Author Note: Read [bracketed] words as crossed out!

Chapter 12: Retaliation

I'm basically feeling back to normal by breakfast the next morning. Transfiguration class went really well again; Potter and I were not late and actually ended up sitting together in there too. It felt, well, normal, after working together so well all morning in Potions, and then I had the added benefit of James hissing tips to me while we practiced Vanishing Spells on the same ravens from last week's lesson. The Marauders and my own mates took the seating switch with amused expressions.

"Oh, so we're sitting with James now, are we?" Marlene teased on our way to lunch. "Should we eat with him and his mates, too?"

"He's just helping me with Transfiguration, Marlene," I said, ignoring the 'James' jibe altogether.

But the funny thing is, we did end up sitting together at dinner. And not even like my friends sat by his friends so we were tangentially sitting together, but like, I was early to dinner since I had a free period right before and I was sitting there eating my shepherd's pie alone and James plopped himself down next to me to help himself to some as well and then we just like... ate dinner together. And even had a perfectly civil conversation about Defense Against the Dark Arts. Wild.

It's all kind of confusing. All yesterday, I kept forgetting that I didn't really like him and that he's a huge git. Instead, I stopped frowning at him every time he looked at me and sometimes, I even laughed at his jokes.

I suppose these things do happen when you stop expecting the worst out of someone. And are kind of forced to spend a considerable amount of time together.

So today, despite the tight ball of fury in my stomach at Severus and the weird shift in my relationship with Potter, I'm feeling pretty good. Ready to take on a full day of classes and then tutoring again tonight. I'm not even dreading spending time alone with James for once. I feel like we maybe maybe might be starting to be… friends?

I should have known it was all too good to be true.

I look up when the owls swoop into the Hall to deliver the post, hopefully scanning the feathery mass for Barnaby. Mum had written me back, but I hadn't heard anything from Petunia yet, even though I sent Barnaby off with her letter nearly a week ago. But instead of finding my pale-faced, self-important owl, I notice a large swirl of gray mist coasting in with the post.

"What is that?" Alice asks.

All over the hall, students point and turn their faces upward to watch as the mist condenses and knots itself into a purple raincloud hovering in the center of the Hall. The owls ignore it entirely, flapping back out after delivering their parcels, so the mysterious cloud is the only thing left in the air. It pulses, ugly and dark and ominous, then lets out a rumble of thunder and starts to drizzle, raindrops splashing on the stone floor.

"What in the name of Merlin...?" I say, half-rising from my seat. I look at the staff table; it's not even half-full, since classes for the day start in ten minutes, and the few professors seated up there look just as baffled as the rest of us.

Then the little cloud starts to drift, aimlessly at first, but it picks up momentum until it's speeding quite purposefully down the length of the Slytherin House table. Students screech, diving out of the way of its soggy path, throwing their arms over their heads. The other Houses, relieved at being spared, snicker as several Slytherins end up on the floor in their haste to stay dry.

And then the cloud comes to rest, still raining, right over Severus's head.

At first, he tries to move out of its way like all the other Slytherins had. But when he slides further down the bench, the cloud stays with him. He stands and moves away from the table. The cloud moves too, leaving a trail of raindrops as it follows. Then he starts to get frantic. He waves his arms furiously, trying to swat it away but, acting oddly or not, it's still just a cloud and his hands pass harmlessly through.

By now, everyone's watching Sev's pathetic attempts to get away. Laughter ripples around the room, mostly from the Gryffindor table, but even some of Severus's fellow Slytherins are giggling into their sleeves. He's only been stuck in the rainstorm for a minute, but already he's soaked; his sodden robes cling to his arms and his hair clumps into dripping strands. He glares furiously at his unsympathetic audience before running out the Great Hall door to a chorus of laughter.

"Oh dear," I say, pushing away from the table. Alice catches my sleeve.

"It's not your problem, Lily," she says. I look down at all my mates, still seated. To their credit, none of them are laughing, but it's clear none of them think Sev needs - or maybe deserves – help. Emmeline slowly returns to eating her breakfast. Marlene gives a small shake of her head.

I frown at all of them. "I shouldn't have told you guys what he said. And it is my problem. Head Girl, remember? This is exactly the kind of thing I'm responsible for dealing with. I'll see you in class."

And then I run from the room after Severus.

It's not hard to figure out where he's gone – the run-off from his robes has splotched a dark wet trail on the stone floor leading right to the castle doors. Severus must have fled out to the grounds. I follow.

When I open the doors myself, I find Severus halted on the steps, facing down a gaggle of students on their way to their outdoor classes and... Potter, holding out his wand and looking like he's been waiting for this, for Severus to come hurtling out the door.

And it all clicks into place.

