Ch 11 revelations

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"Come on, Mary! Tell me what you think!"

"Sabrina..."

"Please! I need to know which is better: the red for Gryffindor or the blue because it goes with my cerulean hairband?"

"What would be better would be if you would shut up about it! Could the two of you please keep it down!" shouted Lily before covering her head with her pillow. "Some of us are trying to sleep!"

"But Lily, this is important," replied Sabrina in scandalized tones, her voice muffled by Lily's pillow but still understandable. "Slughorn's party is almost two weeks away and I haven't picked out an outfit yet! You know there's going to be a dance. Do you really want me to humiliate myself?"

"Sabrina." Lily turned and leveled a cold glare at the blond girl. "If you don't shut up and go back to sleep, I'll try testing some of the hexes that Severus taught me out on you. Got it?"

There was silence for several seconds, then Mary stage-whispered to her blond companion, "You think that she might teach me some of those hexes? Mulciber's been bothering me a lot of late and it would be nice to have a couple of new tricks up my sleeves the next time he tries to put me in the hospital wing." Scowling darkly, she then muttered, a cold glint in her eyes, "Wish Dumbledore would expel the prat, preferably after giving me a few days alone with him, him wand-less."

Both Lily and Sabrina shivered at the naked cruelty in Mary's voice, but it was hard to gainsay the poor girl. Although Severus might be able to turn a blind eye to Mulciber's viciousness, Lily had to see the results every time that Mary came back from the hospital wing after the latest atrocity. Luckily, this didn't happen more than once every couple of months, but still it worried the redhead greatly.

"Well, Mah-rie-ah," said Sabrina with a bright smile, her slim hands clasped together over her bosom. "Since Lily seems to have woken up...back to work! Help me with my outfit, please!"

Mary blinked twice, turning to her friend with a quizzical look on her face. "Err, Sabrina, I thought that James Potter had already rejected you as his date twice. Who could you possibly be going with?"

Sabrina giggled, a mischievous grin on her face. "Well, you know how Remus has been staring at us a lot lately? Well, he decided to offer to take me to the Slug Club meeting earlier this week. Apparently all those times that we thought he was staring at you, Mary, he was really looking at me!"

"And...?" prompted the brunette.

Sabrina gave a quick twirl as she looked down at her latest set of dress robes, a blue affair. "You see, it's all part of my clever plan. I made it clear to Remus and James that I'm just going out with the boy to be nice to him, but I'm going to show him a great time and make sure that this date goes really well for him. Afterward, he'll tell James what a great date I was and that'll get our favorite Quidditch captain thinking about how it might just be worth it to go out with me once...or twice...or get married!" Turning back to the two gaping girls nearby, she laughed brightly. "See? It's positively brilliant!"

Lily and Mary shared a look, shaking their heads as Mary muttered, "Oh, it's something alright." As Sabrina looked at her best friend in confusion though, Mary snapped her fingers before turning to Lily, nodding decisively. "I just remembered! McGonagall wanted me to tell you that your mother sent another letter."

Lily cast a last, longing look at her bed, but sighed as she reached for her trunk and pulled out a set of robes. "I guess I'll go and see what she wrote..."

"Don't bother," said Mary as she reached into her robes, pulling out a lilac-colored envelope and offering it to Lily. "McGonagall said that I can just give the letters to you from now on; she's trying to see if she can persuade the school governors to chuck Mulciber out on his pimply bum and I offered to take care of it as a favor."

"Why not have one of the prefects handle it?" wondered Sabrina aloud. "I mean, sure the fifth and seventh years have plenty to deal with what with O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s at the end of the year, but surely Remus would be willing to pass you the letters. He seems pretty trustworthy and all..."

"Actually," Mary said with a smirk, "your date's in a bit of trouble with Dumbledore at the moment."

"Remus?" asked Lily, shock written on her face. "Remus Lupin is in trouble with Dumbledore?"

