Chapter 16: A Different Side of Snape

Two weeks later, Alice was still in the hospital for the injuries that she'd sustained while being held captive by the Slytherins. Her recovery was slow, and for the first few days, every time that they went to visit her, she'd been sleeping. Lily and Amelia had simply left notes for her to read when she woke up, and then left her alone, at Madam Pomphrey's insistence. Once she had finally recovered to the point that she was awake more than she was asleep, Lily and Amelia had begun spending as much time in the infirmary as they spent in class.

Alice was now doing extremely well. Whenever they arrived this week, she was sitting up, playing chess or some other game with none other than Sirius Black, and Lily couldn't help but feel very sorry for her indeed that her only companionship while they were in class was Black. Black had been injured even worse, if possible, than Alice was, but had recovered fairly quickly, with the exception of the lingering bruises from the muggle beating that he had taken before Lily had arrived. Whenever Lily mentioned how terrible it must be to have no one but Black to keep you company all day (which was just about every time she saw her), Alice always insisted that she didn't mind being cooped up with Black, really. She maintained that Black had turned out to be very nice, and always kept her entertained, but Lily couldn't imagine spending that much time with him and not going insane. The other problem with Black being in the hospital with Alice, at least from Lily's point of view, was that every time they went to visit her, they would invariably run into the other three Marauders, which Lily always dreaded.

The friendship formed between Lily and Potter on the night of the ambush had ended the following day, when Lupin had returned. He'd been visiting his grandmother, and looked quite more exhausted than usual. They had all eagerly relayed the previous night's events to him, and when they got to the part about Lily returning with Hagrid, Potter had yelled at her for coming back when he'd expressly told her to stay with Alice. He hadn't listened at all when she'd tried to explain to him that she'd known they were going to be ambushed. "Oh, so you're a seer now, are you?" he had asked her mockingly. "Do you realize you could have been killed? Malfoy and his cronies aren't some first-year wizards, you know. They know curses that you've never even heard of, and they're just nasty enough to use them. They used one on…" Here he had stopped, and glared at her. "Next time just stay out of the way when someone tells you to! We didn't need your help."

"Oh, that's rich," she scoffed, her temper flaring once again. "And tell me, if the four of you were doing such a bang up job of it, why is Black still in the hospital? I was the only one with sense enough to realize you needed help. You'd be dead if I hadn't come back!" She had stomped off, wondering why she had been daft enough to expect a thank you. James Potter had too much pride to ever admit that he'd needed help, despite the very obvious truth that if she hadn't shown up with Hagrid when she had, there was a very good chance that he'd now be in the hospital right beside Alice and Black.

To Amelia's and Alice's very great consternation, they had barely spoken to each other since. Lily tried not to think of any of that as she and Amelia were heading down to the infirmary. Lily was not going to let Potter ruin her good mood, because today Madam Pomphrey was supposed to decide whether or not Alice would be released from the hospital tomorrow, and Lily just knew they were going to get good news. She fairly skipped as they headed out of their last class of the day, Defense Against the Dark Arts. When they arrived at the hospital wing, Alice was defeating Sirius soundly at chess. "Why do you always win?" he asked her, sounding genuinely confused. "I take more of your pieces, but you always win!"

Alice laughed and nodded, her curls bouncing everywhere with the movement. "That you do," she agreed. "But I only let you take the ones I know I don't need. It's called strategy Sirius, you really should learn it!"

Black groaned. "Remmy's always telling me that!" he said in frustration. "I don't want to hear it from you, too. Strategy takes patience, and I just don't have…" He trailed off as Lily and Amelia reached their bedside. "Ladies," he said, twisting his still badly bruised face into a grin. "I guess that's my cue to go back to my bed. I'm sure the other Marauders will be here shortly to visit, and I wouldn't want Evans to have be to polite to James. I know that goes against everything she believes in." Black winked at her, and then began to pick up the chess set. When he had finished, he hobbled over to his bed to await the arrival of the Marauders, and probably Frank, who was also a frequent visitor of both his and Alice's.

Lily glared at Black. "'Goes against everything she believes in,'" she said mockingly. "Honestly! You'd think it was me that started yelling when we were telling Remus the story." Amelia and Alice both sighed.

"Yes, yes, we know, Lily. Potter's the bad guy, and you're the saint!" Alice said with a smile. "We ought to, anyway. We've heard it enough the last couple of weeks!"

Amelia agreed. "Hear, hear. And if we never hear it again, that'd be quite okay with me!" She ducked as Lily threw a pillow at her. She missed, and hit Potter instead, who was strolling down the aisle toward them, Pettigrew and Remus behind him, his usual arrogant smile fixed tightly in place.

