Prove it.
SNAPE
---------
Since he returned from the Christmas break, Severus has started taking a small, hand-held mirror with him wherever he goes. He uses it to check around corners in an effort to avoid the people who insist on making his life a living hell. That list has gotten quite long, actually. Potter and Black always have some sort of mean practical joke up their sleeves to taunt him with. Lupin and Pettigrew too, sometimes. When it comes to Crouch, Rosier and the other Black, it really depends on the day. Sometimes they let Severus go about his business without issue, but other days they are on the hunt for an easy target. They're not the dangerous ones, though. No, the people Severus truly fears are his old roommates. Mucliber, Wilkes and Avery. They're the ones who make very real death threats and aren't afraid to act on them. Each of them is just itching for the day they get out of Hogwarts, so eager to gives themselves over into the Dark Lord's servitude. Of course, they all believe that is Severus' greatest ambition too. Severus needs everyone to believe he is an unwaveringly loyal supporter of Voldemort's ideology. That's the only way to survive as a Half-Blood in Slytherin.
As Severus makes his way back to the Slytherin dungeons after dinner, he hears the familiar sound of stomping coming up behind him. He hasn't been vigilant enough, apparently.
"Oi! Snape! Are you coming to the meeting tomorrow night?" Avery demands.
Severus swivels around to face him, quickly reaching for his wand. Tomorrow night is the first meeting for new recruits hoping to serve Voldemort's war. Severus is about to say that yes, of course he'll be attending when Mulciber cuts off any chance for him to respond.
"Please, he doesn't have what it takes." Mulciber retorts, sneering at Severus with a menacing grin. "I can't wait to watch the Dark Lord rip you to shreds, Severus. I can only dream he'll let me assist." Mulciber jabs Snape in the forehead with his wand. Wilkes and Avery have split up, and are now standing equidistant on either side of Severus. He's surrounded.
"People like you disgust me, Snape. You aren't even worthy of magic, you filthy half blood. You pretend to support the Dark Lord's noble cause, but you embarrass yourself by associating with Potter's mudblood bitch." Mulciber barks out an ugly, jarring laugh. Snape jerks forward to hit him, but Avery pulls his wand on him and puts him in a body bind.
"Wilkes, you do the honours."
Wilkes moves to stand in front of Severus, then leans down and spits directly into his eye. Wilkes pulls out his wand, and Severus braces himself as much as possible for what he knows is coming.
"Crucio." The light hits Severus first, followed by the intense pain. It's not the first time he's been hit with this particular unforgivable, and thankfully, Wilkes is not a powerful wizard. He hasn't mastered this curse yet, so the pain is potent but not debilitating. Snape is still being held in the body bind, so the most he can do is groan from the back of his throat.
"You are an embarrassment to all of us as new recruits. You make all of us look bad. If you're serious about being a Death Eater, prove it, or we'll tell the Dark Lord all about how pathetic and miserable you are. You won't last long in the new world order unless you're valuable to our Lord. So fucking prove it, Snape. To start, get rid of the mudblood. Or we will."
With that, Mulciber nods at Avery, who in turn flicks his wand and slams Severus into the wall. Everything goes black for a moment, and when his vision comes back into focus, Snape finds that the other boys have disappeared. He picks himself up off the hallway floor and brushes off his robes. He's resigned to what he needs to do. He can't have anyone questioning his loyalty to the Dark Lord. He has to prove it, beyond any reasonable doubt. And that starts with Lily.
***
LILY
-------
Lily's Christmas break was...draining, to say the least. As much as she missed her family while she was away at school, Lily desperately missed magic when she was at home. She always felt as if she had two lives, and most of her friends would never be able to understand what that was like. Mary kind of understood, because she was also muggleborn, but it was different for her. Mary came from a very loving, accepting family who were just as excited about Hogwarts and magic as she was. That's not to say that Lily's family weren't loving, of course they were, in their own way, but they just didn't really get magic. They weren't excited or wondrous about the limitless possibilities, and they tended to avoid the topic altogether. They never asked about Hogwarts or Lily's subjects. It was too hard, too awkward, because they could never really relate to anything in her life as a witch. And then there was Petunia, who completely resented magic, and seemed to hate Lily almost as much. Over the Christmas season, Petunia had picked fights with Lily over everything. "Oh, you set the table wrong Lily." "Lily! Your cat is in my room! Get it out of here NOW!" "Well, Lily, you would have known that if you had been here when...". She had been insufferable the entire break. The only person Lily thought might be able to sympathise with her was her oldest friend. Not only was Sev a half blood that could relate to his life being split between two worlds, but he also knew Petunia, and exactly what she was like. So, when Lily arrived back at school, one of the first things she did was seek out Severus so she could rant about the holiday.
