(Chapter Four)

The weather on the Hogwarts grounds was chilling in late November, leaving a dusting of snow across the grounds. It looked ethereal in the late afternoon when the sun dipped below the horizon earlier in the day, signaling the beginning of winter. Lily had completed a week of detention with Sirius Black and she very purposely kept any conversation they had off of Severus or James. She discovered that, contrary to what she had believed about him and James, he had some educational interests that were surprising. He talked blithely of Arithmancy and Astronomy, diving into advanced topics that she had never even heard of, and argued about Herodotus's Principles of the Wizarding Grecian Spell Theories from the Greco-Persian, wizard-goblin wars.

"How do you know about all this stuff?" she asked him on the last day of their first week.

He shrugged. "My family hired tutors for both me and Regulus before we came to Hogwarts. The expectation was that we should act in a way that would bring respect to the Black name." He barked out a laugh. "Boy, was I a disappointment. You know those magazines that Muggle men read? With the women on the front? I started pulling them off the magazine, enlarging them, and putting permanent sticking charms so I could glue them to my wall. My mum had a fit."

Lily raised her eyebrows. "Are you talking about the, er, naked magazines?"

"Not quite that bad. The swimsuit ones, mostly. I would have been flogged if I'd done that – I still value my life, thanks."

"That remains to be seen," McGonagall said from behind them. Lily jumped in alarm, having not heard the professor. While her lips were pursed, McGonagall looked more amused than anything else. "It's nice to know that you're as much of a pest to your parents as you are to your teachers, Black."

"I try to keep everything equal in my life, professor," Sirius replied with a devilish smile that made McGonagall snort disbelievingly.

"Try doing that with your detentions – it's an annoyance for me as much as you to have to stay late."

"Like I said, keeping it equal."

McGonagall eyed him severely and then nodded to the door. "We're done for the week. I'll see you two next Monday for your second week of detention and for goodness' sake, Black, would you please avoid hexing anyone this weekend? I'd like a week off of detention duty."

"I'll do my best, professor."

"Send the message along to Potter, while you're at it."

The pair of them left while McGonagall went to help the Slytherin second-year, who had sustained cuts from the angry crows that had attacked him. He looked more miserable than either Sirius or Lily.

"It's Gryffindor versus Slytherin tomorrow," Lily said to Sirius as they made their way to the common room. "Who do you support since your brother plays Seeker?"

"Gryffindor, of course," Sirius told her. "Regulus doesn't need me to pump his ego – he's got the entire Slytherin House for that."

She laughed at this and then she froze when she saw the figure standing at the foot of the marble staircase. Sirius's steps had also slowed so the two of them were about ten feet away from the sallow-skinned, lank-haired teen. Severus looked from Lily to Sirius in outraged disbelief.

"Snivellus," Sirius sneered goadingly. "Isn't it past your bedtime or did you wet the bed again?"

"Don't," Lily said quietly, reaching out and putting a hand on Sirius's arm. A moment later, she snatched it back, suddenly aware of what she had done. Severus stared at the place her hand had been and Sirius had glanced at her, frowning.

There was a thick, ugly silence that was not immediately broken by any of them.

Then, Severus said, his gaze sliding from Sirius to her, "I was hoping to talk to you."

"Oh." Lily realized that Sirius had not made to move and glanced uncertainly at him. He had a bored look on his face, though his eyes had darkened significantly at the sight of the other boy.

"Planning to tell her all the dirty things you tell your Death Eater friends, Snivelly?" Sirius drawled.

"I wasn't talking to you, Black," Severus snapped tensely.

"Sure, you weren't, but I was talking to you or are you too stupid to know how conversations work?"

"You – "

"Stop, both of you!" Lily interrupted sharply.

"Go on, then," Sirius said, ignoring Lily, but moving towards the staircase. He leaned in towards Severus as he did, spreading his hands out on either side of him mockingly. "Wouldn't want your friends to think you're a blood traitor, would we?"

