The Ghost Beneath the Curtain | PG | Harry Potter
Title: The Ghost Beneath the Curtain
Prompt: I want Severus and Lily's last conversation/encounter. I'd like for her to tell him something GOOD and that's why he tried to save her. Did she give him false hope? Tell him she would always love him?
Fandom: Snape/Lily, Harry Potter
Requested by: burningeden
Rating: PG
Word Count: 609
Disclaimer: Not mine. Wish they were. Please don't sue.
Author's Note: I was in the HP mood and feeling mucho love for burningeden today, so I made this prompt my next choice. I hope I managed to do a good enough job with this!! Thanks to Beth for her supreme HP knowledge!
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Lily Potter juggled the parcel of books in her hands as she weaved through the thick crowd that mobbed the cobbled streets of Diagon Alley. She suspected that many families were beginning their shopping for school supplies as September was fast approaching. She smiled wistfully at a wide-eyed child who clung to his mother's hand.
She couldn't wait for the day that she and James were running those same errands themselves.
It was with a cheerful grin on her face that she pushed open the door of the apothecary. Attempting to ignore the foul scent of bad eggs and cabbage, Lily passed a heavyset wizard and made her way to the counter. She handed her parcels to the elderly shop attendant, took a small basket, and pulled a bit of parchment from the pocket of her robes.
First item: hellebore.
She scanned the shelves, looking for the needed ingredient. Blowing at the labels of dusty bottles, she did manage to find a small vial of daisy root, which she stowed in her basket. Tapping her finger to her lip, she wondered where elusive hellebore had been stocked. She bit her lip and spotted another shelf past a large display of dragon products.
Lily smiled triumphantly when she realized that she found the hellebore. There was only one bottle remaining and she eagerly reached for it. Her hand collided with another.
She laughed. "Oh! Looks like we both…" Her voice trailed off once she realized who had gone for the same ingredient.
Standing beside her, taller and more intimidating than ever, was Severus Snape. He stared at her coldly as he straightened his back and squared his shoulders, looking at her down the slope of his aquiline nose.
"Hello Severus," Lily said, the thumb of her left hand making quick work of twisting the diamond of her engagement ring around to the inside of her palm.
"Evans," he sneered. "Or should I say 'Potter'?"
She colored slightly. "Master let you out to play today?" she asked haughtily, looking around. "No cronies following you?"
"I needn't explain myself to you," he snarled contemptuously, his curtain of black hair spilling over his face.
Lily studied him for a moment, staring past the sallow cheeks and translucently pale skin. His eyes were sunken, his hair lank and greasy. Underneath it all, he was growing into a handsome man. She remembered the young boy of her youth and for a moment thought she caught the ghost of him in his eyes. "No. I suppose you don't. It's not like we're friends."
"Not anymore."
Lily sighed, her heart twisting painfully in her chest. "You can have the hellebore. I don't want it anymore." She pushed past him and stopped as she brushed against his shoulder.
He looked down at her, his eyes boring into her own. A shiver coursed down her spine as his gaze only intensified. She'd always been unsettled by the way he looked at her.
"Take care of yourself, Severus." She squeezed his arm.
He said nothing but merely stared at her. After an increasingly uncomfortable moment, Severus took a vial from the shelf, made his way to the counter, and extracted several coins from his pocket. The inside of the pocket turned out slightly, showing its empty depths.
He hurriedly shoved his pocket into his robes, grabbed his ingredients, and left the store.
Lily couldn't help but frown, wondering to herself where Severus Snape had gone so wrong. She wanted nothing more than to see him succeed, to do better for himself than drown in the Dark Arts.
She looked back at the shelf. The bottle of hellebore was still there.
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