Tiny Tee Houses and Tiny Disputes

London was a big city, with many sites to see and plenty of people to do so. Everywhere, small groups of chattering tourists crowded the pavements, taking pictures and pointing wildly around themselves. Even the cloudy sky, promising rain, could not keep them at bay. When the rain would come they would all simply pull out their brightly coloured raincoats, or rush to the nearest gallery and continue their picture snapping and wild pointing there.

Everyone was incredibly busy and so even the Londoners themselves did not notice the little 14 year old girl slipping through the masses, dragging a little boy of the same age along behind her.

Lily was incredibly impatient to finally get to the Leaky Cauldron. It had taken them a full 2 hours to get to London and she was determined not to waste another second of their precious time. After all, Severus had to be back home by eight, so his father would not find out that he had left.

"Lily, would you stop running for just a second! We still have ages till the train leaves…" Severus whined from behind her, barely able to catch his breath. In truth, Severus enjoyed the way Lily held onto his arm as she was pulling him through the crowds. He would have given anything to make that last longer and he knew once they reached the Leaky Cauldron she would let go.

"Come one, Sev, we're almost there!" Lily called back to him, shooting him a quick smile over her shoulder. She was so excited to finally be back. Aside from the handful of visits to her friends' houses, Lily had not felt a part of the magical world in forever. It was truly unfair that they were still forbidden from using magic outside of school for another three years!

Lily had been right, after only a few more minutes of squeezing through crowds and walking down a few slightly less busy alleyways, they were finally there. The faded sign of the Leaky Cauldron loomed before them in all its run down glory.

"See? I told you. Now let's go through quickly, or I swear I'll starve!"

Some 15 minutes later, Lily and Severus found themselves sitting inside Madam Gertrud's Tiny Tee House. A wonderful little place Lily and Severus had found only two years earlier, while chasing after her newly bought owl. It was stuffed full with cushions and doyleys, and absolutely everything was made of a different colour. No two tee-cups looked even remotely similar and no two chairs were of the same make. The name was not a lie either. The place really was tiny, only allowing for enough space for four tables and two chairs to go with each. When walking to a certain table, one often had to squeeze their way through. Everything there was just so out-of-place and bizarre, that Lily could not help but feel at home there whenever they would visit.

But it had not been the crazy look of it which had made Lily and Severus go in the first time. It had been the brilliant smell wafting out the door way. Her tees, hot chocolates and freshly baked pumpkin cream-pies always made Madam Gertrud's smell like absolute heaven!

"So, I've got something to tell you." Lily said, her voice rising with excitement after she had finished of her last bite of pie. Severus looked at her expectantly, hoping desperately whatever it was, did not include her and that stupid Ravenclaw boy whom he had caught staring at her several times during the last semester.

"Yes?" he asked cautiously, glancing at her sideways.

Lily immediately picked up on his strange behaviour, and quickly responded; "Oh, no don't worry, it's nothing bad! I'm not sick or anything, don't worry. I just got a letter from school the other day!"

Excitedly she produced a letter, with a broken Hogwarts seal on the front. "You won't believe it! I've been made a Prefect! Can you imagine? Me? A Prefect…" Lily could barely contain her excitement, bouncing up and down in her chair, waving the little letter in her best friend's face.

Clearly relieved, the tension left Severus' face as he took the letter from Lily and gave it a quick read. Of course, Severus could believe it. Lily was one of, if not the, brightest witch in their year. She excelled in her classes and teachers like Professor Slughorn thought Lily was absolutely charming. Besides, she was a stickler for rules, just like him. "Congratulations Lily! You deserve it. You really, really do!" he gave her a little smile and handed back her letter. "I'm happy for you, truly! Of course, you'll have your work cut out for you, what with Potter and his little gang being in your house! I tell you Lily, the one good thing about being home over the summer, is not having to see those four…"

Lily's face immediately lost some of its glow. "I hadn't even though of that… Merlin, if those idiots give me trouble, I swear I will hex them into next week!" Suddenly Lily giggled, her face lighting up once more, realizing something. "You know what, maybe I will just put them in detention for so long, they won't even have the time to do something stupid!"

At that, Severus couldn't help but laugh, as well.

After paying, which Lily took care of, as she always did, Lily and Severus left Madam Gertrud's and headed back towards Diagon Ally. Lily's parents always gave her a little extra money when she told them she was going somewhere with Severus, as they knew he would not be given any by his parents, and they did not want him to miss out.

Once they reached Diagon Ally, chatting about cauldrons, they turned left and headed a little further down the busy road. Lily loved this place. The colours, the smells, the witches and wizards all in their true wizarding robes. This was what truly felt right to her!

