Rock Star

Rock Star

On the fifteenth day of December, Severus had finally received his guitar from his mother; along with a note ("Why of all times now to do you want that damn thing? It's junk, and you should have gotten rid of it years ago! When we received that owl, your father almost went through the roof! Don't EVER owl here again, unless it's for something important!"). Needless to say, Severus owled home again asking her to send his favorite pick.

He spent hours on the following Saturday tuning and perfecting his instrument. Severus sent an order by owl for another package of Magical Strings (the same kind his favorite group, Flippendo, used) and a tub of Parksley's Polish For Instruments. After all, if he was to perform in front of the whole school, he had to look good, right?

Suddenly, the door burst open with a loud bang! Severus looked up to see a rather smallish third year. "Snape, you're needed by that Gryffindor Prefect."

"Lupin?" he asked the boy, quirking an eyebrow. 'Now why would he need to see me?' he wondered.

"No, the other one."

"What other one is there, Davis?" The black haired boy had only just recalled the other's name. He was James Davis, a smallish third year with strawberry hair and hazel eyes. He was also the Keeper for Slytherin.

"The pretty one," Davis answered.

"I am extremely pleased that you have an excellent memory for names," he sarcastically answered as he rolled his eyes. Honestly, these younger students kept getting thicker and thicker with each passing year.

Davis flushed. "I meant the Head Girl."

"Ah, now you see, that would have saved you all that trouble, now wouldn't it?" Severus remained quiet until the other boy had nodded.

"Good. Now, I hope you don't need direction to the door?"

"N-no sir." As quickly as he had entered, Davis left. Truth be told, he rather didn't like Severus Snape.

A few minutes later, Severus found himself in an empty classroom, having a much unwanted, but rather necessary conversation.

"So we won't be able to prove Bagman wrong until after the students return," Sirius informed the group.

"That's good, though. It'll give us more time to think of the songs."

"And sort out the melodies for them," Peter added to James's statement.

"Well, now that we're on the subject, Severus, I need to know if you would prefer Wizarding clothes, or Muggle clothes to perform in? Lily pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill.

Severus suddenly felt a little uncomfortable as everyone turned to him. "What songs will I be singing?"

"Well, Peter and I teamed up, and we've made a few changes to a few Muggle songs that we think will do wonderfully." Lily smiled brightly.

Severus closed his eyes in obvious annoyance. "That would mean...precisely what?"

"Well," Lily hesitated, "that would mean that I think Muggle clothing would be better."

The odd group was silent as Severus pondered what this would mean. It would be easier to move around, play necessary chords, and Muggle clothing would mean it wouldn't be as hot and he wouldn't be as sweaty as he normally would have been.

"And the next item on the list?" the Slytherin asked. Upon seeing the even larger grin on Lily's face, a distinct feeling of dread filled his body.

"Next, we arrange a Hogsmeade trip to make you look hot."

The four Gryffindor boys stared at the red head in disbelief. Snape? Hot?! Never! Not in a million years! Sirius burst with laughter.

"What'd you have in mind, Lily? Setting him on fire?" Sirius guffawed louder.

Lily sighed and rubbed her temples. Sometimes this lot was just too much to take. "They're simple cosmetic spells, really. I'm even brewing a potion to help keep your hair from getting extremely greasy under the stage lighting."

"Evans," Severus sighed, "I still have the burn marks for that last potion you attempted. And that was last March! This is December! I'm not using anything you make. It might turn me purple of something."

"Not that that wouldn't be a great improvement; wonder if she'll do something to his nose at the same time," Sirius whispered conspiratorially (not to mention loud enough for everyone to hear) to James, who was sniggering.

"It's fine; I've used it once on my own hair for an experiment. It won't turn you purple." Lily watched Sirius's face fall dramatically. She rolled her eyes at his antics.

Severus's face grew darker than what it was moments before. "Alright, I suppose I'll try it. But just this once," he added warningly.

Lily beamed at him. "That's perfect!"

