Karma is Real
Severus carefully made his way to the Forbidden Forest. It was an hour past curfew, so he had to be sneaky, or else he wouldn’t be able to meet Lily, and end up with detention instead.
Every time he heard footsteps he’d hide behind the cracks of the wall, or wherever would conceal his presence. His bony figure made it easy for him to fit into tight spaces, evading the prefects and monitors with ease.
He kept this way until he made it outside, all the way to the hut on the edges of the forest without being caught.
It was a dark night, with thick clouds obscuring the twinkling stars and shining moon. There was an eeriness in the atmosphere, giving Severus the shivers. The shrieks and growls coming from deep within the forest weren’t helping either.
Severus sensed that there was something ominous, and felt as if he made a mistake waiting there for the fiery haired girl. But he couldn’t go back after coming this far.
Although Lily hadn’t shown up yet, he would patiently wait for her no matter what. Severus would talk to her, and finally apologize to her properly, relieving him of a guilt that carried in two lifetimes.
Fifteen minutes passed, and Lily was a no show.
Fifteen turned into thirty.
And thirty became an hour.
At this point, he was shivering. His hands were so frozen that he could barely clutch his wand. It was a cold autumn night, bordering winter. His shabby robes could keep him warm for thirty minutes, but it couldn’t keep him warm after an hour.
At this point, Severus had to accept that he was stood up by the girl. Maybe this was her revenge, to cruelly give him false hope and shatter him by leaving her.
But it was fine. Severus didn’t expect anything. He had already been crushed in his last timeline. Going through it again made him just feel numb, which wasn’t too bad.
Accepting the fact he had been stood up, he turned to make way back to the dorms. But before he could, he stopped as he heard a crinkle near the hut. It was as if something had stepped on a leaf.
Severus immediately faced the source of sound as he held up his wand to guard him. He had already prepared multiple protective spells around him, in case for the worst.
But there was nothing in front of him. Just an empty clearing and an old worn down hut.
At least, that was what he thought, before a fiery spell flew right at him catching him by surprise. Severus deflected it easily even though he wasn’t prepared for it, and he was a bit confused where it came from.
“Move over Moony, I can barely fit in here,” a voice faintly hissed.
“There’s nowhere to move over. This cloak is hiding four people, of course there’s no space you dunderhead,” a low voice replied.
Severus, who at first was confused, slowly caught onto what was happening. A voice seemingly coming from nowhere, as if it was invisible. There happened to be a certain someone with an invisibility cloak. He scowled as he threw a spell where the sounds came from. “WINGARDIUM, LEVIOSA!”
Four boys tightly huddled together were revealed as their invisibility cloak floated away by the spell. They all had an expression of shock and surprise as they were unveiled.
Severus’ lips curled into a sneer as his eyes were cursed with the sight of the Marauders. “What are you lot doing out here?”
At first, they were too dumbfounded to reply, but not for long. “Dang it Padfoot, this is all your fault! You can’t keep your mouth shut even if your life depended on it,” James huffed as he pushed the black hair away.
“Answer me Potter. What are you doing here creeping around?”
James dusted off his clothes, before looking at Severus dead in the eyes. “We’re here to talk to you, Snivellous,” he replied swiftly.
Severus backed up, very wary. “Talk? Don’t joke with me. You fools are incapable of having a civil conversation.”
Severus’ mind was racing as he tried to formulate everything that was happening. It couldn’t be a coincidence that they met here. He knew that their map didn’t include anything outside of Hogwarts, yet they still somehow tracked him near an abandoned clearing late at night. It was as if they knew he was going to be here.
Severus’ heart started beating even faster. Only one other person knew he was going to be here tonight. No matter how much he wanted to deny it, there was only one possible answer.
“Did Lily tell you where I was going to be here?” Severus managed to croak out.
Severus desperately wanted for it to be untrue. His hand began to tremble, and his heart felt as if someone was squeezing it, hoping for it to explode. Tears began to well up in the corners of his eyes, but he firmly stood his ground.
James, Sirius and Peter looked at each other before bursting into laughter. Remus just stood there awkwardly, and a glimpse of uneasiness could be seen in his eyes.
