Chapter 195 : Reflections in the Stables

HI GUYS IF YOU WANT READ 300 + CHAPTERS THEN VISIT

patreon.com/Benzoid

"I won't tell Minnie if you don't." And he took of his shirt, not taking notice of the widening pair of green eyes that were watching him. He threw the garment on a wooden rail and cast a spell to throw some warm water on it from his wand before drying it and then turning his wand on his person to do the same. But the moment the hot water cascaded on his frame, a soft gasp prevented him from casting the second spell, his instincts dictating he should turn and face the possible threat. And he did just that, pointing his wand to a blushing… "Lily?"

"Uhm... Hi." The redhead muttered softly as Severus looked at her blinking once, twice, before lowering his wand chuckling.

"By goblins' gold, Lily!" He exclaimed teasingly, placing his wand back in its holster. "I almost hexed you! How did you manage to sneak up on me?" How indeed, he wondered, thinking it probably happened while he was removing his armor, the cluttering so close to his ears cloaking any softer sounds. And Lily had always been light on her feet. His next thought was of a different subject altogether. His eyes fell on his shirt that still lay discarded, leading him to remember that he was in fact shirtless. And dripping wet. He fought his blush and turned his eyes back to Lily trying to explain what had happened only to find her walking slowly towards him, her footsteps soft on the wooden floor. Oh now I can hear her, Severus berated himself.

"Severus." She said, stopping a few feet from him, her eyes straying from his darker ones to the toned chest beneath and staying there for a few moments before returning to his face. A wide assortment of alarm bells started ringing and chiming in his head as he watched her blush harder. "You went and changed on me." She accused him with a smile and he once again thought -for the first time in some few years- of how beautiful she looked when she was being shy. But instead of the burning longing such a look would have spurred in him in the past, this time it was only a realization; Lily looked beautiful when she smiled and he was happy she did because he considered her a friend still. That was it.

"I didn't change." He stated, smiling back. "I just decided it was time I started being me." That seemed to throw her off momentarily.

"So the moody, sulking and occasionally acerbic man was an act?" She asked teasingly.

"First of all, I don't sulk." He said, assuming a superior air, his eyes gleaming as he remembered countless conversations like this one from when he was a child. "As I've told Harry a thousand times, I brood. Occasionally. And I fear I'm quite acerbic still, at least humor wise. But moody?" He raised and eyebrow questioningly, making her laugh. "Woman, I was never moody! I will admit to being a little temperamental but that's it."

"Temperamental?" She asked smiling wide.

"Why yes. And you'd be surprised at how much good slashing the living daylights out of a practice dummy with a longsword does to ones temperament." Severus assured her.

"You have changed." She insisted, looking at him appreciatively once more. He shrugged, trying to ignore her gaze.

"Just on the outside. For any internal developments and realizations I might've made, you can thank Harry." He stated softly watching her smile turn sad.

"Harry." She whispered. "That was another surprise; he has grown a lot, has he not?"

"He has." Severus agreed, wondering once more how could they have fooled everyone for so long; to him it had been so painfully obvious how Harry had matured over the years and, even if he was the only one who knew why, was it truly possible that no one else had seen it? Had somebody taken the time to look closely, there was no chance they would have missed it. It was just there, the toll of time his age shouldn't have allowed yet.

"When I laid eyes on him today, it just hit me." She admitted, looking at her hands. "He's all grown up and somehow I missed it." She turned her green gaze, her eyes the hue of jade, back at Severus's dark orbs. "But you didn't. I finally realized what was always so different about him you know."

"What?" Severus asked softly, realizing Lily hadn't spoken to him for such a long period of time since before their fight and, even back then, they had never discussed something of that magnitude.

"You." She mouthed, pointing at him, her index finger slightly touching his abdomen before she retracted it from the hard muscle there as if she had been burned. "I would get glimpses of it sometimes as he grew up; a smirk here, a knowing glance there, his quiet demeanor and I would always think how he's more like me and not as extroverted as James or Adrian. When he chose to stay in his room to study, I thought it was I who had affected him. But now I see it wasn't me at all; it was you." She stopped and chuckled once. "Merlin, he even looks like you! High cheek bones, black hair and all!" There was a hint of desperation in her voice that he tried to ignore.

"So I have been told." Severus admitted.

"What?"

"That we look alike; we are often mistaken for father and son." He explained; he knew he probably shouldn't have said that at the moment but it was the closest he could get to proclaiming Harry as his son openly. He couldn't deny himself that anymore.

"Father and son…" Lily muttered smiling sadly. "You really do care about him, don't you?" Severus shook his head smiling.

HI GUYS IF YOU WANT READ 300 + CHAPTERS THEN VISIT

patreon.com/Benzoid