Chapter Three

Gryffindor.

I'd been waffling on it the whole train ride, sure the hat would simply toss me to Slytherin with the rest of the Black family. Would it even let me choose? I'd heard of such a thing, but rumors abounded about the actual mechanics of the Sorting Ceremony. You didn't really know what you were in for until you were stood there in front of a singing hat.

Catchy tune, at least.

The moment it was stuck onto my head, though, it told me I had "the heart of a lion". Honeyed words from an old hat. Undying loyalty and a desire for true companionship, apparently, is the recipe for a "great Gryffindor".

Mother would be so thrilled.

…

1 September, 1971

Hogwarts, Scotland

He could feel their eyes on him as he made his way to the Gryffindor table. Cousin Narcissa was the most obvious, her normally beautiful features twisted into an expression of disgust. Next to her sat Lucius Malfoy, who wore a dubious smile—while not invested in the situation, he was clearly going to enjoy watching it unfold. A few seats down smirked Rabastan Lestrange, whose brother Rodolphus had just married Sirius's cousin, Bellatrix. All three Lestranges were a terribly unpleasant lot, and Sirius didn't like to imagine what machinations Bella would enact with Rabastan as her agent at the school.

Putting such dreadful thoughts from his mind for the moment, however, Sirius settled onto the long bench at the Gryffindor table. They were a friendly bunch, extending hearty welcomes and even leaning over to slap him amicably on the back. James was still in the queue waiting to be sorted, but he shot Sirius a thumbs-up when they caught eyes. Behind him, Remus Lupin waved, while Peter Pettigrew stared nervously up at the hat.

Not too long ever that, Lily Evans joined Gryffindor as well, sitting a few spots down from Sirius and studiously ignoring him. Clearly, she was still a little sore over their treatment of her pal on the train.

Sirius paid a modicum of attention to the Sorting, but he was much more concerned with the gorgeous dinnerware in front of him, wondering when it would finally be full of the sumptuous fare Hogwarts was so famous for. Supposedly, he'd heard, the kitchens at Hogwarts were staffed by a massive amount of house elves, and if one was able to actually find the place, they gladly shared from the Hogwarts larder.

Sirius wanted to find the place. He wanted to find everything that was worth finding in Hogwarts. All the common rooms, all the hidden places talked about but seldom seen. Hogwarts was full of secrets, and he wanted to be the one to learn them all.

"Oi, gussying up for dinner?" Remus's voice asked as he sat across from Sirius, who realized he'd been staring at his reflection in the plate in front of him for several minutes. At the sight of the familiar face, he broke into a grin.

"You got into Gryffindor too!" he said excitedly. "Brilliant!"

"Well, James kept blathering on about it, I figured I'd see what all the fuss was for," Remus told him. "Besides, he's right. A riddle just to get to your kip seems a bit much."

Peter joined them not long after, looking intensely relieved to be among his new friends, and then it was James's turn. Sirius pondered the potential irony of James's constant attempts to accrue a group of friends in Gryffindor ending with him getting sorted into Ravenclaw or somewhere else, but the hat had scarcely been placed on the boy's head before declaring James Potter to be a Gryffindor.

"As if there was any other choice," James said with no small amount of bravado, planting himself on the bench next to Sirius. "And looka that, the gang's all here."

"For better or worse," Sirius said with a twinge of apprehension. It was all smiles and the promise of cherished childhood memories now, but the fallout with his family was sure to be no small affair. If nothing else, the next six or seven years promised to be strained. Still, with James grinning at him and Remus and Peter playing a guessing game over where the remaining first-years would go, it was hard to hold onto that sense of dread. Surrounded by scarlet and gold, the looming Black shadow didn't seem quite as ominous for the time being.

"Severus Snape," Professor McGonagall called out.

"Oh, Slytherin for sure," James muttered.

"Too easy," Sirius said. "He was all but bragging about it on the train."

"You think they'll wash that hat after he gets it all greasy with his hair?" James asked, and Sirius snorted a bit too loudly in the silence.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"…Are you actually kidding me?" James asked, and Sirius felt himself now dissolving into laughter at the look on his face.

"Looks like he's the heart of a lion after all," he said.

"Not the stomach of one, though," Remus pointed out. "He looks like he's about to be sick."

