September 5th, 1976

Of course the dreaded morning inevitably had to come.

Severus was awakened by a sort of clamor in the Common Room. "The hell they didn't!" a fifth year girl exclaimed.

"Yeah, they did. Regulus said he saw it with his own eyes." Another chimed in. "Negative points... We went from forty to negative ten in one night"

"I swear, when I find the person who did this..." the first girl was now glowering, "It's probably some stupid first year..."

By this point Severus was making his way down the stairs into the common room. Painfully aware of the conversation that was just now going on. Exactly as he'd dreaded.

"Hey Snape!" the fifth year called, "Some idiot went and lost us fifty points last night..." she groaned, "What do you think we should do to them when we find out who it is?"

Severus just glowered, waving her off as he marched out of the Common Room. If that display hadn't been obvious enough, she'd learn the truth soon enough. Probably be furious at him for a few days like the rest of the Slytherins. He could expect rather nasty anonymous 'pranks' - he doubted anyone would be stupid to confront him to his face - in the days to come. But that was really the least of his concerns right now.

If the Slytherins didn't immediately know, the Gryffindors seemed to. Purposefully waiting for him, as he made his way to the Great Hall for breakfast. The Marauders. Damnit. The absolute last thing he wanted right now.

"Thanks for the points, Sev." Sirius said, the four of them making their way up to him, the others unleashing a fit of mocking looks and spiteful laughter. Snape wanted to murder each and every one of them, but held himself back. The last thing he needed was to rise to their bait as well, and lose Slytherin another fifty points. He inhaled sharply, clenching his fists. Reminding himself of how he had only wait two years before he could become a Death Eater and destroy all of them. He'd just have to be patient... Terribly difficult as that could be.

"Lily was really thankful." James added, coming to stand on the other side. "Told me herself it was the best gift you ever gave her, Sev."

Snape merely shoved his way through. This was the absolute last thing he wanted to deal with now. They were sure to have Morsmordres floating over their homes in a few years. For now he'd just have to deal with it. Not raise to their bait; not do anything stupid and lost yet more points for his House.

"Won't even say 'you're welcome'? Tisk, tisk, you don't have many manners, do you, Sev?"

"High talk for a blood traitor…" Snape sneered. And with that, he walked off – surprisingly without being hexed. Maybe due to the number of potential witnesses, though that wasn't normally much of a deterrent, maybe because they found it more amusing to see what would happen when Severus went to interact with his fellow Slytherins after what had happened the night before.

Sullenly, he made his way to the Slytherin table in the Great Hall, sitting down, hanging his head. Word must have already circulated about the night before, because as he did, the three or four other Slytherins seated nearby abruptly got up and moved elsewhere. As if Severus were carrying some deadly plague. It ... was fine though. For once, he didn't care. For once, he just wanted to be left alone. He'd just sat there for a few minutes, staring at the empty plate in front of him. Not remotely hungry. He supposed it probably looked a bit out of his normal character, but then again, there was the matter of the House Points to account for that. And most Slytherins would be too busy loathing him to worry about what his "normal" expression ought to be.

As breakfast came to an end, he felt an arm on his shoulder. He almost threw it off, but instead turned around. It was Avery. Damnitall, not now...

"So..." the other sixth year had simply asked. "Is it true...? What they're all saying about you?"

Severus frowned. How to possibly answer this one. "Sort of..." he groaned, "Look, you know I wouldn't do anything stupid... Hermione, that new Gryffindor, who I got stuck in that detention with. She forced a fight, and when I went to deal with her, Slughorn intervened. Probably afraid of upsetting Dumbledore, since she's obviously working for him and... that's how it happened." Well, it wasn't exactly a lie, strictly speaking, as he saw it.

"Oh..." Avery blinked "So you mean it's ... her fault."

"Well, yeah... She's a Gryffindor, what else would you expect?"

"Alright, good to know." The pureblood nodded with the same sort of look in his eyes that Severus knew all too well by this point. He was plotting, scheming, with whatever limited faculties he had. Avery was going to go and seek revenge for this, on Hermione, the person he thought responsible. Not that he ever really needed an excuse to bother Gryffindors - rather like the Marauders if Severus had ever stopped to think about it objectively; but he never really had - but now that this had happened, it was inevitable. Severus groaned inside. This wasn't going to end well, somehow he already knew it. But, it wasn't as if he could call off Avery's attack on Hermione and still save face. It beat the alternative. Severus just hoped Avery wouldn't do anything too stupid.

Not that he was opposed to attaining vengeance on her by any means. More than ever now he wanted to. But … crude methods would only backfire in the long run. Whatever, he didn't even care at this point.

