A/N: Here we have another chapter which as the title suggests, involves meeting Marlene's Aunt, the Potions Mistress of Ilvermorny. Also a confrontation with an old rival thrown in there as well, ten points to whatever house you belong to if you can guess who.

Chapter 9 Meeting the Potions Mistress

Over the following months, Severus and Lily spent much of their time at home with Violet. Due to dropping out of Hogwarts early and not being able to attend Ilvermorny just yet until the start of the new academic year in the Autumn, Severus and Lily tried their best to keep up with their former classmates back at Hogwarts. Despite both prodigies being towards the top of their class, in Severus' case, the second best in their entire year, they struggled to keep up with the second half of their third year curriculum. This was in large part due to the fact that they were unable to practice any magic at all, owing to the trace; what this meant was that they solely had to rely on their theoretical knowledge and hope that when the time came in the future, they'd be able to perform the magic they were forbidden from practicing now.

In spite of all that worked against them, namely; the lack of any structured teaching that their former classmates at Hogwarts had, as well as their inability to use any magic to reinforce their theory learning, they kept up well with the Hogwarts curriculum, and in some cases, even surpassed it. Transfiguration proved to represent the toughest challenge for the the two fourteen year olds since neither was that talented in that area. Lily was tempted to write her former Head of House Minerva McGonagall, but in the end opted not to, fearing her head of house's wrath upon learning of her sudden withdrawal. Despite her merely par for the course ability in Transfiguration, she was one of McGonagall's favorites and Lily knew McGonagall would be disappointed if she were to reach out to her for advice on how she and Sev could improve in her subject. Chances are she'd still be sore about one of her precious lion cubs leaving her; one of her favorite lions no less.

As the months ticked on and Winter gave way to Spring, Severus and Lily studied diligently and had been in contact with their new Headmistress across the pond, Madam Maxwell. Despite her two newest students not yet being under her charge quite yet, she wanted monthly status updates on their progress to gauge just how well they were keeping up with the Hogwarts as well as Ilvermorny curriculum. All in all, the two schools were fairly similar in terms of academics, both placing a heavy emphasis on the core subjects of Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Herbology and Defense Against the Dark Arts. That being said, Ilvermorny took a harsher stance against the Dark Arts than Hogwarts did and possessed a slightly more conservative Magical Curriculum overall, compared to the British School. Secretly, Lily was grateful for this, Severus would be forced to give up his Dark Magic and instead have to settle for 'boring old regular magic' as he liked to call it.

Due to the rigors of the core Hogwarts curriculum as well as the elective classes they took, consisting of: Care of Magical Creatures and Arithmancy for Lily, and Ancient Runes and Arithmancy for Severus, they didn't have a lot of time to do much else. On occasion, they'd have days reserved for no work, and those were spent watching the telly, or reading, or perhaps going into town to run some errands for Violet. Violet, thankfully, was understanding of the challenges they faced when it came to their demanding studies so she was kind enough to lighten the amount of chores the two were responsible for. Despite not working to 'earn his keep' at Violet's insistence, he still wanted to help as much as he was able to, since the Evanses had really stuck their necks out for him in taking him in and sparing him going to an Orphanage or a Foster Home.

However, one day in late Spring, they received a letter from none other than Marlene's aunt, saying that she'd be taking a Portkey to London in a few days to check up on her sister, Marlene's mum, and that she wanted to meet with the two of them. Headmistress Maxwell had supposedly shared Lily's letter with the Potions Mistress, specifically the part on Severus' potion modifications. Marlene's aunt had expressed interest on meeting with the two of them face-to-face to evaluate their potions knowledge and see if the two prodigies were eligible for any of her advance classes. So on the Fifteenth of June, a Saturday, Mark agreed to take to the two kids into London to meet with Marlene's Aunt, and their potential future head of house. Lily, Severus and Mark piled into the station wagon and then set off for London on the bright June day.

