Mischief Managed ♦ Fic: Learning Curve
Title: Learning Curve
Author: deathjunke
Pairing: James/Severus
Rating: R
Word Count: 3680
Prompt: 152
Warnings: ummm, dub con maybe if you squint...
Summary: When Sluggy had said 'his best' this was the last thing that James expected.
Author's Notes:This fic is for the most part dialogue, something new for me. This fest is whole bushel of firsts for me? Never wrote anything remotely James/Severus either.
Let us begin...
"Well Mr. Potter I'm glad that you came to me." Slighorn smiled and clapped his thick hands against his buldging stomach. "I'll pair you with one of my best tutors!"
James grinned widely and jut his hand out toward the man who was going to unwittingly help him snare the love of his life - the most lovely and lively Lily Evans. "Thank you, Professor."
"Don't mention it my dear boy! Just do well and when you have some time, stop by and tell me how it’s all coming along."
The boy nodded as he hiked his sachel onto his shoulder and waved as he darted through the door.
When Sluggy had said his 'best', this was the last thing that James expected. His hazel eyes looked around the small potions clasroom as if searching for Lily half expecting her to jump out and shout, "SURPRISE!" But instead, all he saw was, in his opinion, the exact opposite.
Snape Snape sat in the center of the room bowed over a textbook; his long oily hair hiding his face and even the book from view.
Taking a deep breath James turned on his heel and started back through the door, muttering the words, 'maybe this was just the wrong lab?'
"No, you're not in the wrong lab."
James stopped abruptly, and eyed the other boy warily. "You sure 'bout that Snape?"
For the first time the other boy lifted his head from the book and looked at the other occupant of the room. "Positive - Lily asked me to trade shifts with her this month."
"Wait, what do you mean?"
"She didn't want to deal with you, so she asked me to switch." Snape' thin lips curled into a cruel smirk as he tapped the pages of the book he had been poring over. "Clearer now?"
The question was double-edged, and James knew it. He licked his lips and nodded. Of course Snape would know he was just playing dumb to get close to Evans. Snape could be a lot of things; acerbic, cruel, snarky, over-protective and contrary to name a few, but stupid wasn't one of them.
"Good. Then let's not waste my time and say we worked on base theory." Snape snapped his book closed and walked to the door brushing past his nemisis who grabbed his wrist in a nearly-crushing grip.
"No, no. I don't think so, Snape."
"Get your fucking hands off of me, Potter."
"Fine but you're not leaving. I have you for an hour and I'll have hour."
"What do you want? What do you get out of this?"
"You're supposed to teach me. So, teach."
"Teach you what, exactly? Surprising though it may be, considering what a moron you are, you already know the stuff from class! There is no need for me to stay here." Snape yanked his arm out of James' tight grip and stalked down the hall.
James, never one to pass up an opportunity, followed straight after him. It took him a few moments to catch up. When he was close enough he reached out and snagged the back of the other boy's robes and shirt and pulled hard. He was immediately rebuffed with an elbow to the face.
Snape turned around sharply, wand in hand. "What Potter? What?"
"You're here on scholarship, yeah?"
"Not every one can be a spoiled little fuck like you, now can we?"
"No, I admit not everyone is as lucky as I am."
Sometime during the exchange, James has slipped his own wand from its holster to his fingertips. "Scholarship students have to keep certain grades and complete forty hours of community service, such as tutoring, correct?"
"How do- Never mind, why are you bringing this up?" Snape' brows drew together and his eyes flickered everywhere, if this was a trap he wasn’t about to be caught off-guard. He fidgeted a bit, his wand stayed directed at the other boy.
"Remus does the same. In any case, I know you probably want to finish off your hours." James took a step back.
"You know the material, why waste the time? What do I get out of it"
"You don’t have to teach me potions, teach me about something else." James proceeded carefully; just because Snape didn’t sound as hostile as expected, did not mean he wasn’t.
"What else could you possibly need help in? Your grades are as good as mine."
"Evans."
"This is just pathetic."
"Maybe so but you are her best friend. You would know the things I couldn’t find out from anyone else."
"And why do you think I would ever help you?"
"Because, at this point, it's either me or Beryll Crabbe you get to work off hours with."
James waited intently as Snape's lips pursed and he actually thought the situation through. Beryll Crabbe, a Slytherin girl in the same year, had all the IQ of a rock, the face and stench of an Afghan Hound, and was rumored to be so cantankerous that even the Fat Friar couldn’t stand her presence.
"What's to stop me from lying?"
Ace! That was as good as a yes!
