The Long and Winding Road

Lily sat in the common room with Emmeline's head rested on her lap, reading Teen Witch Weekly with a special feature on the all-boy group Crushed Pensieve. Lily didn't care for wizard bands that much--she preferred Muggle music, rock mostly, although she liked the occasional danceable song. She missed listening to her record player, which would be gathering dust until she returned home. Muggle music devices didn't work at Hogwarts--so every holiday, Lily caught up on the latest songs and hits...her little time of musical bliss. Unconsciously she began to hum to a song by Pink Floyd, drumming on Emmeline's blonde locks.

"Do you mind, Lily?" Emmeline asked with a bit of laughter in her voice as she sat up.

"Oh Emme!" Lily started dramatically. "What I'd give to listen to my Muggle music right now!"

"Well, you just have to wait a couple of months, Lily," said Marlene, who came from the girl's dormitory staircase and gracelessly plopped in the nearest chair, not minding to close her legs.

"Good thing that skirt is long, Marlene," said Lily. Marlene crossed her legs but waved it off, although Marlene did look rather embarassed.

"Where's the squirt?" Marlene asked.

"Really, I'd like to know why you call her squirt, too," Emmeline interjected.

"Last time I saw her she was talking with Snivellus," said Marlene with a snort, ignoring Emmeline. "I was going to step in but she seemed to handle herself quite well--"

"THE NERVE OF THAT INSOLENT BASTARD!" shrieked Alice who had just stormed through the portrait hole. "I'm glad I wasn't in class today...I don't think I could stand to see his greasy little--"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Alice. What happened?" asked Emmeline. Marlene looked at Alice with eager eyes; Lily frowned.

"After I left the hospital wing--"

"Wait, you were in the hospital wing this entire time?" asked Lily confusedly.

"Yes..." Alice said, a bit annoyed by being interrupted. "But I was resting in one of the beds, the curtains were drawn and I was sleeping,"

"Oh, I see. That explains me not seeing you. I had to escort Snape and Potter to the hospital wing during Transfiguration," Lily explained.

"What happened?" Alice asked.

"Not important right now, please continue," Lily said.

"Well, when I was leaving the hospital wing, I caught sight of Snape and I decided to ask what our Transfiguration homework is. He looked at me like I was a piece of dirt. You know the way his lip curls?" Alice started, and her friends nodded. "Well he said, 'Looks like the aspiring Auror isn't up to par', so I shot back, 'Looks like Lucius Malfoy's lap-dog is missing his master', so then--"

A bark like laughter filled the common room and the girls turned around suddenly. Sirius Black was laughing hysterically, holding his side. James was seen smiling like a five-year-old with a pound of sugar quills.

"Good one, Neilson! Mind if I steal it for future use?" asked Sirius, still laughing.

Alice smiled reluctantly, "Sure thing, Black. Anyways, he just scowled and went away...I think my comment got to him."

"Even if you were talking about Snape circa first year..." said Lily softly.

"Why are you defending him so much, Evans?" asked James nastily. "He's never been nice to you. And he's an arse to your own friends."

"Potter, don't start with me," Lily warned.

James smirked, walked over to the couch Lily was seated in, and plopped down between Lily and Emmeline, putting his arm around Lily's shoulders, "Start with what, Evans?" he whispered into her ear.

"Get off me now, Potter, before I hex that hand off my shoulder," she snapped.

"Whatever you say." And with that he got up and sat down on the floor next to her legs.

"I hear you got into a bit of trouble with Snape, James," Marlene said.

James frowned. "Stupid git, did the eyelash changing spell wrong on purpose." He looked up at Lily. "You know, if you were my partner, none of this would have had to happen. I also wouldn't have had to have four doses of headache potion."

"Snape said the same thing," she said. James pouted and rested his head against Lily's legs.

"Your legs are really smooth, Evans," he said with a hit of a daze in his voice.

"I told you to get off Potter!" she yelled as she nudged him off.

The common room became more and more crowded and to her rescue, Remus and Peter came through the portrait hole, distracting James from Lily. Lily noticed that Emmeline was sitting up a bit straighter, constantly glancing in Remus' direction. Lily was not the only one to notice, though; Marlene and Alice were watching Emmeline with interest.

"Could you be any more obvious?" Lily whispered to Emmeline.

"What are you talking about?" Emmeline said in a startled voice.

"I know that you fancy Remus," she said with a smile.