Mark pulled into a spot across the road from the Dilapidated front to the Leaky Cauldron; they then crossed the busy street when the first gap in traffic presented itself and entered the dilapidated front of the Leaky Cauldron. Tom the Bartender immediately spotted the Muggle in their midst and was kind enough to open the brick wall at the back of the tavern to grant the two underage magic users and the muggle entrance to Diagon Alley. Professor Rosier, Marlene's aunt, had agreed to meet with Severus and Lily over lunch, but the group had arrived earlier than anticipated. With a couple hours of time to kill, Lily thought it might be a good idea to get some shopping done for some books and potions supplies, while Severus thought it to be a good idea to sort out their Gringotts accounts.

After Tom bade them goodbye and they entered the Alley, Severus was hit with a fresh wave of nostalgia. After all, he hadn't gone back since the summer before his first year, he'd merely inherited his Mum's things from when she was a student and his robes hadn't needed to be changed yet when he'd gone back. Truth be told, he missed going back, and now that he was here, the sense of awe and amazement that struck him wasn't any less than when he was eleven. They decided to visit the book shop first, Flourish and Blotts had always entertained the pair of avid readers well. They headed into the magical bookstore and purchased an array of books that amounted roughly to fourth year reading material. Neither Severus nor Lily was sure exactly of what would be taught at Ilvermorny, only that it would be roughly similar to a Hogwarts student's fourth year curriculum. Thankfully, the shopkeeper was able to point them in the right direction and they were able to purchase their 4th Year books in a timely manner.

They only needed twenty minutes to purchase the books they needed, and as they left the bookstore behind, the very last person they wanted to see locked eyes with them. For the first time, this person wasn't wearing a smug grin or a teasing smirk, he looked very much like a deer in headlights upon suddenly spotting his old classmates.

"Evans? Snape? What the—what are you doing here?"

He wasn't sneering, he was genuinely incredulous at the sudden appearance of his crush and his nemesis. To his horror, their hands were linked, and both their eyes were set firm. Needless to say, they were not happy to have spotted the bespectacled bully, Severus particularly so.

"Potter," he snarled, his voice carrying a certain maliciousness to it that even made Mark wince.

"What are you doing here?" Severus growled lowly, looking around out of instinct to see where Black and Pettigrew were.

"I asked you first Snivel—"

"Don't you dare call him that name!" Lily shouted, startling even her father with her firecracker-like temper.

Mark quickly recovered and placed a calming, yet firm hand on his trembling daughter's shoulder. "Lily, calm yourself. Don't act up like this," he said firmly.

Lily narrowed her eyes at the black-haired boy standing a few meters away. From the looks of things, he was alone, although she was sure his parents were here somewhere and that he hadn't just run off to Diagon Alley by himself. "What are you doing here Potter?"

"I could ask the same of you and Snape! What are you doing here?" James retorted.

"It's none of your business," Severus sneered, "As for you? Oh let me guess, you've snuck away from school to—"

"No! I'm here with my parents!" James growled angrily, his hands bulled up into fists.

"Well carry on then! We don't want to talk to you!" Lily said.

"Evans, please…can I have a word? It'll only be a moment, I promise."

"Well whatever you want to say Potter, you can say in front of Sev and my dad," Lily replied, her arms folded defensively across her chest.

James, ever the ignorant prat appeared to ignore her and instead looked to her father who still had his hand on Lily's shoulder to keep her calm, and was staring at him curiously. "Mister Evans," James greeted, a broad grin on his face that he hoped would open the serious looking man up to him. "A pleasure to meet you, I'm a former classmate of Lily's."

"I know that," Mark replied, his eyes narrowing and tone dropping. James winced. "From all the things that my daughter has mentioned about you, she hasn't painted the most flattering picture of you young man. Quite the opposite."

"Oh I'm sure it's been just a little bit exaggerated in one way or another," James replied.

"Evans can we speak in private please?" He added, his gaze shifting back to Lily who was no longer scowling at him, but her emerald glare was still firmly in place.

Her glare vanished in its entirety as she turned to Severus, "Sev, dad, it's fine. Can I have a moment with Potter? Please?"

"Lily are you sure this is a good idea? I mean…"

"I'll be fine Sev," Lily replied softly, giving his hand a squeeze in reassurance.

James wanted to hurl at the sight but only just kept it together.

"Alright," Mark replied.

