Chapter Three

Snivellus must die

"I. Cannot. Believe. He. Told. Lily," said Sirius the next morning at breakfast. Remus shrugged, but Sirius seemed furious.

"I was thinking of telling her anyway," said Remus nonchalantly.

"Since when are you two so chummy, anyway?" asked James, trying not to let the annoyance in his voice show. What Lily had said the day before, 'I kind of wanted to ask Remus about it, seeing as him and I are closer than you and me' had really affected him. He didn't even know that Remus and Lily were friends! He knew that Sirius and Lily were kind of almost friends, and he considered himself one of her friends, but Lily and Remus? It didn't make sense.

"We kind of ran into each other at this camp site during the summer between fourth and fifth year, and seeing as we were the only two teenagers there, we spent two weeks hanging out with nobody other than each other. You kinda get to know someone when you spend two weeks with them. I even met her family. Nice folks. Except for her sister. She's really bitter, and ignored me as soon as I mentioned that I was a friend of Lily's from school," explained Remus, eating a huge spoonful of cereal when he finished. James let it sink in.

"So wait. You've been really close friends with the girl that you know I'm completely in love with for two whole years, and you've never told me?"

"It never came up in casual conversation! But don't worry; I've been putting in a good word for you."

"You better have been," said James pointing his spoon at Remus.

"You guys, the fact that Moony and Lily are good friends is irrelevant. Snivelly told someone, something he swore to Dumbledore that he would never do, and now he must pay the price," said Sirius.

"Price?" asked Peter, looking scared and confused at the same time.

"Yeah, the price. We should steal all of his socks," said Sirius, smirking.

"Sirius, you're so immature," said Lily, as she sat beside him. James sighed.

"So what? He's Sirius, Remus is Remus, Peter is Peter, but I'm still Potter? Your favoritism is alarming."

"I just came by to tell you guys that I won't tell a soul," she said, ignoring James. "So you don't have to murder Severus. I'm just surprised you didn't tell me, Remus. I mean, especially after I told you . . . Well, anyway, just telling you." Then she whispered something to Remus and he whispered something back. Lily smiled and then went to sit with some of her friends.

"What was that?" asked James. Remus smirked at him.

"Wouldn't you like to know? Oh yeah, Sirius, here's your transfiguration essay."

"Well, you sure took your sweet time doing it," said Sirius, taking it from him. "I still think we should do something to that greasy slime ball."

"What did Snape so this time?" asked Alice, sitting beside James.

"Nothing," said all four boys at the same time. Alice looked at all of them, and then shrugged.

"Whatever. Listen, James, they're doing this charity ball thing on the eighteenth, and I was thinking . . ."

"Alice, you know I love you, but I was kinda planning to ask Lily to that."

"You should take Lily. That's what I would have said if you had let me finish. Geez, you sure are full of yourself. Besides, Frank already asked me," she said, winking at him.

"Frank Longbottom?" asked Sirius. Alice nodded. "Damn, he's smooth. I was going to ask you. You know, as friends."

"Why thank you, Sirius, I'm very flattered. But I already told Frank I'd go with him," she said smiling.

"Good for you, Alice," said Peter, smiling shyly. Alice smiled back and touched his wrist.

"Thank you, Peter," she said. Peter looked away so nobody could see him blushing. All of the guys knew that Peter had a huge crush on Alice, and the only reason that Sirius was planning to ask her was because he had told Peter that if he didn't, he would.

"You know, I should get dates for the three of you," said Alice, pointing to Sirius, Remus and Peter.

"Oh, I, um . . . won't be going," said Remus looking down into his cereal. James, Sirius and Peter exchanged uneasy looks.

"Me neither," said Peter, and Remus smiled at him, obviously thankful for his sacrifice.

"Alright, so just you Sirius. Anybody you were thinking of taking."

"Well . . . I was gonna ask you but . . . I didn't really have a back up plan. Maybe I'll go stag."

"You? Go stag?" asked Alice, looking incredulous.

"No, that's right, every girl will want to dance with me," said Sirius, smugly. Alice rolled her eyes and James laughed at his friends' cockiness.

