It was a crisp autumn day, and Hogwarts had that cozy, fall-like feel to it. The stone that made up the building was always cold to the touch, the halls drafty, but knowing that at the end of the day a warm fire was waiting in a cheerful common room, the students of Hogwarts did not complain at their long walks from class to class through the vast castle.
Lily Evans was sitting in the third row of Charms class, listening intently to professor Flitwick's lecture on charms to induce envy, her long red hair brushing her desk and pulled back in a red silk ribbon. It was her last class before lunch, and although she was mildly interested in what was being taught, she was bored and hungry.
A note was crumpled in her left hand.
Glancing at the clock and realizing that she another five minutes before the bell freed her, she unfolded the note.
Lily,
Meet me after Charms in the Great Hall?
I want to show you something. It's finally ready.
-Severus
Lily smiled. She and Severus had been hanging out a lot recently. Not in a weird way, just friends of course, but lately they had been having a lot more fun. Severus had been withdrawn and boring at the start of term, but lately he had been doing things that made her laugh. Only last week, he had chased a billywig into the lake and was lifted out by the giant squid.
Normally this sort of experience would have left him sour and sullen for the remainder of the day, but he had laughed. Laughed, and came splashing to the shore grinning as Lily had conjured him a towel.
Yes he was a changed person. Sometimes it was as if there was a young child inside him that had never had the chance to emerge when he was young, so it revealed itself here at Hogwarts.
They studied together a lot as well. James and Sirius were constantly playing jokes on Severus and calling him stupid, but nothing was further from the truth.
Severus understood potions better than anyone in their year and Lily assumed, more than anyone in sixth year either. His deft thin hands were quick with ingredients, and when his eyes, so darkly colored brown, started flashing, he was in a whole different world entirely his own. His analysis on potion making was brilliant as well, and Lily considered herself a fairly decent potioneer. Every time they compared papers, there was always some little snippet or idea that Severus had proposed in his that baffled Lily with its complexity.
She had a feeling a potion was what he was going to show her today. He had been hinting at something he was making all week, and every time he reminded her he seemed more excited.
So she sat, taping her foot impatiently as the minute hands on the clock in the corner finally struck noon. The bell chimed, and Lily gathered up all of her things.
Walking out into the weak sunlight on the grounds, she saw James Potter and Sirius Black sitting under a willow tree by the lake. They were reclining back while Remus Lupin sat reading.
Lily tried to keep her head turned. She hated when James started flirting with her in front of everyone. He was handsome…very much so…but not her type at all. At least not now. Humility was something he could have benefited from, and for the moment she was content to just be his friend. Even if she did find herself staring at him sometimes.
Yes, if she could just keep her head turned away from him she could get to the castle without hearing…
"HEY EVANS!"
Great…
"Oh…hey James!" she called in a falsely cheery voice. He was coming towards her, sweeping his black hair out of his eyes.
Suddenly he was at her shoulder.
"Hey, Evans" he repeated. "Need help carrying those bags?"
"Um..well you really should notice that I only have one bag, and no, I'm good."
"Awe, come on! Come sit with us!" He touched her arm. She squirreled away.
"No, James I have to be somewhere right now." He looked crestfallen.
"Where d'you have to be?" he asked, crossing his arms. "You can come have lunch with us!"
He grinned and leaned in closer. "Or if you want to get away from them we can always head over to the Quidditch pitch…erm…under the bleachers if you know what I mean." He winked.
She laughed.
"Objection: I don't know what you mean. Explain it to me." She said, crossing her arms. He grinned even more broadly.
"I was joking. Come on." And he held out his hand. She looked at it, and for a minute, she considered taking it, when she remembered Severus.
"Nah, I've really gotta go. Severus wants to see me." And she waved and turned on her heel, walking towards the castle.
She heard James exhale the word "Snivillus" in disbelief and ignored him. She knew that James hated Severus, but she didn't care. She was excited about what he had to show her.
When she reached the Great Hall, she spied Severus waiting by the huge oak doors. He was looking eager.
"Hey!" she called cheerfully, as he caught sight of her and grinned.
"Hey" he said casually. "You ready to go?"
"Sure" she said looking around. "Where are we going, the dungeon?"
"Nope." He said with a smirk. "I actually made it in my dormitory."
"Oh" her smile faltered. "Am I allowed up there?"
"Sure" he said with a shrug. "If you're with me." And he started walking ahead of her. He walked differently with her in his stride. He looked proud, happy that she was following him. He walked quickly down a small winding staircase that led down, down, down into what looked like total darkness.
Just as Lily could not see anything more, however, an eerie green lamp lit suddenly above her head. The lamp was silver in the shape of a serpent, and fire came from its open mouth.
They continued to walk down, and Lily heard the distinct sounds of dripping water. She expected to feel cold, but a pleasant flow of heat caressed her from tiny glowing red coals that spun themselves together in the stone walls.
Severus kept looking back at her as if to see how she was reacting.
"It never really gets cold down here" he said conversationally as he saw her looking at the coals emanating heat. "Even though it's under the lake." They went on, down more and more narrow stairs and finally came down on a flagged black stone floor.
Lily looked around and saw a long hallway lit by the same snake lamps on either side. At the end was a door guarded by spiraling snakes and beside it, two massive flags bearing the Slytherin serpent in emerald and silver. Several Slytherin students were walking out of the door and looked menacing at Lily, but did not say anything. Lily nervously twisted a lock of hair between her fingers.
"Maybe we shouldn't do this, Sev." She said "I don't know if I'm allowed." He whipped around looking panicked.
"No!" he said "It's fine. Come on." Then he smiled. "It's ok. I promise."