"Meet us at Obscurus books, Lily," Severus replied. "It's just over there," he added, gesturing to a darkened shopfront a few shops over from where they stood on the cobbled stone street.

Mark's soothing hand on Lily's tensed up shoulder left, and Severus gave one last squeeze of her fingers before withdrawing his own. The two men headed off down the street towards the bookstore. Severus cast one last look over his shoulder at Lily, who smiled in reassurance back at him, before summoning her stiff glare again as she looked away, back to James.

Once her dad and Severus were out of ear shot and had vanished into the Bookstore, she heaved a sigh and turned back to James. "What do you want to say, Potter?"

In a rare deviation from the norm, James actually looked nervous—scared, almost. "I just want to say I'm sorry," he blurted out in one breath.

"Come again?" Lily asked, she knew very well what James had said, but she just wanted to hear it again to commit this moment to memory.

"I'm sorry, alright? I'm sorry," James repeated, and he actually sounded sincere this time. Lily prided herself on not being half-bad at reading people, and from what she could tell, James was being sincere here.

"Do you know what you're apologizing for?" Lily asked, her brow raised in apparent curiosity.

"For driving you away." He sounded pained admitting this, like the words that were being pulled from his throat were knives turned inwards. "For…for you leaving…and for giving you reason to leave," he breathed, his voice eerily quiet, yet tainted with misery.

Lily laughed sharply and shook her head. "Wrong answer Potter. You should apologize for all the things you've done to Severus. If you knew what I knew about him…you'd feel sick with yourself with what you've done," she growled angrily, green eyes narrowed into slits that caused the bespectacled boy to wince in shame. "You, Potter…have no reason to apologize to me other than bullying my friend. Severus on the other hand, he deserves an apology far more than I do, because you've done so much to him, more than anyone else you bully. If you truly wanted to be my friend…James—" his ears perked up at that, and a ghost of a smile formed on his morose face "—then the absolute worst thing you could have done was torment Severus. You bullied him relentlessly and still you show no remorse!"

"But Evans he's a Slytherin! He learns dark magic and—"

"Have you ever seen him use dark magic?" Lily said icily, all pretense of warmness gone from her tone as she dared him to respond. Foolishly, James tried and had his entire argument shot down by Lily.

"Well…no, but he still studies and—"

"I know he does," Lily interrupted sharply, her voice stern—McGonagall-esque even that quietened James down in an instant. "And I don't like it. In fact…I hate the fact that he studies such magic—" James looked elated at Lily's admission, smiling broadly at her, he was about to speak when a raised hand from Lily cut him off before a word could leave his lips.

"That being said, while I despise the fact that Sev learns such magic seemingly for fun, he has never used such magic. In spite of all the shit you and your bastard friends have done to him. To be honest…had I been in his shoes I'm not so sure I could have held out for as long as he did. If I knew all the hexes and curses Sev does…you'd best believe I would've used them after the tormenting you've done to him," Lily growled.

James didn't reply, his head was hung low and his hazel eyes that usually were so full of life and cheer remained fixed on the ground beneath his feet. He couldn't even look at her.

"So…James, I ask again, he doesn't use Dark Magic…he has a poor taste in friends, myself excluded of course, what else is he guilty of hmm?" Lily asked viciously. "Are any of the things that I mentioned above punishable by week-long stints in the hospital wing? Is having a poor choice in friends punishable by breaking his bones? Tell me…why on earth do you think having questionable academic interests and being sorted into Slytherin is worth being sent to he hospital wing over and over again, can you answer me that James?"

She was relentless, not even bothering to slow down for him to process her questions. She wanted him to learn just how much of a bastard he really was and she wanted him to know that he'd killed his chances with her by being such a rotten bully to her best friend. She wanted him to know that his own insecurities about Sev being her best friend, and now even more, was what destroyed any chance of his obvious crush ever coming to fruition. Was she relishing in the fact that she was crushing his hopes and dreams? Dreams of them somehow ending up together? Just a bit, yes. Because just as the miserable menace across from him had crushed Sev's dreams of being accepted and valued by his peers, she was now repaying the favor. This was Severus' retribution, James was finally understanding what it meant to feel crushing disappointment, to feel his hopes and dreams of dating Lily—and perhaps even more than that further down the line shatter like a pane of glass. The shards of which would remain within him for some time, she hoped. While Lily wasn't cruel enough to heap more misery on James just for fun in the wake of his heartbreak, she was hoping he would learn his lesson, that the way to get a woman to fall in love with you is not to attack and terrorize her best friend.

