AN: Annd, the pace is picking up, though I am realizing I have my work cut out for me (I'm excited though). Expect a rating change soon. I also want to make sure that I give a trigger warning for abuse and sexual harassment. I could have posted this earlier, but I've been adding little details and tweaking all week. Please review and let me know how you're liking it.
Chapter Four: In the Springtime of His Voodoo
Second Year- Start of term until January
"Out on the wild and windy moors,
We'd roll and fall in green.
You had a temper, like my jealousy—
too hot, too greedy, How could you leave me,
when I needed to,
possess you?
I hated you. I loved you, too."
-Kate Bush
All summer, Lily and Severus practiced their potion making skills, played games at Lily's house, spent time talking in their clearing and avoided Petunia's glares and insults. Much to Severus' mum's dismay, he grew quite a bit over the summer and looked even more ridiculous than usual in his clothing. His voice had also begun to do a really annoying thing where it alternated between a high, squeaky tone and a deep register, which Petunia was the first to point out ("Ooh! Somebody's going through puberty!"). Severus was really dreading going back to school, and had decided that speaking was wholly unimportant (of course, that would change as soon as he actually got to Hogwarts). The only thing that kept Severus excited for Hogwarts was, as usual, his home life. His father had only kept the brick-laying job for a few months before losing it due to his poor attendance and temper, and had picked up his old drinking habits. Although Severus was able to keep the second bedroom, his father and mother slept together less and less. In fact, it seemed as though his father never slept. Tobias would sit at the kitchen table at all times of night and day, smoking cigarettes and drinking. Mum was gone a lot this summer. She had another job now that she wasn't speaking much about. Severus wondered if her job was in Diagon Alley or some other place she wouldn't want Tobias to know about. Not that it mattered. They were so hard up for money that Severus wondered if Tobias would dare criticizing anything that would bring in revenue. Severus wished she would bring him along.
While she was gone, Severus tried to keep to his room or outside, but he had to face Tobias at least twice a day now. Tobias would question him drunkenly and he'd give the shortest answers possible. Once a week he heard Tobias beating up his Mum, and each time he got angrier with his mother for not breaking down and using magic. She could probably kill him—she probably knew how. When he was little, he hadn't really thought about it, but now it all seemed ridiculous. While he spoke to Tobias, he would fantasize about using the curses he'd been learning on him—any of them. All of them. Severus had usually refrained from talking to Tobias out of fear, but this summer he became sarcastic several times. Once, when Tobias commanded him to get the whiskey bottle out of the cupboard, Severus made a noise of disapproval. Tobias got up and slapped Severus across the face, hard. "You shit head," he said.
Severus spent time in his room writing to Lucius and asking him advice on classes, and then borrowing Atticus to send the letters. Lucius would write back in neat block print, recommending Runes instead of Muggle Studies, or detailing what he had termed "yet another summer from Hell." Lucius' older brother was visiting, and apparently they did not like each other—from what Lucius would say, there was a lot of arguing and familial dueling. His brother was getting married and wouldn't stop talking about it, and if what Lucius was saying was correct, Lucius' father and mother had picked their favorite son long ago. Lucius seemed to be spending his summer lazing about his parent's manor and plotting his brother's demise ("I asked the house elves to poison him but he beat me to talking to them and made them swear upon their lives that they would not take orders from me concerning his food. This made them all feel very guilty and awful for not taking orders from me and there was quite a lot of groveling and maiming of themselves. My mother started crying and asked why her sons always have to try and kill each other and he played the family hero as usual and gave her lots of hugs and apologies. It was disgusting. I hope his soon-to-be wife is very ugly and that all of his children will have harelips and mustaches. Hope you are well. Sincerely, Lucius PS: I saw Bellatrix, met for a decidedly awkward coffee in Knockturn Alley—mad as ever, says she apparates all over the place now and pops up to frighten her relatives when they are using the toilet, very immature but you must admit it is a bit amusing. Her new boyfriend met up with us at the end of it. He looked fit for St Mungo's, so maybe it's true love. " ).
Severus' replies were much more frequent than Lucius', but much less detailed ("Dear Lucius, Do you do well in Runes? Is it useful? Also, do you know any subject where I can get better at curses and dueling? I wish I had siblings who would duel with me, but being attacked while unable to do magic sounds no fun at all. Maybe you could help me? Your brother sounds annoying. My dad and I don't get on. I guess you could say he hates me. I wish I was at Hogwarts. There are so many Muggles around and no one here to really talk to. Been reading a book on cursing enemies and very interested in practicing on Potter and Black when returned to school, I've practiced on several spiders but it's not the same and Lil my friend won't let me hurt them too much. Lucky you to have seen Bellatrix. Why did she have to graduate? Hope to hear from you soon, YOUR FRIEND, Severus").
Lily was taller, too, and had to be fitted for new robes. She'd taken to asking Petunia whether she wanted to see the frog eggs she'd brought home and would pat her pockets while her sister would run off, screaming her head off. It was a great tactic for keeping her at bay. Lily kept in touch with Muruvi, Remus, Mary, Scarlet, Alice and Frank over the summer. Muruvi's distant relatives who were visiting from northern England were extremely disappointed that she'd been sorted into Gryffindor and kept suggesting she try on the Sorting Hat again ("They keep hugging me and screaming, "it's not too late!" It's dreadful here!"). Remus, from the sound of it, was keeping busy by reading all sorts of books. His letters were the best—he drew diagrams of the things he was learning with an enchanted pen that made the pictures move ("Dear Lily, how is the studying? I've been reading about Hogwarts in these old books I found. Did you know how many trapdoors and secret passages there are? TONS! I drew you a map of Hogwarts according to the book I just finished. I copied it out for myself, too. Maybe there's a trap door we can use when we get tested for the OWL. Just joking, I'd be too afraid to get caught. I'd better not tell James and Sirius that idea, they're crazy enough to try it! See you soon, Remus"). Mary's letters, written in her loopy cursive, detailed her escapades of trying to hunt down Sirius. She'd been mailing him letters and asking if they could meet up in Diagon Alley—but he kept saying he was too busy watching his younger brother and avoiding being cursed by his cousins, who were visiting for holiday. Mary did not seem disillusioned by these excuses, however. As the summer went on, she simply added more and more boys to her list of interest ("He says that Bellatrix, Narcissa and Andromeda come around every once in a while, and that things are really terrible since that nasty Bellatrix can apparate. He said no one can have a pee in peace, because she'll come out of nowhere and scream or something else scary. Though I wish I could apparate, I would do it while Sirius was in the shower! Hee hee! How is everything at your house? How is SEVERE-YUCK? I know that will make you mad but it made me laugh to write! Is he still just as yucky? Tell me everything! I got a new neighbor who is sooo cute! I may have to make him my boyfriend. He might be younger than us though, I have never seen him at Hogwarts. I hope not! Oh, Sirius—my love, reply! Reply! Ha ha! Your friend, Mary").
