LILY AND JAMES (part 2) “A Snape in the Grass”

By, Joni

Written in January 2000

Revised in September 2001

Lily kissed her parents goodbye at King’s Cross Station and crossed the invisible barrier to platform nine and three-quarters. Quickly she began to search the crowd for any sign of her friends from school, especially James Potter. Lily didn’t know why but she had missed him most of all over the summer break. She scanned the crowd of chattering students looking for any sign of James when she finally saw him. He’d grown a little and his hair was still as untidy as ever, which used to annoy her but she now found it charming in a strange sort of way. She rushed over to him and he saw her and smiled.

“Lily! It’s great to see you. How was your summer? Was your sister still mean to you?” James asked.

“Oh course, she was horrible, but I’m here now and that’s all that matters,” Lily answered.

James helped her load her things onto the train and then she joined James and their friends in a compartment as they sped off to Hogwarts for their sixth year of school. Everyone was having fun as they talked about their summers. However, halfway through their trip to school, the mood changed as the compartment door slid open and in walked Severus Snape, a sixth year Slytherin who hated them all.

“Oh, Potter, it’s you,” Snape sneered.

James glared back at him, “What do you want, Severus?”

Snape just smiled wickedly as he looked at each person sitting in the compartment. Sirius and Remus were also glaring at him but Peter seemed to tremble slightly, which gave Snape great pleasure. Lily just stared; she had never seen anyone so cruel looking. Snape was thin with bony arms and fingers. He also had a long pointy nose, pale skin, and black hair that looked greasy and slick.

“I don’t want anything, Potter, I just came to warn you not to cause trouble this year or you’ll regret it.”

“And what’s that suppose to mean?” asked Sirius, rising out of his seat.

Snape didn’t move. He smiled more and looked even meaner as he responded, “It means exactly what it sounds like, Sirius.” Snape then turned and walked back out.

Sirius growled, “He’d better not cause any trouble this year or he’s going to regret it.”

“What was that all about?” Lily asked, turning to James, who still looked angry.

“That was Severus Snape, and he’s always out to get me for some reason. I don’t get it, I’ve never done anything to him, but he’s always hated me and will do anything to get me in trouble, or better yet, kicked out of school.”

“He’s just jealous,” said Peter, timidly. “You have lots of friends and everyone likes you, but no one likes him, except those Slytherins he hangs out with.”

“I think he’s still mad about the way Slytherin was flattened in that match against Gyffindor last year,” said Sirius, finally sitting back down and smiling. “What was the score, James?”

James smiled, too, and said, “It was 300 to 50, ouch! He’s just mad because I’ve been on Gryffindor’s team since my third year and he’s still waiting to get on his house team. I wonder if he’ll finally make it this year?”

“Who cares?” said Sirius.

Lily looked over at Remus who had been rather quiet since Snape appeared. “Remus, what’s the matter?” Lily asked him.

“I think he suspects something about me,” he whispered nervously. “He knew all those times James, Sirius, and Peter sneaked out of school last year and he doesn’t believe my mother is ill, like I keep trying to explain to him every time he asks. What if he sneaks around this year and discovers…well, you know…”

“Don’t worry, Remus, he won’t find out, I promise,” said James. “My Dad gave me something over the summer that will help us not to get caught.” James went over to his trunk and pulled out a silvery gray piece of cloth. He held it up and everyone gasped as they realized it was an invisibility cloak.

“Your Dad gave that to you?” asked Sirius.

“Yup. But I bet he would have thought twice about it if he knew the kind of trouble we will probably cause!”

Lily reached out and felt the softness of the fabric. She had never seen anything like it before. Then she said, “James, please be careful this year. I don’t trust that Snape guy and you will get kicked out if anyone finds out we you are up to.”

“We will, I promise,” said James.

Just then, the witch with the food cart came to the door and asked if anyone was hungry. Lily got up, asked if anyone wanted anything, and then went out to get some lunch. Sirius smiled knowingly at James.

“What?” asked James as he saw the way Sirius was looking at him.

“She likes you, I can tell,” Sirius answered.

“Lily likes all of us, you know that, we are all friends,” said James, a little embarrassed.

“No, I think she likes you. You heard her, she asked you to be careful this year. She didn’t say anything about the rest of us,” said Sirius.

James looked at Remus and Peter. They were also smiling at him in a peculiar kind of way, and he felt himself blushing a little. “You guys are crazy! She cares about all of us. I know she is worried about you, too.”

But, he didn’t get to say more because just then Lily came back in and they all started eating and talking. James forgot all about it.

