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Summary: Lily Evans is never too keen to arouse trouble, especially when it comes in the form of two arch nemeses; the notorious yet popular troublemaker, James Potter, and her dark and mysterious childhood best friend, Severus Snape. She just wants to soothe their mutual hatred, and they just want… her.
Disclaimer: I don’t usually go around disclaiming things; it’s usually the other way around. But yea, I don’t own Harry Potter or any of the characters, J. K. Rowling does. All hail J. K. Rowling.
- Emerald Eyes -
Chapter one: Split in the middle
Note: According to the seventh book,Lily Evans and Severus Snape are best friends until Fifth year when he calls her ‘Mudblood’ after a particular humiliating scene when James Potter makes fun of him. This fanfiction, however, is set in their sixth year at Hogwarts and I have assumed that Lily and Snape have made up and are still friends; contrary to what J. K. Rowling had intended to imply.
The Potion classroom was as stuffy as ever, and Lily suddenly felt a bit claustrophobic by the whirling of smoke and gases around her. She slumped down on the stool with a sigh and continued to fan the cauldron with her text book, yet its content stayed defiant and refused to change colour.
Maybe it was her hair. She had put a chunk of her own tresses into the cauldron hoping for a neutralizing effect for the centaur hair and mice tails. But maybe red hair just wasn’t the type for counteraction.
Mischievously, she looked over to her friend sitting next to her. Severus was scribbling away on his textbook, seemingly absolutely focused on his work. She watched as a trickle of sweat glided down his forehead and he hastily wiped it off with the sleeve of his robes. Black hair would definitely work better.
Surreptitiously, she slipped a hand in her robes and drew out a wand. As she did so, she leaned in closer to him. His back was turned on her at the moment as he kept a watchful eye on the bubbling cauldron. With one swift slash of her wand, a bit of Sevres’s dark hair tumbled down his back and she caught them deftly with her free hand.
Unfortunately, the brush of her hand against his robes seemed to have caught his attention and he instinctively swiveled around, his wand readied. As Severus regarded their proximity, his eyes widened and he did a double take. Then impulsively backing up the table, his hands knocked over a jar of Skitter Flies and it fell, as if in slow motion, on to the floor with a loud crash. The glass instantly shattered and liberated the Skitter Flies, which scattered about and zoned around the room, knocking over cauldrons and bottles and bouncing off walls and desks.
Suddenly, screams echoed around the dungeon and the crashing of flasks ricocheted through the halls. The odour of poisonous gases reached Lily’s nostrils and she hastily covered her mouth with her hands. Nearby, a loud laugh and whooping noises could be made out through the smoke. With a groan, she realised that it was undoubtedly Sirius’s voice.
Professor Slughorn’s yells was now audible above the chaotic crowd. “S’ alright class, s’ alright! No worries, no worries, I have got it taken care of.”
Then through the clouds of mists and stinging gases, Lily could make out the vague silhouette of her Professor, trying a vain attempt to siphon the smoke into his wand. And to her right, she could distinguish Sirius in the midst of the room, helping the Skitter Flies destroy the remaining poisons on the shelves. Thank Merlin James didn’t take Potion, or else the inflammatory pair might escalate this chaotic mess into a mass explosion in the dungeon.
Moments later, the class had successfully evacuated into the hallway while Slughorn called for backups to clear up the mess.
“Merlin’s pants, what the hell were you thinking? Leaning into me like that…” Severus demanded once they were out in the corridor. “You nearly gave me a heart attack… I thought you were going to—“He suddenly stuttered, his face a tinge of pink.
At this moment, Peeves whizzed passed them in excitement, chanting a song he just made up moments ago. He rounded a corner and seemed to have disappeared into the classroom where more explosions and the breaking of glass could be heard.
“Gosh Severus, you’re too melodramatic sometimes.” Lily rolled her eyes. “All I wanted is a bit of your hair; you shouldn’t have reacted like there was an apocalypse or something.”
She unfurled her fingers, revealing a large chunk of black hair in the middle. Alright, maybe it was a bit more than she had planed to take.
“A bit? You call that a bit?” He groaned and began to examine a large gap on the back of his skull.
“Don’t be such a narcissist. I can repair it in no time.”
She walked over to his side and took out her wand. “Besides, your hair looks nicer when it’s short anyway.”
“Really? Then… maybe just… leave it for a while… I mean, I am not taking your suggestion or anything… I just—“He trailed off as her brows rose higher on her forehead.
He was a bit flustered now and Lily doubt that it was from the heat of the jam-packed hallway.
“Right…” She arched an eyebrow at him, oblivious to the reason of his blush.
