Snape. Snape. Severus Snape.
Harry hitched his bag over his shoulder. He knew where to find Hermione. He figured he would find Remus there as well and, keeping in mind what was said about his mother, Lily would most likely be lurking about somewhere.
The Gryffindor was focused. He was driven. He was a young man on a mission.
Standing at the library door, Harry couldn't remember the last time he voluntarily revised. He frowned in thought. Probably never. His brow smoothed and he gave himself a mental shake. Still, the prize of a new broom, his own broom - even if it wasn't going to be a Firebolt - was just too enticing. He had to do well, he simply had to.
He spotted Hermione rather quickly; he knew that bushy hair anywhere. As he predicted, Remus was with her. The two brunettes had their heads down, quills in a flurry as they made notes with books scattered on the table. Harry made his way over to their table. "Hey." Harry slid his book bag on the floor beside the empty chair.
Remus looked up from his notes and grinned before continuing to make notations. Hermione looked at him and blinked owlishly. "Harry?"
His sister sounded so confused at seeing him there, as if not trusting her own eyes, Harry couldn't resist and raised an eyebrow. "Hermione?"
"Harry, what are you doing here?"
"Well, we have exams coming, Hermione. It happens at the end of every term…"
"But Harry, you never revise unless I force you."
"That's not true, I've revised before…" Harry grinned when Hermione rolled her eyes. "You heard the woman; if I pass I get a new broom. A new broom, Hermione. Quidditch. I have to pass my classes or Aunt Poppy won't buy me one!" Harry rolled his eyes and slid into the seat when Hermione huffed .
It wasn't until his bottom made contact with the seat that Harry noted the other two at the table staring blankly at him. The boy deemed to smirk at Harry before returning to his book and Harry grinned back. The other was none other than Lily Evans; his grin slipped a notch. Harry hadn't talked to the red head yet. He had actually been avoiding her. The boy wasn't sure he was ready for the confrontation. Dealing with his privileged father was already a challenge.
"Erm, hi," Harry muttered. Lily's eyes narrowed defensively, as if daring Harry to say something rude. Harry scratched his head in confusion, wondering why she appeared so challenging. Instead of asking what her issue was, Harry just raised an eyebrow at her. She didn't deem to greet him back so he opted to ignore her. "Okay…" Harry leaned forward in his seat peering at the boy directly in front of him, "What are you studying, Snape?"
Severus looked up from his book again and raised it momentarily so Harry could read the title. Harry scoffed and smirked, "Potions? Really? Honestly, Snape, no one in this school knows potions like you do. You're better at it than old Slughorn. If anyone needs to study potions, it's me. I can't keep up with you as it is."
Harry was searching in his bag so he missed the reactions around the table. Severus raised an eyebrow, Lily gaped, Hermione ignored him - she knew the truth in Harry's statement - and Remus was gobsmacked.
Before Harry could focus on what he needed to, Lily asked in her haughty voice, "I heard you're from America."
Harry looked over at the girl and raised an eyebrow, "And that's important to you because...?"
She crossed her arms over her book, glaring at him, "Well, which part of Massachusetts are you from? Which school?"
"Oh, were you thinking of moving there?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow, refusing to answer the rude questions.
"Of course not."
"Then why do you care? It's not like we're friends, Evans."
She huffed, "I just want to know."
"Haven't you heard that curiosity killed the cat?"
Lily sent him another glare, but he shrugged and looked down to look for a book in his bag. He finally found what he was searching for, flipped open his charms textbook and laid it out on the table. Harry nervously tapped his wand on his leg while he read. Hermione was right: Harry rarely revised without being forced to, but he remembered Professor Lupin's words of encouragement in reference to charms and how much it would help him in Defense Against the Dark Arts. So many of the spells he needed were influenced with charm spells, but right now Harry focused on the cheering charm because he was almost positive it would be on the test. Hermione even said Professor Flitwick mentioned that...
Harry groaned, she mentioned that in their timeline not this one. Well, maybe Flitwick would test them on it in this timeline, too? He hadn't noticed he actually made a sound and the others at the table frowned at him. He continued to tap his wand on his knee and read over the cheering charm for what felt like the fiftieth time, grumbling under his breath quietly and reading to himself.
Suddenly there was a snort from Severus. He lowered his book and gave an odd stare at the others at the table. Everyone was reading so he picked up his book again.
Lily giggled and smiled, a soft sigh of contentment escaped her and she clasped her hand over her mouth. Severus' head whipped around at her giggle. The two stared at each other with wide eyes and began laughing softly.
