.

The girl was vaguely familiar. He'd seen her a few times before, stuck around Lily. Her name was... Mary Mcmac? something along those lines. Just a plain, ordinary girl with no presence in the classroom.

Her tie had flown off already, along with her cloak, but she's a tag-along of Lily, so he knew she was probably a Gryffindor. And obviously a mudblood. The fearless fool.

"Hey, McStickyshit, stuff your mudblood brain with some common sense if you don't have magical skills, and stay away from us Slytherins." Turning to the girl first, Severus snapped sarcastically at her. Then he turned to his roommates, who were grinning from ear to ear.

"...Mulciber, Avery. Come on, let's be sensible about this. It's already past nine o'clock, and this isn't even our territory. If you want to be assholes and stick to fool around with a mudblood, you're only gonna get us massive point deductions."

As soon as he opened his mouth playing nice to his pureblood roommates, fairly senior to him in the house hierarchy, he knew he'd said the wrong thing. Avery and Mulciber, typical 15-year-old boys allergic to the words "rules" and "being sensible," scoffed at their halfblood roommate's advice.

"Oh, screw it, nerd, 'fessors' patrols don't start until ten o'clock."

That moment, the girl reached out, her face contorted by the weight of her own body, her silent mouth moving in an angry motion. Mulciber noticed her.

"Accio wand! Uh-huh, a filthy mudblood dares to open her mouth when her betters are talking?"

"Arrogant slut. These muddy bitches have gotten a little too cheeky lately."

The girl's wand, which had fallen to the floor, fluttered between the unspoken summons of its subdued master and wanded spellcasting of others, and finally made its way slowly to the boy's hand.

With Mary's wand in hand, Mulciber strode over to the dangling girl and tapped her mockingly on the nape of her neck with the tip of her wand.

"Hey, mudblood. See, even the wand doesn't answer to the summons of lowly blood? Nowadays, bitches with pig's blood or some muddy blood dare pretend to be witches. Grubby thieving bitches who don't deserve a wand in the first place."

It was a vile insult. Mary's eyes filled with tears of rage, then blood vessels in her eyes burst and began to redden. Mulciber chuckled and twirled the wand in his fingertips as the girl began to utter silent words that the shape of her mouth told him were horrible expletives.

"Let's see. This wand, too, though it's admirable of it to recognize a pureblood, is already tainted with mudblood, isn't it, Avery, Snape?"

Avery grinned, his eyes sparkling. "That's right. After being in the hands of a mudblood for over four years, I'm sure that wand has had enough and now wants to die. Perhaps it would be an honor for it to be executed at the hands of a real wizard."

Cheered on by his friend, Mulciber chuckled and raised his own wand, aiming it at the middle of the girl's wand.

"Now, let's get rid of the stuff that's more than a mudblood's lot-"

Mary's eyes widened in horror. What the hell are these crazy bastards doing!

Coincidentally, the thought crossed Severus' mind at the same time. These insane purebloods have finally lost their minds!

This had clearly crossed the line; as much as those four Gryffindorks gang had tormented him, they hadn't yet dared attempt to break his wand.

Fainting in class, or falling from thirty-feet height while practicing sports was no big deal; breaking a few bones in a student fight was acceptable and a part of life in wizards' mentality; but snapping someone's wand was far beyond the scope of schoolyard bullying.

The girl, seized with primal fear as a witch, jerked paroxysmally, the air shuddering, the magical rope half snapping. With an instinctive movement, Mary reached out.

"Oh, freaking fuck, you muddy bitch!"

Mulciber, who had nearly had his wand snatched from him for being so close, cursed and flung Mary's wand in his hand at Avery. Severus, who was in the middle, snatched the wand out of the air. Avery, who was holding out his hand, looked confused for a moment, then smirked.

"Why, you wanna do it, Snape?"

Severus hesitated for a moment, and then, without answering, tightened his grip on the wand. With his right hand, he slowly drew his own ebony wand.

"...Hey, mudblood," Severus called out gruffly. The girl looked at him with fear in her eyes.

The jet-black tip of his wand flickered hesitantly, one moment in the middle of her wand, the next firmly aimed at her body, which was struggling frantically as she clung to a half-broken magical rope.

