30 December: The Hel.
Josette caught up with Severus outside on the porch. "Hey, what happened?" she asked.
"Nothing" he dismissed it but she caught the sadness in his voice.
"Hey, come on. Talk to me." She stood in front of him.
"You all are just so happy." He whispered.
"So?" she asked confused.
"I don't want to ruin it."
"You are not going to ruin it; I am your friend you can talk to me." She placed her hand on his shoulder. "What did he do this time?" she asked. Severus's father was abusive to him because he is a wizard, his mother is dead and his father blamed the 'wizard kind' for it and hates him for being one. Always beating and insulting him. Severus spends most of his holidays crying and making potions to heal his wounds. He hated it and wanted to run away from that place but he had nowhere else to go.
"What he usually does, yelling, insulting, beating. I just don't want to go back there." Tears spilled from his eyes.
"But he did something more this time, you seem very weak." Josette whispered quietly. He opened his mouth to say something but decided not to. "Sev, please tell me what happened??"
"He.. um he stabbed me." he blurted out.
"WHAT??? WHERE??" Josette shouted. Severus placed a hand on his abdomen. "Remove your shirt." She ordered.
"Jo, are you mad??" Severus whisper yelled.
"I am not going take advantage of you." She rolled her eyes. "I have to heal it so show me the wound."
He removed his shirt and there was a deep cut which was partially healed. "You got nice abs." She wiggled her eyebrows which made him chuckle.
"Shut up."
"There's the smile." Josette laughed pointing at him "How did you heal it?"
"I made the wound cleaning potion."
"It's an advance potion. You really are great at it." Josette placed her hand on the cut and it got healed in no time.
"Why did he do this?" Josette asked.
"He came home drunk after work; I accidentally broke a glass of water. He got so angry and started yelling and then he.. he stabbed me with the broken piece." He started sobbing.
"Oh Sev." She brought the crying boy into a hug. "I am sorry for not noticing it earlier. Here you are in pain and I am laughing and playing games. I am such a terrible friend!!"
"No you are not; you are a great friend. You really are." He whispered into her hair.
"You are not going back there. You can stay with me for the rest of the holidays." She said after they broke apart.
"Jo, you don't hav-" he started to refuse but Josette stopped him. "No, you are staying. I will bring the rest of your stuff when he goes to work."
Severus hugged her again. "By the way, you are hot but if you don't wear that shirt you'll get cold." Josette whispered.
"You love to make me embarrass, don't you?" Severus said and both started laughing.
"Hey, you com-" Sirius stopped in his tracks after seeing the scene in front of him. Half-naked Severus Snape hugging Josette and laughing. Severus and Josette quickly broke apart, Severus turned around grabbing his shirt and started wearing it. Josette's rubbed the back of her neck nervously, knowing exactly what it looked like from his point of view. "Hey, what happened?"
"I... we.. um ju.. just came to call you for the game." He stammered. Anger boiling inside him, his fist clenched ready to punch the shit out of that boy.
"Yeah, you go ahead we will just be there." Josette replied
"Okay." He said and went inside.
"That didn't look well, did it?" Severus asked once he was fully dressed.
"No, it didn't."
~☆~
Sirius was pacing in his room thinking about Josette and Snape. After their truth or dare game, the Marauders gathered in Sirius's room.
"Sirius, will you at least tell us what happened instead of pacing around the room, my neck hurts." Peter said. But he didn't listen instead kept on walking.
"Sirius is it about Jo?" Remus asked. Sirius stopped, looking at him "How do you know?"
"You like her don't you?"
"No-Yes." He blurted out, not able to hide it anymore.
"And you really like her or she's just, you know, your next one." James asked in a serious tone. "If you just use my sister, I'm telling you it won't end well." He warned.
"No, of course not. I really like her." Sirius said in equally serious tone.
"Have you told her?" Sirius shook his head.
"Are you going to tell her?"
"I want to but she keeps so many secrets." Sirius groaned "I want to earn her trust and know about her and then maybe I'll ask."
"If you want to know, she likes you too." Remus told him
"WHAT?? Did she tell you?" Sirius shouted.
"No, but I have eyes and I can see. And it tells me that she likes you too." Remus replied calmly.
"I think there's something going on between Snivellus and her"
James spit out the water he was drinking after hearing that. "Are you mad??"
