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Wilted Yellow Daisies


Severus had seen so many films over the summer with Lily that the workers at the cinema recognized them by the time the end of August had come. They’d even seen a few of the films multiple times because they’d enjoyed them so much. Severus loved sitting in the dark beside Lily and holding the buttery popcorn in his lap. He liked that Lily had to reach over to get some, and the sound it made when she chewed it.

When he woke up on September 1st, he smiled to himself as he stared up at the ceiling. Things would be different this term, he told himself. They would be far more wonderful than the previous terms. Neither Lucius Malfoy nor Narcissa Black were going to be there to be constantly looking over him as they had done the last two years. Lily was on excellent terms with him now, and he was pretty sure that they would be an item upon his return to Hogwarts. He dreamily lay about, his imagination playing over the idea of rumors spreading about the school -- rumors that Severus Snape and Lily Evans were snogging. He grinned even harder at the thought that perhaps, at some point, they might not be rumors anymore.

There came a rough knocking on the door, “Severus! Hurry and get dressed right away.”

“Yes mother,” he called. He glanced at the alarm clock - had he really wasted that much time? - and got up, hurrying to pull on his robes.

Downstairs, Eileen had made a dismal excuse for a breakfast and Severus poked at it with a tarnished fork, his face screwed up at the unappetizing food before him. “You have to eat,” Eileen Prince told him, “It’s very important that you have loads of protein in you.”

Severus didn’t want to admit it was disgusting, so he quickly shoveled it into his mouth to appease her. The sooner he ate, the sooner they could go to Platform 9¾ and the sooner he could see Lily.

The steam filled the platform when he had finally arrived, the Express still hissing with heat and condensation. There were loads of students milling about, several trying to pry themselves away from their mothers. Severus quickly said goodbye to his and weeded his way through the crowd, searching for the Evans. He spotted Mr. Evans first - a tall man with Lily’s hair. He made his way toward him, knowing Lily would be there, too.

“They let you back in again this year, did they, Snivels?”

Severus was suddenly shoved and he tripped, dropped the bag he was carrying, and there was a crunch of potion bottles as it hit the concrete. He rushed to pick up the bag, not bothering to look up at James Potter, who he knew was smirking over him. He could feel several people had looked about as he scrambled for the stuff that had fallen out of his bag, scooping up a spilled bag of dead lacewings. He swept them into the pouch they’d come from and shoved it all back in quickly.

“Sorry ‘bout that, it was an accident.” James held out a palm in Severus’s face as though to help up. Severus’s eyes followed James’s arm up to his shoulder… his face… and he slowly stood up without the help. “Blimey, won’t even accept a hand up?”

“Not from a blood traitor’s son,” Severus whispered. He quickly stepped ‘round James and hurried on his way toward where he’d seen Mr. Evans… but he no longer could see the head of fiery red hair and it just seemed like he was getting tangled among the students, rather than finding the one he’d intended to. He sighed and decided he’d just find Lily on the Express. He’d find them a compartment to share on the ride and they’d have a jolly good time talking about the films they’d gone to see over the summer whatever else came to mind. He’d purchased the cheapest, most worn out used copies of all his textbooks, just to squeeze a bit of extra money out of his book money for school to go to the sweet shop in Diagon Alley and he’d bought a couple of sugar quills for him and Lily to share on the train.

Severus walked down the center aisle of the train, looking in the windows, hoping to spot Lily, so he could join her… but when he found her, she was in an already full compartment with Ali Prewitt, Annalee McKinnon and her Ravenclaw sister, Marlene, and her friend, Pandora Jenkins. He paused in front of the door to the compartment, other students pressing by him as he knocked on the glass and waved.

Lily got up and opened the door while the other girls giggled behind her. “Hey Sev,” she said, smiling, “How are you?”

“I’m alright,” he replied, then asked, “I, uh, was looking for a compartment for us…”

“Oh, well, Sev, I’m sorry, I already said I’d sit with this lot…” Lily said uncomfortably.

Severus nodded, trying to keep the stunned feeling of hurt coursing through him from showing on his face. “Right… right, of course. Of course you want to ride to Hogwarts with your friends, I understand.”

“Yeah,” Lily said, “And I’m sure you want to ride in with your friends, too, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Severus said.

