It wasn't long before James found out that the Headmaster had taken points off Slytherin, for Snape being out of the castle after curfew that night--the old man must have taken them right after he found Snape was in the hospital wing; not even waiting for the Slytherin to wake first to give an explanation! And not a minor points loss, either; he'd taken fifty points from Slytherin!
Fifty!!
After James had told the Headmaster what Snape's father had done!!
And Dumbledore hadn't taken a single point from Gryffindor...in spite of two of its members being out-of-bounds after curfew, with clear intentions of being up to no good; with that particular Slytherin as their likely target. James had even admitted he'd been outright stalking Snape, until the boy's father showed up and shaken up the Gryffindor's world-view!
James had been so mad when he discovered that totally unfair points loss, he couldn't see straight or even talk for five whole minutes! His magic had actually flared, and he'd nearly torn up the Gryffindor common room in a fine fit of accidental magic before getting himself somewhat back under control. Snape's House was no doubt absolutely furious with him over those points!
When James had gotten himself together, his teeth clenched tight enough to be in danger of cracking as he glared at everything and nothing at once, everyone nearby had sidled away to give him more room once they got a look at that grimly determined face. They'd never seen that expression on James Potter's face before, and all silently agreed that it didn't bode well for any innocent bystanders.
No one asked what message James then wrote and owled off; whatever it was, it was short. The response that came the next morning put a grim smile on James' face, and he gave the Headmaster a dark look liberally tinged with satisfaction when the owl then delivered a second scroll to Dumbledore. The old man didn't seem to really understand the message in that scroll, though; after reading his missive he appeared somewhat confused, shaking his purple-hatted head and checking the back of the parchment, before double-checking the signature. Finally the Headmaster shrugged, Vanished the scroll somewhere that James hoped wasn't a rubbish bin, and calmly finished his breakfast.
That was when James started a determined campaign on Sirius, to get Snape into Gryffindor and away from his vicious House-mates. There was no way James would trust any Slytherin with Snape's wellbeing--even if there might be one or two more in that House who weren't really Nasty, Evil Gits. James couldn't recall ever seeing Snape hanging about with any of them, except maybe for Sirius' little brother, Regulus--and that had probably had more to do with Regulus trying to get away from his big brother's picking on him than any desire to be friends with Snape. The little snot had simply known Sirius would prefer to go after Snape, if given a choice.
Saying Sirius Black was Not Happy with his best friend's recent decisions would be an...understatement...of epic proportions. In fact, it would be rather like saying that Professor McGonagall was just a tiny bit less than lenient in her own classroom! His brain simply refused to wrap around the facts James had told him, clinging instead to his illusions about Severus Snape's mean, nasty, rotten, snarky, evil, Dark Arts-saturated soul. James simply had to have been talking about someone else, and that was that.
There was just no way in Hell that Sirius Black was going to share a dorm room--WITHSEVERUS SNAPE!!
The screaming fit Sirius threw when James first brought up this hare-brained scheme set ears ringing all throughout Gryffindor Tower, leaving no one's hearing intact and thoroughly scaring the first and second years--as well as many older students, whose first panicked thought was that the Tower was somehow under attack. Many swore they felt the castle stones shaking, or saw the glass rattling in the windows. Remus Lupin had his hands full, trying to reassure everyone that The End was not upon them, Gryffindor Tower and indeed Hogwarts Castle as a whole was intact and safe; and Sirius Black is actually quite harmless, didn't you know? We're all Gryffindors, and we all know Sirius only goes unprovoked after Slytherins...right?
Actually, the vials of Calming Draught he sent Peter at a run to get from Madam Pomphrey were what finally helped calm the mass hysteria in the Tower. Knowing both James and Sirius as well as he did, he went down himself later that night to see the Medi-Witch, and ask if he could stock up on the tranquilizing potion.
Pomphrey was more than generous with her supplies when Remus mentioned exactly what "hare-brained scheme" James was up to. The pleased, yet slightly evil smile she gave him along with the astonishingly large and carefully padded crate packed with quite a few more potions bottles than he'd asked for set Remus' neck-hairs at attention, though he didn't dare to question her on it. Either the Medi-Witch was more seriously annoyed with his friends than he'd thought, or she was secretly fond of Snape...or more nervous-making to him, both.
