Author's Note: A birthday story involving Snape and Mulciber for the lovely PlushyButtons!

Iron and Fire

Severus' stomach churned with uncertainty and fear as he followed Lucius Malfoy from the Great Hall after the Sorting. Lily had been the only one he'd known on the train, though he'd known the Malfoy name from what little his mum had told him about her time at school. Everyone else was a blank slate. Some of them had surnames that he vaguely recognized, but beyond that, he was completely out of his element. Severus was used to being alone. Getting close to other people generally just led to...pain…

He stiffened as he realized he was slouching again, trying to make himself look smaller. It was practically instinctual by now, but while at Muggle school, it had been like a large, red target on his back. He straightened his shoulders, then, and looked straight ahead as though he were trying to burn a hole in the back of Malfoy's blond head. Perhaps, in this way, he would make it to the dormitories without having to speak to another person who would pick up on his poverty and use it against him. Those two pure-blooded Gryffindor boys had, after all. Severus hoped that he wouldn't have to see much of them. He was secretly thankful that Sirius Black had not been Sorted Slytherin, but had no idea if any of his cousins or potential siblings shared his lovely personality.

"Oi!" A slightly gruff voice called out to his right.

Severus tried not to flinch and tried scowling at the back of Malfoy's head as hard as he could in the hopes that the voice had not been addressing him.

"Severus, was it?" The voice continued, and Severus couldn't help but turn his head to stare at the boy who'd fallen in step behind him.

"Yeah, that's right," he blurted out, pulling a few greasy strands of hair away from his face only to feel them fall back into place over one of his eyes. "You need something from me?"

Severus berated himself mentally for nearly sliding into his Northern accent. As it was, he already sounded like some two-bit hooligan, and it galled him to slip so naturally into such a Muggle way of behaving. He'd promised himself to be the epitome of class and culture, after all. To show that even though his books and trunk were shabby and he had unfortunate hair, that he had the heart of a true pure-blood. He'd triumphed over adversity before, after all. His whole childhood had been an exercise in it.

"I'm Ignatius," the new boy said, looking at Severus with a fiery glint in his eyes. "Technically it's Ignatius Vulcan Mulciber the Second, but Ignatius is fine. Just don't call me Iggy or I'll have to kill you."

Severus blinked and tried to wrap his mind around the fact that another boy had not only talked to him, but seemed to be engaging in witty banter with him as well. Severus could not help but wonder if this was all some sort of trap. He sized up the other boy, who couldn't have been more than a few inches taller than he was. But where Severus was willowy and underfed, Ignatius was already bulky and broad-shouldered, his cheeks red with the glow of having known plenty on his plate. There was a tiny ridge on the bridge of his nose, and Severus could not help but imagine the images of Roman gladiators he'd seen at the museum on one of his rare primary school field trips.

Ignatius spoke again, his head held high. "See, between you and me, I think the two of us with our Roman names and our heritage should stick together."

"Heritage?" Severus asked, his voice squeaking more than he'd have liked.

"You're just like me," Ignatius replied with a jovial laugh and a hearty slap on Severus' back, "and we're Slytherin, yeah? That means we have each other's backs for the rest of our lives, so don't you ever forget it."

"Um...yeah, of course," Severus muttered, feeling somewhat mortified at how confident Ignatius was in comparison to his sorry, sad display of introversion. But somewhere, deep in his prematurely bitter heart, a flicker of warmth began to burn— a flicker of acceptance in a cold world that had always shut him out.

Severus wasn't sure how it had happened, but by the second week of school, he actually felt as though he'd somehow been blessed with a group of friends. Mulciber seemed to know the others that had been assigned to their dorm room and introduced Severus as a "fellow Slytherin." There had been no argument; not about his surname, not about his bloodline. Severus refused to relax, just in case this was some sort of long con, but he was greatly relieved to avoid any internal strife in Slytherin. The First Years also soon learned that when it came to Gryffindor students, Slytherin had to stick together to avoid being hexed...or worse.

Of course, there were pranks on both sides, but those were natural extensions of being young, hormonal wizards in a school filled with magic and a House Cup on the line.

For Severus, it was almost like normalcy had finally become obtainable.

"Oi! Snivellus!" The voice made Severus grit his teeth. Not even a month into his schooling and those two—Potter and Black—had been targeting him for all manner of imagined offenses. Once, he'd thought he'd heard Black refer to him as "garbage," but that really wasn't the worst Severus had ever been called, and he paid it no mind unless he knew he could count on back-up.

As the year went on, Lily seemed to be oblivious, which made it worse. She disparaged the two Gryffindors and called them names while they studied together in the library, but whenever Severus tried bringing up the fact that they seemed to be targeting him, she dismissed it as inter-House rivalry.

