A/N: Eventual James/Sev/Lily OT3, but the story will mainly focus on James/Sev for a while. Crossposted to AO3 under the same username.

Please forgive any wonky formatting- I have to post from my phone and the ffnet app is NOT user friendly at all. You can always read on AO3 instead, which is my primary site anyway :) Enjoy!

The last thing James Potter expected was to be ambushed by Lily Evans with a plea to back off of Snivellus only two days after the levitation incident after their Defense OWL. Yet here she was, having cornered him in the corridor outside the library not long before curfew on his way back from dropping off Sirius and Peter's overdue books.

"You need to leave Severus alone," she said, her eyes blazing. "You crossed the line last time."

"I crossed the line?" James spluttered, surprised both by her defense of Snivelly and the fact that she was talking to him in the first place. "He called you the M word!"

Lily's eyes narrowed. "I know what he said. But you restrained him and took his clothes off in public—that's technically sexual harassment, Potter. Did that even register in that fat head of yours?"

James paled and said, "That's not—it wasn't like that. We let him go right after you left." He blushed and awkwardly mumbled, "I didn't actually take his pants off."

"Doesn't matter," Lily argued. "You're lucky he didn't report you." She took a step closer and her tone dropped into something low and threatening that James wouldn't have imagined her capable of. "Leave. Him. Alone."

"Why do you even care?" James said, trying to project his usual bravado even though Lily had thrown him way off balance with this ambush. "I thought you weren't friends with the git anymore."

Lily's expression twisted in hurt and anger, and she lost her temper and shoved James against the wall. "Because he doesn't deserve to be abused here too! If you had any idea what he's been through—" she stopped herself, eyes dropping to the floor, giving off the impression that she'd said more than she'd meant to.

"Evans?" James prompted, his eyes wide at the implication.

She looked back up, seeming torn before meeting his eyes and continuing. "I'm going to tell you something, about Sev. But if you spread it around the school I swear I'll borrow Bellatrix Black's cursed knife and cut your bollocks off."

James swallowed and said, "Understood."

Lily glanced around to make sure they were still alone, then took out her wand and cast a privacy spell, not hiding her smirk when James flinched at the wand movement.

"I met Sev when we were both eight, and he was my best friend for years." She paused, seeming to second guess herself before finding her resolve. "His dad's a Muggle who hates magic and drinks too much and beats up Sev and his mum." James flinched in shock—children in the Wizarding World were so rare and cherished that (as far as he knew) child abuse was nearly unheard of, especially since there'd been a steady decline in birth rates over the years, particularly among Pureblood families. Lily continued, "They have no money and no other relatives to turn to—the Princes disowned Sev's mum for marrying a Muggle. She either can't or won't defend herself with magic, and Sev can't use magic underage or he'd get expelled. All he can do is get in his dad's way whenever he goes after his mum." Lily paused, a somber and regretful expression on her face. "I tried to help him, told him he could live with me, but he won't leave his mum and she won't leave that monster, so," Lily threw her hands up helplessly and trailed off into silence.

"I—I had no idea," James said, more ashamed of himself than he'd even been. He'd spent years tormenting Snape for no good reason, piling even more abuse on a boy who already had to deal with more than anyone ever should.

James dared to meet Lily's eyes and found her studying him closely. "Huh," she said after a moment. "I wasn't entirely sure whether you even had any humanity to appeal to."

That stung quite a lot, and James said, "Evans, if I'd known, I never would've—"

"If you'd known?" she interrupted, angry again. "You shouldn't have to know somebody's worst secret to not treat them like a punching bag! It's called basic human decency, Potter, you should try it."

"I will," James said, "I'll apologize, and I'll tell people to back off of him, and—"

"And everyone will want to know why."

"I—I'll tell them I'm trying to get on your good side," he said, forcing a smile. "Since he's your best mate and all."

"Was," Lily said sadly. "I don't know if I can forgive him this time."

James sighed, feeling the weight of guilt again—he wondered whether Snape would've lashed out at Lily like that if James hadn't already pushed him so far. He suspected not. "Evans, I really am sorry."

"I'm not the one to apologize to," she said. "And I wouldn't count on him hearing you out either."

"I'll try anyway," James said. "And, well, I heard he's still been hanging around the Fat Lady's portrait, trying to apologize to you."

"I know. I talked to him last night."

"And?"

Lily's expression closed off. "And none of your business." She looked around, waved her wand again to cancel the privacy spells, and turned towards the library door. "I meant what I said, Potter," she said over her shoulder. "If you tell anyone—"

"I won't," he assured her.

"And stop bullying him."

"I will."

She turned to look at him for a moment longer, then stiffly said, "Good night," and went into the library.

"Good night," James said to the closed door. He let out a massive sigh and nervously ran a hand through his messy hair. He had never felt quite this horrible before, and Evans was shockingly scary when she was angry.

He started walking back to Gryffindor Tower in a bit of a daze, thinking back on the things he'd said and done to Snape over the years. It had all been great fun at the time, but now all he felt was self-disgust and guilt. He thought about the day he'd first met Snape and Lily, on the Hogwarts Express—Snape must've been so excited, so hopeful that things would be better now that he was away from his father, and then James and his friends had turned around and made his life at Hogwarts hell too.

"Fuck," James muttered as he turned the final corner of the path back to the Fat Lady's portrait. He realized a second too late that he wasn't alone in the corridor.

There was Snape, sitting on the floor with his knees drawn up and his back against the wall by the portrait, looking abjectly miserable. His arms were folded across his knees, and his head was buried in his arms.

James didn't bother trying to quiet his footsteps as he approached, but even so, Snape didn't look up. In a fit of what had to be utter madness, James walked right up to the other boy and sat down beside him, nearly shoulder to shoulder.

Snape finally looked up, then froze when he saw James's face. They were too close together for Snape to quickly draw his wand, and James had no intention of drawing his so they just stared at each other for a tense, awkward moment.

James finally broke the silence and asked, "Are you okay, Sniv—er, Sev—I mean, erm, Snape?"

Snape blinked in shock, then said, "Are you drunk, Potter?"

James shook his head.

"What exactly do you think you're dong?" Severus demanded.

"Apologizing."

Snape scoffed. "Right, and I'm the Minister of Magic," he drawled sarcastically. "Get the hell away from me."

