Disclaimer: It's all Jo Rowling's. I just like to play with her toys every now and then. Cheers!

Chapter Two

The New Old Chase

'Lily! Lily, no!' Severus yelled as she turned away after the pithy response, hurt, as Potter yelled something at Snape that made Lily round on him and start shouting.

Severus blinked, trying to orientate himself with his surroundings. He was by the lake, and had just called Lily by that unforgivable slur for which she had turned her back on him forever. He tried to focus, but the background seemed to blur and spin. A memory which was so clear to him was playing out before him, but he had to change it somehow before he ruined things forever with Lily.

'…make me SICK!' Lily's voice seemed to become louder as she shouted at Potter, and Severus realised she had already dismissed him. It was too late, he lamented, he had already done the damage. She turned on her heel and hurried toward the castle without a second glance at the teenage boys.

'Lily!' Severus shouted as Potter called out her surname simultaneously, and he started to jog after her before being hoisted upside down by his ankle as Potter smirked and played to the crowd, 'Who wants to see me take off Snivelly's pants?'

Instinctively Severus summoned his wand wordlessly and ropes emerged from the tip, weaving and coiling around the four boys until they could only struggle uselessly due to a non-verbal incarcerous jinx. Unfortunately, this also resulted in Severus being unceremoniously dumped on his head as the boy's jinx wore off. Several students laughed, and Severus growled threateningly, and shook his head to clear it while watching the four boys to ensure they were indeed immobile. Black looked infuriated and tried to reposition his wand arm at the ropes to free them, and then at Severus, while Potter yelled 'Let us out, Snape!'.

Severus ignored the four struggling boys and turned his back on them, trying to figure out where Lily had gone. Thankful for her red hair, he spotted her heading for the castle not far away and sprinted in that direction, uncaring that the fight spectators were shouting for him to remove the boys from the bonds. Nothing else mattered that he reached Lily and she forgive him. Nothing.

She disappeared in the doorway and Severus pushed himself harder, and puffing as he reached the castle, he cursed himself for being unfit and contemplated where he would be able to find Lily. Taking the most direct route from the Entrance Hall towards Gryffindor Tower, Severus used his sixteen years' worth of experience patrolling the floors of Hogwarts to navigate the confusing stairs, even jumping one set that was moving slowly onto the second floor. The portraits all stared after him as he raced by, Sir Cadogan asking excitedly 'Is there an adventure afoot, boy?' but Severus did not deign to answer. Wheezing, he realised that if Lily entered Gryffindor Tower, there was nothing to do but wait until she wanted to come out. By last time, he had been too late, or not persistent enough. He would not fail her this time.

'Lily, wait!' he cried desperately as he made it onto the sixth floor and he saw the gleam of that wondrously shiny red hair. She didn't slow, so he kept running until he could reach out and touch her.

'Please talk to me,' he said softly.

Realising she wouldn't make the Gryffindor common room before he reached her, Lily stopped and said, as coldly as she could, 'what do you want, Snape?'

'Please, Lily,' he begged. 'Please don't throw away our friendship. I-'

'Throw away?' Lily repeated shrilly, turning towards him angrily and managing to sound somewhat incredulous despite her high-pitched tone. Her face was blotchy, and she looked as if she'd been crying since she had left the lakeside. 'If anything, Severus, it was you who threw away our friendship. You wanted to be a slimy little Death Eater? Well guess what, I don't care anymore!' she yelled, her voice becoming louder as another tear slid down her cheek. With that she turned away once again, but Severus grabbed her arm in desperation. She couldn't turn away from him. Not again.

'Let me GO!' Lily yelled, yanking her arm out of his reach.

'Lily, please…'

'No!' As she yelled the word, a furious burst of magic blasted Severus back into the stone wall, and her eyes widened. She slid down the wall, terrified and scared of the accidental magic that had just seemingly come out of her.

'Lily…' he started, barely wincing as his shoulder gave a groan as he got up from where he had fallen.

'Mr Snape!' called Minerva McGonagall from his left as she hurried down the corridor, closely followed by a tall black-haired girl he vaguely recognised as one of the girls in Lily's group. Severus closed his eyes briefly in annoyance, as he heard Lily release a sigh of relief. 'That is quite enough!' she continued, her nostrils thinning in annoyance at the scene before her.

'Lily?' asked the girl who had rushed around the corner with Minerva. 'Are you alright?' She knelt beside Lily, who had lowered herself to the stone floor and was looking somewhat shell-shocked.

