Chapter 3: Dissolve The Nerves That Have Just Begun
The look on Sirius' face as Severus guided James back to the portrait was almost worth the hangover he knew he'd have in the morning. Even Remus shared Sirius' bewildered look at the sight of the two men conversing like they were old friends reuniting.
"I can't fucking believe this. The first person Prongs gets drunk with is Snivellus, what about us?" Sirius complained.
"Yeah, likewise for Severus and I. I wish you wouldn't call him that name, Sirius. I honestly didn't think he'd touch alcohol at all in his life," Lily spoke. She didn't take her eyes off the odd site of Severus and James until they were staying right in front of them.
Mary immediately snatched James away from Severus and pulled him into a quick kiss. James was the only one to miss the hurt look that crossed over Lily's face, it was like Mary was marking her territory. It obviously caught James off guard because he started giggling oddly afterwards.
"Hi to you too, babe," James greeted her with a smile.
"Babe? Since when do you call me babe?" Mary asked, eyebrows furrowing.
"I-"
"Severus, what did you do to James?" Mary laughed as she addressed the only Slytherin present.
"Hey, this was his idea to be fair," Severus answered, holding his hands up in defence.
"Just like it was your idea to 'lose' your Defence Against the Dark Arts notes so I wouldn't cheat off them?" Mary pushed.
"Hey, how would you ever learn if you were just copying whatever I wrote down?" Severus shot back with a smirk. James was growing more and more confused.
"Hold on, you two are friends?" James asked, gesturing to the both of them.
"Friends is an overstatement, I only tutored her last year in Defence Against the Dark Arts," Severus explained.
"Oh please, I know how big a softy you are deep down. I just turned on the waterworks and you felt bad so you helped me," Mary teased.
"Are you kidding me? I should have let you fail!" Severus spat back. James felt a weight in the bottom of his stomach, twisting and uncomfortable and unfamiliar at the sight of Mary and Severus talking like close friends. Jealousy? James prided himself on never being a jealous person, and he wasn't about to start getting jealous over Severus and Mary's previous connection. Even still, it didn't feel like it was Severus he was jealous of, that didn't sit right.
"Well now that I've got you back here safely, I should head back to my own dormitory before curfew. I'll see you around James," Severus nodded to his new friend. He also waved at Lily before he departed for the Slytherin common room.
Mary gave James a final peck and spared a glance at Lily before she went back inside the common room and made her way to her dorm. James watched Severus turn the corner towards the Slytherin quarters before following the other four through the portrait.
"Man, I can't believe you! You're on first-name basis with that git now? What even happened?" Sirius wasn't angry or upset, he was just baffled.
"Oh shut up, Sirius. If you haven't noticed, you're the only one present who isn't on a 'first name basis' with Severus, as you so put it. He's really matured over the past year," Remus defended, scowling at Sirius. He, just like Sirius, wasn't mad either, it was just out of place for James.
"But- but I-," Sirius stammered, not used to Remus disagreeing with him.
Meanwhile, Lily rounded on James, ignoring the teasing flirting between the other two.
"I can't believe you two were drinking together! You could get expelled for that you know," Lily chastised.
"Yeah, but Lily, I'm still here, aren't I?" James teased as he flopped into the couch by the fireplace. Lily sat beside him, her hair glowing in the red light.
"What happened? The James I knew wouldn't even touch Severus, let alone lean on him because he can hardly walk," Lily whispered. James looked more serious after her question.
"I saw him in a different light tonight, it was a completely different side of him," James explained, his gaze fixed on the flickering flames. Lily nodded, prompting him to continue.
"I don't know what it is, but I can see myself being friends with him. I want to be friends with him," James confessed. He barely had a filter at this point.
"Then be his friend then. From what I saw, he's completely unfazed by it, what's holding you back?" Lily questioned, tilting her head. James turned to meet her green eyes before jerking his head towards Remus and Sirius.
"In case you haven't noticed, James, but Remus hardly cares. And if it's Sirius you're worried about, I'm sure he'll hardly notice. I think we can both agree he's got his own issues to work through at the moment," Lily said.
They both looked over the back of the couch to see Remus holding Sirius in a playful headlock. Sirius grinned and laughed as he tried to tickle Remus into releasing his head, so far it was unsuccessful. A heavy red blush covered Sirius' entire face. James and Lily sank back down into the couch and faced the fire again.
"You're right, Merlin knows when those two are going to sort their shit out," James laughed.
***
Two weeks later found Severus and James the talk of the year level. James was the most popular guy in their year, so naturally everyone knew about his long standing rivalry with Severus. Severus, for the first time ever, became an object of envy. A lot of girls had been trying to get close to James for years, and Severus managed to do it practically overnight.
Thursday morning found the duo and Mary in the library together. Severus had succumbed to Mary's constant pestering for him to help her with her DADA work again this year. James was also there studying, he found it easy to study when he was with Severus. He wouldn't admit it to anyone, but that strange uneasy feeling returned to him anytime Severus and Mary were together. He didn't even know why he was feeling like that in the first place.
"You know when Mulciber discovered his half empty bottle of Firewhiskey he blamed it on the house elves? He thought they drank it when they did a routine sweep of the dorms," Severus said, flipping the page of his DADA book.
"Wait, you're kidding me, right?" James asked, looking up from his notes for the first time in several minutes.
