The Bonds of Friendship

Two and Two

~1~

"Have you gotten your letter yet?"

Severus looked up from his book to see Lucius reading over his Hogwarts letter for the fourth time that evening. "Yes, Lucius, I have."

The blonde boy threw his letter onto the table beside him. "As was to be expected. I'm looking forward to seeing the Slytherin common room. Father's described it to me in perfect detail."

Severus grunted and returned to his reading.

"So, Severus, do you expect to be in Slytherin?"

Rolling his eyes, he closed the book. "What do you think, all knowing one?" It often bothered him, the way his best friend purposely annoyed him, just to get a rise out of him.

A familiar grin spread across Lucius' face. "Of course, how could I be so naïve? All the Snapes have been Slytherins, like my own family."

"You really do like to talk so you can hear the sound of your own voice, don't you?" Severus snapped back.

Hogwarts had been the topic of discussion with Lucius all summer, and he was sick of it. So they were heading off to school; why wouldn't they? They were both the offspring of generations of pureblooded wizards, both their families honored and respected in the wizarding community. He could give a rats arse that the moment. "School is for learning, Lucius, not some twisted game of social politics."

"Really?" The blonde swung his feet up on the antique desk next to him, knocking over a picture frame. Ignoring the broken item, he continued, "Then where, pray tell, would we begin making the social connections necessary for one of our standing?"

Severus snorted.

"Oh, I forgot...I'll be the one making the connections for us both." Lucius looked over at him, "You'll be the one upholding our educational standards."

Severus pointed at the shattered glass of the fallen picture. "Your mother is going to hex you for that."

"Like I give a shit."

Lucius always hid his fear behind a very strong wall, a skill Severus had learned from the blonde. They lived very similar lives. From the day their parents introduced them, they had been inseparable, almost like brothers; and just like brothers, there were times they'd love to kill each other. Despite this, Lucius was the one constant in his life.

Severus' parents were 'conflicted', as he learned to describe them. His father had a strong view of the witch's role in his household, or rather, the Snape view. This, however, translated into brutal beatings, and mental abuse, that over the years had turned his once vivacious, out spoken, and loving mother into the fearful, unattached, quiet door mouse she now resembled. Deep down, Severus was sure that at one time, they loved each other.

The Malfoys on the other hand, were 'boisterous' to say the least. Lucius' mother refused to stay 'in her place', but rather chose to exercise the power and standing her arranged marriage had afforded her. Mr. Malfoy also had his views on his wife's position, often resulting in violent outbursts as the two inflated egos collided. To the outside world, they put on the impeccable front that they were the happily married couple like the Malfoys before them. Severus felt they deserved awards for acting, for it was blatantly obvious to anyone who spent the night in Malfoy Manor, that there was no love in that house.

****

Lucius looked over at his dark haired friend, and wondered what he was thinking. Though he had grown accustomed to Severus' sudden periods of vacant thought, he still found himself curious every time that look crossed the other boy's face. His thoughts were quickly interrupted by the voices in the hallway.

"...After all I've put up with! Bearing your bastard child so you can 'perpetuate' your noble line! I WILL NOT BE TREATED AS YOUR WHORE!..."

Lucius' eyes widened with his mother's words before sliding his feet off the desk. Severus looked over at him, waiting for Lucius' reaction.

"...That's all you are! If you think for one minute that I'm going to let you contradict me like that if front of Him, you're greatly mistaken!..."

Lucius' father's voice bounded off the walls, rattling the crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling above the two boys. Why do they have to do this every time Severus stays over? Lucius thought uneasily.

Outside in the hall, they could hear the sound of porcelain vases and gilded mirrors being blasted into tiny pieces as the Malfoys began throwing curses at one another. As he stood up and walked towards the door, Lucius felt his friend's hand curl around his arm.

"No, don't. You know it will only make it worse." Severus pulled him back from the door.

