Chapter 46 The Beginning of the End
… referring to the last year at Hogwarts :^)
Lily's last week of the summer holiday was tense.
Severus was back to his normal paranoid self about the Ministry, the school, and everyone in general, and was also perfectly fine to her. He didn't mention marriage, deadlines, or Lily's quest to shag any wizard she wanted.
She was confused and angry, and her apprehension worsened as mum seemed to think it totally natural to give Sev a shopping list every day. He also repaired the nicked tiles in the bath for her. Lily could have done that. All mum needed to do was ask, but instead she goes and bothers Severus over it.
When she got Sev on his own, and complained to him, he did agree it was temporary since he was going back to school with Lily. However, for now he saw no harm with helping Mrs. Evans. Lily attempted to tell him it was better for her mum to be relieved they were gone, rather than sitting around moaning how she missed them.
"Why would Petunia let her moan about missing me?"
"What?"
"She's going to Surrey after she sees us off on the train."
"No, she's not."
"If you say so. Anyway, I got her gardening all up to date, and will trim the grass real short that last day for her. If she decides to go somewhere in the near future."
Lily glared out the window. Someone had laid a lot more mulch around mum's roses, and the grass was a decent height, despite no one using the lawnmower since her dad passed. She hissed, "What if someone sees you?"
"I do it at night. I know you don't want my sort to even be seen doing your yardwork."
"That's not what I meant. You don't use the lawnmower, and you're probably pushing around … whatever with magic."
In annoyance, he snapped, "I got things of my own to do. I don't have time to do things the proper, muggle way. Your garden always looks good so no one'll notice some magical maintenance. What is your problem anyway? I realize I'm the only one lowly enough to handle taking your rubbish out, but you could do something around here."
"Oh stop whinging about rubbish and being seen doing our yardwork."
"You were the one whinging. If you don't like the manner in which I'm doing things, then do it yourself."
"It's not that. Mum's got to adjust and you are making it harder for her."
"I'm not sure I agree with that, Lily," Severus slowly replied, thinking about how helpful people were to him. He received more assistance from goblins than wizards. Especially if he discounted his solicitor, who was paid to work for him.
Lily bit off an insensitive retort, then changed to, "I know you're used to doing things for yourself, and my mum's got to get more like that."
"What if she doesn't want to? She seemed content, maybe happy, taking care of things here. Now it's just her, and when you're home, Lily."
In her mind, Lily agreed with what he was saying, but he was making it harder by not even letting mum go to the store for herself.
Lily finished packing her trunk.
Sev was going to meet them here with his.
He had been right. Why did her mum talk to Severus more than she talked to her own daughter? Mum was coming with them to see them off for their last train ride to school tomorrow, and then she was taking the train to Surrey to visit Petunia for a bit.
Sev was also practical and took the bulk of mum's bags to Petunia's last night so she wouldn't be burdened with them.
Lily had been on the phone extension and was delighted to listen to Tunie's horror over the freak knowing where she lived. At least she didn't get all toerag and insist that it was better for their mother to carry all that on her own. Sev had made the mountain of luggage small, then made it big outside Tunie's back door, and left. Not even a cup of tea. Lily grinned considering how quickly Petunia forgot she planned to be the perfect hostess.
Having been subjected to mum's checklist multiple times, Lily moaned to see it reappear when she thought they were all set to go, now that Severus was here. Her mouth dropped open as Lily realized that this time mum was reviewing the entire list, and it included Severus. Was the house in Spinner's End locked up? Did he have every last thing under the sun in his trunk? Her mum had gone completely insane.
Lily supposed mum must be a little mad since she wanted to do wizard things with them. The lost opportunity at portkeying to America was still an experience that would need to wait, but for today, Mrs. Evans wanted to 'blend in' and travel with them to Diagon Alley by apparating to their closest floo point.
If they found Mrs. Evans could not use the floo, they'd have to apparate the rest of the way in manageable distances. Severus had mapped out that possibility so they were able to accomplish that in as few pops as necessary, even though Mrs. Evans claimed she took some sort of medicine that would prevent her from feeling ill. He did not understand how muggles had medicine for apparition, but Lily was agreeable to her mother's claim that it worked wonders for sea sickness.
Their journey was disappointingly lacking in adventure to Lily's eyes. The three of them apparated without any problem, with her and mum holding tightly to each other's hands, while Sev took both her owl cage and Phi perched on his shoulder. He took out his tin of floo powder, opened it to the Leaky Cauldron, stepped aside to allow Lily and her mother to go through, and they both ended up at the old pub in London with Severus following them once he confirmed he had been left alone on that end.
"That was quick," Mrs. Evans stated.
"Yeah, a lot of their houses have a fireplace connected to that network so coming down here, or going shopping in Hogsmeade is no problem for them. They can also use it for making a sort of phone call too," Lily explained.
