New Severus

The first day back to Hogwarts is always full of energy and chatter, all the students are buzzing with excitement and talking animatedly with their friends about their summer. It’s the same chatter every year– present students setting their goals for the year, first-years talking about all the possibilities of Hogwarts, and last-year students panicking about their end-of-year N.E.W.T.S grade. But for James? He’s been elated to see a glimpse of a certain Slytherin. 

James had been planning how to ensure Severus Snape hadn’t forgotten about his existence all summer and he decided that what better way to announce his presence than to start the Slytherin’s first day with a prank. 

He did not need a map to know where Snivellus was located– he had been predictable, always choosing the last compartment of the Hogwarts Express like the loner that he was. Which he was kind of thankful for, seeing people interact with the Slytherin always made him some sort of way .

He can picture it vividly, Snape hunched. Posture stiff and awkward while reading a book – most likely Potions or anything of the Dark Arts. Or even being lost in thought while looking at the compartment window, sometimes taking a nap. His dark locks covered almost half of his face, his lips slightly parted– sleeping without a care in the world .

James shook his head. He cannot be distracted by those ailing thoughts. He focused on the task at hand, approaching the old rickety door and sliding it open.

The door finally showed Severus Snape in all his glory, sitting on the end of the seat with his nose glued to a thick book. James' heart flutters at the scene but he decides to ignore it as usual.

“You shouldn’t stick your nose too close Snivellus you won’t be able to read anything from your mountain of a nose” James smirked, confidently stepping into the compartment when he heard Sirius snickering following his suit. 

Severus slammed his book down, as predicted.

“Potter. Black.” he sneers “To what do I owe this company of misfits giving me a special welcome?” he bowed mockingly to the two Lions.

Hold on.

Old James should’ve given his automatic response with all the confidence his Gryffindor ego could falsify. 

It should’ve been easy, as this is Severus Snape. The poor half-blood Slytherin. Potions genius, with no social skills or regard for public opinions. 

“I should’ve known better than expecting a peaceful year with a bunch of hooligans within my year. What is it now, Potter? Here to warn me about your claim at Lily this year?” 

Severus’ taunting should’ve been a trigger for his snark. 

This is supposed to be Severus Snape. His enemy. His rival. His secret obsession.

“Um-I - uh” James Potter is stuttering.

“What’s the matter, Potter? Cat got your tongue?” he sneers. 

This is Severus Snape. Admirer of his self-appointed mentor, Lucius “luscious hair” Malfoy. 

Future dark wizard. Terrorizing the new students with his vampire-like loom. Pale skin. Hunched posture. Robes two sizes bigger that seem to imitate wings. Slightly hooked nose and locks that flow like the midnight sky.

Hair that the Marauders teased since first-year for being greasy. Hair that became fluffier overtime due to pampering of the Black sisters. Hair that the Snake was growing to imitate the Malfoy heir. 

Hair that was not there.

It was Black who cut the silence. “What the fuck Snivellus. Your hair is gone!”

What the fuck, indeed.

“What about it? I would think you’ll be glad I’m taking care of it now seeing as you like to point out how greasy I am”

James gaped at how different Severus seemed with this new haircut. His hair did not obstruct his face and seemingly suited his large Romanesque nose. 

Sirius, who noticed James was starting to stare longer than a normal person would, bumped his shoulder. Startled, James realised he had been a few seconds too late to save himself for his shock.

“Why??” 

“Why what, Potter? Did I need your permission to cut my hair now?”

“Well, no but-”

Sirius, watching the scene with confusion, saves James before he embarasses himself.

“Whatever, Snivelly. C’mon James let’s get something to eat from the trolley”

Sirius drags a still gaping James who kept on looking back at the compartment, staring at Severus who looked at them with a weird look before slamming the compartment door shut.

Back at the Marauder’s compartment, Remus absentmindedly flips the page of the new edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them whilst Peter kept himself busy by filling himself with snacks.

The peace was interrupted when the compartment door slid open with a thunk, immediately disrupting the two boys’ with their task. 

