Wednesday 24th October 1973

Quidditch Pitch, 19:00

'Splat!'

James landed face first into a pile of mud. He supposed he should be glad that it was mud and not the normal hard ground. Rainy Scottish Autumns were good for something it seemed.

Thankfully, he hadn't fallen from any great height. Hadn't fallen at all technically. He had had to do an emergency manoeuvre to avoid a bludger sent his way and had stupidly gone spiralling to the ground instead of sideways or, you know, up where there was a lot of space for him to move. No, he, James Potter, had to fly down when he was only, like, eight feet from the ground.

He had not liked how fast the ground was approaching so he had done the sensible thing, in his opinion, and jumped off his broom. Hence his landing in mud. That was very much coating him right now. It was cold.

"Sirius!" he bellowed as soon as he wiped the mud from his face.

For good reason as it was his supposed best friend's bludger that made this happen. Not that Sirius seemed to be particularly repentant. No, Sirius was currently laughing his head off, at risk at falling off his own broom. James hoped he did. Get a taste of his own medicine.

"Not exactly the best bludger avoidance there, Potter," Peterson told him, hovering just above him.

James flashed the back of two fingers at him, something the older boys on the team had taught him and perfectly demonstrated his feelings at the moment.

"Such awful behaviour," his dear captain teased, shaking his head mockingly.

It was times like this that James wished he could bring himself to swear like Remus sometimes did. It would be a lot more effective than grumbling at people when he was peeved with them. But he couldn't. He just couldn't. It went against everything he'd been taught. The very idea of using swear word was just an anathema to him. And think what his parents would say!

There was mud getting down the back of his trousers and it was definitely in his shoes. How did the mud even get over his boots? Either way, as he stood up something definitely squelching around his toes. James pulled a face, yuck. Maybe he would stick to the air for this practice.

He grabbed his broom, at least there wasn't any mud on it. Inexplicably but he'd take it. He didn't exactly want to be spending the rest of practice sitting on mud. No thank you.

"Oh, and James?"

He looked up.

"Yeah?"

"Pull that stunt in a match and I'm benching you."


Thursday 25th October 1973

Slytherin Common Room, 20:30

Severus was enjoying reading his book by the fireplace. It was a really interesting book and the fire was warm and no one was paying him any attention at all. A perfect way to spend the evening. Even his dormmates had given up on trying to involve him in silly things. Thankfully. Honestly, the immaturity of most people...

But where was he? Oh yeah, enjoying his book. Unfortunately, that was interrupted by a rather large shadow blocking the light from the fireplace. Someone better not be trying to roast marshmallows in it again, the smell of burnt sugar a hung around in a sickening cloud for weeks.

He looked up and immediately noticed that he was wrong. Mainly because there were three pairs of eyes looking right at him. Three sort of familiar eyes. Only one of them was in his year, Percy Avery - the one with the slicked back hair. The other two, Mulciber and the younger Lestrange, were in Second Year and Seventh year respected. A pretty odd group. Then again, all three of them were odd. Even by Slytherin standards. Not exactly outcasts (their families were too important to let that happen) but they made people a bit nervous. They were so intense about things. Not that Severus care because they were very much blood purists so left him well enough alone. Sometimes being a half-blood had its advantages. Minimal ones anyway.

"Avery, Mulciber, Lestrange," he greeted emotionlessly, half closing his book.

There was no need to lose his place after all. Here he thought that he was going to be left alone this evening. Hopefully, whatever they wanted would be quick. A taunt usually was.

"We have a proposition for you," Lestrange told him, rummaging around in his pockets.

That got his attention and he raised his eyebrow, he was getting better at that. All the practicing had really paid off. What on earth would they want with him? They always made sure to pointedly ignore and avoid him. Ignoring his very existence. Which rankled him (there was nothing wrong with him) but there was really nothing he could do.