Lily smiled, “Well this works out, seeing as your friends hate me for my blood.” Her eyes twinkled even as she said it. “But I’ll see you ‘round at Hogwarts, alright?”

“Yeah,” Severus stammered.

“Alright.” Lily patted his shoulder. “Bye Sev.”

“I… yeah, bye,” Severus said.

Lily ducked back and closed the compartment door. He could feel the other girls looking over at him with curious expressions, and hastened to get out of the doorway window, getting the keen sense they weren’t very impressed with him. When he turned, though, he ran smack into Xenophilius Lovegood, whose pale form had snuck up beside him. Xenophilius had a wide bouquet of half-dead yellow daisies in his fist, a bit of a clump of grass still stuck to the bottom of their stems. “Excuse me,” he said, squashing by Severus and knocking on the same compartment door as Severus had just done.

Severus stepped aside, ‘round the corner, where he couldn’t be seen by the girls inside, and watched on in awe as Pandora Jenkins opened the door and took in the clump of flowers, “Xeno…” she murmured, “They’re lovely, but --”

“Pandora,” Xenophilius said, the words sounding like he’d rehearsed them for hours, “I come to shower you in an affectionate display, which shall demonstrate to you the desire I harbor for an emotional and physical relationship with you.”

From inside the compartment behind Pandora, Severus heard several giggles echo. The fifth year girl blushed deeply. “Xeno, I…”

“You do not need to reciprocate the feelings, Pandora Jenkins,” he said, thrusting the flowers into her hands. “I understand. I’ll be in my own compartment down here. If you decide to come visit, there will be a plenty of room since I’m usually alone on the train.” He pressed his palms together and bowed away.

“Oh Merlin,” Annalee McKinnon cried out from within the compartment and she laughed uproariously behind Pandora as Xenophilius pushed back past Severus and headed down the aisle of the Express. Pandora stood in the door, holding the yellow daisies and staring after Xenophilius Lovegood with a strange expression on her face. “What a weirdo!” Annalee continued. “You’ve both got very odd taste in boys, that’s for sure. Xenophilius Lovegood and Severus Snape for boyfriends!” Annalee snickered.

Despite the negative tone to Annalee’s voice, Severus swelled at the idea that they were already calling him Lily’s boyfriend.

“Oh please Annalee,” Lily’s voice rang from within, “Severus Snape is not my boyfriend. We’re just friends!”

Severus felt as though a splash of icy cold water had struck him and was pouring down his spine. He looked up and his eyes met Pandora’s for a moment and there was a mutual understanding that neither of them was going to be sitting with the person they really wanted to sit with due to the opinions of big mouthed people like Annalee McKinnon. Pandora quickly turned ‘round and went back into the compartment and closed the door.

Severus hurried to get away, feeling as though his feet just could not carry him quick enough down the length of the Express.




Out on the Platform, Remus was saying goodbye to his father and to Tizzy the House Elf, who was so tiny that she had to be put upon Lyall’s shoulder to hold onto his shirt collar to avoid being lost in the hustle and hub-bub going on. Remus’s trunks were already stowed. “I’ll come home for the holiday this year,” he promised his father, “To see that you and Tizzy are doing alright.”

“Master Remus is to be having a good time at Hogwarts!” Tizzy said squeakily, “And if Master Remus is be needing Tizzy all he has to do is call her and she will appear!”

Lyall smiled at the little elf and chuckled, then turned to look at Remus, “I’ll be in good hands.”

“Yes, Master Remus needn’t be worried for Master Lyall as Tizzy is be taking most best care of him she can!” Tizzy’s ears flapped.

“Alright, you’re right, I won’t worry, but I’ll still come home for Christmas to see you.” Remus smiled and reached out a hand for Tizzy to shake his index finger, which made her shiver with delight, and then he turned to his father, who clapped a hand on his back.

“Have a good term son, and be careful. Say hello to your mates.”

“I will,” Remus promised.

As though on cue, as he turned to walk to the Express, Sirius came bounding through the crowd, practically jumping on Remus as he threw himself ‘round Remus’s shoulders with a hoot. “We’re Third Years, Rey!” he shouted, “THIRD YEARS!” James Potter and Peter Pettigrew seemed to come out of nowhere behind Sirius. “Can you bloody believe it? We’re nearly halfway to the end already! Bloody hell, where does the time go?”