Truth be told, from an objective point of view she did think James was decent looking, he had a smile that could light up a room and jokes that could go on for days; a few of his quips(none at Severus' expense) had even gotten a few laughs out of her. She could see some appeal in him at times, when he wasn't so focused on bullying Sev or other students, harassing them in the halls and sending first years to the hospital wings with their legs turned to jelly and boils sprouting all over their bodies. She'd seen Sev enough times in his second home under Poppy's care to truly realize that that basest attraction she felt for James was pointless and a betrayal of her best friend. She snuffed it out and never even contemplated looking at James like that again. In spite of his good side, which Lily was privy to given their shared—rather, former shared membership of House Gryffindor; his bad side was so much worse and she quickly came to realize that what she wished for within James would not come to fruition, he was a heartless bully and so she firmly stood against him, on the side of Severus who had been bullied incessantly and without reprieve by that bastard and his cowardly friends ever since they'd set foot on the train to Hogwarts.

Seeing his countenance fall faster than a rock into the Black Lake wasn't easy for her, and now…she was no longer relishing in what she was about to do. She'd seen that look on Severus so many times to realize just what it was that was setting in on James right now, and while a small part of her was gleeful and over the moon that James was getting what was coming to him for bullying her best friend all these years, she knew breaking hearts wasn't easy. For a time, she even worried about having to have this talk with Sev, if she hadn't discovered her feelings for him she even dreaded the notion of having to crush his dreams, yet again, for only the umpteenth time in his short but miserable life. The silence between them had stretched on for minutes now, and it seemed as if James was trying his best to come up with a reply but he couldn't, there was nothing he could say to her that would appease her. His head was still hung low, his eyes fixed upon the ground in a look that reminded Lily so much of Sev, even his usually spiky black hair was obscuring his face.

"James."

His name on her lips gave him reason to look up at her, and in that moment, Lily felt some scrap of pity for what she was about to do. Despite the pity she felt for him, she hardened her gaze, and pressed on.

"There is no future for us. You yourself ensured that by destroying my best friend's dreams of a better life of acceptance and love, do you understand that? So whatever it is you feel for me…this is it," despite her hatred, at times, of the boy in front of her, she did seek to lift his mood slightly, having seen the countenance James currently bore so often on her boyfriend, she didn't like seeing that look on anyone.

"Besides…there's always other fish in the sea," Lily added, in an attempt to cheer him up.

"Come again?"

"It's a muggle colloquialism," Lily explained, smiling slightly at James' look of utter confusion. "It basically means there's a lot more options out there. And if you change your ways…and stop being such a bully I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding someone that likes you."

"Well thanks for the vote of confidence Evans!" James laughed, but Lily saw right through the shallow veneer of false-cheer from the still miserable boy. "I'll uh…I'll keep that in mind. Thank you," he added, his voice now falling back to earth.

"For what?"

"For explaining that to me. I…think I know what I must do now," he said solemnly. He gave her one last smile, devoid of cockiness or assuredness, in its place was only regret but with a sprinkling of tentative hope. "I guess I'll…see you around then, Evans."

Lily took a step back from him, and despite the anger she felt mere minutes ago towards this boy, she smiled. "We'll see. Goodbye Potter."

With a subdued wave and a resigned sigh, James turned on his heel and trundled away down the street towards The Leaky Cauldron. His parents were there waiting for him after all. Lily watched him go, relief settling in her frame at having buried one chapter of her life, but also hope that James could really turn things around and find someone else to fawn after. She then headed off in the opposite direction towards Obscurus books, her thoughts now occupied with Sev and what books he might be perusing with her father. When she found them, they were at the back of the bookstore, Severus appeared to be in the middle of avidly explaining transfiguration theory to her father who listened with rapt attention. She walked over to them both with a smile, all thoughts of James forgotten.