"Yeah, remember how he was put in charge of passing out pen-pal assignments and such? Well, I heard that he sorta...changed a few of them." Mary shivered as she sat back down on her own four-poster bed, her voice dropping down to a near-whisper. "McGonagall was in a right state from what I heard, something about 'If you ever do that again, you'll have to beg to be a janitor at this school!'."

"Yeah... Can I have my letter now?" Although the current topic was interesting, Lily was far more interested in finding out what her mother had to say. If the vacation went as Lily hoped it would, then Severus would surely have a great time. Thanks to his family being rather impoverished, Lily was certain that the poor boy had never gone on a real holiday vacation, and surely this would be a great chance to do so.

"Sure," said Mary vaguely, handing the letter to Lily before returning her attention to Sabrina. "I wonder who's pen-pal assignments Remus changed though; it can't have been any of the Marauders, since I heard that the assignments were inside the school and you know that James and Sirius were both complaining about the work for weeks."

"Yeah," replied Sabrina in a wistful, giggling sort of tone. "I ended up writing all of their letters for them, as a favor to James... Good thing too, as I think James' was a girl. Best to avoid more competition, if you know what I mean..."

However, Lily's mind was quickly distracted by what her mother had written, as she could almost hear her Easter dreams crashing down around her...

Dear Lily,

I'm really sorry, I should have made this more clear in my last letter. I meant to say that you can bring anyone with us for Easter vacation except for Severus Snape. You may have forgiven him for insulting you unprovoked in front of a whole crowd of people, but that doesn't mean that we will.

To be honest, the only reason that we put up with the ornery berk was because he was your best friend and seemed to care about you, but after betraying you so brutally for no reason at all, I refuse to deal with him any more than is necessary. He can come over to our house if you really must associate with him, but that is it.

Petunia is of the same opinion as well, and you know how the two of them get along already. I am not going to ruin our vacation so that you can bring him with us, and I think that you should give serious consideration as to whether or not you want him as a friend. He has lied to you about his...acquaintances, insulted your heritage and is frankly a waste of your time.

I don't mind if you bring one of your other acquaintances, Mary MacDonald perhaps, but Severus Snape is not an option.

Your father sends his love and hopes that you are doing well on your studies. Remember, just because O.W.L.s are over and your N.E.W.T.s are over a year away doesn't mean that you should be wasting your time partying and what-not!

Lots of love,

Marigold Evans

P.S. Bring home a chocolate frog or two when you come for Easter; your father adores them!

"Hmm...were you aware that Chameleon blood works well in Polyjuice Potion, and no-one in the past hundred years considered the possibility that an element relating to a creature that famously changes it's appearance could be useful in a potion designed to do the same? Really, it's completely dunderheaded." Severus muttered from his position standing over their cauldron, his eyes roving over the potion inside as most teenage boys' eyes might over an attractive girl, determined to examine every inch for the slightest flaw or defect.

"It is rather strange, I suppose..." admitted Lily, looking down at the flames, ostensibly to make certain that they weren't too hot for the brewing concoction.

Severus snorted, continuing exuberantly even as he kept his gaze focused upon the potion, "Indeed! You'd think that someone would have thought about it..." He continued speaking, but Lily was unable to pay attention, her thoughts consumed by far more pressing matters than optimizing their potion.

It was the end of Potions class, nearly a week after Lily's mother had sent that letter. She hadn't been able to look Severus in the eyes since that day, the guilt of not telling him about what her mother had said continually threatening to consume her. How couldn't she have told him that her mother had said that she could bring anyone but him with them on the vacation? How could she sit there talking to him while keeping this from him?

Lily felt somewhere below pond-scum with how she was keeping this secret from him, but she couldn't just tell him, not before she did something about it. Severus didn't deserve to be treated so badly, not when he was clearly very sorry about what he had done, not when he had offered so much to pay for it.

Of course, the problem was that Lily still didn't have that many people to talk to who would really be on her side in this issue; Severus was out of the question for the moment as she just couldn't tell him that her mother had told her that he was a waste of time, and most of her other friends would recommend dumping the boy if they thought she was listening.