Severus walked by, indeed looking a bit green, though he brightened up when he saw Lily smiling and making room for him to sit. Next to Sirius, James wore a pained expression as he watched the pair. Rolling his eyes, he smacked his new friend in the shoulder.

"You're pining already?" he asked. "You've known her maybe a few hours."

"I am not pining," James said, sounding affronted.

"You're definitely pining," Remus pointed out. "I'm not even sure who that girl is, but you're definitely pining after her."

"Alright, no one else is allowed to say 'pining' before it loses all meaning to me," James said.

The Sorting was soon wrapped up, with Gianna Zabini getting sent to Slytherin before Professor McGonagall swept up the hat and stool. As the Deputy Headmistress strode offstage, Albus Dumbledore stood and favored the assembled students with a grandfatherly smile.

"A warm welcome to all of our new students!" he said. "To the rest, I ask that you remember your own first experiences at Hogwarts and extend a hand of kindness. You might even make a lasting friendship, after all.

"Now, before we begin the feast, I must beg another few minutes of your time for some announcements. Firstly, our caretaker, Argus Filch, has asked me to remind everyone of the list of items forbidden in the corridors, which is posted outside of his office and I believe numbers somewhere in the two-thousands.

"Secondly, the Forbidden Forest on the castle grounds is called such for a reason. No one is to set foot inside, for any reason. The forest on the south side of the lake is just as picturesque and significantly less dangerous.

"And finally, as has become customary of late, I would like introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. I want everyone to welcome Dr. Daimler Molotov, who has kindly agreed to share his prodigious knowledge in the subject this year."

At the staff table, a man with neatly-combed salt-and-pepper hair and a perfectly-trimmed mustache stood up to a smattering of polite applause. Giving a short bow, he retook his seat, peering curiously out at the crowd of students.

"That's a weird first name," Sirius said. "Doctor?"

"No, that's what they call muggle healers," Remus said. "It's a title."

"So he went and became a muggle doctor and then decided to try his hand at teaching magic?" James asked.

"Jack of all trades, he is," Sirius chuckled.

"Now, without further ado, let the feast begin," Dumbledore said. "Dig in!"

At those words, the platters and tureens before them were suddenly filled with food. Even prepared for it as he had been, Sirius was still stunned at how delicious the fare all looked. The cooking at home was nothing to sneeze at, if a bit bland. The Hogwarts elves seemed to have at least discovered the merits of seasoning.

"Oi, beef wellington," James said, pointing to a platter near Sirius's elbow. "Pass us that, Sirius?"

"Gladly, long as you pop one of those on my plate," Sirius said, snagging it up and handing it to James. "I'm going for those potatoes."

"Oh, brilliant," James said. "You grab 'em, I'll serve, eh?"

They set up an assembly line of sorts, Sirius snagging up platters (with Peter's enthusiastic help) while James doled out portions onto everyone's plates and passed the platter over for Remus to return to the table. Before long, they all had plates piled high with food, to which they dug in with gusto.

"So, talked you all into Gryffindor, I did?" James asked them, and Remus rolled his eyes.

"Don't flatter yourself," he said. "The hat said I had what it takes to be a Gryffindor anyway. The riddle for the common room was just a tipping point."

"Certainly sounds like I talked you into it," James said matter-of-factly, leveling a forkful of beef at the boy.

"Yeah, you're Gryffindor's top recruiter," Sirius said, nudging James with his elbow. "I only got in because I was inspired by Peter the Boatman's bravery here."

"I think it was good of me to let you lot use my boat to cross the lake, after all," Peter said. "Gryffindor generosity and all that."

"Should've been at the bow, seeing us safely through the night," James snickered, and Peter snorted into his Yorkshire pudding.

Once they had all helped themselves to seconds, the food disappeared, and the platters were as clean as they had been when Sirius had sat down. Moments later, they were filled again but with a staggering assortment of desserts. Even after gorging himself on snacks on the train, Sirius still had to try some of the many cakes, a bit of spotted dick, and of course ice cream.

Soon, he was feeling full and sleepy, and as the desserts disappeared as well, James let a yawn next to him that had him yawning next.

"Oi, stop it, you," he said. "Those are contagious, you know."

"Reckon I've started an outbreak then, haven't I?" he said. Around them, the mood was full and sleepy, with several students already half out of their seats and ready to leave. Up front, Dumbledore stood and smiled down at them once more.

