A little glimpse into Severus' personal life during the summer before his final year at Hogwarts. Still pretty Marauders-centric, but I like to explore a number of significant characters along with their perspectives. Thank you all who are continuing reading and for any newcomers welcome! I try to post as often as I can, but I do apologize for the lack of the consistent schedule.

Life hadn't been great at Spinners End for one Severus Snape, especially since Lily moved away. At least before he could still watch her from afar, wearing a disillusionment charm that even she couldn't see through. Now Severus' home was full of nothing but fights he couldn't stop and drunken slurs thrown his way. He didn't even have his book to distract him this summer, scribbling in a copy of Advanced Potion Making he'd found in the second-hand book shop, trying his best to recall his old recipes. It wasn't too tough, and he remembered the majority of it with the familiar book to assist him. However, there was something about the missing pieces of process that he had developed over years of scribbling and work that made the chunk of book he had recovered feel less meaningful. Damn James Potter, if it weren't for him Severus would have his book and he never would have lost his temper in front of Lily. She would be here, sitting beneath their tree with him, helping him think of new charms to cheer him out of his sulking. Without Lily, he only had his own mind, which was sufficiently distracted with thoughts of the aforementioned girl. About the only thing that could cheer him up now was the fact that he still had Potter's broomstick in his possession, and a brand-new Nimbus no less. When he'd returned from school with that, his father had wasted no time threatening to take it away from him.

"What you need a broomstick for anyway? Not like you play that fairy game with your lot. We can take this to that Dragon Alley and sell it for a good price by the looks of it." He had said.

"It's a young wizard's right to own a broom, Tobias." His mother broke in with her shrill tones.

"Own it? He probably stole the bloody thing anyway, so the way I see it taking it away is less punishment than he deserves."

"I didn't steal it," Severus sneered, the lie slipping easily off his practiced tongue. "I won it in that same 'fairy game' against another boy, not that it's any of your business."

His father's eyebrow had raised, mildly impressed.

"And besides, Diagon Alley doesn't buy secondhand wares. We're not so unrefined as you muggles that we have to take other wizard's castoffs."

This was also a lie, and Severus' mother knew it this time. Normally he would've gotten a cuff on the ear for such behavior, but he had calculated his mother's greedy stares and reasoned that she would rather have a superb broom in the house than the fleeting joy of punishing her insolent son.

Severus pulled himself out of his memories of home, closing the book for the time being. As he had predicted, his mother was using his broom today to visit some witch friends of hers on the coast. They had run out of floo powder, and Severus knew that his mother had been looking for an excuse to show off their fresh-off-the-market broom anyway.
Severus made his way up past the rusting playground where he had first laid eyes on the most beautiful girl Hogwarts had to offer. He slinked past her yard, in which he had spent many an afternoon lazing around when Petunia wasn't in the area to break up their fun. He glanced unhappily at the brand-new rosebushes planted in the flowerbeds along with two young muggles playing in that same yard…their yard. Severus pulled his wand from a dirty denim pocket, annoyance prickling at the back of his skull, aiming it at the older of the two like a cheap pistol. He heard high-pitched squeals and saw a flash of red hair as a third child came running around the corner of the familiar home. He allowed his wand hand to go limp.
Checking his watch and knowing if his mother returned and their pot was still empty of floopowder he would hear about it, Severus decided it wouldn't be so bad to take a trip to Diagon Alley. He could apparate now after all. The children in the yard glanced over at the sound of a loud crack, their hearts racing for just a moment before they grew distracted again when the older blonde tackled the red head to the ground.

Severus wandered from storefront to storefront, his mood growing strangely whimsical as he strolled past Ollivander's. He felt his feet moving as if of their own accord toward a dim alleyway on the other side of the street. It wouldn't have been his first foray into the darker side of wizarding affairs, and nothing within Knockturn Alley was exactly illegal (nothing categorized as official wares anyway). However, on this day, call it a momentary flicker of sentimentality, his toes remained at the edge of shadow. His eyes glanced behind him, and as if the stars were aligning in favor of his fateful choice, he caught sight of a certain red-headed young woman who had not been far from his mind that summer. He felt his busted trainers change course as he approached the girl, ignoring the warning bells blasting in his frazzled mind, trying their best to remind him that he was not welcome.
"Hi." Severus said, wincing a bit as his voice cracked over the simple word.
"Hey." She responded, the word leaving her tongue like the sweetest honey, her voice still holding that bell-like resonance that so drew him to her the first afternoon they met.