Severus glanced around at the run-down place. He had warned Mrs. Evans that the rooms here might be as dismal as the downstairs. He did not expect someplace as tidy as the hotel room they were in last year. Especially since the price was ridiculously low when he compared galleons to pounds, or even more cut-rate in American dollars when viewed against the room for Lily's fabulous trip to Walter Something World with mice, castles, and paddle boats.
He put Lily's owl down, and asked, "Did you want to see if we can take our things upstairs? If we need to, we have plenty of time to kill fleas and lice."
"Sev!" Lily admonished.
"Wizards may deny it, but they died just as easily during the plagues of the Dark Ages. That was caused by bacteria in fleas living on rats."
Lily let out an exasperated sigh when she saw the unsavory looking fellow behind the bar scratch his balding head. With a sharp glance to Severus, she double checked he was not jinxing the guy. Unfortunately his wand was nowhere in sight.
"At least it's not the Hog's Head," Severus mentioned to her before he went over to talk over his reservation.
She rolled her eyes. The Hog's Head always smelled of some sort of animals or something, besides having worse lighting, dirtier everything, and private dining rooms where older students could shag each other on the tables after drinking themselves silly.
"I know Severus is just kidding around," Mrs. Evans told her daughter.
"Yeah," Lily agreed, since her mum looked sort of happy. They had cut through the Leaky Cauldron before to go to Diagon Alley, since muggles had no other way. This time, Lily supposed they could have flooed directly to someplace else in there with a fireplace.
"How bad can it be? It's only one night, and it'll give me an appreciation for how … your kind lives."
"My kind?"
"Lily, I've known for years that you were lured in by it all. How could you go back to the way things were when you were little? You're not giving up magic."
"I don't have to give it up, mum. I'm sure there's some who prefer living with electricity and admit some of our stuff is better. Even Severus prefers our music."
"Severus lives like us."
"He doesn't have electricity."
"That wasn't his choice."
"I think he uses magic for a lot of things. He merely doesn't go flaunting it."
"That's fine."
Lily was no longer sure her mother was speaking about the same thing she was. What was fine about Severus? He couldn't go attacking muggles and breaking the secrecy statute. Severus thought before he acted, and he knew right from wrong. He may get even with bullies, but he never did anything to her when they were fighting. Well, not fighting, arguing. Lily doubted she'd get in much more than a couple jinxes if Severus wanted to defend himself. He could be lightning quick and vicious. Sev was careful not to truly hurt anyone. Just their pride, which was more precious to the toerags of the world.
Was that her problem? Pride? Although she felt she had an ongoing competition with Petunia, did Lily need a successful businessman like Vernon? Or was it Vernon's ability to converse with others, tell jokes and general social amiability? Did she need a three-bedroom house? A kitchen full of the latest appliances? A nice car in the driveway framed by a well-kept garden? What was the wizard version? A three -bedroom house with a fireplace connected to the floo … a stove? … brooms? After seeing Prof. Moonshine's kitchen, with Tess hovering about it most of the day, maybe Lily wanted something closer to a muggle kitchen and home with the fireplace too. A television would be nice. Not the ridiculous trend of putting one in every room, but one to watch for a couple hours in the evening. Get the news from the world outside and maybe catch a good movie. Lily missed that in the wizarding world. They had books. Lily was not against reading, but sometimes the telly or a movie were what she preferred.
Severus came back to them and said, "I have the keys. You can take your pick, unless we change our minds once we see them."
"Always negative, Sev," Lily replied. "Let's go."
The stairs were not well-lit and the upstairs corridor snaked away in different directions without any hallway visibly straight to see the length of it. Severus felt muggles kept it simple as he looked at the room numbers. First number was the floor, and then there was clear signage when one got off the elevator, or got to the top of the stairs, in this case.
He saw doors for room eight and eleven to the right, two and fifteen straight ahead, and twenty-two and thirty to the left. "We're eighteen and nineteen, if you'd like to guess."
"Maybe straight," Lily ventured.
They found them down that corridor. The rooms adjoined with a bath between them. Severus had understood the arrangement for other rooms to use a common bath nearby, but he didn't think any of them would like that.
Lily was disappointed. Both rooms were drab and boring. Even Hogwarts' dormitories were more nicely decorated. She suspected mum was equally unimpressed when she joined her at the dirty window looking onto muggle London. Maybe wizards thought that was an exotic view.
She could hear Severus in the bath since the water ran briefly then stopped. He came in and asked, "Did you want this one?"
"Either one, Severus," replied Mrs. Evans. Since Lily's owl was here, they took this one.
For their afternoon adventure, following a lunch at the Leaky Cauldron, the Evans' ladies decided to stop in every shop on their way to look it over.
