ᴍᴇᴛᴀɴᴏɪᴀ {𝚂. 𝚂𝚗𝚊𝚙𝚎}

|chapter 1|death and rebirth|

"Sev! Sev!" - somebody called out and shook him. Why couldn't he even die peacefully?

He felt tired but forced his body to work and slowly opened his eyes.

Green eyes. Lily's green eyes.

He froze.

"Sev, are you okay?" - the girl frowned with concern. Not any girl. Lily.

He opened his mouth to say something but his throat was locked. No sound came out.

His mouth stayed partly opened and his eyes took in Lily. Her delightful eyes, fire-red hair, and face full of freckles.

"Oh, Sev, you are okay! I saw you near our tree. And you weren't moving, so I wanted to scare you! But you didn't react! At all! That scared me a lot, Sev. You really scared me! I'm glad you are okay, but didn't we agree to meet here after thirty minutes?" - the girl talked fast, not even stopping to catch a breath.

"L-Lily..." - he eventually managed to whisper with a raspy voice. His Lily was here. In front of him. Alive and talking. Talking to him?!

"Sev?..." - she looked at his face, then over his body, inspectioning him. She must have seen something, so she whispered. - "Did your dad do something? Did he beat you up..?"

He was still looking at her, trying his best not to blink. He didn't want this to disappear.

She was looking at him too. Still there. It was like she wasn't gone at all. Still the same Lily, but younger.

Gosh, how he missed her.

His eyes began to water.

"Oh my, Sev. What did he-" - she tried asking but didn't get to finish, as Severus wrapped his tiny arms around her, holding on as tight as his tired and weak body could.

And she hugged him back, rubbing circles and other imagined patterns on his back, trying to soothe him. He didn't notice when did he start to cry, but now he was sobbing and clinging to her. His whole body shook violently.

'Please, don't let it be a trick or a joke of some kind' - he thought. Severus was scared of losing her and the comfort she offered so badly.

"Shh, Sev... Shh... It's okay, I'm here... Hush... He is a bastard, that NOT father of yours! I promise, when we go to Hogwarts, I will learn a spell that will protect you from him! He won't hurt you anymore! I won't let him." - she declared and hugged him fiercely. He couldn't help but giggle a little. She was just as he remembered.

He calmed down a little bit and his arms were tired from holding on to something so hard.

Lily pulled back a little bit and inspected his face. Then she cleaned the last tears that dripped from his eyes with her thumbs and smiled. He grinned back with a soft and weak smile.

Lily and Severus laid down on the grass. After a few minutes of silence, Lily turned her head to Severus.

"Can you tell me more about magic and Hogwarts?" - she asked with a smile on her lips. He remembered how she loved asking him questions about the magical world and society. The girl seemed to be full of them.

"Okay. What do you want to hear about?"

"The Hogwarts houses." - she answered quickly. 'Her favorite thing to hear about' Severus remembered. He always talked about the houses from a Slytherin loving and other house hating perspective. Perhaps he should take another viewpoint. He can at least try.

" Hogwarts has four founders. Each one of them has a house representing them. The four Houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each House has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. Gryffindor house prizes Bravery, helping others, and chivalry, but they are quite arrogant, disrespectful, idiotc and-" - Severus wanted to say way more, but caught himself in time and simply continued. - "People in Hufflepuff are Hardworking, patient, loyal, and they tend to play fair. Ravenclaw values intelligence, knowledge, planning ahead, and wit. And Slytherins are full of Ambition, cunningness, heritage, and resourcefulness. The sorting hat chooses the house that you will belong in the best, where you will make the greatest friends."