Regulus kept his head down throughout breakfast, but his ears were open to hear Mulciber and Avery's conversation. They were discussing random stuff, which wasn't anything new. Wilkes decided to join them, making it three braincells talking to each other.
However, something seemed off. Regulus could usually hear Severus' voice joining in to insult the three of them. He raised his black eyes in front of him to see Severus quietly eating.
"It's literally the most useless spell that ever invented" Wilhelm stated about Lumos "Like, use your eyes?"
"Blind people wouldn't relate" Bruce snickered, joined by Edmund.
"Very funny. So instead of creating Lumos, why can't that person just make our vision brighter? Lumos had a range, but if our vision was enhanced, we could see as far as we wanted!" Wilhelm exclaimed excitedly.
"Might just create a spell that could summon a whole sun, hm? Wilkes?" Regulus couldn't help but interject.
Wilhelm looked at him in bewilderment while Bruce and Edmund burst into laughter again
Meanwhile, Severus had been listening the whole time but refused to join. He wasn't in the mood to talk.
"Anyway, have you guys heard about Potter and Evans?"
Severus halted, spoon caught in his teeth at Wilhelm's question. His gaze subconsciously went to the Gryffindor table, where he and James locked eyes. He hardened his gaze, and James looked away, resuming his conversation with the person beside him, Lily.
"I'm feel sick just looking at them" Bruce muttered, disgust evident on his tone "Someone please stab me in the eyes so i could no longer see"
Edmund grabbed a knife from the table and pointed it towards his face. Any sane person would back away, but he never was, so he leaned in close enough to feel the sharp point scraping his lower eyelid.
"You're fucking mad" Edmund said with a smirk. "If I were too, I wouldn't hesitate to jab this in your pupils" He moved the knife away from Bruce.
Regulus and Wilhelm watched the situation. Unlike Regulus, who had a blank expression, Wilhelm had his lips parted and eyes wide. Although they were thinking the same thing-
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Wilhelm asked aloud. "Sweet Salazar!" He held a hand to his chest. Bruce snickered at his reaction.
"Well, I thought Evans was only acting hard to get. Can't believe she succumbed so easily" Edmund said, spreading butter on his bread using the knife.
"That's basically all girls" Bruce snorted. "Playing hard to get one moment and falling head over heels the next"
"Speaking from experience, Mulciber?" Edmund asked with a raised eyebrow, while the other threw him a dirty look.
Wilhelm leaned in towards Severus. "Potter finally got Lily-flower wrapped around his finger" He thrusted an invisible microphone in his hand towards him "How are we feeling, Severus? Revengeful?"
Severus' piercing eyes pinned to him "Wilkes, do you want to go blind?"
Wilhelm pursed his lips into a thin line and scooted back to his original space to keep his distance from Severus.
Bruce smirked "Just say the word, Snape, and we'll handle things for you. Lily betrayed you for your nemesis. You're going to let that slide?"
"Lay a hand on her, and i swear, the Dark Lord will find you useless once your head is decapitated" Severus' eyes glinted even darker, if that was possible.
Wilhelm whistled, while Edmund grinned. Bruce's eye twitched "What the fuck do you see in that Mudblo-?"
With a flick of Severus's wand under the table, Bruce's head slowly turned to the side. His eyes widened in panic as his hands scrambled to stop it, but to no avail. A few students looked their way when Bruce yelped in pain.
"Snape! Stop!" Bruce cursed as he felt pain cursing through his neck. Before it could snap, Severus once again flicked his wand, and his head stopped turning.
"Consider it a warning, Bruce" Severus uttered his name with coldness before storming off.
"You gotta sleep with one eye open" Wilhelm said, recovering from what happened. "That guy was about to legitimately kill you"
"Fucking Snape" Bruce hissed, rubbing his neck. "He's completely unhinged"
"Just like you" Edmund huffed a laugh "He's still no different from us"
"Hey" Evan flopped into the seat where Severus was "Heard about the news?"
"Not even a hi, Rosier?" Wilhelm folded his arms.
Evan grinned at him and winked "Hello, my darling Wilkes. How's your morning going?"
Wilhelm rolled his eyes and dropped his arms "Is this about Potter and Evans? Because we already knew since last night" Evan shook his head, piquing the interest of the four Slytherins.
"That's different. It happened this morning. Some Hufflepuff witnessed Severus hexing James" He grinned.
"As if that's anything new. Severus and James were always fighting" Edmund said.
"This is different, it seems. The Hufflepuff heard their banter, that James only used Severus for Lily" His eyes gleamed with amusement.
The three glanced at each other, while Regulus looked at him curiously.
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Bruce said, taking a glimpse at James.
"And there's more" His smile widened. "She said James was begging Severus to listen to him, but Severus told him to leave him alone and then hexed him. Fucking amazing, right?"
"Huh?" Wilhelm squinted his eyes "That's all? James didn't hex back?"
"That's the interesting part. The girl said James lay on the floor for a good couple of seconds after standing up and walking away" Evan chuckled.
"What the hell..." Wilhelm exclaimed in surprise.
Edmund leaned back and sat properly. "Amazing indeed, if only that were true."
"What do you mean? You don't believe it?" Evan raised an eyebrow at him.
"It's just too good to be true, isn't it?" Edmund took a sip of his coffee. "And Bruce mentioned something yesterday about how Potter was looking at Severus like he wanted to kill him."
"Yeah" Bruce nodded. "So I don't buy it either"
"Interesting...well, time to twist the drama then" Evan stood up and went to another group of Slytherins.
Regulus's eyes traveled to James. Is that why Severus was acting odd? And here he thought their resentment towards each other had ended when he saw them last night. He listened to their conversation and was confused by how casual it was. They talked about their favorite color, animal, and subject. It was so weird that he thought he was hallucinating.
He wanted to ask Severus what was going on, but it wasn't his business to pry. But he would keep an eye on the situation, observing from a distance. That was his specialty, after all.
———————————————————————
It was second subject of the day, Charms class, when Sirius found out about event that happened that morning.
He was listening to Flitwick until Marlene's voice interrupted him from behind.
"What?" He whispered back, looking over his shoulder when she called his name.
"Heard the rumors going around?" She tilted her head to the side so Sirius could see her.
"It's about Snape and James" Alice scooted closer to them. "No doubt James has already told you"
"Told me about what?" Sirius frowned. Did James declare his friendship with Snape or something?
"Someone witnessed Snape hexing James. It must've hurt him badly as he lay on the floor for a while" Marlene said, scrunching her nose.
"What?" Sirius hissed, while Peter, who was pretending not to listen, whipped his head to the side with a shocked expression "He what?"
Alice winced. "Okay, so you weren't aware. A Ravenclaw said they were arguing about Lily again"
The quill in Sirius's hand broke in half as anger built up inside him. The audacity of that guy! They had already stopped bothering him because of James, but now he was the one making a move? James had been kind to him, and this is what he received in return?
Oh, James might let that slide, but Sirius wouldn't. He was going to teach Snivellus some manners, and he would make sure he learned from it.