"But Minister," James said, "I'm ever so interested in hearing your plan to stop this Dark Lord Mouldyfart fellow."

Snape made a choked-off noise somewhere between a scoff and a laugh, then stared incredulously at James for having the gall to insult the Dark Lord.

"Clearly you have a death wish," Snape said.

"Then so do you—you laughed," James pointed out.

"That was not a laugh. I was just surprised that you managed to surpass my estimation of your vast stupidity."

"Ooh, fancy words Sev-thesaurus," James teased him, for once without a trace of malice in his tone. "And it was most definitely a laugh."

"It was not!"

"Was so!" James said, grinning. "I made you laugh, and we're having a civil conversation—hell, that practically makes us friends now."

Snape's expression closed off, and he said coldly, "Ah. I see." Then he stood to leave.

James stood too, confused. "See what? Where are you going?" He grabbed Snape's elbow but Snape wrenched it away and spun around to face him, wand drawn.

"So terribly sorry to ruin your latest prank so soon," Snape snarled, "but it's too late to pretend to be my friend only to humiliate me. You should've tried back in second year—I might've fallen for it then."

"What? I'm not—" James scrambled, holding his empty hands up in a gesture of peace.

"Tell Black and the others to come out from wherever they're hiding, or you're getting a Stinging Hex to the face."

"Nobody's hiding, Sniv—" damn it, "—Snape. I promise. I just wanted to apologize."

"Liar."

"I'm not lying. But," James hesitated, knowing that close-range Stinging Hexes were no joke, "but go ahead and hex me. It's the least I deserve after everything," he said guiltily.

Snape looked around the apparently empty hallway, even more suspicious now. "Why? So your Werewolf Prefect can dock a ridiculous amount of points and turn me in?"

"No, so I can tell absolutely no one, and practice my terrible Healing spells, and maybe feel a little less like a massive arsehole for how I've treated you all these years."

"But you are a massive arsehole," Snape said smoothly. "It's your defining characteristic."

"Maybe I'm looking to change that," James said.

Snape tilted his head and studied James' eyes. "You know what, Potter?" he said thoughtfully after a long moment.

"What?" James asked, daring to hope that he'd gotten through to the other boy.

Snape gave him a cold smile and said, "It's worth the points," then fired a Stinging Hex directly into James' face.

Severus allowed himself only a moment to admire his handiwork—James Potter's face swollen and reddened from the Stinging Hex, the boy himself swearing and sinking to his knees and blinking back tears from the pain of it—then he stormed away, not wanting to give Potter a chance to retaliate. He still half expected the Werewolf to leap out and deduct points, but it seemed that for once Potter had been telling the truth and no one was laying in wait for him.

He silently fumed at the gall of Potter trying to trick him into being 'friends.' As if he would ever fall for something so stupidly obvious and ill-thought-out. He silently fumed even more at himself for having wanted Potter's apology to be real. He turned a corner, and then another, and then nearly ran into someone carrying a stack of books.

"Oh, sorry," she said, barely managing to avoid dropping the books.

Severus was about to snap at her to watch where she was going, but then he looked up and saw who it was.

"Lily," he said, all thoughts of Potter fleeing his mind.

Her expression closed off a bit, but she cautiously replied, "Severus."

"I'm sorry," he blurted out, once again. "Lily, I swear I didn't mean it—"

"Were you waiting for me again?" she asked, nodding towards the hall that led back to the portrait hole.

"I was, until Potter showed up."

Lily's expression did something strange, and she asked, "And what did Potter do?"

"He apologized," Severus scoffed. "Didn't mean a word of it, I'm sure."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "So I'm supposed to believe your apology, but you won't believe his?"

Severus blinked. "That's completely different. I'm your best friend—that berk's tormented me for years. Obviously I don't believe him."

"People can change," Lily said pointedly.

Severus narrowed his eyes at her, and demanded, "Why are you defending Potter? Did you finally agree to go out with him?"

"Of course not," Lily said, then she bit her lip and looked at the floor. "But I—" she hesitated and trailed off, before saying in a rush, "I told him about your home life so he would finally leave you alone."

Severus paled, feeling like he'd been doused in ice water. "You what?" he hissed.

Lily looked up at him, her eyes pleading. "Look, he genuinely felt bad after I told him. If I hadn't—"

"He's going to tell the entire school!" Severus shouted. "You—how could you?"

"I did it to help you!" she shouted back, "Even though you've been awful to me—"

Severus let out a wild, humorless laugh. "So you told the bloke who's bullied me for years my worst secret 'to help me' because I called you a name? That's a bit of a disproportionate response!"

"It wasn't just a name—and you've changed! Messing around with Dark Magic, and hanging out with those blood-purist creeps you call friends—I can barely recognize my best friend when I look at you now!"

"Well you don't have to look at me anymore!" Severus shouted, pushing past her to storm away. Then he paused and turned back around. "On second thought," he said cruelly, "maybe I should just return the favor and tell Potter about last summer to 'help' you be rid of his attentions. Surely he won't want to sleep with you anymore once he knows 'Snivellus' got there first."

"Severus!" she hissed.

A loud scraping noise had both of them whirling around to see a mortified James Potter trying to back away slowly and escape around the corner—he'd bumped up against a portrait on the wall and noisily knocked it crooked.

"How long have you been lurking there?" Severus demanded, drawing his wand and stepping towards him.

"Long enough," Potter said, looking embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I heard shouting, and—"

"And naturally you just had to stick your nose into other people's business?" Severus said, deliberately leaving an opening for Potter to fire back a nose-related insult, because Severus really wanted an excuse to hex him again.

Potter didn't give him one. He just repeated, "I'm sorry," then glanced between Severus and Lily before carefully adding, "and I don't think less of either of you because of your secrets, just so you know."

Severus sarcastically replied, "What a joy, since I care ever so much about your opinion of me." He raised his wand threateningly and Potter winced but made no move to defend himself, despite already being injured. Potter had clearly attempted to heal his face, but it was still slightly swollen and red, mainly around the left cheek where the spell had struck. Severus looked pointedly at the swelling on Potter's face and added, "I see you weren't lying about being useless at healing spells."

"I wasn't lying about anything I said."

Behind them, Lily finally found her voice and said furiously, "I cannot believe you, Severus Snape! You promised—"

Snape turned his back on Potter to shout at Lily, "So did you!"

