The Embittering of Severus Snape

"Madam Kinnison!" The door to the Harmless Hex ward burst open and the young nurse looked up to see Muriel Deesia running into the ward, shrugging off her robes as though they were full of biting ants. She put down the book she'd been studying and went to see what was the matter.

"Poison Ivy!" The young girl exclaimed with a pained expression. Madam Kinnison didn't want to know where Deesia could possibly have found poison ivy to get into.

"Just a moment," she said kindly, reaching for a cauldron. It only took an hour to brew the potion that would get rid of the itchy boils that covered the girl's arms. Then she could go back to studying for her healer's exams.

As she went into her cupboard to gather the ingredients, she heard a small voice behind her say, "You'd better make enough for three." She rolled her eyes and got out some more calamine leaves. She placed the cauldron on the floor and began to brew the potion.

"There she is!" James and Sirius came through the door just as Madam Kinnison added the last ingredient. "We were trying to be NICE!" James exclaimed, glaring at Muriel and scratching angrily at his wrists.

"Hi Valerie," Sirius said brightly as he fiercely scratched the back of his hand. He'd spent so much time in the hospital ward that he was on a first name basis with Valerie Kinnison and Poppy Pomfrey. He was also becoming a hopeless flirt. Muriel rolled her eyes at the goofy grin he wore.

"I should have guessed it would be you two!" She smiled fondly at the boys as she stirred the cauldron. "This needs to boil for an hour. You can sit here on the floor, just don't touch anything!" She didn't want to have to change the bed sheets because of poison ivy.

Muriel scowled as the boys sat down beside her and the cauldron. Madam Kinnison went back to her office, instructing Muriel to stir the cauldron every 10 minutes. "I'll be back in an hour," she said, glad to get back to her studying.

Muriel pressed her lips together and narrowed her eyes. An itchy hour in the presence of the two most egotistical prats the school had to offer. She put a hand into her pocket and positioned her wand so that it pointed at them. No sense in taking chances.

The boys soon began whispering to one another, and Muriel was starting to get annoyed, since they were obviously discussing her. She couldn't make out their words over the bubbling of the potion, but she could hear the thoughts behind them clearly.

She cast a silencing charm on them both and then smirked as they turned toward her, startled. For an instant neither of them was scratching. "You should know better than to talk about me as if I'm not here. It's very rude."

James responded with a very rude hand gesture, while Sirius chuckled silently. She thought with satisfaction that at least they couldn't cast any spell on her so long as the charm lasted.

It soon grew dull, however, to sit with two silent people and a potion that wouldn't be ready for another half an hour. She looked up at them, absentmindedly scratching her arms again. James was still glaring at her. She pointed at the small heap in the center of the floor that was her robes. "Madam Kinnison says our clothes are probably contaminated. She told me before you came in that we'll have to leave them here with her."

Sirius looked up sharply. Then he pointed to his throat and Muriel obliged by performing the counter charm. He walked to the other side of the room, and it seemed to Muriel that he was whispering again.

As Muriel stirred the potion for the last time, Remus and Peter came into the ward, tossing a stack of clothes down on the nearest bed. They looked amused. "Would've been a lot more fun to make you walk back in hospital clothes, but you're our mates, so we decided to help you out," Remus said, smiling, but keeping his distance. Sirius had long since used his wand to give James back his voice, but James hadn't spoken since.

"Mighty kind of you, Moony," he said. Remus' eyes widened and he nodded toward Muriel, who carefully pretended not to have heard, looking instead at the clothes they'd thrown on the bed. One set of robes had a Ravenclaw crest on it.

"Very kind indeed," she said, catching first Remus' then Sirius' eye. Remus had obviously gone up to Ravenclaw tower and asked one of her dorm mates for her clothes. Sirius must have asked him to do it. He couldn't have known that she'd need them any other way.

When Madam Kinnison had administered the potion, she ushered Muriel into her office to change. By the time she came out, the marauders had gone and Severus was waiting for her. She felt extremely awkward walking back up to her dormitory with only her robes to cover her, and held them shut tight with both hands. Severus kept casting amused glances at her, sensing her discomfort. She was, however, glad that her dorm mates hadn't handed her underwear to a marauder. No telling where that would have gone!

"It would have been perfect if you hadn't let him up, Mur," Severus said finally. "I think you're going soft on me."

Normally, Muriel would have proven she wasn't going soft by hexing him where he stood. But feeling as though both her hands were required to hold her robe closed made her unwilling to draw her wand. Instead she hurried her steps, and said goodnight at the portrait hole, although it was still 2 hours before dinner. She had no intention of coming back downstairs tonight, however, since the entirety of Slytherin house had just had a jolly laugh at her expense.

