Chapter 2
September 1st, 1971
Just outside platform 9 & ¾, stood Severus Snape, right next to Lily’s father, who had his arm wrapped around Severus’s shoulders, whether it was for support to stand fully upright or a comforting gesture to the boy he’d learned to call his son, Severus didn’t know.
Mrs. Evans stood, saying her final goodbyes to her daughter. She was thrilled that Lily was a witch, but not so much that she’d be away from them for ten months of the year. While listening, Severus also heard the sour goodbyes of Tunie. He’d barely seen the look on Lily’s face when she started boarding the train as Mr. Evans fell into a coughing fit once more. Severus knew it had to do with the fact that he was a coal miner, the dust in his lungs causing breathing problems, though it had become a normal occurrence to hear his coughing, so most everyone tuned it out.
“Goodbye, Mr. and Mrs. Evans. Tunie.” Severus told the family shortly with a little nod as he stepped onto the steps of the train, everyone but Petunia let out similar pleasantries before Severus climbed fully into the train, looking through the carpeted halls to see compartments where kids were rushing in and out of, some with the blinds drawn while others were wide open.
He scaled the aisles for a few moments until he saw Lily’s distinctive hair through the windows of one of the compartments, he slid the door open and stepped inside. After stepping inside he sat down across from Lily, who he could tell was crying. She didn’t look at him.
“Tunie hates me!” Lily wailed after a few sniffles. Severus didn’t really know what to say, he’d never cared for Lily’s sister. He thought she was stuck up and jealous, a sour young lady that would inevitably grow into a sour woman.
“So what?”
Lily glared at him when he said this, he gave a sheepish smile. “Come on, Lils! We’re finally going to Hogwarts!” The girl smiled slightly at that, her excitement for finally learning witchcraft peeking through. She’d been waiting eight months for this, she wasn’t about to let a silly fight with her sister spoil her mood.
“You better be in Slytherin with me,” Severus teased with a smile on his face. It was then he regretted not having closed the door because two boys who were walking by stopped when they heard his words and stepped into the compartment with them.
One of them had brown skin, messy black hair, and glasses. While the other had pale skin, piercing blue eyes as well as black hair, though his was more cleancut, probably from a pureblood family, Severus assumed.
“Slytherin? The house full of dark wizards? Are you evil?” The boy with glasses asked in an obnoxious tone. Severus and Lily made eye contact when he said that, sharing a judging look towards him.
“Anyways, I’m going to be in Gryffindor, just like my mom and dad!”
Lily rolled her eyes at the rather obnoxious boys' antics. “Sorry, who are you again?”
The boy’s look of superiority dropped for a moment. “James Potter, and this is Sirius Black!” James said as he jerked his thumb over his shoulder to point at the blue-eyed boy.
Ah, a member of the Black family, that made sense.
“What are your names?” He drew out the ‘s’ sound in names purposely, as if imitating a snake. Most likely poking fun at Lily and Severus for wanting to be in Slytherin.
Severus and Lily met eyes once again, a silent challenge as to who was going to answer James. As usual, Severus lost to Lily’s fierce glare and he sighed. “I’m Severus Snape and that’s Lily Evans.” He practically mumbled the words, hoping the boys would be less interested in them if they wouldn’t speak properly.
“Severus? What kind of name is that?” Piped up Sirius as he stepped closer to James. “I mean it should be Snivellus, look at the size of his nose!” He teased as he pointed at Severus’s nose. “Bet you can smell anything can’t you?”
Lily glared at the boy’s while Severus scowled, turning to look out the window so they couldn’t see his nose, “Well he can certainly smell you two, when’s the last time you bathed?” Severus smiled to himself after hearing Lily’s comeback. The two boys didn’t seem to like what she’d said and left with a snarky goodbye, calling Lily ‘dirt face’ and Severus ‘Snivellus’.
The one thing Severus appreciated about the gits was that they closed the compartment door behind them, he stood up and locked it before pulling the blinds down. When he turned back around, Lily was pulling her shoes off and digging in the Mail Carrier bag she’d brought for the train ride, not wanting to bother pulling her and Severus’ trunk into the compartment. She pulled out a pair of patched up jeans and a shirt she’d taken from Severus before pulling her stockings off from under her dress and pulling the pants on. She then followed with pulling the dress off over her head and putting the shirt on.
“Much better, I don’t know why Mum and Dad insist on me wearing dresses when we go to new places!” She was mostly talking in the open air, not really expecting Severus to answer her, which he didn’t. He instead pulled off his shoes and laid out across the seats of the train. Once Lily saw him do this, she stuffed her dress and stockings back into the bag and placed it on the floor, laying on her side of the compartment as well.
She rolled around to face him, “How long is this train ride again?”
“It’s into Scotland, we get there at like eight or nine I think. Taking a nap won’t make us miss out on much.” Lily nodded at Severus’ words and they laid in silence for a few moments.
