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Severus swept from the potion's classroom with Lupin hot on his heels, leading them deeper into the dungeons.

Dumping Fluxweed and Knot Grass on the table like that, he shook his head. Honestly! How did he even make it into NEWTs level Potions?

As much as it pained him to admit it, he knew that Potter and Black were competent behind a cauldron; how could they have let their friend develop such atrocious habits such as throwing magical and mundane ingredients on to the table in a jumbled mess?

Bloody irresponsible idiots.

Descending another staircase, Severus felt the temperature dip, which meant they were now under the Black Lake. The Common Room would be nearby and that was not where Severus had wanted to lead them. Even the corridors of the dungeons shifted over the summer break and he hadn't had the chance to re-explore and take note of the changes.

With a wordless snarl, Severus took a left, hoping that would lead them away from the Common Room and away from an unwanted encounter with another Slytherin.

A few more twists and turns and short staircases later, Severus managed to lead back towards the Hufflepuff side of the dungeons, at least the dungeons under where he thought the Hufflepuff dorms were.

"Where the fuck are we going, Snape?"

He glanced over his shoulder to see that Lupin looked every bit as angry as he felt. A jolt went through him when he saw the fire in the Gryffindor's green eyes, and for a moment, all he could see was the werewolf. Looming, snarling. Full of hate and a desire to kill.

He had yet to get over that particular memory.

Jerking his head back to the front, he continued on his trek with a now noticeably twitchy stride. "The Room of Runes." He answered gruffly.

"You found that?" Lupin sounded skeptical.

"Obviously."

They continued on in silence for a few moments more before Severus stopped in his tracks, thinking he heard faint voices up ahead. Lupin nearly ran into him. "What the hell, Snape?"

"Silencio," he snapped, straining to hear any sign of other students ahead.

Muffled speech and light footfalls reached his ears and he wasted no time in Petrifying and Disillusioning Lupin, shoving him up against the wall and out of the way. He'd rather deal with an indignant Gryffindor than be caught this deep in the dungeons with a Gryffindor by other Slytherins. Severus turned and began walking away just as two Slytherins rounded the corner.

"Well, well, well, look who it is: Snivellus Snape."

"Yaxley's prized Mudblood."

Severus turned slowly on his heel, clenching his fists. "Hansen, Sutcliffe," he greeted. "What can I do for you today?"

They exchanged a glance. "You could start by going back to being Slytherin's bitch. None of the other Mudbloods have the same level of tolerance that you do."

"We have to be careful now, or we might kill one of them," Sutcliffe said.

"Can't get good practice in if we have to continually underpower our spells, now can we?"

Severus fixed them with a burning stare. "You have my condolences, because that will not be happening."

The Slytherins exchanged another glance. "What a pity."

"A shame, really."

"You might even come to regret that, Snivellus."

"I'd advise watching your back, Mudblood."

The two Slytherins walked around Severus, both bumping into his shoulders. He stood there, clenching and unclenching his hands, staring at the floor. His blood roaring in his ears, it was a couple minutes before he managed to release the spells on Lupin.

"Not a fucking word," Severus snarled, seeing that the werewolf had opened his mouth.

Lupin nodded dumbly, his eyes wide.

They continued working their way deeper into the dungeons, Severus seething because a Marauder witnessed what he considered to be a weakness. No doubt he'll go running back to his friends to tell them all about how Snivellus fucking Snape gets treated by his housemates.

He turned the corner and stopped before a portrait of Serafina Slytherin, sister of Salazar Slytherin. He gave a low bow before addressing the portrait. "I have need of the room you guard, my lady."

Serafina eyed Lupin who came to an abrupt halt behind him. "There are other rooms in which you can speak in secret, little Slytherin."

"I'm aware," Severus said. "But I have decided on your room."

She turned her fierce gaze to him and smiled. "Very well, little Slytherin. You may enter, only because you never use honey'd words with me, and I value that." Amused, she looked back to Lupin. "Try not to kill him, little Slytherin."

"There are other rooms for that, my lady," Severus said, bowing his head. Serafina laughed, a low and dangerous sound, before the portrait swung open, revealing a stone doorway. Severus glared at Lupin and jerked his head to the side, indicating that he should enter before him.

The wolf put up surprisingly little resistance and slunk into the room with Severus following closely behind.

He let the door shut behind them and sagged in relief when he felt the centuries old privacy wards snap back in place. The Room of Runes was one of his few sanctuaries in the castle.

Lupin broke the tense silence by clearing his throat. He was looking everywhere but at Severus. "I, uh, didn't know you were a Muggleborn."

Severus rolled his eyes. Lupin was apparently too polite to outright ask what Hansen and Sutcliffe meant by 'Slytherin's bitch'. "I'm not. I'm a Half-Blood, but that's as good as being Muggleborn to Slytherin."

Lupin nodded slowly. "They sounded like they were, um, threatening you."

Severus pinned him with a flat stare. "Congratulations, you can understand English."

"It's just, I didn't, I didn't think that Slytherins did… that to each other."

"We aren't here to talk about how my House treats me," Severus said in warning, letting him know he was about to cross a line he shouldn't. "We're here to talk about how this year is going to go. We need to come to some sort of a… truce if we want to make it through this year." Severus felt like he had just burped up a slug with how distasteful that sentence was.

"Right. Yes. I agree." Lupin said. It seemed that all of his anger had left him after witnessing the altercation between Severus and the Slytherins.

He rolled his eyes. "In an effort to maintain a civil conversation, I won't bring up what happened in class, but some things need to be addressed.

"I, quite frankly, hate you, and I doubt that will ever change-" Lupin snorted at that and Severus shot him a ferocious glare, effectively shutting him up. "But, my desire to remain top student outweighs that hatred; I won't allow my dislike of you get in the way of that. So, some ground rules are in order.

