Disclaimer: Er—yes, I don't own anything.
A/N: Its been long enough hasn't it. Erm, anyways, hope you enjoy it. :)
X Study Partners
"Now, who can tell me what occurs when sliced wormwood mixes with essence of mimbletonia in a simmering concoction of water, snake venom, and mulberry pulp?" asked Slughorn.
Severus sighed and lazily raised his hand in the air, still holding on to his grey feather quill.
"Ah yes, Miss Evans?" said Slughorn.
Severus looked across the room to see Lily sitting straight up on her stool. "The potion will sizzle and blue foam will rise slightly. If one doesn't add mayapple leaves within ten seconds of adding the wormwood or essence, the potion may be ruined," Lily recited matter-of-factly.
"I believe it's within five seconds, Professor," Severus drawled, more to Lily than Professor Slughorn.
Lily turned to Severus with a blasé look. A smug smile spread across Severus' face until…
"No, Miss Evans is correct," informed Slughorn.
Severus' smile fell.
"It is within ten seconds, though the idea of five seconds has been thought of as truth until about a decade ago; there was a big commotion about it too…" Slughorn said.
"That's stupid. Who cares about a five-second difference?" piped up a Ravenclaw boy, Philip.
As Slughorn rambled about the significance five seconds could have when it came to potion-making, Severus turned to look in Lily's direction again to see her whispering to Alice. They hadn't spoken in two weeks. They ignored each other in prefect meetings; Slughorn had changed the seating plan so they no longer shared a desk in Potions; and if they happened to run into one another, no words were exchanged. Though dim, the light reflected off the surface of that damned necklace of hers, which she seemed to wear every day now, causing multi-coloured highlights to glitter on the stone wall next to her. He was somewhat curious about where she acquired such a fine piece of jewellery, but didn't feel it very important. He knew that underneath her cool exterior, she wanted to talk to him. Must be my dashing good looks, he thought with a chuckle.
"Is something funny, Mr. Snape?" Slughorn asked.
Severus cleared his throat. "Sorry to interrupt, Professor. I was clearing my throat. It won't happen again. You may continue with your lecture."
Slughorn accepted his excuse with a nod and began to go on about the importance of time in potions. Severus heard Sirius whisper, rather loudly, in the ear of the girl next to him.
"—Fucking suck-up if you ask me—" said Sirius, while the raven-haired Hufflepuff next to him giggled. Sirius then glanced in Severus' direction with a nasty smile.
Oh, I'm sure you'll find this rather funny as well, he thought. Severus discreetly pulled out his wand and nonverbally charmed Sirius' stool to lean slightly to the left. Sirius tried to regain his balance on the stool but it soon toppled over completely on its side, taking Sirius along with it.
The entire class, except for James and Slughorn, laughed up a storm. Severus looked at the opposite side of the room and saw even Lily laughing, with her hand hovering over her mouth.
"Settle down! Settle down! Get up, Mr. Black!" yelled Slughorn, desperately trying to regain composure in the class.
Sirius stood up and lifted his chair upright. A slight blush could be seen on his cheeks as the giggling subsided and he sat on his chair again.
"Now, as I was saying, a matter of seconds—" started Slughorn, but Severus, for a second time, took out his wand and incanted the same charm; and again, sending Sirius and the stool toppling over. The laughter was much louder this time and Severus could have sworn that even Slughorn was trying not to smile.
"Okay, settle down, settle down. Mr. Black, please stop leaning on your stool."
Sirius was panting heavily. "IT WASN'T ME! I WASN'T LEANING!" He looked wildly around the class and when his eyes landed on Severus he pointed and said, "Him! It was him!"
Severus looked at Sirius with a surprised look on his face, "Me? I wouldn't do that to you when Slughorn is giving such a fascinating lecture."
"Bollocks!" growled Sirius.
"Now, now, Mr. Black. There is no need for bad language. You shouldn't blame others on your bad habits with stools," scolded Slughorn. "Now take your seat and don't lean."
