Lily blinked as Sirius gave her the message and then left as abruptly as he had come. What in Merlin's name was that? Usually Sirius was a wonderful joker, and a brilliant friend, and he'd always stay to chat a bit even if he was in a rush. That was certainly a surprising occurence. Sighing, she finished her conversation with Alice Longbottom and then made her way to the lake, wondering who this person might be. Sirius had mentioned it was a 'he', and she hoped it wasn't James Potter. Merlin, the man was insufferable, and he just wouldn't get the message. She. Was. Not. Interested. 

The lake came into view quickly, and she stopped when she saw only one lonely, familiar figure there. She cast a desperate glance around the lake, looking for anyone, anyone else who might want to speak with her, but the students that had been there earlier were now gone. There was only Severus.  

Damn him. He really wanted to have a conversation. Now? After everything he had said and done to her? She scoffed. Ridiculous. 

Nevertheless, her curiosity resulted in her gradually taking a step forward, then another step, until she was only a few metres away from Severus, who had his nose buried in a Potiosn textbook, as always. His long, shiny black hair was flying around him in the wind, but he took no notice, his mind engrossed entirely in the words in front of him.

"Severus," she called out softly, and the black eyes immediately stopped their furious scanning of the pages. She called again when he didn't look up, and suddenly, black eyes met green. Without knowing it, she had moved closer until she was standing just in front of the sitting boy. Severus blinked.

"Lily."

"Sirius said you wanted to talk?" Straight into business then.

"Yes, I did. Take a seat."

"Is that an order?" An eyebrow raised, and there was a pause.

"Of course not."

"Well, then." And Lily took a seat beside Severus cautiously, not too close to the boy, as if they were only strangers. Severus's eyes clouded in pain. "What did you want to talk about?" 

Sighing and ignoring the mysterious moisture in his eyes, he began to talk. 

Severus and Lily continued to talk for a long time, and there had been many tears, lots of yelling and a couple of slaps on Lily's part. However, Severus felt it was worth it, because in the end, they had made up and Lily was his best friend once again. Not quite the status he would have given her if it had been his choice (he was thinking more along the lines of girlfriend...) but it was a huge step up from cold glances at veiled insults. 

As Lily was getting up to leave, Severus smiled at her from the ground. He had decided to stay here and read until the sun went down. "I'm glad we made up, Lils."

"So am I," Lily replied softly. She gave him a smile in return, when she turned to find Sirius coming this way. She frowned slightly. What was Sirius doing here? Everyone knew that James and Sirius hated the dark-haired Slytherin. And what was more, he didn't look like he was coming to pick a fight, either. Not moving from Severus' side, she said cautiously to the other boy, "Hey Sirius. What are you doing here?"

Severus looked stunned for a moment. Sirius wanted him to give back the book? In plain view of Lily?

That was decidedly strange.

Carefully, Severus retrieved the book from behind him, wordlessly transfiguring the cover to look like a DADA textbook. He didn't know why he did it. Maybe so that he'd still have something to hang over the boy's head. Maybe.

"Here," he said emotionlessly, throwing the book at Sirius. 

Breakfast the next day amused Severus greatly. After Sirius had left with his 'best wishes' the previous day, Lily had exchanged a look with him and questioned him, but he denied all knowledge. It wasn't a very good start to their renewed relationship, but there were some things that needed to be kept to himself.

Now, the morning after, it seemed Sirius and James had had an altercation, and were now not talking. The werewolf looked miserable, and he kept trying to engage both boys in conversation. His sad attempts failed.

Severus definitely knew a way to stir things up even more.

Getting up, he made his way to the Gryffindor table to Lily, who was sitting near the Marauders.

"Lily, I just wanted to ask if you had a free period this morning? I was thinking we could catch up some more," Severus said smoothly, flicking a lock of black hair from his eyes. 

Lily looked surprised. "Of course, Sev! I'd love to!" She gestured to her food. "Mind if I finish first, though?"

"Of course not," Severus replied, his face breaking into a smile. "You take all the time you want. I'll just sit here, shall I?"

He gave Sirius a look, telling him to shove over so he could sit next to Lily. 

Severus froze when Sirius's arm was slung over his shoulders. Gritting his teeth, he finally managed to grind out, "Black. Kindly remove your arm from my person."

He glared at the other boy, before glaring at everyone else. Then he directed his venomous glower to James Potter. "Do not insult Lily like that! She's worth a thousand more than you!" And he took his wand out, shaking with anger.

Lily's eyes had widened in hurt and betrayal at James's words, but now she also glared at him. She put a calming hand on Severus' arm. 

"Don't," she murmured softly. "He's not worth it."

Severus ignored her.

"Just say another word, Potter," he growled, pointing his wand in the other boy's face, "just say another word." 

It wasn't the fact that he thought he might regret cursing Potter after he had done it. It wasn't the fact that the teachers and many students were waiting with held breath to see what he'd do to the messy-haired teenager. It was the fact that Sirius Black, Potter's own best friend, had openly declared the boy not worth the trouble. The shock caused his arm to drop.

"Whatever," Severus muttered. He pocketed his wand and stood up, not retorting to James' provoking insults. He was determiend to show Lily that he was the one that she should choose, not Potter. Although Potter was doing a very good job of ensuring that Lily stayed away from him himself. "I'll meet you near the tree by the lake, Lils?"

Lily nodded silently, her beautiful face crinkled with sadness. Throwing a look at her food, she felt like heaving, all appetite lost. "Actually, I'll go with you now, Sev. I can't stand to be in scum's presence anymore." She turned to Sirius. "Would you like to come?" She felt like she owed him something, after getting Severus to calm down.

Severus sent Sirius a look, wondering what he would say. It didn't cross his mind to forbid him from coming with them.

Severus sent Sirius a glare, but when Lily turned to him, he exchanged it for a bright smile, as if he didn't care in the least that a third wheel had decided to tag along. Lily smiled. "Let's go, then?"

They began walking towards the doors of the Great Hall, Severus oblivious to Sirius's thoughts. He was more absorbed in the way Lily looked as she walked out into the sunshine, the sun shining brightly onto her red hair, making her look like she glowed. Knowing he probably looked like a fool, staring at her like she was an angel, he quickly wiped his face of emotions.

He wasn't a bloody Gryffindor, after all. 

They made their way to the tree by the lake, and Severus took Lily's bag from her before sitting down and gesturing for her to sit down as well. She plopped herself gracefully down in the grass next to him.

Reluctantly, he looked up at Sirius. "Are you going to stand up there all day, or are you going to take a seat?" 

Severus only shrugged. "I'm no gentleman," he replied, knowing the comment was directed at him. "And I never pretended I was."

Lily smiled wryly. "Understatement of the year."

"Hey!" Severus said, sounding slightly defensive. "Just because I saw up your skirt that one time when we were kids doesn't mean that I'm completely devoid of manners!"

Lily went red and didn't reply, which made Severus smirk. "It's good reminiscing about our younger years, isn't it, Lils?"

The redhead glared at him, sending an embarrassed look Sirius's way. "You're being a total arse, you know. One would think that you had only regained my friendship just to tease me."

The change in Severus was immediate and astonishing. One minute he had been joking, bordering on snarky, and the next, he had sobered up completely and was looking at Lily seriously.

"That's not true." 

"Damn right it better not be!" Lily replied, laughing, and Severus relaxed again. She had seen how he had tensed up at her playful comment, and had decided to act as if it hadn't happened. "So Sirius, want to hear some of Severus's own embarrassing childhood memories?"