbledore couldn't possibly agree to it, Severus knew: the Ministry, led by their Umbridge-fan Minister, would oust him whether or not he wanted to leave. According to the Prophet, the only reason Dumbledore would be allowed to stay is if they convict someone for opening the Chamber of Secrets by the end of summer.
Oblivious to Severus' persistent refusals, James elbowed him a few more times.
"What do you want?!" Severus barked at him as he snatched the stupid parchment away from James and unfolded it.
"Passing notes, boys?" the new Defense teacher asked sternly as he strolled up to their desk and took the note away before Severus could read a single word. "Hmm…I'm afraid I'll be seeing you two in detention tonight."
Fighting the urge to hex that sheepish grin off James' face, Severus swore under his breath.
xXxXxXxXx
"Are you alright?"
"Fine…just tired I suppose."
"Go to sleep then."
Lily sighed miserably. "I can't. I'm too worried about Sev…haven't you been reading the Daily Prophet? That wretched woman is trying to convince the Ministry to throw him in Azkaban!"
Regulus rolled his eyes. Lily was his best friend, but her obsession with the greasy Gryffindor was getting to be very irksome. It was always Severus, Severus, Severus with her. Quite frankly, Regulus was growing rather jealous of the git, and did all he could to get her mind off Snape.
"They probably won't convict him, even if he does have a hearing," Regulus said, barely able to keep the disappointment out of his voice. "He's only a second year, and everyone knows Umbridge is barking mad."
"I hope you're right," Lily whispered.
"So what are your plans for summer?" Regulus asked quickly, trying to change the subject while he still could. "My parents said you could stay with us in August. Bella and Cissy's parents are going abroad that month, so they'll be staying with us too…my parents don't even mind that you're only a half-blood," he added jokingly, though this only made Lily feel more nauseous.
"Oh…well…that sounds—"
Before Lily could finish, the entrance doors of the common room burst open. Peter Pettigrew came stumbling in, wild-eyed and positively terrified.
"Someone's been taken into the Chamber!" he cried before falling to his knees, ready to faint.
There was a collective gasp amongst the dozen or so Slytherins in the common room; some were gleeful, some didn't care at all, and others looked as scared as Peter.
"Who?"
"Th-the Snape boy!"
Immediately, every head turned to Lily, wanting to see her reaction.
"What?" she croaked, praying her ears had deceived her. "N-Not Severus?"
Still breathing hard, Peter nodded. "I-I think I saw the culprit j-just before he took him away. There was n-nothing I could do to s-stop him."
Lily's heart plummeted. She didn't know much about the Chamber of Secrets, but she knew that actually going into the chamber itself could not be a good thing for her friend. The thought of Severus being tortured (or worse) sent shivers down her spine. She couldn't just sit here and do nothing while Severus was dragged away to meet his horrible fate. Despite the dangers that might lay in store for her, she needed to go after him.
"Go find Slughorn," she told Regulus as she pulled on her cloak and shoved her wand into her pocket. Her hands were moist with sweat and shaking uncontrollably, but she forced her mind to remain calm and collected for the time being. Severus' survival might be at stake…
Regulus stared at her. "You can't possibly be thinking of—"
"I have to, Regulus," Lily cut him off. "He's my best friend, and if I don't save him…nobody will."
"What about Potter? Or Sirius?"
"I'm not taking any chances," she replied grimly.
"But what if he's already…well…"
"He's not dead," Lily said, her voice unnaturally high as the fear within her intensified. "He'll…we'll be fine."
Regulus did not look convinced, but nodded anyway as she left her seat and solemnly marched over to Peter, ready to do anything to save her friend.
"Do you remember where you last saw him?" Lily asked quite calmly.
"I-I think s-so," he stammered and timidly gestured for her to follow him.
Sev's fine…he's fine, I'm sure of it…everything will turn out okay…
However, no matter how many times she repeated it in her head as she raced after Peter down the faintly-lit corridors, she just couldn't bring herself to believe everything was going to be fine after all…
xXxXxXxXx
Damn you, James!
If it weren't for James' foolishly persistent and aggravating attempts to pass him a letter earlier today, Severus wouldn't be here now, in detention, scrubbing bat gunk and bubble gum off of the ceiling. It was undoubtedly Peeves' doing, but, as always, the clean-up was left to a student.
