Friendship

"I can't keep my eyes open for one more sec," Evan Rosier said through a yawn. "'Night everyone."

"Sit. Down," Severus Snape hissed at him.

"I won't. Any interesting news you might have you can keep it for yourself."

"Good point," Harrison Wilks said as he got up. "Right now, I am interested in nothing but my pillow. No! I didn't mean it like that, idiot!" He glared at Evan who was grinning maliciously.

"You hardly ever are interested in anything else, save your stomach." Severus sneered. "Now sit down."

"Since when do you order us around, Snape?" Bellatrix said irritably, pushing a lock of dark hair out of her face. "You've really forgotten our common history, haven't you Snivellus?"

Evan, Harrison, Rodolphus Lestrange and Oscar Avery snickered. Severus answered Bella's mocking smirk with a sneer of his own, marveling at the ease he suppressed the seething anger inside himself. He had indeed improved a great deal since...

"You might think again before making such intelligent remarks after you've heard the news," he said in a soft, threatening voice.

"You make me shudder," Bellatrix answered in a mocking tone. "But you might think again before fooling us around again if this turns out to be your sick idea of a joke."

"It's not."

"Better be so," Rodolphus groaned.

Severus sat upright on his couch as the two fourth-year girls, who were the last people in the Slytherin Common Room beside themselves, got up and left for their dorms. He waited until they were out of earshot.

He then leaned in and said, "You don't make a sound as you see it or you will regret it. Clear?" He smiled contently as he saw the others scowl or grit their teeth. They have every right, he thought. Poor old Severus Snape who did nothing more than correcting their Potions essays and was always the one who... He banished the rest of the thought. That period of his life had passed, had finished. He wouldn't ruin his good mood remembering the worse parts of it. He deliberately made a slow, dramatic show out of pushing up his left sleeve to show his pale forearm. The others stared at it for a few moments. Oscar snorted, Evan and Harrison laughed shortly. Rodolphus fixed him with a scowl. Bellatrix drew out her wand.

"You do need a good hexing to gain back your brains, don't you?"

Snape smirked.

"Revelo Morsemorder," he muttered in a low voice.

"Rictus..." Bellatrix froze in the middle of her incantation as dark lines started to appear on the pale skin.

They moved forward and huddled around Severus, leaning in to get a better view of the lines that were now snaking around, joining together to form a pattern. Evan let out a yelp that was immediately stifled with Harrison's hand. Oscar jumped back, emitting a low grunt from his throat. Rodolphus collapsed into a nearby cushion, his eyes fixed on the obnoxious mark. Bellatrix didn't move. She stretched out her finger and hovered it over the Mark, following the lines in the air, not daring to actually touch it.

"S-Severus." Bellatrix was the first one to talk. "You are a... Death Eater," she said in absolute awe, pronouncing the name as if it was the most sacred word that had ever existed.

"Yes. I am," Severus said. His pride evident in both his voice and face. Bella clutched his hand and put her face a few inches from his.

"Severus, will you...? Please," she said, her eyes pleading.

"What?" the black haired boy answered innocently. He was enjoying the show thoroughly and wanted it to continue for as long as possible.

"You know what," Bella snapped but her tone went back to a mild yearning one at Severus' glare. "Take us to...the lord."

Severus furrowed his brow in feigned thought.

"Are you sure...?"

"Yes," Rodolphus interrupted him, jumping up to his feet. "Yes I am sure."

"So am I," Bellatrix added.

"And me," Oscar said, his voice wavering with excitement.

"Me too," Harrison said. Evan nodded his head fervently, not trusting himself to speak.

"How do you know if the lord wants you then?" Severus said triumphantly. They all fell silent, slack jawed.

"You mean...he won't let us join?"

"He only chooses the best."

A few seconds passed in uneasy, tense silence in which they exchanged anxious glances.

"Are you sure you aren't playing around Severus?" Bellatrix said wryly. Severus answered her with an arched eyebrow.

