UPDATED: new sketches!
It thinks it's outsmarted me. Not a chance. See if you can figure out the addresses for the images. Hint: it's in code.
Snapes:
(http) (colon) (slash) (slash) askandrea (dot) (com) (slash) sally (slash) snapes1.jpg
Snape and Lily (very rough):
(http) (colon) (slash) (slash) askandrea (dot) (com) (slash) sally (slash) snape&lily.jpg
please figure it out! They go with the story.
My, this is so exciting! They just keep doing whatever they want. I'm so close to 10,000 words I can taste it. And if anyone out there is like me, I search for stories that are 10000 words or more only. Well, best get this posted so I can get on to chapter 3!
Chapter 2
Sirius and Snape sat on opposite ends of a hard bench right outside McGonagall's office. Inside one could barely hear the professor's controlled lecturing. Boy, he's been in there a while, thought Sirius nervously. He could only imagine the punishments that were befalling his best friend, and the idea made him seethe with anger at the young man sitting a few feet from him. He casually glanced over at the sallow teen. Severus was hunched over with his hands in his face, his raven hair knotted in his fingers, and Sirius could barely see the gentle rise and fall of his back. The image made him feel a bit regretful.
It really wasn't his fault, I guess. He almost shouldn't be punished.
He gazed down at his wand for a moment. "She'll probably go easy on you." He paused. "We started it, really."
Silence. Severus was being flooded with a dozen emotions: fierce anger for the boy sitting next to him; anxiety about losing so many points for his house. But mostly, he felt cold, agonizing fear. Oh gods, don't let her tell father. I'll do anything; just don't let her tell him, he repeated in his mind.
Sirius was not about to give up. "You really don't have anything to worry about…" he ventured, scooting towards Severus a few inches. "Sniv-…Snape?"
Snape remained with his face in his hands, seemingly ignoring his surroundings.
"Come on, Snape, say something," Sirius coaxed a bit impatiently, scooting closer. "You're sore at Jim? We didn't really mean anything by it…'sides, you deserved it after this morning."
Nothing. Sirius watched Snape's back rising and falling again, and for some silly reason imagined what would happen if he placed a book on it. He scooted closer, now only about a foot away from the other boy, and began to pick at a thread on his lap. "Come on, it's not all that bad–"
He felt a violent shove and was thrown to the floor. Looming over him was Severus, looking clammy and sickly, his fists in balls. "You have no idea how bad it is! You and your idiot friends don't know anything about anything, you hear me?" he hissed.
"You prat, I'm just trying to help!" Sirius shouted, getting to his feet.
Severus sneered. "Ha! Well some help you've been!" he shouted back, leaning menacingly towards the other boy.
At that moment, the Professor opened her door to find the two young men standing, glaring at each other threateningly. "Boys, control yourselves!" she stressed.
Slowly, the two lowered their fists, not breaking eye contact. "Go into my office now, please." McGonagall herded them through the doorway into the office, which was decorated with dark wood and deep reds. James was sitting in one of the two red leather armchairs in front of the professor's desk. "You may leave now, Mr. Potter," she said sternly. James slowly got up and started walking out of the room, and gave Sirius a strange, scared look as they passed each other.
"Have a seat." McGonagall strode around her desk and sat with a creak. She looked at one boy and then the other, steepling her fingers. Severus nervously sat with his arms crossed and began to glance around the room. There was an enormous grandfather clock in the corner behind the desk ticking away, even though the pendulum was still. On McGonagall's desk was a stuffed hawk that bore a striking resemblance to its owner. It turned and eyed the boys suspiciously.
Suddenly there was a loud knock at the door that made all three jump. McGonagall shook her head slightly and went to answer it. The boys heard a click and quiet murmuring from over the tall backs of the armchairs.
"I'm sorry Miss Evans, but I'm busy at the moment." More murmuring. Lily, thought Sirius. "No, you may not come in, Miss Evans, I do not care to hear 'your side of the story' right now. If you have something pressing to tell me, it can wait until we are finished." There was an angry huff, and McGonagall closed the door.
