Chapter 4: Summer After Fourth Year

A/N: Beta reading thanks to Keladry Lupin and DeeMichelle; MagicAlly is my Brit-picker extraordinaire.

Chapter 4: Summer After Fourth Year

Elsie Evans paused in the doorway to the lounge, surveying with some disfavour her daughters and their visitor. Infusing her voice with bright cheer, she said, 'Girls, you have guests!'

Lily, Pepper, and Severus looked up when Mrs Evans spoke. The trio made an interesting study together on the sofa. Lily sat on the far left, the cut-off jeans she was wearing showing a generous length of smooth, well-formed legs. Her top was cream-coloured gauze with a square yoke, which had been elaborately embroidered with bright flowers. Her dark red hair fell past her shoulders. To the far right sat Pepper, whose jeans were intact. Her white blouse bore tartan accents, and her bleached blond hair just brushed her shoulders. The two girls, whose appearance had been so similar in previous years, grew more disparate with each passing month. Lily was slender but curvy; Pepper was painfully thin, with scarcely any feminine shape to her body. Their inquisitive looks as they responded to their mother's words demonstrated their differences, for Lily was guarded and cautious, whilst Pepper was eager and curious.

Their companion, who sat between them, was impassive to the point of taciturnity. He wore faded denims on his thin legs, topped by a rather ratty-looking tee-shirt of indeterminate colour. His black hair was as long as Pepper's and hooked behind his ears; a grey cat was curled up in his lap. At the sight of the visitors in the doorway, he was on his feet with his wand drawn, unceremoniously dumping the indignant cat to the floor, where it walked away with affronted dignity, its tail in the air.

'Thinking of using that, Snape?' James Potter inquired in a falsely pleasant voice, his eyes flicking to the wand. 'What ever will Mrs Evans think?'

Sirius Black spoke from behind Potter. 'Yes, Severus, what would Mrs Evans think if you were to wreck her lounge with your little uncontrolled magic accidents?'

Lily stood and drew her wand as well. 'I told you last year, Potter – I don't want you here,' she said coldly.

Potter strolled into the room as if he owned the place, giving wide berth to Severus and Lily, and Black followed behind him, keeping a close eye on the drawn wands. They stopped before Pepper, and Potter smiled at her. 'We're not here to see you, Evans,' he said without looking at Lily. 'We're here to see Petunia.'

Pepper flushed bright pink as her mother advanced into the room, saying, 'How nice!'

Severus caught Lily's eye and tilted his head silently toward the door. Lily strode to the door and Severus followed her; before exiting the room, Lily turned back to her sister.

'Come on, Pep – it's getting late.'

Pepper looked away from the two charming boys who were smiling down at her; her eyes were slightly unfocussed, as if she had been looking into the sun. Before she could answer, Mrs Evans spoke again. 'Lily Anne, you two run along – Pepper has guests; she can't attend to you now.' Turning her back on the two at the doorway, she smiled at the polite, deferential boys. 'I'll bring tea, shall I? Sit down and make yourselves at home.'

'That would be lovely, ma'am,' Black said, taking the seat next to Pepper on the sofa as Elsie Evans brushed past Lily and Severus and hurried down the hallway to the kitchen.

Potter pulled up an ottoman and sat down in front of Pepper, his hazel eyes still smiling into hers. 'Don't worry about us, Lily Anne,' Potter said, his tone, in the absence of the adult, now dripping with sarcasm. 'You and Snivellus just run along and play.'

Lily's lips thinned at the taunt, but it was Pepper's gesture, as if to wave her out of the room, that was the final straw. She grasped Severus by the wrist and tugged him into the entrance hall and out the front door.

---

Lily stood at respectful attention as Severus raised the Kingdom flag, and they remained there for a time, watching it flutter. Severus had been unwilling to rip the flag in half the way he had meant to do on that terrible day the previous summer, but he had soiled it with his hands. Pepper had tried to remove the stains, but had been unable to do so. Lily had finally persuaded her to allow the flag to be taken to Hogwarts, where a female house-elf by the name of Cranny had succeeded in ridding the silk of the mud marks. Lily had tried to reward Cranny for her assistance, but the small creature had declined.

Now Severus and Lily stood side-by-side, much changed from when they had first pushed through the bushes to find the bridge across the stream into the Kingdom. Severus had grown to be half-a-head taller than Lily, and there was a faint dusting of darker hairs on his face now. In many ways, they were infinitely more comfortable with one another, seldom needing words to communicate their thoughts, but in other ways, they were newly awkward. Severus was keenly aware of Lily's beauty and her femaleness, in a way he had not been bothered by those attributes even the summer before. The knowledge that every boy in his dormitory wanted to touch – to defile – the girl whom Severus regarded as being particularly his own was disconcerting. She wasn't his girlfriend, but she was indubitably a girl, and she was definitely his friend – and he vaguely thought he would do something about the rest of it, when the time was right.

Lily turned to him and wrapped her fingers around his wrist again. 'You promised if I would help you, you would tell me,' she said quietly.

Severus sighed and carefully disengaged his wrist from her grip, looking down and allowing his hair to fall forward and cover his face. 'All right.'

