Chapter 57 Selective Defense
Severus was willing to let Lily do her planning with little input from him. She changed her mind so often, and perversely wanted the opposite of what he suggested in other matters, that Lily might as well just inform him of where to stand for the wedding.
If there was one.
He still knew that she could change her mind regarding that too. There was no need for him to throw away his NEWT scores because of Lily's whims. As the days passed, bringing their graduation and supposed wedding closer, he started to wonder if it was going to happen, but then sobered as he felt hope build in him.
Hope was pointless and a waste of time.
Lily grew into the idea of becoming Mrs. Severus Snape. It had been in her head for a while, since he first asked, but now it was so close to becoming real. After picking out the most annoyingly large ring that made no sound, she could not forget because it was always there on her hand.
Severus kept refocusing her attention on NEWTs. Like her wedding, there would only be one chance. Or like their child. She spared some time to read a little on that. There were a lot of books in the library, but there was nothing more exciting than previous things she had read. Sev had let her hold onto his mother's book.
What annoyed Lily more was Sev's lack of interest in the baby. He would watch her cast charms to see it. There was not much to see yet, but then he'd go back to studying, or some homework, or his damned arithmancy, or then he'd be back in his loo, working on another potion experiment.
Lily even woke during the night to find the bed empty, and him chopping up something in the lavatory to start another cauldron.
She did ask him at least once a day about names for boys and girls, but he had no interest in that either. Sometimes Lily would suggest something odd to see if he'd react, but after naming his own familiar, Phi, she guessed nothing was too weird for him.
To the nay-sayers who thought she was crazy to think of marrying Sev, well, she had plenty to say. This was in no way sudden, as people who really did not know anything about them or even whose business it was, claimed. Lily had known Sev for close to ten years, he was her best friend, and any other details about what went on between them was private. She did not have to defend her decision to a bunch of toerags who thought she took an interest in Sev for money.
At points, Lily wanted to tell Mary she was pregnant, but Lily was uneasy over that because Mary wasn't able to have children of her own.
The only person Lily told that she was pregnant was Prof. McGonagall because she also needed permission to leave school to floo to St. Mungo's for a couple healer visits between now and the end of June. After reassuring her head of house that she fully intended on marrying Severus shortly after graduating, Lily retained her head girl position. Prof. McGonagall would not understand if Lily explained how this was all the headmaster's fault. Her own mother did not believe that one.
Minerva found herself defending Miss Evans to the headmaster. She was not entirely in accord with her student, who may be rushing things to get married and have a family, which many students and recent graduates were doing in these uncertain times.
However, there were undeniable facts. Lily Evans and Severus Snape were friends for longer than they had been students at Hogwarts. This was more than a mere Head Boy and Head Girl romance that happened every couple of years. Even when they were sorted into separate houses in first year, they remained close. They had dragonpox together and they were attacked by a werewolf together. When Mr. Snape's parents died, he could rely on Miss Evans, and when Miss Evans's father died, Mr. Snape was there. Minerva was not much into the opposites attract theory, but there was something that happened to Mr. Snape when he was with Miss Evans, and no one could claim to know him better than her.
What it all boiled down to was Albus Dumbledore could be a complete tit. This was not some wager over a chess game between two strangers. There was no love potion or other charm either way since Evans could be the predator with Snape having inherited such a fortune.
Minerva knew Albus had his secrets. There had been something about Severus Snape over the years, and it might have just been some perverse whim of Horace's to promote the ones he favored or the ones that gave him lavish gifts over those that were gifted. Unless he had something of value to say, Minerva would not play along with Albus's theories that had no basis in fact.
Perhaps he should go back to thinking about Voldemort, and apply some fresh ideas to that problem, rather than deciding to wait till students are engaged with a baby on the way to want to play matchmaker or matchbreaker.
Remus overheard about the engagement, but decided not to write anything to James. Prongs was able to get himself into enough trouble, without involving women.
Lily's temper grew shorter.
She suspected it was hormones, which only the muggle literature mentioned. The wealth of wizarding information alluded to mood swings, but their explanation was not as scientific.
She could admit she was used to the way Severus looked. His hair was clean now, and she knew he washed it every day so the continued accusations from other students of him being greasy were inaccurate. Also the claims that Sev was still green. He had not been greenish for about a year. There may be a bit more green to his complexion, and Lily still did not know why his left hand was greyer than the rest of him.
