Important! A/N: This is the chapter where the most important events start to unfold. This chapter actually sets the stage for the next three years in Lily and Severus' lives. I will be using one of Rowling's major plot points later on, but I can assure you it will be nothing like HP canon. Originality is my goal here. I also must mention in advance that I changed the timeline a bit (it's an AU remember): Voldemort didn't wait until the 1970's to acquire followers, instead he started in the early 1960's. That's all I'll say for now, just to clear up confusion in later chapters. Enjoy~

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

"Hey, I think he's waking up!"

"He's just twitching in his sleep, Sirius…"

"No! He just blinked, I swear! See? He did it again!"

James heard voices. He wasn't sure if it was normal for one to hear voices, but his mind was so fuzzy that at this point, it didn't matter. He tried to recall what had happened, but nothing came to him. Maybe one of the voices could tell him…?

He opened his eyes completely and tried not to close them against the sudden explosion of sunlight filtering through the windows behind him. It didn't look like any place he'd been before, and he could vaguely make out four blurry figures standing next to his bed.

"Where am I?" he asked dizzily.

One of the people standing near him— most definitely a boy— gasped. "Bloody hell, he's lost his memory!"

"No I haven't," he snapped at the voice, sitting up straighter in bed. His back was extremely sore, and he couldn't quite feel his legs at the moment, but at least he could sit up properly. He immediately saw that the speaker was his best friend, Sirius. Next to him were two other boys whom James didn't recognize, and a short woman with slightly-graying hair that he was certain he'd never seen before.

"How do you feel, Potter?" the woman asked him in an overly concerned tone. As she tried fussing over him, he angrily shoved her away. "I'm fine, thanks…what is this place?"

"The Hospital Wing," one of the two mystery boys replied. James stared quizzically at the other for a moment, trying to bring back any recollections of a prior encounter with him. He seemed so familiar…yet, he knew that he would remember if he had seen the boy before. He would never forget that dreadfully greasy hair!

"Okay…well uh, what happened to me, then? Why am I here?" James demanded from these all-knowing people surrounding him.

"Evans knocked you off your broom," the other unknown boy said, his eyes never leaving James. He had a feeling that he had seen this boy before, too, but couldn't recall anything about him either.

"You fell for a long time," Sirius added with a slight hint of fear in his voice.

"No way! I'm a star Quidditch player, there's no way some guy can just push me off! My father always said my balance is terrific!"

Greasy-hair boy smirked slightly before returning to his solemn expression. "First of all, you're not a star Quidditch player. Secondly…you were knocked off by a girl."

James was mortified. "You…you're lying…there's no way…you're lying to me!"

The boy simply shrugged. "If you say so, but all of the first years witnessed it anyways."

James let out a roar in frustration and began pounding the pillow behind him. The woman instantly reacted and came over to settle him down. As she struggled with the hysterical boy, she frowned over her shoulder at Severus.

"I think it's time you leave."

"But…"

"All of you!" she said, darting a furious glare towards Sirius and Remus as well.

"But what's wrong with him?" Remus asked her as they began reluctantly creeping their way back to the exit.

"The boy appears to have suffered short-term memory loss. If he truly fell from the height you boys told me, then it's to be expected. He should be able to cope on his own in a couple of days."

xXxXxXxXx

Two James-free days went by, and Sev found himself almost missing the idiot. For some reason, Lily had ditched classes today; he certainly hoped she wasn't ill. With a twinge of disappointment, Sev realized that he had no idea where the Slytherin common room was, so he couldn't visit her even if he wanted to.

It wasn't like her to miss class, though. She was usually very studious and obsessive about her homework, even when she was ill.

Sev had a feeling that she was more upset about almost killing James the other day. When she had landed from that disastrous flight, she hadn't even been able to face her fellow first years. Instead, as the group of students gathered around James, Sev had watched Lily turn and run away, no doubt with tears in her eyes.

As Sev absentmindedly made his way down the winding path that led to the gameskeeper's cabin— the location of his first-ever Care of Magical Creatures lesson— he looked out towards the lake. It shimmered vibrantly under the afternoon sun, and off to the right, he saw the giant castle's reflection in the waters near the shore. His eyes traveled up the bank, and up to a tree, where he saw a girl with bright red hair sitting underneath it. Sev was too far away to see the girl's face, but he knew at once who it was.

Ignoring the possibility of detention for ditching class, Sev silently jogged over to the girl. When he was just fifteen feet away, Sev slowed to a walk. He didn't want to scare Lily, but he didn't want a direct confrontation either. Instead, he came up around the backside of the tree and sat down a couple feet behind her. She didn't look up, but continued gazing sullenly out at the seemingly endless lake.

"Hey," she finally said after several moments of silence. She still didn't look back at him, but Sev took this as an invitation to sit closer. He moved up and settled right next to her.

Lily's sad green eyes were hazy and blank, but there were no tears, at least. Good. Potter wasn't worth crying over, in Sev's opinion.

