Ch 10 three letters, a guy and a girl

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After sending the letter, Lily wondered when she might get a response from Perseus, desperately hoping that she might receive a quick one. He clearly needed someone to talk to, whether or not he was talking to that friend of his. No one should be left alone to deal with something like that, under any circumstances.

As it turned out though, she didn't get a reply to her letter for another week and a half, but it wasn't like she lacked things to do in the meantime. It seemed like she had to deal with James Potter's stupid smiling face everywhere she looked-though he refused to think about why her heart seemed to skip a beat whenever she saw him-and then there was Severus.

She glanced at the sallow-skinned boy, her lips quirking into a smile as she saw his brows knit themselves together. A small giggle escaped her lips as she returned her attention to the parchment she had lying in her lap. Perseus had finally responded, but Lily didn't want to read it while Severus was in the room, as it was a message best kept private and Severus was practically a born spy.

Severus had brightened up considerably as of late, although 'bright' was still an adjective that she would probably never apply to the dour young man. He had particularly enjoyed himself when the two of them had gone to Hogsmeade, even going so far as to follow Lily into Zonko's and smirk once or twice at a particularly amusing joke product. (While Lily would never consider actually using such products, she couldn't deny that they could be rather enjoyable to look at sometimes).

Of course, that didn't mean that everything had been fun and games; to her surprise, Lily had found herself dreading Severus' tutoring session today far more than the Slytherin boy himself, probably because she was afraid that Severus might botch up this chance to make a good friend through his little 'job'.

'And hopefully make some friends other than those boys!' Lily scowled as she thought about the two of them. They were horrible, laughing and chuckling as they went around Hogwarts beating people up because it was fun. At least Potter had stopped going after everybody but Severus, and she had hopes that he might be cured of that filthy habit as well. Mulciber and Avery on the other hand... 'I hate to use the phrase 'trading up', but that's really what he should do-get some friends that aren't teenage monsters!'

Lily had been less than thrilled when Severus had talked to her after Selene Malfoy's party. Apparently, it had been basically a Death Eater rally with plenty of booze and girls who were interested in 'hanging out' with those 'in the know' about 'you-know-who'. 'And by 'hanging out', they didn't mean talking...'

From what Severus had told her, he had spent the night drinking alcohol alone since none of the girls were interested in him. Luckily for him, he had had the foresight to prepare a hangover potion before the party, so he had been just fine the morning after, albeit rather despondent from the night's events. ("It's not like I particularly wanted them to try anything, but it would have been nice for someone to show some interest, you know?").

Although Lily had been less than thrilled about the alcohol, especially after her own foolish escapades, it wasn't like she was his mother or anything. 'Besides, it would probably do him a world of good to loosen up a tad.' Lily giggled as a thought came to her. 'And I can hardly imagine how much fun it would have been to see Mr. Stoic downright piss-drunk!'

"Might I ask what's so fun, Lily?" asked Severus with a note of curiosity, never taking his eyes off of the parchment on which he was writing. "If it's Black's escapades again, please count me out. I would have obliviated myself if I could have, upon hearing of his buggery." Both of the teens shuddered at that thought. "Otherwise though, I wouldn't mind hearing it."

"Well..." Lily's grin widened, having gotten a great idea. Her voice quite melodramatic, she stood up and began to speak in a voice which could only be termed 'woe-is-me', "Oh, my dear Severus, it appears that a great wrong hath been done upon my fair form and joker's heart. Oh sadness, oh woe!"

Blinking in confusion, Severus dropped his quill upon the parchment. "Err...come again?"

Bringing her hand to her mouth, her eyes widening with horror, Lily took one step back. "You do not even recall the terrific and terrible boon that thou hast denied unto me? You monster! You cad! Thou hast wounded my heart, stabbing it as if with a knife!" As she spoke the word 'knife', Lily mimed the action of stabbing her, collapsing onto her knees as she screamed to the heavens, "Why dost thou torture me so!"

Severus' mouth worked for several seconds, seemingly unable to contend with Lily's sheer strangeness. Finally, he spoke in a questioning tone of voice, "I...err, would never allow you to be tortured, in any way...Lily?"

"Then why hast thou denied unto me the privilege of seeing thine blessed form in its truest and most honest state!" Lily waved her hands in the air, forcing a pleading look upon her face as she spoke, crawling to her dearest friend as she begged him for mercy.

Meanwhile, Severus just looked overwhelmed.

Reaching a crescendo, Lily grabbed his robes and veritably shook the boy as she spoke in a voice of false betrayal, "Severus, why did you refuse to let your dearest friend see you in the beautifully-odious, the awesomely-disgusting, the perfectly-maddening state of you drunk as a lord? Why!"

