Naked on the Floor
by cinderalex
She could have been at Charms Club. She could have been watching James at Quidditch practice. She could have been working on her potions essay due the next day. She should have been doing one of any number of productive things. But she wasn't. She was sitting at the back table in the library, alone, contemplating the open copy of Advanced Potion Making in front her. For the third evening in a row.
Lily couldn't help but feel their role's had been suddenly reversed, hers and Severus'. He was supposed to be the one sitting at this table. And she was supposed to come over to cheer him. But he hadn't been here for three days. Maybe more.
She had come the first night to return his copy of Advanced Potion Making, as they had an unspoken agreement which stated that they were not to talk to each other unless at this particular library table. He was quite fond of his text, and she had assumed he would be eager to have it back after she had borrowed his notes in it for their last essay. But apparently she was wrong.
"Lily?"
She looked up. Relief flooded her. He had come after all. She flipped the book closed, as he sat down across from her.
"Hi. I brought this for you," Lily said, shoving the book in his direction.
He nodded. His eyes glinted with a mad excitement she had never seen before.
"What is it? What have you been doing that's so much more important than our study sessions?"
Aside from his eyes, his face remained impassive. "Let's go somewhere more private."
"Alright," she agreed, mildly confused and excessively curious. Heaving her rucksack over her shoulder, she let him lead her out of the library. He carried only his worn potions text.
They walked down several corridors of deserted classrooms before he found one that suited his privacy requirements.
"This must be a big secret," she teased as he locked the door and put a silencing charm on it.
"It is," his serious tone was in stark contrast to her joke. She frowned, suddenly worried about what Severus was going to reveal.
He contemplated her for a moment, so intently she felt like a specimen under a microscope. He stepped closer to her, smelling of smoke and a bitter herb she couldn't name. "What do you want to do with your life?"
"I want to become a healer," she said quickly, as it had been her singular dream for several years. "Why?" Severus had never expressed an interest in her future before, and she certainly hadn't expected him to now.
"How badly?" he asked, stepping closer still and leaning in so their noses were almost touching.
"More than anything," she breathed, her pulse quickening.
He raised an eyebrow, challenging her to prove the statement true.
"What are you on about? What do you want from me?" she asked desperately, growing very warm, beginning to sweat even.
Without warning he leaned down and pressed his thin lips to hers. Lily didn't move for several seconds, simply absorbing the sensations trickling down her spine. His lips were insistent, fierce even, as they nipped at hers, but not they did not reflect the desperation she'd seen in his eyes. Each brush was a purposeful movement, and she felt herself melt against him.
Her hands moved up his arms, which hung relaxed at his sides, Advanced Potion Making still in one hand, to grip the upper portion of his sleeves. His tongue slid across her bottom lip and she shivered, giving into the urge to kiss him back. Rubbing her lips across his, she memorized the smoothness of his barely there upper lip and the stubble above it. She opened her mouth to allow his tongue entry, but he only caught her lower lip between his, barely suckling it, before backing away, his breath coming in short pants.
While kissing, they'd backed up into a desk. The back of the chair was digging into Lily's spine, but not painfully.
She found herself reaching out to Severus to pull him close again. He allowed it, but only till their lips were barely touching. There he stopped. "What's wrong?" Lily asked.
"I've accepted an offer."
Confused, she searched his gaze. Suddenly, she realized she'd forgotten that she'd been trying to coax an explanation for his absence from him. She'd forgotten his rough questions. She'd forgotten the maniacal gleam that had lit his eyes just before he'd leaned into her. He shifted so that one of his legs was between hers.
She moaned and her voice was unusually husky when she asked, "What offer 'sthat?" The end of her question was slurred as he pressed his thigh still closer into the heat between her legs.
"An offer of power. Of anything I want." His lips were on her ear and they sent a shiver down her spine with each syllable he formed.
"That sounds..." He moved his leg very slightly, his taut thigh rubbing her so that she arched against him. "Wonderful," she finished breathlessly.
He'd buried his face in her neck. She was aware of his lips resting on her heated skin, unmoving. She imagined the hairs on her nape fluttering with his every breath.
"Come with me. Together, you and I can become his most faithful, most trusted, servants. It can all be yours as well. Anything you want can be yours. You want to be a healer, He'll make sure you become a healer."
