Title: Cynical Ploy
Pairing: KS/SS
Parts: 5
Author: FallenShateiel
Rating: NC17
Warning:
Summary: In the Marauder's time. Severus is a couple of years older than Kingsley and they are at school.
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Part 1:
SEVERUS SNAPES POV:
It's been six years full of this shithole they call a school.
Six years full of imbeciles bothering me and never leaving me the hell alone with my studies.
I hate them all.
That is something I would never bother to over- angst or lie about.
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End of Severus Snapes POV:
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Everyone views him as the greasy haired git whose home is the library or the Potions dungeons.
Everyone knows that you don't talk to him because if you do you might wake up in the morning with greasy hair and spots that will explode out puss that will rival the amount the Herbology professor can make the students squeeze out of any of the Bubotuber plants.
There is also the fact that he is known to have a nasty temper. So even if you say a simple "Hello", you might end up with your arse in the air and your head transformed into a flamingo…
So everyone leaves this nasty (in all respects) outcast alone.
But when the most handsome and popular boys in the school come to torment him, everyone swarms.
The girls because they love to look at Sirius Black and his deviously handsome face and cocky/aloof attitude, James Potter because he's a fit star athlete, and Remus Lupin because he's a shy, sensitive boy that's really, really cute…
The boys pay attention to them because they are the boy's that they want to be. And in order to be like them, they have to like to do the things that they like to do.
Which is to torment…
"Snivellus, you slimy git! Slughorn wants his blowjob so you better hurry up!" Sirius Black is the one who makes everyone in hearing distance laugh at his call to "Snivellus". He's really handsome when he's acting superior (even some of the boy's think so.)
"Fuck off 'Dog'." No one really knows why this always makes Sirius Black really angry… after all, why would something like that coming from Hook Nose really bother the invincible, charming, swoon-worthy…
But by the time that anyone calls out any hexes, the big leader of the stupid 'Slug Club' comes ambling over, talking to all the students whose name's he can be bothered to remember.
"Well! Well! Sirius, I hope that you were able to find Severus for me! OH! I see that you have! Great, great." Everyone knows that the jubilant Professor Sluggy doesn't even like "Snivellus", for the very reasons they don't.
But then again, everyone knows that "Snivellus" is a near genius, so they don't question why Prof. Sluggy bothers with him… besides it's not like "Snivellus" has ever been given an invitation to join the Slug Club.
"Snivellus" just snarls a "What do you want?" at the professor.
Even the portraits swear that he's the only one who can get away with being surly with the professors.
Hell, some of them nearly had a stroke when they found out that he could even talk like that to both Dumbledore and McGonagall without ever being called on it.
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Severus Snape (aka Snivellus, Hook Nose, Greasy Git…) likes to stay in the library reading most of the time.
After all, there isn't any place in this god-forsaken school that he can hide and not be bothered.
Even his Common Room has been taken over by those idiots with the stupid fuckin' ideals of puritanistic bloodlines.
Which Severus Snape finds just plain stupid as anyone with half a brain can see that it's complete incest.
Then again, Severus Snape shouldn't harp on other people's morals.
He is, after all, a person who isn't very well known for his own good choices.
But it doesn't really matter; he just likes to be in the library around the knowledge he can only, reverently, hope to retain—all the while, fearing he may never attain all the worldly know-how that may lurk here…
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When he opens a Potions text that he's read three times already (each time finding he can relocate the things he didn't know or had modified to read better than the original text), he isn't sure why he feels he's being watched. He isn't sure why he feels he's being watched.
It's ridiculous to think that those Neanderthals that try/succeed in tormenting him with their existence are in here.
When he looks up, he's aware that there is only one other person besides the cranky librarian in here.
There is a younger boy of African descent.
He's not really surprised, after all, this is the same boy that's been sharing this library with him for the past couple of years.
He can't pinpoint the name of said person, only that he's a couple of years down. Most likely a fourth-year.
Severus ignores him and goes back to reading the text and comparing it with notes from his own experimentations.
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SEVERUS SNAPES POV:
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Lately, for some goddamned reason, I've been hyper aware of how I look.
Hormones? It's a high probability. After all, I'm to turn 17 in a couple of months. I suppose it was supposed to happen eventually, especially since my growth spurt last year—the summer where I grew at an obscene rate.
Mother was irritated because she had to buy new robes that we couldn't really afford.
Father just sat on the couch with a beer and told me that I'm going to be a man soon…
So long as I don't become a drunken arsehole like him, I think I can live with how I look.
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My hair is greasy. It used to bother me but it stopped about a couple of years ago.
I can't really be bothered about it. It is only hair.
I like to keep it long.
So what?
