Author's Note: The first six chapters of this work are written by femalepadfoot in the story "Deep Rivalry" but edited and tweaked by me, and the rest of the story is completely my own. All other recognizable content belongs to J.K. Rowling. I began writing this when I was twelve years old, and now that I am seventeen it is terribly embarrassing to have produced something as low-quality as this. I recently abandoned it for a number of years, but I am working on the very last chapter to end the story so the reader can have some closure. I'm afraid that because this fic spans a number of years and stages in my development, the writing style is kind of disjointed and there is no apparent plot or aim. Constructive criticism is kind of pointless now, but I still appreciate reviews. Thanks for reading.

Lily Evans crossed her legs under the table. She was sitting next to her new potions partner, Severus Snape. As much as she wanted to see the good in him, every time she started a conversation he called her a mudblood or an equally sour name. In spite of this, when Professor Slughorn had announced the new seating arrangement, Lily had been delighted to not have to sit in front of James Potter anymore. He was always throwing paper balls at her.

Dipping her quill in her ink well, Lily began to scratch down the instructions from the board before getting to work on their first potion together: Love Potion. Taking a quick glance at the boy sitting beside her, she realized that he was more of a man. He'd grown quite a bit over the summer and seemed much more mature. But it wasn't as though Snape had ever been immature.

Severus slumped in his chair next to Lily, his sallow face twisted into a sour scowl as if it were stuck that way. Two dark eyes narrowed as he stared at the cauldron through a curtain of greasy black hair. He couldn't stomach the sight of her, the stench of her dirty blood made his skin crawl. He realized that things could have been worse. He could have been paired with Potter or any of his equally arrogant friends, Black, Lupin, or Pettigrew. Sighing, he looked up at the instructions on the board, not bothering to write them down. His quill twirled idly between his long, lanky fingers.

As Lily finished her notes, she saw Professor Slughorn heading in their direction. As he reached their desk, he whispered, "I know you're wondering why I paired you two together. Partners are chosen by marks and you two have the best grades in the class. I expect great things coming from this partnership. Now make me the most potent Love Potion there is." Then he got up and walked over to his desk to start grading papers.

Lily grimaced. This was going to be a long year.

"So... I'll go get the ingredients," she said as she smiled slightly, trying to show him a bit of respect, though she knew it was pointless. He would just call her mudblood again. Eager to get away before he had the chance to, she dashed over to get the ingredients. Meanwhile, Potter was watching her. He strolled over to their desk innocently and pulled out his wand.

"You touch her and, so help me Merlin, I will curse you into oblivion, Snivellus," he whispered delicately. Snape snorted. Apart from Potter, he was enjoying himself. He couldn't help but be glad for a moment's fresh air from being in such close quarters with a filthy mudblood. He looked at the wand in Potters short, tan fingers and smirked.

Turning around with ingredients in hand, Lily saw James harassing Severus. She sighed and was just about to go over and tell James to go away when Slughorn did it for her.

"Potter, get back in your seat," the potions master said, not looking up from his papers. James kept his feet planted firmly on the ground and gave Snape a very heated look. Snape's lip curled and rage flashed in his eyes. "Better listen to the teacher, Potter."

James still didn't budge and instead stared directly into Snape's black, cold eyes. Lily set the ingredients on the desk and glared at James. Potter immediately took his eyes off Snape and looked at Lily as she said, "You heard what Slughorn said, Potter. Go back to your seat!" Reluctantly, James meandered back to his desk and sat down next to Sirius.

"I'm sorry about that," Lily said, "It's so unfair that Potter is such a..." She looked at Snape, who, in turn, was scowling at her. Not finishing her sentence, Lily sat down angrily. Why did Potter even think that telling Snape to keep his hands off her was necessary at all? Snape would never touch her. He would flinch every time she exhaled in his direction! There was no way that he would dare touch a dirty, polluted mudblood like her. But there was one thing that they had in common.

They both hated James Potter.

Severus was filled with rage. He didn't nee that mudblood interceding for him. He sat up in his chair, ignoring her apology like the buzz of a fly. "Lets just get this over with," he muttered as he placed his cauldron on then fire.

Lily nodded and opened up the package of crawdad dust and, treating it like a baby, gently poured it into the boiling water. She then lowered the flame as instructed. Her every movement was precise and well measured, each step thrice checked before put into action. Pulling her long, crimson hair into a bun, Lily could feel someone watching her. Slowly turning around, she saw James staring at her dreamily. She wished she could hex him. Sirius elbowed him and whispered something quickly. James sat up and gave Lily a grin before pretending to go back to work.

"I wish he'd just leave me alone," she said aloud, more to herself than to Snape. He, of course, pretended like she didn't exist while he stirred, changing the direction after each step, not as the book said to, but as he knew to. He rolled his eyes in disgust at James and Lily. It was beyond repulsive to be in either of their prescences too long. He smirked to himself as he watched the two of them, James and Sirius, "pretending to work". They were preparing themselves for low marks on their O.W.L.s, though they would make excellent barkeepers at the Hog's Head.

