(Same disclaimer as on other chapters)


Ch. 4 The World Isn't Perfect

Lily Evans sat on the Hogwarts Express next to her best friend, Tara, and thought in silence about her summer. It had been fun, but it had been short. Lily spent most of her time with Tara because she was the only friend that was within easy visiting distance. Going to Tara's house had an added bonus because Tara didn't have any siblings, like Petunia, to bug them.

Lily shook her head, erasing memories of summer and focusing on the present. Smiling evilly, Lily turned to Tara and asked, "So, you've been avoiding this question allsummer, and I've let you, but now I have to know. Who do you like?"

Tara raised her chin a little to give her a look of superiority and said, "I have not been avoiding it, Lily, I simply just don't like anyone."

Lily rolled her eyes and said in an exasperated voice, "I know you like someone, Tara, you've been hinting at it all summer! Tell me or I'll...I'll...tell Peter you like him!"

Her eyes wide with fury, Tara glared at Lily. "You wouldn't dare!" she said in a cold voice.

"Oh I would Tara dear. I don't tolerate people who lie to me and..." she trailed off.

"Oh...Oh...but Lily...you just don't understand!" Tara said helplessly.

Lily's expression softened and she said, "I will if you just tell me, silly!"

Tara took in a shuddering breath and said, "But I know he doesn't like me..."

"I doubt that," Lily said looking at her beautiful friend. "Just tell me."

"Oh all right," Tara said, beaten. She moved in closer and whispered in her ear, "Sev..."

She only got that far before Lily bolted up right and said in a loud voice, "You can't be serious! You like..."

"LILY!" Tara said in warning. "Don't you dare! And its not too weird of a crush...after all...I mean...he is cute...you've got to admit..."

Lily felt kind of sick. Yes, he was cute, but so was James and Sirius, and even Remus for that matter. Why did she like him? He was the only one of her friends that she thought didn't like Tara, even as a friend. All he did was argue with her. At first she thought this was a sign that he liked her, until summer came. He didn't even mention Tara in his summer letters to Lily, and he didn't write any to Tara personally.

"Well...Tara..." Lily stopped at a loss for words, but was luckily saved by the train coming to a stop. "We're here!" she said enthusiastically and quickly started getting her things ready.

Tara followed her example, looking slightly embarrassed.

***

When they reached the Great Hall, Tara and Lily went off to their different house tables. Lily was one of the first people to the Slytherin table, so she sat down somewhere towards the middle and waited for the rest of her House to arrive.

A minute later, Severus and Lucius Malfoy entered and came over to Lily. She noticed they both looked somewhat older and taller. Lily hoped she looked older than last year, but doubted it.

"Hi guys," she said cheerily.

"Hey Lily," Severus said taking a seat next to her.

"Hi," Lucius said, taking a seat next to Severus.

Lily rolled her eyes at Lucius' coldness. She suspected more than ever that he was only her friend because of Severus.

"May I have your attention please?" Came the voice of the Headmaster. The feast was beginning.

***

Lily was sitting in the Slytherin lounge after the banquet, thinking. The Slytherins had gotten many new members, which was good, she supposed. The food had been wonderful, as always. The only thing that was wrong with the feast was that she had only caught a glimpse of her Gryffindor friends.

"Lily," Severus said, interrupting her thoughts, "tomorrow's the Slytherin Quidditch team tryouts..." he trailed of as if she was supposed to reply.

"And..." she said lazily, stifling a yawn.

"And...I was wondering if you'd come and watch me tryout. You can bring friends if you want to...um except for James, since it probably won't be very interesting for you..." he said, trailing off again.

She laughed slightly, "Of course it will be interesting, I love Quidditch. And...yes I will go." She smiled up at him, "But I will bring Tara, just in case."

He grimaced a little, "Now I'm even more nervous for tryouts."

"Why?" she asked very curiously. "Why should she make a difference?"

"Because I told her I was the best Keeper ever...Now I have to try to live up to that!" he replied throwing himself into a chair next to hers.

