Chapter 2: The Student

It was in second year Transfiguration class that they were tasked with turning quill pens into flowers. It was delicate work, thus the reason for the assignment, and it surprised no one, least of all Professor McGonagall, who had surely observed the same results, without fail, every year of her expansive career at Hogwarts, that the girls took to the task far more enthusiastically than the boys, who made it their goal to create the most hideous things imaginable, including a truly obnoxious specimen named James Potter who managed to turn his pen into a misshapen rafflesia.

There were exceptions, of course, and Severus spent the entire class period bent low over his desk with utmost concentration as the object before him sprouted one slow and labored petal after another, his efforts taking place to the tune of Potter's serenade of, "Snivelus likes flowers, but he certainly doesn't smell like one," up until he was silenced by the Professor's threat that if he liked noise so much, she might as well transform him into a bag pipe.

He learned how to create flowers from various objects after many nights spent practicing in the Slytherin common room after everyone else had gone to bed. The unnecessary work had taken its toll on the young wizard, and he had fallen asleep on the sofa on more than one occasion, but tonight, he wasn't sleeping. In fact, he was quite awake, even if he retained a nearly statuesque stillness as he stared at something lying before him on the table.

And then, with an inhalation of breath, he reached out a hesitant hand, his fingers outstretched, but unable to grasp the object as if he feared it would crumble like sand between his fingertips. He forced his thumb and forefinger to close upon it, and he lifted the flower up for careful inspection, this one the closest to the real thing he had ever created, a lily as white as the moon when it reflected off the river the nights they had wandered out to talk about things that were no different than during the daytime, but which felt so much more important when the stars were overhead.

By the time morning arrived, however, he had lost the nerve to give it to her.

For Severus, summer was not the happy break it was rumored to be, and it was the summer after their second year at Hogwarts that his normally glum face had lit up when Lily had invited him to come spend the day with her on the second weekend in June, though his enthusiasm didn't last upon hearing what it was. Her great aunt, or some such relative she knew next to nothing about, was getting married, and her parents told her she could bring one friend, and all the arguments he could think up as to why he wasn't fit to go to a wedding could do nothing to sway her. It was her green eyes, not to mention the promise that he would be forced to see very little of Petunia because her elder sister had decided to go ahead and help with the day's planning, that had caused him to relent.

He had been finding it more and more difficult to say no to those green eyes.

All his mother could find for him to wear was his father's old tuxedo from their own wedding, an event she didn't seem all too pleased to be reminded of. Not one inch of it fit him, however, as he was still far too short and too thin to properly fill it out, and the entire thing, from the too long pants to the stiff collar, smelled like mothballs, meaning the ragged patch down near the bottom corner of the jacket could have only been the work of rats. His hair, which always fell about his face in a flat, yet strangely unruly, manner was only made worse when he tried to run his hands over it after making his palms wet from the sink, and the bowtie remained crooked, no matter how many times he tried to straighten it.

Any hesitation he had felt was multiplied when he saw what Lily wore, a delicate green dress whose color further accentuated her eyes, adorned with ruffles bordering the hem of the skirt and a large, faux silk bow tied at the back, but she had reminded him right then and there that it was too late to back out when she saw the look of imminent retreat in his eyes.

The wedding itself was a quiet affair, punctuated whenever she patted him on the arm to point out family members of hers she recognized or those whose identities she could only guess at because the face seemed to fit the name. And the only time he saw her older sister was from afar when she walked stiffly down the aisle as the flower girl. When he whispered in Lily's ear that she seemed too old for it, she merely stated that her elder sister had insisted she take on this role because she was jealous Lily had been the flower girl at their mother's cousin's wedding. They both agreed that Petunia didn't seem to be enjoying herself.

The reception that followed took place that evening at the house of the bride's parents, and although it was simple, there were enough people that Severus had to retreat to the safety of a wall while Lily ran off to greet the bride with the promise that she would return soon. That was when Petunia spotted him, and he cursed himself for letting Lily's bright, green eyes steal away his common sense when she made straight for him with such intent that he considered running away if he didn't think she might chase after him.