"All right boys," she said, getting back to her seat. "From what I heard from Mr. Potter, there have been some injustices this afternoon." Severus nodded and looked smug. Sirius just leaned back into his armchair sullenly.
"I must say again, Mr. Snape, I am quite surprised at you. You are a very good student; excellent in my Transfiguration classes." Snape's smug expression doubled as he glanced over at Sirius. "That's why I find it so disturbing that you would attack Mr. Black unprovoked. At least you had the good fortune that Mr. Potter arrived to stop you from doing any more harm."
Snape swung his head back to the professor, smugness slowly melting into what Sirius could only describe as…nauseated. He gaped at Sirius, who looked back wide-eyed, shaking his head. I didn't do this! he tried to mentally convey to the other boy. Severus slowly gripped the arms of his chair, staring at McGonagall in disbelief.
"Now, I considered notifying your father of this matter…" Severus's grip tightened. "…But I decided that it would be best to keep it to ourselves, especially if you two are cooperative."
Sirius leaned forward, scrunching his eyebrows. "But, Professor–"
"Don't worry, Mr. Black. I haven't forgotten you. Even though Severus was the aggressor, you should not have been so violent in your self-defense. Potter told me of the Mobiliarmus charm, and I really don't think that was necessary. In the future, you must alert a teacher if there is a problem." This left Sirius was gaping as well. But that was James! I cannot believe he would do something like this! I'll kill him!
"Now, for your punishment. Since the two of you obviously need to learn to respect each other, I have assigned you both to detention three times a week, for the next month. Together." Severus choked. The boys' looks of frustration were quickly replaced with those of angry astonishment. Oh gods, thought Severus. This is almost as bad as her telling my father!
"The detentions will begin tomorrow evening, promptly as six. You will report to Mr. Filch in the dungeons. If either one of you are late, both your parents will be notified," she added. "Do either of you have any questions?" The two were so mutually shocked that neither could think of what to say.
McGonagall leaned back and gave them a chagrining look of satisfaction. "Well, good. That is all settled. You may go," and she gestured towards the door.
•
"I said I'm sorry already!" James dodged a hurtling shoe.
Sirius rounded the four-poster bed hopping on one foot, trying to remove his other shoe.
"Get back here Prongs! You slimy, wretched, insufferable git!" James leapt over the next bed, but caught his foot and fell with a crash to the other side, knocking off his glasses.
"You idiot! Even you couldn't be this stupid! How could you?!" Sirius yelled as he nimbly jumped onto the bed, shoe in hand. James cowered below on the floor, covering his head. "I'm sorry! If you'd just let me explain–"
"Explain! Yeah, I'd like you to explain! Like, explain how I am suddenly Snivillus's hot date every other night for a month! I'd love to hear an explanation about that one!" He drew back the shoe.
"Wait! No! Just hold on a second!" James lifted himself up on his elbows, searching for his glasses. "Just listen. I didn't know what to do back there. McGonagall just suggested a few scenarios, and I simply agreed with her. Maybe I exaggerated a bit–" Sirius lifted his shoe again,
"Whoa, hold on!" James continued. "Listen. I've just been in trouble too many times this semester already. I knew she'd call my folks this time if she knew what really happened. I thought you could take the rap for me this once…I just didn't have time to consult you about it." James gave an innocent shrug.
Sirius lowered the shoe and rolled his eyes. "Jim, that was a damn fool thing to do." He sat down with a sigh. "Now, not only do I have to spend all that time with Snape, he's gonna hate my guts even more than before. I didn't think that was possible!"
Jim raised his eyebrows. "What do you care if Snivillus hates you?"
"I dont," Sirius retorted quickly, "He'll just make everything living hell... He didn't deserve it, James. That was really stinking of you."
"There you go again! I thought that would be the one thing that would soften the blow! Yeah, you get detention, but you get to see Snivillus suffer too!" James said heatedly.
Sirius was livid. "Yeah, right next to me, you prat!" He threw the shoe anyway, spun on his heel, and stormed out of the dormitory.
