The Embittering of Severus Snape

Chapter 4 - Year Two Begins

Muriel whispered with Marisa as the 1^st years arrived for the Sorting Ceremony. She had missed her dorm mates more than she had expected over the summer. Until the end of last year, she'd never really had girlfriends her own age, and it was pleasant to be back in their company.

Jolina Avery was sorted into Slytherin, and Muriel clapped half-heartedly. She didn't really like her, but their parents were friends. She saw the girl's eyes narrow as they fell on the Ravenclaw table. Muriel stopped clapping abruptly, and turned back to Marisa.

"So, what did you do this summer?" the girl was asking.

"Well, it was about a month before I could stop taking that awful potion to counter the poison. I felt weak the whole time, so mostly I just sat around with Severus and played wizard chess and exploding snap. I finished all my homework then, too. When I felt better, Sev brought over a book of hexes and we went back into the woods to duel with them."

"But we aren't allowed to do magic outside of school!" One of the other girls exclaimed.

"In the trees behind our houses, Papa and Mr. Snape set up an area where the Ministry can't detect magic so that we could practice." The other girls looked horrified, so she offered an explanation. "Papa is an Auror, and he thinks I should know this stuff, in case someone tries to get at him by abducting me."

The girls looked at her with frightened eyes. This was not something many of them had ever thought about. All traces of their usual giggles were gone.

"Who would do that?" another girl asked.

"The Dark Lord, who else? You guys all have muggle parents. Don't tell me you haven't thought about what would happen if he ever came for them?" Muriel was surprised. She had thought that mudbloods would be more afraid of Riddle than she was, but it didn't seem like they'd thought about it at all. Maybe she shouldn't have worried them.

She watched as a shiver passed through each of the girls. No one met her eyes except Marisa. "I've thought of it," she whispered. "And I'm scared to death."

"Well don't be," Muriel said, suddenly supportive. "There are dozens of Aurors like my father who are standing up to him. And when we get out of school, there will be at least one from our dorm!"

A boy whose name they hadn't heard was sorted into Ravenclaw, then, and they forgot their conversation as they clapped and welcomed him to the table. Muriel turned to look for Severus, but he was chatting with Jolina, and didn't look up.

Muriel watched disinterestedly as the rest of the newcomers were sorted. Rosier and Wilkes became Slytherins, and Kyle's little brother was Sorted into Hufflepuff. She gave him a sympathetic glance. He didn't look very happy to be separated from Kyle. She understood that very well.

Muriel's fingers tapped impatiently as Dumbledore reminded them all that the forest was forbidden in addition to about 200 magical toys, the list of which they could find on Filch's door (several of which were sitting in her trunk upstairs). She was starving!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It didn't take long to settle into the usual routine at Hogwarts. Go to class - hex Potter or Black - eat lunch - dodge their retaliation - go to class....... Time passed in a blur, and Muriel figured she'd never had so much fun.

"Hey Mur." Muriel spun around to find Jolina Avery and her older brother standing behind her. She forced herself not to roll her eyes.

It was cool, but pleasant out by the lake, and she'd been enjoying the view of the sun dazzling the water's surface. It wasn't often that she had a Saturday to herself, but Severus had gotten three detentions in the last week for hexing Potter, and he had a lot of homework to catch up on.

"Hi Jolina. How are you enjoying classes?"

"Oh, I suppose they're alright." Jolina had dark brown hair, darker than Muriel's, but cut short at her shoulders. She was twirling it idly, and Muriel knew the girl was entirely put-out at having to talk to her. Avery had made her come. Muriel focused her eyes on him as Jolina answered, wondering why he'd bothered. It wasn't as if she would be offended if the girl ignored her.

"Congratulations on making your Quidditch team, Avery," she said formally. She had no more interest in a conversation with him than with Jolina, but courtesy dictated at least that much.

To her surprise, he grinned widely. "Thanks Mur!" She ignored the use of her nickname. He was going to continue to call her that no matter what she did to him.

"Beater, I heard?"

"Yeah!" He was obviously very excited about making the house team, and she and Jolina listened politely for several long minutes while he told them all about practices. It wasn't until his team captain ran over and pulled him away, mumbling about giving away team secrets that Muriel was free to look out over the lake again. Her eyes snapped back quickly, however, when Jolina cleared her throat. She had assumed that the short 1^st year would follow her brother, and looked at her expectantly.

