A/N: It's been a long, long time since I've written anything fictional, so be gentle. Sev/Lily, and gayness. ALSO, thanks to loonymoon for forcing me to write again. :)


"Look at the slimy git!"

"Oh, James, don't be an asshole."

Severus's heart gave a small leap at these words. Not at being called names, no he was used to that. It was her voice, Lily Evans. Severus had known Lily even before they began attending Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry together. Their lives, however, seemed to belong to parallel planes. For the sake of outward appearances, their social networks did not meet. They were as different as royalty were to peasants. Severus could imagine it now, Lily, as the queen of England, draped from head to toe in purple, and Severus as a lowly cod-salesman in the East End. He was, at least, more polite than a cod-salesman. Severus was reserved, keeping mostly to himself and his books. He was mostly ignored, except by James Potter and his gang of friends. Lily, on the other hand, was a social butterfly; many of her friends knew of her acquaintance with Severus Snape, and questioned her sanity for it. "Why would you hang out with him? He's so weird!" they would exclaim, before realizing he could overhear them.

As class was dismissed, Lily gave Severus an apologetic glance, slinging her bag over her shoulder and walking out with James. He slowly gathered up his books and wand, trying to ignore the knot in his stomach. Lily and James were all wrong for each other, he though fiercely, his eyes down as people passed him. James was too... well, too much of a cocky bastard, to put it bluntly. All he ever did was brag about quidditch and tousle his hair, the big jerk. Heaving a sigh, Severus ran his thumbs along the waist of his trousers, two sizes too big and belted tightly to hold them up. That jerk, James Potter, undoubtedly did not know the color of her eyes, the smell of her hair, or the number of freckles she had on each cheek. Did James Potter know what Lily feared? What she loved? I doubt it, thought Severus as he stalked off to the dungeons.

Lily was sitting across from James in the library, her head bowed over a book she was memorizing out loud, the end of her eagle feather quill between her lips. James was slouched in his chair, letting a snitch escape momentarily before catching it again.

"James, would you please put that thing away?" Lily snapped, slamming her quill down. "You asked me to help you with Slughorn's essay. If you don't want my help, I'll just leave!"

"Oh, come on, you know you like being with me," James said, grinning, the tiny golden snitch fluttering in his clenched hand. At that, Lily snapped her book shut, hastily threw her belongings into her bag, and stormed out of the library. Fuming, she marched through the corridors of the castle, scarcely watching where she was going. Friends called out to her to greet her, only to receive silence in response. How often did she put up with him? How much more would she put up with James? With her anger slowly ebbing away, she found herself outside on the grounds, standing beside a black haired boy. He was hunched over a book, his belongings spread about him on the grass. Taking a slow, deliberate breath, Lily addressed the boy when he turned to look up at her.

"Hello, Sevvy," she said, a small smile creeping to her lips. She plopped onto the ground next to him and heaved a sigh.

"Hey, Lily," Severus replied, closing his book and setting it down.

"Oh, Sev, I can't take boys anymore," she grumbled, leaning her head on Severus's shoulder.

"What about me?"

"You don't count," Lily teased. Severus's heart thumped against his chest; they were sitting very close. Dare he put his arm around her or hold her hand? Would anyone around them notice? Butterflies grew in his stomach just at the thought, and he began to perspire. Slowly and with purpose, he lifted his hand and reached over. Severus made to hold her hand, but merely patted it awkwardly.

"Thanks for the support, Sevvy," Lily said, standing up and gathering her bag. "See you later." She didn't notice as he frowned and rubbed his hand through his greasy hair.


Remus Lupin was not an ordinary fifteen-year-old. Once a month, he fled the school grounds, beneath the Whomping Willow through the underground passage, to transform under the full moon. No, he was not an ordinary boy; he was a werewolf. His condition was kept secret with the help of his best friends, James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew. They had taught themselves to become animagi, people who could transform into animals at will. And with their aid, Remus was able to control himself as a werewolf.

