Chapter 39 Caught in the Act
Once Vernon was gone, Lily had no plausible reason to close her bedroom door.
Severus would not stay in their guest room, no matter how direct her mother was.
Lily was happy to hear he was sleeping well, and he looked better so she supposed sacrifices had to be made.
Her mum had gotten Severus to agree to eat breakfast and dinner every day at their house for the rest of the holiday, and her mum reasoned it was only fair since he had a practiced apparition/floo route for the two of them to catch the Hogwarts Express, and would save train fare for her family.
Lily was suspicious that Severus was going to London frequently. She pestered him on what he was up to since he was now receiving mail as well. Severus shared some of it with her, and Lily was nosy about the others. Was he still going to sell his books, and these were interested buyers? Severus would probably be very logical about it, and look to somehow get the best price, rather than marching up to the first place that bought used books and take whatever they offered him. What he did tell her was the younger Crouch had an Arithmancy question, Regulus Black seemed to be bored, Lovegood from that barmy magazine continued their regular correspondence, and an invitation from Frank Longbottom to his wedding.
"It says I may bring a guest. Did you want to go, Lily?"
"When?"
"Early July, so that would be a month after Petunia's."
"What happens at a wizarding wedding?"
"I've never been to one, but I suppose it's similar. Dress nice and bring a gift."
"Ooh, I never got around to buying dress robes. Mum?"
"I suppose," her mother answered. "Try to find some that are suitable for more than a wedding though."
"All right. Hey, why did he invite you and not me? I am in Gryffindor too."
"You told me to keep writing him, so I did."
"When?"
"Last summer. You told me to stay friendly, or he'd haul me in when he finished his auror training."
"Huh?"
"I remember that," Lily's mother agreed.
"If I did, then I was kidding," Lily replied. Really, Sev had no sense for when she was joking around. When she told him to be friendly for real, he wasn't. How did Severus even sound friendly enough in a few letters to get Frank Longbottom to invite him to his wedding? Frank was a prefect and then Head Boy when the Maraurders were at the height of their popularity so by association he also knew Severus. Was it the whole thing with Lupin and Black that got him to revise his opinion? He had been at Helen's funeral with his family, but it was Frank that wrote Severus first over the summer. Unable to figure it out herself, Lily asked, "What did you write to Frank?"
"Hardly anything. His letters were long, so I found enough in them to which to respond. He's a bit caught up with himself and the whole 'doing good' thing. Longbottom suggested I should test to be an auror. Can you imagine?"
"I think you have all the right classes for that, Sev."
"The Ministry? Even if Longbottom and Oakby are honest and trying to do a good job, they won't last long there. There's too much corruption, and if they try to do something about it they'll end up dead."
"No, they won't. Really, Sev, and you have to do something."
"I know. I guess if that's all that's left to me. Maybe with some more potion work getting published, someone outside of Great Britain will offer me an apprenticeship."
Lily rolled her eyes, then stopped in midroll which caused them to ache. Severus had told her all this before, but at the time she thought he was being silly over Slughorn. That's before she found out what a toerag the Head of Slytherin was. She had only been invited to one dinner party so far this year, and that was soon after getting out of hospital with dragonpox. He no longer said wonderful things about her in Potions, and had initially assigned her a seat way in the back of the room this year.
Severus suggested, "We could go to that place in Hogsmeade on our next weekend to look at robes, and if nothing there interests you, there's the two places in Diagon Alley. We can stop there when we return home for the summer holiday since we'll need a floo anyway to get close enough to here to apparate safely."
"I guess. What about a gift?"
"If one from the two of us would be sufficient, you can help me find something."
Lily frowned. She knew from Petunia's registry that couples getting married expected lovely and expensive things. Even the toaster and blender on Petunia's list were expensive ones.
"So what do you have planned over at Spinner's End today?" she asked, annoyed that her parents would not let her go over and help Sev. She was seventeen, and obviously that house had not killed her best friend.
"Perhaps I'll paint the kitchen ceiling. Mrs. Evans' suggestion to put fresh paint on the parlor ceiling worked, so maybe it'll work in the kitchen too."
