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Severus was in an indescribable mood after his first Potions practical lesson.
It was perhaps like the first time he'd stared at the dinner in the Great Hall on the first day of his first year, all the food on the tables, or the time he'd gotten drunk the summer before after sneaking half a glass of his father's cheap whisky from the cupboard. It was also the indescribable feeling of exhilaration and excitement that he savoured in the air on a rattling old broomstick in his first year flying lessons, for about ten seconds before Potter's 'prank' sent him tumbling out of the sky.
And, being the Slytherin that he was, the emotion Severus finally settled on was one of intense jealousy. To be precise, it was right after class had ended, when the Gryffindor prefect had approached the professor hesitantly to ask him something, and when Peverell had nodded and said, "Come at that time. We can try it.' Severus read the words on his lips.
It was obvious that Lupin had used his title of Prefect to grab the honour of becoming Professor Peverell's lab assistant.
Pearls before a swine! He doesn't know a rat's arse about potions, and he's been given the opportunity of a lifetime, and he's doing it, not with a huge smile, but with a grim expression on his face!
Severus shot an intense glare at Lupin, who noticed his gaze and averted it, looking as if it stung on his mind.
No wonder! The incompetent little shit had the impudence of taking something he wanted so badly so casually. Clearly, Lupin's usual timid demeanour was a mask.
Lupin would help with the experiments and Professor Peverell would give him a chance to try out all sorts of potions, like today's class, so he could see vividly how adjusting ingredients can change their effects, how colours and scents can change, or how they can be concealed even under the same recipe, under the potions master's guidance.
Just thinking about it made his stomach twist and his heart ache with envy.
Severus had spent the night devising a curse spell in a fit of dark jealousy. But the next day after class, Lupin had been sent to the infirmary as if he had anticipated something and hadn't been seen again until the weekend. Severus wondered if he had unwittingly cast some sort of illness curse on Lupin.
If so, he hoped that it was as long-lasting as possible, but in vain, as after that weekend, alas, Lupin returned to class. And Severus saw him visit Professor Peverell's office on Monday evening, with apparent reluctance, even through his sickly pallor. What an infernal, twisted, bastard!
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...
"...A bloody opportunistic prick who only pretends to be weak!"
Lily glanced at her friend, whose face had gone from one of pleasant reminiscence to a look of sinister resentment as he muttered something and gritted his teeth.
Oh well. She shook her head. It was one of Sev's Slytherin crappy fits, striking again just when she thought she'd forgotten.
She watched the Slytherin boy's face as he gritted his teeth, probably holding a grudge over something so trivial and ridiculous that Lily couldn't even fathom the cause.
Lily sighed. Just what kind of epic bullshitting is he going to pull this time?
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October. Severus Snape's (Unofficial) Potions Laboratory
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Severus was deep in experimentation in his potions lair when his wand alarm stopped him ten minutes before curfew.
After the punishment from Professor Peverell, he was being extra careful to finish his experiments and return to his dormitory before curfew started.
Having tidied up his experiments, Severus activated the concealment and protection wards on his lab as usual. As he closed the door for the last time and slowly walked out, his eyes flashed round.
"...!"
His legs lost their balance and he didn't even have time to fall. One second he was spinning like he was doing a handstand, the next he was upside down and sideways. He didn't have time to reach for his wand. His whole body was spinning like he was in an old washing machine.
He couldn't even scream out. Blood rushed in and out of his head, his vision went white and then red again.
He couldn't tell how much time has passed. One moment, one of his wildly swinging legs slammed into something jutting out of the corridor wall. With a bone-crunching pain, his entire body fell to the corridor floor.
Giggles- From down the corridor, a quiet chuckle sounded. Severus peered through his blurred vision in the direction of the laughter.
There was no one there. The corridor was empty.
Severus crumpled to the floor, reflexively pulling his wand to his fingertips.
The next moment.
Thump!
Without warning, without the sound of a spell, something rained down on him from above. Severus instinctively closed his eyes. A slippery liquid trickled into his half-open mouth.
It was oil. A bucket's worth of foul-smelling grease.
He heard the snicker of a boy different from the one he'd heard, and the next moment, footsteps moved away from the direction the sound had come from.
Clearly a disillusionment charm.
Severus forced his sticky, grease-covered eyes open and stared in the direction of the footsteps.
There was nothing to be seen. Even a disillusionment charm would have left a trail when people under the charm moved at such a brisk pace, but there was nothing there visually, save for the faint sound.
Soon the footsteps were farther down the corridor.
No hope of finding trace or evidence.
In fact, neither trace nor evidence was necessary. Severus knew who that giggling voice, that disillusionment charm, belonged to.
Severus lay there, waiting for the blurring of his vision to subside.
There had been a lull in the attacks this term. It seemed as if the bastards had finally perfected their wordless incantation.
And that perfect disillusionment charm had been a specialty of those arseholes since their first year.
How many spells had they put together to attack him, he couldn't guess. It was so like those fuckers to perfect the wordless spells for just this purpose.
Slowly, very slowly, his vision began to return. Severus clutched his trembling hand and swung his wand.
"Scorgify-!"