For several seconds, there was silence as Lily fought to keep a straight face, but then she exploded into peals of laughter. Severus followed suit albeit with snorting chuckles and coughs rather than laughs and giggles as he put everything together. Her knees buckling, Lily held onto Severus, dragging the boy to the ground on top of her even as her peals of laughter transformed into gales. Laughing so hard she started to cry, Lily grinned up at the pale teenager's dark eyes.

Finally Severus, bearing a genuine (albeit hesitant) smile for the first time in living memory, responded, "Well, Lily, had I known that the lack of such a thing would lead you to bodily assault me, do be sure that I would have conferred upon you said priviledge."

"Oh come on," teased Lily playfully, wriggling shamelessly as she poked his chest. "don't tell me that you aren't enjoying your opportunity to be this close to such a beautiful girl as myself? I must say that I am quite offended!"

Apparently realizing his position, Severus all but leapt off of her, stuttering apologies much to Lily's amusement. His eyes widened with horror, Severus made quite the comical sight.

Taking the opportunity to stretch her limbs as she got up, Lily grinned at her friend once again. "So, Severus, now that that's over...might I ask what you're working on?"

Severus' eyes flickered slightly, then he shrugged. "Well, if you must know, it's just a bit of Potions homework, Lily..." He then frowned. "...and for the record, I was not as drunk as a lord as you claimed. I was merely tipsy."

"From what Jorkins claims, you were more than a little tipsy," replied Lily with a flick on his nose, smiling at the boy to show that she was just kidding around with him. However, a sudden thought struck her. "Say, Severus? Why are you working on Potions homework today? Shouldn't you have finished that before your tutoring session, considering it's about Potions?"

"Well...you see..."

Whatever Severus was about to say though was interrupted by a knock at the classroom door. Quickly walking over to open it, Lily was surprised to see... "Evelyn? What're you doing here?"

"I'm here for my tutoring session...Lily," came the quick reply from Evelyn Matthews, her lips quirking mischievously. "You know, to learn and all that. It's quite the pre-modern theoretical concept, or so I heard." Her eyebrows then raised. "Although I don't recall you being my Potions tutor...unless you really are Severus T. Snape in disguise?"

"Of course not!" shouted Lily in an indignant tone of voice, seeing her plan of getting Severus to make some new friends going up in flames around her.

"Then would you mind leaving? I'd rather keep this..." The stringy-haired blonde winked at Severus, licking her lips as she spoke. "...private."

Severus, until now silent, said in a frosty tone, "Do keep in mind that I am in charge of this tutoring session, not you. If I want Lily to stay, then she can stay." Crossing his arms, he then gave a nod in Lily's direction. "Besides, she knows just as much as I do, and has twice the patience I'd say."

"Don't worry, Sev." Lily replied, trying her best to keep in mind that really anybody would be an improvement over Severus' current friends. "I'll leave the two of you alone together." As Severus' face flushed rather pink, she continued with a roll of the eyes. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do, Severus."

Walking out the door, Lily paused and whispered in Evelyn's ear, "And that goes doubly for you, Matthews. Don't go messing with my friend!"

"Wasn't going to," replied Evelyn with a frown. "But who made you his mom, anyway?"

"Just don't do anything stupid." And with a dark glower, Lily swept out of the room.

Medusa,

Thank you for your nice thoughts, I suppose. You shouldn't worry so much about me though; I'm doing fine, with the march of time and such. Also, I did something to help pass the time and that helped. Really, if I told my friend now it would just be cruel. I'm over it and they would be horrified to discover about my mother's death and how she died.

What would be the point? That is what I ask you. What would be the point of tormenting my friend with this knowledge nearly two months after the fact?

Speaking of time passing, how was Valentine's Day for you? It just passed yesterday, didn't it? Did you do anything special?

On a far more important note though, have you been researching more about the Dark Arts? You didn't mention them in the slightest in your last letter, so I'm wondering if you've completely forgotten about it.

Trust me when I say that this is as or more important than anything that happened with my mum; per what my dorm-mates are saying, there could be a war coming on. While I don't think that things will get half as bad as they seem to think (Then again, they seem to think that the 'Muggleborn horde' will steal the very lifeblood of the pureblood families, driving them all into the poorhouse, etc.), I do strongly advise that you be PREPARED.

For the sake of your irksome self, I hope that you listen to me about this.

