Severus Snape

Traitor. Hero. Potioneer. Friend. Liar.

[defiantcharms]

             “Sev!” She was skipping as she ran, miraculously not tripping over her own feet as hurtled up the hill to their traditional meeting spot. Waved around in her hand was a piece of paper, which could really only be one thing. “It came!” She was beaming as she skittered to a halt in front of him. “An old man brought it, just like you said they would, send someone to explain, I mean.” And that was all she could get out before the need to breath caught up with her and she had to double over, hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath.  

[notsosevere]

Like most wizarding children, Severus had been waiting for his Hogwarts letter with extreme impatience. No month had ever passed more slowly than this dreadful July which had at last delivered him the long-awaited letter in its final weeks -- but that had not ended his period of waiting, because Lily hadn’t gotten hers yet. He had been waiting for that even more than for his own, truly; he knew she was a witch, had known she was a witch almost from the first moment he saw her, but Severus hadn’t been able to help worrying: what if the Ministry didn’t know? What if she got missed? Maybe it happened sometimes, with Muggle-born children whose families were so dreadfully non-magical that no one bothered to check on their second daughters after the first proved such a disappointment...

When his letter had come he had gone straight to the Evans house, but the sight of Lily sitting calmly in the yard braiding flower chains had told him that hers had not. So he had stuffed his in his pocket and pressed his lips together and said nothing -- nothing for two excruciating days. Until now, when she came racing toward him as though her feet had grown wings, and he knew.

“See?” he cried, as relieved as he was happy and trying to hide it. “I told you so! I told you, we’re going to Hogwarts -- together!” He grinned at her and finally pulled his letter out, too; he wanted to compare them, to see if there were any differences and if so, what; but first he just wanted to revel in the fact that they both had their letters, at last.

“What did your parents say?” he asked, the idea of Mr. and Mrs. Evans striking him properly for perhaps the first time.

[notsosevere]

I just realized that since I made Sev as part of an au-group thing I never actually got around to finishing a rules page whoops that has been fixed now sorry.

[notsosevere]

...with tiny cakes.

[notsosevere]

defiantcharms:

“What? No!” Not as strong as an appalled refusal of the offer as there perhaps should have been. She’d known him long enough to know he only meant well, and if he meant it seriously all the same, there wasn’t much she could do about that besides keeping him from doing it. “No, I just, I…” Flopping dramatically into the desk chair he’d vacated, she folder her hands against her chest and frowned. 

“I want you to help me make sense of it,” she said finally, eyes sad as she looked at him. That’s what friends were for, after all. “I mean, I kissed a girl, Severus. I don’t think I like girls, not like that, but I did it and I don’t know. What that means. If it means anything. Or…” She groaned, dragging hands over her face. 

“I think I’m lonely.” 

Years ago, he would have flinched and cringed and stammered his way through a dozen excuses in response to a reply like that, but time and scar-tissue had done what maturity on its own perhaps could not, so now Severus only grimaced apologetically and mumbled, “Well if you’re sure, then, I won’t. Unless you change your mind later,” he added with a raised eyebrow that could have been interpreted as a joke.

Putting the kettle on to heat gave him an excuse to turn away from Lily and try to order his thoughts, but it only took a moment to flick the fire back up and then he had to turn back around, and he was no closer to having an answer for her. He repeated dutifully, “Make sense of it, right. Certainly.” Then he swallowed and, because he had no idea how to actually do that but she had asked so he was going to try his damndest, “So is that why you were on this date, because you’re lonely? Because the children are at school, I suppose?” He had promised himself years ago, when she had first allowed him back into her life, that he would never ask prying questions about Potter; it was the only way he could be sure of resisting the urge to murder her husband, which he suspected she would disapprove of (for some unfathomable reason). He was tempted now, though, and cast about for something else to say instead.

