His Greatest Wish, by AndromedaMarine
A Different James Potter
Over the course of a week Severus trained himself to ignore Potter as much as necessary, and push the worst of his memories into the back of his thoughts. The mere fact that they were sharing Gryffindor House as well as the first year dorm had taken any mal intent out of James's behavior, at least for the moment. Severus didn't doubt that by Halloween the stuck-up git would already have joined hips with Sirius, Remus, and Peter, and be picking on some poor Slytherin first year that had the ill fortune to appear unwashed.
He and Lily began to be inseparable. Lily's roommates, Mary Macdonald, Alice Nelson, Tess Worthington, and Laura Kingsley, had already inquired after her unusual relationship with Severus; they deemed it odd for Lily to spend all her time with a gross boy (and it had nothing to do with Severus himself; they thought James Potter and his friends were equally infected with cooties). Lily laughingly told this to Sev on their way down to breakfast in the middle of September. They fell into a routine of schedule, but he still found it difficult to act like his skills were only work of genius (like Hermione) rather than the truth of the matter.
With an ill feeling in his stomach, Severus finally admitted to himself that he would one day have to tell her about his past life. But their relationship was not solid enough for that kind of wave to not dislodge their friendship and, more importantly, Lily's love.
Severus remembered with a curious sensation that James Potter had barely taken notice of Lily before third year. Sev wondered if this would change now that he was a Gryffindor, and if James now saw him as direct competition. With half of September gone already it seemed like this second chance of his had slipped by without him noticing. He was careful to avoid the Slytherins, but found this easy; to begin with, the House of Snakes hated him on the principle that he was in Gryffindor. With a frown, Sev thought about how easily Lucius Malfoy and Mulciber and Avery had lured him into their clutches... He shook it off. This was a chance at life with Lily, he reminded himself. He must not dwell on the life he'd lived...the life that didn't exist anymore, albeit in his mind. Already things had changed, and for the better.
Sharing the room with the Marauders turned out to be uneventful and surprisingly quiet. Sirius and James became the fast friends Severus expected, but quite to his surprise Remus appeared at his and Lily's tucked-away table one day in early September, looking haggard and exhausted. Severus immediately remembered that the full moon had been two nights before. He froze with this realization, chiding himself at how he could have forgotten, but didn't protest when Remus asked if he could join them. Lily looked positively delighted and the next day proceeded to ask Frank if he would join their little study group.
Before Severus knew it, he had become an accepted part of a group that consisted of Lily, Remus, Frank, and himself. He wondered wryly if Alice would begin studying with them soon too, even though in his former life Frank and Alice had only started dating in fourth year. During the interim spent watching Harry's life and contemplating his own, Severus had been able to let his old prejudices fade, able to see the error of his ways and swallow his pride when it came to Lily, because she was too important to lose twice. It was for this reason Sev managed to be civil, even friendly, towards James and sometimes Sirius, and to accept Remus into his small circle of friends despite his "furry little problem," which Remus had yet to reveal to the rest of the Marauders and Lily.
Sirius, for his part, remained sullen when alone, and a joker when with James. But Sev remained wary, neither befriending nor shunning the rebel Black, because despite his changes he could not forget the evil prank pulled on him involving the werewolf Remus, and did not wish to give Sirius any opportunity to pull something like that again. It didn't cross his mind that like James, Sirius might be acting differently because Sev was a Gryffindor.
The last day of September was upon them when Remus found Severus, Lily, and Frank in the library. He practically ran to them, ignoring the squawks of Madam Pince, and skidded to a halt in front of the table. The three looked up in surprise.
"Remus?" Lily asked, clearly understanding that something had happened.
The ill feeling returned to Sev's stomach.
"It's Peter," Remus panted, but when the three began to get up he motioned for them to keep sitting. He collapsed into a chair. "He's all right, but James and Sirius had to take him to the Hospital Wing. Somebody from Slytherin attacked him when he was coming up from a remedial potions meeting with Slughorn—you all know how atrocious he is with potions."
"What happened, exactly?" Severus asked calmly, ignoring the looks he got from Lily and Frank. Remus's eyes darted around the library before looking at Sev.
"James told me that it was some fourth year picking on Peter. The spell made boils erupt all over his face and..." Remus trailed off, not wanting to say any more. "James wants to go hex whoever it was but I told him to stay put with Pete and Sirius, and then I came here."
Seems like you're already shaping up to be a Prefect, Severus thought. A sudden swell of hatred arose within him. "Lestrange, wasn't it?"
Remus looked at him in surprise. "Sorry?"
