1971-1972: Elixir to Induce Euphoria

Tuesday, January 4th, 1972

That morning, while the students were having breakfast in the Great Hall, Horace Slughorn rose from his seat, and approached the Slytherin Table. He went first to Rabastan Lestrange, then to Lucretia Burke, Marcus Avery and a few other first-years. He then scanned the rest of the table with a look on his face that suggested the man was trying to remember something, but failing. With a frustrated sigh, he gave up on remembering it. Instead, he went to Lucius Malfoy, gave him some instructions, and moved on to give the same instructions to a prefect from each of the other Houses.

Malfoy, meanwhile, was gathering the first-years on one end of the table, where he informed them that they'd need to prepare their cauldrons and ingredients for their next Potions class. It was only later that Seuthes realised Slughorn had been trying to remember which students were in first year.

The supposed brewing they were going to do today might have sounded exciting, had there been a chance that they'd do something actually interesting. For the past four months, the first-years had been taught how to cut and crush ingredients. So it was easy to assume the most they'd do today was learn how to turn the cutting board over the cauldron to let its contents drop. After all, that was hard enough that it required its own period. Just like learning how to wash chilly peppers. As it had turned out, that particular skill required two days to master.

The bell announced the start of the lunch break, and Seuthes headed for the Great Hall, where he picked up something to eat, and went outside. Lily was already waiting for him.

"Hi!" she exclaimed at the first sight of him, her voice almost painfully cheerful.

"Hullo."

Lily patted the frozen grass next to her, and waited for her friend to sit before asking, "How was Christmas?"

"Unforgettable."

"Really?"

"No."

Coming here had been a mistake. He couldn't handle a conversation like this at the moment. He didn't want to share this with her, and he knew she wouldn't stop prying until she knew what was bothering him. Lily looked genuinely disappointed at his answer. So Seuthes hastened to ask about her holiday before she could overwhelm him with uncomfortable questions.

"Well, it was great, actually." And she went on to describe two weeks worth of what the word 'holiday' was probably supposed to mean. "Anyway, I'm so excited for Potions today!"

"You do realise you probably know more about Potions than a second-year, don't you?" Seuthes couldn't help but ask. He had the horrible feeling that the other students would be equally as excited.

"I've never actually used a cauldron, now have I?" Her friend tried to say she had a point, but was cut off, when Lily shot to her feet and urged him, "Well, come on, then! We should get going, or Peeves might lock us out again."

Lily had repeated that last phrase every Tuesday without a miss. She tried to take his hand and pull him to his feet, but he jumped back involuntarily, which earned him a startled cry, when the girl lost her balance, followed by a worried glance in his direction. Lily didn't comment, though, and Seuthes was happy to start a conversation that would distract her, while they walked toward the classroom.

Snape's guess on what they were going to do today wasn't too far from the truth. They'd already learnt how to light a fire (thank God), but unfortunately, boiling water required its own lesson, as pouring the water from a cup could prove to be quite difficult, apparently. It turned out it was difficult for some people. Mulciber managed to somehow burn his hand, and was sent to the Hospital Wing. So were the Gryffindors Macdonald and Pettigrew. However much Seuthes might have disliked Slughorn, at the moment he couldn't help but pity him for having to teach these dunderheads something that required more than two seconds of concentration.

Wednesday's first class was, again, Potions. Severus' hopes weren't too high up for it, but that changed when he took a seat behind his desk. On top of it stood a forgotten copy of Advanced Potion-Making. He cracked it open, and flipped a few pages, skimming through the titles. Now, these potions seemed interesting; when would they get to them? Sixth year!?

The book turned out to be a captivating read. Severus spent the entire period engrossed in it, while the rest of the class was adding salt to the boiling water and stirring it occasionally. It was supposed to mimic brewing while excluding the possibility of someone blowing up a cauldron, but Snape found the resemblance to cooking both offensive and hilarious at the same time.

Stirring the rod to feign paying attention, he turned back to the book, and flipped to the next page.

Elixir to Induce Euphoria

True to its name, this potion induces inexplicable happiness upon its drinker. It can have long-term effects, if taken regularly for a prolonged period of time, such as dyspnea, tics, and nausea. Short-term side-effects include excessive singing and nose-tweaking.

The text then listed the ingredients, the preparation and brewing steps, as well as possible methods to counterbalance the Elixir's effects, with a note that neither of them was particularly effective.