The comments about the remaining pockmarks were true, but it was something that was beyond Sev's control, like his nose or the color of his eyes. Lily knew he followed the healer's directions. She did too, and was left with a few stubborn spots that were only in places Sev saw.
Lily could study him undressed every evening, and the only thing she thought that could be seriously improved was his weight to round off all those bits that were poking out like his hips, wrists, shoulder blades, spine and ribs. Mum could handle that if they lived with her a bit before Lily found someplace decent to rent. Mum already proved she was up to the challenge of feeding Mr. Picky over Easter break.
Severus did join Lily in Prof. McGonagall's office to floo with her to St. Mungo's for an examination. She had asked him to accompany her, but doubted they would find out anything new. Lily had been casting so many spells at herself, the only thing he didn't know was the gender. There was a spell for that too, but Lily said she'd prefer to be surprised.
He suspected at some point she'd get around to casting that charm, just so she'd know what colors to concentrate on. Once NEWTs, graduation, and the wedding were over, that would be next on Lily's list of things to consume all her time, after she chose someplace for them to live.
Lily figured it was best to use a healer recommended by St. Mungo's since that's where she'd be having the baby. She already had her first appointment and met during an initial exam during Easter break five weeks ago.
From the outside, there was nothing to see. Her stomach was still the same. It had not been flat since before she was attacked by Lupin, but that wasn't her fault, and Sev said he did not mind that she put on weight from her impulse to gorge herself. He only drew the line on snacking in bed, while he was there. Lily already knew to clean up any crumbs that got into the sheets before Sev came in.
This appointment was not as her mother described it either. There was no paper gown, scooting her bottom to the end of the table, and putting her feet up in metal supports. Did mum call them stirrups, like saddles for horses? Maybe it was Lily's imagination thinking of what else could be done in that position if it was just Sev and her.
It was a series of spells while she was fully dressed, and a lot of them were spells Lily already cast. Maybe she could take up healing with just a little training, once the baby was older. She wasn't going to wait twelve years for when it started at Hogwarts. Maybe once Sev was done with his apprenticeship, he could take care of it. He could still do his potions stuff, as long as their house didn't turn into something like Moonshine's with clogged sinks and mustaches drawn on the mirrors. Maybe it was a lucky thing that Mr. Filch taught Sev so much.
Severus was treated like he was in the way. He was not getting between the healer and Lily, stood on the side and stayed quiet. What did this healer want from him, for him to wait downstairs near the floo like a good boy? Why would he bother coming with Lily if that was his designated role?
When they returned to Hogwarts after a shopping trip in Diagon Alley for Lily, Severus noticed things had been moved in his room. Usually the house elves were careful to leave everything as they found it.
Severus knew it was not Lily. Her current interest in his projects involved his dealings with Mary Wilkes, but that was because this Damocles fellow thought that with Severus's limited experience with werewolves, they might be able to find some cure. Lily was being odd. Wanting to be involved, but not hands on, or suggesting possible potion combinations. For her, he left the werewolf notes out, so Lily would not have to go through every drawer to find what she was looking for.
He checked his cauldrons and his stored ingredients and implements. Someone had looked through his knives, and his mortars were shifted about.
Trying to look at the set-up objectively, Severus tried to pick out anything that indicated he was looking to formulate a substitute for phoenix tears, rather than some miracle for werewolves. The ingredients were all wrong for any sort of lycanthropy remedy.
Would whoever snooped know that? Would he or she believe Severus was an idiot? That would suit Severus just fine. He preferred people underestimated him.
Before he overreacted, Severus thought he might as well ask Lily if she knew of anything.
"Is everything all right in here?" he started. "Some things were moved in my room."
"It's fine, Sev. Anything missing?"
"I don't think so. Other than Prof. McGonagall, did you tell anyone else we would be out all afternoon?"
"I haven't told Mary about the baby, Sev, so I didn't bother to tell her we'd be in London. Too many questions."
Lily was annoyed. Not truly at Sev, since if he said someone was in here, it was almost definitely true. He was not overreacting yet, but she did recall the long dry spell of no sex when he thought they were being followed and watched. Sev had been correct, thanks to what a monumental pain Dumbledore turned out to be.
