AN:

School and year: Mahoutokoro, Exchange covering for year 3

Theme: Hiding

Main Prompt: [Dialogue] "I need you to understand that I am not emotionally involved in this situation."

Additional Prompt: [Occupation] Potioneer

Special Rule: Write a specific POV - Muggleborn

Word count: 3350

Lily Evans sighed, ducking her head from embarrassment as she walked through the corridors of Hogwarts, seeking a quiet place and solitude after a very long day in class. As she passed by some Slytherin students, they taunted her with jeers of "Muggleborn!" and "Mudblood!"

Even though her best friend, Severus Snape, was in Slytherin, he knew just how to comfort her when his housemates hurled insults at her, and he knew just which curses and hexes to cast to make their lives uncomfortable in revenge. It was her fourth year at Hogwarts, and still she suffered almost daily from the unkind insults from many of her peers. Still, she was stalwart and refused to tattle on the students to the professors, as she knew the old adage "snitches get stitches" all too well.

Severus popped around the corner, his gaunt face lighting up in a smile as soon as his friend came into view. "Hey Lily! I grabbed a letter for you. Here."

Lily grabbed the envelope and turned it over so she could see the return address. "It's from Tuny!"

Severus wrinkled his nose. "Ugh. Her?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Yes, Sev," she huffed. "I know you don't like her, and sometimes neither do I, but she is my sister and I just have to try to get along with her."

Lily sat down on the nearest stone bench and patted the seat beside her, nonverbally inviting Severus to join her. "If you're going to be mean about Tuny, then just go away."

"I won't," Severus promised, placing a hand over his heart and inching closer to Lily to read over her shoulder.

Dear Lily,

Last time you wrote to me, you were talking about how everyone was bullying you and calling you a "Muggle-born?" What exactly is that, and why is it such a huge deal in your freak world with your freak friends? I am so sorry, but I cannot offer sympathy to you. You chose to go to that weird school and learn magic. I'm not trying to be rude, but I need you to know that I am not emotionally involved in this situation. We can talk of other things, but all of your drama around this one "offensive" name is frankly over the top. I'm not trying to be mean, but I thought you should know where I am at. I don't relate to what you are talking about, and it seems that every time you write home, you are always whining about how mean everyone is to you. What else am I supposed to think? You chose to go to Hogwarts or whatever it is called.

I hope you are doing well, and I look forward to seeing you over the holiday break.

Tuny

Lily turned and looked at Severus, who was trying to hide a smirk. "What?" she asked testily.

"Nothing. Just… wow. She really seems to either hate you or be jealous of you," Severus said thoughtfully.

Lily crumpled up the letter and shoved it into her pocket. "Let's not talk about that anymore. She is a confusing human. Anyway, you said you had something to tell me at breakfast. What is it? Good news?"

Severus nodded. "Actually, it is. I've decided my career path, and I'm choosing to be a Potioneer. You know how interesting I find potions, and I think it's a neat way to be able to bewitch people's minds and enhance their abilities to accomplish tasks."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Bewitch people? That's why you're going into potion making?"

"Well, no. I mean, yes, but I also like mixing things and perfecting old recipes and mixtures and making them even better. Look." Severus dug in his satchel and pulled a potions textbook out and handed it to Lily.

Lily opened the pages to find many annotations and notes in Severus's handwriting dotting the margins. "Wow, this is really impressive."

Lily watched Severus flush with pride. "Thanks. I've worked hard, and I've even been able to use the classroom after class to practice different brews. Slughorn said I could."

"Sev, that's awesome! I'm so proud of you! What kinds of potions are you brewing?" Lily was also a rising star in Slughorn's potions class, but she was not nearly as interested in it as she was in other things.

"Well, all kinds of stuff," Severus replied.

Lily sometimes doubted Severus's intentions. So, she pressed a little harder. "Anything to make you a stronger or more powerful wizard?" Oftentimes, she found her friend frustrating and was perplexed at his reasonings for his interest in potions and defense against the Dark Arts.

Severus gave her a sideways glance. "Why do you want to know?"

"I just do!"