He led the way into El Castillo del Viento, and Lily followed. He sat cross-legged and so did she, her knees resting a mere inch from his. Severus pulled a long piece of knotgrass from the ground and held it between his fingers, his face averted, as he began to speak.

'Do you remember the last week of term, when we covered antidotes and inoculations?' He didn't glance up to see Lily's nod; he took it for granted. 'Remember Slughorn talking about the childhood diseases? The one that's incurable?'

'Was incurable,' Lily corrected. 'It was called –' Lily frowned as she struggled to remember. 'Decipio potent – I can't remember all of it – he said it wouldn't be on the exam,' she added by way of explanation.

'It's called Decipio Potentia Corporis,' Severus supplied. 'DPC for short.'

'That's the disease that befalls children of mixed parentage – Muggle and magical. Professor Slughorn said it was really rare,' Lily added.

Severus said, 'Correct. One in three thousand will have it – but if it happens once in a family, the odds shorten to three in ten.'

Lily was very still. 'I don't remember him going into that much detail about it,' she said.

Severus' head dipped lower, and his shoulders came up in a shrug. 'I've never told you that my dad is Muggle.'

Lily gasped. 'No! You haven't. But ...'

He looked up into her face. 'But I'm in Slytherin.'

Lily nodded, her green eyes wide with surprise.

He shook his head and looked back down to the grass, methodically tying knots at quarter-inch intervals. 'Yeah. I'm not sure how that happened.'

Lily reached one hand out and laid it upon his knee. 'But you and your mother live with your grandfather – I always thought your dad had died.'

His hands stilled, but his eyes remained fixed upon them. 'Not my dad – my little sister.'

'Oh, Severus.' Lily's words were breathed, rather than spoken. She moved to her knees and leant over him, engulfing him in an embrace smelling of her prized Charlie perfume and girl sweat. Her cheek rested on the top of his head, and her soft breasts were practically in his face as she hunched over to hug him.

He froze, suddenly prey to wildly conflicting thoughts and feelings which had nothing at all to do with Stephy. He closed his eyes and breathed her scent, feeling the long, fragrant tendrils of her hair sliding over his face. She had hugged him once, the previous summer, but prior to that, he had not been embraced in longer than he could remember. It felt rather nice.

He did not reciprocate, and at last, she released him, kneeling by his side. Softly, she whispered, 'How old was she?'

Severus closed his eyes. Why did she have to know so much? Why did they have to talk about it at all?

'She was two.'

'And you? How old were you when ...?'

He sighed, his voice becoming abrupt. 'I was eight when she died.'

Lily seemed to respond to his discomfort; she sat down again, giving him space. 'She died of Decipio Potentia Corporis?' she said.

Severus nodded.

'But now there's a cure for it?'

He nodded again, feeling a mixture of anger and grief welling in him, obscuring the earlier, softer reactions to Lily's hug.

In a whisper so low, the sound might have originated with the wind, she said, 'I'm so sorry, Severus.'

He bolted then, moving away from her, out of the suddenly too-close confines of the sheltered place, first only walking, then running, setting off through the rowan trees and fleeing down the path along the lake, running until the tears in his eyes had fallen to his face and dried upon his cheeks. He stopped on the far side of the lake and scrubbed at his face with the tail of his tee-shirt, seeing that she had set out to follow him, but that she was walking, rather than running.

By the time she reached him, he had again regained his composure. She did not question him as to his sudden departure nor remark upon any redness of his eyes. She simply stood by his side, looking out at the lake. After a time, she twined her fingers with his and leant her cheek upon his upper arm.

'How can I help?'

---

The ill-favoured, glowering boy followed the smiling, pretty girl into the Harrogate public library. The girl led her companion into the reference section, where a low shelf held telephone directories from towns all over England. She knelt and made a stack of the books, which ranged in size from thick and multi-volumed, as in the case of London, to small and thin, for many villages.

The boy looked at the stack of books. 'Now what?' he asked tersely.

'Carry them over there,' the green-eyed girl responded, gesturing towards one of the wooden tables surrounded by chairs, which were provided for the use of patrons.

The skinny boy bent and lifted the heavy stack. 'This is ridiculous,' he said darkly.

'It's the only way I can think of,' the girl responded cheerfully, following him to the table and sitting down. She took the top book from the stack. 'Do you have a better idea?'

He sagged into a chair opposite hers, directing a hostile look at her from beneath black brows. 'Now what?'

She opened the book and flicked through the pages. 'They're in alphabetical order. Find the letter "S" and look for his name.'

As if for the sake of form, the boy continued to glare at his companion for a moment, but she was unaware of it; her index finger was already running down the first page of "S"-letter names. With an exaggerated sigh, he pulled the next book from the stack and followed suit.

