IT'S CHANGED (SNILY)

CHAPTER 9 Stealing and Sheafing

The moon shone from the large windows and its light seeping in, dimly lightening the corridor. Though nothing was visible, there stood a certain fifth-year Slytherin waiting for someone, under his invisibility cloak.

It was definitely past curfew and he was still lurking in the corridors, breaking rules just like he faulted and berated someone to. But then after having the means of doing so, easily, a human brain doesn't consider remaining under bounds. On top of that a teenager. Merlin forbids… asking them not to misuse.

A glimmer of red hair from the corner of the wall told him that his awaiting had come to an end. The bright face, he always loved to see, had a secretive glint to it and the green eyes creased in the tenseness of escaping the path without being seen.

The face stopped mere inches away from his. If not for the cloak, Severus would have felt her breath on his skin.

Lily looked around frantically trying to find Severus in the empty corridor. He couldn't resist more, so, he pulled the cloak of him, looking straight into her eyes.

For a second, she appeared shocked but then a smile flashed on her face and she tip-toed to kiss Severus on the cheek. He flushed. She knew he would blush if she kissed him like that, and secretly she loved to watch him in such a situation, though squirming a little.

"Sev" she looked excited. "Come on, we must go now"

Severus had been staring at her. He blinked and flushed again. If he kept on staring like that, he will soon make a right fool of himself.

"Yeah, c-come on" he was damn flustered.

Lily gave a mischievous smile, though it wasn't so prominent in the dark. She can flirt with her friend, couldn't she? The one who fancied her? That was truly fun, making his confidence fall like that.

She innocently took him by his hand dragging him, causing goosebumps to rise on his skin. "Come on, Sev, hurry"

"L-Lily… umm… we need to be under the cloak" he looked away reddening. That was going to be some uncomfortable closeness.

"Oh…" it was her turn to look flustered, but then she smiled. "Fine" she pulled the cloak on herself too.

They were both standing, shoulders touching that sped Severus' heartbeat, when he pulled the hood on their heads.

"We need to… um… s-stand really close, Lily, else we'll be caught" Merlin his head would have burned into ashes because of the heat of the situation.

She huffed. "You need to bend down a little, Sev. You are too tall; our ankles are showing"

"Oh… yeah" he muttered and bend down so that he was face to face with Lily. He felt grateful for the darkness surrounding them at that point.

Lily apparently noticed the closeness between their faces and bit her lip. She flushed, but ignored it and stifled the urge to laugh at Severus' face, which she could see despite of the dark.

He was cute. Only if she could have kept the thought inside instead of blurting it out.

"You are too cute, Sev…" she gave a nervous laugh after realizing that she gave it out.

Severus looked about to die of mortification. He cleared his throat. "We must go now"

Tumbling down the stairs and hiding their ankles from view, they reached the door of Slughorn's office. Severus was damn sure it wasn't locked. He opened it easily with a simple Alohomora. They entered the office, it looked dark like the entire dungeon looked but had a cheery feeling in it. It was empty, of course, who would sit in their office at one in the morning.

They began searching for the book. The wall near the door was filled with heavy potion ingredients. Book would definitely not be here.

The next wall, behind Slughorn's table was filled with small jars of nasty ingredients. Well… they were not even touchable without gloves.

Lily's curiosity burned more than caution, she reached a hand to touch a fascinating liquid, only to be swatted by Severus on her hand.

She looked at him accusingly. "That's dragon semen, Lily" he whispered scrunching his nose, repulse by Lily touching it. It looked absolutely disgusting, he couldn't comprehend how Lily was fascinated by it.

"What are you, Sev? A prude?" she rolled her eyes.

"It smells awful, Lily" he made a mock-gagging face.

She stifled a laugh. "I like the smell" she shrugged.

Eww… how could she like that smell? "You are disgusting, Lily. We need to find the book before I puke up all over the place" his face went green.

She bumped her shoulder in his, playfully, shaking her head at the sheer nausea evident on his face, before walking away from that wall.