Remus was at least slightly comforted in the knowledge that at least one Hogwarts staff member seemed pleased with James' scheme. Besides, it was never a good thing to have the school Medi-Witch mad at you!
The gods-awful noise from Sirius repeated the next day when James tried again, with no lessening of volume or vitriol. Sirius simply refused to even consider thinking about it, and swore some very creative retribution if James went ahead in spite of his opposition.
Their fellow Gryffindors by this point had all caught the idea whizzing invisibly through the air like a pink elephant in a lime green tutu, that one James Potter was planning on bringing a Slytherin to live in their Tower; to share the fourth-year boys' dorm with him and his mates. This did not increase James' popularity with his House-mates; in fact, it led several to question his sanity, and whispers and mutters of Confundus and even Imperio could be heard wherever Gryffindors gathered, along with fledgling schemes aimed towards getting James to Madam Pomphrey whether he agreed to go or not. He was obviously off his head, and might just be dangerous!
When the other Gryffindors found out just which Slytherin James Potter was planning to inflict on them, their mass reaction had a lot in common with Sirius Black's.
--Except, of course, for Lily Evans. She completely discounted the rumor with a disgusted roll of her eyes, figuring it was just another Marauder prank in the making. She knew Severus had landed in the Infirmary again for three straight days, and was becoming more and more suspicious that Potter and his gang had put her friend there--again. She was aware that Severus never told her the half of what those idiots did to him, and she'd been unable to catch them at more than minor infractions, hard as she tried. They always, always seemed to know when she was nearby...
Remus spent a lot of time calming people down, trying to explain without explaining just why James was having this sudden fit of apparent insanity. None of the Marauders were quite fool enough to broadcast Snape's private business with his father to the whole of their House, and so the entire school, though. Remus and James, because they respected Snape's right to privacy, and knew how they would feel in Snape's shoes (James being perfectly able to feel compassion, once he'd been figuratively bopped over the head to remind him to); Sirius, because he was still in denial over the whole thing and flat refused to speak of it; and Peter, because the other three were keeping mum and he wasn't going to be the one to spill the beans, oh, no! He was too busy hiding in any available nook until the furor should die down, anyway.
After a week of screaming fits and insults and angry lectures of all sorts from all directions by his House (and the distribution of about six gallons of Remus' new store of Calming Draught, some of it actually slipped to Sirius), James finally got Sirius alone in an empty classroom and knocked him over, cast a Body-Bind and a Silencing Charm on him, and sat on his best friend until he could get his reasons hammered through that thick skull. He made certain he went over everything at least three times, as Sirius was trying his best to not pay attention--until he finally realized that James was not only dead-serious about the whole thing, but wasn't going to un-hex Sirius and let him up until he'd listened.
Which episode prompted a week of sulking and sighing and woebegone looks out of Sirius, that were nearly as annoying to the House as a whole as his screaming fits had been. They were just--quieter.
Snape had been released from the hospital wing after spending three days there, but during Sirius' prolonged sulking phase, James found out the Slytherin had already been sent back for brief healings--twice. He knew he and his friends hadn't put Snape back there, and careful attention to their magical map had shown he'd never left Hogwarts--and his father hadn't come to the school; probably the man was too leery of Dumbledore. Not that James understood why; it seemed obvious to him that the Headmaster would make no special effort on behalf of a Slytherin student, he'd like as not send Snape straight home to his father if the man simply requested it.
His new disillusionment with the Headmaster stole away a great deal of James' normal good cheer, leaving him quiet and downright sullen most of the time. James didn't approach the Headmaster to demand the old man do something. He'd angrily decided it wasn't going to happen, and anyway, his father was involved now; and he certainlywouldn't let Snape down!
