The Embittering of Severus Snape

"Stupid age restriction!" Muriel threw herself onto the bench beside Severus at the Slytherin table. Professor Dumbledore had announced the Halloween ball at dinner the night before. Muriel had gotten new dress robes over the summer, which she'd been anxious to try out, until the aging Headmaster had mentioned that the ball was to be only for 4th years and up.

Severus raised an eyebrow, and his lips threatened to twitch up in a smile. He hardly ever smiled at school, at least not in public. It wasn't good for his reputation. "You don't even know how to dance," he said quietly.

"Dancing is not the point!" she huffed, determined to be annoyed. Severus shook his head. He was starting to think that she'd been exposed to her mother's power plays for far too long. He knew that the point was to see and be seen, but he hadn't thought that she took it as seriously as Mrs. Deesia did.

"I don't, Sev, but how will I ever learn to dance if I'm never allowed to go to one? The adults don't let us stay with them and dance at the Christmas parties, either!"

Severus rolled his eyes. She was continually answering his thoughts. He might have thought to do something about it, if he hadn't been so afraid that she'd hear it. Instead he said, "Get Avery to take you. You can go if you have a date in 4th year or higher."

Muriel stuck out her tongue. "If I can't go with you, I'm not going." It was the closest she'd gotten to mentioning their parents' arrangement since they were 9, and Severus chose not to respond. Neither of them wanted a repeat of THAT fight.

They ate in silence until someone tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey Deesia. Do you want to go with me to the Halloween ball?" Muriel suppressed a groan. It was Avery. He must have overheard them.

She shot Severus an angry look, but he only shrugged. "Thanks anyway, by then I'll be buried under a mound of homework." She tried to keep her voice light, but she could tell he was annoyed. His ears turned a bit pink.

"I don't know how to dance anyway. Maybe I'll get Mother to teach me next summer and we can go to the next one," she added hastily, as she noticed that he was holding his wand. Hers was in her bag under the table.

"Yeah, alright," he said darkly. Then he turned around and asked someone else, who agreed happily. With a last, victorious look at Muriel and Severus, he headed out of the hall.

"Bloody prat," Severus muttered. Muriel allowed herself a small smile. She chose not to remind him that going with Avery had been his idea in the first place.

*******

Professor Warrington had finally learned his lesson, and now allowed his students to choose their own seats. Muriel sat with Marisa, and was VERY grateful. She was taking notes carefully until she felt something fly into her hair and get stuck. She reached back to find a squirming paper airplane, still trying to fly. It didn't have a name on it, so she held it under the desk and opened it, curious. She was pretty sure it wasn't for her, since all the Ravenclaws in the class were seated somewhere in front of her. It read:

Evans,

Will you come to watch

Quidditch practice tonight?

It wasn't signed, but Muriel was pretty sure whom it was from. A swift glance behind her confirmed it. James Potter looked distinctly red in the face, and beside him, Sirius Black was looking at her with wide eyes. She flashed them her sweetest smile and picked up her quill, pausing to try and match Potter's writing. They were several rows back, and didn't dare do anything about it. So far this term, they'd left her alone. Maybe they were waiting for her to start the fun.

A moment later, she refolded the plane and set it on the desk. It immediately flew off to land in front of Lily.

Muriel watched as the redhead at the front of the room looked down at the note and stuffed it in her bag before the Professor turned back from the board, where he'd been writing the characteristics of Hinky Punks. She hadn't read it.

Mur was disappointed, but not undone. It didn't matter if she could SEE Lily's reaction or not, Potter would still have to deal with it. And the note had given Muriel a great idea. Severus had mentioned putting a hurling hex on Potter's broom once, and it would be perfect if he could do it while Lily was watching the practice. They had practiced the hex on a few branches they'd enchanted over the summer, and Severus could cast it perfectly. She grinned, thinking hard about how she could get Severus into the Gryffindor dormitories during dinner.

