"Hey, guys, what's so funny?" She asked, sitting down beside James.
She reached to grab James' hand, but pulled her arm back quickly, gasping.
"James, what happened to your hand?" She asked with concern, looking at the ice pack that was covering his hand.
"Nothing." James replied, "Just had an accident."
"More like you ran into an accident." Sirius snickered, getting him a fierce glare from James.
"What's he talking about, James?" Lily asked, inspecting the bloody and bruised hand.
"Nothing, he's just running off at the mouth." James replied, sending another stern look at Sirius who merely rolled his eyes.
"Aw, poor thing." Lily said, placing the ice gently back on James' bloody knuckles, "Would you like me to run down to the Hospital Wing to get you a new ice pack or something?"
"NO!" He shouted, but quickly calmed his voice and added, "No, I'm fine, really. Madame Pomfrey already checked me out. But, you know, I could really use a glass of pumpkin juice. I was in the Hospital Wing during dinner." He pouted slightly.
"Of course!" Lily replied, unlinking her arm from James', "I'll be right back."
She gave him a peck on the cheek and walked back out through the portrait hole. As soon as she was gone, James threw a nearby book at Sirius.
"Keep your mouth shut, Padfoot." He said seriously, "If Lily finds out what happened she'll kill me."
"Chill, Prongs, she doesn't have a clue and who's gonna tell her?" Sirius said, tossing the book back, "Besides, even if she did find out, she should be proud of you!"
"What in the devil are you talking about?"
"Remember in the Hospital Wing? You were getting your cuts looked at? You didn't go over to Snivellus' bed and beat him up again. Excellent self-control there, Prongs. Lily'd be proud." Sirius replied, perfectly serious, a smile on his face.
"Hand me that book back, Padfoot." James said with a matching smile on his face.
Sirius tossed the book back gently, still grinning.
"You're a complete idiot, you know that?" James snapped, throwing the book at him again.
Sirius's smile turned to a scowl, "What?" he cried, crossing his arms and sinking into the plush chair.
Lily returned a few moments later, cup in hand. She reclaimed her seat next to James and handed him the juice.
"I love you." James smiled, taking a sip of the juice.
"Aw, I love…"
"PRONGS!" Peter burst into the common room, cutting Lily off. His face was full of excitement, and he startled most of the people sitting around doing homework, "Is it true?" James and the other marauders shook their heads furiously, shot warning looks and wild hand gestures to try and get him to stop before he could say anything, which failed immensely as he didn't even seem to notice, "Did you really beat up Snivellus?"
Lily turned her bright green eyes on James, cutting him in half with her sharp gaze.
"James!" Lily shot up, hands on her hips, teeth clenched tightly, "I told you to leave him alone, how could you?"
"Lily, look, he started with me, honest,"
"Yeah, I'm sure, like every other time? What did he do, get within ten feet of you again? James, I wish you'd grow up." Lily's voice steadily rose.
"Calm down, Lils, Madame Pomfrey said he'll be alright. She's fixing all his teeth and said the bruises should be gone in a few days." Sirius interrupted, unintentionally making Lily even madder.
"James, why do you have to be such a bully? I can't believe you did that… No, actually I can. I'm going to check on him." Lily sighed, shaking her head.
"Why?" Sirius asked, a puzzled look on his face.
"Oh jeez, Lily, Sirius said he's fine." James pleaded, not wanting Lily anywhere near the abomination in the Hospital Wing.
He reached for her arm, which Lily snatched away, and ignoring the pleas of the boys behind her, she stomped back out into the corridor.
"I told you not to hit him. I knew it was a bad idea to go starting trouble…" Remus mumbled from behind his book.
"Shut it, Moony." Sirius and James said together.
Lily was stomping through the halls, face red with anger. Sev… Snape isn't my favorite person, but James doesn't have to make his life miserable for no reason all the time Lily thought, gritting her teeth.
She stalked towards the Hospital Wing, only stopping to yell at a younger student that happened to be in her way. Her anger built up inside her as she thought more about James and his mean ways which caused her to almost yell at Madame Pomfrey when she asked for Severus Snape.
"Sorry," Lily muttered in apology after her loud outburst.
"Yes, Severus is just right over here." Madame Pomfrey replied, looking slightly startled.
She walked Lily over to the only occupied plain white bed.
"You should get back to your common room soon, though, dear. It's getting late." Madame Pomfrey added with a smile before returning to her desk.
"Severus?" Lily said quietly, sitting down next to the bed.
"Oh, you're using my first name again?" Severus grumbled, turning on his side.