"You're a disgrace," Severus snarled, reaching for his wand.

Sirius laughed at him and his laughter was dark, cold. "At least I don't try to be something I'm not." He glanced behind him and raised a hand lazily. "See you, Evans." He turned then, ascending the steps with the gait of someone without a care in the world. Lily watched him with Severus, prepared to launch herself at her friend if he tried to hex him. She was dimly aware that Sirius had not gone for his wand out of respect for her, though there had been a gleam in his eyes that made her uneasy, as if he planned to get Severus back later.

"What were you doing with Black?" Severus rounded on her, almost spitting the words.

"We had detention together," she replied, surprised by the vehemence behind his words.

"Detention! With him? And Potter?" He seemed more enraged by this than anything else.

"James didn't have detention." She crossed her arms over her chest, stepping in closer so she could lower her voice. "Sev, what's this all about? Why are you here?"

Severus looked more flustered than she had ever seen him. He had released his wand in the pocket of his robes and was now rubbing his hands together anxiously. She watched him, perplexed and a little ill at ease, the first time she had ever felt such a way with her friend.

"You...got into a duel over Potter?" he finally asked, causing her to blink.

"What?" She stared at him.

"You and – and that girl, Mathilde – fighting over Potter..." He trailed off, his face turning a dull pink from anger. Lily watched him with an expression of mild interest. He seemed incapable of finishing his thought, scowling down at the ground as if seeing some scene play out in his mind.

She laughed slightly and drew closer, reaching out and taking his hands, stilling them. It startled him out of his thoughts and he stared at their clasped hands for a moment before raising his gaze to hers. "It's just detention. It's not like I was suspended." She squeezed his hand and then released it, tucking her thick, dark red hair behind her ear.

She wanted to ask Severus about the things she heard, ask him if it was true that he was saying mean things about her behind her back, but she had yet to find the courage to really analyze her friendship with Severus and there was still that lingering affection she had for him. The ease in which she had once had in talking with him during the holidays was gone and everything felt strained.

When he said nothing, frowning to himself, she softly said to him, "I miss you, Sev. Hogwarts isn't the same without you."

He started in surprise and then looked up at her, a pained expression on his face. He rubbed the back of his neck, then, averting his gaze. "I'm sorry." Even he seemed to realize how inadequate the words were and hurried to add, "I miss you, too."

She smiled, but could feel the pressure of the tears building behind her eyes. She wanted to reach out and hug him, yet feared he would push her away. Instead, she nodded and said, "I should get to the common room."

"Lily," he said as she walked past him towards the stairs. "You and Black – you're not – "

"No," she interrupted, feeling heat travel up her neck to her cheeks at such an insinuation. "It's just detention."

He nodded, appearing relieved, and then said, "Goodnight. We'll see each other during the holidays?"

"Of course." She turned away, then, still feeling the flush in her cheeks and continued up the stairs. As she made her way up one of the staircases, she paused on a step that had a mirror pinned to the wall and peered into it critically. She had never thought to be vain before, but looking at her reflection made her heart constrict a tad. Compared to Mathilde Browning, she did not think that she was the most beautiful girl in school. James, she felt certain, was only interested in her because she was resisting his advances. Sure, there had been boys that had asked her out with serious intentions, but Severus was not interested in her as more than a friend and the idea that she was with Sirius Black of all people was embarrassing.

Aside from the fact that Sirius was James's best friend, he was well-known for having high standards for the girls he dated and being unnaturally mean to many girls. As a result, she had not seen him date a girl for longer than a week and she had only ever seen it happen twice. Like James, he was considered one of the most attractive boys in their school. The fact that Dorcas, a very pretty girl in their year, had gotten a kiss from him was considered an achievement and if Lily stood next to Dorcas, she doubted that a guy would choose Lily over her.

