Chapter 19 Time Flies
Prof. McGonagall's letter to Lily arrived within hours, congratulating her on good scores and suggesting Lily choose her schedule to concentrate on six subjects.
The decision to drop Astronomy was a no-brainer. Prof. Celestial had little control over the class. Neither Severus or Lily could concentrate looking up at the stars when the Slytherins and Marauders were nearby, up on a dangerously high tower in the dark.
History of Magic was not disliked by either of them. However, they would both rather concentrate on the history of things they enjoyed, rather than Prof. Binns define it through various groups of bloodthirsty goblins. They didn't even delve into the psyche of why the goblins were out for wizard blood, other than goblins easily took offense. Lily thought it pretty short-sighted that wizards wouldn't be respectful of the creatures that held their fortunes in the palms of their hands.
They reached an impasse on designating any other class as unnecessary. Lily liked Care of Magical Creatures and Divination. They may not be core requirements, however they did provide value. Severus was totally unreasonable. He was under the delusion that the entire world could be unlocked through Arithmancy, and forgotten secrets were just waiting to be rediscovered through Ancient Runes.
Lily thought Herbology would be worth dropping, but her friend was firm that he'd keep it, even if Lily dropped. His reason seemed flimsy, considering that many items were available for purchase, so wizards should not have to worry about maintaining gardens and greenhouses.
Finally, Lily decided she's write back to Prof. McGonagall and let her know that she'd like to take seven courses, and if it was a firm rule that she couldn't, or if she found herself overwhelmed, she'd make a change. If she started Herbology, she doubted Severus would let her not do well in it. At NEWT level, she'd probably be in many classes with her best friend now, instead of just Potions.
James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were writing back and forth every day. Their letters were filled with plans for sixth-year courses, what they needed to take, what was fun to take, and what would definitely not be worth taking because of too much homework.
There was no room on one sheet of parchment to include their plans of revenge against Snivelly. Only girls and ponces wrote more than one page to their mates unless they had woman troubles, and everyone knew that the Marauders never had woman troubles due to being cursed with good looks and charm.
James and Sirius were all settled since they wanted to be Aurors. They needed five NEWTs and needed to take Charms, Defense, Transfiguration, and Potions. For their fifth class, they were taking Magical Creatures because it was easy. One could get a top grade for handing Kettleburn plasters.
Peter did not score as well on the OWLs, so couldn't get into all the same classes as his mates. He didn't want to take History of Magic, but McGonagall was on his back to add one more class. The other possibility was Divination, but the homework assignments were a constant burden.
Remus did well, but was not considering becoming an Auror so the other three were working on trying to influence his final decision. He already relented on Magical Creatures and Charms so the four of them could be together. Defense was also a definite for him, and their fingers were crossed that there'd be a decent instructor for the next two years.
It would be so much easier to have them all together, rather than all these letters. James was working on his parents, but for some reason they were being irrational. Now that OWL scores were out, they'd need to go to Diagon Alley for supplies to do assignments. The four were setting up a time to meet in Diagon Alley, and then sweeten up the Potters with talk of studying hard. The plan - no jokes, no whining, and no fogging up the window glass at the Quidditch supply shop.
The plan to bring the four of them together was not James's only one. Just because he's in Gryffindor doesn't mean he can't think of two things at once. Well, three things if you include Quidditch. It would be a bad idea to let Lily simmer for over a month with only lying Snivelly skulking around. He would write her, and maybe it would be more than one side of one sheet.
Prof. McGonagall had written back to Lily approving seven courses with a book list for Lily to owl order from Flourish and Blotts. It was an expense for the Evans to make a mid-summer trip to London, so Lily would get the rest of school supplies when they went down a day early for the Hogwarts Express. This year they planned to spend overnight in London hotel. For now, it was questionable whether Petunia or Mr. Evans would be coming too, but Lily was hopeful.
Each instructor was supposed to write with their assignments, considering admittance to sixth year studies to their courses were based on OWL grades. Lily already had her Transfiguration assignment from Prof. McGonagall. Luckily, it was a text Severus already had from his mother's school books so Lily didn't need to wait.
It felt good to be learning something new. They spent all afternoon discussing the essay assignment in Lily's bedroom, and looked up theory in previous years' texts that supported their arguments. When they parted for the evening, both planned to write their essay that night, and the other would review it the next morning for mistakes.
Lily took extra care with her essay. Of course, the main reason being she had been bored waiting to do schoolwork, the secondary one which was really very minor, if she were to admit it, was that Severus would be reading it. During the school year, he rarely read any of her work unless they were allowed to work undisturbed together in the library. It really was a telling indicator of how many immature students were at Hogwarts because their moments together in the library had become increasingly rare.
Having received letters from both Helen and Mary, Lily now understood their odd decision to invite Slytherin boys to join them on the trip back to school. Sitting in the same compartment did not mean anyone was going out. If Rosier and Wilkes turned out to be a couple of creeps, the trip only took hours. In that time, they would also accomplish to goal of letting the Marauders know what they thought of them. The compartment had windows, and those toerags spent enough time strutting up and down the train to notice. If they passed more than twice without flying into a rage, Helen suggested they could affix a 'Do Not Disturb' parchment to the compartment window. The last reason was Severus. They didn't come out and say they wanted Lily and Severus together, but if Severus did so well against those bullies on his own, then the six of them could outdo anything the Marauders could throw at them. Lily thought it unlikely there would be any jinxes and hexes since both herself and Wilkes were prefects.
She wrote back to Helen first, agreeing with their idea. At this point, Lily had to consent because letters were already on their way to Rosier and Wilkes. The Gryffindors would have to keep up their end of the bargain, it wouldn't be honorable to back out if the boys accepted.
