Snape's Birthday Event (2)

The Slytherin Common Room was darker and chillier than anywhere else, but I breathed a sigh of relief once I was inside. At least I shouldn't run into anyone else I knew here.

My Gryffindor clothes, tie, and scarf stood out far too much. Almost as soon as I entered, a Slytherin Prefect came over and asked what I wanted.

"Is Snape here?" I held up the box. "If he isn't, could you give him this box for me?"

Seeing that I wasn't there to cause trouble, the Prefect's expression softened considerably. She must have known it was Snape's birthday, because she said, "He happens to be in the common room right now. Wait a moment, and I'll call him out."

I had something I wanted to say to him anyway, so I stood by the entrance and waited.

Snape came out shortly afterward. His expression immediately darkened when he saw me. I guessed the Prefect had only told him, "A Gryffindor girl is looking for you," and he'd thought it was Lily.

The Prefect didn't come over, and seeing that no one else was around, I got straight to the point.

"It's your birthday today, so first of all, happy birthday. Second, I have some things I want to show you." Whether he wanted them or not, I placed the box in his hands and began taking out the photographs. "Did Avery and the others tell you? I'm sure they didn't. So even they knew this sort of thing was wrong."

The disgust on Snape's face vanished the instant he saw what was in the photographs. He took them and examined them carefully, one by one. When he saw the shot of Lily being attacked from behind as she turned away, he nearly crumpled the photographs in his grip.

"You should be glad they aren't very good at magic. If they'd been fourth- or fifth-years, or if they'd actually learned Dark Magic, what do you think would have happened to Lily?"

The color drained from Snape's face. Apparently, he'd imagined the consequences too.

"I don't actually care what you're doing at all, Snape." I closed the box and pressed it into his hands.

"But I thought you were the leader of that little group, so I never really tried to stop you. After all, you should at least have been able to keep Lily safe. But I was wrong. You can't control any of them. Then again, you can't even control yourself, much less those people."

For once, Snape said nothing when I mocked him. Lily mattered more to him than anything, after all, so he was finally willing to listen to what I had to say.

"If anything like this happens again, I won't guarantee those people will show up at school in one piece." I warned him, "If you can't keep your dogs under control, I don't mind coming after you."

"There won't be a next time," Snape finally said.

"I hope that's true," I replied.

Once I'd said what I needed to about Lily, there was only silence between us. But there was nothing else to say anyway, so I turned and left. Snape took the box and walked away at the same time, as if by mutual agreement.

But I knew it wouldn't do much good. This wasn't the first time something like this had happened.

As soon as I left the Slytherin Common Room, sunlight fell on me. The winter sun was weak, but its warmth was real enough. I stood there in a daze for a while, until Remus waved to me.

"You haven't gone back yet?" I was a little surprised.

"I just wanted to get some sun." Remus's excuse was terribly unconvincing. As he spoke, he looked me up and down, as though I'd been somewhere as dangerous as a dragon's lair rather than the Slytherin Common Room. "I didn't expect you to come out so quickly."

"I was just giving him something and passing on a few words. It wasn't going to take long." I stretched and patted Remus on the shoulder with a grin. "I know you were worried about me."

Remus said nothing more. He was silent for a moment before he nodded.

"But it's over now, and everything went smoothly." Feeling as though a weight had been lifted from my mind, I had a sudden idea.

"Why don't we go for a walk in the Forbidden Forest?"

"...If we go there, today won't exactly count as having gone smoothly, will it?"

★

Lily hadn't seen Snape all day.

It was Snape's birthday, yet she had no idea where he'd gone.

She'd gone to the library that morning, and later to the Slytherin Common Room. The people there had told her that another Gryffindor girl had come looking for Snape earlier, and that Snape had gone out afterward and still hadn't returned.

Where could he have gone?

As for the Gryffindor girl who'd come looking for Snape, she had a feeling it might have been Merlin. Ever since Avery and the others had ambushed them that day, Merlin had been indignant about it. If it was Merlin, he might already have told Snape what had happened.

