Chapter 7

AN: I'm sincerely sorry it's taken me so long to update, but real life insisted on intruding. This will be finished, but I won't make any promises as to promptness 'cause quite frankly, Murphy Law lives in my attic we just can't get him to leave! ::rolls eyes in disgust:: (Murphy's Law: "Anything that Can go wrong, Will go wrong...")

The first back-to-basics flying lesson went better than either Severus or Professor McGonagall could have dreamed. With proper instruction and actual encouragement, (not to mention a lack of pranks to send him sailing painfully from his broom every single time it took off and so hopelessly divide his attention from learning,) it turned out that Severus Snape was a natural flyer-which Severus was morosely convinced was the only reason he hadn't broken his neck during Professor Flint's Gryffindor-Slytherin flying classes, back in his first year. With Professor McGonagall's instruction, Severus quickly gained the confidence that was all he'd needed to do well in the air. He knew there was no way the professor would let anyone sneak up and pull any sort of prank on him during these private lessons, and so let go of some of his paranoia to concentrate on learning.

The safety spells she taught him, both those permanently spelled into the broom at its making and others he could cast himself every time he flew, also helped-sticking charms and anti-vertigo charms and balance and reference charms; but most especially helpful was the ward that would give him a heads-up whenever any magic was being cast on him or his broom while he was in the air. He wished Professor Flint had explained even some of those before ever bringing them outside and practically throwing the class onto the school brooms. Those students like Severus who'd never even seen a broom before coming to Hogwarts, and those who hadn't heard of the sport of Quidditch, were too clueless to even suspect safety measures were in place, let alone what they were. They wouldn't have been half so scared of their first flight if they'd known there was no chance of them going splatt! on the ground.

An appreciation for Quidditch might still remain beyond Severus, but aerial acrobatics were quick to become one of his favorite pastimes. Especially when Lily found out, and started asking him to take her flying of an evening while he practiced his new skills. Several evenings-like, whenever he went flying. On his broom; with him-Lily clinging tightly to his waist as she rode snuggled up behind him, her cheek resting on his back. (Severus not being quite brave enough to risk Lily riding in front of him, wonderful as the thought might be-fifty feet up in the air was not somewhere to accidentally misplace a hand and get yourself slapped off the broom!)

Hogwarts on the whole was quickly beginning to get used to seeing Severus Snape smiling almost goofily. He just couldn't seem to help it.

Though one "accidentally" overheard rendezvous arrangement did send one James Potter into a desperately-restrained jealous snit-fit, complete with seeming near-convulsions and half-intelligible arguments with himself that almost had Remus dragging him to see Madam Pomfrey. From then on, the more Snape smiled in public, the more peevish and despondent James got as he valiantly fought down his jealousy.

McGonagall was heard several times that first week after discovering Snape's lack of proper broom instruction to be muttering furiously to herself in the corridors of the castle, about the terrible waste to her beloved sport. She was absolutely convinced that if Severus had received proper instruction and encouragement in his very first flying lesson, he'd have been a Quidditch player to contend with-most likely a Seeker! Even if her House might have suffered more losses with such talented competition, games played with more closely-matched skill were what the sport was all about! She'd truly rather Gryffindor lose a closely-contested, well-played game, than win the annual Quidditch Cup against teams whose members were barely able to even stay on their brooms.

She was so scandalized at the perceived harm to her favorite sport-caused at least in part, if not entirely, by her ownHOUSE!-that the Marauders spent a great deal of effort in avoiding her at all costs, upon pain of verbal flaying if she caught sight of them outside of class. Poor Sirius was so dumbfounded at the first of his Head of House's vehement dressing-downs on the subject, he missed a whole day's worth of opportunities to prank Slytherin students! He just could not wrap his mind around her point of view. If Snape hadn't looked so perpetually stunned about the whole matter, Sirius would have thought the Slytherin had Confunded McGonagall!

Severus found himself a rather amused audience to the incensed Transfiguration Professor's next meeting of the Hogwarts Flight Instructor. (The volume of the Head of Gryffindor's dressing-down only drew half of the school to gawk; the other half ran for the safety of their various Common rooms-including Professor Slughorn.) Old Carter Flint caught the full edge of Minerva McGonagall's razor-edged tongue over the waste of perfectly good talent that the man had almost willfully let slip away, all for mere lack of interest in teaching the boy-or worse yet, lack of control over his own classes!

