The Long and Winding Road

The moment the food was cleared, Severus had to lead ten extremely perky girls and boys to the Slytherin common room. As they walked out of the Great Hall, Severus turned around, wondering where Narcissa was. To his total lack of surprise, Narcissa and Sirius were exchanging a few colourful words to each other over by the Gryffindor table. He told the kids curtly to wait and walked over to the bickering Blacks.

"Heard from your Death Eater in training of a boyfriend? Or is he too busy killing Muggles and Muggle-borns to pay you a visit?" asked Sirius casually and looked at his fingernails. Behind him, James and Peter looked at Narcissa like she was dirt.

"Oh, I'm sure he is. Such a noble duty, in my opinion. But you wouldn't know about such nobility?" replied Narcissa with a cold smile on her face.

"Him, noble?" Sirius let out a barking laugh. "As noble my arse."

"Well, well, well. Do my eyes betray me, or do I see Sirius back-talking to a prefect?" said Snape.

"You call this load of pure-blood trash a prefect, Snivellus?" asked Sirius with a smile on his face. Narcissa grabbed her wand, as did James and Sirius.

"I think twenty points off Gryffindor would be reasonable; now go up to your common room," Severus said.

"Or what, Snivellus?" snapped James while pushing Severus in the chest. Severus grabbed for his wand but Professor McGonagall stepped in.

"Boys...and Miss Black," added McGonagall when Narcissa cleared her throat. "Severus and Narcissa, you are supposed to lead the first years to the Slytherin common room. And you three, up to the Gryffindor common room at once or I myself will have to take points off."

"No need, Professor, Snivellus already did," grumbled James, he and Severus glaring daggers at each other.

"Enough, go now!" barked McGonagall as she pointed to the entrance of the Great Hall.

"You'll regret taking those points off, Snivellus," growled James as he purposely walked into Severus' shoulder along with Sirius, who gave one last glare at Narcissa. Peter walked after them.

"I despise that disgusting little blood traitor. He's making the Blacks look bad, that one. It was about time his mum kicked his sorry arse out. We can't afford to have anyone diminish our reputation! Well, come on, Severus," Narcissa ordered.

With that they led the newly-sorted Slytherins to the common room.

As soon as Severus walked in, he was greeted by a roaring fire and students chattering. He spotted Bellatrix by the fire with a few third year boys surrounding her, while the older Slytherin males looked at the younger students with would be careless expressions. Not wanting to be bothered, Severus made his way up to his dormitory. The minute he opened the door, Demetrius was ran up to him.

"How was it?" he asked quickly.

"How was what?" Severus asked. He looked around and saw that his trunk was open. "Do you have any respect for people's privacy?" Severus stopped talking as soon as he took another glance at Nott and saw what he was holding. "What the bloody hell is that?"

"I should be asking you the same thing, mate," Demetrius was holding what a pair of what looked like red women's knickers. Demetrius' eyes were huge and he had a big smile on his face. "Well? Who was it?"

"What do you mean? They're not mine, you idiot!"

"Well, I assumed that much, but they were in your trunk so I assumed they belonged to the girl you must have shagged," Nott said.

"First of all, Nott, I didn't shag anyone," said Severus, gritting his teeth. The expression on Nott's face turned into confusion. "Second of all, I have no idea how those knickers got into my trunk. And third of all, never search my trunk for the hell of it."

Severus' eyes went wide with realization.

"Well? Whose are they?"

"Evans..." Severus said, his face redder and more embarrassed than ever.

"YOU SHAGGED EVANS? How was she, mate? Are these a present or something?"

"I DID NOT SHAG HER! Get your head out of the gutter, Nott. On the platform, she ran into me and our trunks opened and we both grabbed the nearest thing--"

Severus stopped mid-sentence again and hastily searched through his trunk. "Where is it? Where the hell is it?"

"What you've got more in there?" asked Demetrius. "I only got four this summer."

"NO! My book...my Potions book. It's gone...so are a few of my other books!" Severus groaned.

