Chapter 16 Potions for Prodigies

As Severus and Lily settled into their surroundings and grew more acclimatized with their life as students of the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, their prowess in the potions lab began to reflect said settling. Even Nicole, the reigning top student in potions was having trouble keeping up with the two prodigies, but she managed well enough and earned her seat at their table for both their standard potions and advanced potions classes. But while Nicole only had two potions classes per week, namely the core class on Tuesday evenings and the advanced class on Wednesday evenings; Severus and Lily had two additional classes with their Professor. Rosier's Private Potions course was ran twice per week on Thursday evenings and Friday mornings, in attendance were Severus and Lily of course, as well as one fifth, sixth and seventh year each. The exclusive club was only home to five students, with Severus and Lily being the youngest; and unlike Slughorn, Rosier didn't discriminate based on connections or blood status, the criteria for her class was all about raw talent for the meticulous art of brewing.

Rosier had initiated her program in her first year as a Professor and had always ran it for fourth years and up. During her students' first three years, she'd evaluate their talent and potential as potioneers against one another and at the end of their third year, she'd make a decisions as to who to select for her class. Three years was usually enough to gauge their affinity for her subject. Usually, she'd only select one student, that was the norm and there had been no exceptions. That was until she'd received word from the Headmistress of a letter she received from a bright young witch named Lily Evans detailing her request to transfer schools from Hogwarts to Ilvermorny for the start of their fourth year of magical schooling. One look at the potion modifications to decades old recipes had been enough for Rosier to immediately commit to the decision to admit both Severus Snape and Lily Evans into her exclusive class and also knocked the reigning potions champion of her third years, Nicole Goodman, out of the running. Nicole hadn't been too happy with the change at first when Rosier announced it to her, but in the end she was accepting of it and had even befriended the pair of newcomers.

While Nicole was a talented Potioneer in her own right, the evidence was soon shown that Severus and Lily were indeed in a league of their own and were both deserving of their spot in her program. Just in their first class of the year when she'd introduced the duo to her three returning students to the Program, they'd proven themselves to be on a similar level to her star fifth year, Luke Maynard of Wampus House. Their first assignment had been to discern possible changes they could make to a recipe presented to them, and to provide feedback to her on what changes they'd make to either increase the yield or potency of the potion, or make it more economical to produce. Lily had quickly spotted changes that could be made concerning the yield of the final product, and the changes she proposed she thought would double the recipe's potency. Severus decided to take the economical approach and vastly cut down on the sum cost of the standard brew's ingredients to produce a potion with similar effects at a far cheaper cost. Needless to say, Rosier was astounded at the speed at which the two operated, and even her other three prodigies were quite impressed with their work.

After their initial trial-by-fire, Severus and Lily settled quite nicely into Rosier's exclusive, little club; and she was soon setting them more advanced assignments and gauging their progress relative to the rest of her proteges. Luke had even struck up somewhat of a friendship with the pair—his abilities and knowledge perhaps being the closest to theirs meant he was often drawn into their debates on the finer intricacies of potion brewing. So as the months wound on and their lives settled down into their new home away from home, their potions classes on Thursday nights and Friday mornings rapidly became the highlights of the week for Severus and Lily. Although the latter usually had to put up with Nicole's ceaseless questioning on what was being covered and how the classes were. Still, Nicole had been a good friend to them both and Lily felt somewhat guilty after she and Severus had swooped in at the eleventh hour and quite literally swiped away her ticket to that class. So despite their friendship with Thomas, Sandra, Caroline and Scott; Nicole and Luke were rapidly becoming both Severus' and Lily's closest friends in their new environment owing to their shared interest in the art of brewing.

On one fine Thursday evening late in early November, Severus and Lily were making their way to their potions classroom for their first of two private potions sessions that week. As they walked along the corridor, their bags strapped firmly to their backs and a few books held in their hands; they idly conversed about what they expected from the lesson as well as their plans for the weekend. This coming weekend would be the first time the school would be holding excursions to Worcester for any students that wanted to get some mid-semester shopping done, and Lily was as eager as ever for her and Severus to go.

"So what're you thinking of getting Sev?" Lily asked curiously. They were only a few corridors away from their final class of the day, Private Potions.

Severus merely gave a single shrug and stared ahead at the uneven brickwork. "Dunno. Perhaps a quill or something, I could use some ink too, I guess. Maybe a few sports things or a few things for your mum and dad if they have anything interesting," he muttered.