“I’ve kissed a few witches before,” he told her glumly. “I didn’t much like it, and I certainly didn’t like any of them. I don’t know as how it necessarily has to mean anything. But it was ages ago, perhaps I’ve just forgotten?” He shrugged, his sallow face curdling in momentary revulsion. “I can’t say they were memories I made any particular effort to retain.” Severus sighed and looked back over at Lily where she sat miserably in front of his desk, wishing that he dared risk a peek of Legillimency to figure out what he was missing that might let him conjure an answer for her. He hated seeing her upset.

“I can get cake,” he offered desperately. “Would you like cake with the tea?”

[notsosevere]

...with tiny cakes.

[notsosevere]

defiantcharms:

That accusation, that assault on her taste was enough to snap her out of her panic for a moment. “What? No!” A heavy frown as she crossed her arms over her chest. Rubbing her arms, she started to curl in on herself. “No one you know, I barely know them, but it was a thing, like a date, sort of, and then she kissed me, or I kissed her or something and, and –” She was working herself up again, hands fluttering in the air in distress before they collapsed back down at her side. 

“And I’m not sure if I liked it or not.” Hence the crisis. Shoulders sagging and eyes wide as she looked to Severus for some sort of answer, she looked vaguely like a lost puppy that had had the door slammed in its nose. “Tea would be nice,” she added in a soft voice. 

Severus was torn between amusement and apology at the outraged frown she turned on him. “Sorry,” he said quickly, “I didn’t mean...” but he let the sentence trail-off under the excuse of turning around to prepare a basket of tea leaves from the stash he kept in his bottom desk drawer. Usually he utilized it for late nights of grading lackluster work, so it was a heady brew, strong and heavily caffeinated; something smoother and more soothing might have been more suitable to Lily’s mood right now, but it was what he had on hand. It was either that, or his special headache tea -- and while that was a calming brew, Lily didn’t look like she had a headache. The regular stuff would have to do.

He drew his wand to fill the kettle, eyeing her uncertainly. Severus couldn’t remember the last time he had seen Lily look so uncertain, so lost. It left him feeling unsettled and he twitched his shoulders jerkily, as though trying to shoo away a bug. It was strange, perhaps, to think of someone as passionate and fiery as Lily Potter Evans as a rock, but she was his: the bright and constant (not steady, but constant) heart of his world. He didn’t like to see her look like this.

“Do you want me to poison her?” he offered helpfully.

[notsosevere]

...with tiny cakes.

[notsosevere]

defiantcharms:

Lily Potter was unsettled. That much was clear as she started pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace. Nothing terribly unusual in that, given her newly empty nest and how her once idyllic marriage had fallen to crumbly bits. The foundations of her world, as they were, had shifted Despite all that, she’d been fine a few days ago when she’d last written him a letter. So what was wrong with her now?

Nearly tripping over her own feet as she stopped short and turned towards Severus, her eyes were wide and brow wrinkled. “I snogged a woman, Sev.” 

She was pacing. That made him nervous. While Lily had a tendency toward motion -- made more pronounced, perhaps, when viewed in comparison to his own long-ingrained habits of stillness -- she was not, in Severus’s experience, prone to pacing. Not this sort of pacing, at least; it looked nervous, and Lily was not by nature a demonstrably nervous woman. (That, again, was more his role, although he usually restrained his physical manifestations to fidgeting hands and darting eyes; large gestures drew attention and he had learned early that it was better to pass unnoticed through the world.) He found his own fingers twisting nervously at one another in his lap in response to her pacing, and forced himself to spread his hands motionlessly across the arms of his chair while he waited for her to speak...

When she did, he was nonplussed by her words. “Yes?” Severus said, since she seemed to want him to say something. “Uhhh...I can make tea, if you’d like?” he offered a bit desperately, because he wasn’t sure what kind of response she was after, but at least the process of serving tea would give him an excuse to pause and think, and her an excuse to stay until he had found a better answer. He couldn’t think why she was telling him, unless... “Was it someone I know? Not -- not another professor, surely? Aurora, or...or Sibyll?”

He knew her taste in romantic partners was awful (the fact that her name was Potter these days instead of Evans proved that, even if she would forever be Lily Evans in his head) but Sibyll Trelawney at least had to be beyond the pale -- didn’t she?

[notsosevere]

...with tiny cakes.