Lily wrote back to her right away ("… I still think that you need to forget about the Langlock. You have to admit you were being rude. Severus isn't 'yucky', he might be a bit weird sometimes but not yucky. I have had fun with him this summer reading aloud and practicing Potions, as for Sirius, if he hasn't asked you out by now don't you think you should spend your time doing better things? My sister is being so mean this summer. It's gotten even worse. It's always silent treatment or calling me 'freaky', I don't know what's worse. My mother seems to want to tell me every second about boys and getting older, and PUBERTY. Aaaargh. I mostly just ignore her. I really do miss you, even if you can be annoying. Lots of love, Lily"). Scarlet was being taken around all of Great Britain for holiday by her aunt and uncle who were very well off, and her short letters were written with such disdain and sarcasm that Lily read and re-read them, laughing aloud each time ("Lily, Aunt says we may meet the Minister of Magic, as she gets on very well with him. Uncle, lots of wine, wants to know whether maybe she's still got a chance with the Minister, and says then he'll finally be free of her. I'm ready for homework again and that's saying something! XO, Scarlet") . Alice had a "boring" summer with her mother and father, who worked in an exotic plant shop where normal plants were sold to Muggles in the front and plants used for Potions were in a secret room upstairs ("I've been very bored here. They've made me babysit the Man-Eating one, and it won't stop spitting out the dead rats I have to feed it. I am covered in guts every day. Sometimes I read to it and it makes a terrible grunting sound. Perhaps it doesn't like comic books. If I die this summer, give everyone my goodbyes."). Frank spent his summer apparently being tortured by his older brother Algernon, who lost no time in taking advantage of the fact that wizards under seventeen could not legally perform magic over the summer ("I guess I understand the law, but it should only pertain to Muggle-borns or people without older siblings. If you were here you'd know why…").
Lily still hadn't grown out of her fondness for pretend games, and although Severus voiced openly how absurd he found them to be, he still usually played along. Her anomalous affinity for Dementors and ghouls still drove her interests and she read to Severus from The True Diaries of Convicted Azkaban Prisoners- A Collection, a book she'd gotten with her money at Flourish and Blotts (a book that, were Lily not Muggle-born, her parents would have no doubt taken away). Putting the book down for a moment, Lily looked up at Severus, who was hanging upside down from a tree branch in the clearing, She shaded her eyes with the book and smiled. "What do you reckon you'd think of if you saw a Dementor?" she asked.
"That's a pretty depressing question to ask while smiling," Severus replied, and then pulled himself up so that he was sitting on the branch, nestled against the trunk. "Maybe I'd…" he trailed off. Hear mum crying, he thought. Dad yelling, Dad throwing me on the wall, lonely house, no friends, kids making up rumors. He shrugged. "Nothing," he said boldly.
"That's impossible," said Lily.
"Yeah, well, what would you think about?"
"If you don't have to answer, neither do I," said Lily. Petunia calling me names, she thought. Family dying, bad things, bad people.
"It's not that I didn't have to. It's that I didn't want to," said Snape. He squinted down at her. "Your hair looks cool in the light like that, it looks like gold," he said appreciatively.
Lily stared up at him and made a face. "Being nice won't work. I still want to know what you'd see. I'll find out when you least expect it!" she said playfully.
Severus scaled to the next branch down and then jumped out of the tree, landing right beside her on the grass.
"Severus," she began, stretching out on the grass, "how is everything at home—"
The words were barely out of her mouth when Severus said quickly, "I don't wanna talk about that anymore, all right? So stop asking me!"
"You don't have to be so grumpy," she said. "I just wondered."
"S'okay," he said, and lay next to her, closing his eyes and trying to block out any thoughts of his home life.
"Is it bad, then?" she asked worriedly.
He nudged her. "Shut it, nosy."
"Severus," Lily said, and he opened his eyes to see her looking at him, her green eyes wide and inquisitive. "After the Dementors suck out your soul, are you as good as dead or are you just sorta soulless?"
He closed his eyes again and snorted. "You and your Dementors."
"I can't help it! I want to see one! I'll bet they're so creepy," Lily said hopefully, giving a wistful sigh.
"You'd never do anything bad enough to get into Azakaban," Severus said. "You won't even let me say the word 'hell' around you."
"My mother says it's not a nice word," she replied.
"Ha ha, you'll really never go to Azkaban now!" Severus teased.
"Like you will."
"If I did," said Snape dangerously, "it would be for a really bad reason."
Lily raised her eyebrows. "Like what?"
He rolled onto his stomach and looked at her through a layer of black hair. "Like say I killed someone—"
"You never would," Lily said, but she was watching him with heightened interest. There was a strange, sinister expression on his face. "You couldn't."
"Sure I could. There are curses to do it, it's something they won't ever teach us at Hogwarts," he said hungrily. "But I know about them."
"It's good they won't teach us," Lily said disapprovingly, but she was leaning toward him. "How do you kill someone with a curse?"
Severus smirked darkly, his voice a dry whisper. "Different ways, some more gross than others. I read in one of my books that there's a simply killing curse. I mean, simple because it's only a spell but it's really hard to master it—really dark magic. You say one spell, Avada kedavra, and the person just falls down. Dead. No blood, no wounds. Just dead." He licked his chapped lips.
Lily's eyes widened. "You'd never do that," she whispered.
Severus flipped his hair out of his face. "Say I did. Say I killed someone just because I wanted to. And say I got taken to Azkaban, and I tell everyone goodbye. I'll tell you goodbye and tell you I'm never coming back. And then…" Severus got closer to Lily's face. She was watching him intently. "BOO!" he shouted.
Lily jumped up as Severus started laughing quietly. "You shouldn't always be reading that stupid book, you scare so easy!" Snape grinned.
"Don't DO that! Don't scare me! It wasn't even scary, it was stupid!" she yelled, and pushed him over on his back, pretending like she was going to start boxing his ears. He grabbed her hands to push her away, and she held down his arms. The two of them stopped laughing. They stared at each other for quite awhile before Lily turned red and lay back beside him. Severus' heart was pounding in his chest, and Lily was breathing hard.
Second year started so quickly that it was difficult to imagine what summer break had been like. Straight away, McGonagall informed them that they would all do well to practice their spells outside of class, because, as she put it, "You're no longer novices at Transfigurations and so I will hear no excuses about perhaps having bought the wrong wand at Ollivander's!" She was referring mostly to Peter Pettigrew, who seemed to be under the impression that he'd be loads better at magic if it weren't for Ollivander sending him off with the wrong package as a first year. Professor Binns greeted them with a three hour lecture on Aldo Prod, the first wizard to successfully animate a tree stump (Lily had to keep pinching Remus, who was snoring on her shoulder). Professor Slughorn gave them all excited handshakes and happily informed them that he felt it was time he lectured less and let them work more, and that the quality of their physical potions would make up their grade this year. This irritated people like Remus, Xing and Jasmeet Patil, who were both very good at writing essays but awful at actual potion-making. Suddenly, Severus and Lily were sought after instead of made fun of, particularly Lily. Severus found himself mixing potions with partners like Mary and Frank Longbottom, who previously had sat as far away from him as possible (Mary for obvious reasons, and Frank because Severus lost no opportunities to draw attention to the fact that he was poor in Potions). Whenever Lily and Severus paired themselves together, half the class would whine that it "wasn't fair".
