28- Merry XMas Everybody

It was the first day of their Christmas holidays when Severus entered Jeffrey's record shop and was greeted by the man.

"Severus! So good to see you!" Jeffrey beamed at him. "What can I do for you, my friend? Coffee or tea while you take a look around?"

"No, thanks. Actually, I came here to look for a Christmas present. Are there any new releases Raven might be interested in?"

"Well, usually she comes here first after..." Jeffrey paused to frown as if something had just slipped his memory before he continued, "… after returning from that school of yours. It's strange... I've got the weird feeling I should know something about it but I can't seem to recall what it is""

Apparently, Raven had been very gentle when she had erased his memory, Severus thought. It was likely that one day, Jeffrey would remember all about them being magical. Severus wasn't certain if that was a good thing, but he would most definitely not tamper with Jeffrey's mind even more. Memory charms were tricky; a lot of harm could be done.

"There's nothing strange about our school," he said in order to keep Jeffrey from pondering about Hogwarts.

"I'm sorry, mate. I didn't mean to sound dismissive, but- never mind. So you're looking for a Christmas present, eh? I think I've got something special for a very special young lady."

Jeffrey didn't go rummaging through the boxes of records in the shop. Instead, he reached under the counter to produce a record which he showed to Severus. The cover read,

T. Rex

Glasgow Apollo

The date was printed in smaller letters; it was actually the 12th of March, 1977.

"That's the concert we went to." Severus realized. "I didn't know it was recorded then."

"It's a bootleg," Jeffrey whispered.

"I beg your pardon?"

"An unauthorized recording of a concert. Usually very rare and often not of a good quality, but this one is pretty brilliant. Raven will love it."

He really wanted to get her a present that she would love. Her friendship and acceptance of him meant so much to him, and he felt a sudden urge to reward her for the loyalty she had always shown towards him. But he knew as well that there was probably a snag in it if Jeffrey kept the record hidden behind his counter, and he also knew that 'very rare' was often just another phrase for very expensive- at least that was the case with most rare potion ingredients.

"How much?"

Jeffrey named the price and Severus almost choked on it. And yet, he wanted to get that record for Raven. It would make her smile and the world did always seem a so much brighter place when she smiled.

"That's not acceptable," he replied, wondering if he should possibly Confund the Muggle or try to haggle with him.

"And what if I gave you a special price for a friend?" Jeffrey suggested another sum that was noticeably lower than the first, but still much more than Severus was able to pay.

Perhaps now was the perfect time for a nicely placed Confundus Charm? He glanced at Jeffrey and found his face as plain to read as an open book; he didn't even need the fine art of Legilimency to achieve his aim.

"Don't insult me, please. We both know that you want Raven to have this special record or otherwise you wouldn't have kept it hidden under your counter. Therefore, I would recommend you to give me a special price for a special friend."

Jeffrey laughed out loud. "All right, you've won. Forgive me for trying, though. Of course, I will let you the record for the price I paid myself, for Raven's sake. "

In the end, it was still more than Severus had intended to spend on a Christmas present, but at least he knew that she would really love it. After all, it was the very last recording of her favourite musician. It was also a memory pressed in vinyl of a concert they had been to together, and he treasured the memory of that evening.

"You know, Severus, you're a hard man to haggle with. And I'm glad you did so- although you're almost ruining me- but at least I know now that you really care about Raven. She deserves a good friend like you are..." Jeffrey fell silent, knowing that Severus was so much more to Raven than just a good friend- the girl was head over heels with that scrawny bloke in front of him, and now he understood why. He wasn't a looker in the common sense, but he was decidedly a faithful soul. "Anyways, do you have any plans for Christmas?"

"No, not yet," Severus replied cautiously.

"Well, you might want to tell Raven that there is a big event at the Roxy, a 48 hour party with a lot of live acts. I'll put you on the guest list, if you like."

-o-

"Anna called," Raven informed him when he came back home later. "She would like to invite us for Christmas dinner."