"You need to heed what I instruct in potions class, or any of the classes. For every hour we spend in class, I take another three to study and practice on my own – I know what I'm talking about. In return, I will not dismiss any points you raise about a subject and will answer any questions you have to the best of my ability."

"That's fair, I suppose." Lupin said slowly. "Don't talk to me like I'm an idiot. I only fall behind because I miss so many classes, and that's hardly my fault."

Severus inclined his head. "I shall try to reign in my caustic remarks, but if you say or do something truly stupid, I doubt I will be able to stop myself." He thought for a moment. "Neither of us will sabotage the other's homework or any projects we have to work together. Certainly don't let Potter, Black, or Pettigrew anywhere near our work. I don't want them benefitting from our research." Lupin seemed on the verge of saying something, but Severus cut him off. "Sharing with other Slytherins obviously won't be an issue."

Lupin nodded. "No more calling me wolf. I have a name after all."

"As do I, but I don't recall that ever stopping you and your little gang from calling me Snivellus and encouraging the entire school to do the same – wolf is by far the tamest name I'll call you and you'll endure it," Severus snarled, his eyes glinting. That was one thing he would not back down on. Not yet at least.

Lupin opened his mouth to argue, but then realized Snape was right. "Fine," he grumbled.

"Any time we meet to study, don't bring along your friends. It's enough that I have to deal with one of you in close quarters every day."

Again, Lupin seemed to be on the verge of saying something but seemed to change his mind. "We meet in the Library, or in one of the study rooms by the Library. That's neutral enough ground."

Severus nodded. "If we have need of the Greenhouses or of the Potions' Lab, we'll arrange it beforehand."

"Will we need to use them outside of class?"

"Yes." Severus said simply. "To put this in the nicest way I'm capable of, given who you are to me, what you did today in Potion's shows me that we need to go back to the basics of brewing theory which involves the basics of Herbology. So, unless you wish for me to go over such things in class with you in front of our peers, we will need to meet in both locations after hours."

Lupin's face grew red. "It's not my fault-"

"Did I say it was? No." Severus interrupted. "But from now on, since you now have access to me, the top student, I will count it as your fault. I do not miss class as you do, but I came here with other handicaps and yet I found a way around them. It's time you did as well."

"I – fine. Fine."

Severus nodded sharply and slowly extended his hand. Lupin hesitated a moment before taking it and shaking it firmly. "If we can follow these rules, I believe we may make it through the year without killing each other."

"You might be right, Snape. Doesn't mean I like you."

"Merlin spare me, I don't think I could take it if a Marauder liked me. It's unnatural."

"Did, did you just make a joke?" Lupin asked, incredulous.

"Don't be ridiculous," Severus scoffed.

An awkward silence fell over the room. For lack of anything better to do, Lupin glanced around the room. "So… this is the Room of Runes?"

"Yes," Severus answered shortly, folding his arms across his chest.

"How did you find it? And who was that portrait? What do the runes do? Where are the runes?"

Who knew Lupin would ask so many questions to me of all people?

He sighed. "I'll explain in the Library, we have some time before Slughorn will let us use the lab, I want to use that time to make sure we don't have another near disaster like we did today."

Lupin could only groan in response.

Severus knocked five times on the back of the portrait to let Lady Slytherin know he was ready to leave. She took a moment to swing open, and when they were both in the corridor, she whispered. "Be wary, Little Slytherin, four others bearing my brother's name passed moments ago. They mentioned wanting to take you to the Hall." She cast a look at Lupin, obviously not willing to say more, but Severus understood which Hall she was referring to. "Take the Potion's Staircase."

"Fuck." Severus swore. "Come on, wolf. Silence your footsteps and be ready to Disilusion yourself." And he was off, wand in hand, leading them to the staircase.

"Shit, Snape, wait!" Lupin called after him. Severus was about to cast Silencio on him when the Gryffindor ran up to him with a heavy bit of parchment in hand. "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good," he said to the parchment, tapping it with his wand, and Severus saw a map blossom on the page.

"What the fuck," he whispered, seeing the names of people scrawling across the page. It clicked in his mind. "This is how you little fuckers always fucking find me!"

"Yes, yes, we'll deal with that later," Lupin said, wincing. "Here, look. We're here, and it looks like there's several groups of Slytherins out and about. We haven't really gotten a good layout of the Dungeons yet-."

"Shut the fuck up and give me that." Severus snarled, snatching the map from the other teen's hands. He studied it. Heir Yaxley and the rest of the Quidditch team were still in the Common Room, which was good, but several other Slytherins were out like Lupin said. Most notable were Jugson, Hansen, and Sutcliffe. Smug fucking bastards. Luckily, none of the names were near them. "Follow me," he grunted, leading them towards the Potion's Staircase as Lady Slytherin suggested.

It was a tense journey back to the Ground Floor, but with the aid of Lupin's map, they avoided any run ins with the Slytherins who were on the hunt for Severus. He'd have to deal with that later, and hope they wouldn't spread tales that weren't true.

He threw the map back at Lupin without so much as a word and continued on their way to the Library. It seemed that the wolf realized it would be best if he stayed silent for the time being, which Severus was grateful for.

He stopped and pointed to an empty study room and hissed: "In" which Lupin was quick to do. "I'll be back," he stated. He walked into the Library and up to Madam Pince's desk. "Pardon me, Madam, but I will be needing to borrow more than five books today, I've taken on a challenging student to tutor and found that we need to start with the basics."

"Fine," she said. "Will you be returning them today?"

"Likely not. I shall make sure they remain in good condition, and will return them by the end of next week."

"Very well. Do as you will."

"Thank you," Severus bowed his head in respect before going to collect the books he knew he'd need. On his way out, he wrote each of the titles down in the Check Out book and then made his way back to the study room he left Lupin in, only to find that it was no longer just Lupin in the room.

Will this day ever fucking end?

He slammed the door open, startling the two Marauders out of their conversation. "Aaaand, that's your cue to leave, Padfoot."

