The Birth of Snivellus
Serverus continued to stare at Lily, his face burning. He was too embarrassed to stay put and too embarrassed to look away.
"You're like a deer in the headlights Snivelly."
James said with a grin. Serverus still said nothing, he didn't care that he had no idea how James had come up with such a nickname, he was more concerned with wishing himself invisible at that particular moment.
"How the bloody hell did you get Snivelly from Serverus?"
Sirius spoke his face miraculously looking non caring and puzzled at the same time.
"Snivellus actually,"
James said matter of factly.
"Snivelly's for short, you see you take the 'Sn' from his last name, the 'Ve' and 'Us' from his first and add the other letters from those funny sounds he made when he was choking. And added together we have-"
"Snivellus!"
Peter added cheerfully. Sirius grinned and Remus shook his head. Lily on the other hand wouldn't stand for it.
"Don't call him that! That's perfectly beastly!"
She said whirling on James, wagging her wand like a finger as if to say shame! He was about to tell her off then he looked at her and was rendered speechless. Sirius smiled, as he took note of both James and Serverus' current expressions. The year already looked interesting and the train had yet to reach the school.
"W-why shouldn't I call him that?" James asked of the girl indignantly. He didn't give a damn how pretty she was if it would make him look a coward.
"I'm sure he doesn't want to be called that, it's rude and sounds stupid."
At that moment she turned back to Serverus who had managed to escape the commotion and retreat to the safety of staring out a window.
"What's your real name?"
She asked him kindly, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"S-Serverus, Serverus Snape."
"See?"
She smiled,
"Don't you like that better than something stupid like Snivellus?"
He nodded slowly and didn't even realize that from that moment on he'd hate the name Snivellus just because Lily Evans had said it sounded stupid.
"Hey, listen were nearly to the school, we should get our robes on now so get gone Evans."
"Who are you to boss me around?"
"James Potter, a name that's not stupid at all. One day the world will know my name so you better respect me, now split."
James said grinning from ear to ear and Lily in spite of herself grinned back. Serverus noticed the small exchange and it was then that he had his first bad thought about James Potter.
The Sorting Hats Decisions
The Hogwarts great hall was gigantic. Never in his life had Serverus seen such a room. He opened his mouth to comment about it to James but quickly decided not to. He didn't want to appear the gawking loser.
"This is it; our houses'll be decided no, right in front of everybody."
James whispered softly to Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Serverus.
"All we've got to do is try on a hat? How disappointing…I thought maybe it'd be harder."
Serverus heard a girl behind him say, someone quickly answered her with a
"Don't complain!"
And then the doors to the great hall opened and the sorting began. Serverus was so busy trying to find Lily in the crowd he wasn't paying attention to the sorting. He only heard snippets of what was going on while he craned his neck to see Lily. A teacher named Professor McGonagall was reading names.
"Ludo Bagman…Hufflepuff!"
He still couldn't see Lily.
"Sirius Black…Gryffindor!"
Green eyes he saw, but none like hers.
"Grey Brown…Gryffindor!"
Her beautiful red hair, he couldn't see it.
"Deric Chang…Ravenclaw!"
Why couldn't he find her?
"-Crabbe…Slytherin!"
Had he imagined her?
"Lily Evans…Gryffindor!"
Serverus turned to the front of the hall quickly, and there she was. Her deep red hair and sparkling green eyes were glowing just like her smile as she raced to the Gryffindor table more skipping than walking. Before she sat she turned to spot him in the crowd and wave but as he readied himself to wave back James waved to her and she smiled and sat. Serverus' face fell. They could have chucked him out of the school right then and he wouldn't give a damn.
"Leroy Flint…Slytherin!"
"Gildroy Lockhart…Hufflepuff!"
"-Goyle…Slytherin!"
Serverus started zoning out again; strange images of him saving Lily from a monster filled his head, the monster always turning into a pitiful looking James at the end.
"Remus Lupin…Gryffindor!"
It was a stupid monster, not at all hard to defeat-
"Lucius Malfoy…Slytherin!"
-but when he finally got ready to finish it off Lily would run to the monsters side,
"Mark Parkinson…Slytherin! Ray Patil…Gryffindor! Peter Pettigrew…Huf-Gryffindor!"
And tell him he was being a beastly little prick. And than she'd stop and ask him what in the world did he have against-
"James Potter!"
Serverus whipped around to see James fitting the sorting hat on his head. James truly was an idiot, he looked arrogant even when his future was about to be decided by a raggedy hat.
"Gryffindor!"
The hat roared. James then made his way to sit between Lily and Sirius. Serverus on the other hand found himself with the sudden urge to be in Gryffindor. But before the urge could become his true desire he heard his name ring out before the school. Shakily he walked to the stool and put the hat on his head. It slipped down over his eyes and began to whisper to him. If wasn't so nervous he would have thought this cool. Ambition, ambition, ambition. The hat whispered to him. You want greatness but that's not what you want most. You want many many things but which is top priority? What do you want with your entire being? To stop being a wimp? A pushover? To be great? To chase after a girl named Lily? At that Severus' face burned red and he fell backwards off of the stool. The laughs of the entire student body echoed in the hall and in an instant he felt murderous. He wanted raw power and courage and ability, so he could show them all. So he could prove to them that laughing at him didn't go unpunished. Still on the floor he was shaking with anger and as he stood the hat bellowed louder than it had all evening.
"SLYTHERIN!"
And instantly the crowd quieted. Somehow they knew that one day they'd get it for laughing at this dark haired, pale faced boy. And when they did…it'd hurt.