"I'll take my chances, all right?" James nodded, knowing full well that he wasn’t taking any chances. Snape was a lot of things, but he wasn’t a liar. He owned up to each and every hex he threw, and told you what he though no matter if you wanted to hear it or not. Snape would let you draw your own incorrect conclusions but he never told anything but the truth -or the truth as he saw it anyway. Which was odd in a way because Slytherins were expected to be liars and deceivers. The Gryffindors of his year were all liars. James himself lied quite often, Sirius lied simply because he could, Peter lied to get out of trouble and Remus practically told a lie with every breath he took.
"If this is any sort of trap, Potter, I will shove castration potion down your throat."
"Wow, a little vicious, yeah?"
(-)
"So what do you want to know?" Snape leaned back against the wall keeping both the door and James in sight.
"Why does she hate me so much?"
"She doesn’t hate you, she doesn’t hate anyone." Snape's voice was deep and had a steady rhythm to it when he wasn’t snarling or degrading someone. If he lost that fidgety-twitchiness as well, then James might almost think he was calm. "Lily thinks you’re immature and wasteful- that annoys her, as well as myself."
James put his elbows up on the table and shrugged. "Well she doesn’t hate me that's something. But what does she mean by ‘wasteful’? I don’t waste anything! I take every opportun-"
"You do know she's here on scholarship too right?" Snape snapped sharply, his words washing out all other sounds, "we live in the same neighbourhood. She's just as poor as I am if not more so."
"I'm not understanding any of this."
"Of course you don’t - you're an over-privileged idiot."
"You know what, Snape? I'm getting quite tired of all the jabs, I've been nothing but friendly this evening."
"Twenty minutes of not insulting me isn’t going to make up for five years of harassment."
"You're a genuine piece of work, you know that?"
"So I've been told."
"The next question -"
"Will have to wait until next week because your hour is up." Snape pushed off the wall he had been leaning against and strode through the door slamming it shut behind him.
(-)
Seven days had breezed by with out incident and soon it was time for James to meet with Snape again. As expected, It was just as tense as it usually was whenever they were in the same room. Snape was twitchy and unsettled.
James watched Snape carefully, always on guard. The other boy would sit, twirling his wand - a 19-inch Hawthorne - like a baton. His dark eyes taking in everything; James’ position, the closed door - even the tiny puffskeins that scurried through the room from time to time. Other than his eyes and fingers Snape sat perfectly still and unmoving as if he had been hit with a full body-bind
"What's Evans like when she's not here - at Hogwarts?"
"Like?" The fingers stopped twirling and those pale thin lips stretched ever so slightly, if James didn’t know better he'd say it was a smile. "Lily- she's wild when she's free. Gets into everything, finds mystery in everything. There is always an adventure with her, 'Sev, let’s go and check this out' or 'I know what old Mrs. Hughes has in her shed' and 'Let’s steal Tuney's knickers and hang them from the street lamps. She can find trouble with the best of them and ease out of it just as quick... Most of the time at least. "
"Tuney? Who's that?"
"Petunia, Lily's older sister." James noticed how Snape's fingers curled in on themselves, the knuckles turned white. "She's a right cow who just lives to get everyone else into as much trouble as she can."
"That so? Then why is Evans the goody-goody when she’s here?"
"It's school."
"What's that supposed to mean, of course it’s school?" Potter frowned
For the first time Snape gave the other boy his full attention. His black eyes glittered with knowledge that James just couldn’t grasp and there was a cruel smirk on his face. "You've never been to another school have you?"
"No, I've been here since I was eleven - you know that."
"Muggles send their kids to school as soon as they turn five. Its nothing like here though, you go in the morning and you come back home in the afternoon." Snape leaned forward and propped up on the table and curled his fingers under his chin. "The main difference is that we learn reading, writing and maths, some other things too. It's important to behave yourself in a school like that because some of them, at least all the ones in Spinners End and Crystal Waters, use corporal punishment."
"Corp- what?" James furrowed his brow.
"They hit you, Potter. Hard." The Slytherin outright laughed at the look on the other boy's face. It was a cross between horror and disbelief.
"What? You expect me to believe your parents would just let this happen? That's absurd!"
"Oh yeah, they did something about it." Snape's tone went sharp instantly. "You get it at school, you get it at home too."
"Why would they hit you? My parents never did."
"Believe me it shows." Snape muttered before shaking his head. "Look- in the wizarding world, children are hard to get and even harder to keep alive. Our numbers are pitiful and so there is a more…careful, perhaps, attitude about us. It's not awful, it’s just different. And hell, I'd rather get the cane than a month’s detention any day."
"What about Evans? She doesn’t seem the type to get into trouble…"
"Who do you think roped me into half of that crap? It was always her fault I was over that damn desk."
James pursed his lips thinking of his next question, he stared at Snape who had once again started twirling his wand in his fingers. "I heard through the grapevine that you were the one who told her she was a witch, is it true?"
"Yeah."
"How did you know?"
"I watched her jump off a swing in mid air and float down light as a feather."
