So this is the second chapter. This is Snape's intro, and I'm already halfway through the next scene (where Snape goes to Camelot)

I hope it's okay, and I welcome any constructive reviews as this is my first proper fanfiction!

Again, I do not own Harry Potter or Merlin (much to my dismay)

Severus Snape put down his pen and clasped his hands in front of him. He'd already finished the Defence Against The Dark Arts paper and checked it 4 times, with 20 minutes to spare. He looked around the room, where quills were still scribbling away.

It was his last O.W.L and he had to say that he was rather proud with his performance. He'd been able to list every use of aconite and he had no trouble perfecting the Duro incantation in his Transfiguration practical. To be honest, he found it rather easy. He always did.

Severus gently stroked the feather of his quill, turning things over in his mind. As usual, after a few solemn thoughts he found his mind drifting towards Lily. He lifted his eyes from the feather and looked around the room, so that he could find her again. She was sat a few rows in front of him and to the left, due to her surname coming before his alphabetically. Her red hair fell down her back and shimmered in the light as she moved her head, scribbling on the page in front of her.

Snape watched her carefully for the remainder of the exam time. Once the gong had rung and the students rose, he walked slowly behind her, still watching, only parting from her when she turned to go to the girl's lavatory. Sighing, he made the decision to take a walk in the grounds.

Walking for a short while, he eventually settled under a tall beech tree nearby the water, musing. He knew that he had to attend a meeting with Professor Slughorn after lunch to discuss his future career plans, but if he was honest, he did not know himself which path he would take. He had always excelled in most school subjects so that narrowed it down.

"It is hard to know where to turn when there are so many factors pulling one towards them," Snape remembered his mother telling him as a child. She couldn't have described his situation any better: as a Slytherin he knew he should feel certain things but he wasn't sure of his feelings at all.

One thing he did know, however, was that he hated James Potter. And on that sunny morning at Hogwarts while he sat quietly, his nemesis was all too close for Severus' liking. James was approaching the tree with a few of his raucous friends but had not yet spotted Snape, hunched over in a crook in the trunk. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for Sirius Black.

"Hey look!" Sirius exclaimed, pointing towards where he had seen the shadowy boy, "It's Snivellus!" James followed his finger and swaggered around the tree until he was right in front of Snape.

"So it is!" he smiled, "And how are you, Snivellus? Find the exam all right?" Snape knew from James' mocking tone that he wasn't in for a pleasant conversation. He hastily got up and attempted to walk away, but James' next remark stopped him in his tracks.

"I saw you staring at Lily Potter earlier. You fancy her, don't you?"

Snape turned around. "No I don't," he said defiantly, but he knew all too well that his face didn't tell the same story. The boys around him had already erupted into cackles and he knew there was no way out. The only thing he could do was attempt to seem indifferent.

"So what if I do?" Snape said with what he thought was a confident tone. Unfortunately he could tell that it wasn't as bold as he had hoped.

"You have no right lusting over her," Sirius Black said to him, while James glared, "She's a Gryffindor and you're just a Slytherin. You don't have the right to fancy her."

"Your whole family was in Slytherin!" Snape retorted, red in the face from the insolence he was presented with, "Too bad you're not as noble as them, eh?"

Snape knew from the faces surrounding him that any potential trouble he was going to receive had just been doubled. James, ever the 'loyal Gryffindor' as he liked to be presented, took a step forwards towards Snape.

"I won't have you insulting my friends, Snivellus. And I can't have you mooning over Lily either. I'm going to teach you and your Slytherin ideals a lesson." James lunged forwards towards Snape and was just putting his hand in his pocket for his wand when there was a voice from behind him.

"GET OFF HIM, JAMES!"

It was Lily. Snape looked over at her in delight as she grabbed James' arm and pulled him back.

"What have I said, James?" she said angrily, "I won't have you being such a bully! Anyone would think you're a child!"

It was surprising how quickly the group backed down at her arrival. However, as grateful as Snape was for her sudden interjection, he knew that the fact that a girl had just saved his neck was going to bring him even more trouble.

"Are you all right, Severus?" she asked, touching his arm gently and sending warm bursts of feeling up and down it. It was all Snape could do not to clutch her up into an embrace, but he had to find some way of repairing the damage done.

He didn't know why he said it; maybe it was the heat of the moment or a sense of foreshadowing dread about the response to his rescue, but all Snape was aware of was him brushing Lily's hand off his arm, turning towards her and speaking the unforgivable words, ones he would regret for the rest of his life.

"Mudblood"