Hogwarts, 31 May to 4 June 1976
It's the week before OWLs, and everyone is starting to look harried and rumpled and worried and on edge, even the professors. Even Potter, though Lily kind of suspects that has more to do with the Quidditch loss than their upcoming exams.
Well, everyone except Sirius Black. He looks as calm and unconcernedly smug as ever, like he's not expecting to be asked to do anything more difficult than show up. Lily kind of wants to slap him for it.
But, Black aside, they're all under just a bit of strain, so Lily really thinks nothing of it when Severus can't find his quill Monday, and then she finds it on his desk. Not even when he swears that it absolutely, positively had not been there a moment ago. Because that's the same day Glynis isn't able to find her bag ... while it's slung over her shoulder.
Nor does Lily think it is anything other than nerves on Tuesday, when Severus tries to answer a question in Transfiguration and lets out a massive belch when he tries to say "Professor McGonagall." Not even when it happens twice.
No, Lily's first sign that something is going on is just that. A sign. A literal sign. One that reads My name is Snivellus Snape and I smell, stuck to the back of Sev's robes when he arrives for lunch on Wednesday. Halfway up the Gryffindor table, Potter and Black are laughing self-satisfied sorts of laughs and not being even a little subtle about it and Pettigrew is beaming and cheering. Lily catches Remus Lupin's eye and he quickly drops his gaze to his lunch.
Still, it's not till Thurday that Lily puts it all together, can see that there's a pattern here, that the sign was neither the beginning nor the end. On Thursday, faintly glowing letters appear across the back of Sev's hair, reading Wash Me.
At the very least, Lily thinks, the 'Marauders' should be able to come up with some new insults, creative as they're supposed to be.
Lily is very nearly late to Potions on Friday, the last class of their fifth year, after she has to help get a hysterical Coco Burwell calmed down and off to Madam Pomfrey. Professor Slughorn waves her into the room with a smile and without comment. Lily makes her way to the desk she has shared with Severus for five years.
"Don't sit here," Severus says, quietly, not looking up, when she starts to set her things on the desk.
"What? Why not?" Lily asks. "I always sit here."
"There's a sticking charm on the damned bench," Sev says.
Lily looks over at the desk across the aisle and a little behind them, where Potter is doing a much better job of not looking interested than Black is, for once.
"Miss Evans, if you could take your seat, please," Professor Slughorn says.
Lily meets Black's eyes, raises her chin just a little, and sits down next to Severus.
Severus still doesn't look at her, but asks, very quietly, "Do you think you're proving something by sitting with me, Lily?"
"Do you think you were proving something by telling me not to, Sev?" Lily asks.
"Yes," he says.
"Guess we both are, then."
But then, they've always been proving something in this room, haven't they? To themselves, to each other, to the rest of their Houses. Even when they didn't know they were.
If Slughorn has noticed that his two star pupils are not paying any attention to the lesson, he doesn't comment.
"Do you think you can make anything better by sitting with me?" Severus asks.
"Did you want me to just walk away?"
Sev makes a sound not quite like a laugh, and finally looks at her. There's something mocking in his eyes, sardonic even. "You can't if you want to, can you? You're stuck with me."
He's talking about the bench. She knows he's talking about the bench, but can't help but see his statement in the larger context of their years of friendship. It's the thing she's not sure he can appreciate any more. That she isn't -- that she has never been -- 'stuck with him.' She's always made a conscious, deliberate, and at times very difficult decision to be his friend.
Lily looks at him, and thinks about all the questions she's afraid to ask him anymore, things that will never come up on OWLs, things that make up a much, much harder test. Did you cast that spell on Elinor Perks? Why did you cast that spell on Elinor Perks? Did you think you were proving something when you did that? What? And to whom? Me? Mulciber? Avery? Regulus Black? What were you and Regulus Black talking about that made Potter decide to break his nose? Did you agree with whatever Regulus Black was saying that made Potter break his nose? Am I wrong about you, Severus? Do you want to be one of them? What am I going to do if you do?
"The funny thing is," Lily says, "I'm really not."
Lily slides away from him, and stands.
The sticking charm was only ever on his side of the bench.
James Potter was, after all, never going to go along with a plan that got her stuck to a bench with Severus Snape.
"Miss Evans?" Professor Slughorn says, breaking off on the middle of the review he's giving on moonstone. "Are you quite all right?"
"Fine," she says. "Sorry, couldn't see the blackboard."
She sits down again, across the aisle, in what is usually Coco Burwell's seat. She knows that absolutely no one in the room, including Professor Slughorn, thinks that she has actually moved to see the board better. But Professor Slughorn just nods and goes back to his lesson.
Severus sits with his hands on top of the desk, staring straight ahead. He does not turn to look at her, at least not that she sees.
