Title: Please Remember Me
Pairing: Severus S. & Lily E.
Summary: "Come on, Sev. Don't be like that." "He's bad news and you know it." "Look, up until this year I would've agreed with you. But he's different now. Can't you just be happy for me?" "No… I can't."
Please take note before reading: This is not a Severus/Lily based romance.
Chapter 1: Head of House
Lily sighed, leaning her head against the cool window. She watched as all the students and parents rushed around the platform. Doling out hugs and saying goodbye, running through last minute checklists of school items. It made her smile. The thought that this would be her last year at Hogwarts was practically unbearable.
She sunk down farther into her oversized armchair and admired her compartment. Being Head Girl certainly had its perks. It was double the size of all the other compartments on the train, with two armchairs on one side and a loveseat opposite them. She also suspected that a warming charm had been placed around the room to make it feel as though you were sitting next to a fire. It very much reminded her of the Gryffindor common room.
"I could get used to this," she murmured, closing her eyes.
Her thoughts began to wander. First to how odd it would be to have a bedroom all to herself this year, and then to her Head of House counterpart. McGonagall's letter had said nothing about who the Head Boy would be; something that made her very nervous. She had hoped that it would be Severus, but when she showed him her badge he said that he had only received the standard Hogwarts letter.
Lily was pulled out of her reverie by the compartment door sliding open.
"Miss me, Evans?" he smirked, holding his arms open.
Her jaw dropped. The room began to spin. And then she was seeing red. "Oh, no!" she shouted. "No, no, no, no, no."
"The appropriate response was, "Loads, James. I'm so excited we'll be working together this year!"" he said, flopping down on the couch and making himself comfortable.
"Potter, what the hell are you doing in here?" she asked, standing up to her full height and placing her hands on her hips.
"For someone so bright, you ask incredibly dull questions."
"Get out now!"
"I can't. We're supposed to go cover prefect duties soon," he said, grinning. He had been looking forward to this moment for weeks.
"Please!" she scoffed. "We both know you're not Head Boy. Now get out before I hex you!"
"Check out the badge, Evans," he said, reaching into his pocket and tossing it to her.
Lily caught it and eyed it closely. It looked exactly like the one pinned to her chest. She furrowed her brow before handing it back to him.
"You knicked it."It was more of a hopeful question than an outright statement.
"Afraid not. See, I was just as upset as you are. That is, until I realized who I would be sharing a dorm with." He winked, causing her to hands to curl into fists by her sides.
"We'll just see about that," she said, jaw clenched.
"Face it, love. You're stuck with me."
Lily began to pace the tiny room, unable to figure out how the day could've gone so horribly wrong.
"How is it possible," she began, turning on him, "that I work so hard for six bloody years while you just skate through life, yet we end up with the same title?"
"I've got the charm," he smiled.
"Charm my arse."
"You can kick and scream all you want, Evans. Personally, I like it when you get angry." He used that infamous Marauder grin. The one that made every girl at Hogwarts weak at the knees.
Lily was positively fuming. Unable to find the words that could accurately express her feelings, she screamed.
Correction: the infamous Marauder grin made every girl at Hogwarts weak at the knees with the exception of Lily Evans.
"Are you done having your little fit?" James asked.
"I am not having a fit," she replied defensively, her arms crossed. She was being irrational and she knew it. But she sure as hell wasn't about to let Potter find out.
"You've done everything but hold your breath and stomp your feet. Would it kill you to at least pretend this hasn't ruined your whole year?"
"Yes!" was her calloused reply. She ignored the hurt look on his face.
"Well you're just going to have to suck it up then. We're on to go talk to prefects."
He stood up and slid the compartment door open for her. She stomped through and opened the door to the Prefects' Compartment across the hall.
"Make that everything but hold your breath," he muttered.
Joining her across the hall, James found that she was already making faces with Snivellus about her new roommate. He let out a slight cough, letting her know he was standing right there.
She looked at him, seemingly unphased.
"Alright everyone, let's get started," she announced, gaining everyone's attention. "My name is Lily Evans, and this is James Potter. We're going to be your Heads of House this year, so if you have any questions you can let either- er, me know. Now-"
James interrupted. "I'd be happy to answer your questions, too."
Lily continued as if she hadn't heard him."Now that you're all prefects, you're going to have a few extra duties. You will be assigned nightly patrol duty once a week with the other prefect from your house and year. A patrolling schedule will be given to each of you along with your class schedule, so make sure you keep up with it. Being a prefect means that you have the power to assign detentions, but you need to be careful not to abuse it. Any abuse of power will go straight to Professor McGonagall. Oh, and-"
"And don't think patrolling is the time to nip into an empty classroom for a bit of late night fun. Trust me. McGonagall finds out about that, too."
At this Lily turned and gave him an exasperated look. "Seriously? That's your great contribution to this meeting?"
"What? It's good advice."
She rolled her eyes, but decided to let it go. "Anyway, where was I? Oh, right. Tonight you will be in charge of letting everyone in your house know the new password to get into the dorms. You can meet me tonight after the feast and I'll give you each the one specific to your house."
