Author Note: Sorry for the lack of updates. I won't bore you with the usual bad excuses etc. There are reasons but I'm sure everyone would much rather just get on with reading the update. However I would ask that you do read the rest of the notes as they are slightly more important.

I have now done a lot of work on both this story and the Lupin Origins story in order to make the two of them compatible with HBP and DH. Some changes are minor, some not so much. However I have done it so that no one is obliged to re-read anything they have already read in order to make sense of the story. But things might seem a little odd if I failed to mention it. Professor Mistry is no more - Professor Slughorn is where he belongs, Andromeda is in Slytherin rather than Ravenclaw where I had placed her, Snape's father is now a muggle and every other major inconsistency is amended.

There are a few small things that I haven't altered but they are either ones that would require everyone to re-read the stories if I did amend them or would mess up a main plot line (yes I do have a plot despite appearances to the contrary). I have also left in the free periods that we now know wouldn't have been in their timetables until the sixth year. But it took me forever to sort out a working timetable and the one I came up with required free periods following a midnight astonomy lesson and changing the timetable at this stage would be virtually impossible. I hope you don't mind this and a few other small inconsistencies and that they don't affect your enjoyment of the story.

Louisa


Part 41 – Making Amends

During the week that followed Lily being apprehended with his drawings Severus wrestled with the decision of whether to step forward and take his share of the blame or not.

Lily hadn't said anything to him about speaking with Dumbledore since the morning in the Great Hall, but still it preyed on his mind.

As Lily's detention drew nearer he found himself feeling more and more guilty, no more so than the evening before her detention when he sought her out to deliver the promised picture of Dumbledore.

Lily had disappeared from the Great Hall after dinner and that was the last time he'd seen her. He'd barely started on his dessert when Lily had jumped up from her seat and hurried out of the room. By the time Severus himself had finished she was nowhere to be found.

He'd wandered the corridors, poking his head into every open classroom without catching a glimpse of her. He'd seen Remus in the library and had even considered asking him to check the Gryffindor quarters.

The last thing he wanted was for Lily to be in even more trouble because she hadn't managed to produce the drawing Dumbledore had asked for. He didn't think that Dumbledore would be angry with her if she didn't fulfil his request but he had a suspicion the Professor would be disappointed in her.

He'd felt that disappointment, whether real or imagined, several times now and didn't like the thought of Lily being on the receiving end of the same.

He had searched half the school and was just on his way back to the library to reluctantly enlist the help of Remus when he finally spotted his elusive quarry chatting to the portrait of an elderly witch in a corridor close to the Ravenclaw quarters.

He watched her for a moment or two and listened as she laughed at something the witch was saying. If he'd had a spare piece of parchment in the pockets of his robes he'd have drawn her likeness in that moment. He tried to recall the last time she'd laughed in such a carefree manner over something he'd said and then wondered if she ever had.

He waited until she had turned away from the portrait before calling out to her. She turned back to him with a smile and waited for him to catch up with her.

Pulling from his robes the drawing of Dumbledore, he thrust out his hand and waited for her to take it. He was sure that he could see accusation in her eyes as she took the parchment from him.

"This isn't like the others," Lily commented. Severus shrugged and looked away.

He'd tried to do an amusing picture of the Headmaster but somehow what had flowed from his pencil was different to what he had planned. The sketch of Albus Dumbledore was merely a remarkable likeness with none of the exaggerated features that the other drawings had possessed.

"Dumbledore's harder to do," Severus finally muttered. "We don't see him as often."

Lily nodded and tucked the parchment into her books and started to make her way down the staircase.

"Do you know what you're doing in detention?" Severus asked as he followed after her. He hoped it wasn't anything too dreadful.

"Something with Hagrid," Lily replied. "I'm not sure what."

"Hagrid's all right," he told her with a small smile. "He won't be too hard on you."

"I guess it depends on whether he liked his portrait or not," Lily commented with a wry smile of her own. "I've got to go down to his hut tomorrow morning at ten."

"What about Dumbledore's drawing?"

"I'm taking it to him now. He gave me the password when he spoke to me about doing detention with Hagrid," replied Lily, gesturing vaguely ahead of her, causing Severus to realise that they were indeed walking in the direction of Dumbledore's office, just around the corner.