Lily hummed thoughtfully, "have you considered taking Rosie up on her offer? She said she'd—"

"The answer is still no," Severus said curtly, cutting her off mid-sentence. "I don't want that kind of charity, and if anything, it should go to you not me," he grumbled.

"But you won fair and square Sev, the cauldron should be yours, and if you only just let her. Rosie would get it for you!" Lily insisted. She was referring to a brand new Brass and Copper cauldron that Severus had won as a result of his performance in class. He'd outdone Lily, Luke and the two older girls in their little competition and as a result of him winning; Rosier had offered to buy him a brand new Cauldron as a result. Severus had said he'd think about it and needed time to process her offer, although secretly he already knew he'd be turning it down. He didn't need to be indebted to her any more than he already was. He hadn't forgotten her buying him his potion ingredients during their trip to Quincy Market back in August.

"It's not charity, Severus," Lily said carefully. "It's a well-earned reward for a job well done. Heck, had I managed to win I would've taken the Cauldron in a heartbeat."

"Well that's just you then. I don't need a Cauldron, Lily. My Pewter one works just fine. Sandra could use it far more than either of us if you ask me, what with the rate she goes through hers."

A small smile split Lily's face as a few peals of laughter escaped her. "That's very true," she conceded, still giggling. "Even Nicole's influence on her doesn't seem to be helping much."

"Speaking of. What do you say we get something for Nicole?" Lily posed.

"You mean when we're in Worcester?" Severus asked, glancing sidelong at her through his curtain of hair.

"Yeah. I mean…she's been really helpful recently hasn't she? And to be honest…I kinda feel bad a bit that we took away her spot in this class, y'know?"

"Well life isn't fair, Lily," Severus said, shrugging his shoulders. "But at the same time, she has been rather helpful…so perhaps I will accept the cauldron then," he mused.

They reached the door to the classroom then, but instead of opening it, Lily turned to face Severus, her books hugged tightly to her chest as she gave him a scrutinizing look. "You will?" She asked skeptically.

"I will," Severus confirmed, "and then I'll give it to Nicole. It's as you said, she's been quite helpful to both of us in Arithmancy and History as well…so it's the least I could do, considering all she's done."

A smile graced her lips then. "That's awfully nice of you Sev," she replied, smiling. "Actually…Nicole told me to ask you if you wanna come to the Snakewood for dinner. She's planning a double date of some sort, so she wanted to know if we're down to join her."

"Someone asked her out?" Severus asked, his brow raised in curiosity. Lily nodded, biting her lip.

"And I bet you know who that someone is," she replied, playfully winking at him and tossing her hair over her shoulder.

Severus' black eyes widened ever so slightly in surprise. "So the bastard's gone and done it," he muttered under his breath. Shocked that Tommy had finally followed through on his promise. His friend had been trying to work up the courage to ask her out for the longest time, and at long last, it seemed he had. "If I were to hazard a guess…I would wager that our dear friend Thomas has finally worked up the courage to ask her, correct me if I'm wrong," he answered, a small grin forming on his face.

"Your wager is most certainly accurate Mister Snape," Lily giggled. "So what do you say? Are you keen on a double date?"

"Considering he isn't nearly as insufferable as Scott, let alone Walters or Abreu, then yes, yes I think I am," Severus replied, smirking.

Lily's smile widened, and she inclined her head towards the door. "Let's head on in Sev, time to get our heads in the game."

Severus merely raised a brow, almost as if he were asking do you really need to say? He pushed open the door, held it for Lily, then followed her in. Luke was already at their usual table on the front right of the class, Veronica was sat on the left front, which meant only Francesca had yet to show.

"Ah, so good of you two to join us," Rosier remarked from her elevated desk at the front of the class. "And not a moment too soon, as well," she added, glancing at the clock on the wall, which was just one minute shy of 3:30.

"Afternoon Professor," Lily and Severus greeted as one, giving respectful nods to their head of house before sitting down at the desk next to Luke.

"What kept you two?" Luke asked, throwing them both nervous glances.

"Oh. Just a small discussion is all. We're not late so no harm no foul," Lily said flippantly.

The door swung open not a moment later, admitting Francesca into the room just as the clock struck 3:30, she quickly took her seat beside Veronica. With all members of the 'Famous Five' as dubbed by Professor Rosier after the famous Muggle book series, now in attendance, Rosier began the class in earnest.

"Today, all of you shall be working at your own desks, so please do space yourselves out and find a desk of your own. You shall be needing a lot of space today."

