A/N: This story is an entry for Season 8, Round 11 of QLFC. Required information can be found at the end.

Warnings: Mentions of abuse

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Severus caught the envelope the barn owl dropped over him at breakfast in the Great Hall with some surprise. No one ever sent him mail. His mother claimed they couldn't have an owl, given the Muggle neighborhood they lived in. Based on his good friend Lily Evans's ability to keep an owl with her Muggle family, he decided this was simply another lie. This was confirmed for him once he'd offered to buy one the summer before fifth year.

He'd started earning money doing his fellow Slytherins' essays in third year. His essays were always a success, and he'd become even more sought after in fourth year. He easily could afford an owl by now, but his mother still refused. It was because of his father. He wasn't just a Muggle, he was an abuser. Severus spent most of his time these days feeling guilty for leaving his mother alone with him. The only person who assured him he was neither responsible for his mother's decision to stay nor for his father's abuse was Lily. She was his neighbor back in Cokeworth, but here at Hogwarts, she was his only true friend. Despite his lucrative homework business, he wasn't exactly popular.

So, the beautiful ivory envelope the barn owl dropped was certainly unexpected.

Inside was a beautiful piece of parchment expressing, in embossed script, that he was invited to Professor Slughorn's Christmas Party.

Severus smiled with self-satisfaction and a little excitement. The invitation was confirmation he was "in" the Slug Club. Though he'd been invited to the first event, an awkward dinner with a group of students he had no interest in getting to know more—other than Lily—he hadn't been entirely sure he would make the cut for the Christmas Party.

"Congratulations," someone said.

Severus looked up to see Lucinda Talkalot had sat across from him, an ivory invitation of her own in hand. Lucinda was another Slytherin fifth year, but she was a prefect and had been named Quidditch captain in the fall. Beyond those public facts, Severus knew very little about her.

"You too," he replied, eyeing her invitation.

"Who do you think Slughorn will bring for you? I hope he brings a big name Quidditch professional for me to speak with!" she bubbled.

Severus mustered some semblance of a smile for her and said, "I haven't thought about it too much."

"Oh, don't be modest. Of course you have! It's the entire point of being in the Slug Club!"

Severus indeed had thought about this. More than he cared to admit to Lucinda, whom he hardly knew, so he gave her a shrug and stood up.

"I need to get to class," he said.

"Oh, me too! We can talk more about it in the common room. See you then!"

Severus nodded vaguely and bolted for the large double doors. The idea of continuing that conversation was not one he wished to dwell on now, let alone actually pursue in practice later. There was only one person he was interested in discussing the Christmas Party with, and thankfully she was his partner in their first class on Fridays—Double Potions.

He hurried down to the dungeons, turning left towards the classroom instead of right to where the Slytherin common room was located behind a false wall.

"Sev, wait up!" Lily called from the stairs.

He stopped in his tracks and spun to face her, a genuine smile on his face that quickly faded when he saw who was with her.

"I guess I'll talk to you later then, Evans. I don't want to get grease on my robes from your gross little friend's face," James Potter said loudly, causing his raven-haired companion, Sirius Black, to cackle with mirth.

"We weren't even talking, Potter!" Lily protested, but the Gryffindor deviants were already inside the classroom.

"Are you hanging out with him now?" Severus asked her in a tone that was ruder than he'd intended.

"He followed me out of the Great Hall. He's like an obnoxious puppy." Lily groaned.

Severus laughed and let out a sigh of relief.

"So, you ready for today's lesson?" he asked her.

They were due to brew Amortentia today, which was said to be one of the more difficult potions. Severus couldn't wait to try his hand at it. Potioneering was the one thing he truly excelled in.

"I hope so. But I have you if I run into issues." Lily grinned brightly.

"Always," Severus said softly.

"What do you think yours will smell like?" she asked, leading them into the dank classroom.

"Oh, I don't know. What about you?" He was fairly certain his would smell like Lily, however.

"Well, it's supposed to be something we love, right? I can't really think of anything I love though."

