Discerning Patterns
Disclaimer: Characters and setting are the property of J.K. Rowling, I'm just borrowing them for a little non-profit fun.
Weeks passed and life at Hogwarts settled into routines.
Severus skimmed through the potions essay belonging to the Ravenclaw half of the twins. "Are you certain your sister didn't write this fodderall?" He asked dryly. "I thought Ravenclaws were supposed to be intelligent."
Lily groaned and buried her face in her hands. Remus stuck his hands in his pockets and looked at the ceiling. Every Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw at the table glared at the Slytherin boy; every single one of them looked thoroughly offended.
Chelsea snatched her essay back. "I asked you for help." She accused.
"Severus could we talk." Lily stated. She pointed toward the hall. Severus ignored her so Lily grabbed his arm and levered him out of his chair, ready and willing to drag him into the hall if need be. He jerked his arm free and went for his wand only to have Lupin accio it away from him. "Give it back." Severus growled.
"When it seems prudent." Remus replied. "Madam Pince is giving you the evil eye. You'd best take it out in the hall before she really gets mad."
"Give me my wand and I'll leave." Severus demanded.
"After we talk." Lily decreed. She held out her hand and Remus surrendered the disputed item.
Lily stalked out of the library. Severus stared after her with a mutinous expression then gave in and followed his wand into the hall. Lily was a whole head shorter than the Slytherin boy but she glared up at him with a look in her startling green eyes that made him feel like he was being dressed down by one of his Professors.
"Has anyone made one crack about your problems in Transfiguration?" Lily demanded then went on without giving him a chance to reply. "I know you've got the manners of a dragon with an ingrown toenail but here's a simple rule: If you can't say something nice then keep your mouth shut!"
"There was nothing nice to say about that mockery of an essay. I thought we were attempting to correct each other's deficiencies." Severus replied snidely.
"Try saying that nicely then!" Lily spat. "That means without insults by the way. Chelsea's Ravenclaw for gosh sakes, talk about hitting a person where it hurts. And Hufflepuffs aren't stupid for your information."
"Contrary to popular opinion?" Severus shot back.
Lily silently glared up at him for ten breaths then in a calmer voice she said. "Has it ever occurred to you that everyone has a bit of all the Houses in them? Look at the study group for example. We're here studying on a Saturday night. We obviously care about our grades: Ravenclaw. We're working really hard to learn this stuff: Hufflepuff. We bravely ignoring the possibility of censure from our housemates for going against tradition and working together: Gryffindor. And we're conspiring to get a decent grade in History without suffering through all of Professor Binns' dreadful lectures: Slytherin."
"I have nothing to loose by going against tradition. My whole house hates me anyway." Severus pointed out.
Lily waved his rebuttal away. "You could be toadying up to Malfoy if you really wanted to. Besides the Hat told me most everyone is a mix. I'm more evenly balanced than most so we had a bit of a chat before it placed me. It said the sorting isn't just about which qualities a person has in the greatest measure, it's about the ones we value because those are the ones we're likely to develop the most."
"Your point?" Severus asked when the red headed girl stopped to breathe.
"Chelsea works for every grade she gets, she really cares a lot about how she does in class. Being a Ravenclaw doesn't make her smart, it means academics are the most important thing to her. So what you said was really nasty. And you shouldn't stereotype, its not only rude it's stupid and that's your favorite put down isn't it?" Lily tossed Severus his wand. "I don't want to chase you off but could you try, just a little bit, to be nice?" With that the redhead walked back into the library and left Severus standing in the darkened hallway alone.
Severus kicked the closed door. "Narcissa says manners are for when you can't just take what you want. They're not for Hufflepuffish-Ravenclaws who get teary at being presented with simple facts." He turned his back on the library then hesitated. "Still, Narcissa did say I need to practice not insulting Malfoy every time I open my mouth… might as well practice on someone who doesn't matter…"
After that Severus made a point of speaking less during the study session. He kept on attending them; he was improving in Transfiguration after all, abet slowly, and he didn't really have anything else to do with his time. But he limited himself to curt, dry responses. Remus claimed that the textbooks had more life in them than he did. It probably wasn't exactly what Narcissa intended, but it did elicit an interesting reaction from Lily. Severus knew that his withdrawn manner upset the Gryffindor girl. She blamed herself and did her best to draw him into the group despite his stubborn resistance. Severus found her continuing efforts rather gratifying even if Lupin did accuse him of acting like a two-year-old sulking for attention.
