Wrong Kind of Hero

Chapter 2: Of Magic and Muggles

It was sheer luck that brought the Gryffindors and Slytherins together for Potions and Transfiguration their second year. They became Potions partners, and Severus showed a natural aptitude for the subject, as did Lily. In fact, they so surpassed everyone else in the class that they were admired by Professor Slughorn as the two most promising Potions students he had seen in a long time. Snape was not afraid to experiment and Lily was just as willing to go along with him, trying to make their potions better, perfect. She was slightly better at transfiguring things than him, but only slightly, and they spent many happy hours together experimenting with their wands and having a laugh at their mistakes.

It occurred to Lily once that the rest of their Potions class didn't stand a chance in hell with Severus and her teamed up as partners. Every time Slughorn offered a potion as a prize, they won it. And though she had no idea what she was going to do with Wolvesbane or a bezoar- Slughorn was rather random in his gifts, even to his favored Slug Club students- when she got to keep the perfect Felix Felicius potion that she and Sev had won together, Lily knew exactly what she was going to do. "Let's save it for a Hogsmeade weekend, and then we can split it. I'll drink half and you drink half."

It was a remarkable weekend. First, they heard that Sirius Black had received detention and would not be going to Hogsmeade- rather, he would be cleaning out the prefect's bathroom with a toothbrush. Then James Potter came down with a disfiguring illness that made purple spots burst out all over his body, and he was in the infirmary ward with Peter Pettigrew looking after him, so he also would not be going. Remus Lupin had declined to go, choosing instead to catch up on his Muggle Studies homework. "Justice," Snape had pronounced in a self-satisfied manner. Then Honeydukes declared Lily to be the hundredth customer of the day and gave her a huge free assortment of sweets as a reward. Luckier still, the Three Broomsticks was testing out a new take-away menu, for picnicking students, and foisted a basket of food on Snape. Madame Rosmerta declared he was exactly the kind of student customer she was looking for. As they were sitting enjoying their free feast in the abnormally pleasant day, they managed to rescue someone's pet kitten who'd got loose and was about to be run over by a wizard on a bike. The owner of the kitten in question was extremely rich, as well as the owner of a Quidditch store, and she declared that she would give them both top-of-the-line broomsticks and Puddlemere United shirts for rescuing her precious darling. Lily just grinned at Severus incredulously the whole day and kept repeating, "what a lucky coincidence! This is amazing!" Then the Captains of the Gryffindor and Slytherin Quidditch teams approached them both and told them that their tryouts had gone remarkably well and they'd made Chaser and Beater, respectively.

"I don't even remember trying out for the team," Severus had said, bewildered.

"Oh, I assure you, you were outstanding. Best Beater we've seen in a long time."

"But aren't I too young?"

"Nonsense. The Gryffindors have got Potter and Evans now, and they're both second years."

"This potion is brilliant!" Lily exclaimed. "This is the best day ever. I'm so glad I got to share it with you."

"Indeed."

"Indeed?" She said, making a face at him. "Can't you just admit you're happy to be with me and it was a good day? Is that so hard?" He looked away, shaking his head.

"Lily-"

"No, Sev. I know this is a very public friendship and we're from opposing Houses. I know my House disapproves; yours probably does too because my parents were Muggles. If you're embarrassed to be seen with me, just tell me." He lifted his eyes to hers.

"I'm not embarrassed. Never think that. I'm proud to be seen with you."

"Then why-"

"It's just a lot to take in. A lot of good things all at once." Lily let the subject drop. She knew Severus wasn't comfortable talking about his home life, but she also knew his parents argued a lot and that they didn't seem to take good care of him. He always had a haunted look in his eyes when he mentioned his family. She guessed that he hadn't had a lot to be happy about in his life until he came to Hogwarts. Then she had a brilliant stroke of inspiration.

"Hey, Sev? This summer, could I take you on a Muggle vacation? My parents said I could invite a friend from school if I wanted. We go for a weekend to this amusement park place. It's what Muggle kids do for fun." She was inviting him somewhere? She voluntarily wanted to spend time with him during her summer? So this was what being best friends meant. He suppressed the urge to grin, leap up and down and laud the Felix Felicius. That would have been highly inappropriate, no matter how tempting.

