Set in their 6th year at Hogwarts, Snape gets into a fight with the marauders which de-ages him. There is no-one to take care of him aside from the best friend he so recently called a mudblood. To make matters worse, his best friend now appears to be in love with that toe-rag Potter. What could possibly go wrong with a 2-year-old Severus, deatheater friends and the marauders. Rated M for scenes later. LE/JP, SB/RL
"Potter, you're nothing more than a self-absorbed toe-rag, and if you think I would EVER waste my time dating such an egomaniac you are SORELY mistaken!" the red head fumed, but half heartedly. She felt the need to reject James more out of loyalty to Severus now than her own disregard for him.
James Potter continued to smirk lazily at her, one arm behind his head, standing against the pillar in the courtyard. It was a warm Autumnal day, the last of the Summer sun fading fast to give way to a new season, and the school year had barely begun.
Lily Evans stomped angrily away from the handsome teenager and towards her thin, grey skinned friend, Severus Snape.
Snape was everything that Potter wasn't, where James was athletically built with a strong chest, wide shoulders and wiry muscles, Snape was wispy and stick thin. Potter's thick, unruly Black hair jutted out wildly from his head, all the more untidy when he pushed a hand through the locks to mess them up further (a habit he developed to boost his bravado following the first rejection he suffered from the red-haired beauty at the end of their first year in Hogwarts). Snape's hair hung lank and greasy, a curtain between him and the rest of the world.
Where James was tanned from his position as Chaser, and now Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Severus was pale, almost waxy skinned from his self-confinement to the potions' dungeon below the school grounds.
While Potter was wealthy, shown in his robes and numerous Quidditch jerseys, Snape was clearly not fortunate, wearing threadbare robes even in the dead of winter.
"6 bloody years!" Lily fumed to her best friend "And still he is TOO THICK to get it through his THICK SKULL that I'm not interested!" Lily continued, shouting over her shoulder back to where James stood with his friends.
James continued to smirk lightly at Lily, willing her to give him an opportunity. Over his shoulder Sirius Black, handsome and haughty, lounged over Remus Lupin.
"Give it a rest Prongs" Sirius said in a long-suffering voice "Evans isn't interested. You need to be a skinny, slimy runt to get her attention" he drawled, turning mischievous grey eyes towards Snape, who flushed pink at the insult and lunged into his cloak to pull out his wand.
"No Padfoot, knock it on the head" James stated angrily at his best friend. He understood few things beyond that Lily wouldn't give him the time of the day if he was insulting her slimy best friend.
Lily shot a shocked look at James, who in turn looked apologetic, however the damage was already in motion.
Snape had his wand pointed at Sirius and a spell shot out of his wand before the group could react. Sirius was suddenly on the ground writhing in obvious pain, however he clamped his mouth shut, refusing Snape the delight of hearing his pain. Remus only had eyes for Sirius on the floor, lunging down to support him.
"What the fuck is wrong with you Snape?!" James spat at the boy who was smirking coldly at Black on the ground. Wormtail, in an attempt to retaliate, shouted a foreign spell at Snape the same time James shouted "Expelliarmus". Sirius had angrily reached for his wand and also cursed Snape, causing the Slytherin boy to shoot backwards. Lily had cried out for her friend and rushed to his side.
Snape was on top of his worn book satchel, in a puddle of liquid. Lily knelt down beside him to make sure he was ok, only to realise he was angrily pushing her away "I don't need your help, mudblood!" he shouted, many of the students turning towards the scene, shocked at the language Snape had used.
Lily's face crumpled momentarily, before she smoothed it out, standing swiftly from the boy who was her best friend.
"How fucking dare you call her that you bastard" James fumed, marching to her side, red in the face and fists balled.
"I don't need you to defend me Potter" she said coldly, turning to her former best friend "And as for you Snivellus, it's clear you'd rather be in the company of your death eater buddies. I won't pollute your company any longer. Who wants to be friends with a mudblood?" she spat at him and turned on her heel. James watched as her angry façade crumpled and tears threatened to pour from her beautiful emerald eyes.
Snape sat on the ground stunned, he couldn't believe he had said such a horrible word to his beloved Lily.
James had gone straight after Lily with his friends following him, Sirius giving one last sneer at the boy on the ground.
Snape sat in that position for longer than her could remember, it could have been 15 minutes or hours later, all he knew was that he needed to get Lily to forgive him. He jumped up, and suddenly felt the cold of the puddle he had created upon his fall; he had crushed some vials of potions he was working on for a private dark arts project.
He barely registered the pain that the broken vials had caused, cutting into his bottom and lower back, he just mechanically made his way back to his common room.
Upon entering the dungeons, he was greeted with a cheer and a smack on the back from Lucious Malfoy and some of his cronies; the death eater crew.
"Well done Snape! You finally freed yourself of that mudblood's company, I think you are ready now to meet our dark Lord!" Malfoy enthused, delighted for his friend.
Snape nodded blankly and agreed with whatever was said to him to allow him to escape to his bedroom. Once in the shared dormitory, Snape stripped down and immediately showered the potion off, feeling a bit dizzy.
He proceeded to put fresh robes on and made his way to the Gryffindor common room determined to speak to Lily and apologise for what he said.
When he reached the portrait of the fat lady he bumped into Marlene McKinnon, one of Lily's best girl friends in her house. Marlene was a beautiful girl, long dark curly hair framed her petite face, large dark eyes watched Snape critically, a thin brow arched at him.
