Serval
“-Rus, do you think they’d let you stay with me? Well, not with me in the dorms, I think that would go against a few school rules but- Don’t give me that look, you know what I mean.”
James paused just outside of the compartment door, a bouquet of a dozen snow-white lilies, bound with Gryphondor-red ribbon clutched to his chest. He had been waiting since the day he had laid eyes on Lily Evans for this exact moment.
Snivellus was out of the picture, no longer plaguing his Lily-Flower with his dark presence, it had taken a long, long, too-long time for him to finally force the slimy snake to show his true colors, but he had finally done it.
Meaning that the most beautiful girl in the world was finally open to be counted without that conniving shadow always at her heels.
Which was exactly what he intended to do.
If not for the fact that he had caught his Lily-Flower in the middle of a seemingly one-side conversation.
“Do you think we should take you to see Professor McGonagall first? Or enjoy the feast?... You know you’ll have to sit with me right?... Yes at the Gryphondor table- I’m in Gryphondor… Yea I know, I know, but you’re the one who wanted to keep this hush-hush.”
James leered closer, nearly pressing his ear to the door, trying desperately to hear whoever Lily was so passionately talking to.
And then, the train lurched gently, sending James toppling against the compartment door with a thud.
The conversation within the compartment went silent before a body shifted inside and the door slid open, and there she was, Lily Evans, with her stunning green eyes and beautiful red hair and everything else about her that took James’ breath away.
“Potter.” Her voice had a cold, serrated edge to it, and James wilted slightly at the tone. She was upset. Still, he pressed on.
“Lily Evans.” The boy began as he first and foremost offered the girl of his dreams the bouquet; “You look beautiful, as always.” Lily merely cocked a brow, not even looking at the flowers as she crossed her arms over her chest.
James awkwardly reached around his flame, setting the flowers on the coach table, his eyes only straying Lily’s once to admirer the way her folded arms pressed the swell of her chest upwards in the most tantelizing-
“Can I help you, Potter?” Lily asked curtly, drawing James’ attention back to the topic at hand, hastily, he tore his eyes away from Lily’s bosom and back to her gaze, sharp, green, like perfectly cut emeralds.
“In fact, you can!” James exclaimed excitedly as he reached for the Gryphondor girl’s hand, Lily resisted, because she was something to be fought for and earned, not freely won over.
“I couldn’t help but notice how stunning you looked at the end of last year.” James began as he held his, soon-to-be, girl’s hand to his chest; “Without that ghastly shadow following you around-” Some strange noise came from somewhere behind Evans, animalistic, nearly a growl. James moved to peer around the fiery haired girl but Lily moved to block his view.
“I realized that only someone as charming as I could befit someone as beautiful as you.” James declared, offering the girl of his dreams his most winning smile.
“That being said, here I am, flowers in hand, heart on my sleeve-” James very quickly lowered himself to the floor, tightening his hold on Lily’s hand when she threatened to pull away; “Down on my knees. All to ask you, Lily Evans, if you would accompany me to Hogsmeade this coming Sunday.”
Lily’s face twisted further, but before she could reply, a massive beast appeared over her shoulder, its eyes dark and furious, lips pulled back to reveal sharp fangs, its ears pinned back and all at once it was upon him.
A flurry of blows fell upon James’ head, knocking his glasses to the floor as he was beaten and battered upon by the creature, he released Evans’ hand to quickly scurry away on his butt, shielding his face until his back hit the door of the opposite compartment.
“Easy Rus.” Evans crooned as she fought to keep the beast in her arms, though, judging by the way its was hissing and spitting at the Gryphondor on the floor, it was chomping at the bit to keep wailing on him; “I know, it’s ok, you were good, good boy, thank you.” Lily continued as she manhandled the creature onto its back in her arms, rolling her fingers beneath its chin until it stopped struggling to flip itself back over.
“Sorry Potter.” The red-head huffed; “Russle doesn’t like you.” With that, she closed the compartment door, leaving James on the floor, bewildered and covered in scratches.
James lay there half-slumped against the opposite door, mistaking indignation for admiration and loathing for love as he stared at the closed door before him. When he finally caught his breath, he rose to his feet and strolled (stormed) away to find his friends or Snape.