'Minerva, I-' Severus began, not taking his eyes off Lily, but not making a move towards her either in case of further accidental magic.

'Mr Snape!' she interrupted, striding over to him quickly. 'Be quiet. At all times you are to refer to your teachers as Professor- I shouldn't have to tell you that in your fifth year.' Severus berated himself for slipping as the Transfiguration teacher rapidly cast a diagnosis spell over him to ascertain whether any physical damage had been done as he was thrown backwards into the wall. She seemed satisfied that he was in no immediate danger physically and straightened, fixing him with a stare that he knew meant a student was in for a dire punishment in the near future. It had been so long since she had looked at him in such a way that he actually felt nervous, before reassuring himself that he himself had given students that same stare.

'Mr Snape, you will go to the hospital wing for Madam Pomfrey to look at that shoulder, then report straight to Professor Slughorn's office and explain to him what has happened today. I will be along shortly.' With that she turned and began towards Lily, already raising her wand to perform another diagnosis spell.

'But Ma'am,' he started, and she turned back towards him, raising an eyebrow.

'What didn't you understand about my instructions, Mr Snape?' she questioned quietly, a tone long used to intimidate students and prevent the average teenager from arguing further. Severus, however, was not the average teenager, nor had he the chance to modify his adult behaviour. Rather, he spoke before he had thought through what he'd say.

'Nothing, it's just that I don't…' He had been about to say that he didn't wish to report anywhere, let alone to his own office, before he realised that it now wasn't his office, and McGonagall was his teacher rather than his colleague. He very wisely closed his mouth while she stared.

She blinked, clearly understanding the general idea of what Severus had been about to impart. Her lips thinned and her nostrils flared as they did famously, a universal sign to Hogwarts students that the argument was lost.

'You will go now, Mr Snape,' she said, her voice dangerously low.

'Yes Professor,' he agreed, somewhat annoyed but unable to do anything to change his circumstances at this time. He glanced over Minerva's shoulder at Lily, still sitting with her friend, who was watching Severus warily. He knew it was pointless to argue further with McGonagall. He had no power as a student. She turned towards Lily, and their conversation clearly over, he headed for what had been for so many years his office.

x

'Miss Evans,' McGonagall asked, after finding nothing wrong physically with her diagnosis spell, 'would you accompany me to my office, please?' Lily looked up at the tall Scottish woman, still clearly unsettled by the accidental magic she had unleashed moments before. The professor smiled kindly, and uncharacteristically, offered an arm to the redhead to accompany her.

'Professor-'

'You may accompany us also, Miss Robins.' She heaved a sigh of relief that Lily wouldn't be alone after McGonagall was through with her. She had figured that the friendship between Lily and Snape would explode sooner or later, but had thought that it would be in private rather than the public spectacle that it had become. Black and the other boys had still been struggling with their bonds when Olivia had raced after Lily, intent on preventing Snape from further harassing her friend. However, upon almost knocking Professor McGonagall down as she raced through the corridors, a stern reprimand, ten less points to Gryffindor, and the professor detecting something was amiss by using her teacher-mind-reading-sorcery, Olivia had failed to stop Snape and had probably gotten her friend in trouble for hexing Snape and using magic in the corridors by bringing McGonagall along. Well done, she congratulated herself gloomily, following after the pair to the Head of House's office on the first floor.

'Sit,' said McGonagall tersely, and with a flick of her wand, conjured three armchairs around a little coffee table along the side of her office as she herself sat down and looked at Lily. 'Tell me what happened.'

'Well, Snape-'

'I apologise, Miss Robins, but I'd like to hear it from Miss Evans herself. She is clearly upset and I'd like to understand why.' Olivia felt a little rebuffed, but nevertheless looked at Lily beside her, who, she realised, hadn't said a word since screaming at Snape. Maybe McGonagall had a point, she thought, suddenly scared that there was something acutely wrong with her friend. Maybe Snape had hexed her before they turned up, she thought angrily. To her relief, Lily answered.

'We'd just finished our Defence OWL, and some of the girls and me decided to go down to the lake. To relax,' she added as an afterthought. 'Severus was there too, and Potter and his friends started picking on him, like they usually do. They were calling him names and hexing him, four to one.' Olivia frowned, thinking that Snape probably deserved the humiliation after today and concerned that Lily was sticking up for him somewhat. 'I told them to stop, but they wouldn't, and Potter… h-he made me mad and…' Tears started leaking from the corners of her eyes again. 'S-Sev, he, I-I thought he was my friend!'

