Chapter Text
Abandoned buildings were not the best places to hide, nor was the city the best place to live. They avoided it as much as they could, preferring the outskirts or the forest itself, searching for somewhere to stay until they were forced to move again.
But they had problems. And their only viable option was to go into the city for supplies and ammunition.
They were desperate. That was why they risked going back into the city once more, despite how badly the last time had gone.
Hunting had been poor lately, and with winter approaching and no shelter secured, they had to take risks or they would certainly die this time. Severus could feel the vicious hunger twisting his stomach and the merciless cold numbing his muscles.
They walked for hours, stopping to rest whenever their legs refused to carry them further, or hiding whenever they heard the slightest sound. Whether it was monsters or roaming bands, both were dangerous.
The supermarket they had chosen as their target was large but only two storeys high, standing among the desolate buildings like a splash of colour. The gates surrounding it were broken, the walls covered in paint and graffiti. Luckily, none of it seemed to be a gang symbol. Severus did not want to be forced to leave because of a few idiots.
Lily was the first to approach.
“The door’s locked,” she warned while examining it. “Do I break it, or do we look for another entrance?”
Severus looked at the door and then at the large empty car park. They had not encountered a single monster since entering the city.
Making noise was not ideal, but he wanted to leave before dusk so they could search for shelter calmly.
“Break it. Just don’t make too much noise,” he told her.
He kept watch around them while Lily smashed the glass in the door until the opening was large enough for them to slip through.
The interior looked just as abandoned and bleak, but at least it lacked the obvious signs of looting. For such a large shopping centre, it was unusually intact.
“Let’s grab some clothes. I want to wear something that doesn’t have blood stains on it,” Lily complained, tugging at the worn green tank top she was wearing. “I wish I could take a shower. Cleaning spells aren’t enough anymore.”
He understood. He had begun to hate how his own body felt. The dirt clung like another layer of skin, and his hair felt greasier and heavier every day. Lily must have felt the same. Her hair looked oily too, permanently tied in a low braid.
They had found many rivers and lakes in the forest, but bathing in them was always dangerous. You never knew who might be hiding nearby, and putting yourself in a vulnerable position for a minor inconvenience was stupid.
They walked through rows of neatly arranged clothes covered in dust. Lily looked like she was playing at shopping, holding up garments and glancing at herself in the mirror. Severus chose a simple set of clothes without wasting time.
He waited for Lily to finish choosing, diligently looking away whenever she changed and was left in her underwear.
She had already told him she didn’t mind.
He did.
The rule of never separating was sometimes too demanding. Mostly for Lily.
“I’m done,” the redhead announced as she walked back to him, showing off her outfit. “Do you like it?”
It was simple: comfortable trousers, a short green shirt, and a thick jacket draped over her shoulders in the same style Severus had chosen. If not for the belt at her hip carrying the gun, she might almost have looked normal.
“It’s practical,” Severus replied, pulling the hood of his jacket over his hair. It was far too noticeable, even at night.
Lily then tied the brown scarf around her neck, pulling it up to hide the lower half of her face.
The grocery section was at the back.
People had definitely been here before. Broken glass was scattered across the floor. Blood stained the walls and pooled into sticky patches on the white tiles. The air smelled thick and rotten, so foul it nearly made him retch.
They entered cautiously, their boots crunching softly on the glass.
If people could enter, perhaps a monster could too. Killing one was easy enough; they could use Lily’s gun or Severus’s axe. Magic did very little damage to those creatures.
“It’s clear, Sev,” Lily said, still cautious, her finger resting on the trigger of her pistol. After a full minute she seemed to relax and lowered the weapon. “Let’s take some of these bags and whatever tins are left,” she said, pointing at a shelf that had not been completely looted.
“Do you prefer tuna or chicken?” Severus asked, holding up both tins.
“Tuna,” she replied without looking at him, busy deciding which cereal bar flavour to take.
Severus took the tuna. He would have liked to find some fruit or vegetables for Lily, but judging by the rotten smell it was impossible.
He could not even understand how Lily walked so calmly while he was using every ounce of strength not to vomit.
“I think that’s everything. Any more and we’ll slow ourselves down,” Lily warned, closing the backpack and slinging it over her shoulder. “We could come back tomorrow.”
“Too risky. We’ll endure the winter.”
