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Whether the heavy, silver moon hung visibly in the dark sky or was entirely obscured by the winter clouds, absolutely each freezing night at Hogwarts had its own, highly specific, restless people who couldn't sleep.
Deep inside the damp, highly suffocating Slytherin dungeons.
Avery lay entirely flat on his thick mattress, tossing and violently turning in the dark, completely unable to fall asleep. Tonight, they had narrowly, terrifyingly escaped a massive danger with Filch and those highly dangerous girls, but the cowardly retreat actively, profoundly made him deeply doubt his own future path somewhat—
His absolute best friend (Mulciber) honestly, genuinely seemed to have massive pureblood cysts violently growing in his brain rather than actual intelligence, while the arrogant boy who loudly claimed to be the boss of their gang—he absolutely wouldn't dare name names here, even in his own mind—undeniably had highly decent raw magical power... but heavily judging entirely by his panicked, cowardly physical reaction fleeing the trophy room afterward, he seemed completely, fundamentally unable to actively learn from his massive tactical mistakes.
Would highly arrogant, deeply stupid people exactly like Rabastan actually legally become highly respected "Death Eaters" like him in the future? Avery wondered miserably.
Yes—
He absolutely wasn't unaware of exactly what his future path held—although he was still highly young and old Mr. Avery absolutely hadn't explicitly told him highly classified details in letters, he deeply, absolutely knew the truth—his pureblood father was already an active, marked Death Eater.
Although the Avery family absolutely wasn't currently operating in the highly exclusive core circle of leadership, his father had successfully followed the terrifyingly powerful dark wizard who arrogantly claimed noble birth and aggressively called himself the "Dark Lord" early on in his rise to power.
Rabastan's older brother (Rodolphus) and Mulciber's violent father were also deeply entrenched Death Eaters. This dark political connection was exactly, undeniably the absolute main reason they had violently hung out together as a gang since their first year.
Ah—although his Avery family was historically, undeniably pureblood, simply being a pureblood family absolutely didn't legally guarantee they were highly respected upper-class citizens or massively wealthy anymore. Avery had recently, highly nervously heard older classmates cruelly gossip that even some highly direct, literal descendants of Salazar Slytherin himself had violently, heavily fallen entirely into crushing poverty. They were eventually forced to live entirely incognito in some filthy, ruined Muggle countryside shack, looking incredibly shabby, highly uneducated, and violently losing absolutely not just their ancient wealth, but even their basic human dignity and sanity.
Of course, the massively wealthy House of Black and the highly influential Malfoy Family were absolute, terrifying exceptions to this pureblood decay.
Avery completely couldn't help but feel a massive, highly bitter sense of deep envy toward Regulus.
He heavily lifted his dark green velvet bed curtains and looked quietly at another, currently entirely empty bed by the faint moonlight leaking through the dungeon window. His introverted roommate, Severus Snape, absolutely hadn't officially returned to the dorm yet.
He must have actively, highly happily gone out to legally eat premium food, drink, happily play, and heavily study highly advanced magic directly with the "little prince" of the Black Family again, Avery bitterly imagined this highly exclusive, wealthy scenario, genuinely feeling quite deeply upset and intensely jealous.
As Severus's actual assigned roommate, he was undeniably the very first person to violently, closely witness exactly how much Severus Snape had physically and socially changed—
Operating heavily under the massive, highly political influence of the Dueling Club, exactly who in the entire school and their third-year classes didn't intimately know about Snape's highly lethal dueling abilities and his terrifying, raw Potions talent now? Even the lazy, highly selective Professor Slughorn loudly, publicly said he was heavily, actively considering formally inviting Severus to join the highly exclusive "Slug Club."
Not to even mention, Severus's entire physical posture and social demeanor had heavily, aggressively changed from a cowed victim to a confident scholar. Even some of the highly arrogant second-year pureblood witches had actually started secretly showing genuine romantic interest in him—if only that greasy idiot wasn't so completely, blindly fixated entirely on that loud, fiery Gryffindor lioness Evans, how exactly could he logically be so foolishly, completely oblivious to his new status? Avery thought cynically.
If you aggressively hang out completely with a wealthy prince, will you eventually also physically and socially become exactly like a highly respected prince? Avery pondered.
And exactly what about him, Avery? Because he hung out entirely with highly aggressive, brainless trolls like Mulciber and Lestrange... would he eventually just wake up completely to find himself heavily covered entirely in filthy dog fleas?
Ah, exactly how on earth did the poor, half-blood Severus manage to magically get along so incredibly, perfectly well with the wealthy, arrogant Regulus...? Severus was legally my roommate and my friend first...
A massive speck of dungeon dust drifted directly into his nose, and Avery sneezed highly forcefully—suddenly, deeply, and surprisingly missing the warm, safe Christmas sweet porridge his strict mother used to make back home in London.
...
