Severus Snape and the Siren: A Snily Tale

Chapter 11 - Loving Lily

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The only relief that came at the end of Severus Snape's sixth year at Hogwarts was the knowledge that he would spend another summer with Lily at last, although not in the way he would have hoped.

Several students had signed up for the newly offered summer course, including a large number of sixth years from Gryffindor and Slytherin.

To Severus's dismay, as the regular academic term ended and the summer session began, all four of the Marauders stayed put in the castle instead of boarding the train to return home.

Despite the other students who continued on in the summer term, Severus found there was much less of a buffer between himself and his enemies.

Lily made it worthwhile to endure their taunts.

She ate her meals with James and his cronies, but whenever Severus's foes' eyes turned upon him, the Marauders quickly looked away at Lily's urging.

Without the throngs of the castle's usual population around to blind him to such blatant observations, Severus took on a more scrutinizing approach to his observation of James and Lily.

He learned that Lily never offered James any affection at all, it was always James who initiated a kiss or an embrace.

Severus also found during those moments that her face never lit up, not as he had seen it do during their own kisses or even during the many witty conversations they had shared over the years.

By the end of summer school's first week, Severus had determined Lily wasn't really dating James Potter after all, she was......pretending to......but why, Severus couldn't imagine.

What reason did she have to feign sentiment for his arch nemesis?

While the rest of Hogwarts' summer students sat on the lawn one evening before bedtime arrived, Severus silently slunk away and hid in the shadows of a nearby tree to watch Lily closely.

She straggled behind the rest of their classmates as McGonagall called everyone to come inside and go to bed.

Quietly, under the cover offered by the castle's many nooks and crannies, Severus followed Lily all the way to Gryffindor Tower.

He stood outside and waited once the Fat Lady's portrait closed.

His mind raced as he thought of a way to observe his flower from a closer distance.

Should he attempt to scale the castle wall and check on Lily through the window?

Should he just stand there and wait patiently until morning came?

Too anxious from his own brooding to sleep, Severus hid from the Fat Lady while he turned his dilemma over in his mind.

He had withdrawn so deeply into his thoughts that it startled him when the large portrait suddenly swung open again.

Severus's dark eyes narrowed to slits as he watched Lily step silently out into the hallway with her night robe trailing behind her.

She glided down the staircases with such grace Severus wondered if she were under some kind of enchanted trance, but as she stopped at the bottom and held her face in her hands, he frowned in realization that she chose her walk, wherever she intended to go.

It took a great amount of skill for Severus to follow Lily all the way down the staircase and out of the castle, but between dodging his father and the Marauders, he had become rather talented at the art of stealth.