But they didn't say anything. Just sort of stared weirdly at him. Well, he wasn't going to break first. If they wanted to talk to him so badly then they could talk. He wasn't stopping them.

Frustratingly, they seemed to be happy enough with just staring at him. It was annoying. And creepy.

"Hello?" he asked once it became evident that they weren't going to talk.

They still weren't talking. He didn't have time for this sort of nonsense. He closed his book and made as if to get up but was stopped.

"Where are you going?" Mulciber demanded.

"None of your business," Severus sneered quietly.

He didn't want to draw attention to them but he also didn't take orders from a mere second year.

"No, you're not," Lestrange told him, his arm blocking Severus' way.

Severus just looked at him.

"We want a word with you."

"That normally involves using words," Severus pointed out snarkily.

Mulciber's eyes flashed. "Watch your tongue, half-blood."

"Now, now," Lestrange chided in a deceptively soothing tone. "No need to be like that, Mulciber. Remember your manners. You need to remember that Snape here wasn't brought up the same way as we were."

Now to was Severus' turn to glare. Just because he wasn't some upper crust, snobby, up himself did not mean he didn't know acceptable behaviour! You didn't need a load of money and an attitude to match to know that! Sometimes (okay most of the time), he really hated the people here. So much privilege. Too much money more like.

"Not that that matters," Lestrange continued. "Because we just wanted to check something."

Severus tensed at that. Was this going to be something about his mother? Or the Princes? That's all people like these would care about.

"You're good at Potions, aren't you?" Mulciber said in an insolent tone.

"He's the best in the year," Avery interrupted in an annoyed tone. "I've told you this."

Severus was impressed that Avery paid attention to anyone not in his circle. And Severus most definitely wasn't. Not that he wanted to be or anything. Definitely not.

"I'd like to hear from Snape himself," Lestrange said firmly.

They all turned to stare at him again. It didn't get any less unnerving. Severus felt like he suddenly couldn't move his tongue.

"Told you he wasn't that good," Mulciber said scathingly.

That unglued his tongue.

"I am good at Potions," Severus replied hotly. "Incredibly good, in fact."

Mulciber just snorted. What was this little second year upstart doing here anyway? Surely whatever Lestrange and Avery wanted could be done without him? Preferably with him being far, far away from here. Like in the Forbidden Forest. With the alleged werewolves.

"Even Professor Slughorn thinks so," he threw in to validate his claims.

Bragging was if no use without something to back it up. Kind of like a bluff, there was no point in making it if you wouldn't do anything if you were called out on it. You shouldn't brag unless you could prove it.

"High praise," Lestrange acknowledged.

Severus puffed out in pride again. It was nice to hear compliments. Even if he didn't need them.

"Well, then it looks like we have the right man for the job," Lestrange continued, a faint smirk in his lips.

The first bit of emotion that the older boy had shown during this little discussion.

"For what?" Severus urged, just wanting them to get to the point.

Though, he didn't want them to leave him alone anymore. He was actually intrigued about what they wanted him for.

"Just a little bit of brewing."

"Can't you do it?" Severus asked suspiciously.

Lestrange was in seventh year, after all. Why was he asking a third year like him to brew a potion?

"Do I look like I brew Potions?" Lestrange demanded.

Severus was confused. Was this another one of those weird pureblood things? Was Potions considered physical labour that, of course, they didn't do?

"Anyway, Lestrange wasn't asked," Avery said impatiently. "A third year has to do it."

Well, if he was going to ask a third year to brew a potion at least he had the sense to ask the right person.

Suddenly their little "discussion" was interrupted by Lestrange's younger sister.

"What's going on here?" Leila Lestrange asked after pressing a kiss to Rabastian's cheeks.

"Nothing that concerns you," Rabastian told her.

Obviously, he wanted her to move on but Leila didn't do that. Instead, she straightened up and raised an eyebrow as she looked between the four of them and the interrogative stance the three purebloods had.