•
Severus dragged his feet down the hall. A month! A month with that, that- argh! What am I going to do...? he thought miserably. At least nobody else knows.
He made his way towards the Great Hall for a late lunch. Passing through the archways, he saw that the little desks were gone and the customary house tables were back in their rightful place. The room seemed to glow, and he thought for a fleeting moment that maybe the tables were glad to be back.
As he shuffled along past to the Slytherin table, he could see out of the corner of his eye that his housemates were shooting him angry glances. Some whispered to each other and nodded their heads towards him, and he thought he heard the word "points" hissed. Oh no. So much for lunch.
Severus reached the very end of his table and sat, shoulders hunched and looking warily around him. He looked at the plates of food lining the center of the table. I'm not hungry at all.
He heard laughter somewhere behind him, and turned to see red hair. Lily. She was sitting near the middle of the Gryffindor table talking animatedly with her friends. He still felt guilty about what he had said to her before. His family…they had always been very prejudiced against non-Wizarding families. He didn't mean to feel the way he did, but being brought up with it constantly ringing around him, it was bound to rub off a bit.
I really ought to apologize, he slowly realized. Though he hated the idea, imagining himself stooping to the level of Potter and his friends disgusted him. Glancing down his own table to see the frowns directed at him, he thought, now is as good a time as any.
He swung his legs over the bench and stood, straightening his robes and raking his fingers through his hair. Striding quickly, robes whirling behind him, he reached Lily's seat and noisily cleared his throat.
Lily finished what she had been saying and laughed, and turned around to see who was behind her. Her laughing face instantly turned icy. "Yes?" she said, drawing out the "s". All around them people were chattering and laughing; silver and plates were clinking.
Severus cleared his throat again and his pallid skin turned a light pink. "I was wondering if I could speak with you for a moment," he mumbled.
"What's that?" Lily turned her ear toward the boy. The girls sitting around her giggled.
Severus felt a bit annoyed. "I said, I was wondering if I could talk to you, please."
Lily gazed up at him condescendingly and crossed her arms. "So talk." More giggling.
He gritted his teeth. "I was hoping we could speak privately." He eyed the other girls.
Lily looked off somewhere in the distance for a moment, and then looked back up at the gangly young man. "Why should I?"
Severus sighed and slumped a bit. "Please."
Lily frowned and rolled her eyes, and turned to her friends. "I'll be right back." She got up and led Severus to one of the enormous archways. "All right," she said once they were blocked from the view of the Hall, putting her hands on her hips. "What do you want?"
Seeing her looking at him so angrily, Severus almost lost his nerve. "Uh…I–" He sighed and looked at his shoes. "I wanted to apologize."
Lily's expression softened. "What?" She glanced around suspiciously. "Has Potter got his wand on you from somewhere?" she asked, looking over his shoulder. Severus sneered.
"No. I'm doing this of my own accord." He gazed down into her eyes. "I was wrong to say what I did. I really don't regard you in that way. You've never been anything but kind to me. I was just extremely–"
"Humiliated?" Lily offered.
Severus's lip curled at the memory. "Yes. And then the fact that you came to my rescue–"
Lily nodded with understanding. "It made you feel even worse."
"Exactly." They stood in silence for a minute.
"Well, I accept your apology" she said solemnly.
Severus gave her a small, relieved smile. "Thank you. I guess I'll let you get back to your lunch then."
Lily blinked. "Aren't you going to eat anything?"
"How do you know I hadn't eaten?" Severus questioned. Lily blushed and smiled at him.
"Magic… You know, our table has some great Chinese food on it today. Would you care to come have some?"
Severus suddenly looked nervous and started twisting a long, black strand of hair from the back of his head. "Sit with Gryffindors? Uh, I don't know about that… there's that small risk of being stoned to death, you know."
"Oh, don't be silly," Lily smiled. "You'll be safe with me" she winked, shaking a fist. Severus slumped at the comment and gesture. Lily rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on." She grabbed him by his skinny arm and dragged him back out to the Hall.