Severus didn't know what was creating the strange warmth growing in his chest as he listened to the half-hour harangue-Professor McGonagall's sticking up for his abilities like that, the gob-smacked looks on the faces of the Gryffindor Quidditch nuts who overheard, or the outright disturbed faces of his Slytherin House-mates as they quickly realized they'd let potentially the best Slytherin Quidditch player in the last three decades slip right through their fingers, without even a thought-and without even noticing! After all, if McGonagall was so vehement-about a Slytherin's ability!-he must be truly exceptional!

(It was hardly surprising to Severus that a tall, athletic, hawk-faced witch named Rolanda Hooch became Hogwarts' new Flight Instructor not two months later...especially when he found out she was a retired professional Quidditch player from England's own team. Poor old Carter Flint became a nervous wreck and submitted his resignation to Dumbledore immediately after McGonagall finished with him. Severus had no doubt whatsoever that the Headmaster had kept his suggestions about replacements strictly to himself, and let his Quidditch-mad Deputy with the razor-barbed tongue have her head; this was Quidditch, after all-and Albus Dumbledore was surely not suicidal enough to cross Minerva McGonagall about something that important!)

Many of the Slytherins who had been giving Severus the cold shoulder since his move to Gryffindor Tower started tentative campaigns to woo him back fully into their House, and all but a handful of his worst Slytherin tormenters sheepishly began to try actually getting to know him. After all, a Slytherin who could garner the fierce protection of the Gryffindor Head of House-while only a lowly fourth year!-was truly a force to be reckoned with! And that was never minding how he'd managed to go from the Marauders' favorite target, to practically their "brother". They must somehow have seriously misjudged Severus Snape! A thorough reevaluation by his whole House was now underway, much to his mixed amusement and vexation.

Severus just wished everybody would bloody well leave him alone.

-Other than Lily, of course!

The novelty of for the first time ever being sought after for something other than doing a Housemate's homework, or to be the butt of a nasty prank, might have easily gone straight to his head; except Severus remembered four long years of ostracizion and casual, thoughtless cruelty much too well to believe the good regard would last without a deeper-seated cause, such as James Potter's epiphany-or to ever mistake it for genuine interest in him as a person. He was not anywhere near that forgiving, even if it looked like there were several younger-year Slytherins with whom he might now be developing genuine friendships, at least superficially. He suspected they were more interested in how he could protect them, than in actually befriending him. Not that he thought there was anything wrong with that, per se; but he wouldn't ever mistake them for true friends, either, as a Gryffindor might do.

It was rather nice to be in popular demand, though.

Severus had to admit, after about a week's forced close contact with Gryffindors, that he rather preferred their heart-on-the-sleeve approach to life over his own House-mates' cunningly disguised manipulations. It took hardly any effort at all to figure out what a Gryffindor was thinking, in general if not specifics; their opinions were never secret even on the rare occasion they actually tried to hide them. He found he was almost comfortable letting his guard down somewhat with them. He could never dare think of relaxing that way around any Slytherin!

Which lead to the Great Gryffindor Discovery of the Year-Severus Snape Had A Sense Of Humor! Snarky and cynical as could be; but if you were paying attention, it was right there, laughing at everybody-including himself. It just took a bit of thought to notice the satire and sarcasm he used instead of the blunt, usually downright crude humor of most of the other students. The uninitiated could take up to five minutes to figure out the humor in what at first hearing sounded like not-so-simple insults-especially since Severus usually didn't immediately snicker at his own jokes. There was a strange outbreak of seemingly random bursts of snickering and snorted laughter around Hogwarts as students would remember something Severus said in a different light, and suddenly see the humor in it.

Luckily, the reaction time between Severus' words and their laughter became shorter as they started anticipating his quirky humor, before the teaching staff began looking for a prankster casting random laughing hexes.

This dumbfounding realization of Snape's odd sense of humor then led many Gryffindors to suddenly realize that the notorious Snape Sneer wasn't the single expression they'd always believed it to be! Rather, there were different flavors of sneer; depending on his shockingly changing mood-and some of them were actually his version of a smile. Those so suddenly-enlightened blamed the lateness of this discovery on his overly large beak of a nose that was somewhat difficult to ignore, along with the constant wariness the Marauders had engendered in Snape with their non-stop prank war.

