Second Choice

By Matthew W. Quinn

November 15, 1976

4 PM

Snape and Potter spent the next three days in the infirmary. Although he and Lily had healed Potter's wounds, the hooligan required several doses of blood-replenishing potion and a substantial helping of dittany to reduce the scarring to a bare minimum. Snape's broken bones were healed relatively quickly, but Madame Pomfrey wanted him kept for observation.

Then the hearings before the Headmaster and their Heads of Houses came. Although James had gotten twelve weeks' detention and a substantial point loss for Gryffindor — there was no way to plausibly blame Snape this time since Lily was willing to testify on his behalf — Snape did not escape unscathed. He ended up with three weeks' detention himself, a smaller but still large point loss from Slytherin, and had to give James a token payment for further treatment once the term ended.

Snape thought daggers at Headmaster Dumbledore. He's a Gryffindor himself — just couldn't let one of his favorite little Quidditch players get hurt without wreaking some vengeance. Although part of him reasoned that it was possible the punishment might have defused hotheads among the Gryffindors and made it less likely he'd be on the receiving end of vigilantism, he still resented the wizened wizard.

Luckily he still had enough to fix his teeth like he planned and squirrel away the remainder for a rainy day.

But the worst part of it all still rankled. Lily had chosen Potter! Potter!

At least Snape had two consolations. Firstly, Potter no longer had his infernal map — how Filch had gloated when he'd gotten hold of it at last — so the Marauders' ability to ambush him was greatly diminished. Secondly, he found himself quite unexpectedly dating Sarah Jewell.

And so Snape attended the Slytherin-Gryffindor Quidditch match with Sarah and for the first time in awhile, the other Slytherin weren't united in their disapproval of his persona life.

"Your Mudblood choose Potter over you?" Evan Rosier had snickered. "She's a bloody social climbing scullery wench, that one." Although Snape had wanted to deck the other boy, he kept his temper in check. You don't need any more detentions.

"At least she's Pureblood," Regulus Black had commented before he went off to join his teammates before the game. "You're doing a bit better."

However, the snickering died out soon enough. The Slytherin Quidditch team was good this year — the younger Black was as good a Seeker as Potter and much more inclined to engage in treachery when the referee wasn't looking — and Snape found himself joining his largely-estranged housemates in cheering their green and silver champions who danced in the air above them.

Black suddenly made a dive and Snape could see the golden glint of the Snitch less than twenty feet off the ground. Snape leaned forward, eyes on the Slytherin Seeker. This might be over quickly, he thought. Black pursued the Snitch, closing the gap between them, eyes intent on his prize…

Then Potter leaped up from below, grabbing at the Snitch right in front of the younger Black's face! Snape allowed himself to smile at the Gryffindor boy's sheer cheek, then resumed thinking daggers at him.

The Snitch leaped away from Potter and angered, Black swung at the Gryffindor. Potter dodged to the side and slapped Black's fist downward, sending the Slytherin Seeker spinning.

Black tumbled towards the ground, regaining control of his broom only seconds before he would have slammed into the ground. Potter raised a fist in the air in triumph and the crowd roared its approval.

"You like that, Lily?" he called out. Snape saw her clapping and cheering. Her smile made him smile, although he quickly suppressed it.

At least she's happy with him, he thought with a scowl. What has he got that I don't? He thought for a moment, trying his best to keep the red haze of his hatred for the Gryffindor boy out of the way. He's better looking, I concede, and at present, is wealthier. And he is certainly better at Quidditch. Egged on by Potter and several of his more obnoxious housemates, Snape had made a half-hearted attempt to try out for the Quidditch team his second year and ended up making a total fool of himself — although he'd join the occasional pickup game, he'd never tried out again.

He frowned at the notion of Lily being that shallow. The Lily he'd known since he was nine didn't obsess over such superficial things — after all, she befriended him despite the disapproval of her older sister and, later, most of her House.

He thought further. Potter is brave, yes, but so am I. And unlike him, I think before I act. He briefly wondered if he should have allowed Potter to take the Portkey but pulled Lily back, then pushed that thought from his mind. I'd be just as bad as he is, if I did that. He suspected the reason the Gryffindor boy's hatred so was so personal — Black's ire had cooled significantly after the first fight with Mulciber — had to do with Lily.

He snorted. If there is something worthwhile, something lovable about that hooligan, it probably requires a lot of digging and she could have gotten the same romance with much less effort from me.

Sarah turned away from the Quidditch action. "You all right?" she asked.

"Yes," he lied. Then he reached over and ruffled her hair, making her giggle and hopefully changing the subject. She leaned close and put her head on his shoulder. He stroked her hair and tried to concentrate on the game, but try as he might, his thoughts kept drifting back to Lily.

She was horrified at what he'd nearly done after she had rushed to Potter and spent the next couple of days apologizing frantically. Despite his anger and hurt, Snape ultimately accepted her apologies — he could never stay angry at her for long and to be fair, she hadn't intended to hurt him that badly.

