Ch 13 surprises in slughorn's office

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Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.

"By Merlin's beard, he's taking forever!" whined the Gryffindor girl as she waited outside the entrance to the Slytherin common room, periodically glancing at a nearby clock. It read 7:15, a full fifteen minutes after her date was supposed to have been out. "Where is that prat?"

Harrumphing, Lily settled her back against the nearby wall, opposite to the one that Severus had told her was the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room. Given the Slytherins entering and exiting periodically (a full half of them looking at her as if she bore some sort of disease), Lily knew she was in the right place, albeit perhaps not the right place for her.

It was the day of Slughorn's Slug Club party, nearly a week since Lily had sent her latest letter to Perseus, and he was clearly just as late as Perseus' reply. (Seriously, how long could it take to reply to a letter sent from the very place in which one is living?). After a bit of thought, Lily had decided to take this 'date' seriously, and had dressed herself accordingly. She was dressed in a silver-blue dress with a delicate, wavelike pattern, accented with silver jewelery and strappy high-heels.

Unfortunately, the young woman was beginning to get more than a little nervous at the cold looks and occasional lustful leer coming from passerby, but in the age-old manner of Gryffindors everywhere, she channeled that discomfort into angry bluster. "If he's not here soon, I'll wring his pasty little neck!"

"Please," came a gracefully-smooth voice from behind her. "Don't tell me that you were referring to me, I'd rather my neck remain un-wrung, to be quite honest."

Lily whirled around, only to see Severus Snape standing there, dressed in robes of dark blue. His hair was...pretty much unchanged, though it looked like he'd tried to clean it...and as for his face, it was marginally less oily. "Wha...how?" spluttered the redhead in surprise, at once cursing her inability to finish a sentence.

"How did I sneak up on you?" Severus finished. He paused, cheeks flushing as a sheepish little smile crept upon his face. "Actually, I forgot that you were coming to pick me up. I'd been waiting for nigh half an hour at the Fat Lady's portrait before I remembered."

"Well, I'm glad you're here now," replied Lily, fighting the urge to laugh as she pictured Severus impatiently waiting outside the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room, checking his watch every minute as he tapped his feet uselessly on the stone floor. Offering the embarrassed young man her hand in a suave motion, she grinned. "Shall we get going, oh date of mine?"

Severus' cheeks burned, and he swallowed several times before taking her offered hand in his, saying in an awfully quiet tone of voice, "Yeah, that would be fine, I guess."

And with that, the couple began the short walk to Slughorn's office, Lily chatting about who she suspected was taking who to the party, Severus nodding for the most part, occasionally interjecting with a grunt. He did seem pleased though when he heard that apparently Sirius Black had been caught trying to take two different girls to the dance; of course, given that both were twins in Hufflepuff, perhaps that was understandable, although neither of the girls saw it that way.

However, Lily soon grew rather disappointed at how little Severus was saying, as the boy was so tight-lipped that Lily feared that he might never speak again. He seemed terrified to speak, much as he (being Perseus) seemed afraid to talk about the death and suicide of his mother.

It was something that hurt the young Gryffindor greatly, knowing that her best friend had refused to speak to her about something which had bothered him greatly and, if Lily didn't miss her guess, was at least part of the reason he had come up to her house that cold winter night in the first place. 'However, that is something that I can change, although I'll have to be subtle about it, so he won't realize that I know about her death.'

Opening her mouth, Lily began to speak in calm, pleasant tones, "Speaking of Sirius Black's awful mum and dad, I was thinking that maybe it might be possible for your mum and my parents to have a little get-together around Easter. Think that that might be a possibility?" Smiling a falsely bright smile, Lily congratulated herself for her skill and tact as she continued, "I don't think that they've spoken in years, now that I think of it."

"I dunno..." Severus' voice cracked as he replied, his words sounding strained even as he spoke. "It probably wouldn't be a good idea. She'd probably be...indisposed, I think." He then changed the subject. "We're almost there now, no more than a couple of minutes."

"Severus...are you alright?" spoke Lily tentatively, biting her lip as she looked at the boy. His face seemed calm, but now that Lily was looking, she could see something in his eyes, something that seemed like a bitter mixture of pain and...fear. "Is there something going on with your mum that you don't want me to know about?"

