"Lily," he whispered her name like a benediction.  "You're awake.  You've come back to me."

Lily moved her head slightly, lifting her opposite hand and feeling her forehead.  "Sev? How . . . how long have I been . . . sleeping? A long time?"

Something about his manner told her she had been asleep for quite some time, for she had never seen him cry, even if he was only shedding a few tears. 

Severus nodded, then took a seat on the bed next to her, still clasping her hand.  "A very long time, Lil. Ten years. You've been in a coma ever since V-Voldemort came to Godric's Hollow and killed James and tried to steal away Harry."

Lily gasped, feeling her heart stutter.  "Ten . . . years . . .! I've been asleep for . . . a decade?"

Severus squeezed her hand gently.  "I'm afraid so.  I know it's a shock.  I think it was because you used a great deal of your magic trying to protect Harry and then his magic reacted to the Killing Curse and when it backlashed . . . you were flung into a coma." He kept his voice low and even, though he wanted to shout aloud that Lily was awake at last.  At last!

"For ten years,"  Lily murmured, unsure whether to be grateful or to rage at the years that had been stolen from her.  "Where's Harry? Is he all right? Who's been looking after him while I've been asleep?"

"Easy, Lil," Severus soothed, reaching out a hand to stroke the hair away from her eyes.  "Harry is here in St. Mungos too.  He's currently sleeping off one hell of a magical drain.  After you were brought here, Albus Dumbledore and the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, decided that Harry was to be raised by his next of kin, which was your sister Petunia, and her husband.  So that's where he was living, with the Dursleys. Until now."

Lily tried to sit up, but found that she was horrendously weak and Severus assisted her, slipping an arm about her shoulders and gently easing her up, propping her with several pillows.  "Thanks, Sev," she said when he was done.  "I suppose I should have expected that, but . . . what about Sirius? He was named Harry's godfather by James."

Severus grimaced.  "He's been in Azkaban these past ten years, Lily. For betraying you as your Secret Keeper."

"Oh, dear sweet Merlin! I can't believe it!"

"He killed poor Pettigrew and thirteen innocent bystanders when Pettigrew confronted him.  There were over a dozen witnesses."

"But . . . why? He was James' best friend . . . the best man at our wedding," Lily cried, feeling a desolate rage sweep through her.  "How could he just betray us like that?"

"Voldemort made him an offer he couldn't refuse," Severus sighed.

Lily frowned.  "What offer?"

"The bastard told Black that he could cure his brother Regulus of the werewolf curse."

"And Sirius . . . believed him?"

Severus nodded.  "Apparently the clever trickster showed him some sort of proof and well . . . the rest is history, as they say."

Lily shook her head sadly.  "Ah, God . . . what a bloody mess.  So my sister and Vernon have been raising Harry all this time?"

"Yes.  But that all changed a few days ago. You see, Harry's latent abilities as a stormcaller awakened and we believe that he summoned a hurricane, which destroyed your sister's house and killed them. Harry was the only survivor.  Muggle police found him buried in the rubble, he survived because of his magic and the fact that he took shelter in a closet before the storm hit . . ." Severus related what little he knew of what had occurred.

"Oh, God! My poor baby! Sev, can I see him?" Lily asked, suddenly terrified and needing to see her son.  Her son, who must be around eleven by now, and still a harbinger of disaster, just as James and she had feared might be the case all those years ago.  She couldn't believe her sister and her family were gone either. She and Petunia had never been close since she went off to Hogwarts, but still, this had been her sister and now she was gone, and Lily was unable to try and mend fences with her ever again. 

"Lily, calm down," Severus said, keeping his voice soothing and silky.  "Harry's asleep right now, I don't think you ought to wake him yet.  I'm sorry about your sister . . . sorry that I couldn't wake you sooner.  I tried everything I could think of, but your mind was locked up tighter than the Crown Jewels and I didn't dare force an entry. . ." He was looking at her with a curious mixture of sadness and shame and longing.

"Don't blame yourself, Sev .  I know you did what could be done for me. Like always." She smiled sweetly at him.  She wasn't surprised at all that she opened her eyes and saw him first thing.  Severus had always been there for her, through good and bad times, and she cherished him.  Somehow waking up and seeing his face made her feel very happy and very safe as well.  She knew she was in good hands, for Severus was an accredited Mind Healer,  and had been lauded for his dedication and his power before they even left school.

