"Who's the best potion maker in the school?"

Severus rolled his eyes as he skipped the vanishing step, "Lily, he only gave you more praise because you're in the Slug Club.

"You're just jealous because I brew better potions than you."

Swirling the small vial of pink potion in his hands, Severus smiled a crooked smile, one that caused Lily to raise her eyebrows with concern, "I know that look Sev, what are you scheming?"

Severus found an empty seat near the door of the nearly empty library, "Don't be ridiculous, I leave the scheming to the Slytherins. I was just thinking about making a little wager."

A corner of Lily's mouth rose with her eyebrows, "What kind of wager?"

"Well you keep going on about how amazing your potion is, but I'm convinced that Professor Slughorn was doing no more than showing favor to a pretty face."

Lilly leaned down and began to pull her books from her bag, and as she motioned for him to go on he could swear that he saw a hint of a blush on her face.

"I suggest that we test our potions and see which one is most effective."

Lily replied with a raised voice, "Sev, you know that I'm a prefect, and we can't go around slipping potions into people's drinks. We could get into a lot of trouble for that." She then leaned in close, a mischievous look in her eyes, "Of course, unofficially I don't really care about all of that. However; if we get busted, I'm not going to be talking to you for a while. So do we pick two random people?"

Severus leaned in closer as he spotted the librarian Madame Pince moving amongst the nearby bookshelves, "No, we'll pick two people that can't stand each other. I'll give one of them my potion, and give yours to the other. We give them the potions at the same time, and make sure that they fall for each other and not someone else. After all of that we watch and see which one falls out of love first. The most potent potion will be the best potion."

"What's in it for me if I win?"

Severus thought for a second, "Bragging rights of course, and I'll owe you one favor, whatever you want me to do."

"And what about you?"

Severus tapped his chin, then spoke, "We go to dinner, and you have to pay?"

"Really? Dinner?"

"What?! As much as I love the castle's food, it's still nice to eat somewhere else, even if it's just for a change of scenery!"

"Fine, it's settled then. So who are we going to make fall in love?"

They sat in silence, and as it dawned on the both of them their eyes met and identical grins broke out on their faces, "Sirius and Lucius." They said together before bursting into suppressed mirth. They shook on it, and as Lily began to start on her homework a chair materialized next to her.

"Evans! Fancy meeting you here."

Severus winced and grumbled under his breath as he lowered his face farther into his books, doing his best to ignore the spectacled boy before him.

Lily glared at the newcomer, "I could be saying the same to you Potter, only it would make sense for it to be said to you. Aren't you only passing by the skin of your teeth?

Severus chortled, and James Potter looked down at him, "Evans, I'm not sure if you know it but there seems to be some weird greasy git following you."

Severus met James's heated stare with his own cold one, "Better a greasy git than some stuck up prat."

"Watch your tone Snivellus, or you're going to find yourself on the business end of my wand."

Severus stood and began reaching for his own wand, but Lily stayed him by putting a hand on his chest. He sat back down, and Lily planted herself in front of James, "And after Severus gets through handing yourself your own ass, you're going to find yourself on the business end of a lot of detentions from yours truly.

James stood, processing the situation as he backed away from Lily. After throwing Severus a quick glare and Lily a quick wink, he turned around and began to walk out of the library. As he walked he called over his shoulder, "One of these days Evans you're going to stop seeing whatever it is you see in Snivelly, and you're going to finally realize how much better I am.

Severus sent a charm at James's back, and snorted when a 'Please Kick Me' sign appeared on his shirt. Lily rolled her eyes, and then jumped back as a large snowy owl landed on the table in a flurry of papers and feathers. Lily set a knut in the small leather pouch tied to the birds leg, then took the rolled up newspaper from between its beak. She scanned the front page, "They finally caught him Severus, it looks like everything's going to be alright."

He moved around the table so that he could see what she was looking at. He already knew what she was talking about, but he had to see it for himself. On the front page a man with dark hair and what once would have been a handsome face was now laughing maniacally. Below it half the page was taken up by newsprint about his capture, and his coming trial.

"Tom Riddle has finally been caught. With his capture several other criminals acting under his name, collectively known as Death Eaters, came forward in surrender. The auror's killed two birds with one stone."

As Lily continued to read the story, the wheels began to turn in Severus's head. He waited for her to finish, and as she sat the paper down he voiced his idea, "Lily, what if we got Potter instead of Black."

She stiffened up a bit, "Why?"

"Well, he does have a thing for you. I'm sure it would be easier to get him to drink a spiked drink than it would Black."

She shook her head, "No way, this is just you trying to get payback."
"No, I'm just trying to make your job easier."

"I'm not stupid Sev, it isn't going to happen."

He raised his hands, "Alright, fine."

As he stowed his books back into his bag Lily looked at him, "Where are you off to?"

"Just going to do some scheming. Of course to do that I'm going to need some assistance from a few friends."

"Ah. Tell Xeno I said hello."

Severus waved his farewell as he exited the library.