Emerald Stars
Author's Note: I hope this will be a nice change for Harry Potter fans of going backwards instead of forwards, it was for me at least! I also think that there was a need for some romance and a few awws. So, to quote Sophia Petrillo "Picture is Hogwarts:19..." well as close as I can figure it's the 1970's (Harry was born in 1980), but what does time really matter at Hogwarts? Enjoy!
NEW AUTHOR'S NOTE: This might contain spoilers if you haven't read book seven, "Deathly Hallows'. You've been warned!
Finally, it was over; she could relax. Lily Evans had just climbed up the winding stone staircase from the dungeons to the main floor of Hogwarts. She took some time to catch her breath in the hallway and set her backpack on the floor, which was laden with what felt like half the library. The potions exam had been a killer, although it would have been much worse if Severus hadn't been nice enough to help her study the day before. Potions was, admittedly, not her best subject and, truth be told, she found it all rather pointless (although not as pointless as divination). But she couldn't slack now in her sixth year. She was struggling to keep her grades as high as ever; her position as Head Girl would depend on it. She had worked hard for 5 years and only hoped Professor Dumbledore had taken notice.
It was out of her hands now; she would just have to wait for the results to come in. Hoisting her heavy backpack onto her shoulder with a groan, she glanced at the clock over the front entrance. With the exam over, she had some free time. Perhaps a game of wizard's chess with Alice in the Gryffindor common room would take her mind off of things. She turned to climb the steps to the tower when she heard a voice timidly say her name. Turning around, she saw Severus had come up out of the dungeons behind her. He was clutching his books so tightly that his knuckles were turning white.
"Hello Severus!" Lily said brightly.
"Hello Lily, I was... trying to catch up to you after potions to see how the exam went for you, but you had...gone." He spoke very quietly and avoided looking into her eyes at all costs as though looking into them would make him too weak to stand.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I was just so anxious to get out of those drafty dungeons and into the common room. The exam was a little hard, but it would have been so much harder if it hadn't been for you. Potions comes so naturally to you, I wish it was that easy for me."
"Oh it was nothing, nothing at all, I mean, who wouldn't want to...to help you...you, your ribbon."
"What?" She asked confused. She hoped Severus would start making sense soon; she didn't want to be rude but she would much rather be upstairs.
"I'm sorry; I meant that your ribbon is loose."
Lily reached up to feel her hair and found that her ribbon had slipped to the bottom and had almost fallen off. "Oh, thank you. My hair is so unruly; it was just a matter of time before it escaped."
"Unruly, no no it's not that, not at all, you have very nice hair, it's very - vibrant."
Lily smiled sympathetically. It was such a shame that Severus had such trouble talking to people; he could be very sweet.
It wasn't just Lily who spotted Severus' uneasiness and awkwardness. At that moment, the "fearsome four" of Hogwarts emerged from the dungeons. In the lead, as always, were James Potter and Sirius Black closely followed by Remus Lupin. The fourth member, Peter Pettigrew, scrambled to try and keep up under the weight of the other boy's knapsacks. The rowdy gang was laughing loudly, trying to keep their balance and pushing the others down the stairs at the same time. They had had an especially difficult time sitting still and taking the exam for over two hours and they were itching to take it out on something.
As James' eyes adjusted to the change in light, Sirius nudged him. "Hey Prongs! Look!" James followed Sirius' finger and saw Severus Snape speaking to Lily Evans. James' stomach gave a flip. He tried to nonchalantly wipe his sweaty palms on his robes. Lily Evans. He watched her eyes sparkle as she laughed at something that Snape was saying to her. She was so pretty when she laughed. He wished he could make her laugh, but whenever he was near her, he started to hem and cough and he just sounded like he had the flu. It was amazing; he could be so popular and captain of the Quidditch team, first in line for head boy next year, but he couldn't even say hello to a girl. No, not just any girl, LILY EVANS! Peter was still looking at the scene "Boy, he looks pathetic! He's practically drooling! I wonder what he's saying."
Remus replied, "Oh, I can tell you that, 'Gosh Lily, your eyes are as shiny as my hair, but not quite as crusty!'" Sirius and Peter burst out laughing while James was studying the light falling on one of Lily's curls. Sirius punched James' arm playfully, "Why don't we go over there and rescue Lily!" Before James could protest, the three others were headed over to the other end of the hall.
"Lily, I was just wondering..." he swallowed hard, in his mind he was beating himself up severely. Severus, you fool, don't ruin this! Stay calm!
"Yes?" Asked Lily, wondering what could be so important.
But before Severus could continue, Sirius slapped him hard on the back. "Well now, how goes it? If it isn't my best friend in the whole wide world severed-head Snape!" Peter and Remus laughed while James stared at Lily's mouth, which was opening to form the words, "Leave him alone Sirius!"
