10 20th Century Girl

"Hi, Sev!"

He had to close his eyes and blink a couple of times before he dared to take another glance at Lestrange. Dear Merlin! In her very own way she was dressed just as offending and eccentric as Dumbledore, only that she wasn't wearing robes. No, this was probably the latest Muggle fashion.

Raven was wearing some purple cord bell-bottoms, an orange t-shirt with a green peace symbol and a jacket made of a glittering black fabric. Smiling brightly at him, she gave him a bear hug in which she almost lost her absurdly green, star-shaped sunglasses. With a casual laugh she took them off and put them in the front pocket of her jacket, and yet one of the two ridiculously plastic stars was still staring at him.

"So good to see you," she said, slightly breathless. "I missed you. How was your summer?"

"Agreeable," Severus replied, and that wasn't even a lie. After that strange encounter with his father the night of Lucius' wedding, the shouting at Spinner's End had subsided and been replaced by a period of icy cold silence between his parents that lasted for one and a half weeks, in which he had hoped they would finally file a petition for divorce. But then they had 'made up' quite noisily, and all was back to usual again- only that they had been too busy with themselves to care about what Severus was doing. That was alright with him. He had been able to spend precious moments with Lily without having to tell his parents where he was going, and he'd had time to do some research on a topic that interested him a lot.

He also realized that strangely, very, very strangely, he'd missed her, too. Somewhat, at least.

"Did you get my letter with the pictures?" Raven inquired when they were taking their seats in an empty compartment of the Hogwarts Express.

In the meantime, they had said goodbye to their parents, or- to be more precise- she had said goodbye to her parents, since his mother never bothered to see him off at King's Cross station. Apparently, it suited her quite well that Lily's family would always take him to London in their car.

"Yeah," Severus recalled some pictures showing a Muggle music group on stage, along with a photograph of Lestrange next to a curly haired Muggle guy.

She started talking then, telling him once again what she had already written in her letter, about that 'gig' she'd been to. Her father had given her a ride in his car, all the way to Hastings, where she had seen the band she favoured, playing live on stage.

Severus wasn't really keen on hearing about a Muggle band called T. Rex, and he couldn't have cared less about Marc Bolan singing about a Metal Guru or any other nonsense, but her vividly sparkling eyes held him captured nonetheless.

The compartment door opened and Mulciber, Avery and the little Black, Regulus, stepped in. And while Severus felt almost ennobled by their presence, Raven fell silent.

Now that's strange, Raven wondered as she watched Severus interact with his house mates, when did they become so chummy? He had told her about the wedding, but perhaps she should have listened more closely. Was that new-found camaraderie Lucius' doing, just like his wonderful idea of Severus helping them with their homework?

In previous years, they had always travelled to Hogwarts as a trio, always just Severus, Lily and Raven, and most of the time no one else had entered their compartment. Well, certainly no fellow Slytherin. It was only then that Raven noticed Lily's absence. So far, she hadn't missed the other girl; she had been too excited to finally see Sev again. The summer was always much too long for her liking... that still left the question where Lily was. Had she chosen to ride with her giggling Gryffindor girls?

Probably that was why Mulciber and co were here- they wouldn't have entered if a Mudblood sat in the compartment.

Raven didn't like Mulciber. In first and second years she'd even been scared of him, but she didn't fear him anymore. He was an idiot. A very pure-blooded idiot. Nevertheless, Raven listened what they were talking about, all the while remaining a silent observer.

It was around lunch time when the compartment door opened and Lily stuck her head in. A gleaming Prefect badge was attached to her robes.

"Hello Raven, hello Sev!" She said cheerfully.

"Shut the door, Mudblood!" Mulciber barked, then he turned to Avery. "Can you believe they actually let filthy little scum like her become Prefect? Hogwarts is really on a downward drift, thanks to that Muggle-loving fool Dumbledore."

"You know, Mulciber, I can actually take points from Slytherin for derogative slander," Lily said pointedly, her pretty face slightly blushed with anger. She glanced at Severus in disapproval because he didn't hasten to her rescue. Instead, he just chuckled.

