Thanks for the reviews! It's so great to be back in writing mode!

Special thanks to for ObssessedRHShipper for acting as beta for this chapter. I'm still working on getting a permanent beta so suggestions/volunteers for that are welcome. Please if you know someone let me know. I really need a second pair of eyes before posting, so the sooner I find someone the sooner chapters will post.

All characters, and anything else you recognize in this fic, belong to JK Rowling. Anything you don't recognize was inspired from many sources, which I'll divulge eventually. The disclaimer is pretty important in this chapter since for the first time I included actual dialogue from the books.

First Viewing of the Memories

On the first Saturday of the month, Hermione watched and cheered loudly as Gryffindor won the match against Ravenclaw. Ron was great! He only let in ten goals and honestly those chasers got lucky.

Hermione left the pitch proud of him. She was still angry, but somehow able to be happy for him. Ginny, on the other hand, was not so forgiving when they talked in the the girls' dormitories.

"Daft, I'm telling you. He calls you a troll on Wednesday and lets the quaffle in ten times today. If he wasn't my brother, I would have his bullocks!"

"Ginny!"

"What! He is acting daft!"

"Maybe he really meant to ask me," she said wishfully.

"Or maybe he was just taking after the twins like a git. Thank Merlin Ella and Angie straightened those two out."

"It's kind of funny isn't it? Seeing your brothers all googly-eyed."

"It's a good thing," answered Ginny, "Maybe my other brother will get a clue soon."

"I don't know, Gin. I think he sees me as just a friend."

"I didn't think so for a while. But now... maybe you should just say yes to the yummy Ravenclaw that asked properly and forget about Ron. Remember how you told me to do that with Harry and now I don't fancy him at all."

"Yeah... maybe that would work. Don't you fancy Harry anymore, even a little?"

"He's a good friend and teammate. I'm glad he scored all those goals today so I could go for the snitch and win. But he's too sulky for my taste. I know he has a lot going on with his dad and all, but... I just don't fancy him anymore. He does look kind of like Professor Snape."

"Yes, he does. It's the long hair. And I suppose you do have Michael."

The following day, right as they were finishing their YPS meeting, Hermione walked towards Ron and Harry and overheard a conversation that really was not meant for her ears.

"I've got us dates," Harry said.

"What?"

"Hannah asked me before the meeting and she wants to know if you'd go with Sue."

"Sue... Susan Bones?"

"Yes, Susan Bones. So will you go with her?"

Silence.

"Ron?"

"I... ugh..."

"You don't have to. You could go stag if you want. But, I think Hannah assumed you would say yes and then the four of us could go together."

"Right," he answered.

"Ron?"

"Tell her I'll go. Sue's really nice."

"And pretty, I'm surprised she's still available."

"Yeah, it's good and she is pretty," said Ron.

After hearing that conversation, Hermione quickly found the 'yummy' Ravenclaw and gave him a yes with a somewhat forced kiss on the cheek. So that was it. For better or worse, Hermione would go to the ball with him, while Ron went with Susan Bones and Harry with Hannah Abbot.

As Ron began reading the book, which was incredibly useful, he wondered if maybe he had a chance with Hermione. He thought, 'She did hug me and there was that almost kiss at Godric's Hollow, right? And she's friends with Estella now and I think she wanted her to go with me. The book says you can get a good idea about a witches' interest from her girl friends, so maybe... But she's going to the Masquerade with someone. The book says parties and balls are a great opportunity to get with a witch. What if the git she goes with asks to be her boyfriend? What if... no way! She's not snogging anyone because of a ball. Not her.'

Hermione seemed to be as busy as ever. She only spent time with Ron and Harry in class, when they ate meals and when they studied. She always seemed either mad or sad and kept fighting with him about bloody everything!

But there was one patrol night that she and Ron had to do together. Somehow Hermione seemed to be all right with him then, even if it was for only a brief part of the evening. All they talked about was the trial for the twins and Estella, Hermione's ideas to help them, and Ron's Quidditch practices. Even though he wanted to ask her about her date to the ball, he stayed quiet and just enjoyed the brilliant things that came out of her mouth. He smiled at her constantly as he noticed how her eyes sparkled whenever she told him how Lily had accepted one of her ideas for the defence in the case. And he could swear she seemed almost proud of him when he shared how much he had enjoyed the win against Ravenclaw. She even beamed when he said that he'd missed her being at the after party to congratulate him.

