Hogwarts i am snape

"It's a bit odd without Dobby around," Pandora said, setting down her beaker. "I've grown quite fond of that little house-elf who loves freedom and work."

"Severus," Lily stood opposite her, also frowning at Snape. "You still won't tell us why Dobby is like this, will you?" She took a deep breath. "You're not dabbling in any dangerous Dark Arts, are you?"

"You've already spoken to Professor Dumbledore, haven't you?" Snape shrugged, walking over to the long table and beginning to sort the Potions ingredients Dobby usually handled. "He's vouched for me." He used the side of a silver short knife to crush some Sopophorous beans. "The Professor also told you I need to keep it a secret."

"But, not even us?" Lily asked worriedly. "I'm a —"

"I do trust you, of course," Snape quickly cut her off, his expression softening without him realising it as he looked up at their concerned faces. "But this is for your safety too. I don't want you getting mixed up in these matters."

Pandora suddenly walked right up to him, her pale silver eyes fixed on his, shining with worry.

"How can I not worry when you're the one taking the risks?" She slipped off the opal bracelet Snape had given her from her wrist. "You wear this. I haven't used it for ages."

Snape was taken aback. He awkwardly scratched his head, a wave of guilt washing over him.

"Don't worry," he said, straightening his shoulders and offering a confident smile. "Trust me, who do you think I am? Hogwarts' youngest Potions prodigy, Duelling Champion, Head Boy —"

He deliberately drew out his words, watching Pandora roll her eyes. "However," he changed tack, pointing to the slightly disorganised workbench, "do you need another house-elf to help with the work? I could fetch one for you from the kitchens."

"No, thank you," Lily shook her head. "We don't want to replace Dobby's job while he's petrified."

"Even if we don't know exactly what happened," Pandora nodded in agreement, "at least you said Dobby saved you. I'm certainly not planning on making Dobby jobless."

"Oh, right," Snape replied, his gaze unconsciously drifting towards the wooden door. "When Dobby comes back, we absolutely must throw him a grand welcome ceremony." Coming back to himself, he slipped the bracelet back onto Pandora's wrist.

A little while later, Lily suddenly slapped her forehead. "The Unitas Society meeting is about to start, Severus. We're giving a presentation tonight."

"What?" Snape looked up, only just remembering it had been over one week since he founded the society.

"There's an event this evening," Pandora said, pulling a crumpled piece of parchment from her pocket. "I'm going too. Barty wants us to share our O.W.L. experiences with the students." As she spoke, she quickly scanned the contents, her lips moving silently.

"Should be fine, you can do it," she murmured to herself, tucking the parchment away again and giving Lily an encouraging gesture.

"Studying?" Snape couldn't help but ask. "That's what you do at your gatherings? How dreadfully dull."

"You'll see when you get there," Pandora looked at him. "Want to come along?"

"You're the Head, you know," Lily said. "Apart from the very first one, you haven't been to a single society meeting since. You can't keep leaving everything to Barty and Abott."

Snape gave a wry smile. It was true. Ever since he'd founded the 'Unitas Society' at the Duelling Club, he'd left all the organisational work to Barty Crouch Junior and Abott. He really had let them down a bit.

"Alright, I suppose I should go and see," he agreed. "I wonder how Barty's managed."

"He's done wonderfully," Pandora said as she packed her satchel, pulling out two silver star-shaped badges with the number 'one' engraved on them.

"Here, for you." She handed one badge to Snape. "About a quarter of the students in the school have joined our organisation now. To be precise, almost all the half-bloods and Muggle-born wizards are in it."

"You actually have these?" Snape asked, surprised, watching Pandora and Lily pin on their badges. "How come I haven't seen you wear them before?"

"It was Barty's idea," Lily said. "They were just made a few days ago, and they cost him quite a few Galleons."

"Alright, I'll wear it then." Snape pinned the badge to his chest and asked, "So where do they — oh, where do we meet?"