His voice was low and silky, each sound flowing smoothly into the next. He kept his lips on her neck as he spoke, making each word a light kiss, not quite fulfilling her. She let out a frustrated moan and found his lips again, kissing them hungrily. He didn't respond, and when she had contented herself with an exploration of the contours of his closed mouth, she murmured, "And what to I have to do for Him in return?"
She spoke the words into his lips, afraid to move away, and he answered in the same manner, in a way, finally returning her eager caresses. "Anything he wants." Her eyes met his, widening. "Everything he wants."
Their breathing was still ragged and neither had moved, but the mood had changed. "I suppose that's fair, but still... it's asking a lot." She swallowed and tried to clear her head. Severus nodded and their noses bumped.
"Who is He?"
Severus did not answer immediately and his leg began to feel heavy between hers, painful almost.
"He calls himself Lord Voldemort." Startled, Lily backed away from him, almost knocking over the chair behind her. Looking him straight in the eye, she shook her head in horrified disbelief.
"Severus... No." She'd read about him in the papers, never long or prominent articles but small sidepieces, which were popping up with more frequency. The former Tom Riddle was not a kind man. In fact, from what she'd read, he was possibly even evil. "He doesn't play fair. He uses questionable magic to achieve his ends. Severus, no. Don't join him." Her voice was rising, and she'd managed to move away from him.
"You refuse, then?" He was pulling his wand out of his robes, even as he asked the question.
"Damn right, I refuse, but why–?" She wildly gestured to the outstretched wand, now pointing in her direction.
"I thought you'd want to join me. I thought you'd understand that the path the Dark Lord has offered you will fulfill you more than any other path you might chose. I see that I was wrong." His words were biting, and Lily knew he felt betrayed. He had not answered her question, but she guessed he would try to Obliviate her.
"How could you possibly say that? You know it's not true! Under his command, you could never be sure when he'd turn on you."
"As long as we are loyal devoted servants–"
"Bullocks! You know damn well that isn't true, Severus Snape. He doesn't care whether you're being loyal, only whether you're serving his purpose!" He opened his mouth, perhaps in defense, but she wasn't finished. "You know he hates wizards with impure blood. What makes you think he'll take me! What makes you think he'll keep you?"
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" She'd elicited a rise in his temper, but she was too upset herself to care. "He's already accepted me!"
"Sure he has," she spat. "He has no qualms about targeting muggle-borns like me or half-bloods like yourself. To him, you're not a half-blood, you're only a half-blood."
"Don't you dare pretend like you know anything about my family or my background because you don't."
"You really are a bastard, Severus, you really are. I thought maybe, just maybe, James and Sirius might be wrong about you, but now I know they aren't."
He sputtered for several seconds, obviously floundering for a good come back. "Don't bother asking me for potions help anymore."
"I wouldn't dream of it, and, anyway, I never needed help in the first place. I was just trying to be nice to you. For some reason I thought you might like a friend. Obviously, I was wrong. I hope I never have to talk to you again." Severus had backed up into the door, and was turning to leave, Obliviate spell forgotten. But at her final statement, he turned back to her, the veins in his neck throbbing with anger. Something hit her hard in the face, just as the door slammed behind him.
Looking down, she saw Severus' potions text book lying open on the floor. She picked it up, rubbing her cheek. As she stared at the back cover she saw, in Severus' scrawled handwriting:
Property of the Half-Blood Prince
Her half-blood prince. She suddenly regretted every angry word she'd yelled at him. She wanted him back. Tucking the book inside her rucksack, she left the empty classroom, hoping to find Snape waiting outside the classroom to tell her it was all a joke, that he didn't play with dark magic or dark wizards, that he loved her.
Author's Note(s):
Hugs and kisses to my beta, Brilliant Roomate Bridget. You're the best!
That kiss, all the sexuality actually, wasn't in the storyboard. But they were talking and then suddenly they were making out, so I ran with it. I am still not sure whether I like it or not. In that I ship Lily/Severus, I ship it platonically. Seriously, I have no idea what happened.
For now, this is a one-shot. I do have a second part storyboarded, but who knows when I'll be inspired to write it. I think I started writing this one in July, and it still took me this long to be inspired to finish it.
Disclaimer: I really, really don't own Harry Potter. And the title of this fic comes from the song "Torn" by Natalie Imbruglia which did, in part, inspire the fic.