I don't own Harry Potter or the characters.
Jissy2013- Thank you.
PiffyEQ- You might not like this chapter much, but I thought it felt right. But don't worry, it's not going to continue for very long.
Lorcan- I understand what you're saying. I didn't think I was Lily-bashing, it's not my goal, but she is not a main in this fanfiction.
Fan girl 666- Thank you. I hope you like this chapter.
Okay, I know who I'm going to put Severus with. But it will be a while because right now he's only eleven. I think the Rin and Petunia crush on each other makes since them being 13 and 12. Severus though will have a lot on his plate though with the new grandparents and sins of his mother. Happy reading.
Malfoy and his friends finally found Severus later in the day. It was inevitable, he knew that. It still didn't make the hexes hurt any less. He was lucky in the end that some of the Slytherins weren't ready to be a part of something more brutal. Malfoy's pride was hurt, so that made Severus' punishment more painful.
But what they didn't know…what they couldn't know was that he was used to pain. It was something he could handle. As he limped back to Ravenclaw tower he smiled to himself. Malfoy may make the rest of the year a living hell for him but he would take what he was dealt. There was no way he would be broken, least of all by a stuck-up prat like Malfoy.
He was happy that it seemed everyone had already gone to bed. He had just beat curfew himself. If a prefect saw him, they would have made him go to the hospital wing. All he wanted to do was pass out on his bed.
The next morning, he was awoken by someone shaking him. Opening his eyes, he looked blearily at the red-headed boy shaking him.
"Gideon?"
"Sorry, did I wake you?"
"Obviously." The boy was just shaking him trying to wake him up, now he was acting like that wasn't the goal. "What did you want?"
"You were crying in your sleep," the boy said nervously.
That shut Severus up, he remembered some of his nightmare. It had been just him and his mother. They were in their dilapidated home, it was colder than he ever remembered. He begged his mother to use her magic to warm them up. All she did was make him drink a new potion of hers. It had made him sick. He pleaded with her to help him, but she wouldn't. That was the last he remembered before he was woken up.
"I'm fine," he muttered, hoping Gideon would just go back to his bed.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, go back to your own bed," he snapped.
"Was't goin' on?" a sleepy voice asked. Ollie Hobkirk was sitting up in his bed, rubbing his eyes.
"Nothing," Severus bit out. This was a nightmare in itself, he hated showing weakness.
He got out of bed and collected his things for a shower. If they weren't going to leave him alone, he would them. By the time, he was showered and dressed, the other boys had fallen back asleep. It was only then he noticed it was barely past five in the morning. Breakfast wasn't even served until seven. Maybe he could start on the backlog of work he had. Instead of using the library in Ravenclaw, he went to the school's.
It was so early he was the only one wondering around the corridors except for Peeves.
"Looksy, who it is. The eagle that shouldn't be. Flee…Flee…Eagle that shouldn't be."
Ignoring him, he made his way to the library, thankfully the poltergeist didn't follow. It wasn't until he was just getting to the entrance of the library, he realized the librarian may not be in yet.
"Early, yes?"
Severus jumped and turned. Standing behind him was Monsieur Perrot, the school librarian. He had only seen the man in the Great Hall during dinner the night before. Being this close to the man made him wish he stayed in his dormitory. There was something…off about the man.
"Yes," he said quietly.
"Fine. Fine. Come on then, please do not disturb the books though."
"Oh, I can't look at the books?" What point was going to the library, if he couldn't read and research.
"You can look at the books, read them even. Just don't disturb them, they're very touchy in the morning."
What an odd man.
He found a table and set all of his things out. Soon he got lost in his work, forgetting the strange man and the clock.
Petunia found him just in time for them to make it to Herbology in time. He was glad to have a friend looking out for him, he promised himself to do a better job by her.
Days passed, then weeks, soon it was closing in on the first quidditch game of the year. It was between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. It didn't really seem all that interesting to him, but as Petunia pointed out. It would be a great time to get information on Sirius. With the Slytherins keeping their distance at the moment, it was the perfect time to plan his revenge.
Together with Petunia and Rin, they made their way for the quidditch pitch, mixing in with the Gryffindors. Rin didn't know why they were trying to get the boy, but he seemed just happy to be included. They made sure they were seated behind the boys, close enough to overhear Sirius and his friends.
"I can't wait until I can tryout," James prattled.
"Me either, mate," Sirius said happily. "What about you Remus?"
"Me? No, it's not really my kind of thing. I'm fine with both of my feet on the ground."
"I want to try out too. Do you think I could make the team?" Severus heard Peter Pettigrew ask.
"Of course, you're a Gryffindor, aren't you?" James said.
Severus thought Potter was setting up the small, pudgy boy for a fall. It would have been better to tell him flat out that he would have to work hard if he wanted that. He would have to start practicing now, and not stop until they were old enough to tryout. He was a mess on the broom, they had Flying the day before. Severus wasn't great at it but Pettigrew was worse. Just Potter telling the boy to blindly trust that being a Gryffindor was good enough to make his house team was insanity. All the ones that would be trying out for that house team would be Gryffindors.
