Without Warning

CHAPTER SIX: Baby Steps

Severus Snape was sitting with his legs curled up under him on a leather couch, working quietly in the Slytherin common room. He was half way through his potions essay and was having a hard time remembering where he would find the essence of the Mist Flower. He decided that this lack of short-term memory was probably due to the fact he had other things playing on his mind at the moment.

That peculiar incident that had happened in Divination the other day concerning Lily Evans and James Potter was itching the back of his brain.

He was still rather miffed with what had happened. It wasn't as if he'd looked into an orb and seen vividly into her future. He hadn't seen any pictures. He'd just felt feelings; emotions that Lily was currently feeling or going to feel in the near future. He knew that meant her and Potter would share a deep, undying love by the way she had been staring at him so intensely, but he'd also felt great pain and agony. Who was going to die? Lily? Potter? Or someone else...

He had definitely felt another life, somebody new.

He heard a shuffling, breaking his train of thought as he looked up.

'Snape' nodded the smarmy seventh year Malfoy in recognition, as he passed with his cronies Crabbe and Goyle in tow.

It was widely known that Malfoy was one of the many people in Slytherin House that was very interested in the current developments of a dark wizard by the name of Voldemort. Snape was rather curiouhimself; he'd always been fascinated by the dark arts.

'Malfoy.' Snape supplied a nod as a returning gesture and watched as the three of them walked over to a table across the other side of the common room.

He knew a few of the faces already sitting there - Evan Rosier, Antonin Dolohov and that cutesy couple Rodolphus Lestrange and Bellatrix Black. They were all seventh years. He also noted another boy who looked suspiciously like a younger version of Sirius Black. That would mean he would have to be Regulus, that nauseas little fourth year follower of Malfoy and his crew.

For brothers, Snape decided, Sirius and Regulus were far from similar. In fact, that could be said for the whole extended Black family. It seemed you either upheld the family name - and pureblood hysteria that came with it - or you were a complete muggle lover. However in Sirius Black's case, it just meant you were completely insane.

It reminded Snape of the Parker twins. The only reason he'd agreed to go with that Phoebe to the Celebratory Ball was to stop her constant harassment. However, if he had to talk to her infuriating twin - or to any other Gryffindor for that matter - he'd be out of there in a flash.

He found himself staring blankly at his half finished essay for a few moments longer, enossed in his own trail of thought, until finally he realised that the common room had gone peculiarly quiet. He guessed this wasn't too out of the ordinary, given the current time, but still...it was almost uncannily quiet, and he had the distinct impression that someone was watching him.

Slowly, he lifted his eyes from his parchment to scan the room. As his gaze drifted from one side to the other, it fell on the table where Malfoy and company was seated. They were no longer murmuring quietly amongst themselves like they had been earlier, far from it. Instead, all eyes were focussed on him. It was in that moment that he noticed how icy cold Bellatrix Black's dark, hooded eyes always seemed to be.

He was rather takeaback. It wasn't as if he had never received his fair share of piercing stares in his life before, either. This situation definitely made him feel more uncomfortable than normal.

He quickly averted his eyes back to his parchment. Not only was it widely known that this group was interested in the rising dark times but it was also widely known that they were rather sinister and brutal if you got on the wrong side of them.

Deciding that the best thing he could do was go back to his dorm room, he collected his belongings together and packed them back into his satchel, then stood up to smooth down his robes and stole a glance back over at the table. Malfoy was still watching him with his heartless, grey eyes, but he was relieved to note that the others had turned back to their murmur conversation. Let him stare, thought Snape.

He started back towards the stone steps leading down to the boys' dorms when he heard a chair scrape against the floor as it drew back from the table. Snape hesitated in his steps for an instant, but kept walking.

'Snape! Can I have a word?' Malfoy drawled out to him.

Snape swivelled on the spot to meet Malfoy's narrowed eyes.

'Yes?'

'You're good at Divination, aren't you?'

'Why is that any concern of yours?' Snape's gaze flickered over Malfoy's shoulder to see the whole table were now intensely watching the conversation unfold.

' I was wondering if you'd like to join us for a little chat, say, Saturday evening?'

'About?'

'About many a thing, Snape.'

Snape closely studied Malfoy's pointed, rodent-like face. He'd always been curious about the dark activities, and he knew Malfoy was the right person to be associating with to satisfy that curiosity. The Malfoy's were an age-old family with more riches dripping off them than Snape's whole family had put together, and had the ability to influence authoritative figures in high places everywhere with manipulation and large bags of gold. Money was something Snape had never had.

