Snape's Worst Memory

by Darkglare

Completed. The Marauders have more enemies than just Severus Snape, who's rotten luck is about to change. His friendship with Lily will continue past fifth year. AU, Marauder Era, SS/LE. M for Foul language/sexual content

34. Chapter 34 Another woman to be jealous

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter 34 Another woman to be jealous of

At first, James did not notice that Peter was missing. Since their suspension, Wormtail had been going off on his own with the map.

The map was gone, so Peter must have it.

The evening before he missed class, James remembered seeing him before curfew in Gryffindor tower. James had a lot of homework so he was not even sure if Peter was in bed or not by the time he turned in.

Severus's shoulder and ankle were bruised, but his foot was fine. He could walk and hold his wand so no one would know that he had been injured and try to take advantage of his current infirmities.

Shingleton would know, but her self-absorption blinded her to others. Her older brother acted like a right ass by stopping him and putting on the Head Boy act, thanking him in the hallway in front of people.

At least he didn't try to embrace him like Longbottom did. Hopefully next year's Head Boy would treat him like dirt. There weren't many candidates. Gryffindor had no sixth year male prefect with the removal of Lupin last year, and unless the new Gryffindor quidditch captain was male, that gave them only a pool of four. Wilkes from Slytherin still treated him all right.

The school and its populace were in countdown mode to the holidays. Lily had offered some broad hints as to what they could do. Severus would be happy to spend some time with Lily, without Potter turning up.

Severus had everything ready. He did not plan meticulously because felix felicitus was supposed to guide him. Besides, if Lily had ideas of what she wanted to do, it would be harmonious for him to agree, if they weren't ridiculous.

When it was finally determined that Peter Pettigrew was missing, rather than out of bounds, Severus was questioned multiple times.

It was rather insulting to be frank. If Severus wanted to do away with someone, it wouldn't have been Potter's pudgy pal, it would be James Potter himself. Severus had hardly seen Pettigrew outside of the classes they had in common since he got back from his suspension.

Slughorn must have gotten too many bottles as gifts because his suggested scenario was outlandish. Severus challenged Pettigrew to a duel after curfew, and Pettigrew showed up? How likely was that? Firstly, Potter would not let Pettigrew go alone. He'd probably have to drag him actually. Secondly, that night during detention Filch, Singleton, and Pomfrey had seen him at different points in the evening. Of course, Severus had to be intentionally seen to cover his tracks. Right. Why not pull the cork out of another one? Duels were for show-offs. People like Dumbledore dueled so everyone could applaud and cheer. When Severus got into a fight, everyone would make fun of him with their jeers, clapping in rhythm and chanting 'Snape, Snape, Snivelly'. Followed by the crowd's disappointment and boos when he overcame Black or Potter.

Lily smirked as Severus was caught under mistletoe again. The school decorations were random with their trapping ability. Lily had only been stopped once so far this year, and had not been trapped in previous years. Severus had not been either, but seemed a favorite to come to an abrupt halt in hallways this year.

He complained that it was not fair since some of the ceilings were too high to spot the snaring sprig, and he alternately called both Flitwick and Dumbledore foul names.

It only took a quick kiss on the cheek to free someone. Mary had beaten Lily twice to liberate Severus. Lily was not sure Severus even noticed since he grumbled sourly after each incarceration, no matter who gave him a peck.

This time, it was only Severus and Lily in the hall near the library so she grabbed his face in both hands and silenced him with a solid smacker. No tongues or snogging. That was rather crude when she saw someone doing that in the halls. Sev had a point. What were they thinking by putting up magical mistletoe? Prefects were allowed to take points for overly passionate displays, but Lily felt there would be less temptation without the parasitic, poisonous plant encouraging it.

Drat, Potter found them again. Lily smirked at his gobsmacked expression. What did he expect? Lily to leave Severus stuck under mistletoe for the rest of the day?

Why did Peter have to take the map with him? Foul play did cross James's mind, but Wormtail had an ace up his sleeve with his animagus form. He could escape from plenty of situations, and would probably write James over the holiday. He had known Peter had been very unhappy, but leaving school and without a word? Peter's only enemy was Snape, and Snape had to be a lot angrier at James than Peter, who was safely back in their tower before he disappeared, rather than presenting a tempting lone target to Snape.

James was floored when he rounded the corner searching for Evans and Snape. Evans kissed Snape on his groaty lips.

James made a face trying to keep the bile from rising from his stomach and spewing out his mouth. It was that disgusting. From Snape's foul demeanor, James suspected it was him that had been caught by mistletoe. Good. Snape didn't enjoy it. Evans should have abandoned him there for everyone to laugh at as they passed.

Sirius and James had done extensive testing of the mistletoe in previous years. It didn't work if you had a class to attend. It would not hold someone who had not had their first kiss yet, and that did not include mothers. Thanks to Peter they knew that one. So someone had kissed Snape? Perhaps some strange Slytherin torture like do this horribly abominable thing, or you'll have to kiss Snape. The magic also would not keep someone unless there was a suitable partner in the vicinity to free them. That didn't necessarily mean someone would. Sirius would intentionally stand under mistletoe, including some that he carried around with him, acting like he had no choice, to lure girls in to kiss him. The joke was on him though, when he really was caught, and his mates had to draw straws to see who would have the dishonor of letting him get to dinner, when no ladies would believe he was actually trapped. It was so funny the way Remus closed his eyes before his face was even within a foot of Sirius's … those were good times. James missed that.

Feeling saddened to the point where he did not feel up to his original mission to prevent Snape from teaching Evans the Dark Arts, James returned to Gryffindor tower and went up to his room. Peter's things had been removed and sent to his parents, but the second bed was still there for his return. They'd know if Peter was alive or dead, right?

At last, Severus and Lily sat quietly in the library as Hogwarts disgorged the students to go home on the train. There were others still in the building, but there was enough space for them to pretend it was just them. At least for now.

There were books between them, and they held hands over them, looking into the other's eyes. Severus felt he did not spend enough time looking at Lily's eyes. If they were together, married, he could wake up every morning seeing them, and go to sleep every night gazing into them. Although to some that might sound rather simple-minded, especially to Lily who claimed she was busy and had too much to accomplish before she'd have time for him, it should not be so hard to achieve. Why should he wait years for this? He was decided. Lily would not be forced to live the sequestered lifestyle that Mary MacDonald described once she fulfilled her life dream of being a bride. It sounded rather boring. He understood Lily had no intention of keeping house and bearing children, as soon as she graduated from Hogwarts. What was so difficult about Severus not having any firm plan, except that they'd be together? Everything else was rather unimportant.

Regretfully, Lily reminded him, "We have a lot of homework to get through. I think we should get cracking on it, and not put it off."

"All right, Lily" Severus responded, still craving to stare at her, but not wanting a rift to form before the Hogwarts Express even pulled away from Hogsmeade Station. Lily could be a complete ass and waste their opportunity together by refusing to talk to him for days, or even the entire holiday.

They did accomplish much, with occasional glares from the librarian who had posted that he'd have the library open at this time, and a couple students searching for their own books to complete their homework. With both of them fetching and reshelving books, they moved around their table during the afternoon, so Severus did not initially think anything odd about Lily sitting next to him, and reading from the same book as him, until her naughty fingers started getting to work in his lap.

Overall, Severus was resigned to what Lily wanted and when, but he would like more say or even a hint into what she had in mind. He muttered, "The library is closing soon."

"I know."

"I acknowledge your intention, however I cannot respond well since I need to go to the desk to sign out books, and perhaps negotiate stairs to the dungeons or dinner."

"What do you mean, Sev?"

"I don't mind you touching me there, Lily, but if …" he sighed, then said, "If you get me hard, it's noticeable and difficult to walk like I normally do."

"Really?"

"If you want to test it out later, that's fine. I thought I should say something with time being so short."

"Um … all right," Lily responded. She kept her hand in his lap, but stopped fondling him through his trousers. "You do want to … uh, later?"

"Yes." He closed the book, and then added, "If you want to."

Lily frowned as they gathered up the books they wanted to take with them. Severus had ideas, really good ones in fact, when it came to doing things to her body. Things she had never even dreamed of feeling. At first, it sort of scared her. Especially with what Petunia said about her and Severus. How did Severus know what to do? Was it 'guy talk'?

Helen and Mary had quite a bit to say about men's bodies. How did Petunia learn that sort of thing? Lily had heard her enough times on the phone to know she talked about boys, but not about their things. Just kissing stuff, mostly who was seen kissing who.

What else did Severus know? Would he expect to do all that with Lily over the next couple weeks? Would they finally shag? Was she ready for that? Was Severus? At times, he was quite reluctant to go further. Although afterwards, Lily was glad he restrained himself. Sometimes her brain just turned itself off, and let her body do whatever it wanted. That was rather frightening.

Exiting the library with their books, Severus asked, "Did you want to have dinner in the kitchens, or eat in the Great Hall?"

"We get to eat together in the Hall?"

"We should. It depends on how many students and staff stayed."

"The Hall then so we can check it out. Can we bring the books, or do you need something from the dungeons?"

"Either way. I need to check my schedule with Mr. Filch, and can pass by his office."

"But it's the holidays."

"Sure is. I'm sure Mr. Filch will wish me a fine one and give me time off," Severus responded with a laugh.

"Why wouldn't he?"

Severus continued laughing. "I will suggest that, but since I was already starting at curfew time, it shouldn't interfere with our studies together."

Lily rolled her eyes at him. She wasn't worried about their studies. "You remind him about how hard you work, and that if you were home, he wouldn't have you to push around."

Descending the stairs, Severus spoke more loudly as they separated, "It's not so bad. He doesn't watch me the entire time. Filch knows I'll get the assignment completed."

"It's so stupid. Can't you just go to Madam Pomfrey while there's no one here and do what she wants?" she called down.

Lily thought she heard Severus respond "Hell no." Really, what was the big deal? Probably a hundred students saw him undressed this past June.

She arrived in the Great Hall prior to Severus. Lily might be the only prefect left at the school. It was just a handful of young students.

A little Slytherin girl showed up following Severus. She could give him scowling lessons. Since they were all here together, she might as well make the best of it.

Slughorn entered with a fatherly arm draped over Cresswell's shoulders. He was a Ravenclaw, a year or two under her and Severus. He announced, "Very good. You're all here. Cresswell here has volunteered to be in charge of you lot."

Lily huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. He wasn't even a prefect.

"You can all take meals in the kitchen, near the Hufflepuff common room. Just tickle the pear to get in. Do not take large quantities of food back to your rooms.

"Now for houses, let's see. Cresswell for the Ravenclaws, Chittock has the Hufflepuffs, you are alone for Gryffindor, Evans, and uh … Snape for Slytherin."

Lily snorted. That was mighty big of Slughorn considering there was only two Slytherins.

"You go to bed early or late?" Severus asked the girl.

"Why?"

"I merely wanted to suggest that if you don't get caught after curfew, I'll see you in the common room when I finish detention. Mine starts at curfew."

She folded her arms over her chest and muttered, "All right."

"You still have detention?" Lily asked.

"That's what Filch thinks."

"Tell him different then."

"He does not work for me. It's the other way around, Lily."

"Well tell …" Lily paused, looking around. Slughorn would probably give Severus to Filch full-time, now that he had no classes to attend. "... how about uh, that um, Prof. Abacus?"

"Prof. Abstractus," Severus corrected. "He's gone home."

"Oh darn," Lily said. "What will you do when you're in the mood for a rousing bout of Arithmancy, Sev?"

"I won't have time. Mr. Filch and I are starting a band. Mrs. Norris is our vocalist," Severus replied, sitting down to where the food had appeared for the students at the Hufflepuff table.

"And I left my bagpipes at home, drat," Lily replied. "I bet we'd be bigger than the Rolling Stones."

"If it wasn't for that darned secrecy law."

"Are there magical instruments?"

"Self-playing ones. The others are the same. Maybe a bit out of date to the muggle world like a lute."

"I don't really play the bagpipes, you know," Lily admitted.

"Thank goodness."

"Hey. There's some really good pipe and drum corps that play parades."

Severus looked thoughtful, then responded, "I don't think you've ever invited me to a parade."

"You don't need me to go to one," Lily replied. She may spend summer holidays with him, but they did not go to the center of town or public places together. Petunia would kill her. Why did she even care anymore? If she wanted to go see a movie with Sev, well, not if Petunia still worked there, but uh, to the ten-pin bowling alley with him, she would.

Flippantly, he asked, "How would I enjoy it without you?"

"Well, if it was a parade in honor of your chocolate frog card, I'm sure you'd make do."

"You wouldn't come?"

"Depends."

"If there was a pipe and drum corps?"

"Oh, definitely then."

Severus sat back, waiting for Lily to finish eating. Her constant consumption of meat and adding gravy to everything else was rather revolting. She'd want to kiss him after this, wouldn't she? He supposed it could be worse. Dumbledore and Slughorn were probably single because no woman wanted a sugar coated tongue in her mouth. They probably did obscene things with food, or ate in bed. Waking up with lemon hard candies stuck to your arse must really cool the ardour. More likely it was their self-centeredness that drove prospective suitors away over the years.

While mopping up more gravy with a piece of bread, Lily asked, "What's Cresswell doing at the head table?"

Severus shrugged, "Maybe Slughorn invited him."

"What a kiss arse."

"Eh, who cares? He'll be stuck up there listening to Slughorn ramble on about Senor Bunghole in Mexico and his amazing burro who carries crystallized pineapple into the Andes to the Peruvian quidditch team, that Slughorn knows each and every one intimately when they had a sugar orgy at the last World Cup."

