..
.
That night, Severus parted ways with Lily as they entered the Hogwarts Hall. As they made their way to their respective house tables, Severus strained not to hear the distant Gryffindor chatters of "Ah, Lily, congratulations!" and "There's our new prefect!"
Lily Evans, his friend, being appointed prefect, was something to celebrate, something she deserved. So it wasn't jealousy that he felt; it was something more impatient, more like a sense of desperation.
Before entering Hogwarts, Severus had had a dream. Of being sorted in Slytherin, the most elite house at Hogwarts, alongside Lily, of being elected prefect in their fifth year, and of graduating in seventh year as the most respected Head Boy and Head Girl in the school.
Now that he's a fifth year, he knew it was a naïve delusion without a shred of reality. It made his stomach turn just thinking about it, but James sodding Potter, that bastard was right about one thing in his bullshit in first year. Lily was better off being sorted into Gryffindor. Which of the four houses had a steady stream of muggle-born prefects? Yeah, even Hufflepuffs or Ravenclaws would have made her a prefect, but Slytherin? No way.
Severus sat down at the Slytherin table and glanced over at Lily, who was already surrounded by her friends at the Gryffindor table far across from him.
Even in the small town of Cokeworth, there was a distinct social hierarchy. And the Evans, that lived in a neat brick house with a well-kept garden, and the Snapes, who lived in Spinners End, at the edge of a dirty river, the gap between the two was unbridgeable.
Until he entered Hogwarts, he tried to ignore it. Once he got his wand and became a wizard, he would never have to care about the class of British muggles. He would go to Hogwarts, get into Slytherin, graduate with honors, and take his rightful place in wizarding society!
But now... Severus looked soberly at his position at the Slytherin table, barely above the sniveling lower years. Was there any way he could rise above this?
He was not a Ravenclaw, wasn't a nerd whose happiness depended on his grades, whose head was buried in books and whose future career and social standing could be ignored in the distance. In two years' time, however, Lily would become Hogwarts' Head Girl, marking her career with shining letters and later taking her first steps into the wizarding world.
And Severus Snape? A poor half-blood. With a low-class Muggle for a father and a disowned witch for a mother, is there any normal way for Snape, a 15-year-old boy, to rise above his station?
There wasn't.
Any normal way.
Severus glanced at some of the sixth and seventh years, most of them purebloods, and mused.
As a poor half-blood, the information wasn't readily available to him, but he'd been aware of it for years. That a sort of... yes, you could call it a coup, centered around Slytherin House, was in the air.
Not in the distant future. He didn't know exactly when, but it was aimed in four or five years at the latest. When he was about twenty years old, graduated from Hogwarts and established as an adult. That's when the power structure of the British wizarding community would be turned upside down.
A coup by the purebloods. Of course, it's not surprising. The mainstream of the wizarding world has always been the purebloods, and when a coup happens, it's just a matter of shift of power among them. A revolution led by half-bloods or muggleborns? It was simply ridiculous to expect that.
But strifes meant opportunity. Just as in Muggle history it was not uncommon for the dregs of society, who would have been just common laborers in peacetime, to rise to the upper echelons of society in times of war by merit alone, so too would it be in the midst of a brawl among purebloods that a half-blood would have the opportunity to slip through the cracks and climb the hierarchy.
There were only a few years left. If he tried to slip in after graduation, it would be too late.
Severus began to scan the Slytherin upperclassmen with newfound caution and slyness. He wondered if any of those pureblood heirs could hold the key to his advancement.
..
..
The Corridor in front of Gryffindor Dorm.
"Miss Lily Evans."
Lily blinked. Slowly, she turned around to face the person calling her in a deep voice, her wand out first.
"Potter. What's your prank this time?"
She asked slowly, barely able to contain her bewilderments.
Miss Lily Evans? A boy barely out of his voice crack, speaking in a solemn tone as if he were a professor? With any other student she might have reconsidered before taking out her wand; but with the call from the boss of the gang who contributed most to the Gryffindors' point deduction, it was not worth thinking, at all.