---

Pepper laughed as Sirius teased James, and James turned to Remus for help in defending himself. She loved sitting in the midst of these good-looking boys, being the focus of their interest, as she had done for the last three weeks. Even though she could not help but notice how their attentions to her intensified when Lily and Severus were present, she tried not to focus on that. She knew they didn't like Severus – Lily had told her about it often enough! – but she didn't permit herself to dwell upon it, beyond that. For now, it was enough that they chatted with her and made her laugh – and that James would sometimes take her for solitary walks down the lane, twining one arm about her waist and bending his head to whisper in her ear in a way that made her breathless. She desperately wished he would try to kiss her – she would let him do it, of course! – but that had yet to happen. On their walks, his conversation seemed to come around rather too often to Lily and what she was getting up to with Severus, but Pepper didn't mind that, so long as James continued to give her long hugs before departing from the back garden with his friends on their broomsticks.

Remus Lupin had come to visit with the other two once before. He was a rather pale boy – well, Severus was pale, but Remus looked unhealthy – and Remus was terribly kind, even to Severus, who simply sneered at him and refused to respond to his friendly greetings.

That sunny afternoon, Mum had gone shopping in Manchester, and Lily had gone with her, murmuring a vague comment about visiting the library there. What a swot, to spend such a pretty summer day in the library outside of term time! After a particularly exciting parting with James – he had smiled down at her in such a way before he left! – Pepper walked to the Kingdom. She was too full of good feelings to stay indoors.

She pushed through the hedge and crossed the bridge, surprised to see the flag fluttering in the breeze. As she approached El Castillo del Viento, she could see Severus in the murky shadows beneath the thick foliage; it looked as if he was studying the map he always had with him these days. His head came up when she entered the clearing, and she tried not to be annoyed with the expression of disappointment she saw on his hawkish face.

'All right, Severus?' she said cheerfully, deliberately using one of James' favourite greetings. It made her feel closer to him when he was absent.

Severus stood and came into the clearing, his wand drawn and held at his side, a scowl upon his face. 'Do you have them with you, then?' he asked, his voice low and somewhat threatening.

'No!' Pepper denied hotly, incensed at his unfriendly attitude. 'I know they're not to be invited here! She has made that perfectly clear, and you sided with her! I was out-voted!'

Severus noticeably relaxed his stance, tucking his wand away, his scowl easing into a puzzled frown. 'Hasn't your sister explained to you what sort they are?'

Pepper felt her happy mood evaporating. 'I don't need her to tell me what to think!' Pepper snapped. 'Perhaps if Lily acted more like a girl, she would have admirers, too!'

Severus crossed his arms over his chest and gave her a sardonic look. 'That sounds exactly like your mum.'

Pepper sniffed and tossed her head so that her bleached blond hair flew about her long pinched face.

Severus tried again. 'You know they're only using you, right?'

Pepper felt a rage so blinding that she didn't know she had flown at him until he had both of her wrists held in his ungentle grasp. 'What's up with you?' he demanded impatiently.

'You're just jealous!' Pepper screeched, trying and failing to wrench her wrists from him.

That startled a laugh from him, a sound Pepper had seldom heard, but it only made her angrier. Severus looked down at her from his superior height, his endless eyes glittering with amusement. 'In what way could I possibly be jealous of pompous James Potter?' he asked.

'Because I fancy him more than I do you!' Pepper screamed.

Severus dropped her wrists and stepped back from her, the laughter dying from his face. 'Yes, you're right; that's exactly it,' he said sarcastically. 'Nevertheless, when he gets tired of using you to spy on Lily, he'll walk away without looking back.'

In her fury and through her tears, Pepper swung at him again; in a flash he had whirled her around and wrapped her up from behind, his arms like iron bands across her nearly flat chest, pinning her arms to her sides.

'If your sister wouldn't kill me for it, I'd leave you here to scream at the trees,' he hissed in her ear, exasperation clear in his tone. 'I'm not being a git here, girl. I'm trying to help you – and I don't ever help anyone – ask Lily.'

'Let me go, you brute,' Pepper hissed back. 'I'll tell my parents how you've mauled me about!'

Severus released her and walked away, shaking his head. In seconds, he emerged from El Castillo del Viento with his broom in hand. Without looking at her or speaking again, he kicked off and was gone.

---

Remus Lupin reached for his goblet of iced pumpkin juice and moved his bishop. Playing chess with Sirius could be a true challenge when Sirius was actually paying attention to the game. James sat at the other end of the Potters' kitchen table, playing a game of Exploding Snap with Peter.

'Pepper is a nice girl,' Remus said in his quiet way.

'If you like skinny girls with no bubbies and a face like a horse,' Peter said maliciously, darting a knowing smirk at James.

James looked at Remus, ignoring Peter. 'Pepper is all right,' he said.

Remus frowned. 'Do you think it's fair to chat her up just so you can be close to Lily?'

James closed his eyes and sighed noisily, running his hand through his perpetually-disordered hair. 'It may not be fair, mate – but can you think of another way for me to do it?'

Sirius looked from Remus to James and back again, his grey eyes sober, but he did not speak.

'Lily loves her sister, you know,' Remus persisted. 'She's not going to like you any better if you hurt Pepper's feelings.'

James glared at the cards in his hand. 'I'll figure something out,' he muttered.

Remus shook his head and turned to Sirius. 'Can't you talk some sense into him?'