Sirius glared at Severus before lifting his stool and sitting on it. Severus took out his wand and this time made the stool only lean to the left ever so slightly. That was all it took for Sirius to loudly fumble with his hands and get a vice-like grip on the table. A few students chuckled while Sirius breathed heavily.
"Are you done, Mr. Black?" asked Slughorn with a sigh.
Sirius nodded and Slughorn continued on to what they would brew that day, while Severus was trying with all of his might not to smile.
XXX
"—Because I really like him, and I mean 'like him, like him', but I'm afraid that if I ask him out and he doesn't like me like me our friendship would be ruined," rambled Alice while she and Lily brewed their antidotes. Their assignment was rather simple, making it easy to concentrate on the potion and talk at the same time.
"Well, do you think he likes you back?" Lily asked quietly.
Alice sighed. "I'm not sure." She looked across the room and watched as Frank Longbottom helping a petite Ravenclaw in the back of the room. "He's so helpful, isn't he?"
"Yes, he is very charming," Lily answered distractedly, adding moonstone to the black, bubbling potion. Though she cared about Alice and her ever-developing crush on Frank, she had her own problems. After rejecting James for the umpteenth time, he had seemed rather distant, merely waving or smiling at her when it was appropriate. Lily even believed his obnoxious ways had abruptly ended for good. However, she had thought wrong. His mannerism only lasted a week until he began showing off in front of her again. Quidditch season started, which meant practises, which meant Lily and her friends watching Marlene when they had nothing better to do, which ultimately meant seeing Potter…often. She had to admit, he was an amazing Quidditch player, and it didn't hurt his physique; in fact, Lily thought he was a bit fit. James flirting with her shirtless after practises would even be quite a treat to the eyes if he didn't always talk about himself and Quidditch.
"My father knows one of the Beaters of the Tornados personally," he said earlier that week after a particularly boring Quidditch practise. "I even have an autograph and flew around with him a couple summers ago,"
"Great," Lily would say, and then attempt to reach the library as soon as possible—it was a part of Hogwarts that James seemed to be allergic to.
"He seemed kind of shy when he asked me how Hogsmeade went for me. Does that mean anything?" asked Alice, adding a pinch of daisy roots to her potion, causing it to fizz violently, but die down rather quickly.
"Maybe," Lily shrugged.
"Enough about me, has Potter given you any more trouble?" said Alice.
Lily rolled her eyes. "If by trouble you mean trying to impress me with his stupid Quidditch skills, then yes, he's given me a lot of trouble. I thought I actually got through to him this time; you weren't there, but he was really upset."
"Poor bloke," Alice mumbled.
Lily's eyes went wide with disbelief. "What?"
"Lily, concentrate on your potion," Alice said promptly, obviously trying to distract her friend from ranting. It didn't work.
"Screw the potion," Lily hissed. "How can you feel sorry for him?"
"You honestly feel no guilt?" asked Alice.
Lily wanted to respond with a resounding 'No' but Alice had hit a nerve. Lily did feel guilty, but fed up to boot. She honestly didn't know what to feel. One moment he flattered the hell out of her, the next she wanted to hit him over the head with a cauldron. He usually led her to crave the latter, but the former seemed to occur more and more often.
"No," Lily lied.
XXX
Severus usually skipped lunch, but talking to Nott tended to get one to lose track of what they were doing. He bit into and apple, and he and Nott greeted Evan, Wilkes, and Narcissa. To his displeasure, Amelia Bulstrode and Reina Gulmturmble joined as well.
"Hello Severus, Demetrius," said Narcissa pleasantly, a copy of Witch Rage in her hand. The witch on the cover wore a short, light blue, plaid robe showing much skin and posed in various positions.
Demetrius whistled and grabbed the magazine out of Narcissa's hands. "Who's that?"
"Natasha De La Gouge," said Reina approvingly. "Fabulous model from France."
"Hon, hon, hon," Wilkes said, performing a stereotypical French laugh. Wilkes laughed; Severus and Narcissa rolled their eyes.
"Very funny, Oleander," said Narcissa scathingly.
