Quick(ish) Author's Note:

This is another attempt in a series of attempted fanfictions, so please bare with me if this fizzles out. I've got a pretty good idea of the direction this particular story is taking, so *fingers crossed* all should end well. A bit of background, this takes place in 1984, a few years after the first wizarding war and Snape's been working at Hogwarts for a couple of years now. My apologies for anything that seems out of character regarding Snape in particular, but I figured I could take some liberties with this different timeline. In this rendition, Snape's younger and probably less bitter, so I thought that I could make it work. Some things are gonna diverge from the original story line a bit, but most of it is based on canon.

Reviews are my life source, and if you have the time I would really appreciate your input! They are one of the greatest driving forces for me when I'm in a slump. Follows and favs are great too :)

Thanks for reading this slightly long winded A/N, let me know what you think and enjoy! :)

Disclaimer: To be brief, the OC's are mine, the rest is J.K Rowling's.


Chapter One

September 1st, 1984

In retrospect, Ridley could see that she had made a mistake. A rather big mistake. Nothing life altering, so she thought; nothing condemnable, so she thought; but obviously a significant blunder on her part. While it hurt her pride to admit it, she was a lightweight, and maybe drinking firewhiskey on the Hogwarts Express was a slight miscalculation.

Make that, a gross miscalculation.

"Oi, Rid!" called a slender, olive skinned girl from across the compartment. Her springy, ebony curls bounced as she tossed her head to the side, trying to release one rebellious tendril from between her eyelashes.

Ridley pushed the mouth of the bottle against her lips, and tipped the contents back into her mouth. Her face puckered at the burn of the spirits, and hoarsely she answered, "Yeah?"

"I think," sang Ridley's friend, Brinn, "that this is gonna be a good year." Brinn was well tipsy at that point, her warm brown eyes blinking slowly and full lips stretched into a giddy smile. Ridley found the other girl's hand on her knee, and so grabbed ahold of it. Leaning forward, she held their entwined fingers in the space between them, and grinned back at Brinn.

"I think so too," she agreed, giggling lightly in a way that only alcohol could induce. Brinn released her hand, and beckoned for the bottle Ridley held protectively against her chest. Passing over the firewhiskey, she sent a wink to Brinn's neighbour, a tall narrow faced boy with honey blonde hair. He smirked back at her, and leaned forward in his seat, catching an unspoken invitation to conversation.

"I don't think I've heard about your summer yet, Calvyn," Ridley gossiped, tilting her head to the side innocently. The boy returned her gaze unbroken and unaffected. Ridley refused to break, a sense of curiosity and indebtedness pushing her forward. Calvyn opposed her with a similar level of determination. Finally, he dropped his stony faced stare, and smirked at her once more.

"I suppose you haven't," he conceded, leaning back into his seat and crossing his arms across his chest. Beside him, Brinn continued to babble, nearly incoherent now, to Ridley's neighbour and friend Marcus. Burly, dark haired, Marcus listened to her intently, even smiling encouragingly. Ridley wasn't sure how interested the boy was in the conversation, but his interest in her school mate was undeniable.

"Well," shifting her focus, Ridley turned her attention back to the blonde across from her, "how was your summer?"

Calvyn eyed her suspiciously. "It was alright."

"Just alright?"

"Er, yes?"

"You didn't meet anyone new?" Ridley leaned even closer in; Calvyn shifted back, "No budding friendships or whirlwind summer romances?"

Instead of replying, the boy turned his head towards the window and appeared to immerse himself in the scenery flashing past. No emotion escaped him, and when Ridley decided that was all she would get from her silent friend she shook her head and slumped back in her seat. Truth be told, she was lucky to get as close to the subject as she did before Calvyn shut down. He wasn't the type to kiss and tell.

Absent mindedly twirling a sun bleached lock of hair between her fingers, she contemplated Calvyn's well guarded secret. Ridley's older sister had been strangely absent for most of the summer; either locked in her room or on unexplained outings from the house. While this wasn't that much call for concern in Ridley's opinion, a most unusual sighting of her school mate at three in the morning in her family home was rather alarming.

Ridley herself had just got in from a meeting with a friend that ran further into the night than she'd intended. She'd crept through the front door with the stealth of a burglar, creeping through the nearly pitch black front hallway as though her life depended on quietness. Her parents of course weren't home, rather she feared alerting her older brother, Ryerson, whom she could count on to report her misstep to her dear parents. He was dutiful, Ryerson was.