"Why are you talking to him?" she questioned, waving a hand at him.

"We've got some business to do," Mulciber said, full of self-importance.

"With a half-blood?"

Severus wasn't sure if the older girl was shocked or disgusted. Both emotions on her used the exact same facial expressions. It was a bit confusing.

"It doesn't concern you."

Leila narrowed her eyes at the younger boy, making him lose his arrogant stance and gulp. Severus had to say that he was pretty impressed. He didn't think that a girl (except Bellatrix) could be that scary.

"Leila."

Leila looked to her older brother and her face went carefully blank.

"Yes, Rab?"

"Enough."

She gave him a long look, seeing something that, quite frankly, Severus didn't, before nodding.

"Nice talking to you, boys," she said politely before leaving for the girls' dorms.

Huh. That was... odd. But Severus wasn't given any time to think about it.

"We're, ahem, friends with someone who's looking for the brightest minds of each year," Lestrange recited. "Particularly with Potions and the like."

"So, you thought of me?" Severus interrupted.

A miscalculation on his part if the sudden curling of Lestrange's lips were anything to go by. Dammit! You should never appear too eager.

"Yes. Because, like you said, you are the best in your year."

"At Potions anyway," Avery said mulishly.

Everyone ignored him. His jealously wasn't important right now.

"What do you need me to do" Severus asked, trying very hard to temper his excitement.

How often did a half-blood get talent spotted? Especially by those who Lestrange would go around with.

"See, we just need to see what you can do," Lestrange said slowly, reaching into his pocket to pull out a piece of parchment with what looked like a recipe on it. "Make sure you're capable."

"I'm more than capable," Severus couldn't help but brag.

Because he was. More than capable that was. He was the top Potions student in his year. Everyone knew that.

"Then I'm sure you'll easily do it."

"Of course," Severus sniffed, yanking the piece of parchment out of the older boy's hand.

Mulciber and Avery exchanged surprised looks but Lestrange's face was oddly blank. Not that it mattered, he was going to show them. Show everyone that you didn't have to be a pureblood to be good at magic. Or Potions. Because Potions were different than all that silly wand waving.

He'd show them.


Monday 29th October 1973

Gryffindor Common Room, 19:00

Alice rubbed at her aching eyes and looked around her, noting the glow of the flickering candles. When had it got so dark? Dusk was only just starting to darken the sky when she first came up here. Not that that meant much time had passed, it was October after all - practically November. They had more hours of darkness than daylight at this time of year. But still. She had been revising for a long time. Yet, it didn't seem like it was enough.

She really wished that Samhain was not happening in two days, she really did. She just didn't have time for it. Not with this stupid test coming up in Ancient Runes and she needed all the spare revising time she could get.

Yes, it was just a basic runes identification test - no definitions or analysis required (because they had just started to do that this week), but she had to pass it. It was of the utmost importance. Then why could she not remember what eihwaz looked like?

Oh, this wasn't going to work. Not in here. The Gryffindor Common Room was not the place you could get any proper work done. You just couldn't. It was impossible.

Potter and Black were messing around just across the way from her, talking far too loudly for two people that were literally sitting side by side. A couple of first years were loudly cheering on two Exploding Snap players, their shouts and groans intersped with the odd explosion. Not to mention the general volume of the normal chatter. Why was everybody so loud? Was Ravenclaw anything like this? Alice bet it wasn't. She bet that they could get all the work they wanted in their Common Room. How was anybody meant to get anything done in here?

A fanged Frisbee flew over her head and embedded itself in the wall. One of the prefects stood up and started berating whoever had thrown it. The problem with that was that they were on the opposite side of the room.

You obviously weren't meant to get any work done in the Gryffindor Common Room. You couldn't possibly.

Something went BANG in the opposite corner to where Exploding Snap was being played. Alice slammed her textbook shut. That was it. She couldn't do this anymore.

