Well, from here I see it sort of swerving back to canon, with Lily beginning to go out with James, as Lupin said to Harry in OotP, in their seventh year, after he'd "grown up a bit".  In my story, James had decided to act more serious and less thuggish to get her to take him seriously, and I think with the cumulative effect of the love potion Lily would have imagined herself to be in love with James.  Thus giving Severus another reason to hate James.  And if this was canon, it would make for an interesting aside: Harry and Snape would be blood relatives.  Second cousins at least.I'm glad you liked the story!Alison 

Thanks for that, I'm glad you liked the story.  Along with Harry in OotP, I had trouble seeing how Lily could have fallen for James when he seemed to be such a bully.  The mention of lovepotions in HBP helped me think of this as one possible scenario!  In most of the fics I read of this era, Lily is usually shown as just friends with Severus, and it's Snape who has the big unrequited crush on her.  But I think there's no reason she couldn't have liked him just as much.Poor Severus!  My stories always seem to make him suffer!  (I like the character, really I do - he's a pure joy to write, being so complex!)Alison