Dramatis Personae

Severus was on his way straight to the dungeons. No delay, no interruptions ... he was through with that.

"James!"

Oh, please! Not her again.

"James, wait up!"

No way! Severus gathered speed. He would just ignore her.

"JAMES!!!"

He stopped himself short of falling down several floors. Where was that damn staircase when you needed it?

Lily catched up with him. "Hey, didn't you see that? What's wrong with you?" She turned him around and frowned. "Oh that's why ... Didn't I tell you to stay in one piece?"

"Didn't I tell you my nose was broken? Look who's right now!" he sniffed.

"Oh you remember our conversation, do you? May I remind you that we had a date ... um ... two minutes ago? Okay, so you're not late. That's good." Lily felt like an idiot. This wasn't how it was supposed to be.

Severus smiled despite himself. An irresistably intriguing thought had struck. This was the one perfect chance to make petty Potter pay for - pretty much everything. And it was so easy, he could hurt Potter by hurting Evans. Simple. Lucius, in his place, wouldn't think twice about it.

Her green eyes were uneasily fixed on him - Evans was nervous. Good. She moved closer and ruffled vaguely through his hair. This was such an annoying habit! He wasn't used to that.

"James, I have to tell you something." Oh dear - he wasn't used to that either. Her voice left no doubt about what this something would be. He tried to ignore that she - looked quite beautiful. She wore a deep-blue dress with black and silver linings on it. No make-up, he noticed. Strange enough, this stressed the colour of her eyes even more.

"I know, perhaps it's not the best timing ... " she went on. He could smell her hair, which was for once severely tied into a - complex construction on the back of her head. Her face was beaming and ... stop that! What was he thinking? This wouldn't work like that. This wasn't easy at all! He was totally bewildered. This wasn't ... she was ... he couldn't ...

"... but you have to know - "

"YOU'RE RIGHT," he blurted out. "This isn't the best of times. Dumbledore! He ... he sent me to the hospital wing. I just came here so you don't have to worry." He felt like an idiot. This wasn't going as planned. He growled inwardly. This so wasn't his night! Bloody Potter wins again, without even doing anything.

"I can walk you there."

"NO - you should go back to Gryffindor Tower, in case ... Sirius got back? I'll catch you later."

"He's with Remus - and it's nonsense. Can you please stop being all concerned for a while? I really have to talk to you."

"But ... you look tired! Perhaps you should go to bed." Hell, couldn't she just - go away! Maybe he could still curse -

It happened very fast. She leaned forward, took his hands into hers and kissed him. It was a soft kiss and it was - pleasant. His brain was denying this, telling him to - well, un-kiss her, which was impossible because he couldn't think or move or ... think - and then he even shut his eyes. His brain was complaining again, but it simply wasn't in charge anymore.

It was over in a heartbeat. And when she moved away from him, he could feel the warmth slipping away too.

"What did you do?" he whispered.

"I kissed you, silly. Didn't you notice?" She was still holding his hands.

"DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!"

"What?"

She backed away, looking as terrified as he felt and Severus forced himself to calm down. "This isn't ... right. You shouldn't have ... "

"Didn't you ... like it?"

His face burned. "I ... I liked it - NO, I didn't! ... I mean, I shouldn't have liked it." Oh God, had he really said that? Why couldn't he stop it!

"Why?" She started to panic. This sure wasn't in the manual.

"I'm not - prepared for this!" he said desperately, not sure if he was talking about Potter or himself.

"I'm in love with you, James. I don't know if I'm prepared for this either, but I've wanted to tell you this since - long." She saw his eyes go wide with shock and immediately felt her blood rising up her cheeks. She couldn't go on with him staring like that, and she didn't want to cry - so she got angry. "Say. Something."

Oh God, oh God, OH GOD! Severus was frantically flailing around for words. Where was bloody Potter when he for once needed him? "Ahm, why don't we sleep - THINK - this over, and talk about it ... tomorrow!?" He saw her red face darken. Not the right words apparently.

"Don't treat me like I'm stupid or a child! If you don't feel the same about me, say it. But don't hurt me like - "

"I'M NOT JAMES!"

She blinked.

"Did you hear what I said?"

"I heard it!" a third voice cut in. "And can you possibly explain to me what the hell you are doing there, Severus? Weren't you supposed to meet me?"

