26

Chapter 26 Things aren't the way they were before

Not completely trusting his ability to turn his bed into a securely warded fortress, Severus lay wakeful and alert while thinking about his first full day back at Hogwarts.

Although Mulciber had grunted in reply to Snape's explanation that the black eye was purely accidental, Avery's loose lips let all of Slytherin know, prior to Mulciber getting sorted by Pomfrey. The chance of retaliation was significantly increased, especially with a pack of little snakes shadowing him, waiting for Snape to trounce their hated nemesis again. Severus was sure they were doing it on purpose to provoke Mulciber because Slytherins were not so idiotic to think that his charm and wit would attract admirers.

Lily had spent more time with Severus yesterday than she ever had on a previous school day. His idea that they take the same classes was bearing fruit. Unfortunately, both Black and Potter were smarter than he thought and actually tested into Potions, Charms, Defense, and Transfiguration. Perhaps their parents had paid off the OWL administrators.

It was a pleasant surprise when Lily parted from Parkin and MacDonald to join him in Charms, and then fortunate that they arrived later than them to Defense. Severus had always considered Potions to be a fluke due to Slughorn having them partner off into twos started first year. If Parkin and MacDonald had not hit it off so well on the first day, Lily would have sat on the other side of the room from him. Since then, her girlfriends took precedent over Severus in Lily's school social calendar.

In the library, Severus had found out they had done something to anger Lily, but she didn't say what. They'd probably be made up by this morning. He was the only one that Lily could stay mad at for days at a time. As a best friend, she had much higher expectations for him, so he had to be careful and weigh what he did and said prior to acting. She even had forgiven Potter and his dunderheaded lackies for jinxing her blouse. Severus wasn't going to forgive them for that, or what they did to him. How could he, when now the snickers were about how green his snake was?

In less than a day, the Marauders' facade had cracked. He saw the looks Black and Pettigrew gave Lily. Potter was too vain not to listen to them. By next week, he and the others would move on to find appropriate dates to Hogsmeade. If Parkin and MacDonald could be cut out of the picture, perhaps Severus's first outing to that bastion of adolescent wasteful consumption would actually be just him and Lily. He felt a smile creeping onto his face as he lay there looking at the bed canopy overhead.

No, Severus knew what happened when he got his hopes up and start daydreaming about nice things. It would end in an outstanding disaster, and leave him pathetically clutching at the shards of his fantasies. It was perfectly fine to acknowledge there was the possibility that it could transpire.

For now, he would maintain his course. Lily insisted that Severus be the bigger man, and ignore the verbal insults and whatever slights he perceived. Be defensive, rather than offensive. With Lily around him so much, it seemed like a fine time to pretend to take her words to heart. It was gratifying to see it pay off so well on the first day with Black inadvertently casting a spell at Flitwick, when he mistook the teacher for him. Severus would not be so fortunate next time if Black learned his lesson and looked first, before jinxing. Who was he kidding? Black never learned.

Lily woke feeling alone. Severus was down in the Slytherin dungeons, and she was in her room with her school friends, Mary and Helen. This had never been a problem in the past. Had she spent too much time with Severus? No, it was because Mary and Helen were being unreasonable. If they could just admit that Lily was right, and they were wrong, then everything would be back to normal. Well, as normal as it could be in Gryffindor right now.

She didn't even know if what they were saying yesterday was true. It wasn't the first time her best friend was accused of being inferior. Even Petunia didn't go as far as to say that if she remained friends with Severus that she'd be ruined for marriage. And what did Hagrid, the grounds keeper, have to do with that? Did Severus also know something about this, and that's why he asked Lily to marry him because no one else would want her?

Scrunching her face up in thought as she got ready, Lily went through the short list of people that she could rely on to tell her the truth about whatever wizard custom this was. She liked Healer Pye, but her general lack of privacy regarding Severus probably meant he'd overhead the whole thing, if they had their appointment together.

She could ask Severus himself. What would he say? Was it likely he would tell her the truth so she would have to make a decision on whether to remain his friend or not? It would be too cruel to ask him.

Madam Pomfrey's credibility had disappeared earlier this year over the dragonpox and that vicious lie she sent over to St. Mungo's in Sev's medical record. Lily clenched her fists, thinking she still had to straighten out Pomfrey and Slughorn on that. Of course she'd be in trouble for looking in someone else's record. Grumbling to herself, it would serve both of them when they saw how successful Sev was without either of their help. If it's one thing Lily could depend on, her friend knew how to hold a grudge.

Prof. McGonagall? She still needed to arrange for some make-up tutoring with her head of house. Severus would be there too, but it might be possible to sneak in some one-on-one time, even ahead of their tutoring to set up what time. But did Lily want to ask her head of house and end up looking foolish?

Helen and Mary joined her and they exchanged brief greetings, maybe even a bit cold, before heading down to the Great Hall for breakfast. While eating, the mail owls arrived. Lily's was among them, and had another wrapped up tupperware with a letter. She had told her mum that they had lots of food at Hogwarts, and she didn't need to send anything. Probably because she had been sick, Lily thought as she opened the letter.

Happy she was well … back at school … everyone fine at home … very happy to receive a thank you from Severus, and Lily shouldn't have pestered him to write one! What the heck? Did he include something sarcastic? Can't even trust him to voluntarily write a simple thank you note.

Lily glared over to the Slytherin table to see green Severus with a letter. It was still unopened in his hand, while he sneered at the gaggle of youngsters around him. Did her mum also write Sev? Better read the rest of her letter and find out. Here we are, being a pest … and sent her some cranberry bars … knows not to send food, but maybe she could share them with Severus since they weren't sweet.

Even though Lily was seated, she still managed to put her hands on her hips. She guessed Sev must have written a really nice thank you note, if her mother was now sending food to him … through her. Lily was not some, some, some what? messenger? delivery boy? She wasn't the least bit fooled. Cranberry bars? Since when did Lily ask for cranberry bars?

Lily got so caught up in frowning at her remaining breakfast that the next time she looked over at the Slytherin table, Severus was gone along with whoever had been sitting around him. Since she was the only sixth year girl from her house with Transfiguration, Lily decided to get going, rather than waiting for anyone.

She was still climbing stairs, when she was held up along the way to Transfiguration because it was blocked solid with students. No one was moving, but when she overheard some sort of altercation overhead, Lily started pushing her way through, declaring, "Make way. I'm a prefect."

As immobile students turned to see who was being so swotty, they realized it was Miss Dragonpox, and immediately cleared a path so she wouldn't touch them. There was a couple younger Gryffindors at the scene of … uh, another Gryffindor second year who was red-eyed, with a very runny nose who waist deep in a slimey batch of bogies?

One of the puzzled Gryffindors who was trying to figure out how to assist without touching anything grew pleased, and said, "Excellent, Evans'll take points from those slimy Slytherins."

His partner even rubbed his hands in glee.

"What happened?" Lily asked, rather than just getting to work and taking points.

The slimy Gryffindor hiccuped out, "Slytherins … jinxed me. All I did was call that oddball Snivellus …"

Lily frowned. She had told Severus how many times that words were only words? "So Severus Snape did this to you?"

"No," interrupted one of the others. "We call him that every time we see him. He never bothers us. It was the other Slytherins."

"What?"

