3.
“At least my family tree doesn’t have the form of a circle!” The angry, slightly foreign voice of Severus Snape rang through James’ ears. “At least my mother isn’t a dead whore!” Sirius retaliated, who had provoked Snape by casting a jinx his way. Snape swiftly avoided getting hit.
And suddenly, Snape was on top of Sirius, punching his face. “You arsehole! I hope you fucking die!” Snape said as he was dragged away by Filch, who had stepped in as soon as Snape attacked Sirius. “He’s fucking crazy, how’s he still in Hogwarts?” Peter asked, helping Sirius up.
“I don’t know,” Remus said “We should go to Madam Pomfrey.” They walked over to the Hospital Wing, with James supporting Sirius. “Sit down,” Madam Pomfrey said, casting a medical scan on Sirius. “He’ll be fine, just needs ice and some pepper up.” She handed Sirius the potion, who drank it with a face of obvious disgust.
“He should get expelled!” Sirius dramatically stated, Remus scrunched his eyebrows in irritation. “No, he should go to Azkaban!” Sirius was always a fan of the dramatics. “Why would he go to Azkaban? He didn’t do anything illegal.” Remus stated.
”For attacking me, duh!” Sirius pulled his curly black mane into a sloppy ponytail. “Attacking you isn’t illegal, Sirius.” James said, though he would normally side with his best friend, this time he was just being absurd. “At least he’ll get detention with Filch, thats quite good.” Peter reassured.
“Yeah, but—“ Sirius tried to say, but Madam Pomfrey shooed them out of the Hospital Wing. “I’m gonna go study, we have a potion due.” James said, and Sirius whined. “You could study later! We need some new prank ideas.” Sirius said, James rolled his eyes.
“Maybe, but I’m already failing Potions, I need to make it right this time.” James said, walking toward the library. He said hi to the librarian, Irma Pince, and grabbed his textbook. James looked around, he was alone, except for some black haired figure with a Slytherin uniform— Snape.
James smiled sinisterly, imagining all the things he would be able to do. And his eyes fell on his robes, which were hanging on the chair. Maybe he could rip it apart? Burn it? Destroy it, or steal it? The options made him giddy. James discreetly grabbed his wand, and aimed it at the robes.
“Rippaturas!” And the robes started destroying itself, with Snape desperately trying to fix them. “ебать! ебать!” What? Merlin what foreign language was he talking in? “Нет, Нет!” He muttered, James stared at him. “What the hell were you saying?” James asked, laughing at him.
“Nothing, you arsehole.” Snape sneered, brows furrowing in anger. “Now, now, Snivellus, be nice!” James mocked, using Snape’s much hated nickname. “Why should I!? You just destroyed my robes, and you have been my mortal enemy since the first year!”
Alright, he was right on that note. But other than that, Snape was being completely absurd! “I didn’t destroy your robes, your robes destroyed itself!” James received a quick, subtle slap for that. “Ow!” James exclaimed, cradling his cheek in the palm of his hand.
“Вы заслуживаете что.” There he went again! Speaking that god forsaken language James just couldn’t seem to understand. “What language is that? Seriously, I want to know.” James asked, Snape rolled his eyes. “Russian, alright! Now sod off!” Snape spat, and he walked away in irritation.
Russian? Snape knew Russian?! Alright, Snape was James’ enemy, but that is so cool! James wished he could speak another language, though he was proud being from Britain.
— —
The consequence happened a few days later. Snape was coughing non-stop during Professor Slughorns lecture. “Mr Snape, stop your coughing.” Slughorn reprimanded, Snape just nodded. Was James the cause of his coughing? Could he fix it? “Snivellus is being unbearably annoying.” Sirius complained.
“I think I know why…” James guiltily admitted, Sirius suddenly looked intrigued. “Why?” He asked, Sirius had a weird interest in gossiping since James had met him, James wasn’t quite sure why. “I used the Rippaturas spell on his robes,” James admitted, his face getting red from embarrassment.
“So Snivy’s probably sick because of me.” James said, resting his head down on the table. “It isn’t your fault the git didn’t pack an extra pair of robes,” Sirius comforted, resting his chin on his palm. “He’ll be fine!” Sirius said, James got annoyed. “What if he won’t be?” James asked.
“Why are you so concerned for that slimy snake?” Sirius asked, James suddenly thought back on all of the train rides to Hogwarts. Snape was always covered in blood and bruises, and his clothing always seemed to small on his lanky body. “Remember the train rides?” James asked.
Sirius nodded “Yeah, they were amazing!” Sirius laughed, catching Slughorns attention. “Mr Potter, Mr Black, do something productive.” James and Sirius nodded, and James opened his textbook. “Yeah, but why was Snape always bruised and bloody?” James asked, Sirius shrugged.
Maybe Snape was just very accident prone? No, it couldn’t be that, James had noticed how neat Snape was. James thought of the inevitable, it could be his home life. Snape’s mother was dead, he had heard Sirius yell that at the fight they had a few days ago.
So, it was his father. Maybe his father was a raging russian? James smiled at the thought, even though it was kind of horrible to think about. “You’re free, go celebrate or something.” Slughorn really didn’t know how teenagers worked, did he? James was going to confront Snape about it, he thought.
“Snape!” James ran to catch up with him. “What? Going to destroy more of my stuff?” Snape sneered, James shook his head. “I want to ask a question,” James said, Snape scoffed. “What Lily likes? Not you.” Snape showed a slight smirk on his face, and James almost felt giddy, the reason? He didn’t know.
“No, why are you always so bruised on the train?” Snape tensed, his eyes widened like a deer caught in headlights. “No reason.” He quickly answered, and turned to walk away. James grabbed his arm, and pulled him back. Snape’s sleeve had rolled up in the process.
His arm looked incredibly boney, and there were scars littered all over. Some old, some new. “Where…where did these come from..?” James asked, concerned look on his face. Tears welled in Snape’s eyes, and he pulled his arm back harshly. And he broke into tears.
“Are— are you, being…abused?” James realized, and an angry look appeared on Snape’s face. “None of your fucking business! Leave me alone! I fucking hate you!” And with that, Snape ran away.