A/N: I don't own Harry Potter. This was written for Tangooooo14's challenge, "The Album Challenge".
Severus Snape POV:
As soon as we crept into the huge castle, Lily and I hurried down an empty corridor to begin our exploration of the school. "So, what secrets of Hogwarts do you know?" asked Lily, looking at me excitedly.
"Well, there is this one place. Follow me." I took off down the passageway, and when reaching the end stopping to wait for Lily to catch up. I smiled a bit, then went through a maze of passageways, knowing the way by memory.
"So you sure have a lot of time to explore, don't you?" Lily asked me when I began to slow down.
"I don't know, I guess. Avery and Mulciber don't usually want to talk to me, so I get a lot of time alone." I shrugged, searching for a specific place in the wall of stone.
"Well, whenever you're lonely you can come and talk to me. That's what best friends are for, right?" she told me.
I turned around from the wall, a bizarre smile across my face. "Yeah, that's what best friends are for."
Lily gave me a thumbs-up, and I turned back, at last finding what I was searching for. I stood up straight, and walked past a brick in the wall three times, all the while thinking, I need a place that would make Lily happy as long as no Marauders can get in.
As if on cue, a door appeared in the stone. The door was solid, brown wood with a simple black handle. Tentatively, I pushed it open to reveal a huge room. It had light purple walls, and a black carpet. There were lounge chairs strewn around it and, on the far wall, there was a huge bookshelf full of imaginable titles. I stepped aside from the door, allowing Lily access to the room. She stepped inside slowly, her mouth agape.
"Wait, what? How… Why… What is this place?" she stuttered, in awe at the room. I had no idea why she was so affected by this room, but I had enough sense not to ask her about it.
"Uh, it's called the Room of Requirement, I think. It appears when you really need something, and it's filled with whatever you needed." I explained, glancing around the room once more.
"This is… Amazing. Wait, is that-" Lily ran over to a corner of the purple room, and lifted up something white and furry. Upon closer inspection, I saw that it was a cat. "What is he doing here?" lily exclaimed, holding the cat up to her face and stroking him.
"Um, whose cat is that?" I asked nervously.
"It's mine! His name is Maxwell, I lost him years ago. Mum said something about him running away from home, but when I got a bit older I realized that he had just died. But oh my god, this is amazing! Thank you so much!" She carefully put the cat down and ran over to me and gave me a big hug. I was extremely startled, but slowly I returned her hug.
"You're very welcome." I told her. She stepped back, and on her face was such a happiness that made me feel jittery and warm. I gave her a bashful smile, and she grinned back.
"Agh, how will I be able to repay you?" she asked.
"No, no, don't repay me. It's perfectly fine." I held up my hands.
"Well, okay. Whatever you say, Severus." And with that, she turned around to go see the bookshelf. "Wow, there are all of my favorite books here! The works of Shakespeare, Pride and Prejudice, wow, even Watership Down. This is so great; you have no idea. How long are we allowed to stay in here?"
"As long as you would like." I informed her.
"Okay. Now which book to read first?" She was talking more to herself than me.
"Can I recommend 'The Princess Bride' by William Goldman?" I pulled out a hard covered book from the third shelf.
"'The Princess Bride'? It sounds a bit girly, don't you think?" She looked a bit hesitant to take the book from my hand.
"Yeah, but it's not like that at all. It's one of my favorite books." I told her, holding the book for her to see.
"Well, if you say so. I trust your judgment, so I'll give it a shot." She took the book from me, and sat down in a big leather armchair a few feet away. I smiled to myself, and was then surprised to find another copy of "The Princess Bride". I took it from the shelf, and sat in a chair opposite from Lily and began to read.
Four or five hours later (I lost track of time), Lily snapped the book shut and placed it on the table. I was almost finished, but I closed my copy of the book as well and looked at her. "So what did you think of it?" I asked.
"That was the most awesome book I've ever read." she said candidly.
"I thought that you'd like it." I said, "So what was your favorite part?"
"I really liked hearing all of their back stories. I feel so bad for Fezzik! He just wanted to be peaceful, but they made him wrestle and hurt people." I nodded, agreeing with every word. "And the Zoo of Death was really cool too. I mean I hate hunting, but the idea of that was really cool."
"Yeah. I thought it was cool how he divided the animals up into sections," I said.
"But I hated Humperdink so much! Why couldn't Buttercup just marry whom she wanted?" Lily asked me, as if I would know the answer.
"That's what happens under the cruel reign of a dictatorship." I mused, staring off into space.
Lily peered at me curiously. "You really surprise me sometimes, you know that?"
I shrugged, and then glanced around, suddenly feeling extremely self-conscious and awkward.
"I bet people will be worrying about where we are." said Lily, rising to leave.
"You mean where you are. No one cares about where I am except for maybe you." I mumbled, my eyes downcast.
"Don't be stupid. Come on, I think it's almost time for dinner." Lily walked to the doorway, waiting for me to follow. I rose, but then something hit me.
There was a ball of white flying at me, hitting me in the chest. It felt like a silver hammer beating down on my chest, crushing my lungs. I stood there in pain, looking around frantically for what hit me. It was Lily's cat, Maxwell. It glared at me, the came running at me once more. This time when it jumped, it attached itself to my face.
I grunted in pain, trying to detach it from myself. "Severus!" Lily cried, rushing towards me. The demonic cat began to claw at my face, blood pouring down.
I could taste a mixture of cat fur and blood. Suddenly, I felt the weight of the cat suddenly grow larger. The creature grew and grew until it was half of my height. I was knocked to the ground, the beast still on top of me. I can't explain what it was doing besides mauling me. Suddenly, its teeth were at my throat and its claws were flying everywhere.
The sensation of hammers smashing in my face, chest and pretty much everywhere was overwhelming. In the background, I could barely hear Lily attempting to wrestle the beast to the ground in vain. "No, Lily, don't." I managed to croak out.
Then suddenly, I felt extremely light-headed and tired. My vision went blurry, and it was as if a tunnel started to close around my line of sight. Right there and then, all I really wanted was to go to sleep. I could still hear the shrieks of Lily in the back. The cat/beast/thing was ignoring her completely, for some reason intent on hurting me.
Then, as quickly as the cat grew, it shrank back down into the white puffball of a cat it had been previously. Its fur was matted with blood, but otherwise it looked completely innocent.
"Severus!" I heard Lily calling, "Stay with me, I'm going to get help." Her voice was neurotic and loud to my ears, but it was okay. I felt like I was floating, all the pain becoming dull and fuzzy. The tunnel around my vision grew darker, so all I could see was small circles. Lily's face was right in front of mine. I barely felt tugging on my leg. I wanted to get up and walk myself, but I was just so tired. I literally couldn't move.
Soon, all of the noise died down and my vision failed completely, leaving me stranded in a world of silent darkness.