A/N: I just wanted to put in a quick note here about Snape. I wanted him to start off as a boy who was well groomed and clean, like any other boy his age) and then through the fallout with Lily turn into the greasy "Snivellus" that we all know and love. So if you're curious as to why Lily would want to run her hands through his hair (if he were the adult Snape, I wouldn't do that), or even kiss him, my Snape was a lot more clean than he is eventually described!
January began to slip by in a blur. Between secretly meeting Severus, keeping up with the absolute piles of homework that the teachers were assigning, and my Prefect duties, February 14 was sneaking up awfully quickly. I had told James that I would go with him to the party on two conditions. First, that we were going as FRIENDS and nothing more; and second, that he was not allowed acting like his normal pratty self. He agreed with a laugh and told me to wear something pretty. I rolled my eyes and went down to breakfast.
The whole school talked constantly about the party. Slughorn asked that everyone bring a date, which was why I was stuck with James, and it was invite only, meaning that because of its' exclusivity, the whole school was obsessing over who was going with who, who would be wearing what, what famous friends of Slughorn's would attend, and a lot of other nonsense. For the two weeks preceding the party, all I could hear anyone talk about in classes, in the loo, in the Great Hall, and in the common room was the party. Those who didn't receive an invite were trying to get the attention of those who had received one, but didn't have a date yet, while those that who received an invite and didn't have a date yet were desperately trying to avoid them.
Severus was resigned to the fact that he wasn't going to be attending the party. Whenever he and I were together and the party was mentioned, I could feel him tense up in irritation over thinking of me at the party with James. I felt a jolt of nerves every time I thought about it and I wasn't sure if it was to do with meeting the editor, or if it was because I was going with James.
Sarah was no help to my fragile nerves. She was no exception to the rule, and was just as excited as everyone else. There was a confidence to her step, however; not only was she going to the most exclusive party but she was going with one of the most popular and good looking boys in the school. She had already colour coordinated both her outfit and mine (she was going to wear a short royal purple dress that would set off her lovely dark hair and bright eyes nicely, while I was to wear a bottle green dress, short and rather tighter than I normally would choose, that she said would complement James' eyes – whatever that meant) and arranged for the four of us to arrive together. I wished that I could feel as excited about it as she did.
Three days before the fourteenth, I was walking past a girl's bathroom on the second floor on my way to the Great Hall for dinner when I thought I could hear talking and sobbing. At first, I assumed that it was just Moaning Myrtle, as her bathroom was on this floor. But then I realized that the talking was a male voice, not female. I stopped and listened.
"Listen you slimy Mudblood! You're not going to tell anyone about this because if you do, bad things will happen to you. You understand? BAD things!" I could hear the girl sobbing and then she said something indistinct.
"No, we know that you won't say anything," another male voice laughed and then I heard other laughs join the chorus.
"Now, quit your damn crying! If anyone asks you what your problem is, you're going to tell them that you had a fight with a boyfriend and that you don't want to talk about it. Got it?" another voice said roughly. "Good. Now, get on out of here, and don't tell anyone or we'll come and visit you. Keep your mouth shut, and you'll never have to deal with us again."
I pulled my ear from the door just in time to jump behind a suit of armour as Nancy Wheaton, a sixth-year Hufflepuff girl, came flying out of the bathroom. She didn't even seem to notice me, distraught as she was. She sped down the hallway and out of sight.
I heard more laughing coming from the bathroom, and I raced after Nancy, not wanting to come into contact with Avery, Mulciber and Macnair, who I knew would be exiting the bathroom at any minute, laughing and gloating at their sport.