I have pimples. But they are not as bad as Igor's…that kid has some serious acne problems.
My paleness is rather eerie… I never liked going outside… and genetically both my parents are completely white as ghosts. My dry skin comes from my father, as does the oily hair.
My hooked nose comes from my mother.
My teeth have been bad since I was a kid. When my father was still strong enough to keep my mother busy during one of his drunken rampages. My mother hadn't taken care of me since I was about seven so there really wasn't anyone to tell me how to take care of myself.
I don't like to take showers because then I have to go into the bathroom where other people share with me.
I don't like the thought of such a private thing being so very public.
Eating… sometimes I wonder if I don't treat it like a past time activity…
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End Severus' POV:
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When he's bored with his studies and just wants to sit back and think it all over with a degree of relaxation that he doesn't allow himself with anything else, he looks over at the other table across the room at the African boy that seems to always like to write his reports slowly…
The boy's dark skin is perhaps the darkest that Severus has ever come across… in his hometown most of the black people are rather pale and obviously intermarried into other cultures.
The pure darkness is glossy under even the dim candle light of winter. It quite frankly enthrals Severus. As does the fact that the boy doesn't have any hair.
Which is why Severus has concluded that the boy's definitely from, if not a pure- blooded family, at least a full-blooded African family from someplace in the deserts of Africa or some other exotic place…
It's something that Severus finds himself looking at, the smooth skin that has no visible blemishes. The strong look of the body structure that clearly shows that when it reaches full maturity, it will be strong and handsome and damned near the perfect essence of what the Egyptian/African Kings had before Rome invaded--before White Man went and tore down that amazing magical place…
Severus jolts awake from his thoughts as he realizes that he's staring deep into the dark eyes of the boy he was so intent upon.
He places a sneer on his own sullen, sunken-in face… and goes back to his writings.
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"Hello." Severus is surprised to find his way blocked by the African boy he's been so determined to forget about since the incident in the library. He puts on a disgusted face and tries to move past him.
"Would you mind if I sit with you in the library after classes?" The voice deepens and rises at the same time as only a boy's of fourteen is able to do. The dark face is facing his.
Severus is amazed that the lips are a slight tint paler than all the rest of the face.
He doesn't say anything and just continues walking down the corridor.
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It set up a routine for the rest of October.
Severus Snape working beside the African boy.
He doesn't talk and does his work. Sometimes the boy across the table from him will mutter to himself about his work…
Severus doesn't bother to pay attention to him.
Instead, he just goes back to his own stuff and continues his stupid Transfiguration essay…
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When the boy leaves to go to the bathroom, he says, "Excuse me". When he sees Severus, he smiles and says,
"Good Evening, Severus."
Severus doesn't ever bother with a reply.
Instead he'll sit down with his usual huff and open the Potions textbook that he's always writing random ideas in.
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One night while he's working, he's completely absorbed in the science behind the Muggle idea of Sleeping Droughts.
After all, Muggle drugs are probably more suitable for the human condition than potions because they don't tend to use the magical properties that can become psychedelic drugs--depending on the consumption and mass of the person taking it…
It's something Severus is always trying to figure out.
After all, if you are able to use Muggle logic with the physics and biology, not to mention the chemistry, of the potion you are trying to concoct, then you are able to change the magical properties to a more effective product-- meaning that it either becomes stronger or just the right amount of perfection…
He suddenly looks up with the intent of writing down another theory he has behind the Sleeping Potions that may help get rid of the opium that is used in the ridiculous solution.
Only to find that the African boy is staring right at him with the same intensity that Severus has shown the theory that he had been formulating in his head.
Severus stops his thoughts as he stares into the eyes that are the near black abyss his own are… only to find that there is something in the boy's eyes that may never reflect in his own.
The African boy smiles, turning away.
Severus narrows his eyes suspiciously and wonders what the boy is planning.
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He's been outside collecting some of the Spanish moss that hangs off the trees near Groundskeeper Hagrid's hut.
He has it in a pouch in his book bag. He's going to add it to this Calming Draught… the one that uses the pure form of caffeine… he's hoping that he'll be able to switch both of them while not downing what the Draught does to a person.
"Hello, Severus." The African boy is standing there.
Which is odd because this is the way that only the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins go… Ravenclaw and Gryffindor don't ever have a need to come this way.
Severus nods to him and moves to continue on walking.
"Severus?" The question is soft, but Severus notes that the voice has stayed the steady deepness that it's struggled against for the past month.
"…I was wondering if you would care to go to Hogsmeade with me tomorrow." The voice is steady and strong, as if he's making sure that he's steeling himself for rejection.
Severus would hate to disappoint him.
"No."
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