"I bloody hate Potions!" Marlene shouted as she, Lily, and Mary exited the potions classroom and headed towards the Great Hall for lunch. "Honestly Lily, I have no idea how you manage to remember all the little nuances to brew anything but slime that crawls out of your cauldron."

"You didn't have your heat high enough!" Lily said with a huff. "When you're slowly brewing in a pewter cauldron like that, you have all kinds of time to readjust your flame so it doesn't explode. Moonstone has that kind of enchanting effect on your other materials, so you need to keep the temperature high enough to keep it in a completely liquid form. If it hardens even a bit, it'll try to escape."

"I had half a mind to bottle your slime up and give it to you as a pet, Mar." Mary teased the pureblood redhead. Fortunately, it seemed like the pressure of the exam had taken the girl's mind off of the previous day's trauma brought by Rosier's Slytherin gang and she finally returned to her cheerful self.

Lily returned Mary's smile and patted her fellow Muggle-born witch on the shoulder. "How are you feeling after that exam, Mary? I know we didn't have that much time to teach you, but it seemed like your mixture was the right color."

"Honestly, Lily? I feel pretty good. I think we should have gone over some more of the ingredients for the written test, but as far as my practical portion went, my Draught of Peace seemed fine. I might have just brewed something good enough to get an E! That'd carry me into N.E.W.T. classes!" Mary said confidently. "Can you...um...do me a favor and give my thanks to Severus for his help?"

"Why don't you just thank him yourself?" Lily asked, trying to further bridge the gap between her two closest friends. "Sev doesn't bite, you know."

"You sure about that, Lily? Haven't you heard the rumors that Snape is a vampire?" Marlene asked jokingly. "Spends so little time in the sun that there might be some truth to that."

"I dunno, Mar. Maybe you're right. But if I spend so much time with him...oh dear...maybe he's turned me into his thrall. Just like Dracula and Mina Harker. Who could possibly save me from such a fiend?" Lily gasped, mocking her friend's ridiculous accusation.

"Dracula and who?" Marlene asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"Honestly, Mar! Read a book for things besides homework sometime!" Lily said, playfully slapping her friend on the arm. "They're a lot more fun than school lets on."

As the girls rounded the stairwells out of the dungeon corridor, Mary nodded at her friend's joke. "Well, Lily...I'm not sure about him being a vampire, but it sure seemed like you were transfixed by him in the lab as if he were one. Something you want to tell us?"

Lily's cheeks began to warm as she was taken aback by her friend's observation. Severus had been on her mind all day, especially since she pieced together what had gone unsaid in his room. If she guessed correctly, then what he wanted to say was so unlike him. Combine that with how quickly he'd finished his Potions O.W.L. that day and the haste that led him out of the lab…

"Oooh...couldn't take her eyes off the tutor?" Marlene asked, noticing Lily's blush. "We shouldn't be too surprised, Mary. Our adorable Prefect has always been a bit of a teacher's pet."

"Mar! He's my friend!" Lily groaned. "He's just been acting so differently as of late. The way he speaks, how he carries himself. It's almost like he's a different person, but I still know that it's him. At first, I thought it was just the concussion he suffered, but Madam Pomfrey gave him a clean bill of health, so I don't know what else it could be."

Marlene wrapped an arm around each of her friends' waists and smirked. "Fascinating as all of that is, Lily...my stomach's growling. I nearly ate that damn slime because if I unfocused my eyes enough, it would have looked like gelatin."

"Why am I not surprised?" Lily asked with a roll of her eyes. Nonetheless, it was nice to be around her fellow Gryffindor girls after her morning patrol where she encountered Severus. She craved a bit of normalcy after their conversation took her onto an emotional roller coaster…

"Mmmph...phooo good!" Marlene said happily with a mouthful of juicy roast beef, which led to joint laughter from Lily and Mary. As many years as they had known the girl, seeing the pure joy that she had for a well-cooked meal was always contagious for them. Though Lily wondered in the back of her mind if she'd need a diet as high in protein as Marlene's in the event that she did join the Gryffindor Quidditch Team next year.

"I wouldn't mind being able to throw caution to the wind like Mar does regarding what I eat…" she thought briefly before taking a bite of lean chicken breast.