"What's with all the yelling?" asked Evan Rosier, accompanied by Oleander Wilkes, who looked at the current scene: Demetrius holding a pair of red underwear and Severus rummaging through his trunk with a furrowed brow.

"Snape shagged Evans," Demetrius said promptly with a goofy grin on his face.

"I did not shag Evans, but that...that--" he yelled pointing at the knickers, which Demetrius hovered around Evan's head - "and a few other articles of clothing belonging to her, got into my trunk."

"Ugh, when are you going to give the Mudblood her clothes back?" asked Wilkes with a look of disgust and amusement plastered on his face.

"I don't know," Severus muttered.

"Well, I think we can use this to our advantage, boys," Evan said.

"What, you mean to embarrass Evans?" asked Wilkes.

"Precisely, Oley."

"I keep telling you, just call me Wilkes!"

"Anyways, what could we do?"

Demetrius, Evan, and Wilkes were brainstorming. Severus didn't want to have any part in it.

"This is something that Potter and those nimrods he calls friends would do, and I have no desire to mimic them. If you lot will shut up I'll let you decide what to do with the knickers. But I'm giving her the rest of her clothes," Severus muttered.

"Oi! Let's burn them!" yelled Wilkes with a positively jubilant expression on his face as though Christmas came early.

"That's boring, Wilkes," said Evan with a sigh.

"It's alright, it'll be a big laugh."

"Sure, whatever," Demetrius said and grabbed the knickers and ran down the stairs with Wilkes and Evan in his wake.

Severus shook his head at their stupidity and prepared for bed.

XXX

"Lily, I love your nightgown! Very...elegant," approved Alice as the girls changed into their bed clothes.

"It looks like you're getting ready to sleep with a lover, if you ask me," Marlene scoffed, sporting a button-up polka dot top with matching pants.

"Marlene, you look very Muggle right now, just so you know," noticed Lily.

"Well, witches do sport Muggle bed clothes a lot of the time," Marlene said.

"Lily, are you really considering going to Hogsmeade with James?" asked Emmeline.

Lily searched her trunk for her brush, "I don't know. He's so desperate, and he's been trying to ask me out for years now and--where's that damn brush?"

She decided to take everything out of her trunk and look again.

"Lily, why do you have two Potions books? And why is that one so beat up?" asked Alice with a frown.

"What? I don't have two Potions books," Lily said dismissively, continuing to search her trunk.

"Then why do I see two Potions books next to your bum? And Lily, why do you have that?" Alice cried, pointing to a small black book titled Darker the Arts, Darker the Wizard as though it were a large bug. "Since when were you interested with the Dark Arts?"

Lily looked in Alice's line of vision and discovered the many books that were definitely not hers. Then it hit her.

"Snape."

"Snape? What's that grease ball got to do with anything?" said Marlene bluntly while Emmeline and Alice giggled.

"Marlene, please. Remember what I told you about Bellatrix and me slipping into Snape and our trunks opening? Well, I must have grabbed some of his stuff. And maybe he has my hairbrush--I also notice that a few of my blouses are missing and--" Lily then turned a shade as bright as her hair.

"And what?" asked Emmeline, noticing Lily's vibrant cheeks.

"My knickers...he has my knickers!" cried Lily. Out of all the people of Hogwarts, Severus Snape has my knickers...in his trunk...

After a few seconds of silence, the three girls began to laugh so hard that Lily was sure they could be heard in the Three Broomsticks.

"Shut up! All of you!" squealed Lily, grabbing her pillow and bonking each of the laughing girls on the head. "This is so embarrassing!" Lily muttered as she fell onto her comfortable four-poster bed, burying her head into her cold pillow, hoping it would cool off her burning cheeks.

"Sorry...Lily...we...didn't...mean to!" gasped Alice, while Marlene was still barking with laughter and Emmeline was trying to conceal her giggles.

"I said shut up!" said Lily's muffled voice in the pillow. "How am I going to do this?"

After the girls calmed down, Marlene spoke up, "I don't know, Lily, but don't worry about it now. Sleep on it and you'll find out in the morning."

Agreeing with Marlene, she, Alice, and Emmeline got into their beds and waited to fall asleep.

