Chapter 36 Important to Some, Worthless to Others
Homework was killing Lily. She hardly had time to shag Sev, and they only did it a couple mornings a week with extra, lots extra, for her birthday.
She had gotten back on the prefect patrol schedule, but Lily took that seriously and did not bother Sev while he had detention. She may look at him briefly, but would keep going because Mr. Filch was no longer watching other students.
She was steadily apparating in lessons by the third week. It took her a bit to digest what Severus was saying. It was not a hoop only five feet away, or at least that's what finally got it working.
Now that it appeared Potter really was expelled, Lily had thought about requesting readmittance to Magical Creatures, but did not want to appear wishy-washy. It would also be a lot of reading to catch up on. Perhaps before Easter break, or maybe before the summer, she'd speak to Prof. Kettleburn.
The weather also turned bitterly cold and even the snow got painfully icy. As long as she walked with Severus to Herbology, he had an arsenal of spells to keep them warmer and drier. Lily was not completely sure they were standard spells since he cast many things nonverbally.
He also accepted extra credit from Prof. Sprout to take a turn early in the morning to keep the temperature properly set in the greenhouses. When Lily tried to talk him out of it, Severus said he could spend the time with the raven since he was not getting to the clock tower as often as he liked during the week. With the cold, she also was in the school more, hiding deeper in the clock tower and also entering the main stairwell through adjoining halls while class was in session.
It was due to that situation, that the students found out that Severus had a familiar. Lily and Sev were on their way to Transfiguration after breakfast. Without their heroes, the little Gryffs stopped calling Severus anything, or at least when Lily was around. They still imitated their juvenile protectors by giving other boys, usually younger, wedgies, and hassling them in the gents'. There was also a couple that continued the fine tradition of attacking the female students' blouses, skirts and robes. Lily silently quoted a modern philosopher in her mind, every time she heard of that happening - "Fucking Gryffindors". Her language had taken a definite downturn that her parents would not approve of.
So Lily was alert in the stairwell as they climbed it, although nothing had been cast at her since Black and Pettigrew attacked her outside months ago. An alarmed scream started from high above and got quickly louder.
She looked up and saw groups of heads also leaning out and turned upwards. Lily squinted, Peeves was dropping down the center of the stairs, or was until he veered around a couple then continued his descent. Couldn't he go through them?
Next to her, Severus took his wand out. He felt the panic within him … but it wasn't his.
Peeves was chasing his raven, even though it was hard to see her nor did he ever hear her make that sound before. He had been meaning to try some spells on the poltergeist, based on some reading he had done. However, molesting the school's fixture would definitely get him into trouble, unless Severus had a very good reason. He was sure Mr. Filch would be game for anything he cast at the menace, but Peeves would not stay quiet about it.
The raven dove towards her person. The bird felt his confidence that this tormentor of hers would be simple to deal with once it got close enough to him.
Students screamed as they realized it wasn't Peeves alone, but he was chasing something black and … unknown.
Lily screamed because she realized it was Sev's raven, and it was diving right at them without slowing. She had a sharp beak and claws.
Severus cast a spell that should solidify a being such as Peeves, making him heavier, unable to pass through objects and generally make him clumsy and more importantly, unable to escape as easily by simply disappearing.
The raven zoomed beneath the staircase her person was on, looped beneath it to brake her speed and ascend to join her person in her revenge.
So intent was he on his prey, that Peeves forgot there were some spells that could impede him. No one ever bothered to use them on him.
He continued his plummeting descent because there was only so far down the little birdie could go, she'd get tired beating her little feathered wings, and then he'd make the little birdie sing.
Whoops!
Staircase directly below and there was a jerk of his body in the wrong direction and Splat!
As the poltergeist got closer and swerved to miss hitting a staircase, Severus gave his wand a jerk and pulled it back so Peeves collided with it face first.
Perhaps it was a property of a poltergeist, he thought as he tilted his head to study how Peeves slid along in a flattened version of himself till he reached the end, fell off with an audible 'plop', and landed about eight feet away on the staircase he and Lily were on.
The raven on his left shoulder did a very good imitation of mocking laughter. She probably heard plenty of it during her short stay within the stairwell. Hogwarts students were notorious for it.
