Severus sat with his back to the tree he was recently being beat up upon. The fifth year's fingers were still trembling. The formerly neat and tidy papers in his hands were now torn and crumpled.
That was one of the only things James Potter never failed to do correctly: mess up Severus' papers.
Severus watched the group of friends play together. No, he watched Lily play with the group of boys. He refused to consider her as one of them. He wouldn't let go of that bit of hope he had yet.
He noticed three scratches on his left leg. One for each of the bullies, he supposed. The largest one he would blame on James, the smaller one Padfoot, and the smallest Moony.
That one Lupin never really acted much upon the encounters. He'd stand and watch, but he would never smile or find comfort in any of it the way the other two sadistic bastards would.
Severus took the now crumpled assignments from his hands and began to straighten them out again. Schoolwork was the one thing Severus took pride in. He was good at it, better than any of the other Slytherins, sometimes even better than the Ravenclaws. He noticed a wet tear fall from his face and onto the papers. His hands began to shake harder, but he disregarded them. He let his hair fall in front of his eyes, covering his face from everyone he hated.
Covering his face from the rest of the world.
Severus quickly pushed the tears away from his face, groaning as he did. He didn't understand why he let himself get so upset with all of this. must not become upset by a worthless Gryffindor.
He was superior to them, much more superior to them.
He felt the sting and the burn of the cuts on his leg. A darker shade of red covered the scraped flesh. There was a mix of blood and dirt and tears that were piled upon his bare leg. He glanced at Lily through the blurry film of water in his eyes. She was smiling and laughing at the joker before her.
James made her so happy. At one point, Severus thought that he made her happy.
But he guessed he was wrong.
Her wavy strawberry hair swung back and forth with each laugh she produced. James nonchalantly placed his arm around her waist, and whispered something into her ear which only caused her to laugh harder.
With every laugh Severus heard from her lips, a tear fell from Severus' eyes in consequence.
He continued to straighten out his papers, trying his hardest to not get them wet.
A bell rung, prodding children into the school. Thankfully, Severus had a free period next. He commonly used his free period to get his thoughts collected and his feelings stable again.
He watched as Lily walked inside the buildings with James' filthy arm around her.
A few minutes after trying to straighten out his papers, he gave up and threw them down with a sigh. Near where Severus was sitting, he noticed a figure approach him. Severus quickly wiped away all emotion from his face.
"Can I sit here?" Severus could not yet make out who it was due to the wet film upon his eyes. Severus moved his things to his right, allowing the boy to sit beside him. Snape blinked a few times, his sight clear now.
His eyes must be fooling him now. There was no way.
"Do you hate me?" Lupin questioned.
Severus watched every detail of the boy, but refused to open his mouth.
"I don't like what they're doing, Padfoot and James- Black and Potter, I mean."
Severus attempted to get rid of all mention of tears from his face, but to no avail. Lupin looked at Severus' face, actually looked at it. He didn't just glance over it the way he usually would.
Remus averted his glance away from the teary eyes of the Slytherin. "If I knew how bad they were hurting you, I'd make them stop, you know that."
Severus scoffed.
"I've tried to make them before. I told James to. He acted as though I hadn't even spoken."
"Then why do you still hang out with them? It's not too long until they're going to be targeting you as well you know," Severus snapped.
"That's not true," Lupin defended. "They're the only friends I've got."
They both sat in silence.
"I just wanted to apologize. That's all." Moony got up, and began to walk away.
"I don't hate you," Severus managed to get out. That was the least he could say to someone who showed him such compassion in the midst of all this. "You're one of my favorites, if I even have one, of your little group."
Lupin smirked and sat back down.
"You know why he does it, don't you?"
"Why who does what?"
"Why James targets you."
"No," Severus stated. "No, I really can't say I do."
"He's threatened by you," Lupin said. His voice was put down to a whisper.
"No he's not," Snape mumbled.
"He is, I assure you."
They sat there again, neither of them looking the other in the face. Neither of them opening their mouths to speak. But both of them soaking in the silence before them.
"Why?"
"Lily once liked you. Let's not forget about her," Lupin mentioned. Severus scoffed.
"As if I've ever forgotten about her." Snape accidently let out. The two of them made eye contact at that statement. Snape's eyes grew to a size they weren't naturally.
"I won't tell. Don't worry," Lupin said.
"Aren't you missing class?" Severus questioned.
"No. I have a free period."
The two of them picked at plants below them. Severus noticed his left leg. The larger two scratches burned like fire, though he could hardly feel the smallest one. He covered the bare flesh with his deep green robes.
"There's a reason why he's threatened by you, you know."
"I don't understand what he wants with me."
"Don't give up, Severus," Lupin whipsered. "You're just as good of a man as he, if not better."
"Stop it."
"I'm not lying to you. Keep that love in your heart. Hold onto that feeling for as long as you can. Until she comes running back to you."
Another tear fell down Severus' face. He quickly swung his hair in front of his face in hopes of hiding all this.
Remus noticed. He moved backwards some, in order to be close enough to put an arm around the Slytherin. He waited a few seconds before giving Severus a few pats on the back.
"If I ever catch you with disbelief in your system again..." Lupin said, a chuckle in his throat.
"Thank you," Severus said.
"Can this maybe stay between the two of us, though? You know the kind of trouble I'll be getting into if-"
"Don't worry about it. Your secret is safe with me."
A/N: This was written for the Hogwarts Games: Men's Archery 1000-2000.
Optional Prompt: Don't Stop Believin' by Journey.
I'm thinking of making this into a multi-chaptered story, but I'm not sure. Anyways. I do hope you enjoyed! Please let me know what you think!