"If the lord doesn't want us, how is it that you are showing us all your Dark Mark?" Severus smirked.

"Clever are we?"

"Always." Bellatrix grinned.

"So he wants us!" Harrison shouted, excited. The other five hushed him quickly.

"Shut up you fool. Or you will inform the whole castle," Severus snapped. "Not yet. He just wants to see you. Because," he paused for a moment, savoring the anticipation, "I told him you are worth being considered."

"S-Severus," Evan said shakily, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You are a true friend."

"What did you exactly tell him?" Bella asked zealously.

"That you might have the potential," Severus said proudly. "Of course judging from your stupid reactions, I could have easily been wrong."

"No," Harrison interrupted him quickly. "We are just like...excited to death."

"You should be."

"Thank you Severus," Bella said with a smile.

"Yes! Thanks!"

"You rock, Sev!"

"When shall we go?" Bella asked, trying and failing to make her voice sound casual. Severus yawned.

"I should really go to bed now. See you in the morning." He got up primly and straightened his robes.

"When?" asked Bella at his back, impatient.

"Tomorrow at midnight. You'd better be ready. His lordship doesn't like waiting." They all nodded solemnly as one. He didn't look back and strode elegantly to the dorms, fully aware of the eyes on his back.

A few minutes passed in pure silence.

"Did you see it?" Evan asked quietly after the long pause. Harrison rolled his eyes.

"I can't believe it," Rodolphus whispered.

"Just imagine! We'll be by his side this time tomorrow."

"I can't believe it."

"Merlin's teeth! The sheer luck!"

"I can't believe it."

"Wait till I have told my father. He'll be proud."

"Don't be silly. You can't tell anyone."

"I can't believe it."

"That's about enough Rodolph," Bella snapped. "None of us can quite believe it. You don't need to repeat it like an idiot. Now, do you?"

"I didn't mean that," Rodolph said impatiently, flailing his arms in the air. "Can't you see? Are you dense?"

His friends gave him puzzled looks, all too excited at the prospect of becoming a powerful, full fledged wizard or witch.

"It is Snape," Rodolphus continued. "Snape. If the Lord wanted one of us it wouldn't be him. He doesn't even have a proper blood line. It is not me, or Bella, or any of us. It is that skinny grease ball! It is...Snivellus!"

"You do have a point, you know," Bella said thoughtfully. "Why him, of all people?"

"I guess it must be his knack for potions." Oscar furrowed his brow. "And he is good in hexes and stuff, if a little slow in dueling. That would be okay with some practice."

"But still, I wouldn't have chosen him if I were the Dark Lord." Rodolphus crossed his arms on his chest, scowling.

"Which you obviously are not." Bella narrowed her eyes. "But perhaps that's the point. Perhaps the lord chose him because he was...overlooked. No one would suspect him."

They sat in silence for a few more minutes.

"I have made my mind," Bella said as she got up. "I don't care if it is Snape who is leading us to him. I'm a Black." She held up her nose haughtily. "So the lord would want me to join him sooner or later. Snape is just...a bridge." She wheeled around primly and walked away to the girls' dorms without as much as a good night.

"I reckon she is right, you know," Evan said. "The point is that we will still be with him in less than twenty four hours. Who cares who will take us there?"

The boys exchanged approving glances. Rodolphus got up.

"We'd better go get some sleep. Tomorrow will be an important day."

"As if we could sleep," Oscar said but rose to follow Rodolphus nonetheless.

"You know what, Evan," Harrison said as they followed their friends to their dorm. "It is still hard to believe."

"What? We becoming Death Eaters or Snape being one already?"

"Both." He grinned. "I bet he is planning something for Potter's gang already."

"I just hope someone gets their picture when he is cursing them."

"But really, who guessed? Poor old Snivellus."

They chuckled lightly as they ascended the stairs.

THE END

(...Or was it?)