The next Saturday came and the trio joined Fred, George, Ginny, Draco and Estella in the Room of Requirement. They had all been told to think of the memory room in Swanson Mansion when they reached the Barnabas the Barmy corridor. As the door of the Room of Requirement opened it led each of them into an exact replica of that place.

"Alright," said Estella, "Hermione sorted out how many memories we can watch today in the time that we have."

"You were the one that had an Arithmantic formula," said Hermione.

"Yeah, but I can't translate runes like you and pretty boy, so why don't you just explain."

"Right, every millilitre of the substance indicates how long the memory lasts. Ella found vials in the Potions storage room that replicate the ones containing the memories and she tested the viscosity of similar substances. Draco helped with translation and running the numbers. All in all, we estimate that each vial can have a memory of up to thirty-two minutes. Though based on volume and viscosity we think most of these are between ten and twenty-five," said Hermione.

"Shit, Malfoy! You actually have the brains to help these two," said Fred. Draco simply gave him a sarcastic smile accompanied by an offensive hand gesture.

"Moving on, Harry and I decided to watch five memories today. They are in chronological order and all belong to the Snapes. We should be done in about two hours," said Estella.

"Why couldn't we watch all of them?" asked Ginny.

"Because I read that it's draining. Plus there's eight of us and one is bound to end up needing the loo or getting hungry if we're here too long," said Hermione.

"Makes sense," said Ron.

"How do we do this?" asked Harry.

"We drop the memories in the pensieve, then we put our heads in there and we'll be able to view them," answered Draco.

"Isn't that too small for all our heads?" asked George.

"Yes, but a simple enlarging spell can fix that," said Estella, "Would you do the honours?"

George smiled and cast the spell on the pensieve. Indeed it grew and there was now plenty of room for everyone.

Hermione poured the memories in the order they had assigned for viewing.

Severus Snape – May 31, 1971

Lily Snape – September 25, 1973

Severus Snape – June 6, 1974

Severus Snape – June 6, 1974

Lily Snape – June 14, 1975

They all put their heads in and felt a swirling sensation as they began their journey through the past.

They stood in a familiar place, an older version of the Hogwarts library. Their eyes scanned the place and noticed that at the table closest to them a young red headed girl sat reading. A boy with dark hair and dark eyes, definitely young Professor Snape, approached her.

"Lil."

"Sev!"

"What are you working on?"

"I'm waiting for Cassi to study for charms. Would you like to join us? We could all hide behind the big shelves by the Arithmancy section."

"I… I don't know. You two are Gryffindors and I…"

His stammering was interrupted by the arrival of a pretty girl with long black hair, fair skin and kind-looking gray eyes.

"Hello," said the girl.

"Oh... I'll be going then," said Severus shyly.

"Wait! You're Sniv... I mean Snape, right?" asked the girl. Severus seemed unsure of what to do and somewhat annoyed.

"Cassi, this is my friend Severus. Sev, this is Cassiopeia," said Lily.

"Nice to meet you, Sev," said Cassiopeia as she extended her hand to him.

Severus seemed shocked and answered hesitantly as he shook her hand, "Yes, right... Cassiopeia."

"Please call me Cassi. Why mother chose Cassiopeia is beyond me."

"Cassi I was just asking Sev to study with us. It would help us. He's probably the smartest student at Hogwarts,"

"Really?" asked Cassi.

"Lily, that's not true," stated Severus.

"It is," assured Lily.

"Now I'm curious about the truth of Severus Snape's brains. Please join us,"

"Please," said Lily

"Alright, but behind the Arithmancy section," answered Severus. He and the girls gathered their things and moved quickly to that area.

"So, how long have you two known each other?" asked Cassi.

"Since we were nine, Sev was the first person to tell me about the magical world!" answered Lily excitedly.

Cassi continued to interrogate them about their friendship and why they never spend time together along with other people. After Severus seemed fully annoyed, the girl offered them two gold pendants with intricate designs on them. Cassi told Severus and Lily the name for the amulets and their protective purposes. She said it seemed like they had been picked to wear them, and that if they put the amulets on it would keep them friends forever.

Severus seemed unconvinced, but Cassi urged Lily to think about the importance of such a friendship. After Lily wishfully asked him, Severus obliged and they put the pendants on each other.

"Gryffindor blackmail," Severus muttered under his breath before they all began to study.

The swirling took over them and they were pulled into the second memory.

They were now in the Gryffindor dormitories and noticed an older Lily crying intensely, on a bed they assumed was hers. She had her head buried on her pillow but her sobs reverberated throughout the room.

