Friends
Me, I'm just another face at Zanzibar
But the waitress always serves a secret smile, whoa
She's waiting out in Shantytown
She's gonna pull the curtains down for me, for me
I've got the old man's car
I've got a jazz guitar
I've got a tab at Zanzibar
Tonight that's where I'll be, I'll be
Rose, he knows he's such a credit to the game
But the Yankees grab the headlines every time
Melodrama's so much fun
In black and white for everyone to see, whoa
Me, I'm trying just to get to second base
And I'd steal it if she only gave the sign, whoa
She's gonna give the go ahead
The inning isn't over yet for me, for me
Lily really liked school; she liked learning new things and answering her professors’ questions correctly. When she was younger, in middle school, she was the smartest in her class, it was easy, and she knew everything. Then she befriended Severus Snape, and she realised that she was going to go to Hogwarts, a magic school, and she wasn’t going to know anything about magic, so every time she could, she asked Severus about everything he knew about magic. When Lily bought her supplies before her first year, she read every single book because she didn’t want to not know; she always had known everything.
Magic was something that she couldn’t explain or even think of how it was possible, but she could learn every single thing that had to do with her new world, so she did. She spent several hours in the library consuming as much information as she could, because, since she made magic for the first time, she knew she didn’t belong to the muggle’s world, she belonged to another world, and when she first went to Hogwarts, it looked like she wasn’t part of it. While the other kids passed by the moving pictures, the ghosts, poltergeists, moving stairs, and other extraordinary magical things like they were nothing, Lily looked at them, impressed and curious. She wanted to know everything about magic, she wanted to know about her world because the other kids did, they belonged there, and Lily didn’t.
So Lily easily became the top student in her class. She learned fast, and she was very good at it. In their early years, Sirius and James were top students too, but later they cared less about studying and more about Quidditch. So Remus and she became the top students, Severus was the best one in potions, though.
"Have you heard that Sirius Black ran away from his house?" whispered one Hufflepuff girl to another.
Lily was in the library, writing an essay. Next to her was Remus, who tensed when he heard what the girl said at the table next to them. Lily frowned and stopped writing her essay to listen to what the girls were saying.
It was just the first week since the holidays, and Lily knew that something had happened to Sirius. She tried to ask Remus, but he just said that something had happened to his family.
"Yes. I think they disowned him, and he’s living with the Potters now."
Lily looked at Remus. "Is that true?" she asked, and Remus nodded.
She knew that Sirius didn’t think like his family about blood status, well, he was friends with Remus, a half-blood, and every time the Slytherings said something to muggle-borns just for their blood, he always defended them.
"So now Regulus is the heir?" asked the Hufflepuff.
Everyone was talking about Sirius in the corridors, the whole school knew, and the gossips in the Great Hall were impossible to avoid.
"Is it true that the Potters kidnapped Sirius Black?" asked Mary.
"Of course not," said Marlene. "His family is awful, so he ran with the Potters, but they didn’t kidnap him."
Anyway, Sirius seemed happy. When someone asked him, he said, They’re not my family. I’m a Potter, or James is my brother. He didn’t seem annoyed at all he enjoyed the attention. The one who was annoyed was his brother. Lily never usually saw Regulus more than a few times every year, so she didn’t know what he looked like when he was okay, but now she was sure that he wasn’t okay. He seemed exhausted and angry every time she saw him, and she could understand why; everyone was looking at him and gossiping.
"You are friends with Remus," Mary said to Lily. It was lunchtime, and they were in the Great Hall, eating. Gratefully, the marauders weren’t near them. "You know what happened, exactly?"
"No, I don’t," answered Lily. "And if I did, I wouldn’t care. It’s none of my business, and neither is yours."
"We know, we know," said Marlene after eating a chicken wing. "But some gossip never hurts anyone."
Lily hasn't figured out how Mary and Marlene were their friends. While Lily liked reading, studying in the library, and silence, their friends loved parties, were more outgoing, liked breaking the rules, didn’t like reading, and hated studying. But they said that opposites attract. And Mary and Marlene were different too. Mary was very feminine, she liked wearing dresses, heels, and girly make-up, while Marlene hated dresses and skirts, preferred boots, and had kind of edgy make-up. But the three of them were best friends, and their differences would never rip them apart.
The next class was potions. Lily didn’t like Professor Slughorn, he was arrogant and only liked rich students or the smart ones, and he knew they would be valuable in the future. Lily was one of them, and she had privileges that the other students didn’t, and she didn’t see it fair.
But she was happy to go to potions because they had the class with the Slytherins, and that meant that she could see Severus. Once everyone arrived, Professor Slughorn asked for their Christmas break homework, and once they gave it to him, he made them do a potion in pairs.
"This potion is an easy one, I want you to do it to relax before your O.W.L.s in June, but you are warned that the next classes are going to be tough, to equal the O.W.L.s level. You can now choose a partner."
