Hogwarts was getting closer and closer.
Severus, who was next to Avery and Rosier in his carriage, got out first when the carriage finally stopped.
Not being in any hurry to enter Hogwarts, Severus waited until the other students entered the castle.
He squinted at several familiar faces and even saw his cousins, Potter, and their group walking together.
'Why am I not surprised?' laughed Severus, not really bothered by what he was seeing.
But then he unconsciously furrowed his brow a little...
He saw Lily quickly approaching them, no..., she was approaching his cousins and it looked like she had been looking for them as if she knew them quite well.
'Quite revealing' Severus thought watching with his black eyes at how it was all unfolding.
He saw how James had already decided to seduce Lily within the first few minutes of their arrival at the castle.
He noticed Lily groaning while James just smiled along with Sirius and Peter laughing, even Remus smiled but when Lily looked at him he shook his head quickly.
Their cousins just smiled and then just walked away from Potter and his group.
They walked off with Lily who was with some of her friends and their boyfriends.
"I still don't understand how your cousins ended up in Gryffindor," muttered Rosier who was standing next to Severus.
"Yeah... Now the Princes have two pests," added Avery.
"Rest assured I don't know either and I don't care about it," replied Severus.
Avery laughed.
"So you don't mind if we have a bit of fun with Mulciber?" Avery asked.
"Sure, as long as you don't involve me it's not my problem" Severus nodded lightly.
"What do you have in mind Avery?" asked Rosier with a frown, Severus may not care much about his cousins from what he saw, but Evans was a different story.
Although Rosier knew that Avery and Mulciber wouldn't do anything against Evans as it was just pissing Severus off, and no one wanted an annoying bloody potions genius.
Especially when it was someone as bloody vindictive as Severus.
Potter and his group might have won most of the time when there were four of them against him, but Severus always took revenge in the worst possible ways.
That was why the Slytherins respected Severus despite his constant defeats at the hands of these jokers.
"We'll just welcome them," Avery replied with an ugly smirk.
Rosier just sighed and shook his head, as long as they didn't involve Evans there didn't seem to be any problems with Severus.
Although Rosier had to admit that he was surprised to see Severus' self-control when he saw James openly flirting with her.
In the past, Severus would have cursed under his breath and thought of a thousand ways to make them suffer in the Hogwarts nurse's room.
Finally, Severus, Rosier, and Avery entered the castle and went to the Great Hall.
The three of them went straight to the Slytherin table just like the other wizards and took their seats.
Then the three saw Mulciber talking to other Slytherin members of the Quidditch team in the middle of the long table.
When Mulciber saw Avery already seated, he got up from where he was and walked over to them.
Once he got to where they were, he looked down at the three of them and smiled.
"Hey, how have you three been? Can you guys tell me why that moron Avery is smiling like it's Christmas?" chuckled Mulciber.
"Uh-oh, he must still be thinking about how to welcome Severus' cousins," replied Rosier.
"Cousins?" muttered Mulciber confusedly looking between Rosier and Severus.
"What cousins?" he asked without understanding what he meant.
"Oh, good news Mulciber, Snape is now Prince and has two cousins in Gryffindor," grinned Avery like an idiot.
This just confused Mulciber even more as he received too much information in too little time without any logical explanation.
"What the bloody hell are you saying moron, explain well," Mulciber complained as he took a seat next to Severus in front of Rosier and Avery.
"What Avery means is that Severus turned out to be the new Prince heir and the new sixth-year students in Gryffindor turned out to be his distant cousins' explained Rosier.
"What... You a Prince?" asked Mulciber, pointing at Severus as if it was something impossible to believe.
Severus just nodded and continued reading quietly while Avery and Rosier explained everything he had already told him on the train.
Severus clearly wasn't interested in explaining anything again, so he let the two of them do it.
"Wow, to think you had something like that hidden to yourself, man, you always manage to surprise me," Mulciber said looking at Severus who was reading quietly as if he didn't care about the conversation.
None of the three of them were bothered by his behaviour as Severus was always like that, he preferred reading to talking to the others, and he always used to just nod or give short answers to end conversations and go on about his business.
" This time, I guess it's a surprise for everyone," Rosier clarified, knowing that all of Slytherin would be surprised by this news.
