Disclaimer: All characters belong to the queen J.K. Rowling and this is just a work of fanfiction.

Author notes:

Hello everyone! I am so sorry this chapter is out late. I was on a road trip to a beautiful, but remote village and I had no signal at all. So, all my efforts were on admiring the beauty of the valley as we stood on a peak to watch the sunrise and trekking (read: wheezing and puffing) to see waterfalls.

Oh! I almost forgot, I have also uploaded a small one-shot called, 'The Muggleborn's Patronus'. It is a crack-ish fic based on one of my favourite head canons. Do check it out.

This story is inspired by 'They didn't know we were seeds' by LucyLuna. That story is mind-blowing and you should check it out.

Three cheers for my awesome beta, HogwartsDreamer113!

The Second try.

Chapter 9: I have to do my homework again?

Severus opened his eyes and then closed them. He heard the deep breathing from the rest of his dorm mates. The door to their dormitory opened, and he heard two sets of footsteps approach his bed. A spell was whispered, but he did not move since it was a silencing spell cast around his bed. So, they did not want to wake the rest of the dorm? Good. The last attack had woken up half the dorm at 2'o clock in the morning. The fifth year had been sloppy, and his dorm mates had a mixture of awe and mirth, as Severus won with a simple disarming charm. Severus had woken up to go to the bathroom, and on a whim, he arranged the pillow and sheets to seem like he was still sleeping in the bed. The fifth year had stormed in, waking up the dorm mates, and had continued to taunt Severus, without even checking if he was actually under the covers. Severus had calmly stepped out of the bathroom and disarmed him.

Severus held his wand tightly under his pillow as he waited for the two students to attack. The whoosh of a spell gave him a split second warning, and he rolled off the bed, his wand pointed at his attackers. He made a lamp beside them flare brightly, blinding them for a second while he scrambled to his feet. The attackers were two girls, and they were blinking hard, trying to get rid of the spots in their vision. Severus simply accioed their wands.

"You know, girls aren't allowed inside the boys' dormitory," Severus stated as he pointed his wand at them and they raised their hands in surrender. He gestured them to move and escorted them to the common room. He wasn't at all surprised to see two sixth year boys waiting to see them. He raised an eyebrow when the boys pointed their wands at him. He simply tossed the wands he held to a nearby couch and turned to walk back.

"How do you know so many spells?" one of the boys asked.

Severus replied without turning, "I have read all my mother's textbooks countless times, ever since I knew I was a wizard."

"Ah yes, I heard your mother married a Muggle. Did your Muggle father hate magic?" one of the boys asked. Severus turned to him to see only curiosity and concern hidden in the blank mask.

"Why do you ask?" Severus asked suspiciously. The boy shrugged.

"My girlfriend' father is a Muggle and he hates her. Is it the same with you?"

"Sometimes, but I read and practice where he cannot find me," Severus replied. The others nodded.

"We are sorry for attacking you so early." One of the girls apologised. Severus waved it off.

"I should have thought about it before challenging the entire house," he replied.

"Why did you do it, though?" the other girl asked.

"To prove a point. I read this house is the house of the cunning and ambitious, and yet all I have heard about this house is how everyone is evil and will be the future followers of the You-Know-Who. I want to change it," Severus replied. He knew it was a risk, but he went with his gut. They exchanged a quick glance that would have been missed if Severus wasn't looking for it. He cast a privacy ward and stepped closer.

"So, you four don't agree with the house's current situation either?" he asked them. The girl closest to him nodded.

"I am Isabel West. This is Alice Chase and the boys are Riley Watson and Robert Fawley," she introduced the group to Severus, who nodded to each of them. "We have observed it for the past five years. I was scared that I was the only one with such thoughts. We four managed to find each other without alerting the others, and we have kept our feelings well hidden. If anyone, especially the ones who send home reports finds out, we would be finished. We had to attack you as we were expected to do so," she explained.

Severus's face had a hint of a smile. "Perfect Slytherins, if I do say so myself. I will keep your secret and will also take your help on suggestions on how to change our house, but for now, I think it is best to lay low and let everyone finish their duels with me. Are your parents in the ministry?"

Robert replied, "Yes, and Father is quite uptight on blood purity too. Not as bad as the Blacks, but he expects me to marry a pureblood, and here I am with a Muggleborn, Hufflepuff girlfriend."

