Disclaimer: Alas, Harry Potter isn't mine, no matter how many times I have dreams where I do own all of J.K. Rowling's ideas.

A/N: Thanks to: Xxpiratexx, Jedi Knight Revan, Slina, Cristipotter, SweetSouthernGal, Hanoo, crackcakewhore, fantasyatheart, Ace-reporter, lilbit18, CaramelBoost, Alanna n' Jon 4ever, hermione-G-wanna-be, nicky, laxrules18, and Mrs Claire Potter. I really enjoy reading your reviews! And thanks again to everyone who added me to their alerts! You all rock!

Well, Deathly Hallows is out, and now, Harry Potter is officially over. You know, that's kind of depressing! But, I totally loved the book! I won't say anything else about it incase some of you haven't finished it yet, but if you want to talk about it feel free to send me a message or something.

On that note, this chapter was inspired by Deathly Hallows. This chapter isn't as funny or light hearted as the last ones have been. I know you're all going to have questions after you read this chapter, but trust me, most of them will be answered in the next chapter. I was going to answer them in this one, but I have to go to bed now because I'm leaving tomorrow morning for vacation and won't be back for twenty days. So, I wanted to post something before I left. Therefore, since this chapter was inspired by Deathly Hallows, anyone who hasn't finished the book...DON'T READ THIS CHAPTER! It contains SPOILERS!

Chapter 11: The Mark of Severus

The days following the legendary date quickly evolved into weeks as the Christmas Holidays began approaching fast. Apart from the lively decorations that had taken over the castle—the enormous Christmas trees (courtesy of Hagrid, the Gamekeeper) and Peeves, who swooped down upon unsuspecting students dangling mistletoe under their noses—nothing much had changed in Lily's life.

Sirius, still intent upon dissolving the surprising relationship blooming between his best mate and Lily Evans, had taken it as his personal goal to follow Lily around school calling out snide comments to her. Whenever he overheard her talking to James, and actually calling the latter by his first given name, Sirius would slide in something like, "What's the matter, Evans? Been Confunded lately?" These statements were always usually followed up by how Lily would be the one to drag down Gryffindor's chances at the Quidditch Cup. Of course, this didn't defer Lily from her own goal of winning her dare and thus causing James to lose his bet. On the contrary, it only strengthened her resolve even further.

Even worse than Sirius was surprisingly Remus, whom she always had gotten on relatively well with. Never allowing Lily a chance to be alone with James, Remus followed the two wherever they went. Even after Lily had tried throwing Remus off their tracks one Saturday afternoon by pulling James behind a hidden tapestry near the girl's toilet, Remus still showed up quite out of breath, stuffing a piece of parchment into the pockets of his robes. How was she possibly supposed to get James to ask her out and complete her dare—when he hadn't done it in months—if Remus cropped up all over the place, keen to catch Lily in the act of trying to pry information out of his friend? Due to all of these irritating factors combined, Lily's favorite Marauder at the present time was, unnervingly surprising, James Potter…well, and Peter, but as the rat-faced boy chose to lag around behind Sirius most of the time, he didn't count.

If Lily knew that James wasn't acting nicely just so he could win five galleons—which wasn't that much money anyways, she would like to point out—Lily would actually have found James Potter's company entertaining and fun. Their playful banter always caused Lily to laugh and, on the rare occasion when Remus wasn't around and she was simply sitting beside James on the Gryffindor sofa, his presence oddly relaxed her and she usually never thought of the buttload of homework that lay at her feet. When Lily admitted this to her friends, Dorcas instantly erupted into a round of giggles while Marlene and Alice were determined to remind their redheaded friend that James Potter was simply acting and that she shouldn't get so caught up in the moment. Psh, like she would anyways.

"Ready, Lily?"

Lily looked up from her table in the library where her half finished Transfiguration homework was sprawled out across the glossy surface, and smiled upon seeing the face of a bespectacled young man.

"Yeah," she said, stuffing her essay and ink into her bag hastily, "just hold on a moment, James."

James nodded. "Is it just me, or does it feel oddly empty without Remus breathing down our back?" he asked, immediately looking behind him and staring suspiciously at a spot a few feet along a bookshelf.

Laughing, Lily stood up, throwing her bag across her shoulder. "Well, I suppose it'd be a bit odd if he followed us around during patrol," she added, falling into step beside James as they exited the library.