Whichever he found first.
|||
Lily hadn’t forgiven Severus.
In fact, she was pretty sure she would never forgive Severus.
Lily was fully prepared to ignore the Slytherin boy for the rest of their time at Hogwarts, and then ignore him for the rest of their lives.
When he came knocking at her door the first day of summer, she, still furious, still hurting, sent her mother to shoo him away. Stating that they had a bad fight on the last day of school and that she didn’t want to see him.
When he came knocking the very next day, she sent her father, who spent a good hour talking to the dark-haired boy on the front step. When the Slytherin finally left, her father came and told her that; “Rus’said he was sorry, wanted me to pass it along.”
And on the third day when he came knocking, Lily sent Petunia, who cursed and raved at the Snape boy. Calling him a freak and a loser and every other colorful name under the sun, finishing off with a; “Lily doesn’t want to see your greasy ass again! If you show up one more time I’m calling the cops, you hear me Snape!”
That was finally enough to have the snake scurrying back to whatever hole he crawled out of, leaving Lily alone to sulk and think and argue with herself…
For about a week.
In that week, Lily went through the four stages of grief, only to catch herself stumbling on the fifth.
She couldn’t believe Severus, her Severus, had said that word (He did though)
How dare he call her that! His blood was hardly any ‘cleaner’ than her own! (The look of shock and horror in his eyes mere moments after the last syllable left his tongue said that he knew that too.)
Why did he use that word? What happened to her friend in that house to have him use that word? (She knew, she knew damn well what happened.)
It hurt. She hurt. (He was hurting too…
Lily could accept that her friend had done something horrible, something hurtful. Severus was never afraid to push a little too far, look a little bit deeper, fly a little too close to the sun, it was in his nature, it was part of what drew Lily in.
Lily could accept that her friend had done something horrible and hurtful to her. Lily knew that those Slytherins were a bad influence on her friend, Lily was sure that Severus knew that too, if his own reaction to saying that word was anything to go by.
What Lily could not accept however… Was the idea of cutting Severus out of her life entirely.
They had been friends since they were little. Severus had been the first to tell her that she had magic! They had been with each other through so much. They had made each other laugh and cry and scream.
They had hurt each other.
One time, Lily had accidentally tripped Severus bad enough to send him toppling into a pole, he had wailed then, his nose gushing blood and snot and he claimed that he hated her right there and then.
Another time, Severus set her schoolwork on fire. They were studying for a math test together, math had always been Lily’s strong suit while Severus couldn’t seem to get his head wrapped around the numbers on the page. In a fit of frustration, the papers ignited, it was a damn good thing that her father was working on lunch in the kitchen.
Why oh why then was this different?
They had called each other names before, hurtful names. Severus had taken notes from Petunia, calling her freak and weirdo, and she served it as good as she got, calling him a snarky bastard and dungeon bat.
Maybe it was because they had never crossed that line before… All of the names they called each other were more jests than vitriol, meant to mock but never burn.
This time however… Severus meant to hurt, meant to make her hurt.
Just as he was hurting.
“I told you I’d be calling the cops next time Snape!” Petunia howled from downstairs. Their parents were out on a date, it was late, after dinner, but only just growing dim outside.
It had been a while since Severus had come by to grovel. But Lily wasn’t sure she could face him just yet. She didn’t know how she would react, she knew she missed her friend, but the idea of seeing him again made her stomach-
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing!” Petunia screamed, raw emotion, fear, anger, lining her words; “Get the fuck out of our house!”
Lily shot up at that, scrambling out of her bed and hurrying to the door.
The first thing she saw upon reaching the top of the steps was something dark smeared in a trail of footprints leading from the front door to the living room.
“What’s going on down there!” She called.
“Call the police!” Was all Petunia bellowed; “Snape fucking broke into our house!”
Lily made her way down the stairs as quick as she could, drawing her wand as she channeled her inner Gryphondor. Rounding the corner, expecting the worst, Lily nearly dropped her wand when she caught sight of her old friend, hunched over, clutching his stomach, leaning heavily against the back of her father’s rocking chair.