Lily crossed the room to meet Severus, and he smiled at her. They have always been partners in potions, Severus was the first in their class, and Lily the second. First, they prepared everything, looked for the ingredients that Slughorn had written on the blackboard, and started making the potion. They made a great team. Lily was chopping the gingerbread while Severus was mixing the potion.
"So," she said. "What are you going to do on your birthday?"
Severus’ birthday was that Friday, the next day. He never did anything special on his birthday, and Lily supposed he wouldn’t do anything in this either, but she had to ask.
"Oh, nothing. I think I’ll stay in my room, studying."
"No, you can’t. We have to do something."
"Lily, we never do anything on my birthday."
Last year, they had a picnic on Hogwarts’ grounds—nothing big, but it was comfortable for both of them, and they had fun drinking butterbeer and eating pumpkin pie.
"We could go to the Three Broomsticks on Saturday," Lily suggested.
"Yeah, sure," he smiled.
And that’s how they were at the Three Broomsticks that weekend. They were sitting in a corner near the door, avoiding the crowd from the back of the pub, as they always did. The pub was full of students, teachers, and other clients, but it was a cosy place. They ordered two butterbeers.
"Oh, I bought you something," Lily said, searching in her bag.
"You didn’t have to," Severus said, and Lily shook her head.
"You say that every year. Here," she said, giving him the wrapped present.
She watched as he opened it carefully and curiously. He opened his mouth, and then he closed it, trying to find the words.
"Woah" was the only thing he said.
"I didn’t know what you liked, and my dad said that KISS was good, so we bought it."
"I don’t —I don’t listen to muggle music, actually."
"Oh. Oh, um… It’s fine, you don’t have to listen to it if you don’t want, I’ll buy you something else, give me it, it’s fine," she said in one breath.
"No, no, I didn’t mean that I'll listen to it, really no problem."
Severus was hard to read, but he seemed nervous. He was holding the album to his chest, not letting Lily take it from him.
"You sure? It’s okay if you’re not, Sev."
"I’m sure. I think they are interesting, I’m going to keep it."
He was smiling, but not as a true smile, Lily thought that he was just trying to relax her, but Severus was stubborn, so she accepted that he was not changing his mind, even if he didn’t like it. He always kept everything that Lily gave him.
She watched how he put the album into his bag with cure, and then he drank a slip of butterbeer.
"Something interesting happened?" he asked after a while.
"Not really,"
The only remotely interesting thing was that James Potter had asked her out on a date at Hogsmeade at breakfast —that she denied, but obviously, Severus didn’t like to talk about Potter. They have been enemies since the very first day of Hogwarts. And Severus was the target of most of Potter’s pranks.
Speaking of the devil, Potter and his friends came into the pub, Sirius and James were laughing about something, but then Sirius noticed Lily and her friend.
"Well, James. I know why Evans didn’t want to go on a date with you, she already had one with Snivellus."
James turned to face them after Sirius talked, and he furrowed his brows, looking at Severus. He turned too, and Lily noticed he tensed his jaw.
"Piss off, Black," she said. Sirius was smiling, but when Lily said his last name, his mouth turned into a line.
Remus and Peter were beside them. Remus looked like he wanted to get out of there, but at the same time, he was ready to stop them if they started a real fight, like he always did. And Peter had his arms crossed, pretending to be brave and tough, but when they’d start arguing seriously, he would just support his friends with two words, like always.
"What’s that?" Sirius said it more brutally than he had before. "Wrapping paper? Is today your birthday, Snivellus?"
"It seems that our lil Snivelly is getting bigger. How fast do they grow, right, Sirius?" James dramatically said.
"Yeah, if I’d known, I would have brought you a present, like a greaseless shampoo. I think you really need that for your hair." Peter laughed at what Sirius said.
A couple of people had noticed their little argument and had turned their heads towards them with confused faces.
"Would you shut up? You think it's funny acting like a child in front of everyone?" Snape snapped.
"Yes, it’s very funny," James said.
"It might be funny for you, but I have better things to do than see your stupid faces."
Sirius put his hand to his chest and faked a hurt grimace.
"There’s no need to call anyone stupid. Really, Snivellus, that’s how you treat people that want to buy you shampoo?"
"That’s how I treat people that don’t have any other interesting thing to do than be annoying."
"Why don’t you just go?" Lily said, she was a little embarrassed by how people were looking at them.
"Go?" Sirius asked. "We just came in!"
"Nobody wants you here,"
"The last time I checked, this pub was a public space. Are we ruining your date, Snivellus?"
"You’re ruining my whole existence,"
"Oh, that makes me so, so sad." James shook his head.
"I don’t get why you have to make a scene every time," Lily said, crossing her arms.
"Evans, I know you love to see me; you don’t have to pretend."
"I do not love to see you." she sighed. "Would you please go?"
"Sure, just because you said please and because I need a butterbeer right now. Come on, lads." They started walking to the back of the pub. "And, for the record," James turned "I know you wish you had agreed to our date."
Lily shook her head and drank butterbeer.
"For Salazar’s sake, they’re so immature," Snape complained.
