Draco and Hermione were the first to leave the secret chamber to return to join the other Gryffindors, they didn't want to disappear for too long or they might cause suspicion.
Severus didn't have that problem as he used to spend a lot of time alone and no one would ask him unnecessary questions...
Well... maybe Olivia and Pandora would ask him a question or two out of curiosity, but they wouldn't insist that he tell them anything.
Hogwarts, November 1st, 1976.
This morning there was a visit to Hogsmeade, Olivia had the intention of spending some time with Severus to talk about different private things regarding the group they had formed in Slytherin and about the possible negotiations/relationships between the Greengrass family and the Prince.
Severus agreed as having negotiations and a good relationship with the Greengrass who were neutral was beneficial to the Prince and his plans.
Severus had to politely turn down Amelia and some Ravenclaws who invited him for drinks at the Three Broomsticks.
Yes..., all the Ravenclaws in Potions class wanted to have a closer relationship with him, as he was a genius in the class and his instructions were the best.
He could make everyone understand anything to do with potions and he always had an answer to any question they asked him.
But so far only Amelia and Pandora had managed to really get close to him.
Of course, these Ravenclaws would keep trying to win Severus over or get close to him whenever they could, and Hogsmeade was a good way to get to know him better.
Too bad Olivia Greengrass was monopolising Severus this time.
On the other hand, the Gryffindor table was very lively today, full of couples who had made arrangements so far in Hogsmeade.
Lily even told Alice, Marlene, Hermione, and Draco that she was going out with a seventh-year Ravenclaw who had asked her out.
She thought about telling to his good friend Remus as well but Lily knew that the marauders would be able to get the information out of him since it had happened so many times before.
And as much as Lily didn't mind that this usually happened, this time she wanted to have a peaceful day without Potter or Black interfering.
"So that's why you were so excited the other day," Marlene commented with an amused smile.
"Wow, someone finally managed to ask you out," Alice joked.
Marlene smiled broadly and asked: "So, would you like to tell us what your plans are for your date today?"
Lily gasped for a second but quickly cleared her throat.
"We're not exactly dating, it's just hanging out" Lily clarified.
Marlene and Alice smiled broadly and Lily shook her head.
Hermione and Draco had repeatedly shot meaningful glances at Lily as they hadn't expected this to happen without the marauders intervening, but they both assumed that they still didn't know.
"Wait... Remus knows about this already?" asked Marlene suddenly as she frowned slightly as if something was bothering her.
"Hmm, no... not yet, you're the first ones to know," smiled Lily.
"And do you plan to tell him?" asked Alice with a raised eyebrow.
" Yeah..., but later" replied Lily lightly, taking another mouthful of her pudding.
"Oh...so, Potter still doesn't know?...that's convenient" commented Alice with a happy nod.
"Poor soul he''ll go crazy when he finds out, you know how jealous he is," said Marlene jokingly.
"Well..., for once I don't want to worry about him or anyone else, actually I want to just enjoy hanging out peacefully with someone for once and enjoy my day," said Lily, she had been with a lot on her mind lately and what she needed most right now was to clear her mind.
In a normal situation, she wouldn't have accepted this Ravenclaw student's invitation so easily, but now she felt that it might be a good thing to hang out with him, besides he was someone Lily had liked a while ago and now she had the chance to get to know him better.
" Yup, that's my Lily!" Marlene clapped her hands enthusiastically, proud and happy for her friend.
" I see... that's why you haven't told Remus yet" Alice added finally understanding the situation.
"Well... Remus is a good friend but he doesn't seem to have the heart and strength to keep these things from the marauders, he wouldn't dare keep something like that from them" Lily clarified.
This time Lily really managed to hide it until the last day.
'Pretty smart' thought Draco and Hermione as they looked at Lily and then watched from a far out distance as Remus and the other marauders glanced in their direction from time to time as if they wanted to know what they were talking about.
Which was impossible due to the spell Lily always put on when they were talking about private things.
"I knew it, I told you he was the reason why Potter and Black always knew so many things," commented Marlene angrily.
"Come on Marlene, don't be mean to Remus, he's just afraid of not being trusted or being seen as a traitor and all that...you know how marauders are," said Lily defending his friend.
" Nonsense, aren't you his friend too, isn't he afraid that that might happen with you Lily?" said Marlene with a frown on her face and clearly disagreeing with her friend's point of view.