"Agreed," said James, "I'd have to give the little bugger detention." Nevertheless, Lily could have sworn she saw James glance furtively around them.

They set off together up towards the seventh floor corridor where the Gryffindor common room was located, so Lily could drop off her bag. Thankfully, neither Sirius nor Remus were on the other side of the portrait hole and Lily effectively stowed her school bag in her dorm without so much as even a suspicious glance from one of the "bad Marauders".

"Where've we got tonight?" James asked, once she reappeared at the bottom of the girls' staircase.

"Well, the Gryffindor Prefects have the seventh floor. We're scheduled for the dungeons."

James pulled a face that was something between disgust and…no, his face pretty much only resembled disgust. "Why would anyone go down there at night? It's haunted by the lot of Slytherins, gits."

His attempt at a light-hearted joke didn't quite agree with Lily and she merely gave a short bout of laughter and then stopped abruptly. There wasn't really anything bad about Slytherins—granted, there were those select few who practiced quite gruesome (sometimes to the point of evil) acts. It was small things like this that James would say, little glimpses of his past ignorance and arrogance, that would cause Lily to get angry with him and remind her that his new-found attitude was, indeed, an act.

After a few silent seconds, a conversation—initiated by James—struck up. He talked about his family (generations of Purebloods, though, as James constantly reminded her, his parents definitely didn't care for their blood status). She listened quietly, only half focusing on what he was saying because part of her mind was still lingering on what James had said about the Slytherins.

"…and then, Sirius just popped up in my front garden one night—told us something about how he'd gotten fed up with his family and that his parents had disowned him…"

Suddenly, Lily slowed to halt, straining her ears to hear past James's words. Maybe she'd only just imagined the familiar voice that was coming from behind a closed door because she'd been thinking about Slytherins…yeah, that had to be it.

"…so, naturally, my mum and dad took Sirius in; treated him like the second son that they always wanted—Lily? Are you alright?" James asked, only just noticing that Lily had stopped and was no longer at his side.

Lily looked up at him. No, she definitely wasn't imagining those voices. There were more now and curiosity and fear overwhelmed her. "Yeah…you keep going, James," she said, motioning him with her hand as if shooing him away. "I'll back track; I think I heard something."

She didn't know why she wanted to do this alone. Well, honestly, she did know why she must do this on her own. James looked at her closely. "Are you sure you don't want me to—"

Out of sheer desperation, Lily said, "Might as well get the job down quicker; that way we can have some…alone time in the common room."

As she had hoped, James grinned. "Alright, I'll meet you back here when I get to the end of the hall."

Nodding distractedly, she watched as James continued on down the corridor. When the darkness had enveloped his tall form and all she could make out was a tiny bulb of light issuing from his wand, Lily quickly spun around and half-walked, half-ran back towards the way she had came from. A few feet down, the hallway steered off sharply to the left, and hearing the voices again, Lily turned and stopped abruptly outside a shabby door that she thought led into the students' Potions supply cabinet.

"…did you feel it, though?" came a voice that Lily knew belonged to a seventh year Slytherin known as Mulciber.

"'Course I did," responded a deep voice, and as Lily heard it goosebumps erupted on the back of her neck. It was Avery.

"Are we going to answer it?"

There was a slight pause. The voice that answered the elusive question caused Lily's veins to pulse angrily, remorsefully. She knew that voice, and she knew it well at that. "No," came the oily voice of Severus Snape.

Lily approached silently towards the door. She wanted to interrupt their little meeting, but at the same time she didn't want to. Quite frankly, she didn't really know what to do. "It's our duty," Mulciber spoke and Lily could hear his drawling voice ringing with pride.

"The Dark Lord knows we're still in school," Snape said, and Lily's worst fears were immediately confirmed, "He knows we can't go to him with Dumbledore heading the school."

There was a murmur of agreement from the other two and Lily crept closer. Because of the lack of light, she didn't see the small puddle of water—or whatever substance it may have been—and she slipped. Unable to help it, she squealed and caught herself against the wall. Immediately she clapped her hand to her own mouth, looking horrified with herself.

"What was that?" Avery asked, and Lily heard the unmistakable sound of a Wizard pulling its wand from their robes.