Lily slammed shut the door, feeling hurt.

Raven frowned at another of their misunderstandings that have been gathering like dark storm clouds. She knew Severus had chuckled because Lily could stand her ground and give a witty reply, whereas Lily would have preferred him to stand up and defend her honour.

It wasn't that easy, though. You just don't ask a fellow Slytherin politely to please not say such nasty words, and still hope to sleep well at night- even if Severus had probably warded his bed like a fortress. Nevertheless, it was always better to be safe than sorry.

After all, Severus was just a lowly half-blood among his Slytherin peers, and although they seemed to have accepted him within their ranks now, that didn't mean he had become particularly popular over the holidays. The likes of Mulciber and Avery tolerated him because the Dark Lord had shown interest in him; they appreciated the jinxes and spells he created- at the end of last term, hardly a day had gone by in Slytherin common room without people stumbling over their rapidly growing toenails, or they had their tongue glued to the roof of their mouth, all of a sudden. It was hilarious.

It was also kind of sad, since the toenail-growing hex or Langlock were so much more popular than the person who created them. Also, as much as the Slytherins loved to use his spells for their own amusement, they seemed to be utterly clueless about magic in general when it came to defending a fellow house mate against the Marauders, Potter's gang of bullying Gryffindors. Then, Severus would always be on his own, standing his ground in their favourite game of four on one.

The teachers kept turning a blind eye to the Marauders' doings and called them pranksters. They gave detentions, although Potter and Black's constant disobedience to school rules- they even seemed to celebrate rule-breaking and made it their law- would have called for more drastic measures. Severus was of the opinion they should be expelled.

But life wasn't fair.

Headmaster Dumbledore announced cheerfully that Remus Lupin was the other Gryffindor Prefect next to Lily Evans. And while all the other houses applauded politely, the Slytherins around Mulciber groaned.

"Merlin's hairy bollocks!" Avery exclaimed. "That's as good as a Carte Blanche for bloody Potter and his Gryffindor buddies- just imagine, Lupin can take points from Slytherin whenever we hex back. We can so forget about the House Cup this year!"

"I'd worry more about Lupin himself, if I were you," Severus said. "Don't you think there's something weird about him?"

"Yeah, he's a Gryffindor," Mulciber said mockingly, and Avery laughed. "By the way, does anyone know his blood status?"

Raven rolled her eyes. "You're much too fixed on blood."

"Lestrange, you've got to learn to keep your gob shut 'till you're asked. There's something fishy about your parentage..."

"Yeah, I'm not the sorry by-product of inbred debility. Congrats, you figured me out," she replied nonchalantly while Severus was still trying to make his point.

"But isn't it weird he misses so often? And strangely, always when the moon is full."

"His mummy is ill," Mulciber replied but apparently the hint about the full moon didn't ring a bell with him since he changed the topic by asking Regulus if he would be in the tryouts for the Slytherin Quidditch team this year. "You know, you'd make a terrific Seeker and Merlin knows we're in desperate need of one..."

And then it was all about Quidditch and broomsticks again, Severus realized with frustration. Those morons paid no attention ever! They were witless, clueless dunderheads, totally incapable of using their brains! But he noticed that Lestrange was glancing at him with furrowed brows- or rather, she seemed to look straight through him, lost in thoughts- and yet there was some sort of dawning in her eyes, as if she seemed to understand what he was about. She was a clever witch. Of course, she did pay attention in class. She also did her homework (punctually), and she usually wrote quite well-researched essays. She could put two and two together, but she didn't jump to a conclusion now- although she usually was quite a fierce little witch. On the other hand, she never brandished her wand without a reason either. (That, however, didn't mean she couldn't stand her ground!)

Knowing her, she would check her books first and read all about full-moon-influenced 'maladies', and then she would just have to agree that his suspicion was probably right.

And so it happened that many weeks passed before the topic came to Lupin and the full moon again.

Academic life started at Hogwarts, and just like every year, they had a new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher. Just like all the years before, Severus hoped he or she wouldn't be as much an imbecile as the last. Most of the years, however, he was sorely disappointed.