Sincerely,

Perseus

Lily frowned as she read through the letter for a third time, having had plenty of time thanks to the length of Severus' tutoring session. While Perseus had some good points...there was something in the letter that just bothered Lily, once again. It was as if there were something she was missing from what he said, and she couldn't figure out what it was.

Still, there were plenty of other things to work out before she could really consider what she was missing.

'Only two months to completely get over a suicide of one's mother?' Lily shuddered at the thought. 'Without the help of friends at all? He's either inhuman or lying to himself. I mean, if it happened to me, I'd be a wreck for months, maybe even years. How can he claim to be 'pretty much over it' after not even two months!'

Really, it was quite unimaginable for Lily, and because of this she wrote:

Dear Perseus,

I'm going to be perfectly honest: I find it IMPOSSIBLE to believe that you could be over your mother's death so quickly, after not even two months. I'd put good money on you lying to yourself if I were a betting woman; people don't get over things like that so quickly. Seriously, talk to someone about it, ANYONE.

Really, you may think that you're over it, but trust me when I say that talking about it is the best thing you can possibly do. Again, TELL YOUR FRIEND! If they're really your friend, they won't be bothered by this-they'll be thrilled for the chance to help YOU.

Lily then paused, thoughts of the past week running through her mind. She had barely given a thought to the fact that Valentine's Day had been earlier that week, as she had been too busy being worried about Perseus. As a matter of fact, it had been the very day that she and Severus had gone to Hogsmeade, now that she thought of it.

In regards to Valentine's Day, I honestly forgot about it completely. I did have a good time of it though-I went and hung out with a friend, generally enjoying ourselves together. He was the guy I was having that disagreement with a few months back, you know?

As for the Dark Arts, I'll take a look at some of the books, but I'm not making any promises. I personally agree with your friends about things getting bad...although I suspect that it might be your friends who will be the cause of it, what with You-Know-Who and all.

I don't know if you've paid much attention, but I heard that he's trying to shove some bill through the Ministry that'll make it pretty hard for anyone like me (a Muggleborn) to get a job. The purebloods of course think he's the best thing to come around in ages, given that he probably wants to kick all Muggleborns out of England, but I heard he's building up this army of Death Eaters and Dark creatures... I don't know if it will end without war...

Regardless of how I prepare myself though, I promise that I won't be stupid, alright?

By the way, in regards to your previous letter, how are you doing on those Potions you said that you would have ready for me? You never mentioned them in the one you just sent me.

Regardless,

Your friend,

Medusa

Smiling a small smile as she finished up the letter, Lily was about to walk up to the owlery and send off her letter when the door beside her opened, allowing her to hear Evelyn Matthews' voice as she left the Potion's Classroom. Standing up, Lily listened intently, trying to gauge how well the tutoring session had gone by what they were saying.

"...you very much, Severus. Today was quite helpful indeed; I didn't know half of this stuff before you told me. I was doing alright on the theory of course, but the practice...not so much."

Severus' voice, while not particularly warm, was at least polite as he replied, "You are welcome, Miss Matthews. When would you like to meet for our next session?"

"Hmm..." Evelyn pursed her lips, seeming deep in thought until her eyes suddenly fell upon Lily. "Huh, it seems that we have an audience, Severus. You didn't tell me that your friends made a habit of eavesdropping."

"What?" Severus' face appeared from behind the door, reddening in what Lily strongly suspected was embarrassment. "Lily?"

"I wasn't eavesdropping, Evelyn," retorted Lily hotly, crossing her arms across her chest as she tossed a quick jibe at the girl, "Besides, it's not like I'm interested in the sort of stuff you do, especially since Sev wouldn't be interested anyway." At that, Evelyn's eyes narrowed dangerously, but Lily ignored her, turning her attention to Severus. "I just wanted to see how Severus' first session went, after the fact."

Severus glanced at Evelyn, but shrugged as he muttered, "That's private, I think."

"Not if your name is Lily Evans, apparently," snipped Evelyn with a scowl.

Lily's eyes narrowed into slits, but then she smiled as a thought came to her. "Hey, Severus, I need to talk to you about your plans for Easter. D'you mind?" She sneered at Evelyn. "That's private too, by the way. So would you mind giving us some time alone, Evelyn?"

Evelyn glared at her, but started off down the corridor without another word.

Smirking triumphantly, Lily continued in a much lighter tone of voice as the two of them walked up the corridor, "Anyway...I was wondering if you would mind going on a vacation with my family and I for Easter. My mum said I can bring anyone, and I was hoping that you'd say 'yes'. I dunno where we're going, but it should be a load of fun!"