Wilkes growled and folded his arms across his chest, his pout resembling the look of a five-year-old boy stuck with the pink crayon rather than the blue.
"Oi, Severus. Even you have to admit this Natasha is really something," said Demetrius, shoving the magazine at him.
Severus reluctantly took the magazine and frowned at it. "She's trashy," Severus said.
"And?" said Demetrius, Evan, and Wilkes in chorus.
The girls giggled as Severus looked through the magazine, a scene that would make any onlooker in the Great Hall rather puzzled.
The magazine was suddenly snatched from his hands. "Well, well, well. Snivellus looking through a women's magazine?" James sneered from behind him, along with Sirius, Peter, and Remus.
Severus stood up and faced James, his black eyes narrowed.
"Leave, all of you, now," growled Severus. He inwardly wanted his "friends" to back him up, but knew that was far too much to ask for.
"I'm shaking in my boots, Snape," Sirius laughed, brushing his perfect hair out of his eyes.
"You mean boots your mum gave you before she kicked your arse out of your home," said Narcissa with a toothy grin.
"Shut up, Narcissa," Sirius snapped.
"Now back to this lovely magazine," started James. "What are you gonna do with it, Snivellus? Wank off with it before class?"
The Marauders laughed, but were silenced when Severus pulled out his wand. James, as well as Sirius took out theirs as well, but before any of the boys could perform a hex, Bellatrix Black strode over to the table.
"I'm assuming there isn't any trouble here, boys," said Bellatrix silkily, breaking the boys up with her mere presence.
"No, no trouble here," Sirius glowered.
Bellatrix smiled wickedly before turning to the Marauders, all of whom glared at her. Her eyes then saw the magazine in James' hand and she simpered. "Since when are you interested in women's fashion, Potter?"
"It's not mine!" James barked, throwing the magazine at Severus' chest.
"What's going on over here?" said a soft voice.
Lily Evans stood curiously by the Marauders with her hands on her hips.
Bellatrix sniffed. "Nothing that the Head Girl can't handle, Evans."
Lily glanced at Severus, did a double-take at the magazine in his hand, and merely looked him in the eye, her eyebrow raised.
"Didn't you hear me?" Bellatrix snapped. "Nothing is going on. You boys, go back to the Gryffindor table immediately before I start giving out detentions. Evans, you stay here."
The Marauders walked back to the Gryffindor table though Sirius quickly flipped off Bellatrix before doing so. Lily stayed back, putting on a brave face.
"Evans, you may want to button up your shirt a bit more. Much too much skin is showing," Bellatrix said and looked as though she just smelled something disgusting.
Lily's mouth was agape. "Your shirt is buttoned up the same as mine! That's not fair!"
"Again, you seem to be underestimating my position as—" Bellatrix pointed to her shiny badge, "—Head Girl. I have more authority than some lowly prefect, so what I say about your attire goes."
"In case you haven't noticed, you don't run this school; unless you very recently shaved off your beard and dyed your hair black, Professor Dumbledore," Lily sneered.
"Do as I say, Evans, or you'll have more than a month's worth of detention," Bellatrix whispered with finality.
Lily angrily buttoned up her shirt and started to walk over towards the Gryffindor table, when Evan intervened.
"Don't listen to her! You're no fun to look at without your shirt like that!" Evan said.
Wilkes got a kick out of Evan's comment, though Severus had a hard time finding the humour in what was said. Lily quickly turned heel and stomped over to the Gryffindor table.
Many students from other tables noticed the conflict was over, and got back to conversing with their friends.
Bellatrix shook her head. "That Evans girl makes me sick just looking at her."
"We agree, sis," said Narcissa gesturing towards Amelia and Reina, who nodded feverishly.
"Good, at least some people do," Bellatrix said reproachfully to the boys at the table, her gaze lingering on Evan.
"What?" asked Evan when he noticed Bellatrix's heavily lidded eyes land on him. "I'm just giving Evans a bit of advice. Can't hurt, right?"
Severus shoved the magazine in Narcissa's direction of and ate the rest of his lunch listening to them discuss trivial matters until the bell rang.