"You know Severus, I just came from talking to Mira and Ava and neither of them recognized you, they even seemed interested in you man," laughed Mulciber as if it was crazy.
"What, Ava?...impossible, come on don't joke, being a Prince hasn't suddenly changed him," growled Avery, his face contorted with a combination of fury and jealousy, he was staring at Severus in search of some substantial change that could make Ava interested in him.
"Maybe she likes men with short hair..." muttered Avery in confusion as he only noticed that Severus had cut his hair short, but he couldn't find anything else.
"Believe it or not, Severus seems to have changed a lot in the eyes of the others, didn't you see how everyone is giving him looks and whispering amongst themselves?" said Rosier, he also couldn't find anything strange about Severus other than his haircut and maybe his firm posture and not slouching like before.
"No idea, but Ava's right, Severus is attractive now. Can you believe it?" laughed Mulciber making Avery look at Severus with envy.
Now Avery was convinced that he had to cut his hair to look better.
Severus who heard all this just smiled in amusement at the nonsense they were talking about.
He wasn't blind, he had seen how much he had changed, it wasn't just his hair.
His physique was no longer thin, and neither was it pure muscle, but it was balanced and toned, of course, this was not seen by his clothes but just in his face you could see that he was no longer so skinny, other things that changed besides his physique were his teeth, his skin, his clothes, everything was now kept clean and well cared.
Severus immediately felt the obvious stares from his housemates and even from other houses that saw him, but he didn't mind and kept reading all the time.
The three of them continued to talk about many things while Severus just read as he always did, some other Slytherin who overheard the conversation they were having also came up to ask some questions to which Mulciber and Avery were more than happy to answer as if they were the spokespersons of the news.
A few moments later the door to the great hall opened and in walked Professor McGonagall, followed by a group of first-year students to be selected.
Then the Sorting Hat began to sing.
And when the hat finished singing the whole hall burst into applause, then the hat finished by bowing to each of the four tables where the students were seated.
" Now I begin the selection!" announced Professor McGonagall to everyone in the room and with a simple wave a roll of parchment suddenly appeared in her hand with the list of the first-year students.
"When I announce your name, you will sit on the stool and put the hat on so that you can be assigned to your houses," Minerva informed as she looked at all the little first-year wizards.
"Rachel Spillman!" shouted McGonagall and after a while, a girl walked nervously up to the teacher.
Then she sat down and put on the strange talking hat.
After a few seconds the hat shouted:
"Gryffindor!"
A great amount of clapping and cheering could be heard from the corner table, giving a warm and exciting welcome to the first first-year student to go to their house.
"Calvin Evergreen!" shouted Professor McGonagall and soon a boy with glasses, his head down, and a book in his hand could be seen going to sit down.
"Ravenclaw!" announced the hat.
"Leila Motter" Minerva called out again to another student.
A minute passed between the hat's thoughts and finally, it decided.
"Hufflepuff!" shouted the hat.
The girl jumped out of her seat happy to hear the hat and made her way to the long Puff table, where she was cheered for being part of their house.
"Irvin Warrington" shouted Professor McGonagall and soon a young man of noble bearing with a proud and arrogant look on his face could be seen making his way to his seat.
Once Warrington was seated, it was no surprise that the Sorting Hat hardly hesitated to say:
"Slytherin!"
At the Slytherin table, many wizards applauded the young man.
Next to Severus was Mulciber, a fatter, bigger, and much more physically brutal version of Avery, who was shouting and clapping fiercely for Warrington.
Both Alvery and Mucliber were very similar and used to do all sorts of things together as best friends, amongst their favourites were teasing and bullying mudbloods.
Lily used to tell Severus that Mulciber and Avery's idea of humour was evil.
She always reprimanded Severus for being "friends" with them.
Although he didn't have much of a choice before if he wanted to survive in Slytherin.
While the other Slytherins continue to welcome their newest member, Severus was only focused on continuing to read the spell book Hermione gave him.
"Hey Severus, looks like your new family has similar tastes to you, why doesn't that surprise me?, it must be a family thing," commented Mulciber suddenly mockingly, an ugly grin growing on his face as he looked at Severus' cousins who were chatting at the Gryffindor table next to the mudblood Evans and her friends.
"Don't talk crap Mulciber, you know that we all have relatives who are less than... desirable," Regulus commented looking at his brother Sirius Black who was standing next to James Potter.
