When he went to sit at his table, he saw that he could not resist checking who went where and what house gained who, the results blew his mind:

Hufflepuff

Himself, Longbottom, Benjamin Fenwick

Charity Burbage, Dorcas Meadow

Slytherin

Mulcibor, Avery, Rosier, Pettigrew, Wilkes

The girls: Parkinson, Goyle, Crabble

Gryffindor

Potter, Black, Lupin

Lily, Alice Fortescue, Mary something?

Ravenclaw

Hypocrate Smytwhic, Barty crouch Jr

Marlene McKinnon

The hell? Were pigs flying outside? Pettigrew in Slytherin? Longbottom in Hufflepuff?

He made a mental list of the changes then and there:

Pettigrew, from Gryff to Sly

Longbottom, from Gryff to Huff

Meadow, from Raven to Huff

Wilkes, from Raven to Sly

How in the 7 skies above, a single act of him not being sorted into Snake house resulted in this mess? How Longbottom's are going to meet now that they are not in the house together? What the fuck would happen to the timeline? He did not want to be surprised in this life, thank you very much. And…his rotten luck! Last time they had a large balk of Slytherin, the lowest number of Hufflepuff in Hogwart's history, and a fair share of Ravens and Gryffs. So snakes had classes with lions and Ravens with Hufflepuffs. But now, now that the Ravens were reduced to only three, and Slytherin grew in number, there would be Hufflepuff plus Gryffindor

Ravenclaw plus Slytherin mixture.

He would have to endure fucking marauders (mines one) again in every class!!!!

He stared at his plate, having missed the usual nonsense speech by the Headmaster. His stomach was empty like the Sahara, but he knew better than to indulge himself. As he had not eaten much (if any at some point) this summer, his stomach would not tolerate such greasy food. He was allergic to sodding Citrus and hated pumpkin with a fire. Water was it. But he found out his nose was starting to get worse( not that it was better before). So he stood up to go to the infirmary and got himself fixed. Madam Pomfery or not, he had a mastery of potions and he knew what to drink. His head swayed and he was about to crack his head on a chair or two when strong arms( he was pitifully tiny, among all first years, he looked even more fragile than girls in their year. Maybe that was one reason why he started to curse people so they could take him seriously) came out of nowhere and saved him from making a fool of himself.

Frank Longbottom was looking at him with concern: you okay there?

He wanted to say fine, get off, but he found out he couldn't. There was a reason the blasted marauders called him Snivelous, as he often cried in the boy's bathroom. As a result of his mental shields and magic being weak, he could only use occlumency so much. And then, because he found out about the mind art by chance and from a book he stole from his mother's trunk when he was 6 and did not have a tutorial, he did not know how to deal with suppressed memories as an occlumence would know. His memories were always shifting between bad and worse, the marauders bullying him and his house looking down on him because he was a poor, ugly half-blood with a blood traitor for a Mom, did not make it easy for him to deal with those too. Was it his curse that he had an almost eidetic memory? Probably. When he was fond of some subject or book, he could memorize it by reading it only once. So he got nasty flashbacks, when his occlumency shields could not support him.

And He was getting one NOW!

He looked at Longbottom's face and saw Neville. After he had threatened to use his obnoxious useless brew on his toad. And then his mind went back to when his father broke the neck of a kitten he found on the streets.

He was struggling to keep calm. When the twins came out of nowhere.

"Hey Sevyy dear, alright there? We had a date didn't we?"

One of them had said. His mind was not focused enough to tell them apart.

Longbottom protectively shoved him behind him, putting himself between the two and the twins" what's it with you Prewatt?"

"Ooh, our darling has already found a knight! Do we take offense?"

" don't think so, Fab, he is too cute to take offense"

Severus wanted to say " no, not by any chance he was cute," but Longbottom said before him" he is my housemate and my friend. I will not allow harm to come to him and stop mocking him, he is a person and a guy. Not a damsel to want a knight" and looked at him with a gentle smile.

See!see Severus hated Neville just because of this. His father was like this, in front of two fellow pureblood heirs, and six years on less. Defending his newly housemate and calling him a friend, the boy just shook and cringed and stuttered. God knew he killed himself last year, giving him detention along with girl Weasley so that he could finally start behaving like a Man he was and not a 5-year-old!

Severus finally came out of his stupor" thank you, Longbottom, I was just on a calming draft and its effect has ended. I know these guys from the train we are heading to...somewhere together. I appreciate your...kind gesture"

Longbottom nodded at him" call me Frank, and that was no problem, as a house, we are all friends, remember?"

Severus shook his offered hand in friendship " then call me Severus, Frank"

Severus was ecstatic, not a day and he had made not one but three friends. And not backstabbing ones like Lily, Like Frank( the epitome of manner, and bravado, and loyalty), the Prewatts (creative, funny, supportive do-gooders), and who knew, maybe he would do more!

When they finally arrived at the hospital wing ( because they would not leave him on his own, as they thought he may be lost in the castle his first day), Madam Pomfery was already there. He suspected that they had alerted her somehow.

She gently took a look at his nose: I set this for now, but it seems it had broken before, mister Snape, come over the weekend and I will set it straight. I am afraid you will have to stay here for a night then.

Did she really say his nose would turn alright just by a nightstand? Then he remembered his nose was broken twice now, not 5 times. So, he could do something about having an abnormal nose in the future.

He thanked her and went to his new friends, who waited patiently for him.

" you did not have to wait for me"

" nope, ickle Sevyy kins. Because the big, bad, bossy Bonsy would have our hides!"

Severus chuckled at their antics. Also felt grateful for their efforts.

Gideon threw a sandwich at him: saw you ate nothing, here's for you, next time we're gonna show you the kitchens!

Then they were at the Hufflepuff dormitory door. Frank was standing there, waiting for him. As they saw, he would be in good hands، they saluted Frank and left him with Longbottom.

He was astounded into silence.

Frank took his hand: come on mate! I was not sure if these two knew the password, so I waited for you. Oh, and I saved us some cake too!

When he was spending his first-year last time, he had only one friend. He was alone and scared. This time he will make more friends. Houses be damned. Why should a stupid hat be able to decide for him?

Notes:

Frank: Severus, If we mix a badger and a lion , what will we get?

Severus: we get a genetic mutation and develop a brain tumur and die?

Frank: what? No!

Severus: we get a stomach ulcer and hit our head on a desk to get a spliting headache?

Frank: what the hell? No, we got Neville! My son! I am badger, Alice is a lioness!

Severus: see? I was entirely correct.