“I’m sorry.” He wheezed, his lips were red, too red; “I didn’t know where else to go…”
“Lily!” Petunia yelled as she stood there, cementing herself between her sister and the dark-haired home invader, their father’s best golf-club in hand; “Don’t just stand there! Call the police!”
“Yes, please.” Severus grunted out, face twisting into a pained grimace; “Call them, please- I need… I need help.”
It was then that Lily finally noticed the red seeping out from between Severus’ fingers.
“Lily!” Petunia shrieked as her younger sister ducked around her, going right up to the dark-haired boy, eyes alight with concern as she maneuvered Severus’ arm to loop over her shoulders, the boy let out a pained exhale at the action, but did not resist.
“What happened?” Lily asked as she eased Severus to the kitchen, pulling out a chair and helping him sit while Petunia fluttered around them, cursing, spitting, all the while dialing the police.
“Da happened.” Severus grunted as he tried to curl over himself yet again, Lily stopped him, or, she tried to.
Reaching for his shoulder to force him to sit up, her hand met no resistance and for an agonizingly long second, she watched in utter horror as her friend seemed to melt away, shrinking down, down, down until his too-big too-ratty shirt swallowed him whole, leaving nothing but a lump of bloody laundry atop the kitchen chair.
And then, something within the laundry, whatever remained of Severus Snape fell to the floor with a soft thud, a quiet, weak whimper, inhuman, came from within the bundle of bloody clothing, and with the tip of her wand, Lily pulled the hem of the shirt back to reveal the last thing she expected to see.
Lily stared slack-jawed at the animal now occupying her friend’s place.
It was a feline of some sort, with the same bloody hole in its side that Severus had. She didn’t know how to respond, didn’t know if she could respond. So Lily simply did what she did best and took out her wand.
Her voice quivered as she cast her spell, running her wand just over the bleeding wound, watching as the edges slowly but surely began to knit themselves back together.
She couldn’t be sure how long she kept at it, but at some point, she was interrupted by the sharp Crack of apparition, followed by the reignited howling of Petunia as a man appeared in the kitchen.
He took a moment to look around the scene he found himself attending before his gaze settled on Lily.
“You Miss. Evans?” He asked gruffly, taking out a pad of parchment and a stubbed quill.
“I-I am.” Lily replied nervously, the man huffed, jotting down something on his notepad; “You are aware that underage magic, especially in the presence of a muggle is strictly prohibited?” The wizard continued curtly.
“Yes but-”
“This will be the date of your hearing.” The man interjected as he ripped off the sheet of parchment he was writing on, folding it once before handing it to the kneeling Gryphondor, Lily stared up at the man dumbly, mouth gaping. The wizard merely rolled his eyes, shaking the slip of paper in front of Lily’s face.
“Excuse me!” Petunia screamed as she forced her way between the strange man and her little sister, forcing the man to stagger back at her abrupt approach as she jammed a finger at his face.
“If you would use your bloody eyes for a moment, you might see that we are dealing with a situation here!” Petunia bellowed directly into the man’s face; “My sister’s weirdo friend has just broken into our house, bleeding like a gutted pig, turned himself into some sort of beast, and you’re here to give my sister a ticket for trying to save his life?”
The man actually looked cowed at Petunia’s howling, shying further back while Petunia continued storming closer, offering Lily a little more time to try and close the injured animal’s wound.
Petunia was still going on a tirade when another Wizard appeared in their kitchen, this time, rather than attempting to write Lily up, the moment he noticed the blood on the floor he jumped into action, ushering Lily away from the wounded animal.
“Quite a sorry spot you’ve gotten yourself into eh?” The wizard muttered as he began applying his own string of charms to the still bleeding wound, the creature bared his fangs, yowling in pain as he was stitched back together.
Once the beast was no longer bleeding out on the kitchen floor, the man stood, wand held between his fingers as he muttered a spell, silver wisped from the end of his wand, condensing into a stout beast, shorter than the man, though twice as thick, adorned with two sets of horns, one forward-facing, the other jutting outward. It paws the ground impatiently, throwing its head as though preparing to charge.
Petunia fell quiet, her furious rant ending the moment she laid eyes on that ethereal animal.