Once three minutes of silence had passed within the room Lily heard Marlene snort and put on a high-pitched voice, "Snape, do you mind giving me back my big, fat, frilly knickers? I would really appreciate it. What? You thought they were yours? Sorry, mate."

Emmeline and Alice cracked up once again and Lily groaned and quickly went to sleep.

XXX

He was in a field of waist high grass. The sky was overcast and the clouds were threatening to unleash rain upon the meadow. He was running but didn't know where to go. Up ahead was a dense forest and mountains. To the east was a river, to the south and west were more grassland. He decided to continue forward. What was he after? Why was he running? Up ahead he saw the silhouette of a figure. Male or female, he didn't know, but they were running as well. He ran faster and faster and finally saw the figure more clearly. It wore a white sundress so he assumed it was a female. She wore a waist-length hooded black coat which bellowed as she ran. He ran faster to catch up to her and touched her shoulder...

Severus awoke with a start. That was a strange dream, he thought, and quickly got dressed and grabbed his satchel to get a quick bite of breakfast when he remembered the events of last night.

"Damn," he scowled. He conjured up a sack and opened his trunk and, using Wingardem Leviosa, levitated a few woman's shirts and a hairbrush into the sack and left his dorm.

He walked into the Great Hall and sat down at the Slytherin table next to Regulus Black.

"Merlin, Severus. Did your pet die or something?" inquired Regulus as he ate an apple.

"No," mumbled Severus. He really wasn't in the mood to talk to Regulus right now. He was wondering how he was going to give Lily's clothes back to her.

"Well guess what? Slughorn asked me to join the Slug Club this morning! Wicked huh?"

"Not really."

"Well, we get to have those exclusive parties and have food. So what's not to like?"

Severus shrugged and grabbed a piece of dry toast and started to eat it when Professor Slughorn scurried up to him.

"Severus! How are you this lovely morning?" Slughorn said cheerfully.

Severus looked up at the ceiling of the great hall and saw that it was quite overcast. He frowned. "Fine, professor."

"Well, about your schedule," Slughorn started as he shuffled through papers. "Your O.W.L. results were fantastic, as I'm sure you saw in July. So this year you will be taking Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Transfiguration, Arithmancy, and, of course, Potions! Have you thought about what you want to do after you leave school?"

"Sorry, sir, I can't say I have thought about it very much," replied Severus truthfully.

"Funny, a few sixth and seventh years don't really know what they want to do either. Oh well. See you this afternoon," Slughorn said.

Severus watched him walk away and approach a yawning Evan Rosier. He knew why those Slytherins didn't know what they wanted to do. He was positive that they didn't care because they thought they would be serving the Dark Lord as soon as they graduated. Severus then got up, said good-bye to Regulus, and quickly left the Great Hall so that he could sit outside of the Transfiguration room before classes begun...in twenty minutes, without the proper book. She has my Potions book, my Transfiguration book, and my Dark Arts book. What else does she have? My mother in her trunk? Severus thought. He suddenly regretted the thought of his mother and waited in vain for the bell to ring so that he could receive his book from Evans.

XXX

Lily Evans was not happy. She was pleased that she got all the classes that she wanted but she was angry about the fact that not only did she have to approach Severus so that she could get her clothes back, but her shoulder was about to fall off due to the extra twenty pounds of books in her shoulder bag. After eating a bowl of cereal, chatting briefly with Remus about prefect duties, and telling off James after getting her schedule, she promptly went to wait for her first period class to begin: Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall.

When she climbed a couple flights of stairs and turned around the corner she spotted, who else, Severus Snape sitting outside of the Transfiguration classroom. Severus looked up and the moment he saw her, frowned. Great, this is turning out to be a fabulous first day, Lily thought as she walked towards him, biting her lip nervously.

"Snape?" Lily said softly.

"I think you have a few books that belong to me, Evans," he said sharply. "I have a few items that belong to you."

