Author's note: Urrrgh… the Whopming Willow incident gave me so much trouble. (Mainly, I think, because action/fast-paced scenes aren't my forte.) I'm not thrilled with how it turned out, but if I keep tinkering with it to make it "right," this will never get posted. I hope that you enjoy this chapter regardless of its weaker points. Please review!

GoldenHydrangea: I deliberately chose to omit that because I wanted it to end… cliff-hangery (let's just pretend that's an adjective). There's more about the Death Eaters in this chapter.

Guest #1: Thank you! I'm a detail-oriented person, so I like getting as many little things as I can in there, that I remember, anyway. There will definitely be more letters, and references to the war brewing around them. And yes, I think a lot of people can identify with his experiences. And it makes sense why he joined the Death Eaters, if you consider that he was abused at home, bullied at Hogwarts, and then this charming, older boy takes an interest in him and says that he can get Snape into this elite, "inner circle" of people. If I were that starved for positive attention, I'd probably join, too. It also makes sense why he was so in love with Lily, since she was the first one to really show him kindness. The way I see it, anyway. Okay, I'm going to end this here, or I'll ramble on forever. Thank you again!

SheilaRegulusBlack and Guest #2: Thank you!

Warnings: Swearing

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I referenced pages 540-541 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows while writing this.

Hogwarts: Year 4

July 1974: Summer

Full of curiosity, Severus had questioned Lucius relentlessly about the "Death Eater" group that the latter had mentioned. Through pen and paper—well, ink and parchment—Lucius had been strangely evasive with his answers, and he had finally invited Severus to Malfoy Manor again to "discuss it face-to-face. It is better that way." Privately, Severus thought that Lucius just enjoyed dangling the details in front of him, but he didn't voice this theory.

Lily was less than pleased when he told her where he was going.

"Lucius Malfoy?" she asked, wrinkling her nose. "Why would you want to spend time with him? He's an arrogant bigot."

"You can't say that," Severus argued. "You don't know him."

"I remember him somewhat from when we were in first year, and I know what I've heard."

"From whom?"

"Sirius Black." Like that would make him concede her point. "Lucius Malfoy is dating Black's cousin Narcissa. Black spent a month complaining to anybody in the common room who would listen about how, if they got married, he'd be related to the Malfoys."

Severus sneered. "Because Sirius Black is a wholly reliable source of information."

"I'm just saying that I've heard stuff," Lily said coolly, not responding well to being sneered at. "How long are you staying there?"

"Four days."

"Four days? You're spending four days alone with Lucius Malfoy?"

Severus rolled his eyes. "He's not going to turn me into a squirrel. And I spent Easter break of first year at the Manor, remember? We're- friends." He stumbled over the word. It seemed odd to apply it to anybody other than Lily.

"Once was enough. I don't trust him, and you shouldn't either."

"You worry too much."

He was glad that he hadn't told Lily about the letters.

"… and in return, we get power and prestige. The Dark Lord hand-picks those whom he deems worthy of receiving the Mark."

Severus was intrigued. "Are the Death Eaters sort of like a family then?" he asked.

Lucius paused before saying, "Yes, I suppose you could say that."

"Do you have the Mark? May I see it?"

The blonde-haired wizard pulled back his left sleeve. On his forearm was a black tattoo of a skull; from the mouth of the skull came a serpent, which hung down and coiled around itself, mouth open, fangs displayed. "It is a great honour to be branded with the Dark Mark. Along with being a symbol of status, the Mark is how the Dark Lord communicates with us. We feel it in the Mark when he calls a meeting." Lucius re-covered the tattoo with the black fabric of his shirtsleeve.

"What are the meetings about?"

"Whatever matter takes the Dark Lord's fancy. At the most recent meeting, we discussed and commiserated the disappointingly-low number of true purebloods who are left in this world."

"Do you think I could become a Death Eater some day?"

"It is within the realm of possibility. The Dark Lord typically admits only purebloods, but I'm sure he could make an exception. You are very skilled at Potions, yes?"

The corners of Severus's mouth turned upwards in a smirk. "I'm one of the few people who knows what's going on in class," he said, eager to talk about his favourite branch of magic—his favourite legal branch of magic. "I've even modified some of the instructions so that the potions can be brewed more efficiently. The textbooks are, well, terrible; there are flaws that are glaringly obvious. I've been able to cut down on things like brewing time or the quantity of ingredients necessary. But everybody else flaps round like chickens with their heads cut off. It's simple, and yet it's practically impossible to get through a class without some dolt blowing up their cauldron. It's a wonder that Slughorn is still employed with the amount of accidents in his classroom."