After taking a big gulp and patting her lips with a napkin, Marlene flashed a toothy grin across the table to her friends. "Thinking about our summer vacation, I hope? Both of you be sure to bring some cute bathing suits. We're almost seventeen for Merlin's sake. Time to start getting serious, because I'm sure we'll get a lot of attention once we're on the beach."

"I thought you said that Quidditch came first?" Mary asked, her blue eyes looking at Marlene curiously.

"It does! But that doesn't mean that I'm not thinking about second, third, and fourth too!" Marlene said. "I've always wanted to have a secret little summer rendezvous with a cute Muggle boy on the beach...give each other the time of our lives before I eventually have to Obliviate him."

"Or, you could just go steady with him?" Lily suggested sarcastically. "Just because he's a Muggle doesn't mean you need to say goodbye when it's time to come back to Hogwarts. Plenty of them adjust quite fine to the wizarding world."

Marlene looked to her left, her face turning the slightest hint of red as she looked in the direction of James Potter, who had been sitting on the other end of the table with his friends.

"Ah, yes. Silly of you to suggest that, Lily. Mar's already got her mind on her dream lad." Mary said, pointing her finger at Marlene with a knowing smile.

"S-shut up, Mary!" Marlene said, her voice hushed in embarrassment. "Anyway! What about you, Lily? What happened with you and Fabian? He and his brother are graduating this year, y'know."

Lily shook her head in frustration, remembering the older boy with whom she'd shared her first kiss. "He and Gideon have given me a laundry list of things to clean up after with their nonsense. He's funny and charming, but as a Prefect, do you know what it's like to have so many unscheduled duties thrust on me? Last month I had to brew an antidote for a love potion because they spiked Filch's drink and had him chasing the Grey Lady all across the upper floors like a lovesick puppy."

"I mean...it's far more innocent stuff than what James Potter does, isn't it?" Mary asked with a shrug.

Lily nodded slightly, but did not relent. Fabian Prewett was her first crush at Hogwarts, and though there was an age difference between them, he had given her such a wonderful memory that she would cherish forever. Following the end of the Slytherin-Gryffindor game during Lily's fourth year, Fabian Prewett had been celebrated as the hero who won the Quidditch Cup for them that year. Smashing a Bludger into the hand of Regulus Black moments before the Snitch was caught and could have cost Gryffindor the coveted trophy, the party that followed had been some of the most fun Lily could remember during her time at Hogwarts.

Admittedly, she partook in a few Butterbeers that evening thanks to the Marauders smuggling in a full-sized cask from Hogsmeade. And that had given her enough liquid courage to bring the charming, redheaded sixth year boy away from the festivities long enough to engage in her first kiss which eventually led to full-on snogging. They dated briefly in the waning days of that year, but when Lily returned to Hogwarts this school year, Prefect badge in hand, their relationship was never the same.

Fabian and Gideon had been the school's prototype for what the Marauders became. Merry pranksters, though never going to the malevolent lengths that James Potter and Sirius Black would sometimes go, especially when it came to Severus. Unfortunately for Lily, that pranking meant cleaning up many a mess caused by the Prewett twins, which spelled the end for her short-lived stint at teenage love. Still, that relationship, brief as it was, meant so much to Lily because it showed her that even a pureblood wizard like Fabian could be romantically accepting of a Muggle-born witch like her who was comparatively new to the magical world.

"Fabian's in the past. I've got too much on my plate with Prefect duties to really think about boys right now…And if you really want me to give my Quidditch tryout a fair shot, then I think you'd have to agree, Mar." Lily said.

Marlene nodded briefly before her eyes widened, staring at someone behind Lily. "Erm...don't you know anything about personal space, you little nymph?" she asked abruptly.

Lily turned around to be startled by the sudden appearance of Pandora Whittle, who couldn't have stood more than inches away from where she was sitting.

"Um...h-hi, Pandora!" Lily stammered, trying to stay polite to the peculiar girl despite her rather intrusive behavior. "Can I help you with anything?"

The blonde-haired witch put a finger to her chin in a mischievous expression. "Forgive me, Miss Evans-"

"Lily is fine, please." The redheaded witch insisted. She disliked receiving formalities, preferring instead to give them respectfully to other authority figures.