"I'm going to my dormitory…" Snape muttered, standing up suddenly. At least until the matter blew over, he'd have to try and avoid dealings with other Slytherins. None would probably be stupid enough to oppose him to his face even over this – one of the perks of his de facto position – but that didn't mean that they wouldn't otherwise try to make his existence miserable. The sooner he got there, to the relative safety of his own personal dormitory – well, shared by the other four, but Avery at least seemed on 'his side' now, so it would probably be fine – the better. It wasn't like he wanted to deal with anyone now anyhow…

"Alright, see you later." Avery replied, even a hint of devious smile in his reply.

Hermione awakened with the worst possible headache. Did everyone have to hate her…? She'd saved Snape's damned life – well, maybe not literally, but she'd protected him from what would probably have been pretty serious humiliation – and he'd tried to use some spell on her. Actually, what spells started with "sec" or "sek"…? She wasn't even sure. She couldn't recall any spell starting off that way – at least none that would be used in combat – and Hermione had read a lot of books. Of course she was glad to have not found out firsthand but… it was still really unnerving. He'd almost used it on her.

She thought she recalled Sirius saying something about Snape knowing more dark magic as a first year than most seventh years ever did. And now he was close to being a seventh year himself… Granted, she didn't necessarily think the most of the present Severus, but she thought that statement at least was fairly believable. Well, unlike Snape evidently, she kept her studies to magic other than the Dark Arts. She had principles. So it probably wasn't surprising that she hadn't heard of something so… vile, evil, malignant.

That wasn't even what upset her really. That was about on par for what one should expect of a Slytherin in her six years of experience at Hogwarts. It was more… the Marauders. She hadn't expected it from them; members of her own House. Why was everyone so damned awful? If she could just stay in the Gryffindor girls' dormitory all day, she would. At least the other girls seemed nice enough…

But… she was hungry, quite hungry that morning for some reason. She'd awakened somewhat late it seemed, as the other four girls were already gone. Sighing a bit, she ran over to the washroom, quickly washing up, putting on her robes, and making her way down the stairs.

She'd just made it to the bottom of the stairs to the first floor when she felt someone sharply jerk her hair backwards. A wave of pain shot through her, and next she had the unmistakable feeling of a wand placed sharply against the back of her head.

"Come with me." The male voice demanded in a hushed, yet unmistakably threatening tone. "Resist or make too much noise and no one will find your body."

"Who are you? Where are we going?" Hermione demanded, complying for the moment, her mind racing with possible scenarios. With his wand against the back of her head like that and her other hand still holding onto her hair, she doubted she'd be able to grab her own wand, turn around face him and aim a spell before he'd be able to attack her.

"You'll find out soon enough." The other whispered. "Now don't say another word, or you'll regret it."

Only very rarely in her life did Hermione feel quite so frightened as she did now. Just what was going on? She couldn't even see who it was who was marching her off to Merlin-knew-where… What had she even done to … whoever it was? Was this Snape's doing, some attempt at vengeance after his … insanity last night?

They marched for several minutes – what felt centuries – Hermione's heart beating in her throat the whole time. Where were the professors – hell, even other students – when she needed them…?

A few minutes later they came to a dead ending corridor. The boy holding her hair let go, only to bodily shove her into it. Painfully. Probably was going to leave a few bruises. But… as she turned that around, she realized that it was going to be the least of her worries. There, standing in front of her, in Slytherin robes, were two boys she recognized from DADA class; Snape's friends. And both had their wands trained right on her.

She wanted desperately to reach for hers, fight back; but they had the jump on her. If she made any such moves, they'd probably hex her before she had a chance to do anything. Just what had she even done to deserve this…? Was this the "reward" for going out of her way to help one of them…?

"What do you want?" Hermione demanded in a tone that sounded somewhat braver than she was feeling.

"Oh, she's a bit feisty…" Mulciber chuckled rather sadistically. "That'll just make this a bit more fun I think…"

"C'mon Mulciber let's hurry up and just deal with her before someone sees us. I think Snape's going back to the dorms, don't know how long he'll be there though." Avery replied.

That… was a somewhat odd thing to say, Hermione had to admit. So Snape wouldn't want the two of them to harm her like that? The night before seemed to prove the opposite quite conclusively. Well, it wasn't as if she could exactly interrogate them over this.

"I didn't do anything to you!" Hermione pleaded. "Just let me go!"