Lily turned a bright shade of red. "Yes, yes, I have a few of your books," she said as she opened her shoulder bag and handed the heavy tomes to Severus. He grabbed them possessively and placed them in his satchel. "You know, my room-mates were a bit confused when they saw some of those books. They thought I was interested in the Dark Arts or something...but then I remembered what happened on the platform and--"

"You talk too much," Severus interrupted.

"Sorry. Anyways, I think you said you have some stuff that belongs to me?" said Lily sounding more comfortable than she felt.

"Yes," And he pulled out the clothes-filled pack from his satchel. "Here." He handed over the sack and began to read one of his books. Lily looked through it to make sure that all of her belongings were in there and they were...except for one pair of knickers.

"Snape, are you sure this was all that you found in your trunk?" Lily asked.

"No," he replied simply

"Well, where would my other belongings be?" Lily said.

"Not here," Severus said.

"Oh?" Lily inquired, starting to get suspicious.

"Would you like me to be terribly blunt, Evans?" asked Severus quickly. Lily opened her mouth to speak but Severus interrupted her. "Let's just say that one of your missing belongings is now a pile of ashes in the Slytherin fireplace."

"What?" exclaimed Lily.

"Yes, that's what happens when a Muggle-born girl's knickers ends up in the sixth year Slytherin boy's room," he muttered, not looking up from his book.

"Why? It's not like it's my fault here!" she yelled.

"We shall not speak of this again, I presume?" said Severus looking through his Potions book, long curtains of hair covering most of his profile except the tip of his nose.

"Right, right," Lily said quickly. I suppose it's just a pair of knickers, she thought.

There wasn't a sound to be heard except for the sound of Severus turning the pages of the tattered Potions book. Lily then plopped down next to Severus, pulling out her Transfiguration book. Out of the corner of her eye she saw that Severus was looking at her with an affronted expression.

"So, what classes are you taking this year?" asked Lily conversationally.

"Why should you care, Evans?" mumbled Severus.

Lily shrugged. "Just curious."

Severus didn't answer. Maybe he doesn't like to talk about school, she thought, and changed the subject.

"So, how was your summer?" Lily asked.

Severus heaved a loud sigh and continued to ignore her.

"Mine was okay, I suppose," said Lily. "My sister has been hard to deal with, and my parents have become more embarrassing than ever. I'm sure you can relate to the latter, right?"

"Evans, apparently you don't realize that I'm trying to read," he snapped with irritation.

"Well, sorry for trying to make conversation, Snape! Merlin, it's as though everything and everyone irritates you. Why can't you just have a civil conversation with me?" she asked heatedly.

"Why are you trying to make conversation with me in the first place? Not as though you ever did before. So why don't you stop acting as though talking to you will make me feel good about myself or some shit like that because I don't need it," Snape said ruthlessly.

"That's not what I'm trying to do, Snape," Lily said softly. "Maybe we should talk about what happened last year or something."

"I don't want to talk about what happened last year... You got involved in something that you shouldn't have gotten involved in and ruined my reputation--"

"Severus Snape worrying about his reputation?" scoffed Lily.

"You find that amusing? Want to know what I find amusing? You thinking you understand me. That's what I find amusing," Severus hissed.

"This is what I mean!" Lily cried. "Snape, we are two mature, sixteen-year-old individuals. Can we please just forget last year and move on? I won't even get in your way, I won't even talk or acknowledge you if you don't want! But I just don't want you to have some personal vendetta against someone who was only trying to save you from a couple of idiots."

"All you did was butt in, acting like some sodding hero. We have nothing more to discuss, Evans," Severus said.

With that, Lily stopped talking, but she was burning inside. All she wanted to do was forget about what happened, and he still too proud to act as though he had needed help. As they sat in silence, Lily took one fleeting glance at Severus and noticed that he, again, was reading his Potions book behind his long curtain of hair. She sighed and opened her new Transfiguration book, looking over what they would be learning for the next year.

XXX

Who does she think she is? Acting as though she knows me, thought Severus with disgust. He was pretending to read his Potions book and his last comment seemed to have shut Lily up so he was satisfied. He then realized how close she was sitting to him when their arms brushed. He and Lily leapt away from each other as though their arms were on fire and glared at one another before Lily moved to sit against the wall opposite him.

