The library was warm as usual, so warm and cozy that a
person sitting inside had no hint of the cold winter rain that struck against
the window panes violently. There were hardly any students there, for the
ongoing Triwizard Tournament had overshadowed all the other events taking place
in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardary.
He tried hard to catch a glimpse of her from the corner of
his eye, but his long black hair blocked the view he’d been craving for since they
shared the morning Herbology class. Being in different houses left hardly any
time to spend with her and that during the meals or before retiring to their
respective dormitories didn’t suffice. There was always, ALWAYS room for more.
He slightly turned his head towards her and caught the sight
that could never ever fail to make his day, a view that wouldn’t be ruined even if
Slytherin lost to Gryffindor in the final match and all the bludgers were aimed
at him thereafter. No. He still would be mindlessly smiling to himself with
a broken tooth or two, day-dreaming about the wonder that Lily Evans was to
him.
Lily looked as graceful as a Phoenix as she tucked her
lustrous dark red locks behind her ears, dipped her quill in the ink and
continued to work on the Transfiguration assignment.
““How would you deal with a situation where Homenolepius converto makes a wooden log
look only 50% human?” God, this is a mind boggler.” She snapped out of her
concentration bubble. “Severus! Why aren’t you working?”
“I, uhm..”
“Don’t let the Tournament make you lose focus of the
studies. We have our O.W.Ls just a few months after all of this gets over,
remember?”
“Yeah. Why don’t we cast Reverto
lepium and restart?” he uttered in his deep, stern yet soft voice trying to
divert the topic. “In the question, I mean.”
“Nah, that’d be too long. They expect a single step answer" she sighed "I raided all the library shelves but nothing’s there.”
“Maybe you should ask Professor Mcgonegall then.”
“No way! I don’t want her to think of me as a bird brain!
Let’s try and put more thought into it, ok? Maybe we’ll recall something”
concluded Lily, as she dipped her quill in the ink again and scribbled some
more on the parchment.
He would have loved to help her. But there was something
else on his mind. The two-week long planning and practicing would be executed today. Yes, he was going to ask Lily out to the Yule Ball.
Though he was nervous and his insides crawled as he gathered
the courage to finally make the move, there was no evidence of the same on
his pale, stone face. Not that he was a good actor or anything. That was just the
way Severus Snape and his emotions were you know – like a seemingly normal immobile
piece of gravel with millions and millions energetic atoms within that aren’t visible to the world, moving
haphazardly and colliding each moment. His
eyes seemed almost dead and blank unable to express anything that laid inside
of him. But today, he was finally going to ask the girl of his dreams to be his
date.
“Lily, listen. I …”
“There must be something in those shelves! Sorry Severus, I’ll
be back in a blink of the eye” said she sliding her chair back in frustration
and stormed off to the Advanced Magic
section to try her luck again.
“It’s okay. Just a few more minutes” he whispered to himself
taking out a little piece of paper from his robe and memorized the words off it
like the ingredients in the Potions class.
“Oh well! Look what our little Snivellus got here!”
By the time Severus realized what had happened James Potter, star of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, had already snatched the
little proposal off his hands. James was as quick as a snitch, no wonder he was such a good seeker!
“Don’t. You. Dare….” Snape muttered with emphasis on each word in
the same deep, soft voice which now spilled anger.
“Or what?” A boy emerged from the restricted section, his dark brown
curls falling off on his forehead as he walked towards Snape with his head
held high. Sirius Black, Potter’s fellow bully, was as vain as him.
“A letter to your mommy, Snivee? Miss her in these times of
loneliness when not just Beauxbaton or Hogwarts, even the Durmstrang dudes
won’t lay an eye on her cherry pie, don’t you?”
“I said, don’t you dare…”
But before any of them could make a move, Lily came out with a
copy of “Transfiguration for Experts” in her beautiful, dainty hands
interrupting the face-off just in time when Potter was about to read the
contents of the paper.
“What’s going on?” she enquired.
“Err, nothing at all” bumbled James “We were, uhm, just
catching up with each other you know.” Sirius almost immediately put his arm
around Severus’ shoulder and gave him a supposedly-friendly half-hug which made
the latter even more awkward than he already was.
“Actually I came looking for you” he continued as the existence of anybody else in the entire universe evaporated from his conscience the
moment James Potter lost himself in Lily’s beautiful eyes “You know the Yule Ball is
around the corner. And Lily Evans, I could not think of anyone more perfect
than you to accompany me”
What is he doing!
Snape’s heart skipped a beat. He stood there frozen, unable to respond. The
blood in his veins boiled and rushed faster than the new Nimbus 1900. What was he supposed to do now!
“So, can I have the honor of being your date to the dance?”
You filth! Snape’s heart replenished the hatred he’d always chosen to ignore as the poor fellow
looked at Lily. She seemed bewildered, but in a way that was pleasant to
Potter. No, don’t say yes. He could
feel the centaurs galloping inside him and his heart throbbed against his chest as
if it was about to break through the sternum. His deep black eyes were fixed on
her, analyzing every twitch on her face. I’ve
waited for this for so long, Lily! Don’t! A drop of sweat ran down his
temple. Each minute seemed like a century to him as all the courage he’d
gathered was slowly slipping through his fingers.
And to his despair, Lily smirked.
“Yes Potter, why not.”
Her words ringed painfully in his ears and Severus’ heart
shattered into a million pieces, each one piercing his chest harder than ever.
Unlike how it normally used to be, the sparkle in her bright green eyes was no
longer delighting to him.
“Super!” exclaimed the arrogant boy, “I’ll head off to the
dorm now. Gotta put on my dancing shoes and practice for our big date!” He gave her a wink and signed out of the
library as Sirius gave him a pat on the back celebrating this conquest.
The two boys were out of sight but Lily was still smiling
with a little blush on her beautiful clear skin.
“Phew! 2 weeks since the announcement and I get asked out
now, that too by James Potter! That rude little brat” she gave a sarcastic chuckle as she slid back into the chair. “Anyways, it's better than going alone! Good lord, Patience surely is
virtue.”
But Snape hated the excitement in her voice. You wouldn’t have gone alone. His mind
spoke as the tears almost made their way out his eyes. But they could not break
the barrier his anti-social instincts had created and thus, like his many other feelings, remained unknown to
Lily as she resumed her assignment.
That night as he walked Lily to the Gryffindor dorm listening to her speak of all the plans she had for the Ball, Severus Snape wondered if she would ever know how passionately this wallflower loved her, to death and beyond….
*This is a fan fiction post. All the characters are trade-marked to the Harry Potter franchise.
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