Soon would be another night for adventure. Remus was sitting between Sirius and James in their Defense Against the Dark Arts class. They were whispering excitedly, already making plans for the upcoming full moon, when Professor Luciferian so rudely interrupted them.

"Gentlemen, I believe we were reading pages thirty to forty-eight. Unless you have something, which indeed seems to be most invigorating, to share with everyone?"

"N-no, professor," said Remus quickly.

"We were just discussing the reading," James added with a glamorous grin. Sirius nodded, also flashing a smile. Remus tried not to notice the way Sirius's smooth lips curved over his teeth with that smile. He looked everywhere but Sirius and prayed silently that the blood wasn't rushing to his cheeks. As class ended, he payed careful attention to putting his books away neatly in his bag and made sure James walked between himself and Sirius.

"So anyway," began James. "Three Broomsticks tonight? Rosmerta is working, isn't she?" He smirked at Sirius. Remus felt the knot in his stomach twist.

"Yeah, I just need to think of something to tell Narcissa," said Sirius, rolling his eyes. "I can't wait to be rid of her, though dear old mum won't be pleased. At least Rosmerta is fit." Sirius whistled and James laughed. Remus walked silently beside James, his eyes on the ground, willing the lump in his throat to disappear.

"So...yeah, Three Broomsticks?" he asked, forcing himself to smile. He knew that he would be forced to endure Sirius patting Rosmerta on the rear end, making crude comments. Surely Remus wouldn't mind if he made crude comments to him.

"Wait up!" A short, round boy with a pointed face came scurrying from behind the trio. "What are we doing tonight?"

"Three Broomsticks, Peter" said Remus calmly.

James and Sirius glared at Remus as though annoyed.

"Really?" the mousy boy asked. "That's great! I'll see you there, then?"

"Er...yeah, sure," said Sirius, shrugging.

Later that night, Sirius, James, and Remus, crouched under the invisibility cloak, quietly snuck through the corridors and to the statue of the one-eyed witch. James tapped the witch with his wand and whispered, "Dissendium!" Once the passageway was open, they checked around them for any sign of life, pulled off the cloak, and slipped into the passage. They came out into the cellar of Honeyduke's, the sweet shop, some time later. As quiet as they could manage, they crept up the stairs and outside. The bell rang as they opened the door to the Three Broomsticks, one of the pubs in the small town of Hogsmeade. A curvy young twenty-something beamed at them from behind the bar as she caught sight of Sirius.

"Sirius!" she cried in joy, rushing over to greet them. She threw her arms around Sirius and kissed his cheek. Remus stood behind James and nervously fidgeted with his shirt. Without fail, he saw out of the corner of his eye Sirius reach behind Rosmerta, who gave a small squeal. "Sit down, sit down, I'll fix some drinks," she said with a coy smile which, Remus noticed, was only for Sirius. As the three sat down around a table, the bell chimed, and in walked Peter Pettigrew, the mousy boy. "Bloody Peter," muttered James. He hurried over to them, eagerly pulling up a chair and sitting with them.

"Hi, Peter," Remus said, nodding slightly. James and Sirius nodded and mumbled a greeting. Just then, Rosmerta came bustling over with a tray of drinks. She set down three tall goblets. Remus peered into the amber liquid. Firewhiskey. Never before had he been drunk. As he didn't have much tolerance for alcohol, being a werewolf, he tended to stay away from it. What the hell, he thought. Remus looked up as Sirius raised his glass.

"How about a drink to the beautiful Rosmerta," said Sirius, beaming at her. James cheered loudly and Peter merely inclined his head. Remus raised his glass a little and took the tiniest of sips. It burned going down and he could feel warmth settling in his stomach.

"Ah, how about a game?" asked James, downing about half his drink. He searched his pockets, patting down his chest and pants, and his face fell. "Bloody hell, I left the cards back in Gryffindor tower. Peter, go get them."