Severus remembered the boy now. Robert Fawley, one of the scared twenty eight. He had married a Muggleborn and had become a well-known healer at St. Mungo's. He hoped he would be one this time too. Severus nodded and Alice asked in whisper, "Did they duel you yet?"

Severus shook his head and replied, "Not yet. It won't be long now. They are waiting to see how I do with the others, I think."

"Tread carefully, Snape. We will be here, if you need us."

Severus thanked them, and they broke up when they heard the sounds of people waking up. Severus got ready for the day and left for breakfast.

At the Gryffindor table, the Marauders and Lily were sitting down for breakfast when they saw Severus enter along with the rest of the first years. Lily locked eyes with Snape for a moment before he looked away to talk to a fellow first year.

"Guys, look… notice something strange there? All the upper years are glaring at Snape," asked Remus. They all turned and stared at the Slytherin table. Remus was right; most of the seniors were glaring at Snape. Some subtly, and a few out right.

"What do you reckon he did in the Dungeons?" asked Peter.

"We can ask him during potions. It's with the Slytherins…" James replied. Alice dropped into the seat next to Lily and they changed the topic. The boys were asking about Alice's cousins, the Prewett brothers and their pranks when the mail came in. Sirius noticeably stiffened as they saw Angus flying towards him. Everyone, including the teachers and the students stared as Angus held out the red envelope to his owner. Sirius looked resigned to see the howler. He took a deep breath and opened the envelope.

"SIRIUS ORION BLACK! Gryffindor? Generations of Blacks! Generations of traditions! Thrown out of the window! One more time, if you try to spoil the family name one more time, you will regret it!" with that, the Howler burst into flames. Sirius looked the rest of the Marauders and Lily.

"Well, at least she didn't curse you," Peter said as he poured sugar on his porridge. They all remembered Walburga's voice screaming insults and cruses at Sirius many times during their previous lives in Hogwarts.

Sirius gave a small smirked and commented, "This is an improvement. Maybe, all hope is not lost." The rest smiled, and looked relieved for Sirius. They were quite afraid Sirius would suffer like last time. Sirius looked towards the Slytherin table and caught Andromeda glaring at Narcissa, while the latter looked confused at the howler's lack of shouting. He smirked at James and grabbed some toast.

"James! Stop piling toast on my plate!" Lily exclaimed.

James, who was about to place another toast on Lily's plate stopped and gave a sheepish smile. "Sorry Lils, old habits…"James replied softly. He had picked up that habit when Lily had been pregnant and hadn't stopped. Lily shook her head fondly while the other three snickered. After breakfast, they headed to their first class, which was Transfiguration, while Snape left for History of Magic with the rest of the Slytherin first years.

As they waited for Professor McGonagall, James and Sirius began arguing about what pranks they should start with, while Remus was sighing in periodic intervals, and Peter was giving his inputs to their suggestions. Lily was watching them with amusement and exasperation. Alice gave her a look, but didn't say anything.

Soon, Professor McGonagall began the lesson. They were supposed to turn the matchstick to a needle. The five pretended to fail for a couple of times, and then performed the correct transfiguration. They didn't want the class to see that the five friends could do it in the first try. Soon, the Marauders were experimenting with their needles, their needles would explode when touched with a thread (James), camouflage itself with the background and shriek when found (Peter), and stand upright to stick it to a chair (surprisingly Remus, earning himself chortles from the rest). Near the end of the lesson, Sirius managed to make his needle scream shrilly "wheeee" as it hurtled itself towards its target, which was a nearby pincushion. For now.

Minerva was amused and very proud of their creativeness as she awarded them points. She did warn them if she found any needles stuck upright in chairs or exploding she would put them in detention. As they left, Alice looped her arm around Lily's and James took her other arm. Not to be left out, Sirius grabbed Peter's and Remus' arm and the six followed the rest of their classmates to Charms class. After charms, they took the steps to the dungeons for their Potion's class and to meet up with Severus. As they neared the classroom, they saw Snape standing near the classroom door, talking to his fellow snakes.

"Severus!" Lily called and Severus and the small group turned towards them. He smiled at Lily and nodded at the boys. Before they could speak, Professor Slughorn opened the door and called them in. The six took a single table near the front. They set up three cauldrons and paired as they had done in their future-past, Lily and Severus, Sirius and Remus, James and Peter. Professor Slughorn set them to prepare a Hiccoughing potion, they gathered the ingredients and got to work.