Severus groaned inwardly; he wasn't interested in meeting his father. But instead of simply declining the offer, he told Raven of the party Jeffrey had spoken about.

"Cool," she said, before she gave him a hesitant glance. "You want to go to that party?"

No, he'd rather spend his time with a good book, but since that was out of question, going to a punk rock party sounded decidedly more agreeable than meeting with father and his missus.

Meanwhile, Raven was inspecting her shoes. "Um... Sev? Did he... er, Jeffrey... say anything."

"Well, of course he did. I just told you we've been talking about this party."

"Silly! I mean... did he say anything about me? Is he mad at me?"

"Why should he be? You erased his memory- albeit rather sloppily, I might add. One day, he will remember that you're a witch and then you can worry about explaining it to him. Until then, it would be preferable if you reacted as casual as you usually do. Go and buy records."

That was something Raven didn't have to be told twice. She squealed, kissed Severus' cheek, and was out the door. His lips twitched as he smirked about her antics.

-o-

Jeffrey wasn't mad at her, she was going to spend the holidays with Severus and they would be going to a cool party- this year's Christmas held the promise to be the best ever. Raven was so happy, so excited. It didn't matter that there would be no traditional food for Christmas Lunch since she couldn't be bothered to stand in the kitchen all day in order to roast a turkey. Besides, she wasn't a good cook anyway. Being grown-up and living on your own wasn't always that easy; there was still a lot to learn. But she could make decent pasta and Severus was perfect at chopping ingredients for a salad.

She had bought Severus a cassette deck and had recorded some cassettes with songs he liked, so he could listen to music when he was in his room, brewing or reading. Raven hoped he would enjoy it and that it would be a nice surprise.

It was nothing in comparison to her surprise when she unwrapped his present. Due to its shape, she had already guessed it must be a record, but then she stared at the cover- and didn't know what to say. Instead, she just squealed. Only a moment later, Severus didn't know what to say because Raven was all over him, hugging him tightly, and he realized that he was holding the warm and soft body of a squealing witch in his arms, which was a rather nice feeling- in spite of the ear-piercing sound she uttered when she... kissed him.

Alright, it was more like a smacker. Or quite a few of them. And they landed not only on his cheeks, or on his forehead, but also on his lips. Raven Lestrange was kissing him straight on his lips! It caused a sensation he hadn't expected, and as much as he liked it, he thought that perhaps it wasn't entirely appropriate... not in the way of acting indecent according to the guidelines of proper pure-blood behaviour- he couldn't have cared less about that- but... it felt as if he was betraying Lily. His body was clearly betraying Lily. When had his love for her grown so weak?

Gently, he pushed Raven aside after having given her a chaste peck on the cheek. "I'm glad you seem to appreciate my present," Severus said.

"I love it, Sev!" She gushed, picking up the record and beaming at its cover. "This must be the best Christmas present I ever got. We just have to listen to it before we go to that party."

And so they listened to the bootleg album in companionable reminiscence of the concert they had visited together, while sitting under a plastic Christmas tree that was decorated in the Muggle style, with electric candles, shiny baubles and silver tinsel- it was so typically Raven to despise the wizarding way of decorating a Christmas tree with living beings (such as fairies.) Simply because she didn't consider it fair to press a poor fairy into servitude.

As if a fairy was not a vain creature of limited intelligence that just loved to allow itself to be abused as decoration.

-o-

It was quite a strange little group that walked the neon-lit streets of London, heading for Neal Street in Covent Garden, where the Roxy was situated; it was the most notorious punk rock club of those days. They definitely attracted the attention of the odd passers-by, which were mostly festively dressed Muggles returning from their Christmas activities and they would often get to the other side of the road when they spotted the group of dubious people.