"Personally, I think the cauldrons from Sir Pemboulies Potion Supplies are absolutely rubbish! The lining comes off and meddles with the balance of the ingredients if you make anything even remotely acidic!" Severus said casually, holding the door to Slug & Jiggers Apothecary open for Lily. Smiling at him Lily walked in. She adored the smell that always came from inside that place, even if it was a very strong one. All the herbs and funny looking ingredients lining the shelves in various forms always made her feel light headed, and yet it reminded her of potions class, which was, after all, one of her absolutely favourite classes.

"But" Lily countered, rummaging in her hand bag for that ridiculously long list of supplies they needed to get. "That batch of dreamless sleep potion we came up with last year was fantastic. I mean it must be about the pewter in the cauldron, don't you think? Did you make a note of that somewhere? Be a shame if you didn't. I don't think even Slughorn has ever laid eyes on a more perfect version of that stuff… Aha!" she said triumphantly. Finally she had found that damned list. Reading it over carefully, Lily missed the look Severus was giving her. What a genius she was and what an idea! Together they had found out so many things about making potions even better, of course they should be keeping track of it somewhere. Right away he vowed he would do so.

"Sev…?" Lily called from the other end of the store, looking over at him with concern. He had been so deep in thought, he hadn't even noticed that she had walked off to collect all the things they needed.

"Coming" quickly he walked up to her. Curiously Severus looked at all the things Lily had already put into a little basket one of the shop owners had handed her. "Is that G-"

"Why if it isn't the most beautiful red head ever and her greasy little friend!" a familiar voice called out to them from somewhere near the entrance. "Oh, how we've missed you, right Padfoot?"

Both Severus and Lily tensed up immediately as they heard the voices, Lily being the first to spin around. If looks could kill, why then James Potter would easily have been dead. Lily glared at him, her temper rising quickly. How dare he insult her friend?

"Oh, only Evans, not Snivellus, that is of course!" Sirius Black answered, the same amused smirk on his face as he and Peter Pettigrew entered the shop behind his mate, taking in the scene.

"Oh yeah, that goes without saying!" they all laughed at their own little joke. Beside her, Lily could feel Severus' temper rising as well. Why did they have to ruin everything? They had been having such a nice quite day before those arrogant asses had to show up.

Quickly Lily reached a hand out for Severus. "Sev, let's just pay and go, I've got everything we need. They're not even worth it!" Severus didn't look at her. He couldn't.

"Yeah, Snivellus, you would just get hurt!" James chided, knowing how to push his buttons. What he had not seen coming, however, was Lily's reaction. She couldn't stand by for even a moment longer. Within seconds she was in front of him.

"Come to give me a k-" was all he got out before she slapped him hard over the face.

"Screw you, Potter, you arrogant bullying prick!" with that she turned back to Severus. "Come on, let's go!"

Severus stared at her, completely in shock. He had to blink a few times before he could get himself to move. Once they were on the streets, Severus had gained his wits back enough to think. He thought, he had never seen Lily do anything so brilliant. But on the other hand, he didn't need her to stick up for him! He could have handled that himself! He should have handled it himself...

"I don't need you to defend me!" Severus snapped at Lily who looked at him completely perplexed.

"I never said you did!" she snapped back at him, hurt he should see it that way. It was only natural that she wanted to defend him from those idiots! He was her best friend, for crying out loud…

"Well it's what you did, didn't you? You thought I wouldn't be able to handle it myself and so you thought you had to step in, well Lily, I could have dealt with them! I'm not some little baby!" Severus was almost shouting now.

"Fine" Lily shouted back. "Fine! Go and do it all alone then! I definitely don't need this! See you on the train" she added, glaring at him furiously. With that she turned around and left, hurrying away from him, tears already rising up in her eyes.

"Lily?" someone asked close behind her. Lily had been hiding behind a little shop in an ally leading away from the main street. She did not want anyone to see her cry. Quickly she whipped the tears away from her eyes before turning around to face whoever had spoken to her.

"Alice!" Lily exclaimed, unable to stop herself from throwing her arms around her friend. Merlin, was she happy to see her. She had felt so alone just hiding there.

"Lily, what in Merlin's name happened? Are you alright?" Alice hugged her back tightly, the concern clear in her voice.