"A classroom on the second floor," Lily replied, walking towards the entrance of the Room of Requirement. "Abott applied to Professor Dumbledore for it."

Walking down the corridor, they encountered several younger students who respectfully greeted Snape and his companions.

He nodded in response, noticing they too were wearing the badges on their chests.

"Even the first-years have so many?" he whispered.

"Barty says we need to start them young," Lily explained with a smile. "He's arranged different activities for each year group."

Pushing open the door to the second-floor classroom, Snape found it much wider than it appeared from the outside, clearly having had an Undetectable Extension Charm placed upon it.

More than twenty, four-and-five-year students sat around together without it feeling cramped.

Barty Crouch Junior was already standing on the podium, his blonde hair gleaming under the light. Abott stood beside him, both looking radiant.

When they saw Snape and his companions, their eyes lit up, and they quickly walked over.

"Severus!" Abott enthusiastically hugged him, his voice slightly raised with excitement. "You finally came!"

"I thought you'd forgotten about us entirely," Barty Junior said after hugging Snape. "Come on up, you're hosting tonight."

"No," Snape quickly waved his hand in refusal. "You know I loathe all that sort of thing. Tonight, I'm just attending as an ordinary member."

"But you're the founder," Barty Junior insisted. "Everyone wants to hear from you."

"You've handled enough events already," Snape said, finding a seat. "I just want to see what you usually do."

"Alright," Barty Junior sighed reluctantly, finally relenting. "But you at least have to say hello to everyone later."

Just then, a small, thin figure squeezed through the crowd.

"Senior Snape!" A stammering voice reached him. Snape turned to see Quirrell looking at him excitedly. "So glad you came to the meeting!"

"Quirrell?" Snape said. "Why are you at an O.W.L.s event? You're only a first-year, aren't you?"

"I come to the meetings whenever I can," Quirrell's face turned beet red. "Even though tonight's event is for fourth and fifth-year students." He nervously wrung his fingers. "I really like it here, and Senior Barty said I could come along."

"Of course," Snape patted his shoulder. "I'm glad you like it here."

Lily and Pandora exchanged a look, and Lily suggested, "Severus, why don't you sit with Quirrell, and we'll sit behind you?"

When everyone had quieted down, Barty Junior walked to the centre of the podium. "Everyone," he said, pointing at Snape, "let's welcome our founder, Severus Snape!"

Applause erupted, and Snape had to stand up and nod in acknowledgement. He noticed many students looking at him with respect, which he found a little perplexing.

"I haven't done anything," he couldn't help but think. "Except for Quirrell, it would make sense for them to revere me, but why are they all so enthusiastic?"

Once Quirrell stopped clapping, Barty Junior announced, "We have three parts to our evening today."

Abott waved his wand, and a massive cake whooshed into existence in the centre of the classroom, with "Happy Birthday Ed" written in frosting.

"First, Ed Smith's birthday celebration," Barty Junior continued. "Then, personal sharing, and finally, O.W.L.s exam discussion."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the candles on the cake lit themselves. A messy chorus of "Happy Birthday" rang out, and the Muggle-born boy named Ed was too surprised to speak, his eyes welling up with emotion.

"Consider the school your home, and us your brothers and sisters," Abott said kindly, placing a birthday hat on Ed. "Make a wish."

After the cheers subsided, Abott again waved his wand, sending slices of cake flying to everyone.

Snape caught the large slice of cake that came his way and promptly exchanged it with Quirrell.

"This one's for you," Snape said, eating his cake. "How have you been doing lately? Have any students been bothering you?"

"Only for the first few days," Quirrell shook his head, mumbling, "ever since I joined the Unitas Society, it hasn't happened again." He swallowed his cake and added in a low voice, "Senior Barty even taught two Ravenclaw students a lesson for me."

"That's excellent, Quirrell," Snape said with a smile. "By the way, when you're in your third year, I recommend you take Professor Charity Burbage's Muggle Studies class —"

After the birthday celebration, Barty Junior invited a few students to share their recent experiences. Unexpectedly, a fifth-year Hufflepuff boy took the opportunity to blush and confess his feelings to the girl sitting next to him, and she shyly reciprocated.