"What are you talking about? I do not," Emmeline said, blushing. "Wow, look at the time, better start studying for Muggle Studies! Want to help me, Lily?"

"Sorry, I have a bit of a headache."

With that Emmeline left for the library and Lily smiled when she saw that Remus, soon after, left through the portrait hole as well.

XXX

"Oi, Wilkes! Tell that Muggle joke again will you?" requested Demetrius Nott from across the common room.

Snape was lying down on a plush green couch with a damp cloth over his forehead. Why it was there, he didn't know, but it felt comfortable on his warm face.

"Hey, Severus," whispered a voice. Severus, always quite jumpy, immediately whipped out his wand and discovered that it was pointed at one of the most annoying girls in his year: Amelia Bulstrode. She was of regular height and very skinny, with the same hairstyle as a Muggle actress he's seen on television--Farrah Fawcett--but Amelia's hair was a dark brown, unlike the actress'. She had blue eyes and was quite attractive, but she was considered easy or a tease by much of the male student body. That didn't stop her from being one of the most popular girls in school, usually seen with Narcissa Black and other stuck up girls in Ravenclaw and sometimes Hufflepuff. Severus despised the girl, and he knew that she probably hated him too.

"Hello, Bulstrode," said Severus stiffly, now sitting instead of reclining.

Amelia let out a little simper, "Oh Severus, you've known me for six years now. Call me Amelia."

"Whatever...Amelia."

Amelia sat down, too close for comfort, next to Severus. "You know, you've gotten a bit cute over the summer," she said softly.

"Liar," Severus replied.

"Maybe it's something you've done with your hair," she whispered, twisting a lock of his hair around her finger. Severus slapped her hand off and she stopped, but her smirk was still plastered on her face.

"You obviously want something," Severus said. "Do you need help with homework or something?"

"Wow, you're really are one of the smartest boys in our year," Amelia replied dully, reaching for her bag filled with books and parchment.

"And you're really one of the most tarty girls in our year," Severus snapped. "Next time you want me to help you with something, don't touch me. Actually, don't ask me to help you in general."

Severus got up quickly and went into his room. Today had been long and horribly tiring. Not only was Potty his partner in Transfiguration, but Slughorn decided to assign seats in his N.E.W.T.s class. The man decided to place his favourite students together: him and Evans.

"Oh, I'm sure you two will be great seated next to each other! Two of my best students, sharing tools and giving each other hints! Oh this shall be a very exciting lesson indeed!" Slughorn whispered to Lily and Severus excitedly. Lily had a polite smile while Severus looked at Slughorn with the briefest of smiles.

"Funny how this works out, huh?" said Lily, albeit coldly.

"Not really," he replied.

"Well, we should get started and get our ingredients," Lily said.

They both got up to the cupboard to get their ingredients. Severus rarely listened to what Slughorn said in class and didn't even know which Potion they were concocting. He glanced at the board and saw that 'Draught of Living Death' was written on the board. He sighed and got his ingredients and saw that Lily neatly placed her ingredients on her side of the table. At least she's tidy, he thought as he looked around to see Potter's workspace already disorganized. He sat down and placed his ingredients neatly as well and opened his Advanced Potions book, which already had a few notes in it and crossed out lines. After about ten minutes, he looked at his instructions again:

Cut the sopophorous bean into 1 inch pieces.

Severus shook his head. They want the juices out. Just cutting it won't do, he thought. He grabbed a quill and ink from his satchel and began to write:

Crush with flat side of silver dagger, releases juice better than cutting.

"Why are you writing in your book? Madame Pince would have a heart attack if she saw you doing that!" Lily hissed.

"Mind your own business, Evans," he muttered.

"You aren't supposed to crush them like that either."

"You aren't supposed to be looking at my work."

"Sorry, I just don't want you to do badly on your first day of N.E.W.T. Potions."

He snorted, "You'll see just how badly I do."

He saw through the dark blue fumes that she was frowning. Her hair was starting to get a bit unmanageable, apparently, because she quickly grabbed the rubber band around her wrist to pull her hair up. However it snapped and she cursed and whined under her breath. To shut her up he again looked through his satchel and pulled out a rubber band that he used on the rare occasions that he didn't want his hair in his face.

"Snape, you're a lifesaver! I really appreciate it," she said with an appreciative smile and put her hair in a messy bun. Her dark purple potion made her arms tint with a thin purple glow.

