Chapter Text
In January 1975, Severus gave Lily a pendant for her fifteenth birthday. The pendant had two real rubies, which were her birthstone (both of theirs, actually). They were laid in a gold figure-eight sort of shape. He thought it looked like an eternity symbol, but he didn’t plan to mention that. He’d gotten some money from his grandfather, Publius Prince, whom he had yet to actually meet. Severus had been holding onto it for nearly a month now, just itching to present it to Lily. It was starting to feel like some magical relic, rather than an ordinary (if particularly nice) piece of jewelry.
Mrs. Evans mentioned bringing out the cake, even though they had all just finished supper. Severus wondered if she was eager to hurry the evening along so that he would leave; he knew she was uncomfortable. Still, it gave him an opening to blurt out, “Wait! I’ve got something for you, Lily.”
He caught Petunia smirking, probably hoping it was another one of his old toys, and he whipped out the velvet box triumphantly. He opened it (with a bit less finesse than he had when he had practiced) and made sure that that harpy got a good look before he turned and presented it to Lily, who gasped and threw her arms around him. For a moment, Severus was victorious.
“It’s the Gryffindor house colors, but I guess that can’t be helped,” he stammered, as Lily turned away from him and pulled up her hair. (He hadn’t expected that; it was an awfully intimate gesture, wasn’t it?) There was one small dark freckle on the back of her neck, and some fuzzy pinkish hair that was nearly invisible. His face burned and his fingers trembled as he fumbled and fumbled with the tiny clasp. He thought he could actually hear Mr. Evans wincing.
He finally got it fastened without breaking it and Lily turned and looked at him. She smiled so hard both dimples were showing and he could hardly see her green eyes. “I really really love it, Sev. Um, I didn’t expect something like this. It’s… I don’t know what to say.”
He muttered “Ah, you can just say ‘thank you.’” That wasn’t at all the right thing to say, but Severus couldn’t really hear his own voice. Not with her looking at him like that. He desperately wished that this moment would go on forever and he also wished that it would stop immediately. He should have done this long ago. He shouldn’t have done this at all.
Then Mr. Evans cleared his throat quite loudly, and Mrs. Evans started talking nervously about how very thoughtful indeed, and who was ready for cake?
“I hope you don’t think that’s real gold, Lily,” Petunia huffed. She crossed her arms and turned her back to her sister. “It’s obviously just costume jewelry from some variety store. Or did you steal it from your mum, Severus?”
“Of course it’s real,” he snarled, leaping to his feet, nearly lunging across the table. “I had it custom made by a jeweler in Hogsmeade, a good friend of Lucious Malfoy’s as a matter of fact. He’s from an old magical family and those sort of people know all about quality gems.” Everyone stared at him blankly, except for Lily, who looked down.
“It cost over twenty galleons just to have the design made up and then another sixty for the necklace itself,” he spat into Petunia’s horsey face. Lily gasped.
“That’s over four hundred pounds altogether,” he added proudly. Now it was Mrs. Evans’s turn to gasp. Severus suddenly felt a little out of breath himself, and he sat down. He had gotten gravy on his tie when he’d leaned across the table.
Then everyone started talking at once, except Mr. Evans, who just shifted from wince to cringe.
“Sev, that’s- that’s so much money, you really didn’t have to …”
“Darling, that’s really terribly generous, but I’m not sure it’s appropriate for such a young girl…”
“How on earth does someone who can’t even afford a decent winter coat have money to go around buying fine jewelry? If any of that is even true…”
Petunia’s nettling captured Mrs. Evans’s flustered ire. “Petunia, go to your room this instant!” She snapped. “Go on, get out of my sight, I could slap your wicked mouth!” Both girls burst into tears, and their mother closed her eyes and clasped her hands in front of her face as if in prayer.
“Nothing but a mean little snake,” she murmured as Petunia ran up the stairs sobbing. “Making her sister cry on her birthday…”
Severus sat, bewildered, as Lily wept quietly for several minutes. He wondered if he should put his arm around her. He had been sweating for some time now, and if she leaned against him, she would surely feel (and maybe smell) it. Also, her parents were sitting right there. That made it even more awkward, though they sort of looked as though they were in a trance.
Finally, Lily stopped shuddering. She drank some of her cold tea and wiped her nose with her napkin. They all pretended not to see. Her eyes and nose would be red for the rest of the afternoon, Severus thought. She voice would still be thick from crying even after she moved on and talked happily about other things.
“Shall we have cake, then?” Asked Mr. Evans.
“Sure,” Lily said. “Let’s have cake.” She looked at Severus and giggled a bit too hard. He sort of wished he had been banished from the table himself. After cake, Lily would probably ask him to listen to records with her. He started thinking up excuses to leave.
In the end, Lily’s parents let her keep the necklace. Severus’s dream of looking across the great hall to see her toying with it came true; once she even caught his eye and mouthed the words I love it! Something about the way Lily smiled made him feel embarrassed for her. Instead of winking or something, as he’d imagined doing, Severus turned away, pretending not to see her.