little miss black

-20-

Lily came back from her talk with Severus in a bad mood. A very bad mood. She had already stormed past a very confused Sebastian, and screamed at him '"Why is your brother such an asshole?"', when she ran into Remus.

"Something the matter Lily?" He asked.

"No. I'm fine." Lily snapped. Remus frowned.

"I don't think you are." He said softly. Lily looked up at him from behind her hair and shook her head, tears glistening in her green eyes. Remus put an arm around her and guided her into the corner of the common room. Lily collapsed into an armchair and put her head in her hands. "What happened?" Remus asked. Lily shook her head.

"It's not important."

"It clearly is important Lily, you're crying."

"It's just Severus... not even him. It's his friends. They're horrible." Lily said. Remus stayed quiet, waiting for her to continue. "I mean, before we started first year Sev didn't care that I was muggle-born, but as soon as we started here—actually not as soon as we started —but once he became friends with those Slytherins, he changed. He's still my best friend and we have good times in the summer so I don't know what the problem is."

"He's probably just trying to show off to his friends. You know what the Slytherin purebloods are like-stupid and annoying. They've been brought up with the beliefs that everyone who isn't pure blood is lower class."

"But Sirius and Cass are from a whole line of Slytherin pure bloods and they're not like that."

"It's complicated Lily. I don't know what the deal is with all that because I'm a half blood, but so is Severus." Remus sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I have no idea."

"It's okay Remus. Maybe I'll ask Cass about why purebloods are stuck up assholes."

"Maybe don't put it quite in those terms... she is a pureblood after all." Lily nodded in agreement. The pair sat in a comfortable silence, listening to the general hubbub of the common room. Remus looked up when Cass and Sirius walked in, clearly in the midst of quite a heated argument.

"For heavens sake Sirius! I just want to go one day without you going all overprotective brother mode on somebody." Cassiopeia rolled her eyes.

"Whats going on?" Remus asked.

"Cass was flirting with some Ravenclaw!" Sirius said.

"The horror." Remus said dryly. Lily rolled her eyes.

"First of all, I was not flirting with him, I was simply having a pleasant conversation with one of my friends and then you rounded on him and started having a go." Sirius looked tense as he surveyed his sister.

"I'm just looking out for you Cass." Cassiopeias eyes softened slightly.

"I know, I just wish you'd go about it in a calmer manner." She sighed.

"Sorry Cass." Sirius said. They exchanged a quick hug and turned to Lily and Remus.

"I think that was the quickest argument I've ever seen." Lily said. Cass and Sirius tolled their eyes in sync. Then, Cass grabbed Lily's arm and dragged her upstairs.