Lily Evans and the Lefay Torc

Lily Evans and the Lefay Torc
by ErtheChilde

"There are very few people who could claim ownership over this particular item. I am sure once you have a moment to examine it, you will realize why you are one of them and why it is of the utmost importance that you accept that."

- CHAPTER THREE - The Boy from Spinner's End

The town of Cokeworth had been rechristened 'Mill Town' by the residents when the textile mill was built in the 1820's, and the vast majority of the population lived in the older part of town which had started out as a hamlet centuries before. Although the street Lily lived on had been around for at least a hundred years, it was still part of the 'new' neighbourhood and thus divided from the 'old' town by an invisible line one only noticed once one had crossed it. Somewhere between Dickens Street and Rowling Road, the neatly trimmed lawns and window-sill flower boxes disappeared, replaced instead by the uniform industrial bars and steel that characterized the row houses of the old town.

The mill chimney hovered over the streets in what would have been an impressive way, had it not been for the billowing, white clouds of smoke that seemed to hem it in from all sides. The farther Lily walked, the more prominent the smell of sewage and rot became, carried by the crisp winter breeze. She knew from experience that it was ten times more powerful during the summer, and as ever, felt particularly bad for her friend having to live with it all of the time. She passed rows and rows of dilapidated brick houses, which had been half-heartedly decorated with muslin curtains and curios which were stained yellow and brown from their exposure to the smoggy air, and the snow itself was gray and muddy from the many footsteps that had walked the narrow cobbled roads.

Several women nodded at her from their kitchen windows, recognizing her from her other jaunts down to the Snape house, and she carefully avoided the gaze of a group of rough looking girls her age. At last she reached the street called Spinner's End, which was separated from the river only by a line of old railings, and wandered its length before she reached the very last house, whose every window was covered with heavy blinds of an ugly roan colour.

Lily had never been inside Severus' home, mostly because she had never been invited. Severus always said it was because his parents didn't like company, but Lily knew that he was ashamed of the squalor he lived in. Usually it was he who traipsed up to Roscoe Lane to ask if she could come out, but there had been a few instances where she had sought him at his home. This time was no different from the others, she thought with a bit of a shiver as she knocked on the door.

"Who's there?" demanded a brusque voice from inside.

"It's me, Lily."

"Lily who?" The door opened fractionally, a rusted door chain keeping it from going any wider, and a pair of black eyes stared suspiciously out from it. Mrs. Snape was as thin and sallow as her son, with thinning black hair, a long face and thick eyebrows that were always pulled into a sullen expression. The scent of cooking sherry and mildew wafted from within the house.

"Lily Evans," she said patiently, even though she had spoken to Mrs. Snape many times, and as far as she knew, was the only Lily for miles. "Is Severus at home?"

Mrs. Snape paused for a moment, glanced about furtively, and then replied in a low whisper, "He's down by the river bank. And tell him...best not to come home for a while, alright?"

Lily opened her mouth to ask why, but was cut off from a loud, angry voice within the house.

"Eileen! Who's at the door?"

"No one, dear," Mrs. Snape said loudly, in a high, false voice. "Someone selling something."

"Tell them to get the hell off my property -"

The door was closed in Lily's face, and she simply stood for a spell, unsure of how to react. It wasn't the coolest reception she had ever received from Severus' mother, but neither was it the most friendly. And she had never before even heard Severus' father - whenever she had been by the house, he was usually working down at the textile mill. Lily's father had once said that Tobias Snape loved work more than he loved breathing, and when he wasn't working, he took out his frustration at not working on his family.

Deciding there was nothing to be gained by waiting around on the doorstep, Lily decided to make her way down to the thicket where she and Severus spent most of their time in the summer. It was the only picturesque and natural looking place in Mill Town, not yet taken and developed by contractors into more ugly row houses or parking spaces, and the river that ran by it had not yet been reached by quite as much pollution. In the summer it was a beautiful place, where the river threw the reflections of sunlight onto the tree trunks, and the leafy canopies provided a pleasant shade. In the winter it was as barren as the surrounding down, the naked tree trunks jutting up from the snow, which was also tinged with gray from the smog, and the river was thinly iced over.