However, there was a definite coldness between them and eventually they'd both found excuses to do something else that day. He stalked off to the Potions classroom and experimented until the patrolling prefect — Lupin of all people — had come to tell him it was time for bed.

Lupin then apologized, in his weak way, for not stopping James that night. Snape asked him why he'd never apologized for not stopping James before — or for that matter, for participating in the other boy's cruel "pranks" himself — and Lupin only hung his head in shame and slunk out, but not before telling Snape that regardless of the rights and wrongs of the situation, it was still past curfew.

Potter, Black, and Pettigrew — the latter had become lodged in some stonework after Snape had cast the Tripudius Curse on him and Filch had to get him down — at least had been keeping their distance. He'd felt their glares stabbing him in the back, but they'd always looked away when he returned their gazes.

You'd better be afraid, he thought, scorn erupting from deep in his soul to poison his thoughts.

"Severus," Sarah said. "You're still thinking about what happened."

He forced himself to smile, but she cut him off before he could speak.

"You're only hurting yourself by dwelling on it."

That is true, Snape thought. But moving on is easier said than done.

He decided to focus on the positives of the situation. In Sarah, he had found someone just as interested in pushing the frontiers of magical knowledge as he was — he was pleased to discover that she was impressed with the spells he had invented and, in fact, had invented spells of her own!

One spell she'd invented was the Barbing Charm, which makes the affected object grow barbs and could only be removed by the original spellcaster. Very useful for keeping people from grabbing onto stuff that's not theirs. The Ungraspable Charm, which caused an object to remain visible but unable to be grasped, served much the same purpose. She's certainly quite good at Charms. She'd also modified an alarm clock to skitter away when it started chiming, preventing the would-be sleeper from turning it off and going back to bed. That'd be a most useful invention, particularly for someone who liked to sleep.

She allowed him to copy her incantations into his book and in return, he allowed her access to his own spells. Levicorpus was already well-known at school, but Muffiliato and Langlock were not. She'd even copied down Sectumsempra, although Snape had thought she'd never be interested in a spell of such brutality. That ought to keep her safe from the Death Eaters.

Another positive outcome of the fight with Potter was the discovery that he wasn't universally popular, particularly outside of Gryffindor. Several students from other houses — and even one or two Gryffindors — had come to him privately and praised him for what he did, although many were uncomfortable with the command of Dark Magic Snape had displayed. Although Lily was correct that Potter hadn't hexed any other students since their sixth year had begun (the attack on Snape being the apparent exception), many of Potter's former victims were glad to see the arrogant young man taken down a peg or two.

Particularly a group of second-years who'd been Levicorpus'd late last year. Apparently Potter and his crew had snuck up on a bunch of then-firsties, suspended them in the air, and then ran, leaving them drifting lazily in the wind for nearly ten minutes before someone was able to get them down.

Nice to see I'd been able to do unto him what he so often did unto others, Snape thought, remembering how he'd hung the Gryffindor upside down during the latter part of their duel.

Then the crowd around them started roaring, ripping Snape from his thoughts. His eyes leaped onto the Quidditch players and saw that Regulus Black and Potter were neck and neck, going for the Snitch. Both of them were sparing no effort to get to the flying golden ball — Regulus was doing his best to knock Potter off his broom and Potter was clearly trying to return the favor.

To make things even more interesting, one of the two iron Bludgers was in hot pursuit of the Seekers. Apparently Black noticed this — he accelerated and tried to head Potter off, leaving him a clear target for the Bludger. Potter must've gotten the hint, for he quickly tried to do the same thing.

Apparently the Snitch bucked upward and the two Seekers shot up after it, still continuing to try to force the other into the Bludger's path. Higher and higher they rose until they were specks in the sky; then the Snitch changed course again and both of them came rocketing out of the sky towards the green grass below. The Bludger was still in hot pursuit, although a group of Beaters had finally gotten their act together and chased after it.

The game of shove-the-other-in-front-of-the-Bludger could only have one winner, however, and the ultimate winner was Black. He kicked at the front of Potter's broomstick with his foot and managed to flip the Gryffindor backwards, right into the path of the Bludger.

Potter tumbled off his broom and most of the audience roared its dismay. Snape allowed himself to smile. Someone'll likely catch him, he thought, but I'll enjoy this while it lasts. He saw Lily in the distance with a horror-stricken expression on her face and reflexively repressed his smile. Much as her taste in men got on his nerves, he disliked seeing her upset.

Then suddenly the broom shot downward into Potter's hand and he flipped himself upwards. Rather than sitting on the broom in the conventional manner, he landed on the broom with both feet, riding it like a Muggle surfer.

Snape scowled. Showoff. The spectators must've thought otherwise, for they started roaring with approval. Even some Slytherin cheered, although a swat from Rosier shut the most obnoxious of them up. Even though Black flew high, the Golden Snitch in his hand, Potter attracted the most attention.

Typical.