(Untitled)

[endingupdead]

[Who:] Severus Snape and Lily Potter, followed by Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy
[What:] Panic about Voldemort
[When:] Wednesday, Week 4
[Where:] Hospital and then East Gallery

Comments

[potter_lily]

Lily had avoided Severus to date, but for whatever reason, when he said he needed to see her today, she didn't hesitate. Was it the fact that he knew about the prophecy and her death, and that he had said he wouldn't tell? There was no way of knowing what he would or would not remember if they ever left his place. She didn't see the point in angering him unnecessarily if he did happen to remember. What would it hurt to see him? The hospital was neutral ground. There were punishments for hurting a member of the hospital staff

[endingupdead]

The minute he saw her, he thought the tightness in his chest would dissipate. It was the first time he'd been alone with her since his arrival in Zone Fifteen, but instead of inspiring a feeling relief, it made his heart clench painfully.

He had her to himself - but this was no time for apologies. He couldn't cower at her feet and beg her to forgive him right now. Not with danger lurking at their doorstep. And yet. And yet. Did she know about the Dark Lord? Did Martha Jones? Had Lily been involved in the decision to let her murderer join the war beyond the walls of the hospital?

He approached her slowly, his hands clenched at his sides, eyes moving over her face with a look of barely-disguised hunger underneath the wariness and concern.

"The Dark Lord -" he started, then backpedaled and tried again. "Voldemort is a member of the Civilian army, Lily."

[potter_lily]

Lily stood up when Severus entered the lobby. Her hands were clasped and held against her stomach. She remembered how shocked she had been to see him in that exam room the day he arrived in Zone Fifteen. It seemed like that day was yesterday and a thousand years ago, all at once.

She couldn't help but frown, unable to pick one expression, one emotion, out of the myriad that seemed to shift across his face as he approached her. What did he have to tell her? What could it--

Everything seemed to grind to a screeching halt as he told her. She stood there, staring at him. She may have blinked, she may have forgotten how. "Voldemort," she finally managed, "is here?"

[endingupdead]

So she didn't know, after all. Not if her reaction was anything to go by - and Lily had never been the sort to lie. Not about something like this. Severus swallowed hard, then nodded. "I don't know how long, but I have no reason to doubt the person who told me, not the person who told them."

He seemed to stare through her and at her at the same time for a moment, then took a slow, steadying breath. "I made a promise to you not to tell him. To protect you - and your..."

It took a good deal of effort to choke out the word 'son', but he managed it finally. There was disgust in his voice, but he had acknowledged the boy's existence. It was a start.

"You like to say that I've chosen my way, and you've chosen yours." He licked his lips nervously, frowned, and continued, "I think -"

"I made a mistake."

[truemask]

The tilted glass window gave one a good vantage point of the playing field. Lucius had taken one of the seats, with his feet up in a most ungentlemanly manner on the backs of the chairs opposite, ankles crossed and not looking at the field-- for there is no game upon it, only gardens and the little figures of those comrades who wander onto it-- and instead observing the back of his own hand.

There was the evidence of curses, there, his skin inflamed painfully around his Militant marking, and a piece of fabric he has been using to cover it was currently tangled in his fingers. He hadn't combed all day, nor shaven this morning, and in addition to these things, he wasn't wearing his battle robes and tunic that he'd arrived in -- it was starting to smell, frankly. His clothing was Muggleish and ordinary. His cane rested against the seats at his side.

But he was, naturally, unmistakable, and every now and then, picked up his phone to see if anything interesting is happening on it.

[endingupdead]

Severus had no trouble finding Lucius; once they'd relocated to the stadium, he had spent a good deal of time exploring the structure. He knew it well enough to make a beeline from the hospital directly to the east gallery.

His conversation with Lily was set aside almost entirely. He didn't want to discuss it with Lucius, he didn't want to think about it or its implications. Not yet. He needed to deal with this from the standpoint of a loyal Death Eater, and not a traitor. Lucius would know if his faith in Voldemort had recently suffered a blow.

He came around to stand in front of his old (literally old) friend, taking in the way Lucius was beginning to look rather unkempt. Unshaven, uncombed, muggle clothing (though this latter was unsurprising - Severus had given in and taken to wearing whatever ill-fitting clothes the militants provided, and was currently in a jacket three sizes too large for his skinny frame).

"Well?"

[truemask]

When Lucius glanced towards the sound of Snape's voice, it was not surprised -- not so entrenched in his own thoughts as to not hear approach, that would be fairly stupid. And of course, he expected company.

"Well, indeed."

Retracting his legs back off the backs of the seats, Lucius collected up his cane once more, as well as his communicator device, and got to his feet. The makeshift pseudo-bandages were bound back around his military marking, which, if anyone asked, he'd simply say he'd rather not reveal his allegiance to every Tom, Dick and Harry that was preternaturally yanked to this place without knowing them first, but mostly, he'd rather less people know his attempts at cursing it away.

He expected it wouldn't matter, in this case. "Do try to understand that I had no wish to discuss this with you until after you had considered things reasonably. Coward was a little cheap, I felt."

[endingupdead]

"Did you." His response wasn't a question, so much as a dismissive statement, though whether he was referring to Malfoy's feelings or to his wishes was left purposefully vague. Severus had no interest in bickering with the other man right now. Not with so much on the line.

His black eyes flickered to the bandages briefly, then locked impassively on his friend's face, searching intently for information Lucius might not give him verbally.

"We have ourselves quite the predicament, Lucius."