For You

One~ Somewhat Cordial

Lily Evans rolled her eyes as Slughorn made a fuss over her potion-making skills in front of the class once again.

"Really, it's such a shame you weren't in Slytherin, my girl. Such talent could certainly aid us in gaining that House Cup the Gryffindors seem to snatch away from us every year!"

Lily forced a smile. "It's not the talent that's keeping you from getting the Cup,

Professor." She cast a glare in Lestrange's direction. "It's the people."

Slughorn paused in a slight shock as the Gryffindors laughed, and then broke out in a broad grin.

"You've got a nerve, Evans!" he laughed. "Just the kind of wit that we Slytherins- oh, well, never mind. Wouldn't want to suffer another painful blow to the pride, would I?"

Evans smiled sweetly and shrugged, then forced herself to look away, wanting that to be the end of it.

Slughorn apparently thought so too. "Today, class, we'll be undertaking a project which will be worth over 50% of your total mark in the OWL class. You are to invent a potion with magical capabilities, using a limited amount of ingredients, which must also have a beneficial consequence to the issue you will be assigned. You will also be required to catalogue your development into a detailed report, as well as test and present it to the class."

In response to the murmurs rippling throughout the class, Slughorn raised his voice, pulling out a sheet of parchment.

"You will accomplish this in pairs, which I have assigned myself, and the potion will be due and ready for testing by January the twenty-first."

He held the parchment out at arms length and began to read off names. He had been kind enough to pair Potter with Black, as they would have made any kind of partner work with anyone else extremely difficult, especially for Lily. However, there was another person she'd have preferred not to be paired with, and he hadn't yet been called on.

Severus Snape sat alone in the corner of the dungeon, sullen and bitter looking as ever, while each of the dimwitted idiots he usually paired himself with was given a partner. Lily knew he preferred it that way, as it gave him full reign of each project, and no one to get in the way.

That was why Lily didn't want the pleasure of being his partner; she knew he'd fight her opinions and suggestions every step of the way.

Sighing to herself, she knew it would be very much like Slughorn to pair the two of them together, as they were both top in the class for Potions, and laugh with that superior, name-dropping complex he had: "I thought it fitting to have two of Hogwarts' best, paired together!"

Just as the thought crossed her mind and Lily suppressed the grimace she felt developing at the thought of the embarrassment that statement would cause, her name was called.

"And I've paired Lily Evans with... Severus Snape!"

Lily expelled the breath she'd been holding and closed her eyes as if pained.

"I thought it fitting," Slughorn chuckled knowingly, "to have Hogwarts' two best sixth year students partnered up. I can hardly wait to see what the two of you concoct together!"

Still chuckling, Slughorn proceeded to read the list, though Lily wasn't listening.

She'd already opened her eyes, and glanced at Snape, who looked as if he'd been forced to eat something very sour.

"Oh, get over it," Lily thought angrily. "God forbid you have to actually work with someone with brains for a change!"

"Now, we have ten minutes left of class. Take this time to collaborate with your partners about your projects. You'll not get any more class time for this, mind, as it is an outside class project, so use it wisely!"

Lily waited for Snape to rise and sit with her, but he seemed to be abnormally reluctant to move, so she sighed, collected her books, and joined him in the corner.

"So I guess we'll be working with each other, huh?" Keeping things friendly, right off the bat.

Snape didn't look at her. "You figured that out all by yourself?"

Lily flopped down beside him. "Well someone got up on the wrong side of the bat cave this morning, didn't they?"

"I just don't appreciate being paired with over-zealous Gryffindors. I find their hero complexes exhausting."

Lily raised her eyebrows. "You're a lot more outspoken right-side up than when you're upside down, aren't you?" At the look on his face, she opened her mouth to apologize, but he cut her off, his face hardened.

"Look, Evans, I want more than what you would consider a 'good' mark on this project."

Lily, who had turned to face the front and rummage in her bag, glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "I'm sure that won't be a problem."

