35

Chapter 35 Communication Breakdown

This was a young, female raven. Ravens were smart, could use tools, had a distinctive set of sounds to talk and could mimic human speech. Females were smarter than males. They could eat pretty much anything, and domesticated ravens could live to be forty or longer, if magical.

Lily still didn't like her, and wanted Severus to name her something lowly and unimpressive. That would send a clear message to Mary MacDonald. Trying to buy Severus's attention with a familiar that could be intelligent and possibly useful. So far, Lily didn't see her being too bright. She recognized Severus, but that was about it.

After that Severus took the time to explain to her and Pandora the work he had done around the castle along with calculations to find unknown spaces. He had been taking measurements while working for Filch, took some floor plans of Hogwarts available in the library and then put some arithmancy on top of that.

Lily was with him until the arithmancy came in. He had identified a lot of areas where something could be hidden, or just off-limits to students. Severus believed that it might take them a while to locate a way in since it could be through any of the surrounding walls, or even involve unknown stairs or ramps. There were also sections that he suspected contained pipes, based on the location of lavatories.

This was a more educated approach than Lily had in mind. She just thought they'd head to a hardly used section of the castle and start casting detection charms. Considering that this idea was hardly a week old, she was surprised by how much work Severus had done planning their investigations.

Pandora suggested they could also talk to portraits. If they have not been moved in a long time, they may remember something in their vicinity. A ghost would also be helpful, but she did not want to approach the Bloody Baron. He had a low tolerance level for student schemes.

Minerva McGonagall found an opportunity to speak to Mrs. Norris about her fat rat.

If a cat could roll her eyes, Minerva would be doing it.

Mrs. Norris had a very high opinion of herself and how clever she was. She knew Minerva was not a proper cat so she broke down the basics for her, even though Minerva did not want any lessons in stalking, observing and most of all, patience.

Firstly, Mrs. Norris had observed the filthy rat boy many times. He had a distinctive, unpleasant scent. Most of the time, he pretended to be one of the filthy, mud-loving vermin who gave her person so much … fits? Minerva did not know how to interpret it, other than Mr. Filch did not like children dirtying the castle. However, Mrs. Norris was not allowed to touch those vermin, only tell her person where they were being especially filthy.

It was not until the filthy rat boy leaving his foul rat poo all around for others to clean, that Mrs. Norris's person told her to catch the rat. Her person did not understand when Mrs. Norris showed him the boy over and over. He has limited intelligence since he was not blessed to be born as a cat, nor did he admire cats so much like Minerva that he studied to make himself appear as one.

Mrs. Norris's person did not understand that she could find the rat very easy at any meal when the filthy vermin gorged themselves at their troughs in the really big room with the almost sky. He could only see him when he was a filthy rat.

The filthy rat was easily observed by the superior Mrs. Norris. He did the same things, but not in the same place. At night he would come out of his lair in the tower with the big picture and sneak.

He sneaked after her person's new clean boy. The filthy rat was jealous that Mrs. Norris's person liked Mrs. Norris best and talked to the new clean boy. Her person does not like filthy vermin.

Mrs. Norris knew that her person told the clean boy where to go every night. The clean boy always went where her person told him.

Mrs. Norris had checked on him because she did not like sharing her person. If she had to share him, she wanted to be sure that the clean boy stayed clean unlike the rest of the filthy vermin in the school.

Minerva was not sure in what way Mrs. Norris meant 'clean', but suspected she meant Severus Snape. In people terms, the word 'clean' was not among the ones she would list describing her student.

The filthy rat would wait till the boy was done and break things. He was very bad and filthy.

Mrs. Norris did not want to wait for her person any more because the filthy rat was giving him more fits. Mrs. Norris did not want her person having fits because he would not talk sweetly to her and give her treats.

Mrs. Norris followed and grabbed the rat.

She agreed he was a fat rat. No fight in him. No cunning. No attempt to escape. Couldn't even play dead right. Very stupid, filthy, fat rat. And now her person was very pleased with no filthy vermin in the school, and Mrs. Norris was helping keep things clean along with the boy.

Where did she leave him? She took Minerva on a tour of small, enclosed spaces that she had dragged the rat through and beat him against the walls.

She repeated the important lesson of beating vermin against hard things like walls multiple times.

Vermin must be beaten, thrown, clawed and bitten.

Don't eat filthy vermin. Her person fed Mrs. Norris liver and fish.

Mrs. Norris finally showed Minerva where she had dropped the rat. Minerva could not resume her normal form in the tight space to cast any spells to light up the gap in the wall.

It sounded like a drop when Minerva pushed a loose stone through. Perhaps a ghost or house elf could take a look, if Minerva could find her way back here. If that was not possible, perhaps summoning the rat body from outside these cramped spaces.

They were pleased when Prof. Flitwick was so forthcoming. Upon examination of their unknown areas of the castle, he was able to mark some as off-limits. That made perfect sense since the teachers did not live in their offices. Lily knew where Prof. McGonagall's and Prof. Slughorn's quarters were.

She asked, "Professor, are there really quarters for married students?"

"Where did you hear that, Miss Evans?"

"It's in Hogwarts, a History and when Helen and Mary were serious about some young men earlier this year, they felt that waiting till graduation wouldn't be soon enough. With them being in another house and wanting to adhere to curfew and other school rules."

Severus was listening, but saw no reason to get his hopes up. If there were quarters, Lily did not say she'd marry him … ever, and she'd find something wrong with them. There was also Mary MacDonald. Lily would not want to leave her rooming alone. Mary came before Severus with Lily. Along with Petunia, her parents, and Potter's umpteenth chance at being the hero in Lily's eyes, no matter what he did wrong.

Nothing Severus seemed to do was good enough. He had spent a good chunk of time on these floor plans, and Lily hardly gave them a second glance until she presented them to Flitwick.

He morosely contemplated that Lily would get rid of him once she found out about magical dildos, when the bird starting messing with his hair.

He shrugged at it to hop off his shoulder. That's about the only command he had gotten down in the past day.

It did not want to return to its cage earlier. Severus did not want it around him too much because he might get attached to it. As soon as that happened, something bad would befall it.

If not Potter, there was Mulciber, Avery and probably at least a dozen others in this shit hole that would torture an animal for the sheer joy it would bring to them. Smarter animals would please them more because they would understand the pain better. It was cruel of MacDonald to make a gift of her. This bird could live for decades, if it wasn't put in his care.

Filius nodded soberly at Lily's information. He heard a rumor about those two young ladies catching the fancy of two Slytherins. Such a tragedy. Minerva certainly had her hands full with those headstrong boys, but she was constantly thwarted by the headmaster.

He couldn't imagine such monstrous boys in Ravenclaw. Personally, he had stepped in a number of times when they were bullying his students, but the punishments, or lack of them, hardy fit the crime. Only one was left in the school now, and Filius had seen him pestering Miss Evans and Mr. Snape. It was simply a matter of time before he did something horrendous to them too. If the headmaster would not listen, at least Minerva should be warned.

Distracted by his thoughts, Filius offered standard advice, "Seventeen is rather young to marry. I understand some families are forging bonds and would like them as soon as possible. In a way, they are preventing the young ladies from meeting others who may be better suited. Once they graduate, they are free to travel, meet wizards who went to different schools, or may have been ahead of them here at Hogwarts or from a different house so they did not get to become acquainted with them here."

"My friends were very happy," Lily replied. She was also struck by Severus's statement about starting the rest of his life now, or as soon as it was legal. If she put him off, would something take their happiness away? Lily admitted she would be happier spending all night with Severus, and not solely for the shagging. She cared about him, and Lily was increasingly worried about him whenever they were apart. Even though he was used to being independent from a young age, he still needed someone. And not Mary MacDonald or her idiot bird that Sev brought along to lunch.

Pandora asked, "Can we start this afternoon?"

"I've hardly packed anything," complained Lily.