"There you are Lily," Mark said, as he spotted her out of the corner of his gaze.

Severus, who had been mid-sentence on explaining the properties of Gamp's laws of elemental transfiguration, looked up at Lily as she approached and gave her a broad smile. "Potter didn't cause trouble?" He asked, grinning at her.

"He didn't," Lily agreed. "I set him straight and well…hopefully that bully will change his ways before he really gets himself into trouble…either way, it doesn't matter to us though does it Sev?"

"I don't think so," Severus agreed, smiling.

"So what's that you've got there?" Lily asked, inclining her head towards the book in Severus' hands.

"Ah this you mean?" Severus asked, waving the book around.

"No. I meant the red and black book behind you on that shelf on the second row from the top, obviously," she replied drily, as she rolled her eyes. "Yes of course I meant the book in your hands you dunderhead!"

"Hey that's my insult!" Severus exclaimed indignantly.

"Well I've appropriated it!" Lily shot back, her lip curling into a Severus-like sneer.

"Lily, Severus, be mindful of your surroundings, need I remind you where we are?" Mark said sternly, looking between the two suddenly-quiet teens.

"No daddy, sorry," Lily murmured, her tone subdued.

"Sorry Mark," Severus added, his head hung low.

Mark gave a stiff nod in acceptance of their apologies. "Now Severus, where was that book you wanted to pick out?"

"This one here," Severus answered, picking up a book from the shelf next to him. It was green with gold lettering and highlights across the cover. As Severus raised the book into the air, Lily's eyes widened as she spied the cover and she pointed her finger accusingly at her boyfriend.

"Sev that's a book on dark magic!" Lily exclaimed in a harsh whisper.

"No it's not," Severus said calmly. "It's about the mind arts, see?"

He flipped the book around so she could see the front, Lily's eyes darted over the cover quickly.

The Mind Arts:

A Beginners Guide to Success Vol. II

By: Trevor Basalt

"Volume two?"

"I already have Volume one, it was one of the books I got from my mum's stash that day. I've been dying to find the second volume of this series, there's three in total, and out of all the books here, this is the one I want most."

Lily pursed her lips, but just as she opened them to reply, she was interrupted by her father. "Severus was walking me through the principles of the book earlier, Lil's, and while I can't say I understand much, I does seem rather interesting and useful too," he explained, gazing at his daughter.

"It's all about protecting your mind from foreign invasion Lily, I think it's really neat stuff! Like…there's all sorts of exercises you can do to strengthen your mind, and allow you to resist being mind-read and people going through your thoughts and memories, it really is an interesting topic."

Lily was confused beyond measure. She couldn't believe what her boyfriend and father were saying, and they were in agreement on this! Rather, Severus' persuasion skills must've brought her dad to his side! How did this happen? How did Sev manage to convince daddy that Dark Magic is good? It doesn't make any sense!

"I can't believe what I'm hearing," Lily eventually said. She turned to her father with narrowed green eyes. "You're actually in agreement with Sev on this?"

"Yes as a matter of fact I am. From what I understand, this is a…defensive kind of magic, but then again I don't know much about this stuff."

"But it's dark magic!" Lily blurted out, wincing that her tone sounded awfully similar to James' when he was protesting Severus' knowledge of the dark arts.

"But it's defensive," Severus interjected swiftly, silently imploring her to see reason and understand that not all dark magic was evil or bad. This kind of magic useful, and could be used to prevent invasions into one's mind. How does Lily not realize that this kind of magic is useful?

"Lily, please…I'm not asking you to start learning Dark Magic, I would never force that on you. All I want you to accept is that I like this stuff, and I have never ever used a dark curse in my life. Is it so bad to want to know about these things? Besides…this book isn't even about curses or hexes or anything like that, it's all about protecting your mind. Is that really so bad?"

Lily wasn't deaf, she could definitely hear the pleading in his tone as he tried to make her understand his side of things. Heaving a sigh, she nodded. "Alright Sev, you do your thing, as long as it's not about hexes and—"

"It's not," he said firmly, cutting her off. "It may not be light magic necessarily…but it's defensive magic," he insisted. As Lily hunted for deception, she found none, and so she nodded resignedly, knowing that her argument against him was falling to pieces in her hands.