"Well, Lily. I think it's time for you to work your magic." Remus smiled slightly.

The next morning, the students who went to breakfast at forty-five minutes past eight got a shock none of them were likely to forget. Gone was the lanky, greasy, black hair that Severus Snape usually sported. It seemed as if angels had come to answer the prayers of so many students. The longest layer was no longer than neck-meets-shoulder length, and the shortest began right at the top of the ear. It was shagged and looked as if it was flicked out by a Muggle curling iron. The room was silent as shock permeated through the air.

He entered the large room just in front of Lily Evans, who was beaming at everybody, looking as if the cat got the canary. He strode forward to his House table as if nothing was out of the ordinary (although he was feeling rather put out by all the staring, but he'd never tell anyone that).

Lily went the opposite direction to her usual horde of girlfriends who all demanded to know what was going on. All Severus heard was a "You'll see!" from the red headed Gryffindor.

Severus was not looking forward to the next few hours. He would be perusing Hogsmeade with the Gryffindor Head Girl (not that that was too much of a bother; she was pretty and popular enough), who was the Gryffindor Golden Girl. It wasn't as if he wasn't interested; on the contrary, he would give his eyeteeth to be "with" her, but she belonged to Potter, no matter how much she tried to deny it.

He poured himself a tall goblet of pumpkin juice and contemplated how complicated life could get in just a few short days. He took himself some porridge and added sugar to it. It wasn't fun, this "rock star" business, but then, he wasn't a willing participant, was he?

Suddenly discovering he had had enough of breakfast, he swept his cloak on, did the fastenings, and swooped out of the hall. He didn't care if Evans saw him or not.

Sure enough, a few moments later, Evans was fluttering about behind him trying to catch up. She eventually caught up, chattering about colors that she thought would do for whatever clothes he would need. She went on about how she thought the punk look would take away the image they had to carefully construct for him, and how she though glam was too severe for his darker moods. She talked about the hippy lifestyle that was sweeping America and how marvelous she thought he'd look with his hair in a braid and sporting ripped and torn jeans and no shirt.

He said very little through those few, painstaking moments. Whenever she waited for an answer, he would give a noncommittal snort or grunt to show that he was indeed listening, but really could care less. Lily wasn't to be deterred, though, and soon enough, she had her mind made up about his up-and-coming image.

The two odd companions drifted through racks and the like, not really committing themselves to one thing or another. The day finally ended as another unfortunate boy spotted Severus, passed him a sympathetic smile, and said, "My girlfriend drags me out shopping with her all the time, too." Severus gave him a horrified look, and quickly shooed Lily out of the shop, claiming, "It is getting late and we really must be going back to the castle" in an abnormally high voice.

The next Monday, he arrived unnaturally early for Charms. His robes swirling behind him, he swooped through the door hoping to catch a few moments in which he could breathe freely. Fate, once again, was not on his side.

The people he was most avoiding were sitting in a corner, arguing over what he could only presume was the ordeal that got him accused of being Evans' boyfriend in the first place. Not that he was complaining; yet, it just wasn't true.

"No, I tried appealing to the old bat, but he simply won't allow us to do it during the holidays. And, he said we have to have a band... Like, with real aliases and everything." Sirius hit the desk and leaned back into an upright position.

"Well, that just means it's going to be a bit delayed; Bagman won't be able to do anything about it. Now, Evans, how'd that trip go?" James inquired of the girl sitting beside Remus.

"Well, actually, it went quite well. I also thought that we'd need outfits as well, so I bought something for each of us according to our personalities."

Peter blinked, James stared, Sirius rolled his eyes, and Remus smirked. Obviously this girl thought of everything. This was yet another reason why she and Potter were so suited; she was everything he was not.

The five students continued to converse on the outfit choices, and their plans for the next day. It was only when the rest of the class entered the room that Severus moved to his usual seat and Lily scooted her chair back.

Severus had never been very adept at Divination. Yet just as he had turned his book to page seventy-one, he experienced a very acute stab of foreboding for the next day.