Here you are. An incredibly long chapter from me.
I recommend listening to Skyline Drive by Mae. It really captures Severus and Lily's
relationship. At least that's what I think.
Enjoy... Reviews are lovely and Flames will keep my hamster warm. (not that I have one but if I did, well they would keep him warm.)
"Professor, Professor." Lily shouted at him, her book bag thumping against her back painfully. "Miss Evans." Slughorn stopped and his face cracked into a instant smile at the sight of his favorite pupil.
"Professor about that be…I mean the demonstration of Severus Snape's potion as well as my own" she hesitated. This had to be according to plan. "When would be a good time to have you judge them?" she finally asked.
"I am free to evaluate them whenever you are ready. I daresay after dinner in my office. No need to do things on an empty stomach." he chuckled. Lily bit the inside of her cheek. She doubted that Prof. Slughorn had ever gone hungry let alone have an empty stomach. "Of course. We will set up everything we need before dinner." she said.
Slughorn nodded and resumed his walk. Lily ran to Gryffindor tower and dropped her bag on her bed. Her red head was buried beneath her bed, desperate to get the ingredients that Snape and her had smuggled out of the Potions Classroom.
Grabbing her supplies she knocked down Remus as he was climbing into the portrait hole. "Sorry Remus!" she said, pulling him up. Remus dusted himself off, "It's alright. Dinner's not over yet if that's why you're hurrying." he replied bending down and picking up her scattered vials.
"Not everybody thinks with their stomach." she laughed at the embarrassed look on his face. "See you later." she said as she clambered out. Remus watched her hurry out. The portrait closed and he noticed something laying by the entrance. He picked up the vial. Its light blue color swirling. "I hope she didn't need this one."
Lily continued her hurried journey to the dungeons. She knew she was being irrational but she just wanted to test her draught of peace one last time.
She was sure she had perfected it. Having tested out on Severus and knowing it had been an obvious success wasn't a complete reassurance.
Most students had been very surprised by how easy going Severus had been all day, especially if you judged by his encounter with James and Sirius after the quidditch match.
She was definitely going to beat Severus, 'What do I want from him?' She could literally see the question floating in her cauldron, the problem was she had no idea what the answer was and that scared her.
Earlier that week at the Quidditch Match
Lily had spent the better part of her morning in the potions classroom, determined to beat Severus. 'Friendly wager, my foot.' She thought as she spied Severus putting ridiculously complicated touches on his potion. He had grinned at her with his usual smirk and for once Lily was not gonna play fair.
He had left her over an hour ago. Feeling tired from staring too long into her cauldron, she decided to search for him. Today was a match, so she headed to the Quidditch pitch.
She spotted his raven hair and jaunty green scarf flapping in the wild wind. Lily grimaced at the amount of green between herself and him. She suddenly wished she didn't have this bizarre reason to prove her house's qualities.
She sighed and slipped into the seat next to him, ignoring the glances from Slytherins on either side of her.
"What." she snapped at a particularly nosy witch who kept eyeing her. Severus realized the abuse that Lily was taking and rose.
He stomped down the stands, his feet making contact with a lot of his classmates but a nasty smile kept them from voicing a complaint. "We didn't have to leave you know." she said. "I don't like crowds, Lily." he responded but Lily smiled at the cute little blush that stole over his austere features.
They leaned against the stands, hearing the screaming and occasionally peeking out to see what was going on. "Gryffindor is up by 20 points." she mentioned. He shrugged, neither of them were much for Quidditch. "What's in the paper?" he asked motioning to the linen square in her hand. "I brought you something." she said.
Lily unwrapped the linen napkin, in the middle sat a big square brownie. "I saw you skipped breakfast, so I snuck down to the kitchens and snagged us a treat." she said breaking up the square in two.
They munched in companionable silence. Severus was aware of her eyes on him. He wondered if he had something on his face. He knew he wasn't Black and Potter material and he looked down at his shoes embarrassed. "I hate when you do that." she huffed and smacked the back of his head.
He looked up and she grinned at him, "Let's go the game is over and I don't want to run into…too late." she muttered. Severus rolled his eyes as he spotted the scarlet and gold uniform of the Gryffindor team. James was sauntering towards them.
His hand holding his bat in perfect imitation of a caveman. Severus snickered at this mental image and Lily stared at him gob smacked. 'Yep its working.' she thought proudly. She had slipped him the draught of peace.
She had originally been a little worried that she hadn't sectioned off the brownie properly before she soaked it. However she was pretty confident that she was not affected by it and continued to admire their surroundings in a very genial sort of way.
James and Sirius stopped and James immediately began talking to Lily. She was so happy not to see that anxious and tense look on Severus that she was willing to put up with James' obnoxious behavior. "So Evans, when you gonna start hanging out with me instead of Snivellus." he asked.
Severus smiled at James and leaned closer to Lily. "I'm sorry James but we have very important work to do." he replied deadpan. Sirius stared at Severus as if he'd grown another head and yelped as James accidentally dropped his beaters bat on his foot.
"You heard him." she said biting her lip to keep from laughing at James' stupefied face. "Lovely conversation, we should do it again." Severus shouted as Lily laughter finally escaped confinement. "They'll think you've gone mad." she said. "You're terrible."
They hung onto each other, laughing hysterically at the expressions they had left behind.
Tears were streaming down her face and she had to stop and catch her breath. She straightened and faced him, "I guarantee you that will be all over the school by tomorrow." Lily said. "You're the one who slipped me that draught of peace." Severus said.
Lily smiled, "I figured you'd catch on sooner or later." Severus stared down at her face and gently wiped the tears from her face. "I hope it's the last time I see you cry." he said sobering them both.
Surprised by his actions, Lily just nodded and without a thought laced her fingers through his.