The school year started just the same as any other. Both James and Lily were prefects for their houses so they didn’t see much of each other for the first couple of weeks as they helped all the first years find their way around. After a few weeks they started to study together just like they always used to in the library when James remembered what Sirius had said. He watched her studying and she didn’t notice him looking at her. She is really pretty he thought, as he looked at her golden red hair and bright green eyes. What if she does like me? Do I like her? And it came to him as a complete shock as he realized he did like her and cared about her probably more than any of his friends. He felt himself getting nervous suddenly until she looked up and he noticed she looked troubled. He pushed his other thoughts away and asked her what was wrong.

“Remember Snape?” she asked.

“Yeah, what about him?”

“Well, I have potions with him and the other sixth year Slytherins. Today during class he asked me why I am friends with you and said he thought I had better taste then that. Then he said if I got into any trouble with you guys he would make sure I was kicked out of school, too! He scares me, James, what should I do? I’m afraid he won’t leave me alone,” Lily said in a rush and almost crying.

James felt the anger rising in his chest as his dislike for Snape swelled. He clenched his fists and said to Lily, “Don’t worry about him, he’s just a nosy git, and I don’t know what he’s picking on you for. There’s no way your going to get kicked out of school because you’re smart enough to know better than to fool around like the rest of us. We’re not going to get kicked out either. We’re on to Snape now and we’re being extra careful. If he bothers you again, we’ll take care of him.”

Snape left Lily alone after that and after a while they had other things to take their minds off of Snape because quidditch season started. James and Sirius both played for Gryffindor’s team, James as the seeker and Sirius as a chaser. They were all surprised to learn that Snape would be playing for Slytherin this year as their seeker. The first match of the season would be Gryffindor against Slytherin.

Game day came and Gryffindor prevailed in a glorious repeat of last year’s trouncing with James beating Snape to the snitch by a mile. Lily pointed out after the match that this would probably only make Snape madder and more vindictive. They all agreed and started to watch out for him more carefully then ever. As expected, Snape was following them even more now and it seemed that Remus was right, Snape was becoming more interested in where he went every month and was constantly questioning him about it. He even asked Lily about Remus during potions one day. Lily just acted like she didn’t know what he was talking about, but she was starting to get more annoyed. Finally one day she asked him, “Why do you care where Remus goes? And why do you dislike them all, especially James”

Snape didn’t answer and walked away. She felt that his reluctance to answer was proof that he had no real reason to dislike them except plain old jealousy. She even felt a little sorry for him.

The year continued on normally until one Friday afternoon when Lily and James were studying together in the library. James needed to get his homework done because that night was going to be a full moon and he was going to go out to be with Remus and his friends. James was distracted, though. He was watching Lily study again and knew that he liked her but he wasn’t sure what to do about it. I could ask her out. But where would we go? he thought. He also wasn’t sure if she felt the same way about him and didn’t really want to risk their friendship over it.

Suddenly, Sirius ran into the library and came straight over to James and Lily.

“James! I’m so glad I found you. Something terrible has happened,” Sirius whispered. He looked pale and out of breath.

“What’s going on?” asked James.

“I was keeping an eye on Remus tonight as Madame Pomfrey was taking him to the Whomping Willow, and of course Snape was sneaking around, too, trying to figure out what is going on. He saw me and demanded to know where Remus was going and why he was going into the tree. He was threatening to tell Dumbledore about him. I knew that wouldn’t make a difference because Dumbledore knows about Remus, of course, but I was just so angry at him for sneaking around and spying so I told him if he took a long branch and poked that knot in the tree that he could get into it safely, and he did it! But, now I’m scared and I’m sorry I told him to do it! I know he deserves whatever he gets but if he sees Remus he’ll tell the whole school and Remus will have to leave. Not only that but if Remus turns into a werewolf, he’ll kill Snape!”

James jumped out of his chair, nearly knocking it over. “Sirius, how could you?” he yelled and everyone in the library turned to stare at him. Then he ran out as fast as he could.

Lily ran after him. “You can’t go after him, you could get killed! You’ve got to tell Dumbledore what Snape has done.”

“There isn’t time, and I’ve got to stop him! Please stay in the school, with Sirius. I’d never forgive myself if something happened to you.” He glanced back at Lily one more time and ran off again.

Sirius came up behind Lily, shaking from head to toe and said, “And I’ll never forgive myself if something happens to James. I can’t believe how stupid I was! I’m going to tell Dumbledore what happened. He might be able to help. Go back to the library and wait.”

Lily walked back to the library and tried to study more, but she couldn’t concentrate. It seemed like hours were dragging by and no one came to tell her what was going on.

