Chương 65: Chapter 64 - Ending with a Cycle.

[Chapter Size: 4400 Words.]

Third Person POV

Hogwarts.

...

...

"Tell me, Severus, what did I do to you?" Lily's voice came immediately after hearing him, her voice choked with sadness.

Severus stared at her for a few moments. Before, he would have rushed to try to ease her sadness, but the current him merely watched her with a sigh. There was no indifference there, but he knew that relationship had to end and should not be continued.

Lily Evans met his calm gaze, waiting for an answer.

"There are a number of factors that contributed to this, and if you really want me to say it, fine. We can start with the fact that our conversations keep being nothing more than you criticizing me for my obsession with studying dark magic," Severus said, challenging her to say otherwise.

"Dark magic is wrong," she said immediately, firmly clinging to that logic of hers.

"Oh, is it? And why? You want to question our relationship? I'm more than open, more than I was before, to studying dark magic now..." Severus said immediately, with a hint of mockery.

And it was true. He would not be foolish enough not to study the main combat force of the wizarding world, especially when it was used by dark wizards and the other side of the war. He even thought it was wrong for Hogwarts not to have a course on dark magic, not because students needed to practice it, but because they should know about it, know its effects, and know how to face it.

He himself knew of some aspects that could even be useful in helping people. There were ways to create curses that would consume other curses. Even the Unforgivables could be used in certain areas to help people, not necessarily by making them lose their lives or suffer, but by genuinely helping them.

But the girl in front of him would never see that side of it. To her, dark magic was something negative and evil and, in a way, she was right. Dark magic had the potential to affect a wizard's mind. Not that it would happen to him, but even so, from an academic and even medicinal perspective, that knowledge could help people, whether by teaching them how to deal with curses and dark wizards, saving a life, or treating curses and magical diseases, especially hereditary ones.

Severus looked at Lily to see her reaction, while she stared at him with disbelief and even a certain amount of fear.

"But you're not a bad person. Why are you doing this to yourself, Severus?" she asked. It was the same Lily who used to nag him.

'Hasn't she understood that yet?' Severus merely shook his head before answering.

"I will continue doing my research because I know it's important. I won't depend on your opinion to continue it. But when I say we shouldn't be friends anymore, do you really want to know the reason?" he said as she stared at him.

Severus didn't want someone constantly getting on his case whenever he had a dark magic book tucked under his arm, with Evans constantly in his ear telling him that he should do this or that, that he shouldn't get involved with this or that.

She would be a thorn in his side. Despite that, his main complaint was that she was always siding with Potter and the other Gryffindors. Lily merely continued staring fixedly at him as Severus went on.

"You wanted to distance yourself because I study dark magic? Fine. There's nothing wrong with you being disgusted by it. I won't criticize you for not liking it, and you can be sure I won't try to involve you in it. And that's fine. Just as with anyone who stays by my side, I still think I should learn more about it. But, frankly, I couldn't care less if you're disgusted by dark magic. The problem is that you've been a terrible friend these past few years."

"You only say that because you were fascinated with your Death Eaters too, Severus!" she shot back.

Lily had not stopped crying. Now, she had made her statement while glaring at him angrily, but Severus calmly maintained his composure, as though he were explaining the logic to someone who did not understand the situation.

"Let me tell you the real reason, Evans. We can start with an example. Maybe that time when I heard your friends mocking the 'horrible Slytherin,' while you just stayed silent as they questioned why you were my friend. I think it was in third year... no, fourth," Severus raised a finger.

"I defended you! I defended you every time!" she said immediately.

Severus merely thought for a few moments and shook his head. "Yes, I remember that you've defended me before. That's true. But you never set any boundaries with them. You let them speak badly about me, didn't you, Evans?"

"That's not true! And I know very well that you also listened to your friends bad-mouthing me in Slytherin! Do you remember the comments they made whenever I went to talk to you at the Slytherin table?" she roared angrily.

Severus almost wondered whether she would transform into a lioness through her tears. And she was right about that.

