As Severus slid the door shut behind him, a small mousy-looking boy who had been walking too fast and not watching where he was going ran into him throwing him against the wall. The smaller boy was knocked to the floor on impact. Severus rubbed the bump on his head where he'd hit it and stood back up. He would have dismissed the incident hand continued on his way had he not realized who it was that knocked him over.

"Petigrew!" He snapped at the mousy boy. "Can't you just watch where you're going?"

"S-snape" stammered Peter, "I…I…I didn't see you. I'm sorry. Please don't hurt me!"

"I wouldn't waste my time on the likes of you." Severus sneered, for he was hardly worth fighting. Peter Petigrew was a scrawny boy who possessed little magical ability and even less backbone. To say Severus despised Peter was nothing in comparison to the hate he felt for Petigrew's best friends, especially that arrogant James Potter.

Presently a nearby door slid open and James Potter, the devil himself, leaned out to see what the commotion was. "What's going on?" He called out before he realized who was there. But when he saw Petigrew cowering fearfully in front of Severus, he immediately assumed the worst. His dark eyes narrowed behind his glasses as he stepped out into the hallway. "Snape, you git, can't you manage to leave poor Peter alone?"

"I'd like to, Potter," Severus replied coldly. "You've no idea how much I'd like to. But that little rat isn't making it very easy now is he?"

James glared at him and Severus glared back, ready to go for his wand in case James tried anything; which wouldn't be unexpected since he was always showing off. But James did nothing, he just glanced at Petigrew and said, "Come on Peter, you wouldn't want to waste his time."

Peter, who was very good at following orders, obeyed and shut the door behind him leaving Severus alone in the hallway. Clenching his fists in anger, he drew a deep breath and let it out with a huff. Any encounter with James Potter brought out the worst in him. The two had been bitter rivals for as long as either of them could remember. Both were the top guys of their year and were in constant competition over their marks in class. Although James was usually just ahead in transfiguration and charms, Severus was far and away the better when it came to potions and the Dark Arts. The rest of their classes were a toss up. It was generally considered common knowledge that each would be made a prefect: Severus for Slytherin and James for Gryffinder, but eventually it would all come down to the position of headboy, and which one would be chosen.

Grades weren't the only area of the two boys' competition. Their rivalry extended onto the Quidditch field as well. They were both Seekers for their respective teams and when playing against each other it ended up not mattering to them who actually won or how many overall goals were scored, so much as who caught the snitch. And although neither was a team captain yet, each had his hopes set high and were the position give to either boys, he would surely never let the other forget it.

"What's eating you?" asked the drawling voice of Lucius Malfoty as Severus stormed in the compartment and sat down by the window moodily.

"I nearly got run over by a rat."

"Petigrew?" Smirked Malfoy. "What did you do to him?"

"Nothing," muttered Severus as he pushed his black hair out of his eyes and stared out the window at the passing countryside.

"Nothing," Sneered Malfoy, "Then why the bad mood?"

"That air-headed James Potter, that 's why! Thinks he's in charge of everything. Honestly, if I was in Gryffindor I'd kill myself.

"With magic or Muggle-like?" Malfoy asked after a moment.

"What kind of question is that?" Snape retorted.

"Nothing," said Malfoy innocently.

"Just a question."

Severus thought for just a moment and then replied. "Muggle-like, since it would take too long to come up with a good potion, and, seeing as how you can't use your own wand to purposely kill yourself."

"You can't?" Malfoy asked in disbelief as if he expected that it would happen simply because he wanted it to.

"You didn't know that!" Laughed Snape incredulously. "Everyone knows that. Even Avery knows that." He indicated toward the short bulky boy who sat next to the door. Malcolm Avery nodded stupidly and chuckled; most likely he had no idea what they were talking about. He was hardly a good representation of Slytherin house, in face he wasn't really a good representation of a human being. The same could be said for Edmund Goyle, the gorilla-like boy to his left. Severus suspected that Lucius only kept the two of them as company to make himself feel smart and well-protected, since he was neither very bright nor very strong.

"Speaking of muggles," Lucius said suddenly. "What were you doing talking with that mudblood friend of your sister's earlier?"

"Do you mean Lily?" asked Severus as he recalled the beautiful girl. "She's not a mudblood as far as I know."

"That shows how much you know then," Malfoy sneered. "Everything about her screams 'Mudblood'." Then noticing the look on Severus's face he added, "Or were you too caught up in her eyes to notice that?"

Severus smirked and stared back out the window. Suppose Lily was really muggle-born, he thought, did it really matter?"

Lucius read the look on his face very well. "Forget about her, Severus," he hissed as he leaned forward. "They're nothing but trouble. Stick to your own kind."

Malfoy's words echoed in his ears for several minutes. 'Stick to your own kind'; that would be a lot easier if Severus knew exactly who his own kind included. He had never known his real father and since his mother refused to even reveal the mans name, he had no place to start. She had always insisted that it was his best interest not to know, but he knew in reality that there must be some embarrassing circumstances surrounding his beginnings. Wasn't this why she had always found some reason to be away throughout his childhood, why she always brushed aside his needs or concerns, why she allowed Artemis to treat him as he did?

