A/N: Thanks a million to last week's reviewers: BrokenFaerie16, Fantastical Fwooper, existence555, roflshvuakomail, Hope, VaneBEAR, SecretBlack, tez-chan, Book-Mania-Girl520, skazmi, Agnes Werneck, vampire5596, Taylorcutie, and Cassie Weasley!
Chapter 8: Space Between Us
"So, let me get this straight," Mary said as we started down to dinner that night. "You have, on two separate occasions, talked to James and Sirius to try and convince them to be friends again?"
"I would appear that way, yes," I said.
Mary stared at me for a minute. "Who are you and what have you done with Lily?" she said finally, shaking her head.
I shoved her lightly. "Stop it—it wasn't like I wanted to be in this position; I couldn't help that they both came to talk to me about it."
"Yeah, but I don't think either of them was looking for advice," Mary pointed out.
We sat down opposite each other at the Gryffindor table. "Well, they got some anyway," I said. Glancing down to where the Marauders usually sat, I was inordinately pleased to see Potter and Black once again reunited. Remus and Peter were there as well, and the four of them seemed to be conversing even more animatedly than usual. Smiling in satisfaction, I turned back to Mary, "And it looks like they took it."
She shook her head again. "I can't believe—" she started, but stopped suddenly, looking at something over my shoulder. Twisting in my seat, I was just in time to see Chloe pass me and continue on to where James was sitting. She plopped down beside him and gave him a long kiss of greeting. I saw Sirius roll his eyes, but when James and Chloe broke apart, the Marauders' conversation continued, though slightly less enthusiastically than before.
"Okay, they took part of it, anyway," I said, a little disgruntled. "Besides," I added to Mary, "don't you think there's something . . . off, when Black and Potter aren't always together?"
Mary raised an eyebrow, giving me a look as though she was worried for my sanity.
I sighed. "Yeah, you're right, I'm probably going to regret this."
Mary patted my hand sympathetically, but she was grinning now. "Oh, Lily, you've grown so much this year! Worried about James and Sirius, and selflessly sacrificing what could have been a quiet few weeks, even months, to ensure they stay friends . . ."
"Yeah, I'm definitely going to regret this . . ."
OOOOOOOO
"So, please finish reading chapter seven and complete the six accompanying work problems for next Monday," Professor Epsilon announced as we were packing up in Arithmancy on Friday.
Half of the class groaned, and I barely refrained from being among them. We'd already been assigned a monstrously long essay on Veritiserum from Slughorn, another essay for Professor Galbraithe on the difference between Inferi and ghosts, and non-verbal shield charms to practice for Flitwick.
"I know, sixth year rears its ugly head again," Epsilon said in response to the protests. "Trust me, though, this is only preparing you for next year."
"Is that supposed to be comforting?" Andrew muttered to me as we grabbed our bags and exited the classroom.
I rolled my eyes. "I hope not. Either way, I'm not looking forward to next year."
"Me neither—and I have no idea why I decided to stay in Arithmancy this year."
"Don't you want to work for Gringotts after Hogwarts?" I inquired.
"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure I'm not going to get anything resembling a passing grade on my N.E.W.T." he replied dejectedly.
"Sure you will," I said encouragingly. "For one thing, you're more brilliant at it than you think, trust me. And for another, Mary would disown me if I let you fail."
Andrew beamed at me. "Thanks, Lily. Actually, would you want to get together this weekend to work on this?" He indicated his Arithmancy book in reference to the problems we'd just been assigned. "If you wouldn't mind helping me, that is."
"Of course I wouldn't mind. Saturday afternoon work for you?" When Andrew nodded, I continued, "Great, let's plan on meeting in the library at one—and don't worry, I won't tell Mary," I added with a wink.
Andrew laughed, and another voice said from behind me, "Flirting with other people's boyfriends? I thought you had more integrity than that, Evans."
I turned to see Sirius grinning at me. He was accompanied by Potter and Chloe, who for some reason sighed in annoyance at Sirius's words, shooting him a dirty look. Black ignored this, of course, and looked at me expectantly.
Instead of answering his question, I asked, "Didn't you and Potter have Herbology just now?" I knew Remus and Peter were in Care of Magical Creatures at this time—the irony of the class for Remus suddenly struck me—which explained their absence, but there was no reason for their fellow Marauders to be on the second floor when they should have been heading to dinner from outside the castle.