Students began to enter the corridor and began to talk loudly. A few seemed anxious while others acted bored and just began to chatter amongst themselves. A few minutes before the bell rang, a group of boys became visible walking down the corridor, and to the dismay of Severus, he discovered that those boys were James, Remus, and Sirius. How those idiots got into McGonagall's N.E.W.T.s Transfiguration class, Severus had no idea. He began to read his book once more but eavesdropped to hear what the prats were saying.

"Hey, Evans," he heard James Potter say in a suave voice. Probably running his hand through his hair, thought Severus. He glanced up and saw that he was correct. James was standing close to a sitting Lily Evans, running his hand through his hair. Lily was ignoring him, still reading her Transfiguration book.

"What do you want, Potter?" Lily muttered. "And hello, Black, Remus."

"I wanted to know if you had thought more about the Hogsmeade weekend," James said.

"Potter, I hope you know that Hogsmeade weekend is in over a month, and that I'm sure you'll want to go with someone else by that time."

"But I know that I won't," James said.

Lily snorted. "Oh yeah? You have quite a few girls who I know are dying to go with you." And there is one girl who is dying for you to leave, she thought.

"I don't care, because I just want to be with you, Evans, you know that," James said softly.

"Stop trying to sweet talk me, Potter." And with that, Lily stood up and moved away.

"Will you ever give up, Prongs?" asked Sirius.

"Yeah, you've liked her since second year," said Remus.

"Nope, I'm not giving up. Lily Evans will love me, mates, just wait and see. She looks beautiful today, doesn't she?"

Severus let out an obnoxious snort. What an imbecile.

James Potter turned around and spotted Severus Snape reading his Potions book next to the Transfiguration room door. Angry, he kicked the book out of Severus' hand. Sirius laughed while Remus looked pained on whether to laugh or stop his friends.

Severus leapt to grab his book when James pushed him out of the way and stole the book before Severus could reach it. He quickly stood up.

"Look, boys, it's that book that Severus cares more about than cleaning his underpants."

A few students around giggled while a Slytherin girl gave James a dirty look. Severus glanced over James' shoulder and saw that Lily was staring at the event with a look of cool indifference on her face. He and James were both quite tall and easily glared at one another in the eye.

Severus discreetly pulled out his wand and in his head said the spell for the stinging hex.

Immediately, James yelped and dropped Severus' potion book, which Severus picked up quickly. James cursed violently as he grabbed his hand, trying to nurse it. Sirius whipped out his wand but Severus, almost lazily, said "Expelliarmus," causing Sirius' wand to fly twenty feet away from him.

"Enough! Five points from Slytherin and Gryffindor," Remus finally said.

"Moony! Why take off points from Gryffindor? It's that greasy git who--" launched James, still tending his hand which was now sporting a bright red lump.

"Actually, it was you who started it, Potter," said Lily roughly. The bell rang and loud footsteps were heard coming down the corridor.

"What's with all this commotion?" asked the now present Professor McGonagall. "No magic in the corridors I hope? Well what are you all standing around for? Get inside."

James refused to look at Remus while Severus had a smug look on his face. Maybe it's not the hex I'd been thinking of but it worked on that bastard, thought Severus.

XXX

Lily's hand began to cramp as she tried to write nearly every word McGonagall was saying about N.E.W.T. Transfiguration.

"Transfiguration will be useful for nearly every possible Ministry job, if you wish to have a future career there," McGonagall said.

The door opened and in walked Wilkes. McGonagall asked him to see her after class and continued her lecture.

"Some jobs may even have you take another small Transfiguration course as part of their training. For example, Aurors--"

Lily's quill snapped, and apparently so loudly that McGonagall stopped mid-sentence. "Ms. Evans, as happy as I am that you are so eager, you don't have to risk losing your hand because of it," she said with a small smile and continued on.