The class did as they were told, Luke and Francesca stayed put, while Severus, Lily and Veronica packed up their things and moved to the back of the class. They claimed one free desk each behind their two peers. Once they had set up their equipment again, and had spaced all their things out on their own desks, they turned their attention back to the front of the class—only to see that Rosier was currently writing some instructions down on the board.

"Today, class, we shall be reviewing ingredient preparation skills and fundamentals," she announced. " I shall be assigning you a different set of ingredients each. They will reflect the standard ingredients you should be familiar with at your year level plus one. So Lily for instance, shall have fifth year ingredients to work with. The next phase of the assignment will be for you to prepare the ingredients in whatever way you see fit to maximize potion yield and potency. If you believe it best to dice, then dice them; or to powder, then powder them, do I make myself understood?"

"Yes Professor," the class said in unison.

"Good. Now I expect this exercise to last close to an hour. After that, we shall review your work individually and then we shall discuss the optimum methods of alternate ingredient preparation. Oh and by the way, when preparing your ingredients, none of you are allowed to use the standard procedures. Meaning, if you have Bicorn horn for instance, then you shall not be allowed to powder it; or a Sopophorus bean, you shan't cut it. Understood?"

Again, the class responded with a timely; "Yes Professor."

Lily whirled around from her desk to face Severus, who was sat on his own on the third row of desks, and stage whispered; "good luck" to him, then turned back to the front before he even had a chance to reply.

Severus smirked to himself, mumbling; "I won't need it," under his breath.

He and Lily were roughly even with one another in most areas of potioneering. Lily was slightly better at managing stir rates and intensities, Severus in turn was better at temperature management, they were both just about the same when it came to recipe alteration—it was perhaps their strongest area. In almost all the major facets of brewing, they were fairly evenly matched, but when it came to ingredient preparation, this was where Severus came into his own. In this component of every Potions Master's repertoire, he was in a league of his own that even Lily couldn't match.

Wordlessly, Rosier dispersed five bundles of ingredients to each of the tables, and when the clock struck 3:40, told them to get cracking on their work. Severus worked diligently and efficiently, slicing where the recipe called for crushing, powdering when the recipe called for dicing, stripping when the recipe called for cleaving; he worked fast and he worked smart, and his pile of prepared ingredients began rapidly outgrowing all the piles of the four other prodigies in the class. Granted, his most direct competitor was Lily, since the three older students were given more advanced and difficult to prepare ingredients owing to their older age; Severus was given the same ingredients as Lily was though. At times, he looked up, only to see Lily shaking her head frustratedly, her deep red ponytail dancing about in frustration. He could almost the frown on her face as she debated with herself as to what was the best alternate preparation method for whatever it was that lay in front of her.

Severus worked diligently and finished preparing his assigned ingredients in a timely manner. Of all the students, he was first to finish; and when the last ingredient—a pickled Murtlap tentacle that he'd pounded into a goopy paste—was scooped into a large vial, he sat down on his chair and expelled a quiet sigh of satisfaction at a job well done. Rosier seemed to take notice of the fact that Severus had already finished his assignment, with ten minutes left on the clock no less, she gave him a satisfied nod and turned her gaze on the other four people in the class to track their progress.

"Psst, Sev!" Lily whispered.

Severus looked up from his trusty notebook and spotted Lily half-way turned around to face him, a confused look on her face. Severus glanced around the classroom, and upon spotting Rosier on the other side of the room conversing with Veronica, he turned back to Lily. "What?"

"For the Bubotuber Pus, as far as I'm aware, the best way to prepare it is to strain it, right? What did you use? I can't think of anything else!" Lily stage whispered.

A slight smirk formed on Severus' face, a smug look borne of the fact that he'd had no trouble deducing just what to do with the finicky ingredient himself. "Having trouble then? All I'll say is that perhaps your burner will be of some use with it. Beyond that, I cannot say."

Lily looked set to reply, when Rosier whirled back around from her position by Veronica's table and began making her towards him. "All finished already, are you Severus?" She said happily as she neared his table.

"Yes ma'am," Severus said proudly, gesturing to his work. "I believe that these…preparation methods, would be optimum for all the ingredients you gave to me."

Rosier nodded, fully mollified by Severus' strong efforts. "Well done, Severus. Well done. Pack away your utensils. Since you've finished early, you can make a start on your assignment for the weekend."

