Hi,
I really liked writing this. Action! And so much feeling. I hope to get some reviews from you.
-everyJohn
Severus swore silently. It didn´t look good... How did he get himself in these kinds of situations! Then a sudden idea hit him. With a sharp flick of his new juniper wand he threw the full force of his shield spell towards the source of the attack. The momentary pause in spell fire, caused by confusion, allowed him to follow with a swift accio.
"Accio invisibility cloak!", he shouted. Something so light and soft that it felt almost liquid landed on his hand meanwhile a group of adolescent boys were revealed. Severus met them with a wand in fighting stance.
"Merlin´s hairy balls, he stole your cloak, Prongs!" one of the boys shouted. Sirius Black´s frame was long and slender and with the curly dark-brown mop of hair and very open shirt collar (which shamelessly rebelled against Hogwarts dress code) he could hardly be mistaken for anyone else. Objectively speaking, Regulus resembled his big brother in looks. Both were slim and dark and kind of good looking. But the brothers carried all of that very differently. It was as though one of them was dignified royalty while the other was a slightly crazy rockstar.
"That was your last act, Snivellus! You are thestral food when we get our hands on you!" Potter threatened.
Severus glared them darkly. "And that is how the new Gryffindor headboy started the year... Ambushing and threatening a fellow student. A sad lapse of judgement from Dumbledore, but he was getting old, after all."
"Y-you Snivellius! We... We saw how you threatened that first-year-student to come with you. Were you planning to d-drown her in grease, or what? What would professor Dumbledore have to say about that!" small Peter Pettigrew hurried to peep, behind of the backs of the other two. He was trying very hard to be as tough as the other two, but came short as often was the case. Even the Black and Potter seemed slightly annoyed by his blustering.
"You lot are truly ridiculous." Severus snorted, shaking his head. "What do you want from me, Potter? You already have Lily. It´s not like I keep seeking you out. Have you developed some kind of sick crush on me?"
His words were directed to Potter, but surprisingly, Black was the one, who lunged towards him. Severus would have stupefied him in a second if it wasn´t for Potter and Pettigrew holding him back.
"He is not worth it, Padfood!" Potter placated his fiery friend.
"I see that you left your pet wolf home, today", Severus remarked. "Well, I guess that his monthly cycle was approaching..." Lupin, the werewolf, was usually doing the ungrateful job of a peacemaker and the voice of reason for the group of fools.
"Shut up, Greaseball, or I will make it so that your wimpy mouth is permanently shut and you need to use straw to eat for the rest of your life!" Black threatened.
"Yes, you really know, how to bark, Black", Severus stated with exasperation. He rolled his eyes. "Keep in mind, however, that you three were the ones, who attacked me three against one, hiding behind an invisibility cloak. Kind of... cowardly."
Black was about to charge again, but Potter put a calming arm on his shoulder.
Marauders exchanged looks. Then Potter stepped forward. "Padfoot, Wormtail! Give me covering fire. I will take the greasy git down." He slowly grinned. "You know very well that despite all of Snivellus´s empty talk, he is... impotent when put against me."
The other two quickly caught on what he had meant and soon all three of them wore identical malevolent smiles on their faces. Like a pack of brainless hyenas.
While the other two threw jinxes and curses at Severus in fast pace, the bespectacled boy slowly advanced towards the lone Slytherin.
/
James Potter was not wrong. (As infuriating as it was to admit.) Severus really was practically magically impotent when put against him. All due to that one cursed full moon night.. That night, the git had managed to save his life from a deadly prank that Regulus´s dear older brother had orchestrated in his sadistic childishness. This event had created a life debt bond between the two wizards. A bond which Severus hated with all of his heart, but could do nothing about.
Potter must have been somewhat sincere in saving him, Severus had to admit. Otherwise the ancient magic would never have been invoked. That initial sincerity did not, however, prevent Marauders from taking full advantage of the situation. Potter was free to gloat to Lily how he had saved ungrateful Slytherin´s life, whereas Severus had been rendered magically powerless what came to putting up any kind of effective defense against him. Because Dumbledore had plain forbidden (on the threat of expulsion) all talk of the matter from him, Severus had not even been allowed to tell anyone his version of the night. That had been pretty damn frustrating.
This time, Severus didn´t feel as hopeless as usual. It was three against one, but he was already near the Slytherin dormitory, which meant that the path to relative safety was short. Besides Marauders were kind of in enemy territory and although Severus didn´t expect any of his house mates to actually bother defending him, they would more than gladly give a lesson to impudent Gryffindors hanging around their home base. Most of all, Severus´s optimism was, however, based on his new wand. Until now juniper had responded to his magic thousand times better than his mother´s wand. Before it, the only curses, which he had been able to use reliably were those which he had invented himself. (Potter had been safe even from those.) With little room for variety, Severus´s dueling had been predictable and the Marauders had become very good in defending against him.
This time too, they were expecting sloppy spell work, nasty curses and dark magic. They didn´t think that he was capable of anything more. Severus was so very happy to disappoint.