XXX
Disgusting little tosser that Rosier is, Lily thought as she walked into the library, hoping to have some time to herself. To her surprise, the library was quite crowded. She noticed many fifth-years and looked at Madame Pince, who was sitting tensely behind her desk, perplexed.
"Some accident while the fifth-years were in Defence Against the Dark Arts. Professor Elroy was accidentally cursed by one of her students and is in the hospital wing. The class was told to come here," Madame Pince said, without Lily having to ask.
Lily tried not to smile at the thought of Elroy being cursed and moved on to find a table. She finally found a nook with a small table in the Charms section. Charms was always her favourite subject. She remembered before her first year when she went to Ollivander's, anxious yet excited to purchase her wand…
"Try this one out, dear. Willow and rather swishy. Ten and a quarter inches long," said Ollivander.
Lily hesitantly held the wand in her hand and felt a rush of energy. Green and white sparks shot out of the wand's end, startling her.
"Ah, very rarely does a student find their perfect match on their first try! Very nice wand choice, my dear. Perfect for charms, absolutely perfect for charms," he mumbled dreamily.
Her thoughts returned to the present and she decided to sift through the nearest Charms book. Though she knew she should be doing her DADA work, Marvellous Glamour Charms distracted her.
"Well, well, well," said a drawl catching her attention. Severus leaned against a nearby shelf, casually looking at his fingernails. "Brushing up on some more potion facts so you can be an even bigger teacher's pet?"
"In the Charms section?" Lily retorted evenly.
He did not have a comeback so he instead stayed in his place, looking around the library at the books zooming by and placing themselves in their appropriate spaces.
"What, were you jealous that I stated a fact that you didn't know?" asked Lily with an accomplished smirk.
"I don't get jealous," Severus replied indifferently, though his slight look of disdain told her differently.
"Everyone gets jealous once in a while, Snape," Lily replied. "Unfortunately it is in our nature."
"Not me, and especially not of someone like you," Severus snapped.
"Why are you here?" Lily asked calmly.
"I'm looking for a book for Charms, if you must know," Severus said, and searched the nearby shelves until he found a satisfactory book. "And because the library is quite crowded today as I'm sure you've noticed…" Severus muttered, giving her a sideways glance. "I was wondering if I could…read here."
"Wow, you must be desperate," Lily said.
"Well it's either you or a bunch of fifth-years," Severus said offhandedly.
"Oh, I'm honoured," Lily snorted. "Yes, you may sit here."
Severus sat in the chair across from her and read his book silently. She looked up from her book and observed the boy across from her. He must have sensed her stare and raised his eyes to meet hers. They say the eyes are the window to one's soul, but when he looked at her, she saw very little. He was guarded, very guarded, and his eyes looked dead at first glance. However, Lily noticed that if she looked a little further, you could see the slightest gleam of verve.
"What?" Severus asked curtly.
"Get your hair out of your face," Lily demanded.
He looked appalled. "Who are you, my mother?"
"No, just a girl giving you some advice, but if your mum says that too, I must have the right idea. You can barely see your face with your hair hanging like curtains," Lily said smartly.
"I don't need your advice," Severus grumbled.
He returned to the book, flipping through pages. There was a heavy silence around them before Lily's conscience got the best of her.
"Sorry for calling you a loser a couple weeks ago," Lily said suddenly.
Severus remained quiet, not looking up from the large tome. Lily nibbled her lower lip nervously and sighed.
"It was really immature of me," she added. "And it was a pretty low blow, I suppose…"
Severus glanced at the auburn-haired girl across from him. "S'alright," he mumbled.
"Snape…I really don't want another enemy in Slytherin and…I'd really like to get to know you better," Lily said.
An exasperated look appeared on his face, "Well, to be honest, I have no interest in getting to know you better."
"I—I know, but…look, can we at least be study partners?" Lily suggested.
"You still want to be my study partner?" Severus asked tersely.
"Yes," Lily said shortly.
