Severus Talks - Severus Snape (COMPLETE)

Noticed

Professor Slughorn was fired and had left by the following morning. Few were sorry to see him go, and even fewer knew that his leaving was due to the first year, Severus Snape.

Severus disappeared back into the mundane quality of school life, removing himself from both Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore's view. A new Potions professor came; a moderately-talented Pureblood in his thirties and he was relatively amiable, choosing instead to neglect his Slytherins rather than stalk them and bully them. He was generally respected and ignored, and he too faded into the normal pattern of things.

*

Minerva, however, feared Severus slipping below her radar. She understood that he would most likely be picked on, as the small, shy, stuttering Slytherin. She already knew that James Potter and Sirius Black in her house were dangerous when provoked and had proved their worth as wrongdoers from their first step through the castle doors. She didn't want them choosing Severus as a target. He had enough on his plate, and if panic attacks were the cause of his Obscurus transformations, then he would do better to remain quiet, unnoticed, and studious.

But the Marauders didn't like studious. And they didn't like Slytherins, either. Peter Pettigrew soon joined their motley group, a cowering, feeble boy and he enjoyed being in the centre of attention, whether by being a bully or by earning infamy through the amount of house points they lost Gryffindor. Then Remus Lupin, sickly and timid, found their friendship and was incorporated into the Marauders' world of cruelty and childish pettiness. Minerva hated how Lupin, who should rightly have been in Ravenclaw, had sought out the class jokers, instead of the class swots.

*

Severus soon found himself the butt of many jokes. James Potter, an aristocratic, snobby Gryffindor, began pranking him because he was a 'sneaky Slytherin' and he, more often than not, ended up on the floor between lessons, having been tripped by Potter or his many sidekicks, Black, Pettigrew and Lupin.

Severus had liked Lupin at the start. He, like Severus, worked hard and earned rewarding marks, and he was often in the library reading. Severus had even considered making friends with him, in an attempt to get closer to Lily. Also, Severus needed someone to study with. There was more of a chance of getting picked on if you were alone and he had endured plenty of taunts from older Slytherins when he studied in the common room by himself.

*

The Marauders' pranks became more than that though, and their jokes ended up more like criticisms. 

"What're you wearing, Snape?" Shouted Potter after Transfiguration one day. "Your mother's uniform?"

Severus remained silent and continued walking. However Potter, and his best friend Black followed eagerly.

"Are you really that poor, Snivellus?" Goaded Potter, attempting to get a reaction from the sullen Slytherin. "Can't afford some clothes?"

"But Snivelly's mum can't be that old, can she? Did they wear ruffles and frills in the 1940s?" Black exclaimed, running past him and walking backwards so that he could still Severus' expressions. "Or was it the 1920s?"

"Potter! Black! Come here this instant!"

Professor McGonagall stood at the far end of the corridor, hands on her hips in a way eerily reminiscent of her old student, Molly Weasley née Prewett. The two boys, Potter and Black, so like Molly's brothers,  Fabian and Gideon, in the way they acted, trudged in disappointment towards her. She'd arrived to prevent a fight and looked around for the young Slytherin.

But Severus had already melted back into the crowd.

*****

A.N. I know you shouldn't beginning a sentence with the word 'but', but... it works better. 

Severus gets noticed by the Marauders and it's the start of a rocky relationship.

Thank you for reading!