"You fucked up big time Snape" she stated not unkindly "Lily hasn't cried this much since her parent's accident" she finished softly. Both Snape and Marlene knew how hard it had hit Lily when her folks had been in the car accident over the Summer break. She had basically went home and packed up all of her belongings and moved in with Marlene that Summer.
She moved her long fingers to her petite hips, pulling a face. Marlene was every man's dream in Hogwarts, big boobs and hips with a tiny waist. However, right now she wasn't trying to lure Snape in.
"She doesn't want to talk to you Snape, I'm sorry" she made an apologetic face which Snape ignored.
"Just tell her to give me five minutes!" he begged pathetically "I won't be going anywhere until she lets me apologise to her!" he finished lamely.
Marlene turned her back on him and proceeded through the portrait, Snape following closely at her heels.
"Snape what the fuck, leave! Lily won't be happy about this you nutter!" Marlene hissed furiously as they moved into the common room. It was late, he had caught Marlene when she was returning from Prefect duties, all the other occupants of the castle appeared to be asleep.
"Please McKinnon" Snape begged, his angular face distraught, black brows pulled together desperately "I love her!" he cried.
"If that was true, you wouldn't have called her that word" Marlene bluntly stated, "You're not good enough for her when you're associating with those pure blood obsessed death eater freaks!" she finished and turned to move up the stairs. Snape knew better than to follow her, he had heard about the girl's staircase sliding boys straight back down.
"Tell her I'll wait for her?" he begged, and his stomach lurched when he saw her sudden look of pity, "What is it?" he demanded.
"Well, Potter and Lils aren't here Snape, he followed her to comfort her and well… They haven't returned from prefect duty together yet" she finished, not needing to say anything more.
Snape felt his world come shattering down. Potter? Of all the bastards she could use to hurt him, she chose that jumped up bastard? Marlene left Snape as he collapsed to the ground, tears running down his face. Unbeknownst to Snape, the mixture of the potions on his skin earlier, entering his bloodstream through the cuts made by the broken vials and the steamy water of the quick shower had combined within him as though he had drank the potions himself.
Further, the mixture of the curses and spells, along with the dark magic he used against Black had also been lingering within his thin body.
The emotions and his tears were the locking agent, combing the spells and potions with the potion protégé's inner turmoil, activated an ancient magic causing Snape to lose consciousness and crumple to the floor of the common room.
Lily had been impressed by James Potter's reaction to Snape earlier. It appeared the Summer had matured him beyond picking on her bes- former best friend. She sniffed superstitiously.
James glanced back at Lily with a small smile, all bravado gone. Lily was talking to him and not insulting him. He was amazed by how well their prefect patrol had gone this evening, making Lily smile and laugh softly and hopefully forget about that Slytherin slimy git.
"… and so, that's how we found the one-eyed witch passage way and the rest is history" he finished sheepishly, looking down to Lily through his eyelashes. She had a reproachful look on her face which melted when she met his hazel eyes.
They stood like that for a moment before James desperately burst out in a frantic but heartfelt whisper "Please Lily, just give me one chance?" he implored, gazing at her with an honest look in his eyes.
Lily, overcome by the day's events but also the genuine look she was receiving, caved and agreed "Okay Potter, I'll meet up with you at Hogsmeade this weekend" she agreed, slightly breathless.
James beamed at her so brilliantly that she forgot everything beyond the both of them and smiled back. He leaned down to her slowly and deliberately, locked eyes with her again before he gently kissed her cheek.
As soon as his lips met her skin something bizarre happened. Fire ignited from the kiss to her very toes, passion and desire ringing loudly in her ears. She could smell his subtle aftershave and clean scent, she also could feel his warmth and the slight stubble on his cheek. He had frozen after kissing her cheek, leaning towards but not touching her.
What happened next shocked the pair beyond anything they could have expected.
Lily twisted wildly towards him and met lips with James, one hand going straight into his thick black hair and the other resting on his right shoulder. James stood still for a nanosecond before shooting up through the gears. A strong hand enclosed around Lily's small waist and pressed her body against his. The other hand cupped the left cheek of her face, which was burning under his hand. Their tongues remained locked in a furiously passionate kiss and James walked Lily backwards towards the cool marble wall nearby.
Lily responded by hitching her leg around James' and pulling him closer if possible.
James reluctantly broke away and looked at the girl he loved with such adoration that Lily was overcome "Lovely Lily" he murmured sweetly "Please forgive me, but I need to stop myself now before I can't stop myself at all" he continued, with the good grace to look slightly embarrassed. Lily, still pressed against his body, felt the reason for the comment and coquettishly glanced down and back up at James, smirking slightly.
They broke apart breathless and James retained Lily's hand, she didn't pull away and he felt on top of the world. Hand in hand they walked to their common room, the air between them slightly awkward.
Before entering, Lily turned to James "I don't want you to think I'm head over heels for you Potter" she stated, more bluntly than she meant, but James smirked at her regardless "I will give you a chance to prove yourself to me, but I mean it…. One strike and you're out" she finished seriously.
"I promise you Evans, I will be on my best behaviour… I've changed" James replied honestly.
And with that and a quick nod from Lily, they entered through the portrait to the Gryffindor common room, unaware how their lives were about to be turned upside down.