The next one was just a wall, with nothing but some portraits of Slughorn's achievements. They rolled their eyes on that.

The last wall had books… well, entirely filled with books. How had they never noticed these many books here before? It felt like they had never been in this office before.

They looked at each other and nodded before starting to search.

Lily found something. "What is this? How to grow a perfect beard?" she laughed.

"What all things do you get, Lily? Interesting Slughorn reading this" he smirked.

"It explains his mustache" she showed him the book.

He took it and flipped the pages to see what all does it talk about. Well, it wasn't just about the facial hair. The graphics gave out too much. Hell, who would print such a book? And who would pose for it? Or perhaps it was that the male figures disgusted him, the female version wouldn't? Oh… fine then there were the muggle magazines his housemates bought. Being anti-muggle never stopped them from looking at those. They were interesting enough but never were able to arouse him. He smirked inwardly but then realized that he'd been gawking at one of the nude pictures and Lily peering at it too. He looked at Lily with a horror-struck face and gulped.

"Keep that in its place, Lily" he slammed the book shut and gave it to her.

She raised an eyebrow and suppressed a smirk; the picture was interesting. Who knew this day had to start like this? Though it didn't arouse her, not even a bit.

"And now Lily, please, refrain yourself from discovering all these oddities of Slughorn's office" he pleaded, he couldn't take any more of Lily watching at something like that when he was present.

Did he just think that he wanted the same attention on his body? He kicked himself internally for even having the thought. He knew he looked downright repulsive with that scrawny body. Perhaps, some exercise was in order this vacation. If only his father allowed him to, he scowled.

"Yeah…" she laughed, knowing that it was infuriating Severus but in an endearing way.

Minutes passed, but no use, there were just too many books to search from. Only if they knew the name of the book.

Lily gave a tired huff and sat down in the ground taking Severus with herself and a few books on top of them.

"Lily…" he groaned. "What are you- Wait we got it!" he smiled broadly.

"What?"

"You are a genius, Lily" showing her the book. "You found the book"

"Toppling books over you isn't called a work of genius, Sev" she snorted. "Though, I am happy we got it"

"Yeah… here it is" he pointed his finger on the page. "I knew Potter was an idiot. Its Horcrux not Hoctus"

"It is rather dark" she declared, moving it away from her face after just reading the first line.

Severus frowned at her and closed the book. "We got the book, then we must retire to our dorms. We'll read it tomorrow or later today"

"You are taking the book with you?" she asked slowly.

He squirmed. "You can rest assured, Lily, that the book is safe with me and… I am safe from it"

"I don't want you to go on that path again, Severus" she took his hands into hers.

He shook his head firmly. "I never would again" he said resolutely.

She smiled and began getting up with him.

They came out of the place and walked till the entrance of the Gryffindor common room. Lily looked at him and smiled, giving him the last kiss on the cheek making him blush, to her amusement.

"Good night, Sev" she breathed.

"Night, Lils" he returned before she vanished through the portrait hole.

He allowed himself a smile. The kisses were increasing in frequency and this time it wasn't just him. He walked back to his dorm and hid the book in his book bag before crawling up on his bed and dreaming about Lily.

*Page Break*

"So, you really stole the book, Severus"

"I told you, Charm, it's just called borrowing without his notice" he huffed.

"Well, if you put it like that" Charm took the book from his hands. "It's Horcrux not Hoctus. Gryffindors" she rolled her eyes.

Shane swatted the back of her head. "It is just Potter being so… so… so obtuse. Not all Gryffindors are like that, now, are they?"

"Interesting" Selene muttered after snatching the book from Charm and reading it. "It is a part of your soul that you cut from yourself after murdering and using this stupid spell to keep that part of your soul in an object, supposedly safe, if I summarize"

Severus popped his head back on the chair and stared at the ceiling of the library. Why would someone want immortality so desperately? Losing your humanly characteristics? He just needed to think of a person who would defy natural limitations so viciously. He sighed at that. Millions of wizards and witches on earth and one such fool. And Merlin knew how many more the person has made. Insanity. He looked at his friends sitting in front of him.