"I don't think so." Remus said
"Yeah, who likes him?" Peter made a disgusting face.
"No. She does like him. Now when I left to get them for the game, I saw them hugging each other." Sirius explained.
"So what? They do that all the time." Peter shrugged.
"Yeah, but he was half naked and they were all happy and laughing about something." Sirius elaborated the scene.
"They don't do that all the time." Peter mumbled.
"There must be some misunderstanding. I am sure she doesn't like him." Remus said.
"And you are so sure, why?" Sirius asked.
"You are mad!" Remus said "I am going to bed before you fill my head with something rubbish." And with that he left.
"Prongs, tell me, you believe me." he looked at his best friend.
"I do but I don't think anyone likes Snivellus. It must be a misunderstanding." James shrugged.
"I think James's right." Peter added.
"Wow!! Now I have to compete with Snivellus. What has happened to my reputation?" Sirius mumbled.
~☆~
1 January 1976: The Hel.
Tik. Tik. Tik.
Tik. Tik. Tik.
"Ughhh, shut up." Marlene groaned and threw a pillow, from where the sound came but instead it hit a sleeping Peter who instantly jerked up making James fall whose head was on his lap. "OWWW." James yelled rubbing his head.
"Not so loud, my brain hurts." Sirius mumbled.
"Can you all shut up? I have a hangover." Lily mumbled and sat up.
"Okay everyone, get up." Josette instructed "It's 12 in the noon, come on." She shook Alice and Frank.
"How did we end up here?" Remus asked, getting up and rubbing his temple.
"I brought you here." Josette said grabbing Meredith's arm and pulling her to a sitting position, who cursed in return.
"What happened last night?" Sirius asked clutching his head tightly.
"You are lucky that I didn't get drunk or you would be passed out in the bar or a muggle jail for underage drinking." Josette glared at everyone. "I didn't expect this from you Remus and lily." She looked at both of them "And Meredith you're alcohol tolerance is supposed to be high, what will Thor think?? you can't eveb handle a few cups of Midgard alcohol or did you just drink that much." Josette smacked her head.
"No, not my head." She grumbled.
"Who's Thor?" Remus asked.
"Her secret boyfriend." Josette rolled her eyes.
"Anyone just explain what happened last night." James said.
Flashback
"Lily Jade Evans, where do you think you are going?" Josette stopped her.
"Umm to get my dress?" she replied in a questioning tone.
"Wrong, you are not wearing that dress, you are wearing this." Alice pulled out a black outfit and some chains.
"Where did you get that? And I don't wear that type of cloths."
"They are mine. I know, that's why you are wearing this to the party not some boring 'good girl dress.'" Josette ordered.
"Fine." She put on the outfit and shoes and gave them a twirl.
"How do I look?" she asked nervously.
"HOT!!" they yelled in unison and she turned as red as her hair.
"GIRLS LETS GO!!!" James yelled from downstairs.
"He's gonna faint after seeing you." Marlene teased.
"Shut up." Lily blushed slightly.
The girls went down and the boys were waiting for them at the foot of the stairs. Their jaw dropped after seeing them.
"Lily, yo.. you lo- look fabulous." James stuttered seeing the love of his life, same with Remus.
"Jo, you look beautiful." Sirius said his eyes never leaving her.
"Thanks" she blushed.
"Jo, you have a tattoo?" Severus asked looking at her back. This brought Sirius out of his trance and his eyes followed Severus's. There was a tattoo of a wired crown and two swords below it.
"Yep" she said popping the 'p'."
What does it mean??" Sirius asked looking at it.
"It's about my mother." She replied.
"You hate your mother?! Why would you tattoo something for her." Marlene asked.
"You think I had a choice??" She scoffed "It was before mother left." No one knew what to say after that.
"James if you are finished looking at lily we should get going." Josette said before it would get any more awkward.
"Where are we going?"
"A muggle pub, they are having new year parties." Josette replied.
"We are 15, they won't allow us in." Lily said.
"I will obliviate the guard that he checked out IDs and we can go inside. We look pretty old; we would easily pass as 18-year-olds."
"You are not allowed to do magic outside school, Jo." Severus said.
"I am doing wandless magic, the ministry tracks wands so they won't know." Josette smirked.