"Where are you going?" Mary asked, looming up from filing her nails.

"Library."

"Again?"

Mary was being dramatic. She hadn't been going to the Library loads. Just enough to get her homework done. Though, the amount they were getting was honestly ridiculous. There simply weren't enough hours in the day!

"I need to revise for this test."

Mary sighed and rolled her eyes. "This is what you get for choosing Ancient Runes. You should have gone for Divination and Care of Magical Creatures, like me."

"I am doing Care of Magical Creatures," Alice pointed out.

And it was fun. Not as full of cute creatures as she thought but it was interesting. And some of the animals were cute. As long as you kept an eye on claws and teeth.

"Yeah, but you're doing Healing and Ancient Runes as well. You know you don't have to do three? You can do two."

"I know that," Alice retorted defensively. "I wanted to do three."

Mary didn't need to know that she was already somewhat regretting that. Healing and Ancient Runes had a lot of homework. And their core classes were picking up the pace as well, moving swiftly on from the basics and now doing much more complicated things that meant applying old knowledge to really different, new problems. Alice could do it; it just took a lot out of her.

"I don't know why," her friend sniffed. "You're not going to work when you've finished school."

Mary said 'work' like it was some disgusting disease. Which, for Mary, it may as well be.

"Of course, I'm not working once I leave school," Alice said with a sigh as she slung her bag over her shoulder. "I'll be married to Frank."

Or someone else. She hoped it was Frank though. It probably would be. Betrothal agreements usually panned out fine.

"Then why all the unnecessary work?"

"It's interesting."

It really was. When she understood things. And there was something really satisfying about finally recognising a Rune or remembering all the bones in the arm and hand (that had taken her an age). But she didn't say that to Mary. Alice didn't want to be labelled as a swot or something.

But she did want to do well on this test.


Wednesday 31st October 1973

Great Hall, 19:00

Marlene groaned out loud as the main dishes vanished and they were replaced with desserts. Too many desserts in her opinion.

Of course, no one else seemed to share this opinion with her if the way everyone tucked into said desserts. Well, she wasn't. Nope. No, siree. She was going without. Because, uh, she was being healthy. Yeah, that was it. Healthy. No one should be eating that much sugar anyway.

Marlene suspiciously poked a red jelly in front of her with her fork. It wobbled temptingly. Evil.

"Are you still not over your first Hallowe'en here?" Lily asked with more than a little amusement.

Which Marlene did not appreciate. That was a dark time for her and Lily should definitely not be making fun of her.

"No," Marlene replied defensively, crossing her arms. "I got sick from it!"

"You didn't even throw up."

"Because Madam Pomfrey saved me."

She really did. Maybe she should get the woman a card or something to thank her...

[xxxxxx]

Lily rolled her eyes at her friend's dramatics. All she had to do was not overeat on sweets and stuff. Hardly difficult when there were so many nice savoury dishes as well - Hogwarts really outdid itself on the food when it came to the Sabbats.

"Woo! Look at this!"

Speaking of dramatics, it looked like Potter and his friends were being silly again.

Potter had somehow managed to lay claim to a whole bowl of roasted carrots and was now making them spell words in mid-air. So stupid. Did he think he was funny? Because he wasn't. Even if a bunch of the younger students were oohing and ahhhing over him. Which was also stupid. Why were the Prefects letting this happen?

Suddenly, there were carrots in front of her. Floating in front of her. They spelled out her name. Well, her surname. She ignored them. They floated closer to her. Nope, wasn't going to give them any attention. Marlene laughed from beside her and Lily glared. She was not helping.

The carrots floated so close that they were blocking her plate. Not cool.

"Hey, Evans!" Potter called over, making some younger girls titter at him. Pathetic.

"Potter," she growled, trying to bat the damn vegetables away but they floated out of reached.

"Evaaaaaans," Potter drawled out like an absolute idiot. Which he was. Very much so.

