The Letter
The morning arrived, stirring the four Marauders awake.
“Remus, wake up! It’s nine, Lily is going to be heading to the Great Hall. We can’t miss her!” The messy haired boy said as he was struggling to get his clothes on.
“Five more minutes…” The light brown haired groaned.
“We’re just going to leave you then,” Sirius said as he stretched his arms up.
There was no response from the werewolf, so the other three Marauders prepared themselves quickly and decided to leave without him. They understood his energy was still drained from his werewolf transformation.
The three boys rushed down the corridors, with many people looking at them with admiration. After all, James Potter and Sirius Black were the epitome of every girl’s dream boy. They winked at the other girls and let them swoon over them. They loved the attention they received. Peter Pettigrew was just there to let them shine further.
As the two boys were getting lost in the admiration they were receiving, Peter noticed a dark red head making their way to the Great Hall. They turned their head, and the chubby boy was met with bright green eyes in return.
The short boy grabbed James’ arms, “L-look, it’s Evans over there!”
James immediately stopped whatever he was doing and glanced at the direction Peter was pointing towards. He immediately broke into a huge grin.
“Evans!” He shouted loudly, and everyone turned to look at him.
The red haired girl turned around and her expression became a bit more cheerful as she saw the boy who called her name.
“Potter,” she said with a small smile.
“You mean James,” he replied with a wink.
James had a natural charm that drew people in. He was born to be a leader and hero.
“Okay James,” she said emphasizing his name, “What can I help you with?”
“Awe, don’t be so cold, Lils. Maybe I just want to talk to you.”
“Is that so?”
“Well, no I have a small favour to ask,” he said with a sheepish grin.
“And what favour could I possibly help you with?” She said with suspicion.
“I just need you to deliver this letter to a certain someone,” the boy explained as he grabbed an envelope from his pocket.
“That seems simple. Who exactly?”
“Our dear friend, Snivellus!” Sirius cut in as he threw his arm around James.
Lily froze, and her expression immediately darkened. She pushed the envelope away.
“I have no business with him,” she said with a scowl, “I don’t want to interact with that guy.”
“Come on Evans, don’t shut us down without hearing us out. We’re not asking you to be best friends with him again. We just need you to deliver this letter.” Sirius said cheerfully.
“Why does it need to be me…” her voice trailed off as she loosely grasped onto what they were up to.
“Is it going to be another prank?”
She seemed uncomfortable, and immediately started fidgeting with her fingers. She could tell that was exactly what they intended to do, by their mischievous facial expression.
“Come on, it’s not going to be that bad. Just for fun!”
“Plus, you need to get your revenge. He called you the M-word!
Lily clenched her fists as she was reminded about that eventful incident. She bit her lip, before impulsively reaching for the letter.
“It’s not going to be a harmful prank, right?” She asked quietly.
“Yeah!” Sirius lied with ease.
“Alright, I’ll give it to him. You guys owe me big time.”
“Anything for you Lils!”
⭒ ⭒ ⭒ ⭒ ⭒ ⭒ ⭒
Severus Snape was ready to go out of his little fortress that protected him.
He looked a bit different as well. His greasy hair wasn't so greasy, and his skim wasn’t so oily, since the Room of Requirement provided him rich soap and shampoos. He felt like a new person.
He still had his long gloomy hair, but he liked it that way. It let him hide from the gazes of other people. He remembered how Lily liked his long hair, to style his hair in all sorts of crazy hairdos.
“Lily…” he murmured quietly.
The black haired boy wondered what would happen if he encountered her again. After all, the only thing he wanted was to see her once again. He knew they couldn’t be friends, but just seeing a glimpse of her alive was enough for him.
In the end, he had dedicated his whole life to the girl in his past life. He flipped from the Dark Lord and his fellow friends, to avenge Lily and protect the guilt he harboured. He sacrificed his life, and was willing to live as Dumbledore’s puppet in order to protect her son.
