Chapter Four - Claims

Lily finished her chores in the library after hours of sitting, filling out parchments for her teachers to grade her as she deserved. She was studious and proud to be known as a diligent student.

She stretched out on her seat raised her arms and stood up. She went over to Mrs. Pince to leave her the books she had used. She was thankful for the attention received when a Ravenclaw girl came to the counter to leave a pile of books. Noticing her, she realized that it was the young woman who had been talking with Severus lately.

- "Thank you, Mrs. Pince" - The blonde said before turning around and going to the exit door.

Lily caught up with her, quickening her pace a little. She wasn't entirely sure what she was going to do, but she blamed her insatiable curiosity and touched the young woman's shoulder who turned and looked at her carefully trying to recognize her.

- "Can I help you?" - She let out after a few seconds of scanning.

- "Eh... hi, I'm Lily Evans from Gryffindor" - She introduced herself while choosing the words she would use next-. "You... are Severus' girlfriend, right?" - She asked the question with all the innocence in the world.

She knew there were only two possible answers: yes and no. With the second, she would discard many ideas that she had made in recent weeks.

- "Why do you ask me that?" - The Ravenclaw frowned. - "You don't even know my name and you already associate me with someone."

Ok, point in favor of the Ravenclaw.

- "I'm sorry" - Lily said with a friendly smile. - "I'm just, well... I'm Severus's best friend and I've seen him distracted lately. I figured he was hiding something and he... dared me to find out and here I am." - She had commented on all this in the casual tone of irrelevant facts.

The Ravenclaw relaxed the gesture and a spark of amusement appeared in her eyes.

- "Severus helps me with potions" - She commented. - "And there's nothing between us that isn't friendship..." - Lily relaxed. - "For now."

For some reason that last word had hit her like a blow to the gut. 'For now?' She means if she wants something with Sev.

The redhead forced a smile.

Now they both walked slowly down the hall.

- "It seems that I couldn't solve the mystery" - Lily commented.

- "I don't think there is, Sev is keeping busy lately."

Did she just call him Sev?

- "Well, I must go."

The young woman waved goodbye.

Lily realized that she didn't know the blonde's name. So she caught up with her.

- "Excuse me, I still don't know your name."

- "Yanira" - She said. - "A pleasure Lily, maybe we'll see each other another time."

The redhead was on her way to her common room when Petter Pettigrew ran past her like a lost soul. Without noticing her.

She called out to him and the boy almost slipped as he stopped and turned abruptly.

- "Lily!" - He rushed to her. - "You must go stop them!" - He spoke at full speed. - "I was looking for the head of the house but..."

- "Peter! Take it easy!" - She demanded. - "What's going on?"

- "It's James and Sirius, they... bumped into Quejisus..." - At Lily's glare, Peter corrected himself. - "Snape and they started arguing... everything was going fine until it started to go wrong, they took out their wands and now they're at the mercy of that Slytherin."

Lily processed all the information assuming what really happened.

James and his friends would have gone to harass Severus, but for some reason, he managed to fight back and now he must be getting back at them because he had never come out on top in previous encounters. Peter, seeing that they were losing, went out to look for a teacher to stop everything.

"Yes, very brave marauders."

She told Peter that she would take care of it and he followed her. They went out to the inner courtyard where many crowded students let out laughter at times.

Lily pushed her way through wondering why no one looked worried, they were witnessing a fight after all. She reached the center to stop the "fight" but stopped when she saw Severus's wand in hand standing and smirking as Sirius remained kneeling near him. Spitting slugs?

She searched for James with her eyes and found him trying to get up but apparently, his legs were under a spell because they moved without control making him fall with each attempt.

- "Severus" - Lily called, approaching the dark-haired man.

- "Lily, good morning" - He said as if nothing happened.

- "What the hell have you done to them?" - She asked seriously.

- "Nothing, just apply two joke spells, Tarantantella, and slug-spewer" - She didn't like the black-haired man's smirk at all. - "Hey, don't look at me like that, they tried to take me by surprise with spells that can cause damage."

James had managed to stand up and waved his wand, he had an angry expression and a murderous look directed at Snape.

- "You won't get away with it" - Potter bellowed.

Severus, without looking at him or taking his eyes off Lily, waved his wand rapidly and James Potter felt a tug on his right leg. He landed on his butt changing from an annoyed expression to a wince.

