Chapter Two!
Ah, the wonders of Livejournal. I finally finished nitpicking the second chapter to Another Plane of Existence. I haven't posted it on any archives yet, but will probably get to that later tonight.
Another Plane of Existence
Rated: Mature
Chapter 2: Broken
Severus rolled out of bed early the next morning, grabbing his things and hastening to the bathrooms to prepare for the long day ahead of him. He’d never been much for company, and the thought of socializing whilst completing his daily hygiene routine disturbed him. It didn’t help that Rosier had no shame and walked around the bathrooms naked, much to his horror. Rising early meant that he didn’t have to deal with the rest of his housemates. Severus never considered himself to be a morning person by any means, and his tolerance for his fellow Slytherins was barely existent during the dawning hours. To be perfectly honest, he preferred the company of books to humans the majority of the time.
Severus caught his reflection in one of the steam repellent mirrors as he stepped out of the shower to grab his robes. Pausing, he eyed his reflection steadily. Potter and Black were quick to point out the more adverse features of Severus’s physical appearance, calling him many things along the line of “greasy git” and “beaky”. Angry though it made him, he reluctantly understood the origins of the nicknames. He was unlucky, perhaps, as far as appearances go, but it seemed trivial on the grand scale of things.
Unlike many of his fellow students, he’d never even considered attracting members of the opposite sex. His own physical appearance was of no real importance to him, especially since most of it was predetermined by genetics. That wasn’t to say he didn’t appreciate good looks, because he most certainly did. It was hard to ignore aesthetic beauty, especially in the feminine form, and he’d felt a certain attraction towards girls such as the Black sisters, who were all very beautiful. He simply preferred to be alone. He had his own agenda, and as far as he’d ever witnessed, coupling created far more problems than it was worth.
He rubbed at his hair with a towel and swiped at the drips of water running down the length of his hooked nose. Combing back his limp hair with his fingers, he tucked it behind his ears; it was nearly past his shoulders now. He glanced in the mirror, momentarily studying his sallow face and the hollows in his cheekbones. Pulling his hair back accentuated the severity of his features. He would never be handsome; it was a simple fact. His father had went so far as to tell him that he’d never be an attractive man so he would have to make up for it with knowledge and skill. Then again, his father had often insisted that Severus was an incapable fool who would never get anything right even if his life depended on it.
He scowled at his reflection in the mirror darkly.
“Cheer up, love,” the mirror said, “at least you don’t have pock-marks.”
He sneered dangerously, turned on his heel, and stalked away from the mirror, silently cursing the wizard who’d had the bright idea to give inanimate objects the ability to speak. Quickly doing up the buttons of his robes, he grabbed his things and left the dormitory for breakfast in the Great Hall.
It was quiet in the corridors. He supposed that the students who had been up late studying for their final exams were having a lie-in. Today he had O.W.L. exams in both Potions and Arithmancy. Severus wasn’t concerned about his Potions exam. He was well past fifth year level in his private studies and was quite certain that there wouldn’t be anything on the exam that he wouldn’t know. The majority of the potions required for O.W.L.s were ones that he’d mastered long ago.
He skulked out of the dungeons and through the Entrance Hall, heading into the Great Hall for breakfast. Though he had already decided that he would not go outside today, he glanced up at the enchanted ceiling to check the weather out of habit. Waking up in the dungeons made it impossible for the Slytherins to tell what the weather would be like for the rest of the day. Really, the Slytherin Common Room view only helped if one was wondering whether or not the young merpeople had spent the morning with their faces pressed up against the glass or if Moaning Myrtle had been flushed down the pipes again. As it happened, the ceiling of the Great Hall was a clear blue with only a few white, puffy clouds, and only one young merman had knocked on the Common Room window.
Severus slumped down onto a bench and helped himself to a couple sausage links and a slice of toast. He then pulled out his Arithmancy notes and set them on the table beside his plate so he could look them over as he ate.
“Excuse me,” a voice said from not so far away.
Severus ignored the voice and kept eating, assuming the person was speaking to someone else at the Slytherin table.
“Er…Severus?” the voice said awkwardly.
He frowned, swallowed his food, and looked up at the source of the voice. He blinked in surprise, realizing that the voice belonged to none other than Evans. She’d never approached him in the Great Hall before, and he hoped that she still wasn’t expecting an apology for yesterday’s affair.
She gave him a pensive smile. “Good morning.”
Immediately suspicious of Evans’s impromptu greeting, Severus scanned the room for any signs of snickering or amusement. Gryffindor students rarely approached Slytherin students, and it would hardly surprise him if someone had put her up to initiating a conversation with him.
Severus noticed James Potter entering the hall by himself, looking thunderous. The bespectacled boy peered at the Slytherin table suspiciously, throwing his books down onto the table in front of him with such ferocity that they slid across the tabletop and landed on the floor. He seemed far too serious to be involved in a prank. Snape watched him quietly. No, if Potter were up to something, it would be written all over his face. Not only that, but Potter rarely pulled a prank on his own; he liked an audience and partners in crime.
No one else looked particularly suspect, so Severus turned his attention back to strange muggle-born witch standing in front of him. He forced his expression to remain vague and lifted an eyebrow quizzically. “Yes?”
“Listen, normally, I would never ask you this, but I’m in a bit of a spot,” Evans went on. She seemed flustered, and her cheeks were burning with embarrassment. “I’ve misplaced all of my notes for Potions. I’ve no idea where I put them, none of my roommates are up yet, and I would rather die than ask Potter for his.” She rolled her eyes to the Gryffindor table behind her. “He seems to be the only other fifth year in Gryffindor house up now.” She shrugged and shook her head quickly as if dismissing him. “His notes are probably terrible, anyhow.”
Snape listened to Lily ramble on silently. He made no move to reply, but did look past her at James, who was pretending to be engrossed in his breakfast and failing miserably. He continued to flash dark looks in Severus’s general direction about every minute or so.
Snape wondered if Potter was actually angry that Evans was associating with him. A sense of satisfaction slowly spread throughout his body, and he debated actually lending out his notes, if not merely to infuriate Potter. Remaining impassive, Snape weighed his options. He truly wasn’t concerned with whether or not she had notes for the upcoming exam; it was her fault that she carelessly misplaced them. Still, he realized that lending her his notes might result in a reaction from Potter that would be worthwhile.
What remained to be seen was whether or not it would benefit Severus in the end.
He pulled a face of utter annoyance and fixed her with an intense stare. “You’d like to borrow my notes?” he asked, finally.
She nodded, lacing and unlacing her fingers in front of her uncomfortably, and it was apparent that she was enjoying their conversation as much as he was, which was very little. “If you aren’t using them, that is.”
He reached into his bag and came up with a thick roll of parchment. “I don’t need to use them,” he replied, placing them on the table. “The only reason I take them is because I feel as though I should look busy for Professor Slughorn.”
Lily looked perplexed. “You don’t read your notes?”
“Isn’t that what I just said?”
She sighed irritably and looked as though she wanted to say something rude back, but she held her tongue. He assumed it was only because she needed the notes so badly. He pushed them across the table and nodded towards her. “Don’t muss them,” he added. “Don’t let anyone else handle them, and if you lose these,” he emphasized, gesturing down at the roll, “we’ll talk about finding something of equal value to replace them with.” Severus was not one to just go on and lend things out at ease, and he even considered fifth year Potions notes to be valuable.
Lily pursed her lips and stared at the roll. She looked like she was deliberating over his comments. He was about to snatch the roll back and tell her that the deal was off when she spoke up. “Fine.” She picked the notes up and unrolled them, scanning the first page.
He remained silent, watching her face as she looked over his work.
“Oh,” she murmured, “these are excellent.” Her green eyes flickered back at Snape. “I really appreciate this. I wanted to review since we have a couple hours before the exam begins.”
