Chapter 5

~~~~~~~ September 1st ~~~~~~~

Lily awoke on September first and stared at the two rings on her left hand. She had agreed to marry Severus, and his mother supplied the opal and platinum ring for her to wear. Then following the brief words said at the Ministry, another ring appeared on her finger. Lily thought this plain band was also platinum since it was the same silvery color as the other ring. She wondered if there was ever cases where the wedding band that was created looked dissimilar to the engagement ring.

Severus had a similar band appear on his left hand. He had appeared sort of dazed to Lily's eyes. He hardly said anything, but with his parents along, there was excellent reason not to.

She had to agree with her dad that the license bureau at the Ministry of Magic still had a bureaucratic look and feel, even if there were owls fluttering about clutching memos. Actually, that was pretty disgusting to use owls indoors. Having an owl crap a big wet one onto the counter was the best part of their visit in Petunia's eyes.

Prof. McGonagall had met them there, and signed the document as one of the witnesses. Lily hoped that she was there in support of her student, rather than to ensure that they were actually married.

Since then, Lily had seen more of Mrs. Snape than she had of Severus. She was still living with her family. Severus was in Spinner's End. Today though, they would start living together at Hogwarts.

There had been a list of instructions from Prof. McGonagall. Married students had another set of rules. Lily thought it was annoying because she was not going to infect single students with some sort of marriage bug.

They were not to take the train from Platform 9¾, but were told to arrive at the school gates at two o'clock. Prof. McGonagall wrote that she would meet them there and show them to their apartment.

The two of them were not allowed to invite students to their rooms, nor were they to linger in their house common rooms. They were allowed to go to their house entrances and inquire after students for academic reasons. Lily was not certain if this was actually a measure to prevent her from marching into Gryffindor tower and slapping Potter across the face repeatedly. A skit on telly gave her the idea that a frying pan would be perfect for this task, so she would not hurt her hand.

For reasons only known to the headmaster, the four rapists would be attending school, but Potter was no longer head boy. Lily doubted he even cared about the position as long as he was quidditch captain.

She was no longer head girl nor a prefect, and that hurt. Lily had been proud of achieving both distinctions.

There were limited kitchen facilities in their apartment, and they were allowed to order and eat regular school meals there also. Prof. McGonagall advised them that they should eat dinner with their houses in the Great Hall frequently, but did not mention breakfast or lunch.

All this was going to take some getting used to. Hopefully, it did not turn into some sort of imprisonment or punishment. It would force her to get to know Severus better, or at least what his personal habits were. There was a lot she did not know about him. At least now, he could hardly do anything with those horrible boys. By that, she meant the Slytherins. She'd join him in destroying the Marauders. It would no longer be four on one, but two avengers fighting for retribution and for younger students' sanity against four bullies. Lily had been giving a few charms some thought, and was beginning to think with a little work to adapt them, there would be nowhere those four could hide from them in Hogwarts.

Severus, on the other hand, was laying in bed, not planning anything. The wedding band was still on his hand and Thursday, September 1, 1977, had finally arrived. Later today, he would be alone with Lily and find out whether she chose to tolerate or ignore him, and to what degree she loathed him.

He had already given this marriage to Lily Evans too much thought without determining what she had in mind. Severus had not romanced, wooed, impressed or in any way swept Lily off her feet as he so often dreamed of doing. He was convenient for now, and she could leave him later. They'd still be married, but that meant little. She could see who she wanted, talk to who she wanted, and live with who she wanted once this year had passed.

His concept of the babies was vague. Severus knew what they sounded like from living in close proximity to so many other families. He had seen partially clothed, filthy toddlers in the street or eating dirt in their gardens. Even when he was a child, other children were not interesting, till he started spying on Lily.

There was a range of possibilities regarding them. There was always the chance that now that Lily had gone through and married someone, Potter could laugh uproariously and decide to reveal that the potion he used was not particularly harmful to the health of the imbibers. Severus fully expected him to do that sometime between now and whenever the Ministry got around to actually doing something to those four, which may be never.

If the information came too late for Lily to get rid of them, she could give birth to them, and leave them with him in Spinner's End. Although, Severus suspected she'd only leave his ugly baby behind after falling in love with Potter's chubby-faced, precious cherub.

He had fallen into such a deep funk that he did not hear his mother till she screamed, "What are you doing laying there like a bloody, listless lump of glue?"

Mother was in his doorway with her hands on her scrawny hips.

"What would you like me to assist you with?"

