Author's Note: Thank you to Professor Radar for the lengthy review. Thank you as always to aberrantstrain, although I should warn that this chapter is actually not beta'd because I was too lazy to send it on time, and I actually added a scene to the chapter just this morning.

By the way, someone asked me when there is more sexy stuff coming up. In case anyone else is wondering, it's coming up next chapter, then again in chapters 17 and probably 20.

Chapter 12: Sneak

The afternoon following the Slug Club fiasco, Severus and Evan made their way to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom for the weekly duelling club meeting. When they reached the door, they were ushered in by a stern faced Professor Moody and an over-excited Professor Flitwick, who was hopping about from foot to foot.

"Come in, come in, boys! Meeting's about to start!"

The large room had been cleared, desks and chairs stacked at the back. Around forty or so students, ranging from first year all the way to seventh, milled about, chatting among each other. Most were boys. Across the room, Sirius Black caught Severus's eye, and made a rude gesture, obviously still riled over their argument yesterday. Severus rolled his eyes. Potter, surprisingly, did not get involved. He was standing with his hands in his pockets, head down, the toe of his trainer scuffing at the flagstone floor.

Evan elbowed him in the ribs. "Potter seems oddly subdued today, doesn't he?" he whispered.

But before Severus could answer, Flitwick shot a series of sparks out of his wand.

"Right, right, gather round now, everyone," he said in his preternaturally squeaky voice. "Now, just because we have chosen our Hogwarts representatives for this year's championship at Beauxbatons does not mean that the rest of you can slack off. You must practise hard now if you want to improve your chances next year. And even the rest of you seventh years…you must keep in top form in case Messrs Longbottom or Shacklebolt fall sick and we need to choose a substitute at the last minute!"

Every fall, a series of internal tryouts was held during club meetings to select the two-person team that would represent the school at the prestigious International Student Duelling Championships at the end of the year. The winter and spring terms were devoted to training not just the chosen team, but also all the other students for the following year's tryouts. The championship was only open to fifth years and above.

Severus and Evan had been dreaming of going together since first year. So had Potter and Black.

Moody clapped her hands sharply. "Alright! Into your pairs. Simple disarms and shields to warm up. Fourth years and above…I had better not see your lips moving — silent spells only!" she called out over the din of shuffling feet as twenty pairs of students clambered into formation.

After their warm up, the upper years moved on to two-on-two free form duelling, while third years and below gathered at the front of the room for targeted instruction with Professor Moody. Severus and Evan duelled Longbottom and Shacklebolt. The older students, both holding provisional acceptances into the Aurory pending their NEWT scores, held a slight technical edge over them. But Severus and Evan, having duelled together for over four years now, moved together with easy grace, anticipating each others' movements effortlessly.

When Longbottom had finally managed to disarm Severus (Shacklebolt and Evan were already out), Flitwick came rushing over, an eager smile plastered on his crinkled face.

"It's early days yet, but I think that we've already found our Hogwarts team for next year! What do you say boys?" he asked, turning to the current year's team.

Longbottom had a sour look on his face, but Shacklebolt grinned. "I'll say, these too runts sure gave us a run for our money there!" he boomed good-naturedly.

Flitwick called an end to the session and they piled out of the classroom.

Evan was beaming from ear to ear. "Did you hear what Flitwick said? We're going to Durmstrang next year! Just like we've always wanted. I can't wait!"

They spent the rest of the way back to the dorms arguing about where exactly Durmstrang was located, and if it was true that the only way that they could keep the student body warm was to serve vodka with meals.

The morning of the Slytherin-Ravenclaw Quidditch match dawned bright and clear. It was the third weekend of January, and the students had been cooped up inside and swamped with homework. As a result, everyone (even the resident swots) were going to be attending the match today. Everyone, that is, apart from Severus and Lily. Lily had suggested that they ought to skip on the match: with the Slytherin dormitories expected to be deserted, it was the 'perfect opportunity' for them to spend some 'quality time' together. When Severus had raised an eyebrow and asked her exactly what this 'quality time' was expected to entail, she only gave him a saucy smirk full of all kinds of filthy promise, and assured him that they would 'think of something.'