"Well now that that's settled," Mark said, clapping his hands together in satisfaction, "is there any books you want to pick out, Lily? Or are you all set from the first store?"

"I'm fine dad. These books are too dark for me anyways. They're not my kind of thing," she answered. After all, she was already carrying a sizable load of books in her bag, she'd purchased significantly more than Severus had when they started their shopping trip at Flourish and Blotts.

The trio then paid a visit to Gringotts after that, where Lily and Severus inquired as to whether the new accounts they would open in the US could access their funds in the UK. Despite their rudeness they were helpful and did affirm that by setting up accounts at one of their American outlets, the nearest being in Boston, they indeed could access their vaults held in Britain. It would require a little bit of paper work on both ends but nothing that couldn't be resolved in a matter of minutes. Needless to say, drawing blood or performing rituals or anything like that wasn't needed, just to sign their name a few times and that was it. How pedestrianly Muggle.

After finishing their business at Gringotts, they briefly stopped at Madam Malkin's to peruse some robes and wizarding garments, but in the end opted not to purchase anything. To their knowledge, American Wizards and Witches mostly wore ordinary clothing anyways with robes only being worn for very special occasions. For the most part, their magical counterparts across the pond were far less insular than their British cousins and had adopted muggle ideas, their clothes being a chief example, to a much greater extent than here in the UK. After leaving the shop empty handed, Mark checked his watch and decided it was time to head over to the Leaky Cauldron. Esmerelda Rosier was due to arrive soon, as the clock ticked over to 11:55, and they didn't want to keep the potions mistress waiting.

At 11:55 precisely, Severus, Lily and Mark entered the Leaky Cauldron, they attracted a few cursory stares owing to their muggle attire, but they were paid no more mind as they headed for a free table. Severus, being the most experienced of the group in the magical world offered to go order their food and so he left the table to head over to the bar counter to place their order and pay(using Mark's money at his insistence). As Severus was away at the counter waiting to collect their food and beverages, a fireplace roared green and out stepped a woman wearing muggle attire, although she was most definitely a witch. She was a woman of shorter than average height, shorter than Lily even. She had long black hair that would have hung down to perhaps the middle of her back, although it was currently done up in a ponytail. She had striking green eyes, just as bright as Lily's. Her eyes danced about the room but came to rest on Mark and Lily, sensing her gaze, Mark turned towards the woman, who waved and began walking closer. Mark tapped Lily on the arm, distracting the redhead from her book, she pried her gaze from her newly purchased tome and found the green eyes of the woman with eyes eerily similar to her own.

"I was told you had eyes quite like my own," the woman greeted with a warm smile. "And sure enough you most certainly do," she added, extending her hand for the young witch to shake.

"Professor Rosier?" Lily asked, reaching for the woman's hand.

"That's just Esmerelda to you dear, for now at least until school starts," the professor replied, shaking Lily's hand.

"Mark Evans, it's a pleasure to meet you," Mark added, moving to shake the woman's hand.

"A pleasure to meet you too, sir. Your daughter is quite the talented witch," Esmerelda replied, grasping Mark's offered hand in turn.

"Can we get you anything to eat?" Mark offered, pulling a chair out for Esmerelda, who then sat and directed a grateful nod at him.

"I've already ordered some food…it should be here in a few minutes or so, but I appreciate the thought, Mister Evans," Esmerelda replied as she unruffled her skirt and pulled her chair closer to the table.

"Now, I was lead to believe I was meeting with not one but two potions prodigies. So where oh where is Severus Snape?" She asked, glancing around the room.

"Right here ma'am," came the voice of the boy she sought and was only just entering her field of view as he returned from the bar counter with a tray full of food and drink. "I was just at the bar collecting the food and drinks we'd ordered." He lifted the tray he held in his hands to emphasize his point.

"Ah! Well it's certainly nice to meet you Severus. I would shake your hand, but seeing as both of yours are currently occupied…"

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well, ma'am—"

"Just Esmerelda is fine. Until school starts that is, then it's Professor Rosier to you," she interrupted

Severus set the tray down, and lowered himself into his seat. He then handed out the food and drink to their respective recipients. When Severus had finished dishing out the meals, Esmerelda reached for his hand and Severus gave it a firm shake.

