A/N: Hi all! I think I got this chapter up pretty quickly, although it's a shorter one. It's one of my faves so far, and I really hope you guys enjoy!

And of course, a biiiiig thank you to all the wonderful readers and reviewers out there :) Thank you to LianneH, Alexa Krystal, Tina95, nascently, ModernDayRapuzel, Georgie Monsoon, Aimee and Natalie! You guys rock.

Midnight Escapade

February, 1973

"Are you really still mad at me?"

"Yes."

"Come on, Lily! I've apologized, I don't know what else I can do."

Lily held her head high and ignored Snape as he chased her across the courtyard. Her red hair blew freely in the wind and her bookbag bounced against her hip with every step.

"I'm sorry!" Snape pressed, panting. "Will you please talk to me?"

She stopped suddenly and turned to him, her cheeks red in the chilly morning, a fierce look on her face. "No."

Snape looked bewildered and upset. He opened his mouth to say something to her but before he could speak, she had whipped back around and sped quickly toward the greenhouses, leaving Snape looking stricken.

It was a Thursday night, and Lily was sitting by the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room with Marlene McKinnon and Emmeline Vance, a sixth-year prefect. The moon was full and bright, lighting up the sky like a shiny orb.

Though the windows of the common room Lily could barely make out the outlines of the Whomping Willow - she could have sworn she saw it stand still, for just a moment, but the next minute it started thrashing again and she knew it was only a figment of her imagination.

"Hey Em," Lily said, looking up from her Transfiguration essay.

"Yeah?" said Emmeline distractedly.

"I have to ask you something."

"Sure, fire away."

Lily paused. "Are the O.W.L.s hard?"

Emmeline looked up from her book, eyebrow raised. "Seriously?"

"Yes!" said Lily earnestly as Marlene suppressed a giggle. "I've heard just awful things about them, I really want to be prepared…"

Shaking her head, Emmeline let out a laugh. "It's three years away for you two, what on earth are you worried about?"

"Two and a half," Lily corrected. "Less than that, actually."

"Stop worrying," Emmeline said. "Honestly, you're probably already better prepared than almost everyone in your year."

"But," Lily pressed. "What if-"

"'What if' nothing," said Emmeline flatly. She gave Lily a reassuring smile. "You've got your entire life to worry about exams and jobs and stuff, don't fritter your happiness away before you have to."

Marlene laughed. "You're such a worrywart, Lil. You're one of the best in our year."

"No, I'm not," Lily argued, blushing to the roots of her hair.

Rolling her eyes, Marlene bent back over her parchment. "Of course you are," she said good-naturedly. "Stop being so modest."

Lily was about to protest, but at that moment Mary MacDonald came climbing through the portrait hole. "Hi!" said Lily in greeting.

"Hey," Mary said, unwrapping her red and gold scarf from her head. "Lily, Snape's waiting for you out in the hallway. He says it's urgent."

Frowning, Lily carefully placed her quill back onto the table and stood up. "What can be so urgent? It's after hours."

Mary shrugged. "I don't know. Lily, just forget about him. I thought you were mad at him anyway."

"I can't just leave him out there," Lily sighed; she grabbed her jacket and scarf from the couch. "I'll only be a second."

Mary and Marlene exchanged a look. "Don't go out there," Mary called out, but Lily had already reached the portrait hole and clambered out of sight.

She found Snape sitting near the entrance near the Fat Lady, looking grim and determined. He sprung up when he saw her.

"How long have you been out here?" she demanded.

"About an hour," trilled the Fat Lady disapprovingly. "Couldn't get him out of my sight!"

Snape scowled at her.

"You could have just come inside and gotten me," said Lily, crossing her arms.

"No, I much prefer out here," Snape said flatly.

"Fine," Lily said crossly. "What's so urgent that you had to see me now? Can't it wait until tomorrow?"

"Come with me," Snape said, starting to move down the hallway.