Marlene took a deep breath and continued: "Look, I'm aware of Remus' position, he has no close friends apart from the Marauders and you. Most of the students know him and accept him, but for some reason, he always stays away from everyone, and even when he is with you he seems to do it more for the marauders than any other reason, as it is obvious that even with you he feels quite awkward sometimes."
"Marlene is right Lily, I think Remus is only really calm and happy with them" nodded Alice, she had noticed that too, even though Remus was getting closer to Lily as time went on, he still seemed a little uncomfortable for some reason.
"Maybe it is as you say, but Remus knows that those things don't bother me, he's a good friend and besides he always apologizes to me for causing me trouble, it's just impossible to be mad at him," said Lily with a cute smile as she thought of all those situations where poor Remus had to apologize for the marauders or for letting himself be convinced by them.
Alice just sighed and Marlene didn't look convinced, but she knew that Lily was too good and merciful to be able to make her understand that Remus put the marauders way above their relationship.
Draco and Hermione didn't comment as it wasn't their place, but they both knew the truth about Remus's situation and why he couldn't make close friends outside of the Marauders.
They knew that it was very difficult for Remus to be himself with other people who don't know that he is actually a werewolf.
In contrast, the marauders know and accept him as he is, so Remus is happy and relieved about that because with them he can be himself without any fear.
Hermione had tried many times to get close to him, but it was just impossible, he just kept his distance from most of them, and when she spoke to him he would just respond in a way that the conversation couldn't continue, it was as if he didn't want to get too close to anyone else to make new friends as he was perfectly fine with the ones he had.
It was quite sad and disappointing for Hermione as she wanted to be able to help Remus and support him a bit with his situation, but he just wouldn't let her, but stubborn as she was, she would keep trying.
"So, Draco. Hermione, where are you going today? This is your first visit to Hogsmeade, isn't it?" asked Lily trying to change the topic of conversation.
"We're planning on taking a walk together," Hermione answered quickly.
And Draco nodded, of course, they had more plans than just a walk, but there was no need to mention that.
"Hogsmeade isn't small, what if you get lost?" asked Alice kindly.
Draco laughed causing the three of them to look at him with curiosity and confusion.
They didn't understand what caused him to laugh.
"Please Alice, my company is Hermione," said Draco.
"I'm sure she has already memorized the Hogsmeade map from the book," he added with a smirk.
Hermione rolled her eyes at his comment, Alice chuckled and Lily along with Marlene smiled.
Hermione didn't say anything about it but sighed loudly and then glared at Draco and asked with a sly grin, "Oh..., Draco, why don't you tell us about the young lady in Ravenclaw that you usually hang out with?"
Instantly all eyes in the group were on him...
And Draco's eyes went wide as he listened to what she said.
'How the bloody hell does she know that?! I've never told anyone!' thought Draco completely shocked.
"I don't know what you mean," Draco said lightly, but it was too late to try to dodge the question as they all began to insist on him to tell who the young woman was and what their relationship was.
After a few moments of constant insistence, he surrendered and told them that he had started dating a 6th-year Ravenclaw girl with whom he shared a class, but he clarified that it was nothing serious as it was something more superficial...
In his words "just physical attraction"
Marlene gave him a wink in complete agreement while Alice just sighed and shook her head, she was a firm believer that you should only date someone you really liked, not just someone you were attracted to, but she didn't comment on that as her friend Marlene also enjoyed dating attractive men and she accepted that others thought differently, luckily her boyfriend thought the same way as her and they were very happy together.
Lily just smiled and wished him luck, she didn't have a problem with him doing that sort of thing either, although she, like Alice, preferred to date someone she really liked and not just someone she was physically attracted to, but just as she always supported Marlene, she would do the same with Draco.
Finally, Hermione had known about this for a while so she didn't comment on it, she didn't have much experience with men so she couldn't speak for herself, but just like Alice and Lily, she hoped she could be with someone she really liked.
"Now, how did you know about that Hermione?" asked Draco staring at her.
"I figured it out for myself. Well, It wasn't hard, just by observing..." Hermione started to explain, but Draco quickly interrupted her.
"Yeah, yeah, you're a genius, we already know that," Draco said, emphasizing the boredom he felt in his voice.
"You're an idiot," snorted Hermione.
