Chapter 10

The first Hogsmeade visit of the year was upon them and all the friends had plans. All the friends would go together, except for Alice who had accepted the invitation from Frank Longbottom. Frank and Alice had agreed to meet the rest of the friends at the Three Broomsticks at two o'clock for a quick butterbeer before returning to the castle.

Saturday bloomed bright but chilly, and inside the girls dormitory Alice was searching frantically through her clothes to try and find the perfect outfit for her date with Frank. Frank and Alice had spent almost the entire summer sending owls back and forth. They got close late the year before when they were paired together for a Herbology project. She couldn't wait for her date to begin. Alice's friends were watching her search, and had a difficult time holding in their laughter. Finally, Lily took pity on her friend and decided to help her. She found a cute skirt and a shirt that brought out the color of Alice's eyes and gave them to Alice.

"Here Alice, these should look great, and still keep you warm." Lily said with a smile.

"But not too warm, that's what Frank is for after all." Marlene added. Marlene and Lily laughed merrily at Alice's blush.

"Get dressed, we don't want to be late." Lily said as she got her cloak. Lily had decided to join the girls in their dorm that morning knowing how nervous Alice would be.

The three girls made their way down to the common room where they found James, Sirius, Remus and Peter, trying to calm down an obviously nervous Frank. When Frank heard the girls coming down the stairs he turned so quickly, James was sure he heard his neck crack. However, the smile that lit up Frank's face when he made eye contact with Alice was enough for everyone to see how much fun the two would have.

"Well Alice and Frank, we'll leave you two here, enjoy your date. We're still on for two o'clock at the Three Broomsticks right?" James asked Frank.

"Sure, that okay with you Alice?" Frank asked Alice with the grin still on his face.

"Yeah, that sounds good to me. We'll see you guys then." Alice then grabbed Frank's hand and led him out of the common room, already deep in conversation by the time they reached the portrait. The friends watched them walk out of the common room bemused.

"Are you ladies ready to go?" Asked Sirius looking at Marlene with interest. Marlene appeared to be oblivious.

"Yeah, let's go." Lily said, sharing a look with James. James just winked back, making Lily chuckle.

The friends all had a great day. It seemed as though, the friends had inadvertently paired up. Despite appearing oblivious, Marlene was not as oblivious to Sirius' charms as she led him to believe, and the two split off to go to the small joke shop. Marlene was just as fond of pranks as Sirius, and since James was taking it easy with the pranks, the two naturally gravitated to each other. Remus went off with one of the seventh year Ravenclaws, Lily recognized her as his prefect partner. Lily vaguely remembered her from their potions class, she is as smart as Remus , just a little more outgoing. Lily thought the two looked good together. Peter, well Lily wasn't sure where Peter went, all she knew was that it was just her and James.

"So, did you need to get anything, or did you just want to browse around, it seems it's just the two of us now." James said.

"I'm getting low on parchment, and there's this new book I was hoping to get if you don't mind going there?" "No not at all, I'm a bit low on quills myself." The two made their way to the store for their quills and parchment, then on to the bookshop. Inside the book shop, Lily went over to the books on Charms while James went over to look at the books on Defense. He had been re-reading all of his defense books, with the hope that if a situation ever arose where he needed to defend himself or his friends he would be ready.

Snape entered the bookshop alone, he had left his small group of friends, if he could call them that, when he saw Lily and James enter the bookstore. He knew this would be a good time to put his plan into action, and with an entire store of witnesses. He had no idea how badly his plan was about to go wrong. He noticed that Potter was near the defense books, and that Lily would be in the Charms section like she always was so he made his way over to Potter. What he didn't realize was that Lily saw him as he was set to approach James, and made her way over hoping to prevent an altercation.

"So Potter, how are your dear parents. Oh, yeah, they died didn't they, and you couldn't save them. How very pitiful, isn't it?" Snape taunted, with a wicked and evil glint in his eye. He noticed the Potter had stiffened immediately after his first statement, and was clenching the book in his hands tightly. He kept going, trying to throw James over the edge, just in time for Lily to see James attacking him. James did everything he could to ignore the taunting.

"Really Potter, I expected better from you. Your parents were Aurors weren't they, you should have learned a lot from them. Maybe they knew what a coward you would turn out to be when it mattered and didn't bother." Snape laughed cruelly.

"Come on Potter, where's the snappy come back, the pathetic attempt to redeem yourself. Although, it wouldn't matter, it is after all, your fault your parents are dead." Instead of retaliating, James just stared into Snape's eyes for a long moment, then turned and made his way out of the store. As he left, he made eye contact with Lily, who had tears in her eyes, he touched her hand lightly and left.

Snape realized too late that Lily had heard the whole thing. Lily just stared at him for a moment, with a look of what would have been hatred if it were anyone else, but Snape knew Lily didn't hate anyone. What it was, was a look of loathing, and disappointment. "You're sick Snape." She spat his name as if it were vile. "For the longest time, I thought you were the better man, you were my friend, you could have been more. But you blew it. First when you refused to be seen with me in public and just know. I never thought anyone could be that cruel to another human being, but I was wrong. I can't believe that it was you of all people to sink to a level I never thought anyone could go. I am only going to say this once so listen intently. Stay away from me, my friends, and James, Snape. If you go near him again, I swear to you, if he doesn't curse you, I will. I've never been as disgusted by anyone as I am with you." Lily said this entire thing barely containing her rage. She knew though, that there was something much more important for her to do, and that was to make sure that James was okay.

She left the bookstore and looked for James in all directions. She made her way down the street and finally saw him hunched down on a rock near the creepy Shreaking Shack, and made her way cautiously over to him. She sat down next to him and just waited. She knew that this was going to be a very emotional talk, not the sort of talk one has in the middle of a crowed street.

"I'm ready to talk." James said, and Lily was surprised to find that he had been crying. Knowing what Snape had said to him, she shouldn't be surprised, but she was. She had never, in all their years at school, ever seen James Potter cry.

"I'm here to listen. Although, I don't think this is the best place to have that conversation. Let's go back to school, get some hot chocolate, and talk in the common room."

"Your right." James got to his feet first, and grabbed Lily's hand and helped her up. Then they made their way back slowly to the castle, neither realized they were still holding hands.

Snape was sitting under a tree not far from the bookstore when he saw Lily and James walking to the castle. He noticed that they were holding hands and swore viciously. His plan had officially backfired. He vowed to himself, that somehow he would get James Potter or his stupid friends in trouble, and get Lily back.