"Alright, Lily it is. I apologize for snooping; I was heading to my table, but I saw how engrossed you were talking to your friends and I couldn't help overhearing you talking about the Grey Lady and Mr. Filch. You're the reason my friend doesn't need to hide from his odd declarations of adoration anymore?"

"Oh! Yes, actually. That was me who brewed his antidote!" Lily laughed, fascinated that Pandora was apparently a friend to one of the Hogwarts ghosts. Sensing her friends' confusion, she turned to Marlene and Mary to explain. "He was acting like such a silly casanova for the poor ghost. Making grandiose statements like how their love crossed the boundaries of life and death. Things you'd never expect Filch to say. Honestly, he's got a surprising amount of love in his heart that at the very least, he should consider getting a pet."

Lily looked down into those pretty, silver eyes of the younger witch and patted the unoccupied seat next to her. "You're welcome to sit here if you'd like to join our conversation. None of these tables are really assigned by house outside of the big school ceremonies."

"And yet, you always sit here at the Gryffindor table." Pandora muttered with a curious tilt of her head. "I always sit at the Ravenclaw table, and Severus sits at the Slytherin table. I suppose old habits are hard for us to break."

"Oh! You know Sev?" Lily asked, her voice excitedly perking up at the notion that Severus might have made another friend besides herself.

"Know him? He's positively amazing." Pandora sighed with bliss, causing a sudden snort from Marlene.

"Snape? Amazing?" the older girl asked. "You sure you didn't get him mixed up with someone else?"

"I wouldn't expect you to understand, Miss McKinnon." Pandora shrugged, unfazed by Marlene's rudeness. "If you had seen the beautiful colors radiating off of his body like I have...you might be a bit nicer to him."

"Colors, eh?" Marlene asked, taking a look into Pandora's eyes. "You've not been experimenting with any of those Muggle psychedelics that are all the rage these days, have you?"

"Marlene, stop it!" Lily said firmly to her friend. "Apologize to Pandora. She's done nothing for you to be so mean to her."

"Oh, alright…" the pureblood witch sighed, the tension draining from her body as she looked at the smaller girl with a bit of sincerity despite the tension of Lily's request. "I'm sorry, alright? It's just that you Ravenclaws are a bit of an odd lot who can say things that go over my head. I'm a simple girl."

Ignoring Marlene's sad attempt at an apology, Pandora took a seat next to Lily and smiled up at her. "It's alright. Most people can only see what they want to, ignoring everything else. Until something happens to shake their clouded vision, they'll never see Severus like we can. So it's a good thing that very thing is about to happen and do just that for all the people who don't believe in him."

Mary turned her head towards the Slytherin table, clearly trying her hardest to avoid eye contact with Mulciber, Avery, and Rosier. Fortunately, Severus was at the opposite end of the long table. "He's just sitting down and eating right now, Pandora…"

"Trust me, I know it's coming." the blonde witch said, narrowing her eyes. "His aura is burning so brightly right now. He's up to something wonderful…"

Lily looked between her best friend at the far side of the Great Hall and the odd girl sat next to her. "Pandora, forgive me for prying, but the way you speak of him, it...sounds like more than just friendly praise."

"Oh! Yes, of course!" Pandora said, snapping out of her daze and bowing her head in apology. "Sorry. I tend to get distracted when he's around. The real reason I came to talk to you was to ask a question…"

"By all means, ask." Lily said, curious what the newcomer had to say.

"You and Severus...aren't a couple, are you?" Pandora asked bluntly.

Lily heard the snickering from Marlene and Mary at the sudden question, but was caught so off-guard that their laughter was vague amidst the maelstrom of thoughts that followed. All the times that he'd look so fiercely at her in these past few days. Their discussion in the Hospital Wing about his ability to cast a Corporeal Patronus, and the way he drifted off gave her a lingering thought that the memory he used had to do with her…

And then of course their rocky conversation in the chamber with the Mirror of Erised. How he drifted off in a very similar fashion when he stated what he wanted to become, why he wanted to fight in the war to come…

But none of that had any bearing on the third-year Ravenclaw girl's question.

"No, Pandora. Sev and I are just very good friends." she said with assertion.

"Oh...alright then!" Pandora grinned, looking back towards Severus.

