InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I ain't yo mama, sucka!"

Lily Evans (emerald_eyes) wrote in beyondthepages,
@ 2010-05-19 22:47:00

Entry tags:

!complete, 2023 10, lily evans, severus snape

RP: Not Impressed
Characters: Lily to Sev
Time/Date: Nearer midnight, October 19, in response to this
Location: Spinner's End
Warnings/Rating: Swears
Summary: Lily almost has an incident
Status: Complete

While painting didn't make everything go away, it did serve as a distraction. Benjy, actually, was a lovely distraction, with the way he could make them laugh and forget. Forget that a mad woman was stalking her, and forget that the wizard who had killed both her and Cas was back. He wasn't supposed to be back. He wasn't supposed to be able to be back, and yet ...

They'd gotten most of the paint out of their hair, off their faces and hands, but Lily still wanted to take a shower to wash off the residue that remained. There was a violet streak across her forehead, as well as a few blue flecks on her cheeks. She did glance to the clock when she came in, but she wasn't much later than she'd promised, and definitely within the window she'd given him. Knowing he would have felt her pass through the wards, she didn't bother poking her head downstairs as she slipped off her shoes and shrugged out of her cloak.

Hanging up the latter and kicking the former closer to the door, Lily padded on bare feet toward the kitchen. She'd check and see what they had for mail, have a snack, and then head up to shower. Hopefully by the time she was done with that, Sev would be up and ready for bed.

Waving one hand to illuminate the kitchen, she crossed to the table and tilted her head as she saw the flower. A little smile tugged her lips, and she started to reach toward it. When she felt four tiny daggers piercing her ankle, she yelped and glanced down, reflexively kicking her foot. "Ow, you little shit," she snapped at the kitten.

Bending down, she peered at the two drops of blood she could see welling from the pinpricks in her skin, and she scowled. "What was that for?" she muttered. She watched Jeremy as he growled before leaping at the chair to scale his way up the back of it. He plunked himself down on the table, between her and the flower, and hissed.

Lily's expression shifted. She bit the inside of her cheek before she looked away. "Well, love, my apologies and thank you for that," she said to the kitten.

She wondered if there was any conceivable way she could get away with pretending she hadn't almost (possibly, potentially) done something epically stupid. But really, it was a flower on the table in the kitchen, and ...

... yes, all right, Severus would never use Gryffindor colors. "I won't touch it," she promised Jeremy, scooping him up once his fur had settled back down against his back.

Wandering over to the door to his lair, she knocked a couple of times before cracking the door open. "Love?" she called down the stairs. "There's something very pretty on the table and Jeremy won't let me touch it, so I can only assume it's a sort of gift I don't want to touch anyway, if you'd care to come have a look at it, when you've got a moment."

This ... was getting fucking ridiculous.

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bittersnark
2010-05-20 06:26 am UTC (link)

Severus had just finished brewing a couple of potions he'd received a commission for. They weren't due for another week but he wanted to clear the deck so to speak so that he could concentrate on ridding the world of Bellatrix Lestrange. He was just capping the last flask and setting it aside to cool when he heard Lily calling to him.

He headed up the stairs with a frown. He'd felt the owls arriving earlier but nothing had tweaked the wards... which possibly meant he needed to make a few changes to them. He closed the door behind him and eyed both woman and kitten with a raised eyebrow.

"Jeremy wouldn't let you touch it," he said dryly. "Which means you tried... after my warning." He stretched out one long finger and scratched the kitten gently under the chin. "Excellent work, Jeremy. If you had a House, I would give you points." He was amused when the kitten purred and looked smug. Then he arched an eyebrow at Lily again. "And I'd take points from Gryffindor."

His arch remarks were covering the sudden surge of fear that had rushed through him and he quickly turned and strode into the kitchen where the red and gold lily was painfully obvious. He pulled out his wand and began muttering under his breath, thoughts of the last time he'd done something similar to this coming to mind. Katie Bell hadn't been so fortunate as to own a kneazle.

The flower rose into the air and hovered above the table and he continued to mutter spells, his wand flicking in various directions from time to time. After several minutes, he suddenly snarled and barked three words at the flower. It was instantly surrounded by a shimmering shield then thorny vines suddenly erupted from the flower and reached out about four inches, flailing malevolently at the shield for a moment before the entire flower abruptly burst into flames. It burned to ashes in midair within the shield and only when nothing remained did Severus finally drop the shield.

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emerald_eyes
2010-05-20 01:14 pm UTC (link)

"I didn't ... try," she protested. Well, she hadn't thought was more what she'd meant. "It was just ..." She sighed and gestured with one hand. "Yes, well, maybe you should start ... going through my mail for me."

Clearly, she couldn't be trusted not to touch things.

Following him to the kitchen, she lingered in the doorway, cradling Jeremy to her chest as she watched Severus tend to the flower. She jumped a little at his snarl, and gasped when she saw what the flower ... did.

She imagined that was only the start of it, the flailing vines. She could only imagine what Bellatrix had intended for her with that, and Lily felt just a little sick. The woman was obviously not dealing with anything near a full deck, and she was focused on Lily, on her family.

Dropping her chin, she nuzzled the top of Jeremy's head and mumbled another apology. "Or maybe you should just patrol my mail, hm?" Lily tilted her head and wondered if Bellatrix could fool a kneazle somehow. Setting the kitten down, she stepped in to stand beside Sev. "It would have killed me, wouldn't it?"

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bittersnark
2010-05-20 10:28 pm UTC (link)

Severus shoved his rage down when Lily stepped up next to him and slid his wand back into his sleeve. He then drew her close to him and wrapped his arms around her, closing her eyes and shuddering once at how close she had come. he then opened his eyes and shifted so he could look down at the kneazle kitten on the table.

