Chapter Text
He was having a shit day.
In his absolutely shit job, under his shit employer, for the sake of his shit lifestyle to gain his Potions mastery; the only thing that isn't shit (debatable at this point, if you ask me).
He'd thought about it a lot, the reason why he's currently working at a crappy sodding pub in good 'ol Knockturn Alley. He's got a perfectly good job at a humble apothecary just North of the city, in a small little town.
It was, after all, a requirement to work in an apothecary to serve and to learn under a potions master in order to get his degree. What was not a requirement, though, was getting paid.
You've heard it here, folks.
Severus Snape is an unpaid intern.
So here he is working in the shitty little pub in good 'ol Knockturn Alley. His employer, the absolute fucking bastard that he is, never really gave him a specific job. He'd asked the first day there what he was to do and the man had the gall to say "All of the above, boy."
Merlin, what an asshole.
As of this Sunday night, his current job description is walking around the pub serving the lousy (and often criminal) magical folk drinking. It wasn't easy, being a waiter (why the fuck is there a waiter in a pub anyway?) The people who usually are in the pub are a bunch of no good perverts who seemingly are just discovering what a twink is.
He's used to the catcalls, though. Has been for a portion of his life. For all the bullying he got from the Marauders for his appearance back in school, puberty hit him like an Unforgivable that left him actually quite attractive in a subtle way. Subtle until it was not, then it would leave you breathless (in some people) and unbelievably disgusting(in others; degenerates).
He growls as he felt another smack on his ass, wishing nothing more than to reach for his wand and hex the ever-loving fuck out of the offender. He couldn't, though. Unfortunately the last time he did that he was docked his pay for 2 weeks, leaving him with barely enough from his already barely enough salary 5 months back. So he just grunts and marches on back to the kitchen where another set of meals were prepped and ready to serve. Maybe he should just zone out for the next 4 hours, occlumency not required.
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Sometimes he wonders what his life would have been if he had accepted the invitation to be an honorary death eater, to have purebloods begrudgingly support his potions mastery and to figuratively be sat on the Dark Lord’s, sorry, Voldemort’s lap. He was a nose-hair close to it too. But alas, Lily Evans, his absolute wench of a best friend, quite literally dragged him with his hair through Cokeworth during their last year of winter break (he doesn’t remember why he went home that year, he never did once, besides summer); from his front door up to the old playground they used to frequent. There they yelled and screamed, taking out years of unchecked aggression towards the other.
For a moment they forgot that they were wizards, with magic at the tip of their fingers. They forgot that they were in the middle of the beginning of a war. They forgot that they were meant to kill one another within the next 4 months, having chosen their sides since 5th year. They forgot all of this as they beat the ever-living shit out of each other.
Every punch and kick and scratch was met with steadfast retaliation; having learned to fight in the messy streets of Cokeworth.
“You hang out with bigots, Severus Snape! They throw slurs and nasty hexes at any motherfucker that so much as had a fucking muggle pencil in their hands!” Lily would yell, kicking out her leg to hit at his side, his spleen screams in pain.
“Oooh, that sounds soooo fucking familiar to me, dear Lily Evans. I wonder why? Oh, right. Because your twat of a boyfriend does the same exact thing to me!. He is just as bigoted and nasty. The rich boy targeting the poor ugly half-blood, and for what? For being friends with you?!” He delivers a punch aimed at her face, only for him to trip and punch her boob instead.
That stopped the both of them immediately, staring at his fist with shock. As soon as their eyes met they broke down laughing, hysteria and tears mixed into it as it echoed throughout the playground and the forest behind them.
After that they sat under their knife-marked tree, opting to talk it out without interrupting the other.
“I’m a Slytherin, a house that is hated by other houses. I can’t afford to be hated by my own housemates as well, Lily. Don’t say I had you, because we’ve already proven that you were never always there. While you were out and about with friends that you could trust I was trying to survive with allies that could turn against me at any given mistake. I needed to protect myself.” Severus says softly, his hands braiding the grass at his feet in an attempt to keep himself from crying, failing considerably.