Lily's face was pale, her eyes watering and her expression furious. She was clutching her books in front of her and seemed undecided on whether to use them as a shield or as a projectile. "That's different."

"Yeah it's different," Severus snapped. "There's a difference between being ashamed of who you slept with and not wanting the entire school to know about a lifetime of abuse!"

"I'm not ashamed of you, Sev," Lily argued, "I told you it's different for girls! There's a double standard—everybody thinks it's fine for boys to have sex at our age, but girls get judged and called sluts for it!"

Severus sighed, and some of the fight went out of him. "Lily, I'm not going to tell anyone else. If it gets around, you'll know exactly who to blame," he said, turning to look at Potter, "and I'll know exactly whose bollocks to hex off."

"I'm not going to tell anyone," Potter insisted, "about either of you. In fact, come here." He stretched out both hands and motioned for them to come closer.

"Why?" Severus asked, suspicious.

"Let's all make a Wizard's Oath not to tell each other's secrets. Then you two can trust each other again, and neither of you have to worry about me." Potter's expression was ridiculously earnest. If Severus weren't so cynical, he might've believed that Potter really did want to make up for years of being an arsehole.

"Wizard's Oaths are serious, Potter," Lily said, looking dubious. "They're nearly as severe as the Unbreakable Vow, and they use the participants' magic to enforce it for life."

"I know how it works. If I died, you two would still be bound to each other but you'd be free to blab all my secrets," he joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"What secrets, Potter?" Severus asked. "We're on a rather uneven playing field, since we don't actually know any of yours."

"You know about the Shrieking Shack," James said under his breath, so only Severus would hear, since Lily was standing a few feet farther away.

"That's Lupin's secret, not yours," Severus whispered back.

Lily finally set her stack of books down on the floor, stepped closer and said, "What are you two whispering about?"

Severus didn't answer and neither did Potter.

Finally Potter sighed and said, "All right fine. I'll tell you one." He nervously ran a hand through his wild hair, then looked at the ground, and quietly confessed, "I'm bisexual."

Severus stared at him for a moment, then scoffed and said, "So what? I am too, and I know for a fact that Wizards are far more accepting of queer people than Muggles are. That's hardly a secret on par with ours."

Potter narrowed his eyes at Severus and said, "There's still plenty of prejudice—as I'm sure you know. I've never told anyone before. And why don't you ask some of your Slytherin pals about the pressure that Pureblood families put on their heirs to continue the line? Can't exactly do that if I end up with a bloke. And, well," he blushed, then continued, "I'm attracted to men a bit more often than women."

"There are potions and rituals for male pregnancies," Severus said slowly, wondering how Potter wasn't already aware of the fact.

"Yes but they're riskier, and they rarely work if there's already a family history of difficulty conceiving." Potter awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck and said, "My parents were in their 50s when they finally had me."

"That's tragic, Potter, really," Severus said, examining his fingernails.

"You're a dick," Potter said.

Severus glanced up and raised an eyebrow at him. "And yet you like dick. Are you trying to tell me something?"

Potter scoffed. "You wish."

Lily looked back and forth between them with an odd expression. "So," she finally said to Potter, "all of the obnoxious public flirting with me—was that just a cover?"

"No! No, Evans, I do like you. A lot, really," Potter stammered out, blushing. "I mean—does it bother you that I'm bi?"

"It doesn't bother me at all," Lily said, then smirked. "But I'm still not going to go out with you."

Nonsensically, Potter grinned at her and said, "Someday, Evans, I'm going to win you over."

Lily rolled her eyes.

Severus cleared his throat and snapped, "Are we making an Oath or not?"

Potter quickly glanced back at him, their eyes locking. "You'll accept that as my secret, then?"

"Obviously it would be distressing for you if it got out, so, yes," Severus said, with the tone of one doing someone else a great favor.

Potter blinked, then gave him a tight smile and said, "All right." He held his left hand out towards Severus and Lily, and instructed, "Hands. I'm guessing you know the spell, Evans?"

She nodded, and placed her hand in Potter's, taking out her wand. "It'll be stronger if we all put our wands in." She elbowed Severus and said, "Hand, Sev."

"Hand, Sev," Potter echoed when Sev hesitated, smirking but without the cruelty Severus was used to seeing from him. Severus gave Potter a disdainful look, but placed his left hand on top of Potter's and Lily's joined ones.

"Are we going to set specific consequences?" Potter asked. "Or just use the default where the Oath literally won't let us tell?"

"Consequences," Lily suggested. "Anyone who breaks the Oath loses their magic for a month."

Severus and Potter both flinched. "Evans," Potter said, "Witches and Wizards can die if their magic is suppressed for a long time."

"I know," Lily said, "I've read about it. But severe side effects don't start until around six months. A month won't kill anyone, but it would be miserable. Which is kind of the point."

"I'll agree to it," Severus said, giving Potter a pointed look, "as I have no intention of breaking the Oath."

Potter's eyes narrowed at the challenge, and he immediately said, "Neither do I. Fine, one month without magic."

"All right then," Lily said. "I'll do the incantation, then we all say 'I vow on pain of losing my magic for one month never to tell your secret to another while you live'. Ready?"

Severus and Potter both nodded, and all three of them placed the tips of their wands on their joined hands. Lily said, "Magus Juramentum," then the three of them carefully said in unison, "I vow on pain of losing my magic for one month never to tell your secret to another while you live." Silvery-blue ropes of light emerged from each of their wands and wrapped around their joined hands before disappearing.

They carefully released each other's hands and shared an uneasy look.

Naturally, Potter was the first to break the silence, clearing his throat and saying, "Well, that's that then."

Severus snorted, and sarcastically said, "Eloquent, Potter."

"Sev?" Lily said.

He turned towards her, and was taken completely by surprise when she slapped him hard in the face.

"Evans!" Potter protested.

"Ow," Severus said, raising one of his own hands to his sore cheek and giving Lily a disbelieving look.

"That's for shouting our private business in the corridors for anyone to hear," she said, unrepentant. Then she turned towards Potter, who took a step backwards. But to him she just said, "Potter, keep working on being a decent human being—it seems like you've made some progress."

She looked between the two of them one more time, then picked her stack of library books up off the floor and walked away towards the portrait hole.