"They're terrible to everyone, you know," she said matter-of-factly. "Why, Potter hexed a second year boy in our Common Room for snickering at him for messing around with his stupid hair the other day. Can you imagine? A fellow Gryffindor!"

Severus said nothing, least of all how Lily seemed to be far more accepting of Potter hexing members of other Houses. He knew she didn't mean it the way it sounded, but he also knew that she was competitive to a fault, and that her vocabulary could make a sailor blush during a Gryffindor Quidditch match.

But Ignatius—Ig, as he'd requested to be called once they'd grown closer—noticed right away. He arranged for himself or Avery to walk with Severus to classes or their common room without making it seem like they were doing anything over and above what they'd normally do. Severus reciprocated by teaching his dorm-mates a number of spells he'd learned by practicing with his mum's wand while his father was at work (or, more and more regularly, the pub). They learned at least ten low level jinxes and curses apiece which made things a lot easier, at least at first. The Gryffindors, not to be outdone, always retaliated, and Potter and Black were the worst, especially when they had Pettigrew sneering on the sidelines and egging them on.

All that following summer, Severus wrote to all of his new friends, but he wrote most regularly to Ig. He found himself opening up and telling him things that he felt uncomfortable telling even Lily. There was an easy camaraderie with the fellow Slytherin boy that he couldn't replicate with anyone else, not even his other dorm-mates. Severus had never felt like anyone had sought him out before, and for the first time in his life, someone had seen him first and made the effort to befriend him. It was a feeling like no other, and Severus was determined to be worthy of Ig's friendship.

As they grew older, Severus watched Ig grow tall and strong—the epitome of the pure-blooded patriarch-in-training. It was odd, though. Ig was the only other boy in their dorm who didn't return home on holidays and seemed reluctant to return to his family manor in the summer. Severus said nothing about this, though. He knew that he had no right to judge anyone on their secrets.

It was in their fourth year, after they'd stolen a bit of firewhisky from Slughorn's desk and drank it at the top of the Astronomy Tower after slipping past Filch that Severus learned the truth.

"I'm a bastard," Ig said, leaning back and looking at the remaining scarlet colour of the sky as the sun dipped below the horizon. "And no, I'm not referring to my penchant to turn Gryffindors green in the halls."

He was referring to a new charm that they'd been developing to mark troublesome Gryffindors with a bright lime green colour that made them look like they were about to be sick.

"Oh, really? I hadn't noticed." Severus laughed and hiccuped halfway through. He knew he was a lightweight and despised alcohol on principle due to his father, but when it came to Ig, he'd do anything.

"Ha, ha, Sev. But seriously, I'm the only son, so they parade me around, spell my hair brown, play up the number of features I share with my father."

"Whaddya really lo' li' then?" Severus slurred.

"Fine, I'll show you, but don't you dare tell anyone," Ig said, twisting his wand in a curious half-circle with a curly-cue. His hair shivered like a mirage and went an odd shade of white-blond. "My mum and dad are both dark-haired. They write off my brown eyes because they're common enough, but if you really look closely, they're brownish-gray, and there's nobody in my family line who looks at all like me."

"Then who—?" Severus saw the rueful smile twisting on Ig's lips and he knew at once what his friend was about to say.

"A Muggle woman, obviously," Ig said bitterly. "She left me on their door stop when she realized what I was. But they're honestly not much better. Still, they didn't abandon me."

"My da...he's a Muggle too." Severus looked away and then grabbed the bottle, taking a swig and coughing fire as it hit his throat. "He knocked up my mum after he got her good and drunk one night and now he's bitter that he's stuck with an ugly hag of a wife and beats her when he gets drunk. He's the worst."

"Why doesn't your mum just fight back? She has a wand, doesn't she?" Ig looked horrified, but he placed a comforting hand on Severus' shoulder and Severus leaned into it despite himself.

"She says she loves him," Severus spat bitterly. "She says she was taught that a wife listens to her husband and obeys his will. But that's not his will. I'm not sure he even has one anymore."

"Yeah," Ig replied. "We didn't ask to be born, so why do we have to bear the weight of their sins?"

"Exactly!" Severus cried out, wobbling sideways a bit until Ig half-caught, half-ran into him. They went silent, lost in their own melancholy thoughts. Eventually, the somber mood lifted as the stars began to glitter like tiny, faraway jewels and they propped one another up and watched the constellations come into view above them.

"I have another secret, Sev," Ig said, turning and whispering into Severus ear so closely that Severus could feel Ig's lips on his earlobe and his face filled with sudden heat.

"I...so do I," Severus said, swallowing thickly.

"You first," Ig whispered, his breath tickling softly against Severus' cheek, and Severus could not deny his his request.

"I—oh hell—this," Severus turned and caught Ig partway on the lips with his own.

