This is a short chapter, but it didn't really belong anywhere but on its own and it has to be said.

The Potions Genius and the Sympathetic Smile

It was getting dark, and if we didn't get a move on we would get caught on our way back up to the castle, and no matter how appalling your herbology was, you would have either potted the two Buboetubers or given up by now. Lily dried her eyes and we walked back up to the tower in silence. We arrived at the portrait, and I mumbled "Salazar", and it flung itself open. We walked in, and there was only one person in the common room, the one we really could have done without seeing.

"Hey guys!" Severus said as he jumped up from his chair, where he had been reading a gargantuant Potions book. Even back then he was a Potions genius, and he could trounce the teachers on any potion at all by the time he was in the third year, and by the time he was in the fifth, he was inventing his own.

"Where have you been? " he kissed Lily on the cheek, and noticed how pale she was.

"Lils, are you alright? You're paler than me!"

She forced a small unconvincing chuckle, but just mumbled something about being ill, and walked off up the stairs to our Dormitory.

"What's up, Ren? She's looking rough." Severus asked, and he was very suspicious. He knew as well as I did that she was a tough girl, and that she was hardly ever ill.

I couldn't betray Lily's trust and tell him, but I couldn't betray his and lie to him. I just looked at him with a "Not now, this is hard and I can't tell you." grimace, and muttered

"I'll look after her. She's just not feeling herself tonight."

I gave him a sympathetic smile and began to climb the stairs after Lily, leaving him there looking puzzled. I turned just before he would have been out of sight, and he shrugged to himself and walked over to pick up his book and went up the opposite stairs.

It may come as no surprise to you, but I got no sleep that night. Even if I was not half vampire and more inclined to be awake at night, nothing would have let me close my eyes after that. I felt guilty about not being able to help Lily and about not being able to tell Severus, and it hurt so much. I knew that was nothing to what Lily was going through, and this only made me feel even worse about it all. before I knew it, it was time to get up and dressed, and I forced it all to the back of my mind before going down to breakfast