"I'll be there too, in case anyone was wondering," James said, leaning against the doorway and waving.
Lily rolled her eyes at the way most of the girls swooned. Idiots. All of them.
"That about wraps it up," she said. "Each month you'll get a new patrolling schedule, so make sure you know which night you're in charge of. But other than that I think we're good. Potter, did you have anything to add?" She looked at him expectantly.
"No, Evans, I think you were thorough enough for the both of us." He winked at the girl sitting across from him, causing her to giggle.
"Good. Ravenclaw, you're up first to patrol the train. Just make sure the first years aren't being terrorized too badly. Slytherin, you'll be after them. Then Gryffindor. And Hufflepuff, you're the second to last shift. Potter and I will go last, and make sure that everyone gets changed into their robes before we arrive. Sound like a plan?"
There was a general murmur of agreement amongst the compartment's occupants.
"Great. If you have any questions, just come to the Heads' Compartment." With that, she turned and left, but not before sending a "Help me!" glance to Severus. He gave her a sympathetic look, and mouthed, "Meet me by the loo in ten." She nodded in agreement.
When Lily and James returned to their compartment, Lily immediately sat down in one of the arm chairs, crossed her legs, and pulled a book from her bag.
"Are we just not going to talk for the rest of the year?" he asked, once again lounging on the couch.
"That's the plan," she replied, not looking up from her book.
James blew the fringe out of his eyes, not entirely sure what to do now. Usually when she rejected him he'd just walk away laughing with his friends, or she'd storm off on her own. But now they both just had to sit there. James was not a fan.
After what felt like an eternity to him, Lily checked her watch and put the book down in the seat next to her. "I'll be back," she said quietly, talking more to the compartment than her fellow Head of House.
"I'll miss you!" James yelled after her, loud enough for others to hear. She gave him a look that clearly said, "You do not amuse me."
As Lily made her way down the train, she caught up with Severus. "Hey," she said, placing her hand on his shoulder.
He turned around and frowned at the look on her face. "Are you okay, Lil?"
"No," she mumbled, leaning her head on his chest. "I was so excited about being Head Girl. It was supposed to be you and me sharing the Head Dorms and patrolling together. Now I have to do it with stupid Potter."
"Want me to hex him for you?" he asked, not entirely kidding.
"No. If anyone's going to hex him it's going to be me."
"Can I watch?" He looked down into her face, smiling with his eyebrows raised hopefully.
She laughed. "Of course. We'll make a night of it. Pop popcorn and everything."
It made him feel better to hear her laugh. "You're going to be okay?" he asked, leaning against one of the compartment doors.
"Yeah, I'll be fine," she sighed. "I'm just disappointed that it wasn't you."
At this Severus grinned. That is, until a voice from behind interrupted.
"Aww, look how cute. Snivellus and Evans. Don't you think she's a bit out of your league there, mate?"
"Shove off, Black," he growled, turning around. The Marauder's were standing in front of him, minus the newest Head Boy.
"Now that's not very nice. Don't you think he ought to be nicer to us, Peter?"
"Oh, yeah. Way nicer!" was the lumpy boy's reply.
Severus took a step forward, his hand reaching for his wand. Lily grabbed his arm. "Come on, Sev. They're not worth it."
"That's right, listen to your girlfriend," Sirius said, smirking at him. "Wouldn't want to disappoint her."
Lily turned on him. "Do you want a detention before we even get to school? Get back to your compartment."
"Ooh, touchy, touchy. Not letting the new power go to your head, are you, Evans?"
"Remus, control your friend, please," she said, looking to the third boy in the group.
He gave her an apologetic smile. "Come on, Sirius. You've had enough fun."
"Go on," Lily said, shooing him with her hand.
Sirius winked at her, but turned around to follow his friends back to their compartment.
Severus rolled his eyes. "Bunch of gits. All of them."
"Remus isn't bad," Lily said, still watching them walk away.
"Not to you."
"You just can't let them get to you. You're better than they are. Otherwise they wouldn't mess with you so much."
He smiled once again, looking down at her. It seemed like he was always smiling when she was around.
"I cannot believe I'm going to be living with one of them," she said suddenly, as if it had just dawned on her. Her disgusted face made him laugh.
"You can always come share my dorm," he said.
Lily snorted. "Oh, yeah. That would go over great with your roommates."
"Better than living with yours."
"Never thought I'd see the day I'd rather crawl into a Slytherin bed than stay in the Head Dormitories," she sighed.
At this Severus smirked. "We Slytherins pride ourselves on how satisfying it is to crawl into our beds, thank you very much."
"Sev!" she laughed. "That was entirely inappropriate."
"Oh, excuse me, Miss Evans. I didn't mean to taint such virgin ears."
"Maybe it's a good thing you're not the one I'm sharing a dorm with. You're a bad influence, Severus Snape!"
Severus rolled his eyes. "Get back to your compartment, Evans. Before I give you a detention for defamation of character."
.
.
