Disclaimer: JK Rowling rules this universe. I'm just playing in her sandbox.
The most difficult thing about working with Severus Snape, Lily concluded after two weeks of antidotes work, was that no matter what she did, she was sure to be under scrutiny from someone.
After the first awkward class, she had resolved to be pleasant to him. They didn't have to be chummy, but surely it was all right for them to share some simple conversation.
At first, he was suspicious.
"Afternoon, Sev," Lily had said during the second Potions lesson of the year. She set her bag down carefully and gave him a smile. "How are things?"
His black eyebrows had shot up past the ends of his long black fringe, and he had simply shrugged. Later, she tried again.
"How are you getting on this year? Reckon you know what you're going to do after graduation?"
As soon as the words came out of her mouth, she flinched a little, remembering earlier accusations she had made about Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort. But Snape didn't react.
"I imagine I'll find a place to live and start looking for a job," had been his rather bland answer. But in his eyes Lily thought she saw a spark of the old Sev, a curiosity at her interest that he just couldn't hide.
After class, James had cornered her on her way to North Tower for Astronomy.
"What do you think you're doing, chatting up Snape like that? Don't you know he's dangerous?"
She shoved him out of the way with her shoulder and kept walking. "I'm not interested in having this conversation with you, Potter. Last I checked, we were partners and fellow Heads. That's all. No where in our relationship is there anything that says you have the right to control the people I talk to."
"I just don't want to see you getting hurt, Evans," James had said, changing his tack. "I saw what happened after he called you a … you-know-what, and I don't want to see you hurt like that again. Besides, he's into dark magic." The last part he added quietly, almost as if he couldn't help but say it.
"Your concerns are unnecessary." She nearly smiled at his obvious worry, but stopped herself at the last second, knowing it would only encourage him. "I'm a big girl, and even if you're right, not that I'm saying you are, but even if Sev- if Snape was into that stuff...he wouldn't try anything at school."
The next week in class, Snape was sincere and contrite.
"You don't have to pretend to be friends, Lily," he said quietly. "I know I ruined that a long time ago."
He stared at his mortar and pestle as he slowly ground some cockroaches into dust, and his voice was solemn and melancholy. It reminded Lily of secret trysts in the run-down park near Spinner's End where the two had met as children.
"Oh, Sev," she had sighed, patting his hand lightly. He colored, and the rest of the lesson was practically...nice. They didn't touch personal issues, but they were able to let go of some of the tension that always seemed to surround them, instead focusing on the natural academic chemistry they had.
It didn't go unnoticed. Across the dungeon, James squeezed his wand so tightly that purple sparks flew out and singed Sirius's robes. A few tables away, Nott and Avery watched Lily and Snape chatting and working amicably with growing fury.
After dinner that night, they had cornered her and shoved her into the antechamber just off the Great Hall where first years waited before the Sorting Ceremony. It was almost always empty, and they had been careful not to draw attention to themselves.
"Get your hands off me," she fumed, adjusting her robes and groping for her wand.
"Easy, Evans," Nott said coolly. "We just want to chat."
"Well, there are better ways to ask for a chat than grabbing me by the back of my robes and shoving me into an empty room," she snapped.
"This is a delicate matter," Avery said. "Privacy was called for."
Lily waited in stony-faced silence.
"What exactly is your interest in our dear friend Severus?"
She snorted. "This is about Snape? We're partners in Potions. Slughorn paired us up. You were both there."
"It would be prudent if you kept your distance." Nott glared at her.
"That's going to be kind of hard to do, as we're partners on an assigned project." Lily was getting seriously irritated. "Just what do you expect me to do? Ignore him? Fail Potions?"
"I expect you to keep your Mudblood hands to yourself!" Nott roared.
The door to the antechamber swung open, and Sirius sauntered in, wand hanging loosely at his side.
"All right, Evans?" He gave the two Slytherins a cold stare. "I noticed you going off with these two...erm, fine gentlemen, and as our dear Head Boy is otherwise occupied at the moment..."
"I can handle it, Black."
"No doubt, no doubt." Sirius just smiled in a charming sort of way, folded his arms over his chest, and waited.
Nott and Avery caved first. "Remember what we've talked about," Nott warned as they turned to go.
Almost as soon as they disappeared, black robes flapping around the corner, the smile left Sirius' face.
"I knew you had a soft spot for snakes, Evans, but really, what were you thinking?"
James hadn't lectured her that time, although there was no doubt that he had been informed of the run-in. No matter where she was after that, it seemed as if one of the Marauders was dogging her footsteps, just in case. Given his tendency to overreact wherever she was involved, Lily knew that James had put them up to it.
It was a lot of fuss over nothing, Lily thought sourly, leaning back in her armchair. Some thoughtful house elf had lit a fire in the grate of the Heads' office, and even though the heat made the room a trifle stifling, it was also the perfect antidote to the fall breeze that had nipped at her ears the entire walk back from Greenhouse 5 that afternoon.
