Chapter Fourteen

"Nice of you to tell the world," whispered a voice from above Severus' head.

He looked away from his book and turned around. "Evans—what do you—"

Lily was glaring at him intently, her red hair set in curls, and her arms folded across her chest. It was around ten PM, so there was no one in the library besides Severus and his pile of books. He stood up, dropping the novel onto the table, hands clenched.

"Shut up, Snape, don't lie," Lily hissed. "I heard you and Malfoy discussing—discussing us." She blushed, but kept talking. "I think that it's disgusting. I mean, we all ready faced our issues. The least you could was shut the fuck up, Severus Snape!"

"I—I said nothing to him! I said nothing to anyone!"

"Sure, I believe you!" She rolled her eyes in uttermost sarcasm. "Look, Snape—I thought you, being of the non-jock persuasion, would find it crude to kiss-and-tell. I guess I was wrong about you in another sense. That's all I wanted to say." Lily wheeled around and clomped down the aisle.

"Evans, wait!"

She kept walking.

"Evans!" He followed her, talking all the while. "Evans, you don't understand! Lucius guessed, I never told and I won't ever tell, all right?"

"Hmmph!"

"And about that night… I didn't mean to—grab you."

Lily turned to face him, her hair flouncing around her shoulders. "Severus Snape, I do not ever wish to talk to you again, whether or not it concerns that. You are abusive. You are cruel. And I never should have gotten involved in your—your life, if you can call it that!"

Ouch. Severus stopped walking after her. They paused in the aisle and stared at each other: Lily Evans with her freshly made-up auburn locks, her gold earrings and matching necklace, and her clean, white dress; Snape, with his pallid complexion, greasy black hair, and his shabby, discolored robes.

"Well, Lily," Severus said finally, his smooth voice contrasting with her high-strung bantering, "if you do not wish to believe me, it's too bad for you. Have a nice life with Potter, and let us hope you never have to see me again."

With that, he headed back to the table and pretended to immerse himself in his book again, all the while listening to the sound of Lily's boots as she walked out of the library.

THE NEXT DAY

--

Severus braced himself, and knocked on the Potions Master's office.

"Come in! Just finishing correcting some papers, good to have a break!"

"'lo Professor Slughorn," Severus greeted blandly, entering the office and standing before the smiling teacher.

Slughorn put down his quill. "Ho, ho! Severus, my boy! So nice to see you! And how have you been?"

"Fine. Sir?"

"And your marks are well in every other course, I'm sure?"

"Yes. Sir?"

"Anything interesting happening? What's the juicy gossip?"

"Sir?"

"So sorry, Severus. You were saying..?" Slughorn looked extremely disappointed, but listened anyway.

Snape cleared his throat. "Concerning my new lab partner…"

"Ah ha! Quite a lass, isn't she? You two are quite the dynamic duo, eh! Too bad she's not in Slytherin, I've always wanted to claim her as one of my house, heh heh!"

"Professor!"

"Eh? Sorry, boy! What, now?"

"Evans and I cannot work together, sir."

Slughorn's mouth took the shape of an O. "What's that?"

"We aren't cut out for each other. Rivalry and all. Plus, her boyfriend drives me barmey. Childish, yeah, but we can't get past it."

"Wha—but—you two worked splendidly—"

"Not really, Professor. I'm sorry. We both need a switch."

Slughorn was devastated. He nodded slowly. "It's really too bad, Snape. You two could be legend! Don't you think, boy? Severus Snape and Lily Evans—two brilliant students, just happens that they're from rival houses, different worlds! Evans and Snape—the 1969 Tonic Affair!"

"That's uh—all well, sir, but… We can't do it," Snape muttered, and immediately left.