(Same disclaimer as other chapters)
Ch. 5 The World Isn't Perfect
The next few weeks were some of the most unpleasant Lily had ever seen. Severus spent his time moping around and refusing to speak to anyone. The only times when he'd perk up was when Lucius was around. He pretended to be overly happy, then, which was almost worse.
Lily and Tara did everything they could think of to cheer him up. Nothing worked. Finally Lily got sick and tired of it and blew up at him.
"You can't stay depressed forever," she yelled, "You'll drive yourself and everyone around you crazy!"
"It sounds like you already are," Severus said with a half smile.
Seeing the smile, Lily almost screamed for joy.
"See..." he said, "I'm getting over it, slowly. Pretty soon I'll forget about it and I'll be back to normal. Its just...hard..."
Lily sighed and sank into a chair. "Yes," she said sadly, "I know. How do you think I felt when the hat told me all of my flaws and put me in Slytherin?"
Severus looked around and said to Lily with a slight laugh, "Better keep your voice down. Unless of course you want to be more looked down on than you already are here..."
"How would you know if I'm looked down on here, Severus?" she said haughtily.
"Uh..." he said slowly, "because I'm the only person who hangs around with you. Sure people talk to you, but only after you talk to them first."
"Oh..." she said sounding helpless, "I know. I don't think it'll ever get better, though. No matter what I do, its never enough for the girls here. I wish Tara was in Slytherin...or even better, I was in Ravenclaw."
"But..." Severus said in a "that's ridiculous" tone, "then you wouldn't be in my house, and everyone knows I'm the coolest."
Lily rolled her eyes. "Ok, I think you're officially cured of your depression. I wish you would have kept some of the humility, though. But, you're right, I'm glad I'm not in Ravenclaw. Then I'd have to see Jessica a lot more."
"For me that'd be a plus..." he said with a dreamy look in his eyes. "Why don't you like her anyway?"
"Well, there's a few reasons. One, she's stuck up. Two, she's annoying. Three, she thinks she's Queen of the World. Four, she always looks perfect..."
"That's not a bad thing," he interrupted.
She sighed, "It is to me."
"Ah," Severus said with a wicked grin, "now I get it. You're jealous! That's the funniest thing I've ever heard. Lily...jealous..." he broke off laughing hysterically.
Lily clenched her teeth together. "I am not jealous Severus...and if you don't stop laughing I'll go tell Jessica you like her."
The laughing stopped.
"Well it would be true..." Lily started.
Severus looked at her for a minute, considering. Finally he said, "Oh, fine, yes...I like her...but every boy in the school likes her. Even James, and he...has well...interesting tastes. But, there's no need to be jealous of her, Lily, you're pretty too, not as pretty as Jessica of course, though."
Muttering under her breath, Lily sat there considering which person she should hurt first, Jessica, James or Severus. Just then, luckily for everyone concerned, Lucius came in, looking happy as ever.
"Today's the first team practice. I'm so excited. Sev, wanna come watch me play?" Lucius asked with a huge grin.
"Um..." Severus said in a voice that sounded like he was struggling with himself, "Yes...I will...I've got to get over this sometime..."
"Get over what?" Lucius asked, lost.
"Uh, never mind," Severus replied quickly. "Wanna come too, Lily?" he asked pleadingly.
"I'm sorry," she said with a sigh, "but I've got to do my homework. I've just spent most of my day talking to you, and...well...I've got to do it sometime."
Severus straightened up and, looking like he was going to battle, left with Lucius to go out to watch the practice.
***
After hours of homework, Lily decided to go find her Gryffindor friends and have some fun. She found them close the main doors, but they didn't look like they were having fun. All of them looked shocked except for Peter, who looked stupid as usual.
"What's wrong?" she asked as she came up to them.
"Accident, at the Quidditch field..." James said out of breath. "Lucius' broom was jinxed, it bucked him off...he's been rushed off to the hospital wing...but they don't know if he's...gonna make it."
"What?" Lily asked in horror, "Who jinxed the broom?"
"That's just the thing everyone's trying to find out," Sirius said.