When class finished, she made a beeline for the door, knowing that the boys would be after her in a heartbeat. She was half right. James went immediately to Lily to try and get the note back. Unfortunately he didn't know any switching spells, and she was a bit reluctant to produce it.

Sirius, however, followed her into the hallway as quickly as he could. She ignored him, walking fast. To her relief, the 6th year Slytherins came out of a corridor to her right just as she passed it. She stepped among them and an older girl, Raquel Parkinson, put a hand on her shoulder. Parkinson had often watched the younger children at her parents' parties, and knew Muriel and Sirius well. Mur shot a last glance over her shoulder to see Sirius scowling at her before she let herself be led downstairs to the Great Hall for dinner.

"What did you do to Sirius, Mur?" the older girl whispered.

"His mate sent someone a note and I caught it. I made a few adjustments and sent it on, that's all." She replied innocently. Raquel winked and grinned as Muriel headed over to Severus.

"Sev," she whispered. "Come on, we've got to go."

Severus stood, raising an eyebrow but not arguing, and followed her back into the corridors. She told him about the note and her plan and he smirked appreciatively. He'd been waiting for a good opportunity to get Potter, and this was going to be perfect.

*******

They came out of the Gryffindor portrait hole, giggling silently as the fat lady harrumphed to herself. They'd caught a first year on his way to dinner, and Severus had managed to convince him that he had a friend in the dormitory who'd sent an owl to invite him up, but had forgotten to give him the password. The boy was obviously a mud blood if he was naïve enough to think that any Gryffindor would invite a Slytherin into their common room.

They hadn't been able to tell which broom belonged to Potter, so they hexed them all. There were only four, and it only took a few minutes each. They arrived separately in the Great Hall to avoid suspicion. Muriel took care to cast a few harmless hexes toward the Hufflepuff table in case anyone asked to see her wand later. She hoped Sev thought to do it too.

"Why do you do that?" Marisa asked irritably as she sat down. Muriel gave her a questioning look. "Hex the Hufflepuffs. Most of them are too nice to fight back, you should leave them alone."

Muriel raised an eyebrow, and concentrated on her friend. "Did someone hex you for no reason today, Marisa?" she asked finally. The girl looked back at her food silently, but Muriel already knew she was right.

"Was it Black?" she asked quietly. Marisa nodded miserably. She'd had a crush on Sirius since the end of first year. Muriel was sure she just felt bad for him because of the boggart incident. Well, that and he was rather good looking, for a scrawny, dark eyed boy.

It occurred to her that Black was probably just angry about Potter's note and took it out on Marisa. Those two boys defended each other like they were brothers. Just like she and Severus did.

Mur shoveled down a few bites of food and stood up. When she arrived behind Sirius, she tapped him on the head with her wand. Across the table, Peter was looking rather pale and James was glaring daggers at her.

"Black, did you hex Marisa today?" she asked calmly.

"Who's Marisa?" Sirius didn't turn around. He crinkled his forehead as the slender wand tapped his head, and hoped she didn't catch his hair on fire. He winked at James and Peter and they both relaxed a little.

"My dorm mate, prat! Did you hex her?"

Sirius was NOT in a position to bargain, but he did it anyway. "Why don't you tell us what you wrote on that note, and then we'll tell you if we cursed your friend."

Muriel could just picture the haughty smile he was wearing. Now she was in a tight situation. She couldn't threaten to pay them back for it, because their hexed brooms were already waiting for them upstairs, and they'd be sure to know it was her. 'Brilliant, Deesia,' she thought dryly.

She was pleasantly surprised when Remus, who'd been sitting silently next to Black, bailed her out.

"Sirius couldn't have hexed Marisa, Mur. She came in for dinner after we did."

Muriel knew this wasn't true, but was glad for the excuse. "Oh," she said in a small voice. "Well, never mind then." She put her wand in her pocket as a gesture of good faith, winked at Remus and walked away, leaving all four marauders wondering why they hadn't noticed how gullible she was before now.