"Just ignore them, they’ll stop doing it if they notice you don’t care."
"Then they’ll think I’m giving up, I won’t let them say those things to me."
Lily nodded, tired of that conversation. The marauders had tensed her muscles.
They were sitting in the back, Remus was reading a book, and Sirius was watching him in silence. Peter was talking to James, but he wasn’t paying attention because, well, he was looking at her. He grinned and winked, and Lily looked back to Severus quickly, feeling her cheeks a little warm, but she tried to ignore it.
"Are you okay? Do you want us to leave somewhere quieter?" she asked.
The people that had been looking at them had stopped, but somehow she still felt their looks on her, and she really didn’t like that.
"Sure," he said, and he drank what was left of his butterbeer before they stood up, put on their cloaks, and grabbed their stuff.
"I’m sorry this happened on your birthday, Sev."
"Don’t worry, it’s not your fault, I don’t like my birthday either, so it’s like it’s a normal day."
"Why don’t you like it?"
He had always hated it, but every time she tried to ask, he changed the subject.
"Not so good memories about it, I think."
"You didn’t celebrate it as a kid?"
Severus didn’t answer right back, and he put his hands in his pocket and looked at the snowy floor.
"Yeah, mostly because my parents forgot about it," he said quietly, it was almost a whisper.
"I’m sorry."
She had never met his parents, and he never liked to talk about his family or his home. He lived in a shabby area of their town, and every time the holidays from Hogwarts approached, he was a little sad about going back home.
"It’s okay. Can we talk about anything else?"
"Sure," Lily wondered what they could talk about, usually they would talk about anything easily, but in that moment they weren’t as close as they were, this was the first time in weeks that they spent that much time together. "I’m reading Wuthering Heights because my mother loves it, and she says that they’re going to make a series this year."
"I still don’t understand TVs," he muttered.
"Well, I don’t understand how they don’t have it in the wizarding world; my dad is always watching it."
"They sound addictive."
"It’s just addictive if you are a retired man who loves soccer. I prefer books, honestly."
"Of course you do," he smiled, looking at her. "Where are we going?"
"Um… I don’t know, I was following you."
"I was you!"
Lily giggled and shook her head. Severus fixed his hair, looking at her.
"Do you want sweets from Honeydukes?" he asked, pointing to said store.
"Yeah," she smiled.
At least Honeydukes was marauder-free. A lot of third-years were buying sweets, but it was a cheerfuler place than the Three Broomsticks. They bought some sweets and went to a little nook to eat them on a bench. It had snow on it, but they removed it with some magic.
"Your cheeks are red," he commented. "Are you cold?"
"No, it happens every time I’m outside in the Winter."
"I don’t want you to get a cold for eating some sweets,"
"I’m fine," she clarified.
"You look pretty, though," he said, looking at the floor, and Lily’s cheeks turned redder, if that was even possible. "Well, you always look pretty."
"Oh, er… Thanks, Sev"
"You are the prettiest girl at Hogwarts."
Lily swallowed and looked away. She wasn’t used to hearing people call her pretty, and she didn’t know how to react.
"That’s um… a cute thought, but if you think that is because you haven’t seen any other girls,"
"I only have eyes for you, Lily."
She didn’t know where this conversation was going to go, but Severus sounded nervous and determined at the same time. She bit her inside cheek, not knowing what to say.
"You—you are my best friend, and my only real friend, but um... I—I like-" Whatever he was going to say, Lily interrupted him and stood up.
"You know what? I think it’s lunchtime, we should start going to the castle."
She didn’t look at him, but she heard as he stood up quickly.
"Yeah, yeah. You are right," he said, and Lily started walking, she still didn’t look at him as he followed her. "What I was going to say is—"
"Isn’t that Mary?" she said, looking at her brunette friend, that she was alone looking at Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop’s showcase. "Mary!"
Her friend turned to see Lily and smiled, but she tensed when she saw who she was she with.
"Do you want some sweets?" Lily asked, showing her the bag they bought when she was next to her. Severus stood behind her, but Lily didn’t know what was his face.
"Sure. Are you alright?" she asked, and Lily nodded, smiling.
She was not alright. She was thinking about what Severus was going to say before she interrupted him twice. Was he just going to come out to her? That was crazy, they had been best friends since they were nine, so it didn’t make any sense to her.
Lily only saw him as a friend, and their friendship was very meaningful to her, so she didn’t want to ruin it by rejecting him. She didn’t know what to do as Mary ate her sweet and looked confused. Severus cleared his throat behind them.
"Um… I think I saw Avery, so I’m going to… say hello to him, you know."
Lily turned her head in his direction, but she didn’t look at his face.
"Sure, go, have fun."
Severus nodded and walked away. When Lily faced Mary, she had her arms on her hips and an arched eyebrow.
"Okay, what was that?" Mary asked, “I’m sure everyone could see the tension between you too,”
"Oh, you are definitely not going to believe it," Lily said, making gestures with her hands.