Since he had already assaulted the poltergeist, Severus decided to test something else. With a cutting motion of his wand, he was pleased to find he could sever a part of it and summoned it to him, with Peeves's usual cry of "Got your conk."
Peeves flailed momentarily and then covered the middle of his face with his hands, claiming "That's dirty quidditch, mate."
Severus handed the unreal nose upwards to the bird, who took it in her beak. After a moment of tightening on the thing, she expelled it in an arc that sent it sailing out of view beneath the stairs. She did a reasonable cry of disgust with "Bleh!"
Lily was surprised when Severus said, "Let's get to class."
But what about …?
And how did he …?
Of course, the three of them, including the raven, arrived in time not to be late, but with no time for Lily to question him without earning Prof. McGonagall's ire.
Those were questions on a lot of other students' minds too, and many of them thought they knew all about Severus Snape, or at least the bulk of Gryffindor thought they did. He was a slimy Slytherin death eater that loved the Dark Arts, and now he had some demon familiar that had assumed the shape of a raven. Obviously Peeves could see it for what it truly was, and didn't like the idea of something more malevolent than him in the school. If only the Marauders were still around to protect them!
The Ravenclaws thought Snape made clever use of a little known spell as they researched what he could have used in the library. On the raven, well, ravens were very clever and desirable as familiars. Everyone knew that.
The Hufflepuffs were pleased that someone took a stand against Peeves molesting a defenseless animal. Until Snape did something, that poor bird was running for its very life, and no one was helping it, even though it was calling out for assistance.
Slytherins were not impressed. Actually, they were quite bored. If that was intended to be some sort of entertainment, it had failed miserably. Some quietly were concerned that this was another area that the miserable halfblood had been underestimated in. Could he only do this with poltergeists or could he influence ghosts, and possibly get them to do his bidding? They were so taken aback because they had not even realized Snape had a familiar, unless this bird somehow got into the castle in search of a new and powerful master. There were tales about such things like the most recent one of Dumbledore and his phoenix, but until now, none of them ever saw it happen.
Minerva immediately granted an exemption for one particular raven allowed in the school as a familiar, when Horace suddenly remembered the rule of cats, owls, and toads only, despite him allowing other Slytherins a snake and tarantulas. There was another raven over in Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff house had a variety of animals, including a snail.
She was willing to follow Horace to the headmaster since the staff knew of Mr. Snape's raven since break. It was not a menace, and obviously could not have prevented all students from getting to class since Mr. Snape, Miss Evans, the raven, and her entire first period Transfiguration class were on time this morning.
Horace had better learn to cut his losses and move on. He was acting like a child when it came to Snape, and Minerva did not believe for one single second that Miss Evans' association with him was ruining her chances at greatness. If Horace turned his pettiness on one of her Gryffindors, he'd have to answer to her. He was already supervising evening detentions, if Horace wanted to keep playing this game, she'd make sure he was the loser. He may have been playing it longer, but she could play it smarter.
All students, even Slytherins, were deeply troubled because Mr. Filch was smiling.
Really smiling.
They were all doomed.
Lucius was very interested in Narcissa Black becoming his future wife. She wasn't like her sister, Bellatrix, in the slightest. However, he did find himself in the company of Bellatrix, her husband, Rodolphus, and his crazy-eyed brother, Rabastan. The five of them were going out to have a little fun.
It seemed harmless enough, and Lucius was interested in the Dark Lord, however some things troubled him.
What were the real plans and who was going to be given power?
Lucius was a Malfoy, and already wielded a great deal of respect and power. He was interested in some of the proposed changes and improvements, but not at the expense of the power he already had, his social standing or wealth.
He agreed that muggles were little better than animals. House elves and giants were also capable of speech, but they weren't people.
The Ministry had bungled an investigation involving an attack on young wizards by some hostile muggles so it seemed only right that a lesson be taught. Can't have the sheep thinking they run the farm.
Lily was really getting ticked.
Mary was singing to herself, and absolutely delighted over her bird, or the bird she had given Severus. In fact, Mary was trying to pay Lily back ten times over for calling her gift stupid, and would continue humming, singing and making inane comments about how clever, helpful, and beautiful that raven was, peppered in with complimentary comments about Severus being clever too.
