Love is in the Air
Severus, as usual, was busy tossing and turning in bed that night. He scolded himself while wiping away the tears that welled up in his eyes every so often. All of this was his fault, James Fucking Potter, the self-absorbed, arrogant who always told him that he has a bigger ego than his nose, but in reality, he is the one with ego... Fucking James Potter! And now, he had deceived Lily too... Maybe they would start to date too? No, of course not, that couldn't happen! But what if it could?! For nearly two years, Lily hasn't been talking to Snape. At first, he thought it was just a tantrum, but it turned out that it wasn't. No, Potter was involved. Severus just knew it. Lily has a thing for him, and at the first chance, she had left Snape. While the bed was soaked with tears again, Snape scolded himself. "No," he said... "No, she won't do it! I won't allow it!"
***
Not too far away, there was another person tossing and turning in bed, just like Severus. James Potter. But his inability to sleep was for an entirely different reason, of course... He couldn't contain his joy. That stupid, ugly, disgusting Snivellus was finally out of the scene. James grinned to himself in triumph; the right word must have finally he gotten him disqualified at last, the field was left to James and James only... Of course, there were many boys who liked Lily, but with James around, it was impossible for them to pursue her! If there was a ball, and thanks to Slughorn, there were frequent parties, poor girl had no other invitations except from Snape and James. But now, Lily was going to the ball with James, not Snape. In fact, they had been attending every ball together since their fifth year, but they weren't dating. Lily was going to the balls with him out of being optionless. She tells him often, "It will never happen with you, self-absorbed, bullying toerag!"
"Now, where on earth are you getting this, sweetheart?"
"Out of nowhere, huh? Why would anyone else but you, wants to come to the ball with me? Of course, you're threatening them, so they are afraid to do so!"
"Oh! Look at Miss. Ego here! What makes you think everyone is waiting in line to invite you? Do you think you're a world beauty or something? Besides, people might as well be threatened by Snivellus, or he doesn't even need to threaten; he can just stood there like an overgrown bat!"
Lily turned bright red, "Why would Snape do such a thing?" Then, she saw James's gaze and continued, "There's nothing between us! There never has been! He doesn't even like me! I won't even talk to him again, not even as a friend, if he ever gives up on his Death Eater nonsense..."
Lily's words were cut off by James's laughter, "Who? Snivellus? Giving up Death Eater Agenda of his... Haha.."
Hahahahahaha... James, rolling in bed, chuckled too... Lily was now his... Goodbye, Snivellus...
"I should send a couple of curses to Snivellus tomorrow," James said, "I feel like it."
***
Just a few meters away from where James lay, someone with green eyes that shone in the darkness was also not asleep. There wasn't much for her to think about, but she felt restless inside... Her thoughts about James stirred up excitement within her, but Snape's foolishness were still bothering her. The smartest kid she had ever known in her life! They were supposed to be friends. She would never forgive him! While she kept telling people how great a person he was, she deep down always knew she was deluding herself. She had always hoped. She knew about Severus' awful family relationships, and she had wanted to help him, always wanted to, but Snape clearly didn't need anyone's help. Didn't he say that? "I don't need the help from dirty mudbloods like her!" Hmph, she frowned in the darkness, I'm done tearing myself apart for you, Snape! James may be a rascal, but at least he's a lovable one! And he himself is very smart too, besides, both financially and morally, he's better off than you! I'm leaving you to deal with your own problems and ambitions. You've always chosen loneliness. I won't fight for you anymore! It's time for you to think about yourself! Then James's grinning, mischievous face came to her mind, warmth filled her, and she smiled. James was actually the most arrogant bur sweetest person she had ever known in her life!
***
Lily woke up early as usual. She took a shower and stood in front of the mirror. Examining herself in the mirror wasn't her usual routine, but lately, she inexplicably wanted to look even more beautiful (as if she wasn't beautiful enough). She applied a light lip color, thought about doing something to her eyes but decided against it; they were naturally beautiful, big and emerald green.