He shook his head. He had always been his own worst critic, harder on himself than any teacher.  "It almost wasn't enough.  All of my colleagues said that you would never wake up, even though your body wasn't injured and your magical core was stable. They insisted that you'd lost your mind, and would never open your eyes again."

"But you didn't believe that, now did you?"

"Not for a minute. They didn't know you like I did. I knew that so long as there was life, there was hope.  That even though you were lost, you would never stop trying to come back . . . for Harry, if not for me."

She rubbed her eyes, feeling at once terribly confused and at the same time profoundly grateful for Severus' unshakable faith in her.  "You were right. But then . . . you always did know me better than I did myself."

He smiled at her, an unfeigned smile of pure joy, which was something he rarely did.  "I came to visit you nearly every day, when my schedule permitted."

"I wish I'd been awake to talk to you," she said simply.  "But I'm glad you were here, Sev, when I finally opened my eyes," she admitted. 

"So am I."

She smiled back, though she felt unaccountably guilty, even though she was a widow of ten years, at thinking that Severus could take her fallen husband's place.  She had loved James even when he made her want to strangle him.  But now he was gone . . . ten years gone.  And Severus Snape was still here, greeting her with his gorgeous smile and it was so very strange that she should notice him now.    When they were at school, he had been a shy and awkward beanpole, rarely saying two words to any girl and burying his nose in books and cauldrons.  His friends teasingly called him "the professor", because he seemed to know more about potions than Slughorn did, his enemies called him "Snivellus", and soon learned that he had a razor sharp tongue and a way of finding out your secrets that was scary.  But he also had Lily as his defender, and she pulled no punches when it came to anyone bullying her friend, not even the Marauders were safe from her retaliatory hexes. 

She gazed up at him now, this last link to both past and present, and thought how the gangly boy who had once been her shadow had grown up into a very good-looking man.  How had she never noticed this before? Maybe it was because all you noticed once you left school was James, a small voice whispered. Had she really been so self-absorbed as that? Reluctantly, she admitted that she had.  James had courted and married her within the space of a month and from then on it had been a whirlwind of war and fear and a few moments of love snatched inbetween departures and arrivals.  Then she had gotten pregnant, had lost her parents to an auto accident, and her whole world had shifted and changed.  Harry's birth and the knowledge that he was a stormcaller had necessitated their going into hiding, and all she had cared about then was protecting her baby.  Sudden tears slid down her cheeks.  But she had failed at that too.  She and James had both failed miserably, putting all their trust in one man, who had proved able to be bought. 

"I was such a fool!" she spat suddenly, her emerald eyes bright with tears. "Every man has his price, I know that, and yet I allowed myself to think we were safe, that the Fidelius Charm was all we would need.  I should have had a backup plan in place, like we used to say back in school.  But I was arrogant and my baby paid for it. All those years without me . . . How did my sister treat him, Sev? Do you know? Because she refused to see him after he was born, said what was the use, he was just another freaky anomaly?" Fresh tears coursed down her cheeks.

"Shhh. Petunia always was a jealous bitch. Pay her no mind, Lily." Severus said, and then he wrapped his arms about her and hugged her.  He never could stand to see her cry, and he could feel and see that she was all broken and hurting inside, her psyche torn apart by the revelations and fear for her child.  Normally, he would never touch a patient unless asked, but this was different. This was Lily and he had never needed to ask her for a hug.

Lily curled up in his arms, her body wracked with sobs.  She couldn't even tell why she was crying, for it was all a jumble in her head.  She cried for James, cut down in the flower of his youth, she cried for herself, who had lost all those years with her son, she cried for Harry, growing up without mother, father, or anyone who cared, she even cried for her sister and nephew and brother-in-law, because she felt so damn guilty that she couldn't feel real sorrow at their passing, since they had been such unlikable people.  She huddled in Severus' arms, he who was her rock, who had always been there for her growing up, whom she had pushed aside and forgotten after school, and that too she regretted.  You forgot him, but he never forgot you, her conscience accused.  I will always be your friend, she recalled with a fresh wave of tears.  Loyal, bright, sarcastic Snape, her shelter from the storm.  Then, now, and always.