Austin sighed. "So, if I connect the loose ends. The diadem is a part soul of someone kept safe in that weird room. It has a protective ward around it that can possess. And unless it is destroyed the person who made it cannot die"

"Now, wait why do we want to destroy this thing, it's causing no harm unless you wear it? Even though the idea sounds appealing" Charm looked rather excited.

"Because, Charm…" Severus began slowly. "The person who made it certainly used Dark Magic. Now, it possesses people. Another dark point about it. It can make people work, hidden among others and kill the person he wants to be dead or torture them. The person is definitely dark and has wrong intentions and an ulterior motive behind" he finished thoughtfully.

"We need to find how to destroy the thing first and I would strongly guess that it is a difficult way" Lily said plopping her chin on her intertwined fingers, her elbows on the table.

Shane nodded. "Do you find how to do it in the book, Selene?"

"Not explicitly. But yes, there are loopholes in it like there are in any plan" she viewed the pages before Severus took it from her hands.

"Yes… it is not ordinary but tell me about one other thing which is not ordinary either?" he asked them, raising and eyebrow. When all the faces remained blank, he answered it himself. "Goblin made objects. They are one of the most intact things in the world"

"Oh… yes" came a contributed answer.

"And as far as I saw the diadem, it seemed goblin made to me too, wasn't it?" he looked dubious.

"Yes… it was" Shane said sounding like a perfect Ravenclaw. "And I have read about it too. All founder's heirlooms are goblin-made, to be able to sustain years' wear"

"So, can a goblin made thing destroy the other?" Austin asked.

"Definitely" Charm said confidently. "As a Pureblood, my family has many such objects and they had destroyed others with them" she smirked, remembering an incident.

"She is correct" Selene agreed. "If we can have a dagger or something like that to stab it" she looked at Severus hopefully. "Your mother is a Prince, must have gotten something after marriage, or did she?" she added after seeing the look on Severus' face.

He was scowling. "My mother is as good as disowned, though it's not official" he raised his hand to show a silver ring on the middle finger of his right hand. It looked beautifully heavy and expensive. It had an emerald green 'P' in the middle of a snake coiled around it.

Everyone's eyes widened. "You never told me you had a ring from your mother's family, Sev" it was Lily who appeared the most stunned.

"This is one of the only things my mother brought from her home. I got it on my fifteenth birthday" he muttered casually.

Selene and Charm extended their hands to show their family rings too.

"Well… as the heiress I was handed this too" Selene's was also silver, with a golden loop. It shouted about money and power. 'S' in between of a huge emerald. "Also, on my fifteenth birthday" she shrugged.

Charm's ring was an entire snake coiled, making a loop with a 'L' on its head and its eyes decorated with emeralds. "Yeah, on the same. Though my parents don't support You-Know-Who, they do hold a respectable power in the forum" her nose in the air.

Of course, Purebloods had power. They might come in use later with the information part perhaps. Severus felt that they will have to find another way of destroying the thing.

"So, well… do you have something that can destroy it instead of a ring?" Austin asked.

"Yes, we do. But the problem is that I am not allowed to touch them or I'll be left with a burnt hand" Charm's swallowed hard.

"Then we need to find another way" Shane spoke after a long time. "Search for another loophole, people"

"Okay, fine. If the most powerful object is out, that remains with a destroyer curse or a potion" Severus suggested. "We can try my spell on it or… umm, the killing curse. Just a suggestion" he added hastily after other's disbelieving stares.

"If we try it, who will cast the killing curse?" Shane asked slowly, making eye contact with every pair.

"Uh… I don't think that's a good idea. Probably, we will get a better solution" Austin sputtered.

"Then we'll have to research on it. Now, about the potion?" Severus said solemnly.

"There are poisons of cou-"

"Poisons!" Lily interrupted shrieking. "The most powerful venom, that means" She tapped her fist on her head.

"As far as I saw, the most powerful one was the one that now runs in Severus' veins, though its mostly diluted by Phoenix tears" Selene answered carefully.