@defiantcharms

Severus was halfway through grading the unsurprisingly lackluster potions of his third year class when the fireplace in the corner of his office suddenly roared from smoldering embers to blazing green flames. He put his hand on his wand -- while there were only a few people outside the school who could step through his floo without triggering the warding charms and alarms, there was no reason not to be cautious -- and turned to face the fire.

When a woman with hair as dark a red as the embers that had been burning there a moment before stepped out over the hearth, Severus let go of his wand and curled his lips in a thin smile. The greeting he started to speak died as those lips parted to voice it, though, and his dark brows furrowed in confusion. He had known Lily Potter for a long time (long before she had changed her name to such a stupid one, not that he would voice that sentiment to her aloud these days) and he knew when she was off-balance, knew when she was upset.

“Lily?” he asked, studying her tightly. “What’s wrong?”

[notsosevere]

for @defiantcharms

defiantcharms Now I’m picturing Lily, back on the dating market for the first tie in over 15 years, having never dated much outside of dating James, Flooing into Sev’s office late one night and just starting at him like, 'I kissed a girl :/’ The personiffication of ???????

notsosevere HA YES and he’d just be like “…okay, anyone i know or…why are you telling me…? do you want tea?” “was she mean? i can poison her for you…”

defiantcharms “tea. yes. tea is good… it was strange sev. I’m not sure I enjoyedit.”

notsosevere “so…is that a yes to the poison or…?” Severus Snape is good at coping with things! He is a mature and responsible adult and he hardly ever poisons someone if they don’t deserve it first!

defiantcharms “No poison! Or cursing! OR even a mild hex. Just tea.”

notsosevere “Oh. All right. Tea then.” “…would little cakes be out of the question, or…?”

defiantcharms “Appropriate, I think. And if they’re not, oh well. I want them anyway.”

notsosevere Well then he will get you little cakes, Lily. He will get you all the little cakes in Hogwarts. omg we must do this; i want to see snape completely useless at trying to comfort lily post romantic-trials

defiantcharms Just entirely confused Lily pacing his office like, 'why? i know why, i was lonely and all the kids are doing it these days! but…why?’

notsosevere and snape’s just there like “…more cakes?”

notsosevere hell i want to see him try and do this when they’re kids too, and he’s all tangled up in “BUT WHY IS SHE SPENDING TIME WITH OTHER PEOPLE?” envy/confusion but still wanting to help but being COMPLETELY socially inept, also

[defiantarchive]

There was a slightly exasperated eyeroll for ‘At the Black Lake’ — of course, Severus, it was the large body of water inhabited with grindylows near by, where else would you have gotten it from — but it faded as Severus obliged her with more details. Her nose twitched and wrinkled as she struggled to mentally follow the directions, though. Unable to place the landmarks he described, and the actual place he found them, she instead constructed an appropriately dramatic scene in her mind. 

At least Severus wasn’t horribly embarrassed by her scrubbing, except maybe for her sake, being too kind and excusing her ridiculousness. “Oh, no, it wasn’t, I wasn’t — it wasn’t about being dirty,” she assured him. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.” Saying it aloud only made it seem more ridiculous. Of course he had been okay. This was Severus, he could handle a couple of grindylows. 

His suggestion was a much appreciated out from her embarrassment and the slight, sad slump of her shoulders lifted as she lit up with a smile. “Oh, yes! We should — do you think Slughorn will let us use the classroom?” Pince wouldn’t let them in to the library with a handful of grindylow eggs, and while they could find an empty classroom, it would have been more trips to get a cauldron and she was too impatient for that. Besides, it wasn’t really a serious question; of course Slughorn would let her use the classroom. She’d likely get house points for her enthusiasm. 

[notsosevere]

Severus was confused; he cocked his head and tried to figure out what she was talking about without having to ask. (Once upon a time he’d never needed to ask her to clarify things, but it seemed like every year since their Sorting had separated him he had a harder and harder time keeping up with Lily, with what she was talking about and why. It was enough to make a bloke think of taking up Legilimency.) Granted no one really liked being muddy -- no one decent, anyway, Potter and Black probably rolled around in the stuff -- but “okay”? It was just a bit of mud, of course he was okay! Not that he minded her being concerned for him, not in the least...