"Me? It's you that need the sodding help. What have you done so far today?"

"Everything was already done, if you are referring to my preparation to return to school."

Severus did not know what about that truthful phrase set mother off, but she screamed and shouted insults and directions at him. Most of what she was saying was nonsensical such as his toe nails were sharpened to points, comparing them to kneazle claws. Why would he sharpen his finger or toe nails? That was more likely to do injury to himself, rather than someone else.

They had planned to apparate from Lily's back garden. There was a spot near the potting shed that was difficult to see, even when someone was in the yard with them.

Lily did not like Severus' attitude when she saw him. He was hanging in the back of the yard, looking towards the privet hedge, rather than at her or the house, with his shoulders rounded and slumped, while their mothers talked over something.

She was sort of annoyed that Sev's mother now took an interest in him, rather than years ago. Lily would keep writing her mother of her opposition to move to Spinner's End. Perhaps she could get some more details out of Severus about everything that was wrong there. She'd go mad if she had to eat cabbage soup more than once a week. Months at Hogwarts would give her and mum time to work on wearing down her father.

Lily could tell her dad did not like the Snapes, but he was not as vociferous as Petunia. He was more disappointed in her than blaming Severus' family. He explained they could have simply shrugged their shoulders and blamed the Evans for raising either an ignorant idiot or an ill-bred tramp.

She went over to see what Sev was brooding over. "So, today's the big day," she murmured as she got close to him.

His shoulder twitched and he replied, "I guess."

Going around to the front of him, Lily asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Your hair's in your face, Sev."

"Hmm," was his response as he took out his wand. He nonverbally cast episkey on his sore nose.

"What'd you cast?"

"Lily," he replied tiredly, "mother has been screaming at me for four hours. Can you wait to talk after we get to Hogwarts?"

She glanced at Mrs. Snape who was talking in a hushed tone to her mum. That was strange. She knew that Sev said for years that his parents argued loudly, but Lily had not witnessed it yet. She did not doubt that they could, however it may not be as often as Sev led her to believe.

After they nodded their understanding that the apparition point for Hogwarts was outside the gates, not too close, and on the road that led to Hogsmeade, they left home.

Lily's spin and apparition left her facing away from the gates, but on the road at least. She turned and saw Severus was looking back over his shoulder at her. He was about ten feet from the gates and facing them. Show off.

She joined him and said, "It's not quite two yet."

"As long as we're not home, I don't care."

"Was it bad?"

He shrugged, "I don't know. It always seems bad to me, but Hogwarts is like that too at times."

Not sure how happy Severus was to be married to her, Lily put her hand on his back and said, "We're together now, Sev."

Severus was not reassured by that. They had been together their first day at Hogwarts, on the train, in the boat, walking into the Great Hall for the first time, and then 'Evans, Lily' was called by Prof. McGonagall. Lily was probably still in a good mood since she was finally back at Hogwarts after a frightful month of being held prisoner and the unwanted results of that.

A dark grey striped tabby cat was bounding towards the gate with her tail held high. She waited till she was at the gate before transforming back into herself.

Prof. McGonagall addressed the students, "Right on time I see."

"Yes, professor," Lily replied.

On their way up to the castle, Prof. McGonagall repeated their instructions about living separately from the rest of the students. Lily asked questions and gave examples to ascertain the full extant of their limitations. Severus was not interested. Lily did not want him around Slytherins any more than absolutely necessary. He knew that had not changed. Perhaps at some point Lily would be willing to discuss her need to approve who he spoke to, when she fraternized with whomever she chose.

He also knew they were not to engage in altercations with four particular Gryffindors. Their rights were not to be infringed upon until they were judged guilty, and then their punishment was to be set by a court and judge, not them. That was something Severus never expected to happen, so he would need to wait and plan.

Severus did like that the hidden corridor that led to their apartment was on the fourth floor. It was convenient to the library. The Marauders had too many hiding spots between there and the Slytherin dungeons, and knew it was likely that he would remain in the library till closing. He had allied with some other Slytherins who stayed late in the library, Wilkes, Rosier, Crouch and Black's younger brother, to return to their common room in a group. Although Severus was their favorite prey, he was far from the only student the Marauders molested.

The apartment seemed fine to him, but Lily waited till Prof. McGonagall had left them to make some comments, "There's no windows."

In a castle this large, interior rooms existed. He did not even think Lily was one to spend much time looking out a window.

"It's like one big room," she continued, "except the loo, of course."

