You're a Keeper

A/N: All credits to the incredible J. K. Rowling for her creation of the Harry Potter world :)

This little one-shot was written for the New Years Battle Challenge for the Diagon Alley II forum; it is round 2 of the Marauder's era round. I understand that Narcissa may have been slightly older than Lily and co. but I wanted to fit her in and this made the most sense to me. I also know that this is a bit fluffy and a lot lame- please forgive me. All reviews are welcome (except flamers) and I appreciate anyone who reads this!

Edit: Prompts were changes slightly.

The prompts used for the challenge are as follows:

Dialogue:

'Are you sure you're not on the Quidditch team? Because you're definitely a keeper.' 4

'When I said use your head, I didn't mean to literally use your head!' 3 (P.S. forgive me for the lame way I tried to put it in!)

Characters:

Lily Evans 4

Severus Snape 5

Narcissa Malfoy 3

Pairing:

Lily/ Severus 9

Creature:

Merperson 2

Word:

Autumn 1

Fixate 1

Grasshopper 1

Helicopter 1

Spells:

Rennervate 5

Accio 2

Total: 41

Eleven year old Severus Snape sat in the grass, idly plucking out blades with his fingers. He was trying to will himself to finish the large pile of homework he had been given that week, but couldn't concentrate as the Autumn winds continuously ruffled his parchment. He was at least thankful that the sky was clear, allowing him to sit by the large, black lake instead of inside the stuffy library.

He was about to resume his research on the many uses of Rennervate, a spell he had recently come across in his research and had been practising on the grasshoppers he had stunned, when a shadow fell across him. He gripped his wand tightly before looking up.

"Hi. Do you mind if I sit here?" Lily Evans stood in front of him, indicating the dry patch of grass next to him.

"If you want." He schooled his face into a blank expression, hoping that she would not see the joy he felt inside that she still acknowledged him.

She sat promptly, crossing her legs underneath her before turning her bright green gaze towards him expectantly. He reached for one of his textbooks before she sighed heavily, clearly frustrated at his lack of acknowledgement.

"Look, Severus, I know we're in different houses but- "

"We are."

"-but despite this, you and I- "

"-are in different houses."

"Will you let me finish? I know we're in different houses but that doesn't mean we can't still be friends. I like having you around. You were my first, uh, wizard friend." His heart raced at this, but still he did not bear a smile as he would have a few weeks before. When he didn't respond, she continued, "So I was hoping we could, you know, maybe just hang out? Like we used to."

"What about Potter and his mates? I thought maybe you'd go and hang out with your new Gryffindork pals."

"…They're not my friends. And I was hoping that at least you would be civil to me." She stood up, brushing some dirt off her long skirt before attempting to walk away.

"Lily, wait. I'm sorry, it's just hard, you know? I thought my mum at least would've been proud I'd gotten into Hogwarts…" He had jumped up, not thinking that she would actually leave him there. He quickly shook off the worried expression on his face, hoping that she hadn't seen him so flustered.

Lily paused and turned back, a sympathetic smile plastered on her own face. She was the only one he had let know about his parents; about the mother who was too preoccupied with her own affairs to care for him, and about the father who denied he had a wizard for a son.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No, it's just… Hogwarts is nothing I thought it would be like."

"I know what you mean."

Severus looked at his friend, concerned about her sudden quiet voice. She saw that his gaze was fixated on her and blushed. He was about to ask if she was alright herself when the beautiful smile of hers crept back upon her face.

"The castle is beautiful though, more breathtaking than I could have imagined."

"I guess so…"

"I haven't seen a merperson though. You said there were mermaids in the lake!" She punched his shoulder playfully, looking towards the lake hopefully.

"There are, they just happen to be all the way down in the depths of the water."

He watched Lily as she sighed, her mind clearly on the possibilities of swimming with the mysterious creatures. Stray strands of hair that had come loose from her braids danced across her face, glittering a brilliant auburn as the sun illuminated them. He considered sweeping them away for her but thought better of it; the Lily he knew was independent enough to not care about frivolities like neat hair. It was one of the things that had enticed him about her, even after discovering that she was another child who had magical abilities in his home town. Toying with the idea of explaining that mermaids were nowhere near as lovely as she was, he shook his head and instead settled for asking her about classes.

"Do you-" he cleared his voice, disguising the squeak that came out as a cough, "do you like potions?"