Her indecision was heavy as she considered what else to write about in addition to her grades. She wanted to say something about Severus, but what? They had kissed three times, and since those were Lily's only three real kisses to date, that was a big deal. She really did want advice on whether she should kiss him again. There really wasn't a truer best friend, but Severus might think something was wrong if Lily didn't kiss him again, or that Lily thought of him as more than a friend if they kissed frequently. He also made her feel more helpless because she didn't know how to aid her best friend with the disturbed parts of his life. Lily wanted to know, but was very upset by each thing she discovered. Hiding behind schoolwork was how she was coping at the moment, but Helen and Mary had made it rather clear that they thought Sev's only appeal was his flobberworm. Oh no! Lily hadn't thought about that part of Sev in days. She cursed Sirius Black, and then James Potter, and their biographer, Peter Pettigrew, and their gutless sidekick, Remus Lupin.
The next morning, Lily was reading The Daily Prophet. She was interested in knowing more about the dragonpox because a case was reported in Godric's Hollow. People that lived in the area that had not had the disease before were being given the a cure to prevent it spreading.
For someone that had one wizarding parent, Severus had little knowledge about the disease when Lily asked him. He knew that the victim turned green, had itchy spots, and the cure was not a lifelong protection so that's why wizards still got dragonpox.
"Potions with bad ingredients can cause it," Severus explained.
"What is the cure?" Lily asked.
"Another potion. It's not hard to make, and the ingredients are not costly so that's why they are able to blanket the surrounding area with the cure to prevent it spreading."
"Oh, no jabs?"
"Jabs?"
"You know, vaccinations that we got as kids."
"When did we get those?"
"Starting when you're a baby. The doctor gives you a needle in the arm or bum, and then there's a whole bunch more before you can go to school."
"Maybe I didn't need them. My mother taught me to read."
That's right. Sev didn't go to school with Lily and Petunia. "You got them, Sev. You just don't remember."
"I'd remember a needle. And I don't go to doctors."
"Stop kidding around. Everyone gets sick."
Severus snorted in response, "I was born and raised in filth. After that, nothing gets me sick."
"Oh ha ha," Lily replied to end the argument. He could be so difficult. What's the problem with admitting you got sick now and again? Nothing could top getting all your clothes hexed off in front of a crowd.
Mrs. Evans tutted at all the morning owls, but was also tutting at Severus's neglect. She opened the window quickly because the owls were too obvious if any of the neighbors were looking. She had already fried up a pack of bacon for them, her husband, Lily and Petunia. Severus got testy when more than tea and a bowl of porridge were forced on him in the morning.
This was a nice, well-behaved bunch of owls who gladly gave up their letters for bacon so she could sort them into two neat piles for Lily and Severus. Mrs. Evans let the owls out one at a time, in order to try to keep up appearances. Really, if these wizard folk were so smart, they ought to think up a more civilized way of sending correspondence. Maybe save owl mail for special occasions, for tradition's sake.
Severus started by critiquing his mail first. "Did you get some barmy note from Longbottom? Why would I care if he got into the Auror program and got engaged?"
Lily giggled. It was so like Sev to suspect someone sending him good news must be crazy. "You better write him back to find out what he's up to, Sev. He could have already targeted you as his first dark wizard to bring in," she teased.
He gave the note a dark glare, and muttered, "I just may do that."
"I have the assignments for Charms and Divination. Sprout and Kettleburn wrote to welcome me to the classes, but no assignments."
"Rosier is concerned that both your roommates will favor him and it'll be awkward," Severus read aloud with a smirk. "Oh, he spent a week in Ireland. Very little in way of details."
She returned a smile, and said, "Well, I'll play the good hostess on the train to try to prevent misfortune."
They fell silent as they continued to read, and Lily grew concerned about her Divination assignment as she worriedly scanned it. One-third of her final grade would be based on this. Using four methods of accepted divination, choose two subjects, not more than one from her immediate family, preferably one male and one female, who must reside separately, and gain insight into future events regarding their lives from September till the end of May. Subjects must be in regular contact with the student to update them with the accuracy of their predictions. What the heck! Lily guessed this would separate the students who made up their assignments, rather than actually working on them. However, this was harsh.
Out of her family, her mum would be the most patient, but then she'd have to preferably pick a male as her second subject, rather than using Helen or Mary. There was also that bit about using four methods of divination. Was that a hint to use the four they were best at, or to use the most appropriate?
Her last letter was from James Potter. Lily spared a quick glance at Severus. He seemed absorbed in reading through one of his. Giving it a quick read-through, it seemed like rubbish, part apology, part denial about her blouse, part excuses putting the blame on Severus for the pub, and an invitation to join him on the Hogwarts Express. Why would he think Lily would want to spend hours trapped with the Marauders? Fart and pooh jokes just didn't do it for her. She folded and shuffled it into the middle of her correspondence. She might get around to replying later.
Severus wasn't paying her the least bit of attention, and was looking towards the ceiling, clearly deep in thought, with his lips moving silently, and holding his hand up, moving his thumb across the fingers of that hand in order.
Now that the last owl had been released, Lily quietly asked, "Mum?"
"Yes, dear?"
"I need to do my divination assignment using real people who I talk to during the school year. Would you have time to put up with me putting together my homework on you?"
"Divination is the one where you predict the future?"
"Yeah. Tea leaves, tarot cards, all that gypsy stuff."
Her mother shrugged and smiled, "Sounds like a bit of fun. Can you work it to win us the lottery, dear?"
"No, it doesn't do that."
"That's arithmancy," interrupted Severus in a superior tone.
"Really?" her mother asked, more in curiosity, rather than already planning how to spend all those pounds.
"There would be too many factors for it to be useful for something as large as a national lottery, but something smaller like a raffle with a hundred chances, definitely."
"Was that an arithmancy trance you were just in, oh idiot savant?" Lily asked.
He sighed, then said, "The assignment is challenging. I was trying to determine what would be a simple enough subject, without being so simple that there would be no reaction within the parameters of the assignment."
"What?" Lily asked impatiently.
"Well, like a lottery. There is a method to set up the equations, but the number of factors would make it too lengthy to practically solve. Conversely, if I chose an inanimate object, like a foundation stone of Hogwarts, due to its not moving in so long, it is highly unlikely it will move in the future. Very simple equation, but it doesn't showcase what I am capable of calculating."