Slughorn began paying more attention to the two of them, greedily eying their perfect potions and singing their praises every class period. Lily was his prize, indefinitely. Slughorn had been talking up his Slug Club to Lily and Severus lately. From what he said, it was a sort of student group he ran for "extraordinarily gifted students" (Lucius said it was a good excuse to do nothing, which was why he joined). Slughorn seemed keener on Lily going, but he mentioned he'd enjoy it if Severus were involved, since "I'd be barmey not to take the set of you". Professor Sprout had them all working so hard in the green houses that every lesson, all of her students were caked in dirt and smelled like plant food. Lily had to go to the hospital wing three times in a row because a Fanged Flower kept biting her hand. Flitwick was as kind as ever, and so his class was a welcome distraction from the loads of work everywhere else.
But Severus' absolute favorite subject was, more than ever, Defense Against the Dark Arts. Lucius had begun to teach Severus dueling lessons on Friday evenings, which Severus greatly looked forward to. He'd arranged it to be Fridays because the Gryffindors had a late night Astronomy lesson and thus he would not be missing an opportunity to see Lily. Lucius was a skilled dueler—he made his wand flicking look effortless, and he knew all kinds of flowery gestures and tricks. He was extremely helpful in teaching Severus delivery of his spells. He encouraged Severus to speak louder and more clearly, and adjusted Severus' arm by holding it from behind to give him the proper idea of how to carry himself. He praised Severus often but lost no opportunity to make fun of him. It was almost like having an older brother.
In class, Severus began to have more confidence. The instructor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Rughvaught, was an energetic and sarcastic man in his forties who wore a matching velvet cloak and top hat and had previous experience working in the Ministry of Magic as a decoder of cursed objects. He had also worked at Saint Mungo's, where he had treated people harmed by dark magic. In first year, Rughvaught had taught basic self-defense spells and had assigned a lot of detailed readings but this year, they were becoming more versed in small curses that they were taught to block. Severus had Defense Against the Dark Arts with Ravenclaw, which disappointed him because he wanted to show off how well he was at blocking spells to the Gryffindors (particularly Lily, and also James Potter). The professor had picked up on Snape's interest, and often challenged him during the class, which gave Snape an opportunity to show off. He would rattle off information from his notebook, and whenever Rughvaught asked a question, Snape's was the first hand in the air.
"Snape, you are exceptionally keen—though I believe you've been reading ahead," Rughvaught declared, after the class had finished a seminar on werewolves. As Severus gloated, he noticed several of his Slytherin housemates eying him with newfound interest, and perhaps even respect. When Rughvaught taught a brief course on the formalities of dueling, he picked Severus as a volunteer. Rughvaught was surprised at the amount of curses Snape knew, and although he blocked them all without trouble as they were very weak, he awarded Slytherin fifteen extra points for Snape's skills in memorization. After class, Rughvaught praised him, and told him he too had been in Slytherin. Rughvaught told him if he ever wanted extra work, to ask for it. Mulciber, Avery and Rosier waited for Snape outside the classroom door that day, and when he emerged, they called out to him as he ran along with his trademark stack of books and too-big billowing robes.
"Snape! SNAPE!" Mulciber shouted.
"Don't bother me, I have to get to the library," was Snape's answer, turning around and juggling his books. He was all ready late enough for a study session with Lily.
Mulciber gave a strained sort of laugh at Snape's blunt reply. "We just want to know how you've learned all of those spells. Why haven't you shown us before?"
"You don't really ever speak to me, do you? Anyway, I have a lot of books from my Mum, and I like to read everything on curses I can get from the library," Snape replied.
"From the library," mouthed Avery in a haughty imitation, but Rosier nudged him.
"Well, it's definitely neat," said Rosier, her eyes fixated on Snape's stack of books, which looked dangerously close to toppling out of his arms. "Could you teach us sometime?"
Snape gave her a pained expression. "Maybe sometime," he said hesitantly. "But I gotta get going."
Rosier, Mulciber and Avery glanced at one another, each with the same smirk. "I've seen you hanging out with Lucius Malfoy sometimes. Did you learn all of that from him? Bet you did," Avery said, and the look in the others' eyes showed that they had wanted to say the same thing.
But Severus shook his head. "Malfoy? No way. I actually taught him some of those the other day. I mean, sure he knows some good ones. He's a good dueler, he's been helping me there. But I'm way more into Defense Against the Dark Arts than him. He's always skipping class, pretending he's sick and things like that." He glared at them like they were the stupidest people on the planet.
Mulciber stared right back at Snape. "Lucius Malfoy won't be happy about you saying that. If you're lying, I'll find out. Snivellus," he added, as an afterthought. Mulciber, Avery and Rosier walked off together, making fun of the quiet but abrupt way that Snape spoke.
"Lucius is my friend! So what if you think I'm lying! You'll see I'm not!" Snape called after them. "But I don't care anyway, so don't think I do!" He wondered as they walked away if maybe he should have agreed to teach them some spells… Maybe even just one. Perhaps they were trying to be his friend. Of that he had absolutely no idea.
Later, at the library, Severus told Lily all about the praises Rughvaught had given him, and he even told Lily about all the curses he'd been learning.
Her eyes lit up at his excitement and she leaned closer to him. "When can I see them?" she asked.
"Oh, you'll see them at the right moment," he said cockily, confused at how confident he sounded.
"Maybe we can practice spells on each other," she said brightly, going back to her drawing of a human transforming into a werewolf.
Severus thought about it. "You should get better at blocking curses, then," he said.
She shoved him playfully. "You're that good at it? This I have to see!"
He smiled mysteriously.
"Can I borrow your quill for a sec, Sev?" she asked. "Mine's gotten too short—"
Wordlessly, Snape handed it to her. Their fingers grazed each other's, and Severus felt butterflies in his stomach. Lily pulled it out of his hand and finished her notes as Severus kept his fingers in mid-air.
About a month into first term, Lily was studying in the common room when she was let in on an interesting new development…
"Hey, uhm, Lily?"
Lily looked away from her Charms homework and smiled. "Hello, Frank! How're you?"
The broad, touseled haired boy gave a forced smile. "Doing okay, how's it with you?"
Lily went on for a while about how frustrating the homework was until she realized that Frank obviously was waiting to talk to her about something specific. "Sorry—did you have something to say?"
