In the end it's always you

By ~PrennCooder

Things are starting to get interesting. What we have here, my fellow HP fans, is a simple little love triangle. But things are about to get out of hand.

Reviews requested. Thanks for reading!

"Hello…Severus." Lily jumped inside of her skin. It's strange how, if you think about someone enough, they'll appear.

"Need help studying for the pop quiz on Wednesday?" Severus asked with an eager smile.

Lily got the strange feeling that Severus had been itching to talk to her for a long time. But why? Why was he suddenly pretending like they were still friends? Lily didn't like that look on Mary's face. Mary had her own pompous way of looking down on people who dressed and creeped around like Severus Snape. Frank and Alice didn't like Snape either. Frank was too shy to say a word, and Alice was too polite to make her opinions known.

That left Lily to decide for herself whether or not Severus was pretending.

Slytherin were not above making up lies to get what they want. They'll settle for no less than their deepest desires.

Or infatuations.

Severus's smile seemed earnest enough. If he kept smiling, he'd soon lose that dark, shadowy image he'd worked so long to acquire.

Lily looked downward, embarrassed.

Mary could see Lily was uncomfortable. Mary had no desire to be modest. "Look here, Snape, Lily's a solid student and she won't need help studying from someone like you, no less." Mary stuck her nose in the air.

"That was mean, Mary." Alice said. Everybody turned toward Lily, awaiting any sort of reaction.

"But, Severus, you just barely passed the term last year." Lily pointed out. There were only so many excuses she could make before she'd be forced to admit how strange she really thought it was for him to ask. Here? Now?

"All the more reason to study." He said slowly, the smile fading from his lips. His cheeks flushed, and he almost looked normal.

Mary chuckled under her breath. Frank looked away, hoping that one of his other friends would pull him out of this awkward conversation. He pretended to be happy to see Peter Pettigrew as he and his friends walked by. Peter waved back to Frank, and then informed his three friends that Lily was standing over there.

Alice elbowed Lily. "Sure, Severus, you can meet me in the library after school." Lily said quickly.

Severus smiled again. He was even happier this time, if that were possible.

Mary rolled her eyes.

"Snape get over here. Class is about to start." Severus's friends Avery and Mulciber were waiting for him at the entrance to the potions classroom.

Avery was tall and lanky and blond. His face was yellowish and his thin lips were chapped. Mulciber was short and squat, with short ark brown hair and fat pink cheeks. Their frowns were identical.

"Right." Severus said to the two Slytherins. He looked back at Lily. "See you after school!" He jotted off.

Lily couldn't even begin to imagine how or why Severus had gotten caught up with the wrong sort of wizards. Avery and Mulciber looked down on everyone that wasn't pureblood. Whenever Lily would pass them in the hall, they would give her a look as cold as stone, with their dark heartless eyes. Lily would shiver, and then scramble back to the safety of the Gryffindor tower room.

Speaking of Gryffindor, "I've never seen Snivelbrains so happy about anything before." James Potter took it upon himself to infiltrate many of Lily's conversations. He smiled sheepishly as he put his arm around Lily. Lily pushed it off with a hard shove. "Take it easy. I'm just messing with you." He said, still smiling.

That's what irritated her the most.

The rest of the Marauders soon appeared. Sirius stood close to Mary, smiling charmingly. Peter gave Frank a high-five and Remus said "Hello." To Alice.

How lovely, they fit right in, Lily mused with sarcasm. Lily realized that she was the only one out of her friends that had distaste for the Marauders. As a matter of fact, all the other Gryffindors adored and applauded the Marauders. Most of the Ravenclaws liked them too. The Hufflepuffs only disliked the Marauders when James would beat their team at Quidditch.

Sirius began to brag about the final game of last Quidditch season, in which, James the chaser scored many points. The number seemed to vary each time Sirius told the story, increasing slightly each time.

Lily couldn't even count how many times Sirius had told the story just to baffle the girls. And it certainly was working on Mary.