It took twice as long to reach the small grove as it had taken her to walk from her house, even though she was running to keep warm. She wished that she had grabbed more than just her pullover, but the weather had seemed unnaturally warm when she left.

'Maybe that was just the excitement,' she thought grimly, her breath coming in puffs and her insides frosting over with every inhalation.

By the time she reached the place, she had begun to shiver, but felt significantly warmed up. It was easy to make out Severus several yards away, because he would have stuck out even if he hadn't been surrounded by snow. His back was to her, and he was drawing something in the snow with a broken tree branch. The owl that had broken into Lily's kitchen that morning was perched on one of the balding tree branches, watching its owner intently.

Looking at him, it was obvious why her family and neighbours thought that Severus was an odd, if not unsuitable, playmate for her. He was a thin-faced child with a hooked nose and sallow complexion gained from staying indoors much of his time to avoid the gangs of bullies that lurked down Spinner's End and who had no mercy for small, skinny boys who walked hunched over, black eyes fixed on the floor lest he catch someone's attention. His stringy black hair was overlong and unevenly cut, as though he had tried to trim it himself, and it was often dirty because - he had told her in secret - his father sometimes forgot to pay the water bill and his mother was too ill to see to his care. His clothes were frequently in varying stages of disrepair, although usually very clean. Lily had found out the reason for this one day when she had come by the river near Snape's home and happened upon her friend determinedly scrubbing his laundry in the cold water, his face stained with tears of anger and frustration. She had quietly left, not wanting him to know what she had seen.

Today he was dressed in a shabby winter coat she was sure belonged to his mother, and a patched cap that didn't even cover his ears. His boots had been stuffed with rags in the toe, both to fill the many holes and to help them fit better as they were clearly made for a grown man.

When she had first met Severus, it had been a mixture of curiosity at what he knew about magic and pity that anyone could be as unfortunate as he seemed which had drawn her to him. But over the years, Lily had learned that Severus refused to be pitied, revealing himself to be a proud, thick-skinned boy who could defend himself with cutting remarks and cool intelligence, which tended to counter her own spitfire temper. She soon forgot to notice his odd appearance, paying attention only to the way his eyes glittered joyfully when he talked about magic and Hogwarts, or how his face became flushed with dull colour whenever she asked him something he knew more about than she did. And the more her sister pulled away from her, the more Severus became her friend and confidant, a brother she had never had.

"All right, Sev?" she called out, and he whirled around, brushing out whatever he had been drawing with a rapid kick of snow. When he spotted her, his expression lit up like Christmas had come again.

"Did you get it?" he wanted to know before anything else, hurrying over to her and taking no notice as he staggered over the too long coat. "What am I saying? Of course you got it - are your parents going to let you come?"

"Yes!" Lily replied breathlessly. "They're probably talking about it now, but I asked and they said I could - and oh, Severus, isn't it wonderful?"

He appeared as happy as she felt, his eyes glinting with a strange triumph that she decided to interpret as pride.

"And you were afraid you wouldn't get in," he teased her slyly, grinning through crooked teeth. "Has anyone ever told you that you worry too much?"

"Only you," she replied cheerfully. "Oh, but I can't wait! And we still have to wait until school ends and summer holidays - how am I going to be able to wait that long?"

"My mum has some old spell-books at home," Severus considered thoughtfully. "We could probably practice with them until we get our schoolbooks. Nothing that needs a wand, of course - but we could practice Potions!" His eyes gleamed with excitement. "I've got loads of ingredients at home, and most of the stuff they ask for is actually common in the Muggle world too. And with magic, you need to know the theory before you can actually perform spells - imagine, getting to Hogwarts and us already knowing how to do all the really hard spells? We'll be top of the year right off!"

"Would that be...allowed?" Lily asked tentatively, her thoughts on a story Severus had told her long ago about the ghoulish guards of the wizard prison called Azkaban.

"Of course," Severus replied dismissively. "I already told you, you're not going to get in trouble using magic until after we go to Hogwarts. I think they only put the Trace on you when you buy your wand, but not before that. And besides, Potions is a lot more refined then spell work. It's supposed to be really challenging. It should keep us busy until September."