Severus was not in a good mood either. He now had to keep the bird with him to protect it from either Peeves or students. A cage in his dormitory would not protect it from jinxes or hexes so he'd also have to let it stay in the confines of his bed overnight so those protections would be extended to it or more correctly, her. His bed was not up against a wall since he preferred the option of being able to escape through either side so he constructed a roomy shelf to hang from the canopy support, over his feet, not his head, and then gave it some shallow sides to keep the nesting materials up there instead of raining down on him when she moved. He also added another shelf for water and food. This was such a bother. Severus never asked for a familiar in the first place, but had to do all these things for it. He wouldn't mind doing things for Lily, but this was a bird.
He brought the thing with him to detention and Mr. Filch looked too pleased. It made him look rather mad.
Severus knew Filch hated Peeves, but Peeves was still in the school and technically unharmed. He did not even feel any pain when Severus crashed him into the stone stairs nor when he sliced off his nose. And if Peeves felt any sort of pride, he would not dress the way he did. Unless he had some bizarre competition going on with Dumbledore.
Mrs. Norris sat quite primly on his desk with her tail wrapped around her paws and gazed at the bird on his shoulder. There was a wrapped gift next to her.
Filch's voice was a bit high as he said, "Mrs. Norris wanted to give your young miss a welcoming gift. She'll be a great asset to you, Snape."
Severus looked more closely at the cat. If she was after the bird, her tail would be twitching. He knew that much after watching Mrs. Norris on the prowl. It would be stranger if Mr. Filch was trying to give him a gift so … he decided to reply, "Thank you. Mrs. Norris and Mr. Filch."
He opened the box and it was lined with wax paper to keep the contents from leaking through. It was shiny meat stuff.
His raven recognized it as delectable entrails, and enjoyed her feast while Filch and his cat looked on in approval.
"Has she got a name yet?"
"No, I've thought of a couple, but no one seems to like them."
"Is she smart, or smarter than other birds?"
"She can count."
"Maybe something that starts with Professor," Filch suggested. "A title's not appropriate for all familiars, but for some of them it suits."
Since his name used the same letters for both first and last, Severus thought of mathematical terms beginning with 'p'. None of them sounded feminine of even applicable – polygon, percent, pentagon, positive, permutation, power, proportion, parabola, and Pythagoras was male. pi? She wasn't particularly circular, but it was a very pure mathematical concept. phi? It began with the letter "p" but not the sound. The golden ratio was similar to pi in its simplicity and purity, but did not get people thinking about circles. Maybe drop the professor bit, and just call her phi? He'd have to ask Lily. She would find some reason why it was no good. If he did not mention it was a Greek letter that meant something mathematical, it might stand a slightly better chance.
Severus left with his raven after he was told where to perform maintenance.
Lately, Mr. Filch would only give him some general directions and allowed him to do other things, if he saw anything out of place in that vicinity. Severus did tell him what he did before returning to Slytherin, in case he needed to undo anything.
He had done it a little in December, but his main goal now was working on weather-proofing the school to prevent drafts. The terrible weather outside made it rather simple to find them, without even casting a detection spell. Severus was also updating his maps because some of the drafts mysteriously emanated from the center walls, rather than outer walls.
While he worked, Severus had plenty of time for thinking of other things. Easter fell on April 10th this year. It was questionable whether Lily and him were taking their apparition test before or after the school holiday. This instructor did not feel it was important, when many of the students turned seventeen prior to that date, and had a keen interest in scheduling for the earliest possible test date. Severus and Lily were not the only ones with a long train ride home, or possible plans to apparate elsewhere.
With Petunia's wedding happening sometime close after that, he expected Lily would want to go home for at least part of the week off. She said something about needing to be fit for some gown, muggle-style. It would look odd if Lily just accepted any size, and then had it fit perfect when she fixed it. Severus only felt that would be a problem if the person they bought the dress from went to the wedding.
Severus had gotten far in this corridor when Lily found him. Since he did not know where he'd be working till Mr. Filch told him, it was up to Lily to discover where he was. She liked tracking him down within the school.
"I found you, Sev."
"I had no doubts, Lily."
"You brought her here too?" she asked, indicating his raven, perched on some molding jutting out of the stone wall.
"Yes. What do you think of the name phi for her?"