"I absolutely understand. That's what I meant, too." Severus smiled at her and she smiled back as they slid into their seats.

Severus was about to ask her if she'd gotten an invitation to the Christmas Party too, and then to see if she wanted to go together, when Professor Slughorn called the class to attention and began their lesson.

Both Severus and Lily got on well with their potions, observing each other's progress and ignoring James' and Sirius' disruptive comments. Severus scribbled down notes in his textbook as they went on preferable methods to produce the desired result.

"You always do that." Lily laughed, watching him make notes.

"The textbooks are remedial at best. Who knows, maybe one day I'll write my own set?"

"I can see it now…Superior Potions for Years One Through Seven, written by the esteemed Professor Severus Snape," Lily said, painting her hand across the air as if to envision his name on a banner.

"Professor? I should hope that's not my future! Surely I have more to give than that."

Lily giggled before abruptly clearing her throat and refocusing on her cauldron as Professor Slughorn approached them.

"I see you two are coming along nicely. I had no doubts, of course," the professor boomed proudly. He leaned in a tad and said much more quietly, "That is just one of the reasons I've invited you both to the Christmas Party. You do plan to attend, I hope?"

"Yes, sir, of course. It's an honor," Lily said.

"Yes, Professor. I was happy to receive my invitation," Severus said.

"Splendid! Splendid! I have some exceptional people for you both to meet. It will be exciting! Now, carry on here. I need to go check back in with Mr. Black. He seems to have missed several steps. A shame he's not more like his younger brother." Professor Slughorn sighed wearily and drifted towards Sirius' table.

"So, you're going to the Christmas Party?" Severus asked once the professor was gone.

"Yeah, definitely. It's supposed to be really useful for making connections in the Wizarding community. I can't really afford not to, given that my family won't exactly be much help."

"Yeah, same here. I mean, you know my mum's a witch, but she's not exactly connected."

"Right." Lily nodded knowingly. They'd discussed their families' limitations for their own lives before. It was just one of the multitudes of topics that seamlessly passed through their conversations over the years.

"I thought we might go to the party together, if you wanted?" Severus asked.

"Oh." Lily frowned.

"It could be more fun that way, I thought," Severus said quickly. "I mean, we could go just as friends, if that's what the issue is."

Lily ducked her head, pretending to focus on her textbook for longer than the next instruction really required. Severus regretted asking her at all, especially now that he'd thrown out how they could just go as friends, but it was too late to take any of it back.

Finally, Lily looked back up. "It's just, I was already planning to invite someone else."

"Oh."

"Sorry."

"No, it's fine. I mean, I'll see you there anyway, right?"

"Yes, exactly, that's right." Lily nodded vigorously, her features warming again from their previously panicked state.

Severus didn't warm though. Instead he focused back on his own Amortentia brewing. There were still twelve steps to go and the classroom's distractions were growing as many students kept doing step sixteen wrong, resulting in explosions.

Time passed in silence between Severus and Lily until the double lesson was nearly up.

"We should all be about finished with our potions. Just ten more minutes," Professor Slughorn said from the front of the classroom.

Potter sauntered to the front with a capped bottle of his potion, placing it on the table where everyone had to leave their finished work for grading.

"It smelled like you, Evans," he said with a wink as he walked by them on his way back to his table.

Lily turned red but made no response to him. Severus seethed. He must be who she was inviting. James hadn't even been invited to the first Slug Club event.

"I bet his smelled like his mummy," Severus hissed under his breath.

"That's a weird thing to say," Lily replied.

"I guess it was." Severus bit out a laugh, thinking of how absurd his comment actually was in context.

"I think I'm done with mine. What about you?" Lily asked. She seemed stressed out.

"I need to wait another two minutes for it to set. What does yours smell like?" he asked.

"I can't really tell." She worried her lip.

"Can't tell or don't want to tell me?"

"No, it's more…it's something odd." She frowned deeply. "There's my mum's Shepherd's Pie, no surprises there, and then some sort of mineral scent, almost like the lake water. But the third thing…it's herbal? I can't place it."