Madam Pomphrey, being aware of James' change of heart towards her secret favorite student, was suddenly more than willing to drop hints about just how often Mr. Snape was brought to her, and in what condition. (Her "hints" were about as subtle as a Bludger to the head; just to be certain Mr. Potter didn't miss them. Gryffindors aren't much into "subtle", you know! They've been known to miss a dragon in the room with them, until it breathed fire right in their faces!) Her recent decision to become proactive on Mr. Snape's behalf had her encouraging Mr. Potter's scheme all that she could.
Sirius eventually agreed to at least ignore Snape's presence in the Tower, so long as the Slytherin would return what Siriuscalled a "wildly unwarranted favor". The sulking boy took to glaring at his "Former best friend!" with more venom than even Snape had ever managed, choosing to sulk for days more on end before he'd even consider forgiving James...which Remus, at least, was certain he'd do; Sirius had been too close friends with James for too long to throw it all away over something Sirius knew very well was justified and, frankly, quintessentially Gryffindor. It would just take some time for Sirius to wrap his mind around the whole idea that he'd been such an idiot, for so long, after so thoroughly misjudging someone.
But--!
It was just--it--
"It's Sna-a-ape!!"
The residents of Gryffindor Tower was heartily sick of the whining refrain a mere two days after Sirius caved to James' wishes, and started half-heartedly yelling at Sirius to knock it off every time they saw him open his mouth. Now that he was just incessantly whining instead of in full temper-tantrum or a simmering sulk just short of boiling over, they felt safer in trying to deal with him. Eventually, Sirius got the message--when they started actually throwing things at him.
Of course, all of this was nothing compared to Severus Snape's reaction to James informing him of his prospective change in living quarters.
Snape spent fifteen minutes explaining to one James Potter--in a scarily soft and deep voice that did not crack or waver in the slightest, and carried his fury more effectively than all of Sirius' week-long yelling--that, magically binding Oath or not, there was no way in Merlin's sweetest dreams that he was ever in this lifetime willingly setting foot in the heart of the territory belonging to the people at Hogwarts who most gleefully wished him to be hexed to die most slowly and painfully just for the sin of having been Sorted into Slytherin. James may have given that Oath, and even astonishingly enough intend to keep it for more than five minutes; but the rest of Gryffindor House most certainly had not, weren't particularly likely to entertain the idea of doing so without the use of Imperius, and moreover would much too thoroughly enjoy the opportunities presented by having a lone, unprotected Slytherin where no teaching staff was likely to happen by.
(Snape was well aware of Professor McGonagall's style of oversight as Head of Gryffindor. She basically let her House run wild in their own Tower, doing as they pleased so long as no one was injured, apparently not giving a care if they bothered with studying at all--let alone checking to see that they used good study habits. Or even knew any good study habits! Lily had complained to him of it often enough. He thought McGonagall exemplified the idea of Gryffindor insanity with just that one practice...)
(Professor Slughorn at least checked on his Slytherins on a daily basis! Even if he disdained those who weren't politically or financially connected enough to be of use to him, he at least took his responsibilities seriously enough to be certain they all knew the basics of good study habits, and weren't hexing each other into oblivion in their own Common room!)
James was persistent, though; having adopted the idea of "Saving Snape" as something of a personal crusade. He even--gasp! shock! horror!--put getting Lily Evans to finally go out on a date with him on the back burner to helping Snape.
Which scared both Snape and Sirius equally badly, when each found out.
When it at first looked like Snape would be successful in refusing the move, Sirius perked up and began to forgive his best friend somewhat for this temporary bout of Slytherin-inspired insanity, no longer glaring death at him at every single chance--only every other. Seeing James practically ignore the One Light Of His Life And His Only Reason For Living (as James described Lily Evans--frequently) in favor of persuading Snape, though...that told Sirius that if he wanted to remain friends with James, he was going to have to not only accept that particular Slytherin git sharing his dorm--but he'd probably have to actively help James convince the git into doing it!
Which devastating realization stole anything resembling a smirk from Sirius' face for days after, causing Remus to consider dragging him down to see Madam Pomphrey. An un-smiling Sirius was certainly an ill Sirius! Sirius Black just did not do serious! It was "I, not E, and no IOUs!"