"Ladies," he said, bowing toward the girls, "Lily," he added with a smirk. "This pillow reminds me of something. Did you like the way that we redecorated your room for you?" Lily glared at him. The truth of the matter was, they hadn't yet managed to work out the countercharm to the writing on their curtains, so they still flashed "Marauders rule, princesses drool" everytime they pulled them closed. The flashing had gotten very irritating after the first few nights, but Lily had told Alice and Amelia point blank that they were not ask any of the Marauders, even Lupin, how to make it stop. She was not going to willingly give James Potter yet one more reason to tease her, as he found quite enough as it was. Part of it was also that she was better than him in Charms, and she wasn't about to admit to anyone, even Alice and Amelia, that he knew a charm she couldn't break. Amelia had grumbled about this for awhile, but eventually given in because it just wasn't worth arguing. Before Lily could retort, however, Potter added, "I hear you like it so much, you've decided to keep it!"

Lily couldn't help but look surprised, and Potter laughed triumphantly at her expression. "Wondering how I know, are you? Well, as Kaylie and I are now dating, she confided to me how annoying it was to try to sleep with that flashing constantly, and asked me for the countercharm. I told her I'd be happy to provide it, of course, but only if Princess Evans were to come down from her throne long enough to ask me how." Pettigrew went into gales of laughter at Potter's words, and Black laughed appreciatively, while Lupin, who had opened a book as soon as they'd arrived, didn't react at all, apparently not having heard a word that Potter had said.

Lily quickly hid her disbelief that Kaylie and Potter were now dating. They were eleven, for crying out loud! What kind of dates could they possibly go on? "if not asking you for help meant that I didn't sleep another night for the rest of my life," she bit out, "I still wouldn't ask. But I'm not worried about that. I'm sure I'll be able to figure it out as soon as I try. It's just that working out the countercharm to your silly little prank wasn't at the top of my list of priorities." She drew the curtain around Alice's bed, and sat down, still angry over Potter's words.

The girls sat quietly for the next few minutes, listening to the boys talk and laugh. Alice and Amelia had found it was best just to let Lily settle down after she and Potter had had a row before trying to talk to her. Lily just didn't listen to reason when she was angry. After a short time, she had calmed down, and smiled at Alice. "I'm sorry, Alice, I swore I wouldn't let him—," and she jerked her head over her shoulder, "ruin my mood today. Has Madam Pomphrey told you whether or not you'll get out tomorrow?"

Alice nodded. "Yep! I can go back to class tomorrow!" she said, then her eyes narrowed in fury. "Bellatrix Black just better hope she doesn't find herself alone in a hallway with me. She's a cowardly little prat that had to have LeStrange do her dirty work for her. I'll get her back for this." Lily whole-heartedly agreed with Alice that Bellatrix was not worth the air that she breathed, but she felt a strong sense of foreboding at Alice's promise to get her back. Lily's instincts were telling her that Bellatrix Black was very bad news for Alice.

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The next day at lunch, Lily and Amelia sat with Kaylie and Desdamona at the Gryffindor table. Kaylie had been talking non-stop about Potter, and was going on about Potter's plan to take her out using his invisibility cloak on Valentine's night when Lily snapped.

"Oh how romantic!" she said sarcastically, "You and Potter breaking rules together." She was so sick of hearing about James Potter that she scarcely noticed the stricken look on Kaylie's face until Amelia elbowed her softly. She looked up and saw that Kaylie looked like she was about to cry. Lily suddenly felt terrible, and wondered what had gotten into her. She liked Kaylie, after all. It wasn't her fault that her boyfriend was the greatest git that ever lived. "I'm sorry, Kay," she said finally. "I'm just a little on edge right now…"

Kaylie nodded and smiled at her. "It's okay, Lily. I know I talk about him a lot."

Desdamona choked on her pumpkin juice. "Try non-stop," she said with a laugh.

Kaylie grinned. "I can't help it! He's just so cute, and sweet, and…" She stopped at Desdamona's glare. "Fine, fine. Let's talk about something else, then." At that moment, Potter, Lupin, Pettigrew and Frank arrived at the Gryffindor table. Potter sat next to Kaylie, with Pettigrew next to him, and Lupin and Frank sat across from them, next to Lily. Black had not yet been released from the infirmary, as Madam Pomphrey was concerned that his bruises were not disappearing rapidly enough.

Lily glared as Potter grinned at her. "Figure out the counter-charm yet, Evans?" he asked with a smirk.

