First I'm forced to do announcement. I own it all which isn't in HP books and so on hardly none of it. Cherry, Thankssss a lot for your wonderful betareading, I really appreciate your help!

Now, my first chapter with this story when I got three actual reviews! Now get to read this chappy.

Chapter 6

Severus glanced briefly at the girl with the burning red hair before returning to look at the calming lake. He was really confused and embarrassed. He thought he had seen this girl at the Gryffindor table and she had seen him at a bad moment and now she would tell everyone about it. He vaguely wondered why she wasn't already running back to the castle to tell the others what she had seen. He was certain people would have a great time telling each other how sly had been crying out here alone. Why would the Gryffindor want to speak to him anyway? Moreover, he had no idea how to speak to her; after all he was not accustomed to have discussions with other children. Sure, he had tried when he was still younger but every time he had got only a reluctant exchange of words; it didn't even matter if they were supposed to be doing schoolwork. In some years he had stopped trying to get their acceptance and whenever they had any teamwork he was odd one out. All he said aloud was that most necessary stuff for the task they were supposed to be doing. Other children in the group would speak to each other or goof around if she wasn't around. So, how should he speak to her now? And why she was still here? Maybe he should just leave now while he still could without embarrassing himself even more.

However, the girl didn't say anything nor did he dare to do anything. She just sat down and looked at the lake in complete silence just as he was doing. Only the wind was moving the water lightly as leaves were rustling in the trees. Severus would have liked things to be as they were now, though he was worried about what she was going to say. 'Why do things have to be so complicated anyways? Should he be the first one to saying something and what should he say?'

Luckily, he was spared from having to say anything as she turned to face him. He startled and turned to see what she was doing. Her expression was so hesitant that he was surprised by what he saw in her face. He saw sheer understanding and it puzzled him greatly. He just couldn't turn his eyes away from her eyes. He berated himself he should divert his look to something else but something was keeping him from looking away from her eyes. It was as if they were magnets and he was pure metal. Eventually he sputtered out:

"Why you are here? I thought every Gryffindor despised us slytherins?"

He swore under his breath because of the stupid houses and the biased behavior it provoked. The last part of his question he said in bitterly tone. He was already looking at the lake again when he heard her answering him laughing in the bitterly way.

"It isn't necessarily only slytherins that they are biased about. Everything that is even a little different is something unforgivable to them. Just something I should have waited from first place I guess. However, why shouldn't I be here?"

Severus blinked when he looked at the girl again. She wasn't really admitting that they were picking on her but… she was tipping off that . He could hear the bitterness in the tone of her voice. Severus was trying to think about how to react to her comment but luckily was saved from answering as she spoke again.

"The first day on the train I saw Black and Potter running away with a bag that they didn't have a moment before in the station. Half of minute later you appeared in the corridor looking for something and I added it up, it was obvious what just happened. Moreover the way you were about to knock on my compartment door but chickened out was too obvious. You simple looked so lost after they were gone."

Severus listened quietly as his cheeks flamed in embarrassment; he was looking at the ground instead of anything else now. He knew he was caught and there was no way out of it. He tried to think of way to convince the girl about what happened but nothing came to mind so he just stayed silent. He had a real strong feel that things were out of his hands from now on. He heard her sighing and going on angrily.

"I know more about this than you think. I'm a fucking know-it-all for them. Only because they haven't opened their books. So why bother to speak to me then?" she lowered her voice to whispering "but I shouldn't have wanted anything else after my normal school experiences. My sister slipped "accidentally" about my little magic bursts at school and everyone thought that I was weird. Especially after the first time it happened in the school. It was my sister's fault, she tried to trip me up with my food tray. Result was that the tray floated in the air though I was laying on the floor. There were no teachers about at the moment luckily was only good point. But everyone took it badly and they just left me alone since then. It's easy to just concentrate on studying and that's the way I'm doing it even now. They are taking it annoying way here."

Severus just stared at nothing as he pondered what she said, could he take the risk and tell about some of the things that have happened to him? She seemed to be so sincere about her disclosure, maybe... He thought maybe he would reveal some of his stuff. However opening his mouth was an insurmountable problem. He wasn't sure if his hands were shaking from cold or nervousness anymore. He forced himself to sound normal no matter how nervous he was. He took a deep breath and started to speak with his eyes closed.