This is ridiculous, she thought, shaking her head and looking away from the reflection. I'm not interested in Sirius and besides, who cares what I look like? This was, of course, not her own words, but Severus's. He often scoffed at Gryffindors and their fellow vain students, saying it was much better to be brainy than brawny or beautiful. As a result, Lily had always held intelligence in high regard.

The problem with that was that Sirius did happen to be quite intelligent.

She sighed to herself, feeling idiotic for getting giddy like all the other girls just from a few conversations during detention. Clearly, she thought, this is nothing more than a human, biological reaction. There's nothing else to it.

As she made her way towards Gryffindor tower, her steps slowed somewhat upon seeing Sirius standing outside the portrait hole, his hands in his pockets. He nodded to her in greeting, pushing off from the wall. "Figured I'd wait out here for you," Sirius told her, "considering how Sniv – Snape, I mean, was acting."

She caught the correction and reluctantly smiled in spite of her current low self-esteem. "Thanks, but you didn't have to." She gave the password to the Fat Lady and the two of them climbed in, making their way to the empty common room. There was a warm, crackling fire in the hearth and rather than heading straight to the dormitory, she settled in the squashy couch in front of the fire, shivering in delight at the warmth. Out in the hallways, the castle had been cool and drafty.

"What was his problem?" Sirius asked her curiously.

"He was upset that I got detention," she said, though not entirely sure why that had bothered Severus so much. "He thought that it was James's fault."

Sirius snorted and a brief, dark smile lit his features. "I'll bet. Well, good luck with that. I'm sure James would be thrilled to know your life is so affected by him without him doing anything." He laughed as she rolled her eyes at him and then headed up to the boys' dormitory.

Lily sank into the couch and released a long yawn, looking at the fire with a puckered brow. She did not want to admit it, but it had been nice to see Sirius waiting up for her after her tense conversation with Severus. It felt like every day since the start of term, she had begun to lose her best friend. Reflecting back on the week's detentions with Sirius, she thought it seemed like she was going further down a different path than the one she had been.

Whether Severus would be going down that road with her or not, however, had yet to be seen.


Sirius listened with half an ear as James talked about the upcoming weather conditions, detailing his plans for catching the snitch to Peter, who listened with rapt attention. Across from him, Remus was digging into some egg and kippers, reading the Daily Prophet as if he were twenty years older. The owl that had delivered the Daily Prophet to him was helping itself to some orange juice and ruffled its feathers indignantly when James smacked his hand on the table, saying, "Just like that!"

As the owl flew off, Peter released an impressed gasp, pressing his fingers to his mouth.

Sirius spared them a brief glance and then turned his head to look over his shoulder. Over at the Slytherin table, Snape had approached his younger brother and was engaging him in some sort of conversation. Regulus, eating a hearty breakfast before the Quidditch match, was replying to him with that mildly, attentive expression he always seemed to hold on his face. At one point, he had glanced over at the Gryffindor table, laughing in what looked to be disbelief. Sirius could not think what Snape would have to say to Regulus, let alone a third-year.

After James departed with Peter in tow, Sirius snapped his fingers underneath Remus's face that was bent over the Daily Prophet. Blinking, he raised his head, asking, "What is it?"

"I've got to talk to you about something, but don't say anything to James or Peter."

"I don't think I want to hear it," Remus warily said, eyeing him.

Ignoring this, Sirius continued, "It's about Evans."

Remus's gaze slid along the table down the length of the Gryffindor table where Lily was sitting with Marlene, Dorcas, and Alice. Alice was pointing at something in a magazine, making the other three girls laugh loudly. They were all dressed in Gryffindor colours for the upcoming match, looking very pretty together. Lily had her hair pulled up with a red and yellow bow that had a lion attached to it.

Returning to look at him, Remus muttered, "Right. You two have had detention together this week. So, what is it?"

Sirius leaned back, dragging a hand through his wild, dark hair. It flopped gracefully back onto his forehead. "I think Snape's actually got a thing for her."

"So?"