At the sound of Lily's sharp voice, the boy who'd called her flinched. Then he straightened his back. He looked straight down at the redheaded girl with a gaze that had begun to make a noticeable difference in height since last year. His freely standing black hair seemed to calm down for a moment.
"I assume your duties as prefect are complete for tonight, Evans?"
"If so?"
"Then... I was wondering if you could spare me a moment, Miss Evans?"
"I asked, what are you playing at?"
"On the honor of the House of Potter, I have no intention of playing a prank, and seriously, as a prefect, could you spare a few minutes of your time to listen to me, your classmate?"
Lily's gaze softened a bit. For as much of a prankster as he was, his family name was pretty important to him. At least, as far as she could tell, he wasn't one to throw around the phrase 'family honor' casually.
...Of course, he was also a lunatic who often, solemnly declared, "On the honor of Gryffindor's greatest prankster, I will lose thirty house points till 12 o'clock, today," and kept his declaration to the letter, so she kept her guards up.
To know what he was up to, Lily sheathed her wand; James Potter led her to an empty classroom a short distance away.
An empty classroom. It was set back from the busy corridor. With a careful touch, Potter left the classroom door open a crack, then calmly stepped into the room and kept Lily close to the door. It was as if he was taking care not to intimidate her.
Lily furrowed her brow, feeling as if this classroom, this location, had been carefully premeditated.
"Do you remember, Miss Evans, before the summer holidays began, when I asked you to go to Hogsmeade with me in your fifth year?"
"That's a memory I'd rather forget."
"But I cherished it over the holidays, Miss Evans."
Potter smiled. Lily frowned deeper.
"Your memories are your business, Potter, but quit the crap and drop the title. Like as if you're a professor. It gives me creeps."
"Okay, Evans. Anyway, I've been reflecting on it throughout the summer, and realized I've been a bit inconsiderate."
Lily blinked rapidly. Reflecting? James Potter, reflecting on something and concluding he was inconsiderate?
She instinctively took half a step back. Something told her she'd heard something she shouldn't have. Maybe she should go back to her dorm, cast a cleansing spell on her ears, and think it over. Polyjuice, or a mind-controlling spell? She wondered.
James Potter's eyes widened, and he spoke up quickly.
"No, listen, Evans. I mean it was a mistake to ask you so lightly. I mean it."
"...Uh...so?"
"So, I want to give you assurance."
"Give me assurance? What the hell do you mean?"
Lily's expression didn't change at all. Feeling a little rushed, James spoke quickly.
"I told my parents everything over the holidays; though they already know about you as I've written about you frequently in my letters to them. You see, my parents are very open-minded, and they're not prejudiced against muggleborns at all, unlike those nasty Slytherins, so I wasn't worried, and you shouldn't be either. Not at all!"
"...James Potter. You're rambling, and I still don't see your point."
James took a few deep breaths, and his voice deepened. He looked down into the girl's pretty green eyes, his posture unwavering.
"We, of the House of Potter, have no prejudice against muggleborns, and I believe that noble lilies can bloom even in poor circumstances. My father says that if I decide on a girl, I can bring her in on the basis of her own character alone, and that even though the Potter family is pureblooded, some of my ancestors have also chosen their spouses from muggleborns, so I don't have to worry about their disapproval."
James remembered his father, Fleamont Potter's chuckle, welcoming his son's announcement with warm eyes.
"Jamie, lotuses bloom out of the mud, and roses out of thorn bushes. The Potter family has a long history of picking precious flowers from the weeds. Don't be concerned about our approval, just take that Lily flower you love. I entirely approve."
Yup, as Dad had frequently told him before, the Potters were never a family that discriminated against muggleborns; that was for those Slytherin pureblood supremacists.
James grinned with pride, swiftly kneeling in front of the girl.
"And so, Lily, I formally propose to court you, with marriage in mind."
"..."
James glanced up at Lily. She was covering her brow with one hand. It was hard to see her green eyes. They were slightly unfocused.
..