Why would someone look through their rooms? Sev did not leave piles of money about or his secret Slytherin plans. Actually, Sev lived rather simple for someone who was supposed to be wealthy. There was no racing broom, clothes, or toys. Most of the books around here were from the Hogwarts library, and Sev still used those old textbooks of his mum's. Less than two months left at Hogwarts and they had another toerag bothering them.
Seeing Lily silently fuming, Severus suggested, "Perhaps you could mention it to Prof. McGonagall? I can cast some detection charms to see if anything was left." He did not want Lily angry at him. Severus would cast stronger wards on their rooms, booby traps, and whatever else came to mind that wouldn't accidentally catch a house elf.
They had one last meeting with their Wigtown Wanderers club, and said they may see each other again once the new season started. Lily would be seven months pregnant then, but did not want word getting out prematurely. There was also a chance England could be playing for the World Cup so they talked about that too. Lily already knew from Sev's smirk he had noticed James 'Quidditch' Potter had not made the team in any position.
Their Defense group started meeting twice a week now as OWLs and NEWTs got closer. Sometimes, they'd branch into other subjects for a quick yet thorough review.
Lily was not sure if Severus had chased away all the Gryffindors that needed help with arithmancy, or they actually learned enough of the basics to continue on their own. They would be on their own next year without Severus calling them names once a week.
She knew she needed to concentrate on reviewing for her NEWTs, rather than worrying and studying everyone that came into their rooms as their potential sneak. It was unlikely it was someone from their Defense group, or a Gryffindor who had a shaky grip on arithmancy. Dumbledore had come to mind, but what would he be looking for? More artifacts from the Hogwarts' founders that Severus was using as doorstops or paperweights? He was the tit that destroyed Hufflepuff's cup, if he was telling the truth, which Lily highly doubted.
At last, Horace got a hold of a wand. It was only right it was Rowle that was going to suffer, he thought to himself as he got far enough away to apparate. He couldn't stand Rowle. As soon as Albus got this ruddy tattoo off his arm and buy a new wand at Ollivander's, Horace was going to snap this one in two. He'd send the pieces back to Rowle, but no owl deserved that.
Nervously, he waited at the locked gates. Why did Albus change the locking charm? Didn't he think that Horace would head straight here as soon as he could? Voldemort would think the same. He did not have time to wait around exposed for a pack of blood-thirsty Death Eaters to find him here.
He transfigured himself into an unbelievably large rubber ball. The gate would not let him over, so he moved along the wall a bit, bounced himself against it, then bounced higher to fly over the top. His trajectory was halted and Horace dropped back outside the wall. Damn.
It appeared he would have to wait outside the gate until someone opened it so he could enter. Horace had to really use his transfiguration muscles to find a less obvious form that did not involve much compression of his mass. He was not so good at self-transfiguration that he could turn himself into something as insignificant as a feather or a dust mote.
The wait was long, and Horace impatiently thought repeatedly of how shortsighted it was of Albus not to have planned in advance for him to escape. Finally, Hagrid and Kettleburn were on their way out, probably to get a drink down at the Hog's Head.
He exhausted himself with the burst of movement to get himself as a stone boar statue into the gate before it shut.
Horace transfigured back into himself to catch his breath since it was not possible as a statue to do that, or even necessary. He walked slowly to the castle since he wasn't getting any younger, in addition to the reduced rations he was on for months.
He saw Albus walking towards him.
"Horace, what are you doing here?"
"And hello to you too, Albus. You don't know the time I've had. Let's go in and get some tea in me. I've had nothing but swill to drink for months."
"I'm afraid I cannot let you enter the school. You should not even be on the grounds, Horace."
"What are you talking about? How else am I supposed to get to you?"
"Are you now a Death Eater?"
"Certainly not. Once you get rid of this ruddy tattoo, I'll be right as rain."
Albus's eyebrows rose as he inquired, "You obtained a tattoo?"
"Not by choice. Why would I want a bloody stupid skull with a snake writhing out of its mouth? It's how the Dark Lord summons his Death Eaters."
"He does?"
Horace pulled up his left sleeve, declaring, "It's hideous. None of the ladies I prefer would care for something like this."
"May I?"
"Hell yeah. I expected you might have to touch it to get it off."
"I'm not sure if I can," Albus muttered as he studied the writhing tattoo. "All Death Eaters have one?"
"Yes, not all his followers, just the Death Eaters."