He didn't reply and placed his now nearly juiceless sopophorous bean slices into his potion. It immediately turned a bright lilac, just as it was supposed to.

Lily glanced over again, "How did it turn that color?"

"Damn, you're nosy, Evans," he snapped rudely, although he wore a slight, triumphant smile.

He returned to the instructions and read the next line:

Stir counter-clockwise until the potion turns as clear as water.

He frowned, feeling that that wasn't enough. He added:

Add a clockwise stir after every seventh counter-clockwise stir.

This was experimental, of course, but he concentrated hard and tried his extra step. The effect was instant and the potion turned a very pale pink. He continued to count in his head (pause, seven stirs counter-clockwise, one stir clockwise, pause...). Suddenly, a loud hissing sound was heard from across the room. Amelia Bulstrode was shrieking as the potion began to thicken dramatically and spill over the cauldron. Her partner, Mantilla Aston--a Hufflepuff--looked at Amelia with abhorrence while Sirius Black laughed up a storm.

"Okay, okay, time's up!" Slughorn said impatiently. The professor quickly cleaned up the mess and gave Amelia a sympathetic glance. He walked around the room, frowning at Potter's potion (a large smirk graced Severus' features), smiling softly at Rosier's, and laughing slightly at Sirius'. When he walked over to Lily he gave a cry of approval.

"This is fabulous as usual, Lily. Very, very well done," he said. Lily glanced at Severus with a look that seemed to, uncharacteristically, say, 'Beat that'.

"But, Severus here! Perfect colour and texture! Amazing, simply amazing work! You remind me of your mother slightly, she was a great Potions student as well. How is she, by the way?"

"Great, sir," he lied.

"I wish I had a prize on me but I've been quite busy these past few days. But I'll think of something that I know you'll appreciate."

"Thank you, sir," Severus said. He glanced at Lily and noticed the smile was off her face and she was peering at him as though he were a very hard puzzle.

"Well, class dismissed! Oh, before I forget--" All the students groaned, having hoped he'd forget to assign them homework. "I'd like a thirty-inch essay on the Draught of Living Death. I'd like to know the history, who invented it, et cetera. I expect an O from all of you!"

They all left the dungeon swiftly and Severus whistled to himself happily, remembering the look on Evans' face. Out of the blue, someone grabbed onto his arm. He turned around to see himself face to face with Evans. For some reason a chill went down his spine. Why do I keep on seeing her more than I'd like to? he thought.

"How did you do it?" she asked eagerly, her eyes glittering with wonder.

"I said none of your business, did I not?" he said, shrugging her off.

"But that was amazing. You didn't even follow the directions, and--"

"Why should I tell you?" he snapped, getting rather annoyed.

She sighed as he turned to leave. "Wait!"

He stopped but didn't turn around. She jogged in front of him and reached back to take her bun out, her hair falling gracefully past her shoulders though it was a bit frizzy.

"I thought I should give you your rubber band back," she said. "Well, I'll see you later," she bid, running off down the corridor to catch up with the others.

Severus nearly dozed off and looked down at his wrist at the rubber band that Lily wore in her hair. He noticed that a few dark red strands caught in it. After looking at the strands in a daze, he snapped out of his trance and tossed it in the rubbish bin.

XXX

"Hey, Prongs! Do you have to do that detention tonight?" asked Peter Pettigrew during dinner that night.

James sighed. "We both have to organise Slughorn's office and cupboard. It's going to take a lifetime!"

"Well, Evans has to patrol the dungeons tonight, so..."

James looked down the table at Lily. Her hair was always stunning, the freckles around her nose and on her arms made her look so innocent, her eyes were a vivid green, she had a nice body, and a pleasant personality. She was smart, independent...he couldn't think of anything wrong with her...except for the fact that she seemed to loathe him even looking at her, let alone talking to her. She was a challenge: that was Lily Evans in a nutshell.

"My question is, how are you going to survive within a few feet of Snivellus for three hours?" Sirius said with a snort. "You might slip on his grease trail."

James, Peter, Remus, and Sirius all laughed. James looked at Remus and saw that he was quite pale.

"Hey Moony," James whispered. "When is your next...you know?"

"Next week. Try not to get a detention; you either, Padfoot."

"Wagt?" asked Sirius, a large roll of bread stuffed in his mouth while his fork was full of mashed potatoes.

"Erm, never mind," Remus said with a sigh. Sirius shrugged and went back to stuffing his face.