Severus stopped, his face turned away from Lily's as he stood in the corridor, the people around them cutting past the duo. He swallowed and slowly, ever so slowly, turned to face Lily, his eyes shadowed and skin seeming particularly pale as he said in a near-whisper, "I...I...not now. Can we talk about this later?"

Lily nodded, biting her lip as she realized how much pain was in his eyes. "Alright, Severus. After the dance."

The rest of the short walk was subdued, and Lily reflected that it felt more like a funeral march than a 'date' as they strode through the corridors, neither speaking a word to each other. Lily cursed herself for her error in judgment: bringing up a topic like that would have been a much better idea afterward, now that she had taken a moment to consider her actions.

'Well, that was just brilliant Lily. Really, really brilliant.'

Much as Lily expected, Slughorn's office had been magically expanded to accomodate the dance-floor needed. As it was by invite only, Lily was rather surprised by the somewhat-large turnout, well past fifty if her head-count was accurate.

It seemed divided into a couple of main areas: the obligatory snack-bar, the lit-up dance floor (complete with a disco ball to her surprise-Muggle inventions were rather rarely seen in the Wizarding World), and several dimmed areas, suitable for 'couple activities'. The normal deitritus of the Potions Master was conveniently absent, instead replaced by a collection of Wizarding portraits and sconces.

To Lily's great fortune, Severus seemed to recover from her inadvertant verbal faux pas by the time that they arrived. Then again, perhaps he was simply so nervous that he didn't have time to consider them. Lily could hardly blame the boy, what with how she couldn't recall him having gone on a single date in all the time that she had known him.

True, Lily had only gone out on one or two dates of her own, what with how James had been claiming her as his territory for so many years, but even so that meant she had had far more romantic experience than her friend.

Trying to help him...hopefully better than she had last time, Lily whispered in the young Slytherin's ear, "Don't worry, Sev, it's nothing to be nervous about, just a 'date' with your childhood best friend, no-one special." Seeing Severus' face still tensed up, Lily continued with a chuckle, "If it makes you feel better, picture everybody in their knickers. That might do the trick."

Severus let out a small gasp as Lily poked him in the side. "Come on, it usually does the trick when I'm feeling nervous in DADA. You know, when the professor is making us perform a complicated spell or something."

"Kni...Lily...DADA?" replied Severus in a somewhat dazed tone of voice. He turned to look at her, blushed, then turned away again. "You...? But we take the same... Wha?"

Starting to feel rather impatient at Severus' antics, Lily rolled her eyes at his back. "Yes, Severus, your female best friend happens to think of guys in their undergarments. Get over it." Seeing that most of the people there were heading out onto the section of floor allocated for dancing, Lily grabbed him by the arm and started dragging him along with her. "Besides, the dance is about to start, and I personally don't want to be the only pair not dancing at a dance. There's probably a law against it or something."

"Just give me a second." Severus pulled away and took a deep breath, looking her in the eyes as he adjusted his tie. "Alright, let's do this properly..." Clearing his throat, his face flushing a bit pink, Severus then said in a smooth voice, bowing formerly before her as he spoke, "May I have this dance, Miss Evans?"

Feeling a slight flush of her own starting to erupt, Lily offered him her hand and grinned. "I would be delighted, Mr. Snape." As he took her hand and started to lead her out onto the dance floor, she whispered in his ear, "By the way, nice touch with the sexy-smooth voice. Your next girlfriend is sure to dig it."

Severus stumbled, almost tripping over his robes, then recovered as Lily watched, unable to contain her giggles. Laying a hand on him, she spoke in an almost-pitying, patronizing tone of voice, "Severus, you really need to get used to the fact that your best friend is a girl. And yes, I do happen to like the idea of guys, romance, and other stuff. You don't need to get your knickers in a twist when I say that your voice is sexy!"

Severus swallowed, shook his head, and then muttered, "I am well aware of the fact that you are female, Lily. You have no need to be concerned about that. Now, shall we ge-"

"-How dare you!"