"We saw Snivelly on the stairs, and said 'All right, Snivellus' like we always do. He ignored us 'cause he knows the Marauders will get him if he does anything, and strip all his slimy clothes off again, and then stick his head in the toilet to wash his greasy hair. But these others just started jinxing. It wasn't fair!"

"Fair!" Lily yelled. "It's not fair that you little toerags are keeping serious students from getting to class on-time. Evanesco." She cast it intentionally on the mess that had fallen off the student, leaving the remainder on him. "Five points from Gryffindor."

"But -"

"And if you think I'm afraid of going up against your sainted Marauders again because they are going to strip off my clothes again too, then I only can advise you lot to get ready to carry them to the Infirmary."

Lily continued on her way, and when she heard muttering about "stupid green bitch", she yelled back, "Another five points from Gryffindor, and there's going to be no escaping from me in the common room, no matter how far you stick your heads up those bum rags' asses."

There was a brief smattering of applause, and a young Hufflepuff boy cheered, "Yeah, Evans!"

So Lily thought as she went up the stairs, holding court in the common room telling their stupid stories about how great they were. Perhaps if they were really brave, they could let their actions speak louder than words. Bum rags, four on one, thinking they're hot stuff, having their parents bail them out of any real trouble. Maybe Helen could do that Parkin Punch thing and knock brawny Mulciber right into their guffawing heads tomorrow.

She entered Transfiguration knowing that it took two sides to have a war, and headed right to Severus, sitting in the back alone at one of the two-person desks. Realizing she still had the cranberry bars in her hand as she went to slide onto the bench next to him, Lily dropped her bag to the floor and waved her mother's food at him, "Mum sent you cranberry bars."

Considering he was almost hit in the head with the container, Severus was cautious. "Perhaps we can share them after lunch, Lily?"

Blinking at Sev, who was leaning as far back as he could without getting off their bench, Lily said, "Right. We're in class. Sorry."

"You're angry at me?"

"What did you do?"

"Today?"

Lily nodded.

"Mmm, got up early to wash that skin potion off, dressed, went to breakfast, then here?"

"And?"

Severus shrugged at Lily. Perhaps he had a doppelganger?

"Anyone call you Snivellus today?"

With another hunch of his shoulders, he replied, "Probably."

"Nothing special about that?"

He held his hands up and said, "Why would that be special?"

"Perhaps a couple jinxes?"

"No, no one jinxed me yet today. That I know of," Severus pulled a large hank of his hair forward to make sure it was still black. Sometimes Lily found it funny to keep talking like nothing was wrong with it.

"Cut it out. I ran into the mess on the stairs after some kid called you Snivellus."

"Not me … I mean, I didn't mess … whatever."

Lily studied her friend. She knew he could lie very well, but he wasn't ashamed to admit that he cast a spell. He'd rather defend why he cast it, rather than if he cast it.

He added, "Why would I jinx every berk that called me Snivellus? I had somewhere to be." Enough people yelled things at him that he long ago stopped wondering what was wrong with him. If it wasn't here, he'd get called variations of that dirty Snape boy around home.

Lily continued to frown as she pulled her stuff out of her bag for class.

As the rest of the class settled, Lily asked, "You got a letter this morning?"

He nodded in reply.

"Was it from my mother?" she asked, concerned about what it could have said.

"No, that Lovegood fellow from the magazine."

"He wrote back to you?" Lily said with worry. It was nice for Sev to have someone to correspond with, but that guy was a crackpot.

Severus nodded again, as Prof. McGonagall called the class to attention.

Lily was mortified in Divination. It seems at NEWT level that all predictions were publicly shared with the class. Therefore, her classmates' dreams were dull things about shoes, clothes, their owls, quidditch … and then there was Lily's. Oh ha ha, she dreamed about being pregnant. Mary and Helen gave her dirty looks as soon as it was read aloud, even though the professor thought Lily's boldness showed the makings of a true seer, unafraid to divulge what was revealed through her inner eye. And then, he had the nerve to point out she had correctly forecast sickness in September for her subject. While Severus remained nameless, since she was not allowed to make a prediction about herself, then it was probably about the only other green student at Hogwarts.

There were no Gryffindor sixth year boys in Divination. Thank goodness.

She spent the remainder of class trying to make herself appear as small and insignificant as possible, while still being green with red hair. Besides Mary and Helen's bold looks, the rest of the class kept taking turns giving her glances. Avery was openly leering at her, while the Slytherin girl was able to keep her nose and face scrunched for an incredibly long time. Maybe her face would freeze that way.

Lily practically dropped out of North Tower when the trapdoor opened. Sev would be in Arithmancy, which is also on the seventh floor down this corridor, if Lily remembered correctly from her prefect patrols last year.

When Wilkes saw Lily come racing around the corner, he just threw a thumb over his shoulder to indicate Snape was still behind him. Rosier smirked. That mudblood had not a single trace of dignity.

Severus was still in the classroom, standing with Prof. Abstractus and two Ravenclaws at a board covered in mathematical gibberish. All the boards in the room were covered with numbers and symbols in different hues of chalk.

The Ravenclaws were so absorbed by the discussion that they ignored Lily in the doorway. Severus saw her and then broke into a rare open smile. He added something to the conversation, then nodded at whatever Abstractus replied, before heading towards his desk in the back to grab his bag. He jerked his head in Lily's direction before allowing his hair to fall over his face. It wasn't good enough because Lily could see he was still amused as she got closer to him.

"Are you laughing at me?"

Letting his hair fall back from his eyes as he hoisted his bag, Severus replied, "You were dancing in the door like you need to get to the ladies'." He then took a moment to compose himself by taking a deep breath, but still gave Lily a slight smile.

It was hard to get angry at Severus when he was so rarely like this, Lily thought. She explained, "I was anxious."

The smile left his face, and his eyes passed over her from head to toe, before he asked, "What about?"

Afraid to come right out and say it, Lily shrugged and said, "Everything."

"Did something happen?" Severus asked, coming to a stop outside the classroom. The seventh floor corridor was empty since it was time for lunch.

Lily stuck out her lower lip and muttered, "Lots." When Severus didn't respond, she asked, "Could you grab some lunch for us? We could go to Herbology really early."

He nodded as he went towards the stairs, "Bring your cloak. It's colder out, even with the sun. I'll meet you in front of the Great Hall."

"If it's too cold for you, maybe we could go in one of the greenhouses, Sev."

She heard him mutter as he turned off to take a shortcut down to Slytherin, "Too cold for me?"

"Yeah," Lily replied, childishly wanting to have the last word till they met again.

Since they had already been on the seventh floor, Lily took a shortcut by going down half a flight, and waiting till the right staircase swung to the hallway to the Fat Lady's portrait, and then headed back up.

She took a deep breath before entering the Gryffindor common room. Lily was able to cross it to the girls' staircase without any distractions. When she reached her room, Mary and Helen were waiting. They had no class this afternoon, so could take their time.

"Lily, you left Divination so fast."

"I didn't like the way you were all looking at me," Lily replied while getting her herbology items together, along with her cloak, and her mum's cranberry bars.

"It was strange. For someone who claims she's just best friends to dream she's pregnant."

"From a sneak slipping me a potion," Lily defensively replied.

"Do you think Snape would do that to you?" Mary asked.

Helen agreed, "He is good at potions."

"Why can't you give it a rest? I need some time. Then I'll let you know what I think."