"Well, of course, we'd want to showcase your skills."
"You certainly don't seem to want to display yours."
"What?" Lily asked at being insulted.
"No offense, Mrs. Evans, but it's unlikely life-changing events will affect you in the near future. It's actually better for you to have nice flat lines with no radical fluctuations. That means safety for you, your family and home."
How Lily hated it when Severus was right. "Well, I want to use my mum anyway. If my prediction does turn out to be safety, and that's what occurs, then I will have accomplished what I set out to do."
He shrugged in response.
"Right," Lily continued. "And I need a second subject, who better put his words where his mouth is and prove to be at least two times as exciting as my mum, so what time of day were you born, Sev?"
Severus sneered. "I have no wish to be speculated upon."
"I only want to guide you so you can end up on your chocolate frog card while you're still young, Sev."
"I can do that on my own, without you trying to drown me in gallons of leafy tea."
"Since when do I ever give you a say in things, Sev? Just give me the information or else."
Severus didn't want 'or else' from Lily. She was very stubborn and may not want to see or talk to him for days. "I'll see if my mother recalls."
"What?"
"If I can't remember jabs, then I certainly don't remember what was on the clock face when I first came out of the womb, woman," he replied in a highly annoyed tone.
"Don't take too long about it."
"Is this just a ploy to not let me look at your Transfiguration essay?"
"You wish. Prepare to be dazzled by my sheer brilliance in just two rolls, mister."
"Please, let me look at it. I can't even breathe just thinking about the honor you are about to bestow upon me."
"That's for sure," Lily agreeably replied to his taunt, and got up to head to her room so they could exchange essays.
Sev's essay was really good, except that she detected a sarcastic note in it. There is no need for sarcasm in this essay. He had included points that they had not discussed yesterday. Conversely, he said hers was fine but added that maybe an example was called for regarding this principle here, just to let McGonagall know Lily understood it completely.
Their Charms assignment was another essay. Lily's books had not arrived yet, but the text was another one that Severus's mother had used. It was good news that he hardly had to purchase books, but Lily wondered if wizarding education was progressive considering students from over thirty years ago used the same texts.
Wanting to save all her thinking energy for schoolwork, she took a chance and said, "Let's pack a lunch and go over to your house."
"All right."
That's is? 'All right.' Lily glared at Severus as she got her supplies together, and gave him the silent treatment as they put together some peanut butter and jam sandwiches. By the time they reached Severus's house, Lily resolved not to kiss him today. That had to be the reason he made no fuss over packing a lunch because he didn't want to waste any time coming over here and kissing.
There were stacks of books on the trunk and dresser. Younger texts, fifth year texts, sixth year texts and one more stack that at least had English on the spines and had harmless school-type titles rather than promising to contain the darkest magic.
Severus pulled out the sixth-year Charms text and flipped to the section indicated by Prof. Flitwick, and sat down next to Lily on the edge of the bed. They read together and then reviewed the assignment before debating it in earnest.
Lily grimaced at Sev's fourth and fifth year Charms texts. They were just as bad as the Potions' texts she had seen for years. Scribbling in all the margins. As she suspected, it was critique and improvements to the text. If it were something personal about Severus, she might have been interested in reading the notes.
They took their lunch break, and the peanut butter hardly slowed down their discussion. All thought of Charms left Lily when Severus went over to the washstand and brushed his teeth with the blue brush and toothpaste. After finishing, he asked, "Would you like me to cast the spells while you brush, Lily?"
Having just watched him switch back and forth between his wand and toothbrush in his right hand, that didn't sound unreasonable. "Sure," she replied, silently cursing in her mind the absurd reason she thought up for giving Severus a new toothbrush.
Once Lily was done, Severus started talking about Charms again. The conversation was one-sided now that Lily was thinking about nothing else but kissing.
Her earlier dissatisfaction with Severus returned when Lily realized she had come here without using the bathroom at her house before they left. That was reminder #1 for a very good reason. It was all his fault for not arguing over lunch.
"Uh ..." Lily started, and Severus waited patiently for her to continue. "Well … could you … well... I need to ..." With her being so inarticulate, she just slid the bowl out from under the dresser.
"Right. Bolt the door. I'll go out back and then try to get that time out of mother. You don't need to hurry."
Lily made a face at him. Like she'd hurry up just because Severus was waiting. After she bolted the door, she heard the stairs creak. That was a small relief that Sev wouldn't be outside in the hall, hearing everything she did.
Now that it was just her and the large metal bowl, uh … gosh darn it, wearing a skirt or even having a set of robes over her clothes would have been better. It was not practical to remove her shorts and underwear, but that was the only solution she could think of. Half naked in Severus's bedroom and getting undignified with a bowl. She laughed thinking about Petunia – this was not a 'faint dead away' scenario, this was a 'die of shame' scenario. Her sister's imagined outrage was enough to take Lily's mind off doing the necessary and get everything sorted before Severus returned.
At least another five minutes passed before the knock and Severus's muffled Latin password sounded. He came in, after Lily unbolted the door, and said, "Six minutes past three in the morning."
That was a better answer than yes and no could acquire, did his mum knock on the table top? Lily inked up her quill and wrote down the time on her parchment. She then made notes regarding the charms essay to use later to write it.
Severus did not interrupt her use of his sixth-year Charms text, pulling out an Arithmancy book to come up with a suitable subject for his assignment. He became so absorbed that he did not stop after Lily had capped her ink. It wasn't till she got up and went through the last stack of books that he paid attention to her.
"These Ancient Rune dictionaries and Arithmancy tables are the very reason why no one sane would take them," Lily complained. She gave a shudder as she fanned through a thick book full of nothing but tables and numbers with other characters beside 0 through 9 that represented numbers.
"As you say," Severus placed the book he was looking through on the top of the pile.
Agreeable again? Lily thought as she turned to face him and looked up into his eyes. He was not smirking or making fun of her. She stepped forward, closing the distance between them, and wrapped her arms around Severus. He stood still as she rested the side of her face against his collarbone, placing her hands flat on his back over his clothing.
