(Minor corrections, March, 2013)

(Author Notes updated in response to early reviews)

Disclaimer: I am not J K Rowling. I do not own Harry Potter.

Note: As with the others in this series, the following is set in an universe alternate from canon where the scene by the lake in canon after the fifth defence OWL in 1976 plays out differently past a certain point. This one's an idea I had which never went anywhere, but which is hopefully worth the posting as a one-shot. Maybe it'll inspire someone else out there...

The small charms professor had dearly hoped that a premonition he'd had during the defence exam had been wrong, but after he'd collected the scrolls in, and secured them safely away, he'd trailed some of the pupils under cover of a potent disillusionment charm, just to make sure.

Sadly, his fears had proven well-founded.

It was when he saw the corners of Miss Evans' lips twitch slightly, as if she were enjoying this, and only pretending to be stern, that he intervened.

He cancelled his disillusionment charm and within moments disarmed Potter and Lupin when they turned with wands raised in his direction, and surveyed the group of pupils who were gathered on the side of the lake.

Silence had abruptly fallen.

Pupils who had not been involved, but looking highly interested in what had been going on continued to try to furtively pay interest whilst simultaneously trying to sidle away or to pretend that they were doing something else. They had caught sight of the expression on Professor Flitwick's face.

"Five on one? Is this supposed to be odds worthy of Gryffindor house?" Professor Flitwick said.

"Sir, I…" Evans began to protest, but Professor Flitwick cut her short.

"I saw exactly what you were doing, Evans, and what you weren't doing too, and you're a disgrace to the position of prefect. If you were in my house, I'd have your badge at once. At least Mr. Lupin's behaviour is halfway comprehensible, given that he is openly as thick as thieves with the other three, but you, Miss Evans…" he shook his head in disappointment. "The five of you will have detention with me on Saturday morning, and in the afternoon too unless Minerva has anything to say in your defence. And you, Mr. Snape, go and get yourself cleaned up, and be so good, please, as to request your head of house, Professor Slughorn, to have an urgent word with me." He looked around the gathering. "Bullies and hangers-on will not be tolerated here at Hogwarts, if I catch them."

He turned and walked away with an air of offended dignity.

Something unpleasant had crept into the culture of Hogwarts, the diminutive charms professor considered, if not only was bullying like this going on but other pupils were prepared to just stand around and watch as if it were entertainment.

"Severus. I appreciate that you do not want to be pitied, but Professor Flitwick is certain that what he saw earlier by the lake today had the look of an ongoing problem, and is determined to get to the bottom of it." Professor Slughorn harrumphed. He had spoken with Professor Flitwick and had now summoned Severus Snape into his office. "Is there anything important that I or he should know?"

"Ask the headmaster." Severus said, at length, stony-faced. "I am not at liberty to disclose what I know about Remus Lupin and Sirius Black and the Shrieking Shack."

"Severus. I'm a Hogwarts Professor. I know that Remus Lupin has an unfortunate monthly condition and that for medical reasons it's sometimes necessary to keep him isolated in a location off the school grounds." He narrowed his eyes. "But what does Sirius Black have to do with that?"

"Ask the headmaster." Severus repeated. "I am not at liberty to disclose what I know."

"Are you acting under compulsion or some sort of magical or legal duress?" Professor Slughorn asked. "Can you categorically deny that?"

Severus pressed his lips together, and went very pale, which Professor Slughorn regarded as all the answer that he needed.

"Headmaster. I've been talking with the gang of fifth-year Gryffindors who call themselves 'The Marauders'. I can scarcely credit it, but am I to understand correctly that there has been an incident when Mr. Sirius Black tricked Mr. Snape of Slytherin into approaching the Shrieking Shack at a time of month when Mr. Lupin was there, undergoing his lunar transformation?" Filius asked, struggling to keep the disbelief out of his voice.

"They weren't supposed to say anything about that to anyone." the headmaster said, sagging slightly, and looking very old.

They hadn't, but based on the rather limited information Horace had given him, Filius had deduced the most likely scenario, and just had it confirmed out of his own mouth by the headmaster.

"And you thought you could cover it up by swearing Mr. Snape to secrecy like that, never mind that Mr. Snape could have been killed?" Filius was genuinely outraged now.

"Mr. Potter realised his friend was going too far, and intervened before Mr. Snape could incur serious injury." the headmaster said. "It wasn't in anyone's interest for the incident to come out as no lasting physical harm had been done, and things could only have gone badly for Remus who hadn't been aware of his friends' schemes."