"Think about what?" was called out behind Lily as she closed the door.

Lily saw Severus as she descended the stairs. He was in the corner near the door. Seeing her, he came out to escort her from the castle. A few other students were going for a walk too, while the weather was still nice enough. When she took his hand in hers, he asked, "That bad?"

She sighed, then muttered, "Place is crawling with toerags."

"Yes."

"At least I can count on you to agree with me, Sev."

He remained silent on that. As they walked along, he asked, "All the way down to the greenhouses?"

"Maybe in the sun over there," Lily said, indicating the spot with her free hand.

Severus slipped his cloak off and laid it out for them. He still had on his house sweater and robe so was warm enough. Lily slipped her cloak off, but laid it on the side. His was large enough for both of them, as long as they sat close.

Sitting, Severus opened his bag and pulled out food wrapped in so many of the school's linen napkins that Lily felt this was sure to cause trouble, if they were caught. She wasn't surprised that it was simpler fare, as she took an apple. A bit scandalized by her friend's thorough wrapping, Lily unwrapped it, and put most of the spare napkins in her bag.

Glancing at Lily, Severus did not believe his idea to let Lily's dragonpox drive away her fellow students could be going so well in less than two days. "Did you want to discuss it?" he asked.

"Not really, but I'm afraid it'll come back around to you anyway."

"If you don't want to talk about it, Lily, that's fine."

Lily chewed on her lower lip, then admitted, "It's just out of control."

If Lily wanted to tell him, she would. Severus rarely listened to the nonsense that passed for gossip round this heap. These were the same morons that thought the Marauders were heroes, other than the juveniles that were following him around for two days. Both groups were equally asinine. He reached around her back, and placed his hand lightly on Lily's opposite shoulder.

She wasted no time accepting Sev's invitation and leaned against him. Bowing her head, Lily rested it against his upper chest and placed her hand on his knee. "Last year, being a prefect no one listened to was bad enough, but they are just getting even more crude and immature. My own house is worst. They take advantage of my wanting to trust and believe in them."

Although the simplest course would be to agree, Severus knew Lily would forgive them yet again. Concurrence could be held against him later. "Not everyone can live up to your high standards, Lily. It's just most noticeable in those you are closest to, especially after a long absence. All their annoying habits are magnified right now."

"You wouldn't be so nice if you heard the foul things they were saying."

"Such as?"

Lily shifted her head and bumped his chin before replying, "It's mean, Sev." She then lifted her head to look him in the eye. "Why would I be told that you would … I don't know. I don't understand what they meant. If I stay friends with you that I would never be able to find a husband?"

Severus frowned, "You mean other than me?"

"What do you mean by that, Sev? No one would be interested in me, but you? Or that I'll always have you?"

Sighing in annoyance, he said, "I don't want anyone but you, Lily. I'm sure if something unfortunate happened that there'd be plenty of others for you."

Realizing he was hurt by what she asked, which is why she originally decided not to ask him, Lily put her arms around Severus and reassured, "See how crazy they are making me?"

"Was that all?" he muttered, not sure why Lily would even worry about finding another to be her husband. Wasn't everything settled between them? She had been touching and kissing him since he first asked her.

She murmured in reply, "Uh, my Divination class thinks I'm some kind of floozy, and that uh … might make them think we're more than just friends."

"That doesn't make you different from most of the other female students. They are either labeled as immoral or frigid bitches. There's no in between."

"I'd prefer nice girl, Sev."

He laughed. "At least your purported liaison is limited to one partner. Would you prefer a whole quidditch team?"

"Don't you get disgusting too. Avery was giving me looks all through class."

"Would you like him gone?"

"No, Sev," Lily replied and pulled back giving him a playful slap to the chest. "That's not something to kid around about. He didn't say anything, just was creepy looking."

"He always is."

Lily rolled her eyes and reached for the container of cranberry bars. "You didn't have one of these yet."

"I was waiting for you to offer, Lily."

She popped the lid off and replied, "Well, I'm not going to write you an invitation." Lily took one of the bars.

Rather than studying the food, Severus also took one and barely looked at it before he took a bite.

Lily asked, "Why didn't you dissect that?"

He stopped chewing, and asked in mild alarm, "Didn't you say your mother made these?"

"Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"Your mother is an excellent cook, Lily."

She scoffed, "Do you think everyone else is out to poison you?"

"No," he replied, while finishing his bar. "Not intentionally."

When Lily reached for a second one, Severus did too. Trying to think about any kind of pattern, Lily could only come up with that he avoided most things that her mother bought that weren't ingredients for something else. "Are there some foods you can't eat?"

He replied by shaking his head 'no'.

"You aren't going to say, are you, Sev?"

Another shake of 'no'.

"Did you want another one?" Lily offered.

"Perhaps after Transfiguration tonight?" he suggested.

"Great idea," Lily commented and cast a charm to keep them just as fresh later, as they were now, before sealing the container back up.

"If you won't talk about food, can I ask you something else, Sev?"

"You can certainly ask, Lily."

"I'm sorry to bring up the earlier subject about what these toerags are gabbing about, but uh … in June, when uh … you know … I was told that there was something different about your … uh …" Lily was looking at the front of Severus's trousers, "and uh … I thought I overheard Healer Pye say something about an injury down there."

Severus looked at Lily with his eyebrows raised and a puzzled look on his face, before muttering, "It's old." He sighed heavily and then added, "It wouldn't prevent me, or us, from marital relations."

Lily let out a breath in relief, and said, "That's it?" Lily looked angry as she continued, "Not that there's anything pretty about any of them, but trying to take advantage of my lack of … whatever, to compare it to a hippogriff's and say it's the only asset you have."

Nothing came to Severus's mind to say to this outpouring of nonsense. Any nitwit would know a hippogriff was bigger than a person, and Lily even took Magical Creatures.

Misinterpreting the look on her friend's face, Lily asked, "You think it's pretty?"

Severus rolled his eyes, "Even green, no."

A call came over the lawn to them, "Hey little snakelings, it's time to stop sunning yourselves and get over to Herbology."

It was Wilkes reminding them of the time, with Rosier walking distractedly by his side, looking off to the side.

Lily brushed herself off, and commented, "I am not in Slytherin."

"But you are green, Evans," Wilkes replied.

Rosier added, "You both look ready to show your support for the winning team tomorrow. By the way, Lupin was in the bushes over there, watching the two of you."

"What for?" Lily demanded, drawing her wand.

"Probably hiding out before Herbology. McGonagall was one mean pussy at lunch," Wilkes laughed. Without the other Marauders around, Lupin was a chicken shit. Probably just lurking around, watching. Must eat away at the Gryffindors that Evans was slumming with Snape.

"He could have been listening," Lily muttered.

Severus shrugged, "So? You were only repeating rumors to me."

"That's good to hear," Rosier said jovially. "Avery's at lunch was Snape had left a potion in your cauldron."

"Avery's tongue needs to be glued to the roof of his mouth again," Severus suggested.

All-out war erupted at the Gryffindor table at lunch, and Remus knew it was all Peter's fault.

Sirius was muttering about Evans taking points from Gryffindor, and how Parkin was going to fail to keep their house competitive at quidditch, when Peter arrived all giggly and informed his friends, "We're not going to have to worry about Evans anymore. Tart's breeding and about to get expelled."

