❝ he and i are closer than friends, we are enemies linked together, the same sin binds us ❞ | in which lilium snape is bound to harry potter by fate, destined to stand on either side of a war that will soon be waged. she is cursed by prophecy, or so...
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ACT THREE, chapter fifty : nothing could ever make me more frightened than the thought of hurting you how could i hurt you?
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They returned to Hogwarts.
Bruised and bloodied, exhaustion pulling at her every edge, Lili found her father waiting for them in the moonlight. Not even caring that it wasn't something they did, she strode away from her friends and threw her arms round him as tight as she possibly could. Severus' arms took their time in hugging her back, but once they did, they were safe and solid and secure. No one could take her from them. She buried her face into his chest for a moment, simply breathing him in — clove and spice and faint wood smoke.
He tried to help them. He tried.
They all had. It just wasn't enough.
"Thank you..." Lili whispered into his shoulder, voice hoarse and thin.
Severus nodded just once, a sharp and brief thing. When she let go, he took her shoulder with one tight hand and his mouth was near her ear when he murmured: "We — must — speak."
Lili gladly skipped a visit to Madam Pomfrey, knowing that was where the rest of her friends would go, and she went to the dungeons instead. Soon, she found herself sitting on a chair before her father's desk, letting him tilt her face back and forth while he healed her himself.
Hoarsely: "Leave the bruises."
His jaw tightened but his wand stopped, "Lilium."
"I need them. I want to look in the mirror and remember."
Severus' arched one black brow, tone dry, "You require a physical reminder?"
"I think everyone else needs one," Lili replied lowly.
So. He left the bruises. He wasn't happy about it, but there were bigger things for them to deal with right now. So many things...
Her first question was this: "Will he punish me?"
"He might." He spat the words as though they tasted foul, "Though I believe he might accept that you were keeping your cover. We shall have to see." He considered her for a moment, hand raising as if to stroke her cheek before it fell back to his side, "You fought well."
"Not well enough." She scoffed bitterly, squeezing her eyes tightly shut. "She killed Sirius, my mum. Bellatrix."
Severus wasn't sad, of course not. There was no love loss between Severus Snape and Sirius Black, but he was smart enough to know that the loss stung keenly for Harry Potter, the love of his daughter's life. But he was staring at her, lips pursed and brow bent. Quietly, "Are you all right?"