"But what about the ingredients? Are you—"

"I shall be taking them and inspecting them myself this evening," Rosier interrupted, her raised hand and clipped tone silencing him in a heartbeat. "All appears to be in order from the looks of things, but by tomorrow I'll be able to provide feedback on anything you could have done better. From just a cursory look however…you seem to have done very well indeed Severus. Well done."

A small smile formed on Severus' face. "Thank you ma'am. I do try."

"As you should."

Severus couldn't bring himself to disagree with that sentiment. And so he set to work on his assignment as the rest of the class continued finishing off their ingredient prep work. When the clock struck 4:40, Rosier called time and they all set down their knives, mortar & pestles, or whatever they happened to be wielding at that point in time.

"That's time, everyone. Put your utensils down and pack your ingredients away in the bag I've provided. We shall be using the ingredients you've prepared in future classes, so do be sure to handle them carefully."

"Whew! Just in time," Veronica said, wiping a bead of sweat off her brow before setting down her pestle.

"From the looks of things, that appears so," Rosier replied, glancing over to the Pukwudgie's work station and looking through her bottled jars and vials of various prepared ingredients. "A job well done Miss Barnett, and the same goes for the rest of you. Well done today."

"Thank you Professor," the class chorused, Marconi the Seventh Year Serpent, particularly loudly.

The class did as they were told and packed away their bottled ingredients into their bags and brought them to the front of the class. For the rest of the class the five of them held a discussion about the varying methods they used to prepare their chosen ingredients. For the most part, Lily's and Severus' preparation methods were the same, although for a few ingredients, the valerian sprigs for instance, Severus chose to chop them up into fine slices and boil them in a vat of water; Lily on the other hand had chosen to crush them with Mortar & Pestle. Predictably, Rosier had informed the pair that both methods would suffice, although Severus' would yield better results. When class had finished, Francesca and Veronica wasted no time leaving and going on their merry way, but Luke hung back with the two fourth years as they packed their things.

"So where are you two off to?" Luke asked curiously.

"Date night," Lily said simply, smiling fondly at her boyfriend.

"Oh? Well I hope the two of you have a good time then," Luke said salaciously, grinning wide like a banshee at the two of them.

Lily smirked back while Severus merely rolled his eyes and huffed in exasperation. Luke bade them farewell and left the class then, Severus and Lily did shortly after, not before wishing Professor Rosier a pleasant evening of course. Just as they were leaving however, Severus whirled around in the doorway and called out to his Professor.

"Professor Rosier?"

She turned slowly, setting her quill down on her desk. "Yes?"

"On second thought…I think will accept that cauldron—" Rosier grinned broadly in triumph, happy that her most talented student had decided to take her up on her offer, "—After the trip to Worcester, can I take it back with me to my dorm?"

"You most certainly can Severus. In fact…tomorrow I'll give you a coupon that you can use to purchase the cauldron free of charge."

Severus offered her a fleeting, but sincere smile. "Thank you Professor. I'll um…I'll be going now."

"You do that then. Well done in class today, and I look forward to seeing you and Miss Evans well rested for class tomorrow."

Severus nodded swiftly, then stepped out of the doorway and into the corridor, where an expectant-looking Lily was waiting for him. "Good on you Sev. Nicole'll love your gift. I'm sure of it," she said proudly.

Severus just shrugged. "I hope so."

"Well I know so," Lily said confidently, grasping his hand. "Now come on. Nicole said that if we're gonna meet them, we've gotta be in the Entrance Hall in ten minutes."

"Thomas will surely be on time, he's never late for anything, but Nicole? She'll be late, Lily, there's no rush."

"True, but it's still good to be early Sev, better than late, that's for sure."

"I can't fault you for thinking that."

They navigated their way through the maze of corridors leading from their potions class in the West /Horned Serpent Wing of the castle towards the Entrance Hall, passing a few students on their way to dinner. According to Lily, Nicole would be bringing food from the kitchens, and had asked the pair to wait for her in case she ran late, which was par for the course for her. Over the course of their first few weeks at the school, both Severus and Lily had gotten pretty good reads on what their friends were like and what to expect from them.

Scott and Nicole were the two scholars of the group, perhaps the most gifted intellectually on paper—minus Severus, perhaps—they were well read and towards the top of their classes in almost everything. Before Lily and Severus had come along, Nicole, Scott, Barbara Merryweather and Michael Tsao had routinely been jockeying for the top spot in their year, in terms of academics. If one needed a question answered, chances are these two would be able to help. While Nicole was more easygoing, and could throw barbs and verbal jabs with the best of them, Scott was more icy and his sense of humor was of a similar brand to Severus'—excessively dry.