"Lucius?" Malfoy stood in the hallway. Sizzling and very much enraged, not to mention the hair. A detached part of Severus' brain wondered why Lucius had changed back so quickly but he couldn't focus on it. Not with Lily staring at him like this.

"Severus? Snape?" Lily waited for the information to sink in. She looked from what still looked like James to Malfoy - and back to ... Snape!?! She was totally exhausted from making her confession, and she'd made it to Snape! And she'd kissed him, she'd kissed him, she ... punched him.

Severus wasn't swept off his feet but it did hurt - a lot actually. He held his nose, not making any sound.

Lily, on the other hand, found her voice again. "Have you totally lost your mind? This is the most disgusting, foul and abusive kind of ... thing I have ever ... ! What makes you think you can play with people like that? Don't you have one single spark of decency in you, man? You kissed me and -"

"No - you kissed me! I was actually trying to avoid it." Severus mumbled back, wondering why he was defending himself. It was all her fault!

"THAT ISN'T THE POINT!"

"You could have known I'm not Potter! I thought you were so clever?"

"Oh, look who's talking! Do you really think this whole scheme is very intelligent?"

"Go and tell that to your boyfriend - oh deary me, but he isn't your boyfriend. Perhaps I can give him that kiss for you."

"YOU ... grow up, will you? ... I'm going to tell Dumbledore - right away!"

"Oh, that's very grown-up! Why don't you - "

"NO YOU WON'T!" Their heads jerked. They'd totally forgotten about Lucius. He'd drawn his wand and his eyes were blazing.

From this point, everything went slow motion for Severus. He saw Evans draw her wand in defence. At the same time Lucius was already shouting his spell: "OBLIVIATE!" Evans tried to block the curse, but hesitated a fracture of a second too long - "EXPELL - " The curse would hit her! She was only an armlength away from Severus - so he pulled her over to him - and Lucius' memory charm hit thin air. "TARANTALLEGRA!" Severus cried. This wouldn't usually have been his first-choice countercurse, but he was glad he came up with anything at all.

It hit Lucius full force and time returned to normal.

Lily and Severus watched the result for almost a minute. But it wasn't a pretty sight and Lily decided to end this horror. "STUPEFY!" Malfoy landed face first on the ground.

She turned to Snape who'd gotten very, very pale. Well, he'd just made Malfoy dance himself silly - that would probably get him into trouble. Not her fault - or was it? She unclenched his hand from her arm, he was still holding it tight. Perhaps she should say something - calming?

"I think Malfoy will remember this for a long, long ... I mean, he was really going to use a memory charm on me! He's crazy! Imagine what he will do to ... when he is back on ... " Snape made a choking sound. Okay, that didn't work - but then she was in shock too. She tried again.

"Why did you ... " She pointed over to Malfoy, unable to speak it out loud. Snape had protected her.

Severus finally cleared his throat. "Don't you dare telling anyone about this - or that ... kiss."

She stared at him. "What should I possibly say? 'Behold - I kissed Snape! I let myself be fooled by a bloody Slytherin!' Should I tell them that I gave my ... ," she flinched. "Now that would bring a lot of fun to my life."

Severus froze. "That wasn't your ... your first ... ?"

"OF COURSE NOT! I mean ... not like ... it was ..."

He gazed at her while she was struggling for words. He breathed deeply and when he spoke, his voice was almost unhearable. "I'm sorry you had to kiss me."

Lily looked up in surprise. One streak of hair had come loose over her eyes and Snape - tucked it away behind her ear. His hand stopped in midair as if he'd just realized what he had done. And then he changed back. She saw him watching his hand - pale, with long slick fingers. He grew several inches and when he looked at her again, his eyes had already gone black. He turned on his heels - but Lily stopped him.

She was still angry, a lot, but ... "Don't be." She took the glasses from his nose and hesitated. "Now wait - was this your first ..." And then she gave him just a little kiss on the cheek. "More than meets the eye. Funny."

"..."

"Just something I have to remember."

And with that, she walked away. Severus Snape stood there for another five minutes before he finally convinced himself that he probably could move now. He stepped over Lucius, heading straight for the dungeons. His brain was still knocked out, so his smile didn't leave his face.