Severus sighed loudly, which must have somehow alerted Madame Pince because her long, pallid form emerged from around the corner. "You two! Hush up. It's loud enough as it is with so many people in here!" she hissed, and slunk back around the corner.
"That woman is round the bend!" Lily whispered. "She is absolutely frightening sometimes."
"She's just strict," Severus defended.
"Believe what you like, I think the woman is mad," Lily said. "Anyway…"
"Fine, Evans," Severus sighed, exasperated. "We can be study partners."
"Great! I mean, because we have nearly every class together, that includes some frees and I really find it hard to study with my friends because they can really distracting and—" Lily babbled, her eyes practically glowing.
"Get a bloody grip, Evans, before Madame Pince throws us out," Severus spat quietly.
"Sorry," Lily whispered, looking around nervously.
"We'll start tomorrow after classes are through. And I don't want anyone knowing about this," Severus told her, his face displaying the utmost seriousness.
"Why not?" Lily asked.
"Because, I have a reputation to uphold," Severus answered in a self-aggrandizing way. "If certain people in my house got word that I'm studying with…you, they'd be rather…"
"Upset, deceived, revolted," Lily helped.
"Essentially, yes," Severus agreed.
"Well, to tell you the truth, I don't think anyone of my friends should find out either," Lily said. "They'd be highly suspicious of someone like you."
"Someone like me?" Severus asked curiously.
"Well, you know. The stuff they say about you and the Dark Arts…even if they are just rumours, most of my house looks down upon that kind of stuff," Lily said. "In fact, they despise the mere thought of it. You should hear the way Potter rants on about it…"
"Am I making a name for myself?" Severus asked in a careless tone, but she knew he was actually quite inquisitive.
"Besides Snape, Snivellus, greasy git, arse, mother—"
"Yes, besides those," Severus interrupted.
Lily giggled. "No, that's about it."
There was an awkward silence. Lily bit her lower lip nervously while Severus tapped his fingers along the table before speaking abruptly.
"May I remind you that this is solely school-oriented?"
"I didn't forget," Lily said.
"No friendly waves in the corridors or actions of acknowledgement," said Severus.
"It'll be like I don't even know you," Lily promised.
"Good."
"Good."
Severus broke another awkward silence once more.
"How did you get that necklace?" Severus inquired suddenly, looking at the pictures in the charms book.
"Oh," Lily said, toying with the necklace. "Potter gave it too me as a gift." Lily noticed his eyes narrow slightly. "He wanted me to feel better after something that happened on our Hogsmeade date because we were impolitely interrupted by—"
"I already know what happened," Severus cut in when she was going to explain what occurred.
"Well, he gave me this gorgeous opal necklace. He may be a pain, but he sure knows jewellery," Lily said fondly.
"You know, I've heard that there is a well-known opal necklace that was cursed sometime in the eighteenth century," Severus said, tucking a piece of hair behind his ear.
"Oh?" Lily said, looking at her necklace as though it just said something confusing.
"Yes, nineteen Muggles died from it. I suppose that is where they derived the idea that opal was bad luck," Severus said.
"You know about that superstition?" Lily asked.
"Um, I just happen to know that one. I read it in a book in my first year," Severus said steadily.
"Hm…well is there any way to tell whether or not this necklace is cursed or not?" Lily asked.
"Well, if it was the cursed necklace then you would have been dead the moment you touched it with your bare hands," Severus said flatly.
"Well, I suppose this is a different necklace," Lily chuckled. Severus continued to read.
Lily looked at her watch and nearly fell out of her chair. "I have to go!" she gasped, grabbing her satchel and placing Marvellous Glamour Charms in its proper spot on the shelf next to her. "I promised Emmeline I'd help her with something before class. I'll see you later, I guess?"
She didn't wait for a reply, and hurried out of the library. However, she doubted Snape would have said goodbye anyway.
XXX
Lily Evans was an odd girl. Though he wouldn't reveal this to anyone at wand-point, he believed studying with her would be productive under the right circumstances. They were both among the top of the sixth-year students, and she always seemed rather knowledgeable when it came to Charms, and even Potions.