Needless to say, Severus had been popping inappropriate boners left and right (but not centre, as his trousers wouldn't allow it) all week in anticipation. He even lost his impromptu debate with Lily the previous day regarding the upcoming referendum on continued membership in the EEC (1), as he was paying rather more attention to the shape of Lily's sumptuous lips than the words that were coming out of them.

Coming…lips…oh hell, there he went again.

He had worked out a system with Evan to avoid getting caught. Evan, who was attending the match with everyone else, had agreed to warn Severus as soon as the match was over by way of a matching set of knuts that Severus had charmed to vibrate (101 uses for protean charms in everyday life! the book that Lily had read when she had enchanted the pocket mirrors, really was dead useful). The minimum twenty minute trek from the Quidditch field back to the Slytherin common room would be enough time to sneak Lily back out of the dungeons with no one the wiser. Or so they hoped, anyway.

Severus met up with Lily in the Entrance Hall after breakfast, and they waited until the throngs of students had made their way to the pitch, before starting the long trek down to the dungeons. His stomach felt like it had been taken over by a horde of butterflies, and he regretted the bangers and mash that he had had for breakfast. They walked in awkward silence, darting glances at each other out of the corners of their eyes, and he could feel Lily's nervous anticipation — and holy hell was that arousal already? — seeping through her shields. He was going to be alone in his room with Lily. For hours. A room with a bed. And no other people.

His dick was already hard.

He left Lily outside the entrance while he did a sweep of the common room and the boys dormitories, first. Unfortunately, he couldn't check the girls dormitories, but given that Slytherin was playing today, he felt confident that they were, indeed, as deserted as they looked. He went back outside to fetch Lily, and she followed him up the stairs swiftly.

Once they entered his room, he stood around awkwardly, waiting for her to take the lead. Which, bless the girl, she did immediately.

"So…which one's your bed?" she asked coyly.

"That one in the far corner," he said, pointing it out to her.

She strode over to it purposefully, drew open the hangings, and hopped onto it as casually as if it were her own bed.

He swallowed around the lump in his throat, and went to join her on his bed. He sat beside her, wiping his sweaty palms on the bedspread. She smiled at him and his mouth went dry. She was breathtaking, even in spite of the hideous green paisley blouse that she wore tucked into her flared denims. It was topped with a collar that was tied into an enormous bow over her chest, which gave one the impression that she might catch flight with a particularly strong breeze.

"So…" she said, looking at him expectantly.

"So…" he echoed, looking back at her.

He knew what she was here for. He knew she was waiting for him to make the first move. He just couldn't bring himself to do it. Which was bloody stupid. They had snogged on several occasions already. They had whispered filthy nothings into each other's ears. She had (however briefly) felt the hardness of his erection beneath her hand. So why was he still so bloody nervous around her?

"Here we are, then," she said, smiling hesitantly.

Looking for something to do, he reached out and pulled the bed hangings closed around them, plunging them into total darkness. As if the prospect of making a move hadn't been scary enough already…now he couldn't even bloody see her. He cursed under his breath and flicked his left wrist, his wand sliding easily into his palm from its place in the holster. He really did love that thing.

He muttered a quick Lumos under his breath and chucked his wand down at the end of the bed. It illuminated the inside of his canopied bed with a soft glow that could almost be called romantic. She appeared ethereal in the low light. He reached out a trembling hand and brushed her long auburn hair behind her shoulder, exposing her neck to him. She sighed, her eyes falling closed. He took that as the encouragement that he desperately needed, and leaned forward, pressing a soft kiss just behind her ear. He felt her shudder. He did it again. Then, all of a sudden, she whipped around, taking his face in her hands, and before he had got his bearings back, she had her tongue in his mouth.

