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“James Potter!” Lily Evans’ bright red hair glints in the sun as she stomps her way down to where James and his mates are crowding around Severus. Severus is in the air, upside down , his pants on display for everyone gathered around.
“Lily–” Lily cuts him off, her fist connecting solidly with his nose. “FUCK.” James drops to the ground, his hands flying up to hold his nose. Lily sees blood seep from the cracks of his fingers and she feels oddly satisfied.
“Evans, what the fuck?” Sirius Black barks out, his knees hit the ground harshly as he drops to hover next to James.
Lily ignores them, turning instead to see where Severus is. James’s spell was cancelled when Lily hit him, which dropped the Slytherin. Severus– her Severus is curled up on the ground, his robes pulled tight around him. She rushes over, sinking to the ground and placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.
“Please, please.” His voice is fragile and broken, and her heart feels heavy. She’s let this go on too long, let the boys go unchecked too long. She was a prefect for a reason.
She stands quickly, spinning around to face James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus. “One hundred points from Gryffindor.” Gasps ring out around her, but she ignores them and keeps her eyes trained on the gaping boys in front of her. “Lily?-”
“And detention, for all four of you. Six months of detention, that is. You will report to McGonagall every Saturday.” Lily’s eyes harden, and she dares them to speak, to oppose her. She lets her eyes roam each of their faces, to gauge their reactions.
Remus, as per usual, looks guilty, like a chastised child. Peter looks mousy and small, his eyes averted and his fingers twitching nervously. Sirius and James both look outraged, Sirius more so than James.
James stands up, one of his hands still cradling his nose.
“Lily? What are you doing? A hundred points? Six months of detention?” James sounds bewildered, and he’s looking at her like he can’t quite believe it. He’s staring at her like something’s wrong .
She ignores him, forcing herself to turn around. She crouches down again, staring down at her Slytherin, her Severus. “Sev?” She calls for him quietly, he doesn’t even flinch.
“Sev? C’mon, let’s go. Let's go somewhere else.” He finally reacts, uncurling just slightly, his dark onyx eyes peering up at her. “Lily?” He has a far-away look in his eyes, one Lily has seen before. The handful of times Severus came to her after he had a bad row with his dad, he was always bloody and bruised, and had this look about him. It always gave her shivers, and made her want to march down to their little house, and do, well, something.
This haunted look always made Lily nervous. He was far away from the present moment, far away from her. He was unreachable, locked away somewhere in his mind, somewhere safe. She doesn’t want to disturb him, doesn’t want to awaken him to the hurt, but she’s too worried. She’s always been terrified that one day he might go, and just not come back.
She prompts him to stand, remaining gentle as she prods him.
He stands slowly, Lily helping ease him up. She can only imagine how bruised his back is from the fall, and she makes a mental note to get him to Madame Pomfrey eventually. Lily reaches down and buttons his trousers, before giving them a small tug to make sure they’re secure on his hips.
There’s suddenly a hand on her shoulder, and she jerks to the side so she can see who touched her.
“Lily, bloody hell, you can’t just go around punching people. Snivy can handle himself.” Sirius Black’s voice makes her blood curdle, and Lily sees red.
“Oh, I can’t? But you can go around hurting and stripping people?” Lily’s seething, her chest heaving from exertion.
“I can’t defend my best friend from a bunch of vile, bullies ,” Sirius grimaces at that, and Lily can see James and Remus wince from behind him, “But you get to attempt to murder another student?”
Severus spent hours trying to convince her not to go and murder Sirius right then and there when he’d come to her distressed and hurt. He’d taken Sirius’s advice and gone to see Remus at the shack, on a full moon. Remus almost killed him, and he ended up scraping Severus’s arm during his escape. He came straight to her, banging on the Fat Lady’s portrait until someone answered and went to fetch Lily.
Lily raged even more when, two days later, Severus told her that when Dumbledore got his hands on Severus, he swore him to secrecy with a vow. The misstep, however, was Dumbledore not swearing Lily to secrecy.
All the students gathered around them gasp in shock, and some people step back cautiously. Sirius goes rigid, his gaze flickering from Lily to Severus, before he turns his head minutely to look at Remus, who’s deathly still behind him.
“What,” Sirius swallows hard, his adams apple bobbing roughly, “What are you talking about, Lily?” He gives her a calculating look, as if he’s unsure if she knows knows.
“Don’t think I don’t know, Black. You tried sending Severus off to get murdered , and by your best friend, at that, because of his sickness. I don’t know why he’s still hanging out with you, because if it were me? I’d kill you myself.”
Lily gives Remus a look, and she watches a myriad of emotions pass over his face. She looks back to Sirius, whose gone deathly still. He works his jaw, clearly agitated, but Lily is quick to usher Severus away before anyone else can speak. She decides to leave them to fix the carnage she created. If Dumbledore was willing to force Severus into an Unbreakable vow, then surely he could do that with twenty or so other students.
“Shh, c’mon Sevvy. Let’s get you somewhere quiet.” Lily guides him to the Astronomy Tower, one of their favourite places. Severus lowers himself to the ground once they’re there, letting his back hit the wall as he leans back. He begins blinking rapidly, and Lily knows he’s back .
“Sev.” Lily leans down and wraps her arms around Severus's neck. He responds eagerly, winding his own arms around her waist and pulling her to him.
“Thank you.” His voice is rough, and Lily pulls back. “You don’t have to thank me. I’m sorry. I should have done something sooner.” Her eyes burn suddenly, and she can feel tears begin to gather at her lashes.
Severus hums lowly, before leaning forward to plant a chaste kiss on Lily’s cheek. “It’s okay. You helped me now, that’s all that matters.”
Lily laughs, “Always so forgiving, Sev. You’ve got such a good heart.” Severus shakes his head. “I just have your light to guide me.”
Lily teeters forward, before deciding to go for it, and giving Severus a soft, loving kiss. He makes a small, wounded sound in the back of his throat, before he responds to the kiss.
After they’ve separated, and moved to sit side by side, Lily connects their hands. The line of their legs press against each other, and Lily can feel Severus’s warmth.
“I love you. I’ve loved you for years.” His words are so sudden, so startling, Lily jerks. “I love you too, you know.” Lily’s voice is quiet, but full of brimming emotion. Severus squeezes her hand.
There are a few beats of silence, before Lily speaks. “Promise me we won’t separate. Promise me that we’ll love each other forever.” She turns to him suddenly, dropping his hand in favour of holding up her pinky. Severus gives her his lopsided grin, before lifting his own pinky, connecting it with hers.
“Always.”