"Capsulcaptivus!" He shouted and a draw a square in the air with the tip of his wand. Then he threw the blue spell sharply towards Black and Pettigrew. The two boys were immediately surrounded by an impenetrable vitreous cube. The cube would block all of their magic for some time. At the same time it would also prevent them from moving out. Their confused expressions were worth seeing, when they kept banging on the cage. Severus had actually found the spell among old nursery spells. It was kind of fitting that it was originally used to keep magical children safe and their magic from causing trouble during the temper tantrums. The counter spell to it was easy enough, if one knew it. But he could not imagine Black or Pettigrew going through nursery spells. Him coming across it had been accidental enough.
Now he needed to concentrate on Potter, who was advancing fast, despite the shrill yelps and loud swearing of his trapped comrades.
The situation was this: Due to the life debt, Severus could not use his magic to harm Potter in any way and even muggle bawling was unlikely to solve the problem favorably to him as the new head-boy was quite bulky due to the years of quidditch playing. All things considered, Severus did, what any true Slytherin would: concentrated on self-preservation. In other words, ran with all of his might.
Potter screamed after him, but Severus might have made it to the safety of Slytherin dungeons with his long legs, if his path had not been blocked by a pretty redhead and a weary-looking werewolf.
"Li-lily?" he managed to say before his once-best-friend hit him with a full body-bind curse. Betrayed expression froze on his face as he fell face first on the solid ground.
For some time he was able to see only an extreme close-up of grey tiles. Then someone turned him over roughly. Four wands were pointed at him, one of which was his own. (Lupin was holding it in his left hand.)
Lily released the binding.
"Don´t do anything reckless, Snape", she muttered.
"Nice to meet you too, Lily. I see that the company you´re keeping is rubbing off on you", Severus greeted bitterly.
At least she had shame to blush.
"We just want to talk to you."
"There was a time, when I desperately wanted to talk to you too. I never resorted to ambush."
"Leave Lily out of this, Snivellus!", James spat and poked him with his wand. "Now, tell me how to release Padfoot and Wormtail."
When Severus didn´t immediately do anything to comply, the Marauder slapped his face so hard that his ears rang.
"Now."
"Liberifilius", Severus cast the counter spell lazily. Even without a wand the opaque cage, where Black and Pettigrew had been confined, disappeared.
"So, what do you want from me?" Severus asked, drawing his words, to look confident despite the situation.
"We want to know, what you did to my grandfather on the night of his death", Potter sizzled.
At times, his straightforwardness could be almost ridiculous, but something in his voice this time stopped Severus from mentioning anything snarky. His tone was ice cold. Severus knew his long time tormentor well enough to see that he was hardly holding in his anger.
"I have told everything I know to the aurors, already", Severus answered nonchalantly.
Potter´s hold from the front of his robes only tightened.
"Tell. Me."
Severus cleared his throat. "If you must know then... Yes. I drank fire-whiskey in Leaky Cauldron with your grandfather. We met in Knight bus. He asked us to join him. Told us that it would be his treat." The answer was short, but truthful. Severus looked at Lily as he spoke. It felt better and less humiliating to imagine that he was speaking to her instead of Potter.
Marauders looked confused.
Finally, Sirius spoke. His voice was low, almost like growling: "And how, in bloody hell, you had my little brother with you, on that evening?"
Severus scoffed. He could not help it. "I lived with your dear little brother for the most of the summer. He asked me to tutor him potions. You would have known that, had you not discarded your family so readily, Black. And they even say that dogs are supposed to be loyal animals..."
"Why would my family want a greasy git like you in their ancestral home?" Black snorted with disbelief. "Are you inventing stories now, Sniv? Was the reality of living in that polluted muggle town with you miserable father, who can´t bear to see your ugly face without the help of alcohol, too hard to deal with, Snivellus? You escaped in your own imaginary world?"
Severus shrugged and smirked smugly. That kind of thorns were so common that they barely hurt anymore.
Severus, on the other hand, knew, what strings to pull to get the mutt so enraged that he would be likely to choke on his own saliva. "At least, I am working for my money unlike some aristocrat I know, who parasitizes on his friend´s parents."
Sirius turned red on his face. His eyes were bulging with anger. "AT LEAST I DON`T GET MONEY FROM MURDERING PEOPLE!" He roared.
Everyone was silent after the accusation. The eyes were on Severus.
"Severus. Did you really? Were you really i-involved in Henry Potter´s murder?" Lily asked softly. Her beautiful face was pale.
Lily really thought that he... Severus struggled to hide the raw pain that the words of his former friend stringed. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply.
"He was an auror. Retired, but efficient man, from what the Daily Prophet wrote. Do you think, that a schoolboy would have had a chance against him?" Severus mentioned reasonably.
"You could have tricked him into believing that you are harmless. And then... P-poisoned him!"