At least Lily recognized it was big. The fireplace was nowhere as big as ones in the Slytherin common room, but they had no need to have one large enough to roast a herd of steer. This one could still fit a cow comfortably with its head still attached. Around the grate, there was two chairs, a long sofa opposite it, and a table in the middle all on a area rug that delineated that as a separate area.

There was also a round rug underneath the small table that was for eating, since it was next to area in the far right corner that contained the stove, a sink and a couple counters atop drawered cabinets. There were more cabinets overhead.

The last area to the left of the entrance had a plush carpet beneath a bed that was a nice size for both of them, if they shared it. There were two matching bureaus. Those were large.

Lily was looking in the armoire closet, and did not even turn to talk to him as she declared, "I don't know. I don't see how it would be big enough for both of us, if we unpack completely, unless I shrink stuff down, but then that makes things harder to find …"

He was not too worried about the closet. He could put his things in the drawers, and she could have the entire thing, dreading taking the blame when she could not locate some shrunken object.

Seveus went into the bathroom. It looked alright. Toilet, sink, tub and a mirror for Lily. He then gave it a second scrutinizing scan. There was a cabinet concealed by the mirror over the sink, there was a cabinet with room to put more things under the sink and there were shelves along the tub wall. There was plenty of space in here. He had a toothbrush, tooth powder, a hair brush and soap. Lily probably had twice as many items, but she could have her choice of where she'd like to keep them.

Lily found Severus standing in the midst of the bathroom. It was alright. The prefects' bath was much nicer.

She commented, "Not much, huh?"

Realizing he was not seeing what Lily was seeing, he chose to agree with, "You're a better judge of this sort of thing."

Lily sighed, then asked, "So how do you want to do this? Divide the space up and try to squeeze what we have into our halves?"

"I don't have so much, especially in here. I could even carry it with me, when I come in. How about you just tell me which drawers I may use, and then I'll get out of your way for a while."

"Drawers? What about that closet?"

"I don't have a lot of clothing, and I'm not sure what else you'd expect me to have to put in the closet, except my trunk. The trunk can be shrunk down, once I get all my books out of it."

After he expressed no preference to which dresser he'd prefer, Lily thought she would prefer being closer to the bath for both her dresser and sleeping, so Sev would be closer to the outside, well outside to the rest of the school, door.

She was in the midst of charming her items into place when Severus interrupted her. "There's no desks or book shelves. Should I put my textbooks on top of my bureau for now, or would you prefer them elsewhere?"

Lily gave the room a good look and realized that he was right, and there were no desks. They may be married but both of them still were students. She had eight NEWT level classes.

Even though Prof. McGonagall said to only call a house elf if it was necessary, they were obviously missing desks so she called Mindy, the name she was given.

A house elf popped into their quarters, and asked, "Yes, missus?"

The corner of Lily's lip lifted, but she calmed herself. House elves only did what they were told.

"Mindy?"

"Yes, missus."

"Severus and I both have a lot of courses and expect a lot of homework. Could two desks be added to this room?"

"Where, missus?"

Turning to Severus, she asked, "Where would you like them, Sev? We'd need good light. Should I see if they have desk lamps too?"

"Could a chair be removed from next to the fire? Are we ever going to eat here?"

"Of course we'll have some meals alone, Sev," she replied, then told Mindy, "Take the two chairs from next to the fireplace, we can't have guests so we don't need them. Um, maybe if ..." Lily took her wand and charmed the table over to the center of the room. It did not have to be next to the kitchen section. "How about you bring us two desks, two chairs and two desk lamps? I'll move everything around."

Disapprovingly, the house elf replied, "Mmmm, might be too crowded, missus."

"Not without those chairs, and see ..." Lily moved the couch to the side of the fireplace, "I can move all the other furniture. We're both still students and have a lot of classes. We'll need desks." What did they expect them to do? Do homework in bed? Maybe with a regular muggle notepad and pen, but Lily wouldn't want to do it with parchment, a quill and a bottle of ink. She could use some board or a book under the parchment, but that open bottle of ink would be worrisome, even if she kept it on her bedside table.

"I can use the table," Severus reminded her. He had not thought that his question about where he was allowed to leave his books would turn into such a problem. His intent was to not upset Lily by leaving his things where she did not want them.

"Alright," Lily conceded, then told Mindy, "One good-sized desk, a chair to go with it, and a lamp for it."

After the elf was gone, Lily indicated, "If one of us needs to stay up late, I'll put it on the other side of the room. Okay?"