"What are you talking about, Lily?! Snapey here and us have been friends since we were the size of blast ended skrewts!"
He then proceeded to push Severus into Peter's arms, "Of course! We played in sandboxes together. But we had to be careful with this one to keep the dog from burying him. From the smell, he thought he was an old sock!"
Peter then skillfully jostled Severus over to Remus, "A dog's nose never lies!" He handed him over to James but James was still not paying attention and when Severus fell into his arms, he reflexively pushed him and he fell to the floor with a hard thud.
Books and papers flew from his arms and scattered. People had stopped and were looking at the scene. Severus leapt up and quickly gathered up his belongings. Thoroughly embarrassed, he ran from the scene as fast as he could before Lily could say anything.
Sirius slapped James on the back who had just now realized what he'd done. "Wow Potter, that one really came out of nowhere!" Peter and Remus were also congratulating him.
Lily had tried to call after Severus but he'd already gone. Anger was boiling over inside of her; she was furious. She marched up to the still laughing Sirius and put her finger into his chest, "How dare you! Who do you think you are?!"
"Oh come on, Lily; it was just in fun!" said Sirius whose laughter had started to subside when he saw how incensed Lily truly was.
She gave him a look of disgust and turned to Peter and Remus, "You all ought to be ashamed of yourselves! I've never seen a bigger group of cowards!"
Finally, she turned on James and put her face as close to his as possible, "And you." She said lowering her voice into the most threatening tone James had ever heard. "Pushing a defenseless person on the ground when he did nothing to you! Who were you trying to impress?! I swear James Potter, you make me sick! You're the worst of them all."
Too angry to continue on, she left the stunned boys in her wake and headed to the Gryffindor tower, parting crowds as she walked.
Peter was the first to speak, "Man oh man Potter! She gave it to you but good!"
James didn't hear him, he just stared after her down the hallway and his heart sank slowly into his knees.
Stupid stupid boys! Lily thought through clenched teeth. Lousy James Potter, who does he think he is?! "MERLIN!" She shouted at the fat lady. The portrait knew better than to hesitate. Lily's anger was almost stripping the paint from her canvas. Lily entered the common room. Alice Jones, who had been sitting reading a book by the fire, saw her first and knew immediately that something was wrong. Her best friend was usually so even-tempered and sweet; something big must have happened.
"Lily?"
Lily's head snapped up, noticing her friend for the first time.
Alice put her book down, "What's wrong? Was it the potions exam? I'm sure that even if you don't pass you'll get at least an A- in the class!" she said trying to be helpful.
Lily sat in the chair opposite Alice. "No it's not potions, it's those bloody boys!"
"What boys?" Alice asked.
"James Potter and Sirius Black and them! Do you know what they just had the gall to do?!"
"No, what?"
"There I was talking to Severus in the halls and I was thanking him for tutoring me in potions, and he was going to say something but then Sirius Black and his whole clan came over and started ragging on him! And then if that's not enough, they started pushing him among each other like a ball! And THEN," Lily's voice had risen and she was out of her chair pacing about the common room in a flurry of arm gestures, "that JAMES POTTER! He pushed poor Severus on the floor and his books and everything went flying!" Lily gasped for air. Her face was flushed again and her hair had come loose and she looked disheveled. "I've never seen someone so embarrassed. And then they laughed about it and congratulated each other on how great they'd been! It just really gets to me how horrible they can treat other people just because they're not as strong as they are; I can't abide it!"
"Lily, calm down!" said Alice who had remained silent during Lily's tirade.
Lily couldn't calm down, but sat back down in the chair. The fire in her eyes still burned brightly. "I sometimes can't wait to leave this place. All the boys here are absolutely infantile!" she declared.
"Well, not all of them." said Alice blushing and looking at the floor.
Lily looked at her friend and suddenly felt guilty, "Oh, of course not all of them, Alice, I'm sorry. Frank is a very rare exception."
Alice blushed deeper. "Yes, Frank is just about the most wonderful person I've ever met." She paused and looked at Lily with a shy stare, "And every prince needs a princess."
Lily cocked her head slightly, "What do you mean?"
The color in Alice's cheeks deepened, but a sly smile began to spread on her face.
Lily's eyes widened, "Alice Jones!! Are you serious!!?? Did he? Are you?!"
Alice's smiled burst open and she started talking rapidly. "It's not official yet, no, but at Hogsmeade last weekend, when we were on a walk, he stopped on this little path and he picked a flower off a tree and then he put it in my hair and then he looked really deep into my eyes and he said, "Alice, we've been sweethearts since first year at Hogwarts and you're the dearest thing in the world to me..."
"Oh, Alice! This is too exciting!" Lily squealed.
