Oh how he despised the rest of his class. Over his Potions book he could hear his fellow Classmates jeer him behind his sholders.

"Snape Snape got some tape and made himself a homemade cape."

It was none of their business that his mother had made him this cloak. Something he doubted his peers could understand. He gathered his cloak and brought it closer to him as if hiding it from their view but no one could hide this hideous black-grey blob. He had to admit he wasn't fond of it either but he would never disappoint his dear mother. He had thought of many ways to keep this from everyone but no such luck. He had no money, and his mother always gathered his wizarding supplies each year from Diagon Alley alone. He was stuck with it.

Just then he heard a cry from across the room.

"Potter!"
The Marauders had stop chanting long enough to greet Lily Evans as she floated over to the table where they were gathered. He watched her with the same facination he always did. He had known Lily for many years but they rarely talked of love. If only Lily had loved him like he loved her then he would be able to muster enough courage to turn around to those babbling buffoons whom would not stop chanting that monotonous rhyme and put a hex on them they would not soon forget.

"What are you doing?" Lily said in a dissaproving tone.

"Having a go at ol' Snape-y boy here, just having bit of fun" replied a voice Snape recognized as Sirius Black without turning around.

Lily replied, "Excuse me, but you should be taking your seat. And don't go joking with Serv here I've read about students who have turned on their name-calling classmates and well… they're not here anymore or I would let you talk to them yourselves.

"Dead?" Remeus Lupin asked.

"No, Graduated," she smiled.

"But, that's not the point…something terrible did happen to him but I can't tell you now, If Professor Slughorn catches you out of your seat again…" Just then Slughorn walked through the door. The boys all scrambled to their seats. Lily did not hurry however…instead of taking her normal seat next the girly brigade she normally sat with she sat down right next to Snape.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" she asked. He managed to nod his head but mostly from what he thought was a disbelieving daydreaming. "Don't worry about those blokes their just trying for attention. You know." Again he nodded his head. She leaned over and took her Potion book while at the same time combing a bit of her flowing redish hair behind her ear. How beautiful she looked. She smiled at him and he managed to smile back. "What have you got there?" She asked pointing to the now closed worn Potions book.

"Oh…er…nothing." He stammered while trying to hide it from her.

"Don't be foolish of course it is. The one that says "Half Blood Prince" in it. Is that you?"

"Um…er…yes. I put my favorite Potions notes in here." He pulled out the book once again. Lily put a gentle hand on the book ready to grasp it but accidentally brushed his hand. He almost died. They both pulled their hands away quickly.

"Here" Snape said giving the book to the green eyed girl. She flipped through the pages.

"There's things in here we haven't even learned yet." She whispered.

"I've been reading up on it over the summer." He told her.

"Oh." She said, "But there are so many that you haven't covered yet."

"I know I just started this summer and I forgot many from our previous year." There was a pause while she was taken in awe.

"I have a wonderful idea. I could help you. I have a pretty absorbent mind and I can help you with some of the ones that you have forgotten." Could this be true? Did the most wonderful, sweetest, kindest, creature in the entire world want to work with him? This must be a dream. He pinched himself, just to make sure. Nope she was still smiling at him. He half expected the room to spin and to wake up in the dormitories were he had fallen asleep on his Potion notes.

"Well I don't see why not." He said finally.

"Quiet down class" Slughorn had just begun teaching his lesson.

After Slughorn's long and tedious instructions of how to make a cure for a muggles case of the measles, the class started to talk again.

"Now I want each and every one of you to have a partner. No foursomes! You know who I'm referring to." Giggles erupted from the classroom. "How very immature." He added.

Just then James walked up to Lily. "Hey how about being my partner?" He whispered in her ear thinking Snape couldn't hear him. Snape's heart sank. Surely she would rather be with a star Quiditch captain then with himself.

"No thank you Potter. I already have a partner. And what makes you think I would be your partner anyways?" She looked at him sideways.

"Well, I figure if I ask you every day for the rest of your life at least one question your bound to say yes to one of them." He had a coy way about him when he answered the question.

"I already have a partner" She pointed in Snape's direction. He faintly smiled.

"Well ok. But are we still on for tonight, right?" He said slyly.

"Excuse you?" she smirked. "May I remind you we've agreed your annoying and you need to step away from me?"

"Where would we go? Good question, well I was thinking we'd just stroll about Hogwarts, Maybe underneath my Invisible Cloak and we could go out to the Forbidden Forest and have some fun there." He smirked.

"One…I wouldn't go out with you if your life depended on it, and two…your sounding more and more like Sirius everyday he's a bad influence on you.

James moved away with a look of happiness on his face while she watched him walk away a little while longer than she should have. But it didn't matter. She had picked himself over James Potter. His mothers voice rang in his head

"Confidence is the key to happiness." He rolled his eyes. His mother said a lot of crazy things. He didn't firmly believe she was all there upstairs. He just smiled at Lily as she began gathering the materials they needed for the project.

He grabbed her hand and said, "Thank-you."

"What did I do?" She was shocked at this.

"You just gave me confidence. I feel new. Something is definitely going to come out of this friendship. I have a good feeling."

"That's funny," she turned away grabbing her wand.

"Why?"

She turned back to face him. "I had that feeling that too.