Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Becoming ❯ Chapter 1

Author's Notes: I swore up and down that I was not going to get involved in fanfic again but God help me, Deathly Hallows dragged it out of me. Too enthralled was I by the Lily and Snape relationship to let the chance pass me by to flex my angst muscles.

This is, first and foremost, a Lily/Snape-centric story. But please note that this is CANON-BASED and I am doing nothing here but filling the gaps that JKR left. I don't believe there was a romantic relationship between the two no matter what poor Snape may have wanted. However I am also going by what Ms. Rowling said in an interview regarding their friendship - that Lily loved Snape and might have even loved him romantically if he hadn't gone and mucked things up by becoming a Death Eater. That being said, please do not expect wish fulfillment from this - it'll be pure angst by way of unrequited love (and maybe some close calls), but no "fluff."

I am not going to bend over backwards with the British slang. I find that trying too hard comes off as annoying and fake and I'd rather avoid that altogether. I have tried to put in what I understand thanks to various sources though. Hopefully it won't detract from the actual story.

My knowledge of canon is extensive, but by no means exhaustive. I did my homework for this story and have used all original names and histories when available. When they aren't, I have made up my own and have done my best to keep them as "Rowling-esque" as possible. Please excuse any small discrepancies.

I think that's it. Hopefully the following chapters will have fewer ramblings from me and more actual content. :)

Disclaimer: All characters included herein are property of JK Rowling, Scholastic and Bloomsbury (and others I'm not aware of), who all kindly look the other way when we want to play in their world. This story, however, belongs to me.

 

'Becoming'

Point Blank Fuchelli

Chapter One

 

 

“You're too slow!”

 

The voice was stern but the eyes were twinkling and unmistakably merry. His own met hers defiantly, shoulders shrugging new robes onto his body. “You know you don't need those yet, Sev.” It was the very comment she made every year at the start of term. As soon as he left his mother's side the first action he took was to pull his robes over his ill-fitting muggle attire and every year Lily ran ahead to grab a compartment without waiting. At this point in their academic careers it was more a joke than an inconsideration on her part; she got far too much enjoyment from the look of playful annoyance on his face when he finally tracked her down several minutes later.

 

Severus didn't say another word on the matter but took the seat across from her. She'd found an empty compartment for which he was glad, although he knew that wasn't likely to last. She had made Prefect - rightly so - and she'd have to join the others as soon as the train started. But he took solace in the fact that she had staked a place for them, because it meant she planned on returning.

 

There was an uncomfortable silence as Lily's mood slipped from lighthearted to melancholy and she stared outside absently. Severus knew better than to ask why. She was watching her parents depart - her parents who had come to see her off without her sister. It was the third year in a row she'd declined to come.

 

“I wonder who else made it?” He said in a not-too-subtle attempt to distract her thoughts. “Prefect, I mean.” She turned to face him and shrugged.

 

“Remus Lupin from Gryffindor.” She said. “Don't know about the other houses. Who do you suppose from Slytherin?”

 

He paused, appearing to think. In all honesty, though, he had a good idea but he knew she wouldn't like the truth.

 

“Avery, most likely. Maybe Frankos.” Lily nodded, chewing on the names and scowling.

 

“I can't believe anyone would give Avery authority, though.” She scowled and he knew that she was thinking about the riot he and several friends (Severus included, unfortunately) had caused at the end of the previous year. Before she could go on, though, he added “Well, he sure sucks up to Slughorn so it'd be no surprise if he got the recommendation. I expect Dapple will have the Hufflepuff nod for the same reason.” He was keen to draw her away from that train of thought before she started to dwell on his involvement in the fiasco. She still gave him disapproving, motherly looks every time the subject came up.

 

There was a great jostling under their feet as the train burst into movement. Lily stood, shaken from her own thoughts along with the scarlet steam engine.