Lily silently cursed herself for using such an old quill--she had bought a couple of new ones in Diagon Alley a few weeks ago, but she was so excited about classes that she had forgotten them. Opening her shoulder bag she rummaged through it--groping around the clothes Snape returned to her, her books, a few rolls of parchment, and makeup, she silently cheered as she grabbed, at the bottom of her purse, a ballpoint pen. She had gotten used to using a quill in school but sometimes couldn't help but go back to her Muggle roots and use pens. Glancing around she saw Alexander Jacobson, a Muggle-born Ravenclaw, smile at her and give an approving nod. She looked around some more, realising that Alice wasn't in the class, but suddenly remembered that Alice had been sick this morning and would miss most of the day.

"We will concentrate much of the first part of the year on human transfiguration. We will work on the theory, methods, history, and we will practice on one another a lot this year. I'll be blunt: this is not going to be an easy course. There are about thirteen of you in here today I think..." She then began to count the students--four Gryffindors, four Ravenclaws, three Slytherins, and three Hufflepuffs. "First I want everyone to read the introduction, then the first five pages of Chapter Two in your books, then find a partner. After that I want you to get started on transfiguring your partner's eyelashes. Get started."

Lily began to read about the theory of human transfiguration and was automatically hooked. Being able to change one's appearance really intrigued her. After McGonagall curtly asked the class if they had finished reading, she asked everyone to pair up. Lily walked towards Alexander but James literally leapt in front of her, running his hand through his hair.

"Evans," he said.

"Not now, Potter, I need a partner," she replied but he kept blocking her way. "This isn't funny, James! Go be partners with Sirius."

"He's partners with Moony," he responded quickly. James glanced towards Sirius and Remus' table. Lily noticed that Sirius had a thumb up.

"Oh so you want to be my partner, Potter?" she asked sweetly.

James smiled, "Yes, I'd love for you to be my partner."

Lily clicked her tongue. "I'm sorry Potter, but I'd rather snog the giant squid...you remember me mentioning him a while back don't you?" and she pushed past him and asked Alexander to be her partner, which he consented to. She felt a little bad, but she couldn't stand to imagine herself collaborating up with James. He might be smart, but he was clumsy around her, and she didn't want to end up with eyelashes on her chin.

"Want to get started then?" asked Alexander.

Lily smiled. "Love to."

XXX

Severus liked working by himself more than anything, but when he had to have a partner, he usually only partnered up with Slytherins. Yet there were only three Slytherins in this class and two of them were partnered up.

"Who still doesn't have a partner?" McGonagall asked briskly.

James was standing by a nearby desk looking uncomfortable and raised his hand.

No.

"Snape? What about you?"

NO.

"Snape, Potter, you two pair up and start eyelash transfiguration and get to work," she snapped.

"NO!" Snape and James said at the same time. A few students giggled, some gasped. His eyes darted around the room. Black and Lupin looked surprised; Evans watched as though seeing something amusing on the telly.

"What do you mean 'no'? You two will not waste my, your classmates', or your own time with silly differences. Now get to work," McGonagall said firmly.

"Professer McGonagall, I can't--"

"Quiet, Mr. Potter. No more of this. Get to work."

"But Professor--" Severus complained.

"NOW!"

Severus was livid. Potter trudged over to where Severus was seated and abruptly dropped his belongings on the table.

"I'm just as upset as you are, so let's just get this over with," Severus muttered, trying to contain his anger as best he could.

"I should be sitting next to Evans right now, not a greasy, snivelling git like you," James grumbled, looking irately at Lily and Alexander laughing and changing the shape of their eyelashes.

"Shut up. She was smart to not be your partner, you dunderhead," mumbled Severus.

"You shut up, you--"

"Boys! Get to work or you will both be receiving a detention with Filch tonight!" McGonagall snapped from her desk.

"Let's get this over with," Severus murmured.

They both sat down and Severus brought out his wand. Severus smirked while Potter sat across from him with a frown on his face.

"Hold still," Severus muttered. He recalled what the text about Eyelash changing said: If uttered incorrectly, you will feel a strong burning sensation.

Purposely, Severus uttered the spell wrong.

"Ouch! You did that on purpose, you idiot!" yelled James.

"No I just said it incorrectly. Sorry, I'll try that again," Severus said evenly. He said the spell incorrectly again.

