The Curious Case of Severus Snape SSHG

A SS/HG fanfic by Severus Sortiarius

A/N:I OWN NOTHING, This is for my amusement and others if you feel so incline to venture with me...The Characters and all rights Belong to J.K. Rowling, but I like to venture into her playground...particularly when it comes to a certain Potions Master...No Money is being made off this...and I'm quite alright with that...Stress relief and letting my imagination run wild is all I care about here...and of course Reviews...I'll try and watch my spelling but it does tend to go awry in the heat of the moment when typing so bare with me...This is not my first fanfic but my first to probably be published...RATED M and it's not changing...I won't be as descriptive as some other writers out of respect to the characters, but I will make them HUMAN.

WARNING: Contains Mature Content...M FOR MATURE

My thanks to all my readers and reviewers...Enjoy-S.S.

Prologue: One Firewhiskey Too Many

Severus Snape's Quarters, Slytherin Dungeons, Hogwarts...

Orange, red, and yellow flames had been dancing around a blackened log inside the fireplace of Severus Snape's quarters. The obsidian eyes of Snape glared rather hazily at the log as he drank down his third glass of firewhiskey. He had been pacing all night following the party he attended with his young apprentice. She had been quite the sight, a lovely thing of bushy brown hair and amber eyes with a slender frame tucked rather expertly into a velvet red dress and black heels. She had red lipstick and looked every bit the kind of girl that commanded the attention of the opposite sex. For the Potions Professor's part he had tried at least a little to tidy himself up. He had worn formal robes, and attempted to wash his hair but he could hardly do much about the lank appearance or the slick greasy texture. Making potions always made it hard for him to care for his particular hair type.

It had been a slow night in which they were simply celebrating a recent break through on a potion that had taken them six months to get any sort of results from. The process had been slow and time consuming but with the dedication to their craft that the master and his apprentice showed it was well worth the wait. The effects had not yet been tested nor the texture but it had finally reached the stage for proper testing instead of bubbling over and becoming a dull gray color like all the others.

Snape had recognized that he had been demanding and pushy in the wake of his ambitious drive to complete the project and to compensate for his lack of manner, he took his apprentice out for the evening. She had not complained during the long hours and her help had proved to be quite invaluable. Of course he would never out right tell her this, she was still his apprentice after all.

They had ordered a round of drinks happily chatting away about their break through when some young charming wizard from a well off family approached them flirting with Snape's apprentice as if he had not been there and tried repeatedly to coax her into abandoning him at the table in a bid to come join him and his socially acceptable friends.

The prat made comments along the lines of "Greasy old man", "Dungeon Bat", and one could not forget "Gangley spider" pertaining to Snape. He had been use to the name calling for as long as he could remember and even half-expected her to run off and join the charming fellow and his friends. He had been utterly surprised when the amber eyes of the young witch flashed with rage and she pointedly hexed the charming wizard. He took off back toward his table calling her all sorts of crazy.

Not having much of an appetite, Snape had a few more drinks with the young witch and promptly escorted her home. She had been clearly upset at the younger wizard's manner but she felt terrible for what was said to Snape. He remained largely unaffected by it use to the treatment all his life. He bid the young witch good night and headed back to his rooms for the evening.

Now alone staring once more at the flames rising inside of his fire place, Severus Snape took another sip of his firewhiskey. As his thoughts went back to Lily Evans, the girl who held his heart for a great many years despite her not wanting anything to do with him. She had left him for James Potter and met her end at the hands of the dark lord. Her son with Potter went on to save the wizarding world with his help of course and now peace had reigned for a good many years afterward.

Still, The Potions Master could not help but wonder.

"What did she ever see in James Potter, that she never saw in me?" he asked aloud.

James Potter was a brash, arrogant, self-serving , jackass that tormented those weaker and worse off than him. He bullied and charmed his way through everything. He was a ring leader and a real scum of the earth pretty boy. Yet somehow he managed to win Lily's heart. No matter how sweet Severus had been, or how caring and attentive, she never cared for him like she had that creep.

He had not understood why she had regarded him with such hatred when James had done far worse things that he had and she still cared for him. Then there was Sirius Black, he had been the handsome, charming, and wealthy beyond his years sort. A Pureblood from a very old and highly prejudice family. He was friends with both James and Lily.

The black hearted prat had tried to kill Severus when he was 16 and charmed his way out of any sort of punishment. No wrong doing was ever to be put on Sirius sodding Black because he was the guy everybody wanted to be like, everybody except James Potter who had his own narcissistic view of himself. For the life of him, Snape could not figure out what made them so special that even the older witches and wizards cow-towed to their every whim.

"What was it about them that she preferred over me?" asked Snape going mad with questions.

Had he not treated her with enough respect? Had he not looked out for her all those years before Hogwarts? Why had she suddenly decided that two selfish prats were worth more to her than him? Was it the way he looked? Was it his clothes? The greasy hair? What was it?

Snape finished off the rest of his firewhiskey and made his way down to the labs. With uneasy footsteps he descended the stairs into the darkened room. He waved his hand and the room became lit with enough light to function as he made his way over to his potions ingredient. He had not set out to do this, the notion only in his head for a split second before his hands were shopping Nirnroot, and dicing bleeding crown, as well as pouring in wisp wrappings, he filled the bubbling cauldron and brought it down to a simmer as he continued to chop and dice various plants and fill the brew.

His obsidian eyes grew wide with anticipation as he worked well into the early morning hours forgoing sleep driven by his ambition. It wasn't until day break before the brew had been complete and turned the color of midnight blue in the cauldron. With a wave of his skilled hand Snape magically transferred the now cool elixir into a medium sized phial. He held it up studying it as if it had been a priceless work of art.

"N-Now." he said still feeling the effects of the firewhiskey despite his skill at crafting potions. "W-We w-will s-s-s-see...w-w-what m-makes w-wizards l-like James Potter and S-Sirius B-Black s-s-so g-great to y-you...L-Lily."

Severus Snape held the phial to his lips and drank down the continence in a mock toast to himself. He had not even given himself time to name the strange concoction before it was gone. After a second or two of doubting what the effect would be Snape felt a sharp sensation of pain. He dropped the empty phial shattering it against the cold stone floor. A wave of dizziness hit him and he seemed to lose his footing stumbling backwards until he too hit the stone floor below.

Whatever Severus S. Snape had done to himself,one thing was for sure, the consequences could not have been far behind.