There were rumours that the position was cursed, and he believed this instantly since only a really bad curse could explain the growing amount of incompetence he had to endure in class. Some days he believed it wouldn't make a difference if he taught the subject instead of that moron in front of the class- it couldn't get worse anyway. At least he'd be able to take points from Potter and Black then, instead of having to witness just another so-called professor fawning over them, praising their brilliance, when all they ever did was parroting the parole that the Dark Arts were evil, without having the slightest clue about the Dark Arts at all.

Severus often wondered what it was that made the difference in the end. Take the Marauders and their pranks that actually landed more students in the infirmary than any real dark curse. If only Lily saw things his way! Of course, she agreed with him that Potter was an arrogant toerag, but in the same breath she complained about his Slytherin friends- although she had encouraged him to make friends within his own house. He really had no clue what he was doing wrong

They seemed to argue more often than before, and the periods in which she choose not to speak to him for whatever reason became more frequent.

Raven tried to mediate between her friends but mostly it was to no avail. Lily could be very stubborn once she had set her mind on something, especially when she believed she was doing the right thing, had the right ideas. Sometimes it occurred to Raven that Lily Evans was the self-proclaimed moral compass of Hogwarts, and yet she held her double standards high.

Nevertheless, it saddened her that their friendship was slowly dissolving into thin air due to Lily's self-righteousness. And most of all it hurt her that the more Lily was pushing Severus away, the more he seemed to raise her on a pedestal. It was almost funny but no one laughed about it.

When did it start, she wondered? Was it actually a house thing? The Gryffindors were always right and the Slytherins were always wrong because they were evil. After all, history proved that Slytherin house had produced more Dark wizards and witches than any other house. And when Raven tried to argue that Gryffindors weren't holy either, Lily accused her of siding with Severus.

Did they really speak a completely different language? Sometimes, Raven felt like a sociolinguist while trying to figure out when what had gone wrong by analysing what had been said and pondering how words could develop such a contrary meaning. Like a bomb or a meteor or whatever had dropped on a planet, breaking it, and now the two parts were drifting apart, but occasionally they collided only to realize they spoke different languages. To Raven, it still sounded like English. Perhaps an etymologist might be able to gather knowledge about how words were used at earlier stages, but Raven had no idea how she could solve that problem.

Then there were moments when everything was perfectly all right between the three friends. They went to Hogsmeade together and Lily was cheerful all day. Of course, they also studied together in the library. That was a habit Lily wouldn't give up even if she was otherwise not on speaking terms with Severus. It just suited her so well because Severus was an excellent study partner, and she benefited from his vast magical knowledge. The pressure to do well in class was increasing this year, since the fifth years would be sitting their OWLs at the end of term. Everyone knew that the outcome of this test was very important and mightily influential to your future career in the wizarding world. It set the course for life, because only with passing grades- preferably Exceeding Expectation or Outstanding- you could take the NEWT classes you needed to get the job you liked.

Lily spoke about becoming a healer, while Raven still wanted to become a photographer for the Melody Maker, and Severus... well, mostly he kept quiet about his future plans. They involved the Dark Lord and Lily wouldn't want to hear that. On the other hand, he dreamed about a career in potions research.

What bugged Lily the most was Severus' knowledge of the Dark Arts. To her, the Dark Arts were evil in general, but Raven begged to differ. She thought it to be mightily useful to know about the Dark Arts, especially when it came to fighting them- you've got to know your enemy - just like it was always of great advantage to know the quirks of every Marauder in order to avoid getting hexed into the infirmary. But, she supposed, Lily wouldn't want to hear about their funny pranks now, so she came up with another example.

"It's like... you can't say you don't like artichokes if you never tried them."

"But artichokes don't endanger your soul!" Lily exclaimed. "The Dark Arts, however, are evil."

"History proves that many curses that are now classified as Dark Arts were not some centuries ago," Raven argued, still the history geek although Professor Binns tried his best to lull his students into the realm of ghosts with his dreary voice, and at the same time she envisioned an evil artichoke attacking Lily. She always was so bloody self-righteous! "It's all a matter of what the respectively current members of the Wizengamot consider Ministry approved..."