"That we did," Sirius affirmed.
"So, what are you doing here?"
"We got out early," Black replied breezily, and Potter snorted.
Sirius smirked at him in reply, and I had a sneaking suspicion that their early release from class had nothing to do with Professor Greenway's generosity.
However, we'd reached the Entrance Hall by this time, and Black, Potter and Chloe split off to wait for Remus and Peter, while Andrew and I followed the rest of the students to the Great Hall. Just before we entered the double doors, Potter called out from behind us, "Hey, Evans!"
I turned to see him walking briskly towards me.
"See you later, Lily," Andrew said, continuing on into the Great Hall.
I waved to him and waited for Potter to catch up to me. When he did, he held out his hand and said, "You dropped this."
Looking down, I saw that Potter was indeed holding my quill. Frowning at him slightly, I took it and said, "Er, thanks."
"No problem," Potter replied, the hint of a smirk on his face. As he rejoined his friends, I saw Sirius laugh, and Chloe glanced at me, a vindictive look on her face. Merlin, is she still jealous of me? I wondered incredulously as I resumed my trajectory to Gryffindor table, scanning it for Mary. Not seeing her—I checked twice to make sure—I sat down near the end closest to the back of the Hall. That's weird, I mused as I dished the steak stew that was tonight's dinner onto my plate. If they got out early, why isn't she here yet? Unless they were so early that she already ate. But that didn't seem like Mary—she'd have waited for me.
As I started eating, Marlene and Dorcas, Mary's and my roommates, sat down near me.
"You are so lucky you gave up Herbology, Lily," Marlene started irritably, spooning stew onto her own plate.
"Why?" I asked, curious as to what could have inspired her sudden hatred for the subject. "Greenway give out a lot of homework today?"
"I wish that was our only problem," Dorcas muttered resentfully. "No, we—"
But she was interrupted at that moment by Mary, who sat down across from me with a huff. "I wish I had thinner hair," she stated inexplicably. "And I think everyone else is going to regret it more than you, Lily."
"Okay, I didn't follow any of that—what are you on about?"
"Well, someone thought it would be funny to put Filbuster's Wet-Start Fireworks in the bottom of all the pots today in Herbology," Marlene replied in answer to my confusion. "So, when we all went to water our newly re-potted Tentacular Plants . . ." she trailed off significantly.
I winced in sympathy.
"Dirt and mud flew everywhere," Dorcas said, nodding.
"So, even though we got out early, we all had to go back to the dormitory to shower," Mary said. "Thus the reason for my plea for thinner hair. It took me three rinses to get all the dirt out. As to the regretting bit, well, no one knows exactly who planted the fireworks, but . . ." She raised a meaningful eyebrow.
I nodded, understanding the reference to our conversation a few nights back about Potter and Black's renewed friendship. Marlene and Dorcas seemed slightly confused by Mary's and my exchange, but neither commented on it.
"Anyway, despite all of that," Dorcas continued spitefully, "Greenway still assigned us three rolls of parchment on the ten uses of Tentacular leaves!"
OOOOOOOO
"I'll see you three later," I said to Mary, Dorcas, and Marlene after dinner as we parted on the second floor—me to the library, and the three of them back to Gryffindor Tower.
"Seriously, Lily, you're the only person I know who can do homework on a Friday night," Dorcas said, somewhat condescendingly.
But I was used to the teasing by now, and merely shrugged, waving to the three girls as they disappeared around the corner. Settling down at my favorite table with a sigh, I spread out my weekend homework and deliberated what to start first. Well, I'm doing Arithmancy with Andrew tomorrow, so no point in looking at that yet, I thought, shoving the book back in my bag. The potions essay will probably be the most painful . . . but it is Friday, so that'd be a little harsh, even for me. So, Galbraithe's essay it is.
I'd started on a paragraph detailing the characteristics of Inferi and was sitting back to reread what I'd written so far when I suddenly gasped. Peering closer at my essay, I realized that every single word was spelled wrong. What the—and abruptly, the image of Sirius laughing and Chloe's gloating look appeared in my mind's eye. Damn it, Potter, I thought savagely. Must've spelled my quill before he gave it back to me. But how had I not noticed as I was writing? Experimentally, I wrote my name at the top of my parchment. It looked normal at first, but as I watched, the letters suddenly rearranged themselves to spell out "Iyll Vanes."
