Oddest Couple

Severus Snape's mother, Eileen Prince, was not a happy woman, nor was she a safe woman. Eileen was living in the house of a man named Tobias Snape, who happened to be a very dangerous man. Severus told Lily that he believed, would he have been a wizard, his father would most likely have been a dark wizard.

Lily spent the evening in the room with Severus, discussing what to do about his father and his mother. More importantly, they discussed what Severus was going to do. In the end, he decided to wait until the end of term to return home and decide where to go from there. He couldn't possibly miss his O.W.L.s. He knew his mother wouldn't stand for it. She, herself, had been Head Girl and hoped that Severus would follow in her footsteps and become Head Boy.

For the fifth years, Transfiguration O.W.L.s were approaching the following week. Lily was rather nervous over this. Although she could successfully vanish a toad, she still had difficulty transfiguring a ferret into a flower. It tended to keep its pink nose and feet and run about the classroom.

Lily soon found that she was certainly not the only person stressing over upcoming exams. Miranda Ogledon got sick during Care of Magical Creatures class and had to go to the hospital wing; she wasn't seen again until dinnertime, and even then she barely ate a thing.

One person who, of course, was not at all nervous about the exams was James Potter. 'Oi! Lily!' he called down the corridor as Lily headed to Arithmancy, which, much to her relief, James was not in.

He jogged up next to her and Lily said dully, 'What now, James?'

'I heard that you have an extra invitation to Slughorn's end-of-the-year party,' he said, too casually for Lily's liking.

'Did you?' Lily said emotionlessly.

'Indeed,' James said eagerly. 'And I was wondering if you had considered who you were going to take?'

The truth of it was, Lily hadn't planned on taking anyone. She knew Severus would already be there; he was a member of "The Slug Club," just like Lily.

'Err...' Lily said uncomfortably.

'You know you want to take me,' James said obnoxiously.

Lily was quick to reject his idea. 'Sorry, James,' she said, spotting Remus just ahead of her. 'I'm taking Remus.'

Remus quickly looked back upon hearing his name and looked at Lily. 'Don't you remember, Remus? I asked you about it the other night,' she said, raising an eyebrow at him, hoping he caught what she was saying.

Remus stared at her blankly for a moment before it dawned on him. 'Oh! Yeah! Should be great,' he said. He was rather good at acting when he wanted to be. 'Hope you don't mind, James,' he added.

'Not at all, Remus.' James, however, was not quite as good at lying. His face was awfully tense and Lily could tell he was considering hexing Remus.

James skulked off, leaving Remus and Lily to walk to Arithmancy. 'Why did you do that?' Remus sneered.

'Because you're the only one that knows about him,' Lily whispered discreetly.

'About your secret rendezvous with one Severus Snape of Slytherin house?' Remus said with a grin. Surprisingly, he was starting to get used to the idea of Lily dating him. Just the other day, he had managed to come up with a pretty good lie about how she had to talk to Gretchen Harris, the Ravenclaw prefect, about prefect duty on Saturday night because Lily planned on studying with Remus for their Arithmancy exam. Really, Lily had been meeting with Severus in the "Room of Requirement," as he liked to call it.

'Quiet,' Lily hissed, glancing around the corridor anxiously. 'Someone will hear you.'

Remus chuckled to himself. 'Lily,' he said, putting an arm around her waist in a way that made it look as though they were dating, 'you don't have to worry about that. I think everyone's taking bets on you and I.'

'It's your own fault, you know,' Lily pointed out. 'You're the one who insists on putting you arm around my waist as we walk to class.'

Remus dropped his arm and smiled. 'Wishful thinking, Lily,' he said simply.

'Never going to happen, Lupin,' a deep voice said from behind them.

Lily and Remus stopped and turned around to find Severus standing behind them, a smirk forming across his face.

'You know it's all an act,' Lily whispered to Severus.

'Yet, I can still be jealous that I don't get to walk you to class,' Severus said sadly.

'I'll meet you you-know-where at seven,' Lily whispered before walking away with Remus toward Arithmancy.

'He really does love you, doesn't he, Lily?' Remus said with a hint of both sadness and happiness.

Lily wasn't sure what to say. She had never been loved. Nor had she ever wondered what boys thought of her. 'I suppose,' she said casually.

'Do you love him?' Remus asked, making Lily feel rather uncomfortable. She had not intended to tell Remus about her feelings for Severus. That was strictly between the two of them. Not to mention the fact that she had never been in love with anyone and had no idea what it felt like.

'Erm...' Luckily, Lily was cut off by Professor Vector, the Arithmancy professor.

'Now, now, into class, you two,' she said, herding them into the classroom.

*****

After dinner, Lily headed up the Grand staircase with the other Gryffindors, but at the last moment, she turned down the seventh floor corridor and stopped in front of the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy, who, today, was teaching Merpeople how to make a bonfire underwater and failing miserably.

Lily rolled her eyes at him and walked past the wall opposite it again and again, just as Severus had taught her, until the doorknob popped out of the wall. She entered silently and found a rather surprising scene.

Severus was standing in the middle of the room, wearing his best dress robes. A slow, romantic song was playing, giving Lily the feeling of bubbly happiness in the pit of her stomach.

Severus stepped forward and offered his hand to Lily. 'Dance with me.' The words seemed to just roll off his tongue.

Speechlessly, Lily nodded and took his hand. He pulled her close. The warmth of his body made Lily feel like she was on top of the world. They swayed back and forth to the tune perfectly. She rested her head on his shoulder and shut her eyes, listening to the song and the sound of his breathing.

Severus placed his hands gently on her hips, guiding them as they danced. Lily let out a sighed that tickled his neck, but he didn't flinch. She was so beautiful just leaning against him.

'Lily,' he breathed. She looked up into his grey eyes. 'I - I love you.'

Lily's mouth went dry and her eyes filled with tears as her heart beat madly in her chest. A tear rolled down her cheek and Severus wiped it away. With his touch, Lily realised something.

'I love you too, Severus.'