The Year of the Revolution III The Ripening of the Fruit

by ontzilore

How a single act of a single person can determine those of an entire generation. What would have become of the fate of Severus Snape, of Hogwarts', of the entire Wizarding World's, if he had decided to make a simple timid gesture in a direction that no one suspected could have such consequences? This story is part of a series, but the first part can be read independently.

16. Alchemy

Alchemy

Sev got back to Lily's home a little before half past three. It was Violet who opened the door for him and received him with a very affectionate kiss. "Come in, Sev. I'm glad to see you."·

"Good afternoon, Violet, and thank you very much for letting me know yesterday that I could come back."

"I told you since lunch, you're at home. What a weather... Do you want to drink something hot? Lily is already upstairs, she told me that she was going to spend some time with Defense, which is where she is weakest, and you don't need it so much."

Violet wants to talk to me alone for a while, Sev thought. "Well, I could use it."

"Let's go to the kitchen. Some tea?"

"Yes, thanks."

"Milky?"

"Okay."

"Sugar?"

"No."

They sat down in front of the cups.

"Do you think the weather will improve for the weekend?" Violet asked.

"On Friday it will stop raining, but it will continue to be cloudy. Beyond that I don't know yet."

"It is incredible how useful this magic that you have discovered is, I would like to understand it better. How are you able to predict the weather?"

"I suppose that it is a combination of talent and learning," Sev replied. "I have always paid close attention to the sky and used to guess whether or not it would rain in the next few hours or the next day, that is learning. And by acquiring the magic of the Forest I got the talent."

"And do you just know or do you have to think about it?"

"No. I have to keep looking at the sky, the humidity of the environment, the light... as before. Only now I am able to anticipate about three days."

"And do you think that with more practice you will be able to do it sooner?" she asked.

"I see it difficult, the climate is a chaotic system. A small change in the initial conditions can lead to a very different result."

"Like life."

"Yeah. It is not something determined, like the movement of the planets," he answered. "You can know the exact date and time of an eclipse a century from now, but not know what will happen to you next week or fifteen minutes from now."

"And what about making objects appear out of nowhere, how do you do it?"

"Buf... it was hard for me, it was the subject I was the worst at. In fact, I didn't get it until last Christmas, when I stayed at Hogwarts. The first time I did it by copying an object that I had before my eyes, imagining it the same, next to it. It was very curious, because it was a lit candle and it appeared lit too."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah. Later I got it simply by imagining the object on a surface, at first simple things that I knew well."

"Oh…"

"But the real jump I took after the ritual of the fir tree. I was able to Summon natural objects even though they were complicated. Let's say I had already learned how to do it, but I lacked the talent, like with weather forecasting."

"So… how do you do it now, do you keep imagining them?" Violet asked.

"Common objects yes, I simply think of them and they appear where I imagine them. But I also Summon things that I don't know, always made of natural materials, of course."

"And how do you do it?"

"I think in shapes, colors, in various objects, in what I want to create," Sev replied. "If it is a gift, also in the person. I evoke everything in my mind and the object appears as a combination of all that, but it is always unexpected, I don't have the specific image in my mind. Then I can copy it, as I told you before, but if I try to create it again from nothing, something else appears. It's very strange."

"Do you have here something of what you have done?"

"No, but Lily is wearing a pendant that I gave her for her birthday. It was the first thing I did like this. Have not you seen it?"

"Yeah. She showed it to us as soon as she got off the train," she lied.

Ugh... the chain of my hair, he thought.

"But she didn't explain to us how you did it," Violet added. "What did you think then?"

"I think I remember on a stone, a hair clip that she has with the colors of my House, green and silver…"

"Oh yeah! She bought it in Diagon in the summer."

"And also some flowers that I saw in the Forest in the middle of winter, red with yellow stamens," Sev continued.

"Poinsettias?"

"I don't know what they're called."

"They are very rare in this climate," she said.

"Yeah… It was in a sheltered area."

"And the black color?"

