In the Harry Potter Without Harry Potter

Chapter 445: Picnic (2 in 1)

Jon froze on the spot.

In a normal timeline, what was supposed to have happened that night was something he clearly remembered never forgetting.

Lily had died at the hands of Voldemort, who had actually intended to complete his promise to Snape and leave Lily alive, but Lily had refused to move out of the way to protect Harry no matter what.

So this caused the original Voldemort to lose his patience and kill Lily, and then prepare to kill Harry next only to have the protection spell filled with Lily's unconditional self-sacrificial love for her child to bounce back the killing curse and cause his own death.

But it wasn't until today that Jon had really learned from the only surviving party from that night exactly what had changed in between.

Voldemort had actually been patient enough not to use magic, not to break his promise to Snape about sparing Lily by knocking her out first?

And what was with Lily's description of his expression at the time?

Why did Voldemort suddenly have such an expression on his face at that moment?

Or did Voldemort II already appear at that moment? And not after the killing of Harry Potter?

Just as Jon was thinking more and more, Lily's voice didn't stop there.

"By the time I woke up again, it was well into the second half of the night." Her voice was visibly shaking, "Albus came to my house, he woke me from my coma, and then, then at the first sight I rushed to Harry's cot. He wasn't breathing, completely. Completely and utterly a cold corpse."

"I screamed like a lunatic, I wanted to go after Voldemort, I wanted to go after him to avenge my husband and my son. But Albus held me back for dear life, he didn't let me die like that, and in fact, I didn't know where to look for him at all. But I simply couldn't listen to anyone else's advice or words, and eventually, they had to find a way to get me to safety by continuing to knock me out with a stunning spell first."

Listening to her account, Jon could imagine how desperate Lily was when she woke up from her coma that night.

The loss of a perfectly happy family in one night was a shock that no one could ever bear, especially when the man who had caused it had done it in front of her in such a blatant manner.

Lily's voice became normal after a short silence, although the memory of the past made her unable to contain her hatred, it was also the hatred that helped her to control her emotions.

"It was the same month when Voldemort disappeared from the magical world that Albus told me everything he knew. The whole magical community knew about that prophecy. It was because James knew what we would be facing that he cast the Fidelius Charm in our house, but he chose the wrong person to be the secret keeper. Originally that person was Sirius who was worthy of everyone's trust. Still, just because it would have been too natural to choose him, James played it smart and chose Wormtail who had in fact already secretly defected to Voldemort. "

"I learned who my two biggest enemies were, Voldemort, who did it all with his own hands, and Wormtail, who betrayed James' trust! But Albus stared into my eyes then, his voice deep and serious, and gave me another piece of information. That was who had actually leaked and informed Voldemort of this ridiculous Saviour Prophecy, and that was when I learned that Snape had gone to find Albus the night Voldemort came to my house. He actually begged Albus to help keep me alive!"

An icy, sarcastic and resentful smile spread across Lily's face.

"The only thing he failed to consider when he leaked the prophecy to his lord and tried to use it to claim credit from Voldemort was that the family that gave birth to the child in the prophecy was my family! He had no qualms about sacrificing a family's life as a stepping stone to his own rise to authority, to gain Voldemort's trust and appreciation for him! It wasn't until he found out that the mother who had given birth to that child was actually me that he began to feel scared, and James was right, Snape only ever showed the slightest bit of humanity when it came to me, the rest of the time he didn't hesitate to do anything just like that lord of his. He pleaded to his lord to spare my life, killing both James and Harry seemed fine to him, and my life was worthless to Voldemort."

"He also knew full well that Voldemort was not much of a man of his word at all, and even when his lord, who was extremely harsh and stingy with his subordinates, gave him a promise, he was still in fear, and then expressed the only little thing he would show when it involves me. He found Albus, betrayed his lord, and told him that Voldemort had learned the secret of the prophecy that the boy would be born in my house. Albus took me through that memory, he didn't hide it from me, Snape wept bitterly, he wished Albus could save me, and said he had once offered Harry in exchange for sparing me! He can hate James all he wants, I wouldn't wish him to let go of the hatred he once felt, but why not show Harry half or even a little compassion he shows for me!"

Lily clenched her teeth.

"He thinks this is being kind to me? He thinks that I should thank him for that? He's the one who made me live through what feels like hell every single day! Every night, I could hear Harry's cries in my ears! I wake up many times with nightmares of Harry crying, crying about why I couldn't save him then! Why did I let my own child die in front of me!"

Jon listened in silence as Lily finished telling all of this.

To be honest, Snape was definitely an incredibly sad character in the original story, he had been completely mistreated for the first half of his life, and suffered all wrong, so he doesn't know how to treat Lily and express himself, doesn't know how to express his heart, so many mistakes made because of that and his desire to gain acknowledgement.

But in the original story, he used the rest of his life to pay for all of that and did everything he could to make up for the mistakes that caused Lily's death.

But now it's different, Lily is not dead, and he has no chance of making amends, following Voldemort all the way to the dark side, leaving him with no semblance of compassion but rather an emotionless appearance.

Anyone who heard of Lily's tragedy would not be able to feel any sympathy for Snape, even Jon, who knew what choices Snape had made in the other world.

So far, Jon hadn't seen a single glimmer of humanity in him, just a selfish, self-absorbed coward.