Severus seemed less than thrilled though, saying in a very lukewarm tone, "Hmm...alright, I guess. Let her know soon, just to make sure it's alright with her if I come."

"Don't worry, I'll send a letter out later tonight," replied Lily with a wave of her hand. "And don't be so glum, Sev! It's not like my whole family hates you, just Petunia, and she'll come around sooner or later."

"I hope you're right, Lily..." Severus' voice was barely a mumble. "I really do..."

Another two weeks went by without major event, although from what she heard from Mary, Severus and James had had yet another confrontation and Sirius Black was continuing in his attempts to woo Mary to little effect. Apparently, he had tried to show her how much he cared by singing a song he had personally written for her, as well as sending her a box of her favorite flavor of dark chocolate when he had discovered that she liked the Muggle brand Godiva.

None of it had worked, with Mary simply ignoring the singing and returning the chocolate. Lily hoped for Sirius' sake that he would eventually take a hint-so far, the closest thing to affection that Mary had shown to him was sheer loathing, and that was only if one believed that only a thin line seperated love and hate.

Meanwhile, Severus' tutoring sessions with Evelyn had been going well, from what little Lily could glean from the stoic Slytherin. Luckily, at least as far as Lily was concerned, Evelyn seemed to be keeping her claws off Severus. From her perspective, Severus would be much better off if he kept Evelyn at arm's reach rather err...genital's distance.

It wasn't so much that Lily disliked the girl (although she certainly wouldn't deny as such if asked) as it was the fact that Evelyn had quite the reputation for getting together with a guy, sleeping with him by the third or fourth date, and then breaking up with him by the tenth one. She had more notches in her bedposts than Lily cared to think about, and although Severus certainly wasn't the most attractive of guys, Lily doubted Evelyn would mind adding another notch for Severus T. Snape. 'And with how naive and idealistic Severus is about romance and stuff...she could really hurt the guy.'

Still, in spite of all that, for the moment Lily was doing something that she did all too rarely: relaxing while watching the Gryffindor Quidditch team practice. Perhaps it was because of how different Quidditch was from similar Muggle sports, but Lily enjoyed watching the game like few others-although she hated the fact that someone like James Potter had been chosen to be Quidditch captain.

Somehow though, he had managed to lead Gryffindor to the Quidditch Cup for two out of the last three years, only failing to achieve this on his fifth year. Lily privately admitted that it was unlikely that that failure would repeat itself though, especially with how the team was doing today. With how quick and sure the movements of the players were, Lily doubted that anything would stop them from winning the Cup again.

However, even though it was a nice, quiet day, Lily's thoughts were rather distracted by the newest letter Perseus had sent. Even though she wasn't looking at it now, she could recall it almost word for word even as she watched the Gryffindors playing in their scarlet Quidditch uniforms...

Medusa,

I have talked to someone about it, you (and I'm regretting it already, you can be absolutely certain of that). Even if I hadn't spoken to anyone though, I still would have been fine. And as for my friend and I...we have a relationship that is close, but one where it is not necessary to tell each other everything to assist one another.

Even if they don't know, that doesn't mean that they haven't been of a great help to me, merely by being there and cheering me up through...I suppose one could call it 'diffusion'. If I should need to talk about it though, I hope that you would be able to listen.

How are you and your 'friend' doing, by the way? You haven't told me anything about him, and I'm truly glad to see that the two of you have worked things out, in spite of your probable mistake of keeping him as your friend.

As for the war though, that is something that should be thought about with great care. After all, even if one of the sides is not an option for you, why would you wish to risk your life for something so silly as politics? Politics are not worth dying for, nor are mere differences of opinion. After all, I may truly LOATHE 'Porthos' and 'Aramis', but I am certainly not prepared to get in a battle to the death against them, although I cannot say the same about them.

Regardless of whether you agree with me on this or not, do try to keep yourself safe, annoying chit.

In regards to the Potions though, although I have not 'spoken' to you about them, I have been hard at work improving a particular recipe during my spare time. It is a recipe for Dreamless Sleep, and you may feel free to test it out and show it to your friends...if you think that you are capable of making it (once again, the recipe is on the back of the parchment).

Don't strain yourself though.

Sincerely,

Perseus

Lily had a difficult time believing what Perseus was saying, that he could have recovered that quickly...but he did seem very sure of himself, far past the point of arrogance. Could he have already recovered? Could she merely be annoying him by continuing to harp on what he said? 'After all, it seems that he's been getting more help than I thought, even if his friend doesn't know they're helping...'

Still...

"Err...Lily? Could I have a word?"

