A/N: All characters and copyright are owned by J.K. Rowling

It took forever for the group to finish their conversations at the Three Broomsticks. Luckily I wasn't engaged in their conservation, and I preferred it that way. I steeped in irritation knowing that Lily was off with Potter. However, at least she was not here.

Would my father frequent a pub like this? Of course, the places he went to were dilapidated shacks compared to this place. It did have that awful smell of alcohol that made me want to leave.

I was jerked out of my thoughts when I was abruptly shaken. I looked up, and Rosier was shaking me. I then heard "Pay attention, Snape." snapped from Muldoon. He continued "Like I was saying, Snape, the Dark Lord is interested in learning about the Potter family. That family has ties to some of the most successful business' in Britain."

I nodded my head but felt incredibly guilty. Mr. and Mrs. Potter did nothing to warrant my deceit. If they only knew what I had just joined they would be disgusted in me, I was disgusted at myself.

After the grim meeting, the group split ways to do some shopping. I was left alone awkwardly on the bench. Not being in a large intimidating group I noticed eyes glaring at me. I realized I was taking up a whole table in the crowded pub and got up to leave.

As I wandered the shops I could understand why the student's looked forward to the weekend trips. Unlike my peers who seemed to be interested in visiting the candy shop, having dates in the tea shop, or otherwise being disruptive about the small village I was drawn to a shop called Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop.

It was not until recently that I had a sizeable sum of money to spend freely. Still, I would not waste Mr. Potter's money on frivolous things. What if he asked me what I bought and was displeased I purchased it on sweets? I resolved the money would be used for practical items.

I stepped into the shop and was entranced at the different writing instruments. I didn't know that there was such a wide range of quills, inks, and parchments.

An older woman looked up and seemed surprised. "Good afternoon. Haven't seen you here before."

I politely said "Good Afternoon ma'am."

I wandered about the shop. The whole time I had gone to Hogwarts I had bought the cheapest quills which tended to snap in the middle of writing. If I was lucky, I found a discarded quill on the floor of a classroom or in the hall. For inks, I would dilute it as much as possible making writing essays so much longer having to wait for the watery ink to dry.

I tried to forget the anger from my father as he found me doing homework over the summer. "What kind of backward school do you go to boy? You tryin' to be fancy with those feather pens?" I had tried to explain, but he ended up tossing my ink against the wall of my room. Using quills only added to the freakiness that he didn't like.

I looked around at the feathers nothing the variety - goose, crow, hippogriff, swan, eagle, and griffin. I eyed some crow quills and picked a few that would last a long time and bought some new ink that was not watered down. When paying I noticed some charms that were magicked to help keep your place in a book. It was like a bookmark but would go to the last sentence you read. When I saw this, I thought that Lily would like it. I had felt terrible about doing nothing during the earlier confrontation and hoped that maybe this would make up for it. I was surprised at the cost and reluctantly gave the woman the coins. That would be enough for a week's worth of food.

After my purchase, I headed to the train station. I decided it was better to leave early. As I got to the platform, I signed as I saw Potter, Black, Pettigrew. Lily was also with them, so I didn't think they would attack me.

When she saw me, she headed over and questioned "Hey, are you alright?"

On reflex, I dismissed her concern. I realized I was being rude again and said "Did you get a new necklace?" She looked down and fingered the silver bauble. "Thanks, James just got it for me at Gladrags Wizardwear."

I had just been about to reach into the bag to give her the charm but quickly stopped. Giving her the small charm would have no comparison to something like that.

She folded her hands behind her back and asked "What did you get?"

I folded my hands together against the bag. "Oh. I - I just got some quills."

She looked over and rolled her eyes towards James giving a light laugh "Besides this, James bought a month's worth of sweets. He should show some caution, or he'll blow away his allowance."

I of course never received an allowance and found the concept confusing. You mean he gets money on a regular basis?

Potter started to head over "Hey are you two talking about me."

Why did Potter always ruin everything?