"We can start in inhabited areas, Lily," Severus said, looking over the revised floor plans. "If we go to this part here," he indicated by pointing to a hallway near the Hufflepuff common room, "we can mark the walls with chalk and then work our way back towards the kitchen for dinner. This will also test the charms with the journal we've given Prof. Flitwick, and give us a chance to hone what we will do elsewhere in the castle."

"It's not that big a space," Lily murmured. They wouldn't find anything exciting near Hufflepuff.

"We don't want to get lost on our first afternoon," Pandora responded. With Evans in charge, she'd think it wonderful to plunge them into the depths of the dungeons with a coil of rope and some hooks to climb their way out. That was not the kind of fun Pandora wanted. She wanted amusement, not danger. Snape's plan to have them work their way towards the kitchen was sensible. Until they started finding fantastic and long hidden secrets, Pandora was not willing to skip meals or sleep outside of her bed.

"That should be a fine start," Filius agreed.

Lily was still sullen when they rendezvoused at the far end of the corridor with their basic supplies to begin. Severus and Pandora were already there, and Sev had already charmed his lanterns. Most of them gave off a sunlight glow, rather than lumos quality light. This corridor had not seen sunlight since the castle was built, unless someone had cast a spell down here. He also had a set of bullseye lanterns that were charmed to send their very white beams at gaps and cracks in the walls. Long, straight cracks would be a hint that perhaps a door or panel was hidden.

Like Lily, he had committed a long list of spells to memory, but they had a cheat sheet to remind them of useful spells.

"Why did you bring the bird?" she asked.

"She didn't want to go back in her cage."

Lily made a face. He wasn't doing a very good job training it.

Severus did not pay attention to Lily's disapproval of the animal. It was sitting on top of a lit lantern, staying out of the way. He marked the wall with chalk. It was charmed to erase when a command word was given to the remaining pieces so Severus wouldn't have to walk around cleaning all this up before the students returned.

Their experiment worked.

By dinner, they had found a closet packed full with Mrs. Scower's, a storage room for school dishes, another storage room with Hufflepuff linens and bed hangings, and another room that initially got Lily excited, but Pandora and Severus determined it was probably used by Hufflepuff prefects to relax and have quiet teas, based on the items in there. It was very homey and comfortable with its own set of dishes and linens in a cupboard, and a little stove for heating water in the kettle atop it.

In the kitchen, Severus took some fresh parchment and redrew that specific corridor based on the notes he took during the afternoon. His bird knocked over a box of Cheeri Owls onto the table. He'd pick it up once he was done, and she was done pecking at them.

Lily felt they had wasted their time. They should have started somewhere else. She was looking through the floor plans to pick someplace for them to try tomorrow.

Evans better change her attitude tomorrow once she picked where they were going, Pandora thought as she shoveled in her meal. She was a pure mudblood bitch all afternoon. Snape may have had dragonpox with her and was used to people being mean to him, however whatever she did other than mistletoe kissing with him couldn't be worth all this. He did most of the work, and all she did was complain. Pandora was going to spend a long evening soaking in the tub, and if things weren't better tomorrow, she'd find something else to do with her time.

"All right, I think we should search underneath Gryffindor tower," Lily announced. "We'll start on the floor under the common room and work our way down."

"I didn't fill in much about that area because I don't know where the baths are for your house. Could you mark those locations? We can use that to guess where the pipes are," Severus explained, while looking at the lower levels. "There's a boys' lavatory on the second here, and then a girls' on the fourth."

"Me?" asked Lily.

"You are the only one of us allowed in Gryffindor."

"But I don't know all those measuring spells you were using," Lily said, not wanting to learn them because she overheard him enough now to know they were really long, and then Sev wrote down a lot of numbers. "Can't you just come in and look for yourself?"

"Uh … maybe Prof. McGonagall will allow it, if I explain why," Severus replied, uncomfortable because it would be very out of bounds, and with Evans being the only Gryffindor and probably wanting to shag, he wasn't going to be caught while looking at faucets in the gents'.

"That seems like an unnecessary bother," Lily ragged.

"We've done everything by the rules thus far," Pandora commented. "It would be a shame to get in trouble, and not be allowed to explore further before we discover something worth finding."

"I can ask her after I let the bird out. She should still be in the Great Hall. If Flitwick's there, I'll have someone to verify I'm telling the truth, or at least that we're snooping around the castle."

"Why wouldn't she believe you?" Lily queried.

"The head of Gryffindor is suspicious about Slytherins. She rarely believed my word against the Marauders unless there were other witnesses."

"She believed you when they undressed you in June."

"They also got the Head Girl. I wasn't a solitary victim in an empty corridor."

Lily rolled her eyes and sighed. Severus against the world again. Well, he may somewhat have a point. With all the lying around here, who would believe anyone when they told the truth? Especially when the staff decided to have petty quarrels with students. Slughorn and Pomfrey probably thought themselves untouchable with the absolute trust of Dumbledore. He was no judge of character. His years of favoring the Marauders were a testament to that. It was nothing short of miraculous that Severus wasn't the student they killed. Where would she be then? Would she still be forced to look at Black waggling his eyebrows at all the girls and laughing over his cleverness every evening in the common room? Was his expulsion contingent on someone getting killed, or someone people cared about getting killed? Potter all suave with his broom and messy hair, playing with a snitch, and slyly hinting to her that if she did not go out with him, that he wouldn't be able to protect her from being the Marauders' next victim? She knew Potter had some thing for her, ever since she walked out on him with Severus that first day on the Hogwarts Express. That's why she dropped Magical Creatures. She did not want to get raped after class with his buddies cheering him on.

Severus no longer paid attention to Lily. The bird had played with the cereal and there was one circle, then two circles together, then three, then four and so on till she finished putting the twenty-first ring in the twenty-first pile as he watched.

"Can this thing count?" he mused aloud, before pointing at the pile of three and asking, "How many are in this pile?"

Finally having her person's attention, the raven walked over to the small pile, and tapped the table three times with her beak, and then broke his 'keep quiet' rule by cawing three times.

Lily said, "Thank goodness you didn't ask her about the pile of ten."

The raven then went to the pile of ten Cheeri Owls, and gave it one tap to indicate she went there on purpose.

Lily scowled at the smug bird. Mary got him a familiar that could count because Sev liked numbers. She was such a toerag.

To the bird, Severus said, "I see you can count. I need to clean this up before we go." He charmed the piles of cereal back into the box and closed the top to take it with him so this box didn't accidentally get sent up to the Great Hall for breakfast.

"What about Countess as a name?" Pandora suggested.

"That's stupid," Lily replied. Countess meant nobility, and this feathered trojan horse did not deserve it.

"I should name it," Severus mentioned. Why did Lily care so much about the thing's name? Or was it simply in her nature to nay say any name that she did not choose herself? If nothing happened to it, this bird was going to live a long time, and it should have a name that Severus found at least agreeable. It was supposedly his familiar. Lily had her owl.

"I know," Lily grudgingly agreed. Though she felt it would be a symbolic slap in the face to Mary if she could get Severus to postpone naming it until after the holiday was over.

"Countess is all right with me, and I previously suggested Ragnorak. Since she's black, maybe Macabre, Morbid, Voodoo …?"

"Midnight," Pandora suggested.

"There's a lot of black cats named Midnight already."

"Yeah."

"Memento Mori is long, but it means a reminder that we are mortal and will one day die."

"You're right, it's too long," Lily concurred.

"Let me take the food the house elves made for her, and let her out. I'll see if McGonagall's in the Great Hall too."

"What about me?" Lily asked.

"You can come if you like," Severus responded. "I haven't let her outside since lunch so I think that should be first. If you want to go ahead and talk to Prof. Flitwick too, that'll be fine."

Lily stayed with Severus and sat beside him in the Front Hall while he waited for the raven to finish outside. "After we talk to the professors and put your bird away can we have dessert?"

"In the kitchen?"

"No, silly," Lily corrected him with a sudden grab and squeeze of his cock through his trousers.

"Oh. All right."

"Don't you want to?"

"It's fine, Lily. I … I'm not sure how we're going to have time for everything when classes resume."

"Oh. I was worried you didn't like what we did yesterday, Sev."

