((A/N – Guess what guys. It's the 1 year anniversary of Chalk Outline! Or at least, one year since we started posting it anyway. :D If anyone has been following since the beginning, holy wowzas, you're awesome. And even to the new readers, you're all awesome as well. Thank you so much everyone for reading, and don't worry, we haven't forgotten about this! On with the show!))

Chapter 37

James was already in a bad mood as he made his way to the Room of Requirement. Casual excuses to get away weren't enough anymore; Sirius had started to notice that James was hiding something from him, and had started to take it personally. It wasn't that James didn't want to trust him. But if Padfoot was going to continue acting this way, then he just wasn't responsible enough. And lately, he was driving James completely mental.

When James opened the door, he found... a piano. And Snape, passed out asleep on the floor with his arms around Lily Evans. James's blood boiled. It had occurred to him a couple of times, of course. But actually seeing it was still a shock to the system. And after all the time lately he'd spent keeping Sirius in check, trying to get him to back off and leave Snape alone, the slimy bastard went and... James wanted to walk up and kick Snivellus's greasy head, but that probably wasn't the best idea. Instead, he walked up and nudged Snape in the shoulder with his foot, harder than was strictly necessary.
"I'm sorry," said James in a loud, sarcastic voice. "Is this a bad time? Perhaps I should come back later."

Lily blinked awake to find Potter standing over them. Her face burned with embarrassment.

Severus bolted awake knocking Lily back by accident and grabbing onto Potters foot he pulled forward and knocked James to the ground. He was on top of him with his wand to his throat before he even registered who James was or what was going on around him.

"Sev, wait!" Lily yelled as Severus lunged for Potter.

Severus blinked a few times and pulled his wand away. "Merlin's beard Potter I could have killed you!"

Before James even knew what had happened, he landed hard on his back, with Snape on top of him and a wand pointed at his throat. He hadn't even had time to react. He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief as Snape fully regained awareness and put his wand away.

"You're bloody right you could have," James snapped, shoving Snape off of him, sore as he stood back up again. He had hit the ground a lot harder than he felt was remotely necessary. "If you always wake up like that, maybe you shouldn't be falling asleep around other people in the first place."

"That's not your business, Potter," Lily coolly informed him, standing up.

"The hell it-!" James started, but realized he didn't have a valid argument for that. Very dearly wanting Evans to be his business didn't actually make it so. He shoved a hand through his hair. "Whatever," he said. "But that doesn't stop the rumors from spreading. I'd have thought you knew better than to be so bloody careless."

"Last I checked," said Lily. "Mary does not have access to the Room of Requirement."

"That's not the POINT!" James shouted.

"Are you going to say anything Potter?" Snape asked bored as he stood up from the floor where James had pushed him. "Getting me sacked seems a bit counterproductive." He said brushing off his clothing even though there was no dirt on the floor of the room of requirement.

Lily shot James a glare. She didn't put it past him. "No, I am not going to bloody tell anyone," James snapped. Did they really think he was that petty? Snape probably knew he wouldn't, but Evans... More than anything, it bothered James that Lily's opinion of him was that low. He took a deep breath to calm himself. "But you two need to figure out a way to keep this from getting out. That's all." He glanced over at Severus, still wanting more than anything to just punch him in the face. Repeatedly. "Given the circumstances, Snape," he said. "I think we should reschedule our training session." He headed for the door.

"Get your ass back here Potter, you're training tonight. You have a room full of students in here tomorrow and you're nowhere near prepared." He said. "You think the dark lords ever been like 'oh well due to the circumstance we shouldn't kill these muggles today, let's do it tomorrow.' You're stalling Potter!"

Lily looked over at Severus, surprised. The way he'd spoken to James just now... it sounded an awful lot like Severus was really the one in charge here. A few things clicked into place. Severus's brilliant mind, and his previous fixation with the Dark Arts... Somehow, she seriously doubted that James knew more about defense. Severus was training Potter, not the other way around. But no one trusted Severus Snape enough to follow him. Lily wondered when precisely either of them had planned to tell her that.

James stopped where he was, almost to the door. Very slowly, he turned around, barely containing his anger. "Of course," he said sarcastically, looking down pointedly at the blanket on the floor. "Because you're the one taking things seriously."

Lily sighed. "Oh, grow up, Potter." She crossed her arms, and looked over at Severus. "Would you like me to leave?"

Severus looked at her a shook his head. "No, pull up a seat. I'm sure he'd love an audience." He said taking off his coat and laying it over the piano. He turned to James and held his hands out to the sides.