"Lily?"
"Shhh. Let me hold you for a bit, Sev." She shifted her hands flat to cover more area, and tightened her hold reassuringly.
Thinking Lily was upset, Severus remained where he was because he didn't want her getting emotional and weepy. She wasn't putting her hands under his shirt this time, and her hair smelled terrific. What was disconcerting her? Too much schoolwork already? Surely Lily must know that he'd help her, even if it was drinking tea or shuffling tarot cards. Her arms were over his so Severus limited himself to moving his hands slightly forward to rest gently on her front waistband.
Lily was pleased that Severus was doing as she asked.
Her Charms essay was completed, but Lily was not tired yet.
She had already given her owl a good going over and praised it. It had been making two deliveries a day lately with all the letters that needed to get out. It got quite a workout. When she was at Hogwarts, her cute little brown owl just went home and back once a week.
Picking up Potter's unanswered letter, Lily frowned. Seeing as how they were definitely not friends, she was not really obligated to answer. However, that would not be very polite, and if for some insane reason Potter thought Lily would RSVP with a 'yes' to the train trip … well, it wouldn't be nice to wait or not respond, Potter would have plenty of time to ask someone else to join him and be awed at his juvenile jokes, and pumping his arm up and down over a moist palm stuck in his armpit to make fart sounds.
What the heck? He addressed his letter to 'My dearest Lily' – bum rag! And then all these lies or half-truths. Lily did not see Potter cast the jinx on her blouse, but that doesn't mean one of his lackies didn't. Probably Pettigrew. Yes, Pettigrew, because until Lily saw evidence to the contrary, Remus Lupin always was nice to her. He just needed to get away from those Marauders because they were going to end up ruining him. Maybe she would be in some classes with Lupin without those other toerags to gauge whether he was open to having other friends. Not that Lily would ever ask anyone to give up their other friends for her friendship – that just wasn't a nice thing to do.
To James Potter -
I have already made plans for traveling with others on the Hogwarts Express. Even if I had not, I would not wish to sit with you.
Your jaunt up to my hometown was most unwelcome. My sister is still quite upset over Black's harassment, and I do not think the attempt to have me get in trouble for under aged magic use over the summer the least bit amusing.
Regards,
Lily Evans
Lily could have written pages about Potter's poor behavior, but it was his parents' and teachers' job to teach him some manners, not hers.
Regulus Black was worried about Sirius still being home. He should have taken himself off by now. Sirius was tolerating high levels of verbal abuse from their parents, and spending all his spare time in the Black family library.
He attempted to find out what his brother was up to with his crude friends, but the two letters he intercepted were about school, of all things. Undeterred, Regulus studied them carefully to unravel the code they were using. It had to be simple enough for Pettigrew to understand.
Whenever he spied on Sirius in the library, he was openly smiling, and sometimes cackled madly about Snape. Well, Sirius didn't actually say the name, but at least Regulus knew that 'Snivellus' and anything using 'greasy' meant Snape in Marauder speak. They really were a bunch of simpletons, that's what was so annoying about not being to reveal the code in those letters.
It was one of those rare moments, when Regulus's parents paid him little heed. They were pleased that Sirius was taking an interest in his noble heritage finally. Desperate, Regulus even spoke with Phineas Nigellus's portrait, who was not the least bit helpful with his snide comments.
First off, Regulus was not troubled about Snape being a target. Yes, he was a fellow Slytherin, but did not belong because he was a halfblood. It was only because he was bloody brilliant that the Sorting Hat gave Slytherin house his talents and points. Snape also enjoyed revenge served up cold, warm, and piping hot.
The real problem was Sirius. Regulus hated to see him win at anything, after all the years of getting pushed around by his big brother.
The was also the concern that Sirius was in Gryffindor. Dark Arts mixed with stupidity was a recipe for disaster. Knowing Sirius, he'd think it a bit of fun to take out Snape using Fiendfyre. He hadn't a subtle bone in his body.
With any luck, Sirius would delay his revenge till September. That would give Regulus some time to get advice from older Slytherins. Heck, they might even waive the halfblood thing on Snape, considering he would be a powerful ally to cultivate. No one needed to become his friend because Slytherins didn't need any. They had acquaintances, people they manipulated till they had no use anymore. Severus Snape could be damned useful.
Lily's books arrived with the bill with both the wizarding and muggle monetary equivalent that she gave her parents so they could pay for it with a bank draft.
Lily and Severus had their Transfiguration and Charms work completed. Lily had begun on both Astrology charts, and took careful notes for a tarot reading she did for her mother. She tried to do something with her mum's palm, but that was inexact for narrowing down to less than one year of time.
They needed brew a potion for their Potions assignment. They could set up a portable flame in Sev's bedroom and make it together, but they did not have all the ingredients between them, so that was something else that needed to be ordered via owl.
There was no word yet on Defense. Either the book or homework. Lily hoped they wouldn't be stuck with another crap instructor.
After asking Sev about his Arithmancy, Lily swore to herself, she wouldn't bother him on that again. Using known substitutes, other herbal properties, and potion disciplines, he was working out more complex or unusual substitutions for potions' ingredients that were either difficult to come by, or that had such strict collection methods that the buyer did not know their ingredients were no good until the brew blew up in their faces. The pages of calculations crossed Lily's eyes. That stuff could drive someone mad!
Tomorrow, Peter Pettigrew would be meeting up with the fellows in Diagon Alley. The Potters would be watching the four of them, and all of them were anxious to convince James's parents that they could behave themselves, and didn't need to cause all sorts of trouble to have a bit of fun.
Peter's parents were not happy that he didn't do as well on his OWLs as he could have. He'd like to show them how good a wizard he really was by showing them his animagus form, but that was still a secret.
For now, he promised to concentrate on his schoolwork and stay out of mischief.
In the evening, Lily's mother came into her room, "How is the rest of your homework going, dear?"