"I couldn't make up something like that if I tried," Severus replied with a grin. The two chuckle while Mary looked at the two sitting side by side.
"You are single-handedly holding up the intelligence of Slytherin," James praised as he returned his attention to his notes.
"You know, I always knew you two were going to fall in love," Mary mused, leaning her elbow on the table and resting her chin in her palm. James and Severus shared a puzzled look before she continued, "What? The Quidditch darling and the brooding genius, people would pay to see it. If you two ever decide to hookup, don't forget to include me," Mary finished with a wink. Severus grimaced, he couldn't tell if she was being serious or not. Meanwhile James unabashedly laughed in her face.
"Sev?" The voice of Lily Evans sounded from behind his back. Severus swivelled around to face her.
"Hi Lily," James stopped laughing to wave at her. She raised her hand at him in return.
"Sev, can I talk to you? Alone?" Lily made a point by eyeing the present company. Severus shut his books and followed her out of the library. On his way out, he could hear James and Mary's back and forth.
"That's never going to happen."
"What, you two hooking up?"
"No, me inviting you if we do hookup," James teased.
Lily lead Severus around to an alcove outside the library. She leaned against the stone wall and faced Severus, her red hair flowing over her shoulders.
"So, what's going on with you and James? I feel like I haven't spoken to you in ages, you're with him all the time now," Lily asked, a little downtrodden. Severus' face fell.
"Oh, Lily, I'm so sorry. These past two weeks have gone past so quickly, it's hard to keep up with everything. It's all so…new to me," Severus explained, sheepishly running a hand through his black hair. Lily must have found what he just said funny because she let out a short giggle.
"What?" Severus asked.
"You're already picking up James' traits, he's always got a hand in his hair," Lily pointed out, causing Severus to stuff his hands into his pockets.
"You only know that because you spend half your time staring at him!" Severus teased with a smirk. Lily scowled at him before laughing along.
"Ok, maybe that's true, but you can't blame me for looking at him all the time," Lily shrugged.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, he's hot," Lily answered. Hot? Sure, Severus had noticed that James has a fairly symmetrical and proportional face, but hot?
"I'll never understand you Lily," Severus sighed.
"Oh come on! The rest of the female population would agree with me!" Lily argued.
"Is there anything else you wanted to talk about, besides James Potter's apparent attractiveness?" Severus sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Lily became serious again.
"Yeah, I wanted to tell you what James told me two weeks ago. He said that he saw you in a different light and wanted to put the past behind him. He sounded really desperate to befriend you," Lily explained.
"Oh," Severus muttered, "good. That erases any doubts about this just being park of some prank. If this was all seriously just a joke, I don't think I'd be able to take it," Severus spoke truthfully, and Lily nodded. Severus had never known Lily to be a liar, it was reassuring to know that James was being serious.
"Do you want to head back?" Lily asked. "I'd love to join the two of you."
"Don't you mean three?"
"No, I don't count Mary anymore. Do you see the way she glares at me whenever I'm around James? It's like she doesn't trust me, and I don't care how much I like him, I wouldn't make a move on him. Before everything else, he's my friend," Lily said, eyebrows furrowed. Severus thought of how James referred to Lily as a sister, he didn't have the heart to tell her. They made their way back towards the library.
"Well, I shouldn't be telling you this, but in detention James said that he doesn't feel completely right being with Mary. That means maybe you won't have to see her around James so often in the future," Severus replied. Lily hit his arm with the back of her hand and scoffed.
"Oh please Sev, it's not like I want them to break up! Besides, they seem perfectly happy together if you ask me," Lily replied.
"But haven't you noticed that Black and Lupin seem to disapprove of her too?" Severus queried. Lily stopped to think for a moment.
"Well, kind of. When they first got together, Mary tended to push those two away so she had James' undivided attention. She doesn't do it as much anymore, but Sirius and Remus haven't forgotten," Lily answered.
They entered the library and made their way to the back where Mary and James had quietly gone back to their own studying. James noticed their presence from across the room. He winked at Lily, and then shifted his attention to Severus. His expression softened and he grinned at him.
"He doesn't even smile that brightly at Mary, I'm so jealous of you Sev," Lily complained softly.
"If you refer to his smile as 'bright' one more time, I'll never speak to you again," Severus threatened, but Lily saw right through it.
"No you won't, I know you can see it too. The 'H' word," she teased.
"What?"
"Hot," Lily whispered back. Severus rolled his eyes at her before they reached the table. Mary had jumped into Severus' spot besides James, so he sat next to Lily, opposite the couple. They all continued their homework as Lily pulled her books out of her bag. Severus took the opportunity to observe James through lowered lashes.
He was classically handsome, sure, complete with an athletic frame from years of Quidditch training. His sun-kissed skin seemed to glow in the morning rays peering in through the windows of the library. His honey coloured eyes were framed by long, dark lashes, and were almond shaped - similar to Lily's, Severus noted. His thick, wavy brown hair was long enough that he could tie it back if he tried hard enough.
The more Severus looked, the more he noticed. Perfect bone structure; pink, cupids bow lips; a straight nose; thick yet nicely shaped eyebrows. When he smiled, a dimple appeared in his right cheek. When it was all put together it was, well, hot. Hot.
He was going to kill Lily for putting that idea in his mind.
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