The next morning only Peter sat in the marauders' usual place at breakfast. Muriel felt a little bad, thinking that Remus might have gotten hurt. He hadn't meant to help her out, but she still felt like she owed him one for getting her out of the confrontation with Black.

"Crabbe says they were brought into the hospital ward crying like babies. Pettigrew didn't fly. He just turned his broom over to McGonagall this morning to have her check it." Severus was whispering over his cauldron to Muriel as she sliced frozen bat wings. Potions and Charms were the only classes Ravenclaw shared with Slytherin this year.

"What about Remus?" she asked quietly. He wasn't on the team, so she hadn't expected him to fly.

"Black and James are the only ones who got hurt. Remus was in Herbology this morning." He didn't know why Mur cared what happened to the tall, sandy-blond haired boy. She certainly didn't seem to feel any remorse about Potter or Black.

*******

Muriel stood impatiently in the Harmless Hex ward on Halloween. "I said you could have a seat, Miss Deesia," Madam Kinnison said sternly as she bustled back in from her office.

"It's a little uncomfortable to sit down on a porcupine tail, Madam Kinnison," Mur said wearily. The nurse turned her around by her shoulders, and Muriel could hear her stifling a laugh.

"Yes, well, I suppose it is. Wait here." Muriel was more than just a little annoyed at Black. He'd cast his hex just as she sat down and several quills were poking sharply through her robes. She winced as the nurse came back with a pair of muggle pliers and pulled them out.

It took nearly 20 minutes to find the right spell to get rid of the tail, and Muriel rushed into the Great Hall to grab a bite of dinner. It was practically deserted, as the older students had left to get ready for the Halloween ball. She could hear the marauders laughing at her as she passed, but didn't care. Honestly that was one of the tamer pranks they'd pulled lately. But things were definitely back to normal.

"Sev, let's go exploring," Muriel said, pulling her friend up from his bench. "We'll have the castle to ourselves while everyone is at the ball!"

They waited in the library until the older students came bustling downstairs in their best robes. When Madam Pince arrived, dressed in robes of pale yellow, to close the library, they made their way up a staircase that neither could remember climbing before. They knew where the Gryffindor common room was already. Maybe they'd find the Hufflepuffs' tonight. They were on the 4th floor when a glare of light washed over and past them, and they cast their gaze to the other end of the stairwell.

The light passed over them again, and Severus hissed, "The mirror just opened and closed, but no one came out of it!"

Muriel's eyes widened. "Maybe it was the person with the invisibility cloak who caught me on the stairs first year!" she said quickly. "You go that way!" They split up, each approaching the mirror from a different direction at a full run, arms stretched wide.

Severus was already examining the mirror by the time Muriel got there. Neither had caught anyone. "Maybe they're inside," he said, pulling out his wand to open it. But at that moment they heard voices. They shared a worried glance and took off down the stairs.

As they reached the second floor, Mrs. Norris appeared on the landing below them. They took one look at the young cat and ran, each a different direction. Filch was never far behind his cat.

Severus headed left, casting about for an empty classroom, or broom closet, ANYTHING! What he found was a girl's lavatory, an impressive one, actually. When he realized that Mur wasn't with him, he paused in the doorway. But she was nowhere to be seen. He closed the door and cast a locking charm on it. It was then that he heard a low moaning from behind him and turned to see a young ghost floating wistfully over the toilets. He groaned. Malfoy had warned him about Moaning Myrtle.

Muriel ran as fast as she could to the right, but somehow the stupid cat kept up with her. She recognized the Minerology classroom up ahead, and threw herself into it, slamming the door behind her. She turned, putting her back against it, but her relief quickly disappeared when her eyes fell on the mess in front of her.

Rocks of every type were flying through the air. Some were brittle and shattered as they collided with others. Fine dust of all colors was floating from overhead, and she tried to cover her eyes. Suddenly, she heard someone cackle wickedly and all the rocks fell to the floor.