"Alright," Lily agreed, and then took a mock scolding tone, "but nothing icky, like love potions or poisons, alright?" Severus looked as though he was considering something, and Lily raised her voice. "Alright, Sev?"

"Yeah," he muttered finally, in what she thought was a regretful tone, but he covered it up almost immediately and changed the subject. He glanced up at Hermod the owl, and said, "Oh yeah, I wanted to say 'Happy Birthday' again!"

"You did that fine this morning," Lily deadpanned, as the two friends wandered over closer to the bird. "Your owl got to me before my Hogwarts letter. My parents might have sent me off to the loony bin if Mr. Pim - if Professor Pimburrow hadn't showed up about a second later and explained about school."

"Sorry," he said, looking momentarily chastised. And then he brightened, and began to ruffle through the inside of his coat. "Here, I got you this - well, I convinced Mother to get it while she was out - but it was my idea. Sorry there's no wrapping, we, er, don't have any good wrapping paper at home."

He looked embarrassed, and Lily pretended not to notice while she examined what he held out to her. It was a small, thin book bound in rich green leather and, unlike anything she had ever seen Snape possess, was obviously new.

"It's an enchanted journal," he explained nervously, "to store memories in. I wanted to get you a Pensieve, but...well, you need to know how to use a wand for those, or much more powerful magic than either of us knows at the moment. But these come with special quills that channel memories as you write them - got a pack of those in my pocket too - I thought...I figured you'd want to keep track when we start at Hogwarts."

Lily opened a page and fingered the smooth parchment lightly.

"Severus, this is brill," she told him earnestly. "It's really thoughtful. You'll have to show me how it works."

His face coloured a little, and he looked away from her.

Just as quickly, though, the expression changed to annoyance and distaste. Before Lily could ask what it was, she was grabbed roughly from behind, her new present pulled from her hands as she fell backward into the snow.

"Hey!" she cried out, glaring up at her assailant.

Three girls had come up behind her while she wasn't looking, and were now examining the green book with unpleasant looks on their faces. She recognized the brown haired, rat-faced girl immediately as Mindy Peters, a Spinner's End girl who had tried to bully Lily at school since she started, as well as two others that went to the local comprehensive.

"What's this you're so chuffed about?" Mindy sneered, pretending to fan herself with the book. "Awful plain for some posh bird from the pretty side - how'd you think this was going to impress her, Snape?"

"Get stuffed!" Severus fumed, starting forward to grab the journal, but was instantly rebuffed. All three of the girls were significantly larger and heavier than he was.

Mindy laughed unpleasantly as Lily struggled to her feet. "Why d'you hang out with this little grease rag, anyway? It's not like he's anything to look at. Or do you just like slumming it?"

"Ooh, maybe she likes 'em that way," one of the other girls jeered. "Is he your fellow, Evans?"

"He's a friend, you stupid bint!" Lily snapped, making a grab for the book but missing as well. "Not that you'd know the difference between the two, as you've never had either!"

"Is that what you said in here?" Mindy asked in a falsely sweet voice, opening the pages of the journal and pretending to examine it. "Let's see what it says! Why...there's nothing in here! Guess Evans doesn't know her alphabet then, eh?" She flipped the pages closed again. "Makes this no more than a useless book then."

"Yeah, useless," her other friend said, chuckling stupidly. "You should throw it in the rubbish bin."

Mindy's eyes glittered maliciously. "I've got a better idea. Want to hear a riddle, Janie?" Her friend simply smiled cruelly. "Where does all the rubbish in this town go?"

"River, of course," Janie answered with a wide smile, looking like a toad that had just swallowed a fly.

"Exactly," Mindy laughed, and without so much as a warning, she twisted like a discus thrower and lobbed the book out across the ice of the river. They heard the faint skid of the leather on the snowy ice, and watched it come to a rest far in where the ice darkened and grew thin.

"No! Don't!" Severus broke into a run as though trying to catch it, but Lily grabbed him before he could cross the ice.

"Too late, Snape!" crowed Mindy. "Of course, if you want it back so badly, you could always go out and get it."

"And look at the bright side," Janie echoed. "If you fall in, well, at least you get to have your yearly bath, right?"

The three girls cracked up laughing, and Lily clenched her fists.