"And she just took your word for it."
"No, I had to drop a branch on Petunia before she would take me seriously."
"You had a wand at that age?"
"No, just will power."
(-)
James was in the classroom twenty minutes before he was due. He paced and fidgeted, unable to release his restless energy. The idea of learning about Lily, even if it was through Snape, was just so exciting he could barely stand it.
The door slammed open at precisely two o’clock and Snape stormed in carrying a stack of books looking ready to spit nails. The Slytherin tossed his armful of books onto the table and then threw his bag down. "Look Potter, this is stupid and I'm not doing it anymore. I'll get my hours another way."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" James approached carefully keeping with in Snape's view. "I've not done anything to you. I made Sirius promise to lay off and we both know Remus -"
"Contrary to what you think, Potter, not everything is about you!" Snape slammed his hand on the table leaned over it shoulders drawn and eyes fierce. "I don’t want to do this anymore, so I won’t."
James strode forward, intent on mirroring Snape's posture and snarling back at him but once he got closer he stopped in his tracks. The books on the table between them were covered in red ink scrawls: DIRTY HALF-BREED, MUDBLOOD, TWIG, MUTT, SQUIB, BEAST, HALFY and several other slurs and quite a few threats as well. James reached out and picked up one of the vandalized books.
"Who did this?"
"Put that down and mind your own fucking business!"
The Gryffindor boy pretended to not hear his companion and flipped through the pages of this book. There were degrading messages on every page he turned to. "Why don’t you tell Slughorn?"
"You just don’t listen, do you?"
"Why haven’t you told Slughorn?"
"If it was that easy don’t you think I would have?" Snape leaned forward; his thick dark hair sliding forward to hide is face from view.
"What's hard about it? You can't let this-" James jabbed a blunt finger at the books, "-happen."
"News flash Potter, we can’t all be purebloods from wealthy families now can we?"
"What does family have to do with any of this? It’s wrong that this is scrawled across your books!"
"Will you just shut up? You're so fucking naïve it’s painful!" Snape barked, his voice hoarse and wet, "Slughorn knows- they all know what goes on down there. There isn’t anything the professors can do that won’t make it worse, so they turn a blind eye."
"That isn't right, the professors are supposed to help. You're house is supposed to help. If you-"
"I know it's wrong that they piss on my bed, burn my robes, kill my cat and leave him under my bed. You don’t have to tell me that. I don’t sleep in my dorm because doing so would be suicide. Trust me I know it's wrong when they try to beat me in the shower too, but that’s never stopped them has it!"
"Why?"
"Why hasn’t it stopped them? Because they’re cruel idiots that can't stand the fact that I'm smarter than they are."
"No, I meant why do they do those things to you?"
"Because my mother was stupid enough to get knocked up by a Muggle and not take a Black Cohosh and Pennyroyal Tincture."
"That's…” James didn't know if he himself was all right after hearing that. Did Snape wish his mother had aborted him? Did Snape wish that he was never born, did he want to die? That was all far too heavy for James to deal with. “Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, irritated, but no more than usual. You can leave now."
Being the obstinate and compassionate bloke that he was, James threw himself down on the chair besides Snape and waited silently.
"What, Potter?"
"You all right?"
"Fuck off."
(-)
"Tell me: what does she like to do best during the summer?"
"Climb trees, explore, dive from bridges and swim in the river."
"A river? Isn’t that dangerous?"
"It's not a strong one. It was dammed up north and then again where the mill stands."
"Wouldn’t a mill make the water dirty?"
"If it was still functioning, yeah. But its not and it won’t ever again, it was burnt down to just the beams." Snape scratched an odd looking quill over a piece of parchment and turned it to face James. It was a little map with a few hastily drawn landmarks. "That is where we swim, the water is deeper."
"Seems like you do just about everything together."
"Pretty much did."
"Why are you two such good friends?"
"Necessity."
"That's a bit spiteful."
"It’s a symbiotic relationship, I needed her in order to stay sane and she needed me to need her."
"What's so hard about staying sane?"
Hazel and black connected in a strange way and then James was filled with memories that didn’t belong to him, that happened all at once and again over several years. Drunken men beating crying women, a hungry little boy, flowers that were really weeds, a family crest, a dynasty mark against pale skin, and a large looming black structure of desolation that shadowed the whole town.
"Just about everything." Snape shook his head as if trying to refresh and collect his thoughts. "Just about everything."
(-)
James watched the odd scene from the doorway, wondering exactly what was going on. Snape sat ramrod straight with his head tipped forward glittering stone on a silver chain slipping through his fingers. The muttered chants changed depending on the shape or placement of the bead, which it was James wasn't too sure but it felt distinctly disrespectful to interrupt.
After two more beads Snape looked up seeing James for the first time and proceeded to shove the string of opals back into his shirt. "What do you want to know today?"