Severus did not mind stores with books, but he needed nothing for quidditch, pranking, celebrating with fireworks, or an ice cream treat.
He smirked at Lily's desire to sound knowledgeable to her mother when she slipped to say she had been in the jewelry store before to look at engagement rings with him.
"Just to look around," Lily protested. "I wanted to see what was different about them. Petunia's is traditional, but I don't want some rock just sitting there in a claw."
When she looked to him for confirmation, Severus was not helpful by saying, "I tried to tell Lily I would prefer not to live with something that was distracting. Something twitchy, like that," he said, pointing to some animated glob of stone that was twinkling and gyrating around in its setting, "or something that made noise. An initial poem or song may seem romantic, but not every time it feels in the mood."
"You were shopping for an engagement ring with Severus?" Mrs. Evans asked again, repeating her initial question.
"I said I wanted to look."
Mrs. Evans gave her daughter a sharp glare and walked out of the store. She could not reprimand her daughter in front of Severus; it would have to wait till later. Taking him to look at engagement rings when Lily said she was not interested in him that way. Was she expecting some future suitor to consult Severus regarding which style she preferred?
"She knows we weren't here in the past couple weeks, Lily."
"She's being unreasonable," Lily replied following her mother out.
After a couple more stops, Mrs. Evans was back to herself. In Gringotts, she asked, "Can we see what a vault looks like, Severus?"
"They only take me to mine. The ride's bumpy, dark, and uncomfortable."
"Do you need to go to yours?"
Severus thought and was sure that his original vault, his mother's, was not bursting with gold and treasure. That's where he stored the books from Spinner's End, and he had moved some money there, in case the others were taken away. "I guess you can come. Let me see if I can find a talkative goblin to explain the bank."
While Severus was off to find a friendly goblin, Lily asked, "How'd you do that? I've never been to Sev's vault."
"You are usually with us. Your father and I change muggle money at the counter."
"I know, but … I don't know … isn't it kind of personal to ask to see someone's vault?"
"It might. Severus did not complain, and he knows that we're aware of his financial situation."
If Lily was willing to reveal to her mother that she now had a vault, she'd rather take her there. What if Sev's was only a couple coins outnumbered by cobwebs? She crossed her arms over her chest and looked over to where Severus had a couple goblins looking up at him. Didn't he need to wait in line? Lily saw other students and their families queued up, and that line was not moving. It was glacially slow whenever the Evans waited in it.
Severus gestured them over, and said, "Hodnuk, one of the clerks, knows the history of the bank and is free to take us down to my vault."
"Your key, Mr. Snape?"
He showed Hodnuk Eileen Prince's key.
"Follow me please."
Hodnuk instructed them to keep their hands and arms in the cart, besides not standing while it was in motion. The goblin drove at a slow speed that Severus had never known was possible and talked about goblins and Gringotts on their ride down to the Prince vault.
Severus should not have been worried about having approximately a thousand galleons stacked in there because Lily went crazy over seeing all his boxed books there.
"What are they doing here?" Lily asked. "And why didn't you tell me?"
"I told you I was packing them."
"You can't read them while they're here."
"I've already seen them."
Lily folded her arms over her chest in annoyance. There was nothing counting the number of galleons Severus had in here. If she could go to her vault, Lily could compare the pile to hers of five thousand.
They did not stay long, but Severus took a handful of coins to supply a reason to travel down here.
Once they returned upstairs, Hodnuk also exchanged Mrs. Evans muggle money for galleons so they could purchase Lily's supplies, without asking them to get in line.
The rest of the afternoon was stopping for replacement uniform items, owl treats, and a knotted rope with a bell on the end that Phi chose, quills, parchment, ink and then they put their items away and went out to muggle London to have dinner.
Once Lily and her mother were alone in their room that evening, the quiet bickering began with both occasionally looking towards the bathroom to make sure Severus overheard nothing. After his brief visit to the lavatory earlier, he had stayed in his room. He was still awake because they could see light under the bathroom door on his side.
By the time they retired, Mrs. Evans fears that her daughter was insensitive towards Severus were confirmed. Lily also had an irrational streak of jealousy towards her mother because she felt her friend should be solely devoted to pleasing her.
Lily had not considered that her mother was allowing Severus to do as he liked for her to alleviate his guilt over his own mother. There was no rational reason why he should feel that way, but Lily had heard him say it. Her mum wasn't the mess his mum had been. She could cook for herself, clean up after herself, leave the house whenever she liked, and could interact with people. Her mum didn't need Severus for anything. Why did Sev have to be so mental? And on top of that, doing nice things while being a nutter.