Lily found Snape sitting with Mulciber, Avery and Wilkes near the Black Lake. 'Odd crowd', she thought. 'I thought Sev hated these guys.' She approached them cautiously. "Hey everyone. Hi, Sev. Do you want to come for a walk? I really need to talk to you." Severus didn't meet her eyes. He was glaring off into the distance, not even acknowledging her. "Fuck off, Lily." He muttered.
Lily was shocked. "Excuse me? Sev, what - what's going on? I-"
"Don't you have someone else to bother? I don’t make a habit of wasting time talking to filthy mudbloods. Run along back to Potter, or someone who cares. Don't fucking talk to me again." Snapes eyes met hers for just a moment, and if Lily didn't know any better, she would have thought they looked guilty or sorrowful. Lily's lip trembled, and her eyes filled with heavy tears that threatened to spill over any second.
"I don't know what happened to you, Sev. But Fine. If you're going to be an asshole and a bigot, I never want to talk to you again anyway. Goodbye, Severus." With that, Lily spun on her heel and stormed away. Her vision was blurry from tears, but she wouldn't let herself cry until she was alone.
Lily locked herself in the Prefect's bathroom and sobbed. Her oldest friendship, destroyed in minutes. What had gone wrong? What had happened to them? Lily would never find out.
***
SIRIUS
----------
Sirius was convinced that 12 Grimmauld Place was one of the most miserable locations on Earth. The portraits spied on you, judged you, leered at you. The floorboards were always cold, and the very walls seemed to suck the joy out of a soul just as dementors would. Kreacher picked Sirius and Regulus up from the train station and escorted them back to the Black family manor. Sirius was immediately sent to Walburga's study, which usually only meant one thing. Sirius desperately tried to categorise his thoughts and memories and put them in little boxes where he could hide them under beds in his mind. He tried to recall the occlumency strategies he'd revised in defence against the dark arts, but his brain was failing him at this crucial moment. "Come in, Sirius." His mother's cold voice ordered from inside the study. There was no choice but to obey. "Mother. Lovely to see you again." Sirius gritted the words out, trying to match the stony tone of Walburga's voice.
"Don’t waste my time with pleasantries. Sit."
Sirius sat in the hard backed black chair. Walburga's icy fingers brushed against his forehead. It might have looked tender, if not for the resentful expression on her delicate features.
"Leglimens."
Sirius resisted valiantly, but as always, Walburga managed to force her way in to the door of his mind. She browsed through his memories and thoughts as one might flick through a photo album. Images from his life were forcibly pulled to the forefront of Sirius' mind.
Scenes from the last Hufflepuff vs Gryffindor quidditch match.
Glimpses of the dorm, with Sirius' space immaculate, James' space atrocious and Peter's and Remus' both somewhere in between.
Care of Magical Creatures essay, half-completed.
Sirius' occlumency skills must have improved significantly, because it took Walburga much longer than usual to find anything particularly incriminating.
Holding Remus' hand.
Running through the forest.
Kissing Remus.
Walburga dropped the spell out of pure shock when she found that last memory, the one Sirius had been so desperate to keep hidden.
"You are disgusting, Sirius. How dare you disgrace this family in such a way?" Walburga’s fingers form a vice-like grip on Sirius’ arm. She marches him into the dining room and calls for Orion.
“Sirius, you are the greatest disappointment of my life. You are unworthy of the Black name.” Orion spits out at him, raising his wand in a high arch.
Then, Sirius is hit with a stream of excruciating crucio curses. He can’t tell if they come from Orion’s wand, or Walburga’s. Likely both. He desperately tries to stay strong, to keep defying them, but before long he is writhing on the ground and screaming in agony. The feeling of a crucio curse depends heavily on the caster and their magic. Black family blood magic is dark and extremely potent. Sirius’ skin is on fire, and he can feel his blood boiling in his veins. When he gets to his breaking point, when he’s sure he can’t take a moment more, the pain subsides. He is trembling, and can barely move, or speak at all.
“Listen to me now, Sirius. You will never return to that school. You will complete your studies through private tutelage, you will submit yourself to the Dark Lord. You will marry the pureblood girl of our choosing. You will provide an heir to the Black family legacy. And make no mistake, we will make you worthy of your name.”
