Ch2 Hogsmead.
There must be some kind of flue going about, one that must be specifically targeting the female population.
Was the meaning of the various thoughts that went about his head as Severus Snape look across the Slytherin breakfast table and saw that almost every woman that he saw had become red in the face and averted her eyes from him, no doubt feeling embarrassed from the cold, he earlier saw that it was something the whole school seem to be afflicted since he gauged the same reaction from Ravenclaws, Hufflepufs and even from a few Gryffindors and it must be a recent epidemic since he only noticed this after the whole Potter incident and after he started acting like a proper gentleman and just like Andre and Pierre, him seeing life in a new wave brought about both new answer and questions.
And exploding food, namely the plates that he and the rest of house Slytherin had exploded just now.
A prank! That was the accusation and the exceptionally loud laughs from Gryffindor that stood out amongst other houses , bar the exception of Lilly of course who looked at Severus worried and glared hatefully at the Marauders, and the waving of arms and congratulatory pat on the backs the Marauders gave each other, the prosecution could now begin his case against the accused.
That is if a loud roar of disapproval did not erupt from the Slytherin table in protest and hate for their treatment.
At that reaction Albus Dumbledore was about to raise his voice to calm the ruffled feathers of in his opinion this most successful prank.
THUMP*THUMP*THUMP
He would have if not for the powerful sound of a cup hitting the table that came from that very same house, to which all of a sudden every single Slytherin stopped what they were doing and turned their gaze to the person that made the noise.
"Oh dear." The headmaster said in dread.
When Albus did the same an ill feeling engulfed him, for the person in question that the Slytherin seemed to have obeyed without hesitation was one Severus Snape.
Severus had his eyes closed and as he slowly with an attempt that was mostly successful at grace, elegance and poise he wiped with a handkerchief the food of his face, but you could tell from the way his eyes were closed and the shape of his mouth that he was fighting back his anger.
"Gentleman." He said and every student and teacher at Hogwards fell silent as they watched next move of Severus Snape as he turned around and gave that piercing stare at the Marauders once more.
"Without meaning to be mean spirit or insulting I would ask you all, if it's not too much trouble to answer the question on whether you are 2 or 3 years?" he said and the Marauders, well, they just laughed it up.
"Two, thought I'm leaning to one and a half Sni-Snape."Replied Potter.
"Three for me, after all Prongs I'm the mature one of the group. What about you Moony nad Wormtail?"
"Three."
"Eh, two."
Laughter echoed in their wake from not just the Marauders, but also from many around the room.
That was at least until Snape suddenly stood up, making the laughter disappear and a tense and fearful silence befell the Great Hall as the Half Blood Prince made his move in the castle.
"I see, in light of that, with the Headmaster's permission I would address the faculty and all those present in regards to what has just happened. I assure you Professor Dumbledore that what I have to say is in no way mean spirit, hateful or belittles the dignity of Hogwards."
"Granted." Albus said hesitantly, he could have refused but the wording of Severus's request made it impossible to do so without losing face towards the students and faculty.
"Thank you Headmaster." Severus said and started pacing down towards the teachers table.
"Esteemed teachers, it is to my understanding that in light of this recent event the laws of the school says that it is necessary to a punishment for the actions of the four gentleman who admitted to being the authors of this prank, but after hearing the four aforementioned perpetrators I would ask the faculty to do not apply any sort of punishment to them in question."
Severus said and paused, his statement made all of Hogwarts teachers, even the wise Dumbledore himself double blink in confusion.
Three of the four houses did the same.
The Slytherins were also too confused to be outraged, at least for now as they all watched Snape in almost hypnotic fascination.
"The reasoning behind this is very simple." Severus added, cutting of Dumbledore, before he could get a sentence out.
"The rules and laws of the school apply to the young men and women of Hogwarts and by the fours own admissions they do not meet the required age to be considered young ones of Hogwarts, which are adults in all but name."
He added and confusion quickly turned to shock, to laughter from Slytherins, Ravenclaws, Hufflepufs and even many from Gryffindor , Lilly laughed loudest of them all, joined in as James, Remus, Sirius and Peter all blushed in embarrassment.