"Dry up, the lot of you!" she yelled. "What've we ever done to you?"

"It's more public service, really," Mindy said seriously. "See, we've got to weed out the nutters."

"Too bad you never looked in the mirror," Lily snapped acidly, "then you might have drowned yourself first."

"Looks like your mate is beating us to the punch on that," Janie piped up, nodding at something over Lily's shoulder. Although reluctant to take her attention from the three tormentors, Lily glanced around out of the corner of her eye - and promptly whirled around in shock, the girls forgotten.

"Severus! What do you think you're doing!?" she demanded.

Severus, once the attention had moved from him, had inched away, shrugged off his heavy coat and cap, and was stepping gingerly across the ice of the river. He had his arms out as he tried to maintain his balance, his absurd smock-like shirt making him appear like a large bat against the light backdrop of snow and grey sky.

"I'm going to get your gift back," he told her, his voice soft but carried along the flat surface of the ice.

"Don't be daft, that ice can't be more than an inch thick!" Lily cried, the cold feeling creeping up her spine having nothing to do with the temperature.

"It'll hold me," he replied with determination.

"I'll be gutted if it does," Mindy said callously, although the expression on her face was uneasy. She knew as well as anyone that if Severus Snape drowned in the river because of something she had done, there would be trouble in her future.

Lily's hands were clapped to her mouth, and she watched in wide-eyed anticipation as Severus managed to get further and further away, inching forward slowly. She felt fear constricting her, knowing that wizard or not, her friend could still drown if the ice broke. After what seemed like an eternity, he managed to make it to the place where the journal had fallen, and in slow, carefully planned movements, he bent towards the book, his face twisted with effort and his eyes intent. Even the three girls behind Lily were silent, their eyes riveted on the scene.

They watched him coax the book off of the ice and slowly tuck it into his shirt.

"You really want that now that it's been in his clothes?" Mindy needled, although her voice was tinged with a modicum of admiration.

"Go soak your head," Lily snapped.

There was a sudden heart rending crack.

Lily whipped around, and for an instant, time stilled. She was able to take in Severus' look of abject horror and fear, before he disappeared from view, icy rivets of water splashing upward and spilling over the slick ice of the river.

Mindy and her friends shrieked and took off, no doubt desperate to escape the scene.

Lily, for her part, wasn't even aware of acting.

She bolted forward, skidding over the top of the ice sheet, her heart thundering in her chest. As the water stilled, she could see something - the tips of Severus fingers as he scrambled to keep hold of the rim of the broken ice against the strong current beneath - and desperately, without a thought to the possibility of her falling in after him, she slid to the edge of the ice and shoved her hands through, grasping hold of his wrists.

The water was like a thousand knives and within seconds she had lost the feeling in her fingers, aware of them only because of the desperate grip that Severus was maintaining under the water. Tears stung her face as the cold wind attacked her, and she was only vaguely aware of Hermod flying around above her, hooting desperately.

"Grab on, Sev!" she screamed. "Pull yourself up - come on, you can do it!"

She could feel him fighting, but the current was stronger than he was, and his spindly form was no match for the rapids beneath her. Bile and frustration rose up from her stomach as she realized she wasn't strong enough to pull her friend up.

"Come on!" she snarled, tugging.

For a moment, she thought she had managed to tap into a reserve of strength, because she was able to pull him up further, allowing his elbows to hook around the ice as well.

And then, there was another world shattering crack, and Lily was in the water as well.

It didn't register immediately what had happened, but when it did, she felt sick.

She was surrounded by darkness that was both vast and suffocating. Her ears popped from the pressure, and the way her body was thrown about like a ragdoll told her that Severus had lost his hold on the ice. She still had one of his wrists grasped in her own, and she refused to let it go. It was the only other thing she was aware of.

Cold pressed in, a thousand times stronger than when it had only been her arms immersed, assaulting the sensitive parts of her skin and battering at her eyelids, which were forced closed by the barrage of water and ice. Beside her she felt Severus still thrashing, but now he had grabbed hold of her hand as well, and it was not only her keeping hold of him. He was squeezing her hand tightly, and although she was beginning to feel an uncomfortable tightness in her chest as she began to run out of air, she was comforted that even in death her friend would not leave her.