"Fine."

"Oh," Lily exclaimed, and stepped over to him.

"What?"

"I didn't kiss you yet."

Severus looked confused, but Lily lifted herself on her toes anyway and gave him a quick peck on the lips.

"Why did you do that?"

"Sev," Lily called playfully as she turned to go back to the closet, "stop being so weird."

She was the one being weird. Then he considered from the tone of her muttering about her shoes as she shifted her belongings around that she was perplexed by the lack of space in the closet, or more exactly her perception regarding the lack of space. Perhaps the kiss was her way of preparing to ask for his portion of the closet, which he did not need. Severus shrunk his empty trunk and stowed it in his drawer.

Lily did not see how this was going to work without crushing her dress robes and uniforms, unless she kept her other clothes in her trunk. The lighting was bad in here so unless she cast a charm she could only see two rows deep of her shoes, but there was room behind them for more shoes, or perhaps they could store their trunks in the back, but then if she kept clothes in her trunk, it would be inconvenient.

Turning to Severus, she asked, "How about you get your stuff in the closet so I can see how everything fits?"

"I don't need any room in the closet."

"What? What about your robes? They'll get wrinkled in the drawer."

"Not much, and I can charm that out. They stay in my trunk for the summer and look fine now."

Lily looked at the robes that he had on. Sev already had on his Slytherin uniform. He had it on when he met her at her house. He had not changed. Lily remembered how he could not wait to change his clothes that first day on the train.

"If you're sure … but will you need more drawer space?" Lily had charmed her other things to her dresser, and used every drawer in hers.

"No, I'm fine."

"What about your shoes? Do you want to keep them ..."

"I already put my boots in the drawer with my trunk."

Unable to believe that Severus fit everything into one chest of drawers, she went over and opened a drawer to look to see if he forced everything to fit. Then she opened the next one, and the one below that, then finished looking in the rest.

"What?" he asked. Why was Lily checking his ability to unpack a trunk? Having the entire closet to herself should be considered a bonus.

"Where's all your stuff?"

"That's it. What other stuff are you looking for?"

Lily opened the top two drawers where he had his uniforms, giving one full drawer to his trousers so the legs were only folded over once.

"Your other clothes. You have your uniforms in two drawers, then below that your clothes from home, then your underwear and socks, and then your shrunk trunk, boots, and I guess your homework. Where's the rest?"

"What rest?"

"Don't you have any other robes? Where's your dress robes?"

"I don't have any."

"What do you wear …?" Lily let her question die off. At Hogwarts, she saw Severus in his school uniform. At home, he wore a collection of ill-fitting things that Petunia enjoyed belittling. Even if she was pretending she did not see Severus, she could list everything he wore from head to toe that day, the visible part that is. Tunie never saw his old, grey underpants. Thinking of that, Lily reopened that drawer, glanced in it just long enough to ascertain that every undergarment he had was no longer white and was threadbare where there weren't holes, and then closed it.

"For what?" he asked, not sure where Lily wanted to go that he'd need some other clothing.

"I was being silly. Wizards don't even need trainers since their idea of sport is quidditch."

Considering that Lily had already ascertained he did not use all his drawers, Severus suggested, "You can have the top two drawers, if you need them, Lily."

When Lily decided to make a face rather than answering, he amended his offer, "Or the bottom two drawers. They are all the same size."

The bureau came up to his chest, so perhaps Lily would prefer the bottom. However, she could just be waiting for something to seize upon to start some dispute.

Lily was considering the bleakness of their financial situation. Severus was used to having next to nothing so might see anything other than the barest minimum as wasteful. She couldn't ask her parents for money. Mum had given her some for necessities, as she called them. Then dad had also slipped her some additional money, but they'd eventually reveal it to each other. Lily could not write the Snapes and demand they buy Severus some decent things either.

With a huff, Lily replied, "Let me see, Sev. I might have enough room, if you really want to forfeit closet space? Did you want to put your things away in the lav, while I finished this?"

"I can keep that here too," he replied. Lily had a bunch of bottles and other items piled on her dresser top.

"No, go 'head. You don't have that much, I don't even think I saw ..." Lily was already back in his dresser, to pick out the items she meant, "not much. A toothbrush, what's this stuff? Powder?" To satisfy her curiosity, Lily opened his container of tooth powder. "Uh, you can, I mean I can share my toothpaste, if you'd prefer that. This looks kind of irritating. So uh, your toothbrush, hairbrush, and soap … where's the rest of your stuff?"

