Thursday January 9th, 1976
Severus stood away from the rest of the class as he waited for Lily to meet him that morning outside the potions lab. When he saw her coming down the corridor his sour features resolved themselves into a bright brief smile, as though a light had been turned on somewhere deep inside him and it was shining out, banishing the troubled darkness that seemed to always be lurking just behind his wry smile and dry comments.
"Happy Birthday, Sev!" Lily said as she approached him, and threw her arms around his neck in a warm hug. His arms went round her waist for a minute in an awkward embrace and then he released her, enjoying the pleasantly flustered feeling that stole over him at being near to her, if only for an instant.
Severus couldn't help but glance to where James Potter was standing with Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black. They were grouped into a tight knot and seemed to be absorbed in their own whispery conversation.
"You're looking rumpled this morning," Lily said good-naturedly, and reached up to straighten Severus' tie for him. He looked like he had slept in his clothes (he had) and his tie was tied with almost deliberate carelessness. He stood there looking down at her hands at his throat- amused and pleased somehow, but also embarrassed. A high pink color was gathering in his cheeks.
"How does it feel to be fifteen?" Lily asked when she was finished, and Severus shrugged. "Exactly like being fourteen," He said.
"Oh, you're no fun!" She admonished him playfully. Severus had never been particularly excited by birthdays- his or anyone else's, though he did always get Lily something for hers.
"I have a present for you." Lily told him, smiling. "And a good one, not stupid sugar quills or enchanted ink."
Severus seemed to perk up at that, like a sun-starved plant that had been set in a windowsill. He peered at her with undisguised interest. "What is it?" He asked, and Lily's smile broke into a grin.
"It's a surprise." She said. "And you can't have it 'til tonight."
"Oh?" Severus inquired. "And what's happening tonight?" He asked.
"We're meeting up for your top-secret birthday celebration," Lily told him, and Severus' mouth twisted into a smile.
"Sorry, I've got something on," he joked with her, and Lily shoved his shoulder playfully.
Slughorn came round the corner then, puffing through his walrus-y mustache, his students parting for him as he approached the door to the potions lab and unlocked it. As everyone filed into the room and claimed their seats, he told Lily and Severus discreetly to see him after class.
That morning they brewed an Alertness Potion that filled the lab with the smell of cinnamon and gave the drinker an afternoon's worth of focus and concentration. It was an easy day in class and everyone seemed to be in good spirits.
After class, Lily and Severus lingered behind to see Slughorn.
"I am waiting to hear back about the cemetery soil, but I've found where we can procure a nightingale," he told them frankly. Lily felt a stab of guilt in her heart as she thought of the little songbird, killed for Slughorn's potion. "I also have a silver ring you can use, my own mother's."
"Professor, I'm not comfortable with killing anything.." Lily began.
"Oh, no!" Slughorn said, waving away her qualms with his podgy hands as though clearing the air of hear fears.
"My dear girl. I assure you, I will find a nightingale that has died of natural causes. We don't want to bring harm to any little creatures," He said pleasantly, and Lily was relieved to hear that it would already be dead before they used it's poor heart. Slughorn shuffled a stack of papers on his desk and smiled at her genially.
Though she had already brewed through the first part of the potion, even used her own blood, and had agreed to participate in brewing it to completion, this was not the first time Lily felt that she wasn't sure she liked the idea of Amorestmorta.
Together, Severus and Lily climbed the stairs that led out of the Slytherin dungeons and began the long trek to charms class. They were almost late because they had to wait for the right staircase to swing back into place before they could get where they were going.
In charms, Lily sat with Mary Macdonald to help her with her with her wrist work (Mary was always too willing to flourish her wand when charms usually called for quick and specifically controlled movements). Severus' good mood was not dissuaded by this, however, and he amused himself in class by teasing Lily from across the room.
The class was nearly half-way through, and Professor Flitwick was concluding his lecture on charming teacups to sing and whistle, an exercise that all the fifth years practiced to blend their skills in charms and in transfiguration.
As Lily began to charm her teacup so it would sing, Severus discreetly flicked his wand, causing Lily's long red hair to stand on end for just a second. Lily smiled and laughed, reaching up to feel her hair as she looked around the classroom for clues about who the caster of the spell might be. Severus was quick to look away and down at his teacup, which was lazily humming the first few bars of Beethoven's fifth over and over again. When Severus was sure she wasn't expecting it, he did it again, trying not to give himself away by watching too closely or laughing out loud. Lily smoothed her hair and laughed again, shrugging her shoulders at Mary, who was looking somewhat annoyed.