"What's ol' Snivvy going to do if I don't? Smear grease on me?" Black laughed.

Severus slammed the books on the table. "'Ol' Snivvy' is going to let your friend fail if you continue to insult me. I hate you more than I care about my position as top student." He sneered. He would never forgive Black for sending him to his death as a prank.

Lupin had his face in his hands. "Sirius. Get out."

"What? It was just a joke!"

"No. It wasn't." Lupin said, looking at his friend now. "And I'm asking you to leave as I would actually like to work with Snape. I'll see you in the Common Room later."

Black was looking at him like he had grown a second head. "Are you alright, mate? Did he do anything to you?"

"Sirius, just go. I'll quote Rule 17 to you if I need to." Black spluttered for a moment before Lupin spoke again. "Sirius. Go."

Severus was rather impressed that the hotheaded Gryffindor listened to the werewolf. One the door was shut behind Black, he warded it against intrusion. "Snape. I'm sorry about him. Please don't let me fail." Lupin said in a small voice. "I'll get them to lay off of you, since… well, since you're helping me, and since you have bigger things to deal with in your own House."

It was Severus's turn to look at the Gryffindor like he had grown a second head. "Just read the fucking book, wolf. And take notes. Proper notes."

Lupin sighed and pulled the book towards him, his face scrunching as he saw it was a book from First Year, but he began to read without complaint.

Severus cleared his throat. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Take notes," Lupin said. He dug around in his bag and pulled out a ream of parchment and his writing set.

"I wanted to… thank you. For what you said to Black. And for your help in getting out of the Dungeons." He said, highly uncomfortable. That had been more difficult than he wanted to admit. But they had a truce now, and Lupin was making an effort, so he would too. He wouldn't let a Marauder out do him.

Lupin looked at him. "You're welcome, Snape." He said softly.

He cleared his throat again. "Read the book."

{Furius Draconis}

It was nearing curfew when Severus walked into the Common Room at the end of his rounds on Monday, four days after he came to a truce with a Marauder of all people, and four days after he had been threatened by Hansen and Sutcliffe. As of yet, nothing had come of their threat and hunting party, but he wasn't stupid enough to believe that nothing ever would. He sorely missed making Prefect rounds with Narcissa, as he could have used her advice on this situation.

He now made them with a Hufflepuff by the name Jessamine Abbot. She had been rather intimidated by him at first, but she was slowly warming up to him. He found that talking about Charms was the best way to get her to relax. Severus couldn't deny that he didn't mind spending time with her, she was nice enough; however, he would rather make his rounds with Narcissa.

Abbot would probably prefer to make rounds with her Prefect counterpart as well since Severus still made her nervous. He might be able to work out a deal with her that allowed them to switch back to their housemates. Narcissa would appreciate that; she didn't seem to be entirely thrilled with her Hufflepuff counterpart. Ellstrom he believed, the Seeker for the Hufflepuff team

Once the stone door slid shut, the Slytherins still out in the Common Room grew silent, setting off all sorts of alarms in Severus's head. A quick survey of the Common Room showed that the few Slytherins still sitting out were all upper years. The usual crowd of Severus's tormentors.

Ah, he sighed, just what I wanted to deal with tonight. But he wouldn't shut his mouth and take it anymore. He couldn't.

"Let's get this over with, shall we? I have an essay I need to write." He said, letting his wand slip into his hand.

Three teens slunk into his sight from different places in the Common Room. "Where have you been, Snivellus? Cavorting with Mudbloods and blood-traitors?"

"Careful Jugson, you may hurt yourself using words as big as 'cavorting'," Severus cautioned.

"Oh ho! Snape bites back!" Hansen sneered.

"Never thought we'd see the day," Sutcliffe added. "I was beginning to worry that we had broken our favorite toy."

Severus rolled his eyes. "Fret not, I doubt there is little the likes of you three could do to break me. Little you could do to even dent me."

"Shut up, Mudblood!" Jugson snapped. "I could have you begging for mercy at my feet in less than a minute!"

"Really," Severus drawled, unimpressed. He eyed all three boys who had been circling him like a pack of hyenas since he called them out. "I rather doubt that."

"Okular Vira!"

"Expulso!"

"Diffindo!"

Their curses were easily swept aside as Severus dropped to a knee. He jabbed the stone floor with his wand, silently using a spell of his own creation – Fulmia* – which shook the Common Room violently, knocking his opponents off their feet.

Before they could get back up, he hit their robes with the Flagrante curse, causing them to howl and shriek in pain as their clothes burned them. He might've put a little too much power into that, but he was making an example of them. It really wasn't any worse than what he had endured over the years.

He cast a look around the Common Room, assessing the Slytherins present for a threat. Seeing nothing but cautious faces staring at him, he looked back at the three still thrashing on the floor. Deciding to be particularly nasty, he added another of his hexes, Infinitio, so the Flagrante curse could not be removed from their robes and followed that with a sticking charm. The last spell would wear off in an hour or so on its own.

Glancing around the Common Room again, Severus didn't think that they'd find any help from the Slytherins watching. Not after such a public beating. That's not to say that none of them would attack him, not unless he made a House-wide threat.

Remembering Yaxley's reaction to feeling his magic, Severus let it seep into the Common Room as he stood there, slowly increasing its power. He kept an eye on his peers to see if any of them would make a move to attack him. Movement to his left caught his attention.

Offensive spells were on the tip of his tongue, but he saw that it had been Yaxley apparently stopping Avery from pulling his wand. Severus gave him a fearsome grin, showing too many teeth, and Yaxley gave a slight bow of his head.

"I trust you all have been suitably entertained?" Severus asked, managing to be heard over the three Slytherins waling.

"Quite." Yaxley answered, his voice tight.

"Then I shall take my leave. Good night." Severus walked to his dorm with his head held high, looking as if nothing were out of the ordinary. He sharply reigned in his magic as he went, making more than one Slytherin's eyes widen in realization and fear.

