Lilliana Snape Book Two (Re-written)

Part 19

Someone tapped my cheek and, oddly, the first thing I noted was how cold their hand was. "Hermione" I grumbled, rolling over and burying my face into my pillows "I don't care if I miss breakfast!"

"Lilliana?" The voice was soft and gently; I felt as though I knew it but I couldn't know it. It sounded like my father but it couldn't be; he never manages to wake me up without all but hauling me from the bed. "Can you hear me?"

"Dad?" I roll back onto my back and open my eyes to find not only my father but Fred and Hermione staring down at me. "What's going on?" I ask.

"They did it!" Hermione squealed "Harry and Ron, they solved it!"

I frowned. What did they solve and then, as if my brain was sending me a prompt, I saw a pair of big yellow eyes and it all came back to me. "Did anyone die?" I ask, sitting up and leaning myself against Fred, who was sitting on the edge of my bed.

"Just a memory" dad replied before turning to Hermione and Fred "you two run along to the feast, Lilliana will join you in a minute."

"We'll save you a seat" Hermione tells me before grabbing Fred's arm and towing him out with her.

"I'm sorry, dad" I say before he could open his mouth "I know I shouldn't have gotten involved but Harry didn't want to admit that he was hearing voices and so the least I could do was try to help discover what it was he was hearing."

He stares at me for a moment before wrapping his arms around me and pulling me into his chest, squeezing tightly. "You're not in trouble" he tells me, stroking my hair "you helped save the school, Lilly, how could I be angry about that?"

"But I could have died" I point out

"Lilly" he says incredulously "you acted out of selfless bravery; Granger told me that you offered to go ahead because you weren't muggle born. I am proud of you, not angry." He then shakes his head "I don't know how you learned to be brave like that...I don't understand how you are who you are when it was I who raised you. I missed you so much more than I ever knew I could, Lilliana." He finally admits before falling silent.

I stare at him for a moment, watching his face; he looked like a child who'd lost his mum and didn't know what to do about it. I've never really been one to comfort people; emotions scare me a little bit but I couldn't let him hurt like that and not do anything about it so I leaned back over to him and pulled him into another hug. He stiffened for a moment before he relaxed and allowed me to comfort him. "I am who I am because of you" I whisper "you are brave, dad; you taught me to be brave, you taught me to be selfless...everything I know, I learned from you. You don't give yourself enough credit; you raised me alone and you did the best you could-"

"I could have been better" dad tells me "I should have been around more, been more attentive to your needs."

How had this turned into a conversation on his parenting? Sometimes I forget just how much he doubts himself, his motives and his actions; I could tell him a thousand times over that I love him and that he did the best he could, given the circumstances, but he would never believe me. "You're silly" I finally sigh, pulling back and noticing a tear track down his cheek. "I love you, isn't that the only thing that matters?"

"I've never doubted your love" he replies before sniffing and moving away from my bed. "You'd better get yourself down to the feast, Lilly, before your friends come searching for you."

"Sure, dad" I say, climbing out of bed and sliding on my shoes "but only if you come; I will not having you sulk down in the dungeons on your own."

"I don't sulk." He states, sounding a little offended "but if you insist."

Harry and Hermione threw themselves at me as soon as I reached them and I landed on the floor with the both of them clinging on to me. "We missed you, Lil!" Harry announced as I was hauled back onto my feet by Hermione. "We have so much to tell you, both of you" he motions at Hermione who was beaming at me.

"I was woken up about ten minutes before you" she tells me before adding "according to Pomfrey, Fred only left your bedside for lessons and when she kicked him out." In a whisper.

"You got petrified to?" I ask, blushing at her Fred comment.

She nods "yeah, literally just seconds after you; it got Penelope as well."

"But she's ok? Just petrified and not..."

"Just petrified" Hermione confirmed "no one died this time round but Harry and Ron worked it out, they're going to tell us about it all later."

"That's awesome" I sigh, happy that the school was finally safe again. "Anyways, I need to go see to something" I state, eying up Fred who making his way over to me.

Hermione followed my gaze and grinned at me "you finally made your mind up?"

"I've never been so sure of anything" I tell her as he finally reaches us.

"Lilly, can I talk to you for a sec?" Fred asked, oblivious to Hermione's knowing smile

"Sure" I reply, turning to him.

"Listen, I don't know if-"

"Fred Weasley" I sigh, cutting him off "you can be such an idiot sometimes." I then grin at the look on his face before grabbing his shirt and pulling him down to me. I then kissed him with as much force as I could muster. When I let him go, he looked shell shocked as the entire Gryffindor table erupted in applause...well, almost the entire table. I caught sight of Harry who looked less than happy but I pushed that aside for the moment as I turned back to Fred and grinned at him. "I know what I want, Weasley, and I don't want to wait for it."

"Hmm" he says, his eyes shining "I'm not sure, Snape; I don't think that your father would approve."

"Screw him" I state

"Would rather not but if you insist..." Fred jokes before laughing and pulling me into a hug and muttering "I missed you, Lil."

"You too."

~*~

"Harry will have to get over it" Hermione tells me as we walk across platform 9 and 3/4 "if he's your friend then he'll see sense eventually."

"It's been weeks, Hermione" I say "and he's still giving me the cold shoulder. In fact, Ron's taking the whole thing better than he is which is saying a lot."

"He's just wounded, eventually he'll see sense and-"

"He didn't even say goodbye to me!" I remind her

"Lilly" we stop just ten feet from where my father was standing and she puts her hands on my shoulders "don't worry. Everything will sort itself out eventually, you'll see. Now-" she hugs me tightly for a moment before pulling away "promise that you'll stay in contact over the summer."

"Of course" I assure her "we'll have to meet up to buy our school stuff, maybe make a day or it or something."

She nods at me before looking over to where her parents were waiting for her "definitely; I'll miss you." She hugs me again before hurrying over to her parents, leaving me to greet my dad alone.

"Alright?" He asks me, taking my trunk and then my hand

"Yeah" I smile, noting that he'd never initiatedhand holding in public before. "Let's go home" I say, excited for the summerand even more so for the next time I'd be boarding the Hogwarts Express. 

*

Finally finished; sorry for the quick ending but, after all this time, I figured that starting a new book would be easier than dragging this one on for longer than necessary.

I'm going to start on book three tomorrow and hopefully have chapter one up by Sunday.

Love you all

Benny xx