She thought that she had just made it home safe as she navigated the rest of the bottom floor, and the stark whiteness of her bedroom door came into view. Suddenly, a door behind her creaked open and she froze. Shuffling feet made their way across the hallway and a yawned, "lumos" made her whip around, expecting to see a victorious Ryerson prepared to reprimand her.

Instead, she was shocked to find Calvyn, hair tousled from sleep and gray sleep pants hanging low on his hips. "What the hell?"

Realizing he wasn't alone, the boy flashed the illuminated wand towards her, temporarily blinding her with the intense light. Putting a hand in front of her face to shield her eyes, she stepped forward cautiously and hissed, "What are you doing here?"

There was dead silence for a moment as Calvyn lowered his wand arm to the ground and stared at Ridley with wide brown eyes.

"Er..." he stalled, looking back down the hallway he came from, before sputtering, "Sorry, gotta go."

With a crack that made her wince, Calvyn disapparated and left her alone before her hopefully empty room. Confused, and a little bit peeved, Ridley resolved to pull the information from her friend once September rolled around, knowing full well he couldn't avoid her at school. She turned back to her room, hoping Calvyn was the last surprise guest of the evening, and pushed herself inside, no intent of forgetting that night whatsoever. It wasn't as though her longtime friend was unwelcome in her home, in fact Ridley had made a point of having her friends over whenever provided a chance during the summer. Well, perhaps not that summer, but the longstanding tradition still stood, nonetheless. However, Ridley had no recollection of inviting over any guests, and she had serious doubts that Calvyn was covertly squatting in her family home. That meant that someone else must have invited her friend over, and Ridley had afeeling she knew who.

"Yoohoo, Ridster," cackled Brinn, waving a hand in front of her face, "Are you daydreaming?"

Snatching Brinn's open hand, she lowered it from her face, and brought her focus back to her friends, who were gradually showing more symptoms of drunkenness. Ridley, herself could feel her head swimming and a lazy happiness taking hold of her, but it wasn't enough. She needed to be truly intoxicated if she were to get through the sorting ceremony and Headmaster's typically long winded speech. And, perhaps she expected some impending social interactions that she was very much not looking forward to. Stealing the bottle of firewhiskey from where it was now in Calvyn's clutches, she took a final swig, emptying the bottle.

"Easy there, champ!" cautioned Marcus who reached for the bottle, and seeing it emptied sent her a confounded look. She grinned back at him widely, swaying to the side as the train rolled around a curve in the track. Calvyn reached across the compartment and rested a steady hand on her shoulder, keeping her from falling out of her seat as the train's path straightened out. Calvyn shot her a concerned look as he reprimanded, "Have you ever partook in, 'drinking responsibly' Rid?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" She giggled in reply. "I am very responsible," she added with a chortle, crossing her legs daintily and giving her friend a smug grin.

"Of course you are, Rid," Calvyn retorted, with little relief.

"Speaking of responsible," piped up Marcus, turning his attention away from the chattering friend across from him, "Have any of you guys seen Molly about?"

"Yeah," chirped Brinn, her eyebrows drawn together as her inebriated mind tried to wrap itself around their friend's absence. "Do you know where she's at?" she directed to Ridley.

Ridley uncrossed her legs and leant forward, resting her elbows on her knees in front of her. Head in hands, she murmured, "She made Head Girl, so I imagine she's doing some kind of..." Ridley groaned as a wave of nausea overcame her, "Head Girl stuff."

"Head Girl? No way!" cackled Brinn, before striking up another round of enthusiastic chatter with Marcus.

Meanwhile, Calvyn was growing more worried as Ridley's complexion grew fairer. "Are you alright?" She caught him looking toward a small rubbish bin by the window, giving him a smack on the leg.

"I'm not gonna throw up, you pestering ninny."

"Pestering ninny?" He cracked a laugh, "your vocabulary has grown rather archaic over the summer, hasn't it."

Ridley rolled her eyes, "So my summer's up for conversation, huh?" She pinched the bridge of her nose as a her head began to throb. She could admit to regretting the last shot of firewhiskey now. Groaning as the train thundered around another turn in the track, she tipped her head back against the cushioned seat and stared up at the low ceiling of the Hogwarts Express. Sunlight filtered in through an uncovered window to her right, and she contented herself for a few moments with watching the fluttering choreography of dust motes in the air. Eventually, the light withdrew from the compartment as the locomotive took its passengers through a tunnel of sorts. Ridley resolved to close her eyes.