“Auror Moody, reporting a case of underaged magic, deemed necessary. Severe injury. Deep puncture wound. Requesting backup.” The wizard stated curtly, and then, with a flick of his wand, the ram turned, bounding once, twice through the air, before disappearing from sight on the third.
It was then that the man, Auror Moody finally turned to the other wizard in the room, still pinned in place by Petunia who was busy staring gobsmacked at the point where the silver ram disappeared.
“What do you think you were doing Hendson!” Auror Moody roared, taking over for Petunia; “What was it I taught you! What was it!”
“C-constant-” “Constant Vigilance!” Auror Moody bellowed into the other man’s face.
“When you enter a scene, what is the first thing you do! You check for immediate dangers to yourself and others!” The Auror continued to rage; “And if you find no immediate dangers to yourself or others you…?” The Auror paused, allowing the other wizard a chance to answer.
“L-look for injured?” The other man guessed weakly.
“You look for injured!” Auror Moody shouted; “And following that?”
“A-assist?”
“And why is it that you failed to assist, Hendson!” The Auror barked.
“Because… There was no one to assist?” The wizard, Hendson, replied uncertainly, Auror Moody scoffed, taking out his own notepad.
“I’m issuing you a citation.” The older man muttered; “Referral classes on first-response etiquette and Animagus Identification lessons.”
“Animagus?” The other wizard guffawed.
“Indeed Hendson. Because if you had used your damn eyes for half a second, you would have noticed that this wasn’t a case of an underaged witch trying to heal a cat. But, an underaged witch trying to heal a newly turned Animagus!”
With that, Auror Moody slammed the slip of parchment into the other wizard’s chest before turning his attention back to the three other people in the room.
“That was some well done wand-work.” The Auror complimented gruffly, nodding to Lily as she tentatively ran her hand along the creature’s side, being mindful of the matted patch of still-sticky blood marring the animal’s fur; “You planning on becoming a healer?”
“I-I intend to get a Charms Mastery.” Lily replied softly as she felt the animal shift slightly beneath her palm, the Auror nodded as he turned to one of the other kitchen chairs, with another muttered spell and a flick of his wand, the chair became a gurney..
“Mastery will get you places.” The Auror huffed as he approached Lily and the nearly unconscious animal before her, reaching them just as another two Aurors appeared; “From what I saw with your friend, you got steady hands, good for delicate work.”
Lily nodded dumbly, thoughts raced through her head, each cambering for her attention, each drowning out the others until all Lily could hear was a sharp ringing.
“Do you think you can tell me what happened here?” Auror Moody asked as his two co-workers gently eased the creature from the floor, carefully lifting the thing to set it down atop the transfigured gurney.
“I don’t…” Lily began shakily, eyes flitting towards her friend as he was secured in place; “Is it really him?” She found herself asking, instead of answering the Auror’s question.
“Unless your friend preformed one hell of a switching spell, then yes. It's him.” Auror Moody assured. Lily nodded slowly; “And… He’ll be alright?”
“Should be.” One of the other Auror’s replied; “He’s not bleeding out anymore at least. Healers at Mungo's will want to check him over, just to be sure.”
“I already called the police.” Petunia interjected from across the room, “They should be here any minute.” The first Auror nodded in approval.
“Good. We should have him packed up before they get here. Now, can either of you tell me what happened?”
Lily remained quiet as she watched the two other Auror’s lift her friend from the floor. The beast made some rough churred noise at the back of his throat as he opened a single bleary eye.
And then he was gone.
“I’ll send them over when they get here.” The Auror assured Petunia as gently as he could; “You know the address?”
“Number 13, Spinners End.” Lily mumbled as she drew her knees to her chest, staring vacantly at the spot where her friend had disappeared.
“He came barging in.” Petunia muttered; “I told him to stay away, but then he came to the door all bloody and beaten, raving about needing help and how he thinks his old man killed his mum.”
“And you were going to send him away?” Lily asked, a cold, sinking feeling settling in her chest. Her sister merely scoffed.
“Of course I was!” She snapped; “It was only a matter of time before Tobias Snape snapped and killed someone! The Snape boy was practically leading that lunatic straight to our doorstep!”
