May 2000

Severus rubbed his forehead with his hand. He tore his eyes away from the book he’d been studying. He reached for a glass and drank its entire contents in one gulp. Usually he eschewed alcohol – he had no desire to become a copy of his father – but this was an unusual situation. Those books just couldn’t be understood normally.

He flicked the light switch on, for it had become quite dark, and returned to reading. He knew it was Dark Magic – no news to him. He had had contact with it enough times when he was among the Death Eaters. Now, after the war, he wouldn’t touch it with a ten feet stick, but therein could kie the solution to his problem.

Therefore Snape delved deep into the Dark Magic volumes. He studied the incantations of the charms long forgotten and the ones that not many were brave enough to use. Using one of them was a small price for his dreams coming true.

It was a small price to pay for seeing Lily again. For restoring her to life. No… he preferred to think of it as waking her from her sleep. She’d slept for nineteen years, like a princess from a Muggle fairytale. The time has come for her to wake up. He’ll wake her up.

***

A certain short May night Severus found himself at the graveyard in Godric’s Hollow. It was not a place for his Lily… why did she sleep among the dead? At James Potter’s side? The thought that Potter is dead lifted his spirits – the man will not be able to interrupt him. He had her clothes – he’d found her entire wardrobe untouched in her house.

Snape walked among the graves with certainty. He knew the way by heart, by memory. He didn’t dare to light the way. Of course, the wand wasn’t his – he’d lost his that day when Voldemort sent Nagini forth to bite him…

At last he stood in front of the grave he was looking for. Here his Lily was waiting… in the wan moonlight he could read her name on the gravestone. He smiled.

‘Diffindo’ he whispered, clutching the borrowed wand in his hand.

The tomb of the Potters… of James Potter… broke in two. Like Albus’s marble tomb, when Voldemort searched for the Elder Wand two years ago. The wizard waved his wand again and the dirt arranged itself into a neat pile by the side. He could see two coffins. One belonged to James Potter, and his Lily slept in the other…

He lifted the lid of one of them. A few bones and a pinch of dust. He pressed his forehead against the side of the coffin, wondering whether it was all that remained of the girl he’d known. Then his attention was diverted by the initials carved into the lid. “J.P.”

He shut the coffin quickly and lowered it back into the grave. He deserved what he got! He carefully opened the lid of the other one. A little bit more bones. Slim, slender… like she was in her youth. He wrapped them with care in Lily’s green cloak.

He carefully cradled her in his arms. He’ll wonder later who’d transmuted… changed… her into that pile of bones. Several flicks of the wand and James Potter’s grave looked exactly like it had an hour ago.

Only a small detail was left. Considering Lily had never died, she had never lain here. Snape thought a spell and her name and the dates disappeared from the gravestone.

***

Severus placed Lily gently on the bed he’d had prepared for her. She was so tiny, so brittle, so breakable. He uttered one of the forgotten spells and watched in fascination as her missing bones appeared, followed by the tendons, muscles and skin.

His next word restored her eyes and hair. She looked like she was sleeping… with her eyes open. Snape could not watch her enough. It occurred to him that he knows her body better than her so-called husband. At last he closed her eyelids a bit… she looked so natural, so innocent now.

The man ran his fingers through her red hair. It was just like he remembered. Lily was so beautiful… she seemed to be only a bit older than when he’d last seen her… nineteen years ago.

She was completely naked. He barely refrained from making her his, from taking her. He was stopped by the knowledge that she was asleep. Maybe when she wakes up…

Severus slowly, methodically dressed Lily in her own clothes – that he had freshened up with a few charms – from underwear to a pair of jeans and a blouse. Then he sat back on the chair, wondering how he could possibly awaken her. From time to time he stole a glance at her sleeping form.

Tbc.