A/N: Well, my lovely readers, here is a bonus chapter for this week, since I'm stuck at home with the flu. Please review!
After dinner, Lily offered to show Hermione around the castle, which was completely unnecessary, but Hermione was thrilled to let the Head Girl. A quick look at the parchment gave her an even better reason to spend time with her best friend's mother, 'Get close to Lily Evens.' That seemed easy enough, the girl was quiet friendly towards Hermione, and had already offered to show her around Hogsmead at the next free weekend. Hermione quickly learned that for students fourth year and above, all weekends were free, barring those who were Prefects and the like, who were scheduled on alternating weekends to look after the lower years. This seemed to Hermione to be a completely excellent idea, giving the teachers time off on the weekend to attend to other things. She assumed that the first war had put a stop to the practice.
As Lily took her up and down corridors, she chatted about Hogwarts, their professors; of whom McGonagall was her favorite, classes, her friends, and her boyfriend, James.
"He and his friends are a bit Quidditch mad, but then, I have hardly met a boy that isn't," Lily was saying as they walked down towards the Potions classroom and the Dungeons. "He's the Gryffindor seeker, and he's quite food. We were Quidditch Cup Champions, unfortunately we lost two last year, and there's no telling what that will do to the team."
"Looks like it will be a Slytherin year," a growling voice came from around a dark corner, as they descended into the dungeons. "Filling your newest recruit with lies already?"
"Severus," Lily said in a dark voice, clearly displeased with seeing him. "You would do well to leave us be."
"If you are so repelled by my presence, perhaps it is you who should leave," the dark boy crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, glaring at the Head Girl.
"Maybe I can take you down to the potions corridor another time," Lily said, taking hold of Hermione's arm and giving a disturbed glance at Snape over her shoulder.
"I don't see why we should let a little snark keep us from our agenda," Hermione said, quietly to Lily, as the red head lead her back up the stairs. They could both hear Snape chuckling from his place against the wall.
"Severus Snape is a lot more than just a little snark," Lily said, striding down the hall head of Hermione, forcing her to job in order to catch up with the Head Girl. "He's a mean bastard, and I wager as violent as his father was." Lily turned and looked at Hermione, stopping abruptly in the middle of the Front Hall. "Once upon a time, Severus and I were friends. We grew up down the road from each other, and went to primary school together." Lily said, clearly missing those days. "Things changed when we got to Hogwarts. We were sorted into different houses, and his new friends weren't very nice to those of us who were Muggle born." Lily sat down on one of the steps, and Hermione joined her. "With the discovery that Severus was a wizard, his father became increasingly abusive to both him and his mother." The red head sighed. "I'm sure that did a lot to color his ideas about muggles, and it put further strain on our friendship. We had some pretty public fights, which weren't helped on either side by our house mates. You'll learn pretty fast that there is no love lost between James and Severus."
Hermione knew how it ended, though Lily didn't say. Harry had told her about the incident which ends with Snape's knickers showing and him calling Lily a Mudblood. She didn't see that as any reason to run away from the boy, he was only seventeen, how bad could he be, and on top of it, Hermione knew Snape. He was an evil bastard most of the time, but his bark was much worse than his bite, plus he turned spy because of his love for this girl. She shook her head and turned to the girl who was gathering herself together, and started up the stairs ahead of Hermione. She waited for the girl to go a little head of her, before she checked the parchment. It now said: 'Befriend Severus Snape.' She shoved the parchment back into her pocket, vowing to find a more covert way to read her mission instructions, and took the steps two at a time to catch up with Lily.
As Hermione lay in bed that night, Max a warm weight beside her, she went over her mission, or at least the bits she was yet to accomplish. She thought over what Dumbledore had said about paying attention to how things were worded. The Parchment had instructed her to 'Get close to Lily' which struck her as very Slytherin wording; they tended to have acquaintances and allies, as opposed to friends. The best way to get close to a Gryffindor was to become friends. Which she was sure the Parchment, or whoever was, or had, supplied it with the instructions, knew. It had also told her to 'Befriend Severus' which bewildered her, it was such a Gryffindor concept, but she supposed, upon further thought, that it made since. Snape had played a vital role, albeit from the wrong side, during the first war; if Hermione could persuade his allegiances before he left school, maybe she could get him to ally with the Order of the Phoenix, robbing Voldemort of his change to hear the prophecy, and change the tide of war. The best and only way, as far as Hermione could see, to sway Snape, was to gain his trust, which she would do by becoming his friend. Now how to accomplish that was for another day.
Hermione gently petted Max, who purred so loudly she was half worried he would wake the other girls, and then snuggled down further under the covers.