"Wait, let me finish! Then he said, 'Alice, after next year we're all going to graduate and we'll all go our separate ways, but I couldn't bear it if we parted. So, I'm asking you Alice, when I've made enough to make a decent life for us, will you have me?'!!!"
The two girls squealed together and Lily jumped into Alice's chair and hugged her. "Alice, this is the best thing that's ever happened to anyone! It couldn't happen to two more worthy people!"
"Oh, thank you, Lily. You'll be my maid of honor, of course!"
"I had better be!!"
The two friends hugged again and settled close to each other in the large chair, looking at the fire dance in the fire place. "Alice Longbottom, it's got a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"
Lily smiled, "Of course! I'm so happy for you, Alice." Lily sat silent for a moment. "Do you think I'll ever find someone who'll love me the way Frank loves you?"
Alice turned to her, "Of course you will! There's no doubt in my mind. You're going to have the best husband in the world! Well, maybe the second best." She said grinning.
Lily smiled back, "I just wish I knew where he was! I was sure that I'd find him here."
"You don't know that he's not still here. When you think about it, it could really be anyone!"
"But I haven't thought about anyone in that way, that's the problem."
"How about Severus?" Alice suggested.
Lily thought, but finally she said, "No. No I don't think so. I mean, Severus is a very sweet person; he's just about the nicest person I know. But I don't get that, you know, FEELING. I've never gotten it of course, but I think I know what it's supposed to be like."
Neither of them spoke for awhile. Alice was debating something in her head. Under the current circumstances, she wasn't sure how Lily would react to the news she had. But seeing how dejected her friend looked she decided to risk it. "Hey Lil." she said slowly.
"Yes?" Lily replied looking up at her friend.
Alice swallowed, "I heard something today. Right before you came up here actually. I heard it from Frank, as a matter-of-fact. I heard that...well..."
"Come on, Alice, what is it?"
"I know someone who fancies you. He fancies you a lot in fact."
"You're kidding?" Lily replied jumping up, "Who is it?"
Alice proceeded with caution, "It's someone you know. Someone in this house, actually."
Suddenly, Lily got a wary look in her eye, "Who is it, Alice?"
"It's, um,...James Potter."
Lily almost fell backwards, "James Potter!? Oh well, that's just great! Mister I'm too good for the rest of humanity I can just do whatever I bloody well please!"
"Aw, come on, Lil! James Potter isn't THAT bad! Yes, he's a little bit of a rascal, but Frank's friends with him and he tells me that he really is nice once you get to know him!"
"Sure." Lily scoffed sarcastically.
"It's true! And you too have a lot in common! You're both in Gryffindor, you both love Quidditch, and you know that the two of you are going to be head boy and girl next year!"
Lily quit pacing the room and looked at the floor. Finally she spoke, "A lot of people are in Gryffindor, EVERYONE loves Quidditch here, and even if we are both destined to be head boy and girl, that is not enough. I just...I just don't think I could ever love James Potter. He's...He's just too obnoxious!"
"That's because you never see him without his friends." Alice said gently.
Lily had no response for that and so she said nothing. Instead, she just sat back down in her own chair, holding her head in her hand.
Alice decided not to push the subject anymore and quietly took up the book she had been reading.
In the shadows of the room, something stirred, but it was so small that neither Lily nor Alice noticed it. The little creature scurried through a hole in the wall and ran down the steps of Gryffindor tower. After pausing a moment to sniff the air for a hungry Mrs. Norris, it raced into another hole and down a secret corridor. Finally, it reached its destination deep below the earth in Hogwarts castle.
The creature, a scruffy looking rat, paused at a great oaken door and began to squeak. When the squeaking stopped, the rat's whole body began to shake and twitch. Eventually, there was no trace of the rat and in its place stood Peter Pettigrew. He stretched his back which, after being cramped up as a rat, was quite stiff and knocked on the door.
"Password!" said a booming voice from behind the door.
"Oh, come on!" whined Peter, "It's me, Peter!"
"That's not your name!" said the voice from behind the door mockingly.
Peter rolled his eyes, "Ok ok!! WORMTAIL!" He said sulkily.
As he spoke, the door opened on invisible hinges and Peter scurried quickly inside. The other three boys were already there waiting for him. This had been their secret meeting place since second year when they'd all become friends. The empty space doubled as one of the passages used to smuggle Remus out before his monthly transformations to the shrieking shack in Hogsmeade. But in-between full moons, it served as a great hide-out.
"So, what happened?" Remus asked as soon as Peter had taken a seat.
Peter reported in full detail everything he had heard of the conversation between Lily and Alice. James listened and his heart sank from his knees to his feet. He hadn't even meant to hurt Severus that time! Now, Lily hated him! Well, at least the guts part of him.