"Fine, mum. And we're all set for me to make us up some tea for lunch tomorrow so I can take a look at the tea leaves for you and Severus?"
"Oh yes. I'm quite looking forward to it. Find anything interesting in those cards?"
"No. I did copy down the layout exactly so if my class isn't scheduled for a few days, I can look at some other books in the library and add more. I am happy it did turn out as Severus guessed though, better to be safe than have excitement. Right?"
Mrs. Evans gave a bit of a laugh, "Of course. I was more interested in something exciting happening to my family. It's about time Petunia settled on one beau and got serious."
"Hmmm, well I guess I can try to see if Tunie will even touch my cards. It is rather more about her, than you though, isn't it, mum?" Lily knew her parents hopes that Petunia would soon get engaged, kept them from taking a summer vacation this year. Weddings, or at least the one Petunia would want, were expensive.
"Of course, of course," her mother replied pleasantly. "What about Severus?"
"I haven't gotten to him doing the cards yet. Maybe tomorrow. We've gotten so much done already that I can really spend weeks to do this assignment proper for Divination. So much of my grade is going to depend on it.
"We're still waiting on some dried maiden's hair and grindylow teeth to brew up something for Prof. Slughorn. Since we both need to brew the same thing, we'll just whip one up, and then individually do our essays."
"You know, I've been thinking, with you spending so much time over there, Lily, maybe I should stop by and thank Mrs. Snape. At the very least."
Screaming "NO!" would not be the right answer. Complaining that Petunia was afraid her mother would be seen in Spinner's End … uh, no. Mrs. Evans would probably go there to spite Petunia and give her a lecture about behaving like Christians, and how it's their duty to help others. The truth? Hm, that might work …
"Uh … I didn't want to tell you, mum, but Mrs. Snape well … she drinks."
"Drinks?"
"A lot."
Mrs. Evans waited for Lily to explain more.
"Well, I would have said something if she were … I don't know … dangerous or loud, but she isn't."
"Is she well enough to … supervise the two of you?"
Lily made a face, then commented, "We both know that Severus is not … well-cared for. He's pretty much left on his own. So to tell the truth, no."
She interrupted her mother by continuing, "And Severus doesn't get fresh. I mean, if he and I were, you know, then we wouldn't be getting all this homework done then."
"I wasn't going to say that Severus is a fresh young man. He does say some rather shocking things, but if he were anything like his father … no, that's not right … um, he's definitely very much his own person," fumbled Mrs. Evans while trying to find the polite way of saying what she meant.
"Although Sev doesn't know what career he's going to pursue, he's very serious about his grades, mum. He's actually quite brilliant and he works hard at getting better."
"I know, that's not what I was trying to say … it's just that, sometimes … I guess the phrase they use is 'one thing led to another', Lily. Even if Severus isn't forward with you, you are both at an age where one indiscretion, could lead to a big mistake."
Lily gasped, "Mum! You aren't about to show me how to use a Durex next, are you?"
"What do you know about those?" asked her mother, now flushed and shocked.
"Never you mind. It's quite ludicrous to say that kind of stuff about Sev and I. He's ready to jump out the window whenever I touch him, if I don't warn him first."
"You touch him?"
"Not like that, mum," Lily responded with the proper indignant tone, and mentally thought that she was telling the truth since she and Severus didn't strip their clothes off and go rubbing themselves against each other. That would be absolutely gross, and it would probably be a race to see who barfed on the other first. Yes, that's exactly what would happen … naked + rubbing = barf.
"Of course not, dear," her mother said, calming down. "Rather insensitive of me not to think of how poor Severus doesn't like that sort of thing. Used to make me wretched whenever I got too close to him in the kitchen, and he'd jump like I was about to smack him. He's gotten better," her mother's voice choked a bit, "but I guess it was rather foolish of me to think that he'd … well, let someone touch him without thinking … about getting hurt."
"I wouldn't."
"Not you, Lily. I didn't mean that he'd think that you would. It's just in his head, he can't help it."
"Right," said Lily in agreement with her brain racing about with this possibility. Why didn't Sev say something? He would say something if he couldn't tolerate Lily getting next to him, right? Well, he did say he didn't want to giant squid kiss.
"Maybe it would be better if I just sent a cake over with you then, dear?"
"Huh?"
"For Mrs. Snape. If she's not fit for company?"
That certainly was a way to put it, Lily thought as she slowly answered, "Uh … why don't you ask Severus? He's not much for sweets, so maybe his mum isn't either."
James took a deep, cleansing breath when he met his mates in the Leaky Cauldron, with his parents accompanying him. He had a couple questions for Sirius Black and what he said to Lily Evans's sister. Nonetheless, it just wouldn't do to start pummeling Padfoot here and now to get these answers.
He was willing to give his best friend the benefit of his doubt however. James understood that Lily was that one girl in a hundred that could resist his charm. Being Lily's sister, it's possible this other girl could be that other girl in a hundred able to resist Sirius's.
Lily didn't know why she was nervous about reading tea leaves. Neither her mother nor Severus were going to tell her she was wrong. Or at least she didn't think so, until Severus flipped through her book and identified his glob of tea to look like the Grim. A troll had more of an inner eye than him.
After they finished with lunch, she set up a burner to try smoke patterns. This four different methods was some sort of trick, Lily felt. Nothing on her mother's palm looked unusual, so maybe this would shed some light on their futures.
Severus allowed Lily's mother to go first, and Lily instructed her on what she could do to the cones of incense to produce the smoke. Once they got burning, Lily took notes of the patterns she recognized.
After it was burnt out, Lily asked Severus to wait while she looked up what she had seen. Ah, this was fitting the overall forecast that Lily was hoping for – home, hearth, family, health, safety … smoke patterns were good for mum then.
It turned out smoke patterns were not so good for Severus. Everything Lily thought she recognized contradicted another pattern. There were both health and illness, happiness and sorrow … rather than being helpful, Severus suggested that all he saw was one big dark blob again, so if the Grim could show up in smoke, then he had a match. What kind of idiot jokes about seeing the Grim?
