The Definition of Evil

Chapter Two

Severus forced himself to come back to the present and to abandon all thoughts of his first year at Hogwarts. The Dark Lord was speaking to him. He forced himself to look the foul creature before him in its eerie, serpent-like red eyes.

"Severus... You are to act as a spy for me. You shall put up an act, tell the old fool Dumbledore any story. I am sure you will be able to think of something; your brilliance is well-known..." the Dark Lord paused for a second as a sinister smile spread across his face. Severus was tempted to cringe at the ugly sight. "In many ways, my boy, you remind me of myself when I was your age."

"Oh? In what way, Master?" Severus asked.

Lord Voldemort's smile broadened. "I, too, realized early that the only thing that matters in this world in power. Those without power, or those who are weak, are useless. They cannot accomplish anything. But power, as I'm sure you are already well aware, is useless, unless the person in possession of the power has a goal. Do you know what my goal is, my boy? Do you know the goal of Lord Voldemort, the most powerful and wisest of all wizards?"

Severus seriously doubted that the man-creature before him was the 'wisest of all wizards', but he chanced a response nonetheless. "You seek many things, Master. Among your many goals, immortality and the purification of the wizarding race are most important."

"Exactly, Severus," Lord Voldemort hissed. "Noble goals, indeed, aren't they? And with my power, I shall someday achieve my aims, no matter what the cost!"

Severus nodded grimly, and forced a smile onto his face. "You most certainly will, Master. And I will help you as best I can, first by infiltrating the Order of the Phoenix right under their Muggle-loving noses..."

He broke off, and the Dark Lord soon dismissed him. He was left to his own devices, and was free to brood once more on how he had come to receive the Dark Mark that night. His thoughts wandered to an incident during his third year at Hogwarts...

Thirteen year-old Severus Snape was quietly working in old Professor Vector's classroom, hovering over his Arithmancy book, and scratching at his parchment with his quill feverishly. As he consulted his charts to check up on some numerical relationships, he heard a distinct giggle.

Tearing his colorless eyes away from the parchment in front of him, Severus looked up to see that Lily Evans, a pretty red-haired Gryffindor girl, had been the one to make the noise. She had apparently laughed sat something the boy beside her had said. Severus craned his neck to identify the boy, and realized with disgust that it was none other than Remus Lupin.

Severus scowled, wishing the two of them would just shut up. What could possibly be funny about Arithmancy class, anyway? Even Severus had to admit it was the most boring class he'd ever taken, even more so than History of Magic, if that was possible. Severus gave a little smile; maybe that was what Evans and Lupin were laughing about.

As he returned to his work, scribbling down digits and plugging them into complex equations, Lily Evans laughed so hard that nearly everyone in the class looked up. Severus scowled, seeing that Lily had turned an embarrassed shade of pink, and Lupin was biting his lower lip, trying not to laugh himself.

Professor Vector, a stooped-over old man with pure white hair and a puffy mustache, seemed not to have noticed the commotion in his classroom, probably due to the fact that the poor fellow was nearly deaf. Severus took it upon himself to act responsibly and maturely, and to tell the two Gryffindors off.

"Evans, Lupin! Some of us are actually trying to work here, so please keep it down for our sakes," he hissed in their direction.

Lily bit her lip, while Remus rolled his eyes dramatically.

"Sorry, Severus," Lily apologized as she shot a look at Remus. "We'll keep it quiet from now on, won't we, Remus?" She gazed daggers at her friend, who smiled and shrugged as he turned back to his Arithmancy tables.

Lily turned back to Severus and gave a little wink, her green eyes still sparkling with laughter. He turned back to his equations, confused. It means nothing, he tried to convince himself as he immersed himself once again in the mathematics before him. It doesn't matter if she's friendly to me; it changes nothing. I'm still Severus Snape, Hogwarts' most despised student...

As the bell rang and class ended, Severus shot a curious look Lily's way. He noted the way she talked animatedly to Lupin, the way she laughed every time he made a joke. He noticed the little things about her: how her hair had natural highlights of dark blond set in amongst the red, how her eyes sparkled in the sunlight, and how whenever she talked, her hands gesticulated constantly to emphasize her point.

Severus noticed for the first time that James Potter, the same boy who had confiscated his Dark Arts book in first year and who had seized any opportunity to make his life hell since that day, was also staring at Lily Evans, admiration and appreciation in his hazel eyes. He stood with Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew outside the Arithmancy classroom, apparently waiting for Remus to emerge. But anyone with half a brain could see that most of his attention was focused on Remus's female friend.

"Why hello, Remus," James greeted his friend with a clap on the back. "I thought we'd discuss a few things before you—er, leave to see your sick mum tonight." James's eyes strayed back to the pretty red-head beside Remus. "Ah, if it isn't Lovely Lily Evans. How are you today, m'dear?"

Sirius snorted from suppressed laughter, but Severus, who was walking behind the group of five on his way to the Great Hall for dinner, scowled. Potter was sickening, the way he was fawning all over the girl, his eyes practically popping out of his sockets looking at her. She didn't deserve that...

Lily fidgeted a bit, looking like she'd rather be anywhere but near James, but replied politely, "I'm okay... although I'd rather you didn't call me 'dear'."

Severus privately agreed with her, but James replied, "Not to worry, my darling. Your wish is my command, after all."

Peter laughed. "Since when? I didn't think you took orders from anyone, James."

James gave a sly smile in Lily's direction. "There's an exception to every rule, Peter, my boy," he said, then turned to Remus. "Isn't that part of the Marauder's Code, mate?"