"Sev! And Mexico is not close to the Andes."

"Maybe the burro's talent is it craps portkeys."

"Ugh!"

"He had some sculpture of uh … is a llama a real animal? At his holiday party."

"Who?"

"Slughorn."

"What? But … why … he forgot to invite me."

"Me too," Severus said with a grin.

"No, I mean it. He's invited me before."

"Did you miss not going?"

"He invites interesting people. You know, adult wizards and witches."

"What kind of job do you think he's going to obtain for Cresswell?"

"I don't know," she said, looking at the fawning Ravenclaw who was laughing at Slughorn's stupid tale. "Probably some Ministry flunky job. Look how he brown noses."

"Oh yeah," Severus said, then lowered his voice for Lily's ears alone. "That's a smashing robe you have on, headmaster. Is there room under there for me to hide out kissing your arse all day?"

Lily gasped, then gave his arm a smack. "You are too much sometimes."

"Come on. Look at how he dresses. He desperate for compliments."

"Do you think there's sequins on his drawers?"

Severus laughed. "Maybe a clever glow in the dark charm."

"With arrows," Lily said, repeatedly pointing towards her center and down.

"Is that my target this evening?"

"Sev, don't" said Lily, embarrassed and looking around.

"I think people believe we do homework."

"Or Dark Arts," Lily replied.

"Or something in the dark."

"I like seeing yours."

"If you must," Severus replied with a dismissive jerk of his chin.

"I like it. A lot."

"I wish you'd stop grabbing in Potions."

"We're in the back of the room."

"Working."

"I wait till you are in between steps."

He leaned back and asked, "Are you ready to leave, or did you want to wait to see what's for dessert?"

"Do you ever eat dessert?"

"Huh? Um, most of the time I don't, but I can wait."

"Maybe I can't. I want to get my hands on you."

"All right, so up to Ravenclaw?"

"Out in the open?"

"Cresswell's probably going to be stuck here a while. The staff drinks during the holiday break so they stay at their table all evening."

"What?" Lily asked, and looked at the Head Table. They seemed behaved, but there was more cup raising than eating going on.

"Drink. Especially Hagrid."

Lily redirected her attention to the games keeper, and took note that he was gulping down a great quantity of liquid.

"I think when school's in session, he goes to the Hog's Head some evenings and then just heads back to his house."

She stood, saying, "Let's get going."

Severus followed, also glancing behind them as the staircases moved. Potter had gotten him in the habit of watching for others. There was so few left in the school, that anyone else on the stairs would be suspicious.

They went to the far window overlooking the castle at night.

Lily took a breath and said, "So you want to show me what happens if I um, get you too interested in the library?"

"If that's what you want to start with, Lily."

"Relax," she murmured, putting her lips against his neck. The shaving charm kept it smooth, no matter what time of day it was. Lily might like to try this when Severus had stubble, just to feel it once. She felt him swallow then take a deep breath through his nose. She went easy on him, and only put one hand in his lap, while she used to other one to trace his opposite cheek and jaw, continuing to mouth the side closest to her face.

Severus closed his eyes. He couldn't help the shivers that shot into his shoulders. This was rather ...nice. Very nice. Lily's mouth and her fingers touching his face so gently. Her other hand was roughly kneading him. He hoped she got tired of treating his cock like her plaything sometime soon. Severus realized it was new to her since Lily did not have one of her own, but after she first touched it, she couldn't leave it alone. Lily grabbed it every chance she got, when no one but him would see her. Perhaps after this demonstration, she'd settle for brushing it in public places rather than urging his body to demonstrate its interest, but having no outlet for it. The library? Potions class? At least she was scared enough of McGonagall to keep her hands on the desk in Transfiguration. They were also high in the back of Charms so Flitwick could look directly under their desks, so he was also safe there.

That got Severus to thinking. Lily had a bit of a risqué streak when it came to this. Would she want to do something in an unused classroom during the break? Although he wasn't much into fantasies, perhaps the appeal of her getting under the desk while he was forced to 'act normal' might appeal to her odd cravings. After her bending down to look at him in the toilet, Severus could not help but think of Lily's mouth. Some of Mulciber's materials on that subject were too rough on the witch, but if Lily wanted to experiment, Severus did not see the harm.

Lily put her second hand down to smooth the front of Severus's trousers. "More than this?" she asked.

"Huh?"

"It feels like it's … um, you know."

"Oh, it can go a while longer," Severus muttered. She was so impatient. What did she want … a tea kettle? "Lily ..."

"Yes?" she eagerly responded.

"It takes my mind a while to sync up with the physical sensations. I don't excel at it like you."

Lily wondered if Severus was making fun of her, but he was still relaxing with his eyes closed, rather than looking like he was joking around.

Now that his concentration had been broken, he opened his eyes when she didn't respond. He looked down and then ran his hand along the front of his trousers. He asked, "How much were you hoping for? This is about five minutes worth of you manhandling me. More than potions, but we had longer than this left in the library."

"I don't know."

"Can't you see the difference?"

"Well, I guess. But wouldn't someone have to be looking at it?"

"It's rather hard to believe, but people do look at me, Lily."

"I didn't mean it like that. I mean look at the front of you."

"If I notice it on other blokes, then they can notice me."

"What other blokes?"

"Here at school."

"Really?"

Severus coughed, "I don't mean start staring at their crotches."

"I would only glance."

"Lily, who looks with her hands?"

"I wouldn't. Besides, I heard your broom is larger than most."

Severus looked annoyed. "Is that your newfound interest in touching me?"

"No, I just meant that if yours is one of the better ones, why would I look at someone else's? Unless I merely wanted to confirm yours is best."

"You sound like a lecher."

"Severus!"

"Why would you say larger is better? From my experience, it's a larger target if someone kicks me."

"For the girl, silly."

Severus blinked, then smirked, "You do realize that shagging involves it entering the female body? Regardless of what you've heard, there is not a tunnel between your legs waiting for a train to drive through. It's rather small."

"Won't it … fit?"

"With your determination, Lily? I'm sure it will. Just in case, I already got two bottles of that mead you enjoyed."

"Why?"

"Relaxes your muscles."

"Oh, so you've already taken it for granted that this," Lily gripped his penis possessively, "is getting into me?"

"No, but I didn't want to have to sneak out to the Hog's Head when you decided that might make a difference."

"All right, merely wanted to be clear that we have that understanding, Sev."

"Have I ever given you the idea that I'd do something like that without your express permission, Lily?"

"No, you don't. Even when you have my permission."

"I would not be keen on an audience."

"Neither would I. When Myrtle caught us that was rather shocking."

"From her tone or speaking voice, I think someone popping a zit in her mirror would be humiliating."

"Ewwe, Sev."

"What?"

"You're not spotty."

"So? Why would I want them? I think I receive enough compliments to turn my head without that."

"What do you do to keep them off your face? A potion? Charm?"

Severus arched an eyebrow at her. She would not take kindly to his suggestion that he did not bathe himself or his food in greasy gravy and guzzle it down by the bucketful. "Shall we add that to our research list, or has MacDonald already shared her secret with you?"

"Mary told you?"

"No, but since she's a witch who's overwhelmingly conscience about her appearance. I'm sure she has multiple ways to deal with any life-ruining blemish."

"Should I be concerned?"

"Right now? After dragonpox, some spot that'll be there a week is barely noticeable."

"No, about Mary?"

"What about her?"

"She fancies you."

"Still? I thought you two were joking around."

"I never said she was joking."

"Why didn't you tell her that we are closer than we act in public?"

"I um, told her I had feelings for you too."

"Feelings? Like in your hand that's gripping and feeling me? Or some vague sort of fancying that MacDonald thinks she has?"

Lily released her hold on him. Really, he could be so … idiotic. "I don't know. I didn't get explicit."

"You've already heard my advice on this, Lily. I have nothing further to say about it."

"But how could I tell her?"

"To avoid a possible dispute, perhaps? I have no interest in anyone but you, Lily."

Lily rolled her eyes, "I know. You always say that."

"There is no room in that for Mary, except as a friend. Strictly a friend," Severus explained, meaning that MacDonald was Lily's friend. Without Lily, he had no use for MacDonald.

"How do you know, Sev?"

"I feel no attraction towards Mary."

"No, I mean me."

"I am positive I feel about no one else the way I feel about you, Lily."

"How do you know? You don't try to talk to people."

"They lack your charm."

"Charm? What do you mean by that?"

"I don't find them interesting."

"You should try to give them a chance."

"How many chances should I give, Lily? Potter's following you around for weeks now. I don't know if I'd call my lack of outright hostility towards him a chance, but I am respecting your right to give him another chance. I don't agree since he has not treated your repeated overtures with good intentions in the past."

"I wouldn't use Potter as an example. He's persistent in his … delusions."

"Persistent? Persistently on probation. No one can even be assured that if he does them major bodily harm that he'd even be reprimanded."

"You're right."

"So perhaps you see my concern that someone like that is shadowing you? He may not have done you any injury since the beginning of the month, but your 'use of the dark arts' will be just cause for him to 'defend himself'."

Lily recalled, "That's what they said about you. It was all right to attack you because you were a Death Eater."

"If You Know Who is recruiting first year students? Can't be bothered to train them up himself, and sends his minions to Dumbledore for schooling?"

"Well, you know how stupid they are."

"You were searching for my … I don't know, Death Eater membership card?"

"With the secret handbook, the Ministry could infiltrate his organization."

"More likely, you'd play spy."

"Maybe."

"You probably would to track down Sirius Black."

"Black?"

"A lot of his family supports him. Sirius may too. They certainly assisted him with avoiding any repercussions around here. Do you think they'd do that for someone who truly despised them?"

"Did you hear that from Regulus?"

"Regulus is not talking about his brother, except to express his loathing."

"When he's talking to you, I can imagine. What do you think happened to Pettigrew?"

"Oh well, I'm not as clever as Slughorn on that matter. Can I say I don't know?"

"You have no theories?"

"Theories on Pettigrew? He's a liar, cowardly, hides behind others, only acts when he knows he won't be caught and will win. Perhaps he's haunting a primary school playground pushing tots off swings."

"I mean for real, Sev."

"How would I know? He didn't write me some mocking note giving away his plan. For all we know, he went back to find the most beautiful woman he ever saw, kicking himself for being a fool for never taking the time to introduce himself because he was afraid a muggle would laugh in his weaselly face."

"Huh?"

"Oh come on … last summer, he went to have a bit of fun, and saw this beautiful princess sitting in a muggle trophy case of some sort under all those bright lights. Pettigrew was distracted, nervous, and unsure with Black and Potter ready to laugh at any wrong move he made. Months later, he still woke thinking of her sheer beauty so decided to do something about it and set off to find your sister, Petunia."

"Petunia in a muggle trophy case?"

"That glass booth at the cinema. It's rather odd looking."

"No, it's not. Most of them look like that. Petunia wouldn't give someone like Pettigrew the time of day, if he even asked."

"Ah, but he doesn't know that. He is only aware of her entrancing good looks, and the image he's built in his mind of approaching her, and sweeping her off her feet with his command of magic."

"Ha, Petunia, impressed by a wizard?"

"Yeah," Severus laughed. "She'll cut him down so quick, it'll be like a virtual dagger through his chest."

"Talk about heart break. But really, what do you think happened to him? This nonsense about him running away to join Black is stupid."

"Maybe Black invited him to cheer whenever he performed an act on his wife. Potter said he was in your tower after curfew. So he left sometime between curfew and breakfast. Either of his own free will, or was unwillingly taken by someone with access to your tower."

"Let's go with free will then."

"Since he didn't pack his things, Pettigrew did not run away. He was probably out of bounds somewhere in the castle, grounds, Forbidden Forest, Hogsmeade or wherever else the Marauders get to."

"That is a lot of places."

"They think he only had two cloaks, and they were both here so in the castle is most likely. There's floo access too, besides the possibility someone mailed him a portkey."

"So even though Petunia's overwhelming siren-like allure still called him after months, Pettigrew would not have set off without proper clothing. They did search the castle?"

"Yes, with Potter's help. Do you remember how he didn't follow us for two or three days?"

"Maybe he found a new secret room or passage and couldn't get out."

"Wouldn't the ghosts or house elves have heard him calling while they searched?"

"Perhaps, or perhaps it's really well hidden. Remember that story about Slytherin's secret chamber, Sev?"

"Oh yes, finally someone clever enough to find it arrived at Hogwarts, and it was Peter Pettigrew. All his research in the library finally paid off," Severus sarcastically intoned.

"I don't mean he found that room, but there's plenty in the castle that's been forgotten."

"Once we're done with homework and looking up your acne spells, we could work on that. I can ask Filch some questions. He is rather knowledgeable about the building, but his secret passages are probably a caretaker secret."

Lily rubbed her hands together in mock glee, "At last, you're finally getting into the spirit of things, Severus. Can't you smell it? That's called adventure."

"We can get together some supplies, in case we get lost. Maybe I can negotiate something with Filch to do twice as much the first half of the break, to have the second half off."

"Hey, that's a great idea."

"He hasn't agreed to it."

"But it's better than you being all gloomy."

"Gloomy? I'm not gloomy about detention. It's repetitive, but I've learned some things. I also know a little more about the castle which might aid us on this adventure of yours."

"It's our adventure."

"Hmm," Severus replied. Lily clearly forgot their last adventure with the werewolf. Gryffindors had some sort of memory lapse thing going on, besides being liars who rewrote history to make themselves look good. With him at least, they'd have light, water, food, rope, chalk, and the unimportant things that Lily would leave behind. "We should research charms that are appropriate for finding trails. Knowing merely direction won't aid us in some parts of the castle."