Meanwhile, James had run outside to the tree. The sun was almost down now but he still had time to reach Snape. He picked up a long branch lying nearby and poked the large knot in the tree to stop its wild thrashing. Then he ran down into the secret passageway. He ran as fast as he could not knowing what he would do if Remus changed while he was there. He reached the trapdoor to the shack and entered looking around for Snape. James found him in the next room.

“Listen, Snape, there’s no time to explain but we have to get out of here now!” James said as he grabbed Snape’s arm. Snape pulled away at once.

“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what’s going on,” he said.

“Don’t be a fool…” but James couldn’t finish because somewhere in the shack a wild howling rang out. Snape paled and froze on the spot. James grabbed him again and pulled him into the room with the trapdoor and tried to force him down. Snape regained his courage and fought angrily with James until the werewolf jumped into the room and snapped its jaws at them. Both James and Snape yelled with fear and got into the trapdoor as fast as they could, shutting it behind them just in time.

They sat in the secret passage both out of breath and still angry at one another. Snape finally said, “So, Remus is a werewolf. That explains everything. Wait until the rest of the school finds out. He’ll be kicked out for sure.”

“You can’t tell anyone, Snape, it’s not fair to Remus and you know it. He can’t help that he’s that way,” James pleaded with Snape. Snape wasn’t listening. He was already walking back toward the school. James followed him and continued to try and reason with him. As they came out of the tree they ran right into Dumbledore.

“I’m so glad you boys are alright, but now I think we had all better have a chat in my office,” Dumbledore said.

Up in Dumbledore’s office, James and Snape sat in silence. Dumbledore had already explained how Sirius came straight to him and told him everything. Dumbledore also told Snape that he was fully aware that Remus was a werewolf and forbade him from telling anyone. Snape was so angry he could hardly speak. He then demanded that James and Sirius be expelled for the joke he thought they were both in on. Dumbledore refused, and gave Snape a month’s detention and removed him from the Slytherin Quidditch team for the rest of the year then dismissed him from his office.

Dumbledore then turned to James. “I’m not sure what to do about you, however. I gave Mr. Black the same punishment as Mr. Snape, but he told me you knew nothing about his prank, is that true?”

“Yes sir,” replied James, “I only went to stop Snape from finding out about Remus. I didn’t want him to get hurt, either.”

Dumbledore sighed. “Well, I don’t see that punishment is in order this time and it was very brave of you to try and stop Severus. I am still bothered that you know so much about Remus, the Whomping Willow, and the Shrieking Shack, but I suppose that it is impossible for you not to find out because you are Remus’s friend. It is only natural for you to be concerned about him. You must make sure that other students do not find out about any of this, their safety depends on it. Not to mention that if they find out I cannot allow Remus to stay in school here.”

“I won’t, but what about Snape?” asked James.

“I’ll see to it that he does not tell anyone either, and that he stays away from that willow. There’s one more thing, James.”

“What, sir?”

Dumbledore’s face broke into a warm smile. “Thank you for being friends with Remus. Most people would not give him a chance but you care about him. You’re a brave person and a good person. There aren’t many like that around you know.”

James left Dumbledore’s office relieved that no one was hurt and that the school didn’t find out about Remus. He went to find Lily right away. He knew she would be worried about him. She was still in the library but no one else was there. When Lily saw James she started to cry and buried her head in her arms.

“Please, don’t cry,” James said, as he went and sat next to her and put his arm around her.

She sighed heavily as she looked up at James. “Thank goodness you’re all right. I was worried sick. Sirius left right after you did to tell Dumbledore everything. He didn’t want you to get in trouble for his prank and he figured Dumbledore might be able to help you. But, he didn’t come back and I’ve been so scared.” She sniffed and wiped her eyes as James told her all that had happened.

“Sirius probably couldn’t come back because he was punished. I’m sorry you had to wait here alone,” James said.

Lily was calmer now and she said, “That’s okay, I’m just glad you are not hurt. Maybe Snape will leave you alone now, although I’ll bet he hates you even more.” She looked at him seriously and added, “I really don’t know what I would have done if something had happened to you.”

They looked at each other for a moment and then James put his arms around her and held her tight. She squeezed him tight, too, and when they finally let go Lily was blushing a little.

“It’s really late and I’m exhausted. I guess I’d better get to bed,” Lily said as she gathered her books into her bag and got up to leave.

“Wait,” said James. “Can I walk you to your dorm?”

“That would be nice, but aren’t you going to be with Remus tonight?” Lily asked.

“I don’t think I should tonight after what happened, it might be pushing my luck. I think Remus will understand this once. Besides, I need to go see Sirius and let him know I’m alright.”

They walked in silence to the entrance of Lily’s common room, and then she turned and said, “Goodnight James.”

“Goodnight,” he said, “Will I see you tomorrow?”

She smiled and said, “Of course you will.”