There was Jeffrey, of course, and there were some friends that had gathered at his place, drinking beers while waiting to leave, and for once, Severus was not the one that people were staring it. He was not the freak. At least not in a group that included Andy with his bright yellow Mohawk, or Sid, who had safety pins pierced through his cheeks. Rob was Jeffrey's best friend; he had long black hair and a vast collection of Black Sabbath t-shirts (Severus had never seen him wearing anything else.) Rob's wife, Joanna, looked almost exactly like her spouse, and Edie was a peroxide blonde with long legs in deliberately torn nylons, wearing a too short skirt and combat boots. And last but not least there was Raven, dressed all in black (which suited her quite well) today- well, except for her platform boots, which were silver and spangled with blue stars. Although Glam Rock was dead (apparently it had died with Marc Bolan, as Jeffrey had pointed out) she didn't seem to bother but would still be wearing her favourite boots.

While Severus was pondering whether her independent style was endearing or embarrassing, or if he truly cared about any of that at all, they were walking past a cinema that was just spilling out the visitors of its latest showing. 'Saturday Night Fever' was emblazoned in big letters over the entrance.

All of a sudden he stopped dead in his tracks, because he had spotted two familiar faces in the crowd. Lily Evans and James Potter.

His Lily!

In London!

With Potter of all people...

It came like a blow below the belt, although- to be honest- it wasn't that much of a surprise to see them together since they had already been as thick as thieves at Hogwarts... well, thieves was probably not the right word in that phrase, given that they were the popular representatives of the student body, namely Head boy and Head girl... He just hadn't expected to be confronted with the fact that they were actually an item here, in London, and to him it felt as if they were deliberately invading his privacy, spoiling his so far quite agreeable evening by rubbing that sorry fact straight into his face. To make things worse, he couldn't just walk by, pretending he hadn't noticed them, because Potter would never miss a chance to belittle him.

"Snivellus!" His nemesis hissed, staring straight at him.

Even in a crowd of a million people, the insufferable Quidditch champion would always make him out. Just out of pure spite and with no other intention but to make his very existence a misery. Never before had he been so aware of his plain clothes than today, coming face to face with Potter so elegantly dressed in his Muggle suit and tie, which seemed to match perfectly with Lily's pretty silk gown...

-o-

"Snivellus!" James hissed, and Lily elbowed him immediately. It wasn't because her boyfriend was calling her former best friend names; it was more because she didn't like the kind of people Snape was hanging around with. They looked scary, almost as dangerous as Death Eaters, and probably they were Death Eaters in disguise. One couldn't tell for sure and it was always better to be safe than sorry. She really didn't want her perfect evening with James to be spoiled by a fight if that was still avoidable.

So she took his arm and begged him to simply walk on without inciting any useless quarrel. "Come on, James, let them be. They're not worth us getting into trouble."

-o-

"Oooh Jamie, be a good boy, please." Andy teased, imitating her voice quite well. It sounded shrilly to Severus ' ears, not like Lily's sweet voice, and yet Andy seemed to have hit the tone.

"Yeah, don't mess with nasty punks, Jamie," Sid cut in, standing close to Severus. "What did ye call me friend, ye posh wanker?"

-o-

James chose to not respond. Protectively, he wrapped an arm around Lily's shoulder and fingered for his wand. Then he recalled where he was, and that he couldn't just hex people in the middle of Muggle London. Besides, Snape and his miscreants hadn't drawn their wands either- probably for the very same reason. After all, the Statute of Secrecy had to be considered.

But what was Snape doing in Muggle London?

"Ye might be the Earl of Fuck-Me-Dead, but I won't allow ye to insult our Thin White Duke!" A girl snapped; she had unnatural blonde hair and looked like a harlot in her short skirt.

James didn't really understand what she was saying, but he took a step backwards. Although he would have liked to play the hero for Lily, he was clearly outnumbered by Snape's cronies.