"All right," Lily absently agreed, thinking ahead to how much fun this would be.

"Secret and hidden passage detection too, along with password breaking spells."

"Right."

"Since you are a prefect, we might be able to approach a friendly teacher like Flitwick with an outline of our plan, and develop some communication. Charm something to send an alert, in case one of us gets hurt."

"Or maybe a longer message. If we find something exciting, we won't have to worry about racing back for curfew."

Severus cocked an eyebrow at Lily. She was optimistically planning long-lost discoveries like Gryffindor's armory, and he was thinking of contingencies in case something befell them. Weren't they just talking about Pettigrew disappearing here in the castle? That was someone who did not take risks. Lily would probably want to cross some bottomless chasm on a threadbare rope bridge that was ancient when Merlin strolled about Cornwall.

Somewhere in all this, he wanted to have sex with Lily to loosely bind her to him in a noncriminal fashion that would not change her wills and desires. The connection would be very strong due to the change he made in the formula, but Lily could always leave him. She just would be very unhappy about it, especially since so much of her relationship with a male revolved around carnal desires.

Pretty much all his hopes of civilized interactions on that level with Lily were crushed. Severus did not envy his parents' ability to do it anywhere and anytime, or the various denizens and visitors of Spinner's End who did it out in the open. They were little better than animals. If it made Lily happy, he'd cooperate. If he was told years ago that all he needed to do was let her look at and feel his privates to mesmerize Lily into a drooling degenerate, he'd have said it was a lie. He was not reassured by her comparative assessment that his was bigger, therefore better.

Severus was not against the idea of making love to Lily. He would not be interested in marrying her otherwise. He'd rather it be more intellectual, if that was possible.

Suddenly becoming practical, Lily asked, "How much homework do you have for Arithmancy and Runes?"

"Enough," Severus admitted. "I can work on it tonight after detention, and also check on the double detention with Filch to see if he's amenable. With the library opening later, would it be all right if we meet at nine in front of the kitchens? I'll work till I'm tired, and then sleep later since no one's about."

"Except that girl."

"Right, I'll leave her a note in the common room. If I'm doing double detention, I don't want to keep her up waiting for me."

"That's nice of you."

"I guess. I wouldn't want someone keeping me waiting for hours, and then when I finally gave up, claim I was never there."

"Do you know why she's here?"

"For the holidays, I suppose? Greengrass got into some tiff with her friend and got uninvited at the last minute. That's why she's so surly looking."

"What kind of friend uninvites someone for the holidays?"

"Nasty Slytherin ones who wait till she burned all her bridges first, then make her look like a fool."

"You seem to know a lot about it."

"She followed me up to the Great Hall, yakking up a storm."

"Don't any of your friends invite you over for the holidays, Sev? Prior to this dragonpox year."

"Huh? I suppose if I expressed an interest to you, you'd invite me over, Lily, but that would have the same cost of a train ticket as going home."

"I mean your male friends from school."

"No. I don't … they wouldn't. I'm not the right sort to invite into their homes. They are here to make friends with children from other respectable, pureblood families, not me."

Lily frowned. She detected that Severus almost repeated his cliché that he had no friends, other than her. Besides Wilkes and Rosier, Regulus Black and Crouch ate with him. She could understand that Black couldn't invite Severus to his house. Well, maybe he would in some sort of sick Slytherin revenge thing and rub their bare bums on Sirius's pillow. Boys were so immature. Actually, Lily would like a few minutes unsupervised in Sirius Black's room to tear it up too.

"I'm here this year, Sev. You'll still have fun, even if I am cutting into your reading time."

He leaned his mouth to her ear and replied lowly, "Of course," and then nibbled on her ear lobe. He'd rather do lots of other things than talking about Potter, Pettigrew, and Black.

When Severus started licking behind her ear, Lily got all tingly.

They got in a long, uninterrupted snog that had Lily cursing Severus's detention when he had to go.

Since it was James's first day home, he woke early. He'd gradually stay up later and sleep later in the morning as the holiday wore on. Last night, he had posted a letter to Peter, but the owl came back an hour later, with it undelivered. It took two days to return when he tried it last week. Was Peter somewhere unplottable or hidden? If only owls could talk. Now that would be a highly useful animagus form.

James spent breakfast studying the sports pages thoroughly. They should dedicate more than two pages to quidditch. Most of the paper was full of crap.

His fork clattered to the plate as he dropped it.

Lily had gone to the Great Hall in the morning for tea and to receive her morning edition of the paper. She was annoyed that she had not thought of that last night, when she agreed to meet Severus later.

Other than the Great Hall, she did not know where else she could have it delivered. Lily could write to suspend delivery, but she felt as soon as she did that, something important would be in it.

Today there was.

In the obituaries, Peter Pettigrew was dead due to 'previously sustained injuries'. What the hell did that mean? Where did he die and how?

Without thinking, Lily headed downstairs to the dungeons to talk to Severus. She could not wait over an hour till nine to see him in the kitchens. She stopped at the entrance to the Slytherin common room. Lily paced and made a face. With only Severus and one other student, Lily was not going to hold her breath. Severus also made it sound like Slughorn only visited his favorite students, so she did not count on him showing up.

Greengrass was the first to open the entrance. She was surprised to see Evans waiting outside their common room, but knew that Evans was close to Snape. They ate together last night after all.

"Could you please let Severus know I need to speak to him?"

"Like wake him up?"

"Yes, please."

"Hm, I can show you where," she replied. Snape was all bark with his insults, and had a reputation for returning jinxes and hexes. However, waking him up? This was only the first morning of the holiday, and Greengrass did not want to get on either Snape's bad side while she was trapped alone in Slytherin with him, or Evans, who was the only prefect left here.

"You mean inside?" Lily asked, her eyes lighting up at the idea of entering such forbidden territory.

"I'll make you a deal. You show me the Gryffindor common room, and I'll let you in here. I'll walk you to the right dormitory."

"Won't we get in trouble?"

Greengrass shrugged, "Who's going to tell on you? I'm not giving you the password, and I certainly don't know the password to any of the boys' rooms."

"The rooms have passwords too?"

"Yeah. If not, anyone could walk in."

"That makes sense. All right, um, I guess with me being the only Gryffindor, we'll just need to know where Prof. McGonagall is."

"She eats dinner," was suggested.

"Uh, I'll have to work it out. I really want to speak to Severus now, either way."

"I could tell," Greengrass said, stepping backwards to allow Evans through the still open doorway.

"Thanks."

"It's not all lit right now, but the male side is this way."

"Is it always this cold?"

"The main fireplace warms it up when it's lit."

"I'm sorry. I'll try to remember my questions for Severus … after. My curiosity gets the better of me."

"That's fine. I'm sure I'll have a few questions about Gryffindor tower."

Greengrass led her into a hallway that descended deeper. The doors had bronze plaques with years and last names. "It's this one here. I don't know if he's in, or perhaps in the boys' bath."

Lily knocked and called, "Severus?" She made a face at the plaque. Did Severus somehow get his name on the bottom to prove something? Wilkes was at the top, marked as prefect, but then the three names in between were not in alphabetical order.

"Severus?" she repeated and knocked again.

"What?"

"It's Lily. There's something in The Prophet this morning about Pettigrew."

"What's the name of the street I live on?" was his reply.

"Huh?" Lily replied at the closed door.

"Either you know it or you don't."

"Spinner's End."

The door opened immediately. "You shouldn't be down here," Severus said as a greeting.

Lily looked at him. He was already dressed in his old clothes, and was holding his wand out.

Handing him the newspaper, Lily said, "Look, Sev."

Severus blinked, focusing his eyes on the obituaries. Sleepily he said, "Pettigrew's dead."

"Yes, but did you read it? Something about previous injuries?"

"Yes, I see that."

"Well?"

"How should I know?"

Greengrass interrupted, "It's a magic quill. The paper can't let it write actual details, or else people's families get upset. It has a limited list of causes of death."

"Previously is anything that could be from something he was born with, or he fell off a broom and it didn't immediately kill him," Severus speculated.

"Don't you find it strange? He disappeared from school."

"I'm not disagreeing, Lily. I'm simply tired."

"The Ministry might not even have a body," Greengrass said, warming to the subject. "The quill writes obituaries all the time, before the family even knows."

"That's horrible," Lily said. "It doesn't say where."

"It'll say if he died at home only. There's a lot of impropriety that could be exposed if addresses were supplied." Greengrass explained.

"Impropriety?" Lily repeated.

"You know, like something embarrassing."

Severus stifled another yawn. The girls could talk this all over without him. He was interested in how Pettigrew met his end, but unless he or Lily were in immediate danger or the prime suspects, he felt it could wait till later today.

He had already told Lily he would be up late doing homework. He had worked on Runes till he could no longer see them, which was less than two hours ago. He interjected into their musing of the working of a magical quill, "If you give me a few minutes to get cleaned up, I'll come with you to the kitchens."

"Aren't you ready?" Lily asked.

"No," Severus replied, wondering if Lily thought there really was no difference between his appearance when he just woke, and after he brushed his hair and made some effort to straighten himself out. Though he would not put it past her to think that he had been sitting here like a lifeless lump, ready and waiting for her to come pounding on his door.

The first morning of her first holiday stay at Hogwarts was never too early for a Gryffindor to bully a first year into admittance into their house's living quarters. Lily would probably be twisting Cresswell's arm later today to see Ravenclaw. Severus had seen the envious way she was looking at him last night. He'd better watch his step.

Lily fluttered her hands at him, and urged, "Well, hurry up."

When Severus turned to go to his trunk, Lily and the girl followed him in. His mouth twisted. Insulting the first year for following Lily's lead would only make her angry at him for picking on her new ally. He couldn't blame the twerp since this might be the most exciting thing to happen till the other Slytherins returned.

"What's all this?" Lily asked while he fetched his items.

"Huh?" he said, looking up to see her sneering at the desk he was using. "It's my Runes homework. I have to look it over, and recopy some of it. Then it'll be finished. Please don't rearrange it."

"I wasn't."

Severus lifted an eyebrow at her before leaving to head deeper down the passageway. Greengrass would restrain herself from Slytherin mischief for two reasons. Foremost is he had plenty of time to redo any homework she destroyed and take his revenge. Secondly, what reason did she have for bothering him? He and Evans might be the only two people that would talk to her for weeks. Since Evans had now recruited her as part of her team to solve the mystery, she'd see their intentions were not to torment those weaker than them. Maybe if he got a chance, Severus would ask her if she wanted Evans to leave her alone, when Lily was not around. Greengrass probably was given no choice in the matter.

Lily frowned at Sev's trunk. He had locked it before he left, and her unlocking spell did not open it. For her companion's benefit she explained, "I wanted to see what he got me for Christmas."

"Oh," was the reply, as Greengrass kept her face neutral as she looked at what had to be the grubbiest trunk in Slytherin. Someone else would use it to hide valuable things, but even a first year knew by December that Severus Snape had no valuables. She had to smirk at Evans's noise of disgust before she cleaned off the 'blood traitor' graffiti. Even a thick Gryffindor like Evans had to know what it meant, and that she was the cause of it.

"You can call me Lily, if you like."

"Um, Pandora," Greengrass replied, starting to inspect what the other four, and more interesting, occupants left in the room. Her gasp at the quidditch poster tacked to the inside of one of the posher four poster beds brought Evans over to look.

Lily was agog at the lewd display that would probably have been right at home in the Gryffindor boys' rooms. She was aware that the Holyhead Harpies was an all female team, but … uh, this couldn't be the real team, or so she hoped with the thought that there had to be the slightest smidgen of professionalism even in quidditch. Seven grinning, nude, young, buxom women were leaning forward on brooms while a cheeky wizard behind each of them mounting both the broom and the ladies. Being a wizarding poster, there was movement and it was seamless where it began and ended so it was seven nonstop shags doggy-style. Absolutely disgusting.

Greengrass grabbed her arm when Lily went to rip it down. "We're not supposed to be in here."

"That item is against the rules."

"So? You aren't here to see it. Understand?"

"But ..." Lily stopped. Pandora was correct. Lily went over to Sev's bed, but other than being unmade, there were nothing personal in it. Even when she leaned in and looked up at the canopy.

Only one other had no pin-ups. One had a single large photo of a nude woman and … Lily hoped she did not make a face like that. The last had its curtains closed for a very good reason. It was … Lily had heard of places that foul sorts of men went to see movies or buy more than the mainstream type of magazines, but obviously one of Sev's roommates knew where the wizarding equivalent was.

She pulled Greengrass away, "That's something neither of us should be looking at." She was a prefect and had to set a good example. Lily closed up the curtains, rearranging the folds in what she hoped looked like it was untouched.

Some of the images had burned themselves onto Lily's retinas, and she stood quietly in stunned silence reviewing them in her head. Some of that could not be physically possible, even with magic. Much of it looked akin to torture. Different from the kind of torture that Severus sometimes got up to with her. When Lily said stop and no, it was the kind she didn't mean. Severus knew. How he knew, well, she had no idea. But if any of that was going on, Lily would definitely mean stop. She wouldn't even want to start.

Severus returned to the two silent girls and glanced at them before putting his things away. He could tell they were up to something, but his Runes homework had not been set on fire. That was something good. He also saw he still had a pillow, blanket, mattress and hangings.

"All of you have different beds?" Lily asked.

"Not really. They brought stuff from home."

"Whose is which?"