"Well well well, quite the ladies' man aren't we Prongs!?" said Sirius.
"Just shut up, ok?" said James angrily. His face turned red as he got to his feet and stormed to a far corner of the passage with is back turned.
Sirius frowned; James was really upset. He loved to tease his best friend, but the truth was that he would lay down his life for James. He crossed the room and put his arm over James' shoulder, "Come on, you know we were only kidding! If she means that much to you, then we'll all figure out someway to get her to love you, right guys?"
"You bet!" replied Remus.
"Sure thing!" Peter said with an eager smile.
James looked at his best friends and smiled. "Thanks guys." They might not get Lily to love him, but at the very least he knew that he could always count on his four best friends.
The next day in Herbology, Professor Sprout announced that they were going to be working in pairs to tend devil's snare. "It's very important not to work alone with Devil's snare. You always need someone to watch your back. They can be tricky little buggers!"
Lily always worked with Alice on Herbology projects, but she saw that she was nuzzling up to Frank Longbottom at the moment. Oh well, she didn't mind that much. It was only right that the two of them should be partnered together now; it would be good practice.
But, now who was she going to work with? They had Herbology with the Slytherins and she didn't know too many of them. Well, technically she did, but she wasn't friendly with many of them; except Severus. She craned her neck to look for him and felt a tap on her shoulder. Looking behind her, she saw James Potter's face looking at her with a tight, lop-sided smile. Her lip tightened; she was still angry about what he and his friends had done the other day. "Yes, James?" She said tightly.
She said my name, what do I do??!!! He frantically looked back to Sirius and Remus and Peter. They nodded with frantic hand gestures to go on and ask her the way they'd rehearsed. James looked back at Lily, who was rather impatient now, and swallowed. "Lily, would you be my partner with the devil's snare?" He said it! He smiled at her, but his face fell when Lily didn't return his smile. "Don't you usually work with your gang in the back of the room?"
Sirius was watching James flounder and out of the corner of his eye saw Severus making his way toward Lily. Uh-oh! If Snape got in the way, Lily would never get to know James. He reached out his hand and pulled Severus to his table. "What do you want?!" Severus squeaked nervously.
"I was thinking, Snape old boy, you and I have gotten off on the wrong foot. What's say you and I put our differences aside and wrangle this devil's snare together, huh?" Severus looked utterly baffled and slightly green as Sirius put his arm around his shoulder and pushed him towards a different end of the greenhouse.
James looked over his shoulder at that moment and answered Lily quickly, "I, uh, I mean they decided to make amends with Severus for what happened yesterday and so they took him on as their partner, so I kind of, need one. And I thought since you're, I mean, since there's no partner in sight, um, for you, I thought I could fill that certain, uh, spot." What the hell did you just say!!??
Lily looked at him warily, not knowing whether to believe him or not. But seeing as how there was no other choice . . .
"All right, I'll let you be my partner." She sighed and moved over on her bench. James' eyes lit up as he sat down next to her. Suddenly, he was awash with a sort of giddiness. Lily's hair smelled like roses and lilacs. And her eyes were SO GREEN! They were like shining emeralds. His head swam.
"HELLO!!" Lily said snapping him out of his state, "Will you please pay attention? We're working with Devil's snare here!"
"Oh right, sorry, sorry." Concentrate Potter! Come on!
After the lukewarm success of herbology class, the boys decided it was time for some more serious action. They formulated plan after plan which James, reluctantly but with no other choice, followed to the tee.
First, they tried poetry. One morning at breakfast, they watched with baited breath as a brown owl dropped a letter into Lily's cereal bowl. Slightly annoyed, she ripped the envelope open and was met with the less-than-eloquent poetry stylings of padfoot, prongs, wormtail and moony.
Oh Evans, Lily
You are so pretty
Just like a golden galleon
You can't lose
If Potter you choose
He really is a stallion.
Lily quickly looked up in their direction as all of them suddenly ducked. She didn't know quite what to make of it. What was James trying to do? Confused, she brought the letter back into her room after breakfast and hid it under her pillow. She wasn't quite sure she wanted anyone to see it. Maybe it was just a joke.
But it wasn't a joke, because they kept coming. One day, she came into the girls' dormitory to find a teddy bear dancing on her school trunk. How cute! She thought. She picked it up in her hand and watched it dance in her palm. Was this James' doing? She looked at its face and saw the bear's eyes were made of two shiny green stones. Lily's heart gave a small flutter as she placed it back down on the trunk. Suddenly, the bear started moving out of control and sparks flew out of its head. Lily screamed and threw the bear on the floor where it caught fire. She pulled out her wand "Oh goodness! Finite Inferno!" The blaze extinguished itself. She breathed a sigh of relief but was more confused than ever. Was James trying to court her or kill her? She decided it was time to consult Alice.
