Lily Evans was already eating breakfast, and Severus soon located her in the Great Hall, sitting at the end of the extensive oblong table with a newspaper in her hand. She appeared to be attentively reading the newspapers contents whilst simultaneously eating spoonful's of cereal, and Severus was certain that any second now the milk would spill from the spoon all over her as she was being anything but careful with it.

He walked down the length of the table and greeted her with a small and shy, "Hello."

Lily jumped up, startled at having broken her concentration and the soggy contents of the spoon flew into the air and landed consequently on Severus' robes. The girl's cheeks turned pink once she realised that she had effectively flung her breakfast all over him.

"Oh Sev, I'm really sorry!" Lily exclaimed. "You scared me!"

"I'm sorry." Severus apologised. He then drew out his wand and pointed them at his damp robes, "Tergeo."

The milk and bits of cereal then slowly vanished from his robes, and the material turned black once again.

"What are you reading?" Severus asked her as he sat down in the opposite seat. "Anything interesting happen with the Ministry?"

"Not really." Lily replied, putting the newspaper down. "I was actually trying to do the crossword in the Puzzles section."

Severus laughed, "And are you having any luck?"

Lily shook her head and smiled back.

"Not one bit." She admitted. "I'm usually quite good at them, you know."

Severus raised his eyebrows, surprised at his best friend's boasting.

"Since when? I've never seen you actually do one!" He exclaimed.

"Before I came to Hogwarts, I loved doing crosswords with my dad. It's a Muggle thing, I suppose. I don't think anyone from the Wizarding World even looks at the Puzzle page. It's a wonder why they even include it in the newspaper."

"They include it for Muggles witches and wizards like you." Severus grinned. "Who want to keep in touch with their Muggle side."

"Well they're certainly not making it easy. The Magic version of crosswords is so much harder! The clues change every thirty seconds, although I suppose it is a bit easier since you get multiple clues for one word. But how am I supposed to remember them all?" She complained.

Severus shook his head; she truly was the only witch who even bothered with the crosswords. Severus suspected the only reason the Puzzles page was included in The Daily Prophet was so that there were enough pages. There didn't seem to be much interesting news nowadays.

"Hey, do you remember how I told you I was going to try-out for the Slytherin Quidditch team?" Severus reminded her.

"Yes, and I advised you against it, remember?" Lily sighed.

Severus could feel the tension rapidly rising between them and he could tell that she wasn't going to like what he had to say.

"Well I never got the chance to tell you how it went, since I haven't properly talked to you since Thursday."

Lily frowned for a moment. The expression of confusion on her face was not missed by Severus and he braced himself for what she was going to say.

"Wait…" Lily started. "you actually went? You never told me that you were actually going to try-out!"

"Yes, I did!" Severus protested. "I told you last week, and you basically ignored me!"

"I didn't think you were being serious!" Lily almost shouted. "You do realise that you trying-out to be on the Slytherin Quidditch team isn't the most realistic thing ever?! You hate sports, Sev! How could I take you seriously?!"

"Because you saw me in the match against Gryffindor! You even told me afterwards that even though Slytherin lost, I still played amazingly! And now it's ridiculous for me to even attempt to make it on the team?!" Severus shot back.

His face had turned red with anger and he couldn't bear to speak to her any longer. Without looking back, Severus stormed out of the Great Hall and started walking towards the outside of the castle grounds to get some fresh air that would hopefully calm him down.

"Sev! Sev wait!" Lily cried as she began running after him.

Severus quickened his pace as he didn't want to continue arguing. It hurt him deeply that she thought that the mere idea of him trying-out to be on the Slytherin Quidditch team was a joke. Did she really regard him as someone who had absolutely no talent sports-wise? Alright, he hadn't even shown any signs of being good at sport until now, but did that mean that she had to look at him as though he was some sort of freak for trying? The way she looked at him reminded Severus of the way Potter always looked at him. With disgust and contempt. He despised that look, and was therefore too angry with her to even continue the conversation.

But Lily had other ideas. She soon caught up with Severus, much to his annoyance, and after a few deeps breaths after having lost some air from running so fast, she began speaking.