Olivia put an arm around her friend and explained to the professor, 'Snape called Lily a "mudblood", Ma'am.'

'I see,' McGonagall concluded with a grimace of distaste, conjuring two glasses and a pitcher of water. A plate of sweet biscuits from the kitchens followed, and picking one up, and offering it to Lily, who took it, McGonagall took her other hand. 'Lily,' she started with a reassuring smile and the rare use of a pupil's first name, 'you're an unquestionably talented witch who is a pleasure to teach. As you well know, I met your parents to help introduce you to Hogwarts, and they seem like wonderful people, who I'm sure are proud to have you as a daughter, just as you are to be part of their family.' Lily smiled weakly at that, Olivia thought, recalling the day she and her parents had met McGonagall and discovered the magical world. 'My father was a muggle,' the professor continued, 'and I wouldn't change that for anything. You get an understanding of the world that purebloods simply don't, although many don't try to understand the muggle world at all. Our logic and problem-solving skills are improved, I believe because we have to figure out to operate day-to-day without magic in non-magical communities in their home lives. Imagine, what would happen to a pureblood wizard if they lost the use of wand-magic? Don't be ashamed of your muggle heritage, Miss Evans. And don't let other bigots intimidate you with ugly words. A word only has power if you allow it to. You're better than that,' she concluded, still holding the redhead's hand in her own.

'That's a good point, Professor,' Olivia mused, wondering at what she would do if she did lose of damage her own wand and couldn't acquire another.

'Thank you, Miss Robins,' replied McGonagall succinctly. 'What happened after the incident at the lake?' Olivia again looked to Lily to answer, this time because she wasn't entirely sure what had happened.

'Sev, he must've followed me from the lake, he kept calling for me to stop, and I did- I didn't make it to the common room. I didn't want to talk to him, but h-he- I was so mad! He grabbed my arm, and then I… I-I don't really know what happened after that. He was blasted against the wall, I guess by me. I didn't mean it, it was an accident,' she finished miserably.

'I saw that. Miss Robins, anything to add?'

'I didn't see anything that you didn't, Ma'am.'

'So I concluded from you trying to kill me in the corridor.' Olivia blushed. 'Anything Miss Evans forgot to mention occur at the lake?'

'Er, I don't think so Professor.'

'Very well. Miss Evans, I will ensure that Mr Snape is punished for his slur. You however, this once will not be punished for using magic in the halls. Mr Snape is unhurt, and I understand you were endeavouring to fulfil your prefect duties when Mr Snape upset you, which directly contributed to your burst of accidental magic. However,' she continued sternly, her piercing Lily's green eyes through her spectacles, 'you should look upon this a once-off occurrence, and not consider escaping future infractions based on this one experience. Understood?' Lily nodded solemnly, although the thought had not occurred to her at all. 'You must learn to control your emotions better,' McGonagall added, and Lily looked down at her feet. 'I understand you were upset, but Mr Snape could have been hurt. It must not happen again.'

'Yes Professor,' she replied meekly. She really was ashamed of the accidental burst. Even before Hogwarts she could control her magic somewhat, even if she didn't understand what she was doing. She remembered flying off the swing sets at the park, Petunia getting frustrated as she could never jump further than her little sister.

'Your emotions run close to the surface, Miss Evans. It's nothing to be ashamed of, just simply means that when you're feeling particularly emotional, you need to learn to rein it in rather than allow it to control you.' Lily nodded again, fearing that soon she would become one of the dashboard toys that bob their heads in her father's car. 'I suggest you go to dinner; it is half over. Even though I've filled you with biscuits.' McGonagall gave her a smile, which Lily returned and both girls stood to leave. 'Miss Robins, stay a moment? She will join you momentarily in the Hall,' she added at Lily's hesitation, and she left after the reassurance.

'Have I done something wrong?' Olivia asked tentatively.

'Have you?' asked McGonagall in return, always secretly amused by this question from students. Invariably, if they had done something, she usually found out after that particular question.

'Er, I don't think so.' At McGonagall's raised eyebrow, she managed to deny the claim with more confidence. McGonagall let the question slide.

'I merely wanted to ask about the entirety of the circumstances at the lake. Miss Evans was quite upset,' she concluded, holding up a finger at the incredulous look forming on the Gryffindor's face. 'And justly so. But she didn't explain the circumstances that she intervened. I did not wish to upset her further by delving into it again.' Olivia felt a rush of affection for her teacher.