"Maybe. But it's still a work in progress. I am always working on improving it. And you know as well as I that you cannot speed up the brewing process of potions," Severus said firmly.

"Of course," Lily briskly replied, irritated that Severus was treating her like a child and an inexperienced potioneer when she was, in fact, one of Slughorn's best students.

"Are you still mad at your sister?" Severus's calming voice broke into Lily's broody thoughts.

"Yes. I mean, she basically doesn't even care that people are so nasty to me and it's nothing I've done or can help! She's not emotionally involved in this problem – is that what she said?" Lily's eyes glittered with rage, and she suddenly reached into her pocket, grabbed the crumpled letter, and angrily tore it to shreds, littering the shards of paper on the ground.

"Good," Severus said placidly, watching the last of the paper waft to the ground. "Maybe you should go to your dormitory and sleep it off. In the morning you'll feel better, and I can show you some of my potions that I've been working on. Sound okay?"

Lily sighed in defeat. Severus always seemed to know just what to suggest. "Okay. I guess so. Thanks, Sev."

"Don't let your sister or anyone else get to your head. They're just jealous because they're nowhere near as good at magic as you are." Severus patted Lily's shoulder. "It'll all look better in the morning."

I hope so. Lily climbed the stairs to Gryffindor Tower, her feelings still rather tender from everyone jeering at her and calling her names just because of her bloodline. "Seems to me I'm a much better witch than any of those stupid purebloods."

In the morning, Lily did feel better. Severus was right as usual. She found him at the Slytherin table by himself as always.

"Good morning!" Lily squeezed in by Severus and smiled, helping herself to a bran muffin. "Can we go see your potions today? It's Saturday, so other than the Quidditch game, I'm free all day."

Severus looked up from his cup of black coffee. "Of course we can."

Lily noticed his face flush a bit but ignored it. "Right after breakfast?"

"We can go now if you like." Severus drank the last sip of his coffee and turned toward his friend. "Ready?"

"Ready!" Lily not only wanted to support her friend and his career choice, but she had some ulterior motives for wanting to check out the numerous potions Severus had been brewing.

They walked into Slughorn's classroom, the only two students there on the chilly November morning. Severus showed Lily his shelf towards the back of the classroom with several potions sitting in jars, boiling slowly on a burner, or bubbling in a pitcher.

"What are all those?" Lily asked incredulously, her eyes widening and her idea sounding better and better as her friend described the potions and their qualities, ingredients, and what he hoped to accomplish with each one.

"And this one—" Severus gestured to a small bottle shrouded by a covering "—is something that I've been working on that no one knows about except you. So, all of my other potions are just the normal stuff I've been enhancing with my own notes and annotations like the ones you saw in my book. But this one is special. It's probably not safe yet, and it's going to need some time in order for me to perfect it."

"What is it?" Lily bent her head closer to the musty-smelling potion slightly bubbling inside a glass jar. It was a dirt-brown color with a hint of green to it. It did not look pretty, but she was anxious to hear what Severus had to say about it.

"That is something I've invented myself and have thought about for a long time. I call it the Brachium Forti. It's supposed to give your arm extra strength for when you duel or are going to be using your wand for long periods of time. It's not quite perfect yet, but almost." Severus lifted the glass lid on the bottle to let Lily inhale deeply.

She pulled her nose away. "Musty and pungent," she declared, coughing as the odor stung her eyes.

The two left the potions classroom talking about Severus's future as a potioneer and all of the interesting things he could accomplish. Lily knew he was trying to make her feel better, as she was still very upset from Petunia's harsh letter and the students calling her unkind names. She had to put that out of her mind and focus on happier things, such as the Quidditch game!

The Quidditch game was quite fun. Gryffindor won with Hufflepuff not even scoring a point. With James Potter as the Seeker, it was almost impossible for the team to lose. There was going to be a party hosted later in the day, and James had invited Lily.

Since she knew she would accomplish no studying later that night during the party, Lily grabbed her books and headed out to the courtyard to study for a while.

Unfortunately, the peace and quiet under the bright blue sky and crisp air did not last long. The same group of Slytherin students – Maxwell Irongate, Stewart Helmsley, Theo Rollinger, and Oliver Crowley – approached Lily, their ugly faces twisted in hideous jeers.