"Oh, I don't think so…" Mulciber grinned rather darkly, somewhat reminiscent of a spider looking down at its prey caught in its web. "I think it's about time we show this filthy little mudblood what happens when she messes with the noble House of Slytherin…"

Both Slytherins raised their wands, pointed directly at her, preparing to strike. Hermione backed up to the wall, her hand in her pocket, reaching for her own, but knowing it'd probably be too little too late, trying to brace for the worst…

Severus had nearly gotten back to his dormitory when it struck him. He … needed to go to the library, to get a book to finish his homework. Even with all this insanity going on, he still strove to be a diligent student and… well, even if it meant risking another encounter with them, or now even a disgruntled "fellow" Slytherin – he'd have risk it to get there…

He was up to the first floor when he heard familiar voices in a nearby corridor. Avery, and Mulciber. And by the shriek that followed, evidently Hermione. Damnitall. Again, not that he didn't want revenge on her. He still did. Probably for a lot stronger of personal motivation than either of them, after the events of the night before. But he at least would prefer they be somewhat intelligent about it. Get her in some subtler way than just hexing her, giving her a few bruises. Exposing her story, getting Dumbledore sacked, her punished in accordance with whatever her crimes were seemed a lot more satisfying in the long run. And this sort of thing might damage those goals. He groaned a bit, waiting around the corner. Just out of sight. Debating whether or not to intervene.

But, he couldn't. It'd only make things worse if he did. He'd just barely managed to keep Avery "on his side" so to speak as far as matters were within Slytherin. If he came in, stopped him from doing what he felt he needed to do, it'd ruin that. Especially with Marauders being so vicious lately, he needed Avery as an ally. For protection if nothing else. However stupid he could be at times, he was at least predictable. Not really "dependable" even, but predictable was good enough for Severus's plans usually.

Then, another thought occurred. This might actually be the best thing that happened to him today. There was some degree of vengeance from the night before and, if they were caught. If they were the most recent ones to lose House Points for Slytherin. Well, it'd take most of the attention off Snape himself. Things would improve relatively, even if Slytherin as a whole would be in a slightly worse position. Yeah. In a rather Machiavellian sense, it seemed the best thing to do would be to simply not intervene. If all went well, no one would even know he was there. He couldn't possibly be blamed. Hermione would be dealt with, the blame would be off him. All would be well. A slight pang of guilt welled up. She, after all, had - for reasons he couldn't comprehend – a day or so ago, rushed to his defense. And he was abandoning her in basically the same circumstances. But... she'd crossed him first. Made this mess in the first place. The negatives still outweighed the positives. Just because she'd acted stupidly in the defense of one who ought to be an enemy didn't mean he should.

Frowning a bit, he decided he'd listen in. Maybe... just to ensure they didn't go too far. Roughing her up a bit was probably alright but... Anything too serious, then he'd come along. Not say anything in particular against them, just that he'd heard a professor or something, he reasoned. A happy medium. He'd still be off the line. Avery and Mulciber would get some of their rage out, they'd be on his side. He'd never be blamed. Even Hermione herself probably couldn't really blame him there - not that he cared. And he'd still have a degree of immediate vengeance on her while granting some degree of mercy to silence his conscience, and more aptly, keep her well enough to be observed. Yeah, that sounded perfect.

So, remaining barely out of sight, Snape listened rather intently to the proceedings. Avery had said something regarding trying to hide it – from other students/staff, certainly; but also from him specifically. That triggered a bit of indignation in Severus. Not that he really was opposed to the concept of attaining vengeance on Hermione, but... he was deliberately doing this without Snape. Knowing that Snape wouldn't approve of such crude, risky methods, and doing it anyway in secret. Almost to spite him. He had half a mind to smack him then and there, but he reminded himself that however ... annoying Avery could be at times, Hermione was infinitely more so. And even if Hermione had "saved" him once, Avery had dozens of times - though he'd never admit it - and was far more ... predictable a "friend". And at least he didn't go out of his way to mock what had happened with Lily…

The next part though... "I think it's about time we show this filthy little mudblood what happens when she messes with the noble House of Slytherin…"

At once, Snape's entire composure changed. His body tensed. That word. That terrible word. The one that had destroyed everything. Severus had heard it probably a hundred times before in earlier years with no reaction. Mulciber certainly wouldn't have thought anything of it. But now… after that terrible day, it was different. In an instant something snapped in Snape's mind. Too fast for any thoughts. A reflex, a trigger. A blinding rage took over. Instinct kicked in. He didn't even consciously realize what he was doing as he rushed into the corridor from behind them pulling out his wand, giving it a sharp jerk, aiming directly at Mulciber.

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" he'd nearly screamed. Absolute, unadulterated hatred burning in his eyes.

In a second, Mulciber's body locked up, his arms and legs going rigid, falling to the ground with a rather hard thud. Absolutely livid, Severus knelt over Mulciber's body, his wand against the latter's face. Trying to think of the most painful way to dispose of him, Severus's left hand clenched into a fist, his wand mere inches from the other's horror-struck eyes.

"Snape!" Avery had shouted, somewhere between terror and outrage but the infuriated Slytherin with a flick of his wand wordlessly sent a wave of invisible energy towards him, without even breaking his deadly scowl from Mulciber. An invisible knife struck Avery's cheek, a deep gash forming as he howled in pain. Unvoiced, Sectumsempra lacked its full lethal potential, but in Severus's deeply enraged state, it'd been more than enough to inflict rather grievous injuries. Avery had stumbled back, clutching his cheek in agony, but Snape hardly even noticed. Avery was just an idiot, a bystander stupid enough to interfere with Snape's attention. It was Mulciber who had said the unforgivable. He was the one who was going to really pay.