Lying on her side, Lily looked through the bathroom at the light under his door. Sev still had his books and even if there was nothing to indicate how many galleons that was, Lily was sure there was definitely more than a hundred. However, a furnace, an electrician and a plumber were expensive, even with a galleon roughly equaling five pounds, Lily did not think he had enough to get Spinner's End fixed up proper, even if he did do some of the work himself.
She wished her mum snored like Severus so she'd know when it was safe to get up.
It was dark. Lily floundered a bit and realized she had fallen asleep. She slid out of bed and went over to the bathroom, confirming that their door had not been closed. It was dark under the connecting door to Sev's room. If she knocked, it could wake her mum. Had Sev stayed up a long time waiting for her?
She got her wand and returned to the bathroom, closing their door and then waving her wand to turn on the lights here. Lily was frustrated when alohomora did not work. What was that spell? She was muttering so much that Phi finally told her to shut up.
While Lily made faces, Severus went over to the door and asked, "What?"
"Sev, open up."
He cracked the door for Lily and said, "Your mother's an early riser. Go back to bed. She'll hear you."
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"I fell asleep."
"I rather you did. With us leaving today, it's the wrong time to get caught. Your mother seemed to enjoy yesterday."
"Why do you worry so much about my mum?"
He made a face at Lily, and replied, "Why wouldn't I? She's never meant me harm."
"But she's my mum."
"That makes her important to you. You don't have to keep telling me that."
"So why were you up so late?"
"Working on something. I'll need the library at school for more information, but there were more equations I could set up."
"You were doing Arithmancy?"
"That sounds a lot better than Phi bringing me small animals from the alley below that I killed and reanimated through the Dark Arts to join my horde of minions."
"Reanimate?"
"Things can't be brought to true life so that's why the word reanimate is used."
"With everything you know, why do you want to study to be a Potions Master?"
"I like Potions, and it'll let me work mostly on my own. Dark Arts is for aurors or Gringott curse breakers. I don't want to work for either the Ministry or goblins. Arithmancy is academic unless applied to another field. Prof. Abstractus sort of branches into Healing, but he's more interested in the pattern of people getting sick."
"So what's your current project?"
"It's still theoretical. If successful, it would be good for people, if that's what you're worried about. Not as trivial as augury eyes, and may be a bigger impact than my substitute for unicorn lung."
"Unicorn lung?"
"It should be published soon. It's used in powerful respiratory cures."
"How much lung is needed? With unicorns being endangered … I mean they have to weigh the life of a wizard or witch against that, and if it's just a little bit or big piece … Sev, that's good. I mean really great that you found that."
"Uh, thanks."
"Do you make money from that?"
"No, I can't. I couldn't do the testing myself so I had to share what I suspected with someone else. Then because Prof. Abstractus prefers to share his work with anyone, he found a like-minded Potions Master. Though if he hadn't found this fellow, I doubt any discovery would have been made or confirmed at all."
"Saving lives of people and unicorns … yeah, all right. This one you're working on, will save lives?"
"It will, but it's a substitute for an expensive substance that is rare at times."
"Would you be able to keep the recipe a secret?"
"Maybe. There's a lot of variables. I might not even hypothetically come up with something workable, or the possible ingredients may be costly. Once I'm apprenticed, I'll have access to a potions laboratory. That will surely be something I insist on in the contract. If it can wait, I should not publicly acknowledge any discovery while I'm apprenticed because my Master will garner a larger share of the credit."
"For your work?"
"An apprentice is simply an apprentice."
"Hm," Lily fumed. "Well, maybe you can get cracking on this before he comes along and test it at Hogwarts."
"Slughorn restricts his equipment to his favorites."
"Throw your scrawny Head Boy weight around, or use someone else's office. Jeez. And where's your pin?"
"I'm in my nightshirt."
"Be a berk and wear it to bed. So you'll start acting like a Head Boy. And try to do more than lurk in the train compartment today. I'm sure the prefects know we'll work together, but don't let them know that you don't care what's going on."
"I don't care about insignificant minutiae. Can't I act like I trust in their abilities to take points?"
"No. Get thinking. I want to be dazzled by your brilliance."
The thought crossed Severus's mind that all he had to do was lift the front hem of his nightshirt. "All right, I'll think about it. Leave the lights lit in here for your mother. There's no switch."
"Hey," Lily exclaimed, stopping Sev from closing his door.
"What?"
"You haven't kissed me yet today."
Severus gave in to her demand. Lily was confusing. Was this some act because they were returning to school?
Lily insisted Severus remain with her on Platform 9¾, since their compartment at the front of the train would be held for them. Both of them had on their Head badges and their Wigtown Wanderer pins. She used their time before 11 o'clock to direct new first years, greet other students and smirk at the shock of those that realized who the Head Boy was.