 

“Guess that's my cue.” She said stretching as if she'd been sitting for hours and Severus took the moment to frown unhappily. He didn't particularly mind being alone while she saw to her Prefect duties, but it wasn't the solitaire he was keen to avoid. He simply didn't want her to leave. He cheered slightly when she added, “I hope this doesn't take long!” and gave him a small smile before departing. The familiar and not unpleasant sensation of his stomach turning over momentarily distracted him from his displeasure, but he settled into mild disquiet half a moment later.

 

Voices rose and fell as students ran past in the hall. He recognized a few faces but none he liked and certainly none he wanted to talk with. Severus watched the shapes blur past him through the window for a while before getting just bored enough to grab his Transfiguration text and wand, reading absently. The muffled sounds beyond the door became indistinguishable as he slipped into a comfortable pattern of reading and lazily flicking his wand in response to the instructions. It must have been a half hour later, though, when a familiar tone ripped, unbidden and unwelcome, through Severus' quiet trance.

 

“…stroke of luck, I tell you, Moony making Prefect.”

 

“You can't be surprised, can you? I mean, he certainly keeps his nose clean, doesn't he?”

 

As much as Severus might have hated the sound of the two voices, it was all he could do not to listen. He paused, his wand aloft and his book left open on his lap.

 

“Cleaner than anyone else, at least. Not that we haven't tried to muddy him up a bit. No, but this will come in handy.”

 

“Does this, by chance, have anything to with the lovely Miss Evans and her fortuitous Prefect appointment?”

 

It was at the mention of Lily that Severus gave up all pretenses and began blatantly eavesdropping. By great fate, Sirius Black and James Potter happened to stop right outside his door and, not about to look a gift horse in the mouth, Severus shut his book, stowed his wand in his robes and moved to the seat closest the door.

 

“Perhaps.”

 

Sirius laughed and apparently slapped him on the shoulder in approval. Behind the door Severus scowled deeply.

 

“Whatever you're thinking, Moony'll never follow. Clean nose and all, remember?” Severus couldn't help but smirk; Remus was, indeed, stodgy and rigid and wouldn't be party to any wrongdoing if he could help it.

 

“He doesn't have to do anything. Just let me, you know, show up at strategic moments when she happens to be there.” He paused. “Although it might not hurt if he happened to work my many virtues or Quidditch achievements into conversation.”

 

Sirius roared at this; Severus couldn't stop his eyes from rolling back in his head.

 

“Evans has never been impressed with your prowess on the field before, I don't know why she'd start now. And before Moony can extol your virtues, you'll have to get some first, mate.”

 

“Pointlessly cruel is what you are, Padfoot, and I refuse to let you stymie my good mood. This is fate, Moony and Evans being paired up, and I plan to take full advantage of it.”

 

It took all Severus' will power not to slam the door open and hex James with one of a million painful spells that bubbled into his mind. His blood was roaring indignantly through his ears but not so much that he missed the sudden cessation of talk from the two outside his door. He thought they might have left (“lucky for them” he thought scornfully) until James continued loudly with, “Have a good holiday Evans?”

 

“Fine, thanks.” Came the cold reply. Severus heard her hand on the door and he slid immediately back to his original position.

 

“Congratulations on Prefect. Guess we'd better be on our best, eh?”

 

There followed quite a lot of laughing as they scampered away. Not even before Sirius had finished his sentence Lily had flung the compartment door open, eyes already in mid-roll. Severus managed to quell the look of smug satisfaction that threatened to appear on his face as she took a seat across from him and attempted the blandest look of mild curiosity he could muster.

 

“Honestly. For all their self-inflated swaggering, you'd think they could find something better to do than stalk people.” She huffed, still managing to look quite beautiful even while angry. “I have no problems with Remus but I'm afraid I'll have to tolerate those two jack-asses now that we're Prefects.” She heaved a great sigh of resignation and then appeared to put it from her mind. “You were right. Avery and that high-pitched Parkinson from Slytherin. Dapple too, along with Crowe for Hufflepuff. And… Piffman and Yarrow for Ravenclaw.”

