Round Robin: A Potter Manor Christmas Party
Title: A Potter Manor Christmas Party
Premise: Mary notices that Lily isn't enjoying the festivities at the Potter Manor. After getting her hands on Lily's phone, she scrolls through her contacts and finds Snape is still saved as 'Sev'. She decides to take the initiative and contact him. Hijinks ensues.
Limitations: Endgame Snily. All characters are 40 years younger than in canon, and the story takes place on 25 December 2018; Severus and Lily would be 18 at this point. This story will take place over the course of a single day.
Allowed Points of View: Severus, Lily, Mary
Note: Please be sure to read our official Round Robin rules before participating. Thank you!
A Potter Manor Christmas Party
Mary
Mary had never enjoyed crowds, but the Christmas party at the Potter Manor made her feel conflicted. It was crowded, no doubt, but there were enough rooms for her to retreat to; she'd considered spending most of it outside, but she wasn't one for the cold. Marlene wasn't having any problem at all, although the drinks might've had something to do with her cheer; at the moment, she was busy fussing over cleaning the drink she'd spilled on Remus, the latter of the two looking tired and pale from what Sirius and Peter described as a "bad Wednesday", whatever that meant. Alice and Frank had come as well, which was the first time in a long time that they'd had a break from work, and they were both being entertained by James.
Leaving Lily alone by the hors d'oeuvres table.
Lily wasn't happy, to say the least; she hadn't been happy since her friendship with Snape started to sour. Everyone thought (or at least, everyone in James's circle of friends) that dating James in her final year would've brought her mood up. It hadn't. Superficially, perhaps, but Mary could tell it hadn't, especially not after hearing about the double date Lily had been on with her sister and their dates. Mary didn't know the details, but if she had to guess, it had been a battle of egos between the two men.
"Alright, Lils?" James asked as he approached the table where Lily and Mary stood.
"I'm fine," Lily replied with a superficial smile.
"Just checking." James grabbed a cracker with caviar from Lily's plate and popped the whole thing in his mouth.
"James!" Lily complained.
"Sorry, love!" James grinned, snatching another before returning to entertain his guests.
Mary glanced at the caviar dishes, seeing that they'd already run out, before glancing at Lily's plate, seeing that she'd only gotten the two crackers. "Do you want one of mine?" Mary offered.
Lily shook her head quietly.
"It's not a big... I don't mind."
Lily's eyes moved to one of the crackers and took it. "... he doesn't even like caviar," she mumbled. She set her plate down and padded her pocket. "Damn," she muttered. "I forgot my phone."
"Want mine?"
"No, I must've left it in the sitting room. I promised I'd text Tuney." Lily didn't sound very pleased.
"I could pretend to be you," Mary offered.
"You're a lifesaver."
Mary just waved her hand with a small grin on her lips as she turned.
"Don't I always? Kind of feels like that's part of the job description for being a friend." She replied before making her way back through the now seemingly more crowded room, which immediately started to annoy the young witch again.
"Hey Mary!"
Her name had been called so loudly that it could even be heard over the music playing in the room - and Mary knew immediately who had been the source of it.
Sirius Black - the self-proclaimed dream of every woman.
What Sirius Black hadn't understood since their fifth year was that Mary didn't care about him at all. She had given her heart away in their fourth year - even though she knew she would never have a chance with the boy, no matter what.
"Leave me alone Black, I don't have time in my life for conversations with a dog-brained idiot like you."
How Lily could ever have fallen for James Potter after he had behaved like a spoiled brat who always got what he wanted, she would never understand.
Especially now that Sirius wasn't much different in his behaviour towards her than James had been towards Lily - and it just made Mary want to hex Sirius Black into the next century so he wouldn't bother her anymore.
"Oh come on Mary, don't be like that."
The young man didn't seem to get the message - again.
"I won't warn you again Black, one more time and I'll make sure you don't spend Christmas Eve here but in St Mungos."
With that, she let her wand slip into her hand, hopefully getting the message across this time.
"Is it..." But the words were cut short and only muffled, something that probably only happened because Remus knew to respect her threats and not take them for empty words.
Finally left alone, she passed Marlene once more on her way, before finally returning to the sitting room, where she started looking for Lily's phone.
Fortunately, it didn't take very long to find; it was still sitting on the table where Lily and James had been before the latter pulled them away to join everyone despite Lily complaining about wanting some alone time.
"My mother's been doing this for forty years," James had countered. "So, how about you suck it up a bit?"
Mary simmered at the memory as she picked up Lily's phone and entered the password (9301) before going into her contacts. It didn't take long to find "Tuney"; it was one of only a handful of saved contacts.... Mary paused, looking at the other names. Nestled between "Remus" and "Sirius" was "Sev". As in "Severus Snape". The same Snape who'd called Lily a mudblood in their fifth year.
Mary, curiosity getting the better of her, exited Contacts and entered Messages to see when Lily had last messaged Snape. It took some scrolling, but she found it, dating back to July in 2014.
Any plans?
No, you?
How about we go see Planet of the Apes?
God, there's ANOTHER one?!
That was NOT a bad movie, Sev!
Lily, why would you cheer for a virus breaking out?!
Fine, what about Guardians of the Galaxy?
What's that?
It's a comic book movie. You know when I showed you The Avengers?
Hated Iron Man. Reminds me of Potter
Don't sour the mood, Severus Snape. I'll just come to you in-person so we can talk it out
Wait, that's not a good idea right now
After reading the last message, Mary looked back at the name "Sev" sitting at the top of the chat. Lily wasn't the type to keep someone in her contacts unless they meant something to her, and if Snape was here....
Before wishing Petunia a happy Christmas, Mary quickly typed.
Party at the Potter Manor.
Severus
Severus didn't like Christmas. He didn't mind the decorations or music, but the people were murder to be around. To be honest, he wasn't even sure what Christmas was supposed to look like when one was home; his family had never celebrated (and never would, with his mum and Tobias having passed), and Lily's parents had never invited him over. Now, and for the foreseeable future, his Christmas would involve making a small dinner for himself and finding something to read. Alone.
Which is why getting a text from Lily was the last thing he expected.