"So, she said that she used to like him, too."

"Ah, I see," Remus said with sudden comprehension, his eyebrows tilting upward. "Not just a rumor, then. How'd you find that out?"

"She told me and when we were walking back to the common room last night, Snape about had a heart attack when he saw us together." He laughed darkly. "You'd think the way he reacted I was out seducing her in the hallways."

"He probably thought that." Remus folded the Daily Prophet, smoothing out the pages.

"Come off it," Sirius said, scowling. "Snape knows that James has a thing for her – he apparently was drilling her about him after I left them alone."

"I think Snape would be suspicious of any of us except for maybe Peter," Remus told him mildly. "Remember when I asked to borrow a knife from her in Potions and he glared at me the rest of the class before trying to jinx me later in Arithmancy? You'd think I had gone in for a kiss instead."

"Oh, right." Sirius snickered at the memory. "Well, anyway, I've been trying to get her to ditch the slimy little git – no idea if she actually is, but not sure how high James's chances are. I've got another week's worth of detention to work with."

"You're going to butter her up for James?" The latter boy cast him a wry, skeptical smile. "Good luck with that, mate. You're more likely to get her on a date with one of the school thestrals."

"If James is lucky," Sirius said to him, "Snape will accidentally off himself during a Potions experiment."

The two of them laughed at this image before finishing up their breakfast and getting up from the table. Sirius rubbed his hands, flashing a smirk at Remus before saying, "Oi, Evans, you'd better be rooting for Gryffindor," as they passed the girls that were also collecting their things.

Startled, Lily turned to see who was talking and then shot Sirius an exasperated, albeit amused, look. "Ha ha, very funny."

"With your luck," Remus said as they made their way down to the Quidditch pitch, "you're going to get yourself in a love triangle instead of James."

"Doubtful," Sirius replied. "Where James can get girls that hate his guts to date him, I get girls that like me to hate mine."

The Quidditch matches against Slytherin were always dirty, something that made them more exciting to watch than the other team match-ups. Quidditch in general was an exhilarating sport, but something about watching Gryffindors and Slytherins foul each other left and right kept things interesting. James, as Seeker, had more fouls directed towards him than any of the other players, something he bragged about off the pitch.

It was 90-50 with Gryffindor leading when James caught the Snitch, causing an explosion of cheers in the stands. Next to them, Peter jumped up and down while Sirius and Remus made howling noises, pumping their fists in the air. Sirius saw the players land and chuckled when he saw Regulus shake James's hand genially. Regulus said something to James, who gave him a puzzled look. A moment later, Sirius saw the triumph in his face wash away, his smile falling into a scowl. He seemed to ask Regulus something, who shrugged and made a careless gesture with his hand towards the Slytherin stands and then wave farewell, walking back to the changing rooms with the rest of his team.

"Wonder what that was," Remus muttered to Sirius, having also seen the exchange.

"I saw Snape talking to Regulus earlier," Sirius said as they followed the students out of the stands. "It had to be something with that."

The three of them made their way to the changing rooms to wait for James, who burst out of the rooms a few moments later looking highly annoyed. He paused upon seeing them, saying in disgust, "You won't believe this!"

"What?" they echoed in unison.

"That git, Snape, seems to think that we're – Sirius and I – " He flushed, briefly losing the ability to speak.

"Spit it out," Sirius said impatiently.

"Snape," James continued through gritted teeth, "seems to be under the impression that you and I are trying to double team Evans."

Peter gaped at him while Sirius and Remus stared in disbelief.

"You're joking," Sirius said at last.

"No. He went up to your brother this morning apparently and was asking him questions about whether you and I had ever shared a girlfriend before." He threw his hands up, exploding, "What the hell does he think this is, one of those witch's smut novels?"

Remus directed a look towards Sirius, raising his eyebrows in an, I told you so sort of fashion. Sirius glared back at him. This was not at all the same as a love triangle.