“It’s nothing.” Again, he quickly looked around the Great Hall to make sure that no one was around who would give him hell for speaking with her. To his relief, the only other Slytherins at his table were third years and below, including Barty Crouch. Barty was on speaking terms with Regulus, but Snape doubted the little boy would have the gall to say anything. The rest of the hall was fairly empty save the Ravenclaw table, which was, unsurprisingly, nearly full. Sensing no imminent danger, he dropped his gaze back to his Arithmancy notes on the table, returning his attention to one of the more difficult problems.
He could hear the shifting of papers; Evans was still standing in front of him. Having no desire to invite her to sit down and chat about O.W.L.s and Quidditch or whatever other mindless topics Gryffindors chose to amuse themselves with, he decided to make one final comment. “Keep our deal in mind. I’ll hold you to it,” he said flatly, not bothering to look up.
Lily tucked the roll of parchment under her arm. “Thanks again,” she said, ignoring his warning, “I’ll have these back to you after the exam.”
He shrugged, refusing to tear his eyes away from his notes until he heard her footsteps leaving. Then he barely inclined his head to watch her walk back to the Gryffindor table. She took the seat farthest away from Potter, he observed with mild amusement. At least Evans had sense enough to see Potter for what he really was. Snape decided that alone deserved a look at his notes.
From across the hall, James must have seen Snape’s amusement and flashed a rude hand gesture in return. Snape’s smirked triumphantly.
* * *
His Arithmancy exam went rather well.
He had a feeling that it would be good after he managed to procure a seat in the row next to Davy Gudgeon. Once the exam had started, he had perfect view of Davy’s parchment. Davy was blissfully unaware, distracted by a conversation between the professor and a Hufflepuff girl who looked near to tears. With a quick swish of his wand, Severus placed a charm on the parchment, causing the numbers to shift places. Predictably, Gudgeon didn’t even realize it, too engrossed in his friend who was now sobbing uncontrollably, her hiccups and sobs echoing throughout the room. Although Gudgeon’s exam wasn’t even close to being finished, he had completed enough of it that Severus’s charm would have a profound effect on his scoring. It would take Gudgeon a while to correct his exam, should he realize the errors on the paper, at the very least.
The faintest trace of a satisfied smile crept over Severus’s face as he completed the rest of his exam.
After the old examiner collected the tests, Snape packed up his things and left the room, quietly looking over his notes like he had the day before. Instead of going to the grounds, however, he decided to take sanctuary in the library. He knew that there would be no major disturbances there. The librarian, a stern witch named Madam Pince, had little tolerance for anyone causing trouble or breaking rules in her library.
He walked in, carefully avoiding Pince’s keen eyes, and took a seat at a table in the corner that was half engulfed in shadows. The only exam he had left was Potions, both the written test and the practical. Severus pulled out an old, tattered book from his bag and opened it up to a page revealing small, cramped writing scribbled all over the margins. It was his mother’s old potions text, and Severus used it as his own private journal, improving potion steps and logging interesting curses and counter curses. He spent a lot of time perfecting the spells he developed. It was a hobby that he had; he found the Dark Arts fascinating.
He liked that fighting the Dark Arts was skilful and challenging; a witch or wizard was required to know dark magic both inside and out. Severus truly appreciated the various curses, hexes, bindings and powerful blood magic that wizards could use against each other. It was intriguing. Defending one’s self was extremely important in survival, and if there was one thing Severus had learned in his life thus far, it was surviving.
He ran a long finger across the page, stopping at the word sectum. The latest curse he was developing involved slicing the skin. He had managed a small cut across Potter’s face the day before, but that was clearly substandard. What he needed was something that would be detrimental.
He was scribbling down various Latin tenses when he heard a disturbance behind him. Shifting around in his seat, he noticed an open space in the bookshelves, and caught a glimpse of two figures moving in the shadows. They seemed to be in the midst of a heated discussion.
“How can I be certain that you are to be trusted?” a voice whispered.
“Why are you even bothering to trust anyone at all?” the other voice countered. “Anyhow, I hate the spot our families are being put in as much as you do.”
“And you’re truly interested in learning more about him?”
“Absolutely.”
“Very well,” the first voice said. The figure leaned forward, and Severus’s mouth dropped open as he recognized the familiar shine of thick, black hair. Bellatrix moved towards the other figure, pressing her body gently against it. Severus knew that it must be another male student. “I hope you’re not lying, for your sake,” she whispered huskily. She reached out and placed the palm of her hand behind the boy’s neck, bringing his face close to her own, and whispered something inaudible into the his ear.
Not even a few minutes later, Severus saw her march out of the aisle of books, smoothing out her robes. She didn’t bother giving a second glance to whomever she had been talking with.
Severus pretended to be reading his notes, but he watched for any other movement out of that particular row of books with his peripheral vision. He was very curious who she’d had that private conversation with. It was a voice he was unfamiliar with.
His question was answered when Augustus Rookwood, sixth year Ravenclaw prefect, walked out of the shadows. The tall, muscular boy scanned the library uneasily before exiting out into the corridors.
Snape watched Rookwood’s broad figure leisurely walk out of the library. Interesting, he decided. Very interesting.
* * *
Students were already queued up at the door to the Potions classroom when Severus arrived. He walked to the end of the queue, barely acknowledging the people ahead of him, still musing over the conversation he had overheard between Bellatrix and Rookwood. He slumped against the wall and stared across the hall blankly.
He had a vague idea of what their conversation was all about, and the thought made him weary. He had heard whispers and a few thinly veiled hints here and there, especially among the older Slytherins. Muggle-bashing and talk of unforgivable curses were becoming increasingly common, and though it made Severus a little uneasy, he was also intrigued.
His thoughts were disrupted when Florence Jenkins, nose in a book, trampled over his feet. He gave a great twitch and swore under his breath.
“Oh, sorry Snape,” she said absently, continuing to walk to the end of the queue. What Rosier saw in her, Severus just didn’t know.
Like Florence, most of the students were having a last minute cramming session. Snape, on the other hand, was one of the only students in the dungeon corridors empty-handed. He was certain that the potions exam would be a breeze, and after it was completed he would only have the practical left to complete. A sort of hollow feeling was growing inside of him; the last test meant that it would be time for the students to leave Hogwarts. He wasn’t exactly fancying a summer at home in Spinner’s End.
Severus was drawn out of his thoughts by a buoyant, cheery voice. “File in, file in!” Professor Slughorn’s plump figure was bobbing up and down near the doorway. “Your examiner, Professor Quinn, will be explaining the procedures momentarily.”
Snape, along with the others, filed into the room and raised his eyebrows. The Potions room had been expanded, and single desks replaced the long tables. It was quite different than what he was used to, he decided as he walked along the back wall. He promptly sat at a desk in the row on the farthest end. There was less chance of another student being able to copy his work, which was sure to happen. Not surprisingly, Evan Rosier took the seat across from him.
“All right, Snape. Mind if I have a look at your notes before the exam?” Evan asked, eyeing Snape’s bag.
“I didn’t bring them,” Snape replied, giving a half-shrug.
Evan’s face fell. Obviously he had been counting on them. “Bugger,” he said. “S’pose that rules out any last minute studying.”
Snape nodded curtly. “I suppose it does.” Behind Evan, students were quickly beginning to file into their seats. Lestrange entered and gave a slight nod in acknowledgment, choosing a seat a few rows away. He pulled out a bundle of parchment began to thumb through it until he found the particular sheet he was looking for. Seeing an opportunity, Rosier immediately brightened and called over to him to ask if he had any notes to spare.
While Rosier and Lestrange argued over the order that ingredients are to be added into the Polyjuice potion, Severus scanned the room behind them. A loud laugh echoed off of the walls, accompanied by a sudden movement that caught the corner of his eye. Peter Pettigrew was dodging a piece of balled up parchment that Potter and Black were taking turns bouncing off of his head. They obviously found themselves amusing, and the quiet titter from the girls surrounding them only encouraged their misbehaviour.