Just as he was highly miserably thinking about whether to simply just violently close his eyes and aggressively lie there until morning, the heavy dungeon dormitory door was gently, silently pushed open. A highly cautious, small wizard tiptoed quietly into the dark room, physically moving completely silently, clearly absolutely not wanting to wake or disturb anyone.
It was Severus.
Tonight, he absolutely shouldn't mathematically be the only one who was violently startled— Avery's petty, mischievous Slytherin impulse struck him hard, and he violently, instantly reached over and aggressively turned on the bright bedside lamp.
Click.
Little Severus Snape instantly, highly subconsciously raised his right hand in a blur of motion, reacting exactly as if he were actively about to aggressively lift his wand to cast a lethal hex—under the highly eerie, flickering green light of the lamp, his pale, sweaty face genuinely seemed highly unwell and deeply exhausted.
Avery completely didn't mind the defensive reaction, highly incorrectly assuming it was simply just the eerie green glass lampshade of the Slytherin dorm actively playing optical tricks on his tired eyes.
"...Severus," Avery hesitated slightly before speaking into the silence, his voice awkward. "You're finally back."
"Mm." Severus ignored him. He smoothly took off his heavy winter robe and hung it neatly on the back of his wooden chair, his quiet voice sounding highly, deeply absent-minded and entirely focused elsewhere.
"Did you... did you actually come back down here with Black?" Avery completely couldn't help but ask the burning question, with a highly massive, deeply distinct hint of subtle, bitter sourness lacing his tone.
Severus stopped. He turned and quietly observed Avery intensely for a few tense seconds. Seeing that the cowardly boy absolutely wasn't deliberately, politically prying into his highly classified whereabouts on behalf of Lestrange, he answered softly, dropping his guard slightly:
"...Mm."
"...You two actually have such an incredibly, highly good relationship now," Avery's tone held absolutely massive, completely unconcealed envy.
Hearing this highly pathetic, jealous admission, Severus actually smiled slightly in the dark, and his pale, exhausted complexion immediately improved—it genuinely seemed that the cowardly Avery was still completely, utterly entirely unaware of exactly what had violently happened in the trophy room earlier tonight, while he, Severus, intimately, completely knew the absolute truth—and this feeling of holding superior, highly classified intelligence was incredibly, profoundly good.
The raw adrenaline pressure of the night's events had simply been entirely too great. Avery heavily stared at Severus, finally finding himself completely, utterly sleepless.
He simply sat up straight on his messy bed, deeply hesitating to actively speak, his dark eyes completely full of the desperate, highly pathetic desire to simply talk to someone.
Severus simply waited entirely silently in the green light, and sure enough, a highly tense moment later—
"Severus, can I honestly just ask... exactly what on earth do you guys actively do together when you hang out?" Avery's eyes were completely, intensely focused exactly on Severus, revealing a highly rare, deeply pathetic longing and intense yearning for inclusion—
"I logically know you're actively working on some highly advanced, massive Potions project for him, right? You also aggressively hang out incredibly often. I mean, your massive, highly funded bonfire party... the entire bloody school saw it from the windows."
Looking directly at Avery's gloomy, highly pathetic expression and heavily furrowed brow, a deep, surprising sense of shared, pathetic plight suddenly welled up unexpectedly in Severus's cold heart. In absolute fact, before Regulus intervened, Avery had actually always been quite heavily talkative with him. Although he deeply liked to aggressively show off his pureblood status and was sometimes highly annoying, his home family also logically seemed to possess massive, deeply terrifying dark political problems...
It was simply just that exactly after the new term officially started, as their political and social circles violently, permanently changed, their actual daily communication had massively, completely decreased significantly to zero.
"Black. Exactly how is he as a friend?" Avery asked softly.
Severus absolutely wasn't in high, energetic spirits either after the adrenaline crash. He heavily rubbed his pulsing temples and simply, smoothly pulled his wooden desk chair entirely around to directly face Avery's bed and heavily sat down—since he completely couldn't sleep anyway right now, they might as logically well chat to gather intelligence on Lestrange.
"Regulus... is very, genuinely good to me," Severus thought for a highly analytical moment, saying the words very seriously, ensuring his loyalty was clear. "We honestly don't actively do anything incredibly special. We simply just intensely study advanced theories and practically play magic."
"So exactly what do you usually talk about when you chat alone?" Avery asked highly curiously, leaning forward.
"We absolutely talk about everything: Complex Potions theory, high-speed dueling tactics, theoretical spells..."
The sheer, unadulterated envy in Avery's dark eyes grew visibly stronger. Just intimately look at them, Avery thought miserably. Exactly how sophisticated and highly adult they are, while he was still completely messing around violently torturing cats in the dark.
Avery simply, heavily asked the massive, highly philosophical question that had genuinely been deeply bothering him all night:
"So... do you guys ever actually... talk about vastly bigger, deeper topics, like—exactly what to do in the future?"
The future.