Yes, Malfoy was <> the right person to associate with.

'Alright, Malfoy, we can chat.'

'Excellent. I'll inform you of a suitable time. Goodnight.'

And with that, Lucius Malfoy spun on his heel and walked back to the awaited questioning of his group.

Back in his dorm room, Snape lay awake in his bed. A "chat" with Malfoy could only mean one thing. He wanted something.

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

'I'm so going to die in Potions today, I didn't even attempt writing that essay,' said Indigo in between a huge mouthful of thickly buttered toast.

Lily smiled weakly and poked at the cornflakes in her bowl with a spoon. She was feeling rather dreary, even though the morning was shaping up to be a spectacular day. However, this short response didn't go unnoticed by Indigo. She eyed Lily suspiciously.

'What's up with you? You haven't even touched your breakfast,' she frowned as she waved her butter knife at Lily's bowl.

'Nothing...'

'Yeah, like I haven't heard that one before.'

Lily bit her lip and continued to look at her breakfast. It wasn't as if she had a good reason to feel the way she was, but she did nonetheless. She felt a strange, confused, empty feeling in the pit her stomach. Could it possibly be due to the lack of cornflakes she was consuming? Or was it because something had lifted, disappeared. She had lost her enemy, her arch nemesis. Or rather she hadn't lost him, but decided on a truce. A friendship.

Now that she had a friendship with James, though, she felt like she needed more. It was all very confusing. A couple of days ago she would have liked nothing more than to pour her damned cornflakes all over his head. But since his confession, she sort of wanted him to tell her how much he cared about her every single day.

'Lil, I'm not an idiot, I - '

'Good morning McKinnon ... Lily,' James nodded and smiled at Lily as he walked a little way down the Gryffindor table from them, before sliding into a place beside his friends. Lily watched as he grabbed some toast. He looked up at her again and grinned. She smiled back.

Indigo, whose jaw was currently dangling somewhere down near the ground, managed to look from Lily to James and back again, her face now furrowed into a curious frown. Down at James' end, Sirius Black seemed to be following suit. Strange, Lily thought, James would have bounded straight up to his best friend to inform him of his new friendship. Just like he would have had he hooked up with a pretty blonde Ravenclaw such as Narcissa Black.

He was different now, though. He had less of the arrogance Lily had hated so much. She was starting to see the real James. Something she had previously never thought possible.

Lily almost immediately felt the gloom that had held her in its grips a moment earlier lift from her stomach to be replaced with a sort of satisfied delight.

'Uh, care to explain?'

'Hmm?' Lily raised her eyebrow, but kept pouring herself some pumpkin juice while quickly stealing another glance across at James.

'Earth to Evans, the boat from dreamland is now docking ... Lil ... Lily!'

'What! Oh, sorrhellip; you were saying?'

Indigo sighed loudly. 'Obviously, I've missed something. Something is going on with you and James Potter. You've been smiling at him this whole time, not to mention the fact that he just called you Lily instead of Evans ... I ...how ... what is going on?'

'Did you want to say that just a little bit louder?' Lily looked around uncomfortably, but no one seemed to be interested in their conversation.

'I will if I have to. Anyway, don't change the subject.'

'Okay! Okay, well the other night James an I had a bit of a talk and - '

'You talked? YeA breakthrough at last!'

'Well, yeah. We've decided to be friends.'

'... And the Celebratory Ball? You're going with him, right? Are you going with him? Did he ask you?'

'Er, no...' Lily stole yet another glance over at James. Indigo was talking rather loudly but he seemed to be engrossed in a secret conversation with the boys. Probably plotting another prank.

'Well, why the Hell not? This is getting ridiculous!'

'Indigo, we've just called a ceasefire to a nearly 6-year-long war. Baby steps.'

'Oh my - Lily! So you're saying you do like him?'

'I don't kn - '

'Or at least you're thinking of accompanying him to the Ball? I could set it up Lil, I cou - '

'Indigo, you're doing it again!'

'Or I cou - what? What am I doing again?'

'You're getting way too excited, acting exactly like you did that time your Mandrake sprouted its first leaf.'

'Oh. Right. Okay, sorry. Baby steps ... yeah, I can do that.'

She grinned and went back to buttering her toast