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Tweak says, "What KIND of weird?"

Jessi McKimmon (upon_my_return) wrote in around_again,
@ 2009-03-24 08:19:00

Entry tags:

1996 08, @hogwarts, lily potter, severus snape

August 24, 1996 - The third incident
Who: Lily, Sev
When: Late afternoon
Where: Halls / potions classroom
Rating: PG

Status: Closed, completed
Summary: Lily returns and retreats to the only place she feels is safe. Upon invading the potions classroom, she meets up with her former friend turned Death Eater, and a very awkward, uneasy conversation follows.

It had been a very interesting, very long journey. From her 'awakening' in the ruins of her home in Godric's Hollow, to the graveyard near the house - seeing her own grave had disturbed her very profoundly - to a lucky catch of the Knight Bus, to Hogsmeade, Lily had finally made her way to Hogwarts.

It was the only place she could think to go just then. Her home was a wreck, she didn't know where her friends were now, her husband was ... she assumed ... still decased. Her parents were long dead. She didn't know Petunia's address. The Order had surely relocated. Hogwarts though ... Hogwarts was still standing, still safe.

And still locked. Lily curled her fingers around the iron bars of the gate, absolutely certain that someone knew she was out here. It was simply a matter of waiting. "Hello?" she called out. "Hello, can anyone hear me?"

Hagrid had been on his way toward Hogsmeade, intending to have a drink or two before setting about his own start-of-term shopping, and he heard someone yelling down at the gate.

"Who the ruddy hell ..." he muttered as he peered curiously toward the young witch. Squinting against the setting sun, he frowned. Who was that? Someone roamed down from the village, likely. "What d'you want?" he bellowed as he started again toward the gate.

Lily cocked her head to one side. "Hagrid?" But who else would it be, that big, with a voice like that? "Hagrid it's me. It's Lily. Potter." In case, perhaps, there was some other redheaded Lily in his list of acquaintances.

Hagrid froze, then he laughed. "Yeah, all right. That's a good one, whoever y'are. Lily's been dead for a bit, hasn't she?" People simply didn't come back from the dead. They just ... didn't.

"I know," she called back. "I don't know how I'm here, either, but I didn't know where else to go! Please, can't you let me in? Is ... is Professor Dumbledore about?"

His expression shifted oddly before he hurried toward the gate. It did look like her. And sound like her. Stopping on the other side of the gate, he peered through the bars at her. Her eyes were the same, her hair ... she just looked a little tired. But far, far from dead. "Oh, dear..." he murmured before he hurried to unlock the gates. He pulled her into his arms, stroking her hair with a hand the size of her head, nearly crushing her small body against his own. "Lily," he gasped. "Lily, is it really?"

She laughed and sobbed and pushed lightly at his chest. "It is, it really is," she whispered.

"James?" he said as he glanced behind her as if he'd perhaps missed the wizard.

Lily shook her head and dropped her eyes. "I was ... I was alone when I ... woke up. Came back. I'm not sure ...what to call it. I don't know ... if ..." she frowned, then dropped her eyes. "But I'm sure he'll know to come here, if he ... if he does."

She licked her lips, then bit down on the lower one. "Hagrid," she murmured. "I don't know if you'd know ... but I ... I went to see our graves. Mine and James'." She hesitated. "Hagrid, where was Harry's? Why didn't they bury him with us?" She couldn't fathom why anyone would take her son and bury him somewhere else, somewhere away from her.

Hagrid gazed down at her, then frowned. "Well, of course y'wouldn't know!" he laughed softly before he took her hands. "Lily, Harry's alive. He's goin' t'school here, all alive an' well." Well, the 'well' was questionable, but he didn't think Lily needed to be burdened with that. Nor did he think he needed to be the one to tell her.

Her breath caught, and for a moment she thought her heart had actually stopped. Alive? Harry was alive? "Where?" she breathed. "Hagrid, where is he?" Her son, her son was alive?

"Well, he's er...he's stayin' with your sister. Dumbledore c'n give you all the details, like as not, but I don't think I'm the ... er... one to ... it's a long story, but ... but he's doin' good, Lil. Doin' amazin' things, really. Very brave, definitely your and James' son," Hagrid continued, nodding slightly. "C'mon though. Let's get you inside an' see what Dumbledore has t'say about ... well, everythin'."

____________________

Albus hadn't been in, so Lily had been subjected to a very flustered, very wary McGonagall. They'd provided her with a room and some money so she could go buy necessities - like a wand - when she was feeling up for it, and they'd discussed a few things. Like what to do with her now that she was back.

They'd both decided that, until Dumbledore had had a chance to weigh in, they were simply going to keep this quiet. No Ministry, no Prophet, and - despite Lily's protest - they weren't telling Harry quite yet. They'd tell him before he saw her, of course, but not yet.

After Lily had gotten settled into her room, she'd taken to wandering the castle. Feet carried her on familiar paths - to the Gryffindor tower first, though she couldn't get into the commons - then down through the classrooms.