"Does it matter? Or are you performing some sort of reconnaissance for a Gryffindor invasion?" Severus finished warding his trunk, and asked, "Are you ready to go to the kitchens?"

Greengrass headed out the door. She suspected that bed in the back corner was Mulciber's.

Lily came along too, and asked, "Sev, any more thoughts on Pettigrew?"

He frowned at her and replied, "No." Whoever got Pettigrew out of the school didn't leave their plan lying on the floor of the Slytherin male bath. Lily would not be satisfied even if she was a fly on the wall of the Ministry listening in on what MLE was doing for Pettigrew's parents.

When the rumor started that Peter Pettigrew had disappeared, and probably ran away to join Sirius Black in Europe, Avery and Mulciber cast their eyes towards Snape. Pettigrew said that's who he'd target. They'd try to recruit the brilliant Slytherin, but Snape was so irredeemably tainted. Although in the most liberal of minds, one could not help who their parents were, the half-blood preferred the company of that filthy mudblood rather than proper wizards and witches.

Now Pettigrew was confirmed as dead after days of being held somewhere by Snape. Perhaps they better avoid any entanglements with the sadistic half-blood.

Pettigrew had been a long shot anyway. He would have been just one of the multitude serving the Dark Lord, not someone who would be favored. They perceived him as good with the kneeling, bowing, scraping and general fawning over those greater than him. Obviously they were right. That was all he was cut out to do. They could only hope the stupid Gryffindor did not tell Snape everything before he was eliminated.

Between the horrible day when Pettigrew's death was in the newspaper and Christmas, Lily spent her waking hours being intensely dissatisfied. There was more about Pettigrew in the paper, but it said nothing. Nothing at all. Pandora Greengrass had guessed right that there was no body found. It could even be still in Hogwarts, for all they knew.

Severus didn't think so because of the house elves and ghosts being able to cover the entire school, even sealed rooms. If Pettigrew had been trapped or injured, he wouldn't have been stoically resigned to his fate, he'd be crying his eyes out and making quite a bit of noise. Severus also looked up the ability to survive without water for a week. Lily was disgusted by his discovery of a scientific looking table with temperatures and amounts of water based on wizarding experimentation on muggles. The simple answer was that with normal indoor temperatures, Pettigrew must have found something to drink.

All three of them completed their homework and a book of beauty and grooming tips for teen witches was found. Lily could now stay clean-shaven, fresh-smelling, pimple-free, go curly or straight-haired, and apply some modest charms to her emphasize her attributes.

Lily did admit Pandora to her common room, and showed her the girls bath and her own bedroom that she shared with Mary. Lily wanted to pay her back because she wanted to ask a favor to be let into Slytherin on Christmas morning.

Greengrass was interested in their possible exploration of the castle's less used areas, and together they were working on a list of useful spells and items they should carry along. The Slytherins also found writing charms to sign them in and out of their common room for the other to know, rather than either of them needing to wait to see the other.

Mr. Filch had cooperated with Severus and told him what he expected to be completed over the holiday. Severus had written it up as a list and was working his way through it with an update to Filch whenever he completed something in its entirety for him to check it. Severus felt that it was technically more than he would have been able to do in a couple hours each night, but he would not be in detention at all if things were fair.

Lily volunteered to assist with Myrtle's bathroom, worked on the lights and kept shifting the color of the fixtures and tile for the ghost's approval. Severus had researched more on plumbing and drainage. The overflowing water would be detrimental to whatever he spruced up so he added grooves into the floor to siphon the water into a drain he installed into the main pipes. This should also prevent water from getting into the hallway, unless Myrtle went completely crazy and was able to break the pipes open rather than having it fountain out when she was in a terrible snit.

Lily still kissed Severus under the mistletoe, and they were snogging at least daily when Greengrass was not around. They did not discuss Mary, however Lily and her did write each other. Lily had a niggling thought that she should say something nice or complimentary to Severus about how absolutely brilliant he could make her feel. She worried that he may think she took it for granted, especially since Lily had not discovered if he even enjoyed this sort of thing. He would voluntarily kiss her and maybe one time out ten start the snog session, so he wasn't entirely against it.

She was surprised after dinner on Christmas Eve when Severus asked if she'd like to play with him in a classroom. When she asked, he explained, "You were doing it when we could get caught, but now you could go a lot further. If you'd like, I could pretend there's a teacher present and resist everything you do to me while squirming in agony because I want you so badly, but I can't."

Lily smirked, she liked the sound of this squirming in agony bit. "Have you picked a classroom already?"

"Yes, none that we use, but with the bigger table-like desk so you can hide properly."

"Oooh … have you been thinking of this long, Sev?"

"Me? You're the one molesting me in class. I don't grab your hand and make you do anything."

"Your eyes tell me to misbehave."

"Oh really? It's in here. The door's normally locked so if this room's all right for you, I'll lock us in."

Lily thought the desks looked the ones in Prof. McGonagall's classroom. "So uh … you'll sit down, and I sit next to you?"

"Or under the desk. I can cast a cushioning charm for you."

Her eyes lit up with understanding. It was so naughty. "I'll cast it. Are you going to sit in the back?"

"I don't know. Maybe I'm such a bad student, I have to sit up front."

"Well, pick a desk," Lily said impatiently, warming up to this idea very quickly.

"This one all right?" Severus asked at one in the middle of the room.

"Oh yes, Sev. Everyone will be watching you squirm here," Lily purred and got under it.

Severus sat down, but unlike his normal way of being seated, he bent his knees and let his feet rest on their toes on either side of the chair to give Lily all the room she needed. He asked, "Did you want me to -?"

"No, you're perfect. Pay attention to class, or you'll lose Slytherin points."

Severus smirked and folded his hands on his desktop. Lily obviously did not want any help.

She teased him a bit before unbuttoning and unzipping him. Her slow torture continued until she felt ready to move onto the next part and pulled him out into the dim classroom. It was dark under the desk, but Lily knew exactly what she was doing as she listened to Sev emit involuntary noises. They were slight, along with the little hitches in his breathing, but not loud enough yet to get this naughty student into trouble.

Lily had been considering something she had seen that morning in Sev's room in that display of utter filth. It sort of made sense, since Severus did not seem to mind putting his mouth on her. When she kissed it, Severus moaned. Not loud, but it did get Lily's attention.

While she was still experimenting with how this was supposed to work, Severus stopped pretending for a moment and put his hand under the desk to touch her face. His fingers drifted about for a few moments before they stopped on her lips.

Lily asked, "Is this all right?"

"I guess. I'll uh … say something so you move back."

"Why?"

"You may not like how it tastes."

"Is it that bad?"

"How would I know?"

"Maybe I want you to surprise me this time. Give it a try."

"Are you crazy?"

"I'm a Gryffindor, Sev. Now shut up and pay attention."

He removed his hand and put it back on the desk.

As Lily resumed, he tensed and let his fingers flutter at each other before tightening them into fists. If Lily didn't like this, he'd find a spell to make it taste like gravy. This was incredibly wonderful.

It ended way too soon for Severus.

Lily would not say one way or the other whether it had been terrible. She felt she needed to think about it. Severus really liked this, but although it wasn't so bad, it wasn't great for her … until Severus asked, "Did you remember to put knickers on this morning, Miss Evans?"

"Huh?"

"Let's switch. Now it's your turn, and I'm going to find out real soon if you were too absent-minded to put on a pair this morning."

Lily quickly pulled them off and threw them on the floor, muttering as she got in the chair, "Oh gosh, how could I have forgotten to put on knickers today? I hope no one notices." Unlike Severus, she put her knees together as she sat.

Her teasing was nothing compared to Sev's. By the time he even got up there, he had kissed every one of her bared toes, and everything else he could get to under the desk. Lily was ready to scream, when she wasn't teasing him with comments such as, "Oh dear, I'm feeling so hot. I'm so lucky I forgot to wear knickers today so I can try to cool down."

Kreacher was apoplectic on Christmas morning. Some foul wizard had dishonored the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black's beautiful, antique dining table by planting an obscenely large meat cleaver in the center of it, and poor, unworthy house elf that he was, Kreacher could not remove it.

Over his wife's cursing and her house elf's wails while it beat itself in the head with a sterling silver pepper mill, Orion pondered the meaning of this intrusion. Twelve Grimmauld Place should be impenetrable. A bunch of quidditch players should not have breached its defenses. Other than the Parkin family, to whom the cleaver was a too obvious indicator, his family had many other enemies. Which of them was idiotic enough to think he'd fall for it being those Parkin simpletons?

Although she was sixteen, Lily woke early on Christmas morning. There was really no need for it since her presents would be waiting for her no matter what time she rose.

She had not been spending much time in Gryffindor tower since it was creepy when it was empty. She knew house elves visited it, and she had seen Headless Nick float through a couple times, but the lack of noise was unreal. Even in the middle of the night during term, someone would be carrying on.

She received lovely clothes from her parents, and a nice cardigan from Petunia. It was addressed in her sister's writing, so perhaps she had come to her senses.

Severus's gift was flat. Too flat for a book. Hmm, what could he have done this year? The sides of it were raised and bumpy. Guessing never worked on his, she conceded as she ripped the parchment open. It was … a framed chocolate frog card? Her card. It was encased between two panes of glass in a chocolate brown frame with a frog on each corner. Her picture was a bit fierce looking with her red hair flying about enough to form the background. She was portrayed with normal flesh tones. How he'd do this? Lily turned it over to read the back, that must be why he used two panes of glass.

'At the mere age of seventeen, Lily Evans knocked the wizarding world arse over tea kettle with a ballpoint pen.'

She blinked at her blurb, thinking. Yes, she liked it. Sometime in the next year would not be too soon to make her mark. Sort of like announcing her arrival, and that these idiots better take notice of her.

There was a brief note from Severus explaining that the glass was magically inert to protect the card from stray magic. Her mouth twisted. How could she spend so much time with Severus, and still have no clue what he was up to, or even what he was capable of doing? This looked like a real chocolate card frog, if she remembered Famous Witch and Wizard cards correctly. She looked at them back when she started school, but chocolate frogs were not as good tasting as Honeydukes Best. Lily suspected it was the croakoa.

Mary sent her some Honeydukes Best. Was she that easy to shop for?

Lily chose some of her new clothes to wear. She had plenty of time before Greengrass was going to open the dungeon door to let her in to surprise Severus.

Severus did intend to catch up on his sleep soon. Filch's list had one item left and his homework was completed. In the worst case, he could sleep when Lily did. She needed more hours of sleep than he did every night.

He was sleeping now, or ten seconds ago when someone interrupted the absolute quiet of the dungeon by pounding on his door.

Severus lit the room and cast a time charm. Five after seven in the morning. Severus did not need a window in the door because he heard Lily calling, "Sev, open up. Happy Christmas!"

Drawing a deep breath, he rolled out of bed. It was going to be the 25th all day. He quirked an eyebrow at the large wrapped object in front of his bunk. Lily better not have gotten him something really stupid. Whatever it was, it was inconveniently big. It was as bulky as his school trunk.

He opened the door for Lily. She grabbed him and gave him a quick kiss, "Happy Christmas." Lily pushed past him into his room. "You haven't opened anything yet, Sev." She noticed he had a gift from someone other than her.

"I was sleeping, Lily."

"But you're dressed."

"Yes, did you expect me to sleep with nothing on?"

"No, don't be silly."

"Maybe not, if you're banging on my door this early, trying to catch me."

"Sev, I came to be with you on Christmas morning … not to, well, maybe later."

"What's that Christmas phrase about being naughty?"

"Oh yes, Santa's list of children, he watches to see who's naughty or nice. You've been very nice, Sev."

"I have?"

"Definitely. You are so nice, but you make me feel naughty. It's brilliant."

Severus looked Lily over. She was dressed conservatively, if she meant to shag today. He could take the felix felicitus from his trunk with him to the loo to drink it, when he got his other items out. Though if he knew Lily, she wouldn't want to here. Too simple, and she liked odd places. It was convenient to have a bed. He'd like that because Lily would probably want to be on top.

When Severus did not respond with some playful comeback, Lily decided he must not be a morning person, or at least in the winter. He was an early riser in the summer. "Um, I guess you are kind of tired?" she asked.

"Yeah. I should finish up on Filch's list today though so you and I can plumb the depths of the castle."

"Excellent. Prof. Flitwick is interested in hearing of our plans. I don't know if I'll get him to waive curfew for us. What do you think of Pandora joining us?"

"Uh, that might make it sound educational to Flitwick to bring Greengrass along," Severus reluctantly agreed. With Lily in adventure mode, she'd be too busy running into things first to worry about making out. Perhaps worry over a first year's safety would slow her down.

"Great idea, Sev."

"Can I go to the gents, or did you want me to open your present first?"

"Open my present. That's why I'm here," Lily answered, picking up her package from the floor next to whatever the big thing was.

"Oh, then what's … that?"

"I don't know. We'll open that one next."

Severus opened the wrapped box that Lily had handed him. "This is useful. Thank you."

Lily was studying Sev's face when a smirk broke out. "What?" she asked.

"You shopped for this?"

"Yes, I did. Surprised?"

"Why would I be surprised? You probably demanded to try them on."

"Let's both try them on," Lily said with a huge smile.

"Now?"

"Open this first. I want to know what it is."

"All right," he answered, stepping over to it to find the tag. "It's from MacDonald."

Lily frowned. Was Mary trying to influence Severus with some fantastic gift?

She ran her hands over the wrapping paper, even though it was not her gift. There were vertical ridges. About a third of the way down, and a third again, there was a horizontal one.