Severus narrowed his eyes. "Are you suggesting to use my blood in-" and he was interrupted once more.

"Sev! It was a snake! Snakes have venom! Which is the most poisonous snake?" Lily was almost jumping out of her chair.

"It's magical. The king of serpents" he gasped and everyone shot him questioning looks. "A-A Basilisk!"

"We cannot get to that. Only if I get some money and buy it from the Knockturn Alley" Charm eyed them.

"Well… we are at least close to something" Shane sat straighter. "So, next plan is to research on destructive spells and further on getting Basilisk venom"

"Yeah… that's correct" Austin slumped in his chair.

"Tomorrow we are leaving, anyways. We can all meet in the vacations. Right?" Selene nodded at them.

"We can finalize that by owl posts" Lily said.

Severus was touched by the mention of owls and had an overwhelming urge to hug them all. He had never got any owl posts but this summer vacations, he might get many. He smiled to himself. He felt so lucky sometimes. Who knew he would be able to make friends one day? The real ones.

He gripped the arms of his chair tightly that his knuckles went white. If anyone hugged him now, he would truly burst into tears once more. And they'll think that he was some kind of a kid who cried on everything. He had already showed one such display to them. He flushed at the remembrance. But they never made fun of him on that or called him childish or thought he was weak, they simply understood. He smiled again. It felt good and warm in the chest, every time he thought of them.

These people were great and he silently vowed to himself that no matter what, he'll always protect them. They were the kindest people he had ever met. The lump formed in his throat; it took him great difficulty to swallow it. He will soon tear up if it continuous like this.

A snap in front of his eyes brought him back to reality. He looked up to see all of them frowning at him.

"Are you alright, Sev?" Lily asked.

"I am fine" he choked. The very wrong time.

Her frown deepened with concern. "Are you sure?"

He nodded and his chest filled with horror when she pulled him into a hug. No! No! No!

He closed his eyes immediately to stop any tears from forming. But, well… Bad Luck!

She pulled away and wiped the one that made its way down his cheeks. She rubbed his arm and he opened his blurred, bloodshot eyes to see her face.

"What is it?" she knew that he didn't cry so easily, and if he was close to, it must have been for a reason.

He shook his head and cleared his throat, then smiled. "Dust, perhaps?" he rubbed his eyes.

All of them looked relieved, though not convinced by his stupid excuse.

Shane absent-mindedly patted him on his back. "So, Mr. Perfect-eyes, kindly lift your genius invention from around us. Because I don't want my ears ringing for minutes again"

"Oh… yeah" he lifted the spell. "There"

"It's already about to be past curfew, Miss Solace would you want an escort to get up and get moving" Shane winked.

"Shut up, Shane" Selene rolled her eyes, getting up.

They all walked out of the library and separated paths from the entrance hall. Severus was about to follow Selene and Charm before which he felt a hand on his arm.

Lily was holding it, smiling. She came close and kissed him on the cheek. This time not for fun. "You deserve friends, Severus. Never forget that" and she left.

Severus stood there, smiling to himself and feeling grateful to Merlin.

*Page Break*

Severus sat in the compartment near the window and watching the sadness roll down the place. Alice and Frank were leaving the school and were having their last Hogwarts Express ride. He never knew they were so loved. Everyone they met, burst into tears because they would never see them again in the school.

Now, they were in the compartment he was sitting in with Lily and others when they walked in all teary eyes and red faced to say their last goodbye from the school.

They were hugging each other and crying on their shoulders as if this was the end of the world. They knew, they would see all of them around, but still leaving the school, one had been for straight seven years and made friends, felt sad. If they could do it their way, they would vow to never leave Hogwarts. The place was indeed magical. It bound people's souls to itself and make them want never to go out of its sight.

Next year Shane and Selene would be leaving the school too. Will they be like this too? So sad and reluctant? He was sure of that. Leaving the friends and place you loved for years was doing something. He turned his eyes to both of them. Shane had his arms around Selene and his face buried in the crook of her neck, tears streaming down his face. Severus doubted if he even knew why was he crying. Selene rubbed his back, soothingly. He didn't know if Shane was so close to Alice and Frank.

