A/N- This chapter is kinda short, but I'm pretty happy with it. But before I do anything else I want to address something from the last chapter. Yes, in the books the Sorting was alphabetical, however, it wasn't in the movies(which always bugs me), so I instead went with the order that worked out the best for the plot. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and please review!

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Severus walked down the corridor, head buried in a schedule, glancing up on occasion to check that he was in the right place(though really he had absolutely no idea where the right place was). All of a sudden, he slammed hard into a tall, lanky figure.

"Sorry," he mumbled, moving to hurry off when the figure stepped back into his path. Severus glanced slowly up at the figure, filled with dread. His eyes widened as he recognized his assailant. It was the boy Lily had been staring at during her Sorting. He was flanked on either side by his three cronies, whose names Severus did not know.

"What's your name?" the leader demanded.

"S-Severus," he stammered, shrinking back slowly in an attempt to look as small and insignificant as possible, but only succeeding in provoking his assailant further.

"What's that?" he asked, "Snivellus?" he laughed uproariously at his own lame joke, friends joining in, especially a small, mousy boy who appeared to be unsure of what he was doing there, but enjoying every minute of it.

"Good one, James!" he pipped. The other three boys immediately ceased laughing and turned to glare at him.

"Shut up, Peter," scolded James. Peter shrunk back, a crestfallen expression painted across his features.

Still scowling, James turned back to Severus, friends mirroring his movements(except Peter, who was still moping behind them).

"So, where were we?" one of his friends, a dashing boy with thick dark hair and stormy gray eyes, made a dramatic show of whispering in his leader's ear. A devilish grin spread across James' face.

"Ah yes," he sneered, "Snivellus."

Severus shrunk back further, "please, I'm just trying to get to class. That's all," he snuck a glance at his beat-up watch. Shit. He was late.

"Oh?" James leered, " and so you don't need to watch where you're going?"

"N-no?" Severus asked, deciding his best bet at getting out of there as quickly as possible was to go along with James' charade, but this seemed only to provoke him further. He leaned even closer to Severus, so that their noses were practically touching.

"What was that?" he sneered.

"No," Severus repeated in a firmer tone, breathing a sigh of relief as James withdrew, apparently satisfied with this response.

"Get out of my sight, Snivellus," he hissed maliciously. Severus was happy to oblige, scrambling off down the corridor, but not before noticing James high five his cronies, clearly very pleased with himself. Severus sighed to himself. He had a feeling this wouldn't be his last run-in with James. Although he did have a sneaking suspicion that he wouldn't be so lucky in the future. He shook his head, before hurrying off down the corridor to class(or at least the direction he thought class was), trying to figure out how he'd explain his tardiness.

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A/N- So apparently I can only start a story one way… oh well;). Before I forget I wanted to say that if any of you have any(relevant enough) fan art that you want more people to see, I would be more than willing to make it the cover for my fic. Just PM it to me and I'll credit you in the summary. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and please review!

~hermionegrangerandarocketship