"Severus!" He was snapped out of his memories by Lucius Malfoy, who had been poking him with his wand to try and get his attention.
"Yes?"
"You're not pining after that Gryffindor girl are you?" Lucius raised his eyebrow, clearly disapproving.
If it weren't for that fact that he wanted to stay on Lucius' good side, he would have snapped at him with some sarcastic remark. Instead he crossed his arms and scoffed. "Me? Pining? I have not, will ever, pine over Lily Evans!"
It appeared that he had not convinced him. "We're just friends."
Lucius still looked incredulous. "I never thought you were naive, Severus. There's no such thing as friendships between Gryffindor and Slytherins! Such a thing is impossible!"
Why did he even bothering defending himself to Lucius? He didn't need to explain himself to anyone.
"She's not the typical, arrogant Gryffindor. Not like Potter. She should be in Slytherin. She has the determination and cunning. If she were a pureblood-"
"So you're pining after a Gryffindor Mudblood? That's even worse! I never would have thought that you of all people would-"
"I am not pining. I just simply happened to be looking in the direction of my friend. Besides, she's got to have magical blood somewhere. She's far too intelligent to really be a Mudblood." Mudblood. The word just slipped out. Merlin…he'd better hope that Lily will never find out that he said that. She's curse him to oblivion.
"Perhaps."
"Now that we are done with this interrogation, I would like to talk with my friend." With that, he got up and walked to Lion's den, dreading every step. Lily was worth it, he thought.
Wordlessly, he approached the gaggle of third year girls that Lily had surrounded herself with.
Lily looked up and smiled. "Hello Severus! Please, come and sit down with us." Alice smiled as well and moved over, so did her other friend, what was her name…Mary? The others looked at him with distaste but didn't say anything.
"So Severus, we were talking about electives. Which ones are you taking? I'm taking ancient runes and muggle studies! I thought it would be fascinating to see the wizarding perspective on muggles." Why did she have to say muggle studies? That's one more thing for his house to hold against him. "Alice is taking Muggle Studies and Care of Magical Creatures. We'll have muggle studies together!" Lily was very obviously pleased.
"And I'm taking Arithmancy and Divination," Mary said in her nasally voice.
"Arithmancy and Ancient runes," Severus said hesitantly. Did he really want a girl who clearly didn't like him to know his schedule? She'd probably tell Potter and-never mind. Sometimes it was best not to think things like that.
Lily's face lit up so brightly that Severus himself felt the corners of his mouth moving upwards involuntarily. "That means that you'll be in my class! Now I'll definitely have friends in all of my classes!"
Mary looked at Lily strangely. "Why would you take muggle studies if you were raised as a muggle?"
"Like I just said, it'll be fascinating studying the wizarding perspective!"
That was actually an interesting thought. This is why he enjoyed her company. She cared less about looking cool and more about acquiring knowledge. Conversations with her were far more interesting than those with most of his fellow classmates-not counting Narcissa Black and Lucius Malfoy.
"I suppose it would if it mattered-which it doesn't. You already know everything there is to know about muggles-does what you'd learn in that class really matter? It still doesn't change anything about the muggle world if we get a few insignificant facts wrong!"
He recognized the sudden spark in Lily's eyes as determination mixed with frustration. Knowing Lily, it was also laced with a hint of anger. He almost felt sorry for Mary.
"That kind of thing is exactly what's fuelling Voldemort's cause!"
"Please, you don't know anything-"
"I certainly know better than you! You're a pureblood! It's about fear and ignorance. Some purebloods believe that muggles are inferior. They think that muggles are uncivilized because they have to find ways other than magic to solve their problems! Ignorance begets fear. Fear begets prejudice. Prejudice begets violence! You've lived your whole life as a witch so you should know better than me, but you don't. You're not the one who reads the prophet, hoping that your family doesn't live on the next street that's attacked! You don't have to fear for your family the way I do!" So the truth comes out. Severus knew that something had been bothering her lately because she had been distracted on the train (although she tried to hide it), but no amount of asking or even…begging (he hated to think about how he had resorted to such a pitiful action) would get her to confess.
Lily's face was flushed and her breathing had picked up. Now more than ever it felt like they were on two different sides of a glass wall. They could hear each other, see each other, and talk to each other, but neither one could reach out and touch the other. It was a cruel kind of irony. Severus depended on Lily as his friend in ways that he would never care to admit, but he could never get too close, because when he did, he'd run into the wall and be damaged by it. He was a half blood Slytherin, and she was a Mudblood. She was living in fear and people like him were causing it.
If you asked him, he'd say that Mudbloods, with a few rare exceptions, were inferior to wizards. That's just the way that life worked. They were ignorant of wizard culture, less intelligent, weaker magically, and weaker physically. That But Lily…Lily was different. She was more intelligent than most wizards and talented as well. She was worth as much as any wizard.
He wasn't stupid-he was top of his class (next to her). Such thoughts were what set them apart. If she knew thoughts on the Subject she'd never speak to him again. And logically speaking, why would she? He had just insulted her kind.
It was times like this, when Lily was fired up about the war that he feared that she would sever their friendship because of their differences. All he could do was refrain from any major point that he knew that they disagreed on.
He tried to grasp words to comfort her, but as usual, he fell short. "At least if they attacked, you'd be rid of that loathsome sister of yours." It was obvious that she didn't know what to think. Judging from her face she was debating whether she should be angry or amused. Apparently she had settled for a little of both.
"Severus! How could you say something like that? She may not be the most agreeable person in the world, but still…" Then the anger faded into a smirk. "Some days I wonder if she deserves it."
"She does. Surely you haven't forgotten last summer?" Last Summer Petunia had shoved her down a flight of stairs in a fit of rage. The next day she had burst into tears recounting what had happened.
The rest of the table was all leaning forward in an attempt to glean some information on the mysterious sister of Lily Evans and on Lily's relationship to Severus.
Before any of them could what had happened a crack ripped through the air, which was now filled with red and gold fireworks. No question was required to know the culprit-it was Potter and his cronies. Who else would perform such desperate acts for attention? A gasp had drawn his attention to the sparks which were rearranging themselves to read, "Lily Evans, will you be my girl friend?"