"Lily, isn't it obvious!" Alice said later after Lily had explained everything.
"Well, not to me it isn't!"
"Oh, come on! Dying to be your Herbology partner, writing you poetry, albeit very bad poetry, AND he enchanted you a present! He really likes you, but he's too shy to tell you!"
"But, why me?" Lily asked.
"Why not you?! You're a catch, Lil! And he's not such a bad catch either. Why don't you just give him a chance?"
Lily furrowed her brow. He was trying awfully hard. She'd never had someone go through all that trouble to impress her before. It was kind of sweet. She didn't know why, but the thought of going out ONCE with James didn't sicken her as much as she thought it would. But, she thought firmly, it would be on her terms, "Alright, maybe I wouldn't mind so much spending a few hours with him somewhere fun. BUT, he's got to ask ME first. Then, we'll see."
Alice smiled. "You drive a tough bargain, Ms. Evans!"
Word travels fast down a chain in Hogwarts. As of Lily's declaration at 2:00pm, Alice told Frank who told Remus who told Peter who told Sirius who told James that Lily had consented to go out on one date with him. And by 2:45, James was being coached by his friends as to how exactly to ask Lily to Hogsmeade that weekend.
"Do it soon, don't waste a lot of time, she might change her mind." Remus suggested.
"But, what do I say?" James asked frantically
"Calm down Potter, here, all you do is go up to her and say, 'Hi Lily, I was just wondering if you didn't have any plans, if you'd like to go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend.' You see, it's that simple!"
James looked at Sirius, "Oh that's easy for you to say! It just comes naturally to you! I can do a million different things at once, but when it comes to talking to girls, especially Lily, I can't even remember to breathe!"
"Well, breathe now!" said Peter, "You'll pass out before you even get up there!"
"Ok, ok, I'm going to do it! This is it, how do I look, wait don't answer that! I don't want to know! Here goes nothing!"
The door to the Gryffindor common room opened and James walked in nervously. He tried to keep his head up high, but it felt like it weighed a ton. He scAliced the room and saw Lily in a corner reading a book. Oh, she's reading, maybe I shouldn't disturb her..are you crazy potter?! Go up there and ask her to Hogsmeade!
James crossed the infinite space between him and the corner where Lily sat. The truth was Lily had noticed James come in instantly and had been secretly looking at him out of the corner of her eye. Now, as he walked over to her, she suddenly felt nervous. What is this? Why did her stomach just flip?
"Hello Lily." He squeaked. Oh, what a time for his voice to go through puberty again! Don't crack again, Potter, I mean it!
"Hello James." Lily said calmly.
"Interesting book?" He said. This was good, make small talk first.
"Yes, actually. I'm reading Hogwarts: A History. Have you ever read it?"
"Well, no actually. I haven't. I really don't read, MUCH! I don't read much!" Very good Potter, you've just proved to her you're illiterate. Enough small talk! Ask her now!
"Did you want something?" She asked, with a very small tinge of eagerness in her voice that surprised her.
"Well, I was just wondering if you..." Her hair smells like strawberries--FOCUS!! "if you were planning on going to Hogsmeade this weekend?" Ok, the first part was out, all he needed now was the closing!
"Yes, I suppose, why do you ask?" Lily asked. She knew it was unfair to make it this hard on him, but if he wanted to ask her out so badly, he'd have to put up with it, she reasoned with herself.
"Really? Me too!" Don't sound too eager! "Well, since we're both going do you think that maybe you would like to go together?" He held his breath. This was it! It was all up to her now. His heart beat furiously; he was afraid to look down to possibly see its outline pounding through his robes.
Lily looked up at him. He looked a mess. He was sweating; his fingers were clenched so hard the knuckles were turning white. His eyes were fixed on her; they were very brown and vulnerable behind his glasses. Something about his eyes touched something inside of her. For the first time, he looked human to her.
"Sure." She said.
James exhaled. "Oh great, well, I'll meet you in the common room at about 7:30 Friday?" He said coolly.
"Sure, I'll be here." Lily replied just as coolly.
"Great, well, see you then." And with that, James turned around and walked out through the portrait. He walked for a little while and as soon as he was safely out of ear shot, the biggest smile of his life spread across his face! SHE SAID YES!! Suddenly, he took off down the hallways screaming at the top of his lungs "SHE SAID YES! SHE SAID YES!!" People probably thought that he'd gone insane but he didn't care, she'd said yes! She was going out to Hogsmeade with him on Friday! Suddenly, he stopped abruptly. Now what? He didn't know what to do on a first date! He switched directions and ran to the secret room under Hogwarts. If ever there was a time he needed advice from his friends, it was NOW!