Severus sniffed her cauldron on impulse, stupidly forgetting it would smell entirely different to him. There was no Shepherd's Pie or lake water, instead it smelled distinctly like Lily's floral scented Muggle shampoo and like the specific chemical scent potions made when they correctly changed composition. There was something else though, an aromatic herb. It was familiar, a potion ingredient he'd used before.

It hit him suddenly. "Wolfsbane!"

"Yes! That's it!" Lily exclaimed.

Severus looked at her sharply. "You smell wolfsbane, too?"

"Yes, wait, you do, too?"

"Yes."

They exchanged a bewildered look.

"Do you know any werewolves?" he joked.

"No, do you?" she replied with a laugh.

Severus shook his head, laughing as well. The scents he'd noticed before suddenly became stronger and he glanced at his cauldron to find his potion was done.

"Let's turn these in." Severus stood and scooped his finished potion into a bottle. Lily did the same and they dropped them off at the front table.

"All right, time is up. Whatever you have completed, please bottle it and bring it up front for your grade," Professor Slughorn called.

"How'd yours turn out, Evans?" James asked.

"Perfectly," Lily replied with a smirk. "Severus and I are both secretly in love with a werewolf, as it turns out."

"Wait, what?" James asked, his expression alarmed.

"Oh, do you not know what a werewolf is, Potter?" Severus asked placatingly.

"Let's go, James," Sirius said, ushering James away.

"That was weird," Lily muttered.

"They're weird," Severus said darkly.

"Yeah…" Lily murmured; her thoughts clearly somewhere else. Severus didn't press.

"I'll see you in Charms," he said instead.

"Charms, yeah. See you, Sev." She half-smiled, still barreling down whatever train of thought she'd boarded.

Severus hurried out of the classroom since he had Herbology next. The greenhouses weren't exactly nearby. He bumped pretty hard into someone waiting to head into Potions and muttered an apology.

"It's fine," the person mumbled.

Severus looked back to see Remus Lupin rubbing his arm where he'd hit him. The Gryffindor looked disheveled and guarded in a way that Severus recognized. He glanced around for James and Sirius. They all seemed to be friends, though Remus was never mean to him like they were. The deviants weren't around, so Severus took a couple steps back towards him.

"Sorry," he repeated.

"I said it's fine. You're clearly in a hurry." Remus was looking at the floor, but Severus could see his face was badly bruised.

"I have Herbology," Severus explained. "But, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. You should go, you're going to be late." Remus still wouldn't look up.

Severus hung back a moment longer.

"Listen, I know we're not really friendly, but, if you need someone to talk to, you know, about whatever…" he trailed off, shocked he'd just offered his ear to Remus.

Remus met his eyes finally, the purplish black marring his face was more shocking in the full light. Severus made no reaction. His mother's face had looked worse than Remus' many times.

"Thanks," Remus whispered.

Severus nodded. Something held him in place, locked with Remus' eyes. His throat tightened, the way it tended to do around Lily whenever she looked at him as if he were the only person in her world.

"Well, I should get to class myself. I'm terribly behind in Potions, and I'm not even in the Advanced class like you," Remus said, attempting a smile and wincing at the pain it caused his wounds.

"Essence of murtlap," Severus said. It was what he used on his and his mum's wounds at home.

He quickly fled to the greenhouses, only realizing his response had no context for Remus when he was midway through his Herbology lesson.

/\/\/\

The next couple weeks passed in a strange blur. Severus was certain Lily was taking James to the Christmas Party. Every time he looked over at the Gryffindor table, she was sitting with him and his friends, including Remus. Somehow, he kept running into Remus everywhere he went. It was like their schedules suddenly aligned when they had never had before. Severus found he didn't mind, especially because Remus would always smile at him as they passed. It wasn't something he knew how to explain, even to himself, but he seemed to have romantic feelings for Remus.