For a moment he stood there, glaring at the door, his blood pounding through his veins, while Severus held him back. Finally, he turned towards his voice of reason, and found a quiet understanding and support in Severus' eyes. On the outside, Lucius may appear strong, but he knew it was Severus that truly anchored him. He had the restraint Lucius always found so elusive.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he motioned towards the secret passageway they had taken to sneak into his father's study. Following the dark haired boy into the passage, Lucius looked back at the broken picture frame and smiled.

~~~*~~~

Aleanor sat on the front step of her best friend's stoop. For a while they had been there, silent, making her more nervous by the minute. All summer long it seemed they had avoided talking about school the coming year. What would she tell her dear friend if she asked where she would be going? She already thought Aleanor's brother was attending Eton, which was as far from the truth as you could get. Looking over at her red headed friend, she felt her heart breaking. Aleanor couldn't imagine going anywhere without her.

Aleanor had never been popular in school, and to say it didn't bother her in the least would be a flat out lie. Everyone hurts when they're rejected, especially over something as trivial as your hair. The two friends had nearly matching red hair, and often laughed calling each other 'sister'. It was that that brought them together.

Their first day of primary school, Aleanor walked over to a group of kids and asked to join them in their game of tag. In response she was told, "Get lost carrot top!" To an adult this may be nothing, but to a five year old, it's devastating!

Crying as she ran behind a bush, she was surprised to find another red headed girl already there. After comparing notes and realizing they had both been shunned due to their coloring, they decided to show the rude kids how very unpleasant it felt to be made fun of. Furious over the remark, the two girls marched towards the children, hand in hand, when suddenly the boy who had called both girls 'carrot top' found himself turning red, literally, from head to toe. Aleanor's father had to rush to the school to 'clear the matter up'.

Several times things would happen when they were together, things Aleanor guessed were caused by her magical abilities, but many times, she couldn't remember feeling anything strong enough to have made them happen, and wondered if it couldn't have been her friend. Now Aleanor sat, silent, watching the night growing darker around them, thinking about how much she was going to miss her tomorrow.

"Aleanor, I know you don't want to talk about tomorrow, but I wanted to ask you, will you write to me?"

Her face felt flushed. How can she write to her from Hogwarts? Maybe she could first send them to father and have him drop them in the muggle post. "Ah, yeah, Lily, I will."

A smile spread across Lily Evans' face. "Good! Then I'll write you!"

"Okay... Wait, I don't know where to send your letters." She looked at Lily, realizing she'd have to give an address in return as well. Oh, no.

Lily's face seemed to have gone rigid. Her mouth fell open, but no words came out.

"Lily, are you alright?"

"Ah, ah yeah, I just have to get a copy of the address from my mum first...I, I don't remember it."

"Oh, okay. Well that's good, I don't remember mine either," she lied. That was close! Aleanor thought, giving an inward sigh of relief.

~~~*~~~

"Honestly Severus, could you restrain yourself from burying your head in a book for one minute."

Thoroughly irritated, Severus slammed his book shut and glared at the blond boy sitting across from him in the otherwise empty compartment.

"You'd think I'd be interesting enough for you, but no, we're on the train five minutes, and you've crammed your nose into another oversized paperweight!"

"Lucius, shut the hell up before I take this book and use it to rearrange your face!"

A sneer curled across the boy's face. "What Severus? Not good enough with your wand? Have to use a pile of useless paper?"

With a satisfying grin, Severus had pulled his wand out and had it aimed at his best friend. "You know perfectly well what I'm capable of with my wand."

"Yes, my dear friend, I do." Relaxing back in his seat, Lucius laughed. "I just wanted to make sure you still had it in you."

I hate it when he does that! Severus thought, shoving his wand back into his robes. He glared at the blond sitting across from him, a look of dark satisfaction on his face. "You know, Lucius, one of these days you'll go too far... and I'll be more than happy to curse you into oblivion!"

Lucius just chuckled. "Yes, I'm sure I will." His gray eyes glimmered in the sunlight shining through the window. "What great fun that shall be!"

Rolling his eyes, Severus opened his book, ignoring the grunt coming from the other side of the compartment.

****

"Gregory, I think I can handle my own trunk!"

Aleanor was on edge more than usual that morning. She had quickly called Lily's house to give her mother the address Lily needed to write to her, her father having agreed to be her 'go between' when it came to her and Lily's correspondence. Her mind was whirling with sadness from leaving her dear friend behind and frustration from having just packed that morning. Now her annoying older brother, Gregory, was bullying her around the Platform. She was getting very close to lighting her fuse.

"Aleanor, I'll get your trunk inside, just go and sit down before you blow a blood vessel!" Gregory replied, shooing her onto the train with a free hand.

Glaring at her brother, she climbed on board and began searching for a compartment. The first three were full. Opening the door to the fourth compartment, she was instantly greeted by three boys, one with untidy black hair and glasses, one who looked almost like his brother, and a boy with light brown hair who looked on the verge of falling asleep. Before she could return the greeting, another boy, rounder than the others popped his head in the doorway beside hers.

"Can I sit here?" the round boy asked.

"Sure," the boy in glasses answered.

As the tubby boy made his way past her, Aleanor changed her mind about asking to join them. The last thing she wanted was sitting in a compartment full of boys for the next few hours.

"Want a seat?" the boy asked, his glasses slipping down his nose a bit.

"No. Thanks though."

The boy shrugged his shoulders as she closed the compartment door.

Skipping the fifth door, Aleanor opened the last compartment door in the car and gasped. "Lily?"

The red haired girl dropped the robes she was pulling out of her trunk. "Aleanor?"