None of the other Marauders knew about James' Oath to Snape. He'd judiciously neglected to mention that, deciding not only that they'd never in a billion years understand, but he didn't want to go through Sirius screaming the sky down--again. Especially as Remus would probably lecture him to within an inch of his life for such an irresponsible (It was not! He was finally being responsible for a change!), immature (James thought it had been rather an adult decision), reckless (Well, maybe a little...), stupid (All right, that's enough imagining what Remus would say!)--
A-hem.
James finally thought of a fool-proof way to get Snape's cooperation, after a week straight of plaguing the other boy, who was nearly ready to hex James away from him in spite of the sense of hope he had in the Gryffindor's Oath. James dug up a Slytherin impulse from somewhere deep within himself--and "cheated".
He sic'ed Lily Evans on Snape.
It had required all the courage James could muster, approaching his idolized Lily; but his newfound determination to help Snape (whether the Slytherin wanted that help, or not!) kept him from stammering or making foolish jokes to break the tension, or otherwise making the usual arrogant idiot of himself in front of Her. This wasn't a simple prank; it was something important. James was convinced that Snape's very life depended on this! (His actually being right about that hadn't helped him persuade Snape to move, for some reason...) So James simply marched up to Lily as she sat studying by the fire in the Gryffindor Common Room, one fine Hogsmeade Saturday afternoon, when it was mostly empty of distracting House-mates--and earnestly announced that he needed her help to save a Slytherin.
That had confused and intrigued her just enough that she listened to his explanation before hexing him away. What he said set her fiery temper alight to the point where accidental magic seemed likely; James could feel her magic scrape along his nerves as it rattled loose items and rustled fabric throughout the room. James could have sworn he actually saw flames leap from her gorgeous green eyes!
The three other students in the Common Room just then decided they had other things to do, and scooted out the portrait hole in a hurry. They didn't even bother taking their things with them.
Great Merlin, but Lily Evans was beautiful in a temper...! It took a considerable effort for James to tear his thoughts away from pure adoration, and remember what he was doing. But oh, Lily was so beautiful; and oh so formidable...!
James had had no idea until their third year at Hogwarts that the ugly git Severus Snape and the beauteous angel Lily Evans had not only known each other before coming to Hogwarts; they had been neighbors, of a sort--and best friends. It was no wonder Lily was always so furious with them for picking on Snape! He was her best friend! Merlin--if she'd gone after Sirius like that from their first day at Hogwarts, James knew he'd never have become so fascinated with her, no matter how beautiful and smart and funny she was.
Merlin's fuzzy socks, he'd practically been hexing himself every time he hexed Snape, at least as far as furthering his chances with Lily went--and he hadn't even realized it! He had cut back just a bit on the pranks after finding out, but by then their rivalry and mutual antagonism was too ingrained to just drop it. Besides, Sirius wouldn't hold back against any Slytherin unless Dumbledore, himself personally hexed him into it, which wasn't bloody likely to happen.
James rather dreaded to think what his mother was going to say when she inevitably found all this out. He didn't know which would be worse--the "I told you so" lecture about both thinking first and respecting others, including Slytherins; or the laughter he was certain was going to linger at odd moments for weeks afterwards. Talk about serving himself his just desserts...! How embarrassing.
He had to tell Lily at least the bare bones of what had happened, which is how he found out that apparently Lily was well aware of Snape's home circumstances, at least in a general sense. It turns out Snape had spent his early childhood running away from home; which was how he'd met Lily, as their houses were within a few blocks of each other. Snape's mother had used to encourage them to play together, until her death. They'd decided to keep their friendship out of their House-mates' faces, so to speak, when they ended up Sorted into opposing Houses--though Lily had insisted on claiming Snape as a study partner whenever possible, because she absolutely refused to completely give up on their close friendship. She only agreed to be at all subtle about it because she discovered the hard way what happened to Snape when she wasn't--both verbal, and...not.
James quickly squashed the rather guilty thought that Snape's father might just have set James on the only path to actually have even the slightest of chances with Lily.