"In case you didn't know it, he fancies you," she said simply. Muriel felt her eyes widen involuntarily. She swallowed and stared at Jolina, who gave her a haughty smile and walked calmly back up to the castle. She had, in one swoop, annoyed the blood traitor, and gotten revenge on her brother for making her talk to the girl as well. Not bad for a first year, Slytherin or otherwise.

Suddenly Muriel didn't feel much like being outside. She took off for her common room at a run.

She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't see the group of boys coming out of the castle. She fell hard on top of Peter Pettigrew, who let out a feminine shriek.

"Sorry!" she exclaimed, trying to stand up. But before she could get to her feet, she heard the swish of two wands and found herself disarmed, and sprouting an anteater's nose. Sirius Black was bending over to pick up her wand, and both he and James were laughing hysterically. She dashed forward and snatched her wand from Sirius before running upstairs to the hospital ward.

She thrust open the door in panic, and Madam Pomfrey looked up from her desk, the corners of her mouth twitching. "You'll want the next door over, Miss Deesia. We've formed a new ward just for cases like this." Muriel stood still, unable to believe that Madam Pomfrey was sending her back into the corridors with an animal snout.

Seeing the girl's distress, Madam Pomfrey grabbed a book, and looked up the counter curse quickly. When Muriel's face was back to normal, she took her to the next ward. A sign on the door proclaimed it to be The Harmless Hex Ward. Muriel met the nurse who had been hired to watch the new ward, Madam Kinnison. The woman's eyes seemed to shine as Muriel introduced herself.

When she finally got back to the common room, it was nearly time for dinner, and she was exhausted. She threw on some different robes, since hers had gotten filthy rolling on the ground to get away from Peter. She walked quickly past the marauders, ignoring their jeers. "OOH, Looks like we're having big juicy black ANTS for dinner tonight!"

"I hate them!" she exclaimed, plunking herself down next to Kyle. He had missed the whole episode, but nodded anyway. It was a well-known fact that Deesia hated the Gryffindor boys. It didn't matter what they'd done this time.

Kyle was in his third year now, just like Avery. He, too, had made the house Quidditch team this year, as a chaser. The morning of the first game, Ravenclaw vs. Slytherin, Muriel watched the team leave the common room with a pang of guilt. It was getting harder to root for Slytherin as she got to know the other Ravenclaws better.

Nevertheless, she walked with Severus down to the pitch. Rosier and Wilkes followed them. She caught a glimpse of the teams heading into their locker rooms. Avery turned and waved at them, and only Wilkes waved back. Muriel grimaced, and Severus seemed to pick up on her discomfort. She hadn't mentioned her talk with Jolina.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

He looked over at her sharply. She knew better than to tell him nothing was wrong. Her emotions had always been easy for him to read, almost as if she was unwittingly projecting them to him. She sighed, hearing his thoughts, and told him about Jolina.

"WHAT?"

"Keep your voice down," Muriel mumbled. Avery had turned back to look at them now, and they were just close enough to see the smirk on his face. Severus may not want to discuss how he felt about her, but he certainly didn't want anyone ELSE feeling that way. She shook her head and looked at the ground.

It was a good game. Kyle was a very good chaser, for a third year, and for once the Ravenclaw team really gave the Slytherins a run for their money. Severus watched Avery with morbid fascination, his eyes narrowing every time the beater looked toward their box, which was often. In the end, however, the 6^th year Slytherin seeker caught the snitch, and won the game by a good 60 points.

As they walked back to the castle, they realized that the Slytherins had already begun to celebrate. Nasty wretches that they were, they were celebrating by hexing anyone who looked like a good target. It was then that Muriel heard a very upsetting thing.

"Sod off, Malfoy! You're not sending ME to the "Black and Deesia" Ward!" It was Raquel Parkinson, squealing and running from a sneering Lucius Malfoy. Muriel stopped cold and let them rush by her. Normally she would have tried to hex the blond 5^th year prefect for bothering someone she liked, but Raquel's words were ringing in her ears.

"The WHAT?" she asked incredulously. Severus stopped as well, looking uncomfortable.