The most common Sneer was, of course, the one they all understood-the exasperated, long-suffering one with the rolling eyes that came when someone was being exceptionally stupid and/or getting into easily avoidable trouble. The Smirk-sneer was the first difference they noticed; he wore this on occasions when other people would grin-his black eyes would not roll, but would subtly light up instead; and the corners of his mouth would go higher than with any other sneer. Then there was the sneer he got in place of a normal person's pained grimace; it was differentiated by a certain crinkling about the slightly narrowed eyes, and a subtle flinching back of his head-almost a wince.

His self-deprecating sneer came with an air of bleak humor expressed mostly by lowered eyelids and a partially raised left eyebrow. Not the right eyebrow, mind; just the left. The right eyebrow only rose with the mocking, almost vicious sneer he gave those he considered enemies when they'd just made complete fools of themselves, without any help from anyone else. Naturally, Sirius Black was the second most likely target for this sneer.

Remus was more than surprised to notice that none other than seventh-year Slytherin Lucius Malfoy was the single most likely recipient for Snape's most scornful expressions-so long as the older boy couldn't see it. His curiosity was piqued enough to try to find out why. Direct questions got Remus snarled at, both by Severus and the few Slytherins he dared to ask about Malfoy-those that didn't all but run away in fear at his questioning, that is. Perhaps "What's up with Malfoy, anyway?" was a bit too blunt...

When Snape caught Remus asking around about Malfoy, the suddenly distressed Gryffindor was almost forced to physically restrain the Slytherin from actually hitting his head repeatedly against the nearest stone wall while muttering darkly to himself about dunderheaded Gryffindors with death wishes. Snape refused to enlighten Remus as to the reason for this reaction, instead rather harshly insisting the sandy-haired boy just stay away from even thinking any questions about Lucius Bloody Malfoy.

The grim, almost frightened set to Snape's features convinced Remus to back off, at least for a while. Anything that could make Severus Snape afraid wasn't likely something Remus would want to jump in the middle of, especially not without backup.

The more Remus found out about the Slytherin, the more he believed the boy really should have been in Gryffindor; Snape was braver than anybody else Remus knew! Gryffindors tended to never stop and think about consequences, to themselves or to others, before jumping in loudly and head-first; they didn't give themselves time to become afraid until afterwards. Snape, on the other hand, didn't jump into things blindly; he knew exactly what could happen, pain and all, and faced his own fear down to go ahead and do what he had to in spite of it.

Remus was growing to admire the Slytherin boy more and more, the longer he was around him. Which made him feel more and more guilty for the past four years of his behavior...

It didn't help Remus' conscience any when Snape would somewhat awkwardly try to cheer Remus up, when the Gryffindor started showing signs of depression. It was sometimes all Remus could do not to burst into tears from the weight of his feeling of guilt. How could Snape even want to be nice to him, after everything the Marauders had done to him?

Luckily for Snape's peace of mind, Remus managed to somewhat restrict his bouts of moroseness to no more than an average of an hour a day. Never having been a particularly social animal, voluntarily interacting with only Lily as he had done, Snape had no clue what was wrong with Remus, let alone how to help-or even why in Merlin's name he felt the need to try! Snape was also afraid it might have something to do with the faint scars criss-crossing the other boy's face, that he knew nothing about. If Remus had childhood trauma anything like Snape's, he would need help at some point-hopefully it wasn't as extreme as what Snape was trying to cope with!-but Snape respected other people's privacy the way he expected them to respect his. That meant he did not pry into something personal that was really none of his business, definitely not where he was not invited.

Snape managed a couple clumsy-feeling offers to listen if Remus wanted to talk, and hoped to Merlin he wouldn't end up having to talk to Potter about the matter. He had a definite feeling Potter knew this secret of Remus'; Sirius and Peter also. He wouldn't interfere unless it looked obvious Remus might be going to...hurt himself, somehow. It's not like he had a clue of how to help, anyway!