Severus allowed Lily to investigate. She had told him long ago about this tradition to guess what a gift was. He'd know what it was soon enough. MacDonald seemed to listen to things he said so it might be something of interest. However, knowing her, it was probably impractical. A life debt did not compel someone to think.

When Lily looked at him, standing back to give her room, she realized that Severus was waiting for her. "Oh, sorry, I don't know. Some kind of cage?"

Cage? What would MacDonald have in cage? Pettigrew? Or more correctly, dead Pettigrew? Although MacDonald had the right attitude when it came to the Marauders, Severus would not enjoy receiving the body of any of them as a gift. That was no gift, he'd then have the burden of disposing of them.

"Hurry up and open it," Lily urged.

He gave her an annoyed look. Now that Lily was done with her guessing game, he was to immediately open his gift. Severus was still thinking about the cage. Obviously, he could not guess aloud it was a caged body. Nothing else was coming to mind, so he tore the paper.

Lily's eyes narrowed. Mary MacDonald was such a dirty sneak. It was so beautiful. And Lily had been there when Mary asked Severus questions in Hogsmeade.

Well, it wasn't a dead body at all. It was alive. This was marginally better. Though solving the mystery of Pettigrew's death would probably please Lily. She was obsessed. However, something alive would need care for years. A lot longer than hiding a body. He asked, "What the hell am I supposed to do with this?"

Shocked by Severus's question, Lily felt her spirits buoyed. It was hard to imagine Severus being displeased with the gift of a striking familiar such as this, but she tried to see it from his point of view. The cage was large. He could shrink it when it was empty. This would need to be fed. At Hogwarts, there was food, but Lily was not sure how much Sev had to eat on his own. Could this hunt for itself like in the wild? Lily prodded Severus by suggesting, "It's very nice looking."

"I don't need something nice looking. Someone will kill it."

It was not very nice to attack other students' familiars, but not unheard of. Yeah, someone would want to kill Severus's familiar, even if it was not a large, glossy, black bird with gleaming eyes. "Maybe it's smart enough to protect itself."

"Trapped in a cage in the dungeons?"

"Can't it live in the owlery?"

"I don't think it's an owl, Lily."

"I know it's not, but there it could get some sunshine and fresh air and fly around."

"I guess we could try."

"Take it out."

"Me?"

"It is yours."

Severus opened the large door to the cage, but had his wand out. So far it had remained quiet and still, but its glittering eyes had him thinking that it was more intelligent than an owl. Owls could bite wizards, and this thing had wicked looking claws. "You can exit the cage," he told it.

"You are supposed to reach in for it, Sev."

"If it's smart, it should know what I mean. Besides, those wings are so big they cover its whole side, what if I hurt them while trying to pick it up?"

Lily tutted and nudged Severus aside, she'd get it out. When she reached in, the bird caw'd really loud and hopped along its perch. It partially unfurled its wings, then folded them again.

If Lily were to attribute above average intelligence to this familiar, this thing knew it was a gift from another girl to Severus and was going to do all it could to make her look like a fool in front of Sev. The joke was on this featherduster though, Lily had looked like a fool many times in front of Severus.

Severus grumbled, "I don't think this cage is large enough for it. Shouldn't it be able to fully open its wings?"

Standing back up, refusing to be made a joke of on Christmas morning, Lily asked, "I didn't notice, how much more room do you think it would need?"

"Uh, at least a foot. Is this thing normal-sized?"

"I don't know. Is it a crow or raven?"

"How should I know?"

"Both are supposed to be smart."

"When it starts doing sums, I'll believe it."

Lily laughed. "Maybe we should take it to the kitchen to eat, and the house elves might recognize what it is."

"Library's closed today too."

"Have you seen Prof. Kettleburn?"

"I don't think so. I've been avoiding everyone but Filch."

"I've only been talking to Prof. Flitwick myself, but there's a feast tonight."

"Are we invited?"

"Prof. Flitwick let me know and gave me the time. It's at six."

"Did you want to go?"

"Yes. Don't you?"

"All right, we might as well tell Greengrass too, since she usually eats with us."

"Reach in and get it," Lily said, returning to their avian companion.

"Why should I? If it wants to eat, it'll get out here, or we'll have a house elf come here to feed it. Besides, I should get cleaned up before breakfast anyway."

Lily crossed her arms impatiently as Sev got his things out of his trunk.

On his way out of the room, Severus gave the foul bird a dark glare. If it wasn't for its unwelcome appearance, today would have been perfect to make love to Lily for the first time. However now she was fascinated with this smelly bag of feathers. He remembered when she first got that owl. It wasn't anything special, but Lily acted like it was the greatest, smartest, and most beautiful thing ever. Now she only used it for sending mail.

While in the loo, Severus considered getting rid of it. Well, he had had that in mind since he first saw it. It was a gift from MacDonald. He did not care what MacDonald thought, but Lily cared about her, and if she told Lily to ignore Severus because he was worthless, as her and Parkin did for the first five years of school, Lily would. She had before. He'd have to wait till this bird ticked Lily off. So far, it was off to a good start since it did not immediately jump onto her outstretched arm and start singing her favorite songs.

Lily took the opportunity to view the lewd pictures that had been haunting her thoughts for days, while Severus was out of the room. This was really sick stuff. She should feel disgusted, but it also made her rather randy. Not that she'd do any of this stuff, well, except she did not find putting her mouth on Sev's thing so bad, and sometime soon they'd be putting it there … ugh, did ...wait, was that … ewwee … that was so wrong. Swallowing hard and screwing up her face in disgust, Lily put the bed curtains to rights.

Oh crap, the bird was gone. The door to the room was closed so it's here somewhere. It wasn't at the bottom of its cage, that was definitely vacant. It wasn't flying about in here. Closest were Sev's things, but it wasn't on his trunk or perched on top of or in his bed. Would it like it up high to look at everything? There it was. It was on the bed next to the pervert's, perched on the edge of the canopy. Was it watching her? What if it had some really good power that Lily heard that some familiars had? It might be able to tell Severus that Lily enjoyed looking at dirty photos. And not normal dirty photos either.

It was looking at her. It knew. Damn. Lily had to do something before Sev got back. She went over to the cage and closed the door. Ha, it wouldn't be able to get back in there to take the blame for … uh, something. What? Lily looked around and decided the rip the nasty quidditch poster. That would be no loss. Hm, was that enough? Lily pulled at the forbidden bed's curtains and one of them tore loose.

Severus returned to his room. Lily was sitting on his trunk with her wand out. She announced, "The bird flew out and messed some stuff up."

He set it right with two reparos. Could have been much worse. "Oh, you closed to cage. Good. It might be easier for it to follow along if it can't retreat to there. Let me straighten up my things and then we'll go. Could you get off my trunk?"

"Oh yeah," Lily replied, keeping an eye on the bird that had barely stretched its wings to hop over to the top of Severus's bed.

While Lily was distracted, Severus pocketed the potions and shrunken mead while sorting through his stuff. Perhaps something unfortunate would happen to the bird, and Lily would comfort him on its loss.

Too late, Lily realized that Severus had stowed away all his new underwear. She guessed now was not the time to insist he try it on and model it for her. Stupid bird. And stupid Mary MacDonald. Ruining her Christmas.

Lily felt Severus was wasting his time by talking directly with the thing. "If you want a choice of food, you can come with us to the kitchens."

The bird merely cocked its head to the side.

"Do you want to try to grab it?" Lily asked.

"No. Let's go."

"What if it makes a mess in here?"

"I'll fix it. My homework's away so it can't damage anything important," Severus replied.

He opened the cage door, in case it wanted to go back in there. Maybe that's why it damaged things earlier. Lily was trying to force it to come to her by following it around, and locked it out of its cage.

As they left, the bird swooped at Severus's back and gripped a solid perch on his left shoulder.

He muttered, "What the fuck? Get off."

The bird responded by leaning towards his face and looking him in the eye.

Severus turned his face away from it.

"Isn't that what it's supposed to do?"

"I've seen owl ride on wrists and forearms, but I don't want this right next to my head."

"Does it hurt?"

"I'm not bleeding."

"Maybe you can get it to move onto me?"

"Your jumper's a lot nicer."

"Oh, you like it? It's a gift from Petunia."

Severus made a face. For all Lily's carrying on that Petunia hated her, Petunia was somewhat like Lily. Not like Lily, but she had similar tendencies. Lily would not stay mad at Petunia long, and it was doubtful Petunia would inwardly dislike Lily. Outwardly, Lily would get called freak. Not as much as Severus obviously, but Petunia didn't mean it with the same cruelty towards her sister.

Greengrass waited for them in the common room. "I didn't know if I should wait, I was just about to leave without you two."

"Sorry," Lily replied. "This was giving us a bit of a problem."

"That a raven?"

"I guess," Severus said, unable to shrug due to it holding onto one of his shoulders.

"My great uncle had one. He was kind of like Filch, just him and the bird."

That didn't sound reassuring to Severus. Maybe MacDonald wanted Lily back, and thought that if she bought him a new best friend, that he'd spend more time with the bird than Lily. Now that was Gryffindor logic at its best.

"We're taking it to the kitchen so it can take its pick of food," Lily commented.

"Have you named it?" Pandora asked.

"Not yet," Lily said, interrupting whatever Severus was going to say. She didn't want him naming it something idiotic. Given time, she could think of plenty of great names for this bird.

"It has not been determined whether it's male or female," Severus informed them. He'd rather wait till he knew its bad habits. If it rode on his shoulder long enough, he'd definitely know if it was housebroken. That would be really lovely, and he'd probably take to calling it shithead.

"Oooh, I know the charm for that from Magical Creatures," Lily exclaimed.

She took out her wand, and with a flourish and brief incantation, declared, "It's a girl."

"Do you have any books on familiars or magical birds?" Severus asked.

"No, I don't. I agree its rather inconvenient to have the library closed today. Do you think a professor would let us in, if we asked? Obviously we have a reason to want to do research today."

"I doubt we'll kill it between today and tomorrow," Severus answered.

"Not it, her," Lily corrected.

It was still an it to Severus. He could call Mrs. Norris female. Her name had seemed silly when Filch first got the half-grown kitten, but she had grown into it. He doubted this bird had even a tenth of the talent that cat did. He wasn't sure what Mrs. Norris's powers actually were, but if no student had killed her yet, she must be pretty powerful. "Can you tell how old it is?" Severus asked.

"That's one I'm going to have to look up. By the way, Pandora, there's a feast tonight in the Great Hall at six. Prof. Flitwick invited us, in case Slughorn gives us any trouble."

"Is Slughorn even here? He talked about all his invitations, so he might be away," the first year informed them. If someone told her earlier that she'd be spending her holiday with Severus Snape and his mudblood, Pandora would have thrown herself off the clock tower. She could have gone home, but her parents had already been told that she was staying with the Warringtons. Her parents would have been highly disappointed with her if she had intruded upon them. When Warrington returned, Pandora had ensured she would not get a single night's unbroken rest in that bed ever again. No one trifled with a Greengrass.

"Then there might be some dessert left for us, outside of Dumbledore's reach," Lily suggested brightly.

Severus wondered if there would be any gravy custards for Lily, or if she would just hold over a full gravy boat from an earlier course to drown her pudding.

"Dahlia?" asked Lily.

When no one answered her, Lily repeated, "What do you think of Dahlia, Sev?"

"What?"

"For your bird. Or how about Peony?"

"Aren't those flowers?"

"Yes."

"She doesn't look like a flower."

"I'm not a flower."

"Your name is to indicate your parents' wish for you to be graced with beauty."

"It's nicer than Pandora," Greengrass added.

"Why?" Severus asked. "Wasn't she the first woman? The all-endowed?"

"Do you have anything nice to say about your name, Sev?"

"I am not a girl. I think he was a Roman General and Governor of Britain. That was even before Merlin."

"I thought he was an emperor," Lily said.

"Maybe it was a common Latin name that fell out of favor. Coronis is from the Greek legend about why crows and ravens are black. They were white before Apollo cursed them."

"Coronis?" Lily repeated in distaste. Dahlia was much better.

"She doesn't need to be named today," Severus said, sensing Lily's tone of voice. If they had two daughters, they'd end up named Dahlia and Peony because Lily would hold a grudge that long, if he argued over the stupid bird's name. It wasn't important, but Lily should realize it had to be something he wouldn't mind using to refer to it.

"There are ravens in Norse mythology too," proposed Greengrass.

"Was it Huginn as thought, and Muninn as memory? Odin let them loose each morning to fly over the world to bring him news."

"Those aren't very nice names," Lily interjected.

"Something Norse then? Valkyrie are female."

"Eh," was Lily's response to Severus's suggestion.

Pandora was getting tired of this. If it was Snape's bird, he could name it whatever he bloody well wanted.

By the end of breakfast, Lily decided that the damned bird did not deserve a wonderful name like Dahlia. She would only eat what Severus gave it. She also ate everything – bacon, sausage, toast, a cabbage leaf and Cheeri Owls. Severus was studying the Cheeri Owls box when she made a speech of croaky caws.

"I'll take a box of this, and some bacon and cabbage for her. That should keep her content till later. Does she go out after she eats?"

The girls shrugged in response so they went up to the Front Hall, and let her out the front door. Severus left it cracked open so none of them had to wait in the cold for her. The bird returned in approximately fifteen minutes with a squirrel in its claws. She dropped it at Severus's feet, and he picked it up to take with them, back to the dungeon.

"Once I put her away, what do you want to do?" he asked.

Greengrass said, "I suppose I should start on my letters of thanks for my presents. I'll see you tonight at six."

