Chapter Eight – Realisation

A/N – I have THE biggest grin as a result of your awesome reviews!!!

And I feel very proud that this isn't like many other Lily/James stories!!! YAYNESS! And yes, the whole Snape is cute when he smiles - how disturbing is that?!

Disclaimer – J K Rowling's magical world belongs to; you guessed it, J K Rowling... incidentally.

James felt light as a kite and high as a feather... wait

James felt light as a feather and high as a kite. Just last night, Lily Evans had agreed to go to Hogsmeade with him. HIM!

Congratulations Mr Potter! You have won tonight's major prize of a DATE WITH LILY EVANS! Let's give him a great big round of applause, shall we?

He restrained himself from punching a triumphant fist into the air.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the Casanova himself!" Sirius exclaimed, slinging an arm around James' shoulders.

James' grin grew even wider. Yes he was a Casanova, and no he wasn't afraid to admit it. He felt invincible!

He sat down at his usual desk in the History of Magic classroom and winked at Lily when she turned around to look at him. She blushed and turned around, making James grin devilishly. But his good spirits soon dissolved when he saw Snape nod at Lily in greeting and saw Lily nod back. Her blush had now spread to the tips of her ears. James would usually found this cute but not when it had been as a result of something that SNAPE had done.

He tried to block it from his mind but suddenly everything Snape was doing was annoying to the extreme. The way he ran his lank fingers through his greasy hair. The way he tapped his quill against the desk.

Tap, tap, tap...

James scowled. Didn't Snivellus realise how annoying that was? Arrogant prick, thinking he could just tap his quill on the desk like that. Couldn't Lily hear that incessant tapping? Was he the only person in the room with healthy hearing?

Finally James could stand it no longer. He stood in his place and strode purposefully over to where Severus was seated. Severus looked up at James, still tapping his quill against the desk, a smirk on his face.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Stop tapping your bloody quill on your bloody desk," James said bluntly.

Severus kept tapping on his desk, his grin spreading at the look of frustration on James' face.

"And what if I don't?"

Everyone has a breaking point. And James had reached his.

James snatched the quill out of Severus' hands and snapped it in two, the green ink spilling onto his clenched hands.

Severus stood up quickly, knocking his chair over in the process. It didn't matter that the quill had been one in a cheap packet of ten. What mattered was that it had been his. And James had broken it.

"What the hell is your problem, Potter?" Severus spat, grabbing the front of James' robes.

James grabbed Severus' robes in response.

"You," he said in a low voice.

This was how Professor Binns found them.

"Snape! Potter! Explain to me why you have taken it upon yourselves to re-enact the Great Duel of 1892? Ten points off each for fighting! And DETENTION FRIDAY NIGHT!"

James growled at Severus, reluctantly letting go of his robes. Severus followed suit.

Trudging over to his desk, James' only consolation for his detention tonight was the sympathetic look that Lily gave him.

Severus watched James strut into the History of Magic classroom that Friday night.

"You're late, Potter," he sneered, enjoying aggravating his enemy.

James struggled to ignore him, clenching his fists as he walked over to the whiteboard to read the instructions for their detention.

Clean all the chewing gum off from underneath the desks. Including mine. No magic. Spatulas are on my desk.

I have better things to do so I suppose I'll have to trust you to get it done.

Professor Binns

James groaned. This would be disgusting. He could only take comfort in the fact that Snape would be doing it too.

He almost laughed out loud at the thought of Snape getting his greasy black hair stuck in chewing gum.

He grabbed a spatula and getting down on his back, started scraping chewing gum from underneath the desks. Thankfully, James didn't have to dodge fossilised chewing gum as it fell from the desk. Binns had charmed the spatulas to 'eat' the gum as soon as it was loose.

A loud thump from the other side of the room told James that Snape had joined him in the work.

For a while only the sound of the spatulas greedily devouring the chewing gum and occasionally blowing bubbles could be heard. The worked steadily into the night until, once finished his side of the room, James returned his now burping spatula to Binns' desk. Then James, compelled by some unknown force, asked Snape something that he had been dying to for the last couple of weeks.

"Snape, do you like Lily?"

James could hear Severus' spatula clatter to the floor.

"Excuse me while I remove my foot from my mouth," James muttered, rejecting the idea of Snape actually harbouring feelings for anyone but himself and his Potions set.

So of course Snape's response was anything but expected.