-o-

Had the circumstances been any different, Severus would have hated the fact that some Muggles were standing up for him, defending his pride. But he enjoyed Potter's reaction too much to bother about that. Never before had he seen the popular Quidditch champion flinch as he was doing now. Perhaps Potter didn't know that they were just Muggles, or- and that idea was even more entertaining- the big bully was actually kind of... subdued when he wasn't surrounded by his Marauder friends. Severus smirked at that.

But when he saw Potter wrapping a protective arm around Lily, his face fell and he would have loved to kill his nemesis.

-o-

"If we're done here, why don't we simply go on?" Raven said. She had watched the scene unfold with her hand at the handle of her wand, ready to interfere should things have gotten out of control. Fortunately, though, the interaction between Severus and Potter hadn't resulted in a fight.

"Let's go on," Jeffrey agreed, but he was shaking his head as if he was silently pondering about something that seemed to have slipped his mind.

Apparently, Severus had been right when telling her she had performed a rather sloppy Memory Charm on Jeffrey.

Only a little later, none of them was thinking about the recent incident anymore since they had entered the Roxy club and the first band was already playing. After all, they had come here to listen to music and to have fun.

-o-

Severus wasn't having much fun. Although he did enjoy the music- its hard beats seemed to take away some of his raging anger towards Potter- he nevertheless couldn't get that picture out of his head. The way Potter had wrapped his bloody arm around Lily, so deliberately possessive that it still bugged him tremendously. Because Lily had let it happen. And even more so, his Lily had actually snuggled up to that berk, to the very same one who had made his time at Hogwarts such a misery.

Hadn't they agreed that they would always be friends, no matter what? Hadn't they dreamed about finishing their academical education there, them being the best at every class, and then... And then? When she had daydreamed of her perfect wedding day, he had always thought she was talking about him being the groom. What had happened to their dreams? Why had everything gone so fucking wrong?

"Ye seem to be troubled," someone whispered in his ear, and Severus turned around to gaze into Edie's face. She was quite a pretty girl, despite the way she was dressed.

"I'm fine," he snapped.

"Nah, ye're not," Edie said cocksure. "It's because of that red-haired chick, eh? Strange, and I always thought that ye and Raven- but never mind. D'ye know her from school?"

Since Severus wasn't interested in a conversation, he merely nodded.

"Lemme guess, she's very popular."

Again, Severus nodded.

"And that bloke, the posh wanker who thinks he's somewhat special, he's probably the captain of yer football team."

He answered in the affirmative without telling her that the game was called Quidditch at his school since the basic idea of her assumption was correct.

"Ye know, Severus- forget about her. I know these sort of girls and they always mean trouble. The more ye adore them, the more adoration they demand and then they use ye and drop ye like a bloody hot potato when they don't need ye anymore, 'cause all they want is to climb the social ladder."

"Lily is not like that," Severus hissed indignantly.

"Stop fooling yerself. Ye deserve better 'cause contrary to posh princess Lily, ye've got style. Ye're quite adorable in yer very own way, and lemme tell ye something, Severus- the best way to forget 'bout heartbreak is to go on and have fun... if ye know what I mean."

He was actually fairly clueless until Edie moved closer and kissed him. His eyes widened.

Oh sweet Merlin!

This wasn't just a chaste kiss, not a simple peck on the cheek. It involved tongues and... it was definitely exciting. A girl was snogging him. Thoroughly. And he enjoyed it. At least for a while, but then he had to come up for air. Edie was now nuzzling his neck, and that felt quite good, too; it caused a sensation in his entire body that was just as wonderful as it was- wrong.

What am I doing here? Although his body encouraged him to move on and allow himself the fun she was proposing, he nevertheless managed to not give in to his needs. Because it just felt wrong. Edie was a lovely girl but he wasn't interested in her; he didn't love her. And so he gently pushed her away.

-o-

Raven felt a sharp pang of jealousy when she had to watch him kissing another girl that wasn't even Lily, his only true love, and so she tried to compensate her frustration by turning to the guy who was sitting next to her at the bar. The one who had been trying to chat her up the moment she had entered the Roxy. Candy-coating him, she would even say he was handsome. His kiss didn't mean anything to her. Snogging him was just an act of defiance, a way to get over her feeling of hurt.