"Oi," Ig said, grinning against Severus' lips. Then he positioned his mouth to kiss him more deeply. It wasn't a refined kiss—they were both obviously inexperienced, but that made it all the sweeter.

The stars spun above them as their hearts beat together with a renewed fervor, and Severus allowed himself to forget everything but the moments they were making together.

Lily was mad at Severus. Severus knew that much. She was chewing incessantly on her quill and Severus was fairly certain that she was about to tap a hole in the rug under the studying table.

"Li—" Severus started.

"Are you...you know...with Mulciber?" Lily asked pointedly, looking down her nose at him.

Severus couldn't stop the blush that rose on his cheeks. "He takes care of me."

"Then, um...do you...um...like girls...at all, then?" Lily's voice was tiny and strained.

"I don't know," Severus replied with a frown. "I guess when I think about it, I don't really like just anyone. I like...what I like. I don't think it matters if the person is a bloke or not. I just have to like them."

Lily wrinkled her nose. "But it's Mulciber we're talking about! He dangled Marlene upside down by her ankle while she was on her period, Sev! He exposed her and then left her dangling in the sky until someone could get her down!"

Severus bit his tongue. How could he tell Lily that Marlene had been with Sirius Black earlier that day and Black had cajoled her to test out Severus' own Levicorpus spell on Severus as he exited the boy's loo? Severus had been left hanging upside down with his underpants showing until he could successfully summon his wand from where it had rolled to the floor and was late to Care of Magical Creatures because of it. There was a twinge of bitterness as Severus thought of how there was only one way his spell could have gotten out in Gryffindor tower, and that way was standing before him fixing her narrowed green eyes on him.

When he'd told Ig why he'd lost ten House points for lateness, Ig had turned scarlet with fury and had nearly gone to owl his folks for a truly Dark spell to use on the offending pair. But Severus had begged Ig not to do it—he was terrified that Ig would be expelled and then his family might disown him.

"Please," he'd begged, "It's not worth it. You know that."

Ig's eyes had burned like cinders. "Fine. But I can't be held responsible if she gets a taste of her own medicine."

"Severus! Helloooooo?" Lily waved her hand in front of his face and he shook his head. "Where were you?"

Severus knew he couldn't tell her. She wouldn't understand. "Sorry, Lily. I have to go."

Lily's expression went from plaintive to hurt to irritated and scowly. "You're going to him, aren't you, Sev? Is he really more important than me? I hardly ever see you as it is! Maybe you should give someone else a chance! Someone like….like….me." Her voice had been growing louder but that last word came out in a squeak of embarrassment.

"I…" Severus looked up at her, his arms frozen midway through packing up his parchment and textbooks. "Lilly…"

Lily's eyes were wide and her hands covered her mouth as she stared back in shock. Her face was scarlet all the way up to her hairline. Finally, she stammered "Never mind! Forget I said anything!"

Before Severus could react, she picked up her wand, hastily summoned her things into her bag and then fled in the opposite direction.

Severus was so preoccupied with his thoughts as he rushed to meet Ig at their "hideout;" a long-abandoned oversized closet hidden in a dark corner of the dungeons that they'd password protected and concealed from prying eyes, that he didn't hear the first insulting thing that Sirius Black said to him. Before he could turn and raise a Shield Charm, though, he was flat on his face under a Full Body Bind. He could feel the weight of Sirius Black's shoe on his lower back as the taller teen began to press his weight painfully against his spine.

"Where you going in such a hurry, Snivellus?" Black jeered above him. Severus fought the bind, trying to move his fingers towards his pocket where his wand was hidden, but they would barely wiggle, which was a bad sign.

A sign that the spell had been cast by more than one assailant.

"Oi, look what we caught."Potter smugly materialized in front of Severus, wand drawn. "Looks like a little snake is out all alone. And Hogwarts has so many dangers. Why, you might get hurt."

Severus felt himself being grabbed from behind by several people and held in a standing position.

"What do you think, Sirius? Should we put ol' Snivy here on ice?"

"Maybe he'll finally chill out!" came a new voice from his right. Pettigrew. Severus hated that bastard.

"I still think this is a ridiculous plan." An unfamiliar soft voice. Lupin, perhaps. He was always hanging around the others looking gray and sick half the time.

"Oi, Moony, go back to looking out and leave the heavy lifting to us," Sirius said with a sinister grin.

"I know just the thi—HEY!" Potter yelped as his wand flew from his fingers.

Severus was leaned hastily against a wall as Sirius drew his wand. "Oi, you'd better come out you sneaky little snake if you know what's good for you!"

A few hexes flew down the hall, seemingly from random directions, and Severus' heart surged with hope. He knew that dueling style intimately well. Peter was hit by a stray hex on his bottom and went squealing down the hall away from the danger. Potter was looking positively furious at having his wand taken, and ran over to where Severus was, grabbing him by the scruff of his collar.