Anger still boiling beneath the surface, he said, "Rabastan Lestrange. You know, Rodolphous's younger brother?" When he got puzzled looks from Remus and Lily, he turned to Frank. "Please tell me you know who I'm talking about." For a moment Severus stared into Frank's eyes, remembering how years from now Bellatrix, Rodolphous, and Rabastan Lestrange, along with Barty Crouch Junior, attacked and tortured Frank and Alice into insanity. The intense hatred for the Lestrange clan still there, Severus tore his gaze away from Frank Longbottom.
Frank slowly shook his head.
Severus sighed. "Okay, then, should I explain?"
The three of them nodded their agreement.
His tone was laced with bitterness and hatred, but only Lily recognized this. "Sirius has a cousin, Bellatrix Black, whose sister is Narcissa, in Slytherin. Bellatrix married Rodolphous Lestrange, whose younger brother is Rabastan, a fourth year here. I'm guessing Rabastan cursed Peter because he's a Gryffindor, and friends with Sirius and Potter." This was a long shot in explaining, but it had happened in his former lifetime; he'd heard about it from Rabastan himself, who'd joked about it in the Slytherin common room later that evening. Severus remembered with guilt and self-loathing that he'd laughed about it along with them, for by that point in the year the Marauders were already making his life miserable.
The group remained there, talking quietly about Peter, until Madam Pince swooped down upon them and they scattered, realizing curfew was in fifteen minutes. Frank and Remus nearly sprinted up the staircases to Gryffindor Tower, but Sev tugged on Lily's sleeve to keep her in pace with him.
"Why do you call him 'Potter,' Sev?" she asked quietly, looking sideways at him with a curious expression on her face. "You don't use surnames with anyone else in Gryffindor."
Severus started. "I—I don't think I've ever called him by his first name, Lily. It's just habit." Old habits die hard, apparently. "But does it really matter?"
Lily shrugged noncommittally, and faced forward again. They were on the last corridor towards the Tower. "Not really, I suppose. Sometimes I start to call him 'Potter' and then remember his first name." She bumped his shoulder. "You're rubbing off on me, Sev." She had a small smile on her face, and Severus felt lighter for the first time since Remus came charging into the library. Suddenly she stopped in the corridor, and it took Severus a moment to realize she'd done so. When he turned around he saw her looking at him with a strange expression on her face. "You sounded really angry, back there, talking about the Lestranges."
"I know about things they've done," he said, thinking fast. "Horrible things that Bellatrix and Rodolphous have done in You-Know-Who's service...and it made me mad that Rabastan is walking the same path. It's awful that some things don't change."
For a moment Lily seemed confused, but she shook it off. "I wish you'd be honest with me about whatever's bothering you," she said, and they continued back down the corridor towards the portrait hole.
His insides writhed. Years of deceiving Voldemort, and Lily Evans can see right through me. "Quaffle," Severus said to the Fat Lady, and they walked into the common room. The first thing they saw was Remus, Frank, James, and Sirius in a group around the fire, speaking in hushed tones. Remus looked up and beckoned them over.
"Is he okay?" Lily asked once within the group.
"Madam Pomfrey fixed him in a trice, but he wouldn't stop bawling so she kept him there," James said with a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"It's not his fault," Sirius said scathingly. "My cousin's little brother-in-law did it because I'm in Gryffindor."
Always thinking it's about you, Severus thought, a little prematurely.
Lily's soft voice drew him out of the acid prejudice against Sirius Black. "Maybe Lestrange did it because Peter's a first-year Gryffindor," she suggested evenly, staring right at Sirius. "Maybe Peter being our friend only added to his list of reasons."
Our friend? Since when has Pettigrew been 'our friend'? "I think Lily's right," Severus said to everyone's surprise, including himself. Lily really may be right. There was nothing in my other life about Rabastan attacking Peter solely because of Sirius or his other friends. I recall the Death-Eater-in-training stating that all Gryffindors (and Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws) ought to get the same treatment as Peter.
Sirius glared at him, perhaps a little put-out that his theory was now forgotten. "It's still not Pete's fault," he muttered, crossing his arms and turning to face the fire. James yawned involuntarily, causing the rest of the group to do the same. Lily realized how late it really was.
"Merlin, I'm tired," she said through a particularly powerful yawn. "Goodnight, you all." She turned to Sev and gave him a bear hug, making James do a double take at Lily's display of affection and Frank to give a little chuckle. "See you at breakfast, Sev," she murmured, and drew herself away to the girls' dormitory.
"I'm turning in too," Severus stated calmly, although his stomach was chock-full of fluttering snitches, hitched his bag over his shoulder, and climbed up to the first year dorm. He was asleep and dreaming about Lily long before the rest of the boys even started up the stairs.
