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“Potter! Put him down NOW!” shouted Lily Evans
It was the middle of the afternoon at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The fifth years had just left Potions class, and were now loitering in the corridors waiting for their Charms lessons.
“Potter, can’t you hear me? I said put him down immediately!”
Lily was racing down to the end of the corridor where James Potter, once again, had Severus Snape suspended upside down in midair. She thought if someone didn't hurry to intervene, there was a good chance Severus would end up dangling from a tree without his trousers.
When she arrived at the scene, she shouted once more, “Potter! Are you DEAF? Put him down NOW!”
James turned around lazily, his wand still pointed at the dangling Severus. When he saw it was Lily standing behind him, his hand instinctively flew to his hair to ruffle it. To James, it was most uncool to have tidy hair, especially in front of Lily Evans.
“Well, good day to you, Evans. Come to join the party? We were just giving our friend Snivellus a crash course on Levitation, weren’t we boys?”
Sirius, James’s best friend and often partner in crime gave a bark of laughter, while Peter Pettigrew, a short, stalky fellow, sniggered obnoxiously, delighted to be in on their joke. Their other friend Remus Lupin stood away from the scene, shaking his head and pretending to be somewhere else.
“Put him down now,” Lily growled, her hand inching slowly toward her wand.
Not missing a trick, Sirius said, “Better do what the lady says, James. It looks like she’s ready to do something about it,” in a voice that was laced with false concern.
James sighed, savoring the moment. “Alright Lily, if that’s what you want…”
“Yes, that’s what I want.”
“Should I let him down?” asked James, this time addressing the large crowd gathered around them. All the Gryffindors shouted “No!” or “Drop him!”, and while a few Slytherins present were “friends” of Snape, self-preservation was the name of the game for them. They looked on indifferently, while James simply basked in the glory of what he had created.
Lily was fuming. She realized, like she did always, that this was just another way for James to draw attention to himself. As long as all eyes were on him, he was content. Having Snape at his mercy was probably just a bonus.
Just as she was about to grab her wand and utter the counter-jinx, Sirius interrupted.
“Now wait a minute, Prongs. Snivellus hasn’t said anything about wanting to come down. How can we be sure that he’s learned his lesson?”
“An excellent point, Padfoot,” James said, not at all upset by the opportunity to play the alpha-male a little longer.
“Go on Snivellus, beg. Beg us to let you down, and we will.”
“Yes, yes! Make him grovel at your feet James. Go on Snivellus, grovel!” Squealed Peter eagerly.
Intensely reminded of the way his mother spoke to their house elf, Sirius jabbed Peter in the ribs with his elbow, and Peter gave a small yelp. James, Sirius and Remus all knew that Peter sometimes got caught up in the moment, but this was just a little too much. Peter took the hint, and silenced himself.
“You said you were going to let him down now!” Lily Evans shouted furiously, growing tired of repeating herself.
“All in good time, Evans,” James replied smoothly. “The decision has to be unanimous.”
Lily shook with anger. This insolent toe-rag was the reason her best friend Severus was miserable all day, but right now there was little she could do about it. She could always threaten to take points away for their behavior, she being a Prefect, but what good would that do? Taking points away from her own house would make everyone she knew resent her, and Lily always did the best she could to avoid conflict.
But Lily's anger was nothing compared to what Severus Snape felt. His eyes glimmered with a new hatred that was stronger and more violent than ever. His usually pale face was now tomato red because of all the blood rushing down to his head, and waves of nausea continually washed over him, threatening to overcome him. His robes had fallen up over his face to reveal filthy cloths, and a pair of pale, skinny legs.
Everyone knew that James and his friends hated Severus, but their reasons were unclear, as not everyone was familiar with James’s “thing” for Lily. They just assumed it was because Severus was a Slytherin with bad hair and no-good friends. And over time, they started to agree with James. Nobody ever disagreed with what the “Marauders” thought.
Severus only wished that he could have a fair duel with James Potter. Just once. Then everyone would see who the better wizard was. With just one word, one flick of his wand, he would have James on his knees. No one had any idea what he was capable of…
At that particular moment, though, all Snape was capable of was waving his arms and kicking his legs, making him look terribly foolish. But that’s all James really wanted. He wanted Snape to look foolish in front of Lily, but then again she was probably used to seeing that anyway.
The sound of her voice brought him out of his thoughts.
“James Potter, don’t think I won’t curse you right here. Let him go! What has he ever done to you?”
James ran his fingers through his hair as he contemplated a series of possible responses, before selecting his personal favorite.
“Well, it’s more the fact that he exists, if you know what I mean.”
Everyone laughed except for Lily and Remus.
Sirius, still cackling, said, “You know, Evans? I really wish you had a sense of--”
“Hey, James! Look!” Peter squawked suddenly, cutting Sirius off.
Snape was flailing his arms again, probably trying to locate his wand. He looked as though he were trying to fly.
“You know, Snivellus, if you want to fly, you really ought to buy yourself a broomstick,” Sirius said while James, Peter and the other Gryffindors roared with laughter.
“Expelliarmus!” A sudden burst of light, and James’s wand flew up into the air. A millisecond later, Severus fell from the air onto his face, and laid there until Professor Flitwick excused his class, rather late, Lily noticed, and ushered the 5th years inside.
James quickly retrieved his wand, and shot Lily a nasty look before ducking into Charms, which Lily purposely ignored. Laughing still amongst themselves, the mixture of Gryffindors and Slytherins filled up the classroom until it was only Lily and Snape left in the corridor.
Lily rushed over to Severus and knelt down beside his greasy head.
“Are you okay, Sev?” Lily asked tenderly. Snape moaned in response.
“It will be worse for you if you don’t get up. Come on, try.”
Severus sat himself up, and promptly threw up all over Lily’s lap.
Lily stood up in horror. Her face contorted into a look of disgust, and she ran off in the direction of her dormitory. To change her cloths, Severus assumed. But it didn’t really matter, because at that moment he was lying in a puddle of his own vomit, looking up into the faces of Professor Flitwick, James Potter, and Sirius Black.
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I'm With You by TheSilverEagle
Chapter Notes: Yes, I got the idea for this chapter title from the YouTube video "Bothering Snape" by Neil Cicierega. I know that James is doing a little more than "bothering" Snape, it was just too funny to leave out. Sorry that the chapter is so short, but it's mostly to introduce the characters in the story. Future chapters will definitely be longer as the story gets better!
Chapter Endnotes: And that's the end of chapter one! Again, reviews are encouraged! Tell me what you thought of it and give me all your constructive suggestions because I would like to update soon!