Ashes of Friendship

Summary: A lot can happen in a year. Just ask either Severus Snape or Lily Evans.

Diagon Alley was bustling with families and students. From nervous eleven-year-olds preparing for their upcoming first year at Hogwarts to returning students trying to gather their supplies and interact with friends they hadn't seen in weeks. It was a usually joyous time and one Severus looked forward to but this year something was lacking. Something big.

He wouldn't be meeting with his former first best friend, Lily Evans. Not this year and probably not the next either. Like him, Lily could be exceptionally stubborn when she made up her mind on something and she had when she had decided that their seven years of friendship was truly done.

Severus understood and after a few failed attempts to make amends he accepted that it was over. If only his foolish heart still didn't ache for her. Crushing on Lily had never been the plan but it had happened nevertheless. A foolish and now painful feeling.

How long was one suppose to harbor a crush for an ex-friend before moving on?

He didn't know but he hoped it was soon. Before she started dating again. The pain of watching her date Longbottom last year had been intolerable. At least, she wouldn't be dating Potter or Black. Thank Merlin and Salazar on small mercies, indeed.

"Snape!"

Severus looked up from where he had been browsing the defensive charms section in Flourish and Blotts to see Avery and Nott quickly making their way through the crowded store to him.

"Avery. Nott." he greeted as he added a secondhand volume of a most promising text about advanced dueling techniques on top of his required textbooks for his sixth year. "Where's Mulciber?"

Nott snickered while Avery sighed.

"He failed almost all of his OWLs and with what happened last year, with his joke on that Mudblood Macdonald, he has been forced to repeat a year." Avery finally admitted.

That made sense. Mulciber had always been careless about studying and was terrible when it came to exams always coming close to the passing benchmark. This time, he must have fallen short.

"But you forget the best part, Avery," Nott grinned, truly liking the misfortune of Mulciber. "he's being privately tutored at home. Tutored!" he laughed.

"I fail to see the humor, Nott. You have been tutored every summer since the first year."

"That's different. I get advance tutoring for the next year. Mulciber has to do remedial tutoring while sitting out a year from Hogwarts."

Severus inwardly sighed as he went to pay for his stacks of books. Thankful that he was able to sell back most of his last year of school books for extra money. If it hadn't been for that his tuppence of seven Galleons would not have been enough to even get half the books he needed much less the one he found for pleasure reading.

As Severus was leaving he held the door open for Avery and Nott. He hadn't seen Lily and Mary walking towards him and the bookstore till he heard her voice and turned his head to see her.

"Thank y-oh..." Lily trailed off, noticing that Severus had been the one to hold the door open for her. A short awkward silence fell over the two former friends.

"Look," Nott smirked, pointing to Lily, "she almost finished a sentence."

"Mudblood want a cracker?" Avery asked in a mocking tone.

Severus stiffened but said nothing.

She had made it clear that their friendship was over. She wouldn't come to his aid then why would he come to her defense. Although, it didn't stop him from wishing he had reprimanded Avery for using the blood slur when he saw the hurt and if he wasn't mistaken betrayal flash across those emerald eyes as she turned to Avery and to him. Black eyes meeting green. It had been the first time in months since she had looked at him and again it was due to someone calling her a Mudblood.

"We are witches. It does not matter that our parents are magical or not." Mary defended herself and Lily. Her eyes blazing with anger.

Nott smirked. "Lackluster, insipid witches."

Lily turned from Severus and glared at Nott her eyes darkening as she prepared a, no doubt, rebuking retort for the three Slytherins.

"Oi! Why don't you snakes slither back to your pits?" Black called as he and to Severus ever mounting displeasure Potter and Lupin joined Lily and Mary.

"Trouble Evans?" Potter asked, his wand already in his hands as he eyed the three Slytherins.

"No." Lily shook her head and took Mary's arm. A fight in the middle of Diagon Alley wasn't something she wanted to be involved with. "Come on, Mary."

"You heard the Mud-"

"I wouldn't finish that if I was you, Avery," Potter warned, holding his wand to Avery's face.

"How brave of you, Potter. Threatening someone who doesn't have his wand ready. Ever the Gryffindor!" Severus spat as he pulled out his wand.

Black, Nott, and a reluctant Lupin followed suit.

After a few tensed filled seconds Lupin pocketed his wand. "We don't need to do this here. Someone could get hurt." he paused as a mother and eleven-year-old girl walked past them and into the bookstore. "Like a first year or someone younger."

Potter slowly lowered his wand. "If you ever insult another Gryffindor again you will be coughing up newts for a week."

"Is that a threat?" Nott asked.

"A fact," Black supplied, reluctantly following his friends and pocketed his wand.

Severus unwrapped his favorite and only green and silver striped scarf and pulled off his mittens. He swore that Britain was going through another mini-ice age. It was only the second day into the Christmas holidays and he wished he had stayed at Hogwarts like he usually did. Where there were heating charms, fireplaces, and hot meals to keep him warm, but his mother's sudden illness required that he come home and help nurse her.

