In 1976, there are three rules for surviving Slytherin house.  Know your place.  Know your side.  And don't fall in love with the wrong girl.

But when the secretive Potions Mistress gives Severus Snape and Lily Evans a special project, they find themselves involved in a dangerous relationship, keeping secrets from friends and enemies alike.  Lily must come to terms with her family, her friends, her magic and her growing love for Snape, while the rising spectre of Voldemort forces everyone to take sides, one way or another.

This is one of the only novel-length Snape/Lily fics which deals specifically with that relationship.  A work-in-progress; updated regularly.
 
 
 

those formative years
 

1.  what my books did not
Late in 1975, the Potions Mistress gives Severus Snape and Lily Evans a special project.

2.  beauty of the first glance
Lily wrestles with her conscience, but finds it easier to walk away from the project than from Snape.

3.  better than diamonds
Christmas 1975: the outside world begins to intrude, while Lily and Severus get to know each other better.

4.  what i do best
The boys are back in town!  Term begins, and Lily's relationship with Snape comes under pressure.

5.  anyone but your friend
Severus has some difficult decisions to make, but it's Lily's boys who bear the brunt of his turmoil.

6.  my new achilles heel
Sirius' brilliant idea strikes terror and hilarity into the hearts of Hogwarts.  Severus dabbles in moral ambiguity.

7.  could be tainted
Snape and Lily do some eavesdropping.  Lily and James both get news from home.

8.  walk from your embrace
Lily, James and Sirius go to London.

9.  sometimes, in a moment
James and Severus both write a letter, while Lily's family does its best to drive her insane.

10. an illusion that is a mirror
Lily begins to make a discovery.  Discussions of the serious kind are had.

11. shake my pride
As the school year comes to an end, Lily and Snape have to face a difficult decision.

12. rebuilding bridges in your mind
An illicit snog under guise of friendship, Slytherin propaganda under guise of a love letter, frogspawn under guise of soap.

13. breathes life into my eyes
Meeting the family.  Lucius Malfoy is snide, Vernon is nasty, and Snape's family is Just Plain Scary.

14. torch the moon
Lily discovers some of the Snape family secrets, and then learns the full extent of the dysfunction in her own family.

15. fall and heal
Lily and everyone around her search for a new status quo, as they recover from the Summer of Angst and prepare to return to school.

16. ingrained scorn
With the revelation of Lily's relationship with Severus, the boys have a few secrets of their own to share.
 

o t h e r   t h i n g s
 

the language that god speaks
Something of a sequel to "No Such Place", also a HP/Sandman crossover.  Hermione discovers a potion that allows her to access the Dreaming.  Familiarity with the Sandman universe is not necessary.

fan art
Lots of big eyed freaks.  And a really fantastic Snape.

white asphodel
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