They got back to her seat, and she motioned at one of the girls to move over.
"Surely you're not going to let him sit here, are you?" asked a girl who was also a red head, though she had frizzier curls than Lily's.
Lily continued making a place for Severus. "Yes Molly, I am." The chattering around the middle of the table abruptly died down. A few of the girls got up and left, and Lily sighed as she watched them go. "I guess it's a good way to weed out your real friends," she shrugged. "Have a seat."
Molly had a look of distaste on her face, but said nothing. Severus sat upright like he was strapped to a board, feeling that he had never been more uncomfortable in his life. It seemed like every eye was on him. Lily must have noticed, because she quickly grabbed a plate and started loading it with food. "Here, Severus," she handed the plate to him. "Try the almond chicken. It's terrific."
Severus picked at the food. "I didn't know that you knew my real name." Lily turned to him and smiled warmly, blushing again.
"I've always known your name," she replied. Slowly, the talking and laughing resumed, and Severus felt almost at ease again.
After lunch, the rest of the day went by relatively quickly. He read and did homework for most of the evening in the Slytherin common room. As Severus settled down into his bed, even though he knew he had the detention from hell the next day, he thought he hadn't felt so relaxed in a long time.
•
Severus awoke in the middle of the night, which was not uncommon, but lying awake, he began to hear things. The Slytherin dormitory was completely dark. There was loud, harsh whispering coming from the corners of the room.
"Greasy lit-…-lost a slough-…"
"…-want to beat the-…-him-…-points-…-can't win-…-quidditch."
Oh gods, he thought, realizing their subject. I have to get out of here! He quietly slipped his legs out from under the covers and onto the floor. He had only gotten a few feet from his bed when he stepped on a weak spot in the wood, which let out a dreadful creak.
"Crabbe!" said a hoarse whisper. "That you?"
What do I do!? Snape froze in place, not daring to answer.
"Oy, Tristan! See who that is," called out the whisper.
Severus heard a murmured incantation and saw a point of light grow out of the middle of the darkness to his left. He looked at it like a deer in headlights.
"It's him! He's up!" said Tristan in a full out yell.
Severus snapped out of his trance and sprinted towards the door. Something caught his collar and his feet flew out from under him. He fell to the hardwood floor, his head cracking against it.
"Oughh…" he groaned.
"Come on and get up you slimy bastard." Someone kicked him hard in the ribs. All around him Severus could make out the shapes of legs and feet. He struggled to his knees, and then braced himself with his hands as he got up, swaying.
"I think…I have a concussion…" he said. The dark shapes were spinning.
"Yeah, you better hope that's the worst you get. You're stupidity may have lost us the quidditch cup, you idiot. And we're going to teach you a little lesson."
"T'wasn't my fault–" he managed to get out before he felt a fist connect solidly with his eye. He spun and fell to the floor in a heap.
"No–…don't…" Something hid him hard in the stomach, and he gasped for air.
At that moment, he couldn't feel any more of the pain. He knew they were hitting him over and over again, but vaguely, as if the blows were feather-light touches. They left him lying facedown, off to one side of the door with a trickle of blood streaming from his mouth. No one bothered to help him until he awoke at the students coming back from lunch the following day.
•
Lily didn't see Severus at breakfast the next day. She sat with a view of the Slytherin table, watching to see if he showed up. I'm sure he just had some homework to finish up or something, she thought, reassuring herself.
But then he was missing at lunchtime too. Worry began to nag at the edges of Lily's thoughts. She decided to pack a few muffins into her bag before leaving to find the boy. Her shoes clicked as she marched down the hall to the Gryffindor common room, where the portrait of the fat lady gave her an appraising look.
"Well, don't we look determined!"
"Crackers" shouted Lily.
"I most certainly am not!" retorted the fat lady, but swung open the portrait hole anyway.
Lily stomped through the common room and climbed the stairs to the boy's dormitory. Nearest to the door there was a pair of oversized feet hanging off the end of a bed. She drew out her wand and aimed at the feet.