They searched the entire supermarket anyway, not wanting to miss anything. They looked for batteries and a new torch for Lily. The last one had ended up floating down the river when they fled from a horde of monsters a month ago.
The silence was unsettling, so chilling and unnatural that it raised goosebumps on his skin and put him on alert. Something felt different from a few minutes ago.
He felt watched.
There was something in the shadows of the corners, in the way the sunlight seemed unable to reach them, as if it were afraid to.
Severus approached the darkness cautiously while Lily continued along the aisle. He gripped his axe tightly, preparing for whatever danger might be hiding there, hoping it was only the paranoia that had been haunting him for days.
He held on to the weapon as if his life depended on it and stepped into the shadows.
Within the darkness he faintly glimpsed a pair of eyes shining.
Before he could swing the axe, he was shoved backwards faster than any monster outside could move.
The person knocked him to the ground, wrenching the axe from his hands and throwing it away. It caught him completely off guard. He lost a few seconds trying to understand what had happened, and the attacker used them to pin him down.
But Severus recovered quickly.
He forced one leg between their bodies and kicked hard into the man’s chest, throwing him off and scrambling back towards where the axe had landed. His fingers barely brushed the handle before he was dragged backwards by the ankle.
He twisted around and kicked the man in the face, freeing himself again.
A deep shout from Lily echoed in the distance, followed by hurried footsteps. The sound distracted him for a second.
It cost him his escape.
The body slammed down on him again, this time with more force and aggression. A hand seized his hair and smashed his head against the floor.
A groan of pain escaped him as his skull struck the tiles. His mind instantly swam, dizzy and disoriented.
“Stay still,” the man above him warned, too close for Severus to hear properly through the ringing in his ears.
Through blurred vision he saw three more figures emerging from the darkness. Ridiculously intimidating. One carried what looked like a bat. Another held a wand.
If these four idiots were wizards, then they were at a serious disadvantage. Mostly because he was already pinned down and Lily only had three bullets left.
One of them would survive. And the way the man held him down, defeating him would not be easy.
Severus growled and planted his hands on the floor to push himself up, slicing his palms open on the glass. But the knee pressed into his back with greater force.
Then suddenly, a sharp, explosive crack echoed through the supermarket, loud enough to make Severus’s head throb.
A gunshot.
The man holding him jerked violently and his grip tightened for a moment. Severus grunted in pain but forced himself to look up.
Lily was approaching.
“Run!” he shouted to his friend, earning another blow against the floor that made his vision flash white.
But he heard it, another set of footsteps, different from Lily’s. Two of the men disappeared from his sight.
He couldn’t see what was happening, only hear it: groans, a shout, the dull thuds of a fight. It sounded brutal, blows landing, ragged breaths of pain. The scrape of Lily’s boots dragging across the floor, then the dull metallic clang of something hitting the ground hard.
Severus panicked. His heart raced so wildly he felt as though it might burst out of his chest.
He used all his strength to twist his body and drive his elbow into the man’s abdomen. It didn’t do much damage, but it relieved the pressure.
The man reacted quickly, viciously, punching him hard in the jaw. He forced him down again, but this time at an angle where Severus could see what was happening to Lily.
She struggled with one of them, both of them fighting for control of the gun as he forced her backwards into a shelf. Lily used the impact to her advantage and slammed her forehead into the man’s head.
He staggered back with a groan of pain.
Then the other one swung the bat furiously. Lily ducked at the last second.
She raised the gun and fired at the man with the bat, but the first attacker forced her arms upwards. The shot went wide, grazing the bat-wielder’s arm before smashing into one of the LED lights.
“Shit,” the man snarled, clutching his injured arm.
Only one bullet left.
Using the man’s grip against him, Lily forced his arms down sharply and drove her knee brutally into his stomach. The air burst from his lungs in a hoarse, choking gasp.
Then, before he could recover, Lily threw him to the ground with a punch to the face and twisted his arms behind his back. The man screamed as his joints stretched and cracked.
She hauled him up onto his knees, both arms pinned behind his back at a painful, unnatural angle beneath Lily’s boot. His body leaned forward, his balance entirely dependent on Lily’s iron grip in his hair.
The gun rested against the base of his neck, steady and unmoving. The distance was too short to miss; even if he tried to move, the bullet would go straight through his skull.
The other man raised the bat again, as though ready to strike, desperate now. Blood stained his brown jumper.