The first part had happened at the beginning of December during their fourth year, when Severus met Lily and her friends arrived. She suddenly walked away from him to join them after the two of them had gotten into an argument. Severus ended up passing near them sometime later, since they were in his path, without them noticing his presence, and heard Mary and Marlene criticizing Lily.

'Why do you keep hanging around with that horrible boy? He's ugly, horrible, a Slytherin, and evil!'

'Lily, stop hanging around with that thing. He's a... a dementor without a cloak!'

Lily listened to all of that and remained silent because of how angry she was with Severus at that moment. She did not stop them.

That had hurt Severus, although he had never mentioned it. He simply headed to the dungeons afterward.

At the same time, the second part, Lily's accusation, came from a memory from their first year. Back then, Lily had been innocent enough to run over to Severus's table to ask him to explore the castle with her, but what she received in return made her leave in tears, while Severus remained lost in the face of the situation.

Comments from Slytherins quickly began to arise around her. They even went so far as to throw pumpkin juice at Lily. Bellatrix Black herself had done it.

'Shocked? Get away from the Slytherin table, you filthy Mudblood!' said the Black girl.

Having been a fifth- or sixth-year student, Lily ran away while the cruel comments continued. And, in a way, things like that happened several more times, to the point that Lily never approached the Slytherin table again. And every time Severus met Mulciber, Avery, and the others, the question was always the same.

'Have you been with that Mudblood? You should leave her behind. She's nothing but a hindrance to your future, Snape.' That was already in their fourth year, after Severus had overheard Lily's friends while remaining silent.

Returning to reality, Severus stared at Lily, who was furious and in tears.

"It's true. I really didn't defend you and let them insult you. On that, you have every right to criticize me. That's why we shouldn't be friends anymore."

"But you said I'm a terrible friend!" she shouted.

"It's true. I still stand by my words. I was a terrible friend, and I admit that, but I still believed your words, unlike you. When I started being harassed by the Marauders, you used to believe me and tried to call the professors for help, but after a while, you stopped caring. And that's fine. You have no obligation to me, but you can't say you were a wonderful friend. And now, I don't even want you to have that obligation either."

"What are you talking about? Tell me! Tell me when I was a terrible friend, like you claim!" she roared again, interrupting Severus, who was just getting to that part.

Severus still had one finger raised, so he raised a second. He then continued.

"We can talk about all the times I told you that Potter and the others were doing things to harass me. That they would appear out of nowhere, attack me, and run away. You know what? You always said it was all in my head, that I was becoming paranoid about the Marauders. I used to be an idiot and didn't realize it, but not even my best friend was capable of believing me when I told you those things, to the point that I had to stop talking to you about it because you kept saying I was going crazy. And you also blamed it on the Dark Arts I had been studying," he said, now looking at her with utter contempt.

Severus closed his hand and made something begin to rise slowly from the ground near him, which Lily did not even notice. Now, Lily realized it was a cloak.

"I was right about that, after all. I found out tonight when I arrived at this place. Potter tried to ambush me. I discovered how he had been doing all of that over the past few years thanks to this thing..." he explained.

Lily raised an eyebrow, looking at him suspiciously, despite her expression being mixed with sadness and anger, then at the cloak and even at their surroundings.

"Are you saying Potter ambushed you? Where is he now?"

"He's behind the cabinet, if you want to know. I locked him in a coffin. When you leave here, do me a favor and take that piece of dung back to Gryffindor Tower. Anyway, do you see this cloak? It's what Potter was using. The interesting thing is that it's an Invisibility Cloak."

Severus made the cloak spread open between them and cover him, causing him to disappear completely. Then, he made the fabric levitate upward using telekinesis before letting it fall back into his hands.

He stared at Lily as though challenging her to pretend that all those times he had complained that Potter was attacking him without him being able to see him, the laughter after spells in empty corridors... that it had all just been his madness. She had always treated his accusations that way, as though they were the result of Severus sinking deeper and deeper into the Dark Arts.

Severus could see the shock on her face for a moment, while Lily seemed to be trying to organize her thoughts, searching for some explanation or perhaps going through her own memories. Which shouldn't have been too difficult. After all, they had argued about it for entire months during their third year, until Severus finally stopped trying to convince her, since she had simply begun to see him that way.

