A big, huge thank you to all my wonderful reviewers! I never imagined Filch and Pince would get so many reviews! I'm sure they're very happy to be so loved somewhere :) Thanks to everyone who read or put this story on their favourites/alerts list too!
Updates will be less frequent now. I will try to update once a week, but that will depend on my test schedule. College requires a lot of attention!
I hope you like this chapter. I wasn't too pleased with it, but I did my best with a couple I'm not really fond of...Thanks to mischiefmarauderlymanaged for the idea that made it so much easier to write!
Disclaimer : I don't own HP
"Can you believe we're old enough to go to Hogsmeade, Sev?" said Lily excitedly.
Severus smiled at her, his own excitement showing on his face.
"I can't wait to see all the shops. Alice is planning to take me to every single one," Lily continued.
"Er...Lily, would it be okay if you could spend half the day with me?" Severus asked hesitantly. "It's just that all my friends are purebloods so they've already visited the village many times. They're not very enthusiastic about going."
Lily smiled reassuringly. "Of course I'll go with you. You're my best friend. I'll just meet Alice after lunch."
Severus grinned widely. To him, this felt like a date.
Hogsmeade morning dawned, bright and sunny. Lily and Severus stood in the line, waiting for their Filch's permission to leave.
Behind them, James Potter frowned. "Is Evans going to Hogsmeade with Snivellus?"
"Looks like it," shrugged Sirius.
A mischievous, rather nasty smirk stretched across James' face. "How about we make their day special?"
Lily and Severus walked down the High Street, marveling at all the shops. They entered Honeydukes unaware that James and Sirius were following them, ready to wreak havoc. Lily stood under a shelf on top of which stood a giant bowl of liquid chocolate.
She breathed deeply. "This place smells so good. Everything's so chocolatey."
Severus smiled happily. Lily was happy on a "date" with him. A sudden movement behind her caught his eye. He saw James and Sirius hiding behind a shelf. They drew their wands and pointed them at the bowl of chocolate above Lily.
Severus knew exactly what they were up to. "You're not going to ruin my someday-will-be girlfriend's day, you numpties," he thought determinedly.
"I think it smells better from here," Severus told Lily, switching places with her just as the bowl magically tipped over.
Lily gasped as chocolate covered Severus from head to toe. "Sev! Are you alright?"
He coughed. "I'm fine."
"Oh Merlin, I'm so sorry! If I hadn't been so fascinated with the smell, you wouldn't have had to move and I would have been covered in chocolate. This is all my fault!" fretted Lily.
Severus assured her that it wasn't her fault since he'd suggested switching places instead. Unfortunately for him, James and Sirius had disappeared so he couldn't tell Lily what had really happened. On the bright side, Lily was really happy that Severus had saved her from the chocolate (although she thought it had been unintentional). As long as she was happy, so was he.
Once he was cleaned up, they headed to Spintwitches. Once again, Severus spotted James and Sirius skulking close to the Gobstones set that Lily was admiring. The duo raised their wands. Severus knew he had to protect Lily again.
He pretended to trip and knocked into Lily, pushing her away just as the Gobstones went berserk, squirting him with their foul liquid.
"Oh dear!" squealed Lily.
"I'm okay," muttered Severus, wiping the liquid out of his eyes.
Lily wiped some of the foul liquid out of his face. Severus relished her cool fingers moving across his face. "Do you have some sort of sixth sense, Sev? Every time something bad's about to happen to me, you accidentally get in the way. It's like the universe is trying to make you protect me," Lily said, mopping his face with her handkerchief.
Severus smiled gently at her. "I'll always protect you Lily. I'll protect you even if the universe doesn't want me to." Even from a numpty like James Potter he thought.
She smiled back. "Thanks."
They went to Zonko's next. There, Severus did his best to save Lily from the mishaps that Potter and Black were trying to inflict on her. He got chased around a store by a rogue firework that had been meant for Lily. He "accidentally" pushed her out of the way of a falling box of bouncing balls. He even "stumbled" into Lily, knocking her to the ground and saving her from a horde of paper aeroplanes.
Finally, a highly apologetic Lily (who was convinced that she was a magnet for trouble and the universe was just against poor Severus) decided to end his misery and go to the Three Broomsticks to meet Alice earlier than scheduled. On their way out of Zonko's however, they were blocked by James and Sirius.
"Well, well, if it isn't miss perfect and grease-boy," sneered Sirius.
"What do you want, Black?" Lily said harshly.
"Oh we saw what a good time you were having today and decided to add to the fun," smirked James.
Sirius muttered a spell and all the merchandise on the closest shelves began leaping out at them. Severus covered his head as boxes fell all around them.
Lily took charge. "Immobulus!" she yelled, freezing all the boxes. She marched up to James and slapped him. "You're a foul git, Potter." She pulled Severus out of the shop.
"I'm so sorry Potter did that! He's such a jerk!" she fumed. "I'll always protect you from him Sev. I won't let his stupid pranks hurt you."
Severus laughed. The whole day, he'd been protecting her from Potter's pranks.
"What's so funny?" Lily asked, confused.
"Oh nothing," smiled Severus. "I'm just really happy that we're such good friends."
"Me too," grinned Lily, holding his hand.
They stopped outside the Three Broomsticks. "Are you sure you don't want to join me for lunch?" Lily asked.
"No, I'll go back to the castle, there's some homework I have to do," Severus replied.
"I'm sorry about the bad day you've been having. It just feels like it's all my fault; like I've been attracting trouble somehow," Lily said.
"It's alright. I got to spend the day with you and I did have fun. It was worth it," Severus answered. Lily gave him one last smile and disappeared into the pub.
Severus started walking back to the castle, thinking about the day. Lily had helped him wipe the Gobstones slime off his face; she had actually touched his cheek. She had worried about him, fussed over him and was grateful to him. She had defended him against James and probably hated him even more now. She had spent the whole day with him. He was ready to protect her from anything or anyone. And best of all, she had held his hand all the way to the Three Broomsticks! Maybe she did love him the way he loved her. The thought put a spring in his step.
"Yes," he whispered to himself, "protecting Lily was totally worth it."
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