"You look like you could use some water, Ridley."

Sluggishly, she opened her eyes and looked at Calvyn from under her eyelashes. Taking a moment to consider it, she finally came to the conclusion that yes, she was thirsty. Sitting up, and then taking some time to adjust to her new altitude, she reached for the empty bottle of firewhiskey by Calvyn's feet.

Meanwhile, Marcus was confused, "But we haven't got any water?"

From the corner of her eye, she watched the boy across from her stare blankly at Marcus, steadily. Under their breath, Ridley heard someone cough in a way that sounded suspiciously like "Wizard." She cracked a smile, twisting the cap off of the bottle and casting an inverbal evanesco, clearing out any residual alcohol. Satisfied, she placed the tip of her wand inside the mouth of the bottle and then enunciated, loud enough for Marcus to overhear her, "Aguamenti."

A despondent, "Oh..." could be heard over the swishing of water against the glass. The clear liquid rose quickly, and Ridley released the charm just as the level approached the neck of the bottle. With a grateful hum, she put her wand back in her lap and rose the repurposed container in a toast. "Cheers," she scoffed, to which Calvyn rolled his eyes, and brought the bottle to her lips. The clean, pure taste of water was a refreshing contrast to the acrid aftertaste of the liquor. She gulped down the liquid greedily, the coolness slightly easing the churning in her stomach.

"Better?" inquired Calvyn.

"Much."

Suddenly, the sliding door beside her shook, and in her surprise a splash of water spilled over the lip of the bottle and landing in her lap. Bollocks.

"Routine ch—oh it's just you lot." A rather tall girl, with wavy blonde hair and an obvious air of confidence, leaned against the frame of the sliding door as she cast her gaze around the compartment. Ridley caught her eye and sent her a grateful smile.

"Molly!" sang Brinn, with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, "Ridley told me you were Head Girl. Congrats!"

"Thanks, Brinlay." Molly shifted her gaze back to her best friend and eyed Ridley critically. As her eyes moved to the bottle in her hand, Molly's sharply arched eyebrows rose in incredulity. "You've already started drinking?"

"You gonna take house points?" chortled Marcus, invoking a round of shrill giggles from Brinn that hurt Ridley's ears.

The Head Girl in question pierced her offender with a glare that was simultaneously mesmerizing and terrifying. If anyone could kill a man with a mere look, Ridley would put her money on Molly without question.

Marcus, however, was not your average man. In fact, it would be an undeserved credence to call him anything greater that an adolescent. His maturity and emotional range rivaled that of a guinea pig (Ridley couldn't recall why exactly a guinea pig shared these characteristics, but felt that it just fit), and was alarmingly obtuse. His company, despite all of this, was tolerable enough, and she wouldn't deny that both Calvyn and herself had at times referred to the boy as the group's "muscle".

And so, taking these intellectual shortcomings into account, it was hardly a surprise to the compartment's occupants that Marcus was almost entirely unaffected by Molly's cold demeanor.

"I'm gonna take that as a no," he trailed off, turning his gaze instead to the scenery beyond the window.

"You're just jealous," Ridley tried to break the building tension in the small space, "because we're having a great time and you have Head Girl duties to attend to."

Molly rolled her eyes, but a smirk was just barely detectable in the corner of her mouth, which Ridley counted as a win on her part. She shifted her weight to the other foot, leaning more heavily against the door frame and replied, "Well it's my duty to tell you lot that we're a few minutes away from Hogsmeade," she cast a reproachful look to Marcus' wrinkled jumper and trousers, "so you may want to change into your school robes."

Molly watched over the group vigilantly, and only when every student in the compartment was pulling their robes over their heads, did she nod to herself in satisfaction and turn to make her way back into the corridor.

She halted in her efforts suddenly, however, when Marcus called to her, "Molly!" The girl turned her head over her shoulder and looked at the burly boy with curiosity.

"How was your summer?" he inquired, as his head popped through the neck of the garment.

Molly stared at the boy blankly for a moment, then blinked. Turning to Ridley she announced, "I'll meet you guys at the carriages," before she added, "And Marcus, your robes are inside out."

Smiling as he watched her retreating form, Marcus sighed "You can't blame a guy for trying."