Early the next morning Severus somehow found himself walking to the Great Hall a few paces ahead of James.
"Severus!" James called out when they'd made it to the sixth floor landing. "Hey, Severus, can I talk to you?"
I'd rather you didn't, but—"Yes?" the former Slytherin said, turning to face him.
For a moment Severus's unwavering gaze and hard expression threw James off. "Er—would you mind giving me some pointers for Potions? You're the best in the class and Slughorn always looks down his nose at me when I try my best, which obviously isn't good enough."
Sev was surprised that James hadn't asked Lily, but then remembered the bit about James not fancying her until third year. "What happened with your last one?" Severus knew quite well what had gone wrong, but wanted James to admit it for himself. They started down the stairs again, James still one step behind Sev.
James reddened. "It melted my cauldron."
One of Severus's eyebrows went up as he looked over his shoulder. "What did you do that made it melt your cauldron?"
He shrugged. "I'm not sure. I—I was joking around with Sirius and it sort of, well, oozed."
"Your first mistake was not paying attention to what you were doing." Why am I even helping him? Sev asked himself, but remembered that in this lifetime James hadn't been mean to him, yet. "Can I guess that you added the asphodel before the asp fangs and stirring seven times clockwise?" That would certainly melt a cauldron.
"Probably," James said, falling into step with Severus as they continued down to the Great Hall. "Oh, Madam Pomfrey told us that Peter would be down for breakfast. Don't you think you should ask him who did it?"
"I doubt Peter would know Rabastan Lestrange from Lucius Malfoy, but it probably wouldn't hurt." Despite the fact I know it was Rabastan, last time he wasn't punished because nobody came forward and Pettigrew hadn't known his name. "You mean to say you aren't going to ask him?"
"I tried, last night," he said darkly, "but if Peter knew he didn't say. I thought, maybe if you asked him..."
"What makes you think Peter would listen to me?" Severus asked as they entered the Great Hall and found seats halfway down the Gryffindor Table. Severus didn't object but didn't like it when James sat beside him.
James reddened again. "I don't know. I guess, well, sometimes it just sounds like you know what you're doing. It's like you've got authority, and Peter will listen to authority."
Severus faced his breakfast, pleased. "I'll ask him," he conceded, knowing full well the little lump of a boy did not know Rabastan's name or that it was Rabastan who hexed him.
Peter Pettigrew did not venture into the Great Hall until halfway through breakfast. Sirius, Remus, Frank, and Lily had joined Severus and James at the table, Lily giving her roommates an apologetic look as she didn't join them. Timidly Peter slid onto the bench beside Remus and nervously picked at his food. From time to time he would jerk his head up and glance at the Slytherin table, clearly afraid that whoever had hexed him would do it again in the middle of his meal.
"Peter," Severus said evenly, chancing a look at both James and Lily on either side of him, "do you know who attacked you?"
Peter jumped when Sev addressed him. He shook his head violently and continued to stare at the plate.
"Please, Peter," Lily assisted, "whoever did it has to be punished. We know it was a Slytherin fourth year. What did he look like?"
"Tall and scary," Peter replied after several minutes of silence.
Severus let out an exasperated sigh. "Peter, all the Slytherins are tall and scary, even the girls. It was Rabastan Lestrange, wasn't it? Shaggy brown hair, skinny beyond belief, and a permanent look of disgust on his face?"
At this description Peter began to nod, a glimmer of hope in his beady, rat-like eyes.
"We should all go to Professor McGonagall," James suggested. "Wouldn't it be better if there were more witnesses?"
"None of us saw Lestrange actually attack him, though, did we?" Severus replied, stating what he saw to be the obvious.
Sirius shook his head. "No, James and I—"
James shoved his elbow between Sirius's ribs. Severus got the inkling that the two had been in the dungeon corridor under the Invisibility Cloak when Rabastan hexed Peter, but he didn't say anything. "We were going to meet Peter and found him...well, we saw Lestrange and some other Slytherins walking away, laughing."
"Let's go to Transfiguration early," Frank said firmly. "And tell Professor McGonagall what happened."
As Peter continued to pick at his food, he was amazed at how many people had agreed to stand up with him, for him. "Thanks," he squeaked in a small voice.
Remus looked up at the High Table and saw that the only teachers left were Professors Sprout, Vector, and Flitwick, and he saw Hagrid lumbering down the aisle between the Hufflepuff and Slytherin tables towards the Entrance Hall. "Hey, c'mon, it looks like she's already gone to the classroom."