"It came out alone, I guess because it's my color," he replied.

"Of course... And the shape?"

"This I do not know. I wanted it to be a pendant and it came out like this, holed and all."

"And you say it was the first thing you did," Violet said.

"Yeah. Little by little I have been controlling it more. I evoke the shapes and get them how I want them, but most of the time I prefer to let whatever comes out, the result is usually better, especially if the feeling for the person for whom it is intended intervenes."

"Yeah… And do you know the materials you get?"

I do indeed, by Lauren, Sev thought. "They are generally minerals or metals, so that they are durable."

"Also precious metals?"

Of course. "I have obtained silver, gold and bronze, but I have not had a way to verify it."

"Yeah… Have you thought about selling them?" she asked.

"Yeah. In fact, I took some to Diagon yesterday."

"Oh really? And did they like them?"

"They didn't seem very enthusiastic, but I'm sure it was to pay me less, because I think they were pretty good," he answered.

"I love Lily's, I think I could sell them to my friends, and also check the metals."

Wooow… "Yeah…"

"Send me the ones you are making and let me take them to be assessed by a jeweler," Violet suggested. "What do you think?"

"Sure."

"So you can know the real value they have. If they are precious metals, you may not need to work in the summer. They could also be sold in the Muggle world."

Good… "Yeah... But I'm surprised that they are, it would be the panacea of alchemy, to make gold appear out of nothing," Sev said.

"You do weirder things." They laughed.

"The truth is that we do."

"Well, you know, send me an owl and I'll take care of it. Okay?" she said.

"Yes of course. The first one I do will be for you."

"No need, honey, but thank you very much. Come on, go up with Lily, I'm sure she's already impatient to see you."

"Okay. What time does Peter arrive?" he asked. "I'd like to talk to both of you for a while. We haven't done it since Saturday."

"About half past six."

"Very well. So I'm going to study until then."

"Okay, Sev. See you later."

Buah… this one is a total snake, Sev thought.Lily has told her about Diagon's shop and she has sweettalked me without me noticing to give me a hand without embarrassing me.Wow… I won't say anything to Lily.Surely they have planned it between the two of them, letshe stays on tenterhooks. He laughed.

The door was closed. Knock knock knock.

"Enter!" Lily was already getting up and throwing herself into his arms. "Excellent! I can't believe we can spend so much time together. Like the summers before Hogwarts, we only separated to eat and sleep."

"Yeah… Your Mum has told me that you were with Defense."

"Yeah. But the theory is very boring, I don't like it at all."

"You're right, neither do I, but you have to take it out," Sev said. "Do you need me to explain something to you?"

"At the moment, no."

"Well, then go on if you want and I'll get to the Arithmancy homework, so I'll send it to Remus as well."

"Pass me your Potions book, so that I can copy it," she said. "I'm already bored with this."

"Remember that the modifications can only be used in the practical exam. In the theoretical one you have to put what comes in the book."

"Sev, we've been doing it like this for three years, I'm not stupid."

"Well, it's been a long time since we studied together, it was just in case you had forgotten. You have to get an Outstanding," he replied.

They each did their own thing. Lily did not write down in the books like Sev, she copied the entire recipes in a notebook, it was good for her to memorize them, and she added the modifications in the steps with asterisks. So she took so long that Sev had time to finish all his Arithmancy homework.

"One less for me," he said. "Tonight I'm going to ask Mum to magically copy them to send to Remus. Let's go with the Potions homework now? We need the books for all three years, but not the notes, so yours will do."

"Even if we needed them, you know I have them in notebooks."

"Yeah... it's true."

Now they did it together, without copying each other, each in their own way, but at the same time and commenting on each exercise, as they had done hundreds of times.

"Oh my god, Sev! How I missed studying with you. I understand everything much better."

"Yeah... me too. Even that has been stolen from us."

They didn't finish them. It was six o'clock and they had to look at the books they had bought to start the conversation with her parents.

"Have you looked at the appendices of the Defense book?" he asked her.

