Complete?
Who: Severus Snape and Lily Evans What: Snape does experimental work in the potions lab Where: The potions lab When: Monday afternoon Rating: TBD
Severus sat at a table in the potions lab, reading through the notes in the potions text. He had a quill in his hand, making small corrections to the instructions provided in the book. As he poured various ingredients into the cauldron, he noted how the materials blended together, and ways that they could better function. Instead of a clockwise turn, he revised the instructions to be counter-clockwise. Adding an extra eye of newt makes the potion less viscous than it ordinarily is.
He stirred his cauldron carefully, hoping his time in the lab would be uninterrupted. However, when he heard footsteps behind him, he was annoyed at the presence of another person during his work time.
Lily walked into the Potions lab. She figured it would be as good a time as any to study and try to get ahead in her potions class.
As she walked in, she saw a familiar dark-haired boy sitting at a table scribbling in his textbook. She had seen him do this a couple of times before. Smiling to herself, she walked up to him silently, the only sounds in the room being the scratching of his quill and the soft noises from the cauldron.
Tapping the boy on the shoulder, she quickly moved to the other side of his body to hide from his oncoming glance back.
Snape kept his head in his book and grumbled something under his breath about people pestering you while you're trying to work. He turned his head and saw Lily sitting beside him. "Oh, hey Lily," he said, in a much softer, calmer tone. "What brings you down to the potions laboratory?"
Lily chuckled to herself at Snape's familiar grumbles that quickly turned much softer when he saw her. "I wanted to create a potion that would cause the entire school to sleep for 10 years..." she pursed her lips together for a minute at her bad joke, then sighed. "Actually, I want to get ahead in our potions lessons. I mean, they're rather simple, but I'd rather just know beforehand. You know me... perfectionist to the bone."
She smiled at him. "How about you?"
"Oh," he said, closing his book but leaving the quill inside to save the page, "I'm trying to see if there's a better way to make a befuddlement draught than what Jigger says to do in this book," Severus said, a sly smirk on his face.
Lily eyed his book. "You and your shortcuts. When are you going to start showing them to me?" She smiled at him widely. It had been a while since she'd spoken to Severus. That seemed to always happen when they were at school.
"They're not shortcuts, really, just improvements on previous technique..." he said, defending himself. Severus was never one to take shortcuts. "These are my personal techniques, you know I won't show them to anyone, even Slughorn."
"Ya, but I'm Lily!!" She couldn't help but smile at him. "I'm just kidding, you don't have to show me anything."
She sat down in the chair next to him and plopped her bag onto the table.
"Yes, you're Lily, who seems to never have time for me anymore," he said, with a slight frown, turning back toward his cauldron. "You're Lily, who seems to find plenty of time to snog Remus Lupin, or so I've been told."
Lily's face flushed immediately. "Severus..." She looked around the room for a moment, realizing that no one else was in there. "That's not what happened." She looked down at the table, not sure where to go from that statement.
"Oh yeah?" Severus asked. "Then what happened? Because all anyone can talk about is how you and Lupin were snogging under a mistletoe a couple of nights ago."
Lily looked around the room for a minute and then back at Severus.
"This isn't something you can share." She said the words, but she knew she could trust him even before they came out of her mouth.
"Remus and I were on our rounds and I ended up getting stuck in one of those damn mistletoes. So Remus kissed me. The first kiss was quick and it didn't do anything, so I made fun of him. Said his kisses were broken..." She waited in silence, wondering what his reaction would be thus far.
"So there was another kiss after that?" he asked, feeling his insides twisting. It was bad enough to hear about Lily kissing any other boy, but for it to be Remus Lupin, that disgusting werewolf?
Lily nodded, her face blanching a little bit. She felt bad on so many levels. "There was. A kiss that shouldn't have happened." She looked down to the side over her shoulder. She knew Remus regretted it, that it was a mistake. Safe to say, her self-esteem sucked right at that moment.
"You're damned right it shouldn't have happened," Severus said, a tiny bit of bitterness in his voice. "Remus Lupin... You can do much better than that!" Like me..., he thought, careful not to say it aloud.
"And what, may I ask you is wrong with Remus?" Immediately, her tone turned very defensive. Whether or not Remus was talking to her at the moment, he was still one of her best friends.