Which was why he was in London and at Diagon Alley on the twenty-third of December to buy ingredients for a restorative and healing potion. He had managed to buy all but one of the ingredients and only took the required amount of the last ingredient, planning on repaying the shopkeeper in a few months. After traversing the snow-covered cobblestone street he needed a bit of food and a place to warm himself before summoning the Knight Bus.

"Oh, Lily hurry up. It's freezing out there."

Severus looked up as he saw Lily and Mary enter the Leaky Cauldron. Just his rotten luck. Not wanting to see her ignore him and leave he hastily pulled up his hood.

"I don't know if this was the best idea, Mary."

"Don't back down on me now. A good strong glass of firewhisky is what you need right now. Trust me."

Severus's eyebrows rose. Firewhisky? But Lily wasn't seventeen yet. She couldn't legally buy firewhisky.

Unless... of course. Severus shook his head as he accepted his bowl of potato soup. Mary was several months older than them and she was going to buy the drink and give it to Lily.

In spite of his attempt of focusing on his soup he found himself looking up and wondering what had caused Lily to bend the rules so. It wasn't like her.

He stiffened and gritted his teeth as he saw Potter and Black enter. What were they after?

Lily also noticed them and turned her back to them. Black didn't seem to notice and went to the bar and ordered drinks. Potter deposited his broomstick, the latest racing model Severus noticed with contempt, in the broom rack by the door and took out a small gift wrapped box.

Severus frowned as he saw Potter approach Lily and Mary's table and they talked. Lily's hard expression slowly softening into a faint hint of a smile as Potter handed her the box.

Lily and Potter? Surely not. She had given her word to him that she didn't see him as anything more than the ignorant toerag he was.

Then what was this all about?

Before he realized what he was doing he was on his feet and walking towards the bar, making sure to pass their table.

"Potter, thank you for your kind words of sympathy but I simply cannot accept your gift."

"Consider it a Christmas gift then."

Lily shook her head but accepted the gift anyway. A hint of a smile gracing her lips and her eyes.

Words of sympathy?

Severus stopped and turned from the bar, his warm cider in hand, someone from Lily's family must have died. It couldn't have been her tyrant and snob of a sister, she was too mean to die, so that left only her mother or her father. He found he wanted to approach her, to give her his condolence for her loss but he knew he wouldn't. They weren't friends anymore. They weren't even enemies. They were just... two people in the world. Strangers.

Glad that no one seemed to recognize him he returned to his table and ate his soup. A stern expression fixed to his features as he watched James not too subtle longing glances to Lily and Lily's occasional small smile as she touched the enchanted fire lily imprisoned inside a small crystal orb. He quickly gathered his belongings and put on his winter garb. He didn't want to be here. Not anymore.

After a thankfully successful Legilimens on the barkeep, one that had the unagreeable man granting Severus's check to go on a tab to be paid later, he left. Wrapping his scarf a third time around his neck before ramming his mitten hands deep into his pockets. His mood darkening as he entered the Knight Bus and paid his toll.

She was falling for Potter. James bloody Potter! The bloody toerag that had tormented them both and others throughout their years at Hogwarts.

Maybe he should ask the driver to stop. He could then walk in front of the bus and be done with it all. Be put out of his misery.

August first had rolled around once more and Severus, Avery, and Nott were busy buying their supplies for their last year at Hogwarts. Mulciber had declined their invite to buy his school supplies with them. They knew why, of course. Mulciber would be buying things for his sixth year, not his seventh like they were doing. Mulciber's proud nature wouldn't allow him to show that he had fallen behind them.

The trio went from shop to shop. Buying books and potion things plus a few things extra for themselves. Like a few practical joke charms and enchanted prank trinkets that leaned more on the darker side of the spectrum of practical jokes much to Severus disapproval.

"If Slughorn or McGonagall catches you with those you will earn several hours of detention and costs Slytherin points."

"Always the cautious one, Prefect Snape." Nott stressed Snape's newly appointed title, a grin forming as he slapped his friend on his back. "Don't worry no professor will ever connect these with us or Slytherin."

"Yeah," Avery added, as he discreetly picked a passing wizard's pocket, "we'll only use these on Gryffindors and Potter's gang."

Severus rolled his eyes but didn't comment further. He wasn't a Prefect yet and if Potter or Black got a taste of their own medicine he couldn't see any harm in it.

"Oi!" a wizard dressed in blue sparkling robes yelled, his eyes scanning the crowd around him. "Who took my wallet?"

"Let's get a sundae. My treat." Avery offered, showing a handful of Galleons.

"A sundae? What are we twelve?"

"Alright, a drink then."

Severus and Nott shared a look before allowing Avery to drag them into the Leaky Cauldron and right into Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew.

The boys glared at each other but miraculously no wands were drawn or insults exchanged as the Gryffindor trio pushed passed them and out into Diagon Alley. The three Slytherins looked at each other in silent question before discovering the reason as they finally entered the pub and saw McGonagall and three Aurors at the front. Standing post as they checked each person leaving or entering the Leaky Cauldron.

After finding a table and placing their order of three firewhiskies Severus asked Nott what he knew about this. Why there were three Aurors and McGonagall, a fierce former Auror, here and on full alert.