"No… I want to see them with you."

Ugh... She has to read the Magic of the Moon as soon as possible, Sev thought. "Well, then we will have to leave it for tomorrow, it will be the first thing we'll do. Don't throw yourself at my neck as soon as I walk in the door."

"Okay…"

"Let's take a look at Druid Magic."

They looked at the index. A brief introduction. A list of holy places, in which Lily identified many names that she had seen in the guidebooks the day before. The different dates of the year conducive to performing rituals, and where and how to do them on each occasion. The Druid alone and in community. Spells.

"Let's look at the spells, although we can't talk about it too much," he said. "I'm curious."

They skimmed to the chapter. As soon as they saw the first one they ran into their first great difficulty, it was in an unknown language.

"Ugh… of course, this is prior to Romanization, when we were invaded we switched to Latin," Sev said. "The Latin spells that we have kept are still useful because what counts in the end is the intention you put. I'm sure Moon Magic was done without them, just thinking about what you wanted to achieve. Then the language came through and then the wands. Instead of simplifying each time we complicate and limit more. At this rate the magic will end up being completely extinguished."

"What language do you think it is?"

"Ugh… I have no idea. At least it's transcribed in the Latin alphabet, but who knows how it's pronounced. I venture that it must be Gaelic but very old, surely it is useless for us to read it as it is. We are going to have to investigate philology."

"Surely my Dad knows if it is Gaelic," Lily said.

"Oh really? Then we'll show it to him and ask him. Let me see if the Protego with the hands shows up. Look, here it is. 'Spherical shield', but mind you, what a long phrase to conjure it. I think that most of the spells were lost due to the difficulty of memorizing so many long spells, ours in Latin are much simpler, only those that they considered most useful and least dangerous were kept. Let's see the rituals in trees, to see if we are doing it well."

They browsed. "Well yes, look, contact with the ground and the trunk, and you can also climb up," Lily read.

"Well, it was luck, an inspiration. That of climbing the fir tree, impossible, but we'll look for others. At least this is all translated."

"Do we look in rivers and lakes, to do them at Hogwarts?"

"Drinking the water from a sacred spring grants Clairvoyance... From a well, Penetration... Bathing in a crystalline stream washes away all impurity... Immersing yourself in stagnant water means delving into the knowledge of the soul," he read.

"In Sly you live under the Lake."

"Yes, but we don't touch the water."

"You have the disadvantages but not the advantages," she said.

"Why do you say that?"

"It's just that your Common Room appears in the travel guides, we saw it yesterday."

"Oh really?" he said, amazed.

"Yes." Lily got up to fetch the Lakes guide and looked for the photo. "Look."

"Wow... Look, this is where I sit when I want to be alone, which is now whenever I'm there," Sev explained pointing to the left corner of the window.

"Sev… I feel very sorry. You have very little light."

"Bah! What are the candles and torches for? It's more intimate that way. Otherwise I would never have been able to practice Legilimency like I did in the beginning. I like the penumbra, and seeing the bottom of the Lake through the glass is amazing."

Sly dark to the core, she thought. What can we do?Better, that way it doesn't depress him. "And the ventilation?"

"Yeah... that's really annoying. Do not believe, there are holes, but it is not the same as the freshness of an open window. That's why I love the Haven and going out into the Forest."

"And there is no humidity?"

"Of course there is, but it makes up for it because in the hot months it is always cool, and in the cold ones, being underground, the temperature never drops too much and it is not necessary to be next to the fireplace to get warm," he answered. "The problem would be if there were any in the bedrooms, but you already know that they are not under the Lake, the sun and the air do enter there."

Nothing, he loves his House.The Hat got it right. "Well, tell my Mum, because last night she was worried about you."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Well, then we already know how to start the conversation, we'll take the guide and I'll show them my favorite corner," Sev suggested. "And the Druid book to ask your Dad about the language. Then we tell them about the rituals of the lake and the rivers and that's where the acromantulas will come out. From there, what we talked about this morning. Okay? It's twenty to seven. Shall we go down?"

