For the Love of Lily

Chapter 6

Severus stepped off the Hogwarts Express, turned around, and offered Lily his hand. She took it, but to his dismay, she let go as soon as her feet hit the ground. I guess it's for the best, he thought. I did tell her I didn't want the whole school to know about us.

His thoughts were interrupted by the voice of Lucius Malfoy.

"Severus! Why were you sitting with Potter?"

He was caught off guard by this remark, but quickly recovered.

"I got to King's Cross late, and that was the only seat left," he explained.

"You should've looked for me. You could've sat on the floor of my compartment. It would've been better then sitting with Potter and his posse."

"Yeah, I should've. I wasn't thinking."

Severus followed Lucius to the coaches that were taking them up to the castle. He tried to pay attention to Lucius talking about his trip to Russia, but all he could think about was Lily. Am I doing the right thing by ignoring her at school? he questioned himself. If I'm not careful, Potter will steal her from me. He's been acting strange lately. Stranger then usual.

He was brought back to the present by the jolting of the carriage. Up ahead, he could see the wrought iron gates of Hogwarts Castle. In no time at all the doors to the carriage flew open and Severus climbed out. Well this is it, he thought, time to act like the Slytherin I am. With that, he closed the door to the carriage as if he were closing the door on part of his life.

***************

James stepped out of his carriage and turned around to offer his hand to help Lily down. Now it's time to show Lily what Severus is really like, and that I'm really the one for her. Lily took his hand and climbed out of the carriage. He couldn't ignore the tingling feeling that swept through his body when she touched him.

They walked to the Great Hall in silence. He saw Severus talking with other Slytherins and looked to Lily to see her reaction. There were tears forming in her green eyes. He reached to brush them away, but changed his mind.

"What's the use of having a relationship when you can't even talk to them, much less show affection towards them without fearing what others might think?" Lily asked as she turned away from Severus.

"I don't know. I really don't know," James replied. What else could he say?

They walked into the Great Hall and sat down at the Gryffindor table. All around them, students filing in and taking seats at their house table. He noticed Professor Dumbledore walk in and take his seat. Behind him the other teachers came. There was Professor McGonagall, the transfiguration teacher, and behind her was a short teacher that James guessed was the new Charms professor.

Professor McGonagall picked her fork up and hit it against her water goblet, causing the students to quiet down. Professor Dumbledore rose to address the students.

"Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts. I hope you all had an enjoyable holiday, and I wish you the best this year. Let the feast begin!" he concluded.

Instantly, the plates filled with food and everybody started to eat. James decided that after the feast he would tell Lily his suspicions about Severus.

"Lily, I need to talk to you after the feast. Meet me in the common room at 7:00."

"Ok. What do you want to talk about?" Lily responded but James had already turned back to his food and was talking to Remus.

For the Love of Lily