Childhood's End

Realistically, all romantic fantasy aside, I think Severus and Lily had a circumstantial, superficially-founded childhood friendship that both of them would have outgrown, even if Severus had never become a Death Eater. Based on what we see in the texts, it appears that Lily had started to pull away from Severus once they got to Hogwarts and she discovered other friends who could also do magic. Lily and Severus really don't seem to have been all that comparable, or compatible, in terms of intellectual capacity and personality, and Severus seems to have read far more into the friendship than Lily ever did.

I think the forces of survivor guilt and idealizing the memory of the dead had more to do with Severus' devotion in later years than a True Love based upon a solid and genuine soulmate-level friendship. A good counselor would have pointed this out to him within the first few years of Lily's death, but, alas, poor Severus had no good counselors available to him, only Albus Dumbledore.

So here's how I think it would have played out, had Severus given up his Death Eater associations and had he ended up marrying Lily. And now that I think about it, it kind of says a few things about his devotion to her in canon, too... ;-)


Title: Childhood's End
Author: bohemianspirit
Genre: AU, Het
Pairing: Severus/Lily
Rating: PG

Summary: Severus had known for a long time that he and Lily were growing apart, but an early morning conversation about their marriage still leaves him in shock.

Notes: Originally written as a bit of Creative Meta. ;-) Story title shamelessly lifted from Arthur C. Clarke, because it fits.


"The only thing worse than not getting what you want is getting what you want." - Oscar Wilde

( Childhood's End )