Luckily though, she had Perseus, and she had quickly sent out a letter to the boy asking for advice on the matter:

Dear Perseus,

That does sound as if it was a great help, I suppose. I'm glad that you had someone to help you through it, even if he/she was unwittingly doing so. By the way, what's he/she like? Just wondering.

Of course I would be willing to listen; I would like to call myself your friend, even if officially we are nothing more than pen-pals. As such, I would want nothing more than to help you through such problems.

As for the friend that you were curious about, although it would be inappropriate of me to tell you his name, I am happy to inform you that he is a bright, rather-ambitious young man and he could kick your butt in Potions if I say so myself. I find myself constantly in awe of his intelligence, and he is great company if he's willing to open up to you.

I don't know if it's necessary to fight You-Know-Who YET, but if he is determined to wage war to succeed in his disgusting ideals like he seems to be, then I'll fight him to my last breath, you can be sure of that! There's politics and then there's right and wrong. There's no way I could stand by if he's half as evil as I think he is!

I think that I'll show the recipe to my Potions Professor sometime, as it certainly seemed to work well the time I made it. At the least, it might be useful in getting a recommendation in the future, you know? Make sure that you try it too if you are thinking about going into the field of Potions (an idea I might suggest).

However, I have something far more grave to ask of you, and I really need your help with this:

I told my friend, the one I mentioned earlier, that I'd like to bring him along with my family for something. He said that he would come, but my mom said that she would allow me to bring anyone EXCEPT for him. Apparently, she hasn't forgiven him for the falling out or something.

I really don't want to tell him he can't come, and frankly I'd rather not go if she won't change her mind, but I hope that it doesn't come to that. I'm not sure what we'd be doing during this 'something', but my mom knows me well and it's probably going to be a lot of fun.

How would you recommend dealing with it? Please, I need your help

Your Friend,

Medusa

Lily knew that it was unlikely that Perseus would be able to help, given how little she had told the boy, but she had nothing but hope. At the least, the boy would be on her side in the matter, so it couldn't hurt-

"Miss Evans? Mr. Snape?" Lily whipped her head up, only to see Professor Slughorn standing behind Severus, a genial smile on his walrus-like face as he held several pieces of parchment in his old hands. "Might I ask for your homework? After you turn it in, along with a vial of your potion of course, the two of you are free to go."

"Of course, Professor."

"Alright..."

Lily reached down and pulled out her twelve-inch essay on Antidotes from her book-bag, handing it to the professor with a smile and a cheerful "Here you go!', but for some reason the man seemed puzzled as he stared in Severus' direction.

Following the man's gaze, Lily saw that Severus was frantically searching through his bag, pulling out one book after another, casting them onto the floor with a snarl. The young Slytherin turned to Slughorn and bowed, saying in solemn tones, "Just a minute, sir. I seem to have misplaced my essay."

Slughorn blinked, but nodded understandingly. "Very well, let me collect the rest of the essays now. Be sure to find it, Mr. Snape. I'd hate to have to give one of my best students a 'T' for a relatively simple essay."

Severus nodded frantically and quickly returned his attention to his book-bag, Lily assisting him in his search this time, but it soon became obvious that Severus didn't have it. "Sev, what happened? You had to have finished it ages ago, right? I saw you working on it before you were tutoring Evelyn that time. You brought it to class, didn't you?"

"Of course I did it, and I'm sure I brought it with me," muttered Severus, his eyes roving hopelessly over his empty bag. Soon enough though, he collapsed into his seat with a sigh. "Where could it have gotten to? I know I-" His eyes suddenly hardened as he whipped his head around to glare at Potter and Black. "Potter. He must have done something. It's the only explanation!"

"Probably," admitted Lily, allowing her own frosty gaze to fall upon the charmingly-waving Gryffindor boy. "But how are you so sure?"

"Who else would want it?" replied Severus with a scowl. "No-one else in the class has a motive, being either clever Ravenclaws, Ravenclaws who I am tutoring, Mulciber, or a Hufflepuff. None of them would need it or care enough to mess with me, only Potter or Black!"