Lily sits and takes careful, detailed notes that she doesn't need on things she already knows, until class is over.
Well, everyone except Sirius Black. He looks as calm and unconcernedly smug as ever, like he's not expecting to be asked to do anything more difficult than show up. Lily kind of wants to slap him for it.
But, Black aside, they're all under just a bit of strain, so Lily really thinks nothing of it when Severus can't find his quill Monday, and then she finds it on his desk. Not even when he swears that it absolutely, positively had not been there a moment ago. Because that's the same day Glynis isn't able to find her bag ... while it's slung over her shoulder.
Nor does Lily think it is anything other than nerves on Tuesday, when Severus tries to answer a question in Transfiguration and lets out a massive belch when he tries to say "Professor McGonagall." Not even when it happens twice.
No, Lily's first sign that something is going on is just that. A sign. A literal sign. One that reads My name is Snivellus Snape and I smell, stuck to the back of Sev's robes when he arrives for lunch on Wednesday. Halfway up the Gryffindor table, Potter and Black are laughing self-satisfied sorts of laughs and not being even a little subtle about it and Pettigrew is beaming and cheering. Lily catches Remus Lupin's eye and he quickly drops his gaze to his lunch.
Still, it's not till Thurday that Lily puts it all together, can see that there's a pattern here, that the sign was neither the beginning nor the end. On Thursday, faintly glowing letters appear across the back of Sev's hair, reading Wash Me.
At the very least, Lily thinks, the 'Marauders' should be able to come up with some new insults, creative as they're supposed to be.
Lily is very nearly late to Potions on Friday, the last class of their fifth year, after she has to help get a hysterical Coco Burwell calmed down and off to Madam Pomfrey. Professor Slughorn waves her into the room with a smile and without comment. Lily makes her way to the desk she has shared with Severus for five years.
"Don't sit here," Severus says, quietly, not looking up, when she starts to set her things on the desk.
"What? Why not?" Lily asks. "I always sit here."
"There's a sticking charm on the damned bench," Sev says.
Lily looks over at the desk across the aisle and a little behind them, where Potter is doing a much better job of not looking interested than Black is, for once.
"Miss Evans, if you could take your seat, please," Professor Slughorn says.
Lily meets Black's eyes, raises her chin just a little, and sits down next to Severus.
Severus still doesn't look at her, but asks, very quietly, "Do you think you're proving something by sitting with me, Lily?"
"Do you think you were proving something by telling me not to, Sev?" Lily asks.
"Yes," he says.
"Guess we both are, then."
But then, they've always been proving something in this room, haven't they? To themselves, to each other, to the rest of their Houses. Even when they didn't know they were.
If Slughorn has noticed that his two star pupils are not paying any attention to the lesson, he doesn't comment.
"Do you think you can make anything better by sitting with me?" Severus asks.
"Did you want me to just walk away?"
Sev makes a sound not quite like a laugh, and finally looks at her. There's something mocking in his eyes, sardonic even. "You can't if you want to, can you? You're stuck with me."
He's talking about the bench. She knows he's talking about the bench, but can't help but see his statement in the larger context of their years of friendship. It's the thing she's not sure he can appreciate any more. That she isn't -- that she has never been -- 'stuck with him.' She's always made a conscious, deliberate, and at times very difficult decision to be his friend.
Lily looks at him, and thinks about all the questions she's afraid to ask him anymore, things that will never come up on OWLs, things that make up a much, much harder test. Did you cast that spell on Elinor Perks? Why did you cast that spell on Elinor Perks? Did you think you were proving something when you did that? What? And to whom? Me? Mulciber? Avery? Regulus Black? What were you and Regulus Black talking about that made Potter decide to break his nose? Did you agree with whatever Regulus Black was saying that made Potter break his nose? Am I wrong about you, Severus? Do you want to be one of them? What am I going to do if you do?
"The funny thing is," Lily says, "I'm really not."
Lily slides away from him, and stands.
The sticking charm was only ever on his side of the bench.
James Potter was, after all, never going to go along with a plan that got her stuck to a bench with Severus Snape.
"Miss Evans?" Professor Slughorn says, breaking off on the middle of the review he's giving on moonstone. "Are you quite all right?"
"Fine," she says. "Sorry, couldn't see the blackboard."
She sits down again, across the aisle, in what is usually Coco Burwell's seat. She knows that absolutely no one in the room, including Professor Slughorn, thinks that she has actually moved to see the board better. But Professor Slughorn just nods and goes back to his lesson.
Severus sits with his hands on top of the desk, staring straight ahead. He does not turn to look at her, at least not that she sees.
Lily sits and takes careful, detailed notes that she doesn't need on things she already knows, until class is over.