"No!" Lily hissed, grabbing hold of his arm and wrenching him back. "Are you insane? It's after hours, we shouldn't even be out here, let alone wandering around the castle!"

"Kettleburn's collecting the doxies tomorrow, and you still don't have one," Snape said in a low voice. "I have a plan on how to get you one. But if you would rather get zero marks on the assignment…"

Lily stared and let go of his arm. "You can get me one?"

"Yes," Snape hissed. "But we have to move quickly, come on!"

She teetered on her feet for a moment, but shook her head and swiftly headed in Snape's direction. The two sprinted down the flights of stairs and carefully maneuvered their way through the corridors, ducking into an empty hallway every now and again to check for prefects on duty.

"This is so risky," Lily whispered as they pressed themselves against a wall; she was clearly frightened. "What if we get caught?"

"We won't," Snape responded. "Come on."

After a while they made it to the castle entranceway. Snape held the doors open for her, Lily stared at him in shock. "We're going out onto the grounds?" she hissed. "Are you insane? We're going to get into so much trouble!"

"Do you want your doxy or not?" whispered Snape impatiently.

Lily looked close to tears, and turned quickly away from him.

Seeing this, his features softened. "We won't get into trouble, I promise," he said, putting a hand gently on her shoulder. "Trust me."

She let out a small sniffle. "Okay," she finally whispered.

Relieved, Snape shot her a reassuring smile. "This way."

Soon they were out on the grassy fields of the castle grounds, as the spherical moon shone brightly above them. Like two shadows in the night they snuck carefully in the direction of the greenhouses.

"Kettleburn has a storage shed near Greenhouse Four, where he keeps a lot of his magical creatures," Snape said quietly as they walked. "One of the older Slytherins told me, he used to sneak down here to steal the saliva of one of the more dangerous ones and sell it."

Lily frowned. "That's terrible!"

"Rumor has it that Slughorn does it too," Snape said, mouth twitching. "Just think, your favorite professor, and his favorite pupil following in his footsteps."

"Stop it," Lily said, glad that the night shielded her red face.

They walked faster as the chilly night air swept through. Twice, Lily thought she heard a distinct howling noise that sent shivers down her spine. She scuttled closer to Snape.

Finally Snape slowed to a stop in front of what looked like a giant wooden box, nestled between greenhouses Four and Five, obscured by twisting vines. "This is it," Snape said. "A simple charm should do it... Alohomora."

Instantly the lock sprang open, but as Snape tried to wrench the door open the vines suddenly grabbed hold of his arm and started to constrict tighter around his wrist. "What the - " Surprised, Snape fumbled his wand. "Lily, help!" he hissed as his wand fell to the floor.

"What do I do?" said Lily in a panicked voice. By now the vines had wrapped around both his arms and were inching their way up to his neck. His body was slammed against the wood doors of the storage compartment, and, try as he might, he could not reach down for his wand.

"HURRY UP!" roared Snape. "DO SOMETHING!"

"I think this is Devil's Snare!" Lily cried, pulling out her wand. "Okay, hang on, Sev - don't struggle, don't panic! Diffindo!"

Snape let out a yell of pain; Lily's severing charm had hit half on the vine and half on his arm. Instead of backing off, the Devil's Snare seemed to simply wrap quicker and tighter around him.

"I'm sorry, Sev, I'm sorry!" she moaned. She shot another severing charm at the vines, which seemed to accomplish nothing.

"Lily!" Snape bellowed.

"Stop moving!" Lily said urgently, her thoughts scrambled. "I'm trying to figure out how to kill it!"

"Too late," gasped Snape; the vines had now reached his throat.

Racking her brain for a solution, the answer finally hit her full-force. "Incendio!" she cried, aiming at a patch of vine hear Snape's arms. Instantly, there was a high-pitched noise, and the Devil's Snare seemed to retreat immediately, shrinking back into the undergrowth. Snape wrenched himself free from the vines; in the attempt, the sleeve of his robes caught fire.

"Aguamenti!" Lily shrieked.