Once she was gone, Potter turned towards Severus and said leadingly, "Is she always that feisty?"

"Do not ask me any crude questions about her or I'll curse your bollocks off."

Potter raised his eyebrows and said, "Why are you two so obsessed with my bollocks?"

"Excuse me?" Severus said dangerously.

"Earlier, she threatened to cut them off with a cursed knife, and you've threatened to hex them twice now."

"It's a common target of Muggle threats," Severus said dismissively. "And we would both absolutely follow through, so you should watch yourself."

"Duly noted. And anyway, you were the one shouting that you were going to tell me you slept with her."

Severus let out a frustrated sigh, and rubbed his hand over his face. "I wasn't actually going to tell you—that was my temper talking."

"Well," Potter said mildly, "your temper's kind of an arsehole."

Severus turned a disbelieving look on him.

"Yeah, yeah, I like arseholes, and no I'm still not trying to tell you anything," Potter said, then flashed him a genuine smile.

"Potter—"

"James," Potter interrupted.

"What?"

"I mean, we did just make the most sacred of vows," he said dramatically, "so you ought to call me James now."

"The phrase 'most sacred of vows' refers to marriage, you dunderhead."

"Oh. My mistake," he said, grinning again. "Still though. Call me James. And I'll call you Severus, if that's all right?"

"Does it really matter if I say no?"

Potter frowned slightly and said, "Well, yeah. Do you think I still call Evans by her surname by choice?"

Severus studied him for a long moment, then finally said, "I suppose it's better than Snivellus."

Potter looked guilty for a second, but said, "Is that a yes?"

"Yes, James," he said pointedly.

"Ta, Severus," said Potter—er, James.

"Just Sev is fine," he said, before his brain caught up to his mouth in time to veto it.

James' smile brightened, and he said, "Sev."

Severus abruptly looked away and said, "It's almost curfew, I should get back."

"Oh, er, all right. I could walk with you?" he offered awkwardly.

Severus raised an eyebrow. "Really? Are you quite sure you're willing to be seen in public with me?"

James frowned again. "I wasn't planning to only be nice to you in private."

"And how are your precious Marauders going to react to that?"

To Severus' surprise, James actually smiled. "We could prank them," he suggested. "We could prank everybody, as a matter of fact." He took a few tentative steps away, waiting to see if Severus would follow and let him walk him back to the dungeons.

Severus decided to take the bait. He followed James and they headed back to the main stairway, and he asked, "How exactly would we do that?"

James shrugged, and said, "We could just be sickeningly friendly to each other, with no explanations to anyone. If anybody asks us about it or acts like it's weird, we respond like they're the one who's weird for asking."

"That's imbecilic and I hardly see how it qualifies as a prank."

James blinked and muttered, "Tell me how you really feel."

So Severus did. "I'm still not convinced you aren't playing an elaborate prank on me."

James stopped walking halfway down a moving staircase with a frustrated look on his face, and Severus paused too, suddenly wary. "Fine," James said after a moment, looking determined. Then he took out his wand, looked directly at Severus, and said, "I swear on my magic there are no cruel intentions behind my attempt to befriend Severus Snape." There was an instantaneous flash of silvery light from his wand indicating truth.

Severus' eyes went wide and he demanded, "What the hell, Potter?"

James pointedly cast a Lumos followed by a Nox to prove he still had magic, then said, "Believe me now?"

"That was beyond idiotic—you could've permanently lost your magic if you misworded something!"

"I'm very aware of that," James snapped back.

"Why do you care so much about whether I believe you?"

"Because I was completely evil to you for years, and I know nothing I do will ever make up for that but I'm still going to try."

"I don't want your pity, Potter."

"It's not pity—"

"Then why didn't your change of heart happen yesterday? Or a week ago? A year?" Severus stepped closer and shoved James back a step. "It most certainly is pity, because now you think I'm some poor, helpless little abuse victim—"

"I know you're not helpless—you always fight back. I—Merlin, I'm fucked up but I've always liked that about you, even when it was me you were fighting. And I don't pity you—I'm sorry for what you went through, and for everything that I added to it, but I respect you for not breaking. For still fighting back."

Severus met James' eyes and gave him a long searching look, wishing that he was further along in his study of Legilimancy—he'd postponed studying it in-depth until after OWLs year and he was regretting that decision now. But James definitely seemed sincere, based on the surface thoughts and emotions that Severus was able to glean.

After a moment, Severus sighed and said, "You're right." He paused for dramatic effect, then continued, "You are fucked up." But his lips twitched in the barest hint of a smile.

James huffed out a laugh, then playfully shoved Severus in the shoulder. "Tosser."

They continued on down the stairs until they reached the ground floor. Their steps slowed and they paused by the door that led down to the dungeons.

"I'm not going to lead you right to the Slytherin common room," Severus said. "One can only imaging the havoc you'd wreak if you knew where it is."

James gave him an exaggeratedly sad look and said mournfully, "It would've been such glorious havoc."

Severus smirked and said cordially, "Good night, James."

"Night, Sev."

Severus started to turn away, but James awkwardly said, "Er—wait a mo'," and when Severus paused, James looked around to make sure they were still alone before continuing. "Erm, well—Evans told me that she'd offered you a place to stay if you ever needed it, and, well, I just wanted to make the same offer. For you and your mum both. If you want to get away." He'd addressed half of that to the floor, daring glances up at Severus as if he expected him to explode in anger. Which, to be fair, would've been his normal response to anything that even remotely resembled pity or charity.

But Severus just looked at James impassively for a long moment, before saying, "What I want has never counted for much… But thank you."

James smiled, relief evident on his face. "The floo address is Potter Cottage. Or I suppose you could take the Knight Bus, we're in Godric's Hollow."

"I'll keep it in mind."

James smiled and said again, "Night, Sev."

Severus nodded at him, and turned to descend the stairs into the dungeons, his mind spinning with the surreal turn the night had taken—James Potter suddenly no longer an enemy? Suddenly trying to make amends and be friendly?—Severus was tempted to think it all a bizarre dream.

He was halfway to the common room before it occurred to him that he should've offered to heal James' face properly.

James walked back to Gryffindor tower wearing a grin even though it hurt his face a bit with the residual soreness of the Stinging Hex. He hadn't fucked things up completely, and he had a truce—nay, a budding friendship—with Severus, and Evans seemed impressed with him, and to top it all off he'd come out. Well, to two people who he'd immediately sworn to secrecy, but still. It had felt terrifying but also freeing, especially when both of them turned out to be fine with it.