"Good evening to you all! I am very pleased to welcome you to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year. Now before we all dig in to the wonderful feast that has been prepared, there are several things I would like to say. First of all, we have a new professor with us. Professor Vector will be teaching arithmacy, and she is very much looking forward to getting to know all of you. Secondly, Mr. Filtch would like me to inform you that any stink bombs being set off will result in a week's detention. And, as always, the Forbidden Forest is indeed forbidden to all students. Now, please, stuff yourselves to your heart's content!" With those words, Dumbledore took his seat and the food appeared.
"So spill, Lily!" said the black haired girl sitting next to her. "Who's the Head Boy? I've been dying to know."
Alice had been Lily's best friend since their first day at Hogwarts. The two girls talked about everything under the sun, and the fact that Lily had known something Alice didn't, even if it was only for a few hours, was killing her. "You're not going to believe me," Lily said, taking a sip of pumpkin juice.
"Try us," Marlene said from across the table. Marlene McKinnon was the third member of their little group. The girls had been practically attached at the hip from the very beginning. This was the first year the three of them wouldn't be sharing a room.
Lily took a deep breath. "Potter."
Marlene spit water across the table, spraying the other girls.
"Told you so," Lily muttered, dabbing at herself with a napkin.
"There's no way!" said Marlene, looking down the table at James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter. "There's just no bloody way anyone made him Head Boy."
"That's what I said! Dumbledore's off his rocker."
"Are you sure it's not just a joke or something?" Alice asked, looking at her in disbelief.
"One can only hope."
James noticed the girls staring at him. "Looks like she told them," he said, taking a bite of his shepherds pie.
Sirius looked down the table. "Yep. McKinnon's just spewed water."
"You guys lived with me for six years. Is it really that bad?" James asked, slightly depressed.
"'Course not," Sirius replied, mouth full. "Although, the smell isn't always so great."
Remus and Peter laughed. James did not find it very amusing.
"We don't think you're bad guy to live with," Remus said. "But you're not always after us. So it's a little different."
"You should've seen her face. She looked like I crucioed her dog or something."
"She'll come around," Remus assured him. "Just leave her alone for a while."
"I don't think he's capable," Sirius said, smirking.
James shoved him in the arm. "Am so. I just prefer not to."
At this the boys laughed. "You can always come back to the dorm when she kicks you out," Peter snorted.
"I think not!" Sirius cried, holding his fork in midair. "I've already claimed his bed."
"What do you need a second bed for?" Peter asked, confused.
"Guests," James and Remus snickered.
"Oi, Evans is on the move," Sirius said, nudging James and gesturing to the redheaded figure making her way out of the Great Hall.
"Guess that's my cue to go," he said, standing up. "I'll see you all at breakfast."
"Good luck, mate," Sirius called after him.
"She's going to hex him, isn't she?" Peter asked.
"If she does, I'm sure he will have deserved it," Remus replied.
.
.
When James caught up with Lily she was already standing with a few of the prefects.
"Glad you could make it," she said upon seeing him.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world."
Lily turned to the prefects. There was one from each house. "Okay, Ravenclaw, you know how to get into your tower. But make sure you stay back until everyone gets in. We don't want a first year being stuck out on the steps their first night like last year."
The rest of the passwords were whispered to each prefect individually. James watched as each whisper was followed by a nod.
"Alright. That takes care of that. It looks like Dumbledore has just dismissed everyone for bed, so go ahead and meet up with your house."
A throng of students began to pour out of the double doors. "What do we do?" James asked, looking at her.
"McGonagall is going to meet us here and show us to our dorms," she answered, not actually looking at him.
"You don't know where it is?" he asked, surprised.
"Do you?" She looked up at him, eyebrow raised.
"Of course. I assumed you did, too."
"No one but the Heads are supposed to know."
McGonagall interrupted. "Ah, Mr. Potter, Ms. Evans. How nice to see you. I take it the prefect meeting went well?"
"Yes, Professor," Lily said. "And they've just been given their passwords."
"Wonderful. Now, let me show you to your new rooms."
James and Lily followed her up the marble staircase and down the corridor. It appeared that they were going to Gryffindor Tower. Lily looked at James questioningly, who shook his head. She remained unconvinced as they approached the Fat Lady, but sure enough, they took a left and continued walking up another staircase. They stopped in the middle of the corridor at a painting of a knight.
"Good evening, Professor McGonagall," the knight said, taking a bow atop his horse.
"Good evening, Sir Cadogan," she replied. "These will be the new Heads of House, Mr. Potter and Ms. Evans."
"Pleased to meet you," he said, nodding at them. "Your new password will be up to you."
"Oddsbodikins," James said immediately. The two women stared at him.
"What?" he asked. "It's a cool word."
"I like him!" Sir Cadogan exclaimed. "Do you mind if I use that one day?"
"Knock yourself out," James replied. At least somebody liked his sense of humor.
"I hope you two will be able to remember that one," Professor McGonagall said, eyeing him warily. "Now, go ahead and explore your new quarters. And remember, no one but the Heads of House are allowed in."
"Yes, Professor," they said.
She bid them goodnight and left them standing with the portrait.
"Well, shall we?" James asked, gesturing to the unseen room.
"What's the password again?"
"Oddsbodikins."
With that the portrait swung backwards, revealing their new home.