19 months

Snape almost feels his head is about to burst , is this an aneurysm ? Has he done the impossible and achieved it at the ripe age of 17 , this is a fucking record . And to think this day was starting so well. Now he has a fucking liability knowing one of the most scandalous relationship in Hogwarts. This is something that severus hasn't even prepared and he knows that even, sure he did get a head start in a reading on interpersonal relationships but the fucking book had a little quiz at the start and apparently scoring below average meant not even reading it fully for him. 

"well who even are you?" he asked impatiently , " i mean i have never seen you before , and believe me i have to know people" he added 

" why are you popular" asked the ravenclaw , " excuse me do you not know-" he snapped , but upon looking at her blank and curious gaze , he realised this is someone who has never been aware of the complex social dynamics , or has chosen to out it out of mind ,lucky bastard. " i transferred from Ilvermorny , that doesnt mean i wasn't here by the way my parents are diplomats so they kept moving from one country to another." she explained. Severus unimpressed , with no hint of fascination at all replied "fascinating" , with that she had a dumbfounded  look on her face " oh fuck im ria by the way , alexandria wreight , and i promise i wont tell anyone " she answered 

" severus snape, and i don't believe you . how do i know you aren't lying" he refuted back. 

ria took a step closer to snape and takes a deep breath" well severus , allow me to make myself clear : i have gotten lost in hogwarts 3 times this past month , fought with 4 ghosts and 3 portraits , i also nearly had a fight with a flight of stairs. " she says exasperatedly. "On top of that i am training to be an unspeakable, and some dick head with blondish streaks keeps asking me out and cant take no for an answer and the little cunt is in ravenclaw too , which apparently gives you full fucking immunity because and i quote he is 'using all of his mind and soul to take a  chance with me' , and to cope i have a 19 step plan where i rip his potentially fake hair , his balls and maybe if im lucky burn him alive without getting caught. I WISH i had time to gossip but i cant because im too fucking busy dealing with a school that represents apparently a third of Europe. So PLEASE do not exhaust me more." , and with that she takes a deep breath again , eyes closed to calm herself  " now severus snape what do you propose we do with this information? , because obviously these little shit heads represent families that literally control society because secularism is a foreign concept to them " she asks. 

Snape stood there dumb-founded taking all of her in , her rigid stance , her hand already curled into a fist and glaring eyes waiting for him to sprout an answer because fuck , she has a point . 

-x-

Lilly was actually having a great day outdoors, she now just finished her homework and was with her boys and her best friends, when she looked around she could see sirius flirting with marlene ( who was happily perched on dorcas lap) , mary talking to remus and peter animatedly on something that happened in Ancient runes; the day was actually good , the sun for once had arrived and it looked pleasant . The only person missing here was james and before she could enquire about him , she felt a pair of hands behind her oh there he was , and leaned back feeling fully the comfort of James potter. 

"hey " she said before kissing his knuckles. 

"hi" said james giggling " lilly we had a talk about this , im supposed to kiss your knuckles , because 'm the man remember" , " you are ? " she said teasingly with a smile on her face , " well you are, but like in front of the children i am " he explained with the sweetest look on his face. "Well james potter you have my explicit permission to kiss me on my hands" , as posh as she can sound; and with that james dropped to his knees dramatically , " the lady has given me a chance " ," to hold- " replied lilly before being cut of " to hold her hand in lovable hand and has given the explicit permission to touch her"  , and with that he kisses her hand softly like how he always does when they fall asleep with one another wrist , palm and the back of her hand , and it always makes her giggle because the scruff of his chin always tickles, and it still does. Out of all the things she knows learning about him was her favourite , a part of her used to feel guilty that she maybe lost time with him, but instead now it felt like she always knew him inside out.  

" gross " sirius says. 

" shut up " says the duo , " i can always kiss your forehead if you feel left out siri" says james cheekly now sitting next to lilly they are very gross she thinks to herself with their hands holding while playing a thumb war, "and for what being the other woman in the relationship " sirius enquires " yes" james replies confidentially , with that sirius walks up to james and dramatically flops on him " how could you james , what about our kids " he says with an over dramatised  voice of anguish " we have kids " says james to which sirius gasps to that " i knew you were a dead beat father, you dog " . " no you are" replies james proud of come back, before p[utting him in a headlock. 

" while you lot get your family therapy , what do you want to do this weekend guys, and even are you free" enquired marlene , " yeah i am now" says lilly , fully stretching like a cat" just finished all the homework and reading for this weekend so i am fully yours" . 