Since she was doing well with one of her subjects, Lily pressed on with crystal gazing, and plunked her crystal ball down in the middle of the kitchen table, and closed the blinds to dim the room. She asked Severus to make himself useful and take notes as she kept her eyes on the crystal and worked.
When she finished, Lily was surprised that the result was five full pages of Severus's spidery handwriting.
Unfortunately when she switched subjects, Lily drew a blank as she looked at Sev's eyes reflected in the crystal. After keeping them both still for fifteen minutes, with her mum poised to take notes the whole time, Lily admitted it wasn't working.
Refusing defeat, Lily insisted that she do a tarot card reading for Severus now. She'd work on the horoscopes for September to May tonight, and use that as her primary guide, then see how the three other tests fit. Like with her mum's reading, Lily took careful note of all the cards that got laid and their positions.
Sensing Lily became frustrated with his unsuitability, Severus did not tease her about any of the cards that showed up for him.
Remus was having a terrific day out in Diagon Alley with his friends. He knew his three friends had gotten into deep trouble by foolishly traveling by train to where Severus Snape lived.
He had tried to tell them it was a bad idea. Even though it was the new moon, instead of the full moon, when they went Remus did not go and told James he didn't want to go. It was so easy to say 'no' to the Marauders from a distance. Remus was just fortunate that they had told them why they were going, rather than joining them on a train and accidentally bumping into Snape once they got there.
That was all in the past now. The Marauders had been on their best behavior today. Confining their discussion to school for the benefit of James's parents. They had gone into every shop that caught their interest, shopped, or in Remus's case just got his school supplies, ate lunch, shopped some more, and now enjoyed ice cream.
While the boys were sitting on their own, enjoying their ice cream, James asked Sirius, "Padfoot, what did you do to Evans's sister? I got a letter 'bout it."
"What are you talking about, Prongs?"
"Didn't you tell me that you ran into her and asked her on a double date with Evans and I?"
"I told you then it was a joke."
"Right. But what did you say to her?"
"Nothing she should be mad about. Especially once I found out she was Evans's sister instead of Snape's."
"Eeewwweeee," Peter commented.
"How could you think Evans's sister was related to Snape, Padfoot? Was she … hideous?"
"No, she was with Snape at King's Cross. How was I supposed to know, Prongs?"
Remus interjected, "Could you have said something unkind while you were under the misapprehension that she was a Snape?"
"Moony, I would never insult a lady."
"Psst," Peter said, "Parents coming."
Lily was rather knackered the next day at breakfast. She was up too late working on the horoscopes, and wasn't even close to finishing. She had known that Sev was a practical, highly focused Capricorn because of his birthday, but now that she had everything else mapped out … she now knew that he was a secretive, hard to understand sort too.
Kind of silly that Lily would need a birth chart to tell her that when she had known him for the past eight years. Although Sev's birth chart was a fascinating read and explained much, that wasn't the assignment. With the plotting out of future planet movements and how they would affect her mum and Severus, well her mom was fine, but if Lily read things right, this autumn would not be good to her best friend. She had to check it again, maybe ask Sev to check her math.
There was less mail, and no potions ingredients or a hint even if there was going to be a Defense class.
Severus noted, "Wilkes finally answered. If yesterday's special was Marmalade Mango Mash-up at the ice cream shop, his secret message is that this train ride could rip apart the very fabric of the world as we know it, and shake-up the entire power structure within Slytherin house."
"He said that?"
"No. He hinted that a shifting of loyalties based on common interests and blah, blah, blah could mean that 6th year Slytherin males go from 4 versus 1 to 3 versus 2, with me rising into a position of power. Ha ha ha."
"I think that really is a Mash-up. What's the 4 versus 1?"
"Me against them. Mulciber is the … alpha male because he's the meanest, attacks without provocation and has connections. That is why Rosier and Wilkes don't side with me because I'm not … interested in Slytherin politics and making the right connections."
"What about what's right?"
"Right in Slytherin is about alliances, and who will owe you most and be in the best position to pay it back. You have met Horace Slughorn, haven't you?"
"Will you stop picking on Prof. Slughorn?"
"Anyway, Wilkes is intrigued by the ladies' proposition. He isn't saying 'yes' at this time, but will see how things look on Sept. 1st. He'll either join the proposed group or join Mulciber and Avery."
"That's rather … wishy-washy."
Severus shrugged, "Just thought I'd let you know so you or your friends don't make fools of yourselves chasing him down when he heads the other way."
"Oh, thanks a lot. Like I'd be running after Wilkes."
"Probably not. But you might hex him later when you see him at the prefect meeting."
"Would it be all right with you if I kept working on my Divination today? It's really a bigger project than I thought."
"Not at all. I have some more ideas for my Arithmancy."
Things were looking up. Sirius Black would probably be welcome back to the Potters within the week. Then he could depart from this gloomy hellhole.
Sixth year was going to be their best year yet. Him and James would only have five classes to worry about, and have plenty of time for the ladies. Oh yeah. After catching that ponce Regulisp glancing at him all the time, Sirius Black was ready to feast his eyes on some prime Gryffindor tail. He just had to decide whether he'd bless either Helen or Mary, or if perhaps maybe a fifth-year girl. Or maybe he should spread the love around, there were seven nights in a week, weren't there?
He'd have plenty of free time to set things up real nice when he got back to Hogwarts. Sirius already had the plan in hand to make sure Snivelly wouldn't be skulking around all the good snogging spots ready to hit him with a Stinging Hex. That hurt! And the babes weren't too forgiving and giggled like crazy when he yelped like a kicked puppy when he was hexed in his magic wand. It wasn't funny! Not the least bit funny!
Anyway, Snivelly might miss so much school that he'd have to skip a year. His best mate, James, could have a serious go at Evans without her slimy friend popping up. Considering Evans taste in friends, it might be best if Prongs got Evans out of his system.
