Lily

The next few days held an awkward tension in the air. James was acknowleding her as usual if not a bit sharp and Sirius, though doing the same was furious with James for coming to a conclusioon without him and all of a sudden accepting their friendship. Macmillian continued to send her knowing winks and Louis was constantly trying to protect her, something she didn't even try to understand. And through all of that she still hadn't even caught Snape's eyes. Even passing in the corridors he looked straight ahead as if he hadn't seen her before. She was constantly trying to reassure herself but when she sat in potions class she could barely focus because he was so close.

Lily groaned aloud and slid down on the stone floor of the empty corridor. Dinner had finished and Lily had sent Macmillian to the dorm without her, telling her she wanted to meet Snape. Macmillian had made a show of leaving her behind but after that had finished Lily had no problem making her way down to corridor where the mysterious room was. She had no idea if Snape would come or not but she had taken to waiting here or in the kitchens every evening to see if he would stop by. He never did and so Lily was momentarily ecstatic and suprised when she saw a familiar lanky pale figure round the corner with a teetering pile of books. That ecstatic moment faded however when he smirked at her and it was replaced with rage.

Lily glared at him coldly and was glad to see he had the sense to wipe the smirk off his face. In one swift moment she grabbed him by the strap of his satchel that was slung over his shoulder and practically dragged him into the room that she had imagined.

As soon as the door closed Lily whipped around and instantly began yelling. "Five days Serverus! And not even glance or a nod of the head and all of a sudden you come rounding the corner with a smirk plastered all over that gorgeous face of yours and it isn't fair!" She knew she must sound like she was whining but at the same time she didn't care. She wasn't about to let him do this.

"You think my face is gorgeous?" he asked.

Lily turned red. That had not meant to slip out. "Look it doesn't matter if I think you have a gorgeous face or not," she snapped. "What matters here is that you obviously think it's perfectly okay to not acknowledge me at all!"

Snape smirked. "I thought gorgeous was used for woman?"

Lily fought back a grin when he continued his teasing, something he rarely ever did and continued ranting. "You know how many times i've cast a glance your way and you've looked in the opposite direction? Too many to count Sev! James finally accepted our friendship and all you want to do is avoid me and-"

Snape suddenly cut her off, teasing mode gone. "What do you mean Potter suddenly accepted our friendship?"

"James and I had a talk and he agreed to let me continue being friends with you without him hounding me all the time."

"That's odd considering Ara did the exact thing with me," Snape said.

"You're telling me Ara Black accepted our friendship?" Lily asked in disbelief.

"Yes. Though she did express her deep dislike for you."

"It's settled then!" Lily broke out into a grin and collapsed onto a plush red sofa.

"What do you mean it's settled?" Snape asked.

Lily sighed in exasperation. "This means our friendship can be displayed publicly now and there won't be a problem with us. Well the stares won't go away and a few students might comment but James is adored in the Gryffindor house and basically what he says is what goes. I'm assuming Ara has that same effect."

"Not the adoration part. But she is well respected," Snape corrected as he lowered himself on the sofa next to Lily.

She realised Snape had avoided the topic of their friendship becoming a public display and she decided to let it slide. It was probably alot to ask for, considering that Snape held a reputation in his house and basically traveled under the radar. Lily realised her anger and frustration had faded and she couldn't help but grin up at Snape when he sat down. She just didn't have the energy to stay angry at him for long.

"Don't you think it's rather odd?" He asked suddenly.

Lily studied Snape before answering. He seemed troubled by the fact that two of the most influencial people in their houses agreed with their friendship. "Sure. But they probably just grew tired of the both of us," she reasoned. She certainly did not want anything else to worry about.

Snape never responded and after awhile of silence, still without speaking the pair collected their things and headed towards the door.

"Snape," Lily said turning to her stone faced companion. "I'd really like to have a public friendship with you."

At that she rose up on her toes and gave him a peck on the cheek before she could talk herself out of it. With a rushed goodbye she hurried through the door and practically sprinted through the corridor hoping she hadn't angered him in doing what she just did.

As she reached the common room and called goodnight to the boys whom were far to engaged in their game of chess to acknowledge her she rushed through the room and up the dormitory stairs.

Macmillian and Doris were up chatting hanging off their beds. Both girls stared at Lily with expectant looks on their faces and she groaned before throwing herself into her curtain covered bed.

"Don't even ask Macmillian," she warned from underneath her pillow.

Macmillian sighed but her and Doris laughed before turning out the lights, for once not pestering her with questions.

Snape

The kiss she had just placed on his cheek lingered as she hastily left the room. That one spot on his protruding cheek bone tingled and Snape casually ran his fingers over it. He hadn't been expecting that and he thought back to when he had given her a kiss on her head the last time they were in that room. Maybe she had been awake for that and decided to repay him.

Snape shook his head clear of the bright green eyes that seemed to always see inside of him. He was falling too far into this friendship but even thinking of pulling himself away from the Gryffindor was tormenting and he knew he wasn't going to leave anytime soon. In fact now that both houses seemed to have agreed he would have free range to roam the corridors with her without any worries that people would confront them. Though that buisness of both houses agreeing to their friendship seemed a bit too odd.

James Potter had always hated him. Ever since he had laid eyes on him in the compartment to Hogwarts when they were eleven and so for that reason Snape found it unlikely that Potter had agreed to their friendship. Sure he promised Lily not to hound her about the friendship anymore but that didn't mean he actually agreed to it. Even more odd was that Ara agreed also. She never backed down when she got the idea that something needed to be set right and that included his and Lily's friendship. Ara most certainly did not agree with this friendship and he could only assume that she was probably finding ways to tear the two apart right now.