"perfect " repllied dorcas , the twins are going to have a "secret party" in the pitch" dorcas said wiggling her eyebrows " no its not a  secret, party its a potluck party of sorts. All houses are invited" replied peter , " wont there not be , i dont know a spike of hate crimes or whatever" asked mary sarcastically, " not really , apparently all the heads of houses knew this was bound to happen so the ground is warded to only do spells that are first year level, but during the beginning of hogwarts"explained peter. " Thank you peter , your right plus all the scary slytherins had used this time to leave, because i heard a rumour that all the purebloods are having a bunch of public political meeting" said dorcas . 

" what for ?" asked lilly enquistly 

" well the dark lords fall is not certified , purebloods exist in other houses too , its just there was a stronger concentration on slytherins " replied dorcas diplomatic as ever " but theres a bit of a power vaccum , theres also a heavy mess between people promised to the dark lord , people who stayed neurtal but had connections , those who were there straight up death eaters. Now everyone thinks being a slytherin politician means you are a dark lord." she explained. 

" so what now people want to replace him , but dont want to affiliate themselves with him ? " asked lilly , fully annoyed at the topic now. 

" Yes and no , lills" james replied, " now a lot of purebloods know going that route is fucking messy , they dont want to replace him because some pure-ish death eater followers could kill them , but they also know that this was their one shot of maybe uniting the pureblood community , its just that theres more boring politics involved . Like doing this means having a strong community of similar thinking , but yeah alright does that extend everywhere else ? No , so fully going against that means effecting shadow players who didnt know they were in the game. back then there was no exit , now its easier to leave. " continued james. 

" basically lilly think its an event where there are a bunch of MLM who are invited a corporate event that secretly sponsored by a bunch of banks , but they also work for each other , and everyone knows but says nothing" said remus . 

" hey remus i dont think that very homosexual of you to assume gay men cant fall in love with other gay men in banks " said james offended. 

with the look of absolute shock and almost 70% dumbfounded  and everyone's frustration, Lilly snorts with laughter , she places both of her hands on his face which james smiles at her like how he did in first year , that never changed huh " james sweetie" she said , "the potential love of my life , MLM stands for multi level marketing" .

" oh " he says sheepishly fully embarrassed at his mistake , " its okay i love you regardless" she says before giving him a peck .

" Maybe don't" says peter with disgust in his voice, before turning to the other girls " ladies , if a man hair looks is a representation of his brain or even like an egg : scrambled and maybe a bit burnt at the end " he says fully pointing the ends of his hair caused by the potion class mishap. " maybe walk away" . 

The group roars with collective laughter , and james despite tears in his eyes from laughing covers his face using lillys chest , which lilly allows with her hands feeling his warm back from being from the sun for too long , now fully relaxing next to james for the prospect of maybe her entire life now has a shot of being light , and filled with laughter with people like this pleased her immensely. 

-x- 

The sound of roaring laughter had reached the library window which had gotten regulus curious. And he decided to peak through the the glass , and he could see it. What he always wanted, maybe that sense of deep community and unconditional love. He could see sirius from here laughing at something marlene said. It was strange seeing him so happy before an ugly feeling crawled in his chest. Sirius was never happy , not like that , not with him even when they were younger. Now every interaction that they ever had needed to be interogated because now more than ever it felt there was a sense of obligation between them . Its not like he could ever blame him Things were always tense they only bond they had was one that they needed protection, they cant get it from their parents for the obvious reason. so why does it still hurt that the obvious answer in the room which was to leave hurt regulus more than it did. He wanted to leave , he sometimes wish he did it first , so why even hold back why stay ? There was an obvious answer, he knew it but it still hurt. Maybe some truths are not worth contronting today. Not after James potter kissed him like that. To which he perked up. It was strange that someone like James potter could always set his heart on fire. Its the secrecy , his mind rationed with him , maybe its just him said his heart. Whatever it is, it was worth ranting to severus about. 

"oh shit" , he said out loud before having a bunch of hufflepuffs glare at him , fuck the last interaction he had with snape meant he is going to get hexed, not unless he bribes him. Maybe Hogsmeade first before going to see possibly the only person he knows to win against a glaring match with his mother , though he knew the battle he was going to face and now needed to bring reparations. Quills, ink and socks he thinks to himself that what severus needs sure there a new cauldron but thats his christmas present he smiles to himself. First transfiguration notes then hogsmeade , a strong apology then talking about James. 