Frank nodded and shuffled his feet a bit. "I was wondering if… I was wondering if you could maybe speak to Severus Snape about not… er… not hexing me, even if it's just an accident…"
Lily's eyebrows raised. "What do you mean hexing you?"
Frank blushed. "It's just—sometimes I hang around James and Sirius, and today I was sort of well… caught by a spell that wasn't meant for me. So maybe if you could just asked him not to hex people in the halls? Because I don't want anyone else to be cursed either."
"He's hexing you? And James? And Sirius?" Lily wanted to know.
"Please don't tell him I said anything, I don't think he likes me too much," said Frank, and then ducked away. Lily noticed that he was walking rather funny.
Dreading it, Lily walked to the other side of the common room, where James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were playing an involved card game that seemed to be bewitched to burn your fingers if you held your cards too long—at least, that was what Lily guessed from the obnoxious shouts. "Hey, Potter, Black, can I speak to you?" Lily asked.
Potter threw down his cards at once, but Black continued to play, feigning deafness. "Does this have to do with Snivelly?" James asked. "I just saw poor Longbottom hobbling to our room."
Lily nodded, feeling her face turn red. She wasn't sure why this was embarrassing her, but Severus was her friend and she didn't really enjoy hearing that he was messing with her housemates. "What happened?"
James shrugged coolly, and Sirius stared at him, waiting for him to respond. "He was leaving last period, and we round the corner, and Snivellus just goes crazy, mutters this weirdo spell I've never heard and I think he was aiming for me, so I get out of the way and well, Longbottom took the brunt of it, you see. I didn't mean for that to happen, of course. And Longbottom's feet turned to jelly and he sort of fell to the floor."
"BOOM!" added Sirius over his cards, for emphasis. Remus rolled his eyes and tossed down his deck. Peter was laughing so fast and so hard that he sounded like a bleating sheep. Sirius continued the story flawlessly, as though he and James were some sort of two-headed creature that shared one brain. "So, I jinxed Slytherus with a leg locker curse, he falls over, but that git Malfoy jumps out of nowhere and puts Snape right, and starts saying he's going to take away all these bloody points from Gryffindor, which he can't even do, foul git—"
"—So we show him Longbottom, who's lying there, can't move his feet or legs, and he just laughs!" James put in. "He just laughs like it's the funniest joke ever! Which considering his sense of humor, it could have been to him. Then he took Longbottom to the hospital wing, which considering how Lucius usually acts was, well, saint-like."
Sirius nodded. "I thought for a minute he was going to give us hugs and start passing out sweets—"
"So no offense, Evans," James went on. "I know you're hung up on Snivelly and think he's just the greatest buddy you could ask for, but this really does mean war. He can't just go around cursing anyone he pleases so that he can test out his creepy ideas. I hope you don't hold it against us." James smiled sadly and shrugged.
"Now, wait," Lily said shortly, and Sirius whistled at her tone. "I need to find out if this is the real story. I can't say I trust you enough to believe that it is! You always make fun of him—how do I know you aren't making this up?"
"Evans! I can't believe you!" James replied, looking mockingly horrified. "You'd really believe Snivellus over me?"
"Well, he is my friend, and you are a lazy class clown!" Lily snapped.
James raised his hand up. "Forget you, Evans. Class clown. I'm not a class clown!"
Remus sighed. "She has a point, James. And Lily, for the record, they were sort of talking about Sniv—Severus before he hexed Frank…" He trailed off as though he hadn't realized what he was saying until it was too late. He stared at James sheepishly. "Sorry, mate, but you were."
Sirius laughed. "So what? Poor Longbottom shouldn't have—"
"What did you say to Severus?" Lily snapped, her blood pressure rising.
"Just things," James said quickly. "Nothing to make him that mad, I promise. Just that his uh… Just that his hair was looking so oily today that I wondered whether or not he'd showered in chicken grease, that's all. Oh, and I asked him where he got his robes—they fit so terribly that they almost show his knees. I wanted to know if that was a new fashion."
Sirius, Peter, Mary and Xing all laughed at James' nonchalant way of repeating the insults. James grinned and shrugged again.
"Well, I'm sorry Frank was the one that got hit," Lily hissed. "You could have done with a trip to the hospital wing instead."
Alice and Remus snickered at this, but Lily wasn't looking for support. She gathered up her school supplies and went off to send Severus an owl.
"They're not worth it," Lily said. They were sitting in the student study room near the library, which was open all night and monitored by Binns, who did not need to sleep anyway and floated along the perimeter of the room, reading. It had taken her some time to summon Severus out of his dorm room, but he finally showed, wearing gray pajama pants under his robes.
"That's what Lucius said," Severus replied, and then pretended to be fascinated with his hand. "I don't like them, Lily. They make fun of me for everything."
Lily nodded. "I know. I heard what James said to you. He tried to pass it off at first like it was nothing, and then I asked him what he-"
Severus' cheeks darkened. "I wish you wouldn't have asked! It was bad enough all ready!"
Lily looked at him strangely. "It's not like I agree. He's stupid and the things he says don't even make sense," she said quickly.
"Still… it's humiliating," Severus said, his voice breaking. He cleared his throat. "And don't think I'm going to leave them alone. If they're mean to me, I have a right to defend myself—"
"You hit Frank, and he wasn't even being mean to you, in fact, he's defended you several times—"
"Defended me? Longbottom doesn't laugh when Potter's mean but he never defends me! He sits back and lets it happen, same with your beloved Lupin!" Severus' voice was breaking rapidly, going from a high trill to a deep register but that did not stop him from looking dangerous. Binns shook a finger at him and shushed him.
"Beloved?" Lily wrinkled her nose. "How is he my beloved?"
"Writing those letters to him all summer," Snape whispered loudly, "those drawings he sent you—"
"You read my letters?"
"Well, it wasn't hard to! You were carrying his around everywhere with you! I bet you sleep with them under your pillow!" he snapped.
Lily laughed. "What are you playing at, stupid? Remus is my friend!"
"Yeah? Well, why did you sign your letter to him "lots of love"?" Snape demanded.
"I write that to everyone!" Lily replied, annoyed. "If I liked Remus, I would tell you—"
"I hope not!" snapped Severus, pulling away from her.
"Why not? We're best friends! We talk about everything!" Lily said, and for some reason, her eyes were filling with tears, for the second time in front of Severus. Lily never cried—this was getting unfair. She hated crying.
"Not about that," Snape said, wrinkling his nose. "You'd be mad, Lupin's a weirdo. There's something off about him."
"STOP IT! Everyone calls you weird, too, Severus! Everyone tells me how creepy you are!" Lily burst out, and tears were flowing down her face. "Lupin hasn't done anything to you—you just—he-". With that, she got up and fled from the room.
"They can go get stuffed—he can too!" shouted Snape, following her.
"Young Snap, I must ask you to hush!" Binns pleaded, floated after them and slamming the door behind them.