Severus was subdued, waiting for any other male student wearing a Head Boy badge to point him out as an impostor. He did not show up by eleven, and was not in the front compartment reserved for the Head Boy and Head Girl. Even after MacDonald joined them, Severus kept his eye on the compartment door until long after they departed King's Cross.
He let Lily explain why MacDonald was here to any prefect that entered and protested her presence. The compartment was crowded, but one person alone did not make the difference. Severus even decided to stand with his back to the outside window, rather than have the progressive budging up leave him with no room in the corner seat.
Crouch was appointed prefect over Regulus Black. Severus did not think that kind of Slughorn since Crouch was studying for twelve OWLs. Another thought that struck Severus was Sirius Black had not been made a prefect. Nor Potter. All their boasting about how important they were, and their sycophant, Lupin, got it? Prof. McGonagall was left with a poor choice from those four, but she should have at least considered her holiday gifts.
The door was left open so others could stand outside, Lily stood in the center and as far as Severus could tell, she was rambling. He had heard her ideas before, however he expected her to present them in some logical order, or even refer to a written list. He had never attended one of these meetings before, but if this was the standard, it explained the erratic duties of the prefects from year to year.
If he thought Lily was long-winded, the questions she was asked were moronic and repetitive. Severus stared at Phi, who was safe on the luggage rack, to keep his feelings off his face. There was an obsession with what to do with sick younger students with different scenarios being presented involving regurgitation. Other symptoms varied, but the puking remained an important factor. If everyone was so concerned about such ailments, they should be a little more careful about what they ate instead of trying to imitate locusts.
Once the matter of what to do with someone who was suffering from whatever projectile vomiting was, along with it shooting out their behinds and a nose bleed, the contest to imagine the messiest first year was over. After twenty minutes of that, following Lily's thirty, Severus hoped this was over, but no, even his minor hopes were ignored.
Lily made some sort of waving motion with her hand towards him and said, "Now Severus has some things he'd like to cover."
The pained look on his face was mirrored by a few of the prefects. "Evans and all of you have covered everything major. Some of you have been here over an hour already so I'll just add one brief thing. I had to think up something that was new. I'm new at this, and thought of what I could do to help students. I'm not interested in helping the staff. I don't know if that's what prefects think they're doing, but for the students I feel the majority of pranks at Hogwarts are not done in the proper spirit, but bullying. Knocking girls down the stairs and down the hill on their way to Herbology was never funny. A group of older students planting a first year face down in a urinal is not original."
"Are you suggesting we come up with better jokes?"
"Not necessarily. Putting an end to the injuries first should be the priority."
"How?"
"We have to think. Supposedly we're a little brighter, but if not, we can be less predictable."
"Perhaps we can make it fun for ourselves," Lily suggested. "Not by alienating our own houses or taking points, but seeing how many we can catch … or sharing their ridiculous excuses and presenting some bogus award to the biggest liar."
Severus did not understand what Lily was saying. Fun? Why did she ask him to contribute if she was going to twist what he said? Awards for attacking others and lying. Less than an hour ago she was talking about Parkin. Did Black, Potter, Lupin and Pettigrew deserve an award for that?
"I don't know. Some of them would rather hex us, than give an excuse."
Severus shrugged, "Get better at shield charms. If not, get their names, or remember what they look like and point them out to us at meals. Most of these acts aren't anonymous, except for the skirts and blouses. Whoever's attacking the female students specifically are doing it when it's crowded."
"'Cause they're cowards," Lily muttered. All those little wretches who worshiped the Marauders were cowardly toerags.
"Or using it to cover their activity. It's too obvious if the lady's with only one other student. On the other hand, it could be as a sort of show. That could be their goal with casting it. However, their conceit is so enormous that they aren't realizing that very few people are enjoying it."
Barty was listening attentively, trying to think how Reg and him could use this to their advantage. Conceit? It was more like he enjoyed looking at boobs and didn't want to be caught. It would be more than tricking Snape. Some of the male prefects could think normally about why someone would target the female students.
Severus did not think his idea would garner much interest. Lily's slant of making it a frivolous enjoyment did not help.
The lot of them cleared out and he resumed his seat, while MacDonald and Lily talked about her grand ideas. As Severus had suspected, Lily did not tell MacDonald to her face that she was not welcome to join them at the fancy dress party. MacDonald was suggesting feminine disguises to Lily for the two of them to dress up in. At least MacDonald was thinking of herself first as Aphrodite, with Lily as Athena. With absolutely no encouragement from him, they argued between themselves over what suited him best. The witches decided on Hermes by default since Severus was not fair enough to be Apollo, nor muscled or manly enough to be Ares or Hephaestus. At least they had the good sense not to choose Cupid or Eros. He might not mind Hades, but that was discarded since neither wanted to be Persephone. Severus could care less, and might be happier to declare he was not attending, if he had to listen to two months of his attributes being described in their objective manner for them to best decide.