"It's a sauna in here." James' voice broke into her silent grumblings. He slammed the door behind him and started stripping down, discarding his robe, scarf, sweater and tie on the floor in front of the fireplace. His glasses were fogged up like he had just come in from the cold.
"I think it's nice," Lily said, turning her head as he reached up to adjust his t-shirt, which had ridden up to his armpits. She caught glimpses of a couple of long, white scars, faded with age, running up and down the length of his lean torso.
"You know what else is nice? When you don't treat our shared office space like your private locker room. Maybe you can leave your things strewn all over the floor in your bedroom, Potter, but please have the common courtesy to pick up after yourself here."
"How do you know what my bedroom looks like, Evans? Have you been spying?"
Lily shook her head and laughed. "Are you kidding? You boys have probably completely booby-trapped the entryway. I bet you know the second anyone penetrates your lair."
"Sniffed out our booby traps, too! You have been spying."
"I've got better things to do than sniff around your smelly dormitory, Potter." She sighed gustily. "Like this essay for McGonagall."
James flopped onto the other armchair and threw his head back, eyes closed and a lazy smile on his face. "You haven't finished that yet? I did it ages ago."
"She only assigned it last week," Lily said defensively. "Did you just come in here to bother me or did you have a different reason for barging in here uninvited?"
He peeked at her through one half-open eye. "Touchy. We had a meeting scheduled. Or did you forget?"
She swore as the point of her quill snapped, blotting ink everywhere.
"Easy, Lily," he said, sitting up and brushing his mop of hair back from his face with one hand. "We can do it later."
"It's not that." She siphoned the blotted ink off her parchment with a sour look on her face, as though the ink had committed a grave sin against her.
"I didn't even start my half of the work I was intending to have finished before we got together."
He tried to interrupt her, but she plowed ahead.
"And I'm underwater in half my classes, even though term only just began. Whenever Snape and I try to get together to work on our Potions project, there are so many Slytherins hanging about that I feel like I'm constantly in danger of being cursed. I don't understand this human transfiguration assignment, so McGonagall will probably give me that I'm so disappointed in you, Miss Evans face after she gives me a D for Dreadful. Meanwhile Flitwick has given me extra responsibilities because I'm such an excellent student, but that means less time for DADA and Herbology, not to mention Arithmancy. Merlin's pants, why did I take Arithmancy again this year? How are you so calm? Isn't this the least bit overwhelming to you?"
She collapsed on top of her arms, breathing heavily. It was the most she had said to him that wasn't directly related to schoolwork or Head duties since they had boarded the Hogwarts Express. A year ago, he might have used the opening as a way to ask her out. In that moment, though, all he was thinking about was how tired and frustrated she looked. Her shoulders were hunched up, and her neck and ears were red and splotchy, the way they got when she was angry or crying.
He approached her cautiously, creeping toward the desk on pins and needles. She didn't move. He reached out a tentative hand and patted her shoulder. She shuddered and began to shake, silent tears dropping onto the desk.
"That's why you've got mates, right?" he said gently. "Sure, this year won't be a walk in the park, but you're Lily Evans, for Godric's sake! It isn't anything you can't handle."
She shook her head wordlessly and let out a little whimper.
"Let me take care of the Prefects and their griping this week, yeah? Quidditch is going to get started soon, and I'm sure I can find a week when you can pay me back."
She lifted her head a little and set her cheek down on her arm. Her eyes were red and glassy, but she smiled weakly. "Are you sure, James? I shouldn't let you."
"Let me?" He laughed. "You couldn't stop me if you tried. Now how about letting me take a look at that essay?"
He pulled a bright red handkerchief from his pocket and held it out. "In the meantime, mop that pretty face up."
She wrinkled her nose. "I don't want your dirty hanky, Potter."
"Oh, it's Potter again, is it?" He waved the handkerchief under her nose again. "Go on, it's clean."
She pointed her wand at the proffered hanky. "Scourgify."
He rolled his eyes. "Now it's extra clean. Take it already, your nose is dripping."
After sternly ordering Lily to make use of his handkerchief, James disappeared for a short time and reappeared with a tray full of treats. An hour later, they sat with mugs of hot chocolate in front of the fire, warm and cozy, tears forgotten for a time.
"There, you see, this isn't such a mystery to you," James said triumphantly. "You've come to exactly the right conclusion about the proper application of nonverbal spells to Hobenpheifer's Six Laws of Human Transformation."
"I wish I could repay the compliment, but this Charms essay is a hopeless mess," Lily laughed, looking up from the work she was proofing for him. "Didn't you look at the text at all?"
He shrugged and grinned. "Moony usually checks my Charms work; he knows I'm hopeless."
She shook her head at him, admiring the way the flickering firelight seemed to make him warmer and more...friendly than before.
No, she corrected herself. He seems friendlier because he's making an effort. He meant it when he said that he was going to work hard this year. And maybe it's time for me to step up and reciprocate.