"Like what?" Severus asked. With water added to the soap, it worked to get him clean.

"Shaving kit?" she suggested, not quite sure how to bring up the subject of shampoo.

"I use a charm."

Lily nodded, "You must be pretty good at it since you never went too far, huh?"

"Far?" he repeated. What was Lily talking about? He knew he was not as hirsute as others, but did Lily prefer something else? He did not even think she saw much of him exposed when … oh, never mind, there was that time by the lake after the Defense OWL. Lily did not like the way he looked … well, what did he expect? No one liked the way he looked. Severus did not even like the way he looked.

"Never mind," she muttered. After picking on whatever tooth powder was, which may explain the color of Sev's teeth, she'd have to wait to find a way to suggest that he try some of her shampoo.

"Let me finish with my things and then I'll uh … I don't know."

Severus sensed he was disappointing Lily's need for an argument. Why would she think he cared about where she allowed him keep his belongings? In the dungeons, he kept them in his trunk. He could still do that, if she wanted every bit of storage space to herself. He could even charm his trunk to flatten so he could slide it under the bed so she wouldn't trip over it.

He could not help his urge to be irritating and offered, "May I help you with anything, Lily?"

She waved her wand to get the time, then suggested, "If we don't have anything for tea, can you call the house elf and order it, Sev?"

Severus went to look at their kitchen and opened the cabinets. They had pots, dishes, cups, drinking glasses and utensils, but no food. There was enough room to store food. Among the items in the cabinet was a kettle and a ceramic pot, if they wanted to make their own tea one afternoon. For now though, calling the house elf to bring the tea for water he boiled seemed pointless so he summoned Mindy and requested tea for two.

He suggested to Lily, "I could go to the kitchen after tea for some items to keep up here."

Lily's mouth twisted, Prof. McGonagall did say they could have some meals up here, but she wasn't sure about that tiny, old-fashioned stove that looked like someone liberated it from a doll house. There was no dishwasher either, but Lily could study up on household charms. Severus could too. She'd have to talk to him about that sort of thing. He should not expect her to do everything while he sat around … reading. It's not like he had a job. In fact, she worked just as hard as he did here at Hogwarts. More in fact, since she would have been head girl, if Potter hadn't thought ruining her life would be hilarious.

That wasn't Sev's fault. If it was not for him, or his parents, she was not sure which, and still needed to talk to him about that also, she'd be at home, and he'd be on the Hogwarts Express with his mates, instead of listening to her whing about having enough room for her shoes in this dinky closet.

Severus had no idea why Lily was looking at him like that. Was he supposed to go on his own, without even inquiring as to what she'd prefer him to procure? "Or together, if you don't trust me to pick out the right things."

"I don't know, Sev. This is ..." she waved her hands, "a bit much right now. Um, I think I want to keep both chairs," she indicated before moving them closer to the small table near the fireplace with her wand.

"Alright."

"I still need to change before the feast. But there's time for that, I guess," Lily then added a sigh to the end of what she was saying. What was going to happen at the feast? She had written her girlfriends to say she would not be on the train, but had not given them any details. Married to Severus Snape was hard to write in just a few words.

Severus remained cautious through tea and on their walk to visit the kitchens to obtain a few items. The elves tried to give them plenty more and offered to deliver it, but it seemed premature for them to take much. The house elves might also have confused them with someone else since they were offering a ridiculous amount of food. Severus was not sure if it was called a side of beef, but it appeared to be half a cow split lengthwise, minus the head and tail.

They settled on what Lily considered to be the staples. Tea, milk, sugar, bread, butter and biscuits. Severus had hoped that something of substance would be acquired, but that sort of planned that he would eat some meals upstairs rather than the Great Hall. Perhaps that's not what Lily wanted to do, but somehow failed to consider she'd want him to eat at the Slytherin table and do absolutely no talking. That was something they were going to have to discuss. If Lily would prefer to eat in the Great Hall with her friends, he would like to avoid antagonizing the Slytherins by appearing to snub them. Simply because they no longer had ample opportunity to attack him while he slept or in the baths, did not mean he was immune to their jinxes, hexes and curses the rest of the day.

Since she had not discussed much with Severus, Lily decided to change into her uniform in the loo.

While in there, she muttered to herself that she needn't have hidden in here since they were married, however this was yet another thing she needed to discuss with Severus before she started … doing anything. It really would have been useful to get to speak to him at home.