LOSING IDENTITY: Welcome To My Mind (part 6)
Severus manages to save Lily's life through an agreement with the Dark Lord. This story is an alternative to the Harry Potter canon, where Lily has deep feelings for Severus which, later on, turn into lov...
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When Lily opened her eyes the next morning, she saw him sitting on the bed in the PJs, hunched over his knees pulled to his chest, dark eyes glaring into the wall. He didn't seem relaxed at all and in fact, Lily could not remember one single time she'd ever seen him relaxed. He would always look like he's on constant guard, always overanalyzing, always taking things the wrong way, always suspecting everyone of plotting to inflict some pain on him... Even in his sleep, he'd been frowning.
He turned in her direction.
"Hey," she smiled at him.
He gave her a thin-lipped smile in return. "Sleep well, did we?"
"I did," she nodded. "Did you?"
"Of course." Then he added: "Sorry for drinking your sleeping potion. I ran out of it and the new batch takes forever to make."
"Is that why you didn't sleep for three days?"
"Yes, I can't sleep without it," he admitted.
Lily sat up and looked between the beds. There stood a tray with some bacon, eggs and bread rolls. Her eyes lit up.
"Is that breakfast?"
"Unless it's made of rubber," he said with a twisted smile.
"Will you eat some?"
Severus sighed. Only now did Lily notice that he'd been holding one of those rolls in his hand. There was a slight bite in it but not more. He looked at it. "I really should, shouldn't I?"
"Really really, Sev."
She'd never seen anyone struggle with food before. It all smelled so delicious, the rolls were fresh and soft, the bacon was crispy, the eggs were cooked just right, and yet he seemed to enjoy none of it. His mouth chewed simply because he ordered it to do so. Lily, on the other hand, ate her portion in five minutes. She was really hungry and those eggs and bacon were exactly what she wanted to eat now.
Soon after Lily finished, Severus was done, too. He lay down and looked over to her. "It was very kind of Madame Pomfrey to let me sleep in one of her beds."
"You're welcome," they heard her voice from the other side of the room. "I simply decided to take you in as my patient, as well."
"But I was only - "
"Tired? Dehydrated? Starved? Under extreme stress? Those are all good reasons to stay in the hospital wing for a while," Poppy said in a kind voice. "Seriously, Severus, you should take care of yourself a lot better. If you don't, it can soon cost you way more than just a few kilos."
"Exactly," Lily added.
"I know," he mumbled. "It already has." And he looked at his hands.
Poppy watched him with raised eyebrows. "Well? What is it?"
