Chapter I: Love And Friends Lost (More Than Life Itself, Severus Snape X OC)

Chapter I: Love and Friends Lost (More Than Life Itself, Severus Snape x OC)

Author's note: Here's Chapter I, finally! Severus Snape drags Helena Collins out of bed to see if the rumours were true, if the Potters were really dead. He can only hope...but, I mean as we all know, it's futile. We all know how Snape feels, but how does Helena feel, watching her best friend fall apart in front of her eyes? Yet, someone has to stay strong for them, right?

TW: Angst (lots of it I guess)

Tags: @koopakid03 @craftyhufflepuff @easy-there-leftovers

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“Merlin’s beard, slow down!” Helena Collins hissed as she struggled to keep up with the fast pace of the figure before her. She hastily brushed a strand of her long brown hair away from her face. She had hastily dressed, throwing a deep blue robe over her white nightgown. The snow fell like little pearlescent droplets, beautiful in the dark night. Her nose and cheeks had turned pink from the cold, and she shivered. She followed the figure, and he took her arm, Apparating them both from Hogsmeade to Godric’s Hollow.

Up ahead, Severus Snape marched with great strides. He gripped his wand tightly in his left hand, holding it out in front of him slightly as he walked. He stopped abruptly, causing Helena to crash into him. “Gods, Severus, what-”

She peered out from behind him, and her eyes widened. The house in front of them was a familiar structure to her. She had spent many days here, and to see it in such a state…with the side of the house seemingly blown apart.

Without a second word, he walked ahead, pushing the gate open and stepping into the front yard of the Potters’ home. Helena followed, taking her wand out from within her robes. She managed to catch up to him and paused by his side.

“This is it,” she said to Severus, whose eyes were dark and severe, even more so than his usual dour countenance. She pushed the door open, finding it unlocked. Her breath hitched at this. Lily Potter would never leave her house door unlocked.

James might, but never Lily.

She stepped cautiously into the house, lighting her wand with a “lumos” charm. Light bloomed from the tip of her wand, lighting up the darkness in front of her.

She walked through the living room, Severus trailing behind her. The sight that greeted them at the top of stairs made her nauseous. James Potter lay on the ground, that familiar smirk on his gone, replaced with a look of what could only be described as determination and shock.

His round glasses were askew, and his wand knocked aside. She knelt by his side, brushing his face with the back of her fingers. His skin was ice cold. She shook her head as tears pricked the corners of her eyes. Dead.

Helena gently brushed her hand over his eyelids, closing his eyes, before getting up, but Severus had already moved on. She mumbled a prayer for James and following Severus into the next room.

He stopped in the doorway, his knees visibly buckling. He let out a sob as he fell to his knees. When Helena stepped into the room, she knew why. She stilled, and for a moment, it was so quiet that she could hear her heart slowly start to shatter.

The debris on the floor, the figure with vibrant red hair that lay amongst it. Lily Evans, one of her closest friends at Hogwarts. Now, she lay dead. Helena watched as Severus picked up Lily and held her to him in an embrace, tears dripping down his cheeks.

Lily had been a great friend to Helena, and a great sorrow overcame her as she glanced at her lifeless friend, cradled in Severus’ arms. However, her heart clenched soon after, a feeling that had nothing to do with her grief about Lily’s death.

She knew how much Lily meant to Severus. She was his first real friend from their childhood years. Lily had told Helena the tale many times over, she and Severus bonding over the fact that they had magical abilities in the Muggle town of Spinner’s End. Lily was there for him when the Marauders teased him endlessly, and even when the three of them hung out together to study or for breaks, Helena had felt, more than anything, like a third wheel.

“Severus…the boy,” Helena said softly, walking over to the crib, where one year old Harry Potter was crying. There was a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead, and it bled. She picked up the boy and rocked him gently, shushing him.

“Oh, Harry…” Tears pricked her eyes again as she imagined him having to grow up without his parents. James and Lily, who had been so excited to have a son to raise, to grow up with. Now, they would never be able to hug Harry again, to play with him and see him go to Hogwarts. She pressed a kiss to his forehead before turning to Severus.

“What do we do?” She asks, her voice hoarse. “We cannot leave him here.”

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Seeing Helena holding baby Harry stirred something in Severus Snape. He didn’t know what it was, a foreign twinge of an emotion he’d never felt before. But he brushed that all aside. He approached her, wiping his face, and leaned in to whisper, “I have word that Hagrid will be arriving soon, on Dumbledore’s orders. He will take the Potter boy to Professor Dumbledore, who’s currently at Number 4 Privet Drive, for Potter to live with his aunt.”

He watched as Helena frowned, no doubt recalling the unpleasantness that was Petunia Evans. Lily had told her about Petunia's unique disposition quite often, and Petunia's attitude irked Helena to no end.

“Them?” She grimaced. “Those god-awful-”

She stopped herself. “We cannot send Harry to live with them,” she said pleadingly, tears shining in her blue eyes. Those blue eyes. The beautiful shade of blue he had always loved. He didn’t want to see her cry, ever. Wait, what?

Why did he feel this way?

“The Headmaster has said so himself. Harry’s protection can only last as long as he lives with family, as…vile as they are,” he replied, his voice cool and calm. He took the baby from her arms and laid him back in the crib, his fingers brushing over the raven hair on the child’s head. “We must go before we are found, otherwise…”

He didn’t need to continue. The implications were clear. He watched as Helena stood, wiping the tears from her eyes. “We must go,” she echoed softly. He took her hand, and they Disapparated.

That night, as Helena laid in her bed, her eyes staring blankly at the ceiling of her quarters, her heart wept. For Lily and James, and Harry who had been oprhaned at such a young age...but also a love she knew she couldn't have. She hated it, her mind thinking about Severus this way when Lily and James had just died.

That night, as she recalled how Severus had held Lily in his arms, she knew that it could never be, and it was time to let go.

But could she let go? That was a question that only time could answer.