"Excuse me?" said a squeaky voice. Severus turned around towards the end of the aisle and saw a very small fifth-year girl dragging an angry-looking seventh-year boy behind her (he assumed they were siblings). Severus' frown became deeper and deeper with every step the girl took before she stopped dead in front of him, her brother looking at her as though he wanted to throw her off the North tower.
"Are you dating that girl that just left?" the girl asked bluntly.
"No," Severus said curtly, though he was very surprised to be asked such a question.
"Okay, good. Because my brother," she said, gesturing to the tall, livid boy, "wants to ask her to the ball. So now that we have that all figured out…thanks."
The bold girl tugged on her brother's arm but he managed to twist his neck around. "Jus' for the record, I didn't ask her to ask you about this. It was all her—"
"Come on, Kurtus! You said you'd help me with my Divination work!" the girl whined.
"Shut up, Mellona!" he said, then turned back to Severus. "Little sisters, you know?"
"No, I don't," Severus said.
Mellona finally got a good enough grip on her brother's arm and hauled him away.
Severus shook his head of the ridiculous question asked to him. All they were doing was talking. How is that romantic in the slightest?
Note to self, he thought. Try to avoid the library at all costs. The dungeons are better suited for any form of studying. Fewer thickheaded Neanderthals to approach me.
Severus stepped out of the cosy nook in which he had stayed during most of the period, and headed toward the door as the bell rang, causing Madame Pince to cringe, not complimenting her features in the slightest.
As Severus descended the stairs, he groaned at the thought of having to walk to the other side of the castle to Charms.
Severus was only a corridor or two away when the Hogwarts poltergeist, Peeves, decided it would be the appropriate time to pester him.
"Snapey, Snapey, Snapey, running mighty latey!" Peeves cackled.
"Shut up," snapped Snape.
"Oooh, the plant without sun is in a baaaaaaaad mood!" said Peeves.
"Leave me alone," said Snape tiredly..
The poltergeist just hooted merrily and out of nowhere, threw a water balloon at Severus.
"Well at least the plant has some water now!" Peeves shouted.
Severus growled and performed the drying charm, growing frustrated at his increasing tardiness.
"Mr. Snape, you're late," said Professor Flitwick.
"I'm sorry, Professor, I was held up," explained Snape politely.
"Well the good news is, you didn't miss anything," said Flitwick excitedly. "Now have a seat next to Provirus and pay attention."
Despite Flitwick's excitement about the new charm they were learning, the excitement didn't seem to spread to the students…except for Lily, who Severus noticed was all ears. She scribbled her notes down in a blur and stuck the edge of her blue quill between her lips when she was concentrating especially hard, making her look incredibly naïve. Severus prided himself in being exceedingly observant, and though they were usually insignificant, the behaviour of his fellow students usually kept him distracted when he was bored—though, at other times, he wouldn't give the majority of them the time of day. Severus heard snickering behind him and turned around to see James and Sirius passing notes while Remus rolled his eyes and Peter seemed keen to read what they were writing. Severus gave them a look of disgust (Sirius heartily returned his look with a friendly hand gesture). The sound of crumbling caught Flitwick's attention.
"Mr. Potter and Mr. Black, passing notes, it seems? You know the rules, boys. Read it aloud," said Flitwick, looking disappointed at their lack of concentration.
"Aw, come on, Professor. Let it pass this once?" asked James with his most charming smile.
Flitwick sighed and waved his small finger. "Alright, Mr. Potter, but hush up back there or I'll have to move you next to Stebbins."
Severus narrowed his eyes at his page of notes. Of course Potter would get off for fooling around in class. He can charm his way through school.
The boring lecture finally ended and the students partnered up to practice their singing charms to be performed on inanimate objects. He looked across the room to see Evan walking towards him in a cool manner.
"How do we move our wrist for this one?" said Evan.
"Sure, Evan. I'd love to be your partner," Severus said. Evan pulled out a chair and twisted his wand between his fingers.
Severus tried to help Rosier with the proper wrist flick for the charm, but Evan was proving to be rather difficult.