Sirius shrugged. 'I've been trying to talk sense to him about Evans since first year, mate. Good luck with that.' He tossed his fringe out of his eyes. 'Besides - all's fair in love and war, right?' He moved his queen decisively. 'And - checkmate.'

---

Pepper leant back against her bed and stared at Lily, who was sitting on the floor across from her, leaning against her bed, as well. The lights were off, and the windows were open to the soft summer air. Between them, an array of candles burned, and on the record player, the Bay City Rollers sang Bye Bye Baby.

'She died?' Pepper said at last, her hazel eyes wide. She felt really low for being so rotten to Severus that afternoon.

Lily nodded.

'So, was it some kind of cancer, or something? Like leukaemia? One of those that kills kids?' Pepper wracked her brain for an illness that would take the life of a two-year-old.

'No,' Lily said. 'It's an illness that only a wizard child could have – and then, only a wizard child with one magical and one Muggle parent.'

'But what about it would make a person die?' Pepper persisted. 'Is it like a severe flu or something?'

Lily stood and went over to her school trunk, rummaging about in it and emerging with a textbook in her hands. 'It's a disease called Decipio Potentia Corporis,' she said, returning to her place on the floor and flipping to the back of the book. 'DPC, for short. The name is Latin – it means "power ensnared in the body."'

Lily's voice quavered on the last word, and Pepper was disconcerted to see a tear trace its way down her sister's cheek.

Lily read, '"When the child begins to experience the first manifestations of magic, the body is unable to release the power."' She looked for a moment into the flame of the candle before taking a deep breath and beginning to read again from the text. '"The magic thus ensnared in the child's body perpetrates irreversible damage to the internal organs. The condition is fatal. In most reported cases, the child dies before the age of three."'

Pepper frowned, saying in some confusion, 'And so his parents got a divorce?'

Lily shrugged. 'I didn't ask that. His father said it was his mother's fault – that their baby wouldn't have died if Mrs Snape hadn't been a witch – and that he wouldn't risk having another baby with a woman whose very blood was fatal to her own children.'

Pepper tilted her head back against her mattress and closed her eyes. 'That's an awful thing to say,' she whispered.

The girls sat in silence for a few moments, each lost in her own thoughts. At last, Pepper stood and walked across the room, removing one record from the turntable and replacing it with another. 'And now there's a cure?' she asked.

'Yes,' Lily said, closing the book and placing it on the floor beside her. 'We found out in our Potions class that there's been a breakthrough in research. There's a potion which can be given at birth to prevent a child from ever developing DPC.'

Pepper looked up, her brow puckered. 'So, we're going to find Mr Snape to tell him, "Hello – if your baby had been born now she wouldn't have died?" Do you think he wants to know that?'

'No,' Lily said. 'Severus wants to tell him that it's safe to come home – that if Mr and Mrs Snape have another child, it can be inoculated at birth.'

Pepper placed the needle on the record and looked into her sister's eyes as David Bowie's Space Oddity began to play. 'Does Severus think that will make his father want to come home?'

Lily nodded wordlessly.

Pepper simply shook her head. It didn't seem likely.

Suddenly Lily began to laugh. 'Why are you listening to David Bowie?'

Pepper crossed her arms over her narrow chest. 'Why? Don't you like glam rock?'

'Glam rock?' Lily chortled. 'David Bowie is a wizard!'

It was a relief to them both to laugh until they cried.

---

Two days later, Severus was swimming in the lake when the girls appeared unexpectedly through the rowan trees. It was Sunday afternoon, and the Evans girls never came to the Kingdom on Sundays. He shook his head. Why could girls never be depended upon to do what one expected of them?

'Go wait at the clearing,' he called, his hands cupped about his lips.

'Why?' Lily called back, as she and Pepper continued to approach him.

'Just do it, Evans,' he snarled.

Pepper pointed to a clump of bushes near the shore. 'Look – he's skinny dipping!'

Lily followed her sister's finger and saw the clothing spread out on the bushes. Without another word, she grabbed Pepper's arm and pulled her back along the way they had come.

'We could steal his clothes!' Pepper giggled, glancing back over her shoulder.

'What a foul thing to do,' Lily said repressively. 'Besides, would you really want to deal with that?' She waited a moment for her meaning to penetrate Pepper's brain. 'He wasn't expecting us – it is Sunday, after all. We'll give him his privacy.'

Less than ten minutes later, Severus joined them in El Castillo del Viento, his tee-shirt sticking to his wet skin, his hair still dripping. He stood over them, scowling at Pepper. 'Your parents let you out of the house with a brute on the loose?' he inquired with a sneer.

Pepper dropped her eyes. 'I didn't tell them anything.'

Somewhat mollified, Severus sat down, completing their accustomed triangle. 'I should hope not,' he said flatly.

Lily looked in some alarm at the scratches on his forearms. 'Did you get into a disagreement with an angry cat?' she asked, reaching one finger to hover over the deepest scratch.

Severus raised a mocking eyebrow at Pepper, who sighed. He said, 'Something like that.'

'I did it,' Pepper admitted in a small voice.