"Potter!" Severus yells furiously, but when he speaks, the cloud thunders and I can barely hear him.

Potter smiles pleasantly up at him. "Can't hear you there, Snivellus." The students standing around to watch titter.

Severus yells something else, but this time the cloud thunderclaps so loud there's no telling what he said. Everyone laughs harder. Sev whips out his wand, advancing down the stairs, pointing it threateningly at Potter, and the crowd falls silent and tense, waiting to see what happens.

But Potter keeps smiling. "No, I wouldn't try that. See, I could be wrong, but if you try magic under that cloud, lightning might strike you." He shrugs. "Probably shouldn't risk it." The cloud crackles ominously with electricity, right on cue.

I've seen enough. There's no way Potter hadn't seen me come out the door, though he's doing a fantastic job ignoring me. I come storming down the stairs, past Sev, pushing right up to Potter. "What do you think you are doing?" It comes out like venom.

"Just teaching your friend –" he says harshly as he glowers over my shoulder at Severus, "- here a lesson."

I turn to glare at all the students lingering to watch and laugh. "All of you! Get to class!" I shout and wave them away. They scatter reluctantly, sending glances over shoulders as they walk away. "Hurry! Before I start taking points!"

I whirl back on Potter. "Well?" I demand.

Behind me, Severus growls, "Stay out of it, Lily." The thunder rumbles right along with him. "I don't need your help."

Potter glares at him. "I'd keep my mouth shut if I were you, Snape. Don't want to test that lightning." He twitches his wand, the cloud crackles again, and Sev flinches. "See, I was always taught if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all. I'm just helping you learn that lesson, since apparently you missed it."

I turn my back on Potter and face Severus. If he was soaked when he left the Great Hall, it's nothing compared to what he is now. He wipes his face with his sleeve every few seconds and water streams from the tips of his hair and the hems of his robes.

"Depulso!" I say, and the cloud goes soaring up into the sky and disperses.

For a moment we all just stand there, scowling at each other. Severus is shivering and a pool of water has formed around his feet. "Get out of here, Sev," I say. He hesitates, like he doesn't want to be ordered around, then abruptly turns and strides back into the castle, his angry departure a little ruined by his squelching shoes every time he takes a step. Then the door echoes shut with a loud boom, and it's just Potter and me standing outside alone at the bottom of the front steps.

"What was that?" I yell at him. I expect him to be at least a little cowed, but he isn't, not in the slightest.

"He deserved it," Potter says, raising his chin defiantly. "He hadNO right insulting you like he did. Especially since this wasn't the first time. Slimeball."

"I asked you to forget about it! I said I just wanted to move past this!" I yell.

"And I tried, Lily, I did! But... ugh... I saw him last night after dinner and I just – I just couldn't let him get away with it again!"

"Potter! No! This is not how Head students act! This is not what you said you'd do!" My hands go up to knot agitatedly in my hair, and I think, this is not what I thought the James I was starting to see would do. "And the worst part of this? I thought you'd listened to me, I thought I could finally trust you a little bit, I thought maybe we were on our way to actually being FRIENDS this year." I give a small scream of frustration. "My mistake."

For the first time, Potter looks uncertain. Finally. "Wait a minute, Lily..." he says. "You don't mean that. I... I was just trying to help..."

"Just... don't talk to me, okay?" I turn away from him and start heading for the greenhouses. "Come on," I say. We both have Herbology next. Together, of course. Because I can't get away from Potter this year, no matter how hard I try. "We have to get to class."

Filch catches Potter after we have Defense Against the Dark Arts, handing him a note I'm sure contains Potter's detention sentence with a satisfied expression. Potter must be the first Head student in Hogwarts history to get detention. Then I worry that something like this might revoke his badge. Then I remember that I shouldn't worry, because if that were the case, I might get a proper co-Head this time.

Black reads the note over Potter's shoulder. "Only grounds clean-up with Hagrid tomorrow?" He barks a laugh. "Nice one, Prongs," he says, clapping Potter on the shoulder. "Tethered thundercloud and you totally got away with it... brilliant."

Right. I forgot. These boys get away with everything. No new Head Boy for me.

Potter smiles but shoots an uncomfortable look at me when Black's not looking. I pretend not to be watching and make a point not to look his way the rest of the day.

Lily,

Not sure this one can really go in the purse, but it felt important to write down anyway.

Remember when I got attacked by a raincloud in front of the whole school? Me too. It pains me to say so, but maybe I deserved it. But it was still humiliating. And yet, the only person who helped me out was the one who had the least reason to. You came to my defense and got rid of the cloud. Thank you.

(And you put Potter in detention. That's always a win.)

And I'm sorry.