"Lil! What's wrong?" asked Cassi, as she walked in and noticed her hysterical friend.

"Lily Evans! You are worrying me!" she stated as she got closer to Lily's bed. But there was no answer.

"Tell me what's wrong," she ordered kindly, but Lily only cried harder, "For Merlin's sake! What is it?"

After a while, Lily faintly said "Sev," and hid further into her pillow.

"Is Severus hurt? Is he in the hospital wing?"

Silence.

"Lily, calm down and tell me. I can go and check on him, I can help."

"Water," said Lily again with a broken tone. "Get water."

"Alright. Kreacher!"

"Yes, milady," said the elf after he appeared with a crack.

"Please bring us water... loads of it, and maybe some tea and a wet cloth," ordered Cassi.

Lily finally showed her face to Cassi. It was swollen and red. Cassi hugged her friend until Kreacher returned and muttered under his breath, "Serving Mudblood filth, if my mistress knew..."

"Do not say that word in my presence again! That is an order!" yelled Cassiopeia, "Serve the water and you may leave."

"Yes, milady," said Kreacher as he poured water from the pitcher into a glass and then disappeared.

Cassiopeia took the glass, made Lily drink, and then used the cloth to wipe Lily's face. Once the young redhead regained some composure, she spoke softly, "That elf hates me."

"Like I care what he thinks. Now tell me what's wrong."

"I ruined everything," said Lily and the tears threatened to come back.

"What happened?"

"I don't know where to start," she said wiping her own face.

"The beginning is always a good choice."

"Smart mouth," said Lily hitting her friend with a pillow.

"I know. Now start," answered Cassi giving Lily a small smile.

"Alright, you remember how Sev cast that awful jinx on James."

"Yes, I believe Sirius was involved in that fight too."

"Yeah, well Sev and I were talking about it. I told him that he should be better than that because he could have really hurt them. I also said he shouldn't be reading Dark Arts books, or hanging about Mulciber and Avery because he'll end up like them... a Death Eater in training. We rowed for a long while, but then made up."

"That doesn't seem bad."

"It wasn't. Sev was good about it. He apologized and tried to explain that Avery and Mulciber are his housemates. He even promised he'd try to restrain himself around James and Sirius. But he also said that James and Sirius are no better than the Slytherins, and that Remus is a coward who doesn't deserve to be a prefect."

"I wish I could defend Sirius, but sometimes... Still Sev fighting with them is nothing new or that bad, so why are you crying?"

"Once we got done arguing, we went into the Potions classroom to work on the Amortentia we decided to brew as extra credit. It's really complicated, but you know Sev... he's a genius."

"Uh-huh,"

"Right, so we brewed and talked. It was nice. Once the potion was done, we told each other all the different things we smelled in it and then... then we kissed," said Lily before breaking down into another sob.

"Lil, that's not bad. You fancy him. You have for ages."

Lily continued to cry for a while longer until Cassi made her drink tea and cleaned her face again.

"I don't know, Cassi. He's my best friend. I think I fancy him, but I don't know. I just got scared... so scared, so I stopped the kiss and told him I needed to leave."

"Oh," said Cassi with an expression that clearly said this was bad.

"I know. I tried to explain... I swear I did, but he was horrible. He packed his things and yelled at me. He was so upset, Cassi. He said he'll ask Slughorn for a new partner and that I should leave him alone. I ruined everything!" said Lily and she broke down into sobs again. Cassi held her.

"You'll just have to find him and explain. He'll understand. He's smart that one," assured Cassi.

Lily continued to cry and Cassi consoled her, wrapped a blanket around them, and fell asleep still holding onto her best friend.

The spinning sensation took over them again as they progressed to another memory.

Severus was hanging in the air with his trousers riding down and exposing his shins. A crowd had gathered and laughed as a black-haired boy with glasses pointed his wand at Severus. Meanwhile two other boys, one short and chubby and the other handsome with black hair and grey eyes, sang and enticed the crowd to join them.

"Snivellus the snake got away from his dungeon friends to amuse us with his legs... Snivellus the snake got away from his dungeon friends to amuse us with his legs!"

Lily arrived at the area followed closely by Cassi.

"Potter! Leave him alone!" screamed Lily.

"Didn't you see him jinx James the other day? He had this coming!" said the boy with the grey eyes.

"Sirius Pollux Black! Stop it!" ordered Cassi.

"End this or I'll hex you!" yelled Lily filled with anger and pointing her wand at Potter.

"Come on, Evans. You'd never hex anyone," said Sirius.

