A/N: Lily/Snape fans unite, if only for fan fiction!
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Happy Reading!
Chapter Two - Snog You Senseless
The next week, they had still not met, neither secretly nor openly. In fact, they didn't speak at all until the next study, and even then they didn't speak, per se. Studies were places where 7th years could meet and study quietly and be assisted by professors that patrolled the area, in contrast to being cooped up in the Common Room. Lily was sitting at the end of one of the long tables, and Severus was a few chairs down on the opposite side of the table. She scribbled something on a piece of paper, crumpled it into a ball, checked that no teachers were watching, and threw it. It hit Severus squarely in the forehead and he caught the ball when it bounced off. Several people sniggered, for it merely looked as if Lily had been throwing stuff at Severus for no good reason, which was not uncommon for other people to do. James gave an appreciative chuckle from next to Lily and went on studying for his Defense Against the Dark Arts N.E.W.T. But Severus knew better. He un-crumpled the paper and read it.
Beech Tree. 12
Severus nodded to her without looking up from the paper and pocketed the note. Lily's heart felt slightly aflutter partly because of him and partly because she was doing something, well, had it been with a different person, James would be proud. Sneaking about at night was dangerous in its own right, never mind with a Slytherin. Lily touched her chin thoughtfully and thought of James; he could help her cause without knowing what her cause was. She chanced a sidelong glance at him and decided that she would take action later.
Later she went to see James. He was sitting by the fire with his friends, studying for exams yet again. She walked up to him and stood in front of him, looking innocent. He raised his eyebrows at her and she noticed that he looked slightly distraught.
"How are you?" Lily asked perturbed by the look on his face.
He sighed and closed his book. Other people in the room watched curiously from behind books and papers. Sirius looked on shamelessly while he and Peter munched on cockroach clusters from Hogsmeade.
"Fine," He replied half-heartedly. "I just…well… Nicole and I broke up today."
She bit her lip and felt her heart fall. How could she ask him for help now, when he was in distress? The prospect made her conscience feel a little uneasy.
"I'm sorry," she said, "Could I help you in any way?"
James shook his head.
"Naw. Well, what do you need?" he changed the subject and Lily raised an eyebrow.
Lily shifted on her feet and her hands clasped convulsively in front of her. Yes, she had pondered the best way to ask, and she had decided that a straightforward request would be the best way to get what she wanted in this case.
"Could I borrow your invisibility cloak?"
"Why do you need it?"
"I need to be invisible."
James gazed at her as if he wanted to ask more, but realized that he was not going to get a straightforward answer because Lily was obviously being purposefully secretive. He got up and ran up the stairs, then came back holding the cloak a minute later. Lily hugged James, her heart now light with relief. He looked down at her with concern and mingled suspicion.
"Snape's been acting suspicious lately towards you," James commented with seriousness. "Watching you and stuff. Is everything all right, or do I need to hex him?"
"Uhh…" Lily said, feeling her face burn red, "nothing's going on, you're probably just imagining things."
Lying was particularly hard for Lily and had always been. In truth, Severus had been watching her more and more in the time since they'd had their masquerade encounter, and with good reason. James seemed to have bought her story, however, or at least he figured that she would tell him the truth in good time, because he didn't continue on that particular subject. Instead, he brought up a new, though equally related subject.
"Who was that guy you were with at the dance? I saw you snogging."
Lily thought fast. "I don't know, he disappeared before I could learn his name."
James gave her a sympathetic look. "Wish I could help," he said softly.
Lily held up the silvery cloak in her hand and smirked at the slightly befuddled James.
"You are, trust me."
-
Lily finished her work and went to bed early that night. Her stopwatch went off at ten till midnight, waking everyone in the dormitory. Luck seemed to be on Lily's side that night, though, for they all passed out again before any questions could be asked. Lily waited a minute to make sure everyone was asleep before getting out of bed, snatching up the cloak and leaving for the beech tree.
Severus was standing there by the beech tree just as Lily had instructed, squinting into the darkness for any sign of her approach. Lily grinned under the cloak; since she was invisible, why not have a bit of fun before he figured out what was going on? As quietly as she could, she crept up and poked him hard in the back of the head with an invisible finger. He jumped and spun around, looking for the person who had poked him. He knew not to light his wand, so he merely looked about into the semi-darkness like a blind man.