Severus was interrupted by a sudden yell. He stared at Lily in confusion. Turning slowly, Lily looked over at the area by punch bowl, where a crowd had was gathering, blocking the shouter from view. Another shout rang out, coming from the same voice, vaguely recognizable as female behind the hurt and pain suffusing it.

"You said that you were going with ME, not HER!"

"Severus, you're a lot taller than I am. Can you see who it is?" asked Lily, trying to peer through the crowd to see who was speaking. So far, all that she could tell was that whoever it was was wearing a pale green dress.

Severus nodded, balancing on the balls of his feet as he tried to peek over. "I think I can see them..." He frowned, a dark glint appearing in his coal-black eyes. "It looks like...that Douglas fellow, you know, Evelyn's boyfriend. Two other girls are there too I think... Something Fawcett if I recall correctly and...Evelyn. I think it's Evelyn that's shouting."

"I never want to see you again as long as I live, you...you TOERAG!" As she finished shouting, Evelyn burst out of the crowd. Tears staining her makeup, she hurtled out of the room, voices murmuring behind her as Douglas looked around, embarrassment coloring his cheeks pink.

"Ugh, what a prat. Must've decided to go with someone else and didn't tell Evelyn, the toerag. Even she didn't deserve that." Lily's eyes narrowed in dislike and contempt as she turned back to the dance floor, Severus' arm in hers. However, she soon found herself halted, as Severus wasn't moving with her. Sighing, Lily poked him in the side. "Come on, Sev, let's not let this ruin our night."

There was a moment of silence, as Severus turned to look at her. Her voice left her as she saw the torn look in his eyes, the nameless fear that seemed to nestle there as if it had been born in the darkness of his black irises. He stared at her, the intensity in his eyes making Lily blush as he seemed to memorize her face, although she did not know why.

Finally, he sighed and spoke, carefully removing Lily's arm from his as he did so, "I'm going to go see if there's anything I can do to help her. I'm sorry, it might be a while."

"Then I'm coming with!"

Lily made to follow him, but Severus shook his head. "I don't think that would be a good idea. You and her don't seem to get along...at all. Don't worry though, you can..." His nose scrunched up in distaste as he spoke. "...dance with the other boys while I'm gone. I'm really, really sorry about this..."

The young Gryffindor growled softly, but bowed to the truth in his words. "Fine then, but be quick about it!"

As he left, his long, swift strides quickly carrying him out of the room, Lily fought her feelings of disappointment. Although they were only going as friends, Lily had hoped to have a few dances with Severus. Some frivolous, meaningless fun would have been nice, hopefully bringing some enjoyment to his life after the discovery of his mother's suicide and her mother's dis-inviting him from their vacation.

Not to mention, she had hoped to have a few dances for her own sake. Now she was alone, with no date and no Severus. Sighing, she glanced around for something to do while she waited for him. "Merlin, this is annoying."

"Yeah, what a prat."

Lily blinked and turned around, seeing Sabrina Percival standing there, dressed in an expensive, fiery-red dress. The wealthiest girl in Gryffindor frowned in the direction where Severus had gone running off. Remus trailed a few feet behind the girl, blushing madly as he clasped one of her hands in his own, Sabrina either not noticing or allowing it without comment.

Shaking her head, Lily sighed, leaning against a nearby wall for support, pretending to be interested in the decorations that adorned Slughorn's surprisingly-large office. "Severus wanted to go see what was going on with Evelyn. He'll be back in a bit."

"If he doesn't spend the rest of the night with her in flagrante delicto, you mean," muttered Sabrina in distaste, tapping her foot. "Honestly, even she doesn't deserve that..."

"Don't talk about Sev like that!" growled Lily, narrowing her eyes and glaring at her blond companion. "He wouldn't do something like that, trust me."

"You said the same thing about him not becoming a Death Eater," replied Sabrina with a sniff, crossing her arms as she responded with a glare of her own. "And look how that turned out, hmm? He called you a...a 'you-know-what' in front of the whole school! Is it really so hard to believe that he'd deny someone like Evelyn for the sake of a 'just-friends' date?"