The laughs did not wait.

- "How rude, Potter, you don't see that we are talking. Be a good boy and stay there."

- "Severus!" - Lily exclaimed. - "Leave them alone, it's not worth fighting."

- "Are you wearing a new perfume?" - The dark-haired man consulted slightly approaching her. - "You haven't used it before."

- "Are you listening to me?!" - The redhead claimed.

- "Petrifyuuuu.....!" - Sirius spat out another slug. - "Damn, Snapeeee..." - And there was another slug.

The laughter of those present rose again.

"Who knew the Weasley twins' spell would be so useful in rendering another wizard useless, well, they haven't mastered non-verbal spells yet."

- "Snape... that's enough" - Remus Lupin intervened nervously.

- "You were already taking time to exercise your position as prefect" - Snape told him.

Remus felt no hostility in his words, he didn't even claim. For some reason, he sensed an air of maturity from his home rival. While it was true that as prefect he could not allow James and Sirius to harass him, he always stayed out of it, after all, Severus also wore the badge and did not exercise his authority to protect himself. He didn't even accuse them.

Petter helped Sirius to his feet as he spat out another slug. James, for his part, stood up with his fists clenched and turned to Snape, his eyes sparkling with hate. That increased when the dark-haired man saw him and seeing his expression he smiled smugly.

"What does that miserable nerd think, bookworm!"

He was determined to fight muggle style when Lily stepped in his way, putting both hands on his chest to stop him.

- "James, stop" - She told him.

- "Step aside" - He told his girlfriend. - "I won't let that idiot make fun of me!"

- "It's good to be on the other side of the coin, don't you think so, Potter?" - Severus blurted out calmly.

- "Come here, asshole!" - He tried to move forward but Lily wouldn't let him.

- "Enough, James!" - Lily shouted-. "You're making a fool of yourself!"

- "But Lily..."

- "You lost, Potter" - Severus said smugly. - "Accept it."

Those words must have hurt because Jame quickly dodged Lily and tried to punch Snape in the face, but Snape had flicked his wand slightly causing James to slip one foot and spread his legs like a martial artist. Potter's wince would not be forgotten in his life.

"Even though it's unfair, with everything I know and my young body, there's nothing they can do against me."

Lily helped James to his feet as he whimpered from the pain of spreading his legs wide. The redhead shot him an annoyed look and Severus shrugged, smirked, and left without another word.

- "This is not over Snivellus!" - Potter growled at Snape's back.

In the common room, Sirius was still vomiting slugs into a bucket. Lily and the marauders were sitting on the sofas and carpet near the fireplace.

- "How long does that weird spell last?" - Petter was watching Sirius. - "An hour and a half has already passed."

- "It seems that the spell is very powerful" - Remus commented. - "Snape seems to be different."

- "Different?" - James was really upset. - "That jerk Snivellus got lucky, that's all."

- "He dominated you both" - Remus reminded him. - "He prevented your surprise attack but didn't hurt you as I feared when he got the upper hand. Also, he seems to have exceptional magic control."

- "Go and ask for an autograph then, Moony!" - James bellowed. - "What side are you on?!"

- "Stop!" - Lily stopped her boyfriend. - "You deserved this for harassing him. Luckily, Sev doesn't seem to hold a grudge against you. So leave him alone and everything will be fine."

- "Sure, you would like that, right?" - James lowered the tone of his voice. - "You care a lot about 'Sev'."

Remus sighed and stood up prompting the others to follow him because "James and Lily needed to talk."

As the three boys entered the dorms James pulled out what he had kept since seeing the redhead with Severus.

- "Tell me, since when do you cheat on me?"

- "What?" - That comment had offended the redhead. - "What the hell are you talking about?"

- "Don't try to play dumb, Lily." - James's face turned violently as he received the redhead's slap.

The burning on his cheek made his anger rise, he fixed his eyes on the girl in front of him.

- "I saw you kissing" - He told her and Lily's eyes widened. - "That's right I saw you at the castle entrance when the boys and I were coming back from Hogsmeade where you didn't want to join us. Now I know why, you would see him, right?"

- "You're wrong, Severus and I don't kiss, we're just friends" - Evans countered seriously.

- "I saw you!"

- "Maybe you saw wrong from where you were. The kiss was on the cheek, I can assure you. What do you think? Do you think I'm a woman who would cheat on her partner?"