 

“Not surprised, although Yarrow isn't exactly bright, is he?” Severus said, unable to mask the slight note of distaste. “He practically blew up McGonagalls's desk after Easter.”

 

“Maybe so, but he doesn't torture first-years with barely legal hexes like Avery, does he?” She snapped back immediately. She paused for a beat and glared at him as if she knew that he might rush to his defense as in the past before barreling on. “And he certainly isn't a sycophant like Parkinson who barely managed not to melt her cauldron in Potions and yet couldn't keep her trap shut every time Slughorn walked past, yammering on about how much her mother loved the book he sent her for Christmas or how much her father raved about the theatre tickets he'd gotten them.” Her words dripped with disdain and Severus let his guard down a bit as she traveled farther from the subject of Avery, whom he considered a mate, to Suellen Parkinson, whom they both quite loathed.

 

“Not that it helped her much in class though, did it?” He mused as she broke for air, still looking mutinous. “Sluggie, after all, only had eyes for you.” This stopped her and an attractive shade of pink colored her pale cheeks at the flattery. “It's absolutely revolting how he fawns on you. Indecent, even.” She managed to look appropriately embarrassed but she couldn't hide the tiny bit of satisfaction creeping into her smile, not from him at least. No, he knew that she had a small bit of vanity that relished the attention even if she wouldn't admit it out loud. He could, in fact, usually talk her down from any of her fits with a few well-chosen compliments. It might seem shallow but it was, frankly, one of the things he secretly cherished about her. He felt as if he was the only one who completely understood - indeed, appreciated - Lily Evans. Others (namely James Potter) would turn her into an angel but he saw hints of the devil as well. Somehow she managed to be both and the paradox was fascinating. Severus was clearly not the only one to think so; she was, after all, far too popular for her own good. `Still,' Severus thought, `she isn't sitting with Potter, is she?'

 

“Slughorn is easy to please.” She said modestly, before shooting him a look of pure sarcasm. “You're proof of that.” He scowled and she laughed. A smile twitched on his facial muscles and he wondered, for the hundredth time, if she knew how impossible she made it to be mad at her when she laughed like that. Sometimes Severus couldn't help but suspect she knew exactly the hold she had over him; that the devil inside of her flexed its figurative muscles. But then she'd smile angelically (as she was now) and he'd realize, for the hundredth time, that she was far too innocent to exercise such control over another human being. And that made her all the more amazing.

 

“Sev, were you studying?” Lily had moved over and picked up the textbook he had abandoned when Potter and Black had appeared outside his door. “We haven't even arrived yet!”

 

“What was I supposed to do? You were off with the other Prefects!” He said and, try as he might, couldn't stop a mite of jealousy from sneaking into his voice.

 

“Well, skulk alone in a corner, obviously!” She laughed. “Honestly, why didn't you go mingle? You don't have to be anti-social, you know.” He gave a frown as he snatched his book back trying to mask his timidity with exasperated huffiness. He could very well have sought out his fellow housemates but had stayed put, afraid she might come back to an empty compartment and then leave to do the same.

 

“I thought you didn't approve of my friends?” He shot back defensively and immediately wanted to clock himself for bringing the subject back to that. A keen eyebrow shot up immediately on her forehead.

 

“Since when do you need my approval?”

 

“I don't!” He mumbled, flustered and annoyed that he had backed himself into this corner. “I just… value your opinion, is all.” He finished lamely. She pursed her lips and gave him a disbelieving look.

 

“That's sweet, Sev, and complete crap; otherwise you would have ditched those lowlifes back in third year.” she challenged.

 

“And what? Taken up with your Gryffindor pansies?” The words tumbled out of his mouth and before he'd uttered the last syllables he already regretted them all. Her eyes narrowed and he could tell she had taken the attack personally, which only made him feel worse.

 

Her eyes turned furiously to the window without another word and the silence, to Severus, was worse than a lecture; it meant she didn't even want to waste her time or breath on him. He would have much preferred an argument.

