"Come on, Sevvie, let's go find Lily so you two can sit with me and my friends," Anya said as she pulled Severus by the arm down the train's hallway. Their skin matched almost identically thanks to their tans and the way the sun had brightened Severus' hair just enough finally made the cousins look similar in some way.
"Don't call me that," Sev grumbled but allowed himself to be pulled, used to his cousin constantly manhandling him.
Anya and the rest of the Prince family had been able to meet Lily when she was allowed to visit Prince Manor for a couple of weeks in the summer before they had gone travelling. It had taken all of Loid's and Yor's persuasion as well as his mother agreeing to spend the two weeks with them, much to her reluctance, to get permission for her to visit. Unbeknownst to Severus, Eileen really only agreed because Tobias would be away at a government enforced rehab camp after too many drunk run-ins with the law. But it had allowed for Severus to experience his favourite part of the summer as he spent it with everyone he cared for under one roof. Not even Italy and France could compete.
"Lily, Lily, over here!" Anya exclaimed, as she saw the glimpse of ginger that passed by one of the compartments.
"Anya, Sev!" Lily exclaimed, seeing them. She rushed over as fast as she could, crashing into both of them and hugging them.
"How were Italy and France?!" Lily asked excitedly.
"They were okay," Sev shrugged, happier now that he had his friend again. He'd missed her a lot.
"Just okay?!" Anya exclaimed, before continuing, "Oh, it was all so beautiful and sunny, Lily. I wish you and Becky could have joined us."
"I bet it was, you two look incredibly tanned," Lily added as she took in their appearances.
"Don't we?" Anya giggled as she compared her skin to Lily's. Severus watched them, noticing yet again that the girls were quite similar. From the hair, to the eyes, to even the height, they looked almost related, if Anya's colouring was just a little darker or Lily's a little lighter, or even if Anya wasn't so tanned at the moment, they would definitely be assumed to be sisters. The fact disturbed him for some reason.
"We should find everyone else," Anya said, as she noticed the train started to get fuller. She hooked her arm in Lily's as she often did when walking with Becky, and pulled her cousin by his hand, forcing him to walk alongside them.
"Oh, Dieu merci, we finally found you!" Anya exclaimed, after the 9th compartment door she opened finally showed her friends on the other side. They were all there, Becky, Damian, Emma, Pandora, Emile, and Ewen, making Anya smile.
"Anya, I missed you!" Becky squealed, hugging her tightly.
"I'm so glad to have you as my roommate again. My little sisters' make extremely unpleasant ones," Emma said as she hugged Anya too. She suffered many woes in her home as the eldest daughter in a household of eight. Her two older brothers were the worst and her three younger sisters were nightmares. She missed sharing her space with cheery Anya instead.
"It's good to see you," Pandora said with her odd smile.
"Oh, you have to tell us about your trip!" Becky gushed as Anya sat in the middle of the group of girls.
"Well, it was beautiful and fun. I got to see parts of my home country I had never been to before and we explored quite a bit of Italy. Definitely improved my French and failed miserably at my Italian," Anya told them animatedly.
"Sounds wonderful," Pandora said, dreamily. "I was able to go home too."
"You have to tell us about that too!" Anya said, excited to learn about a country they had yet to visit. Maybe she could convince Grandpapa to make a trip there and then papa and mama would have no choice but to agree.
"Anya, who is that?" Damian asked, noticing Lily standing by the door and as close to Severus as she could.
"Oh, I'm so, so sorry. I got so excited I completely forgot. Everyone, this is Lillian Evans, better known as Lily. She's Sev's best friend and they grew up together. Lily, these are my friends: This is Rebecca Blackbell, my best friend, and my other friends, Emma Vanity who is my roommate and Pandora Pantazis, she's Becky's roommate. And then there are the guys, Damian Desmond and his best friends Ewen Egeburg and Emile Elman. They're in Slytherin with me and Damian was my potions partner last year," Anya prattled on, introducing them all with no care to their status. The mismatched group was so used to this behaviour by now that they didn't even react.