"Sev, I promise you, you've got it all wrong!" She began. "This has nothing to do with your Quidditch skills! You could be the world's best Quidditch champion and it still wouldn't change anything!"

"Then what is it?" Severus asked her coldly.

He desperately wanted to leave as arguing with Lily was the last thing he wanted to do. He needed to cool off, to breathe some fresh air.

"I'm frightened," Lily said quietly. "that you'll change."

She blushed at her own words and looked up to see Severus scowling. She felt his dark eyes look down on her with evident rage, and she wished more than anything that the floor would swallow her whole. She hated it when Severus wan annoyed with her; especially when she was trying to talk to him.

"What does that even mean?!" Severus protested. "Change how?!"

"James Potter used to be a really kind, sweet boy." Lily said. "That very first day I met him, he was so nice to me."

"What are you talking about? He started bullying me and calling me 'Snivellus' on the train, before we had even reached Hogwarts! He's always been vile, don't you remember?"

"That's because he was taught to hate Slytherin. I'm sure he would have overcome his stupid prejudice if it hadn't been for…"

"Been for what?" Severus asked.

"Quidditch."

Severus was speechless for a few seconds. Did Lily really think that Potter's disgusting behaviour was because of Quidditch? It had to be a joke.

"You're joking, aren't you?"

"No, I'm not." Lily replied stubbornly. "When he became part of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, that's when he started to become really vile."

"You mean that's when he started asking you out?" Severus corrected her.

"Stop it, Sev!" Lily said irritably. "As soon as he became this 'Quidditch Hero' everyone started treating him as if he were some sort of god! And all the attention got to his head; he started thinking he was better than everyone else."

"I'm pretty sure he thought that before he even touched a broom, but okay." Severus replied curtly.

"But Quidditch only made it worse! It's done nothing good for him, and I don't want Quidditch to ruin you too." Lily said.

Severus wanted to laugh. She was being utterly delusional; had she forgotten who she was talking to? He was Severus Snape. No one would be treating him like he was a hero, especially when Potter was around.

"Everyone who loves Potter hates me. To be honest, pretty much everyone hates me apart from Slytherin. You really think me being in the Quidditch team is going to change anything?" Severus asked sarcastically.

"I'm one hundred percent sure they will." Lily responded. "Didn't you hear the way they cheered for you in the match against Gryffindor? People don't hate you, Sev. They hate you because James hates you, and he hates you because you're 'not on his level'. But as soon as you start playing Quidditch, you will be on the same level as him. Based on what I've seen, it looks like you've got a huge amount of skill and talent. And soon all of Slytherin are going to start worshipping you, mark my words. And then you won't be the same Severus Snape who's my best friend."

Severus was flabbergasted. How on earth had she reached that conclusion?

"Lily, you are absolutely mad." Severus informed her. "All of Gryffindor will still hate me, and all the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs will too since they're basically Gryffindor numbers 2 and 3!"

"That's not the point!" Lily shouted. "He won't have any advantage over you! And you're the Seeker- the most important position! Trust me, everything's going to change."

Severus began to get angry once again as he realised what she was saying.

"So you'd rather he keep on bullying me, huh? You'd rather I stay weak and pathetic, instead of actually having a chance to fight back?" He yelled.

"You won't like me anymore!" Lily yelled back. "You'll hate me, and we won't be best friends anymore!"

Silence ensued for the next few seconds as they both stared at each other.

"Why would you think that?" He asked softly.

"I just have a feeling, Sev." Lily said in a much calmer tone. "I know what it will be like. You'll start spending most of your time training, and we won't get to hang out as much. You'll become completely devoted to Slytherin, and you'll start hating Gryffindor even more than you do now. And when I'll complain that you spend too much time on Quidditch weeks down the line, you'll shout at me and say that I only care about myself, because why else would I stop you from doing what you love? I don't want that to happen, Sev."

Severus shook his head.

"You're being selfish and you know it." He told her abruptly. "That's not going to happen. You're just imagining the worst-case scenarios!"

"Well then, promise me it won't." Lily replied.