 

A few moments ticked by and Severus gave her time to seethe privately before trying to repair the damage. Term hadn't even started and she was already turning a chilly shoulder towards him. He couldn't think of a way he'd less like to begin fifth year.

 

“Lil, come on, I'm sorry.” He said feebly. “Really. I… I apologize. You know I didn't mean it.”

 

Shoulders sagging in acquiescence, Lily heaved a sigh and turned her head towards him. He looked quite pathetic playing with the hem of his robe and she softened against her will but kept her gaze stern. “Sev…”

 

“Come on, what do you expect?” He said. “I am Slytherin. We're a selfish lot.”

 

That did it. The tip of her mouth twitched upwards and an involuntary laugh escaped taking with it the remnants of his alarm. She shook her head dismissively and Severus knew he had managed to dodge another bullet. Since even their first year, his friendship with Lily had been on shaky ground and it had grown ever more unsteady in the years that followed. He had been devastated when she'd been sorted into Gryffindor, not just because it meant they would be separated for the bulk of the term but because it was Gryffindor. If he had been pressed to consider it further he might have grudgingly conceded that she did possess the qualities venerated by her house but that was something he would never admit. His affection for Lily was far too great and his own house pride only allowed him to submit that she had been sorted wrongly. He'd sworn to himself, though, that the distance wouldn't make a difference and he wouldn't let the fact that she was a Gryffindor come between them.

 

While it didn't really matter to either of them that each other was in a rival house, the students they shared dormitories with were another matter entirely. Her friends were tolerant at best and he assumed it was because she'd stuck up for him on numerous occasions when concerns were voiced. However often she defended him, he couldn't ignore the pointed glares nor could he mistake their obvious dislike for his ilk, even when they weren't vocal about it. More than once Lily had mentioned the questions their friendship raised and it always made Severus slightly panicked and queasy, as if their distaste for him might one day rub off on her. He was very keen to occupy her time away from them as much as possible; remind her on a regular basis just how deeply the roots of their friendship ran. He knew her far better and far longer than any of them could lay claim to. As silly and illogical as it might have been, it always made him feel better to know he had seniority.

 

If the Gryffindors were unkind to him, it was nothing compared to how the Slytherins viewed his relationship with her. They weren't exactly known for being widely tolerant of the other three houses anyway but they held special disdain for those from muggle parentage. And Lily Evans, unfortunately, was the worst kind of offender - muggle-born, proud and out-spoken about both. She might have been shy about her heritage to begin with but years of practice and a healthy self-confidence in her extraordinary skills made her realize that she was just as capable as anyone else on the grounds. Most Slytherins, with their blood-status conceit, wanted nothing more than to believe that pedigree was what determined their magical aptitude. People like Lily challenged that belief and nothing was more unforgivable than that.

 

Severus never knew how to reply to the snide remarks he was tossed in regards to his friendship with Lily. In all honesty, he wasn't sure he had a proper defense and usually chose to simply remain quiet in the face of offenders. It seemed as if a battle was fought inside him every time he was faced with questions - he'd been raised to believe that magic was simply better if it could be traced easily through the generations and while muggle-borns weren't bad, per se, they were less acclaimed because of it. However he'd met Lily, grown fond of her and was forced to consider the possibility that this was all wrong and perhaps - just perhaps - your family tree didn't factor in.

 

Of course he couldn't admit any of these thoughts to his housemates though. Blood-traitors were just as bad as the muggle-borns and voicing even the possibility that one's blood didn't matter marked you as the former. And the group of Slytherins that Severus was friendly with were rather unyielding when it came to the subject of ancestry and they had no problem making their beliefs known. It had been in his first year that Lucius Malfoy, a Prefect, had interrogated a third year in their common room rather nastily about her boyfriend. Lucius, intimidating to even those whom he called friends, was downright malicious in his characteristic back-handed way to those he deemed unworthy. This young girl's relationship was called into question when it came to light that her boyfriend, a Hufflepuff, was technically muggle-born and she had been reduced to tears in front of most of the house by Lucius, Arturo Travers and Evan Rosier. Not one person made an effort to come to her aid and most of the spectators had been grinning or nodding in agreement. Severus, being new, daunted and slightly in awe of the upperclassmen, had come to the conclusion that you didn't make waves if you wanted to survive peacefully here. And if you wanted to make friends you'd better make damn sure you agreed with the majority.

