The Next Great Adventure (A Marauders Fan Fic)

Chapter Twenty Two

The already pale boy in front of her whitened even more. “I wouldn’t go so far as to say that if I were you.”

“Oh stop it Severus! You know that that’s what half of them want to be when they leave Hogwarts, maybe even before that! Give up pretending because I know that’s what you want to do as well!”

“I wouldn’t-” He stopped and scraped his foot along the ground as he searched for wards. “I wouldn’t if I had you,” he finally whispered. “I’d rather have you.”

She scoffed again and turned to leave. “Well you had me Snape; you had me for years and you still went to them so I don’t see why it would be any different now.”

“That’s – that’s not what I meant,” he stammered.

“Oh isn’t it? Care to explain?”

“I- I- We’ve always been friends- and… and then- I don’t want to be your friend-”

“Yes, you’ve made that very clear,” she growled as she stalked away. Snape stared at her dwindling back, hot tears of frustration and loss burning his numb cheeks. Just as he had done so many times since they started at Hogwarts, just as he had done so many times before, he stood still and watched her walk away, wishing he had the courage to run after her. “Suppose that’s why I wasn’t Sorted into bloody Gryffindor,” he muttered angrily to himself as he strode away.

Lily kept marching onwards, muttering furiously under her breath, blazing anger filling her body, to the point where it surprised her that her footsteps weren’t melting the snow. By the time she had calmed down the sky was darkening, the orange blush of the invisible sunset bleeding into the blank white of the clouds, and the streetlights were flickering on. Lily leant against the front door and stepped back into the warmth, leaving her soaking shoes to drip snow onto the mat; mercifully Petunia had left an hour or so ago so Lily made herself an enormous hot chocolate, let the heat of it warm her numbed cheeks and nose and went upstairs. Stripping down quickly she jumped into a boiling bath and lay there for an hour, submerging herself before surfacing to sip her drink and read her favourite book.

The holidays passed quickly and before long the small family was rushing between the cars, winding through the crowds of people milling about and racing through the throng; Lily was trailing behind her parents, her trolley careening recklessly round corners and more than once she nearly crashed into an innocent passerby. They ran through the barrier between King’s Cross and platform nine and three-quarters without caring whether anyone had seen them; John shoved Lily’s trunk onto the train, grabbed Dalia’s cage and pecked her on the cheek. May kissed her daughter and pushed her onto the train, still shouting a list of things that Lily had to remember and do.

The Hogwarts Express pulled out of the station slowly; Lily wasn’t quite as late as she had thought that she would be and, as she wandered through the corridors, she allowed herself a small smile. Once again she was back.

As she strolled through the train, preoccupied with peering into carriages and looking for her friends she bumped into something solid. “Oh sorry,” she said, barely looking up as she made to move to one side, “I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“Clearly,” an unmistakeable voice said, only just succeeding in holding in laughter. “Going somewhere?”

Lily nodded. “I’m looking for Mary, Alice and Cassie.” 

“Ah, I should have guessed,” James said. He grinned at her and Lily found herself smiling back; it was strange how long it had taken her to notice that he had a wonderful smile. Perhaps that was why so many people loved him. James moved to lean casually against the window of the carriage behind him, one ankle crossed over the other and his arms loosely folded as he watched Lily, the very picture of confidence. For some reason she blushed under his scrutiny and tucked her hair behind her ear. “So how was your Christmas?” he asked pleasantly.