Severus prayed to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph that it would take little Regulus Black all damn day to catch the bloody snitch.

Outside in the stands, the air was brisk, but the skies clear; the sun's unobstructed rays provided some much needed warmth.

James winced as Sirius simultaneously bellowed into his ear and clapped him on the back: "Quaffle's over there, mate."

"I know," he mumbled distractedly.

"Right," said Sirius, and James knew his best friend well enough to hear the eye roll without looking at him, "that would be why you've got your omnioculars pointed at the stands instead of the game, then?"

"Listen, have you seen Lily anywhere? I saw her at breakfast, but I didn't see her walking down, and she's not standing with the girls."

"Maybe she's not feeling well. It is pepper-up season," said Sirius unconcernedly.

James fiddled with the knobs on the omnioculars. "But here's the thing. Snape's missing as well. There's Rosier, Wilkes, Avery, Mulciber, the whole lot. But Snape's not with them. And this is a Slytherin match. Where's he off to then?"

Sirius groaned dramatically. "Oh no, not this again. Jamie, you're obsessed with that stupid bint. Give it a rest, already. Who cares what she's up to, or who she's up to it with?"

"Listen," James said over Sirius's objections, "I'm just going to run back up to Gryffindor tower for a minute. I'll be right back."

"You're going to check that bloody map, aren't you?" growled Sirius, eyes narrowed.

James didn't answer, already making his way out through the packed stands.

Once he was clear of the stands, he ran full out back to castle, and by the time he got up to Gryffindor Tower, his chest was heaving despite his daily Quidditch training. Ordinarily, he would stop to flirt with the fat lady (there was a reason she never ratted them out on all their nightly escapades). But this was important. He needed to know where Lily was…needed to make sure that wherever she was, she was safe. So he stormed through the portrait hole, ignoring her affronted gasp, and up the stairs to the Gryffindor fourth year boy's dormitory. Rummaging through his trunk, he had the map out in a jiffy, and nearly tore it in his haste to unravel it.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he muttered. His eyes immediately flitted over to the Slytherin boys dormitory, and that's exactly where he spotted them.

Well, somebody was sure up to no good, but it wasn't him. That slimy git had somehow lured Lily into his lair, and who knew what he was going to try with her now that he had her all alone. He needed to rescue her. But how? Even though he knew where the hidden entrance to the Slytherin common room was, there was no way that he could get inside without the password. There was nothing he could do. But he couldn't just leave Lily in Snape's clutches, subject to his mercy…

No, he couldn't take care of this on his own, but he had to do something.

He raced back down the stairs, across the common room, out the portrait hole (the fat lady hollering after him all the way), and back out the castle to the quidditch pitch.

When he arrived at the stands, the match was still going strong. Slytherin and Ravenclaw were tied at 90 points each, and according to the commentator, there had been no sign of the snitch yet. He had been hoping that the game would be over by the time that he got back, so that the students would be on their way back to the Slytherin dorms. But James had a hunch that this game was going to be a long one, which meant that Lily could be trapped alone with that snake for hours. And when it came to quidditch, James's hunches tended to ring true.

No he needed to do something, and he needed to do it fast. He dithered in place for a moment at the bottom of the stands, a vague plan starting to form in his head.

Instead of rejoining his friends, James headed up to the teachers' stands. He found Professor McGonagall in her customary place next to the other Heads of House. Slytherin had just scored, and she was cussing up a storm. McGonagall could really be startlingly uncouth when it came to quidditch.

She spotted him as he made his way over to her. "Mr. Potter! What on Earth are you doing here? This area is for professors only."

"I need to speak with you in private, professor," he said urgently.

"Now, Potter? In case it has escaped your notice, we are in the middle of a match at the moment."

"I know, I —" he hesitated.