That had been fun.

{Furius Draconis}

Narcissa was going to kill him.

Didn't he know how bloody stupid it was to duel Purebloods? In the Common Room no less? And surrounded by other Purebloods who had been especially vicious towards him in the past? He didn't have enough clout in the House to be doing that yet!

And here I was, thinking I had gotten him past his utter disregard for his personal wellbeing! Well! I'll just have to remind him, now won't I?

She burst into his dorm, startling both him and his Jevabaownn who hissed at her in warning, but she paid the large feline no mind.

"Severus Tiberius Furius Draconis Verus bloody Snape! Explain yourself!"

Severus stood there and blinked owlishly at her and it took her a moment to realize that he had been in the process of undressing. He stood in the middle of his room with his school robes bundled in his hand, clad in only ankle banded pants and his dragon hide boots. She wouldn't let that deter her, however.

"I'm undressing for the day?" he tried.

"That isn't what I meant, and you know it!"

He tossed his robes onto his bed and his wand was in his hand in the blink of an eye. The door shut behind her, and he was casting silently, so she could only guess that he was raising wards around his room and knowing him there would be severe consequences for whoever tried to breach them.

"Well?" she demanded once he replaced his wand.

"'Well' what, Narcissa?" he asked tiredly, now digging through his closet. One would never guess that Severus Snape, the most organized student in Hogwarts, had the most disorganized closet that Narcissa had ever seen.

"You bloody well know what."

He pulled what looked like a well-worn cream-colored cable knit sweater over his scrawny frame, and she was inexplicably disappointed. Disappointed? Narcissa pull yourself together, for Merlin's sake.

He sighed and fell into one of the armchairs positioned in front of his fireplace, and she stiffly took the other. "I had no choice, Narcissa. I've been making progress with the Quidditch team, thanks to Malfoy of all people, and I would have undone that had I let those three beat me." He explained as he pulled his boots off and set them to the side. "It honestly took longer than I thought it would to be attacked."

Narcissa deflated some. "You were lucky none of the others stepped in and took your opponents' place once you took them out."

He rubbed his face with his hands. "I know."

She sighed, relaxing into her own chair. "I see that there was nothing you could have done different, and I know that you will not take any unnecessary risks, but I will still ask that you be careful, my dear." She reached out and he instantly took her hand, smiling softly at her, warming her heart.

"I promise to be as careful as I can afford to be, for your sake. But you know I will have to take risks if I am to end up in a position to protect you as I have vowed to do."

She closed her eyes and squeezed his hand. "I know, my dear, I know."

"Don't blame yourself for my actions, Narcissa," Severus said, apparently knowing where her thoughts were headed. He hesitated before adding softly: "You are… precious to me. I would make the same promise one hundred times over."

Startled, she looked at him. "Precious?" she breathed.

He blushed and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Yes."

She smiled beautifully, warmth flooding through her. "You are precious to me as well," she admitted softly.

He squeezed her hand lightly before looking back into the flames in his fireplace.

They sat in a comfortable silence for a while before he looked back at her and asked: "Coco?"

"Coco," she confirmed with a smile. This was to be one of their 'sleepovers' then. Good. They hadn't had one in a while.

He stood and pulled his school robes on over his sweater. "I'll be back in a moment then. You could go get Regalyan, Cassandra has probably missed him."

"Severus Snape, you big softy," Narcissa teased. "You do care for dear Cassandra."

He narrowed his eyes at her and folded his arms across his chest. "No need to be so smug about it, Miss Black."

She laughed outright. "Has Professor Snape made a return?" she sniggered at his glower. "I have every right to be smug, dearest, because I accomplished the impossible in making you, my dour friend, care about the familiar I finally managed to get you to accept."

He rolled his eyes. "I'm going to get coco. Don't let those two burn my room down."

"Of course not, dearest," she said, walking out with him to go retrieve her Jevabaownn from the room she shared with Malbuz. Luckily, her roommate was nowhere to be seen. She greeted her Regalyan just as warmly as he greeted her and then she changed into her night clothes. The school robes were not entirely comfortable, nor attractive, at least not on her. But it was mainly the level of comfort she cared about now. Obviously.

She shook her head. I do not care how Severus thinks I look, she lied to herself. Which is why she put on her nicest pajamas. "Come along, my handsome man," she cooed to her large feline. "Let's go see your sister for a while."

The large tabby purred thunderously in her arms, making it impossible to sneak back into Severus's room, but at least she could use the Jevabaownns as an excuse should anyone question her. She was generally left alone in Slytherin, despite her association with Severus, mainly because they all knew of her sisters, Andromeda and Bellatrix. Both of which were formidable witches and wickedly protective of their baby sister. No one wanted to be on their bad side, and if you messed with Narcissa you were permanently on their bad side.

Narcissa was no slouch with a wand herself, but she truly had no desire for dueling, not unless she had no other choice. Her power was mostly in defensive magic anyways, so the few times she had dueled, she allowed her opponent to tire themselves out on her shields before taking them out with a few vicious hexes.

She let herself back into Severus's rooms and Regalyan scrambled out of her arms and dashed over to his sister, both silent and staring into each other's eyes before exploding into action. She could hardly keep up with what they were doing, but as she heard no hissing, she wasn't worried.

Carefully, she made her way back to her armchair and then had a devilish idea. She would rather like to be able to sit by Severus's side, instead of in their separate armchairs. She wouldn't think too deeply on the why behind that right now. It was obviously just out of strictly platonic affection for her dear friend.

Her family hadn't been the warm, hugging sort, which Narcissa thought to be a downright shame, and Severus had yet to complain about her acts of affection, in fact, he seemed to enjoy them just as much as she did, at least in his own way.

Lucius certainly wasn't an affectionate man, not that she held any loving thoughts towards him anyways, so this was just her way of getting all of the affection that she could while she could.