"Hey! It's our favorite Mudblood!" Maxwell crowed.

"Shut it, Maxwell," Lily growled, feverishly looking around for any signs of her friends.

"How do you like being a stupid Muggleborn in school with the rest of us Purebloods? If Salazar had had his way, the likes of your kind would be far away, not tainting the wizarding world," Theo sneered.

"Who cares about bloodlines when we're all gifted with magic and we all have the same abilities? You're being stupid, and enough is enough! I'm done listening to you and giving you the power of making me upset." Lily stood up and threw her Potions book at Stewart's swollen head. "I'm a better witch than any of you!"

"Oh yeah?" Oliver wheezed. "Prove it then, Mudblood! I guess we'll all have to find out, won't we, boys?"

Lily's mind spun as she formed a deal with her tormentors. "Okay. Decide which one of you will duel me tonight by the Forbidden Forest at nine. The rest of you cannot help. If I win, you stop calling me a Mudblood and leave me alone. If you win, you can keep calling me a Mudblood but I'm going to stop letting it bother me. Do we have a deal?"

The Slytherin boys looked at one another. "Fine, Mudblood. You shouldn't even be here anyways – I'll fight ya," Maxwell snickered. "This is going to be a good show, boys," he chuckled, turning to his friends.

"Tonight at nine then," Lily said firmly before gathering her books and flouncing away. While she tried to appear outwardly confident, her head and heart furiously pounded.

What am I getting myself into? They are all a whole year ahead of me and entranced by the Dark Arts. Surely they are going to use some horrendous spell on me.

As Lily walked back into the school's busy halls, an idea crept into her head. And even though it was somewhat foolish, Lily could not take the risk of losing a duel with a fifth-year Slytherin when so much was at stake.

As quickly as she could, she made her way to the potions classroom and peeked her head around the corner to confirm that Severus had left. When she realized she was alone, she snuck over to Severus's shelf of potions and found the Brachium Forti potion.

She found a glass dropper in a drawer attached to the table. She filled it with the potion and leaned her head back. She dropped the contents of the potion into her mouth, praying that it would fill her arms with extreme strength for the duel.

The potion tasted as musty as it smelled. Most potions never tasted good, so she was used to that.

Immediately, her dominant arm started tingling, and it felt like her veins were expanding to carry more blood. She rolled up her sleeve and noticed her veins had a darker blue hue, more pronounced. She picked up her wand from the table and pointed it at a lantern sitting across the room and muttered, "Accio lantern!"

With astonishing speed, the lantern hurled across the room and into her outstretched arm. The potion worked.

Pleased, Lily filled three more droppers and stowed them in her sweatshirt pocket to take right before the duel. Those nasty boys would never know what had hit them.

Severus would understand. He liked to take revenge on people, and he would be pleased to know that his own potion he invented had given his best friend an advantage over some of the school's worst bullies.

It was in this way that Lily justified her theft as she casually walked back towards the common room and helped hang decorations for the party later that night.

For the rest of the day, Lily did not inform anyone of her plan, not even Severus. She tried to stay out of his way so she would not have to deal with questions about a hefty portion of his potion missing.

As Lily snuck out of the castle later that evening, she grew steadily more nervous, but she tried to give herself a pep-talk to boost her confidence.

I'll show you, Petunia, that I'm a good witch. I'll show you stupid purebloods that we Muggleborns are just as good. I'll show you all that I can do this. Sev, I hope your potion works.

Before anyone could see her, Lily stopped behind a tree and drained the rest of the droppers with Severus's potion. Her arm tingled madly, which meant that it was working. Her veins looked like they were going to practically pop out of her arm. Her head hurt a bit, but she surmised it was from her overwhelming nervousness and the fact she could not back out of the duel.

On the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest stood Maxwell. His three cronies sat respectfully on a rock, away from where the duel would occur.

"The Mudblood showed up!" Theo cackled. "Ha!, I'm surprised a pitiful Mudblood like yourself actually had the guts to duel a Pureblood."

"I'm done being embarrassed for who I am," Lily said with surprising calm. "And I'm not afraid of you."