Severus

I'm snuggled up in my dormitory, pajamas already on and hair pinned up out of my face, doing some serious reading for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Normally, I'd tackle my

Charms homework first, but when Professor Flitwick assigned us an essay on the various uses of Atmospheric Charms (including, though not limited to, the CONTROL OVER SMALL SECTIONS OF RAINCLOUDS (how could you, Flitwick?!)), I can't stomach the subject anymore today.

Although Flitwick isn't all that bad. Apart from teaching a perfectly brilliant subject, he'd passed along the note from Severus. Just handed it to me when I walked into class, squeaking, "Mr. Snape asked me to give this to you."

I glance at Sev's note now. It's folded up on top of my Charms book. I don't know what to make of it, just that I'm not ready to talk to Severus again yet.

Alice bustles in. She stops and frowns when she sees me. "Lily, it's eight o'clock!"

"So?" I say, not looking up from the notes I'm taking as I read.

"So, you're supposed to be in the library right now. For tutoring. With James."

"Ha!" I say. "Good one. No way am I spending an hour with that idiot tonight." I tap a sentence in my textbook with my wand and it highlights yellow. I frown and tap it again and it switches to purple. I give a satisfied smile. Color-changing Spell is getting easier every time. Who needs Potter's help? Not this witch.

"Lily," Alice says sternly.

I finally lay down my wand and look at her, eyebrows raised. "I'm being serious, Alice," I say. "I honestly don't think I could be alone right now with him and get anything done. Except another shouting match. And I'm not doing that in the library. Thank Merlin we went at it outside today, it's the only thing keeping our reputations intact."

"Because of this morning? With Snape?"

I give her a withering look. "Obviously."

Alice just shakes her head and walks over to her bed to start digging through her school bag.

"Oh my goodness," I say. "You're on his side, aren't you? You think Potter was right to attack Severus this morning!"

"I think that Snape deserved a little humbling, yes," Alice says, still not looking at me as she extracts a quill and ink from her bag. "And I'm not surprised James thought it was his job to do it, since you obviously weren't going to do it yourself."

"What do you mean?" I say incredulously. "I'm not speaking to Sev, either! I told you, I ditched him at tryouts as soon as he started bad-mouthing me!"

"But it's temporary, right?" Alice says, turning to face me. "You said so yourself the other night, right after you told us what he said! You 'still want to be friends, just maybe we can't be as close as we once were, but we have too much history to ignore it all, blah blah blah'? But Lily, when is enough going to be enough? When are you going to finally see that Snape is not worth it?"

I really wish I hadn't told my mates about what Sev had said to me at Quidditch tryouts, really wish I hadn't told anyone and just kept my big mouth shut. "I don't need a lecture from you right now, Alice," I say tiredly. "Like it or not, Severus is my friend. We're just... in a rough patch right now, okay? Just like all friendships experience time to time. So, you're going to have to deal with it."

"Or not," she says. She gathers up her stuff and walks to the door, then pauses. "Until you can finally ditch Severus," she says, not turning to face me, "we might be in a rough patch, too." Then she hurries out, leaving me alone in the dormitory and wondering how in the name of Merlin I've ended today with three less people to talk to than I had last Friday.

Lily,

Where are you? Tutoring started twenty minutes ago. You know McGonagall has you like contractually obligated to come.

James

Potter,

You can't have seriously expected me to come to tutoring tonight. And I know you're not waiting patiently for me in the library because THIS IS MY OWL, who is SUPPOSED to be resting in the Owlery so he's ready for when I write my mum to tell her how stupid everyone at this school is.

Lily (but that's Evans to you.)

Evans,

Fine, you got me, I'm in the common room now after a brief excursion to visit the Owlery. But it was pretty clear you weren't coming by 10 after. You're not exactly the late type. And we're back on surname terms? That's fair. But will you please just come meet me so we can talk?

Potter

Potter,

No. I'm still way too mad at you. And I'm mailing my letter to my mum now. So good night.

Evans

Good night. Sorry.

[Dear Mum,

Please tell me everyone gets less stupid when they leave school. Although I guess if that was true, Petunia would've bothered to write me back, even if it was just to tell me to bugger off.

Love,

Lily]

Dear Mum,

Thanks for your letter! It's always good to hear from you and Dad. I'm glad school is going well for you. It sounds like you have some great students.

I can't believe Vernon asked to speak with Dad at Sunday dinner last week! Things must be getting pretty serious... I can't believe that we might have someone new in our family soon? What does Dad think? I know he's not Vernon's biggest fan, but he and Petunia do seem to make a good match, don't they?

School is going pretty good for me, too. Being a seventh year is... different than I thought it was going to be. Still, challenges help you grow, right? That's what I keep telling myself.

Love you all!

Lily