They stood in silence for longer than a moment, Lily's eyes flitting anywhere they could like a nervous hummingbird, teeth gnawing incessantly at her forever chapped lower lip. Severus remained his stoic self before picking up the conversation again.
"There's a new family in your house. Some muggles with little kids. It's strange."
"No chance of befriending them then?" Lily said, finally daring to meet his eyes.
"Not likely," he scoffed trying to picture himself engaging in the absurd wrestling on the front lawn, wand tossed aside as he tussled the young muggle's hair. He caught sight of Lily's pursed expression, realizing nearly too late that he'd said the wrong thing. "I mean, maybe if they were older." He said.
A spark of hope filled her eyes. Severus kept going, hoping for a moment that he might stoke that spark into an ember and then a flame, allowing those emeralds to shine for him again.
"Where you staying this summer?"
"I was with Petunia for a bit," Lily said.
Severus wrinkled his nose before he could stop himself, but to his surprise Lily laughed.
"I've been jumping between friends mostly. She didn't love having my particular brand of weirdness dirtying up her place, I suppose." She said, trying to keep her tone light.
"Sounds about right for Petunia." He said, and he was delighted when she let out another small laugh.

He didn't notice the slight darkness in Lily's eyes, too excited to be having a real conversation with her after nearly a year. So caught up was he in the adorable imperfections that dotted her nose and the way she never could keep her hair combed flat on her head, that he found himself taking a leap with his heart that his brain didn't completely agree with.
"You look good Lily, really…" but before his brain could consider the matter a familiar voice set his heart even further ablaze not with the early days of young love and affection but the reckoning of righteous fury.
"Yo Evans!"
Severus instantly recoiled, glancing over as none other than James Potter began to approach them.
"Just one second!" She called back, sending an apologetic look towards, not Severus for interrupting their chat, but Potter.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to spoil your date with your new boyfriend." Severus said, the bitterness instantly cutting off any sense of reason as his brain tried its best to send out an SOS signal to Snape's poisonous mouth and furrowed brow.
"It's not like that Sev. You know I hang with Remus, and they came along this time that's all." He noticed the lie in her eyes easier than most. He had spent five years catching on to Lily's fairly obvious tells, and it didn't help that he was more skilled in that arena than even some of the most advanced wizards in the occlumency field.
"Whatever, I figured you'd be staying with some of the Gryffindor lot. Then again with monsters like them who needs enemies?" He said, eyes deliberately shifting towards Remus who was standing outside of one of the pet stores admiring a pair of dancing mice in the window.
"I never said I was staying with them," Lily said, her voice growing even higher pitched as she did her best to hold back from responding to Snape's goading remark about Remus' condition.
"What, like you're hiding it? Parading yourself around like their little trophy girl. You're even wearing his stupid quidditch jumper." He said, his fury only increasing as Lily's temper began to rise.
"I was cold, and I forgot a jacket, would you stop being so ridiculous?"
"Is he bothering you Evans? Need me to handle it?" Potter said, approaching the two of them with a practiced swagger that caught Lily by surprise but was all too familiar to Severus.
"Sod off Potter." She said, her boiling blood turning on him in an instant.
"I'm just trying to help." He said, that cocky grin overtaking him and turning him into a fifteen-year-old boy that Lily had begun to think she'd seen the last of.
"I don't need your help. We were just talking. I didn't realize it was illegal for me to have a conversation when I'm in your company." She said.
Severus felt a surge of pride.
"What do you even want to talk to that greaseball for?" Potter said, the two of them facing off in a momentary battle of wills that Severus could not comprehend. Since when did Lily struggle in a standoff with James Potter?
"He-I-ugh"
Lily's lack of an answer turned Severus' pride back into fury.
"You heard her Potter back off." He said, trying to salvage the situation.
Potter smiled at that.
"Oh, like you're going to fight me, Snivellus? Knight in nasty knickers?"

"You misplace a broom lately Potter?" Severus said with a devilish sneer.

James had, in fact, received a lecture from both father and mother on being irresponsible with his things, and he was forced to return to his old Nimbus. This wasn't much of a punishment, as his old Nimbus 1500 was still one of the best on the market.

With a glance at the crowd that had begun to gather, James felt the adrenaline of a good show overtaking his recent string of good sense.