"Whatever." Stewart rolled his eyes, standing up and coming over to stand between her and Maxwell. "Now, for the rules! No one is allowed to use Unforgivable curses or other spells. All you guys do is duel until someone falls down or their wand falls out of their hand first. And if we get in trouble, Evans, it's all your fault."

"Fine." Lily was just anxious to finish the duel and show the boys that a Muggleborn was just as skilled as Pureblood. "Call it, Oliver."

"Three, two one – DUEL!" Oliver shouted.

"Expelliarmus!" Lily shouted, her mind searching for the first disarming charm she knew.

Maxwell also yelled the charm at the same time, and the two wands clashed together in brilliant streams of golden and silver light.

Lily felt a surge of strength rush through her arm as she stood her ground against Maxwell, who looked like he was already beginning to struggle.

Motivated and full of strength, Lily dug her feet harder into the ground and blocked out all of the cheers for Maxwell and instead concentrated on outlasting her enemy.

Suddenly, just as Maxwell started to lose his grip on his wand, a horrible pain shot through Lily's head and she cried out, dropping her wand and falling to the ground, holding her head in agony. Everything faded to black as she felt her body grow increasingly numb, and she found herself unable to move.

Lily sat up sharply in a bed of the bright hospital wing. "What happened?"

Madam Pomfrey rushed over to her patient. "Hush now! You were found unconscious by the Forbidden Forest and we brought you here."

"Who found me?" Lily mumbled, her lips still feeling thick and unwilling to move.

"Your friend, Severus. He brought you here and told me it was because of a potion you supposedly drank? One of his that he created?" Madam Pomfrey handed Lily a glass of cold pumpkin juice. "It seems as if the potion had some poison in it that your body needs to work out."

"Ugh." Lily laid back down on her pillows. "I should not have drunk that potion."

Just then, the doors opened and Dumbledore entered, followed by an angry-looking Severus, and the four Slytherin boys.

"Miss Evans, last night, there seemed to be a problem outside the forest," Dumbledore began, pointedly looking at Lily.

"It was because of them!" she ground out, gesturing at Maxwell and the rest of the boys. "They have made fun of me over and over again and call me a Mudlbood and I finally had it! I couldn't take it anymore, so I challenged them to a duel!"

"And did you take a potion to help you win?" Dumbledore prodded.

Lily looked to Severus for affirmation. He nodded slightly.

"Yes."

"Mmm." Dumbledore looked at Severus and Slughorn. "So it was your new draught you made for strengthening the arm during a duel?"

Severus nodded.

"I must say what a fantastic idea. I'm sure many wizards would have found that useful in the past. Anyway, Miss Evans, the point is, you were not to sneak out of the castle after dark, and you took a potion that could perhaps be dangerous, as it was not quite finished, and Mr. Snape was still testing it out. It was foolish and impulsive, and quite unlike your regular behavior."

"I know, I'm sorry," Lily muttered. "Will I be punished?"

A gentle smile spread across Dumbledore's face. "I think your body experiencing a reaction to the potion is punishment enough. Madam Pomfrey told me that you will begin itching tremendously over the next few days, develop a rash, and then most likely some blisters. But in a week or two, you should be fine. Next time, Miss Evans, think before you unwittingly take a half-brewed potion."

Lily nodded solemnly. "I won't do that again."

Dumbledore turned to the boys. "As for you, you know I do not tolerate bullying someone for their blood heritage. Follow me to my office now, please."

The boys glared at Lily before trooping out behind Dumbledore.

Once Severus and Lily were alone, Lily turned to her friend. "I'm sorry for taking your potion, Sev."

"It's fine, don't worry about it. Now I know what to improve. But I did get in trouble with Slughorn for it."

"Sorry," Lily cringed. "But now I'm going to feel miserable!"

"Too bad. I need you to know I'm not emotionally involved in this situation," Severus replied with a straight face. Then it turned into a slight grin. "Who do I sound like?"

"Tuny," Lily huffed, then her mouth played itself into a matching smile. "Now get out of here and go fix that potion so when I'm ready to duel them for real, I'll win without a doubt!"