His stepfather, Artemis, was no better. Although he was as a whole not such a bad man, Artemis Snape had always found reasons to hate his stepson. And he expressed his anger in fits of violence toward the boy. The only one who had ever shown him any real compassion was Serena. She stood up against her father for him- And Artemis would never hurt her, and usually gave into anything she said .She was not only his sister, she was his closest friend. As Severus thought about her now, he felt a twinge of guilt for leaving her when she was clearly not well, and he promised himself that when after the with with the food cart came by, he'd go back to check on her.

Severus watched out the window as the scenery changed from rolling green fields to thick forests. As the Hogwarts Espress sped on he began to feel melancholy; he did not want to go home. Storm clouds had gathered in the sky above; and as the inside of the train darkened, so did his mood. "Good old English rain," he muttered to himself as the first water droplets splattered against the glass.

"You're not still thinking about her now are you?" Malfoy asked, noting the solemn look on Snape's face. "No," Severus answered, still staring out the window. "Just dreading the summer."

"Do you want to play exploding snap?" Malfoy asked a few minutes later. Severus shook his head but didn't glance back. "Why don't you ask Avery, he loves that game."

Lucius rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Obviously you haven't noticed that you and I are the only ones in here who are awake."

"Oh."

Severus huffed as he glanced over at Goyle and Avery who were both slumped in their seats dozing.

"How about some chess then?" Lucius suggested.

"Sorry, not right now."

"Well, for Gods' sake, do something!" Snapped Lucius. "You know, you're really depressing when you get like this.

"Like what?" Severus asked him, pretending not to know what he was talking about.

"I'm not stupid, I know you're thinking about your family. You know if he was my stepfather, I'd have probably blown him to bits by now."

Severus smirked. It wasn't like the thought had never crossed his mind. He often had to control himself to keep from doing anything stupid. The door opened and the witch with the food cart appeared in the doorwar. "Can I get you boys anything to eat?" She asked. Severus and Lucius woke the other two boys. After they had made their purchases and were enjoying their food, Severus remembered the promise that he had made to himself earlier. He grabbed several packages of cauldron cakes, pumpkin tarts, and some chocolate frogs and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Lucius asked.

"To check in on Serena."

"That'll make you feel a lot better," Lucius called sarcastically.

"Oh shut up." Severus said as he walked out into the hallway.

When he got to Serena's door he knocked softly. Lily slid the compartment door open a crack. Her eyes seemed to light up when she saw him. "Serena's still asleep." She said quietly, "but you can come in."

Severus entered and sat down across from Lily. "Are you hungry?" He asked, offering her a pumpkin tart.

"Thanks, I'm starved." She accepted his offer. "I didn't have any money and I didn't want to wake Serena. Do you think she'll be okay?"

"She should be fie in a few hours, or, at least by tomorrow." Severus reassured her.

Severus opened a package of cauldron cakes and began to eat one. He watched Lily eating, she had a very delicate way of doing everything. She looked up at him after a few moments and blushed when she noticed that he was watching her. He quickly glanced away, and then back at her. She was still looking at him, and smiling. Severus smiled back.

Severus rarely smiled, but now as he did so, he realized just how good it felt. "So, Serena says you play quidditch," Lily said suddenly, trying to make conversation. "Yeah, Seeker for Slytherin. Do you play at all?" "Oh, I wish I did," Lily said and sighed. "But, I'm no good at it. And I don't get much time to practice over the summer."

"Why not?" Severus asked and immediately wished he hadn't because he realized there was nothing she could say that wouldn't point to her being a muggle.

"Well… my family lives in town, and…" she looked around awkwardly. "My sister throws a fit whenever I do anything that remotely involves magic…..she's….she's a muggle…and…" Lily bit her lip and looked down at her feet. "..and I'm muggle born too".

She looked as if she was about to cry as she said this. "Does it make you hate me to know that?" Severus said nothing, he just solemnly shook his head and watched her.

"I hate it," Lily whispered to herself as she stared out the window at the pouring rain. "I hate her so much. I don't even want to go home."

"well that makes two of us then," Murmured Snape.

Serena blinked her eyes and then closed them again. Her head hurt too mmuch to keep them open. She was aware that there were two other people in the train compartment with her, one she knew was Lily, and the other she assumed must be Severus. She was freezing, but at the moment didn't have the strength to get her cloak, she hardly had the strength to speak. "It's cold," she tried to whisper. "so cold." She didn't know if she had been heard but hoped she had been since she didn't think she could handle the temperature much longer. Her teeth began to chatter as she breathed deeply. A moment later she heard rummaging through the trunk above her and soon her cloak was being draped over her and tucked in around her. "All better," she heard her brother whisper, "now you go back to sleep."

The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful. Severus decided not to rejoin the other Slytherin boys. He and Lily played Wizard-chess instead. As it turned out, she was a fairly decent opponent, and nearly won both games.

Hey everyone! Anyone… lol, so tell me if you like it. There's definitely more, I have like almost 50 pages here that I can type up quickly, but I just wanna see if the story is catching anyone's interest. I know it's a little slow right now, but it'll definitely pick up! Anyways, thanks!