"How is he?" she whispered, keeping her eyes focused on the crystal-blue waters. She hadn't stayed around long enough to see if James had even survived that fall; she had been too horrified at what she had done to bear seeing the result.

"Well, uh…he doesn't remember much," Sev tried joking with her, but she didn't smile. "Short term memory loss, but other than that, he's fine."

He cocked his head and gazed at her more thoroughly. "Are you okay?"

Tears flitted to the edges of her eyes, but she refused to let them slip. Sev knew she didn't want to talk about it, but she couldn't just hold it all in and keep skipping classes, either…

He carefully placed his hands around her shoulders and pulled her around to face him. She looked a little surprised by this, but then she sighed miserably, knowing that she was going to have to talk now.

"Oh Sev," she whispered. "What if he had lost more than just his memory? What if—"

Sev shushed her. "You can't possibly blame yourself for that, Lily. I saw the whole thing… he shoved you too! If your balance is better than his, then that's not your fault…"

"But still!" she wailed, letting the tears finally fall from her impossibly gorgeous green eyes. "What if I had killed him Sev? Muggles die if they fall as far as he did! I might've killed someone in my first week here! I could've been expelled!"

"Lily, we're not Muggles—"

"Does it make a difference?" she hissed irately, looking back out at the unusually tranquil lake. She closed her eyes and returned her voice to a whisper: "I shouldn't be in Slytherin, Sev…it's…it's changing me…"

Sev was puzzled by this statement, but tried to hide his confusion. "Lily, it's only been one week. I'm sure things will get better over time; you're just having a hard time adjusting. You aren't a bad person," he added firmly. "Bad stuff is just happening to you this week, but I'm sure things will—"

Lily shook her head and looked back at her friend. "Sev. Bad things aren't happening to me. I'm causing bad things to happen to others around me."

"Lily—"

"No! Quit trying to make me appear guiltless, because I'm not…"

She paused. Her face scrunched up as though she had just tasted something very bitter. Finally, when she had garnered the courage to continue, she added quietly: "You saw me…in Defense…with Melika…I…"

She trailed off and turned her back on Sev, no doubt crying by now.

"Is that what you're upset about?" Sev asked quietly. "You're afraid they'll find out?"

Lily turned back around and nodded slowly. Her eyes glistened with tears, and Sev felt himself wanting nothing more than to see her happy again. But what could he say? Praising her for finally knocking some sense into Potter's oversized head would hardly make her feel better and he didn't want to tell her there was a possibility of getting out of Slytherin either; he had already tried switching houses and the headmaster would have none of it.

"Well," Sev paused to take a deep breath, and then continued, hoping he would say the right thing: "I can't exactly say that lying about that was a good thing…but I suppose you didn't have a choice, really…"

Lily nodded numbly. "You should have seen how they treated Melika…it was…awful Sev…I've never seen crueler people…and most of them are just kids Sev…barely older than us…"

"Some people are just born evil I guess."

"No…no that's not true. There's some good people in Slytherin—"

"Like you?"

"—well yeah, I hope you'd consider me one of the 'good' ones, but Narcissa and Laika are great. Even Peter's kind of nice; he's just a little insecure with himself. It's mostly the older ones that are rotten…" Lily shivered violently, even though the day was still warm. "What if I turn into them when I grow up?"

Sev wondered why Lily spoke so highly of Black and Malfoy. The girls had a very menacing aura about them, and they always seemed to tower over everyone when they entered a room. He knew they came from long lines of ancient pureblood families, and he even held suspicions that Malfoy's parents were strong supporters of Voldemort, yet that remained unconfirmed as of yet.

"Maybe you should get some new friends? Some non-Slytherin friends? I mean, you probably won't end up bad, but then again…"

That was definitely the wrong thing to say. Lily's eyes flashed angrily towards him and her cheeks turned slightly pink.

"My friends are fine, thanks. I don't tell you to stay away from Potter and Black— do you think they're good friends? Potter knocked you over the bloody stairs, Sev, do you really think that's a real friend?"

"He was just playing—" Sev protested, but Lily would hear none of it.

"Did you happen to hear what those two did to Peter and Barty on Friday?"

"Yes," Sev replied uncomfortably. The prank had been rather ingenious, and although Sev hadn't personally participated, he didn't really like Pettigrew or Crouch so he figured they deserved it. "It was just a laugh…nothing bad, unlike your friends and their 'Mudblood' comments…"

Lily looked even more infuriated by this. Sev desperately wanted to stop arguing, but he wasn't going to let Lily just stand there and criticize his housemates.

"So, what you're telling me that Laika's stupid 'Mudblood' comment is worse than Potter and Black hurting Peter? He was in the Hospital Wing overnight after that!"

Sev was stunned. Did Lily not realize just how insulting that comment was to someone of her blood status? The way she brushed it off made it certainly seem that she didn't.

"Lily," Sev began quietly, trying to keep his voice steady in hopes that Lily would follow the suit. "You do realize what Malfoy means when she says 'Mudblood,' right?"