The two pureblood Slytherins watched the spectacle with gleeful anticipation, grinning from ear to ear as their half-blood roommate readied himself for the new spell, as he'd from time to time shown off the spells he invented by himself.

The boy's ebony wand began to trace a smooth curve.

The next moment, an adult's voice echoed through the classroom, cool as a shaved ice.

"Petrificus Cisto!"

Severus's arm stopped moving. The boy turned his head in panic. No, he couldn't. His entire body had frozen.

The voice, the incantation he'd heard just moments before, penetrated his head. His mind went white. Severus forced his eyeballs to move. Very slowly, he turned his gaze to see his two roommates paralyzed in the same position, their faces twisted into a wide grin.

The jet-black hem of the professor's robe rustled in front of him.

With a soft pop, the ropes holding Mary were gone in an instant, and the girl was lowered safely to the floor, unharmed.

"Well, you've certainly exceeded my expectations," Professor Peverell, the master of the voice that had put simultaneous paralysis spells on the three schoolboys, twisted his lips. He then reached out to help the staggering Mary to her feet.

Mary's cloak, long since torn, was summoned from the corner of the classroom. The professor tried to put it on the girl, but realized it was already torn beyond repair and pursed his lips tightly.

The professor removed his own robe and wrapped it around Mary's body. The girl, stiff as a board until then, began to shudder and shiver.

"P-Pro...profess-sor... uhh-!"

Mary's knees gave way, and she nearly collapsed on the spot. The professor's strong arms supported her the next moment, and she felt a fluffy touch behind her legs as she was settled into an armchair that was charmed out of nowhere.

"Remain seated."

With a brief instruction, Professor Peverell reached out and touched the groove of the girl's neck. Then he lit the tip of his wand and looked into her pupils. Mary shuddered and sank back into her chair, her breathing muffled.

"Ah...eh...eh..."

"Your wand, Miss MacDonald?"

At the calm question, the girl sprang to her feet.

"M, my wand! My wand! They, they...!"

Her outstretched fingertips flailed wildly, unable to point to any of the three Slytherins. The professor swept his icy eyes over the paralyzed boys, then snapped his fingers. The girl's wand, clutched tightly in Severus' hand, escaped him with a joyful bounce and flew back to Mary.

"Ah-"

Mary clutched her wand tightly. Tears welled up in her eyes. The professor reached into the hem of his robe he gave to her and pulled out a vial of calming potion, which he handed to her quietly.

After downing the entire vial, Mary's gasping breaths finally subsided.

"...Uh...th..thank you, Professor."

"No problem."

Peverell felt her pulse on the neck again, then nodded and retrieved a vial of generic restorative from his robe and handed it to her.

The girl drank it, then suddenly looked a little more relaxed. Her wet eyes blinked slowly.

"Do you feel any physical discomfort now?"

"...Ye...uh, no... No, Professor..."

Turning to the now drowsy girl, Peverell nodded slowly.

"Do you want to go to the hospital wing, or to the Gryffindor dorm?"

"Do... dorm... to my bed, please..." the girl mumbled.

The professor helped her to her feet.

"I'm taking you to your dorm. I'll contact Madam Pomfrey, and you go to the infirmary tomorrow morning."

Reaching the classroom door, the professor let her out first, then flicked his wand at the three Slytherin boys. Severus could slowly move his limbs as he felt the air grow warmer around him.

"Professor, we were, um, arguing..."

"Yes, yes, sir. That mud... muggle-born girl being so rude..."

As soon as they were free, two sodding pureblood roommates started to mutter some fucking excuse, but fell silent when they saw the look in Professor Peverell's eyes.

Severus glanced up at the professor and quickly averted his eyes. The green eyes had always warmed him when he thought of Lily. Now he could only think of one thing : they were the green of Avada Kedavra.

The professor's voice was emotionless.

"It's 9:32 now. You three have until 9:40 to return to the fifth-year boys' dorm in the shortest possible time without any distractions. One stroke for every minute you are late. Grounded in your room until tomorrow morning. No access to any other areas, including the common room. Five strokes for taking one step out of your room until 7:30 tomorrow. Report to the Deputy Head's office at 8:00 AM sharp."

.

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