"What those were."
"Aren't you supposed to be asking me about Lily?"
"I find out the most interesting things about her when I ask you questions about yourself. You're both intertwined."
"We used to be."
"Why do you always speak in the past tense?"
"It’s a rosary. Happy now?"
"Not really, you didn’t answer my question."
"I just answered your fucking question."
"Well yes, but not why you speak in the past tense in regards to Lily?"
"Because I have to."
"If you haven’t got any kind of explanation it just sounds stupid."
"I need to get used to it. Things… Things are happening and I need to distance myself from her." Snape fingered the chain around his neck letting the silver become worm under the pads of his fingertips. "I don’t want her to be hurt by the things I'll do."
"What things?"
"This interview is about Lily not me. Either ask an appropriate question or I'm leaving."
James blurted the first question that came to mind, "What are Evans' Parents like?"
"Her father is a military man. Massive, he's over six and a half feet. He's all right… nice even… Gentle, soft-spoken and but I'm never around him for long. Her Mum Violet… she’s fancy, a lady in everything she does, says and wears. She loves flowers and she makes arrangements for her house. There's always one in the kitchen, one in the sitting room and a flower in her hair. She grows her own flowers." James watched curious as Snape appeared to lose himself in his memories. "She never wears perfume and makes really good food. And she decorates for the holidays with lights and these huge glittering bows. It's kind of nice in a really tacky way. Mum never decorates so I guess all decorations look nice to me."
"What's a rosary for?"
"It's a set of prayer beads… Muggle religion."
"Never figured you the type."
"Yeah, well neither did…" Snape peered at the silver between his digits and smiled ruefully. "nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae."
(-)
They sat shoulder to shoulder on the floor in the far corner of the lab.
Snape shifted the five glass vials through his fingers as if he was juggling them. The liquid sloshed and reflected rainbows in the dim torchlight. Three tiny glass containers shone and glittered like brilliant topaz stones.
"What is that stuff?" James lifted on arm half way into the air and watched as it flopped back to the ground leaving a trail of afterimages and shimmers behind. "It’s fucking wonderful!"
"Yeah, it’s what I call Blend Six. Its almost an hallucinogen… makes you feel good for two hours with no side effects."
"Fuck, why didn’t I ever know about this?"
"Because I made it clear to everyone if you and you're little troupe knew, I'd stop making the stuff."
"Hell, I wouldn’t have told myself either! This is great! Everything feels so good - my clothes, the air, everything."
Snape tipped his head back against the wall luxuriating the moment in all the sensations rippling through his body and giving him a heady rush.
"What did you make this for anyway?"
"This batch is for myself." With uncharacteristically clumsy finger the boy pulled open his robe and slid his fingers in the places between the buttons of his shirt. "It's nine point four-two times more concentrated than the normal one."
"Okay but that doesn't tell me anything..."
"Let's not beat around the bowtruckle here. I look like sin. I know it, you know it -every bird in this place knows it."
"Yeah so."
"This stuff is topical as well as ingestible."
"Isn't that rape?"
"Nope. I never initiate contact, I wait until they do. Besides I just I rub it on my lips, neck shoulders, my cock too before we... Well you know. How they ended up touching or kissing there is totally consensual."
"You're full of shit."
"What?"
Snape tipped his head and the long soft strands brushed against James' shoulder making the other boys body quake and shudder with pleasure.
"Oi, do that again."
"I didn't do anything." Snape moaned tossing his head back and gyrating his hips, loving the way the cloth of his clothing touched and skimmed across his skin. "God, I'm a fucking genius!"
James was hyper focused on the long pale neck of the boy next to him and couldn't stop from putting his mouth on that clear skin. Tongue, teeth and lips came into play, and that lovely skin turned rosy with every nip, kiss, suck and bite. James climbed over, straddling Snape's lap and began to grind against the rhythm the other boy set, reveling in the tactile bliss that was shared between them.
Snape could barely move he was so drunk with pleasure. He pulled down on James’ shoulders and pushed up against him as hard as he could to get friction, that blessed friction on his cock.
Eventually they had both lined up so that their groins rubbed and slid across each other. The potion made everything from the initial touch to the final orgasm so intense it was nearly blinding.
They stayed pressed close, breathing in each other's air and savouring the shudders and residual pleasure.
"So…"
"I don’t really know."
"Neither do I."
"You're right though."
"I usually am."
"You're arrogant too."
"What? You think you know me now because we got off?"
"No, I don’t know you. I just know a bit about you…"
"Well, aren’t we special?" The taller boy snorted lightly and leaned against the cool stones of the wall, "Potter. This is it all right? I was civil, you were civil, and we’re done now."