“Where did you guys go?” Remus looked at his two friends. One seemingly vacant and one slightly irritated.

“James, what the hell was that?” the statement successfully snapped his friend back to reality.

“Huh? What ‘ya mean?” 

“That! You were openly gaping and staring down Snivellus” Sirius gestures randomly on the air, boxing James’ figure.

“What??” Remus and Peter said in unison

“Snivelly suddenly cut his hair short and it broke James” 

Remus, highly amused, asked while facing James, “Did you just have a sexual awakening because of a haircut?”

“No! What the fuck, Moony” James, with all his audacity, went beetroot red at the implication. 

“Nah, Prongs he might have a point. You looked so star-struck out there. How the hell do you explain that?”

James seemed to ponder all of his understanding of the universe as he gazed at his three best friends. All seemingly amused by the situation while he's been internally fighting his dilemma. The nagging feeling seemingly stronger than before.

“Hell no! That’s impossible, my loyalties are to Lily” who seemed more Gryffindor than the rest. Perfect piece for the perfect life James envisioned . He can't be mistaking feelings with Severus Snape. He refuses to acknowledge it.

“I don’t know, James. You  haven’t even glanced at her direction last year when Lily stopped hanging out with Snape” James frowned at the comment. Remus had always been the most observant Marauder and in any other time, he would love to hear his opinions and advice, but this time since he’s a victim of teasing, his ears are FULLY closed.

“But you never left Snape alone,” Sirius added. 

Traitor . He pouted. 

All of them were looking at him expectantly. Are they serious right now?

James, with his self-proclaimed eminence within the group, looked at his friends long and hard. 

“Are you guys insinuating that I’m harboring feelings for Snivellus Snape?” he squints 

The three nodded.

“That’s absurd!” he exclaimed. “There is just no way, no no way.” 

Peter, chiming in, ignoring James' gay panic, “It’s not really unwarranted you know. You’ve been strangely obsessed with him since you first met”

“You do practically use the map to find him when you get bored.” Remus observed with a slight realisation. 

“And you stare at him on every chance you get” 

They all  look at Peter, who to his credit, got slightly annoyed at the surprised look on his observation.

“What? It’s really easy to notice. James’ eyes are practically on Snape when he’s in his vicinity. Just watching him”

“No wtf, it is true! It’s like you know where he is the whole time” Sirius exclaimed.

“Not only that. When someone gets  too close or interacts with Snape. You decide it’s the best time for a prank. You’ve only pranked one person last year and that’s Snivelly”

The Marauders are in slight awe on how perceptive Peter is. Being underestimated the whole time, Peter always argues that being a rat may have meant being perceptive to everything around you, not being a tell-tale. 

“Now that’s funny! You’re telling me Prongs had been pulling Snape’s pigtails the whole time because he couldn’t get his attention? And we were all in on it without knowing?” Sirius guffaws. Despite his initial dislike of the whole situation, it seems like the canine animagus was more focused on how entertained he is with James’ predicament.

“And he was trying to weirdly flirt with the sod the whole year! Didn’t you guys notice how he would loom over him?” Peter puts up the hood of his robes and imitates a ghost at Sirius who laughs and face-palms Peter's face to keep him in place.

The room once again fell into a comfortable peace while the topic was decidedly dropped on everyone's mind except one messy-haired boy. 

Remus decided to go back to his book while Peter and Sirius arranged the pack of cards to play exploding snap.

The room was once again quiet with the exception of snaps and silent curses.

Meanwhile, James remained quiet only because he was thinking about his latest interaction with Snape. Rethinking all the times when he got sudden thrills everytime Snape looked in his direction. Or the sudden panic he feels when his whole attention was not on him. The way he feels satisfied and confident when he feels like certain dark orbs are following him even when it feels like it carries bad intentions. Just to him. He always thought those thrills were bad. 

Something more related to annoyance and anger.