"But...I think we all have an idea of who did it," James said.
"Uh..." Lily said, clueless, "I don't..."
Remus looked at the other three boys and said, "Lily, that's cause you're too...nice and unsuspecting. I don't know how to break this to you, but our number one suspect is.."
Peter broke in suddenly, and yelled, "It was Snape!"
Lily looked shocked. "No, it wasn't," she replied frankly. "He would never do anything like this, especially to his best friend! You four just don't like him!"
"You saw what he did to Peter!" James said defensively. "Besides, who else would do this?"
"Well..." she replied slowly, "Lucius isn't without enemies...including you guys for that matter."
Sirius let out a low whistle. "That was uncalled for, Lily. We wouldn't do it...we're not like Snape..."
"It was not uncalled for!" Lily said, feeling like crying. "You four are just as stupid...or even stupider than he is!"
With that, she stormed off to the Slytherin common room to see if she could find Severus.
***
When she walked in, she found Severus pacing the length of the room looking very worried. Once he saw her, he started to talk, but didn't stop pacing.
"Have you heard?" he asked sounding sick.
"Yes..." she said slowly. "Do they think he's going to be alright? Do you know who jinxed his broom?"
He sighed and said, "Lily, I don't know any more than you do. They wouldn't let me into the hospital wing to see him."
"Well," she said sounding as upbeat as she could, "they have wonderful medical facilities here. He should be okay if the problem is fixable..."
"If..." he said and walked over to sit in a chair. "I don't understand. Who would want to do this to Lucius? I mean...he's pretty well liked. I don't think James would even stoop this low."
"Some people have their theories," Lily said very slowly, "but they're insane. I have no idea who did it. All I can do is narrow the list down, and that doesn't do a whole lot of good in a school this size."
"Yea..." he said. "Lily, want to come with me to the hospital wing? I won't be able to do anything else until I know if he's okay."
"Ok," she said cautiously. "Let's just hope we don't run into James in the halls."
Severus looked surprised at this, but didn't comment.
***
"He's going to be just fine," came the words, about three hours after the accident. Huge sighs of relief came from the group, along with cheers. "He won't be flying again for quite some time, though."
"Can I go see him?" Severus asked right away.
"Well, ok...but only a few people for a couple of minutes. We don't want to exhaust him."
Severus grabbed Lily by the arm and dragged her into the hospital room. There, in a hospital bed looking like he had been beat up,.was Lucius. He opened his eyes and said weakly, "Sev...I'm alive." With a slight laugh he said, "Never thought I'd fall off a broom, eh?"
Snape laughed weakly as he looked down at his friend. "Nope, I sure didn't. You're gonna be able to be Keeper for this season, though, aren't you?"
"No," Lucius said with a slight laugh. "And even if I could I wouldn't. I think I'm going to give flying a rest for a season. I'll try out next year. Besides, Keeper isn't really my position anyway. Should've tried out for Beater."
Lily rolled her eyes at the irony, but said encouragingly, "I hope you get better quickly, Lucius."
"Uh...thanks," he said quickly. He definitely doesn't like me, she thought for the fiftieth time.
"Ok that's enough you two, he needs his rest," the doctor said coming back in.
Severus and Lily left, Severus grudgingly, Lily happily.
***
The next few weeks entailed Severus going to practices practically nonstop, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter giving him dirty glares and mubling to themselves, and Lily standing in the middle trying to avoid a confrontation. She wasn't very successful.
One night, Lily decided to talk to her friends about the rumor starting. It would eventually get back to Severus which would probably lead to a fight. They took her criticism very well, considering that they were boys, and agreed to stop spreading the rumors, but to nothing else, and insisted that they still believed Severus was the guilty party.
So, they went out and did something worse. They confronted Severus. Lily tried to stop them, and even tried to curse them to stay away, but nothing worked. They were waiting by the door with Lily standing in front of them when Severus came back from a particularly long practice.
"Uh, hi Lily," he said slightly surprised. He was covered in dirt and sweat and looked exhausted.