"Okay, what about Sybil Trelawney?" asked Alice.

"She graduated two years ago, Alice. Seriously, get your head out of your ass."

"No need to be rude to Alice, she's just trying to help," said Remus, elbowing Sirius.

"Right. Sorry Alice. I'm just a bit ticked, that's all. Would you excuse me for just a second?" With that, he stood up and headed towards the Slytherin table.

"Oh, God, this isn't good. I'll be right back," said James, standing up. He followed Sirius, catching him just before he planted himself in front of Snape, his hands crossed over in front of his chest.

"Sirius, don't do this," whispered James.

"Can I help you?" asked Snape dryly. Sirius's nostrils flared.

"May I have a word? Outside?" he asked. Snape shrugged and stood up and followed Sirius to the hall in front of the great hall.

"Yes?"

"What's your damage?" yelled Sirius.

"No need to raise your voice, Black. I'm standing right here, I can hear you."

"I can't believe you told Lily!"

"She deserved to know," smirked Snape.

"Deserved to know? She's never going to act the same around Remus again!"

"Good for her. Maybe that will distance her from your little . . . posse. Are we done?"

"No, we are not! Don't think Dumbledore won't hear about this."

"I think he already knows," said a voice behind the boys. The three turned around and saw the headmaster standing behind them. He quickly explained, seeing the faces of confusion on their faces. "I followed you out. Snape, Black, may I have a word with you two? In my office? Potter, you may return to the great hall," said Dumbledore, already guiding Sirius and Snape towards his office. James watched them leave and then turned around and walked back into the great hall.

"You guys, you guys!" said Sirius, running up to James, Remus and Peter who were sitting under a tree by the black lake. James and Peter looked up expectantly, but Remus continued reading the book he had in his lap.

"Have fun at the headmasters office, Padfoot?" he asked, turning the page.

"A lot of fun! You know Dumbledore has talking suckers up in his office?"

"Seriously?" asked Peter. James laughed.

"You really get a kick out of that stupid pun, don't you?" said Sirius rolling his eyes.

"Oh yeah," said James.

"Well, yes, seriously, and they're called Severus Snape. That guy spilled the beans instantly about absolutely EVERYTHING. I found out some very useful information about a certain Evans girl while I was in that office. Very interesting stuff. Like why she and Snivellus got into that huge fight in the first place, why he felt he had to tell her, and how she's in love with—"

"Um, Sirius, could I have a word with you?" asked Remus, interrupting Sirius. James felt like punching Remus. How could he interrupt Sirius when he was about to make such an important announcement? He needed to know who this guy was, so that he could tell him that if he ever hurt Lily, he would beat him to a pulp. He couldn't do this if he didn't know who it was.

"Damn that Remus Lupin and his self-righteousness."

"Huh?" asked Peter.

"Listen, Wormtail, the only reason that he's forbidding Sirius from telling me who Lily's got the hots for is because he wants to show everybody how much of a better person than Sirius he is and that way he can take what's her face to the charity ball," said James.

"I . . . I don't think that's how Remus . . . He's not even going!"

"Trust me, it's how he rolls," said James, shaking his head.

"If you're talking about my being self-righteous I can tell you right now that that is not the reason that I stopped Sirius from spitting out one of Lily's deepest secrets. It's because Lily isn't ready for anybody to know yet. It's really embarrassing for her, see?"

"Wait, you know, too!" said James, jumping to his feet. "That's the secret you guys were talking about at breakfast!"

"Oh, that? Yeah, I know about that, too," said Peter. Sirius and Remus stared at him, looking confused.

"She told you?"

"Uh, no, I have eyes," said Peter in a 'duh' tone that didn't suit him at all.

"Oh, really, what is it?" asked Remus, and Peter whispered something in his ear. Remus nodded and Peter smiled, proud of himself.

"So, are you guys going to tell me?" asked James.

"No," said Remus, shooting a glare at Sirius who had opened his mouth, obviously to say the opposite.

"Why not! It's not fair! Why only me?" asked James, stomping his foot like a little five year old boy.

"Because, James, you like Lily, and it would be really counterproductive to tell you who she's into," said Remus.

