Hey guys, SP back with another chapter! Hope you enjoy!
A week, with the much-anticipated Gryffindor versus Slytherin Quidditch match that weekend, a forlorn-looking sixth-year Slytherin girl paced around the castle grounds, mind racing. It was one of her free periods, so no one save the Care of Magical Creatures class was on the grounds. It wasn't as if many people exactly wanted to approach the girl, which suited her just fine. Serena Snape wanted to be alone at the moment.
The last week had been absolute hell for her. She and her mother had gone to Diagon Alley to buy new clothes, which had been extremely awkward for the sixteen-year-old former male. Upon Serena's return, only Regulus, Mulciber, and Avery had talked with her, and those conversations were always a little awkward. Even the Marauders had refrained from anything direct, although another botched potion irked Serena even further.
Serena sighed. If only she knew how to return to her original form. She'd try the potion again, except she didn't know what Potter had put into her armadillo bile, and she didn't want to risk serious injury.
"This isn't like you, Snape."
Serena whirled, wand raised. She was surprised to see none other than Remus Lupin leaning against the wall not two meters away from her. What was even more surprising was that the Gryffindor prefect was completely alone.
Serena's eyes narrowed. What was the werewolf playing at?
"What do you want, Lupin?" the Slytherin asked coldly.
Lupin chuckled. "I know you won't believe me, but I actually wanted to see how you were doing."
Serena rolled her eyes. "Pity you were right." She drew herself up to her full height (which wasn't quite as intimidating as she would have liked, as she had been shorter than Sirius when she had been a male) and glowered up at Lupin. "You want to have a laugh at my expense, don't you, werewolf?"
Lupin looked around nervously. "Snape…"
"No," Serena said adamantly. "Tell your little friends that the next time they sabotage my potion, they're going to get what's coming to them."
"Reap what you sow," muttered Lupin darkly.
"Exact- wait, what?"
Lupin sighed. "It's an old Muggle saying about how you get what you plant. In the case of you and James, it's hatred. I just wish that there wasn't such hatred between the Houses," he added bitterly. "That would be so much better."
"Better?" Serena laughed mirthlessly. "Reap what you so, indeed, Gryffindor. We Slytherins are-"
"All I'm trying to say, Snape, is that I understand what you're going through, more than you know." Lupin looked Serena full in the face as he said this, so she knew that he was being completely honest.
That put Serena back a pace or two. Then Lupin knew, a few seconds before it actually happened, what was going to happen. He steeled himself.
"What happened, Moony?" Peter Pettigrew queried. He, James, and Sirius were gathered around a bed in the hospital wing, on which Lupin was laying on, staring blankly at the ceiling, hands entwined.
Lupin just shook his head, eyes wide in shock. "Stay away from her," he said, for perhaps the fifteenth time in the past half-hour.
"Who's 'her'?" James asked.
"If it's Snivellus-" Sirius began.
Lupin nodded dumbly.
James and Sirius both emitted small cries of outrage at the insistence of their werewolf friend to stay away from the main source of entertainment at Hogwarts. Peter, however, knew that Lupin had his reasons.
"Why, Remus?" the rat Animagus asked quietly. "Why stay away?"
Lupin slowly turned his head to regard the small boy. "Snape, as we all know, is bad-tempered and vengeful," he murmured, so quiet that his three friends had to lean in to hear him. "Girls can be also bad-tempered and vengeful. Put them together…" He trailed off and turned to watch the ceiling as if it was a particularly fascinating television.
"If Snape did this to you, I'll...I'll…" James trailed off, thinking of proper punishments for the Marauders' least favorite Slytherin.
"DON'T!"
James, Sirius, and Peter all looked at Lupin, startled not just because he had told them not to get back at Serena, but because he had yelled at them.
"Don't you understand what she'll be going through? It'll be hell for her! And she won't know what's happening to her, so she won't know what to do!" Lupin pulled on his caramel hair, making it stick up and make him look half-demented. "And she told me that she'll get you anyway if you do anything more to her! Do you not care if you get in serious trouble just because of one person doing what her gender does?"
All the other Marauders were backing away, not liking this new side of Remus Lupin. However, the werewolf wasn't done with his rant.
"I'm ashamed of you, James! You think this is funny, don't you? Do you have any idea how hard life is when you're shunned by society? No, of course you don't," the prefect answered himself acidly. "You've never known any other life than that of a privileged pure-blood! You don't know what it's like to be hated by almost everyone in your society! And now you've just about put Serena in my position! She'll never forgive you, and she doesn't forget easily!"
"Moony!" Sirius pleaded. "We get it, we get it! Can you stop?"
Lupin finally stopped, breathing heavily, tufts of hair sticking in all directions. A few caramel strands floated through the air. It looked at if he had lived through the full moon a few weeks early. The werewolf sighed, seeing and smelling his friends' fear. He turned over, closing his eyes with a glum, "I need to rest."
The other three Marauders looked at each other grimly. Snape would pay for this, female or male.
Hope you enjoyed! The next chapter is going to be...entertaining. We'll be delving into Serena's mind as she tries to come to terms with her existence. Again, hope you enjoyed! Reviews are always welcome, and if they're good, I'll take you up on them!