She had often held the appearance of one who had tried to eat a lemon, but it was a malady that had only gotten worse with time and which he couldn't help but point out to her on occasion. She said nothing at first, just eyed him up and down, before her thin lips parted, and he inwardly winced before even a word had yet to pass them.

"Look at you, the nerve to come here dressed in…" she gave him another look over with one jerk of her head, "in those rags. I told Lily she couldn't bring someone to a wedding who looked like they had come in off the streets, but she never listens to me."

Severus could feel his face growing hot, even when he shouldn't have been surprised by her words when it was the same kind of thing he had been hearing all his life, and he found that he was unable to meet her sharp gaze and could only stare at her chin when he said, "If it makes you feel any better, I almost didn't come because I didn't want to risk running into a bony, little shrew, so I guess we both didn't get what we wanted."

Her eyes bulged, and her already thin lips nearly disappeared with how hard she pressed them together. "You…you nasty, little boy," she began, and she looked away and crossed her thin arms. "But, I shouldn't be surprised. Just like your father. That's what I've always told Lily. You're just—"

It took all his self-control to keep from throttling her, and even then, he was only prevented from doing so when Lily stepped in completely out of nowhere, standing tall enough that her height appeared to exceed her elder sister's even when the opposite was the case.

"That's a horrible thing to say, Tunie! Apologize right now!"

"I will not!"

"You do it, or I'll- I swear—"

Whether or not Petunia took her sister's vague threat seriously, he didn't stick around to find out, and Severus was headed for the nearest door and was already through it by the time he heard Lily calling after him. He arrived out on the porch and proceeded to march down the steps to head for the lawn even as she scrambled after him, but she was unable to catch up until he had stopped at a tree to fall against it with crossed arms and hunched shoulders.

"Sev, don't listen to a word she says!" Lily said from where she had stopped behind him, but he didn't bother to look back. "Please, come back inside."

"I don't think I'm allowed," he said, and he swallowed to rid himself of the quivering he had just detected in his voice that he hoped she hadn't picked up on. "Apparently I belong outdoors."

"Don't talk like that. I think you look…very dashing."

"I look like a mess."

"Then, it's all the more impressive that you look as handsome as you do."

He felt a hand on his arm as she tried to smooth out the wrinkles in his sleeve, but he shook her away as he turned to face her. "Why are you friends with me if I'm so poor?"

"That's what Tunie-that's what Petunia says, not me!"

"It's because you feel sorry for me, isn't it?" He tugged the threadbare jacket off and tossed it on the grass, these efforts only serving to ruffle his shirt and his hair all the more. "You're only friends with me out of pity!" He attempted to remove the bowtie from around his neck, but he had tied the knot so securely that morning that he only succeeded in untying one side.

"Sev—"

He slid down the tree to sit at its base, and he wiped his face with the back of one hand when tears began to pour down his cheeks without his consent, and even in the starlight, he was sure it was obvious, at least from his sniffles, if nothing else. "I'm not good enough for you," he said.

Lily sat down beside him, and she remained silent as he continued to rub at his face, grateful for even the distant chirp of crickets that could distract her from his whimpering. It was only time and a growing cold that had become more pronounced with the removal of his jacket that caused his sniffling to calm and his tears to diminish enough for him to speak again, but only in a whisper to better hide the wavering that had yet to go away.

"Why'd you make me come here?" he asked.

She drew closer, her own voice not much louder than his. "I didn't want to prove Petunia right."

He sniffed and rubbed at his nose as he studied the grass. "You already did."

"Sev, I don't care about how much money your family has or how you dress. I wanted you to come because you're my friend. And I…I wanted Petunia to understand that." She released a soft sigh he only caught due to the near silence, the murmuring voices of the gathering just a distant thing, and she slipped one arm through his and rested her head on his shoulder. "I just feel sorry for her. She doesn't have a good friend like I do."