Lily shrugged and Severus stood right in front of the door.
"Tojours Pur" he said clearly, and with a loud clank, the door opened.
"Shall we?" he asked and offered Lily his hand.
She ignored his hand, but walked ahead of him through the door.
When they entered the Slytherin common room, Lily inhaled sharply. The room was nothing like Gryffindor Tower, but she didn't necessarily dislike it. The carpet was a rich shade of green with silver thread embroidering snakes and spirals so intricate it could have been done by the tiny hands of house elves.
The fireplace was made of black marble and above it hung large medieval weapons and portraits of famous potioneers and authors. Slytherin flags hung everywhere, but it was the windows that amazed Lily.
At first, she thought they couldn't be windows because Severus had said they were under the lake, but looking closer, she saw that they were indeed windows that gave an underwater view of the dark green lake. It was a mystical sight, with silvery bubbles floating lazily upwards and the occasional scaly tail of a creature.
"That's awesome." She said as she looked out trying to see more. Severus walked up beside her.
"It doesn't scare you?" he inquired.
"No." she said. "Why?"
He shrugged. "I don't know. Some girls get claustrophobic."
"Well it is a little dark." She said. "But it's very mysterious. Very quiet."
"Darker's better" said Snape with a smirk, and Lily nudged him.
"So what did you want to show me?" she asked.
His face lit up. "Come up here"
He led her to a small narrow flight of stone steps in the corner leading up. Lily hesitated.
"Your dormitory? Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I told you it's fine." He said smiling. "I just had to make it in my room because…well…I had to…procure some things."
"You stole?" asked Lily frowning.
"Just a little." Said Severus quickly, his smile faltering. "But it'll all be worth it when you see. It's really something cool." And he held out his hand for her. For the third time today, Lily ignored a hand being offered to her. They continued up the stairs into a large room with seven or eight four poster beds in a circle, their covers emerald green.
Severus led her to one and knelt down on his hands and knees. He rummaged under the bed for a while, Lily watching looking puzzled.
Finally, he came up, pulling with him a small cauldron that was smoking slightly.
"You brewed it under your bed?" Lily asked with a small smile. "Seriously, Sev, what is going on?"
"It took forever!" he said grinning, pulling the cauldron onto the bed, and taking two glasses out of his cupboard. "I made up most of the formula myself, but I guarantee it's safe to drink. It was kind of by accident that I found it."
He began to pour a small amount of the potion into each glass. It was a bright lemony yellow color, and smelled of something like melted butter. He handed Lily a glass.
"Here."
She hesitated.
"Sev, you expect me to drink this? I don't even know what's in it. And you found it by accident? And you stole stuff to make it…This is not sounding good." Severus looked crestfallen.
"No, seriously. I know it's safe. And I only had to steal one thing! It's fun I swear. Nothing bad is going to happen." He looked so eager, that Lily could not help but trust him. He was, after all, a very skilled potion maker, and she had no doubt that he would never give her something that would intentionally harm her. With a sigh, she held out her hand for the glass.
"Drink it!" Severus demanded with a grin. Lily rolled her eyes, and took a big sip of the potion. It tasted bitter, but sweet too, like some kind of rare liqueur, and it burned going down, but she did not feel dizzy or sick at all. On the contrary, she felt fine, no different than before. Her eyes were closed as she expected the effects of the potion to take hold, whatever they might be when Severus laughed.
"Look!" he exclaimed, and Lily opened her eyes. She saw nothing.
"What?" she asked.
"At you!" he said happily, and she looked down. Her hands were glowing…literally glowing, like a thousand lightning bugs were resting in her veins. The strange gold light was coming from deep within her skin, and emanating through it. The same was with her face and bare knees.
"What is it?" she asked, flexing her glowing hand.
Severus looked sheepish.
"Believe it or not, it started out as a cure for acne." And he looked at the floor. "But instead of clearing up the outside of my..er…ones skin, it did something to the inside of it. I'm not exactly sure what. Then I added a little kelpie hair for temperament.
"What do you mean temperament?" asked Lily absently, still looking at her glowing body.
Severus looked her dead in the face and said,
"Alice Longbottom was saying that you have dragon pox, and you just cover it very well with makeup. She's been telling people that since the start of term."
"WHAT?" Lily asked, shocked. "What do you mean she said that? That's so untrue and horrible and….OH!" Her skin, previously having a pleasant gold hue, now pulsed purple from within.
Severus doubled over laughing.
"As your mood changes, your glow does too!" Lily burst out laughing.
"Wow!" she said. "That's really impressive, Sev." Severus' ears turned red.
"Thanks." He muttered. "You didn't need it though."
"What?" asked Lily.
"Nothing." He muttered. "I just meant….I don't know…you always kinda glow."
Lily smiled.
"You think?"
"Yeah." Said Severus, still looking at the floor.
She leaned over and took his hand. His head snapped up. She met his deep brown eyes with her own green ones.
"Thanks." She said.
On her way back from the Slytherin common room, clutching her books to her chest, Lily thought about her afternoon. She had refused his hand twice in one day, James' as well, and yet it was she who had reached for it. And it was not in a creepy way that they sat there for more than two hours, just holding hands, talking about life in general. What their plans were, what they wanted out of life. It was friendship, but more in those two simple hours. When they had held each other's hands, Severus rubbed his fingers all over hers, as if probing for something, or perhaps to just touch every inch of her that he could. She was taken aback slightly that she didn't mind…
Looking down at her hands, still subtly glowing gold from the effects of the potion, Lily Evans realized that some part of her would always love Severus Snape.