It wasn't like Sirius was trying to kill him, and lots of people caught dragonpox. It was The Daily Prophetthat gave him the idea, a spell in one of the family's books, and the fact that there was no way it could spread out of control because muggles couldn't catch it.
All Sirius needed to do is drop it in the mail from a post office and bing! bing! bing! Pox. Hope the turd scratched his bloody bollocks right off.
Lily finished with her mother's part of the project. She had already started copying over her mother's birth chart into colored ink for clarity. It was a good solid project on her mother with all signs showing a nice, safe year with little highpoints around Christmas, February, Easter and early May.
She needed more to complete Severus's to her satisfaction. The horoscope was clear-cut, but not very nice. He'd have a life-threatening illness in September, mortal peril in November, and seemed to live till February when he would receive a majorly favorable life-altering event.
His tarot cards showed he was a person whose life was in flux, that he had real enemies actively working against him, and there minor forces of good also present but not actively working in his favor. Maybe they could try the crystal gazing again, or get a better result from a cup of tea. Would these events perhaps show up on Sev's palm? It might be worth a look.
James Potter was delighted. His parents said he can invite friends over again. He didn't know how Sirius could stand it in London with his family. Up until their little trip earlier this summer, James almost had his parents convinced that Sirius should just move in with them.
Oh well, just a small setback. Sirius would come here for the rest of the summer, and then they'd be back at Hogwarts. They'd stay out of trouble, and then James could approach his parents again. Hell, maybe Sirius and him would rent a place together for the summer next year. They'd both be seventeen.
He'd write Sirius right away to get him back here. Sirius would have loads of ideas for next summer's non-stop party palace with babes, quidditch, food, drink and Evans. Yes, James was going to spend all this year getting Lily Evans. Maybe it was a good thing he wasn't playing Quidditch now, he'd have that much more time to devote to wooing the woman he loved. Wouldn't it be great if they had every class together, and then James could carry her books and walk her to meals, and then they could take strolls around the lake. Girls liked that kind of stuff.
After he wrote Sirius, James was also going to invite Remus and Peter to come round. Maybe they could all go down to King's Cross together too. Oh yeah, sixth year was going to be the best year yet!
Once their Potions ingredients were finally here, Lily and Severus went over to Spinner's End to brew. Since they had been potions' partners for five years, the only problem was the inappropriate work area, but Severus didn't offer to use the kitchen, so Lily kept her thoughts to herself.
After they got the potion simmering at the right temperature, there was a two-hour wait before they needed to touch it again. Severus cast a protective shield over it out of habit.
They sat side by side on Severus's bed, and Lily asked, "Can I see your palm, Sev? I saw a couple things in your forecast that may be reflected there."
"Like what, my death?" he replied while surrendering his right hand.
"Exactly, that's why I want to check your hand for the Grim, lame-o."
Lily got down to concentrating and taking notes. Severus couldn't take notes for her obviously, since he's right-handed, and she needed to look at his wand hand.
All right then, his fingers are longer than his palm, which is rectangular, rather than square or rounded. There was a scar on the underside of his pinky and that finger was bowed outwards in the middle, so unless he was pressing his fingers firmly together, would form a gap. And all this crap about his pinky is not relevant, she thought as she studied the lines, t's, h's and x's on his palm. As she held his hand in one of hers and traced his heart line while comparing the line to diagrams in her book, Lily noticed that Severus had brought the right side of his face to rest against hers. He was also looking at his hand. There was no actual interruption as Lily continued studying his palm, and taking notes.
Satisfied that she had explored the underside of his hand thoroughly, she capped her ink and closed her book. They still had over an hour left, so Lily turned his hand over and studied the back of it. A couple nicks, scratches, little scars that may fade in time, some short black hair and no freckles formed the landscape. She then turned it on its side and cradled it between hers. Sensing no resistance, Lily turned her face to the left, leaned over, kissed Severus slowly and continued moving her lips against his until she was thoroughly satisfied. Even more so because his hand remained calmly between hers.
"Can I rub your feet again?" Lily asked, already kicking off her sandals.
Severus looked uncomfortable, but then answered, "If you really want to."
"I do."
As soon as he had his feet bare, Lily insisted, "Lay down like last time." As she ran her hand along the back of his shirt suggestively, she felt a small shiver go through him, but he did comply with her request, sliding till his back was parallel to the wall.
He then sat back up and cast a second timer charm with an audible alarm to sound when there were two minutes to go. When he laid back down, Severus took a deep breath.
"Sev," Lily said, reaching out to touch his cheek, stroking slowly downward to his chin, "say something."
"About what?"
"Sometimes I feel you just do things because I tell you."
"Shouldn't I?"
"Stop answering my questions with questions."
"All right."
Lily pouted at his silence, and slid her hand over his throat, up his shoulder, and then down his arm to hold his hand. "You like me to hold your hand?" she asked.
"Yes."
Lily smiled and then slid her foot into his. "How about this?"
There was a moment's hesitation before he answered, "Yes."
"Is something wrong? I studied your feet the other day when you took a nap. I'm not scared of them."
"No, it's .. just that I don't want to step on something. Shoes protect my feet."
"You don't sleep with shoes on."
"Sometimes. Depends."
"Why?"
"In case I need to get up in a hurry."
Lily decided to ignore Sev's crazy talk about wearing shoes to bed. She shifted to roll slightly on her back, noticing a browned water stain on the ceiling, and asked, "Where do you want to touch me?"
"I like holding your hand."
"And?"
Severus stayed silent.
"Please tell me. I'll tell you I like rubbing my feet against yours. And I like moving my lips against yours."
"That's … fine."
"Sev, you aren't telling me."
"What … whatever makes you happy, Lily."
Exasperated, Lily asked, "If I wanted to put my hand under your shirt, you'd let me now?" while putting her free hand on the front hem of his jumper, and pulling the stretched item up to the top of his trousers.
He didn't stop her, but she felt one of his legs twitch. "If you must," Severus answered with a sigh and closed his eyes.
"What's wrong? I saw … I saw you in June."