"Kisses, Sev."

"Okay…"

They went down. Lily's parents were each sitting in an armchair, watching the telly. As they entered the room, Peter got up to turn it off and greet them. The hand to Sev and a kiss to his daughter. "How was the day?" he asked them.

"We've written to Cecile and Remus, and the rest of the time studying and looking at guides and the Druid Magic book," Lily replied.

Peter sat back in the armchair and Lily in the center of the couch, leaving the old book on the table. Sev approached Violet with the lake guide, showed her his favorite corner, and explained the advantages of his house, answering her questions reassuringly. Then he showed the photo to Peter as well and sat down on the couch next to Lily.

Peter said, pointing to the book on the table, "This is the book that you found, it is very old, quite an investigation work."

"Well, the content is even older, we have been consulting the spells and we think they come in Gaelic, we wanted to ask you," Sev said. He already had the page marked and held it out to Peter.

"Yes, it is Gaelic, but old," said the older man.

"Do you know anything about pronunciation?" Sev asked.

"Buf… of course the transcription is not going to be faithful. And that matters, right?" Peter asked.

"Yes, it is essential to pronounce it correctly," Sev answered.

"You will have to look for a teacher in the summer, but not just anyone will do for you, they have to know the ancient language, I will find out about it at the university," Lily's father said. "Overall, it is not about learning the language completely, just what the spells and pronunciation mean, it will be enough for you with a few classes. It would be nice if you copied a few. Have you asked what era they date from?"

"It must come in the introduction," Sev replied.

Peter browsed. "5th century BC. Buf... let's see what can be done, nothing happens to try. The downside is that you won't be able to try them until you go back to school the following year."

"Well, we have a sixth-year friend who is already seventeen, he could try them, and also my Mum," Sev said.

"Brilliant. Pass me a normal page with the copied spells, something that is not compromised, don't put those to make plants grow or change the weather."

"No, of course, we'll look for something that doesn't give us away."

"Good."

"What we can do are rituals." Sev explained to them that they had gotten the one at the fir tree right by chance and then the meanings of river, lake and spring.

"Are there streams like this in the Forest?" Violet asked.

"Yes," Sev replied.

"And do you have to go very far?" she asked.

The acromantulas are coming, Sev thought. "No, there is no reason. They flow into the Lake."

"It's just that yesterday we saw giant spiders in the guide. Isn't that Forest dangerous? They call it 'Forbidden', right?" Lily's Mum asked.

"Yes, but it is so that the little ones do not go and get lost. It is very big and the spiders are very far away. There are maps at school, and I have never gone so far," Sev explained.

Wow!Sev is a lie artist, Lily thought.

"Also, a normal forest can be dangerous if you come across a bear or a pack of wolves," Sev continued. "In the UK there aren't any, but there are in Europe. Those spiders do not move from their nest, they are like ants, they have a queen and her daughters. I have never seen them, I know from the books." A month and a half ago we decimated them by Avadas, ha! he thought, and added, "Besides, we witches have Defense for something. The wand is used for everything, both to heal and to protect us from danger."

"Yeah. But be very careful," said Peter. "If you enter to look for the sacred places, always take the map and do it with hours ahead, do not get lost and let the night falls on you."

"Easy, Peter. Another of the skills that we have acquired with Druid Magic is orientation," Sev reassured him. "In addition, the exams are already upon us, and if we go it will be on a weekend, with time ahead, and we will not go alone, but with more friends who also know the Forest well."

"Of course, going in a group is always much safer," said Lily's Dad.

Well, enough of thinking about this, we are going to drop the bomb at once, Sev thought. "In fact, having to protect ourselves from giant spiders is nothing compared to having to protect ourselves from the witches themselves."

There it goes!The bomb! Lily thought.

"Why do you say that, Sev?" Violet asked, worried. "Have Lily's housemates attacked you again? Didn't you tell us the other day that they hadn't done it all year?"

