Summary: Severus Snape was the bravest man Harry ever knew. What would of happened had Severus been sorted into Gryffindor instead. What if he only loved Lily like a sister and became friends with the Marauders.
Marauder Era, Gryffindor!Severus, Slytherin!Peter
Pairings: Sirius x Severus x Remus and James x Lily
Warnings: Homosexuality, Mentions of Abuse, Peter-Bashing, and M rated smut later on
Thanks to everyone who followed and added this story to their favorites. Here is part 15, 16 and 17 of my story What If.
Disclaimer: These characters to not belong to me and never will, if they did Severus would still be alive and the Dark Lord would have been victorious. These people belong to J.K Rowling, a brilliant woman.
Authors note: I have no beta so sorry for any grammar mistakes, no matter how many times I go over this I won't be able to catch all my mistakes.
What If
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Part 15: Summer- Sirius and James
James Charlus Potter and Sirius Orion Black walked into the Potter household with identical grins on their faces. Walburga Black had said nothing of Sirius going over to the Potters, not that she ever cared what he did or thought, but he had though she would have wanted him home for punishments. He really didn't think it would have been this easy to just go with James and his parents. He had expected his mother to screech like a banshee and drag him kicking and screaming back home were she would deal out what whatever punishment she deemed he rightfully deserved as a blood traitor who could have almost gotten perfect boy Regulus injured with his idiotic stunt. However, he wasn't complaining. Nope, he was a free man staying with his best friend with his loving parents and no sadistic punishments to recover from. Life couldn't be better.
The first month went by faster then they both expected. There really wasn't much to do, Charlus was working and Dorea was busy taking care of the house, so that just left the boys to their own devices. Since they had nothing else, James decided that they should play a one on one Quidditch match. James's parents had just bought him a personal Quidditch practice set that came with two bludgers, a Quaffle and the golden snitch. Because James was the Gryffindor team Seeker, it was good for him to get in some practice. Sirius had watched the sport before but never actually played. The Gryffindor team had been full their second year and since James had wanted the only spot available so much that Sirius didn't have the heart to tryout, incase he made it on and James didn't.
The games lasted for an hour to two hours each time. They played everyday, multiple times. There really wasn't much else to do. They couldn't use magic outside Hogwarts since they were underage, so that eliminated anything fun. When they weren't playing Quidditch they were either playing Wizards chess, Exploding snap or just talking and telling jokes to pass the time. Half way through the first month they had decided to go into muggle London to see what things they could do. They spent it mostly shopping with weird muggle money and checking out the muggle's sport store. No muggle sport in their opinion would ever be as good as Quidditch. Seriously, what kind of dumb names were football, basketball and baseball and why did they all have the word ball in them. Quidditch used several balls, yet the word wasn't in their sport's name. Muggles could be so uncreative sometimes.
The second month was just like the first except Mrs. Potter was getting on both their cases about the schoolwork they still needed to do.
"I've let you have your first month work free, but I won't have you two scrambling at the last minute to get your work in. You will not be turning in half assed work." Dorea was quite scary when she wanted to be, Sirius had to chalk it up to the crazy Black genes she inherited. However, despite the warnings from Mrs. Potter, the boys went half way through the month without doing a single ounce of work until they were caught, not by Mrs. Potter, but Mr. Potter. Charlus was a laid back and the cool dad kind, but not even he would tolerate procrastination and half assed work, so with the threat of getting hell from the two of them, the pair begrudgingly set about their work. They really wished that Remus, Lily and Severus were here to give them a hand.
It took them well into the second half of their third months before they were finished with the crater sized amount of work they were given. It really out to be illegal for a professor to assign so much homework over the summer break. It was called a break for a reason, so throughout the three months of summer they could have a break from school. Fortunately they had done their work and they still had two weeks left until it was time to return to Hogwarts. They truly did miss their friends, even if they didn't miss the constant presence of homework and evil Slytherine.