"I- I'm- They just think I'm too silent for their taste. Moreover slytherin to boot. There's always something wrong with me. If it isn't weird fit of magic then it is just my shyness and defenselessness. Not to mention this stupid house thing. Somebody doesn't like me." Now Severus actually regretted how much he had revealed no matter what she said. The girl spoke again.

"One time I overheard their discussion about you. They were planning revenge on you about making a fool of their reputation by succeeding with your counterattacks. Bad luck I didn't hear what they were up to though. They think they are better than others and anyone different is scum to them, unfortunately that applies to me too. And the others… they try to act as if nothing is happening."

"I'm certain. People are too blind to see what they are actually doing. They do whatever all others are doing or use their advantage to get an easy victim since nobody else cares. They don't care to even cover up the things they do after some while. They think they are more like a kind of hero than bullies. More likely people are just too scared of them to do anything. Then you are totally isolated and…I don't want things go like that here too, not any longer. It was quite enough in normal school."

At this point Severus was on the verge of the breaking. Only his pride was keeping him from crying. Nevertheless it was a vain try, as he couldn't keep his emotions under control with a topic like this. He was crying in his usual silent way looking at the lake. He coughed again as he sat on the cold ground, not feeling the cold anymore though it was there somewhere. He was still shivering though. When he glanced at the girl he was surprised severely, though probably he shouldn't be that she was crying too. He heard a sniffling sound answering.

"And they are afraid of being left alone if they befriend you. Better just leave you alone and not even speak to you. They don't want be the only ones speaking to you so it's a nice circle as nobody wants to be the first to be seen around you. Or if they are with you then they are doing it when there is no others around which isn't too often. Why would they want to be isolated just for the pleasure of your company? Maybe we should pity them for having us around at the end."

He could hear a touch of bitterness in her voice. Why did things have to be so complicated? He didn't want to add anything more to this topic as they sat on the ground thinking. First off if he did that then he would be even more upset than he already was. Moreover everything he could have said more would have given her far too much information about his life which he would tell only over his dead body. It was actually better just sitting there thinking as it gave them both a chance to calm down. They were like this for half of hour until he started coughing and she spoke up.

"We should probably be going in already as it is past curfew and you sound as if you are getting ill."

"Yeah, you're probably right though I wouldn't mind having a day off…"

Anyway they stood up and walked across the lawn together. Mid way there she spoke up "by the way we never introduced ourselves properly. My name is Lily Evans."

"Yeah, you're right. My name is Severus Snape." They both nodded and turned in different directions. Severus walked to the dungeon and Lily upstairs. As Severus watched Lily walking away from him he thought to himself that maybe there was something worth hanging around here for. He almost danced his way though to the dungeon if only his back would have allowed it properly. When he was in his bed he had a hard time sleeping as he kept having fits of coughing that were keeping him too active to falling to sleep. Eventually he fell into a restless sleep.

(I would have loved to stop chapter in place like this but two pages is too short chapter even with my standard so I will go on. Sincerely I don't know if even four pages is quite enough as chapter but… for now about four of five pages is my constant.)

Severus woke up feeling rested though his throat was a little sore and he still had a slight headache from the day before but it was more a dull ache so it didn't matter. He was still coughing a little but he never bothered about such a little thing. He laid on the bed, as it was still too early to get up as everyone would be in the common room and he preferred just to be left alone. He pretended to still be asleep as he thought over last night meeting with Lily. She knew how he felt though he was certain that she didn't know anything about physical side and he was going to keep it that way. He wasn't ready to tell her everything about himself no matter how much she would understand. He appreciated her approaching him though; there was hardly anyone who knew what it was like to be an oddball, though he no longer cared about it. All he needed was to be ok with himself and keep his façade up. He glanced at the clock and groaned as he realized that he'd better get up now if he wanted to get some breakfast before classes. Moreover, he was hungry. It was only when he was getting up that he realized that he was feeling a little bit dizzy. It seemed that he was feeling more and more terrible as the days passed but the symptoms manifested slowly not showing up too fast so it was fine by him. He checked his schedule and he would have to face Charms class, he sighed. Last time it was fine but he wondered what they would be doing this time.

He walked into the charms class a little too late so he didn't get his usual corner of the room. He ended up being in the middle of the class. Just enough to be too many people behind him and having the teacher seeing him, so it wasn't a very good place. Moreover, he couldn't relax, as he knew he was seeable in this position. He berated himself for not coming earlier as he took his books out of the knapsack. Shortly Flitnick waved the door closed before he started chatting happily.