"Haha, right, right, I forgot about the Black's misfortune, tell me Regulus how did you put up with having a brother like that?" asked Mulciber laughing.
"You get used to it," Regulus replied with a frown.
"It seems that the Blacks and the Princes are out of luck, you should eliminate those blood traitors," Mulciber chuckled.
" Be careful Mulciber, you know Hogwarts has ears everywhere, only our House is safe" warned Rosier.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, like I care if they find out what I say," Mulciber said rolling his eyes.
"Don't underestimate Dumbledore" Rosier said seriously glaring at him.
"Hey, Sna-Prince, sorry mate, I still can't get used to the fact that you're not Snape anymore" laughed Avery changing the subject of the conversation.
"Never mind, tell me" Severus replied lightly without even looking at him, he was still calmly reading the book Hermione had given him with a large amount of new spells for him.
"Well... McGonagall is staring at you," commented Avery intrigued and fidgeting in his seat at the stare of the professor that every Slytherin considered the most annoying at Hogwarts.
Severus wondered how this idiot had noticed that, he had already felt McGonagall and Dumbledore's gaze on him, but he didn't bother to worry about it.
"Then let her watch," Severus replied.
Rosier just smiled and Mulciber laughed out loud while Avery grimaced a little annoyed.
Back to house selection, the last little wizard on the list was assigned to Hufflepuff and finally, the Hogwarts selection ceremony ended perfectly.
McGonagall then took the chair and the hat.
"I'm glad you're all enjoying yourselves. Now that the sorting is over, it's time for the Headmaster to say a few words" McGonagall said.
"I hope you can hold back your smiles during his speech," she added sternly before turning and heading to the teacher's table.
Moments later, Headmaster Dumbledore stood up from his seat and walked to the podium and his eyes sparkled as he looked at them all.
He had been watching the Princes carefully since they entered the hall and was glad that the two of them had managed to stay together with Evans and the other Gryffindors.
Albus also noticed curiously that Severus didn't bother to even look at his cousins who were with Evans.
He didn't know if Severus was just ignoring the situation or if he really didn't care.
"Good evening to you every one. I hope all your summer holidays have been wonderful and interesting," Dumbledore said with a smile.
"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts, I know many of you must be hungry, so I won't keep you long... first I would like to welcome all the first years along with the two new 6th years in Gryffindor" Albus added and instantly a lot of applause erupted throughout the Hall.
"Yes, yes, congratulations young wizards."
"Now..." he said seriously, changing the mood of the Hall immediately.
"I have here the list of all the missing and recently dead people..." said Albus and began to name various names of wizards, relatives, and acquaintances of many of the young ones at Hogwarts.
At most of the tables, some young people could be seen crying while others comforted them, many even directed hateful glances towards the Slytherin table.
Many of the death eaters causing terror and murder were the parents of those present in Slytherin.
"Well, I would like for everyone to make a moment of silence for all of them," Dumbledore said once he had finished naming all the people on the list.
Although many felt it was unnecessary as everyone at Hogwarts knew about the list.
The list had already been published by several newspapers, so it was not something that the young people present did not know.
Everyone was silent, even the Slytherins did not dare to contradict Dumbledore.
" Alright, thanks everyone, now to conclude I would like to welcome our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Harvey Scotter who joined our staff this year to teach after the horrible illness that Professor Rodric Gras contracted".
"Very well, without further ado, let the feast begin!" exclaimed Dumbledore.
As Dumbledore finished speaking, a large amount of food instantly appeared on every table and was filled with an incredible variety of different dishes.
The students began to eat immediately, as most of them were very hungry since the train started the journey at midday and arrived in the evening, so all the wizards who did not spend much on buying food were starving.
—-
Today just wasn't Lily Evans' day.
First, she had arranged to meet her new friends, Draco and Hermione Prince on the train, but her sister, Petunia Evans, had made a fuss earlier in the morning because her savings had gone missing.
Clearly, Petunia was quick to blame the only person who could do magic in the family, which led to an annoying discussion between her and Lily.
But Lily had already learned to tolerate her sister...
When they finally solved the problem, she was able to go to the train, but it was already quite late and the train was about to leave.