After the fourth time, Professor Flitwick, with a tolerant smile, said, "Ms. Evans, your hair is quite excited today."
Severus bit back his impulse to laugh. Lily turned in her seat and sought his gaze. He met her eyes only reluctantly, knowing to look at her was to admit he had done it, but when their eyes met, he couldn't help but smile, giving himself away. Lily pursed her lips and drew her eyebrows together across her forehead, giving him a warning look that was both sharp and amused, followed by a quick grin.
After class, Lily hung around in the corridor while Severus was gently reprimanded by Professor Flitwick for levitating Lily's hair in class, waiting for Severus so they could walk to History of Magic together. When Severus came out, he was smirking.
"What'd Flitwick say?" Lily asked.
"That I was creating a disruption and should know better, but that he was very impressed by the charm work itself and my mastery of nonverbal spells."
"I am going to get you back so good for that," Lily promised with a laugh. "What spell were you using?" She asked. "Is that one of yours?"
Severus nodded. Lily aimed her wand experimentally at Severus' hair as they climbed the stationary staircase up two floors to Professor Binns' classroom, but his hair lay unmoving on his head, greasy dark hanks framing his gaunt face, lying long over his collar and around his shoulders.
"I'll show you later," He told her, breaking their conversation off as they rounded the corner. Ahead of them, a thick group of students was clotting up the corridor. Lily and Severus approached warily, pushing through the throng to get a look at what was going on.
In the middle of the group stood Severus' least favorite person, James Potter. He was levitating a third year's wand high above his head, while Sirius Black, wand out, was taking everything out of the third year's bag, apparently looking for something. The third year, who Lily knew to be Charles Prewitt of Ravenclaw house, was pleading embarrassedly and jumping around, reaching for his wand which was suspended above his head. Remus Lupin, himself a prefect, looked on intently, peering over Sirius' shoulder into the contents of Charles' bag with Peter Pettigrew, who looked worried.
"I know he has it." Sirius was saying, holding the bag up with one hand and rummaging through it. He extracted a thick volume from the bag and opened its cover, seizing upon what looked to Lily to be a blank but elaborately folded piece of parchment. Peter Pettigrew suddenly looked relieved and he and Remus exchanged a meaningful look.
"I told you he had it, Remus! James! Peter!" Sirius said, "This kid is a thief."
Sirius possessively pocketed the parchment, letting the rest of Charles Prewitt's belongings fall to the floor from his hands, no longer having any interest in them. Charles Prewitt scrambled to the floor and began to pick up his littered belongings. His little face was flushed red with humiliation and discomfort.
"What is going on here?" Lily demanded.
"Nothing," Sirius spat angrily, and pushed through the crowd, Remus and Peter following.
Lily watched them go, and then fixed her eyes on James, who didn't seem to see her.
James lowered his wand and Charles Prewitt's wand clattered to the stone floor of the corridor.
He looked at Charles Prewitt and scowled. "Stay away from us, Prewitt, and don't you dare think of nicking anything from us again." Angrily, he kicked one of Charles' schoolbooks down the corridor away from him and turned to leave, heading towards the History of Magic classroom.
Lily looked to Charles Prewitt, who had been terrified moments before, but looked defiant now that the threat had passed. He gathered his things, several of the other third years quietly helping him retrieve his books and papers as the group of student spectators broke up.
Lily turned to Severus, her features drawn with a look of annoyance. "I can't believe that Remus Lupin just lets them act that way," She said, and Severus nodded vaguely. He had heard this from Lily before. "He's not a bad person at all," She lamented, "He's actually really nice. I just don't understand it."
"There's something funny about him." Severus said. "He's always ill around the full moon and.."
Lily rolled her eyes. "Yeah, Sev, I know what you think," She said dismissively.
"It makes perfect sense, though!" Severus protested. He followed Lily through the open door and into the classroom, towards the table where they usually sat. They were the last students to enter and the door closed finally behind them as they moved to their customary place in the far right corner of the room. Lily and Severus were both aware of James and Sirius' eyes on them, and Lily, Severus noticed with pleasure, laid her hand on his arm briefly when they sat down.