"Planning to snatch him up, are you?" Mary asked, her aqua eyes darting frantically between Lily and Pandora as if trying to tell her something important while remaining polite to the younger girl.

"Mmm...maybe. Whatever fate has in store, I'm content to simply let it happen." Pandora shrugged again. "But I do fancy him. And if he's single, then perhaps it's worth trying."

Lily remained silent, but kept her pleasant smile at the hopeful girl's words. It felt...odd to hear a girl that she barely knew practically swooning over her childhood friend. Clearly he had made a serious impression upon Pandora's young mind. But as she was about to offer a single protest to the young witch's crush, Marlene stepped in first.

"Ain't he a bit old for you?"

"Two years' difference is a bit old for me?" Pandora asked, confused by Marlene's question.

Lily's head lowered just a bit, happy that Marlene had been the one to say it. It would have been hypocritical for her to bring up the age gap when she and Fabian Prewett had the same exact age gap when she had kissed him that day in Gryffindor Tower.

"Why does it matter anyway..?" Lily thought. "If Sev has a cute and talented girl like Pandora interested in him, that should be a good thing, right?"

"Anyway. Thank you girls for allowing me to sit with you. I'm going to head over to the Ravenclaw table to get a better view of what's about to happen…" Pandora giggled as she got to her feet and merrily skipped across the Great Hall.

"Lily, why didn't you say something to stop her?" Mary whispered abruptly once the blonde girl was out of earshot.

"Stop her? What for?" Lily asked, surprised by her friend's urgent tone.

"That poor girl's going to get her heart broken by chasing a relationship with him!"

"Come on, Mary. I'd expect this out of Marlene, but not you…" she whispered back, folding her arms in irritation.

"I'm not talking about him doing anything to hurt her, silly! All I'm saying is that giving Pandora any false hopes is cruel!" Mary insisted.

"False hopes..?"

Mary scoffed at Lily's obvious lack of understanding at what she was trying to get at. "Don't tell me you didn't notice the way he'd always look up and smile at you during our tutoring session. Was so distracted that I had to save the potion from bubbling over. I've always seen that he's smitten with you, but yesterday? He looked at you like you were an oasis in a bloody desert."

Lily's eye contact slipped with Mary's as she heard the words from her friend. Words that she'd long known and accepted, that her best friend had a crush on her. It wasn't lost on Lily, but it also hadn't been something that she'd been particularly comfortable dwelling on. With Severus' slow descent towards darker, more angry and violent tendencies, combined with his flagrant and almost possessive jealousy regarding James Potter's attention towards her…it wasn't until the incident at the lake that Lily had any positive vibes about the way that he looked at her.

But it wasn't as if those affections were eternal. He was the same age as she was, and just as prone to ill-fated romance like what she had with Fabian.

"Listen, Mary, just because Sev fancies me doesn't mean that he can't be with someone else. My sister's dated three different men in the last year."

"He doesn't fancy you, Lily." Mary persisted. "I saw it with my own eyes yesterday. The bloke's in lo-"

"Uh, girls?" Marlene's voice suddenly interrupted them, tapping both Lily and Mary's hands from across the table to get their attention. "You might want to stop talking about Snape and take a look at what's going on!"

Lily's gaze rose up to look across the Great Hall and noticed that all four of the Marauders were standing at the Slytherin table, opposite Severus and Rosier's gang who took their places at his side.

"NOW they come to his defense...where were they when he needed their help at the lake?" she thought bitterly as she stood up with Mary and Marlene in unison. She hastily made her way towards the Slytherin table with her friends in tow, determined to keep Severus from being hurt for the third time in a week.

And it briefly looked as though she might fail, because Sirius Black suddenly drew his wand and pointed it squarely at Severus' chest, which led to Lily reaching urgently for her willow wand before any spell could be flung. Unfortunately, she didn't have a clear enough aim at Black's wand to try to disarm him. To add to the unfolding drama, her best friend seemed perfectly calm despite the situation that promised an explosive ending.

"What's Sev doing?!" she thought, too distracted by his smug confidence in the face of danger to properly acknowledge the arrival of Professor McGonagall, who had arrived just in time to diffuse the scene.

