Chapter 7: Chaos

James, Peter, and Sirius were concerned. Something was not right. Remus, he was one of them, their best mate and he too had hated Snivellus just as much as them and now all of a sudden he says he and Snivellus are friends! They were his friends, not that slimy dark-arts obsessed freak! How did Remus change all of a sudden without any sound reason? Something was wrong.

"James do you think Snivellus used some kind of dark spell on Remus? Or some kind of a weird potion to mess with his head?" asked Sirius.

"I don't know Sirius, but something isn't right. Remus never liked Snivellus before either, he never trusted that slimy bastard! Friends? All of a sudden, after hating him for so long, just like that on a fine day? Something is definitely going on and I don't like it one bit!" said James.

"Also what happened during defence class…it was weird" supplied Peter

And there was that. What in the name of Merlin was that?

"Snivellus' boggart was mental just like him! What was that even about?" barked Sirius exasperated.

"It changed so many times like it couldn't choose which fear to hold onto. If it were just that it was understandable because seeing as it's Snivellus and of course he'd be such a coward but what happened was just creepy…. even for him!" said James.

"I knew he was into dark magic but murder? And that nose-less murdering freak raised his wand at Lily too!" Peter was shocked when he saw that.

"I always told you he was going to be a dark wizard! But one thing is for certain!" said Sirius

"What's that?" asked James and Peter simultaneously.

"The Boggart transforms into your deepest fear right? Into what scares you the most…"

"Yeah so what about it Sirius?" asked James impatiently

"At least Snivellus knows how ugly he is! You saw the boggart change into his image right! He must have finally looked at himself in the mirror to be scared of his own face!" barked Sirius dissolving into a fit of laughter joined by James and Peter.

Lily was speechless. What happened today in defence class was just too bizarre to let go. There were many things she had ignored over the years when it came to Severus.

He was once her best friend. Truly. But that was when they were kids. After coming to Hogwarts there were just too many things making them drift apart.

They were still friends even if they weren't as thick as they used to be. Sev would desperately ask her from time to time, "But we're friends, best friends! Right, Lily?" she would reply, "Of course Sev" but as days went by they were drifting away and her promises were growing emptier by the day. They were not that close anymore. He made friends with those awful Slytherins and he was changing.

Many of her friends would often complain about Severus, saying they heard him berating muggle-borns and muggles and that he joined the rest of his Slytherin friends on occasion too, laughing alongside them as they used dark spells on muggle-borns. Severus hadn't hurt them directly but he was always hanging out with Mulciber and Avery, defending them even.

Lily had to make excuses for his behavior. Whenever she tried to confront him about these things, he would always brush it off saying it was a joke or he would use Potter and his friends as an excuse saying they were just the same. She would have to let the fight end without conclusion because those marauders did hurt Sev and he gave back equally. The Marauders as Severus often pointed out saved their vicious pranks for Slytherin and especially for Severus, taunting him with that awful name too.

But it wasn't enough of an excuse. She had been worried for a while now. She was hearing rumors about a dark wizard who was growing supporters and wanted to exterminate her kind. He was taking this blood purity madness to a whole new level. As much as she'd like to think otherwise, it was becoming clear to her that the amazing world of magic she was thrilled to be a part of was changing drastically and against her kind at that.

Severus was drifting away into darkness and after seeing what she saw today, for the first time, she was scared. He always tended to lie to save his skin when he did something wrong. Did he get into some ugly situation hiding it from her? The man Severus seems to be some kind of psychopathic murderer. At least according to what the boggart showed in class today. He wasn't looking human. His face was scary and worse he was killing children too. The dead people….she didn't even know them but that boy looked a lot like James Potter though. Even if she were to believe his bizarre story of 'baseless nightmares', who were the other two children? They had wands, so they were wizards for sure. What in bloody hell had Sev finally gotten himself into? She had told him those friends of his were no good but did he listen? No!

On the other hand, Sev was in Cokeworth with her during summers and had very few friends in Hogwarts even among the Slytherins. When would he have met them? Then did it mean he was telling the truth? If he was then how did his mind make up such an intricate story? Lily's son with James bloody Potter? She would never! How did he even think such a crazy thing? But then again, she knew he had a crush on her, it was too obvious even if she pretended otherwise. Was he jealous of James Potter now? It would make sense but…

She didn't want to hurt his feelings especially when he never talked about it. He was her friend. While she was flattered, she could not see him in a romantic way. She did not take it that seriously because having a crush was so common in Hogwarts that many couples break up and move on to someone else in no time. And that is probably what would happen in his case too so there was no point messing up their friendship over something like that.

If what he was saying about this 'intricate nightmare' was true….Honestly just what goes on in that mind of his she will never know! He overthinks everything and is always so dramatic! Merlin forbid someone saying that to him though! She needed a break! She'd deal with all this later.

Severus did not plan to have everyone in the class see what they saw but it was hardly his fault. He knew it did not matter as no one would be able to piece anything together even if they tried, not even Albus Dumbledore. The dark lord had appeared but he did not look so inhuman for a long-long time. He had promised to protect Harry Potter for as long as he lived and even died fulfilling his duties both to the Order and to Lily and even to Dumbledore in the end. He had died before the grand showdown, if there was to be one, so he had no clue whether or not the-boy-who -lived had continued doing so. He had done his part to the best of his ability and that was that. Of course, he feared for the boy's life, it was what kept him living and Draco was his godson. He had made an unbreakable vow to protect him apart from the promise he made to Dumbledore to 'protect the boy's soul'.

He did not even realize when the Longbottom boy added himself to his list. That boy certainly proved himself to be just as much of an airhead as Harry Potter! He was forced to go out of his way to protect the damn imbecile when he already had enough on his plate to deal with other students, the Carrows, the Dark Lord, and Potter and his band of dunderheads all in the same year! It was shocking to see Longbottom of all people leading 'Dumbledore's Army' and standing up to the death eaters in charge!

As much as he loathed to acknowledge, the boy surely proved himself every bit worthy and even if Severus would admit it only to himself in the depths of his mind, he grew fond of the boy and even had grudgingly come to respect what he had become. But it was another thing entirely to see that he had come to care for him enough for a boggart manifestation of his supposed death.

Putting his dark thoughts to rest, he decided to spend some more time in researching ways for the betterment and possible effects against additional ingredients against the new improvements he brought to Wolfsbane potion. It wouldn't do to accidentally kill Lupin while making up for the irresponsibility of the stupid werewolf capable of 'forgetting' to take a potion freely handed to him!