In the boys' dorm

"Now Remmy darling, I hope you used protection!' yelled Sirius in a motherly voice.

'Sirius we didn't have sex!' yelled Remus back, patched of red appearing on his face.

'Way to go Remus,' said James slapping him on his back. 'You have hooked up with one of the hottest girls in the year! About time.'

'What's that supposed to mean?' asked Remus looking at his feet.

'It means, that you have been skimming the line since you first met,' said Peter.

'"Skimming the line"? Who talks like that?' laughed Sirius 'But honestly Remus, James and I were ready to stuff the both of you in one of the broom cupboards until you sorted it all out. So are you two going steady? Betrothed? When's the wedding date?'

'Calm down, we just kissed; we're not getting married. Jesus, you guys, don't get ahead of yourselves!' Remus blushed, if it was possible, even harder. 'And for your information I have no idea what's going on with us so you'll just have to wait. Anyway what's going on with you and Liv hu?'

'Well unlike you slow little nutters we decided we're getting married two days after graduation, but I still haven't proposed!' he said as if it was nothing, but the expressions on the other boys' faces was priceless.

'WHAT!' yelled James. 'I knew you liked her more than anyone in the world but you never- MARRIED?' James was absolutely beside himself.

Sirius just smiled.

Flashback

Sirius had gotten over how gorgeous Liv looked long enough to ask her to dance, but he still couldn't help but gawk at her. He hadn't taken his eyes off of her and hardly noticed the whispers and stares they were getting.

'Sirius, are you okay? You hardly even took your eyes off of me while we were eating, and that's saying something.' Liv laughed.

'You are so beautiful.' Was all he could manage to get out. She smiled and blushed a little with to Sirius just made her even more beautiful.

Once the song had ended he held onto her still and just tilted forward a little, she came and met his lips and for a second, Sirius thought that he was floating. This wasn't like any of the other girls he had kissed, and he had kissed about every girl in their year and a few years up.

He knew right here, that if he couldn't be with her forever then he would rather be alone.

'Marry me.' He said in a horse whisper.

'What?' said Liv completely taken aback. 'Sirius I might look good now, but I think you are getting a little ahead of yourself.'

'No I'm not kidding. I'm not proposing yet it's not quite as romantic as I would like it to have been done, officially speaking, but I want you to know that I would rather be alone than with anyone else.'

Liv's face broke into a huge smile. 'You dense twit of coarse when you ask me I'll say yes!' she kissed him again. 'Wow if our houses didn't like us together now, what do you think they'll say?'

Sirius just kissed her again and felt the rest of the world melt away.

End Flashback

'Alright numnut, get that smirk off your face and tell us what the hell is happening here!' yelled James again. Sirius seemed to have spaced out and forgotten they were there.

'I think we can wait until morning, I'm tired and I have A LOT of things to think over.' Said Remus. He went to bed, then Sirius then Peter leaving a very aggravated jammed standing they're feeling clueless.

'Yeah fine, just go to bed, don't let James in on ANYTHING!' yelled James puling the curtain on his four-poster bed around.

Girls' dorm

'MARIA!'

The second that Maria entered the common room she heard her name being shouted by a very angry Liv.

'Coming dear!' she joked.

She was halfway up the stairs when she was knocked down by Liv who wasn't screaming, but squealing.

'Bloody hell woman, are you squealing?' asked Maria.

'Oh my goodness you will never believe what happened tonight!' her face had nothing on it but pure happiness.

'What happened?'

'I think I may be getting married!'

If you had hit Maria over the side of the face with a broomstick, you wouldn't have fazed her in the slightest.

'What?' she screamed and began to get excited.

'Well Sirius said he wasn't proposing officially but that if he couldn't be with me then he would rather be alone!' she had a glazed look over her eyes and looked like she might float up into the air.

Maria didn't know what to say really but she was extraordinarily happy for her, she didn't even tell her about Remus.

Ah, Remus. That was the name that was in the back of Maria's head and no matter what she did, she couldn't quite get it out. The very sound made her want to go skipping through a meadow (something she usually would never do).

She didn't want to tell Liv, who had announced she was going to bed, leaving a very shocked Maria in her wake, for fear of looking like she was stealing her thunder. Then another thought came into her head. "Severus never came to the ball!"

She promptly marched up through the boys' dorms ignoring the whistles and burst into the boys' dorm.

'SEVERUS SNAPE!' she yelled. 'Where in Merlin's name are you?' it was then she noticed that Lucius was at the boys' bathroom door trying to get in.

'Come on Sev, this is ludicrous! Open the damned door!' he yelled.

'What's going on?' asked Maria, completely bewildered.

'It's Severus, he won't come out and he wont let me in.' he said. 'I'm don't I'm going to bed!'

'Oh what a friend you are' Maria snapped. 'Sev? Are you okay?' she said this in a nicer, softer tone.