He knew that wouldn't be the case with everyone, but he felt a little more confident that he could someday tell the Marauders. He already suspected that there might be something more than friendship between Remus and Sirius, but he wasn't sure if they were even aware of it yet and he dreaded making things awkward by asking. Maybe if he came out, it would encourage them to speak up if they were into each other. Or, on the flip side, maybe they would all be disgusted with him and not want to be around him and the next two years of sharing a dorm would be unbearably awkward.

His smile slipped a little, and he decided not to do anything drastic right away. Well, besides being disgustingly nice to Severus at breakfast tomorrow. He was definitely going through with that, even though OWLs were over now and there were only two more free days left before everyone went home—the rest of the school could wonder about it all summer, and no matter what Sev said, it definitely counted as a prank.

James climbed through the portrait hole, surprised to find Lily sitting on one of the sofas with a book.

"Waiting up for me, Evans?" he asked cheekily.

She gave him a once-over and replied, "You certainly look pleased with yourself. Do I even want to ask what took you so long?"

James smiled, took the liberty of sitting on the other end of her sofa, and said, "Well, I walked Severus back to the dungeons," he said, emphasizing Sev's name, "and yes he gave me permission to use his first name—you should follow his example, it turns out he's a really smart guy."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Who are you and what have you done with James Potter?"

"Is that a no?"

"It's a no, Potter."

"You're killing me, Evans," James whined as she stood to leave. "Hey, wait!" he called, and she paused. He glanced around the common room to make sure they were really alone, then added in a more serious tone, "I followed your example and told him that he and his mum could come stay with me if they ever needed to."

Lily's eyebrows skyrocketed again. "That's—astoundingly generous of you. You've been on speaking terms with him for what, an hour?"

James smiled and spread his arms to the sides. "What can I say? I'm an all-or-nothing kind of guy."

"Clearly." Lily kept him pinned under a searching look for another moment before turning away again. "Good night, Potter."

"Night, Evans."

James went upstairs to the dorm, and he was climbing into bed when it occurred to him that he should've asked Evans to heal his face. Oh well. It would finish healing on its own by morning.

Severus, to his dismay, overslept and very nearly missed breakfast. He scrambled out of bed and quickly dressed—he always tried to eat as much as possible in the weeks leading up to the summer, since he could never count on consistent meals at home, and missing a free meal at Hogwarts was unacceptable. By the time he rushed into the Great Hall, there were only a few scattered groups of students still sitting at the tables, and it looked like most of the food had been thoroughly picked through already.

He swore under his breath and sat down at the empty end of the Slytherin table, near the fullest-looking platter of scrambled eggs and bacon, and then began piling food onto a plate.

"Good morning," a cheery voice said from behind him. Startled, Severus looked up sharply, his shoulders automatically tensing and his grip on his fork tightening. "Whoa, calm down," James said, looking alarmed at Sev's reaction. He casually sat next to Severus, placing a plate piled full with assorted breakfast foods next to the plate Sev had already claimed.

Severus eyed both the plate and James warily before demanding, "What are you doing?"

"Having breakfast with you, obviously." James glanced around, then said in a much quieter voice, "Our prank, remember? Confusing everyone by being disgustingly nice to each other?" He smiled, stole a piece of bacon off Sev's plate, and took a bite.

"Eat your own food, Potter," Sev griped automatically.

"Oh, no, I already ate. This is for you," James said, sliding the loaded plate closer to Severus.

"What did you do to it?"

James scoffed, put a hand over his heart, and dramatically said, "Severus, you wound me! How could you think I would tamper with the lovely breakfast I saved for you?"

"Five years of experience?" Severus suggested dryly.

"Do I need to swear on my magic again?" James asked, taking out his wand and starting to raise it.

"No!" Severus snapped, grabbing James' hand to force his wand back down before anyone noticed. "If you keep doing that, you're eventually going to misword something and lose your magic and I'm sure somehow I'll be blamed for it."

"Aww, you do care about me," James said, grinning.

"I absolutely do not."

"Then why are you holding my hand?" James asked, waggling his eyebrows.

Severus sneered and released James' wand hand, wrenching his own hand away. "Dream on, Potter." He dug into his eggs and very deliberately didn't look at James.

"You know," James said after a moment, "you're not very good at being disgustingly nice—you actually sort of look like you want to murder me. Maybe tone it down a bit? People are watching."

"If you recall," Severus said stiffly, "I never agreed to your stupid so-called prank."

The sixth-sense Severus had developed after years of being bullied suddenly went off, and he glanced over at the Gryffindor table—Black had stood up and was heading towards the Slytherin table, with Lupin trying rather halfheartedly to slow him down.

"Incoming," Severus muttered.

"What? Oh, damn," James said. "I told Moony to keep him distracted, but I didn't say why. They're going to think I'm pranking you," he said, giving Sev an anxious, apologetic look.

"Splendid," Severus muttered back, just as Black and Lupin arrived at the table.

"What's this, then?" Black said, smirking. "Fattening up old Snivellus for the slaughter? Sorry to spoil your fun, Prongs, but he probably tastes awful."

Severus immediately replied, "I know your whole family is insane, Black, but cannibalism's taking it a bit too far."

James remained silent, his eyes shifting between the two as they volleyed insults back and forth.

Black sneered and said, "We would have to be the same species first for it to count as cannibalism, Snivellus."

Severus arched an eyebrow and said, "That sounded like a comment on my blood status, Black, I'm surprised at you."

Black's face reddened in anger and he snapped back, "It's a comment on you being a greasy, Dark Arts loving piece of shit."

"So what I'm hearing is that you're not a cannibal but you do eat shit?" Severus said calmly.

James snorted in laughter, then said, "Sorry, Padfoot, but he got you there."

Black gave James a surprised, betrayed look, then stiffly said, "Whenever you're finished slumming it, Prongs, we'll be in the Common Room." With that, Black walked away and Lupin followed after giving James a questioning look.

James let out a heavy sigh.

"What a load of help you were," Severus said sarcastically. "Which part of sitting idly by while someone insults me counts as 'being disgustingly nice'?"

