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untonugganTitle: Not For the Mortal World
Type of Fanwork: Fic
Pairing: Snape/Lily
Characters: Severus Snape, Lily Evans/Potter, Albus Dumbledore, Fawkes
Length (if applicable): roughly 1900 words
Rating: General Audiences
Creator: lizcommotion
Summary/Description: Snape Uses the Resurrection Stone to talk to Lily and settle a few matters of the heart.
Thanks to all my beta-readers for their support.
"What made you think to try on the ring? It is clearly a cursed object. I would have thought even Potter could have discerned that, Headmaster." Severus Snape sighed at Dumbledore, watching through his stringy black hair as the Headmaster gingerly massaged his blackened hand.
"I don't know what came over me," Dumbledore replied again. They had been going on like this for the past several minutes, as Snape tried rather unsuccessfully to use his powers of Occlumency against Dumbledore.
"Trying to force the answer out, Severus? A bit rough for you, isn't it?"
Snape made his face a mask for the attack that never came, for surely if he was this insolent Dumbledore would have retaliated, would have had every right to, but Dumbledore did not attempt to read his raging thoughts.
It was all well and good him saying that he had left Potter, Granger, and the Weasley boy with a job to do, and all well and good him saying that he wanted Snape to kill Dumbledore, but Snape wanted the whole plan this time. Tonight, after being dragged out of bed for the hundredth time to fix yet another problem unquestioningly, Severus Snape was beginning to grow a little weary of Dumbledore's unwavering faith in him and his continued insistence that Snape must not know Dumbledore's deepest secrets. It made Snape wonder if there was a plan at all.
"All of this cursing has rather made me tired," Dumbledore yawned. "I think I shall head for bed. Do you mind clearing up these things, Severus? I wouldn't want one of the other Heads of House wondering why I should need a bezoar on my desk."
"I shouldn't think they would question it with you, Headmaster," Snape replied, mentally cursing himself, for this was the opportunity he needed to find out more.
"Oh, but the blackened hand in the morning might give it away. I'll have trouble passing it off as the latest fashion statement. Good night. And thank you for saving an old man's life long enough for him to do what he needs to do."
Snape looked away. "And then? When you have done what you need to do?"
"You'll be saving my dignity." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled behind his half-rimmed spectacles as he held his injured arm carefully next to him and left the room for his quarters.
Scarcely had the door shut when Snape withdrew his wand from his own pocket and thought the spell, "Muffliato." Hopefully Albus would be too tired to wonder why his ears were ringing. Then he looked around. The pensieve, he noticed, was locked. But there was still the ring on the desk. Perhaps that would offer some clue as to Dumbledore's late night absences from Hogwarts.
It was a curious thing. The dark energy seemed to have vanished from it, perhaps when Dumbledore had put it on, but Snape was not fool enough to try the ring on himself. There would be no one skilled enough to brew a remedy, and even that would only last a year at best. But what was this stone? He bent closer to examine the cracked and blackened stone that seemed to bear some sort of inscription or triangle. Perhaps there was something inside the ring itself to indicate its origins? Severus slowly turned the ring in his hands several times.
"Hello, Severus."
The ring must answer dreams, for that was the only explanation of who stood before him. Lily Evans - he refused to call her Potter - gazed down at him and Severus nearly dropped the ring.
"Whoops, better keep hold of the ring, Sev," Lily grinned at him.
"Then, you are back?"
"I can only stay a few moments in the mortal world." It was as though his heart had inflated once more, filled once more with hope and love and longing, and now it was gone. He nearly threw himself from the window.
"But I thought we should talk."
Severus took a deep breath. He would talk with Lily Evans, and perhaps for now, that would be enough. Words failed him as he looked into her eyes...the same eyes as that insolent Harry Potter's but framed by her radiant face. "I am so sorry for what happened," Severus began. "I never...I never meant for you to die, any of you. It was all a stupid attempt at getting glory back then, because I didn't know how." It was strange to speak the words he'd been longing to say to her for years, words he'd hidden from the Dark Lord, from Dumbledore, from that wretched Harry Potter. Yet with Lily he could say anything.
"I know, Sev," Lily replied, as a silvery tear made its way down her ghostly face. "I forgive you."
"But I called you -- awful things. I betrayed you and your family. You died because of me. I worked for the Dark Lord, as a Death Eater! How can you forgive me for that? How can anyone?"
"We judge others by what they become, Sev, and you are fighting He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named in a dangerous position every day!"