'Go away.' Came the voice on the other side. 'You can't help me anymore.'

'What the hell are you talking about Sev? Let me in.' she hadn't expected him to actually let her in, but she heard a faint click and she tried the doorknob and to her surprise, it was open.

She entered and closed it behind her. When she did she saw magical locks lock behind her. She looked through the room, dimly lit by a single candle, and could vaguely make out the appearance of Severus in the corner on the far wall.

Maria conjured her own candles and lit them making the room brighter but not too bright. It made the room bright enough for her to notice he had been crying.

'Sev, are you okay?' she said. A highly stupid question, but a necessary one to start with.

'Yes I'm peachy' said Severus.

'What happened?' she asked sitting next to him, but she had a feeling she knew.

'I reieved a letter from my father' he spat the word "father" like a curse word 'I am to be initiated the day of my return from Hogwarts.' He said this and more tears leaked through his eyes.

'I thought my taking a job at Hogwarts would get it through to him that I didn't want to be a Death Eater, but he applauded my tact as the Dark Lord's spy. His spy! I would never be a spy for him. Hogwarts is my home; it is the one place away from my father and all his…' he trailed off.

'Severus, what if you don't come back. Just stay away.' Said Maria. She knew this was taking a stab in the dark, that it wouldn't work, but then again, it just might.

'Very funny and stay there. I wont tell Dumbledore, however much I may like him, of my father's wishes. I am too ashamed. There is no way out for me. My fate is to really be the monster that everyone thinks me to be.' He began weeping again.

'No Severus I wont let that happen. I promise I will keep you away for as long as I can. I wont let them make you. I wont. It is settled. You are coming with me after school is out.' Her face held resolve. She would make him live with her whether he thought it a bad idea or not.

'You're mad. Your parents would ask all sorts of questions, it wouldn't work.'

'Severus I have no parents, their… their dead, I live by myself. I have enough safe houses to keep us away forever. We can pretend to be like brother and sister living after our parents died.' She wasn't sure just how well this would work, but Severus was her friend and all she could do is try.

'I think your insane. It would never work.' Said Severus. You could see he was wishing he could stay with her, have the life he never could have with his family.

'I will not take no for an answer. So you can give up on me giving up on you, cause it's never going to happen.'

'My father would hunt us down. Besides I thought you liked Potter and his gang of illiterate toadstools.'

'"Illiterate toadstools"? That's not the point, yes I do like them, very much, but they cannot make me be friends or not be friends with you. You didn't ask me to choose so why should they. Besides, Lily seems to like you, and James will do anything she asks of him.'

At the sound of Lily's name, Severus couldn't help but get a little brightness in his eyes. He had never told Maria or anyone about his encounter with Lily in the great hall, but after that day he had stopped saying things like "Mud blood" unless it was with Lucius, or in a letter to his father. If his father got the faintest hint he had feelings for a "Mud blood", he couldn't even imagine the punishment.

'Well… it still wouldn't work, and I can't be selfish enough to put you in unnecessary danger.' She was one of the only good things that had ever happened in his life, he wasn't about to endanger his life for his own.

'No, I'll make it work. You haven't seen me when I'm this determined have you? Severus Snape, I am the most stubborn person you will ever meet, so don't even think I'm going to let him get you.' She said. 'Now, I think that the best way to do this would be to go to Dumbledore.'

'I cant. I'm too ashamed.' Severus felt as if he was about to let more tears fall down his cheeks, and he was even more disgusted by it.

'But Sev, if we go to him he can help us. He hates the dark lord! He wont let you become one of his followers, I know it! And with his help we can live in piece.' She pleaded with him, knowing that this may be the only way they could ever get away from the Dark Lord.

'You could sell a bright pink apron with a Gryffindor lion on it to Lucius.' He said standing up. He offered her a hand, which she accepted. It was then that he noticed she was still dressed for the ball.

'By the way, you look really beautiful.' He said making her smile.

'Yes well, you still owe me a dance. Come on, lets go to Dumbledore's office.'

The walked down many halls checking around corners to see if the caretaker Apollyon Pringle was there, or worse his "apprentice" Argus Filch.

When they finally got to the gargoyle in front of the headmaster's office they began to guess the password.

'Gum'

'Droople's Best Blowing Gum'

'Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans'

'Toffee'

'Chocolate Frog'

'Cockroach Cluster'

'Vampire Pop'

'Hunyducks Chocolate'

'Werewolf Sugar Cubes'

'Hippogriff Feed'

After guessing every single imaginable candy, they began to get frustrated. It wasn't until Severus shouted 'STRING BEANS' that the gargoyle let them pass.

Giving each other very odd looks, they ventured in to see the Professor.

Neither of them had ever raised a hand to knock on the door when they heard a 'Come in'

They entered the headmaster's office full of odd trinkets, and paintings of every headmaster of Hogwarts.

