Severus' mother had told him about the excellent food at Hogwarts, but nothing she'd said could quite prepare him for the feast. Certainly not how many different dishes were available, nor how the food on the platters seemed to refill as soon as it started to become low. He knew that house elves had prepared the feast, and they were invisible servants who existed to meet the every need of a witch or wizard. Most belonged to rich families, but Hogwarts housed over one hundred. He'd once wondered how a school could need so many, but upon looking at the vast amounts of food available, he could see why. Besides, this was only a small amount of the work that had to be done. Severus would not have to wash his own clothes or even make up his own bed. There would be no floor mopping or dusting, or dishes to clean after the meal. Everything would be performed by house elves, while he would only have to worry about going to class, getting good grades, and hopefully, making friends.

All the same, as Severus helped himself to the food, he was careful to observe what his new housemates were doing. His mother had warned him against taking too much at once, because this was considered poor form in the Slytherin House. No matter how often you went without meals, you should always start with a modest portion, and not gulp it all down at once. She admitted that taking large bites was more looked down upon if you were a female, but even boys like Severus should mind their manners. She'd instilled these lessons into him.

Except, Severus was not in Slytherin, and there might be a new code of conduct among the Gryffindors. Surely, if gulping down your food, as though you hadn't eaten in weeks, was the right form for people like Potter or Black or Lupin, he should imitate what they were doing. With that in mind, he observed them, and saw that they were taking generous helpings, but not excessive. They filled their plates to the brim, but didn't pour food on top of what was already there. They also ate hungrily, although he thought it was more like they appreciated a good meal than they were making up for going a few days without.

Well, Potter and James could hardly be considered overweight, but one look at them and he doubted that they'd ever missed a meal in their lives. Remus, on the other hand, did look rather pale and thin, even if he was smiling as he ate.

He copied their style of eating as best as he could, and since no one said anything, Severus figured he'd done well enough. After several moments, he allowed himself to relax enough to enjoy what he was eating. Some of the foods were ones he'd never seen before, but everything was delicious. When Black and Potter helped themselves to seconds, followed by Remus and a few of the girls, he did the same. He was, after all, still hungry.

"Don't forget to save room for dessert," one of the older girls warned them, but she was smiling.

"All right, we'll hold off on thirds," Potter answered, with a grin.

"Speak for yourself!" Black shot back, elbowing Potter, and causing him to lose aim of his fork and nearly stab himself in the face. "Blimey, mate, you nearly killed me!"

"Sorry!" Potter laughed.

The two of them cast Severus glances throughout the meal, but they weren't glaring at him. All the same, they didn't speak to them, even as the topic of houses came up, and who had expected to go where.

"I thought I was destined for Hufflepuff," a boy who'd introduced himself as Peter Pettigrew said. "Can't believe I'm here!"

"Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin," Potter said, with a look in Severus' direction.

Not an entirely unfriendly look, or perhaps, he was just imagining it.

"They're not all likely followers of You-Know-Who," the same girl who'd warned them about dessert retorted, and she wasn't smiling. "Both of my sisters are there, and they're still decent."

"Who's You-Know-Who?" Lily asked, looking at Severus, who shrugged.

Sure, he knew loads about Hogwarts and spells, but not so much about wizarding politics. Or whoever this person You-Know-Who was. His mum hadn't exactly been welcome in the wizarding world after marrying his father, or so she'd told him.

"He's a very dark wizard," another older student, a blonde with a long braid down her back, explained in a hushed voice. "Says he descended from Salazar Slytherin himself, and wants to 'purify' the wizarding world of people who don't come from wizarding families. He's already gone after some of the dark creatures for their support, which is rubbish, because if he takes over, they'll be among the first he'll destroy."

"Merlin," Black muttered.

"Point is, there are some perfectly decent Slytherins," the same girl explained. "And you can hardly decry an entire house simply because a few people come from families who support him."

Black, for some reason, looked uncomfortable.

The rest of the feast went smoothly enough. Desserts arrived shortly, and Severus helped himself to a few chocolate eclairs and a few scoops of strawberry ice cream. Potter and Lily, he noticed, were both enjoying ample helpings of treacle tart. He vaguely wondered what was happening at the Slytherin table. Had he been there, would they be talking about pure-blood politics, or just enjoying the good food?