I picked at my dinner unable to concentrate on it. The three Slytherin boys were Severus' closest friends. I couldn't hear his voice when I listened at the door, so I hoped that he hadn't been with them. I couldn't bear it if he had been involved in something like that. I knew that the three boys were bad news, but I didn't realize that they were this bad of news. I wondered what they had done to her, and then shuddered, not wanting to know. I wondered if I should talk to Severus about it. I wondered if I should tell Dumbledore or McGonagall about it. But most of all, I wondered how I could prove that it was them that I heard in the bathroom. I had no proof to take to the teachers. Nancy certainly wouldn't talk, not after they threatened her like they did. So I decided to talk to Severus about it. Surely he would be able to exercise some control over his friends. He was a prefect too – perhaps he could give them detention?
I scanned the Slytherin table for him and found him, sitting about halfway down the table, tucking into a plate of roast potatoes and ham. He was talking to a boy sitting next to him, and then suddenly, he looked up as though he could sense my eyes on him. I inclined my head slightly toward the Entrance Hall, and with a curious look, he nodded ever so slightly and pushed his plate away. I got up from the table just as Sarah came sliding into her seat, breathless and flushed.
Before she could open her mouth I had jogged along the table and out into the huge Entrance Hall to a more private corner where people who were entering for dinner or leaving for their common rooms would be less likely to hear us.
Severus saw me and walked over, a question in his eyes. "What's wrong?" he said, touching my arm. I shrugged out of the contact.
"What is going on with your friends, Sev? I just walked past a loo on the second floor and distinctly heard them threatening Nancy Wheaton, and she was crying her eyes out!" I cried.
He looked confused. "I don't know what you mean. I went back to the dormitory to drop my bag off before dinner. I haven't been with them."
"Well something bad is going on Sev! They're bad news. They did something to her, I don't know what, but it terrified her, and they told her that if she told anyone that they would hurt her! I know it was Avery, Macnair and Mulciber, because I heard their voices!" I watched his face and I was enraged that he wasn't saying anything. Did he not care that his three best friends had just threatened a poor girl?! "Well! Aren't you going to say anything?"
"Did you actually see them leaving the bathroom, Lily?" he asked, a note of coldness coming into his voice.
I stared at him. "Well, no, but I heard them! I know their voices, I know it was them!"
"Well if you didn't see them leave the bathroom, how do you know it was them? You can't just go and blame my friends for something you have no proof over! You can't just go and blame Slytherins for anything bad that happens in the school!" he exclaimed, his face looking like thunder.
I couldn't believe my ears. I couldn't believe that Severus Snape was saying these things to me. It was so unlike him, so utterly unlike him that all I could do is stare at him in shock.
"Are you serious? You really don't believe me?" I asked, my voice sounding hollow.
He sighed. "It's not that I don't believe you, Lily. But… well…" he trailed off for a moment, looking unsure. "I know my friends," he said after a pause, his voice sounding stronger. "They wouldn't do something like that. They make jokes but they wouldn't actually follow through with it."
Now I was mad. I couldn't believe that after knowing each other for so long, Sev was just going to ignore my word, and take theirs.
"Fine," I replied, sounding much calmer than I felt inside. "Fine. Don't believe, me, don't do anything about it. But you'll regret it."
And I left him standing alone in the Entrance Hall.
Snape's POV
I watched Lily walk out of the Entrance Hall and up the marble staircase in guilt and confusion. I didn't want to believe that what she had said was true. I didn't want to believe it at all. Because that would mean that I would have to ask my friends about it. And if they actually did what she said they had done… I didn't know what to do about it.
Hogwarts was the first place that I really had any friends. As a child I was a loner until I met Lily at the local playground with her sister. She was my first real friend, although I'm sure that I was in love with her even then. But that all changed when I came to Hogwarts. And I didn't want to lose my friends, the first set of friends that I had ever had. So, I didn't want what Lily had said to be true.
But would I lose her over this?
No, I told myself, fairly confidently. No, she wouldn't cut me out of her life over this. We're stronger than that. But, said a nasty voice in my head, she is strong willed and she knows what is right and wrong. This could make or break it for her.