"I can see the kitchens have outdone themselves yet again in making sure your first night at Hogwarts ends in a blissful sleep," he said. "I shall keep you from your beds no longer. Pip-pip!"

With that, they were dismissed, and Sirius clambered to his feet. Further along the table, a familiar voice could be heard shouting among the din of chatter that had arisen.

"Gryffindor first-years, follow me!" Frank Longbottom called. "Gryffindor first-years, this way!"

The four boys made their way through the crowd, and Frank shot them a longsuffering smile as they approached.

"I'll have my eye on you lot," he said. "I know the troublemakers when I see them."

"Thank you," James said proudly.

An older blonde girl approached with what had to be the first-year girls in tow. In addition to Lily, Sirius saw a girl with long and sleek black hair and striking blue eyes. Behind her, there was a familiar face, which broke into a grin at the sight of Sirius. It was Marlene, the girl from Madame Malkin's.

"Hey, I remember you!" she said. "I thought you said you'd be going to Slytherin?"

"Plans changed, I suppose," Sirius said as the first-years fell into step behind their prefects.

"Well, red and gold suits you better, I'd say," Marlene told him with a grin.

"Back at you," Sirius said.

They were led up through the castle, and Sirius felt a thrill at how massive the place was. There was simply no way the entire castle was being utilized by the teachers. Empty wings, disused corridors, abandoned classrooms, there were sure to be at least a few. Come the weekend, he would have to spend some time exploring, maybe bring James and the lads along for an inaugural mission of sorts.

Already, their group felt like some sort of club, exclusive and elite. A circle of friends, drawn together by circumstance and bonded by a mutual desire to simply have someone to share their time at Hogwarts with. And as luck would have it, they all shared a dormitory.

There was one very slight hang-up, which revealed itself when Frank had shown them into the Fat Lady's portrait (the password was "treacle tart") and up to their dormitories. The four boys all took to their beds, joined by one Severus Snape.

"Wow, looka that view!" James said, and the four all clustered together by one of the large windows. It was indeed a spectacular sight, the rolling Scottish Highlands looking picturesque under the glow of the moon. "Severus, come have a look."

"No thank you," Severus muttered, reaching into his trunk and grabbing his toiletries and pajamas. "I'll be getting ready for bed."

"Morose sort, isn't he?" Sirius pointed out.

"Too right," James said with a shake of his head.

ooo

Hogwarts was to be my escape from Cokeworth, from the life of a miserable outcast. I was to be vindicated among the Slytherins, who I would wow with my magical knowledge and find acceptance in the secretive shadows of snakes.

But all the alliteration in the world couldn't prepare me for the stark reality that awaited me. That of a Gryffindor.

There was Lily, of course; the crux of the matter, my sole motivation for this most idiotic decision. I would remain close to her, at the very least, able to join her in the common room for homework, sit beside her in classes, and generally associate with her absent scathing looks from Gryffindors and Slytherins alike.

But the lily was not without its thorns. Four of them, in fact, in the form of the two annoying brats from the train and two more hangers-on that they had absorbed into their stupidity event horizon.

And these four, to my everlasting vexation, would worm their way into my life in ways I could have never foreseen.

These four Marauders would become my friends.

…

4 September, 1971

Hogwarts, Scotland

The first week of classes went by in a whirl that had Severus unsure if he could even classify his workload as such. It was simply fun for him. Being surrounded by his people—those with his same abilities—and now able to hone said skills under the tutelage of some of the best minds out there was everything he could have ever dreamed of. He was actually looking forward to spending his time in the library on Saturday, getting his homework done.

Lily, however, was not.

"Sev, are you nuts?" she asked over breakfast, smiling at him as she stuffed down a mouthful of eggs. "This castle is amazing! The grounds are beautiful! I wanna go explore!"

"Yeah, you can go to the library later," one of her friends said. Severus was fairly sure her name was Marlene. "It's a nice day, get some fresh air."

"Even the air just smells delightful here, Sev," Lily insisted.

"Now, don't force him out into the sunlight," a loathsome voice spoke, and a grinning James Potter sat next to Severus. "The poor thing will shrivel up."

"Or dissolve into ash," Sirius Black chuckled, dropping to sit on Severus's other side. "And poor Peter's allergic, don't you know?"

Peter Pettigrew made a show of pretending to sneeze as he sat across from them, and the three boys burst into laughter. Severus glared at them, but James reached over to punch him gently in the shoulder.