Pettigrew started laughing. "I bet she can't, Jamesy. You put quite a few protections on it that I bet she hasn't even thought to consider."

Lupin smiled at them both mildly. "You know James, maybe you ought to give her the countercharm," at a glare from Potter he added, "so that Kaylie can get a decent night's sleep."

Lily huffed, and she felt Amelia's hand on her shoulder, a silent signal to keep her temper. "Thank you Remus," she said stiffly, "but I don't need it. If Potter and Black can do it, I can most certainly break it."

Potter and Pettigrew laughed, and Lupin shrugged. "Have it your way, then," he said, taking a bite of his steak and kidney pie.

"Where's Alice?" Frank asked, just noticing that she wasn't at the table.

"Amos asked her to stay after class," Lily said with a shrug. "I think he needed to talk to her about making up all of the work that she missed."

Frank nodded. "I don't envy her all the work she's got to do in the next few weeks. McGonagall wouldn't waive any of it, and I know that Figg was concerned she'd need tutoring to catch up. Black too, now you mention it."

Potter shook his head. "No, Sirius's got most of his done. He's been working on it in the hospital. Remmy, Pete and I have been helping him."

Lily hid her surprise that not only was Black worried enough about his studies to be working on homework in the hospital, but that the other Marauders were also taking time away from pulling pranks to help him out. "Maybe he's been helping Alice, when we're not there, then," she said civilly. "We offered to help her, of course, but she never wants to do homework when we're there."

Potter nodded. "I believe he has," he said with a thoughtful nod. "That'd be something Sirius would do."

"Hey, are you guys going to the Slytherin/Hufflepuff match on Saturday?" Frank asked, changing the subject. The boys then got into a detailed conversation about the Quidditch cup, and each house's chances at winning.

Kaylie and Desdamona glared briefly at the boys, and then launched into a conversation about the nail-color charms in the newest issue of T'ween Witch Magazine. Amelia glanced at Kaylie and Desdamona and grinned. "Really. I can't imagine reading those magazines. All they talk about are hair and makeup, and the latest way to wear your robes. I just don't get what's so exciting about it." She pulled out the Daily Prophet and flipped to the government section.

Lily felt herself begin to daydream. She was in a room in a manor. There were voices off to the left of her, drawing closer. She tried to move, but her legs and arms were bound. Three figures entered the room. She didn't recognize two of them, however one of them was Frank. But not Frank as he looked right now. It was Frank as he would probably look in about 20 years. He was much taller and had filled out quite a bit. His face was relatively unlined, but there were a few wrinkles here and there that he did not currently have, and his hair was thinning on top. His eyes, however, had not changed a bit. Yes, one of the men walking towards her was unmistakably Frank Longbottom, and his eyes were filled with fear.

"He honestly thinks that I've been skipping class for two weeks? TWO WEEKS? Ridiculous!" Lily snapped abruptly out of her daydream to find Alice slamming her bookbag onto the ground, and pushing Lupin over so she could sit next to Lily. Alice sat down, and continued to mutter things like, "Who does he think he is?" and "Skivving, my foot."

Lily quickly forgot her daydream and looked at Amelia in confusion. Amelia shrugged to indicate that she had no idea what Alice was on about, either. The other first year Gryffindors had also gone quiet and were staring at Alice. She was usually so bubbly and cheerful. Lily could only remember seeing her this angry one time previous, and that was when Bellatrix had called her that name. She wondered silently what had gotten to Alice this time. "Erm…Alice," Amelia said hesitantly. "What's wrong?"

Alice didn't look up, and just continued to rant. "I'll show him making it up," she said, picking up her fork and jabbing it into her green beans. "I mean honestly, I suppose I forged Madam Pomphrey's signature, too. Meanwhile, his precious Slytherins…" and on she went.

They stared at her for a little while longer, and then Lily spoke up. "Um, Alice? What did Amos want?" She shook Alice's shoulder gently, and Alice looked up as though only just realizing that there were other people around her.

She blinked, then heaved a sigh. "Professor Amos," she said through gritted teeth, "has informed me that he doesn't believe that I was actually ill, and that he will not be letting me turn in the assignments that I missed when I was gone." Alice sighed again, and looked at her plate, mumbling again to herself.

Lily gasped. "But he can't do that!" she exclaimed indignantly. "You have a note from Madam Pomphrey!" To explain Alice's and Black's absence from class, Madam Pomphrey had told the faculty that both had come down with a case of mononucleosis that was proving resistant to her usual remedies.