All of a sudden, someone was tapping her on the shoulder.

"I'm leaving," Severus said, shooting her a disapproving glance- as if he actually possessed the audacity to take offence in her snogging... whoever.

"Alright. Have fun," she replied brusquely, half-expecting him to leave with Edie, and the very idea was almost making her sick with jealousy. But then she saw him leaving the club alone.

Immediately, she wasn't interested in pursuing that little game she was playing with- whatever his name was- any more. She pushed him away without giving him a reason for her sudden disinterest in him (although he was quite a capable kisser) and hurried to follow Severus. If she had probably misinterpreted his interaction with Edie, he might have taken her act of defiance just as wrong.

Raven would have caught up with Severus if not for Edie. Her first impulse was to hex the obnoxious girl because she had been bold enough to simply grab and kiss him. To Edie, it was just a game; she didn't love him like Raven did and therefore she could just act without having to fear any devastating rejection.

Life wasn't fair. And because she was acting stupidly anyway, she let herself get carried away by a rush of emotions as she grabbed Edie by the collar of her low-cut shirt, to give her a well-meant warning. Leaning closer to her until their noses almost touched, she hissed, "If you ever touch Severus again, I'll break every fucking bone in your body and leave you writhing on the floor in pain so unbearable you cannot even imagine."

To Raven's surprise, Edie had the nerve to smile at her. "Ah, so I wasn't that wrong 'bout ye and Severus, eh? Hey, calm down and don't ye worry, luv; I'm not yer rival. Had I known ye're seriously interested in him, I wouldn't have touched him. What ye should rather worry about, though, is that posh red-haired chick."

Raven let go of Edie. Now that was just what she had needed- to be reminded of his love (as unrequited as it may be) for Lily Evans.

Damn!

-o-

As she was walking the streets of London, Raven came to the decision that she finally had to tell Severus about her feelings for him. But when she entered her flat a little later, she got distracted by an owl pecking at the kitchen window. She let it in. The owl fluttered around the kitchen, hooting with indignation because it had been kept waiting; then it landed atop the kitchen table. It was a large, dark eagle owl that Raven wasn't familiar with; she seldom received any owl post nowadays. So perhaps it was for Severus? She wanted to call him but the very same moment he entered the kitchen, staring at her in surprise as if he wanted to say 'what are you doing here?'

Well, it was her flat. She had every right to be here, thank you very much. But at least he seemed to appreciate her Christmas present. Since he had let the door of his room ajar, she could hear the music coming from it; it was something loud and angry. Punk rock. Probably the cassette Jeffrey had given him for Christmas, which had caused a slightly awkward situation earlier this evening.

He arched a brow at her. "What happened to what's-his-name?"

"I don't know," Raven replied with a shrug before she pointed at the eagle owl that was watching their interaction with cantankerous yellow eyes. "There's an owl."

"A very astute observation."

"Yep, I always manage to surprise myself. Are you expecting any mail from one of your Slytherin friends?"

"What makes you believe it's for me?"

You're both wearing the same sullen expression, she thought but didn't speak it out loud. Was his crabby mood only due to his encounter with posh Princess Lily the Angelic?

"If you were a little more observant, Lestrange, you might have noticed that the letter is actually for you."

"Oh really? How come you know?"

"Unlike you, I am capable of the fine art of... reading."

Why is he being so damned snarky towards me?She hadn't done anything wrong. She had merely failed to notice that there was indeed her name written on the parchment the owl was carrying. But as she reached out for it the owl decided to peck at her finger.

"Ouch!" Raven cried out, sucking at her bleeding forefinger. "You stupid... poultry! Do you want to end up plucked and roasted as a belated Christmas dinner?"