“I...I’m...Sev, why didn’t you ever tell me? You know I’d at least tried harder to stick by your side. This also doesn’t change the fact that even without your Slytherin posse and the Marauders you were always dabbling in dark magic. It’s dark and restricted for a reason! Did you know how long I’ve tried to defend you from the Gryffindors claiming that you’re a dark wizard? A death eater? It hurts seeing you turn to a group that promotes death to all muggleborns.” Lily sobs brokenly, throwing a fistful of dried leaves at him.
They stayed that way until midnight to talk, uncaring of the cold weather and the spooky silence of their surroundings.
“I miss my best friend, Severus, I want him back.”
“Oh, Lily, you never lost him.”
That was one hell of a day, for which Severus Snape was eternally grateful that it had happened.
So yes, they worked on their battered friendship, starting with Severus finally agreeing to spending the rest of his Christmas with the Evans; to the delight of the household, sans Petunia (“Tuney fucked off to London,” Lily received a smack behind her head from her mother for that comment). And after they returned to Hogwarts it was like the castle flipped upside down. Students watched in awe and disbelief at Snape, dark-sneering-neverhappy-Snape, howling with laughter next to Lily Evans. It felt illegal to witness but here they were. Was it the end of the world?
James Potter and his merry group of fuckheads were less than pleased, Severus noted with delight. They stopped their targeted pranking (read: bullying) in sixth year, the same year Lily and Potter inevitably got together. But the animosity between them was as strong as ever. That didn’t stop Lily from trying to get them to at least be civil towards one another. That was a messy event that left a massive mark on his person. Whether or not it was in a good way depended on who you asked.
To summarize, there was a lot of crying from Potter, much to Snape’s horrified disdain. The pureblood sobbed about how lucky Severus was to have Lily and he vowed that he would steal Lily from him before he could marry her and turn her into a death eater muggleborn. To which Severus and Lily scoffed.
“I’m not an object to be owned and stolen, you motherfucking toerag.” Lily rolls her eyes.
“That, and I’m a fag.” Severus continues.
Black, although speechless, slaps at Lupin’s back, having started a coughing fit from the shock. Pettigrew looks over at Lupin with concern, eyes sometimes flying back to Severus before looking away meekly. Potter stared at the Slytherin dumbly while Lily punched his arm. Severus’ eye twitched from the pain.
“Don’t call yourself that, Sev! That’s such a rude way to call yourself!”
Severus shrugs, “It’s true isn’t it? Besides, only I’m allowed to say it between you and I, since I am, the gay man in question. You’ll just sound offensive if you do.” he tells her. Lily merely sighs, unwilling to dispute his strange logic.
“But I can assure you, Potter, I do not have any romantic or sexual interest towards Lily.” he turns to look at the redhead before shuddering, “I would much rather stare in the eyes of a Basilisk than to so much as fondle her boob.” he barely dodged her punch for that comment.
The rest of the open group confession was filled with petty hatred from Black, stuttered excuses from Pettigrew and a, strangely enough, heartfelt apologetic monologue from Lupin. The werewolf, dare he say, almost made him cry.
Lily cackled and swore to never let him live it down.
The talk with the Slytherins was surprisingly quick, if not for the fact that Severus ended it as fast as he could. Anyone who witnessed the mended friendship of Severus and Lily knew that there has been a drastic shift in the halfblood’s loyalties.
After that brawl with Lily in winter break, they both made plans upon plans to keep each other safe in case the Slytherins retaliated, both in Hogwarts and outside of Hogwarts. So he was feeling confident (or at least he’s pretending, Severus has always been a bit of a theatre kid back in muggle school)
“Hanging out with mudbloods again, I see? You know he won’t be pleased when he finds out.” Mulciber taunts, the other Slytherins gather around the common room, watching the display with anticipation, “What would you do if I reported this to Malfoy, hm? What would big brother Lucius say?”
Severus crosses his arms, “The Dark Lord can shove his displeasure where the sun doesn’t shine.” The Slytherins gaped at his open defiance, “I have no interest in joining his cult.”