James hummed and leaned forward until his lips were just a hare's breath away from Snape's. "Yeah? All right then…"
End
Author: deathjunke
Pairing: James/Severus
Rating: R
Word Count: 3680
Prompt: 152
Warnings: ummm, dub con maybe if you squint...
Summary: When Sluggy had said 'his best' this was the last thing that James expected.
Author's Notes:This fic is for the most part dialogue, something new for me. This fest is whole bushel of firsts for me? Never wrote anything remotely James/Severus either.
Let us begin...
"Well Mr. Potter I'm glad that you came to me." Slighorn smiled and clapped his thick hands against his buldging stomach. "I'll pair you with one of my best tutors!"
James grinned widely and jut his hand out toward the man who was going to unwittingly help him snare the love of his life - the most lovely and lively Lily Evans. "Thank you, Professor."
"Don't mention it my dear boy! Just do well and when you have some time, stop by and tell me how it’s all coming along."
The boy nodded as he hiked his sachel onto his shoulder and waved as he darted through the door.
When Sluggy had said his 'best', this was the last thing that James expected. His hazel eyes looked around the small potions clasroom as if searching for Lily half expecting her to jump out and shout, "SURPRISE!" But instead, all he saw was, in his opinion, the exact opposite.
Snape Snape sat in the center of the room bowed over a textbook; his long oily hair hiding his face and even the book from view.
Taking a deep breath James turned on his heel and started back through the door, muttering the words, 'maybe this was just the wrong lab?'
"No, you're not in the wrong lab."
James stopped abruptly, and eyed the other boy warily. "You sure 'bout that Snape?"
For the first time the other boy lifted his head from the book and looked at the other occupant of the room. "Positive - Lily asked me to trade shifts with her this month."
"Wait, what do you mean?"
"She didn't want to deal with you, so she asked me to switch." Snape' thin lips curled into a cruel smirk as he tapped the pages of the book he had been poring over. "Clearer now?"
The question was double-edged, and James knew it. He licked his lips and nodded. Of course Snape would know he was just playing dumb to get close to Evans. Snape could be a lot of things; acerbic, cruel, snarky, over-protective and contrary to name a few, but stupid wasn't one of them.
"Good. Then let's not waste my time and say we worked on base theory." Snape snapped his book closed and walked to the door brushing past his nemisis who grabbed his wrist in a nearly-crushing grip.
"No, no. I don't think so, Snape."
"Get your fucking hands off of me, Potter."
"Fine but you're not leaving. I have you for an hour and I'll have hour."
"What do you want? What do you get out of this?"
"You're supposed to teach me. So, teach."
"Teach you what, exactly? Surprising though it may be, considering what a moron you are, you already know the stuff from class! There is no need for me to stay here." Snape yanked his arm out of James' tight grip and stalked down the hall.
James, never one to pass up an opportunity, followed straight after him. It took him a few moments to catch up. When he was close enough he reached out and snagged the back of the other boy's robes and shirt and pulled hard. He was immediately rebuffed with an elbow to the face.
Snape turned around sharply, wand in hand. "What Potter? What?"
"You're here on scholarship, yeah?"
"Not every one can be a spoiled little fuck like you, now can we?"
"No, I admit not everyone is as lucky as I am."
Sometime during the exchange, James has slipped his own wand from its holster to his fingertips. "Scholarship students have to keep certain grades and complete forty hours of community service, such as tutoring, correct?"
"How do- Never mind, why are you bringing this up?" Snape' brows drew together and his eyes flickered everywhere, if this was a trap he wasn’t about to be caught off-guard. He fidgeted a bit, his wand stayed directed at the other boy.
"Remus does the same. In any case, I know you probably want to finish off your hours." James took a step back.
"You know the material, why waste the time? What do I get out of it"
"You don’t have to teach me potions, teach me about something else." James proceeded carefully; just because Snape didn’t sound as hostile as expected, did not mean he wasn’t.
"What else could you possibly need help in? Your grades are as good as mine."
"Evans."
"This is just pathetic."
"Maybe so but you are her best friend. You would know the things I couldn’t find out from anyone else."
"And why do you think I would ever help you?"
"Because, at this point, it's either me or Beryll Crabbe you get to work off hours with."
James waited intently as Snape's lips pursed and he actually thought the situation through. Beryll Crabbe, a Slytherin girl in the same year, had all the IQ of a rock, the face and stench of an Afghan Hound, and was rumored to be so cantankerous that even the Fat Friar couldn’t stand her presence.
"What's to stop me from lying?"
Ace! That was as good as a yes!