"The physical sensation was better than I thought it would be."

"Physical sensation?"

"Yes, there's so much between us, Lily, that physical is only a part of it."

Lily made a face at Severus. He was thinking too much. The 'physical sensation' was bloody brilliant. She didn't have time to think about more than that and well, the next time she could feel it. Maybe they could ditch Pandora and shag all day in some new place they found.

The raven returned without any animals, and they went into the Great Hall.

The only student eating dinner with the teachers was Cresswell. Lily fought the urge to jinx him as he laughed at something Slughorn said.

The writing charm was working, according to Flitwick. He tried to encourage Lily because they had found rooms, just not fascinating rooms. Between Severus and Flitwick, McGonagall understood what they needed from Gryffindor. They settled on Flitwick making a copy of the current map, and he would update it with the pipe locations tomorrow morning, and return it to them when the library opened. Lily did not care for that arrangement, but Severus didn't object. He'd also made a copy of Severus's mostly blank floors for upper Ravenclaw tower to update for them also.

On their walk down to the dungeons for Severus to put his bird away, Lily started getting a bit heated thinking ahead to what they'd be doing very soon, but not soon enough. While she was outside the Slytherin common room, she squirmed in anticipation and even squeezed her breasts roughly to try to find some relief. It didn't work and the urge was pounding in her, matching her own heartbeat. What was taking him so long?

Severus came out of the common room door, no more than five minutes away from Lily, and she grabbed him roughly, demanding, "Did you do something to me?"

"Huh?"

"I got to have you in me now. What's with that?"

He studied Lily, doubting it was something he had done, and recommended, "We could look up lust and love spells and potions in the library if you think I did ..." His spell would not be detectable to those methods.

"I don't want the library, Sev … hurry!"

"What?"

Taking advantage that he was wearing his non-uniform trousers which were loose in the waist and held up by braces, rather than a belt, Lily shoved her hand in to grip him. Sev wasn't even hard. Oh no. "Stop thinking and stop talking unless you are going to say something sexy. Like last night … you're going to reach under my skirt, and push my knickers aside."

"Lily, if you don't know if ..."

"I want it," she confirmed that with a painful pull of his penis.

"Not in the hall," he complained, trying to pull her hand out. "What if ..."

"Move it then and get these trousers off."

"There's a room down this way that isn't warded well. I don't think Greengrass ..."

"I don't care."

Severus considered stupefying Lily. Something had her out of control, and it should not be what he cast on her yesterday. She was fine then. Insatiable, but that was normal for her. This was ridiculous. Maybe after he took care of this, they could try to figure out what happened during that brief time they were apart.

He unwarded the door and Lily could hardly wait for him to close it behind them before she was undoing the front of his trousers. By the time he warded the door, she was on her knees with her mouth on him, and he barely remembered the silencing spell.

He cast a dim lighting charm in the room. It was a small, spare potions lab, or it would be if Slughorn encouraged students to undertake private projects. He liked to keep an eye on his potions favorites and they used his classroom, so they could listen to him talk all evening.

Unsure of what got Lily so worked up, he rewarded the door strongly.

Lily pulled off of him and chided, "Stop casting things, Sev. Is this hard enough?"

"Uh …"

Lily didn't wait for an answer, but pulled him over to the table. He had little choice about following since she was steering him with her death grip on his cock.

It was a relief when she released her hold. The strange thing to Severus was that it had made him harder.

Lily turning her back to him, bending over the table and flipping the back of her skirt up, encouraged him to stop rationalizing why his body could have liked that. He was admiring Lily's knicker-clad arse, even when she started waggling it, before she hissed, "Stick it in already."

Reaching down, Severus explained, "I just can't do that if you aren't … oh, well that doesn't seem to be a problem." He felt that Lily was more than ready so he pulled the crotch of her knickers to the side and got to work.

This was exactly what she needed. Severus was not even in her fully when she felt immediate and undeniable relief. How could she have gone over twenty-four hours without this feeling? It was so addictive, and Sev could make her feel this way over and over before he was done. Him being slow was so bloody brilliant. And here she was thinking he was bloody brilliant again because he felt so wonderful in her. He could go faster, and deeper, and more, more, more …

There was a definite advantage to Lily being on top. She stopped complaining.

Severus did not mind her moving against him, but she had a different tempo in mind until he got his fingers under her to slow her down by concentrating on what he was doing there, rather than the fast as a rabid rabbit speed that Lily was trying to urge out of him.

When she degenerated into over a minute of encouraging grunts, it drove Severus over the edge.

Like each time yesterday, Lily joined him at the end. There was so much he didn't understand about this. He was still trying to get his thoughts together when Lily wiggled out from between him and the table. Rather than accusing him of doing something to her again, she started taking off her clothes.

Seeing Severus merely looking at her, Lily encouraged him, "Take yours off too."

"But what about you thinking that someone put you under a spell?"

"Got you moving fast, didn't it?" she asked with a big grin. "Next time I think it'll be something like shag me or I'll die."

"What?"

"I was playing with you, Sev. You should have seen the look on your face, and then you're talking about the library."

"You are all right then?"

"Other than being desperate for you to shag me after you gave me that naughty suggestion of yours to stew over for more than a day, yes, Sev, I'm fine. Now get those trousers off, I didn't have time to figure out whatever you got holding them up."

"You should warn me that you want to play something, Lily. I considered stunning you."

"Stun me? Why?"

"You led me to believe that you were the victim of some magic."

"So? What's wrong with us shagging, now that we've already done it?"

"If it's for the right reasons, nothing is wrong."

"What's wrong is you aren't getting undressed," replied Lily, who now was completely naked and not the least bit shy in front of Severus. She placed her hands under her breasts to push them up, and asked, "Are you going to let these go to waste, Sev?"

"What did you have in mind?"

"I'll help you get undressed, then you'll sit down on this chair, I get on top of you, and then these should be at the right height for your mouth."

"You've already planned this?"

"I spent all night thinking about all the ways we can do this, and I want to get started right away. Stop stalling," she said, and bent down to untie his old work boots.

"Do I need to get completely undressed?"

"It doesn't bother me, Sev. I love you just the way you are."

"You love me?"

"Yes, I've loved you for like forever. You aren't beautiful like uh … I don't know some muscled weight lifter guy, but you are all mine. Every blessed inch of you," she said, reaching up to the part of Severus that she absolutely could not resist. "Uh, what's …?"

"That's from the two of us."

"From … oh. Does it taste like … no, it's different."

"Well, you are added to it now. Should I get rid of it for you?"

"Um, yes, I don't think I'm ready for that yet, Sev. Though knowing how fast I am going sometimes, I'll probably wake up craving it for breakfast tomorrow."

"Lily, have you considered that maybe there is something other than your natural enthusiasm making you so … eager?" Severus asked, before casting evanesco on himself.

"I gave it some thought, but I don't think so. If it was lust, wouldn't I just want to shag you rotten all the time? And a love potion isn't really a love potion, and if I did drink one of those by accident, I wouldn't argue with you. I'd just think everything about you was absolutely wonderful if I took a love potion."

"How quickly your tune changes, Lily."

"What? No, I mean, we disagree over little stuff, and I find your reluctance to do what I tell you immediately aggravating. When I say strip, I want you naked in less than sixty seconds, Sev."

"I don't like being naked."

"You are going to like it with me, and that's that. Now let's get this jumper off you so I can figure out what's keeping your trousers on."

"It's only buttons on the inside, Lily," he replied, undoing the front buttons on his braces.

Lily did not let go of his jumper until he lifted his arms. She nodded in approval seeing he wore his new underwear, and pushed her hands under the front of his undershirt to raise it high and get her fingers on his nipples.

She hadn't studied these enough yesterday and tried sucking on one of them.

To stop Sev's squirming, she released her hold on his second nipple, grabbed her favorite way to get his attention, and began sliding his foreskin for more bloody brilliant shagging.

Her second hand slid down his back, to the waistband of his underpants and pushed them down. She realized they weren't going to come off unless she let go in front. While she was torn on whether she wanted to let go of him, her hand was creeping around feeling the unevenness of his bum.