With an audible swallow, Severus kept his eyes closed and replied, "I know," as he remembered the worst day of his miserable life so far. He knew he was worthless, but to be treated as entertainment and then have no punishment meted out. Hogwarts was not the refuge he had dreamed about. It was far easier to understand his father, than the tormentors at school. They were supposed to be better people.
Lily didn't lift his shirt any further, but slid her hand under it, while still holding his hand and said, "I wouldn't hurt you, Sev."
His free hand joined the other one holding Lily's hand between them.
Lily wasn't actually in contact with the skin of his stomach, unless one counted the hole she could feel in his undershirt. Cautiously, she probed it with her finger. Quite warm, though she didn't think that a surprise considering Sev kept so covered even in summer.
"Are you ticklish?"
"Not sure."
"I'll save that for another day. When we aren't brewing a potion … and I can spend all day exploring where you are ticklish, Sev." She kissed him, and his eyes reopened. Strange, most people closed their eyes while kissing, but he opened his.
"Are you mad at me?" she asked.
"Why?"
"Because I'm molesting you," she said as she wiggled her finger deeper into his undershirt.
He sighed at Lily's attempt at levity.
She ignored that because she had found his belly button. Behaving like a niffler, Lily removed her hand from his and pulled his undershirt out of his trousers and slid down to look at it better.
Why bother, Lily was going to do as she pleased, Severus thought. Resisting only got her angry, sullen, and then she'd say she didn't want to see him anymore. He'd rather endure this, than be without Lily.
Peter had to stay home and redo his assignments. His parents had checked them over like he was a first year. It was so embarrassing! He wrote James that he wouldn't be able to come till two days before they left of King's Cross because his gran was sick, maybe dying.
Remus decided to go immediately to James's, but he would return home after a week to spend more time with his parents. They had been looking forward to taking their little Remus to King's Cross Station. He didn't want to disappoint them, and once he was there, he'd have plenty of time to catch up with James, Sirius, and Peter.
Sirius packed up his room completely, danced down the stairs, jumped up and clicked his heels together, went into the kitchen and slapped Kreacher hard in the back of the head, grabbed some floo powder, and waved goodbye to Grimmauld Place as he stepped into the green flames.
With more than two weeks of vacation left, Lily's Divination assignment was complete with color-coded charts. She wanted to review Severus's with him. Ill omens were better faced with foreknowledge, even with all his kidding about the Grim.
Mrs. Evans gave Lily another letter from Mary. Yesterday's was from Helen. This train trip was turning into a nuisance. What to wear was only the beginning.
Severus received a fancy, light green envelope with his name in archaic calligraphy. Stupid posh Slytherins he thought as he opened it to read 'You Stink!' That was the entire message, even when he held it up to the light.
"What was that?" Lily asked.
"Huh?"
"Did you feel something?"
Severus sniffed the air around him. Was it a jinx to make him smell bad? Would he be able to smell it, if he were the victim? What would be the point, if he couldn't smell it?
"I think I got some jinxed mail."
"Great! After breakfast, let's head over to your house and we'll pick that parchment apart fiber by fiber. And, you can show me the charm you used for that monkey note. I have some ideas to improve it."
"Of course."
The note self-destructed as soon as they cast the first detect spell on it at Spinner's End. Undeterred, Lily started casting detects on Severus. He appeared well, suffering no ill effects and nothing was turning up, even after he looked up more spells.
"Maybe this is related to what I forecast in your horoscope. You are going to be very ill in September, Sev."
"Ill? At Hogwarts? Pomfrey wouldn't let me lay around dirtying her linens."
"Oh come on, Madame Pomfrey is quite nice to all the patients I've brought her."
His only reply was a sigh. Of course, it must be him, not her.
"Don't worry, you'll survive to be in a very dangerous situation in November."
"Will that be the end of me then?"
"No, but you still need to be careful. Forecasting the future can always change so don't do anything foolish. Especially since something wonderful and life-changing will happen to you in February."
"I already knew that."
"Oh?"
"We'll both be seventeen, and can get married."
"Sev!"
"You don't think in between illness and mortal peril, we won't have time for a date in Hogsmeade?"
"Getting married is expensive."
"It's five galleons for the license."
The fact that Severus knew how much a license was, worried Lily. "No, I need to concentrate on school."
Severus frowned. To continue living without Lily? If she wasn't his, then … what? Considering his disbelief in dreams and hopes, this did not bode well. Thoughtfully, he suggested, "Perhaps I'll be so injured in November, that dying in February would be an improvement."
Just who did Abraxas Malfoy think he was? demanded Orion Black to himself. To turn down the honor of joining the Dark Lord? Fool. But he was an influential fool. If Malfoy did not join, then others would take notice.
Abraxas's boy, Lucius, would be easy pickings once he inherited.
Where's that book? Searching for it, Orion got disgusted. Sirius was sloppy and moved everything around in here.
"Kreacher!" he yelled.
With a pop, the ugly house elf appeared. "Yes, Master Orion?"
Orion waved his hand towards the shelves, "Straighten these, and bring me Dismal Diseases for the Unworthy."
That old fool Abraxas would suffer for weeks before he died of one of the worst case of dragonpox in recorded history. He snorted, a Malfoy dying of dragonpox, scratching himself like a lowly, knuckle-dragging muggle.
AN: for a lark, I plugged in Jan 9th 1960 into one of those free astrology chart web sites. LOL
Rising Sign is in 12 Degrees Scorpio
You tend to be quiet, reserved, secretive and, at times, quite difficult to understand. Others notice your deep emotions and feelings and wonder how to draw you out. Stubborn and tough, you fight for any position you believe in. You are very resourceful and formidable when you become angered or upset about something. You enjoy living life at the cutting edge - for you life must be experienced intensely and totally. Quite courageous, you are willing to take calculated risks. Easily hurt by others, you often strike back with bitter sarcasm. Sensitive and curious, you are concerned with the deeper mysteries of human psychology. Once you have become interested in any subject, you pursue it with total fanaticism.