the devil's got your number tonight

She flipped through the pages only half reading the words written there. Part of her wondered if there would ever be a time when things would be different and the other part of her didn’t want things to change. The world was what it was but she had a few good friends and life could be worse.

“Today is my sister’s birthday,” she muttered quietly. It was the thought that had been bouncing around her head all day. She hadn’t seen Petunia in years and years,

@potionsprince​​

Of course, against Lily, he never stood a chance.

Severus made one last desperate attempt to hold on as he felt the hard cover slip from between his fingers, then flopped back down onto the couch pillows with a soft chuckle. He should have expected that when flaunting it - there was no getting between Lily and knowledge. The crackling fire and the flipping of pages were the only sounds in the room for a while, and Severus basked contently in the moment. That was, until she mentioned her sister.

His whole body stiffened and he sat up, watching her intently. He could feel the familiar old ball of guilt rising in his chest - it was partially (rather significantly, he thought) his selfishness that had led to Lily's separation from her family.  He had never been particularly fond of Petunia, but as the years went by it was hard not to let nostalgia colour the early memories in Spinner's End with Lily. His last memory of Petunia was after all that of a child, and time had worn away the sharper edges of his dislike.

Severus opened his mouth, and then closed it, furrowing his brows as he tried to think of something to say. He had never been one to offer words of comfort, always awkward and sarcastic, but this was Lily, so he would try. He reached over to lower the book so he could see her face clearly.  Still he hesitated, a hundred offhand comments and remorseful apologies rising to the surface. He bit them back and instead spoke quietly.

"Are you okay?"

There were many perks to the Hit Witch career that Marlene had been so lucky to toss herself into, the most prominent perk for her just so happened to also be the biggest negative as well. Like it or not, one way or another you were constantly under fire, and while some might not have liked such a thing it was the opposite for Marlene. She thrived in being under fire and found herself thinking more clearly about things then she normally would. Time would slow for her, and she could see an opponent’s move coming before they’d begun thinking about it, she couldn’t explain how it to anyone if she tried. But even with her ability to focus there were moments that her counterparts got lucky, and Marlene would come home with a nice story to tell and occasionally one hell of a battle wound. As such she’d quickly made nice with a potion maker from her year, one that had been particularly easy for her to get ahold of thanks to their mutual friend. Thus, she’d send an owl questioning if she could come by to purchase some potions and she’d been sent an answer with a date and time that worked for him. That was how their arrangement worked. Severus was the one in control in these moments and Marlene made his schedule work for her. Sometimes when she was feeling particularly kind, she’d show up with quality ingredients for his potions in addition to the galleons that paid him. It was a small price to pay for the work that he did, there weren’t many others she could trust. “Evening Severus.” She greeted with a nod of her head as she moved to the bloke before her with a nod of her head. “Thanks for fitting me in on such short notice.” Always cordial, always friendly, Marlene was the epitome of the perfect pureblood when she needed to be in such business situations. 

"It was no trouble." Both the standard cordial response and the truth in this case - he'd hadn't pulled out a cauldron for any of the potions that she had requested, as they had already been brewed. Something that did please Severus internally, though he did not show it. He had never been the quickest when it came to people or social interaction, but at least his business sense was sharp enough that he rarely ran out of stock.

He held out a small wooden box in offering, the contents silent thanks to standard sticking charm he had placed on the base of the potion bottles inside. "I have your order." Which - despite Severus' confidence in their not-friendship, did concern him enough to give her a quick glance to see if he could spot any of the weaknesses or injuries she had to be sporting. That Severus couldn't was a testament to her pureblood comportment - that, or the fault of the low lighting.

Pushing his hair back, James stirred the pot over the stove carefully. Cooking had been a skill that his parents had ensured he learned growing up, and truthfully, James actually enjoyed it. Given the chill in the air, it was not surprising that he pulled out his Mum’s old black bean soup recipe. It was a favorite in their house, and James had helped her make it until he was able to make it on his own. Knowing the large quantity the soup made, he made sure he invited the whole crew to eat. 

“I bet you’d be able to make this, Sev. It’s like potions really,” he mused, focused on getting the ham chopped up just right. James knew that out of all of them, Severus was the one that excelled in potions, and cooking, especially soup, fell right along those lines. Undoubtedly, James was sure that if he tried his hand at the soup, it would come out better than his own, but he kept such thoughts to himself. 

