Disclaimer: Do you think that my writing skills even compare to J.K. Rowling? There you go.

"Severus Snape!" The professor shouted his name. He saw the students continued look at the first years. Severus Snape was in his first year of Hogwarts. He had been waiting to come to this school for his whole life. Sure, there were four people bullying him on the train and sneering at Slytherin, but the one that looked like a rat face had gotten into it. Of course, that did not help the half blood's heart. He wanted to be in Slytherin. It wasn't because of his mother, but his steady ambition to escape from his family, especially his father.

The boy put the hat on, waiting for it to call Slytherin. Severus almost fell off the chair as he heard it whisper.

You seem to not have a lot of loyalty nor kindness to anyone, besides one. Your natural reaction to aggression rules Hufflepuff off the chart.

While you are exceptionally smart, even in parts you haven't found out yet, you had been forced to learn hard, to distract yourself from what is happening around you and... and those nasty memories I see around the back. This will rule Ravenclaw out.

Slytherin is where your mind wants to be, doesn't it? I can tell from your thoughts. While you do have ambition and you are clever, you are also extremely brave. I can tell that you want friendship and perhaps even love. You will not get either of them in Slytherin.

Therefore I put you in...

The hat shouted, "Gryffindor!" Severus was paler than usual, shakily taking off the hat as he headed off to the table, the Great Hall in absolute silence. The headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, clapped and the rest of the teachers joined in as well, all of them looking very shocked as they had been with Black. Severus sat down next to Lily Evans, who was sitting next to the guys they had "talked to" on the Hogwarts train.

Potter, who was clearly trying to hide his shock, especially since Severus had talked about how he wanted to go to Slytherin, "I guess you can't be that bad if you're in Gryffindor."

In response, Snape sneered at him, "I wanted to go to Slytherin."

James Potter rolled his eyes, "In that horrible place? Who would even want to go there?"

"It's an honorable place that values ambition, cleverness, and-"

"As if they honor any of that."

"How would you know?"

"How would you?" The two glared at one another as Professor Dumbledore began his announcement,

"Once again, we are in another school year. Professor Filch would like to remind everyone that the forbidden items are forbidden. There is a list in his office that you may check. Also, we have a new Defense teacher. Please give a round of applause to Professor Yutson." There was a polite applause as the female professor stood up before sitting again.

The headmaster clapped his hands, "A few last words before we start the feast. Nitwick! Blubber! Oddmint! Tweak!" The food appeared and all of them took some food onto their plates.

Black shared a glance with Potter before turning to Snape, "Listen, I know how in all of those pureblood houses and their talk of Gryffindor. This house is very promising and stuff."

Snape rolled his eyes, "Nice word choice, Black. Even though I'm surprised that you managed to even form a sentence."

Another guy, Remus Lupin, Severus recalled, sighed, "Let's just put a truce okay? Just because it had been a bumpy train ride doesn't mean that we can't ever be friends."

Severus held back any reaction, coldly nodding at them, "Very well."

Potter shrugged, "Fine."

After the feast was over, the two prefects ordered them to follow. The first years obeyed, quite eager to sleep after the feast. Severus didn't remember either of their names nor did they introduce themselves.

One of them said to a door, where there was a lady on it, "Golden spoons." It opened, showing a common room. The prefects explained the separate dormitories before leaving them to their own devices.

The boys sat awkwardly. Lily had already went to meet the girls in her dormitory and had wished Severus some luck to face these guys. There weren't too many people there. In fact, there were only two other people besides the people that Severus knew in the dorm.

Potter grinned at Black, "When do you think we should prank the school?"

Severus interrupted, "We haven't even learned magic. Do you think we should be pranking the school already?"

Potter smirked, "So you admit being part of us."

"Even though I favor Slytherin to no bounds, I still would appreciate a victorious House Cup."

Black smirked back, "I mean, you're a Gryffindor, you can't be that bad."

Potter threw a pillow at Black, "Dude, not cool! You're copying my quotes."

Black pretended to think, something that Severus strongly thought that he was incapable of doing, "Am I?" He threw the pillow back, making Severus groan as he decided to go to sleep after brushing his teeth and showering.

When he came back from the bathroom, he was hit by two pillows, probably by accident, since there was a pillow fight. The other two guys were buried under their covers, trying to sleep. Severus groaned, it was going to be a long night.

