November 25th, 1979

One day while I am restocking the shelves at work with my healing potions, I hear the doorbell tinkling as somebody comes in.
"Welcome to Slug & Jigger! How can I…" my voice trails off as I turn around and see who the customer is.
"Well, if it isn't Snivellous!" calls Sirius Black from the door, "How's Lucius Malfoy's lapdog getting along?"
I take a deep breath and clear my mind before saying, "What do you want?"
"Oh, Lily's here for her prenatal potion! Didn't you know?"
I take another deep breath, fighting to keep my face void of emotion, "No, I didn't. But we're not friends, so I wouldn't expect to have received an announcement," I snarl, turning away to keep restocking.
Black snorts derisively and starts picking things up, looking at them, then putting them down on the wrong counters. I know he is trying to aggravate me, and I smile to myself. This is going to be great, "Lily's Mrs. Potter now, didn't you know?" he calls from across the store.
"I did. Lupin told me the day after the wedding when he came in to buy his potions."
"They're so perfect together, don't you think, Snivelly?" he comes up to me. He's too close, and I know he's trying to make me feel insecure.
I turn around and smile up at him, "For sure! They're such a cute couple."
I can see his fake smile falter. He throws his wavy hair back and takes another step forward. Just as he opens his mouth, the doorbell tinkles again. He steps back hurriedly as somebody walks in.
"Welcome to Slug & Jigger, how can I help you?" I call out from around Black, "Oh, hi, Lily! How are you doing?" I force my face into a smile. Seeing her makes my blood boil— the traitor. How could she marry him?! And have his baby! That's disgusting!
"Hello, Severus! I'm good, thanks for asking! It's good to see you!" she smiles at me, but I notice that she doesn't meet my eyes.
"It's good to see you, too! What am I doing for you today?" I push past Black, taking my potions with me. I don't trust him one bit.
"I need to pick up a prenatal supplement, actually. Is that okay? Do you carry those here?"
"Yes we do! They'll be right over here! And congratulations! You and Potter are an adorable couple," I smile nastily.
The look on her face is priceless, "Thank you. That's very kind of you," she says, failing again to meet my eyes.
"So, Snape, what do you think of all those poisoned ministry officials in the news?" Black asks.
I can feel the blood drain from my face, and take a deep, steadying breath, "Wow, that's horrible, I didn't know that had happened!" I exclaim, leading Lily over to the supplements.
"Yep, who do you think would be behind that kind of thing? What kind of psycho enjoys making those kinds of poisons? You know anybody?" he says, getting too close to me again.
I take another breath to clear my mind, and look him in the eyes, "No idea. That's crazy, though! I can't even imagine something like that," and I shake my head, acting surprised that anybody would do something that crazy.
Black smiles nastily at me, and walks away.
"Yeah, isn't that awful? I feel terrible for their families. You know, a lot of them had kids, too. I can't imagine learning that my mother or father was murdered by You-Know-Who," Lily says sadly.
My heart skips in my chest. I never really thought of what the Dark Lord was doing with my poisons, I've just been doing what I've been told. I guess I've been so busy that I haven't had the time…
"Oi, Snape, come here— you wanna tell me about this potion?" Black calls from across the shop.
I walk as slowly as I can. I know he is impatient, and I want to be as infuriating as humanly possible. When I finally get to him, I ask, "Yes?"
He moves in front of me, hiding me from Lily's view, boxing me in, "I only know one sick fuck who's good enough at potions to make poisons like that," he growls.
I cross my arms and raise one eyebrow at him, "Oh? Who's that? Don't tell me somebody's broken my record!"
"Don't play coy with me, Snivellous, as soon as we have the proof we need, we're coming for you, and you'd better be prepared to answer for all of the people you've killed."
I keep my face emotionless, "I have no idea what you're talking about. I just work here and go home. I'm not sure what kind of proof you're going to find, but good luck. I hope you find the guy you're looking for." As he makes a grab for my left arm, I duck out from the arms boxing me in and walk back over to Lily, "If you need any more of that laxative, let me know! We have an enema that might work for you, too!" I call back to him with a nasty smile. His cheeks turn red, and I repress a laugh.
Lily chuckles, "So, what have you been up to, Sev?"
"Well, I've been really into gardening lately! What about you?"
"Oh, that's nice! I'm glad you're having a good time and that you've found a job that suits you! James and I have been working hard to fix up our house!"
"For sure! Oh, and Regulus and I have been hanging out a lot, too. Have you seen Regulus lately, Black?" I thoroughly enjoy the look of pain on his face.
"No. I haven't. But you'd know that already, wouldn't you?" he growls at me.
Lily looks uncomfortably between us.
"Oh, he actually never talks about you, so I wasn't sure. I'm so sorry to hear that, though," I sneer, then turning back to Lily and gathering up the vials of potions Black misplaced, I ask, "Do you know the gender yet?"
"No, but we're hoping for a—" but she's cut off by Black.
"It's a unicorn, actually! Super rare! Anyway, Lils, why don't you go ahead and get that? I'm gonna pass on the enema this time, but thanks for thinking of me, Snape!" and he pats me on the head.
"Of course! It's the least I could do! Remember to eat lots of fiber for that constipation, okay? That should for sure help you out for the activities you're asking about, too," I smile nastily up at him.
"You'd know all about those activities, wouldn't you?" he smirks, shepherding Lily to the checkout counter.
I blush and look away, remembering how much fun Evan and I had last night. We are all pretty quiet as I ring up her prenatal potion and collect the money. I congratulate her again before they leave.
Black holds the door open for Lily, and once she has her back turned to him, he turns back to me and mouths, "Just you wait," to me, smiling. Unbidden, a shiver goes down my spine. The door shuts, and I take a deep breath, letting my mind go blank.

I lay low for a couple weeks after Black and Lily visit the shop. I have a feeling I'm being followed, so I tell Lucius to tell the Dark Lord for me. Lucius tells me afterwards that the Dark Lord said he has lots of poison left, and that he agrees that both Lucius and I should spend time out and about away from the lab to avoid being suspected of any illicit activity. I try to do a lot of things outside so that I look as boring as possible. Whenever I'm at the manor, I have a great time very slowly feeding the peacocks, reading books about gardening and household charms, and I enlist Narcissa to loudly teach me how to knit. When I'm home, Evan and I work on our garden in our free time, and we leave the windows open as much as possible.

After a few weeks, the Dark Lord says it's probably fine that I start working in the lab again. I pretend to be happy that I can go back to making my poisons, but inside, I'm frustrated. I was really happy spending time outside and letting my wrists rest. I know they're just going to get irritated again as soon as I start back up in the lab. I haven't been going to St. Mungo's for healing spells since I got initiated, and Narcissa's spells help a bit, but she's not a healer. I know for sure that I can't let the Healers do spells on my left wrist, and I know the Dark Lord doesn't care, so I just hope that I can take a break soon. But it's fine. Everything is fine.