“Well, I am,” he said at last, settling for not knowing exactly why she had worried and just being glad that she had. “Thanks though.” He smiled at her. “Nice of you to check.” And it was nice. Nobody else ever checked, not now that Lucius Malfoy had graduated anyway; the prefects who had come along after him had none of them been quite as concerned with looking after the younger members of their house, at least not in regards to Severus anyway.

He raised an eyebrow at her suggestion that they talk to Slughorn. “Well, he will if you do the asking, I’m sure,” Severus said with a smirk. “Does he ever say no to you?” He wasn’t jealous or bitter of the fact that Lily was one of the Potions Master’s favorite students despite the fact that he was Severus’s Head of House; even if she hadn’t been, he would still doubtless be one of Slughorn’s least favorites. Severus shared Lily’s knack for potions but had none of her tact or charm and he wasn’t keen on sharing his insights either -- at least not with anyone other than Lily. Slughorn seemed to find him largely beneath his notice save for the occasional scold or complaint. It was just as well; that way he could get on with his experimentation without Slughorn breathing down his neck or making him share his ideas with the rest of the class. He didn’t mind when Lily did, whether the idea was more hers or his, but otherwise he preferred to keep his ideas and secrets, and his brews and spells, to himself. “If you don’t let on that I’m involved until after he’s agreed, he’ll definitely allow it,” Severus added with a cheerful nod. He didn’t know what it was like to be any teacher’s pet, but it certainly came in handy having a friend who was.

[defiantarchive]

That helped too, of course. Knowing that Severus would pass on all sorts of snippets to her on his unofficial niece and nephew made it easier to not envy his position to do so. It also helped to know he’d look after them. Rationally, she knew he and all the professors would look after her and everyone’s kids, but as with most things, Sev was something special and more. 

“My prodigious skill and charisma, as you too generously put it, could hardly make up for my lack of Defense NEWTS.” She bit the tip of her tongue rather than let the ‘remember’ that lingered there fall out. That decision to not take NEWT level DADA had come after their falling out, after all. She couldn’t expect him to have taken notice of her and her choices at that time, especially considering she’d so determinedly ignored him. 

Instead, Lily reached out and squeezed his arm as she grinned. “But maybe if there was finally an opening for the Potions Professor. You know, there’s been one very selfish professor hogging that spot for years now.” As far as Lily was concerned, Severus deserved the DADA position. He knew the material better than anyone, was a more than competent teacher, and wanted the job. If anyone could shatter the streak of bad luck associated with the position, he could, if only by sheer force of will. It was beyond her why Dumledore continued to bar Sev from the position.

“You’re right, though. Of course. Being a professor, trapped with all those teenagers; I’m not sure I have the fortitude for it.” Squeezing his arm as she shook her head, Lily added, “Besides, maybe Vance will last. I hope so, if only for a bit of consistency in the subject.” Emmeline might not have been Lily’s first choice from the ranks of the Order (that was still firmly Severus), or her second, but she didn’t consider her a bad choice. Her children seemed to be enjoying her class thoroughly, which was more than could be said in the last few years. At the very least, Emmeline could be trusted to not prove a total fraud or be harbouring a demon on the back of her head.

Rosemerta slid up to the table with a polite smile, asking if they wanted anything. Lily placed her order quickly and then turned back to Sev. “So, besides remedial potions for second years, what torment are you enduring now?”

[notsosevere]

Severus snorted derisively. If he could have stopped himself he would have, because he wouldn’t have wanted her to think that he was laughing at her, which he definitely wasn’t. “Oh yes,” he drawled sourly, “because first of all our education in Defense Against the Dark Arts was so steady and reliable, so your continuing to take the class past O.W.L.s would have been very valuable. I can tell you that I, for one, learned just loads from those last two doddering fools we had. You really missed out.” He shook his head, grimacing; part of him had always wondered if Albus hadn’t chosen idiots on purpose those last two years, because so many of the students who were taking DADA at a N.E.W.T. level at that point had inevitably been planning to -- like Severus himself at the time -- join the ongoing fight on the other side. He hadn’t asked about it yet; he wasn’t sure he ever would. He knew that Dumbledore was willing to do whatever it took to win a war, but the idea of him willingly compromising people’s education in the process -- well that sat ill with Severus.