"Peeves!" she exclaimed. Peeves would tell on her in a heartbeat. Sure enough as she turned to wrench open the door, she heard his exuberant voice.

"Ickle Ravenclaw out of bed in the Minerology room!!!" But it didn't matter. The noise he had already been making was enough. When she opened the door, she found herself face to face with Filch, Mrs. Norris purring contentedly at his feet.

*******

"And just how long will that take?"

Muriel looked up from the trophy she was polishing. She recognized Black's voice out in the hallway. Filch's idea of detention was particularly boring, so she listened.

"Mr. Black, there maybe more wrong with those brooms than a hurling hex. We're going to have to strip them down, it could take three weeks." Professor McGonagall sounded both weary and annoyed, though whether at Sirius, or whoever had hexed his broom, Muriel didn't know.

She heard someone sputtering. When he could finally form complete words, he whined, "But the first game is this Saturday!"

"You and Potter will just have to ride school brooms, Mr. Black. Now unless you want to delay my work further, I suggest you get back to Gryffindor tower."

Muriel heard Professor McGonagall's boots click back down the corridor, and the hiss that indicated whispered cursing. She wished that she hadn't waited so long to hex their brooms, she hadn't meant for them to be without them for the game. With their seeker and a beater on school brooms, Gryffindor was sure to lose, even if they were playing Ravenclaw. She grimaced, remembering how depressed her house team had looked after their last practice. This was definitely not their year. Still, she didn't want the Gryffindors to lose because of her prank. It wasn't right.

She smiled to herself. She hadn't felt bad about injuring the boys, since they took every opportunity to injure her, and Madam Pomfrey could fix just about anything. But sabotaging a Quidditch match was ironically beneath her.

When the trophies were clean, she trudged back to Ravenclaw tower, and threw herself into a chair in a corner of the common room beside Marisa, who was still awake. She put aside her book. "Ick, you smell like silver polish!"

Muriel blinked. She probably did, she'd been smelling the stuff for four hours, so she couldn't tell. "Marisa, do you have a broom?"

"No. My mother thinks they're too dangerous, she floos everywhere. And father doesn't really believe any of this yet. He's still in denial. When I asked him over the summer, he bought me a push broom."

Muriel laughed in spite of herself, then got up. "I've got to find Severus."

"It's nearly midnight, Filch will catch you for sure and you'll be polishing trophies NEXT Wednesday, too." Marisa could never understand why Muriel didn't seem to mind her weekly detentions. She was certain that HER mother would have a fit, but Muriel never got any howlers from home or anything.

Mur smiled inwardly. She never got howlers because Papa never mentioned it to Mother when Dumbledore sent them owls about her behavior.

"Nah, he'll come up with something better next time," Mur said slyly, turning away. A few 6th years were sitting by the fire, talking quietly. She pulled out her wand and whispered, "Legilimens," picturing Severus as she'd seen him at dinner.

"Sev, meet?"

"Okay."

"Where?"

"Myrtle."

She opened her eyes. Moaning Myrtle's bathroom was on the second floor. Severus had shown it to her after the Potions lesson this morning, in case she ever needed to hide again. Apparently Peeves and Myrtle didn't get along, so he never went in there.

The older students looked up as she exited the portrait hole, but none of them said anything. Muriel's class work earned them enough points that they didn't give her a hard time about much.

By Saturday morning, Severus was positively sulking. He came to breakfast early, hoping that Muriel hadn't really done what he'd agreed to let her do. He couldn't believe he'd let her talk him into it. She smiled at him as he sat down across from her at the Ravenclaw table. "Well?" he asked tiredly.

"We'll just have to wait and see." She cast a furtive glance at the doors, but didn't see any sign of the Gryffindor team.

"What makes you think they'll give them back?" He was staring openly at the door. Maybe Potter would find out whose broom it was and refuse to use it. But Muriel would have been more careful than that.

