After all, he was in Slytherin. What happened that day was known only to those Gryffindors and him; Dumbledore could easily sweep the whole matter under the rug.
He probably wouldn't mention what those Gryffindors had done. After all, they were openly confronting the "evil Slytherin" and the "evil Death Eaters"—and what's more, they wouldn't even lose any house points.
He would just let everything pass like that.
After all, Dumbledore only needed to roll up his sleeve to reveal a lifelike Dark Mark, a Dark Mark that could even easily summon the Dark Lord.
He was a genuine Death Eater, not one of those students.
Severus curled his fingers, suddenly feeling an overwhelming wave of exhaustion.
Being a spy for the Order of the Phoenix was exhausting and dangerous; being a professor at Hogwarts was exhausting; being a Death Eater was exhausting; dealing with the Dark Lord was exhausting...
Just staying alive was exhausting, too...
Severus forced himself to pull it together. A short while after Dumbledore led the Gryffindors away, Lily was dragged over by a Ravenclaw girl.
"What on earth are you dragging me for?" Lily asked impatiently. Her next class was about to start, and Severus was still waiting for her.
"You'll know once you come—Ah!!"
The Ravenclaw girl pulling Lily caught sight of Severus standing alone, along with the chaotic mess under the tree not far away, and let out a terrified scream.
"Lily." Severus didn't look at the girl; she was just a witch, the girlfriend of one of those Gryffindors.
He looked at Lily. He couldn't die yet; he still had to watch over Lily, still had to protect his mother... He couldn't let the Dark Lord kill Lily again...
"Let's go," Severus said, walking toward Lily.
Lily frowned. Under Severus's guidance, she had also become a very capable witch. She could easily deduce most of the traces left on the ground, except for one...
"Severus." She met Severus's gaze, a pang of ache shooting through her heart, yet she found him so utterly unfamiliar.
She had always seen how enduring Severus was, and she couldn't fail to notice the forbearance and the tenderness that belonged exclusively to her.
Yet Severus studied the Dark Arts... refusing to listen to any persuasion, and even treating her like a child who would never grow up...
He was far too much of a stranger to her now; there was always an air of mystery about Severus that she could not decipher.
She had tried to accept him, to understand him, but she found that she simply couldn't do it.
Severus saw the struggle written clearly on Lily's face.
He forced a smile. The Dungeon Serpent King, who had not cracked a smile in decades, produced a smile that was painfully, agonizingly strained.
"I'm sorry, Lily..."
"I don't need you to say sorry, Severus!" Lily looked as though she were on the verge of tears, but Severus had no idea how to comfort her.
"I'm sorry..."
Lily was a standard Gryffindor—bold and brave, yet possessing all a girl's sensitivity and care.
The gap between Severus and Lily was vast, spanning their houses and their personalities.
The gap between Professor Snape and Lily was even greater, spanning the Order of the Phoenix and the Death Eaters, the Ministry of Magic Aurors and Dark wizards, their temperaments, and their worldviews.
Lily turned around, covered her face, and ran off crying. Severus knew she had finally recognized the remnants of the Killing Curse on the ground.
In the past, he had always described such things to her, and Lily had often guessed incorrectly. He knew how difficult it was for her to identify traces of spells she had never truly witnessed.
She wouldn't give him the slightest chance to explain... nor did he have any way to explain it to Lily.
Perhaps the Order of the Phoenix was her best destination. The formidable fighting force of the Order also included pure-blood wizards, though they primarily hailed from the other three houses rather than Slytherin.
As a Muggle-born witch, it was practically impossible for her to marry into Slytherin, leaving the Order of the Phoenix as her ultimate choice.
Therefore, Lily had to go to the Order of the Phoenix.
Severus clenched his fists tightly, standing on that patch of grass scarred by spells for a very long time, until his legs grew numb and stiff, before finally walking away.
What he did not know, however, was that the moment his figure completely vanished from the vicinity, a person slowly materialized from where they had been hiding all along.
The Dark Lord watched Severus in silence for who knows how long. If he had wanted to, Severus would never have detected his Disillusionment Charm.
Very well, his Potions Master was still as sharp as ever.
Lord Voldemort loosened his fist, leaving four crescent-shaped indentations in his palm.
"Severus... that witch... Lily Evans..."
"Is she really..."
That good to him?
***
By evening, Severus left Hogwarts through a covert secret passageway and Apparition-ed to the gates of Voldemort Manor.
He walked forward, and suddenly a house-elf Apparition-ed before him, bowing deeply, "Respected Mr. Snape!"
"Master has instructed you to go right in!"
Severus nodded, stepped into the manor, and upon turning into the side hall, saw the Dark Lord sitting gracefully by the fireplace, reading a book.
For a moment, he didn't know what to say. A sourness welled up in his chest, and a bitter taste filled his mouth.
He felt as though he had been stripped bare and made to stand before the Dark Lord, his every secret torn apart for observation, like a specimen frozen in resin, with his inner organs and flesh laid open for meticulous study.
The Dark Lord turned his head to look at Severus, his eyes carrying both tenderness and a profound, helpless resignation.
Severus silently dropped to his knees, prostrating himself at the Dark Lord's feet.
"Lord..."
The Dark Lord yielded. The Dark Lord truly surrendered.
"Severus, I give you my promise: I will not let any Death Eater kill Lily Evans."
"This is my promise—the promise of the Lord of the Death Eaters."
"It will never expire."
Even if I... return to the embrace of Death.
The hair hanging down over Severus's lowered head concealed his expression of shock. The hand belonging to the Dark Lord came to rest upon the crown of his head.
As a Horcrux that had successfully reverse-engineered its own survival, Lord Voldemort knew very well that no one was truly immortal; his attachment was not to some ruler of the Wizarding World, but to the freedom to follow his own heart.
At some point, he had fallen deeply, hopelessly in love with this wizard—a man who, like him, had endured a difficult childhood, a dark school term, and a hopeless future.
Yet what made Severus different was that he had someone he wished to protect, someone he... loved deeply.
Well, no matter. Now, he had someone too.
Lord Voldemort gazed down at his Yew wand, then gently patted Severus on the head.
"Dumbledore didn't give you a hard time, did he?"
"No, Lord."
"Good."
Lord Voldemort temporarily believed Severus's words, though this was the one and only matter on which he could scarcely believe a single word Severus uttered.
His Potions Master would never speak of his own grievances to anyone; he only required an unrequited admirer who could leave him beyond the reach of anyone else's slights.
He could not stake the entirety of the Death Eaters on Severus's pity, nor gamble the house of Abraxas on the hope that Severus believed in his love.
The Dark Lord had no love, nor could he ever have any.
Until the day he could no longer hold on—
He would... perhaps choose to tell Severus everything...