Albus Dumbledore watched as James Potter and his friends were glaring at him during breakfast. The four of them had returned within a week before February, and understandably were furious over the loss of one of their most valuable items.

How he hated to have disappointed them all.

The headmaster then turned to the Slytherin table, where Severus Snape was listening in to the conversation his other friends had. When the first-years greeted him, they were answered with a nod before they too indulged in their own discussions.

Albus just didn't know what to do of him. He had thought the boy would wield the Elder Wand straight away, but perhaps he had known the risk too? It was a rare occasion for wizard to suddenly change their wand, after all. He possibly didn't want anyone to know of it too.

He needed to keep an eye on Snape.

He turned back to the Gryffindor table, especially at the lonesome redheaded girl. She was also staring at Snape. He had thought for sure that it would be the reverse; that Snape would be longing for her instead but life in general was very much unpredictable.

Albus sighed. Just what would they bring out to the world after graduation?

Evan Rosier was both worried and intrigued of Severus Snape.

It was 5th February, and at the moment, he was lounging with the rest of their year-mates and Regulus Black in the Slytherin common room, but Snape was not minding any attention to what the other four were talking about. Instead the raven-haired boy was staring with glazed eyes at a black feather, spinning it delicately around his hand over and over.

"Snape," he called, to which the honorary Prefect hummed subconsciously. Evan sighed at his monotonous response. "Look, we know you miss Rogue so much, but it's time to move on. He's in the better place now."

"If we hadn't known you any better, we'd thought you're a 'Puff," Mulciber added with a concerned frown.

Snape only raised his eyebrows at their direction before glancing down to his stand-in Prefect badge. "I am supposed to be the representative of all the Houses, so you're not that far off," he quipped before keeping the feather inside his breast pocket.

Immediately the entire room laughed.

Evan rolled his eyes in amusement. "Very funny, Snape," he said, "now shouldn't we all get ready for the Apparation test preparation?"

He, Wilkes, Mulciber and Snape left the other two and walked to the Great Hall, where the event would be held. They all listened to the Ministry wizard in charge for the preparation; Wilkie Twycross talked about the introduction of Apparation and decided to stay nearby of each other.

After stepping into his wooden hoop, Evan turned to Snape, only to see him leant back and forth from inside his circle, while also cocking his head sideways at the hoop in front of him. He quickly exchanged puzzled looks with Wilkes and Mulciber, who shared the sentiment. "What are you doing?" he called incredulously.

The honorary Prefect looked at him as if only realizing he was there too. "I'd rather pass through this thing in one go, thank you very much," was his answer.

"By bopping your head up and down like some cuckoo bird?"

"It's all about perspective, just like Twycross said," Snape spoke airily, "Tell you what, let's set up a bet. If I manage to get into the other hoop in just one try, you all pay me five Galleons each."

The three other boys grinned; nothing more better for a challenge than betting up on someone's failure. They quickly shook hands before going back to their respective places.

"Alright then, wands at the ready," said Twycross with an amplified voice, "Now remember the three Ds: destination, determination and deliberation. On my count: one, two, and three!"

Various cracking sounds echoed around the Great Hall, and quite a few students were Splinched between the two hoops. Twycross, along with the Heads of House had helped them to restore themselves.

Much to Evan, Mulciber and Wilkes' surprise, Severus Snape was among those who succeeded in the first try. The boy simply smirked as he held out his hand toward them.

The three students could only grin to themselves, barely hearing Twycross' order to make another attempt. By the time lunch appeared, they were all impressed by Snape's techniques and wanted to try them next week.

Horace Slughorn just knew he had struck a jackpot when he first set his eyes on Severus Snape.

Ever since the first class, he was surprised with his dynamic teamwork with Lily Evans, daring to be the only Gryffindor-Slytherin group in all his classes; and for them to last for five years nonetheless! Of course, he had hoped that they would still be together until they graduate but their fate was inevitable.

Slytherins and Gryffindors were ultimately, the opposites of one another.

He was now heading to the one of the classrooms he had given to Mr. Snape, hoping to ask him a favor. Oh, it was nothing too troubling, merely an inconvenience on his end. He knocked on the wooden door three times before the boy inside responded with an, "Enter."

"Ah, Severus!" Horace greeted the stand-in Prefect and headed toward his table, "I happen to need your help right now; would you mind?"

Snape blinked. "No, of course not," he responded, "but may I finish this batch of bruise salve first, sir?"

Horace nodded and went to his seat at the front of the room, watching contently as Snape stirred the potion inside his trusty pewter cauldron several times before turning the fire off and transferring the salve into several jars.

He was truly lucky to have found such a talented student. Poppy Pomfrey had thanked him on many occasions just how powerful the concoctions were and he had hoped Mr. Snape would share some of his recipes soon.

"What do you want me to do, Professor?" Snape asked, already finished rinsing his cauldron and tidying up the table.

Horace clapped once and beckoned the boy to follow him into his room. "I'd like you to arrange back some of these student files," he said sheepishly. "Nothing much I assure you; just put them according to their years and such. It does get pretty tiresome after a while."

Snape only nodded before getting to work.

"Would you want me to call your friends, Severus?" he said.

"I'm alright by my own, sir; thank you for asking," Snape replied and Horace just couldn't comprehend how happy the boy was to make mundane work. Then again, he didn't really know the boy's mother well so that's that. Eileen Prince was just as sour as Severus Snape was, but at least he made his displeasure very clear.