“Of course not.” James said with a cockish grin. “We told her to tell YOU to be here tonight, which she happily complied to. And here you are, waiting for her like a lost puppy,” he ended with a mocking pout. “Just for her to not show.”
It felt as if someone had punched Severus in the gut, wrenching them out of him. His slender fingers gripped his wand tightly in case for the worst, but they were shaking like an earthquake. He felt as if his existence was being beaten and bruised by a mallet as each second passed.
Severus had spent two lifetimes chasing after Lily’s shadows. He sacrificed one life for her son, and he sacrificed everything just for her even in death. Yet she discarded him to these wild lions easily, as if he was a leech she had been willing to rid of anytime.
No matter how much he loved her, he couldn’t find anything else that fit in the equation. The truth was crystal clear, like the divination orbs that fortune tellers used.
Lily had stabbed him in the back, and thrown him into a pit of hungry lions.
“You couldn’t really have expected her to come here, or did you?” A voice said with full contemptment and amusement. “Waiting out here for an hour, oh how desperate are you Snivellus?”
Severus only pursed his thin lips, and glared back with a frosty expression. All he could do was remain silent, as James threw the bitter reality at him like a Crucio.
Severus’ lack of reply fueled James even further, making him even more spirited. “You’re pathetic. You think a slimy Slytherin, both poor and ugly is deserving of Lily, even after calling her a Mudblood? Don’t kid yourself, Snivellus,” James taunted and drawled his last word.
James felt energized as he saw Severus’ broken expression. He could feel the excitement and adrenaline pumping through his veins, and he couldn’t help himself. “But at least you’ve won me 60 galleons, since I did bet that you’d wait pathetically an hour or longer just to talk to her. I guess you have some worth after all,” he snickered.
That was all Severus’ existence was worth. To be humiliated, backstabbed, and made into a fun game. All because he fell for their trap, since he wanted to sincerely apologize for Lily.
How pathetic.
Severus could no longer take the humiliation and heart wrenching pain that James was inflicting upon him, thus he turned his back and attempted to escape.
Of course, the Marauders wouldn’t just let him go.
“Oi! Snivellus is running like a cat with its tail tucked between its legs. Too scared of the truth, Snivellus?” Sirius called out.
“Sirius, leave it. We’ve done enough tonight-”
“Moony, are you kidding? This was hardly the tip of the iceberg. He deserves worse than this.”
Severus paused as he heard that. He turned around, with a dark expression. “And what exactly do I deserve?”
“You know, more than this. A beating-”
Severus cut through Sirius mid sentence. “As if any of you could even manage to lay your filthy hands on me,” he snarled.
Severus was sick of everything. He was sick of acting like an obedient lamb, he was sick of not fighting back, he was sick of Lily, and he was sick of the Marauders. More importantly, he was sick of being helpless.
“Is that a challenge?” James asked, with a maniacal grin on his face.
Severus snarled. “No, Potter, it’s a fact.”
James' face darkened, and he immediately lunged at Severus, catching everyone off guard. “Sirius, stand back. I’ll deal with Snivellus on my own,” he shouted back to the group.
Severus stepped back, frozen in a moment of surprise. Before he could get himself together, James was already on top of him, holding his wrist down. He had knocked Severus’ wand out of his hand, and it laid a few metres away.
James looked down at Severus with a lopsided grin. “Couldn’t even touch the hem of your robes, you said?”
Severus squirmed underneath James, trying to escape. It was all for naught, since he couldn’t compete against James physically. The difference in their figures was like night and day, and unfortunately, Severus got the shorter end of the stick.
Even so, it wasn’t the end for Severus. He may not be able to compete against James in terms of a physical brawl, but in terms of magic, he easily could.
Severus’ body let his body become limp, and that curled a smile from James. “Giving up now after talking big, Snivy?”
Severus knitted his eyebrows as he locked eye contact with James. “Bombardo,” he whispered softly.
“Trying to hit me with a spell? You don’t even have your wa-” James said before he was shot back a few metres by a flash of blue light that emitted from Severus. He hit a tree, which resulted in a grunt, and tumbled down on the grass while holding his chest tightly. A bit of blood dripped and began to stream down his mouth.
