A/N: I'm alive! I'm terribly sorry, I don't have an excuse really. I just forgot about this. but I'm back now, and back to stay!

Since it was a Saturday, they didn't have any classes. That's why Severus had told Lily to meet him outside, by the lake. And after breakfast he hurried over, only to find it deserted. He sat by the lakeside, wishing he'd brought a book or something to pass the time. She was probably still eating.

Yes, that must be it. She couldn't have forgotten. She never forgot anything. But when she still hadn't shown up by lunchtime Severus became mad.

If she was going to leave him hanging she could at least have told him she wasn't coming! He stormed into the Great Hall but he didn't see her at the Gryffindor table. So he left the Great Hall again. He'd find her. Oh yes, he would.

He ran up the stairs, but he had no idea where the Gryffindor Common Room was. Out of pure luck, be quite literally bumped into Regulus, who looked about as angry as he felt, coming the opposite way.

"Regulus!" Severus called when he had just walked on like Severus hadn't been there. Regulus turned and looked at Sev.

"What," he growled.

"Do you know where the Gryffindor Common Room is?" Severus asked, remembering Regulus' brother's House.

"Just came down from it," he murmured.

"Can you show me?"

"What do you need the Gryffindor Common Room for?!"

"I..." Should he tell him? Well, maybe... It wouldn't hurt. If Regulus really was becoming a friend he'd find out sooner or later anyway. "A friend of mine," he answered truthfully, hoping Regulus would show him the way there.

Regulus left Severus when they reached the portrait that guarded the entrance to their common room. He didn't want to be here. So Severus was on his own. But he didn't know the password. He didn't even know if Lily was in there at all.

"Snivellus?" he heard a voice from behind. Potter. Why must it always be Potter? He spun around, searching for his wand with his right hand. But he wasn't fast enough. Another Full Body Bind had struck him and he fell down, unable to move anything. But he knew the counter this time, so it didn't take long before he was back on his feet and had his wand at Potter's throat.

"Not funny when the roles are turned, is it?" He spat in Potter's face.

"Sev! What on earth do you think you're doing?!" Lily. His heart did a little summersault and he turned around, completely forgetting about Potter.

"Lily!" he exclaimed.

"What were you doing?" she asked, her voice not as harsh anymore as it was just moments before.

"I... It was nothing, honestly." He could hardly admit to having wanted to curse Potter out of this existence. But she wasn't buying it.

"It certainly didn't look like 'nothing', Severus… Did he hex you again?"

"Hey!" Potter interrupted. "Why do you assume I'm the bad guy? Your precious little boyfriend was attacking me!"

"He's not my boyfriend," Lily said. "Come, Sev, he's not worth our time." They walked back down the stairs towards the Great Hall for lunch.

"Why didn't you come this morning?" he asked once they were out of hearing range for Potter.

"What do you- Oh, yeah. I was busy."

"Busy?" Severus didn't understand.

She nodded. "Mary asked me to hang out with her. So I did."

"Even when you knew I'd asked you first?" How unfair was that! She couldn't just go hang out with her friends whenever she wanted!

"Yes, even then. I spend so much time with you and so little with my other friends, it's not fair to them."

"I don't care about them! You're my best friend," he didn't want to lose her.

"No, Severus. I'm your only friend. There's a difference."

"That's not true!" He had other friends besides her, of course, those hardly counted in comparison, but they were friends nonetheless.

"That Malfoy boy you were talking about isn't a friend, Sev," she smiled sadly. Well, how could she know? She hadn't spent the summer with him. "You need friends besides me, you know that, don't you? Your life can't revolve around me. It's unhealthy." What was she talking about? His life didn't revolve around her! He'd only known her for what? Three, four years? That wasn't his entire life! And last summer passed without thinking about her at all!

But she could never understand. She would never even try. It might be easy for her, making friends like that, but for him... The only thing that came close to consuming him the way his friendship with Lily did was, well, the Dark Arts. But Lily hated the Dark Arts. She would never even try to see the beauty in it. But he supposed that he could try to find more friends.

Convince Lily there was more in his life than her. He could show her Regulus! He was a friend. Well, sort of. Regulus considered him a friend, but Severus needed more time to become friends with someone than one chat.Apparently. He hadn't needed more time with Lily. But then again, Lily was special.

Absentmindedly he parted ways with Lily who was headed for the Gryffindor table while he sat down at the Slytherin one.

"Did you find your friend?" he heard Regulus ask and he nodded as he put some food on his plate but he wasn't really paying attention. He needed to focus on finding new friends. That would show Lily. Yes, that was all he needed. New friends.

That had to be easy! His dormmates were practically begging him to be their friend. But they were horrible people. Couldn't he get any better?

But who would want to be friends with him, really? Nobody. To most he was nothing but a greedy git. He should be lucky they wanted to be his friends, even though he didn't understand why. What had changed it? Was it Lucius' talk? What on earth had he told them?

He got some food and thought about this issue. It was an easy solution to his problem, but was it the right one? That was the main question.