Her fierce green eyes narrowed into tiny slits as she stood up. "Of course, Severus. But unlike your friends, I don't seek revenge for every little thing people do or say that bothers me."

Without saying another word, she turned and stomped away, leaving Sev all by himself under the tree.

xXxXxXxXx

It was nearly ten o'clock by the time Sev got back to the common room. He had spent most of the evening alone in the library; books were always a good source of comfort when he was feeling down. Surprisingly, the room was nearly deserted, save for a few procrastinators who were sitting at the desks, hurriedly scribbling down the final sentences of their essays before trudging up to bed.

"Hey Severus!"

The voice was very familiar, though by the name the boy had called had him, he could have sworn he was dreaming. It was James. Back from the Hospital Wing, apparently.

He was sitting next to a very frustrated-looking Sirius, with his potions book open. Noticing Sev's sudden appearance, Sirius immediately brightened.

"Thank God you're here," he said exasperatedly as he threw his essay and books into his bag and walked over to Sev. "He's all yours now."

"What—"

Sirius, who was already halfway up the stairs to their dormitory, paused and looked back. "Pomfrey told me he needed someone to help him with his homework for a while until he regained his memory…I don't like homework, mate."

By the aggravated tone of Sirius's voice, Sev could tell that he had given up on helping James hours ago. He watched him disappear behind their door, then sighed to himself and turned back to James. He was grinning stupidly at him and gesturing for Sev to come and take a seat next to him.

Joy, he thought sarcastically as he came over and reluctantly sat next to Potter. Looks like I'm Mr. Arrogant's new tutor.

"Roonil told me you're good at Potions," James stated blankly.

"Remus," Sev corrected him edgily, already understanding why Sirius had been so anxious to leave.

"Oh," James frowned and wrinkled his brow before looking up at Sev once more. "Thanks Severus…so you'll help me…right?"

"Why are you calling me that?" Sev demanded.

"Oh…is your name not Severus? What did I call you before, then?"

"Sniv—"

Wait! What the hell am I thinking?! Sev mentally kicked himself.

"Just 'Sev' is fine."

James smiled once more; his new personality was already scaring Sev. He was much too polite and disgustingly happy…as weird as it sounded, he missed the old James.

Sev sighed for what seemed like the millionth time that day. Today he'd already ditched a class, had a huge argument with his best friend, and now he was forced to stay up late to help his memory-incapacitated friend with his homework. Rubbing his sleepy eyes, Sev looked down into the book and briefly scanned over Slughorn's assignment.

"Okay Potter, let's start off with something easy. Where could I find a bez—?"

"I don't know," James cheerfully cut across him, putting his feet up on the desk. He hit the opened ink bottle with his foot and ink dribbled down the desk and onto Sev's robes.

It was going to be a long night.

xXxXxXxXx

"No! You can't leave now…"

Lily's eyes fluttered open at the sound of two muffled voices coming from the common room. It was nearly one o'clock in the morning, what were people still doing awake?

As her vision adjusted to the darkness, she saw Narcissa sleeping soundly on her bed directly across from her. On the opposite end of the room, Melika was also fast asleep. Her eyes now traveled to Laika's bed: it was empty.

Lily quietly got up and threw a robe over her pajamas and tiptoed over to the door. The voices were quieter now; it was much harder to hear them, though she could make out small snippets of the conversation…

"…I know what he told father, but you must wait! Now is too soon…"

A deeper voice interrupted the girl, whom Lily presumed to be Laika.

"I'm not taking advice from a first year, Laika; I know what I'm doing!"

It was Lucius. Lily had no idea what was going on, but she could tell by the sound of Laika's voice that she was distraught.

Suddenly, the conversation ceased, and she heard footsteps coming up to her dormitory. Wasting no time at all, Lily flung herself away from the door and onto her bed, pretending she was asleep. Laika came in quietly, though Lily could hear her sniffing as she made her way over to her bed.

Lily carefully rolled over and looked over at her friend: she was crying into a pillow. Whatever she had just talked about with Lucius had obviously upset her; Lily wished she knew what in the world they were talking about at this hour; perhaps she could have helped Laika rather than her always running to her older brother for help.

Shrugging to herself, Lily slipped out of her robe and took her shoes off, ready for a good night's rest. Memories of happy times with Sev danced through her mind, making her feel worse than she already felt. She had been awful to him today…would he forgive her for getting angry? She sure hoped so…

A/N: Next chapter: Christmas time-skip & the plot thickens *gasps*

Thank you to all of my loyal reviewers (especially Meeh-san, Cinnamon Selkie, and Escoger, who have reviewed every chapter so far).

Please review. As much as I love this story, I find it difficult to want to write for this one (averaging less than 7 reviews per chapter) when my other story, "An Unlikely Rescuer" averages more than 14 reviews per chapter. Next week, I'm adding a new story (see profile for details), so this one will be competing for my attention along with 2 others. I'll try not to ask for reviews anymore, but just keep it in mind that the popular stories will be updated quicker. And I really want to know what you have to say! I'm definitely open to ideas and constructive criticism.

Thanks! :)