He had been about to say that he was worried about a fellow student, which was the truth. But it suddenly occurred to him that the truth maybe wasn't the best way to approach this with McGonagall. Even if she took his concerns about Snape seriously (fat chance — the teachers were always giving that slime ball the benefit of the doubt, unable or unwilling to see what was so obvious to James and his friends), she would want to know how he knew that Snape and Lily were in the Slytherin boys' dormitories in the first place. And then what was he supposed to do? It's not like he could tell her about the map. No, he needed to go about this the right way. The smart way.

He tried again: "I wanted to bring an urgent disciplinary matter to your attention, professor."

"A disciplinary matter? You?" McGonagall asked incredulously. James winced. True, he was known more for breaking the rules than for making sure that his fellow student observed them. Well, at least he had her attention, now.

"Yes, it's, uh, about Lily Evans. I know that she was planning to sneak into the Slytherin boys' dorms with Snape today, and I've noticed that neither of them are at the match today…"

McGonagall studied him shrewdly over the square rims of her spectacles. "And how do you know this, Mr. Potter?" she asked sharply.

"I, uh, overheard Lily talking about it with her, uh, friend this morning at breakfast," he improvised.

She raised a pencilled eyebrow. "Her friend? Which friend?"

Bollocks. The old bat was really giving him the third degree here. "Uh…Mary MacDonald."

"Miss MacDonald, you say?" McGonagall considered this for a moment, before motioning for him to follow her. "Alright then, Mr. Potter, come with me."

"What? Where are we going?"

"To talk to Miss MacDonald, of course." The bottom dropped out of his stomach. Blast. Now what had he gotten himself into? He should have known that McGonagall would want to confirm his story before looking any further into it.

They made their way over to where the Gryffindor fourth year girls were sitting. MacDonald was engrossed in the game, and didn't notice their approach.

McGonagall stopped right in front of MacDonald and cleared her throat, getting the girl's attention immediately.

"Professor McGonagall! Is — is something wrong?" MacDonald asked, eyes darting around nervously.

"Miss MacDonald, I'm terribly sorry to interrupt, but if I may borrow a moment of your time?" said McGonagall, not unkindly.

"Certainly, professor," said MacDonald, brow crinkled in confusion. McGonagall gestured to the side of the stands, and they followed her so that they could all speak in privacy.

McGonagall cleared her throat again. "Miss MacDonald, Mr. Potter here tells me that he overheard Miss Evans telling you that she planned to sneak into the Slytherin dormitories this morning to meet up with Mr. Snape?"

Mary frowned, but before she could open her mouth to deny the allegation, James caught her eye from where he was standing next to McGonagall, silently pleading with her that she follow along.

"Well, Miss MacDonald?"

"Y-yes, that's right," she said, cottoning on quickly. James breathed a silent sigh of relief.

McGonagall threw her hands up in the air. "Why on Earth didn't you come to me with this?"

"I, uh, didn't want to get her in trouble." As McGonagall's lips started to thin dangerously, MacDonald rushed to amend her statement. "I mean, I tried to talk her out of it, I swear, but she was determined to go, and there was nothing that I could do to change her mind. She — she made me promise not to tell." She hung her head, blinking away tears that had suddenly appeared. "I'm terribly sorry for disappointing you, professor, but she's my best friend. I didn't want to betray her." Damn, MacDonald was good.

"Well, then. Thank you for your honesty Miss MacDonald, and your concern, Mr. Potter. I will see to this at once."

James breathed a deep sigh of relief. His ruse had worked. Thank Merlin. Lily would be safe. And that no good snake would get what was coming to him.

1 - On Thursday Jan 23, 1975, the Labour Cabinet decided that the national referendum on whether Britain would remain part of the European Economic Community would take place before June. (It was held June 5, and 67% voted Yes.) The newspaper article that Sev and Lily read announcing the Cabinet's decision would have appeared on Friday January 24, the day before the Quidditch Match.

Author's Note 2: Head on over to AO3 for a copy of the newspaper article and also for a photo of Lily's hideous green paisley blouse!

Please review! I love to hear from you.