For a moment they stood there and stared at each other; Lily wide-eyed with her wand raised, and Snape, sopping wet with a singed robe arm, panting as he recovered from the shock of almost being choked by one of Sprout's vines.

Then, simultaneously, they burst out laughing.

"You - almost - died," Lily gasped between breaths, bent over and clutching her side. "You - totally - almost - died!"

"I'm glad you find that so funny," said Snape sardonically.

Lily giggled. "You should be glad I pay attention in Herbology. I saved your life, Sev, admit it!"

"I wouldn't have almost died if you hadn't lost your doxy!" Snape said, amused.

"And I wouldn't have lost my doxy if it wasn't for your stupid fight!"

Snape grinned. "Point taken. I take responsibility. Are we even now?"

Smiling, Lily leaned against the door of the storage shed, green eyes twinkling in the shining moonlight. And Snape knew instantly that she had forgiven him. Suddenly he felt much lighter and happier, as if a giant weight had been lifted from his stomach.

"Let's go get your doxy," he said, wrenching open the door.

A putrid smell blasted at their faces as they walked inside. "Ugh," said Snape in disgust.

"Lumos," Lily whispered, pinching her nose. Many of the creatures in the shed were harmless and docile; Kettleburn had two giant floating glass cages of flobberworms. Snape prayed he kept the dangerous ones in the Forbidden Forest, far away from where they were.

Finally, Snape spotted a few doxies sleeping in a cage at the back. "There," he pointed as Lily squinted to see what he was pointing at. "Grab one, and let's get out of here."

Lily walked over to the cage, stunned one of the doxies before it could fully wake up, and stuffed it into her robe pocket. Without another word she and Snape sprinted back out of the storage shed, clutching their sides in laughter.

"It smelled so awful in there," Lily gasped, grinning. "You think Kettleburn keeps stink beetles in there as well?"

"Probably some kind of exotic dragon whose dung will cure all maladies," Snape said, mouth twitching. "You think Slughorn smuggles out dung too? I'm sure it's a big hit in the black market."

Lily was giggling so much she could barely walk.

The two finally made it back inside the castle. "Lily, be quiet!" Snape whispered as they reached the second floor landing; he pulled her quickly into a dark corridor just as two prefects came into view.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I can't help it," Lily said after they had passed, mouth twitching. "I think I'll be okay from here, Sev. You can go back to your common room if you'd like."

Snape shook his head. "No way in hell am I leaving you," he said. "No arguments, I'm walking you back."

"You don't think I can do it by myself?" said Lily, pretending to look affronted but failing miserably.

"You wouldn't last two seconds," Snape retorted.

"I'll prove you wrong," Lily whispered, a devilish smile coming into her eyes. Before Snape could say or do anything she had sprinted in the opposite direction, her hair flying behind her.

She was faster than he thought. The two zigzagged their way up stairs, with Lily occasionally making a sharp turn that surprised him as he ran, panting, just barely able to keep up with her. He could hear her soft laughter as she sped through hallways, scarf floating level with her head.

They passed portraits, which muttered profanities as they flew by. Suits of armor clanked around them. Twice they had close calls, but Lily didn't care. Something about what had transpired tonight made her feel carefree. Rebellious, even. Like nothing in the world could stop her.

"Made it!" she said breathlessly as she skidded to a stop in front of the Fat Lady, who shot her a disapproving look.

Snape was not far behind her. "You run - really fast -" he panted as he slowed.

"Say you're wrong," Lily said, beaming.

"I was wrong," Snape declared loudly. "Happy?"

"Yes." Her cheeks were flushed as she stepped closer to him; Snape felt himself redden. "Thanks for this, Sev," she said softly. "At least I won't fail Care of Magical Creatures now."

Snape let out a shaky laugh. "Anytime."

Smiling, she pulled him into a hug. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow," he repeated.

He watched as she climbed into the portrait hole and out of sight, smiling serenely to himself. It took a few days and a midnight escapade, but she had finally forgiven him.

All was right with the world.