Orion Black was as good as his son's word and found ways to introduce Artalocus Snape into his family's social circles. Thus the weekends at home improved a little from Severus' point of view. His father started acknowledging it when he did something right.
Severus determined that he disliked Pettigrew more than any of the other Gryffindors and promptly mended fences with Sirius since it was apparent that the most efficient way of driving the diminutive Gryffindor into a fury was for Severus to maintain his relationship with Black.
At Narcissa's urging Severus started feeding Malfoy information about his and Sirius' pranks beforehand. Once Lucius trusted him a bit Severus began mixing in false alerts and occasionally he 'missed hearing about a prank' because Sirius 'suspected him of being the informant.' Narcissa frowned on those sorts of games but she didn't give him away and Severus enjoyed putting Malfoy through his paces too much to quit, even in the face of Narcissa's censure. Despite his family background Sirius was too Gryffindor to actually suspect Severus of being behind the failed pranks. He knew Severus really hated Malfoy and thus assumed he knew everything relevant. Sirius never bothered considering how Severus benefited from selling them out to Malfoy on occasion.
Away from Lily Severus felt free to sharpen his tongue at Lupin's expense. To his annoyance the most easy-going member of the Gryffindor quartet had apparently decided not to take anything Severus said personally. Remus seemed to like having another non-Quidditch player around and Severus was shocked to learn that there was another person outside of Ravenclaw who read as many books as he did. They disagree on every point of discussion, even if Severus had to change his mind in order to be in disagreement but that was okay because arguing was so much easier than talking.
Occasionally James forgot himself and insulted Severus directly instead of pretending that the Slytherin boy didn't exist or if he did exist, he certainly wasn't in the room. Severus didn't like James anymore than James liked him, but he hated being treated like he was invisible so it was always a good day when he managed to get James angry enough to fight.
Desmona's letters sounded happy and relaxed, it was hard for Severus to remember a time when his mother had sounded like that at home. He just hoped her improved spirits would last after she came back. He worried that maybe she would decide to stay in France forever, but then she'd promised to meet the train and she'd never once broken a promise made to him.
After a careful consideration of his life, Severus tentatively decided that he was happy with the way things were and should do his best to avoid anything that might cause changes. Happiness seemed like a very delicate thing and he didn't want to break it.
In the last week of March Lucius Malfoy decided to notice the existence of Lily Evans. He called her a mudblood and hexed her cross-eyed because she'd been sitting on the steps talking with her friends and he decided that she was in his way.
One of Lily's friends helped the visually impaired girl to the infirmary. As they stepped through the doors Severus' angry, oddly stuffy, voice became audible. "My healing potions are just fine!"
"I'm certain that they are." Madam Pomfrey replied coolly. "The fact remains; you take too many of them. You've ended up here three times since the holidays and every time your body has been saturated with potions. If you were seriously injured I'd be as helpless as a muggle. You can't take potions for every little scrape and bruise, it's not healthy."
"I don't!" Severus yelled. He hopped off the bed and tried to storm out of the Infirmary.
Madam Pomfrey flicked her wand and the enraged boy was summoned back to the bed he'd just abandoned. "You'll stay put until I've spoken with Professor Dumbledor… Oh, Miss Evans I didn't see you there. What brings you to my infirmary?"
Lily stood there, her mouth gaping open with surprise. She blinked at Madam Pomfrey as if she'd forgotten her reason for coming. The instant she tried to focus on the healer she remembered her problem. "They're stuck." Lily said plaintively.
Madam Pomfrey shook her head. "The things you children are always doing to one another." She flicked her wand and Lily's eyes uncrossed. Then the Healer bustled off to contact Dumbledor.
Lily hopped up to sit beside Severus. "I got hexed by Malfoy. What happened to you?" She asked.
"Those idiots set a Bludger loose in the castle." He exclaimed as he gingerly poked at his swollen nose.
"Oh not again." Lily sighed. "Last time James broke his glasses and sliced up his cheek."
"So why didn't Madam Pomfrey just magic that away?" Lily asked with a gesture toward Severus' broken nose.