What could she do? She knew she should move, get out of there, but her feet seemed to be planted to the floor. Perhaps a spell held here there? With a mute gasp, Lily recognized the spell work; it was with out a doubt Snape's. He must have cast it with the consent from the others so that incase they were overheard they could hold the eavesdropper there until they could Oblivate the unfortunate person. Oh Merlin, what could she do? There was no doubt that Avery and Mulciber were sadists, but Severus…surely he wouldn't hurt her, would he?

"Probably just a sleazy House Elf," Snape said, "let's go."

And Lily watched, horrified, as the door swung open. A familiar figure appeared. It swished its wand and Lily screwed her eyes shut, ready to have her memories wiped from her. But then someone had grabbed her gently around the arm and was pulling her quickly around another corner. Her savior pushed her against the wall and held her there.

"Lily, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

Still slightly dazed from the fortunate turn of events, Lily tried to clear her head, but there was no mistaking that voice. "Severus—how did you—what?"

"You had patrol duty tonight down here, and I knew only you would be stupid enough to listen outside doors," Snape replied, shaking her slightly.

She didn't bother asking how he'd known she had patrol duty. It wasn't really important at the moment. "What? So now only Mudbloods," she put a cold emphasis on the word, "are stupid enough to eavesdrop?"

Her eyes slowly began adjusting to the dark and she could hear Snape's two other buddies walking further down the hall, towards the Slytherin common room. Now that she could see, she stared into her ex-friend's face. It was much gaunter and paler than she had last seen it.

His icy eyes narrowed and he made a motion as if he was going to hex her. "You're going to get yourself into trouble," he hissed, tightening his grip on her arm.

"Oh, really?" she questioned sarcastically, glaring, "because from what I just heard, it's you who's going to be in trouble."

"You shouldn't have heard that at all."

"Good thing I did though, because now I know that you're just like them. Do your Pureblood pals know you're only a Half-Blood, Sev?"

His grip was so tight now that his knuckles were turning white from the strain of holding her. Lily fingered her wand with her hand securely. "What about your Pureblood boyfriend? When's your wedding with Saint-like Potter?" his tone held nothing more than the deepest loathing and rage built up inside of Lily's chest like never before.

"Don't you dare—how could you?—James is more than you'll ever be!" she said lowly.

That seemed to hit him. With a look of disgust, he let go of her arms and threw her from him. "It's just like Muggle-born lover Potter to have a Mudblood."

With a swish of his robes, Snape stalked off and around the corner. Lily stood there, quite shaken, and furiously swiped at the tears building up behind her eyes. She had expected this—had known this—since fifth year, but every time that she had an encounter with him it still came as a shock. In the deepest way she wanted to save her old best friend, but in reality she knew it was too late.

"Lily?"

Drying her eyes quickly on her sleeve, Lily drew a shaky breath and stepped out of the shadows. "I'm here," she answered as James came strolling towards her. There was small cut above his eyebrow. "What happened?"

James fingered his bleeding cut. "Oh, that? Nothing, just Snape. Seemed down right peeved, did you give him detention or something?"

Lily pulled out her wand and waved it through the air; the cut immediately vanished, leaving the spot above James's left eyebrow slightly redder than usual but healed. "Something like that," she replied vaguely.

There was something in the way that he was peering at her that made Lily feel like James knew something more had happened. And sure enough, James grabbed her hand to keep her from turning away. "What happened?"

"Nothing."

"Lily…"

"Just drop it, okay?"

James dropped her hand and shrugged, not pursuing the subject any further. He followed Lily's lead and walked along slightly behind her, as if he were frightened of angering her further. The silence pressed in on them for a few moments, neither of them talking because neither knew what to say.

"He's a Slytherin git, Lily. Don't let anything he said get to you," James said quietly, finally breaking the silence. "It's hard remembering someone like him. It's simple to forget."

And, not knowing why that angered her so much, Lily whipped around so suddenly that James nearly knocked into her. Whatever this was, it most definitely was not simple and she knew that she would never be able to forget that her once best friend probably now had the Dark Mark tattooed upon his arm.

"Why do you say stuff like that?" she cried, "Why do you hate him so much?"

His eyes widened at her outburst. She was breathing heavily. Rage and anxiousness were mixing together inside of her and the scene she'd just witnessed—had played a part in—was making her shake with the jumble of emotions. Lily didn't expect James to answer her question, so when he began to speak it came as an incredible shock.

"He followed you around too much," James muttered.

Lily stared into his hazel eyes. "What?"