Sandra, while smart like the rest of their group of friends was a bit more laid back and chilled out, as was Thomas for that matter, although the latter of whom could get pretty intense at times and had a temper to rival Lily's. While Thomas was like Sandra in the sense that he was mostly laid back, Sandra was quite the opposite and almost never got mad, and unless it was sports-related, she took almost nothing seriously. She was the only one that was an avid quidditch supporter and a member of their house team. While a typical Horned Serpent could almost never be described as sporty, Sandra perhaps came the closest to that description.

Caroline was most certainly the most outspoken of their bunch, and while she and her twin were both fun to be around, not as many saw the 'fun' side of Scott as they did Caroline. She was the far more outgoing of the two and got along well with practically everyone, even Barbara and her group of friends. They fed off each other well and the five's dynamic had barely changed when Severus and Lily entered their group.

They entered the Entrance Hall, and just as they did so, they spotted Nicole entering from another corridor that led from the kitchens. Walking by her side was Thomas, and he appeared to be carrying a picnic basket in addition to his backpack. Nicole gave them all a small smile, as did Thomas although his was a bit broader.

"Hey Lily, Severus, right on time I see," Nicole greeted, walking towards them.

"As are you," Lily returned warmly.

"Well? Are you ready to get this show on the road then?" Thomas asked expectantly, inclining his head out into the courtyard and the old Snakewood that laid beyond it.

"Yeah," Severus and Lily responded in unison. They made their way out onto the grounds, now only dimly lit by the fading light above the western treetops. As the Snakewood tree loomed large in their view, illuminated in a soft hue of orange and gold; Nicole pulled Lily aside and a little further away from the two boys who were chatting animatedly to one another.

"Something wrong Nicole?" Lily asked concernedly.

"No," Nicole said quickly—a little too quickly, in Lily's opinion. "No, nothing's wrong. It's just…well, I need to tell you something, yet at the same time I kind of don't want to."

"Well if you don't want to, then don't tell me then. It's fine if you—"

"No, it's important. I have to say this…and I…I hope you won't be upset with me about this," Nicole said bitterly.

Lily appeared stung by the sheer sense of self-loathing in her tone. She didn't want to seem presumptuous to her friend, but she had a pretty good guess as to what it was that was driving her sour mood. Lily gave her a small smile, "It's about Severus, isn't it?"

Nicole's light brown eyes snapped up to meet Lily's. "What?"

Lily's weak smile didn't do much to alleviate her concern. "I mean…it's kinda obvious if I'm being honest, Nicole, and that's alright…I know how you feel about him."

"You know?" Nicole spoke quietly, yet her voice carried copious amounts of incredulity.

"Yeah. It wasn't exactly…well hidden, to be honest," Lily said sheepishly. "But I do appreciate the fact that you were going to come clean on that. It means a lot to me. As does the fact that despite your…feelings, you've refrained from doing anything untoward with Severus."

"Yeah well…you warning us about what you might do to us on our first night was a pretty effective way of telling us to back off, wasn't it?"

Lily's little grin widened. "I suppose so. But in all seriousness, Nicole, I am happy for you that Thomas asked you out, and that…you accepted and are ignoring whatever it is you're feeling for Severus. I do know what that's like and well…it's great that you're giving Thomas a chance."

"What do you mean you know what it's like?"

Lily opened her mouth to respond, but was cut-off midway by Thomas and Severus speaking in unison. "What are you two talking about back there?" They both asked, peering over their shoulders at them.

"Nothing!" Nicole said quickly.

Lily's reply was a little more defensive. "None of your business! Keep walking!"

The two boys were wise enough to hold their hands up in surrender and made a quick about face towards the front and continued walking to the towering tree in the distance. Lily waited for Severus and Thomas, both of whom were taller than she and had longer strides to match, to put some distance ahead of her and Nicole before speaking once more. "I don't want you to repeat this to anyone, Nicole, but just between you and me…and well, Severus too, I guess; I once had a crush on someone who was…not a very nice person, to say the least."

"In what way?"

"Well first off, he was a bully, he was arrogant, rude, a right git and a bastard at times…but he was also rather…handsome looking, if I'm being honest, and well…when he wasn't such a git, he seemed alright from time to time, not to mention he had this massive crush on me too, almost everyone knew it. He'd shouted it to the high heavens enough."