Although part of Lily wanted to point out that trusting Mulciber not to need to cheat was like trusting an alcoholic not to drink, she nodded nonetheless. "Let's see what the two of them turn in; even if they change the name, it's not like they can alter the handwriting so quickly!"

Albeit confused at the request, Slughorn allowed them to look at the turned-in homework, however that turned out to reveal... "Nothing, bugger it, nothing at all!" cried out Severus in a mixture of helpless fury and endless hatred. "I checked everything, everything! None of it's mine!"

"Don't worry, Mr. Snape," said the professor in an understanding tone of voice. "I'll let you rewrite it and hand it in tomorrow, and with only a bit of a mark-off too! What do you say?"

"Fine, I guess that's fine," replied Severus distractedly, glaring at Potter as he strode out the door, a mischievous smirk on his face. "I'll see you in a bit, Lily. I've got to tutor Evelyn again...well, if she can detach herself from that bloke over there." He waved a hand in the Ravenclaw girl's direction as she giggled at the boy she was currently dating (a fifth-year Slytherin if Lily remembered correctly), her smile wide and her eyes seemingly vacant of thought. "Shame, she can be pretty smart when she's not hanging off of her... Are you alright, Lily?"

"I'm...fine," whispered Lily, handing back a piece of parchment to Slughorn. "I'll see you in a bit, Sev."

Although looking at her strangely, Severus soon left, not that Lily really noticed, for she was too busy staring numbly at her hands. She had recognized the handwriting on the parchment for someone it couldn't be, but it wasn't because it was Severus' handwriting (not that she saw too much of that, considering how secretive he could be)...

...but because it was Perseus' handwriting, on the homework of Arcturus Mulciber!

The next morning, Lily didn't even bother to stay for breakfast, for Perseus' (or Mulciber's) letter to her had finally arrived. Hurtling out of the hall in search of privacy, she ignored the small grumbles of her stomach as she spied a solitary corner wherein she could read the message. However, once she sat down, she paused.

Although she felt leery of reading anything that she suspected had been sent from Mulciber, Lily wanted nothing more than to read Perseus' letter, for although he was not a nice boy he seemed to be quite sensitive at times...which made it even more strange that it was Mulciber writing the letters!

How could she possibly equate the clever, fearful, not-charming Perseus with the cruelly-smiling and evilly-joking visage of Arcturus Mulciber? She had watched the boy eat at breakfast, and he had spent half the meal eating, half chortling with his fellow monster-boys, and a third half (Lily allowed him three halves because he was more evil than most, so perhaps he could break the rules of mathematics as well as those of the school) sneering at Mary while pointing in the brunette's direction and mouthing curses at her.

Really, it was quite absurd that Perseus should be this...monster of a boy, and yet apparently he was. Still, it was Perseus, so-

"Evans! Hey, Evans, I need to talk to you about something!"

"Ugh, not now... " Although Potter was normally annoying enough, Lily was especially irked as she hadn't the time right then to deal with his pompous posturing while she was trying to come to grips with the idea of Perseus and Mulciber being the same person. "Can it wait, Potter? I'm busy!"

"You're always busy, Evans. Come on, just a couple of minutes?" wheedled Potter in an almost-pleading voice. "I promise I won't be long."

Lily whirled around, furiously shouting, "Potter, I-" She stopped, unable to finish; she hadn't been expecting Potter's face that close to hers. His brown eyes begging for succor and his proud lips mere inches from her own left her breathless and blushing. Images of the last time that those lips were that close flashed through her mind, turning it into something resembling sludge. "I...uh..."

He seemed to realize this, his lips quirking into a smirk. "Yes, Evans? May I talk to you?"

"I...suppose that would be alright, Potter." Lily couldn't help but whisper, although she had the presence of mind to hide Perseus' letter in her pockets while she did so. Closing her eyes and swallowing as she took a few steps back, trying to beat back the stupid butterflies that seemed determined to make a permanent home in her stomach, she managed to regain some degree of control over herself. "Well? What is it?"