“Is that all you have, Potter?”
James looked a bit shaken, unable to regain his composure. Did Severus just use wandless magic?
Severus picked up his discarded wand, and started to approach James slowly. “You talked quite big before. I’m a little disappointed.”
All of a sudden, a curse flew at Severus. He raised his wand and effortlessly parried it. “A sneak attack, classic Black.”
Severus glanced over to where Sirius stood, who was seemingly furious with his wand raised. “Your friend here said he could handle me all by himself, so why are you involving yourself?”
Sirius in return responded with a flurry of hexes and curses. “Expelliarmus, Bombarda, LocomotorMortis!” He cried as combinations of spells flew at Severus.
Of course, Severus deflected and parried them with ease. “How disappointing,” he said as he raised his wand at Sirius. “You can’t possibly think of beating me with these pathetic skills.”
Just before he could throw a spell at the curly haired boy, a stinging hex was thrown below Severus, catching him off guard as he stumbled backwards. James had recovered enough to join in on the fight once again.
“Two against one? What a classic.”
“You’re probably using dark and cheap underhanded methods,” James spat back.
“Make whatever excuses you want.”
This prompted a turbulence of spells thrown by James and Sirius to Severus. Although it was two versus one, Severus managed to get the upper hand as he evaded and deflected the spells with ease, while managing to throw some in.
Severus had begun to overpower Sirius and James, but the two boys firmly held their ground, refusing to back down. Beads of sweat had started to drip down their forehead, and their exhaustion had started to catch up to them. It was clear they were no match for Severus, and were going to be brought down sooner or later.
Two people throwing spells at Severus had turned into three people. A Stupefy spell had been thrown by someone other than the two he was currently against. Severus briefly peered at Remus, who was the perpetrator behind the Stupefy spell. “I see there’s three people going at me now.”
James gritted his teeth, abandoning all his pride. “Wormtail, come help us as well!” He shouted back to the boy.
Peter seemed hesitant, as if he was afraid to join in where the tornadoes of spells were being thrown. He may have been afraid, but he was an obedient dog for James.
“You need four people to go at me? How utterly pathetic,” Severus laughed as he continued to defend himself against the four people.
“Shut up, SNIVELLUS,” James roared.
Severus replied with a Confringo that that made James stumble back. His movements were precise and swift, allowing him to simultaneously send defensive and offensive attacks.
James was still unwilling to yield and turned to the other three boys. “Marauders, joint spell,” he screamed.
The four boys hastily moved together, as if they were in sync. They placed their wands into a formation, and flashes of blue danced from their wands.
“BOMBARDA,” the four boys yelled as their spells became a whole.
Severus’ eyes widened at the brilliant sight. To be able to merge spells together was difficult, and could only be performed if the casters were in harmony. The spell fruited from the spell would be vigorous, so all he could do was watch as the blazing spell raced to him. It was too fast for him to evade, but too powerful for him to deflect. The best he could do was put up his defensive shields, although it wouldn’t be able to completely protect him by the raw power the four boys merged together.
Severus’ body was hit by the spell, and he staggered back. He felt a bit of pain in his chest, and coughed up a bit of crimson blood, but it wasn’t too serious. “You need to do more than that,” he said weakly as he wiped his mouth with his sleeves.
Realizing that the boy hadn’t fallen yet, Sirius yelled to the rest, “Surround him!”
Severus hadn’t completely regained his composure, and was slowly being pushed to his limits. Severus was quickly surrounded, being met with spells being thrown at him from all sides, not even giving him a chance to get himself together.
The Marauders realized this, and the intensity of the spells thickened. Everyone was sweating at this point, trying their best to gain the upperhand. Beads of sweat were trickling down everyone.
Severus could barely even see. He realized his current body couldn’t handle the magic flowing within, so the true limits to his powers were restricted. He clenched his jaw as his eyes were blinded by the bright light from each spell that was thrown at him from each side.
Severus was faltering.