At that moment, the door of the room suddenly slammed open and Slughorn limped out slowly, his face contorted in resentment. There were burnt marks on his skin and his clothes were disheveled and torn. Black smoke was blazing and drifting upwards around his torso. His eyes were morphed into slits as they set themselves on Severus, and the latter recoiled slightly against the wall.
“Snape. Detention. Today evening. My office.” Slughorn managed out through gritted teeth.
How he found out freeing the Skitter Flies was Severus’s doings was really beyond Lily’s comprehension. But anyhow, it was her fault in the first place; and there was no reason why Severus should be punished for her faults. She moved forward at once and perfected her puppy-dog eyes.
“Professor!” She called as he turned.
His eyes brightened at her voice and he turned to face her, it seemed like he hadn’t realise her presence until then.
“My dear girl, Lily! Why, I’m a bit busy at the moment, but I am sure we can get this mess sorted out in no time. Now, what is it that you seek?—Just shoot away!” He was beaming so radiantly that it looked a bit bizarre in contrast to his state of dishabille.
“I am sorry Professor but this isn’t Severus’s fault at all. It was all mine, if I hadn’t tried to collect a few pieces of his hair, he wouldn’t have knocked over—“
“Sticking up for your friends again? Now, that’s my girl. Brave and intelligent, always my star—I tell you. Good girl. Oh whoopse lost track of time again, should get an hourglass these days, always useful I say, I should be off.” Slughorn ranted on and turned, but not before shooting Severus a glare on the way.
“No! Professor! You got it wrong, I—”
“It’s alright.” Severus caught hold of her wrists. “It’s only detention. Not my first time anyway; no big deal really.”
“That’s not the point,” Lily scowled, her face red, “It should have been me who got punished.”
He looked taken back and his face immediately coloured. Letting go of her hand quickly as if it was a burning cauldron, he collected his possessions in his shoulder bag; shuffling the large textbook into the zippers and missing her eye.
“Slughorn would never put you in detention even though you are not in Slytherin. He loves you.”
“But you are. You’re in Slytherin. You’re in his house! He shouldn’t have reprimanded you.”
“Maybe he didn’t see anything in me like he did in you,” His shoulder bag clanked as he lifted it off the ground, “And, I don’t know why, but I’m not really that surprised.” His sarcasm was tinged with a hint of bitterness.
Her eyes were an intense emerald green as she gazed at him. “Then he’s wrong. Don’t let him get at you; he doesn’t know what he is missing out. You’re brilliant, Severus. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise”
He didn’t answer but instead, turned his back on her while continuing ruffling his bag and possessions the loudest way possible, even though he already had everything packed up. Was there the ghost of a rare smile on his blushing face, or was it just her imagination?
But either way, she didn’t understand why he was acting so strange anyway.
-- --
Rounding a corner, Lily hurried along with her work to the Library. She needed a few reference books for her transfiguration essay before the closing hours. Paddling faster with her robes swishing behind her, she broke into a run. Hurrying faster and swifter, she didn’t realise the upcoming footsteps before voices and laughter warned her of the approaching forms—
“… And Skitter Flies were swarming everywhere, took Slughorn ages to rid. You should have been there, mate. And guess what? As if that wasn’t enough of an entertainment; to top it off, Snape got detention for breakin—”
There was a loud crash and a grunt before Lily’s books flew free into the air and scattered about on the floor. Her face and chest throbbed in pain at the collision and she bounced back, landing excruciatingly on her butt.
“For Merlin’s sake, watch where you’re going or I’ll— oh, hey Lily. Er, sorry for that…” She looked up with a slight grimace at the arrogant face of none-other-then James Potter glancing right back at her, “Need help?” He added attentively, raising a brow.
“From you?” She sneered. “No thanks. And I don’t remember allowing you to call me by my first name either, Potter. We’re not very close if you don’t already know.”
Lily pushed herself off the ground to a kneeling position on her knees and began collecting the dispersed parchments on the ground.
“Well, there’s always room to be closer… if you know what I mean,” James smirked mischievously before swooping down to pick up her transfiguration textbook.
She quickly snatched it back from his hands and shuffled everything hurriedly into her bag pack. Shooting James a dirty glance, Lily stood up hastily and dusted her skirt to rid of the ducts on her clothing.
It was then that she realised the whole of James’s group of friends was behind him; with Sirius Black leaning against the hallway haughtily, his handsome face slightly shaded by his dark swiping hair. And Remus Lupin stood in a corner not far away, seemingly deeply indulged in a scrappy book from the Library. The last of his friends, Peter Pettigrew, was cowering in the dark, his black beady eyes darting from Lily to James, then back to Lily again. His glances made her slightly unnerving.