Lily rose from her seat and crossed the room before she even realized what she was doing, it was only the burning sting on her palm and the firm but gentle arms looping beneath her armpits, holding her back that snapped her out of her daze.
Petunia stood there, gapping, cradling her cheek as tears sprang to her eyes.
“That’s enough Miss. Evans.” Auror Moody barked as he half-carried, half-dragged her to the opposite side of the kitchen.
“I want to see Sev.” Lily bit out, eyes never straying from her sister; “I want to see Sev right now!”
“They would never allow such childish behavior at St. Mungo's.” Auror Moody snapped; “We are going to the Ministry of Magic. I am going to ask you a few questions. You are going to answer them. And maybe, if after you’ve calmed down, then, I could take you to see your friend. Agreed?” Auror Moody stated curtly as he held out his hand.
“Agreed.” Lily snapped as she shook the Auror’s hand, only to feel the ground beneath her feet slip away.
|||
The beast quickly replaced Snivelus as Evans’ new silver shadow.
It spent most of its time either at her heels or sprawled out across her shoulders, even during class, it would sit beside Evans, silently watching the lessons or listening to the lectures. The only times James ever saw the mongrel not by Evans’ side was when she ducked into the loo, or, bizarrely, at the cusp of curfew, where Professor McGonagall would come every evening to collect the beast, returning the cat at breakfast.
It was strange, stranger than strange.
“His name is Russle.” Lily stated on the first day of term, at the dining hall during breakfast, introducing the thing, a Serval, some breed of African wildcat, it forced its way between her side and Meadows as Lily prepared a small plate in front of the feline while all of her friends cooed and awed at the beast, none of whom, besides Marlene, were swatted at.
“He doesn’t like being pet unexpectedly.” Lily explained as she charmed the shallow scrape across the back of Marlene’s hand closed; “You have to ask first, hold your hand out, like this, if he puts his paw in your hand then you can run your thumb over the top of his paw.”
It, Russle, didn’t act like any other cat James had ever seen, and there were a fair number of cats at Hogwarts. Some upper year Ravenclaw, Umbridge, was obsessed with the hairy cretins, complaining endlessly about how she was only allowed to bring a single cat to school. And her cat specifically had been the punchline of a fair number of jokes. It was a stupid little long-fured squashed-face thing, with bug-eyes and a hollow space between its ears.
Most of the other cats wandering around Hogwarts were smarter, and far less ugly… But the Serval, the damn Serval was scarily human at times.
Its coat was sleek, pale, speckled with darker spots along its back, like ink-stained parchment. It was large too, the largest cat James had ever seen at least, sitting beside Evans, the tips of its ears reached higher than her head.
And that was another thing.
It always sat.
Not on the floor, or on Evans’ lap or shoulder, but beside her, on the dining hall benches, on classroom chairs, even whenever she went to her favorite spot by the lake, the damn cat would plop itself down beside her like a damn human.
None of the teachers complained, and no one else commented on the strange behavior. If and when James tried to point out how weird it was, he would be the one looked at funny.
What was somehow worse than the fact that the cat and his Lily-Flower were attached at the hips was that the cat hated him.
The cat hating Sirius and Remus, James could understand, hell, the damn thing hating Peter, James could get. The former two were basically dogs, and everyone knew that cats hate dogs. And Peter being a rat made him the perfect snack for the cat.
But James was neither a dog or a rat, hell, as far as he knew, he had never done or said anything to the damn cat. And yet, of all his friends, he was the only one the cat seemed to go out of its way to his or swat at.
None of the Marauders were allowed to pet the damn thing, but most of the school wasn’t either. The one person besides Evans who was consistently ‘allowed’ to touch the serval was Sirius’ little brother, strangely enough, for anyone else it was very hit or miss.
Still, James was certain that the hell-cat had it out for him specifically.
He couldn’t even walk an arms length past Evans without the damn thing screaming at him.
And if that wasn’t bad enough.
Snape. Wasn’t. At. School.
And they looked everywhere.
But it seemed as though ol’ Snivelus had finally crawled back into whatever dank hole he had come out of, hopefully, to never grace the hall of Hogwarts again.