Lily looked nervously around before curtsying as Eileen had taught her in the summer. Thanks to Loid's insistence, Eileen had kept herself entertained during the summer by teaching Lily as much of the basics of wizarding society and the pureblood world as she could. After all, as Loid had argued, given the conflicting environment in their society, anything they could do to give her a leg up and keep her safe was worth it.
"Is she a mud-muggleborn?" Emile almost spat out in surprise. He only corrected himself when he saw the twin glares coming from Anya and Emma. Really, this was getting to be too much. After all, they only tolerated her halfblood cousin because he had the backing of the Prince House and through Anya, the Briar House too. Becky simply looked at Lily as if she was an odd curiosity, while Pandora quietly studied the room with that dreamy air of hers. Damian tried to keep his face composed. After all, his father had always said that even if they were obviously lesser, outright making them your enemy instead of using them to your advantage was stupid and naïve.
"Well, if she is Sev's and Anya's friend, then she's fine with me," Emma said, clearly getting defensive. Her family had never discriminated against halfbloods, muggleborns, muggles, and squibs as they had plenty of their own.
"She's more than just fine," Anya grumbled, annoyed at her friends and also hurt. It was yet again clear that if they knew the truth of who she really was, they wouldn't be her friends and would probably be spiteful and horrible.
"She also looks a bit overwhelmed, maybe some fresh air would help?" Pandora added in her lilting voice. Like always she was strangely insightful and observant and kind.
"Yes, why don't you take her for a walk to see the rest of the train, Severus?" Ewen suggested sagely, already over with the whole conversation.
"Yes, I think I will do that," Severus said, shoving his best friend out of the door. As soon as it locked behind them, he asked, "Are you okay?"
"I think so," Lily said, still looking a little shaken. She had been told by Mrs. Snape and Professor Forger to expect this but it still took her by surprise.
"They're idiots, don't listen to them. Clearly my cousin needs to find better friends. Come on, let's find a compartment just for us," he said, grabbing her hand and dragging her down the hall. By miracle or fate, they soon found an empty one.
"See, perfect for just the two of us," Sev said, with that odd smile of his that only lifted from one side. If she didn't know him better, she'd say he was smirking.
"Thanks, Sev," Lily said, quickly hugging him before taking a seat. Severus sat right next to her.
"Can we sit with you?" a young, messy haired boy said, pushing his glasses up. Beside him stood Sirius Black.
"Sure," Lily answered with a smile before Severus could.
"I'm Lily and this is Sev," Lily said, forgetting everything taught to her in the summer in her nervousness, she casually introduced them. Severus stiffened, worried that they would see it as a social faux pas.
"We've met," Sirius said casually, nodding to Severus. "I'm Sirius Black and this is James Potter."
Severus stood up at that and bowed slightly as his status required in front of heirs. Worriedly, Lily attempted to follow.
"Heir Black, Heir Potter, it's a pleasure to meet you. Please allow me to make proper introductions. I am Severus Snape-Prince and this is my friend, Miss Lillian Evans," Severus said with a tiny bow.
Sirius laughed mockingly, "You're still such a bore and a suck-up, huh? Always bowing and snivelling in hopes to be seen."
"Ha, snivelling, we should call him that, Sniveling Snape," James mocked too. His best friend Sirius had told him all about the Snape boy who tried to pretend to be their equal. As if a previously disowned halfblood could ever be at their level. And that he thought he could be friends with the prettiest girl James had ever seen, irked him more.
"No, we'll call him Snivellus instead," Sirius taunted the boy.
Beside Severus, Lily grew enraged and upset. She felt like an idiot for being nice to the boys and was angered on her best friend's behalf.
"Apologise immediately and leave us alone!" she yelled at the pair.
"Make me!" Sirius replied, ready to fight. James turned to ask him to leave the pretty girl alone when the door opened.
"What's this?" a petite brunette asked. Her skin was tanner than even Severus' was at the moment. "Oh, it's you two again. Well, what are you waiting for? Apologise and leave. Apurensé."
"We're not apologising or leaving," James replied, angry.
"Yeah, we didn't do anything wrong!" Sirius backed him up.