"Look, I'm sorry for what James did,"
"I'm sure."
"I've really been trying to get him to back down some."
"Yes, it seems to be very effective."
"Hey, if you're just gonna snap at me every time I say something, I'll just leave." Lily retorted, standing up, hands on hips just as she had with James.
"No!" Severus sat up quickly, "I'm sorry."
"Yeah, it's fine," She sighed, "What did he do to you anyway? You look pretty banged up." Lily asked examining the marks and scratches on his face, not seeming to notice how fast he shot up when she said she was leaving.
She ran her fingers over the purple bruise on Severus' cheek, tilting his head towards the light. Severus held his breath, trying not to let out the shudder that was building in his throat. How good it felt to have her hands on his skin again…
"Did he hit you?" Lily asked, "Jinx you? Hello? You in there? Would you answer me, Severus?"
Lily grabbed his face and turned it so that he was facing her instead of the window. He carefully let out the shaky breath he had held in and spoke in an uneasy voice, "Yeah, he hit me. Punched me as we were coming out of charms. And he did some kind of hex that broke most of my teeth. He had his little cronies backing him so I couldn't even do anything back, the coward. Madame Pomfrey reckons she can get all my teeth back to normal, though."
"Yes, James is rarely without his friends," Lily agreed, "But let me see your teeth." Lily said tapping on his chin.
As much as Severus didn't want Lily to see his broken, ugly teeth, something about her gentle voice persuaded him and he obeyed. Lily grimaced, surveying the damage. She turned his head to get a better look at his back teeth and made another face.
"So she'll be able to fix them?" Lily asked, releasing her grip on Severus' face.
"I suppose." He wished she'd put her hands back on him again.
They sat, eyes locked, an awkward silence growing between them. Lily finally glanced up at a clock and spoke, "I should be going."
"Yeah…I guess so." Severus said, looking past her.
"Look, I feel bad about what James did, but we're not like friends again or anything." Lily said, standing up, straightening her sweater, "Things are still the same, you've chosen your way, I've chosen mine."
"Yeah, I know…" He'd heard it a million times, every time he'd tried to apologize, and it was beginning to get old.
Lily looked over Severus remorsefully, watched him sink back down into the uncomfortable bed and thought she saw him try to blink away tears. Her insides twisted with guilt and pity, but she then remembered the awful things he said about people of her birth and the dark magic that he was dabbling in and attempted to force herself to stop feeling sorry for the boy laying in front of her.
"Well, I hope you get better. I'll talk to James later, try to stop him from being so mean to you." Lily said, as Severus merely looked the other way, "Goodnight, Sev."
Lily gently grasped his face and bent down to kiss his cheek and pulled back with a soft smile, then walked back towards the door. She lingered for a moment, eyes focused on her shoes as she thought about what she was doing. She wanted to go back, to comfort her former best friend. Her mind flickered to James, to the day that Sev had called her a Mudblood, to the people Sev hung around with. With a sigh, she walked on, not able to look back at the pale boy behind her.
Not noticing that Lily had paused, Severus brought his bony, thin fingers to the side of his face, brushing the patch skin that Lily had kissed, a faint smile crossing his lips. The smile soon twisted into a scowl as he thought of Lily going right back to James like she always did. If she objected to his behavior so much, why didn't she stop seeing him? A hypocrite, that's what she was.
And yet, Severus had enjoyed every second of Lily's hypocritical pity. He preferred her false sweetness over the very real indifference that she so typically showed towards him. It was probably for the worse that she had stopped to visit; Severus was just starting to forget how soft her hands were; how sweet she smelled; how beautiful she looked when she smiled; but most of all, what it was like to look into her eyes. But even though he knew that she was now probably curled in James' arms in front of the fire in the Gryffindor common room, that she would probably never speak to Severus again, and that she'd probably end up marrying James' (he shuddered at the thought), he couldn't bring himself to stop loving her. And with that, he smashed the glass next to his bedside and glared angrily up at the ceiling.
So. I detest James Potter with the deepest hatred. Writing him makes me want to puke. S'true, but moving on... Yes, another LilyxSnape fic because they're too adorable to write. Yes, I know I have an unfinished fic. I had plans to finish it, but I'm having some issues with it :[ I really loved Sirius in this, cute and clueless XD I hope you enjoyed this since I spent nearly 2 weeks writing and rewriting it. REVIEW PLEASE! I'd like to think that people enjoyed this. Even if you didn't, go ahead and lie. XD Just kidding. But really. REVIEW & thank you for reading it.