He cleared his throat and waved a dismissive hand, returning to a much more appealing subject -- even if it did seem to be largely in jest at the moment -- that of Lily joining him at Hogwarts. “At any rate,” Severus said dryly, “I suspect that Dumbledore would be willing to overlook your lack of N.E.W.T. grades in the subject based on his personal experience with your actual skill-level. He’s certainly overlooked worse qualifications, or lack thereof, in applicants for that position before,” he sneered, not bothering to hide his bitterness. Lily knew all about his constantly-frustrated attempts to obtain the position himself.

The bitterness was mostly countered by Lily’s hand on his arm and her teasing statement of his current position. It was enough that he could offer her a crooked half-smile, anyway. “I’ve heard he’s an absolute jerk though,” he said with mournful sympathy, “so I’m not surprised that he’s getting in your way. Want me to have a word with him, tell him to budge along there and make room for some new, better blood?” At another time he would have cursed himself for such a slip of the tongue, but the war was years dead now and their falling-out even farther behind them, and Severus no longer avoided making any conversational references that might be misconstrued as an allusion to blood-status. He didn’t even notice he’d said it, being at the moment quite distracted by the idea of what he would do with himself if he wasn’t teaching Potions (or something else, something better) at Hogwarts.

Perhaps somewhat astonishingly it wasn’t something he had ever thought about before, and the idea distracted him. He barely managed to murmur a response to Lily, speaking mostly on autopilot: “Well you’ve survived Potter’s friends this long so I’m sure you’d manage. Anyway, Vance does seem to be a hit with most of the students. Even Draco complimented her the other day, albeit in a bit of a back-handed manner, and he’s one of the pickiest...”

The arrival of Rosemerta to take their orders brought him back to reality, and he snapped-off the first food and drink he could think of -- leek and potato soup with a plum-sauce sandwich -- and shook his head to clear it. He summoned another smile for Lily and dismissed his idle musing; he was at Hogwarts and since there were no better prospects, why would he leave?

“I can’t say there’s much actual torment at the school this year,” Severus admitted, “at least not yet -- term has barely started, after all,” he added grimly, “but Narcissa is more than making up for it. She’s decided that my ‘problem’ -- which I apparently have one -- is that I’m ‘too lonely,’ which she has decided to fix by attempting to...” His lip curled with distaste. “Set me up on dates. I have refused of course, but she gets around this by ‘forgetting’ her schedule and ‘accidentally’ inviting other people over at the same time as me. You can go ahead and laugh,” he told her sepulchrally, “because it’s been every bit the mind-numbingly horrifying debacle you’re doubtless imagining. Lucius is, of course, no help at all.” He rolled his eyes.

[defiantarchive]

Good that Severus hid his hands from the girls behind Lily; they would not have had the same response of awed cooing that she gave. It was slightly perturbed with a momentary grimace at the mention of a ‘half-formed little grindylow-tad’, but that passed quickly. She was sure Severus had been respectful about it, after all. 

“Where did you find them? HOW did you find them?” Grindylows were supposed to be nasty, vicious little creatures, and she rather doubted they’d nicely give up their eggs for the curiosity of a pair of young potioners. “Are you all right? You didn’t get hurt, did you?” Her frown was back, attention dropping away from the eggs and turning instead to Severus. He seemed fine, except for the mud. Though… concern had her licking her thumb and scrubbing away the mud on his forehead. 

No, no hidden gash. Reassured, she grinned again, and then flushed and dropped her hand. “Sorry,” she mumbled sheepishly. “That was rather mumsy of me, wasn’t it?”

