It was getting closer and closer to Christmas, and it was getting harder to push away the problem of where Severus was going to stay. He had no home, no money, no caring relatives who would take him in; he was alone. Even though Christmas had never really been much of a celebration for him anyway, his family too poor to afford any presents, it was still upsetting to know that there wouldn't be that usual Yule time feeling that he would share with his mother.
He would have asked Lily if he could stay at her house, but he didn't want to impose, and Sirius was out of the question; he was in enough trouble of his own without him ruining his home life any further.
Luckily, professor Slughorn had invited all of his members, new and old, to a Christmas party, one that he held every year, or so he'd been told. He was supposed to take someone, and he couldn't decide who… until Lily had the best idea and asked him if he could come with her. Why didn't he think of that? It wasn't like they weren't allowed to, so there was nothing from stopping them.
Of course, Sirius was a bit 'bummed out' as he put it, but he understood, and Remus was excited for them, searching through his things to find the best clothes he had for Severus, as they were the closest in size.
When the night came, it was Snape that was the last one down, his clothes needing a bit more adjusting than he'd thought, so it was Lily's turn to complain.
"We're going to be late!" she looked at her watch. "Scratch that, we are late!" Grabbing his hand, she ran out the door, pulling him down the corridors and staircases as the others shouted their goodbyes after them.
"I'm sorry! Remus' clothes were a bit longer than we thought!"
She grunted. "That's no excuse! You should have found that out last week!" Severus heard her mutter something about boys, but then refused to speak as they rounded the corner to the party.
Pausing for a moment to catch their breath, they walked up to the open door and entered the busy room.
The usually bare walls were covered in drapes and photos of presumably previous parties and meetings, the bright reds, blues, yellows and greens drawing the eye to several different areas of the room; the table covered in food, the drinks cabinet with its doors wide open, inviting you to take a glass of the amber liquid waiting it the glasses, the small balcony (which they hadn't even realised existed) and several different seating areas.
"Ah! There you are!" Slughorn dropped the conversation he had been holding with an unknown individual and walked over to them, his grin almost covering his face. "Welcome to the Slug Club Christmas Party!" he looked at each of them, then looked around the room. "Where are your plus ones?"
Severus shifted onto one foot. "Well, sir… we are the plus ones."
He looked blankly at them.
"You see sir…" Lily said, equally as nervous, "you said we had to bring someone with us, but you didn't say it had to be someone outside the club… sir."
He blinked. "Well, that was very smart thinking! It's not been done before, but there's a first time for everything, isn't there. Enjoy the evening! Make sure you talk to some of the old students. I'm sure they'll love you!" And with that he retreated back to the conversation he was having before, leaving them to mingle at their own risk.
They found Dahlia talking with a boy who looked to be her age, probably her plus one, next to a picture that was showing her, Lucius, Ambrosius and several other people in it, pointing at it every so often and laughing. Barnabas was stood with a young lady on the balcony, looking up at the stars in silence, while Ambrosius and Lucius were busy talking with each other, though neither of them seemed too happy about their subject, whatever it was.
There were several other groups in the room, though only four others looked to be of schooling age. However, neither Lily nor Severus wanted to leave the other's side, the fact that they were the youngest and the most vulnerable in the room never too far from their minds, especially when they made their first encounter.
"Good evening my young friends."
They spun around from their viewing of an old photo, a tall, dark haired man standing before them, grinning in a wicked way.
"Er, good evening." Severus said, unsure how to answer the strange man.
"I've been told that you two are the newest members of Horace's club."
"Yes… um…"
"Oh how rude of me, allow me to introduce myself…" He held out his left hand, the right currently occupied by what looked like a package of some sort, "the name's Lestrange. Or at least that's what everyone calls me anyway."
Lily took it. "Lily Evans, and this is Severus Snape."
"Pleasure." He said, withdrawing his hand, unconsciously wiping it on his robe.
Snape frowned slightly, certain he had seen something on his arm as the sleeve was drawn back, but he quickly masked it with a question. "Lestrange. Is that a surname?"
The man tilted his head slightly. "It is."
"Does it come with a first?"
The man laughed. "I like you kid. So not only do you have talents in potions and the Dark Arts, but you have a wit to match!"
"So it would seem." He muttered quietly to himself, making sure he didn't move his lips. There was something about this man that didn't sit well with him.
"I have a… proposition for the both of you." He said, putting his packages down on the floor. "I'm part of this other… club. It's very fun to be in. We get to cast whatever spells we want, on whoever we want, whenever we want to!" He started to unconsciously run his forefinger along the mark under his sleeve. "I know you're a bit young at the moment, but I thought I'd ask early."
"I'm pretty sure that things like that are illegal."
"Oh?" Lestrange drew his wand, pointing it at them, Severus moving instinctively in front of Lily.
Before anything else could be said, there came a shout from across the room.
"Lestrange!" Slughorn was striding towards then, face turning red. "Put that away and get out! How dare you point a wand at my students!"
The entire room was enveloped in silence, the only things that could be heard was the music from the gramophone and the stead tap of the strange man's footsteps as he headed down the hallway.
"All right people, this is supposed to be a party!" Almost immediately, people started talking again, but it definitely wasn't about the weather. "I'm sorry about him. I don't even know why I invited him." Slughorn said to them, leaning over slightly. "Well, there's one thing I know, he's never coming back, that's for sure!" With that, he left them to talk in peace.
At one point, they were out on the balcony, looking up at the sky.
"I don't think the stars are ever this bright back home." Lily said, smiling up at them.
"No."
"I can't wait to go back! I'll be able to show them so many things! Not magic of course, but I have so much to tell them!"
"Yeah… you do…" Severus let his head fall.
She looked at him. "What's…" she realised what she said. "Oh Sev, I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have…"
"It's all right."
They stood there for a few more minutes, gazing at the constellations high above them.
"Do you have anywhere to go?"
He shook his head. "I was going to stay here… I think you can do that…"
"No! You're coming back to my house, and that's final!"
He stared at her. "But…!"
"Final."
"You don't…"
"Final."
"And your…"
"Sev! I said it was final! I will not have you alone in this massive castle on Christmas!" her face was stern, and Snape knew there wouldn't be any way to change her mind. As he sighed his defeat her expression brightened dramatically. "It'll be fun! Like a really long sleep over!"
He smiled back. He had to admit, it did sound nice.
AN - I liked writing this chapter, though I can't really say why...
Yet again, I've only added characters that already exist. For those who don't know, or couldn't guess, Lestrange was one of the first death eaters and was in the Slug Club at the same time as Voldemort (or Tom Riddle as he was known back then). Three guesses what he was offering...
Thanks to those who have told me what animal they want Sev to be when he's an animagus (and he will be one now that I know how much you want him to be).
So far the suggestions are; Wolf, Fox, Lion, Snake
Please keep the suggestions coming, or say which one you think is the best.
Will update soon (and I still have no idea how I'm able to do this each day)! I hope you enjoyed my latest instalment!