Horace simply nodded at his request and then went back to his desk to mark some of the seventh-years' essays.

"Sir, may I tell you something?" Snape spoke after a while and Horace nearly jumped out of his seat in surprise.

"Yes, Mr. Snape?"

"I'm having an idea about memories, sir, but I'm just drawing a blank on how to make it happen."

Horace blinked.

"Like, uh… think of it like using a Pensieve. So we have to dive into the memory-basin thingy to see the memory, right?"

The professor nodded. The Pensieve was quite an invention, and here was a student who would make a change to it? He felt himself getting giddy out of sudden.

"Well, I have this idea to make it like a photo album as the Muggles did. You know, just see the memory straight from a book or something else. Maybe even make it work like a children's magical storybook. Do you think it can be done, sir?"

Horace grinned; this was exactly why he liked Severus Snape. "Why, Severus, I have great faith in you. I will definitely be surprised if the Ministry won't give you an Order of Merlin for that!"

Snape gave out a wide smile. "Thank you, sir," he said.

"Go forth, boy. I for one; won't want to get out of that damned Pensieve like some drunkard."

They continued up until it was dinner and someone knocked at the door. Frowning, Horace turned to Snape who was nearly done himself and said, "Enter."

"Albus?" he asked upon seeing who it was.

The headmaster nodded briefly at him before seeing the other person in the room. "Horace, Mr. Snape. I do believe it's time for dinner."

"Yes, well, we're about to go there in a jiffy," Horace replied, "Come Severus, we wouldn't want your friends to worry of you, eh?"

Snape only smiled before following the two men to the Great Hall, falling into step with Horace. "I don't trust him," the boy said, pointedly looking at the great wizard in front of them.

"And that's exactly why we're Slytherins, Severus."

Severus finally found out T. M. Riddle's full name, all thanks to Professor Slughorn.

He was staring into his notebook, finally starting to make sense of why the mysterious man had insisted to be called by his middle name.

Tom Marvolo Riddle.

A very much Muggle name, except for the middle one. And what a nightmare it was to have anything Muggle be associated with the Snakes.

Oh, Severus had been jeered and catcalled by other Slytherin students especially in his earlier years, but at least his first name was Latin, following the Princes' male naming traditions. He was very thankful of his mother for that.

But Tom… Severus couldn't imagine just how the others had treated him during his school years. Sure, the boy had been made Prefect and subsequently the Head Boy, but how? He had to work twice as hard to gain his peers' approval for that to happen.

His hazel wand alerted him of his patrol rounds and he sighed before getting up and kept his notebook inside his satchel.

Severus had just gotten into the Great Hall when he heard a strange sound. Goosebumps appeared on his skin and he tried hard to suppress the senses he shared with his pet raven's new form, telling him to run away. Much to his surprise, his blackthorn wand also vibrated according to the sound.

Had it sensed something; just as it alerted him of Rogue's death some time ago?

The strange whisper entered his ears again, almost sounding sad at the moment. He strained his ears in attempt to catch what it was, and his puzzlement only increased when he thought he could make out the word, "Master."

Quizzically, he looked at the blackthorn wand and murmured, "Point me."

The wand glowed in a faint green light before leading Severus to the stairs. He held the item quite loosely as he followed the sensation until he reached the second-floor girls' lavatory.

But, why would it be there?

Severus took a deep breath, mustering himself before swinging the door open gently. The loud creak made it sound like a horror movie, and despite Severus never really watched any Muggle films, he was entertained by their imaginations to create suspense.

But now was not the time.

A swish entered his ears and Severus swiftly turned around, frowning upon seeing who it was before he lowered down his wand. "…Myrtle," he greeted.

Moaning Myrtle was not a popular ghost in Hogwarts. She kept crying in random intervals, which usually resulted in pipe leaks and water gushing out into the corridors. The fact that she was still in her Hogwarts school robes told just so much about the school's safety concerns.

The teenage phantom girl glided toward him with a curious smile, "Well, this is a surprise. What's a Prefect got to do in here?"

Severus only raised his eyebrows in puzzlement. "Just inspecting," he started carefully as he looked around the room, "Have you ever heard anything weird?"

Myrtle twirled one of her pigtails as she spoke, "There are many strange things here; mind specify whichever it is you want to know of?"

He was about to ask her about the hissing before stopping himself; wouldn't that be weird to others? Instead he looked at her and blinked. For all everyone knew, she was haunting the lavatory since nearly twenty-five years ago. And there was no visible injuries, be it knife wounds or spell inflictions.

It was as if… she literally died of shock.

"Uh… pardon if I'm being blunt here," Severus began, "but just how exactly did you die?"

He immediately regretted it.

"YOU!" Myrtle's face went beet red and all the water from the pipes sprayed out to Severus' direction; he managed to summon a Shield Charm last-minute and quickly made his way to the exit while apologizing.

"Look, I admit that's a wrong thing to ask but-"

"'Thought you're quite a nice boy!"

"I am nice! Just a bit… curious, that's all-!"

"I don't believe you!"

The force from the water was too much for Severus to withstand and he sidestepped to avoid the huge current of water flowing into the corridor. Much to his disgust, he still got drenched from head to toe.

He was ready to make a run back to the Slytherin dungeons only to be met by Professor McGonagall, who stared at him in disapproval.

"I do hope you will clean this up, Mr. Snape," she said with a pointed look.

Severus sighed, "Yes, Professor."