Severus locked the door and turned to a very frightened Lily. He broke the silence. "As for you Lily, I want to apologize for my actions earlier today. What I did to Black was wrong, and I admit it, but please, just ditch Potter and stay with me."
The door to the Room of Requirement rattled and muffled yells could be heard from the other side. Lily looked at the door in longing and suddenly felt a raging fire burn in her heart as she looked back at Snape.
"Get away from me!" Lily shrieked, wrenching herself from his grasp. Unlocking the door and pulled it open. "I would never go out with someone who has insulted me for seven years,
Snivellus, she added, putting emphasis on the loathesome nickname the Marauders gave him and stormed out.
"Come on James," she demanded. "We're going back to the hospital wing before Madam Pomfrey finds us missing."
James followed obediently. They walked swiftly through the halls in silence once more. When they reached the hospital wing they climbed onto their beds, just as Madam Pomfrey bustled out of her office and next to Sirius' bed with two potion bottles and three goblets.
"There you go, Mr. Black, now drink up unless you want me to get blood into you the Muggle way," she ordered, handing him a goblet of a crimson potion, which he gulped down immediately.
Coming up between James and Lily's beds the nurse carefully measured out some light purple liquid into the remaining goblets.
"Now, swallow that and you'll be fine by tomorrow," she told them. "I'll be in to check on you, Mr. Black, in a few hours for another dose."
Then she went back into her office with the two bottles.
"What happened that you two were only gone for five minutes?" Sirius asked.
"We...uh...ran into...someone," James told him, picking his words carefully.
"He means we ran into Snivellus," Lily growled. "He seemed to think I was already his...
girlfriend." She shuddered, repulsed by the mere thought of the claim.
"But she took care of him," James announced, picking up the goblet.
"James, don't drink that!" Lily warned him sharply. "It's not safe to drink a Calming Draught if you aren't terribly upset or something. It could make you apathetic for a week, or longer."
"Apa-what?" Sirius inquired, looking puzzled.
"It means he won't care about anything, one way or another," she explained. "In example, he could be kicked off the Quidditch team, or I could break up with him and he wouldn't care."
"Well, that's not good," James said, putting the goblet down. "But what are we supposed to do?"
"Just vanish it," she answered simply.
She pulled out her wand and tapped the goblet. James copied her. He was about to lay his wand down, but paused as he noticed the ceiling. It was still the lovely aqua Lily had turned it.
"Wonder why Madam Poppy hasn't noticed her ceiling?" he wondered aloud. "Maybe she'll notice we do a little more decorating."
Smiling mischeiviously, he fired a spell at the wall opposite him, turning it a burning shade of lime green. Sirius grinned and took his wand off the table next to his bed. Pointing it at the wall behind James and Lily, he changed it bright orange.
Soon, the three began firing colors all over the room. When the room had become a veritable rainbow, Lily conjured a bucket of black paint and began to draw a face onto the wall. James and Sirius watched in complete awe, all the while stuffing their fists into their mouths to stifle their laughter. When she finished she vanished the bucket and got back on her bed to admire her work.
"Wow, Lily," James said, looking back and forth between her and the portrait. "That looks so realistic."
"Yeah," Sirius guffawed. "That looks exactly like..."