Chapter 12

Chilly mid-October air met them on their return to Hogwarts. They went up to their dorms, dropped off their bags, settled in and then went to meet their other Gryffindor friends in the common room.

Except for Lily.

She leaped up the stairs into her room, flung the bag on the floor in between her and Gemma's bed and then ran from the tower to find Severus.

It took her longer then she had expected. He wasn't in the library, or the grounds, or the great hall with some other students who were snitching a snack. He wasn't anywhere else Lily could think to look, with a final sigh of desperation; she decided to check the dungeons one more time before giving up. She walked down the corridors, humanlike claws gripping candlesticks that lit the way. Lily had never liked it down here, dark and musty and silent in all the wrong ways.

"No, you know the plan, just stick to it, you know what Greyback said-"

Avery, Mulciber, and Snape rounded the corner just then. Avery, who was talking shut his mouth with an audible snap before realizing who it was and glaring smugly.

"Ahh, look who it is." He drawled, his plastic voice dripping with wanna-be venom. Snape's excited look that had formed when they saw her faded.

"A little snack sent up for us, eh?" Mulciber said with a snicker.

"That may be true, considering how that's the only good thing Muggle's and their pitiful offspring are good for."

"That's where you're wrong Avery; they're not good for anything." Lily's eyes narrowed, although she didn't allow herself to get worked up from idiots like this.

"I have to admit, I'm slightly impressed that you had the attention span to complete that sentence. Usually you falter and roll your tongue out like some poor disabled puppy with a needle up its arse."

Avery wiped his wand out, glaring at her offenedly and with a strange madman like glint in his eye. Mulicber didn't even bother with a wand, in two pissed off slides, he was in front of her, pressing her against the wall, his hand on her throat his mouth by her ear.

"Listen you Mud blood, it's about time you learn your place." Mulciber hissed, his hand tightening.

"Hey, cool it mate, you know what will happen if you do." Despite Snapes cool words, his eyes and face betrayed his fear for his best friend.

Mulciber's hand clawed again before releasing and shoving away. Despite Lily's best efforts, she gasped in an effort to fill her lungs and slid to the ground.

"Your lucky this time Mud Blood," He said looking down at her. "If I didn't have more important and promising things to deal with than you, your windpipe would be in pieces." With that he turned his long robes winding behind him and stormed through the wall that lead to the Slytherin Common room, Avery following.

The stone wall slide back in place, Snape waited until it snapped shut to walk over to Lily.

"You really shouldn't do that Lily, "He said sitting next to her. "He could honestly hurt you."

"I don't care, it's worth it."

Snape sighed, His fingers reaching to her neck to inspect the damage. He prodded and pushed for a few moments, his cool fingers felt good on her neck.

"It'll bruise." He said leaning back.

"Yay! Another battle scar." She said sarcastically, noticing how Snapes face framed into a nice half smile. The left side of his mouth pulled up slightly showing some of his teeth. His smile mainly showed in his eyes, a small twinge of light.

This is why others didn't like him, not one else really saw him but her.

"Well, "He said "You don't usually go walking around the dungeons, so unless you are possible transferring to Slytherin, which I highly, highly doubt, you must have been looking for me."

Lily laughed. "I was, but not let it go to your head; soon you'll be as arrogant as Potter."

"I'll never be anything like Potter. Want to go for a walk?"

She laughed again at his disgusted tone before accepting his hand to pull her to her feet.

They walked around the castle grounds, skirting around the forbidden forest, mazing through the greenhouses, they stopped every once in a while, to talk, look at something or share a joke. They ended up at the lake, leaning against the tree where they had once planned before the surprise holiday. Lily pushed her jeans up to her thighs, basking in the last warmth of the year. Severus didn't act as carefree and light as she did. This year he had seemed to be tense a lot, to flinch at every noise, sometimes he stuttered, which had brought the Marauders much joy.

She hoped this didn't have anything to do with his right arm…

"What did you do over the weekend?" she asked shifting her gaze from the lake back to Severus. He flinched, not looking her in the eye.

"Oh, you know. The usual Snape family tradition."

There was a ring of bitterness in his voice; Lily didn't know what exactly that meant, but she was sure she didn't want to.

"I'm sorry."

"It's ok, what did you do?"

Lily shrugged it off, knowing he would not like the idea of her spending the weekend at the Potters at all.

Sev nodded, twisting a blade of grass in between his fingers. They sat in silence for a few moments, watching the giant squid reach up and break the water serene mirror.

"Sev?" She asked without looking away from the lake.

"Yeah?" He didn't look at her either.

"What... What do you know about magic tattoos?" Now he did look at her, shock, disbelief and confusion the main emotions in his face. He pushed himself up.

"Magic tattoos?" He asked quietly.

"Yeah."

He sat up completely; folding his legs underneath him. The silence was awkward and tense now, after what seemed like an eternity, he looked back at her.

"What about them?"

"How do they form?"

"A witch or wizard places it there."

"Through a potion? Spell?"

"Spell, the bigger the tattoo the bigger the spell."

"Is it possible from a distance?"

"No, the wand has to touch the flesh where the tattoo will go."

"oh." Well that almost no help whatsoever, Lily thought. But on the other hand, know she knew that it wasn't normal, even for a wizard, not that she was confused.

"Are their spells that cause witches or wizards to see things?"

"Of course." His blunt answer surprised her. "We've been learning about them. Communication Spells; so only work to the people their implied to."

That made sense. But whatever these pain attacks were, they were not a form of Communication spells.

Where they?

"Sev?" She asked, any composure she had was lost as she shot up to sit next to him. "Is it possible for… like… someone to be able to perform a communication spell on someone without being around them? Like, just starting it and then have them slowly get worse?"

Severus thought about it for several seconds, his eyebrows furrowed, lips pursed. Lily held her breath, finally he shook his head.

"No, not a chance. For them to get worse, the witch or wizard who set the spell would have to be there. You know, like a Hex, only possible through eye contact. And, if they change, they should get better because it's wearing off. "

Dammit. SO long for that theory.

"What makes you ask?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing, just curious." Now time for her question. "How do you know so much about it?"

"Well, we learned about eye contact a few years ago, and communication spells in the last week. No biggie. Come on, it's getting dark, let's go in." They did. Traveling through the Entrance Hall and staircases up to the Gryffindor Tower. Severus made a mock bow; Lily pushed him, laughing the entire way.

"Night Lily," he said turning to the staircase,

"Night, Sev."

With that she climbed into the portrait hole, and walked up the stairs. She chatted with Adrian, Gemma and Michelle about their weekend, got into her pajamas, and climbed into bed.

Snape had been rather slick, completely avoiding her question about how he knew. He actually did a good job covering it up. Almost.

Something was coming. She was back to square one with her attacks, and something was going on with Sev. Something dark. What scared her almost to tears was that she was pretty certain that he was a miniature death eater, helping Voldemort into the castle. Something was coming

And she had a feeling Sev had a part in it.

That's the end of that chapter, the end is a little weird, but I wanted to show how Lily/Sev relationship was. And a favor: if your reading this REVIEW, seriously, I don't care if you just write 'me', I really want to know who's reading this so I know if I should continue.

Thanks bunches

LIZIES