Potter's smirk slowly faded and he sighed, his brown, almost-amber eyes mesmerizing the Gryffindor girl as he spoke, "Ev-Lily, you told me last year that I was as bad as Snape was, nothing more than a brute and a bully who got off on tormenting other students...but I've changed, really I have. I haven't bullied a single student this whole year, honest, so why won't you give me a chance?"

Although a small part of Lily wanted to say yes, the part that seemed to have butterflies infesting it constantly, the greater part of her replied, "Potter, are you trying to tell me that you've left every student alone? If I asked Severus for example, would he say that you've left him alone, quit picking on him?"

Potter's eyes hardened, resembling rocks buried in his head as he said angrily, "Snape's different; it's not bullying him if he keeps provoking me, by hexing me or my friends or mocking us, treating us like buffoons. If he insults me or my friends, I'm not just going to sit around and take it, you know!" Stopping, Potter took a deep breath before continuing in a softer tone of voice, "The others you were right about, I admit, as I was just humiliating them for my enjoyment, but Snape's a different story."

"Well, you'll just have to get used to the idea that I'll never give you a chance then," replied Lily frostily, both of her hands on her hips. "Besides, if Severus really is hexing or insulting you and your friends, then why not just let Remus handle it? He is a prefect, is he not? There's no need to let it devolve into brutish violence, you know."

Potter looked as if she had just forced him to swallow a vomit-flavored Bertie Bott's bean. "Is it really that important to you, Lily? I mean, friends are important and all, but you and I..." Potter drew nearer, until his lips were barely inches from her own. "I think there could be something here, something incredible between us. Is someone like Snape, a rotten, rude prick of a boy, worth more than something that could be that special?" Shaking his head, Potter put a hand on her shoulder. "Honestly, Lily, he's just not worth it. Just forget about him."

For several seconds, there was silence between the two Gryffindors, but then Lily said quietly, "And what if I said that my condition for being with you was that you throw Black out onto the streets, abandoning him when he needs you? That's what you might as well be asking me when you tell me to ignore my best friend and how you treat him. So yes Potter, Severus is more important to me than some romance with you, and if you want to have the slightest chance of being with me, then you'll just have to leave him alone."

And with that said, Lily turned to leave, hoping to find somewhere she could read alone. 'I wonder if the library is empty-'

"Alright, it's a deal."

Lily blinked, before turning around in surprise. "Err, what?"

Potter, still looking positively ill, nodded slowly as he said, "You heard me: if leaving Snape alone when he pesters me and my mates is what it takes to be with you, I'll leave him alone. Of course, don't be surprised when Remus starts taking points away from Slytherin by the bushel." A grim look on his face, Potter then asked, "Well? What do you say now?"

"To be honest, I'll believe it when I see it." Nonetheless, Lily offered her hand to shake. "If you leave him alone until the end of the school year though, I'll give you a chance."

"Until June?" Potter seemed disgusted. "That'll be ages."

"It'll take at least that long to convince me that you're serious, Potter. If it's too hard though, I'm sure that Sabrina would like to go out with-"

"Fine," replied Potter, taking Lily's hand and giving it a firm shake. "And here," Potter reached into his book-bag, pulling out a written-on piece of parchment. "I'll even give you his Potions paper from yesterday as a...how would my dad have put it? A gesture of sincerity."

"Very well." Lily swallowed, a relieved smile breaking out onto her face at the thought of the endless fighting between the two boys finally coming to an end. "If you make it that long, I'll give you some serious thought, James."

And with a grin and a "Until next time, Lily!", James Potter left Lily to her hiding place, whereupon she whipped Perseus' letter out from her pocket to read it. However, she barely managed to make it to the opening of the letter when she noticed something:

Perseus' handwriting on his letter, Severus' handwriting on his Potions paper, and Mulciber's handwriting on his Potions paper...

...they were all identical.