James was currently cleaning maggots out of the statues of armour in the hallway perpendicular to him, which was no difficult task, as he was whistling quite merrily as he worked.
Severus swore as a fresh pile of bat droppings landed on his head. McGonagall had been sympathetic enough to leave them their wands for the night's janitorial duties, though Severus knew this was because she was well-aware of the fact that neither of them knew a single cleaning spell.
Bloody idiot…sounds like he's having a good time over there, he thought bitterly as he began to wonder if James was really working at all.
"Are you sure he was around here?" Severus heard a girl's voice suddenly break through the silence. His eyes widened, recognizing the voice as Lily's at once. What was she doing out of her common room at this hour?
Severus quickly and silently scurried down the ladder, hoping to catch a glimpse of his friend. There was someone with her—Regulus?
He crept around the corner and saw her faint figure go through a door at the end of the corridor, followed by another person, whose features were obscured by shadows. The person looked like a boy, but he was too plump to be Regulus and too short to be any older than a second or third year.
Pulling his wand out of his pocket, Severus started forward, only to come to a halt when he realized what door they had gone through.
Why, oh why did it have to be that room again? Severus felt the old familiar feeling of dread wash over him, like water overflowing from Myrtle's toilet in the room Lily and her mysterious friend had just gone into. Did the world just hate him, or was he just really unlucky this year?
"Lily!" he hissed, trying to get her attention, but by then, the door had already closed.
Out of nowhere, a bizarrely humanlike hissing floated faintly through the cracks in the door, followed by several low rumbles of something that sounded like stones moving apart. Severus' heart pounded against his chest as he continued onward, driven by both his inner Gryffindor recklessness and his determination to ensure Lily's safety…
"I don't know…are you sure he went—"
There was a sudden shriek.
Lily!
He pushed the door open just as the shadowy figure disappeared down what appeared to be a tunnel hidden in the sink. It immediately closed once the person was gone, leaving Severus staring at it in shock.
"LILY!" he screamed once his mind finally registered what was going on. "STUPEFY!"
The spell didn't open the secret passageway in the sink; it only shattered a faucet, splashing water everywhere.
"REDUCTO!"
He'd never actually tried that spell before; however, he knew the theory behind it. As expected, it did not work on the sink. Severus tried it again.
"REDUCTO!"
Still nothing. With a screech of rage, Severus hurled himself at the sink and pounded on it with his bare hands. His instincts told him Lily was in grave danger, and since magic wouldn't open the entranceway, he decided to try using brute force. Unfortunately, Severus was not muscularly built like Sirius and James, and his hysterical attempts to get to Lily led to painful consequences. Shiny crimson blood dribbled down his pale knuckles, but all he could think about was saving Lily. What was she thinking, going in here…of all places in the castle, why here?!
"OI! ARE YOU MAD?!" James yelled as he entered the room and tried pulling Severus away from the discoloured old sink. Severus thrashed around James' grip, trying to break free, but his friend held him tightly.
"Let me go!" he roared, trying to reach his wand so he could blast James out of his way, but his hands couldn't find his pockets.
"What are you doing?" James asked. His breathing was laboured from trying to keep Severus from attacking what he thought was just a regular washing sink, though thankfully, Severus was running out of energy to fight back.
"Someone…they…took…THEY'VE GOT LILY!"
"What?! Who's got Evans?"
"The person controlling the basilisk, you prat! Haven't you noticed where we are?"
James released him, looked around for a moment, then gasped. "The girls'—"
"Bathroom, yes," Severus snapped before pointing his wand at the unmoving obstacle and firing several more hexes and curses at it. Nothing opened it.
"They're in there?" James asked incredulously. "How'd they get in?"
"I don't know," Severus said furiously. "I was out there when I heard Lily talking to someone and they entered the bathroom, then there was a strange hissing, and…"
Severus inhaled sharply.
"Then…?" James prodded, wondering why his friend was suddenly staring at him as though he just asked him to marry the basilisk.
"It must have been Parseltongue," he whispered.
"Oooh, very good," a girlish voice came from above them, making both of the boys jump. It was Moaning Myrtle, the ghost who had been the first victim of the basilisk this year.
"How do you get through that thing if you don't know Parseltongue?" Severus snapped at her. If he didn't hurry, Lily would be long gone by the time he figured out how to get through…
"I don't know," said Myrtle, hissing tauntingly at Severus as she spoke.