The so-called good for Lily was just his own selfish wishful thinking so that he could have some peace of mind for himself, not caring how Lily was actually living.

"So, Professor." Jon helpfully tossed the already inedible cone Lily was holding into the rubbish bin, "Now that we know Snape will definitely be staying in Spinner's End, how are we going to find him?"

Lily looked over to the patch of a grassy field.

"He cares about me." Her voice wasn't remotely warm as she said this, "So he'll also care about the memories of his time here with me, and as long as he chooses to stay here, then he's sure to come back here one day."

Jon looked at the grassy field and shrugged, he could only be blamed for being a simple straightforward person, he couldn't really understand Snape's kind of thinking.

But at least with that comment from Lily, it gave him an idea of what they would be doing if they continued to stay here.

While the school public trial (show trial) was in full swing in Lyon, Jon and Lily had taken up residence near Spinner's End.

More than half a month had passed since the end of the Triwizard Tournament, and as it entered May, the weather had gradually started to move warmer and early summer had begun.

Even in this industrial city, there was no way to shade the impending summer.

The trees along the roadside were getting thicker and greener, and Jon and Lily had been here for a whole week, during which they could clearly notice the frequent appearance of strangely dressed people around Spinner's End.

Those were clearly Aurors from the British Ministry of Magic, their imitation of Muggle outfits was not professional and carried an aura unique to wizards that were almost immediately recognisable.

Not to mention the portion of the Death Eaters that had made the city less and less safe lately, who even if they were carrying out Voldemort's orders and willing to put aside their pride for a moment to capture Snape, weren't inclined to lower their heads in the face of Muggles.

There had been several brawls around Spinner's End, such as the one in front of Jon's eyes.

A man who was wearing a long, thick trench coat in early summer and a tall hat on top of his head was cursing recklessly and then about to go and throw a swing at someone just because a passer-by had given a few extra glances at his oddly matching outfit.

Jon, who had just come from a bakery with a paper bag filled with various desserts, pretended to be a spectator and watched as the Death Eater secretly used his magic to restrain the muggle and started punching and kicking the muggle.

Some people were trying to stop the fight, others running to the nearest phone booth to call the police, and others standing around watching as Jon did.

But Jon didn't stick around that long, he "tsked" twice and left the scene.

With the way these Death Eaters were behaving, it would be a wonder if Snape didn't find out about them, and the local Muggle government would have their hands full with this sort of public disorder for a while.

Jon made his way to the grassy field.

He and Lily had changed their appearance and unlike the Death Eaters, both Jon and Lily were very good at concealing themselves.

Always maintaining a different appearance every day on a grassy field which had not attracted the attention of the Aurors and the Death Eaters for the time being, it was difficult for Snape to be suspicious.

So even though they came every day, they never drew the attention of the people around them.

Today, the two were dressed as a mother and son out for a picnic, a combination not uncommon in this grassy field, where the weather had been good recently, showing a rare patch of clear sky even in this polluted industrial city.

So, many families chose to go out today and chose the only green area they could find.

Jon laid out all the desserts he had bought on the cloth, then picked up a bottle of juice and emptied it straight away in one gulp.

"I saw some more Death Eaters causing trouble on the way here, those Aurors are probably going to have a headache, not only will these people fail to help them one bit, but they will also mess up their layout and tasks."

Lily was taking the washed and cut-up assorted fruits out of her food basket one by one, dressed in a red knitted jacket and long floral skirt, not half as different from a muggle woman out on a picnic with her children, except that her face basically didn't show any smiles.

"Voldemort doesn't have a clue how to get things done these days."

Lily whispered, and from an outsider's perspective, it would only look like they were making casual small talk.

"These normally privileged purebloods are becoming less and less willing to give, they just think about taking, and when Voldemort and they have the same interests at stake, like in hunting us down, they'll put in about sixty percent of the effort. But when Voldemort's ideas are contrary to their demands, as in the case of capturing Snape now, which is not remotely beneficial to the purebloods, then they will act fairly negatively. Because if Snape is captured back, there's no guarantee that he won't return to his former high position, and if that's the case it's bound to be a case of spitting back out some of the things that have now been eaten by the purebloods."

Jon could undoubtedly see this too, but Voldemort was the only one who couldn't see it at all these days.

He thought that those under his thumb would still succumb to his violence and might as before, but in fact his other self had long ago re-established a clear rule for these purebloods.

What Voldemort was doing now was breaking that rule and reverting his forces back to the disorderly state they had been in over a decade ago, which would no doubt be resisted by many who had already enjoyed the benefits of smooth order.

And just as Jon was enjoying this pleasant time and was lying on the ground watching the sky as he brought the fruit Lily had just brought out to his mouth, he suddenly noticed out of the corner of his eye that Lily had stood up from the ground.

Puzzled, Jon tilted his head, and then he saw Lily staring dead in one direction.

There was a group of children out on a picnic playing there, in fact at first there were some little red-faced girls who also tried to drag Jon over with them, but they were all ruthlessly rejected by him.

And just beside the group of children on a bench sat, at some point, an old man.

He was dressed in a neat suit, his silver-grey hair was immaculately groomed, and he held an old walking stick in his hand, looking like an elderly gentleman.

But Jon caught a distinctive emotion in the old man's eyes.

And this emptiness, like indifference, was almost unique to another person.

Lily obviously noticed this anomaly too.

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