Just as Severus was starting to read those, however, the bell rang, announcing the end of the period. But he had to read the rest! Not only could this prove to be a solution to his mother's problem, but he hadn't brewed anything since he'd arrived at Hogwarts, and this would be a good practice. And so, he closed the book, left it where he'd found it, and headed straight for the Library.

He had almost reached it, when he heard a set of steps following him a few metres behind, and whirled around with a raised wand. He lowered it instantly upon realising it was just Lily.

"Sorry for startling you," she said. "I was wondering if we could talk?"

"Well, erm... I'm really in a hurry right now. I have to look something up before the next period. Can it wait 'till lunch?"

It wasn't the real reason he didn't want to speak with her at the moment. It wasn't his lip this time either, it had healed by now. But he knew she'd been suspicious of Sev yesterday, and didn't trust himself not to make her suspicions even stronger. Especially considering that he himself was quite perturbed by what had happened during his stay at home and what must have happened before that. He hadn't been able to convince his mother to tell him exactly what was bothering her so. Either his father had threatened her to stop using magic completely, or he'd broken her so bad she just didn't have the energy or the desire to.

No, he couldn't tell Lily that. He couldn't stand the pitying looks she gave him every time they discussed his home life. Which was why he was immensely grateful, when she nodded her head and went down the corridor.

Retrieving the book from the Library was just a matter of asking the librarian where it was stored. He barely made it on time for Defence, and deliberately missed lunch, both to avoid Lily and to flip through his book. At supper, he only popped in the Great Hall long enough to take something for dinner and for tomorrow, before practically sprinting to the dungeons to share with Sev his discovery.

They'd never brewed an advanced potion before. But it couldn't be too difficult, could it? As far as Severus could tell, the only difference to brewing easier potions was that this one required more precise timing, and involved more dangerous ingredients. The instructions seemed easy enough.

The brothers spent the next few weeks avoiding Lily, Hagrid, and... Well, those were the only two people who tried to approach them, so only them. Their birthday was spent in the trunk. It had been on a Sunday, so it hadn't been too suspicious that no-one saw them that day. And it had been relatively fun — playing chess, sharing silly stories, plotting against Gryffindors and Slytherins alike. They hadn't received a present. It had been a bit disheartening that their mother hadn't sent them anything. But considering her condition, it wasn't too surprising. And they were too focused on their potion, so that fact was quickly forgotten.

Every Wednesday and Thursday, they'd try to sneak some of the ingredients needed for the Elixir from the greenhouses during Herbology. It wasn't as easy as they'd expected. Although neither the students, nor Newtwig paid Snape much attention, the plants seemed to always keep track of his whereabouts, and did everything in their power to make it harder for him to get what he needed. One of them had even bitten Seuthes' finger. The yelp that had provoked had cost Slytherin five points for disturbing the class. So on top of having to learn how to brew the potion, the brothers had to learn how to fight the Shrivelfig's aggressive roots, in order to obtain its leaves.

Albus Dumbledore was tired. He had spent two full days trying to convince the International Confederation of Wizards of the serious threat the self-proclaimed Lord Voldemort posed to not only Britain, but the rest of the world as well. After hours of negotiations, most members had agreed to take it under consideration. It was a step forward, but a slow step and a small one. Riddle was gathering strength, and people refused to see it.

And then Hagrid passed by, relaying his concerns about the Snape boy. He'd been making progress before the holidays, but the Slytherin had grown more reclusive after the break.

In the grand scheme of things, this seemed an insignificant concern. But even Albus Dumbledore needed to get his mind away from the war sometimes, and this presented a good opportunity to do just that. The Mystery of Severus Snape was not directly connected to Riddle's movements at the moment, but could very well prove to be in the future. Or, if the Headmaster played his cards right, the boy could work for the Light. Or neither. Dumbledore had yet to find anything extraordinary about him. The teachers never spoke of him, which suggested he wasn't an exceptional student. Only once he'd heard someone mention him, and it had been Professor McGonagall expressing her outrage over the fact that Snape had attacked her student in the middle of the Great Hall and Horace had done nothing about it. It had been an amusing sight, watching the latter cower in front of his colleague.

And really, the problem Hagrid had presented him with wouldn't have worried the Headmaster much, had it not been for Poppy's report earlier that month. It all pointed to an abusive family, just like he had feared after that first conversation with the young Mr Snape. He would need to address the issue before the Easter holidays. Until then...

"Dilys," he called, and waited for the witch to stir in her chair and open her eyes. "I could use your help."

Dilys covered a yawn with her hand and muttered, "And which healer are we spying on this time, Dumbledore?"