Unsurprisingly, she found herself in the potions classroom, and she wondered if anyone would mind if she worked on something. Just to see how rusty she was. There were simple potions, after all. First year things. She could warm up with one of those, and go from there.

Besides, doing this, working on a potion, would help keep her mind off the unsettling way her world was flipped. She was no longer dead, and her son had been alive this whole time. Shaking her head, she moved to the storage cabinets to begin gathering ingredients.

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upon_my_return
2009-03-25 11:14 pm UTC (link)

Lily was content enough to let the topic drop; she didn't know why she wanted to see it. To confirm, she supposed that he was - or had been - one of Voldemort's followers.

To wonder if he'd hunted her and James with the rest of them. To wonder if he'd had any sort of role in her death.

"It was a suggestion," Lily murmured. "Something I could do while I stayed here. Until ..." she looked away. "Well, if James c-comes back, I'd ..." She crossed her arms over her chest, denying the tears that wanted to fall. She hadn't really had a chance to properly mourn her husband's death. Now was hardly the place though, so she shoved the thoughts aside for now.

"Professor McGonagall mentioned that I might ... apprentice with the potions professor. She ... didn't say it was you though." Now, Lily had to wonder if that omission had been deliberate.

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prof_perfidy
2009-03-26 03:48 am UTC (link)

Severus was glad Lily dropped the subject of the Dark Mark and his participation with the Death Eaters. Not that he was actively hiding it from her, just, he tried to reason with himself, he was just allowing the moment to pass. He knew it would come up again eventually, if they were to have more regular communications; but, he was not interested in discussing the role he played in her death right then, she was just starting to talk to him again, and he wanted to be allowed that sweetness for a little while before it was gone, surely Lily wouldn't want to have anything to do with him after she found everything out.

But, Severus could tell, reading between the lines, that Lily seemed to dislike the idea of apprenticing with him. It had simply been an idea of a way to passed the time while she waited for James to show up - the corner of his mouth twitched at the mention of James. And it appeared, from the way she said it, that if Lily had known it was him, she would have passed on the idea.

"I see," Severus gave a curt nod, "I doubt it was a deliberate omission - you coming back from the dead, after all, could quite possibly have made it difficult to remember all the details. If now that you know I am the Potions professor, you preferred not to, I wont be offended." That last bit was a lie, but if she chose not to, how could he not accept her decision?

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upon_my_return
2009-03-26 09:08 am UTC (link)

"I should think that would be a relatively important detail to remember," Lily replied sharply. While she didn't like to think that Minerva had been deliberately deceptive, the woman had likely known that if she'd mentioned there was a (supposedly) former Death Eater working at the school, Lily would have turned to take her chances in the world.

But now that she was here and settled and had had her hands in some potion ingredients,she was less likely to simply flee into the night.

Exhaling, she shook her head. "I suppose we'll wait and see what Professor Dumbledore says," she decided. She also thought she should simply start calling him Albus, but she'd never quite been able to get over thinking of him as her professor. She was fairly certain he'd always be professor to her.

Emerald eyes moved over Severus' face, her jaw tightening slightly. If he was here, he was safe, unless he was lying to all of them. Lily decided that, before she decided anything, she needed to know more - and she knew she wouldn't trust whatever Sev had to say.

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prof_perfidy
2009-03-26 02:05 pm UTC (link)

Severus inwardly recoiled at the harshness of her tone, at the way she looked at him. Hearing his assumptions confirmed hurt - he'd expected it, but knowing something would happen didn't change the effect it had. He recognized he no right to expect anything more from Lily, and, he supposed, without first speaking to Dumbledore he had nothing left to say. Keeping his expression unreadable he nodded, "I see," his voice emotionless, "I have work, but you are more than welcome to stay and continue making potions."

He walked over to, and entered, the supply closet. He started taking inventory of the ingredients housed there in, pushing what ever he was feeling about the incident to the back of his mind, he couldn't afford to think on it any longer, losing himself in the routine of this menial task.

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upon_my_return
2009-03-26 03:15 pm UTC (link)

Her shoulders lifted and fell in a shrug. "Haven't got a wand," she admitted reluctantly; it rather limited the number of potions she could do. Most of them at somepoint, required a bit of wand-work. Or at least the presence of one.

Still, it seemed like the conversation was done. With a last glance toward the cabinet, Lily turned to leave the classroom to try to get her emotions under control.

They wanted her working, with a Death Eater. Former, perhaps, but someone who'd been around, working with him, hunting her. But even warring with that, she could remember farther back. Before school. Before Death Eaters. She could remember laughter and nights under the stars, giggling conversations and romps through the woods. Eating popsicles on swingsets ...

... was there even a shadow of that left? Or was he all darkness now?

She paused briefly in the door to glance back again before she let herself out, making her way down the hall to retreat to the quiet of her room.

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