Lily's Charm- Severitus fanfiction

Interfering Old Coot

1996

Severus had nearly flown from the room, leaving Dumbledore’s office without a backward glace. The Headmaster’s enchanted staircase seemed to understand Severus’ need for escape as it spun him in less than a minute back to the ground floor.

The Potions Master stormed through the dark labyrinthine passageways that sloped down toward his dungeon sanctuary, each footstep puncturing the silence forcefully. Severus briefly wished that one of his Slytherins would be wandering about so that he could unleash his rising fury. But the corridors were ruthlessly empty and Severus completed the quick journey to his quarters uninterrupted.

Severus stopped in front of a blank stone wall and pressed his fingertips to one of the ragged stones. A door melted into the wall and opened for him. Severus stepped inside his quarters and the door slammed shut, sensing his mood. With a harsh growl, Severus swung his robes off his shoulders and with a sharp motion from Severus’ hand, the black robes flew onto a peg next to the door.

How dare Albus go on like that, Severus fumed as, with jerky movements, he poured himself a drink from the flask near the Floo. In one swift movement, Severus had downed the entire glass of Firewhisky and he grimaced in satisfaction as the liquid scorched its way down his throat.

Potter and Lupin, especially Lupin, hadn’t needed to know his personal affairs. They hadn’t needed to hear how James Potter had betrayed him 15 years ago. Even after all this time, Severus could find no bile in his heart for Lily. This was Potter’s doing; he was sure the vindictive Gryffindor had seduced his wife…His Lily.

Severus allowed his grief to the front of his mind as a vision of Lily all those years ago filled him; Lily had stared at him with such pain in her beautiful face. Severus hadn’t even felt anger that night as he stared at her, the truth of her words thrashing inside him. He had only stared and then had turned, as if in a daze and walked through the hallways, finding his way somehow into the parlor where Harry had been playing with the house-elf.

The boy had looked up at him, his face lit with a smile and he’d shouted, “Daddy!” as he scrambled toward Severus.

Severus had backed up a step as a sob rose unrecognizable into his throat and he’d stumbled blindly toward the fireplace, haphazardly throwing Floo Powder down as he went. As Severus gasped out a destination, he had glimpsed Lily with her arms around a screaming Harry, trying to console the child who was supposed to be his son.

The delicate glass in Severus’ hand shattered suddenly with the force of the man’s grip. The Potions Master grimaced slightly as the tiny shards of glass pierced his palm. With a vicious wave of his wand, he banished the pieces and with another, healed the cuts.

The momentary pain had brought Severus back to himself and with practiced ease, he began placing each memory of the past into the unreachable parts of his mind. Before he could finish the familiar exercise, Severus was distracted as the Floo fired up and Albus stuck his head through.

“May I come through, dear boy?” Albus asked with a gentle smile.

“No.”

The blue eyes registered surprise but in the next moment they, with the Headmaster attached stepped out into his dungeon quarters anyway. Severus glared at him as Albus rearranged his bright purple robes around him as he sat, unasked, in one of Severus’ chairs.