“No, I don’t know what you mean and I don’t think I want to either,’ She replied curtly at the bewildered James and turned to leave.
A pack of fifth year girls were passing the corridor at that moment and Sirius instinctively shot them a grin, which they responded by giggling and blushing before waving back at him. To tell the truth, Sirius had been the object of obsession for a lot of girls in the school. The number of times he had been brought up by the girls in her dormitory was simply uncountable. Even Lily had to admit he was quite good-looking; especially his hair, which gave him a sort of dark magnesium that girls would swoon over.
James, however, had a different sort of attraction. Being seeker and the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, he had the sort of boyish air and roughness that were made to draw attention from the female populace at Hogwarts. It didn’t help that he was good academically as well as physically; and his popularity was envied by many.
But to Lily Evans, he was just another conceited and arrogant jerk with nothing better to do than to show off all day. The fact that he was the adversary of her childhood friend, Severus Snape, didn’t help but escalate the undying odium she felt for him.
“Cummon’ Evans, just try me. I’m not as bad as you think,” James called after her as she retreated down the corridor, passing a smirking Sirius who was gazing at her under his eyelids with interest.
She only snorted and kept walking. His eyes were boring holes into her back before she swiveled around a corner, shot him a glare one last time, and trotted out of sight.
-- --
Right outside Slughorn’s office, Lily was shuffling her sheets, trying to reorganize the muddled and disordered notes in her hands. This was all thanks to James Potter; even though, to tell the truth, she was the one who had crashed into him in the first place.
Still trundling her notes, an odd sheet with a tinge of blue caught her eye, and slipping it out and she realised that it was an old Charms O.W.L.S exam paper. Regarding the writing closely, she was sure that the scrawl on the page was definitely not her own. Perplexed and slightly confused, she flipped the parchment to the front and scowled at the name scribbled on the top corner of the cover: James Potter.
She had probably taken his sheets by mistake after their collision; and the thought immediately gave Lily a headache. Now she had to give it back to him. More Potter, this was so not her day.
A scrap piece of parchment suddenly slipped out between the pages of Potter’s exam paper and she promptly caught it before it descended on to the ground. There was a drawing of a Snitch and the embellished letter of L. E. in the middle, which was crossed out hastily.
L. E. What did that stand for?
“Lily? What are you doing here?” A shocked voice asked from behind and she immediately scrunched up the bit of parchment and stiffed it into her pocket.
Severus Snape stood a few feet from her with a bag slung on his shoulder and an expression of absolute astonishment on his face.
“I’m coming with you to detention,” She answered resolutely, “After all it’s my fault that you are here in the first place; my conscience won’t let me live if I don’t come today.”
He looked at her for a long moment before leaning against the wall, his head cocked downwards, “You don’t really have to come you know.”
“What if I want to?” Lily crossed her arms.
His retort was cut short by a string of laughter around the corner. Anxious, Lily suddenly had a bad feeling as she peered around at the origination of the voices. And sure enough, moments later, James and Sirius rounded an alcove, laughing at a joke Sirius had made.
James halted abruptly as he caught sight of Severus and Lily at the corner of his eyes, the mirth in his orbs died away as he regarded their proximity.
“Hi Evans!” Sirius greeted, lifting a hand in recognition before turning on to Severus. “And well, well, well, if it isn’t Snivellus.”
Lily growled and knitted her brows together in resentment. “Don’t you call him that.”
“Aw… Evans is angry. But no worries, Prongs will still like you even though your temper—“
Sirius spluttered as James elbowed him in the ribs; he was unnaturally silent and even a bit flustered as he stared Severus down. But the latter only glared back at him square on. Sirius was now clutching his abdomen in feigned pain and howling in agony a bit louder than was necessary.
At his loud wails, the door of Slughorn’s office banged open and out strode a very aggrieved Slughorn, glaring at his students through the slits of his eyes. “What was the noise about, when I ask you to— Lily, my dear girl! What are you doing here at such hour? I am just about to give these young men detention and—”
“Actually Professor, I came to join their detention, as the incident during Poison today was partially my fault.”
Slughorn looked surprised and so did James and Sirius.
“My dear, you don’t really have to—“
“But I insist, Professor.”
Professor Slughorn sighed before nodding, “Alright dear, that’s my girl, always taking responsibility for other’s doings… Good at heart, I always say…”
He ranted on while marching out of the doorway and through the corridor as the others diligently followed.
Lily sauntered after his form dutifully with Sirius whistling and humming at her side. Behind them, oblivious to Lily, James and Severus were glaring daggers openly at each other, their hands stuffed into their robes pocket, fumbling with the tip of their wands.
So please review and tell me what you think! Thanks!
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