"Is that really his?" she asked, her voice trembling.

"It's not a low-quality cloak and, from what I can tell, it's quite old. Meaning, it's an Invisibility Cloak that doesn't deteriorate over time," he said, showing her the fabric. "Take it. See for yourself."

With telekinesis, Severus simply lifted it into the air and tossed it to her. Lily extended her hands without any enthusiasm and caught the cloak. Severus could see the fabric trembling between her fingers as her hand became completely invisible beneath it.

"I went to the professors at first, but they claimed I was delusional without any proof of it. And you said I was doing it because of the Dark Arts I was studying at the time as well. After all, I was the dark, angry boy who had nothing, wasn't I? Making up excuses, saying I was being attacked all the time and playing the victim." His voice was filled with contempt. Lily seemed to shrink back, sniffling through her own tears.

"I... I didn't know," she said, seeming to finally believe Severus.

"Every dark corridor, every invisible laugh, attacks coming from places I couldn't see... They kept harassing me for years, Evans. You can say I fought back, and that's true. I wasn't going to stand there and let them cast spells at me. But don't forget one thing: nothing justifies four against one, an Invisibility Cloak, and a map capable of showing everyone inside Hogwarts. The Marauders may be popular, but they aren't fair. They're a bunch of cowards, and I stand by that."

Severus had also sought out the Dark Arts in the past because there was no safe place for him at Hogwarts. There were the Marauders constantly harassing him while he tried to fight back with everything he had, but he didn't have the fame they did. He had no wealth. He was an outcast, unlikeable, and ugly, although the last one was petty, in a school, teenagers like that tended to judge you and Severus practically had no one by his side... With them never fighting fairly against him and all those factors, wouldn't Severus seek help, even among the most feared Slytherins and books on the Dark Arts?

With that cloak and that map, perfect tools for doing practically anything without being discovered, while the dark Slytherin shouted about the four of them, being seen as a madman without any proof of what he was saying.

"Did you say a map?" she asked, her voice almost breaking, realizing that he had mentioned something else...

Severus couldn't help but smile. "Ah, yes. I took this map from them a few days ago," he said, as he pulled a parchment from one of his new rings and forced the runes to release it.

It was a map made by children, not by adults who were experts in alchemy and runes, so it had been easy for him to identify them with his knowledge and break them. He even already knew the words needed to reveal it, but he did it by forcing it open anyway.

The map was soon revealed and Hogwarts appeared before them with everyone inside it. Most were already heading to their dormitories, as it was almost curfew. Severus made the map unfold completely and appear before Lily, while she stared in shock at all of Hogwarts represented on that parchment, with footprints and the name of each person. The Great Hall still had a third of the students at that moment, while many were making their way through the corridors and the common rooms were full of people. The dormitories were also beginning to fill up.

And, at the top of the map, it read "Marauder's Map," the most obvious title they could have chosen.

"You used to say that their harassment of me was all in my head. Tell me, what couldn't you do at Hogwarts with a map that shows where every single person is and an Invisibility Cloak, while four Gryffindors are out there harassing a Slytherin and waiting for him to always be alone in empty corridors?"

Severus challenged her to deny it. And he remembered that he hadn't even wanted this conversation. They could finally go their separate ways, but she had insisted on talking to him, so he would give her his reasons and defend them.

Lily stared at the map, clutching the cloak in her hands as she looked toward the Astronomy Tower. She could see three people in that place: herself, Severus, and James Potter himself, who was in one of the corners. The tiny footprints with his name above them confirmed that Severus wasn't lying.

Seeing her realize that, Severus couldn't help but display another smile.

"James knew you had sent that letter after all. That friend of yours, McDonald, wasn't subtle at all about showing it, so he used Black to get that information out of her. Potter tried to ambush me here, attacking with the Invisibility Cloak again. A coward, as always. But I suppose you certainly deserve each other."

Severus kept that smile on his face as Lily turned her attention back to him. "I didn't know. What do you mean by that?" she said, with tears beginning to fall onto her feet and cloak.