'Well this is a pleasant surprise.' Said Dumbledore with the same twinkle in his eyes, and a smile on his face. He was sitting at his desk, and seemed to have been talking to the bird sitting on his left, a phoenix.

'Sir, I have something to tell you.' Severus said. He looked at his feet.

'Please take a seat.' Said Dumbledore motioning at the chairs in front of his desk. They did and Severus began his story, handing the letters he had received from his father to Dumbledore. Through the story Dumbledore had stopped smiling, but the twinkle had stayed.

'Sir, I don't know if there is anything you can do, but if there is I beg you to help me.' Said Severus. He looked like he was going to cry again, but couldn't in the presence of Dumbledore. Maria didn't blame him for wanting to cry, it wasn't every day that you were told to become the evil that waited on Evil itself.

'Sir, you know my… situation.' Said Maria, choosing her words very carefully. 'He could stay in my house, you know I have the room, and if worse comes to worse, I have safe houses all over the world.'

Dumbledore still hadn't said anything. He looked to be in deep thought. He folded his hands in his lap and took a deep breath.

'Severus, you will be going for a job here at Hogwarts, correct?' Severus nodded.

'As you know the jobs you are applying for may not be open for some time. When one of the jobs become open, you will be given that job no questions asked. I daresay you wont let you skills diminish. However you know you could not just stay in Hogwarts. It would pull up too many unwanted questions from unwanted people.

'So, I think that when you graduate go with Miss. Valatie to her home, but do not take the regular train. You will stay here for the first month of summer so all the preparations can settle in slowly and unnoticed. Then you will take the knight bus to her home. The floo networks are too unreliable; eyes we don't need to have any clue as to what is happening may watch it.'

'But, are you sure that it will be safe? For Maria I mean, what if my father finds out?' asked Severus, clearly still concerned about putting Maria in danger.

'If that were to happen, you may not be able to be in a safer place than at Miss. Valatie's house. It has enough spells on it to be as safe as Hogwarts.' The smile had returned to his face. 'In the meantime I would suggest that you go back to your dorms and get some rest. Before you go, do not tell anyone of this meeting, and Maria, while on the train, do not let on to anyone you know where Mr. Snape is, even if you trust them, you may be over- heard by the wrong people.'

They bid him good-bye and retreated back to the Slytherin common room. They collapsed into chairs once they got there. They stayed in silence, knowing they could not talk about what happened for fear the wrong people may hear it.

'Well after this eventful night, I really need some sleep. I can tell that it's going to be a hectic day tomorrow.' Said Maria standing up, Severus following suit. Before going to the girls' dorm, Maria pulled Severus into a hug, a friendly, but tight hug. It took him slightly by surprise. He had never been hugged really, the times his mother had hugged him, she was severely punished by her husband, who didn't like her touching, or being touched by anyone other than him. She had tried to hug him as many times as she could without her husband seeing until one day. He was drunk after some party and she was only slightly tipsy. Severus remembered the day perfectly; because it was the last time he had been hugged by anyone.

Flashback

'I'm going to bed!' Severus announced.

'Ah Severus, you have always been my favorite son.' She smiled. She was a very pretty woman with jet-black hair a slim, if not too slim, figure and very dark but warm blue eyes.

'Mother, I'm your only son.' He said back, but he still smiled he liked it when she spoke to him like this, lie he was loved.

But then, it happened she stood from sitting on the black leather couch and pulled him into a hug. For one moment he forgot who he was and hugged her back. They were pulled out of this moment when they heard a yell in back of them.

'WHAT THE BLOODY HELL YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?' it was his father. From all accounts, he didn't know why his mother had married him. He was tall broad shouldered, and hook- nosed, a nose that sadly he had inherited.

'It was nothing father, I am her son, it was nothing!' he pleaded with his father, and stepped in front of his mother, trying to protect her. He was only 12 but he had to try. He was tall for his age but very scrawny and awkward, his father was a built tall man and Severus wouldn't stand a chance.

'Don't talk to me with that tone.' His father stumbled drunk over to him. He pulled back and backhanded Severus, sending him flying into the wall to his right. He then advanced on his mother who by now had begun to cry.

'You wench, stop your sniveling.' He raised his fist again but instead of stopping at hitting her once he kept on hitting her. Thankfully, he soon grew tired and just continued to yell and yell as she cowered before him.

'YOU WILL NEVER TOUCH ANYONE LIKE THAT AGAIN, OR SO HELP ME I WILL BEAT YOU UNTIL YOU CANNOT CRY ANYMORE!'

As he yelled, Severus cried in the corner he had no idea why his father was so cruel, and he blamed himself for his mother's beating.

End Flashback

That's done! I'm sooo glad! Homework's a bitch and I never have time to type! Thanks to all my reviewers, and keep on reviewing!