Chapter Text
Severus, now
“That’s the last of it!” Lily called out brightly.
Sunlight slanted through the front room windows as Severus looked up from his trunk. Lily had just come through the door, wand first, levitating what appeared to be the last of the moving detritus into the room. Snape looked at what she levitated with curiosity. It was a small, heavy-looking rectangular object with several knobs, dials, and one thick glass side. And then he remembered.
A muggle television, he thought.
His father had one of those, though Severus had never been inclined to stick around and endure his company long enough to watch it.
Without taking her eyes or wand off the television set, Lily swung out a hip and bumped the front door closed.
Snape put his hands on his hips and surveyed the disorganized flat. Lily had brought—along with her trunk and related witch paraphernalia—some choice muggle items, including a record player, several articles of what were likely her favorite muggle clothes, and, of course, the TV. With slow and deliberate motions of her wand, Lily carefully brought the television down to rest upon a peeling end table.
Severus looked down at his own trunk again through the dust motes. He had brought books. Pretty much entirely books.
But that was okay. Mrs. Podargus had told Lily that the flat above the shop was furnished, and they both still had their supplies and equipment from school.
School.
Severus could still hardly believe they were done at Hogwarts. It was only last week that he, Lily, and the other seventh years had graduated, journeying back across the lake in the enchanted boats for a symbolic passage out into the Wizarding World. But in the anticipation and preparation for their move, Hogwarts felt like a world away now.
Lily, then
Lily mentally shook herself. She had been staring at the same page of her transfiguration notes for the last minute and only now just realized that—had someone threatened her at wand-point—she could not have told them about a single thing on the page. Lily suspected she wasn’t the only one. As spring term ended and summer term began, most of their fellow seventh years had started to literally and metaphorically lock themselves away whenever there was free time to cram for their upcoming N.E.W.T.s. Sighing quietly, she looked up from her books.
Severus sat nearby, propped amongst the knobbly roots of the beech tree. She could see his eyes intently moving across the page of the open volume in his lap, lips moving silently. Evidently he wasn’t feeling the strain to focus as much as she was. Lily watched as shadows from the veil of leaves above played across his face. Bits of May sunshine snuck through, occasionally catching in his eyes and causing him to squint. Lily had never really thought much about Severus’ eyes, other than that they were particularly dark and—somehow—carried weight. But now, in the fleeting moments when the sun slid through, she was close enough to him to see that they did have color, but not quite close enough to determine what color.
“Hey Sev?” Lily began.
Severus glanced up.
“At the end of term, are you…are you going back to Spinner’s End?” She resisted the urge to bite her lip.
“Probably,” he replied. “At least until I can…figure something else out.”
Lily watched him closely. His tone was fairly mild, but she had known Severus long enough to know what went unsaid about the bleak reality of his home life there.
“What about you?” Severus asked.
Lily forgot the previous moment’s resolve and bit her lip.
“I don’t know,” she said, noncommittally. “After the shock of that first Hogwarts letter, my parents were really great about finding out I’m a witch. But you know Tuney.”
Severus smiled and huffed dryly.
“I don’t want to have to walk on eggshells all the time. I’m muggle-born, yes. But I’m also a witch. Tuney just can’t seem to accept that, and I don’t want to constantly feel as if this…this big part of who I am is something I need to squash down in order to keep the peace.”
Severus, then
Severus grunted in sympathy. He had felt the effects of wizard-directed prejudice in his own family, too. All of those times in the early days of Hogwarts summer holidays when he had been studying at the kitchen table, his mother working companionably nearby, and how his father came into the room and started ranting in no uncertain terms about his distrust of magic or that he’d be damned if his son grew up to be one of those twats with unnatural abilities. How his mother would quietly send him up to his room to continue studying before the real row started. How Severus had eventually stopped leaving his room when he could help it.
No, Severus didn’t want to return to Spinner’s End. It really seemed inevitable, though, until he could find work and save up enough galleons to rent a place of his own.