As they were preparing their ingredients, Remus asked Severus about the rest of Slytherin's behaviour towards him. "Ah, yes. I may have challenged every upper-year to a duel last night…" Severus replied, his pale cheeks tinted with red.

"You what!" James exclaimed as the rest looked over with wide eyes. Lily motioned to lower his voice, and they kept quiet as Professor Slughorn passed their table.

"Why Severus? This will make you a target. The Dark Lord will hear of this. What are you going to do then?" she asked.

Peter added, "Are you sure you should be in Slytherin? That was a very Gryffindor-ish move…"

"One train ride with you lot and I act like a bloody Gryffindor," Severus grumbled as the rest grinned. He continued, "They were mouthing-off a Muggleborn in Slytherin and I saw a perfect opportunity. The chosen-to-be Death Eaters haven't dueled me yet, but I am guessing they are waiting for reports from others to see how I do. I already finished three duels; the last one was before I arrived here. Which reminds me, you lot need to be more careful, especially you, Lily."

They nodded and Lily smirked. "We will. We faced Mouldyshorts himself, three times. We can handle these kids, but yes, we will be careful. They might target Alice or others," Lily said.

"I think we can start on the map tonight," Remus added. The Gryffindor's nodded. Lily stared at Severus questioningly, who smiled and replied he was fine. They soon completed the potion, and their table was one of the few one got it perfect.

The rest of the day passed quickly. The Gryffindors saw several Slytherin fourth years huddled together and talking in low voices as they headed to lunch, and saw them enter the Great Hall ten minutes later looking disgruntled, soon followed by a very smug Severus. After lunch, they attended History of Magic, where Sirius, Peter and James took an afternoon siesta, and Remus and Lily sat and experimented with a book.

They wanted to find a way to communicate with Severus when they were in different classes, so they duplicated the book into six copies, and whatever was written would be duplicated into each book. Their names were on the first page of each book, and Lily charmed it so that their names would appear on top of each message to show who wrote it. In the end, they managed to put a privacy spell such that only the owner could open the book and see the actual messages or write in the book. Anyone else would see pages filled with the content on Goblin wars, from the History of Magic textbook. That stuff was boring enough to make anyone uninterested. They would give Severus his copy after they tested it.

After their last class, James and Lily decided to go out for a stroll while Remus, Sirius and Peter went to the library for the materials they needed for their map. They got the books and were sitting down in a corner of the common room. They had gone already finished a couple of books when James and Lily returned. They both had a wide grin on their faces.

"Why do you both look like the cat that ate the canary?" Remus asked, looking up from his book to see them sit on the couch. James' grin widened, and Lily blushed.

"I know we had a kid and all, but this feels so weird, like we are kids again," James said with his grin still in place.

"I hate to break it to you James, but you are a kid again," Sirius said dryly.

"We are not going to find you both disappearing inside broom closets, are we?" Peter asked.

"NO!" came two simultaneous shouts from the blushing couple.

Sirius and Peter snickered, and Remus sighed. Lily swatted them on the head with the nearest thing she could find, which happened to be a rather heavy looking book. Remus soon pulled James into the reading session for making of the map, and Lily started on her essays.

"Lily, what do you think you are doing?"

"Transfiguration essay," she replied, without glancing up from her writing.

"Homework? We have to do the homework again?!" Sirius exclaimed, and she looked up to find James, Sirius and Peter wearing a horrified expression. Remus grinned at her while shaking his head fondly.

"Maybe, we can ask Minnie not to give us homework as we had done it once, before?" James asked.

"Oh yeah, I can see how that conversation goes. Hello Professor McGonagall, as we have travelled back in time after we died, we have already your homework once. Can you excuse us from doing it all over again?" Remus imitated Sirius' posh voice. He yelped when Sirius jumped on him, followed by the other two. Lily calmly pulled her pot of ink away from the edge of the table and continued her essay. She looked up with a smile when Remus emerged as the victor, sitting on the stomach of James and Sirius and Peter was trapped under Sirius' legs.

After they untangled themselves, Lily calmly pushed some spare parchment towards the rest and said, "Look on the bright side, we will all get an E or an O in every lesson." She and Remus shared a grin when they grumbled, but grudgingly started working on their homework.