"Sevvy…" she said in her best attempt at a haunting voice, "I seee youuu…"
At this, he rolled his eyes.
"All right Evans, you're the only one with the guts to call me 'Sevvy'. I know you're here, but how are you doing it?" Severus said, becoming curious. He waved a hand blindly through the air as if trying to catch her.
Lily dropped the cloak around her neck so her head appeared to be floating by itself. Severus stared for a moment with his mouth slightly agape, obviously taken aback, and then reached out his hand again. He groped in the air for a moment before snagging the cloak and pulling it off. It slid to the ground like quicksilver, leaving Lily to stand in her comfortable black trousers and uniform shirt, feeling slightly foolish. Severus bent over and picked the cloak up, and marveled at its fluidity and lightness – not to mention how it made the user invisible.
"Where did you get this?" Severus asked in awe, swinging it over his shoulders and disappearing from view.
"James," Lily replied casually, reaching out and grabbing it back. "It's dead useful to be his friend."
Severus merely grumbled in reply and wiped his arms with his hands as if wearing James' cloak had contaminated him in some way. The two of them strolled along by the lake, talking about their lives and their plans to unite the houses. Lily spoke of her family and her terrible sister.
"…And she acts like I don't exist sometimes," Lily explained, "like she doesn't have a sister. It kind of makes me sad, actually. She's terrible, but family's family."
Severus grunted and moodily kicked a bottle into the lake. Lily watched him apprehensively.
"You alright, Sev?"
"Don't call me that," he grumbled quietly. Lily smirked. He asked, "What's it like to have siblings?"
Lily shrugged as they strolled on.
"It used to be alright – fun, even. Before I got my letter and she didn't, that is. We used to play and get along. Why? You don't have siblings?"
Severus shook his head.
"No. After I was born, my parents stopped getting along. They tried desperately to save their marriage, but nothing could be done," He said in a bitter voice. "Needless to say, they weren't interested in any more children, especially if they ended up like me."
Lily bumped her shoulder against his and laughed.
"You're really not that bad," she said, "You just have a temper, and you're too proud."
"A trait inherited from my dear father," Severus said with a false sweetness.
There was a pause, in which Lily wanted to change the subject.
"Well, at least your family isn't names after flowers. Lily and Petunia," Lily said, rolling her eyes in exasperation, "my parents thought it was cute." When she got no reply she tried a new approach. "So…" she started, "When are we going to tell everyone about this?"
"Tell? We don't need to tell them anything," Severus said in reply. "It's not their business who we date or what we do. It shouldn't matter."
"But it does matter," Lily insisted. "It does matter. People are so prejudiced that it's dangerous. You'd be considered a blood traitor, probably."
Severus cringed and stopped walking, his eyes glued to a tuft of grass that he was squashing with his foot.
"It wouldn't be so bad, being called a blood traitor," he said quietly, "considering that I'm not even a pureblood."
Lily's jaw dropped and she stared. Could it be? Severus Snape, the one who had a pureblood ego to match Lucius Malfoy's? It didn't seem possible.
"I thought only purebloods could get into Slytherin," Lily said in disbelief, almost startled by this information.
Severus shrugged.
"There aren't enough," he muttered, "Besides, I had the other qualifications. Ambition, a hunger for power. Intelligence. It was all there."
Lily faked an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes. "Well, my plans to take over the world have officially been ruined, thank you very much. I needed to have a little army of three-quarter-bloods in my midst and, seeing as you're not a pureblood, it won't work."
Severus glared sidelong at her and she laughed, then sighed as her smile faded.
"I wish you had been put into Ravenclaw," Lily said, "Things would have been so different."
"It wouldn't have worked," Severus replied, "That's like the top student getting put into Gryffindor. It's not possible."
"Are you saying I'm not intelligent?"
Severus glared at Lily.
"Don't be thick," he said, "I'm saying that Gryffindor is prided on their courage, not their intelligence."
"Ahh…" Lily replied, her eyes drifting over to the lake. "So, what do you do for fun?"
"Fun?" He repeated dully. "What do you mean, fun?"
"You know… fun." Lily replied, not knowing how to explain 'fun'. "Like, doing something you enjoy…?"