'I, well, honestly, I wasn't paying all that much attention at the start. I was happy to finish the exam,' she explained.

'What did you see?'

'Potter or Black, I don't know which one, they levicorpused Snape and were threatening to show, er, his underpants. Lily made them put him down, but they took their time about it, I guess. Snape reached his wand and cut Potter, and then they strung him up again.'

'That is when Mr Snape insulted Miss Evans?' Olivia nodded. 'And then?'

'Well, Lily ran off. The boys, Remus and Pettigrew had joined the other two by then, see, but Snape somehow did an incarcerous jinx on them and ran after Lily, I guess. I did too.'

'He performed and incarcerous jinx on all four?'

'Yes Professor.'

'Where was his wand?'

'Er, I'm not sure. He must've kept hold of it during the second levicorpus.' Olivia frowned, trying to think back to the incident, but at the time, watching Snape hadn't been her highest of priorities.

'She mentioned that Mr Potter made her angry also.'

'Oh, that,' Olivia began, struggling to keep a straight face. 'That usually means that Potter asked her out, and since he was already picking on Snape…'

'I see,' McGonagall answered neutrally, not giving a hint of a smile away. 'Did the boys free themselves before you followed Miss Evans?'

'I don't think so, ma'am. But I was focused on Lily.'

'I understand.' McGonagall immediately went to the window and peered out towards the lake. 'Thank you for your assistance Miss Robins, you may go.'

x

Severus didn't bother going to the hospital wing, instead healing his shoulder himself with a muttered 'episkey'. He cursed himself for almost slipping with Minerva and revealing his secret at the first opportunity and vowed not to make any further mistakes with the other teachers. McGonagall, he berated silently, not Minerva. He was a fifth year, not a fellow educator.

Reaching the dungeons, he knocked politely on Slughorn's door and waited quietly for the 'enter' that came from within. Opening the heavyset door, he found Slughorn sitting at the desk, glancing up as Severus entered.

'Severus,' he greeted jovially, smiling at the talented potions student. 'What can I do for you?'

'Professor McGonagall sent me here, Sir.' It was irritating, having to continually watch what he said to those around him, but he'd had a lot of practice as a spy, although he'd never had quite so big a change as to alter his behaviour completely. Usually in reporting to the Dark Lord, he was still his adult self, terse and serious, albeit holding his Occlumency shields in place. Now he had to act as a sixteen-year-old, and although he unfortunately had a lot of experience with adolescents, it was a long time since he had been one himself. But for this opportunity to work, he must adapt to his new situation, ideally as quickly as he could. He couldn't afford to lose Lily again by blowing something so simple as acting like a delinquent teenager.

In front of him, Horace frowned, and Severus knew that he despised dealing out punishments to students, particularly those he favoured. Slughorn was the ultimate nice teacher, and in order to ameliorate his relationships with students for future favours, it was critical that those students liked him.

'And what could you possibly have done to anger the fair Professor McGonagall, Severus?'

And so Severus told him of the incidents at both the lake and Lily's accidental magic. McGonagall entered behind him halfway through.

'I realise that what I said to Lily is an atrocious thing to say, Sir. It will never happen again. I said it in anger, a way to lash out, Sir. If I could take it back, I would.'

'Be that as it may, Severus, we will not tolerate racism of any form at Hogwarts, whether from a frustrated outburst or not.' Severus bowed his head in understanding, and Slughorn continued. 'In a way, it's worse that it was an uncontrolled outburst. You have a Muggle father, I believe?'

'Yes,' replied Severus through gritted teeth, but Slughorn misunderstood his reticence at mention of his father.

'I've got to say, Severus, I'm worried where these thoughts will lead you in the future. Now I won't try to convince you to turn against your beliefs- whatever they may be, but at Hogwarts, prejudice towards Muggleborns will not be accepted. Understood?'

'Yes, Sir,' he acquiesced.

'Your punishment. I think a week's worth of detention, starting tonight scrubbing out cauldrons will aid to discourage similar behaviour from you in the future, am I right?'

Yes, Sir.'

Behind him, McGonagall cleared her throat. 'Horace?' she said. He looked up and she continued. 'Normally in the circumstances I wouldn't interfere with another Head of House's punishment, but in this circumstance, Mr Snape has his Transfiguration O.W.L. in the morning.'

'Of course,' Slughorn acquiesced quickly, with a stern look at Severus. 'I wouldn't want what is hopefully a slip up to sully his OWL marks, and your future too, Mr Snape. What do you suggest as an alternate, Professor?'

