Snape Series

It had been another dreadful summer that had come and gone with Lord Voldemort rising quickly in power with many followers, including Severus's father, Rufus. Rufus was rather notorious from his days in school and his following in the dark side. Rufus's wife, Anita, was long dead after giving birth to little Severus. But now the summer was over and it was time for Severus Snape to go back to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where his rival, James Potter awaited. James had recently started dating the brilliant and shy Gryffindor girl, Lily. Severus hated Lily almost as much as he hated James.

Both were rather preppy and sucked up to teachers so much it made him sick. Then there was James's best friend, Sirius Black. It was not unknown that Sirius and Severus hated each other immensely also. Severus had always hated the way that Sirius and James would frolic around the school as if they owned it, with Sirius always trying to hit on the girls to no avail. He was very immature and pathetic, yet was dating a Ravenclaw who was a year younger, Severus heard.

As for Severus, he had never dated. Never been attracted to girls, and them never to him. But Severus liked it like that. Isolation from the rest of the world was fine with him. As long as he had his father to teach him about the dark ways, he had his future. School didn't matter, because Severus was just going to carry in his father's footsteps and hopefully farther. Many people knew that Severus was destined for greatness when it came to the dark side.

This year at Hogwarts, Severus's sixth year, started out as usual. He had just found out that James and Lily had been made prefects along with some other friends of theirs, and Severus also found out that his father had talked the headmaster to keeping him in the school despite his horrible grades. He only wondered what threats and lies his father had pulled to keep him in.

And the year trailed on as usual. His first classes came and went, then lunch, and then his afternoon classes, then dinner, and then straight to his dorm where Severus and his friends, Mike, Chris, and Greg practiced their dark arts.

Well on one of Severus's boring days in Potions class, where he did unusually well but shared with Potter, Severus got side-tracked when Sirius Black and James Potter started talking rather loudly about their girlfriends. Despite his usual grumbling back at them he felt for the first time, a pang of jealously as he watched Potter's face light up as he told Sirius that he finally told Lily how much she meant to him. Even the word love could be distinguished while they talked.

As Severus walked unusually slowly to his next class, Transfiguration, he kept thinking about how happy Potter was. Severus had never really been as happy as he looked, and almost longed for a girlfriend at that moment. But the thought of his fathers face was enough to draw him away from the thought for a moment and concentrate on the class.

But while an Adrian Tucker was reading her report in class, Severus's mind again drifted. His thoughts off and thinking of girls he could picture falling in love with. But he obviously wasn't the only one.

Looking up for a brief moment he caught a Gryffindor girl, Mary Cullman, watching him closely. When he looked straight at her she blinked and slowly turned away with a little smirk. Severus was baffled by this "strange" behavior and thought of nothing else the whole day and almost couldn't wait until his next class with Gryffindor. He couldn't help but hope she had a crush on him, as dumb as it sounded.

Two days later in Herbology he saw Mary again. Potter wasn't in this class, thank God, so he took his time watching Mary without having his mind stray to Potter and Black's talk again. He watched as Mary's delicate fingers sifted soil. He watched as Mary's face lit up every time she laughed, and the way her mouth moved fluently as she talked. He stared, and watched almost in hunger until Mary looked over at him. Their eyes locked and she smiled warmly and then smirked while he turned a tint of red and turned away slowly, as she did before.

This process continued for quite a few weeks and Severus soon found himself goggling at Mary every second he got: at meals, classes, in the hallway, or while watching a quidditch game. Mary seemed to watch him also, he noticed and soon they wouldn't look away right away when making eye contact. But Severus never did tell Mike, Chris, and Greg about Mary. Mary was a Gryffindor and only a crush... right?

After a month of Mary and Severus's crush Mary thought she would burst. She had had many boyfriends before and knew many things about the way a man's mind worked. But Severus baffled her. He was a strange boy and very original. He didn't care what other people thought, but just did his own thing. He was also very funny, she thought. But most of all, his looks were what got to her. He had slicked black hair that made his face dark and creepy, yet romantic and majestic. And his eyes, a black, and so penetrating that you would think he could burn a hole through something like Superman. This mysterious boy really found a place in her heart somehow and she just couldn't ignore it no matter how hard she tried... but she didn't really want to ignore it though.