But as every other student around her turned to face the Deputy Headmistress, Lily noticed something she hadn't expected. Severus' hand swiftly uncorked a tiny vial and splashed a few drops of colorless liquid into the goblet in front of Mulciber before sitting back down

She knew at once the identity of the brew he had covertly slipped into his classmate's cup, but why Veritaserum?

Once his soft, black eyes locked onto hers, Lily gasped in realization of what his plan was. How effortlessly he'd manipulated all of the parties involved into acting the way he'd predicted so that he could spike Mulciber's beverage unseen. How in the world had Severus become so resourceful and observant in the moment? He had always been a more meticulous planner, and the moment anything went awry, he had never been able to adapt.

Her loose, red hair whipped behind her as she sharply turned towards Mary, feeling her heart beginning to thump rapidly in her chest. It was finally time...her fellow Muggle-born witch might finally be given some justice, and it was thanks entirely to her best friend's intervention.

She watched with eager anticipation as Mulciber ignorantly gulped down his drink, felt her eyes begin to burn with a sudden haze of tears, her lips trembling softly as another shallow breath escaped her lips.

Once the loathsome bully started to involuntarily spill his secrets, Lily noticed as Mary suddenly went still, her shorter, chocolate colored hair barely able to hide the emotion bubbling beneath the surface of her blue eyes. She pulled Mary into a hug, vowing to be there for her friend for everything that was sure to follow.

Yet all throughout, Lily couldn't take her eyes off of Severus as he weaved his trap like a spider's web. Playing the part of an ally for Mulciber just to clamp down and make his betrayal to Rosier's gang all the more visceral for them.

But while the rest of the Great Hall erupted into applause, cheering as Mulciber was escorted away by Professor McGonagall, likely never to be seen again...Lily instead continued to focus on her best friend, beaming with pride that he acted in a way to show everyone who doubted him just a fraction of the wonderful person that she knew he could be.

Once Severus left her line of sight, Lily tearfully laughed in amusement as Marlene was tapped on the shoulder by Pandora.

"I told you he was going to do something wonderful!" the blonde girl said with an impish little grin.

All Marlene could do was wince at being shown up by a student two years younger than her. However, once her brown eyes turned to Lily, the trepidation that had been etched on her face every time the subject of Severus came up in conversation was noticeably absent.

"Alright, Lil'...that was pretty awesome. Tell Snape he's alright in my book." she said with a sincere smile.

"You too, Marlene?" Lily snorted, her nose sniffling from crying too much as she tightened her hug on the sobbing Mary. "I'll repeat what I said earlier. Tell Sev yourself. You don't need to have me play the role of a messenger owl to be nice to him."

Marlene took a few seconds to ponder what Lily said before nodding.

"Mm-kay. If you can get him to join us at the lake one of these days, I'll do just that. Promise."

"Ooh, might I join you?" Pandora asked eagerly.

"Of course, Pandora. I'll see if we can get together this Wednesday afternoon at the lakeside. Our O.W.L. exam for Astronomy is going to be that evening, so we'll have plenty of time beforehand to relax." Lily said with a nod. Regardless of the awkward conversation earlier, Lily was happy; anyone who was so willing to accept the good in Severus was more than welcome to join her growing circle of friends.

Author's Note: And so, an important conversation between the girls. Pandora has made her intentions for Severus known, but how does Lily feel about that? Better still, how will Sev react once the blunt Ravenclaw girl tells him how she feels?

There's also the matter of Mary and Marlene's perceptions of Severus at last being shaken and destroyed by his actions to finish Mulciber. They seem alright with starting fresh with a clean slate and getting rid of their negative perceptions. Perhaps that also applies to Lily and a few of her own lingering doubts about Severus, but will she be able to convince her best friend to actually agree to a day of R&R in the company of several girls that he doesn't know and may not be comfortable with?

Much more seriously than all of these mundane questions, will there be any fallout from Evan Rosier thanks to Sev's betrayal? Or can our protagonist neutralize Rosier in a manner similar to what he used for Mulciber?

As always, please comment and review your thoughts! If you liked the chapter, great, please consider telling me why so I can deliver more for my readers! Next up, Sev's PoV after Mulciber is expelled. Dumbledore will have some words for his former/future/retired spy.