"You used the brightest white you could find, Severus?" Mrs. Evans asked. She had thought about getting over there, however Spinner's End, even with a witch and a wizard was still a daunting place.
"Well, I got it out of my wand so it was white at least."
"How do you get paint out of your wand?" Lily inquired. Yet another spell he knew that she did not.
"A charm. I know all kinds from Mr. Filch. Maybe next year he'll let me work on some of the irreplaceable items like the tapestries or paintings. For now, I can do grout, caulk, paint, and a grey foam that gets hard to seal up cracks and holes in the castle stone. I can make minor repairs to cracked and chipped stone, tiles, mirrors, and wood. There's also cleaning spells in addition to scourgify."
"I think I have a can here, Severus. Can you show me how white the paint is, please?" Mrs. Evans asked.
Severus went over and gave Mrs. Evans some paint. She tilted the can and mentioned, "It's a bit thick."
"That's my final version. The first batch was thinner. Once I got some on the ceiling, I knew I wanted something that completely covered all the marks and stains."
"Do you have water leaking through?"
"Not on the first floor. Upstairs, water comes through the roof. I guess I should repair that. I don't know that sort of thing yet so maybe over the summer. Mr. Filch will probably know exactly what to do, and perhaps he'll let me try it on the school. There's enough windows overlooking portions of the roof that I should be able to find something needing repair out there."
Mrs. Evans nodded in reply. Perhaps her husband would hire Severus to do some odd jobs inside their house this summer for some pocket money.
Lily hated to admit it, but Mr. Filch's job and knowledge must be extensive for him to keep a building as large as Hogwarts in good repair, even with house elves. He was so undistinguished and unimportant looking. Was Severus going to emulate him? Other than Filch, only that Arithmancy guy seemed to like him, and he was a bit of a pill himself. Lily knew Severus was fantastic at Potions, but he was right that finding an apprenticeship without Slughorn's recommendation meant he was pretty much on his own.
The week felt like a loss to Lily.
She saw Severus a couple times a day, but he returned to Spinner's End without her. It's not that she enjoyed Spinner's End more than her house, but she knew Severus was working over there. If her parents had caved to her whinging about him being lonely over there, she'd help him, but also distract him.
Tea with the other bridesmaids was all right. Lily had nothing in common with Petunia's friends. Two of them were already married, and the rest were engaged so the discussion revolved around houses, husbands, and when the babies would start. Yuk! Lily was tempted to blurt out something ridiculous, but her mother was here too.
The day they were going to King's Cross, Severus went upstairs with Lily.
"I picked up something for you yesterday," he said, as he enlarged the paper wrapped, rectangular item.
"A present?" Lily inquired.
"No, they wrap all the books up. I didn't ask them to put paper on it."
Lily quirked an eyebrow at Severus. How is something for her not a present? He was at a bookstore yesterday. Did he buy this, or trade some of his for it? It would not be polite to ask how a present or non-present was paid for. "Oh, well, um …" Lily did not know what to say, so put her hands out to receive it. What kind of book was it?
"It's a muggle title, but the illustrations were magicked so they're moving," he murmured.
Lily carefully unwrapped it, but did not recognize the title. It sounded foreign. The bloke on the front cover had a turban on his head and the lady had on some scarf things. She opened it dreading it was some mythic love story that Severus expected her to know, and was going to spout off about how the two of them were destined to be together like the paki Romeo and Juliet on the cover.
Her mouth dropped open as she got a bit deeper in the book while paging through it. She studied the illustration and then turned the pages slowly to find the next one while looking at the text.
"Is it the type of book you meant, Lily?"
"Um … where do they sell books like this?"
"This one is borderline due to its historic significance so I would not have to go to some dodgy place in Knockturn Alley for this."
"Have you been to any of those dodgy places?"
"Not yet. What is it you need that you'd send me there?"
"I need some time to think about that. This is … uh, educational … though I'm not sure if this one's possible."
"Even if it was, having you stand on your hands all twisted like that is impractical. I think the proportion's off in this drawing anyway. My legs are longer than your arms."
"Hmm, oh, we've done this one. Dog?"
"That's how four-legged animals do it, not just dogs."