Lily huffed. 'You two need to stop whatever you're playing at,' she scolded. 'We have a mission.' She turned to Severus. 'Give me the map.'

He pulled the folded map from the back pocket of his jeans with an exaggerated flourish. 'Yes, madam,' he said sarcastically, darting an exasperated look at Pepper, who grinned in agreement.

Lily spread the map out in the grass. Next to the map, she laid a railway timetable.

'I'm fairly sure I've found him,' she said with scarcely contained excitement.

Severus was immediately intent. 'Where?'

Lily looked up, her green eyes glowing. 'Bolton.' She pointed on the map. 'It's close to Manchester.'

Severus fought to keep his face blank. They had lived in Manchester, he and his parents. His father hadn't gone very far away from Spinner's End, had he?

'I've never flown there,' he said. 'How do I get there?'

Lily opened the timetable. 'We get there by train. We can go early, find your father and speak to him, and we can be back before supper.'

Tentatively, Pepper pulled an envelope from the back pocket of her jeans; she reached within the envelope and removed three tickets. 'I've bought our tickets for next Saturday – your father is more likely to be home at the weekend.'

Severus sat back, lips pressed together firmly. 'I don't see why you need to come,' he said coldly to Pepper. 'I don't want you gossiping to Potter and Black about my business.'

Pepper's face flushed, but she held his eyes steadily. 'This is Kingdom business,' she said. 'I took the same vow you took – I would never speak to them or to anyone else about it.'

Severus stared into her eyes, his fingertips caressing the smooth length of his wand. He knew Lily was watching him nervously, but he didn't care. He wanted to cast the spell on Pepper and see what she really thought about it. 'Too bad we don't have any Veritaserum,' he muttered darkly.

'Stop it,' Lily said to him. 'If we had it, we couldn't use it – it's regulated by the Ministry of Magic.'

Severus rolled his eyes sarcastically, but the subject was dropped in favour of what story the girls would tell the Evanses about their plans for next Saturday and what sort of clothing they should wear to see Tobias Snape. Severus let them talk; he was too busy envisioning his mother's face when he and his father arrived at Prince Glen to take her home to Spinner's End.

---

On Monday afternoon, Pepper was stunned when she received four visitors all at one time. James had brought his friend Peter, as well as Sirius and Remus. Lily had simply rolled her eyes and pointedly raised the book she was reading closer to her face.

Pepper thought Peter was the least attractive of the four boys; there was something rather shifty about his looks. Even Severus, who seldom ever tried to look his best, was better-looking than Peter Pettigrew, she decided.

The boys were quite entertained by the telly, which gave Pepper a lovely excuse for sitting beside James on the sofa, with his arm about her shoulders, just as if he was really her boyfriend. She desperately wished the girls from her school could see her in the midst of these boys – no one would ever dare feel sorry for her again, if they did!

Pepper couldn't help but notice when Lily dropped her book into her lap and grabbed the front of her tee-shirt as if it had burned her. Lily then walked into the hallway, and soon afterwards, Pepper heard the front door close.

---

Severus looked up when Lily entered the clearing; he was relieved to see she was alone. He had used the charmed medallion to call for her, but he could never be sure that she would come without Pepper. He strode across the grass to meet her, stopping with his arms crossed over his chest.

'How could you tell her about Stephy?' he demanded angrily. 'I've never told anyone until I told you - I wouldn't have done if I'd known you were going to blab to Potter's girlfriend.'

Lily put her hands on her hips. 'You know as well as I do that she's not Potter's girlfriend, Severus. He's only using her to spy on you.'

Severus was so gobsmacked he allowed himself to be sidetracked. 'Don't be daft, Evans. He's using her to spy on you.'

Lily shrugged. 'Whatever – that doesn't matter. What matters is that we need her for this.'

Severus sneered. 'Why? We don't need a flag,' he replied nastily.

Lily punched him on the arm. 'Don't be a prat! She had the pocket money to buy the train tickets – I don't have that much, and I know you don't, either.'

A shadow passed over his face. 'I'll pay her back,' he muttered, suddenly embarrassed. If it hadn't been important, he would never have accepted the charity.

She stepped closer to him, her green eyes full of – what? He couldn't identify her expression, although he had seen it more and more often of late.

'I know you will,' she said, laying her hand upon his forearm and looking guilelessly up into his eyes.

The sunlight glinted on the coppery highlights in her long hair, and for the first time, he was suddenly overcome with the urge to kiss her. Would she let him? Would she hex him?

Stepping away from her, he pulled his pack of Exploding Snap cards from his pocket. 'Fancy a game?' he asked.

She agreed, and the dangerous moment passed.

---

On Saturday morning, the three stood upon the doorstep of a cheerful-looking terraced house in a nice working-class neighbourhood in Bolton. Severus was nearly green with anxiety, but Lily and Pepper stood sentry on either side of him, both filled with the sense of justice that is the particular realm of those who have yet to be bruised and battered by the realities of life.

'Ready?' Lily whispered to him.

Severus swallowed with great difficulty past his Adam's apple, which bobbed in his throat; he did not answer.

Pepper patted his arm in a kindly way then rapped sharply on the blue door before them.