"Perhaps what I did was simply unforgiveable." He said it almost to himself, for it was too much to believe that Lily had indeed forgiven him.
"I forgive you, Severus," she repeated. "But do you forgive yourself?"
He met her eyes, her beautiful green eyes, and for a moment it was as though he had never called her Mudblood. She broke the silence and the perfection of the moment by saying, "And you are looking after my Harry. How is he?"
Severus sighed, because he had known in his heart that Lily Evans would want to talk about a Potter when she was with him, that was always the way of it. "He is just like his father." Severus tried to keep the bitterness out of his voice.
"Only like his father?" Lily asked, laughing gently.
"He has your eyes," Severus paused to consider, wanting to make her laugh again or at least smile. "Although I don't like to admit it to him, for you understand he could repeat it to the Dark Lord in his thoughts...he makes friends with students who others avoid. Lovegood, Longbottom. During the Triwizard Tournament he lost time in the second trial because he wanted to make sure that everyone was rescued. He has elements of his mother as well."
Snape winced at the words, because until this moment he hadn't admitted to himself that he had grown to like the boy. Now he had one more thing to hide from the Dark Lord when he tried to pry inside his mind, one more thing to maintain a mask about. He couldn't let Harry know, either, because Harry was a vulnerability...
"Thank you, Sev, for looking after him."
"I have loved you since the first moment I laid eyes on you, Lily." The words were out of his mouth before he had planned them, and instantly he regretted sharing this secret when he knew that she and James would live together eternally. Perhaps she would tell James, and the two of them would laugh about it with Sirius Black.
"I know."
Her answer shocked him so much he sank to his knees, forcing speech and breath from his mouth. This ring was marvelous! Surely she could come again, if she could tell him things like this. He crawled forward, clutching for the hem of her dress in supplication, but his hands held nothing. Nothing but air and a ghostly mist.
To his surprise, she did not back away. Instead, she reached out her hand to him as though it were corporeal, as though she could help him off the floor and his heart out of the pit it had been tormented in these past fifteen years.
He stood. "Oh Lily, why did I ever have to call you a--then you would never have married James and it could have been you and I, together."
"What's past is past, Sev," she said, but she did not stop smiling, and the kindness radiated from her mouth to her eyes. He could not stop looking at her. "We cannot turn back the clock now, it's too late. Without James, there would be no Harry. And Harry is the only one who can stop You-Know-Who. You must help him, however much the two of us might wish we could change what happened between us."
His heart felt as though it would burst in two. She wanted to change what happened between them - and yet Harry Potter stood in the way. For a flickering moment he considered unforgiveable things, and yet he knew that while he did not care what the Ministry of Magic thought of his actions toward Potter he cared a great deal about Lily Evans. It was in her memory he acted. Still, his mouth seemed to act again of its own accord.
"If I had been his father he would have been skilled in Occlumency, in blocking out the Dark Lord's thoughts, the fiasco at the Ministry would never have happened--"
"But who would have been there to teach him Occlumency, Sev? Because I think we both know that the reason you hate James Potter so much after all these years is that he got the glory dying to protect me."
Her words stung, and he began to draw his face into a mask because the truth hurt. Yet this was his Lily, and when would he ever be able to speak with her like this again?
"I need you to live for him, Severus Snape."
His head snapped up as she said his name, as though it were on some sort of tether. "Dying is the thought of a moment. You don't really think it through, you just act. The real bravery is in getting up every day when you know it is going to be an awful day, facing untold dangers, and protecting someone who isn't very thankful for it and keeps looking for trouble."
"That seems to be my life in a nutshell right now," Snape remarked with a trace of bitterness, and yet what she had said about bravery shook him to the core.
Her eyes twinkled slightly, a bit like Dumbledore's, as though she could read his thoughts. "I'll make a deal with you, Severus Snape."
Snape looked up at her, trying not to think that her eyes looked like Harry Potter's.
"Continue to help my son. Do whatever Dumbledore asks you. Don't use the ring again. And I'll go on a date with you when you reach the afterlife at your natural time, not before. If you cheat I will know, because I will be watching."
"But -- you -- James --"
"An eternity with James Potter is a long, long time."
And they both giggled like first years. Snape nodded, once, trying to fix this moment in his memory forever. Until it was time for him to meet with Lily again, he would look after her son. As he put the ring back on the table, she vanished. Brushing a single tear from his eye, he swept from the room and let his face settle once more into an unreadable mask.
Another door opened. "Well, Fawkes," Dumbledore said, "That went rather well I thought."
