Severus... Reformed / SNILY (COMPLETE)

Chapter Thirty-Five

Saturday morning dawned bright and clear. Severus waited whilst Remus attempted to put his trousers over his head, and eventually cast a simple charm to dress the other boy. It was embarrassing to watch Lupin acting so strangely.

"Thanks, Severus," Remus said, blushing. "I'm extremely scared about these try-outs." He knew Severus wouldn't have asked.

Severus tried to think of an analogy, and soon came up with two to his liking.

"Well, I suppose you could try and consider it as a learning curve. You can learn from mistakes. Or as a test. A test that you either worked hard enough to pass or didn't_"

"That was unnecessary, Severus," Remus stated, rolling his eyes. "If anything, I'm far from reassured by that encouragement."

Severus shrugged. Remus gazed at him.

"Does anything faze you?" He asked suddenly.

"A few things," Severus replied quietly. His mother's death; that had unnerved him. Oh, and his father's too – that had been terrifying. He shook himself from those thoughts. "Not much. Nothing as trivial as this."

"Great." Remus said sarcastically as he checked that he had everything before heading down with Severus. "What did Lily want to speak to you about? You know, yesterday after our practice?"

Severus didn't have to tell him if he didn't want to, Remus figured, but he had been curious.

"She was nervous, like you," Severus answered at long last, as they neared the Great Hall. "She wants to enter her try-outs, but she's not a confident flyer."

"Who's this?" Came a loud and booming voice. "Who wants to try out for Quidditch? Snivellus, don't tell me you and stick-insect are going for the Ravenclaw team? Siri, Siri, come here!"

Sirius skidded to a halt next to his friend.

"They want to play Quidditch!" Potter guffawed. Black burst out laughing.

Severus felt a surge of anger.

"I didn't think you would need much more than a Wingardium Leviosa to get you toddling off to Mummy," Severus commented quietly. By now, a moderate crowd had gathered to watch the ensuing fight, and they all saw as Potter blushed red to the Ravenclaw's statement. "It appears I was wrong."

"Yeah, you were," Potter replied, plucking up his bravado.

"However, it wouldn't be a fair duel," Severus continued. "I highly doubt you can perform anything more powerful than a Levitating Charm, considering your inattention during lessons..."

That set Potter off.

Several things happened at the same time. Potter cast the Jelly-Fingers Curse, shortly followed by the Jelly-Legs Curse, both towards Severus. Remus shouted Severus' name, even as the latter was hit by the first spell and blocked the second with a non-verbal Protego. Potter seemed surprised to see Severus still standing, even as he smirked back at the Gryffindor, waving a wobbly hand.

"You think this will deter me? From anything?" Severus inquired. "I think it's too soon to be considering the future career of an Auror."

Potter stared at Severus, gobsmacked. Then...

"Potter! Black! Snape! Lupin!"

Professor McGonagall stood at the top of the stairs, hands on hips, lips pursed.

"What do you think you were doing?" She asked, nostrils flaring.

There came an outbreak of cries at once. The Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs, Slytherins, and even the majority of Gryffindors in the crowd were firmly denying that Remus or Severus had had anything to do with the encounter.

"It was him!" Accused Potter, pointing at Severus, who stood calmly with a bored expression.

"They started it!" Added Black.

"It wasn't us," Remus cried weakly, although only Severus heard him, and sent him a dark look.

The professor assessed the situation and looked at Potter.

"Hand me your wand," she ordered, and the boy gave it over without a fight.

"Prior Incantato," she whispered, and wisps of the two curses emerged into the air. The Transfiguration teacher glared at her student. "Explain yourself!"

Fiona Bradley stepped forwards.

"My housemates, Snape and Lupin, were attacked by these buffoons on their way to the Ravenclaw Quidditch try-outs," she said angrily. "Where they should be, now." She glared at the two Ravenclaws.

"Thank you, Miss Bradley," McGonagall said icily. "Messrs. Potter and Black, go to my office. I will be there shortly to discuss your punishments." They left, and she turned to Remus and Severus. "Mr Snape, I suggest you fix that hand," she said, raising an eyebrow as he struggled to hold his wand. "Then be on your way. The same goes for you, Mr Lupin."

"Yes, Professor," Remus said quietly, staring at the floor.

As soon as the professor had gone, and the crowd had dispersed, Fiona turned on Severus and Remus.

"Thanks to you troublemakers, the try-outs will start late. You'd better hope you won't be on the team, otherwise I might try and kick you off as quickly as I can." She gave them one last glare and headed away with Patricia.

"Hand okay?" Remus inquired casually as Severus cast a quick spell, before shaking his hand.

"Yeah, it's fine," Severus replied. "We'd better head down now, breakfast or no breakfast."

"We'd better," Remus nodded, and two made their way out of the front doors to meet head-on with sunlight and the inevitable, formidable presence of Fiona Bradley.

*****

A.N. I thought this chapter would be the try-outs but I was wrong, alas - Potter turned up for a fight and I gave him one.

FAQs:

Why was Severus hit by the first curse? Surely he could have blocked it?

To be honest, I'm not sure about this one. It seemed right for Severus not to respond to violence. Also, from an evidence point of view, he would need an injury to claim Potter started the fight. In addition, it wasn't a nasty curse, and Severus would have known that so he wasn't too worried.

Why wasn't Minerva concerned about Severus?

Minerva McGonagall is possibly the most maternal figure in Hogwarts. She would have insisted that Severus go to Madam Pomfrey, wouldn't she? 

Well, Minerva knows Severus' skills, and no doubt realises that a jelly hand is something Severus would simply shrug off, so she decided not to interfere. Not everything, unfortunately, requires an overnight stay in the Hospital Wing.

Why is Fiona so mean?

Well, I mean, she is friends with Patricia Clearwater, who happens to be the prefect that was watching over Severus in his first year when he went missing, for those of you who don't remember. So that explains why she's been beastly, but she will get nicer, and so will Patricia, if you're lucky.

This is dedicated to @DarkSunX for still reading even when I didn't know they did! Feel free to leave comments, nice voter!

Thank you so so much for reading and PLEASE COMMENT! Any comments encourage me to write more, and keep going with this extremely long story! :)