A/N: Hey!
It's been a while, let's just jump into it.
This story has become a bit more cracky than it was before but…
Usual apologies
Disclaimer: See previous chapters
Severus walked back into the dorm room, trying and just barely succeeding in keeping the smile from his face as he shut the door quietly behind him.
The room was dark, his dormmates were asleep.
He quietly made his way over to his bed and toed his shoes off, sliding them under the bed before he sat down. He shut the curtains around his bed, casting a lumos as he took the little box from his robes to take a look at the ring inside.
It's pretty, very pretty and honestly Severus liked it a lot, even if it seemed like a bit much. Sebastian got him a ring, a very beautiful ring. Sebastian was proposing. Severus should be happy, thrilled even. Sebastian was thoughtful, kind, intelligent and handsome. The chances of him ever finding someone better were slim to none. He should be happy and on some level he was its just…
Things are moving so fast. It scared him a little. They've hardly known each other for more than three months and Sebastian's already proposing. He was just so devoted it had Severus' flight instincts kicking in and kicking in hard.
He stared at the ring. It's very pretty. It's not really something that he'd ever choose for himself but he appreciated the thought.
Severus' head gave a tilt and he took the ring out of the box. It would be a shame not to try it on at least once, especially after Potter's little interruption earlier.
The raven resisted the urge to growl in annoyance. It had to be Potter. The week that they'd learned how to cast the patronus spell the stupid twat had gone crowing to the entire school about how his was a stag, making not so subtle hints towards Lily since hers was a doe.
What he couldn't understand was why Potter decided to interfere. How did he even manage to find and follow them out of the castle-
Severus took in a deep breath to calm himself.
It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Under no circumstances is he going to let the bastard ruin this for him like him and his little friends usually ruin everything else.
He set the box aside, tilted the ring a little in the light almost frowning at the infinity symbol on the side and slowly slipped it onto his-
"Snape?"
Severus jumped at the voice that suddenly spoke. He looked up just as the curtain around his bed was lifted to one-side to show a groggy looking Rosier standing in his boxers and a plain shirt, his hair ruffled from sleep.
"Rosier-"
"Bloody hell, I thought I already told you to cast a black out spell around your bed. I don't care if you're studying, I can't sleep with a fucking lumos in the-" And then Rosier's eyes widened and he suddenly seemed wide awake. "Where did you get that?"
"What-"
"The ring Snape, where did you get it?" Rosier clarified, already sounding annoyed. Honestly even half-asleep his temper is ridiculous. Severus' jaw clenched.
"I don't see how that's any of your business."
Rosier watched him for a moment, "Did Cristea give it to you?"
"What if he did?" Severus asked, trying hard not to sound defensive Rosier shook his head.
"Nothing. I just never took you for the type to get married is all."
"I-" Severus paused, looked at the ring and took in a silent breath. "It's just a gift alright, I haven't agreed to anything."
Evan's eyebrows pulled into a tight line, "You haven't agreed to anything?"
Severus resisted the urge to roll his eyes lifting the ring to put it on again, "Again, it really isn't any of your-"
He jumped when the blonde suddenly surged forward and slapped the ring out of his hand, it fell on the floor with a clatter and started rolling across the room.
Severus blinked in surprise before looking up at his dorm mate with a glare. "Are you insane?! What the hell do you think you're-"
"What am I doing? What the hell are you trying to do? You don't put on a bonding ring if you don't intend on bonding with someone."
"I-" Severus froze, "What? A bonding ring?"
"You-" Rosier frowned and stopped to look at the shorter teen, "You don't know? How could you not-…" And then he let out a sigh of frustration and rolled his eyes hard, "Of course you're only a half-blood. Whatever, just turn that fucking light off, I'm trying to sleep. It's a miracle Avery hasn't started raving yet."
He turned back to his bed, letting the curtain fall back. Severus was speechless, he didn't know what to think. He got up from the bed and saw the golden gleam from the ring across the room and went to pick it up. The raven paused, a deep frown pulling at his lips as he stared at the little trinket only to jump when Rosier suddenly spoke again.
"Snape."
He turned and found the blonde watching him from his bed, an indefinable look on his face.