Even as Severus enjoyed his dessert, there was a not so small part of him had begun to worry about what would happen upon retiring to the Gryffindor dormitory. His mother had caustioned him that the students all shared a large room with the students of their gender belonging to their year. This was the policy regardless of house, and even regardless of student status. His mother, having been a Prefect for her last three years, had still been expected to room with the Slytherin females of her year. Even the Head Boy and Head Girl didn't have their own rooms. Before long, Severus would have to go to the Gryffindor tower, then the common room, and then to the bedroom. He'd see James Potter and Sirius Black face to face without the benefit of half a table of food between them, plus other students. Would they be cruel to him? Ignore him, perhaps? It seemed too much to hope that they would let bygones be bygones, now that they were in the same house.

Perhaps, arguing about houses and creating ridiculous and cruel nicknames disappeared once you had been sorted, and once you were all in the same house. Hadn't McGonagall said something about your house being your family?

A lot of good that did Severus, given his father, but most kids probably didn't grow up with near daily beatings.

Which reminded him...he better not let any of his roommates see him without all of his clothes on. They'd ask questions he wasn't about to give them answers to.

Lily had guessed, the one time she'd put an arm around his back, and he'd flinched away. Not simply because he hadn't been used to her touch, but because it had been the day after a particularly bad beating.

He hadn't done anything to deserve it, aside from exist when his father had had too much to drink.

They'd talked about it, and she'd told him that decent parents didn't do that. The occasional spanking, perhaps, although her own parents never did that. (Severus privately felt that Petunia should have gotten one. Or several.) But hitting kids to the point of drawing blood? With a belt? Lily had said that there were laws against that.

Severus didn't know if such laws existed in the Wizarding World, and Tobias Snape certainly wouldn't be held accountable there, not being a wizard. And he couldn't exactly ring the police on his father. Not when his mother-he was fairly sure-went through similar, maybe even worse, treatment. No, he'd just had to stay out of Tobias Snape's way as much as he could.

Once they were finally allowed to leave, Severus felt rather sluggish as he followed the Prefects through the castle and into the Gryffindor tower. Like Slytherin, there was a password, and it was regularly changed, so the students would have to keep track with the new ones as they were posted. He knew that Ravenclaw students needed to answer a riddle, and of course, Slytherin students also had a password. He couldn't recall offhand what Hufflepuff students had to do...it was late, and while he knew the information was there, he couldn't easily retrieve it.

Black and Potter didn't seem to be paying him and Remus much attention when they entered the tower, probably too busy looking around. He touched Lily's hand briefly to say goodnight, and she gave him a sleepy smile and a soft, "Night, Sev." Then, a male prefect led him, Remus, Pettigrew, Black, and Potter to their dormitory, and he assumed that a female was doing the same for Lily and her roommates. He wondered, briefly, about his trunk, but it was at the foot of his bed when he entered the room.

It was a large room, too, easily the size of their entire downstairs. There was ample space between the beds, and the beds were the four poster kind with red and gold curtains you could pull on to have some sense of privacy. He quickly chose the one closest to the door, then opened his trunk and grabbed a set of his sleeping attire before heading into bed.

Black and Potter grabbed their garb and headed into another room-probably the bathroom-with Pettigrew tailing behind them. Remus looked like he might follow, then turned to Severus.

"Er, are you coming?"

Severus shook his head. "No, I'd prefer to change here."

Remus gave him a smile. "Well, all right, then. See you in a bit?"

He nodded. "Well, perhaps. I, er, reckon I might be asleep by the time you get back."

Remus, chuckling a bit, nodded. "I know what you mean, Severus. Good night."

"Good night, Remus."

He pulled the curtains closed, and changed out of his robes and into his sleeping gown as quickly as possible. Then, he opened the curtain to deposit the robe on top of his chest of clothes. The others were still gone.

Severus realized he should probably brush his teeth...but he was too tired to care, and one day was unlikely to do any long-term damage.

He pulled the blankets and sheets away from the bed and crept inside before pulling them back over him. They felt softer and warmer than anything he'd ever slept under, and within moments, he was fast asleep.

Author's note:

I should warn you that I don't usually post this frequently-I aim for an update of any of my Harry Potter fics once a week-but I've been inspired to work on this fic and currently have eight chapters in various forms of completion, and as I seem to have an audience here, there's not much point in staggering them TOO much. That being said, my policy for updating this fic will remain the same for my others: I want to have at least one chapter written ahead of the one I'm posting, and a good idea of what will happen afterwards, before I update again. At this point, the writing process is going rather well, but I expect I'll run into some writer's block at SOME point.

Next up:

The meeting between Severus, James, and Sirius. But will be it a confrontation?