"Now that we're all here, would you all like to eat first or shall we discuss my proposal?"

"We can wait first Esmerelda, your food isn't here yet after all," Lily pointed out.

"Very well then," Esmerelda replied gratefully. "On to my proposal. It is clear to me, as a Potions Mistress that the both of you are exceptionally talented at Potions. Perhaps…even the most capable pairing of fourteen year olds I have ever seen. My niece Marlene is very capable herself with a cauldron and stirrer, but she's heaped praises upon you in particular Lily, about your capabilities in a potions lab."

"Thank you Esmerelda," Lily said, her pale skin flushing slightly under the woman's generous praise. "But truth be told…I'm only the second best in our year. Severus is better than me, he's helped me reach the point I am today. He's been…kinda like my mentor, you could say," Lily admitted, casting Severus a fleeting, yet grateful glance as she spoke.

"Is that so?" Esmerelda remarked, surprised at the redhead's humbled admission of Severus' superior talent as a brewer.

"Would you agree that your are the more capable brewer, Severus?" She asked, turning her striking green eyes on the sullen boy.

"I am a capable brewer…but Lily is no slouch. She's a fast learner and possess a deft touch for potions that even I struggle to replicate. She's learned a lot very quickly and is without a doubt just as talented as I am—"

"No I'm not, you're better!" Lily insisted, she seemed angry that Severus was downplaying her praise, for he indeed was the better brewer, not by much mind you, but still better than her nonetheless.

"I'd say we both excel in different things and are both ahead of our peers," Severus replied complacently, keeping his tone nice and level.

"Well from the way you both shout praises to the high heavens at each other, I think it's safe to say that you are both Potions Prodigies," Esmerelda interjected.

"That I shall agree with," Severus said.

"As will I," Lily chimed in.

"Good. Now as to why I am here, I wanted to know—ah! My food is here, great!" Her food, a piping hot casserole appeared in front of her in a medium sized dish as well as a bottle of butter beer.

"You can get food delivered to your table? Since when could that happen?" Severus asked confusedly, his dark eyes narrowed on the food before her.

"House elves, Severus. I opted to have my food delivered by elf for a few knuts more," Esmerelda explained calmly. "It's not much of a difference but it is rather convenient wouldn't you agree?"

"Now we know we can do that too Sev when we come back in the future," Lily chuckled, smiling fondly at her boyfriend.

"If only we had such things as house elves around the house," Mark sighed, his wistful tone eliciting giggles from Lily and a brief snort(which was as good as a laugh) from Severus. "Would save Violet, and all of us a lot of trouble wouldn't it?"

"Oh yes, sometimes I do get rather jealous of all those purebloods with their dozen house elves and all that. Wouldn't it be nice to have that?" Lily asked longingly.

"Well you're looking at one."

Lily's eyes goggled in surprise and a quiet gasp forced its way past her lips.

"What did you expect Lily? Her last name is Rosier," Severus said dully, surprised that she hadn't picked up on that.

"Severus is right. I have a niece and nephew in your year as a matter of fact, Marlene whom you're friends with Lily," she said, looking at the redhead. "And Evan who I believe was your roommate in Slytherin, Severus," she added, turning to gaze at Severus.

Severus did not like the snooty, uppity boy and his condescending attitude he held towards those of an inferior blood status. In as neutral a tone he could manage, he replied; "Yes I know Evan. We aren't friends, but…he is, rather, was an acquaintance of mine."

"Oh do stop pretending Severus, it's unbecoming, especially when you're doing such a poor job of hiding the malice you feel towards my nephew. He's a little bigot is what he is alright. My brother's done a great job on indoctrinating him with all that purebloods are superior crap," she sneered, the disdain she felt for her brother and the way he'd raised his son Evan, and daughter Lucy more than evident.

Severus looked thoroughly chastised at her words, but with a slight grin, he replied; "Didn't want to offend you, ma'am. I wasn't aware of your stance on blood purity, is all."