"Yes, what I told you is true, they haven't bothered me since last year," Sev replied. "But it has not only been for the protection of our friend, but also because they have stopped seeing us together."

"What are you saying?" Violet was alarmed. Peter was listening gravely.

"What you are hearing. The reason they bullied me is because one of them is after your daughter and he's been jealous of me since first year. They already insulted me on the first trip on the Express."

My turn, Lily thought.

"Lillian, how did you not tell us about this?" asked Peter, somewhat harshly.

"Not to worry you, parents," Lily answered. "I've always known how to defend myself against him and I wasn't aware that they attacked Sev for that, I thought they just didn't like him."

"And did you know that, Severus?" the man asked very serious, but not hard.

"Of course," Sev replied.

Peter and Violet stared at each other, Sev and Lily silent, waiting for them to digest the information. At last Peter asked, "And does he still bother you, Lily?"

Well, his annoyance with me has passed, he's just worried, Lily thoguht. "Not so much anymore, Dad, Remus and Cecile also protect me from him. I do not separate from them."

"So you can't be together at school…" Violet was distressed.

And Peter looks sad, too, Sev thought.

"Since when, Lily?" her father asked.

"Since the beginning of the school year, we decided on the Express," she replied.

"After a whole month without seeing each other, and on top of that you also missed Christmas," Violet was on the verge of tears.

"Violet," Sev spoke to her very sweetly. "Don't be sad, we do meet, but secretly. We can't study together anymore and we don't collaborate on Potions like we used to, but we write letters to each other and hang out when we can. Otherwise we wouldn't have been able to do the Magic Druid thing and I wouldn't be here right now. And we have good friends who support us. Cecile and Remus are wonderful and they love me very much. And the new friends I've made back in my House know and appreciate them too. We have formed a party, we usually meet on weekends in the Forest and we have a great time." Yes, a squad that trained for war.

"Lily, why didn't you tell us at Christmas?" asked her Dad.

Lily sighed. This lying thing is not my thing, but I have to do it for Sev. "For the same reason, parents, for not worrying."

"Now I understand why you were so sad because Sev couldn't come, you haven't seen each other often since July. You must really want to be together. Why didn't you come, Severus?" Peter asked,

"I found out that my father was at home the night before taking the Express and I couldn't notify Lily," Sev answered. "She proposed it to me half an hour before leaving and I wasn't able to react."

"But you could have come later, by Floo," Violet said.

"I was very ashamed of what you had just learned from my family and I had never created trust with you, I have also had my process," Sev continued. "I didn't have any friends at school other than Lily, and since we stopped meeting so much I had to open up and find more people. In fact, it could be said that now I am better than before, although it seems contradictory."

"No, of course, we've already noticed that," Violet said. "But you can't go on like this either, you still have more than two years left. Now you have friends who would defend you."

"Ugh… I don't want that," Sev said. "We could create a serious conflict and we would lose, Lily already told you about the preferences of the Houses."

"Daughter, you belong to the favorite House," her father said. "Why don't you talk seriously with the Headmaster and tell him what's going on?"

Ugh…because I don't know if I know how to occlude well, Lily thought.

"Because I don't let her do it," Sev replied.

Freed, she thought.

"It would put her against her own housemates, with whom she lives daily, and it would also put Remus in trouble, who continues to interact with them normally in order to control them," Sev continued. "It would be even worse than a conflict between Houses, it would be equivalent to a family in which its members get along badly. Lily shares with them the table, the Common Room and all the classes, she cannot face them directly."

"And if we write to him?" Violet asked.

"I don't think it was of any use either," Sev replied. "He has more important things to attend to than a school squabble problem, and now that there's no more conflict, he'd leave things as they are."

"We like that school of yours less and less," Peter spoke, with a certain hard tone, but not towards them. "If we had found out about all this when Lily was younger, we would have taken her out of there."

"Yeah… I'm not surprised that you think like that," Sev said. "Nor did I expect what I found there either."

