Lily Evans (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lilium_evansiae) wrote2011-01-16 07:28 am
lilium_evansiae) wrote2011-01-16 07:28 am
Entry tags:
OOM: Potions Classroom, March 1976
Sometimes, Lily wonders if she and Severus are the first two people to ever attempt to be friends across the Gryffindor-and-Slytherin divide. Some days, she decides that the law of averages alone means that they're surely not, that in Hogwarts' hundreds of years they can't be, that maybe it's easier when the Wizarding World at large is more settled than she has ever known it to be.
Most of the time, though, it feels like they are.
Maybe they wouldn't have even tried, if she had known just what Slytherin and Gryffindor meant to each other. Instead, at the age of eleven, with her hair in plaits down her back and her new red-and-gold tie knotted neatly at her throat, she'd sat down next to him in her very first Hogwarts class, which had been Potions. "We're still friends, Sev, right? It doesn't matter that we're not in the same House, does it?"
"Of course we're still friends," he'd said, a little fiercely. "We'll always be friends. Best friends."
And Lily had smiled, relieved, and that had been that.
It would take her years to realize he'd only answered her first question.
Sometimes she wonders, too, if that's what got first Professor Slughorn's attention, her decision to start her Hogwarts career sitting not with Mary or Cliona, but with as a Muggle-born Gryffindor sharing a desk with a half-blood Slytherin. Lily hadn't seen it that way, hadn't really known enough to know it could be seen that way, and certainly hadn't been doing anything brave. Quite the opposite, really, as she'd sat with the one person in the room she'd known more than twenty-four hours.
At any rate, the Potions classroom has always been the easiest place at Hogwarts to be friends with Severus Snape. Maybe because she was quickly established as one of Professor Slughorn's favorites, and he has never been the least bit reticent in showing favoritism, so everyone knows it, even though he's the Head of Slytherin House and she's a Gryffindor.
Maybe it's because they're both so very good at Potions, undisputed bests in their year, and it's easier to flaunt convention from the top, sometimes. (Sometimes Lily even wonders if that's why they both got so good at Potions.) She's gone right on sitting next to him for five years now, in that classroom if no where else. And maybe the fact that they were both risking so much just by sitting together was what made it ever so easy to start to experiment with the instructions in the book in third year. Which was when they went from being good at Potions to being great at Potions.
At any rate, their Draught of Peace today had been, in Professor Slughorn's words, "an absolute triumph" and just from inhaling its fumes while they worked, Lily is feeling more relaxed than she has since sometime last month.
"We did well today," she tells Severus, cheerfully, as they pack up their things at the end of the lesson. Most of their classmates have already gone, because they'd been delayed by Professor Slughorn's effusive congratulations.
"It's Potions," he says. "We always do well."
"Right, including today," she says, and he laughs.
It's been a while since she's actually heard him laugh.
She's missed it.
"Do you want to meet up after dinner?" he asks. "Work on the essay?"
"Can't," she says. "I'm meeting Jeremy. But what about tomorrow? We've got a free period in the morning, and then we can finish after dinner if we need to."
"Tomorrow's fine," he says. They're alone now, their classmates have gone and Professor Slughorn is back in the storeroom. Severus leans back against their work table. "So how is it going with Jeremy?"
"Fine," she says, and then realizing that sounds a bit weak, adds, "Great. Really great."
Sev smiles at her. "'Really great'?"
"Well, of course," Lily says. "I mean, he's great. He's sweet and he's smart and it's ... "
"Great?" Sev suggests.
"Yes," Lily says. "It's great."
"You're bored, aren't you?"
"I didn't say that," Lily says.
"You didn't have to," Sev tells her.
"But I didn't."
"Yeah, you very carefully neither confirmed nor denied the allegation," he says.
"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about, Sev," she says, in a put-on prim tone that gives ways to giggles. "And you've got powdered moonstone on your nose."
Sev scrubs one hand across his nose. "Did I get it?" he asks, and Lily shakes her head. He tries again with no more success.
"Here, let me," she says, and Sev lowers his hand.
Lily carefully rubs the smudge off his nose, then shows him the moonstone on her thumb. "Got it," she says.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Lily wipes her thumb on the edge of her jumper.
"Look, Lily, I -- " Sev says, and then breaks off as there's a voice from the door.
"Oi, Snape," says Evan Rosier, "we're waiting. Leave your little Mudblood and come on."
Severus waves a hand at him, and Rosier rolls his eyes and goes.
Lily stares at the floor by Sev's feet, her good mood evaporated like the cauldron fumes that helped cause it.
"Ignore him," Severus tells her, in the same fierce tone he'd once told her that of course they were still friends. "Ignore him, you're nothing like that."
"I know," she says.
And of course she'll ignore him. It's all you can really do with people like Evan Rosier.
Except that when Sev leaves this room, he'll go have lunch with him. And Mulciber and Avery and the rest of them.
"You're better than any of them," Severus tells her.
"I know that, too," she says, managing something like a smile. "But thank you."
He slings his bag over his shoulder. "So I'll see you tomorrow, then. Free period, right?"
"Yeah, free period."
Lily watches him go. She's still standing, staring at the door, when Professor Slughorn comes back in from the storeroom.
"Miss Evans, you're still here? Is something wrong?"
Everything is wrong.
Lily shakes her head. "No, Professor. I was just leaving."
"Excellent work today," he tells her, "as always."
"Thank you, Professor."
