"Mr. Potter, kindly remain after class," Professor McGonagall said, in her usual crisp manner. "Class dismissed."
Severus wasn't overly concerned. Being asked to remain afterwards wasn't necessarily cause for discipline. In fact, most of the teachers at Hogwarts rarely detained students for this reason, preferring to issue the taking of points or assigning of detentions in front of other students.
Neither of which he had received as a punishment since his arrival, although James and Sirius had received a handful of lost points apiece. They earned plenty, though, so no one minded.
Anyway, he had just submitted his request to spend a week of the Christmas holidays at school, so he imagined his head of house was going to tell him her decision.
Severus walked to her desk, waiting until everyone else had left.
"I received your request, Mr. Snape," she began. "Your mother's move to Hogsmeade makes it relatively simple to grant."
"Thank you, Professor," Severus answered, gratefully.
She gave him a nod. "Some of the older students spend part of the holidays with family and the other part at school, but they are generally the fifth and seventh year students. May I ask why you wish to do so?"
"I would like to spend some of the time with my housemates," Severus began, slowly, "but I received news from my mother that..." He stopped, not sure how much he wanted to tell. Or could tell. It was one thing for his roommates to know of his father's abuse. Another for his teacher, even if she was his head of house. Especially since his mother had abandoned the man. "I would like to see her," he finished, rather lamely.
McGonagall studied him. "Mr. Snape, I am aware that your father is a muggle, and that your mother is no longer living with him. If you are having any difficulty, please know that you can speak with your Prefect..."
Severus shook his head. "It's fine, ma'am. My father and I were not...we did not have a very..."
He trailed off again.
She nodded, her stern face softening. "If you do have a change of mind, your Prefect can be a resource, or provide someone who may help."
Severus nodded. "Thank you, Professor."
"With regards to your original request, there will be carriages departing from Hogsmeade to Hogwarts at noon on the day after Christmas. You won't need a ticket, simply arrive at the train station promptly. The carriages to Hogsmeade will depart from the grounds to Hogsmeade on the first day of the holiday."
"Thank you," Severus repeated, glad to be done with the questioning. "I won't forget."
"I expect you won't," she said, offering a small smile. "I shall write you a note to explain your lateness to your next class."
The next class being History of Magic, it hardly seemed necessary, but Severus was hardly about to say so. He accepted the note and left, glad that he knew his way around the corridors well enough that he wouldn't get lost without a classmate.
He entered the class to hear Binns droning on about a goblin war, and left the parchment on his desk before taking a seat next to Remus and behind James and Sirius, who were reading from a book. Peter, on the other side of James, looked like he was losing the battle against falling asleep. Sirius gave his chair a light kick as he sat down, and he turned around.
"Everything okay?" he mouthed.
Severus nodded, feeling the familiar warmth at having friends who actually cared.
Oh, he knew that Lily cared, but he had never told her about the beatings.
He would have kept it a secret from the others, had Sirius not walked in and seen him. But not now. He wasn't glad that they knew, exactly, but he was relieved. He didn't have to hide so much, and they had offered him understanding.
James and Sirius gave him the thumbs up sign, and Remus gave him a smile, having looked up from attempting to take notes.
They resumed their own ways of trying to endure the next half hour or so, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief when Binns dismissed them.
"Do not forget your essay on the Goblin Revolt of 1618 is due next Thursday," he added, but few paid him any mind.
"Already finished mine," Sirius said, with a grin.
So had Severus. It had been the most boring assignment he had had this year, but it was finished.
"Did McGonagall want to talk to you about your holiday request?" Remus asked, once they were in the corridor.
"Yes," he answered, a bit more shortly than he intended. At the looks from the others, he added, "She agreed, but tried to pry into my home life. Said she knew my father is a muggle and they're divorced."
"At least she cares," Remus pointed out.
Severus shrugged. "Basically told me to talk to my Prefect if I had any problems. Nothing against Frank Longbottom, but can you imagine telling him what he did to us?"
