Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J.K. Rowling, Warner Brothers, and Scholastic Books, no infringement is intended.
Chapter 9
The following weeks after the truce between Lily and James were a time for their friendship to grow. James' friends and Lily's friends were supportive of the newly formed friendship between Lily and James, so it wasn't uncommon to see all of the friends together. It didn't take long for friendships to form among the two groups of friends. Every night before going to sleep, Lily and James would usually talk. Lily told James about the problems she had with her sister and about how she was making a effort to correct their broken relationship with little success. James was slowly opening up about his parents. He stories usually focused on the good times they had, trips they had taken. He still would not talk about the dreams he was having, but Lily knew he was still having them. Some morning she would wake up early as she normally did, and James would already be awake.
The lack of sleep was slowly taking it toll on him, however his strong efforts toward his school work were paying off. All of his professors had complemented him on the accuracy of his essays as well as how quickly he was picking up his spells and the purity of his potions. He was having some difficulty with Charms now that Professor Flitwick had began with some new spells. Reading the text certainly helped, but they were still challenging. James decided he needed to do something to help him even further.
One night in mid-October, just after dinner, James saw Lily sitting in her favorite spot in their common room. Two very comfortable chairs sat in front of the fireplace. With the fall, came cooler and cooler air, which made sitting in front of the fire the perfect way to spend the evening. James walked over and sat down in his favorite spot in the common room, next of Lily Evans.
"Lily, I know your busy with your own work, but I've been having some trouble with Charms, which I know is your best subject, and I was hoping you could help me."
"I'll help you James, would you mind helping me with my Transfiguration."
"Deal." James pulled out his Charms work and Lily spent close to an hour explaining some of the important aspects to the newest Charms they were learning. After they finished with Charms, James spent another hour trying to help Lily with the newest objects to transfigure. By the end of the two hours, both were exhausted, but pleased with the results that had come from working together. They agreed to meet at least once a week to help each other with the subject the caused the other the most trouble.
The next morning Lily and James were walking to the Great Hall talking happily about the next prefect meeting that would take place that night. As they were walking James got distracted and crashed into another person. The other boy's books crashed to the floor. The other boy appeared to be furious that someone had run into him and made his anger known.
"What is your problem, why don't you watch where you're going." As soon as the boy spoke both Lily and James knew who had spoken. James had crashed into Severus Snape who obviously hadn't noticed who ran into him, his hair was still in his face as he was bent down to pick up his books. Lily hoped this wouldn't turn ugly.
"I'm really sorry Severus, I should pay more attention to where I'm going." James said as he bent down to help. Once Snape realized it was Potter he looked up with a glare, then he noticed Lily standing there. His glare lessened only slightly, as it was obvious to Snape that Lily had been walking and apparently having a good time with Potter.
"Don't bother Potter. I realized how difficult how it must be to see where your going with that big head of yours floating around everywhere." Snape spat out. Here it comes, thought Lily . However she was surprised when James simply took a deep breath, let it out slowly and finally addressed Snape again.
"I really am sorry Snape, I should get going to meet my friends. Are you coming Lily or did you want to talk Severus?" James made eye contact with Lily gave a small smile followed by a small shrug. Lily returned the smile.
"I'd like to talk to Severus for a few minutes, I'll see you in the Hall." Lily said in reply.
"Alright, bye Lily, bye Severus." James turned and continued his way to the Great Hall. Lily then turned her attention back to Snape. She didn't look happy.
"You could at least try to be cordial to James, as he is obviously trying with you." Lily said with a touch of frustration in her voice. Snape laughed sardonically.
"I never though you for a fool Lily. You actually believe this good boy act Potter is putting on. This is just another plot to get you to date him." Snape said with a smirk. He realized treating her this way wasn't helping their friendship, but seeing them chatting happily with each other, as if they had friends for years was too much for him to take. He had been her friend for years not James. His jealousy prevented him for using restraint when it came to the conversation they were having now.
Lily was furious. She may have no desire to be his close friend anymore, but she had hoped they could still remain civil. Clearly that just wouldn't be possible.
"You would know all about acting wouldn't you Snape. After all, for almost six years you acted like a friend to me in private, and to the public you acted like you hated me. Don't believe for a moment that what you have to say holds any bearing with me anymore, because it doesn't. You gave up that right when refused to acknowledge our friendship. I didn't ask for much. For your information, James apologized for the things he has done in the past, and is continually making up for them. Like you I was skeptical at first, but it is clear to me that he is not just trying to get me to date him. He, unlike you, has grown up, and is proving to everyone the kind of man he can be, which is more of a man then you will ever be. You will never be more that a petty, narcissistic man who holds grudges over pranks played in childhood. I feel sorry for you Snape, because you will never grow up." With that statement, Lily turned on her heal was walked away.
Snape stood in the hall looking where Lily had just walked away. He realized that he had lost any chance of making things right with her, and was even more furious. He blamed James for that too, instead of looking inward at himself. Lily would eventually find out what a jerk Potter really was, and he would be there to pick up the pieces to rub them in Potter's face. Until then, he would do all he could to get a reaction out of James in front of Lily. With that somewhat happy thought, he turned and made his way into the Great Hall and over to the Slytherin table, with a small smirk on his face.
Lily made her way over to the Gryffindor table and sat down between James and Alice. She was thinking deeply about the encounter with Severus in the hall. As long as she and Severus had been friends, she always thought he had years of maturity over James, it was becoming obvious to her now that her previous thoughts were no longer true. James had handled himself well. She new he had been mad at the way Snape had insulted him, but he kept his cool and removed himself from the area before the situation got worse. Lily really could not have been more proud of him. Severus on the other hand, was almost unrecognizable to her. She knew he would hate the idea of her being friends with James, he had almost always spoke venomously against James, and she had agreed most of the time. But now she was questioning herself, and her own actions back then. James had definitely been a jerk, he admitted that himself, but some of the things Snape had said about James went beyond just anger at something James had done, Snape had also almost always retaliated. Snape may not have had the same flair for pranks that James and his friends had, but they were still embarrassing enough to get his point across. Lily had always felt protective of Severus, but she was beginning to realize that he may not have been as innocent in the pranks against him as he had convinced her he was.
James noticed Lily's look of deep contemplation when she sat down. He hoped nothing had happen with Snape, as much as James didn't like him, he had known they had once been friends.
"Lily are you alright." James asked carefully, he didn't want her to direct her anger at him, he had been there before and wasn't in a big hurry to be there again.
"Yeah James I'm fine." Lily paused and then continued. "I'm proud of you. I know you really have changed, but seeing you keep control around Snape just proved it a lot more."
"I'll admit it was difficult. But it needed to be done. I realized how much nicer it is to be the nice guy. It sounds cheesy I know, but it true. I'm proud of myself, and I know my parents would be too. Thank you for helping me get through this whole thing."
"Your welcome James. I never thought we would be friends, but now that we are, I couldn't be more happy, and my grade in Transfiguration has never been higher." She finished with and laugh, James laughed too.
"We better get to class." James said getting up and helping Lily get up from the benches at the table. They walked out of the hall with a pair of dark eyes scowling at them the entire way.