She released another breath, this one longer than the last. "It's a funny thought," she said to herself, and he felt her soft hair brush his cheek when he glanced over to see her better.

"What is?"

"Oh, nothing. It's just…seeing two people standing up there, at the altar…it's just weird to think about."

His whole body tensed as he waited for her to elaborate, and when she remained silent, he had no choice but to question her further. "How…how do you mean?"

She laughed. "It's just hard to imagine that in a few short years, we'll be all grown up, too. It just feels so far off." She trailed off in a dreamy sort of voice, but he said nothing, just turned away to continue absently frowning at the ground and counting the number of weeds he found poking up through the grass. The weight of her head left his shoulder, and he gave a start when she gave him a light peck on the cheek.

His gaze jerked over to stare at her, her face graced with a smile that almost seemed to stand out in the dark, and as she drew closer to snuggle back next to him, there were many times he couldn't comprehend why that smile would ever be directed at him.

"When I heard 'every flavor beans'," Lily began, "I thought they meant more along the lines of pumpkin pie or glazed ham."

Suppressing an amused grin, Severus' reply was a simple, "It does."

"Well, all I got was snot and dirt."

"And what part of 'every flavor' made that a surprise?"

The two were in their third year at Hogwarts, and it just so happened to be the year they had the privilege of visiting the nearby village of Hogsmeade. When asked just what the apparent obsession was with hogs in this particular section of Scotland, he had to admit he was just as baffled as she was.

Their first stop had been Honeydukes, where Lily had promptly stocked up on anything she could get her hands on, the infamous Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans included. He had been honestly surprised to hear she had never before tried them, and he refused to divulge exactly what flavor he had had the misfortune of tasting the very first time he had tried them. Suffice it to say, he hadn't touched the things since.

In fact, he didn't get a single thing, and not just because he barely had the money to spare, but because he firmly believed candy at this age was only for those who still slept with the night light on and who picked their nose when no one was looking. With Lily being the sole exception, of course.

They had headed to the Hog's Head next (again, he could only shrug when she arched an eyebrow at him over the curious naming convention) to try the butter beer, a particular beverage she couldn't get enough of, while he was reduced to waiting out a sweetness-induced stomach ache with his forehead resting upon arms he had crossed on the tabletop while she downed both of theirs.

After shuffling back outside once she had had her fill, the brisk winter air helped to aid in his recovery, and they took to strolling the cobblestoned streets and taking in the sights, while she tried a bit of every type of candy she had purchased. He refused any and all her offers at sharing, save for one chocolate frog that deserved to be eaten for nearly getting away.

"I told you not to waste your money," Severus continued, as Lily grimaced at the still open box of Every Flavor Beans in her hand that remained nearly full and would likely stay that way.

"If you didn't have a habit of disliking everything, maybe I'd take your advice more often." She wrapped a scarf striped in the Griffindor red and gold more tightly about her neck. "Where to next?"

"Nowhere that I can think of." He paused as he caught sight of a tall building beyond the edge of town, a house that looked rickety and uncared for, even from this far away, and which seemed to be maintaining its distance by choice rather than simple placement. "Maybe we should head back to school."

"So soon? We still have the whole day ahead of us." She trailed off when she noticed the very thing that had caught his attention, and though he broke his gaze upon it, it was too late. "What's that place?"

"It's nothing. Just someone's house. Let's go." He made to leave, but turned right back around when she remained where she was. "Lily…"

"What is it? You're the one who knows so much about the wizarding world—"

"No more than you do anymore."

Her smile widened, growing only more mischievous as she looked back at him. "The only reason you'd admit such a thing is if you're hiding something. So what is it?"

He shifted his weight from one foot to another as she awaited his answer. He sighed. "It looks like the Shrieking Shack, but—"

"The Shrieking Shack? Well, how can we leave before we've seen the Shrieking Shack?" She backed away, and before he could stop her, she turned and started to run off down the path, while he hurried after her.

"Lily, come back!"

