01
With her classmates murmuring around her, Lily whirls on the professor, fire burning in her eyes.
“What does it do?” She shouts, marching towards the man, “The potion, tell me exactly what it’s supposed to do.”
He eyes her, confused. “Miss Evans, there’s no need to-”
“Now! Tell me what you’ve done to Severus.”
He isn’t sure whether it’s the way Lily is looking at him, or the oppressing atmosphere that prompts him to talk, but he finds his mouth opening either way.
“It puts you into a selected person’s mindscape. It was created as an interactive way to view memories. We are, quite literally, inside Mister Snape's mind. It seems that he was rather… Creative… in his Occlumency shield. Very imaginative.” He glances around at the tall walls, listening to the groaning that nearly vibrates the air around them.
Lily breathing picks up, panic tightening in her chest like a serpent twisting through her ribs, “And how do we get out?” She asks, ignoring the man's incorrect assumption.
“Well, it’s rather easy. We can take the counter potion and pull ourselves out.”
She curses under her breath. “Hand me two of the potions.” She holds her palm out, expectantly.
“Two? We can just hand one to everyone, why would you need two?” She huffed a laugh. “Of course you didn’t notice. I should have expected it, you’re hardly a competent teacher, why would you notice the missing student.” She paces in the center of the long silent group, hysteria setting in as the world around them shifts, tilting slowly.
“Missing-?” he pauses, looking around him as if counting attendance. “Where’s Mister Snape gone, Miss Evans?”
“The kid, from before? The one who ran away from us? That was Severus. Younger, and probably suffering from a PTSD flashback, if I had to guess from his reaction.” She worries her lip between her teeth, glancing from the professor, to the looming walls, then back.
“PT- PTSD? What do you mean, what is that?” James interrupts, stepping beside her.
“PTSD is a muggle term. It means Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and it usually refers to soldiers. Miss Evans, are you telling me Mister Snape is currently having a flashback? What triggered him?”
“You! That potion, this place, being surrounded by people, everything about this triggered him! Now give me our potions, I need to find him. He can’t be in this place, it-” she pauses, trying to slow her panicked breathing, “It’s bad for him.”
“How did his own mindscape trigger him? What is this place?”
Lily freezes in place. She knows she shouldn’t tell him, shouldn’t tell any of them. It was none of their business, but faced with violating his privacy, or leaving him to shake himself out of this and find his way back on his own, she had to.
“Severus started building his Occlumency shield over a year ago. He figured the easiest way to make something effective was to hide it all behind something he already knew. This- this place? Severus lived through this, years ago. I think he said he was 5, when he escaped.” She sniffs, blinking back tears at the memories of the little mute boy from her childhood.
“... escaped?” a quiet, disbelieving voice came from the crowd, as Remus leans forward, stepping closer. “What do you mean escaped? What is this place?” He repeats the professor's question.
“Severus called it The Maw. His mother thinks it’s an alternate dimension, something about the magic there getting crossed with ours, because this place, these people- they aren’t from our world. Hardly even human.” She clenches her jaw at the thought of them, eyes watering again.
“Wait, there are people in Snape’s mind?” Sirius pushes his way through the other students to stand by his friend's side, murmurs and offended shouts following him, before the students fall silent once more.
She ignores him, getting fed up with the questions, and turns once more to the teacher. “Enough with the badgering. Give me the potions. I’m going to find my friend. You can leave, you can come with, I don’t care. I’m finding him.” She holds her hand out again, staring the man in the eye, unwilling to back down.
Speechless, the professor simply reaches into his bag and pulls out two swirling lilac potions, placing them gently into Lily’s palm.
Almost immediately, James moves forward, and holds his own hand out. “If Lily is staying to find Snape, so am I.”
“Wait, we are?” Sirius questions, but holds his own hand out regardless.
“Of course,” he says, squaring his shoulders, “look at Lily. She’s obviously scared of this place, of whatever is here, what it means for Snape. If she’s staying, so am I.” He drops his vial into his bag, before turning to his other friends, expectantly.
“Well, I’m coming too, if the both of you are.” Remus moves, reaching to take another potion from their rather shocked looking teacher.
The boys all turn to look at a pale Peter, who seems to shrink in on himself at the decision. Before he can say anything, Lily cuts in. “You don’t have to come. None of you do. This place- it’s dangerous. These people are dangerous. It’s going to be terrifying, you shouldn’t have to live through this.”
Peter looks relieved, sending Lily a quick, tense smile, before rejoining the other students, who were now lining up to get their own vials, and leaving the mindscape.
Lily takes a moment to collect herself, staring at the swirling purple vials in her hand, before she carefully stashes them in her bag, and turns to the boys, who look uncharacteristically serious, staring at her.
“Alright." She reaches back into her bag, pulling out a muggle notebook and pen, "If you’re going to be coming with me, there are some things you need to know first.”