"Ouch!" James then quickly took out his wand, pointing it at Severus.

"Again, it was a mistake," said Severus with a serious face. He knew that James didn't believe him but he didn't care.

"Fuck that, Snape!" snarled James, pointing his wand at the tip of Severus' long nose.

"Get your wand out of my face, Potter. Unless you want that wand lodged permanently up your--" sneered Severus loudly.

"James Potter and Severus Snape!" started McGonagall. But James lost his temper and quickly said, "Cruentus!" Severus' nose started to gush with blood. Severus held his nose but sent a nonverbal hex at James, causing him to, unwillingly, bang his head on the hard, wood table. James cursed loudly and clutched his head.

"DETENTION! BOTH OF YOU!" yelled McGonagall. She swiftly turned to Lily, "Ms. Evans. Please accompany Mr. Potter and Mr. Snape to the hospital wing. I expected better from you, Severus, you are a prefect after all! Now, all three of you, get out of my sight!"

Severus grabbed his bloodstained satchel and book and stormed out of the classroom. James did the same and Lily, apprehensively, walked out of the room after them.

"You two are just too much, you know that," Lily said.

"Shut up, Evans," said Severus as he walked quickly in front of the other two.

"Don't tell her to shut up, arse!" James yelled but quickly regretted the action and clutched his head in agony.

"Potter, watch your language! And Snape, hold still," Lily said, trying to catch up to Severus. She grabbed hold of his satchel and said, "Scourgify," and the bloodstains were gone. She then rummaged through her own bag and fished out a tissue. "Hold your nose with this so it will help stop the bleeding."

Severus eyed the tissue suspiciously but then grabbed it and held it up to his nose.

"There," Lily said with a smile.

"Not so loud!" James said as they walked up the stairs to the hospital wing, the sound of Lily's heeled shoes making resounding clunking noises with each step. When they reached the wing, Madame Pomfrey went straight to work muttering "Children these days, getting into fights over spilled potion!" She uttered a spell which quickly stopped Severus' nosebleed and gave James a potion for his headache and healed a bruise which was slowly forming on his forehead.

"Dear? You are in here for what, exactly? You look fine. Are the painters in? Got cramps?" asked Madame Pomfrey bluntly.

Severus and James looked at Lily with ignorant repulsion. Lily blushed, "No, just escorting these two so they wouldn't murder each other on their way here."

"Very well then. You and he," Madame Pomfrey said, pointing at Severus, "can go now. Potter, is it? Mr. Potter will be in here a bit longer. The first dose of the headache potion isn't doing the trick. Hurry up you two. Out, out!" and she pushed Lily and Severus out of the room.

After looking at each other uncomfortably they both headed back to Transfiguration, although the class would surely be just about done when they got there.

"Boys are so stupid," Lily said, not caring that she was walking alongside one.

"Why couldn't you just be his damned partner? Would have saved a lot of trouble," Severus said hotly.

"Because I'd rather gouge my eyes out with a rusty spoon than be his partner for a month," Lily said with a slight smile.

"Well I'd rather listen to the bloody Beatles than be his--"

"You know who the Beatles are?" Lily gasped.

"Erm, no, just um, heard someone talk about them. They sound like they are a terrible band," he said rather clumsily.

"Oh," she said apparently convinced. "Well, they are a fabulous band. Come from Liverpool. They broke up, of course, but they are still my favourite. I have a poster of them by my bed. Marlene McKinnon finds it preposterous that it doesn't move, but--"

"I hope you know that I don't care about some silly Muggle band. And again, you talk too much," he said, frustrated with himself.

"Sorry," she said quietly. The bell rang. "Listen, I've got to go to Ancient Runes. I'm assuming that you're in Defence still, just about everyone is, so I'll see you after lunch, I guess?"

Severus knew that she probably just felt sorry for him because she thought he has no friends. He did have friends, although he preferred to be alone. He realized that she was waiting for him to speak.

"Sure," he muttered. She smiled and walked around the corner and readjusted the strap of her satchel, leaving Severus standing alone in now crowded corridor.