"A Gryffindor and Slytherin relationship? It was just…odd," he trailed off; he was talking slower than usual, as if he was unsure of whether he should be telling her this or not. "After he stopped hanging out with you in fifth year," James continued, "I guess it just sort of became habit."

She simply could not comprehend what he had just said. This was most surely not just another act in James's show. Somehow, she could tell that his confession was genuine. Maybe it was because he hadn't met her gaze yet, or perhaps it was because he seemed truly embarrassed admitting it, but Lily was certain that she was, for once, seeing a glimpse into the real James Potter.

But something didn't make sense. Why would he care that some random Gryffindor girl spent time with a Slytherin? He'd only known her, from what she thought, fourth year, yet he'd been bullying Snape since first. "You didn't even know me before fourth year, when…when I…" she couldn't bring herself to say it. She was talking about the day in fourth year when she'd been given that horrible dare.

James chuckled quietly. "Didn't know you? I don't expect there was one person who didn't know you, Lily."

Lily's eyes widened. What was he playing at? She was so sure this whole conversation was totally real, and if it was…No, that didn't change anything. He was still James Potter, the boy who had agreed to a bet to win her over. "But—you didn't know my name," she blurted out, trying to find a flaw in his story.

"Well," James said, staring at a spot a foot above her head, "you didn't know my name, so I just assumed…You remember first year?" James asked suddenly, breaking his concentration on his spot on the wall and looking at Lily.

She nodded.

"You remember the compartment you first sat in? The one with—"

"Two boys," Lily finished. She had forgotten. She hadn't realized that the guy who stood in front of her trying to win her over in exchange for five galleons had been the same boy who'd made fun of her and Snape on the Hogwarts Express.

"I guess I was always slightly intrigued by you," James explained, "I couldn't understand why anyone would want to be put in Slytherin…"

"I didn't know anything about the differences between houses then," Lily said firmly.

James shrugged. "Well, I didn't know that. But that's how I knew who you were. You were a Muggle-born, who I thought wanted to be put in Slytherin but ended up in Gryffindor. Can't you see why I was interested? It's not everyday a Muggle-born wants Slytherin."

Hadn't this conversation started out about Snape? How had it turned into a talk about how they had first met? Lily caught his gaze and they watched each other closely. "Severus wanted Slytherin, not me," she said quietly. By a look into the road Snape was currently traveling upon, Slytherin seemed like a fine fit for him now, she recalled sadly.

"Thank Merlin," James replied and he took a step towards her, taking her wrist in his hand softly.

Lily stumbled slightly when she tripped on the hem of her robes as she stepped backwards, keeping a safe distance between them. James seemed to take the hint and released her. Lily coughed into her hand.

"Let's get back to the common room," she suggested.

James smiled. "Lead the way."

Some kind of bond had formed between them. Lily wasn't quite sure why she felt it at the moment, but it had something to do with the honesty he had just spoken to her with. Doubts started forming in her mind. What if James wasn't acting? What if this really was the real him? Maybe he'd just matured. As much as she wanted to think that, it just didn't make sense. Why the bet then? And why did it all fit so perfectly together? The moment he starts acting all mature was the moment he and his friends made the bet. There were too many coincidences to believe the James had been sincere these past couple of weeks.

But nevertheless, Lily knew that they had just taken a step forward into their relationship. She felt it as they bid each other goodnight in the common room and she felt it as she fell asleep. The last thing she consciously thought was that phase four hadn't even happened yet, and already she felt closer to James Potter than she ever had.

Sorry, but I just had to write this chapter. Snape's and Lily's relationship intrigued me! lol Their relationship won't be a huge basis of this story though; it is, after all, a Lily and James story.

I know a lot of you are probably wondering why Lily in earlier chapters said stuff that wasn't too nice about Snape (for example, hexing the Truth or Dare parchment so that you'd have to kiss Snape if you refused to go through with your truth or dare), but never fear! All of that will be revealed in the next chapter...which won't be up until around three weeks from now. Sorry, but I don't have a choice. I'm going on vacation to a place where my computer can't follow...lol

Sorry if there were grammar mistakes, but I kind of read through it quickly because I have to get up so early tomorrow morning to catch my plane flight! Please forgive me!

I hope you all enjoyed Deathly Hallows! Have a great next few weeks! And please review so that when I come back from vacation (which, by the way, is a family reunion) I'll have messages in my mailbox from cool people like yourselves!

--HeyLookTheSnitch