Their antics were earning a few well-deserved glares from the more studious students, both Slytherins and Gryffindors.
When Peter’s pink face started to grow red Lupin finally looked up from his notes and put an end to it. Snape rolled his eyes. He really hoped none of them would scrape an O.W.L. in Potions. It would make the rest of his schooling much more agreeable.
Across the room, Potter complied with Lupin’s pleading and abandoned his game of torture-Peter. Instead, he focused his attention on Evans. Snape nearly cringed at the singsong tone of Potter’s voice. “Evans…”
He couldn’t help but watch Potter, wondering what the idiot wanted from her.
Lily, who had been absorbed in Severus’s notes, ducked her head down. It looked to Snape like she was trying to avoid Potter at all costs.
“Evans!” Potter sang a little louder.
Lily turned around and gave him a dark look. “What is it, Potter?”
James ran a hand through his hair, ruffling it lazily. “I was only curious if your hands were greasy from handling those notes,” he said smugly. His eyes flickered to where Snape was sitting.
Snape’s hand jerked for his wand and he clenched his jaw tightly. As if he didn’t know what Potter was up to. The Gryffindor was anything but subtle. Snape sat still, quietly seething. It would be small pleasure to curse the smirk off of Potter’s face permanently. He watched the group of Gryffindors carefully, waiting for the perfect moment to whip out his wand and see to it that Potter spent the rest of the day under the care of Madam Pomfrey.
Lily was giving Potter an absolutely murderous glare. “Probably not as greasy as you were after handling Bertha Jorkins,” she replied. Potter’s jaw dropped and he sputtered indignantly.
Sirius let out a loud guffaw and clapped James on the back, muttering something that sounded like “and you never told me?”
James opened his mouth to reply, but Snape never knew what he was about to say because the examiner, Professor Quinn, cleared his throat. “All right,” he said, “notes and wands away, please…”
There was a rustling of papers as the professor continued to rattle on about the rules and procedures of the Potions testing. Then, with a quick flick of his wand, a test appeared on every desk. Severus bowed his head down and got straight to work, quill swiftly scratching across the parchment. It quickly filled up lengthy explanations and examples.
He was looking over his test for any errors when the examiner announced that their time was up. Papers flew from the students’ hands into Quinn’s own, and everyone began to gather their belongings and leave the room.
Next to Snape, Rosier groaned quietly. “That was hell,” he said, hoisting a backpack over his shoulder. “I’m fairly certain I won’t be seeing this room next year.” He glanced around at the stone walls and gave them a mock salute.
Snape gave him a thin-lipped smirk. “It wasn’t difficult, Rosier. If you spent as much time studying your notes as you did girls, you could possibly make an ‘O’ in Potions.”
Rosier grimaced. “The only ‘oh’ I make in Potions is usually followed by the word ‘no’,” he said. Snape snorted.
They both walked out of the room together and Snape turned to go to the Slytherin Common Room. He stopped short when he realized that Rosier wasn’t next to him and spun around, arching an eyebrow.
Rosier was a few feet away, watching the departing figure of a girl with short, curly brown hair. “Florence,” he said quietly, his eyes following the gentle sway of her hips. “I’m going to go see what she’s up to.” He gave Snape an apologetic shrug and took off in her direction.
Not exactly surprised, Snape watched Evan catch up to Florence before turning back towards the Common Room. As he walked, he reviewed the exam in his mind, pondering whether or not he should have added famous Ministry cases that involved the Polyjuice Potion to one of the essay questions. He was nearing the corridor that contained the Slytherin House passageway when he heard the sound of footsteps quickly approaching from behind.
“Severus!” Hearing his name, he paused and turned around.
Lily was quickly striding up the corridor. “Here,” she continued, holding out a roll of parchment as she caught up to him. He took it from her and nodded, turning the parchment over in his hands. They both stood there staring at each other rather uncomfortably.
Lily’s cheeks dimpled slightly. “How did you do?” she asked finally.
“Fair enough.” He frowned slightly, and it suddenly dawned on him that she was waiting for him to return the courtesy. “You?”
“I was going to say fair, but if that’s how you think you did then I’m in for a rude awakening this summer holiday,” she said. “I can’t thank you enough for lending me your notes,” she added. “I was really in a bind, and you were a life-saver.”
He must have looked perplexed, because she gave him a small smile and continued. “Your work is incredible. I always thought that I had a knack for taking notes, but obviously…” she shook her head slightly. “Well, anyway, I think my marks will be decent, if not only because I used the extra information I read about in your notes.” She waved a hand at the notes he was now holding. “They were really interesting.”
“That’s good,” he replied. He wasn’t sure how to handle her compliment, and decided to ignore it instead.
“Listen, Snape?”
“Mm?”
“I was wondering, should my marks allow me to continue with Potions next year, if I would be able to borrow your notes every week or so? They’re so much better than mine. I swear, I know more about Professor Slughorn’s private life than Potions class. You have quite a few details I wasn’t aware of.”
It was interesting that Evan’s didn’t have enough faith in her work that she’d assume she would enter NEWT level Potions next year. Frankly, he thought that it was absurdly modest, considering she was one of the better witches in their year. At least she appreciated quality notes when she saw them; he added to Slughorn’s notes when he deemed it necessary. He didn’t mention that, however. “His private life?” he repeated, slightly curious as to how she would come upon that information.
“From the Slug Club.” Lily blushed and bit her lip. “It’s just a silly group, really. A few students get together and listen to various brags and boasts.” Her mouth quirked to the side as though she immediately regretted her confession. “He’s truly a great professor and man, though.”
Severus knew of the Slug Club, and was not impressed with most of its members. It seemed to be a group for people with social and political connections. He was, however, mildy curious as to how a muggle born like Evans would have achieved slug status. “So you’re a slug?” he asked, gently taunting her.
Lily’s freckled cheeks flushed in embarrassment. “You could say that.” She paused thoughtfully. “He’s mentioned that he’s intrigued by my skill as a muggle-born,” she rolled her eyes to the ceiling, “but I think he’s got a soft spot for fiery redheads. At least, he’s mentioned that before.”
Snape stared at her stupidly, wondering if she was implying something he’d rather not know about. She must have realized it, because she put her face in her hands and shook her head quickly so that her hair fell in front of her face.
“Oh no,” she muttered, “no, no, no.”
Her mortification was mildly amusing, and he gently mocked her with a smirk. “I don’t care to know any more about your private life,” he said. She groaned quietly. “And yes, you may borrow my notes,” he added. “But the same rules will still apply.”
Internally, Severus was shocked. He didn’t know what had come over him. Why on earth had he just agreed to lend her his notes next year? He heaved a large sigh and resisted imitating her and pulling his hands down the length of his face. It had to be all of the testing, yesterday’s events…he was entirely too stressed, obviously.
While he was pondering how to recant his offer, Lily glanced up at him and brushed her hair out of her eyes. She was still quite red. “Thanks, Severus,” she replied slowly. She smiled at him before turning back to where she had come from. “Good luck on the practical exam,” she called over her shoulder, leaving Severus alone in the dark corridor, flummoxed over why he hadn’t simply refused her offer.
His shoulders slumped as he watched her go and he shook his head slowly. He would just have to cling to the tiny hope that she wouldn’t make it into NEWT level potions.
* * *
The potion in his cauldron turned a fantastic orange shade as he made his final clockwise stir. Severus carefully retracted the ladle he was stirring with and set in on the table next to his cauldron. He had exactly three minutes to let the potion simmer and he would be finished with the Potions practical.
The air in the room hung thick and heavy around the fifth year students. A dozen different smells wafted around them, the worst caused by the cloud of black smoke rising from Lupin’s cauldron. The pale-faced boy was frowning seriously, eyeing his potion with glum resignation. It was evident to Snape that Lupin hadn’t added the sneezewort properly, judging by the creamy white shade his potion had turned. Snape watched him for a moment before turning back to his potion.