Snape pushed aside all thoughts of Lily, Potter, and Ara and started mentally reciting potion ingredients to keep the thoughts away. It'd been five minutes and all he had accomplished was to stare at the door that Lily had escaped through. This new set of emotions he was experiencing were not settling well with his stomach and the warnings were a constant shouting in his head, making themselves heard over the potion ingredients he listed.

Lily

"A certain someone is waiting for you at the portrait hole."

The top of the trunk fell from Lily's grip and landed on her head with a thud. "What?" she half growled to Macmillian who she thought had left.

"You heard perfectly well what I said," Macmillian mock scolded as she exited the room casting Lily a wink.

Lily scowled at the spot Macmillian had just been standing but she couldn't stay irritated for long. The "certain someone" obviously had to be Snape and she could only assume that it was his way of saying that he agreed to a public friendship. For the past couple of days she had forced herself to stay calm and to keep away from Snape as he made his decision and he finally had. And it was in the most unexpected way as well. Ever since that morning a while back when he had first appeared near the entrance of the common room, she had fantasized him always returning every morning. But of course he never did and she wasn't expecting it either.

Lily quickly fetched her bright red and gold Gryffindor scarf from her trunk and sprinted down the dormitory stairs nearly crashing into Louis as she reached the bottom.

"Sorry Louis." She smiled apologetically and then slowed down to a walking pace so she didn't seem too excited.

"Lily wait!" Louis called out. "I'll walk down with you. Just let me get my things."

Lily peeked over her shoulder as she walked away. "Sorry Louis someones waiting for me. I'll just meet you down there!"

She found Snape in the same exact spot as he was the last time he waited for her and this time he was smirking and made no hesistation to fall into step with her as they made their way towards the Great Hall for breakfast.

"Has anyone ever told you that you are very slow in the mornings?" he asked with an amused look.

"Hey! You gave me late notice," Lily argued but she couldn't help but smile up at him as she clutched at the watch hanging around her neck.

Snape didn't respond but she didn't mind. Unlike the last time he had walked her down to breakfast, Snape wasn't as uptight as he usually was when thrust into publics eye. Also unlike last time, he had thrown away his thoughts on respectful distances and instead had no problem walking as close to her as possible.

Lily felt her face go red and turned her head to the floor so he wouldn't notice. She was only walking alongside him and he had the power to make her excited, and for no reason at all. She instantly thought back to when she had given him a short but sweet kiss on the cheek and her cheeks burned even more red. That was something she hadn't planned, all she knew was that he was just standing there and she wanted to know what her lips would feel like on his pale skin. Hopefully he wouldn't bring the kiss up. If that happened it would be way too humiliating.

"Tonight, Room of Requirement," Snape said suddenly, grabbing her elbow to make her come to a complete stop.

"Room of Requirement?" Lily asked.

Snape shrugged. "I've done some research."

"Very well. Room of Requirement it is Sir Sev," she said.

Snape leaned towards her, close enough that their noses were brushing. "I like your freckles," he whispered.

The words were barely out of his mouth before Snape had realised they were just outside the entrance to the Great Hall and he quickly walked off without any goodbyes.

Lily watched him go before slowly trudging towards her table willing for her red cheeks to fade back to normal. That last thing she needed was Macmillian casting her winks and giving her knowing looks when all Snape had done was complement her. Her freckles though? She had always disliked her freckles. She viewed them as a sporatic mess of dots that wouldn't wash off but now Lily didn't mind her freckles so much. Snape had just complimented her for the first time ever, and it was the one thing she hated most about herself. Lily smiled to herself and ducked her head as she seated herself next to Macmillian who unsuprisingly grinned at her from ear to ear.

Snape

What was I thinking, Snape thought to himself as he forced himself to swallow his bite of oatmeal. Out of everything he liked about her, he had decided to tell her that he liked her freckles. Even though it was the worst possible thing to comment on, it had been worth it to see her shocked and flustered face. He was starting to enjoy suprising the Gryffindor and seeing her confused.

"Is your friendship public now?" Bohemian asked.

Snape tore away his eyes from Lily and nodded curtly before loading his spoon with oatmeal again. On second thought he dropped the spoon back into his bowl and shoved it away. The last thing he wanted to do was eat.

"Excellent," Bohemian said.

Snape narrowed his eyes. "Why would that be excellent?"

Bohemian shrugged and Snape sighed. He really didn't have the time to figure out what Bohemian had meant. Snape hadn't actually studied in almost three weeks and he was suprised to feel that the constant itch that was always there reminding him to study had faded when he was around Lily. All he wanted to do was sit and talk with her, and though they talked about their subjects quite a bit neither had made a move to actually study.

Snape berated himself and figured he should get a move on. This was not the year to be slacking off. His O.W.L.s were in six months and what was he if not a perfectionist in grades? He forced himself to avoid looking at the red faced Lily and instead picked up a potions text and tried to read. He'd be damned if this Gryffindor got in the way of studies.

A/N: Hello my lovelies!:p I apologize for the short chapter:/ Also I'm also sorry to say that I won't be posting this coming Thursday or Tuesday. Don't get mad, i'll make sure I have a length chapter to make up for my absence. I'm just so busy.

Also, from some anonymous people who were talking about my story. I know that it may seem just a tad slow but I didn't want to rush Snape into his new friendship. From his untrustworthy manner and just his personality in general, I wasn't going to have him fully comitted to any friendship with Lily without a bit a time. Especially with Lily being a Gryffindor, a muggleborn, and basically James and Sirius' best friend...well he definitely wasn't going fully commit himself to that sort of friendship. But hey..he is now and things are bound to get more interesting.

Thank you for reviewing (especially those who constantly review. You know who you are) I greatly appreciate it. Sorry I won't update till next Thursday but nothing could be done about it:/. Thanks again, you readers are the best:3