After more talk about when they would be able to tryout, they started talking about having trouble in potions. It seemed that it was even a weak spot for their brain, Lupin. An elbow poked him in the side. He looked over to see Petunia smiling widely at him, gesturing with her hands at the four boys in front of them.
She couldn't be serious, she couldn't be thinking that he should help them. He shook his head. Suddenly, she leaned forward and touched Lupin's shoulder. He jumped a little where he was sitting then turned around looking at her.
"Yes?" he asked loudly, to be heard over the roar because Hufflepuff just scored.
"We couldn't help but hear that you're having trouble with potions. Severus here is a genius when it comes to potions. He promised to tutor me, I was thinking we can start a study group. So, when we have trouble with a subject maybe you could help us."
The three other boys turned around at that moment; all looking surprised by the suggestion. They were only first years, Gryffindors weren't known for their thinking about the future. At least that's how he saw them. They also were something of bullies, only caring for the here and now. He would see them outside, picking on kids they felt that deserved it. How that happened he didn't know, at first, he was just glad it wasn't him. Then he noticed that it was mostly first year Slytherins who were usually alone. That didn't sit right with him. Some brave Gryffindors, four on one, hardly a fair fight.
"You want to study together?" Black asked suspiciously. His eyes locked on Severus.
"Yes?" Severus said, he wasn't sure what else to say because he didn't know what Petunia was playing at.
"That's brilliant," Potter said. "How about Tuesday evening in the library?"
"Sounds great," Petunia said. "Oh, I forgot, we need to be getting back." She stood up, as did Severus and Rin.
"But the game just started," Potter whined. He looked like there couldn't be any reason to be leaving a quidditch game.
"Well, we saw the beginning, that the best part anyway," Severus said. He had never in is life saw a game before, but what he saw was enough.
"That best part?" Potter was exasperated.
"See you," Petunia called over her shoulder. She wasn't paying attention to where she was going and bumped into a familiar redhead.
"Ow! Oh, what are you doing here?" Lily asked. She was sitting with three other first year girls.
"Just seeing the game. It's not really our taste so we were just leaving. Have fun," Petunia said, rushing away fast, Rin on her heel.
"Severus, wait!" Lily called.
He stopped and Lily caught up with him, he watched Rin and Petunia head back up to the castle. He knew they had heard Lily call him, but he couldn't just ignore her. She may not be his closest friend anymore but was still in his life.
"Hello, Lily," he said. "Do you need something?"
"No, I just miss you. Petunia doesn't seem to want you to talk to me. You were my friend first."
"I know. It's not Petunia, it's just because we're in the same house. You know how it is."
"Yes, I know. It just feels like you're mad at me."
"Why would I be mad at you?"
"Because I didn't say anything at the sorting."
That had stung more than Severus liked to admit. But he could see her side too. She was new to all of this, even more than himself. She was upset, scared and confused. She wasn't a bad person, just not someone he could see being friends with like they once had been. At the time, he was her only link to the magical world. Now she didn't need him. In truth, he had seen it coming even before they boarded the train. It made him wonder what would have happened if he was put in Slytherin. Would she protect him? Or would she abandon him? Was he abandoning her? He didn't like to think that but maybe he was.
"How about Monday after classes we work in the library together. We can catch up then."
Her face lit up and he felt like he had done the right thing. He just hoped that Rin and Petunia wouldn't be angry. There was no law that you could only have two friends, and that those friends had to get along.
When he caught up with Petunia she was alone. She was sitting in front of the fire, with a book in hand. He sat beside her, ready for the storm. It didn't happen. Instead she looked over at him and smiled.
"Did you see Sirius Black's face? He knows we know."
Breathing out, happy that there was no fight. "Well, how couldn't he know. I found the stone, he knew I would find it. Sure, it took some creative thinking to figure out it was him, but that's beside the point. Why in the world did you suggest a study group?"
"The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting."
"What?"
"It's from The Art of War, Sun Tzu. My father has it in his bookshelf at home. He doesn't like us to mess with his books but when no one's home I get bored."
"Okay, so how do we fight without fighting?"
"Well first, you have to know what you want from this?"
"I want him to admit what he done to everyone. I want them to know that he is as sneaky and underhanded as the lowliest Slytherin."
"Okay, then we made him suffer. We become close with him and his friends. Sooner or later he would expect you to tell his friends the truth. But he won't come out and say it, so he'll just be on edge the whole time. Finally, he's just going to explode. When he does, we just have to make sure it's in front of everyone, like you were."
"What then?"
"Then we can go one with our lives. He'll find out what it's like to be humiliated in front of everyone. Also, everyone will know. He'll be a social leper."
As mad as he was, he couldn't rightly feel that great about making Black's life a living hell. He just wanted him to feel like he had, but not ruin him.
"Do you think we should really do this?" he asked nervously.
"It's up to you. You're the one that he hurt."
The memory of that night in the Great Hall assaulted him. The feeling of worthlessness. He also remembered the look on Black's face. He was shocked at what was happening, but not once did he stand up. Not once did he speak up.
"Let's make him pay." He was done being everyone's whipping boy.