Austin had pulled the neck of his t-shirt till his mouth, clutching it tightly, lest a sob escape his lips. Austin was the most empathetic person Severus had ever seen. Of course, Hufflepuffs were skilled at it. And it wasn't very difficult to make friends with him. Frank and Alice wouldn't have taken any time either.

Charm was sitting opposite Severus, her face turned towards the window. Her face remained stoic but Severus could tell that she was biting her lower lip to keep it from trembling. How many people had this thing for Frank and Alice? He knew they were friendly and kind to everyone, but people appeared to be positively devastated at the knowledge that they were leaving. Severus doubted he would ever get such popularity. He scowled at the thought.

His eyes trailed to the red-head, who was hugging Frank intensely, as if she never wanted to let him go. One of her hands held one of Alice's hand, not wanting her to leave, either. Even a blind could tell that she was weeping on Frank's robes, who in turn was holding on her, fisting her robes at the back. His sobs were so hard that they shook his entire frame.

But slowly, they pulled away, still not possessing the strength to recede their hitching breaths.

Lily tried to lighten up the mood by a stupid joke. "Now, if you both are after all leaving"- her snort turned into another sob. – "I can open one of my secrets" she smiled through tears.

"What?" Frank asked.

Lily turned to Alice looking anything but apologetic. "I am sorry, Alice but I had a huge crush on you Frank" she turned to Frank and knelled. "Do you love me?" she laughed.

That made all of them cry even harder, though they laughed through it.

Alice banged her head on Frank's and said her most famous dialogue, she had to use often. "He is taken, Lily. Go find some other man for you"

"We both love you, Lily" Frank said and they both kissed her on the forehead.

"I am glad to hear that" she stood, hugging them one last time, before sitting beside Severus again. He didn't know what to do to comfort her. He felt utterly confused and the biggest fool. He hesitantly kept a hand on her arm rubbing it. He was glad that she leaned in the touch.

Alice went and swatted Shane's back. "Are you ever going to look at us. We can't be that ugly" she mock-huffed. "You have hidden like that since we entered the apartment, Shane"

Shane shrugged her off. "Go. Leave" he said in his teary voice.

"Shane…" Selene began. "Come on, move away, you are getting all my robes wet" though she didn't care in the least.

He only held her tighter. "I don't care" he whimpered.

Still, nobody knew what strength Alice possessed, that she detached Shane from Selene, though he wrapped his arms around her and continued to weep.

Alice rubbed his back. "Hush. Shane, we are going to meet in the holidays. Otherwise, do you surely think me and Frank will be able to live without looking at charming face for long?" she laughed and he pulled away.

"I hate you" he kissed her on her cheek.

"If it were in my hands, we would never have liked to leave the school, but we have to" she consoled.

Shane nodded, though it was hesitant.

Frank hugged him next and patted his back. "We'll surely meet you"

Then Frank left his side and went to window. "The scenery looks great, doesn't it, Charm?" he said teasingly.

She didn't reply. He put his arms around her neck from the back and kissed her head. "Charm, say that I am a blithering idiot to do an Auror course, I have been waiting to hear that in your annoying voice"

Severus sat their perplexed. He truly never knew; Charm was so close to a Gryffindor. The way she looked repulsed by Lily. Who knew what magic Frank and Alice played in people's hearts?

Charm turned around only to put her arms around her waist and bury her face in his robes. "You are a blithering idiot, Longbottom… An Auror course? Bloody, dumb… Gryffindor… After you die, I am not giving your ghost any place in my house" she said in not a very effective annoying tone, it sounded rather forced.

But they all laughed and Frank kissed her head again. "Once more, Miss Lynx"

"Shut up, Frank" she smacked his chest after pulling away. "And I still say, Alice, you can do better than him"

Alice winked at her. "You single, Charm?"