"I know you've been spending a lot of time around Cristea lately but, something isn't right about him."
Severus' jaw clenched and his hand tightened around the ring, he forced a scoff as he walked over to his bed, "What, are you going to start lecturing me like some mother hen, Rosier? How thoughtful, I didn't know you cared."
"There's no point in lecturing you." The blonde said simply, "He gave you a bonding ring but without explaining what it did. I don't think there's anything else I need to say." With that the blonde settled back, turning over in his bed so he was facing the other way and Severus just stood where he was.
The raven swallowed hard and lifted the ring to look at again, the infinity symbol on the side now almost glowing.
"Oh what the hell?!" He suddenly heard Avery groan from his bed, "Snape, turn that fucking light out or I swear to Salazar I'll shove your wand down Mulciber's throat and you'll never be able to cast a lumos again."
The raven sighed as he put the ring back into the box and put it away before grabbing his wand.
"Knox."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The marauders were startled awake by the sound of a door slamming.
Peter screamed in alarm, tumbling from his bed onto the floor with a thud. Sirius bolted upright blinking wildly at his surroundings and Remus ended up bumping his head against the bedpost and groaning in pain.
"What on earth-"
"He gave him a bonding ring!"
"What…" Peter asked, squinting through the darkness in their room to see his friend pacing across the room, tossing his invisibility cloak onto his bed.
"Cristea! He gave Snape a bonding ring!"
"James, mate…" Sirius started, letting out a wide yawn. "What are you talking about?"
"Snape."
"What about Snape?"
James huffed in frustration, "I followed them out of the castle."
"I thought we agreed that you weren't going to interfere with Snape anymore." Remus just barely able to keep his eyes open while James rolled his own.
"That's beside the point."
"Which point exactly?"
"Just… I followed Cristea and Snape out of the castle, they went to the lake and Cristea gave Snape a bonding ring. And the slimy bat actually took it!"
Sirius' eyes went wide and Remus froze.
"What?"
"That can't be right, are you sure it wasn't some other kind of ring-"
"What other kind of ring has an infinity symbol carved over it Remmy?"
"Did Snape put it on?"
"No… I stopped him before he could."
"Stopped him how?"
"Does that matter right now?!" James huffed in frustration, "That little… How can someone so smart be so stupid?!"
"Snape is a half-blood." Sirius said, "Maybe he doesn't know what it is."
Remus frowned, "That might explain why he'd take it. Snape doesn't exactly strike me as the type to marry so young."
James stopped pacing, "Exactly! He doesn't know, that's the only reason why he'd take it."
"Snape is smart though, maybe he took it on purpose." Peter chimed in as he picked himself up off the floor, "What if he wants to be bonded to Cristea?"
"Don't be stupid Wormtail."
"He makes a good point Sirius." Remus started with a pause, "They have been incredibly close as of late."
"That's…" James paused and then shook his head, "No way."
"James-"
"He wouldn't."
"He might."
"Can we just, focus on what's important right now?"
Remus sighed, "And what's that?"
"Making sure that Snape doesn't put on that ring."
"Why?"
"Why?!"
"Yes, why?" Remus sighed again, "James, this isn't any of our business. It isn't any of your business. If Snape decides that he wants to marry Cristea then there's nothing we could or even should do about it."
"Well we can't just do nothing. What if he doesn't know what he's doing and he ends bonded without even knowing it?" Sirius said and Remus took in a deep breath.
"And exactly why would you care if he did Sirius?" Remus asked and Sirius opened his mouth before closing it again. He did this not once, but twice and Remus shook his head. "This isn't any of our business and James, you have no right to be interfering with whatever Snape is doing. Why were you even following them? I thought you were done pranking Snape. You promised that last week."
"Like he promised the week before that, and the week before that, and the week before-" Peter muttered quietly as he leaned his head against his bedpost only to stop since he could feel James' glare on him and he quickly sputtered out, "Bu-but it's Snape's fault for always being such a… snarky greasy bat!"
Sirius gave Peter a dull look as he rolled his eyes and spoke in a deadpan voice, "Good one, Wormtail."