Lily jerked, whipping her head around to see Remus Lupin standing beside her on the bleachers, a nervous look upon his face. Blinking several times, she finally shrugged. "Uh, sure, go right ahead."

Remus nodded, swallowing nervously and glancing up in the direction of the Quidditch players high overhead before muttering, "Before I say anything, James didn't ask me to do this for him, alright?" At Lily's confused nod, he took a deep breath, then continued with an embarrassed blush, "I'm sure you've noticed how James has been pursuing you for...well, a couple years now, at least."

"Remus," said Lily sweetly. "A blind, half-dead chipmunk could see that Potter has been pursuing me. Your point is...?"

His voice hesitant, Remus said in a quiet voice, "Well, James has been particularly hopeful ever since the night when you both, you know, kissed. But...you don't seem to be acting any different, except for more embarrassed and such. So I'm wondering...should I be telling him to give up, to try his luck with some other girl?" Remus swallowed again, his voice growing more determined. "He's my friend after all, I don't want him to be wasting his time if there's absolutely no chance that you'll ever want to go out with him. So should I?"

Lily opened her mouth, about to say yes instantly, that of course she would never want to be with him...

...but then she closed it, a coldness settling in her breast at the thought that he would just...stop. If she said yes then perhaps Remus would succeed, and James would give up his pursuit...and Lily wasn't so sure she wanted that.

'In fact,' The image of that annoyingly-handsome face, those maddeningly-sparkling eyes filled her mind while the confused yet happy sensation that she felt whenever she saw him of late echoed through. 'I think I would hate the idea of him never wanting to go out with me again, I would hate it quite a bit actually... In fact, I...'

Nervous, Lily started to whisper, her cheeks pink, "Well, he has matured quite a bit, I'll give him that. I suppose that..."

Then she stopped. The image of Severus, broken and bleeding on the cold stone floor of Hogwarts suddenly forced out that of James' twinkling eyes, the stark, cold truth behind the beautiful illusion of jokes and laughter. Her voice cold, she continued firmly with a hardened heart, "I think that it doesn't matter much, does it, Remus?"

The ragged young man blinked. "Err, what?"

"Remus," continued Lily in the same cold voice. "Do you really think that it matters if he's going to keep fighting with my best friend? Potter might have stopped hexing everyone else in the school, but if he thinks that I'm going to go out on one measly date with him while he keeps it up with my friend, then he's bloody mad!"

Remus opened his mouth to say something, then stopped, seeming to think the better of it. His eyes searching her own in an manner as penetrating as any of Dumbledore's looks, he finally nodded, sitting down beside her as he sighed. "Alright, I'll let him know when he's done with practice."

Several minutes passed, then Remus said in a curious tone, "By the way, how are things going with you and your pen-pal? The two of you getting alone well?"

"Why would you want to know?" Lily asked suspiciously.

Remus frowned for a moment, his eyes not looking at Lily's, seeming nervous as he spoke, "Well, it's supposed to be a secret...but I was the one who gave out the assignments. And...err...I kind of peeked at yours before I gave it to you. Is it going well?"

Lily gave Remus a single, piercing look, then she shrugged. "Well, he's a great guy, but he's just so...I dunno, 'mysterious'."

"Mysterious?" Remus raised his eyes, seeming surprised. "What do you mean?"

"Well..." Lily tried to explain, "He's kind of like Severus in a way: really great at Potions, generally smart and up to his eyeballs in the Dark Arts..."

"I'm not surprised." Remus mumbled, causing Lily to stop and stare at him in confusion. "Err...I peeked at his file, you know. I'm not exactly surprised that he's like Snape..."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Well, he's not that much like Severus. This guy's as arrogant as Potter without even trying, really proud and stoic, you know? Severus wouldn't know self-confidence if it bit him on his uh...nose." At Remus' dubious look, she crossed her arms over her chest. "Oh come off it, I know what I'm talking about. I know that you and your friends don't like him much, but he's really shy underneath all the prickles. You really should get to know him better; I think you'd find that the two of you have a lot in common."

"Maybe in the future," replied the boy in patient manner. "But for now, I've got to get going. James is done with Quidditch practice, and I want to...congratulate him."

At Lily's silent nod, Remus quickly walked off, not looking back as he did so. For a moment, she felt a wave of sadness as she stared up into the slowly-darkening sky.

A single, dark thought struck her as she turned back to the castle, walking back inside. 'If no-one's willing to try to be his friend, does it really matter if Severus isn't as bad as they all think? '

Taking one last look out toward the Quidditch pitch, Lily whispered to herself, "I suppose it makes no difference at all..."