James’ spirit had been recollected once he noticed that Severus was struggling, and he laughed. “Not so tough now, are you Snivy?”
Severus couldn’t reply, and continued to withhold from the attacks. He could feel them closing in, but he refused to fall down.
“Snivellus, Snivellus, Snivellus,” was all that was ringing in his ears.
The three Marauders had started to chant that name. They knew how much Severus hated that nickname, and how much it dehumanized him. They wanted to break down his spirit, to make him lose his composure.
Unfortunately, Severus was close to his breaking point. The name calling was tearing down his mental state. He was already physically exhausted, so his mental state couldn’t hold up much longer.
Severus could barely hold up. He wondered what he had ever done to deserve any of this? All he ever wanted in his life was to live happily ever after. He did have his ever after, but nothing about it was happy. It seemed as if the world forsaken him, and was intent on breaking him.
He endured the abuse by his father, and watched his mother pitifully live out her life. The only person who ever showed him warmth was Lily, but she turned against him and left him with the dust. He was bullied mercilessly, all because he told a certain boy he wanted to be a Slytherin on the Hogwarts Express. His bully and his best friend ended up eloping. He was humiliated, beaten and torn down every second that passed in his life.
It wasn't fair. Severus never asked for any of this. He never asked to be hung upside down as his pants were ripped off and his underwear was shown to the world. He never asked for Sirius to almost send him to his death and traumatize him for life. He never asked for his dad to beat him practically every day he lived under the same roof as him.
All he had ever asked for was a loving house where his mother and father could be happy. He asked for someone to just show him a bit of warmth and love. He asked for happiness.
But all he got was misfortune and misery everywhere. So why should he keep enduring?
The anger assembled a surge of energy that waved over Severus, and a burst of light transmitted from his body. It overtook every spell that was being thrown at him, breaking their flow. It caught the Marauders by surprise, flinging them in the air until they plummeted harshly on the grass.
Sirius was the first to manage to get onto his feet, but his body was shaking. “Bloody hell, what was that?”
Severus ignored his question, and slowly went up to Sirius who seemed terrified of him. Sirius pulled out his wand and pointed it at him with quaky hands. “Stupe-”
“Sectumsempra.”
Sirius stiffened as his body was filled with cuts everywhere. Blood began to ooze out from each wound, causing him to drop down to his knees. His cloudy grey eyes were widened in fear.
Not satisfied enough, Severus delivered a hard kick to Sirius’ stomach, causing the boy to grunt loudly, as he was knocked over. His body went limp, which meant he had been knocked unconscious. Severus hummed with happiness as he was about to deliver a hard kick, before he was interrupted. “Expelliarmus,” Remus’ voice shouted as a red light bolted to Severus
Severus dodged it easily, and turned his full attention to the werewolf.
The werewolf was frozen in fear, as Severus’ footsteps came closer as each moment passed. His arm was injured from the fall, and all he could do was point his wand helplessly at the skinny boy. “Stop this before it gets too far,” he said feebly.
That managed to get Severus to pause. “Before things get too far?” he asked quietly.
“Yes-”
Remus was interrupted as Severus burst out with laughter, before it came to a slow halt. “Do you think things haven’t already gotten too far?”
Remus had no reply, and all he could do was point his wand weakly, and stare at Severus pleadingly. He was petrified to see his crazed yet devoid eyes that were filled with pure resentment. He instantly knew whatever he said wouldn’t get through the boy.
He lowered his wand, and admitted defeat. Severus’ lips curled into a sneering smile.
“Sectumsempra.”
Remus was immediately knocked over, and laid unconscious on the ground as he bled. Satisfied with this, Severus left the boy to lay there, and advert his eyes to a short and stubby boy who was petrified.
Severus hated Peter with a passion. He was a coward, a traitor and a weakling. He would be nothing without the Marauders, yet he turned his back on them in his last life. He also found pleasure by crushing those who couldn’t fight back. He was the perfect example of something pathetic.
Peter backed up, trying to run away. “H-hey so-”
Severus stared Avada Kevadras at the rat like boy, and raised his wand. “Petrificus Totalus,” the spell rolled off his tongue.