If she thought of Snape more as a brother, that is...rather than as a potential boyfriend.
Oh, Merlin...! What would he do if Snape turned out to be his strongest rival for Lily's affections?
A sick feeling had surged up in his gut as he forced his brain to finish thinking a distasteful thought all the way through, for once, instead of brushing it off and ignoring it in hopes it would go away. He knew he'd flubbed up royally for four whole years; he hadn't treated Lily at all right, he'd made pretty much every mistake in the book...while Snape had done everything right. Snape never insulted her even by accident, he was at least coldly courteous in public to her and her friends no matter their House, he never started anything when she was there; he stopped hexing when she showed up and before she even demanded it, even when James and his friends didn't--Merlin's wand, she even appreciated that razor-barbed tongue Snape had, stifling laughter at some of his most cutting remarks to James and his friends!
Not to mention that he'd just recently sworn a magically binding Oath to treat Snape as his own brother--which would mean Snape "had dibs" on Lily six ways from Sunday. If he were really interested. Which James wasn't about to come right out and ask, just in case Snape was taking his friendship with Lily in any way for granted and didn't realize what a wonderful, beautiful, special girl she was--
Yeah, right. James knew for a fact that Snape was loads more observant than he was, never mind smarter. There was no way the Slytherin didn't idolize Lily Evans, at least a little bit! Why else would the gi--er, Snape do pretty much anything she asked him to?
The only reason James could think of about why Snape might not have asked her out yet, was that the boy didn't want to jeopardize their friendship--so far as James knew, Lily was Snape's only friend. And as a Gryffindor, she might be hurt for their friendship getting that close--if only by snubbing from the rest of her House. If Snape cared about her at all, he'd have to be worried about that. Lily was a very social girl. Snape was much too smart not to think it could ever happen to her, or not hurt badly her when it did.
James was morose for days after realizing all that, in spite of having successfully gotten Lily to bully Snape into doing as he wished, and was soon a right proper bookend match to Snape's gloomy attitude about his new circumstances.
(It took all of fifteen seconds of Lily practically gushing with happiness to Snape about his being in Gryffindor Tower with her, before the now greatly subdued Slytherin caved. The poor boy almost seemed to physically shrink in on himself, though not without giving James a glare fit to melt the stone wall behind him. Her quick success was very depressing on several levels, really--not least because her tactics had been more than a little Slytherin!)
Including Lily Evans in his scheming had one added benefit that James hadn't considered, but all three of them enjoyed, each in their own ways. When the Headmaster came across he and Lily physically moving a morose and glowering Severus Snape up to Gryffindor Tower just shy of at wand-point, Dumbledore's quick annoyance at the thought of a Slytherin living in amongst his precious Gryffindors died a swift and thorough death under Lily's amazingly acidic glare and subsequent tongue-lashing.
The Headmaster did a rather good impression of a toddler receiving a parental reprimanded for something particularly foolish, no matter that he actually was quite close to finishing the helpful process of emancipating Mr. Snape. The old man honestly hadn't thought that young Snape would need immediate help, not while still at Hogwarts. He'd thought he had plenty of time to arrange things, then inform the boy a week before the summer holidays for finalization.
Dumbledore hadn't been down to the Hospital Wing since he spoke to Mr. Snape there, and Poppy's quarterly report stating which students had been tended to wasn't due yet; but he certainly was an old enough educator to have realized that Slytherin House would be...disappointed...in the fifty points loss accredited to Snape. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw might not have reacted violently to such a sudden loss, but both Gryffindor and Slytherin would be historically prone to taking their frustrations out on the responsible student.
James and Snape both watched in nervous awe as Lily proceeded to harangue the old man until he obviously felt about two inches tall. James was especially impressed; she was surpassing even her most vitriolic lectures to him and his fellow Marauders! He expected the color to be stripped right from the castle's almost quivering walls by her words, she was so furious! The local painted denizens had certainly fled their portraits for safer climes within her first few words. Not that she was loud--oh, no; Lily Evans had evidently taken notes off her best friend's vocal style--clear and precise enunciation; lower than normal, deep tones; volume just slightly less than normal, to encourage undivided attention--she seemed to be all but hissing in fury, too.