[notsosevere]

He was watching closely to see her reaction; that was the only reason he noticed the grimace that flickered across her face. It was gone before Severus could do more than draw a deep breath to protest -- explain -- beg -- whatever -- and he slowly relaxed as genuine interest replaced whatever had caused her momentary qualms. Perhaps she was just wishing that she’d been there for the search, jealous that he’d found them without her? He probably should have invited her to come along, but of course he hadn’t planned on finding grindylow eggs or he would have...

“At the Black Lake,” he explained, which he’d thought would have been obvious because where else around here were grindylows going to be found -- but of course Lily was probably asking for specifics. “Over around the far side, where there’s all those reeds along the shore? There’s a patch that are particularly muddy by this fallen log. I was looking to see if there were any interesting fungi growing there, and I saw bubbles in the water just at the edge where the log went into the lake, so I wanted to see what was causing them, and...” He shrugged modestly, although that was faked; he was quite proud of himself and even more delighted that Lily seemed so impressed, or at least worried. “I’m fine,” he added, with an attempt at nonchalance, although that probably didn’t come off very well because he couldn’t help but duck his head and blush and bite his lip in an attempt to completely fail at restraining a grin when she scrubbed his face with her finger. He hadn’t noticed the mud until she moved to clean it or he probably would have tried to wipe it away before going to see Lily, but now he was glad that he hadn’t.

“I dunno, was it?” Severus said absently, not really thinking about motherly. He didn’t have a lot of reference for what she was talking about. Mostly when he’d been dirty his mother had just scowled and sighed and told him to wash-up. If he’d ever had the dubious pleasure of being spit-cleaned by his mum, he couldn’t remember it, and he’d never paid enough attention to other mothers to know it was a common embarrassment that they visited on their children. “I guess I should have cleaned-up, but I didn’t want to put the eggs down,” Severus explained. He paused and then added shyly, “You know, there are a lot of things that can be done with fresh grindylow eggs, if you want...?”

[notsosevere]

“Of course I’m right,” Snape snapped, “I don’t teach the subject because I have to guess about things like how to shred roots.” He knew his reaction was perhaps a touch over-the-top, but nothing made him feel testier than snooty Gryffindor pure-blood troublemakers and Ron Weasley had not just his family working against him on that count, but most of Harry’s family too. And Snape certainly didn’t need to be patronized by the brat in some lackluster attempt to suck-up in hopes of getting away without cleaning up the damage he had done to Snape’s classroom. 

“Once you have appropriately cleaned-up your mess you may do whatever you wish,” he retorted coolly. He waited a beat for maximum impact of his words, then added with no small bit of smug pleasure, “I expect class will have long-since ended by the time you’ve managed to restore some semblance of order and cleanliness to your work-area and you will thus no longer be my problem or concern. Whether you choose to go to dinner or to the Hospital Wing at that point will be entirely up to you.”

[teaspoonofginger]

Ron sighed again, cringing with the pain in his head. He thought that his professor’s words and tone were both a bit harsh and too loud, but he also thought that that was probably Snape’s entire point. “Right. Yeah. ‘Course.”

“Right. Okay. Thanks,” Ron sighed heavily. He reckoned that Snape was more than likely right. But, if he went to hospital instead of dinner, he’d be hungry and in pain. And so, he made up his mind to go to dinner first and then to hospital after. Immediately after. With a heavy sigh, he began to clean up the mess.

[lumositalia]

*-*

www.lumos.it

[teaspoonofginger]

“I suppose that you’re right about that, sir,” Ron nodded. After all, it did sound rather logical, all things considered. 

Ron groaned and put a hand to his head. He was crap at medicinal potions when his head wasn’t throbbing in a horrible way. “All right. But, after I clean it up, can I go to hospital and get something?” He wondered, not for the first time, what had made Snape such a monster. His only consolation was that Harry would probably mention it to his mum and then Snape might actually get told off a bit.

[notsosevere]

“Of course I’m right,” Snape snapped, “I don’t teach the subject because I have to guess about things like how to shred roots.” He knew his reaction was perhaps a touch over-the-top, but nothing made him feel testier than snooty Gryffindor pure-blood troublemakers and Ron Weasley had not just his family working against him on that count, but most of Harry’s family too. And Snape certainly didn’t need to be patronized by the brat in some lackluster attempt to suck-up in hopes of getting away without cleaning up the damage he had done to Snape’s classroom.