Remus chuckled as he took a piece of parchment from the pockets of his robes. "Let's see..." he muttered, as he scanned the parchment, eyes narrowed in concentration. "Actually, no, it's not. D'you want me to add it, James?"

James gave his friend a haughty smile, and said, "Absolutely! How could we have missed that one, anyway?"

"As I recall," Sirius interrupted, a cheeky smile spreading across his handsome face, "we substituted 'there's an exception to every rule' for 'Dungbombs rule' in the Marauder's Code. That was your idea, too, might I add."

Lily rolled her eyes, but James shrugged it off. Severus was just thinking that he'd like to take a different route to the Great Hall in order to avoid being around these idiots, when Peter spotted him.

"Oy, look! It's Snape!" he exclaimed. Peter's favorite pastime was watching his friends torture Severus, and he took advantage of every chance available to him to initiate fights between Severus and his own group of friends.

Severus paused in the corridor, expecting the worst, but wishing to face it like a man. If he had learned anything useful from his abusive father, it was to always face pain and humiliation with a proud face and an unwavering will. And Severus had learned that lesson well.

"Yes, here I am," Severus said sarcastically. "I'm one nasty Dark Wizard, so you should all watch out. Who knows what I'll be doing to you next."

After three years of knowing the Marauders (a name the group of four boys had taken to calling themselves soon after their second year had started), Severus was still amazed that they were so thick as to think that he was a Dark Wizard. He had never so much as uttered a dark spell of any kind; he was simply interested in the theory of Dark Magic. He supposed that his naturally anti-social attitude, however, paired with his curiosity about all things Dark, made them continue to think that he was bad news. In fact, James Potter and Sirius Black had done more damage to him than he had ever done to them or anyone else. It was a fact that constantly nagged at him, and he resented them for it... among other things.

James and Sirius had, once again, drawn their wands against him. This time, however, Severus was ready; he already had his own wand out and raised, ready to cast any offensive of defensive spells he thought necessary.

"So, Snivellus," Sirius started, and Severus cringed. For some reason that he couldn't even imagine, both James and Sirius had taken to calling him "Snivellus", an absolutely grotesque nickname, earlier that year. Needless to say, he hated it. "What are you doing here, this lovely evening? Off to the Restricted Section of the library to find a little light reading on the Killing Curse or something?"

James sniggered, and added, "I doubt it, mate. He's probably read the entire Restricted Section by now..."

Severus gulped. Whether they knew it or not, Potter and Black were right; he had indeed read most of the Restricted Section of the library.

"Come on, you guys," Lily tried to talk some sense into her fellow Gryffindors. "Leave him be. He hasn't done anything to you; he's probably just going down to dinner, like the rest of us." Lily caught Severus's eye, and he softened up a bit; he even gave her a grateful little smile. But, unfortunately, James noticed this silent exchange.

"What the hell, Snivellus?" he growled. "Don't you dare look at Lily like that! She's worth about a hundred of you, so don't be getting any ideas, you hear me?"

Peter looked like Christmas had come early, and even Remus, who usually frowned upon James and Sirius's many rows with Severus, looked slightly angry. Severus was beginning to regret having ever set eyes on Lily Evans.

Finally, after a few seconds of tense silence, he spoke, "At least I'm not fawning over her like I've been struck with cupid's arrow, Potter. At least I've got enough sense to see that you're acting like a love-sick fool, calling her 'darling' and staring at her for minutes on end. You wouldn't see me--"

But before he could finish, a fuming James Potter had yelled, "Incendio!"

Before Severus could react, he realized to his horror that his robes were quickly burning up right before his—not to mention Lily Evans'—eyes. He cried out, and tried helplessly to stop the magical flames from spreading, but to no avail.

James, Sirius, and Peter were laughing hysterically; Remus Lupin smiled sadly in his direction, but did nothing to help Severus control his flaming robes.

Lily Evans, however, froze for only a moment before angrily pushing passed James Potter and screaming the counter-curse. Once his robes had stopped burning, Severus turned to Lily and thanked her silently with a single grateful look. He winced, however, when he noticed that the palms of his hands were seriously burned. When Lily spotted his hands, she turned furiously to face the Marauders, who were still laughing at the sight of Severus trying to extinguish his burning robes.

"How dare you..." Lily spoke quietly, but menacingly. "What has Severus ever done to you, eh? He was sticking up for me, Potter! I agreed whole-heartedly with everything he said about you; you'll never have me, not if I can help it! Especially after this disgusting display of brutality! Do you see his hands?" she asked, gesturing to Severus's palms, which were bright red and bleeding in spots. "I'm going to go to the Hospital Wing with him. And I'll see you later, Potter... hopefully much later!"

Lily grabbed Severus by the arm and hurriedly ushered him down the corridors and up the stairs to the Hospital Wing. She didn't say a word, but Severus didn't want her to.

She cared about him. She hurt when he hurt, and she seemed to be the only one who could see beyond his Dark Arts obsession—his hobby. She seemed to see at least a tiny part of the person beyond the greasy hair and anti- social attitude, or at least she realized that there was a person beyond his outer appearance and his less-than-pleasant demeanor.

Severus was grateful towards her, and for once he wasn't afraid to admit it. When they arrived outside the Hospital Wing, Severus looked Lily straight in her brilliant green eyes, gave her one of his rare sincere smiles, and muttered, "Thanks, Lily..."

She patted him on the shoulder sympathetically, and replied, "Any time."

Severus watched her walk away, longing to hear her kind voice once again. Little did he know that he was beginning to fall in love with Lily Evans...