"Well I'm not quite as, ah, confident about that as you are, Evans." He wasn't looking at her; it was as if he were thinking rather than speaking.

"What would you propose we do?" Lily asked politely, deciding she wanted the bulk of this three-week project to be at least somewhat cordial.

"I do all the work, you neatly print your name at the top of the page. Before mine, if it pleases you." He was sneering now, obviously used to having these sort of things go his way.

Lily didn't look at him, but instead continued to rummage.

"See, that doesn't work for me. Unlike a lot of the half-witted baboons you usually have as partners, undoubtedly only so you can have full reign of the goings on, I prefer to learn from these projects and earn the marks I get."

She felt him stiffen beside her, and the tip of his quill broke as he pressed it to the parchment.

"Unfortunately, I have a problem with that."

"Unfortunately, that's your problem," Lily retorted as the bell rang, gathering up her things and shoving them into her bag. "We'll meet next week and discuss the ingredients. Wednesday night sound good? And don't think about starting it without me, because it'll just be a waste of your time."

Snape merely raised an eyebrow. "Apparently you've already given this a lot of thought. Already, the hypocrisy of your house begins to kick in."

Lily rolled her eyes.

"Just make sure you remember next week, alright?" Without another word, she exited, feeling only slightly smug that she'd had the last word.

As the days went by, getting closer and closer to the Wednesday night that Lily and

Snape had agreed upon to meet in the library, Lily found herself dreading the thought of spending two hours in the library with Snape. He wasn't all bad, and she found sometimes she was grateful there was a worthy adversary within the school on whom she could vent her sarcastic remarks. It was actually only during Potions that he became unbearable, sneering in her direction every time Slughorn mentioned her, and mocking her quietly with whatever thick- headed troll he had 'working' with him at the time. Other times, he was very nearly tolerable, and even had the habit of acknowledging her if they met in the corridors.

Lily suspected the suppressed acknowledgment came from his gratitude towards her for sticking up for him when Potter and Black found themselves without anything to do, although he nearly always became cross when she did. They never really spoke about it, unless you counted the time he'd called her a Mudblood and had ended up completely exposed to a large group of onlookers.

Lily, furious with him as well as herself, had watched from a safe distance, appalled at what had occurred once she'd left. She'd continued to watch as the laughter and the crowd eventually subsided, Snape dropped from the air and Potter and Black walked up to him, bent down, and said something before walking away, laughing.

Snape had disentangled himself and made a wild run for the castle, but as he drew closer,

Lily had stepped out into his way.

He'd stopped short, but refused to look in her eyes.

"Well?" Lily had demanded.

"I suppose you want a medal?" Snape had asked, slightly pink around the cheeks.

"Maybe, after you apologize."

"Well don't hold your breath," he'd brushed past her then, but Lily wasn't done.

She'd turned and called after his retreating form, "How does it make you feel when they do that? Huh?"

At that Snape had stopped, though he hadn't turned around.

"Low, maybe? Ashamed? Mortified?"

Lily had said this while walking around to face him again, and was more angry than she could ever remember being.

"Welcome to my world, every time someone calls me that. I know it's stupid, because the entire premise for it is completely idiotic and basically just meant to be malicious, but the fact of the matter is, I have to stand there while other people think about it. While they stare at me.

I know you don't like it, so how about you take that into consideration before you open your mouth again?"

She'd expected a mere shrug and a walk past again, but instead, Snape had turned looked at her.

"So you felt low, and ashamed, and mortified? Try being me when the Slytherins hear about how a Muggle-born girl had to stand up for me in front of Potter. Then try it when your uncle hears about it and decides to send you a Howler. Try sitting through that, then you'll know 'low.'"

He'd chosen that moment to walk away, leaving Lily speechless and with a twinge in her stomach she'd later come to recognize as admiration.

"Why not just split the work?" Gretchen, Lily's friend from Ravenclaw, asked over dinner. "That's what Jed and I are doing. That way I don't have to watch him staring at me with that creepy, sad kind of smile he has."

