Secret Life (as Severus Snape's Daughter) - English

Chapter 4: The Golden Trio

Lily-Anne is sitting with her legs over the rest of a big chair in front of the fire in the Slytherin Common Room, in her hands one of her many Potions books, scribbling some more notes in them and reading the recipes again, as she had done many times before, in her mind she is making the Potions, exactly knowing what happens when she adds which ingredient. She is so deep in thought she is startled when someone sits down beside her and places a hand on her shoulder. She looks up and looks straight into the face of Draco, he had only just returned to the Common Room, he had been spending an afternoon with Pansy, obligatory since he was her boyfriend, but he dreaded every moment of it. To him it was already over, breaking up would only be a formality, but his father liked Pansy, so he stayed with her, even though there was someone else he wanted more, and he had wanted for over a year now. But he was afraid that she did not share his love, and maybe he was even scared about what could happen, what He could do once he would find out that this girl was his girlfriend, should he fail to fulfill his task. Lily-Anne did not like Pansy either, though she did not know that Draco disliked her to. To Lily-Anne, Pansy was too clingy, trying to hold Draco tight every moment of the day, not letting an inch come between them, and Lily-Anne would always see the panic in Draco's eyes when she did that. All Pansy did was smile and brag about her rich pure-blood boyfriend and drag him everywhere, clearly blind to the fact that Draco hated that.

'Hey, how are you doing?'

Lily-Anne closes the book and puts it in her lap, her head leaning against the back of the chair, looking at Draco. She could drown in his eyes, ever since she found out she did that quite often, she would quickly turn her head away, trying not to look weird, staring into the eyes of her best friend.

'I am fine, just studying some more recipes.'

Draco's face falls when he sees the book in Lily-Anne's hand and wants to rise, but Lily-Anne stops him in his tracks by placing a hand on his, something that startles the both of them, causing them to remain completely still for some time, staring at the hands. But then Lily-Anne recovers, takes her hand away and stands up from the chair.

'That doesn't mean I don't need a break.'

Draco pulls his eyes away from the place where Lily-Anne's hand had just touched his and he smiles widely when the words dawn on him. It was the first time Lily-Anne had actually seen Draco smile since the beginning of the year, something was bothering him, but whatever it was, he didn't want to share it with anybody, and Lily-Anne would not dare ask, since she already presumed it had everything to do with the visitors at Spinner's End and why she had become a Death Eater only a couple of weeks ago. Lily-Anne puts her book in a leather bag she always carried with her with her essential parchment, feathers, ink and one or two books in it, she throws it over her shoulder and the friends walk towards the door of the Common Room, it opens on their approach and they leave the Common Room. They would often do that, leave the Common Room and just strode through the halls of Hogwarts, often talking, sometimes saying absolutely nothing. That was the friendship between the young Malfoy and the girl he believed to be called Reves. They would always be there for the other one to talk, or just so they would have the feeling that they were not alone. This time, Draco seemed to be in need of that specific company, not to talk, but just to know that he wasn't alone, even though he was always surrounded by people. Lily-Anne just walks beside him, every so often glancing at him, secretly. All she wanted to know was what was going on in her best friend's mind. But even after being taught Occlumency and Legilimency at a young age by her father, she could not make sense of what was happening in Draco's brain. All she knew is that they shared the Dark Mark, though Draco did not know that. After her father and she had discussed it, he had gone to Voldemort to inform him. Two days later, Lily-Anne, her father and Wormtail, whose real name Lily-Anne had learned that day, Peter Pettigrew, had been summoned by Voldemort for the ceremony. Voldemort knew her real identity from the start, but Severus had asked his master to keep it a secret from all the other Death Eaters, and just call Lily-Anne, Reves, just to be safe. Voldemort had agreed to that and even told Severus and his daughter that for now, nobody but the people present at the ceremony would know of Lily-Anne's allegiance to the Dark Lord. Since that were only Voldemort, Severus, Lily-Anne and Peter, that would be an easy task. Now she was assigned to look after Draco, which she already did before the assignment, so it would not be a hard demand to fulfill. Lily-Anne glances up again and smiles, she was glad that she had Draco, he had always been there for her, since the first moment she sat down at the Slytherin table. Yes, he was a snob and had his haughty moments, especially in the presence of people he wanted to impress and Harry Potter, but he also had a different side, a kinder side. Lily-Anne still had no idea why this Pure-Blood, wealthy Malfoy heir, a family known for its Pure-Blood line and their hate towards Half-Bloods and Muggle borns, had started a friendship with a Half-Blood like her. Because she never lied about that, in the stories, her father was a Half-Blood wizard, who had married a Muggleborn witch, which was actually the truth, aside from the fact that Lily and Severus had never been married and their names were not Reves. It had just clicked between her and Draco, and they had been inseperable eversince. They walk up a couple of stairs and eventually they end up on the sixth floor, where they slow down their pace. Lily-Anne sees Draco looking at her sometimes like she looked at him, with a slight shimmer in his eyes. Then he opens his mouth.