The Tunnel

James Potter took a sideways glance at Sirius Black and grinned. They stole glances under their eyelids at Severus Snape, who sat two rows ahead of them. As the two Marauders passed a piece of parchment back and forth, Pettigrew took notes, frowning slightly.

The bell rang, and the students filed out. James and Sirius waited, and right before Snape went in front of them, Black elbowed him behind he and James, saying "Watch it, Snivilly."

Snape eyes flashed and his scowl deepened, but he didn't dare retaliate with so many witnesses.

"Did you get the notes, Peter?" Sirius asked

"Yes, but I don't know why you want me to take them this month, usually James does it-"

"That's because this is the big night, and we're planning on how we want to spend it." James said, a little louder than usual. Sirius smirked and added "Besides Peter, you have better handwriting than we do."

"What's so special about this time?" Peter asked

"Well, Flitch is sick with dragonpox, remember? That means the front door will be basically wide open." James said, turning a corner into the Charms corridor. "No sneaking out this time." Sirius added to Peter. Sirius glanced around, and stopped very suddenly, and Snape walked into him again. Sirius turned and said "You know, Snape, you really should watch where you're going."

Other students started to slow down, causing a bottleneck in the corridor. There were no teachers.

"Fuck you Black." Snape said venomously

Uncharacteristically, Sirius turned back around to face James, who kept walking. James lowered his voice "Speaking of watching where we're going, whose night is it to prod the knot?"

"Mine." They reached a two way. The three Gryffindors took the right, while the Slytherin took the left. "Sev!" called a voice

The Slytherin turned around immediately to greet the redhead walking towards him. The other Slytherins smirked and looked away from the pair. Even the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws avoided their eyes, but Lily paid no mind. "You left your quill, I've been trying to catch up since we left class."

"Thank you, Lil." He smiled down at her, and it became apparent to her that he really was happy. His smile was contagious, and she couldn't help but smile back. "Are you still meeting me tonight for help on my Cheering Charms?" she asked

"What? I.. No, I'm sorry Lily. There's… something I have to do."

"Oh." Her voice grew hard, cold. Severus instantly regretted his words. "But maybe I can meet you before dinner-"

"I told Alice I was meeting her."

"Oh. Right."

"Yeah. I guess I'll see you tomorrow then Severus." She walked past him, eyes on the floor, face bright red. "Bye!" he called after her desperately.

She didn't turn around.

Cursing himself, he

stumbling

to Arithmancy, slightly abashed. He looked up, realized people were staring, and immediately, a scowl appeared on his face. On the other side of the corridor, Sirius and James high fived in front of a bewildered Peter.

James was hidden under his Invisibility Cloak by the front doors. The door was unlocked, just as he had said it would be, but not because Filch had dragonpox. No, the caretaker had hobbled down the stairs just like he did every night to lock the doors. He had waited for the metallic clicks of the lock and then hobbled away, swearing. James gave a lazy flick of his wand and the door reopened, leaving the castle thoroughly exposed.

James didn't have to wait long. Snape was so predictable.

Silently

he crept along, keeping close to the walls. He reached the door and slid it open, and before the door had even finished creaking, the door was shut again and the hallway was empty.

James waited only a minute, then opened the doors himself, took a moment to breathe in the air, and walked along the path to the greenhouses. He ducked behind one, stuffed his cloak in his pocket and transformed. The stag was much quicker than Snape; by the time he arrived to the Whomping Willow, Severus barely glanced at the stag at the forest's edge.

With ease, Severus levitated a twig am touched it, unsure to the knot at the trees base. Uncertainty turned into satisfaction as the tree froze. And Severus

Running

inside, oblivious that there might be someone watching. The stag immediately followed, transforming in the base of the tunnel. Then James crept along behind Snape, not even bothering to use his Invisibility Cloak. He knew Snape's attention was in front of him, with the inhuman screams…

And all at once, many things happened.

Snape

Scream

and

Fall

back as a roar as chilling as

Death

ran its length up the tunnel. A dog barked furiously, missed by the boy, who was now being tugged to his feet by James. And then they were both

Run

Snape in front of James, to the base of the entrance.

Severus bent over, panting. James took his chance "Had fun, following us around?"

Snape was binded by shock, but James was surprised when, quicker than a flash of light, there was a wand pointed at him, facing his own.

"What the hell was that!" Snape screamed

"What, too stupid to figure it out?" James taunted "You wanted to know so damn badly, well, now you know."