“Once you have appropriately cleaned-up your mess you may do whatever you wish,” he retorted coolly. He waited a beat for maximum impact of his words, then added with no small bit of smug pleasure, “I expect class will have long-since ended by the time you’ve managed to restore some semblance of order and cleanliness to your work-area and you will thus no longer be my problem or concern. Whether you choose to go to dinner or to the Hospital Wing at that point will be entirely up to you.”

[proditori-deactivated20170315]

@notsosevere Found Families (Accepting)

Regulus found him in the garden.

Only that’s not exactly true. Regulus found him in a garden. It wasn’t his garden, or even his cousin’s garden. No, it was during a spring brunch at someone elses house. Regulus isn’t really sure where he comes from, isn’t really sure he’s nice–but Sirius was busy with the Avery boy and Narcissa was busy with Lucius and no one was there to play with him (everyone else was always too old )

So Regulus decided Severus would have to be his friend. And they could play–with the color changing paints and see if they could make the water in the stream bubble up if the stared at it long enough–and maybe even sneak some more of the tea cakes once the grown ups were distracted.

The latter was more something Sirius would do–but Regulus was trying to be  good host (even though this wasn’t his house–Regulus at least seemed to know how he got there and Severus didn’t) and one tea cake was not enough for two little boys.

It really wasn’t a problem at all until it was time to go. No one was there to pick up Severus and all Regulus would say was that he came from the garden.

And if no other adults where there that probably meant Regulus was responsible for picking him.

[notsosevere]

Severus was running away. It didn’t really matter to where; it didn’t even matter why, not really. He just couldn’t be there anymore, at home with mum and dad and all the shouting. He hadn’t been thinking about going anywhere -- just about being elsewhere. And then suddenly he was.

It wasn’t his first bit of accidental magic, but it was certainly the biggest -- if it was his; the boy he met on the other side of the spell seemed to think that he had brought Severus there because he had wanted a friend. Maybe he had; maybe it had been the both of them together that had caused Severus to be suddenly somewhere else -- a beautiful garden, filled with people, filled with magic. It reminded him of the stories his mum told on very rare occasion, when dad wasn’t around to hear and shout and she was a little tipsy but still in a good mood, about her old life before she’d gone to live in the Muggle world. Before she’d met dad, before she’d had him.

It was the kind of life that Severus wanted, one where everybody knew magic and there weren’t any secrets or shouting or unpleasant dinners or ugly clothes that didn’t fit right or shouting or anything bad at all. A magical life far away from everything Muggle. So maybe he didn’t question how he’d gotten there, or why, or how he was going to get home. He didn’t want to get home, so why did he care about that? He was happy here with Regulus and the garden. But of course nothing that was good ever lasted and eventually they all started to leave. And that was when the rest of them noticed him.

Severus glared up at the tall, robe-clad adults and he scowled because it was either that or cry and he didn’t like to cry. “I like it here,” he repeated, “I like it with Regulus. The magic brought me here. It must have been for a reason,” he argued. His hands were clenched behind his back worrying the crumbs of the last tea cake into dust between his fingers. “I should probably go home with Regulus,” he suggested, when no one seemed inclined to let him just live in the garden and eat tea cakes forever. “He’s my friend, and the magic brought me to him. It would probably be bad if I left now. You shouldn’t muck-about with spells especially when you don’t understand them,” he cautioned these fancy, wonderful, magical people.

He didn’t reach for Regulus’s hand, because it didn’t occur to him that holding hands could be comforting, but he did look at him plaintively, pleadingly, as if there was something Regulus could do to help. Severus felt very grubby and out of place in his ill-fitting smock and his too-short trousers and his battered, dirty trainers, and the splotches of paint on his knees and his shirt and his nose that kept changing colors in the sunlight -- but he also felt like he’d finally found a place he could belong, for the first time. He wasn’t going to leave willingly.