"Look at me, git!" she hissed. "If you're staring at them when they come in, they might figure it out!" Then she softened her voice. "They're Gryffindors. They'll give them back." Severus' and Muriel's parents had given each of them a Shooting Star over the summer for their birthdays. Muriel had been particularly happy with hers, since her mother had opposed the idea. It was rare that Papa put his foot down about anything, but he'd bought her the broom in spite of her mother's objections.

The Gryffindor team came in together only a few moments after the food appeared. Muriel watched out of the corner of her eye, and hoped Severus had the sense to do the same. Potter and Black were each holding a sleek black broom, and wearing identical puzzled expressions. She smirked at her plate, then looked up with the most disinterested expression she could muster.

For just an instant, Sirius stared at her. She forced herself to narrow her eyes and look away. It wouldn't do to have him figure it out now. Instead, she turned to Severus.

"I think I'd better root for my own team this year, Sev," she said quietly. She had spent the last two years trying to convince herself that she was still a Slytherin, no matter what the Sorting hat said. She'd even rooted for the Slytherin Quidditch team. But this year would be different. This year, she had to start rooting for the Ravenclaw team, since next year she intended to be on it.

Severus only nodded. He had known that would happen. It didn't matter. He'd sit with Wilkes and Rosier, the only two 1st year boys in Slytherin. They were a good deal better than Crabbe and Avery at least.

Mur sat in the Ravenclaw section with Marisa. It only took James Potter 28 minutes to catch the snitch. The Ravenclaws never had a chance.

Muriel waited in her seat, high above the pitch, until she'd counted seven Gryffindor robes leaving the locker room. Then she made her way down, hoping that Potter and Black had followed her instructions. The crowd washed past her as she waited for the pitch to clear.

She crept warily into the locker room. The brooms were leaning against the very first bench. Beside them was a piece of parchment, addressed in Sirius' informal, but neat handwriting to: "Friends." She put the folded parchment in her pocket and hastily covered the brooms with her robes. Severus met her by the lake, and she wordlessly handed him back his broom. They weren't worried about getting caught now. The Gryffindors would certainly be celebrating their victory, and would likely not be seen again until lunch on Sunday.

*******

Charms class with Professor Flitwick was one of Muriel's favorite classes, not least because she'd known how to do most of the charms since before she came to Hogwarts. Today, however, they were casting Cheering Charms, and that was not in her repertoire. Severus had made a point to sit with her, and she was trying desperately to get the charm right, just so she could force him to smile for once. But it wasn't working. In fact, he looked distinctly disgruntled.

"Oh Bugger!" she exclaimed finally, thrusting her hands into her robe pockets in frustration. That earned her at least a smirk, but she hardly noticed as her hand hit a crinkled bit of parchment in her pocket. She pulled it out.

"What's that?" he asked quietly.

"I'd forgotten, it was with our brooms when I got them from the locker room," she whispered, casting a look around the room. "I just threw these robes on the bed and never went back to read it."

"That was three weeks ago, Mur," he said, casting a perfect cheering charm at Professor Flitwick's back as he walked past them. Muriel chuckled. So did Professor Flitwick.

"I found this robe under the bed yesterday when I ran out. I'm awful at cleaning spells, you know that."

Severus rolled his eyes and told her for the twentieth time to give her dirty robes to him and he'd take care of them. She smiled her thanks.

"So open it already. What does the Prat Pack have to say?"

Muriel laughed again and unfolded the parchment.

Friends,
The next Hogsmeade weekend the Butter Beers are on us. We'll be at the
Three Broomsticks at 2:00.
~Sirius and James

"Well, that's friendly enough," Mur said. "Hogsmeade is this Saturday, Sev. Can you think up something good to do to them by then?" She'd never been lucky enough to have Potter and Black tell her where they'd be and when before, and she wasn't going to pass up the opportunity for a great prank.

It was raining hard the following Saturday when they set out for Hogsmeade, but Muriel and Severus walked anyway. Everyone else was taking the coaches, and since they were alone, Muriel took her friend's hand. He hadn't let her do that very often at school, continually afraid that his housemates would see them. Slytherins were very good at teasing. As if he didn't already hear about it enough from Malfoy!