"Try me! You have until I count to three! ONE... TWO..."

Potter said "Liberacorpus" and Severus fell hitting his head hard against the ground. Lily ran to him, but his eyes were filled with rage.

"I don't need your pity! Mudblood!" he screamed and soon tears were pooling in Lily's eyes and screams broke from the other students telling him to apologize. Severus seemed stunned at what he had done and Lily ran away followed closely by Cassi.

The group was once again dragged into a swirl.

They were by the portrait of the Fat Lady watching as Severus talked to Cassi.

"Please tell her to see me. Tell her I'm sorry."

"She's really upset. I don't know if she'll come out even if I beg... Why did you do it?"

"I was angry. Those bloody bastards, I just... please have her come out or I'll wait here all night."

"Alright," said Cassi moving to the portrait hole.

"Severus could you... could you tell Regulus I say hi and..."

"Would you like to see him?" asked Severus. Cassi nodded.

"I'll ask him. If he agrees, we'll find a place for you to meet."

"If it's worth anything... I'm sorry about Sirius. I love him, but he and his friends acted like you said, bloody bastards. I'm not talking to the whole lot of them right now... Still, you shouldn't have called her that," stated Cassi before leaving.

Severus sat by the entrance to Gryffindor for what felt like ages to all the memory watchers, until finally Lily came out.

"I'm sorry."

"Save your breath."

"I'm sorry!"

"I only came because Cassi said you would stay here all night."

"I was. I would have stayed. I never meant to call you Mudblood. It just –"

"Slipped out?" There was no pity in Lily's voice. "It's too late. I've made excuses for you for years. None of my friends understand why I even talk to you. Cassi only stands it because she hopes you can help Regulus stay close to her. But that's not true! You and your precious Death Eater friends – Urgh! You don't even deny it! You don't even deny that's what you're all aiming to be! You can't wait to join You-Know-Who, can you?"

He opened his mouth, but closed it without speaking.

"I can't pretend anymore. You've chosen you way; I've chosen mine."

"No – listen, I didn't mean –"

"- to call me Mudblood? But you call everyone of my birth Mudblood, Severus. Why should I be any different?"

"Because I... I... lo –"

At that very second, Potter, Sirius and two other boys, including the chubby one, came through the portrait hole. Cassi came behind them and was yelling at them to stop. A fight broke out, but soon Lily, Cassi and the one boy they had not seen before, who had a prefect badge, casted Protego charms and got everyone to be still.

"Enough! I do not need any of you to defend me! I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself!" yelled Lily, looking at the Gryffindor boys.

"And you should be going back to your Death Eater friends, Snivellus," snarled Lily filled with contempt.

The scene faded as they slid into a new memory.

They were in a dark, muggle room. As they walked around, they noticed an older Lily sleeping on a large bed and Cassi on a smaller one right across from her. Suddenly Lily awoke sweating, clearly distressed, and her loud gasp stirred Cassi.

"What is it?" asked Cassi while yawning.

"Severus!" exclaimed Lily as she pulled a necklace from under her nightgown and showed Cassi a pendant glowing from gray to black to yellow. Cassi's eyes widened and she seemed scared. Lily walked to her closet and grabbed a cloak.

"Where?" asked Cassi.

"Malfoy Manor. I have to go."

"I'm coming with you!"

"Cassi, no!"

"I'm not about to let my best friend apparate into the house of a known Death Eater! Especially when I'm the one that gave the proctais to a boy who called you the M word and then ditched the both of us! You're not going alone!"

"I can take care of myself!"

"If you leave without me, I'll call for Sirius and tell him where Sev is. We both know that would not go well, so pass me my cloak and we'll cast disillusionment and silencing charms before apparating," ordered Cassi.

"Fine!" said Lily and soon they put cloaks on, hugged and disappeared.

They were now in an incredibly large room with a massive chandelier on the ceiling and large portraits of sumptuously dressed men on every wall. A disgusting figure, with red eyes and ash skin, who barely resembled a man, stood surrounded by five people dressed in black robes; Severus was kneeling in front of him. They recognized one of the men as the younger Lucius Malfoy.

"My Lord, I have brought my best combatant to gain the honour of the mark. Would you like a display of his ability?" said Malfoy.

"Indeed, gifted and capable Severus, show me this innovative spell of yours," ordered the disgusting figure.

Severus stood, pulled his wand and summoned a large chair. He then pointed and simply stared at the chair until slashes appeared on the cushions and the stuffing gushed out through the cut.