Lily laughed as she finished her ham and chicken pie and reached for the pudding.

"Funny thing is, we went over that already... sort of. He wanted to do all the work and have me sign my name. That's kind of splitting it, right? 90-10?"

"More like 99-1," Marla, who shared a dormitory with Lily, quipped. Marla had a problem with Snape, ever since he'd refused to act as message boy between her and his friend

Rosier. The scene was long over, but the bitterness remained. Marla enjoyed holding grudges.

"Bloody great prat. Of course he would think you weren't capable of doing the work. Prejudiced wanker."

"Hey now," Lily joked, spooning large amounts of cherry cobbler onto her plate, "take it easy there, Marla. You'll give yourself a tummy ache."

"You just let me know if he says anything out of line," Marla ordered, now spooning out her own cobbler, "I'll set him straight for you."

"Thanks, but I need him until January twenty-first," Lily said as she stood up and grabbed her bag. "Well, wish me luck."

Lily entered the library a few minutes early to find Snape already there, surrounded by large stacks of books.

"Hello," Lily said slowly, setting her bag down on a chair. "What's all this?"

"I took the liberty on selecting a few books I thought would aid us in the construction of our potion."

"But... we haven't even picked out our topic yet," Lily said, even more slowly than before. She couldn't believe he'd already started taking over their project. "How do you know which books to use?"

"Before you throw a fit, I know what our issue to solve for the potion is, as it's on our instruction sheet. I merely located books that offered information regarding it."

Lily felt herself go red.

"Oh, well, right then. Let's see."

Surprisingly, they worked well together, with very little bickering, mostly due to the fact that they both wanted very good marks on the project. They met once a week and researched their issue, which was Stealth in the Company of Danger. They had both decided that meant they needed to concoct a potion for staying hidden, and had narrowed the possibilities and difficulties to an invisibility potion. By December had made their list of ingredients and their method of brewing it. Lily was impressed on how well he kept the books, cataloguing nearly everything said and decided, everything read and written down. Together they collected each ingredient needed, and, after much reference toward other potions books, as well as the knowledge they possessed of their own experiences in potion-making, had created their own recipe leaflet. They agreed that the first Wednesday of December they would meet in a private dungeon, designated mainly for remedial potions classes, and begin the actual process of creation.

"We need that Verial root now, the one that's supposed to aid in various forms of invisibility," she murmured, reaching for the root, peering into the cauldron, stirring clockwise four times.

"How much do you think we'll need?" Severus wondered, reaching for it as well, not taking his eyes off the leaflet.

The dungeon was cold but perfect for what they were doing. Slughorn was thrilled to hear of their progress. They were, as he had stated so excitedly, far more accomplished than the other pairs, who were only just creating their ingredient lists. Lily and Severus had only just started, but were very sure of what they were doing. What's more, Severus had taken to asking her opinion on things rather than simply ordering her around and attempting to take over.

Reaching for the root, Lily beat him to it, but only by a moment, just enough for his hand to touch the back of hers rather than the root he'd been expecting.

There was a pause, as awkward as anyone could imagine, where Severus yanked away from the root, then attempted for it again, with nearly the same result, cursing his stupidity.

"You take it and cut it up," Lily ordered casually.

"Right," he replied, "d'you suppose lengthwise or horizontally?"

"A bit of both. Small enough pieces for us to be able to store it in that jar," she said, turning the page.

Severus glanced at her, then exhaled, relieved.

Time passed quickly with a few weeks of slow and deliberate brewing. Before they knew it, December was upon them. They were entering the final stage of the first part of brewing their potion, adding the last few ingredients before leaving it to stew over the holidays. Lily arrived first and retrieved the cauldron from the cupboard where they were allowed to store it.

Setting it on the counter, she proceeded to take out the ingredients they'd organized into jars and set them aside as well. Behind her, the door opened.

"About time you got here," Lily said without turning around. "I got here before you for a change- you're losing your touch."

Then, as Lily leaned forward to check the fire they'd charmed to keep burning, a hand wrapped around her mouth without warning and pulled her back so that she couldn't move.