"What?"

"Promise me it won't happen." Lily repeated.

"…I promise." Severus responded.

Lily immediately smiled, and then said, "Well congratulations! I know you've already gotten in, so the suspense is over."

"I wouldn't have bothered arguing with you if I hadn't even gotten into the team." Severus remarked.

"I figured as much." Lily replied. "But I mean it, well done!"

Severus mumbled 'thanks' in response and the pair made their way upstairs to their first lesson. Although their argument seemed to have been resolved, Severus knew very well that their conversation about Quidditch had not ended.

Severus found his lessons much more engaging than those he had in fifth year. The NEWT syllabus was decidedly more challenging, but Severus was always up for it. He thoroughly enjoyed the Potions and History of Magic courses, but his Defence Against The Dark Arts class was his favourite. There weren't many students in the NEWT class, which Severus was immensely grateful for. He had a desk to himself, and was able to spread out all of his textbooks in front of him. However, he wasn't so lucky in his Arithmancy class, which he shared, much to his unhappiness, with the infamous James Potter. If Lily didn't sit next to him, he had absolutely no idea how he ever would've survived that class.

And of course, it so happened to occur that his first lesson that Monday morning happened to be Arithmancy, and the news had gotten out that Severus was Slytherin's Seeker, which appeared to be unbelievable to some. James Potter made his thoughts known as soon as he stepped foot into the classroom, and Severus, knowing what was going to happen, braced himself for the moments to come.

"Hey, Snivellus!" James shouted across the room. "It's just a rumour, isn't it? You're not really Slytherin's new Seeker, are you?"

"Shut up, James!" Lily said angrily.

"I'm being serious! Did no one show up for the try-outs or what?" James asked her.

"Do you like being a prick?" Lily shot at him. "I'm being serious. Do you get a kick out of it?"

James ignored her and then stated, "Well, at least there's going to be no competition for first place in the House Cup for Quidditch this year. Not that there ever was."

Lily rolled her eyes and informed him that he was an idiot, which he in turned ignored and instead asked her out for the hundredth time. Severus turned away from them both and instead clenched his fists together, wishing that James Potter had never been born. He was going to show him, show that stupid, vile, imbecile that he was the best Seeker that Slytherin ever had. Yes, Severus thought to himself. I am going to be the best Seeker that Slytherin has ever had. And then I'll knock the stupid grin off Potter's face!

As Severus was in such deep concentration, he hadn't realised that someone was trying to talk to him. Suddenly, a soft voice took Severus out of his thoughts and he found himself looking at a familiar face.

"Severus, the celebration party is this weekend in Professor Slughorn's office." The girl informed him.

Severus stared at her, wondering what on earth she was going on about. After a few seconds, he decided to ask her.

"Celebration party for what?"

The girl looked at Severus strangely, and then, when she realised that he did in fact have no idea what she was talking about, she rolled her eyes in disbelief.

"Professor Slughorn's holding a small party for everyone who got into the Slytherin Quidditch team, which includes you."

Severus could sense that Lily had stiffened in reaction from what the girl had said, and he was reminded of this morning's events. Would Lily ever approve of him being part of the Slytherin Quidditch team? She had defended him in front of Potter, but he doubted she was fully convinced about the actual fact he was part of the team.

"Uh, I'll think about it." Severus told her.

The girl's eyes widened at what he had said.

"It isn't an option! You've been invited, Severus. You have to go!"

Severus sighed and turned to face forwards as the lesson began. The last thing he wanted to do was have a party in Slughorn's office with the other team members, but he was most likely going to be forced to do it anyway.

"What is that girl's name, anyway?" He asked Lily who was hurriedly scribbling down notes.

"Ella Bakersfield." Lily responded, and Severus realised that she was one of the two Beaters on the Slytherin Quidditch team.

"Severus Snape!" The professor admonished him. "Don't speak in my lessons!"

Severus apologised and tried to shove thoughts about the celebration party at the back of his mind, although he knew he was going to fail. I'd rather eat a frog than go to that party with Professor Slughorn, he thought miserably. Anything but a party with him!