“I’ll kill him!” Lily shouted, her voice deep and strained.
Everything stopped.
Everyone froze.
“I’ll kill him,” Lily growled again, her voice rough from forcing it deeper to sound like a man and hoarse from the fight. “Move and I’ll blow his head off.”
A tense, expectant silence filled the space, thick with nothing but ragged breathing.
Lily was a real threat when she wanted to be, wild and dangerous as a wildfire.
The grip in Severus’s hair tightened to an unbearable point, every pull sharp and deliberate. He jerked and growled, trying to loosen it, but it only became firmer.
“There’s more of us than you,” the man holding him snarled. Something about his voice sounded painfully familiar. “If you dare hurt him”
The threat hung unfinished as a hand clamped around Severus’s throat, squeezing until the air vanished from his lungs.
“Same goes for me,” Lily warned, pressing the muzzle harder into the hostage’s flesh, drawing a pained groan.
“Wait—” said the one who had attacked Lily, nervous and frightened. He leaned forward as if to approach but stopped at the warning look from the redhead.
The hand around Severus’s throat tightened until he thought his neck would snap, then loosened, leaving him coughing harshly as he struggled for air.
“Fine. Let him go now,” the man ordered.
“Let him go first or his bloody brains will paint the ceiling,” Lily threatened.
“How do I know you won’t hurt him?” the attacker demanded, though Severus felt the knee in his back ease slightly.
“You’ll have to trust me,” Lily replied, her hand tightening nervously around the grip of the gun in a movement that could easily be mistaken for impatience.
The man she held clenched his teeth with a near animalistic growl, though his fear was obvious. Sweat ran down his face, blood dripping from his nose and staining his cheekbone red.
“I’ll kill you if you’re lying, idiot,” the man holding Severus said. “I’ll kill you both.”
“We’ll make you suffer,” snarled the man Lily had taken hostage.
Severus knew that voice.
He looked more closely at the boy, his hair, the shape of his face, the familiar, irritating presence about him.
He hadn’t seen a face like that in three years… not since Hogwarts.
“Black?” he said the name, silently praying he was wrong while somehow hoping he wasn’t.
The grip on his hair tightened again, a silent warning.
“How do you know his name?”
Brilliant. If that boy was the filthy dog, then he already knew the rest.
“Potter,” Severus growled, shaking his head. “Let go of me, you idiot.”
The grip didn’t loosen.
“Let him go,” Lily ordered, doing something Severus couldn’t see, though he heard Black groan in pain.
Severus would have greatly enjoyed watching Lily end that dog’s life, but he knew she would never forgive herself. He was surprised she hadn’t recognised them yet, though he admitted he had nearly failed to recognise Black himself, if not for that savage expression he would never forget.
“Lower your weapon, Lily. It’s Black,” Severus said quietly, just loud enough for her to hear.
“Lily?” all the Gryffindors said at once.
“Sirius?” Lily replied in confusion.
Lily yanked Sirius’s hair harder, forcing his neck into a painful angle so she could see his face. She stared for a few seconds, her eyes widening when she recognised him. She pulled back as though burned, lowering the gun and pulling down her scarf to reveal her face.
“James, it’s Severus. Let him go,” Lily demanded, looking in his direction.
Potter moved away quickly as well, climbing off him and stepping back.
By the time Severus got to his feet, Lily was already beside him, pulling away his blood-stained scarf and carefully wiping the remaining blood from his face. If the idiot Potter had broken his nose again, he would make him pay for it.
“You’re alright,” Lily assured him, tossing the dirty cloth to the floor.
He didn’t feel alright. He leaned into Lily’s hold, his head still aching from the blows, seeking comfort from his friend.
For a moment he forgot they weren’t alone, so absorbed in her care. With effort he pulled away from Lily and looked warily at the group.
Black stood slowly with Lupin’s help before they moved towards Pettigrew and Potter. They looked nothing like their Hogwarts selves. Their eyes carried the hardness of people who had survived too much.
Severus understood that.
“Bloody hell, Lily, what have you got in your fists?” Black complained, holding his nose as blood smeared across his hands. “I swear you’ve broken my nose and half my face.”
Lily shrugged, looking concerned but not guilty. “You attacked me first.”
“I didn’t know you were a girl,” he muttered. Lupin handed him a piece of cloth to clean himself. “Dressed like that you look like Sniv’s twin.”