"If you got something to say Potter, just out and say it."

Lily took Severus's invitation, sitting down on the piano bench.

"Yes," James said, glaring back at Snape. "I do have something to say. In the future, when we have a training session, plan your personal meetings for a different night, or at least at an early enough time that the two don't overlap. Or would that be too much trouble?" James was aiming for reasonable, but he thought his words came out sounding a little bitter. Not nearly as bitter as he felt, though. It was bad enough that Lily was inexplicably with Snape. But actually seeing them together like that was more than James could handle.

"Or perhaps when I tell you to show up at 9 you show up at 9 not 8!" Severus said waving at him as if daring him to attack first.

"Well, excuse me for being early!" James snapped. In an instant, he had his wand out and aimed a 'Stupefy'' at Snape, on his guard and preparing to block whatever Snape would counter with. He knew he needed to get a hold of his temper, to focus, to avoid making a complete idiot of himself in front of Evans. No doubt Snape was planning precisely that. They might be fighting for the same side, but right now James was sure Snape was capable of just about anything to spite him.

Snape flicked his wand blocking the spell easily. "Sloppy potter. You're lucky we're not in class, I'd deduct points for bad form." He said stepping away from Lily. He remained silent as he waited for Potters next attack.

As much as James hated to admit it, Snape was right. He needed to get it together, stop thinking about Lily Evans sitting at the piano bench watching, stop thinking about the blanket on the Room of Requirement floor, stop thinking about... Maybe it had all been just an exercise, to psych James out, one of Snape's bizarre lessons, to force him to focus in the face of distractions, and maybe Lily was in on it, and not really into Snape at all, because didn't that really make more sense? Didn't it?
...This was precisely what he should not be thinking about right now.

James shot a Petrificus Totalus Snape's way, trying to focus and use his energy more efficiently. Which, again, would have been easier under different circumstances.

Snape didn't even bother blocking it, he just side stepped the spell before it hit him. "You're using up too much Chakra in your attacks Potter ..." He said. "My grandmother duels better than you do. And she's a seventy year old muggle." He said. "Focus your mind, pay attention ... stop watching Lily. She's not yours to oogle at." He said calmly, throwing a simple hex at James.

Chakra? The word sounded vaguely familiar, but Lily didn't know much about it. That had something to do with Eastern magical theory, didn't it? But clearly, Sev was working with it directly, and teaching James to do the same. And Sev was being relatively mature about working with Potter... up until that last comment. Lily raised an eyebrow. That... sounded an awful lot like Severus was trying to make James angry on purpose.

If so, it worked. James snarled as he blocked Severus's hex, and countered with another curse.

Oddly enough, it worked on her too. For the first time, Lily wondered just how 'accidental' the timing of this meeting had been. Hadn't her assurances that she wanted to be with him been enough? Was Severus really so insecure that he still saw this as a competition? Or was this about getting back at Potter? Somehow, that was almost worse. As much as Potter tended to infuriate her, Lily didn't like feeling used.

"I'll leave you both to it, then," Lily said icily. "There's getting to be too much testosterone in this room for my liking anyway." She stood up, picked up her bag, and headed for the door.

Severus paused in the duel and looked at Lily as she walked away in a huff. The pause was a huge mistake. James sent some sort of spell at him and before he could react the spell hit him square in the chest, sending him flying back into the piano, the instrument making a loud resounding noise as it moved a few inches with the force of the hit. The chair went flying across the room, and Severus fell to the floor around splintered pieces of wood. He'd used Chakra to protect his back where it had hit, had he not he'd have no doubt in his mind that he would have been severely, if not permanently injured. Even with his Chakra though, pain shot through his back and his vision swam, his wand scattered on the floor a few feet away from him.

The horrible crashing and splintering of wood, combined with an awful cacophony of jangling and torn piano strings, resounded through the room, its echo reverberating off of the walls. Lily spun around, dropping her bag to the floor at the sight of Severus collapsed amidst pieces of broken piano.
She cursed under her breath and ran to him, falling to her knees beside him in the debris. "Severus?" she tried to keep her voice calm. "Are you alright?"

James ran forward as well, but Lily waved him aside.

"You've done enough already, Potter," she said curtly.

"But- but I just..." James stammered. He was still shocked that he'd managed to hit Snape in the first place, let alone send him flying through the piano. Lily shook her head. "If someone has to go for help, you can do that," she said irritably. "Until then, just stay back." She turned back to Severus, looking for evidence of any broken bones. It was likely, though, that his back had taken the worst of it, in which case... "Sev?"