"So this is a known book?"
"Yes, the Kama Sutra is old, so don't go flashing the cover around where someone can see the title."
"I didn't recognize it."
"I doubt you will forget the title now."
"So why'd you get this for me?"
"Didn't you charge me to imagine new ways to make love? Now, you have a book with illustrations to get your own imagination working. The book itself has more than that, but it's known for the sex acts."
"Thanks." Lily sighed, "Mary's going to be on the train with us so I can't look it over in front of her to choose what I want to try tonight."
"Tonight?"
"Yeah, after the feast."
"All right. I still think something keeps following us around, but I have some new spells prepared to try."
Lily tutted. Severus and his paranoia. "I hope you don't take all night casting them. I'm positively throbbing with need."
"Maybe we can leave early?"
She brightened at the sound of that and ran out the door, saying, "Let me check with mum."
"The book," he called after her.
"Oh no," Lily exclaimed, running back into her room. She opened her school trunk and dug down to hide it.
Severus shook his head while watching her. If Lily did not want her parents knowing about them, she should not wave books like that under her mother's nose. He could have not reminded her, but it would be his fault for her being a total dunderhead. It would have been a showdown between her obstinacy to never be in the wrong, and this 'throbbing need' of hers. How did she throb? Who was the man here? Or did she overhear some bloke, and it sounded perfect to her ears to describe her insatiable sexual appetite?
It would not be such a problem if they had someplace of their own that he could nastily ward against intruders. Perhaps Severus should have exerted more pressure on Lily. His feelings regarding privacy meant little to her, which confused him since she did not want anyone knowing how close they were. Although his concern was different since he did not like being unclothed and vulnerable. The sight of Lily would probably gobsmack any viewers. Not even the raunchiest of Mulciber's photos had a witch showing such unbridled enthusiasm.
Lily finished throwing more things into her trunk. Turning to him, she urged, "Well, come on. There's no time to waste, Sev."
She stampeded down the stairs, making a great deal of noise. Severus followed at a slower pace. He did not race around the Evans' like some Spinner's End hooligan, even if he had been welcomed here for years. He caught up with Lily, who was speaking at a fast clip, concluding her reasoning, "... floo to Diagon Alley so if we go early, I can get in a little shopping, or just looking, since I'll be needing those dress robes, at the very least. Maybe some owl treats too."
Shopping? Was there ever an end to shopping? Even though Severus could be on some Honeydukes-fueled Zonko's buyout while swilling a barrel of butterbeer while astride his Nitwit racing broom, or whatever it is typical male students his age did, it seemed so pointless. His disdain remained, even now that he could afford to imitate James Potter's gluttonous consumption.
Mr. Evans looked at Severus. His slumped posture of defeat signaled that he expected at least a couple hours of carrying whatever Lily handed him. Even with magic, his daughter treated him like her manservant without consideration that he had no money of his own to purchase anything he found of interest, if he was even allowed to look. Clothes shopping with women was the worst. Taking out his wallet, he muttered, "How much is this going to cost? And be sure to buy Severus lunch for putting up with all this … robe stuff. I'm feeling weak just listening to it." Turning to his wife, he sweetly asked, "Dear, do you already have ice cream or is it too early in the year to ask for a knickerbocker glory this afternoon?"
"Dad!" Lily interrupted. "A knickerbocker glory? It's only a week after Easter."
"I think I'm out of brandied cherries, but I'm sure I have some other fruit," Mrs. Evans said, getting up to check on what she had available. If not, she could run to the store after lunch.
Lily rolled her eyes. Her parents were too much sometimes. Knickerbocker glories and her mother eagerly dashing into the kitchen. She did step forward to take the money her father was offering.
Her mother was calling out, "Bananas or grapes? I do not have any melba sauce, but could use raspberry jam. We only have vanilla ice cream, I can whip up some meringue for a layer or would you prefer all whipped cream?"
"No strawberry?" Mr. Evans replied loudly with a pout.
"I can get both fresh strawberries and strawberry ice cream if you'd like a scoop of that between the two scoops of vanilla. Did you also want strawberry sauce?"
"That would be too strawberry."
Severus and Lily looked at each other.
