Disclaimer: As before, I don't own HP. I still wish I did.

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Forbidden

Chapter One: (In)Formal (Re)Introductions

Severus was three rolls of parchment in to his Advanced Potions essay when an airy giggle possessed his mind. He wearily rested his quill on the bottle cork before peeling his eyes from his essay to scan the room. He recognized the giggle as the one belonging to none other than Lily Evans, but he could not spot the crimson-haired woman anywhere. With a shrug he went back to his essay, logically concluding that he had been hearing things due to a lack of proper sleep. As he lifted his quill, he heard the laughter again. This time the sound came from within close proximity to him. He turned his head cautiously and, surly enough, spotted Lily standing with Remus Lupin. Normally, the site would have been one worth questioning if they both weren't Heads. He went back to his essay without another thought on the two of them before a sudden hand rested upon his shoulder. He jumped, knocking his ink bottle onto his already completed rolls of parchment, leaving only the one he had been currently writing unscathed. Yes, all three words were still in tact. What luck Severus had. He turned to the owner of the hand, his brows furrowed in a look of displeasure until his eyes met the luminescent green orbs of his favourite Gryffindor. "Lily," he said, his tone matching the annoyance in his eyes.

"Oh my…Severus, I'm so sorry," Lily chewed her bottom lip as she quickly cleaned up the mess with a wave of her wand, glancing over to Madame Pince to make sure she hadn't seen what happened. All she needed to do was aggravate the librarian. "Honestly, I thought you saw me."

"Yes, of course, Evans, because I have eyes in the back of my head," he drew, his lips curled in an awkward position between aggravation and the beginnings of a smile. He decided it was best to succumb to the wantings of the two standing before him, so he slowly put his remaining parchment back into his bag along with the quill and now empty ink bottle. He closed the bag before crossing his arms over the back of the chair and looking to them both. "Now, what is it I can assist you with?"

"Well, I need some help," Lily confessed.

"May I inquire as to what you could possibly require my assistance with?" Something was amiss.

"Potions."

Severus blinked probably a hundred times before meeting her gaze again. "You need my help with potions?" Though he had no reason not to believe that she needed help, he still found it rather odd that she would be asking him when he knew for a fact that Remus was just as capable as he.

"Yes," her tone was confident.

"Um…well…all right," he cleared his throat. "But Remus is perfectly—"

"I'm not feeling well today, Severus. I was just here to tell Lily she was doing rounds by herself tonight," he interrupted as though scripted to by Lily. Severus eyed him carefully as he shifted his weight from left to right, golden eyes avoiding his.

"Right…well then, I'll meet you here around seven. Will that be more than enough time to review what it is you need help with?" Severus stood, gathering his bag before looking to her again. Wench.

"That'll be more than enough before I have to do rounds, thanks Sev!"With that she was gone; her giggle no longer torturing his soul. He sighed as he dropped the bag strap on his shoulder and walked back towards the Slytherin common room in hope he could recompose the first two pages of his essay before meeting Lily in the library.

As he had suspected, the library was empty save for the dismal Madame Pince. Severus looked around the empty room and down a few stacks before settling at a table in a far corner of the room. He had not seen Lily anywhere, but he knew she was hardly punctual. He drew out his notes from his potions class and reviewed them again; checking and double checking to be certain he had not forgotten anything in his essay. He knew the paper was not due for another two weeks, but he didn't want it weighing on his conscious as he sat idly staring at the ceiling. It was not as though he had anything resembling a social life. Once satisfied with his achievement, he placed the papers in his bag and clasped his hands atop the table. He would give her another ten minutes before leaving, he concluded, knowing well that he would stay until Madame Pince kicked him out. He found his mind wandering again, finding interesting designs in the ceiling and rather disgusting stains on the floor. He couldn't imagine what the other sections looked like. He did realize that, from a distance, Madame Pince looked more like a horse than anyone else he had seen before in his life. Something resembling a chuckled escaped him, deserving the harsh look the horse woman had given him. Shaking his head to control the desire to laugh, he caught the edge of a robe out of the corner of his eye and turned to face it. He shot Lily a rather offensive look at her tardiness, but proceeded to stand and pull a chair out for her. Once she was seated, he clasped his hands yet again, only to keep from wringing them.