The lip color she wore had a strawberry flavour. After all, there was Christmas ball tonight, and she and James were going to the ball. Well, she had promised the boy, and all 7th year students were going to kiss their partners at midnight. Then she suddenly thought of Snape; who was he going with, anyway? He used to go with Lily every year, but they hadn't spoken since last Christmas, and he hadn't even shown up at any parties – he kept claiming he was sick. Could you not find anyone, Snape? Was I the only stupid girl in school who'd accept you, perhaps? But then Carmen came to her mind. Carmen might have been the most beautiful girl in the school with her wavy red hair and big, light blue eyes, she was very beautiful, even more so than Lily, which even James and Snape had admitted. But the one who was really infatuated with Carmen was Sirius. Carmen seemed interested in Sirius too. Carmen had arrived at school in her third year, and everyone had embraced her, oh, sorry, every guy had embraced her. Of course, Snape definitely hadn't, nor did anyone from Slytherin. Only Snape seemed to pique Carmen's interest. Snape was the one talking to Lily, right? It seemed he didn't care about pure-blood status or blood purity! Lily was also friends with Carmen. So, Lily could introduce them. As she combed her wavy hair in the mirror, she almost re-lived the first day Carmen had brought up the topic to her...
***
"Hey Lil!"
"Hi Carmen, I was struggling with Transfiguration!"
"Dealing with classes, that's surprising, Lil!" Carmen said as she settled down on the puff next to Lily. "I thought you had a good friend to do the homeworks with."
Lily raised her eyebrows in a way that signaled she didn't understand. Friend?
"You know, that kid, Snape, or whatever they call him, Snivellus?" she said with a little giggle. Lily's cheeks turned red.
"Don't call him that again!" But she was also smiling slightly, although it didn't change the fact that she was annoyed. Snape was the most emotionally sensitive kid she had ever known, even though he liked to play tough. And that word really got on his nerves. And Lily didn't want him to be upset.
"But... Hmmm... That nickname suits him so well, Lil!" Carmen said, looking into Lily's eyes as if trying to understand what she was thinking.
"Okay, I get it. You're going to tell me I shouldn't hang out with Snape, that it's inappropriate, and all that, but this idea is as absurd as the pure-blood obsession, if not more! And funny! Sev is a good guy, and we're not together just because he helps me with my homework! That would be cruel! No, we're good friends, and he's my best friend. He just has some problems; people don't understand him!" Lily said fervently, but Carmen interrupted her.
"Ah, a friend? But he doesn't think that way, right, Lil? That kid is into you. Haven't you noticed how he looks at you? And I..."
"No! These are all big lies, they just can't stand our friendship, that's all! Sev and I have known each other since childhood. Well, was he in love back then? Don't be ridiculous!" Lily stood up, ready to leave. But Carmen stopped her.
"Okay, you got me all wrong! I think there's no harm in hanging out with Snape! I just wondered if you like him-" She stopped, corrected her posture " Well, apparently not. So since you don't like- I mean since you are not with him, he's an intelligent kid, after all, um, a little geeky, but..." She was getting all red in the face.
"If I don't like him? What do you mean?" A mischievous smile spread across Lily's face, she hadn't expected this at all. She stopped suddenly and started grinning again. "So, what are you trying to say?"
"Listen, I just want to know him. That's all. I mean, to know what he thinks about me. Or has he ever talked about me?"
Lily was still grinning. It had never occurred to her that a girl could like Sevy—after all, Sevy was only 13, and at his age he seemed tiny. Even Pettigrew was bigger than him, and he is among the tinier ones too, but at least he has some meat on his bones. Especially girls like Lily and Carmen who had started to blossom, Snape looked still like a kid. Lily had never thought Snape as a kid to be liked in that manner before. They didn't really discuss love with Snape anyway! Snape was a pretty realistic kid, very smart for his age, and also quite dignified, he thought everything over two, or even five times, before he did them, he knew how to control himself, most of the time scowling. Lily was sometimes admired him, but being in love with him?
"What do you see in him, Carmen? You can date a boy among fifth grades? Like Bob? He's crazy about you. Or if you want someone your age, how about the Marauders?" she changed her tone when she said "Marauders" it had clearly gotten colder, of course, because the fucking Marauders were annoying, right? "The famous lead singer of the Marauders? Girls adore him!"
"Ah, Sirius?" Carmen giggled, as she always did. "Oh, of course, they adore him; he's a very cute kid. Don't get me wrong, Lils, I just want to get to know Snape, that's all, maybe he'd like to talk to me too. He... Hmm... He's a very different person?"
"Well, I don't know, I'll tell him about you!" said Lily, who was in a hurry because McGonagall had called her, and she had to catch up. She was thinking of the love that might happen between Carmen and Snape, and naturally, she had forgotten the Transfiguration Professor, who was the last person she could associate with love, as well as Severus Snape, who couldn't be associated with love. If Carmen liked him, oh, she would tease Snape so much in the evening.