"Fi? Or do you mean Fi like short for Fiona?"
"phi," he repeated.
"Like what the giant said? Fee Fi Fo Fum? I smell the blood of an Englishman, be he alive or be he dead, I'll have his bones to grind my bread?"
"I didn't know giants were that articulate."
"The one in Jack and the Beanstalk was. Jack stole his golden goose so he had good reason to grind him up."
"You like phi then?"
"What's it mean?"
"Hmm?"
"You did not pick it randomly, Sev. What is it?"
"Well, Mr. Filch suggested I give her a name that started with Professor since she can count, but I couldn't think of anything that went well with that title and expressed something mathematical other than pi. However since pi is a numerical ratio for circles and curves, I did not think there was anything circular about the bird."
"She doesn't look like a professor."
"Anyway, I did think of the other numerical ratio, phi." Using his wand, Severus drew φ in a golden script.
"Huh?"
"The sectio divina is a plus b is to a as a is to b. Or represented by phi, the lower case Greek letter."
Ignoring the Greek whatever, Lily asked, "So just Phi?"
"Yes, if that's all right."
Lily blinked. It was a really bizarre thing that was totally Severus, and Mary would hate it. A lower case Greek letter that meant some barmy math thing. Based on that logic, Lily agreed, "She looks like a Phi."
Crazy Muggles! That's what Lucius had been thinking for the past hour.
He and Narcissa had escaped, after she had summoned his wand, and then they apparated and limped into Malfoy Manor from outside the apparition barrier.
His hand may be all right, but his right arm was broken.
Looking in the mirror, Lucius confirmed what his tongue previously told him. Two teeth were missing.
Narcissa had a black eye and a jagged cut from a broken bottle that had been slashed across her face by one of those animals.
It had been an absolute disaster. Bellatrix and her two relatives by marriage wanted to strike terror in the hearts of that foul bunch of muggles in that smoke-filled, reeking lair of theirs.
The ignorant fools thought someone supporting a rival sports team had conjured the Dark Mark above their pub. They were so simple-minded, they did not consider how it got there.
Their anger at not being recognized got the better of them, and Bella hit the fellow that was serving drinks at the bar with a killing curse. Rather than running for the exits, that Lucius and Narcissa had blocked, the muggles rushed Bella and the wizards, and clear as day, Lucius heard one of the men yell, "Get those sticks out of their hands, even if you have to rip their arms off!"
There were more flashes of green, but the Lestranges disappeared.
Lucius had been unable to look for them. Although he thought he was not acting suspiciously and was not standing with the Lestanges, some of the patrons chose to attack him.
Narcissa was injured when she objected, rather than escaping on her own and leaving Lucius behind.
Lily was right. Mary did not like Phi's name one bit.
Of course, Mary did not say it to Severus's face, but was sweet as pie. She was so false to him, it made Lily mad.
Severus even took to not directly addressing Mary, but she ignored that.
Mary's fire for him had somehow been rekindled. Lily felt Mary was a complete nincompoop. She wasted her time when there were plenty of other fellows at the school for her to try to attach herself to. Mary already insisted that the three of them would have a lovely time in Hogsmeade next weekend for Valentine's Day.
Although Lily was not sure what her and Severus planned to do for Valentine's Day, it certainly wouldn't involve Mary MacDonald.
There was not a peep in The Daily Prophet, unless one counted the obituaries of the Lestrange brothers. That's what clued in Magical Law Enforcement and sent them looking for what happened to two suspected top Death Eaters.
They did not need to go far since the local muggle newspaper had a photo of the Dark Mark on the front page. It merely took them a couple days to find the place, and then get their muggle savvy members over to claim the bodies of these 'internationally wanted criminals', and gather what information they could from the local authorities.
Prior to that, Lord Voldemort summoned Bellatrix to find out why he was reading about the death of two of his Death Eaters in the newspaper, once another of his loyal followers brought it to his attention.
She prostrated herself immediately, twinged in pain, and murmured, "My Lord."
"Bellatrix, widowed at such a young age. Such a pity. Throwing yourself so completely into mourning that you had forgotten about me?"
"Never, my Lord."