Type of Fanwork: Fic
Pairing: Snape/Lily
Characters: Severus Snape, Lily Evans/Potter, Albus Dumbledore, Fawkes
Length (if applicable): roughly 1900 words
Rating: General Audiences
Creator: lizcommotion
Summary/Description: Snape Uses the Resurrection Stone to talk to Lily and settle a few matters of the heart.
Thanks to all my beta-readers for their support.
"What made you think to try on the ring? It is clearly a cursed object. I would have thought even Potter could have discerned that, Headmaster." Severus Snape sighed at Dumbledore, watching through his stringy black hair as the Headmaster gingerly massaged his blackened hand.
"I don't know what came over me," Dumbledore replied again. They had been going on like this for the past several minutes, as Snape tried rather unsuccessfully to use his powers of Occlumency against Dumbledore.
"Trying to force the answer out, Severus? A bit rough for you, isn't it?"
Snape made his face a mask for the attack that never came, for surely if he was this insolent Dumbledore would have retaliated, would have had every right to, but Dumbledore did not attempt to read his raging thoughts.
It was all well and good him saying that he had left Potter, Granger, and the Weasley boy with a job to do, and all well and good him saying that he wanted Snape to kill Dumbledore, but Snape wanted the whole plan this time. Tonight, after being dragged out of bed for the hundredth time to fix yet another problem unquestioningly, Severus Snape was beginning to grow a little weary of Dumbledore's unwavering faith in him and his continued insistence that Snape must not know Dumbledore's deepest secrets. It made Snape wonder if there was a plan at all.
"All of this cursing has rather made me tired," Dumbledore yawned. "I think I shall head for bed. Do you mind clearing up these things, Severus? I wouldn't want one of the other Heads of House wondering why I should need a bezoar on my desk."
"I shouldn't think they would question it with you, Headmaster," Snape replied, mentally cursing himself, for this was the opportunity he needed to find out more.
"Oh, but the blackened hand in the morning might give it away. I'll have trouble passing it off as the latest fashion statement. Good night. And thank you for saving an old man's life long enough for him to do what he needs to do."
Snape looked away. "And then? When you have done what you need to do?"
"You'll be saving my dignity." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled behind his half-rimmed spectacles as he held his injured arm carefully next to him and left the room for his quarters.
Scarcely had the door shut when Snape withdrew his wand from his own pocket and thought the spell, "Muffliato." Hopefully Albus would be too tired to wonder why his ears were ringing. Then he looked around. The pensieve, he noticed, was locked. But there was still the ring on the desk. Perhaps that would offer some clue as to Dumbledore's late night absences from Hogwarts.
It was a curious thing. The dark energy seemed to have vanished from it, perhaps when Dumbledore had put it on, but Snape was not fool enough to try the ring on himself. There would be no one skilled enough to brew a remedy, and even that would only last a year at best. But what was this stone? He bent closer to examine the cracked and blackened stone that seemed to bear some sort of inscription or triangle. Perhaps there was something inside the ring itself to indicate its origins? Severus slowly turned the ring in his hands several times.
"Hello, Severus."
The ring must answer dreams, for that was the only explanation of who stood before him. Lily Evans - he refused to call her Potter - gazed down at him and Severus nearly dropped the ring.
"Whoops, better keep hold of the ring, Sev," Lily grinned at him.
"Then, you are back?"
"I can only stay a few moments in the mortal world." It was as though his heart had inflated once more, filled once more with hope and love and longing, and now it was gone. He nearly threw himself from the window.
"But I thought we should talk."
Severus took a deep breath. He would talk with Lily Evans, and perhaps for now, that would be enough. Words failed him as he looked into her eyes...the same eyes as that insolent Harry Potter's but framed by her radiant face. "I am so sorry for what happened," Severus began. "I never...I never meant for you to die, any of you. It was all a stupid attempt at getting glory back then, because I didn't know how." It was strange to speak the words he'd been longing to say to her for years, words he'd hidden from the Dark Lord, from Dumbledore, from that wretched Harry Potter. Yet with Lily he could say anything.
"I know, Sev," Lily replied, as a silvery tear made its way down her ghostly face. "I forgive you."
"But I called you -- awful things. I betrayed you and your family. You died because of me. I worked for the Dark Lord, as a Death Eater! How can you forgive me for that? How can anyone?"
"We judge others by what they become, Sev, and you are fighting He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named in a dangerous position every day!"