The three minutes had passed, and he dipped his ladle back into his potion, deftly pouring the specified amount into the bottle for analyzation. He walked up to the professor, carefully sheltering the bottle behind his long fingers.
“Hold it up, please” Professor Quinn ordered, narrowing his eyes at Snape’s concoction. Snape held out the bottle and Quinn grabbed it, twisting it around in his hands. “Hm. Very good. I rarely see a fifth year who can attain the exact shade and consistency as you’ve managed. Well done.” He scribbled a note in his log, and nodded toward the large basin sink. “Go on and clean up. You’re excused.”
“Thank you, professor.” Snape straightened up proudly as he was praised. He had known that he would do well, and by the looks of it, probably had the best looking potion in the class. He returned to his table with glittering eyes and a smile that barely curled up at the sharp corners of his mouth.
The line of students waiting to have their potions graded was growing steadily down the aisle between Snape’s and Lupin’s tables. As he scraped away the extra ginger root cuttings to throw in the bin, he overheard a hushed conversation between none other than Potter and Black.
“It didn’t work, Padfoot,” Potter said quietly.
Sirius shrugged. “Don’t get worked up over it,” he replied. “There are plenty of other girls out there.”
“Yes, but she went to Snape instead, of all people!” James whispered breathlessly. “Snivellus!”
Severus, who had been mid-scrape, froze, listening intently.
Sirius made a kind of sympathetic clicking noise with his tongue. “A terrible error in judgement on her part,” he agreed. “But, looking at the past week’s events, I’m willing to bet that she’s still angry with you.”
“It’s not my fault she hasn’t got a sense of humour about those things,” James huffed.
Sirius shrugged. “So she’s not perfect. Not everyone is as lucky as you are, Prongs.” He gave a lopsided grin, the kind that caused most girls at Hogwarts to wither at his feet.
Severus couldn’t help but let out a derisive snort. Both Potter and Black turned to him, and Black’s eyes flashed menacingly.
“Something funny, Snivellus?” Black asked.
“Other than your ego, you mean?” Severus replied, pulling himself to his full height and looking Black in the eye.
“You’re just sore because yours is bruised from yesterday,” Black replied nastily. “Though taking your personality and social life into consideration, it was probably non-existent to begin with.”
Severus clenched the cutting knife he had been scraping up roots with so tightly that his knuckles were turning white. “Let’s hope that when you return home for the summer mummy and daddy teach you a lesson about what it’s like to be non-existent,” he replied, jeering.
Sirius twitched, and he turned to set down his bottle. “Fuck you, Snape.” Potter, who was still standing next to him, looked positively red in fury.
“Funny, I thought that was an offer you only extended to other Gryffindors,” Snape hissed back, nodding towards Potter and then to where Lupin was standing, bottling his sickly looking potion.
Black’s head snapped back; and he let out angry growl. Snape saw him move to grab his wand, and quickly reached into his own pockets. In a flash, his wand was out and ready. Both boys stood opposite one another, wands levelled each other’s throat. Snape’s opposite hand was still clutching the knife, shaking with rage. A number of students turned to watch them curiously, and quiet murmuring echoed around them.
Potter was still holding his potion, and though he looked absolutely livid, laid a hand on Sirius’s shoulder. “Don’t waste your time, Sirius. Not now. You’ll risk your O.W.L.s.”
“I don’t care about the bloody O.W.L.s,” Sirius spat. “This stupid, greasy bastard thinks that he can make comments like that-“
“--Stop it!” a new voice spoke up. Snape caught a flurry of red hair out of the corner of his eye and within seconds Evans was standing between he and Black, hands planted firmly on her hips. Her eyes were narrowed dangerously, and she gave a look to each boy that could easily warrant death.
“I am so sick and tired of you lot being at each other’s throats all of the time. You,” she turned to look at Sirius and Potter, “need to stop being such bullies. And you,” she turned again, looking Snape dead in the eye. “You need to stop provoking them.”
Snape bristled. Wasn’t it just yesterday that she said she wouldn’t become involved anymore? “Do not tell me what to do, Evans.” He did not appreciate her barging into his fight again. “Surely you don’t want to make me do something that I won’t regret?” He watched Lily’s face, and for a moment, she seemed shocked. Then, as quickly as the shock had registered on her face, it was gone, and she glowered at him.
“Don’t talk to her like that!” James barked at the same time another voice spoke up, “You’re putting yourself in a compromising situation, Evans.” Lestrange had walked up from behind Snape and was surveying Lily callously. “A girl like you needs to be careful at times like these,” he added.
Snape’s outstretched wand arm twitched, and his gaze flickered to Lestrange. Now was not the time to make subtle innuendos. Even though Severus was annoyed with Evans, Lestrange’s comment put him ill at ease. Lily looked as if she had understood the remark perfectly; her lips were pressed together in a thin, straight line.
James, however, looked stricken by Lestrange’s statement and set down his potion onto the table behind him with a crack. He was clearly ready to come to blows. Next to Snape, Lestrange pushed up his sleeves.
“Is there a problem here?” Professor Slughorn’s large body parted through the crowd of students, and he moved his gaze from Lily, to James and Sirius, to Snape and Rabastan.
Lily turned to Professor Slughorn. “A battle of egos, professor, as wits don’t seem to be present at the moment.”
The professor gave a little chuckle. “Thank you, Miss Evans.” He looked at the boys. “None of you wants your actions today to impinge upon your O.W.L. grades, am I right, my dear fellows?”
James shook his head and Lestrange made a non-committal grunt, however, neither Snape nor Black said anything. They both stood perfectly still, eyeing each other with utmost contempt.
“Wands down, boys,” Slughorn continued. “Severus, you don’t want to make me take points from the house, do you?”
Severus definitely did not feel like lowering his wand, but then again, he had no desire to decrease his House’s points; Gryffindor and Slytherin were neck in neck for the cup. “No, sir,” he replied, dropping his arm and letting it hang by his side.
Black did the same.
“Please clean up then, Mr. Snape. You too, Mr. Lestrange,” Slughorn said. “Mr. Black and Mr. Potter, see to it that Professor Quinn gives you your marks and blow off your steam somewhere else besides my classroom. It’s a lovely day outside.” He eyed both groups of boys shrewdly before grabbing Lily by the elbow. “Miss Evans, my dear, I heard the most marvellous story that I thought I would share with you,” and he led her out into the corridor, already prattling on about a letter he’d just received from one of his former students.
As soon as Slughorn was out of earshot, Black threw Snape a dirty look. “We’ll finish this later, Snivellus,” he said, voice lowered threateningly.
“I’m petrified, Black,” Severus replied waspishly.
“I’d stay away from the dungeons, if I were you,” Lestrange added, cracking his knuckles.
Potter nearly laughed. “I’m sure we can handle whatever you have in store for us.” With that, he picked up Sirius’s bottle and handed it to him. “C’mon. We’re wasting our time with miserable company.” Sirius hesitated, looking as though he wanted to pound both Slytherins to bits. Tossing Snape one more look of pure loathing, he stalked off towards James in the queue.
Lestrange watched them for a moment, and then looked down at Snape, his mouth twitching at the corners. “Twice in two days, Snape. Twice in two days.”
Though Lestrange’s comment seemed innocent enough, it was, Severus presumed, a discreet jibe. Snape saw no point in replying, and didn’t allow his inner thoughts to betray his face. Instead, he returned to his table, picking up the rest of his belongings.
If Black and Potter wanted a fight, so be it. He would be ready for them, and he would give them such a severe hexing that their entire holiday would be spent at St. Mungo’s.
He just hoped that Evans, cheeky little Gryffindor prefect, would have sense enough to leave him be.