"Sure, whatever you say, anything is better than being a know-it-all" commented Draco mockingly.
Hermione frowned and was about to argue but Lily intervened and calmed the fight between the two.
Hermione nodded slowly and reluctantly, then sighed and gave up on continuing the fight.
While Draco just smiled and continued eating happily as if he had won.
Hermione couldn't help but think how she would like to wipe that stupid smile off his face with a spell, she only gave up on continuing the discussion because Lily asked her to.
If this same situation had happened with Severus things would be different, since he would also make them both stop fighting, but unlike Lily, he would always make it clear which of them was right and which one was the idiot...
And most of the time it was Draco who was being a jerk to her, so Hermione always came out on top when they were with Severus.
Severus had a lot of similarities with her, from his studies, tastes, way of making up his mind, and many other things...
The only bad thing was that Severus also had his teasing and annoying side, something that could make anyone who talked to him feel desperate because he could go from joking to acting serious from one second to the next.
He was like a two-sided coin: the first side of the coin was calm, analytical, serious, cold, and reasonable, and the other side was unpredictable, hyperactive, impulsive, teasing but also terrifying when he got mad, warm but cold when needed and a bit unreasonable.
Hermione really preferred Severus to be only the first side of the coin as the second was often too unpredictable and annoying...
Breakfast went smoothly and pleasantly.
Then Draco and Hermione went out with Alice, Marlene, and Lily.
Lily's "date" was waiting in the Entrance Hall.
The 7th-year Ravenclaw student was quite handsome with an athletic body, he wore his hair neatly styled in a clean dark brown and wore a big smile at all times.
He was wearing a high-quality suit along with a white jumper and blue jeans.
As they approached, Lily was the first to greet the Ravenclaw student, and then introduced him to Alice, Marlene, Draco, and Hermione.
Spontaneously they all found this student to be very funny and sociable.
They all laughed along with him as they chatted about some things along the way.
Lily was happy and thought it was good that everyone was getting on well together, she smiled excitedly about her day in Hogsmeade.
Seeing this, Hermione wanted to completely transform this Ravenclaw student into James.
But she knew she couldn't intervene in these things no matter how much she wanted to, it wasn't her place and it wouldn't be right, she had already made up her mind that things would change with their time travel, but she still found it hard to accept all that it entailed.
But she and Draco had promised to live with it for the good of the entire magical and Muggle community.
The six of them walked as a group towards the carriage that would take them to Hogsmeade...
Draco, Hermione, Alice, and Marlene sat together in one carriage and left Lily and her "date" to take another carriage alone.
Many students had not yet left to Hogsmeade, but they took advantage of this to arrive early and enjoy the village when it was not so crowded.
After arriving in Hogsmeade, Lily and her "date" separated from the group and headed to Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop.
Alice and Marlene laughed at Lily's denial that she was going out on a date when clearly the place they went to was for a date.
After Lily left, Alice took Marlene to the bookstore in Hogsmeade.
Draco was horrified, thinking that Hermione would do the same, but luckily she was more focused on her plans than her beloved books this time...
Although there was no need to clarify that if they had any time to spare, Hermione would stop by the bookshop the first chance she got.
—-
Severus and Olivia had been touring Hogsmeade while talking about all sorts of things.
Severus was very interested in the proposal that Olivia's parents had made to him...
So he agreed with Olivia that during the holidays he would visit her family to talk formally about the matter since she had only told him about the proposal.
As they walked through the cobbled streets of Hogsmeade chatting and visiting different shops, the two finally reached the end of the street they were walking down and the last shop was Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop.
Of course, neither Severus nor Olivia were interested in going into that place, so when they reached the end of the street, the two of them turned around and prepared to leave...
But the instant they did that, they saw Alice, Marlene, Lily and another young man that Severus didn't recognise come out.
The four of them ran out of Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop in such a hurry that they didn't even notice that they passed Severus and Olivia as they hurried down an alleyway between the Tea Shop and another house at the end of the street.
The villagers who passed through that alleyway walked quickly, wanting to get away from that place as quickly as possible.
Just out of curiosity Severus used the Force to find out what was going on and he sensed that there were 10 people in that alley.
Severus could recognise Potter, Black along with the three prefects who had been in the incident he had had with Mulciber and Avery, the two seventh-year Slytherins that Abraxas Malfoy had sent to ask him for an answer, and three other people he didn't identify.