Remus let out a sigh of frustration, "None of this makes sense. Your obsession with Snape doesn't make sense. Thinking about him doesn't make sense! It's never made sense!"
James frowned, "Moony-"
"Just once, for once just leave him alone! If I can leave him alone then there's no reason why you can't either!" Remus was breathing hard at the end of his rant. His cheeks were red, eyes almost gleaming in the dim lighting. Sirius moved forward on his bed with a deep frown marring his features.
"Remus?"
Remus took in a deep breath and looked away and his voice dropped, "You've noticed, haven't you? He's happy. I've never seen Snape actually happy before. But he is, he's happy. I don't want to be the reason why he isn't. That spell you cast last time could have gotten him killed."
"I-… it was his spell!" Sirius said and Remus shook his head.
"It doesn't matter Padfoot. I'm tired of being the reason why he's sad."
Peter frowned as he looked at the other, "You say that like you fancy him or something." James paused at that, Sirius looked startled. Remus' cheeks flushed ever so slightly but he shook his head.
"I just don't want to hurt him anymore that's all." Remus took in a deep breath, "And-and even if I did like him, it wouldn't matter because he clearly likes Cristea and he's happy so just… leave it alone. There's no reason for you to be meddling with Snape. He's not around Lily anymore, he doesn't even pay attention to you so… just stop." The werewolf huffed as he lifted up his covers and settled back into his own bed, "Honestly, with the way you're always carrying on about him, if I didn't know any better I'd swear you were the ones who fancied Snape."
"What- Of course not! That slimy snake?!"
"Don't be gross Moony!"
"Then leaving him alone should be easy." Remus said as he turned to face the wall. "Goodnight. And leave Snape alone."
Peter only yawned as he followed the werewolf's lead and got back to bed as well. James awkwardly cleared his throat and Sirius squirmed a bit on his bed before he looked up at the hazel eyed wizard.
"They didn't do anything else while they were together, did they?"
James seemed to hesitate, "Cristea actually kissed the greasy roach."
"He did wha-"
"Leave it alone!" Remus called back, though he seemed to have tensed up quite a bit even as he kept his eyes on the wall.
The next day, things seemed fine between the marauders. Sirius was laughing and joking as they got ready for their classes and James prattled on about quidditch practice and the next game and how they were sure to crush Slytherin this time around.
For a while, it seemed like they were taking Remus' advice since none of them brought Snape up even once. Not even when Snape walked into the hall that morning, cheeks flushed as Cristea ushered him to their usual seats at the Slytherin table.
It wasn't until History of Magic that he realised that they hadn't forgotten about Snape… at all.
James sat beside him in class, Sirius and Peter sat at the desk behind them. Though Sirius had fallen asleep about five minutes into Binns lecture and Remus internally groaned since he knew he'd end up giving the animagus his notes later.
It was ten minutes into the lecture that James suddenly spoke.
The hazel eyed wizard seemed unusually quiet at the time. Usually in Binns class James and Sirius would be getting into all sorts of mischief every time the ghost had his back turned. But he chose to sit next to Remus that day instead and actually took out some parchment and ink as he started making notes.
"Moony, about last night-"
"James, seriously, can we not talk about Snape right now or… ever?" Remus said with a sigh as he made a few notes in his book. James paused.
"I just… I wanted to apologise. I promised that I'd stay away from Snape and I didn't. I'm sorry."
Remus paused as well, "You're apologising, for that?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
James seemed to hesitate, "I just… you're right. Carrying on with Snape is stupid and it doesn't make any sense so, from now on I really do promise. No more pranks… on Snape, I-I won't try to hurt him anymore."
"Well, that's great Prongs. I'm glad you're finally going to stop." Remus said with a small smile, he could tell that this time James was being sincere. "Although, it's a little strange that you're promising to stop now of all times. What changed?"
"You did, didn't you?"
"What?"
"Snape, you-you fancy him, don't you?" James asked his voice dropping to a whisper and Remus' eyes went wide.