“Sev? Are you nervous?”
The boy thought for a moment as he rolled to face Lily, “I guess I am. Yeah.” They lapsed into silence. The two tossed and turned on their respective seats for a moment before Lily sat up, moved her bag back onto the seat, kneeled down on the floor, and tugged Severus off of his seat. Severus’ head thumped against the floor and he let out an exaggerated groan.
“I don’t like napping alone, you know Tunie and me still share a bed.” Lily said as she laid down next to Severus.
“You know in Hogwarts you get your own bed and everything. In Slytherin once you reach fourth year you get your own room.”
“Well then, I hope I’m in Slytherin so when you get nightmares I can be right there.”
“You just don’t want to be alone.” Severus teased.
“Also that.” Lily confirmed as the both settled back down and quickly fell asleep.
—
“Lils, wake up..” Severus hissed in Lily’s ear. She swatted at him, “Five more minutes.”
“It's supper time, your mom packed us our own loaf of bread for the trip and I put a little heating charm on it so it's still warm.”
At the mention of her mom’s bread Lily shot straight up and snatched her bag away from Severus, digging out a warm cloth bundle, untying it to reveal the bread. She took a moment to rip the bread in half and hand one half to Severus before she started plucking chunks out of her own bread, shoving them into her mouth.
“Now I understand the ugly duckling story.” Severus teased as he ate his own pieces of bread, Lily just moved to kick him, sending the frail boy toppling over. Though he wasn’t hurt, he feigned offense and threw a small piece of bread rolled into a ball at her face, hitting her square in the forehead.
They both didn’t bother when the Trolley Witch came by, not even opening the door when she knocked. They only had two galleons split between them and a handful of knuts and weren’t about to waste it when they had perfectly good food with them. Especially since it was made by Mrs. Evans, who seemed to have a knack for making everything taste magical despite being a muggle.
Severus had woken Lily up at just past seven at night, and at seven forty-five on the dot, the train pulled into Hogsmeade Station. They heard the booming voice of a man, “That’s the groundskeeper..” Severus whispered to Lily who nodded as they stood up off the floor, brushing crumbs off of themselves. Lily grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder before turning to face Severus.
The boy licked his thumb and rubbed a spot of coal dust off of her cheek and in return Lily fixed his hair for him.
“All set?” Severus questioned her, even though it was more for his own sake.
“Always!”
—
Severus didn’t have too much to say about the further journey into Hogwarts castle, it was almost exactly to the stories his mother used to whisper to him at night. The rickety boats across the black lake until you reached shore and then were led up the stairs to be met with Professor McGonagall. Lily had gotten really excited when she saw the woman, waving excitedly, hoping to be noticed. She hadn’t been noticed and Severus pulled her hand back down before anyone else saw her (rather embarrassing) outburst.
Professor McGonagall went on with explaining the sorting ceremony and naming the houses. Severus already knew it all and had passed that knowledge onto Lily, who also knew as much as him in the subjects so far; they'd poured over his mothers textbooks for the past two years, committing almost all of it to memory. Lily still listened with rapt interest, she wanted to hear all of this from Professor McGonagall, the first magical person she’d met besides Severus. When Severus thought of this he frowned to himself, was she bored of him?
Though before his thoughts started tearing him down even more, Lily grabbed his hand and all the first-years began to pour into the Great Hall. Both Severus and Lily would admit they didn’t like the feeling of all eyes on them and at almost the exact time they squeezed each other's hands, then snuck a little look at eachother, Lily with a small smile on her face that couldn’t help but spread to Severus as well.
Severus would admit that he did want to zone out for the start of the sorting ceremony, he didn’t really care who got sorted where besides him and Lily. But when Sirius Black was sorted into Gryffindor he let out a small gasp. He was sure the entire hall did as well. Lily turned to look at him with a confused look, her eyebrows pinched together.
“The Black family is a very highly respected Pureblood family, they’re ancient, Lils. Not a single member of the Black family has ever been sorted into a house besides Slytherin. He might get disowned.” Lily herself let out gasp upon hearing this.
“Who are they to disown their child over not being in the house they want him to be?” Severus didn’t have an answer for her, he simply shrugged and zoned back out until Lily’s name was called. She gave Severus a wide-eyed look. “Fingers crossed for Slytherin!” She whispered to him before finally letting go of his hand, walking up to the stool.
Severus held his breath when the sorting hat seemed to take forever to sort her, over three minutes he counted. But then, when his stomach was already churning in worry — “Gryffindor!”