The feel of the grease on his skin was so horrible that he tried a cleaning spell, but it didn't work, either because his fingertips were shaky or because he didn't have enough magic. After repeating it three or four times, the smell finally disappeared, but the sticky feeling remained.
His head was spinning constantly. He tried to stand up, but it was impossible. With the help of his wand, Severus managed to sit up.
He had hit his head quite badly. And he felt a slight crack in his leg bone.
His lab next door didn't have a concussion cure, but it did have painkillers and skele-gro. There's also some filth remover and purification potions, so he should be able to deal with the grease.
Severus half-crawled to the door of the lab. Thankfully, the bastards hadn't touched the door's ward, so it was intact.
He took a deep breath and reached out to pull it open,
That moment, footsteps began to echo down the corridor again. Severus flinched reflexively. Wasn't it bad enough that those fuckers had thrown him around like a piece of laundry and covered him in oil?
Following his instincts, Severus quickly touched the rune above the door to make himself hidden. It wasn't as good as the Potter gang's disillusionment spell, but with the protection wards already in place, short-term concealment wasn't difficult.
When he was done, he listened again. Footsteps were approaching the corridor he was in. Severus took a deep breath and prepared a deadly offensive spell. If he allowed them to strike first, he would be doomed.
But the footsteps were different from the ones he'd heard when he'd been attacked. It was a calm gait, with no attempt to hide the sound. No student would walk like this after curfew.
Severus blinked.
Peverell.
He saw Professor Peverell. The Slytherin Deputy Head on patrol.
Severus stiffened on the spot.
His immediate thought was that he would be bloody screwed if he was caught. He'd been punished for breaking curfew last time, and if he was caught again, the caning would be doubled for repeat crime.
...But.
...This time, it's not my fault, is it?
Shockingly, Severus thought something he had never thought before in front of a professor.
He wanted to say, as wrong as it may seem, it's not really my fault. I'm the victim here and now, and I need you to take my side.
His heart beat fast. Did that make sense? Did that actually make any sense? Should I, could I, do that?
His head was spinning. A quivering hand began to move slowly towards the ward-cancelling rune.
Pop.
The next moment, he was jolted awake by the feel of cold stone against the back of his head. Severus's neck lurched and his head fell back against the wall.
What a naive Hufflepuff he had been.
Reporting Potter and Black, two of the most elite students in the school, to the professor for bullying, when he couldn't even catch them in the act?
'...They had a disillusionment charm on... I didn't see anything. ...Yeah. I mean, complete disillusionment. Not fifth year level? Well, yeah, but... They've been using the disillusionment charm since first year! ...Then how do I know? The giggles! Yeah! They were giggling. I know it's them! ... Ugh... Yeah, they laughed for like two seconds... I think... I suppose... it was them...'
Severus shook his head. Yeah, sure they'll believe me.
I must have been solidly insane. To think even for a minute I should raise my voice against them before a professor.
Prior Incantato? The bastards must have already performed a set of harmless spells to remove any evidence of prior spells on their wands. Anything more than that, a formal investigation using Veritaserum and the like was beyond the scope of a mere professor; Aurors would have to be called in.
In Hogwarts, you don't get an Auror involved in a petty squabble between students. It's just not done. Moreover, he would be at a disadvantage if he made a big deal out of it.
Two Heirs to old Houses were at stake. Realistically, it would be Severus himself who would be in danger of expulsion for the crime of false accusation.
And even if he wasn't expelled, their family would still use whatever means they have to find dirt on the half-blood boy who was accusing their heir. And Severus knew full well that he wasn't a boy without a shred of shame on the earth, but a dustbowl of dirts to shake.
And his parents? Ha! Eileen, a half-Squib, is lucky if she doesn't have a depression attack in the process, and Tobias... Severus couldn't help but laugh to himself as he imagined how a drunken poor muggle would be treated by the Wizarding Justice.
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Thud, thud, thud.
Slowly, the professor's footsteps began to move away from the corridor he was in. Severus breathed a sigh of relief.
...Sigh of relief. Yes, it was a relief. He hadn't been caught, and it was what he'd wanted.
Severus gripped his wand tighter. His head ached like it was going to crack.
Why, why did Peverell just leave, without finding him and saving him?
Severus was in a concealment ward. It was impossible for a casual patrol to spot him with a quick glance. But he couldn't think rationally.
It hurt. Sick enough to want to die. So he had to save me. He had to save me!
Severus gripped his wand and remained motionless until Professor Peverell's footsteps receded and there was complete silence.
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The next day. Before Potions classroom.
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"Oi, our slippery Snivellus looks like he's finally had a shower! How long has it been, a month, two months?"
James Potter's clear, merry voice echoed down the corridor, before the classroom.
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(Note)
1. Considering the level of bullying at the end of 5th years OWL ('Snape's Worst Memory' ) which was certainly not criminally persecuted even if both attackers were 16 years old, way over the age of criminal minor, I think this episode is a reasonable description of bullying in Hogwarts 1970's
2. Harry, in fact, didn't see Severus under the ward in this incident; well, you know that most of the bullying is just gone unnoticed by teachers.
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