"Look, I'm sorry, I wasn't prepared for that," James said, running a hand through his hair.

"Whatever," Severus said, shoving another bite of eggs in his mouth. After a moment, he asked, "What's the meaning of those stupid nicknames anyway?"

"They're not stupid," James argued.

"They're beyond stupid. I mean, 'Moony' I get now, but the others? 'Prongs' makes no sense unless you have a fork fetish, 'Padfoot' seems to imply Black has bunions, and 'Wormtail' sounds like a reference to a tiny penis."

James snorted, spraying the table with the mouthful of Pumpkin juice he'd just taken, and then busting into riotous laughter.

"Control yourself," Severus said, but his lips twitched into a hint of a smile, "people are staring."

"They were already staring," James said, wiping a few actual tears away, "we're the most interesting thing in the Great Hall right now." He laughed again, then said, "Merlin, you're hilarious. How did I never notice that?"

Severus' smile turned bitter and he looked away. "I imagine you were too busy shoving me into the lake and hexing me in corridors to realize I have a sense of humor."

"Hey," James said, his mood sobering. "That's over, all right? Never again. I'll swear another Oath if you want me to."

"Keep your voice down," Severus hissed.

"I will though," James said. "Right now, in front of everyone." He reached for his wand again but Severus grabbed his wrist under the table to stop him.

"That won't be necessary," Severus said in a clipped tone. "Although I'm sure you would astound and impress the whole," he glanced around to do an approximate head count of the breakfast stragglers, "twenty people still hanging about."

James sniffed and said, "Not my fault you showed up late and most of the audience was already gone."

"The 'audience'?" Severus repeated, mildly horrified. "Do you even hear yourself, you bloody narcissist?"

James huffed a laugh, rolled his eyes, and sarcastically said, "Love you too."

Severus stared.

"In a purely platonic former-enemies kind of way," James clarified.

Severus kept staring.

"What? Don't tell me that's the first time anyone's said it to you, because that would just be too tragic to believe—Severus?"

Severus finally let go of James' wrist and abruptly stood to leave. "I have to go."

"Wait—was it?" James asked, looking alarmed.

"No, you idiot, I just have better things to do than listen to your rambling inanities. If you follow me, I'll hex your face again." Severus grabbed a roll off the table and stuffed it in his pocket for later, not even caring who saw, then he swept off towards the main door.

Lily was sitting alone at a table in the library attempting to get ahead on her summer homework when James Potter hurled himself into the chair across from her, ran a nervous hand through his riotous hair, and then asked somewhat frantically, "You've told Sev that you love him before, right?"

For a moment Lily just stared in shock, then she blinked and said, "Excuse me?"

"I mean, back when you guys—you know—did you ever say you loved him?"

"Have you two been gossiping about me?" she demanded, her temper flaring.

"No," Potter said at once, "we haven't, I swear. I just—I said 'I love you' to him at breakfast and he got super weird about it, and—"

Lily's jaw dropped and she interrupted, "You said 'I love you' to Severus?"

"No—well, technically yes, but not like that! He called me a narcissist and I said 'Love you too' and then he went all quiet and stormed off. Just, come on Evans, please tell me that wasn't the first time someone's said that to him. I said it sarcastically," he said, his tone full of guilt.

Lily stared at him in shock for a few more moments, then laughed and decided to put him out of his misery. "Not that it's any of your business," she admonished, "but yes, I've said it to him."

Potter heaved a massive sigh of relief, and Lily giggled at him again. "Thank fuck," he said.

Lily studied his expression, looking for any sign of deceit or malice, but he seemed sincere. Lily cleared her throat to get his attention, then said, "If you're serious about making reparations or whatever you're doing, you should know that love is kind of a sore spot for him. I wouldn't bring it up again, even if you're joking around."

"Why is it a sore spot?"

"Why do you think?" Lily said, raising an eyebrow. "His mum won't leave her abuser because she somehow still loves him. Or she claims to, anyway."

"Ah," Potter said, looking sad but thoughtful.

Lily stared at Potter for another moment, gauging his sincerity, then she admitted, "When I told Sev, he nearly panicked—he said that I shouldn't love him, and that he never wanted to trap me like that," she trailed off, frowning at the memory.

Potter's eyebrows were raised so high that they'd disappeared into his fringe. After a second, he blinked and composed himself, clearing his throat and saying, "Right. No talking about love. Got it. Thanks, Evans."

He stood to leave but Lily quickly asked, "Potter? Why are you so invested in this?"

Potter gave her a sheepish look and said, "You know why. Do I really have to spell it out?"

"Yes."

He sighed. "Because I'm trying to make up for five years of being a bullying arsehole. That's why."

She gave him a long look, unconvinced that that was all there was to it, but she finally said, "If you hurt him, in any way—"

"Yeah, I know," he interrupted uncomfortably. "Knife to the bollocks."

"Exactly."

Potter gave her a wary smile, then said, "See you around, Evans."

"Bye, Potter."

She watched him leave the library, a reluctant but hopeful smile creeping onto her face.

James climbed through the portrait hole into the Common Room, only to be immediately confronted by Sirius, who pointed his wand at James. "Revelare Incantatorum!" he cast, looking disappointed when nothing happened.

"What the hell, Padfoot?" James demanded.

"Just checking to see if Snivellus has you under the Imperius or something."

"Well, he doesn't," James said, annoyed.

"Okay," Sirius drawled, "so were you pranking him? Sorry if I ruined it. There was something in that food you gave him, wasn't there?"

"No," James said, finally stepping around Sirius and noticing Remus and Peter sitting on one of the sofas, watching raptly. "I was just trying to be nice to the guy," James said, taking the open spot in between them and leaving Sirius to perch on the arm of the sofa by Remus.

All three of his friends' jaws had dropped.

"I'm trying to get on Evans' good side, all right?" James said quickly. "And—I mean, we need to back off of him anyway—things went too far last time."

"Who are you and what have you done with our Prongs?" Sirius said, disbelief evident in his expression.

"Snivellus called Evans a you-know-what though," Peter piped up. "You being nice to him now isn't going to impress her."

James shrugged uncomfortably. "He apologized, and they've been friends for years. I think she might give him another chance."