She thought about looking for the Prince's Siblings, but when she saw that most of the carriages were already full, she doubted that there would be enough space and besides the train was about to leave, so she decided to go to the prefects' wagon to leave her things and then go and look for her new friends.
Well...
Doing that was a mistake as Remus and the new prefects had a lot of things they wanted to discuss, so she had no choice but to stay with them without being able to go and look for Draco and Hermione.
When she and the other prefects finally got off the train, most of the students had already boarded the carriages, only a few were left laughing at the Slytherin prefects who had been pranked by the marauders.
How Lily was sure it was them?... because the same prank had been played on Severus some time ago.
She still remembered how angry Severus had been.
But as usual, she didn't even have time to be angry with the marauders that time because Severus had sent Sirius and James to the infirmary.
No, it wasn't a magical duel, it was a vicious potion Severus had used to make them suffer.
The marauders might have played a very bad prank on him, but he had made an attempt on their health, which was much more serious.
Lily had tried to reason with him, but he hadn't listened and had defended himself by saying that he was only defending himself.
But it was obvious to Lily that he was just taking revenge and in the worst possible way.
Of course, that wasn't the only situation where something like that happened, the conflicts between the marauders and Severus had been a constant thing at Hogwarts, there wasn't a wizard who didn't know about them and their fights.
Anyway...
Back to Lily, she was out of luck as it seemed that the Prince siblings had already boarded their carriage so she was going to have to meet them at the entrance to Hogwarts.
Finally, when they arrived at Hogwarts, she saw Hermione and Draco, but it was a headache to see them with Potter and his group.
Lily quickly rushed to get the two of them to invite them to join her and her friends at the Gryffindor table, she didn't want the marauders to add another member to their group for anything in the world.
When she arrived at the Prince's side, Potter made an effort to flirt with her or ask her out as usual, but of course, he was unsuccessful and his constant insistence and jokes only annoyed her.
Even though she was angry, she couldn't deny that it was funny, she saw how everyone else was laughing or smiling, but she wasn't in the mood for that kind of thing today, so she quickly grabbed Draco and Hermione and walked away from the marauders.
As Lily walked with the Prince and his friends, Hermione asked her a lot of questions about James, which she found strange, but she supposed that Hermione was probably interested in him, which wasn't surprising since Potter, along with Black, was one of the best looking young wizards in Gryffindor.
Draco on the other hand seemed cautious at all times, even though Lily's friends or their boyfriends wanted to join him, he seemed very tense, as if he felt he was in the wrong place.
Lily could notice this since it used to happen to Severus a lot when he had to be around her and her friends.
He hated having to spend time with other Gryffindors that weren't her.
When they reached the tables in the Great Hall, Draco looked very down, tired, frustrated, and thoughtful, he didn't talk to anyone even though he did answer the occasional question, yet he was strangely cold and dry.
After the first year wizarding house sorting, Lily noticed that Draco kept glancing in the direction of the Slytherin table, she didn't understand why that was.
But Lily didn't think much more about it either, because when she noticed Severus at the Slytherin table, she was completely speechless.
Well...
That wasn't the Severus she remembered, but she was sure it was him.
She had only glanced at the Slytherin table because she was intrigued as to what Draco might be looking at.
Lily had stopped looking at the Slytherin table a long time ago because she knew Severus would be staring at her and she didn't want to make eye contact with him.
Severus had spent the entire fifth year staring at her, which was very uncomfortable, so she decided not to look at him anymore.
And although this time she was curious as to what Draco was looking at, a part of her was also curious to see if Severus was still looking at her, although she wouldn't admit that.
Lily had only planned to take a quick glance in his direction, but when she saw Severus, she couldn't help but stare in his direction like a fool.
Severus had changed and quite a lot, his whole appearance seemed to have made a complete 180-degree turn.
She had constantly told him that he needed to take better care of his body and health.
Severus was a genius at brewing potions, but he had no care for the constant exposure to different magical ingredients or the excessive consumption of potions.
Lily tried many times to reason with him, but as always he would change the subject.
Severus was always the type who preferred to change the subject rather than argue about something he didn't agree with, one of the many reasons why their relationship slowly deteriorated...
They never really solved their problems.
Lily knew that sometimes she acted a little unfair to him and that she could get angry about something or other that she wasn't right about, but it was because she wanted him to listen to her.