She didn't respond to idiots. It just encouraged them. Unfortunately, the effect was ruined by the fact that her best friend was laughing at his antics and nudging her. Nope. Wasn't happening.

"Stop it, Marlene!" she hissed.

Of course, Marlene ignored her. She actually had the audacity to call over to Potter, demanding her surname be next. Hmpf.

Lily reached out a grabbed a carrot, quickly taking an aggressive bite out of it. That made Potter lose concentration and the whole show collapsed onto the table. Unfortunately, a carrot fell into the gravy boat - splattering her before she could react.

"Potter!"


Saturday 3rd November 1973

Fourth Floor Corridor, 17:00

Severus watched suspiciously as Potter and his friends walked past with armloads of sweets. Where had they got those? They weren't coming from the direction of the Kitchens but where else would they have gotten the sweets? Did the Kitchens even have Honeydukes sweets? Maybe they did for Quidditch Matches? There was always a lot of celebrating so it would make sense...

Severus knew though that that most likely wasn't the case. People in his House had turned up with armloads of similar sweets when Slytherin had won a match (which, unfortunately, wasn't this time - stupid Lions), the sweets all in Honeydukes bags. Which meant they had snuck out to get them.

How? Severus didn't know and nor did he care. Why would he need to sneak out of Hogwarts? The very thought was preposterous. Though, he cared if it was a bunch of Gryffindors he could possibly get into trouble...

"Hey, Snape!" Potter called.

Severus turned to give the boy a suspicious look. Something got thrown at him for his trouble. Instinctively, he ducked and it landed just behind him. He half expected whatever it was to explode but it didn't. Severus picked it up and frowned. It was a packet of sweets? Why were Potter and Black throwing sweets around?

He looked up to give them a confused look. All four of them grinned at him.

"A consolation prize," Potter jibed.

"So, you can have something sweet tonight," Black added.

Severus glared at them; they didn't need to rub their win in his face! Wasn't that poor sportsmanship? Of course, these were Gryffindors he was talking about. The word, most likely, wasn't a part of their vocabulary.

They took no note of his dark look, instead they just continued laughing down the corridor.


Wednesday 7th November 1973

Library, 19:00

Remus looked around him with some dismay. The Library was absolutely packed today. He'd gone up and down the aisles three times and all the tables were taken. Even that tiny, spindly one in the dark corner that he had always thought of as "his" table. How on earth was he meant to get his essay done now? He didn't want to leave it any later and rush it like James so often did. Nor did he want to quickly do it with no effort like Sirius did. He wanted to do it properly, with thorough research and carefully constructed sentences. Something he could be proud of. He had to do his best after all, he didn't want to make Professor Dumbledore think it was a mistake to bring him to Hogwarts. Not when he was so close to taking external exams. He could really prove himself then with any luck and an awful lot of hard work. Which he could do (and was happy to do so) if he could just stay.

Suddenly, he noticed that Lily Evans was at a table by herself. He thought so anyway, it was difficult to see through a stack of books.

Would it be okay if he asked to join her? Maybe she was saving those seats for her friends? He had studied with her before, well, sat with her as they studied separately. She didn't seem to mind his presence. Maybe he could check. He didn't need much space after all. Just a spot on the table for a piece of parchment. The textbook could go on his lap.

He coughed gently but she didn't hear. It was either that or she was ignoring him and he didn't think she was that rude. So, he tried again but a bit louder.

Still nothing. This was getting awkward. Especially since he was grabbing everyone else's attention in the surrounding area.

"Evans," he said quietly, tapping her on the shoulder.

She had to have jumped about four feet in the air in her shock. It was both amusing and concerning.

"Lupin, don't do that," she scolded, holding her chest and glaring.

"Sorry," Remus offered but couldn't help letting the humour leak into his voice.

Her eyes narrowed at him.

"It's not funny!"

"No," he agreed, his lips twitching.