"I'm fine…" Lily said with a deep sigh, finally letting go of Alice to move back a step. It wasn't a complete lie. She was so glad to see Alice. "I had a fight with Severus, that's all…"

"Of course, you did!" Alice shook her head, her face hardening at the thought of that slimy git hurting her friend's feelings. "I just don't get why you're friends with him! He is so…"

"Alice please don't! Can we just go for a little walk or something along those lines? Have you got all your supplies yet? I still need all of mine…" Lily looked down at her hands slightly embarrassed. After she had slapped Potter, she had forgotten all about the fact that she still needed to buy those potion ingredients…

"Sure, let's do that! Frank's meeting me later, he'll be so happy to see you!"

The Hogwarts express shot past the scenery outside Lily's window with a speed that was making her feel sick. This was the first time she was not riding on the train with her best friend, since their first trip there. It just felt wrong!

"Cheer up Lily, the trolley will be here soon!" Marlene said to Lily with a big smile on her face. "That Snape boy is so not worth you looking so glum! Besides you have that Prefect's meeting soon. Come on, Evans, remember how excited you were for that last week?"

Marlene was right. Not about Severus, but about the meeting, at least. She had been so proud that morning as she pinned her very own Prefect's badge to her robe. A small smile spread on her face, much to Marlene's approval.

"There we go, much better! Now you can tell us all about how you slapped Potter!?"

"What?!" everyone in the compartment had turned to face her at that.

Lily was sitting in a compartment with all five girls from her dorm as well as Frank, as Alice and he had become glued together at the hip ever since the year before. They made a very sweet couple, Lily had always thought, and the way he looked at her… Well she wanted that too someday.

"Let's not make a big thing out of it, alright? Because it wasn't…"

Dorcas Meadows stared at her one eyebrow raised. "What did he do now?"

"He insulted me and Sev and I snapped. It was wrong of me to do it, since I'm a Prefect now and all that, but I couldn't help it! That boy drives me mad I tell you… I swear he will be the end of me!"

All the girls laughed at Lily's dramatic tone, though she'd only been half joking. That Potter boy really did make her so angry, she could barely express it in words. What an arrogant brat.

"Anyways, I should get going, mustn't be late for my very first Prefect's meeting!"

Needless to say, Lily reached the Prefect's compartment 10 minutes early. No one was even there yet, giving her a moment to look around. It was a big compartment, about the size of two regular ones put together. A large cork board had been hung up on one of the walls with a long list of names pinned onto it as well as an empty table with what appeared to be the patrol schedule times written in its margins. Around the other walls were the same seats that could be found in the other compartments. Unsure what else to do, Lily took a seat. She was incredibly nervous all of a sudden.

After a little while a few other students started coming in through the compartment door. Some Ravenclaws, and a few Hufflepuffs Lily didn't really know.

"Evans? I thought you might be the other new Gryffindor Prefect" a friendly voice said to her. Lily turned to face the source of the voice, already knowing who it belonged to. Remus Lupin. One of Potters little friends, though admittedly, out of all of them, Lupin would have been her first pick. He was a sweet looking little boy with a kind blue eyes and light brown hair.

"Lupin." Lily said, though not completely unfriendly. She knew him to be a good student and, on the rare occasions that they had chatted, Lily had found him to be clever and kind to say the least. It could have been worse, Lily reminded herself. She could have gotten Potter himself… Well, clearly Dumbledore had an interesting sense of humour, if he thought making one of the Marauders a Prefect was a good idea.

Remus sat down next to her, an absentminded smile plastered on his face. "How have you been, Evans? Have a good summer?" he asked, just to pass the time till their meeting would start.

"Alright, I suppose. Nothing to exciting. How about you?"

Lupin made to answer, but did not get the time to do so, for in that moment two more students entered the by now packed compartment. By the looks of them, the boy and girl were probably both seventh years.

"Hello Prefects!" the blond boy welcomed everyone. He wore the robes and tie of a Ravenclaw, just as the girl who had entered with him did. Lily did not know either of them.

"For those of you that are new, welcome to our ranks! My name is Hector Travers and this is Vivian Price. As you can probably all guess by now, we have been made your Head Boy and Girl for this year." At that, everyone, especially the other Ravenclaws, cheered and clapped in congratulation.

"Thank you!" the girl, who had been introduced as Vivian Price, said and then quickly continued, "we hope, that with the help of all of you, we will be able to do our very best."

"Yes, exactly. Now, let's get this meeting started, shall we? Don't want to keep you all for too long!"