 

It was fortuitous that Severus came into this climate of antagonism with an already wide breadth of magical knowledge. His mother had been proud of her skill (even if his father wasn't) and she was generous with her intelligence even if she wasn't quite so with her affection. In a home that was hardly warm and accepting, Eileen Snape managed to pass on to Severus one thing that made him feel special. The fact that his father was disapproving of this genetic “malady” didn't deter Severus from exploring it as much as his age would allow; indeed, the opposition that he met from his father only spurred him onwards and in a darker direction than perhaps was normal. He may not have used his curses and hexes on his abusive father but it gave him a sinister pleasure to know that he could if the situation ever called for them.

 

It was with this background that Severus entered Hogwarts and Slytherin. His foreknowledge of spells and enchantments gave him notoriety and moved an otherwise nameless first-year up a few notches on the food chain. He was hardly naïve but still innocent enough to treasure a relationship with Lily Evans that defied all logic and it was his budding popularity that made it possible to escape the controversy this might have caused. He was able to savor the same closeness with her that they'd had prior to Hogwarts, but as they grew older both their friends became increasingly less charitable. He knew that her fellow Gryffindors were working just as hard to convince her of this error in judgment as his Slytherins mates. And as the years wore on, things had gradually grown more and more tense. At this point, Severus had to watch every word he said, every move he made just to avoid conflict. It was exhausting sometimes but the thought of losing Lily made Severus' blood run cold, especially due to something as ridiculous as a house rivalry. This fear and the possibility that a rift would only open her up to people like Potter and Black made his relationship with Lily first priority.

 

`James Potter,' Severus thought, watching Lily practice a levitation spell from the seat across from him, `doesn't deserve her in any capacity.' She was leaning casually back against the outer wall of their compartment, her lean legs stretched across the cushions, completely content in his company. After 10 years of neglect at the hands of a father who didn't want him and a mother who couldn't administer affection, Lily was the only good thing he had. He was aware that he wasn't particularly good-looking nor was he athletically inclined and he often found it impossible to say the right thing no matter what the situation… and he was hopelessly unsociable… However, this never stopped her as a child from holding his hand or playing tag or caring about him. Even now, when it was unthinkable for a Gryffindor Prefect to be lounging about, carefree, with a Slytherin fifth-year, Lily appeared completely oblivious to the abnormal nature of their friendship. The entire context was unfathomable and Severus, despite the alliances he had and the company he kept, held nothing more dear than these moments, sitting quietly and comfortably in her presence.