"O-okay," said Peter, setting down his glass eagerly, nearly knocking it over. He shoved his chair back and hurried out, the bell chiming as he left.

"Good, now that he's gone, we can play," said James, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a deck of pink cards. Remus eyed them warily. He had heard James and Sirius talk about these cards; they were a recent acquisition. These cards were specifically geared towards men and alcohol, notoriously used for a game called "Three Witches". Three suits had pictures of pretty, half-dressed women, the last suit having hags. When face up, however, the hags screamed. "All right," he said bossily. "Three Witches. Three cards face down. Flip them over and for every hag, you drink. For every witch, you give out a drink." Sirius eyed the deck excitedly. Holding the deck faced down, James dealt three cards to Sirius, Remus, and himself. "You first, Padfoot," he grinned. Sirius slowly and dramatically turned over the first card. It remained silent.

"Drink, Prongs!" James unquestioningly took a swig of his drink. Sirius flipped another card. The hag let out an ear-splitting scream, her face contorting. Quickly slapping it face down again, he took a drink. "Last one, Moony." He wiggled his eyebrows, then flipped over the last card, which also screamed. "Ah, bloody hell," he said dejectedly and took another drink. "Your turn, Moony."

Remus looked first a his amber drink, then at the pink cards. Warily, he turned the first one over. A beautiful witch waved up at him, her cleavage staring him in the face. He tried to force himself to feel excited over this barely-dressed beauty, but he felt nothing. Only Sirius came to mind. "Oh...er, Sirius." Sirius nodded and took a swig. With every swig he took, his cheeks turned a little pinker.

The boys continued their game, Remus only taking the tiniest of sips. The alcohol burned his throat, and he forced himself to not make faces. Rosmerta continually filled their glasses. "On the house!" she would exclaim, beaming at Sirius. She eyed him from the bar when she was not filling their glasses, taking inventory of how intoxicated he was getting. She batted her eyelashes and pulled at her shirt to show more and more cleavage. Remus felt a pang of irritation. Would she really take such advantage of him? He certainly could not let that happen. He looked from James to Sirius. Both their cheeks were considerably pink, and neither could stop grinning at the other.

"Er, perhaps I should take them back," said Remus after much internal debate, standing up. The Three Broomsticks was beginning to thin, people were retiring for the night. He grabbed the invisibility cloak and began dragging both Sirius and James to their feet.

"Ah, you're no fun," slurred Sirius, frowning.

"Come on, it's getting late." Remus pushed in their chairs and grabbed them both by the arm, leading them out the door.

"Sirius could spend the night with me," Rosmerta called, bustling over to them.

"Don't be silly, he has to go back to Hogwarts," Remus snapped. They were halfway out the door. He glanced up; the moon was almost full. It was harder to control his emotions when it was close to the full moon. He pushed his two friends out the door, slamming it behind him, leaving a stupefied Rosmerta. He lead them briskly, beneath the invisibility cloak, to the Shrieking Shack, and carefully through the tunnel back to the castle. Both James and Sirius tripped and stumbled their way along. The cloak was no help. Back in the castle, Remus bustled them along, silently praying that they didn't run into any teachers. James and Sirius were not helping their case, stomping along loudly. With some stroke of luck, they made it back to Gryffindor tower and the portrait of the Fat Lady. Remus nearly yelled the password with relief. The Fat Lady swung open after sleepily mumbling complaints about being woken up. Once inside the tower, he tore the cloak off them, and, still holding them by the arm, lead them up to their dormitory. James immediately collapsed onto his bed and fell asleep. Sirius stood in place, grinning stupidly at Remus. He noticed again the perfect way his lips curved over his perfect teeth. Unwanted desire was overcoming him, but he remained rooted to the spot, willing himself to not move.

"You know, Moony," Sirius whispered loudly. "You're the best." He grinned and threw his arms around Remus's middle.