They wrote notes that afternoon, instead of talking, because Professor Binns was in a foul mood and they didn't want to seem conspicuous while James and Sirius were stealing glances in their direction. Lily thought happily how easy it would be to communicate with one another once she had given Sev his birthday book- they wouldn't even have to push the parchment back and forth between them. It would be an entirely undetectable method of communication.
Severus leaned forward in his seat, scribbling to Lily intently across the parchment they were using. Without even looking at her, he slid the paper with a finger towards her side of the table.
In his slanted, cramped hand, it said You know I was just joking earlier, I don't really have anything on tonight. Where are we meeting?
Lily dipped her quill into her inkwell and put the nib to the paper and wrote two words:
Astronomy Tower. Midnight.
She slid the parchment back at him and chanced a look at Professor Binns, who was sitting behind his desk at the front of the class, talking in a monotone and pointing with his wand at the words "SCOTTISH DRAGON HUNTERS 1340-1362". Lily didn't bother to listen to what he saw saying- she knew a bit about the wild Scottish tribes that hunted dragons in the middle of the fourteenth century because she'd read a paper the subject last year.
Severus wrote his quick reply while she stared down at her quill in her hands and thought of what she needed to do to prepare for Sev's secret birthday celebration. She had originally selected the Astronomy Tower because virtually no one went up there in winter unless they had class. High above the rest of the school, the icy wind ripped past you and the snow that piled the top of the tower was knee-deep and ice encrusted. The cold, she had decided, could be warded off with a good dose of warming potion and hot butterbeers conjured from the Hogwarts kitchen.
He pushed the parchment towards her and she read Sounds cold.
Lily smiled and wrote It won't be, I swear. I've got it all planned out. She slid the paper in his direction, looking at Severus. He read her words and looked back at her, returning her smile.
James watched this from across the room contemptuously. He was in a foul temper, and not just because of little Charlie Prewitt. He wanted desperately to know what Lily and Snivellus were writing to each other. It was completely obvious that Snape fancied her, and entirely possible that she might actually fancy him in return. This was a constant source of dismay to him. How could Lily, amazing lovely smart talented beautiful Lily, spend so much of her time with creepy greasy meddling interfering Snape.
James passed the rest of the class period alternately glowering at Professor Binns and trying to keep an eye on Lily and Snivellus, all the while concocting ways to somehow read Lily's notes to Snape. Beside him, Sirius was doodling sketchy pictures of motorcycles across his parchment.
When professor Binns dismissed them for the day, James was slow to pack up and go, lingering to watch Lily and Snape depart. The two of them were talking covertly, Lily shouldering her bag as Snape made his way down the row of desks with the rest of the class, heading for the door.
To James' astonishment and disbelief, he watched Lily crumple the parchment they had been writing on and toss it carelessly into the waste paper basket by Binns' desk. Unable to believe his good luck, he watched as they moved past him and out the door.
Sirius was standing beside the table he had shared with James, looking impatient as he waited for James to finish putting his things in his bag. The classroom was empty now of students, except for Sirius and himself. Even Professor Binns had gone.
James dove out of his seat and towards the waste paper basket. Immediately, he began to rummage through it, carefully un-wadding pieces of parchment and methodically pausing to look at each one. Sirius stuffed James' history book into his bag and held it for James as James dug through the rubbish.
"What the hell are you doing?" Sirius finally asked, standing over James, who was on his knees by the bin in a pile of papers.
"Their notes," James said distractedly. "She threw their notes away."
Sirius rolled his eyes and put his hands on his hips as James fished another ball of crumpled parchment out of the bin and unrolled it.
"You're not really digging through the rubbish bin to see what they wrote, are you?"
James didn't answer- he was peering at the piece of smoothed-out parchment in his hands, his eyes following the words written in two sets of handwriting. They were meeting tonight. It was right there, spelled out in front of him in Lily's careful hand: Astronomy Tower. James' chest seized up in a kind of inexpressible anguish as he pictured them kissing. Everybody knew that the only reason anybody went to the Astronomy Tower outside of astronomy class was to make out.
"Well?" Sirius asked, "Did you find it?"
James held the paper out to Sirius, who took it with a sigh and read it to himself.
"Evans has nice handwriting," Sirius said unenthusiastically, and handed the parchment back to James.
"I'm going to follow them," James said determinedly.
"You're going to follow them on your own, then, because I could care less if Snivellus gets some strange." Sirius said.
James looked stricken at the thought and followed Sirius out of the empty classroom.