I'm extremely sorry for the delay in updating! Hopefully it won't happen again!

Chapter Four

Severus stared into his half-packed trunk, running the list of items through his head once again. Sweaters, jeans, trainers, t-shirts, enough socks and underwear to last three weeks, shampoo…He continued to stare, absently pulling on the fringe that was already growing into his eyes. He hadn't thought this day would ever come. He was going to be spending the next three weeks with Lily Evans, and he could hardly believe it. He had even put off packing, thinking that if he began, the plans would somehow fall through. His parents would cancel their holiday, Lily's grandmother would get sick, something would happen that would keep him home.

"Sweaters, jeans, trainers," he muttered the list to himself, "t-shirts, socks…pajamas!" He triumphantly grabbed his pajamas from the wardrobe and tossed them into his trunk. He didn't even hear the door creak open.

"Severus?" his father said from the doorway. He was looking not at his son, but at the window on the other side of the room. Severus's stomach plunged. This was it; he wasn't going to Lily's. Wordlessly, he sat down on the bed. His father still avoided his eyes. "This is a bit awkward," he said slowly, "but your mother was wondering, and I had my suspicions too, if you were—ahem—involved with Lily Evans?"

"What?"

"Your mother says that your grades—your owls?—are too good for you to throw everything away on a girl you meet in school. Mistakes happen, and—"

"Lily and I aren't involved," said Severus, hardly hearing his father. "We aren't. She's just my friend."

"Oh, well," his father shifted uneasily, "I suppose that's fine then. Enjoy your…packing," he finished stiffly. Severus breathed a sigh of relief. He was still going to Lily's, and he'd seemed to have avoided the most uncomfortable bits of the conversation. "Do they teach you about this—er, that is to say—at your school…?"

Damn, Severus thought to himself. He had been so close. Since his father had started saying more than two words to him, he had begun to fear this conversation. It was a topic rarely breached inside Hogwarts; McGonagall had given his Transfiguration class a brief lecture that amounted to "don't do it," and whenever anything mildly sexual came up during Slugorn's parties the man would turn bright red and mutter something about taming dragons.

"Er, yeah," he lied. "They tell us about everything."

"Everything?"

"Well, not everything," he added hastily, "just the important bits." His father looked somewhat mollified, and he made a movement over to the door. Severus breathed a sigh of relief. He folded another jumper and laid it in his trunk.

"Your mother and I," his father, still in the doorway, said in a strangled voice, "are glad to have you home. It's nice, your being here."

Guilt crashed down heavily, twisting Severus's stomach into an even tighter knot. He understood, even more so than before, his parents faux cheer, his new room. He suddenly regretted the countdown to Lily's he'd been keeping.

"Yeah," he said quietly, "I'm glad I'm here too."

A light drizzle had begun by the time they pulled the car up in front of Lily's large, white house. It had been an unusually chill summer, but Lily was still waiting on the porch, wrapped in an orange sweater that clashed magnificently with her hair. She waved merrily as the three Snapes exited their car.

"Be good," his mother said rather tearfully. She kissed him on the cheek, and Severus knew he was turning bright red, but he hugged her back anyway. When she pulled away, his father gave him a brief, one-armed hug. "Have fun," he muttered as he handed Severus his trunk.

"I will. Have fun in Salem." His father smiled a little and patted him on the back. Then his parents got back into the old car and drove away, and then Lily was at his side, grinning.

"So," she said, taking him by the arm, "let me show you your room." She escorted him inside, and Severus privately wondered at the Evans' home, like he did on all of his visits. The first time he had gone to Lily's, nearly two years ago, he had been absolutely shocked at the smell: flowers and potpourri mixed with cat food and dog hair. The first two were a result of Mrs. Evans' impeccable decorating techniques; even the foyer had tiny sprigs of purple flowers shooting out of the vase on the little wooden table. The second came from the Evans' three cats and two dogs, one of whom was jumping up on Severus at this very moment. "Down, Ringo," admonished Lily, pulling away the large, reddish-brown dog.

"Where are your parents?" asked Severus as they climbed the carpeted staircase, the dog at their heels.

"It's Saturday, so I'd guess Mum's working and Dad's playing golf with investors, whatever those are," she shrugged. "And Tuney, well…" She nodded over to the one closed door in the hall. Severus grinned.

"I get the feeling she doesn't like me."