"Stop," Severus said, grabbing her chin to stop any arguments and twisting his body away from her, ignoring that she was reluctant to release him, or even stop the pumping motion of her hand on his shaft. "Don't touch me like that, Lily."

She knew what Severus meant, and did not want to get into an argument over something that he was obviously so sensitive about. It was going to take time. "All right, I'm listening, Sev. How about you finish getting undressed, and have a seat?"

He did as she asked, but he wasn't going fast enough.

She tried to hide her impatience, especially when she saw that he had … sort of lost interest.

She repeated, "Sit down, I'll take care of that." It was Lily's fault, she shouldn't have upset Severus when she was trying to get him in the mood to shag.

Speculating on what she wanted to do, Lily realized that Sev had cleaned himself off like she wanted. Maybe she should have done that to herself since gravity was pulling thick liquid out of her, where she could feel it slowly dripping down her inner thighs. Till now, she had only seen his thing while he had trousers on. Well, until yesterday but she hadn't taken a chance to look at it all, unless it was during that part she forgot.

Kneeling down, she felt, rather than saw, Severus cast a cushioning charm.

Her eyes were focused on … what they always focused on. How could she find this part of Severus so fascinating? It was repulsive looking and maybe even alien, since she was a girl. As Sev said, Lily looked with her hands so both of them cradled it. It was still heavier than it looked.

She smirked as she felt it twitch. Severus anticipated her doing something. No need to rush now that Lily got that pulsing sensation drowned with the feeling of stuff leaking out of her. Whatever was going on down there was not sexy feeling.

Lily took her time, examining and playing with the part she usually did while holding it up so she could see what had been hidden to her before.

She wished there was more light in here. Lily did not see two separate … things. Was this normal or not? She let one of her hands slide lower to the base of his penis, and then lightly moved it over this thing. "Is this all right, Sev?" She didn't want to upset him.

"I don't know," he murmured.

"Say something if I'm bothering you," she said, as she got her hand under it, and lifted. She didn't move it much. What could she do with this?

Sev showed her how to slide the skin on the main part, and she got the mouth idea from some of those dirty pictures. Lily leaned closer and stuck her tongue out. It tasted like … skin. It was thicker and wrinkly.

She moved her second hand down to feel this more.

His penis did not stay up and smacked her face on its way back down.

"Sorry, I didn't know you were going to let go," he said as he pulled it back up and out of her way.

"S'all right," Lily said, more shocked than hurt.

Touching him here, or at least like this, was not doing the trick. If Severus was immature, he'd be laughing at her. Since he wasn't in the mood, Lily felt she might be able to get a couple questions in. "Can I ask you about this?"

"I guess."

"Um, is there supposed to be two?"

"There is. It's winter so they are closer to my body to keep warm. It'll look different in the summer, or if it was really hot in here."

"Oh," she replied, and grabbed a little tighter and sort of felt something inside.

"Don't grip it any tighter than that. You can shift them, if you want though."

"Will that feel good to you?"

"Not especially, but if you're careful, it won't hurt."

"Maybe when I can see better. I don't want to risk it."

Severus liked Lily's response, but he'd rather she did not study his balls at any time.

He removed his hand when Lily returned her attention to his cock. She hardly pulled the skin back when she put her mouth on him. With the lack of warning, his whole body arched at the sensation.

Lily smirked at surprising Sev like this. She had thought about those pictures, either the wizards were much smaller than Severus, or the witches had huge mouthes. She wasn't sure if she was doing it right, but Sev wasn't complaining about all the spit leaking out of her mouth.

Not much time passed before he muttered, "Now would be a good time to switch."

Not understanding, she let him slip out of her mouth and said, "Huh?"

"Your scheme to sit on me."

"Oh yeah," she said, scrambling to get off the floor.

"Careful," he warned, getting her hands on her hips to slow her down. "I don't think it'll all fit."

"It did yesterday."

"No, you were facing the other way, and later when you were kneeling, not all of it was in you."

She rolled her eyes at him, and lined it up. Her knees buckled as soon as it entered. Oh … how good it felt. Sev had his hands on her bum now, and was both holding her up and she squirmed trying to figure out if he was consciously spreading her bum cheeks. It felt kind of good. Like anything could feel more bloody brilliant than having him inside her. Lily ignored Sev's advice and ground herself downward … ouch!

There was a limit to how bloody brilliant he felt, as she lifted herself off.

With her feet flat on the floor, Lily was in control of how far it went, and played around a bit. It fell out a couple times as she tried to feel the head where it was wider at her entrance.

Eventually Lily got serious about it, and Severus adjusted to her increased pace and moved one of his hands to the front of her to keep her focused on this, rather than starting more conversation.

With her stopping herself from falling fully on him, she felt Sev's other fingers doing something from behind. Just the memory of the last time he had touched her there got her shuddering till her legs gave way. She felt no pain as Severus pulled her against him. She felt faint, he had never been this deep within her, and yet she was hyperaware of him pulsing within her while they held each other motionless in this moment of ecstasy.

Blinking, not sure if she had momentarily passed out, Lily felt her muscles contract around him. She was not supporting her body on her legs so he was still completely buried in her. One of his hands was on her back, and his head was bent while he suckled on her, and the other was gently playing with her other breast. Even though they were not moving, another wave of pleasure overtook her. If her sanity wasn't at risk, she'd never leave this position. This was absolutely bloody brilliantly perfect.

She resisted parting when Severus looked up at her by grabbing his head and keeping them in a long snog while she tried different ways of rolling her hips and clenching her muscles around him.

The only thing that broke apart their lips were her cries of pleasure when she couldn't take it and had to throw her head back, rather than moaning into Sev's mouth.

Severus mentioned, "Whatever you are doing, it's working."

"What?"

"When you're squeezing me."

"Like this?" she asked, gripping him internally.

"Exactly."

"Oh? Can I move more?"

"Be my guest, Lily," he suggested as he resumed fondling her chest. He quickly moved one hand behind her to catch her as she almost arched off him and backwards to the floor.

Lily did not notice as she was also falling over the edge in her mind as she tried to get him deeper within her. She'd draw back a little and then plunge onto him repeatedly. She was so close to finding an even better sexual experience with Sev. She rode through several waves until he finally could no longer take it and grabbed her to hold her still as they once again jointly lost track of all reality outside of where their bodies joined.

This time Lily was aware of the excess amount of liquid leaking out of her and onto him since her legs were still apart. She looked at him expecting either disgust or laughter, but all he did was raise an eyebrow at her. That's what she loved about Sev.

Lily realized the next morning that she was acting crazy as she spread out naked on her bed in the sunlight.

She thought of Severus, remembering how much he said he liked being held last night after he … uh, cleaned up the mess. She wouldn't let him put his clothes back on when he suggested they could lay down next to each other.

Lily wanted him here right now so she could see him properly, and feel the way he trembled against her while she softly kissed his face and ran her fingers through his hair.

She scooched her bum over the crumpled blankets before turning over, trying to relive how they got entangled in each other's limbs.

Eventually, just like last night, Lily got all bothered and wanted him in her again, but now she had time to think since Sev wasn't here to fill … this sudden gaping void between her legs. Shagging had to be the most addictive thing ever. Whenever she thought about it, which was constantly, she felt empty and wanted Sev intensely.

Did people still feel this after they were married, or was it children that quenched this fire? Lily couldn't imagine her mum all hot for her dad's thing. They certainly did not have silencing spells, so she knew neither of them were screaming like her.

What did Severus enjoy? He liked little affectionate things, when it was only the two of them. He'd be content to lie beside her, staring into her eyes and holding her hand still, like they had for years. Lily had the feeling that it meant more to him than the shagging, or maybe it was because he was more afraid when she was paying attention to him? Lily concentrated on him when she wasn't turned into a mindless ...slut? That was Petunia's word for it. Sometimes in the heat of the moment, she was barely aware of Sev, other than him in her. Yes, when she wasn't enjoying his penis, she saw the rest of Severus. There were still boundaries that he did not want her to cross. Lily had gotten him to completely undress twice now so she did not believe anything impossible with him anymore. She had to be patient and let things occur naturally so Lily could continue peeling back the layers to get to Sev.