"I reckon half the kids in Slytherin are messed up by their parents," Sirius murmured, darkly. "But can you see Slughorn doing anything? Too busy planning his parties."
Severus snorted. "At least the professors can't hit us. My mum said they used to be allowed to. Filch still hasn't gotten over being able to whip and chain us up for the smallest thing."
James slung an arm around Severus' shoulder. "Like you can talk, Sev. How many points have you lost this term?"
"None," James answered for him, also putting an arm around Sirius' shoulder, and grinning. "Unlike us...how many has it been, Sirius?"
"Twenty-five for me, twenty-seven for you. Course, I earned one hundred and twenty, and you got one hundred and sixteen," Sirius answered promptly.
"How do you remember that?" Peter asked, awestruck.
"We tally them up at the end of each day," James explained. "My personal goal is to gain five hundred by the end of the year and lose no more than one hundred and one."
"You don't have to lose any," Severus pointed out. "Just don't get caught."
The others snickered, even though Remus rolled his eyes.
"You look a bit like the characters in The Wizard of Oz, standing like that," Remus grinned.
Severus, who had seen the movie, let out a chuckle, but James and Sirius stared blankly. They did let go of each other's shoulders, though, and continued their walk to the Gryffindor tower.
"It's a muggle movie," Remus explained. "A good one, too."
"Well, except for the wizard being--"
Remus pressed a finger to his lips conspiratorially. "Don't spoil the ending!"
"Oh, all right," he agreed. "Not that we'd be able to see it here."
Too much magic in the air. No way they could get a muggle TV to work. Assuming that the movie was even playing on one of the channels.
"It's based on books, though," Remus mused. "I have the set at home."
"I'd like to read them, if you will lend them out," Sirius said.
"Sure. I'll pack them up when I'm home for the holidays," Remus agreed.
"I'd like to take a look, too," Severus added. "Muggles have a funny way of writing our kind, from what my mum says."
He'd only read a couple, having had to borrow them from Lily. And he was loathe to do so, mostly because his father might throw them out.
"Of course," Remus agreed.
They found some comfortable chairs near the fireplace, which was roaring and wonderfully warm. Having no homework to do, Severus let himself relax in front of the flames, after removing his boots from his feet.
"Anyone up for a game of Chess?" James asked. Teasingly, he added, "Not Sev, as he's moments away from sleep."
Severus snorted. "I was up late working on that History of Magic essay."
Sirius removed his cloak and draped it over Severus, who let out a sigh as the extra warmth seeped into him.
"Not sure why, as we still have another week," Sirius chided, covering Severus' feet with the cloak. "James, I'll play you. Trounce you rather."
"Rather get the horridly boring thing over with?" Severus asked, feeling his eyes become heavy.
"I rather wish I had done that," Remus admitted. "Barely started mine."
"You can look it over for ideas," Severus offered, repositioning himself a bit.
He didn't fall asleep, not really. Even with the common room relatively empty, it was too loud to sleep unless he was extremely tired, and he wasn't. Severus was happy to settle into a rather hazy state, aware of Sirius fulfilling his promise to beat James at Chess (or so it seemed based on their banter), but not really paying attention to anything they were saying. Remus and Peter were working quietly on some homework assignment, Peter occasionally asking him for help.
Then, Remus was in front of him, a hand on his shoulder, saying it was time for dinner.
"We can take you a plate if you like," James added, his face also in Severus' line of vision.
He blinked, then stretched. "I'm coming, just a minute."
Severus removed the cloak and handed it to Sirius, then put his feet back into his shoes as he rubbed the sleep front his eyes.
As they headed from the common room and into the Great Hall, he felt the drowsiness leave him, and realized he felt far more awake than he had just a couple of hours earlier.
Even so, he would be sure to go to bed early that night.
Author's note:
Next up--the holidays begin!
As always, constructive feedback is most welcome!