"The Black and Deesia Ward," a voice said behind her. "Or didn't you know that the upperclassmen have re-christened the new ward in the hospital wing in our honor?" Muriel whirled around, her robes fluttering behind her, to see a smiling Sirius Black. Potter, Lupin and Pettigrew were with him. All of them were grinning like idiots.

Muriel looked very angry, however, and their smiles soon faded. "It wasn't my idea!" Sirius said finally. He'd thought it was extremely amusing that the school had put in a ward specifically to handle their pranks, but obviously she didn't agree. He found himself wondering if he would be visiting that ward shortly.

"The only time our names should EVER be used in the same sentence is if they are separated by the word 'despises.'" She said scathingly. She saw Severus trying not to smile out of the corner of her eye. She turned on her heel and went back inside, fully intending to sequester herself in the library while the Slytherins had their victory celebration.

"Snot," Sirius muttered, as they watched them leave. Remus gave him a funny look, but James and Peter were already heading toward the Great Hall. Lunch would be served any minute!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"You want to brew WHAT?" Muriel hissed. She and Severus had managed to land identical detentions for a week with Professor McGonagall. She'd caught them hexing the stone tiles outside the Gryffindor common room to scream when stepped on, and she hadn't thought it was nearly as funny as they did.

The stern witch looked up sharply, but since Severus wasn't looking at his friend at all, but bending over the book she'd given him, she chose to ignore it. Shaking her head, she went back to grading papers. It regularly astounded her that these two were among the most intelligent of her students, but also the most often to be found in detention.

Still, there was something endearing about the quiet defiance of young Mr. Snape and the playful intelligence of Miss. Deesia. Though they were by no means her favorite students, she found herself smiling as much at their pranks as those of the marauders in her own house. When she was alone, of course.

"It's a color change potion. You can change the color of someone's skin with your wand, but then it can be reversed that way too. If we slipped them some of the potion, it would take at least a week to wear off, depending on how much they drank. No one would be able to reverse it until it wore off." Severus was speaking so softly that Muriel could barely hear him, but she caught the drift.

"They'll be furious!"

"You mean, like you were, after Potter transfigured your nose into an anteater's?" he asked innocently.

Muriel rolled her eyes. It really was long about time to get back at him for that. "Alright, what do we need?"

"Nightshade's poisonous!" she whispered as her eyes scanned the list he passed her. "And so are these berries. Unless you plan to swipe them, we aren't going to be able to get them. And you'd better make the potion, because if we mess it up, they'll be dead, and we'll be in Azkaban for sure."

McGonagal was looking at them over the tops of her glasses and they fell silent. But as Severus walked her back to Ravenclaw tower, he explained. "We can get the nightshade and the berries in the forbidden forest. They aren't poisonous in these quantities."

Muriel stopped abruptly. "Are you crazy? You have to harvest nightshade at the full moon, or it doesn't work. I have NO desire to be in the woods with a bunch of werewolves running around." She shuddered, wondering if Lupin spent the night of the full moon in the forbidden forest. "Besides, the full moon was last week, and that means it'll be another month before we can do it. We'd have to stay over Christmas."

She'd been relieved when he explained that the potion was relatively harmless, but wasn't looking forward to trotting around the forest at all. Twelve year olds had no business in there.

"We'll go on our brooms. Malfoy says that there's not much undergrowth, so we should be able to stay in the air most of the time." Severus had a smirk on his face and Muriel knew what he was going to say next. "If you're scared, I'll harvest the nightshade myself and you can stay in the air the whole time."

She stuck out her tongue. "Really, do you think I'd let you do that?" she asked witheringly. When had she ever let him do all the interesting stuff? He smiled, satisfied. When she reached her room, she collapsed into her bed and fell asleep almost immediately, sparing only a moment to wonder when she'd get her homework done.

By the next full moon, both she and Severus had several new reasons to seek revenge on Black and Potter, although they'd managed to pay them back in kind for most of the hexes they'd been hit with. It was turning into an all-out war. Even the Professors were careful not to walk down the hall near the marauders, Deesia, or Snape.

Muriel threw on an extra cloak and took a last look at the book her father had sent her for Christmas. She'd asked for an invisibility cloak, but he'd sent her a book with an invisibility spell in it instead, and a very difficult spell at that. She practiced several times in front of the mirror, irritated to find that her feet never seemed to vanish.

