Severus Snape and the Siren: A Snily Tale

Chapter 9 - Snape's Worst Memory

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Severus could barely stand the distance that seemed to creep between him and Lily over the next few months.

Regardless, they retained a sort of subtle normalcy to their interactions.

He studied with Lily, chatted with Lily, walked with Lily, but her bright smile had dimmed.

Her expressions became sullen and her demeanor often seemed withdrawn.

More than once, Severus caught her gazing at the Black Lake with a solemn frown of seriousness on her fair face.

Severus and Lily spent their winter break mostly together.

He shivered from the air's icy chill whenever she insisted they stand on that little bridge that went over the frozen river.

As he trembled in his thin outerwear and clasped his holey mittens to his chest in an effort to find some warmth, he scowled at Lily as he asked, "Aren't you cold? You aren't even wearing a coat."

Lily stood next to Severus on that little bridge and stared down at the crystallized water, clad only in her velvet dress as she shook her head and shrugged, "No, Sev......It feels fine out here to me."

She blinked as Severus suddenly reached out to press the back of his mitten-covered hand against her forehead.

"What are you doing?" Lily laughed as she looked over at him curiously.

"Checking for a fever." Severus huffed.

As more soft snow flurried down around them, Lily laughed at his irritated attitude.

The snow landed on Severus's hair, coat, and mittens as the white, fluffy flakes soaked through each surface, determined to linger and trap him in a prison of uncomfortably low temperatures.

He noticed that strangely enough, Lily did not entirely share his plight.

The snowflakes that touched her face, head, and hair all became instantly absorbed, as if her body itself possessed enough heat to melt the coldest part of winter.

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Time passed.

Seasons changed.

As the spring of Severus and Lily's fifth year at Hogwarts arrived, Severus found himself at a stalemate.

Things remained miserable for him at home, but Severus had few ideas on how to improve the circumstances for himself and his mother.

Lily continued to be mysteriously distant while Severus continued his unending quest to devour each book in Hogwarts' collection and discover if his suspicions were true or if he had the wrong idea entirely.

He kept receiving conflicting information.

Lily had no violent tendencies, therefore she couldn't be a siren.

Surely?

Yet.......she did have a demonstrable pewter allergy, a quality that Severus's studies had led him to believe only people with heritage from the sea possessed.

He sighed to himself as he walked up the grassy hillside next to the Black Lake one afternoon in early March.

He had tucked his latest library book underneath his arm, intent on spending the next hour reading and peering out over the water.