He frowned. The Lestrange brothers were the sons of one of his earliest minions that he had recruited while still a student at Hogwarts. Their loss would be keenly felt, if he possessed such sentimentality, but their efforts and hard work would definitely create a hole in his organization.
"Were you with them?"
"Yes, my Lord. They were already dead when I fled."
"Fled?"
"I … I was grossly outnumbered, my Lord. The information given to us was extremely poor."
"Did I supply you with such poor information?"
"No, my Lord."
"Were you even acting on my instructions?"
"No, my Lord."
"What is your greatest priority, Bellatrix?"
"You, my Lord."
"Exactly, and the three of you forgot that. Crucio."
Albus was in London visiting members of the Ministry when Barty Crouch cornered him. "Dumbledore, what haven't you told me about that boy?"
"What boy?"
"Snape. Are you having some laugh at my expense?"
"No, of course not, Barty."
"Come with me. I have copies of the paper in my office."
"Paper?"
"Yes, the muggle newspaper. Muggles. Killing Death Eaters. You did hear the Lestrange brothers are dead?"
"Well yes, but no details."
"Details? We needed to find out from the muggles. It was the middle of nowhere. But Cokeworth wasn't nowhere, was it, Dumbledore?"
"It wasn't?" Albus asked, mildly concerned about his friend's confusion over his part or knowledge of the Lestranges.
"No, it's the same place those foul little urchins attacked muggles over the summer. Only this time it was their big Death Eater friends. We've already hauled in the Potter boy for questioning, and are still hunting down Bellatrix Lestrange. She's a slippery one. She'll claim she was nowhere around there, but there were eyewitnesses. Certainly sounds like her. And her sister with a long-haired blonde man. We've questioned both Narcissa Black and her good friend, Lucius Malfoy, but their alibis check out. Along with their solicitors."
"James Potter?" asked Albus in surprise.
"Of course, Dumbledore. He attacked muggles at this same pub less than a year ago."
"That pub? I've been there myself."
"Really?"
"Yes, Barty, I was tracking down a student's parent."
"Snape?"
"Exactly."
"Ah, here we are," Barty said as they entered his office, and he opened a cabinet drawer. His desk was clean with everything arranged precisely upon it. Even his quills were laid out in soldier-like precision.
"This paper had the cover story, but it wasn't till I took a look at the rest of the paper this morning that I put it together. Snape."
Albus adjusted his glasses on his nose to study the photo on the front page. The Dark Mark on a local muggle newspaper.
He read the article.
Five persons entered the pub and immediately killed the owner with an unidentified weapon. Albus frowned, that was a very nice man they had murdered. He doubted he did anything offensive to provoke the Lestranges.
The attackers continued killing those in the pub until they were forced to flee, or were thoroughly subdued by the patrons, mostly war veterans. The black-haired woman killed the two unconscious men, rather than allow them to be taken alive.
That sounded rather odd to Albus. Why would Bellatrix kill her husband and brother-in-law? The sketch they included of her on the second page could certainly be Mrs. Lestrange.
Impatient that Dumbledore get to the reason he called him in here, Barty had folded a second copy of the paper, and thrust it at his friend, once he finished reading the article regarding the attack.
Albus took it, allowing Barty to take the other copy from him.
Tobias Snape's obituary, but … wasn't Severus still at school? The photo was old since it was of a younger man with the same short hair style, completely dark-colored in this monochrome photograph. He had been distinguished in his service to his country in the muggle war with Germany. A Royal Marine Commando sounded rather dangerous to Albus, but although names could be misleading, there was a long list of awards and medals, along with information about his service. Nothing about afterwards.
He turned the newspaper. Other fellows that died at the pub also had military service. Distinguished as well.
Perhaps Eileen Snape was waiting until arrangements were made to send for Severus to come home?
Albus looked at the date of the newspaper, four days ago. Was that long for a muggle or did they have some sort of laying out ceremony for viewing the deceased? Shouldn't his son be there for that?
Maybe Severus was gone, and Horace forgot to mention it. That was probably the case. Albus had been in London since yesterday, and did not see Horace since dinner … the night before last?
With no story in the wizarding newspaper, Horace would have no idea that a death in a student's family was anything important, other than to the student. One did not immediately jump to the conclusion of Death Eaters, especially for a muggle in a muggle neighborhood.