Lily just wanted to talk and fix everything, to find a way to sort things out, not put them aside.
Every time they argued and didn't solve anything, she kept accumulating more and more things, and at some point, she knew she was going to explode and let it all out.
And it happened, except that she not only exploded because of everything she had been accumulating but also because she felt really hurt by Severus for the first time, he had broken the only thing that kept their relationship going.
Lily had lost the only thing that gave her the strength to carry on despite all the bad things the two of them were going through.
But now, Severus seemed to have listened to her for the first time, or maybe it was for another reason his sudden change, but there was no doubt that Severus looked completely different.
Even her two best friends, Marlene McKinnon and Alice Scott who noticed that she was looking towards the Slytherin table, whispered some jokes to her.
"Hey Lily, if you keep staring at him like that it could be trouble," Alice whispered to her with a smile.
"Yeah, although I admit he looks good, he's still a Slytherin, plus look at who he's with, it's Regulus, Mulciber, Avery, and Rosier," added Marlene quietly so the rest of the Gryffindors wouldn't overhear their conversation.
Lily, who was distracted, was taken aback by her friends' comments and her cheeks turned pink.
Despite the embarrassment she felt at her friends' comments, she was smart and cast a quick charm that allowed her to talk quietly to her friends without the rest of Gryffindor overhearing their conversation.
'Muffliato Charm' Lily silently cast a charm that Severus had taught her, of course, it was with the promise that she would not teach it to anyone else.
And she kept her promise despite how much her friends insisted that she teach them the charm.
"Alice, Marlene, stop teasing, don't you know who he is?" complained Lily more calmly now that she knew no one could hear them.
"Hmm, no, I think I've seen him before...but I don't know who he is," Alice replied honestly, trying to remember where she thought she had seen the young Slytherin Lily was looking at.
"And you Marlene?" asked Lily again.
"I feel like I know him too, but I couldn't tell you who he is, which is weird since I usually notice cute boys, even if they are Slytherin" joked Marlene.
It was then that Lily's eyes widened in surprise and she knew that they didn't recognise that this young man they were talking about was Severus.
"Look Lily, it's not that I have any particular problem with you being interested in a Slytherin, but I'm worried about the group he's with, you know Mulciber and Abery's humour is pretty evil, much worse than the marauders," Alice clarified.
Alice didn't particularly like the marauders as she disagreed with their heavy pranks, but she knew they were good guys, just very annoying and lacking in manners.
She thought they were still acting like children and just needed to grow up to properly understand everything.
"Yes, those two are only out to torture and hurt others," Marlene nodded with disgust in her voice.
Both Alice and Marlene's families were magical and their families were quite important in the magical community, so they didn't usually have much trouble with the Slytherins, but many of their friends were from Muggle families and knew how much they were bullied by the Slytherins.
Lily was one of the few exceptions as they never saw any Slytherin bothering her.
"But if he's different from the other Slytherins and you want to go out with him, you have our support," she added with an amused smile.
"Girls, he is Severus..." said Lily quietly even though she didn't need to since the charm was there.
"What did you say?" asked Alice who didn't quite hear or thought she misheard.
"Something about Severus," said Marlene.
Lily just sighed defeatedly and stared at the two of them.
"The Slytherin boy you are talking about is Severus," said Lily now firmly.
"Severus?" they both shouted in unison incredulously.
Instantly Marlene and Alice's faces changed completely, their eyes were wide with surprise and their mouths made a 0.
They both quickly turned their heads to look again at the young man Lily was looking at.
Occasionally they both turned their heads to look at Lily to see if she was playing some kind of joke on them, but she seemed very serious about it, so they could only try to find the similarities between that young man and Severus.
They were surprised to see that despite how different this young man was from Severus, it was definitely him.
And if there was one thing that confirmed Lily's words and their suspicions... it was the young man's deep, cold, dark, black eyes.
Yes... they had only seen eyes like that once before and it was none other than Severus Snape.
"Impossible..." they both muttered in complete shock.
While Lily could only look at them and shook her head.
She told Alice and Marlene everything, she even told them about what happened in Diagon Alley with Severus...
So she already knew that today the three of them would spend a long time talking before they could sleep peacefully.
It was going to be a long night...
A few hours later, the little wizards were finishing their meal and then a glow illuminated the tables making all the food on the table disappear and different desserts such as chocolate bars, cakes, sweets, candies, cookies, etc., appeared.