Remus laughed as the other three converged on him and he struggled to keep them all moving aboard the train. They collapsed into their compartment - the initials Sirius had carved into the wood still there - and James shoved Bubo up into the overhead as Peter settled himself in the seat by the window.

“What the bloody hell are you wearing by the way?” Remus asked, appraising Sirius’s leather jacket.

“Do you like it? I got it at a muggle shop by the Leaky Cauldron on our trip to London,” Sirius said, “Well - James got it for me, but I’m going to pay him back as soon as I can.”

“I already told you, it’s a gift,” James said, settling down on the bench beside Peter.

“It’s very cool - very now - very in,” Sirius explained.

Remus raised an eyebrow.

“You’ll see. Soon everybody’ll be wearing them,” Sirius said. “It’s the revolution, man.”

“Okay,” Remus said doubtfully.

“Hey James,” came a girl’s voice from the doorway.

James turned ‘round to see the frizzy red hair of Meg Johnson - the seeker that had been on the Ilvermorny quidditch team. He blinked in surprise. “What the -- What’re you doing here?”

There was a wizard hovering behind her. Meg smiled, “My family came for the tourney and they really liked London and - well, long and short of it, we’ve moved and I’ve transferred from Ilvermorny to Hogwarts.”

“Blimey! That’s brilliant.”

Meg nodded, “Yeah, I’m pretty excited about it. This is my brother, Bran. He’s transferred, too.”

Bran waved a quiet palm.

Sirius sat up, “By any chance, did - er - did Dawn Gleason also move?” He grinned.

“No,” Meg said, “Sorry. Just me and Bran.”

“Right. Well - Welcome to Hogwarts, the both of you,” Sirius said. “Know what house you’ll be in yet?”

“Not yet,” Meg replied, “Dumbledore said we’d need to be sorted the same as everyone else. So I s’pose we’ll be sorted tonight… You’ll have to watch for us. We’ll be the tall ones.”

The boys all laughed and Meg smirked, “See you about! I just had to say hello when I spotted you.”

“Bye,” James called, watching her and Bran go.

Sirius said, “Shame it couldn’t have been Dawn Gleason was transferred. I liked her.”

“You like everything female with legs,” James snickered.

Sirius had turned a bit girl crazy over the summer, developing a bit of a crush on the witch that worked at the icepop stand a couple blocks away from the Potter’s, which had been one of the only places that Dora had allowed them to go, and only if someone from the Resistance was available. Luckily, it was rather easy to talk Kingsley Shacklebolt into going for an ice lolly, as long as he was able to get a lime one while they were at it. Sirius also had a thing for the illustration of the witches in Beedle’s Fountain of Fair Fortune and one of a mermaid in Fantastic Beasts. To say he was girl crazy was a bit of an understatement.

They settled in as the train whistle went off and the parents still on the Platform backed away from the Express and started waving goodbye to their kids. James pushed ‘round Peter to press his nose to the glass and wave to Dora, who was flanked by the auror Moody. Moody was staring to one side, though, and James followed his glare to see Sirius’s parents down the way, waving, too. James made a face, “Sirius - why are your parents here? And - blimey they look funny when they’re smiling. Is that why they don’t do it often?”

Sirius looked out, “Oh - no, they aren’t smiling at me. They must’ve just dropped Regulus off.”

“Oh, right,” James said.

“Are you excited about your brother coming to Hogwarts?” Peter asked.

Sirius sighed, “Dunno. We’ll see, I s’pose. Hopefully he’s not as much a nasty tosser as he was this summer when I was at Number 12. Maybe he’ll get better once he’s had a chance to make some real friends instead of always hanging about with that filthy house elf.”

“Maybe we should have him come sit with us?” suggested Remus.

Sirius shrugged, “I reckon if he was interested in sitting with me, he would’ve found me by now.”

“It was so confusing being on the train the first time, trying to find a place to sit,” Remus said, “Especially when you don’t know anyone or have any mates to find. Maybe a friendly face would be a comfort, regardless of how you usually get along.” Sirius shrugged again, but he didn’t budge to go get his brother, either, so Remus let the suggestion drop.

The train pulled away from the Platform with a groan and soon the wheels were clackety-clacking along the tracks, the engine steam trailing along over the cars as they went, cutting through the countryside, past muggle homes and cities, into the trees, and ever north.