Mr Potter and Mrs Snape
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE’LL DO IT AFTER THE HOLIDAYS? ARE YOU HAVING AN IDENTITY CRISIS? SINCE WHEN ARE THE QUIDDITCH TRYOUTS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY? I’LL KILL YOU! THEY’VE ALREADY BEATEN YOU TO A PULP…”
“Don’t we have anything else to think about, Potter?”
“Like what?” James had jumped out of bed and was pacing around. Unfortunately, Snape didn’t have the energy for that. He raised one eyebrow from where he lay.
“Things more important than Quidditch?”
“If you had this much manliness” He brought his thumb and index finger almost together, “You would know that in this world, there is nothing more important than Quidditch.”
Snape snorted.
“But there is! And I’m saying this even overlooking the dark magic we've done. Our mothers are on the way!”
“My dad is coming,” James corrected.
“Oh, how important it is who’s coming…” he said with rage in his voice. “They’re coming to pick us up…”
He was interrupted by the door opening yet again. Five Gryffindors entered, hands full of packages, and settled around Snape's bed. Snape, who got licked from both his cheeks by all five of them, fixed the same stupid grin on his face that he always thought James had.
After what felt like hours to Snape (though they had only stayed for about ten minutes), James turned his attention back to his own body who was busy selecting the most suitable bean from Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. It seemed that Snape considered these sweets the only perk of the situation.
“These beans came to me!” he said, emphasizing ‘me’ with extra precision.
“Yeah,” he said, pausing briefly to taste the oddly colored bean he had bitten off the end of. Then he tossed the bean into his mouth and continued. “Shall we ask your friends then?” He glanced at the sulking face and smiled. “I’m not that cruel. You can have a bean.” He extended the box towards James in a Santa Claus-like manner. “Come on! I ate three. They were all mint. Not that bad. Worst case, you take one taste like dragon dung…”
James pushed the offered box away with the back of his hand. The box slid across the floor and bumped into an empty bed at the far end. Snape looked at the scattered beans on the floor and chuckled.
“If you don’t like them, just say ‘I don’t like them’, Potter,” he sang. “No need for body language.”
“Don’t forget to take charge of my team!”
“Is that your concern right now?”
“You’re eating my sweets too,” he reminded him. “They’re mine! They came for me.”
“Hmm, alright, then you can take the gifts which came to me. I won’t claim any rights!” Snape said generously. “I’m allowing it.”
“Nothing came for you, innit?”
***
"Padfoot, Mr. Potter is coming!”
Sirius lifted his head from the Daily Prophet. After digesting what he heard, he lifted the front two legs of his chair off the ground. As he usually did when he relaxed, he leaned back.
"Finally! Everyone’s gone. It’s just us left."
Indeed, apart from a few students who had signed up to stay at the school for Christmas, the common room was empty.
“Hey, someone else is coming along with Mr Potter, look!”
Sirius and a curious girl (it was unclear whether her curiosity was towards the person coming or Sirius himself) turned their attention towards Remus.
“Hmm, looks quite miserable. Reminds me of someone.”
The girl burst into laughter, but when the two boys turned to look at her, her eyes met their raised eyebrows, she swallowed, blushed, and stopped laughing.
“Let’s go to the wing then.”
“Can I come too?” the girl asked. But then she immediately fell silent and ran towards the girls' dormitory. Sirius, with a slight smirk on his face, chuckled, while Remus, with a very serious expression, said:
“Don’t mind it, I think she has a crush on me…”
Sirius’s smirk widened as he politely stepped aside to let Remus pass.
***
“We need to stay here, Potter. We have to find a way out of this mess!” He still couldn’t believe every part of him was aching. He hadn’t realized his friends were that strong. “Together…”
“But I didn’t sign up to stay? I mean, in that case, neither did you and Sirius…”
“You and your fucking Sirius can…”
The door, as if sworn to interrupt their conversation, opened again. A man with disheveled black hair and a woman with a stern face entered. Following them were Sirius Black and Remus Lupin…
“JAMES!”
It was clear Mr. Potter hadn't expected to see his son in such a state. Hearing about the fight, he had assumed James had been up to his usual antics, roughing someone up. But the boy lying in front of him was in no state to rough anyone up, hardly able to move a finger. And according to what McGonagall had said, the one who had done this was the gaunt, skinny boy in the bed next to him. Snape raised his head and one eyebrow, indifferently saying,
“Dad, welcome.”
James snorted, they were still playing this game. He turned to the stern-faced woman,
“Mom,” he said in a low voice.
The woman merely grunted. But Mr. Potter said,
“What happened, son? I thought... Ah... Well, you can’t come home like this.”
“Yes, I can’t. Actually, I was saying I should stay here. Sirius and I, I mean…”
“But James, we discussed this. We need to go, you know that. Besides,” he paused and gave a meaningful look, “Moony is leaving too. We should be going as well.”
James lifted his head. Of course, how could he forget about Moony!
Snape looked blankly. If Moony was leaving, so be it. Why couldn’t they stay?
“Well, but I’m not well. And I’ve been thinking, I should stay here and study. Um, for my grades…”
“You don’t have any low grades?”
The door opened again. This time it was Regulus, escorted by Madam Pomfrey. Before settling next to James, he turned to his brother, who was staring blankly at Snape.
“Hello!”
No response.
“I was going to ask if you’re staying at school.”
No response.
“Are you going to the Potters' again?”
No response.
“Actually, it seems impossible for you to come home…”
No response.
“I mean, mom disowned you. She even went to the Ministry, and you’re cut off from the family inheritance.”
“Ah! I’m so devastated now!”
“I was also going to say she might forgive you. I mean, your room is still as it was. They didn’t give it to me.”
“Huh,” he snorted mockingly. “Of course they wouldn’t give it to you. The whole room is decked out in gold and red… The Gryffindor crests on the walls are stuck with permanent sticking charms.”
“And the muggle women,” added Regulus. From his tone, it seemed he disapproved of this the most. Muggle women in the Black Manor!!
“Yeah! They wouldn’t want you to enter such a room and risk sullying your pure soul! That’s probably why you never made it to the big room, dear little brother.”
Regulus merely glared in response. Then he went and settled next to James.
“Are you okay?”
“Physically? Yes.”
“He acts like I kicked him out!”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m talking about my brother, he acts like I kicked him out!”
“Oh,” said James. He really didn’t want to get into this topic now. Especially not with Regulus and certainly not with a Slytherin attitude. And they didn’t. Eileen Snape had grumbled something from behind.
“The owl perched on your dad’s head!”
“Hmm.” He said. He couldn’t think of a more interesting response. It was an owl, after all; it could perch anywhere. But the woman looked at James in such a way that he wondered, ‘Was it me who perch on the man’s head?’
“How many times have I told you not to write letters. He gets angry!” she whispered, almost inaudibly even to Regulus.
“I didn’t write anything. The professors sent the mail.”
“Then don’t do things that cause letters to be written. He snapped at me because of you!” She seemed about to say more but stopped, possibly uncomfortable with Regulus being too close.
James also remained silent, but he was grumbling internally. Of all the things he had been involved in, this was the least he was at fault. Yet, he had received the harshest punishment.
When the door opened again, this time everyone looked angrily at the newcomer. Madam Pomfrey was muttering something about infirmary rules, while Snape couldn’t help but internally laugh. Li Yang, with her suitcase in hand, was beaming at Sirius!