"Now, isn't that typical? You always side with him!" Lily snapped, sounding accusingly as she packed her books and stood.

"I happen to share Severus' opinion to some extent, but that doesn't mean I'm siding with him," Raven gave to consider, but Lily left before Madam Pince could reprimand them for breaking her number one law, and that was to remain silent in the library. No talking, laughing, sneezing or whispering was allowed. Fortunately, Sev had cast a Silencing Charm the very moment they had entered the library some hours ago, so the librarian just threw a suspicious glance in their direction and busied herself with cataloguing her precious books again.

Raven rolled her eyes and hoped that Severus wouldn't blame her for making things even more complicated with Lily. She hated the idea he could be mad at her- an idea that Lily never had to fear and never cared about.

Fortunately, Severus wasn't mad at her. His relationship with Lily had been on a downward spiral for a couple of days already, and he actually appreciated that at least someone seemed to share his point of view... well, Mulciber and Avery did, but that was different.

On their way to the Great hall for dinner that day, Raven approached Severus again with a request she had already made in second year; he had rejected it, then. But their OWLs were getting closer and closer- alright, they wouldn't be until June and now it was late November, but still, there was going to be a practical part, and although she knew the theory of Potions, she still sucked terribly at brewing.

At least she had improved considerably in the practical part of her other classes ever since she had stopped pretending to be a Squib. She also had grown more accustomed to her wand- ebony and phoenix feather, a fickle combination, made for an eccentric witch. Well, in the eyes of the wizarding world and especially in those of her fellow Slytherins, she was indeed an eccentric witch, whereas Raven considered herself quite a normal 70's girl.

Upon entering the Great Hall, Severus immediately searched it for Lily and noticed she was giving him the cold shoulder once again, chatting deliberately cheerfully with her Gryffindor girls. Heaving a weary sigh, he turned to Raven and agreed to help her if she could come up with a place.

She beamed at him, having already arranged that. The lavatory on the second floor was still out of order and hunted by Myrtle, most certainly her ghostly friend wouldn't mind a little entertainment.

Needless to say that Myrtle's initial response to Raven's request was to start sulking and moaning, because Myrtle didn't like Raven to have living friends. Nevertheless, in the end she agreed- after all, there was only one thing she hated more than having to share a friend and that was the threat of being without a friend for the rest of her life... or death, or whatever ghosts call their existence. Besides, Myrtle liked Severus Snape because he was just as unhappy a person as she was. Although he wasn't moaning or wailing or haunting a lavatory.

"OK, let's start with something easy," said Severus curtly, addressing Raven and ignoring the ghost that lurked behind him, looking over his shoulder with a sad little sigh as she seemed to brush at his hair. It made him shiver, and yet he remained fixed on the task he was about to do, and that was to help Lestrange to brew a simple potion- he really didn't get why she always seemed to be a complete failure at that when she was otherwise quite a decent scholar and usually not all too clumsy. With a silky voice he asked, "I hope a Shrivelling Solution won't overtax your limits?"

She knew what ingredients she had to use: chopped daisy roots, skinned shrivelfig, sliced caterpillar, one rat spleen and a dash of leech juice. After all, it was a potion they had made in third year, and it really wasn't that complicated. And yet she had messed it up- it had turned purple instead of green and then the purple liquid had clod until an almost black, aubergine lump remained at the bottom of her cauldron.

Severus watched her sort out all the right ingredients and nodded approvingly at the neat way she chopped the daisy roots- she clearly was accurate at what she was doing, no fault in that. Also, she skinned the shrivelfig quite nicely before she hesitated and glanced at him, inquiringly.

"What?" He asked impatiently- he had hoped he could finish reading his book, A Beginners Guide To The Mind Arts, while supervising herand not be pestered with stupid question all the time.

"I... um... the caterpillar. If I understood it correctly it's the body fluid what's used in the potion- why do I have to slice it then? Wouldn't it be more effective if I just squashed it?"