This thought brought back her resolve, and she forced her eyes open, glaring around in the black depths. Light from somewhere to her left helped orient her, and she fought against the current, trying to reach its origin. Her free hand hit the smooth surface of the ice, and she beat against it, trying to find a crack or anything that would allow her to break through it, but the river had carried them away from the thin ice. She was close enough that the light from the upper world illuminated the air bubbles and dust particles trapped within the surface of the glass-like prison which was slowly killing them.

Severus' weight was pulling her back down, and she scratched against the ice, desperately seeking a purchase, but unable to before the current had seized them again.

Lily let out an involuntary curse, and choked as precious air escaped and the filthy tasting water of the river invaded her mouth and nose. For valuable seconds, she retched and choked, torn between her need to breathe in air and to keep the water out, and in this time she was aware of the incessant pull of the water, bringing them further from the hole they had fallen through.

'I've got to find the surface again,' she decided, her thoughts becoming sluggish the longer she was immersed. She couldn't even feel the rest of her body any more, and it was only the slight pull along her arm that told her that Severus was still there. She wasn't sure if he was conscious, though.

She paused, letting the current take them for a moment while she squinted around underwater, looking for the light to lead her to the river surface again. The cold was beginning to seep deeper into her, wrapping its claws into her brain and heart, fighting to take hold of her.

Somewhere, far away, she could hear a sound, something that was not the rushing, thunderous roar of the river. The world was beginning to blur, but instead of getting darker with the hint of oncoming unconsciousness, it was getting brighter, as though she was being wrapped in a cottony fog. Big, blurred shapes swirled around her and she screamed a soundless scream of frustration and fear and sorrow.

She had no more air in her lungs now, and knew that death would come soon. In her haze, she thought she felt the world getting warmer, drier...

'...You have wandered far from home, little one,' a voice whispered in her ear, echoing as though from far away. '...What brings you so deep...?'

And another voice, harsher and more terrible, roared within her mind.

'...You are the last...no one will stop what I have decreed to be!'

The silence rang with anticipation, and then the first voice, softer, but somehow more terrible than the angry one spoke, and she felt as though her insides were on fire with every syllable uttered.

"...Child, you must take it...return to where you came from...if he finds you, all will be lost..."

Out of nowhere, a searing pain radiated out of her, starting at the hollow in her throat and working its way around her neck like a flaming brand that cut into her like a garrotte, slicing into her as it went, and ending with another painful stab where it had started. A new strength seemed to flood through her, and she felt rather than saw the sudden pulse ripple outward and away from her, somehow causing the current to slow. At the same time, she felt a sudden jerk.

Straining her eyes upward, she saw in surprise that she had bumped up against the slick ice, and something of hers had caught on a tiny imperfection in the ice. An incremental movement allowed the light to shine on the bracelet her sister had given her, one of the tiny charms stubbornly embedded in the dent.

A wave of thankfulness to her sister washed over her, expelling some of the cold that trapped her, and Lily felt her resolve return twice as strong.

She was going to get them out of here.

Strangely, she could see better now, and the need for air wasn't as pressing. She still couldn't breathe, but for now her head had cleared enough that she could think straight.

She flopped around clumsily, until she managed to angle her feet properly, resting them against the ice, and glanced back to make sure Severus was still there. His hand was still clenching around hers, as though it was frozen there, and he lolled limply farther below, like an overlarge doll. Tiny air bubbles issued from his mouth and nose, and Lily knew it would only be seconds before he was too far gone to save.

Desperate, she began to knock against the ice wall, kneeing and kicking as hard as she could, the feel of the solid ice reverberating through her.

After what seemed like forever, she finally felt the break, and her foot was through. She continued the work, fighting off the dizziness that was fast returning, and soon had broken the ice large enough that her feet and knees were through. She made scissoring motions with them, fighting the ice to make the hole bigger. Bruises burned her as she worked, and she stopped only when she was sure the opening was big enough.

With a desperate hope, she shook her bracelet free from the wall of ice. As she began to float with the current, she reached up and grabbed at the opening she had made, nearly missing it as her frozen fingers slipped against the smooth surface, but she finally managed to grab a secure part of the ledge.

