October 15, 1974 - Hogwarts

Severus and Cassie were resorting to the practice room again. To be fair to the new professor, he wasn't completely incompetent; but Severus was of the opinion it was always good to have all of your spells perfectly learned. Especially, if the bloody Headmaster had had the genius idea of a Slytherin / Gryffindor DADA.

Severus sighed in annoyance, shooting an especially–bright bolt of red towards Cassie, who flicked it away a little more clumsily than usual.

As the lesser hexed of the two, (probably because she didn't ever retaliate, making the whole experience quite sad), Cassie had another reason for the practice. While she trusted Severus not to try as dark of magic as before, it still made her better to see what he was working on. Not to mention, that she wanted to get better herself. The Dark Lord had scared her at the ball - badly - even without making any threats.

"Expulso," Cassie incanted, aiming towards Severus. The shot went wide, hitting the stone wall instead, and causing the room to shake slightly. Damn it.

"Who's there?" an unusually high-pitched voice called out, seeming to originate from just outside the corridor.

By mutual decision, Cassie and Severus ducked behind the piles of desks stacked on the side of the room, trying their best to stay as still as possible. Severus' heart beat strongly against his chest, his hands shaking in the adrenaline of possible discovery.

The voice, one unfamiliar to them, continued to call out, opening doors and moving closer to their classroom. Finally, two long minutes later, their own wooden door swung open, admitting–

Who was that? Sverus didn't recognize her. Dressed in Slytherin robes with a pink bow in her head, she seemed to stand around his own height, but she certainly wasn't in their class. A seventh-year, perhaps?

"I swear I heard something," the girl muttered, her small blue eyes roving over the room. "Why the hell am I hearing things? Finally going insane, Dory?"

The brown-haired girl - Dory? - slammed the door shut, allowing the two of them to breathe. They waited a second more to hear her footsteps leaving before standing up, Cassie snatching her wand from where it had rolled away with nerveless fingers.

"What do we do now?" Cassiopeia asked, even her soft voice sounding exceptionally loud in the aftermath of their discovery. Her fingers traced an S on the desk, seemingly not knowing what else to do.

"Yeah," Severus answered quietly, "Have you seen any other rooms?"

"No–well. I think there might be one on the seventh floor. I saw it when–" her face twisted in distaste, any reminder of Davies making her uncomfortable. "Do you want to see?"

"Sure," Severus shrugged, his eyes meeting blue-painted fingers. "I haven't seen any myself."

"I swear it was here somewhere–"

Cassie blew out a breath in frustration, pushing her hair back from her face. She should probably cut it - it was getting to be quite annoying.

"I'm sorry, Sev'rus. I really thought I'd seen it," Cassie said, frowning. She just wanted a place to practice with Severus–

A giant door appeared on the wall in front of her, startling her badly. She jumped back, slamming into Severus' chest as she tried to calm herself.

It was just a door. A fucking door.

"You okay, Cassie?"

"Y–Yeah," she answered shakily, pushing herself away from his arms, and trying to control her blush. "Just– that door. It looks like the one I saw– Why did it just appear?"

"I'm not sure," Severus answered, stepping forwards to examine the wooden door. He pretended not to notice Cassie's flushed face, absently wondering what else would make her blush so prettily again. "I guess we should see inside."

He pushed open the heaving double doors, hearing his companion gasp in wonder as they looked inside.

It was wonderful. Whatever he'd been expecting - a dusty old classroom, really - this was not it. It was a large, open space, with a vaulted ceiling and an actual duelling platform. The walls were lined with bookshelves: grimoires, like the ones he'd seen at Malfoy manor; duelling manuals; and some obviously Dark books.

"Cassie… it's amazing," Severus breathed, running a finger across the spines, trying to absorb all of their knowledge at once. "We're going to have so much fun with this."

November 12, 1974 - Hogsmeade

The clinking of glasses disturbed Severus from the pleasant feeling of Lily's hands in his. He felt warm and fuzzy - probably the result of a tall glass of butterbeer.

Interesting. He thought he'd have a higher alcohol tolerance 'cause of his Da…

Merlin, he shook his head a little. Was the alcohol really making him this dumb? Da had no tolerance – smallest glass vodka and he'd be roaring drunk. Angry drunk–

His heart jumped into his throat, and the bar around him jumped into startling clarity. Why was he drunk– why had he allowed himself to get drunk? Being drunk was bad– terrible. He didn't want to lose control– he didn't want to hurt anyone. He didn't want to be like–

"Sev, are you okay?"

Lily's voice was loud, too loud in his ears. "Yes, I'm fine."

His girlfriend nodded, taking a sip of her own drink. While she didn't seem too drunk herself, Lily was clearly a little out of it.

I wonder where Cassie is?

His best friend could help him. She could get him back to Hogwarts– but no. He didn't want her near him.

Why was he feeling so weird? His head was getting worse. The tingling was like electric shocks now, running over his entire body. Had someone spiked his drink?

"Feeling drunk, Snivellous?"

Black? Did Black get him drunk? Why were his thoughts so slow?

"Back off, Black," he replied, slurring his words a little. Panic gripped him tightly, his mind feeling trapped in his slowly-responding body. If he called, would anyone help him? "What did you do?"

"Just a little prank," Sirius replied with a smile. "I got it from Zonko's. D'ya like it?"

"No," Severus replied forcefully.

"Oh, you think I should stop?" Black taunted, his eyes glimmering in delight. "You think I should give you the antidote?"

"Yes," Severus answered slowly, wondering why nobody else was paying attention, nobody was doing anything. But what had he expected?

"No. I don't want to," Black said. "You see–"

"Black."

Augustus?

"Leave Severus alone," Augustus said harshly, snatching the antidote powder from Black's hands, who growled angrily. "Do you seriously think you can just drug people, and get away with it?"

"Who are you going to report it to?"

Augustus' eyes flashed angrily, and he grabbed Severus' arm, helping him up. They both knew there was little chance anything would happen. "Dumbledore. Come on Severus, Evans. Let's go."

November 14, 1974 - Hogwarts

One day. One day of detention; for almost killing him, and for drugging Lily.

Because, after Augustus had reported the incident to their Head of House, Slughorn had decided to test the powder, not recognizing it as an actual joke product.

It was a slow-acting poison. A fucking poison. And Black had just been excused from his actions, because he was a bloody Gryffindor, and Dumbledore didn't want to anger his favorite student.

Fuck Dumbledore.

And fuck Sirius even more. Because feeding him a fucking poison wasn't enough, he'd also fed Lily a love potion antidote. As if Severus would ever brew or use one of those fucking things. They were wrong. Disgusting. He'd never do that.

His only satisfaction in the entire situation was seeing that dog's face as he and Lily walked out of the hospital hand-in-hand the next day. And even that was not enough.