Still, it was better than nothing. She was supposed to meet Severus on the pitch at 10:00. From there, it would be easy to get into the forest undetected. She took her broom in one hand and her wand in the other, and crept downstairs and through the portrait hole. As soon as she closed the portrait, she cast the spell. But she realized almost at once that she couldn't hold it for more than a few seconds.

She flickered in and out of visibility all the way down to the castle doors. By the time she got outside, the continuous spell casting had worn her out. Instead, she put her wand away and hopped on her broom, flying low to the ground, and as fast as she could toward the pitch. She'd just reached the entrance when another airborne body collided with her and they both fell sprawling to the ground.

"Sev?" she gasped, the wind knocked out of her. He struggled for a moment, then offered her a hand to help her up. "Sorry. The moon's behind a cloud and I never even saw you! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, let's get this over with!"

Severus kept his broom steady, weaving between trees with very little difficulty. Muriel wondered again why he hadn't tried out for the Slytherin Quidditch team, but didn't ask. As much as he enjoyed watching it, he never seemed to want to play.

They found the berries with little problem, and Severus picked two from the highest branches, never getting near the ground. The nightshade bloomed only at midnight every full moon, so they had parked themselves in a tree to wait for the flowers to open when they heard a mournful howl. Muriel suppressed a shudder, and drew her dangling legs up onto the branch.

It couldn't even be 11:00 yet. They'd found the berries quickly. "I had an owl from Aunt Rosa," Muriel whispered into the silence. The moon was bright enough that she could see it reflecting off her friend's hair as he sat on a branch somewhat lower than hers. He turned his face to her, and she could see his eyes, shining black in the moonlight.

He didn't respond, so she continued. "She's worried about Papa. I think he told her something about Mother's friends. I think - " she stopped. Severus' father had taken the Dark Mark and vowed to serve the Dark Lord only two years before. "She said she was glad I was keeping busy at school, which means she's pleased I'm not home for Christmas. Something must be happening."

Severus nodded into the darkness. He had known it would only be a matter of time before Mrs. Deesia took the mark as well. She was a powerful witch, and Riddle had been wooing her to his cause for ages. "Does she think Papa will take the mark too?" he asked finally.

"I couldn't tell. But if he doesn't, he could be in a lot of danger. With your father and my mother both involved, it will be hard for him to say no. Your mother has the excuse of feminine weakness, but Papa - " she trailed off. She loved Severus' mother, but the woman had been pretending to be a weak witch for years. She'd succeeded in convincing both her husband and the Dark Lord that she would be of little use as their pawn. Muriel had a hard time respecting that. Why not just say no and face the consequences?

Severus looked away. His mother was not weak. If anything, he was impressed that she could live through what she did, and he knew that she only stayed with Father because of him. However, Mur was right. His mother put on a good act, but Papa wouldn't be able to use the same excuses.

He heard her whisper an apology from above him, but didn't turn his eyes back to her.

When the flowers finally opened, they glided to the ground on their brooms, Muriel holding a wand in each hand and keeping watch while Severus picked the first bloom. They only needed one petal, so they were in the air again in a moment.

As they turned their brooms back toward the school, they heard several howls and a frantic neighing, along with shouts. Werewolves.

Without a word, they turned their brooms toward the sound and arrived in a small clearing a few minutes later. The clearing was glowing with a silver light, and their eyes were drawn to the beautiful unicorn, which was stamping angrily in the midst of a circle of wolves.

They hovered at the edge of the trees, watching as the unicorn lunged at first one wolf, then another. "Werewolves don't attack other animals," Severus whispered. As the unicorn charged a third wolf, her body shifted out of their line of sight to reveal a man, silhouetted against her glow. He was brandishing a wand, but his spells were glancing harmlessly off the crouching figures around him.

Severus shot toward them without thinking. Pulling his broom to a halt above them, he hollered down to the trapped man. "Grab my broom, I'll get you into the trees!"

The man looked up, startled. "But!" he gestured wildly at the unicorn.

