Friday, November 22, 1975

Snape fingered the thick piece of parchment in his robe pocket, testing to see if he could feel the markings of a quill. It felt blank—as it should, for he had spent the entire evening in the library looking for a way to ensure only he could read it. The act was unnecessary, perhaps. What he'd written on the page took far longer for him to find and had been of such importance to Snape it would have been impossible for him to forget. Snape liked to have layers of security. He wanted to be ready when he needed to be.

Snape heard Madam Pince begin her rounds in the front of the library. Merely standing behind a student and clearing her throat was enough for everyone to know it was 8 p.m. He closed his copy of Moste Potente Potions and returned it to the restricted section. Though Snape was not one of Professor Slughorn's favorites, he had little difficulty in getting the potions professor to give him permission to use the restricted section. Snape was the top potions student in fifth year—better than almost any seventh year even—and Slughorn was usually keen to get the administrative side of his teaching post out of the way as quickly as possible.

The hallways were quiet as Snape exited the library on his way to the dungeons, where the Slytherin Common Room was. There were rarely other students in this part of the castle on a Friday night. He felt the piece of parchment in his pocket again. Still smooth. He took his hand out and looked at his fingers. Still pale white, no ink spots.

"Sniffing your fingers, Snivellus?"

Snape's head jerked up. He didn't need to turn around to know the snickering was coming James Potter and Sirius Black.

"How do they smell?"

Snape kept walking.

"Awful, I bet," James continued. "Is it bath day, Snivellus? Is that what you do on a Friday night?"

"It's never bath day for Snivs," said Sirius.

Snape kept his pace even as he heard theirs quicken. He had trained himself to ignore this treatment, determined never to give James and Sirius the pleasure of a reaction. In first and second year, he'd let them get to him, and as a result they would never leave him alone. Snape knew now there were better ways to get his revenge and kept his rage at bay.

James and Sirius were right behind him now. "Snivs? Snivs?" Sirius tapped him on the shoulder.

"Only a Gryffindor would be brave enough to touch Sniv's robes," said James.

"My hand feels a bit greasy."

"He's ignoring us. I feel so spurned!"

Snape heard them stop walking abruptly, hopefully have grown bored with their taunting. The wall to the Slytherin common room was in sight now, and he relaxed slightly. He brushed the back his hand against pocket and heard the rustle of the paper. Still there.

Suddenly a yank on the back of his robes toppled Severus backward. One hand broke his fall, the other hand immediately reached for his wand. In one swift movement, James's hand slunk inside Snape's pocket and grabbed the sheet of parchment.

"Snape's got a love letter!" James shouted triumphantly.

"Accio parchment!" Snape shouted.

The parchment flew out of James's hand but Sirius knocked back Snape with a disarming spell. James leapt after the parchment as if it were a Golden Snitch and caught it, crumpling it within his fist.

"Don't worry, Snivelly, I'll bring this to Lily for you."

Wandless, Snape knew his best option was to go cold and reactionless once more. He wasn't particularly worried about James and Sirius being able to figure out how to read the parchment, but he wasn't keen on the idea of them running off with it either.

"Reveal!" James commanded, pointing his wand at the parchment.

The page remained blank.

"Hmm, nothing. Struggling with finding the words, Snivellus? Perhaps I can help. Dear Lily," James intoned, pretending to use his wand as a quill, "I'm positively batty for you. I would bathe for you! Say you'll be—"

"What's this?"

Severus jerked around to see Lucius Malfoy, head boy, approaching from the Slytherin common room.

"If you're going to write love letters to Muggles, Potter, I suggest you do it in your own common room," sneered Malfoy.

With three long strides, Malfoy reached Potter and snatched the crumpled parchment from his hands.

"Go back to your tower," Malfoy said dismissively. "I'm sure Black has some pictures of Muggle girls to keep the two of you busy tonight."

Snape followed Malfoy back towards the common room. He was still seething from the encounter and somewhat annoyed again that someone had intervened between him and Potter again. He was even more annoyed that Malfoy held on to his parchment as they walked, studying it closely.

Inside the common room, Malfoy lowered himself onto a green velvet sofa, silently inviting Snape to join him.

"Good job on this one, Severus," he said. "May I ask the enchantment you used?"

"Not this time, Lucius." Snape forced a laugh to try to downplay the situation.

"Did you leave it blank just to drive Potter nuts?"

"He's such an idiot he'd never be able to figure it out."

Snape waved his wand over the parchment and slowly his thick black quill marks appeared, revealing the message he'd prepared for a situation like this. He handed the paper to Malfoy.

"Ah, so you've made a little potions study guide for the O.W.L.S. How nice. I think we both know Crabbe is a lost cause though."

Malfoy disinterestedly put the parchment down on the couch next to him.

"Potter and Black were probably hoping to run into Slughorn to get invites to his party tomorrow. Fat chance though. Even Black's family can't stand him, and Potter acts like such a dunce all the time even his family money couldn't get him in."

"You're going though, right?"

"Yes, of course," said Malfoy, "Slughorn generally has good taste in guests. That Hilliard girl will be there. She's good-looking. Pureblood. Shame she's in Ravenclaw, but it's not the worst place."

Snape nodded.

"Sorry, Severus. I forget you couldn't give a damn about parties."

Malfoy happened to be wrong this time. Snape had known about this party for weeks, anticipating it even though he didn't have an invitation.

"Slughorn seems to be losing it a bit though," Malfoy said abruptly. "He invited that Mudblood Evans."

Snape realized Malfoy was studying his reaction and didn't let any emotion show on his face despite the feelings that the mention of Lily Evans stirred in him. Malfoy continued. "I suppose she's good-looking, but really? Two Muggle parents. Not two knuts to rub together. And she's probably only good at potions because she got help from you."

"We've all got our childhood friends," Snape said without elaboration.

Malfoy finally seemed bored and excused himself for bed. When he was gone, Snape grabbed the parchment, smoothed it out, and tucked it safely inside his robes. He might as well get a long rest for tomorrow.