With a huff of frustration, she looked up at her Famous Wizarding card. Sev got up to a lot when she wasn't around him. She no longer believed it was palling around with Death Eaters and learning Dark Arts that took up his time, but Sev was smart and knew things she didn't, and not just useless things like Runes and Arithmancy, but spells that weren't being taught to students. If they were together at night too, Lily could know more about him and maybe learn things, in between shagging him. She laughed aloud at the image of Sev trying to read a book in bed while she kept trying to pleasure herself on him. Maybe he could read dirty stories aloud to her. If they couldn't find any that she liked, she'd write some.

Minerva was frustrated, especially now that Albus and Filius were also summoning rat skeletons from the walls of a castle that was supposedly vermin-free. At this rate, they would never recover what could be Pettigrew's body.

Based on what Minerva learned from Mrs. Norris, Albus had to also conclude that Peter Pettigrew was probably an animagus with the form of a rat that met his end while sneaking around out of bounds.

Further damning was the loosening of that lintel stone in the corridor Severus Snape was scheduled to work in that night, and the same corridor where Mrs. Norris found the rat hiding.

From that vantage point, either a rat or a student could easily hide to view and commit a horrible crime. The expulsion of Sirius Black was apparently not enough. The only question that remained was about James Potter. Was he part of the scheme to discredit Gryffindor? Were these boys acting on express orders from one of Voldemort's lieutenants, or were they taking it upon themselves to continue targeting Mr. Snape?

Filius said that Potter had been following Snape after class since his return from suspension. That was a troubling concern, if Albus allowed Potter to remain at the school, the other students would still be in danger.

The headmaster intended to visit with the Potter family later today, and make a decision.

Disappointed that they kept retrieving the wrong rats, at each possible access point to the place where he was last seen, Albus vanished them. He looked at the corridor and tried to remember that there was another reason for him to want to visit here. A muffled, forlorn moan spurred his memory, and he entered the nearby girls' bathroom.

Minerva called, "Albus!"

"No worries, Minerva. This ladies' is only occupied by Myrtle, or usually is," he corrected at the sight of a well-lit lavatory. The circle of sinks had shiny faucets and a clean mirror stationed above each one.

There was a snarl of "Boys aren't allow ..." that petered out to Myrtle saying, "Oh, it's you. You're looking a fair bit older. Too busy to visit?"

"I stopped in to see if you are pleased with the changes in here. It is your home, and I do respect that, Myrtle."

"Well," she said while picking at some spot on her face, "I guess there will be more girls coming in once classes resume. I've had a real shortage of company, except for that really naughty girl who befouled my favorite cubicle."

"Really?"

"I would say more but uh … the fellow that was with her when I saw them up in the prefect bath, he's gotten enough punishment already. I wouldn't want him to get beaten more on account of me. He did clean everything up when I told them to leave so I suppose that's all right if they don't do anything bad in here again."

"Who got beaten, Myrtle?

"My lips are sealed," she replied, using her fingers to make a twisting motion in front of her mouth. Myrtle did not like Severus putting drains in the floor, but he had done more than the minimal amount of work, and he did ask her what colors she wanted. He was too good for that girl. Myrtle was not going to forget the first time she found them in here, with him kneeling in front of her, trying to do everything to please her.

"Is he a prefect?"

"Uh huh, I'm not telling. Pringle has nothing on the new guy if that's an example of his work is all I got to say to you, headmaster."

"Do you know anything of real interest?" Minerva asked, not caring for this ghost's tone.

"Me? Girls are crying about the terrible bullying by boys that are opening their blouses and flipping up their skirts. I don't think Headmaster Dippet would have allowed that, but that was years ago and I suppose I'm just old-fashioned about that sort of thing. Have you seen how short some of the skirts are these days?"

"Those ladies are violating the dress code. The length is supposed to be to the knee, just as it's been since you were a student," Minerva informed Myrtle.

Albus had been thinking. It wasn't the prefect, but who she'd invite in with her. Myrtle did accuse her of being naughty, not him. Severus might have gotten on her good side with the fine job he did in here. Argus Filch and Myrtle. Inconceivable, he thought with a slight grin.

"I think that has dwindled some," Albus mentioned. "It's getting rather cold this winter. The merpeople's predictions say it's going to get worse, before it gets better."

"That's only for those that can still feel it," Myrtle said smugly while rolling her skirt into her waistband, imitating the fashionable girls who wore their skirts so they barely concealed their knickers.

After breakfast, they had to wait in the library for Prof. Flitwick. Lily looked for something exciting to read to take her mind off wanting to jump Sev, when she saw him beckoning to her from a set of far shelves. She wasted no time sneaking over, in case he wanted to take care of the annoying itch she had between her legs.

He barely looked at her, as he asked, "Were these books here before? This one here might be good because I don't know if you'd want to cast ..."

"Can you put your hand in my knickers, Sev?" she hissed.

"Are you mad?"

"It doesn't hurt to ask, does it?"

"Lily, you scream. You can't scream in the library."

"What if I be quiet?"

"Would you have any fun then?"

"I guess not." She looked at the titles in front of her. "Where'd these come from?" she asked.

Sighing, he explained, "That's why I called you over here. I don't remember these. This book might be interesting. I was thinking that over the holidays while we're away from school, that the one charm Madam Pomfrey showed us might not be the best or the most convenient. However, whatever you feels right, is fine with me."

Lily took the slim book from him. It did contain different contraception charms, but there were other ones in here for witches. She flipped through it looking for something to cool her down, or at least get her sex drive down to a low idle. "Wait, I don't need to have a period?"

"What?"

"Um, don't worry about it, Sev. It's uh, well, I guess if I can't get enough of you, this would be handy so we don't make even more of a mess."

"There's a potion for that. I guess this spell would work just as well."

"What potion?"

"It's simple to make, I don't know the recipe since I don't need it, but it's available to … I thought all the girls at the school. Greengrass might know."

"Don't go asking her, Sev."

He shrugged, and mentioned, "Why don't you take that book out than, if it has other stuff in it? I saw there was spells that worked for a month. I think Pomfrey's needs to be cast every time, and with all the times you want it repeated, it may be more convenient."

"What's in the rest of these?" Lily asked, pulling out How to Please Your Wizard. She flipped through the housekeeping section until she came to what could have been something hot, but it wasn't. Some idiot wrote this and it was full of 'your man is king of the castle' crap. She might give Sev a foot massage, but it certainly was not written in stone as a daily right from his devoted wife after his hard day of toil. Maybe Lily would like her feet massaged since Sev did such a wonderful job washing and kissing them. Her toes curled just at the memory of how delightful that was.

She shoved that book back, and whispered, "Did you find any sex books?"

"Why would you need that?"

"I want to learn more of what I can do to you, Sev."

"I'm all right, Lily. Maybe once you aren't so … overstimulated."

"Over … overstimulated? Mmmm, I suppose you are right. I don't know what I'm going to do when classes start back up. Maybe you can put your hand in my knickers between class?"

"Lily, I … maybe that's not the solution. There's so many ways we could get caught."

"Maybe I can get by on two shags a day? One at breakfast, and one after classes?"

"I guess I need to ask again – are you mad?"

"Maybe. Aren't you flattered a bit, Sev?"

"I don't know."

She pouted at him, before grabbing his hand and kissing it. Giving each of his knuckles a peck, and cooed, "I'll wait, but I hope you don't keep me waiting long, Sev."

"Aren't we dissecting your tower today?" he asked. Severus could no longer tell what Lily wanted, except sex. Even in the library, she was now obsessed with it. Although it was new to both of them, he could accept that they couldn't do it all the time, especially once classes resumed.

"Yes, we are."

"All right. Let's see if Flitwick's here yet, rather than having him find us over here."

"Why? Nothing here is particularly exciting," Lily bemoaned.