"So you are a Death Eater?"
"Not by choice, Albus. It was sort of along the lines of you're with us or you die."
"Ah."
"Well?"
"Difficult to say on a brief examination, Horace. I'm going to have to do some research. Do all the Death Eaters have it on their left arms?"
"I suppose. We don't go whipping them out to show each other."
"Is it always visible?"
"No, sometimes mine fades to nothing. It's painful when he actually calls everyone too."
"Hmm."
"So what about some tea, old boy?"
"Tea? Uh, I can whip up something, but let's uh … oh, how about the Shrieking Shack?"
"What?"
"I can't let you in the school itself, and that's close. There's a cave ..."
"Cave? What do I look like? My piano's a finely tuned instrument. It cannot go in a cave."
"Your possessions are safe, Horace, but you will not be able to make yourself comfortable in the Shack or cave. It's only temporary while I do my research."
"What about my position?"
"I filled it already."
"Temporarily. I was coming back."
"I'm not sure if the Board -"
"Snape made the whole ruddy thing up! He's ruined my life! I would have been safe here, instead of this whole mess. Why didn't you listen to me?"
"Horace, I think you've gotten a bit addled in all this. I did break into his property. I'm not entirely sure what happened in your office the following morning, but I cannot imagine any scenario in which you would have been entirely innocent."
"He's bamboozled you."
"Oh no, Horace. Severus makes no secret of how much he dislikes me. In fact, I don't recall him pleading or even explaining his case to me at all."
"Snape must have resorted to bribery."
"What do you mean?"
"Inheriting the Lestrange fortune must have gone to his empty head. Taking years of imagined slights and turning them into some twisted, personal revenge of his. He's lording it over everyone now."
Albus thought Severus remained mostly the same. He was at least consistent in his affection of Miss Evans. If Severus let money rule his senses, she would not tolerate that. Severus needed her, more than she needed him.
"I think you are letting your ordeal cloud your judgment, Horace. Forget about Mr. Snape. Let's go over to the Shrieking Shack and I'll order us up some tea."
"Forget about him? He's the cause of this whole affair."
"Hardly, Horace."
"How about Horatio or Hortense?"
Afraid his disagreement would settle these as Lily's final decision, Severus replied, "If you like them."
Lily rolled her eyes at his standard response. There were very few people that could carry either of those names with dignity through their lives.
"Do you even care, Sev?"
"Yes, and I know you are investing a lot of thought into this project."
"Why don't you have anything to say about the names then?"
"Won't you eventually have a short list of ones you prefer? There's still months to go, and I want to remain open-minded to your suggestions, Lily."
Why was Severus saying the right things to her? She knew this was not the way he really felt.
"You can come out and tell me what you're really thinking, Sev."
"About what?"
"Me, the baby, getting married."
Severus cocked an eyebrow at her, "What do you mean, Lily? Do you need assistance with something?"
"Assistance?"
"With anything. I know you like making the decisions and handling everything, but I can help."
"No, I mean that you've had it with me."
"Is this about your NEWTs?"
"NEWTs?" Lily exclaimed.
"Yes, they start in less than a week. We've been reviewing together so there's no need to get all worked up."
"I'm not worked up."
"Then what has you worked up, other than deluding yourself that Horatio and Hortense are suitable names?"
"What's wrong with them?"
"Shortening either one of them into a nickname."
"I wouldn't do that to my child."
It was Severus's turn to roll his eyes. Lily wasn't the one he was worried about referring to their child by the nickname of whore.
Bringing Severus back to the original question, or actually the related one, Lily pressed, "You don't want it or me, do you?"
"What gave you that idea?"
"You're always doing things without me."
"Other than arithmancy and runes, not really."
"Not here."
"We've been at Hogwarts since Easter, and the only time we left, we went together to St. Mungo's."
"No. Why won't you answer me honestly, Sev?"
"About what? I'm not understanding what you are asking."
"What do you want to do?"
Severus waited a moment for a follow-up remark, but Lily chose to stop speaking and wait for him to answer. He did not have an answer to whatever crisis Lily was trying to induce.
"What I want? To concentrate on specific things in a logical order, perhaps? I'm aware of the wedding and our baby. NEWTs will happen first, then graduation, which we might have to do something special because we're head boy and head girl? Then we're getting married. Then … oh, I guess we'll move somewhere. We might have a bit to do with that, and working out my schedule with Damocles. Then the baby, which isn't due until November, but could be sooner, and we will have time between moving to where you want and then. That should give months to get things ready, including possible names."