"LILY!" Snape yelled, grabbing her by the back of her robes. She turned around, shoving him off. Her face was red. "Oh, why are you crying? This is so god damned stupid," said Severus, still following behind her. "Shit, Lily—I'm sorry, I didn't think you would cry about it…"
She wiped her eyes on her sleeve, wheeled around and glared at him menacingly. "Don't swear at me! God! And I'm not interested in Remus, we're just friends and he writes nice letters! I'm not interested! Why does everyone have to talk about boyfriends?"
Severus let out an irritated groan. "'Lots of love'!" he said scornfully.
Lily grabbed his wrists and shook them. "Shut up!" she yelled.
His eyes widened, and she let him free. "You're acting funny," he said.
"You're acting stupid," she said, and then gave him a hug. "If I ever write you a letter, I'll sign it lots of love and then you'll be sorry," she said darkly, wiping her eyes on her sleeve.
"Gross," Severus said, but smiled.
"I DID IT!" James screamed, practically jumping through the portrait of the Fat Lady. He dove into the common room, knocking Xing to the side. In a swoop, he lifted the smaller boy up and hugged him. "YOU'RE ALL LOOKING AT YOUR NEW SEEKER!"
Xing laughed and hugged him back. "Well done, James! So, Rosie put in a good word for you, then?"
Other Gryffindors headed over to James, making a circle around him and giving him hugs and high fives. James gesticulated wildly, telling a long story about how he'd stunned Rosie's replacement captain with his thirty second capture of the snitch.
Lily glared from her perch near the fire. He is so annoying! she thought bitterly. Severus is right to dislike him. I've never met someone more in love with himself!
The first Quidditch meet of the year was that weekend, and James lost no opportunity to mention it. At the match, Lily and Severus sat together. Severus spent the entire time reading a book for History of Magic, and only looked up occasionally to root for Slytherin by clapping quietly. James made a huge show of catching the snitch. He basically rolled off his broom onto the grass and then stood up, doing jumping jacks with the snitch in his hand.
Lily and Severus looked at each other and burst into sniggers.
"I hope he dies from a bludger wound," said Severus.
"You shouldn't wish for people to die," said Lily, but she was smirking.
"There you go, lecturing me and then laughing at what I say anyway 'cause you know it's right," said Severus.
Lily poked him. "I wasn't laughing."
"Whatever," he said, and went back to his book.
"Rita's driving me mad. Every opportunity she gets, she tries to ask me if I've had sex with anyone," said Lucius casually to Severus as they walked around the lake. It was early December, and there was a distinct chill in the air. "She and Dolores are definitely trouble. Anyone who tries to make Secret Keepers out of those two is a goner. Everyone knows they spread rumors all over this damn school."
Severus nodded, wrapping his robes around him to keep out the cold. They'd drank a warming draught but even that was wearing off in the cold air. "Have you?" asked Severus.
"Have I what?" Lucius replied, sounding cooler than the weather, tightening his black scarf.
Severus cleared his throat. "Had sex?"
Lucius looked around them dramatically and then said, "Almost. Once with Bellatrix, but she was out of control, and then after a few dates with Camilla, that Ravenclaw I was seeing last year."
"How do you almost have sex?" Severus wanted to know.
"Well, everything led up to it but it just—ah—it just did not happen. I felt like I could do better," said Lucius smoothly. "Anyway, I've done most everything else. I am a very accomplished snogger."
Severus sneered. "Do you have a trophy somewhere?"
Lucius gave him a haughty look. "What? I am. I'm very proud of the responses I have gotten. And Gilderoy hasn't even gone below the waist with a girl. Of course, he says he has but I can spot a liar when I see one."
Gilderoy Lockhart was a Ravenclaw fifth year with whom Lucius had struck up a very competitive friendship, being that Lockhart got just as much attention from girls as he did. Their companionship was as opposite as possible from Severus' and Lucius' bond. It was very non-cerebral and mostly revolved around mocking each other, bragging, and showing off. Gilderoy Lockhart had obnoxious golden ringlets and chiseled features that made the girls swoon. Lucius' long, perfectly kempt white blonde hair and piercing gray eyes won him just as many admirers, but his fan base was definitely darker. Severus had gotten stuck hanging out with them together once so far, and hoped it never happened again. The two of them spent the entire time preening and exchanging stories of conquests argumentatively, while Severus made revolted faces to Lucius behind Lockhart's back. Not to mention it was annoying to get astonished looks from girls who obviously thought Severus stuck out horribly between the two notably handsome boys. Every time Severus spied Gilderoy in the hall, he made himself look very busy because Lockhart was even more prone to droning on and on about himself than Lucius was.
"I don't see why you have to hang out with Lockhart—he's such a prat."
Lucius smirked. "I have to keep him in check and make certain he knows his place. Oh, in the name of Merlin, don't turn around whatever you do-"
"Lucius Malfoy, I have been looking for you everywhere!" Andromeda Black yelled, charging toward the two boys, her long dark hair pulled back into a bun that made her look much older than sixteen. Her sister Narcissa was following her, in a handsome wool cloak that brought out her blue eyes.
Apparently looks skip a generation in the Black family, thought Severus, checking out Narcissa's legs.
"Lucius, if we're going to be partners in Advanced Divinations, you at least need to show up! Professor Zabini is not pleased with your attendance, and you know how tough she is! She's taking it all out on me! Your father may be rising to the top of certain circles, but you can't rely on your family being rich and popular to get ahead in class! My family is more well-known, and at least I have the decency to take responsibility for my actions and admit when I'm wrong!" Andromeda yelled. She paused and then turned to Snape. "Hello, Severus."
"Hi," said Severus quietly. "Hi, Narcissa."
Narcissa nodded formally.
"Hello Andromeda. Hello Narcissa," said Lucius, smiling.
"Oh," said Narcissa, blushing and wiping imaginary dirt off her cloak. "Hello, Lucius!"
Severus sighed.
Andromeda tapped her foot impatiently. "So?"
"What do you want me to say? I enjoyed your little rehearsed speech. It was predictable, like everything else about you. And now allow me to say my piece." Lucius' eyes flashed maliciously. "I did not choose you as my partner. It is regretful that it happened that way, as I believe we have virtually nothing in common, and I feel like the less I know about you, the better I like you. Being a fellow prefect with you was, dare I say, quite enough time for us to spend together, wouldn't you say so? It is unfortunate that I fell sick the day we picked partners, but it is not my fault. If you need me to take care of the way Zabini is handling the situation, then I will. But do not come to me when I am taking leisure, and especially not when you have to have your little sister come along with you! And if you need any predictions from me, I'll wager to say that tonight you'll be hanging out with Mudbloods and Gryffindor scum in Hogsmede, shaming your, ah—well known family."