"Marvellous work my lad. Now my Death Eaters, listen carefully as Severus instructs."

"You must point your wand while you say Sectumsempra. Of course, you must mean it and it is most useful in battle as a nonverbal spell," said Severus to the small crowd. The Death Eaters all used the spell and successfully tore through the chairs and sofas in the room.

"Enough! I see the value in having you," said the Dark Lord looking at Severus, "Lift up your sleeve."

Severus did as commanded and soon he was screaming in pain as fire seemed to sear the mark of a skull with a snake on his arm. Eventually the screaming stopped and the five Death Eaters clapped in approval.

"Welcome to the higher ranks! You should join the lab upon graduation. I see a bright future for you in that area. Now, let's celebrate! Lestrange! Bring your wife's trophies and call for the unmarked recruits. Let them witness our power!" said the Dark Lord.

Lestrange followed orders and soon returned with a large crowd that tugged and pulled at two young men, who looked bruised and bloody. They threw the men in front of the Dark Lord and kicked them.

"Enough my soldiers! McKinnon, Bones, do you confess to betraying your kind and disregarding our complete superiority?" asked the Dark Lord in a tone that was calm, but incredibly eerie.

"Go to hell!" answered one of them.

"Fuck you!" said the other.

"How dare you! Blood traitor scum!" screamed a woman with black hair and a crazed look in her gray eyes.

The Dark Lord showed a sinister smile and calmly said, "Enjoy the spoils of victory dear Bella, but do use our new spell."

He sat in a throne-like chair and sneered as Bella cast the spell repeatedly. McKinnon and Bones screamed and fell into a pool of their blood. She continued the torturing until they moved no more and then she laughed crazed in joy. Suddenly the Dark Lord pointed his wand at a corner and Lily and Cassi became visible. Severus' eyes grew wide.

"Betraying whore!" screamed Bella.

"Bella, Malfoy, Riddle," said Cassi rebelliously as she bowed.

"Kill the Mudblood and bring me the Black!" ordered the Dark Lord.

Curses flew everywhere, but suddenly they found themselves in Lily's room again.

"How did you?" asked Lily scared.

"Me? I thought we were dead," said Cassi.

They looked at each other confused and then hugged looking relieved until Lily sat on her bed.

"He's really one of them," she said in the most desolate of tones as tears slipped from her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Lil," said Cassi sitting next to her and hugging her.

The swirling took over them again, but this time it led them only to feeling stuck in water and each of them pulled away from the pensieve.

"Pretty boy," said Estella determined.

"Already on it," said Draco.

Draco pulled a piece of parchment from his pocket, enlarged it and set it on the floor. Estella kneeled next to him and the Slytherins became engrossed in the thing; writing and murmuring to each other. The group looked at the two intently and once they realized Estella and Draco were oblivious to the Gryffindors in the room, George moved in their direction.

"Still with the secrets?" asked George

"It's not a secret if it's open right in front of you," answered Estella.

"Great," said George and he left the room.

"I… wait!" exclaimed Estella running out of the room after George.

"The House of Black Family Tree?" asked Ginny.

"Estella and I have been trying to put it back together," said Draco.

"Why?" asked Hermione.

"I'm in it and she thinks she's supposed to be because of something McDavol said. It's important."

"Since when do you two talk to McDavol?" asked Ron with reproach in his voice.

"Bugger off, Weasley! I haven't talked to him since the train attack."

"What did McDavol made her think?" asked Harry.

"That she's supposed to in this tree like me. If you want to know more ask her," said Draco before uttering spells to get the parchment back in his pocket.

"Draco, please," pleaded Ginny.

"Ask Estella," he answered with annoyance. Then he left.

Hope you liked it I know it didn't have quite that much R/H since I had to go throught the memories. Up next Masquerade! Big events happening in that chapter! But I'm having all sorts of trouble writing it – too many ideas about how to describe the event. Anyhow I'm excited that I will also be publishing a pic of Hermione in her cool mermaid outfit since I'm done Photoshoping that!

IMPORTANT CHAPTER NOTE

A big part of this chapter described events during Severus and Lily's Hogwarts' years. In light of the added events and changed timeline, I decided to change birthdates for several characters. So here are birth dates for these important characters in the Breaking Tradition AU (basically they are 2 years older than in the HP books).

Severus Snape, 9 January, 1958

Lily Snape (née Evans), 30 January, 1958

Sirius Black, October 22, 1957

James Potter, March 27, 1958

Regulus Black, November 5, 1959