He had a passing knowledge to know that Elizabeth I was queen of England centuries ago, but no idea who was being suggested as her costumed companions. Lily did not want a big dress so he did not have to find out.
The two of them went easy when the trolley came round. In other words, no meat meant no interest.
MacDonald brought up an interesting dilemma or blessing. She would now room alone since Lily was head girl. Severus had not given that any thought. Any previous Slytherin head boys or head girls used their common room. He never followed them to see where they went. Severus would like to room alone. That definitely sounded like a privilege. Privileges could be taken away. It was more likely that after detention each evening with Mr. Filch, Severus could have the privilege of curling up on the floor either next to the filing cabinets or perhaps in the hall outside.
"Sev?" Lily asked, waving a bitten pumpkin pasty at him.
"What?" he replied, turning away from the dark window.
"What's got you so moody over there?"
"I hate Hogwarts."
"Something new that you hate?"
"Not really."
"Why do you hate school?" Mary asked. "You're good at it."
He made a face and went back to looking out the window. Hogwarts was hardly about academics.
Severus found he did not need to say anything further. Lily was answering MacDonald's question. At length. She was saying things that he considered little more than an annoyance. If he tried to correct her, she'd just tell him that he did not know what he was talking about. He should feel honored that she was validating his opinion in the first place.
This train ride was too long.
When they reached the station, Lily urged both MacDonald and Severus to assist first years. He doubted that they needed to. It was sort of a test as to how stupid they were. Who would miss Hagrid yelling or choose to intentionally go another way?
Severus hadn't. Neither had Lily. They rode over together in a boat, excited and holding each others' hands.
Now MacDonald was with them in the carriage, and the two of them still had things to say to each other. Severus sarcastically hoped for that as Head Boy he'd get the floor in Mr. Filch's office. Mrs. Norris would stare at him, but she would be staring quietly.
At the Slytherin table, Severus got a lot of glances, besides insults. He had not done anything for this badge so all the taunts were meaningless. He did not imitate Lily's enthusiasm for the position, but clapped politely whenever a Slytherin was sorted.
There were quite a few Slytherins overthinking the situation. Snape had done something. Not the juvenile taunts about him doing 'favors' for the staff, but something more substantial. Something that apparently worked, and that the half-blood was getting away with. The Dark Lord was rumored to be leery of Albus Dumbledore, but a seventeen year old had been running circles around him for the past year. What clinched it was when Filch came over and told Snape he no longer had detention every night. Yeah, Snape had done something.
During the school song, Severus kept his mouth firmly shut. It had been a couple years since he participated in this spectacle. Since he lost his faith that 'this year would be better'.
Dinner was all right. Crouch had done as asked, and had a copy of both the OWL and NEWT testing standards for Defense from the Ministry. It was not the answers, but the subjects that students were supposed to know for each test. Severus glanced at it, and wondered why Hogwarts did not base their course curriculum on these topics, rather than letting each instructor choose what interested them. Now that Crouch and Black were fifth years, both were interested in a Defense study group and especially did not mind that a NEWT level student would lead it. Black played quidditch for Slytherin and planned on doing it again this year so Severus was willing to wait before scheduling anything firm. They could meet either Friday evening or over the weekend to outline what they should cover and a review schedule to get them ready for the OWL, and if only Severus and Lily were interested in the NEWT level, they could handle it between them.
Severus joined the fifth year prefects with the new first years to walk down to the dungeon. The prefects were enjoying their new authority and talked about the history of Slytherin within Hogwarts.
The fifth year prefect when Severus was sorted was Lucius Malfoy. He had taken an instant liking to Malfoy. There was something about the way Malfoy looked, and the way Malfoy spoke that Severus admired. He had heard that Malfoy was supposed to marry Sirius and Regulus Black's cousin. Regulus only mentioned that she was 'the blond one'. Severus thought he remembered an older Black girl with blond hair in Slytherin. She never spoke to him, but older Slytherins rarely did more than demand that younger students get out of their way.
Malfoy had seemed friendly to him on that first night. Severus was flattered, and didn't even think that he was being asked so many questions because he was the only student not expected in Slytherin that year. Even once Malfoy knew what he wanted to know, he hadn't been insulting or dismissive. He could have been a right royal bastard like Potter and Black. Malfoy's family may even be wealthier than the two of theirs. People like Malfoy did not politely request half-blood scum from Spinner's End to pass a trifle during afters, but Malfoy had. Someone at Hogwarts, other than Lily, was interested in him.
He left after one of the new, little dunderheads inquired if he had dragonpox. What else could it be? If it was another disease, like the couple the muggles got, or horrible acne, that could be treated.