"What? No I-" After a quick glance back to make sure that Padfoot and Wormtail were still asleep, he dropped his voice to a whisper as well, "Of course not, why would you-"
"It's alright Moony, I get it. I mean I don't get it, get it. Since Snape is just you know, it's Snivellus, I mean I would never." James said quickly, his sentence rambled on a bit and he seemed to struggle to look at the werewolf as he looked away a few times, "But if you do, if you fancy him. It's alright you know. I wouldn't hold it against you if you did like him. You should be able to like anyone you want."
Remus paused, "You mean that James?"
"Of course, you're my best friend Moons. If Snape could make you happy then I wouldn't try to get in the way of that; so… do you like Snape?"
Remus took in a deep breath and looked down at his notes, hand clenching around his quill for a brief moment before he spoke, "Yes, I-I think I do."
James' eyes widened ever so slightly and Remus felt himself flush, "He's just… really really clever you know and-and I like that he's a little bit snarky and he's just he's so-"
"Different. He's so… different." James finished for him and Remus nodded before letting out another sigh.
"James, I know you might not fully understand it but-"
"No, I get it. I mean not like, what I mean is that I understand why you like him but it's not like I you know."
Remus let out a soft snort, "Yeah I know."
"But, Remus, if you really like Snape, then doesn't this thing with him and Cristea bother you?"
"Of course it does, Prongs. But Snape… Severus is happy. I don't want to ruin that. Especially after the thing at the shack with Moony. I don't want to hurt him anymore than I already have."
James lips pursed together into a tight line, "So you're just going to give up on him?"
"I don't think I have a choice in the matter."
"But you can't just give up on him." James said as he moved a bit closer to his friend. "You like him right and I mean, he might not like you right now but, he could, if he got to know you."
"He likes Cristea."
"Cristea can sod off and go jump off a cliff! With his perfect hair and his perfect eyes and stupid face." James huffed, "You've known Snape for years. Cristea gets here, what, two months ago and he thinks he can just waltz in and claim Snape for himself. No that's not going to happen."
Remus shook his head, "James-"
"No, you know what. He's not getting away with it. I – you saw Snape first. Cristea needs to stop touching things that don't belong to him. Trying to bind Snape to him without anyone even knowing about it – no! That's not happening."
"James."
"We're putting a stop to it."
Remus frowned, "What do you mean by that?"
"I mean, well-" James seemed to pause at the look of confusion on the werewolf's face and quickly cleared his throat, "You like him Moony, you saw him first, that means he's yours; at this point Snape is… a Marauders bride. That means if Cristea tries to put his claws on Snape it's not just a crime against you, it's a crime against all of us."
Remus scoffed, "James I appreciate the thought, really I do, but I don't want to hurt Severus-"
"It's not hurting him if you're stopping him from making a mistake. You're just looking out for him; practically saving him from doing something that he'll regret later. He belongs to you he just doesn't know it yet."
"I don't know-"
"I promise we won't do anything to hurt Snape, we'll just show him that Cristea isn't right for him and once he's seen the light; you can swoop in and claim him for yourself." James said and Remus just let out a heavy sigh, the hazel eyed wizard put a hand on his shoulder, "I promise you mate, by the time were done with Cristea Snape won't want anything to do with him. We'll get him away from that arrogant snake, I promise."
Remus shook his head, "Is that why you and Sirius have been so restrained today? Having you been plotting this the whole time?"
"I well, not exactly. Moony listen." James cleared his throat, "You know what Padfoot is like, he can't stand Snape loathes him, hates him more than I do. I don't think he'll understand the way that I do. It's best if we just don't tell him anything for now, just until we've managed to get Snape away from Cristea."
"You want to keep it a secret from him?"
"Sirius won't understand. He won't get it like I do, but I promise after we've gotten rid of Cristea we'll tell him everything, but until then," James voice dropped as he glanced back at the animagus again, "We'll keep this between us. It'll be our secret."
"You-You get it?"
Herbology. They were running late for the class and weren't able to sit together the way they usually did. Sirius and Remus ended up sitting at one table while Peter and James sat at another across the room. It was O.K though, it's just a lecture class on Gilly weed, they won't be experimenting with any plants till the next one.
But Remus could hardly focus on that, not when he was experiencing a serious case of dé ja vu.