"Oh, great theory, Pettigrew", Severus sneered, "Except, he didn´t die from poison as everybody who reads The Prophet knows. And he didn´t seem like a man who is easily fooled, either. I am sorry. As much as you all wish to sent me Azcaban, I am not your murderer."
"Severus, this is not a joking matter. If you know anything about who the killer might be... If you don´t reveal them, you are as bad as they are!" Lily appealed fervently.
Now, Severus´s feelings boiled. "Oh, save me from your hypocrisy, Lily! You are not very consistent with your morals. That line of thinking never applied to my bullying, did it?"
"I don´t know...", Lily tried to defend, but Severus didn´t want to listen. His narrowed eyes stared straight to hers like two angry black peppers.
"You were supposed to be my friend, Lily. You were a prefect! Do you really think that I bought the fact that you didn´t see and always arrived a little too late to catch the whole picture. You rarely even took points from them! I am not stupid. Even then your infatuation with Potter showed miles away."
Lily backed away. Tears began to muster on her green eyes. Severus had never before talked to her like this.
"Maybe... Maybe I... But this is different matter! It was just bullying, but this is a matter of someone´s death!"
Severus´s mouth formed a painfully forced grin. "Sometimes bullying can become a matter of death, too." He glared Sirius Black accusingly. "Lily, I am not Henry Potter´s murderer. Neither do I know, who is. I can´t help you. All I know, is that this old man liked his fire-whiskey and had lot more respectable manners than his grandson. That is all." He huffed with frustration and tugged his long black hair. "Could you let me go, now. You gave quite a scare to one of our first year students. I need to go and assure her that this kind of unexpected and unprovoked attacks aren´t very common in Hogwarts, except towards me, of course, or she won´t dare to walk to her classes tomorrow."
They looked each other in eyes and for a moment it looked like Lily believed him, then Sirius interrupted. He was seriously going to make the mutt into Chinese dog stew, one of these days!
"Don´t think for a moment that we believe your nasty lies, Snivellius. As if you just happened to come across Mr. Potter! And in couple of hours since meeting you he was dead."
Severus held his hand over his eyes. He tried to keep his temper and not to lower himself on Regulus´s brother´s level and start screaming back. This was getting old.
"Lily, you knew me once better than anyone. We grew up together. You know that I am not someone, who cold-bloodedly murders old men."
Lily looked thoughtful. She didn´t dare to raise her head when she talked. "I... I don´t know you anymore, Severus. I would not like to think so, but... The child, whom I once knew, my friend, would never have called me... 'mudblood'... either."
Severus sighed. Lily sure was hostile about that.
"I did call you with that name, one time..." His eyes stung. "I was a fool. I apologized and apologized for it, but I simply can not make it undone. You heard it and half of the school heard it. Just like half of the school saw my underpants, when your dear boyfriend humiliated me. Remember your comment then, Lily? Should get those washed, huh?" He had to hold his voice for a moment for it not to waver.
He heard Black snicker. "Did she really say so? Way to go Lily!"
"No, you truly do not know me, Lily. You never did after we started Hogwarts. You got new magical friends and never bothered to truly look at me. I was just dark Slytherin, an unhygienic, rude and pitiful boy, who should be grateful for your whimsical company, right? You were so kind to speak even to someone like me. It was my fault to mistake it for friendship", Severus muttered bitterly.
James Potter´s wand yanked so close to Severus´s head, he almost poked him to eye with it. "You don´t deserve pity, Snivellus. Lily suffered more than enough for your sake. You, yourself, chose Deatheaters. They bloody want to murder her and her kinds! So, she ended your friendship? AND NOW YOU DARE TO GUILT HER FOR THAT!"
Lily had started to cry. "What am I supposed to think, Severus? You arrive Hogwarts in new school robes with a new wand and brand new school supplies. Your face is all fixed up and you seem suddenly awfully chummy with Avery, Mulciber and Travers. And then I hear that you´ve met someone, who was killed by Deatheaters, just a moment before his death. What am I supposed to think? Tell me? Everybody says that You-know-who is funding you now...", she sobbed.
Severus felt lost of words. He had nothing to say to that.
"Believe, what you want, Lily. I... I just want to go to sleep. Return to your dorm. ...I won´t report any of this", Severus muttered tiredly. "It´s not as if anyone but me would get in trouble for it, anyway."
He never got to know, if Marauders would have agreed to this plea.
"Stupefy! Tarantallegra! Flipendo!" Three male voices shouted. The dark corridor lightened with red, purple and blue blasts. Sirius and Lupin were thrown backwards. James´s feet began to dance without his control. Lily shrieked and Pettigrew found a hiding place quicker than one could mutter "mouse".
Severus accioed his wand from shocked Lupins loosened grip.
"Mulciber, Avery ... and Travers", Severus mumbled, reckoning each boy, "What the...What are they even doing here?"
Mulciber attempted to cast furnuncus jinx on Lily, but despite his confusion Severus managed to somehow save girl´s face from boils with a well-timed ptotego-charm.
