Chapter Two

It was, perhaps, a credit to Professor McGonagall's creativity that she managed to find so many unbearably boring tasks for Severus and Potter. The first day, they had spent three hours in her surprisingly stuffy office marking essays from the first years. The second day, she had them sort a large crate of pushpins by color. The third day they were on the floor, scrubbing between tiles with toothbrushes.

And so it continued until the end of the week, when McGonagall finally said, "That is all," after Severus and Potter had given her the stacks of essays with every single grammar and spelling error circled.

"Really?" Potter's face broke into a huge grin. Severus tried not to roll his eyes at his blatant eagerness.

"Well—no." The smile slide off Potter's face and Severus's stomach sank to around his knees. McGonagall looked at them both very sternly. "What you two did—in front of young students, I might add—was deplorable. And I don't care who started it," she shot Severus a look after he had opened his mouth to protest. "You both demonstrated dangerous and possibly illegal curses in front of a massive and impressionable audience. Now, I understand that Gryffindor and Slytherin have always taken issue, but House rivalry be damned; your behavior last week will not be tolerated again."

She leaned in and said in a very low voice, "If I catch wind of any more little duels between you two, I am afraid I will have no choice but to expel—or at least suspend—the both of you!" For a moment, Severus hoped she was joking, but her eyes had a hard glint to them that told him she was deathly serious. "Do I make myself clear?"

They each muttered a "yes" and made for the door. Before either one could leave, she said, "And boys? It would be a shame for Hogwarts to lose either one of you."

Severus kept his head down as he made his way from her office to the grounds. Expelled. Expelled. Or at least suspended. Either way, it meant more time at home, making awkward, pained small talk with his parents and shooting flies down from the ceiling. Expelled. His stomach was still knotted like a pretzel, and his legs still felt jelled.

He spotted Lily by the lake, reading some Muggle novel in the shade of the tree. He flopped down beside her and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Hello sunshine," she said without looking up from her book. "You look cheery."

"You wouldn't exactly be 'cheery' if you'd dealt with James Potter for a week, only to have McGonagall threaten you with expulsion."

"She didn't." Was it just the light, or was Lily smiling?

"I don't understand why you're laughing at me," he said sulkily.

"I'm not laughing," she said with a small laugh. He looked at her pointedly. "Okay, maybe I am. But look on the bright side!"

"I hate it when you do that."

"Potter can't keep bullying you now!" she said as though she had not heard him. "Or at least if he does, you'll be smart enough not to respond—won't you? And then he'll get bored and go be a prat to some other poor kid, and I'll put him in detention, and," she sighed, "it will be glorious."

Severus stared at her.

"I don't know how your brain works," he said slowly, "to make you think Potter would ever leave me alone."

She gave him a very cool look and turned back to her novel. "You'll see I'm right. And what are you doing over the holidays? Mum just wrote me, says she wants to have you over."

"I'll just be home," he said sullenly. He hated summer holidays, and she knew. He expected her to drop the subject, but instead Lily closed her book and looked at him.

"But things are getting better there right? Since they stopped fighting?" She sounded very concerned, as her mum and dad did every time they asked about Severus's home life.

It was true that Tobias and Eileen Snape had stopped fighting for the most part. Last Christmas they had told Severus that they were seeing a couple's therapist in Hogsmeade who specialized in relationships between Muggles and witches or wizards. It had made for a somewhat quieter Christmas than they were used to. Severus didn't really know how to talk to his parents when they weren't screaming at each other.

"Yeah, I suppose things are okay. Dad got a new job, and Mum's still working at the shop in town. They're going to some town in the States that's managed to blend magic with the Muggles, so I guess I'll have the house to myself for a few weeks." He tried not to sound too hopeful, but the thought had just occurred to him that she may offer to keep him company.

"Nonsense," she said, flipping through her book, looking for her page, "you shouldn't be by yourself for that long. You'll come stay with us. Mum and Dad love visitors."

That worked too.

As enthusiastically as he agreed in his head, all he was able to sound out was, "Er…"

Luckily, she took it as a yes.

End of term came very quickly and without any more incidents. Potter had simply decided to ignore Severus—he looked pointedly in the other direction every time their paths crossed—and he'd seemed to have told his cronies to do the same. Avery and Mulciber had also been thoroughly distracted by the idea of finishing school for good (and torturing third year Hufflepuffs) that they seemed to have forgotten about the incident by the lake. Before Severus knew it, he was packed and on the Hogwarts Express, sitting across from Lily and eating the chocolate frog she had bought him.

"You know," she said as she stared out the window at the passing hills, "I bet this summer will be the best one yet."

"What makes you say that?" he said thickly. His mouth was still coated in chocolate.

"Well, you're coming to visit, aren't you?" She smiled. "I get so bored during the holidays. Can you imagine spending two months with only Tuney as company? I know she's my sister, and I love her dearly, really, but she can be unimaginably boring." She said it so matter-of-factly that Severus snorted loudly. Lily let out a gleeful laugh. "I never gossip, but you won't believe what she did last Christmas…"

They spent the rest of the trip discussing Petunia's fervent desire to be the most boring person on earth and adamant refusal to do something as strange as wear a fake poinsettia in her hair. Severus did not think he had laughed so hard the entire year. He didn't even mind when several other students poked their heads in, wondering about the ruckus. All the laughter stopped, though, when the train pulled into King's Cross Station, and Severus's heart sunk.

"I suppose I'll be seeing you soon," said Lily as they hauled their trunks onto the platform. She waved wildly at her parents who were standing next to Severus's mother and, for the first time, his father. As they rushed forward, Lily grabbed Severus's arm, pulled him forward, kissed him on the cheek and said, "See you!" before Severus even figured out what was happening.

Severus touched the spot on his cheek with shock as his father bent to pick up his trunk and his mother pulled him into a very brief hug.

Suddenly, summer didn't seem so bad.