She snorted, crossing her arms, ready to argue.
Severus would have let her if the sky hadn’t been turning orange, a clear sign that sunset was approaching.
“It’s not worth it, Lily. We need to go,” Severus warned.
He took Lily’s hand, ready to leave, but she did not move an inch. She was looking at the Gryffindors with a conflicted expression. Her eyes moved from one to the other before dropping to the ground, her brow furrowed and her lip caught between her teeth. An internal battle Severus hated to witness.
“How did you get here?” Lily asked, looking at Potter.
“This is not the time for that sort of question, Lily,” Severus protested, squeezing her hand gently in a reminder of the urgency. “Night is coming. We need to find shelter.”
“We have one,” Potter intervened, stepping forward, his eyes fixed on their joined hands. “It’s a bit far, but it’s safe.”
“We don’t wan—”
“Are you sure?” Lily asked, interrupting Severus’s refusal and shooting him a reprimanding look.
“Yes. We’ve stayed there for a year. It’s safe,” Lupin confirmed, glancing at the fading light with concern. “But we need to leave now or night will catch us.”
“All right,” Lily agreed, while Severus refused.
They looked at one another, arguing silently until Lily sighed in exasperation and grabbed Severus by the arm, pulling him a few steps away from the group.
“This is a bad idea,” Severus insisted, not lowering his voice so the group would know exactly what he thought of their offer.
She sighed. “It’s shelter, Severus, and they say it’s safe,” Lily whispered, glancing over her shoulder before turning back to him. “We’ll be able to rest. We need it.”
“Doesn’t it worry you even a little to be alone with four men?” If she would not worry about her safety, Severus would. “It could be dangerous.”
“You speak as if you aren’t one yourself.”
“You can’t put me in the same category,” he protested, offended. “I spent three years with you and never did anything to you.” Severus cast a quick glance at the group whispering among themselves while watching them. “I don’t trust them, Lils.”
Lily’s expression softened, a small, gentle smile appearing on her lips.
“I know, Sev. But I trust them,” Lily assured him. “Please trust me. I know they’re reliable.”
Severus would place his life in Lily’s hands without hesitation, any second. But he could not trust others with Lily’s life. Especially not Potter and his lot. Yet Lily was right. They had not been doing well. Their survival had relied more on luck than on strategy. In a world of chaos, there was little strategy left to make.
“Fine,” he accepted reluctantly. “But you’ll carry this and use it if necessary.”
He passed her the dagger from his pocket.
Lily looked at him, exasperated. “Are you serious?”
“It would make me feel better.”
She took the dagger and tied it to her belt with an annoyed huff. Even so, she gave him a soft smile and took his hand gently.
“All right. Let’s go,” Lily announced as she approached the Marauders, with Severus behind her.
—
They had not been lying when they said it was far.
Potter and Black led the way at a slow pace, signalling whenever they had to hide or change direction. Lupin walked behind them, diligently scanning the surroundings for monsters. Pettigrew stayed to one side, carrying the bag, his eyes darting nervously everywhere.
Lily walked beside Severus, clearly tired and irritated. Every minute she adjusted the strap of her bag in an attempt to make it feel lighter.
“How much further, Potter?” Severus asked, just loud enough to be heard.
“We’re close,” he replied without slowing down.
At least they had left the city behind. Severus would never trust a shelter located there. They did not enter the forest either, only scattered houses far from one another, surrounded by stone walls or broken wooden fences.
“Come,” Potter signalled as he approached the grounds of one of the houses. “It’s under the Fidelius. No one can find it.”
Between the two stone walls, as if the earth itself had stretched open, another property appeared, surrounded by walls even higher than those beside it. It was powerful, advanced magic, and required considerable effort, especially since the monsters themselves interfered with magic.
“Quickly inside. Zombies can see through the Fidelius,” Potter urged, gesturing with his hand.
They entered a small garden, the metallic click of the gate closing the only sound in the evening silence. Potter and Lupin raised their wands, murmuring spells towards the gate and the walls.
“Come on, it isn’t safe out here either,” Pettigrew called, hurrying into the house.
It was a simple two-storey house. The staircase stood to one side, with the sitting room and the kitchen on either side of the entrance. It was in surprisingly good condition and relatively clean despite the clutter.