Severus blinked his dark eyes.
He immediately, vividly recalled the warm, sunny summer vacation. Sitting peacefully with Regulus completely outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour in Diagon Alley. The young Black heir, who had looked completely at him with absolute, terrifyingly unwavering confidence and said—
"A highly glorious, massive future absolutely, undeniably belongs entirely to us. Are you actively willing to—invest your loyalty in the future directly with me?"
Regulus was so completely, utterly certain of his own success, without absolutely any single ounce of self-doubt about himself or his massive corporate plans. And absolutely everything Regulus had aggressively, methodically done since that exact day was also flawlessly, systematically working entirely towards achieving this highly specific, glorious direction...
Massive, profound warmth gradually, fully filled his cold heart. Severus's tired smile visibly deepened, and he nodded entirely confidently at Avery.
It genuinely seemed their highly planned future looked incredibly, mathematically better, while his own pathetic future... little Avery's brow violently furrowed tightly. He sighed heavily in deep, crushing distress, his voice entirely filled with massive, bitter resentment:
"Black... he's really, genuinely good to you—he actively, heavily takes you to do highly important things, aggressively throw massive, highly funded parties, violently duel older students, and actively invites you to study advanced magic..."
Avery sighed highly heavily again, his brows furrowing even vastly tighter, his depressed voice getting lower and lower in the dark, "He even actually highly respects you enough to talk about the future directly with you, maybe even actively sharing his ideals..."
Severus nodded proudly again. He absolutely didn't logically know exactly how to answer the pathetic boy—he completely saw and perfectly, flawlessly remembered absolutely everything Regulus actively did to heavily encourage him and build his confidence.
"So exactly what do you actually want to do in the future, Severus?" Avery asked softly. "I mean... legally, after graduation from Hogwarts."
Severus deeply hesitated for just a microscopic moment, and Avery had absolutely already started highly pathetically talking entirely to himself:
"I originally, secretly desperately wanted to legally be an Auror for the Ministry. I highly secretly read a massive amount of highly heroic Auror adventure stories when I was little... It's honestly pretty cool, isn't it?"
He violently shook his head, his tone becoming a little highly uncertain and deeply fearful: "But Rabastan and the older boys violently said that absolutely only blood-traitors and complete idiots would ever legally become Aurors... acting exactly as if he would actively do something highly, deeply glorious for the Dark Lord instead."
Little Severus Snape absolutely didn't verbally reply to the treason, but he was completely, highly already scoffing loudly inwardly—
Glorious things? With Rabastan's absolute, unadulterated, highly aggressive foolishness, exactly what "glorious things" could he possibly, logically do? A massive torn corner of his expensive black robe was absolutely probably still lying highly pathetically completely abandoned in the fourth-floor corridor right now. It would mathematically be vastly more like being completely "gloriously" stepped on by a Muggle-born.
"What exactly about you, Severus?" Avery finally, awkwardly realized he had talked entirely too much about himself and threw the highly personal question back.
"I..." Severus paused, thinking highly deeply. "I honestly think—being a highly respected Professor here at Hogwarts would actually be a very good, highly stable life."
Avery's dark eyes completely, violently widened, clearly, profoundly surprised by the highly mundane, bureaucratic answer.
Severus immediately felt a little highly uncomfortable under the stare. He honestly didn't fully know exactly why he had actually admitted that secret dream out loud. Maybe Avery simply thought he was arrogantly daydreaming about having power over others.
But Avery absolutely didn't maliciously mock him. He just looked highly, completely incredulous.
"But... how could that logically be? Don't you actually want to safely get married to a witch one day?"
"Huh?" Severus was completely, utterly stunned by the massive leap in logic.
"...Married?"
He legally wanted to be a highly respected teacher, what exactly did that have to logically do with getting legally married?
"Didn't you actually, logically notice the pattern?" Avery looked completely at him with massive, profound disappointment, his tone incredibly, deadpan serious, acting exactly as if he was aggressively imparting some highly classified, profound life truth to a child. "Highly dedicated scholars absolutely have a highly strict, massive tradition of remaining completely, perpetually single—absolutely all the current teaching staff at Hogwarts are legally single!"
...
As the saying goes: Share happiness, and the absolute happiness exponentially doubles; share deep sorrow, and the crushing sorrow mathematically halves.
With Avery being currently so highly, pathetically talkative, Severus absolutely didn't physically need to say much else. He quietly listened to his deeply pathetic roommate heavily pour out his dark political troubles in the dark, occasionally, highly politely responding with a nod, and the heavy, terrifying gloom of the night in his own cold heart gradually, beautifully dissipated into exhaustion...
It actually felt exactly like it did before the long summer vacation again.
But absolutely, fundamentally, completely different.
...
Whether the silver moon physically hung in the dark sky or not, what absolutely always seamlessly healed the terrifying, freezing night was simply a true friend actively willing to deeply listen.