"Perhaps the books you would like are in the restricted section."

"Oooh, I bet you are right," Lily said with a gleam in her eye. What could she research that would get her a pass?

"They are also for sale, Lily, if you are that keen on them."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Have you seen any?"

"Most fellows prefer the kind with pictures, so I didn't need to get a good look at one."

Lily giggled at her friend's disdain. "Do they have ones of men?"

"I guess there would be. I haven't seen any of those lying around in Slytherin, but with the prejudice and all pure bloods must make little pure bloods, that might be a secret that I haven't worked on uncovering. Besides, why would I want you looking at that sort of thing when you think mine is so … broom-like?"

"It'll keep me from getting overly curious and bursting into the gents'."

"I will not assist you with any scheme to do that."

"Well, I could always claim some sort of prefect privilege."

"I don't think so, or male prefects would be in the ladies'."

"Stop being so sensible," Lily replied as they joined Pandora and Prof. Flitwick.

"Miss Evans," Filius chided, "you should value someone sensible. Especially if you are as adventuresome as you are. I think more Gryffindors could benefit from your fine example. If Dirk was not tied up with a project with Prof. Slughorn, I'd offer his assistance."

Lily made a face at the thought of Dirk Cresswell tagging along. Severus had already distracted Prof. Flitwick with a question about Ravenclaw so he did not see Lily's obvious opinion of his promising student.

Severus was annoyed because Flitwick suggested Cresswell could do something he could not, quickly deciding to stay friendly rather than sulking, he asked about Ravenclaw's diadem and what Prof. Flitwick knew of his own tower.

Pandora thought Snape kissed up to Flitwick a little much. Obviously, he was helping them so allowances had to be made. However, a Ravenclaw being of more use than a Slytherin? It was aggravating that their own head of house considered those with connections above those with real talent. There were too many Greengrasses for her name alone to mean something. Slughorn had already grilled her on her parents and close relatives. Since it was only the second day of school, Pandora didn't realize she was supposed to lie about that. Besides, if her parents weren't good enough for Slughorn, maybe he wasn't good enough for her. She wasn't cut out to work at the Ministry, or be some quidditch star anyway. Everything about the future was in turmoil due to He Who Must Not Be Named. Pandora was pureblood so she and her family would be fine, either way.

James was left reeling after Prof. Dumbledore and Prof. McGonagall visited his home.

He honestly had not considered that Peter would be in trouble in his animagus form. If James had let anyone know that he could take the form of a rat when Peter went missing, there was a chance he could have been found before it was too late. A staff member had been told by a student about a cat catching a rat that same night.

That's when things turned very ugly. This was the second time that someone was in mortal danger, James had information, and neglected to say anything.

The school had also suspected Peter, and probably James, were responsible for after hours vandalism and endangering students. Students were almost gravely injured by a falling masonry close to where the rat was last seen. That occurred in December while on probation and after their suspension.

Lastly, and most hurtful, was when his parents, especially his mother, told some ridiculous tale about James being obsessed with another boy at the school, once Prof. McGonagall let them know that James had been following Snape since he returned from suspension. He had been following Evans with Snape, which then opened up the can of worms that this girl had been targeted multiple times by James and his friends with jinxes designed to expose a girl's bosom or knickers.

No one would listen to him. It was so unfair. James had never cast anything on Evans, and she was in danger from dark arts-loving Snape. It should be Snape getting chucked out of school.

Locked wandless in his bedroom, James stewed over his parents disappointment in him. What really got him steamed was how disappointed he was in them. They should have listened to him and defended their son.

He threw the mirror down and it cracked. Damn Sirius. James had been trying to contact him ever since Peter went missing.

Lily was frustrated by their lack of finding something meaningful within Gryffindor tower. They had found a room, but it was no credit to her house. At some point in the past, quidditch players had rigged something that Pandora identified as a pair of very powerful omnioculars, trained out a window pointed at the pitch to record team practices.

Severus found recordings stored as recently as twelve years earlier, if the Gryffindors kept labeling them. There were a lot of of unmarked ones lying about.

When Prof. McGonagall looked at the room later that evening, she calmly called a house elf to clean it out. Her sense of fairness was injured, but she doubted the team had used this for the past decade. There had been some altercations over who the next quidditch captain should be a number of times so at some point the secret of this room had been lost.

Sirius and Apolline had been so busy over the holidays, that Sirius did not get around to opening his greetings from England until after the first.

A glimmer of the old Sirius resurfaced when he read a letter from Prongs. Wormtail was dead? The clipping from the paper was so pathetic. So much like Peter himself. Short and unremarkable, but still a Marauder.

Wormtail had disappeared after curfew one night and no one could find him. He hadn't told James he was going anywhere and had packed nothing. Obviously, it was foul play. Hogwarts was pretty hard to break into, if one was not currently a student or staff member, so James's thought that it was someone inside was the best argument. Only one person in the castle would be stupid enough to mess with a Marauder – Snape.

What to do about it though? Sirius was banned from ever setting foot in England, or Scotland or anywhere the British Ministry of Magic held domain so he couldn't do anything directly. His brother and parents would not care about Peter. No one other than James, Remus and the Pettigrews would.

Breaking Remus out of Azkaban would take too much time, and might be impossible. Besides, it was cold up there this time of year, and Apolline and Sirius were headed to southern Italy tomorrow.

He needed someone crazy who needed little or no excuse for committing acts of violence. Sirius knew of no one crazy enough to go pounding on the door of Hogwarts and demanding Snape's head … but he did have a cousin who rightly belonged locked up in St. Mungo's. Bella was an animal. Her husband and brother-in-law were also.

The only thing they cared about was their moldy master. What did he care about, other than absolute power? Purebloods, mudbloods, muggles … Sirius knew a very horrible muggle, but to admit that he was … it's not like he would ever see Bella again, if he could help it. She'd believe her ickle little baby cousin was not as strong as her too.

He inked his quill and set to work putting things in motion to avenge Peter's death.

Dear Bella,

I have had months to consider my greatest regret in not being able to return to England. Over the summer, my friends and I were having a bit of sport when some hostile muggles attacked us. I had considered that I would return to the pub where this crime against wizards occurred next summer to teach them a valuable lesson once I could apparate, but now I find that impossible and it has been weighing heavily on my mind that these muggles go unpunished …

Sirius signed his name with a flourish, read over his letter with a smirk, and then folded and addressed it. He was about to start some other correspondence when a siren call came from the bath in french, "Oh Sirius darling, I need your assistance in here. There's a spot I just can't reach."

With his tongue hanging from his mouth, Sirius rushed to aid his lady.

Lily's mother wrote that Petunia got engaged on Christmas. She did not recognize the name of the fellow, Vernon Dursley, but Lily did not know Tunie's new friends.

Her first thought was her older sister might be rushing things since her mother said they only knew each other for a few months, but Lily did remember that getting married and being a homemaker were pretty much Petunia's life goals. How did she know this Vernon was the right one? She'd be moving to southern England, after they married, because he lived and worked there. How did they even meet?

A spring wedding would be too much of a rush, so they were trying to reserve the church for summer, and Lily's mother wanted to know if Lily could come home for a week, if school was not out yet. With apparating, it should not be a problem, but Lily made a point of checking with Prof. McGonagall so she could let her mother know as soon as possible.

Severus handed her a small sack before she had a chance to say anything. She heard the sound of glass clinking, as he said, "Morning. Slytherin has these in a big wooden cabinet in the girls' bath. I took enough for the rest of the year, and then each of one of the others since I didn't know what else you'd want."

"You went in the girls' bath?"

"I knew Greengrass wasn't in there," he said with a disgusted look at her. "I looked up anything with an odd name, and it's on a slip of parchment with them."

"I'll look around the Gryffindor one more closely. It might be there all this time, and I might have thought it was for spare towels."

"All right. I won't be able to go back in there, once school's in session. If you want more, you'll have to let me know soon."

"Oh, Petunia got engaged."

Severus nodded and replied, "That's nice."

"You think so?"