"Still," Remus said, "this doesn't sound like the most logical strategy." He caught James' eye and quickly added, "Don't get me wrong, it's very mature of you, but—"

"Who cares about 'mature'?" Sirius cut in. "He's being nice to Snivellus. On purpose! This is a crisis, Moony—this is a sign of the apocalypse!"

"You know," Peter said slyly, "if being nice to him doesn't get Evans to like you, you could always turn it into an epic prank once you have his trust. He would never see it coming."

James blinked and said, "That's evil, Peter."

Sirius nodded in agreement, then added, "I love it."

"I'm not going to do that to him," James said decisively. "I've done enough, all right?" He ran a hand through his hair and stared down at the floor.

"But he deserves it, Prongs," Sirius whined.

"No, he doesn't!" James snapped, a bit louder than he'd meant to. His friends stared at him with wide eyes and raised eyebrows, but he couldn't explain his change of heart without breaking his Oath. "Look, just let it go, all right? Leave him alone." James stood and went back through the portrait hole, not daring to look back at his friends again.

Luckily he still had the Marauders' Map in his pocket after using it to find Evans. He put some distance between himself and Gryffindor Tower, then ducked into an alcove to look for Severus' name on the Map.

Severus sat leaning against a tree near the lake, not far from where he'd been sitting earlier that week when Potter and his cronies had attacked him. He'd thought this was a clever and unexpected choice and that Potter would never think to look for him there, let alone dare to approach him.

He'd thought wrong.

Severus had his nose buried in the newest Potions Monthly that he'd swiped from the library when Madam Pince had her back turned, when suddenly someone behind him cleared their throat.

He jumped to his feet, wand drawn, only to realize it was Potter.

"Erm," James said awkwardly, "sorry."

Severus glanced around skittishly, looking for the other Marauders out of habit and not lowering his wand.

James gave him a look that was half forced awkward smile and half dismayed guilty frown, and as if reading Sev's mind, he said, "It's all right, it's just me."

"Stop doing that with your face," Sev snapped at him, annoyed at both the intrusion and his own panicked reaction to it.

"What am I doing with my face?"

"I don't think there's a word for it, but it's atrocious."

James laughed, and that was better. His face was much more tolerable when he laughed like that—a friendly laugh, rather than the cruel one Sev was used to. A 'with you' laugh rather than an 'at you' laugh. "Can I sit down?" James asked.

Severus cautiously lowered his wand, giving Potter a long considering look before acquiescing, "If you must."

James stepped closer, then had the gall to sit with his back right up against Sev's tree. He smiled up at Sev, then patted the ground directly beside him and said, "Come on, then. Tree's plenty big enough for both of us."

Severus remained standing. He narrowed his eyes and said, "What do you want, Potter?"

Potter blinked, then said, "It's James. And, I dunno, I just wanted to see how you were doing."

"Well now you've seen," Severus said, maintaining his chilly stare for another moment before giving in and sitting down next to James, staring fixedly out at the lake in front of them instead of at the boy beside him. "I believe I told you not to follow me," Severus said in a futile attempt to wipe the sudden grin off of Potter's face.

"I didn't follow you."

"And yet here you are," Sev said in a mockingly amazed tone.

James laughed, and said, "I happen to be very good at finding people."

Severus raised a dubious eyebrow and said, "Right."

James looked at him for a long moment, then said apropos nothing, "You should sit at the Gryffindor table for lunch."

Severus scoffed and immediately said, "Not on your life." He looked over at Potter, trying to figure out what would make him say something so utterly absurd. "Unlike some people," he said pointedly, "I don't enjoy making a public spectacle of myself. And I don't enjoy being called a greasy subhuman shit by your ever so delightful friends."

James shrugged and glanced away towards the lake, looking put-out. "A simple 'no' would've sufficed," he said.

"It was a ridiculous question," Severus said. "If you want this to work you'll have to learn to think before you speak."

"If I want this to work?" James repeated, turning to look at Severus curiously.

"This—you know," Severus said awkwardly. "Us being—civil."

James huffed a laugh and said, "Friends. The word you're looking for is friends, Sev."

"Is it?" Severus asked, raising an eyebrow. "Do you actually think I can just snap my fingers and set aside five years of torment and humiliation, and be 'friends' with you just because you suddenly grew a conscience and took an Oath?"

"No," James said. "I don't expect that. I'm just asking for a chance to try to make it up to you. And I'll keep proving it if I have to." James reached down and pulled his wand out, then said, "I swear on m—"

"Don't!" Severus snapped, grabbing the wand right out of Potter's hand. The two of them stared at each other in silence and a little bit of shock. James clearly hadn't expected him to do that. Sev swallowed, thinking of how savagely delighted he would've been three days ago to have James Potter alone and disarmed and at his mercy—but now it just made him feel awkward. He cleared his throat and handed the wand back to James. "If you try that again, I'll throw it in the lake."

James shrugged and said, "It's a nice day for a swim," but then he smiled and put his wand away, looking out towards the lake as a light breeze ruffled his hair.

Severus took the opportunity to stare at him for a long moment—at this boy who had switched whiplash-quick from constantly tormenting him to aggressively befriending him—and he wondered how long this would last before it inevitably fell apart. Potter was rich, handsome, popular—essentially everything Severus was not. Potter would either get bored and abandon him, or his pity would keep growing exponentially until it eclipsed whatever friendship they managed and then Sev would have to walk away. And then there was the matter of their affiliations—Potter was a blatantly Light wizard from a family of them who professed to hate the Dark Arts as much as Black did, whereas Severus had been dabbling in the Dark Arts for years. Furthermore, with the exception of the anti-Muggleborn sentiments, he rather agreed with most of what he'd heard about Lord Voldemort's vision for the future and he was seriously considering joining him once he was of age. Sev imagined that the instant James caught wind of Severus' tentative plans, he'd be back to hexing him and calling him Snivellus, and that thought hurt more than it should have after only one day of non-hostility.

James nudged his shoulder against Severus', breaking him out of his reverie and asking, "So, er, would you like to stay over at my place for a bit this summer? Or the entire summer? Either way."

Severus stared at him. "Are you serious?"

"No, I'm James," he quipped, grinning.

Severus rolled his eyes and didn't dignify that with a response.

"But yes, I mean it," James said.

Sev looked away and said, "My father expects me home in the summers to work. Freaks have to earn their keep, you know," he added bitterly.