________________________
Lyrics by Sarah McLachlan, “Do What You Have To Do”, Surfacing, Arista Records, 1997
Another Plane of Existence
Rated: Mature
Chapter 2: Broken
Severus rolled out of bed early the next morning, grabbing his things and hastening to the bathrooms to prepare for the long day ahead of him. He’d never been much for company, and the thought of socializing whilst completing his daily hygiene routine disturbed him. It didn’t help that Rosier had no shame and walked around the bathrooms naked, much to his horror. Rising early meant that he didn’t have to deal with the rest of his housemates. Severus never considered himself to be a morning person by any means, and his tolerance for his fellow Slytherins was barely existent during the dawning hours. To be perfectly honest, he preferred the company of books to humans the majority of the time.
Severus caught his reflection in one of the steam repellent mirrors as he stepped out of the shower to grab his robes. Pausing, he eyed his reflection steadily. Potter and Black were quick to point out the more adverse features of Severus’s physical appearance, calling him many things along the line of “greasy git” and “beaky”. Angry though it made him, he reluctantly understood the origins of the nicknames. He was unlucky, perhaps, as far as appearances go, but it seemed trivial on the grand scale of things.
Unlike many of his fellow students, he’d never even considered attracting members of the opposite sex. His own physical appearance was of no real importance to him, especially since most of it was predetermined by genetics. That wasn’t to say he didn’t appreciate good looks, because he most certainly did. It was hard to ignore aesthetic beauty, especially in the feminine form, and he’d felt a certain attraction towards girls such as the Black sisters, who were all very beautiful. He simply preferred to be alone. He had his own agenda, and as far as he’d ever witnessed, coupling created far more problems than it was worth.
He rubbed at his hair with a towel and swiped at the drips of water running down the length of his hooked nose. Combing back his limp hair with his fingers, he tucked it behind his ears; it was nearly past his shoulders now. He glanced in the mirror, momentarily studying his sallow face and the hollows in his cheekbones. Pulling his hair back accentuated the severity of his features. He would never be handsome; it was a simple fact. His father had went so far as to tell him that he’d never be an attractive man so he would have to make up for it with knowledge and skill. Then again, his father had often insisted that Severus was an incapable fool who would never get anything right even if his life depended on it.
He scowled at his reflection in the mirror darkly.
“Cheer up, love,” the mirror said, “at least you don’t have pock-marks.”
He sneered dangerously, turned on his heel, and stalked away from the mirror, silently cursing the wizard who’d had the bright idea to give inanimate objects the ability to speak. Quickly doing up the buttons of his robes, he grabbed his things and left the dormitory for breakfast in the Great Hall.
It was quiet in the corridors. He supposed that the students who had been up late studying for their final exams were having a lie-in. Today he had O.W.L. exams in both Potions and Arithmancy. Severus wasn’t concerned about his Potions exam. He was well past fifth year level in his private studies and was quite certain that there wouldn’t be anything on the exam that he wouldn’t know. The majority of the potions required for O.W.L.s were ones that he’d mastered long ago.
He skulked out of the dungeons and through the Entrance Hall, heading into the Great Hall for breakfast. Though he had already decided that he would not go outside today, he glanced up at the enchanted ceiling to check the weather out of habit. Waking up in the dungeons made it impossible for the Slytherins to tell what the weather would be like for the rest of the day. Really, the Slytherin Common Room view only helped if one was wondering whether or not the young merpeople had spent the morning with their faces pressed up against the glass or if Moaning Myrtle had been flushed down the pipes again. As it happened, the ceiling of the Great Hall was a clear blue with only a few white, puffy clouds, and only one young merman had knocked on the Common Room window.
Severus slumped down onto a bench and helped himself to a couple sausage links and a slice of toast. He then pulled out his Arithmancy notes and set them on the table beside his plate so he could look them over as he ate.
“Excuse me,” a voice said from not so far away.
Severus ignored the voice and kept eating, assuming the person was speaking to someone else at the Slytherin table.
“Er…Severus?” the voice said awkwardly.
He frowned, swallowed his food, and looked up at the source of the voice. He blinked in surprise, realizing that the voice belonged to none other than Evans. She’d never approached him in the Great Hall before, and he hoped that she still wasn’t expecting an apology for yesterday’s affair.
She gave him a pensive smile. “Good morning.”
Immediately suspicious of Evans’s impromptu greeting, Severus scanned the room for any signs of snickering or amusement. Gryffindor students rarely approached Slytherin students, and it would hardly surprise him if someone had put her up to initiating a conversation with him.
Severus noticed James Potter entering the hall by himself, looking thunderous. The bespectacled boy peered at the Slytherin table suspiciously, throwing his books down onto the table in front of him with such ferocity that they slid across the tabletop and landed on the floor. He seemed far too serious to be involved in a prank. Snape watched him quietly. No, if Potter were up to something, it would be written all over his face. Not only that, but Potter rarely pulled a prank on his own; he liked an audience and partners in crime.
No one else looked particularly suspect, so Severus turned his attention back to strange muggle-born witch standing in front of him. He forced his expression to remain vague and lifted an eyebrow quizzically. “Yes?”
“Listen, normally, I would never ask you this, but I’m in a bit of a spot,” Evans went on. She seemed flustered, and her cheeks were burning with embarrassment. “I’ve misplaced all of my notes for Potions. I’ve no idea where I put them, none of my roommates are up yet, and I would rather die than ask Potter for his.” She rolled her eyes to the Gryffindor table behind her. “He seems to be the only other fifth year in Gryffindor house up now.” She shrugged and shook her head quickly as if dismissing him. “His notes are probably terrible, anyhow.”
Snape listened to Lily ramble on silently. He made no move to reply, but did look past her at James, who was pretending to be engrossed in his breakfast and failing miserably. He continued to flash dark looks in Severus’s general direction about every minute or so.
Snape wondered if Potter was actually angry that Evans was associating with him. A sense of satisfaction slowly spread throughout his body, and he debated actually lending out his notes, if not merely to infuriate Potter. Remaining impassive, Snape weighed his options. He truly wasn’t concerned with whether or not she had notes for the upcoming exam; it was her fault that she carelessly misplaced them. Still, he realized that lending her his notes might result in a reaction from Potter that would be worthwhile.
What remained to be seen was whether or not it would benefit Severus in the end.
He pulled a face of utter annoyance and fixed her with an intense stare. “You’d like to borrow my notes?” he asked, finally.
She nodded, lacing and unlacing her fingers in front of her uncomfortably, and it was apparent that she was enjoying their conversation as much as he was, which was very little. “If you aren’t using them, that is.”
He reached into his bag and came up with a thick roll of parchment. “I don’t need to use them,” he replied, placing them on the table. “The only reason I take them is because I feel as though I should look busy for Professor Slughorn.”
Lily looked perplexed. “You don’t read your notes?”
“Isn’t that what I just said?”
She sighed irritably and looked as though she wanted to say something rude back, but she held her tongue. He assumed it was only because she needed the notes so badly. He pushed them across the table and nodded towards her. “Don’t muss them,” he added. “Don’t let anyone else handle them, and if you lose these,” he emphasized, gesturing down at the roll, “we’ll talk about finding something of equal value to replace them with.” Severus was not one to just go on and lend things out at ease, and he even considered fifth year Potions notes to be valuable.
Lily pursed her lips and stared at the roll. She looked like she was deliberating over his comments. He was about to snatch the roll back and tell her that the deal was off when she spoke up. “Fine.” She picked the notes up and unrolled them, scanning the first page.
He remained silent, watching her face as she looked over his work.
“Oh,” she murmured, “these are excellent.” Her green eyes flickered back at Snape. “I really appreciate this. I wanted to review since we have a couple hours before the exam begins.”