Severus rolled his eyes heavenwards at her silliness, groaned quietly, and fetched a treaty for the owl from one of the cupboards. After having swallowed it greedily, the owl deigned to have the parchment removed from its leg. He unrolled it- and was amazed to see something solid falling out of it, which soon enlarged itself to become a book. Silently admiring such clever magic that didn't even require an Engorgement Charm, he scanned the letter for a signature and wasn't surprised at all to see it was from Professor Steel.

Dear Miss Lestrange, he read before he quickly shoved the letter into her hands. Severus was about to leave the kitchen so she could read it on her own, but he didn't get far. Raven reached out to grasp his arm, making him stay.

"Dear Miss Lestrange, I hope this letter finds you and Mr Snape well, and I'm wishing you both a very happy Christmas," she read out loud, trying not to sound nervous because Severus was so close as he glanced over her shoulder; a strand of his hair was touching her neck. Meanwhile, in the background of his room, the Sex Pistols were singing about Anarchy in the U.K. "Please apologize my long silence; I didn't mean to be disregardful but you know I am quite a busy witch due to my profession.

Considering our last conversation- if I remember correctly, you proposed to me a query which I couldn't properly reply to in a satisfactory way back then, given that it concerned a topic I wasn't entirely familiar with.

Needless to say, I researched into that matter and eventually found a book that should be able to still your curiosity. Now it's up to you to make the most of it, but don't rush things. Remember you're a Slytherin.

With kind regards,

Alice Steel'

"Ah, it's so good she finally replied! Merlin, I really miss her. She was the best Defence against the Dark Arts teacher we ever had, wasn't she?"

"She was competent indeed." Severus said. He picked up the book to read its title before he handed it to Raven with a frown.

Running with the Pack- my Life amongst Wolves by D.J. Hirsch.

It was story of a natural scientist, who was a wizard and an Animagus with a fascination for wolves- probably because his Animagus form was a wolf. So Hirsch had studied the social interaction of wolves by morphing into his Animagus form and joining a pack of wolves.

Why Hirsch's life with these creatures was supposed to be supportive in finding an answer to the question of why the Marauders didn't seem to fear their werewolf buddy was beyond Severus. He let the book to Raven and chose to brew up a pot of tea for them; most likely, this was going to be a long night.

"Look at that!" Raven chimed up all of a sudden as she showed him the table of contents.

Chapter eleven was titled, True Wolves and The Others.

"Open that chapter," Severus told her as he sat down next to her with two mugs of steaming hot tea.

In companionable silence they were reading about The Others- wolves, that only joined the pack at full moon. They looked different than the True Wolves Hirsch was familiar with, and according to his description (pointing out the small distinguishing characteristics like the shape of the snout, the eye colour or the tufty tail) it soon became obvious that The Others were in fact werewolves.

"Strange, they seem to act like normal wolves," Raven gave to consider after having read half of the chapter. She lit a cigarette, apparently tired of reading more about the social life of whatever wolf in general. "I had expected them be more... beast-like."

"Definitely- ah, but here Hirsch describes their different reaction in regard to the human scent. While the True Wolves tend to rather shy at it, The Others seem to get agitated, almost mad with bloodthirstiness by the smell of human blood." Severus shuddered involuntarily, recalling his near fatal encounter with the werewolf Lupin. He had seen the very same thirst for human blood in the yellow orbs of his class-mate, had heard the raw and untamed growl coming from its throat as the beast had lunged at him with sharp claws and an animalistic hunger...

"True, but apparently The Others weren't keen on Hirsch's blood, otherwise he wouldn't have lived to tell his story."

"Well, he was in his wolf form."

"Nonetheless, he is human."

"Not when he's in his Animagus form. You should have paid better attention in Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall explained it once- it must have been at the very beginning of our academic life at Hogwarts. She amazed us all when we entered the classroom and saw a tabby cat sitting at the teacher's desk and then she changed back into her human form. I remember Lily asking her if she would actually eat mice when she's a tabby. Professor McGonagall didn't answer that question; she just smiled at Lily- but I swear I saw her briefly licking her lips in a very catlike way."