Sirius cocked his head to the side. If he was ever female and pregnant, the last person he would confide in was Wormtail, even if he was the father.

"No way," James insisted. "Even if Evans was … which she isn't. There's magic over the castle to keep students from having accidents like that."

Gloating because he was so smart, Peter informed him, "But she hasn't been here in months, has she?"

Sirius and James came to the same conclusion simultaneously. Sirius got his opinion out first, "No, not greasy Snivelly. Uh, even if she's green, no. No. It's too horrible. Ugh."

After a moment of open-mouthed shock, James leaned forward across the table and punched Peter in the face.

Remus grabbed James and pulled him back as he started to jump across the table to further assault Peter. Sirius put his arm forward to push James back to his side of the table, since Remus wasn't getting the job done.

The bossy 7th year female Gryffindor prefect yelled down the table, "Sit down, you goons!"

James insisted, "Let go of me!"

Since Peter was using Sirius's taller body as a shield, Remus let go, ready to grab James again if he didn't behave himself.

They were all surprised when James dashed down the side of the table towards the other end, yelling to attract attention, "MacDonald! Parkin!"

Remus called behind him, "No, James!"

Jumping to his feet, Sirius ran after him, on his own side of the table, "Don't do it, Prongs!"

Ready to be proven right, Peter followed behind Sirius, but slower, so he would not be a target of enraged female Gryffindors when James revealed what Peter had overheard in the gents.

Sirius did not reach James in time, before both Parkin and MacDonald had stood to confront whatever James was saying. MacDonald slapped him across the face first, but then Parkin showed her friend how to do it properly from the other side, and James rocked back from the force of it. The girls around that area, pulled on the back of James's robe and he went down.

Sirius slid over the table to reach his friend.

Two female Gryffindor prefects, 5th and 7th year, were calling for order, with assistance from a Ravenclaw prefect, who kept the table between him and the melee, as the other Ravenclaws in the area evacuated, and other prefects in the hall tried to maintain the peace.

After the slapping, both Rosier and Wilkes had stood and headed over. At least Wilkes was a prefect, but Rosier wasn't opposed to getting in a couple kicks on Potter or Black to break things up. He may be a Slytherin, but he was also a gentleman who did not like ladies, whom he liked, suffering verbal abuse from foul-mouthed cretins.

Unfortunately for Evan Rosier, Prof. McGonagall was screaming at the Gryffindors and moved over to their table to start meting out punishment, while other staff told the rest of the Great Hall to settle down.

Filch eagerly waited to see who would be his.

Since Remus had remained on the safe half of the Gryffindor table, with the other men looking on in horror as the feisty females of Gryffindor resorted to violence, he was a member of the first group that McGonagall sent out of the Great Hall while she attempted to clear the area of extra students.

In a daze at how ridiculous his friends had acted, Remus returned to Gryffindor tower. He decided that he better leave now. He had missed an Herbology class in September due to his little monthly problem, and would miss another next week. Remus had also skived off another Friday afternoon because his friends had their Friday afternoons free, and repeatedly urged him to skip class.

Evans was in Herbology too. Had she heard about this alarming rumor? They were actually the only two Gryffindors in that class, so Remus decided he better go to see if Evans needed anything either for Herbology or a sympathetic ear.

Remus was heading across the lawn down to the greenhouses, passing others out enjoying the last of the fine weather, when he saw Evans sitting with Snape. Their overwhelming greenness was hard to miss with them being out in the sunlight. Slowing, he realized it was a private conversation when Evans threw her arms around Snape, so he veered off towards some nearby shrubbery.

Unconcerned, since it was Evans touching Snape, rather than the other way around, Remus paused to try to sort this out. He knew they were friends. Evans told the boys repeatedly to leave Snape alone over the years. The problem was Snape was challenging for the Marauders. If he didn't fight back, and fight back well, he doubted James and Sirius would seek him out, and Peter would not crow as loudly about every hard-earned victory. They also took pleasure from planning revenge after every defeat.

From the disaster over the summer, Remus now knew they lived pretty close to each other. More than just the same train line. He wasn't sure who else lived around them, but if they weren't the same age, that could account for their seemingly odd friendship. If Remus had other witches and wizards his own age around where he lived, and didn't have the unfortunate lifelong problem of being a werewolf, he was sure he'd at least make an effort to get to know them. Evans was so nice that even a git such as Snape couldn't help but like her.

Could James have miscalculated the extent of their friendship when he set his sights on Evans? They were talking and eating, after that one embrace from Evans so maybe not romance, but for their age, for a Slytherin and a Gryffindor to be so cozy after such a long time, seemed unnatural? There was no written rule about the two houses interacting, but it seemed fiercer than any other rivalry at the school. Or was that just contrived by Remus's friends? Thinking back, Longbottom treated Slytherins fairly, but he was cautious and suspicious. However, once he caught the Marauders in enough lies, he'd usually believe anyone else first.

Remus realized he had hung about here long enough when Wilkes yelled, "Hey little snakelings, it's time to stop sunning yourselves and get over to Herbology."

Rosier was with him, and looking straight at Remus standing in the shadows. Rosier could be a problem at times, with Wilkes and Snape, a very big problem. And Remus wasn't sure about Evans being called a little snakeling. He decided he better quickly get to the greenhouse, rather than stand around looking like a tempting target.

He arrived at the greenhouse with a group of Hufflepuffs. Remus knew that nurturing plants was not the domain of just the house of badgers, since both Sirius and James could have been in this class, if they wanted. They found it boring and unnecessary. Prof. Sprout was probably relieved James and Sirius weren't in her class. All they did for five years was goof off and throw things at other students. Unfortunately Gryffindor was paired with Hufflepuff for Herbology early on. Therefore, these Hufflepuffs knew Remus only too well. Even without his three friends, Remus was pretty much left on his own. They'd rather team up with Wilkes and Rosier, smart, rich and handsome … three things that Remus couldn't lay claim to.

When the three Slytherins and Evans arrived, a couple of girls who had their eyes on the two young men, and had been partnering with them for the past month, joined them at their usual table for four. Scoping out the arrangements, Remus took a chance and approached Evans and Snape in the back. They hadn't been in class so did not have a full table prearranged. In the past, Evans was with Parkin and MacDonald.

Shyly Remus offered, "All right Evans?"

While Evans narrowed her eyes to study Lupin, he was surprised to see Snape smirk at him. What was he up to?

Evans responded coldly, "You can join us if you can behave yourself, Lupin." Evans turned away from Lupin, Snape immediately looked attentive before she caught him smirking, and she added, "If it's all right with Severus."

"Whatever you say, Lily."

What was Snape doing with his voice? He wasn't going to fool Evans by making it sound deep and adult-like. She had heard it for years, and it was one of the reasons why 'Snivelly' fit him so much as a nickname.

Remus got to thinking maybe this was a bad idea because why would Snape want him over here? However, Prof. Sprout was beginning the lesson.

Once they got to practical work, Remus saw that Snape and Evans worked well together. All their years as efficient potions partners were evident. They did not talk much, but Snape was still using that new voice whenever he needed to say something to Evans or him. Evans talked much more, and told both Snape and Remus what she wanted them to do. Unlike the Marauders in previous years, Evans was not the kind of Gryffindor who hurled manure at her classmates.