James snorted and another slap crashed into the young man's face. Lily was hurt, she could see it in her emerald eyes. He had screwed up and to the bottom. Did he really think Lily was cheating on him with someone like Severus Snape? No, that was impossible. He was James Potter and Quejicus was just a bloody bookworm.

- "Lily I..."

- "This is over James, you have insulted me in a bad way. Talk to me when you grow up."

Without another word, she headed for the stairs that led to the girls' bedroom, she knew he couldn't follow her because of the protective enchantment.

Severus had received some congratulations from his housemates for putting the Gryffindor group in their place. He just nodded and continued on his way.

His past life had changed, he didn't know what he was doing there, but his plan to get the most out of it was still going.

The first thing was to accept that Lily would end up with the idiot James, so there was no point in maintaining their rivalry, he wouldn't let the accumulated hatred of his present past embitter him, not anymore.

Second, he became known as a potions genius and something told him that he already had a job secured by the time he got out of school.

Third, the mansion and fortune of the Princes had been done with both. He would have liked to take his mother there, but by this time she had already passed away from her illness and his father had disappeared.

- "Hi Severus." - The female voice made him take his eyes off the book he was reading.

In front of him, Deyaneira Jones, a graceful young woman was looking at him with a sparkle in her eyes that Severus identified as interest.

- "Can I sit with you?" - She asked looking at the empty space of the chair.

- "The furniture does not belong to me, Jones, feel free to take all the space you want."

The young woman showed a slight smile and sat down next to him. Leaning ever so slightly towards him.

"Ah, the body signals, what one learns as a double spy."

- "Is the book interesting?" - She asked trying to read something from the page where he was.

Severus closed the book and turned to her. - "That depends." - The young woman raised an eyebrow. - "Do you like romantic tragedy?"

- "I love romantic dramas, is that what the book is about?" - Ask getting lost in the dark orbs of Severus.

- "It's about a woman who is interested in a man at first sight." - Severus used a silky voice and slowly approached the young woman who seemed to be doing the same. - "Although they didn't know each other deeply, she watched him from afar... little by little she began to understand him and to want... to get closer... she wanted to feel loved" - Jones raised her eyebrows a little in an amused gesture. - "She didn't know why but she began to want to talk to him... touch him... it was a growing and powerful desire..."

- "And what did she do?" - Jones asked in a whisper, very close to him, hypnotized by his gaze and voice.

- "In fact, she approached the man when she couldn't resist anymore, when she was in front of him, she didn't know what to say to him." - The tip of Severus's nose touched Jones's. - "Luckily, the words were superfluous, the man seeing her was captivated by the beauty of the woman."

- "And what did the man do? Did he say something to her?" - Jones spoke very softly.

- "He didn't say anything to her, he just did... this."

Severus' lips captured the girl's, savoring them slowly and with great pleasure. He would definitely take advantage of everything his new life had to offer him.

- "Severus!" - The startled cry of a classmate of the same year made him break away from Jones's lips.

- "Yes?" - Severus was annoyed at being interrupted.

- "Do you know you can't be kissing in the common room?" - Questioned the Slytherin boy righteously.

- "Of course, I know, but you shouldn't worry."

- "Why?"

- "Because I'm the damn prefect and unless you want me to accuse myself before the head of the house, disappear."

- "You're breaking the rules! Prefects are supposed to lead by example!"

Severus rolled his eyes. He was one of the students that in his past life, he identified as "Know-It-Alls" and "the righteous ones".

- "Look at Jones" - The young man told him, he frowned, but Severus nodded and motioned for him to do so. - "Do you see how beautiful she is?" - Deyaneira continued the game, amused, greeting the boy mischievously and leaning her head on Severus's chest. - "Now, what would you do in my place? If you have convincing arguments, I'll turn myself into school justice, otherwise, leave."

Both Jones and Snape grinned as they saw the boy wince and walk away, leaving them to their own devices.

Deyaneira looked expectantly at Severus. The latter told her in a silky voice.

- "You can have my kisses and maybe some of my affection... but I will not give you my heart."

- "If you're flirting with a girl you shouldn't say things like that" - The girl advised.

- "The truth will make us free."

- "So deep."

- "Not as much as my tongue will be in your throat."

The girl raised her eyebrows and smiled with delight before Severus kissed her again.