"I know what fun is!" Severus snapped, "I'm just not an incredibly fun guy, in case you haven't noticed. My greatest fun is catching Potter off guard and alone. Now that's fun."
Lily scowled, and Severus knew it was because she hated it when he and James fought. Her look of disapproval was quickly replaced, however, by a sly grin that spread over her face.
"Would you like to have fun?" she asked, "Right now?"
Severus raised his brows at the redhead.
"What are you implying, Evans?"
"This," she replied simply.
Lily emptied her pockets and placed her belongings in a pile with James' cloak. Then she kicked off her shoes, ran forward past Severus, and dove into the freezing lake. She resurfaced, grinning madly and shivering.
"Come on in!" Lily yelled to Severus. "The water's terrible!"
"No!" he yelled back,. "You'll be frozen! Or you'll get sick; I'm telling you right now!"
Lily waded in a bit and placed her numb hands on her hips.
"What? Can't you swim?"
"Of course I can!"
"Are you scared?"
"No!"
"Then come in, you coward!"
Lily found that she had struck the nerve she had been looking for when Severus' eyes flashed dangerously. He pulled his winter cloak and shoes off, ran into the water, and picked Lily up. She screamed in protest and he threw her into deeper water with a grunt. She came back up and swam to where he was standing, looking proud of his handiwork, and pushed his head under the water. While she held his head down with one hand, she jumped upon his shoulders with one leg on either side of his neck. He stood up and held onto her ankles so that she wouldn't fall, and then spun around in a fast circle. She gave a yelp and a laugh and both fell backwards, and then re-emerged from the water, dripping and shaking. Severus shook his head, spraying water all around. Lily spit out a spout of water at him.
"Was there any point to that?" he asked with bated breath, though amusement was evident on his face.
"Not really, I was just having fun," Lily replied as they waded into shore.
Upon exiting the water, they realized just how cold March weather can be. Their breaths rose in shimmering bursts of icy fog, and Lily's hair began to freeze in place around her face. Severus wrapped his arms around himself after putting all of his belongings back on and eyed Lily warily, for she had no cloak other than James' to keep her warm, and James' cloak was not much of an insulator. Lily was shivering uncontrollably, shaking her frozen hair away from her face, and Severus felt a guilty pang in his chest. He beckoned her forward with one hand.
"Come here," he commanded with the slightest exasperation in his voice.
Lily obeyed and Severus pulled her closer to him, wrapping his cloak around her so that they were both covered. She wrapped her arms around his upper torso and held him tight, still shivering madly. As they stood there together, he could feel her wild heartbeat through her chest and it gave him the chills. He let a small laugh escape from his mouth.
"What?" she asked, opening one eye suspiciously.
"I just remembered," Severus said slowly, his teeth chattering, "That I know a drying and warming charm."
Lily squeezed him tight and rested the side of her face against his chest in pure comforted contentedness, still trembling even with his shared body heat.
"What's your point?"
A smile twitched in the corners of his mouth and he sighed, resting his chin upon the top of her head.
"Never mind."
-
When the sun rose up over the castle grounds and Lily awoke in her warm, comfortable bed, she vaguely wondered if last night (well, morning technically) had been a dream.
Man, she thought to herself as she hugged her blanket around her, that had been such a good dream.
Lily rolled over with the intention of going back into dreamland when she felt something round and hard. She opened her eyes and found that her blanket was not actually a blanket, but a cloak. Puzzled, she reached into the pocket and withdrew the small, round object that had originally caught her attention. It was Drooble's Best Blowing Gum. She furrowed her brows, unable to recall ever buying gum, for she had no money to spend on sweets. Her eyes grew wide and she looked for the tag on the cloak. Written on the tag were the initials S.S. Lily couldn't help but smile, for her dream had been reality after all.
Ah yes, she thought. Yes, I remember now.
After their meeting, Severus had given Lily his cloak, for she had been quivering with cold. She had given him her green hair tie because he had been complaining about how his hair was wet. They must have been suffering from early morning tiredness, she mused, because they both knew a drying and warming charm. Lily wondered now if Severus would have the same reaction that she had had upon waking. After they had parted, she had scampered up to Gryffindor Tower. The Portrait of the Fat Lady had asked where she had been (for she was still slightly damp) and Lily had replied, "I fancied a bath." Head Girl had after-hour privileges, after all.