Severus tried to picture whatever this was that consisted of at least three scoops of ice cream. It was small wonder that Mr. Evans was so hefty. He did not fail to notice Lily's contemptuous look. Add gravy, and she'd be shoveling it in too.
Once the knickerbocker glory dilemma was logistically handled, they were given permission to leave as soon as they liked. Lily ran upstairs to get her trunk. She already had everything in it.
On their walk over to Spinner's End to fetch his trunk, Severus suggested, "We could stay at my house for a couple hours."
"I haven't had a chance to look through that book yet."
"I believe we'll think of something."
"I have to be on top first, Sev. All right?"
"That's fine."
"Do you even care, Sev?"
"About what?"
"How we uh … you know."
"Somewhat, but I know you relish impaling yourself repeatedly."
"Is there anything you like about that?"
"Besides you enjoying yourself? Um, I guess the way your breasts move. They're at eye level, and seem to be a moment behind the rest of your body."
"So you like my breasts best?"
"No, it's your eyes. Then there's the way your waist flares into your hip. The curve is …" he tried to illustrate by waving his hand, " ... like a sculpture."
Lily stifled a comparison with abstract art since she wasn't sure if Severus would understand what she meant. When he said sculpture did he mean some marble statue of Venus perhaps? "Is that why you like that dog thing?"
"At first, it was because I got deeper, but now you are not holding back so I'd have to say I enjoy the noises you make. It's more primal than saying my name. I don't know. I think what I like most is when we're slow and gentle, face to face. I suspect that would be very soothing before going to sleep. Not too energetic to get our hearts racing, but comforting and together."
"Not get my heart racing? Whenever you touch me, it's thudding in my chest, Sev."
"You know what I mean … all sweaty. That's all right for another time."
"I haven't noticed you sweating."
"I feel like I am with some of the things you think up, and when you're very energetic, your whole body glistens with it. You don't stink of it though."
Lily's mouth jerked into a sneer. If that was Sev's idea of compliment, she was not feeling it. "Maybe we'll think of a workout for you, after I get mine."
He groaned in response. She better not be considering that he could do that handstand thing.
Lily squinted when they got within sight of Sev's house. His house was slightly different than the others. Were his front steps white before? And the grout between the bricks wasn't exactly white, but cleaner then the house next door. Did he do magic outside? He could get in trouble, but Lily considered that it kept him from sulking and mourning inside the house.
He let them in, and she stopped in the doorway. All the books were gone, except for a handful on a stool. It was also bright. Not truly clean in a spic and span way like her house, but not the room it was before.
"Where did those come from?" Lily asked, pointing at the venetian blinds.
"I was looking at the other houses. A lot of them have those things. I had to go inside next door to see them from the other side. Even closed, they let in some light in the morning so it's not completely dark."
"Next door?"
"Yeah, she thinks there's something wrong with me so it didn't take much. The Snapes are pretty much the only family that never complained about all the noise her children make, since mother fixed that within a couple days of her moving in."
"What's she like?"
"She's a whore."
"Severus!"
"What? She makes a living by having sex for money."
"How do you know something like that?"
"I've never seen the money counted, but they talk, he hands her something, and then she either leans against a wall or gets on her knees in the street, and they conduct business."
"How can you watch something like that?" Lily asked, but feeling a little turned on by the thought.
"I'm not watching that part. Some of those men don't look right. What if they hurt her? I don't know how many children she has, but she's all they got."
She frowned. When Severus put it that way, especially after that one fellow verbally accosted her and then performed a lewd act on this very street, of course someone should be keeping an eye on things. "Why doesn't she get a regular job?"
He shrugged, "I think she likes sex."
"She's told you that?"
"Not so much, but she's quite forward with suggesting that she could assist me with things, and keeps showing me her body."
"What?"
"It's nothing. She never tries to grab me, and I don't think she knows I've watched her work."
"Doesn't she know you don't have any money?"
"Yes, she said it would be free. As I first said, she believes I go to some special school because there's something wrong with me."
"Did you?"
"What?"
"Shag her?"
"No, why would I?"
"To shag."