'Mr. Snape will serve detention every night for five days after the completion of his O.W.L.s and complete a three-foot-long essay on the topic of racism and the reason he is being punished for his actions today.' Severus nodded, thinking if anything, that the punishment was lenient. He had destroyed the only thing he had ever valued, and the professors thought this was an adequate punishment? It was laughable. 'Also, an additional detention for leaving the Gryffindor boys incapacitated by the lake.' She held up a hand as if expecting Severus to protest, but he had no such intentions. 'I realise they jinxed you first, Mr Snape, and rest assured that they will also be punished, but that is no excuse for leaving them unable to move. Did you realise Mr Pettigrew is unable to swim? What if he had fallen into the lake before someone was to free them?'

Severus wisely chose to interpret that as a rhetorical question and refrained from answering. However, he brightened internally at the mention of Potter and Black receiving some sort of punishment. That had certainly not happened last time, and he pondered what he had changed to allow the Gryffindors to be punished.

'The Gryffindors jinxed Severus first?' Slughorn asked McGonagall, frowning at Severus. 'Why didn't you mention that, Mr Snape?'

'It doesn't excuse what I said, Professor.'

'No, my boy, of course it doesn't, but it certainly makes it more understandable as to why you left the jinxed boys there. Why did you follow Miss Evans?'

'To apologise, Sir.'

'Very well. Tonight, you may study for your last OWL. Your detentions start here tomorrow night at seven. You may go.'

'Thank you, Sir,' Severus replied, and immediately turned to leave. Horace blinked. Had the young man actually just thanked him for giving detention?

Severus immediately departed in the direction of Gryffindor Tower once again, dinner forgotten. Behind him, the adults were confounded.

'Doesn't seem like the stereotypical case of racism,' Horace remarked. 'He went to apologise, after all.'

'I don't know, Horace,' she replied, looking out the office door where Severus had left and sighed deeply. 'I have some other boys to track down tonight, it seems.'

x

'I can't pretend any more. You've chosen your way, I've chosen mine.'

'No- listen, I didn't mean-'

'To call me Mudblood? But you call everyone of my birth Mudblood, Severus. Why should I be any different?'

'You're not, you're- wait!' he cried desperately as Lily gave him a look of disgust, and turned to the portrait of the Fat Lady. She flinched, clearly thinking he would grab her arm again, and Severus felt a swell of shame at how far she distrusted him. 'Please,' he implored. 'Let me explain.'

Lily nodded tiredly, crossing her arms.

'I meant that you are no different than any other witch or wizard, and that I shouldn't have called you, or anyone, that word. I got caught up in the incident today, embarrassed that they were teasing me, and I lashed out. I'm sorry.'

'You're sorry?' Lily repeated, her green eyes not wavering from the black. 'Well, guess what, Severus? Sorry doesn't cut it anymore.'

'I-'

'No, you let me explain,' she said coldly. 'I thought you were my friend. But he's gone. Someone I don't know replaced him a long time ago, and he thinks Dark Magic is cool and blood purity is important and that's not the friend I had.' Lily felt her throat getting tight, and knew she had to finish this soon. 'I don't know you anymore.'

He struggled on the verge of speech, but with a contemptuous look she turned and climbed back through the portrait hole, whilst Severus felt just as stricken as when she had first turned her back on him over twenty years ago. Severus had wanted to say that his so-called friends did want to join the Dark Lord, but that he no longer did. He let himself slide down the wall, not noticing that the stone behind his back was cold and hard or hearing Nearly Headless Nick's friendly warning about being out of bed at that hour. Severus Snape sat there for half the night, determined to find a way to get Lily to forgive him, but unable to come up with any plan. He felt numb.

She turned her back to him and climbed through the portrait hole into the common room before he could see the tear sliding down her cheek. Seeing her cry once that day was enough. Olivia greeted her with a consoling hug and they started to make their way across the room to the staircase.

Potter chose at that moment to make his obnoxious presence known.

'Hey Evans, are you crying? Cos Mary said that Snivellus was outside the portrait hole, and I'd want to cry too if I saw that face.'

Lily turned, ready to make Potter shrivel back into a little boy with an acidic insult, and instead stepped back as Olivia leaped from her side over the sofa Potter was sitting on and spear-tackled him. Lily, Black and Pettigrew watched in shock as the pair rolled around on the floor. Lupin merely looked up in interest from his transfiguration textbook.

