Thanks for the reviews guys. Hope you like this chapter too! sniffle Little Sev and Lily are growing up!

Disclaimer: H. Potter series belongs to J.K. Rowling.

Chapter Eight

"Fat"

"Wasn't that bliss?" Lily smiled, swinging back and forth on a hammock with Severus by her side, "Potter not being able to speak? No blathering, no stupid ego trips, no hexing innocents? Those were the days," she sighed and dipped a plastic wand into a bottle of bubbles.

"Indeed," Severus agreed. Those were the days when everything was much simpler. When Lucius Malfoy was not spreading rumors about Severus's fearful abilities in the Dark Arts. When Muggle and Mudblood killings were a rare thing. When his mother was still in her right mind. When Lily's pretty clothes did not fit so tightly…

Lily blew a stream of bubbles at him, "What's wrong? You look peaky. Still hurting from when I beat you into the ground during our mud fight yesterday."

"Only my pride," Severus quipped, "What will I do now that my masculinity has been so challenged?"

"Challenged? More like being torn into teeny tiny pieces," Lily pinched her fingers to demonstrate, "Ugh, I still have mud in places I wouldn't like to mention. Tuney nearly fainted when I pulled a big chunk out of my ear this morning," she cackled.

Severus smirked but it faded as he said, "You didn't really believe those rumors about me did you?"

"Which ones? The death eater rumor? The dark arts rumors? The show tunes rumor?" Lily asked coolly.

"The…show tunes rumor?" Severus asked, momentarily thrown off track.

"Yes, you know the one…when you're alone you like to put on the My Fair Lady soundtrack and prance around, doing high kicks with a cutesy smile on your face," Lily gave a wry smile (one of Severus's favorites), "You haven't heard it yet—I'm starting it next year—I thought it would be a nice contrast to 'Severus Snape, Worshipper of the Dark.'"

He could not help but grin at her imagery, at any rate, it was better than the "Severus Snape: The Grease Lord Rises" posters Potter and his gang put up last year. He shook his head and frowned, she was not answering his question.

"Did you Lily?"

It was Lily's turn to frown, "No…not deep down. It was just hard, everyone was telling me all these terrible things about you—more than usual anyway—and there's just so much fear in the air. So many people had to leave school…and…I know we've been through this…but the people you hang around with…"

Severus sighed, the rift that had grown between them felt so tangible toward the end of third year. It made him feel sick, his only friend drifting away. She was so popular, star Gryffindor Seeker, so intelligent, so beautiful. What business did she have with someone like him? It was a question Severus had pondered ever since he was nine, staring up at the spiders on the attic ceiling from his bed each night.

Severus stood up and Lily followed. She clasped his hand. She only came up to his shoulder now. The days were gone when she was taller and bigger than him. They started to walk up a grassy hill.

"Sev?" Lily called to her quiet friend. He seemed so far away, "Sev, we're best friends remember? We'll always be best friends and none of the bullshit at school or anywhere else is going to change that."

Severus looked at her with the intense gaze he posessed since they were children, "You said always?"

Lily nodded, "Always."

And not one week into summer holiday their friendship was sealed once again. They could laugh and act like stupid kids again. How long could they afford to act so was a question neither wanted to think about.

Lily held a bottle of Coke in one hand and a tattered playbook in the other, "Severus, Severus where art thou--," she paused and belched loudly, "--Severus," she finished before collapsing in a fit of giggles.

Severus kneeled somberly one knee and took a swig of his Coke, "Shall I hear more or shall I speak at this?"

"Speak fair Romeo! I mean Severus!"

Severus gave a low rumbling belch and laughed as he plopped on the ground by Lily.

"I don't know if I'll ever be able to match that," Lily said, gulping her Coke. She gave a short, high burp and shook her fist at Severus, "Curse you!"

"God, you two are the most disgusting pigs," came a snooty voice.

Lily rolled her eyes, "What do want Tunes?"

Petunia's eyes narrowed, she placed her hands on her hips, and said "We're going to Aunt Barb's for the weekend remember?"

Lily's face looked blank, "I thought that was next week."

"No you dolt, it's today! Wait 'til I tell Mum you're not even packed yet!" Petunia held her head high and headed toward number seven with an air of triumph.

Lily looked apologetically at Severus. They stood up, "See you Monday, Sev," she sighed and hugged him tightly before racing off after Petunia.

Severus sighed, worry was rushing at him even as the tingle on his skin from her embrace was leaving. He should check on Mum. Her state had slowly begun to deteriorate after his first year at Hogwarts. She had none of her old fire. She had taken to staring blankly at the walls for hours, neither speaking nor moving. She would not even fight back against her husband's verbal and physical tirades. Whenever Severus was there to witness he would fling himself between his father and mother, bearing the brunt of the abuse.

He had told Lily of it last summer when she questioned the bruise on his cheek. To his surprise he realized he was crying as he did so. He never cried, they both knew, but Lily held him and questioned him no further.

He creaked the door open, "Mum?"

She was in the chair by the window he left her in after breakfast, "Hello…Severus…" she said without looking away from the window, but there was a small smile on her face.

His mother's deteriorated state was not all bad. On the rare occasions she did speak, she was much kinder to him.

"Hi Mum," said Severus hopping up on a stool beside her, "Feeling well?"

"Fine…fine…you never told me how the school year was," she said airily.