Nicole looked confused, her ginger brows knitting oddly as she cocked her head sideways ever so slightly. "So other than him being a dick…why didn't you date him then? You mentioned he liked you…so why not?"

Lily's lip twisted into a self-loathing smile; and judging by the shocked look on Nicole's face, it wasn't a response she'd expected. "He bullied Severus," was all she said simply.

"Oh."

"Yeah. Oh indeed. Talk about being a horrible person for fancying the boy that bullied your then-best-friend," Lily muttered lowly. "But as I learned the full extent of all that this…boy, was doing to Severus. And seeing Severus being hurt numerous times by that boy's terrible actions, I snuffed out whatever it was I was feeling for him and that was the end of that. I hated myself for feeling those things…but I policed myself, and when I saw just how cruel he was to my best friend, my crush died just like that," she explained.

"So if I were to get mad at you for fancying Sev, that'd make me the biggest hypocrite on the planet, because I too know what it's like to fancy someone you shouldn't. And I am happy that you're giving Thomas a chance. Merlin knows he's liked you for quite some time, at least that's what Sev's told me."

Nicole seemed a bit more at ease, now that Lily had confessed to feeling a similar way to she, before. "Well you took the words from my mouth, Lily. I…don't really know what to say to that," she admitted, half-laughing as she spoke. "But yeah…Tommy is nice, so we're just gonna take things slow and see where it goes."

"That's great Nicole," Lily said sincerely, smiling at the shorter girl. "I'm happy for you."

"Thanks…I guess."

They arrived at the tree then, Thomas set down the basket and while he organized the food, Severus set down the tarp and Lily cast a few warming charms in the air around them. Thomas handed out everyone's meals, sandwiches, burgers, chips and fruit all around and the four sat back on the tarp against the towering tree.

"So how'd this happen?" Lily asked interestedly, glancing between Thomas and Nicole. The new couple, who were sat alongside each other exchanged a brief look, and turned back to face Severus and Lily.

"This morning," Thomas answered, a fond smile on his face. "We were leaving the common room on our way to breakfast…and I just asked if Nicole wanted to come to Worcester with me this weekend."

"And then I answered, why don't we have dinner tonight with Severus and Lily. We could make it a double date," Nicole chimed in, blushing slightly.

"Then I said we should eat at the Snakewood, and have a nice picnic as the sun set," Thomas replied.

"And so we could pester you about how potions with Rosie was in peace," Nicole finished.

"Ah, so you lured us out here by the Snakewood under the false pretense of wanting to spend time with us, only to interrogate us, have you?"

Lily snorted loudly, while Thomas and Nicole chuckled amusedly at Severus' dry wit. "What this grouch means to say is, he's grateful to be here, as am I. We're happy for both of you."

Nicole and Thomas smiled appreciatively. "So how were your classes then?" Lily asked interestedly.

"Eh it was alright, I guess. Walters was a nuisance but hey? What's new there?"

Severus' lip curled at the mention of the burly boy. He and Walters had struck up a bit of a rivalry, and coming off of dealing with the Marauders in three or sometimes four versus one situations, handling Walters and Abreu whenever they decided to have a go at him was mostly child's play.

"Now that's someone I have no idea how he ended up in our house. He's much more Wampus or Thunderbird-like if you ask me," Lily surmised.

"That or he could've gone unsorted and gone somewhere else for his education," Severus drawled. "It would've been little to no loss." He shrugged.

"Hey now, if you think Hank Walters was bad, his older brother Wayne is even worse," Thomas remarked gravely. "He got expelled for trying to use an unforgivable on someone last year. He'd have been a seventh year this year."

"He tried to use an unforgivable?" Lily looked and sounded horrified, her mouth gaping in shock.

"On who?" Severus asked, also stunned by the revelation, but hiding it better than Lily.

"We never found out," Nicole said ominously, "but still…while Hank is quite happy-go-lucky for the most part and prefers to play pranks and that sort of thing, he still has that vicious mean-streak his brother has. I'd be careful around him."

"We already are," Lily said quietly.

"He's such a git," Severus grumbled. "But not as bad as Potter at least."

"Hmm? Who's this Potter?" Thomas asked curiously.

"Oh, he's this arrogant, swine in our year at Hogwarts. A right bastard he is," Severus growled, eyes darkening by shades.

