Upon entering the classroom while holding Tyler's hand, Lily smiled as whispers immediately broke out.

Remus looked at his friends in disbelief. "What's she playing at?"

"I don't know," James whispered angrily, his eyes following Lily as she walked by. "Whatever it is, I don't like it one bit."

"Me neither," Sirius growled, pretending to flip through the pages in his schoolbook.

Throughout the lesson, Lily noticed that James kept glancing at her and Sirius tried to catch her eye multiple times.

"Hey, Tyler?" Lily asked in a lowed voice as she was working on her class work.

"Yeah?"

"I've got flying lessons with the Slytherins next, and hen lunch… Can I sit at your table?"

"Of course!" he exclaimed a little bit too loudly, and Professor McGonagall sent him a sharp look. "Meet you outside the Great Hall at twelve o'clock sharp, then?"

"Sure."

"Can you join me for dinner, too?"

"Actually…" Lily said, faltering. "I can't. I promised Professor Dumbledore I'd sit with him… I don't know why he wants me there this time, though."

As the bell rang, Lily copied down her homework (Define what a Switching Spell is in no less than three sentences) then said bye to Tyler.

She rushed onto the grounds, excited for their first Flying Lesson. They were supposed to have three others previously, but the teacher kept getting sick.

Stupid teacher, Lily thought, then hurriedly took it back. She couldn't even believe she'd thought something like that. As she reached the Flying Pitch, she saw a man with greasy black hair sitting on a floating broom.

"Hello class," he drawled, his full, dark eyes taking them in with disgust. "I am Professor Snape… Yes, I am Severus' father…"

A few kids turned and sniggered at the younger Snape, who was looking at the ground, avoiding his father's eyes.

"I am only here for this year as a favor," he continued. "Some parents believed that their children were not associating themselves with the… right… sort of people."

Lily looked at him quizzically, not understanding what he meant.

As she walked over to her assigned broom, she heard a few kids whispering.

"What does he mean by the 'right' people?"

"Dark Wizards," a boy said with an air of certainty. "I'll bet you anything it was Malfoy's dad… Everyone knows he's on the Dark side."

Lily shook her head and decided to instead concentrate on the lesson.

"All right, class, now… I want you to take the hand you write with and put it over your broom. Good. Now, say 'up!'"

Lily did as told, and was surprised to find her broom shooting upwards and smacking her in the hand. "Ouch!" she hissed.

"At least you can get it up," Professor Snape said, glaring at Serverus, who was standing next to her. "How do you feel about that, eh? You've got a girl, and not just any girl… a Gryffindor girl doing better than you. I'm disgusted!" he spat, and rose his hand. He sent it crashing into Severus' face, leaving it red and swollen. "I expect better from you next time."

Lily stared at the ground, trying to avoid Severus' eyes.

"You might as well say something," he whispered, his eyes watering. "Everyone else is. I can hear them talking."

Lily bit her lip. "You okay?"

"Okay as I'll ever be… I mean, yeah… my dad just smacked me in the face in front of my friends, but no problem, right?" his voice was cracking.

Lily put her hand on his shoulder. "It's all right… I mean, it's not… but it will be."

He shook his head and climbed onto his broom. "Come on, let's do as he says before he gets more angry."

As they kicked off the ground, Lily noticed that James seemed a natural flyer. That was all erased from her mind, though, as a swooping feeling took over her heart, and she couldn't help but to gasp. She immediately fell in love with flying.

In what felt like no time, class was dismissed for lunch.

Lily straggled behind to talk with Severus, who was constantly being gaped at and mocked by his fellow students.

"Severus, come here," Professor Snape called from the shed where they held the brooms. "I need to speak with you. Go on, Miss Evans. I believe you've helped my son enough today."

Lily headed in the direction of the school, and as soon as a few trees hid her, she flew back to the shed, hiding in the woods, to make sure everything was all right.

"I'm really sorry about today, son…" Lily overheard the professor saying. "I should've controlled my temper."

As Lily peeked around the corner, she saw her friend staring at the ground.

"It's okay, father," he mumbled.

"But what about your friend, Evans? Why are you associating yourself with a Gryffindor? Those little snots are revolting with their do-good behavior and Muggle parents. Any pureblooded wizard who even considers entering Gryffindor is more that a moron; they deserve to die because they're so stupid. What's your little friend? I bet she's got Muggle blood in her, I could feel it… Did you see the way she-"

"Shut up dad! She's my friend."

"How dare you speak to me that way!" he roared. "You little ungrateful brat!" He raised his hands and began to punch his son, screaming profanities at him, beating in the side of his face and tearing at his legs.

"Stop!" Lily cried, unable to listen any more. "Leave him alone!"

"Get out of here Lily!" Severus gasped from the ground. "I'm okay… honest…"

The Professor turned to Lily, glaring. "You little…!" He grabbed her by the cloak collar and slammed her against the shed. "If you tell anyone what you saw here… Consider your life over."

He threw he to the ground next to Severus, and walked off, adjusting his cloak as he strolled.