If a Great Wave Shall Fall (Severus Snape & Lily Evans)

Chapter Twenty-Five

Disclaimer: I own nothing

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Severus and Lily stepped out of the fireplace at his house and he dusted the soot off of her black dress and his black Muggle suit. She had obviously gone numb again, so he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and guided her out of his house and down the street, still limping from his and Albus's duel. Poppy refused to heal him completely and thus eliminate his limp, stating that he needed to learn a lesson, and she refused to heal Albus at all, only cleaning and bandaging his wounds. They both were more than able to heal their own injuries, but they would rather suffer from their stupidity than be subjected to the wrath of the furious matron who would come after them with the power of hell for healing themselves.

Severus was glad for the mahogany walking stick with a snake that was wrapped up the cane that Albus had given him. The said cane was what Albus had left in his dorm and wanted only him to look at, which didn't make much sense, but whatever. He and Lily drew some curious and sympathetic stares as they made their way to Lily's house; everyone had known Rose and they all were feeling the pang of losing her as well. Severus noticed that every house occupied on Spinner's End had large black bows on the doors, and so did a great deal of the houses that they passed along their way. He would point it out to Lily and her family later if they hadn't noticed yet.

The Evanses' next door neighbor stopped them just as they were about to walk up to Lily's front door, "I'm so sorry for your loss, Lily," the friendly Muggle said, her eyes red and her cheeks stained with tears, she took up Lily's free hand and gave it a tight squeeze. "Your mother was a wonderful women and I'll never forget her as long as I live."

"Thank you," Lily said, her voice cracking from emotion and not using it much, squeezing her hand in return before dropping it.

Severus nodded to the woman and she returned the gesture, having a hard time recognizing that he was the poor boy from the end house on Spinner's End, "You're Severus Snape, aren't you?"

"What of it?" he asked, looking solemnly at her, shifting the walking stick in his hand.

"Nothing... I knew Eileen too... before she married Tobias – we had similar reading interests and met a few times at the old library before it shut down..." the Muggle said, looking down. "She was a strong woman."

Severus closed his eyes in pain and murmured, "Not strong enough, some days. If you will excuse us..." and he walked Lily into her house.

Without a doubt, Severus knew that this house would never feel the same – not without Rose. All of the previous times that he had walked in it had been easy to tell that it was a house filled with loving people, a house filled with laughter and playful banter, a house filled with people who would take care of you no matter your background. But now... it was a house that felt like nothing but tears and depression had been present. It was cold and unwelcoming – nothing compared to the warm atmosphere it had always been. He knew that people with broken hearts lived here, and their hearts were broken rightly so.

"Daddy, Tuney?" Lily called out, trying to locate her remaining family.

"They're in the kitchen," a deep, rich voice said, coming from the top of the stairs. Severus instantly whipped around (putting himself between the owner of the voice and Lily), threw his cane aside and had his wand in his hand with it pointed up at the source. It was a dark skinned man, and he was wearing all black, not unlike Severus and Lily and he had his hands in the air, "You may replace your wand, Mr. Snape, I am no threat to you or Miss Evans."

"Really?" Severus growled, refusing to believe the man, "Who are you then?"

"I am Jade Tonks, a Silver Spear. Albus Dumbledore hired me as the security detail at Mrs. Evans's funeral – did he not tell you?" Jade asked, tilting his head slightly to the right as the tips of his hair turned a questioning green.