Chapter Six; Plot
"I hate…I can't believe...with him…"
"Come on, mate, this is pathetic." Sirius said, leaning against the post of his bed.
Peter nodded in agreement. "She's just a girl, James."
Remus shook his head at the two. "You're all ridiculous. Except for Sirius."
"Sirius-ly?" Peter questioned cheekily, his eyes set on Sirius.
A Remembrall was thrust with spectacular aim at the plumpest boy's forehead. "Don't pun my name!"
Remus shook his head. James, who was watching this unfold with a troubled expression as he sat cross-legged on his bed, took a deep breath and plastered on an obviously forged smirk. Usually he was the one turning his friend's name in to an unwanted jibe, but that duty had been taken over by Peter as of late due to his…unfit condition.
"Yes, Sirius is right. This is pathetic." He turned his attention to James. "James, I know Lily."
There was a several second pause where Remus drew breath, and all eyes focused on the thoughtful expression of James. The only perceptible change was a slight darkening of James's brownish eyes. But, as usual, the silence did not last long between the Marauders.
At precisely the same moment, Peter muttered, "He Sirius-ly does," and Sirius hollered a string of profanities at Peter while flinging a sock at his head.
"She's not doing Snape!" Remus exclaimed, exasperated. Did he always have to be the sane one of the bunch?
Sirius sighed in relief. "Just as I suspected, Moony, old pal! I theorized, after hanging out with us for all this time, she would have better taste."
James rolled his eyes at his best friend and directed his attention towards the most intellectual of the bunch. "So you say, Moony. Would you like to provide some proof?"
As it happened, Remus would. Possible reasoning was that James was his friend. But, also, Remus was a freaking werewolf at a wizard's school and he'd be damned if he didn't believe in magic at this point. Dumbledore always said love was the most powerful kind of magic. Why not test the old man's theory out a bit?
In the end, it took the combined efforts of Moony, Padfoot, Wormtail and Red—Sirius insisted they call each other by their codenames for the duration of the "mission"—to come up with a plan. It took a little convincing to get Lily involved, because the plan was sort of dangerous, even for the Marauders, but she eventually agreed. This was in her benefit, anyway.
But that didn't mean she liked it.
The first step was the bait, as Remus called her. This was the most humiliating and cruel part of the plan, she thought, but didn't complain outwardly. Still, she was having a terrible bout of second thoughts as she manned her post just outside of the dungeon, the seventh year Slytherins' class.
When Snape emerged, she pounced. "Snape!" She called when she saw the top of his greasy-haired head. He glanced over at her, eyes confused, but it worked—he approached her.
"Lily?" The Slytherin asked his former friend, apparently at loss for any other words.
Time to test out my acting, she sighed mentally. "I want to talk to you…"
As the two argued—about the validity of Snape's earlier warning—they walked down the hall. Though Snape didn't seem to notice where they were going, Lily very carefully directed them up a pair of stairs, towards a supply closet.
When they reached the door, Lily coughed two loud hacks. The signal worked—the door to the supply closet swung open forcefully and two men flung themselves out. They attacked Snape in a blur and dragged him in to the closet, with Lily close on their heels. She had to admit, if this wasn't terribly angsty and against school rules, she would be laughing rather hysterically.
Inside the storeroom, Remus sent a stunning spell at Snape with a casual flick of his wrist, and the Slytherin collapsed in a heap when the red jet of light hit his chest.
"Nice work," Remus told Lily briskly as he and Peter heaved Snape's unconscious body in to a wooden chair placed against the wall farthest from the door.
As the two Marauders were securing Snape to the rickety chair with a series of Sticking Charms, the door opened again and Sirius and James squeezed in to the already tightly-packed closet.
"The hell?" James eyes questioned his friend's sanity as he took in the scene—Remus and Peter casting charms over Snape's limp body, with Lily staring at the floor guiltily and Sirius cracking up, all of which was happening in a supply closet. He'd seen some pretty weird stuff in his seventeen years of life, but this sort of took the cake.
Remus, the designated speaker, rushed to explain. "James, look. You think Lily is secretly dating Snape," Lily's blush deepened, "And you sort of told me you wanted proof. Well…here you go."
James frowned. "How is a lifeless Snivellous proof of anything?"
Lily cleared her throat, "He's actually just stunned. I nicked some Veritaserum from Slughorn. Couple drops and he'll tell you anything you want to know."
Oh. If James wasn't humiliated, confused and shocked, he might have congratulated his friend's brilliance. This was reckless yet well thought-out, the tell-tale sign of the Marauder's work.
James stepped forward and hesitantly took the eye dropper from Lily, not meeting Lily's eyes. "Should I just…?" He asked her, the most skilled in potions, but kept his eyes warily on Snape's body.
"Two drops will do. You should do it now, before Remus does the counter-curse. The potion works best if the drinker is unaware, because then they can't fight it off." She explained, and James's eyes flickered over to her, remembering earlier in the year when she'd helped him study for a Potions test. The way she taught stuck with him.
He nodded and poured two of drops of the clear, thin liquid in to Snape's mouth, then nodded to Remus. He stepped forward and said the counter-curse clearly ("Renneverate!") and with a burst of blue light, Snape snapped back to consciousness.
"What is going on?" He yelled, but Peter, Lily, and Sirius all aimed their wands warningly at him. He quieted himself, repeating in a whisper, "What the hell?"
James shook his head, either clearing it or warding off the question, and glanced at Remus. "Okay. Snape…are you and Lily dating?"
The answer came after a pause, in which Snape made a strangled noise. "No."
"Have you ever kissed?"
He gagged, but unwillingly spit out, "No."
"Have you ever done anything to qualify you as more than friends? Physically, I mean."
The pause was longer this time, and Snape glared at James with a fire that almost frightened the Gryffindor, though he did not back down. Finally, he growled, "No."
That was it. James nodded, looking neither relieved nor at all different, and Sirius clasped his hands together. "That went swimmingly! Now, I would like to take this opportunity to formally apologize to Sir Snivellous Snape."
Lily couldn't believe her ears. Was one half of her life—the present, and possibly the future—going to meet the past? If Sirius was apologizing to Snape for years of torture and dislike, then maybe they would be able to…be friends again? Or, be civil? Could this be the chance to steer her former friend clear of the Dark Arts?
"For what I am about to do. Snape, have you ever kissed a girl?"
Oh. Of course. Lily was being silly to think that Snape and the Marauders would ever be even polite to each other. No, for the past seven years they'd been taking every chance to make the other's life a bit worse, and that would not end today. Still, she couldn't help feel disappointed. That had been a welcoming prospect.
"Or a guy." Peter added, and even James laughed at that one. Lily crossed her arms.
As they continued to ridicule Snape—which, Lily knew, would go on until the last of the Veritaserum wore off—Lily's emerald eyes floated to meet James's. He cocked his head towards the door, sending a clear message: Wanna get outta here?
As she nodded, she felt something shimmer inside of her, but smothered it almost unthinkingly. Hope had no place here - in a time filled with death and murder, Dark Magic and Voldemort himself. Good things would continue to go on - every day, beautiful babies were born, bright flowers bloomed and birds sang harmoniously - but they would all be draped in darkness.
A/N: This is sort of a mesh of the usual Lily and Snape halves that centers on James more than anyone. For the record, I don't particularly like this, especially the super-random place it ends, but I'm proud I managed to encorperate my seemingly-haphazard title. :] For those of you wondering (Probably no one, but I like to clarify things), Remus was planning to do a minor Memory Charm. Snape might break the affects, but by then all other evidence would be "mysteriously" vanished.
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