"Well, you know Tuney; she doesn't like anyone." Lily cast one last sardonic glance at the closed door and then pulled Severus into a large, cream-colored room. He could see through the two large windows that the rain was falling faster than ever.

"This is lovely," he said before he could stop himself. Lily beamed.

"Thank you! I'll let you unpack." She squeezed his arm and flitted out of the room like a ghost. Severus unpacked his Muggle clothing and the small sack of gold his mother had given him for Diagon Alley while Lily's cat, Finney, wound itself around his ankles. He quietly marveled at the absolute normalcy of the scene and then closed the door and made his way downstairs.

Lily was stretched out on the floor of the living room, her nose in a book. She looked up when he came in.

"What's up?" he said because it was the only thing he could think of.

"Well, I have so many ideas for the next few weeks! We can go to the old park where we met, you know?" He nodded vigorously. "And we can go into town, and go see films, and Remus is coming, and we should go to the zoo, it's so much fun!"

"What?"

"The zoo," she said. "You know, where the animals are." He raised his eyebrows. "Oh, fine," she sighed. "Remus got into the N.E.W.T. Potions, but he doesn't have a clue what he's doing. So I offered to help," she blew a strand of hair out of her face. "Happy?"

He was most definitely not happy, but he figured it would be unwise to say so. He didn't want to start his three weeks with a fight, and Lupin was the least intolerable of Potter's little gang. He figured he could make this work without being a prick.

"I didn't say anything," he said with a little shrug. He sat down beside her on the floor.

"Yes," she said, "but you thought something."

"I think a lot of things."

She smirked at him. "Come on. Let's watch television till the rain stops."

But the rain didn't stop. And the television grew boring after a few days, so they turned to board games. Then they turned to books, and they spent a very long Friday hanging around the lobby of Mr. Evans' bank. Even Petunia was bored enough to come down and play a game of (non-exploding) snap with them. By the next Tuesday, Severus was practically welcoming Lupin's arrival.

Sitting down to work together, however, was far more awkward than he had expected.

"So, you're staying here?" Lupin was shifting in his seat. He knew Severus knew his secret, and though Severus had no plans in sharing it, it was nice to see him squirm.

"Yes," he said coldly. His smirk stopped at the sight of Lily's narrowed eyes, and he added more conversationally, "My parents are abroad."

"That's nice."

Severus wanted to groan, return to his room, and spend the rest of the day hiding from this awkward encounter. He had a lot of things he was desperate to say to Lupin, but if he expressed any of them Lily might slap him.

Lily, fortunately, did not seem to notice anything afoot. She was staring at the table. "Books," she moaned. "We don't have any books."

"There were a few practice essays in the old book," said Lupin softly. Severus and Lily both looked at him. "I didn't bring it."

"My old copies upstairs," said Lily, turning towards the foyer. Both Severus and Lupin stood up to help. "No, don't worry, I've got it," she waved them off. Severus watched her until she turned the corner.

"Lily's nice, don't you think?" said Lupin with more pained awkwardness than Severus had ever heard in a solitary sentence.

"Yes," he muttered.

"Well, I guess if you fancy her, you must think she's nice."

Severus nearly choked on his own saliva.

"I—what—how did you—Potter fancies her," he finished roughly. His face had gone very hot, and he longed to run as far as he could.

"He doesn't own her," said Lupin with a small shrug.

"Where did that even come from?"

"You watched her when she left." Severus stared. "People only do that to someone they fancy."

"You're insane, Lupin." Before he could stop himself, he added, "Full moon tonight?"

He could feel Lupin's cold stare. "I won't even dignify that with an answer," he said icily. "But you should know that James has decided this will be the year he gets Lily."

"He says that every—he gets? Lily isn't a piece of—"

"I know that," Lupin finished, "and I'm aware James has no claim on her. But he's shaping up this year. All he could say on the train home was how he's willing to quite pranks if that's what it takes to get her. He's serious this time around."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"You know," he said simply, "and you haven't told anyone."

"Dumbledore would expel—"

"I know, but you still haven't told anyone. That's more than what some people would do. James is my friend, and I know he wants Lily, and that's fair. But I also think it's fair that you get your chance too. If you don't want my help—"

"No," it was Severus's turn to interrupt. He didn't like Lupin, and he sure as hell didn't want to be friends, but he figured an ally couldn't hurt. "Tell me what I can do."