"Can't you believe I'm a bit more selective about it?" Severus asked. "I don't go sticking my cock in every hole I see."
"Why not? It's fun."
"You'd shag every bloke with a boner?"
"No, it's different for girls, Sev," protested Lily in disgust.
"That would lead to a disproportionate number of partners, unless us blokes all turned upon each other."
"What?"
"Never mind."
"Good, my breasts want to get to bouncing," Lily announced as she started stripping.
"Not here," Severus whined. He clarified, "Upstairs."
"Why?"
"Why not? I don't think of this room as … sexy."
"Oh, like your bedroom is?"
"My parents never shagged in there, so yes, it's better."
"Ugh," she replied, pushing past Severus to hurry upstairs. On her way up, she asked, "Can we move your bed away from the wall?"
"I suppose."
"I have an idea."
Severus did not respond. He'd find out soon enough.
Lily objected when he cast the standard contraception spell, "I already cast the month long one on myself, Sev."
"Better safe than sorry," he grumbled at her.
Once he was undressed and moved the bed to where Lily wanted it, she wanted him to lay down on his back and let his legs hang off either side. It was physically possible, but he commented, "This is uncomfortable enough before you are on top of me. It's not going to work."
Lily responded to his objection by straddling him, while saying, "It'll feel good soon enough."
The only part of him that was feeling good soon had to combat the ache in his lower back, centered on his spine.
When Lily stopped after whooping it up a few times, he hopefully asked, "Are you done?"
"You didn't, did you? I didn't feel it."
"Huh? Are you done so I can get some feeling back in my legs?"
"Are you in pain?"
"Yes, I told you that before you started."
"Why didn't you tell me again?"
"Because you don't listen to me."
Lily let out an exasperated sigh as she climbed off Severus. She helped him raise his legs onto the bed, and watched him close his eyes. "Are you really hurt, Sev?"
"No, it's not a lasting thing. Just an ache that grew worse. Haven't you ever wanted to enjoy the relief when something painful is over?"
"So you are feeling better already?"
"Soon."
Severus confused her terribly. Lily could understand not wanting to feel pain, but basking in the feeling that it was over? That was something she never experienced for herself.
"So uh … you didn't … um, finish?" she asked while observing that Sev currently was not in the mood.
"Eh, as long as we don't try that again."
"Hmm, it wasn't as good for me as I thought. I thought less motion on your part would make it better."
Severus opened his eyes and quirked an eyebrow at Lily. If she wanted him not to move, maybe she should do it without him?
Annoyed that Severus did not care for her idea, she replied, "So it's your turn. Do you want me on my hands and knees?"
"We did that this week already. Let's try to see if we can fix it with you on top. Maybe if I sat up, and held you?"
"We've done that before."
"It was no good?"
"It was brilliant."
"Since we don't have all day, why don't we settle for what you found brilliant?"
Lily sighed and muttered, "I don't know. Maybe you can tell me more about uh... women that do it for money." She took hold of him, gently rubbing his foreskin back and forth to get him randy again.
"Like what?"
"Anything that you think I should know, Sev."
"It's not glamorous. Actually, it's rather disgusting because they take one customer after another."
Lily's face scrunched up at that, and she asked, "Don't they bathe?"
"On the street?"
"Oh."
It was Severus's turn to make a face as he haltingly suggested, "Did you want to do something like that … pretend I mean, like we did in the classroom?"
"What should I wear?"
"Maybe we can skip that this time. I'm not sure of all the pieces. Short skirt, but the tights are different than what you wear for school. They're held up by something and there's nothing in the middle. No knickers, and a ridiculously low cut top or dress. Can you put on really red lipstick that rubs off?"
"Rubs off?"
"You want to be somewhat of a mess, rather than … I don't know if there is a classy whore, but that way it'll smear around your face and get on my cock too."
"I guess," Lily said, and cast a charm she normally did not cast upon herself.
Severus's lip curled. "That is the shade. Did you just want to briefly put your lips on me, or did you want to stop getting me hard with your hand?"
"Wouldn't you be eager and raring to go when you approach uh … a woman such as this?"
"I wouldn't be. Do you want me to talk to you like you're um, disposable?"
