It had been two days since they had returned from Hogwarts, two days since Severus had been given his own room, two days of something resembling peace; a peace that he could never remember having when he was living in Spinners End. It was true that there had been moments where it had been quiet, where he'd been left to read and do what he wanted, but it wasn't peace, not with the constant threat of being discovered, or the arguments that carried even into his room through the cracks in the walls.

Peace was when it was safe, when there was no fear of being discovered, when it was truly quiet, and finally, he had found it.

"Mum! Tuney's stolen my mirror!"

"Have not!"

Well almost…

Getting up from the floor, books on spells and charms surrounding him, pieces of paper stuck into several pages of others on the table, and made his way over to the door, glancing over at Aurora as he passed her cage, her eyes which were once closed now wide open from the loud noises coming from outside the room.

Just as he reached the handle, he heard two doors slam shut, making his own shake in its frame. Pushing the handle down, he pulled on the wooden board and stepped out into the hallway.

Surprisingly, it was empty, but there were several piles of paper and clothes that were now strewn across the floor. Stepping carefully over them, Severus made his way over to Lily's room.

He knocked.

"Go away!"

"Lily?" No answer. "Lily, it's me."

When she remained silent he began to return to his own room, picking up a few sheets of paper as he passed them, putting them down outside of his room. He'd had moments like that, and he knew she wanted to be left alone, so he quietly closed his door and returned to his previous position on the floor.

He was about to pick up his pen again when there was a tap at the window.

At first he ignored it, dismissing it for a lose bit of stone from the wall, but then it came again.

And again.

Moving over to his slightly open curtains, he pulled them apart, finding a sight that he hadn't thought he'd ever see; an owl sitting on his windowsill, and it had some letters in it's beak.

Pulling the wooden frame up, he let the bird jump onto his books on the table and took the letters.

They were written in black ink, obviously with a quill due to the drops that were on the parchment, and they were tied up with a bit of string. One was addressed to him, so he opened it, quickly giving the new owl one of Aurora's treats, which she didn't seem too happy about.

As he read it, he smiled to himself. Lily was going to love this.

Running back down the hallway, narrowly missing Keith as he was struggling to gather up his papers, he almost missed her room entirely before rapping on it in a more than excited way.

"Lily!" Sev exclaimed. "Lily! Look what I got! Look at what I just got!"

Slowly the door opened and a teary eyed girl looked out, wiping her face with her hand. "What is it Sev?" She asked, her voice wavering slightly from the incident with her sister.

His excitement depleted dramatically. "Are you alright?"

She sniffed. "Yeah, I… Tuney took my mirror." She explained.

He nodded at her. "Yeah, I heard." They stood there for a moment, just looking at the ground. "Could I come in?"

"Huh?" She looked up at him. "Oh, right…" she stepped aside and let him walk in.

The room was a bit tidier than the last time he had been there. Mind you, there had been an extra bed in there too, so it only made sense that it would. Some of her clothes were on her chair, her posters were back on the walls and her desk was nowhere to be seen under the mess of books, paper and stationary. Her bed seemed to be the only part of the room that wasn't untidy, so he sat down on it, holding the letter in front of him.

"James sent us a letter." He explained as she came to sit down next to him.

"Really? What does it say? Read it out."

He cleared his throat. "'Dear Sev and Lily,

'I can't believe it's only been a few days since I last saw you! It feels like a month! It's really weird being at home again after all those months in Hogwarts, especially with the magic lessons and stuff. It's too bad we can't do it out of school, otherwise I would be practicing every day!

'Anyway, my dad said that there was going to be a quidditch match between the Falmouth Falcons and Puddlemere United and said I could bring you guys along! I said you'd say yes, but he said I had to ask first.

'It's on the 2nd of August, and my dad would pick you guys up the day before so we can get a good spot. I bet you've never been in an enchanted tent before.

'You have to come! It'll be so amazing! Remus said he'd come, but I'm not sure about the others.

'Hope to see you soon!

'James Potter.'"

They sat there for a moment, taking the message in.

"A real quidditch match?" Lily asked, staring at her door.

"Yep."

"With enchanted tents?"

"Yep."

They looked at each other as grins slowly slid across their faces.

"Dad!"

"Keith!"

They both sprang off of the bed, running out into the hallway and up to the very surprised looking father, holding his hands over their heads as they started jumping on the spot in front of him.

"James wants us to…!"

"Can we go to…?"

"Woah! Slow down!" He knelt down in front of them, putting some more paper on the new pile he had made. "One at a time."

"James was wondering if we could go to a quidditch match with him on the second of August!" Lily exclaimed, smiling brightly at her father. "Can we go? Please, can we? Please? I'd do anything!"

He frowned at them. "Quidditch?"

"It's kind of like football, but it's on flying broomsticks instead." Sev explained before giving him the other letter he had received from the owl. "This was for you."

They waited patiently as he read the letter, both secretly wondering what it was about, but they didn't say anything. Eventually he nodded and folded the letter into his pocket. "It would appear that Mr Potter's going to take very good care of you when you go." He put his hands on their shoulders and smiled. "Of course you can go."

Lily squealed with delight and Sev thanked him, both running around him towards the young boy's room to write the reply.

Shaking his head, Keith returned to his tidying. "When I was that age…"

AN - Yay! Another chapter!

Okay, so this was a little shorter than I'd planned, but I don't think I could do anything else to continue it.

Time to get your thinking caps on again! What? You're going to get us involved in the story again? Yes I am! And to day's question is; who should Lily date before she gets together with Sev? (Okay, yes, that was a little weird, but who cares?) Once again I will tell you when it's coming to the end of the voting time! Every idea will come into consideration and the one with the most votes will become part of my story!

Oh, and one last thing. For those of you who like X-Men, I've just started an AU fic about X-Men: First Class (just a little harmless self advertising, don't mind me...). I've only done one chapter so far, but I'm in the middle of writing the second, so I should be publishing on a weekly basis.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter and I look forward to writing the next!