When he went to sit at his table, he saw that he could not resist checking who went where and what house gained who, the results blew his mind:

Hufflepuff

Himself, Longbottom, Benjamin Fenwick

Charity Burbage, Dorcas Meadow

Slytherin

Mulcibor, Avery, Rosier, Pettigrew, Wilkes

The girls: Parkinson, Goyle, Crabble

Gryffindore

Potter, Black, Lupin

Lily, Alice Fortescue, Mary something?

Ravenclaw

Hypocrate Smytwhic, Barty crouch Jr

Marlene McKinnon

The hell? Were pigs flying outside? Pettigrew in Slytherin? Longbottom in Hufflepuff?

He made a mental list of the changes then and there:

Pettigrew, from Gryff to Sly

Longbottom, from Gryff to Huff

Meadow, from Raven to Huff

Wilkes, from Raven to Sly

How in the 7 skies above, a single act of him not being sorted to Snake house has resulted in this mess? How Longbottom's will meet now that they were not in a house together? And what the fuck would happen to the timeline? He did not want to be surprises in this life, thank you very much. And...his rotten luck! Last time they had the large balk of Slytherin, the lowest number of Hufflepuff in Hogwart's history and a fair share of Ravens and Gryffs. So snakes had classes with lions and Ravens with Hufflepuffs. But now, now that the Ravens were reduced to only three, and Slytherin grew in number, There would be Hufflepuff plus Gryffindore

Ravenclaw plus Slytherin mixture.

He would have to endure fucking Marauders (mines one) again on every class!!!!

He stared at his plate, having missed the usual nonesense speech by the Headmaster. His stomach was empty like the Sahara, but he knew better to indulge himself. As he had not eaten much( if any at some points) this summer, his stomach would not tolerate such greasy food. He was allergic to sodding Citrus, and hated pumkeen with a fire. Water, was it. But he found out his nose was starting to get worse( not that it was better before). So he stood up to go to infirmary and got himself fixed. Madam Pomfery or not, he had a mastery of potions and he knew what to drink. His head swayed and he was about to Crack his head on a chair or two, when strong arms( he was pitifully tiny, among all first years,he looked even more fragile than girls in their year. Maybe that was one reason why he started to curse people so they could take him seriously) came out of nowhere and saved him from making a fool of himself.

Frank Longbottom was looking at him with concern: you okay there?

He wanted to say fine, get off, but he found out he couldn't. There was a reason the blasted Marauders called him Snivelous, as he often cried in boy's bathroom. As a result of his mind shields and magic being weak, he could only use occlumency so much. And then, because he found out about the mind art by chance and from a book he stole from his mother's trunk when he was 6 and did not have a tutorial, he did not know how to deal with suppressed memories as an occlumence would know. His memories were always shifting between bad and worse, the Marauders bullying him and his house looking down on him because he was a poor, ugly halfblood with a bloodtraitor for a Mom , did not make it easy for him to deal with those too. Was it his curse that he had an almost eidetic memory? Probably. When he was fond of some subject or book, he could memorize that by reading it only for once. So he got nasty flashbacks, when his occlumency shields could not support him.

And He was getting one NOW!

He looked at Longbottom's face, and saw Neville. After he had threatened to use his abonocious useless brew on his toad. And then his mind went back to when his father broke the neck of a kitten he found out from the streets.

He was struggling to keep calm. When the twins came out of nowhere.

"Hey Sevyy dear, alright there? We had a date didn't we?"

One of them had said. His mind was not focused enough to tell them apart.

Longbottom protectively shoved him behind him, putting himself between the two and the twins" what's it with you Prewatt?"

"Ooh, our darling has already found a knight! Do we take offence?"

" don't think so, Fab, he is too cute to take offence"

Severus wanted to say" no, Not by any chance he was cute" but Longbottom said before him" he is my house mate and my friend. I will not allow harm come to him, and stop mocking him, he is a person and a guy. Not a damsel to want a knight" and looked at him with a gentle smile.

See!see Severus hated Neville just because of this. His father was like this, in front of two fellow pureblood heirs, and sixth years on less. Defending his newly house mate and calling him a friend;and the boy just shaked and cringed and stuttered. God knew he killed himself at last year, giving him detention along girl weasly so that he could finally start behaving like a Man he was and not a 5-year-old!

Severus finally came out of his stuper" thank you Longbottom, I was just on a calming draught and it's effect has ended. And I know these guys from the train, we are heading to...somewhere together. I appreciate your...kind gesture"

Longbottom nodedd at him" call me Frank, and that was no problem, as a house, we are all friends, remember?"

Severus shook his offered hand in friendship" then call me Severus, Frank"

Severus was extasic, not a day and he had made not one but three friends. And not backstabbing ones like Lily, Like Frank( the epitome of manner, and bravado and loyalty), the prewatts (creative, funny, supportive do-gooders) and who knew, maybe he would do more!

When they finally arrived at the hospital wing ( because they would not leave him on his own, as they thought he may be lost in the castle his first day), Madam Pomfery was already there. He suspected they have alerted her somehow.

She gently took a look of his nose: I set this for now, but it seems it had broken before, mister Snape, come at the weekend and I will set it straight. I am afraid you will have to stay here for a night then.

Did she really said his nose would turn alright just by a nightstand? Then he remembered his nose was broken twice now, not 5 times. So he could do something about having an abnormal nose in the future.

He thanked her and went to his new friends, who waited patiently for him.

" you did not have to wait for me"

" nope, ickle Sevyy kins. Because the big bad bossy Bonsy would have our hides!"

Severus chuckeled at their frantics. Also felt grateful of their efforts.

Gideon threw a sandwich at him: saw you ate nothing, here's for you, next time we're gonna show you the kichens!

Then they were at the Hufflepuff dormitory door. Frank was standing there, waiting for him. As they saw he would be in good handsŲŒ they saluted Frank and left him with Longbottom.

He was atounded into silence.

Frank took his hand: come on mate! I was not sure these two knew the password, so I waited for you,oh, and I saved us some cake too!

When he was spending his first year last time, he had only one friend. He was alone and scared. This time he will make more friends. House's be damned. Why a stupid hat should be able to decide for him?