The next morning, he was awaken when Lupin's alarm went off. Severus quietly went into the bathroom, changing and showering, doing all of the morning things. When all of the boys were ready, they headed down into the main hall, where they received their schedules from their professor.

Black groaned, "Why do we have potions first?"

Potter raised an eyebrow and then smirked, "Want to bet on who blows up their cauldron first?"

Black smirked as Lupin and Snape groaned. Black nodded, "You bet. Whoever loses has to give the other a chocolate frog."

"Fine. Only because I know that I'm going to win." Severus snuck a look at Lily, who was talking to her other two dorm mates. Potter blushed slightly as he looked at her, making Severus' a little bit mad. Snape did like Evans and even if she didn't like him, she shouldn't go out with a loser like Potter.

Lupin said, "Let's head off to potions. We have ten minutes and we don't know where it is."

Severus asked Lily, "Do you want to go?"

She replied, "Nah, I want to talk to these two a little longer. I'll talk to you later." Lupin, Potter, Black, and Snape went into the dungeons somehow, going in a few minutes before the bell. The Slytherins had the same class since it was a joined class.

When the bell rang, the professor cleared his throat, "Welcome. I'm Professor Slughorn. No jokes about my name please."

The professor sent a grin to them, "Please do not blow any cauldrons up. You guys should at least try to make a good impression. We will start with the basics of potions. Tell me..."

After ten minutes, they were going to create their first potion. Professor Slughorn put up instructions for an eye changing color potion and the class prepared to do it. It was supposed to be done individually instead of having partners. Lily Evans was on the other side of the room, getting materials. Severus and the rest of the class took materials around the classroom and began following the instructions.

Snape had a lot of experience with potions well before he came here. When his father started doing drugs, his mother taught him how to create some potions to calm him down. They knew that the Ministry would never find out because it was potion making, not spell casting. Well... Severus had to be a little more creative when his father began showing resistance to it.

Nevertheless, Severus finished the potion first. He presented it to the professor, who clapped his hands,

"My, my. Very good... Very good Mr. Snape. Five points to Gryffindor."

After a few minutes, Lily also finished. Professor Slughorn looked impressed, probably because she was a Muggle born who was okay with potion making. He granted Gryffindor another five points.

Ka-boom.

Black sheepishly said, "Oops. Sorry Professor. I lost track of the time."

Professor Slughorn waved his wand, making the cauldron repair and the potion disappear, "Five points from Gryffindor. Mr. Black, I'll trust that you'll be more careful in the future. The rest of you should get back to creating this. If you're done, you may do anything you would like to do."

Severus raised his hand and asked, "Can we experiment with other potion materials too?"

"Yes, Mr. Snape. Also, I will be here most of the time because higher level students come in from time to time. If you or Ms. Evans wants to come and create some potions, you may, as long as you ask me beforehand since you two aren't fourth years yet." Severus took out supplies, flipping the pages to a weak sleeping potion, one that he gave his father many times. His mother wasn't really good at creating potions so Severus did most of the work.

Severus asked another question, "Professor, may I bring some of the extra potions that I create back with me?"

"If I approve of them, then yes, you may."

One of the Slytherins sneered, "Maybe you want to create some shampoo for your hair." Ignoring that comment, Severus began making the potion. Professor Slughorn glanced in his direction once in a while, trying to make sure that he wouldn't make anything explode. Out of the corner of Severus' eye, he saw Black not putting enough rat tail in the potion. Severus, not wanting to have half the dungeon ruined, quickly added another rat tail to Black's potion.

Black frowned, "Weren't we supposed to have two rat tails? Why did you add another one?"

"I am certain that the board says three rat tails."

Black squinted, "Fine..."

He added after a slight moment of hesitation, "Thank you... Severus."

Severus glared at Black, "Listen Black, just because I helped you a little bit here doesn't mean that we are friends. It just means that I don't want the dungeon to explode."

"And why can't we be friends?"

"Because..." Severus thought of an excuse, "Because I hate you."

"Why?"

"I like Slytherin, okay? And you've been insulting the house for the entire train ride."

Black shrugged, "So? Why do you want to be a Slytherin?"

"It's my family's legacy, duh!"

"I have a maps of pureblood families in my house and none of them has 'Snape' on it."