"I'll tell you what," she said. "You help me with Transfiguration and I'll do my best to keep you from failing Charms."
James choked on his hot chocolate and sprayed a little on the rug in front of him. Lily pretended not to notice.
"Maybe we could put together a study group with the seventh year prefects." She aimed her wand at James' essay and corrected a few spelling errors. "You know, we're all juggling an awful lot right now, and the NEWTs are going to be here before we know it."
"I mean, we don't really anyone else dragging the study group down, do we?" he said quickly. "Large groups are always so chatty."
"And you would know that how, exactly?" Lily giggled. "All those study groups you've participated in over the years really made you an expert, is that it?"
"I guess a small group," he conceded grudgingly. "And maybe the two of us can do some extra work together when needed?"
"We'll see," Lily said. James was much encouraged by the light blush on her cheeks.
:o:o:o:o:o:
"I'm telling you, boys, I'm sensing a definite thaw."
The four Marauders were sitting by the lake eating apples they had pinched from the kitchens.
"It's just a few short steps from doing homework together and comforting her when she's down to—"
"Her taking a stroll with Snivellous around the lake?" Sirius interrupted.
The shift on James' face from euphoric hope to tragic disappointment was so rapid that Peter started to laugh helplessly.
Remus kicked him in the shin, and he coughed into his shoulder until the laughter subsided.
Sure enough, there was Lily, a Gryffindor scarf tied tightly around her neck where it clashed splendidly with her auburn hair, walking next to Snape. Both of them were smiling broadly, and their arms dangled loosely at their sides, inches apart, chatting like best friends. James gripped his wand tightly and started to get up, but Remus grabbed his collar and hauled him back down.
"Easy, Prongs," Remus warned. He held tight to James' collar even as the bigger boy struggled. "Don't do anything rash."
"Let him go, Moony," Sirius urged. "Snivelly has it coming."
"Aren't you the least bit curious the kind of curse he'll try?" Peter prodded.
"Ignore them, James, and use your head." Remus wrestled James down to the ground. "Remember what happened the last time Lily saw you cursing Snape for no good reason."
"I have a very good reason," James snarled. "Let me up, Moony."
"Hey, I'm trying to help you get the girl, mate. I'm on your team. If you go over there and charge Snape, give him horns or boils or curse his nose off—" Sirius barked in laughter "—then you will confirm that you are an underhanded git who curses innocent bystanders for fun. Look, they're in plain sight. They're only talking. She's fine. He won't try anything out in the open like this."
Slowly, James relaxed onto the ground, sprawling on his back under the oak tree and discarding his glasses shakily. He dug the heels of his hands into his eyes and groaned.
:o:o:o:o:o:
Across the lake, Lily was oblivious to her fellow Gryffindors avidly watching her circle the water with the black-haired boy at her side.
"Brilliant idea, Sev," she said, stretching her arms above her head. "It's probably one of the last beautiful days we'll have before October sets in and things get really chilly. Why sit indoors in that stuffy old library?"
"Not to mention it's a lot easier to escape from prying eyes and ears," Snape answered. His eyes landed on the Marauders. They seemed to be wrestling under the large live oak that sat at the water's edge. Idiots. He shook his head and turned back to the girl beside him.
"Don't you think that's a little paranoid? We're working on a school project. I don't know why your little Slytherin pals are so fascinated."
"If you think I haven't noticed the way James Potter and his cronies have conveniently appeared every time we've worked together this term—"
"That's not my fault," Lily protested. "Anyway, keep your prejudices to yourself and I won't hold it against you that Nott and Avery practically attacked me the other day!"
The color drained from Snape's already sallow face. "What?"
"Like you didn't know." Her eyes narrowed and she peered around at the other students lounging by the lake. "I'm not stupid, Sev. Keep your Mudblood hands off him, I believe it went."
There was an uncharacteristic bitterness in her voice.
He swallowed hard. "Lily, there are things in this world that aren't safe for you. I know you understand...you've studied Muggle history. Think of the American civil rights movement, or apartheid in South Africa. You may not know it now, but I'm trying to make things better for you and your kind."
Now it was Lily whose face was pale and bloodless. She stopped walking and turned to him, green eyes on fire.
"It's nice to hear you weren't sleeping or planning how to commit mass murder during Muggle Studies, Snape." She spat his last name like a curse word, and all traces of amicable conversation were gone. "A word of advice, though? Don't go talking to me about my kind. It makes you sound like an ignorant ass."
As she stormed away from him, hair flying loose behind him, James Potter watched with equal parts pleasure and concern.
"Score one for the good guys, mates." He stood up and brushed off his trousers, glancing back at the place where Snape stood frozen, his face contorted in pain. "If you'll excuse me, I've got work to do."
A/N: Back for another installment :) I'm so happy to hear from you guys, and to see some of you alerting the story. Thanks for reading, this has been a really fun experience for me so far.