James and Severus's spells met each other in the air. James had never dueled before, and he needed both hands on his wand to keep going. But the same could not be said for Severus, who looked

Demented

Inhuman

and red with blinding rage. James let go and it was though he had never experienced pain. He was being stabbed, burned, and strangled. He felt the tears fly freely from his face as he screamed in agony and then

James head was bleeding; he had cut it on a rock. He was shaking, but that didn't last long before he felt the kick straight in his face. Adrenaline surged through him. He grabbed Snapes robes and pulled. He tripped and crashed down on top of him. And both boys were rolling around, bleeding, wands forgotten on the tunnel floor.

It seemed to James like Severus was just getting started, but for him, everything seemed to be woozy. He felt the world go dark when suddenly there was a flash of light, and Snape stopped hitting him. James gingerly looked up and saw Sirius. Relief washed over him like water.

Sirius propped James half conscious body up on the wall of the tunnel and began to siphon blood off of James face. Slowly the tunnel came more clearly into focus. The first thing he remembered saying was "What're we going to do?"

Sirius glanced at Snape, who was still held together with a Full Body Bind. "What the hell happened?"

"He screamed and started running-"

"But we planned that!"

"Yeah, well," James spat out some blood and adjusted his glasses "we didn't plan on him using the Cruciatus Curse on me."

Sirius strided over and raised his fist to punch Snape. "No, we can't Sirius-"

"The Cruciatus Curse-"

"We don't have a good reason for why he's here Sirius! We're not even supposed to be here, even Dumbledore doesn't know we know!"

Sirius thought hard for a moment then turned away, swearing. But he swung back around almost instantly and said "But what do we do? How do we get him to not talk?"

"He can't anyway unless he wants to be expelled and thrown in Azkaban, that's a life sentence!"

"We can't just trust him to not say anything James!"

"Then I don't know what to do, Sirius."

"What's he got to say about all this?" Sirius interjected loudly "James, take your wand, point it at him, now!" With a flick of Sirius's wand, Severus's muscles began working again, but he had barely sat up before two wands pointed straight at his hooked nose.

"So," Sirius sneered "Think you're clever, do you? Think you get to go around, cursing people-"

Snape gave a hollow laugh "Are you actually lecturing me on cursing people, Black?"

"Using the Cruciatus Curse-"

"Was just as illegal as bring me down here to die."

James laughed this time "We weren't going to let you die-"

"Nice try proving that to Dumbledore."

All three of them fell silent for a moment, glaring at each other with equal hatred. "So that leaves two options then," Severus said finally "we either all get expelled, or we all walk away."

"And have our fate rest with you?" Severus could tell Sirius was seriously scared now. "Mine would rest with you, too." the Slytherin pointed out

"He's right, Sirius."

Severus looked at James so fast he cricked his neck. "We all walk away. Agreed?"

"Fine." spat Severus. "Now let me leave."

James and Sirius lowered their wands, and Snape

Crawled

spitting

dirt from his mouth. The stars seemed to scrape across the sky in welcome. His whole body ached. He leaned back against a tree and inhaled deeply. The forest hugged his entire body, claimed him for its own. He recognized this clearing.

"Get out your wand." He did so, and she turned around and pushed herself against him. He groaned as her black hair weaved itself down the most intimate parts of him-

He winced and glanced at his watch, eyes widening as he realized the Sorting was beginning. Now.

He snatched his wand from his pocket and lifted the grime from his face, straightened the wrinkles in his robes. He swore as realized he was missing his right sock.

Knowing that this was probably the best he would be able to do before the Feast, he walked out of the clearing and back to the castle, almost on autopilot. He wasn't thinking. He wasn't focused on anything.

Something silver appeared in the corner of his eye. It appeared to be coming closer, even as he walked closer to the castle. He stopped and watched as a silver wolf stalked towards Hagrid's cabin. His decision was made in a split second, and the silver doe chased after the wolf. The two Patronus' walked back to Snape, and a voice said "Harry Potter is with me, missed the carriages. Walk him to the castle?"

Severus almost laughed out loud as he headed towards the castle. He made a pitstop in the Great Hallway for a lanturn. As he walked back out, he saw Hagrid trudge up the path. Their eyes met, and they nodded to each other, but neither of them spoke as they passed. Smirking, Severus trailed towards the gate. He could see Nymphadora and Potter standing on the platform, looking at him. Potter was wearing Muggle clothing and covered in

"Yeah well we didn't plan on him using the Cruciatus Curse on me."

blood.

"Well, well, well," sneered Snape, taking out his wand and tapping the padlock once, so that the chains snaked backwards and the gate creaked open. "Nice of you to turn up, Potter, although you evidently decided that the wearing of school robes would distract from your appearance." He almost scoffed as Potter offered "I couldn't change, I didn't have my-"

"There is no need to wait Nymphadora, Potter is quite- ah- safe in my hands." Had that been her Patronus? The last he remembered, her Patronus had been a possum.