Little James liked exploring, making new friends, and daydreaming his future life. He will be the future Lord Potter, see the world with his parents, have multiple children, and find his potential wife at Hogwarts. He's already halfway through his list, and now he's on the train already planning how to achieve the rest of them, the Hogwarts insignia seemingly glowing on his robes.

Decidingly, he asked Sirius to go around to meet more students. Potentially even showing muggleborns how great wizarding magic could be.

He successfully made his way around the train, meeting new people, and advertising Gryffindor to the first-years he liked. He even dragged a shy boy named Remus.

On the last few compartments, he saw a glimpse of a lonely figure on the corner of the bench. His head rolling and bumping repeatedly to the window, a slight drool on his parted lips, and some hair falling on his slightly chubby cheeks. 

‘I found him’ Little James thought.

At the time all he felt was impulse, he slid the door open without knocking, very unbecoming of a gentleman, his mother would definitely disapprove. Pureblood etiquette be damned.

He was going to give his best smile and wake up the sleeping cutie when he noticed the boy wasn't alone. James' turned to the slightly unwelcome presence then saw the greenest eyes he's ever laid upon, the girl was cute but she was no interest to him at the moment.

He made an excuse about other areas being full and decided to get to know the two seemingly muggleborn wixens. Or to him, just the cutie.

Within the ride, they all seemingly got along even with Sirius and Remus, who (bless their soul), did not comment on how weird his entrance was in comparison to the courtesy he showed the rest. Everything seemed great and dandy, until the topic of houses were brought up. By then, all his planning came crashing down when the dark-haired boy made his choice.

Slytherin.

“Well, shit.”

The Marauders all looked at him then amongst themselves, looking at each other with slight worry for their friend. They all developed some kind of mental connection as a response to approach a weird James. Being a friend of the unpredictable Gryffindor, they all learned how to understand a cyclone named James Potter but from  the looks of it, they’re in for a different natural disaster.

Especially if that disaster is related to Severus Snape. 

Were they really right on their teasing? Did they just push their friend to the enemies to lovers path?

The three mentally debated with themselves and eyed each others’ reaction. 

‘What do we do?’ 

‘You brought up the idea!’

‘You supported it’ 

‘Someone SAY something!’

‘Don’t look at me! I would be no help with this’

‘I might say something stupid, you go’

‘No, you go’

‘Fine’

‘Fine’

‘Fine’ 

‘Go already!’

It was Remus who was chosen as the sacrificial lamb. The wolf cleared his throat. 

“James?” 

“You alright, mate?” Sirius clasps a hand on James’ shoulder.

James looks at nothing particular until it shifts to the two boys in front of him.

“Shit”

Snape glided through the Great Hall with his signature strut, robes billowing behind him. This time, instead of his usual characteristic gloom, he strode with confidence leaving a gaping crowd as he passed by. 

As soon as he sat down, whispers started to emerge from all houses.  

“I TOLD you all he’s secretly hot!”

“I would honestly tap that, if he wasn’t so snarky”

“But he’s not! I think he just hates dumb people”

“He’s the top of the cohort you just said he hates everyone, dumbass”

Down at the Gryffindor table, James is feeling irritated at how much attention Snape is getting. All of a sudden, he's hyper aware of everything around him and he either is having the urge to hurl himself to the Black Lake or to jinx anyone who’s uttered the word Snape. Good thing the conscious part of him held him back, doing something stupid will just bring weird attention to himself.

But it will bring Snape’s attention to you . 

Nope. He will NOT do anything that stupid. He just came out of the closet he didn’t know he was hiding in yesterday. Can’t he just have at least a day or two to sort out his feelings? 

As the Hall quiets down (thankfully) while the Head of Houses and their assistants handed over their schedule but of course, Gryffindors never heard of such a word.

“Damn, Lily, I never knew Snape was that good-looking” Marlene McKinnon was the one who voiced out what  he couldn't admit two days ago.

“You guys just didn’t give him a chance! He looked cute even when we were ten-year-olds.” Lily insisted. “I would bring up a photograph but they're still inside my trunk!”