I stood in the Hall, thinking and analyzing every response. After stretching my brain I decided that I would let it be. Lily was known to be temperamental at times; she would get over this little spat, and come to see that she had no real proof that it was my friends that had threatened Nancy. She may not talk to me for a few days, but I could handle that. I breathed a sigh of relief. No, there was no way I'd lose both her and my friends over something like this. It was impossible.
Lily's POV
Finally, the day of the party arrived, and I couldn't wait to get it over with. I hadn't talked to Severus since the night in the Entrance Hall, and he hadn't tried to talk to me either. I wasn't particularly surprised; whenever we had gotten into fights before he would usually give me my space. It made me feel empty inside this time though. Perhaps it was because this time we were fighting as more than friends, not just friends. I tried to put Severus at the back of my mind.
At dinner, there were not very many girls in the Hall. I expected that the majority of them were either getting themselves ready for the party or jealously helping their friends. I had just finished my salad when Sarah came to sit beside me.
"Okay," she said, sounding strangely businesslike. "I think I have everything ready to go. I've used an anti-wrinkle charm on both of our dresses, and they are hanging up by the wardrobe ready to wear. I also have every bit of makeup that I could scrounge up between Kate, Amy and Bethany and I. They're absolutely foaming that they aren't able to go," she added with a small laugh. "They couldn't find dates, so I'm sure they won't be too friendly toward us later."
I laughed too. "Thanks for putting everything together like this, Sar. I really appreciate it."
"No problem!" she said brightly. "I enjoy it… and it seems like you're pretty preoccupied lately. Want to talk about it?"
"Preoccupied?" I asked, my voice maybe a bit higher than normal. I laughed airily. "Not particularly! You know, just school things and what not…"
Her eyes widened slightly. "Okay then," she said in a voice that plainly meant she didn't believe me. "If you say so. But if you do want to talk, I'm here."
"Absolutely! Thanks Sarah," I told her gratefully.
Sarah finished her salad and the two of us made our way back up to the dormitories to get ready for the party.
By half-past seven we were ready to go. I had washed my long hair and used a drying charm on it, styled with loose waves that hung down to my ribs. I had a light dusting of makeup on, and a pair of black heels on that matched the silky black clutch that Sarah had lent me. The dress was bottle green with a black stretch belt around the waistline and hugged my body in a way that actually gave me some semblance of curves. I had never felt quite so dressed up before.
Sarah looked fabulous. Her curvy frame was sheathed in the royal purple dress with silver heels and a silvery clutch. Her long dark hair was styled similarly to mine, long and wavy. She looked fantastic.
"You guys look fab," Amy said when we had finished, but not very enthusiastically.
"Yeah, great," Kate agreed.
"I think you guys look amazing!" Bethany said, but she sounded more genuine than the other two.
"Thanks girls," I replied. "Now, wish me luck so that I don't nosedive in these shoes!"
Sarah and I made our way down to the common room where we were to meet James and Sirius. When we reached the fire, I saw that James actually looked quite nice. He had managed to make his hair stay fairly flat, and he was wearing a very nice and soft-looking green dress shirt and black slacks. I noticed that the green of his shirt was a very similar colour to the colour of my dress. I shot a glance at Sarah and she just smiled obliviously. Sirius was also dressed equally nicely, in a dark blue shirt and black slacks. His hair lacked James' neatness, although it looked casually messy in a nice way. Both of them looked relaxed and cheerful.
James' mouth opened slightly when he saw us come down, and then he closed it again as if trying to control his movements. Sirius smiled his charming grin and offered Sarah his elbow, which she took with a bright smile, and they headed toward the portrait hole.
"Hi," I said, rather breathlessly, when I reached James.
"You look ravishing, Evans," he replied in a pompous voice. "Shall we?" he offered me his elbow as Sirius had done with Sarah.
I tried to stifle a grin. "We shall."
Kind of a shorter chapter! But I wanted to end it here so that I could write the party as a chapter all its own. Thanks for reading!