"Oh, shut up!" Part of Lily wanted to tell the snooty girl about how she had seen Severus standing outside their house for hours, trying to work up the courage to talk to her, so desperate he was willing to do anything to have her friendship back. However, that was private, something she'd never reveal to someone like Sabrina. "If you'll excuse me, I've got to get back to the dance, bye!"

"But you don't have anyone to dance with!" pointed out Sabrina, Remus standing beside her in silent witness to the conversation between the two. "What ar-"

"Actually, I would be happy to dance with her," came a smooth voice from behind Lily, making her jump.

It was James, dressed in a nice set of dark purple dress robes, albeit with a Zonko's tag coming out of one of the pockets. In spite of this, for the moment he seemed a savior to the pressed Gryffindor girl. As such, she sniffed at the other girl, enjoying her outrage as she spoke, "And I would be delighted to share a dance with you too, Mr. Potter."

"But she...but you..." Sabrina was gobsmacked, much like Severus had been earlier. However, Lily merely grinned as she allowed James to guide her onto the dance floor.

"Well, shall we get started?" said James with a proud grin, tossing a wave in the direction of Black and Pettigrew, neither of which had apparently managed to get dates for the dance. Bending toward her, he whispered in Lily's ear,"I've been waiting for this moment for what seems like years now."

"That's nuh...nice, James," breathed out Lily, suddenly feeling extremely self-conscious. Curse those blasted stomach butterflies!

And then they started to dance, a rather fast song that Lily remembered as being pretty popular in the sixties. Smiling, she did her best to keep up with the fast beat as she tried to remember the steps, embarrassedly grinning up at James as she did so. He grinned back momentarily, but a few seconds later, he winced. "What is it, James?"

"It's err...nothing, Lily," replied the Gryffindor boy with a strained smile, his tones flattering nonetheless. "I just...where did you learn to dance like that?"

"Uh..." Lily blushed, even more self-conscious but managing to get out, "I taught myself, why?"

They continued dancing, Lily trying valiantly to keep up with the music, trusting in her 'inner dancer' to see her through. However, soon she tripped over something, almost falling onto the floor. Luckily, she was caught by James, although for some reason his face seemed etched with pain. "Sorry about that, I must've tripped over something."

"Yes...my foot," choked out the Gryffindor Quidditch captain. "How long are those heels of yours?"

"Err, three inches, sorry," replied Lily, wincing as she finally realized why he was asking. Apparently, her dancing skills weren't quite up to what she remembered. Momentarily wishing that the floor would swallow her, she forced a smile. "It won't happen again, I promise."

The sound of muffled snorting came from Lily's left, and she saw, in the corner of her eyes, Sabrina standing in the corner, covering her mouth with a mirthful glint in her eyes. Remus, although not saying a word, was clearly fighting a grin.

James, starting to get a bit red in the face, swallowed before saying in a tight tone of voice, "Alright, just go a bit slower next time. This shouldn't be so hard. Honestly, Evans, do you ever-" He cut himself off, muttering, "-Never mind."

Lily did as she was told, dancing quite a bit slower, feeling rather stupid as it was a very fast song. She probably looked as if she were doing everything in slow-motion, what with how ponderous her movements were. She was sure that could hear the snickers and whispers of her classmates all around her, mocking how pathetic she was.

In spite of how slow she was going though, not too much time passed before James yelped in pain. Almost on cue, the entire room burst into laughter: derisive, scornful laughter. The other dancers around them stopped; their laughter prevented them from continuing with their own waltzes. Some of them clutched at their sides, and they all were pointing at the silly girl standing there with her mortified partner.

His face bright red with embarrassment, James then growled harshly, "Are you trying to humiliate me, Lily? Is this to get back at me or something?"

"It's not...it's not like I'm doing it on purpose," whispered the young Gryffindor, trying to apologize as she backed away from him, as well as the crowd around him. Her eyes began to heat up, tears starting to leak out of them as she desperately wished that this moment had all been a horrible dream.

James snorted, his hands clenched into fists. "Well, honestly, you've got to be the worst dancer, ever." Turning away in disgust, he stomped off, leaving Lily alone admidst the snickering crowd.