"Why should NEWTs matter to me? I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to be trapped at home with a squalling infant."
Severus sighed. Lily was complaining about something that was months away, and that may not be as bad as she imagined it. Shortly after the baby was born would be their first Christmas together as a family. She loved Christmas and would have plenty to keep her busy. He had not proposed renting her a prison, but somewhere to live.
"Lily, I understand your concerns. What would you like me to do to help you?"
She frowned. Why wasn't Severus arguing with her? "What can you do about it?"
"Maybe nothing. Perhaps this is why the headmaster tampered with the contraception spell. The anxiety of this unexpected turn of events is supposed to drive us apart."
"Why would it do that?"
"He doesn't know us. We stay together even when things are unpleasant."
Lily nodded, then had to ask, "Is marrying me unpleasant?"
"You still haven't told me what you have planned. Is it that bad?"
She laughed, "No. I'm leaning towards something simple. I've been spending my time reviewing, and by now, I don't care if anyone shows up."
Severus knew that did not sound right. Lily wanted something big. Huger than Petunia's. Maybe she had nothing planned since she did not really intend to marry him. This exercise had been a possible excuse for the argument to break it off.
By the time their week of NEWTs arrived, Lily was back to feeling well-prepared and relaxed. Sev had started a new review method of rewarding her with physical pleasures when she was able to give a very thorough answer to his study questions.
After her Charms NEWT, Severus reviewed all the questions with her and then spent hours pleasing her into a puddle before he tortured her with Defense review for the next day. Lily considered that if she was no longer able to walk down the stairs to the Great Hall to take the NEWT, it was still worth it.
Besides having all the answers for her NEWTs during the tests, having her head emptied regularly as waves of delirious ecstasy overcame her at Sev's hands, Lily caught Sev sleeping with his fingers spread over her abdomen more than once.
Lily gave that some thought. It was not an act on Sev's part, if he was sleeping. She was pretty sure he was really asleep from the snoring and drooling. Actually, she had never known Sev to fake being asleep on her, however, it seemed absurd to think he faked sleeping while waiting for her to wake up. There was also her habit of waking him up, if she wanted anything so there was no point in pretending.
Sev had always been strange. Well strange, but he was being himself, if Lily wanted to admit to him being different. At first, he was odd, but then she liked his talk about witches and wizards and a magical school, she was special, and he was special too. Lily doubted what he said because Petunia said so. There were witches and wizards on television, but not in real life, but it was fun that Severus thought Lily was like him, but not like him.
As Lily lay in bed reminiscing, she had thought Sev was mental yet harmless unless he suggested bad stuff to her. At first, she found him a little annoying but was amazed by his incredible imagination. Her mother had mentioned that Severus might have made it all up because he was lonely. Lily wanted to believe him, but always had doubts until Prof. McGonagall rang their front bell.
Till then, Lily understood what her mother had said about Severus being lonely. It took a while for Sev to even admit there was more to his parents, other than his mum was a witch. Petunia had already identified him and his address, the first time he had popped out of that bush.
A thought occurred to Lily. Was Severus still lonely, even though she was with him most of the day? She took an interest in his arithmancy project regarding werewolves for Mary's sake.
Lily figured she might as well ask, and did when she followed Severus the next morning into the lavatory, "Sev, are you feeling lonely?"
"What?" he exclaimed.
"Lonely? I'm not spending enough time with you."
"You followed me in here to watch me take a piss. I would consider that spending too much time with me, Lily."
"I came in here to talk to you, not watch you."
Severus sighed, washed his hands, then turned to shrug at Lily. "I'm fine. If you want to do something special, just let me know."
"I didn't mean that."
"What do you mean then?"
"Like when you were younger."
"Oh. No, this is much better than being in Slytherin. I definitely prefer being with you."
"That's nice, but I meant when you were little, when you started following me around."
Severus raised his eyebrows questioningly. He had no idea what Lily wanted now.
"Oh, come on, Sev. Before me, did you play with other children?"
"Not really. Why do you ask?"
"I'm worried about you."
"What's this about, Lily? What does it matter if I talked to other children when I was young? I watched them. Is that what you want to know?"