"For starters, he spends too much time with James Potter and Sirius Black - anyone that wastes their time with them is obviously not worthy of you," Severus said. "You're my best friend, I just want what's best for you."
Lily sat there silently, thinking about what he was saying. In her mind, no one was actually interested in her. "He said it was a mistake anyway, so you don't have anything to worry about." She took in a breath. "I agree."
"So we don't have to worry about you snogging any of that crowd any time soon?" Snape asked, feeling a little better about the incident.
"I don't expect so. No." Who was there left? James, Peter and Sirius? She could have laughed aloud.
"So, other than snogging prefects during rounds, what else have you been up to?" Snape asked Lily.
"Absolutely nothing, besides studying." She yawned, an absolute reflex, but fitting for the discussion at hand. "My life is so boring."
"What about you? Anything interesting? Fun stories from Slytherin?"
He shook his head. "No, I've been spending most of my free time down here," he said. "I kind of like being here, not surrounded by my housemates."
"That's pretty much how I've been. I love Gryffindor, but for some reason I like to be alone more lately." She rested her head in her hands and let her eyes drift around the classroom.
"I've been rubbing off on you, haven't I," Severus said, referring to how often he spends time by himself.
"Yes, I think so." She had always teased him about being a loner, but now here she was. Loners together.
"Everyone likes you, though, so maybe I need you to rub off on me," he said. Or rub on him. He wouldn't mind either one.
Lily smiled at him. "Not everyone likes me. For instance, most people in your house absolutely despise me. I'm a mudblood, remember?" She wasn't afraid to say the word herself, but if anyone else said it around or to her, she freaked out.
"That you may be, but you're just... different... than everyone else here," Severus said. For one, she was the absolute only one at this school that he trusted with anything.
"I'm not that much different." She tilted her head to the side on her hand. "I just refuse to hate people because of the house they are in, I guess."
"That's not really my basis for hating people," Severus said, shaking his head. That was not entirely true - aside from Lily, he hated everyone in Gryffindor, but that was mainly because they were mean to him.
Lily just smiled. She knew better than to argue with him about such things. she for one hated bullies, which was a lot of the reason she couldn't stand James and Sirius very much. Remus tagged along, didn't say much, but he was still a part of the group.
Severus hated bullies, probably more than Lily did - at least she wasn't the one being bullied. "So this Remus thing is over, or never existing, right?" he said, to reassure himself.
"I'm pretty sure it is. He isn't even talking to me anymore..." Her voice broke. It hurt her a lot that he wasn't talking to her and that he was avoiding her. She looked down at the table. She really didn't want to cry in front of Severus, he'd just throw at her that Remus isn't worth it and that he's a jerk and she can do better. It wasn't what she needed right then.
Severus noticed she was going to cry, so he put his materials down and walked over to her, awkwardly placing his hand on her back to comfort her. He was not a very touchy-feely person, so he hoped the gesture would come off well-meaning.
Lily leaned over toward Severus. He had hugged her very rarely, and even less than that touched her at all. "Thank you." The words came out slightly mumbled. "I'm sorry..."
"What are you sorry for?" he asked her, resting his hand on her shoulder. "You shouldn't be sorry for anything."
"For me being suddenly emotional. I know you don't like it." She leaned back in the chair and rested her head on his abdomen. "I wish it didn't happen, because now I feel like this."
He continued patting her awkwardly, not really sure what else he should be doing. "Not that I have any personal experience in the subject matter, but I'm going to say that you should get over this quickly, everyone makes mistakes."
"I wish it were that easy, Sev." She leaned forward again on her hands.
"I'd suggest you use a time-turner, but the paperwork involved in getting one is probably not worth it..." Snape said, trying in his awkward way to comfort Lily.
"Very true. It's only a matter of time before Remus tells James out of feeling guilty. I just hope that he tells me before he lets James know, so that I'm prepared for the tension." She shrugged as though it didn't bother her much, but she felt horrible for unintentionally coming between their friendship. "That god damn mistletoe. I don't know why Professor Dumbledore is in such support of it."
"If it makes you feel any better, I think it would just keep Potter away from you if he knew you snogged his best friend..." Severus said. In his mind, this would be the lowest blow to Potter, and he wanted to see him suffer.