Moments later Dumbledore spoke again, he stood up looking at everyone, and said:
"And now, students, if I may test your patience one more time, some important announcements for the start of this new term and I hope you will all bear them in mind..."
"The Forbidden Forest is off limits to all students and there will be serious consequences for anyone who enters..."
After Albus said a few more things, the banquet finally ended.
And after the Hogwarts opening banquet was over, all the students went to their respective houses while the first years were guided by their respective prefects.
"Now, all first-year students follow me from behind," said the Slytherin Prefect as he stood up to leave for their dormitories along with the prefects of Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor.
The little first-year wizards in Slytherin were not happy to follow behind this prefect as he was one of those affected by Potter and his group's prank, and even though all of those affected had changed into new clothes, the nasty smell on them still lingered.
Severus didn't bother to wait for his classmates who were still chatting and telling the other Slytherins about the "interesting breaking news".
He went straight to his Slytherin dormitory and when he arrived he found a surprise on his bed.
There was a white scroll of folded parchment that caught his attention, this scroll was sitting on a pillow next to his belongings.
'Looks like someone asked the Elves to deliver this to me personally' Severus thought as he grabbed the scroll.
Severus unfolded it, feeling the weight of the quality parchment, knowing it was a parchment that could not belong to simply any wizard.
His eyes met an elegant, slanted handwriting, and even without a signature, he knew exactly whose it was.
Severus unfolded it, feeling the weight of the quality parchment, knowing it was a parchment that could not belong to just any wizard.
His eyes met an elegant, slanted handwriting, and even without a signature, he knew exactly whose it was.
~~~~Letter~~~~
My dear Severus Prince,
(He read the letter, remembering the obnoxious voice of Abraxas Malfoy, Lucius's father.)
I am writing to congratulate you on your recently acquired inheritance, it is a great comfort to me to know that you have managed to take the position of heir to the house of Prince.
Now, although I do not doubt your commitment to being part of the cause, there are certain requirements that I need from you.
It has been said that you have decided to keep the Prince as a neutral house which is very satisfying to know, but once you join the cause the neutral status of your house must cease.
I also understand the unique talents you have, but I'm not the only one you need to convince.
You will need to send me something to present as a demonstration of your worth.
Although I understand that you have already created a spell that proves your worth, so a simple demonstration of this will be enough to officially join the cause.
~~~End Letter~~~~
The letter ended abruptly without closure, reading more like a memo than a letter.
Severus assumed this was his first step towards initiation as an official member of the Death Eaters.
It seems Lucius' father is anxious and doesn't want to waste any time, he even sent the letter during the first day of his sixth year.
Too bad he was no longer interested in such things as the "Cause".
Severus wasn't even going to bother replying.
'Incendio' with a quick, smooth wave of his hand Severus set the letter on fire and it turned into blackened shreds.
The letter burned until there was only a faint smell of smoke left in the dormitory, but Severus blew it away with a silent gust of wind.
He had already mastered magic without a wand, though there were still many spells for which he would require his wand.
The wand was still a very useful weapon not only for these spells he had not yet managed to cast without a wand but also because the physical and mental wear and tear of using a wand was minimal compared to not using a wand.
After burning the letter he again made a quick wave of his hand and his copy of 'Advanced Potion Making' flew out of his bag.
This little black book was one of his most valuable possessions as Snape.
It used to be Snape's only source of comfort in difficult times.
Severus opened the old textbook and the first thing he read on the cover was:
"Property of the Half-Blood Prince."
The naïve Snape had been so attached to the idea that he was at least half a Prince, part wizard, half that he could replace the dirty part of him that belonged to his father.
Snape was weak and despite his hatred for his father, he had always been intimidated by him, which was why he decided to think that his Prince blood and his talent were what would get him ahead in the magical world.
Now he only laughed that he felt comfort in this book and his status as half Prince.
Although Severus was now heir to the Prince family and was considered a "true Prince" due to the ritual of inheritance, Severus wasn't proud of it or felt better than others because of it.
No, power is what was really important.
Severus calmly turned the pages of the book until he found the spell he had written in the corner of the book.
That was the spell Abraxas Malfoy was talking about.
A spell that Snape had shown Lucius and that he had probably told his father about.