“It’s nothing.” Again, he quickly looked around the Great Hall to make sure that no one was around who would give him hell for speaking with her. To his relief, the only other Slytherins at his table were third years and below, including Barty Crouch. Barty was on speaking terms with Regulus, but Snape doubted the little boy would have the gall to say anything. The rest of the hall was fairly empty save the Ravenclaw table, which was, unsurprisingly, nearly full. Sensing no imminent danger, he dropped his gaze back to his Arithmancy notes on the table, returning his attention to one of the more difficult problems.
He could hear the shifting of papers; Evans was still standing in front of him. Having no desire to invite her to sit down and chat about O.W.L.s and Quidditch or whatever other mindless topics Gryffindors chose to amuse themselves with, he decided to make one final comment. “Keep our deal in mind. I’ll hold you to it,” he said flatly, not bothering to look up.
Lily tucked the roll of parchment under her arm. “Thanks again,” she said, ignoring his warning, “I’ll have these back to you after the exam.”
He shrugged, refusing to tear his eyes away from his notes until he heard her footsteps leaving. Then he barely inclined his head to watch her walk back to the Gryffindor table. She took the seat farthest away from Potter, he observed with mild amusement. At least Evans had sense enough to see Potter for what he really was. Snape decided that alone deserved a look at his notes.
From across the hall, James must have seen Snape’s amusement and flashed a rude hand gesture in return. Snape’s smirked triumphantly.
* * *
His Arithmancy exam went rather well.
He had a feeling that it would be good after he managed to procure a seat in the row next to Davy Gudgeon. Once the exam had started, he had perfect view of Davy’s parchment. Davy was blissfully unaware, distracted by a conversation between the professor and a Hufflepuff girl who looked near to tears. With a quick swish of his wand, Severus placed a charm on the parchment, causing the numbers to shift places. Predictably, Gudgeon didn’t even realize it, too engrossed in his friend who was now sobbing uncontrollably, her hiccups and sobs echoing throughout the room. Although Gudgeon’s exam wasn’t even close to being finished, he had completed enough of it that Severus’s charm would have a profound effect on his scoring. It would take Gudgeon a while to correct his exam, should he realize the errors on the paper, at the very least.
The faintest trace of a satisfied smile crept over Severus’s face as he completed the rest of his exam.
After the old examiner collected the tests, Snape packed up his things and left the room, quietly looking over his notes like he had the day before. Instead of going to the grounds, however, he decided to take sanctuary in the library. He knew that there would be no major disturbances there. The librarian, a stern witch named Madam Pince, had little tolerance for anyone causing trouble or breaking rules in her library.
He walked in, carefully avoiding Pince’s keen eyes, and took a seat at a table in the corner that was half engulfed in shadows. The only exam he had left was Potions, both the written test and the practical. Severus pulled out an old, tattered book from his bag and opened it up to a page revealing small, cramped writing scribbled all over the margins. It was his mother’s old potions text, and Severus used it as his own private journal, improving potion steps and logging interesting curses and counter curses. He spent a lot of time perfecting the spells he developed. It was a hobby that he had; he found the Dark Arts fascinating.
He liked that fighting the Dark Arts was skilful and challenging; a witch or wizard was required to know dark magic both inside and out. Severus truly appreciated the various curses, hexes, bindings and powerful blood magic that wizards could use against each other. It was intriguing. Defending one’s self was extremely important in survival, and if there was one thing Severus had learned in his life thus far, it was surviving.
He ran a long finger across the page, stopping at the word sectum. The latest curse he was developing involved slicing the skin. He had managed a small cut across Potter’s face the day before, but that was clearly substandard. What he needed was something that would be detrimental.
He was scribbling down various Latin tenses when he heard a disturbance behind him. Shifting around in his seat, he noticed an open space in the bookshelves, and caught a glimpse of two figures moving in the shadows. They seemed to be in the midst of a heated discussion.
“How can I be certain that you are to be trusted?” a voice whispered.
“Why are you even bothering to trust anyone at all?” the other voice countered. “Anyhow, I hate the spot our families are being put in as much as you do.”
“And you’re truly interested in learning more about him?”
“Absolutely.”
“Very well,” the first voice said. The figure leaned forward, and Severus’s mouth dropped open as he recognized the familiar shine of thick, black hair. Bellatrix moved towards the other figure, pressing her body gently against it. Severus knew that it must be another male student. “I hope you’re not lying, for your sake,” she whispered huskily. She reached out and placed the palm of her hand behind the boy’s neck, bringing his face close to her own, and whispered something inaudible into the his ear.
Not even a few minutes later, Severus saw her march out of the aisle of books, smoothing out her robes. She didn’t bother giving a second glance to whomever she had been talking with.
Severus pretended to be reading his notes, but he watched for any other movement out of that particular row of books with his peripheral vision. He was very curious who she’d had that private conversation with. It was a voice he was unfamiliar with.
His question was answered when Augustus Rookwood, sixth year Ravenclaw prefect, walked out of the shadows. The tall, muscular boy scanned the library uneasily before exiting out into the corridors.
Snape watched Rookwood’s broad figure leisurely walk out of the library. Interesting, he decided. Very interesting.
* * *
Students were already queued up at the door to the Potions classroom when Severus arrived. He walked to the end of the queue, barely acknowledging the people ahead of him, still musing over the conversation he had overheard between Bellatrix and Rookwood. He slumped against the wall and stared across the hall blankly.
He had a vague idea of what their conversation was all about, and the thought made him weary. He had heard whispers and a few thinly veiled hints here and there, especially among the older Slytherins. Muggle-bashing and talk of unforgivable curses were becoming increasingly common, and though it made Severus a little uneasy, he was also intrigued.
His thoughts were disrupted when Florence Jenkins, nose in a book, trampled over his feet. He gave a great twitch and swore under his breath.
“Oh, sorry Snape,” she said absently, continuing to walk to the end of the queue. What Rosier saw in her, Severus just didn’t know.
Like Florence, most of the students were having a last minute cramming session. Snape, on the other hand, was one of the only students in the dungeon corridors empty-handed. He was certain that the potions exam would be a breeze, and after it was completed he would only have the practical left to complete. A sort of hollow feeling was growing inside of him; the last test meant that it would be time for the students to leave Hogwarts. He wasn’t exactly fancying a summer at home in Spinner’s End.
Severus was drawn out of his thoughts by a buoyant, cheery voice. “File in, file in!” Professor Slughorn’s plump figure was bobbing up and down near the doorway. “Your examiner, Professor Quinn, will be explaining the procedures momentarily.”
Snape, along with the others, filed into the room and raised his eyebrows. The Potions room had been expanded, and single desks replaced the long tables. It was quite different than what he was used to, he decided as he walked along the back wall. He promptly sat at a desk in the row on the farthest end. There was less chance of another student being able to copy his work, which was sure to happen. Not surprisingly, Evan Rosier took the seat across from him.
“All right, Snape. Mind if I have a look at your notes before the exam?” Evan asked, eyeing Snape’s bag.
“I didn’t bring them,” Snape replied, giving a half-shrug.
Evan’s face fell. Obviously he had been counting on them. “Bugger,” he said. “S’pose that rules out any last minute studying.”
Snape nodded curtly. “I suppose it does.” Behind Evan, students were quickly beginning to file into their seats. Lestrange entered and gave a slight nod in acknowledgment, choosing a seat a few rows away. He pulled out a bundle of parchment began to thumb through it until he found the particular sheet he was looking for. Seeing an opportunity, Rosier immediately brightened and called over to him to ask if he had any notes to spare.
While Rosier and Lestrange argued over the order that ingredients are to be added into the Polyjuice potion, Severus scanned the room behind them. A loud laugh echoed off of the walls, accompanied by a sudden movement that caught the corner of his eye. Peter Pettigrew was dodging a piece of balled up parchment that Potter and Black were taking turns bouncing off of his head. They obviously found themselves amusing, and the quiet titter from the girls surrounding them only encouraged their misbehaviour.