"I'll consider it," he said. She looked crestfallen. He quickly amended, "I've considered. I'll come."

This trip was ill-advised, Snape could not help but thinking as Lily showed him around the Muggle 'amusement park'. He was wearing his Puddlemere United shirt, the one from their lucky day at Hogsmeade, since it was the closest thing to Muggle clothes he had. Lily had smiled fondly when she saw him in it, approving of his choice.

"I'll pass it off as a football team from somewhere if anyone asks." Lily had insisted he not use magic on this trip, since she wanted to show him how Muggles did things. She wanted to leave his wand at the hotel they were staying at, but Severus insisted he have it with him at all times. He felt more secure that way. She sighed and acquiesced, knowing she couldn't wrestle it from him by force. He might be scrawny, but he fought hard. She'd witnessed Sirius Black learn that the hard way during spring term. Right now, she was showing him the games of skill and chance that Muggles spent their money on in hopes of winning stuffed animals. He was struggling to understand why, since she'd said the games were "rigged".

"Barely anyone ever wins, but it's fun to try."

"And these stuffed animals are so important to have because… why?" She shrugged.

"You think too much. I guess they're important because- well- okay, sometimes when two Muggles are dating each other, the boy will try to win a stuffed animal for his girlfriend. It's sort of a matter of pride." Severus frowned, fingering his wand in his back pocket. "And then she oohs and aahs over it because he's so talented or strong that he won it for her against the odds."

"It's a Muggle mating ritual?" Lily started laughing.

"I guess you could look at it that way, yes."

"But these games are impossible to win?"

"Most of the time. It's just for fun, Sev, it's not really about winning."

"Right." He marched over to the milk bottle toss. "I must knock down all three of these bottles, and I win the giant stuffed tiger, yes?"

"Well, if you do it three times in a row, then yeah," Lily said. "But no one ever does." Severus looked determined. He rolled up his sleeves, put one hand in his back pocket and one hand to toss the ball. He narrowed his eyes. One of the milk bottles was probably weighted to never fall down. He whispered a spell to lighten the weight of the bottles, then threw. He knocked them all down. The carny running the stall blinked several times, then shook his head.

"Want to try again, son?"

"Yes." He tossed the ball again, and again he knocked all the bottles down. "Again." The carny looked nervous.

"Are you sure you don't just want the turtle, son? That's a nice mid-level prize."

"No. Again." The carny cleared out the bottles and replaced them with a new set. Snape muttered the lightening charm again and threw. Lily jumped up and down and cheered.

"You did it, Sev, you did it!" The carny was forced to hand over the giant stuffed tiger to him, and he presented it in turn to Lily.

"It's yours," he said solemnly.

"I'll have to think of a name for it!" She carried her prize proudly, and while she was hugging it and stroking its soft fur, it suddenly meowed like a kitten. She looked at Snape, who was busy doing his best to look innocent. He failed miserably. She laughed and shook her head.

"No magic, you promised. We're doing things the Muggle way today."

"Who said it was magic? I might just be a skilled ventriloquist."

"C'mon, I'll show you the roller coaster." In her excitement, she did not notice the panic rising amongst the carnies at the stalls as suddenly every customer who tried their luck at the milk bottle toss was winning.

Snape stared up at the heap of twisted metal and wood with the Muggles screaming in terror and delight riding around in the cars and planted his feet firmly on the ground, shaking his head at Lily.

"Absolutely not. That thing looks like a death trap. And it's not even held up by magic! What happens when they go off the tracks?"

"It doesn't go off the tracks," she said patiently, trying to coax him toward the line. "You just go up and down and around, sort of like flying a broomstick but on a set path. Actually, it's probably a lot safer than brooms. Oh, come on, Sev, please? My brave tiger-winner can't be afraid of a little Muggle contraption." Damn. Now he'd have to go or look a coward. Lily's parents smiled at him encouragingly from their place on a bench with her tiger and a sour-faced Petunia. He jerked his chin toward them.

"They're not going."