"Be that as it may, I don't want to talk about arrogant gits like Potter any longer," Lily interrupted, hoping she'd be able to stop the coming rant that was building within Severus. "What I want to know is what's Worcester like? Severus and I have only seen pictures, so…what's there to do?"

Thomas smiled broadly. "I'm glad you asked, 'cus boy are you two in for a treat!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah. Worcester's really somethin' else," Nicole added, grinning from ear to ear.

"So what's there to do then?" Severus inquired.

"You like lobster, don't you Severus?"

He needn't have said anything, for his brightening midnight irises conveyed a thousand words. "Yeah."

"Well then if it's lobster you like, then make sure to stick with Tommy and I, 'cus we know the best lobster place in town! That and if you like potions, then there's this little boutique there that sells high end cauldrons, stirrers, burners, ladles, you name it!" Nicole said excitedly, the words flowing from her non-stop. "Oh and there's also this pet shop, Lily, that you have to check out," she added eagerly, turning to face her, "they've got Crups, Kneazles, Owls, Snakes, pretty much anything under the sun in there!"

"Thanks Nicole," Lily said kindly. "But is there a memorabilia store by any chance? Can be Magical or non-magical, I wanted to pick up a few things to decorate my room back home."

Nicole chewed on her lip, a frown knitting her brow as she thought as she tried to recall all the shops that Worcester Square, the name of the magical enclave within the second largest city in Massachusetts, held.

"Yeah. Yeah they should," Thomas said at long last, seemingly sure of himself. "There's a sports and history memorabilia store there. John and Billy got a few pennants and banners from our last trip there at the end of last year. They've got pretty cool stuff, just not my thing though to be honest."

"Interesting. Lily, maybe you should pick up a few things for Petunia from there? You did mention that she wrote in her last letter she wanted to learn more about the history of Boston so—"

"That's a great idea!" Lily exclaimed loudly. Grinning wide, she leaned over and pecked him on the cheek as a reward for his efforts. "Thanks Severus, I'd completely forgotten about that!"

"What's this about your sister?" Thomas asked, leaning closer in curiosity.

"Oh, Lily's muggle sister asked her to write back about the things she's learned since coming over here. She's quite interested in History and that sort of thing, actually, so since you mentioned there was a history memorabilia shop there, I thought it would be prudent to mention it to Lily," Severus explained.

Nicole snorted, a small smirk crossing her face as she said; "well if she likes History so much…perhaps you should introduce her to John then, Lily. Either him or Scott," Nicole suggested.

"Oh I don't think that'd be a good idea," Lily said sourly. "Petunia's…well, there's no way of dulling this, she…um, she—"

"She hates magic and anything to do with it," Severus said flatly, his tone conveying his dislike for the girl.

"She doesn't like magic?" Thomas seemed genuinely incredulous at the revelation.

"No. But she does like History, and so I'm not gonna mention magic in my replies, haven't yet so far," Lily grumbled, still sore over the fact that Petunia flat out refused to even broach the topic of their opinions on magic.

"Well as Severus said, perhaps sending her something from the memorabilia store would help then?" Thomas offered. "Me and Sandra go there quite frequently, more so for the sports stuff rather than anything history related, but they sell both. Nicole, Sandra and I would be more than happy to show it to you two when we go this weekend."

Lily and Severus exchanged a short look, the subtle nod Severus sent her way caused a smile to bloom on Lily's face. "Yeah. Yeah I think we'd like that. Sev, you might want to pick up something as well. Sandra mentioned something about the Boston Leprechauns? Or was it—"

"It's the Celtics, Lily," Severus said, his tone unamused. "Repeat after me, Boston Cel-tics."

Lily snorted. "Right. The Boston Cel-tics," she retorted, annunciating the word just as he had. "As I was saying, if you want to, you may want to buy some of those banners, or pennants or whatever they're called and hang them at home Severus." She shrugged her shoulders. "Just a thought."

"I was already planning on doing so, but your suggestion is duly noted," Severus said kindly.

"If you want to talk basketball, kindly save it for when Sandra is around, Severus. Seriously, she's corrupted you far faster than she did any of us, you know," Thomas said dryly.

"It's a thoroughly entertaining sport," Severus defended. "Much more interesting than Quidditch. Now that is a game that does not make sense in the least. How can one position hold so much importance over the others?"

Thomas took a swig from his dwindling supply of butterbeer, then set the now-empty bottle down on the tarp. "You and I are in agreement there. But Basketball is equally boring if you ask me. Soccer is the far superior sport. I played a bunch with some local boys when my dad was in Germany, so much more tactics and strategy involved in that than there are in Basketball and Quidditch. Soccer is superior and you won't tell me otherwise," Thomas said gruffly, his tone carrying a sense of finality.

