It was the first day of spring, and Lily Evans was not pleased with the way that her afternoon was going. The day had started perfectly innocuously enough—Transfiguration and Potions for morning classes, then a few quiet, sunbaked hours with Severus reviewing Potions notes down by the lake. And then she'd gotten up for five minutes—five bloody minutes—and James Potter was already there antagonizing her oldest friend. Bullying. Whatever.

"—you'll forgive me for saying so, Pads, but I just don't think he's passing this course without her, is he." James drawled, levitating a Potions book—Severus's Potions book—in front of him while casually holding Severus up against the wall with his forearm, like a shove caught in freeze frame. Sirius Black stood next to him, effectively blocking any exit path for poor Sev. Nearby, Remus Lupin was leaning against a tree flipping through a textbook, looking pointedly not quite at the scene unfolding.

"Can hold my own just fine," Severus snapped back, not quite at the point of spluttering. He looked up and met Lily's eyes. "I don't need help from anyone."

Lily raised an eyebrow as she approached, wand already drawn. "Let him down now, Potter, or I'm giving you detention, I don't care if you're in my own house."

"Aw, come on, Evans." James tossed a grin her way that was probably supposed to be rakish and attractive but on James was simply arrogant, like he knew that with any other Prefect he could get away with anything.

Well, not her. "Let. Him. Go. Or I'm getting McGongall to give you enough detentions that Gryffindor won't have you for any matches, and then we'll lose the House Cup and the Quidditch Cup, too."

Remus Lupin edged a little closer to the group, quietly inserting, "Peter is already in detention, Prongs. Probably won't help to get another of us thrown in as well."

James moved his arm, letting Severus sag to the ground, but kept hold of his levitation spell on the Potions book, which he quickly tossed to Sirius. James turned to face Lily, running a hand through his hair and flashing those dimples at her, which she only found irritating. "Oi, Evans. You should really have a chat with my granddad sometime. About the Potions thing, that is."

"Sure, Potter." Lily replied easily. "I'll be pleased to pass on just how many detentions you've gotten this year alone."

"I'm sure you'll get the chance soon enough, sooner than—"

"Expelliarmus!" Lily snapped, as soon as James's grip on his wand loosened. She caught Sev's textbook and shoved it into her own bag with one hand, keeping her want trained on James as she did so. Then she narrowed her eyes as what James had said occurred to her. "Sooner than what?"

He crossed his arms and smirked. "Can't wait to see what you'll be wearing to the party tonight, Evans. I'd ask you to go with me, but… seeing as you've already got an invite, I thought I'd be generous and actually use my plus-one. On someone besides Snivellus here." He spared a sideways glance over at Severus, who had scrambled up from the ground but was still staring at James and Sirius like they were animals about to strike.

Lily frowned. "The party. You have a—you mean you were invited?"

James grinned. "Ol' Sluggy and my granddad go way back, apparently. And since Grampa Fleamy's coming up to the castle…"

"You got invited." Lily blinked. "After all this time, I just thought… finally, a space without you, but… ugh. I should have… ugh."

Sirius gave James an odd look. James elbowed his friend quite hard in the ribs in response, then threw a wink Lily's way. "And guess what, Evans? My invite means I've got an excuse to be out after curfew." He turned to his friends. "C'mon, you lot. Exploding Snap's starting to sound a lot more exciting than hanging around dear old Snivellus. Wouldn't do to cut into his primping time if he's going to be ready for a date with the precious flower here."

"It's not a date," Lily snapped, right as Severus said "At least I don't primp as much as you."

James, Remus, and Sirius walked away, leaving Lily to frown and stuff her wand back into the pockets of her robes. With a sigh, she passed Severus his Potions book.

He frowned. "I didn't need your help, you know."

Lily raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, so maybe I did." He relented. "I just…"

"You hate those guys?" Lily questioned. "Me too. But they're gone."

"You still have to see them at the party tonight." Severus grimaced.

Lily shook her head. "You know you don't have to go with me. I can hold my own, especially there—Slughorn's actually pretty okay, and not much tolerance for bullying."

"As long as you bring him sweets and get good marks in his class." Severus noted.

Lily sighed. "Speaking of which. Ignore what the arseholes said, we do actually have to review that last chapter at least one more time."

So they did, settling back against a nearby tree and reviewing the theoretical concepts behind brewing an Invigoration Draught. Lily had already written her twelve inches on the subject, but she'd written the first draft with a ballpoint pen and was now in the painstaking process of transcribing it all onto parchment. Severus, meanwhile, was just getting to his draft now.

"Why dried billywig stings, though?" he asked her.

Lily shrugged. "Billywigs get upset when you try to take them fresh, presumably?"