This tentative truce Snape and the Marauders had undertaken had put them all off-balance. They had to completely re-learn how to deal with each other. Luckily, it didn't take most of the Marauders long to realize just how little they knew about Snape, and he about them; so they were able to sort of start over. Sirius was the only hold-out, but so long as he at least tried to behave himself, (all four of the others knew that his actually doing that for any length of time would be asking for the impossible!) James would simply make sure he didn't do anything too horrible. Some little things would slip by James, no matter how hard he tried-Sirius was nothing if not stubbornly determined!-but James made Sirius fix those things as soon as they happened, one way or another. Things like the disturbingly fire-engine-red color charm on Snape's hair; the disappearing ink substituted into Snape's inkwell; the charm to make whatever Snape sat on give out rather loud and disturbing flatulent noises; the rooster crow charm on Snape's bed that sounded whenever he lay down on it... James had to threaten to team up with Snape and Remus to prank Sirius back, if he didn't lay off.

Snape was so amused at the antics of James and Remus both in trying to head off their impulsive friend, he didn't bother trying to get even with Sirius on his own. It helped that these little pranks were nothing like as bad as what he'd put up with for four years; for one, they didn't send him to the Hospital Wing. He figured no pain equaled no retribution...at least for the time being.

Though if Sirius didn't lay off on pranking his homework, Snape just might have to get active in "convincing" him to stop. Thankfully Snape was ahead in his work, as usual, and so had a chance to re-do the ruined essays before the deadline to turn them in.

Several Gryffindors, led not unpredictably by James and Remus, became fascinated with cataloging Snape's Different Sneers. Sirius thought it a phenomenal waste of time and ignored their animated discussions in disgust, while Peter was too nervous about the thought of Snape hexing him to voluntarily get near enough to even see the slight variations in his expression.

James and Remus began trading humorous spectator's comments on Snape's expressions, including a sports-like bestowing of points; a relatively "gentle" form of friendly teasing that Severus had never experienced before. Remus, sensitive enough to be quick to notice the pained storm of misunderstanding gathering behind those black eyes, took care to explain it to Severus one night while they were in the Library. Quick reinforcement from Lily and subsequent careful observation finally convinced Severus that Remus wasn't just having him on; it really was only well-meant "friendly teasing". It made him terribly self-conscious at first, but he did his best to ignore it.

The fact that Lily smiled brightly at him each time he successfully restrained himself helped a great deal, of course. As did the occasional proud hug she would surprise him with.

Severus was completely bewildered by the Gryffindor propensity to poke fun at one another. Slytherins were much more reserved-and much more sensitive to, and thus vicious in retaliation of, perceived insults. He grimly devoted time each day to learning how to not hex someone for this (supposedly) "friendly teasing," developing a habit of looking to Remus when something confusing had been said before jumping to conclusions.

After a couple days, Severus and Remus had gone from the verbal "What the hell does that mean?" with a rolled-eye response of "Ignore them, they're just being idiots; they don't mean anything by it," to a flat-eyed black stare with slightly raised eyebrows that got various combinations of rolled eyes, humorously pained winces and grimaces, exaggerated sighs of long-suffering, and/or a sadly shaken head, with or without a stifled grin and/or arms akimbo. Snape quickly became adept at deciphering the increasingly vague body language and so knew at a glance when he was to ignore, laugh off, or respond in kind to the verbal pokes-as opposed to hexing the speaker into next week.

Which happened one time, only, with a seventh-year Gryffindor; but Remus was the one who growled and did the hexing, rather than let Severus do it. Snape was left standing there with a rather bewildered expression at this still unexpected defense. Having the notoriously gentle, shy, easy-going Remus Lupin hex an older House-mate with boils that took Madam Pomfrey two whole days to fix, definitely got the message across to the rest of Gryffindor that Severus Snape should no longer be considered an appropriate target!

Of course, Madam Pomfrey didn't exactly put forth full effort in curing the annoying seventh-year prat...but she was the only one who knew that.

The physical side-effects of the Unforgivable curses Tobias Snape had set on his son took three entire weeks to fade beyond the ability of even the most perceptive people to notice them, though the bone-deep ache lingered enough to impede his sleep for most of another month. There were several reasons that curse was considered an Unforgivable, besides the lack of an effective defense against it; not least being the way the damage it caused seemed immune to magical healing, and was cumulative over time. The more you were cursed, the longer it took to recover... Madam Pomfrey made sure he had potions to take every night before bed, to help at least somewhat with the after-effects.