Yes. That was it.

She stood and transfigured the two chairs into a loveseat and sat on the left side, knowing that Severus favored the left so his dominate hand was free should he need it. Now all she had left to do was sit and wait for Severus to return.

It did not take long before he came stalking back into his room, muttering and grumbling to himself.

"Severus?"

He stopped and looked at her like a peryton caught in a Lumos beam. "Yes?"

"Is everything alright?"

He cleared his throat, "Yes, quite. The Headmaster was in the Kitchens, I had to wait until he left." He shook his head. "The house-elves will send up the coco shortly." He all but ripped his school robe off, muttering something about it being too hot.

"You could always wear one of your Muggle shirts, dear," Narcissa commented. "They are made of a thinner material, are they not?"

"They are. But they're in poorer condition."

"Well that's because they were made by Muggles, dear, of course they're in poorer condition. Go on, change into one, I don't want to have you complaining the whole night because you're too warm."

"I'll cool down," he grunted. "What have you done with my chairs?"

"Nothing permanent," she assured him.

"I leave you alone for ten minutes and you're already redecorating my room," he sighed dramatically, sitting next to her.

"It's what I do," she said. A House Elf popped in with a tray holding two enormous mugs of coco. "Ah, perfect timing." They each took their mugs and the House Elf left without a word.

Taking a sip, she smiled. "Cinnamon?"

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "Mn."

She bumped his shoulder with hers. "I would say I'm surprised you noticed, but you are you, so I'm not."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Severus," she sighed. "You have the nose of a bear with the way you can smell out potions ingredients, it's no small wonder that you were able to pick up on the fact that I've been adding cinnamon to my coco recently."

He rolled his eyes, but she could tell he was pleased with her praise. He had one of his secret smiles on his face, the kind that made Narcissa's heart stutter.

The smile faded when a lock of his hair slipped from behind his ear and fell into his face. He brushed it away from his face with a frown. "It's getting long again, would you cut it for me?"

Reaching over, Narcissa picked up a lock of his hair and twirled it around her finger. "I rather like you with longer hair my dear, it makes you look more distinguished."

He shot her a disbelieving look. "It's hardly distinguished if it's always in my face."

"So then tie it back," she said, still toying with his hair. He didn't even seem like he noticed that she was playing with his hair.

"With what? Some loose string?" He scoffed.

It was her turn to roll her eyes at him. "No, darling. You could use a ribbon – definitely don't use any of those barbaric Muggle inventions, they'll only destroy your hair."

"A ribbon? Where the hell would I get one of those?"

"Hogsmeade, you poor dense man!"

"I haven't seen anyone else use a ribbon!"

"Oh please, you don't even look at other people. Of course you haven't seen ribbons being used." She pulled the ribbon from her hair. "Come here."

He eyed her warily. "What are you planning?"

"I'm going to strangle you with it," she deadpanned.

When he made no movement, she relented with a sigh. "Come here, turn around, let me try something. You know I'd never do anything to embarrass you."

At that, he easily submitted to her. She ran her fingers through his hair. "Severus, do you have a comb? A brush?"

He raised his hand and with a flick of his fingers, a comb smacked into his outstretched hand which he passed back to her without a word. "Thank you, darling."

"Mn."

It was… soothing to comb his hair, and she could tell that he was experiencing the same by the way his shoulders slumped. She gathered the top layer of his hair and brought it back into a braid, which she tied the end of with her hair ribbon.

"Turn and face me?"

He did so, and Narcissa beamed at what she saw. "Very distinguished indeed. Go on. Have a look, tell me what you think."

"I trust your judgement."

Her heart skipped a beat. "Severus, don't be silly, go have a look. I want to know what you think. There are other hairstyles we can try."

He looked at her a moment longer before standing and walking into his bathroom. He must have just barely glanced at himself because he was back seconds later.

"What did you think?"

"I won't be able to do that by myself."

"I can do it for you," she said, waving her hand dismissively. "What did you think?"

He gave her an almost helpless look. "Narcissa, it's hair. What am I supposed to think?"

She couldn't help but laugh at him. "Oh, my darling, I have much to teach you, don't I?"

The helplessness in his face increased, and she could only laugh harder.

{Furius Draconis}

Snape was fascinating.

First, Narcissa, Regulus's dearest and favorite cousin, lowers herself to befriend Snape their fifth year, his third. She gets him a place on the Quidditch team which offers him some sanctuary and status. He never could see what she saw in him, at least not back then. He was just the hunched over, twitchy near failure of Slytherin House – his only redeeming quality was that he constantly claimed the title of top student, and that he was incredibly durable when it came to Dark magic.

Then an anonymous power speaks on his behalf, setting him up to be attacked. He drops his subservient Mudblood act – talks back to Jugson as if he were above him (which, Regulus now believed he was without a doubt). Smears the floor of the dungeons with Jugson, Hansen, and Sutcliffe, and walks away as if nothing were out of the ordinary. Not to mention the raw power that had been coming from him, nor the fact that Snape could, apparently, manipulate his aura.

Oh, yes. Snape was fascinating. And Regulus wanted to know more. He wanted to see if Snape actually was as worthy as Cousin Narcissa thought he was when she aligned the lesser branch of House Black with him.

He walked up to his dearest cousin in the Common Room. "Cousin Narcissa, might I steal a moment of your time?"

She turned and smiled beautifully. "Of course, Cousin Regulus."

"How are you finding your Seventh Year, so far? Is it truly as horrible as the professors make it out to be?" He asked as he sat across from her.

"I'm rather enjoying it," she said still smiling. "The workload is far heavier than it was any of the other years, but I don't find myself struggling, likely due to being friends with a hardworking genius like Severus."

"Oh?"

"Playing coy doesn't suit you, cousin," Narcissa teased. "Severus is top student, of course he's a hardworking genius. He's always willing to point me in the right direction when I have questions, and he doesn't allow anything to interrupt his studying, not even me, which makes me do studying of my own."