In some respects, this had not been a lie because she had indeed had a bath, just in a lake and with a… friend. Of sorts.
Lily stuck her head out of the hangings of her four-poster to see that everyone had gone down to breakfast already and that she had overslept. She pulled the cloak on over her slightly wrinkled clothes from yesterday and headed down to the Hall in search of a certain tall, pale, Slytherin bloke. He wasn't in the Hall yet, and Lily assumed he hadn't gotten up early, so she sat down between Sirius and James at the Gryffindor table. James was reading the Daily Prophet and took no notice of Lily because of it, but Sirius gave her a searching look as she sat down.
"You look tired," he commented.
"I didn't sleep so brilliantly last night," replied Lily, piling bacon onto her plate.
"Care to share?" He asked curiously, eyeing Severus' cloak with suspicion.
The cloak was not unlike hers, but it was very much bigger, for Severus was far taller than she. In fact, Lily had rolled up her sleeves about a dozen times in order to for to eat her breakfast. If she hadn't done this, the cloak would have been over her hands. Of course, there was not way for Sirius to tell off the bat to whom the cloak belonged.
"Not really, but thanks for asking," Lily replied, plunging into her bacon with gusto.
Sirius said nothing else, but helped himself to some of her bacon. Lily looked up from her plate to see Severus walking into the Great Hall, looking slightly confused and very groggy. His eyes found Lily in the crowd and as he started slowly towards her, he gave her look that unmistakably said "get over here". Clearly he didn't want to approach the Gryffindor table, and with good reason. Lily leapt up as if she had been sitting on coals and strode swiftly to Severus. She stepped in front of him and saw that he was actually smiling slightly.
"Nice cloak," he said in a somewhat mocking tone, his eyes sweeping across her body a little less than innocently. "Looks good on you."
Lily looked down and saw that the cloak was so long that it was almost touching the ground. She laughed and pulled off the cloak ("Take it off, Evans!" yelled a nearby brazen Hufflepuff) and then handed it to Severus with a smirk. He took the cloak from her and then held out her green elastic hair tie. Lily turned around for a moment and saw that James was heading over to them at a rather quick pace. She turned back to Severus, who looked suddenly aggressive, tried not to panic.
"Don't start," she warned him in an undertone.
He arched a brow at her in reply.
"I found your cloak in the dungeons," Lily said casually, but loud enough for James to hear, "And I thought you might want it back."
"Thank you," he said coolly. "I thought this elastic would match your horrible eyes, so you can have it as a token of my… dislike."
At that point, James had arrived at Lily's said and was ready to intervene. He drew his wand and opened his mouth, but Lily grabbed James' wrist with surprising strength and he dropped his wand in surprise.
"Hello Snape," James said coolly, trying not to look at Lily as she nonverbally summoned his wand. "Have you got something to say to Lily?"
Severus only sneered and replied, "Of course not. I want nothing to do with her. She's all yours, Potter."
Before James could say something to defend himself, Severus had taken Lily's hand, shaken it, and nodded to Lily before turning and walking off.
"Until next time, Mudblood," Severus called over his shoulder in what anyone other than Lily would think to be an insulting tone.
James went for his wand to hex Severus for calling Lily such an offensive name, but Lily pulled her hand, the one holding the wands, out of his reach. She smiled as Severus was walking away.
"Wash your hair, Snivellus!" She shouted to him, "You look like you've been swimming in that disgusting lake!"
When the rest of Severus' billowing cloak had disappeared, James turned to Lily and gestured towards the hand that Severus had touched.
"What was that all about?" James asked. "Do you want me to get you some soap for that?" He gestured to her hand. "I know a cleansing charm."
Lily pocketed the hand in question and rolled her eyes.
"Honestly James, you don't think I can take care of myself," she said with a hint of amusement in her voice that James did not quite understand. "It was nothing I can't handle."
James stared at her with apprehension, as if he knew that she was hiding something. Lily stared back just as hard as he, and she knew she would have to act carefully around James from now on, lest she expose her secret relationship.
"I've got to go to the dormitory and change out of these clothes," Lily said, backing away. "I was so tired last night that I fell asleep wearing them."