"I'll take my chances, all right?" James nodded, knowing full well that he wasn’t taking any chances. Snape was a lot of things, but he wasn’t a liar. He owned up to each and every hex he threw, and told you what he though no matter if you wanted to hear it or not. Snape would let you draw your own incorrect conclusions but he never told anything but the truth -or the truth as he saw it anyway. Which was odd in a way because Slytherins were expected to be liars and deceivers. The Gryffindors of his year were all liars. James himself lied quite often, Sirius lied simply because he could, Peter lied to get out of trouble and Remus practically told a lie with every breath he took.
"If this is any sort of trap, Potter, I will shove castration potion down your throat."
"Wow, a little vicious, yeah?"
(-)
"So what do you want to know?" Snape leaned back against the wall keeping both the door and James in sight.
"Why does she hate me so much?"
"She doesn’t hate you, she doesn’t hate anyone." Snape's voice was deep and had a steady rhythm to it when he wasn’t snarling or degrading someone. If he lost that fidgety-twitchiness as well, then James might almost think he was calm. "Lily thinks you’re immature and wasteful- that annoys her, as well as myself."
James put his elbows up on the table and shrugged. "Well she doesn’t hate me that's something. But what does she mean by ‘wasteful’? I don’t waste anything! I take every opportun-"
"You do know she's here on scholarship too right?" Snape snapped sharply, his words washing out all other sounds, "we live in the same neighbourhood. She's just as poor as I am if not more so."
"I'm not understanding any of this."
"Of course you don’t - you're an over-privileged idiot."
"You know what, Snape? I'm getting quite tired of all the jabs, I've been nothing but friendly this evening."
"Twenty minutes of not insulting me isn’t going to make up for five years of harassment."
"You're a genuine piece of work, you know that?"
"So I've been told."
"The next question -"
"Will have to wait until next week because your hour is up." Snape pushed off the wall he had been leaning against and strode through the door slamming it shut behind him.
(-)
Seven days had breezed by with out incident and soon it was time for James to meet with Snape again. As expected, It was just as tense as it usually was whenever they were in the same room. Snape was twitchy and unsettled.
James watched Snape carefully, always on guard. The other boy would sit, twirling his wand - a 19-inch Hawthorne - like a baton. His dark eyes taking in everything; James’ position, the closed door - even the tiny puffskeins that scurried through the room from time to time. Other than his eyes and fingers Snape sat perfectly still and unmoving as if he had been hit with a full body-bind
"What's Evans like when she's not here - at Hogwarts?"
"Like?" The fingers stopped twirling and those pale thin lips stretched ever so slightly, if James didn’t know better he'd say it was a smile. "Lily- she's wild when she's free. Gets into everything, finds mystery in everything. There is always an adventure with her, 'Sev, let’s go and check this out' or 'I know what old Mrs. Hughes has in her shed' and 'Let’s steal Tuney's knickers and hang them from the street lamps. She can find trouble with the best of them and ease out of it just as quick... Most of the time at least. "
"Tuney? Who's that?"
"Petunia, Lily's older sister." James noticed how Snape's fingers curled in on themselves, the knuckles turned white. "She's a right cow who just lives to get everyone else into as much trouble as she can."
"That so? Then why is Evans the goody-goody when she’s here?"
"It's school."
"What's that supposed to mean, of course it’s school?" Potter frowned
For the first time Snape gave the other boy his full attention. His black eyes glittered with knowledge that James just couldn’t grasp and there was a cruel smirk on his face. "You've never been to another school have you?"
"No, I've been here since I was eleven - you know that."
"Muggles send their kids to school as soon as they turn five. Its nothing like here though, you go in the morning and you come back home in the afternoon." Snape leaned forward and propped up on the table and curled his fingers under his chin. "The main difference is that we learn reading, writing and maths, some other things too. It's important to behave yourself in a school like that because some of them, at least all the ones in Spinners End and Crystal Waters, use corporal punishment."
"Corp- what?" James furrowed his brow.
"They hit you, Potter. Hard." The Slytherin outright laughed at the look on the other boy's face. It was a cross between horror and disbelief.
"What? You expect me to believe your parents would just let this happen? That's absurd!"
"Oh yeah, they did something about it." Snape's tone went sharp instantly. "You get it at school, you get it at home too."
"Why would they hit you? My parents never did."
"Believe me it shows." Snape muttered before shaking his head. "Look- in the wizarding world, children are hard to get and even harder to keep alive. Our numbers are pitiful and so there is a more…careful, perhaps, attitude about us. It's not awful, it’s just different. And hell, I'd rather get the cane than a month’s detention any day."
"What about Evans? She doesn’t seem the type to get into trouble…"
"Who do you think roped me into half of that crap? It was always her fault I was over that damn desk."
James pursed his lips thinking of his next question, he stared at Snape who had once again started twirling his wand in his fingers. "I heard through the grapevine that you were the one who told her she was a witch, is it true?"
"Yeah."
"How did you know?"
"I watched her jump off a swing in mid air and float down light as a feather."
"And she just took your word for it."