"Today we are going to practice something useful. Something you have probably seen many times before this but you didn't think about it at all. Actually even I did this a few minutes before, what could it have been?"

As he asked the class about the charm he used, he stayed quiet for a moment and let his look linger on the class hoping someone would realized what charm he was asking about. Severus was thinking what it would have been too. Instantly he realized what teacher was after, he meant the door he had closed with a wave of his wand. Severus looked around him to see if anyone else realized what the charm was, but realized no one else knew the answer as everyone was just looking at the teacher wearing a puzzled frown. Everyone was just sitting there without saying a word. He knew he could answer but he was reluctant to speak up like that. Flitnick was looking a bit perturbed as everyone just stared at him without opening his or her mouths. Severus wanted to answer him but something was keeping him quite. He had never found the power to be the first one to answer. Finally Flitnick shook his head disappointedly and turned to the blackboard as he waved his wand at the door. First he called out 'alohomora' and then 'lockomora' and the door opened and then closed. Most of the students in the class looked dumb-stricken as they realized what the charm was. Severus felt just uncomfortable for his incapacity to answering the question first.

Soon everyone was practicing the charm on the, expressly incanted, secretaries. The secretaries included two drawers that made the charm harder as they needed to be opened and closed exactly the right order. This was actually giving Severus some challenge at first. To incant just the right drawer but he soon had the charm mastered. Too soon he noticed he was the only one who succeeded as the teacher noticed him playing with the drawers. He was opening and closing the drawers one at a time and actually enjoying the feeling that he was good at something. Just when he was engrossed in the task the teacher came up behind him and called out startling Severus.

"And here you are Mr. Snape! Look at him every one of you!" When the teacher called out his name startling him he jerked and called out the opening charm one last time a little too powerfully and all the drawers flew out of the secretary. They flew just above the teacher's head before crashing into the wall behind them. His face turned red in embarrassment. He hoped he would just disappear. He could hear muffled snickering and the floor became the most interesting thing in the world to him. The teacher just looked dazed as Severus waited for someone to say something. Finally Flitnick had recovered from the surprise and spoke.

"Well done Mr. Snape. Really powerful incantation you did I shall say. I haven't seen one that powerful for a few years. Five points for you Mr. Snape. But now everyone please get back to your own practicing. I hope you all succeed at this as Mr. Snape here did."

In a second the class was again incanting their own secretaries as Severus was waiting for the lesson to end and dreading the coming recess. He could even now see the other student glancing at him, some with malicious smile on their faces and others were just amused. He knew he had been right about them and that made him sad even though he knew how they would treat him beforehand. It was the first pure proof of his own classmates' attitudes and he was feeling nauseous. He knew his throat was beginning to feel a little sore again but he had not bothered about it too much. He could handle a little flu easily. Besides, he had taken painkiller earlier and it was surely to take affect and make it better soon.

He was not sure how to take Flitnick's using him as example. He felt he messed up badly as he flew the drawer across the class just as everyone was looking. He usually hated attention but when he thought about it now he would have enjoyed it without this little accident. As it would have been some positive attention for once. He was never considered as smart student in the school but maybe he could work a little more as Lily told him she was doing. If he knew lot of magic they wouldn't pick on him, at least not so much than without a fight and maybe, just maybe they would give up finally as they noticed that he wasn't so weak anymore.

As he contemplated he watched meekly as others were still fighting to get efficient incantation and slowly one by one they succeeded somewhat. What was annoying was that most of the people who succeeded started to whisper to each other and he could see brief glances at him, which proved that he was the topic of the whispers. He didn't know if he wanted the class to end or not anymore, both had its bad aspects. Great he just had to sit in the middle of them knowing that they were whispering about him. He knew that when the class ended he would get some actual comments about his little stunt. He had a bad dilemma which one he wanted to keep. In the end it was not his choice and as everyone was dismissed he flee as far others than possible. As other students were leaving the class he saw a few smirking expressions as they glanced at him "inconspicuously". He knew the teachers never saw these glances though he wasn't certain if his co-students were so stupid that they assumed that he didn't see them. As soon as he was out of the classroom he dashed towards the next class.

To be continued

You know I myself think that chapter 7 which is ready but still not betaed is great. I have hard times deciding which I enjoy more, reviews or knowledge that I got my chapter written so well.

So, what you liked? Was it good or bad? What it got you feel? Please share any thought you got! I'm looking forward to get at least three reviews as with last chapter! (Looking with puppy eyes at you!)