"You're late," he commented.

"Sorry, James wanted to talk to me about something or another. Bloody git. I don't know how many times I have to tell him I have no interest in him for him to get it," her voice held a weariness he was not accustomed to. "All right, so I didn't get notes today in class…"

Severus slipped his hand into his bag and passed her a condensed version of his notes. "I saw you falling asleep. Be thankful Professor Slughorn didn't catch you."

Lily took the parchment, shock etched on her beautiful face. "You did this for me? Oh Sev, you're the best!" The clearing of the horses' throat made Lily slouch in her chair. "Thank you. You have no idea what trouble you've kept me from."

He nodded. "You're quite welcome, Lily. Is there anything-" before he could finish his sentence she was up again and out the door with nothing more than a wave. He saw the outline of another in the doorway and knew it was most likely one of the Marauders taking her away from him again. With an aggravated groan, he rose to his feat and proceeded to search the stacks for books to keep him busy for the rest of the week. Once he gathered a ridiculous armful, he exited the library and began walking towards the dungeons. His balancing act would only get him in trouble if there were others in the hall, but he knew no one ever went to the library voluntarily…except for him, of course. Oh, and those select Ravenclaws who don't already know everything. He should have foreseen being crashed into as he was walking. He really should have. Based on the events of the day, anything was possible. He fell onto his rear with a grunt, his books scattering down the hall. He was embarrassed, quickly gathering his books and slowly standing as not to drop them again.

"You know, we're not off to a great start this year, are we Sev?" Lily's laugh reverberated through his body as she handed him his final book. "Quidditch rules, eh? Never took you for the type to enjoy Quidditch, Severus."

"What harm is there in learning about it, Lily?" he inquired with a perked brow.

"Oh, there isn't any harm in it. I just didn't think you'd be studying on it. I figured you'd be doing homework or something. Oh, yeah, sorry about earlier. Remus needed to talk to me about one of the third years he found in Myrtle's bathroom. Quite a story. I'll have to have him tell you it sometime," her skin was glowing in the pale candlelight of the hallway, causing Severus' mind to wander to the deep recesses of his brain he had tried so hard to shut off. "You okay, Sev? You're looking a bit ill."

Ill? Of all things, he did not look ill. Ghostly, but certainly not deathly. He would have to check his reflection in the mirror when he returned. He felt the warmth invade his cheeks as he snapped back to reality in its entirety. "Oh, I'm fine. Just a bit tired is all," he laughed nervously.

"Right," her eyes searched his for any clues to his unusual behaviours. "Well, I wanted to thank you again for the notes. Hopefully I can remember to take them tomorrow instead of dozing off, yea?" she laughed, pushing her hair behind her ears. "Need any help with those books, Sev? You have an awful lot of them…" she leaned forward to take a few books off of his stack but he quickly turned away.

"I'm fine, Lily. I appreciate the offer and you are most welcome for the notes. However, I should really be off. Have homework to finish," he chuckled nervously as he slipped away from her.

Lily's face held a look of defeat as she watched Severus walk away. She was hoping they would get to talk more, but the chance never arose. She nodded to herself as she turned to go to the Head's quarters, a new mission planned in her head. She would get Severus Snape outside to chat even if she had to coat him in a lacquer-thick layer of sunscreen to accomplish it. There was so much they needed to discuss about their summers.

Severus paced his room like a search dog torn between two paths. He finally settled on the edge of his bed, holding his head in his hands. Why was he so stubborn? Why couldn't he have accepted her offer of assistance and run with it? Because he was deathly afraid of pissing off James Potter. He did not want any more conflict than he was already subjected to. Deep inside Severus knew he could not avoid her forever and something lurking in the air whispered that she had a plan in his ear. Pleased by the thought, he began getting ready for bed, but not before checking that his parchments were not ink-stained beyond legibility.

Reassured, he slipped out of his school clothes and into a simple pair of black cotton pajama bottoms and a black t-shirt. He took another look at his parchments, fed his owl, as feeble as the thing was, and crawled into his bed. He muttered, the lights dimming, before closing his eyes and drifting into sleep.