"Well…you heard it the first time, didn't you?" James asked slowly. "Why don't you just mimic what you heard?"
"That is the most idiotic idea I've heard in a while," Severus said flatly, in no mood for James' jokes. He could hear Lily screaming several levels below him…or was that just his imagination?
"I'm serious!" James protested, but Severus wasn't foolish: if you're not born a Parselmouth, you'll never be one.
"Well, if you're too late to save her…she's welcome to share my toilet with me," Myrtle smirked as Severus' jaw dropped in horror at the thought of Lily's dead spirit haunting a bathroom.
"Fine!" he snapped, then focused all of his attention on remembering what the person had sounded like as he spoke Parseltongue. Myrtle's pretend-Parseltongue sounded a lot like the culprit's version…was it possible she knew how to open the Chamber? Or was she just mimicking him as well? He feverishly hoped this would work; if it didn't, nothing would.
"Hiss…?"
James shrugged. "Sounded like English to me."
Focus! Severus willed himself silently, then tried again: "Hisss…"
To James and Severus, it sounded like any other hiss, but finally, something had worked: white light dazzled from the serpent faucet, and the entire sink sunk into the ground.
"Bloody hell," James whispered as he stared into the large, pitch-black tunnel before them.
"Go find Dumbledore," Severus said bleakly, refusing to take his eyes away from the opening. Did he really want to find out what was beyond this seemingly endless passageway?
Reminding himself that there was still some chance that Lily was alive down there, he supposed he had no choice but to go.
"I'm coming with you."
"No. I can do it alone. Lily's my friend…you don't need to put yourself in danger for her."
"And what if something happens to both of you down there? Who's going to save your arses then?"
"That's why I'm asking you to find Dumbledore…Please," he begged him, wanting to waste as little time as possible.
James frowned, clearly unhappy with being left behind. "Fine. Just…don't get yourself killed, alright? I'll never pass Potions again without you."
"Alright mate," Severus rolled his eyes, then plunged himself into the pipe, preparing for the worst.
xXxXxXxXx
"I can honestly say that I've never seen a more gullible Slytherin than you, Evans."
Lily suppressed a sob. Her wrists were still bleeding heavily in the five areas where Peter's fingernails had punctured deep beneath her skin as he had dragged her along the eerie tunnel that led up to this place, a dimly-lit hall with statues of emerald-eyed snakes on either side.
Upon exiting the pipe from the bathroom, Lily immediately knew there was something horribly wrong. Peter was not acting like himself, and the voice in which he now spoke to her was high, clear, and cold, much unlike his normally pathetic and wheezy voice.
She was ashamed to admit that she had been tricked; Peter had used her friendship with Severus against her, and now it was she, Lily, who needed help, not Sev. She had a wand, but Peter's wand rose at even the tiniest movement of her hands. By the time she got to it, he would have already Stunned her.
Lily was terrified by the fact that nobody knew she was down here, at the mercy of a boy whom she had thought she could trust. So much for the 'clever and cunning few' that the Sorting Hat had spoken of in her first year…she had to be the worst Slytherin ever.
"Where is Severus?" she asked him in a tiny voice, though it was quite obvious that Severus was not here. She was starting to feel dizzy from the amount of blood she was still losing from her wrist, but she didn't want to find out what the disturbed boy would do to her if she lost consciousness. If only she could get to her wand…
"Foolish girl," Peter spat, again in the chillingly clear voice. Lily didn't know if it was just her imagination, but when he spoke, his eyes seemed to glow faintly scarlet…
"What use is the boy to Him, aside from bait for the Ministry of Magic to mangle and destroy?"
Peter turned on her and pointed his wand directly at her chest. He grinned cruelly as tears of dread exploded from her eyes.
"No…what He wants…is you."
"Me?" Lily bit her quavering lip, trying to appear braver than she felt. If only she had asked Regulus to come along…
Just before Peter could answer her, the entrance to the chamber slowly slid open behind them. The enormous marble snakes barring the exit slithered away, and after much creaking a groaning from the centuries-old stones, there was silence once more.
There stood Severus, looking thoroughly exhausted, though ready for battle. His wand was out and pointed directly at Peter.