"Well, its your own fault...you shouldn't have bragged..." He gave her a look that said "You aren't helping." She sighed and said, "I'm sure she doesn't expect you to be the best ever. But...you are very good Severus, according to everyone who's seen you play. You'll make it."

He smiled at this and said, "Lily, you're the best."

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Well, since I can hardly keep my eyes open, I'm going to bed.. The alarm clock will know what time the tryouts are. See you then."

"'Night," he said in a preoccupied voice. He was staring off into space. Probably imagining how fun it will be to win, she thought. He's hopeless!

***

Lily woke with a start, finding her alarm clock on top of her screaming, "Get up you lazy bum!" With a small grunt, she got up and dressed and went downstairs to find Severus.

He was in the common room, pacing. Laughing, Lily walked over to him. "Nervous?" she asked smiling slightly.

"Uh, no...of course not," he replied in a shaky voice.

Lily had never seen Severus nervous before. He was usually so cocky and confident. She found the whole situation quite funny.

"Don't smirk like that, Lily!" Severus said sounding somewhat helpless.

"Alright! Alright!" she said stifling a laugh, "Lets go get breakfast."

In the Great Hall, Lily found Tara at the Ravenclaw table and told her about the tryouts. Tara smiled in a strange way and said, "Of course I'll go..."

"Go to what?" a slightly high and prim voice asked behind them.

Lily turned and saw Jessica Jefferson standing there looking perfect as usual. Tara looked very disgusted. She said quickly in a voice that matched Jessica's in primness, "Nothing that's your business, Jessica."

Lily looked at Tara with surprise. Lily didn't really like Jessica, but she couldn't imagine being that rude to her, after all she really hadn't done anything. Tara looked back at her with a look that said, "She deserved it."

Jessica replied curty with, "If it doesn't involve me, it can't be very interesting...I mean...after all..."

"Are you done yet?" Severus asked coming over to them from the Slytherin table.

Jessica turned around looking outraged. Who would dare interrupt her? When she saw it was Severus, though, she changed her expression to one of pure sweetness. In a voice that was so sweet it was painful to listen to, she said, "Severus, I was just wondering where you were going. I am just such a curious person..."

Severus looked at Jessica, surprised. "Um...Jessica..." he stuttered.

"Yes?" she prodded.

"We're going to Slytherin Quidditch team tryouts," he said quickly.

Smiling looking satisfied, Jessica said, "Ooh...I wish I could go...but I can't...I already know you will make it, thought. You are so strong and smart..."

Tara cleared her throat loudly.

Severus quickly looked around. "Ooh..." he said in a nervous sounding voice, "common Lily and Tara...I don't want to be late..."

Lily and Tara followed as Severus lead the way out to the Quidditch field.

When they arrived, Severus ran off to grab his broom while the two girls found themselves seats in the stands.

***

The first round of tryouts for the Keeper consisted of the people trying out catching balls that were directly tossed to them. Tara especially was amused by this because most of the people got disqualified at this simple task.

There were now only ten people left, Severus being one of them, of course. The next task was catching balls that were fired from various places on the field. The five people with the most balls caught would advance.

This looked like a much more difficult task than the first to Lily. People and balls were flying around wildly, and she could hardly keep up. At the end, however, Severus not only qualified, but he had caught the most balls of anyone. Lucius Malfoy was second, but he hadn't done nearly as well as Snape.

The last task was surprising to Lily. There was a group of people gathering on the field that Lily recognized as some of the best Chasers in the school. Sirius was there, and Lily became even more surprised. She didn't think Slytherin would invite Gryffindor to help with their tryouts. She waved at him, but he didn't see her.

The chasers picked up Quaffles and got on their brooms. The five remaining contestants lined up, Lucius was at the front and Severus at the back. Lucius got on his broom and positioned himself in front of the goal posts. The Chasers then started throwing the Quaffles at the goals, one right after another, and Lucius darted back and forth on his broom, deflecting and catching as many as possible. He did very well, only letting about five get through.

The next three people didn't do quite as well. Lily kicked Tara in the shins as she started laughing hysterically at one who was spinning in a circle, confused. Lily didn't like her house being made fun of. Severus better do good... she thought nervously.