When the meeting was over Lily left the compartment with Remus trailing after her. The meeting had taken a surprisingly long time. It took a while to get 24 people to settle down and listen. And then, the Head boy and girl had to explain all the rules and duties the Prefects would have for the rest of their time at Hogwarts. Lastly, the time schedule for the next month had been created. Lily had of course, to her frustration, been paired with Remus for the next few patrol tours. Their first one would take place on the second week back at school. Tuesday, from eight till midnight. At least they did not have to patrol the Hogwarts Express after the meeting.

"What do you think about Travers and Price?" Remus asked as they made their way back down the Hogwarts train towards their own compartments. Lily shrugged, they seemed nice enough and Travers had come across as a very capable leader. Price on the other hand, really hadn't said all that much, which Lily thought was quite a shame.

"I think they will do a good job." She offered. "There's the trolley, I'm starving!" Lily pointed out, hoping ever so slightly that this was going to be a way for her to escape. It wasn't really that she didn't want to talk to Remus, or that she particularly wanted to get back to her compartment. It was more because she knew, the more she time she spent with Lupin, the more likely she was to run into Potter at any given moment.

No such luck however, for Lupins eyes lit up at the mention of the trolley. "Me too! I practically need chocolate right now!"

Lily smiled a little at that. He was just as obsessed with chocolate as she was…

After they had bought a handful of things, Remus a lot more than Lily, came an awkward moment of indecision. Where do we go…?For obvious reasons, Lily did not want to join Remus in his compartment full of the other Marauders, and taking him back to her own compartment would mean more talk about how she had slapped Potter.

Lily giggled at their situation and Remus grinned back shyly. "Well… would you like to find an empty compartment and share our sweets? I see you bought the last jelly slugs!" Lily asked, already looking around for a place they could go.

Remus' grin turned into a full on smile at her proposal. Not only because he enjoyed spending time with her, but also because he couldn't wait to see the look on James' face when he told him he got to spend the whole time he was gone, alone with Lily Evans. No doubt he would be furious.

"Here's one!" Remus called out to Lily after finding a completely empty compartment.

At first, they had talked only very little, munching away on their sweets. Sharing some, trading others. It was nice. Uncomplicated and fun. Lily did not have to explain herself to Remus. They had no history to burden them and so, when they did start talking, it was freely and filled with jokes and laughing.

They talked about Prefect duties, school loads, and studying. Lily told Remus how she was feeling behind on studying for the O.W.L.s even though she and Severus had already started studying during the end of third year. Remus told Lily how he felt bad for thinking about dropping Divination and Care for Magical Creatures after this year.

"Oh don't feel bad, Remus, I understand completely. I personally think that I may have taken on a slightly too big work load. Don't look at me like that, even I am allowed to admit it. I am going to have to do 11 written and ten practical O.W.L.s! I do admit I feel a little stressed out. More about some than about others, of course. I am actually looking forward to the potions exam. I like to be challenged you see and I am good at making potions." Lily giggled a little. She never really talked about this sort of a thing with anyone except Severus.

"Eleven? Wow. You chose to take almost all subject then?" Remus asked, looking at Lily with big eyes. He was a good student, but even he had only chosen three elective subjects during his second year, just like James. Of course, he knew better than to bring that up.

By the time the train had finally reached Hogsmeade station, Lily had been starving once again. And oh, how she looked forward to the Great Feast, especially to the desserts. Nowhere, except perhaps Madam Gertruds, could one get their hands on better pumpkin tarts or, Lily's favourite, chocolate gateauxs. She could barely sit still on the ride up to Hogwarts.

Getting there however did prove more difficult than anticipated, as Severus turned out to be the owner of the hand that had helped her from the carriage once they had arrived.

Lily's stomach knotted up, upon seeing him. It had been awful not being able to talk to him on the train or on the way up to Hogwarts. She had felt strangely lonely.

"Sev-" was all she got out before she could no longer resist to throw her arms around him. "I'm sorry I-"

"Please don't be sorry, Lily, I acted like a complete ass! I guess…" he trailed off as he held on to her tightly, never ever wanting to let go again. "I'm really sorry! I don't want to fight with you!"

It was a completely honest statement. Not talking to her and at the same time not knowing if she would forgive him, had been absolute torture to him. Severus had felt like he was entirely alone sitting there in his compartment, surrounded only by Slytherins. Certainly, they were supposed to be his mates, but it just wasn't the same without her. Nothing was.

"It's alright, Sev. I understand! Really, this is all to blame on those three pricks anyways…"

Hello everyone, thank you for reading and I hoped you liked it! Please leave me a review and if you enjoyed it don't forget to give this a follow because I will be updating weekly!

Bye lovelies,

LadyMacbeth98

(Also a special thanks to Utantsano for your support, input and beta reading! :)