Fleeing swiftly, Lily was almost to the edge of the dance floor when she collided into something warm, falling back onto her bum. "Ow."

Wincing at the pain, she looked up, tears burning in her eyes; Severus was there, and he was clearly displeased.

Several minutes had passed by since her escape. Lily was thankful that Severus had managed to find them a dark corner in which they might 'lurk', although she couldn't help but be disquieted at how Severus hadn't said a word since she had nearly knocked him over, after dancing with James Potter.

Obviously, she could hardly expect him to be pleased, but she wasn't enjoying his anger.

"Err...hi?" spoke Lily tentatively, seeing how Severus' mouth had set itself into a thin line and his eyes seemed dark with fury. "How did it go with Evelyn?"

"Fine," came the terse reply. "The prat DeWitt apparently decided that he didn't want anyone to actually realize that he was going to the dance with the girl he was shagging, so he went with Emily Fawcett. In a particularly disgusting..." He glared at Lily as he said this, making her wince. "...bit of treachery, he neglected to tell the person he was going with that he had wanted to go with someone else, and now that this someone else was available, to hell with the person he was going with!"

"That's...really awful of him," replied Lily lamely. "He really should have at least her..."

Severus' glare seemed to intensify, however he limited himself to a tightly-spoken "Indeed." before falling silent, turning away from her.

Several minutes passed like this, Lily sat in tear-streaked shame against the wall while Severus stood rigidly beside her. 'Well, this is probably the worst dance in the history of the school,' mused the girl bitterly. 'In thirty minutes, I've managed to nearly impale James Potter's left and right feet, enrage my best friend, and humiliate myself in front of a fair portion of the school. Just bloody great.'

Finally, Lily sighed, standing up. Unable to look at her friend, she spoke quietly, "Well, I guess I'll head back to the Gryffindor dorms. I've probably done enough damage for one evening-"

"No!"

Lily blinked, turning toward Severus in surprise. His face was cloaked in shadows, but his voice had been determined. "Um, what?"

"I...I wanted to have at least one..." Severus gritted his teeth audibly, his words as tight as his posture. "...dance with y...my date. You can go after that, but..." His voice suddenly seemed almost pleading as he spoke, "...just have one dance with me before you go, alright?"

Lily's mouth fell open in shock, causing her to splutter, "But...but I'm horrible! You saw how I stomped all over Potter's feet out there! Do you still want to dance with me after seeing that?"

"I don't care!" shouted the dark-haired boy defiantly, crossing his arms. "I'm not going without that dance."

"That's...but I...but you...Fine!" Lily threw up her hands in the air in exasperation, her face hot with a strange mix of anger, humiliation and desperation. "Come on then, let's have that dance quickly so we can go home, got it!"

And with that, they walked back onto the dance floor, Lily doing her best to ignore the snickers of those around her. Holding Severus's hands in each of hers, she began to dance with (as she knew very well by now) all the grace of a flying elephant, that is to say: none. In under a minute, she saw Severus wince, and knew that she had stepped on him, just like she had done the whole night with James. Whispering desperately in his ear, she gritted out, "See? I'm horrible! Can't we just go?"

Severus glared at her for several seconds, then took a deep breath and muttered, "Just hold on a second, Lily." Slowly, he pushed her back a few feet, and held each of her hands lightly in hers. "Alright, let's try this. Just take a step forward with your right foot, then retract it, then do the same with your left foot. Do it at four second intervals, alright?"

"What!"

Severus looked as if he were about to tear his own hair out. "It's like Potions, just with feet instead of hands! Now hold mine and let's get this over with."

Once more, they started to dance, Lily's nerves as taut as they had ever been although Severus seemed strangely at much greater ease. Any second now, she was going to stomp on Severus' foot again, probably breaking it this time for good measure. Any second now...

Any second...

Any second...

However, the only interruption to the music was caused by the record player changing songs, not a single wince passing over her date's features. In fact, slowly, Severus began to smile, even as Lily's eyes widened. "You see, Lily? Nothing to it."

"But...how?" Lily's voice was just as stunned as she was, her mouth gaping wide with shock.