Severus looked sick with worry even from where they were sitting. He looked over at Lily and Tara, and Lily smiled encouragingly, even though he couldn't see her well enough to tell she was smiling.

Lily crossed her fingers as Severus sped up into the air. He positioned himself, and waited. The Quaffles started coming. Severus flew back and forth, deflecting and catching balls so fast that Lily was dizzy just watching him. Tara looked equally dizzy, and by the end of it, they both were breathing hard even though they had just been sitting there.

"He only let one get through!" Tara said excitedly, "He won!"

"Yea, only one that was thrown by Sirius got through, and...and...he should get it! His broom...what is he riding? Its magnificent!" Lily almost shouted.

They both ran down excitedly to celebrate with Severus, but when they arrived, he was looking more nervous than ever.

"The coach said he couldn't decide...he said the new team members will be posted on the wall where we usually get our test scores," he said in a nervous and out of breath voice.

"Don't worry...he must not have decided about the Beater position. You won hands down!" Tara said smiling, "You really are one of the best Keepers I've ever seen."

Severus gave her a half smile as he walked towards Hogwarts to go rest and change.

***

The next day, Lily, Tara and Severus passed that wall every chance they got. The list didn't appear until after dinner, however. When Severus saw the piece of white from far away, he ran up to the wall and looked at it for a second.

By the time Lily and Tara caught up with him, he was leaning on the wall with his eyes closed and head down, his fists and jaw clenched.

Lily, shocked, walked over to the paper and read:

Here are the new team members for this year's Quidditch team:

Beater: Samuel Smith

Runner up and substitute: Leona Robinson

Keeper: Lucius Malfoy

Runner up and substitute: Severus Snape

Lily's jaw dropped and she looked over at Tara who looked equally horrified.

"Sev...Sev..." Lily said softly, "You should have won....you..."

Severus didn't move a muscle.

Tara decided to try, "The coach was just favoring Lucius. Severus..."

He still didn't move.

As if matters needed to get worse, Lily heard voices behind her. She spun and saw James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter coming straight towards them. Running up to them she said quickly, "Guys! Nice to see you. Lets go outside! Its such a beautiful day..."

"Thanks all the same Lily, but we want to see who made the Slytherin team," Sirius said, and slid past her to go look at the list. The others followed close behind.

"Ooh..." Sirius said slowly. Remus let out a low whistle.

"Well," James said loudly, "looks like I am better than you at Quidditch. I got into my position easily."

"Shut up," Severus said in the coldest voice Lily had ever heard. She let out a shiver and hoped that the four guys were smart enough not to say anything.

Three of the four looked at each other, shocked. They stood there in silence as the other, Peter, said in a stupid voice, "Haha...you're no good! You stupid greasy haired..."

Wham!

Lily shook her head to clear it and saw Peter lying on the floor and Severus with his fist clenched standing in front of him looking shocked.

Remus looked at Snape looking very surprised. "You...you punched Peter!"

"I...I did..." Severus said sounding shocked.

"But..." Sirius said sounding horrified, "Peter's practically defenseless..."

"Oh don't sound so surprised!" Tara burst out. "Everyone in the school wants to punch Peter! He should have kept his mouth shut."

Out of the whole group, Lily now looked the most shocked. "Tara..." she started.

James shook his head. "Let's get out of here guys. I don't want to start a fight with Lily's best friend. We already have some great blackmail material anyway..." he said helping Peter up.

Severus groaned. "My life is ruined," he said in a hopeless voice. "Everything I ever wanted to do or to become is impossible! I didn't make the Quidditch team...I'll probably be expelled..."

"But...you deserved to have gotten on the team Severus..." Lily started.

He shook his head sadly. "No I didn't. Lucius is like a brother to me. He's my best friend in the world. He's the one who taught me to fly when I was five in the first place. I just...wish he would have tried out for Beater."

So do I, Lily thought, sadly.

She sighed and dragged Severus back to the Slytherin common room.