Dumbledore smiled. "Ah, I believe the one in Azkaban was the only man Riddle had at St Mungo's. Not a healer, dear. And it won't be spying this time, but perhaps you could check on him from time to-"

"It's that mongrel disgrace, isn't it?" a portrait cut in.

The Headmaster's (the present one) eyes darkened a little. "Yes, Phineas, though I would ask you to refrain from using either of these terms when describing the boy. Mr Snape is neither a 'mongrel', nor a 'disgrace'."

Black didn't appear to agree, but closed his mouth and leaned back in his painted chair. Dilys had already disappeared from her frame.

"Potestas," Seuthes muttered, and waited for the wall to allow him access to the common room. He was planning on slipping in his dormitory as quickly as possible in the hopes that no-one would spot him, but a conversation he overheard caught his attention.

"...way you got the hodag horns!"

"Yep! Here they are. Doubt Slughorn would even notice, it was a mess in that room."

"It's what happens when you leave it unguarded. You got the whiskey, Lucius?"

Seuthes sneaked closer to the group, and strained his ears to hear what else they had to say. Unfortunately, the conversation moved to discussing 'a hot Ravenclaw' and the 'equally hot Narcissa Black', the latter of which was part of the group and was desperately trying to stir the conversation in a different direction.

Seuthes supposed he had heard the important part anyway, so it didn't matter much. Due to his little research after that first meeting with Hagrid, he knew hodag horns could counter the effects of alcohol and were very rare potions ingredients. Therefore, it was reasonable to assume the 'room' the group had mentioned was in fact Slughorn's storeroom. And if the man kept it unguarded, that meant... he or Russ could get the final ingredient they were missing for the Elixir.

Seuthes had to admit he was more excited about the part with the stealing than the actual brewing. Which was why he insisted on being the one to sneak inside the storeroom. He liked to imagine himself as one of those masterminds in muggle criminal stories.

Two days later, he was descending the marble staircase on his way to the storeroom, when he heard a familiar voice call his name. He stopped. Took a deep breath. Sighed. And turned to face his friend. She stepped a little closer.

"Severus, why- You've been avoiding me, and I... Can we talk now?"

Seuthes averted his gaze. Could he say 'no'? "It's not you, Lily. I just need some time alone. I have something to do at the moment, if you will excu-"

"No!" she cried, making him start. A few curious students looked their way. "Stop! Stop pushing me away! Please."

For a few long seconds Seuthes just stared at her in shock. He hadn't realised until now that he was hurting her by trying to stay away. He didn't want to hurt her.

"Okay," he replied, raising a hand in a gesture one might make while trying to get close to a scared animal. "Okay."

"Not here, though, right?" said Lily and passed him, heading down the staircase and out the main gates.

It was cold and cloudy outside. But the clouds were coloured in deep purple and orange. The sun was just setting behind the far mountains. Lily stopped in the middle of the path to look at it.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

Seuthes hummed his agreement. Because it was. And he would have very much enjoyed the sight, if he hadn't been dreading the upcoming conversation.

An excruciatingly long time later, Lily snapped her gaze away from the sky and, taking her friend's hand, hopped down the path to one of the few benches that were clear of snow. Seuthes fought the urge to yank his hand away from hers.

But as they sat there in the cold with linked hands, he realised how much he had missed her company. Her hand felt warm in his, and some of the tension in his shoulders disappeared. It wasn't a romantic gesture, just a friendly one, and it was nothing less than what he needed. A friend.

"I won't press you, but... just so you know — I do wish you'd tell me what's going on," said Lily, staring again at the now-dark sky.

"I don't know myself."

"That's not an answer, Sev."

Time seemed to slow down. Seuthes was vaguely aware Lily was speaking, but he couldn't hear the words. Could she... Did she know? About him and Russ? He glanced at her. She was still talking. In that excited way of hers. So then, surely, she didn't know? She wouldn't be so cheerful, if she knew she'd been lied to for years, right?

"...and then boom!" She gestured around her head with her hands. "Remember?"

"Sorry, what? I didn't hear that last part."

"That first potion you showed me? You know, the one that makes your hair puffy."

"Oh. Right. Yeah, I remember."

Perhaps he would never understand how Lily's brain worked. She was always just effortlessly hopping from one topic to another. Which made her easy to distract. And hard to follow. Really, how had she gone from his 'not answer' to the Hair-Raising Potion, again?

He must not have sounded particularly happy, because Lily gave him one of those looks.

"If you don't wanna talk right now, that's alright," she said. "But, erm... We're friends, right? Don't avoid me. Please."