By now, Mulciber's paralyzed face had gone ashen white. Absolutely terrified. Snape inhaled sharply, blood pounding in his head. Time to destroy him...

Then suddenly, with a flash of horrible realization, it dawned on him just what he was doing. He'd just attacked a fellow Slytherin in defense of a Gryffindor – other than Lily. And Hermione of all Gryffindors, one of the worst at that. He hated her. He might as well have just rushed to the aid of Sirius or James themselves… What the hell was he thinking? Even more in bewildered at his own actions than Mulciber himself, Severus quickly rose to his feet, stumbling back a few steps. Trying to think of some way, somehow to justify the reaction he'd just had. To, well… all of them. Obviously for very different reasons, but Severus wouldn't want either Hermione or his "fellow" Slytherins to have the slightest inclination of the actual thought that had rushed through his head, driven him to act as he had.

Think, Severus, you bloody idiot, think! He thought desperately, as he quickly mouthed the counter-curse, pulling Mulciber back to his feet, and casting a spell to heal Avery's open wounds, buying himself at least a few precious seconds.

"What the hell, Snape?" Avery exclaimed irately, his lower lip actually quivering a bit. "What the hell do you think you're doing protecting her?"

In all honesty, Snape couldn't explain his motivations any better than Avery. It certainly hadn't been a rational move on his part. But he had to save face, somehow.

Thankfully, Snape was already a rather brilliant liar, and Avery certainly not the brightest wizard alive. And hadn't they muttered something about trying to hide this from him? Yeah, that'd have to do... "Because, you insipid idiot. There's nothing to be gained in just hexing her, however insufferable she might be. Dumbledore clearly favors her. The last bloody thing we need is him breathing down our neck even more than usual and ruining everything thanks to your stupid hairbrained antics!" Anger generally made a good mask for internal insecurity, something Severus knew far too well by now.

Rather out of their normal character, Avery and Mulciber looked almost … scared. They'd never seen Severus like this before. At least never towards them personally.

"And…" he added in a quite icy tone, a justification coming to mind that would probably get him off the hook at least with his fellow Slytherins. It wasn't the most comfortable thought in the world, but it'd have to do. "I have… other reasons as well. We'll discuss it tonight ... in private, if you must know… But not in public. I'll deal with you then. Now leave… now!" he ended, speaking through clenched teeth and narrowed eyes, in a tone that might already seem to echo that which he'd come to use on unruly students in years to come. His dark eyes met one then the other of them dead in the eye making it absolutely clear that there was no room whatsoever for argument.

Avery ran off instantly; Mulciber stood there for a moment, almost as if he were still stunned, before suddenly turning and running off as well, almost whimpering, still a bit dazed from what had just happened.

Damnitall, tonight was going to be absolutely terrible. Snape figured the two of them were probably too frightened and embarrassed by what had happened to spread the story too much, but there was always the off-chance that someone had seen them. Actually, damnit. Severus looked around warily. He didn't see anyone else in the corridor presently, but… he hadn't really been paying attention to his surroundings the moment he'd struck. And it'd only take one person for the rumors to spread to the whole damned school. He already had formulated a good enough excuse to probably justify it with his fellow Slytherins, at least enough to keep any of them from directly opposing him. So on that end he was somewhat covered. But just the humiliation of it all. He, a Slytherin, had run to the defense of a Gryffindor he himself thought he actively hated. He couldn't see how he could ever live it down…

Which brought his thoughts sharply back to the awkward present. Hermione was still standing there. She too had seen… everything. How the hell was he supposed to explain himself to her…? "I…" he huffed, looking down, awkwardly stumbling around his mind for some possible motivation he could have for attacking another Slytherin to protect her. But nothing came to mind. It simply wasn't a logical thing to have done. There was no possible justification he could come up with that would even moderately convince her. "Look," he said, trying to mask his own confusion under an attempted cold, confident tone, not entirely succeeding. "They'd been bothering me all day. And I didn't want them to go and do something stupid and lose Slytherin even more House Points, and... I… wasn't thinking clearly. Don't read anything into it. It's definitely not personal. Just, forget it happened, alright?" He sighed, almost groaned at the end. Hoping that out of some twisted sense of gratitude if nothing else, Hermione might just drop the issue altogether. From what he'd already seen of her though, he highly doubted that would happen. If she had any intelligence at all - well, more than the two of them had had - it'd be obvious that there was a lot more to what had just happened than his claims. Merlin, he'd gotten himself in a right nasty conundrum.