She slowed just once to look back over her shoulder. "Oh, come on, Sev! I won't do anything stupid! I just want a closer look!"

With that, she took off faster than ever before, and he became quite certain he stood little chance of catching up after her head start. They made the only set of footprints on a path that no one had bothered to clear of snow, and he only managed to close the distance between them once she had stopped at the crooked fence that even those who came this far didn't dare cross. His breath made puffs of frost as he stopped beside her, the so-called "Shack" looking even more ominous now that they stood directly in front of it, and if he stared hard enough, he could almost swear the walls were swaying.

He pressed his eyes tightly closed to rid himself of what was surely just a result of not enough sleep, and when he opened them again, Lily's head was tilted to the side.

"I don't hear anything."

"Hmm?"

She grinned at him. "Shrieking, Sev. I don't hear any."

"That's just what it's called." When she took to listening again, he asked, "Aren't you cold?"

It took her a moment to respond, but despite the growing redness in her cheeks, her answer was only a preoccupied, "No. Are you?"

He wasn't, but he blamed it on being born in January a mere month after their furnace had died. They hadn't the money to fix it. His father claimed they could have if they didn't have a son to take care of, but he had been using that excuse every winter for the last fourteen years.

"I bet if I got closer…"

Severus' attention snapped back to her just as she was climbing through the fence in a place where one of the posts had fallen loose. He attempted to grab hold of her and pull her back before she could do anything foolish, at least, more so than she already had, but all he ended up with was her scarf clutched in one fist as she straightened up on the other side.

"I'll be right back. I promise!"

"Lily! Wait!"

But, she was already strolling off towards the Shrieking Shack with an irritating casualness he knew was on purpose, and he stood up on tiptoe with his hands resting atop the fence when he lost sight of her over the next hill.

"Lily! Where are you?"

"I'm fine, Sev! It'll only take a minute!"

"Well, if-if you die, would you let me know so I don't waste any more of my time waiting around! Lily, answer me!"

He awaited her return with a steadily quickening heartbeat, all the while leaning further and further over the fence to such an extent that he might very well topple over it headfirst if she didn't appear soon. His attention was so focused on listening for the returning crunch of her footsteps, in fact, that he didn't detect the approaching footfalls of a larger group of individuals from quite the opposite direction.

His head jerked forward of its own will when he was struck from behind with a snowball, and he was greeted with the familiar mocking laughter of four boys before he had even had the chance to turn around.

"Was that your first bath this year, Snivelus?" James asked, while his collective cronies of Sirius, Remus, and Peter all guffawed along with him.

Before Severus could respond, before even one of his much-rehearsed comebacks could resurface in his mind, he was struck in the face by another snowball James already had prepared in his hands.

"I suspect just one won't do much good, though."

Spluttering cold water from his face and wiping it out of his eyes with one sleeve, Severus brandished his wand to a collective chorus of feigned fear. A hex was already forming on his lips when a third snowball flew his way, but he was too slow, and he dropped his wand when he was struck in the hand.

This time, it was Sirius' turn to draw back his arm, another snowball at the ready, but James stilled him with a raised hand as he watched their victim stoop to pick his wand up from the snow, an effort which took several attempts in his haste.

"No, no, Padfoot, it wouldn't be very fair to attack someone when they're defenseless. It's always so much better to humiliate them when they're armed."

Their victim held his wand at the ready, and Sirius took this as his cue to send another snowball in his direction, but this time it didn't reach its intended target, but was reduced to steam halfway there by a curtain of fire that arose to protect him.

The leader of the bullies clapped one hand against the other, Severus' tactic of self-defense not seeming to have put a dent in the teen's arrogant smirk. "Not bad, Snivelus. But I'm afraid you won't get away that easily. Slytherins need a good punishing every now and then, and I'm not about to deny you the privilege."

James drew his own wand, followed by the rest of his lackeys, even as Peter made sure to retreat to the back, but before Severus could find out what nasty scheme James had concocted in that shriveled, little brain of his, Lily jumped out from behind a nearby copse of pine trees, and with one grand sweep of her wand, dowsed the entire group with a deluge of water.