"Sirius Black!" The feet jumped, and Sirius stuck his head out of the curtains around his bed. He looked at her with disdain.
"Yes, Evans?" he drawled.
"What did you do with him? I know it was one of you! Where is he?" she shouted.
"Where is who?" Sirius squinted, his dark hair falling in his face.
Lily stepped menacingly towards the bed. "You know perfectly well who!" She waited for him to confirm her thoughts, but he only stared at her blankly. "Severus! What did you do to him?"
"Severus…" He thought for a moment. "Oh, you mean Snivillus! Um…"
Lily glared at him. "Well?"
"No idea where he is, really." Sirius shrugged. "Why?"
"You better not be lying," said Lily as she waved her wand over her head.
Sirius pulled his head back behind the curtains. "Don't hex me Evans! I swear I don't know where he is!"
Lily sighed and lowered her wand. "Does Potter know?"
"I don't think Jim would have done anything, especially after the talking-to I gave him yesterday," he said as he cautiously peaked out of the curtains again.
Lily sighed again and sat on the bed next to Sirius's. "I don't know what to do then. He wasn't at breakfast or lunch. I wish I could get into the Slytherin tower, but I don't know the password. I'm not even sure where the entrance is. I just have this horrible feeling that something's wrong."
Sirius rolled his eyes and pulled the curtains back. "Turn around Evans. I'll help you, but you have to give me a bit of privacy. Of all the stupid things…going to save Snivillus…He's probably just sulking in his dorm because of what happened yesterday," he muttered as he yanked on his robes.
"I thought about that, but it wouldn't make any sense. Why would he have gone to lunch yesterday, but not today?" said Lily, facing the dormitory door.
"Stay there," he told her as he walked to another bed.
"Thanks for helping me, Sirius. I just hope that we're not too late."
"I'm not doing it for you as much as myself," he lied. "If Snape doesn't make it to detention tonight, McGonagall will tell both our parents about what happened yesterday." Sirius dug through James's wardrobe and finally pulled out a shimmery wad of cloth. James owes me anyways, he thought as he stowed to translucent mass into his bag.
"Come on, Evans," he mumbled.
They left the Gryffindor tower and crept down the halls. Sirius seemed to know exactly where they were going; he went around every corner confidently. They reached a dark, echoing hall. One side of it was bare stone, and the other side had a deep alcove cut into it containing a tall suit of armor. They clamored back behind the armor where Sirius spoke in an urgent whisper.
"Here's what we're going to do. We'll wait for a Slytherin to go in, and run in behind him."
Lily gave him an incredulous look. "Oh, classic. And how do you propose we do that without being noticed by said Slytherin, hmm General?"
"With this," said Sirius as he drew the material out of his bag.
Lily's face lit up. "Excellent! An invisibility cloak! Where did you get it?"
"Never mind that," Sirius frowned and threw it over their shoulders.
•
Severus groaned and tried to roll over. His face was swollen and when he tried to open his eyes, the left one throbbed excruciatingly. There was a metallic, salty taste in his mouth and he tried to spit off to one side. Something hard passed his lips, and he reached up wincingly to pick it off his chin. He held it up to the light. It was a bloody tooth. His eyes crossed and he promptly passed out again.
•
The two Gryffindors had managed to sneak in behind a Slytherin unnoticed. As they tiptoed through the dank common room, Lily noticed the uninviting nature of the place. Unlike the Gryffindor commons, which was carpeted, there wasn't a shred of carpet in the room they were presently in. Green and black banners hung from the ceilings, and torches burned bright green every few feet along the walls. Sirius led her purposefully to the bottom of a spiral staircase. As they began to climb, a thought struck Lily.
"You've been in here before, haven't you?" she whispered.
"That's none of your business. Be quiet unless you want someone to hear!" he snapped hoarsely. Lily raised an eyebrow at him. Sirius frowned.
"Yes, I've been here once or twice; to plant some dung bombs in the common room," he acquiesced.
