Entry tags:

event: anti-valentine's day 2011, ficlet, member: starduchess, pairing: severus/lily, rating: pg

Severus Snape and Those Pranking Marauders by starduchess
Title: Severus Snape and Those Pranking Marauders
Author: starduchess
Pairing: Severus/Lily (past), Severus/Marauders (gen), James/Lily
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1055
Warnings: none
Summary: Severus stands alone at the St. Valentine's Ball, contemplating the four Marauders in his life.
A/N: Thanks very much to keppiehed for her good beta work. This was written for the prompt eenie, meenie, miney, moe ...

Eenie

The universe was unfair.

This Severus had known for quite some time, ever since his early childhood. He would watch the other Muggle children at his school take off their expensive coats and show off their new shoes, unzip bags with still-intact seams and pull out sparkling fresh paper and unused pencils. He looked with envy at their smiling faces -- their smiling unblemished faces -- and joyful vigor as they exchanged exciting stories with their friends. He had longed for a magical friend, for someone to share the darker pleasures of the Wizarding world and to escape the pressures of his own home. It had looked as if he had been granted such a friend in Lily Evans, and for many years he had been, but in a gruesome cosmic joke she turned her back on him.

Getting his Hogwarts letter had restored his faith in the universe for a while, but everyday spent in these hallowed halls chiselled away at his happiness. All due to a stupid group of kids who called themselves the Marauders. They teased him and hexed him at every turn, ruining every possible friendship Severus wanted to make. Take Remus Lupin, for example. Here was a boy who dressed like Severus, who had just as difficult a homelife, who remained aloof during classes and could have easily been Severus' friend. Unfortunately, he was sorted into Gryffindor, and the Marauders instantly included him, although he never possessed the viciousness to torment prey that the others had. Prank, yes. Torment, no. Which is why it hurt so much that it was Remus, the werewolf, a creature of the Dark, someone who could have understood Severus in his plight, who almost killed him. Severus now knew the darker side of the boy, and it had attacked him, a betrayal of the Dark in which Severus normally felt safe.

Meenie

Of course, it was all Sirius Black's fault. From the moment that scoundrel had stepped on the Hogwarts Express, he had been making Severus' life unbearable. The taunts and insults weren't that far off from the ones he had received during primary school; the curses and hexes that landed -- albeit not many -- humiliated him and made him look like a fool. Black always aroused his anger, and Severus couldn't think straight when that happened. They were polar opposites, he and Black -- one rich, pure-blooded, boisterous and womanising, the other poor, quiet, half-blooded and unlucky. Even in their spell-work, they were different. Severus excelled at Potions and Defence Against the Dark Arts, while Black was master of Transfiguration and Divination, probably because both of those came from confidence and show rather than patience and intelligence.

The Marauders Club was Black's idea, he was sure of it. Black exuded mischief from his pores, and what better way to express it than form a clique and choose an enemy to torture. Severus didn't know why he was singled out nine times out of ten, as he usually didn't start off the day wanting to cause trouble. Couldn't Black just leave him alone? Sure, the Gryffindors and Slytherins maintained a bitter rivalry -- all the way back to the Founders themselves -- but this went deeper, something primal between the two of them. Some would claim it was sexual tension, but Severus knew it was just a deep-seated intolerance. He didn't love or hate Black, not really, so long as Black stayed out of his way.

Miney

Unfortunately, Black did not have the same idea, and so naturally ganged-up with James Potter to turn Severus' haven of magic into a new nightmare. James Potter, Quidditch All-Star, Prefect, and Gryffindor's Golden Boy. Severus had never heard of such an arrogant name or boy before. His spiky black hair and lively eyes said "Look at me!" while his hands -- those pure, aristocratic hands -- danced across girls' arms and ladies' faces. Stupid girls, who didn't devote themselves to study, who giggled at the inanities that the Marauders dreamed up. Girls unlike Lily. Yet there she was on his arm.

Oh, his precious flower. Potter had stolen her away from him, forced her to look at himself instead of at her best friend. Severus' heart ached with the loss of her, a loss caused by those sickening little miscreants, and his insides turned cold with rage. He would have fought Potter tooth and nail for her, if he hadn't contributed to his own demise. Oh, could that man make him lose control! Potter had the audacity to use Severus' own spells against him in front of all the school and had shattered Severus' dignity. That Lily had felt the need to come to his defence was the ultimate mortification, and he had lashed out. Now she had walked away, befriended his nemesis, and left him cuckolded and impotent.

and Moe

Sending flying daggers at Potter's back as Potter walked Lily onto the dance floor amid swirling lights and banal drum beats, Severus almost missed the nervous, mousy kid to his left. Peter Pettigrew was a pathetic excuse for a Gryffindor, and Severus couldn't figure out why the Sorting Hat had put him there. Unless, of course, it knew the boy would join the Marauders. Peter held enough gumption to participate in the group's pranks over the years, Severus had to admit, although he didn't appear to have the demeanor to face down true evil. Severus wondered how the boy even came to be standing next to him. Peter usually trembled and fled from Severus if the others were not around to bolster his mettle.

"What are you lurking about for, Pettigrew?" Severus sneered.

Peter twitched. It was nerve-racking. "Oh, nothing r-really. I just, uh ... didn't have a date."

"And this forces you to be in my proximity why?"

Peter's twitching increased as he stared down into his butterbeer. "Well, um, you didn't have a date either, and I thought ... well, we could --"

"There is nothing we could do together, Pettigrew," Severus interrupted. "I'm surprised you even had the courage to suggest it."

Peter gulped and nodded. When nothing more came of the discussion, he slunk away to another corner of the grossly-decorated Great Hall.

Severus glanced around at the maddening scene. Pink and red hearts glittered everywhere, and the feel of sugary sentimentality pervaded the night air.

Oh, yes, the universe hated him, especially on St. Valentine's Day.