Yet he was a Slytherin. And she was worried what the school would think if she ever did ask him out. Certainly her friend, Lily, would ignore her forever, but was it worth it?

It was to Mary.

After one exciting day in Potions, where Severus made a very nice display for the class with a purple explosion, Mary plucked the courage to ask him for a walk at night. Well she had actually been planning every detail in her head for weeks to the very most delicate things, such as how to walk.

Slowly and confidentially she walked up to Severus after potions. He usually took his time, not bothering if he was late, and stayed in back. This came in handy for her because she didn't want anyone really listening to them on account that she was still nervous about the Slytherin-Gryffindor thing. Severus looked like he was going to faint when she actually walked straight up to him.

"Hi Severus, you may not know me well, but my name is..."

"Mary," he finished for her. She almost melted, he knew her name, and he talked with such power and confidence despite her obvious nervousness, "Yea, I know you," he said. "I'm..."

"Severus," she finished with a smile, and Severus smiled to. It was and unsaid agreement; they both knew how each other felt and at that moment all nervousness left them only to be replaced with a cozy feeling in each other's heart.

After walking with each other for a few minutes in silence, but smiles, Mary finally asked him a question nagging at her mind, "Severus. I like you. A lot. And we both know that its like and unwritten rule that Slytherin's don't date Gryffindor's... but I can't stand it. I like you a lot, like I said, and I... well..." she fidgeted and had to have her conscious scream at her for her to continue while Severus looked at her, his eyes unusually soft, "I want to see you..." she trailed off.

Nodding in agreement of what she was feeling he finished off for her, "Like a couple."

It rang oddly in Severus's ears. He didn't want to seem so straightforward, because he had been dreaming of this day for a long time, but he could also see that Mary seemed to like it in him. He just hoped that his wish would fully come true. "Like a couple," he repeated softly.

"Would you like to meet me... tonight, at midnight, by the statue of Gregory the Smarmy?" she asked quickly, because she was approaching her next class. "Please, Severus?" she added.

It was Severus's turn to almost melt. He had never heard anyone say that in such a soft, gentle, and loving way before. And the answer almost shot out like a rocket he was so happy, "I would love to."

That night Severus had no trouble getting his friends off his back. He just told them he was going out in the forbidden forest to practice dark art spells on the creatures out there. Snape had been well known to do that.

It was probably thirty minutes sooner than midnight when Snape actually came to the statue of Gregory the Smarmy, but it didn't matter to him. His mind was in a jumble and his heart wouldn't stop beating so profoundly quick. He didn't know what to do or say. Certainly a girl like Mary was... experienced. She was beautiful and he didn't doubt that she had had many boyfriends before him.

Before him. That didn't sound right, he wasn't even dating her! Yet that look in her eyes from earlier that day was not a look that cared if he had never had a girl friend before, or that he had never kissed a girl or anything. It was a look, to him, that plainly said she liked him, more than a friend.

At about five minutes to midnight, Mary arrived.

She was wearing some flannel pajamas with a spaghetti strapped tank and her hair messily thrown up. Oddly enough, to the normal eye, this would have looked rude and messy and unorganized, but to Snape, she was more beautiful than ever. So laid back, so graceful in her steps, and so comforting that all his butterflies of nervousness fluttered away as she smiled at him.

Severus smiled back then Mary smirked because she thought she looked like a fool. She had been caught up in a spot of trouble getting out there. Stepping closely to Severus, she grabbed his arm without saying a word and tapped her wand on Gregory the Smarmy.

The statue's eyes glowed as she said a spell and it jumped aside to review a small, yet cozy, room with a fireplace and a couple beat up chairs. The room looked rather old and abandoned, but it was welcoming. And without saying a word, Mary dragged her and Severus over to the twin couch and sat down.

"Sorry about me being a mess, I had to make it look like I was sleeping before I was able to leave. Our head of house was in our common room for a while, checking up," she said with a sly smile, "but she left just in time."