What a headache.

What made her head ache even more was that she had no idea where Merlin had gone either, so she couldn't even ask him.

She sat on the Quidditch pitch, sighing and groaning. Her behavior greatly displeased James, who was sitting on the other side.

"How can you look so miserable on the Quidditch pitch?" James gestured extravagantly. "This is a paradise of happiness!"

"Seeing you makes me feel even more miserable," she replied.

She'd seen James and Sirius chatting in the common room and thought she'd sneak off to watch Quidditch and relax, only for the two of them to show up shortly after she sat down. She'd wanted to leave, but Ravenclaw was playing exceptionally well today, and before she knew it, she'd become absorbed in the match. How embarrassing! I'd wanted to pretend I wasn't interested in Quidditch!

Snape had probably gone to confront Avery and the others, but what about Merlin? Surely he hadn't gone along too.

Just imagining the scene made her hair stand on end.

She'd never known how to handle her relationship with Snape, and she'd been even less sure since he and the others had started dabbling in Dark Magic. Before coming to Hogwarts, Snape had been her best friend. Though he was always clashing with Petunia, he clashed with everyone anyway.

But after they came to Hogwarts, the clear divide between Slytherin and Gryffindor had imperceptibly driven a wedge between them as well. She still considered Snape her best friend, but their increasingly frequent differences of opinion and increasingly heated arguments had made her start to wonder.

If this goes on, can my friendship with Snape really withstand everything without a single crack appearing?

She truly was worried, worried that Snape would take a path he couldn't turn back from. Whenever she saw that Dark Magic, its ominousness and danger made her instinctively want to back away, yet that darkness was immensely appealing to Snape. They'd argued about it several times, only to leave the matter unresolved in the end.

The more Lily thought about it, the more her head hurt. Then she remembered the situation at home and being ostracized at school. Finally, she let out a long sigh and lay back on the seats.

"Hey, Evans, if you don't feel well, you can lie down over here. Don't lie on the ground like that," James shouted.

"Isn't it comfortable lying like that? You just have to worry about catching a cold."

Just as Lily was about to tell James to shut up, she heard Merlin's voice. She opened her eyes and saw that Merlin had appeared beside her at some point, with Remus following behind him.

"Lin!" She sat up in delight. "Where did you go today? I didn't see you all morning."

"I went to the Forbidden Forest," Merlin said matter-of-factly, handing her a flower as he spoke. "I picked it in there."

"You went without me again!" James started shouting.

She accepted the flower, still curious about what had happened earlier. "Did you tell Sev what happened that day?"

"Yeah. He definitely should know about something like that." Merlin popped a piece of candy into his mouth. "He needs to understand the consequences of what he's doing."

The two fell silent for a while, until Ravenclaw scored another goal.

"Do you think there'll come a day when he changes his ways?" she asked suddenly.

"Snape thinks so too," Merlin replied.

There really was nothing wrong with that answer.

"But that's all for the future." Merlin's tone suddenly grew much gentler.

"Are you happy today, Lily?"

She watched the people flying back and forth on the pitch and the students cheering and jumping for joy in the stands, then looked at the flower in her hand.

"I think I'm pretty happy," she answered.

"That's good, then. As long as you're happy today, and happy every today, that's enough." Merlin smiled and leaned against her shoulder.

"You can think about the things troubling you later."

That really was a way of thinking that gave no consideration to the future.

But at that moment, she actually did feel a little more at ease.

A breeze blew in from afar, and they watched the Quidditch match until it ended.

─────

[Author's note]

★Note★

The biggest difference between a "birthday romance event" and a "birthday event" is that a birthday event can switch at any time to someone else with higher affection, whereas a romance event will at least play through one complete romance event;

Other characters' affection storylines can also be completed on the day of a birthday event.

★Side quest reminder★

*Congratulations on unlocking Lily's main romance storyline: [Lily's Troubles · 2]

*Congratulations on earning an achievement in Lily's main romance storyline: [Told]