"Perhaps what I did was simply unforgiveable." He said it almost to himself, for it was too much to believe that Lily had indeed forgiven him.
"I forgive you, Severus," she repeated. "But do you forgive yourself?"
He met her eyes, her beautiful green eyes, and for a moment it was as though he had never called her Mudblood. She broke the silence and the perfection of the moment by saying, "And you are looking after my Harry. How is he?"
Severus sighed, because he had known in his heart that Lily Evans would want to talk about a Potter when she was with him, that was always the way of it. "He is just like his father." Severus tried to keep the bitterness out of his voice.
"Only like his father?" Lily asked, laughing gently.
"He has your eyes," Severus paused to consider, wanting to make her laugh again or at least smile. "Although I don't like to admit it to him, for you understand he could repeat it to the Dark Lord in his thoughts...he makes friends with students who others avoid. Lovegood, Longbottom. During the Triwizard Tournament he lost time in the second trial because he wanted to make sure that everyone was rescued. He has elements of his mother as well."
Snape winced at the words, because until this moment he hadn't admitted to himself that he had grown to like the boy. Now he had one more thing to hide from the Dark Lord when he tried to pry inside his mind, one more thing to maintain a mask about. He couldn't let Harry know, either, because Harry was a vulnerability...
"Thank you, Sev, for looking after him."
"I have loved you since the first moment I laid eyes on you, Lily." The words were out of his mouth before he had planned them, and instantly he regretted sharing this secret when he knew that she and James would live together eternally. Perhaps she would tell James, and the two of them would laugh about it with Sirius Black.
"I know."
Her answer shocked him so much he sank to his knees, forcing speech and breath from his mouth. This ring was marvelous! Surely she could come again, if she could tell him things like this. He crawled forward, clutching for the hem of her dress in supplication, but his hands held nothing. Nothing but air and a ghostly mist.
To his surprise, she did not back away. Instead, she reached out her hand to him as though it were corporeal, as though she could help him off the floor and his heart out of the pit it had been tormented in these past fifteen years.
He stood. "Oh Lily, why did I ever have to call you a--then you would never have married James and it could have been you and I, together."
"What's past is past, Sev," she said, but she did not stop smiling, and the kindness radiated from her mouth to her eyes. He could not stop looking at her. "We cannot turn back the clock now, it's too late. Without James, there would be no Harry. And Harry is the only one who can stop You-Know-Who. You must help him, however much the two of us might wish we could change what happened between us."
His heart felt as though it would burst in two. She wanted to change what happened between them - and yet Harry Potter stood in the way. For a flickering moment he considered unforgiveable things, and yet he knew that while he did not care what the Ministry of Magic thought of his actions toward Potter he cared a great deal about Lily Evans. It was in her memory he acted. Still, his mouth seemed to act again of its own accord.
"If I had been his father he would have been skilled in Occlumency, in blocking out the Dark Lord's thoughts, the fiasco at the Ministry would never have happened--"
"But who would have been there to teach him Occlumency, Sev? Because I think we both know that the reason you hate James Potter so much after all these years is that he got the glory dying to protect me."
Her words stung, and he began to draw his face into a mask because the truth hurt. Yet this was his Lily, and when would he ever be able to speak with her like this again?
"I need you to live for him, Severus Snape."
His head snapped up as she said his name, as though it were on some sort of tether. "Dying is the thought of a moment. You don't really think it through, you just act. The real bravery is in getting up every day when you know it is going to be an awful day, facing untold dangers, and protecting someone who isn't very thankful for it and keeps looking for trouble."
"That seems to be my life in a nutshell right now," Snape remarked with a trace of bitterness, and yet what she had said about bravery shook him to the core.
Her eyes twinkled slightly, a bit like Dumbledore's, as though she could read his thoughts. "I'll make a deal with you, Severus Snape."
Snape looked up at her, trying not to think that her eyes looked like Harry Potter's.
"Continue to help my son. Do whatever Dumbledore asks you. Don't use the ring again. And I'll go on a date with you when you reach the afterlife at your natural time, not before. If you cheat I will know, because I will be watching."
"But -- you -- James --"
"An eternity with James Potter is a long, long time."
And they both giggled like first years. Snape nodded, once, trying to fix this moment in his memory forever. Until it was time for him to meet with Lily again, he would look after her son. As he put the ring back on the table, she vanished. Brushing a single tear from his eye, he swept from the room and let his face settle once more into an unreadable mask.
Another door opened. "Well, Fawkes," Dumbledore said, "That went rather well I thought."
