Chasing Lily Evans

Hogsmeade

"Lily..." Lily looked up from her egg-sandwich to find Severus's face, carefully moulded into a cautious expression. "Hey, Sev," she smiled, her eyes begging him to not bring up what had taken place the night before. He took the hint, sitting down beside her. "I was thinking I could show you around Hogsmeade today?" he asked, fidgeting. Lily smiled, "Of course! Especially since I'll end up getting lost, with my luck." she said, only half-joking. "No you won't, you're too smart to-" Severus turned pink and said with half-hearted bravado, "Well... I'll see you on the steps, then?" She nodded and he grinned hugely. There was something about his cocksure gait that reminded her of Potter's... never mind.

The day was windy but warm, and Lily walked with Severus comfortably, talking about the most useless of things. It was going well, and he had even plucked up the courage to ask her to go get a Butterbeer together, when her gaze fell on Potter and his stupid gang. "What's wrong, Sev?" Lily asked with concern in her voice, which immediately made all thoughts of Potter disappear from his head. After all, he was with Lily, alone, in Hogsmeade. "Nothing," he brushed her off, smiling. 

Severus had the best two hours of his life; he would give up breathing just to enjoy two hours like these with Lily Evans everyday. When they got inside Honeydukes, Severus felt proud as he pointed out various sweets and watched her face glow with excitement. 

While deciding where to go next, they noticed a hubbub near the Three Broomsticks. When they got closer, they spotted James's face in the midst, glowing with the rush of adrenaline. His lips were twisted in a mocking smirk as he jinxed two boys single-handedly. "Does anyone else want to duel me?" he asked, laughing as the boys scurried off with wobbly legs and pus-filled noses. He spotted her red curls in the crowd and shouted, "How about you, Evans?" She huffed, "It's not funny, jinxing people for fun." 

"Oh, it very certainly is. Would you like to try it?"

"No, I don't duel with people who do it for sport. Second-years! How brave of you, Potter," she almost spat, turning around angrily, her hair whipping her cold cheek. 

Snape scurried after her, a smile on his face, as she led him as far away as she could from Potter. Blinded by her anger, she didn't notice where she was going until she was inside the cozy little cafe, clutching Severus's arm. Seeing the couples around the little tables and the heart-themed room, she dropped his arm as if it had caught fire. They both blushed and averting their eyes, they sat down at one of the tables. "So what d'you reckon McGonagall's going to do about Potter?" he asked, hastily trying to salvage the evening; he regretted this sentence immediately, as her eyes narrowed to slits. "Something terrible, I hope. I wish they'd expel him, really! I'm so sick of that--" She struggled to find the words, but apparently couldn't, settling for glaring out the window for half an hour, leaving Severus to wonder how much one could hate someone without caring about them.

***

Though James hid it well, Sirius saw through his transparent facade. "That Evans girl again, wasn't it?" he asked sympathetically, as James spluttered indignantly. "Don't bother, I'm much too exhausted," Sirius grinned, "What with all these detentions." James shot him a nasty look and continued his melancholy musings. 

"You fancy her, don't you?" he asked suddenly and James turned pink. "Whoa, James," he said, surprised, "You really do fancy her?" He shrugged, looking anywhere but Sirius's pitch-black eyes. "How'd you know?" he asked, finally. 

"Well, it was rather obvious; you act different around her, like you want her to see you, REALLY see you. And you get all huffy when she runs away from you, pretending like you don't care. I've never seen you be this way, mate." 

James sighed, "It's nothing, really. She despises me, and honestly, I don't like her a lot either, hanging around Snivellus. D'y'know he's mates with Malfoy and Mulciber? Nah, she's not for me. I don't need a saint flapping around me and telling me what a jerk I am." 

"You are, though."

"Ah, thanks, Sirius. That's the reason you become friends with me in the first place, no?"