Author's Note:

Reviews and Comments: To darkhk: Thank you! To ellyann13: James is definitely his own worse enemy. Thank you! To EnigmaticEmperor: Sad and funny at the same time, it's true! James wasn't pranking Lily, no, but James definitely is harassing her a bit. She definitely just says no on reflex Thank you! To Nuno Neves: James is very nice, but he is annoying to Lily. He will mature eventually, but right now he's just an immature boy. Thank you! To alix33: Thank you! To scrappy8: Thank you! To Sets: Thanks for liking my zinger from Peter lol. We will see a bit more of Snape, yes. And more of Lily's relationship with James, Sirius, and Remus. Thank you! To Slaidback: You're welcome! And thank you! To ascfan: Thank you! To Bellmel: You are almost always the only person who leaves me a review for this story on Ao3. Thank you so much for taking the time. Yes, that blonde fourth year! He was so nervous and adorable and that blonde made Lily second guess his intentions and it all went downhill from there! I'm glad you enjoyed her "Pay Flitwick" comment lol. I love James' persistence and I don't see it as harassment either because he's sweet about it. Kind of goofy and adorable and Lily's annoyed but there's no hate there. I think it would be different if she felt harassed. Right now she sees him more as a pesky fly lol. Thank you!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the scene by JKR, but I did tweak it a bit.

My posting schedule: Weekly.

Thanks to Dusk for her amazing editing skills.

As always, thank you very much for reading and please, please review!

Your reviews give me life! They give me inspiration! And they make me want to keep writing for more than just myself! Thank you for all of your continued support!

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX:

The One With Lily and Snape

May 1976…

Lily and Severus were walking across the castle courtyard. Lily was biting her lip to stop herself from yelling at the boy she'd always considered one of her closest friends. She had been in the middle of a deep study session for OWLs when she'd saw him sitting with Mulciber and laughing. She'd suddenly been too angry to keep her thoughts to herself.

"… thought we were supposed to be friends?" Severus was saying, "Best friends?"

"We are, Sev, but I don't like some of the people that you're hanging round with! I'm sorry, but I detest Avery and Mulciber! Mulciber! What do you see in him, Sev, he's creepy! D'you know what he tried to do to Mary McDonald the other day?"

Lily had reached a pillar and leaned against it, looking up into the thin, sallow face.

"That was nothing," Severus said. "It was a laugh, that's all —"

"It was Dark Magic, and if you think that's funny —"

"What about the stuff Potter and his mates get up to?" Severus demanded. His colour rose again as he said it, unable, it seemed, to hold in his resentment.

"What's Potter got to do with anything?" Lily asked.

"They sneak out at night! There's something weird about that Lupin. Where does he keep going?"

"He's ill," Lily said. "They say that he's ill —"

"Every month at the full moon?" Severus said, dryly.

"I know your theory," Lily said, and she sounded cold. "Why are you so obsessed with them anyway? Why do you care what they're doing at night?"

"I'm just trying to show you that they're not as wonderful as everyone seems to think they are."

The intensity of his gaze made her blush.

"They don't use Dark Magic, though," she said as she dropped her voice. "And you're being really ungrateful. I heard what happened the other night. You went sneaking down that tunnel by the Whomping Willow, and James Potter saved you from whatever's down there —"

Severus' whole face contorted and he spluttered, "Saved? Saved? You think that he was playing the Gryffindor hero? He was saving his own neck and his friends' too! You're not going to — I won't let you —"

"Let me? Let me?" Lily's bright green eyes were slits.

Severus backtracked at once. "I didn't mean — I just don't want to see you made a fool of… He fancies you, James Potter fancies you!" The words seemed wrenched from him against his will. "And he's not… everyone thinks… big Quidditch hero —"

Severus' bitterness and dislike were rendering him incoherent, and Lily's eyebrows were traveling farther and farther up her forehead.

"I know that James Potter's an arrogant toerag," she said. "I don't need you to tell me that. But Mulciber's and Avery's idea of humour is just evil. Evil, Sev. I don't understand how you can be friends with them. I thought better of you."

Severus' eyes narrowed. "Funny, because they said the same thing about me being friends with you."

Lily watched him turn and march off and she wiped a stray tear from her eye, not sure how their friendship had come down to this.