Mulciber snarls, “How fucking dare you talk about the Dark Lord like that, you filthy halfblood!” he stepped forward, only to be met with a wand to his neck.
“Ah, ah, Mulciber, I may no longer be loyal to Voldemort but that does not mean I forgot all the dark spells I know.” Severus twists his wand, smiling dangerously upon seeing the bigger man swallow in poorly hidden apprehension.
The ex death eater-to-be slowly walked backwards, towards the common room exit, before spinning around gracefully.
“As for Lucius,” He pauses, staring contemplatively at Mulciber, “Tell him whatever you want, I could care less.”
Which, of course, was a fucking lie
That entire month was spent apprehensively waiting for a letter from Lucius, knowing full well that he was about to lose the blond man. Severus opened up about this particular fear to Lily, explaining to her that despite Lucius’ ‘ I’m rich and therefore I should be an asshole’ behavior, to him it was ‘I’m rich and therefore I should be an asshole, who cares about Severus’. He recounts the times that Lucius actually took time to befriend the poor halfblood, after finding out his potions talent and academic skill.
Lily smiles at him softly, “I don’t know anything about Malfoy, but I’m willing to bet that he still cares about you, despite your rebellion.”
Severus could only hope she was right.
And right she was...kind of.
A week after that conversation, he watches a very pompous and very familiar looking owl. The Slytherin table immediately ceased any conversation as they watched the Malfoy bird land in front of Severus, a howler attached to it’s leg. He pales at the sight and bites his lip nervously, looking at the Gryffindor table. He immediately makes eye contact with Lily who nods encouragingly, although he could see her apprehension as well.
He ignores the smug looks thrown his way by his other housemates and slowly unties the howler from the owl. The owl, Lucio, side-eyed him before flying away. Yeah, that was totally comforting. Totally...encouraging.
“Like a band aid, Severus, like a band aid.” He opens the red letter.
Everyone in the Great Hall leaned towards the Slytherin table in anticipation.
“SEVERUS TOBIAS SNAPE...THE GALL YOU HAVE-” There was a pause, as though Lucius was trying to calm himself. It fails because the volume of his voice did not change. “THE AUDACITY! YOU- AFTER EVERYTHING I’VE DONE FOR YOU? AFTER EVERYTHING? “Tell him whatever you want, I could care less.” YOU COULD CARE LESS? ABOUT ME? DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? I’M LUCIUS-FUCKING-MALFOY AND YOU WILL CARE ABOUT IT BECAUSE...” Another pause, everyone sat in shock at hearing such emotion from Lucius for the first time. “...Because you are my little brother, in all but blood. Whether you like it or not. Whether the Slytherins like it or not. So you better write me a letter and take back what you said or I swear on Salazar Slytherin’s saggy fucking tits that you will regret it.”
Severus blinked and then blinked again and then blinked another 5 times before seeing color from doing so before finally letting out a shocked “...What?”
The howler, much to everyone’s surprise, turns to look at the rest of the Slytherins at the table. “I suggest that none of you touch a hair from his head, or there will be consequences. I’m talking to you, Mulciber. Leave him alone.” The howler faces Severus once more, “We’ll talk more in private. You better be ready, Severus Snape, there is much that you will be answering.” and with that the howler sets itself on fire, leaving behind ashes and a thoroughly shocked Great Hall.
So that went well.
By the end of the week, Severus and Lucius managed to talk it out during a Hogsmeade weekend. Lucius, although dismayed, understood Severus’ point of view.
“I will no longer be able to help you with your mastery, I hope you are aware of that.” Yes he way.
“The Dark Lord will be displeased, like Mulciber says, but…” Lucius pauses, “...I’ll make sure he won’t come after you. I’ll just...talk shit about you. I’ll talk the other Slytherins to follow my lead, a handful of them do owe me favors” Severus laughed and he was grateful.
“Did you mean it, though? Am I really like a brother to you?” the halfblood asks softly.
Lucius smiles, “Since the day you told me to fuck off.”