"Ugh, that's gross. I must have missed that- fortunately, I was late for my first Transfiguration lesson. Just to imagine that one of my professors goes hunting mice at night..."

"Get that image out of your head and focus on werewolves and Animagi again. This book here contains the clue why the Marauders don't fear their werewolf friend, and the answer is quite simple. They have learned to become Animagi themselves."

"No!" Raven gasped while her mind was trying to digest the enormity of his assumption, even if she knew he was probably right. "That can't be," she spluttered, "it's not... well, it is possible, but... I mean, they would be boasting with it if it were true and..."

And they did boast with it, she realized, recalling the nicknames they were using. Prongs, Padfoot, Wormtail and Moony. Well, Lupin was unmistakably Moony because he would turn into a werewolf at full moon, but she doubted that Black's nickname Padfoot had anything to do with his human feet.

"But, um, don't they have to be registered if they are Animagi?"

Severus arched a mocking brow at her as he nonchalantly replied with a rhetorical question, "Are the Marauders rule breakers?"

"Merlin's hairy bollocks! Do you think Dumbledore knows?"

"Would it matter anyway? He's patronizing the werewolf so he will also hold his protective hand over his most favourite Gryffindors. Probably he's even proud they managed to become Animagi at such a young age, which is rather uncommon. Usually, it requires years of intense training."

"Well, Black and Potter do excel in Transfiguration," Raven gave to consider before she furrowed her brows. "But Pettigrew?"

"Nevertheless, we have to inform the Board of Governors. If they really are unregistered Animagi, they will finally be expelled!"

"Nonsense! Do you honestly believe that Dumbledore will let that happen? They're his star pupils, as you mentioned quite correctly. All they ever have to fear is a fatherly- or rather grand-fatherly- frown and after they've promised to be good boys, he will let the matter rest. Perhaps they'll have to pay a fee for not registering, and then they will be rewarded for their great achievement. Ten-thousand points for Gryffindor.

"So no, Sev, we will not inform the Board of Governors. At least not until we have sound evidence to back our speculations, and at the moment all we do have are some vague leads. For instance, we still don't know the Animagus forms of the Marauders."

She's right, Severus thought- as much as he hated to admit that- and he groaned inwardly, wishing it would be easier to get the Marauders expelled. But would the fulfilment of his wish really solve his problem? Would it change Lily's mind about Potter if she knew he was an Animagus? Probably not. Most likely, she would be impressed.

Perhaps, I should also try to become an Animagus...

On the other hand, what if he actually endured the tedious effort to become an Animagus and then found out that his animal form was less impressive than Potters?

Raven was definitely right. They had to find out more about the Animagus forms of the Marauders.

"Alright, what clues do we have?"

"At the moment?" She sighed. "Well, only their nicknames. Potter is Prongs, Black is Padfoot, Pettigrew is Wormtail. Now, with whatever association do you come up when you hear those names?"

Wormtail was probably the easiest. Severus suggested it might be a very small snake or even an earthworm, to which Raven agreed because she didn't want to imagine the other alternative that came to her naughty mind, thinking it could also mean he wasn't well equipped. Shuddering, she quickly dispelled that thought before it made her sick- she so didn't want to mentally visualize Pettigrew's private parts since he was such an awfully creepy guy.

They didn't get any further that night. Both Prongs and Padfoot were suitable names to characterise a variety of animals, but they couldn't tell for sure without more clues.

In the end, they gave up taxing their brains over something they couldn't find out now anyway. At least not tonight, in their London flat. The answers to their questions would have to wait until they were back at Hogwarts, where they could make further investigations. They were determined to solve that riddle.

And since there were more pressing matters occupying her mind now, Raven forgot that she had wanted to tell Severus of her feelings for him. It simply wasn't the right time for romantic confessions.

thanks to Alabaster Princess and hypnotic ink for beta reading