"Actions speak louder than words Lily," a nine year old Severus said to his new friend Lily whom he had just met at the park yesterday. He had seen Lily perform magic in front of her sister, Petunia, who had called her sister a freak and quickly ran to tell her mother.

"What do you mean by that Severus?" Lily asked, wondering why Severus would pull that phrase out of nowhere without any context.

"I was just thinking about your sister and how she ran from you. Did she apologize to you?"

"No, she didn't talk to me at all," Lily said, not knowing that her relationship with her sister would falter and crumble.


"Actions speak louder than words Lily," an eleven year old Severus said to Lily on the Hogwarts Express. He had just discovered his newest enemy, James Potter. The brash and arrogant boy had the nerve to call him Snivellus, a name that would forever haunt Severus. At the time, Severus had just figured that it was just something that would be temporary.

Lily didn't say anything, but knew what Severus meant. He repeated the phrase to her after being taunted for changing into his second-hand robes fifteen minutes after getting on the train. Some boy named James Potter had insulted her best friend. Sirius Black was also daring to insult Severus as well. She had thought that all wizards were equal despite their monetary status. Discovering that not everyone was equal seemed to shatter everything she had believed about the wizarding world. She had initially thought that all people were equal despite monetary status. The Evans family was a well-off, middle-class family that could afford most things. Knowing that wizards judged each other based off of their monetary status made Lily stare at her own first-hand robes with disgust.


Severus had been hoping for Lily to be sorted into Slytherin- in fact, anything but Gryffindor. She had a particular eagerness to learn that would suit her in Ravenclaw, a loyalty that could land her in Hufflepuff, and ambition that could put her in Slytherin. He hadn't been sorted yet. Severus could see himself being sorted into any house but Gryffindor.

When it was time for Lily to be sorted, Severus crossed his fingers and muttered to no one in particular, "Please don't put her in Gryffindor, please."

When the had sorted Lily into Gryffindor, the face of Severus fell. He had hoped for her to be in the same house as him, but that didn't happen. In fact, she was in the house that would rival his future house. When Lily learned of this rivalry, she would most likely be sad, for she cared for Severus, but her house would be against that.

Severus was slightly disappointed when he was sorted into Slytherin.


"Lily, the Marauders did something awful to me, yet Dumbledore forbids me to tell you. What they did could have gotten me killed! They have no regard for human life! They don't care if I died!" Severus complained, after being traumatized by seeing Remus as a werewolf. Sirius had told him how to get into the Shrieking Shack and Severus went in, only to see the prefect as a werewolf. Severus had learned something new about the mild-mannered prefect, and tattled to Dumbledore who already knew about the werewolf. Dumbledore forbade Severus from telling anyone, most likely out of self-preservation.

"What was it?" Lily asked, knowing that it must have been traumatic for her best friend to be freaking out like this.

"Remus is a werewolf. Sirius baited me into the Shrieking Shack and James had to save me. Actions speak louder than words. The Marauders wouldn't have cared if I had died."

Lily understood what Severus meant. James probably wouldn't have saved Severus had the werewolf been someone else, but he saved Severus for Remus. He didn't want Remus to become a murderer. For once, Lily slightly admired James.


"Actions speak louder than words, Severus. I don't care what the Dark Mark would mean to you. You were branded with something evil and vile. Don't tell me that you did it for me. I don't care. As far as I'm concerned, this friendship is over." Lily yelled.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed!

House: Gryffindor

Category: Themed (discovery)

Prompts: "Actions speak louder than words"

Word count: 705