At dinner that evening, Lily was strangely quiet. She just couldn't seem to get into any of the conversations going on around her. Alice had asked her three times if she were alright. Lily knew Alice was bursting to know what had happened between her and James. No doubt a thousand versions of it were traveling around Hogwarts at that very moment, but she just didn't feel like talking about it just yet. She had to get used to the idea herself first. After she finished her desert, she thought about going back to the common room and starting on her advanced transfiguration homework; at least then she could be alone. She excused herself, said good-bye to Alice and Frank, and exited the hall.
"Lily?"
She looked up ahead and saw Severus further down the hall. She smiled, "Hello! What are you doing out here?" She asked walking up to meet him.
"I wanted to talk to you." He said talking more to the floor than to Lily.
"That's right! You wanted to tell me something last week but..."she paused a minute. She didn't want to bring up that horrible event to him again. "So what was it?"
Severus cleared his throat loudly before he spoke, "Are you going to Hogsmeade this weekend?" The whole sentence took him about a minute to get out. He looked up at her with waiting eyes.
Lily's mind started to race. He'd seen that kind of look before. James had had it on his own face when he asked her to Hogsmeade. Could it be that Severus..? Oh no!
"Well, I was wondering," he continued, "that if you were, that maybe the two of us could maybe go to the four broomsticks for a while and talk or a walk? Do you like to take walks?" He was looking at her so hopefully. This was terrible! She didn't know what to do! But, she had to tell him the truth.
"Oh, Severus, I am going to Hogsmeade, but I, uh, already made plans to... do something with, James Potter." She bit her lip as she saw his face fall through the floor. He quickly looked down and she saw a flush come into pale gaunt cheeks. "OhI see, well, I um, guess I'll go and, well, I'll just go." He stuttered. He started to back away.
"Maybe I'll see you there, Severus." She called after him.
He waved a hand at her and then turned and broke out into a quick walk towards the door that led to the Slytherin dormitory. Lily sank against the wall. She felt awful. She felt tears stinging in her eyes as she turned and headed for Gryffindor tower. She doubted she would be able to concentrate on advanced transfiguration at all now.
Lily didn't see Severus all the rest of that week. She was so busy thinking about classes that when Friday arrived, it took Alice reminding her that tonight was the night of the "big date."
"We'll do your hair up really nice!" Alice said fussing over Lily like a doll. "I've got this great new potion for you! It smoothes out frizz in no time! It's great stuff! And then, we'll do it up in that nice green ribbon, you know the one?"
Lily reached into her drawer, but to her surprise there was no ribbon there. She leaned over and looked, she moved things around, but still she couldn't find it. "That's funny, it's not here."
"Well, maybe you didn't put it in there."
Lily thought she'd been wearing it yesterday. Had it fallen off? Damn! She'd really liked that ribbon; it brought out her eyes.
"Well, it doesn't really matter. We can do your hair down; with the potion, it'll look great! James' eyes are going to roll back into his head!" Alice giggled.
Lily smiled, and she didn't' know why, but the thought of impressing James made her smile.
James was nervous. The three boys had tried to calm down his messy hair but to no avail.
"Well, it gives you character. Girls like character." Remus had said, admitting defeat. He was still upset that he wouldn't be able to follow James on his date, but it was too close to the full moon for it to be safe. And Lily being attacked by a werewolf would definitely ruin James' chances.
"Hey, we'll keep on eye on him, won't we wormy?"
"Yeah, we'll give you a full report." Peter said, ignoring Sirius' nickname.
James fixed them with a glare, "Now remember, I'm letting you come along to help me; don't mess anything up with me! And if anything should, well, you know if things..."
"We get it! If things heat up, we'll back! Come on, we've got to get you to the common room before she thinks you stood her up."
James gave one last look at himself in the mirror. His messy hair and pale skin and brown eyes behind their glasses stared back at him. He hoped everything would go right. It had to go right. He'd never wanted anything more in his life.
He entered Gryffindor's common room at 7:30 on the dot. Lily was already there waiting for him. She looked beautiful. Her hair had been straightened and fell in soft streams over her shoulders and down her back. Her face had been done up with lip reddening and blush charms.
"You're on time. Good." Lily said.
"You look . . . great. Really . . . great."
Lily smiled a little more. He looked like he had tried to tame his mane of hair but had failed. For some reason, she found that cute. "Shall we go?"
"Yes, let's go." He felt an overwhelming sense of peace overtake him.
In Hogsmeade, the sun was low over the hills and the leaves were still their brilliant fall color. Hogwarts students were running to and fro from shop to shop. As soon as they arrived, James' mind went blank. They stood by the "Welcome to Hogsmeade" sign awkwardly not really looking at each other. It was Lily who broke the silence first.
"When you asked me to come to Hogsmeade with you I assumed we would be going in."