Severus continued down the sloping hallway for the boys' dormitories when he wondered if Slughorn should have told him something. If there were only four beds in the room, he'd have a good idea that either he shouldn't be there, or Mulciber decided that he could move on with his life without his History of Magic NEWT.
The question answered itself since next to the door that was usually lowest the corridor for seventh years ended in the Head Boy door with a plaque with his name on it. His name was the password and Severus immediately changed it. He drew his wand in case someone decided to rely on Slughorn's predictability and waited for him inside.
Whoever decided it was a good idea to make the Head Boy descend as deeply as possible into the Slytherin dungeon, and then give him a nice climb up all these stairs must have been a Gryffindor.
He scanned the first room. It was sort of like a small common room, except a Christmas fan might have decorated it in green and red with liberal doses of gold. The fireplace was lit, even though it was only September first, and the plethora of candles and lamps were all lit too. Since it was dark, Severus drew the curtains closed. Who knew where he was and who could be looking in.
There were halls and doors. Opposite the way he had entered, was another staircase leading up. Between them was one door, and on the other side were two doors. If he had a bedroom and bathroom, that left too many. Maybe a shortcut to the upper part of the castle? It would be convenient not to have to go down then back up to get to class.
Starting with his left, Severus opened the first door. It was also protected by a password, and his name opened it. His bedroom. The massive size of the bed, along with the yards of green velvet hangings, was ridiculous. The bed was bigger than his whole bedroom at home. His trunk was here, and he let Phi take a look around. There were no windows in here for her. Inconvenient since Severus let her out, closed the window, and would hear her signal to be let back in. It had worked very well at Spinner's End. He could leave the window in the other room cracked open for her, and work on fine-tuning the charm to keep cold air out to cover that area. That was a tricky one because truly air-tight meant other things could not pass, so it was a variation with permeability.
The other doors in here led to an enormous closet and his bath, or perhaps the Loch Ness Monster's bathtub, judging by the size of it. The silver snake faucets with the snake towel holders were ostentatious. It also gave him a better feel for how typical Slytherins lived. There was rich. There were wealthy. Then there were the nobs so rich that they bathed in a swimming pool and slept in something larger than that caravan, which normal families dwelled in while they vacationed.
There was no other door leading out of here. Sneering Severus noticed that as he contemplated the pampered lives of previous Head Boys who saw all this as normal.
He backtracked to the common room, and found the next door was locked, but the password was not his name. Checking with Phi, she felt they were still alone and she heard nothing behind this door.
His mouth twisted as he looked up the stairs. They turned a short way up, so he decided to explore them after the last door. That door opened into a corridor in the school. He stepped out to look both ways to determine where he was. Severus recognized this portrait guarding the door vaguely, but did not remember it. The two scholars portrayed allowed him to change the password before he left to find out where this was. After a turn in the hall, Severus realized he was on the fourth floor near the library. That was convenient, and also validated his impression that there were a lot of steps between his door in Slytherin and his room.
The library was closed now so he went back to the painting of the two scholars and they admitted him. While he was deciding between trying to gain admittance through the mystery door or see how far the other set of stairs went, the questions were answered for him because Lily came down the stairs.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"I'm head girl, silly."
He frowned at her. How was it silly to be surprised that Lily showed up in his room?
"So what have you already discovered without me, Sev?"
"That set of stairs goes to Gryffindor?" he asked.
"Yes."
"My stairs go down to Slytherin, and this door here exits to the fourth floor around the corner from the library. How do your stairs connect to your tower? The library is under the Astronomy tower."
Lily rolled her eyes at him, "Magic."
Magic was not the answer to all questions, he thought in frustration. He would have to figure it out for himself since Lily obviously was not interested. "That door is probably to your room. This one next to my stairs is mine."
"Was your trunk already here?"
"Yes."
Lily gave her name as the password when she found it locked. "Did you already peek in here?"
"No."
"Oooh, Sev … is your room as nice as this?"
Severus looked at Lily's room from the doorway. It was a lot of red and gold and lions. At least the posts holding up the enormous canopy over his bed were not wound with snake carvings. "No, I don't have windows for Phi," he observed. Lily had large windows with a long, cushioned seat in front of them. She didn't need additional seating because there was a small sofa and two chairs gathered around the fireplace.
"Wow, look at this closet."
He took a couple steps in to see that Lily's closet was similar in size to his. The layout was different, but who would need something this big?
"Oh, and my bathroom!"
Severus dutifully went to look at it. It was too much red tile. Her faucets were gold lion heads with open mouths.
"Well?" she asked.
"I prefer your bedroom for the windows, but my lavatory is not as harsh on the eyes."
"Let me see, Sev."
He led her over, and Lily thoroughly looked everything over, including jumping on the bed.
"Why don't Hogwarts' beds have any spring in them? They're all boring."
