After he waited for several moments in a deafening silence, Severus seethed, positively livid.

"Absolutely wonderful work, Snape." he hissed. "It wasn't bad enough that you nearly gave that stupid, melodramatic oath of knighthood to her, but then you clammed up like you'd been hit by bloody Langlock. Truly amazing. Well-deserving of an Outstanding on your O.W.L. for how to speak to her."

Rolling his eyes at the disastrous ending of his conversation with Lily, Severus marched towards his bed before passing by those four, ever-watchful green eyes reflected back at him from the Mirror of Erised. As always, the presence of the beautiful, adult Lily and their hypothetical child left a calming sense of ease that chased away his frustrations.

He approached the Mirror again, and spent several moments just watching Viridi tug gently at her mother's loose, red hair. Seeing the little girl's adorable gesture caused the barest hint of a smile to tease at his lips before he shook his head back to stern clarity.

"Why am I acting this way? What does Lily's opinion of me really matter, in the end?" he asked out loud, locking eyes with the reflection of the lovely woman staring back at him.

"Wouldn't it be better if you hated me? That way, I could focus on keeping you alive rather than being distracted by these silly interactions that have no bearing on that goal. You thought the worst of me today. Why didn't I just embrace that and make you hate me?! With one word, I could have sent you away..." he pleaded with reflection-Lily.

For the first time, that ever-present smile faded from the young woman's face, as did the warmth and happiness radiating from her eyes. As if his words had stung her, much in the same way they would the real Lily. She gazed back down at Viridi, gently rocking the baby back and forth to keep her calm.

Without a spoken word, reflection-Lily had answered his question as she looked back up at him with a sad frown.

"If I did that, then even the very dream of that life...this child...would die." Even if it was idealistic and undeserved for someone like him...could he really do that now that he had seen her?

Viridi's reflection let out another sleepy yawn as her eyes drooped shut, her pale, tiny fingers loosening their grip on the copper curls belonging to her mother.

No...even if the dream was foolish, there was so much beauty in it that he could not possibly let it go. That was why he almost uttered those cringeworthy words that he wanted to be Lily's knight. A witch of her calibur hardly needed protecting; the scene in the Potions lab had proven that. But he wanted to fight for her nonetheless.

Seeing his deepest desires on display so many times in the mirror had relit a flame long extinguished. Even if it remained nothing more than a fantasy and had no hope of coming to life...he still yearned to be worthy of it nonetheless.

It was for that same reason that he persisted after Lily died in his first life. Protecting her son in the futile hope that he might be able to honor her sacrifice and earn a shred of forgiveness for his part in her death. Ending his own life would have been a more sane option, but that was something he simply could not do. Even an unachievable dream such as that was worth fighting for...just as little Viridi herself was as he watched her fall back to sleep in her mother's arms.

Sensing that renewed ambition, the reflection-Lily's smile returned as he leaned against him. And though he could not feel the warmth of her body against his own, this time her phantom gesture of love was not hollow to him. He still felt the warmth in his own heart, much as he did every time he cast the Patronus. And with that realization, Severus felt a sudden urge to try something.

Turning towards the fireplace, whose flame had been reduced to mere embers, he raised his Ebony Wand and pointed it at the smoldering wood. He felt that heat, calming and comforting all throughout his body, and brought his focus towards the tip of his wand.

"Incendio." he said, drawing the flame with the movement of his wand.

Without fail, a jet of conjured flame burst towards the cedar wood and relit the fireplace. The smile teased at his cheeks again, seeing his first successful spell cast using Dumbledore's suggested method of utilizing emotion akin to the Patronus Charm. It was a very simple spell, taught at the first-year level. But seeing another sign of his magical core still being functional gave Severus all he needed to sigh in relief.

He turned back to the reflection, seeing the beaming grin on her face as she made it clear how proud she was of his success. No doubt this process of casting spells would take a lot of getting used to and require him to envelop himself in feelings and sensations abandoned during his dark, adult years. But for the sake of that unattainable, yet beautiful goal, he would give it his all.

