Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of it's characters. I only own the plot and a few characters I made up to help shape our heroes.

Severus Snape was not the type to break the mold and isolate himself from his housemates because of what he believed it, if he was than the hat would have put him in Gryffindor. No, he was a snake with too much self preservation for that. But he was also human and understood that he had made a mistake with his friend Lily. It only became more apparent when his friends caught him on the 9 ¾ platform.

Mulciber slung an arm heavily over Severus' shoulders, grinning sadistically also he gazed out at the first year muggleborns. "Aw, look at the lovies. Almost sweet enough to eat." When he bared his teeth, a few of the parents looked ready to turn around and bring their kids with them.

"Now, now, now. We let the fruit ripen before we enjoy it. Targets who never put up a fight aren't fun, we lie to break them in first." The two boys laughed at the horrified faces of those who overheard, their fathers wapping their heads to let them now this was not the place. Even if the older men agreed with the sentiment and would later boast to the Dark Lord how well they had groomed their sons to following in their footsteps. "What did you do this summer, Sever? Have any fun with that girl ah yours?"

"No, but I did have the immense pleasure of seeing Black limping into Potter Manor, licking his wounds." They might have been almost a year older than him but it was almost like they looked up to Severus because he never got in trouble for anything. He was smart and they were….not.

"Oh what I wouldn't give to have been you! I bet he was crying the whole time, bet they had to take him to the long term ward for spell damage before realizing that was just the way he was!" When Severus couldn't force himself to laugh, Avery nudged him with a pointed look but Mulciber just raised his hands. "Long term ward is for the crazies who were under the cruciatus curse too long, got a memory charm on them, lost too much blood and they have to keep 'um on supports. Almost lost their magic."

Taking the line that wasn't meant to have been thrown, he sighed. "My mum never told me the good stuff. I bet you two are going to send a few there some day, if they're lucky." Severus smirked while they high fived over his head but he was suddenly feeling sick.

Their compartment had getting a bit tight with all of the people in it, but was relieved that year with a smaller amount of members left. Lucius had his betrothed on his lap and kept teasing up her waist to get a laugh out of the others, offering her up if they wanted a turn. Narcissa for her part was stoic and smiled when she had to, otherwise the perfect doll for her betrothed to play with. Severus could almost see her thinking, one more year, one more year over and over again in her head, as he was graduating that year and she was the one after.

Evan Rosier's usual seat was taken by Wilkes, sprawled against the outside wall. "I heard that Potter had to carry him to the bathroom and hold him up!" He was a fourth year but he appeared to be as dumb as rocks, even though rocks have a use. But it was his favorite type of deception, making an opponent underestimate him.

"Severus here says he was licking his wounds almost a month after it happened!" Like a kid with a new toy, Avery jumped on the chance to get the older boys' attention. "He saw him get brought back to Potter's place with his tail between his legs and his thumb in his mouth."

Lucius raised a perfectly trimmed eyebrow. "What was it then? Was he licking his wounds or sucking his thumb? If you think you can do both at the same time, you should show us right here and now." He was visibly hoping that Avery would be stupid enough to say he didn't have any wounds, but Lucius would end up disappointed. "What do you think, Narcissa? What do you think your dear cousin was doing?"

"I think he has his tongue too far up James Potter's arse to be able to do either of those things." Roaring laughter followed Severus out of the compartment as he excused himself to change his robes, surprised when Narcissa followed him. "When you see Sirius, can you tell him that I hope he's healed well? Even if my betrothed is too high to realize he should be respectful of an heir, I am not so blind. If my uncle dies than he will be the one to see that this union goes through, tell him I would happily follow his lead on that day if it does come." Narcissa continued down the train, leaving Severus running over her words in his head.

He was dragged from his thoughts by Remus who had apparently started guiding him to the apartment his friends were in. "You said you'd like to sit with us, were you really that spaced out?" He shook his head, shaggy hair reminding Severus of a dog he once saw. "Just apologize to Lily, alright?" That went without saying.

Lily Evans had lived in Cokeworth her whole life right down the way from Spinner's End, with only one other child besides her sister to play with as no one else wanted to bring a child into that area. Everyone knew it was a large town located in the midlands of England, but it didn't feel large with all the tight buildings until you were walking home at night and slowly starting to realize you weren't anywhere near your house. It had several streets of identical brick, terraced, houses that loomed over you while you peered through the murky fog that seemed to be as ancient as the mill no one remembered using. Not even the old couple next door who seemed like they would have called Dumbledore 'son' if they ever met him. Even if the buildings weren't a issue, the only visual area to play was the river that looked like a giant had diarrhea in it, litter ankle deep making up the bank to the point where she didn't even know if there was sand or rock or just more trash underneath.

But one good thing about it was her best friend Severus. When she had to cut ties with him because of his interest in darker arts and blatant disrespect of other muggle borns, she had constantly felt like she was going to throw up.

Even with all of that being true, she wasn't ready to just let him waltz back into her life. "I understand that what I said was not something I should have even thought of. Not just because it hurt you, but because that way of thinking is exactly what I made fun of your sister for. Thinking your better than someone else because of one difference, in my case blood. My friend...associates, were too extreme and they wouldn't have had my back like you do. I need to be more accepting of people instead of feeling superior." Severus looked so ashamed she just wanted to hug him but she still wasn't sure. "I am still going to think some of the muggle borns are ridiculous and I'm not going to be all out supporter of you guys because I'll be slaughtered, but I'm not too deep for them to question me being neutral."

"I was really hurt with what you were saying and I couldn't understand how you could say those things about people like me. But hearing you say this makes me a feel a lot better. If you follow through and remain neutral this year, we can go back to the way things were. For right now, we can be on good terms." Lily kissed his cheek, laughing as she fell onto the compartment floor.

"I said friends not dating! Bleh, get away from me." Severus tried to wipe off his cheek with his sleeve but was smiling all the same. Neither of them liked when they were fighting and being on good terms again was a weight lifted off.

After having changed robes, she was passing an empty compartment when she overheard talking. Confused, Lily started to investigate and was not disappointed with her efforts. "No one is here, we're good." James threw off the invisibility cloak he just happened to have that sudden;y explained how he pulled some of the stunts he did. "Now what was so important that you made me bring this out and hide in an extra compartment?"

"Snape visited your house when I got out of St. Mungo's. Those healing potions I told your mum the house elves made for me? He left them on the porch. I think he knew that Lily was going to be there soon and he wanted her to see it so she forgave him. I brought them in before she saw it though." Sirius' forehead was wrinkled like he was actually worried for her because of her interactions with Severus. Thought that was ridiculous, she appreciated the sentiment. "Should we tell her?"

"No, of course not. If she doesn't know, he won't trick her into being friends again. He manipulates her so easily, I can't understand it. Think we should hex him a few times for what he did?" Lily was almost worried that James was going to be more trouble than Avery and Mulciber.

"No, he's tried to make it up to her and if he really has changed, we don't want to piss her off. Trust me, Evans is scarier than the two of us combined. She can take care of herself." And that was why she was friends with Sirius.