Peter froze from the spell, making it easy for Severus to catch the boy. Severus stood right in front of him, with a condescending gaze that caused ripples of shivers up his spine. He looked extremely distressed, and all the blood looked as if it been drained from his face. Severus sneered at his pathetic state before proceeding to smash Peter’s head into a tree.
Although Peter had been immediately knocked out, Severus wasn’t completely satisfied yet. “Sectumsempra,” he said once more, and watched the fat boy bleed out.
James watched this from a short distance. He was propped against a tree, with his whole body limp. He was horrified as he watched Severus torture each of his friends.
For the first time in his life, he felt pure terror. He wanted to run away and scream for help, but his legs wouldn’t let him. As each of his friends fell over, the dread he felt multiplied, knowing his turn that was about to come. All his Gryffindor bravery had dissipated.
James was drowning in regret and terror as he lamented his poor decisions. He should have never gone for Severus. Had he known Severus was this dangerous, he would’ve never messed with the boy. Merlin, if he knew, he wouldn’t ever let himself be caught alone with the crazed boy.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t change the past.
James and Severus locked eyes after Peter’s body fell into a puddle, and he instantly felt a bolt of dread pass through his body. He had tears welled up in his eye as he laid there helplessly, unable to do anything.
James looked down on the ground, as if not seeing Severus could help him hide. Every quiet crunch from his steps made James shiver.
“Not so brave now, are we Potter?” Severus whispered as he grabbed Potter’s chin, tilting it up to face him.
“I-I’m sorry,” was all he could get out.
James was met with a loud slap on his face, knocking his glasses off. His eyes welled up with tears, and some began to drop. No one had ever slapped him like this, not even his parents.
James anxiety shot up through the roof. His breathing was hitched, and his heartbeat was faster than ever. He dreaded what the boy would do next.
“You’re sorry now? After all the years of torture you put me through?” Severus screamed, as his emotions were driven by anger and hatred. “Now you’re sorry?”
Severus punched James square in the jaw, and a loud crack was heard in the silent night. “That’s for always making me the victim of your sadistic pranks.” The other side of his face was swiftly met with another punch. “That’s for humiliating me by showing my underwear to the whole school.”
James felt as if his jaw had been broken. He couldn’t even speak to defend himself, so he just helplessly let the boy vent his pent up anger onto him.
James was beaten black and blue as Severus named every sin he had ever committed against him, with a delivered punch to accompany them. At that point, he was way out of his mind that couldn’t even count the amount of punches he received.
“It’s not so fun now, since you’re the one beaten, am I right?”
Severus was met with silence as he gripped onto James' robes. James' head just rolled over, and Severus could see his eyes were rolled back.
Seeing his pathetic state, Severus dropped the boy. He stumbled back, and looked at his surroundings. All of his torturers laid limply on the ground, not even moving a muscle.
A maniacal laugh erupted from Severus. He couldn’t stop laughing, and felt all giddy inside.
It felt good.
Years of pent up hatred and resentment had been let out. He finally got his revenge, with all his antagonizers bowing down to his feet.
But he also felt empty.
Maybe it was because Severus hadn’t delivered the finishing blow to James. He turned to the body lying before him, and tonight he raised his wand once more.
“Sectum-”
Before Severus could complete the spell, his wand flew out of his hand. Confused, he checked his surroundings.
Behind him, was an old man with a haunting beard and colourful robes, accompanied by a girl with bright red hair. They approached the bloody scene, and their facial expressions were twisted into horror.
It was Dumbledore and Lily.
“Severus Snape, what are you doing?” The old man yelled at him, raising his wand. “Stop this madness at once!”
“Make me,” Severus snarled. At this point, he was already out of his mind. He pointed his finger to James once again and stared right into Dumbledore’s piercing eyes. Before Dumbledore could react, a spell had already rolled off Severus’ tongue. “Sectumsempra.”
Dumbledore witnessed in shock as James was slashed open, as blood oozed out from the gashes. Furious, Dumbledore roared and shot a spell at Severus. “Stupefy.”
Too tired to defend himself, Severus accepted the spell and bowled over, rendering him unconscious.