They stopped at Honeyduke's first, filling their pockets with chocolate frogs. Severus dragged her into the Quidditch supply store as well. His broomstick servicing kit was out of polish.

It was a little after 1:30 when they made their way to the Three Broomsticks. They stopped inside the door and Muriel used her wand to dry their robes. Her hair was drenched as well, but she just pushed it back out of her face. They had no trouble finding their table, as there was only one that wasn't taken. The rest of the place was filled to capacity with Slytherins and a few Hufflepuffs that Severus had managed to intimidate into helping. Kyle, Marisa, and the rest of Muriel's dorm mates were also taking up an entire table. The bar was full.

As they had planned, the only two chairs remaining in the place were at their table. Hardly anyone looked up when the boys finally came in. Sirius and James took one look around the place and their smiles fell away. None of these people could possibly have leant them brooms. Maybe whoever had done it had decided not to come. They steeled themselves to do what they'd come to do, just in case.

As they made their way to the bar, Muriel and Severus each tapped the arms of one of the empty chairs with their wands. It was so noisy that no one heard their muttering, or saw the sparks fly from their wand tips.

Sirius loudly asked the bartender for a round of butter beers for everyone, on him. The Hufflepuffs cheered. The Slytherins did not. Two Gryffindors in a room full of Slytherins was not a good idea, not even for a prank.

The bartender brought drinks around to everyone as James and Sirius turned from the bar to look for a table. Naturally their eyes were drawn to the only empty chairs in the place. James groaned audibly.

Looking up, Muriel caught Sirius' eye and pulled a chair out, smirking.

"Is this an admission of guilt, Deesia?" he asked quietly, his hand on the back of the chair. "Did you lend us your brooms because you hexed ours?"

"Have a seat, Black, I'll tell you all about it," she replied smoothly. To her delight, he shrugged and sat down, then looked expectantly at James.

James was still standing a few feet away, his eyes on the back of Severus' head. There was no way he was sitting with that greasy git, even if he HAD leant them a broom. He shook his head, his hair falling over his eyes.

Unfortunately the spell took hold before they could convince James to sit down. He was able to see for himself that he'd made the right decision when the arms of Sirius' chair started to move. They looked like tree roots, and they entwined around his wrists, finding their way up the sleeves of his robes.

As soon as they touched skin, it began. Muriel had turned the chair into a very proactive variety of poison ivy. James, for all his wisdom at not sitting down, proved his vulnerability when he ran to help his friend.

No sooner had he grasped the vines to pull them from Sirius' arms than he too began to itch fiercely.

The entire place was laughing now, even the Hufflepuffs. Muriel was laughing so hard that she had to wipe the tears from her eyes as she gasped for air. Finally, when she thought both boys were sufficiently humiliated, she waved her wand in the direction of the chair, which reverted immediately to its original state.

She wasn't prepared for what happened next, however. Sirius launched himself from the chair, grasping her wrists with his itchy hands and thrusting them all the way up her arms, under her robes.

She swore loudly and knocked over her chair in her effort to get away from him. Severus, not quite as crazy as James, backed away, shocked. He knew better than to try and help her, or one of the Gryffindors would surely give him poison ivy too. Besides, it was too late, she had it now.

The other Slytherins were laughing even more wickedly than before at the backfired joke, as Muriel and Sirius stood, arms locked, looking furiously at one another. Unfortunately neither one could hold that stance for long, because the itchiness began to spread.

"I think it's time for our first joint trip to the Black and Deesia Ward, Mur," Sirius whispered, before letting her go. The place was so loud that nobody else heard him. She narrowed her eyes, but was soon distracted by the crazy itchiness in her arms. Swearing again under her breath, she stomped back out into the rain, not caring whether Sirius and James found their way back to the castle or not, and scratching furiously.