"What's it to you?" he replied, walking casually up to the front desk with his spatula.

James felt like he could have exploded. Did Snape just admit to him that he liked Lily?

"WHAT'S IT TO ME?"

Severus groaned inwardly, realising his fatal mistake. Instead of sounding detached and aloof, as if he didn't care about Lily, it had come out the opposite.

"Lily Evans happens to be the bloody love of my life! And I'll be damned if I ever let a creep like you get near her!" James roared defensively.

"Maybe you're a little too late there, Potter," Severus spat, "Just remember who she chose to dance with at the Halloween Ball. All night."

How could James forget? After all, he'd been miserable the entire time, watching Lily press up against Snape.

"Just remember who she chose to snog after the ball," James returned.

Severus scowled at the thought of Potter pressing his lips against Lily's soft pout.

Not that I care he thought desperately to himself.

"Did you honestly think that she would ever think of you as anything more than a dance partner?" James sneered, desperate to cause Severus as much pain as possible.

They both whipped out their wands at the same time and the air around them seemed to darken.

"Ah! Mr Potter! Mr Snape! All done I see! Well then, you maggots, get out of my classroom!" Professor Binns grumbled, sweeping right past the irate boys.

James hesitantly lowered his wand as Severus did before pushing past him to get to the Gryffindor common room.

Severus collapsed onto his dark green bedspread. He grimaced as he felt the sharp edges of a book dig into his back. He pulled the book out from under him to find it was his Muggle Studies textbook. Remembering he had homework, he flicked to the right page and groaned upon reading the title.

Friends or Friendlier? Take this quiz to find out! (Inspiration drawn from a Muggle magazine!)

Getting a quill from his bedside table, Severus resigned himself to his disgustingly sappy homework.

1.You're going out with some friends when you see your 'special friend'. You:

a. Take a detour to avoid them.

b. Wave.

c. Blow your friends off to talk to them.

If I were going out with some fellow Slytherins, and I saw... say... Lily for example, I wouldn't avoid her. And just a wave would seem kinda rude. I'd talk to her... not that I'd totally abandon my friends or anything... I guess it'd be c.

2. The same 'friend' is going through a tough time. Do you:

a. Leave your Mother to comfort them and get on with what you're doing.

b. Hand them a box of tissues.

c. Buy them chocolates, pick flowers, full on pamper them and still think they're gorgeous even though they've got bloodshot eyes and snot running from their nose.

Well, if, for example, Lily were going through a tough time, I wouldn't leave her with my mother; I wouldn't even leave Potter in the same room as my mother. I couldn't just giver her tissues. Better be c then, Severus thought grudgingly, circling c.

3. Your 'friend' lends you their broomstick for the day. To show your appreciation you:

a. Give it back.

b. Wipe the grass stain off it.

c. Clean it for them, say thanks and give them flowers as well.

Hmm... well if Lily were to lend me her broomstick... if she owned one†I couldn't just give it back! And I guess it would be better to say thanks rather than just wipe off a grass stain. Better be 'c' again.

4. Your 'friend' is all dressed up for a special occasion. You feel:

a. Nauseous. Nobody should be seen in that shade of green.

b. Nothing.

c. Butterflies in your stomach. No wait, more like elephants jumping up and down.

Severus thought of when he'd seen Lily dressed up in the 50's get-up at the ball. There had definitely been elephants stomping in his stomach that night.

Guess its c once more.

As Severus circled c on the last question of the quiz, the ink on the page swirled around before settling into new words.

Bright pink flashing love hearts surrounded the words that were now on the page and All You Need is Love by the Muggle band The Beatles was blaring from the book.

Congratulations, YOU ARE IN LOVE! It appears your 'special friend' is much more special than you imagined. Don't let your love go to waste! Ignore those stomping elephants in your stomach and let them know how you feel!

Severus shut the book irritably. How on earth could a book know how he felt about Lily? It had only asked four questions for goodness sake!

And yet there was something he felt for Lily. Some affection that made him want to be with her, hear her yell at Potter, and look into her dazzling green eyes.

Oh God.

He was in love with the Mudblood.

A/N – HA! I love the fact that even when Sev is realising his feelings for Lily, he still thinks of her as the Mudblood. Poor, twisted Snape.

Hey, what do you guys think of instead of an epilogue (which would be bloody pointless), I write out all of Sirius' rule book? Let me know.