Lucius nodded approvingly, which gave Severus a thrill. "Keep that up and the Dark Lord would be foolish not to take you."

November 1974: Fourth Year

"Steleus!"

Severus simultaneously ducked out of trouble's way and pulled out his wand. "Protego!" he yelled. The shield went up just in time to redirect another burst of light to Peter Pettigrew, who promptly topped over, hit by Petrificus Totalus.

Black paused when he heard his friend thump to the ground. Shifting his stance to look over at Pettigrew's inert form, he muttered, "Shit."

Before Black could undo the Body Bind, Severus said, "Levicorporus" and Black was hoisted into the air, dangling from some invisible string attached to his back. Although Severus had been playing around with that spell for a while, this was the first time he'd used a human test subject. He still had some adjustments to make—he wanted the victim to hang upside-down from their ankle, he wanted it to work nonverbally, and he wanted it to be irreversible except by a specific counter-curse—but no doubt the Marauders would give him plenty of opportunity to try it again.

"How very Slytherin," Black spat, arms and legs flailing wildly, making him look like someone drowning but without the water, "to curse somebody when their back is turned."

"Don't turn your back if you don't want to get cursed then," Severus remarked snidely. "Accio." There was a pause, during which he worriedly thought that his Summoning Charm wasn't going to work—technically, they didn't learn that until the next term—and then Black's wand zoomed into his hand. "I suppose this is why you typically only fight when your pack is around. Where is Potter anyway? Dog-sitting?"

Pettigrew whimpered as he tried to speak against the Body Bind.

"Yeah, well, at least I have friends! You're just some greasy little creep who's- oof!" The spell wore off abruptly and dumped Black face-down in the grass. He scrambled to his feet, looking like he was trying to maintain some semblance of dignity.

"Tell Lupin to have fun tomorrow." Severus tossed the Gryffindor's wand up in the air and caught it.

"Give me back my wand!"Black didn't charge forwards as Severus was expecting. Apparently even he knew that the Slytherin had the upper hand. "What are you on about, Snivellus?"

"Oh, it's just… I've heard that moonlit parties are the best." He smirked.

Black seemed to realize what Severus was hinting at. "Well," he started furiously, "why don't you go press the knot at the base of the Whomping Willow tomorrow night? Maybe crawling down the tunnel there will satisfy your curiosity. Of course, if you're too much of a coward…."

"Sirius!" Pettigrew, upright and mobile again, looked horrified. For once in his pathetic life, he took some initiative: "C'mon, let's go."

"Wormtail, did you hear what he just said?" Black turned his enraged look onto his Housemate. "Besides, Snivelly still has my wand!"

Severus threw Black's wand at him. It hit Black on the forehead. "Don't you ever call me a coward!" he snarled.

"Coward!" Black repeated as Pettigrew forced him to retreat.

Severus would be damned if he let Black get away with calling him a coward—also, he was very eager to know what exactly was at the end of the tunnel beneath the Whomping Willow.

He saw nobody as he slunk through the dark corridors, dressed in his Hogwarts robes instead of pajamas. He moved noiselessly. Living with Tobias had taught him a few things: how to move without being heard, how to notice the smallest details, how to judge the atmosphere of a room, how to withstand pain, how to pull off deception.

It was ridiculous how easily students could sneak out, he mused as he walked. Heads of House didn't seem to care if their charges were out of bed after curfew, or at least Professor Slughorn didn't. Argus Filch, the caretaker, and his cat Mrs. Norris were known to patrol at night, but the castle was large and they couldn't be everywhere at once. Really, it was inviting mischief.

Severus sucked in a breath as he stepped outside into the cold. Mercifully, it was early in the month and there was no snow yet. He made his way to the Whomping Willow, which started lashing out as soon as he got close. Who knew a tree could be so obstreperous?

He scanned the bottom of the temperamental tree for the knot that, if Black was to be believed, was supposed to allow for a safe passage. There, he spotted it. Frowning, he picked up a fallen branch and dropped to his stomach, crawling forward with his arm outstretched. After a few attempts, he managed to poke the knot with the stick. The violently-swinging limbs froze.