I shot back automatically "I wouldn't waste my breath."

Potter did another curious thing; he offered "Hey you want a chocolate frog?"

I was caught off-guard at the gesture. "No thanks, I don't eat childish snacks." The only reason I didn't was that I had no opportunity to.

Lily said "Severus, he was offering some candy. You don't need to be rude." Great, again I found a way to offend her. Why couldn't I do anything right?

Potter then asked pointing to my bag "You get something as well?"

I was about to respond that it was none of his business then froze thinking about him writing back to his father. Was he keeping tabs on what I was spending money on? I replied "Quills and ink." I added just in case " I had run out." Hopefully, if he did let his father know I purchased items, he wouldn't be that upset.

He shrugged his shoulders "Well if you run out of money just write back." If I run out? I almost laughed, I had never held this much money in my life, and I wouldn't spend it frivolously. Still what if he was writing back to his father?

"Tell your father I am grateful." I would give no reason for Mr. Potter to be upset at me.

He shrugged again "You going to join us on the train. Or you are waiting for your..." He paused and finished "friends."

The band of Death Eater Slytherins were not my friends. Who would want to be friends with me?

"I prefer the company of myself, Potter."

He then walked away with Lily "Suit yourself, Snape."

I boarded the train back to Hogwarts and luckily found an empty compartment. I had made a better decision to leave now then later. Most students stayed until the last train to Hogwarts, but I didn't want to linger here any longer than I had too. Plus I usually studied throughout the weekend, and now I was behind schedule.

When the train got back to school, I waited a few minutes so that I wouldn't be bothered. I grabbed some parchments from my room. I figured my roommates would be at Hogsmeade until the last train as usual. I then headed to the library annoyed at the amount of work I had to catch up on.

I glanced around the library and found an empty table. Today was the best day for studying as Sunday it would be packed with students trying to do last minute homework.

I was engrossed in my essay and noticed someone sitting across from me. I glanced up nervous at who it was but was relieved when I saw it was Lupin alone. "Do you need something?" I asked while finishing a paragraph. Lupin never initiated any fights, and he frequented the library, so I wasn't too worried.

"Did James and the others come back? I didn't feel well enough the morning to go to Hogsmeade."

I continued writing "...And why would I know where he was?"

I looked up at Lupin, who seemed a bit confused "Well you are his brother now after all, right?"

I wanted to sneer, but Lupin's innocent attitude made me stop. "I don't know why the Potters took me in. It makes no sense to me. I have nothing to offer them." I sighed, Potter had been acting strange for the past few days.

Lupin said "You know the Potters are like that. They're nice, and James can be like that if you get to know him."

I rolled my eyes "Right, he's so kind."

It was Lupins turn to sigh "Well he can be."

Wanting to move away from this awkward conversation, I asked "Have you finished McGonagall's assignment?"

He shook his head. "No, I was, uh, exhausted last night. We didn't get much sleep. Well, I guess I'll look for them now. They're probably in the common room."

I was about to go back to reading and remembered the charm. Lupin had never instigated any fights and saved my skin more than once. "I-I accidentally purchased this charm you want it? It helps with studying. "

His eyes grew wide for a second and then grinned at me. "Hey, thanks, mate."

I quickly blurted out " I wouldn't use it anyway." Then I remembered who was his friend and quickly asked "J-just don't tell Potter." What if his father learned that I wasted money on childish charms?

He gave me a look like he was perplexed. "You and James do the strangest things sometimes. Perhaps you are related?" I didn't know if that was supposed to be an insult. I wasn't sure since it came from Lupin. He still grinned at me which aggravated me. "See you later Snape."

I started writing again trying to catch up on my assignments while it was not too crowded. I was annoyed at the interruption from Lupin, but it was nice having a civilized conversation with someone that had more than two brain cells. I sat alone in the library wishing that I could have someone to talk with. Nobody would understand what I was going through and if they learned, I would be even more despised.