"FUTHERMORE!" Severus said making the laughter die down as he turned his back away from the teachers table.
"Even if they would qualify as such I would still advice against any disciplinary action, for after all!" he paused as the whole hall watched as the Prince dealt the killing blow.
"Adults must indulge the…..actions of babies."
HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
A massive roar of cheers and applause erupted from not just Slytherin, but from all the tables, as it was too good a comeback for even Gryffindors to remain loyal to their four crimson faced from embarrassment comrades.
"MR SNAPE!" the voice of McGonagall cut through the noise and silence the cheers.
"I will not have such ill behavior in the great hall of Hogwarts; you will apologize to your schoolmates immediately for insulting them and refrain from ever reaping such behavior in the future!"
"Insulting them? Might I ask, if it's not too much trouble, how did I insult them?" Severus asked and pretended to be confused, much to the barely concealed snigger of the students.
"For how you called them earlier Mr Snape."
"Professor, earlier I simply stated their age, based on the information that they provided earlier from my question, of which they were so kind to answer, so might I ask how can calling them babies when they themselves admitted to being aged between two and three years old and I do believe that infants at that age are still considered babies and if I'm not mistaken the minimal age requirement to attend Hogwarts is 11 years old is it not, so might I ask how is it I insulted them by simply stating facts that they themselves confirmed not half an hour ago!"
Minerva blinked at this, for a moment she was flabbergasted since what she just heard made a lot of sense in a way, but she quickly recovered, but Snape cut her off before she could continue.
"Furthermore, my previous statement was made to defend them and I took every measure to make it so that I addressed them with the utmost respect, civility as humanly possible, but you know better that me Professor and I will abide by your better judgment."
This should have calmed and satisfied the Head of Gryffindor, but a sense of dread like the one Albus had fell over her.
"As such, I apologize for unintentionally insulting them by my attempt to defend the four in question; I apologize for being respectful and civil to the best of my abilities AND AS PER THE WISHES OF THE HOGWARDS STAFF I WILL REFRAIN FROM EVER DOING SO IN THE FUTURE FROM HENCE FORTH!"
Silence reigned the hall.
WOAAOAOAOAOOAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Until a massive storm of applause, cheers and whistles erupted inside.
Every student, from every house was now without shame or hesitance cheering the Prince's grand victory!
"Sev!Sev!Sev!" Lilly's voice was heard over the crowd as she started chanting his name.
"SEV!SEV!SEV!SEV! SEV!SEV!SEV!SEV! SEV!SEV!SEV!SEV! SEV!SEV!SEV!SEV!"
The crowd quickly joined her and started chanting his name and fist pumping all throughout the half, much to the embarrassment and disgrace of the four Marauders who sank as low as they could from shame and the displeasure of McGonagall and Dumbledore, who both shot a disapproving glare to the retreating back to his seat back of Severus Snape, before glaring to the left of the teacher's table where Professor Slughorne of Slytherin was also discreetly chanting and pumping 'Sev!Sev!' with Professor Flintwick of Ravenclaw and Professor Sprout of Hufflepuf, who all three immediately stopped but could not keep the grin of their faces.
The Prince's victory over the Griffin was appreciated by all creatures of the land, not just the snake.
"Thank you Atticus." Severus muttered under his breath as he went back to his seat, but right before he reached it his eyes were locked on Lilly as she looked so beautiful and at place being the one leading others, inspirational, powerful, perfect!
Acting on pure instinct he made his way towards her and summoning every bit of the spirit of Andrei since Atticus the lawyer's role was done he transfigured from some dust a beautiful rose and presented it to her, much to her surprise and blush of her cheeks.
"Always a pleasure Lilly." He said as he extended the rose to her, as he heard more symptoms of the virus as the other girls in the room all gave a great sight at his gesture.
Lilly gingerly took the rose.
"T-Thank you Sev." She said bashefully.
"My pleasure." He said with a true smile as he took one of her hands and with a bow he planted a gentleman's kiss on the back of it, which made Lilly's cheeks match the color of her hair and made James jump from his seat in jealousy as Remus, Sirius and Peter also got up to try and restrain him.