Severus groaned and laid back, uncaring about the wood underneath him. "I'll be fine." He said, wincing as the floor helped him straighten his back. "It's fine ..." He said opening his eyes which were starting to water, more from being dazed than actual pain. "Just ... gimme a minute." He said

"Okay, just lie still, alright?" Lily said, fighting back the urge to panic as Severus moved slightly to straighten his back... then felt a touch of relief. "Well, apparently your spine's okay," she muttered under her breath. Though there was no way it should have been.

"He probably did a Chakra thing," Potter supplied. "To protect him when he landed."

"A 'Chakra thing,'" Lily repeated flatly. "Tells me nothing." But as long as it had worked, she didn't care what it was.

There was a trickle of blood at the side of Severus's head. She looked closely at his eyes as they opened. His irises were so dark that it was hard to tell, but she was fairly certain one pupil was more dilated than the other.

"Also, I'm pretty sure you have a concussion," she told Severus. "So we'll need to get you to the Hospital Wing, once we're sure you can move okay. Can you try moving your left leg for me please?"

Severus stared at her for a minute, his mind trying to process what she was saying and it was a few seconds before he finally complied. "Why?" He asked as he moved his left leg. It made his back hurt a bit more so he stopped moving it, and put it back on the floor. "I'm fine, I just ... need a minute ..."

"Because you're concussed," Lily repeated, more certain this time than before. "Okay. That's good. Can you move your right leg now please?" She continued the process, moving on to getting him to try to move each arm. She was reassured by this point that his back and both legs were fine, which should at least make getting to the Hospital Wing easier. James mostly just paced about, watching, clearly uneasy with the whole thing. Well, he should have thought about that before he decided to throw Severus at a piano.

Severus slowly sat up, wincing as he put too much pressure on his injured arm. He looked down to see blood slowly soaking through his black sleeve. He ignored it as he used his other arm to sit up slowly. He most definitely needed to get to the hospital wing.

James walked back over to Snape as the guy slowly sat up and saw the sheen if wet on the black fabric. With the fabric so dark it was hard to see that there was anything even there, but when the light reflected off of it, you could see the slight sheen of the blood. It was the only thing it could be on his sleeve. "We'll help you to the hospital wing. We can't exactly call anyone in here."

Lily glanced over at James, and nodded in agreement. She was grateful that he seemed serious about sticking around to help. Admittedly, she'd been a little hard on him just now. They had been dueling after all. And if Lily hadn't gotten angry, Sev probably wouldn't have been distracted and might not have gotten hurt in the first place. It was just a stupid accident. Still, Lily could recall more than a few times over the years and it had blatantly been Potter's fault... He had a lot to atone for.

"Hang on," Lily said, digging into her bag and pulling out a sweater, which she then tied into a makeshift sling and used to secure Severus's injured arm. "We can't have that arm getting jostled about." She'd seen the way Sev had gingerly avoided putting pressure on it. Aside from all the blood, if the pain was bad enough for him to notice when he was this concussed, it might be broken.
Once that was done, she and James carefully helped Severus to stand up.

Severus stood, but wasn't exactly stable on his feet. James held most of his weight as they lead him to the hospital wing. There were only a few students in the hall, and James knew they would need a plausible reason for Severus' "accident". If got back to anyone other than Dumbledore or McGonnagall there could be some serious issues and James could get expelled for 'attacking' a teacher. Assistant or not.

"I hope you have a good excuse for this Snape ... Gonna get me expelled." He said as they reached the hospital wing.

Lily glanced over at James; he was right. This would look bad. She'd been so concerned about making sure Severus was alright, getting him to the Hospital Wing without making his injuries worse, that she hadn't thought about the possible repercussions for James, or how much of a risk he was taking just helping her walk Severus to the Hospital Wing. Who knew what people would assume?
Lily shook her head. "He won't let that happen," she said. "We'll come up with something."

Madam Pomfrey saw James and Lily helping a dazed looking Severus into the hospital wing and pursed her lips. "You know Professor Snape ... one of these days I would like to see you come into the hospital wing and not be injured from some half-cocked duel you've gotten yourself into." She said as Severus laid down on the bed. James removed the sweater from his arm now that he was laying down.

"There was no duel ... He ... uh ..." James paused and looked to Lily. "I'm not sure what happened really ... He was on the sixth floor landing with Lily when I ran into them."

"He tripped and fell down the stairs," Lily said, looking simultaneously concerned and embarrassed. "I guess he was just distracted... He was reading while walking again."