The Gryffindor table erupted into cheers as they always did when they got a new first year, all the other houses seemed to find it obnoxious, but Severus did especially in that moment because he was standing right next to the table and their cheers went directly into his ears. It felt like his skull was rattling from the amount of noise that he almost missed the sad little smile Lily had given him as she sat down on the bench of the long table. Many people began to forcibly shake her hands and she turned back to look at Severus, holding her hand out for him to take. An offer of comfort until he was sorted. Severus did take her hand and he heard her whisper that she was sorry she got sorted into Gryffindor. He shook his head just as he was called up, “Don’t be sorry, the hat probably put you there because of your red hair..”
Lily gave him an actual smile this time, finding his tease rather dumb. She watched him walk up to the stool. Well, attempt to walk up to the stool. The other boy from before, James Potter, had yet to be sorted and stuck out his foot to trip Severus. It was successful and he stumbled but didn’t fall as he was stopped by a red-headed boy at the Gryffindor table. He took a moment to register that there were two of them, he’d have to investigate that later. Most likely twins.
Severus cleared his mind and finally got onto the stool, to which the sorting hat seemed to also analyze him forever. He’d have to ask Lily how many minutes she counted, he had tuned out the voice of the sorting hat, trying to focus on what he’d do after he was sorted, definitely not fall down again or forget he was wearing that hat.
“Slytherin!” The hat shouted, no cheers erupted like Lily’s sorting, only polite clapping from the table. He made his way to the table after glancing back at Lily who was already watching him with a smile, happy he’d gotten the house they’d both wanted. He stared around at all the people sitting at the Slytherin table, they were exactly the sort you’d expect. Posh and almost inhuman looking. Though there was one girl with long black hair with streaks of dyed blonde who smiled at him and patted the spot next to her.
“Hello Severus, I’m Narcissa Black, I’m your prefect this year.” She then gestured to a blond haired man beside her, “This is my boyfriend, Lucius Malfoy. He’s also a prefect. I’m so happy we got a new —”
“What’s your blood status? I’ve never heard of a Snape before.” The man known as Lucius butted in, interrupting his girlfriend. Narcissa’s face dropped and she turned to look at Lucius with a rather sad look, though Severus assumed it was meant to show her offense at being interrupted.
“You don’t need to answer him. Just enjoy the rest of the sorting ceremony!” Narcissa did seem to shine less after her boyfriend butted in but Severus didn’t say anything as he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see it was Lily.
“Got any more room over here? That Potter kid kept tugging on my hair and saying I smelled bad.”
Narcissa smiled at Lily. “Of course! Sit down!” She scooted over to make more room for Lily, who thanked her politely before sitting down next to Severus.
Lily leaned closer to Severus, “I’ve already got the layout of Hogwarts memorized, do you want to meet up outside here again tonight? I mean we do both have to follow our prefects to get the common room passwords but after that we should be fine, right?”
“Sneaking around on our first night here, who do you think I am, Lils?”
Lily pinched his arm lightly, “Oh please, I know that’s a yes.”
Severus gave her a small smile, it WAS a yes. They watched as the last few kids got sorted and then the food appeared, both he and Lily’s mouths fell wide open. Sure, they’d read about the feasts, but nothing prepared them for seeing that amount of food in person. From barely getting two meals a day to having a surplus of food three times a day? That would be a hard change for them to adjust to.
Lily looked at Severus, wide-eyed. “What do we eat first?”
Severus didn’t give her a verbal response, instead he reached across the table and grabbed two dinner rolls. Lily repeated his actions right after and they both looked over all the dishes, picking through most of the grain and vegetables to fill their plates with, not fully trusting the meat when they couldn’t be sure if it was pork or not.
By the time the feast disappeared they both felt stuffed and sleepy. Lily was acutely aware of the fact that even with how sleepy she was, she wouldn’t be able to fall asleep that night without Severus. She turned to whisper to him. “I’m gonna come to the Slytherin dorms, I don’t wanna be alone up there with no one I know.”
Narcissa heard this, as she seemed to be bored from the beginning when her boyfriend started talking with his mates about ‘The Dark Lord’ whoever that may be. She perked up, “I have extra cots in my dorm, you two can sleep there!”
Lucius heard Narcissa say this and he turned to look at her. “You don’t have extra cots. Don’t lie.” Narcissa’s glow seemed to dim a bit more when he talked. “Yes, but I can transfigure some of my pillows into cots for them, it is my strong suit.”
Lucius simply rolled his eyes and went back to speaking with his friends, Narcissa looked back at Lily and Severus. “He’s just a bit cranky right now, he’s not always like that.” Severus nodded, but he and Lily shared a look, he was definitely always like that.
“But yes please, Miss Narcissa. We’d love to!” Lily smiled at Narcissa, one of her brightest smiles, Narcissa couldn’t seem to stop herself from smiling back at her. “I’ll come collect you from Gryffindor tower after I finish touring my first years, alright?”