"I'll tell you what." He said, hardly noticing Lily's rising anger, eyes singularly focused on his archrival. "We're both of age aren't we Snivellus? We can settle this the way adult wizards do."
James struck before Snape could react, knocking him clear off his feet, providing an exaggerated bow as was considered dueling custom.
Screams erupted from passersby as the crowd began to disperse. This was no longer a schoolboy tiff but an adult wizard duel, not to mention the fact that they weren't in Hogwarts in the first place where such behavior was at least considered somewhat commonplace.

Severus reached for his own wand before it flew out of his hand with a quick "Expelliarmus!" from James.
It was at this point that Sirius, who had been flirting with the girl behind the counter at Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlor, approached the fight with a cruel smirk having rushed out upon hearing the crowd's screams.
"What Snivy? Don't have your backup wand on you? Or even a backup mate?" James sneered.
"You're not here alone are you Snivellus? That's pathetic" Sirius said chuckling loudly as James made quick work of Severus' second attempt to dive for his wand with a nonverbal summoning charm.

Severus skinned his chin on that dive as James laughed, holding the wand out as if he was teasing a dog before aiming an engorgement charm right in between Snape's eyes, hoping to get a good hit on his hooked nose. A shout of "Protego!" interrupted the curse as Lily moved between James and Severus, a red-hot fury in her emerald eyes.
James gulped as Lily aimed her own wand at his nose, a well-placed bat bogey hex knocking him to the ground. He tried to cover his nostrils as great bat-shaped boogers shot out against his will.
"I can't believe I thought you might actually be changing." Lily berated James as he worked to clear out the remaining mucus called upon by the impressive spell. "With everything going on how can you keep picking these petty fights like you're still 10 years old?!"
There were tears in her eyes now, and before James could say anything in his defense Lily said.
"You and Sirius are perfect for each other, Remus can you take me home?"
Remus had just exited the owl emporium, a big bag of pellets in his arms. He glanced at a guilty looking James, a haughty looking Sirius, and the back of a furious Snape who had just stalked off, and his mind quickly caught on to the well-rehearsed scene.
"Yes, of course" he said walking with Lily towards the Leaky Cauldron without glancing back at his defeated buddies.
"Slick git, trying to get back into her good graces. We showed him Prongs." Sirius said.
"Yeah" James chuckled, but for the first time since either of the boys could remember, the laugh didn't reach his eyes.

Lily was sitting in the Potters' living room, sulking, but with no other option for housing. Remus had boldly suggested that she could stay with him for a few days, until the full moon started coming on anyway, but she had regrettably waved him off out of a sense of foolish courtesy. Given that it had taken what was available of Remus' social courage to offer in the first place, he didn't push further, nor did he argue when she asked if he would just leave her be for the rest of the evening, sending him on his way back home. Lily was seriously considering making the walk of shame back to London to tough out the rest of the summer with Petunia when the ring she had bought for Marlene's birthday began to glow bright white.

"Marlene," she whispered. With this far more compelling prospect ahead of her, Lily hurried upstairs to her guest room in order to pack before James and Sirius returned. She would leave a note for Mr. and Mrs. Potter. They had been perfectly lovely after all, and she felt it would be rude to leave without saying goodbye.

She was nearly finished when her escape plan was interrupted by a familiar voice.
"Lily, I'd like to talk to you," James said, doing his very best to make it sound like a request rather than a demand.

Lily didn't even glance up, trying to force her overstuffed trunk shut over her numerous belongings.
"Well, that's tough Potter because I don't want to talk to you." She said.
"I'm sorry" James said. Lily actually stopped trying to tamp down her trunk she was so surprised to hear those words come from James Potter's lips.
"What?" She said, turning around to face him.
"I was jealous and stupid and I'm sorry." He said, clarifying and allowing the statement to sit in the tense air between them.
"I'm still leaving Potter." Lily said, turning back to her trunk, assuming the entire thing was a meaningless ploy to get her to stick around a few more days.

James stepped forward, adding his weight to the other side until Lily was finally able to click the latch into place. He turned to Lily again.

"I know." James said. "That's fine."

She hadn't been expecting to hear that, and surprisingly, James hadn't had any help from his father this time. As Lily finished gathering the rest of her things, James placed a feather light spell on her trunk and turned back to her.

"Are you going somewhere safe?" She hesitated, and James quickly backtracked "I don't need to know where, just, I know your circumstances weren't great with your sister…"

Lily sighed, cutting off James' rambling. "I'm staying with Marlene. I figure you'd connect those dots anyway, but I'd really appreciate it if you don't write. Come to think of it she's not too pleased with Sirius at the moment either, so I think it's all for the best."