The sight of Severus smiling with that contemptuous look was not something she liked, and the guilt grew even heavier in her heart as she saw that he was beginning to be right about many of the things they had gone through together and she had never listened to him...

Severus simply made the map shrink and roll itself up, while the cloak also slipped out of her hands, flying toward him. He stored both inside his ring. As soon as the objects approached him, Lily saw the matter disappear before her eyes.

That certainly would have awakened her curiosity in any other situation, but she was still too emotionally devastated to change the subject and ask about something like that, especially after Severus's comments.

"What is it, Evans? You really don't think what happened at the lake at the end of our fifth year was enough to reveal your attraction to him? While you had your best friend, or rather, your supposed best friend, hanging upside down?" Severus said.

"I tried to help you!" she said immediately, stammering even more as her voice tried to deny what Severus was saying.

"Come on, Evans. We both remember very well what happened that day. The four of them ambushed me while I was reading beneath a tree near the lake and used my own spell against me. A spell I don't know how they got their hands on. I had taught it to you, as well as a few others, and to some Slytherins, although I can't accuse anyone, not even you, because I don't know how it reached them..."

"Maybe they discovered it on their own, or perhaps one of your friends taught them. After all, I know you taught some of them to your friends, Mary and Marlene, if I'm not mistaken," he said before continuing.

"Anyway, I was upside down and you showed up asking him to stop. But frankly, after so many years of dealing with the Marauders, did you really think words would work on them? No. You stood there arguing while Potter showed off like a peacock for you. You were loving that attention."

Lily began to tremble. "No! That's a lie!"

"No? He was keeping a student hanging upside down and you're a prefect. You weren't even fulfilling your role and duty. You were more willing to listen to his arguments and his requests for you to go out with him than to try to stop him by casting a quick spell to neutralize him. Something that, frankly, any other prefect should have done. But instead, you simply stood there listening to the famous James Potter while he abused a Slytherin. It was more than fair, wasn't it?"

"You're exaggerating, Severus! It wasn't like that!" she protested through her tears.

"Oh, really? Do you remember the last thing you did before I insulted you, even before Potter provoked me?" he asked.

Lily stared at him. "What do you mean by that? What are you getting at?"

Then Severus continued. "That smile of yours when my trousers fell down and I was exposed in front of the entire school. Were you enjoying yourself there, Evans?" Severus asked, staring into her eyes without being bothered by her crying.

"No..."

"No? Remember carefully. You held yourself back from laughing and closed your mouth just in time. I was there being humiliated and you almost took pleasure in my misfortune. Tell me, what kind of friend are you, Evans? I'm not saying I was a good friend, but I'm explaining why neither of us should go back to what we were before. There's too much hurt between us."

"I... I'm sorry," she said, sniffling.

Perhaps it was the third or fourth time Lily had said that. Severus had already lost count. He was tired. He didn't want to talk about it anymore. He simply wanted each of them to go their own way, but he needed to make things perfectly clear to her.

"And I wasn't interested in Potter!" she insisted.

Severus merely sighed. "When I was almost killed that night, you didn't even ask what happened, nor did you want to know. You just threw it in my face, saying that Potter had saved me. I can't say much about it due to certain circumstances, but it's hypocritical of him. And I also saw the gleam of admiration in your eyes when you said exactly that. That's why our relationship ended long ago. I had been a fool to continue our friendship when we only tolerated each other out of a certain sense of obligation. I'll say it again: I don't want to be your friend anymore. It would be better if we each went our own way."

"So that's how you think about everything we've been through, Sev... Severus?" Lily asked.

"You don't need me to answer something like that right now. We had good times, but they're over, Evans." Severus stood up with a sigh, one that showed he was fed up and that continuing would lead nowhere.

Then, he began walking toward the exit, while Lily fell to her knees on the smooth wooden floor, crying.

"No... That's not true," she said, trying to deny it.

But it was.

Severus merely shook his head. He could throw a lot of other things in her face, he suspected that Lily had even found a way to get rid of him, that he was a social burden to her... After all, people talked and she heard it every day. Maybe he was wrong about that, but it didn't matter and there was no need to talk about it anymore.