He never cared about the light or the dark. All he ever wanted was acceptance, and a place where he could call home.
It was something he never managed achieved.
That was really pathetic and depressing.
“Isss sssomething wrong?” The silvery snake asked as it slithered and wiggled in the air, “I can feel some distress in your soul.”
Severus immediately blushed and thrashed at the snake.
“Stop reading into my soul,” he cried.
“I can’t help it, I’m tied to your sssoul.”
Severus couldn’t help but feel embarrassed. He didn’t like how his emotions were practically like an open book to someone else. He always hid his emotions in the invisible walls he created, and he was not used to relying on others.
“Just shut it,” was what he managed to utter in the end.
The snake seemed unbothered and continued floating in the air. Satisfied with its silence, Severus browsed through the other ancient books.
Although the books were old, they were in the perfect condition. They all seemed credible, and not written by some unreliable waste of space. Their information ranged from a variety of topics, and he made some mental notes.
He learned some new spells, and experimented with them. He learned how to create a fire that burns everything except its caster, Hellfyre. He learned a variety of tracking charms, and he realised how the Marauder’s map was charmed. It was fairly simple, but time consuming. He learned many valuable things from this mysterious library, and although he hadn’t mastered all the spells he wished to learn, he was able to do a weak imitation of them.
He managed to learn some new defensive spells, and that was all that was important.
He glanced at the clock, and noticed it was time to leave his abode before people realized he was missing.
“I need to go,” the boy said to the snake.
The snake descended and peered at the boy, “Can I come with you?”
“I shouldn’t have a snake trailing me at school.”
“It’s okay, no one can see or hear me but you when I’m in my spirit form.”
It wasn’t a bad arrangement, but he didn’t want anyone to know he had a snake trailing him. The Death Eater accusations would end up piling, and he’d be forced to become one if things continued at this pace.
“You can come, but don’t switch to your corporeal form no matter what.”
“Okay!” The snake said with the same cheerfulness.
Grabbing his wand and stuffing it in his robes, he stepped out of the Room of Requirement, with the spirit snake trailing behind him. He was a bit scared that outside the room would be the Marauders waiting for him. But luckily for him, there was hardly anyone in the Astronomy Wing of the castle, and no Marauders to be seen.
He strode down the halls, trying to make it to the Slytherin Dorms quickly and safely. He didn’t want to run into the Marauder’s but he knew they would have no issues finding him with their cursed map.
He could hear the whispers and giggles as he passed by others. It was humiliating, but he held his ground. He had gone through life and death situations, and to crumble down because of some kids was utterly disgraceful. Despite his mindset, he still held his head low.
“Thessse disssgraceful kidsss. I will bite all of them to death!” The snake hissed.
Severus continued ignoring the snake as it chattered and spoke about the marvelous revenge it would inflict on everyone who disrespected him.
“Oooh that’sss a very unusssual hair colour. Ssso interesssting,” the snake said mid way about its threats.
As he looked up to see what the snake was talking about, he saw a familiar red hair. He would recognize that hair anywhere. It was a beautiful flame haired girl standing ahead of him. She had lovely rich chestnut-red hair that was accompanied with viridian eyes that were brighter than any Slytherin green. She was decorated in red and gold, making it clear she was a true Gryffindor.
More importantly, she had life to her. She wasn’t a cold, dead corpse.
“Lily?” The boy called out to her weakly before he could even think.
He regretted it right away, and expected her to ignore him and avoid him like in the past whenever he tried to talk to her.
Except, in this turn, she looked at him with a cold demeanour. Noticing it was him, she surprised everyone and she walked up to him,
“Hey Snape. I have something for you.”
The boy looked at her outstretched hand, and saw a letter.
“What’s this?” he asked quietly, as his trembling hand reached for the letter.
“Read it, then you’ll know,” she said curtly before she gave him a small wave and walked away.
He stood there in the hallways, stunned. Although it was just a short interaction, it was everything for him.