"Mmm? Oh, potions? Yea, it's good. Slughorn's a nice professor, he doesn't yell like my other teachers do…used to do." Peering at him from beneath the hand she was now using to shield her eyes from the sun, she added, "I'm not sure I like everything about the class though."

"You mean the ingredients? Like slothbrains? I can see why a girl like you wouldn't like them."

"A girl like me? What? No, I mean, I don't…" She faltered as she appeared to wage a mental war with herself over what to say next. Severus tilted his head, signalling his confusion as to what she meant and forcing her to continue. "I don't think I really get along well with everyone in the class, that's all."

"Oh." He didn't know how else to respond, for he knew that even those within his own house weren't, as he would say, diligent students. There wasn't anything he could really do about it as it was, so he allowed her to ponder her thoughts without interruption.

For a few minutes, the only sound he could hear was that of a helicopter, buzzing as it made its way home high above them. He laughed to himself, knowing that muggles could be stupid sometimes; he bet the people controlling the aircraft would be shocked to find a school below them that taught young witches and wizards.

Lily perked up after a few more minutes of silence, her eyes glittering mischievously as she glanced at a sixth year Ravenclaw couple nearby, who appeared to be exchanging their Drooble's Best Blowing Gum as they kissed. Snape followed her line of sight, spying a group of Slytherin first year girls sitting in front of the couple, giggling at some joke a pretty blonde, he knew was Narcissa Black, had said. He swung his eyes back and forth, trying to make the connection Lily had, before shrugging and settling back to continue his work.

"Surely there's a few people you like in the class?" she asked him, as though she already knew the answer.

"Not really. Can you pass me that stick next to you? Wait, I'll do it. Accio." A small twig flew into Severus' palm and he began to prod a rock from out of the groove of his shoe.

"How did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Summon that stick."

"Oh, just a spell I found. Wanna try?"

"Sure." Lily swished her wand back and forth a few times as he explained the wand movements and guided her hand. Without too much effort, she managed to have a fallen red leaf soar towards her.

"There, easy."

"Do you want me to show you something I learned?"

"Ok..."

"The girl in my dorms taught me this one. Ready? Auguamenti!" A stream of water shot from the tip of her wand, splashing Severus as he tried to wriggle out of the way.

"Hey!" His indignation was ignored as Lily cackled gleefully.

It was a few minutes before she settled and offered to help him with the spell. He agreed reluctantly, hoping that he could master it and use it on her. Unfortunately, he was not as quick to pick up the technique as she was, and indicated his frustration by slamming his palm against his forehead.

"No, no. When I said use your head, I didn't mean to literally use your head!" She chuckled lightly as he turned to glare at her. "Oh, lighten up Sev! You take things way too seriously."

"I do not! This just isn't fun anymore." He hadn't impressed her like he had wanted to, the shame of failing seeping into his face, making his cheeks burn slightly crimson. He turned away so that she couldn't see.

Lily had stopped her mirth at his behaviour, choosing to sit down again as he sulked. He glanced sideways at her from beneath his long, black curtain of hair. She was busy pretending nothing was wrong, fiddling with the shoelace that had come undone on her polished school shoes. He gritted his teeth and pretended to look for another stick to use, still peeking at her from time to time.

The problem with Lily was that, like he, she was stubborn and unlikely to back down when they disagreed on something. The more he sulked over something so petty, the more she would act like nothing had happened. It had occurred a few times before when they would meet in the fields behind their street, mainly about their differing opinions on her oh-so-charming older sister. He would call her an ugly muggle and run off to sit alone; she would ignore him, usually by making a daisy chain with whatever flowers she could find, before he reluctantly came back to apologise minutes later. At this moment, she was humming a tune whilst looking at the group of first years she had spotted earlier.

"Alright, fine. I just need more practice, ok?" he knew it was time to give in; she could go on ignoring him for days and, without any other friends of his own, he didn't feel like spending the entire weekend, with its rare British sunshine, by himself.

She had clearly been waiting for this moment as she immediately broke into the mischievous grin she had worn before. "Good. Because I have an idea of something you should do."

"…Which is?" He instantly regretted backing down so early, knowing that what she would say next would probably scare him.

"Well, I think you shouldn't be so serious all the time. I noticed quite a few pretty girls in our class that would probably make great friends for you."

"I don't think I like where this is going."

"Oh, nothing too bad, I promise. I'm not asking you to do anything like them." She pointed absentmindedly at the Ravenclaws who were still joined together by the tongue. "That's just gross. But I do-"

"No way!"