After a moment, the door was opened and a tall, thin man stood in the doorway. His fair hair was cut short, and his hazel eyes passed over the three teenagers in a friendly fashion. He was quite handsome, with the beginnings of small wrinkles in the corner of his eyes deepening when he smiled at his visitors.

'Good morning,' he said genially.

'Mr. Snape?' Lily said.

Tobias Snape leant a shoulder on the doorframe and nodded at Lily. 'That's me,' he agreed. 'Who might you be?'

At last, Severus spoke. 'Dad?' he croaked from his overly dry throat.

Tobias froze, the smile disappearing, to be replaced by a wary look. His eyes darted to the face of the black-haired, heavy-browed boy. Hazel eyes held black for a moment before the man said softly, 'You're the spit of your grandfather.'

Pepper glanced anxiously at Severus, who looked as if he had just been hit in the stomach by a stray football. She didn't know much about Severus' grandfather, except that Severus lived with him, and that the old man was both unkind and ungenerous. Filled with indignation on behalf of her friend, she wanted to defend him, but had no idea what to say.

'How did you find me?' Tobias asked.

'Phone directories,' Lily responded, drawing his attention to her again.

'Who are you?' Tobias demanded.

Pepper saw her chance. 'We're people your son can depend on,' she answered coldly.

A door in the house slammed and running feet could be heard approaching them. Tobias made as if to step out onto the doorstep and close the door behind him, but voices hailed him from behind.

'Daddy! Daddy, we're ready for the park!'

Pepper stood in open-mouthed amazement as three little girls, not one over the age of five, crowded around Tobias, their curious little eyes glued to the visitors. Pepper felt Severus stiffen at her side, and she and Lily simultaneously each took an arm, as if to hold him up.

'Toby? Do we have guests? Who is it?'

The voice of a woman floated to them from the interior of the house, and a cowed Tobias allowed the door to be opened wide as an obviously pregnant young woman joined him in the doorway. She was of medium height, with long golden hair and big brown eyes. She was very pretty. Her hand went automatically to the head of the smallest little girl as she addressed the group on the doorstep.

'Hello,' she said, smiling. 'I'm Trudy Snape. Would you like to come in? Toby was going to take the girls to the park for a bit, this morning – to give me a rest.' Her free hand went to her swollen tummy, and she looked up at her husband with great affection. 'He's a wonderful daddy.' She looked back again to the trio before her. 'But there's time – won't you come in?'

Severus did not speak, but pulled his arms free and walked down the steps, heading for the street.

'Thank you,' Pepper said, jerking her head at Lily to follow Severus, 'but we don't want to be a bother. We could just walk along to the park and chat with Mr Snape there.'

Tobias' eyes followed the retreating back of his son, and he appeared momentarily torn. 'It's just about a collection for the jumble sale, love. I'll take the girls – you go have your lie-down.'

Pepper walked down onto the small patch of front garden and saw that Lily had contained Severus at the curb. Tobias Snape came down the steps with the smallest girl on his hip, her little fists clinging to his shirt; he was carrying a push-chair with his free hand. The two older girls held hands with one another and followed close behind their father, their wide brown eyes riveted upon the strangers. Pepper waited whilst Tobias settled the youngest girl in the push-chair, then she took the handle. 'I'll manage this,' she said briskly. 'We passed the park on the way down the street. You talk to your son.'

---

Severus walked in silence beside the man who had been the saviour in every wild scheme Severus had ever dreamt of to safely escape Prince Glen with his mother, now feeling as if he had been turned to ash inside. The blinding pain of the reality of three Stephy-look-alike children and a pregnant wife had passed rather quickly; now he was empty inside – clean and pure in his fury.

When they reached the park, Lily and Pepper began to play with the little girls, helping them to climb up and come down the metal slide. Severus knew they were watching him worriedly, but he didn't care.

He turned to his father. 'Does Trudy know you're already married?' he demanded coldly, his burning gaze fixed upon his father's face.

'Trudy doesn't know about you or your mother, no,' Tobias answered carefully, his expression shuttered.

'Won't she be surprised to find out about us, then?' Severus said spitefully.

Tobias' head snapped up and a serious look settled on his face. 'Don't be foolish, boy,' he said. 'You have nothing to gain by upsetting a pregnant woman with lies – in fact, you will lose out if you do something so stupid. I won't give you a brass farthing if you bother Trudy with this.'

Severus straightened, glaring at his father with cold disdain. 'We don't want your fucking money,' he spat. 'I didn't come here for that.'

'Watch your mouth, Severus,' Tobias snapped, uttering his son's name for the first time. His eyes darted protectively to his daughters, who were laughing happily in the company of the Evans sisters.

'Or what, Father?' Severus sneered. 'Will you punish me? I'd like to see you try.' He drew his wand and angry green sparks flew from its tip.

'Put it away!' Tobias snarled, suddenly towering over his son with clenched fists. 'My God, how I hate magic! Put that thing in my face again and I'll break in half, just like I did hers!'

Severus stared at Tobias. 'You broke her wand?' he whispered.

'Bloody right I did,' Tobias returned. 'Goddamned magic killed our Stephy, didn't it?'