James flinched, and said cautiously, "If money's the issue, I could—"

"What, pay him for my company like I'm some kind of whore?" Severus interrupted.

"No! Merlin," James said, blushing. "I was thinking we could pretend you got a job in another town so you had to stay away, and we could send some money back every so often like paychecks."

"And then I would be in your debt."

"You won't have to pay me back," James said, looking confused, "it'll be a gift."

"It would be charity, or guilt money, and either way I don't want it."

"Sev—"

"I said no," Severus said, getting to his feet.

"But—" James scrambled up after him.

"Potter, he's worse to my mum when I'm not around to beat up on, all right?" Severus finally blurted out. "It's bad enough when I'm here and only home on holidays—I can't just swan off with you and leave her there alone all summer."

James finally shut up but gave him such a sad look that Severus had to look away. After a rather heavy moment, James said, "I'd really like to hug you right now but I imagine you'll hex me for trying."

Severus scoffed and said, "You know me so well already." He shifted on his feet, on the verge of walking away.

James hummed noncommittally, then said, "I'd best make it a good one then." His hand shot out, seizing Severus' wrist to pull him closer, then he pulled Sev against his chest and wrapped both arms around him tight.

"Potter!" Sev protested into James' shoulder.

"I can't believe how wrong I was about you," James said. "You're brave, and loyal, and so bloody selfless."

Sev let out a sharp exhale and brought his arms up—ostensibly to push Potter away, but instead he found himself putting his arms around the other boy and clinging to him tightly, burying his face in the crook of Potter's neck. One of James' hands came up to cradle the back of Sev's head for a moment before tentatively stroking through his hair. "Don't," Sev muttered, suddenly self-conscious, "I haven't washed it today."

"I don't care," James immediately replied. "It's fine. Soft."

Severus went quiet again, but after a moment he suddenly laughed as the absurdity of the situation hit him.

"What?" James asked.

Sev shook his head, with his forehead pressed against James' collarbone. "Nothing, just—James Potter hugging me and telling me my hair's soft," he said in a tone of amused disbelief.

James chuckled and added in the same tone, "Severus Snape hugging me back after I've tried to pay for him to spend the summer hols with me."

Severus chuckled again, but refused to give Potter the satisfaction of admitting that if he could in good conscience stay with him—if there had been any chance at all of persuading his mother to finally leave—he would've agreed to it in a heartbeat. They both went quiet for a long moment, though neither tried to pull away from the embrace, and James kept carding his fingers through Sev's hair.

Eventually, James asked, "Can we at least write to each other?"

"No," Severus answered right away.

"Oh," James said, disappointed.

"No," Sev repeated, then clarified, "because he hates magic and gets angry enough about the Hogwarts owl bringing my book list every year—if he caught me writing to someone," he trailed off pointedly.

"All right, I get it," James said, sounding frustrated now instead of disappointed. "Isn't there anything we can do? Like report him, or—?"

"I tried that once," Severus said in a flat, deliberately emotionless tone. "And then he broke my arm, and gave my mother a black eye and a few broken ribs for having failed to teach me my place."

"Merlin, Sev."

Severus finally started to pull away, unable to bear the intimacy any longer. James tightened his grip for half a second, reluctant to let him go, but then he relented, seeming to understand what a monumental mistake it would be to try to force him to stay. Sev pulled out of the embrace and took a step back, looking at the ground instead of at James.

"I should—" Sev said, but trailed off because he wasn't sure how to say 'go anywhere else because I'm already starting to genuinely enjoy your company and that infuriates and also confuses the hell out of me' without sounding totally pathetic.

"Have lunch with me today?" James asked as Sev started to turn away.

"I already said—" Severus started, but James cut him off.

"Not at my table—we don't even have to go to the Great Hall if you don't want to. I know a secret way into the kitchens."

Severus looked up at James and quirked an eyebrow. "Of course you do."

"Is that a yes, then?" James asked eagerly.

"Won't your little gang miss your charming company?"

James shrugged. "I can see them anytime. We've only got a day and a half, until next year."

Sev blinked, then gave him a long, considering look before finally saying, "All right then."

James beamed and said, "I'll meet you in the entrance hall at noon."

"Fine," Severus said. He bent to pick up his magazine from the ground, then started to take a step away.

"No," James said, gently catching his wrist. "You stay, and I'll go. I don't want to run you off—this is kind of your spot, isn't it?"

"I suppose," Severus said, very conscious of the way James' thumb traced along Sev's pulse point as he released his wrist. Distracted, confused, and unwillingly charmed, Sev blurted out, "You've been rather different from what I expected."

"Well, that can only be a good thing," James said in a self-depreciating tone Sev wouldn't have thought him capable of.

"It is," Sev confirmed, catching James' eyes and giving him a hint of a smile.

"Glad to hear it," James said, smiling back. He stuffed his hands in his robe pockets, then started walking away backwards, still smiling at Sev.

"There's a tree," Sev warned, pointing.

James froze and looked over his shoulder—there were, of course, no imminent trees in his path. "Berk," James said, then he smiled and walked away properly, calling over his shoulder, "See you at noon!"

Sev crossed his arms and leaned against his tree, watching Potter until he was out of sight. Then he sat back down and picked up his Potions magazine, but eventually put it down after staring at the same page for fifteen minutes.

He gave in and stared out towards the shimmering lake instead, contemplating the unlikely yet promising turn things had taken. If it turned out that Potter wasn't sincere or if he grew bored and left, it wasn't like Sev would actually lose anything, since life would just return to the status quo—and if Potter was indeed sincere about being his friend, the next two years at Hogwarts would be drastically better. Really, Severus rationalized, it was a no-lose situation. Unless one counted hope as something lost, but in Sev's experience hope had never counted for much anyway.

Even so, he couldn't quite extinguish the spark of hope that flared to life when he recalled the warmth of James' embrace and the unguarded, affectionate smile he'd given Sev as he walked away.

A/N: In case you're interested, this fic is going to detail James/Sev/Lily's backstory from my Harrymort fic "The Mirror of Eidrokcuf" but obviously you don't have to read that one to read this one. Also, it's only going to be compliant with Eidrokcuf up to a certain point, because in my other fic things fell apart for the trio in seventh year and canon proceeded as written afterwards :( however, this fic WILL have a happy/hopeful ending :)

Thank you for reading, and as always, comments and con-crit are very welcome!