"I won't."

And he stood from the bench.

"Oh! One more thing." Lily shoved a hand in the pocket of her coat. "Belated Happy Birthday! I guess."

She was holding out a green crystal.

"My dad works in the mines, and he showed me some of those during the break. This one reminded me of you, so I thought... Do you like it?"

"Yes. Thank you."

They parted ways a bit after that.

It was still quite early. The sun had set, but this early in the year, and this north in Scotland, that wasn't much of an indication for the time. And though he'd been headed for the dungeons before Lily had stopped him, Seuthes realised now that it was a good idea to wait for dinner, when fewer people would be walking around the castle.

He didn't have to wait much. Soon enough, he was near the Potions classroom, trying to keep his balance, while the floor was teetering beneath him. He felt a chilly breeze, when the Bloody Baron passed only a few centimetres away from him, and rolled his eyes, when he heard Sir Nicholas and the Fat Friar giggle a second later at something they had overheard.

He was about to turn around the corner, behind which was the storeroom, when he heard another familiar voice. And this time it wasn't the voice of someone he liked, or even tolerated. It was James Potter's.

An idea crossed his mind. He'd almost forgotten about this, what with everything else on his mind. But now that the situation had presented itself... It was the perfect opportunity to test this. Potter didn't know he was there. He wouldn't expect it, and if all went to plan, wouldn't suspect him.

Seuthes began to quietly chant the Mutanobis Charm. There was a chance it wouldn't work. After all, he'd never got an answer from Peeves if he'd heard him that day before the holidays. He did, however, highly suspect that he wouldn't have got an answer at that moment even if the poltergeist had heard him.

The familiar wave of air washed over him as he completed the spell, and he began to recite the lullaby's words. This was ridiculous and utterly nonsensical. But it was a bit silly as well, if he looked at it from a different perspective...

Peeves did appear. He had puffed out his chest, ready to begin his exaggerated sing-song screeches, when he noticed Seuthes gesturing for him to stay quiet. Amazingly, Peeves did stay quiet and followed the Slytherin's nod toward where Potter was talking to someone.

Seuthes heard a yelp, and crept closer to the corner, peeking around it just close enough to see what the poltergeist had come up with. Lupin was hanging upside down, Peeves holding him by his ankles. Potter was trying to get the latter to let go of Lupin, which only led to Peeves dropping his victim to fall to the floor with a painful thud, and grabbing Potter's ankles instead. Seuthes stifled a laugh. He didn't have anything against Lupin, but the sight of him struggling to get to his feet was amusing. The other Gryffindor's desperate shouts for help, even more so.

At last, Peeves had had enough fun, and let go of both boys, singing loudly as he disappeared through a wall. Potter and Lupin hurried to get as far away as possible.

And in the silence that followed, the only sounds that could be heard were the snickers of a few clearly drunk women in a nearby portrait.

Seuthes glanced over his shoulder. Scanned the corridor. Once. Twice. It was empty, but he couldn't bring himself to go closer to the door. Who knows how long he sat there, trying to convince himself to just go with it before supper was finished. Counting to three in his head, he sprinted to the door and flung it open.

It was pitch dark.

"Lumos."

A dim light showered the front of the room, slowly getting stronger and stronger until it covered every little corner, every jar and every... one of the other things scattered around. Whoever that boy who'd stolen the hodag horns had been, he hadn't been exaggerating. There was barely enough space on the floor to set your foot. Some of the shelves were covered in shattered glass, the most outlying objects were covered with a thick layer of dust and surrounded by cobwebs. Seuthes had no idea how he was supposed to find anything in this place. Perhaps Slughorn had deemed that the disarray in his storeroom would be protection enough? He wasn't wrong.

Seuthes tried first to just summon what he needed. It didn't work. That only caused a few jars, that must have sat in front, to fall from their shelves and shatter on the floor. He supposed this was exactly what had happened to the rest of the broken vials and jars. What the attempted summoning did do, however, was help him locate the approximate location of the wormwood. So he set on shifting everything around that area until he found the bottle with an infusion of wormwood, and pocketed it in his robe. Then ran as fast as he could to boast to Russ about his success.

Sunday, January 30th, 1972

Just on the edge of the Hogwarts grounds, a little red squirrel was scurrying toward the closest tree, leaving a trail in the snow. It stopped halfway to the crown, swinging its head frantically from left to right and back. What it was looking for was anyone's guess. It set off again, this time reaching a branch and walking down its length until it was close enough to jump to another tree. The movement caused the snow on the branches to spray the two kids sitting underneath. They both startled, looking around in a similar fashion to the way the squirrel had done only seconds earlier. The creature, however, was already hidden behind the large trunk of the tree they were leaning against.