Severus quickly noticed the important things: weapons scattered in every corner, a pile of books beside the sofa, and several ropes hanging out of a window, tied to a metal ring in the wall.
Pettigrew went straight to the kitchen, pulling out packets of food and stacking them to one side. He seemed to have some absurd colour-coded system of organisation.
Severus clung to his own bag. That food was for him and Lily. He would not give even a scrap to this little group.
“Right, everything’s secured,” Potter said as he entered, dropping his bag onto the sofa with a heavy thud. “We need to talk. Come to the sitting room.”
Gathering like this felt strange. It almost felt as if he were among strangers in a communal refuge, waiting for someone to assign roles and impose rules. Severus and Lily had escaped too many shelters and camps that claimed to be safe but had turned out to be nothing more than prisons.
He did not sit on the sofa. Instead he remained standing beside Lily, who had no hesitation in removing her bag and collapsing onto the seat in exhaustion.
If they tried anything, Severus would be ready to retaliate.
Potter began the meeting, adopting a posture of confidence as he sat in the middle of the sofa, relaxing his stiff shoulders. He even removed his glasses to clean them before putting them back on.
Black, on the other hand, had followed Severus’s example. He remained standing beside Potter, one hand resting on the sheath of a knife.
On the other side of the room, near what had once been an old, filthy fireplace, clearly unused for years, stood Lupin and Pettigrew. The two were speaking quietly while Pettigrew wrote something in a small notebook and showed it to him.
“If you’re going to stay here, you need to know the rules,” Potter began, glancing at his friends as if seeking their approval. “There aren’t many, but you will follow them.”
“And if we don’t want to?” Severus objected, raising an eyebrow. “What happens then, Potter?”
“You can find somewhere else, Snivellus,” Black snapped harshly, fixing him with a fierce glare. “We were doing just fine for years. You’re not going to change that.”
“They’re simple rules, Snape. For the common good,” James cut in immediately. “First, we don’t create unnecessary conflict,” he warned, casting a quick look between Severus and Sirius. “Second, everyone contributes in some way. And third, everything is shared.” He counted each point on his fingers.
“I’m not giving you what we collected,” Severus complained, tightening his grip on the strap of his rucksack.
“I won’t let someone starve while another stuffs himself,” Potter corrected firmly. “Food is rationed. If you don’t like it, the door’s right there.”
If it hadn’t already been night, Severus might have seriously considered leaving with Lily, though she clearly didn’t share that thought. It hardly mattered. They had both agreed never to join another refuge where they’d end up as little more than pack mules.
“Are those all your rules?” Lily asked patiently, though the exhaustion in her voice was impossible to miss.
“For now,” James replied, glancing at Severus before looking back at her with a mischievous smile.
The conversation seemed to end there, but Lily squared her shoulders and straightened her back.
She clearly wasn’t finished.
No one moved.
Well, no one except Pettigrew, who quietly slipped off towards the kitchen.
“I’d like to set a few rules as well,” Lily said, pressing her lips together under Black’s disapproving frown. “It’s only fair, if we’re going to live together as you say.”
Potter hesitated, glancing at Lupin. His lips pressed together uncertainly when Black leaned over and whispered something in his ear.
“What rules?” Potter asked at last, somewhat uncertain.
Lily’s silence stretched longer than anyone liked.
Even Severus felt uneasy, as he had no idea what she was about to demand.
“You will not call Severus by that ridiculous nickname,” she declared sharply, fixing Sirius with a challenging stare. “And there will be no secrets between us… at least none that affect our safety.”
Without meaning to, Lily cast a brief glance towards Remus.
Lupin shrank slightly, wrapping his arms around himself before quietly leaving the room and heading upstairs.
“You will listen to our opinions and you won’t treat us as lesser,” Lily continued, taking Severus’s hand. “We will have the same standing as you. And you will not force us to do anything we don’t want to do.”
“That’s fair,” Potter said.
“Severus and I don’t believe in hierarchy,” Lily added. “Or in one person giving all the orders.”
Severus wouldn’t have phrased it that way. In his view, order and organisation were necessary. Society simply worked better that way.
“Tough luck, Lily. James is the leader,” Black interrupted defensively. “He’s the one who kept us alive all these years, and he knows what he’s doing. Besides, James is immune.”
Lily looked at James in surprise.
“Severus is immune too,” she revealed, to everyone’s shock.