Alice laughed humorlessly. "He claims that Figg has a potion that works on resistant viruses, and that if I was truly under Madam Pomphrey's care, she would have asked Figg for it, so therefore, I'm making it all up." Lily thought it best not to point out that Alice was, in point of fact, making up the story about being ill with mono, as her stay in the infirmary had not been illness-related.

Amelia snorted. "That's ridiculous! And what does he think you've been doing for the last two weeks?"

Alice shrugged. "For all he cares, I could have gone on vacation to France. He wouldn't listen to anything I said," she proceeded to butter a roll viciously with her knife. "He even took 10 points from Gryffindor for my lip when I told him that he could go and talk to Pomphrey if he didn't believe me." She bit off a piece of the roll and began chewing fiercely.

Amelia looked flabbergasted at Alice's words, and Lily almost felt sorry for her. Amelia had a deeply ingrained sense of fairness and justice, and Lily could tell that she wasn't dealing very well with it being violated by someone who was supposed to be unbiased. "Can't you go to Dumbledore, or something?" she said finally.

"Not a very good idea, Amelia," Frank said quickly. "Under the circumstances, Alice is probably better off leaving well enough alone. If Amos saw through the mono story, then you can bet that Dumbledore will, and then you'd have to explain why you were really in the infirmary for two weeks."

"But, but…" Amelia said, unable to find the words to express her frustration.

Alice laughed. "Well, it's good to know that my friends see the injustice," she said, taking a sip of pumpkin juice.

"Of course we do," Potter said grinning. "And we would be willing to help you get him back."

Alice's and Amelia's heads perked up. "What do you have in mind?" Alice asked.


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The day before Valentine's Day, the three girls sat huddled in the common room, talking. Amelia and Lily had finally decided to ask Alice exactly what had happened the night she had been attacked, and Alice had just gotten to the part where the Slytherins had first accosted her on the grounds. "Snape told them what?" Lily asked disbelievingly.

"He told them to lay off," Alice repeated.

"Then why on earth was he hexing you when we got there?" Amelia asked, clearly confused.

Alice sighed. "He wasn't," she answered simply. "After he'd told them to lay off of me when they first ran across me, Bellatrix told him to shut up or go back to the common room. Snape didn't listen, though, and he followed them as they were dragging me down to the lake, yelling at them. He kept telling them to knock it off, that they were going to get the whole house in trouble with a stunt like this—sounded a bit like you there, actually," Alice added, grinning in Lily's direction. Lily pretended to look offended, and Alice and Amelia both laughed.

"Yup, sounds like our Lily all right," Amelia agreed. "Just like what she keeps telling us every time we try to discuss our plan to get Amos back." Amelia winked at Alice.

"You will get the whole house in trouble for that," Lily couldn't resist saying, sending Alice and Amelia into more laughter. "Anyway, but that still doesn't explain what he was doing when we got there," Lily said, directing the conversation back on track. "He was circling you, just like Bellatrix and LeStrange were."

Alice nodded slowly, "Yes, he was," she said quietly. "But he didn't have his wand. Bellatrix had disarmed him down by the lake. Apparently, she thought he might interfere. He was trying to make them stop when you all arrived."

Amelia and Lily stared at Alice. "That just doesn't sound like the Snape that Remus describes," Amelia said finally.

Alice nodded. "Nor the one Sirius describes," she agreed. "But that's what he was doing."

Lily shook her head. "He had to have had his wand. He was fighting the boys when I got back out there."

"No," Alice corrected her. "They threw it to him when you all started running out, so he could defend himself. And they knew he'd fight the boys."

"But why?" Amelia wondered out loud.

"Why indeed?" Lily concurred. "He conjured a poisonous snake, for crying out loud! He hardly cared about hurting them."

"Maybe," Alice said with a shrug. "Or maybe he knew they'd be able to handle it."

At that moment the portrait hole opened, and the four Marauders scrambled in, grabbing each other's robes, tripping one another, and doing everything they could to get inside first. Black reached out and grabbed the nearest table, and stood up with a grin. "I win!" he declared, as the other three groaned loudly. "That'll be one galleon each."

Potter reached into his robe as though pulling out the galleon, but pulled out his wand instead. Pettigrew and Lupin followed suit, and they all called out "tarantellegra" in unison. Black instantly started dancing around the common room.

Andromeda walked over grinning. "I don't know if it's worth a galleon," she said as Black tap danced, "but I'll give it a knut," and she tossed one at him.

The other three boys collapsed in a fit of laughter at this, while Black glared at them. As he pulled out his wand and said, "Finite incantato," Potter looked at the other three Marauders and just had time to shout, "run!" before Black turned his wand toward them. They scattered across the common room, laughing and gasping for breath.

