A different kind of year
Hogwarts was still Hogwarts—the enchanted ceilings, the moving staircases, the ghosts drifting through the halls. Everything was the same.
And yet, to the Marauders, it felt like stepping into a life that no longer fit quite right.
They found themselves walking through the corridors expecting someone to greet them. Expecting to hear Salam from the people around them. Expecting neighbors to call out their names as they passed.
Instead, Hogwarts was… distant. Isolated. People stayed in their own groups. No one shared food freely. No one sent them on errands that somehow turned into day-long adventures through an entire neighborhood. No one shoved a plate of sweets into their hands without asking.
And worst of all—Severus Snape walked past them as if they were strangers.
The first few days back, they watched as he settled into life at the Slytherin table, head bent over books, sharp words ready for anyone who annoyed him. He fell back into old routines with the ease of someone slipping on a well-worn coat. He didn’t speak to them. He didn’t acknowledge them.
It was as if the summer had never happened.
Except they remembered.
They remembered him fixing his old motorcycle under the hot Egyptian sun. They remembered the way people trusted him, how neighbors greeted him by name. They remembered the smell of kahk in the mornings, the laughter at the dinner table, the way he had smiled—actually smiled—when he was given Eid money.
They remembered the Severus Snape who had spent an entire summer with them.
And there was no way in hell they were going to let him pretend it hadn’t happened.
—
The first time they sat next to him at breakfast, Severus nearly choked on his tea.
James plopped down beside him, Sirius on his other side, with Remus and Peter settling across from them.
Severus glared. “What are you doing?”
Sirius raised an eyebrow. “Having breakfast. What does it look like?”
“It looks like you’re bothering me.”
James grinned. “You say bothering, I say reminding you we exist.”
Severus huffed, turning back to his food, muttering under his breath in Arabic.
Remus smirked. “Don’t pretend you don’t like it, Severus.”
“I don’t like it.”
“Uh-huh.”
Severus shoved a bite of toast into his mouth aggressively, refusing to look at them.
But he didn’t move seats.
—
The first time they showed up outside the Slytherin common room waiting for him, the other Slytherins nearly hexed them.
James grinned at the glares sent their way. “Relax, we’re just here for Severus.”
Severus, appearing in the doorway, crossed his arms. “Why?”
Sirius gestured dramatically. “Because we, my dear Severus, are going to Hogsmeade.”
Peter waggled his eyebrows. “And you’re coming with us.”
Severus blinked. “I am?”
Remus shrugged. “You don’t have to, of course. But we figured after an entire summer together, it’d be a shame to stop hanging out now.”
James grinned. “And besides, if you don’t come, who’s going to stop Sirius from blowing all his money on useless trinkets?”
“I don’t blow all my money—”
Severus sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Then, after a long pause, he muttered, “Fine. Just this once.”
Sirius grinned. “You say that now—”
“Shut up, Black.”
—
The first time they got into an argument, they thought things might go back to how they were before.
It happened late at night in the Gryffindor common room. Severus had somehow ended up there—Remus had invited him, James had seconded it, and before he knew it, he was curled up in an armchair, listening to them complain about a Transfiguration essay.
But then Peter made an offhand comment about how they didn’t need to worry about the essay too much since McGonagall liked Gryffindors.
Severus had snorted.
Loudly.
Sirius frowned. “Something funny, Snape?”
Severus tilted his head. “You lot really have no idea what it’s like, do you?”
James blinked. “What’s what like?”
Severus scoffed. “Being in Slytherin. Being hated for it.” His eyes flickered with something sharp, something bitter. “You think McGonagall favors Gryffindors? Try existing in a house where the entire school—and half the teachers—assume you’re evil just for being sorted there.”
The room fell silent.
Peter shifted. “I mean, it’s not like Slytherins have the best reputation—”
Severus let out a short, humorless laugh. “Yes, because obviously every single eleven-year-old sorted into Slytherin is already plotting dark magic and murder.”
James scratched the back of his head. “That’s… fair.”
Sirius frowned. “I mean, my family is Slytherin, and they are evil—”
Severus shot him a look. “You mean pureblood supremacists are evil. That’s not the same thing as Slytherins being evil.”
Remus exhaled. “I think what he’s saying is… people assume the worst of Slytherins before they even get a chance to be anything else.”
Severus crossed his arms. “Exactly.”
A long silence.
Then—
James sighed. “We’re dicks, huh?”
Severus smirked. “Yes.”
Sirius groaned, flopping back on the couch. “Ugh. I hate when you’re right.”
Peter grumbled. “I guess this means we should… stop pranking Slytherins so much.”
Severus raised an eyebrow.
Peter sighed. “Fine. Stop pranking them entirely.”
Severus smirked wider.
James pointed at him. “Don’t get smug about it.”
“Too late.”
They groaned. But none of them left.
—
The first time Severus called them his friends, it wasn’t in English.
It was in the middle of winter, the five of them huddled in an unused classroom with tea and blankets.
Sirius had just finished dramatically recounting his latest detention with McGonagall when Severus, half-asleep, muttered, “Aghbiya, wallahi.”
They all blinked at him.
James tilted his head. “What’s that mean?”
Severus yawned, rubbing at his eyes. “Idiots, I swear.”
Sirius snorted. “Rude.”
Severus smirked sleepily. “True.”
Remus raised an eyebrow. “I don’t suppose there’s an Arabic word for ‘friends’?”
Severus huffed. “Plenty.” He took a sip of tea before muttering, almost offhandedly, “Asdiqai’i.”
They paused.
James grinned. “That means friends, doesn’t it?”
Severus pretended to ignore him, sipping his tea.
Peter smirked. “It does.”
Sirius clutched his chest dramatically. “Oh, Snape likes us.”
Severus groaned. “La la la, I can’t hear you.”
They laughed.
And just like that, Hogwarts didn’t feel quite so cold anymore.