Hello readers! This is the official rewrite of "Crossroads", quite a bit has changed character wise, but the plot is all the same. This story will have its ups and downs, so there may be some sensitive material in the future, which will be indicated with appropriate warnings. I hope you all enjoy this story, and if you do please leave me a review!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Crossroads Chapter one- Train Tracks
Severus imagined that pain was a being that found humor in following him his entire life, it laughed at his tears and tended to the blossom of depression that wrapped sweetly around his mind. Sometimes it took the form of his father, who thought magic could be repressed using his fists. Other times it took the collective form of four boys who called themselves the Marauders, all of them set out to make his life as miserable as humanly possible. Wherever he went it followed, and as he stared at the Hogwarts express he felt the reality of his situation.
There was no escape from pain.
With a sigh he hulled his luggage around on his cart and shoved his way through a sea of excited students, finding a place beyond the mob of people was a blessing and he found himself nearing the edge where the train tracks lay. Severus glanced down at the small drop, one could easily hop down and haul themselves back over with ease. A shriek sounded from his eagle owl, which glared at him with inky black eyes. "You're quite demanding for an animal." Severus stated lamely, the owl tapped roughly at her cage. "I apologize that you do not fancy the exquisite cage I purchased for you with my own money." She blinked, then ruffled her feathers
Severus glanced over at the train tracks again, and with a shrug he slowly approached the ledge, one careful foot after the other. He teetered on the edge and grimaced at the thought of letting the massive train roll over his body at a painfully slow pace, but the thought of being free from the lingering hold of pain and the fear of the Marauders made him suspend one leg over the ledge. He held it there for a moment, and considered how easy it would be to let go. But his issues were never that easy to get rid of, a large black kneazle made sure of that this time. It butted its large fluffy black head on his leg and caused him to lose balance, he stomped his suspended leg on the ground and glared at the obnoxious creature.
"What the hell?" Severus looked around in agitation and spotted a girl with unruly brown hair heading in his direction, the knealze meowed softly and continued to rub its body on his legs. It was uncomfortably tall, and almost reached his knees.
"I'm so sorry about Octavious, he doesn't really care for pet carriers." The girl with the curly hair looked at him apologetically with honey colored eyes, then dipped down and collected her kneazle in her arms, it was a wonder how she could carry a thing so large. Severus expected the girl to leave like most people would, but she stayed and smiled softly at him. "My name is Hermione Lovegood. I don't suppose you were just trying to throw yourself on the tracks?" The question came at a bit of a surprise and Severus couldn't control the shame that found its way to his face. "Don't worry, I've found myself looking to do the same a few times." She said softly, the kneazle in her arms wriggled out of her grip and fell to the floor in an explosion of black fur. It looked at Severus again and meowed, it's wide green eyes looking at him in wonder.
"You don't look like a Lovegood." The words came tumbling out of his mouth, but it was true. Almost every Lovegood had the same platinum blonde hair, fair skin, and wide blue or green eyes. This girl was almost the complete opposite, and by the look on her face she seemed to know it.
"No, I don't. Are you going to tell me your name or should I just call you train tracks?" She asked.
"You don't have to call me anything." Severus grumbled, he pushed past the girl and stood close to his luggage, his eagle owl hooted at him, she switched her gaze and looked behind him. Severus sighed and turned around, the girl was still lingering by the train tracks, her kneazle was once again captured in her arms, and she was looking down at the tracks.
Those crazy curls nearly covered her entire face, which was quite lovely. Her features softened as she closed her eyes, her animal shoved it's head under her head as an affectionate gesture. Her mouth was turned into a frown and her eyebrows pulled together, Severus felt something inside of him stir as he stared at the girl, and his trance was only broken when the train released a high pitched whistle. The girl- Hermione Lovegood opened her eyes and turned her honey gaze towards him, in that moment he realized two things: She wasn't from Hogwarts- he would have remembered those eyes, and there was a chance that pain followed her too.
It was hard walking away from Hermione, but he gripped his luggage cart and forced himself away from her, she didn't need his pain and he didn't need hers. Hermione was friendly enough and her entire family was known to be sorted into Ravenclaw, so she probably wouldn't end up in Slytherin and he would never speak to her again, he tried to convince himself that he was okay with this as he boarded the train.
When he made his way to his cabin he scooted to the far end by the window and propped his head on his hand as he stared out at the nearly empty station, late students scrambled to get on the train, causing him to snicker. One student with red hair like fire caught his attention, Severus jumped up when he realized that it was his friend Lily Evans, he watched as she stumbled towards the train and swung herself in at the last minute. Severus let out a sigh of relief and slouched in his seat, he tapped his foot while he waited for her and when she walked into the cabin he cocked an eyebrow.
"Don't judge Sev." Lily let out an exasperated breath and plopped into her seat across from him, her cheeks flushed a pretty rose color and her green eyes seemed to glow.