Remus was the only student to pay attention to how Snape's temper improved as his tremors lessened; or to even notice them as more than some sort of random, nervous muscle twitches in the first place-let alone recognize the muscle-relaxant and rather strong painkilling potions the boy surreptitiously downed every night before bed. From hard experience with the physical side-effects of his own curse, Lupin's respect for the Slytherin grew even more when he realized Snape hadn't complained of being in discomfort even once. With that level of painkiller from Madame Pomfrey, he had to be in a considerable amount of serious and constant pain!

At first, the careful consideration Remus started to show Severus was taken wrongly as pity, and Remus had to bite his tongue to keep from saying something regrettable at the Slytherin's angry snarling and snapping. Finally, one day in the Library while studying with Severus and Lily, a week after Snape was moved into Gryffindor, Remus lost some of his normal tight control over his temper. He later blamed it on the nearness of the full moon, and his monthly "affliction", ignoring the fact that this was the second time in week he'd lost his temper-both times involving Severus.

"Damnit, Severus, it won't kill you to accept a little help now and then, even if you really don't need it! It's not pity-it's respect!"

Remus had only offered to go and grab a fresh stack of blank parchment for Severus from Madam Pince, trying to save the boy a few steps in respect for the pain Remus knew he was in; he hadn't at all meant to imply the idiot wasn't able to walk across the room on his own! That too-sharp tongue could really get under a body's skin with constant exposure. Severus needed to learn to control his temper almost as much as Sirius did!

Face set in an uncharacteristic scowl, Remus let out an exasperated huff. Tossing down his quill he sent his chair skittering precariously back with his legs as he stood up, fists on hips. He glared across the table at a just-risen Severus who was scowling back at him, obviously just getting wound up himself and spoiling for a fight. Some days, Severus was so much like Sirius that Remus didn't wonder at all why those two never got on!

Feeling a bit desperate to get his point across before the yelling started and got them all tossed out of the Library, Remus wracked his brain for an example to use. His eyes fell on Lily, staring wide-eyed in surprise at each of them from her seat beside the seething Severus. He waved a hand towards her and stared intently into Severus' stormy eyes. "You'd go out of your way to do things for Lily, if you knew her to be in pain; but you wouldn't pity her for it, would you! You'd just want to make things easier for her, until she felt better. This is the same thing; it's a courtesy! I happen to like you, you annoying prat! I'd like to think we've become friends, now, at least a little bit. And friends help each other, even without being asked first!"

Snapping amber eyes glared directly into wide, startled obsidian as Remus found himself nose-to-nose with a shrinking Severus, who had backed a couple paces until he'd almost bumped into Lily. Remus couldn't even remember how he'd got around the table. The tense Slytherin's mouth was gaping open as he stared at Remus, half-way flinching as if he expected to be hit at any moment.

Remus hurriedly backed off in dismay, his eyes returning to their normal soft brown as he threw an anguished glance at Lily, turned, and fled. He didn't even pause to gather up his own books from the table where they'd all been studying so calmly, just minutes ago.

Severus stared after him, mouth still open in shock. He'd never, ever thought the quiet Gryffindor bookworm could lose his temper like that! Remus had been downright scary! How'd he change his eyes to amber like that, anyway?

Sighing, he relaxed a bit and let his eyes slide sideways to Lily, who was also staring dumbfounded after Remus. He scowled. He knew what she was going to say, any minute now...he was going to have to chase after the annoying Gryffindor, and apologize.

It wasn't like he'd meant to offend the too-sensitive boy; he'd just-he wanted Remus to quit trying to baby him all the time! Opening doors for him, chasing people out of his way while walking through the halls, trying to carry everything for him; for Merlin's sake, Remus had been pestering him about his eating habits-actually dumping food onto his plate, right there in the Great Hall in front of the whole school! Remus was treating him like he was made of spun glass, like to break at any moment-or like he was a two-year-old! "Exasperated" didn't even begin to cover how Severus felt about all that.