His temporary partners were also like minded when it came to the post-class sanitizing charms. Like Remus, they preferred to follow up the charms with lots of soap and water. Usually Remus had to run to catch up to James, Sirius and Peter because about half their class had felt the same, and they didn't want to wait while Remus queued up to use the sink.

Therefore, Remus found himself walking sedately back to the castle with Evans, Snape, Rosier, Wilkes and a bunch of nice Hufflepuffs, mostly girls. No jinxes, no jokes, no sly innuendos, just pleasant company.

Feeling it was too good to be true, Remus stopped in the gents before returning to the tower to check if his hair, face and the rest of his appearance was normal, and then spun around to see if he had a note or sign on his backside.

Seeing nothing that he'd need to get sorted before meeting his friends, Remus headed up to the tower and found the common room and their bedroom unoccupied by the rest of the Marauders. Shrugging because it was such a nice day, Remus decided he'd head down to the quidditch pitch to look for them. They still had plenty of time before dinner.

Lily returned to her room and found a note on her bed.

Lily ~

Don't be bothered listening to anything the guys say. We'll be glad to serve detentions from now till graduation straightening out Potter and Pettigrew. Lying bastards!

Helen and Mary

Worried, but sure she'd find out soon enough what the Marauders were up to this time, Lily decided to stay put until dinner and start on her weekend homework, in case the quidditch match went long tomorrow.

Severus and her were meeting Prof. McGonagall this evening to get caught up on Transfiguration. After that, Lily wasn't sure, but since Sev asked her to save the cranberry bars till after, maybe he had something in mind.

Helen and Mary did not return to their room before the start of dinner. Lily waited close to thirty minutes before going down, deciding that they must have headed straight there. When she entered the common room, she saw those detestable younger boys from this morning. They saw her too and ran out the portrait hole.

Lily spent her time on the way to the Great Hall in thought about cowardly, name-calling Gryffindors who thought the Marauders were going to protect them from any repercussions. Doesn't work very well when their saviors weren't around, and if it was someone with any backbone like Lily, having the Marauders covering their asses wasn't going to work. She'd take points from them all, no matter how they threatened her.

The Gryffindor table seemed rather tense when Lily arrived. Many of the ladies were glaring at the male end. Had the little toerags been right when they threatened more people were going to be undressed? Pretty stupid to do that since the females could enter the boys' dorms at night. But let's face it, have the Marauders ever had a smart plan? Did they ever have any plan? Only Lupin was present and he looked very determined to concentrate on his meal and nothing else.

Her friends were missing so Lily spent the meal looking around and noticed there was a pantomime being enacted on the far end of the hall, next to the Slytherin table by some younger students. A young cheeky, blond boy with a smile so wide that his blinding white teeth seemed to have been charmed, was playacting that he was threatening another who waved his hands in the air in mock fear. Severus ignored the display behind him, and was sitting again with Wilkes and Rosier. Mulciber was at the far end of the table with a mixed group of older Slytherins who were sitting close, whispering furiously and glaring at anyone who came close to them.

When Prof. McGonagall left, Severus stood but pointed at Lily when she stood. He headed over to a door closer to Gryffindor than Slytherin.

Lily joined him and said, "This door isn't closer to Prof. McGonagall's office."

Severus stood close to Lily and said softly, "The group Mulciber's with, that's the Dark Lord fan club you've pestered me about. Study who's in it and stay away from them."

When she looked around him, he pulled her along to exit through door, "Don't stare."

"Isn't that kind of obvious, them eating together?"

"Emergency meeting because Avery's a simpleton."

"Mulciber's not too sharp either."

"They've been trying to flatter smarter students, but if they keep looking like a gang of moronic thugs, no one listens."

"What happened?"

Severus tsk'd at her, "Lily, what happens in Slytherin is supposed to stay in Slytherin."

"Sev, that's the code words for you attacked someone."

He shrugged in response as they continued up the stairs. "I merely took advantage of quidditch tomorrow. Mulciber can't risk getting hurt and not playing. That's the only reason Slughorn lets him continue here."

"For quidditch?" Lily asked in disbelief.

"Certainly not because he thinks he has a promising career in the Ministry."

"Anyway without Mulciber, Avery was not as safe as he thought. I was forced to do it in front of others so the message got out that what Avery claimed earlier today better not be repeated where I can hear it."

Lily smacked Sev on the arm. "How many times have I told you words can't hurt?"

Sighing, he replied, "You were upset earlier, Lily. If it continued, they'd have made you miserable."

"I don't care what Avery says," she said, trying to sound convincing. "And I thought you didn't like that group of youngsters following you around."

Smirking, Severus said, "I've found some use for them."

"Sev!"

"No, nothing like that. I need to wash that potion off my skin and scalp in the morning, and some of them keep lookout. Usually attacking others in the bath is considered bad form, but nonetheless it's effective."

Lily frowned. Attacking others in the bath bad form? Severus's paranoia knew no limits at times. Though as her mother said, it takes days to develop a habit. Sev might get into the custom of washing his hair without Lily nagging due to the greasy potion he was still using. She was on a milder version that rubbed in as a cream after bathing, and her scalp was not a problem. Sev's had been covered as much as the rest of his skin with blisters.

They weren't as quick at Transfiguration as they were at Charms. Though Lily thought Severus was goofing around because he kept making his item match her final version for anything conjured. She conjured a pink, dainty, perfectly patterned butterfly, and then Severus would have a blue one, just like it, in a couple minutes. Why couldn't he just grow up and concentrate on what they were supposed to be learning here?

Growing annoyed, Lily cast rictusempra in a low whisper when Prof. McGonagall stepped out for a moment.

Rather than the laughter she expected, Lily snuck a glance to see Severus shudder then twitch a bit before he said, "Finite Incantatem." His objects disappeared, but Severus continued to twitch slightly as he looked at her. "A new kind of itching jinx, Lily? It had an additional crawling sensation to go with it. Nice one."

Dissatisfied, Lily went back to the current conjuration, and produced a long stemmed, thorn free, perfect white rose. Severus produced a number of lilies in different colors, including unnatural shades of blue and green, in addition to red, orange, pink and white. When he handed them to her, she muttered, "Show off." He then quickly produced a succession of roses in red, blue, purple and black for her. Lily insisted, "Mine's still better."

"I didn't say it wasn't. Quality over quantity," Severus intoned while tilting his head in her direction.

As Prof. McGonagall entered, he returned to his now empty desk. McGonagall asked, "How about you produce one, Mr. Snape, and then we'll call it a night. We can meet again next week."

With a flick of his wand, Severus produced a dandelion, including the long root still with a clump of dirt attached to it.

"Excellent detail, Mr. Snape."

Severus smirked at Lily, who felt her white rose was superior. It was just crowded with all the rubbish Sev had left over on her desk. In protest, she vanished all but her rose.

Lily received a nod from Prof. McGonagall, since she was intentionally waving around her rose when it failed to receive praise equaling Severus's weed.

Dejected, Lily said, "Good night, Professor. Thank you for your help."

Severus muttered, "Thanks," from behind her.

Exiting the classroom, Lily asked, "Where to now? We have time before curfew."

"Whatever you want, Lily."

"I already started on my homework so I'm good there."

"Did you want to go up near Ravenclaw and sit in one of the windows there?"

"Ravenclaw?"

"That tower has the best view, and the corridors off of it have wide window sills."