Lily gasped, but because of the imposing hand, couldn't breathe through her mouth. Lily struggled furiously against her attacker, and managed, during the squirming, to get a hold of her wand. Pulling it from her robes quickly, Lily jabbed it into the first soft place she could feel behind her and thought of the first spell to come to mind. Her captor released her with a yell- a yell that was all too familiar.

Lily broke away and grabbed at the counter for support before turning to look upon James Potter, who was clutching his side.

Lily, shaking, revived him, but kept her wand out.

"Cheers, Evans," Potter said weakly, trying to get to his feet. "I think you burned me right through to the bone.

"What did you mean by it?" she demanded, her eyes blazing.

"Mean by what? Oh," he chuckled arrogantly, "that. I was just coming in to get my potion and thought I'd give you a bit of a scare. You know, keep you on your toes."

Lily drew in a slow breath as Potter took a step closer to her, wearing his signature lop- sided grin, and brushed a bit of hair that had fallen in front of her face during the struggle. Lily felt an incredibly infuriating rush of warmth rise to her cheeks.

"Don't touch me!" Lily snapped, backing up into the counter, flustered.

Potter put his hands up in surrender, but didn't move, or change his grin.

"You're pretty when you're mad, did you know?" he said with a smirk, meeting her furious green eyes with his own hazel ones.

"Oh good god- spare me, will you?" she snapped, still gripping her wand.

"No, really- your cheeks get all rosy..." he grinned again, reaching out to touch one.

"What is it with you?" Lily burst angrily, slapping his hand away. "You know yourself it's all about the chase. I see right through that. You aren't as subtle as you think."

Potter looked slightly taken aback, but hid it quickly. "Well, I mean- it's fun, isn't it?"

"Not for me," Lily told him icily.

"I could make it fun," Potter offered, eyeing her copper hair.

"Oh, give it up!" Lily snarled, shoving him hard. Potter allowed himself to stumble back, but continued to grin.

"Truth is, Evans, it's not about the chase at all," he said soberly, "it never really was."

Lily ignored the whoosh that rose to her stomach and set her jaw.

"You don't get it, do you? I find you disgusting! You're sketchy and cruel and arrogant- what part of that sounds attractive to you?"

Potter didn't offer an answer.

"So why don't you go settle for one of the girls that, for some reason, find you appealing, and leave me ALONE!"

As soon as she yelled it, there was a flash of red from behind them and a voice yelled from the door.

Potter fell to the floor, unmoving. When he fell, he revealed, standing in the doorway, a very angry-looking Severus.

He and Lily stared at Potter for a moment, then back at each other.

"Are you alright?" he asked from where he stood, his eyes sweeping briefly over her.

"Yeah, um, you got here a little late with that one," Lily muttered, bending to examine

Potter. "I think he's hit his head off the floor."

"Deserves it, bloody git," Severus growled, bending to examine him as well. Both looked

up at each other again, Potter laying sprawled between them.

"Thanks," Lily said. "It was beginning to sound like it wouldn't end."

"I surmised as much," Severus said.

"So... do you do this often, or just when Potter's involved?" Lily asked in a quiet voice, still holding his gaze.

"Sorry?"

"I mean, playing the hardened hero. Is this a... hobby of yours? Or was it just because

it was Potter?"

"Both," Severus answered, standing and breaking their gaze. " Since it usually involves Potter anyway."

Lily grinned. "Here, help me get him out of here. We can put him in a broom cupboard

until he comes to his senses."

Together they dragged James by his feet down the corridor and into a broom closet,

propping him up into the sitting position.

They returned to the dungeon room and, with very minimal talking, began working on

their potion again. Lily was now in a surprisingly good mood, considering what had happened.

Later, after dinner, Lily was walking up to the tower with Gretchen and Marla when Potter stepped out in front of them.

Gretchen gasped, clutching her heart, while Lily jumped only slightly.

"Christ- where did you come from?" she swallowed angrily.

