Author's notes: Thank you for your reviews, and sorry this took so long. I needed a couple days to myself. It's a shortie, but after the last one and with what's coming, a small transition was necessary. You're gonna love the next one, trust me!

Disclaimer: None of the characters depicted here belong to me, and the Harry Potter universe comes from Mrs. Rowling's mastermind.

April, 1978

Severus was angry. Really, really angry. And Hermione couldn't help but agree with him.

Maybe he shouldn't have let Sirius' provocations get to him, but her friend shouldn't have provoked him in the first place. One thing was to harmlessly prank him, but this... he could have died.

The thing was that Severus wasn't blaming him. For some unknown reason, he was blaming James. And James was the one who had saved him in the first place. It was probably because he already hated him with a passion because of his relationship with Lily, and this had only given him another reason to do so.

For the past three weeks, Hermione had spent their Potions lessons in complete silence. He wouldn't say a word to her, and she was too afraid that talking would only make him angrier. That night he had also found about their Animagus forms, and he had been hurt that she hadn't told him. He now firmly believed she didn't trust him, and apparently now she wasn't worthy of his friendship.

As today's class ended, Severus grabbed his belongings and hurriedly left the classroom, not even glancing towards her. Hermione looked down, a disappointed look on her face, and she was startled when felt a friendly pat on the back.

She turned around to find Lily, giving her a sympathetic glance. "He'll get over it, don't worry," she said. "It's his way of coping with pain, he closes in on himself and stays silent for a while."

"You really do know him, don't you?" Hermione replied, visibly jealous. She didn't harbor any feelings towards their broody friend, but Severus was important to her.

Lily smiled. "It would be hard not to. We have known each other since we were five."

Hermione was visibly surprised. She thought they just became friends during their first years at Hogwarts. "Really? How did you meet?"

"Let's have lunch first, and I'll tell you all about it later, okay?" Hermione nodded in agreement. After Severus had left, all her nerves went with him, and now she was starving.

A couple hours later found her and Lily inside an empty classroom.

"Well, we got to know each other when we were little," Lily started. "We lived in the same neighborhood, and played in the same park. There were a lot of children in the area, but we somehow... attracted each other. It all started making sense when I began showing signs of being magical." She was smiling, obviously nostalgic.

"Sev's mother was a witch. His father was a muggle. She passed away shortly before he began his classes here, and he abandoned their house a while later. He doesn't talk a lot about them, but he once told me his father was very violent towards his mother," Lily continued, her face now turned to sadness. "He hadn't known about her powers when they got married, but she couldn't hide it anymore after a while. And then, when Sev came and showed he was a wizard too, it only got worse."

"Oh my god, I never knew," Hermione said with an horrified expression.

"It's alright. He's a very private person, and he doesn't tell many people," Lily replied. "I'm sure if the boys knew about this they would leave him alone, but Sev wouldn't let me tell them when I asked. He said it would only make it worse."

"He really thinks they are bad people," Hermione said. "And I really can't blame him. They've always been so horrid to him. And after last month..."

"Yes, I have actually always sided with him on this matter. And lately James has been behaving himself, he knows how I am when I'm angry," she smiled. "But anyway, it didn't help when he was sorted into Slytherin. His house mates started teasing him about his relationship with me, you know how they are about that whole blood purity thing... And they are not the best of friends either, at least not like we are. Slytherins think about their peers as more like someone who could give them an advantage or pose a threat. It's crazy in there, they are ruthless."

"That I knew. Regulus has told me about them," Hermione said. "It's awful how they always turn to the dark when they find themselves alone. They could have been sorted into any other house and their lives would've been so different."

It was actually really sad. Both Regulus and Severus were good people, despite what they showed to others.

"We had a huge fight last year, you know?", Lily continued. "After he became a Death Eater. "

Hermione was gobsmacked. "A Death Eater? Severus?" Of course she had known about it since her fourth year, but he was much younger now. Always thinking the best of her teachers, Hermione had always thought that Snape had joined by Dumbledore's request.

"Yeah, I thought the same. Such a sweet boy, joining that maniac..." Lily looked down, disappointed. "But it was bound to happen. He had a lot of angst around him, with his father having just died, James and the boys teasing him every day... And he told me there was a lot of pressure from his house mates. Do you know the blond one, Malfoy? He's in charge of attracting as many followers as possible. And being Head Boy, rich and handsome has turned him into a lamp that keeps on attracting weak moths."

It made sense. He seemed to be in charge back at the Department of Mysteries. It seemed that came from way back. "And you know, at first he was convinced that he was doing the right thing. That Voldemort really plays with your mind, and sad, angry teenage boys are specially easy to charm. Of course, a bunch of them are being Imperiused, but the vast majority are there of their own accord. I don't know how many regret joining, but from what he's told me about their meetings, most of them really enjoy the awful things He makes them do..."

A while later, after Lily had left to meet James in the common room, Hermione went to the library. She was too upset and needed some distraction.

Walking into the Restricted Section, she grabbed the next six Potions books on her list. She had already gone through half of it, and found nothing about that mysterious green potion Regulus had told her about.

Two hours later, Hermione shot straight up. She read the last sentence again. 'The Drink of Despair is an ancient potion used to induce the drinker into a state of fear, delirium and extreme thirst. It is usually made with the purpose of concealing something precious, since once it has been brewed, it may only be poured into a recipient once. After that, the only way to move it is by ingesting it. It appears as an opaque green liquid that glows under any light'. This was it. She quickly copied all the information into a parchment, antidote included.

After leaving the library, Hermione headed towards the owlery. She didn't want to risk Regulus' friends seeing them together, and she decided it would be best to contact him by letter. She thought afterwards she really ought to charm some Galleons, as she had done last year, to make sure nobody intercepted their messages.

She quickly wrote her message. 'I have found the drink. It has an antidote. Will contact you when it's ready. H'. Simple and concise. That would do.

Hermione let out a breath, relieved. It was only a matter of time before they destroyed the Horcrux. And then Voldemort would be mortal, at last.