"You're a smart boy Severus, aren't you?" Esmerelda returned sardonically. "So tell me…if I really believed that Purebloods are superior to every other wizard and witch and all that crap, would I be here meeting with you, a half blood, and Lily, a Muggleborn and saying that you two are the most talented fourteen year old potioneers I've ever met?"

"I guess not," Severus muttered.

"Precisely," Esmerelda agreed, satisfied with his answer. "Anyways, as I was about to say before my food arrived, I want to tutor the both of you in one of my advanced classes. I usually select only one student a year for private tutoring but given your talent in potions, it would be a crime to pick only one of you and leave the other out. So with that in mind I want to tutor you both, so do you accept?"

"I do," Lily said swiftly, her eyes lit up at the prospect of getting private potions tutoring with Sev from a renowned potions mistress no less.

"And so do I," Severus added, reaching for Lily's hand beneath the table and giving her dainty fingers a light squeeze. Lily squeezed back, and he felt a surge of warmth through his hand, a feeling only Lily could give him. She cast him a quick smile out of the corner of her gaze before facing Esmerelda again.

"Now that that's out of the way, I say we get down to eating, I don't know about you three, but I'm starved!" Mark said, eyeing his platter of Bangers & Mash in front of him hungrily like a starved hyena.

"I can't fault you for that Mister Evans," Esmerelda chuckled.

Without further delay, the two teenagers, Esmerelda and Mark tucked into their food. Thanks to the ever growing portions Violet had been giving him, Severus made short work of his fare, Lily finishing her own meal just behind him. Mark shook his head in amusement, it seemed in her valiant efforts to fatten him up, all Violet had done was create one lean, mean, eating machine. When they had finished their meals, Severus, Mark and Lily bade goodbye to Esmerelda as she strode towards the floo. The witch gave the group a wave goodbye before tossing some floo powder at her feet and vanishing in the flames to her destination.

When Esmerelda had flooed away, Mark to his daughter and Severus and asked; "Is there anything else you two need to settle?"

"I'm all set dad, thanks for the books," Lily replied gratefully.

Severus lifted his bag of books that he'd purchased from Flourish and Blotts as well as Obscurus Books. "Thank you Mark, but I've got everything I need as well," he replied, bowing his head in thanks.

"Well alright then," Mark said, standing up from his chair. "Let's make our way home."

The three of them left the tavern shortly after and cross the street to their parked car that was now drenched. The unusually warm weather they'd been experiencing the past few days, it seemed it wasn't to last as the rain made its long awaited…and dreaded appearance. Despite the rain, Lily couldn't help but feel warm and sunny in side, she'd reaffirmed her relationship with Sev, and firmly shut the door on anything Potter might believe was there. It was true, at times she felt angry at herself at feeling that base attraction to Potter, he was objectively a good looking boy after all, and she hated herself for feeling those things. Now though, she could see right through him and it seemed as if he wasn't even there, and although Severus wasn't as traditionally handsome as Potter was, he had things that Potter lacked in spades.

To Lily, all of Severus' most incredible attributes laid within him and she had the privilege of feeling them all. He had the courage of a lion, the wit of a crow, the cunning of a fox, the intelligence of a dolphin, and a heart that was locked tighter than Gringotts, yet so full of gold, she was amazed at the treasure she'd found when she finally got to feel his heart beat and his essence laid bare. She loved his heart most of all, hearing it beat, basking in his love, it was euphoric to her. Having the key to unlock his heart, feeling the love he had to offer, she didn't understand how she could improve on this. She couldn't, quite frankly, and she didn't even want to. She was Sev's and Sev was her's, hearts entwined since that day and she wouldn't have it any other way.

A/N2: I can't lie and say that writing James finally realizing just for a moment what it's like to be Severus wasn't satisfying, because it most certainly was. But at least Lily's given him some hope for the future so prospects aren't entirely bleak for James, unless he can't get his act together that is. This chapter was to provide closure for James, something Severus lacked in canon but I was nice enough to write for him here, and to introduce Marlene's aunt to our two protagonists. In the coming chapters, they'll finally be leaving to America and beginning life there as students of Ilvermorny.