"They're after you, they'll leave her alone when you're gone!" Severus shouted back. Muriel watched with worry as the man grabbed the front of Sev's broom and let himself be hauled out of the closing circle. When they were high enough in the air, Sev brought him back into the trees. The wolves followed, leaving the unicorn to stand serenely in the center of the clearing, watching.

Severus brought the man close to a branch, which he scrambled onto gratefully, as Muriel flew to meet them.

"Werewolves don't run in packs," Severus said accusingly to the frazzled young man. Sure enough, when they looked below, none of the wolves had followed them into the trees.

To their surprise, the man's wild look disappeared to be replaced by a wide grin. "That's a fact, young sir," he said, without a trace of remorse. Muriel was confused.

"Then, what were they?"

It was Severus who answered her. "Illusions. He wanted to see what we'd do. He must have noticed us in the forest."

The man was nodding. Muriel noticed that his hair, which he had obviously charmed to be the odd mixture of brown and red that shone strangely in the moonlight, was very long. It fell over his eyes. He was younger than she'd expected, probably in his early twenties. He was very handsome.

"Had to find out just what kind of people would be out gathering nightshade so close to my cabin, now didn't I?"

"You live here?" she asked incredulously. Severus was looking at her oddly now and she couldn't help but blush. Had he caught something of what she was feeling just now? She hoped not, and quickly thrust the thoughts away, looking at the man again with a colder gaze. "Who would want to live in the forest anyway?" she asked haughtily.

A half an hour later found Muriel and Severus slipping into a small cabin, much like the gamekeepers hut back at Hogwarts. Their host began making tea and Severus threw his cloak over the back of the first chair.

"Now, then," the man said happily, "who are you two and who are you trying to poison with that nightshade?" Severus and Muriel exchanged an anxious glance before introducing themselves.

Sev proceeded to explain the potion he hoped to make. He even showed him that they hadn't gathered enough of either ingredient to make a deadly poison.

"Thanks," Muriel said, accepting the teacup the man offered her. His eyes were very blue, and wide, and she couldn't help smiling as he looked down at her.

"You never mentioned your name," she said quietly as Severus scowled at her. She ignored him.

"Riddel," he said, "But everyone calls me - " he stopped speaking as Muriel's cup crashed to the floor and she fumbled for her wand. When he turned, he saw that Severus had also drawn his wand and was pointing it at him, his face deadly calm.

"Maverick," he finished, still smiling. My name is Tomkin Maverick Riddel, but everyone calls me Maverick."

Severus scowled, then put away his wand. "I guess you were named before anyone had ever heard of the Dark Lord?" he asked coldly. He watched as Muriel fixed her cup, and used the hem of her robes to soak up the tea she'd spilled. Her cheeks were very red and he scowled as the older man laughed.

"No one had ever heard of Tom Riddle when I was born. He was just getting out of school himself."

Muriel listened as the boys talked, too embarrassed to join in. Neither the Snapes nor the Deesias had ever introduced Tom Riddle to her or Severus, so they couldn't have known what he looked like. It wasn't until the subject of unicorns came up that she found the courage to speak again.

"How did you get so close to that unicorn? I read somewhere that they prefer girls," she said quietly.

"I live here in the woods because I wanted to study unicorns. I've lived here ever since I finished school. I met Adella Grace, the unicorn you saw tonight, in my 6^th year during one of my more reckless moments. She ran off several centaurs, but then left. I've been following her around ever since. Every year she lets me get a little closer.

Muriel looked up sharply. There was more to it than that. She could feel that Maverick cared a great deal for this particular unicorn, and thought that was a bit odd. Still, unicorns were purity incarnate, and she had loved them all her life as well.

Severus set down his tea and picked up his cloak. "If we don't want to get caught, we'd better get back to the castle."

Maverick looked disappointed, and Muriel thought suddenly that it must be very lonely out here, with no humans around. A moment later, the look vanished and he smiled at them again. "Well, you two don't seem to have much trouble traversing the forest. Maybe you'll come back and see me again some time?"

"Sure," Severus said gruffly as Muriel blushed and stood up.

"Of course!" she exclaimed, glad to have been invited back. She ignored the look Severus was giving her as she shook Maverick's hand primly.

Maverick watched them fly off, shaking his head. Second year students in the forbidden forest on the full moon. No one would ever believe him.