Severus saw this and looked at Potter, he knew that in his place Andrei would have show mercy after such a victory.
"Mr Potter."
But he was not Andrei.
"KHOROSHO SHALOST' POTTER . ETO BYLO OCHEN' VESELO!"
Severus shouted from the top of his lungs so that all could clearly hear.
Silence echoed the room, mostly from the fact that they didn't understand what he said, but from the tone Snape used they judged that it wasn't very nice.
And this was the tipping point for James Potter, anger burst from within; before his friends could stop him he pulled out his wand.
"Stupefy!" he shouted, to which Severus did not pull out his wand, nor he attempted to dodge, he simply pushed Lilly out of the way and with a smile on his face he let himself be hit by the hex.
James eyes was initially filled with horror upon realizing that he almost hexed Lilly, but they gleamed
with joy at seeing her out of the way of the blast and his hated rival down.
"MR POTTER!" a voice bellowed out, one which much to James's shock belonged to McGonagall.
"What in Merlin's name do you think that you are doing?" The head of Gryffindor said while making her way to James as a crowd gathered around Severus to see if he was okay.
"I-I, you all heard what he called me! You all heard what he said!" James tried to defend himself, though even he knew that it was a poor excuse for attacking another student, even a Slytherin, especially in front of the teachers.
"Insult you? He said: Good prank Potter. It was very funny.' In Russian."
"W-what? B-but professor McGonagall how was I suppose to know that?"
"If you had chosen that as your language of choice at Optional Auxiliary classes you would have known, especially since I am the one that teaches that class!" Minerva said to the now stunned Potter.
"Y-Y,he did this un purpose! You heard what tone he used, he intentionally spoke Russian to provoke me, why else wouldn't he had said that in English."
"Well if you hadn't hexed him we could have asked, we could have asked him why he did so." The words came not from Minerva, but from Dumbledore from behind them.
"Mr Potter, even if that was his intent you had no cause no attack him like that, it was behavior unworthy of a true Gryffindor, for that I am taking 100 points away from Gryffindor and in addition to six months of detention starting next year you are also suspended for a month starting now."
"100, six-! A month of, but there's only a week of school left!"
"Which is why you're suspension will carry into next year and you will be forbidden from coming here for three weeks after school begins at September 1st."
"But headmaster!"
"Would you rather it be two months instead?"
"A-ah. No sir."
"Good, now sit down, finish your meal and after that pack your thinks, you may use my personal fireplace to flu home."
"Yes sir."
"Excellent. How are you feeling Mr Snape?"
"Ya v poryadke, I mean I'm allright sir."
Severus said as he was being examined by Slughorne and Madam Pomfrey, all the while his head was cradled in a crying Lilly's lap.
Yes he was, he truly was fine as he saw the hate his defeated enemy was glaring at him.
That was what you get for judging a Prince, especially a half blood one.
The day came and went and with the coming of tomorrow Snape felt better than he had felt in years.
It was Saturday, Potter was out of his hair a week early and he had a day in Hogsmead with Lilly.
He looked himself in the mirror and hoped that he didn't go too far.
He instead of being dressed in his usual robes he was dressed in a formal suit and tie that he had reserved for parties and dances.
In his hand was a great bouquet of roses, real ones, not transfigured, he quickly crunched a few mints in his mouth before asking the fat lady to summon Lilly.
Lilly stepped out of the portrait hole and she was shocked at what she saw.
The flowers, the suite, that smile, her cheeks and heart where once more assaulted by the merciless prince.
"Sev."
"Lilly! As I said before always a pleasure!" he extended the bouquet to her as she gingerly took it and after using it to hide her embarrassment she placed in a flower vase before returning to Sev.
"Are you ready to go?"
"Y-yes."
"Then let us be on our way." He added and once more kissed the side of her hand before offering his elbow for her to take.
She did so hesitantly and red faced as Severus lead her to the buss that would take them to Hogsmead, all the while concerned that she too seemed to have been infected by the strange disease going on.
"Maybe I'm immune to it, since I saw a few boys react this way to."
He thought as they went on their way.
But for once the Prince was wrong, he was not immune, and there was no disease, but he was indeed it's carrier.