Snow lightly fell onto the grounds of Hogwarts. Everybody was asleep, since it was Saturday, but one person was awake just before dawn, sipping hot cocoa he transfigured from water. Severus liked life this way-alone. He could pretend James Potter and Sirius Black had already been expelled, that Lily Evans loved him, oh, and that his hair could be as soft and shiny without the use of products like Remus Lupin's. His mum always said imagination was a strong point for him.
He sat in this dreamlike state for about another hour and a half, until other Slytherin boys starting waking up and making noise. Irritated by their ignorance of his privacy, he slinked out of the room to the potions classroom. This is where Severus kept his important belongings, for many students liked to make life difficult for him and hide, for instance, his underwear, or his macaroni picture of him and his mother. As he opened the door, he instantly caught a whiff of Slughorn's expansive horde of crystallized pineapple. Sweets in the morning made him grumpy, so he plugged his nose. He went over to the cupboard that held spare textbooks, and went directly underneath it. There was a vial of a potion he had worked hard to make: Felix Felicis. He reached his skinny arm as far as it would go, and gingerly clasped his fingers around the small vial. Although it was covered with dust, Severus could still make out the golden color it was. He uncorked it, and with a satisfying pop, it opened.
"Here's to you, Sev." he muttered before gulping all of the contents down as fast as possible. He hid the empty vial in his cloak and walked out of the dungeon. Any veteran user of the potion should know that, when taken correctly, it gives extremely accurate "gut feelings" on what the user should do. And that's what Severus needed that day. Never socializing much, he had caught his foot in his mouth too many times to count (including when he accidentally called Lily a Mudblood-she still was giving him dirty looks when she passed him in the halls), and was determined to get a day where he would know exactly what to say to make things right with Lily. He quickly jotted out his plan for the day with a crayon, took a few more glances at his masterpiece, and beaming, he set out for the courtyard.
Severus was lost again in his dream world, when a cold ball of ice smacked the back of his noggin. His saturated locks spun and whipped his face as he turned around.
"Where ya' goin', Snivellus?" taunted the group of boys behind him. As he looked closer, he saw who made up the group: a tall, bespectacled boy with untidy hair, a plump, eager looking boy, a boy with long black hair and a constant smug grin, another with scars across his face and premature lines, and a girl. With bright red hair. And vivid green eyes. Severus gulped. Out of all the people he wanted to see at the moment, it was her, but not with the other gits. "Going to wash your hair?"
"As a matter of fact, I had a very important date with...with...umm..."
"Your macaroni portrait?" said Sirus, the boy with the black hair.
"How'd you know about that-I mean, no!"
"You do know that," said the short boy name Peter, "No matter how hard you scrub, you'll never have as soft locks as...as...Moony..." he said as he started to stare at the tired looking boy's hair.
"Evans, you don't care if we jinx your little friend, do you?" said the one who was obviously her boyfriend.
For a second, it looked as if she might say no, but eventually she said "Go ahead, Prongs,". Severus pleaded silently with her, but she didn't relent. "But I have to go study. Moony? Wormtail?"
"Uhh...sure." said Moony, but underneath what he said, the only reason he wanted to go study was because he didn't want to have to be part of this bullying. Wormtail followed, like the puppy he was.
"Alright Snivelly," began James, while shoving Severus to the ground,"Let's start with a Bat Bogey, then we'll go to a-"
"ALARTE ASCENDARE!" cried Severus. He casted the spell correctly, but due to his uncomfortable position, the spell missed and hit Lily. She rose in the air, but with some quick wandwork, was brought back down by Lupin.
"What do you think you're playing at, hexing my girlfriend?" shouted James. "I'll show you, you greasy, slimy-"
"Oww...my ankle!"Lily cried. "Help me get to the hospital wing, James." She stood on one foot for a second until Prongs came to support her back into the castle.
"You'll pay, Snivellus!" said James as the rest of the boys followed him and Lily. For some odd reason, he felt like laughing, even though he had just injured his major crush.
At this moment, it seemed for the first time that morning that the Felix Felicis was working. Severus had a sudden urge to do something witty. He took out a scrap of parchment, quickly scribbled some writing on it, then levitated it onto the back of Lily's cloak, where it fastened onto. He could still see what the note said from a few paces away:
"This is the property of the Half-Blood Prince."
Sorry if you've been waiting a while for The Iron Conspiracy, I just haven't had time to write that many words. But don't lose hope!