"Thank you, Lily." he whispered.

And as she had done a few times before, the reflection-Lily's lips spoke soundlessly.

"Always, my Prince." she mouthed.

Despite only getting a few hours of sleep, Severus had been quick to rise that Monday morning. This day marked his first official O.W.L. taken, but given that it was the Potions exam, there was hardly a need to worry about either portion of it turning out anything less than perfect. There was zero reason for him to be nervous about this, unlike someone whose knowledge was extremely recent like Mary.

Severus frowned for a moment, thinking about the Muggle-born witch that Lily had so fervently defended against the cruelty of his house mates. There was a nagging itch in the back of his mind that he should have done something, even before she had mentioned it to him during last night's conversation.

He knew how dangerous those three would become in just a few years, but for now, they were little more than spoiled children who flaunted their power based on who their parents were. Albus may not have had any qualms about punishing crimes yet undone, but there was one very grievous crime that had already been committed. If ever there was a time to take one of the pawns off of the enemy's side of the chessboard...it was now.

It came as little surprise to Severus that both the written and practical segments of his Potions O.W.L. were finished absurdly quickly. Of the students in their year, only he and Lily had opted to use that particular cauldron, with many others using the more reasonable speeds of brass or pewter cauldrons. No doubt this was due to a lack of confidence in their ability to handle the brewing process at a more rapid pace.

He noticed Lily's shocked stare when he finished brewing his Draught of Peace and called the Ministry proctor over to examine it even before she had finished the final steps of her own concoction.

"My goodness!" the middle-aged witch gasped as she examined the silvery liquid. "This is so potent that even the aroma is sending shivers down my spine! I noticed that you used an extra half of moonstone as well as several more porcupine quills during the final steps of your mix. Might I ask where you learned this altered recipe from?"

"Self-taught." Severus said, keeping his voice quiet so that the other students could continue to focus. Out the corner of his eye, he saw Mary anxiously powdering her unicorn horn near her steadily brewing pewter cauldron. "My mother taught me the basics of brewing when I was very young, but since then I've learned to experiment with my own modifications to recipes."

"Merlin's beard!" the witch excitedly scrawled out her notes to his explanation. "A potion prodigy! I'll certainly be sure to include all of that into your evaluation, Mr. Snape! Just leave a sample flask marked and on your workspace and you can begin your cleanup!"

Why didn't this conversation seem at all familiar to him? He was certainly better than he had been during his first life, but he and Lily had been the two to stand head and shoulders above everyone else that Slughorn had been teaching during this era.

And then he remembered...this had been his first exam taken after his fallout with Lily after the incident at the lake. He had been so distracted by his torrent of emotion and the depression that followed that his potion was barely much better than some of his peers', and he had received the previously-unthinkable grade of Exceeds Expectations. For someone as proficient at brewing as he had been, this had been the equivalent of receiving a Troll…but given the argument and heartbreak at the Fat Lady's Portrait, it was understandable if nothing else.

Severus took another brief glance at Lily, who still seemed rattled by how quickly he had finished.

"Bloody hell…" she mouthed to him, while Severus simply shrugged and smirked briefly at her once he had begun his cleanup process.

As Lily had surmised a few days ago, up to this point in their original life, she had been just as good at brewing potions as he had been, but almost two decades of teaching the subject had more than given him a leg-up. That was fine, though. He needed a bit of extra time to finish cleaning up and making his way towards Professor Slughorn's personal stores to fetch something…

Severus took a brief sip of his afternoon tea as he sat at the end of the Slytherin table of the Great Hall for a post-exam lunch. Nearly everyone in their year who had partaken in today's exams had assembled for the occasion, and on the other end of the table, Snape noticed Rosier, Avery, and Mulciber chatting quietly, each sipping their own cup of pumpkin juice. It was time to take advantage of the situation now that all the pieces were in place, and he could only hope that the opportunity he had inadvertently set from the previous night would be as predictable as he remembered from his teenage years.

