A/N: After being absent from fanfiction for a few years, I have decided to jump back on the bandwagon with a marauder era fic about Snape and Lily. Hope you all enjoy! I'm pretty excited about it!
Disclaimer: Sorry, don't own Harry Potter, just remember that for the duration of the fic, please!
"No, come on, Sev! Just let me trim it a little!" Lily Evans giggled as she attempted to keep her best friend, Severus Snape, restrained long enough to test a severing charm she had recently read about.
Severus shouted in protest, throwing his hands protectively over his head, though he was laughing just as hard as the little redhead.
Finally giving up with a withering look from Madame Pince, Lily sat back down in her chair, out of breath from her attempt. Severus kept a suspicious eye on her until she stowed her wand safely in the pocket of her robe once again, though he knew she wouldn't dare continue doing anything that might get her in trouble with a teacher, even the overly sensitive librarian.
It was their fifth year at Hogwarts, and Severus was glad for the brief time they had made for each other to study that cloudy afternoon. Being in different houses, it grew more and more difficult throughout the years to find a spare moment for each other, though Severus knew he would have dropped everything at a moment's notice if she ever asked him to do something with her. He still saw her as his best friend in the world, even after years of trying to overcome the rivalry of Slytherin and Gryffindor. In fact, had he been utterly honest with himself, he was secretly awaiting a day when she might want to be more than friends, though he would never have the courage to ask her. He blushed when she looked up from her book and caught him staring at her, but gladly returned the smile she flashed at him.
Lily peered at his book from across the table.
"Anything good?" she asked, twisting her head so that she could read the title.
"Just a bunch of outdated charms that are too ancient to be useful to anyone anymore," he muttered, moving his arm to cover the title. It was actually a rather dark book from the restricted section, but he knew she hated that kind of stuff. It fascinated him, he couldn't help it.
"I did come across one pretty neat spell, though," he added as an afterthought.
"Oh?" she asked.
"It's called Postremus. You'll never guess what it does!"
"What?" she breathed with anticipation. He had a knack for finding good spells, even if she sometimes had to filter through the nastier ones he mentioned. She thought he might be moving past them, though. He hadn't mentioned anything too dark to her for a while.
"It lets you look at your future!" he exclaimed, clearly expecting her to share his enthusiasm. Instead, she looked at him sadly.
"Sev, don't go using that. I know it seems tempting, but you hear all the time about stuff like that going wrong. People aren't meant to know too much."
"But, Lil! Come one! You're saying you aren't at all interested in knowing how your life will end up?"
"Of course I am," she said, "But what if it sucks? I don't want to have to live dreading my own future! It's the possibilities that make it exciting!"
She felt a guilty pang at his crestfallen look.
Severus couldn't understand. What could possibly go so wrong? After all, they had been friends forever. It was probably only a matter of time before she started to return some of his feelings. Either way, at least they would be friends forever. Nothing could come between a friendship that had lasted as long as theirs. Sure, they had drifted apart over the years, but that didn't change a thing. It couldn't.
"Come on, don't be dramatic. I don't even know what to spend time studying for the O.W.L.s! Wouldn't it be nice to just take a peek at the future, and say, oh, look! I become...a healer, guess I should spend more time on potions!"
Lily laughed at his playfulness. It was nice to see him carefree every once in a while. His Slytherin mates were pretty intense most of the time. She sighed inwardly. If only he would have been in Gryffindor with her, then maybe things would have turned out differently. He certainly would have been preferable company to that Potter.
"Well, even if you don't want to try, I'm going to at least take a looksy!" he stated, a little more seriously. "It says here," he said, scanning through the paragraph on the Postremus, "'The caster will see a series of brief moments in time of the future, and may remove themselves from the effects of the incantation by saying the counter-spell "Praeteritus".'See, I can snap out of it any time I want to, no harm done."
She remained skeptical looking.
"Don't be a party-pooper, Lil!" he said, throwing a ball of parchment at her. It hit her on the forehead. She looked surprised, but soon, a devilish smile played on the corner of her mouth and her bright green eyes danced with mischief, an expression that he adored with every fiber of his being, but had grown scarce since she became prefect at the beginning of the year.
He was soon bombarded with enchanted school supplies, and did his best to protect his face from being given a mustache by his own quill.
The two collapsed in a fit of laughter, oblivious to the glares coming from Madame Pince.
"Truce, truce!" he cried. She allowed their school supplies to settle themselves back on the desk with a satisfied expression on her face.
After a few moments of regaining their composure, Severus turned serious once more.
"You know I'm trying this spell, Lily," he said, avoiding eye contact.
"Yes, I do," she whispered.
It was dinner time, and Severus began to pack away his belongings, dreading the return to his classmates, wishing he could sit with Lily forever.
"Sev?" she asked before he could walk away.
"Yeah?"
"I want to be there when you do. Please - just be careful, okay? You said yourself, no one has probably used that spell in ages, and there might be a reason for that."
Severus nodded quietly, and stared after her for several minutes after she slipped past him to join some of her friends on their way to dinner.