His eyes widened. He knew Lupin and Tonks got along, there was a tension between them that he had thought was purely sexual. The other members of the Order knew that Lupins resistance to this connection was as raw as sandpaper, even though he clearly felt something for the young woman. Her advances were subtle enough, but he had noticed the glances during meetings, the unusual pairing when the moon wasn't full. However, he didn't know that she loved him.

Yes. Love. That he knew well, his own Patronus matching Lily's, a connection he supposed that now mirrored Lupin and Tonk's situation. He couldn't help but sympathize with her a little, knowing full well what it was like to be so in love. It seeped into every pore of your very existence, shook you down to the base core of your entire being. Every tear shed, every drop of blood.

Yes, love. He knew this very, very well.

But he felt a wave of anger wash over him at the werewolf. Did he not know of her feelings? Severus knew that he did, knew that the feeling was mutual. It wasn't uncaring that kept them apart. If she loved him so, and he knew it, than why? Why not even acknowledge it? His predicament with Lily had been bad, he knew; if she knew that he loved her, she never mentioned it, and certainly never cared how it affected him or the friendship that was between them. But Lupin not only knew, but he cared too. And he still chose to do nothing? His hatred of Lupin deepened. No wonder she looked so careworn and lifeless.

But he had not let himself go like this, he thought suddenly. He had taken up the opportunity to help the cause Lily died to protect. And now, in his allegiance and love for her, he protected James Potter's son. He had not succumbed to depression and wallowed in his pity. At least, not until recently.

"Are you going to keep crying like some sissy nancy boy?" Tobias taunted

But could the same be said for her? Unexplainably, his anger now flared in her direction as well.

"I meant Hagrid to get the message." said Tonk's, frowning.

"Hagrid was late of the start-of-term feast, just like Potter, so I took it instead." he said, pushing the memory of himself laying on the Forest floor away "And incidentally, I was interested to see your new Patronus."

Her shock was instantly recognizable. He supposed she forgot he knew what her old Patronus was. The members of the Order had, two summers before, each shared their Patronus in case of emergency, so that a name attached to a message would be unnecessary. He had been surprised with himself that he felt no shame in sharing his rather feminine Patronus. He was not ashamed of his love for Lily. It was just personal. Private. Need to know information. Potter stepped in the castles barrier and he slammed the gate in front of her.

"I think you were better off with the old one. The new one seems weak." He saw her anger and was immediately satisfied. Lupin was weak. It was only natural her Patronus should reflect that personality trait. Smirking, he turned and began walking to the castle, Potter alongside of him.

"Goodnight. Thanks for… everything." Potter called back to her

"See you Harry." he heard her return.

Their pleasantries didn't make him slow his pace. In fact, he rather found himself lost in thought of the night as they crossed the grounds. He tried to think of the last thing he remembered before waking up in the dirt like some animal. He remembered making lunch, but that was it. He couldn't even remember what he made.

He took a side glance at Potter, at all the blood on his face. Vaguely, he wondered if the boy was okay. The thought was fleeting, and didn't last long as another popped into his head. A boy who looked just like the one next to him, laying in a tunnel covered in blood. Severus was on top of him, and his fist felt like it was melting in pain as it punched every inch of the Jame's face it could reach-

"Fifty points from Gryffindor for lateness, I think." he said softly. He saw Potter stiffen, and it emboldened him further "And let me see, another twenty for your Muggle attire. You know, I don't believe any House has been in negative figures this early in term. We haven't even started pudding. You might have set a record Potter."

He sensed that he was doing a rather good job of getting under the boy's skin. He could almost hear the screaming thoughts of hatred. He thought fondly of how James would've felt if he had been there in that moment, knowing there was nothing he could do. "I suppose you wanted to make an entrance, didn't you? And with no flying car available you decided that bursting into the Great Hall halfway through the feast ought to create a dramatic effect."

Snape was almost laughing at the chilsled expression on his face, though he was rather impressed he had managed to remain silent up until this point. As they mounted the stairs and entered the Great Hallway, he couldn't help but taste some of the feeling. He was inside Potter's mind in a flash, and the Invisibility Cloak flitted through his head. He pulled out and said "No Cloak. You can walk in so that everyone sees you, which is what you wanted, I'm sure." Potter marched straight into the Great Hall, and he couldn't help but sneer a little. Just like his father.

This took a LONG time to write, but I'm on vacation at the moment. It doesn't have any significance to the story or the way I write my chapters, I'm just excited to be 1,500 miles away from home. The italicized exchange that took place between Harry, Severus, and Tonks is not my work, but was taken from the HBP. I don't own it, only the thoughts that Snape had to himself.