"You're horrible at teaching this stuff," said Rosier.
"You're just not trying," said Snape.
Suddenly an odd smile appeared on his face. "Oi, Evans!"
Lily whirled her head in Evan's direction and frowned before turning her attention back to Alice, ignoring him.
"Hey, Evans!" Rosier said again. Severus ceased his charm to look up at the situation at hand.
Lily looked at him. "What?" Lily said bluntly.
"You're good at charms, right?" Evan asked.
"Well, not to sound conceited, but yes, I'm quite good," Lily said. "Why?"
"Can you help me with this charm?" Evan asked casually.
"If I'm not mistaken, Snape is sitting right next to you," Lily pointed out.
"And?" Evan blinked.
"And, I believe he is quite good at charms as well," Lily said as though talking to a five-year-old.
Evan glanced at Severus and turned back to the Lily. "Yes, but you have so much expertise," Evan said, nearly batting his eyes at her. Severus' lip curled but tried to ignore his lack of tact.
Lily sighed and walked over towards Rosier and Severus' table. "You see this right here?" Lily asked, bending over and pointing to the text of Evan's open Charms book. "It says it all right there. You want to sort of swish then jab, like this." Lily demonstrated the wrist movement with ease.
"Oh," Evan said.
"Do you still need help?" Lily asked tiredly, standing straight up again.
"No, you made it so much easier," Evan smiled. Lily screwed up her face and walked back to her table, Evan watching her walk away with an iniquitous leer.
"They don't make many girls like her around here," Evan said, staring at Evan's backside.
"You're disgusting," said Severus, rubbing his wrist idly.
"And you're blind to what is right in front of you," argued Rosier.
Severus looked up to make sure Flitwick wasn't paying attention to them, and he wasn't. Charms was usually a safe class to converse.
"I believe I've said this before. She's pretty, I suppose," said Snape
"Pretty? Severus, we aren't eleven anymore, and you'll be of age in a matter of months. It's time to separate the 'pretty' girls from the…extremely tantalizing women," Evan said slyly, leaning back coolly in his chair.
Severus narrowed his eyes at Evan. "Are you suggesting that I'm juvenile?"
"Good, so you understood what I was saying," Evan nodded.
Severus went back to making the teacup in front of him sing up a scale in a soft but incredibly wheezy voice.
"So, excited about the game coming up?" Evan asked.
"No, not really," Severus said.
"You know it's against Gryffindor, right?" said Evan.
"Yes, I do tend to read the bulletin board, Evan," Severus said unenthusiastically.
"Well, it should be an interesting game and season; especially since I'm the new Chaser," said Evan.
"Gonna give Potter a good beating?" Severus whispered with a smile.
"I hope so," Evan said.
Flitwick came to their table to check up on how their charm was coming along. After Severus performed it, Flitwick smiled. "Very nice work."
"Thank you, sir," said Severus.
"Now, let's see you, Mr. Rosier," Flitwick said, obviously expecting the same excellence.
Rosier flicked his wrist in an odd angle, causing the teacup to fly across the room. "Hm, needs some more work, I think…" said Flitwick.
He then went over to Lily and Marlene. Marlene did fairly well but Lily made the cup sing flawlessly, though her cup sang incredibly off key. Flitwick clapped and praised her fully. "Perfect form, fabulous form!"
"Thank you, Professor," Lily smiled.
"Mr. Rosier! Would you come over here, please?" Flitwick called. Evan stood up and walked over to Lily and Flitwick.
"Mr. Rosier, it's apparent that your Charms work hasn't been…up to par recently. Perhaps Miss Evans can help you with your Charms work outside of class today so you can keep up with this lesson. Would you two be up to it?" asked Flitwick.
Lily's eyes grew wide and Evan smiled innocently. "I'd love to get some help," he said.
"Miss Evans?" squeaked Flitwick, looking at Lily expectantly.
"Er, s-sure, Professor Flitwick," Lily said quietly, though the look of discontent clearly showed.
"Fabulous. You two may want to start soon; Mr. Rosier needs a lot of work," said Flitwick, who then left to help Zingra with her charm.