"I find it incredible that you have resisted so many years, Sev," this was Violet. "You must have suffered a lot, without any refuge, neither at home nor at school, and harassed for being with your only friend."

God... Lily was finally aware of Sev's deep conflict, from her Mum's mouth, who was already misty-eyed again.

"How brave you have been to resist by her side, when you knew that you would have gotten rid of their abuse by not being with her," Violet continued.

Sev thought, I can't answer to that, I could confirm that I would never have left Lily because of the foursome's bullying, but I did because of the threats from the snakes, for which I feel like a coward, and now, also, a hypocrite, receiving admirationwhen what I deserve are recriminations, because I have put in serious danger with my thoughtlessness the daughter of these beautiful people who are giving me all their affection and trust.

He was finally inspired, "I do not deserve praise, it is she who heales me of all wounds. If I hadn't met her, I would have been an even worse person than those who attacked me, you could see it yourselves, I was full of hatred towards everyone except her. Lily has been the brave one, because she could have ignored me when making new friends, and she has never, ever put me down, knowing how difficult I was. She has been the one who has taught me to love, to trust, to make friends. She has saved me from the abyss." Sev cried silently before Lily's parents, Violet did too, Lily and her father were silent.

Lily understood that, without revealing the secrets, Sev was trying to be honest with her parents, not take any credit for himself.

Violet and Peter understood that, too, but it did seem to them that he had it, and Peter told him something very similar to what Jack had told him when he knew the story of his life. "You already knew how to love, trust and make friends, Severus. You did it with Lily and you've held true to that sentiment for half a lifetime. If she hasn't abandoned you, it was because she saw in you beyond the mask you wore to protect yourself from the world, and we saw it too. You deserve her as much as she deserves you."

Sev closed his eyes, embarrassed, Lily took his hand and squeezed it hard, confirming what her father had just said. Tears rolled down his cheeks. She hugged him and he couldn't contain himself anymore, he cried bitterly. Peter and Violet, who was also crying, quietly left the room, leaving them alone.

"I love you, Sev, come on, don't worry, you have to learn to let yourself be loved, you are worth a lot," she said. "You are making an effort every day to fix what you did wrong. You'll see how everything is over soon."

Sev opened his eyes and saw that they were alone. He clung to her. "It hurts me so much to have to lie and make them suffer when everything has been my fault. You should never have met me, I'm ruining your life."

"Don't say that, Sev." She was also crying. "You are the best thing that has happened to me. Without you my life would have no meaning."

He had a hard time recovering. She didn't stop hugging him until he did.

"I want to go home, Lily, I can't see them again. I am very ashamed, not because I have cried, but because I feel like a coward and a hypocrite."

"I understand you, but you have to overcome yourself and show your face. Otherwise they will be worse off, much more worried. I'm sure Mum has also spent a long time crying, it's from her how sensitive I am. For you to leave without saying goodbye, that would be cowardly, so regain some of that self-control you were so good at. Go to the bathroom to wash your face, they must have gone into the kitchen so we can walk around the house. Stay there as long as you need and then come back here. I'm going to talk to them so they don't make you feel bad again."

"What are you going to tell them?"

"That my housemates turned me against you, that you wanted to separate from me so that I wouldn't have problems and that neither of us were able to do it," Lily answered. "And that now you feel guilty for not having achieved it and for complicating my life. The plain and hard truth."

"Okay."

"Come on, we'll wait for you back. Get ready for hugs."

Sev went to the bathroom and washed his face avoiding looking at himself in the mirror. I would stick my whole head in to clear it. He sat, closed his eyes, and tried, taking a deep breath, To blank my mind, turn the page, cross the threshold, change my mood.

To believe what they have told me, that I am good, that I deserve Lily, that everything will pass soon, that before summer I will jump over the abyss and not fall into it, because those who are waiting for me on the other side have made me grow wings. Remus, Cecile, Ariel, Anthony, Jack, Deborah, Shelley, Heather and Fiona, Peter and Violet. Mum. Lily… and Lauren.