With supreme effort, she pulled her other hand up as well, Severus' unconscious form moving with it. Gently, she tested the edge again, and then with one last burst of strength, vaulted herself upwards.

She felt a rushing feeling as something moved through her, and had the vague sense of brightness and colors moving past her gaze quickly, when there was a muffled thump and she found herself staring up at the grey sky.

Immediately she choked, water trickling from her mouth and nose, and the gulped desperately at the stagnant air. Severus was still clinging to her hand, but the two of them were no longer in the river, having landed several yards away from the hole on a small embankment of the river. Lily knew without a doubt that her magic had kicked in at the last second to help her, and was more grateful and surer than she ever had been that she was a witch.

"Severus?" she croaked, her voice making no more noise than dead leaves, having to clear her throat several times before she was even able to make a sound. "Severus, are you alright?"

Her friend remained still, his hair plastered back off of his face and his eyes shut tightly.

"Severus!" she snapped, worry and fear taking over again. She scrambled around on her knees and folded her hands over his breastbone, and began to pump his chest up and down as hard as she could.

Minute after minute ticked by and just when she was sure that she had been too late, Severus suddenly twitched; he then curled onto his side and retched up a significant amount of river water.

"Severus!" she yelled, forgetting herself and threw herself forward to hug him tightly. A moment later, she pulled back and began to swat him. "You great ugly nitwit!"

Severus, for his part, looked utterly bewildered, although his pale cheeks had flushed with color when Lily embraced him. "Lily, are you - ?"

"You thick - idiotic - harebrained - moron!" she snarled, punctuating each insult with a punch to his arm. Above her, Hermod had appeared and was hooting in a series of angry trills and whistles in the bird version of Lily's diatribe. "Why did you do that, you little g-git! What made you do something so - absolutely - stupid!"

"You g-got me out," he was saying, wondering. "You actually c-came in after me...I-I...thanks."

"Well of course I came in after you!" Lily snapped, still full of righteous fury. "What else was I s-supposed to do, w-wait for you to magically f-fly yourself out? You prat! I should never speak to you again for wh-what you just did, going in after a b-bloody book...!" She trailed off, because Severus was looking at her sheepishly, and pulling the sodden book out of his drenched shirt. "Are you taking the mickey? You kept hold of the book but you c-couldn't grab better hold of the ledge?"

"It's your birthday gift," Severus said stubbornly. His hair was freezing to his face and she could see the veins beneath his skin. "I had to g-go get it."

"And what s-stopped you from just leaving it there and getting another one?" Lily screamed at him furiously.

"Maybe your family can afford to buy anything that gets lost or broken, but not everyone's can," he replied stiffly, picking himself up off the ground.

Immediately, Lily felt her anger ebb. "Oh, S-sev...I'm sorry, I j-just meant..."

"I know what you meant," he replied testily. "Lesson learned. I will never again try to rescue your p-possessions, because you're above that."

"Come off it," she shot back, "you know as well as I do that it was stupid to go on the ice like th-that. You could have been killed. We almost were."

"And I thank you for that," Severus said quietly, still quivering. "You saved my l-life. That's a wizard's debt."

"A what?" By now, Lily's anger and fright had almost completely dissipated and she was instead suddenly very conscious of how wet and cold it was. A growing wave of weariness began to push against her consciousness.

"It's a life debt," Severus explained, his lips trembling as he spoke. "You s-saved my life, so now I owe you. I've got to save your life one day to be out of your debt."

"Oh," Lily said, not really hearing him. She had begun to shake as the cold breeze penetrated her soaked clothing. Severus appeared to notice this, and his eyes widened.

"Lily!" he exclaimed, pointing at her. "Your neck!"

"What?" His comment seemed odd, but she glanced down her front and was surprised to see flecks of blood had spattered her shirt. She couldn't see anything around her neck, but it seemed to have trickled to her collar bones at some point. "What happened?"

"It's all around," Severus murmured. "Did something get at you under the ice?"

"No," she replied, unsure. There was a pounding in her head and she was conscious that she was sweating, despite the arctic air. "It was s-something else, I think..."

And then her knees buckled and she pitched forward.

"Lily!"

She was vaguely aware of Severus catching hold of her, and then he was dragging her somewhere, half pulling, have carrying her across the snow-covered ground.