Lily, not wishing to deal with the obnoxious quartet right now, made her escape into Divinations class where she was followed by Alice and Frank. It was when Trelawney began the lecture that Lily realized Mary wasn't in the classroom yet. She waited until Trelawney dropped the crystal ball—she did this three or four times a day—and had to get a mop to sweep up the remains. Then, Lily could get Alice's attention.

"Where did Mary go?" Lily whispered to Alice.

"I think she's still in the hallway talking to the boys. She's been hoping to snog with Sirius." Alice said with a smile.

"This is just like a soap opera, I'm telling you." Lily whispered back.

"What's a soap opera?"

"A muggle show."

"Listen, if you're dead silent, you'll be able to hear them." Said Frank.

Lily could just barely make out the voice of Sirius Black. Mary's voice was loud and overpowering. James's voice was downright annoying.

"So, yes, she's going to meet up with Snape after school…" That was unmistakably Mary's voice. Lily winced. Now that James knew about her planning to see Severus after classes were over, James would be sure to show up. At the wrong time. With the wrong idea.

James Potter was going to ruin everything.

He always did, so what was going to stop him this time?

Lily and Severus took the back route to the library. When they were sure that nobody was following them, they sat down at a table. Severus opened his book bag and plopped several heavy books onto the table. Not textbooks—extra credit books. Potion books, actually.

"Now that we're alone, you don't mind my asking why you felt the sudden desire to help me with my academics? Lily was pleased to get the chance to ask him what she'd been waiting to ask him for several hours now.

"Well, I got—" Severus began but got distracted by a certain someone poking his nose into the library. "Potter." Severus grumbled with disgust.

Lily's firey hair was hard to miss. James was always the first one to notice it. he sat down at the chair next to Lily and scooted close to her as if they were friends.

Lily sighed, annoyed. "Go away, James. You weren't invited."

Naturally, James picked up one of Lily's textbooks and skimmed through.

"What are you doing?" She asked defensively.

"Skimming the edges for sidenotes, marks, scribbles, drawings, love notes…" James winked at her.

"Love n—what?" Lily asked, embarrassed and appalled.

It was Severus who rescued the book by ripping it out of James's clutches and handing it gently back to its owner.

"Certainly you've heard? Rumor has it that you wrote Snivellus here a long, gushy love letter. Imagine my curiosity! I just had to swing by and see if it was true for myself."

Lily gasped. The letter. James had somehow gotten ahold of her apology letter to Snivellus! I mean Severus! "You!" She stood up out of the library chair. Her green-eyes were stark-raving mad. "James Potter I hate you!"

"Me? No. If I remember right, it was Lucius. Lucius Malfoy. See, Peter heard from Sirius who was sneaking into the girls' lavatory and heard Bellatrix gossiping to Narcissa who had been stalking Lucius who had been bragging to Romona who was on a date with Avery who had gotten detention earlier that day—"

"She gets the point, Potter." Snivellus sneered. He stood up and pushed James out of the seat. "Now if you don't mind, my friend and I were studying. We want to get good grades. I don't know what you and your pathetic pity party are up to today, but leave us out of it."

"Lay one more hand on me and I'll give you a fist up the nose, Snivellus." Potter squawked.

Lily's eyes darted from one boy to another.

Severus's cheeks grew red hot with anger and embarrassment. "Just walk out of here, Snotter."

"What did you call me?"

"Snotter. You've got a pet name for me, so I figured I'd make up one for you." Severus smiled nastily. Lily could swear he resembled a portrait of Salazar Slytherin she'd seen once. It frightened her.

James retched, and then scrambled for the door.

Severus chuckled a bit. Usually, when he'd try to stand up to James, Sirius, Remus and Peter would be there to back James up. That meant it was three-and-a-half to one. Severus didn't stand a chance.

But now that he'd gotten back at James in front of Lily, he felt pretty proud of himself.