-x- 

 "Well?! " Ria asked. 

" you are right" said snape, " And im sorry for making these assumptions about you. This is information that could potentially ruin them all and there needs to be an apporipriate response for handling this type of situation , which frankly im not equipped for." he said sounding exhausted. 

Wow, that was quick, Ria took all of his features, sure he looked a little sickly then again that seemed to be a recurring aesthetic in slytherin house. Before she sould respond snape casted a non verbal accio which brought a bottle and bought two glasses one clearly a wine glass and the one used to serve beer. And watched him pour an appropriate amount of wine and handed it to her and watched him mix his pint glass wine with another substance that the room had provided. 

"Relax im not watching you euthanise myself" snape said with a tone of resignation before slumping to a couch, " i knew this was going to happen the signs were there wreight, but im so tired. This was something i brewed for a ridiculous day like when shit hits the fan and i thought it would a different occasion like if godforbid they elope somewhere and i had to answer for their actions." he said before shrugging his shoulders to get rid of that horrible thought. 

" well apology accepted snape , and please call me Ria Wreight is my family name, and the name game is something i really dont want to get into. " Ria said now sitting beside him , " good god severus what the fuck is the alcohol level it seems very strong " she said already scrunching her nose due to the stench before taking the sip " oh yeah its very strong " she said fully processing the taste , from the side of her eye she can watch snape lips turn upword slightly  before drinking a third of the same drink that should be frankly illegal. 

" im aware , it is above the legal limit, apologies " snape said not sounding apologetic at all. He looked familiar thought ria, but where? it doesn't matter there were more pressing matters . " we should form a book club , actually there is one but you should join my book club" said ria. Snape looked confused for a second and wanted to interject but ria didnt allow him. " its a cover, you and i quite literally know a secret that can shake the school. and there is a strong possibility one of them might die". " if james potter dies i dont think i give a fuck" snape stated sounding bitter." but he is literally in a secret relationship with regulus? " she argued , " he only likes him" refuted snape , to which Ria made a face that only communicated be fucking for real. 

" I know they wont last." said snape honestly with a defensive tone "I know that james wont fucking be with regulus for ever." " how come whats your reasoning"  Ria pressed on. Snape stared at the floor for a while before replying, " its like romeo and juliet " he said sheepishly , that was a statement ria didnt think he was capable of saying , not that he couldnt read of course but he read muggle literature . wait a minute hes half blood?! she thought to her self excitedly proud for that deduction. Snape upon watching her gleeful face replied " im halfblood" almost disgusted about that.

" wait why are you disgusted at that?" asked Ria. 

" oh because i hate my pathetic excuse of a father who happens to be muggle. who now seems to be so much better than before according to my mother" he said muttering the last part to himself. " You don't believe her ?" ria enquired . "I refuse to believe in anything ." replied snape coldly. A silence passed them , before he could make a decision to leave the room she answered, " your telling me that you think they both will die at the end ?" Ria asked , almost scared at the thought of death. 

" No." said snape confused , now sounding grateful at the change of subject, " I don't think either party supports each other , James Potter for all his ignorance to any lifeform below him strangely represents the good of the people. He will always be admired thats a fact , he will be loved adorned by the public and in the dark. Regulus happens to be one of the folks who perhaps had the privilege to love potter despite being far from the spotlight" Snape said , " James will be forced to choose, and his lovers don't want to share , sure maybe 40 years down the line where they both understand they loved james in their own way and maybe a fucking strategic alliance or a shift of sorts" he said snorting before taking another sip " but not now, not when the prospect of living peacefully has just been granted or well always seems to be in the balance. " snape explained. 

" You have a bet don't you" said ria enquired , " You have an idea how long this can go on". 

" 19 months" said snape nodding his head , "thats how long i think he, sorry they can hide this well , that is of course all factors remain equal" 

"such as ?"

" the politics dies down because the dark lord is dead, where no one finds about them." he explained ," but what do you want to proceed with this? do you want a favour? i don't care about potter he can rot, but i don't want to deal with the possibility where shit really hits the fan ; and Black gets hurt really badly."

" because you don't have any alcohol left " she quipped , to which snape nodded solemnly.  Ria barked a laugh at his reaction before answering " relax im not pimping you out , and i want to graduate peacefully. So theres no need for a favour its not any of my business and i don't want it to be. But hey i'm willing to help because i have nothing to loose" she said looking at the relief on snapes face. " Although your own calculations maybe a bit wrong , you forgot to factor one thing" she stated causally.