Lily giggled, "Disposable? I guess. You hardly talk when we're … you know."
"How do you know? You're so loud, no one could hear me."
"No, you don't. Give it a try, and if I get offended, rather than getting all hot, I'll tell you to cut it out."
"And don't forget to lie, Lily. You want a tip."
"All right."
"I guess we'll end up standing against the wall, so let me move the bed further, and I'll proposition you."
"Should I pose in some way to let you know I'm in the business?"
"Let's pretend you are in a bad neighborhood standing around so it's likely that's what you do, unless you sell drugs."
"Drugs?"
"Never mind. So ready?"
"Yup."
"Hey, you have many customers tonight?"
Thinking about what Severus said about the repeat business, Lily decided to answer, "No, just got here about twenty minutes ago. Looking for a little fun?"
"You been doing this long?"
"No, I um, fell on hard times, you see my mother ..."
"I don't want your life story. I want to know if you're worth anything."
"Tell you what, I like you. I like you a lot. How about I cut you a deal? Five sickles?"
Severus burst out laughing. "I didn't realize you wanted to be that cheap. Sorry. Five sickles? What do I get for five sickles, a handshake?"
"Well, I can use my mouth if you want."
"We could start with that, but I want sex, not you slobbering all over me."
"That too," Lily said, getting turned on by Sev's aggressive tone. "You want to step into my office?"
"It looks like a trash-strewn alley to me. Yeah," he replied, and gave her a slight push towards the wall.
Lily leaned against it and smiled.
"Unless you have a ladder for me to climb on, I suggest you get on your knees."
She giggled, and Severus took the opportunity to ask, "Did you want the pillow for under them?"
"No, I'm good. I'm not going to be down here long?"
"I don't think so. If I get too rough, let me know."
"Rough?"
"Yes, the customers are impolite," he replied.
"I guess I'll have to try to do a good job than," Lily commented before beginning the blow job.
"That's it?" Severus replied, putting both hands on Lily's head and pulling her closer to him. He muttered, "Is there all right?"
"Mmm," Lily nodded.
Severus looked at how much of him was still out and began rocking into her mouth, holding Lily in place.
Lily felt this was better than last week because her nose was free, rather than being upside down with Sev's bollocks hanging down on it. This was kind of odd, like he was shagging her face. It worked rather quick. The lipstick had rubbed off onto him. She had to put it on every time she used her mouth. It was so dirty. He drew himself out and requested, "Come on, get up, you lazy whore. I'm doing all the work here."
When Lily smiled at him, he smirked back, then got back to being an impatient customer. "What the hell's this?" he demanded, holding up a glop of goo from Lily's snatch right in her face. "You said I was your first tonight."
"You are. I'm so turned on by your prick that I got all hot and bothered."
He lifted one of her legs, wrapped it around his waist, before calling her, "Lying slag," and sunk himself balls-deep in one stroke. "Probably already serviced a dozen customers tonight, you filthy whore."
Severus stopped moving because Lily was already shuddering and twitching in ecstasy from that first stroke. Initially he thought he had hurt her, but then he felt her muscles contracting around him, trying to take him over the precipice with her. She gurgled out something nonsensical as she finished, then started trying to hump him, even though she was only standing on one leg.
"You're good at faking it, but you should try waiting till I've actually done something. Bloody well should pay me for lessons," he complained, as he changed his thrust slightly to get her gasping again. Since Lily suggested he should talk, he kept expressing his annoyance. "Trying to hurry me along so you can get to your next one? So how many you get to on a good night if you're trying to get me off in less than five minutes? Twenty, thirty, forty men pounding you a night against this wall?"
Lily did not know what Sev was doing, but his acting drove her crazy. He had to talk more during sex.
Since Lily seemed to be having one long, nonstop orgasm, Severus kept changing what he was doing to break up his rhythm so he didn't finish before she was exhausted. That seemed to be the only thing that kept Lily from wanting to continue shagging. He cast a charm wandlessly on the wall to keep track of the time. Merlin, they had a couple hours before they needed to leave.