Severus looked at the two older students, his black eyes wide. He'd had no idea that hard-working, goody two shoes Andromeda was friends with Gryffindors, let alone that she was friends with any Mudbloods. This was certainly a more interesting side of Andromeda, who otherwise did not stand out very much in Severus' mind. Andromeda, a friend of Gryffindors and Mudbloods, with sisters like Bellatrix and Narcissa? Strange. Very strange.
Andromeda stared at Lucius furiously, but stood her ground. Narcissa, on the other hand, was suddenly finding it easier to make eye contact with Severus instead of Malfoy. She stared, expressionless, into Severus' face. He stared back intensely until she looked away, embarrassed.
"Let me make one thing perfectly clear for you, Malfoy. You do not know me, and you do not know my friends. You do not know anything about my life. You do not know my family, and although you may think you know my sisters, particularly Bellatrix, you don't know shit. You don't even know where you stand. You are so caught up in your appearance that you don't know much of anything. So don't make any judgments about me, Malfoy, unless you take a look at yourself," Andromeda said.
"Another well-rehearsed speech. Dear, dear, you must have been positively dreading speaking to me," Lucius smirked. "I'll see what I can do about Zabini."
Her face burning red, Andromeda turned around and began to walk away, but then turned back. "Narcissa! Come on!"
The blonde girl stared at the ground, and then looked up, casting her gaze somewhere between Severus and Lucius. She looked like she was going to say something, but then she ran off after her sister.
"Andromeda's a bitch," simpered Lucius.
"Definitely," said Severus, nodding. The way Lucius had handled the situation astounded Severus. He had not raised his voice, had not lost his temper, and had gotten his way. Severus wondered if he could ever be that composed.
Later that night, Severus stood in the Slytherin bathroom after his shower and looked into the steamy mirror. Wiping a circle clean so that he could better see himself, he stared. He stared at his dripping wet hair that touched his shoulders, and his too-thin face, and the awful acne that had recently made patches of red that stood out horribly on his pale cheeks. He stared at his thin shoulders, and hairless chest, and below at his groin. He wondered if he looked normal, because he didn't feel normal. He hated how his voice kept squeaking, and the humiliating way he constantly got erect if a girl so much as asked him for a quill, let alone had a nice body. He was taller than almost every other boy in second year, save for Mulciber and Longbottom, but people liked them well enough. And besides, they weren't tall with changing voices and acne!
Severus stared hard into the mirror and tried to imitate Lucius' cool facial expressions, one long black eyebrow arched higher than the other, nose up in the air. "Andromeda's a bitch," he said, but it came out all wrong.
At the dining room table in the Great Hall, Mary was talking loudly about her new Hufflepuff boyfriend. "And he always answers my owls straight away! He sends the greatest love letters!" she practically yelled, glaring in the direction of James and Sirius.
"How many owls are you sending him, exactly?" Lily asked sardonically. "Can't you just talk to him in Charms?"
"Lily," hissed Mary through her teeth, "Play along with me!"
"I'm not going to lie just so you can try to make Sirius jealous. Look at him. He's not jealous," Lily said, pointing to Sirius, who was whacking James over the head with what appeared to be a baguette.
Mary glared at Lily. "It's no wonder why you and Snivellus are friends," she said. "You're just as mean!"
"I'm not mean," Lily said hotly. "You're being pathetic."
"You sound just like him, you know," Mary said. "You think you're something special, Lily. Just because you're a good student and Slughorn loves you, and you always defend Snivellus no matter what nasty thing he's done, and—why don't you just go over to the Slytherin table and sit? It's where you belong!"
"The hat put Lily in Gryffindor," said Muruvi. "Don't—"
"Don't tell me what to do, Muruvi! You're almost as bad! I know for a fact that you spent your summer with the Rosier family, and everyone knows they're a pack of dark wizards!" Mary snapped.
"My family has known their family for decades," Muruvi said quickly, "and not all Slytherins are dark, you'd be insulting my family—"
"Well, maybe I am!" Mary said. "I'm tired of you and Lily acting like there shouldn't be rivalry, Slytherin's part of it too—they're worse!"
"If you weren't bad before you got into Slytherin, you'll definitely be by graduation," chimed in James. "For example, Snivelly may smell bad now, but he'll smell worse in a few years…"
"Shut up, Potter," Lily snarled. "You don't even know what we're talking about—"
James made a face at Sirius and shrugged.
Mary rolled her eyes. "He knows more than you, Lily. You're a Muggle-born, you couldn't possibly—"
"Oy," said Frank, "now that's a bit unfair, Mary."
"I wasn't being bloodist, I'm a Halfblood!" Mary cried. "I'm just saying, James' family has probably all told him about the history of Hogwarts, and Slytherins—"
"I'm a Muggle-born and I think Slytherins are the worst," piped in Xing. "Mulciber was my partner in Potions the other day and he tried to poison me, I know he did!"
"It's not that they're Slytherins, though—you're just talking about mean people who could be in any house!" Muruvi said, a waver in her voice. "My mother and father and all my sisters have been in Slytherin, and everyone else in my family—and they're not dark wizards! They're quite nice people!"
"All my family are messed up and they've all been in Slytherin," Sirius said.
"Yes, but you're a Black. No offense," Muruvi said.
"None taken," Sirius replied.
"Your cousin Andromeda helps me with my homework," Alice said.
"Well, she's all right," Sirius replied.
"Avery and Mulciber draw naked ladies in class!" Xing exclaimed.
James roared with laughter. "See, Evans! Proof they're all evil!"
Lily stared at all of them. "This is the silliest argument I've ever heard."
"Well, you started it," Mary said huffily. "I just think you shouldn't try to act so sweet all the time. You really aren't that innocent, Lily Evans. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go see my boyfriend." She stormed off, leaving her dinner untouched.
Sirius took her place and ate the rest of her bangers and mash in under ten seconds. The people around him stared. "What?" he asked everyone, his mouth full.
Christmas break came and went. Severus opted to stay at Hogwarts, while Lily went back to Cokeworth. Severus spent his break practicing spells. He now knew a stunning spell, a spell that made warts grow on the nose of the opponent, a spell for causing a person immense stomach pain, and two spells to disarm an opponent. His mother sent him her old copy of Advanced Potions, and a very short letter asking about school. Lucius sent a long letter about his holiday with his family and how his brother's new wife looked remarkably like a cat the family once owned. Lily sent him a Christmas card and to his dismay, she signed it "your friend" (but he told himself that this could very much be Lily's idea of a joke). Severus took a lot of walks around the castle and often had to put up with the overly kind gamekeeper Hagrid, who seemed very eager to show anyone at all his very ugly new puppy. Finally Severus told Hagrid that he hated animals, and Hagrid seemed a lot less happy to see him after that.