Lily looked confused. "But then how do you know where the dorms are–"
"Shh!" he hissed as they got to the top of the stairs. They didn't have to go very far into the room before they glimpsed a figure heaped on the floor, and Sirius's stomach dropped in recognition. Luckily no one else was present, because Lily shrieked and ran to the figure's side. "Oh my god!"
•
Severus awoke to find that the floor he was lying on wasn't hard and brown, but bore an uncanny resemblance to white sheets. Wait. That's not right…he thought, confusedly. He tried to open his eyes wider, but the left one still throbbed. He slowly turned to his side and squinted around. The infirmary. How did I get here? He suddenly felt a shooting pain in his midsection and doubled over with a gasp. He felt a warm hand on his shoulder.
"Madame Pomphrey! Come quick!" said a voice above him that could only be Lily's. Severus heard footsteps hastily approaching.
"He's all right Ms. Evans, it's just his ribs mending." He suddenly felt a cooling sensation where the pain had been moments ago.
"That ought to help. Now, you best leave him for a while, so he'll be out in time for his detention this evening," said Madame Pomphrey with a wink and bustled off.
Lily sat down on the edge of the hospital bed. Her hand, which had been on Severus's shoulder, slid down to hold his own. He unconsciously cringed at the unfamiliar contact, but then relaxed. Her hand was soft and soothing. He turned to look at her, and she smiled at him with a mixture of warmth and pity.
"How did I get here?" he croaked.
Lily frowned. "Oh…well, I noticed that you didn't come to breakfast or lunch, and I got a little worried. So I went looking for you."
"You mean we went looking for him," said a familiar voice from the end of the bed. Severus squinted at the figure darkened by the afternoon light shining into his eyes. The figure began to become more focused and Severus could just make out that it was–
"Black!" he wheezed, trying to sit up. Sirius backed up instinctively.
"Yes, he helped me find you, Severus," Lily cut in quickly.
Severus snarled as much as his swollen face would allow. "I would have rather you'd left me there if he was involved!"
Lily's brilliant green eyes flashed. "Severus! Quit being stupid! He may very well have saved your life. I couldn't have helped you without him," she snapped. Sirius sighed.
"It's ok, Lily. I'd better go anyways. I want to spend as little time around him as possible, seeing as I'm going to be with him for the whole evening."
In truth, he didn't want to leave at all. As he had watched Severus curled up on the bed, covered in bruises, anger had begun to bubble up inside of him. Those Slytherin maggots, he thought. Their own housemate! An annoying voice in his mind spoke up.
But you and your friends harass him daily. What's the difference?
He scowled at the idea. That's different. We just rough him up a little, not kick him unconscious.
The voiced nagged again. Why do you care anyways? It's just like James said…
I don't! he reiterated to himself. He regretfully turned and started out of the infirmary, calling over his shoulder, "See you at six, Snape. Don't be late, or it'll be both our necks," and he was gone.
Lily watched Sirius leave and then turned back to Severus with a troubled look.
"So what happened up there–"
"Why was he here, Evans?" Severus cut her off, pulling his hand from hers.
Lily burned with frustration. "I told you, he helped me find you."
Snape's lip curled. "Well I wish you'd left me to bleed to death! Can you imagine how horrid it would be if it became common knowledge that he participated in my rescue?" he sneered. "I'd never be able to live it down!"
"Severus, I really don't think he'd tell anyone. Wouldn't it be just as embarrassing for him? Really…I would have thought you'd be a little appreciative–"
"Ms. Evans," he cut her off again. "I appreciate your bringing me to the infirmary. That is all. I don't need or want anything more. And we're not so chummy that we're on a first name basis, so please act accordingly. Now leave me alone," he said frigidly, and turned to face away from her.
"Of all the…" Lily was hurt for a moment, but then, thinking about what he had been through, decided that it would be best to give him some time by himself.
"Alright." She got up with a sigh and made her way out of the infirmary. Severus laid staring at the wall, a mixture of guilt, embarrassment and overpowering sadness seething behind his cold demeanor. Thank you…Lily.
•
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