"Really? So you weren't just torturing Anya's cousin and his friend for no good reason. Hum, I think you should really stop hanging with the wrong crowd, cousin. And oh, do wait until Mother and Father hear about you messing with their favoured niece's family," Narcissa said, suddenly stepping in after hearing the commotion from the hallway while doing her Prefect rounds.
"Ugh fine, let's go," Sirius said, dragging James with him.
"Thank you, Lady Narcissa. They have been going around being a nuisance," the brunette girl said.
"Just doing my job as a Prefect, Lady Aurora. Let me know if they came to bother you again," Narcissa said, looking at Severus and Lily for the last part.
"It's good to see you again, Lady Narcissa and thank you for your help," Lily said with a curtsy. They had briefly met during the summer as Andromeda and Narcissa occasionally sought refuge from their parents and their many plans for them at Prince Manor. Narcissa nodded at them all and stepped out to complete her rounds.
"Thank you for your help, but I don't think we have met before," Severus said, looking at the petite brunette before them. She had mesmerising hazel eyes and curly hair that seemed to have a life of its own. He also didn't recognize her from any of the pureblood scenes or family histories he'd studied in preparation for Hogwarts and on his grandfather'sencouragement.
"Lady Aurora Sinistra, but you can just call me Rory," Aurora said, moving confidently into their compartment without so much as an invitation.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Severus Snape-Prince and this is Miss Lillian Evans or Lily, for short," He said with a bow, Lily followed suit and curtsied.
"No need to be so formal, we will all be classmates anyway," Rory said, waving her hand dismissively and taking a seat.
"So, those idiots were bothering you guys, too? I saw them terrorise some other firsties and after I managed to stop them, I decided it was best to follow them and stop any other troublethey could cause," Rory continued.
"Thank you for your help," Lily replied. Suddenly the door of the carriage opened again.
"Lily, Sev, I'm so glad we found you. Cissy told us Sirius was being a pain again. I also wished to apologise for my idiotic friends," Anya said, barging in. Becky and Damian remained by the door. Hearing a throat cleared out, Anya jumped and turned to see the brunette girl behind her.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there," Anya said apologetically.
Severus rolled his eyes at his cousin but decided he might as well perform the introductions.
"Lady Aurora Sinistra, this is my cousin Lady Anastasia Forger-Prince, Heiress Briar-Prince and her friends Master Damian Desmond and Lady Rebecca Blackbell."
"Pleased to meet you," Rory replied with a curtsy. The rest replied with similar words and the appropriate curtsies and bows.
"I see two have made a new friend but I hope you don't mind if we stay here with you for a bit," Anya said. She didn't even wait for a response as she took a seat on the side Rory had vacated for them. Damian followed suit with a huff and Becky moved to close the door. Turning around, she noticed the questioning raised eyebrow Severus was giving them and that Anya was clearly purposely ignoring.
"Once you two left Emma started on her usual rants about respecting everyone and we have no desire to be chastised alongside Emile and Ewen when it wasn't our fault," Becky said, crossing her arms as if daring them.
"So you didn't really come to check on us? Figures," Severus scoffed.
Annoyed at the mere halfblood's attitude, Damian began to defend the strawberry blonde girl, "Now, wait a moment there, Anya basically had to drag us out and was very worried-"
"It's fine Sy-on. I did come to check on you guys but I admit I should've also defended you better, Lily. I'm truly sorry about that and I apologise for my lousy friends," Anya intervened. Damian simply glared at Severus, not a fan of the outspoken halfblood who thought himself worth more than he was. He didn't particularly care about his friend either but at least the muggleborn girl seemed to have proper manners. Becky simply shrugged, not really feeling guilty about her behaviour as she felt following Anya here demonstrated how gracious the Blackbells and Desmond could be to lower class wizards and witches.
"Oh, it's fine Anya, really," Lily said, feeling sorry for causing the girl so much trouble. Rory studied everyone in the room. Noting the tenseness, she accidentally shared a look with Anya who looked fondly annoyed at everyone around her, and maybe even a little hurt. With a slight nod of the head, even if they had never met before, they seemed to agree on one thing: they'd help Lily Evans out and protect her as much as they could.