They spent the last two weeks playing Quidditch, a game that Sirius had immediately become good at. The position he loved the most was a Beater. He loved soaring with a bat and hitting oncoming bludgers at James head. He was actually quite happy to note that one of the Beater for the team had been a seventh year, so this year the spot was open. Sirius would definitely have to try out. Now he could hit hard, fast moving objects at his brother's head without getting in trouble. If rumors were true, of course. Since his dear brother was going into his second year and the Slytherine had just lost their Seeker, their had been rumors speculating that Regulus would be trying out for the post. Sirius couldn't wait until he could swing bludgers at his brother's smug little face. Bastard deserved it in his opinion.
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Part 16: Hogwart's Express
The first of September came and Sirius and James were at platform 9¾ where they were saying goodbye to James's parents and Sirius thanking them for allowing him to spend the summer. Charlus and Dorea wished their son and their mentally adopted son goodbye before they apparated away. James and Sirius climbed onto the train and took their normal compartment, waiting for the others to arrive. Remus was the first to arrive with his shy smile and a happy gleam in his bright eyes. They talked about how their summers went for a while. Sirius and James complained on how boring it was with only playing Quidditch most of the time and the insane amount of schoolwork that was necessary for them to complete. Remus also stated how boring and monotonous his break had been and how lonely he had been, especially during his transformations. James and Sirius looked knowingly at each other when Remus talked of his transformations. They had a plan but first they needed to talk with the others first.
Lily and Severus were the last of the group to arrive walking hand in hand. They seemed quite happy, which was strange since Severus had explained his home life and there was nothing happy about it. The two thirteen year olds sat down, Lily next to James on one side and Severus in-between Sirius and Remus on the other.
"You're not going to believe what happened this summer," Lily began. The other Marauders listened in. What could have happened to make the both of them so darn cheerful? Not that it wasn't welcomed; anything that put a smile of their faces was worthy of their attention. Lily explained about what had happened to Severus on the first day back. About how he found his mother almost dead and how if his mother hadn't used a stunning spell on Tobias, then he would of killed Severus. The male Marauders were not happy to hear this; in fact they were quite livid that a 'pathetic muggle' like Tobias could hurt his wife and a sweetheart like Severus. Lily continued with how she and her parents helped Eileen to the hospital, welcomed she and Severus into their home and how they had testified against Tobias in a Wizard court. The trial couldn't have been done in the muggle world since Tobias would blab about what Eileen and Severus were and Wizarding society was trying to keep as many muggles from knowing as possible.
When Lily had finished, James, Sirius and Remus fired off questions after questions. Most of them being about Eileen and Severus's health, which Severus had replied were never better. He and his mother were slowly recovering, his mother most of all. He explained that she had been a dirty, almost unattractive woman under her husband's tyranny and how she was weak and shy. Now she was confident and held herself up high. Her appearance was also considerably better now that she could eat and shower more often. It had done wonders for both his mother and him. He was quite thankful to Lily and her parents for taking them in.
The train ride was spent talking about each other's summers, James, Sirius and Remus relaying the epic boredomness they had felt, while Severus and Lily explained all the cool places that had went to during the second half of summer. Once the trial had moved out of the way, the Evans and Snape family had all gone as a new family unit to amusement parks, restaurants, museums, you name it, they went. Half way through, the trolley lady made her rounds and the five of them bought as much food as humanly possible. They ate and laughed, talked and joked for hours. Two hours away from Hogwarts Remus had to excuse him self to the bathroom, those vomit flavored jelly beans mixed in with snot and dirty socks had unsettled his stomach. James and Sirius took this time to pitch their idea of how to help Remus during his transformations to Severus and Lily.
"Hey guys, listen up," James spoke, rounding up their attention. "You know about Remus's furry little problem. Well I think I have a way of making it more tolerable."
"Wolfsbane?" Severus questioned. There was such a potion out there that could help a werewolf keep his mind, but it was in the developing stages and did more harm than good.
"No. During the summer Sirius and I read about werewolves for our DADA summer work and we learned that they don't hurt other animals." Sirius and James paused expectantly, as if they thought this was enough for the other two occupants to deduce their great idea.
"So?" Lily questioned, confused.
"So," Sirius replied. "We can keep Remus company and stop him from hurting himself if we become animals."
"Animals? How do you purpose we do that?" Lily asked skeptically.