He shrugged, "Doesn't she want to be married? You two played house a lot, and … it was Tunie that wanted to play that, wasn't it?"

Lily laughed. "I remember the time I tried to let you play and handed you a doll. Tunie ripped it out of your hands."

"Yes, because I wasn't holding it right," Severus replied with a smirk.

"You weren't."

"It was a doll."

"House was a serious game to Tunie. Though by the time you came along, I guess we were getting tired of it."

"I watched you two play it before at the playground. I didn't know you were a witch then. I thought you were both a little odd strapping one into the baby swing."

"As I said, we took it very seriously."

"Did you ever make one of those fly for Tunie?"

"No, or at least I don't think so. We treated our dolls well."

"They had their hair, all their limbs and eyes."

"So?"

"I've seen a little girls playing with dirty, plastic torsos so your dolls were very impressive, especially in those nice doll clothes." The Evans' girls were interesting for their good clothes and their nice toys. Severus was not too interested in their things, but would wonder about how they lived differently.

"We were allowed to wash and help press them. Tunie got a little carried away with starching some of their things. It got all crackly under the iron, but I liked the way that smelled."

Severus mused, "Starch? That's real stuff not just describing something stiff?"

"Yeah, it's how muggles stiffen clothing that's supposed to be crisp, or sometimes they'll use it on fancy tableclothes and napkins. It depends. Not as many people use it anymore. I don't know why. It comes in a spray now so it's so easy to use."

"Wouldn't it be more work?"

"It's part of ironing your clothes anyway. Just spray it on, and press it."

"It may sound simple to you, Lily, but not to me. Your mother makes it look easy." Ironed clothes? He saw Lily's mother do the task so it was not hard, just very repetitive. She ironed a lot of things for her family. Her whole life revolved around taking care of them.

Lily nodded, while thinking about asking about Sev's mother, but then thought better of it. She wasn't sure what his mother did, and it was possible she did absolutely nothing at all. Lily had never seen Severus wear anything that could be ironed, other than his school uniform.

"So, any details about Petunia, or she's simply engaged?"

"I don't know him. He's not even from around us. Mum's hoping they'll marry this year."

"Any reason for her to hope that?"

"What do you mean?"

He sighed and replied, "Anything. Perhaps your parents don't want to let such a fine fellow get away?" Lily wouldn't think it funny for him to ask if her sister was pregnant.

"It probably because Petunia is going to drive them crazy with planning everything. Why let it get out of hand with it taking years to arrange?"

"Years?"

"Sure. Some people are engaged for years before getting married."

"Why?"

"To arrange things."

"What is there that takes that long to arrange? It sounds like they are putting it off. Perhaps hedging their bets for someone better to come along."

"No, they're not. It takes time to plan a big, proper wedding, and to plan where to live, and to set things up."

"I don't understand. It sounds like they are putting off something that should be important to them."

"I know what you're trying to say, Sev, but it's not that way for everyone."

"What way is it for you, Lily?"

"Um, I don't know. I have a few wizarding friends, and then my parents and Petunia are muggles, and I guess her fiancé too so uh … I don't have many people to invite. Oh, your parents? Sorry."

He snorted, "Sorry they're my parents?"

"No, silly. I was nattering on about me, and wasn't thinking about you."

"That's all right. I asked you what you wanted. That means I expected you to talk about you, Lily."

"Oh … um, what do you think they'll think? Your parents, I mean."

"About us? My mother already knows you."

"That wasn't much of an introduction, Sev."

"No, not this past summer. I told her about you before. When I first met you."

"You did?"

"Yes, because she said I would meet you. She said how it would be when I went to Hogwarts and made a lot of friends, but I found you before that."

"All right," Lily agreed, not sure if Sev was making fun of her or his mother. Sev had a lot of friends at Hogwarts? It was probably something his mum told him to get him excited about coming here. Lily remembered when Sev used to talk about Hogwarts all the time, and what great times they'd have here. Magic was great. Severus was great. But Lily found a lot at the school to be lacking greatness. "Um, with Petunia being the focus of my parents' attention, maybe I'll wait to tell them about us? I don't want Petunia throwing a fit."

"Us?" repeated Severus, not sure if Lily was saying something definite about them.

"Well, you know … they already know we're friends, but not that we're um, seeing each other."

"Oh." Yeah, that's exactly what he should have thought Lily meant. Nothing.

Potter was expelled. Well, wasn't that a kick in the pants? Regulus pondered this new development. He had been tickled pink when his brother was chucked out of both school and the country. Lupin and Pettigrew's removal were notable only because they were his brother's cronies, but they weren't anything special, except to shut Pettigrew's guffawing mouth once and for all. But Sirius's best friend, who would assist his older brother in tormenting him? Good that he was gone, but now Regulus had no Marauders to be in the vicinity when he cast a jinx.

Thankfully, his pal Barty, was an absolute genius. Of course the Marauders would have taught their only good spells to younger Gryffindor lads. Not too young, but the fifth years were definitely candidates.

Their remaining days became routine with breakfast, library for about an hour, and then investigating another section of the castle. They found rooms, cupboards, closets, shortcuts and other passages, but never got lost or made a huge discovery. Towards the end, Lily found it rather dull.

Sev and her now had several shag places, and he had cast a detection spell on all the ones they liked to find out if others used them, once school was back in session.

They also made use of that classroom a few times for fun since Lily was getting so forgetful and forgot to either wear knickers, or kept having a recurring dream about going to class naked and being called to the front of the room by Prof. Snape.

Prof. Evans did not go so well since Severus did not enjoy being undressed, and the normalcy of the situation, other than being naked, rendered him unresponsive.

Lily noted that his pockmarks were deeper and more numerous all over his body. Her green tinge was also lighter. They were both normally pale, but Sev's skin was not the same pale prone to burning and freckles that went with Lily's ginger hair.

He was also making a conscious effort to eat more for Lily, both because she was watching him during every meal and he had been feeling physically tired lately. Sev suspected it was the shagging since that required a level of physical activity he was unaccustomed to.

Lily, on the other hand, felt energized, but was agreeable to more holding, hugging and snogging, rather than expecting him to do it repeatedly for hours.

At Lily's insistence, he ate a bit of cake without icing for his birthday at lunch, since the rest of the students would be returning later in the day. Spice cake was not particularly loathsome, though he'd rather not eat it.

It was not really a party, but Greengrass did wait until it concluded to thank them for their company with hints that they were no longer to act like they knew her.

Severus understood, and explained it to Lily afterwards. Pandora had six more years, and five of them would be without Lily present as her champion when the mood struck her.

Lily wasn't happy about Pandora, nor that she allowed Severus to choose what they did for his birthday. He had his arms around her and they were both fully clothed. They kissed, held hands and he looked in her eyes frequently. When Lily could not take it any more, she suggested that this was a great shagging opportunity that he was letting go to waste.

With a sigh, he replied, "All right."

Lily was not encouraged by it, but suddenly there was a glow in Sev's eyes as he stared into hers as he unbuttoned her clothing. She let him continue without interruption since it was his birthday. It was nice. It was slow. It was satisfying. Making love?

It was different than the shagging that Lily normally enjoyed because Sev positioned her so she could hardly move. She sat, while he stood with her legs hooked over his elbows, and it was all Severus.

The thing that made it so special was he never took his eyes off hers, unless she was throwing her head back to howl, or she was looking down between them to see it sliding in and out of her, glistening, wet, hard and so powerful. It was mesmerizing.

Lily spent the evening with Mary in their room.

Mary was not happy about Severus not naming the raven. Not happy at all, especially when Lily talked about what a burden it was to him. There were no windows in Slytherin to let it out so he built it a nest in the rafters of the clock tower since ravens did not get along with owls. Severus was worried about being seen with it because someone who disliked him might take it out on the poor animal. Although Lily should feel badly about getting Mary upset, she didn't.

They talked over the rumor that Potter was expelled. It was probably started by Potter or one of his adoring fans so he could make a grand entrance. Lily doubted that Potter could get himself expelled, even if he set Dumbledore's robe on fire while declaring he was doing it on purpose.