Lily's eyes got a mischievous look, and when Greengrass went into the Slytherin common room, she suggested, "Get rid of this, and bring a set of your new underwear. I have an idea."

New underwear might mean Lily expected him to get completely undressed. Severus only wanted to do that once. Well actually never, but once was about as much as he could hope for. Underwear was equivalent to Lily's use of toothbrushes to start kissing. Except today would be shagging. In response, Severus did not betray his suspicions, but simply agreed, "All right."

He returned to Lily outside Slytherin after he drank the felix felicitus in privacy, and guessed he was right by Lily's giggle as she grabbed his hand to lead him up to the fifth floor. She gave a password to a door near Boris the Bewildered and pulled him in.

This settled it. Lily Evans was fascinated by bathrooms, or else had some sexual attraction to them. Severus had heard there was a mermaid window in the Prefects' bathroom, and now he saw it.

"See how big the tub is?" Lily said, pointing at it. "We can take a bath together."

"All right," he responded, glad she did not want to use the toilet again.

Lily turned on the taps, asking, "Any preferences?"

"Whatever you like," he answered, pulling out one bottle of mead and enlarging it. He also transfigured the cork into a wine glass and poured her a drink.

When he handed it to her, Lily frowned, saying, "I thought you said you got this for um … you know."

He shrugged and answered, "I can get more."

"It's still morning."

"How often do I get completely undressed for you?"

Lily took a sip, then another once she realized how much she liked this mead, and put the glass down. Giving Severus what she hoped was a naughty look, she slowly unbuttoned her cardigan and gave her hips a bit of a shimmy as she walked over to a bench to put her folded clothes on. She looked over her shoulder and found Severus right behind her. She was about to tell him to back up so he could watch, but he grabbed her hips and pulled her bum against his front and started rubbing himself against her. Her eyes widened since he seemed to like this more than her hand.

"May I unbutton the rest please?"

"Please do, Sev."

Severus handed Lily her glass, and then finished unbuttoning the last button of the cardigan. He then started on her blouse, starting on the bottom after he untucked it from her waistband. Severus had not finished with her blouse, when he slid both his hand under it up to her breasts and got his fingers underneath her bra, pushing the whole thing up to cradle both in his hands. He was lifting them a bit and let his thumbs rove till he was able to trap her nipples between his thumb and forefinger.

Feeling dry-mouthed, Lily drained the glass.

Severus kissed her sweetly, then released her to take the glass from her lifeless fingers and refill it.

He gave her the glass and finished unbuttoning her blouse.

Lily's bra was still pushed up so she was not covered.

Severus touched her lightly, resumed his hold on one side and bent down to suckle on the other. When he gave her that slight twist as he did the first time Lily asked him to fondle her breasts, she shuddered. Severus switched sides and Lily ran her free hand through Severus's hair in an attempt to stay rooted in reality.

Lily didn't know when she finished the second glass, but as Severus refilled it for her, she removed her clothes above the waist and folded them neatly. Before putting down her wand down, she turned off the taps.

She took a sip of mead as Severus pulled his ratty jumper over his head. They shared a heated look as he moved past her folding it to place on the bench next to her clothes.

Once he was behind Lily, Severus breathed, "Confundo."

He took the glass from her hand before she dropped it. It was quite by accident that he drained it.

He gagged on the sweetness. After charming the taste out of his mouth, he got to work on getting them both completely undressed and all the runes drawn on their bodies with the improved solution.

Refilling the glass, he got Lily to drain another one, and filled it again and put it on the side. The first bottle was almost empty so he enlarged the second one. After he spent a little time getting Lily ready, he took a moment to admire the artistic beauty of the way her hip curved outward from her waist. She was too beautiful for him.

He began the spell as prescribed when he first entered her.

Concentrating was hard. This was even better than Lily's mouth. Severus completed the spell, and felt he did it properly because he had felt a connection formed between him and Lily. It was intangible and insubstantial, but it was there.

With Lily still under the effects of confundus, he took care of getting himself ready and repositioned them. While they were physically tangled together, he reversed the charm and threw his wand over to his clothes.

Lily licked her lips. Hmm, mead. Severus kissed where her shoulder joined her neck lightly, and she could feel his breath from his nose against the front of her neck. She blinked looking at the filled bathtub. Weren't they … she felt, and then looked down … Severus was definitely within her, and her legs were wrapped around his and held wide open with her sitting on his lap. Her back was to his chest, and one of his hands was massaging her chest while the other was playing below. Her legs were starting to twitch, but she was trapped.

Severus upgraded his assault when she moaned and jerked helplessly on top of him.

He held her against him when she would have slumped lifeless to the cold tiles.

"Sev," she groaned.

"Asking for more again and so soon? Lily ..." He stopped talking, and Lily felt him slide his hands to her hips. She didn't know what he was doing as he lifted her up a bit and shifted under her, releasing her legs from his. They were numb as she tried to gather them under her to get up, but that was not what Severus had in mind.

His hands guided her movements, and she was too shocked to do more than grunt each time he pulled her against his body. She tried to evaluate what was happening, but Sev removed one hand from her hip and with a few moves of his fingers, she collapsed on the floor, drooling on the towel underneath them as Severus continued to shatter her consciousness to pieces.

She barely registered that they only needed a broom underneath them to have her play for the Holyhead Harpies. Although at this point, Lily felt she was not the least bit photogenic. She was an unresisting, shuddering puddle.

Severus rolled her over onto her back and stroked her skin. After a couple involuntary jerks of her limbs, Lily started to ask, "Uh, Sev …" What was she to ask? She already forgot their first time, and she wanted Severus to fill her in?

He was entirely undressed … Lily's eyes darted over him.

He looked down at her, with a concentrating look on his face as he traced his fingers down her side.

There was an old yellow bruise on his shoulder. His chest was not pretty. It was thin, bony, marked up with remnants of old injuries, his nipples were all right she supposed, there was hardly any hair, but did she really want him hairy?

He sat with his legs folded to the side so she could only see a little of the base but the rest was hidden.

She tried to sit up, and Severus aided her.

Following the potion's impulse, he suggested, "Did you want me to help you over to the bath?"

"Yeah, that would uh … be good." That was why she put water in the tub earlier. She did not resist as Severus assisted her sleepwalking form to the water.

Even when Lily was sedate and cooperative, Severus was annoyed that her hand still drifted down to grab hold of his cock. It was sore now. Whoever said they were able to do it all afternoon and night had to be a liar. His balls were aching too. Unlike others, Severus did not think this was a 'good kind' of pain. Idiots.

She didn't let go of him so he had to crouch to help her sit in the tub. "Could you heat the water up a bit, Sev? It's cooled."

"My wand's over there. Could you let go of me please?"

Lily giggled, let go and urged him, "Bring it back as soon as you can, I'm not done with it yet."

He shook his head considering that he imbibed felix felicitus, not Lily, as he went to fetch his wand. Why was he the one that was sore?

Her mouth dropped open as Severus turned to get his wand. What happened to his back? The marks were painful to view. From the front, Sev was thin, but the way his ribs and spine were outlined from behind with the discolorations crossing over them and growing heavier toward his arse where there was hardly an untouched portion of skin … Sev turned, cutting off her view of his behind.

"Oh, come on," he implored. "You're sitting there like a hungry baby bird. Let me at least wash it off first."

Lily closed her mouth. That was close.

Severus joined her in the water before warming it up. It felt fine to him, but he was able to tolerate it slightly hotter to please Lily.

He accioed her glass, but she put it down on the side of the tub.

Since she wasn't telling him what to do, Severus summoned some flannels and soaped one up to wash Lily. This is what normal people did in the tub. He wasn't sure what turned on Lily about a bathtub, unless it was somewhere one was expected to be disrobed.

Relaxing in the reheated water, Lily marveled at how gentle Severus could be with her. He did not look capable of it, but his fingers felt wonderful anywhere on her body, not only on the naughty bits. He even picked up her leg and washed between her toes.

She hoped he'd let her wash him in return. Though how was she going to ask him about … all that? Lily felt really out of her depth. This was more than how stupid she felt after seeing the inside of his house.

He was washing between her legs, when he asked, "Is this all right? I don't know if I hurt you."

"I'm fine, Sev. You're wonderful. In fact, you are more than wonderful."

"Uh, thanks."

"No really," Lily insisted and gave him a kiss that turned into full frontal snogging as she climbed onto his lap.

She let her fingers move across his chest and found that his nipples were also sensitive. Well, maybe not as much as hers, but Sev made little noises when she played with them.

She squirmed about and couldn't stand it any longer so grabbed her favorite toy while running her other hand between her two new ones before she forgot about them as she took charge of everything else and held Sev's face against her chest while she rode him.

Lily may not remember the first time, but this was bloody brilliant.

In retrospect, while she drifted back down to terra firma, Lily thought that she was calling everything with Severus bloody brilliant. Every new thing they tried, she labeled as 'bloody brilliant', and more 'bloody brilliant' than the last thing they did. She was as eloquent as a quidditch loving Gryffindor. Was Severus's body combined with her body her equivalent of quidditch? No, this was so much more bloody brilliant than quidditch, she thought with a big grin.

"Lily, I hope you don't take this the wrong way … I'm sure you can get in enough exercise on me to get me in shape to keep up with you, but all this is making me ache"

"Ache?"

"Yes, I know. Not a normal thing for a teen bloke to admit."

"Oh your uh … well, I guess before now we weren't sending your broom to practice every day. Now we'll have to because you're my starting player."

"Every day?" Severus repeated, trying to ignore Lily's attempt at a sports analogy.

"You don't want to do this every day at least once?"

"With you, yes, but until we have some arrangement that permits it ..."

"You mean like married?"

"You said it, Lily, not me. I was thinking that, but you'd rather not talk about it?"

"Well I am now. I mean like … we're in love, but still in school, and have a lot to do after we graduate."

Severus savored the way Lily said 'we're in love'. Could she be willing to listen to him? The potion should be working to give him a perfect day. Not necessarily the day he wanted, but if he said something Lily didn't like, she shouldn't jump up and run out of here dripping wet.

He made the attempt. "Lily, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I don't find it selfish to want to start the rest of my life as soon as possible."

The rest of his life with her? Well, yeah, of course. It was rather silly for Lily to want Severus to be with someone else. Look at Mary. Lily's eyes narrowed as she recalled some of the things Mary had said about Sev. She knew his weaknesses, about him not trusting people and wanted to use that life debt to exploit it. If not for Lily, Mary would be the only person Severus would have a chance with, and she knew it. She was lying to his face, pretending she was interested in him, and then threw him that burden of a bird. All because she wanted to know that someone would take care of her. Anyone would do, and she knew that Severus was dependable, even though she detested every part of him other than his penis.

Lily was thinking, but she looked angry to Severus. He doubted he could express his feelings any simpler. It may not be what she wants to hear, but telling Lily the truth should be preferable than lying to her. What was so horrible about his truth, other than it involved him?

She kept quiet while she washed Sev. He even let Lily wash his hair. Mary wouldn't do this sort of thing with him. Lily loved Severus, and was quite angry right now. Yelling at Sev wouldn't help. He didn't encourage Mary, and he didn't particularly encourage people to hurt him. If the four Marauders had been picking on Lily, instead of Sev, she doubted she'd cave in to their bullying. Not all of this was their fault, Lily suspected his father and there were hints that Slytherins hurt him too. He wasn't even entirely sure how he was hurt. This bruise that was almost gone was from a stone block falling out of the ceiling. What kind of insanity was that? Out of all times for the school to fall apart and drop big stones, it does it on Severus?

Once they were out of the tub, Lily made Severus show off his new underwear. He said it would take some getting used to. It fit, but since it was new, it wasn't stretched out yet.

Lily understood what he was saying, but it sounded strange to her that he did not find new clothing more comfortable. Other than his school uniforms, everything Severus owned was well beyond old.

While they were eating lunch in the kitchens, Lily suggested they take treats for their birds, get their cloaks, and take them both outside. If her owl could tolerate the raven, perhaps it could stay in the Owlery. She didn't have to like it to realize keeping it in a windowless dungeon was not the best place for it.

Since Severus did not have to hike up to the Owlery to get his familiar, he had beaten Lily to the Front Hall. Lily frowned at him reading from a large book, and at Mary's useless gift, sitting on his shoulder.

"What's that?" she asked.

"There was a section on Norse runes. Maybe something will sound right for this thing."

Lily's lips quirked. He called it 'this thing'.

Her owl did not mind the raven, until it started taking food from her. It wouldn't take food directly from Lily, but it would swoop down on her smaller owl to take its treats. Lily yelled at it when it knocked her owl to the ground, but her owl was unhurt.

"Sev, did you see that?"

"Yes, I don't think it likes owls."

"Doesn't like … well, obviously. What are we going to do with it?"

"I don't know."

"You already said you can't keep it down in the dungeons. I agree with that."

"You don't like it, do you?"

"No, I don't."

"So you won't want to keep its cage in your room? You can let it out the window in the morning."

"What? Why … well, Mary wouldn't hurt it. Maybe make her see what an idiotic idea it was."

"That wasn't quite what I had in mind. I was thinking about it spending time outside, and then I could go into a courtyard to bring it in later. Owls mostly stay up in the owlery, but other familiars are either left in the rooms or get carried around."

"You want to carry it around?"

"Not really, but for the winter, it shouldn't be out all day, should it?"

"Maybe you can set up something nice for it in the clock tower."

"Perhaps. That is far enough from the dungeons, and if I hide the cage, no one will know I have a familiar, other than you, MacDonald, and Greengrass."

"Doesn't a familiar have to be with you part of the time?"