"We can be Animagus," Severus spoke up. He had read about them in the restricted section of the library when he had been looking for a more advanced potions book then the ones available to everyone.
"It's a good idea right?" James spoke.
"It is," Severus conceded. The two pranksters seemed quite happy at the admission.
"That's great and all, but what is an Animagus?" Lily asked. She did not completely understand where the conversation was heading.
"An Animagus is an advanced form of transfiguration were you transfigure yourself into the form of your spirit animal. That is the basic definition, I'll tell you more about it later, there is a whole book on it in the restricted section," Severus replied. Lily nodded, smiling. Now she knew what they were going on about, since Remus would hurt them if he were to see them in human form once he was transformed, it would be better if they weren't humans. So if they were to become animals then Remus wouldn't attack them because werewolves didn't attack animals and they would be able to keep Remus company. It was an endearing thought.
"So are we all in agreement?" James asked. Severus and Lily nodded.
"Good then, Severus you'll have to show us where that book on Animagus are, so we can use it to learn from," Sirius stated. Severus promised he would.
Remus came back from the toilet looking worse for wear.
"Remind me never to ever touch another every flavored jelly bean again. From now on I am sticking to chocolate," Remus groaned. Severus rubbed Remus's back affectionately while Sirius and James snickered, only for them to get the evil eye from Lily. The five of them resumed normal conversation and it was a matter of time before they reached Hogwarts. Once there, they all got off and went to get a carriage to themselves. Severus out of the corner of his eye saw what looked to be a skeletal horse of some kind in front of the carriages, but when he turned completely for a better look, their was nothing there. Severus frowned in confusion but played it off as an overactive imagination, though in the back of his head he was curious to do some research about what he had seen. Getting in into the horseless carriage them began their track up to the great stone fortress of Hogwarts in all its beauty.
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Part 17: September 1st
The carriages arrived at Hogwarts and the five Marauders got off and went inside the castle, maneuvering around until the appeared in the Great Hall where they sat down at the Gryffindor table. Once everyone was seated the new first years came bounding through the giant doors nervously, looking around skittishly. Dumbeldore smiled warmly at the all, his blue eyes twinkling behind crescent-moon shaped spectacles. McGonagall set the sorting hat down on the three-legged stool and one by one she called up students to try on the weathered hat. The Sorting hat called out one of the three Houses and that student went to that house. This year a total of twenty-three went to Gryffindor, nineteen into Ravenclaw, thirty-five into Huffelpuff and twenty-four into Slytherine.
Dumbeldore gave the usual speech, announcing a new DADA professor (Professor Krakens) and soon the empty tables erupted with delicious food. The studious trio ate with slow bites while the pranking duo ate like their lives depended on it. The trio have long since gotten use to the way the duo ate, so they said nothing on their lack of table manners, though Lily occasionally gave them a disgusted glance. Dinner ended soon enough and the Marauders headed to Gryffindor tower, entering the common room. Since it was a Friday, they didn't need to go to class until Monday, so they had the whole week to just hang out before their third year kicked off.
In the common room, the five Gryffindors sat in a cozy space in the far left corner of the room. There, Lily decided it was best that they went over their summer work together, just to make sure it was right. She gave Sirius and James pointed looks, which they returned with sheepish grins. As she read over their work, it was clear to her and the other two that James and Sirius hadn't even tried. In brewing a simple poison, the ingredient of pixie dust was not something to be added right after the newt legs, because according the Severus, the poison would turn from forest green to neon pink and exploded. Unbeknownst to Severus, James and Sirius stowed away that information, because they planned on having some fun with that, at the expense of those vicious Slytherine. After and hour of redoing James and Sirius's summer homework, the five Gryffindors decided it was time to go to bed. Lily waved goodbye, while the four boys headed into their shared dormitory.
"You know, you look much better now that you're being properly cared for," James commented. They were all getting dressed to go to bed, which consisted of just sleeping in their boxers.
"Yeah, you always came back skin as hell. It was scary to see. All skin and bones," Sirius added.
"I agree, you're quite filled out," Remus continued.
"Are you calling me fat," Severus teased, scrunching up his nose cutely. Remus looked mortified.