James felt his ears start to turn red. Luckily, his messy hair covered them and didn't give him away. He tried to glance nonchalantly over his shoulder for help. Suddenly, he turned back to Lily with what looked like a renewed confidence on his face.
"Of course, I was just taking in how beautiful Hogsmeade looks in the fall. Don't you agree?"
Lily seemed taken aback by that, but agreed with him that the little town did look very quaint decorated for Halloween. James then suggested that they could take a walk to The Four Broomsticks for a butter beer, on him of course. Lily agreed and the two of them set off.
The tavern was not as crowded as it usually was and James and Lily could talk without having to shout over other voices. James became more at ease the more they talked and Lily found it amazing that she actually was interested in what he had to say. He told her about how his family was one of the older wizarding families and how they had been at Hogwarts since the very beginning. She felt a bit shy telling him of her family. It was nowhere as glamorous as his. In fact, it was almost painfully ordinary. Her parents were proud of her for having been accepted into such a prestigious school, even if it was a wizarding school, but she had never gotten along with her sister Petunia no matter how hard she tried.
James sipped his butter beer every so often as he watched her. She may not have thought so, but he hung on her every word. To a wizard, there was nothing more fascinating than hearing about muggle families and Lily's seemed to be as muggle as they came!
Lily looked up, "This is all rather boring, isn't it?"
"No!" he said almost too enthusiastically, "I'm listening; it's all fascinating."
Lily raised her eyebrow, "Fascinating?"
"Yes. It's almost like you have the best of both worlds, being muggle born and being a witch at the same time. I wish I had had that growing up. I could sort of have it both ways, you know?"
"I never thought of it that way." Lily said.
They smiled at each other.
After the Four Broomsticks, they decided to go for a walk. Lily had to admit to herself - she was actually having a good time. Alice was right; James wasn't so bad when he wasn't around his friends.
What she didn't know was that, at that very moment, his friends were creeping after them disguised as a dog and a rat. It was their idea to go to the Four Broomsticks and now to go on a walk away from a lot of people.
James had been fine in the crowded bar, but now that he was alone with Lily, his throat began to close again. At least he knew his friends were following him. They walked a little ways until they found a small clearing. Lily had been explaining to him about the concept of movies and favorites of hers that she'd seen. "They say that it's the best ever made." She finished, taking a seat on a log.
"Yeah, they sound great." He agreed, taking a seat hesitantly next to her.
There was silence for a while. He looked off to the side with an imploring look. Suddenly, they both heard a howl. Lily stiffened and clutched on to James. "What was that?" She asked nervously.
James could've kissed Sirius. "Oh, I'm sure it's nothing to be worried about. Just a stray dog, I guess. I won't let anything harm you."
She looked up at him and for a while, they just stared at each other.
"So, your whole family is magical?" She asked trying to break the tension that had appeared.
"Yup, the whole lot of us. When I said we've been at Hogwarts since the beginning, it's because we're descended from Godric Gryffindor!" Good! He thought. That was impressive.
"Really? I guess you learned a lot about magic before you even came to Hogwarts then?" She implied.
She didn't seem to be overly impressed. But, then again, power and status didn't seem like things Lily would be interested in.
"No, not really. It's kind of against the rules for underage witches and wizards to do magic."
"Oh." She said.
Oh no, he thought, she was losing interest. Suddenly, he felt something brush his hand; he looked down to see a large rat clutching flowers in his teeth. He grabbed the flowers gratefully. James cleared his throat to get Lily's attention. When she turned her head, she saw him offering her a small bouquet of wild flowers.
She gasped, "Where did those come from?"
James smirked, "Magic." He said giving her the flowers.
She took them but didn't seem convinced. "Magic, eh? For all I know, you could've just picked them when I wasn't looking. You're going to have to do better than that Mr. Gryffindor." She chided him.
James gulped, that sounded like a challenge. He swallowed again as he looked into her eyes. They were like tiny stars shining in the moonlight. Stars! That gave him an idea!
"Ok, you want magic? I'll show you some. Something you won't learn in classes."
He took out his wand and chanted, "Astro illuminus danske amore!" James' wand waved in the air and Lily looked up in astonishment. The stars themselves seemed to be changing before her eyes. Whole groups of stars moved from one end of the sky to the other until they hung in a formation above her head. When James was finished, he looked up to admire his handiwork. Across the night sky, stars from every corner had hung together to read, "I love you Lily" against a black canvas. There was nothing left to do now. It was all out in the open. He waited for her reaction.
Lily couldn't believe it. She turned to stare at him, "How?" was all she could get out.
"Well, it's more of an illusion, really. The actual stars are still in their places, but to us, it seems like they've moved to spell, well, that."
"You did that for me?" She asked speechlessly.