"And here I thought you never left the dungeons, Sev. Lead on."

"There is plenty of room in the corridors down there, but there's always someone lurking about or looking for their own place to be left alone."

After they reached the corridor out of the main stairwell, Severus turned left. "Straight would lead to their common room, and if we make another turn here, this hallway dead ends after a couple curves."

"Where does this door go?"

"I don't check it every time, but it's been locked. This window overlooks the mountains, which is better during the day, but the last one is over the main part of the castle, which has the lights at night."

"There's another door. Why don't you unlock them?"

"Why don't you?" Severus asked as he put his bag down, and sat on the window sill turning to face the corridor they just came out of.

"Maybe when I get bored," Lily replied as she sat on the sill too, and then swung her feet up. Severus held her off for a moment, shifted to mirror her from his side, then guided her to settle her legs on top of his, and her feet between the window and his body.

Lily really hadn't come for the view, but it was quite nice. The Ravenclaws must have the best view out of all of them, since Slytherin and Hufflepuff were downstairs. Unless you counted the lads' opinion because you could see the quidditch pitch from Gryffindor tower. Boys!

This was rather clever of Severus. They were facing each other, but they were separated by the length of their legs. Lily could only touch Sev from about his knee down without leaning forward.

"Been coming here long?"

Severus shrugged. He had found this spot early on, and had waited years to get Lily here. He also cast a few notice-me-nots over time over both sections of the corridor to keep snoggers and shaggers out of here. They usually preferred poorly lit areas, but the lack of traffic here was too tempting to those that actually took the time to plan out their rendezvous.

Lily put her hand on his knee and asked, "How have you been feeling?" The silence of the corridor made her notice the noise Severus was making. She was used to his respiratory racket from the hospital, and it had decreased.

"Well enough to cast spells. And you?"

"Better than you. Going to quidditch tomorrow?"

"No, arithmancy."

"How could you be behind in that, Sev?"

"Prof. Abstractus asked to meet with me. I should go. He's the only teacher that thinks I'm not rubbish, so I might as well let him stroke my ego."

"You are super at Defense," Lily asserted, avoiding the topic of Slughorn.

"By the time an instructor realizes I'm not trash, Lily, he or she is leaving."

"You're not trash, Sev," Lily assured him while rubbing his bony knee.

Reaching down for her hand, he reminded her, "Patting only. You're irritating it."

Well, that explained why the tickling charm failed earlier, thought Lily. Unless Sev wasn't ticklish? Hmm. She guessed she'd have to wait until his skin got better before examining that more closely.

Sighing, Lily suggested, "Maybe we should just skip ahead to the kissing. I don't want to rush it too close to curfew."

Severus was trying to figure out if Lily was kidding around. They had at least twenty minutes before they needed to head back to their common rooms. He also did not want to immediately associate this hallway with kissing on their first visit. That's not why he found it.

Lily sliding her feet back to change positions was the sign that she meant it, or at least that she intended to do something. Severus stayed still so they didn't end up getting annoyed at each other being in the way. His legs against the window were as out of the way as they could get, unless he got up.

This suited Lily just fine as she moved in, slid her hands along Severus's sides then continued to snake them up his back, letting one reach his neck as she tightened her embrace, and pressed her lips against his while allowing her eyes to close. Her feet could not go anywhere since she was in a kneeling position on the sill. Neither leg could flex back at the knee, but her toes could still curl in her shoes. Lily didn't remember the toe curling in the hospital, and had thought that perhaps their kissing had gotten too commonplace. This new position was rather good for her because her head was higher than his, and she felt more in control, not that Severus usually fought back, but Lily liked the additional sensation of being in charge.

Good, but it could be better, Lily contemplated as she noticed that his lips were dry. All right if she didn't move her lips, but she liked moving them. Shifting her hand on his neck higher into his hair, she licked Severus's lips so they'd have some moisture.

When Lily licked his lips, Severus was torn. He didn't want her licking him, but it was Lily so there was nothing wrong with her tongue, or any other part of her. Severus had given Lily's body a lot of thought. It was obvious from Mulciber's vast collection of pornographic material that witches enjoyed the attention of other witches a lot more than they did wizards, but they weren't doing anything that he couldn't do to please Lily. It was just reconciling in his mind that there was nothing about Lily that could possibly displease or repulse him, rather than thinking about how skanky the witches were in the pictures. He'd never want any of them touching him.

Trying to tell Lily that he didn't like this resulted in her tongue getting into his mouth. As he pushed her to stop this from turning into snogging, Lily tightened her hold on him and instead of removing her tongue, started feeling his tongue with hers.

Lily didn't know why Severus thought her licking his lips meant she wanted to snog, but thought why not when her tongue gained entrance. It was odd touching someone else's teeth with her tongue, and the feeling of his tongue as she felt it was … oh, even though this was probably a muggle term it definitely fit ... electrifying. Is this why everyone snogged? She wished Severus wouldn't get so squirmy as she pressed against him to use her weight to keep him still. It was distracting, and Lily was trying to investigate how much better than brilliantly great this could feel. Why didn't Sev open his mouth sooner?

Pushing at Lily's arms just made her tighten her hold and seemed to encourage her further as she straddled his lap. His arm facing the hallway remained free, but tugging at her ankle didn't help from this angle. His other hand was trapped between them and ended up on Lily's breast. It might stay there until she decided to stop trying to push him through the stone wall. Severus worked the free hand upwards. Dislodging her knee did occur to him, but he was afraid from her positioning that could result in her full weight falling onto his nads. He moved his hand and Lily's thigh seemed to go on too far when he finally reached … her knickers. His hand left her body so fast, it was as if he was burnt.

That wasn't the only burning because Lily finally disengaged from his mouth to moan, "More Sev." While resuming her probing of his mouth, she wriggled suggestively on his lap and purposely rubbed her chest against his trapped hand that was going numb.

Panicking, Severus tricked Lily by pushing back with his tongue to get her out of his mouth long enough for him to croak out, "Curfew."

Lily moaned her disappointment, but after all she was a prefect and needed to set a good example. She wasn't on the patrol schedule yet so she had no legitimate reason to miss curfew. However, Lily wanted to know what came next. She could feel it in her body that there was just so much more to do, even if it was just kissing Severus and exploring his mouth till the sun dawned tomorrow morning.

Rather than cutting off suddenly, Lily gave Severus a close-mouthed kiss on the lips. She then put her hand on his face. "You feel flushed, but the green hides it. How about me?"

"Fine."

Climbing off Severus, Lily asked, "Cranberry bar for the walk back, Sev?"

"Maybe not," he replied. Severus couldn't start and stop as quickly as Lily could, but right now he needed to make sure she did not start with the kissing again. He stood and gave her room to grab her bag.

Reaching the Ravenclaw corridor, Lily said, "When will I see you tomorrow?"

"Library after breakfast?"

"All right," she agreed as they parted ways at the stairs.

Severus headed down to Slytherin, and Gryffindor was up.

On her way upstairs, Lily felt her face and her lips with her hand, feeling that how she felt and what she just did were written all over her. Unlike Petunia's description, being with Severus did not feel the least bit wicked or depraved. It was quite the opposite.

She arrived to find a bunch of morose looking boys hanging in the Gryffindor common room. The Marauders were absent and not providing entertainment to the young lads on a Friday evening. Toerags were probably emptying the school's larders at this very moment to arrange for a historical food fight.