Lily had asked him about his career plans for after graduation months ago. They had talked and talked about the subject with great enthusiasm, but they never discussed where they saw themselves ending up. Severus knew that Lily was hoping for a job as a potioneer or possibly a charm technician. And he knew that Lily was aware that he was strongly considering training to become a curse-breaker for Gringotts. He had also contemplated becoming a potioneer earlier in the school year, but decided he wanted to pursue something that would at least legitimize his interest and knowledge of the Dark Arts. And though he’d barely admit it, even to himself, Severus just really wanted a job where he could make some money for himself and earn his way for a change.
Privately, Severus wondered how Lily would manage living alone come graduation. She was personable, popular, and a good student to boot, which Severus had no doubt contributed to her being chosen as Head Girl at the beginning of the school year. She had friends and acquaintances across all of the Hogwarts houses. Except maybe for Slytherin. But she and him were bona fide best friends. So perhaps for her, it was quality over quantity when it came to Slytherin, or something like that. He knew she couldn’t stand Avery and Mulciber, and with most of the other Slytherians from their year, a little went a long way.
Anyway, he rarely ever encountered her completely alone. Severus glanced at Lily and found her still looking at him.
“Sev, don’t freak out, but what if…we were roommates?”
Severus gaped at her.
“It would be great!” she said enthusiastically. “Neither of us would have to live at home, and we could split the rent and share chores. It would be a lot like a sleepover. And ahh, Sev. There are so many muggle television shows you need to see.”
Severus gripped the book he’d been reading tightly. When his knuckles complained, he set it down and placed his wand between the pages to mark his place.
“Lils,” Severus began. In some ways, this was the last thing he’d expected to hear from her. But in other ways, he should have seen it coming. He felt his cheeks glow with heat as the proposal sank in.
“Roommates?” he repeated.
“Yeah! Roomies.” Lily grinned.
Severus smiled back, and then he could see it. He had never had sleepovers as a boy; his best friend was a girl. And anyway, he’d never much wanted to bring friends over to witness the turmoil and general shabbiness that went on at home. Had he watched more muggle movies and shows growing up, he might have now envisioned pillow fights, pushing two twin beds together, and giggly, whispered conversations long into the night. But even though he hadn’t, the thought of sharing a home with Lily warmed his insides.
When he and Lily had first come to Hogwarts and been sorted, he had hoped against hope that they’d both be placed in Slytherin together. That, of course, hadn’t worked out. He was often envious of the inner-house friendships he saw as their school years went by, knowing those people had all (or nearly all) of their classes together, could sit at the same Great Hall table without raising eyebrows, and could meet in their shared common room at almost any hour.
Avoiding the burden of returning to his childhood home and instead living with his best friend? Her asking him as if he were the first person—he was fairly certain he was—that she’d thought of when envisioning her future after Hogwarts? Severus’s heart glowed.
He could feel himself blushing as he thought about sharing a washroom with her, sleeping a door down from her, living in such close proximity to her.
But then, the more pragmatic part of his mind caught up and brought him back down to earth. What would Lily’s parents think of the arrangement? Of him? With…her? He had no doubt that Lily intended this roommate situation platonically. She’d cross her arms and say something like “It’s progressive, Sev”. He gulped.
And with a sinking feeling, he also considered the biggest hurdle: what the cost might be.
Severus had some small pocket money savings, but surely not enough to pay for rent, not even split two ways. He knew Lily was generally aware of his family’s financial standing. Hell, he thought, she’d probably even offer to cover his half of rent while he searched for work.
His stomach lurched. He also knew he couldn’t bear living under that weight of owing, even for a little while. He already owed her so much. So much that couldn’t be repaid with galleons or sickles.
Yes, Lily knew he was poor, but it was something he could rarely bring himself to admit to her. So he redirected to his first concern.
“But Lily, what do you reckon your parents would think? I mean, would they be okay with that?”
Lily shrugged predictably, as if that consideration was unimportant. “I’m sure they’d be fine with it. They know we’re not like that.”
Severus swallowed.
“And besides,” she continued, “they know we’ve been friends for ages. If I’m not living at home with them, they’ll likely be glad I’ll be living with someone I know so well.”
Severus nodded uncomfortably.
“Just think about it, Sev,” Lily said. She stood up to stretch her legs.