"Well done," he murmured before running his hand along the kitten's head and back and gaining an ecstatic purr as a result.

"Yes, it would have," he said in a very grim voice to Lily. "The vines would have engulfed you and strangled you, if the thorns didn't kill you first. It would not have been quick and... I may not have been able to stop it once it started. I have some experience with Dark curses but the longer they run, the harder they are to stop."

His arms tightened around her involuntarily. He knew this had not been aimed at Lily. Oh, the curse had but only because Bellatrix knew how he felt about her. She'd been there so many years ago when he'd begged for Lily's life to be spared. He'd couched it in terms the Dark Lord would understand - 'want', 'pet', 'slave' - but he'd been young and callow and not quite as experienced in hiding his true emotions back then. Bellatrix had guessed. It had been a moot point after Lily's death but not now.

"I will tighten the wards," he said, pressing a kiss to her hair. "But I recommend not touching anything in the mail until I have checked it." He glanced over at the kitten and smiled slightly. "Or Jeremy has."

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emerald_eyes
2010-05-20 10:49 pm UTC (link)

Lily made a soft, disgusted noise as he described what the spell would have done, and she shudder as she pressed closer against Severus.

"That's ..." She didn't have any words for what that was. Perverted, vile, reprehensible ... None of these even came close. The spell had been meant to kill her, and slowly. Right here, in her own home.

Suddenly, Lily had no desire for a snack, though she did still want to shower before bed.

"Sick," she finally muttered, though it was mild compared to the terms running through her mind.

"I will certainly do that. Have one of my boys to check the mail for me." Lily buried her head against Sev's chest before she sighed. She'd have to tell Harry, but it could wait. He was going to be thrilled to hear this. Absolutely thrilled.

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bittersnark
2010-05-20 11:06 pm UTC (link)

"That's Bellatrix," Severus said with disgust and anger. Some of that anger was directed at himself. The stupid sort of anger when you know you have a weak spot but can't or won't do anything about it. He knew he should send Lily away somewhere safe but he also knew he wouldn't do it, even if she would agree to go. It was selfish and dangerous and stupid but... he just couldn't bring himself to do it.

"I have informed your son that Bellatrix has started playing with her food again. Apparently we are not the only ones to be targeted." He knew telling Potter about it was dangerous, especially if Bellatrix suddenly turned up mysteriously dead, but there were two considerations.

One was the fact that Lily was likely to tell him anyway and at least this way, Severus could claim that he had indeed informed the Head of the Aurors as to the problem. And secondly, he suspected that Potter would not make much trouble if Bellatrix turned up dead. That he would consider any act against her as self-defense.

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emerald_eyes
2010-05-20 11:40 pm UTC (link)

"He'd mentioned he got an owl the other day," Lily admitted quietly. "Makes me wonder why now. She's been back for weeks ... did she just now figure out how to write to people and send them nasty cursed flowers?"

Or red hair matted up with blood, in the case of her son.
Lily sighed heavily, but what else could be said? Sev was going to strengthen the wards, and she wasn't going to touch anything Jeremy or Sev didn't approve of. She was going to take up Rune on his training offer and get up to speed on defensive spells.

She was going to take reasonable precautions without letting paranoia rule her life, though at this point she didn't think a little paranoia would be a bad thing.

Someone was out to get her, after all.

Lily pressed a soft kiss to Sev's throat before she shook her head. "Going to have a shower, get the rest of the paint off. Are you joining me, or should I meet you in bed?"

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bittersnark
2010-05-21 12:13 am UTC (link)

Severus snorted derisively. "Obviously Rodolphus let her off her leash." he didn't believe the stories that the man was dead or had disappeared off overseas somewhere. He was here or Bellatrix would not be here. Maybe that was who he should be writing to. It was worth a try. If Rodolphus valued his wife at all, he might be willing to keep her closely leashed instead of letting her run around and do things that prompted Severus to kill her.

He was distracted from his thoughts by Lily's kiss and he looked down at her and smiled as much as he was able.

"I want to strengthen the wards as much as I can tonight," he said as he leaned down to kiss her properly. "I shall join you wherever you are when I am done."

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emerald_eyes
2010-05-21 12:25 am UTC (link)

"Or she killed him," Lily pointed out. It wasn't as though that was outside the realm of reason, was it? Given what she'd seen, what she knew of the woman, maybe ... it had happened just like that. She'd gotten tired of being restrained and had killed her captor, such as it was.

She supposed they'd never know though. Not for certain. Maybe he was behind some of this; what did she know?

Stroking his hair back, Lily smiled up at him. "All right. I'll see you then." She wondered if she'd have to be rekeyed to the wards, but she trusted he'd walk her through whatever she needed to know.

"I love you," she said gently before she drew away. "C'mon, Jeremy. Let's go keep me safe from the water, hm?" She glanced over her shoulder at the kitten who looked affronted at the idea of being invited to the shower. Lily grinned lightly before slipping out of the kitchen.

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bittersnark
2010-05-21 12:44 am UTC (link)

That was a possibility that Severus did not care to think about. Rodolphus at least had some ability to chain his wife to the wall on occasion. If he was dead and she had no checks and balances on her then they were in for trouble. Not a long period of trouble since she was so insane that she was more likely than not to make mistakes and get herself killed but it would be ugly while it lasted.

He smiled slightly as he watched her head out of the kitchen then he headed for the main room. It was the best spot to work on the wards as a whole. He didn't think it would take long but he needed to concentrate so that the wards would simply hold anything dubious in abeyance and not destroy it completely.

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