All right, that wasn't such a stupid question. "Why don't you just do it?"

"'Cause the book says to slice it."

"Just forget what the book says, it's almost ancient and Potions is a subtle art that- although it keeps to strict rules- does allow improvements. Provided, of course, you know the properties of the ingredients you are about to use. I know you do. So use your brains now. Use your imagination and intuition, and just do it the way you think it should be done." We can try it on your owl later, he added in thoughts before focussing on his book again.

Meanwhile, Raven busied herself with the Shrivelling Potion. She squashed the caterpillar and added its body fluids, then she added exactly one rat spleen. Instead of stirring it clockwise all the time, she stirred it counter-clockwise once she dropped just a tiny dash of leech juice... surprisingly, it turned exactly the same shade of green it was supposed to. It was the first time a potion she brewed had turned out just as expected.

"Not bad," Severus commented on her progress, and hearing those words coming from the mouth of a Potions geek was simply terrific. Wonderful, ecstatic, extraordinary. Even Myrtle seemed to cheer for her. But then the ghost pulled a gloomy face when Raven threw her arms around Severus' neck and hugged him.

"Thank you!" She exclaimed happily. For the first time ever her brewing attempts had not ended in a complete disaster and that was only Severus' doing- although he hadn't done much. He'd just been sitting there, reading. And yet he had helped her more than Professor Slughorn, ever. "You're simply the best!"

At that, Myrtle started wailing loudly. "No one had ever hugged me and now I'm dead and cannot be hugged anymore and my best friend turned against me..." With a banshee-like howl she disappeared deep into the U-bent of her favourite toilet, the one whose cubicle door was dangling off its hinges.

Raven stared at Severus and realized how very close they were. She would have loved to kiss him now- his lips looked so inviting to her- but he wouldn't have approved of it (he didn't love her; he loved Lily) and besides, the general situation was everything but romantic. Hiccuping sobs followed Myrtle's disappearance deep down to the bowels of the lavatory, water was leaking from everywhere, and no polite word or friendly begging could make her reappear. No, it was definitely not a romantic moment, and so Raven took a cautious step backwards.

By the next time Raven and Severus misused her lavatory as a potions lab, Myrtle was too curious or too hungry for human contact to continue sulking. But she liked to remind them with a sudden wail or a soft moan that she was still pitying herself, fishing for attention.

Christmas break was approaching, and along with it came a chilly breeze that smelled of snow. Then, one morning, the Hogwarts students woke up to a world covered in white, dancing snowflakes in the air. The fireplaces in the common rooms roared alive to radiate some warmth, while outside the temperature dropped to freezing degrees.

Severus was looking forward to another peacefully boring holidays that he would spend reading a lot, although he had long finished reading all the books about the Mind Arts- Legilimency and Occlumency- that were available in the non-restricted section of the library. He hoped to find more about this very interesting topic- if only he could sneak into the restricted part- but just as much he hoped to find a willing victim on which he could practice what he had leaned only in theory so far.

Lily was not an option. Of course, he would have loved to know what was going on in her head and if, perhaps, she felt the same for him as he felt for her. But it just didn't seem right. It was almost as indecent as to make her love him by dropping a few drops of Amortentia in her pumpkin juice.

Not that he had never thought about that. As one of the best Potions students that Hogwarts had ever seen, he could actually do that and create a love potion, and just as well he knew that that wasn't what he wanted. Severus wanted the real thing; he wanted Lily to love him for what he was, and if that wasn't enough, he wanted her to love him for what he was about to become.

Mulciber or Avery weren't suitable candidates either, since somewhere deep in his heart he knew they weren't trustworthy, and he feared they might run to the Dark Lord, telling him what he was trying to learn. And as much as he admired the Dark Lord, Severus didn't want Him to know all about him... like being hopelessly in love with Lily Evans, a Mudblood...

So that left Raven Lestrange. She wouldn't mind him snooping through her mind, would she?

Unfortunately, she had left for Christmas break- just like she did every year- before he got a chance to try it. But he would practice on her once she returned.

Thanks to hypnotic ink and Alabaster Princess.