He looked at her very seriously and found that, suddenly, words flowed easily, "I'd move the real stars for you, Lily, if I could. I'd stop the oceans and tell the birds to fly upside down. When I'm around you, I can't breathe, my heart starts racing, and your smell takes me to other worlds. And your eyes, your eyes are more beautiful than all the stars I could've ever conjured from the sky. Lily, I love you. I have since the moment I first saw you put on the sorting hat. I know you don't think much of me, and I can't blame you. I'm a real prat sometimes, but I could be better for you. That is, if you would give me the chance to be. I've been really thick, and I thought I should tell you, well, everything. And I have."
Lily was stunned. She'd had no idea James felt this strongly about her. She'd always thought he was so arrogant and obnoxious. But sitting there and thinking about the past few weeks, she saw him in a new light. He was intelligent, and sweet, even soulful. How could she have been so wrong about someone? She had judged him by the company he kept which wasn't fair at all and she felt guilty about that. She had the urge to apologize, but what could she say to the person who'd rearranged the stars for her? Still speechless, she leaned over and kissed him.
James was overwhelmed. He'd left his body. There was nothing in the world but Lily and him. From now on, it would be Lily and him, forever. He could feel it in the stars.
Peter and Sirius looked on and proudly nodded to each other about a job well done. And as per their agreement should things "happen," they slowly backed away and headed back to Hogwarts to tell Remus the good news, leaving the couple alone.
It seemed everyone was happy with the outcome; all except one. A shadow lurked in the bushes nearby; it had seen the whole episode. This shadow had a heart which was slowly breaking the more it watched Lily and James. Behind a clump of leaves, the hand of Severus Snape let go of the flowers he'd been carrying. His chest felt like it would rip open at any moment. He couldn't bring himself to look at the scene any longer. He retreated back into the shadows, leaving the kissing couple blissfully unaware of the shattered stranger who now walked with heavy steps back to Hogwarts.
As he reached the castle grounds, he pulled a green ribbon from his pocket, Lily's ribbon. He'd noticed it had fallen from her hair the night he'd asked her to Hogsmeade. Hours afterwards, he'd crept back down to the hallway, risking being caught by Mrs. Norris or Peeves and losing 50 house points from Slytherin, to retrieve it. He held it now and smelled its perfume. The scent of her brought tears to his eyes. He shoved the ribbon back into his robes and continued towards Hogwarts with a heavy soul.
The Potters?!
Yes Severus
Are they...
Yes I'm afraid so.
Lily?
Yes Lily and James both, but the son, Harry, survived. It's a miracle.
Lily...LILY!!
Help me Severus please! Please! Protect my son! Save my Harry!!
LILY!!!!
Severus Snape shot up out of bed. Panting heavily, he waved his wand and whispered "Lumos!" The wand lit up his darkened room at Hogwarts. He lay back down on his pillows breathing heavily, but not at all enticed to go back to sleep. For 25 years, that dream had haunted him appearing at will. Always the same one, Dumbledore breaking the news about the Potters, and then Lily begging for help he couldn't give in time; and then asking him to protect Harry.
He opened a drawer of his nightstand and removed two cherished objects. One was a picture of Lily from their 7th year yearbook; she smiled and laughed in the picture holding a Lily flower. The other was a faded green ribbon. He'd kept it for all those years. It was frayed and faded, but he still remembered it as it was, resting in her hair.
Rolling over in the dark he closed his eyes but the dream would not go away. Sighing, he opened them again, and grudgingly thought about Harry.
Harry Potter. He'd known about him like all the rest, but he had a much different view of him. "The boy who lived" had made his life extremely difficult from the day he had set foot at Hogwarts. Snape could barely stand to look at him, the product of Lily's love for someone else. He would admit to no one but himself that that was the reason why he rifled him and made things horrid for boy.
But, at the same time, he'd saved Harry's life. Snape had written it off quickly, saying it was because James had saved his own life, but that wasn't it. Not entirely. The real reason was those eyes. The boy had Lily's beautiful green eyes and those eyes served as a constant reminder. She'd never once hurt him on purpose; she showed him genuine kindness. How better to repay her and honor her memory than to protect her only son?
And now the boy had gotten himself into trouble again, he thought as he tried closing his eyes once more. The dark lord was not going to rest until the boy was dead and Severus had to do whatever he could to stop him; whatever other reasons he had for fighting the dark lord, it was Harry that was his number one goal. He plAliced to stop at nothing to fulfill Lily's wish of him, even if it was only in a dream. He would protect Harry Potter with every ounce of his strength for Lily. His hand tightened around the ribbon. His flower.
AN: So, I think I'm psychic, as I wrote this story YEARS before Book 7 came out. So either J.K Stole my idea (doubtful) or wherever ideas come from she and I were dipping from the same pool. In any case, hope you enjoyed.