Snape had presented the spell to Lucius to see if it would be acceptable as a proof of his worth as a future death eater.
Although Snape had no plans to join the Dark Lord until he could convince Lily, he still had to be prepared to be accepted.
It was in his fourth year that Snape began to create this spell and what he considered to be his darkest curse...
Sectumsempra...
A cutting spell to use against his enemies.
In fact, Snape had begun to develop it in a fit of rage against Potter and Black...
But it was only after the utter humiliation he had suffered in front of the entire school and the loss of Lily that Snape managed to finish it.
He had spent many days refining and perfecting it in his haze of anger and hatred.
Because that was all in his life at the moment, after losing Lily and suffering such humiliation he was alone, unable to find refuge at home or at school.
Snape was forced to face the demons in his life alone.
Because he pushed away the only person he cared about.
There was no surprise that Snape clung to this spell as a lifeline, a hope for a better future as a follower of the Dark Lord, a place where he mattered and had a purpose.
But Severus was no longer that pathetic boy.
He still remembers when Snape determined that he had the right spell and the right wand movements, he had gone to a secluded spot in the forbidden forest adjacent to the school grounds, a place where he used to exclude himself to be alone and quiet.
Snape chose to test his spell on a large tree in the middle of the forest.
Once he was sure that there was no one else in the surrounding area, he concentrated on his attempt, repeating the series and the movements several times;
Then he allowed his latent rage to reach boiling point in his desire for revenge against Potter and his gang and the humiliation they'd put him through...
And when he could finally visualise his tormentors at the mercy of his wand, Snape summoned his magic and the curse was released.
He still remembers shouting "Sectumsempra!" as he slashed his wand in a Z-formation against the large tree in front of him.
It was the first time Snape felt his magic erupt in such fury from within him and flow violently through his wand, fighting against his control like a raging river struggling to overflow.
At that moment, Snape watched as the tree began to fall, cutting clean through where the spell had struck it.
Snape had repeatedly imagined James Potter and Sirius Black at the end of the spell.
At first, he felt his lunch in the back of his throat and had to struggle not to regurgitate the contents of his stomach, breathing through his nose for several minutes.
But as the days passed, the nauseous feeling faded and the image of Potter and his party being cut down by his spell no longer looked so...
Evil.
As much as Snape hated Potter, Black, and their friends, he did not wish them dead, Severus was sure of that.
But from that day on, Snape began to doubt whether that was true.
Now Severus knew that Snape had been tempted by the dark side just like Darth Vader.
But Snape was lucky that his connection to the Force was so slight that the dark side did not actually corrupt him.
One advantage of using a wand is that even the dark side does not affect the user too much.
Otherwise, Snape would probably have tried to kill or torture Potter and Black without even thinking about the consequences.
Yes, the Dark Arts could corrupt wizards, but it was such a slight corruption that Severus laughed at how mentally weak wizards had to be to be affected by it.
Not only did they have no true connection to the Force, but they were also affected by a little corruption from the dark side.
As long as one remained steadfast in their desires and feelings, it was easy to resist the corruption of the dark arts, and could even use them without much trouble.
The dark side of the Force was much more complex and difficult to resist.
Yet if a wizard used the Dark Arts without a wand, he could lose his mind completely.
Severus even believed that this could be the case with the Dark Lord, a wizard who only allowed himself to be manipulated by the dark side due to his lack of knowledge of it and his lack of mental strength.
So far, Severus had been able to control his impulses and use the dark side without being affected.
Though he still had years of study and advancement in his own knowledge of the dark side before it would be completely safe for him to proceed fully into the use of the dark side without consequences.
-September 2, 1976
The next day Severus woke up early as usual, but unlike in his Manor, he now had no private room where he could quietly train with his sword and the Force.
He had no choice but to just do some basic training.
He noticed that his roommates were still in a deep sleep after the long talk they had last night with Mulciber, Rosier, and Avery along with the other Slytherins.
Although he had two roommates, he had no relationship with them and they almost didn't talk to him, Severus only knew that they were friends with Olivia Greengrass and her group.
Olivia and her group were usually pretty secluded from the rest of the Slytherins.
After training, Severus went to the Hall for breakfast.
This early in the morning there were very few students and most of them were just Ravenclaws going over things before class.