"There's our true Slytherin," Peter drawled, completely unfazed by Severus' sudden arrival. "Mimicking Parseltongue…I had hoped you might try that."
"You…did?" Severus faltered, losing any confidence he had left as he gazed into the other boy's impossibly red eyes. His shoulders sagged in relief at the sight of Lily staring at him: she was still alive.
"Of course," Peter said coldly. "He was going to leave it up to the Ministry to kill you, but why make them go to so much trouble? He is merciful…He will allow you to die alongside your Mudblood girlfriend."
Lily muffled a shriek.
"The Dark Lord knows," Peter answered her unasked question. "You cannot hide it from Him. Admittedly, I've underestimated you, Evans. You've managed to evade me all year, but…your luck has finally run out."
"Peter…what's wrong with you?" Lily cried. She had always seen Peter Pettigrew as an odd boy, but never cruel and evil. He had helped her carry her things when she was injured the previous year; now he wanted to kill her?
"He's possessed," Severus said suddenly, recognizing all of the signs. He unconsciously raised his own wand a little higher. There was a long period of silence, in which the only noise Severus could hear was what sounded inexplicably like the faint rhythmic ticking of metallic heartbeats.
Peter shook his head and grinned maliciously. "I prefer to call it 'gratefully accepting a task the Dark Lord entrusted me with.'"
As Peter's eyes bore into his, Severus noticed Lily out of the corner of his eye, stealthily sneaking her uninjured hand into her pocket, no doubt trying to retrieve her wand. If he could just distract the boy for a little while longer, they might just have a chance…
"Well you've done a terrific job so far," said Severus sarcastically. "You've Petrified more purebloods than Muggleborns, and you killed a pureblood teacher. Trust, indeed!"
"You failed to include the Mudblood and half-blood that are about to die," Peter replied quietly. His grip tightened on his wand, and Severus instinctively copied him. "Or are you under the impression you're getting out of this alive?"
"STUPEFY!"
Severus and Peter's eyes immediately averted from each other and to Lily, who had finally managed to pull out her wand. It seemed impossible that anyone could be quick enough to block the surprise attack, but Peter, under the influence of something obviously powerful and Dark, managed just that. With a lazy flick of his wand, the flash of red light evaporated into nothingness, and in the split second Lily didn't move, Peter shot a lethal-looking black jet of light at her.
It hit her squarely in the face.
While Lily's piercing screams of agony continued to echo throughout the massive chamber, her body fell to the ground, lying motionless as Dolores had been when Severus had stumbled onto her freshly-murdered corpse not too long ago.
"LILY!" Severus screamed, fearing the worst as he helplessly fell to his knees next to her crumpled figure. All of his fears and worries about Pettigrew and the monster vanished at once; the only thing that mattered right now was Lily. He didn't care how childish he was, crying over his possibly-dead friend's seemingly lifeless form. She had not been hit by the Avada Kedavra, but then why wasn't there a pulse?
"Lily…Lily no…please don't…" he cried, stroking her soft pale cheeks, as though his touch would miraculously bring her back. Her eyes remained closed, giving her the appearance of someone who was merely sleeping; had he seen those wondrous green eyes for the last time?
She was so young…he couldn't lose her…not Lily, the first person who had ever shown him that human beings really could show kindness to him…
Even if she wasn't dead, the curse was undoubtedly a highly damaging specimen of Dark magic. If she lived, would Lily ever be the same again? Or would she end up like Melika, the other Slytherin Muggleborn who really should have been permanently shut up in a wizarding asylum, but was allowed to return to Hogwarts because of its compassionate headmaster?
With his eyes still blurred with tears, he looked up at Pettigrew, knowing at once what he would do. The room was moist and warm, but Severus' body shivered as though he were caught in the middle of an Arctic blizzard. Only his right hand, the one holding his wand, remained steady. Pettigrew had hurt—and possibly killed— Lily.
Severus would kill Pettigrew.
"Lower your wand, or I shall call the basilisk," Peter said at once, practically reading Severus' mind. He didn't lower his wand, however.
"I take it you understand the Dark Lord is exceedingly generous, allowing you to die here, rather than face the Dementors after the Ministry convicts you this summer?"
"You…" Severus hissed, his voice trembling, though his desperation to escape was now greater than his fear of death, "…will not…kill me."
