Consequences (Part 2)
Lily stood before the Snape residence, staring at the invisible barrier that kept her at bay. The wards were far beyond anything she’d encountered before—strong, layered, and impenetrable. They hummed with Severus’s magic, raw and precise, so much more than she ever remembered from their school days. She had known Severus was brilliant, gifted in almost every subject, but this... this was something else. It was unsettling to realize how much his power had grown since Hogwarts.
Then again, even if allowed in, she would have no idea what to say or how to begin talking to her estranged friend. She was so sure he had chosen the path she suspected only to end up doing something completely unexpected. She felt that perhaps she didn’t know Severus at all and had no business being here, but the need to understand what was happening in his mind and in his life trumped all her doubts.
“Lily?”
His voice cut through her thoughts, sharp and almost unfamiliar. She spun around, startled. Severus hadn’t come from his house, but instead approached her from behind, a grocery bag in hand, a carton of milk peeking out from the top. He was dressed simply, but there was an edge to him now—calculated, guarded.
“Hey, Sev,” Lily greeted him, a smile she didn’t quite feel tugging at her lips. “It’s been so long. How have you been?”
Severus’s dark eyes flicked around the street, cautious and searching, before settling back on her. “Did you come alone?” His tone wasn’t warm, wasn’t even neutral. It was suspicious.
“Of course,” Lily replied, taken aback by his wariness. “I still remember the rules.”
“Clearly you forgot the most important one,” Severus said, his voice low, as if her very presence was an affront. “Never come anywhere near my house.”
Lily still remembered how Severus used to look at her back when they were at Hogwarts. His gaze had always been intense—so intense, it often sent a pleasant shiver down her spine. But there had also been something overwhelming about the depth of his feelings, something that had weighed on her, making it difficult to reciprocate in the way he’d clearly wanted.
Now, though, the look he gave her was one she didn’t recognize. This wasn’t the Severus who had once stared at her with such longing, as though she were the only person who existed in his world. No, this look was cold, distant. She wasn’t even sure if he really saw her anymore. The indifference in his eyes wasn’t just unfamiliar—it was alien. He looked at her the way he looked at strangers. As if she were nothing more than another person passing by.
Lily winced at the harshness in his tone, the finality in his words. How had things become this bad between them? She could still remember a time when Severus had looked at her with warmth, with a kind of reverence that had always left her a little uneasy. His feelings had been so heavy, too heavy for her to carry. It was part of why she’d struggled to give him what he wanted.
But now... as she met his eyes, all she could see was the coldness. No, it was worse than that. There was something hollow about the way he regarded her, as if she weren’t even Lily to him anymore. She was just someone. Someone else. Like all the others.
“I just wanted to check in on you, with everything happening. Do you think we could… head in for a talk?”
“No.”
“Wh-What? Why are you being so cold to me? Last I checked, you were the one who created this rift between us, not me! Now I’m trying to reconnect, and you’re behaving like this!”
“Lily, with all due respect, and believe me when I say there isn’t much of it, I have no interest in buying what you’ve come to sell. So please, see yourself out of this street and back to the Potter mansion.”
“I-Is that what this is about? It’s been three years since it all ended! When are you going to let it go?”
“Two.”
“What?”
"It’s been two years since it really ended, Lily, not three. Or did you really think he stopped bothering me when you two started dating?” His voice dripped with venom, eyes narrowing as if daring her to challenge the truth he had kept hidden for so long.
“What—” Lily faltered, suddenly unsure. She could feel the tension radiating from him, his words landing like blows. It had never occurred to her that James might have kept antagonizing Severus even after they got together. But now that Severus had said it, she couldn’t dismiss the possibility. She had thought the animosity was in the past, forgotten like their old school days. Clearly, it wasn’t. Not for Severus.
“I have no time to spare to discuss the sordid details,” Severus continued, cutting her off sharply. His tone was cold, but there was something deeper underneath. Pain. “You chose your path, Lily, and while you still don’t see it, you chose it a whole lot earlier than I ever chose mine.”
Lily blinked, his words sinking in slowly, painfully. She had chosen her path? When? In her mind, she had simply followed her heart when she got together with James. But Severus was implying something else, something much deeper that she hadn’t considered.
“Severus…” she began, her voice softer now, less defensive. She didn’t know what she was trying to say, only that she felt the need to explain, to bridge the growing chasm between them. But she had no words. Not yet.
His eyes, however, had already turned hard again, closing off whatever flicker of emotion she thought she’d seen. “Go home, Lily,” he said quietly, but with finality. “There’s nothing left here for you.”
She stood frozen as he turned and walked away, his figure retreating into the distance. The words he left behind echoed in her mind, haunting her. There’s nothing left here. But as she stood alone on the street, feeling an ache she couldn’t quite name, Lily wondered if that was truly the case.
As she turned to leave, a question burned in her mind, one that would not be so easily extinguished:
When did I stop caring?
Or worse still:
Did I ever really stop?