Lily nodded and squeezed Severus’s hand one last time before walking back over to the Gryffindor table to follow her prefects. Narcissa stood up, grabbing the attention of the few first-year Slytherins. “Alright everyone! Time to find our common room and dorms. Follow me and Lucius and feel free to ask any questions!”
Severus nodded at her but the other first-years didn’t even bother acknowledging her, her smile wavered a bit but she turned on her heel and started leading the group out of the Great Hall. Severus memorized the path from the Great Hall all the way into the dungeons where Narcissa stopped at a wall.
“This is where the entrance to the common room is, like all the common house’s common rooms, we have a password. Currently it is ‘Salazar’ but it changes on the first of every month, so remember to check in with your prefects and head boys and girls at the start of each month so you don’t get trapped outside.” When she said ‘Salazar’ the bricks in the wall moved to open, sort of like Diagon Alley, Severus thought it was interesting. They stepped into the common room where there was a blazing fire in the fireplace and all the other students were lounging around, catching up from their summer endeavors.
A girl with curly black hair and wild eyes stepped up behind Narcissa. Startling the girl, “Oh, yes! This is your head girl, my sister, Bellatrix Black!”
Bellatrix simply stared at all the first-years until her eyes fixed on Severus. “He’s not pure, is he?” She hissed to Narcissa, who shrugged Bellatrix’s hands off of her shoulders. “It doesn’t matter, Bella. Now, boys dorms are right there, and girls are right there. Breakfast is from six in the morning to ten in the morning and if you need help finding your way around the school for your classes, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Okay?”
Again, everyone but Severus just stared blankly at her and then dispersed to the different ends of the common room. Severus stayed right next to Narcissa. She smiled at him again, “Time to go collect Lily, now isn’t it, Severus?”
“Yes, thank you so much. She’s just not very good at sleeping by herself, back at her house she shared a bedroom with her sister, and a bed, until last year. And her and I had been sleeping on her bed most nights when I didn’t sleep at home.”
“Are you both muggleborn? That would be amazing if you’re the first muggleborn in Slytherin. What’s the muggle world like? My family forbids even talking about it but I find it very interesting—”
“I’m half blood, my mother is Eileen Prince. I grew up in the muggle world. Lily is muggleborn, though. But if anyone asks, her and I are twins with the same parents. Making her a halfblood. I don’t want her to be as hurt as she could be here.”
Narcissa nodded, “I’ll ask about the muggle world later, then. Let’s go get her, yes?” Severus nodded and Narcissa led him out of the common room, back into the dingy atmosphere of the dungeons. She led him through the maze that was the school and up several flights of stairs that left Severus panting until they reached a portrait of a rather fat woman in a pink dress.
“Password?” The woman asked, Narcissa gave her a smile and shook her head.
“Oh, no, we’re not entering, we just want to talk to someone in here, can you ask for Lily Evans?”
The woman in the portrait disappeared for a moment — probably moving into the portraits inside the Gryffindor common room — and a moment later the portrait swung forward on its hinges, almost knocking Severus out if he hadn’t been pulled out of the way by Narcissa.
Though Severus did fall over when Lily practically pounced on him. “I haven’t even known that prick for a day and James Potter is on my nerves. He kept sneaking up behind me and yanking my hair, he pulled a piece out!”
“Oh dear, are you alright Lily?” Narcissa asked as she pulled out her wand, waved it for a moment and suddenly Severus and Lily were both back on their feet. “Yeah, it’s just I have to spend ten months every year with him for the next seven years? I might go insane..”
Narcissa simply shook her head with a small smile before she led them all back down to the Slytherin common room. Once inside she didn’t stop or greet anyone and led them straight down a hallway until they came across a door labeled. N. BLACK. She opened the door and the inside seemed to be completely different from the common room. There wasn’t any green in sight, only light pinks. Pink bedding, pink drapes over the bed frame, pink rugs, pink pillows, a white dresser covered in little pink flowers.
“Sorry, I haven’t really gotten it put together yet since I left last year. Just hold on a moment.” Narcissa then went to her bed and grabbed two pillows, tossed them onto the floor and then after a moment they were a bed with purple bedding. “I can turn it into two separate beds if you two would like?”
“No, this is amazing, thank you!” Lily was practically vibrating at getting to see magic being used up close, she pulled her shoes off and launched herself onto the bed. Severus copied her actions and did the same. Narcissa laughed lightly at this.
“Since tomorrow is technically the first day, you start classes at noon instead of nine like a normal day. So you’ll have plenty of time to get ready. I’m going to shower and you two better be asleep before midnight.” The last part was said as a joking type of threat. The duo didn’t even bother trying to change into different clothes for sleep, they slept in their day clothes most of the time anyways. It would be an inconvenience because the bed was already dragging them into sleep.
“Goodnight Sev..” Lily mumbled as she burrowed her face into the pillows. Severus made an indistinct grunt in response as he slipped into sleep as well. Their first night at Hogwarts.