Severus simply held her, allowing her to cry herself out.  She needed that as much as he needed to hold her in his arms and comfort her.  It was too little too late-ten years too late, he thought wryly.  But then that was the story of his life.  By the time he realized he truly loved her as more than a friend, she was infatuated with Potter and rather than try and compete for her affections, sure he would never win against handsome popular Quidditch captain Potter, he had slunk off into the shadows, surrendering her without even a token protest.  He had been a fool too.  One hand came up to caress her thick fiery hair.  So beautiful.  His Lily flower.  And so broken.  But he would fix her, help her, and then . . .maybe the dream he had given up long ago might yet come true.  One thing he did know was that this was his second chance, and he was not about to waste it.

At last the storm of tears subsided, and Lily lay still against his shoulder, her breath coming in faint hitching gasps.  He rubbed her back, slowly, until she was relaxed and calm, then he murmured, "Feel better now?"

She nodded, not trusting her voice.  Finally she spoke. "Thanks, Sev."

He shrugged. "What are friends for?"

She looked up at him then.  "I don't deserve you, Sev."

"What kind of talk is that?" he scolded gently.

"The truth. I brushed you off after we left school . . ."

"Well, we grew up and grew apart. It happens.  You got married and I went to study at the Institute."

That was true, but she knew that no matter how absorbed he'd been in his studies, he had never ever forgotten her.  "I should have kept in touch.  I'm sorry."

"What's done is done, Lily.  Just let it be.  What matters is now. Getting you well and making sure Harry stays out of the clutches of the Ministry."

She shifted and sat up, gently disengaging herself from his embrace.  "What do you mean? They know what he is, what he can do?"

Severus nodded. "Yes. And worse, they fear what he might become."

"He's a little kid, Sev.  Not a tyrant bent on destroying the world."

"You and I know that, but Fudge and those like him only see another Conn Devlin reborn," Severus said, referring to the last stormcaller born, over a century ago, who had gone mad and used his gift to summon up deadly hurricanes and tornados that had nearly wiped out several cities in Europe before finally being hunted down and killed.  Thousands of people had died while Devlin raged, captive to a power no wizard had ever mastered.

"I won't let him become that," Lily hissed, her resolve firming.  "There has to be a way to teach him how to control it.  Just because all the others went mad doesn't mean Harry will.  Right?"

"I believe that there's a slim chance that we can help him learn to control the level of power he wields," replied Severus.  "You know why all the others went mad, don't you? Because the power of the storms they called was too great for any one human to process.  They tried to channel too much energy and it overloaded their magical core and fried their brains.  Stormcallers are conduits, only the human body was never meant to process such great energy, the primal force of nature itself.  Small wonder they tore themselves apart eventually."

"But that won't happen with Harry. I won't let it. And neither will you."

"All we can do is try, Lil," Severus said.  "I have a few theories I can test.  I'll help as much as I can, you know that.  Because the alternative is not something I wish to contemplate."

She stiffened.  "They want to kill him, don't they? To . . . to put him down like a sick animal."

"I'm afraid so.  Fudge is terrified of what could happen, he's irrational.  But I told him we couldn't execute a child over what could be.  I managed to convince him to let me take Harry as my ward, and that I would try and train him.  I live in a remote part of Yorkshire, out on the moors.  Storms come and go there and he can't harm anyone because no one lives nearby."

"It sounds like an ideal place to teach him," Lily conceded.

"I hope so. You are, of course welcome to stay also.  Godric's Hollow is not livable any longer."

She snorted.  "I wouldn't stay there anyway.  Too many memories.  Too many people who knew me before.  I need to start over, Sev.  Will you help me?"

His hand closed over hers, warm and reassuring.  "Of course. Now then, let me give you a quick diagnostic and then I'll tell my staff to bring you something to eat and drink.  I need to go and check on Harry."

"All right. Thanks, Sev.  For everything."

He chuckled.  "Don't thank me yet. Thank me when it's all over. Then I'll have earned it."

After casting a standard diagnostic, which told him that Lily was physically fine, he called down to the medi-witch desk and informed them that Lily Evans Potter was awake and needed breakfast.  He would fill out the paperwork later.  "I'll be back soon," he promised, giving her hand another gentle squeeze before rising and going to check on Harry. 

You see, Sev? Miracles happen. Once in awhile, his conscience reminded him, and he smiled quietly to himself, all the way to Harry's room.