As lame as the excuse of falling down the stairs sounded, it wasn't really that farfetched. When his thoughts were preoccupied, Severus did have a history of sometimes failing to pay attention to his surroundings. They could do worse in the excuse department.

Poppy sighed. "I'm not surprised. Severus ..." She said scolding as she used her wand to cut open his jacket sleeve. Sure enough there was a lump on his arm under his shirt. She would have to repair his arm after, for now, she was more worried about his head. She ran a diagnostic spell on him. Sure enough he had a concussion, though it didn't seem to be too bad. Poppy moved onto his arm and once again used her want to cut open his shirt sleeve. "You two might want to look away. Lily, stand over there and get Severus to look at you." She said waiting for Lily to comply.

Lily nodded, and went to stand over by Severus, where Madame Pomfrey had indicated. "Severus," she said gently. "I need you to look over here for a minute, okay?"

James had been considering leaving; they'd gotten Snape here, there wasn't a whole lot else he could do, and Madame Pomfrey had things perfectly under control as usual... but something about the way Lily acted toward Snape annoyed James into staying. Irrational as it might be, he didn't like the idea of leaving the two of them together. And for the life of him, James couldn't understand it. Why Snape?

Poppy opened his sleeve and shook her head. Sure enough, a bit of the bone was sticking out from the skin, which explained why there was so much blood. "Lily, hold his hand. Potter, come over to this side, and hold his shoulder down. If he moves I could do more damage to his arm than is already done." She said as James came over. He was reluctant to touch Snape anywhere near his greasy hair, or ... anywhere for that matter, but he had no choice. It was his fault after all.

James put both of his hands on Severus' shoulder, putting all his weight down on him. Snape was a skinny guy, but who knew how strong he was when his adrenaline spiked. Poppy aimed her wand at his arm, and a few seconds later there was the sound of snapping bone and Severus screamed, his eyes closed as pain shot through his arm. His whole body moved as he tried to force his arm away from what was causing the pain, but Poppy's hand on his wrist and James' hands on his shoulder stopped him. The rest of him, however did seem to jolt from the pain.

Once the bone was set again Severus lay there panting, tears pricking his eyes as the pain started turned from a sharp pain into a persistent throb. Poppy healed the flesh wound before wrapping a bandage around his arm. "You'll be staying here the night Severus ..." She said moving towards a cupboard and pulling a potion out. She poured a little into a cup, measuring the exact amount and handed it to Snape who stared at it for a little longer than was considered normal before taking it from her with thin shaking fingers.

Lily held Severus's hand, as Madam Pomfrey had instructed. She winced as Severus screamed in pain, bones snapping as they set back into place. But she kept her hold on Severus's hand, and kept her voice mostly calm. "It's okay, Severus, it's alright, it's almost over..." Which was probably pointless. She doubted he could really hear her over his own outcry of pain.

She continued to hold his hand once the bone was set, only letting go so that he could take his potion.
Lily looked up at Poppy. "Could I sit with him awhile?" she asked. She doubted she'd be allowed to stay here with Severus the whole night; even asking for that was risky. But she hated the idea of leaving him when he was in pain.

Madam Pomfrey nodded to Lily as Severus finished the potion and laid back against the bed, feeling his bones and his wounds heal. His head was still a bit fuzzy but it was clearing. He would need to stay in the hospital wing over night, but he'd recover. James stood at the end of the bed, his hands on the white painted metal.

"You okay there Snape?" He asked, worried that he might have maybe caused the guy permanent damage.

"Yeah." Snape said looking up at Potter. "No thanks to you." He said though there was no malice in his voice. Once Madam Pomfrey left Severus looked up at James. "Return to the room of requirement. And keep practicing. See if you can get up to that goal on the pillar. Walk this time instead of running." He said shifting painfully in bed.

James crossed his arms. Unbelievable. A moment ago, the guy had been writhing in agony, and already he was back to giving orders. "I'll reach it with time to spare," he said. He turned to leave, and added:

"Goodnight, Evans."

Lily sighed. "Try not to break anything else, Potter."

James strode out of the hospital wing, and made his way back to the Room of Requirement, intent on reaching that goal by the time Snape was back on his feet again. Any goal Snape was stubborn enough to set, James was stubborn enough to beat.

"He's a walking safety hazard," Lily muttered, shaking her head. She dragged a chair over next to Severus's bed and sat down. "You sure you're okay?" she asked.

Severus nodded. "One of these days, I'll go longer than a week without landing up in here." He said smiling quietly up at her. He looked over to where Madam Pomfrey had disappeared into her office. He reached forward and took her hand. "What ever you were mad about ... I'm sorry." He said, honestly unable to remember what had happened the short period before he'd hit the piano. He just remembered she was mad at him for some reason.