James enjoyed cooking, but he enjoyed doing it with company more. In his not so humble opinion, the kitchen was meant to be a congregating area of the house. Growing up, he spent more time in the kitchen with his Mums, than he did doing anything else. It was always the warmest part of the house, and even as an adult, he equated it with family and comfort. Pushing the cookbook towards him, the one with handwritten recipes, James asked, “What does the next step say?”

"Shows how much you know about brewing," Severus said, rolling his eyes. "I can't believe you'd compare the basic task of making a meal with the exact art that is potion making." He could wax lyrical about the beauty of potions all day if he had the chance, but this was not the time, place or correct audience for that.

He leaned across the counter and pulled the old cookbook towards himself, relaxing despite himself as he skimmed the recipe. There was a legacy of warmth and affection in the looping cursive and occasionally smudged ink. "The next step...cook the onions, celery, carrot and sweet potato in a pot with oil." Which was a very shortened summary of the next step, but Severus didn't have the patience to stand there explaining what he could do himself. He turned his head to scan the assorted ingredients sprawled across all the free surfaces of the kitchen, rolling up his sleeves. "I'll get started on it. Where do you keep the oil?"

SEVERUS PRINCE is a TWENTY-ONE YEAR OLD who works as a POTIONEER. They are a HALFBLOOD who currently sides with the RESISTANCE. Severus is a TAKEN character with a face claim of LUKE PASQUALINO. They are played by KAT and will use HE/HIM pronouns.

BIOGRAPHY —

WHERE WE BEGAN → In a world where blood status is the most important thing it’s obvious why your mother was so quick to ensure that your last name wasn’t that of your drunk muggle father. The Prince family was a well respected pureblood family and to tarnish the lineage with a halfblood child was something they didn’t want to put on an announcement so your existence was kept in the quiet. You and your mother were allowed to go live with you father, but you would have rather stayed with your grandparents. Your father was constantly drinking and unkind, your parents fought, and you were left to tend to yourself from a young age. You went on adventures to explore Cokeworth and upon one of those you were so lucky to bump into Lily Evans, a muggleborn who was already so in touch with their magic at such a young age that even you could tell they were destined for greatness. It was easy to embellish about the world they could enter because you, selfishly, wished to take your best friend and one source of happiness to school with you. That would be your one regret in life—taking one Lily Evans and making them want to enter the world that would be cruel just for their blood status.  DURING SCHOOL →  The last name you’d been given saved you from a lot of the heartache that you would have likely endured. Purebloods weren’t as cruel to halfbloods, especially a halfblood that had been accepted by their pureblood family. You preferred it this way, where the only family you had was your mums given that your dad wasn’t anything to be proud of. Mingling between the muggleborns and halfbloods wasn’t forbade but it did tend to be frowned upon but that certainly wasn’t going to stop you. Your presence often helped keep some of the more cruel purebloods from Lily, not that you dared shared that information with them. Lily didn’t need saving and you certainly weren’t a knight in shining armor. You were simply there to be a good friend. Your nose was kept down, focusing on your studies, and making friends in the most unlikely places and people.  WHERE WE ARE NOW → Of all the subjects at Hogwarts the easiest that came to you was potions and it was your sheer talent that brought people to you for the potions they needed. People came out of the shadows to buy your work and while it wasn’t like you needed the money thanks to the Prince side of your family it did make things a hell of a lot easier to afford the flat you’d found. You kept your opinions of the world around you to yourself which made Purebloods show up to buy things, sharing information with you that you elected to keep listening to. It was James who brought the Resistance and it’s growing to your attention, the message that was behind it was something that you could get behind. If not only for Lily but all the people like your best friend. You told them quickly and between the two of you the fight to be a better person would be easier.

CONNECTIONS —

LILY EVANS - Childhood friend: You’ll spend forever trying to make it up to Lily for dragging them away from their family and into the Wizarding World. They’re your best friend, you’d die for them. You’d do anything for them. JAMES POTTER, REMUS LUPIN, SIRIUS BLACK - Best friends: Back in Hogwarts you’d made friends with Remus but you’d ever expected that after graduation you’d make friends with James and Sirius. The three of them are your best friends, you haven’t cared for anyone like this other than Lily. ALASTOR MOODY - Indifferent: You know that Alastor doesn’t like you for whatever reason they think they’ve got. It doesn’t bother you. The Resistance is where you’re meant to be and if they think you don’t belong then that’s too damn bad.| CONNECTIONS SEVERUS PRINCE IS MENTIONED IN