"Of course I get it, Snivellus might be a greasy bat but you fancy him right; because he's smart and a little snarky and-and different." Sirius said as he played with the edge of his textbook, "Just because it's Snivellus doesn't mean you can't fancy him."
"Really Sirius?"
"Of course Moony, you're my best mate and if Snape is who you want then by Godric, Snape is who you're going to get."
Remus frowned, "He's likes Cristea."
"Like I said before, we'll get rid of Cristea. He won't be a problem. I promise."
"But," Remus' frown deepened, "But we can't tell James?"
"You know what James is like," Sirius said dismissively, "He hates Snape more than I do, he'd never be O.K with it."
Remus paused, "I think he'd be fine."
"No he wouldn't. Stupid twat is so obsessed with Evans he'd hate having Snape anywhere near us. That's why we can't tell him, at least not yet. He thinks Snape is the reason Evans won't go out with him. Imagine that, as if Cristea isn't proof enough that Snape has no interest in birds, but does James get that? Of course not." Sirius said with a huff, "You shouldn't have to suffer just because Prongs keeps striking out. You have needs too, right Moony? You should get to be with whoever you want and James shouldn't have a bloody say in it. If I – you want to shag Snape well then that's your business isn't it?"
Remus flushed, "I-I don't want to shag Severus."
"You don't?"
"Well, not right now, we don't have to if he's not ready you know-"
Merlin he's rambling. Luckily Sirius cut him off.
"Yeah, right, when he's ready in a few weeks give or take a few days – The point is you have needs and if Snape is the one who can fulfil those needs then James needs to get over it and stop trying to cockblock you because Evans won't give him the time of day."
"Well what about you and Lily, you hate Severus just as much as Sirius does because of her don't you?"
"I don't hate Snape because of Lily." James said clearly, "The little prat just wouldn't know perfection if it bit him in the arse and as for Lily, if Cristea is any indication then Snape clearly has no interest in birds. It'll be fine. You know I bet, if I can get those two to make up, I-we'll be one step closer to getting rid of Cristea. The rest should be easy right?"
Remus sighed, "Are you sure we can't tell Sirius? I think if I explained like I did with you then-"
"No he wouldn't. We have to keep it a secret for now. It's for his own good. He hates Snape, you know how sensitive he is about Regulus being around Snape. You should be with whoever you want to be with Moony. How fair is it to you that you're getting blue balled to death because of who his little brother chooses to be friends with?"
"Blue balled, James-"
"I mean you like him, don't you Remus?"
"I-…" Remus flushed, "Yeah I-I do-"
"Well if you think the greasy git's constant defiance is weirdly seductive, then who is Padfoot to stand in the way?"
"Well, I wouldn't call it seductive but, I like that he doesn't give up-"
"Exactly! It's not fair that Sirius gets to ruin that just because he's overly protective of his brother."
"Reg?" Sirius blinked, "Don't be silly Moony, I don't hate Snape because of Regulus. I just think that Regulus is too young to be hanging around Snape the way he does."
"Too young?" Remus frowned.
"And really, Snape being friends with Regulus could only help my-your situation. I'll talk to Regulus maybe he can soften Snape up a little and – you know, I bet Reg could get through to Snape about Cristea not being right for him."
"You think so?"
"Yeah, I mean really, what does Snape even like about Cristea anyway? You'll be a much better fit for him Moony."
"Maybe." Remus sighed as he turned the page on his book, "Are you sure we shouldn't tell James, because I think we should."
Sirius rolled his eyes hard, "James will never be O.K with it. He'll just go on and on about how Snape is evil and disgusting and how someone needs to put him in his plate which is so stupid, isn't it? Isn't Snape's defiance his whole thing? That's why you like him right? He's feisty."
Remus scoffed, "Feisty's one way of putting it."
"But you like it right, you like that he doesn't make it easy. You like that he gets under your skin and drives you a little mad sometimes."
"I like that he stands up for himself." Remus nodded and Sirius almost slammed his hands down on the table.
"Exactly!" he quickly lowered his voice as he put his arm around Remus' shoulders, "Exactly, he stands up for himself. I couldn't have put it better myself Moony. It's not like you have some sort of disobedience or punishment kink or anything weird like that."
