The title is a reference to the Charlie and Lola book, I Will Never, Not Ever, Eat A Tomato. It's been made into a television series on Playhouse Disney. It's so cute, and is one of my favorites. Charlie tries to make picky eater Lola eat mashed potatoes by telling her they are bit of clouds.

Alice was less than happy to see that one Slytherin boy Lily was friends with slide into the spot on the bench next to her. In a single word, Alice hated him. She was a Gryffindor, so it was almost imperative that she hate Slytherins, but there was something about this Snape boy that she just downright disliked. But what she hated almost more than the actual boy was the fact that Lily liked him so.

She knew perfectly well that Snape liked Lily far more than she liked him. Yes, they were friends, but Alice knew that Snape liked liked Lily. A lot. That was the only good thing about seeing him around: the humorous conversations between the two, where Lily's replies were entirely made of friendship, while Snape might as well come out and shout, "I LOVE YOU!" into Lily's face.

Alice stirred her rice silently as she watched Lily converse with the boy. Mary was engrossed in the new book her parents had sent her in the mail, so she was pretty much no good for talking to. Alice breathed deeply and almost puked. The smell of lunchmeats was so pungent in the room that Alice was afraid she was breaking her vegetarian vow just by smelling it. But seriously. Couldn't Hogwarts think of anything else to serve for lunch besides ham? And turkey? And roast beef? Alice was getting a stomach ache just thinking about it.

"Hey," Alice heard Snape say to Lily as he sat down.

"Hi." Alice could sense the tension in Lily's voice.

"Where were you this morning?" Snape asked, leaning in close to Lily, who was also eating rice.

"Sleeping." And Alice caught the twang of anger at Snape in Lily's tone.

Apparently, so did Snape. "Why are you angry at me?" Lily didn't reply. "You've no reason to."

"I've no reason to!?" Lily suddenly lowered her voice and hissed venomously at Snape. Alice had to strain to hear it. "I've every reason to, Severus Snape! If you hadn't gotten yourself into detention, I never would have been out so late last night and I wouldn't have almost died and wouldn't have had to rely on the grip of James Potter to save my life."

Snape let out a wild, raucous guffaw straight from his belly, and every inch of it was drenched in sarcasm.

Almost died? Alice thought. How had Lily almost died last night? Alice hadn't even noticed that Lily had gone anywhere last night. What was she doing out in the middle of the night, with James Potter, no less? Alice shot a look at James, who was staring quizzically at their group. Alice noticed as Snape looked over at James, too, and gave him a rough look.

"So you're going to blame the fact that stupid James Potter takes pleasure in stalking you on me?" Snape asked, in just as low a voice as Lily. "I thought you were better than that," he added, and Alice could tell he only said that to make Lily apologize.

Fortunately for Alice, Lily didn't. "Well, you obviously thought wrong," Lily spat in Snape's face, her red hair adding to her now demonic expression. She seemed absolutely furious, now standing on her feet and glowering down at Snape. Alice quickly scanned up and down the Gryffindor table. A few Gryffindors were surprised at the fact that Snape, a Slytherin, had joined their table, but now the argument between the two first-years had caught the attention of every Gryffindor, including the Marauders but excluding Mary, who, in some miraculous way, was still reading her book. "And excuse me for trying to be your friend—"

"Well, you did a bloody terrible job at it," said Snape, and Alice could tell that he no longer was trying to make Lily apologize. The fight had just begun, Alice realized—the claws of a Gryffindor versus the fangs of a Slytherin. Alice was smacked into surprise and revulsion at Snape's comeback, and her eyes narrowed at him while her heart wrenched at the sight of the tears now forming in Lily's eyes.

"Excuse me?" Lily's voice had plunged what seemed like hundreds of octaves until Alice could barely hear her.

"You heard me," Snape said venomously, and Alice saw that the argument had now attracted the attention of several members of the Hufflepuff House. "How dare you blame me for an incident that was caused merely by your own stupidity? Are not Gryffindors—" and here Snape spat the word out like a piece of dirt in his mouth "—supposed to be loyal friends? Yeah right." A ripple of astonishment rose from both the Gryffindors and the Hufflepuffs. "What a joke. The Sorting Hat made an obvious mistake when he put Lily Evans into this house. And what's worse, Dumbledore made an even bigger one when he gave the same girl her Hogwarts letter."

Alice didn't hear her own whispered, "Lily," mingle with the same one of James Potter's. Alice wanted to reach out to the girl standing in front of her, tears pouring down her face, but as Alice's hand went for the arm of her friend, Lily had broken free of the hold Snape's words had placed on her, and ran for the exit, leaving only a strangled sob behind in her place.

Whispered words and mutters of "How dare he" and "Asshole" and "Poor Lily" swept up and down the Gryffindor table, and Alice was sure the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were saying the same. Snape didn't even seem to notice the fact that he was not sitting at the Slytherin table and he fell back down onto the bench. The eyes of every single Gryffindor were on Snape in hatred, and Alice was surprised that Snape did not burst into flames under the heat of the glares.

Alice's mouth had fallen open in surprise, shock, and horror at what Snape had just done. Snape looked up in disgust to see Alice staring at him. "What're you looking at?" he asked heatedly, standing up.

Alice followed suit. Snape froze in place, unsure of why Alice was mimicking him. "How dare you," Alice said in a low whisper, perfectly aware she was being watched by almost everyone in the Great Hall. She reached for the first thing her hands could find: the giant bowl of mashed potatoes sitting in front of Mary, who was still reading.

