CHAPTER 10

Severus was making his way to the Great Hall through the throng of students headed inside for the beginning of term feast. Anne was somewhere behind him, a Second year student had stopped to ask some pesky question and she had sent him on ahead without her.

"Watch it, Snivellus," sneered James Potter as he purposefully bumped into Severus on the way to the Great Hall, nearly knocking him down.

In an instant, Anne had her wand at James's throat.

"Say, 'excuse me'," growled Anne.

"You can't do anything to me! You're a Prefect!" sputtered James, looking rather afraid of her wand.

"Say it!" she shouted.

James's eyes darted from Severus to Sirius to Anne again.

"Excuse me," muttered James.

With a satisfied smirk, Anne lowered her wand.

"Such good manners," she said sweetly. "Have something to say, Black?"

Sirius's eyes went enormously wide as he realized he had just been staring at her with an open mouth. Severus was glaring at him furiously. Sirius shook his head violently, and Anne and Severus walked arm in arm into the Great Hall.

"She's absolutely mental!" cried James as they sat down at the Gryffindor table. "Whipping her wand out like that!"

"Since when does Anne Warlow whipping out her wand surprise you?" asked Remus with a grin.

"Did James get hexed already?" Lily added with a smile. "I thought her hexes were usually aimed at Sirius."

"They are," said Sirius gravely.

"James shoved Snape," Peter explained.

"Bumped into, really," said James.

"Well, serves you right then. Snape isn't so bad if you get to know him," Lily answered.

James turned a distinct shade of green. Lily and Snape were Potions partners in Fourth year; Professor Slughorn had specifically asked them to work together. They were both quite a bit ahead of the rest of the students, and they always managed to produce perfect concoctions when they worked as a pair. James hated it. Anne, whose Potions marks took a nose dive after the switch, had been paired with Remus. Sirius hated that.

"Evans, maybe you ought to be my Potions partner this year," said James in an arrogant tone. "I'm not so bad when you get to know me, either. You've got to assume the best of me until I prove the worst!"

He aimed a crooked grin in her direction, but she did not look impressed. In fact, she turned to her roommates to chat without even dignifying him with a response.

"Ouch," joked Sirius, and James punched him in the arm.

After Dumbledore's speech and dinner, James, Peter, and Sirius headed up to the Gryffindor common room, leaving Remus behind with Lily to escort the First years.

"Pseudoantidisestablishmentarianism," announced Sirius to the portrait of the Fat Lady, who swung out of the way.

The three of them clambered inside and took their usual spots around the fireplace. The Gryffindor common room was refreshingly unchanged; every year they were greeted with the same burgundy and gold furniture and hangings. Sirius loved the colors. They were so warm and inviting, so different from the forest green and silver decor that his brother Regulus had brought home with him from school.

The rest of the students were filling the room; the Fifth year girls followed soon after and took their normal place around the burgundy table. Alexandra Robinson was stealing furtive glances in their direction. She had been enamored with Sirius since Second year. She had been his first kiss. When Sirius failed to return the aforementioned furtive glances, she turned them to James. James, however, was staring at the portrait hole waiting for Lily to arrive.

"I'm going to ask her to Hogsmeade with me," James announced suddenly.

"Who?" asked Peter.

"Lily, you dolt," Sirius barked.

"She'll say yes," James assured himself.

"How could she not?" agreed Sirius with an arrogant toss of his hair, making Alexandra Robinson swoon.

"Isn't it a bit early to ask?" wondered Peter.

"It's never too early," said James.

The portrait hole swung open, and Lily and Remus guided the nervous First years into the common room. Some of them were from magical families, a couple who even had older siblings already in Gryffindor, and they made themselves at home immediately. A few were obviously Muggleborn, having no idea what was happening or what to expect. They always learned quickly, and the First years settled in with the older students. Remus made his way to his favourite armchair, and James kept his eyes trained on Lily.

"You look exhausted, mate," commented Sirius.

"I am, a bit," said Remus, his gaze traveling to the window to stare at the sky.

"Coming down with something?" asked Peter.

"Hope not," said Remus, and he changed the subject immediately. "O.W.L.s this year, right?"

"Right," Peter said worriedly.

"I'm not concerned," said James with a wave of his hand, though he was still watching the redhaired Prefect gossiping with her friends.

They spent the rest of the evening relaxing by the fire. Remus was right, their O.W.L. exams took place at the end of the year. It would certainly be a challenging one for all of them. They compared class schedules; Remus was even able to get Lily to come over and share her schedule with the four of them. And when the fire was dying down to embers, they climbed up the staircase to their dormitory, crawled into their beds, and went to sleep.

"I think your dormitory is bigger than mine," said Anne absently.

She was lying on his bunk in her Slytherin-green pyjamas, staring vacantly up at the ceiling.

"I think they're the same," Severus replied.

"How would you know? You've never been in it," Anne said, sitting up. "Unless . . ."

"Oh, you know what I meant," he said, blushing at Anne's mischievous smirk.

The stamp of approval Anne had received from Lucius Malfoy during First year had earned her the privilege of nearly unlimited run of the Slytherin house. If she wanted to sit on the most comfortable couch, usually reserved for Seventh years, she did so. If she preferred to have the table to herself, she had it. If she decided to spend the evening relaxing with her cousin in his dormitory instead of helping with the First years, it happened. Narcissa Black had continued the preferential treatment through Anne's Second and Third years, and even after Narcissa graduated, it was from then on just assumed.

Anne laughed at her cousin and flopped back on the bed.

"Sev?" she asked.

He murmured some acknowledgment as he continued unpacking his trunk.

"Will you still be my friend if I fail my O.W.L.s?" she continued.

Severus paused and looked at her.

"You won't fail your O.W.L.s," he assured her, shaking his head.

Anne rolled onto her side to look at him.

"Dad says I may," she confessed quietly. "He says there's a reason why I'm the first Warlow in history to be passed over for Ravenclaw."

Severus straightened up and looked her square in the eye.

"You weren't 'passed over' for Ravenclaw, Anne. You were chosen for Slytherin. It's the best house of the four. The most elite," said Severus.

Anne did not look convinced.

"Besides," he said with a sigh. "I'll help you study."

She grinned at him.

"Thanks."