"He's just saying that because he saw me and her walking back from detention," Sirius told him dismissively. "For someone willing to call her a Mudblood, he sure is concerned what she does all the time."

"He's doing this to purposely sabotage me," James seethed as they made their way back up to the castle, bracing themselves against the blustery, November wind.

"Don't worry," Sirius said in a low tone to where Remus would not be able to hear, "he'll think twice after the holidays."

This seemed to marginally improve James's mood, though not by much. Sirius, James, and Peter had agreed to enact their plan during the first full moon after the holidays. They felt that doing it before the holidays would give Snape too much time to recover from the shock and wanted to make sure that he got a good scare. James had voiced his misgivings from time to time, but both Sirius and Peter brushed them off, although one of the points James had made did cause a pang of guilt. Using Remus as a means of scaring Snape was not, Sirius knew, going to go over well if Remus ever found out that they had purposely let it slip. He knew that Remus would feel used and more isolated than ever if he realized his friends were using his werewolf form to get back at Snape.

Sirius had seriously considered telling Remus, but worried he would shut the plan down altogether. As a result, he shoved down the guilty feeling and tried to pretend that it was all in good fun, even though knowing it might seriously compromise Snape's life.

Not that it would be any loss, Sirius thought presently.

When they arrived back at the Gryffindor common room, there was an explosion of cheers from their fellow Gryffindors. James managed a smile and soon was bolstered by the positive feedback he received from his fellow students. The atmosphere was warm and buoyant, making it easy to forget Snape, his jealousy, and anything to do with their plans for him. For now, the group of boys could enjoy the Quidditch win and brightly insult the Slytherins with the rest of the Gryffindors.


Lily checked her watch, releasing a tiny sigh. It was almost time for detention. She had been cramming in as much study time as she could during the two weeks of detention. During her lunch breaks and between class and dinner, she had spent every minute she could in the library doing homework and reading ahead. At times, she found herself re-reading the same passage over and over again, not quite able to comprehend the words. Tonight was such a night. She had finished her essay for Arithmancy and completed her Ancient Runes translations homework. She had been practicing her Transfiguration spells during detention unbeknownst to Professor McGonagall, something Sirius had found highly amusing.

This week, they had begun organizing Professor McGonagall's stores and cleaning up the feeding stores, alphabetizing and arranging the inanimate objects accordingly. The Slytherin boy had finished his detention up last week so that it was just her and Sirius toiling away in the storage room. He had caught her Transfiguring a turtle into a tea kettle and then back again and had laughed at her poking at her tea kettle that moved slowly across the desk. He had done the spell with a lazy flourish of his wand and, in spite of herself, she had glared jealously at the perfect Transfiguration.

To her surprise, he had helped her with the spell and between organizing shelves, they practiced the spell together until her tea kettle no longer had turtle shell patterns or was moving. She might have been more thankful if Sirius had not gone out of his way this week to make comments about how James was better than him at wand work. She still was unsure if he was referring to actual spells or was making sly innuendo regarding something else.

Now that it was Wednesday, she was quite looking forward to the end of the week. Not only had she been listening to this from Sirius, but Marlene had suddenly begun to interrogate Lily about James and listing off qualities that she found attractive in him. At one point, exasperated, Alice had said, "Then why don't you date him, Marlene?"

"Oh no," Marlene had replied airily, "I couldn't. He's not into me and I don't want to steal Lily's boy."

As a result, she felt thoroughly harassed.

When she arrived at Professor McGonagall's storage room, it was just Sirius, who was shaking a box like a music maker.

"She had a meeting with Professor Dumbledore," he said, "but said she'd be back in an hour and not to 'slack off.'" He gave a mischievous little smirk at these last words. Lily could not help but smile at this as she dropped her bag in the corner. "It's like she doesn't trust me or something."

"I can't imagine why that'd be," she sarcastically quipped.

He laughed at this, unashamed, and then dropped the box of what looked to be sewing needles.