Lily looked over at him, and shook her head. "No, I'm sorry. If I'd waited to say something until later, you wouldn't have been distracted and... Anyway, it was stupid." She looked away. "I just... I don't know. It just kind of felt like you were using our relationship to show off, to get back at Potter."
Maybe it was stupid. But if she didn't say something now, it was going to continue to bother her.

Now Severus remembered, or rather, understood. He'd always remembered that. "No, I wasn't. But Potter needs to learn how to control his anger. And our relationship, which he is yet to know about, is what angers him the most. He needs to learn to control his emotions. He's going to be leading a group ... he can't allow his own personal feelings to get in the way."

Lily looked over at him, still somewhat irritated. "So... you used me to make him angry for the right reasons? You didn't exactly ask me if I wanted to participate in Potter's anger management lessons. When you shove it in his face like that, maybe you know it's about teaching him to control his emotions, but Potter doesn't. He'll just see it as a competition, one that you just happen to be winning. And when Potter thinks something's a competition, he never stops." She sighed. "I get what you were trying to do, but if you make a habit of it, he's just going to get more obnoxious and out of control."

"He won't." Severus said softly. "He may play to be a fowl little git sometimes, but he'll mature a lot faster than you think." He said. "He knows what I'm doing, and it's yet another reason he should be able to control that anger. And yet he's not. That is something he must learn quickly. For reasons I have been told by Dumbledore not to divulge, unfortunately." He said, stretching the truth a little bit. "Dumbledore thinks James is right for the task and has approached me to aid in some training before hand, since he cannot ask a teacher to do it. Dumbledore trusts the both of us ... I ask you to do the same. I do nothing to hurt you Lily ... But if it bothered you, I promise I won't do it again."

Lily nodded. "That's all I'm asking," she said. "Just... find another way to teach Potter to control his anger, alright?"

After a moment, she said: "So, when exactly were you planning to mention that you're secretly in charge of training the group's leader?" It made a lot more sense than the story he'd given her earlier. She somehow doubted that Potter would have let Severus into the group if it were really up to him. Maybe Sev thought Potter would mature quickly, but he wasn't there yet.

Severus shrugged. "Officially? When Voldemort is defeated." He said. "I'm not supposed to tell anyone. Not even you. But I'm sure you can keep my secret. No one will know I'm helping Potter. I will attend the meetings as I'm not officially a teacher, and am still in the age range. But officially, I know nothing about it. I wish I could tell you more, there is much much more I want to tell you but ... for now I can't." He said knowing she wouldn't like that he's keeping secrets from her. "But I will ... one day."

Lily wanted to argue with that. Didn't she already know more than she should anyway? If she could keep that secret, then why couldn't she keep others? But then, if he wouldn't tell her, then there had to be a good reason for it. She didn't doubt that he trusted her. But this was bigger than the two of them. And it was bigger than her own curiosity. "Alright," she sighed, giving his hand a slight squeeze. Then she smiled slightly and said, "But I intend to hold you to that."

Severus smiled softly. "I just hope you won't hate me when I tell you." He said quietly, raising her hand and kissing her knuckles. "But despite the risk ... When Voldemort is gone ... When we're safe ... I'll tell you everything."

Lily smiled slightly as Severus kissed her hand. After having to keep their distance since they'd arrived back at Hogwarts, even the simplest gesture of affection was still thrilling. The rest of the school year seemed like an unbearably long time to keep up pretenses. At his words, though, Lily looked at him in confusion. "Severus," she said firmly, "If there's something you can't tell me right now, I understand that. But I'm not going to hate you, okay? That's one thing you don't have to worry about."

After the strains that their friendship had survived already, she couldn't imagine what Severus thought could make her hate him now. Maybe something that had happened back when he associated with would-be Death Eaters? But that was all in the past.

Poppy came back into the room before Severus could respond, causing him to let go of Lily's hand. Poppy paused and shook her head. "Severus, you are a member of the faculty now ... Fraternizing with students in such a manner is strictly forbidden." She said. "I will not say anything, but anyone could walk in. Be careful." Severus' cheeks reddened slightly. "Now, Miss Evans, I suggest you head to Gryffindor Tower, it will be past curfew soon." She said pulling out her wand to further fuss over the annoyed Severus.

((A/N – And there's chapter whatever chapter this is …. 36? 37? Something like that. Hope you all enjoyed and as always please leave a review!))