Golden Age by black_blade

Chapter 11: Chapter Eleven

Strangely, life for Severus didn't change as much as he thought that it would. He'd already been taking extra lessons with Swift as well as his normal classes and that hadn't changed. He'd also gained standing within Slytherin and surprisingly Potter and his friends had even eased back on their torment. What surprised him was the amount of time that Harry spent away from the castle. The man seemed to juggle being a teacher as well as the Ministry with surprising skill. Harry had set a time an hour before curfew for their lessons a few times a week and had set up a reading list for Severus.

"Hi, Severus."

Severus started and looked up to see Lily Evans standing before his desk in the library. At nine in the morning on a Saturday, there weren't many students around.

"Um, hello." Severus stuttered. "What do you want?"

Lily took the empty seat across from Severus without invitation. Their relationship had been close once but that had soured last year. Severus hadn't spoken with the woman since.

"How are you doing?" Lily asked as she glanced over the books on the table. "I heard that you are apprenticed to Professor Swift."

"That is correct," Severus answered, mildly.

"How is it?" Lily questioned.

"Different," Severus answered. "And the same."

Lily laughed lightly at that and Severus felt something unwind in him that had been there since they'd had their falling out. He sat back in his seat and looked at the woman that Lily Evans was becoming.

"How have you been?" Severus asked, hesitantly.

xXx

Harry leaned back on the wall behind him as he stared through the gaps in the bookcases to see Lily Evans and Severus Snape seated at a table. He'd come across the scene and it had made him pause. He'd seen some interesting memories in Severus's mind about Lily Evans. His eyes darted over when he heard James Potter and Sirius Black enter the library. He tensed as James spotted Lily and Severus and the dark look that came over his face. Harry held himself back as James stalked towards the two with Sirius backing him up. He expected to see Peter following behind but the short teen was notably absent.

James glanced around and spotted him while Harry rested back on the wall. James grabbed Sirius's arm and tugged him the other way. Sirius hissed something then glanced over at him and Harry gave him a smile. Sirius tugged out James's grip and sauntered towards him.

"Hello, Professor." Sirius greeted.

"Mr Black," Harry intoned. "How are you today?"

"How did you learn to fly like that?" Sirius blurted out and Harry raised his eyebrow. "That's like on level with the professional players."

James slinked closer as he hovered behind Sirius but his eyes kept darting to Severus and Lily.

"Thank you, Mr Black." Harry said, mildly. "A friend of mine used to remark that my flying was like experiencing a hundred mini heart attacks in one flight."

Sirius chuckled at that as James came to stand next to his friend.

"Shame you can't fly for Gryffindor," James said.

"Mr Snape has already pointed out that Slytherin would be a better house for me," Harry said with a smirk. "I believe that it's a good thing that I won't be facing the sorting hat. I'm not sure that Hufflepuff would be able to handle me if I got sorted there."

James chuckled at that then glanced over at Lily and Severus.

"Any time that you want to go out flying just let us know," Sirius offered.