So Black is capable of more than spreading grossly-exaggerated rumours, Severus thought, taking out his wand and cautiously entering the low tunnel nestled among the roots of the tree.

"Lumos."

He continued, half bent over, until the passage sloped upwards. There was an opening up ahead, and the tiniest bit of light spilled from it, just enough to confirm that the end was close…

A hand grabbed him by the back of his robes and yanked him backwards, making him stumble. Too focused on his anticipation, he hadn't heard the person approach.

Turning his head to glare, he said, "What the hell, Potter!"He took offence at being manhandled like a common muggle.

Under his breath, Potter muttered something that sounded an awful lot like, "I'm going to kill you, Sirius."

"Let go of me!" Severus tried to twist out of the other boy's grasp, but the Gryffindor was surprisingly strong for a spoiled brat who had never had to lift a finger in his life.

"I'm telling you, you can't go down there!"

"You don't have any right to tell me where I can or can't go!"

"If you want to get mauled, then fine! Go back in! Serves you right!"

Out in the grounds again, the Willow still on pause, Professor McGonagall was moving swiftly towards them. Pettigrew followed closely behind his Head of House, and Black was nowhere to be seen.

"Mister Snape! Mister Potter!" McGonagall shouted. She reached the two boys and dragged them away from the Willow. Her timing was impeccable: The tree chose the next moment to begin whipping around again.

"Mister Pettigrew said that you had gone out to the tunnel beneath the Whomping Willow on a dare set by Sirius Black." The Head of Gryffindor pinned Severus with what was probably her most fearsome glare, and, through his anger at the Marauders and his embarrassment that Potter had pulled him along by the back of his robes like a child, Severus felt sufficiently chastised. Professor McGonagall scared him much more than Professor Slughorn ever had. "Do you have any idea what might have happened to you had you succeeded? You would not be standing here right now, I can promise you that!

"Come. We are going to see the Headmaster."

After being debriefed by Professor McGonagall and getting both Potter's and Severus's sides of the story—they actually matched up for once—Headmaster Dumbledore peered over his half-moon spectacles at the three students.

"This is very serious," he began, only to be interrupted by Potter, who quipped, "Well it is Sirius's fault."

Severus rolled his eyes, while Pettigrew gave an exaggerated laugh. Severus noticed Professor McGonagall's mouth tighten in disapproval.

Dumbledore, on the other hand, ignored the Gryffindor boy's smart remark entirely. "I will be speaking with Mister Black about his actions in the morning. There is no sense in waking him now"—Oh yes, he needs his beauty sleep, Severus almost snarked, catching himself just in time—"but I need to impress upon you the gravity of this situation. If word gets out and suspicions arise, it will ruin a Hogwarts career. Nobody else can know of what nearly transpired tonight."

"Is it true, sir, that Lupin is a werewolf?" Severus dared to ask, although he wasn't sure if he would get a straight answer, even if his theory were true. "Is that what was down there?"

"Yes. I need your word that you will not reveal this information to anybody."

The strength of the Headmaster's piercing blue gaze made Severus uncomfortable—it made him feel like the old wizard could see into his soul, or some other silly thing like that—but he found himself unable to look away. "Yes, sir," he promised somewhat reluctantly.

Dumbledore stared at him for a moment longer before nodding and saying, "Thank you, Mister Snape. I will hold you to that. Now I believe that is all, unless you have anything to add, Minerva?"

"Twenty points from each of you for being out after curfew." McGonagall paused thoughtfully. "And fifteen each to Mister Potter and Mister Pettigrew for helping a classmate and fetching a teacher in signs of trouble respectively. Let this be a lesson that one should neither issue reckless dares nor do something reckless because one was dared to. Now off you go, back to bed."

Severus did the math in his head, fuming. He forced himself not to sneer at the Transfiguration Professor. So Gryffindor lost a total of ten points, while Slytherin lost twice as much. Even with Black's punishment added in, Slytherin would probably come off worse, because that was just the way things worked. The Marauders were hell-raisers, but they were favoured, and, well, nobody liked Slytherins.

Typical.

"People keep telling me that I you're going to bring me nothing but trouble, and I can't help but wonder if they're right to some extent."

Severus's stride faltered, and for a moment he held his breath. Then, moving forwards again, he said, "What do you mean? I thought we were supposed to be friends? Best friends?"