Lily hesitated on the stairs up to the girls' dormitories. What if they ran into Severus? Kitchens were near Hufflepuff, but there was no guarantee that that's where they were heading. They could just as easily headed down to the dungeons to catch any Slytherins heading back close to curfew to delay them enough to cause trouble. For some reason, any infractions by Potter, Black, Lupin and Pettigrew for not being in the tower on time were ignored and always had been, no matter what they were caught doing. It had long been suspected that one of them was Dumbledore's relative or godchild, in addition to two of them being wealthy purebloods.

Muttering about the unfairness displayed here at the school, Lily dragged herself upstairs and found her two roommates already washed up and in their pajamas.

"Lily, where've you been all day?"

"Me?" she asked in reply. "Uh, since I saw you earlier, or this evening when I was catching up with Prof. McGonagall for Transfiguration?"

"You just disappeared before lunch, and then Potter was shooting his mouth off in the Great Hall. We didn't get the whole story till later, when Black was trying to make their lame ass excuses," Helen said while rolling her eyes at how ridiculous those boys were.

Mary added, "We had plenty of time to talk it over while we were dusting in the trophy room. What that place really needs is to be cleared out a bit. There's plaques in there that are over a hundred years old. Even if their descendants were attending Hogwarts today, they'd never find them behind all the others."

"Anyway," Helen interrupted, "it seems that in retaliation for you taking points from some Gryff lads this morning that were under the protection of sainted Potter, that they felt it only right to be a couple of bastards and go spreading around tales about you, Lily. Stupid pisshead came down to our end of the table talking trash, and we all put an immediate end to it."

"Too bad McGonagall came to his rescue. We had him and Black on the floor."

"You attacked Potter and Black?"

"Every girl that could reach them, but the prefects. We stick together and when some prick starts telling tales about you being expelled for being pregnant, we'll set him straight," Helen stated with conviction.

"Could that have something to do with Divination?"

Mary exclaimed, "It was only a dream, Lily. And as we were told, it shows that you aren't afraid to put your dreams into words and interpret them as they are. Rather juvenile to use you're doing well in class, and twisting it into something like that."

"Petty Potter" Helen said, practically ready to spit fire.

"This is all getting out of control. We're supposed to work together as a house and a family here at school," Lily replied, once again trying to think of something that would solve this whole ridiculous mess. Now that the Marauders were encouraging the younger lads to misbehave, it was obvious they had no intention of reconciliation.

Helen shrugged, "They started it, and there's no reasoning with them. You think they fear any kind of punishment after all the times they were allowed to do whatever they wanted?"

"Don't worry, Lily," Mary assured her. "There are plenty of other people here at school that feel the same way. We had a chance to talk to Malcolm while Evan sweet talked Mrs. Norris, or rather made a nuisance of himself to the cat."

"Yeah, he showed up and magicked the trophies to a brilliant shine so we could get out of there tonight, rather than next week."

"Very sweet of him," Mary said with a small smile.

"And Evan, talking to Mrs. Norris the whole time," Helen said with a grin of her own.

"So, we told Malcolm that unless he and Evan accept us and who are friends are, rather than listening to Mulciber telling them what to do, then they might as well start dating Mulciber."

Lily laughed. They probably didn't give the boys an ultimatum like they described, but it was nice of them to bring it up when they should just be thankful that someone showed up to help.

"So they better get their act together by next week, or we'll make other plans for Hogsmeade."

"By the way, were the big mouths back from their punishment when you came through the common room?"

"I don't know," Lily said. "They weren't there."

"If they were back, they'd be down there telling their version of things. Bunch of cowardly liars. How did they ever get into Gryffindor?"

Lily shrugged, she had questioned that many times in her own mind. Perhaps the Sorting Hat saw the potential for them to be brave, rather than the way then the way they acted every day.

As she got ready for bed, she continued trying to think of a way that Gryffindor house could reunite. Those four boys were … a disease. At first, it appeared like all fun and laughs, and then their behavior ate away at everything. Breaking rules, not caring about grades, mocking authority figures, bullying everyone around them, and then being idolized by the same lads who they tormented in the showers.

If they had a weak point, it had to be Lupin. He could act normal when he wasn't with the others. Seemed pleasant enough in Herbology today. At least he had brains enough to realize Severus had been ill, and didn't mutter taunts at either of them during class. Did he dare to have any other classes without his mates? Lily had been to every class but Magical Creatures now, and remembered Potter thought it jolly good that they were in the class together. Probably because it was a walk outside where he could get a clear shot and jinx the heck out of someone. What a toerag.

Maybe Severus had a class with him. That would be Ancient Runes or Arithmancy? But what would she ask her friend to do? Lily didn't even know if Severus could fake friendliness. He either was insulting or moodily quiet.

After wishing her roommates good night, since they were already in bed but doing some reading, Lily lay down and arranged the bed curtains to curtail the remaining light from bothering her.

Severus. Hm, well, he certainly was no spy. He could keep quiet, but pretending he liked someone that he didn't? Probably not, or else he'd have been more successful here at Hogwarts in the friend department. Maybe he'd feel comfortable with those younger Slytherins, if they didn't lose interest in him. Being older than them might give him a bit of confidence.

Lily felt along the back of her leg, slowly ghosting the path Severus's hand took from her knee up her thigh earlier this evening. Did 'more' involve getting undressed or him getting his hands under her clothes? She had caught enough couples to know that being dressed did not mean being decent.

Between them, they had enough self-control not to turn into some writhing and panting couple copping feels in the halls. Where did students who could maintain some public decorum go? Tales of breaking into Mr. Filch's broom closets were rife, but that didn't sound the least bit romantic. When Lily was added back onto the prefect patrol schedule, she'd have to keep an eye out.

She cleared her mind as she ran one finger under the leg band of her knickers, slowly following it from her hip over her bum and then back to her hip, and repeated it with growing enjoyment. It felt provocative and like it was just crossing the line into forbidden territory. Severus should have done this. How would it feel different if Severus were doing this? Would Lily notice the longer, thinner fingers, or would they feel rather the same? He'd be cautious, and it would be slower and almost teasing. Lighter touch too. Barely enough, but certainly enough to let her know he'd breached her knickers and crossed into forbidden territory. What if he didn't stop? Lily let her finger continue to the center, rather than sliding it back to her hip. Hmm, no, maybe this wasn't a good idea, unless she clearly defined how far his hand was to go. Disappointed that this idea turned out to be no good, Lily stopped goofing around with the back leg band of her panties.

His other hand had been on her chest, but he hadn't done anything. Boys were supposed to squeeze them, right? With a quick glance to make sure she couldn't be seen in bed, even under the covers, Lily put a hand on each of her breasts, and tried to imitate what she guessed the errant lads she had caught were doing under girls' blouses. She felt something, but it wasn't as nice as the hand on her leg. She must be doing something wrong. The fondled ladies were usually squirming in pleasure with their eyes closed while wriggling their bums against the fellow behind them. Lily felt no urge to squirm or wriggle.