 

~~~~~~

“Bit of a nip in the air.” Lily said, pulling her robes tighter as she and Severus stepped off the train several hours later. To his dismay she began looking amongst the faces, trying to find some of the friends she'd missed during the trip and while she wasn't paying attention, he cast a dark glare at a tall, stocky boy who smiled and waved in her direction. True, he'd had several hours of her uninterrupted time in their compartment but he still found himself reluctant to relinquish her to the open arms of her housemates.

 

“Oi! Severus!”

 

Severus turned. A thickset young man was clutching a sleek black trunk with one massive hand and motioning him over with the other. Severus cast a cursory glance at Lily before greeting the boy with a nod.

 

“Didn't see you on the train. Wondered where you been, boy.”

 

Wide and well built, Tomas Mulciber looked menacing even by Slytherin standards. Perfect posture made his already massive six-foot frame even more imposing and the perpetual smirk and narrowed eyes only added to that effect. He was glaring down at Severus and even though his tone was jovial (for him, anyway), there was an accusatory note to it. He cast the smallest of glances at the redhead now chatting obliviously a few feet behind Severus as if to answer his own question and then turned his eyes down.

 

“He was busy with his Gryffindor tramp.” The snide reply came from amid the crowd mulling near the platform behind him. Suellen Parkinson was one of the few Slytherins Severus had trouble stomaching in any capacity and although he'd kept his distaste to himself most of the time, he had been greatly disturbed when Tomas had begun dating her the previous fall. While she was attractive, with big blue eyes looking out over high cheekbones and thick waves of dark hair, Severus couldn't recall in the five years he'd known her ever seeing her truly smile. There was a perpetual smirk of superiority that slid onto her lips so often and so easily that he wondered if she hadn't been born with it. “Licking her shoes clean were you, Snape?”

 

Perhaps she saw it as the supreme treason that a Slytherin should prefer the company of a girl from Gryffindor and she took offense on behalf of all the ladies in the silver and green, but she never missed an opportunity to dig Severus at Lily's expense. With a massive boyfriend at her side, Severus didn't dare say a word in defense and knew that it would only hurt his standing in his house if he did. She seemed to sense this and didn't even attempt to hide her smug satisfaction when he ignored the slur.

 

“Avery's Prefect I hear.” He remarked, casually drawing the subject away from Lily.

 

“Damn good luck, wouldn't you say?” Tomas grinned, wrapping an arm around his girlfriend and giving him a look of deepest appreciation. “We're going to have it easy, ain't we?”

 

“I don't foresee a lot of points being deducted really.” Severus chuckled, smiling despite himself. “Although this'll make it harder for him to have any fun.”

 

“Aw, he's not going to let something like this stand in his way. Besides, what's ol' Slug gonna do? Demote him?” Tomas roared at the notion and he had to admit he had a point. The Averys were long-time friends of Professor Slughorn, and the previous generation had particularly close ties. From their very first class, Slughorn had proclaimed Milton Avery the spitting image of his father, Jameson, and was constantly making remarks about their similarities. It was no great surprise that the current Avery (who hexed anyone who called him by his given name) had ridden his father's good graces all the way to Prefect.

 

Satisfied with the exchange, Tomas turned his attention to a small group of Slytherins whom Severus recognized as the pair of Beaters from their house Quidditch team on which Tomas played Keeper. He greeted them raucously, for the moment forgetting Severus and leaving him, again, to himself. Severus, while mildly pleased at seeing old friends after the summer break, still had his mind elsewhere and without the suspicious eyes of his fellow Slytherins on him he began to seek out Lily after losing sight of her during the discourse.

 

“Have a good summer, Snivellus?”

 

For the second time that day the unwelcome voice of James Potter cut through the din of the crowd and in response, Severus' hackles were up in an instant. He whirled around to find a self-satisfied leer pasted on his face, as usual, an almost identical look on his companion, Sirius Black.

 

“Doesn't really look like it though, does it?” Black crowed before Severus could get a cut in. “Looks as if even the sun can't even stand the sight of him. He's still as pasty and pallid as ever.”

 

“Greasy too.”

 

Hexes and curses and the most foul words known to wizard-kind all exploded in Severus' brain but by the time he'd snatched his wand from his robes another voice joined the fray and he froze immediately.

 

“Oh, honestly! What is your problem, Potter?” Severus whirled around to find Lily, red-faced and angry, listening to the entire conversation from just a few feet away. James, thoroughly confused and trying to look dignified, instantly forgot the argument and gave her his full attention. Sirius, who had no overwhelming desire to impress Lily or anyone, was not mollified however and his gaze never strayed from the unattractive snarl etched on Severus' face. Indeed, he looked prepared to pick the argument back up where it was left off once James was finished tripping all over himself trying to impress Lily.

 