The seven first years collectively left the Gryffindor table and hurried to the Transfiguration classroom. As they passed the tittering first year girls from Lily's dormitory, Severus wondered what they must think of their roommate spending all her time in the company of the first year boys. They poured through the classroom door one at a time, setting their bags on their desks before venturing past McGonagall's desk to knock on her office door.
She opened it swiftly, surveying seven of the youngest members of her House. "I trust you all have come to me with one particular thought in mind, perhaps pertaining to young Mr. Pettigrew's trip to the infirmary last night?" she said in her normal, clipped voice. Minerva McGonagall swept past them. Her face softened. "There is no need to look frightened on my account, Mr. Pettigrew."
"Professor," James started, looking from Peter to the Transfiguration professor, "did Madam Pomfrey say anything about who might've done it?"
"She did not," Minerva replied, looking over her spectacles at the ruffle-haired James Potter. "Do you wish to tell me you know of the culprit?"
Collectively, all seven nodded. "Rabastan Lestrange," Sirius provided quietly.
This revelation did not surprise Minerva McGonagall in the least. "And have you proof?"
Severus knew from the beginning that McGonagall would ask this question. She'd never taken a student seriously in an accusation unless she had proof of witness or proof of instinct, on her part.
"James and I saw Lestrange and some other Slytherins walking away from Peter in the dungeons. They were laughing about what they'd obviously done to him, and we took him up to the hospital," Sirius mumbled, looking anywhere but at his Head of House's eyes.
Minerva pursed her lips. "As I have not heard from Professor Slughorn of reported injuries amongst his students, I gather that this means you both refrained from taking revenge?"
It was with the utmost self-constraint and will to remain under wraps that Severus managed not to crack an uncharacteristic grin. James and Sirius tipped their heads in agreement, not knowing what their Head of House had in mind for them.
"I am proud, then, of you two for showing an understanding of priority in getting Mr. Pettigrew to help. Ten points to the both of you."
Potter and Black exchanged a fleeting grin and then they glanced at their friend, Peter. "What... I mean is Lestrange going to be punished?" James asked, now avoiding Minerva's eyes as well.
"Oh, you can trust that I will have a word with Professor Slughorn and the Headmaster. Mr. Lestrange has overstepped his bounds yet again."
Well, this is interesting, Severus mused. I remember Rabastan getting expelled in his sixth year for Imperiusing a second year to curse one of the teachers. Perhaps he will be expelled sooner... "Professor," Severus suddenly said, "I know that Death Eaters have only been around for two years, but is it out of place to suggest Rabastan might be on his way to becoming one? Aren't his older brother Rodolphous and sister-in-law Bellatrix already in You-Know-Who's ranks?" Of course it's out of place, you idiot, speaking to Minerva as if she were an equal instead of a superior. Severus mentally smacked himself upside the head.
Minerva stared at Severus, clearly shocked at the depth of this boy's knowledge regarding Voldemort and his followers. "Mr. Snape, how do you surmise as much?"
"You hear things when you're mother's a disowned, bitter pureblood with ideals that go along with the rest of the Prince family," he said darkly, his eyes conveying a displeased frown. Severus looked up and met McGonagall's eyes, on instinct throwing up his Occlumency walls although he had no knowledge if Minerva was a Legilimens. "My mother isn't pleased I'm in Gryffindor, Professor. She wanted me to be a Slytherin."
Severus detected a flash of flattery go through Minerva's eyes. But if she was surprised at Sev's words no one else noticed it. She looked at him a moment longer, before taking in each of the seven first years before her. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I am glad to see Mr. Pettigrew has already made a good number of true friends."
Internally, Severus snorted. By the time Minerva had dismissed them to their seats the rest of the class started trickling in, and ten minutes later Professor McGonagall set to teaching the class how to transfigure a button into a checker piece. Severus didn't do anything with his wand until the latter end of the class, in which he only said the incantation to keep up appearances. He could have transfigured a button into a checker piece without saying anything and without even looking at the button, but as no first year in all of history could do that, neither could he.
The rest of the day he spent in Lily, Remus, and Frank's company, occasionally joined by Peter, and the one thought on the forefront of his mind was that today he had encountered a very different James Potter, one who didn't go off hexing Slytherins without thinking about it first, a James who had the decency to be civil to him, even friendly... A James Potter who did not seem to harbor any bad feelings towards Severus Snape...a James Potter who may indeed keep his distance when it came to Lily and Sev.
Have my changes really influenced James this much, only one month into this second life, that all mal intent has been stripped away? He and the Marauders haven't as of yet chosen my replacement for mocking and ridicule... Dare I hope that this future is as different as I have long imagined?