Lily Evans had always been the biggest Severus Snape supporter so no one could take her seriously with her statements. Especially at how much she coos about him, meanwhile the topic of interest just proves her wrong with his snark and sharp comments. No one could see the cuteness the red-head was referring to. Not until today.

“I totally see it now”

“Where was all that before?”

“Behind all the sass obviously” 

The girls laughed, including Lily despite herself. 

He still isn't used to the fact that Severus is suddenly getting a lot of attention right now. How did he become the most infamous bland student to being the most sought after in just two days?

Was it Amorentia?

From what he's hearing around him, most believe he took a potion to look good for the year while others have multiple theories, some more far-fetched than the others. His change was suddenly everyone’s topic and he didn’t even know Severus Snape was that known among the Hogwarts student body.

The Hufflepuffs are convinced that Severus Snape was wearing a disguise the whole time, and he was actually a prince. Dreamers as they are, the idea suddenly blew up when one brave Hufflepuff asked the question to Snape. Most not believing the theory until the Slytherin replied with ‘How did you know?’ while genuinely looking confused and affronted.

Everyone from the House of Badgers was now convinced about the ridiculous theory. 

The Ravenclaws on the other hand, were convinced that Severus Snape just spent the summer grooming himself and decided it was too hot to wear long hair where he lives. Not that their house cared much, in the end it would be none of their business. Although that wouldn't stop them from one upping each other's theories to prove who's better. This is afterall, the House of the Ravens.

For Slytherin and Gryffindor, most had their theories. The Slytherins didn't seem that surprised with the change, making everyone wonder how different the Slytherin common room is and how much secrets do they hold. Meanwhile, the Gryffindors spent more time reacting and hollering than partaking in all the rumours. 

James just focused on the first-years for a peace of mind. Some seem very curious about the rumours going around while most are just in awe of everything around them.

With that in mind, James felt lighter so he went back to his meal. He snuck in some glances to the Slytherin table while doing so. Sneakily hiding himself behind a sleeping Sirius Black who has an uncanny ability to sleep seated. 

His musings were paused when suddenly, a Ravenclaw student named Lockhart stood-up and transfigured some red roses around his head. The blonde approached the Slytherin table heading straight to where Snape was seated –everyone held their breath.

James knew who Lockhart was. He had been in an infamous fifth-year that tricked many Ravens about his non-existent knowledge about magic. But James knows a great liar when he sees one, it takes one to know one afterall. It's unbelievable how many students the guy had manipulated until now. It takes some type of genius to lie to different people while maintaining your credibility– it made the Marauder a bit impressed. A trickster never tests another trickster unless they do harm so he doesn't bother with the guy. 

He's so insignificant in his mind that right now, he's kinda regretting that he didn't play a prank on the Ravenclaw sooner. 

James overheard the guy practically declaring he can befriend Severus and together they could pair up to create ingenious geniuses after marriage. He declares his love to different people that peaks his interest. The pathetic sight of Lockhart being rejected made his false wooing on Lily Evans seem like a baby play. 

Lockhart only knew how to talk and not to act out his statements. That's why everyone held their breath as they observed his first act with his usual cocky bravado. Displaying his ‘charming smile’ in full.

James watched as the blonde made all dramatic gestures, probably blabbering about himself and his future plan to the Slytherin. He watched as Severus went from confusion to irritation in a split second about to curse the blonde himbo.

Until Regulus Black saved him the trouble as he sent a hex to Lockhart telling him to get lost. 

It sent some satisfaction through James as the crisis was averted and was about to go back to his now-cold pancakes but completely halted once he saw Regulus throw an arm around Severus. The action ticks James the wrong way even more so now than before. 

His grip on his utensils suddenly tightened and he didn’t even notice until a now-awake Sirius decided to comment “Woah, lover boy. That’s my brother you’re trying to kill on your head. I suggest we lay off on him yea?”

It was obvious that Sirius was joking but he decided to cross his fingers behind him anyway.

“Yeah” James did not take his eyes off the pair of laughing Slytherins. He glares. 

“Yeah, of course”

END OF CHAPTER