"You know… I kinda have to agree with Remus on this one, James," said Sirius. "And I'm sure that Wormtail agrees with my agreeing with Remus."

"Oh, come on! You were all ready to tell me a few minutes ago," said James, exasperated.

"Yeah, well, I was young and innocent then."

"It was a few minutes ago," said James.

"A lot can change in a few minutes," said Sirius, raising his eyebrows mysteriously. James rolled his eyes.

"You know what? Fine! I'll ask her myself," he said, turning away from his friends.

"She's not going to tell you," said Remus.

"Don't care! Plus, it gives me an excuse to ask her to the dance with me," shouted James.

"She's going to say no," shouted Peter.

"Don't care!" shouted James, and with that he made his way back into the castle.

As he walked through the castle, James thought about what his friends had said. This secret of Lily's was about somebody she liked. Somebody that none of his three friends could tell him who it was. So it was obviously somebody from school. That excluded the three of them, and Snivellus, because she told him, too. That meant that he had a shot. He wondered if it were possible that Lily Evans liked him. His hopes had been dashed to the ground many times before, so he tried to put it out of his mind. There had been a point in fifth year where he had been sure that Lily was into him, but when he confronted her about it, she had laughed in his face and simply said 'please' and then walked away. He had never told anybody, but that had actually hurt him. Not deep enough to lock himself up in his room and eat only chocolate for three days without talking to anybody, but it had hurt him.

He turned a corner to make his way to the library, the first place he would look for Lily, and found himself smashing into Snape.

"Oh, so sorry," he started, picking up some of the papers that Snape had dropped, but when he saw who it was, he dropped them and said, "You know, never mind."

"Like I thought. Don't worry, I don't need your stupid sympathy," he said, bending down to pick up his books. James caught a glimpse at his arm, the same one that Bellatrix had been holding a week earlier.

"Nice tat," he said, starting to walk away. Then he remembered that he had also planned to give Snape a piece of his mind for telling Lily, even though he would have never said it in front of Remus, like Sirius had. When he turned around he saw that Snape had covered the arm with his tattoo on it, and was starting to walk away, looking awkward.

"Hey, Sniv," called James, "what the hell is your problem? Why in the world would you tell Lily about Remus being . . . about his condition?"

"Because, Potter, Lily can't keep her trap shut. And I think that people deserve to know."

"Well, I don't think that the reason you told her was to spite us," said James before he even thought. He bit his lip. He couldn't believe he had just said that.

"Oh, and why do you think that I told her?" asked Snape.

"Because you couldn't stand the thought of her not talking to you," said James. Once again, he couldn't believe what he had just said, but it felt right. It was as if he had had a nagging feeling in the back of his head for a while and now it was surfacing. Suddenly, it all made sense. "Because you love her"

"You're mental!" snapped Snape. "How could I love a filthy mudblood like her?"

"Take it back, Snape," said James, his fists balling up. His jaw tensed.

"Make me," said Snape and then he started to walk away.

"Don't you walk away from me, you slime ball," yelled James, and before he knew it he was on the ground, punching Snape in the face over and over again. Snape seemed completely emotionless, almost as if he was letting James hurt him, as if he felt he deserved it. James certainly thought he did. Professor McGonagall, who just happened to be patrolling the hallway, on the other hand, did not.

"Potter! Snape!" she called out, and James quickly jumped up. He looked down at Snape. He had a black eye and both his nose and lip were bleeding, but he looked completely emotionless, as if he wasn't feeling the pain.

"Oh, God," said James, running his hand through his hair.

"Yes, 'oh, God' is right, Potter. Please follow me to the headmasters' office," she said, pushing him away from the group of students who had suddenly appeared outside of the library. James didn't even know he had been so close to the library. He noticed Lily standing amongst the students. Their eyes met for a seconds, and she quickly looked away, obviously angry at him. "Somebody please take Mr. Snape to the nurse's office."

Of course Lily was the only person to volunteer. She helped Snape to his feet, shot a glare at James and then helped him to the nurse's office. James sighed and let the middle-aged professor lead him to Dumbledore's office.