"Again with the interrupting! You don't even know what I'm going to ask."

"I can guess and I'll tell you now, no way. For one, I'm way too young to have a girlfriend. Two, I don't want a girlfriend. And three, I have absolutely no time to even bother with such unnecessary social nonsense."

"I'm not saying you have to actually ask one of them out. Just go and make friends with them."

"I don't need friends."

"I'm your friend, aren't I?"

"Yes, I mean I don't need other friends."

"Everyone does." Lily whispered this last part, causing him to not be so quick to dismiss her ideas.

Heaving an audible sigh to let her know just how much grief this would cause him, he reluctantly agreed to listen to her plan. "Fine, what do you want me to do?"

Her green eyes sparkled in delight, "nothing serious, trust me. I just think it would be funny if you were to ask one of them out." At his horrified face, she added "Just go and practice talking to them, get to know them."

"But-"

"Please?"

"Do I have to? Can't we just, I dunno, practice more of that spell?"

"Too late Mr. Go on." She pulled him to his feet and, with a nudge on his back, pushed him towards the group of girls.

As soon as he felt the pressure get released from his back, he turned around. Lily was already sprinting back towards the tree, a laugh emanating from her retreating figure. He considered running back after her for a few seconds, knowing he definitely did not want to approach the girls who were now but a metre in front of him. Unfortunately, he had run out of time, as one of the girls noticed him.

"Hey Snape! Have you done Slug's homework yet? Come and give us the answers," a girl with mousy brown hair called out, smirking through crooked teeth as she expected to be given a free pass.

"Actually, no, I haven't, and I'm sure you're not as brainless as you look so do it yourself."

The girl's smirk faded, replaced by a nasty frown. She nudged Narcissa, who looked up boredly from examining her long fingernails.

"Oh, please Snape, would you do it for me?" Narcissa cooed, fluttering her dark lashes.

"Actually, Narcissa, um, there's something, uh…"

"Hurry up Snape, spit it out! Stuttering again are we?" the other girl interrupted, placing her smirk back on her round face as she waited for Narcissa to turn him away.

"I do believe I'm talking to Narcissa. Ok, well, I just wanted to ask… to say…"

Severus trudged back to wear Lily was lying on the grass, playing with the ribbon marker of one of his books. He could still hear the vicious barks of girls' laughter echoing through his head.

"Sev, why are all the grasshoppers here? Severus?"

"Why did you make me do that? I've never been so humiliated! I told you I don't need a social life!" he didn't mean to yell at her, but he felt if was all her fault.

"What do you mean? I thought you would've been alright." His heart gave a twinge at her concerned expression yet his face remained upset.

"Well, you were wrong."

"Ok, but, what happened? What did you do?" She followed him as he threw himself to the ground, his hands clenching at his hair as he buried his face into his knees.

After she started rubbing his back consolingly, he finally looked into her face, his own face pale once more without any red to tinge his cheeks. His eyes remained brooding and dark, but his thin lips curved upwards, letting her know she was forgiven for what had happened.

"I did as you said. I tried to, you know, ask one of them out. Sort of."

"What did you say to her?"

"I complimented her."

"And she didn't like it? That was rude."

"I thought she would've. I know she likes Quidditch and you've mentioned before that girls like when you have something in common."

"I did?" She looked surprised at the fact that he remembered something so insignificant, but didn't dwell on it. "I suppose I did. Oh well, maybe Quidditch isn't her thing. What were your exact words?"

He mumbled into his hands, trying to remember what he had said. When he eventually found the exact words, he was a little wary when she stared at him, shocked.

"You said what? Please tell me you did not use that."

"Well, yeah, of course I did."

"You said, to Narcissa Black, 'Are you sure you're not on the Quidditch team? Because you're definitely a keeper.'? Oh, Severus!"

He jumped slightly, still startled, as she leaned into his shoulder, her own shoulders heaving up and down. When he finally managed to get her to lift her head, he noticed her lovely emerald eyes were swimming with tears. Awkwardly, he moved so that he could place a hesitant hand on her arm.

"Are you alright, Lil? What's wrong?"

She could only manage to shake her head, trying to gasp for breath. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she lifted the sleeve of her grey jumper to her eyes and rubbed them. She gave a little hiccough before grinning at him, "Sev, oh Sev. We definitely have some work to do."