"whats that?" replied snape with minimal interest. 

" If sorry my bad, when the dark lord returns" she said gravely before taking a big gulp of wine, to which snape stood straight, taking a deep breath " What do you mean Wrieght".

" well there's necromancy , which is very difficult, but the earliest and easiest forms of it are through a horcrux" she explained , upon looking at snapes confused but increasingly panicked look she continued " it's a way to trap ones soul and like all dark spells it started with good intentions , but they way you do it is by killing someone and you then trap your soul to a living or non living object. The object itself can be significant like a family ring or something, or can be as careless as a penny". 

Upon hearing this explanation snape groaned in frustration, standing up he finished his drink before throwing the empty glass on the wall ; to which ria yelped in surprise , before she could react he turned around and looked deeply apologetic " i'm sorry for my actions while i was inhibited" he said before adding on " i thought this was over , i thought he was dead fully ." now fully terrified. 

"Oh he did die yes during the process of creating another one. it's very complicated. But that's the thing no one knows except for him. he has loyalist but its strangely very disorganised , nobody knows each other , and people know that he created them but what they are , where and who they are with that's the question. and of course who is 'rightful servant to retrieve it' . This whole powerplay is literally administrative bullshit " she exclaimed. 

" how do you know this?" asked snape now slightly concerned." oh i read the dark books numerous libraries some here in hogwarts some elsewhere , plus the archives as well. she explained . Snape looked deeply disturbed , at perhaps he knew the future before everyone else did.

" Hey" ria said softly , " there are earlier texts on tracking such spells , horcruxes had quite literally administrative intentions , it was first introduced as a prospect to ensure the legality of assets , settle claims with the said deceased or what was the founders version to attain unlimited life insurance. Magic was never potent back then , nor were they preserved like that , as people were getting hunted left and right , disputes were there people were claiming thing or titles or even relatives were theirs, so you could raise the dead but only for a short while. But as magic advanced it now has resulted in this. Now that it has been laced with dark magic its original meaning has been diluted , not lost." she explained softly. 

" Where can i find these texts? " asked snape quickly, to which she looked confunded , " ria i have no intention of starting or being part of another war ; and quite frankly id rather listen to regulus talk about potters hair than have to bury my friend. So please tell me which building i need to sneak in who do i need to talk to maybe allow my friend to have at least 19 months with his lover" he said in a panicked voice. 

To which Ria smiled softly,  " well severus snape , im flattered that you think you are willing to sneak around but there's no need to do so when you are at my house, the front door will suffice." to which snape turned into a deep shade of pink " wait you have the texts? " he said sounding incrodus by the second . " yes obviously. Like i said technically pureblood by other wizarding societies standards which by the way is literally any other country thats not in the continent of europe" ria said. 

"what about your parents?" Snape said turning red at the prospect of going to someone's house and meeting their parents . "oh relax snape , they're not that conservative plus there are many properties they own " she argued . " if we are going to do this we need to do it this weekend. No one is here and many people are sneaking out due to that potluck party , plus i can make some random excuse if we get caught" she said casually. 

" how do we leave the grounds?" asked snape feeling increasingly stupid that maybe a girl who still wearing BODMAS these tits , reading monster porn somehow had a stronger social circle than he did. 

" oh the wards beyond the certain limit don't work anymore you can almost see it from the ravenclaw tower, and plus i made a portkey that takes me to my house as well" she explained. " although snape you might need to wear something more casual looking to avoid getting caught at the party . Are you in though ? I can do this by myself and plus the future of the wizarding world is not on the hands of a 17 year old boy" she explained. 

" Im In and I know , i don't know why im doing this but.." he answered.

" Its okay you don't need to explain yourself , you can be a man of mystery but tomorrow, maybe at 9 pm ? yeah thats prime crowd time. " 

And Snape watched her change into her ravenclaw uniform , with the shake of her charm bracelet  has that always been there ? he thought to himself. But as she reached the door she came rushing back in placing her reading material into his hands " fun fact this book actually has a similar storyline to what is happening right now. you should have a read" she said sweetly at him 

"get out." he said 

" give it a chance, oh and Severus Snape I Alexandria Wreight welcome to the book club " she said quickly dashing to the door not giving snape the opportunity to throw the 300 page monster romance book at her. 

what did he sign up for , he thought to himself , a book club replied a cheery voice almost sounding similar to Ria Wreight.