Regulus didn't think that Heir Malfoy would care to have a wife who was smart, but he was glad that Narcissa was being pushed to work harder. At least she would get to live a little before she was crushed under the weight of Heir Malfoy's expectations.

"I'm expecting you to get O's across the board then, since you have Snape in your corner."

"Oh, I don't know about that, but I should do fairly well."

"Nonsense. If Snape is as smart as you say, he should be able to tutor you to the point that you get straight O's! I believe you'd be the first Black to do so."

"Or, I could leave that distinction for you, my cousin. Aunt Walburga would be thrilled if you were the first Black to get all O's." The sour look on his face made her laugh. "However, Severus is every bit as smart as I've said he is and then some," Narcissa said, happy to be able to brag about her dear friend.

"Perhaps he could help me with OWLs," Regulus mused. He would be able to learn more about him that way. "Mother expects much of me, as you know."

"Shall we ask him?" Regulus quirked an eyebrow in question. "Severus dear! Could you come here a moment?"

Regulus turned in his seat and saw Snape leaving the entrance to the dorms and make a quick change in direction to walk over to them. His eyes flicked over Regulus before he gave Narcissa his full attention.

"You are acquainted with Regulus, yes?" She asked, knowing full well he was.

"Yes," he answered, sounding mildly bemused.

"It's his OWLs year, and his mother, my Aunt Walburga, has high expectations of him, especially after Sirius ran off. Could you perhaps do me the favor of helping him where he needs it, my dear?"

"That would depend," Snape said. He had yet to look at Regulus since he walked up which was irritating to the young Pureblood. "I have a rather heavy load this year as you know, as well as an apprenticeship among other obligations. Do you know which subjects he needs most help in?"

Narcissa looked to Regulus to answer. He cleared his throat, entirely unused to being spoken about when he was present. "I suppose I could use help in Herbology most, and Arithmancy."

Snape blinked at him before addressing Narcissa again. "If he needs help in Herbology he likely needs help in Potions as well. I should be able to help with those two and Arithmancy – so long as he does not mind listening to a Mudblood."

Regulus wasn't prepared to feel the weight of both Snape's and Narcissa's stares. "N-no! Of course not!"

"I should hope not," Narcissa said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "I would hate it if my favorite cousin didn't get along with my dearest friend simply because of his blood status. I was able to look past it after all, and what a wonderful gem I managed to find too."

Snape continued to stare at Regulus, unblinking. "And I would hate to be the cause of a rift between Narcissa and her favorite cousin."

"I promise ability matters more to me, and you're a quite able wizard."

Snape gave a slow nod, before he perched on the arm of Narcissa's chair. That she immediately placed her hand on his back was not lost to Regulus, nor had the fact that she repeatedly called Snape 'dear'. Cousin Narcissa developing feelings for Snape? Interesting…

He was pulled from his thoughts when Snape spoke again. "I am willing to help you, Black, because Narcissa asked it of me, and because you have never been overly antagonistic towards me. It was also with your backing I was able to join the Quidditch team, which has been beneficial to say the least.

"You will learn that I am not a patient wizard, nor do I allow interruptions in my work. I will not help you at your convenience, you will come to me at mine."

Regulus was hit with a flash of annoyance, which Narcissa saw immediately. "I trust that won't be a problem, Cousin Regulus," she said sharply, pinning him with an icy stare.

"Not at all," he managed. Between Snape's heated glare and her icy one, Regulus didn't know if he would burst into flames where he sat or if his blood would freeze in his veins. "Please owl me when would be convenient to you to meet, Snape."

The Half-Blood merely nodded, and then dismissed him by looking down at Narcissa. "Lunch?"

She smiled. "I am finding myself a bit peckish." They stood and Narcissa took his arm. She looked to Regulus. "Always a pleasure speaking with you, Cousin Regulus."

"Likewise," he said. Before he could say something similar to Snape, the lanky teen walked away without sparing him so much as a glance. Something a Sixth or Seventh Year Pureblood would do to him, but never a Half-Blood.

They do make a rather intimidating pair, he thought, watching their retreating forms. Wait. Was that Narcissa's ribbon in Snape's hair?! Deep red flashed against his dark hair and Regulus felt as if all the blood had been drained from his face. Surely not… Narcissa isn't that – she wouldn't –

Regulus shook himself. His level of interest in Snape rose by several levels. He would put up with having to lower himself to listen to the Half-Blood for the sake of gathering information, and if he did end up helping with his grades, then that would just be an added bonus.

{Furius Draconis}

"No, no, no. First, we play Pat-a-Cake, then we do that cool flipping move I showed you – Pete you remember, right? Then we do Miss Mary Mack, and then James, you levitate Pete up to my shoulders and create an illusion that we chicken fight with, then-"

"Do I even want to know what you're talking about, Black?" Lily asked warily. She had been walking through the Common Room, headed towards the Library when she overheard what he was explaining to Pettigrew and Potter from his place in the floor. The other two Marauders, she noticed, had determined but confused expressions.

"Evans! Come help! These two don't know any of the clapping games and seem to think I'm making it all up."

Lily gave him an incredulous look. "How do you even know what those are, Black?"

"I shan't reveal my sources, Evans."

Lily had no idea what possessed her, but she found herself walking over to the three Marauders. "Which ones?" she asked cautiously.

"Pat-a-cake, Miss Mary Mack, Down by the Banks of the Hanky Panky. You know, the classics. Now are you gonna help me, or what?"

She looked at the three teens, noting how hopeful they looked. "If you tell me what this is for."

"We make up a new handshake every month," Pettigrew said, rubbing his nose. "This month is Sirius's turn to create it."

"Alright," she said slowly when it was evident that no explanation as to why they created a new handshake each month was coming. "I'll help. But I swear to Merlin if this ends up being some sort of prank, I will make antlers grow out of your arse. All of you."