Severus smiled. Mary had a way of making him very comfortable and relaxed, when under normal circumstances he would be very fidgety and wouldn't say a word. But now he spoke easily. "That's okay. I'm just glade you made it," and with that he pointed his wand at the fireplace and it burst into life, filling the whole room with a warm glow.

Mary smiled and couldn't help but think how romantic Severus was, and she doubt he barely noticed. His bad boy reputation had been enough to turn her on, and now this side of him almost drove her up the wall with happiness. He was more than she could ever wish for, plus some.

Minutes dragged by and slowly but surely Mary and Severus got to know each other over talk. They found out they had very little in common, but when Mary commented that opposites attract, Severus couldn't help but laugh out loud. And without knowing what he was doing, he was leaning in to kiss her.

Never having kissed a girl before, Severus was completely shocked at his own actions, but happy at the same time, and then scared that he wouldn't know what to do, or that he would screw up. What ended up wasn't like magic, because Severus really didn't know what he was doing. Mary understood though, and gave him many more chances until they were both rapped up in each other and kissing fluently and wonderfully as if they were born for that moment. Severus was barely conscious in reality and instead focused on how wonderful it was going. He was kissing a girl. Mary. Mary was kissing him, and he loved it. He loved every minute of it. And so did Mary.

After that they decided to meet every Saturday night at midnight in that room. They soon became well adapted to each other and a kiss to Severus was as easy and nervous less as tying his shoes. And for Mary, she felt a bond to Severus while at their little room, a bond that was not only shared by their kissing, but by a slow love that was creeping up in their hearts. They couldn't deny it or stop love, so they welcomed it.

It was probably a two months after that first night when Severus finally did tell her.

They had been passionately making out for the last ten minutes when he broke apart to speak. She smiled before he even said a word, knowing by the look in his eyes that whatever it was, it was good. Severus took a deep breath and smiled back. "Mary," he started, holding her close as she found the nook in his shoulder where she rested her head, "I love you."

Taken back so suddenly, she flew herself away. Never before had any guy, besides family, loved her. She didn't know what to say or do except sit and stare at him. Severus's face showed his pain and she quickly drew in a breath to draw his attention to whatever she was going to say. "Severus..." she begun, but found she couldn't finish. Tears were welling up in her eyes, tears of happiness. And without Severus realizing, she flew herself on him and cried her heart out with the words, "I love you too!" in between every sob.

It was raining out that day as the whole school sat outside, drenching wet, and bowed heads as the headmaster and head of Gryffindor house gave their speeches. Mr. Tucker was just finishing his right now and he dried his eyes on his handkerchief as he headed back to the line of teachers.

The sky was a gloomy, cloudy gray that would forever be in everyone's mind as a horrible sky that only brought bad news. No birds sang, no owls hooted, no dogs barked, and no human spoke. The whole of the world was silent with the students and staff of Hogwarts.

No one said or moved a square centimeter for a few minutes as a moment of silence turned into a lifetime. The head master grunted and put his hand up for attention. The whole school went dead silent, so silent it made the hairs on the back of everyone's neck stand. "Is there anyone else that would like to come up and say a few words?" he asked, looking around at the crying Gryffindor's and the touched Hufflepuffs, the shocked Ravenclaws, and the nervous Slytherins.

For a moment Snape felt like throwing himself up to the front of the crowd and screaming to the whole world about Mary and him, about their love for each other, and more. But he knew better now. Snape had been given a gift, a glimpse at life as it actually was outside of the terror of the dark arts. But no, he was going back to the dark arts and his heart was heavy for that, but his heavy heart was the main thing that dragged him on, forward to the next day of torturous thoughts that were trained in his mind.

All because his precious gift, Mary, had been taken away. His precious Mary was dead and Snape could do nothing about it except silently say a prayer for her and go on as if nothing had happened, as he did normally before he met her. And Snape did just that, became a death eater, and never told anyone for a long time about her, yet never lived a day without thinking of her. Until the day it all changed and the life of a death eater and love were again questioned.

(Next: Severus Snape; Behind the Mask)