"It was great," he lied, "I got a hundred and ten percent on my Potions exam. All the classes are fun. My friends, we horse around a bit but we don't get into too much trouble."

"Are you still on the Quidditch team?"

At this he shifted uncomfortably. It was one thing to invent friends to horse around with and neglect to mention the intense bullying he was subjected to. It was quite another to lie about this for some reason. It made her so happy to believe he was star Beater on the Slytherin team. True, he had tried out, but those who made the team were miles above him.

"Of course," he said proudly, "I knocked a Gryffindor Chaser clear off his broom in our last match."

She laughed, it was coarse and dusty like it had been locked in a chest in an attic for some time. They were quiet for several minutes before she said, "Let's go out to the garden you and the Evans girl made."

They walked arm and arm outside to a clearing where a cauldron and a bench stood. The garden provided all matter of herbs ideal for potion making. He would spend hours there, either with Lily or alone, experimenting, refining his art. It gave him such a thrill, but it calmed him at the same time.

Eileen Prince spoke no more, but watched her son crouched over the cauldron, muttering and flinging ingredients with grace and skill. How talented he was, how had she never noticed? Just like she had never noticed the wonderful garden. Life had flown past her, leaving her in the dust with only regret and painful memories.

Severus spent the evening with his large, hooked nose in his books, the same books that had gotten him in so much trouble in school. Most of them were nothing dangerous just…different. Many were from the East—those were what fascinated him most—the magic just seemed so much more incredible. He had plenty of books that were Dark, too. The power and grotesque nature of the Dark was captivating, intoxicating. He had never put any of it to use but absorbed every word about it from his moldy books.

"The magick of the Easte does not require a wand. Magick is channeled through the hands and their movements or enchanted weapons and objects--"

Scrape. Thud."Ow! Damn…"

Severus jerked, the window of his attic slid open and Lily tumbled through it, "Oof."

Severus jumped up, "Are you alright?"

Lily hopped up and dusted herself off, "Fine I just forgot that ladder doesn't have an eighth step."

"What are you doing here?"

Lily smirked and but her hands on her now prominent hips, "What kind of greeting is that?"

"Well, er, your Aunt's…" Severus drifted off

"Tuney got food poisoning from Barb's god awful cooking, so we came home—well the 'rents are at the hospital," Severus looked at her, her smirk was still there but her eyes were shifted downward instead of burning confidently. She was lying.

He knew, she could tell by the look he was giving them, "Alright," she sighed, "I took the car when everyone was asleep and drove back here."

"Impressive," Severus said, his voice was just beginning to take on a deep, silky quality.

"I stopped by here because I knew you'd be a wake, you're an insomniac or something," Lily walked past him and plopped on the foot of his mattress. She rested her elbows on her knees and placed her head on her hands. Severus sat by her as she continued.

"I-I just couldn't stand being there anymore," her voice quivered, "Barb cuts down everything about me…do you think I'm fat Sev?"

"What?" he stared. Fat? How could she think that?

"I know it's a stupid question. I mean, why should I care? I feel like one of those dieting airheads at school," she rambled.

"You're not fat, you're beautiful," Severus said before his own boldness cowed him into silence.

Lily smiled, "I'm asking the wrong person. It's not just Barb either, some of the girls at school say it too."

Severus snorted, "They're jealous. It probably started after that Ravenclaw fifth year asked you to the Yule Ball."

Lily thought for a minute, "Yeah, it did…"

"Like I said, jealous. You just look like more of a woman than they do," he said more quietly, blushing a bit.

Lily leaned on his shoulder, "Barb's a bitch…thanks, Sev, but there's more than that. Uncle Fred and my older cousin, John…they're so…creepy."

"Well, I'm creepy," he said, trying to lighten her mood, "And you don't mind me."

She smiled for his sake, "Yeah, but you're a different kind of creepy. I…I don't know, I don't like the way they look at me."

Severus repressed the urge to snarl. He knew the look, the look he started to notice other boys give her last year. The look he gave her when he was not careful. He did not want to be like those other boys.

"So I left," she said, "I tried to think of somewhere to go, but I could only think of here."

"A dingy attic on the poorer side of Spinner's End?" Severus ventured, ignoring his thumping heart.

"Of course," she scoffed and said, "Let's go to the flat part of your roof."

Severus gathered up some blankets. Whenever she suggested they climb his roof it usually meant they would fall asleep there. They climbed carefully, Severus giving Lily a leg up before scrambling up himself. He wrapped a blanket around her and took one for himself.

Lily glanced at Severus, he was gazing at the stars or perhaps listening to the croaks and chirps of the nearby swamp. She leaned on him and pointed at the stars, connecting them with her fingers, "Those look like a giant ass."

"What?"

"I meant a donkey. Where's your mind at Sev?" Lily said, mocking offense.

"Not in a barnyard, apparently," Severus said dryly.

Lily looked up at him and smiled, he gave a shy smile back. Only she had been privileged enough to see that smile. When she looked back she saw that was the moment when she determined he meant more to her than any other boy, that he should be more than her best friend—exactly what Severus determined at a much younger age.

They talked deep into the night about everything and nothing. About the time they got lost in the woods, about the time they blew up half the Potions dungeon, about silly Muggle Christmas decorations, about whether there was a heaven. Their quiet murmurs drifted into warm, silent cloak of the summer night.

They should package this fluff and use it to make luxury mattresses and pillows : P I love reviews.