The Great Hall erupted in triumphant laughter as Alice's handful of potatoes met its mark right in the middle of Snape's face. Mary had jumped out of her reverie and tried unsuccessfully to hide her laughter behind a hand. But Alice was not smiling. "Now get the hell out of here," she replied to Snape, whose face was bright red beneath the potatoes.

Snape looked as though he wanted to murder Alice, and he did not hesitate to voice his affections for her before he left. "I'll kill you," he seethed at her.

"Not if we kill you first." James Potter had stood up and was suddenly at Alice's side. And Alice's eyes might have been playing a trick on her, but it seemed at that moment the entire table of Gryffindors nodded their heads in unison. With another look of hatred, Snape turned on his heel and left the room, piercing glares following him as he left. The only people who didn't seem to hate Snape as he left were the Slytherins, and a large group of boys, one with incredibly blonde hair, which Snape passed on his way out.

With a heavy sigh, Alice fell back into her seat.

"Why'd you do that?" Mary asked, still laughing.

Alice was about to reply when a slightly pudgy boy came up to Alice and said in a whisper of a voice, "That was extremely brave, Alice."

"Thank you," Alice replied with a smile. "What's your name?" The colors in the boy's tie let Alice recognize him as a Hufflepuff, but he would only identify himself to her as "Longbottom. Just Longbottom."

Alice had to stifle a laugh, despite her heavy heart, at the sound of the boy's last name, but there was something nice about the way the boy was looking at her, as if she was the apple of his eye. Alice found herself blushing underneath his gaze, which flattered her, but she couldn't really say she felt the same.

"It was nice to meet you, Longbottom," she said, "but I'm going to check on Lily." And the boy nodded at her and returned to his seat at the Hufflepuff table. Alice got up, and ran quickly from the hall, not fully noticing the grateful stares people were giving her.

The Common Room was silent when Alice entered it, but the sound of someone sobbing grew louder as Alice approached her dormitory. She rapped lightly on the door, and pushed it open, and saw Lily sobbing into her pillow with such force that any passerby would have thought Lily was trying to split it in two with her head.

"Lily," Alice quietly whispered, slipping her arm across Lily's warm back and rubbing it soothingly. "Lily…"

"Why?" Lily's question was simple but almost indiscernible underneath her sobs. "Why me?"

"I—" Alice began, lying beside Lily on the bed. "I don't know, Lily." Alice rested her head beside Lily, wiping the tears from her eyes as Lily twisted over to look at her. "I don't know."

The next thing Alice knew, the sun had already set, and there was a sudden and unexpected rap at the window next to Lily's bed. Lily and Alice sat up quickly, both of their eyes swollen from crying, and Alice went to open the window.

A dark colored owl flew into the room, and landed in front of Lily, holding out its leg, tied to which was a folded piece of parchment. Lily took it silently from the bird's leg, and unfolded it. "What does it say?" Alice said, while petting the owl. She was quite in awe of the beauty of the crescent-moon shaped white spot on the bird's wing.

Lily, the note said, I just wanted to let you know I'm sorry for last night. I never meant for you to get hurt.

"How dare he send you a letter and not apologize to your face," Alice said, referencing to Snape.

"It's better than nothing," was all Lily replied with.

Alice was appalled. "And you're going to reply to this?" she asked incredulously.

"He took the time to write it," Lily replied softly, and was already scribbling back a reply. She had already tied it to the bird's leg when Alice fell back onto the bed.

"I can't believe you, Lily," Alice said.

"Just let me do what I want," Lily said, letting the bird fly out the window.

Several minutes later it had returned with another note, scribbled underneath Lily's.

It wasn't your fault, Lily had written in neat cursive.

Yes, it was.

I know you didn't mean for it to happen that way. I turned out to be okay, Lily had written back.

Well, what if you hadn't? was written this time, and Alice felt sick the entire time reading it. I think I would have died if you had, too. I hated seeing you just hang there like that, with only an idiot's sweaty hand to hold onto.

Don't blame yourself for what happened, Lily wrote.

If I hadn't gotten a bloody detention, none of it would have happened. Both of us would have been safe and sound, snug in our beds, not falling off the side of staircases, was the reply.

Lily was onto a third piece of parchment this time as she hastily scribbled her eager reply. Alice was brushing her teeth, not wanting any part of this. It's fine. You just scared me. Please don't do it again.

Will you please forgive me? The owl looked like she was finally getting tired, and Lily hesitated as she saw the reply.

Yes, she wrote simply, but her heart fell as she saw what Sev had written when the owl came back again.

Thank you. But…I think it is best if we stay away from each other. I get too distracted when I am around you. I just want you to know that I really do care about you.

Lily found herself nodding as she wrote back a reply, her scribbles readjusting themselves to form back into her neat cursive. Yes. That's fine. And I believe you.

Once more, the owl flew back out the window, and Lily set her quill down. Maybe Sev was right. They needed a break. Alice came back out from the bathroom, and climbed into her bed.

"Goodnight, Lily."

James had a treat for Sigur in his hand as she flew back in through the window. She quickly took the treat as James took the note, seeing Lily's short reply on the page. Yes. That's fine. And I believe you.

James smiled, placing the note onto his nightstand, watching as Sigur climbed back into her cage. James settled back against his pillows, preparing for sleep, all with the same satisfied, grateful grin on his lips.