Their antics were earning a few well-deserved glares from the more studious students, both Slytherins and Gryffindors.
When Peter’s pink face started to grow red Lupin finally looked up from his notes and put an end to it. Snape rolled his eyes. He really hoped none of them would scrape an O.W.L. in Potions. It would make the rest of his schooling much more agreeable.
Across the room, Potter complied with Lupin’s pleading and abandoned his game of torture-Peter. Instead, he focused his attention on Evans. Snape nearly cringed at the singsong tone of Potter’s voice. “Evans…”
He couldn’t help but watch Potter, wondering what the idiot wanted from her.
Lily, who had been absorbed in Severus’s notes, ducked her head down. It looked to Snape like she was trying to avoid Potter at all costs.
“Evans!” Potter sang a little louder.
Lily turned around and gave him a dark look. “What is it, Potter?”
James ran a hand through his hair, ruffling it lazily. “I was only curious if your hands were greasy from handling those notes,” he said smugly. His eyes flickered to where Snape was sitting.
Snape’s hand jerked for his wand and he clenched his jaw tightly. As if he didn’t know what Potter was up to. The Gryffindor was anything but subtle. Snape sat still, quietly seething. It would be small pleasure to curse the smirk off of Potter’s face permanently. He watched the group of Gryffindors carefully, waiting for the perfect moment to whip out his wand and see to it that Potter spent the rest of the day under the care of Madam Pomfrey.
Lily was giving Potter an absolutely murderous glare. “Probably not as greasy as you were after handling Bertha Jorkins,” she replied. Potter’s jaw dropped and he sputtered indignantly.
Sirius let out a loud guffaw and clapped James on the back, muttering something that sounded like “and you never told me?”
James opened his mouth to reply, but Snape never knew what he was about to say because the examiner, Professor Quinn, cleared his throat. “All right,” he said, “notes and wands away, please…”
There was a rustling of papers as the professor continued to rattle on about the rules and procedures of the Potions testing. Then, with a quick flick of his wand, a test appeared on every desk. Severus bowed his head down and got straight to work, quill swiftly scratching across the parchment. It quickly filled up lengthy explanations and examples.
He was looking over his test for any errors when the examiner announced that their time was up. Papers flew from the students’ hands into Quinn’s own, and everyone began to gather their belongings and leave the room.
Next to Snape, Rosier groaned quietly. “That was hell,” he said, hoisting a backpack over his shoulder. “I’m fairly certain I won’t be seeing this room next year.” He glanced around at the stone walls and gave them a mock salute.
Snape gave him a thin-lipped smirk. “It wasn’t difficult, Rosier. If you spent as much time studying your notes as you did girls, you could possibly make an ‘O’ in Potions.”
Rosier grimaced. “The only ‘oh’ I make in Potions is usually followed by the word ‘no’,” he said. Snape snorted.
They both walked out of the room together and Snape turned to go to the Slytherin Common Room. He stopped short when he realized that Rosier wasn’t next to him and spun around, arching an eyebrow.
Rosier was a few feet away, watching the departing figure of a girl with short, curly brown hair. “Florence,” he said quietly, his eyes following the gentle sway of her hips. “I’m going to go see what she’s up to.” He gave Snape an apologetic shrug and took off in her direction.
Not exactly surprised, Snape watched Evan catch up to Florence before turning back towards the Common Room. As he walked, he reviewed the exam in his mind, pondering whether or not he should have added famous Ministry cases that involved the Polyjuice Potion to one of the essay questions. He was nearing the corridor that contained the Slytherin House passageway when he heard the sound of footsteps quickly approaching from behind.
“Severus!” Hearing his name, he paused and turned around.
Lily was quickly striding up the corridor. “Here,” she continued, holding out a roll of parchment as she caught up to him. He took it from her and nodded, turning the parchment over in his hands. They both stood there staring at each other rather uncomfortably.
Lily’s cheeks dimpled slightly. “How did you do?” she asked finally.
“Fair enough.” He frowned slightly, and it suddenly dawned on him that she was waiting for him to return the courtesy. “You?”
“I was going to say fair, but if that’s how you think you did then I’m in for a rude awakening this summer holiday,” she said. “I can’t thank you enough for lending me your notes,” she added. “I was really in a bind, and you were a life-saver.”
He must have looked perplexed, because she gave him a small smile and continued. “Your work is incredible. I always thought that I had a knack for taking notes, but obviously…” she shook her head slightly. “Well, anyway, I think my marks will be decent, if not only because I used the extra information I read about in your notes.” She waved a hand at the notes he was now holding. “They were really interesting.”
“That’s good,” he replied. He wasn’t sure how to handle her compliment, and decided to ignore it instead.
“Listen, Snape?”
“Mm?”
“I was wondering, should my marks allow me to continue with Potions next year, if I would be able to borrow your notes every week or so? They’re so much better than mine. I swear, I know more about Professor Slughorn’s private life than Potions class. You have quite a few details I wasn’t aware of.”
It was interesting that Evan’s didn’t have enough faith in her work that she’d assume she would enter NEWT level Potions next year. Frankly, he thought that it was absurdly modest, considering she was one of the better witches in their year. At least she appreciated quality notes when she saw them; he added to Slughorn’s notes when he deemed it necessary. He didn’t mention that, however. “His private life?” he repeated, slightly curious as to how she would come upon that information.
“From the Slug Club.” Lily blushed and bit her lip. “It’s just a silly group, really. A few students get together and listen to various brags and boasts.” Her mouth quirked to the side as though she immediately regretted her confession. “He’s truly a great professor and man, though.”
Severus knew of the Slug Club, and was not impressed with most of its members. It seemed to be a group for people with social and political connections. He was, however, mildy curious as to how a muggle born like Evans would have achieved slug status. “So you’re a slug?” he asked, gently taunting her.
Lily’s freckled cheeks flushed in embarrassment. “You could say that.” She paused thoughtfully. “He’s mentioned that he’s intrigued by my skill as a muggle-born,” she rolled her eyes to the ceiling, “but I think he’s got a soft spot for fiery redheads. At least, he’s mentioned that before.”
Snape stared at her stupidly, wondering if she was implying something he’d rather not know about. She must have realized it, because she put her face in her hands and shook her head quickly so that her hair fell in front of her face.
“Oh no,” she muttered, “no, no, no.”
Her mortification was mildly amusing, and he gently mocked her with a smirk. “I don’t care to know any more about your private life,” he said. She groaned quietly. “And yes, you may borrow my notes,” he added. “But the same rules will still apply.”
Internally, Severus was shocked. He didn’t know what had come over him. Why on earth had he just agreed to lend her his notes next year? He heaved a large sigh and resisted imitating her and pulling his hands down the length of his face. It had to be all of the testing, yesterday’s events…he was entirely too stressed, obviously.
While he was pondering how to recant his offer, Lily glanced up at him and brushed her hair out of her eyes. She was still quite red. “Thanks, Severus,” she replied slowly. She smiled at him before turning back to where she had come from. “Good luck on the practical exam,” she called over her shoulder, leaving Severus alone in the dark corridor, flummoxed over why he hadn’t simply refused her offer.
His shoulders slumped as he watched her go and he shook his head slowly. He would just have to cling to the tiny hope that she wouldn’t make it into NEWT level potions.
* * *
The potion in his cauldron turned a fantastic orange shade as he made his final clockwise stir. Severus carefully retracted the ladle he was stirring with and set in on the table next to his cauldron. He had exactly three minutes to let the potion simmer and he would be finished with the Potions practical.
The air in the room hung thick and heavy around the fifth year students. A dozen different smells wafted around them, the worst caused by the cloud of black smoke rising from Lupin’s cauldron. The pale-faced boy was frowning seriously, eyeing his potion with glum resignation. It was evident to Snape that Lupin hadn’t added the sneezewort properly, judging by the creamy white shade his potion had turned. Snape watched him for a moment before turning back to his potion.