"Ah… yes, but I can certainly do better than you, Alice" Charm mock-huffed.

They all laughed.

Frank and Alice turned to Austin together, engulfing him into a hug. "Done crying, Austin?" Alice asked teasingly. "You have Marlene now we are trash, aren't we?"

"Say that again and I'll tell you what all curses I know" Austin let out a chuckle.

They patted his back. "We'll meet you in the vacations and will surely sneak here or there in the school to play a prank on you" Frank winked.

"Oh… Miss Solace must we give you an invitation that I and Frank have open and free hands for now?" Alice smirked at Selene.

She sniffled but held her composure. "I know you both are going to come around the vacations. What's the point?" her voice cracked and she looked away.

Frank and Alice went and sat either side of her, wrapping their arms around her. "The point, Selene, is that you are again making our lives difficult" Frank whispered.

"Oh? I am?" she looked in her lap.

Frank and Alice shook their heads and kissed her on either side of her cheeks, making her blush. "We love you, Selene" they said.

"Fine, I heard it. Now, leave" Selene mumbled distantly. They smacked her cheeks affectionately. She seemed to not contain herself anymore, so, she ran out of the compartment, leaving others smiling.

Severus felt too out of place. He didn't know them very well and therefore didn't feel like the others did. But for the first time he understood.

All his life he'd been wondering that how could people cry when the others left like that. He never had anyone so close to get such a rection from him, except for Lily and perhaps, her mother. But now after having some other people worry about his well-being, he knew how they might be feeling.

He remembered his own reaction after wrongly deducing that they would never talk to him ever again and the one of just last night. He could flush at it now and feel embarrassed but the swirl of emotions at those most moments make it positively difficult to ever explain. They pulled him to behave in a distinct way, he ever would. He never had imagined that. He smiled internally.

He searched for the faces of Alice and Frank looking at the door from which Selene had just left. Suddenly, they turned their faces towards him, making him feel awkward at the place. He thought they might need some private time together and he was being a bone so, he started to leave.

He got up awkwardly. "I-I think, I can use a walk for some time"

Frank and Alice smiled at him kindly. "No need, Severus, if I may call you that?" Frank asked.

He inclined his head in affirmative. Frank smiled at that. "Excellent!" he extended a hand, and Severus gingerly took it and shook it. "Nice to meet you. You have got a fine group of friends, remember" he gestured at the occupants of the compartment who in turn smiled.

"Thank you and it was pleasant to meet you too" he returned politely.

Alice extended her hand smiling, he took hers too. "I know it's a little late for introductions, when we are leaving the school, but you can always approach us, whenever you need"

"I'll keep that in mind" he smiled.

"It was difficult to come out of the situation, you have been in, I know it's not easy in Slytherin at this time but I also believe that you possess enough cunning to make out alive" Frank winked at him.

He sputtered. "Ah… of course, I try"

Alice leaned on his ear to whisper. "And good luck with the other secret of yours" she eyed Lily slyly, making his eyes grow wide. She patted his shoulder. "It's safe with me, don't worry" she smirked.

All he could do is merely nod.

"Take care" they said to all of them and turned to leave before pausing once more and sighing.

"Severus, I see you are the only sane left to keep their sanity intact. See to it or else they will surely cry their heads off" Alice said and they rolled their eyes, though the taunt in her voice seemed rather forced. They left then, sending another wave of tears to everyone's eyes.

Severus looked back, finding the task harder than anything in the world. Comforting people was never his area of expertise, though he tried his best. They were fine for the rest of the journey but when they were heading out the train, the realization struck them again, dropping a pit in their stomach, to never meet someone in the school they loved.

They gave the last teary good byes and promised each other to stay connected by owl posts and visit them during vacations and probably sometimes during school.

They promised the same to Severus, he loved the feeling of feeling loved and cared for.

He was grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Evans to give him a ride to his house, nobody would anyway come to pick him. But what happened there -it's not as if he expected anything better- wasn't eventful.

Hope you enjoyed the chapters.

The comment section is always open for the constructive critics.

Thank You.