Severus made his way to the Slytherin table and sat at the seat furthest away from the head table.
This always used to be his spot, away from Dumbledore's attention.
He was tempted to approach the head table to see the old man's reaction, but there was no point in doing such a thing, he was not getting anything out of it.
Once he sat down in his usual seat, he began to read and wait quietly for breakfast.
After several minutes of sitting in silence, more students began to arrive.
Of course, the Ravenclaws were the first to find their seats.
Next was a small group of Hufflepuffs.
It seemed that the Slytherins were no better than the Gryffindors today, but Severus knew that it was probably because Mulciber and Avery had spent all night telling about the 'breaking news'.
And on the Gryffindor side, it was likely that they had been celebrating Draco and Hermione's welcoming.
Finally, food began to materialise in a few places around where the few scattered students sat.
A large plate of toast, egg, and bacon appeared before Severus, whose stomach growled ferociously in response, he reached for the toast and began to eat.
Then, the Slytherin and Gryffindors began to arrive.
"Hey, Severus are you feeling alright? You disappeared pretty quickly yesterday," asked a voice from behind him just before a body settled on the bench next to him.
Turning to the person who sat next to him, Severus met Rosier's face.
"Better than ever, I'd rather rest than listen to others talk about me," Severus replied in his soft, gravelly voice and then meticulously folded the eggs onto his fork to continue eating.
From the other side of the table, Mulciber dropped heavily onto the bench as he grabbed without any finesse at all sorts of food.
"It's normal for Severus to avoid annoyance," Mulciber commented as he chewed his bacon.
Apparently, elegance and table manners did not apply to all Slytherins as Mulciber was rather nonchalant and rude as he simply ate with his hands and spoke with his mouth full.
"By the way, Severus, did you start eating like a princess now that you're a Prince?" asked Mulciber seeing how polite he had become.
Usually, Mulciber and Severus were the nastiest people at the table when they ate.
"Concentrate on how you eat your breakfast and less on how I eat mine," Severus said curtly and continued eating quietly causing Mulciber to look at him with anger.
Few people spoke to Mulciber with that tone as he was bigger, stronger than most, and was from a good pureblood family.
In Slytherin only two things mattered, strength and the blood, the weak and humble were only subjugated by others.
"Looks like being a Prince went to your head a bit too much," hissed Mulciber, slamming his hand on the table and giving Severus an intimidating look with every intention of starting a fight.
Severus didn't even bother to answer him or look at him, which irritated the already angry Mulciber even more.
Just as he was about to do something he would regret, Rosier spoke up.
"Stop being so bloody emotional and let the rest of us eat in peace," Evan Rosier glared at Mulciber.
They both looked at each other for a few seconds, Mulciber giving him an intimidating and irritated look and Rosier giving him a bored look that said: "I don't give a shit, just keep eating and don't cause any more problems"
It was only when Avery came in and started joking that Mulciber calmed down and leaned back to continue eating while laughing along with Avery.
"Before I forget. Prince, can you get or make the same potion I asked you for last year?" asked Avery expectantly.
"I don't waste my time on those things anymore," Severus replied.
" Dammit, that's going to be a pain in the arse," Avery complained. They used to pay Severus for different potions, but now that he no longer needed money they were without their most valuable potion supplier.
Mulciber and Avery frowned inwardly, it wasn't easy to find someone to provide them with high-quality potions, maybe in Ravenclaw, but that would be a drag.
Slowly the Professors arrived and took their places at the large table in the Hall.
Professor McGonagall took her place at the centre of the table next to Dumbledore's seat and gave everyone in the Hall a serious look.
While the Head of Slytherin, Horace Slughorn, entered and took the seat facing the Slytherin table.
Severus felt Slughorn's gaze on him and knew that this would be another year in which he would try to get him to join his annoying Slug Club.
After having been rejected so many times, Severus still wondered how he kept insisting that he join.
One would think he would have given up by now.
'If only he took as much care to understand what was going on in Slytherin as he did in his Club, many Slytherins probably wouldn't have decided to be death eaters,' Severus thought as he shook his head at the useless Potions professor.
Once he had finished breakfast, Severus got up to go to his room and prepare everything for the first class of the day.
Just as he was about to walk out the doors of the Great Hall a flash of dark red appeared in front of him.