It was a bitter-sweet mercy really.
While it was nice to never have to see the Slytherin's ugly mug again, James almost missed being able to use the greasy git for target practice.
|||
“What do you mean he’s Animaglocked?”
“As I said, Miss Evans.” The St. Mungo's Healer began slowly; “Mr. Snape is currently locked in his Animagus form. From what we could gather from his, unfortunately incomplete, testimony. His wand has been snapped. His magic is currently untethered, meaning that returning to his original form will be impossible.”
“So, what? He’s just stuck as a cat?” Lily asked as she looked between Severus and the healer.
“For now.” The healer admitted; “We are reaching out to a number of Animagus Masters for assistance. This is not the first time someone’s become Animaglocked, and there are methods to reversing the transformation, the key thing is patience.”
Severus made a low chuffing noise at the back of his throat from where he sat atop the hospital bed, his ears were pinned back, tail flicking behind him. It was painfully easy to tell that he was worried.
“It’ll be alright, Sev…” Lily whispered as she reached out to set her hand over his paw, doing her very best to not give into the urge to pet her friend.
“You said you both studied at Hogwarts, correct?” The healer inquired as they continued to leaf through a filing cabinet.
“Yes.” Lily replied; “We’re both going into our final year.” The healer nodded, skipped a few files before pulling out a rather thick folder.
“That simplifies things.” The healer hummed before turning on their heels and heading out the door, throwing a hurried; “One moment please.” Over their shoulders. The two sat there nearly stunned for a moment, unsure of what to do, before the door had even shut; however it was thrown open again by the same healer who had just left, followed closely by Professor McGonagall of all people.
Lily was quick to hop to her feet, while Severus, still unused to his new four-pawed stance, meowed in surprise at the sight of their Transfigurations Professor.
“You are quite lucky it is summer. Mr. Snape.” The Transfigurations Professor began nearly as soon as she entered the room; “Had you been foolish enough to attempt an Animagus Transformation during the school year I would have seen you serving detention for the rest of your time at Hogwarts!”
The serval cowered atop the cot, hunching low to make himself appear as small as possible, even attempting to hide himself away behind Lily on unsteady legs.
Lily on the other hand set herself between her Head of House and best friend.
“Stop shouting!” Lily hissed; “Sev has been through enough, he doesn’t need you making things worse.” Professor McGonagall narrowed her eyes at that.
“Miss. Evans. If you knew anything about Mr. Snape attempting this sort of magic, unsupervised and underaged, you are liable to be in just as much trouble.”
“Sev didn’t do anything!” Lily insisted; “Sev is a victim in all this! A-and if you’re not here to help then you can leave!” The red-headed Gryphondor snapped, actually stunning McGonagall into silence which, thankfully, allowed the healer to speak up.
“I can attest, this was a case of involuntary transformation due to a M.T.E.” McGonagall stifled a noise of horror behind her hands, her eyes wide, flitted from Severus to the healer before she breather the softest streak of colour Lily had ever heard.
“My apologies, Mr. Snape.” Professor McGonagall murmured as she bowed low to the cat just peering out from behind Lily’s arm.
“You are not the first student I have had who found their way to St. Mungo's for this exact reason. I assumed your Slytherin ambition led you here, and I apologies for my reaction.”
Severus growled in response, refusing to move out from behind Lily, but to the two students’ surprise, their professor merely nodded.
“Completely understandable, Mr. Snape. I would not be quick to forgive in these circumstances either.”
“Professor McGonagall?” Lily asked slowly; “You… Speak cat?”
The Transfiguration professor merely smiled and then, in a fluid motion, their professor was no longer there, instead, on the hospital floor before them was a small tabby cat, who hopped atop the nearby counter, perching elegantly at the edge.
“Professor McGonagall is one of the youngest Witches in her time to earn a Animagus Mastery.” The healer supplied; “She is also one of the leading experts in the Animaglock Field, with quite the impressive track record for being able to reverse the transformation.”
The tabby on the counter sat straighter, looking quite proud.
“I figured that, seeing as Mr. Snape would already be familiar with McGonagall as one of his Professors, she would be best fit to help.”