"That's five years in a row, I think you like being late at this point." Severus grinned at his friend, who rolled her eyes wrapped her long hair into a bun, leaving only a few strands to tease her neck and frame her face.
"I do not enjoy being late, I had to walk past them on the way here." Lily crossed her arms and huffed, she was referring to the Marauders. Specifically James Potter, who was clearly interested in her.
"Did they-"
"No they didn't mess with me, they were too busy hounding over the new girl." Lily picked at her nails as she explained "Apparently she's Ravenclaw bound, you know, because she's a Lovegood and all."
"How did you even hear about that? You just got here."
"Well you see, when one makes friends they tend to hear about said things at a relativity faster rate than people who choose to befriend potions textbooks." Severus cringed at his friend and avoided her look.
"Well, potion textbooks can't throw hexes at me."
"I don't throw hexes at you." Lily caught his gaze and smiled softly.
"You should." James Potter, swept into the cabin with silent ease, he stood close to Lily and eyed her with icy blue eyes. He didn't look at Severus, but the smirk on his face told him that he was pleased to see that his spell rendered Severus's hair slick with grease for an entire summer. Severus fought the urge to touch his hair.
"James please go torture someone else." Lily glared up at the boy and grabbed for her elegant wand, which she rolled around in her hand.
"Now Lillian, I know you look all sexy when you're angry, but please. There's no reason to curse my handsome friend here, he's just trying to make small talk sweetheart." Sirius Black lazed into the cabin and placed his hands on his friends shoulders, he winked at Lily and flashed her a toothy smile.
"It's Lily, not Lillian, and don't call me sweetheart." Lily hissed, her knuckles turned white as she gripped her wand.
"What shall I call you then?" Sirius exclaimed, James brushed out of his friend's grip and stepped closer to Lily, who scooted away.
"You should be a Gryffindor, and hang out with us." James urged, he extended a hand towards her. Anticipating for her to finally take it after five years of pathetic begging.
"I could call you baby cakes…"
"In your dreams Potter." Lily used her free hand to swat his hand away, then crossed her arms.
"Kitty cat..."
"I do dream about it, all the time." James purred.
"Honey bun..."
"You're disgusting!" Lily screeched.
"Oh how about pumpkin spice, you sassy little-" James held his hand out to Sirius, who frowned and crossed his arms.
"I'm disgusting? You hang out with a Slytherin Lily! He's not one of us and he's bringing you down." James yelled, his face turned red, and his yells alerted the other two Marauders who came scrambling into the room. The one that looked like a rat, Peter, pointed his crooked wand at Severus and sneered. Remus lingered in the background, he was the only one that never taunted Severus, but his brain was the one that came up with all the pranks. He was no better than the rest.
"Something wrong James?" Peter spat, he inched closer, and was a breath away from poking Severus in the eye with his wand.
"Leave him alone!" Lily cried, her hand shook as she whipped her wand out at James. "Make Peter stop!"
"I don't control what Peter does." James said with a smirk.
"Peter cut it out." Remus placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, who shrugged it off with a huff.
"Get out of here man." Peter grumbled, but suddenly his face went pale and his ears started to elongate into perfect rat ears, severus gasped and withheld a laugh that threatened to escape his mouth.
"What the actual hell?" James sputtered, Sirius stood next to him, openly laughing, Remus looked around in confusion. It seemed that all at once the entire cabin of students looked towards the hallway, where a curly haired girl stood with her wand raised, and her large lion like kneazle sat at her feet. Hermione Lovegood gave Peter rat ears, and her face was eerily calm about it, with a shrug she sheathed her wand and walked away, she didn't even spare a single word of explanation.
"Dude, the new girl just gave you rat ears." Sirius said between snickers. "You look ridiculous."
"What are you waiting for? Change them back!" Peter yelled, he clasped his hands over his ears and looked at James in horror.
In a smooth motion James waved his wand, and uttered a spell that reduced Peter's ears back to normal, he then put the wand away and crossed his arms. "Let's go." He spared Lily one last glance before leaving the cabin, the three remaining Marauders trailing behind him.
When they were gone Lily let out a sigh of relief and released her grip on her wand, she glanced over at Severus with wide eyes. "I don't know who that girl is, but she literally just declared war with the Marauders."
"Yeah, I guess she did." Severus was still looking out at the hallway as she said this and he felt agitation prick at him. That girl had absolutely no reason to come here and mess with his torturers, and it bothered him that he didn't even know where she came from. Who are you?
That question irked him during his entire train ride to Hogwarts, and while he passively commented on the things Lily would say, he wondered if he would ever solve the mystery that was Hermione Lovegood.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and hopefully those who read "Crossroads" before the rewrite will still enjoy the story. Please leave me a review, and as always, thank you for reading.