Severus made a doubtful face. The overhead canopy was so large it had wooden supports in the middle. Why would someone want to bounce their head into one of those?
"You're quiet. What do you have in mind to do first?"
"Do?"
"Yeah, it's just you and me. Did you want to fill your snake tub up, and I'll go get my things?"
All the opulence had numbed Severus to the fact that they were technically alone. Why would Hogwarts intentionally put two seventh year students of the opposite sex together like this? Then he wondered what if he wasn't head boy? Would Lily have started out with only some snogging tonight, or would she have jumped in the bathtub with anyone else that ended up head boy? She liked doing things in bathrooms.
He doubted Shingleton got anywhere last year, but Longbottom … Severus did not know him long enough to know if Oakby was seeing him before seventh year.
"I don't want to stay up too late. We have class tomorrow," he reminded her.
"All right, I won't keep you in the tub so long you get all pruned up. Did you want to sleep in my room so Phi can use the window?"
Since it had crossed Severus's mind earlier that he could stay in the middle room for Phi, if nowhere else seemed convenient, he replied, "For tonight." This whole situation was unexpected. He could live closely with Lily, as they had at Moonshine's, but Lily was different at school. If MacDonald started hanging about in here, his bedroom had to be established as a sanctuary.
The bath went well enough for Severus with Lily being flirty but not too aggressive so they had a mutually satisfactory bout of lovemaking. However when they laid down on Lily's bed, she wanted more and was very sure how she wanted it. She even told him to stay still while she rocked atop him with her mouth open and her eyes half-closed. Severus could feel her body sort of fluttering around him so he left her alone, or as much as possible since he was beneath her. He jerked when she punched him in the shoulder and said he had been doing a brilliant job till he dozed off. It was too much to wish for that Lily could please herself while he slept, instead of remaining motionless as asked.
Since she did not seem truly angry, he muttered loud enough for her to hear, "What do you expect?" Lily was still firmly on him so he slid his hands up her thighs and raised her nightgown as they traveled up to her chest.
"You don't think I'm getting too fat, do you, Sev?"
Lily said 'too fat'. She knew she was gaining weight. Why bother asking him about it? He did not respond to her question and got rough with sinking his fingers into her breasts, followed by pulling and twisting her nipples as she squirmed and sighed.
While Lily was lost melting away again, he removed one of his hands and got hold of her thigh, rolling over to turn them on their sides, pressing the length of his body against her. Their mouths met and they continued with Severus thrusting despite Lily's earlier advice to stay still.
As Lily's movement got weaker as time went on, Severus finished rolling them over so Lily was on her back, and he got both her legs hooked on his arms, holding her in place so it was her turn to lie still.
Lying beneath Severus, Lily felt boneless. She had overdone things, but how could she not want more of the sight of Severus sliding into her? He had her bottom propped up in just the right position for her to see everything, whenever her eyes weren't forced closed or her head thrown back to look at the lions on the headboard.
Later, her sleep was not deep enough. Lily woke up uncomfortably warm next to Severus, and he was twitching from dreams or whatever caused him to do it during the day. Her mum had asked her not to pester him about it, suggesting anxiety, but she had overheard her mum telling her father that Severus could have a neurological condition.
She sat up and pulled the covers back. They didn't have this big pile atop them in the caravan. Leaning over Severus, she could see in the dim light of the bedside candle that his eyelids were moving. What could be bothering him? The horrible Marauders were gone, their adoring crowd of little Gryffindors had dwindled and did not bother to take on an older Severus, even in groups, school was going well now that Severus was head boy, and that would aid him in getting the apprenticeship that he had been fretting over for years, besides the work they did for that Moonshine fellow. Was he dreaming about his father? Dumbledore? Slughorn? Potter and Black trying to settle an old grudge because they remained immature and too wealthy to have any common sense? Lupin or other werewolves?
When he flinched, Lily nudged him, "Sev, you're having a bad dream."
"Hmm?" was the reply with his eyelids barely lifting as he turned towards her.
"What's wrong?" She prodded him harder, and asked, "Sev, what's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Get some sleep then. You got your first day tomorrow."
"Hmm."
Lily lay down next to him, then lifted the covers swiftly to get some cooler air under them. Not satisfied, she sat up and folded down the top layers to their feet. Before she was done with that, Severus resumed snoring.
Even though she was now comfortably at the right temperature, and Severus instinctively threw an arm over her, Lily was now fully awake. She reviewed the past day in her head. Sev did not seem to mind they did not shag at the Leaky Cauldron. Was he upset over her pushing him to act like a head boy? He did not have to copy anyone. She just didn't want him to stand in a corner frowning and staying quiet. Lily had not seen Mary try to flirt with him. Mary did try to talk to Severus, but he had already been in a dark mood on the train. Did Lily miss someone bothering him on the platform?