'She didn't want Stephy to die!' Severus cried. 'She nearly died herself over it – she's still not right, and hasn't been, ever since you left!' He swallowed audibly and played his best card. 'There's a cure for DPC now, Dad – an inoculation that all babies receive at birth. Another baby wouldn't die like Stephy did – you could come back home, now.'

Tobias closed his eyes and turned his face away. 'I'm sorry,' he said at last. 'I know it's been hard on you – but I knew her father would take her in again. You've been provided for.'

Severus grabbed the edge of his tee-shirt and jerked it up to his armpits. 'Yeah, you prick – the old bastard has provided for me, all right.'

When Tobias did not turn to look, Severus moved to his other side. 'Look at your handiwork, Father,' he hissed. 'You should be proud.'

Finally, Tobias opened his eyes, and the colour drained from his face. Severus' torso was criss-crossed at intervals with vivid red scars.

'It's a slicing curse he used against me,' Severus said. 'She would have healed me, but he warded my room against her – he hates us, you know. He'll never forgive her for marrying you, a filthy Muggle, and for having me, a worthless half-blood.'

Tobias finally tore his eyes from the horrible scars and looked his son in the eye. 'We were never married,' he said firmly.

'You fucking liar,' Severus said, dropping his shirt and taking a threatening step towards his father. 'You were bound in Hogsmeade by a member of the Wizengamot. I've seen the pictures.'

'There were no banns,' Tobias answered firmly, 'no church, no vicar, no signing of the register – we were never married. I'm telling you, boy.'

Severus straight-armed his father directly in the chest, knocking him backwards a few feet; Tobias staggered, but did not fall. 'She swore an unbreakable vow when she married you,' Severus said, the magic within him rising and roiling in his rage against the man who had scorned his mother. 'She's fucking bound to you until you die.' He brandished his wand, the magic now pouring off of him in waves that even his father could recognize. 'I could help you with that,' he said, his voice now cold and unemotional.

Tobias fell to his knees in terror.

Severus aimed the wand at Tobias' chest, concentrating with all his might on his hatred. He could do it. He could cast the Killing Curse. His mother would be free, and his bloody cowardly father would get what he fucking deserved.

Lily hit him from the side in a tackle which would not have been out of place in a rugby match. She knocked him clean off his feet, deliberately smacking his wand from his hands, her tears wetting his face. 'No, Severus, you mustn't,' she sobbed. 'I can't let you.' She snatched up his wand and held it fast.

Severus shoved her from him in a fury, scrambling to his feet again. 'Hand it over, Evans,' he said dangerously.

'Daddy!' a little voice piped, right behind them. 'Daddy, the big boy and girl are rowing!'

Severus looked over his shoulder and saw the two older girls were clinging to their father, who still knelt in the park grass. Pepper had put the smallest child back in her push-chair and had hurriedly brought the child to her father's side, but Pepper's eyes were fixed fearfully on Severus.

Severus looked the man who had been his parent directly in the eye. 'I don't have a father, and you don't have a son,' he said coldly. His eyes flicked contemptuously over the three little curly fair heads and he added, 'Yet.'

He took his wand from Lily, who offered it to him freely, and he walked out of the neighbourhood park. As he strode away, he felt as if great chunks of himself were falling away and being left behind, but he did not slow down or look back, even when Lily called his name.

---

Pepper looked down at the Snape family; the eldest child wiped a tear from her father's face and said, 'Why are you crying, Daddy?'

'I don't know, Stephy,' he said, burying his face in the little girl's soft hair.

Pepper snorted in disgust and followed her sister and their friend out of the park and down the street.

---

Severus did not speak on the walk to the station nor on the journey back to Harrogate. Pepper tried to engage him in conversation, but he did not respond to her, and Lily gently shook her head, encouraging Pepper to leave him alone. When they left the train, Severus walked away from them and Lily tugged on Pepper's arm to dissuade her from following him.

'He doesn't need to be alone,' Pepper objected.

'He prefers to be alone at times like this,' Lily assured her. 'He'll come back when he's ready to talk about it – or, when he's ready to carry on as if it never happened.'

The sisters returned home and sat down to supper with their parents, embroidering colourfully on their daytrip to Manchester to visit a friend of Lily's from Hogwarts.

---

That night, as she lay in her bed, Lily could not settle down. She couldn't stop replaying the events of the day through her mind, seeing the way Severus' hopes had been torn to shreds. She had often seen him when he was really unfit for human companionship – it had been part of their friendship, really. If she had been unable to accept his frequently anti-social ways, their closeness would never have evolved.

Rising from her bed, she went to the window and gazed out at the night. It wasn't just worry for him the kept her awake. For months, she had been conscious of her growing feelings for Severus Snape. She held them to her greedily, her own secret of which no one else was aware. She knew it was girl-boy attraction; she had, after all experienced it before. Lily was neither as silly about boys as her sister was, nor as indifferent to them as her mother believed her to be. She had experienced unrequited crushes before, but always on pop singers or boys so much older that she might as well have been pining for a cinema star.