Lily turned on her heel and left without finishing her breakfast. Remus was in the common room when she entered, getting some reading in. An idea popped into Lily's head and she started over to him. She took a seat next to him and he looked up at her for a moment. He nodded once in acknowledgement and went back to his reading. Lily, however, had other ideas. She gently took the book from his hands and (much to his dismay, for he had not doggy-eared the page) closed it. Remus turned to her.
"You have my attention now," he said somewhat darkly.
"I need your help," Lily pleaded quietly. "You see, at the ball – I"
Remus cut her off. "Am I about to find out who the guy you were snogging is?"
Lily gaped.
"How many people saw that?"
Remus smiled his rare wry smile.
"You weren't exactly hiding it, Lily," he said with a chuckle. "Besides, judging by the way you snuck out last night in desperation to meet him in secret, I think I have a good idea of who it was. You don't have to hide it from me, Juliet."
Lily dropped the book in horror and Remus scooped it up quickly.
"What? You saw us!" she said, horrified. "Did anyone else? Did James?"
Remus shook his head and opened the book again in a quest to find his lost page.
"No," he said, "They were all sleeping. I woke up from a – a, well, I wasn't sleeping too well and I needed a glass of water. The jug is by the window and the window overlooks the lake."
Lily closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair, glad that only Remus had seen them. Remus often awoke in the dead of night from terrible nightmares about his lycanthropy. Lily had known about Remus' wolfish condition this whole year. After all, she often hung out with the Marauders and knew pretty much more or less everything that went on with them. Lily clasped her hands in her lap and continued on with her initial problem.
"So, will you help us?"
Remus sighed. "What do you need?"
"I need someone to relay messages, first and foremost," Lily said, reverting to a business-like manner. "James is becoming suspicious and I can't let him know right yet. He'd be so upset! I can't talk to… you know, him anymore while James is on the prowl, not without drawing attention to myself anyway. I need to project the image of indifference to him that I have always done. But you can talk to him, Remus. And then you could just kind of help me get out of tight spots, you know? Please, Remus! I'm begging you!"
Remus stared at her and found that he just couldn't say no. She was, after all, a good friend and was always willing to help him out of tight spots. In fact, she had done so on multiple occasions. Remus nodded and Lily let out a breath of air. She leapt across the seat and hugged him, knocking him back into his chair.
"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" She said in one breath.
"No problem," Remus replied, and went back to his studying. He sincerely hoped that he hadn't just made a huge mistake.
-
The next day, after much planning and sending Remus back and fourth in secret between Lily and Severus, they had a plan. Severus didn't like Remus at all, but he would refrain from violence of Lily's account and cooperate with him. Only, there was one little problem.
On the morning of the meeting, Lily awoke with the flu. In fact, she didn't wake up with the flu – the flu woke up with her. Lily groaned and rolled out of bed. The others, minus Anne, had already left for breakfast. Anne sat up in bed with a concerned look, her curlers slightly askew on her head.
"You alright, Lily?"
Lily went to nod, but clapped a hand to her mouth and shook her head 'no'.
"Uh huh – no. Nuh uh!"
Lily jumped up and sprinted into the loo with Anne at her heels. Lily slid onto her knees in front of the toilet just in time, for she threw up just as she got there. Anne, looking revolted, shouted that she would go get some help and be right back. Overcome with exhaustion, Lily flushed the toilet, fell backwards and grimaced at the terrible taste in her mouth. She wiped her mouth on her sleeve, too tired to move, and waited. Soon enough, she heard footsteps coming and Anne ran back into the loo, closely followed by McGonagall. McGonagall took one look at Lily, then rushed forward and placed a hand on Lily's forehead.
"Yes, you're burning up," McGonagall said briskly. "Miss Hart, if you would be so kind as to escort Miss Evans to the infirmary?"
Anne nodded and stepped forward. Together, McGonagall and Anne managed to put one of Lily's arms around each of their necks and half walk, half haul Lily down to the Madam Pomfrey's ward. The matron was standing there with none other than Severus, who shot a glare in the direction of Lily, Anne and McGonagall as the interesting trio entered. Severus already looked slightly agitated, as Madam Pomfrey was giving him rapid orders.
"Just give this to Malfoy and tell him he'd better drink it to get rid of his herpi – oh, hello Professor," Madam Pomfrey was saying as she handed Severus a steaming mug. "What's this? Get going, Snape, why are you still standing here?"