"Do you spend time with your owl?"

"Not as much as I did when I first got her."

"So how much do you not like her?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"I was thinking of a name. Ravens are very prominently used in Norse tales so I don't necessarily want to name her after Odin's familiars, but maybe a name from their mythology might suit her."

"She's no goddess, Sev, or anything nice like what you said about Pandora meaning all-endowed."

"Fair enough. I was reading through this poem. The Völuspá describes the beginning, end and rebirth of the world. When the end of the world is described, the sun turns black."

"Black? You want to call her the Norse word for black?"

"No, Blakkr is kind of boring. The end of the world, or more correctly the twilight or end of gods is Ragnorak. The sun turning black is mentioned twice …

Now death is the portion of doomed men,
Red with blood the buildings of gods,
The sun turns black in the summer after,
Winds whine. Well, would know more?

Earth sinks in the sea, the sun turns black,
Cast down from Heaven are the hot stars,
Fumes reek, into flames burst,
The sky itself is scorched with fire.

Lily frowned. She'd prefer it got some boring name. Ragnorak sounded rather destructive and powerful. "Maybe. As you said we don't have to name it today. Once we do some research and maybe figure out her habits, something perfect will pop up."

Severus thought felix felicitus would aid with this. Wasn't it supposed to help him all day? If Slughorn brewed it correctly … his only real goal had been achieved. Lily was acting like herself. "Sure," he agreed.

"Let me say good-bye and then we'll take your girl up to the clock tower to see if she likes it."

Severus felt that Lily put on a show for his raven with the way she cooed over her owl.

It came over to him when he called it down, and settled on his shoulder. It favored his left shoulder. Perhaps it knew that he used his wand in his right? This threw Lily off because she usually walked on Sev's left. Now, she wanted to walk on whatever side the stupid bird wasn't on. Since Severus did not want someone restricting his right hand, Lily put her hand under his cloak, holding and stroking his bum. He didn't care for it, but wasn't going to take a chance that the luck potion brewed by Slughorn was effective for the entire day.

Looking around the room at the top of the clock tower, Severus critically noted that it was dark so the bird could easily hide, and there were a number of exits for her to escape. He lit the rafters overhead and saw there was plenty of room to make her comfortable up there, once they knew what ravens liked to nest in.

"Sev, come over here," Lily called.

He hadn't been paying attention to her once he saw she started cleaning the tower. The bird didn't need it spotless. "What?"

With both hands she grabbed the front waistband of his trouser and pulled him against her, "I want you."

He was about to complain, but there was a definite nudge in his mind that he should do this. Was it the spell somehow enslaving him to Lily's endless carnal desires, or was it the luck potion? Hoping it was the temporary effect of the potion, Severus allowed Lily access to his body after getting the bird off his shoulder. She went up to the rafters. He didn't know if he wanted it watching him and Lily. It was an animal, but it was supposed to be a smart animal.

The twin ache in his balls as he completed into Lily sitting astride him better mean that something good was going to come of this. How could he be punished for not spending his free time wanking instead of reading? This was so utterly wrong. Well, maybe not. Lily was so out of control she had gotten completely naked except for her cloak. Her breasts were exactly right. They were the same size as his palms, not the heavy, flopping melons that the others liked.

With a huge sigh of relief, Lily concluded her screaming, looking down at him with a genuine smile and a promise of more to come in her eyes.

He couldn't blame her. The combination of his cock in her snatch had her barely able to continue breathing. Severus doubted she'd settle for less now that she knew she could get at least ten minutes of constant mind-numbing bliss this way. There was something physically wrong with her.

Rather than getting off him, Lily tried to regain his interest by nudging her pelvis with his exhausted body still inside her, and started talking to him, "That was wonderful, Sev. You are so beautiful when I'm making you happy this way."

Puzzled if she was talking about his probable look of pain as his testicles were squeezed dry like a wrung out flannel, he lay quietly beneath her as she took his hands and rubbed them along her chest.

When he continued without her urging, Lily sort of danced on top of him, raising her arms and shifting her hips more.

Although Severus did like what he was seeing, there was no chance that he would recover before Lily's impatience took over.

He let his hands drift lower and she sped up in anticipation, eventually screaming out more than his name with "I love you, Severus."

That was new. However, he realized that Lily was acting more like a male in this relationship so any declarations during sex were spur of the moment.

By the time it started to grow dark, Severus was exhausted even though he had spent the afternoon lying on his back. Lily repeated she loved him several more times during their hours up here, and even declared it during a break of frantic snogging.

Severus got himself sorted, and aided Lily in finding her knickers which had ended up on top of one of the supports holding up the bells below them. He wasn't sure how the luck potion had helped him up here. If Lily came to her senses over him, repeating what she said up here would not win him any arguments. Also, the most important rule was that potions did not create real love. This wasn't even a so-called love potion.

Lily bounced up from tying her shoes, and said, "You should change for the feast, Sev. If you need to, wear your uniform trousers and shirt."

He still had to go to some stupid feast? Why? Did anyone care? Well, Lily would want him there with her. They couldn't discuss shagging. Severus wanted to talk it over, and at least set some boundaries with what he was comfortable with. If they tried to address it while alone, Lily might try to molest him, rather than listening to a word he said.

When he reached the stairs, the bird landed on his shoulder. Had it been watching the whole time that Lily was desperate for him to fertilize her eggs? Did birds do it for pleasure too?

"Hurry up, Sev."

"It's not six yet."

"I know, but I don't want to get there late."

He rolled his eyes. Afraid to miss the beginning of some boring tale that would last all night? Or did she want to scope out a seat with access to multiple vats of gravy?

"All right. Did you want to meet outside and go in together?"

"Sure, but don't dawdle."

Unhappy with his current physical state, Severus stripped everything off and used a liberal amount of soap and water in the Slytherin gents. Spells didn't leave him feeling clean.

Not knowing what Lily was going to do to him next, he dressed starting with more of the new underwear she had given him. He also put on his school sweater since it was too cold for just his button-down, white shirt.

It was a couple minutes before six when he met up with an impatient looking Lily.

"What took you?" she asked.

"Your smell is for me alone, Lily. I didn't want to share it with anyone," he replied lowly, and leaned close to give her a kiss. "Besides, their dull tales might not be enough to stop me from getting all worked up over the scent of you. I'd take you right there, bending you over the table, flipping your skirt up and pushing your knickers aside … "

"Sev!"

He breathed on her neck and warned, "Oh no. I may have washed it off me, but my dirty suggestions are getting you so aroused, I can smell your heat. Lily -"

"Stop!"

"All right."

"I've unleashed a beast," Lily declared, as she turned to go inside.

Severus made a face behind her. He was a beast?

The sneer did not leave his face as he realized they were all going to eat at one table.

There was an absolutely disgusting amount of food on it. Most of it rather foul, swimming in sauces and glistening oddly in the candlelight. Did the elves put some sort of sparkling charm on the meal?

Lily already decided to sit with Flitwick, so Severus sat on the other side of her. Lily's planned adventures might drown out the sound of Slughorn telling Cresswell about all the glittering and extremely important parties he had recently attended. If Slughorn was really that welcome everywhere, why was he having his Christmas feast at Hogwarts with Dirk Cresswell, mere brown-nosed student?

Greengrass arrived shortly after they did, and took the seat on the other side of Flitwick. Severus understood why she'd prefer to sit there than next to him, but that left him with an empty seat that could be filled with a potential pain in the arse.

The next time Severus thought of using felix felicitus he'd find somewhere that would be undisturbed for six months and brew it himself. Slughorn had to have brewed the weakest version to ever turn a golden color. Dumbledore's ensemble was a walking punishment to all who viewed it. It was red velvet with winking spangles of red, green and gold. Atop his head was a gold embroidered matching cap with a festive fairy dancing upon its top, flat surface.

As he came closer, Severus itched to find some doxycide.

Why the fuck was Dumbledore ignoring Slughorn's waves and calls indicating he had saved the headmaster a seat, to take the seat next to him? Severus would rather be hanging with that bathroom ghost.

McGonagall took the seat on the other side of the headmaster. Maybe she could assert some control over him, or at least listen to his rambling lies.

"Good evening. How are you all enjoying your first Christmas here at Hogwarts?"

Severus looked at Lily and Greengrass to politely listen to their answers. Since they were already in the spirit of their upcoming explorations, they mentioned their plans to the headmaster. The librarian across the table complained that the three of them were in the library everyday for the entire time it was open. Severus quirked an eyebrow at him, how was being in the library when it was open a problem?

"And how is your Christmas so far, Severus?" Albus asked the silent student sitting beside him.

Keeping his eyes on his plate, he shrugged, "All right." Perhaps he should be celebrating this was the last holiday before he could apparate out of here. Well, go through the gates and apparate, but it was still gone.

Dumbledore then blathered on about the food, and started carving the turkey in front of him. It was sparkly inside too. What was wrong with all of them? The headmaster piled a plate high with turkey and other foods, then handed it in his direction.

Lily whispered, "Pass it along."

He took it and handed it to Lily. That plate ended up with Greengrass. The next with Flitwick, and then Lily's. The headmaster prepared another plate and handed it to him. Severus put it down in front of himself. If all the food was permeated with glitter, it didn't matter what he was given. Dumbledore served a plate to McGonagall before taking an extra loaded one for himself with his potatoes piled into a miniature castle before he rained gravy down on it. Competing with Lily to see who could drink in more greasy meat juice in one sitting?

Severus leaned back and turned towards Lily in the deep chair. Maybe the headmaster would leave him alone if he pretended to be fascinated with the girls' discussion with Flitwick.

Lily did most of the talking, with occasional pauses to get the teacher's permission for something. She was doing a good job of it. She already had curfew waived, could pack as much food as they could carry, and based on Greengrass's description of the Slytherin attendance sheet, could set up something similar to keep the professor informed of their progress. Lily was now talking about sleeping bags. After one night without a bed, he hoped her enthusiasm for that faded. Severus may not have much, but he was grateful to have a bed at Spinner's End. Other than when it got really cold when he was little, he got to sleep alone. He overheard some of the other children complaining they had to share beds or pallets on the floor. Although his parents shared, and he'd like to share with Lily, being squeezed into a small bed with two or three other siblings would be intolerable.

And why would she want to get so far from their beds that they could not get washed up either? If she sneaked in a shag, Severus would want to wash. He was not kidding earlier when he said that Lily's smell had been all over him. She'd also drive him crazy if they did not pack enough meat and gravy to satisfy her cursed appetite.

Pandora took a turn asking Flitwick questions as Lily glanced at Severus. She had felt him crowded next to her. Her food had been really good. Not as fine as home. It was a shame that Dumbledore forced a plate of meat and other items swimming in gravy on Severus.

"Did you want me to switch our plates so you can take your pick of what you want, pretending its seconds?" Lily asked.

"If you want mine, take it. I was thinking of picking up something in the kitchen when I went to detention."

"Tonight?"

"If I finish it tonight, that'll be it. Filch's list will be done."

"But … well, all right," Lily was feeling pretty full and may feel like going to sleep, rather than shagging some more. She was planning on making a dent on Sev's plate too before afters. She swapped plates with him and tucked in.

"Should I go now that Flitwick doesn't have any more questions for us?" he asked.

"Wait till pudding, Sev."

"I don't want pudding."

"Doesn't matter. There's always other stuff beside pudding. I bet they'll be crackers."

"I'd rather eat something more than crackers."

Lily swallowed and corrected him, "Not those type of crackers, Sev. The kind that pop with prizes in them."

He had no idea what she was talking about.

Albus turned from Minerva to chide young Severus for not enjoying the meal and saw that his plate had been cleared in the couple of minutes he had looked away. There were smears of potato and gravy on it, so he did not use magic to clear it.

He nudged the teen, calling "Severus."

The boy turned with a "What?" but his dark eyes suddenly dropped to the table as Severus momentarily forgot about the headmaster's choice of merry garment.

"I overheard you and your friends are going to put your spare time to good use exploring the castle. What secrets are you hoping to uncover?"

"I don't know."

"Just the feeling of freedom to go and do whatever you want?"

"I don't know what you mean," Severus replied. What did the headmaster think they were going to do? Even if he liked Greengrass, she was a bit young for him to be doing whatever with. Five years difference may be all right in old people, but what would he have in common with a first year?

"You know, the freedom of having the school to yourself for your first holiday here?"

"Who? Me?"

"Yes, my boy."

"This is my sixth Christmas here, and I've been here all five Easters, you dunderhead."

On the other side of Albus, Minerva broke out in laughter.

When he looked at her, she shrugged and said, "He's right, you know. Severus has been here every holiday. I was only wondering what he'd say to straighten you out, dunderhead."

"I stand corrected than. I'm sorry, Severus, it must have slipped my mind with the dragonpox keeping Miss Evans here also. I've hardly seen either of you."

"We're busy doing homework. You've already heard we're in the library, Evans speaks to Prof. Flitwick, we've seen Prof. McGonagall a couple times. I mostly run into Mr. Filch."

"Mr. Filch? Oh ho, what are you getting up to?"

"Nothing. I do work for him to fulfill my detentions."

"Detention over the holiday?"

"Sure. Mr. Filch and I already worked it out. I'd rather just finish up what I have, rather than put it off till January."

"What about Mr. Filch's holiday? Surely you are interrupting it?"

"Not really. I let him know when I've finished something on his list. Mr. Filch can check it when he wants. I do perform the work to his specifications. Who do you think taught me what to do?" Severus answered getting angry that Dumbledore decided to stick his nose in where it didn't belong. He did not need Dumbledore telling Filch he could do more for him, or that he needed closer supervision.