Aleanor grabbed the girl and hugged her like she hadn't seen here in months. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Lily laughed as she squeezed her friend tighter. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well," she released Lily and sat across from her, "I thought you'd think I was a complete nutter if I told you I was going to Hogwarts."

"So did I!" Lily giggled before asking, "How did your parents take it?"

"Well, they expected it."

"Huh?"

Aleanor giggled. "Lil, my dad's a wizard. Gregory goes to Hogwarts too, he's a fourth year student. My mum's a muggle."

Lily's jaw dropped. "I had no idea!"

"Well Lil, how did yours take it?"

"Good, obviously, or else I wouldn't be here. But Petunia was pissed."

"You must have loved that!" The grin on her best friend's face was answer enough.

~~~*~~~

Lucius couldn't stand it one moment longer. The two girls sitting behind them in the boat had talked and giggled non-stop from the moment they set off for the castle. Looking over at his friend beside him, he rolled his eyes. Quickly he reached over and slammed shut the book that was open in Severus' lap.

"What the hell?"

"Shut it! You shouldn't read by lantern anyways, it'll hurt your eyes."

Severus glared at him. "You didn't seem to concerned last night when you left me with nothing but a single candle with which to read," he snarled.

Lucius changed the subject. "Those girls are driving me mad with their senseless gibbering!"

"Then tell them to shut it!" Severus responded, flipping his book open once more, daring the young blond to shut it again.

Deciding to drop that particular battle, he turned back to watching the castle grow larger and larger before them. Too bad the sound coming from behind him didn't cease.

"...and then I told Petunia..."

Lucius' hands clenched into two tight fists. Spinning around in the boat, he hissed, "Would you two please shut the hell up! I really don't care what you said to anyone! But I would prefer to enjoy the rest of this trip without the sound of your flapping tongues assaulting my ears!"

The two red headed girls glared at him contemptuously. He heard Severus snort beside him as he turned a page. Shortly after he turned back around, he heard behind him...

"Prat."

He spun his head back around to see both girls glaring at him as if daring him to say anymore. Before he could open his mouth to thoroughly berate the two, Severus took hold of his arm and lightly squeezed. Looking at the dark haired boy, he saw his friend shake his head. Ripping his arm from Severus' grasp he turned around a last time, crossing his arms and muttering under his breath as the two girls behind them whispered.

~~~*~~~

"How exactly does this Sorting work?" Lily asked her, as they were about to pass the threshold into the Great Hall.

"I don't know, but Gregory did mention something about blood." The color in Lily's cheeks faded. "But don't worry, I wouldn't take Gregory's word on anything!"

Walking towards the front of the Hall, she spotted her brother sitting at the table to her right, and sent him a glare. He laughed.

Finally, they stood in front of the Head Table, a stool and shabby old hat waiting in front of them. Lily and Aleanor held onto each other's hand as Professor McGonagall explained the Sorting Ceremony. It always helped to keep them calm, knowing the other was right there.

As the Ceremony went on, Aleanor recognized the dark haired boy from the 'boy compartment' as she had explained it to Lily, walking up to the stool after being called, "Black, Sirius." After a moment the hat shouted, "Gryffindor!"

Not long now, she told herself, as she wondered how many people had C's for their last name. Apparently, not many.

"Delaney, Aleanor."

Releasing Lily's hand, she stepped forward, climbing onto the stool. No sooner than the hat touched her head, it shouted, "Gryffindor!" Sliding off the stool, she gave Lily a quick smile, and headed down to the table were Sirius Black had just sat.

****

Severus chuckled, drawing Lucius' attention.

"What's so funny?" Lucius whispered.

"That girl, from the boat, was just put in Gryffindor. Which means, we won't have to suffer their incessant chatter!" he whispered back, gleefully.

"I had the impression you could care less about their chattering."

"Well, yes, Lucius, I didn't care...it was your pompous reaction that was getting on my nerves." He grinned when he saw the cold glare being cast at him by the blond.

"Blow it out your arse Severus!"

He chuckled. Ah, to be loved!

****

Lucius wasn't really mad. They always poked and prodded at each other like this. If ever they didn't take the opportunity to poke at the other's ribs, it was cause for alarm. In their families, any attention was good attention, and Lucius got most of his from Severus. Yes, he'd threaten the dark haired boy, or cast an innocent hex at him when his back was turned, but it was all done in love.

"Evans, Lily."

Lucius growled under his breath. Overhearing the two girls conversation, which he wondered how anyone couldn't overhear it, had made it plainly obvious the red headed girl now mounting the stool was a mudblood. She certainly won't be a Slytherin, he thought to himself. Judging by the smug look on Severus' face, he was thinking the exact same thing.