Severus appeared to be in a fabulous mood. He smiled. A real smile, not a smirk or a sneer; no this was a wide, heartfelt grin that lit up the boy's face. Harry kept his head down, but watched past the fringe of hair that curtained his view. His lip twitched and he fought back his amusement.
Hermione stared at the two and nudged Remus. "That's rather, erm, interesting."
"Snape?" Remus leaned forward and Severus simply grinned at him.
"Yup. That's my name. Snape. Snape. Severus Snape.*" He chuckled at his own ingenuity at singing his name so craftily.
Lily giggled merrily before she sang in a high pitched voice, "Dumbledore!"
Everyone looked at her as if she was crazy before Harry finally looked at Severus with the sing song voice and smiled at the boy. "Well, nice to see you're in a good mood. Maybe you can tutor me in potions so I don't fail miserably."
Severus shook his hair out of his sparkling obsidian eyes and laughed. "I'm in too good of a mood to revise." He closed his books with a thump and dropped all of his belongings into his bag. "It's a lovely day. I'm out of here!"
The boy practically skipped out of the room, his voice rang out in song in the hallway with a laughing Lily following close behind him. The three remaining students simply looked and did their best to stifle their own amusment. Hermione looked accusingly at Remus who held up his empty hands and shook his head in denial. "Harry, what did you do?"
Harry blinked and grinned sheepishly, "I think I may have overdosed them with cheering charms."
The end feast was as delicious as always. Some of Harry's favorite foods were served along with his most favorite treat of all time: treacle tart.
Decorations this year were interesting. Harry and Hermione had never seen Hufflepuff win a House cup before. Their first two years were both won by their own House, Gryffindor, and they went back in time before they could see who won their third year. In their time, Ravenclaw was in the lead, but the quidditch cup game was still ahead and Harry was sure Gryffindor would lose without him as a seeker, seeing how they had no back up.
Hermione was looking at the banners overhead, "I wonder when… oh well, that's silly. We started in 1991 and broke their streak so it must have started in 1984."
"What are you going on about?" Harry's brow was furrowed as he tried to make sense of her ramblings.
"Slytherin had a seven year streak of winning the cup before our first year and I…"
"We aren't there anymore, Hermione. No point in thinking on it and, if I'm guessing right, we won't be going back anytime soon." Harry stole a glance at Dumbledore.
"What?!"
"Shhh… we'll talk about it later."
"Well, at least we won the quidditch cup."
Harry leaned closer to his sister and whispered, "barely."
Hermione snorted and quieted him.
Tomorrow started the summer break. The students would make their way to Hogsmeade station to take a train to London, with the exception of these two. Hermione and Harry would remain at Hogwarts for at least another couple of weeks.
Harry's leg bobbed nervously as he ignored all talk from Dumbledore. His mind was already in the Chamber and their enormous task ahead, but tonight was a night for a feast. The pair applauded politely when the House Cup was awarded and Harry cheered a little louder when their house was awarded the Quidditch Cup.
Hermione was suddenly quiet and reflective by the time the end announcements were made. She laid her head against Harry's shoulder, "We're really here, Harry. We're not going home."
Their last night of the year and the dorm room for third year Gryffindor boys rang out with laughter. Word of Severus' singing in the halls had spread faster than fiendfyre. The boy was more than just embarrassed, he was furious. Naturally he blamed Remus and the Marauders. Much to Harry's surprise, no one suspected him, not even his dorm mates. Remus had simply kept his opinion of who was to blame to himself.
"I can't believe it. You did that?" James was holding his sides as he doubled over. Peter had long fallen on the floor with his own laughter, right along with Sirius.
Harry shrugged, "I didn't mean to, but yes…"
He looked to Remus for support but the taller boy simply leaned against his bedpost with a big grin. "I told you guys that Harry would fit in just fine."
James wiped the tears from his eyes, trying to catch his breath. He failed to reel in his mirth, but Sirius finally managed to sit up and disentangle his limbs from Peter, "Yeah, but he doesn't hate Snivellus."
"Is that really a prerequisite?" Remus frowned at Sirius. "You know I don't hate the boy. Are you saying I'm no longer a Marauder?"
"No, that's not it, don't you see?" Sirius smacked Peter on the shoulder trying to help the lad calm down.
Peter waved him off, tears of laughter still running down his round cheeks. "He pranked, Snape," Peter was lost to another bout of laughter, "by accident!"
Sirius pointed at Peter, "And that my friends, is the beauty and simplicity of that prank."
* A/N - AJ Freas: I had to add that... I HAD to. If anyone hasn't seen it yet, look on youtube for the 'Mysterious Ticking Noise'. Then you'll understand ...