Where was she supposed to touch Severus back? Knowing him, he'd say nowhere. Even with the randiest couples, short of actually shagging, the bloke's clothes were usually intact. Maybe his front was undone, but in most cases the girl was touching it through the trousers. Tonight, Lily hadn't done that. Was that why Severus only teased her by touching the outside of her knickers, and not doing something with her breast? Lily had felt the kiss itself had been certainly attention grabbing. Maybe next time, if Severus wouldn't talk about what he liked, she'd try it.

Down in the dungeons, Severus also replayed his kiss with Lily over in his mind. It was inevitable that their tongues would end up in the other's mouth.

After Lily's revelation about her sister's argument, he hoped it would have taken longer. From everything she had said, Lily wanted to be friends who held hands and kissed, with closed mouths. Barring that one time in the hospital when she was being childish, and wanted Severus to pull down his trousers for her. They were a bit old to be playing doctor, healer, or whatever she wanted to call it.

He'd let her look once after they were married, and then any time he needed to disrobe after that, it would be in the dark. Lily already knew that he'd been injured more than most people, so it wasn't as if he was trying to trick her. She already got enough of a look back in June. Lily used the word 'pretty' earlier today. Severus had never claimed anything about him was even tolerable looking. He wouldn't lie to Lily about what he looked like. She knew, and was still his friend. That's why he loved her. There wouldn't be anyone else that he'd ever love as much as Lily.

Turning to get comfortable, now that he'd finished smearing this potion all over, Severus thought he overheard something outside the drapery he had pulled closed around his bed. He glared out the crack between the panels, but Mulciber was lying there quietly. He knew better than to wank like he was the only one in the room again. Mulciber's current reading material was so outrageous anyway. It had no semblance to real life. Raped witches would scream and cry just as much as raped muggles. They wouldn't suddenly decide they enjoyed it after a wizard stuck it in them.

Peter, James and Sirius returned to Gryffindor tower long after curfew, but it was from supervised hard labor under the watchful eye of Filch. The founders of this crap pile had no idea of how to do things the easy way. Wizards don't need pipes and septic systems, although all three of their homes did have plumbing. There was nothing as disgusting as what they were put to work cleaning down in the sub-dungeon. Probably why the Slytherins stank so much.

Not being presentable, all three headed to wash up, rather than getting sidetracked in the common room by the younger students who had stayed late to wait for them.

This situation was going to take some analysis and careful planning. Sirius already had his day planned tomorrow polishing doorknobs thanks to that filthy Snivelly.

Peter couldn't say for sure who started the Evans is pregnant rumor since he was in a stall, but it could have been Snape. That would be so like him. Sneaky Slytherin.

They were still discussing their favorite bane when they entered their room, wearing nothing but towels, leaving all their clothing behind for the house elves to deal with.

"They are going to have to scrub holes in those robes," Peter laughed.

"No, they'll just use Mrs. Scower's All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover," Sirius said while waving his hand, "that even gets the slime off Snape."

"Not without a few scourgifys for good measure," James added. "Mrs. Scower is tough, but there's some things that go beyond 'magical mess'."

"Where have you three been?" Remus asked. No one seemed to know after they were turned over to Filch at lunch.

James said, "Ah, now that's quite the question now, isn't it, Moony?"

Peter exaggeratedly shuddered, and answered, "It was horrible … deep in the dungeons, where Snivellus spawned from."

Barking a laugh, Sirius added, "Don't worry, Moony. That is definitely not worth adding to the map. The corridor should be filled in so nothing else ever crawls out of there again."

"What did Snape have to do with your momentary insanity at lunch, Prongs?"

Shrugging James said, "Maybe nothing. Maybe everything."

Deflecting that he was the cause of it, Peter insisted, "He's very tricky, Moony. Can't trust him, even when you don't see him. If it wasn't him, it was one of the other Death Eaters."

Nodding Sirius said, "Yup, I'd bet on Death Eaters."

"You're not serious – and I mean in this case, Padfoot – that you think Death Eaters started a rumor that Evans was pregnant?"

"Why not?" asked James warming to the idea. "Who else would gain from discrediting a muggleborn like Evans?"

"And Snape is definitely one of them," Peter said with certainty.

"Stop," Remus interjected. "Listen to yourselves. We all know that Snape and Evans are friends. Even if you don't like it. Why would he be involved with some death eater plot to start a stupid rumor?"

"That's the beauty of it, Moony," Sirius knowingly uttered. "He'd fake being her friend so no one suspects. You know how nice Evans is. How many chances has she given Prongs here without hexing his bollocks off?"

"Oi Padfoot! I need those to make little Potters."

"You'll never need them, mate, until you find yourself a girl that you don't dissolve into a puddle for. If I were Evans, I call you a prick and just whisk them away. You'd get the message then," clarified Sirius.

"Evans likes me. She likes me a lot," James said with absolute conviction. "Evans is only a bit self-conscious right now because she's green and got all those things on her face."

"Self-conscious?" spat Peter. "Evans is hideous and she knows it."

"Take that back!"

Exasperated Remus yelled, "Cut it out!"

"What?" yelled Sirius back.

"You're all acting dense, self-absorbed and just all-around blockheads. You got to apologize, even if it's against Marauder policy."

Peter sneered, "Without our policy, we ain't the Marauders. Chickening out, Moony?"

"Hey now," Sirius interjected. "We are not fighting over some girl. Even if Moony and Prongs have gone soft in the head."

James thought he knew who Remus meant, so waited to hear more before judging.

"Evans. How do you think she felt when Prongs spread this untrue rumor in such a spectacular fashion?"

"I didn't start it," James clarified for anyone that got the idea that he'd say such a thing about Evans.

"And she wasn't there," Sirius said smugly.

"Oh, you think your assailants wouldn't bother telling her?"

"Filthy snitches," Peter called the Gryffindor ladies.

"Just to get you caught up, I have Herbology with Evans after lunch."

"So you sorted her?" James asked hopefully.

"No, she was with Snape. And you know what? I think they're a lot closer than you all think."

"Ugh ..."

"Not like that," Remus corrected. "They are good friends. Like you are with me. She probably tells him everything."

"Ewww," Sirius said. "Who wants a girl doing all that talking? That's what they have girlfriends for."

"Thank goodness," Peter added.

Looking puzzled, James shook his head. "No. Evans is too smart to be friends with Snivelly. And being a girl wouldn't she want him to share back? What's he got? How great the Death Eaters and Dark Arts are?"

"Yeah, she's got Parkin and MacDonald, for what they're worth," Peter said disdainfully. Neither of them showed any interest in him. Stupid bitches.

Sighing loudly, Remus put his hand to his forehead before explaining, "You are looking at this all the wrong way. Step back like you don't even know Evans and Snape. They live close and knew each other even before Hogwarts."

"He was an ugly oddball then too. The only thing that's changed is his nose has gotten bigger and he's gotten even greasier," Sirius said, not understanding why Remus was even trying to make Snape sound normal.

"Yeah, Dark Arts," James declared and pointed his finger at Remus. "And even little Evans was too good looking to hang around with him."

Throwing his hands in the air, Remus said, "This isn't about looks."

"There, there, Moony," intoned Peter. "We know that's what you need to tell the ladies to get their attention since you aren't as naturally good-looking as us, but there's only so much that acting sensitive and being a good listener can cover up."

"That hair."

"Those teeth."

"The grease."

"That nose."

"Those eyes."

"That smell."

"Those hands."

"That slime."

"All of him."

"Fine. I tried," Remus said finally.