Lily butted in, "Just go take a look at Myrtle's bathroom. I'm not fond of the color, but Myrtle wanted it gray, blue and lavender. Severus redid the drainage in the floor to prevent the overflows into the hall, besides the grout, fixing the mirrors and the sinks, and getting it all shiny again. He's doing a really good job for Mr. Filch."

Behind Albus, Minerva hissed, "Argus showed him how to fix things?"

Albus was puzzled by that. It didn't sound like either Miss Evans or Mr. Snape knew Argus was a squib, but the amount of work needed to redo a lavatory without magic, was better left to the house elves. He glanced down the table and saw Argus was enjoying dinner with Hagrid, and at the moment the two of them were draining their goblets.

"I do see Mrs. Norris sometimes. She's rather good at hiding so it's best I keep working till I'm done," Severus said. "From what Mr. Filch said, I don't think many other students actually do work for him. They mess things up more so those are the ones that he and Mrs. Norris have to keep their eye on."

"I've heard of them," Minerva agreed. Every Gryffindor that got detention proved incapable of following simple instructions. Some created devastation, rather than accepting their punishment. She commiserated with Argus many times after sorting the mess that some students only responded to the old punishments. If Albus took the time to see what some of these students did to Argus, maybe he'd change his tune.

Severus shrugged, "It's better I do the work than mess things up. Mr. Filch can keep me there much longer each night when there's class, and I have homework to get through."

"Very sensible," Minerva agreed.

"I do let Mr. Filch know when I'm done on a school night, and if I saw anything unusual I'll tell him."

"Did he ever find out why that stone fell, Sev?" Lily asked.

"Maybe. I think he was more concerned for Mrs. Norris. She was missing for a couple days after that. Even though I saw her after, so I knew she wasn't under it."

"That's right. She ran off with the rat."

With a glance at the uneaten food, Severus said, "The fattest rat I've ever seen. I'm surprised she could lift it."

The castle had wards against vermin so Albus asked, "A regular rat?"

"I guess. As I said, it was obese. I've seen lots of rats by the river where I live. This one was shorter, had light brown fur, instead of black."

"Did it do anything unusual?"

"Not really."

Minerva muttered to the back of Albus, "That was the night Pettigrew disappeared. You don't think …?"

"Highly unlikely," he replied, "but perhaps Mrs. Norris will have something to tell you about her conquest. Normal rats and other rodents should not be able to enter the school."

"A student could have brought it in as a familiar."

"If it's as chubby as he said, it should have been down by the kitchens, or near a common room where there would be neglected food."

"Mr. Snape may have been mistaken about its physical appearance."

"I don't think so," Albus responded. "The area he lives in is highly infested."

Minerva frowned at that piece of information. She had known that he was poor.

Severus supposed waiting till the pudding and other desserts were served was worth the wait.

Lily's face lit up in pure enjoyment.

He had been seeing that look too much lately, but it was somewhat of a relief to see it directed at food. Unless she considered him just something else to consume.

Lily could not resist clapping her hands together. The blue flames from all the lit puddings illuminated the table. They weren't all though, there was pretty much a little bit of everything else. Cakes, cookies, tarts, and custards were all gayly spread out before her, along with crackers! Excellent.

She was feeling bad that she had Severus sit through this. Why did Dumbledore have to be such a jerk and think everyone liked what he liked? Severus was sixteen, and old enough to choose his own foods without someone playing mother for him. And not a very good mother either, there were green veggies on the table, but none made it onto their plates. Lily's mother would not let them get away with that.

The pudding was not as good as home, but her mother used a secret recipe that had been handed down for generations. She pestered Severus, "You have to try a bit of this pudding, Sev."

"What's in it?"

"Nuts and fruit," she replied while getting a bit on her fork that contained some of the prized ingredients.

He made a face at the dark substance on Lily's fork that she was hovering in front of his face. Nuts and fruit weren't bad, so he let her put it in his mouth. This was not like any nuts and fruit he had ever had. This was disgusting and sticky. He couldn't decide if it would be easier to swallow it or spit. It adhered to his teeth.

Not finding water within reach, Severus cast aguamenti into his unused goblet to try to wash it down, or at least try to break down its viscosity. After a second goblet, he asked, "What's wrong with you?"

"What?" Lily replied.

"That was not nuts and fruit. Something was done to them."

"They are suspended in a base of suet, treacle and molasses and then usually soaked in brandy. Some people use beer."

"Why would I eat anything with treacle or molasses? And what's suet?"

"Suet's raw beef or mutton fat, but it's used in a lot of things, Sev. It's no big deal."

His mother may be a terrible cook, but she never gave him a lump of fat to fill up on. The others were eating it with true gusto. What was wrong with all of them?

"I do not eat such things, Lily. It could make me sick. I only had a little so I'll probably be fine."

Lily frowned at him. He may have a point, but Severus was going to have to adjust to eating more things. Maybe not steamed fat with molasses and treacle. That was a mistake on her part. It was a miscalculation that everyone loves Christmas pudding. "I didn't ask you to try it to hurt you, Sev. How about we split a cracker?"

She extended a colored foil paper tube towards him. When he did not grab it properly and let Lily snatch the whole thing back, she said, "Look on the inside and get a grip where you see that little brown paper tab. We both pull."

This was annoying. Why didn't Sev know what a cracker was? The Snape family may not do anything for Christmas, but the table was covered with crackers here. If Sev had been here for five Christmases, none of these … people … bothered to share one with him? Or were they only for the Cresswells and Potters of the world? She'd pull open every one tonight to show these toerags who was entitled to touch the crackers.

BAM! What the...? That was way too loud, Lily thought, as she coughed on the smelly blue smoke. It better have good prizes she continued to think as she blinked to see what had come out.

Severus handed Lily the flowered chapeau. Flitwick already had donned a top hat from a cracker he had just split with Greengrass.

Lily tried to give him the chess set, but he declined saying, "I don't care for games, Lily."

"But maybe we'll find a second set and then we can play."

With a smirk, he asked, "You want to play chess with me?"

Leaning close, she whispered, "We can up the stakes a bit. Strip chess."

"Will either of us have an incentive to win?"

"Probably not," she replied, finding the slip of paper with the joke. She turned it over to look at the answer, rather than reading it aloud. Her lips thinned in a very good impression of her head of house. "What kind of toerag joke is this? What did the magical teapot ask the muggle?"

Not having the right kind of sense of humor for such riddles, Severus commented, "It shouldn't say anything to a muggle."

"I like your answer better, Sev. This says 'one lump or two?'"

"Does that mean sugar, or striking him?"

"I guess that's supposed to be the funny bit."

Severus shrugged. He couldn't explain why someone would think that was funny. He'd only find it amusing if specific people were getting struck. Not random strangers.

Despite the disappointment with the joke, Lily insisted they open a second cracker together. It contained more worthless items. This time a frilly bonnet and a package of balloons. Lily did not bother to read the joke aloud, but crumpled it up.

That hunk of pudding was weighing heavily in his stomach. If he did not know it was a lump of animal fat, it probably would not bother him as much.

There was a hinting nudge from his lucky potion that he was supposed to go now. He asked Lily, "Is it all right if I go now?"

"You didn't get a hat yet, Sev."

"I don't want a hat."

Lily pursed her lips to reply, but gave it some thought before she blurted out the first thing that came to mind. How could she expect Severus to get in the spirit of things? Finally, someone opens a cracker with him? That was probably his highpoint of the entire feast. The headmaster shoved a plate of food at him that he wouldn't eat. Had someone done that to him for the previous five years? Did he even bother coming any more? If she wasn't here, would he be down in the dungeons reading? He'd be ignoring Pandora. His detention would force him to talk to Mr. Filch, but for some strange reason Severus didn't say anything bad about the caretaker. She finally replied, "All right, but don't stay out too late. We are hitting the library as soon as it opens to sort out that bird."

"Whatever you say. So kitchens at nine?"

"Yes, and bring it with you so we can compare it to illustrations."

"It has to eat anyway."

She nodded. That was the beauty of having an owl. The house elves took care of it. Lily only had to worry about it when she was at home.

Severus slid out of his chair between them and exited the room through the nearest door without another sound.

Lily returned to talking to Prof. Flitwick and Pandora.

He had a few suggestions to aid them. They were going to meet with him at lunch tomorrow because Severus had some paperwork he was putting together for them to target areas in the school.

Once he mentioned arithmancy, Lily had left it alone. He wanted to verify they weren't accidentally going to break into the staff-only areas of the school.

Lily agreed that would be both a waste of time, and would get them in trouble, even with permission to snoop around.

Hagrid loudly interrupted all conversation by calling for a toast. Once he had their attention, he raised his goblet and declared, "To Albus Dumbledore. Great man!"

Lily cooperated, rather than being the lone person not joining in, but what had Dumbledore done lately? He Who Must Not Be Named and his Death Eaters were occasionally mentioned in the paper, and their unattributed atrocities were in it constantly. So far this school year, two students were dead. Both were at the school when something happened to them.

She was glaring at the subject of their toast when he looked over to her and asked, "What happened to Mr. Snape?"

"He doesn't care for feasts and celebrations. Severus went to work on some things. He should finish Mr. Filch's tasks tonight to leave the rest of his holiday free to assist Greengrass and I."

"Oh, right. Argus," he called, having been distracted by talk of the mysterious fat rat.

"Headmaster?"

"Mr. Snape has been doing work for you?"

"Leave that one alone. He's the only one worth anything 'round here."

Albus hesitated. Was Argus Filch saying something good about a student? "He's not too much of a bother to you than, Argus?"

"Bother? It's all those others that can't listen to a word I say. I've said many a time that the old punishments is the only way to handle the worst of them. They're a filthy plague infesting the castle, eating away at it."

"They don't mean any harm," Hagrid corrected his drinking partner.

"Harm? The house elves can't keep up wit' them. Between now and summer is the only time they have a moment to do maintenance. This is a big place."

"How long will you have Mr. Snape's assistance, Argus?" Minerva asked.

Filch shrugged, "Probably till he graduates. Got to keep the others away from him though. Jealous whelps keep undoing his work."

"Are you sure it was ever done?" Albus asked.

"Of course I check it, then some out of bounds rat sneaks over and destroys it before morning. It's not just undone, but worse than when he started. Got a lot done this past week without that scum here."

"Who assigned him detention till he graduates?" Minerva asked, getting back to the actual facts, rather than Argus's opinion of students.

"Madame Pomfrey," snapped Lily. "She and Slughorn have something against Severus."

"Prof. Slughorn," was chorused. Albus would be very disappointed if this student was being punished for St. Mungo's opening that investigation.

"Hm?" Horace asked. He had just been telling Cresswell about a Ministry award ceremony and ball he had attended.

"Horace," Minerva called to him, "why does one of your house have over a year of detention coming to him?"

"Who?"

"Severus Snape."

"Does it matter?"

"If it was assigned unfairly, it's up to his head of house to dispute it and negotiate a reduced sentence," the deputy headmistress reminded him.

"Why would I want to do that? He's trouble."

Having drunk more than he usually did, Filch sneered, "I'll take your troublemaker off your hands. You take all those foul muddy-shoed, snot-nosed rabble for detention. They can't even sweep a floor without me keeping an eye on them. They pull a rug over the dirt, and then run off."

Minerva was a little tipsy herself, besides feeling a keen disappointment in Horace once again. "I can agree to that. Most of the students in detention are Gryffindors, and Argus is correct that they are of no assistance to him."

"What good are they to me? I don't have time to watch students," Horace complained.

"It's part of your duties," Minerva sternly replied.

"Horace, I'm sure you given the opportunity you could do a great deal of good for the student body. I can only imagine how you'd show them by your fine example of how far they could go if they only applied themselves. It's rather selfish to confine yourself to a select few, like our fine Mr. Cresswell here. Look at how much he has benefited under your caring tutelage," Albus commented.

Sarcastically, Minerva added, "Yes, you are doing a fine job with Mr. Cresswell."

Dirk Cresswell preened beside Prof. Slughorn. With Slughorn's help, he was sure to go far. Perhaps, Slughorn would allow him to assist and put him in charge of these other students for their detentions to exhibit his supervisory skills. So far this holiday, he rarely ran into any of the students to exercise his authority.

Prof. Flitwick was sitting quietly. Some magic was at work here, but he was not sure what or who was benefiting. It was not helping Horace. Argus may be gaining a reliable helper, but if Snape already had a long-standing detention and did the work, it was not changing anything. Cresswell was in Flitwick's house, but he did not mind Horace singling some out for assistance. Cresswell had a real gift for languages and was a relatively good-looking lad, but he wasn't what a Ravenclaw like Flitwick would consider truly brilliant. Although they were using young Cresswell as an example, the boy didn't seem upset. He clearly enjoyed Horace's attentions, and had dined with the staff every evening thus far.

Lily's mouth quirked in amusement. Mr. Filch liked Severus's work? She wouldn't be as bold as to claim he liked Severus, since he disliked all students, but it was good that a member of the staff other than Prof. Abstractus appreciated him. And now Slughorn had to supervise the evening detentions. It wouldn't last because he'd weasel out soon enough, but at least Dumbledore and McGonagall were getting the true measure of him at last.

AN: Interesting note from Wikipedia - Ten-pin bowling was introduced to the UK in 1960. Dumbledore started bowling in his 80s, or did he start playing elsewhere such as the US? Since AD's wizarding card is so specific on ten pin bowling, I doubt it's a mislabeled game of nine pin, lawn bowling or skittles.