Catching sight of Potter mooning at the absolutely furious Lily like a loves-truck loon, Severus rolled his eyes and sighed, then went back to appreciatively watching the verbal filleting of the Headmaster of Hogwarts. Lily so rarely let loose with her temper, but he was always appreciative--so long as it wasn't aimed at him. He could hardly fault Potter for being as impressed as Severus was; the Slytherin simply didn't broadcast the feeling on his face for all to see.
Severus was rather surprised to find Lily knew quite that much about what the Marauders had been doing to him, though. He'd been trying his best to keep her out of it, as they were her House-mates; he didn't want the idiots to try and start something with Lily. She might end up hurt! (...Well, it was vaguely possible. She might hurt herself while breaking the morons into tiny little pieces...) He just couldn't allow even the chance of that happening because of him, unlikely as it was.
...On second thought, maybe he should have asked for her help from day one. He stared at the almost visibly shrinking Headmaster, then flicked another sideways look at the silently awestruck James. His memory weighed up all the pain and humiliation the Marauders had heaped on him since they all started school, versus a sense of pride that would probably not have been bruised hardly at all--once people realized he was brave enough to befriend, and even argue with a girl who had a tongue and temper sharp enough to cow a full-grown dragon!
His Slytherin instincts metaphysically threw a dozen books at his head for exhibiting a downright Gryffindor level of bull-headedness, in not taking advantage of Lily's offered protection. What had he been thinking?! If nothing else, the teachers would have been forced to take a hand and actually stop the prank war while Hogwarts was still standing! Lily wouldn't have fooled around; she'd have done things to definitely make the Marauders think twice about even looking cross-eyed at Severus!
Lily's main theme was the Headmaster's responsibility to protect all of the students at Hogwarts, no matter their House--even from their own families, when there was evidence of them being abused. It was his duty as a human being, never mind as a powerful Wizard and leader of men! She was particularly incensed when she pointed out that if Severus had been Sorted into Gryffindor, the Headmaster wouldn't even have hesitated one moment before helping him, now would he! And how could he have been permitting all of the abuse Severus had suffered right at Hogwarts, at the hands of fellow students?! It was the teachers' responsibility to protect students, wasn't it; not to allow regular bullying to frequently put them into the Hospital Wing! How was anyone supposed to help Slytherin children keep from going Dark as they grew up, when the Headmaster of their very own school was all but pushing them to it?! Wasn't that how Tom Riddle became Lord What's-His-Name, anyway!? And Severus was a Slytherin only because he'd talked the Sorting Hat out of putting him in Gryffindor--because of a certain pair of prats who'd tormented him on their first train-ride to school, and never even been properly reprimanded for it, never mind punished! Severus had just as much right to live in their Tower as Lily, by her reckoning!
Lily's angry lecture had been building ever since her first year at Hogwarts, and there was no way of stopping it now. She'd never had an opportunity to vent on a teacher while her temper was this high before, and wasn't about to waste it--especially when Severus' very life was now in danger, from his own father!
Such a lecture coming from Minerva McGonagall (again!) would have been bad enough; but to have one of his brightest, most favorite Lions berate Dumbledore so--with such well-thought-out and logical arguments, too! And even worse; for the Headmaster to realize, deep down in his wizened old heart where he couldn't ignore the sudden burn of intense shame, that she was right...! He'd had no business delegating Mr. Snape's immediate protection to the boy himself; Slytherin or not, he was only fourteen years old.
Lily was protecting her best friend in true Gryffindor fashion; she was a credit to her House. Dumbledore couldn't bring himself to even resent her for pointing out his greatest failing in less than total privacy, much less punish her for disrespect to a professor. He'd lost the right to her respect in this, by rather grievously shirking his own duty to her best friend for so many years. He'd written the boy off, as he tended to do with Slytherin students; finding it difficult to understand such reserved, seemingly cold-blooded ways of thinking as they tended to favor. Who knew how much harm he, personally, had caused the boy to suffer through his negligence?