It would have been kind of funny if I wasn't so frustrated at the prospect of having to correct everything I'd written. He's lucky I didn't write the entire thing before I noticed. Reaching into my bag, I soon let out an aggravated sigh—that had been my last quill.
Abandoning my things in order to keep a claim on my table, I strode from the library, offending quill in hand. To my luck, and most likely his misfortune, I ran into Potter two floors up from the library.
"All right, Ev—" he started.
"Fix it," I interrupted, shoving the quill under his nose.
"Wha—oh, I was wondering when you'd notice that," he said with a smirk.
"Yeah, very funny—hilarious, actually, Potter, I—"
"Well, since you're no longer in Herbology with us, I just wanted to make sure you didn't miss out on all the fun," he explained. "Plus, it was just too easy to resist."
"How considerate of you," I said dryly. "So?" I added, brandishing the quill again and shaking it a little for emphasis.
Potter drew his wand, muttered something as he tapped my quill, and smiled at me. "There, all better," he said, re-pocketing his wand. "Really, Evans, maybe you do need my tutoring, if you couldn't figure out how to fix it yourself."
"I'll have you know that I could—"
"Are you serious, Lily?" a new voice rang out, and Potter and I looked around to see Severus Snape striding angrily towards us. I saw Potter's hand twitch instinctively, and I grabbed his arm to prevent him from going for his wand.
"Sev—what are you doing here?" I asked, realizing just after the words had left my mouth how stupid that question sounded.
But it was Potter who answered me. "Unfortunately, he still goes to this school—I know, bloody annoying, right? I've been trying to get him kicked out for ages, but—"
"Shut up, Potter," Severus and I said at the same time. Our eyes locked briefly, and I could have sworn Sev almost smiled, but he quickly continued, "So, the minute we stop being friends, you go and start getting all matey with him?"
"What are you talking about?" I demanded.
"Yeah, that's just great, Lily," Sev spat, completely ignoring my question. "I thought you couldn't stand him, thought he was a 'bullying toerag' . . ."
"Ouch, Evans, that's harsh," Potter said, though he was now watching Snape warily, as if expecting a fight. Which, all things considered, wasn't that unreasonable—the only thing off about it was that Potter usually started such fights, and yet this time he appeared to be on the defensive.
Severus's anger seemed to only increase with Potter's comment. "Tell me you're not friends," he said, as though asking for disconfirmation of something he already believed to be true.
"We're not," I answered, quickly and truthfully. Potter's arm twitched again under my hand, and it was then that I realized I was still holding it. I hastily dropped my hand to my side.
Sev's dark eyes followed this movement, and when he looked up at me again, I knew he didn't believe me. "You haven't forgotten everything he's done to me," he said, and he didn't phrase it as a question. "And yet I mess up once, and that's it? God, Lily, I never knew you were so hypocritical, heartless, and—"
But what else exactly I was, I never found out, because Potter's fist interrupted the rest of Severus's accusation. Slamming into his lower jaw, the punch caused Sev to stumble backwards and, tripping over the hem of his robes, he crashed to the ground in a heap.
Potter turned back to me, shaking his hand up and down. "'Bout time he shut—"
This time it was Potter's turn to be interrupted. Severus recovered more quickly than Potter or I expected, and before I could prevent it, he dove at Potter, locking his arms around Potter's middle and knocking him down. Use of wands completely forgotten, both boys began to hurtle punches and kicks at the other, each scrabbling to gain the upper hand.
"Oh, my God, stop it, both of you!" I shouted, but I might as well have whispered it for all the good it did. Forgetting my wand as well, I attempted to force them apart physically. This was a slightly more effective, but much stupider, decision. As I grabbed Severus's shoulder, he made to pull his arm back for a punch, with the result that the back of his hand connected sharply with the side of my face. I staggered backwards with a gasp of pain, and Potter and Severus immediately separated and stood up.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" I yelled, not entirely sure who I meant to address. James was sporting a split lip, and, I would imagine, several newly forming bruises. Severus's cheek was starting to swell and his nose was bleeding lightly.
"Lily, I—" he started apologetically.
"Just . . . go," I said, and for once he didn't argue, retreating down the corridor with a last, furious glare at Potter.