His eyes settled on Peter Pettigrew, who had been eating next to the rest of his fellow Marauders. Seeing the plump, rat-toothed boy turn white as a sheet gave Severus a brief chill of satisfaction, but even more than that, his eyes lit up when Wormtail leaned over to his friends and whispered grimly. His frantic, beady eyes never left Snape's.

"Come on, Potter...take the bait." he thought, biting his bottom lip as he studied the scene.

For just a moment, James Potter's glance turned towards Lily, who had remained engrossed in conversation with Mary and Marlene. But whatever conflict that had been in the bespectacled boy's heart evaporated the moment Severus gave him a knowing sneer.

In unison, all four of the Marauders got to their feet and crossed the Great Hall and its several tables before Potter led his merry band of misfits to sit directly across from Severus. Exactly as he had hoped they would. The boy's loyalty to his friends was easy to exploit, if not commendable. And also quite ill-advised given that the seeds of Pettigrew's betrayal had already been planted.

"Heard you threatened my friend last night, Snivellus. Didn't anyone ever tell you to keep your enormous nose out of other people's business?" James spat.

"He can't help it, Prongs. Bastard's nose is big enough to fit all the water of the lake inside of it." Sirius said, his voice dripping with hostility.

Snape smirked, hearing the stools from further down the Slytherin table beginning to shuffle as the Gryffindor gang had begun making a scene.

"Perhaps your friend should give you some additional knowledge of why I threatened him?" Severus said, sharply looking back at Pettigrew.

"Any second now…"

"Gryffindor trash doesn't belong at this table, Potter." came the voice of Mulciber. "Go sit next to the Mudblood girls. I hear that Macdonald is quite easy, but I'm sure your friend Black can attest to that." The larger boy took a seat next to Severus, his goblet clanging against the table. He couldn't help but smirk up at the group of boys intruding at their table.

"Come now, Mulciber. It's good to see that Snape's at least acting like himself again. I was beginning to think he had lost his way." Rosier chuckled as he sat on the other side.

Severus noticed that Lily and her friends had stood up at the other end of the hall, seeing the growing look of concern in her eyes.

The battle lines were drawn, Severus and his fellow Slytherins on one side of the table, with James Potter and the remaining Marauders on the other. It was a Powder Keg almost sure to explode, especially with emotions high following the incident in the Potions Lab.

"Got a lot of nerve, you prick." Sirius said to Mulciber, his face contorted in rage. "So help me, when you take the Dark Mark, I'm going to get you back for what you did to Mary…"

"And what exactly did he do, Black?" Severus smiled ominously as he rose to his feet to stare eye-to-eye with Sirius. "Haven't you been told the truth a hundred times about your little conspiracy theory?"

"Come on, Black...make a scene…" he thought, hoping that his provocation would prove effective.

"To hell with you!" Sirius pointed his wand squarely at Snape's chest. "I don't give a damn how bad you got hurt by that fall, Snivellus! James didn't knock your head around enough!"

"Gentlemen!" echoed the irate voice of Professor McGonagall as she quickly made her presence known. All eyes turned to her...all except Severus' whose hands very quickly moved unseen to the rest of the table.

"I don't expect that I need to tell you what will happen if you cast that spell, Mr. Black! Do you wish to be barred from Quidditch next year alongside Mr. Potter?! Because that can be arranged!"

Severus took a seat, his eyes calmly surveying the scene. The only one looking at him was Lily...her eyes wide in astonishment as her lips parted in a gasp. If she had noticed what he had done...well...that was not his intention, but also not altogether unwelcome.

"Now, explain yourselves, all of you!" McGonagall demanded.

Mulciber took a brief sip from his goblet, savoring the sweet taste of the pumpkin juice as his smug face grinned at his Gryffindor adversaries.