Olivia who saw all this had a slight idea of what might be going on.
"Looks like they decided to act today," Olivia commented lightly causing Severus beside her to raise a curious eyebrow.
"What do you mean?" asked Severus.
"A few days ago some of the prefects finally found out who pulled the prank on the train, they were..."
"Potter and Black," added Severus.
"Right..., well, it turns out that all of us prefects had a meeting in Slytherin to talk about it."
"And you decided to take revenge right?"
"Yes, we all agreed to do it, and I didn't exclude myself, I also wanted them to pay for what they did, maybe I wasn't in the prefect wagon when the prank happened but it still pissed me off" clarified Olivia who was currently the 6th year prefect of Slytherin.
" So... what happened that made you give up on it?"
"Why do you think I decided not to do it?"
"Simple, if you hadn't, you wouldn't be here talking to me while saying that they finally decided to act," Severus grinned.
"Right, as usual, you don't miss anything..." said Olivia.
"Anyway, when the seventh-year prefects decided to involve three students from their year who are rumoured to be official death eaters already, I decided not to participate" she added.
'I see..., those three people I don't recognise must be the two fifth-year prefects and some other seventh-year student' Severus thought.
"And you're saying they must be giving Potter and Black a hard time now?"
"Well, seeing the reaction of Evans and those two Gryffindors, I can guess so, after all, it's not often that Evans doesn't notice you, she and her friends always seem to notice you when you're around, they even glance at you occasionally when we're in class or in the great hall" explained Olivia.
"So I guess something pretty bad happened to make you go unnoticed for the first time," she added.
"Well... I guess you're right," Severus smiled, not actually bothering to continue the conversation.
He and Olivia continued walking without bothering with what was going on in the alley.
Though a part of Severus was screaming for him to go see what was going on, to not let Lily go or to make sure nothing happened to her.
For a moment this part of him wanted to take control of the situation, but Severus wouldn't allow it, Vader and Snape were part of him, but neither of them controlled him.
Lately, his part as Snape was causing him a lot of trouble, Severus was glad that his part as Vader was not the same.
Lily had been enjoying a peaceful and rather fun day with her 'date'.
It was a relief that the marauders didn't interrupt this time, she could finally really enjoy chatting and joking around without worrying about anyone else.
Her ''date'' was very nice, and she agreed to give him the chance to get to know each other better and see if they could have a future, Lily was glad she actually did because she enjoyed spending time together with him, he was very charismatic, mature and intelligent, he always knew what to say so the conversation wouldn't be boring or awkward.
So they had a great time together and she was already looking forward to their next time together...
Of course, like all Lily Evans' days, when she feels that things are finally going well, something has to ruin it...
And as it happens, that "something" is the marauders.
While she was enjoying her day at Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop, Alice and Marlene rushed into the place to tell her that they saw several Slytherins picking on Potter and Black.
Apparently, the two of them had left the bookshop and had decided to see how Lily's date was going, but when they arrived they noticed that several Slytherins were heading down an alley, and out of curiosity they took a look...
And that's when they saw that Potter and Black were in trouble.
Instantly they decided to tell Lily.
Lily sighed tiredly, but she wasted no time and rushed out with her two friends and her "date" to see what was really going on.
It may not seem like it, but Alice and Marlene had full confidence in Lily's abilities, she was an excellent wizard and among all the Order of the Phoenix initiates, Lily was the one who had made the most progress and improvement.
Of course, if Potter and Black weren't joking so much, they would likely have made an improvement just as significant as she did.
Besides, over the years for some reason the Slytherins never did anything to Lily despite her being a muggleborn, when she interfered in any trouble, the snakes would just make a few disgusting jokes and walk away without bothering to try to do anything to her.
Everyone assumed it had something to do with Severus, but they doubted he was capable of making all Slytherins do that.
When the four arrived in the alley they saw eight Slytherins surrounding Potter and Black.
Lily and Alice as prefects recognised that they were the Slytherin prefects along with some seventh-year students.
They noticed that Potter and Black were having a hard time with these Slytherins who seemed to be playing a rather vicious game with them by hitting them with spells while they defended themselves without much success.
Lily immediately wanted to intervene along with Alice and Marlene, but Lily's 'date' stopped them.