"Punishment kink?"
"It's because you fancy Snape and you want to get under his skin the way he gets under yours. See I get it Remus, but James won't so we can't tell him."
Remus' lips pursed together, "What about Peter?"
James waved him off dismissively, "Peter can't keep a secret to save his life. He'll go squealing to Sirius and then we'll have a mess to deal with."
Remus looked at James, "I don't like lying to Padfoot, Prongs."
"It's not lying, we'll tell him eventually just not right now." James reasoned easily, "Once we get rid of Cristea and get Snape's attention on you, we'll tell him. He'll really need to stop picking fights with Snape by that time; so we'll tell him and once we explain, then he'll get it and Snape will be halfway yours."
"Why can't we just explain now?"
"James is impossible when it comes to Snape, you know that." Sirius said dismissively, "It's too soon. We need to soften Snape up a bit first. Once he starts cooperating, then we'll tell James and hopefully they'll be able to get along."
"Snape? Cooperate?" Remus asked incredulously and Sirius smirked.
"Quite the vicious little viper, isn't he? But breaking him in should be half the fun." Sirius said with an odd little smile until Remus arched a brow at him and he quickly cleared his throat, "I mean once you get to know one another, he should be nicer right and then we'll tell James."
"I still don't know-"
"Moony, trust me." James said giving his shoulder a brief squeeze, "By the time this is over, Cristea will be history and Severus Snape will officially be a marauders bride."
Remus scoffed, "Lily too, right?"
"What?"
"Severus Snape and Lily Evans will be marauders brides."
James blinked, "Right, yeah sure, absolutely."
"What about Sirius?"
"Severus Snape and Lily Evans?"
"Yeah." Sirius said with a shrug and Remus frowned.
"Well what about you?"
"What?"
"If James has Lily and I have Severus then who'll you have?"
Sirius paused, "It doesn't matter, I just want my best mates to be happy. So don't worry about me."
"Well, what about Peter then?"
"Peter?" James paused, "Didn't he say something about liking some Hufflepuff girl?"
"Her name is Celest." Remus supplied.
"We'll deal with Peter if and when he finally grows a pair and makes a move on Crystal-"
"Celest."
"Whatever."
"For now, we need to be focusing on you Moony." James said with all the conviction in the world. "We need to save Severus before he makes a huge mistake. Right now, Severus is our priority."
"Severus?"
"Well, if we're doing this I might as well get used to using his name right?" Sirius shrugged and he gave his friend a smirk. "I promise you Moony, Cristea's toast."
"By the time we're done with him, you'll never have to worry about him or any other snakes putting their slimy claws on him again." James smirked those hazel eyes practically gleaming, "You have my word on that."
Remus sighed, "If you say so."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Severus? Are you alright?"
Severus looked up at the other in a pause. Sebastian was staring at him, those blue eyes filled with concern and his lips turned down ever so slightly in a frown. Briefly he wondered if he should tell the other the truth, that yes something is wrong.
Rosier's words were still ringing in his ears.
Sebastian gave him a bonding ring.
But he didn't tell Severus that it was a bonding ring. Sebastian called it a promise ring. Maybe Severus is being a bit pedantic but, there is a very big difference between those two words.
What would have happened if Severus had put it on?
What if Potter hadn't stopped him from slipping the ring onto his finger?
What if Rosier hadn't slapped it out of his hand?
What would have happened then?
Why didn't Sebastian explain exactly what would happen?
Maybe Severus should have asked him. But if he had asked Sebastian, would he have told him? If not… then why not?
"Severus?"
The blonde asked as he leaned in a bit closer to the raven beside him, on the bench in the middle of the courtyard. Severus took a deep breath. He might as well just ask. Sebastian has never lied to him before, or at least, Severus doesn't think he has.
He should just ask. There could be a perfectly reasonable explanation for the omission. It might not mean anything at all.
"Sebastian… I-"
Just then a loud explosion echoed around them. Birds scattered from the trees and the students who were all milling around the courtyard all paused to look back at the school. Severus turned back to look at the castle as well.
"What on earth was that?"
A/N: Please review