Severus did not so much as glance at Lily as he was walking out towards the door.
"A fever is it? Well there's only so much I can do for it," began the Matron as Severus reached for the door handle and disappeared with the mug; Lily could have sworn that she saw him smirk to himself in a self-satisfied way, but she was too groggy to be sure.
"She's burning up, Poppy," McGonagall said curtly. "Already been retching, isn't that right, Miss Hart?"
Anne nodded, curlers bouncing, and the matron began messing about in her cupboards, mixing a remedy. Madam Pomfrey turned back to Lily and forced her into a chair.
"Drink," She ordered, stirring the remedy with a drink mixer. "This is the best I can do. Your temperature will go down, but you can only rest."
Madam Pomfrey handed Lily the cup, but her hands were shaking so badly that the Matron had to hold the cup and tip Lily's chin back so she could drink. The liquid tasted like rotten eggs and made Lily gag, but she could feel the strength coming back into her fingertips and legs as she drank. She struggled to stand, but the Matron forced her back down.
"You will stay here until I give you leave!" Madam Pomfrey said sternly. "Pick a bed and lie down until I say otherwise."
Lily nodded and Anne led her to the nearest bed. After making sure that Lily was all right, Anne and McGonagall left the infirmary.
"I'll come back later," Anne promised, "after breakfast." She laughed slightly and touched the curlers on top of her head before adding, "and after I fix this mess."
With that last word, they all left Lily to her rest. She closed her eyes and fell asleep almost at once. When Lily woke up the sun was high in the sky and Anne was sitting in a chair beside her bed, grinning uncontrollably. Lily sat up slowly, feeling slightly achy from the potion. It was at times like these that she wondered whether taking care of illnesses the Muggle way was better.
"What?" Lily asked her friend slowly, rubbing her eyes.
Anne pointed to Lily's bedside table, where a single lily sat in a vase on top of a folded piece of parchment.
"An owl flew in here with it; nearly gave Pomfrey a heart attack," Anne said with glee as Lily reached out for the flower.
Lily picked the flower out of its water and sniffed it. She smiled and placed the lily back in its vase, and then picked up the vase and took the note. Anne seemed to be on the edge of her seat with excitement. With trembling fingers and a fluttering heart, Lily opened the note and read:
I told you so.
-Your secret admirer
Lily smiled knowingly as she stared at the note, which was written in an untidy scrawl. Of course, only one person had told her that she would be sick in the last few days, and that person was most definitely her secret admirer. In fact, Lily couldn't help but be impressed at the sheer brilliance of the signing. It would appear to anyone (except for Remus) that Lily was receiving this little note and flower from someone who admired her from afar. But that was not the case, as Lily knew; her admirer was not anonymous, but admired her in secret from the watchful eyes of James Potter and Lucius Malfoy. Lily looked up from the note to see that Anne was still grinning so that every one of her perfect white teeth were showing.
"Who do you think it's from?" Anne asked excitedly.
Lily shrugged, a smile still playing on her lips.
"Who knows? It could be anybody," Lily replied. It was not a lie, exactly, as it could have been from anybody.
"But the note said he told you so!" Anne insisted.
Lily laughed and tried to think of a cover-up as she did so. She paused to wipe a tear of mirth from the corner of her eye.
"Everyone tells me that!" Lily replied. "The way I walk around without a winter cloak, even the way I don't like to wear leggings – I mean, I pretty much had it coming, didn't I? And half the time they're not even talking about me getting sick anyway. 'I told you so' is a pretty common thing to say, isn't it?"
Anne sighed and sat back in her chair, looking puzzled.
"Damn," she said. "I was really hoping to find out who it was."
Lily sighed inwardly; she hated keeping things from her friends more than she hated being sick. And then, of course, the plans that Severus, Remus and Lily had spent a while scheming would have to be put on hold for the time being.
Remus stopped by with James, Sirius and Peter and when they were leaving, Lily pretended that she needed to ask him an Arithmacy question and that the he could catch up with his friends in a minute. Then she told him that the plan would go through tomorrow night, and Remus agreed to relay the message. Lily could tell that he was regretting his decision to help, but he helped nevertheless and for that, Lily was grateful.