"I still say you should have been in Slytherin, Miss Evans," he tells her. It's an old joke by now.
Somehow, Lily manages to grin at him from the doorway. "Well, I have to have some faults, now, don't I?"
Professor Slughorn laughs as she leaves his classroom.
Lily straightens her red-and-gold tie and heads for lunch.
Most of the time, though, it feels like they are.
Maybe they wouldn't have even tried, if she had known just what Slytherin and Gryffindor meant to each other. Instead, at the age of eleven, with her hair in plaits down her back and her new red-and-gold tie knotted neatly at her throat, she'd sat down next to him in her very first Hogwarts class, which had been Potions. "We're still friends, Sev, right? It doesn't matter that we're not in the same House, does it?"
"Of course we're still friends," he'd said, a little fiercely. "We'll always be friends. Best friends."
And Lily had smiled, relieved, and that had been that.
It would take her years to realize he'd only answered her first question.
Sometimes she wonders, too, if that's what got first Professor Slughorn's attention, her decision to start her Hogwarts career sitting not with Mary or Cliona, but with as a Muggle-born Gryffindor sharing a desk with a half-blood Slytherin. Lily hadn't seen it that way, hadn't really known enough to know it could be seen that way, and certainly hadn't been doing anything brave. Quite the opposite, really, as she'd sat with the one person in the room she'd known more than twenty-four hours.
At any rate, the Potions classroom has always been the easiest place at Hogwarts to be friends with Severus Snape. Maybe because she was quickly established as one of Professor Slughorn's favorites, and he has never been the least bit reticent in showing favoritism, so everyone knows it, even though he's the Head of Slytherin House and she's a Gryffindor.
Maybe it's because they're both so very good at Potions, undisputed bests in their year, and it's easier to flaunt convention from the top, sometimes. (Sometimes Lily even wonders if that's why they both got so good at Potions.) She's gone right on sitting next to him for five years now, in that classroom if no where else. And maybe the fact that they were both risking so much just by sitting together was what made it ever so easy to start to experiment with the instructions in the book in third year. Which was when they went from being good at Potions to being great at Potions.
At any rate, their Draught of Peace today had been, in Professor Slughorn's words, "an absolute triumph" and just from inhaling its fumes while they worked, Lily is feeling more relaxed than she has since sometime last month.
"We did well today," she tells Severus, cheerfully, as they pack up their things at the end of the lesson. Most of their classmates have already gone, because they'd been delayed by Professor Slughorn's effusive congratulations.
"It's Potions," he says. "We always do well."
"Right, including today," she says, and he laughs.
It's been a while since she's actually heard him laugh.
She's missed it.
"Do you want to meet up after dinner?" he asks. "Work on the essay?"
"Can't," she says. "I'm meeting Jeremy. But what about tomorrow? We've got a free period in the morning, and then we can finish after dinner if we need to."
"Tomorrow's fine," he says. They're alone now, their classmates have gone and Professor Slughorn is back in the storeroom. Severus leans back against their work table. "So how is it going with Jeremy?"
"Fine," she says, and then realizing that sounds a bit weak, adds, "Great. Really great."
Sev smiles at her. "'Really great'?"
"Well, of course," Lily says. "I mean, he's great. He's sweet and he's smart and it's ... "
"Great?" Sev suggests.
"Yes," Lily says. "It's great."
"You're bored, aren't you?"
"I didn't say that," Lily says.
"You didn't have to," Sev tells her.
"But I didn't."
"Yeah, you very carefully neither confirmed nor denied the allegation," he says.
"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about, Sev," she says, in a put-on prim tone that gives ways to giggles. "And you've got powdered moonstone on your nose."
Sev scrubs one hand across his nose. "Did I get it?" he asks, and Lily shakes her head. He tries again with no more success.
"Here, let me," she says, and Sev lowers his hand.
Lily carefully rubs the smudge off his nose, then shows him the moonstone on her thumb. "Got it," she says.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Lily wipes her thumb on the edge of her jumper.
"Look, Lily, I -- " Sev says, and then breaks off as there's a voice from the door.
"Oi, Snape," says Evan Rosier, "we're waiting. Leave your little Mudblood and come on."
Severus waves a hand at him, and Rosier rolls his eyes and goes.
Lily stares at the floor by Sev's feet, her good mood evaporated like the cauldron fumes that helped cause it.
"Ignore him," Severus tells her, in the same fierce tone he'd once told her that of course they were still friends. "Ignore him, you're nothing like that."
"I know," she says.
And of course she'll ignore him. It's all you can really do with people like Evan Rosier.
Except that when Sev leaves this room, he'll go have lunch with him. And Mulciber and Avery and the rest of them.
"You're better than any of them," Severus tells her.
"I know that, too," she says, managing something like a smile. "But thank you."
He slings his bag over his shoulder. "So I'll see you tomorrow, then. Free period, right?"
"Yeah, free period."
Lily watches him go. She's still standing, staring at the door, when Professor Slughorn comes back in from the storeroom.
"Miss Evans, you're still here? Is something wrong?"
Everything is wrong.
Lily shakes her head. "No, Professor. I was just leaving."
"Excellent work today," he tells her, "as always."
"Thank you, Professor."
"I still say you should have been in Slytherin, Miss Evans," he tells her. It's an old joke by now.
Somehow, Lily manages to grin at him from the doorway. "Well, I have to have some faults, now, don't I?"
Professor Slughorn laughs as she leaves his classroom.
Lily straightens her red-and-gold tie and heads for lunch.