"Duly noted," Potter said, his eyes wide.

"Right," she said, sitting in the floor across from Sirius. "Which one first?"

"Miss Mary Mack!" Sirius declared, his hands already in position to begin.

"D'you know the words?"

"There are words?!" Sirius asked, gobsmacked. He looked to his friends. "Why haven't we ever thought to add words to our handshakes? Oh, the possibilities!" he cackled.

Potter had his head in his hands now, and Pettigrew looked resigned to his fate. She had, probably, just unleashed a whole new level of Hell on the Marauders. She might have to apologize to Remus later.

"I don't suppose you'll let me get away with not saying them, now, will you?"

"Nope!" Black said, chipper as ever.

She sighed and shot the other two boys something like an apologetic glance. "Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack. All dressed in black, black, black. With silver buttons, buttons, buttons. All down her back, back, back. She asked her mother, mother, mother. For fifty pence, pence, pence. To see the elephants, elephants, elephants. Jump over the fence, fence, fence. They jumped so high, high, high. They touched the sky, sky, sky. And didn't come back, back, back. 'Til the 4th of July, ly, ly." She was surprised that Black didn't mess up once.

"Those were weird words, Evans." Black said. "What's a pence?"

Lily snorted. "It's Muggle money, we've a ha'penny, penny, 2p, 5p, 10p, and 50p for coins."

"Why so many?" Potter asked, baffled.

Lily shrugged. "Makes paying for things easier, I suppose."

"Moving on!" Black said. "Let's do Pat-a-Cake, Evans." He had his hands in the starting position and such a fierce look of concentration on his face that Lily nearly laughed.

Smiling and shaking her head, she dutifully complied. "Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man. Bake me a cake fast as you can. Pat it, and prick it, and mark it with a 'B.' And put it in the oven for Black and me."

"Ooh, I see what you did there!" Black said gleefully.

She looked at Potter. "Is he always this energetic?"

"Oh yeah," he said, nodding his head vigorously. "At least until we exercise him for the day. He sometimes needs it twice a day."

For whatever reason, that made Pettigrew erupt in laughter and Black glared at Potter.

"Oi! I'll have you know that I haven't needed it twice a day in a long, long time." Pettigrew was now in danger of falling off of the couch he was laughing so hard.

"'Long, long time' being two weeks, right?"

Black let out a growl and scrambled to his feet so he could tackle a now giggling Potter.

Lily had her wand out in a flash. "Immobulus!" The three Marauders froze. Black in midair, Potter on the couch with his arms up to defend himself, and Pettigrew doubled over from laughing. "Now. I trust you three can behave yourselves?"

She released the spell and Black landed with an oomph on top of Potter and Pettigrew fell off the couch.

"Evans," Black gasped. "Why are you so mean?"

She rolled her eyes. "You wanted Down by the Bank, right?"

"Yes!

When Black had finally drained her of all of her knowledge on the clapping games, he shot up and dragged Pettigrew out of the Common Room to practice, leaving her there with her Head Student counterpart.

"Thanks for that, Evans," he said, rubbing the back of his head.

She shook her head. "I imagine I may need to apologize to Remus later, for teaching Black all of that."

Potter laughed. "Nah, Sirius has done worse."

"Should you go supervise them?" She asked, a little worried.

He grimaced. "Actually, I'd rather avoid working on that handshake. Sirius's always go on forever."

"Well," she started. "I was on my way to the library when Black called me over. You could go with me? I know for a fact that you haven't finished all of the work for Transfiguration yet."

"You wouldn't mind?" he asked, hopeful in Lily's eyes.

"Would I have offered if I did?" she returned.

The smile she got in return was blinding. "Wait a tick, I've got to go get my books."

As he ran off, she wondered what had possessed her to invite James Potter of all people to go study with her in the Library. He came thudding down the stairs before she could ponder it further.

"Lead the way, oh great and gracious Ethical Evans."

She snorted. "You're an idiot, James Potter," she said with no real malice.

He bowed low and elaborate. "At your service, Ethical Evans."

Rolling her eyes at his antics, she picked up her bag and turned to walk out of the Common Room, leaving Potter to scramble to catch up.

"What are you going to work on?" he asked once the portrait portal swung shut behind them.

"Arithmancy," she said. "Professor Vector gave us five different numerical charts to analyze and write at least a meter of analyzation on for each, and it's due Tuesday."

Potter whistled. "Five meters? Sounds rough, Evans."

She tilted her head back and groaned. "You have no idea. What are you going to work on? Transfiguration?"

"Yeah, probably." He rubbed the back of his head. "It's also due Tuesday, right?"

Lily nodded. "All three bloody meters of it."

"Have you finished it?"

Lily shook her head. "I need half a meter still." She placed her finger against her lips to shush him as they walked into the library. She led them to a semi-secluded table, where they would be able to continue to speak. Why? She wasn't entirely sure. But she did know that Potter wasn't so much of a toe-rag this year.

They both placed their things down and then drifted away to collect the books they would need for their assignments.

Lily came back to their table and found Potter already there with his nose buried in a book. The sight almost made her smile – almost. She shook her head and then sat down. "Do you have the same partner for all of your classes?"

He looked at her and pushed his glasses up his nose. "No, do you?"

"Yes," she sighed. "It's Narcissa Black."

"Really? You're stuck with her for the whole year?"

"Unless the professors change their minds, yes."

"How's it like, working with her? Sirius said that she always had a bit of a stick up her arse."

Lily snorted. "That's one way of putting it. I think she hates me, to be honest, which makes it all that much more fun to work with her." She looked at him. "Who are your partners?"

"I'm with Sirius in our shared classes, which was mad lucky, but he dropped History of Magic, so I'm with Pete in there, which was also mad lucky."

"'Mad lucky' indeed," she said. "Why did they decide to put us with partners this year?"