"No, I had to drop a branch on Petunia before she would take me seriously."
"You had a wand at that age?"
"No, just will power."
(-)
James was in the classroom twenty minutes before he was due. He paced and fidgeted, unable to release his restless energy. The idea of learning about Lily, even if it was through Snape, was just so exciting he could barely stand it.
The door slammed open at precisely two o’clock and Snape stormed in carrying a stack of books looking ready to spit nails. The Slytherin tossed his armful of books onto the table and then threw his bag down. "Look Potter, this is stupid and I'm not doing it anymore. I'll get my hours another way."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" James approached carefully keeping with in Snape's view. "I've not done anything to you. I made Sirius promise to lay off and we both know Remus -"
"Contrary to what you think, Potter, not everything is about you!" Snape slammed his hand on the table leaned over it shoulders drawn and eyes fierce. "I don’t want to do this anymore, so I won’t."
James strode forward, intent on mirroring Snape's posture and snarling back at him but once he got closer he stopped in his tracks. The books on the table between them were covered in red ink scrawls: DIRTY HALF-BREED, MUDBLOOD, TWIG, MUTT, SQUIB, BEAST, HALFY and several other slurs and quite a few threats as well. James reached out and picked up one of the vandalized books.
"Who did this?"
"Put that down and mind your own fucking business!"
The Gryffindor boy pretended to not hear his companion and flipped through the pages of this book. There were degrading messages on every page he turned to. "Why don’t you tell Slughorn?"
"You just don’t listen, do you?"
"Why haven’t you told Slughorn?"
"If it was that easy don’t you think I would have?" Snape leaned forward; his thick dark hair sliding forward to hide is face from view.
"What's hard about it? You can't let this-" James jabbed a blunt finger at the books, "-happen."
"News flash Potter, we can’t all be purebloods from wealthy families now can we?"
"What does family have to do with any of this? It’s wrong that this is scrawled across your books!"
"Will you just shut up? You're so fucking naïve it’s painful!" Snape barked, his voice hoarse and wet, "Slughorn knows- they all know what goes on down there. There isn’t anything the professors can do that won’t make it worse, so they turn a blind eye."
"That isn't right, the professors are supposed to help. You're house is supposed to help. If you-"
"I know it's wrong that they piss on my bed, burn my robes, kill my cat and leave him under my bed. You don’t have to tell me that. I don’t sleep in my dorm because doing so would be suicide. Trust me I know it's wrong when they try to beat me in the shower too, but that’s never stopped them has it!"
"Why?"
"Why hasn’t it stopped them? Because they’re cruel idiots that can't stand the fact that I'm smarter than they are."
"No, I meant why do they do those things to you?"
"Because my mother was stupid enough to get knocked up by a Muggle and not take a Black Cohosh and Pennyroyal Tincture."
"That's…” James didn't know if he himself was all right after hearing that. Did Snape wish his mother had aborted him? Did Snape wish that he was never born, did he want to die? That was all far too heavy for James to deal with. “Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, irritated, but no more than usual. You can leave now."
Being the obstinate and compassionate bloke that he was, James threw himself down on the chair besides Snape and waited silently.
"What, Potter?"
"You all right?"
"Fuck off."
(-)
"Tell me: what does she like to do best during the summer?"
"Climb trees, explore, dive from bridges and swim in the river."
"A river? Isn’t that dangerous?"
"It's not a strong one. It was dammed up north and then again where the mill stands."
"Wouldn’t a mill make the water dirty?"
"If it was still functioning, yeah. But its not and it won’t ever again, it was burnt down to just the beams." Snape scratched an odd looking quill over a piece of parchment and turned it to face James. It was a little map with a few hastily drawn landmarks. "That is where we swim, the water is deeper."
"Seems like you do just about everything together."
"Pretty much did."
"Why are you two such good friends?"
"Necessity."
"That's a bit spiteful."
"It’s a symbiotic relationship, I needed her in order to stay sane and she needed me to need her."
"What's so hard about staying sane?"
Hazel and black connected in a strange way and then James was filled with memories that didn’t belong to him, that happened all at once and again over several years. Drunken men beating crying women, a hungry little boy, flowers that were really weeds, a family crest, a dynasty mark against pale skin, and a large looming black structure of desolation that shadowed the whole town.
"Just about everything." Snape shook his head as if trying to refresh and collect his thoughts. "Just about everything."
(-)
James watched the odd scene from the doorway, wondering exactly what was going on. Snape sat ramrod straight with his head tipped forward glittering stone on a silver chain slipping through his fingers. The muttered chants changed depending on the shape or placement of the bead, which it was James wasn't too sure but it felt distinctly disrespectful to interrupt.
After two more beads Snape looked up seeing James for the first time and proceeded to shove the string of opals back into his shirt. "What do you want to know today?"