"Because she's a closet sadist and she hates me." Severus complained.
"I heard what she said about you taking too many potions." Lily forged on. "Why? I know you hang out with James and Sirius and they rough house pretty hard but still..."
"It's none of your business." Severus snapped.
"If someone's really hurting you you need to tell Madam Pomfrey or the head of Slytherin or Professor Dumbledor or someone." Lily pressed.
"I said leave me alone! Are you deaf or stupid, mudblood?" Severus shouted.
Lily scowled. "Now you sound like Malfoy's crowd. Why don't you go wash your mouth out with soap?" Eyes flashing the redheaded witch stalked out of the infirmary with her head held high.
After that incident Severus didn't enjoy it when Lily's worried eyes followed him anymore. He didn't know what those piercing green eyes saw when they looked at him. They made him feel like he was on a dissection table.
One Monday morning in the middle of May Lily Evans scandalized the entire school by plonking her tray down at the Slytherin table beside Severus.
"Hello, how was your visit home?" She asked.
"What do you think you're doing?" Severus hissed.
"You want to know how I knew?" Lily continued. "Well I looked up what it does to you when you OD on healing potions. It makes your whole body feel tender and raw because you've got too many new cells being born all at once. Severus, every time you go home you hold yourself really gingerly when you come back, not like you're protecting a bruise, like everything hurts. Plus you're even jumpier than you are normally."
"What do you want?"
"Severus, you have to tell one of the professors that your parents are abusing you." Lily said earnestly.
"What the bloody hell are you on?" Severus stood so abruptly that he almost tripped over the bench as he hurriedly left the Great Hall.
Lily ran after him. She caught up to him in one of the school's multitude of corridors and grabbed his arm. Severus spun around and punched her. Lily ignored the throbbing in her cheek. "You have to!" She reiterated then quickly continued. "There was a kid in my old muggle school, you act exactly like him. One day he just stopped coming to school, a week later we were at his funeral. His dad killed him. I know the Wizarding World can fix practically anything, good as new in a couple of minutes, but magic can't undo dead. You have to tell someone."
"You're crazy! You're insane! …You are imagining things!" Severus ranted.
He was still shouting when Professor McGonagall found them. Lily's cheek and eye was in the process of turning a rich shade of purple.
"Young man, you'll go straight to my office and wait for me there. Miss Evans, I believe you need to see Madam Pomfrey." McGonagall stated.
"No!" Lily exclaimed. "Severus, tell her."
"Idiot mudblood. You don't know anything!"
"Mr. Snape, my office now!" McGonagall ordered.
"I'm fine Professor." Lily protested.
"Miss Evans…"
"I'm going, but you shouldn't punish Severus." Lily stared directly at the dark-eyed boy. "I startled him. I know how on edge he gets after seeing his parents. I grabbed his arm, it probably hurt, since he's chock full of healing potions, again."
"Quit raving you crazy bint!" Severus hissed desperately.
McGonagall pursed her lips, the boy was so furious he was shaking. If the castle hadn't been warded against accidental magic she expect that every light fixture in the corridor would have cracked. "Miss Evans I will deal with this, you will report to the Infirmary, immediately."
Lily sighed with relief. "Yes ma'am."
Once the Gryffindor girl had gone Severus wrapped his arms around his chest and sagged against the wall.
"Ten points for language, Mr. Snape." Professor McGonagall said calmly. "Now would you care to explain why Miss Evans upsets you so badly?"
"She doesn't know anything." Severus insisted.
"Madam Pomfrey has mentioned her difficulties in treating you recently."
"I'm learning to duel." Severus felt his emotions slip beneath an icy shield. It was the same shield that separated him from his temper when he needed to pander to Malfoy's ego, Narcissa had been teaching him to do that. "I'm not very good yet. I get bruised up, but nothing worse than I'd get playing Quidditch, really. It's embarrassing so I heal the bruises."
McGonagall frowned slightly.
"If I were really in danger my magic would protect me. I'm not a squib you know." Severus added. "She's thinking muggle. Nothing is wrong."
"There is an adjustment period." McGonagall admitted. "However, I'm going to speak to Professor Viridian about monitoring your use of potions more closely."
"Fine, I swear, I won't do it anymore." Severus promised and McGonagall let him go.