Potter shrugged. "Wish I knew, but it doesn't really affect me, since they put me with who I usually work with anyways. Poor Remus, though. He's stuck with Snape all year."

Lily flinched. "That can't end well."

"I'll be keeping a close eye on him," he said, his tone growing grim.

"I think he already knows." She shivered, remembering the look he had given her on the day of Quidditch tryouts. He definitely knew she spoke about that day.

Potter winced. "Ah, yeah, he probably does."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "What did you do?"

"Ah, well, I may or may not have cornered him and had a little chat with him." He rubbed the back of his head.

Lily put her head in her hands. "Potter – James – what did you say to him? I told you to stay out of it."

He cleared his throat. "I confronted him about the potion he makes for you."

"Oh my God, you're an idiot," she groaned. "Was this before or after tryouts?"

"After, why?"

"He had given me the instructions for it at tryouts."

"Oh."

"Yes, 'oh'. It's lucky you didn't catch him before that. He can be extremely petty when he wants to, and I likely would have had to try to make it on my own without instructions, just because you had confronted him."

"He, uh, said something to that affect." He cleared his throat. "I am sorry, about that, Evans."

She waved the apology away. "It's fine. No harm done. Just… next time don't try to intervene on my behalf. It definitely won't end well. At all. Just leave the trailing to Pandora, please. In fact. Just stay away from him. He's different."

He gave a nod. "Duly noted."

Lily rubbed her eyes and was desperate for a change in topic. "What do you think about setting up study groups for each Year?"

"What? Why?"

Bless him for going along with the new topic. "Well, it can't really hurt, can it? We could have a study hall once a week or so, where we all get with our Years and work on our coursework. Help out the younger students with their work if they need it. And we only got three new Gryffindors this year, one being a girl. I don't want her to not have friends in her Year in her House, so this will at least force them to talk to each other. And it'd be a good way to build up House ties."

"That's… not a bad idea."

"Think Professor McGonagall will go for it?"

"I think she'd be mad not to." James said seriously. "Honest."

Lily smiled. "I'll bring it up to her after class on Tuesday, then. You'll help, won't you?"

"Of course. Always." That should not have made her heart stutter, but it did. "We should write out the pros for it, so we can present that to her – here I'll write them out."

Lily's smile became warmer at that.

Who is this and what have they done with James Potter, toe-rag extraordinaire?

{Furius Draconis}

For once, Regulus decided to take more of an active role in House politics, at least what could be considered to be an active role for him. Scanning the Common Room, Regulus found the teen he was looking for.

"Heir Yaxley," Regulus said. "I have some business I wish to discuss with you."

"Of course, Heir Black," Yaxley said. He stood from where he was holding court with other upper level Slytherins.

They left the Common Room and were several corridors away before they began speaking. "I was surprised that Jugson made such a bold move, so soon after his humiliation at tryouts."

Yaxley eyed the younger student. "Jugson isn't the brightest of Slytherins."

"One could even say that he's easily swayed, no? Especially when Quidditch is involved."

He stiffened. "What are you trying to say, Black?"

"Nothing, nothing at all," Regulus said, a knowing smile on his face. It had been just a guess, however, it seemed that he had been right. "Your reactions say it all for me."

Yaxley grabbed a fistful of Regulus's robes. "Have a care for what you insinuate, Black, or you may find yourself off the team like Jugson."

Regulus's smile grew wider, sharper. "Touchy, touchy," he tutted. "Never fear, your little secret is safe with me. For the time being."

Yaxley released him with a wordless snarl, making the younger teen snicker. "What do you want, Black?"

Regulus took his time in smoothing out his robes. "Nothing much, Heir Yaxley, nothing much. Just for you to sponsor Snape into the Knights' dueling club."

"Are you fucking insane?" Yaxley exploded. "I can't do that! He's a half-blood!"

Regulus snickered again. "Sure you can, Heir Yaxley. You let him decimate Jugson at tryouts. You saw how easily he took down those three idiots, how quickly and how ruthlessly. It would be ever so entertaining to see what he's actually capable of, don't you think? Besides, it'd make you look good to Snape's patron." At Yaxley's blank look, Regulus elaborated. "His patron? The one who had the Lestrange twins send us that silly little note?"

Yaxley became calculating. "How do you know who his patron is?"

"Please," he scoffed. "The Lestrange twins are a veritable terror, there's only one party I can think of that could have those two under control."

Yaxley was silent, and Regulus knew he almost had him. "Look, I'm not trying to upset the puffapod cart… not much, at least. With Severus having who he does as a patron, it's only a matter of time before others begin thinking that he should be invited to participate in the dueling club, this time on the other side of things. It can only be beneficial to you to invite him. With the way he took those three out, there's no way he'll be a disappointment."

"And if he is… I'll just say it was the best way to put him back in his place." Yaxley said eventually. He looked at the younger student shrewdly. "Why do you want him in the club?"

"Like I said, I think it will be ever so entertaining to see what he's capable of. Power just rolls off of him."

Yaxley rolled his eyes. "Fine. Keep your secrets. I'll approach him to see if he's interested."

Regulus grinned. "Brilliant."

Surprise! I'm not dead! Just mostly dead, lol. School is kicking my ass. No beta, so sorry for mistakes and/or rough patches in writing. I hope you guys liked it! Please leave a review! You have no idea how much they help me write.

*Fulmia is from Uprooted by Naomi Novik - if you haven't read that, I recommend it!

Also. I've recently gotten into Mo Dao Zu Shi, a fantastic Chinese drama series. The live action is on Netflix as The Untamed and I highly recommend it! And you can find the donghua on YouTube, the manhua I think on Exiled Rebels Scanlations, but you can definitely find the novel on there. You'll likely see its influence on this story from here on out lmao, I'm sorry, I can't help myself tho. Shouldn't be too obvious, but if you know the series you might get a chuckle out of. I know I did.

Thanks for reading! I'm still working on the rest of this, so never fear! I won't abandon it!