After breakfast, Lily crossed the Great Hall towards Severus to go to class together. Rather than letting her near the Slytherin table, he rose to meet her at the doors.

When they left, Severus was looking around, rather than paying attention to her. Without warning, he loudly growled, "Greengrass, I want a word with you." The young girls with Pandora momentarily went owl-eyed, before adopting the universal Slytherin look for being unconcerned and bored.

"What?" she snarled at him.

"Without them."

Lily tugged at his sleeve, "What did she do, Sev? She's only a first year."

"Muffliato."

To both of them, he said, "Mulciber's most upset over the staff discovering the Slytherin quidditch strategy room. I'm upset that he'll be in Slytherin more."

"The Slytherin-?" Lily started to ask.

"I think it faced the pitch, Lily."

"Oh!"

"Darned McGonagall," he said with a smirk.

"Oh yes, that darned McGonagall," Pandora agreed.

Getting in her morning shag with Sev did nothing to calm Lily's nerves over apparition class. Their first lesson in the Great Hall. Were they going to take them somewhere where they could apparate, or was today only a lecture on what they needed to do?

The rest of the sixth years congregated. It was odd that it was just her and Mary representing Gryffindor. If there was something to be brave about, they could probably take on all the other houses.

Mary had tried to reassure her that everybody eventually learned to apparate, but a lot of wizards and witches didn't like it. Flooing was nicer, since it was considered bad manners to apparate directly into another person's house or even a store.

Severus joined the two of them. Mary had cooled a little on Sev, but had not given up on him yet.

Lily had told her that they kissed without mistletoe, but Mary sort of blew that off with an offhand comment that of course he'd try it with someone eventually. Then she had said something like seventeen year old boys who never kissed were losers, and Severus was not a loser.

Lily had considered arguing that she hadn't called Sev anything, loser or otherwise, but it wasn't worth it.

Professors Sprout and Flitwick arrived with an unimpressive, short witch with a drab light beige robe and matching pointed hat. Her hair was almost the same color.

Severus muttered, "I doubt her and Dumbledore shop at the same establishments."

"Oh come on, Sev. She's got to dress for … work. The Ministry might be different with its dress code."

"Yeah, a lot of grey robes at the Minsitry," Mary agreed.

The professors called for quiet, and the witch spoke in a quiet voice after she amplified it with her wand. "Good morning," said the Ministry witch. "My name is Winifred Twycross and I shall be your Ministry Apparition instructor for the next twelve weeks. After which, you shall all be qualified and hopefully prepared to take your Apparition Tests."

Lily made a face. Severus's moaning about this being a mandatory course was apparently true. Still, how else were they going to learn to apparate in a school where people could not apparate?

"As all of you know, it is usually impossible to Apparate or Disapparate at Hogwarts. The headmaster has been kind enough to lift this enchantment, within the Great Hall for one hour only. I would like to emphasize you will not be able to Apparate outside the walls of this Hall.

"I would like each of you to place yourselves so that you have a clear five feet of space in front of you."

Lily was startled. Were they going to do something now, or were they going to do some sort of warm-up exercise?

Mary, Lily, and Severus had no problem following the instruction to space themselves, but from the hold-up in the rest of the Hall, it appeared not everyone was as astute because both Professors Sprout and Flitwick had to assist them.

The witch waved her wand and wooden hoops instantly appeared on the floor in front of every student. "The important thing to remember when Apparating are the three D's! Destination, Determination and Deliberation!

"Step one: Fix your mind firmly upon the desired destination. All of you should now be focusing on the interior of your hoop. Please do that now."

The witch paused to allow them to concentrate, but Lily noticed she was not the only one sneaking a look at what other students were doing.

Sev's eyes met hers, but she turned away first. If she didn't do it as soon as him, he'd point out that she was not looking at her hoop when she should have.

"Step two: Focus your determination to occupy the visualized space! Let your yearning to enter it flood from your mind to every part of your body!"

Lily concentrated but yearning to occupy a space was different than yearning to do other things.

"Step three: Wait till I give the command … and only then. Turn on the spot, feeling your way into nothingness, moving with determination! On my command, now … one … two … THREE!"

Lily spun but went nowhere. While spinning, she saw that Mary tipped over. Ha!

Maybe the laugh was on her though because Severus was in his wooden hoop, looking unimpressed with his arms crossed over his chest. Neither Lily nor Severus realized he was the only one to accomplish it because when he muttered, "What a fucking waste of twelve galleons," many overheard it due to Snape becoming the focus of attention.

"Five points from Slytherin, Mr. Snape," Professor Sprout intoned.

"Never mind," said Twycross dryly, continuing the lesson. In fact, she taught this course so many years, she no longer paid attention to the students and did not realize one had apparated without the screams of splinching. "Adjust your hoops, please, and back to your original positions."

Prof. McGonagall emerged from the door that would normally be behind the Head Table, and she looked thunderous. How dare Horace suggest he had better things to do this morning. He had talked himself into supervising the evening detentions, and he had students at the apparition lesson. For him to suggest to Albus that she pick up the slack because Minerva only had two students at the appartition lesson … well, they were both straight on that now, or else she'd go back in there and sort them again.

It had already begun without them. She nodded at Filius and Pomona, and calmed herself with a deep breath.

On the next attempt, only one student got to his hoop. Severus Snape. No one was splinched. Minerva did not like the splinching. The screaming was unbearable.

Pomona approached her, "All right, Minerva?"

"Fine. Horace's … never mind."

"Hmm. I know. Mr. Snape apparated on the first attempt. I had to take a few points due to his language, but if Horace were here maybe he could have made them up."

"I doubt it. Horace does not like Severus."

"He's a good boy, but you're right, he's not the sort of material Horace looks for."

"Hard workers, you mean? Even Argus has said positive things about him."

"Merlin," Pomona said with a titter. "No, I meant um, I don't know, not prettier, but he lacks something …"

"Charisma?"

"Maybe."

Lily watched Severus on the second attempt. He hardly spun, and it didn't look like he was concentrating. She had seen more serious looks on his face while he gazed at her breasts than the way he was looking at that damned hoop.

"What are you doing?" she hissed at him, when they set up for a third try.

"Forgetting that my destination is a hoop five feet away, and believing that's where I want to be."

"That's not very helpful, Sev."

He shrugged at her, and this time apparated close to the Hogwarts' teachers, rather than his hoop. Severus asked, "Do I need to stay for the rest of this?"

"Maybe a few more tries to make sure you have it down," suggested Filius.

"You wouldn't want to splinch at the wrong time later," Pomona recommended. "We're here to sort it out now."

Prof. Slughorn joined them, after protesting his very solid case to Albus, once Minerva was gone. "What are you doing here, Snape? You'll never learn it unless you join the others. Now stop wasting our time."

The laughter from both teachers and students as Snape gave Slughorn the finger, clued Horace in that something was amiss, but when he turned back to see if Snape was on the move back to his position, he found him standing there, arms down. "What are you waiting for?"

"I was doublechecking that I hadn't splinched anything, sir."

"Can't get splinched until you try, Snape."

He drawled, "Right," and walked back to his spot so slowly, he missed the fourth apparition attempt.

On the fifth try, Snape, Wilkes, and a Ravenclaw ended up in their hoops, and a Hufflepuff was screaming because she was splinched. It was a nasty one, with one vertical half of her still at her original spot.

Not moving from her position to assist the splinched student, the Ministry witch dispassionately instructed them, "Splinching, or the separation of random body parts occurs when the mind is insufficiently determined. You must concentrate continuously upon your destination, and move, without haste, but with deliberation … thus."

She stepped forward, turned in a full circle on the spot with her arms completely outstretched, and vanished, reappearing at the other end of the Hall, not realizing that three students had successfully completed the task. "Remember the three D's, and try again … one – two – three -"

Lily was not reassured when Severus mentioned that if it was a hula hoop contest, Lily would have beaten all of them. Well, it was worth a giggle. She knew Sev couldn't hula hoop worth a crap. Even her mum got it to twirl around a couple times.