"You'd better show yourself!" Potter shouted, "Or we're going to make things pretty uncomfortable for your little friend here!"

Sirius brought his wand under Severus' nose and made a tiny flame glow at the end of it with a whispered incantation. "Oi, Prongs, what do you say about a bit of barbeque snake?"

"Ok, ok!" Severus' heart dropped as Ig undid his Disillusionment Charm. "Just let him go and I'll give your wand back."

"I don't think so!" Sirius said with a sneer. "You give my mate back his wand and then maybe we'll think about giving you back your greasy git."

Ig's eyes danced with fury. "You have no fucking idea who you're messing with."

"Oh I know exactly what you are, you little bastard, and a poofter to boot," Sirius replied nastily.

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK!" Severus roared, the bonds of the spell finally weakening.

Sirius snarled at Ig and sent a nasty Slicing Hex at his leg. Severus winced, knowing that the strength of the spell was enough to sever bone. Ig stumbled, but immediately pulled himself up and began dual casting with Potter's wand alongside his own without an ounce of hesitation. His fury and purpose burned through him like fire, and Severus found himself swallowing rather thickly at the sight of that righteousness having been summoned simply because he was in danger and Ig loved him.

Sirius put up a bit of a fight, but he had been taken so off guard by Ig's nonchalance at what should have been a serious injury, that he and Potter ended up fleeing the same way Peter had, leaving Severus and Ig breathing heavily in the hallway as Severus finally shook off the remaining hold of the multi-cast spell.

"They did a three-way Full Body Bind, didn't they?" Ig asked, as Severus finally stumbled over, his right foot still stiff.

"Ugh," Severus replied, "Never mention anything involving a three-way anything when it comes to those dunderheaded fools."

"Oh?" Ig asked, obviously amused. "You certainly have a dirty mind."

"Only when it comes to you," Severus replied with a knowing grin, though he wasn't sure that was exactly true. He thought back to Lily's scarlet cheeks and the thought that she might have feelings for him. It wasn't exactly something he had the time to sit and think about, but the memory filled his stomach with butterflies.

That was when Severus noticed the jagged gash in Ig's trousers.

"Oh Merlin, are you all right?" Severus knelt down and fussed with Ig's trouser leg.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. It didn't hurt anyway." Ig waved off Severus' concern.

"But how? I saw how strong the spell he cast was," Severus replied, frowning.

"Ah, well, I suppose I should have to tell you sooner or later." Ig grabbed the cuff of his trousers and began to roll them up slowly. Underneath, Severus could only see a deep black colour that contrasted quite harshly with his normal pale skin tone.

"Summer accident," he said by way of explaining his metal prosthesis. It was a thing of beauty; carved intricately with runes that seemed to glow silver against the ebony metal. The knee joint bent silently and with the same level of fluidity as his remaining flesh-and-blood knee.

Severus stared at the leg and then up at Ig.

"I hope you won't think I'm less of a man—OOF!" Ig let out a puff of air as Severus tackled him into a bear hug.

"You idiot, you absolute idiot," Severus muttered into his chest. "Don't you ever worry me like that again, you hear me?!"

"Aww, see? You do care!" Ig replied, kissing Severus' forehead.

"I just called you an idiot. Perhaps you should get your hearing checked," Severus said with a scowl.

"You and I both know my hearing is perfectly fine," Ig said, kissing Severus on the lips this time.

"Yeah, well, that remains to be seen. Don't make me come up with insulting nicknames for you." Severus relaxed his hold just a bit, but still held onto Ig tightly.

"What, like Tin Man?" Ig said with a laugh. Severus had told Ig about seeing Wizard of Oz on the telly before.

"More like Sexy Dunderhead," Severus replied, snorting at the ridiculousness of the name he'd created.

"You had me at sexy," Ig replied with a laugh of his own.

Severus knew that there was darkness growing in the world around him; he had grown up in darkness of a different, non-magical kind. But he knew also that it wasn't just his decision any longer. Ig was a leader in a way that Severus would never be. But he was oddly fine with that fact. Ig wanted to cherish and care for him and in return, Severus would give him anything he asked. It only seemed fair, after all.

But as they walked towards their secret hideout, Severus' mind was still whirring with the thought that perhaps he was broken in some deep, intimate way that led him, like his mother, to follow the first person to show interest in him, and that it would one day be the end of him.

Then again, he'd never expected to be worthy enough of being loved so tenderly by someone he adored in return, so perhaps his more melancholy thoughts were best saved for if he ever found himself in a place where he had nothing left to lose.

And, in the coming months and years leading into the war, Severus Snape would find himself thinking often about when, exactly, he could honestly say that time had come.