[teaspoonofginger]

“I was shredding them, sir. I was just doing it… with a metal knife.” Ron admitted sheepishly. “But that’s good to know, yes? That I’ll live, I mean.” 

“But, sir. Can’t I have something for this headache, first?” Ron pleaded, knowing that it was unlikely to happen but hoping that, for once, his teacher would be merciful. “I’ll clean it up right after. It’s just… it hurts really badly, sir.”

[notsosevere]

“That isn’t shredding,” Severus snapped testily. “That’s cutting. Imbecile.” If there was a way to send students back to first year, he would have sent Weasley just for that. It was basic potioneering terminology, the sort of thing he drilled into his students before he even let them near a cauldron, but of course trust a Gryffindor like Ron Weasley to be too caught-up in his own little world to bother remembering simple details like that.

“Absolutely not,” Snape said firmly. Then something that was distantly related to a smile stole across his face and he relented a little: “Unless you can brew it for yourself. Although I will warn you, the longer you leave this stuff sit the harder it will be to scrape-up later. But you choose your priorities.” There, nobody could reasonably say that he was being cruel now, could they? He had simply turned the request into a lesson, one that was entirely appropriate for the subject he taught too. He’d even warned Weasley about the solidifying properties of this sort of gunk. Snape doubted that it would stop Harry from complaining on his idiot friend’s behalf, but he considered himself absolved of all guilt over the situation that Weasley had landed himself in, at least.

[defiantarchive]

“Sev!” Quickly hopping up, she snaged at the shoulder fabric of his robe. “No, it’s all right, you’re not interrupting.” She managed to say it with full sincerity while clearly knowing that some of her conversation mates didn’t feel the same. But she never counted Severus as an interruption. Or at least not an unwelcomed one; in this particular conversation, the disruption was thoroughly welcomed. There were only so many times Rebecca could recount her trip to Madame Puddifoot’s with Devon Reeve, the incredibly fit Ravenclaw (Becca’s words, not Lily’s) who was reserve Chaser. Though she was glad Becca had enjoyed herself, the story had grown stale after the third retelling. 

“What did you find?” That would keep him from leaving. She was really interested, besides. If Severus was this excited, it had to be amazing, and her own hands were starting to flutter around his with the anticipation, silent encouragement for him to hurry up and show her already, the wait was killing her!

[notsosevere]

“Oh.” Severus smiled shyly, trying not to let on just how pleased he was that Lily had so so quickly and so happily left her other friends -- her cool and popular friends -- to talk to him instead. “Well if you’re sure,” he added, not meaning the prevarication at all. Severus resisted the urge to turn around and sneer at the girls only because it was better to talk to Lily than it was to bait other students, especially ones who might complain about him to her later.

He turned so that his dripping hands were between them and thus shielded from the gaze of most anyone else passing by in the courtyard and uncupped his hands enough to show her the handful of muck he was cradling. It was dotted with small, round, half-translucent spheres roughly the size of a knut. They were greenish-gray in color and smoky, like someone had made pearls out of jelly and ash. Where the light struck them they glowed and small patches of darker shadows squirmed in their depths. “Grindylow eggs!” Severus announced in an excited whisper. “They really are,” he insisted proudly, “I checked, I broke one open and it had a half-formed little grindylow-tad inside.” He had thought about keeping the little corpse too, but it hadn’t been developed enough to be much more than a dab of oddly-congealed slime and probably wouldn’t be much good for either study or brewing like that so he’d left it on the shore. Maybe its parents would find it later and learn from that why most grindylows laid their eggs in deeper water where they could guard them.

[alanprickman]

Bottle Fame, Brew Glory: Potions Class or DADA Class?

Potions are not for the impatient, but their effects are usually difficult to undo by any but another skilled potioneer. This branch of magic carries a certain mystique and therefore status. There is also the dark cachet of handling substances that are highly dangerous. The popular idea of a Potions expert within the wizarding community is of a brooding, slow-burning personality: Snape, in fact, conforms perfectly to the stereotype. — Pottermore, Potions by J.K. Rowling [x]