Peter's eyes narrowed into scarlet slits. "Very well. You have sealed your own fate."
Severus kept his wand pointed at Peter, even as he turned around and spoke seemingly to the walls.
"Kill."
There was an explosion of rupturing stones behind Severus. He did not turn around to look at it, because he already knew what it was and what would happen to him it he looked at it directly in the eyes.
The monster of Slytherin roared, sensing its prey at the other end of the chamber. Umbridge had not been enough…its long-dead original owner had ingrained within it the fiercest desire to kill, and it would not fail its master's wishes.
Wasting no time to actually think about what he was doing, Severus hoisted Lily's petite, yet deadweight body over his shoulder and ran for his life. Lily's limp form weighed him down like a bagful of heavy Galleons, but he surged forward, ignoring the screams of Pettigrew behind him.
"STUPEFY!" he aimed the spell over his shoulder to where he assumed the beast was pursuing him. Its infuriated hiss made his ears ring painfully: he hadn't stopped it, he only made it angrier.
His insides screamed for more air and his lungs burned as though someone had released Fiendfyre within them, but Severus did not slow his pace. He couldn't afford to. He could hear the great monster slithering closer to him every second…it was only a matter of moments before it finally caught up to them…
A sudden and inexplicable rush of adrenaline flowed through him, giving him more strength and power than he could have ever imagined. None of his spells and hexes had worked thus far; there was only one left he hadn't tried. It had never worked on the lizard, but it was his only hope left…
"SECTUMSEMPRA!"
The bellowing monster suddenly ceased all movement. Severus kept running, bewildered as to why it had stopped its pursuit; Sectumsempra had never worked before…had it worked now?
The giant splash of blood landing on him confirmed it. The basilisk hissed loudly in excruciating pain, but Severus did not look back. He ploughed forward out of the chamber, into the damp and darkened tunnel that eventually would lead back up to Myrtle's bathroom. He could only hope that James had gotten Dumbledore by now…
"Partum Macula!" he yelled, pointing his wand at the pipe. A tiny stairway sprung up out of nowhere, and he quickly scrambled up, careful not to hit Lily's head on the pipe as he ascended. Apart from his giant gasps for air between footfalls, he could hear Pettigrew screaming and the frightful monster still roaring behind him. He hadn't killed the thing as he had hoped he would, but at least one spell had given him enough time to get out of there alive.
After several seconds of steady climbing, he saw the light at the end of the tunnel, but his body was starting to fail him. His left leg was bleeding profusely, as he had hit it rather harshly against a sharp edge in the pipe in his desperation to get away from that place as quickly as he could. His greatly weakened arms could barely support Lily now, and only by the miracle of six hands pulling him out of the pipe did he get out of there in one piece.
After he coughed up a mouthful of blood and Lily was gently carried away, Severus collapsed onto his back and stared up into the faces of his saviours: Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Slughorn. Off to the side, he could see the horror-stricken faces of James, Sirius, Remus, and Regulus watching him.
Severus closed his eyes just as a river of blood from his forehead tried spilling into them. If Lily hadn't survived…he never wanted to open them again.
Long A/N:
-Writing from Severus and Lily's POV, I didn't really have the opportunity to explain how Peter was possessed. Voldemort wanted to open the CoS this time around to rid his noble house of Mudbloods, so he used Dark magic to rip Peter's human heart out, and replace it with his locket, a Horcrux. It was not in danger, because removing it or destroying it would kill Peter instantly (he knows Dumbledore wouldn't inflict this on a student if he somehow DID find out). It's protected by several enchantments, so even the most skilled Healers would mistake it for a normal heart. He also Imperiused Peter (see chapters 14 & 26). Oh, and Voldemort's not an idiot: he won't actually leave the locket where it is now that the year's over...
-Yes, Peter is the son of Patrick Pettigrew (again, see chapter 14).
-Sectumsempra only worked for Severus this early on because it was a life or death situation. In DH, when Harry's wand spurted golden fire at Voldemort in the seven Potters chase, many people were saying afterward how witches and wizards can perform extraordinary magic under dire circumstances. Severus did just that.
-Also in DH, Ron mimicked Parseltongue to open the CoS. Deus ex machina, I know, but since it helped the plot, I hope you'll forgive me.
Thank you for reading, and reviews are greatly welcomed :)