Lily spent half of her holiday in London, shopping with her family and visiting old friends. Petunia had stopped fighting with her and merely gave her the silent treatment. Lily got a load of gifts, and kept in touch with Frank, Alice, Muruvi, Remus and Severus. She and Mary still were not speaking and truth be told, she liked it better that way. From what Muruvi said, Mary continued to talk non-stop about Sirius. Lily passed by Severus' house several times during break. It was odd to know he was not there. Lily had become quite used to Severus' eager face showing up at her doorstep every day of break. The house at the end of Spinner's End was always dark, as though it was abandoned. Once, though, Lily caught a glimpse of a man she took to be Severus' father. He was staring out of the window, holding back the dirty curtains. He was tall and thin with a hooked nose and wore a contemptuous sort of expression on a face that could have been gloomily interesting were it not so mean-looking. On that occasion, Lily hurried home.
When she returned from break, she made sure to send Severus an owl before she departed for Hogwarts. She asked for him to meet her in the student lounge on the second floor, and when he entered the room, she flung her arms around him. He gave her a funny sort of smile and pushed her away instantly. "Hey you," he said.
"Afraid I'll give you the cooties?" she teased, although she was a bit hurt at his reaction. "Happy Christmas then. Late," she added.
"Happy Christmas," he said, adjusting his robes. "How were things?"
"They were okay but I missed you," she replied.
"Come off it," he said, his eyes darting back and forth.
"You're acting kind of off," she said.
"Thanks a lot," he said dryly. "Missed me, have you? More like you missed making fun of me."
"Shut up, Sev," she said.
"Oh good," came a voice behind them. "The lovebirds are back together!"
They turned around to see James and Sirius grinning. "Oh, Sevy!" Sirius shouted. "I'm nothing without you! Why don't you two go steady all ready?"
"DON'T!" Severus yelled, and blasted Sirius with a curse. Sirius doubled over, moaning.
"Oh my Godric—what've you done to me?" Sirius groaned, and tears of pain rolled down his face.
Lily looked from Severus to Sirius. James did the same, and opted to go to Sirius' aid instead. "What's he done, mate? What's wrong?"
"My stomach," Sirius wailed. "Aaaaarrrghhh—"
"Severus, put him right!" Lily pleaded, standing precisely between the two boys and Severus, looking back and forth.
"I—I don't know how," Severus said, cringing.
"What kind of dolt uses spells he doesn't know how to fix!" James said loudly.
"Think, Severus!" Lily yelled.
"Wait—I'm remembering something—Abdomin—Abdomina? Abdomino!" Severus yelled, pointing his wand.
Sirius stopped screaming in pain, and breathed out heavily. A small group of students returning from holidays gathered around them.
"What's all this?" asked Professor McGonagall curtly.
"Professor, Sn—Snape just used a curse on Sirius, he fixed him but only after Evans made him!" James was speaking very fast, and pointing at Severus.
"Snape. Is this true?" McGonagall asked.
Severus did not even hesitate this time. McGonagall was a million times more observant than Slughorn. He nodded his head, and then hung it.
"Come along, Snape. I expected better of you. Twenty points will be taken from Slytherin, as this is not the first time I have heard of you hallway dueling."
"But Professor," Lily said, "Severus did do it, but Sirius was making fun—"
"Miss Evans, I admire your concern, but hallway dueling is against the rules and given that Black could have been hurt, I must do this. For everyone's safety. Now will you and Mr. Potter take Mr. Black to the hospital wing, just in case?"
James made an obvious sound of triumph and shot Snape a dirty look.
"And if you think for one instant that this means you are innocent, Potter, you would do best to think again. I may not know the full situation but I know you well enough to understand that there is more to this than meets the eye," said McGonagall.
James sighed. "Yes, Professor." Lily and James glared at each other, but Lily finally made her way toward her fellow Gryffindors. Severus was so stooped over that his curtains of hair were hiding his face as he followed McGonagall.
"How dare you stick up for him!" James hissed.
"Black wasn't innocent," Lily said.
"Yeah, but Snivellus shouldn't have cursed him!"
"Black was being a jerk!"
"That's right," said Sirius, giving a huge fake grin. "Carry on your conversation. I'm not here to speak for myself anyway."
"You're Lucius' friend," said Narcissa one weekend morning as Severus and nearly every book he owned were splayed out on the common room couch. She was wearing only a silk robe. Her legs were long, thin, and very white. Her toenails were painted a pale gold.
Severus looked up and stared. Narcissa looked uncomfortable, and cast her gaze downward. "Is that a question?" Severus asked quietly, unable to take his eyes off her legs.
Narcissa shook her head slowly from side to side. "Does he say anything about me?" she wanted to know.
Severus rolled his eyes and looked back at his Potions notes. "I don't know," he said. "Not that I remember."
"Oh," said Narcissa, looking crestfallen. "Never?"
"Never," Severus snapped.
Narcissa did not seem put off by Severus' rude tone of voice, for she pushed his books to the side and sat next to him on the couch, wrapping her arms around her legs. Severus wondered if her robe would ride up over her pants… Or if she was wearing any pants at all. "Bellatrix says I shouldn't waste my time with him. But Bellatrix can be a little odd."
Severus looked up, making eye contact with her. Her eyes were dark blue and sad. He looked at her, forgetting her legs and body, and wondering why she was acting so peculiar. "You know about them," he said.
"Yes," Narcissa nodded.
"And you're still interested in Lucius?" Severus asked. It was a silly question. Of course she was.
Narcissa did not say anything for quite awhile, and then she spoke again: "There aren't many Purebloods, which I'm sure you know. Families talk. I'm surprised you haven't been promised someone yet. Or have you?" Her expression clouded over, as though she'd just thought of something terrible.
"Promised someone?" Severus asked.
Narcissa nodded, giving him a strange look. "For marriage. Usually the families of pure-blooded boys look early—"
"Oh yes," Severus said stupidly. "Well… I suppose it's because there aren't many left, like you said."
"I'm not promised," Narcissa went on, and Snape was wondering whether she was only talking to hear the sound of her own voice. "Neither is Andromeda, although that's not a surprise. My parents say I'm too young. But now they think Bella is too old. She doesn't keep any men for very long."
Severus wondered what would happen if he was a Pureblood and he and Narcissa Black were promised to each other. She was only a year his senior after all. He thought about her disrobing, her body bright white like the moon, her blonde hair hanging down her back. His ears turned pink and he disappeared behind his book. There are better times for that.
"Well, I'm sorry to bother you," said Narcissa. Her tone was gentle.
"You didn't," Severus said, but he said it so quietly that he hardly believed she could hear him. After all, she was all ready heading back to the dormitories.
"Mary's just jealous of you, Lily," said Muruvi during Charms. Mary was sitting next to Lancelot Abbott and giggling loudly at everything he said.
"Why would she be?" Lily asked.
Muruvi's bronze complexion became rosy. "She says she thinks you're hoity toity. And a bossy boots. But I know it's because she's jealous."
"I don't really want to know what kinds of things she thinks about me. I think she's daft," Lily said.
"But she wishes her body was like yours," said Muruvi, turning more and more scarlet.
"Like what?" Lily snapped.