They froze, a most opportune choice of words, to stare in complete bewilderment at her with their mouths open and their hair flattened in their faces. Then, without a word, they retreated from the scene, to find someplace warm to dry their soaked clothing before they really did freeze in the frigid winter air.

Severus turned to her with about as much astonishment as had been present on the faces of his assailants, but she merely grinned as she approached, a wild sparkle in her eyes that could only be brought about by pure adrenaline.

She linked an arm through his and winked. "Let's go, Sev. Hogsmeade has too many pigs for my liking."

Severus rarely failed to take notice of the looks the other students gave Lily and him, the way they had to look twice whenever they were together, the second glance a bemused stare to see two people that couldn't have been more different from each other. It was baffling enough to see a Slytherin and a Griffindor within ten feet of the other without any sign of hostilities, but he knew there was a deeper reason they would exchange grins before heading on their way.

They were too different, most people said; they didn't belong together. Lily was a joy to be around, the very reason she had many friends, so what was she doing hanging out with him? Severus, to say the least, was unpleasant. It didn't matter that he had good reasons for his unpopular disposition, or that he only treated people the way they deserved, but it was this very attitude that made him very few friends, save fellow Slytherins Avery and Mulciber. And by some freak chance of fate, Lily Evans.

Lily saw the best in people; Severus saw the worst. He would be deluded to see any more than that. It was the reason she was warm, as warm as her red hair, while he was as cold as an autumn day when it was just on the verge of breaking the boundary into full-fledged winter. He would defend wholeheartedly that life had made him this way, but all that mattered in the end was the sloppy boy with the unwashed, black hair and the pinched, sallow face had no right being friends with the vivacious and pretty Lily Evans.

It wasn't natural, and that's why they stared, and sometimes he would stare right back until they looked away, but more often than not, he would avert his gaze, which was why he was busy staring at the pages of a book he had already finished reading, while Lily sat nearby in their chosen corner of the castle courtyard for the afternoon, her back to him to aid in concentration, trying with all her might to change water into hot cocoa. She was a bright girl, a compliment he would be hard pressed to offer anyone else, but the many hours of solitary study he expended his time on when he wasn't with her, a pastime he was sure the other students found far more acceptable, made him pick up such talents just a tad sooner than she did.

He had already succeeded in turning a glass of water into tea yesterday. It was hardly fit to drink, but the details of the assignment didn't include making it palatable.

Severus peeked over the top of the book with his eyebrows drawn low as he watched Lily flicking her wand this way and that over the glass, her efforts changing the color of the liquid within, but not the substance.

"You have to move your wand like this. Let me show you."

She looked back just as he was taking his wand out of his robes, and his hand was stilled by her mere gaze alone. "I've already told you, I can figure it out myself, Mr. Know-It-All."

"Suit yourself," he said with a shrug.

"I will."

After a breath to steady herself, she returned right to muttering incantations that were only one syllable off, and while he would have normally been fine watching her wile away the hours on the same task due to a stubbornness that normally exceeded even hers, he removed his wand anyway with a roll of his eyes, and with one swift motion and a few carefully pronounced words, the water swirled about for a few quick seconds to be replaced by hot cocoa, steam and all. Now, if he had been able to add marshmallows…

Lily's attention shot back to him, her red hair swinging in her face, and she directed a stern gaze at him that cracked into a smirk when she caught sight of his own, smug grin.

"You're such a show off sometimes, you know that?"

His only response was another shrug, and she picked up the glass, alternating hands to fend off the heat before settling with holding it with one hand placed at the top. She took a tentative sip, and he watched with bated breath for her response.

"Not half bad," she said, and she moved closer to sit beside him as she got to drinking her cocoa.

He did not return to his book, however, but continued to watch her even as people walked by to all the places students went in their free time, most often nowhere in particular but to walk, and even those passing by could see where the opposites between the two reversed, for even they saw the warmth his dark eyes always held only when he looked at her. A warmth she never seemed to notice.