Suspecting he was about to go into a story about how great his best friend was, she doggedly said, "Look, I want to get this out of the way before I have to endure another night's worth of compliments and stories." He raised his eyebrows in question. "I already have Marlene going on about James Potter and I'm sure he put you both up to this – "

"He didn't," Sirius interrupted.

"Sure," she distractedly said, waving a hand, "but I'm really not interested, so could you just give it a rest?"

He inspected her thoughtfully and then pivoted his body, bracing his hands behind him on the edge of counter that wrapped around the small room, facing her. "Because of Snape?"

"No," Lily answered, surprising herself by the honesty behind it. "I just know what this is about and I'm not interested in James using me to boost his ego. He's obviously out to date every girl in Hogwarts or something and I don't want to be on a list."

"Is that what you think?" Sirius asked her, frowning slightly. "I get why you'd think that, but that's not why he's interested in you. He genuinely likes you."

"He hasn't even talked to me," she said, exasperated. "Outside of making what I'm sure he thinks are really clever jokes meant to entice me. When has James ever had an actual conversation with me?"

"When have you given him a chance?" Sirius countered. "Let's be honest, you wouldn't have even had a conversation with me if not for detention."

"Your group," she pointed out a bit coolly, "has been bullying my best friend since our first year. I think I have good reason to avoid you lot given your sense of humor."

Sirius released a derisive snort in response to this. "Yes, because Snape's group are all angels."

For a moment, the two of them stood facing each other, both glowering. It was a stalemate. She knew that Sirius was right; the group that Severus ran in was just as unpleasant, hexing and jinxing people for the fun of it. While James and Sirius played pranks on other students, it was never with the intention to harm or without provocation. One of their fellow Gryffindors, Mary, had been hexed by one of the boys in Severus's group for nothing more than being a Muggle-born from what she could see. In the back of her head, she had always wondered how long it would take until she was caught unawares by one of the Slytherins.

Lily felt her irritation deflate and her shoulders drooped a little as she sighed. Sirius was right, she was being prejudiced.

"Sorry," she said finally, "but there's too much history between James and Sev. Even if things are...rocky...he is still my friend."

"For someone smart, you sure are dumb," Sirius bluntly said.

She chose not to address this, turning away from him and pulling down a cluttered box of spinning tops that needed organizing into their individual boxes. She knew that she was using blind faith in her friendship with Severus, but the idea that she might have been wrong about James and his group for four years because of Severus made her feel uneasy. Talking with Sirius had already begun to sway her feelings regarding the boys. She did not, however, want to be wrong and she certainly was not about to admit it out loud to Sirius Black of all people.

She heard a sound behind her and then stiffened when she saw a hand land on the counter in front of her. She raised her head and her breath caught when she saw how close Sirius was leaning into her. Up close, he was more handsome than from far away and she could well understand why Dorcas had bragged so widely about having kissed him. Perhaps he had miscalculated his own action, because he looked startled when their eyes met.

"You know," he said to her, averting his gaze towards the box she had been sorting, "you should start wondering why Snape doesn't want to date a pretty girl like you. It's not like he has a lot of options."

"What?"

Lily knew she sounded stupid, but he was far too close and outside of Severus, she had never had a boy be so near to her. Her gaze flickered to his hand that was on the counter and noted how it seemed larger than Severus's.

"Just think about it," Sirius told her, sounding annoyed suddenly and pulling away. His body heat disappeared and she blinked, as if a spell had broken. "Give James a chance. He's not as bad as you think he is."

He returned to the other side of the room, as though to put as much space between them as possible, but Lily was staring at the place where his hand had been.

When Professor McGonagall came to check on them fifteen minutes later, the room could have been used as a funeral home it was so silent. She cast them a beady-eyed, suspicious look after checking their work. Even after she had left, the two of them remained in stony silence.

Just two more days, Lily thought, and then this week will be over and I'll never be forced to be in Sirius's company again.