After four years of almost constant abuse by Remus' best mates, with Remus' role being the observer who wouldn't lift a finger to stop things he knew were wrong, this sudden mother-hen impression brought up an anger in Severus that was deep enough to drown in. If the fool thought he was so damned fragile, then why in Merlin's name had Remus gone along with Potter and Black in their constant bullying and pranking and abuse, that often sent Severus to the Hospital Wing? Most of the things they'd done had been damned painful to more than just his pride!

Picking on someone you supposedly thought of as weak was just despicable-especially at four-to-one odds!

If it was just Remus' guilty conscience prompting this behavior, Severus wanted no part of it. Inexperienced with having friends as he was, even Severus knew that wasn't a basis for any kind of true friendship. His scowl went black as his thoughts spun down old paths.

"Sev..."

Severus winced at Lily's soft voice. He held one hand palm-out as if to fend her off as his head dropped, hiding his face behind lank black hair. With a long-suffering sigh and drooping shoulders he muttered, "I know, I know...I'll chase the idiot down and straighten this out..."

Emerald green eyes stared reproachfully up at him as Lily frowned. "'Straighten this out'...?"

He hurriedly added, "I'll apologize, I will! But he's got to stop treating me like I'm a baby!" He couldn't help but glare at Lily in exasperation, albeit mildly. He never could work up a proper glare towards Lily.

She heard the real anger buried in her best friend's conciliatory tone, and knew he was right, even if he was being a bit too touchy about it. She grinned briefly; if Remus tried treating her like he'd been treating Sev, she'd probably haul off and slug him one, and never mind using magic! Sev just wasn't used to anybody but her treating him with normal consideration, let alone dealing with Remus' mothering. Even she couldn't get away with too much coddling of Sev, at least not without risking hurting his pride.

Oh, Sev would let her do pretty much anything she wanted for, or even to him; but the hurt would be there, in those deep black eyes, whenever he believed it meant she thought less of him. So she always tried to restrain herself until he asked for help-by word, or deed, or just that tiny little change in expression that was sometimes all he could manage to fight himself into using.

Lily had never had a problem deciphering the Snape Sneers. The Lily Smile turned them into silly grins every time, anyway.

Smiling up at Sev, Lily nodded and made a shooing gesture. "Go on, see if you can catch him-I'll get your things back to the Tower for you."

He hesitated, glanced the way Remus had fled, then down at his books spread out across the table-then at the fair-sized stack Remus had abandoned. He gave her a sideways look for a moment, balancing his knowledge of Lily's stubbornness and abilities versus three substantial sets of books, crossed with the prohibition against students doing magic in the halls. A sigh in answer to a bright green glare, and the whole doubled stack was gently settled on the table at her elbow, as Severus stalked purposefully away. He'd noticed three older Gryffindors in the Library; if Lily needed help, she could easily dragoon one or more of them into playing pack-mule for her.

Her smile became a full-blown grin as Lily watched him go. She knew Sev would straighten things out with Remus. Without James and Sirius keeping them at odds, those two boys had too much in common not to become good friends-especially now that Sev's horrible secret was out.

Maybe Remus would eventually share with Sev the secret that had been eating at him ever since they came to Hogwarts...

Lily sighed, knowing she'd get no more productive studying done that evening. She gathered up her things along with Sev's and Remus', and started trudging back to Gryffindor Tower, barely able to see around the huge stack of books straining her arms. Various Gryffindors she passed eyed her nervously, but she was too preoccupied to even think to draft any helpers.

Lily didn't know what Remus' problem was, but she suspected the other three Marauders did...so it would likely be only a short time before Sev found out, one way or another. Hopefully by Remus just coming out and telling him. Then her problem would be restraining herself from pestering Sev to tell her! No matter how curious she was, she knew it was none of her business, unless Remus chose to tell her.

She hadn't quite figured out how to convince Remus that he wanted to tell her.

Darn it!

Shaking her head and laughing at herself, Lily marched on, narrowly avoiding running into anyone. Halfway back to the Tower her arms started aching, and she finally did draft a slow-to-duck Gryffindor sixth-year to play pack-mule and carry the heaviest books for her.