About forty minutes of pounding, gyrating, and alternating stoke paces later, Lily's leg gave out so Severus lifted her up against the wall, and he finished as he rested his head on her shoulder, listening to her emit gibberish in time with his thrusts. He almost dropped her when she stiffened with him, pushing her legs straight out and arching her back, removing the wall's support from her.
Severus ended up falling on his backside, with Lily on top of him.
"Wow," she gasped. "That was wild."
"Uh huh," was all he could reply. Maybe he didn't have to worry about enemies, when Lily was doing her darnedest to drive him to his physical limits. His corpse might be a dessicated husk once she was through with him. She'd probably use it a bit before moving onto her next conquest because he wouldn't be moving.
Getting up, using him for leverage, Lily complimented him, "You're good at playing these, Sev."
He was relieved that she was digging through her clothing. There was no second time left in him, even if he was motionless.
"I've changed my mind though."
"Huh?"
"Here's your five sickles."
"What?"
"Maybe I hired you."
"All right," he said, taking the money. He had nothing left in him to even object.
Taking his wand, he slid the bed back and from where he sat, filled the basin with water so they could wash.
Lily griped, "You put our toothbrushes away, Sev."
"I didn't know you'd be over. I like to keep them safe. They're special."
"They are only toothbrushes, Sev. It's you who's special."
Severus did not know how to respond. Lily was probably still on her sexual high, and would treat him like rubbish later. If he was so special to her, then she should do something about it. He could understand Petunia needed the spotlight at the Evans now, but there was no anything about them together in the future. Lily talked about her. Her alone, except for little things like their summer seaside trip, that Severus did not really want to go on.
James stormed into his bedroom and slammed the door shut.
His parents were total jerks. They held up his apparition test for close to two weeks, until it was almost his tryout date for the Falmouth Falcons.
He tried out for them yesterday, and already received his rejection letter this morning.
They didn't understand he was out of practice. His parents did not allow him to fly while he was under house arrest, and thanks to Snape last year, he was chucked off the Gryffindor team.
His parents were against him playing professional quidditch, or at least till he studied and sat for his NEWTs. What did he need those for? Once he got in some practice, he'd be on a team in no time. He still had to hear back from the Pride of Portree. Their deep purple robes looked better than Falmouth's anyways.
What James really needed was someone to be a bit supportive of him. Like poor Peter. He was always there for him. Damned shame.
Everyone his age was either at Hogwarts, off figuratively stabbing him in the back all over Europe, or sitting in Azkaban.
Remus.
Remus was his friend. Maybe while he waited to hear back from the Prides, James could get someone working on Remus's appeal. It was the school's fault, along with Sirius's.
Sirius already got himself kicked out of England for good, or whatever, but Hogwarts knew Remus was a werewolf and left him on his own when he transformed where any nincompoop could stumble upon him.
Six months in Azkaban was surely more than enough to consider Remus had learned his lesson not to trust … hm, well Sirius Black.
James was sure as heck ready to move out of this prison himself, so the two of them could find someplace nice, and James would look after his friend when it was that time of month. No one could take away his animagus form. Drat, he meant to register it, after McGonagall figured out that Peter was an animagus. Maybe the next time he was at the Ministry. That'll show his parents he was good at something besides quidditch.
Severus fell asleep so fast on the train that Regulus Black stopped, looked in, and kept walking. MacDonald and Evans again? No. He couldn't fake being asleep as well as Snape. Besides, he would still be able to hear them chatting away like a couple of gibbons.
Lily was miffed. If Severus slept so well at Spinner's End, why did he pass out in the corner of the compartment? Perhaps he put himself to sleep to avoid any embarrassment with Mary? That was really juvenile, if he did.
Mary talked a bit, read a bit, and watched Severus a lot. His pockmarks had not cleared up as fast as Lily's, although he did start with substantially more. Overall, he looked horrible. Poor Severus. It looked like she might have to wait till seventh year to reopen her wooing of him. Perhaps write him little innocent notes over the summer so he'd remember she was his friend too. There had to be times that he tired of Lily. Mary sure had enough of those moments. She sighed while missing Helen. Her best friend ever. Severus could be a good friend, even if he did snore. There was a charm for that so that wouldn't be a problem. Why didn't he do something about his teeth?