Unfortunately, Lucinda Talkalot seemed to have feelings for Severus. She'd started hounding him like James did Lily, and even the Slytherin common room became an impossible place to hang out. Finally, in an attempt to get her off his back, he agreed to go with her as friends to the Christmas Party. Lucinda did not seem to understand what "as friends" meant, however, and her attentions multiplied.

Luckily, the Christmas Party arrived only four days after that, and he found himself escorting Lucinda into the decorated office of Professor Slughorn.

"Oh, it's marvelous! And look at all these important people. What a night we'll have, Sevvy!" she gushed.

Severus smiled through gritted teeth. He only wanted to keep Lucinda around until Lily and James saw them together. Slughorn arrived seconds later to greet them.

"Miss Talkalot, Mr. Snape, how good of you to make it. I have people to introduce to both of you!" He led them into the party.

Once they were in front of someone who looked far too athletically built to be anything other than a professional Quidditch player, Professor Slughorn made the introductions for Lucinda. As she struggled to maintain composure with the wizard Severus had never heard of, Slughorn led him away.

"I'm surprised you didn't come with Miss Evans."

"Well, she's bringing a date."

"Oh, that's her date?" Professor Slughorn frowned.

"What do you mean? She's here?" Severus looked around for her.

"Yes, she came with that Gryffindor boy Albus made prefect. I thought it was a pity invitation." Professor Slughorn shrugged. "Ah, but here they are now."

"Severus, you made it!" Lily cried and Severus turned to her.

"Remus?" he gasped upon seeing her supposed date.

"Hi," Remus said with a shy smile.

"I thought…" Severus stopped mid-thought, glad Lily hadn't brought James. There was no need to bring him up.

"Let's get some fresh air. There's a balcony," Lily said, leading the two boys towards it.

They were the only ones out there when Lily closed the door behind them. The dark sky of a new moon made the December air even colder as it rushed around their dress robes. He noticed Remus' looked nearly as shabby as his own.

"It's beautiful tonight. You can see all the stars," Lily remarked. She shivered and Severus slid his cloak off and wrapped it around her shoulders.

"Thanks, but I think I'm going to get a hot butterbeer. Do either of you want one?"

"Sounds nice," Remus said.

"I'm okay," Severus said.

She handed him back his cloak and slipped inside.

"Thanks for the tip about essence of murtlap," Remus said once they were alone.

"Oh, sure." Severus felt his face heat up. "Sorry I ran off without explanation."

"It's fine." Remus reached out and took his hand. Severus swallowed hard at his body's reaction to Remus' touch. They looked at each other in silence, neither daring to risk the moment with words.

"They're really hot so be careful," Lily's voice rang out as she returned some minutes later.

Severus tried to pull his hand away from Remus' grasp, but Remus laced their fingers together and squeezed him tighter instead.

Lily glanced down at their joint hands and smiled. A pit grew in Severus' stomach. Surely this was all a cruel joke. He jerked away towards the door.

"Sev, wait," Lily called.

"I'm not playing your game."

"This isn't a game," she said.

"Sev, please, stay," Remus said.

Severus hesitated, turning to face them. Their eyes were pleading, gentle, earnest.

"It's cold," he said.

Within seconds Remus had wrapped an arm around his shoulder and Lily around his waist. They stood huddled together and Severus relaxed.

"I'm glad you invited Remus."

"Me too," Lily said softly with a warm smile.

Remus pulled him closer and Severus swelled with happiness. The night's events were unexpected, but everything felt exactly right.

Title: Unexpected

Team: Tutshill Tornados

Position: Beater 2

Main prompt: Love Them or Hate Them (S7); I interpreted this prompt as "Write about a polarizing character"

Optional prompts: [emotion] surprise; [object] invitation; [dialogue] "This isn't a game."

Word Count: 2,982

Summary: Severus is thrilled to receive an invitation to Professor Slughorn's Christmas Party his fifth year. Finally, he's part of the "in" group. But when Lily invites someone else as her date, he isn't quite sure how to handle his feelings.