"There were some successful raids last night. Several blood traitors, Mudbloods, and Muggles were killed."

"It was a great victory for us."

"Us?" Severus asked in even tones, his left eyebrow raised.

"Well, you know what I mean."

Severus accepted the answer. For some reason relieved that Avery hadn't been officially inducted into the Death Eaters yet. He dismissed the odd feeling as him simply wanting to be the first of his year to join right after Hogwarts.

He ignored Avery and Nott's debate about who would be inducted into the inner circle first as he noticed Lily's arrival and the forced smile she wore for McGonagall as the professor waved her through the Aurors questions. Her green eyes were puffy and her cheeks were red and blotchy. She had been crying. Severus cursed himself for wanting to go comfort her even now. To ask her what had happened. To offer her his only handkerchief and a comforting smile... he took a big drink of his firewhisky welcoming the burn. We aren't friends by her own choosing, he reminded himself silently, before taking a smaller sip of the strong drink.

The three friends talked and ate and Severus soon forgot about Lily till the sound of glass breaking alerted him and everyone else in the pub of the redhead glaring at the newly assigned Headboy, James Potter.

"I don't want your sympathy Potter!"

"Evans, I know how you-"

"Save it! You don't bloody know how I feel! I lost a best friend last night just because she was a Muggleborn like me. Just because there is a secret war raging over blood and power."

Mary... He had wondered why Lily had come alone but he hadn't thought about Mary being a victim of one of the raids last night. Severus's heart went out to Lily. Refusing to even think that it could have easily been her instead of Mary. Lily was too strong willed and invincible to ever die.

"You don't know how it is to lose your friend! I have lost three. Three! To have your sister call you a freak and ignore you. To hate you and magic! To lose a good friend because he believes this foolishness of purity being power and that Muggles and Muggleborns are subhuman!" she shouted, taking a step closer to Potter with each sentence to finally she was chest to chest with him. "To have your best friend killed by cowards hiding behind masks and tattoos only after Merlin knows what was done to her!"

The pub was silent. McGonagall had a look of sympathy lining her usually stern features but she didn't approach Potter or Evans.

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry? Sorry!" she laughed, "Even now you think everything is dependent on you. That without you the world would stop. Ha!"

Everyone else was expecting her to hit the poor sod, something Severus was eagerly anticipating when Lily did something completely unexpected. She pulled Potter down and kissed him before slapping him and dashing pass the shocked Aurors and out of the pub leaving a dumbfounded Potter.

"Oi, wasn't that your 'friend', Severus?" Avery asked pointing to the door Lily had just used in her hasty exit and Potter was now using to follow her.

"No," Severus answered finishing his drink.

"You sure? I heard Potter call her Lily and Evans."

"You are spending too much time with Goyle," Nott sighed and shook his head before continuing in hushed tones, "they were but they aren't anymore."

Avery frowned. "They aren't, what?"

"Friends."

"Oh. What happened?"

Severus rolled his eyes. "I'm right here and can answer for myself."

"What happened then?" Avery repeated as he turned to Severus. "Did you finally wise up and end it with her?"

Severus stared at Avery who eventually took the hint that Severus didn't fell like talking about it now or ever and returned to his drink.

Already Severus wanted his last year at Hogwarts done and over with. The next several months would be hell as he watched Lily and Potter circle around each other and eventually hook up.

Fini

Disclaimer: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter does not belong to LittleTee, (who shall henceforth be referred to as "The Author.") While the plot of this fanfiction, (henceforth to be referred to as the "Story,") is of The Author's creation, neither the characters nor the locations therein belong to The Author, as they belong to JK Rowling, with the exception of any characters or locations within this Story which have no representation in cannon-these original characters and locations are the property of The Author. This is a work of fiction produced for the single purpose of entertaining fans of Harry Potter, and no Copyright infringement is intended.

Submission for: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Forum's September Event: Back To School and Gringotts.
Written for: Transfiguration Assignment 5

Back to School:
Team - The Dazzling Dragon-Keepers

Rules: There will be 60 prompts (two for each day of the month), and you will use these prompts as the theme in your drabble (or longer). You can submit one story a day, or several a day, or none a day - it's up to you, so long as all 60 prompts have been used by the end of September. It is two prompts per story, no more, no less. It doesn't matter how you mix and match them!

Prompts:31. (object) Striped Scarf and 35. (object) Broomstick.

Word Count: 100 words min.

Gringotts Wizarding Prompt Bank

Various Prompts - Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog: [Plot/Action] Crush falling for rival

Transfiguration Assignment 5:
(NOT SUBMITTED)

Task: For this assignment, I would like you to write about someone who is slow to a big realization. It can be obvious to those around them and it can be personal, academic, emotional anything. It just has to take them ages to realize that the answer has been in front of them all along.

Extra Prompts: (character) Severus Snape, (pairing) James/Lily,(setting) Diagon Alley.

Required Word Count: 500 words min.

Story's Word Count: 2,850

Author's Note: This story was actually written a little over a week ago but due to my school's internet going down and staying down all last week I couldn't upload this till now. Hence, the Transfiguration task and prompts used from the last assignment instead of using its current task and prompts.