Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. All rights belong to J.K. Rowling.
Lily did a double take after climbing down the stairs to go to the Great Hall. She swore she saw Severus holding a bouquet of flowers, but that couldn't be true. Severus didn't tell her about a crush he had. Lily was very curious, and it was evident on her face as she sat down to eat. James raised an eyebrow at her expression and asked, "What's on your mind, Evans?"
Lily shook her head. "Oh, nothing," she began, but then realized who she was talking to. "Not that it's any of your business," she spat out. It became a sort of game, she supposed, the thing between her and James. They weren't dating, absolutely not, but there was definitely something... Lily was snapped out of her thoughts as her attention went to Severus, who no longer had the flowers in his hand. She saw him sit down next to new - well, relatively new - student.
The new student in question looked at Snape skeptically. Snape darted his eyes back and forth and asked, "What is it, Reeves?"
"Where were you?"
"Um..." Snape started rubbing his neck and avoided his friend's gaze.
"Out with it, Snape," Albus gritted out. Snape responded by taking out a shrunken bouquet from his pocket. Albus looked at the flowers then at Snape, and he sighed. "Please tell me these are not for Evans."
"Ok, I won't tell you, then," Snape said and started piling pasta onto his plate. "I seriously don't understand the big deal. I can handle Potter and his goons."
Regulus, who was quiet for the previous exchange, raised his eyes from his book to look at Snape sternly. "You can't handle Potter, in general. What's going to happen when you go after the girl he likes? No, the girl he's infatuated with?" Regulus asserted, and Albus nodded in agreement.
Snape sneered at the two. "Why can't you two support me on this?"
Albus rolled his eyes. "If it was any other girl, we would," he said.
Regulus added, "As long as they aren't a Hufflepuff." At that, the three broke out of their angry expressions to laugh. Albus cleared his throats and iterated, "In all seriousness, I think the flowers is a bad idea."
Snape looked at the small bouquet and then at Lily, who was now chatting pretty avidly with Lupin. Potter watched them with glee, his future girlfriend interacting with his friends. Snape gritted his teeth, but nodded. "I like Lily, but not so much to fight against him. It's not worth my time."
Albus smiled. "Good. Now can we just go back to the fact that Slughorn assigned us two roles of parchment on the uses of Elixir to Induce Euphoria. That's so broad, for Merlin's sake..."
"Black, where are you headed to?" Albus asked as he watched his friend pack up his things for the Easter hols.
Regulus rolled his eyes and replied, "To spend time with my parents in France. I mean, we're only going back for the weekend, but of course, we have to go see my distant relatives since they had complications during Winter."
The rest of the third years weren't in their room or had already packed their things and were headed towards Hogsmeade Station. Albus laid on Regulus's bed, absentmindedly twirling a quill in his hands while his friend cursed as he packed his books. Albus laughed and asked, "You actually expect to do homework in the two days you may be busy with your family?" Regulus glared at him, but said nothing. Just then, Severus walked into the third year dormitory after hearing his friends' voices. "Snape! Please tell Black over here that taking all of his textbooks for a weekend is stupid."
"I don't see any issue with it," Snape replied quietly.
Albus rolled his eyes and muttered, "Nerds." Snape went to sit down on the bed next to Regulus's, and Albus looked at him through his peripheral vision. Snape was moping, and Albus felt a slight pang of regret for squashing Snape's hopes for a relationship with Lily. "Snape, are you okay?" Snape nodded slowly. "I mean, I know you're upset about Lily, but there has to be someone or something else that you like, right?" Regulus gave Albus a look of 'cut-it-out,' but Albus had a mission.
"I like potions, I guess..."
Albus chuckled and said, "Of course you do. But, it doesn't really preoccupy your time." Snape didn't say anything, and Albus fold his hands on his lap. After packing his clothes, Regulus shut his trunk and headed out of the dorm. Snape and Albus followed him to the entrance hall and said their goodbyes. Then, there was just silence. Albus was shifting his feet back and forth out of awkwardness. He glanced at Snape, who had his eyes focused on his shoes. Albus sighed and said, "Hey, let's go to the library. Maybe, catch up on some school work." Again, Snape said anything, but nodded at least.
The two boys found a small table near the Restricted Section and began on their assignments. After the three hour mark, Albus was tired of writing his Charms essay and got up to stretch. He went into the shelves to read the title of random books. Most of them were cooking books, various charms to keep food warm or cool. He went to a different shelf, and it was a section on different creatures and animals in the wizarding world. But, Albus stopped in front of a rather thick book with the title "The Art of Transformation." Slightly curious about the vague title, Albus pulled the heavy book out of the shelf and flipped to the middle of the page. What he read was confusing, paragraphs of meditation and such, so he flipped back to the beginning. He scanned through the page and then his eyes widened at a word on the page, animagi. Grabbing the book, he went back to his and Snape's table.
"Severus, look what I found. It's a book on how to become an animagus," Albus said excitedly.
Snape furrowed his brows and glanced at the book on the table. He gingerly brought the book over to his said and opened it. After flipping through some pages, Severus sighed. "Interesting, but it has nothing to do with schoolwork."
Albus rolled his eyes and said, "I've always wanted to be an animagus."
"Well, you can't at your age. Ministry law mandates you be at least seventeen and that you register beforehand as an animagus." Albus frowned even though he knew this law. He remembered his mother talking about how hard his father and Uncle Ron tried to become an animagus, but they were too impatient. Then, his brother told him the basics, and he was intrigued to see what kind of animal he would transform into. Looking back at Snape, he scowled when he saw the boy doing his homework. He kept looking at the other boy until he got an idea. A stupid idea. A stupid, illegal idea.