“What's that, Evans?” James asked innocently, feigning ignorance, which Severus was gratified to see Lily didn't buy.

 

“What malfunction in that corkboard brain of yours makes it impossible to keep your mouth shut for more than 4 seconds?” She snapped, stalking to stand in front of him, her hands on her hips. Severus opened his mouth to say something in his own defense but before he could utter a word Lily said, “5 points from Gryffindor.”

 

“WHAT?”

 

Both Sirius and James gaped at her, the former looking completely red in the face. A war had been going on inside Severus' head previously and while he had been appreciative of Lily's defense he found his ego wounded as well. He was certain her new outspokenness had to do with her Prefect appointment but he couldn't help nursing his male pride and the still throbbing desire to point his wand at Potter's head and watch him wet his trousers.

 

But at that moment, Severus forgot his conceit and managed to throw a grin of satisfaction at Sirius over Lily's shoulder.

 

“You're taking points from your own house?” James sputtered indignantly, obviously torn between his longings to impress the girl and his resentment at being reprimanded in front of the person he most loathed. “We aren't even out of the station yet! Can you even do that?”

 

“I just did, didn't I?” She scowled at them both. “Maybe next time you'll keep that sewage drain you call a mouth shut.”

 

She stomped off to cool down without a glance in either of their directions. Without her presence around to hold his overwhelming immaturity at bay, James' expression went dark with rage and he glared at Severus openly.

 

“Impressive Potter. I have to wonder if a house has ever started off a year with negative points.” He raised a mocking eyebrow. “You're breaking new ground in idiocy.”

 

“And yet he doesn't need to have a girl fight his battles, does he?” Sirius barked back.

 

“No, he has you to do that for him, doesn't he?” He simpered.

 

The noise around them grew louder and the three reluctantly broke up as it became apparent the carriages had begun transporting their classmates up to the castle. Both Black and Potter stalked furiously towards him and rammed his shoulders as hard as they could amongst the multitude of bodies.

 

“See ya, Snivellus.” Black muttered as he passed. Severus stumbled and was tempted, once again, to pull his wand on them but when he turned the throngs of clamoring students had swallowed them up. Eyes still dark with a raging internal storm of hatred; Severus snatched his trunk and followed the momentum. Almost immediately he realized that he'd lost sight of Lily in the scuffle as well and for the moment, James Potter and Sirius Black slipped from his mind willingly. His eyes scanned the mass for any sign of her distinctive red head but found nothing familiar. For a good ten minutes he searched but came up empty and as a good third of the student body had already departed at that point, he reluctantly was left to conclude she'd already left.

 

He found Tomas and Suellen waiting a few feet back from the larger crowd, and were now joined by Avery and the two Beaters. They were deep in conversation and keen not to be overheard but when Tomas spotted him he gave that frightening grin and waved him into the huddle.

 

“Gregory the Smarmy? Are you sure?” Suellen asked, looking skeptically at Avery.

 

“Yes, and it's `effin perfect.” Avery gave a sneer that was supposed to be a smile. “Right into Hogsmeade.”

 

“How'd you find out about it?” Evan Rosier asked looking a bit impressed despite himself.

 

“My uncle. Told me over the holiday.” He let out a laugh. “Says he used to take his girlfriend there after everyone else was in bed.”

 

But whatever it was Avery had discovered beyond that, Severus didn't hear. Ten feet from him a group of squealing girls was boarding the horse-less carriage and among them was the lithe frame of Lily Evans, her hair aflame from the passing lanterns lining the station. Mid-laugh she cast her eyes in his direction and caught his gaze, her manner dampening a bit at what much have been a crestfallen expression on his face. She gave a half-hearted wave and smile before turning her back on him and returning to the conversation.

 

Deflated, Severus revisited the banter still going between his friends, none of whom appeared to have noticed his momentary lapse in focus. He was silently relieved until his eyes met those steely blue orbs of Suellen Parkinson and his face fell; her own features were unreadable but he knew in an instant she had witnessed the momentary exchange between he and Lily. And while she could hardly say anything at the present time without sounding juvenile, Severus was quite certain she was not going to let the incident pass without making him pay. The question was just how much she would ask of him.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

AN: Move along, nothing to see here….