Snape's Narrow Escape - Gen X: A time before Harry Potter

Snape's Narrow Escape

James made his way down to the Gryffindor common room which was almost empty, and took a seat near the windows, pulling out his transfiguration homework. He looked out the window. The reflection of a handsome, bespectacled boy with dark messy hair and a mischievous smile stared back at him.

 It was a fine evening, with a slight breeze rustling the treetops of the Forbidden Forest, while a pink sky was dotted with puffy white clouds, a full moon slowly peering through the emerging darkness. He could hear shouts of laughter as students roamed around the school grounds, enjoying the last warm days of the year.

He fancied a game of Quidditch with Sirius, but he was nowhere in sight. I bet he's running around with that silly Ravenclaw girl, James thought lazily, settling himself more comfortably in the armchair. Remus was hiding out in the Shrieking Shack, awaiting his transformation.

They would all go visit him later, hidden under James's invisibility cloak.  But Peter's absence came as a surprise to him, as he was used to having him trailing behind him faithfully, no matter where James went.

He was shaken out of his reverie by a movement near the fireplace. He looked up to see a pretty girl with emerald green eyes and thick red hair take a seat in the overstuffed armchair by the fire. Her favourite place. James knew this because he had started to notice more of Lily Evans since the past few weeks.

Under the pretence of writing his essay, James bent his head down, all the while gazing intently at her. His fingers kept twitching, wanting to close around an imaginary snitch- anything to impress lily.

"Seriously. Seriously! He has to stop with the curses!" She kept muttering under her breath, looking quite agitated. This worried James. He preferred to watch her when she was happy. She pulled out a parchment and a quill, and dipping it in the inkwell, started to scribble furiously, scratching out words repeatedly. He could see messy handwriting filling well over six inches of parchment, and then she hastily folded it over and sealed the note, oblivious to his staring.

James noticed a blotch of ink on lily's nose and smiled. He imagined himself, walking over to her chair and grandly offering to wipe the smudge off her nose, but knew better. Lily would rather be attacked by a Bat Bogey Hex than be touched by him. 

Heaving a great sigh, she addressed the note to someone, made an attempt to stand up and walk towards the entrance, then sank into her armchair looking defeated. She stared at the letter for a couple of minutes, ripped it into pieces and threw it in the fire, pulling out a fresh piece of parchment from her bag.  

James's lip curled in disgust. So this is what she was all worked up about, he thought angrily, as he caught a glimpse of the name written across Lily's note, right before she ripped it apart.

Smelly old Snivelly.

He could not for the world imagine why Evans was friends with that greasy, interfering, git. She seemed to overlook the fact that he spent most of his time reading about the Dark Arts, making up spells and curses, and brooding in corners, throwing snide remarks at James and Sirius for no apparent reason.

Bloody hell, he was a Slytherin! Wasn't that proof in itself that the boy is evil?  Come on, he thought- she deserved better- Someone popular, good looking and a great quidditch player. Someone like...me. Now he was openly staring at her, his mouth in a lopsided smile. His hand flew up to his hair and ruffled it subconsciously. 

Just then the common room door swung open, and someone stumbled in through the hole, falling flat on the ground, only to get up again and trip for a second time. Lily looked up at the newcomer, and then at James, catching him staring insolently at her.