"No, of course not. You look absolutely stunning," Remus turned red. "I mean, you don't look food deprived is all." Severus watched as Remus excused himself to the bathroom. He gave the other two boys puzzled looks, which James returned with one of his own, but Sirius was frowning slightly. Severus wondered why?
"Is there something wrong Sirius?" Severus asked. Sirius was still frowning but shook his head, curly dark hair shipping back and forth with the motion. Now it was Severus's turn to frown and James felt awkward just standing their, his two friends frowning with weird expressions on their faces. Remus came out, looking calm, as if nothing had happened, and James quickly went in. The atmosphere was tense and he didn't like it.
"Night," the all called once they finally got into bed. Whatever had happened earlier was clearly still unresolved. James had come out to the three of them just staring at each other. Well more like Sirius staring at Remus, who stared back, while Severus looked from one to the other. Sirius and Remus looked like they were analyzing each other, trying to find something in each others gaze that would solve all their unasked questions, whatever those questions might be. However, it didn't seem to be progressing none, so James loudly announced that the bathroom was free. This broke the trance as Severus left to go take care of the essentials while Sirius and Remus broke off their staring competition. Something was going on between those to and he was going to get to the bottom of it one way or another. He would just have to run this by Lily, she was a smart girl, and she would be able to understand what he didn't.
The next day thing seemed to be fine and James thought that maybe he didn't have to ask Lily for advice. They ate breakfast together, laughing and joking like they normally did and there was one of the awkwardness of last night to be seen. There was however some obnoxiously jeering Slytherine. There was Pettigrew and his two stooges, Crabble and Goyle. Then there was pompous ass Lucius Malfoy and the little Death Eaters, Mulciber, Avery, Rosier, Wilkes, Barty and Regulus. Sirius and his brother sneered at each other for a while until Severus touched his shoulder lightly, pulling his attention away from his ass of a brother to the boy besides him.
"Something the matter?" Sirius questioned concerned. Severus smiled lightly and shook his head. Breakfast ended and the Marauders decided to go out by the lake and hang, since there wasn't much to do. They sat down in the shade of a large tree.
They chatted for a while until a boy their age came up to them, Frank Longbottom.
"Hey Remus, the Professor McGonagall would like to see you."
"Thank you Frank," Remus replied kindly. Frank smiled and nodded before disappearing with a blonde haired girl they believed was named Alice. "I guess I have to go."
Remus left his friends and as soon as he was out of sight, Severus immediately took out a large book from his school bag.
"What is that?" Sirius questioned. He had never seen a book so big, there had to be at least a thousand pages.
"The History and Guide to Animagus," Severus replied.
"That's the book, the one from the restricted section? Aren't you not allowed to take them out without permission?" Lily asked.
"Yes, but this is an emergency. Remus needs us," Severus stated boldly.
"Look at Severus, breaking the rules," Sirius and James teased. Severus pouted and glared at them.
"Only for a good cause."
"We do it for a good cause too."
"Really, how so?"
"We make people laugh," the two stated with Cheshire grins. Severus rolled his eyes and Lily followed.
They looked over the book, skipping the history lesson, because James and Sirius complained that it was boring. Severus promised he'd let the girl read it later. The guide instructed them that the first step was to brew a complicated potion, which Severus commented was a piece of cake for him. Lily, James and Sirius had laughed at this; Severus had said it in such a haughty manner that they couldn't help themselves. Once that was done, they would drink the potion, which would give them a dream about them as their spirit animal. The problem was that you were the animal so it was impossible to look at yourself. One would have to make do with observations, such as if they were on two legs of four, if they had paws or hoofs. Things of that nature would be able to help them figure it out. Then came the difficult part, several hours of intense meditations were they would attempt to transfigure their entire body at will. This was particularly dangerous, for the person could either be stuck as their animal until someone skilled enough changed them back or they would be stuck half way in the middle as some kind of half creature. That was not a pleasant thought, but after thinking about how much this would mean to Remus, the four of them decided it was worth the risk.
Severus had returned the book to his bag before Remus was able to lay his eyes on it. They all smiled at him. Remus smiled back.
"So what was it that McGonagall needed to talk to you about?" James asked.