“That’s information I would have preferred to keep private,” Severus muttered, shooting her a reproachful look.
Now all eyes turned to him.
He shifted uncomfortably under the attention. He had always preferred staying in the shadows, far from the centre of things.
Lily noticed immediately. She changed the subject, drawing their attention back to herself.
In the end, it was a decent agreement, if he had to admit it. Which he never would out loud.
Still, if Potter’s little group truly meant what they had said, Severus didn’t see staying here as such a terrible option… even if it meant tolerating Potter’s presence.
Handing over the rucksacks he and Lily had filled with supplies, however, was difficult. They both knew what it was like to survive on scraps. To go days without food because they were the last link in the chain.
Hunger killed far more people than the monsters outside.
Even so, that wasn’t the worst part.
“I refuse,” Severus declared, staring at the large room containing nothing but four mattresses placed in the corners. “You cannot be serious, Potter.”
Potter sighed irritably as he arranged the blankets on one of the mattresses.
“If we’re attacked, being separated would be more dangerous, Snape,” he said for the fourth time. “We all stay together and sleep in the same room. If someone breaks in, we’ll know immediately. There won’t be a problem.”
“Lily is a girl,” Severus said with visible disgust. “You can’t expect her to share a room with all of you.”
“I’m not repeating myself, Snape.” Potter looked at him with irritation before offering a mocking smile. “Wasn’t one of your rules that you two never separate?”
“That has nothing to do with this.”
“It’s fine, Sev. I don’t mind sleeping here,” Lily said, easing the tension as she curiously inspected the beds. “Do you have another mattress?”
All four of them froze. They exchanged glances, searching for an answer and finding none.
Severus resisted the urge to smack his own forehead. He had no idea how these idiots had managed to survive this long.
“Well… to be fair, we weren’t expecting more people,” Black said with a shrug, already lounging on his mattress. “You two arrived out of nowhere.”
“Then where are Severus and I supposed to sleep?” Lily asked, shifting slightly before suddenly clapping her hands. “Wait, we have sleeping bags in our packs.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Lily. You can sleep with me,” Potter offered gallantly, pushing his hair back with a charming smile. “The beds are small, but it’ll work.”
“Not in your wildest dreams, Potter,” Severus growled, glaring at him.
Just then Lupin emerged from the bathroom adjoining the room, a towel draped around his shoulders as he dried his hair, already dressed in his sleep clothes.
“I can sleep with Sirius, and they can use my mattress,” Lupin offered, already walking over to the dog’s bed and sitting at the foot of it. “We’ll get more mattresses on the next supply run.”
Two weeks. That was what Potter had said was the usual gap between leaving the refuge to gather supplies.
Two weeks trapped inside this house.
“Thank you, Remus,” Lily’s smile immediately killed any mockery Severus had been ready to throw at Lupin’s altruism. “Severus and I really need to rest for a while.”
Lupin looked at them with narrowed eyes, as though he were trying to see something through murky water. Then he seemed suddenly embarrassed, glancing briefly at Potter. It looked very much as if he had reached the wrong conclusion about Lily and Severus.
“They can’t sleep together,” Potter protested, jumping to his feet in outrage like an indignant grasshopper.
“It wouldn’t be the first time,” Severus sneered with an arrogant smile.
Lily smacked his arm playfully.
“I don’t mind, James,” she laughed.
Potter didn’t look reassured. If anything, he looked even more scandalised than before.
“The mattress is too small. The two of you wouldn’t fit without touching, and we’re not allowing that,” Potter declared, folding his arms stubbornly.
“Then where is Severus supposed to sleep, James?” Lily challenged, planting her hands on her hips. “You’re not expecting him to sleep on the floor, are you?”
Severus watched as what had briefly looked like acceptance slowly vanished from Potter’s face under Lily’s reproachful stare.
In a rather pathetic attempt to find another solution, Potter turned towards Pettigrew.
Pettigrew was already settling beneath his blankets, surrounded by more pillows than anyone else.
“Don’t look at me. You’re the one making this a problem,” Pettigrew complained with a shocking level of nerve Severus had never seen during their Hogwarts years. “Sort it out yourselves.”
With that, he wrapped himself tightly in his blankets and hugged a pillow.
“Traitor,” Potter muttered.
Well. Potter had run out of options, so the matter seemed settled.