His feet stopped moving almost involuntarily and Lily noticed he was no longer walking beside her a few paces later.

She stood and looked back at him with an understanding smile and he felt his face flush. If it had been anyone else he'd have thought they were trying to trick him into going to see Dumbledore, but he knew that Lily would never do something like that. She would let him make his own decision whether she approved of his choice or not.

Without a word she turned away and continued down the corridor. She had rounded the corner leading to the entrance to Dumbledore's before Severus had moved from his spot.

Distantly he heard the sound of the stonework moving, revealing the entrance to the Headmaster's office. He wondered if Lily had been in the office before or whether this was her first visit there.

He remembered the trepidation he'd first felt in walking into Dumbledore's office and suddenly his feet were moving again. He didn't want Lily to walk in there alone. It didn't mean he had to confess to his role…Dumbledore would never know the part he'd played. He'd just be there to support Lily.

He turned the corner expecting to see Lily stepping onto the staircase but she had already disappeared. The entrance was sealed once more and Severus was too late to stand at her side.

He tried the password that McGonagall had used the month before but was not surprised to see that it no longer worked.

Severus leaned back against the opposite wall as he wondered what was happening on the floor above him.

"Hey Snivellus, you in trouble?"

Severus groaned at the sound of the annoyingly familiar voice shouting gleefully down the corridor.

"I'll bet he's about to be expelled!" Sirius replied with a smirk.

Severus slipped his hand into his robes and grasped his wand, waiting for the attack to come.

"Thinks he can take us on again, does he?" James laughed and casually pulled out his wand.

"Glutton for punishment," Sirius agreed.

Severus's eyes darted from one boy to the other, both of them now holding their wands menacingly towards him.

Unlike them he knew that within a matter of minutes Lily would reappear from upstairs, maybe even with Dumbledore behind her. With their backs to the entrance they wouldn't see the entrance opening, would they hear it if he could keep them talking?

"Well what you waiting for Snivelly?" sneered James as he prodded Severus in the chest with the tip of his wand.

"I think he's frozen in fear," Sirius crowed.

"Maybe he can join the gargoyles here," James suggested. "With a face like his, he'd fit right in."

"Nah." Sirius shook his head. "He's too stupid to remember the password. No one would ever get in to see Dumbledore."

Severus's grip tightened on his wand and he willed the entrance to open.

Between the insults and guffaws of laughter from James and Sirius he heard the telltale sound of shifting stones.

He didn't know whether it was the sounds of the scraping stones or his own eyes repeatedly darting to the entrance that gave away to the other boys that someone was approaching.

Whatever it was, they lowered their wands. They didn't put them away but Severus could tell that they were standing in positions that ensured that whoever was descending the stairs couldn't see they had them out at first glance.

"So have you finished McGonagall's essay?" Sirius asked James in an obvious attempt to make it look as though the three boys were simply chatting and that it was mere coincidence that they had chosen to have their conversation outside the entrance to the Headmaster's office.

A moment later Lily appeared. There was a bright smile lingering on her face, a sure sign that Dumbledore had liked the drawing. Severus breathed a sigh on relief.

"Look Snivellus, it's your girlfriend," joked Sirius nastily when it was clear that Lily was alone.

Severus flushed as he pulled out his wand. He hadn't even thought of what hex to cast when Lily grabbed his arm and dragged him away. "Just ignore them," she implored.

Severus shoved his wand back into his robes, shot a final glare at the still laughing Gryffindor boys, and followed Lily around the corner.

"Did he like the drawing?" Severus asked once he was sure that no one was nearby to hear them.

"I think so," Lily replied. "He smiled but I think he was expecting a funny one like the others."

"He didn't ask for another, did he?" Severus questioned.

"No," said Lily with a shake of her head.

"I was going to come in with you." Severus felt he had to at least explain that he'd tried to accompany her. "I didn't know the new password."

"You were?" Lily asked in surprise.

Severus felt himself flush again as he nodded.

"Have you seen inside his office?" Lily asked. "He let me meet Fawkes."

Severus nodded again. Clearly Lily had been far braver than he had in facing the Headmaster. Far from the bundle of nerves he had been reduced to, Lily was instead delighted at seeing both the office and Dumbledore's famous phoenix.