"What about the psychological harm, headmaster? Guilt for Mr. Lupin over what he almost did, and Mr. Snape being forced to endure, under vow of secrecy, the knowledge that at least one of his bullies and long-term tormentors got away with almost killing him? I take your point about Mr. Lupin, but I want Sirius Black out of Hogwarts, Albus. He can go of his own volition, as soon as the OWLs are over, or I'll get the board to expel him – but I can't guarantee that it'll be possible to keep Mr. Lupin out of this if I go to the board. And I hope you won't do us both the disservice of proving that the steps I took to safeguard my thoughts and memories before coming here to discuss this with you were actually necessary."

When the Hogwarts Express arrived at the start of September, 1976, Sirius Black was not amongst the returning students. He had dropped out of Hogwarts and – since he was out of favour with his own family – the Potter family had used their influence to get him a low-level job at the Ministry of Magic.

Severus Snape was not much bothered by the remaining three Marauders, beyond the occasional evil glare, but that might have had as much to do with the fact that there always seemed to be a Ravenclaw prefect in his vicinity these days when he was not to be found in a classroom or the Slytherin quarters, as it had to do with the Marauders effectively being one man down. Then again, that Professor Flitwick and Professor Slughorn had combined to get invisibility cloaks onto the list of contraband items to be permanently confiscated upon 'detection', may have also had something to do with it. If such a scion of an old family as James Potter did happen to own an invisibility cloak, he'd apparently left it at home rather than risk losing it for good.

Lily Evans had lost her prefect badge and there were rumours circulating in the school that Remus Lupin would have lost his as well – had the headmaster not personally intervened with the head of Gryffindor. Lily's replacement as prefect was Angelica Gigglesworth, a stern pure-blood, who was frequently at odds with the remaining Marauders. The Marauders perversely blamed Lily for this new situation, and used their influence in Gryffindor to turn Lily into a social pariah within her own house. Since Professor Flitwick had apparently informed Ravenclaw house that Miss Evans was effectively persona non grata, and Professor Slughorn always seemed to be finding things for Severus Snape to do these days (and indeed invited him, unlike Miss Evans, to his little evening social get-togethers), that left Lily Evans with a social circle limited to a few Hufflepuffs – and several of them were doubtful of her given what was emerging of the way that she'd repeatedly failed to stick up for a long-term friend. Still, no matter what they might privately think, they were Hufflepuffs, and it was expected of them to be loyal, so they did their best to stick by her, whenever they had the time…

Life at Hogwarts went on, and if things were slightly duller and less hazardous in the wake of the recent crackdown, not many of the staff and students were complaining about it…

Author Notes:

So this one's based on the premise of what might have happened if a responsible member of staff without an obvious stake in the Gryffindor/Slytherin rivalry had happened on the Marauders bullying Severus after the fifth year defence exam in 1976? Professor Flitwick (who had actually been in the exam) seemed an obvious choice. I doubt he specifically expected to see the Marauders pick on one Severus Snape, but he knew they had a reputation for mischief and was trailing them to see if they got involved in something...

And then it becomes obvious to him, from the body-language and dynamics of the situation that this is an ongoing problem, and he starts digging, and to his surprise his fellow head of house, Horace Slughorn, unearths mention of Sirius Black and a certain werewolf...

I'm not sure where this one would have gone next. As I mentioned in the introductory note, this is one where the inspiration fizzled out. I think there might be some sort of Filius Flitwick/Severus Snape dynamic established, where Filius tries to give the Slytherin student the sort of attention and treatment as a decent human being that might keep him away from a career in the Death Eaters. Meanwhile, Lily Evans is feeling increasingly isolated (and just a touch resentful) at school society in general, and maybe some of the Slytherins draw her in because she does have a good reputation with potions and Severus (their preferred candidate) is suddenly too busy having duelling lessons with Professor Flitwick... (To quote A. A. Milne's poem Twice Times 'One got Better and the other got Wuss', perhaps?)

Anyway, this one's a one-shot for the foreseeable future.

Update (5/6/12)

One early reviewer made the good point that canon Flitwick, as of 1992 onwards, permits the tormenting of Luna Lovegood by other members of Ravenclaw. All I can offer by way of explanation (without going down the 'it's an alternate universe' route) is that the Flitwick of this story is a decade and a half younger (and more idealistic) than the canon Flitwick of the Harry Potter era.

Update (6/3/12)

I feel it worth mentioning 'What if? The Purgatory of Lily' by 'Escoger', currently posted on this site and which presents a series of Alternate Universes wherein Lily Evans does something different at some point in her life, with ripples spreading from there. Angst! in some of the stories though... (To be fair, the collection *is* identified as romance/angst.)