"They're parents. Parents never go. They claim they get motion-sickness. I know, lame, right?" Snape gritted his teeth. He'd faced more terrifying things than this before, he was sure. He just couldn't recall them at the moment.

"Fine." Damn this girl and her persuasive ways.

"You didn't tell me they were going to strap us in," Snape hissed, alarmed as the seat buckle and head harness clicked down on them. The roller coaster slowly inched its way up the mechanical hill and he dug his fingernails into his palms. "What kind of sick sadistic people are these Muggles anyway? How is this supposed to be fuuuuuuuuuuunnnnn-" and down they went, Lily raising her arms above her head and yelling her lungs out all the while. Severus too was yelling his lungs out, but he was also frantically trying to get her to put her arms back down, clearly afraid that one of them would somehow snap off during the ride. The first time they went upside down, his eyes almost popped out of his sockets, and it was only by reminding himself not to disgrace his family, his house or himself that he refrained from shrieking that he wanted to get off. He held his breath as if by wishing hard enough, he could keep the roller coaster in the air. The second time they went upside down, this time in a corkscrew, his head snapped back against his seat and he felt bones crack. When the juddering ride finally ground to a halt, he felt like someone had cast a jelly-legs curse on him as he tried to walk out, grateful he'd survived the harrowing near-death encounter.

"Ooh, we've got to get our pictures," Lily said, tugging on his hand as she raced toward yet another counter. He followed after her weakly, wondering what on earth she was babbling about now.

"Pictures?" He managed. All he wanted was a nice dark corner somewhere where he could be violently ill in peace.

"Yeah, from when the flash went off. Oh, look, here we are. I'm giving the peace sign to the camera, and you- well, that's an interesting face," she conceded, trying to be kind. He recognized on the unmoving image of himself the sheer terror he had felt during the ride.

"Please don't buy that," he said, but it was already too late.

At the end of the day, back at their hotel, he tried to take out his wand and fix the crick in his neck, but she spotted him. Her parents had gone down to the corner store to buy some snacks, and Petunia was sulking out on the balcony.

"What's wrong?"

"Whiplash, I think you call it," he said, grimacing.

"What are you doing?"

"Fixing it."

"No, you can't! I mean, you can't use magic. You'll get a letter from the Ministry, remember?" No, he hadn't. And he'd already used magic outside school limits, not even for something life-endangering. He'd just done it to make Lily happy. To make her proud of him.

"Will you visit me in Azkaban?" She looked alarmed. "Good enough." He started to point his wand at his neck again- hanged for a goat as well as a lamb, he thought the expression went.

"Put that away. I didn't even bring my wand. You don't need it here."

"You must always carry your wand," he said, shocked by her attitude. "I cannot emphasize enough the importance of always having your wand about your person. How else can you defend yourself?" She wasn't listening. Instead, she'd placed her fingers on the sides of his neck and was pressing. Hard. Ouch. He'd never give himself up, not even under torture. At least, he assumed it was torture. "What sort of Dark Arts are you practicing on me, Lily?"

"It's how Muggles get kinks out of their necks and backs, silly. It's just a neck rub. I'm trying to fix your whiplash." Oh. He should have known that. But now she was kneading in places with her knuckles and fingers, and though her fingers coming in contact with the tension in his neck hurt, he didn't want to ask her to stop. Because it also helped, oddly enough. He felt the pain in his neck subside under the circles she was making, and then she moved to his shoulders and he sort of felt like melting again, but in a good way. He'd never thought Muggles were good for anything, but as it turned out, they had some very interesting ideas.

And later on, when his warning owl came from the Ministry and the school reprimanding him for using magic outside school grounds and in the presence of Muggles and putting him on probation, he could honestly promise he would never do it again- and he never did until he was of age. The one thing they could not make him say was that he was sorry. Every time he saw Lily with her tiger, who she had named Hephaestus (or Hep, for short), he thought that he would gladly do it all over again.

Author's note: Because CraneLee asked… Toujours pur, Salazar Slytherin's motto and the motto of Slytherin House, is French for "always pure", referencing his desire for only pureblood wizards to be admitted to Hogwarts.