"Can't tell you," Remus replied. They frowned and Remus smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, I have been told I can't."
"No one will find out, we won't say anything," Sirius insisted.
"I know, doesn't mean that you won't take advantage of it," Remus stated. This got Sirius and James excited while Severus and Lily looked curious yet cautious. They agreed with Remus, if it was something that James and Sirius could use to further their diabolical pranks then it was better that they were left in the dark. However, Sirius and James didn't see it this way and for several long minutes pleaded for Remus to tell or secretly show them what he had gotten. After getting nowhere, they gave up, the sound of their stomachs rumbling drawing their minds elsewhere. The two pranksters rushed to the Great Hall, yelling about the last one there was a rotten egg. Remus smiled as they went and walked slowly, Lily and Severus keeping pace by his side. It was then that Severus noticed Remus sneakily pull out an hourglass shaped object on a chain and Severus finally realized what it was. It seemed Lily had also seen.
"Don't tell them okay," Remus winked. Severus and Lily smiled, swearing they wouldn't. So that was how Remus was able to take Divinations with them even though it overlapped with Ancient Runes. Lily didn't have that problem, she had skipped out on Divinations, but Remus had wanted to join them and the time-turner was going to help him do it.
The rest of the day went by relatively fast, they spent the rest of the day in the common room playing several rounds of Wizard Chess and Exploding Snap. They went to bed that day and slept in on Sunday till about midday, where they then went down for lunch. After that it was back to playing chess and snap. Dinner rolled around and the Marauders had successfully wasted a day doing nothing productive what do ever. The only one who had done anything was Severus in between his turns at chess or snap, taking out this year's potion book and revising it in his small handwriting. Dinner was served and they ate and talked like normal, watching as owl appeared, bringing with them the nighttime addition of the Daily Prophet. In it were stories of torture and death by the hands of Voldemort and his followers called Death Eaters. On the front cover were pictures of Death Eater wearing their masks, hiding their identities, but they had no trouble connecting the youngest looking one with the long platinum blonde hair to Lucius Malfoy. Seems they figured out what he had been doing that summer, joining Voldemort and killing muggles and muggleborn.
Lucius looked up from his table and eyed the five Gryffindors, who upon feeling eyes on them turned to face Malfoy. The blonde heir smirked smugly; he knew that they knew that he was the one on the front cover. It pissed them off that someone who they knew for a fact to be a Death Eater was sitting amongst them, converting all the little Slytherine he had around him to go down the same path he did. They could go to Dumbeldore with this information, but there was no proof that he was other than that they instinctively knew, which was much to go on. Besides, Dumbeldore wanted to see the good in everyone and he wouldn't stand for one student calling another a Death Eater. Especially after the stunt they pulled last year with attacking the Slytherine in their natural habitat, the cold dungeons, just like their hearts. No there was nothing to be done and that pissed them off even more, even kind Remus and sweet Severus were glaring with so much hate and the big-headed blonde that it was a surprise that Lucius didn't spontaneously combust. He gave one last evil smirk before he turned around, blonde hair flying about with the motion. They swore they heard sighing sounds from a group of Slytherine girls, the most notable being Sirius's cousin Narcissa Black. He scowled at his cousin; if they ever got married then he would by marriage be related to a Death Eater. Not that it mattered if they did, he would still be related to one because he was sure Bellatrix was already a Death Eater and that Regulus was likely to become one as well. He really hated the people he was related to, the only ones he liked were Alfred and Andromeda; at least they had some common sense to realize what an evil family they were and to separate them selves as far away as they could.
Dinner ended and the Marauders left the Great Hall to go to bed, for tomorrow they would be officially starting their first day of third year.
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Authors note: Another chapter done, please review. The more reviews the faster I go, they give me the inspiration to keep writing. Sorry it took me so long, I finally finished my AP exams so I can finally start posting more. I will try to have the next chapter in about a week's time, maybe more, maybe less. I still have finals next week, so I have to stuffy for that, but after that I am free to write as I please, so expect more after the 22nd of May. It may take longer as I have things to do, but know that I am not giving up on this story. I hope you all like it. Next chapter will be the first four months of their third year.