"Well, that makes it easier, I guess."

It was Lily's birthday. Of course, Severus knew that. In fact, he'd asked his brother to swap places for today, just so he could spend the day with Lily. After some convincing and a little manipulation ("I'll do the tedious work for a week." and "You were there last year!"), Sev had finally agreed.

"Makes what easier?" asked Lily.

"Starting. Because, erm... I don't have a gift for-"

"Oh, don't worry about it!"

"Too late. But I thought I'd show you a spell as a compensation. And now that we're covered in snow, we can test it."

Lily was looking suddenly even more excited than she usually was.

Severus pulled out his wand, murmured a spell, and watched as a blue flame appeared at the end of it. He then brought the tip to his hand, making the fire hover an inch above his palm. The kids watched it for a long moment, while it danced in Severus' hand, following the movement of the wind. Well, no, Lily watched it. And Severus watched Lily watch it. He needed to make sure she liked it. And judging by the look on her face, she must have.

"Bluebell Flames," he explained. "My grandmother showed this one to me, when I was nine." It was stretching the truth a bit, she'd only sent him the book where he'd seen it, but that didn't matter.

"Nine? I thought we were not supposed to learn magic before we came to Hogwarts?"

"I said I saw it when I was nine, not practised it."

It was true. Sev had practised it when he'd been nine. Severus had first tried it only once he'd turned ten.

"Okay, so like this?" Lily had extracted her own wand and repeated the incantation.

"You have to wave your wand too."

Lily repeated the process, this time producing a weak, pale flame. She tried to bring it to her palm, but failed miserably. In spite of himself, Severus laughed.

"More practice, then," said Lily, disappointment written all over her face.

"That was actually a really good first try," Severus encouraged her. "Much better than mine, for sure. It took me a week to do this much."

"How come it doesn't burn your hand?"

"Magic, naturally." The response made both kids giggle. "It's also waterproof, look." Severus buried his hand in the snow, the flame still dancing happily above it. He then caught Lily's hand in his other, and pulled it closer to him, slowly passing the fire to her.

She gave a nervous, happy cry at the sensation, throwing her hands around her friend as soon as he cancelled the spell.

"That's the best birthday gift I've received!"

"You could've learnt it without me," Severus muttered.

"Yeah, probably two years from now. It's great, Sev, really. Thank you."

The Elixir to Induce Euphoria didn't take much time to brew. However, the preparation of the ingredients did. It was mid-March by the time the actual brewing began. On quite a few occasions, Seuthes had suggested that he just sneak into the storeroom again and grab the ready ingredients. He was incredibly frustrated by the fact that he'd only overheard those older students after he and Russ had already gathered the rest of the raw ingredients from the greenhouses. It would've saved them more than a month!

But Russ insisted that preparing the ingredients was a useful practice, and had even forced his brother to do some of the work. Seuthes supposed it was true. It didn't mean he had to like it.

What Seuthes thought was a particularly stupid idea, however, was starting the potion on the 13th of March (which happened to on a Monday), leaving him without his cauldron for the Potions class the next day. In retrospect, he should've known that it would be exactly the day he was least prepared, that Slughorn would decide to finally let them brew an actual potion. Admittedly, it was the easiest potion he could think of — it only required adding crushed snake fangs, heating the cauldron, and waving your wand — so he probably would have chosen to make better use of his time, had it not been for Slughorn's announcement that he would take a sample from each student, and grade it.

Slughorn appeared from behind the store cupboard, holding a box filled with snake fangs. Apparently, he'd forgotten to mention those in the Hogwarts letter, and was therefore forced to provide them for the students himself. As he reached Seuthes' desk to give him the required six fangs, the man noticed the obvious lack of cauldron on it.

"Ah, Mr Stane, did you forget your cauldron today? Not to worry, not to worry, my boy, you can go get it before we begin," he said over the laughter that had erupted as soon as he'd addressed his student.

Seuthes' ears were burning as he muttered, "I don't think that would help, Professor. I accidentally dropped it, and it cracked."

"That would be a problem, wouldn't it?" Slughorn laughed. "Well then, you can use one of the standby ones for today."

Seuthes could feel the derisive gazes on him, while he walked to the front of the room to get a cauldron.

"Not very handy, are you, Mr Stain?" Mulciber whispered, when he passed him. As if he were one to talk!