"Evans, are you—" Potter began.
"I'm fine, Potter," I snapped.
Potter narrowed his eyes after Snape's receding form. "I can't believe he hit you."
I snorted. "It was an accident—and you know it could just as easily have been you who did it. Why did you have to punch him in the first place?" I demanded furiously. "And don't say something about how 'it's the fact that he exists' . . ."
I thought for a moment that something akin to hurt flashed through Potter's eyes, but it was gone so quickly I couldn't be sure. He didn't answer however, just shrugged and dropped his gaze, staring moodily at my left knee.
"Well?" I prompted, crossing my arms.
Potter's head snapped up angrily. "I don't know, okay?" he said harshly. "It's just, what he was saying to you, it wasn't fair, and—"
"Wasn't it?" I challenged. "I don't need you to defend me, Potter." Suddenly, I realized I was no longer angry, just disappointed. Sighing, I added, "I thought that you'd—" I stopped, realizing that the word 'changed' sounded incredibly cliché, even if it was what I'd wanted to say.
Potter must have guessed it anyway, because he said, "Well, sorry to disappoint you. But it shouldn't really matter, seeing as we're not friends, after all." I was surprised to hear the bitterness in his voice. He dabbed almost angrily at the blood on his lower lip.
"You didn't think we were, did you?" I asked, wincing at how callous that sounded.
But Potter just shrugged again.
"Oh," was all I could think to say.
Potter cleared his throat, and when he met my eyes again, his were guarded, almost as though he'd intentionally put up a barrier between us. "Well, I actually came down here to find you so I could thank you for talking to Sirius," he said, his voice uncharacteristically quiet. "So, thanks." He shoved his hands in his pockets and turned away.
"Potter, wait," I said, trotting to catch up with him. He didn't slow down or look at me, so I pressed on, "Look, I—well, I didn't mean—I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to give you the wrong . . . impression, about us." I blushed faintly, realizing that this sounded like a very different type of conversation.
The left corner of Potter's mouth twitched up slightly. "Nah, I haven't exactly been friendly towards you, even—well, anyway, don't worry about it."
"Okay," I said, surprised at his abrupt switch in mood but relieved to reach a speedy end to what could have been a very awkward discussion. "And you're welcome, about Sirius—even though I told him not to tell you about our conversation."
Potter raised an eyebrow skeptically at me. "And you thought he'd honor that?"
I smiled slightly. "I suppose you have a point."
"Well, it's nice to know that even you think there's something wrong with the universe when Padfoot and I are at odds with each other."
"Throws off the chaos to calm ratio," I agreed seriously.
Potter laughed. "Well, hard as it may be to believe, it's not the biggest disagreement we've ever had," he continued.
"Really? What, did he date someone even more horrible?"
I realized too late that this wasn't exactly the kindest thing to say—after all, Potter was for some inexplicable reason still dating Chloe—but he didn't seem bothered by it. "No, it had nothing to do with a girl, actually," he said. Suddenly he frowned. "Although, I'm not sure I should be telling you this, considering—"
"Oh, now, that's not fair. I won't be able to sleep out of curiosity," I teased.
Potter glanced sideways at me. "Right, well, it has to do with Snape."
The smile slid off my face. "Oh."
"And I suppose it's possible you've already heard a version of it from him, in which case I would want to clear up the bias against me that it undoubtedly represented."
I glared at him, but didn't object to his statement, having accepted that Potter would never give up his strictures against Severus. "All right, well, go ahead, I guess. After all, if we are ever going to try and be friends—not that I'm in any way saying that's a real possibility—" Potter just grinned—"I should probably know all your faults."
"And who said that this is a story about my faults?" Potter asked, though he couldn't quite wipe the grin off his face.
"Just tell the damn story, Potter."
"All right, don't get your knickers in a twist. Right, so, this was back at the beginning of last year, around October 25th—and yes, I remember the exact date, you'll see why in a bit. Anyway, as you know, Snape, Sirius, and I—and often, by extension, Remus and Peter as well—have had a—a feud of sorts going for, well, basically since day one."
He paused and I glanced at him to see a wry smile on his face, as though he still wasn't sure he wanted to be discussing this with me. And, to be perfectly honest, it was a little strange—after all, this had been a major source of contention between us since, well, to use Potter's words, since day one. But I had to admit, no longer being or even wanting to be friends with Severus helped considerably.
