Part 44 – Sev

By the end of the following week Severus was really regretting not having spoken with Andromeda.

She was surprisingly hard to track down now that he wanted to speak with her and whenever he did manage to find her she was constantly surrounded with a group of friends.

Now that he knew about her friendship with Ted, Severus realised that several of the discussions he'd heard over the months between Narcissa and Bellatrix were making a lot more sense.

He knew that Justin was entirely accurate when he said that Andromeda was playing with fire.

Severus found himself thinking that he wouldn't want to be in her shoes if she got caught. Then he remembered that he was in an entirely similar position with Lily and knew that Andromeda believed, as much as he did, that it was worth the risk.

On more positive note, Severus had been delighted that Lily had wholeheartedly agreed with his idea to use the room of requirement for their study group sessions. Veronica, who had been with them the night of the party, had already seen the room in action. Dave, the final member of the group, had been quickly convinced as soon as he'd seen the volumes of books that had appeared for their first meeting. Even without the additional bonus of being out of sight of the rest of the Slytherins the room was a far improvement on the library.

Severus had also started making regular visits to Hagrid's hut during his spare time at the weekends. Since his sort-of detention he'd no longer felt apprehensive about visiting the gamekeeper and was relieved that James and his friends didn't seem to visit the older man. When he'd casually asked if they were expected he'd discovered that they'd only visited on a few occasions, those being when checking on Remus's injured owl. Hagrid sounded a little disappointed that they hadn't come by again but shrugged it off.

Lily on the other hand was a very frequent visitor and Severus often found that she was there before he was or arriving soon after. She and Hagrid got along wonderfully and the gamekeeper always brightened up the moment he saw her coming down the path.

"Long time since I 'ad students visit this often," Hagrid said as he hurried them back to the school one Sunday night. "But you don't want to be missin' supper 'cos of me. Yer too skinny by 'alf lad."

Severus wished that he'd gained enough weight during the year to avoid these sorts of comments but had quickly realised that no matter how much he ate, he didn't seem to gain so much as a single pound. He was about to mutter something to that effect when he felt Lily's arm slip through his. "Sev's fine the way he is," she said with a grin.

Sev? Severus raised his eyebrows at his friend in silent question.

They were halfway back to the school when he finally found his voice. "Sev?" he asked. "Where'd that come from?"

"Don't you like it?" Lily asked. Disappointment was evident in her tone and she slowed her pace to a standstill.

"I don't know," Severus admitted. "It seems…I don't know…odd."

"I know you hate the way that James and Sirius keep changing your name," Lily explained. "I thought if I had a nice nickname for you it'd make up for that, and maybe cheer you up."

"It's a nice idea," Severus assured her. "Sev…Sev…Sev." He tested the name a few times to see how it sounded. "It sounds strange."

"Not after a while," Lily said. "You'll get used to it."

"You sound like you've been practising saying it," Severus suggested with a laugh. He realised immediately from her blushing face that Lily had indeed been testing the use of her new name for him.

"I had to find the right name for you," she mumbled in embarrassment. "I thought you'd like it."

"You can use it if you like," Severus offered. "I guess I'll get used to it."

"No." Lily shook her head. "It's no good if you don't like it."

Severus immediately felt sorry he'd even brought the subject of her new name for him up. He should have just let her use the name and quietly gotten used to it. He suspected that name would have been easier for him to accept thanSnivellus. "I'm sorry," he mumbled quietly. "It's a nice name; I like it; really."

Lily looked at him hopefully but didn't say anything.

"Really," Severus repeated. "You can use it."

Lily smiled in relief and they carried on up the path towards the school. "Thanks Sev," she said as they turned the final corner towards the Entrance Hall.

Severus smiled. The name really wasn't so bad and he suspected that in a day or two it would sound as natural as his full name.

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As it happened, Severus became used to his new name far quicker than he'd anticipated.

The following morning he heard the name as he sleepily made his way to the Great Hall for breakfast.

Looking towards the sound he saw Lily waving at him as she descended the staircase. He looked instinctively towards the staircase to the Slytherin quarters and saw that no one was around. Assured that the coast was clear, he waited for Lily to arrive in the Entrance Hall.

His happiness was to be short-lived though and he heard the sounds of laughter from a little further up the stairs.

"Hey Sev?" James Potter called in a high-pitched mocking tone of voice. "Sevy?"

"Sevy-kins?" Peter Pettigrew suggested to the still howling James.

"Sevy-poos?" Sirius added.

"Never mind Sevy-kins," James called out. "You'll still be Snivellus to us."

Severus had his wand out and was pointing it up the stairs before Lily could stop him. He screamed out a curse that had James erupting in boils.

"What did you do that for?" Lily asked with a sigh of frustration. "Now they'll just carry on all the more."

"Not to mention you'll now be spending your Saturday morning in detention," Professor McGonagall said as she appeared from inside the Great Hall. Severus looked at his shoes as she took one look at James and ordered him to the hospital wing.

"Maybe Hagrid will need help with his garden again," Lily whispered as soon as Professor McGonagall was out of sight.

"With all the work we've been doing there for the last few weeks?" Severus replied. "Knowing my luck, I'll probably end up doing something with Filch."

"Well while you're in detention you can at least imagine James in the hospital wing covered in boils," Lily said with a smile that betrayed that despite her disapproval she had found the sight of the other boy amusing.

"I'm surprised you're not telling me I should spend my time considering how I shouldn't have done it," Severus muttered.

"That too," Lily laughed.