"Come on - there m-might be some Pepperup P-potion at home - you'll get sick if we don't get you inside - "

"C-can't," Lily chattered, "W-we can't g-go to your -"

"Why, because it's on the w-wrong side of town?" Severus demanded, as they returned to their glade.

"N-no, your mum...she s-said it wasn't a g-good idea," Lily whispered.

Severus stopped, peering at Lily suspiciously. "You were at my house?"

"I went to f-find you this m-morning," Lily explained miserably. "Sh-she said it would be best if you stayed away for a wh-while. I th-think your d-dad was angry about s-something."

"He's always angry about s-something," Severus rattled, but then shook his head. "Come on, your lips are t-turning blue."

She wanted to point out that his were as well, but couldn't wrench her teeth apart. She wasn't even able to argue when he pulled her back to where he had taken off his coat and hat and hurriedly wrapped her up in the threadbare clothes. Despite the paucity of the garments, she felt grateful for the incremental warmth they provided.

"Come on," he ordered, and they started off.

Severus kept to the back road short-cuts which Lily would never have taken, because they were dark and tended to attract rather dodgy characters, but her friend seemed to know his way around, and nobody bothered them as they hurried toward the new part of town and down the lane to the Evans house.

By the time they reached the front drive, Lily was shaking so badly that she had thrown Severus arm off of her several times, and his breath was coming in wheezing gasps. There were small ice crystals tangled in their hair, and slivers of ice clung to their clothes, which had practically frozen stiff against their bodies. Lily found she couldn't remember what it was like to be warm.

Severus readjusted her on his shoulder and hauled her up the drive, barely stopping when he reached the door and striking the front door with frantic raps.

Lily could hear the voices of her parents inside, and watched as a silhouette behind the muslin curtains grew larger and larger, until there was a click and the door was opened by her mother.

"Lily, I don't know what took you so long to come back for your coat, it's was really - really - what on earth happened to you two?"

Lily tried to open her mouth to explain what had happened, but another wave of dizziness and cold overtook her and she swayed, causing Severus to stagger under her weight.

"Bring her in here!" Mrs. Evans ordered, practically hauling Severus into the entrance and shutting the door loudly behind them. "Perry! Stoke the fire! Petunia! Put on the kettle, and fetch some blankets and hot water bottles. Now!"

Lily heard a flurry of activity, and felt as Severus' coat, now as wet as the rest of her, was peeled off of her and she was hauled into the living room, where her father was already bent over the fireplace, forcing the flames higher with the bellows and poker. Her mother pulled off everything but her under clothes, exclaiming in horror at the odd bloodstains around the collar of her shirt, and wrapped Lily in the thick feather bed from the sofa, and with only a moment's hesitation, did the same thing for a trembling Severus, who to Lily's surprise, didn't even protest.

"Fire's up," Mr. Evans said, looking pale beneath his beard, and Petunia arrived moments later, frazzled, carrying armloads of blankets and several rubber hot water bottles, which Mrs. Evans grabbed right away and whisked out of the room. Petunia was quick to shove Lily toward the fire place and wrap her in another cover, while Mr. Evans did the same for Severus, forcing the two to sit with their backs to the warmth.

"Now," Mr. Evans breathed, speaking only when color started to return to his daughter's and her friend's cheeks, "what the devil happened?"

Slowly, haltingly, Lily and Severus tried to explain what had happened, but in the chopped-up telling, only the general idea managed to come through. The fear she had felt in the river seemed to be choking her.

"...Mindy Peters...gang...threw...book...was a gift..." Lily managed.

Severus nodded, and added with effort, "...Went to get it...ice broke...fell..."

"...Pulled us out..."

They lapsed into silent shivering, and exchanged glances. Lily wondered if the thankfulness in Severus' eyes were reflected in her own. If he hadn't carried her back home, she might still be there. After getting them out of the frozen river, her body had simply refused to cooperate any longer.

Her mother had returned by now, and slipped hot water bottles under Lily's and Severus's feet; then she put her hand to both of their foreheads, a frown on her face.