The three minutes had passed, and he dipped his ladle back into his potion, deftly pouring the specified amount into the bottle for analyzation. He walked up to the professor, carefully sheltering the bottle behind his long fingers.
“Hold it up, please” Professor Quinn ordered, narrowing his eyes at Snape’s concoction. Snape held out the bottle and Quinn grabbed it, twisting it around in his hands. “Hm. Very good. I rarely see a fifth year who can attain the exact shade and consistency as you’ve managed. Well done.” He scribbled a note in his log, and nodded toward the large basin sink. “Go on and clean up. You’re excused.”
“Thank you, professor.” Snape straightened up proudly as he was praised. He had known that he would do well, and by the looks of it, probably had the best looking potion in the class. He returned to his table with glittering eyes and a smile that barely curled up at the sharp corners of his mouth.
The line of students waiting to have their potions graded was growing steadily down the aisle between Snape’s and Lupin’s tables. As he scraped away the extra ginger root cuttings to throw in the bin, he overheard a hushed conversation between none other than Potter and Black.
“It didn’t work, Padfoot,” Potter said quietly.
Sirius shrugged. “Don’t get worked up over it,” he replied. “There are plenty of other girls out there.”
“Yes, but she went to Snape instead, of all people!” James whispered breathlessly. “Snivellus!”
Severus, who had been mid-scrape, froze, listening intently.
Sirius made a kind of sympathetic clicking noise with his tongue. “A terrible error in judgement on her part,” he agreed. “But, looking at the past week’s events, I’m willing to bet that she’s still angry with you.”
“It’s not my fault she hasn’t got a sense of humour about those things,” James huffed.
Sirius shrugged. “So she’s not perfect. Not everyone is as lucky as you are, Prongs.” He gave a lopsided grin, the kind that caused most girls at Hogwarts to wither at his feet.
Severus couldn’t help but let out a derisive snort. Both Potter and Black turned to him, and Black’s eyes flashed menacingly.
“Something funny, Snivellus?” Black asked.
“Other than your ego, you mean?” Severus replied, pulling himself to his full height and looking Black in the eye.
“You’re just sore because yours is bruised from yesterday,” Black replied nastily. “Though taking your personality and social life into consideration, it was probably non-existent to begin with.”
Severus clenched the cutting knife he had been scraping up roots with so tightly that his knuckles were turning white. “Let’s hope that when you return home for the summer mummy and daddy teach you a lesson about what it’s like to be non-existent,” he replied, jeering.
Sirius twitched, and he turned to set down his bottle. “Fuck you, Snape.” Potter, who was still standing next to him, looked positively red in fury.
“Funny, I thought that was an offer you only extended to other Gryffindors,” Snape hissed back, nodding towards Potter and then to where Lupin was standing, bottling his sickly looking potion.
Black’s head snapped back; and he let out angry growl. Snape saw him move to grab his wand, and quickly reached into his own pockets. In a flash, his wand was out and ready. Both boys stood opposite one another, wands levelled each other’s throat. Snape’s opposite hand was still clutching the knife, shaking with rage. A number of students turned to watch them curiously, and quiet murmuring echoed around them.
Potter was still holding his potion, and though he looked absolutely livid, laid a hand on Sirius’s shoulder. “Don’t waste your time, Sirius. Not now. You’ll risk your O.W.L.s.”
“I don’t care about the bloody O.W.L.s,” Sirius spat. “This stupid, greasy bastard thinks that he can make comments like that-“
“--Stop it!” a new voice spoke up. Snape caught a flurry of red hair out of the corner of his eye and within seconds Evans was standing between he and Black, hands planted firmly on her hips. Her eyes were narrowed dangerously, and she gave a look to each boy that could easily warrant death.
“I am so sick and tired of you lot being at each other’s throats all of the time. You,” she turned to look at Sirius and Potter, “need to stop being such bullies. And you,” she turned again, looking Snape dead in the eye. “You need to stop provoking them.”
Snape bristled. Wasn’t it just yesterday that she said she wouldn’t become involved anymore? “Do not tell me what to do, Evans.” He did not appreciate her barging into his fight again. “Surely you don’t want to make me do something that I won’t regret?” He watched Lily’s face, and for a moment, she seemed shocked. Then, as quickly as the shock had registered on her face, it was gone, and she glowered at him.
“Don’t talk to her like that!” James barked at the same time another voice spoke up, “You’re putting yourself in a compromising situation, Evans.” Lestrange had walked up from behind Snape and was surveying Lily callously. “A girl like you needs to be careful at times like these,” he added.
Snape’s outstretched wand arm twitched, and his gaze flickered to Lestrange. Now was not the time to make subtle innuendos. Even though Severus was annoyed with Evans, Lestrange’s comment put him ill at ease. Lily looked as if she had understood the remark perfectly; her lips were pressed together in a thin, straight line.
James, however, looked stricken by Lestrange’s statement and set down his potion onto the table behind him with a crack. He was clearly ready to come to blows. Next to Snape, Lestrange pushed up his sleeves.
“Is there a problem here?” Professor Slughorn’s large body parted through the crowd of students, and he moved his gaze from Lily, to James and Sirius, to Snape and Rabastan.
Lily turned to Professor Slughorn. “A battle of egos, professor, as wits don’t seem to be present at the moment.”
The professor gave a little chuckle. “Thank you, Miss Evans.” He looked at the boys. “None of you wants your actions today to impinge upon your O.W.L. grades, am I right, my dear fellows?”
James shook his head and Lestrange made a non-committal grunt, however, neither Snape nor Black said anything. They both stood perfectly still, eyeing each other with utmost contempt.
“Wands down, boys,” Slughorn continued. “Severus, you don’t want to make me take points from the house, do you?”
Severus definitely did not feel like lowering his wand, but then again, he had no desire to decrease his House’s points; Gryffindor and Slytherin were neck in neck for the cup. “No, sir,” he replied, dropping his arm and letting it hang by his side.
Black did the same.
“Please clean up then, Mr. Snape. You too, Mr. Lestrange,” Slughorn said. “Mr. Black and Mr. Potter, see to it that Professor Quinn gives you your marks and blow off your steam somewhere else besides my classroom. It’s a lovely day outside.” He eyed both groups of boys shrewdly before grabbing Lily by the elbow. “Miss Evans, my dear, I heard the most marvellous story that I thought I would share with you,” and he led her out into the corridor, already prattling on about a letter he’d just received from one of his former students.
As soon as Slughorn was out of earshot, Black threw Snape a dirty look. “We’ll finish this later, Snivellus,” he said, voice lowered threateningly.
“I’m petrified, Black,” Severus replied waspishly.
“I’d stay away from the dungeons, if I were you,” Lestrange added, cracking his knuckles.
Potter nearly laughed. “I’m sure we can handle whatever you have in store for us.” With that, he picked up Sirius’s bottle and handed it to him. “C’mon. We’re wasting our time with miserable company.” Sirius hesitated, looking as though he wanted to pound both Slytherins to bits. Tossing Snape one more look of pure loathing, he stalked off towards James in the queue.
Lestrange watched them for a moment, and then looked down at Snape, his mouth twitching at the corners. “Twice in two days, Snape. Twice in two days.”
Though Lestrange’s comment seemed innocent enough, it was, Severus presumed, a discreet jibe. Snape saw no point in replying, and didn’t allow his inner thoughts to betray his face. Instead, he returned to his table, picking up the rest of his belongings.
If Black and Potter wanted a fight, so be it. He would be ready for them, and he would give them such a severe hexing that their entire holiday would be spent at St. Mungo’s.
He just hoped that Evans, cheeky little Gryffindor prefect, would have sense enough to leave him be.
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Lyrics by Sarah McLachlan, “Do What You Have To Do”, Surfacing, Arista Records, 1997