"Evans, I understand that they are your housemates, but it is not convenient to bother the Slytherin prefects, better to find a teacher" clarified the young ravenclaw when he saw the situation.
"I'm not going to leave them alone, who knows what could happen until we find a teacher," said Lily.
"Intervening wouldn't be smart, not only because there are 8 of them and there are 4 of us, but also because we would be putting ourselves against extremely powerful families" warned the ravenclaw who was no stranger to the influence that important noble families had over other average wizarding families like his own.
"I know, but I can't let them take advantage and hurt them," Lily said seriously.
"They brought it on themselves by picking on them," the ravenclaw said finally.
"Yes, but that doesn't give them the right to hurt them like that."
"I agree with Lily, it may be their fault but we can't leave them alone" Alice nodded in agreement.
"That, the Slytherins are being too ruthless" Marlene added.
"Well if you really want to turn the Slytherins against you do not count on me, sorry Evans, I really like you but you have to understand that you can't always be a hero," said the ravenclaw as he left to find a teacher on his own.
"Sorry Lily, looks like we ruined your date," said Marlene as she watched the nice Ravenclaw leave.
Lily sighed tiredly and shook her head not wanting to think about it now.
"Never mind that right now, we better go and help those two alvorotators quickly," replied Lily.
Once the three of them entered the alley they saw that Potter and Black were breathing heavily and sweating a lot due to exhaustion, plus they had several bruises and cuts on their bodies, nothing serious but it was pretty horrible to see.
"Hey, that's enough, what do you think you're doing?, you're going to be expelled for this behaviour," said Lily seriously as she looked at the Slytherins surrounding Black and Potter.
Alice and Marlene were standing next to them with their wands ready in case the worst happened.
"Lily go away, don't..." shouted James quickly with concern when he saw Lily but before he could continue two Slytherins silenced him and black with their wands.
Although he and Black resisted, 4 of the Slytherin prefects were restraining them while the other 4 turned to face Lily and her friends.
"Oh, look who we have here, Lily Evans in person," joked one of the 7th-year Slytherin students as the other three laughed with him.
Lily was not bothered by this, as she used to hear their jokes and laughter all the time.
"Leave them alone, you've already done enough damage," said Lily again with a glare at the Slytherin who spoke to her.
"And why would we do that, this is a lesson for them to know that Slytherin is not something that bloody Gryffindors can offend," hissed the same Slytherin.
"You've certainly made your point, now let them," said Lily.
"No, no, I don't think they've got it yet" joked the Slytherin as he pointed to Potter and Black who despite their current state were still resisting and glaring defiantly and angrily at the rest of the Slytherins.
"Hey Mason, how about we teach them a lesson too," grinned another of the 7th-year Slytherins causing Alice, Marlene, and Lily to tense and tighten their grip on their wands.
"Oh, I like your suggestion Caden, now the Malfoy's won't be bothered if anything happens to her," Mason replied with amusement in his voice.
Lily and her friends frowned in confusion as to what he was referring to.
"Mason, Caden, we're just here to teach these two a lesson, don't get us involved in your stuff," spoke the prefect of the seventh year standing next to them, but they ignored him and continued to stare at Lily.
"I don't know what you mean by that, but we just want you to let our mates go," Lily clarified.
"That, don't make things worse," said Marlene.
" Yes, your so-called lesson has gone too far already" added Alice.
"Right... I forgot, how could you know if Severus never said nothing to you" grinned Mason.
"Did she really think it was just a coincidence that everyone in Slytherin left her in peace?" snickered Caden as he laughed.
" It seems so, how naïve. If it wasn't for the Malfoys and their relationship with Severus you think you could act so freely?, just that you dared to mate with a Slytherin was a great insult," Mason said with annoyance.
" Yeah, a mudblood being friends with a Slytherin, bloody hilarious!" shouted Caden in disgust.
"Such an insult would never be allowed in our house, but the Malfoy's are extremely influential and no one wants to mess with them, your little friend Severus was lucky to be friends with Lucius and have his father's interest," explained Mason.
"Otherwise a mudblood like you wouldn't have lasted long for daring to be friends with a Slytherin, especially not to interfere in our affairs," added Caden angrily as he pointed his wand at Lily.
Quickly, Alice, Marlene, and Lily reacted and raised their wands in response.