"Wizards or not, the two of you are in for a rough time of it," she said crossly. "You both feel feverish and clammy. And no, Lily, it's not just because you're wet. I bet you took sick before you decided to go swimming in the middle of January - running off without a coat! Foolish girl!"

"Got her out, did you, son?" Mr. Evans said gruffly, looking at Severus differently for the first time. Perhaps it was the cold distracting them, or the absurdity of the situation, but neither Lily nor Severus corrected her father's assumption. Part of Lily realized this was the first time her parents had ever looked at Severus as anything but a nuisance to their daughter's social life, and she decided it would probably be best if they continued to believe that. "And brought her here to boot - no doubt you were pretty cold yourself, eh? But you got her home."

From her corner, Petunia looked as though she wanted to say something nasty about Severus, but catching her mother's eye she busied herself with picking up the sodden clothes (Lily noticed she touched Severus's with the bare minimum of flesh, taking them between thumb and forefinger as though she was expecting some kind of disease to poison her on contact).

"Petunia, go fill up the bathtub with water. Hot as you can stand," Mrs. Evans commanded, "and put the other hot water bottles in Lily's bed and in the spare room bed."

"Spare room...?" Petunia echoed, and then a look of horror overtook her. "Mother, you can't be serious...?"

"Do as I say, Petunia!"

Lily chanced a glance at Severus, who was carefully looking at his knees and nowhere else. "I should...get home. Mother will be w-worried."

"I don't doubt that," Mrs. Evans replied, sounding as though she very much did, "but you're not leaving this house until I'm satisfied with you - no arguments, boy, I'll not have your death on my account if you up and take pneumonia or diphtheria on me. You'll go home when I say so!"

Severus opened his mouth to argue, noticed Mr. Evans vigorously shaking his head, and sighed dejectedly. Severus glanced at Lily as Mrs. Evans bustled out of the room again.

"Not your best birthday ever, I think?"

Lily chuckled weakly, finding that despite the barrage of warmth from all sides of her, she couldn't shake the cold from her bones. "Actually...was a lot better than last year. Remember Oliver S-Stephens throwing up birthday cake all over my shoes and...how we both got stuck cleaning up the classroom?"

Severus laughed unkindly. "What a pig."

Lily laughed as well, but stopped short, the movement causing sharp pains around her collar bone. With wobbly fingers, she traced along the length of skin where she had felt searing pain while trapped under the ice. The skin was smooth, and didn't feel inflamed or like an open wound. She wanted to examine herself in the mirror over the fireplace, but her mother had returned.

"You're up first," she ordered. "Bath and bed. Petunia, help her!"

She felt her sister pull her to her feet, surprisingly gentle despite how she muttered in annoyance under her breath, and lead her up the landing to the bathroom. Every step seemed to make the world spin around her, and she had to stop several times along the way to steady herself.

"She'll be alright, won't she?" she heard Severus ask as she closed the door, but didn't hear the answer.

Her bath passed in a blur, her eyes drooping with lethargy as Petunia kept an eye on her, and then helped her dress in her flannels, and led her to their room.

"You're really stupid, you know that?" her sister said acidly, tucking Lily in and making sure the hot water bottle was well positioned, but her voice softened a moment later. "If you would just think before you act, you wouldn't get in so much trouble. Maybe you wouldn't be a - a you-know-what, either."

"Maybe," Lily murmured, not caring what her sister was saying, just glad that for the moment all seemed right between them.

"Not in one of my beds, young man!" Mrs. Evans was saying shrilly downstairs. "Bathed you shall be, before you get anywhere near my duvets. Now you get in that tub or I'll shove you in myself. I'm going to telephone your poor mother and let her know what you've been getting up to, and if I come back and you haven't cleaned up, you'll have the tanning of your life!"

She could hear Severus protesting mildly, but obviously the prospect of a hot bath was something hard to argue against when you were chilled to the bone.

"I suppose even sewer rats know not to argue with Mummy," Petunia said, a note of malicious glee peeking through her annoyance that Severus Snape was even in her home.

"I don't think a dragon would argue with Mummy," Lily replied weakly, trying to smile but unable to find the strength.

It was the last thing that she would say for a while, as fever set in and with it, delirium-fuelled dreams that seemed more real than waking moments.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As usual, props go to Kim for the editing!

TBC