"Hey!" Carmen shouted after her. "Stop, don't talk about me so soon, I just meant to ask what he thinks! Hey Lily! Don't go!"
But Lily was already gone...
***
Lily, standing in front of the mirror while brushing her hair - she had brushed it so much that her red waves had almost turned into red sticks - suddenly frowned as she remembered her conversation with Snape from that evening. While Lily had been thinking of Snape's well-being, his response had been quite harsh, actually he seemed offended.
"Are you playing matchmaker?" he had yelled. Yes yelled, in every sense of the word. Lily hated Snape's shouting moments. "I never asked for something like this from you! Oh, maybe you're tired of going to the balls with me! Maybe you thought you'd set me up with some ugly stupid bitch so that you could dance with the handsome boys waiting for you, huh? Oh, of course, Potter," Snape added, his eyes filled with hatred and jealousy. Now Lily's eyes were welling up with tears, and as much as he scolded her, every tear in those bright eyes hurt Snape terribly.
"Oh, so that's how it is! The girl I set you up with may be the most beautiful girl the school has ever seen, but you're right about the stupid part. She must be just as foolish as I am if she wants to get to know you, let alone hang out with you!" Snape began to respond - or object - but Lily continued without giving him a chance. "Besides, I didn't arrange anything! She came and asked me on her own. And if I did not want to, I wouldn't go to the ball with you, Snape! Where did you even get the idea that I had such an obligation? And lastly..." she added, closing Snape's mouth, which had opened in anger. "I don't find James Potter handsome or anything. But you've told me like fifty times this, so maybe you," she said, emphasizing this part delicately, "maybe it is you who is into him! Come on, admit it to yourself, I'm your friend no matter what, I'll always be there for you!" And Lily, this time crying, rushed away. Did she really deserve such a harsh outburst.
Lily tried to push her thoughts away and pulled out the formal robe she would wear tonight from her closet, giving it another look. It matched her red hair, her lipstick, even her cheeks. The girls in the other beds were starting to wake up. When they saw Lily, who was already up and kicking, and had even taken a shower, none of them were surprised.
"Good morning, Lil," Mary yawned. "And good morning to you too, girls," she continued. Then she got up and headed for the bathroom. Of course, Carmen, Rachel, Susie, and the others followed suit. Lily and the mirror were left alone in the dormitory. Lily got tired of looking at her reflection in the mirror, and it even made her nauseous. It would be good to go down for breakfast, but for some reason, she had no appetite.
***
James wanted to sing love songs all day along. In fact, he wanted to sing loudly, waking up his friends who were napping on this beautiful day. However, he couldn't find a suitable song for his mood. He must have decided to make up his own song since he started listing a bunch of silly lyrics with an unrelated melody while shouting. And his voice was quite terrible, honestly, it would have been better if a group of hippogriffs shriek.
"Even the forbidden forest bathed with love, and songs of the birds and flies...
Bugs and beetles wake up... mmm... with happiness...
James is heading down to the common room with friends, and towards Lily...
Even if he sees that loser Snivellus' face, it's worth if he's with Lilyyyyyyy..." he finished with a never-ending high-pitched scream, which had already woken everyone in the dormitory. James had to cut off his voice after getting a pillow to the head. Apparently, the pillow came from Peter.
"Cut it out, mate!"
"Yes, James!" Sirius chimed in support. "Next time, just wake us up with a bucket of water or something, alright? I'd prefer that!"
"I'll take that into consideration!" James grinned. Joe, who had already sprung from the back bed, patted James Potter on the back as he passed by.
"Leave him alone, he's in love!"
James' only response was a grin.
"And I'm not the only one in love! Hey Padfoot, it's Christmas tonight, and you still haven't invited anyone! So who is it? Who could it be?"
"I'm nervous, James!" Sirius said with embarrassment. Another girl wouldn't have been a problem, but he couldn't ask Carmen. She probably wouldn't reject him though. She hadn't accepted anyone's invitation so far. Well, everyone was already paired off, and a beautiful girl like Carmen couldn't be going alone! Sirius was quite sure, actually, that Carmen also liked him back, but oh, those eyes of hers, weren't they lovely? What about that perfect nose of hers? Sirius laughed at himself sometimes, he was literally in awe of that girl's beautifully shaped nose...