Trying to care would show her that he still cared... But he had already made his position perfectly clear. Why would he bother continuing that argument if she no longer meant anything beyond being an old friend the former Severus had once had?

Now, he no longer cared about any of that, especially because he didn't have time for the things they used to do before.

Lily herself barely even sought him out during their fifth year. He was the one who had to go after her.

Severus stopped for a moment when he was about to pass by her. Lily merely stared at him, tears still rolling down her face, but Severus wasn't looking at her.

He was looking at the sky.

Something had caught his attention.

From that point, he could see an enormous band of stars stretching across the sky, the center of the entire Milky Way, as he now knew thanks to some Muggle books. It displayed a yellowish glow in the middle of the sky and was beautiful. Even Severus could certainly have appreciated that sight if the atmosphere in that place hadn't been so tense.

But something had made Severus stop.

He managed to distinguish one star shining a little brighter than the others. He didn't know why, but it caught his attention. He watched it flicker several times before finally ceasing to shine so intensely.

The star had returned to normal.

Nothing else changed in the sky.

'It must be my imagination...' Severus thought.

He didn't know why it had made him look at the sky at a moment when his eyes hadn't even been pointed in that direction, he wouldn't normally have even noticed the glow... But he had simply felt something and looked up, until he found that bright point.

When it ended, he turned his face, not toward Lily, but toward a more distant corner, while activating his telekinesis.

His magic allowed him to expand his own mind throughout the area, enabling him to observe every corner around him. It was an ability he had acquired a few years after creating Artica, when he discovered that his abilities could also do that. He basically projected his mind as though he possessed invisible eyes throughout the environment, allowing him to observe things far beyond the range of his vision.

Despite that, animals were still a much faster resource. Through them, all he had to do was access their minds and see through their eyes, while, with that ability, his mind needed to travel from his own body through the area. Even so, he could now expand his domain throughout that entire room and observe every detail.

He didn't know how to classify that ability, but it would certainly be something incredible to use on a battlefield, allowing him to know exactly everything that was happening around him. In the past, he had needed to use the eyes of an eagle in the sky while fighting several enemies with a sword and shield, ensuring that he would never be caught by surprise from behind, always observing himself like an avatar in third person and the entire area around him in search of enemies...

As for the expansion of his mind, that ability was still new and couldn't compare to his old fighting style, but it could certainly be developed further.

Anyway, Severus simply activated his telekinesis, observing exactly what was behind the cabinet and making the wooden coffin rise. It flew toward the two of them before Severus let it fall in front of him.

With a simple movement, all the wood came apart and quickly rose, revealing Potter tied up, with pieces of wood covering his eyes and mouth.

"As I said before, you should take him back to Gryffindor. I think we've made our positions quite clear here, Evans."

Severus looked at her one last time. "You weren't the only one who made mistakes in this relationship. I made mistakes too, know that. But now there's nothing left between us except hurt. I hope you understand that it's better for both of us to end this."

With those words, Severus simply walked toward the exit.

Lily was still crying, tears streaming more and more down her face, while Potter squirmed without knowing exactly what was happening. He couldn't see or speak, but he could hear her crying and Severus's final words.

And so, Severus left the Astronomy Tower.

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

🦝 Raccoon here: 🦝

I deeply appreciate your support since the beginning of this exciting journey!

🌟 RaccoonLeague | Patreon🌟

Visit our Patreon for more: https://www.patreon.com/RaccoonLeague

Extra Content Already Available:

🏴‍☠️ One Piece - I Am a Different Luffy!: 30 extra chapters!

👑 Game of Thrones: The Legend of Jon Arctic!: 30 extra chapters!

👑 HOTD: Jon Arctic! 30 extra chapters!

🌀 Naruto - Minato Namikaze SI!: 30 extra chapters!

🗡️ The Witcher - As Uchiha Madara! 30 extra chapters!

⚡HP - Jon Arctic as Severus Snape! 30 extra chapters!

⚡ Harry Potter - Shadow Monarch! Finished! [100%]

👑 Game of Thrones: DragonBorn! [Chap: 311 - 100%]

⚡Danmachi – The Alchemist! [Coming Soon.]

Visit our Patreon for more!!

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