Lily turned to the feline behind her, who in turn looked up at her with her friend’s ever-so familiar dark eyes. Severus nodded his head, a very unnatural gesture for a serval, but it just further cemented that it was in fact Severus in the cat.
“We will of course have to discuss what is to be done during the school year.” McGonagall stated from the countertop, now fully human once more; “I doubt Mr. Snape would be willing to take a gap year despite the circumstances.”
Severus yowled in reply.
“Adjustments can be made to the curriculum.” McGonagall assured the newly turned- and stuck, Animagus student; “Granted, remedial practical lessons and tests will need to be taken over the summer break, with a final exam conducted at the Ministry in order to graduate.”
“And this can… This can all happen for this term?” Lily asked softly.
“I don’t see why not.” McGonagall replied; “The Headmaster will be informed and the other teachers notified. The Ministry may send a support worker for Mr. Snape- Just someone to help you take notes in class and assist you with written assignments, Mr. Snape.” The Transfigurations Professor explained as the serval hissed at the mere mention of a ‘support worker’
“I could help Sev with that.” Lily interjected quickly, the serval seemed to perk up at that, McGonagall however pursed her lips.
“It will be an awful lot of extra work, Miss Evans.” The Professor said; “Especially seeing as this will be both of your final years, are you sure you wish to divide your studies so thin?”
“I’m sure.” Lily said; “Sev and I shared the same electives, the only classes we don’t have together are Transfigurations and Herbology.” McGonagall nodded slowly, thoughtfully, before turning to face the serval on the hospital bed.
“Mr. Snape. Should you prove capable of maintaining a E+ Average in your altered coursework for the year, on top of the supplementary Animaglock lessons I intend to give you. Should you be able to revert back to your human appearance by terms end, I will personally see you earn your Animagus Mastery.”
Severus sat bolt up at that, eyes wide, ears tall. He then turned to Lily.
“Think we can do it Sev?” The Gryphondor asked lightheartedly, to which the serval raised a delicate paw, holding it out towards the red haired girl. Lily grinned and took the paw, shaking the serval’s ‘hand’
“I’ll send word to the school board.” McGonagall nodded as she slid from the countertop with as much elegance as her inner-cat; “Before I go however, a on-the-spot Animaglocked lesson.” The Professor hummed .
“The first step in regression, subliminal separation.” Professor McGonagall approached the hospital bed, standing before the serval; “Next time I see you Mr. Snape, I would like you to have a new name for your Animagus form, so you may begin to think of yourself as two separate beings.”
“What sort of name?” Lily asked from her friend’s side.
“Nothing to similar to his proper name. Something with meaning works well, my Animagus is named Murph, after Murphey's Law.” McGonagall elaborated.
“Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong?” Lily mused.
“My subject is a dangerous one.” McGonagall explained simply; “I’ve had my fair share of students not pay the craft its due respect, many times, things went wrong, very wrong.”
“Of course Professor.” Lily mumbled; “But, why name your Animagus form after such a concept?”
“Because, Miss Evans.” The Transfigurations Professor huffed; “I was Animaglocked when I first accomplished the transformation.”
|||
This was his last chance.
“James… I think this is way, way too much…” Remus murmured from the sidelines, watching, dumbfounded, as James continued piling bouquets of lilies higher and higher in an ornate wreath of white.
“You sure Moony?” Sirius snickered; “I think Jamie could use a few dozen more, just to make sure the flower pile is to twe roof.” Remus rolled his eyes at that
James ignored his two friends, flitting about the floral structure, ensuring not a single blossom was out of line before he frantically began running his fingers through his hair in a desperate attempt to tame his wild hair.
“Do I look alright?” The Gryphondor boy asked as, with a flick of his wand, he turned a spare inkpot into a small mirror, looking himself over as best he could to make sure he looked perfect.
It was the final day of exams, and Lily had just been called in to complete her Transfigurations Practical, James was using her time in the examination room to set up his last ditch effort to convince the stunning red-head to go out with him.
He had purchased no less than a thousand lilies, all bound in bunches of twenty, tied with scarlet lace. Stacked high around a marble podium James had transfigured from a pile of cobblestone. James had gone all in for his final proposal, even renting out a Muggle tuxedo for the occasion.