Albus truly didn't know if he were at fault for Tom Riddle's turning so irretrievably Dark; but it was quite obvious that young Severus Snape, at least, was more than salvageable. The boy looked to idolize Lily, by his nearly worshipful expression just then as he stared at her. The expression wasn't as blatant as Mr. Potter's, but it was unmistakable to aged eyes that had seen it so many times before. Dumbledore had frankly forgotten the boy had grown up with Lily Evans as a neighbor, and childhood friend. He had to admit upon reflection that it was Mr. Snape who always showed impeccable manners and courtesy to others, no matter how coldly unemotional his manner seemed or how biting his words could be taken as...even when he wasn't the one who'd started things with the Gryffindors.
It was the boy's infuriating stony face, usually allowing nothing but anger and contempt to show through, combined with his too-accurate and deeply cutting remarks that put Albus off the most. He'd never seen the boy smile, but for that nasty, evil-eyed grimace he got when he bested one of the Marauders.
Then again, he never looked at the Slytherin boy if he could help it, now did he. The boy could be smiling through half his day, and Albus would never see it.
Considering what his favorite Gryffindor boys usually got up to doing to Mr. Snape, it was hardly surprising the boy had come to rather savagely enjoy getting them back. Certainly no one else would do it for him...or even try to protect him from them. Poppy Pomphrey had remonstrated with Albus on more than one occasion about his Gryffindors' cruelty. He'd laughed it off as merely boyish hijinks that they'd all eventually grow out of, and told her it was Horace's responsibility to look after his little snakes and take steps if he thought things were getting out of hand. It was better to let them get it out of their systems at school, than to let it fester over into their adult lives.
Albus had never really listened when Minerva or Poppy went on about Horace Slughorn's inability to deal appropriately with children; he'd always believed, and told them so, that it was a Slytherin thing; that Horace was dealing with those children in the manner they'd best understand. He'd never quite understood why Poppy would go into a speechless froth of a temper when he said that... Horace always said and did the right things around Dumbledore, after all--the Headmaster being probably the most powerful wizard alive. Minerva's strident insistence that they were children long before they were Slytherins fell on his selectively deaf ears without causing a ripple in his conscience.
When Lily finally wound down, the Headmaster all but slunk off, bidding them a quiet good move and not making a sound towards stopping them. Lily glared after him with bright emerald fire still in her eyes, before spinning on her heel and imperiously ordering James and Severus to move. The boys obeyed with slightly wild-eyed alacrity, clutching at the handles on each end of Severus' trunk, unusually united in purpose--looking as if they'd quite like to use that trunk as a shield between them and the girl's violent-seeming temper. Accidental magic was rattling the portraits and suits of armor along the corridors, crackling through and lifting Lily's fiery auburn hair like a wayward breeze, skittering across the boys' skin like the static before a lightning strike that they had no wish to invite.
There had been no more challenges on the way to Gryffindor Tower. Not even from a glowering Sirius, who was lounging with Remus and Peter in the Common Room. One look at Lily's thunderous face was enough to make even Sirius Black actually think before he spoke!
Lily's eyes didn't finally stop burning with anger until the next morning at breakfast, where she'd rather forcefully hauled an unusually timid-seeming Severus Snape by the wrist to sit with her at the end of the Gryffindor table nearest the staff table. She'd given him no chance to refuse, and he'd been a tad too anxious over her lingering fury to risk it, anyway.
He did grow up with her, after all. He knew she was a good bit scarier than all four Marauders put together, when she was riled up! Even without magic. Potter and Black had no idea of the danger they were in whenever they messed with Lily. Mr. Evans had made certain that both of his daughters knew the rudiments of Muggle-style self-defense, after all--especially the prettier Lily, who left home for a boarding school full of strange boys for nine months of the year.
Her stylish trainers, a customized present from her father, had very solid toes...lined as they were with steel inserts.
AN: ::gasp:: I think a plot's actually trying to intrude! O.O How did that happen?! ::snicker::