She didn't notice.

"So, are we going to the game or not?"

Severus had been so focused on his thoughts that it took these words to alert him to the fact that Lily had stopped dead in her tracks before they had even gone halfway along the path leading to the Quidditch stadium.

"You don't usually mind if you can read the whole time," she continued with crossed arms, "but you're obviously bothered by something, so what is it?"

The frown that had been keeping him company all morning strengthened its hold on his thin face, but all he responded with was, "Did I say anything?"

"No, but I've known you long enough to tell the difference between your usual sour look and your grumpy one."

He thrust his hands in his pockets as he turned his attention to a distant group of trees, as if they actually held any interest for him. "If you really do know me that well," Severus began, "then it shouldn't surprise you that I hate jocks and the fact that their joint virtues of arrogance and idiocy is the very thing that makes them so popular, while anyone with even an ounce of intelligence gets jeered at." He broke off at the end of his tirade, formerly unaware it was even coming until the words had left his mouth.

She shook her head. "My mistake. You're not in a foul mood at all." She paused as a group of students strode by, and he mimicked her own cross-armed stance if only as a distraction from their prolonged stares in their direction. By the time she spoke again, his gaze had fallen to inspect the ground between them.

"Well, we're not going anywhere until we get this cleared up. I'm not about to have you pouting next to me the whole time. I know you, you'll think you're doing me a favor by not talking, when it's actually more annoying than anything. And let me tell you, I'm really not in the mood for it today."

"You mean you're not in the mood for me," he told the ends of his own shoes, and he winced before she even had a chance to respond.

"Excuse me?"

He turned away to stare off in the opposite direction, the impressive form of Hogwarts looming in the distance, a far more suitable thing to feign interest in, and he could only respond with a muttered, "Never mind," his voice dropped to a tone so soft, only one with ears practiced in catching it could pick up on it.

"Severus."

He said nothing until he heard the approaching crunch of her footsteps on the worn, stone path, and he spoke partly just to still her. "I saw you."

"What?"

"I saw—"

"I heard you. You saw me doing what?"

"It wasn't what you were doing. It was who you were with." He turned back to her, but promptly regretted it when he saw the look on her face. "Y-you were with Potter. You were walking with him."

"I'm not allowed to walk now?"

He opened his mouth to answer, but she continued over him, "He was carrying my books. His jerk of a sidekick Sirius tripped me, and then he, James, I mean, had the nerve to insist he carry my things for me. I told him to get lost, but he wouldn't give me my books back until I let him walk—" She stopped with her mouth still open, her brow furrowed at some missed key point in their discussion. "Wait a minute…" She stepped towards him, and he stepped back. "Were you…watching us?"

"No."

"It was weird enough that you spied on Petunia and me as kids," she went on, her voice rising as she made for him, while he continued to backtrack to maintain the distance between them, "but now? I seriously thought you would have outgrown that. When else have you decided to stalk me?"

"Do you like him?"

"Severus! Answer me!"

"Well, do you?"

To his great relief, she stopped, but not before he had been backed up beyond the path and into grass that was still wet from that morning's rainfall. Her mouth remained open for several seconds, and she shook her head. "No, and you ought to know that by now! Do you really think I'm that disloyal that I'd date someone who picks on my…my friend?"

"Is that why you go to the Quidditch games? All the other girls fancy his kind! Is that…"

Lily pressed her lips together, her nostrils flaring as she breathed out. "I'm not shallow. Why do you think I've stayed friends with you this long?"

Her cheeks paled as her earlier rage rushed from her face, and they stood staring at each other until he averted his gaze when he caught a wetness in her eyes that she immediately blinked away.

"Well," she began, and paused to lick her lips, "if you don't want to go, that's fine. I won't ever ask you again."

She turned away with a swish of her robes and retreated down the walkway with quick steps, and he found that in his temporary paralysis, he could do nothing but watch her go.

I made butter beer once. It was pretty good. Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans were an ordeal, though.

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