Leeches

James and Sirius sniggered. The note they were writing was genius. All future Hogwarts pranksters would remember this day as the beginning of the greatest prank ever played. Sirius glanced around the library. There was Mary McDonald, conversing with one of her random, rather good-looking friends. Sirius ran his fingers through his hair before continuing with his scan of the room.

"Aaaah...there's our subject now." James looked up where Sirius was staring and smirked.

"Snivellus." In the far, most shadowy corner of the entire library sat Severus. He was leaning into his book so far, that his nose seemed to be squished against the pages. Occasionally he would lean to the right and make a note on the parchment beside him. To the left sat an auburn-haired, fourteen-year-old young girl with bright green eyes. She was casually leaning on the table with her right hand. She was talking very fast and it was obvious, after a few minutes, that Severus was in fact faking an uncaring attitude, because his nose wasn't skating across the paper in its normal fashion, and he never turned the page. The Marauders sitting at the table would occasionally pick up snippets of "it's evil, Sev" and "arrogant toerag."

"Sounds like their normal conversation; it's not worth bringing out the old cloak." James nodded and looked back down at the note they were writing, thinking about the conversation they had heard so many times before. It was always the same thing. Lily was aggravated with Severus about the magic he did with his group of friends. Severus got onto the subject of James, and Lily called him an arrogant toerag. James got lost in his thoughts when he realized that the note was almost finished. A few minutes later, he and Sirius held the parchment to the light and compared it with the parchment with Lily's writing on it.

"I think that'll work," came Sirius's voice.

"Wait! Smell it."

"I want to become a dog when I do that! They have better scent!" They were talking in whispers so low that James was straining to hear Sirius talk.

"Fine, smell it later." James turned back to where Lily was talking with Severus. The latter had finally put down his book and devoted his full attention to her.

"When was the last time we talked with Snivellus?" James asked Sirius in a much louder voice than they had previously used. It was just loud enough so that Lily looked over at him and scowled. James ruffled his hair and stood up.

"I can't quite remember," Sirius replied as he stood up beside James. Together they began walking over to Lily and Severus. This time, they both Lily and Severus turned their heads.

"What do you want?" Lily looked at them with a look that she would give a thing that she found at the bottom of the lake. Severus remained quiet, not wanting to get involved.

"Nothing much..." James answered casually.

"We just realized that we haven't talked with Snivellus here in a while," Sirius added.

"So how's it going Snivellus? Washed your hair lately?" James continued.

"It's obvious that he hasn't, James, can't you tell? It's dripping like your saliva whenever you look at Evans!"

"Let's get out of here, Sev. Why should we be in the same room with snot bubbles, anyway?" Lily and Severus stood up to leave.

"Snot bubbles! That's a new one, Evans!" James ruffled his hair while he yelled after their retreating bodies. Lily looked back and made a face. James smirked, obviously very pleased with his reaction.

"C'mon, James, lets get up to the room and sniff this baby!" James nodded and he and Sirius laughed all the way up to the portrait of the Fat Lady.

* * * * *

Severus retreated to his bed. He was extremely tired of the activity around the green-tinted common room. He slowly made his way up to the soft, four-poster bed that awaited him at the top of the steps. He sank into the bed and heard the sound of parchment crackling. Puzzled, he checked the bed. There, he found a note with the words Severus Snape in Lily's handwriting on the front. He beamed, and was glad the room was empty. He opened it up and read it three times, smile getting wider with each reading.

Sev,

I want to meet you in the DADA room at one in the morning next Monday. I really want to tell you something but haven't had the courage to say it to your face. It would mean so much if you could just meet me there. If a teacher comes around, I'll just say that I found you wondering the corridors and was giving you a talking-to. It's worked before, and I'm sure it will work again!

With much love,

Lily Evans

Severus fell onto his bed, wishing that Monday would come sooner.

* * * * *

Lily stretched and made her way down to the Great Hall. She smiled at Severus before making her way to the table farthest from the door. She plopped down and piled her plate with eggs, sausage, and toast. She took a nice gulp of pumpkin juice and picked up her fork to eat when she noticed James and Sirius strutting over to her. She sighed and set her fork back down. Crossing her arms, she waited until the pair had sat themselves on each side of her before she spoke.

"What do you idiots want?" A note was placed in front of her. Frowning, she picked it up and read it. It was from Severus.

Lily,

Can we meet at one in the morning next Monday? I have something important I want to tell you that has to be told to you in private. I'll be waiting in the DADA room for you.

Your friend,

Severus Snape

"How'd you get this?" Lily looked up at James with a look of loathing.

"Have you been stealing from his bag?"

"Of course, not Evans, we just noticed this as it fell out of his bag as you were flouncing away with him." James smiled back at her, seeming very pleased with himself for bringing her such an important item.

"We would've given this to you in the common room, but you weren't there." Sirius smiled at her with an expression identical to James. Together they put eggs, bacon, sausage, and toast on their plate before waving to Remus and Peter, who'd just walked in. Remus sat down across from Lily, and Peter sat across from James. Lily rolled her eyes and decided she could live with them sitting beside her, as long as they didn't talk to her or make jokes about Severus.

"So, Remus, how's your furry little problem?" Sirius said casually.

"Oh, it's fine. I've just given it some tonic, its nerves are under control, though it will probably need a walk in the next week or two." Remus replied before continuing with his breakfast. Lily rolled her eyes again before standing up and heading to potions.