James nodded, adjusting his glasses as he longed for a snitch to fidget with.

"Well, it was great having you around, and I am sorry again. You're always…welcome here." He said.
With just a moment's suspicion in her eyes, Lily finally settled on, "Thanks Potter," before making her way down the stairs and disappearing with a wave of her wand and a sharp crack, not glancing back at James who couldn't take his eyes off of her or the spot from which she had disappeared.

"Wow, Prongs, since when is your head halfway up Evans' arse?" Sirius said after James had reluctantly admitted his part in Lily's abrupt exit and explained to his parents that yes, he had apologized and no, she wouldn't be returning but was safe with another friend.
"Well, I'm proud of you, son." Fleamont said, ruffling James' hair as Sirius chuckled.
"Oh, pwong's daddy is so so pwoud of him."
"At least I treat girls better than you Mr. 'It's just that for the summer I want to keep my options open,'" James said in a mocking impression of Sirius' slightly deeper voice.
"Who did you say that to?" Fleamont replied, chuckling at the boys' antics while his wife returned from the kitchen with floating dinner plates in her wake, looking increasingly displeased at the tone of the conversation she had walked in on.
"No one," Sirius said in reply to Mr. Potter, glancing at Mrs. Potter who was sloppily splashing mashed potatoes across the elegant tablecloth in her distraction as she did her best to maintain concentration on the serving spell through her annoyance. It was odd for the boys to see the normally prim and proper Mrs. Potter struggling to keep her composure.

"Oh, you remember Padfoot. Not two weeks into summer you wrote her on her big trip, remember you said she'd have plenty of French blokes to keep her company?" James said in reply, enjoying the frustrated groan that escaped Sirius' mouth as Mrs. Potter finally set the serving dishes down with a variety of clangs and clunks, all thoughts of dinner forgotten.

"Marlene McKinnon?" Mrs. Potter said, "That wonderful girl from the train platform? Sirius Black, I am surprised at you."

James just shot Sirius a devilish smirk while the other boy tried to speak in his defense: "Well, you see, it was more of a mutual decision sort of thing…"

"You didn't even have the decency to do it in person!" Mrs. Potter all but shrieked. "Wrote her a half-arsed letter and sent her on her way? Well, you will be writing her a proper apology if it takes all night. I don't care what plans you might have had, Mr. Independent. I won't have my boys running around as if they were raised by a pack of ill-mannered wolves."
Sirius let out an involuntary howl, causing James and Fleamont to laugh even harder albeit for different reasons.
"Honestly." Mrs Potter said, taking her seat and cutting an elegant slice of chicken from the sloppily arranged dishware while her boys laughed together uproariously.

Severus arrived home to silence, which was a rare joy in the Snape household. He slammed the door behind him without the worry of being scolded. He reveled in every stomp up the stairs that led to his mediocre bedroom. Severus' cabinets were dusted, his books were alphabetized, and you could bounce a quarter off his bed. He grabbed the towel hung on his bedpost and made his way to the single shower at the end of the hall. He turned the water up to its highest setting until the steam overcame the room, reminding him of the anonymity of potions class.

Severus stripped down and stepped beneath the scalding water. He allowed the scorching pain to boil across his bare chest as he grabbed his father's shampoo, squeezing far more than the recommended nickel-sized amount into his palm. Scrubbing his scalp under the hot water, jeers of "greaseball" and "Snivellus" played in his head as the water grew steadily ice cold. Cheap water heater. Even as an only child, Severus had never had hot showers growing up. It was much easier to get in and out, hence leaving his naturally greasy hair rather unkempt. The practice stuck as he grew distracted with his studies, and Severus wished not for the first time that he had been born with hair that was simple and luxurious without effort like Sirius or James. He patted that jealousy down firmly under miles of topsoil, pushing it back to the bedrock where it belonged as he pulled the curtain back, grabbing his wand, and waving it. The shower instantly heated to near boiling, as the only spell Severus knew for hot water was used to prepare tea.

He ignored the blistering of his skin as he scrubbed again at forever greasy hair, eyes burning as the shampoo rolled down his face. Forget Lily, she had made her choice. Despite everything they'd been through, she decided Potter was not an onerous git, but rather someone she could actually see herself spending time with, and perhaps more. She could rot away with him for all Severus cared. She could forget about her best friend of five years and die with Potter in this upcoming war, maybe even at Severus' hand. For a millisecond, he really thought he believed the vile poison coursing through his mind, but then he thought once again of those perfect imperfections that made up Lily Evans and he knew that, as in all things, he was a fool.