Lily beamed as the potion turned a vibrant lavender color. "This is amazing," she said as she began to chop some willow root, "Maybe Slughorn was right about us making a good team." Lily waited for the insult she knew was coming as she chopped thin, even slices of the root. Her fingers moved expertly on the plant, deftly chopping at a speed that nobody else could rival with. Severus grunted as he curled his lip in disgust. "Just be sure you don't get any... mud... on anything. He narrowed his eyes at the speed she was chopping. When he turned the potion in the opposite direction, despite what the book said, the potion began to take on a hot pink color. He glanced at Potter and Black's cauldron where he saw an acid green mess. He smirked.

Lily rolled her eyes and finished chopping. Setting the knife down, she read the instructions on how to put in the root and how much. Carefully measuring it, Lily put the diced willow root in, one piece with each stir of the ladle. It was very time consuming, but it soon turned the pale pink shade as instructed. "Do you want to switch jobs? I bet you're getting tired of that." She pointed at his bony hand, which was stirring the potion. Although she didn't really care if his arms were tired at all, she wanted to be the bigger person.

"Why? We're almost done. Don't tell me that your sludge-filled arms can't stand adding two measly ingredients more?" He sneered, giving her a look of disgust, his lip curled so far that it pushed his hooknose so close to his dark eyes that it looked like it was going to break.

"Do you have to be a complete prat about everything?" Lily fumed. "Ever thought that this might be easier if you were civil to me, not nice but civil? But no, I was worried about your arms falling off, but apparently, to you it doesn't matter!" She began chopping furiously, her elegant face twisted from anger. As much as she hated to admit it, she could only be patient for so long. Not as carefully as she would have normally, she poured the chopped dragon heart into the potion. Her wrist moved in a circular motion and she was very careful not to get any on Snape, or touch him because, Merlin forbid, she could get some of her dreaded mudblood disease on him.

"Believe me, this is civility," he said sneerily as he stirred in his own unique way. He found himself laughing at her renewed ire. She was so easy to vex! It was highly entertaining. She was just too nice for her own good and she wouldn't hex or curse him. She apparently despised the dark arts that he so lovingly embraced and Potter was such a dunce that he couldn't come up with any good spells and he would use Snape's own spells all the time, especially on Snape. The thought of Potter made Severus's stomach bubble in rage. He quickly focused his attention on the almost-ready concoction. It was becoming the final product and, with a few more stirs, it would be complete.

Lily put away the ingredients, her bright green eyes shimmering with anger. It wasn't the fact that Snape had insulted her that had made her angry. He insulted her all the time. It was that she had let it get to her that made her so mad. She was usually very emotionally stable and, for some reason, Snape seemed to affect her more than any other person. As she packed up her bag, she saw Snape leaving. He glanced at Potter and Black and smirked. They were cleaning up an orangey-yellow, lumpy, thin mixture. His dark, tunnel eyes flashed with an evil glee, knowing that they were getting low marks. Shaking his head at them, he knew that they had obviously forgotten to turn down the heat after adding the blue-jay feathers and they most likely just dumped their snail shells in instead of adding them one by one. The lumpiness was probably due to the big dragon heart chunks that they should have chopped to minces. His mind went to the mudblood and her exceptional speed. He had to admit that there was an upside to working with her.

As he left he heard Slughorn whispering to the class dunces, "I think you two should be in remedial potions. Snape snickered at the thought of Black and Potter suffering in remedial potions. Even Lily couldn't fight back a very Severus grin. Slughorn passed to the next group, who managed a meager acceptable with their shiny peach-like blend. Although Snape was leaving, he couldn't help but round back and whisper to Potter, "Low marks again? Has all that Quidditch air blown all of your wits out your ears?"

James leaned forwards and shrugged. "At least I can get on a broom, Snivellus. Quidditch may be my life, but at least I have one. Oh, I forgot, you do have a life, a very pathetic one, as all you do is potions. You probably have no idea what a date is." He and Sirius snickered. Lily, on the other hand, shook her head at them. "You are so immature," she said fiercely. James stared at her, his mouth an open hole in his face.

"Hey, Evans," he said accusingly, "Why is it that when Snape here says something rude, it's okay, but when I do, it's wrong? You're always standing up for him and you know he hates your guts!"

Lily thought for a minute. "First of all, Potter, that wasn't standing up for him. It was directed at him as well. Secondly, most of the time he's minding his own business when you attack him, not to mention you have all of your friends to help. Now, call me stupid, Potter, but that's hardly fair!" With that, Lily turned around and stormed off, just as the bell rang. James stood there dumbfounded and slightly hurt.

"Lily, wait!" he yelled, while quickly gathering his things, looking extremely stupid.

"Pathetic, Potter," Snape jeered, "my life may be potions, but yours is chasing after worthless little mudbloods." And with that, Snape left.