"Oh, what my father would say? A Mudblood helping me with magic? I'm sure this will be…enjoyable," Evan said and returned to his table.
"You're quite the Casanova, aren't you?" Severus said.
"I just hope she keeps her shirt that way," said Evan.
"Do you honestly think she is going to tolerate someone like you?" asked Severus.
"Who wouldn't?" said Rosier with an amused smile.
"Anyone with half a brain," returned Severus.
XXX
Helping Evan Rosier study was a worse punishment than writing lines every night in McGonagall's office. He didn't need help, he understood the charm perfectly. All he wanted was for her to waste her valuable time, and perhaps bend over a few times so he could look up her skirt. Oh, she knew why he wanted her help after he asked her to pick up his teacup for the third time. Lily eventually told him to piss off and stormed out of the room to meet Professor Vector for her detention of the night: organising every single numerology chart and alphabetising his books. The task took her nearly two hours, and by the time she got the common room it was eleven-thirty at night—and she still had work to do.
She sighed and sat on the couch by the fireplace and pulled out Flesh-Eating Trees of the World, parchment, and her favourite blue quill. She thought she heard the portrait hole open, but when she turned around, nobody was there. After a few minutes of quiet, she had the eerie sensation that someone was watching her. She turned around again and nearly screamed.
"Pumpkin pasty?" said James Potter, crumbs falling through his lips.
"Where did you get that?" Lily asked in a high pitched voice, her hand resting over her heart.
He gulped the snack. "I have my ways."
"I'm hope these 'ways' aren't against the rules," Lily said dismissively and continued to thumb through the book. "Now, if you don't mind, Potter, I need to study and I already think I'm losing my mind. First thinking I heard the portrait hole open—"
James chuckled lightly. "Yeah…weird." Lily thought something was fishy but was too concentrated on her work to worry about James. "You look really tired, Evans," he said.
"Well after helping Rosier with Charms—" Lily started but immediately cursed herself for opening her mouth.
"You were helping who?" James intently.
"Nobody," Lily said quickly.
"No, you said you were helping Rosier, Evan Rosier, with Charms," James said. If she wasn't mistaken, James' eyes were fit to bust out of his sockets.
"It was nothing. I wouldn't help him after a while, though. I found out that he didn't even really need help," Lily insisted.
"What do you mean?" James snapped. Lily didn't respond but even that didn't prevent James from comprehending. "I always knew he was a pervert," James growled. Lily noticed that his face was steadily turning a light shade of ruby.
"Potter, I didn't even say anything!" Lily exclaimed.
"You didn't have to. I've seen the way he looks at you in class. I'm not blind," James said through gritted teeth.
"So now nobody can look at me except for you?" Lily challenged, though had no idea why she was defending Evan Rosier of all people.
"No!" James said as though it were as obvious and two plus two.
"We aren't talking about this," Lily said firmly.
"I'll snap that idiot in half this weekend. I guarantee it!" James said and began flexing his fingers and began to pacing back and forth.
"You see, this is exactly what I mean!" Lily yelled. James stopped pacing to look at the livid girl. "Always harming others in the name of Lily Evans. When will you grow up and realize that there are more important things to worry about?"
"I—I worry about important things," James faltered.
"Yeah, playing Quidditch, hexing people, your social standing as the 'coolest' guy in school, and food. Oh, what a list," Lily scoffed viciously. "I'm going to bed."
"Fine," James said evenly. "But you didn't finish your Herbology."
"Sod off!" Lily yelled, and collected her books and ran up to the girls' dormitory.
IMPORTANT A/N: So JTfanaddict is no longer able to beta for me due to time constraints and I am perfectly okay with that because I understand completely. I did, however, find a new beta on Perfect Imagination named Nom de Plume who will be editing all the previous chapters, including this one, in due course. The bad news is no updates for a few weeks. The good news is that this fic will be better than ever after the edits are completed and I'm even thinking of a name change for the fic. I'm very pleased by how patient you all have been. Thanks!