Potter shrugged, looking slightly sullen.

"I wondered if I could have a word... privately," Potter asked Lily in a low voice. His face had none of the arrogant sheen of earlier that day.

"Forget it!" Marla began angrily. Lily hadn't told either of them about her encounter with Potter that day; they just couldn't stand him out of loyalty toward Lily.

"No, Marla, it's okay," Lily assured her, looking curiously at Potter. "I'll handle this. Meet you later?"

Looking disgruntled, Marla led Gretchen away, looking a few times over her shoulder at Potter, as if expecting him to jump Lily at any moment.

Lily waited until they had turned the far corner.

"Well? You've got five minutes."

Potter ran his hand through his hair, though more out of anxiety then vanity.

"I was a real prat today."

"No kidding," Lily returned icily.

"I'm just... really sorry."

Not used to seeing Potter being polite, Lily didn't quite know how to act. This wasn't the first time she'd seen him like this however; an incident last year had momentarily broken him out of his self-absorbed shell, and Lily had had a second thought about him, until a few days later when he'd returned back to normal and Lily convinced herself she'd imagined the whole thing.

It had been the strangest event. Lily had been walking back to the tower from the library, when she'd turned the corner and run straight into Severus. Taken aback, Lily raised her hand in greeting, but he hadn't even noticed, shoving past her and hurrying away.

Blinking confusedly, Lily had continued on her way. She'd reached the portrait only ten minutes later when Potter had tumbled from the hole and landed on top of her.

"Ouch! Potter, what-"

"Lily!" Potter had disentangled himself but grabbed her by the shoulders. "Have you seen Snape?"

"Why?" she'd asked suspiciously.

"I need to stop him-" Potter cut himself off, eyeing her warily, then shook his head. "I need to talk to him- it's important. Have you seen him?"

The look on his face startled Lily, but somehow she knew he wasn't lying.

"Yeah, ten minutes ago, outside the library- why?"

Potter swore terribly, glancing over his shoulder. "It might be too late," he murmured.

"What-?"

But then he was gone, disappearing down the corridor as fast as he could run.

Lily had wanted to follow, but had no idea where he was going, and had no hope of catching up. So instead, she crawled up into the common room and waited for him to return, wanting a full explanation.

It was late before he stumbled in, and Lily had unknowingly dozed off in a chair near the fire.

Frowning, James had crossed the room and, pausing only briefly to take in the scene, shook her gently by the shoulder. Lily had awakened, and then gone to stand, demanding an explanation.

James had merely pushed her back into the chair and sat across from her, looking exhausted.

"Are you alright?" Lily asked, genuinely concerned. "Is Snape ok?"

"Yeah, we're both fine," James had replied.

"What happened?" Lily demanded again, leaning forward to meet his eyes, which were cast down.

"I'd rather not talk about it," he'd replied. "It's not really my secret to tell."

Lily hadn't known what to say to that, and had remained silent.

"Well, if you're alright, I guess I'll go up to bed," she began, starting to rise. But James had reached out suddenly, grabbing her hand.

"Thanks," he said, forcing a lopsided grin, "for waiting, I mean."

"Oh, um, no problem," Lily had said, deciding not to tell him she'd just really wanted to know what had happened.

It looked as if he had something else to say, but James had merely dropped her hand then, and murmured a goodnight, yawning.

Lily had gone up to bed, incredibly perplexed.

Now he stood before her, the same tired, downtrodden expression on his face.

"What is it?" Lily asked quietly.

"I just wanted to say sorry. I'd hate for you to think I'm a womanizing prat," he said with a wry smile.

"No worries," Lily replied good- humouredly. "Never crossed my mind."

"Good to know," he replied. "Well, I'll see you then."

"Inevitably," Lily said, sidestepping him and continuing back. "By the way, apology accepted."

Musing at the awkwardness of the situation, Lily picked up her gait and tried to wipe the memory from her mind. She preferred to assume that Potter didn't have morals, or feelings, for that matter.

It helped her sleep at night.