Dangerous Game

Lily walked down to dinner, in a bit of a huff. She was still aggravated with how Severus had behaved earlier, and he still had not come to apologize. Lily picked a seat with plenty of open seats around her near the end of the house table, and served herself some dinner. She hoped that she would be able to eat fast enough before anyone came around, she was not in the mood to talk to anyone.

Severus had followed a few steps behind Lily, he could see the anger in her eyes still, so he did not bother to talk to her. She would probably be bitchy for the next day or so at him, and he did not want to deal with it. R

Lily began to eat her steak, staring intently at her book trying to read, though she could not concentrate. She needed to finish all her homework before nine, because she had hall duty with James tonight. Yet another head ache to add to her problems.

“’ello,” James said sauntering over to take a seat next to Lily. She had not looked happy when she walked off with Severus, and she still looked quite upset. He braced himself for her tyrant of insults, and served himself some dinner.

“Hi,” Lily snapped flipping her page with such intensity; she ripped the corner a bit. “Pain in arse,” she mumbled reaching for her wand, which was buried in her pocket.

“Reparo,” James said pointing his wand at her ripped page, which fixed itself instantly. Without another word, he placed his wand in his inner chest pocket in his cloak.

“Thanks,” Lily mumbled before returning to read as she stabbed at another piece of her steak before putting it into her mouth. “No offense, but you are the last person I want to talk to right now,” Lily said without even looking up at him.

“None taken,” James said pleasantly as he took a bite of his own steak with less anger. “So what made you so mad? Was it me, or him,” James asked indicating to Snape who was staring over at them.

“Him,” Lily said looking at James finally, then to Severus. She shut her book, she had read the same line over and over, and still did not retain what it had said. She would just have to read tonight before she went to bed.

“He tends to upset everyone,” James said. “Especially me, he never has anything polite to say.”

“And you do?” Lily asked raising an eyebrow at him. “From what I have seen, all you have done is insult him left and right.”

“Yes, but I did save his sorry arse one night from the whomping willow,” James said. Of course she had known about that, Severus had probably run to tell her that night.

“True,” Lily said before taking a sip of her water. Her anger was staring to subside, but it was not fully gone.

“So what are you reading…er what were you reading, I should ask,” James said looking over her shoulder at the book on the table.

“Potions, we have a quiz in there tomorrow,” Lily said before shoving the book back into her bag.

“Ah, I forgot about that, thank you for reminding me” James said watching her. Even when she was angry, he still found her incredibly attractive. This was the first girl he had ever seen, that no matter how she looked, she was beautiful. But he wasn’t just attracted to her for that, he loved her mind as well.

“No problem,” Lily said with a very small smile. She enjoyed his company lately, as much as she hated to admit it.

A smile, she had just smiled at him, James returned with his own smile, though it was much bigger then hers since he wasn’t trying to hide it.

“McGonagall told me today in transfiguration that she wants us to keep an eye on the grounds. People have been sneaking out a lot lately to smoke, and to do other things,” James said finishing off his dinner.

“Great,” Lily said with a sigh. “It is supposed to be freezing tonight, and it may even snow.” She would have to remember to dress extra warm tonight, and to insulate her boots, her feet always froze when it was cold.

“I can keep you warm,” James said smartly with a wink.

“Right,” Lily said trying to hide a blush that creeped on her face. Truth was, she wondered what that would really be like, but she blocked it from her mind. “See you are nine James,” Lily said as she stood up from her bench seat, and headed off to her room.

Severus had noticed that small smile she gave James, and the blush that had risen on her cheeks. He needed to talk to her, and now. There was no way he was going to let this happen.

He followed her out of the hall, and went the opposite way so he could head her off before she reached the common room.
 
Severus had made it there first, and leaned against the wall to wait and talk to her.

Lily rounded the corner, still smiling a bit when she saw Severus, and her smile was quickly gone from her face. “What do you want?” Lily asked not bothering to look at his face.

“You were talking to James,” Severus said glaring down at her. He wasn’t the tallest boy, but he was still taller than Lily.

“So what?” Lily asked looking up at him. She could see the anger in his dark eyes, which almost frightened her a bit.

“You shouldn’t talk to him Lily, he is bad news,” he said his hand reaching out to grab her arm.

“He’s bad news? No Severus you are bad news. That is what everyone else tells me, he has never done anything to hurt me, nor anyone else,” Lily snapped, pulling her arm out of his grasp. A few people had emerged from behind the Fat Lady’s portrait, and were staring, but took off once they realized they were caught.

“He hasn’t hurt anyone? What about me Lily?” Severus asked her.

“Yeah well, you’ve hurt me, and he hasn’t so it seems he has the leg up doesn’t it?” Lily asked him. She had tried to forgive him for the comment he made about her being a mudblood, but it was not working.

“Lily, you will soon realize that I am a wiser choice then Potter is,” Severus said his hands going deep into his pockets.

“Why will I soon realize? What are you going to do now?” Lily inquired raising her eyebrow. “And who said I was choosing?”

“It is obvious isn’t it?” He asked her almost mocking her. “We both cannot stand each other, he gets mad when you talk to me, and the same goes the other way. One day one of us is not going to put up with it, you are going to have to choose, or we will choose for you.”

“Leave me alone Severus. I can choose who I want to talk to, neither you or James can make that decision for me,” Lily said moving over to the portrait, which still hung slightly ajar, since the Fat Lady was off visiting another frame a few feet away.

“James? Since when have you demoted to calling Potter James?” Severus asked her with a bit of disgust.

“Since today Severus,” Lily said before reaching out to grab the frame with her hand to walk into the small hallway that led to Gryffindor tower.

“Things are going to get complicated Lily, like I said, leave Potter, he has never been your friend I have been through all of our seven years.” Severus said placing a hand on the portrait, and all of his weight so she could not open it.

“Shove off Severus!” Lily almost yelled, anger dripping in her voice.

With a smirk, Severus removed his hand and let her enter before going down the stairs.

On his way down, he passed the one person he detested the most, “leave her alone Potter,” Severus said blocking his path.

“Who?” James asked glaring at him, his hand already on his wand.

“You know who,” Severus said moving to block James once again.

“Get out of here Snivvly before all these people see your dingy knickers as well,” he spat, his wand out.

“Not this time Potter,” Severus said his wand pointing directly at the boys throat.

Rolling his eyes, James saw there was a small crowd forming at the top and bottom of the stairs. “Move,” he said using one arm to shove the scrawny boy out of his way.

Severus was pushed aside easily, his back slamming against the railing of the stairs. People were snickering, as James smirked triumphantly making his way to Gryffindor tower. “Just wait Potter,” Severus called after him.

“For what? You to get your grease all over me, because frankly that is the only intimidating thing about you,” James called back, causing everyone to laugh but Severus.

James disappeared behind the portrait, refusing to let Severus ruin his day. He jogged up to the private common room shared between him and Lily; she wasn’t there, so he slipped into his room to shower.

Severus walked off as the crowd began to disburse, and headed to the dungeon. He needed to talk to Mulciber.