“You look fine James.” Peter huffed, waiting on the sidelines to spell a trail of lily petals to create a path for Evans to follow to James. All of the Marauders had some part to play in helping their friend finally get his dream girl. Peter was in charge of the petals, Remus was handling the lights and Sirius had a Muggle guitar of all things for ‘ambiance’.
It was foolproof.
Unfortunately, James was a fool.
Now, the beginning of the proposal went well.
As soon as the doors began to open, Sirius began strumming a soft tune on his guitar, Remus dimmed the hall lights, save for the ones illuminating James’ little display, and Peter, Peter had the petals dancing across the floor, creating a elegant carpet that Snivelus Fucking Snape was all to eager to trample upon.
The Slimeball of Slytherin took a moment to look over the display before him, raising a single brow before he sniffed in disapproval and moved to join the long line of other students waiting to be called in for the practical. They all seemed just as gobsmacked to see the Slytherin as the Marauders were.
It was James who finally broke out of the dumbfounded daze, drawing his wand as he stomped off of his pedestal.
“Snape!” The Gryphondor barked, spurring the other Marauders into action; “The fuck you playing at!”
The Slytherin remained seated, simply staring at the four boys before him in unimpressed silence, even as James nearly poked his eye out with his wand.
“You disappear for the whole term, only to crawl out of my Lily-Flower’s practical examination room!” James howled; “I swear on my magic if you’ve sabotaged Lily’s exam they’ll be carrying you out of here in a body bag!”
Snape merely rolled his eyes before slapping James’ wand away from his face.
“Piss off, Potter.” The snake muttered, his voice was gruff and raw, like he hadn’t spoken for some time.
“Speak for yourself, Snivelus.” Sirius spat; “We were having such a good year, not having to see your ugly mug around every corner. Do us a favour and crawl to wherever you came from!” With that, Sirius shot a body-binding jinx at the Slytherin before forcefully dragging Snape from his seat and to the floor.
Or at least, that’s what would have happened had Snape not fucking dissolve right in front of them.
Sirius’ spell hit the falling cloak Snape had been wearing as the goddamn serval darted between their legs, scampering towards the practical exam room door which was once again opening.
“You know what McGonagall said, Russle.” Evans scolded lightly as the serval made itself comfortable across the Gryphondor girls’ shoulders.
“Evans watch out!” James yelled as he ran over, wand out and at the ready; “It’s Snape! That fucking cat is Snape!”
Lily, his beautiful Lily-flower merely turned and rolled her eyes.
“Took your sweet time figuring that out, Potter.” She scoffed as she reached up to run her fingers beneath the beast's chin, it never took its eyes off the four boys, but a deep, rumbling purr began in its chest.
“W-What!” James stuttered as he looked between the girl of his dreams and the cat of his nightmares; “You- you mean to tell me that you knew? You knew that thing was Snape the whole year?” James demanded.
“You know that becoming an Animagus is a strictly regulated thing right?” James bit, turning to the serval; “Being an unregistered Animagus could lead to serious consequences.”
“Luckily for Russle.” Lily interjected as she turned slightly, better shielding her friend from her classmates; “The Ministry of Magic is well aware of this development. As is Headmaster Dumbledore and the rest of the staff.”
James bit his tongue, glowering at the cat on his girl’s shoulders, only to be met with both of their backs.
“H-hey, wait!” He called after them, reaching to catch Evans’ wrist only to find a wand in his face.
“We. Are. Done. Here.” Lily hissed out slowly, enunciating each word through gritted teeth.
The cat hopped down from her shoulders, Severus appearing before the feline even hit the floor. Slowly, quietly, the tall, dark boy slipped his hand into Lily’s, gently tugging her away.
Lily turned fast enough to have her long, red locks whipping James across the face and quick as a dime, the shorter Gryphondor took the lead in guiding her friend through the halls. Just as they reached the stairwell, the Slytherin paused, looking back over his shoulder with a cheshire smile.
“Oh, and Potter.” The snake hummed smugly; “Lily hates those damn flowers.”