"Watched them do what?"
"Play with rocks and dirt and whatever else they did. They were children."
"Didn't you want to do that?"
"No," Severus replied while giving Lily a look like she was crazy. "Getting hit with rocks hurt."
"What?"
"Rocks, stones, and bits of pavement hurt."
"What do you mean?"
"Never mind. I didn't want to play with them."
Lily frowned at him.
"What?" he asked. "Why is it important if I liked playing with other children in Spinner's End? What is it you're after, Lily?"
"Nothing. I … I don't know. I'm not sure if you're happy or not."
"We have one more NEWT for Transfiguration today and then we're done, except for graduation. Then I'll be happy we're no longer students here. All right?"
Lily laughed, "NEWTs. You make it sound so simple to have us focus on one thing at a time."
"It is. We're aware of everything else, but there's no need to panic if we deal with each thing individually. But what was all this about me and other children?"
"Nothing. I was thinking about you last night and all your stories about Hogwarts."
"Still having trouble sleeping?"
"I'm not tired like I was at first. It's like I'm really energetic and don't need as much sleep, but I don't feel like getting out of bed."
"All right. If you do feel tired, just let me know. I don't mind if you want to lie down or take a nap."
Lily rolled her eyes. She was a bit old to be taking a nap.
Lily had not realized that magical parents could come to graduation. That was so unfair. She'd like her mum to be here, not just for her, but Sev as well. He didn't have anyone, and if his mum was still alive, Lily doubted she would have shown up, even with Sev as head boy. It wasn't nice to think ill of the dead, but Lily couldn't help it. Sev would not be so messed up if he had normal parents who took care of him.
The hisses of mudblood were disconcerting as she walked to the podium. She heard them, and from the look of Prof. McGonagall's narrowed eyes, anyone who was caught was going to pay. Lily took her position to read her speech, looked back towards Sev, and broke out in a smile as she caught sight of him hiding his wand.
Perhaps her speech was all wrong, now that she heard that, but Lily did not care what they thought. Her idea was to speak about how special magic was, how wonderful it was, and how it could benefit everyone. She had read it multiple times to Severus. He never told her it was bad, however all he said about his speech was that he knew he followed Lily, so he could get away with saying, 'I agree with Evans.' He could be such a git sometimes.
She was disappointed by the polite applause she received. Lily had put a lot of work into this speech, and it was the truth. Magic was wonderful, and things did not have to be so complex and tumultuous.
Lily suspected that Severus had changed his speech overnight. Yesterday, Prof. Dumbledore spoke to them about some secret group he had to defeat He Who Must Not Be Named and invited them to join it after graduation. Well, with Dumbledore in charge of it, there was no way Lily wanted anything to do with it.
They were going to be free from him at last. She had enough of the toerag to last her a lifetime. And what did he know about He Who Must Not Be Named? Dumbledore fought a duel with Grindelwald decades ago. He Who Must Not Be Named was a powerful and evil wizard, but when it came to accepting challenges, he was evil in a nasty and underhanded way. He did not fight the wizard that challenged him, but worked on killing off everyone they loved.
When they returned to their rooms after that, Severus had plenty to say, using a lot of foul language. Today, he was back to using all those big words of his. It was short, but Lily understood what he was saying. There was more than black and white, and nothing is simple or what it appears to be. People cannot be labeled as simply good or bad, especially when there were opportunities in times of uncertainty. Some things only occurred due to someone's arrogant attitude 'because I can'. Right and wrong had nothing to do with it, there is only power and those that abuse it.
Lily clapped immediately when Sev finished. She didn't care that there was a silent pause. It had been her previous opinion that Prof. Upsilon, who taught Ancient Runes, was an eccentric kook, especially with his insistence on only speaking Greek at England's school of magic, but his standing to express his approval, got a couple teachers to follow suit. More people stood in a lemming-like fashion, till more were standing than sitting. Although annoyed that she had not received the same recognition, Lily stood too.
Rita Skeeter foresaw another update for Witch Weekly on her homely prince. Severus Snape could be considered one of the movers and shakers of the wizarding world since he inherited the Lestrange vault, if he chose to be. Knowing of Dumbledore's audacity at stealing Hufflepuff's cup, followed by breaking into the main Lestrange, now Snape, house, she knew exactly who his intended audience was.