"It's not!"

Okay, Remus couldn't help it - he burst out into laughter. He got a lot of "Shhh!" from surrounding students but he couldn't stop. Lily tried to look stern but she couldn't hold it. Her lips twitched and then she started giggling.

"Don't creep up on people like that," she scolded as she regained control of herself.

"I wasn't creeping, you just didn't hear me."

"You were creeping!"

Remus just rolled his eyes at her insistence. It wasn't her fault that she was apparently deaf.

"Oh, just sit down," she said in exasperation, moving her stack of books across the table so there was free space in front of the spare chair.

"I was going to ask if I could do my homework here," Remus informed her, taking a seat.

"You aren't going to smack yourself or me with an ink pot, are you?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

Remus spluttered at her. He hadn't thought that anyone had seen that!

"No!"

Hopefully not, anyway.


Monday 12th November 1973

Slytherin Third Year Boys Dorm, 19:30

Severus knew that it was too early to go to bed but he wasn't up here to sleep. He was up here to get a bit of privacy, not something he'd get in the Library and definitely not something he'd get down in the Common Room. The curtains were pulled around his bed and everything so hopefully his dormmates would just think that he'd taken an early night.

Not that that was going to happen. Not when there were things to do. Important things. Like this Potion that Lestrange wanted him to brew to prove to a guy that he was one of "The Best and the Brightest". Severus wanted this to go perfectly, which meant a lot of planning.

Pulling out the now well-worn piece of parchment, the crease lines were sharp from constant recording, Severus trailed a finger down the list of ingredients at the top. He had managed to cross out a few of them, ones that didn't need to be fresh and were already a part of his school supplies. But there were still a good lot of them to get.

He could get about two thirds of the ingredients through Professor Slughorn's order forms for replenishing your school supplies. The rest weren't your basic ingredients or needed to be of a better quality than those needed for school.

Most of those would need to be fresh for the beat results. Not that it said that in the recipe - it never did. But Severus knew that in this case fresh would be best. It would make the potion more effective. Fresh ingredients didn't always do that, most of the time they made them detrimentally stronger and caused explosions or other adverse reactions. Which is why brewers tended to use dried. Much safer and reliable. But Severus had done his research. Lots of it. Fresher would be best for a select number of the ingredients, not all but some.

Severus frowned. Those were going to be expensive. Well, more expensive than his school ones and it wasn't like he had a lot of money in his pocket. None, actually. Mother just paid for his supplies at the start of each year, he never handled money. How was he supposed to get the money for these extra ingredients? It wasn't like he even got any pocket money. Mother never offered and Severus want to ask, he knew how tight money was. He would just have to find a way to earn his own money. Surely there would be a way to do that at Hogwarts?

He'd sort it somehow. Severus ran his eye down the ingredient list again and slowly nodded. There were no other surprises there so he was going to be able to start brewing once he sorted all the ingredients. He could do that in the Potions Lab, there was no need for him to use specialised equipment or anything. Good thing too or else the mysterious person Lestrange had been talking with would see nothing from him.

He should probably be curious about who this mysterious person was who wanted the "Brightest and the Best" but at the moment, Severus didn't care. People had a right to their privacy and Severus guessed that if he passed muster (which he really hoped he did) he would see the man behind all this.

But that didn't matter at the minute. It wouldn't, matter if he didn't manage to brew this potion. He couldn't let this mysterious person down.

Speaking of letting people down, Severus was a bit put out that Lily didn't seem to be involved in this. It was odd because he'd heard the Professors say that she was the brightest in the year. Maybe this sort of thing was just for boys. Or those of magical descent. Or maybe even those from important families - his mother was a Prince after all.

Well, Severus would just take this as a chance to prove himself. Something to prove how good he was. Surely if it was separate from school it would mean more? Maybe he would even be able to get a job from it. That would be really good.

With that thought, Severus started reading through the directions, a smile on his face.