The classroom erupted once more in cheers and applause.

Caught up in the emotion, Snape applauded too, only to suddenly feel a sharp pinch on his back.

He gasped, turning around immediately, but saw only Lily and Pandora still cheering for the young couple, making it impossible to tell who had attacked him.

By the time he turned back, Barty Junior had already written the title "O.W.L.s Syllabus Complete Breakdown and One Hundred Must-Do Practice Questions Before the Exam" on the blackboard.

"Most of you here are half-bloods or Muggle-born," his expression was unusually serious, his voice echoing through the classroom. "Or perhaps pure-blood wizards whose families have fallen on hard times."

"For a long time, you might not realise just how important this examination is." He paused, his gaze sweeping over everyone. "But it determines whether you can take N.E.W.T. advanced courses, and the results of these two academic examinations will directly affect your future prospects after graduation."

The classroom fell silent.

Barty Junior continued, "Children from esteemed backgrounds, like my former self, are taught the importance of these exams from a young age and receive targeted training."

"Compared to them, we are already far behind." His voice was strong and clear. "The wizarding world, compared to the Muggle world, is even more unforgiving. We must start working hard now to prepare for the future."

"Many of you have experienced being bullied by pure-blood wizards like myself," his voice suddenly became even more severe. "Now, thanks to Severus Snape, everyone has united, and the situation in school has improved."

"But," he waved his wand, and the Ministry of Magic symbol appeared in the air, "after graduation, if you still want to protect yourselves and your friends from bullying, we must strive for a better position!"

"Perhaps, one day, you will realise: they have already occupied high positions in the Ministry, they have already amassed considerable wealth." He looked meaningfully at everyone. "However, if, under similar circumstances, they have no excuse to unreasonably refuse us, remember, you are a wizard or a witch."

With that, Barty Junior brandished his wand again.

Snape was utterly astonished. Where had Barty Junior received such training? He was practically adding a clear political objective to the society.

Following this, Lily and Pandora took the stage separately to share their learning and examination experiences for Potions and Charms.

By the time the event concluded, it was late.

Students left in twos and threes, each genuinely thanking and bidding farewell to Snape, Barty Junior, and Abott as they passed.

Snape noticed that Barty Junior could call everyone by name, and even understood their family circumstances and learning difficulties.

"Given the small population of the wizarding world, if this trend continues," he thought, "in just a few years, let alone old Barty, even if the Ministry of Magic itself were to be bundled up, it might not be able to contend with young Barty."

After the last student left, Snape asked, "Barty, where did you learn all this?"

"Heh heh," Barty Junior chuckled nervously. "Hearing you use Muggle tools to make Potions inspired me. I secretly bought a few Muggle books; they're incredibly detailed. I never imagined they'd have so much research on this —"

"You've done a really good job," Snape praised, patting Barty Junior's shoulder. "Why don't you just become our Head? You're managing everything now anyway."

Unexpectedly, the smile vanished from Barty Junior's face. He suddenly became serious: "The Unitas Society will only ever have one Head, and that's you, Severus." His blue eyes stared directly into Snape's. "Please don't say things like that again."

"Oh — alright," Snape couldn't help but feel a touch of warmth. Good comrades, indeed. "No problem," he said. "Let's go too." From now on, he'd have to devote more effort to the society; the nurturing of young witches and wizards couldn't be neglected.

The trio descended the stairs.

In the entrance hall, through the tall windows, Snape saw the full moon cast its silver light upon the castle's stone walls.

He suddenly remembered something.

"You two go on ahead," he told his companions. "I need to step outside for a moment."

They looked at him curiously, but Snape shook his head, indicating he preferred to be alone.

Outside, it was utterly silent, not even a whisper of a breeze.

The Whomping Willow stood motionless in the bright moonlight, looking quite harmless.