Disclaimer:
I don't own anything, all characters and names, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling.A/N:
Ok, I've been writing this for a while but thought it was about time I got myself an FF.NET account and posted it here…please R&R, all constructive criticism welcome…even the scathing kind.Summary:
Yeah, it's another 'How Snape became a Death Eater' fic, although hopefully you'll find this original and detailed. Set in Severus' seventh year at Hogwarts.* * *
Chapter One
There was a general racket in the long school corridors as students and teachers alike welcomed the end of a long Friday afternoon at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was mid-November, and soft clouds of snow had already settled over the grounds, meaning that several fast and furious snowball fights were already in progress out in the grounds, although lessons had only just finished.
Among the older pupils, plans were made for the coming trip to Hogsmeade that weekend, and despite the early snow, it seemed nearly everyone who was old enough was going.
It was down the bustling charms corridors that seventh-year Severus Snape strode, heading down towards the dungeons where the Slytherin common room could be found.
At seventeen, Severus still retained his shoulder-length, greasy black hair and was no more popular than he had been in his early years at Hogwarts, but he did seem more intimidating now, being older, taller, and more astute than he had been in his early teens. He had finally lost the round-shouldered, twitchy posterity that had haunted his youth, and he stood straight as he walked now, a stormy expression warning all bystanders away as he stalked the corridor.
As he turned the corner, his bag swung out and caught a door handle, ripping the strap. Cursing to himself, he bent to repair it with a flick of his wand, and was just straightening up when he heard an extremely unwelcome, all-too-familiar, voice from behind him.
"Tut tut. No magic in the corridors, Snape," James Potter said lazily, leaning against the wall. His Head Boy badge glinted on his robes and a smug smile was threatening to unfurl at the corners of his mouth.
At his side stood Potter's gang, or the Marauders, as Snape had heard them call themselves, comprising of three other Gryffindors: Potter's best friend Sirius Black; a prefect named Remus Lupin; and the little snivelly chubby one who's name Severus could never remember.
At the moment, Black was not bothering to hide his smirk, and the chubby one - Pettigrew, that was it - had his fingers crammed into his mouth, stifling his squeak of excitement. It was pathetic in a seventeen-year-old boy, thought Severus contemptuously. The only one who appeared not to be paying attention to the scene was Lupin. Instead, he gazed out of a nearby window, a small, disapproving frown marring his expression.
Severus' attention swung quickly back to Potter at the Head Boy's next words.
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to deduct points for this, Sniv- I mean, Severus," Potter continued. "Ten; no, fifteen - what?"
James looked around. Someone had coughed loudly and pointedly in the middle of his sentence, causing him to break off. On turning, he saw Lupin was giving him a very fixed stare. "Fine," James said, looking abashed as he turned back to Severus. A slightly resentful tone tainted his words as he declared "Five points from Slytherin, Snape, and don't let me catch you again,". He turned and disappeared up a flight of stairs, followed by his friends.
Snape's hand closed tightly on his wand. The temptation to curse Potter while his back was turned was almost too strong to resist. Almost. With a ferocious scowl and his temper seething, he turned on his heel and strode off down the flight of stairs towards his common room. He hadn't said a word during the entire confrontation, and now his frustration was reaching boiling point.
Potter's mocking tone echoed in his head, along with the infuriatingly superior look on the face of Sirius Black and the excitable giggling from Pettigrew. And as for Lupin…Severus fumed. He didn't need misdirected sympathy from him, of all people.
Unknown to all but a select few, Remus Lupin was a werewolf, as Severus had discovered a couple of years ago. It had started out with suspicion; he had noticed that Lupin was often ill, and after watching carefully for a while, he had determined it to be every full moon that Lupin disappeared. This alone was enough to confirm his suspicions, but the real discovery was made following a prank played on Severus by the Marauders.
Deciding not to dwell on the particular details of that episode, particularly the fact that he owed James Potter his life, Severus continued, livid, towards the dungeons.
The end-of-the-week clatter had gradually died down as pupils began to filter through to their own cosy common rooms, leaving him to make his way in solitude.
* * *