Olivia seemed to be gaining the upper hand, catching one of Potter's hands as he struggled and was pinned down by the black-haired girl. Realising his plight was futile, Potter ceased to struggle and tried to get a clear sight of his friends.

'Little help Padfoot?' Potter asked from underneath Olivia. Black seemed to come to his senses upon hearing his friend's plea, but grinned back at him and lounged back on the sofa.

'Sorry Prongs, mate, but I kind of want to see what Robins does from that position.' Pettigrew giggled at the comment.

Both Olivia and Lily threw them a disgusted look, and Olivia looked to Lily and raised an eyebrow.

'What d'you wanna do?' she asked Lily hesitantly, only just realising the insanity of what she had done.

Lily deliberated. Potter definitely deserved some class A revenge after what he had pulled earlier, and then taunting her again tonight. Something particularly nasty, like making a beard like Dumbledore's grow pink or using this curse she had found to make him walk on his hands all the time.

She sighed.

'Let him go,' she said softly, holding out a hand for Olivia to help herself up.

'What?' asked Black and Olivia incredulously.

'Liv, if we start taunting him, then we'll be as bad as he is. Worse,' she grimaced, 'because we know how much of a bullying git we would be!'

'You're right,' Olivia agreed, and Potter visibly relaxed, sending a relieved and triumphant grin towards Black. 'Besides,' she added, 'our wands are upstairs.'

Potter made as if to get up, but Olivia gave him another shove, and he bounced back against the carpet, looking perplexed.

'Not so fast, Pretty Boy,' Olivia said, a smile creeping across her face.

'Livia?' questioned Lily, her hand still extended to the other girl. Olivia ignored it and turned back to Potter.

'Whilst my friend is the nicest and most decent person I know, I am not.' Potter made as if to interrupt her, but she shushed him and continued in a perfectly serious voice. 'She is above giving you back a dose of your own medicine. I am not as nice as she is, and intend to do every little prank I know you've pulled on others on you, starting with the little scene you caused today at the lake.'

'Liv, that's really not…'

'Ssh, Lils,' she insisted, and Lily took a step back to watch the scenario play out, unsure if she should intervene.

'You don't have your wand,' stated Potter nervously.

'Wanna try me, Potter?' she asked. At this, Black started to rise from the sofa to aid his friend, but Olivia pointed a finger at him, her eyes still on Potter. 'Make a move, Black, and I'll let McGonagall know exactly who was responsible for the Slytherin team's mysterious vomiting episode right before the Hufflepuff game last month.'

'How d'you know about that?' Black asked in disbelief, slowly lowering himself back down onto the sofa. Pettigrew's idiotic grin had finally faded, but Olivia declined to answer, instead smiling down at Potter evilly.

'Now, Potter, if you don't want to get pantsed, I suggest you apologise to Lily.'

'Apologise for what?' spluttered the boy in disbelief.

'For what?!' Lily repeated incredulously, feeling the urge to strangle the boy, or at least kick him in the head. Olivia made a calming motion with her hand, and turned back to Potter.

'Lily lost a friend today, and you just made her feel worse about it by teasing her. Apologise,' she instructed in that calm tone that made it seem that this situation was an everyday occurrence.

'I wasn't teasing her, I said Snape was ugly enough to make people cry! I-ah, okay, okay!' he yelled as Olivia moved to take a firm hold on his waistband. Lily struggled to hold a straight face at her friend's antics. 'Bloody hell,' he muttered.

'Well?' she insisted.

'I'm sorry,' Potter mumbled.

'You're sorry for what now?'

'For- for teasing Lily, and calling Snape ugly.'

'And what about at the lake?' questioned Olivia.

'For being what Lily said,' he muttered. Olivia raised an eyebrow, clearly not satisfied, and Potter appeared to become smaller. 'For being "a bullying toe-rag",' he clarified.

Lily again extended her hand, and this time Olivia took it. Lily smiled down at Potter.

'Thank you for the apology, Potter, I feel better,' she said sweetly, and she did. Turning towards the staircase to ascend to the dorms, she thought that it was strange that exacting revenge on Potter would make her pain at finally losing Severus any less. And she had lost him, she decided as the taller girl put an arm around her shoulders and gave a gentle squeeze. Lily smiled sadly at Olivia, as they reached the fifth-year dormitory and entered. She still had good friends, but Severus had chosen his way. And she had chosen hers.

x

Let me know what you think!

~Tilly~

Please note I am retooling this story from this chapter forwards- I am trying to complete after 10+ years, so please be kind and patient as I retell and *fingers crossed* finally complete it.