-
The following morning, Lily was permitted to leave the infirmary and go to breakfast. Lily happily skipped down to breakfast, glad at the prospect of eating solid foods again. She sat down at the Gryffindor table between Sirius and James like she always did and began eating merrily. James watched her with a smile on his face. For some reason he looked genuinely thrilled to have him next to her.
"You act like you haven't eaten in years," James commented, rumpling the back of his hair with uncertainty.
Without taking her eyes off her plate, she replied, "It feels like I haven't eaten in years, James. Being sick is no fiesta."
James opened his mouth to say something else, but one of the school owls landed in front of him. He reached out and took the envelope from the owl and fed it a kipper. James' eyes scanned the front and then he handed the letter to Lily.
"It's for you," he said bluntly before pouring himself some pumpkin juice.
Lily recognized the writing on the front of the envelope at once to be that of Severus and she tore open the letter. It was short and looked as if it had been quickly written.
At 12 cast Muffliato on the people in your dorm and go to the window. I'll be waiting.
There was not signature at all, but Lily got the point right away. She supposed that Muffliato must be some sort of spell because she'd never heard of it before.
"Petunia's ill again," she said in a bored tone, as if she had just read a letter from her family.
Nobody said anything, but kept eating. The idea of house unity popped into her head then and she set her fork down. Lily poured herself a glass of pumpkin juice and sipped it, wondering how she would bring the subject about.
"Have you ever thought of house unity?"
At once, voices from all over the table answered, "No."
Lily sighed and Sirius looked up from his cereal.
"Why would we want to get matey with them?" He jerked his thumb in the direction of the Slytherin table. "They're all gits, every one of them."
"Professor Slughorn seems to think unity is a value," Remus piped up, "As do all the other professors. I mean, we are pretty argumentative, no?"
"Yes we are!" James said loudly, pounding a fist on the table. "And ruddy proud of it! We have to prove ourselves, don't we? And they're never gonna lay off us anyway!"
The rest of table began talking about how worthless the Slytherin lot are, and Lily massaged her temples in an aggravated way. She made brief eye contact with Remus, who was also looking rather bothered. Lily's eyes wandered over to the Slytherin table, where Severus was shaking his hand as if he'd been burned; his facial expression was full of malice.
-
Twelve midnight came slower than it had ever come before, and Lily quickly grew impatient. During class she was reprimanded several times for daydreaming and finally had to resort to doodling in her notebook to pass the time. Finally, many long hours and sketches later, midnight did arrive. Lily climbed out of bed and dressed silently. She put on her jacket, remembering how cold she had been last time, and hoping to God that Severus wasn't planning on another midnight swim. This wasn't likely, of course, but Lily knew that people tended to do crazy things when they fancied another person.
After casting the Muffliato on her dorm-mates as Severus had instructed, Lily opened the window and leaned over the frame. Severus stood at the bottom of the tower on the ground, looking impatient.
"Hello, Romeo!" She said airily, waving a hand in exaggeration. "This reminds me of that balcony scene, minus the sappy stuff, of course," she added hastily.
Severus rolled his eyes and sighed.
"Hello," he replied in a bored voice, "Let's get going, shall we?"
"You are such a killjoy!" Lily insisted before beginning to recite Shakespeare. "O Severus, Severus! Wherefore art thou Severus? Deny thy Potter and refuse thy name; or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I'll no longer be a Gryffindor!"
Severus laughed out loud at this, which was somewhat startling to Lily.
"Looks like you're not going to be a Gryffindor much longer, Evans," he said through laughter, "because being Slytherin is one of life's few joys!"
Lily, who knew she best get to the point, leaned further out the window and hissed down to him, forgetting that she could speak as loudly as she wanted, "How am I supposed to get down there without waking up the whole castle, exactly? James has been patrolling around the common room at night to see where I've been off to; he's suspicious and I can't exactly blame him."
Severus put a hand to his chin and thought for a moment before looking back up.
"Jump." He said simply.
Lily gaped.
"What? I think I must have heard you wrong," she said simply, sticking a finger in her ear and twisting it. "Maybe I'm still sick."
"You heard me," he said edgily. "If you want to meet now, you have to jump."
"No!"
Severus rolled his eyes and took a deep breath to calm his anger. Ever since he had begun to see Lily, he had decided that he'd better get control of his anger before he wound up getting expelled. Slowly the adrenaline began to fade out of his veins, and he paced back and fourth once before turning back to the window, grasping the handle of his wand hard.
