Chapter One

The Prince and the Princess

Lily awoke to the sound of tapping on her window. She jumped quickly, but then relaxed when she saw the familiar face at the window. Severus smiled and mouthed to open the window.

"What are you doing?" She whispered as she opened the window.

"I couldn't sleep." Severus sat down on her bed.

Severus seemed to have grown since she last saw him. He looked thinner and his hair looked greasier than it normally did. When he had turned his head, she saw a fresh bruise on his left cheek.

Lily turned his head with her hand. "He did it again?"

Severus turned his head quickly.

"Come on, Sev, you know you can tell me." Lily said gently.

"He got mad about my mother not doing the right dinner." Severus said quietly.

"Oh, Sev." Lily wrapped her arms around his thin frame.

"We go back to school tomorrow, it's not like he can hurt me then." Severus said hopefully.

"God, can we not talk about that?" Lily leaned back onto her bed frame.

"Why? Don't want to be 5th year?" Severus leaned back as well.

"Don't want to think about the OWL exams this year." Lily answered.

"Same here." Severus smiled.

Lily grabbed his hand and squeezed it. "As long as I have you I'll be happy."

Severus smiled. "Same here."

"Do you feel like this year will be different?" Lily asked.

"What do you mean?" Severus asked.

"Do you think this year will be wonderful or at least better?" Lily asked.

"I hope so." Severus said.

"I mean I'd just like something to happen that will change how I view things. Like something that will make my life better and make me not feel like I've done nothing with my time." Lily said.

Severus looked at her. "Do you feel that way?"

"Sometimes." Lily admitted. "I mean the only great thing I did last year was manage to break Potter's nose when he tried to kiss me."

Severus turned red.

"What?" Lily asked.

Severus turned away from her. "Nothing."

"Sev." Lily said.

Severus quickly pulled the covers over his head and mumbled a goodnight.

Lily crept under the covers and placed a hand on Severus's shoulder and whispered, "It's ok, Sev, I promise."

Lily woke up by the opening of her bedroom door.

"Hello Severus." Mrs. Evans said with a smiled. "You know, we have a perfectly good front door, you don't need to keep using the window."

Severus smiled. "I don't want to wake you."

"So you wake me instead?" Lily asked.

"You deserve it." Severus teased.

"You're far too kind to me, Sev, you'd think I was your best mate or something." Lily threw a pillow at his head.

"Come on you two, Severus still needs to get his trunk and you know it takes forever to get to Kings Cross." Mrs. Evans smiled.

Severus walked out of the room quickly, but Mrs. Evans held Lily back.

"Now, is there any funny business going on between you two?" Mrs. Evans asked.

Lily laughed. "Come on, mum. He's my best mate, not my boyfriend. Plus, if something really was happening, do you really think Sev would let you see him when you walked in?"

"Lily." Mrs. Evans said.

"Mum, there's nothing going on." Lily said.

"I see how he looks at you." Mrs. Evans said.

"And how do I look at him?" Lily asked.

"Like you don't want to break his heart." Mrs. Evans said quietly.

Lily started to play with a loose thread on her nightgown. She felt her face redden.

"Lily." Mrs. Evans's features softened. "If you don't fancy him back, you have to tell him. He's been in love with you since you were 12 years old."

Before Lily could answer, Petunia entered the room loudly.

"Mum! What was that Snape boy doing in our kitchen?" Petunia asked.

"Getting breakfast." Mrs. Evans said simply.

"He didn't spend the night again did he?" A look of disgust crossed her face.

"Yes, he did." Lily said quickly.

"Mum!" Petunia whined. "Why does Lily get to have boys in her room and I don't!"

"Because, he's just her mate." Mrs. Evans said with a wink to Lily.

Lily walked out of the room quickly, happy to be off to a place where she didn't have to deal with a sister who hated her because of her powers.

When Lily got off her prefect duties, she joined Severus in a compartment. It was empty except for him, even though she knew he would rather be sitting with Mulciber and Avery than be alone.

She stared at him for a moment before she joined him. She never noticed before how when he wasn't around her his eyes seemed to sink into his skin. He looked very sad, a feature he never had when he was around her.

She opened the door and he turned away from his book.

"You got it?" She asked, looking at his book.

"Yep, mum wasn't looking at what I was buying." He smiled.

She took Advanced Potion Making from his hands and looked over it carefully. "Ok, now this year will be great."

Severus's smile grew. "Moaning Myrtle's bathroom?"

"Of course." Lily smiled.

"Which one do we tackle first?" Severus asked.

"I think we should just work from the front back." Lily said.

"Sounds good." Severus reached for his quill. He quickly wrote 'This book is the property of the Half-Blood Prince.'

Lily took his quill and wrote below it 'and the Muggle Born Princess.'

Severus gave her a questioning glance.

"What? You get to be the Half-Blood Prince." Lily said.

"But my mum's last name was Prince." Severus had turned red.

"I'm just saying that I want a cool title." Lily smiled at him.

"Fine." Severus smiled.

"Good, now can I have a chocolate frog? I'm starving." Lily asked.

They rode the rest of the way talking about their plans for discovering better ways to do potions. Little did they know that by the end of that year, not only would Lily's name be removed from the book and he would be removed from her heart.