~☆~
"I can't believe that actually worked. NOW LET'S GET SHITFACED!!!" Marlene shouted and everyone ran inside the pub.
"Please, don't drink too much and don't get in trouble." Josette yelled after them but they had already disappeared into the crowed.
Josette walked up to the bar and sat on the stool, watching her friends dancing and having fun. Even Severus was laughing at James and Sirius's funny dancing. They tried to get Josette to join them, they danced for while but she refused to drink and went back towards the stool and after few arounds of alcohol they forgot about her.
"Alone on the New Year's Eve." The Bartender said and Josette turned around to see him.
"No, not alone. I came here with my friends." She smiled at him.
"You sure you are of age?" he looked at her carefully.
"Yeah, just turned 18. How do you think I got the entry? The question is Are you sure you are old enough to work here??" she smirked.
"I look pretty young, don't I? but don't worry, I am 19." He laughed. "So, what would the lady like to drink?"
"Ohh. Not today." she waved her hand dismissively.
"Why?" he raised an eyebrow.
"Call me the mum of the group." She pointed at her friends and he laughed.
"Very well, I am Kai Summers by the way."
"Josette Hart." She introduced and both talked for a while.
"The ball's dropping." He said. Josette looked at her friends. They had stopped dancing and were standing supporting the wall. "Happy New year." Kai wished.
"Happy new year."
After few hours the group sat down on the couch, exhausted and sleepy.
"I should get them home. They are wasted." Josette said.
"Do you need any help?" Kai asked.
"No, I'll manage. Thanks for keeping me company. Goodbye." She smiled at him.
"Of course, see you around. Have a great year." He smiled.
"Last night was amazing." James said grinning "We had so much fun."
"Yeah, let me tell you how much fun you had." Josette grumbled. "Last night after the countdown, you-" she pointed at Lily "-kissed a random guy." Lily turned red from embarrassment. "And you, beat that boy and cried until you fell asleep." She pointed and James and his grin turned into a frown.
"I remember I kissed someone. Please tell me it was my boyfriend." Meredith said.
"It was. But Marlene you kissed Peter." Peter blushed
"No big deal. It was just a kiss and I was too drunk to remember." Marlene shrugged.
"Did I kissed some pretty girl too." Sirius smirked.
"No. You didn't." Sirius pouted.
"I have some photos of last night." Josette said.
"Well, show us." Lily said.
[Marlene, Alice, Meredith and Lily]
"I don't even remember this!!" Marlene exclaimed.
"Then next time don't drink that much!!" Josette glared at the girls.
[Alice, Josette and Meredith]
[Marlene, James and Josette]
"You said you didn't drink??" James asked.
"I didn't but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy." Josette replied.
[Remus and Meredith]
"I sending this to Elijah!!" Josette smirked.
"Don't you dare!!" Meredith warned her.
"Whose Elijah??" Remus asked.
"My brother."
"I didn't knew you had a brother."
"There's a lot of things you don't know." Josette mumbled as everyone became quite. Sirius and Remus looked at the two girls with suspicion.
"Next photo!!" Marlene shouted breaking the silence.
"I am showing this photo to your kids!!" Josette laughed.
"I don't mind. Let them know, they have a cool mother!" Alice grinned.
[Group Photo]
"We did had so much fun." Peter mumbled.
"Where's Snape?" Remus asked.
"Sleeping in his room."
"So, he gets a special treatment and you throw us in your living room?" Sirius raised an eyebrow.
"Be grateful, at least I brought you back. Now get up and get ready." Josette snapped.
~☆~
"See you in two days." Marlene said giving a goodbye hug to Josette. They were leaving for their home after the new year and holidays were over in 2 more days. "Bye." Josette smiled.
"Sev, let's go." Lily said.
"He is staying here until the Holidays." Josette explained.
"WHAT!!!WHY?" Sirius shouted and then lowered his voice "I mean Why?"
"That's none of your business, Black." Severus snapped. Sirius rolled his eyes.
"He wants to stay." Josette said. The Marauders hugged her and bid goodbye.
"See, they are staying together." Sirius whispered once they were away from the house.
"That doesn't mean she likes him maybe they had it planned long ago." Peter said.
"They are living alone." Sirius argued.
"No, Meredith is staying with them. So stop making false assumptions." Remus snapped at him.