"I'm fairly certain you were also well aware of his suspicions surrounding Remus and his . . . time of the month," Potter continued.
I smirked at his choice of words, and nodded to let him know he was correct in his assumption.
"Well—and I'm still not sure why he did this—Sirius finally got fed up with the suspicion and decided it would be, er, funny, I guess, to mess with Snape a little. So, unbeknownst to me, Remus, and Peter, he found Snape on the night of a full moon and told him how to get into the Whomping Willow."
Suddenly, the second part of the conversation I'd remembered the night I'd confronted Remus about being a werewolf came back to me. I wondered why I hadn't thought of it at the time, especially since it was me who'd brought up this prank with Sev when it had happened last year. When Potter had saved his life . . . "So he did know," I said suddenly. In response to Potter's questioning look, I said, "I did hear about this, and when I confronted Sev about it later, he kept dropping huge hints about Remus, but of course I just thought he was only being horrible on purpose because he couldn't stand the fact that you'd saved his life." Potter smiled grimly. "But I wonder why he didn't just come out and say it—"
"I'll get to that," Potter assured me. "So, you basically know the rest—Snape went down to the Willow, Sirius told Peter and I what he'd done—at first I thought he was joking, because surely he wouldn't have been that stupid . . ." Potter's voice hardened slightly, and I was surprised to see that it still bothered him so much. "But, as it turned out, he really was that stupid, so I went down and . . . well, the shortened version is I got Snape out of there before—" he stopped, and a little involuntary shiver ran through me.
"So what did you and Sirius row about?" I asked.
Potter looked at me incredulously. "What didn't we row about? He could have been expelled—hell, he could have gone to Azkaban—I could have been expelled, Remus would definitely have been arrested . . . it was bad enough that Snape knew his secret—we had no idea what was going to happen. If word got out to the rest of the school, parents would be in an uproar that Dumbledore had let Remus into Hogwarts." He smiled bitterly. "They wouldn't want their children at the same school with a—" he stopped abruptly again, and when I glanced at him, I saw that his hands were clenched into fists. After a few seconds, he relaxed a little and continued, "Sorry. I just—it's maddening sometimes." He smiled again, more genuinely this time. "Remus is always accusing me of getting more worked up about the prejudice against him than he does."
"But I bet he appreciates it," I assured him, again struck by this side of Potter. I'd always known he and the other Marauders were almost as close as brothers, but I'd never really appreciated the way they all looked out for each other. "So, obviously Sev didn't tell anyone—not even me. Why?"
Potter raised his eyebrows. "I honestly don't know. He was pretty pissed at Sirius when we got back to the castle, and he wasn't too happy with me either, just by association, but I somehow managed to make him go to Dumbledore with me. We both explained what had happened—well, Snape shouted it at him while I fought to get a word in edgewise. Then Dumbledore saw us each separately, and . . . that was it. Snape's never said a word, as far as I know."
"Huh, must have been some speech Dumbledore gave him."
"I really wouldn't be surprised if he'd threatened him somehow," Potter replied.
It was my turn to raise my eyebrows. "I don't think I can picture Dumbledore threatening anyone," I said doubtfully.
"Well, whatever he said, it worked," Potter concluded.
We walked in silence for a while. "Hang on," I said eventually. "I'm still confused about something. If Sev found out about Remus, he must have seen him, right? In werewolf form, I mean."
Potter nodded, suddenly looking wary. I got the feeling he'd hoped this point wouldn't come up. "So," I continued hesitantly, "how in Merlin's name did you get him out of there? I mean, how did you escape without, you know, getting bitten?"
Potter bit his lip and didn't answer straight away. "I—can't tell you that," he said finally.
I rolled my eyes. "There's been a lot of that going around lately," I muttered.
Potter grinned. "Well, since we're not friends, I don't feel too bad about it," he joked.
I narrowed my eyes at him. "Don't think you can bribe me into being your friend," I said warningly.
We stopped outside of the portrait hole. "Oh, don't worry, Evans, I only want your friendship if it's willingly given," he said with a wink.
"Well, then, you might be waiting a while," I said.
"We'll see, Evans, we'll see."
A/N: I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter….I don't know why, but there's just something that doesn't sit right with me. Oh well ;)