The First Year Together, In Birthdays
By JalendaviLady
Timeline: 1982.
Summary: Snape and the Potters are all now stuck at Hogwarts after Snape's cover was blown in late October 1981. Here are their birthdays during their first year stuck in the castle together. Set in the same universe as "The Mistake".
Characters: Severus Snape, Lily Potter, James Potter, Harry Potter
Pairings: James/Lily (story is not pairing-focused)
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Chapter 1: Severus
The new term had just begun at Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry.
He was already miserable, and the students hadn't even had a week to demonstrate all they'd forgotten over the Christmas holidays.
Truth be told, the Christmas holidays hadn't been the most pleasant days of his life, either. He'd been stuck inside Hogwarts castle, so apart from Christmas proper the only difference from the school year was no classes to teach.
At least I'm still alive, Severus Snape told himself. And the Potters as well.
It had been a close thing.
It had been two months and more since his last encounter with the Cruciatus Curse, and he almost felt normal again.
He never completely would be, of course, but he'd suspected that the day he stopped losing count at five. He'd known it the day he'd passed the official lifetime limit that usually meant admission to a locked ward in St. Mungo's.
But no. No St. Mungo's for him. Just Hogwarts, and Lily Potter joining the Potions department so that the youngest and remedial students did not have to face the heavier hand of a cynical ex-Death Eater in the potions lab.
The experiment wasn't even a term old, and already the duo was seeing improvement in student grades and skills.
He should be glad. The first years had already been burning him out in only his second year of teaching.
He wasn't. Not even the knowledge that he'd finally gotten apologies from three of the four Marauders - and that the other was almost certainly dead - was enough to break the gloom.
Not even the ongoing truce of sorts with James Potter, the recognition that through Lily they were something not unlike brothers-in-law.
Not even partnering with Lily in a potions lab again - although the fact he was currently polishing her skills to be closer to his level might have blunted the wonder of that.
Not even being removed from being Head Of House to Slytherin for simple necessity of his own safety.
He was sitting in the main sitting room of the mutual quarters Hogwarts Castle had foisted on them - separate suites for Severus and the Potter family, with this one room acting as the bridge between them and the rest of the castle - reading one of the potions journals he and Lily kept there so that they only needed one subscription between them now.
It was late. In a few more days, he'd have grading to do. For now, he could simply sit and catch up on the extended collapse of claims surrounding the recent anti-transformation potion for werewolves, secure in the knowledge that a Friday night meant no classes for the next two days and the potion he and Lily were currently working on would need no new attending until after sunset tomorrow.
Safety. A quiet evening. No students around. A new journal to read. A friend, a warming acquaintance, and a toddler who insisted on calling him 'Unca Seb' only a single door away. Food and drink no further away than summoning a House Elf.
It should have been heaven.
It wasn't.
A light hand on his shoulder. "Severus." Shake. "Severus, wake up."
He started awake, pulse racing.
He noted in the back of his mind that James Potter waking him up no longer meant instantly reaching for his wand. It was an unnerving but not completely unpleasant discovery, at least now that his unconscious mind was certain that being woken by James no longer meant being hexed a split-second later - or being woken by a hex.
"What do you want?"
"Want to go for a walk?" James offered. "It's past curfew, even for the seventh years."
Severus glanced at the pendulum clock on the wall that had once been Lily's mother's. It was after midnight. Hours after.
"This late?"
"Sure." James grinned.
He's clearly planning something.
"Does it have to be tonight?"
James grew serious. "Yes."
Severus had to admit that he was actually lost now.
The portraits were asleep, many empty of their usual occupants.
This was not a section of the castle that he normally traveled in, much less at night.
"Where are we?" he finally asked.
"This is the back way down to the boat dock," James told him. "Hardly anyone even knows this passageway is here."
"But you do."
He nodded.
"James, we can't go outside the walls. I certainly can't," Severus whispered nervously.
"The wards extend to the borders of the grounds. I've checked - the Great Hall and the dock below it are the center of the wards because they are where the most children are the most vulnerable most often."
Severus blinked, stopping in his tracks for a moment. He'd honestly never thought the wards had a center so much as having borders beyond which they failed. "But the wards don't reach as high as a broom can fly," he finally retorted.
"But they're at their highest here."
He's planning to go outside.
We'll die. The Dark Lord will find us, he'll kill us and we'll die...
Compared to the ways he'd seen the Dark Lord's enemies punished unto death, the Cruciatus Curse was nothing.
"Severus, calm down."
He stumbled back against the wall, fighting the urge to hyperventilate.
"Severus." James put a hand on his shoulder. "I promise, we are not going to die tonight."
"How?"
"Trust me." He grinned.
Damn Gryffindors.
The door was huge, wooden, and clearly ancient.
It led into a vaguely familiar grotto where maybe two dozen boats bobbed with waves coming from the lake.
"I haven't been down here since just after our last Leaving Feast," Severus whispered.
Things had been so different that day... He'd been so different then.
"And before that, the night we were Sorted?" James whispered back.
Severus nodded.
"I used to come down here to think, sometimes. There's nothing quite like a change of scenery to clear the mind."
And then James pulled something large, broad, and slinky out from under his robe.
Pieces fell into place. "You've got an invisibility cloak," Severus accused.
"It's big enough for two..." James offered with an inviting smile. "You've been inside, what, almost seventy days, now?"
"Close enough." When classes were in session, he functioned on days of the week and weeks of the term. It had already been over two months at New Year's.
"Then get some stars over your head. Being cooped up doesn't suit you."
"Being deceased suits me less, Potter," he shot back quietly.
"Which is why I brought the cloak."
"You've had that thing since we were in school," he accused.
James nodded.
"Don't they wear out? Charms fail, material goes opaque, holes get ripped in..."
"Not this one." James flipped it over the two of them, standing close enough to Severus that if he'd really still held a grudge, the words 'strangle' and 'bare hands' could have come into play.
Severus had to admit, it appeared to be in good condition, given what little he knew of the devices. Invisibility draughts might wear off, and were hideously dangerous if made incorrectly, but at least the user could know when they'd start failing.
"You got this when it was new." There was no other way for it to have been so undamaged.
"No."
Severus raised an eyebrow. "I know you're practically a transfiguration master, but..."
James didn't answer the implied question, just started walking with a firm hand at Severus' back so the other wizard was forced down the path that led out of the grotto.
Severus let out a breath.
The stars shone in the dark Scottish winter sky. Three of the planets were aligned near the horizon to the east.
And for the first time in over two months, there was sky - actual clear sky - over his head.
It must have been five minutes, maybe even ten, when James whispered, "Happy birthday, Severus."
He had forgotten.
Last year he had been too busy recuperating from the Dark Lord's attentions over the holidays to notice.
But yes, the beginning of the second half of the academic year always meant his birthday following not far behind.
"Any time you need to get out of doors, tell me. We'll have to find times when no students or staff are around, but once Easter holiday and summer come..."
Severus nodded, but then thought again. "What's the risk this cloak gets too damaged to use?"
"No risk."
"James, you and I both know..."
James slapped himself on the forehead. "Right, almost forgot you're true halfblood. Which set of bedtime stories did you get, magic or Muggle?"
"Both, but..." His voice and thoughts trailed off. "No. Can't be. It's a myth."
"And just why would Albus have wanted to spend some quality time inspecting this cloak if it were?"
Severus couldn't answer.
When they returned home, Lily was awake and waiting with Harry dozing on the sofa beside her.
There was a covered dish on the sitting room table.
She smiled. "So, just this once, who wants birthday cake for breakfast?"