"C'mon, Sev, we're just having you on," he said. Severus rubbed the spot where he'd hit him, saying nothing.

"I don't think it's very funny," Lily huffed. "What if someone made fun of your ridiculous hair or the weird way you laugh?"

"I'd tell 'em 'good one' and drop a dungbomb in the bathroom after they left it," James said. "Gotta have thick skin, eh, Sev?"

"More like a thick skull in your case," Severus said, and James blinked a couple times before grinning at him.

"Exactly!"

…

Following breakfast, Severus made his way up to the library (after promising Lily he would go for a stroll with her after finishing his Potions paper), and he noticed he had a companion as he wandered the stacks of books. Remus Lupin, looking a bit worse for wear, stood on his tiptoes down the same aisle as him, extracting a book from a nearby shelf and passing by Severus on his way to a seat. Severus happened to glance at the title of the book, sighing at what he saw.

1,001 Magical Herbs and Fungi, of course.

"Oh, hello, Severus," Remus said with a pleasant smile. Despite being friends with James and Sirius, he was cordial enough on his own. In fact, were it not for his association with those two imbeciles, Remus Lupin might even have been decent company.

"Lupin," Severus said. "Will you be using that book for long?"

"Oh," Remus glanced down at the heavy volume he was holding. "Were you working on the Potions assignment too?"

"Yes," Severus said flatly.

"Well…perhaps we could sit together and share the book?" Remus asked him with such an openly friendly smile that Severus almost recoiled from it. "That way no one's waiting or feeling rushed."

"…Very well," Severus finally grumbled.

And so, Severus Snape and Remus Lupin found themselves huddled together in a corner of the library (near an open window at Remus's request), and while Severus would have been content to work in mutual silence, Remus seemed to be under the impression that they were collaborating on the assignment. Professor Slughorn was a fan of teamwork, so it would hardly vex him to see two students doing so, but Severus was not the most enthusiastic team player.

Remus had enthusiasm to spare, it seemed.

"So, blastula root is better…minced?"

"Diced," Severus said. "If you mince it too small, you can rob it of the juices that need to seep into the mixture."

"Oooh," Remus noised, scratching out something on his paper. "You really know potions."

"My mother favored the subject," Severus said. "She wanted to become a professional potion-maker, but she married my father instead."

"Nothing wrong with choosing love, right?" Remus asked, and Severus fixed him with a quirked eyebrow.

"That's one way of looking at it," he said. Never mind that his father was the worst sort of swine imaginable, but Severus hardly needed to open up to Remus Lupin of all people about that.

Remus, to his credit, seemed to understand that he'd struck a nerve with this line of talk and fell silent, only speaking up to voice a question about the paper. While Potions was obviously far from the other boy's best subject, Severus had to admit that it wasn't for a lack of smarts; Remus Lupin was certainly intelligent in his own right.

"I'm rubbish at this sort of thing," Remus finally said with a worn smile. "Recipes and instructions, it all just looks like a great block of words on the page to me. I tried to help Mum make cookies last Christmas, I ended up skipping the whole step where you add the baking soda. They came out flat as pancakes."

"…Charming," Severus said. "You can't skip to the end of a recipe to get it done faster, unfortunately."

"Hey, that's a good way to put it," Remus said. Suddenly, he yawned, giving a bleary blink and rubbing at his eyes. "Blimey. Worn out after that, I am. Might nip back to the common room and see if I can stay awake long enough to get the Herbology reading done."

"You just got out of bed three hours ago," Severus said. How could he possibly be tired already? Was he actually a forty-year-old man in need of a midday nap?

"Yeah, slept like rubbish last night," Remus said. "I get restless sometimes, you know. Insomnia."

"You could ask Madame Pomfrey for a sleeping draught," Severus said, unsure of why he was making the suggestion. Remus's affairs were hardly his to concern himself with.

"Maybe I'll do that tonight," Remus said with a smile. Looking at him, Severus noticed that his eyes bore dark shadows beneath them, like he'd been wanting for sleep for much longer than only the previous night. "Thanks for your help, Sev."

Severus suppressed a stab of irritation. That had been Lily's nickname for him, before his charming dormmates had appropriated it as well.

"See you later," he said.

Left to his own devices (just as he preferred), Severus opened his schoolbag and withdrew a few rolls of parchment. Remus's help had had the unforeseen consequence of enabling him to finish the Potions paper with time to spare; he could rattle out a first draft of his Charms essay and go over it with Lily later that evening, possibly even impress her with his head start. Maybe.