Severus sneered, "I'm a half blood and I'm proud of it."

"But Slytherin honors pureblood students."

Potter looked shocked, "Is Sirius seriously smashing Snape in a sneering competition?"

Black rolled his eyes, chuckling, "Stop trying to use fancy English stuff, James."

"Fine. Listen, Snape, besides some stupid family stuff, tell me some reasons why you hate us." Severus thought for a moment. He wanted to create and learn dark magic to crush and destroy families who jeered at him, but he couldn't say that. He couldn't talk about his family either and they definitely didn't understand the differences in his family compared to theirs.

Deciding to just go along with it to make life a little bit more sufferable, "Fine. We're friends now. Nothing more than that."

Black grinned, "None of us wants to marry you, don't worry."

Severus rolled his eyes as he brought his self made potion to the professor, "May I take this with me?"

Professor Slughorn frowned, "That is a sleeping potion. I will permit it this time, but if I hear you using it on other students, I would no longer permit it."

"I won't use it on any staff member nor student," he promised.

The professor grunted to the class, "The homework tonight is to write about the uses of unicorn hair and the horn of one. One parchment." The class groaned but left.

Sirius cheered in their bedroom, "Yes! No classes until one hour!"

James nudged him, "In OWL year, we'll get a lot more homework."

Remus shrugged before looking at Severus, "Who's that potion for?"

Severus lied, "I just wanted to test out some things when I add one potion to another, and how long I can preserve this for."

James rolled his eyes, "I may not be a potions expert but I'm pretty sure that potions don't expire. Mom has tons of old potions to remind her of the 'good old days'."

Sirius shrugged, "My parents keep a dark arts potion shelf for harming potions. Pretty sure that it's been there for a long time. Personally, I think that they're Death Eaters or whatever."

"Eh, the Lord Thingamabob thing that my parents talk about don't seem much of a deal."

Remus warned, "Maybe not now but in the future."

James rolled his eyes, "Geez, when did you become a pessimist?"

Sirius smirked, "Let's start planning how to prank the school."

Severus dryly said, "You mean after we figure out how to get everywhere?"

"Yeah yeah, my parents made me memorize the halls already. Come with your buddy Sirius and you'll be fine."

"For some strange reason, I hardly believe that."

James cut in, "Pranking sounds like a good idea. Any ideas?"

Sirius grinned, "Let's start with something small. Maybe we can go to where the plumbing is and mix some paint in it."

James blinked, "That's going to take a lot of paint unless we have some sort of potion that kind of multiplies the results of something." The three of them all looked at Severus.

Severus rolled his eyes, "Here's something that is very shocking. I don't make potions magically appear. I would actually need the material to do so."

James asked, "What do you need?" Instead of telling him, knowing that James would definitely forget like a dunderheaded Gryffindor, Severus showed him a page on a book.

Potter grinned, "I'll nick them." Without a word, he took out a cloak.

Sirius gasped, "Is that an Invisibility Cloak?"

"Yep?"

"B-B-But how!"

"Dad gave it to me and to use it if I wanted to do anything with it." Severus rolled his eyes. He couldn't believe that Potter's parents gave him this to prank around.

James turned invisible under the cloak, "I'm going to go now. Anyone feel like joining?"

Sirius bounced up and down, waving his hand, "Me! Me! Choose me! Me!"

"Remus? Do you feel like joining?" James asked.

"Me! Me! Me! Me! Me!"

Remus shrugged, "If you want me to, I can maybe help identify some of it."

"Me! Me! Me! Me! Me!"

James nodded, "Severus and Sirius can still fit."

Severus shook his head, "I need to start my homework."

"But potions is not even due tomorrow."

Sirius said, "You're coming with us." They threw Severus under the cloak and the four of them headed into the dungeons. Severus quickly took some and muttered some foul words under his breath as he remembered that none of them brougt containers.

Severus whispered, "We're going to have to carry them."

James took some of it and took a container from a shelf, "No need." He piled everything in there and they made their way make into the common room. James took off the cloak in their bedroom and the four looked at one another, smiling. Severus' looked more like an attempted smile than anything.

James asked eagerly as Severus began making the potion in his cauldron, "When will it be ready?"

Severus threw in some herbs, "Ten minutes before Transfiguration."