Black took off after Potter, who dove behind a sofa and began crawling along behind it. Black switched course, and approached the sofa from the other side. Potter looked over the arm of the chair in front of him, and said "Don't think I don't see you, Black!" just as Black hit him with some curse that made smoke start streaming from Potter's nose and ears. Black immediately turned and began stalking Lupin, who was trying to make his way soundlessly up the stairs to the boys' dormitory. He was just about to round the bend and disappear when Black spotted him. As Black was muttering a curse, Joshua McKinnon appeared around the corner, and stepped in front of Lupin, and directly into the curse. McKinnon's hair turned bright purple, and then began to recede, something resembling dragon scales taking its place. Everyone in the common room, all of whom had been watching the goings on with amusement or annoyance or both, turned to stare at Joshua. He pulled out his wand and muttered what must have been the countercurse, because his hair changed back to normal, and he took the remaining steps two at a time, coming to a halt in front of Black. The other three boys quickly lined up beside him. Joshua surveyed all four of them with a small smile.

"You four can curse each other all you want in the privacy of your dorm room," he said, glancing at them each in turn. "But if I catch you doing it in the common room again, I'll give you all detention for it, regardless of who it is that's actually throwing the curse. Do you understand?" They nodded. "Good," he said, turning and sitting down in a chair next to Andromeda, and muttering "They're lucky Black's your cousin."

Black bounced over to the girls, followed by Potter, Pettigrew and Lupin. "We need to talk," they all said at once.

Alice and Amelia giggled, but Lily sighed in frustration. "I guess this means we won't actually be getting any homework done?" she asked coolly, packing up her books and standing up to leave.

"Oh, please don't go, Evans," Black said with a grin, plopping down in her chair. "We're just going to go over our plan to get Amos."

"Yes, please stay!" Potter said, laughing, and perching on the chair of the sofa on which Alice and Amelia were sitting. "You can tell us which parts are most likely to get us caught, and remind us incessantly about exactly how much trouble we're all going to get into for this." The four boys all turned mock-pleading eyes to Lily. Lupin's were dancing with amusement, and for some reason, this bothered Lily much more than did the laughter of the other three. 

"I'm going to the library," she said crossly. "So I can get some work done!" Alice and Amelia didn't bother to protest her departure.  They knew it was useless to try to get Lily to remain in the room when James Potter was nearby.

Lily spent the remainder of the evening alternately looking up ancient language charms (which she'd neglected almost completely in all of the excitement since Christmas) and doing her homework. After she had packed up for the evening, and started heading back to the Gryffindor common room, she heard a noise coming from a nearby classroom. Remembering Dumbledore's words to her, she approached the entrance to the room cautiously, and listened intently, her ear pressed against the door. The sound of someone crying met her ears, and, unable to contain her curiosity, she opened the door and peaked inside. She was so shocked by who she saw that she dropped her bag, spilling her books across the floor.

The occupant of the room looked up in surprise, but his expression quickly hardened into a scowl. "What do you think you're doing here?" asked Snape accusingly.

Lily paused and took a deep breath, trying to regain her bearings. Why on earth was Snape sitting in an empty classroom, crying as though his heart were breaking? She took a step inside the classroom.

"Well?" he snapped, getting up and reaching his hand inside his robes.

"Don't even think about it Snape," Black's voice rang out behind her. Lily cringed and turned to tell him to bugger off, but before she could speak, a second, messy-haired head had appeared in the doorway beside Black's.

"Were you actually crying, Snape?" Potter called out gleefully. "Or perhaps we should call you Snivellus, instead?"

"Leave him alone," Lily said angrily, but Black was now laughing too.

"What's the matter, Snivelly? Is there a big, bad boggart sleeping under your bed? Maybe you should write to your Mummy!" he said.

Snape glared at the three of them in turn, all trace of tears now gone from his face, and raw fury in his eyes. He pushed his way past them and out of the classroom without a word. Lily rounded on the two boys. "Can't you two just leave him alone?" she asked furiously. "What are you even doing here?"

Potter's face changed rapidly from amusement to bewilderment. "We came to find you," he said angrily. "As it'd been quite some time since you left, and we were concerned. And why in the world would you allow yourself to be alone with that git in a classroom when he landed one of your best friends in the hospital for two weeks?"

Had Lily been just a little bit calmer, she might have corrected him on his last statement, but at the moment, she was too angry to bother. "You don't know everything, James Potter!" she said, snatching her books away from Lupin, who had appeared a moment ago with Pettigrew, and had just finished picking them up; and for the second time in as many hours, Lily found herself storming away from a room containing James Potter.