"Do you trust me?" He asked in a forced calm.
"Of course I do!" Lily replied. "Most of the time, anyway."
"Then jump."
Lily bit her lip, but then nevertheless hoisted herself over the edge of the window. She clamped her eyes and mouth shut and let go of the edge. Severus made a swooshing motion with his wand and yelled "MOBLICORPUS!"
Lily slowed to a stop about a foot off the ground as if her body was suspended weirdly on strings. She opened one eye and then the other, and then let out the breath she had been holding, looking incredibly relieved.
"Whew," she said breathlessly. "For a second I thought I was going to fall to my imminent doom."
Severus flicked his wand lazily and Lily fell to the ground with an "Umph!" She scrambled to her feet and shot him a glare.
"Not exactly gentle, are you?" she snapped, pulling a twig out of her hair.
He strode over and picked a leaf off her shoulder.
"Not exactly," he replied and began to walk in the opposite direction – towards the forbidden forest.
Sensing danger, Lily set off after Severus. After jogging a bit, she caught stride with him and looked up at him expectantly.
"What's wrong?" she questioned.
"Our attempts aren't working," Severus replied bitterly. "Today I almost ended up without hands for mentioning the benefits of inter-house unity. We should just give up now and say we tried."
Lily stared with her mouth ajar.
"That's the difference between you and me," Lily scoffed. "One failed attempt and you give up and retreat back into your stupid, greasy self-loathing and anger. I think they just need something to refer to, you know, a success story. If they saw us –"
"No!" Severus cut her off sharply, backing off a step. "Don't you get it? It won't work! It can't work! We'd be laughed at!"
Severus turned to her as they reached the outskirts of the forest. His expression was hard and solemn.
"I don't know if this is a good idea," he said quietly.
"If what's a good idea?" Lily said, looking scared.
"All of this," Severus replied, gesturing around him. "You could be hurt, especially if Lucius gets wind of this – sees you with me. It's not safe."
Lily stepped in front of Severus with her hands balled into fists at her sides. Suddenly she felt as if someone had stabbed her in the chest and tried to rip out her heart.
"Don't be so noble!" Lily exclaimed. "Why is it that everyone wants to defend me when I can take care of myself? I don't care how dangerous it is to be with you; you're not walking away if that's your reason!"
"But what would I do if you were hurt on my account… or worse?"
"Then you would be glad you had the chance to love and be loved!" Lily yelled in desperation, falling to her knees and burying her face in her hands. They'd worked so hard to make their relationship work, and now it seemed that he was going to break it off with her. the feeling was terrible.
This last statement seemed to have taken an effect on Severus. He nudged Lily with his foot and pulled her roughly to her feet by the scruff of her jacket.
"Pull yourself together!" He demanded, straightening her jacket and brushing the dirt off her shoulder. "I'm not going anywhere, alright? And neither are you. I'm just telling you what I think, so you don't need to fall apart over it!"
Lily nodded vigorously and put on a face of seriousness.
"Of course not," Lily said briskly. "I was just pretending to fall apart – it was an act."
"Uh huh," Severus said slowly, "Well if that be the case, then you're a brilliant actress."
"Am I?"
"Yes," he said conclusively, "And a rather… pretty one at that."
At this, Lily wrapped her arms around his neck and laughed out loud.
"Did you just say 'pretty'?"
"What's it to you?"
Lily forced him to walk backwards against a nearby tree and ran a hand through his hair, not caring in the slightest that it was greasy. She kissed him lightly on the lips and laughed when he rolled his eyes.
"Severus Snape," Lily said in a serious voice, "I may just have to snog you senseless."
"Hmm, a tempting offer, but I'm afraid I'll have to decline."
"And why is that?"
Severus raised a sardonic eyebrow at her.
"Because Severus Snape doesn't succumb to temptation," he replied.
"Excuse me?" Lily asked in mocking disbelief. "Who's the one who hexed poor Joey Brown for calling him a git?"
"He had it coming."
"So do you!"
"Ahh good point, good point."
"So can I snog you senseless now?"
"Yes, I think so."
Upon later reflection, Lily thought that all in all, this had been one of her better nights at Hogwarts.
Upon later reflection, Severus was still wondering where his sense had run off to.