"Well if you think it's the best sport, then at least refer to it with its proper name, not Soccer, Football," Severus sneered.

Thomas looked to be on the verge of snapping back with a retort of his own when Lily sighed loudly, drawing their focus to her. "Can we not talk about sports? Honestly, they're so boring. I for one, want to know what you lot think about the upcoming potions contest," Lily said eagerly.

"Upcoming? Lily, it's only gonna be taking place next semester! What do you mean, upcoming?" Thomas asked.

"Yeah, but it'll be early next semester. And besides…both of you are pretty good at potions so you should definitely compete," Lily said more seriously.

Nicole just rolled her eyes while Thomas openly scoffed at Lily's suggestion. "Really? You want us to compete so you and Severus can steamroll us? No thank you!"

"No! Not at all, you guys could definitely win!—" If I or Sev is sick that day "—So why don't you try it?"

"Maybe I will. If there's anyone in our year that can beat you two…well—" Nicole cracked her knuckles and grinned. "Then, it'd be me. But enough about that, I for one, want to know what neat tricks Rosie taught you and Severus today."

"Oh we got into all kinds of interesting things today," Lily said excitedly, grinning ear to ear as if she'd just won the lottery. "We learned all about black market potions ingredients and their applications in standard recipes in place of standard ingredients, it was really interesting stuff! There was one bit that I found most interesting, in which—"

"None of what she said is true. Rosier simply tasked the five of us with trying out alternate preparation methods for a standard set of ingredients. Nothing more, nothing less," Severus said blandly, cutting Lily off mid-sentence. He shot Lily a dry look, while Nicole and Thomas began to laugh at Lily's frustrated expression.

Lily's look of excitement quickly morphed into frustration as she returned his wry look with a glare. "Arghh! You can be so frustrating Severus! Haven't you any space in that thick cranium of yours for telling jokes? Or is all of it used up on Potions, Basketball, and DADA?!"

"Oh it's got plenty of room Lily, don't you worry about that. In fact…I'd say your reaction to me stealing your thunder is considerably more humorous than what your joke's reception would have been," Severus said coolly, smirking back at her in an insufferable manner.

Lily heaved a long-suffering sigh. "I don't know what to make of you, I really don't! One day I think I can finally understand you, and the next you just throw it all out the window! Honestly Sev, you can be so…so…arghh! I can't even find the words! You're just so frustrating!"

"That may be so," Severus agreed, smiling at her. "But you've put up with me for what, six years now? Shouldn't you be used to it?"

Lily's short bark of a laugh, a laugh that conveyed the total lack of humor she found with the situation. "Oh I don't know Sev. One might say I'm…addicted to it even," she said slyly, her lip curling into a salacious grin.

Without warning—or waiting for him to respond, she lunged across the tarp, wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed him. Her forward momentum sent Severus toppling to the tarp, Lily on top of him, as she snogged the living daylights out of him. Despite being caught off guard initially, he quickly responded and returned her passion in equal measure. His eager response to her advances elicited a smile, her lips curling upwards—a motion he could feel.

"Oi get a room you two!" Thomas hollered.

Smiling they separated, flushed cheeks, dilated pupils, and puffed up lips visible on both of them; not to mention the short, plentiful breaths they took.

As they separated, Lily noticed that Nicole's smile was pained, sending a pang of guilt through her heart. As much as Severus appreciated her forwardness in their relationship, she now understood how callous her actions might seem to Nicole. And although the rest of their picnic dinner under dying light carried on in much the same manner as it had before, there was a slight sense of tension between the two redheads. By meal's end, both Severus and Thomas noticed their smiles were strained—forced, even. When they headed back into the castle as the sun sank below the trees, the tension in the air was so thick you could've cut it with a knife. Lily knew that she and Nicole needed to talk, and perhaps an apology on her part was in order considering the other girl's fleeting feelings for Severus. She could be rather callous and oblivious to emotional undercurrents after all, and Severus knew this better than anyone.

A/N: That's right, not one, but two uploads this week. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I for one, shall be hoping/praying for the success of Seb Vettel/Aston Martin in their appeal for Seb to retain his 2nd Place. Absolute farce the FIA is, robbing him of that. Thank you all for reading, and tune in next time for their trip to Worcester.