"Allow me, Professor. These four brutes decided to come across the hall to antagonize me." Severus said, his voice slow and deliberate. "My house mates simply came to my defense, but Black here took it upon himself to start throwing accusations around about Linus Mulciber." he added, pointing to the larger student. "More of that nonsense about the Imperius Curse and Miss Macdonald last year."

Professor McGonagall's lips pursed, clearly agitated herself by what Severus had said. As the Head of Gryffindor, she tried her best to be fair, but even she strongly suspected the guilt of the menacing, Slytherin boy. Yet without any form of proof of wrongdoing, she could do nothing.

"Mulciber. Why don't you tell this pack of savage lions that you didn't curse Mary?" Severus said with a sarcastic grin.

"But I DID do it. Made her my pretty doll for a good few hours before erasing her memory." Mulciber said with a hearty laugh before his eyes widened in realization of what had just been said.

The whispers across the hall exploded into a chorus of gasps.

McGonagall's brow furrowed, her steely-blue eyes piercing through the guilty Slytherin. "Excuse me, Mr. Mulciber. Did you just admit to casting an Unforgivable Curse upon one of your fellow students?" she hissed.

"I-I did! The Imperius Curse!" the muscular Slytherin stammered, his eyes widening in terror as his mouth betrayed him.

Severus noticed Lily's eyes awash with unshed tears as her trembling lips curled upward into a rejoicing smile aimed solely in his direction. Mary stood next to her, deathly silent in pure disbelief as her attacker admitted his guilt.

"Professor, clearly my classmate has been drugged by Veritaserum." Severus explained. "And as I'm sure you know, by itself, that cannot be used to ascertain someone's guilt. It violates all rules and ethics for underage witches and wizards. His father, who sits on the board of governors, will likely tell you the same thing."

The babbling Mulciber smiled reverently at Snape as if he were the Dark Lord himself, while both Rosier and Avery let out their collectively held breaths in relief. Almost everyone else on the Gryffindor side glared at him scornfully. Sirius, James, and Marlene in particular seemed especially hateful of Severus' remark to basically save his housemate from punishment. All of them, except Lily, whose smile didn't waver as she knew what was coming next...

After all, she had been the only one to see him spike Mulciber's drink in the first place.

"...Which is why I'd be more than happy to assist you by providing my memory of the incident in question. You'll find it unaltered and perfectly capable of proving Mulciber's guilt."

All of the commotion around the scene vanished, leaving nothing but a few moments of eerie quiet. None of the students knew what to make of Severus' bold declaration. The Gryffindors' eyes narrowed in disbelief. McGonagall's stern expression softened just a bit into a relaxed smile.

Avery and Mulciber both seemed utterly shell-shocked by Snape's betrayal. Only Rosier grit his teeth hatefully, clearly having suspected something of the sort following his decision to send Pettigrew to spy on him. But before the authority of the Deputy Headmistress, none of them were in a position to question.

"Very well, Mr. Snape. I'll escort Mr. Mulciber upstairs. I'm sure the Headmaster will want to be a part of this conversation."

As Severus got up from his seat, he saw Rosier's seething face snarling out of the corner of his eye, but paid it no mind. Because he also saw Lily's beaming face, gazing at him with the same pride as her older, phantom self had done the evening prior when he had successfully cast a spell. But this smile was real, not from an illusory reflection.

That made his uncharacteristically grandiose display all the more worth it.

Author's Note: Well, I suppose there's no going back now, is there? It seems that Severus was the one to strike first in this growing distrust that his fellow Slytherins were eventually going to show him. But this chapter shows that yes, Sev still has that streak of Slytherin cunning in him.

I don't plan on going too in-depth with the O.W.L.s simply because who honestly likes exams? I know I hated them in school, so we'll just be brushing over them and focusing more intently on the stuff that happens surrounding the O.W.L.s themselves.

As always, if you enjoyed the chapter, please leave a review and tell me why! And if you didn't, hey, that's fine too and I want to hear you! Just keep it civil, please!