Severus, meanwhile, was trying to figure out just where an upset Remus Lupin would go, to hide. Gryffindor Tower was out-that was too obvious even for Peter to do. They'd just left the Library; Remus surely wouldn't double back there until the next day, as normally Severus and Lily would be just as likely staying there until Madam Pince threw them out at closing, unless James came to drag them back to the Tower before then. Remus couldn't be certain if either one or both of them would even be chasing after him, though he'd obviously not want them to find him any sooner than necessary. Severus was betting Remus was simply planning on avoiding him and Lily until his embarrassment eased, though how he was planning on avoiding their now-shared dorm room after curfew...

The sudden, full realization of exactly what Remus had said suddenly froze Severus in his tracks.

Remus-thought of Severus, as a friend? A-a real friend?

Wide-eyed and stunned, Severus barely noticed the offended Ravenclaw seventh-year who'd nearly run into him at his abrupt stop, who glared and huffed out her indignation as she stepped around him. He slowly glanced unseeing about himself, trying to figure out how in Merlin's name the Gryffindor boy had come to think of him in that way. They'd been basically enemies since their first day at Hogwarts! Severus had only ever had one friend in his whole life, and that was Lily!

Granted, since Severus found himself living in Gryffindor Tower, the unexpected truce between he and the Marauders had actually let them start to really get to know each other, as they would have if Severus hadn't argued the Sorting Hat out of its first choice for him...but was biting his tongue on his more acidic insults and refraining from hexing them on a regular basis, really enough to qualify him for Remus' actual friendship?

Come to think of it, Remus was usually the first right along with Lily to appreciate the humor hidden in the Slytherin's more snarky and sarcastic comments; and to notice the sneaky compliments laced within so-called insults. Remus wasn't usually terribly assertive, but his wit was certainly quick enough. Severus had to admit, he had come to...value...their time together, in a way similar to how he had always valued time with Lily, though nowhere near as strongly.

Maybe...he did now have a second honest-to-Merlin friend!

Gulping, Severus ran a shaky hand through his hair before once more wandering off to see if he could track down Remus, looking rather dazed as he all but staggered away. It was possible he'd walk right by the Gryffindor without even seeing him-he certainly wasn't seeing any of the other students he was passing by.

Oh, Merlin's pants-! Severus shivered, horrified to suddenly realize that he no longer even really minded being in the same room as James Bloody Potter! They'd even sometimes been using each others' first names instead of their surnames when they spoke!

It must be a sign of the Apocalypse; the world would be ending by the weekend!

No, wait-that would be when Black finally learned to keep a civil tongue in his head, and his too-quick wand pointed away from Severus. A day didn't go by that the idiot didn't try something. Granted, Black was behaving better than Severus could have possibly expected of him. Which wasn't really saying much, all things considered...

Hm. Then again, maybe it was more than Severus had first thought. Black hadn't managed to send him to the Hospital Wing since The Move, and Severus couldn't help but notice that it looked like the Gryffindor prat hadn't really been trying to.

It was probably just as well that it took a good four hours of searching for Severus to track down Remus where he was hiding, in an unused classroom not far from McGonagall's. Not only did it give Remus time to settle himself and think of something apologetic to say to Severus, but the Slytherin was able to at least start to get his head wrapped around the novel idea of having more than one real friend-and to talk himself around to apologizing to Remus for blowing up at him. A subtle apology, of course; he was a Slytherin. Even if he was immersed up to his ears in Gryffindors lately!

Upon seeing the sandy-haired young man slouched at a desk up near the front of the classroom-his back to the door, for shame!-Severus blew out an exasperated sigh. He closed the door behind him and walked over to sit behind Remus, who appeared too lost in thought to have noticed him, though Severus wasn't especially trying to be any more quiet than normal.

After a few moments of silence, Severus casually spoke up. "So. Should I accept Professor McGonagall's offer over Potter's?"

The Slytherin had to work to suppress a highly amused smirk when Remus jumped so amusingly, nearly falling from his chair as he twisted around at the obviously unexpected voice.

"Severus! Don't do that!"

The corners of his lips twitching upwards in spite of his effort at self-control, Severus raised his eyebrows and stared back at the panting Gryffindor, who had one hand clutched over his heart to still its suddenly too-hard pounding. In the most innocent voice he could manage, Severus asked, "Do what?"

Remus gave him a flat-eyed stare full of exasperation. The smirk escaped a bit more, Severus' black eyes starting to sparkle with mirth as his eyebrows came back down; a rare expression which killed any bad feeling over the scare. Remus did realize it was at least partly his own fault for his inattention, anyway. He huffed out a sigh.