"She said she didn't mean to see you, but she saw you changing in our room last month and you've got… well, she said you've got boobs and she said she wished she had more of a chest," Muruvi said quickly into Lily's ear.
Lily turned scarlet. "I do not! Anyway, that's a dumb thing to be mad at me for!"
Muruvi nudged Lily, as Flitwick approached their table to check on how their expanding charm was going. Lily was incensed and embarrassed for the entire period. Mary had a chest, which she was always bringing up to their group of Gryffindor girls. And Lily had been wearing the bra her mother had gotten her before start of term but she hadn't really thought about it since her mother brought up. She stared down at the two breasts that made small lumps in the front of her robes. If Mary had noticed, then who else had?
There had been whispers lately, whispers about things even more awkward than the romantic slop Mary was so obsessed with. James and Sirius often whispered and laughed when they saw any older students necking in the halls, and Scarlet said she swore that she'd seen Peter checking out Jasmeet's bum in the hallway. Severus was mostly the same, save for his funny voice and accusations like the one about her liking Remus. Lily had simply decided that all of the boys were going crazy but now she was not so sure what was really happening. She thought back, terrified, to Mother's discussion with her about dating and sex. No matter what, don't listen to the boys. Wizard boys are probably no different. You are much too young for dates, so if a boy asks you, say politely 'No thank you.' Lily had been mortified at the thought—what kind of loser said 'No thank you' to a date, just because their mum made them promise to? There had to be a better way of dealing with things. And the thought of sex was even more baffling. The way Lily's mother described it, it was an uncomfortable act only suitable for married couples. It sounded enigmatic and odd.
That evening, Lily looked at herself in the bathroom mirror after brushing her teeth. She made a fake smile. It was nice she'd been born with good teeth, and she had always liked her eyes. Her dark red hair was sometimes obnoxious, being that she'd been made fun for it of in elementary school but it was manageable—not too straight or curly, and it was long now. It went past her shoulders and curled up at the ends. She studied her face. Am I pretty? she thought. There were pretty older girls, like the Ravenclaw beater Yuko Kimura and Sirius' cousin Narcissa. Lily did not look like them at all. Knowing what she was leading up to, she blushed but did it anyway: she cupped each of her breasts in her small hands. She could hold each comfortably in her hands but now that she thought about it, they had gotten bigger and in a short amount of time too. She pulled off her top and studied her whole body in the mirror. So, Mary was jealous of her? Lily felt accomplished, in an odd way. She blew a kiss at herself and laughed.
That weekend, Lily was hyper aware of how she looked and whether or not anyone else was noticing her. She wore a sweater that had fit perfectly last fall, a green cardigan that matched her eyes. Now, it pulled tight across the chest. She looked at people as she walked by, gauging their reactions, both apprehensive and interested in getting a response. Part of her felt absolutely foolish for caring. The other part she did not completely understand yet. Older students she'd never met stared back at her dubiously, uninterested in her. James and Sirius had no reaction toward her that was out of the ordinary, and Remus only spoke to her to ask about homework. After dinner though, Mulciber and Avery walked past her laughing.
"Nice tits, Evans," Mulciber said through clenched teeth, as his eyes wandered down her front.
Lily glared at him and pushed through the crowd, wrapping her arms around her chest.
"Think it's fair to attack me, do you? Think you can get away with it, you slimeball?" Sirius said to Severus in the dungeons.
Snape threw a glance over his shoulder at the Potions classroom. It was far enough away that everything Black was saying was out of earshot of Slughorn. "I didn't get away with anything. They took away points and I had a talking to. So leave me alone," Severus said quietly, his black eyes narrowed.
Black looked around, and then said, "Petrif—"
But Snape cut him off: "Expelliarmus!"
Black's wand flew out of his hands.
"Scarifio," Snape said. It was another new one, one he'd only picked up the day before.
Sirius pawed at his arms. "Ouch! What is this? OW!"
"It's mimicking the feeling of scratches," said Severus proudly.
"What kind of freak are you anyway? JAMES!" Sirius yelped, "Grab my wand!"
Potter had appeared in the hallway, and at once did what he was told, handing it to Sirius. "Do the laughing one, Sirius! Do it!"
Peter popped up. It was unclear at first where he'd been hidden but he was awfully small compared to James and Sirius, and had been behind them. "Do it!"
"Chuckalphia," Sirius barked, and Severus doubled over, hooting with laughter, which was so uncharacteristic of him that both Sirius and James also burst out laughing.
"Ha ha ha ha ha, scourgify, ha ha—" Snape managed to get out.
Soap bubbles floated out of Sirius' mouth. James actually laughed at first, but then the bubbles thickened into a soapy paste. Sirius was choking.
"Uh—er—rigerrightus," James shouted, and Snape's right arm felt like it was burning.
Through the pain, Severus made a note to remember that one—he was impressed with Potter for knowing it. "Damn it! Langlok!" Snape yelled, and James was unable to speak, unable to curse him anymore.
Peter raised up his wand to Snape's face.
"I dare you, Pettigrew," Snape said, rubbing his arm. Peter lowered his wand and whimpered.
Sirius was on the floor, still choking. Fat bubbles spewed out of his mouth.
Severus stood there for a few minutes, and then muttered the countercurses calmly. Sirius spat out pink soapy bile and wiped his face on his sleeve.
Something shifted in James' face. He was breathing hard. "You knew the reverse all along, and you just wanted to watch him suffer for awhile," he said.
"Don't mess with me." Severus glared at him, and walked away briskly, past Mulciber and Avery who were watching in awe.
"Snape! Come back," Mulciber called and the two boys caught up to him, falling in step with his quick pace. "You really do know some good spells!"
"I told you I wasn't lying." Snape's tone was cold.
"Teach me," Mulciber said hungrily, his prim voice high. "Please teach me."
"Me too," said Avery. "I want to be better at dueling. Rosier does, too. We've wanted to start a dueling club for ages. We could join you and Lucius, maybe? And I'm awful at Defense Against the Dark Arts—"
"Yes, it would be nice to study with you," said Mulciber.
Snape halted, and considered this prospect. He was sure that all they wanted out of him was a few lessons, hoping that they'd quickly surpass him and not need him anymore. Would offering his services lower him? Would he be weak to do so? And furthermore, what if they actually wanted to be friends? Severus felt embarrassed for thinking it. Stupid, he thought, but if they did… It would be different. Not that he cared for them very much (Mulciber was spoiled and demanding, Avery was bold and boasting and Rosier was tactless and selfish) but it was pathetic to have his housemates laughing at him along with everyone else in the school. Still, this could be a golden opportunity.
"The dueling's a maybe. I'll have to ask Lucius. I will help you on your homework," Severus said, "but I'll charge you a Galleon per hour."
The other boys nodded rapidly. Manors, house elves, new robes and sweets, thought Severus. They hardly blinked when I asked for payment. Shit heads.