Turning Time (A Harry Potter Fanfic)

One Last Kiss, pt. 1

Severus had one weekend of peace—the weekend where Lily and James were away. It went by too quickly for him to get used to their absence. When they came back, they were both immensely happy. Lily kissed James before he went to talk to the other Marauders. Then she approached Harry, asking to talk.

“I know you’ve been worrying about me. I know you don’t like James, or at least you’re not friends.” She waited for him to nod before continuing. “Well, I wanted to let you know that I’m good. We’re good. He’s different from what I thought before, different even from what his friends might think.”

“Really.”

“Yes. James is—he’s slow to express how he feels, but he has more personality, more depth than how he comes across.”

“So, you’re happy?”

She smiled. “I am. He’s smart, kind, adventurous, brave, and has a big heart. Sometimes he does childish things, but he’s learning, just like everyone else.”

Harry nodded, trying to hold back what he really wanted to say. “How long do you think you two’ll make it?”

“Why?” Lily studied him, then her hands. “I don’t know. James always talks about ‘our’ life after school, and that’s a little too far in the future for me to consider…”

“Like, marriage?”

“Not only that; having kids. And he’s not even fifteen yet. I know he’s liked me since we met, but we haven’t been together long and he acts as though we’re soul-mates.” Lily hesitated. “I shouldn’t be telling you this.”

“We’re friends, aren’t we?”

“I know. You’re right. And I’m sorry for not being around anymore.”

“It’s okay. Can I ask one thing?”

Lily shrugged. “Sure.”

“Why do you get along so well? Why do you like him? And—a reason more than a list of adjectives.”

Lily furrowed her brow at him. “That’s more than one thing.” She smiled and nudged him with her shoulder. “Stop worrying! He cares about me. He makes me laugh. We know each other really well. We’re just…compatible.” She hugged Harry, then joined James on the love-seat across the room. He kissed her lightly on the lips, then said something and they laughed.

She is happy, Harry realized, feeling guilty.

By March, James and Lily’s relationship had become a part of everyone’s lives. If James was becoming king of the school, Lily was queen. The hardest thing for Severus to endure was how romantic people thought James and Lily’s story was. Every so often, he complained to Harry about how they saw the story. “They think James deserves her because he tried so hard to win her over. They think she always had feelings for him, even though she always told him to leave her alone, which he ignored.”

Outside of his occasional rants, Severus was unexpressive. He went to bed early, slept as late as he could, and said very little. It was different from when the Slytherins had punished him; the pain wasn’t as obvious, and his grades weren’t suffering. It was as though his soul had been removed and he was just going through the motions.

On Tuesday, in Potions, Harry asked Severus if he could use the tips Severus had written in his book. Severus didn’t respond, eyes glued to the page. Harry sighed, then craned his neck to see if Severus had an alternate number of stirs for the potion they were making.

Words were appearing on the pages before their eyes:“Greetings again, Mr. Snape, you ugly git. We were wondering: how can you even see over that abnormally large nose of yours? You think that people—that she—would like you if you were the least bit handsome. If you were—and I, Prongs, can’t imagine it—you’d still be evil, dirty, poor, and—”