Sirius is too weak to protest. He can’t live like that. He won’t. It’s a fight, but eventually he manages to drag himself to the fireplace on the other side of the dining room. He keeps an emergency supply of Floo powder in a pouch in his pocket, just in case he ever needed a hasty exit. He pulls himself into the green flames, mutters his barely perceptible destination, and is whisked away.
Days later, Sirius wakes up in a soft, comfortable bed in a light, warm room. Not Grimmauld, then. The first thing he sees is Euphemia Potter’s face gazing at him with a worried and tender expression. “Oh, my boy,” she sighs, gently brushing Sirius’ hair out of his eyes, “You’re home now.”
***
Since coming back to school after the Christmas break, Sirius has been quiet, moody and quick to anger. He snaps viciously at anyone who gets in his way. He is defiant with his teachers, and distant with his friends. He tries to push Remus away, but Remus, the stubborn prick, won’t let him go that easily. He just needs space from everyone and everything, and so he heads to the Prefect bathroom, which no one ever uses. Except the bathroom is not empty now. Sirius can hear muffled sobbing in one of the stalls, and he would turn away, but the familiarity of the crying voice compels him to investigate.
“Lily,” he breathes out, surprised to see the normally composed, brave girl brought undone. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
“Oh, hi Sirius.” Lily mumbles, her cheeks colouring with embarassment. “Nothing, nothing. Just had a hard break and a long day.”
“Me too, Evans.” Sirius sighs with exhaustion. Well if Lily won’t tell him what’s going on, he’ll have to do the talking. And he does. Sirius spills his heart out to Lily, telling her all about the Christmas break, and running away, and his horrible family.
“Merlin, Sirius, I’m so sorry.” Lily gazes piteously at him with dazzling green eyes. “At least my family’s nowhere near as bad as yours.” And Lily tells him about her family, and Petunia, and how hard it is to balance being a muggle-born witch. And then, she tells him about Severus. Sirius is livid.
“That foul, slimy cockroach! He’s a prejudiced git, Lily. How could he pretend to be your friend and then say that to you? I really just-”
“Sirius?” Lily questions, cautiously. Sirius stands and marches to the bathroom exit.
“I have to find him, Lily. He can’t get away with this.”
***
While Sirius is furiously searching the castle so he can take his anger out on Snape, a blood curdling scream echoes through the hall. Sirius freezes. He would know that voice anywhere.
“Regulus! Regulus, where are you? Hold on, I’m coming!” Sirius shouts, immediately rocketing down the corridors in the direction of the screaming. Sirius finds Regulus. He’s dangling upside down over the edge of a balcony, suspended by the magic emitting from Severus Snape’s outstretched wand.
“Snape! What the fuck are you doing?” Sirius demands, pulling out his wand and pointing it menacingly at Severus’ skull. Mulciber, Avery and another boy whose name Sirius doesn’t remember are also there, laughing maniacally and egging Snape on.
“Let him go, Snape. Or else.” Sirius threatens through gritted teeth.
Snape just smiles back, flashing Sirius his yellowed grimace. “If you insist.”
Then, Regulus is plummeting towards the ground. Sirius withdraws his wand from Snape and catches Regulus with only moments to spare, and lowers him safely to the ground.
“Fuck, you alright Reg?” Sirius’ voice is threaded with anxiety.
Regulus scoffs, laughing incredulously. “Yes, no thanks to you. I didn’t need help, especially not from a disgraceful blood traitor.”
Sirius gazes at his brother with pure shock.
“Hear that, Black?” Severus taunts, “You’re so pathetic, even your own brother wants nothing to do with you!” Severus’ laughter is cut off by a string of hexes fired by Sirius. Regulus takes the opportunity to sneak off back down the corridor and out of sight. Then, a fight breaks out.
Sirius is slinging curses every which way, but it’s still one against four. The odds aren’t looking good for him. Sirius hits all the Slytherin boys with powerful stinging curses, and Mulciber retaliates with a hex that feels like bull ants attacking Sirius’ body. Sirius doesn’t know how long he can keep this up. He underestimated the other boys and their magical abilities. Snape hits Sirius with a blood boiling curse, and suddenly Sirius is back in the dining room of Grimmauld place, his body on fire, burning away from inside out.
It isn’t until Minerva McGonagall is standing over him that he realises Mulciber, Avery and Wilkes have disappeared. “Mister Snape, Mister Black. Follow me to my office, please.”
***