Knowing Lily, she would have a laundry list of corrections for him.

"Hey," a voice spoke, and Severus sighed as his solitude was interrupted once more. Looking up, he saw a black-haired girl with brilliantly blue eyes peering curiously down at him.

"Yes?" Severus asked.

"…You don't even recognize me?" the girl asked. "You sat with me for nearly the whole train ride and – "

"I recognized you," Severus said with a roll of his eyes. "You're Mary Macdonald. Muggle-born. You have a cat you wouldn't stop going on about. Excuse me if I don't express how delighted I am to see you."

"You're really unpleasant," Mary said plainly.

"Thank you," Severus said. "Is there a reason you're here?"

"When's Lily's birthday?" Mary asked.

"Thirty of January," Severus said instantly.

"Oh, that's good," Mary said. "Got a while, then. I wanted to get her something, but if it's soon, I didn't want her tipped off if I asked her the day, you know?"

"Quite clever," Severus drawled, and Mary peered down at him with a beady eye.

"Mum says people are unpleasant to others because they're afraid to get close to them," she said.

"She sounds just as charming as you," Severus said.

"You could stand to learn a thing or two about charm," Mary shot back. "I don't know what Lily likes about you, but now that she goes to Hogwarts, she has a lot more people that like her. Not just James and Sirius, either."

"Thank you for letting me know," Severus said.

"I'm just trying to offer you some advice," Mary told him. "She's going to make friends, and you can be a git to those friends, and maybe she eventually wonders why she's letting one bad apple ruin the bushel."

"That's wonderfully folksy," Severus said. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Right, well, I can see you're just going to keep being unpleasant," Mary said. "See you 'round."

Severus said nothing, unfurling some parchment and withdrawing his Charms textbook. As if he needed someone meddling in his friendship with Lily.

"Actually, you'll find that a healthy level of meddling from others is the best way to grow as a person," a man's voice said, and Severus wondered how many more interruptions he would have to suffer. Wasn't the library supposed to be a place of quiet study? Looking up, he saw the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Molotov, leaning against a nearby shelf and studying him with a thin smile.

"Is there a healthy level of meddling?" Severus asked.

"Very few functional human beings have become so in a vacuum," Molotov told him. "Sometimes we have to stick to our guns, to be sure, but there's also a time when you have to realize that the reason everyone is so tiresome to be around is because you're the one tiring them out."

"Sage advice," Severus said.

"You can drawl and sass all day long, boy," Molotov said, "but lads like you, I've seen too many to count. And their journeys all end the same place. Lonesome, isolated, having pushed away all light and hope from their lives and filled the empty space with whatever they can. And it's never anything good."

Severus said nothing, merely peering back at the professor. It was one thing to disregard a little girl's busybody tendencies, but professors were meant to be held in a higher regard than the urchins he shared a classroom with.

"You've been offered a rare opportunity," Molotov went on. "So many like you have gone down a dark way, just as many like me have. We're a unique pair. Our paths have diverged. And you'd best resist the urge to stubbornly shoulder your way back, Severus Snape."

"Daimler," another voice spoke up. Severus's eyes went wide at the sight of Albus Dumbledore, emerging from behind Dr. Molotov with a serene look on his face. "I had wondered where you were. Did you forget our meeting?"

"Of course not, Albus," Molotov said. "As a professor, it's merely in my interests to help my students, even with matters outside of class."

Severus wanted to voice the fact that he hadn't even yet had a class with the enigmatic doctor, but there was something in the look the headmaster was giving Molotov. He seemed very slightly upset with the man. That was intriguing.

"While I admire your commitment to ensuring the students' continued wellbeing, I would prefer that you leave the more esoteric avenues of child development to those with a bit more experience in the field," Dumbledore said. "Now, shall we?"

"Of course, Headmaster," Molotov said. "Good day, Severus."

He moved past the headmaster and out of sight, leaving Dumbledore to fix Severus with a kindly smile.

"It's a lovely day outside, you know," he said. "Why not get out and enjoy the fresh air?"

"…Oh, very well," Severus sighed, packing away his things. Dumbledore left with a quiet chuckle, and Severus slung his bag over his shoulder, making for the exit as well.

It was a nice day, he supposed.