Severus actually let out a short, mirthful laugh. "Potions, Miss Evans, Potions. Have you ever failed to complete a potion assignment before, in your bloody life? I think not!"

"There is no way that Potions was the key to getting me to dance properly," retorted Lily, her eyes narrowing even as she fought the urge to giggle insanely. "You have to have done something else, cast some sort of spell on me or what-not, because there isn't the slightest possibility that it was Potions that did it!"

"Well..." said Severus slowly, his clear joy making his eyes seem to dance. "...I suppose that there might have been something else..."

"Ahah!"

Severus merely chuckled. "I just did for you what an old friend of mine did for me, Miss Evans."

"So what sort of spell was it?" asked Lily curiously, even as she continued to dance, now turning slowly as Severus gently prodded her. "And what friend?"

"No spell, no spell. It's nothing more than letting you get used to the simple steps. Really, anyone could do it. As for what friend..." He sighed, looking at her with calculating eyes. "It was Narcissa Malfoy."

Lily raised her eyebrows. "Narcissa Malfoy taught you to dance? Miss 'I'm so much better than you because I'm a Black' taught you how to dance! You must be joking."

"Yeah...she and I became good acquintances while she was here..." Severus' voice turned rather pensive. "She told me that if I knew how to dance well, then I'd be better off than most pur...bachelors."

Lily laughed whole-heartedly. "Well, I can't say I care much for some of her ideas...but maybe I'll have to ask her for a few tips if she can turn a mild-mannered Slytherin into a dancing god!"

"I have only begun to show you my abilities," replied Severus gravely, although a joyful light still showed in his eyes, somehow transfiguring his face into a thing of beauty. Those eyes no longer seemed like walls, but rather doors, and his face seemed as expressive as his long, spindly fingers. It made Lily's heart warm.

"I'd be delighted, Mr. Snape." Lily smiled, feeling her cheeks flush as Severus guided her into the next dance, taking a moment to first explain the steps to it.

It wasn't until the last song had come to a close that the two of them finally stopped.

"Severus, that was bloody brilliant, best night out I've ever had!"

"Well, I suppose that tonight was...acceptable..."

"Acceptable? Fine, be that way! I'm still saying that it was brilliant, though!" Lily couldn't help but grin as Severus walked her back to Gryffindor Tower, her hand in his as she let it swing freely. "We should definitely, definitely do that again some time, Mr. Snape, god of dancing!"

After dancing for nearly two hours straight, Lily was more tired than she had been the night of her Potions O.W.L., and she had spent the entire day and night before that studying for it. However, she felt drunk and tipsy, in a way that no amount of spiked punch could possibly explain. She was absolutely exhilarated, positively silly to be honest. As such, she practically shouted, "This was the best date ever!"

"Really?" asked Severus from behind her, sounding oddly timid. "I...It was that good?"

Lily turned and nodded with such force that for a moment she feared she had broken her neck. "Good? Severus, I am saying that it was brilliant! Hell, James Potter would want to date you after a night like this!"

Severus seemed rather ill at the thought. "I...I'll take your word for that."

And without further conversation, they arrived at the entrance to Gryffindor Tower. Turning around, Lily grinned at her dark-haired companion. "Well, I guess this is it..."

Severus nodded, seeming awfully glum. "Yeah, I guess that it is... See you tomorrow?"

Lily gave another nod, giggling in her silliness. "Certainly! Right before Potions class, just like today...or is it yesterday now?"

"Alright, see you then." With that, Severus turned to go, only to be stopped by a quiet cough from Lily. "Uh, yes, Lily?"

"I think you're forgetting something!" sing-songed Lily, slipping a little closer.

"What?" Severus seemed baffled for a moment, then his mouth seemed to open in an 'o'. "Oh right, I forgot to tell you-"

"Not that, Sev, this." And while Severus' eyes widened, Lily pressed her lips to his in a quick kiss, before leaning back to gaze at her gob-smacked friend. "You're supposed to kiss your date goodnight, duh. Now, go ahead and run along, Sev! See you tomorrow!"

Severus didn't move for nearly a minute, although he managed to wave as Lily stepped through the portrait hole, saying in a vague sort of voice,

"See you...tomorrow..."