“What if…” Lily began, a mischievous sparkle lighting her green eyes, emeralds gleaming with the playful madness of a curious cat. “You two share a bed?”
Severus shuddered at the very idea. He had no desire to be within a metre of Potter, let alone share a bed with him, and certainly not for something as vulnerable as sleep.
He had only slept beside Lily a handful of times, rare moments when both of them had the luxury of resting at the same time. Even then it had been uncomfortable.
He expected Potter to feel the same.
The disgusted grimace and visible shudder were enough proof. The thought was unthinkable for both of them. But as usual, Potter looked at Lily as if she were some helpless damsel in distress.
As though she couldn’t refuse on her own if she truly wanted to.
“Fine,” Potter relented, his shoulders sagging in defeat. “I’ll share my bed with Snape.” His face twisted with obvious displeasure. “That way you can sleep alone.”
Lily beamed, looking like the delighted winner of some grand prize. She congratulated Potter and disappeared into the bathroom with a towel, planning to shower before bed.
The moment the door shut, Severus rounded on Potter.
The Gryffindor actually stepped back a pace, clearly intimidated by the fury in Severus’s eyes.
“Don’t think I’m actually sleeping with you, Potter,” Severus hissed under his breath. Lily’s anger was something he didn’t want to provoke either.
“You’re not sleeping with Lily,” Potter shot back. “Like you said, she’s a girl.”
“I’m not sleeping with you.”
“You can sleep on the floor if you like, Snape,” Potter said flatly. “But Lily will tear our heads off and you know it.”
With nothing left to argue, Severus merely huffed in irritation.
He shot a murderous glare at the other three sets of curious eyes. He had no intention of becoming entertainment for a group of Gryffindors who apparently didn’t know how to use their brains.
The moment Lily emerged from the bathroom, wearing borrowed pyjamas from Pettigrew, the only spare pair available, the tension in the room finally dissolved.
The candles and lanterns flickered softly while Lily laughed to herself and hummed cheerfully, climbing into her bed and wrapping herself snugly in the blankets.
Severus felt his heart soften at the sight.
Without a word of complaint, he slipped into the bathroom. He hadn’t used one in years. In an apocalypse, bathrooms weren’t exactly a luxury.
He filled a bucket with water using Aguamenti. Potter had said the drain still worked, but the pipes didn’t, so magic was necessary.
The bath felt glorious.
He hadn’t realised just how much he had missed properly washing the grime from his skin until now. Even in the middle of a bloody apocalypse, Potter still had more privileges than he deserved.
Using a simple bar of Muggle soap and generic shampoo instead of proper potions was a little depressing. Still, if he stayed here long enough, he could fix that.
He looked at himself in the mirror once he’d finished, now wearing the borrowed change of clothes, simple, but comfortable.
He didn’t look terrible now that the layers of dirt were gone.
Though a bruise was already darkening along his cheekbone, and his lip was swelling around the cut. His neck looked like a complete disaster.
When he stepped back into the room, everything was quiet. The candles and lanterns had been extinguished. Soft breathing filled the space.
He approached Lily’s bed, watching her sleep peacefully. Carefully, he adjusted the blanket to cover her better.
One of her hands was still gripping the knife he had given her.
“That’s not your bed, Snape,” came a sleepy whisper from across the room. “Get over here before I change my mind.”
Severus sighed heavily and trudged towards Potter’s mattress.
He passed the other mattress where Black and Lupin slept tangled together under the blankets, limbs half-overlapping in the careless way of people who trusted the world enough to fall asleep like that.
“Do we really have to do this?” he muttered. He already knew the answer. If he refused, Lily would never let him hear the end of it.
“Just stay on your side,” Potter grumbled, turning his back and pressing himself as close to the wall as possible.
It was… deeply uncomfortable.
He slipped beneath the blankets, keeping as far from Potter as the narrow mattress allowed, which, admittedly, was not very far. He could feel Potter’s presence beside him: the warmth of his body, the slow rhythm of his breathing as it gradually softened into a steady, gentle cadence.
He wanted to stay awake, stubbornness and distrust urging him to keep his eyes open in case of any threat. Yet sleep came quickly to his exhausted, aching body.
In the end, he was nothing more than a worn-out person who was finally warm, clean, and safe. He did not have the strength left to resist the pull of fatigue.
His eyes closed before he could finish thinking about how much he hated him.