“Snape, come play a game of Exploding Snap with us,” Avery called from across the common room.

Snape shook his head. “No, thanks,” he mumbled.

“Oh come on, you’re not still harping on about that filthy Mudblood are you?”

“Don’t call her that!”

“Oh, don’t act all high and mighty around me. You called her the same thing, we all saw it.”

“I didn’t mean to!”

“Oh there’s no need to defend yourself to me. I thought it was great. First time you ever said the right
thing to her.”

Snape sighed. The last thing he needed was to get into a fight with Avery, the only person in his year
who knew more curses than he did. It was pointless, anyway. They would never understand what Lily
meant to him. The fact that that word, that one word, had ruined everything was all he could think
about for the past two weeks. He kept reliving that moment in his head. How could he have messed
things up so badly? She was the one person who had actually given a damn about him. And he
completely blew it. He buried his face in his hands and tried to think about something else, anything
else. It didn’t work.

It was Rosier who spoke next. “You’re being stupid. If you’d wash that hair of yours and maybe shrink
your nose a little, I’m sure you could find a girl who’d be willing to snog you a bit. Probably one with less
filthy blood.” Everyone laughed.

“Stop it! Just don’t talk about her! Please!” Snape was nearly in tears now, and that just made the group
laugh harder, all thoughts of Exploding Snap quite forgotten.

“You’re pathetic,” Avery said once he calmed down. “Spending all your time moping over her? Get real.
Rosier told me you tried setting up a sleeping bag outside the Gryffindor common room so that she’d
come talk to you. What the hell kind of Slytherin are you?”

Snape flushed, but didn’t say anything. If Avery hadn’t proven himself as an accomplished user of the
Cruciatus Curse last week, he would curse him right there. He’d used it on some defenseless Gryffindor
first year “just for practice” in the bathroom. Snape had laughed with Rosier and Travers, not wanting
them to see how horrified he was. When he’d finally stopped, Avery had threatened the boy with worse
if he ever mentioned it to anyone, and then thrown him out of the room. Snape wouldn’t soon forget it.

“Besides,” Avery added. “You know she’s with Potter now, right? He’s probably up there in the
Gryffindor common room, peeling off her clothes, feeling her up…..”

“SECTUMSEMPRA!” Snape roared, but Avery ducked just in time. The curse slashed the wall behind him.
He looked at Snape, his face lined with fury.
“What the HELL do you think you’re doing? You know that I could DESTROY you, right? I’d think twice
before trying THAT again.”

“I’m sorry. Just…don’t…talk…about..her…with..him….please,” Snape muttered.

“Why? You didn’t see it? It happened right in the middle of the Great Hall,” Avery smirked. “She threw
herself on him and they snogged for ages.”

“You..you’re lying,” Snape looked down at the floor, unable to look into Avery’s eyes. He didn’t want to
find out that he was telling the truth. “She can’t fancy him, she just can’t.”

“She can, and she does,” Travers said, speaking up for the first time. “I saw it too.”

Snape did not want to believe what he was hearing. He started to head to the dormitory, just wanting to
get away from them.

“Snape, wait!” Travers called out. Snape turned around.

“Think about it logically. The Dark Lord is getting more and more powerful by the day. You know that
once you’re out of school you’ll be out there with him, just like the rest of us. What do you think he’ll do
if he finds out you fancy a Mudblood?”

“I never said I was joining him,” and once again everyone laughed.

“You will if you want to live,” Rosier answered smugly. “Come on, you’re no different from the rest of us.
We’re all future Death Eaters here, and once that happens you won’t have time to worry about that
Evans girl. In fact, she’ll probably be dead by then. All Mudbloods are destined for the same fate, along
with the idiots who try to defend them.”

Snape couldn’t listen to them anymore. Without looking back, he headed straight to his dormitory with
the intention of going to sleep for a very, very long time.