No, this was something entirely new. A feeling as big as what she had felt for Donny Osmond, but applied to a real boy – someone she knew. It was simultaneously mortifying and exciting. She had been meticulously careful not to display her changed feelings to the object of her affections. Severus was perfectly capable of shying away from her. She didn't want that. Professor McGonagall had held a class for the fourth year girls last term about how girls mature more quickly than boys. She had explained that girls have to be patient and allow boys to catch up to them.

Usually, Lily Evans was nothing, if not patient.

But now, she felt wild inside. She felt as if the soft air of the summer night was combining with the silvery light of the full moon to incite her soul to lunacy. She had to see him – tonight.

Timorously, she pulled the invisible enchanted medallion from the front of her nightdress and held it in her hand, calling him to her. Moving stealthily in the dark, she pulled on jeans, a tee-shirt, and a lightweight jacket. At last, she touched Pepper on the shoulder, rousing her from sleep.

Pepper sat up, disoriented. 'What is it?' she whispered anxiously. 'Are you all right?'

'Pep,' she said, 'you have to cover for me, and I promise I'll do it for you when you need it.'

'Where are you going, Lily Anne?' Pepper demanded groggily.

'I'll be safe,' Lily said, looking into her sister's eyes, her own begging for understanding.

Pepper watched her sadly. 'Don't you want me to come with you?' she asked.

Lily pulled her into a brief hug. 'Not this time, Pep. Don't tell Mum and Dad, all right?'

Pepper gave Lily a push, disengaging from the hug. 'Fine. But you will really owe me.'

Lily managed to drop a kiss upon Pepper's cheek before she walked to their window, where she hoisted herself onto the window sill and scrambled onto the branch of the enormous oak tree outside their window.

---

Lily paced uneasily along the stone wall beneath the full moon, wondering if Severus would come.

Soon, she saw him as he landed in the field between her and the wood. She hastened to him. 'You came,' she said.

'Yes,' he responded. 'Why did you call me?'

Lily reached out and took his hand. 'I wanted to be with you,' she said, feeling her heart racing in her chest.

He did not pull away from her, as he sometimes did, and she led him across the field and into the wood, passing the marble birdbath, which gleamed ethereally in the moonlight. They passed through the hedge to the bridge. Halfway across the arching stones, Severus stopped, and Lily stopped as well, looking up at him, making no effort to hide from him the delicious recklessness she felt.

He looked down into her face, his expression unfathomable. For once, he did not move away or attempt to manage the encounter to his own comfort. He allowed his broomstick to fall to the worn stones upon which they were standing, and he kissed her.

At first, his nosed bumped against hers for a moment, until he worked out how to tilt his head for clear access to her lips. She reached for him, twining her arms about his neck, her hands in his hair. His lips were soft and smooth upon hers, and she wanted the moment to go on forever. When they broke the kiss, she buried her face in his neck, clinging weakly as the clamouring within her urged her for more. He did not release her, but hugged her clumsily, seeming to fumble about for acceptable places to rest his hands. He buried his nose in her hair as he held her, and it seemed to her as if his breathing was as ragged as her own.

After a time she raised her face and looked up at him. 'Are you all right?' she asked, knowing her love was showing, but beyond caring.

'I am now,' he said honestly. 'I couldn't rest, before.'

Lily took his hand and led him through the clearing into El Castillo del Viento.

'Lie down,' she instructed, and miraculously, he complied. He seldom did as she asked without argument, but she knew with a certainty that he would follow her lead tonight. In the midnight dark, they were existing beyond the framework of their usual daily lives.

Lily then laid down beside him. 'Lift your arm,' she said, indicating the one between them.

Severus lifted his arm, and she flowed up against his side, turning a bit so that her check rested upon his shoulder; she snaked her arm about him, pressing closer, still.

'Hold me,' she breathed in his ear, allowing her lips then to press the lightest of kisses to the side of his neck.

Severus gasped at the touch of her lips and put his arms about her, turning a bit so that he was facing her. She felt as if a great box of magical fireworks had been set off in her chest, her whole being responding to his closeness. Lily took a steadying breath as rightness sang through her veins like lifeblood.

'Now, kiss me,' she said, offering her parted lips to be covered by his.

---

The two lay within one another's arms, cocooned in the womb of their Kingdom, the moonlight barely filtering through the dense foliage of El Castillo del Viento. In the velvety summer darkness, they learnt to kiss and to hold one another. If the girl eventually slept in the arms of her cavalier, he remained awake until the dawn kissed the night sky. Then, he woke her and sent her home before setting off for home himself, both boy and girl forever changed by the things which had passed between them that night.

---

A/N: Decipio Potentia Corporis – is corrupted Latin which roughly translates as Power Trapped in the Body.

Charlie Perfume was hugely popular circa 1975, as were the Bay City Rollers – hence the tartan on Pepper's blouse. Although I received the album Space Oddity from my brother for my birthday in 1973, it was re-released in the UK in 1975, and the title song became a huge hit.

MagicAlly has warned me that UK libraries in the 1970's may not have held such a wide selection of telephone directories, but I have taken the liberty of saying it was so anyway. It is my error, not hers.