"What those were."
"Aren't you supposed to be asking me about Lily?"
"I find out the most interesting things about her when I ask you questions about yourself. You're both intertwined."
"We used to be."
"Why do you always speak in the past tense?"
"It’s a rosary. Happy now?"
"Not really, you didn’t answer my question."
"I just answered your fucking question."
"Well yes, but not why you speak in the past tense in regards to Lily?"
"Because I have to."
"If you haven’t got any kind of explanation it just sounds stupid."
"I need to get used to it. Things… Things are happening and I need to distance myself from her." Snape fingered the chain around his neck letting the silver become worm under the pads of his fingertips. "I don’t want her to be hurt by the things I'll do."
"What things?"
"This interview is about Lily not me. Either ask an appropriate question or I'm leaving."
James blurted the first question that came to mind, "What are Evans' Parents like?"
"Her father is a military man. Massive, he's over six and a half feet. He's all right… nice even… Gentle, soft-spoken and but I'm never around him for long. Her Mum Violet… she’s fancy, a lady in everything she does, says and wears. She loves flowers and she makes arrangements for her house. There's always one in the kitchen, one in the sitting room and a flower in her hair. She grows her own flowers." James watched curious as Snape appeared to lose himself in his memories. "She never wears perfume and makes really good food. And she decorates for the holidays with lights and these huge glittering bows. It's kind of nice in a really tacky way. Mum never decorates so I guess all decorations look nice to me."
"What's a rosary for?"
"It's a set of prayer beads… Muggle religion."
"Never figured you the type."
"Yeah, well neither did…" Snape peered at the silver between his digits and smiled ruefully. "nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae."
(-)
They sat shoulder to shoulder on the floor in the far corner of the lab.
Snape shifted the five glass vials through his fingers as if he was juggling them. The liquid sloshed and reflected rainbows in the dim torchlight. Three tiny glass containers shone and glittered like brilliant topaz stones.
"What is that stuff?" James lifted on arm half way into the air and watched as it flopped back to the ground leaving a trail of afterimages and shimmers behind. "It’s fucking wonderful!"
"Yeah, it’s what I call Blend Six. Its almost an hallucinogen… makes you feel good for two hours with no side effects."
"Fuck, why didn’t I ever know about this?"
"Because I made it clear to everyone if you and you're little troupe knew, I'd stop making the stuff."
"Hell, I wouldn’t have told myself either! This is great! Everything feels so good - my clothes, the air, everything."
Snape tipped his head back against the wall luxuriating the moment in all the sensations rippling through his body and giving him a heady rush.
"What did you make this for anyway?"
"This batch is for myself." With uncharacteristically clumsy finger the boy pulled open his robe and slid his fingers in the places between the buttons of his shirt. "It's nine point four-two times more concentrated than the normal one."
"Okay but that doesn't tell me anything..."
"Let's not beat around the bowtruckle here. I look like sin. I know it, you know it -every bird in this place knows it."
"Yeah so."
"This stuff is topical as well as ingestible."
"Isn't that rape?"
"Nope. I never initiate contact, I wait until they do. Besides I just I rub it on my lips, neck shoulders, my cock too before we... Well you know. How they ended up touching or kissing there is totally consensual."
"You're full of shit."
"What?"
Snape tipped his head and the long soft strands brushed against James' shoulder making the other boys body quake and shudder with pleasure.
"Oi, do that again."
"I didn't do anything." Snape moaned tossing his head back and gyrating his hips, loving the way the cloth of his clothing touched and skimmed across his skin. "God, I'm a fucking genius!"
James was hyper focused on the long pale neck of the boy next to him and couldn't stop from putting his mouth on that clear skin. Tongue, teeth and lips came into play, and that lovely skin turned rosy with every nip, kiss, suck and bite. James climbed over, straddling Snape's lap and began to grind against the rhythm the other boy set, reveling in the tactile bliss that was shared between them.
Snape could barely move he was so drunk with pleasure. He pulled down on James’ shoulders and pushed up against him as hard as he could to get friction, that blessed friction on his cock.
Eventually they had both lined up so that their groins rubbed and slid across each other. The potion made everything from the initial touch to the final orgasm so intense it was nearly blinding.
They stayed pressed close, breathing in each other's air and savouring the shudders and residual pleasure.
"So…"
"I don’t really know."
"Neither do I."
"You're right though."
"I usually am."
"You're arrogant too."
"What? You think you know me now because we got off?"
"No, I don’t know you. I just know a bit about you…"
"Well, aren’t we special?" The taller boy snorted lightly and leaned against the cool stones of the wall, "Potter. This is it all right? I was civil, you were civil, and we’re done now."
James hummed and leaned forward until his lips were just a hare's breath away from Snape's. "Yeah? All right then…"
End