"We are, Sev," Lily replied, immediately soothing his anxiety, "but I don't like some of the people you're hanging around with. I'm sorry, but I detest Avery and Mulciber! D'you know what he tried to do to Mary Macdonald the other day?" She stopped and leaned against a pillar.

"That was nothing." His words sounded lame, even to himself. "It was a laugh, that's all-"

"It was Dark Magic, and if you think that's funny-"

"What about the stuff Potter and his mates get up to?"

"What's Potter got to do with anything?"

"They sneak out at night. There's something weird about that Lupin. Where does he keep going?" He was tempted to give Lily all the details about his—for lack of a better word—adventure, but his promise to the Headmaster kept him quiet. Although the man might seem kind, he wasn't somebody who Severus wanted to cross.

"He's ill," Lily insisted. "They say he's ill-"

But just because he wasn't supposed to tell anybody about Lupin's affliction outright, didn't mean he couldn't still hint at it. "Every month at the full moon?"

"I know your theory." She gave him a cool look. "Why are you so obsessed with them anyway? Why do you care what they're doing at night?"

"I'm just trying to show you they're not as wonderful as everyone seems to think they are," Severus defended himself."

"They don't use Dark Magic, though." When he opened his mouth to answer, she interrupted him in a low voice: "And you're being really ungrateful. I heard what happened the other night. You went sneaking down that tunnel by the Whomping Willow and James Potter saved you from whatever's down there-"

"Saved? Saved?" Apparently, despite the Headmaster's warning, Potter had been strutting around as he was wont to do and spreading rumours that made himself the hero of the story, when in reality, the boy had only wanted to save his own ass from any blame that might come his way. Severus said as much to Lily, ending awkwardly, rendered incoherent by his anger, "You're not going to- I won't let you-"

Shit. That came out wrong.

Lily's green eyes narrowed instantly, a spark of her own fury appearing in them. "Let me?" she repeated in a simmering tone of voice. "Let—me?"

He backtracked: "I didn't mean- I just don't want to see you made a fool of- he… fancies you, James Potter fancies you!" There. That was what he'd been trying to articulate. Ugh, the thought made him shudder. Even worse was the possibility that Lily might reciprocate the feeling.

"I know James Potter's an arrogant toerag," Lily informed him. "I don't need you to tell me that. But Mulciber and Avery's idea of humour is just evil. Evil, Sev. I don't understand how you can be friends with them."

Severus was so filled with relief that Lily obviously did not fancy Potter that he barely heard or cared that she had denounced his friends in the next sentence.

January 1975: Fourth Year

MYSTERIOUS ATTACK ON MUGGLE FAMILY

by Rizzo Stalwart

Things were not so peaceful in the countryside yesterday. The pristine white landscape was blood-splattered as a muggle family was mercilessly attacked and killed. The bodies of Jason Decker, his wife Audrey, and their sons Theodore and Patrick were found strewn in the kitchen by their next-door neighbour, mutilated almost beyond recognition. The Deckers' daughter Sylvia managed to escape this unprecedented yet brutal attack, as she currently attends Hogwarts. Aurors have identified the use of Dark Magic, but they have yet to catch the perpetrator.

When they met up by the lake later that day, Lily gave Severus a wide-eyed look, a hint of fear swirling around in her green eyes. "That could have been my family," she said, quietly and with a slight tremor in her voice.

Severus was at a loss for how to comfort her.

June 1975: Fourth Year

The mood at Hogwarts had been dampened by the attacks—well, if you were not the Marauders. They actually seemed to get more obnoxious, something Severus wouldn't have thought was possible, except that he had seen it and experienced it first-hand—which had been occurring sporadically since the start of the calendar year; by the third or fourth, the Dark Mark was appearing over the victim's house, green and luminescent. "VOLDEMORT AND HIS DEATH EATERS WERE HERE" was found splattered across the front of one house, written in blood. That particular attack made the front page of The Daily Prophet.

Severus still held the image of acceptance, belonging, and power that Lucius had painted for him in his head, and so he conveniently disregarded the attacks as unimportant; they must have been done for a reason, probably personal revenge, so it wasn't as if he would have to participate when he became a Death Eater.

At the Leaving Feast, Headmaster Dumbledore thanked everybody for another great year and wished them all a "happy and safe summer holiday," with a slight emphasis on the word "safe."