Chapter 8 – Lily and the Prince
At the dinner table, Harry kept finding himself staring at Lily. After missing his mouth with a forkful of sheperd's pie for the third time, Lily broke down. "What are you looking at?" she demanded. "Do I have something on my face or something?"
"You're my mother," he whispered.
"Brilliant deduction," Ron muttered, and Hermione and Ginny socked him on each arm. Wincing, he returned to his food.
Lily was looking at Harry, bemused. "No, I mean, you're my mother," said Harry. "I haven't seen you in living memory. I'm sorry for staring, but this is just so bizarre."
Lily leaned in closer. "We have the same eyes, don't we?" she asked. Harry nodded. "That's so cool!" I'm a mother, she thought as she leaned back onto her bench, and for the first time, she didn't feel panic fluttering in her chest as she contemplated that concept.
"Why aren't you staring at me?" James inquired through a mouthful of potatoes. Harry grinned and turned to stare at him, but after a few seconds James threw up his hands. "That's creepy. Stop." They burst into laughter, just as a sallow-skinned, hook-nosed figure appeared behind Lily. "Snivelly," James greeted.
"Careful, Potter," Snape snapped. "As your teacher, I could make your life very difficult." James made an "ooh, I'm so scared" type face, and Snape turned to Lily. "Miss Evans, could I speak with you?"
"I have nothing to say to you," Lily said coldly. "And you know precisely why."
"Walk," Snape said ominously, but there was no glitter of malice in his eyes. Suddenly Lily found her legs moving against her will, and before she knew it she was halfway out the door into the entrance hall. "Severus Snape, you let me up now!" she seethed, but Snape pointed his wand at the door, which flew open, and Lily marched through it.
Snow covered every surface of the grounds, and Lily's breath came out in little puffs. "Bloody hell, I am freezing," she muttered. Snape took off his cloak and draped it around her shoulders. She sniffed it and wrinkled her nose. "Do you smoke now?" she asked, disgusted.
"No," Snape mumbled. "A second-year messed up his Swelling Solution in ways I didn't know were possible." She felt a twinge of a smile fly across her face and ordered herself to remain composed.
They walked silently to the lake, and Snape cleared the snow off a log with his wand. "Sit," he said, and Lily, the charm forcing her to walk removed, sat, her stomach twisting into knots.
"Okay, Severus," she said. "What do you want?"
Snape sighed, and she saw a big puff of breath leave his mouth and disappear almost instantly. "Listen," he said. "I know I've said it about a million times, but I'm really sorry for calling you a Mudblood."
Lily snorted. "Is that all you had to say? Why take me all the way down to the lake to say it?"
"No, listen!" Snape implored, and silver sparks flew from the end of his wand in his intensity. Lily sat and listened, half confused; half terrified. "I never got a chance to apologize properly, and then you were gone. Lily, I can't lose you again," he said, shaking her shoulders. Lily was seriously freaked out now. What had gotten into him? "Lily," he said, looking her straight in the eyes. "You have to believe me. I would never hurt you intentionally. I would never ever do that to you."
"Why should I believe you?" Lily said. She hadn't blinked since green eyes had met black, and the cold air was making them water.
"I didn't want it to come to this," Snape muttered. He brandished his wand and mumbled "Expecto Patronum!" The silver doe burst from the tip and cantered around them in circles, its bright light reflected in Lily's wide eyes. "I love you, Lily. Always."
It took Lily some time to find her voice. "H-how long?" she choked out.
"Um," said Snape. "Remember the first day we met? In the park?" Lily nodded. "It started then."
"I-I have to go," Lily whispered. "I need to think." Without waiting for an answer, she turned tail and ran, as fast as she could, for the castle.