James scoffed when he saw Sirius reentering the hall, a sweaty Remus Lupin behind him. "He's smitten," he muttered to Lily, rolling his eyes.
She felt her heart swoop. "Who?" she asked carefully.
"Ah, shit, I can't say," said James, hand to his mouth in a rare moment of self awareness.
"Oh, don't worry, I already know," said Lily, relieved that she and Dorcas weren't the only ones- only Remus made it sound like they were…
"Good, then, Sirius told you?" said James. "Once he tells someone other than me, well, that's big. We're in dangerous waters. Be a little tough to have my two best mates date, but I reckon they'd be good together," he said brightly.
"Sirius didn't say-" Lily began, not sure how to articulate this without outing Remus.
"Shit," James said quietly. "Well… shit. Can't tell anyone, that goes without saying. How'd you find out about his massive crush on Remus, then? If anyone's spreading it around I'll take the mickey out of them right quick…"
"No, no, I just guessed," Lily lied. "It's not hard to tell. He noticed the minute Remus left the hall, chased him down and lured him back. That's not normal behavior when you're surrounded by what, 12, 16 beautiful women?" She realized as she was saying it that she was right. Lupin and Black were head over heels for each other and it'd been right in front of them for years.
James laughed. "Fair point," he conceded. "I suppose Sirius isn't really skilled in the art of subtlety."
"No," Lily agreed. She felt abashed, ashamed, like she'd been sticking her nose far too deep into where it didn't belong. She searched around for a way to change the subject, landing on possibly the second most awkward topic possible, but it was too late now. "So, what happened there, with Severus?"
James let out a tired sigh and leaned against the wall. "It was really nothing, he just came up with that stupid face, and you know how I get when I see-"
"Ja- Potter, I can tell when you're lying," she said sharply.
"Ugh," he said. "I mean, okay, fine, only I feel terrible even relaying it, but. I saw him, right, and I'm obviously not forgetting about last year anytime soon, so I was angry-"
Lily sighed. Of course he was angry.
James at least had the sense to look a little embarrassed, but he plowed on. "He called you the- er, thing- again-"
"He what?" Lily said.
James nodded.
She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. She could feel her heart thumping. She thought she'd taught Severus to keep that word out of his mouth. "What do you mean, did he just walk up to you and go, Lily Evans is a Mudblood?" she asked, and even she could hear the venom in her voice.
"No, well, I told him I was hoping this dance would conflict with Death Eater Club, and he gets into that whole batlike rage, all, 'Don't talk about what you don't understand, you filthy little m-word loving-" He stopped, recognizing what he had said. Lily couldn't miss it, either, and suddenly her head was swimming with emotions, anger at Severus and shock and surprise and could it be a little bit of happiness, that James had basically said that he loved her?
Only that was probably reading into things too much. Of course Severus would say that, everyone knew that James liked Lily; he'd publicized his little crush quite well. They weren't James' words, they were Severus'.
"I'm sorry-" Lily said to fill the silence. They weren't the right words, but what else could she say?
"Don't see how this ended up with you apologizing," James said gruffly. "I'm sorry, if anything. Sorry he's such a prat, obviously-" Lily couldn't help laughing a bit "-but you told me to leave him alone, and I should listen."
Lily nodded, once again amazed at how much James had matured. She could feel the wood paneling of the wall digging into her back, and suddenly she stood up straight.
"Where are you going?" James asked.
"Well, I didn't tell myself to leave him alone, did I?" Lily implored, knowing full well that she had said those words in her head a thousand times. James shot her something between a grin and a grimace.
"Lils, we're surrounded by teachers-" he began.
"Oh, shut it," she said, rolling up the sleeves of the jacket she'd brought for when she started feeling uncomfortable in a sleeveless dress (spoiler, it'd taken about two minutes.) She knew she was being rash, but she didn't care, she strode up to Snape with a different kind of heat in her cheeks, James tailing her tentatively.
"Snivellus!" she called loudly, and he looked up.
She was not prepared to meet those cold black eyes. She thought she saw something move in the depths of them as Severus looked up. She felt a rush of sadness and anger, and she bit her lip to keep from yelling, or crying.
The couple of Slytherins surrounding him looked at Lily, then James, and walked away.
"Lily," Snape said quietly. "Did Potter tell you about our… er, charming encounter?"
"He did," said Lily, before James could open his mouth. "And I just wanted to clarify a couple of things."
"Yeah?" said Snape.
"One. You sure seem to have changed your opinion on being a 'Mudblood-lover' since last year," she said lightly, satisfied when Severus's eyes fell to the ground. She could hear James snort in the background, and this only fueled her fire.
"Two," she said, and her voice was straining now, she had not actually thought this far ahead, what else could she say to Severus?
"Two…." he drew the word out, seemingly amused.
"Two," she said, "I think it's despicable that you say that fucking word when it's not yours. I think you're despicable, you and all your little friends, and I hope Lord Fucking Voldemort gives you an std from all that ass-kissing you're about to do." James let out a hoot of raucous laughter, and Lily instantly felt ashamed, that wasn't even a good insult-
"Shut the fuck up," said Severus, "you don't know what you're talking about-"
"Yeah, yeah," said Lily. "You don't need to deny it, Sev- Snape." Her eyes welled up with tears all of the sudden, as she remembered the years she Spent calling him Sev, laying on the floor of the Slytherin common room while she helped him with his Potions homework, talking about witchcraft and wizardry and weren't the two of them so, so lucky, to get to live this life and have the best friend in the world?
Snape looked as though the omission of his first name had smacked him in the stomach. "Anything else?" he said quietly, and Lily could tell that he, too, was trying not to cry.
"Yes," said Lily. She looked him hard in the eye, hoping he'd remember these words. "Severus, I am so ashamed of you."