If so many people are fighting for me, it means that I'm worth it, that I deserve it. I have not consciously harmed, I have not committed any crime, I only fell madly in love when I was nine years old and when they separated me from my love I did not know how to choose my friends at eleven. And the things that happen to you at eleven years old should not mark your life forever. It was hard for me to react, but I did it in time.

He repeated in his mind the names of his friends, like a litany. And I can call them all true friends.I doubt that anyone in the entire Hogwarts, in the entire Wizarding World, on the entire planet, can say for sure that they have that many.And I can do it.In less than six months. A smile broke out. I'm going for it.

When he entered the living room he kept smiling. The three got up. Violet hugged him and gave him many kisses. Peter hugged him in a bear hug. Lily hugged him and said, "Brave…" very softly in his ear.

I am about to cry again, but out of emotion.

They sat down again. Peter spoke to him, "Well. We understand that you must have told us all this so that we don't be seen together at the train station on the way back to Hogwarts. Any excuse would have served, but we're glad you did. You are old and mature enough to make your decisions, but it is always better to have the support of those who love you. So don't feel bad about loving and being loved, Severus. Love is the most powerful magic, capable of healing the deepest wounds, overcoming the greatest difficulties, transmuting souls, you are experiencing it in your own spirit. Remember all the people who love you when you falter. If they love you is for something, it's because you deserve it. Never doubt it. How many?"

He has read my mind. "Fourteen," Sev replied.

"Wow… very few can count so many. That is the measure of what you are worth. Fourteen souls, fourteen hearts, fourteen lives that wouldn't be the same if you weren't in them. And throughout your life there will be many more, because your soul has already passed through the crucible of the alchemist who transmutes lead into gold, at barely sixteen years old, when most people never catch a glimpse of it, and many others perish in the process. But you haven't, you've already overcome that abyss you were talking about, you're already on the other side. You just need to believe it."

I would have given my right arm to have a father like that.What I'm saying? If I already got him… "Thank you, Peter."

"Don't thank me. Thank you for counting me among those fourteen."

Violet spoke to him, "We want you to correspond with us. Lily is going to prepare envelopes for us with your name and your mother's return address and handwriting, but you have to send us the owls from the castle. With the first, you know, that gift you promised me."

"Of course," Sev said.

"We don't ask you to stay for dinner because I imagine you haven't told your mother, but if you can, both of you come on Thursday," Violet continued. "Peter leaves work earlier, we'll have time to chat before dinner and we can stay after dinner if you want, because we don't work on Friday. Does your Mum?"

"I don't think so."

"Then talk to her and tomorrow tell us if she can."

"Okay. Thank you Violet."

"Thank you for counting me."

Lily spoke to him, "Do you feel like taking a walk to the river before going home? I haven't been out all day and I need fresh air."

Me too. "Sure."

"Then pick up your things and let's go."

"Keep what I've left upstairs, it's the Defense book to look at tomorrow, the fifth-year Arithmancy book, which you asked me for, and the Potions book so you can finish writing things down," Sev said.

"Oh... yeah."

"I'm taking the Druid Magic one to show it to my mother and the guide to the lakes, so that she remembers the Dungeon Room."

"The most intimate in the castle," Violet said.

"That is."

"Okay. So I'm going on a flight for your backpack," Lily said.

For the minute and a half it took Lily, Peter, and Violet looked at him with knowing glances and wide smirks, which he returned, saying nothing to each other.

"Come on!" Lily went down.

"See you tomorrow, Sev," Violet said.

"See you tomorrow, son," Peter said.

"See you tomorrow."

They put on their coats, took their umbrellas and went out under only one.

Lily told him, "You know what, Sev?" excited.

"Yes, I know."

"How do you already know? What do you know?"

"What you have told them," he replied.

"Have they told you?" very surprised.

"It was not necessary. It doesn't fit in my head how you turned out lioness with the parents you have."

"And do you know what they told me?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"Let's see, what?"

"What everyone knew except you."

Snakes... Lily thought, rolling her eyes.