Lily tried to grab him and rush off, but she was too late.
"We all know you're the one responsible for your "friend's" accident. Why don't you just admit it?" James stepped in front of Lily as he spoke.
"Wh-What?" Severus said groggily. "Of course I'm not responsible. What are you talking about?"
"Don't play dumb with us, Severus," Remus said, also stepping around Lily. "We know it was you."
"I would never do something like that. Lucius is like my brother! You guys are just stupid." He replied in an angry yet tired voice.
He's too tired to get in a fight. That's a plus, Lily thought.
"Well just watch your step," James said. "We might just get some evidence on you and...you'll get expelled."
Severus just shook his head. "The headmaster's too smart to fall for any phony evidence you come up with." And with that he pushed his way past them to go back to the Slytherin quarters.
"See? He's obviously not guilty," Lily said in a "I told you so" tone.
"I think his conscious is bothering him..." Sirius said half to himself, "or else he would've been more reactive."
"He's just been at a very long Quidditch practice...oh why do I expect boys to see sense. I'll see you guys tomorrow."
Lily followed Severus back to the Slytherin common room, but when she arrived he had already gone to his dormitory.
***
The first Quidditch game of the year was between Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Everyone was excited, except for Severus. He was so worried, Lily feared he was going to be too sick to play.
Lily and Tara arrived early to get good seats. When they announced the players, Severus looked fine. Lily sighed in relief, and heard a similar sigh come from Tara.
The first goal was scored by Slytherin, and the whole stadium erupted with cheers and boos. Tara had agreed to cheer for Slytherin on every game except when they were playing against Ravenclaw, so she cheered along with Lily.
Everything was going perfect until Lily heard a high, snobbish voice behind her. "He's the best Keeper ever, you know," she heard Jessica say.
Lily turned around and was shocked to see that Jessica was talking to her. "Yea, he is good," she replied.
"The best. And he wouldn't have even had his chance if it hadn't been for me," she said in a cocky voice.
Tara rolled her eyes and said in a sarcastic voice, "Why what'd you do, bribe the coach?"
"I tried, but unfortunately he said he didn't accept bribes. So, after Lucius got it, I took matters into my own hands."
"YOU jinxed his broom?" Lily asked, unbelievingly.
"I refuse to affirm or deny it," she said in a tone that meant, "yes I did."
"But...why?" Tara asked, confused, "What are you gaining by this?"
"I didn't mean to hurt him that badly..." she said uncertainly, then went on with confidence, "but, well, my future boyfriend has to be on the Quidditch team."
"Your future boyfriend!?" Tara asked angrily. "Says who?"
"Says me," Jessica replied as if explaining to a child, "You see, my mom told me I can have any man I want, and I know she's right. I'm choosing Severus. He is one of the most popular boys of his grade, basically everyone likes him, but he is selective in choosing close friends. I almost chose James, but I think that friend Peter of his would bring my image down."
"Bring your image down?" Lily said outraged. "You can not have any man you want! I'm going to tell Severus how horrible you are before you can get to him!"
Tara nodded looking shocked at what Jessica had said.
"Oh I wouldn't do that if I were you, Lily. Not unless you want your reputation at school ruined... I could start a rumor about you being the one who jinxed Lucius' broom, that you were the one who made Johnny Robinson break his leg and that you are a dark wizard!"
"WHAT? You're evil! I'm going to get you, Jessica, how dare you..." Lily said standing up.
"SEVERUS SNAPE MAKES A BRILLIANT SAVE TO KEEP THE SCORE 150-0 SLYTHERIN, AND SLYTHERIN GETS THE SNITCH! SLTYERHIN WINS 300-0!"
Lily turned for a minute to see Severus smiling, holding the Quaffle while the Seeker held up his fist with the Snitch in it. When she turned back, Jessica was gone.
Grumbling, Lily turned to Tara. "I think she's going to cause trouble..."
"Yes," said Tara, "but how do we stop her? She's perfect..."
"Not that perfect," Lily grumbled.
Authors note: sorry if you guys found this chapter too depressing...lol I'll try to make the next one happier.