They continued to talk, or rather Lily talked and Severus listened, until they reached the entrance to the Gryffindor quarters. They said their goodnights and Severus turned back down the stairs towards the Slytherin dungeon wondering idly what it would have been like to follow Lily into the tower and carry on with their discussion.


Severus didn't sleep well that Friday night, and unlike the rest of the first years he was wide-awake well before dawn.

Severus had eaten breakfast in an almost deserted Great Hall and was back in the common room finishing off his Potions homework when the sound of raised voices across the room drew his attention from his essay.

He looked across the room to see that a couple of third year students were on the receiving end of Lucius's temper. A few nearby students surreptitiously gathered their things together and furtively made their way out of the room. Severus decided to follow their example.

"Come on it's nearly ten!" called a voice in the entrance hall. "If we don't get to the pitch we'll lose our practice slot!"

Severus watched as the Hufflepuff Quidditch captain tried to hurry along a couple of his players who reluctantly appeared from the Great Hall, the remainder of their breakfast in their hands.

Ten o'clock he pondered. Lily would be making her way down to Hagrid's round about now.

He hadn't had any inclination to visit the Gamekeeper since the day he'd overheard him talking to the Gryffindor boys just after returning to school in January. He wondered what Lily would be doing for her detention and for the first time in over two months he found himself making his way to Hagrid's.

Hagrid's voice drifted to Severus as he made his way down the path to the hut.

"That's right, now let's start the next 'en."

The voice was coming from behind his hut where Severus knew the pumpkin patch was located.

Severus turned the corner to see Hagrid digging steadily at the far side of the now empty pumpkin patch and Lily following behind him carefully placing seeds in the newly dug row of soil.

"I see we got company," Hagrid said as he turned round at the end of the row.

"Severus!" Lily called out and waved, several seeds escaping from her hands in the process.

"Are you planting pumpkins?" Severus asked as he walked around the edge of the soil.

"Nah," Hagrid replied with a shake of his head. "Too early for 'em. Just some lettuces, an' onions…maybe a few peas. Poppy likes a supply of fresh veg for 'er patients' meals. An' yer can't get no fresher than this."

Severus hovered near the edge of the hut, feeling out of place as he watched Hagrid and Lily begin work on the next row.

"Yer wanna give us an 'and," Hagrid called across to him a minute later when it was clear that Severus wasn't going to leave. "I know yer 'aven't got detention like Lily 'ere but if yer at a loose end…"

Severus was at Lily's side awaiting Hagrid's instructions before the Gamekeeper had even finished speaking.

They worked steadily throughout the morning and when the final row of seeds was planted, Hagrid invited them into his hut for a quick cup of tea that soon stretched out into another hour.

Eventually though Hagrid ushered them out of his home and back to the castle for lunch.

"That was the best detention ever!" Lily exclaimed as they sauntered up the path. "I want to do all my detentions with Hagrid from now on."

"You like to garden?" Severus asked.

"I help my dad in our garden at home sometimes," Lily replied. "What about you?"

"We don't have a garden," Severus muttered in response, thinking of the house he lived in that was so different to Lily's comfortable home.

As thoughts of his home entered his mind the pleasure of the morning began to evaporate.

"There's Professor Dumbledore," Lily commented as they approached the castle.

Severus looked up at her words and saw that the Headmaster was indeed directly ahead of them and walking in their direction.

"Miss Evans, Mr Snape," he greeted them as they approached him.

"Be sure to wash your hands before lunch," he advised. "Gardening can be rather messy, if very enjoyable and fulfilling."

They both nodded in response and continued on their way. Severus had gone only a few paces when he felt the need to turn back towards the path. Dumbledore stood right where they had left him and was looking towards them with a smile.

He knew!

Severus somehow knew that Dumbledore was well aware of his part in the drawings of the staff. He also knew instinctively that the Headmaster approved of his helping Hagrid alongside Lily during her detention. He may not have found the courage the stand up and confess to his actions but in a small way he'd begun to make amends.


Author Notes: Yep, more notes. The next update will be on the Lupin Origins story. I will also be posting my Spinners End comedy story here shortly since I know at least a couple of people are waiting for it since I deleted it from the CoSForums a few months ago. There will also be a couple of DH Snape POV, Epilogue type pieces that are also already written.