"And… the bit about it turning blue makes sense, but—"

"I'm not doing your homework for you, Sev. It's literally all in the textbook, just check the notes in the index if you're really worried. But it's all quite common sense if you think about it." Lily cursed quietly and muttered a quick scourgify, having gotten ink all over her knuckle as her quill slipped.

Severus gave her an odd look, half befuddlement and half something she couldn't quite parse. "You'd think you'd have gotten used to quills and such by now, Lils. It's been five years, nearly."

Lily grimaced. "I know, just… it's fine. Just a pain. The stain will still be there by tonight, and I was at least going to try to make a good impression. Networking, and all that."

Severus made a face. "You don't have to—"

"Don't." Lily warned him. "You know that I do."

"I suppose," he admitted glumly. "Just promise you'll still talk to me when you're off in some Potions research lab or in the Department of Mysteries or wherever it is you do end up."

She laughed and patted his shoulder affectionately. "Aw, Sev. It's like you care." His eyes widened and she gave him a light shove. "Come on. We really should get some food before Sluggy's to-do. And ignoring what those prats said, I do want some primping time after all—I'm planning to ignore them and look good doing it."

Severus looked like he was about to say something, but he rolled his eyes and followed as Lily screwed the cap back onto her ink, shoved her books and papers back into her bag, and headed up towards the castle. As usual, they parted ways at the second moving staircase, one going down three floors (or sometimes four) to the Slytherin dormitories and the other leading up and over an archway to the main staircase that led to Gryffindor Tower.

Lily's mood was much improved by the time she reached the fifth-year girl's dormitories, mostly because she had remembered that it was about four o'clock and if she knew her roommate Marlene at all, then there would likely be tea and biscuits ready for consumption.

She was right. The middle of the room was laden with two trays, teeming with rosemary-and-lemon cookies and small raspberry tartlets, and the faint smell of Earl Grey filled the air. Marlene and Alice both looked up when Lily entered the room.

"Lils!" Marlene cheered. "Come on, we're gossiping."

"We are?" Lily plunked her bookbag down on her bed and joined her friends on the floor, scooping up a tartlet and pouring herself a cup of tea.

"Marlene's convinced that Sprout and Flitwick are having an affair." Alice explained with a sigh, reaching over to pass Lily the honey.

"Hm." Lily thought about it as she stirred the sweetener into her tea. "I could see it, but… doubtful."

Marlene crossed her arms indignantly. "They walk to and from all their meals together! And he calls her Pommy."

"Better than "Moany," Lily pointed out.

Alice let out a squawk of laughter as Marlene reached over to slap Lily's leg. "Really!"

"So, you'll never guess what happened a few minutes ago." Lily took a bite of her raspberry tart.

Marlene rolled her eyes. "The boys in our year were idiots and they were mean to your boyfriend so you doled out detention accordingly?"

"He's not my boyfriend," Lily replied out of habit and then paused. "Wait. Actually, I think I forgot to give them detention entirely."

Alice's eyes widened. "No! Lily Evans got distracted?"

Marlene winked. "Was it Black? Please tell me you got so distracted by the bad boy of Gryffindor tower that you forgot to—"

"No! nope, nope, nope." Lily cut her friends off. "I just… Potter's coming to the Slug Club thing tonight. And his grandfather will be there. The one with the Potions company. And I just wanted one night to dress up and not deal with OWL stuff or prefect duties, and…"

"And you're not on duty, and there's a party to go to," Alice pointed out. "What's the problem?"

"She thinks they'll cause trouble," Marlene explained. "Right?"

"I know they will." Lily sighed. "And if I'm bringing Sev, then they'll make him miserable, and then I'll have…"

"You'll have a nice cup of cocoa with Mar and me is what you'll have if that happens." Alice interjected firmly. "You're going to wear a nice dress and dazzle all of the who's-who's that Slughorn seems to know, and knowing you, you'll walk out of there with a dozen internship offers waiting for you for when OWLs are done. So none of this mopey nonsense."

Lily sighed. "You're right, I just…"

"Oh, just hex their balls off if they're giving you trouble and then blame it on the nearest Beater." Marlene snorted. "If Ravenclaw's there, blame it on Davis, he's been going on for ages about how he thinks Gryffindor cheated last game. Keeps trying to get me to admit some secret strategy or another… as if." She grinned wickedly. "We're just faster, and I can fly circles around him."

Lily tilted her head to the side pensively. "That's actually not a terrible idea."

Marlene gasped. "The genius of Gryffindor thinks I had a good idea! My goodness. I'm shocked. On cloud nine, I tell you. Quick, spike the tea, we've got to celebrate."

Lily made a face but reached out to grab her friend's hand all the same, cheered by the solidarity in this room. She held onto the moment for as long as she could, fairly sure that she'd need it for the night ahead.