Severus sobered quickly, still more than a bit nervous at having let his walls down enough to try and joke with Remus as he did with Lily. The process of Bonding to a new friend was new to him; he'd only ever done it the once! "Well? What do you advise?" He had come to trust Remus' opinion of other people, and McGonagall had been the boy's Head of House, in loco parentis to him for almost four years now. He was bound to know her better than any Slytherin, no matter how perceptive. Severus was willing to admit, if only to himself, that he'd become quite biased against Gryffindors in general, thanks to the Marauders.

Blinking as he tried to remember just what Severus had asked him, Remus ran a hand through his hair, unintentionally making part of his fringe stick up oddly. He was distracted when Severus tsked disapprovingly at him, leaned over his desk and casually reached one hand out to fix it, in a somewhat rough yet almost motherly way.

Severus snorted at the shocked stare he got for his trouble, rolling his eyes briefly. He blandly explained, "Potter looks enough like a haystack for all of you; there's no need to emulate him. Now are you going to answer my question, or just stare at me until curfew?" He settled more comfortably in his seat, draping one arm over the back and stretching out his long legs, the other hand resting on the desk top with one thumb hooked under the edge. Realizing Remus had probably completely forgotten the question, he added testily, "About my going with McGonagall or Potter over the holidays...?"

Remus drew in a deep breath, thinking. He hadn't expected Severus to ask him for advice about this, though he was already definite in his opinion. First things first, though-"I'm sorry, Severus."

Black eyes blinked in surprise for a moment as the Slytherin tried to parse the meaning behind that.

"For blowing up at you? That was uncalled for on my part." Remus looked down, flushing a bit with shame as he tried to elaborate. "I just-"

"-Finally lost your temper with the stubborn idiot who couldn't figure out you were just trying to be friends with him." The only sign that Severus was nervous about interrupting with such a bald, Gryffindor-style statement was the way the knuckles of the hand gripping the edge of the desk had whitened as the tips tried to dig into the wood.

Remus sensed Lily's influence, and felt one corner of his mouth slide upwards in amusement. It wasn't exactly an apology for all the snarking and snapping, but he now knew Severus well enough that he could tell the sentiment was there-and that was the important part. "...Yeah, I guess so." He frowned thoughtfully for a moment, staring at the desktop before raising his eyes to Severus'. "I think you should accept Professor McGonagall's offer. She's a powerful witch, who can certainly protect you from your father just as well as the Potters could; she's thick-skinned enough to not take snarky comments from a teenager personally, though I really wouldn't advise trying to tick her off; and," Remus suddenly grinned outright, "I doubt even the Headmaster could change her mind once it's made up to do something."

That got another snort in reaction. Severus had noticed that Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey had a lot in common-he didn't think Dumbledore could order either one of those formidable witches about, if they decided they didn't want to listen to him. As Remus' take on matters matched his own, Severus nodded firmly, straightening in his seat before standing up. He looked down at Remus.

"Are you coming?"

Remus hastily stood as well, and followed his new friend from the classroom and back to the Tower.

Lily would probably have thrown a fit that they hadn't apologized properly at all, but the boys were both satisfied that they were good again. And what Lily didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

AN: I've no idea who Rolanda Hooch's predecessor was; Carter Flint is my own creation.

Ye gads. Those of you enjoying this will probably be happy to know, I just realized I'm not even halfway through this thing yet! I'm over the forty-thousand word mark-with half of that still in outline form...! ::sweat-drop::

Usually, stories claw their way out of my subconscious mostly-formed, chapter by chapter. Whenever I try to outline a story, whole scenes will just pour out of my fingers through the keyboard onto the screen, and they flow so nicely I just can't stop them. Sometimes there will be a "hole" the size of a chapter or so in the middle that I have to backtrack and fill, or two different story roughs will decide to get married and birth a whole new plotline. This story, after the first chapter formed, actually cooperated by letting me rough out an outline for the next dozen or so chapters before the fleshing out process started. Of course, it is a rather detailed outline...and mutating constantly, of course. =] It's kind of nice to have the outline before the story's done, for a change. Odd, but nice!