Dear Lily,

My dad always says your words don't count unless they're written out for posterity. I know you didn't want me writing, but in my defense, Sirius thinks I'm sneaking a letter through you to Marlene on his behalf. The second part of my apology is saving the both of you from his God-awful attempt at poetry. I meant what I said when you left. I am sorry. Hope to see you around.

Love,

James

A letter from an unfamiliar owl arrived on James' doorstep long enough past his own that he had almost forgotten the letter he sent to Lily, having not expected a reply. He tore the letter open as soon as he was behind his locked bedroom door. Even with Sirius living in his own flat, his father off at work, and his mother visiting a friend, you could never be too careful.

Dear James,

I won't lie. I'm still angry. You infuriate me most days, and at first, I had no intention of writing you back…but I can't deny that the James Potter I knew even one year ago would never have written me this letter. I'll see you at Hogwarts.

Lily

A smile without a trace of his usual cockiness spread across James' face.

Dear Lily,

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. The quill scratches at these words as Severus continues.

Diagon Alley sucks anyway. Another slash of the quill as he restarts again, crumpling the paper and pulling a fresh sheet. It was good to see you. I would be so grateful for the opportunity to continue our conversation. I lost my temper with Potter and I shouldn't have even though he is and has always been an insolent prat. (scratch that last, don't need to insult the boy she prefers after all). I am sorry for losing my temper. Maybe we can get a coffee sometime at Hogwarts?

Severus

Dear Lily,

I wish I could craft the words for the guilt I feel. Hurting you will always be my life's biggest regret. I could tell you that I wasn't thinking straight or that I let my anger get the best of me or that I didn't mean the words I said, but you know I am not a liar. Of all the things I am and all the things I've done, I have never lied to you. I have a muggle for a father, and he is a miserable man. I am ashamed for the half of my blood that comes from him. I am scared to share even a fraction of his personality. I don't know how to explain the destruction he reaps inside of my head. All I know is that I love you Lily Evans. I always have and I always will. Please forgive me and I will show you just how much.

Sincerely,

Severus

Both letters sat unattached to the Snape family owl, the subtle one and the one in which Severus had poured out his heart. They sat in a drawer in Severus' desk along with countless additional letters of the same sort, some more reserved, some even more open than even Severus cared to admit. Some of the most open ones lay in ashes at the bottom of the bin in the kitchen. These letters sat there and gathered dust as Severus' final Hogwarts letter arrived, detailing his advanced classes and his invitation to the Slug Club. He wasn't surprised when the Head Boy pin didn't come for him. He hadn't even been a prefect during his time at school, and it would likely go to some goodie goodie who had never been called to the headmaster's office for anything besides an award. Still, Severus had held out the barest hope that somehow that badge might end up in his lap because he, along with everyone else, knew who the Head Girl for their Seventh Year would be.

The boys were hanging out in Sirius' flat, sipping on some firewhiskey and exchanging plans for their final year when an owl arrived at the windowsill, tapping politely, and carrying four familiar-looking envelopes.

"Oh, our Hogwarts letters." James said, hopping out of his chair and moving to the window where he tossed the letters to his companions before tearing open his own.

Peter was reading over his course list with that concerned way he always got when considering the difficult classes to come. Sirius hardly read the thing, turning his attention back to the muggle music blasting from his record player, and Remus took his time reading through the letter to make sure he hadn't missed anything. Only James reacted differently this year compared to all the previous years, and Sirius was quick to notice the change in his best friend.

"Prongs, what's with the look?" Sirius said.

"I'm Head Boy."

"What?" Remus asked, not believing it as he ran up to read over James' shoulder.

James was in disbelief as well, and he couldn't help the twinge of guilt at Remus' vaguely disappointed look. Any feelings of guilt, though, were overwhelmed by pure shock. It took maybe five minutes of contemplation over his promise to not write Lily any longer that summer before his impulsive mind and his better half and a little bit of firewhiskey egged him on.

Dear Lily,

Well, this should be an interesting year.

James

Lily felt something heavy contained in the envelope, and she gaped in shock at the sight of the head boy badge. She considered the matter for a moment and decided quickly that James must have nicked it from Remus. There was no chance in hell that James Potter of all people had been selected as Head Boy.