Although it hadn't meant anything to her at the time, she could now clearly recall the sneering faces of Avery and the rest as they had looked in the Three Broomsticks. One minute they stood behind her, helping her with the prank, and the next they laughed at her misfortune. Mother called those people her friends, but Muriel saw only enemies with hidden agendas. She wondered why it hadn't occurred to her before.

She suddenly understood why Papa had never approved of Mother's friends, and thought back on the letter she'd had from Aunt Rosa last Christmas. If Mother was really going to take the Dark Mark, as her aunt implied, then life was going to get very dangerous at home. As if she didn't have enough to worry about with Severus' father being a Death Eater!

*******

Muriel was surprised one morning when she arrived in the Great Hall for breakfast and found that the Christmas trees had already been set up. The time went by so fast that she had hardly noticed as the term came to a close. She sighed and plopped down at the table, opening the book her father had smuggled to her, Zany Hexes for the Harried Hexer. She and Severus were running out of new things to do to the marauders, who'd kept up a steady barrage of curses throughout the term.

Muriel looked up from her book as Severus threw an envelope on the table in front of her, scowling. "Rosier's place," he griped. "Their house is so small that we'll have to stay outside to keep out of trouble." The annual Christmas party. Muriel wondered briefly if her father would go this year. He'd come home from the party last year in a very bad humor.

Mur frowned at the untidy scrawl of Mr. Snape's handwriting, but suddenly smiled again. "Want the good news?"

Severus raised an eyebrow and softened his expression somewhat. Trust Mur to come up with good news.

"I overheard Lucius telling off Rosier in the library last week. Made him cry. I bet the Malfoys aren't invited." Severus and Muriel were both aware that Rosier was spoiled rotten. Although his family wasn't wealthy, his parents coddled him. While their parents had been teaching them the Dark Arts, Rosier had gotten good at exploding snap and gob stones. It would be just like them to not invite the Malfoys because of something like that.

"Oh, but who will fix your head this time, pumpkin girl?" Severus whispered, his mood obviously much improved, though he didn't smile. Muriel pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes, but he only turned to leave.

He was quickly reminded that it was a mistake to turn his back when she wore that expression. Orange sparks exploded forcefully from his robes with a deafening BANG. He looked down to find that gaudy, sparkling pumpkins were now decorating his black school robes. Laughter erupted from everywhere, and he spun sharply, his wand already in his hand.

Unfortunately while he'd been looking at his robes, several people had stepped between him and the Ravenclaw table. By the time he got around them, Muriel was long gone.

The Rosiers' house was crammed with people. Severus and Muriel stood in the back yard, looking morosely at the odd, Asian-looking lamps that were hanging from the trees. It was much too cold to be outside, but the Rosiers had cleared the snow with a melting charm and lit a sizable fire.

Mur pulled her fleece cloak tightly around her shoulders. As she had predicted, the Malfoys hadn't been invited, but just about everyone else was there. The Averys, Wilkes, Macnairs, Crabbes, Goyles, and Blacks were all in attendance. And, as Severus had been sure, everyone who was not of age was standing near them around the fire, except Black, who had the sense to keep his distance.

Muriel turned around to warm the back of her legs. Her mother had insisted that she wear this skirt, not realizing that she would be outside all evening. "This is awful," she whispered. Severus only nodded. Bored, she took out her wand. A moment later, a snowball whizzed through the air to hit Avery's exposed neck. Soon they were all covered in snow, and even Avery laughed as one of his snowballs caught Muriel's shoulder. She spun around and toppled over, unbalanced. He headed toward her. A moment later, another snowball caught him full in the face and he looked around to find a grinning Sirius Black, who already had another snowball in his hand.

As Avery wiped his face angrily, Crabbe stumbled backwards to avoid a barrage of snowballs charmed by Jolina. He bumped Avery, who fell to the ground beside Muriel. Taking advantage of the confusion, Avery rolled toward her and put a restraining hand on her shoulder. "Now this is better than dancing any day," he said quietly, his face only inches from hers.

He was way too close for her, and she threw off his hand and stood up angrily. "SOD OFF, AVERY!" Several people turned around at this pronouncement, but Avery ignored them.

"Oh, you know you want it," he responded wickedly. But as he reached for her again, a huge snowball hit the back of his head with a sickening thud. It had obviously been charmed into ice. At the same moment, Severus grabbed Muriel's wrist and pulled her behind him.

Avery was bent over, a hand gingerly exploring the lump that was forming on his head. Muriel looked at him with cold, pitiless eyes. "You probably have a concussion. I daresay you'd better go tell your parents." Her voice was hard.

Avery didn't look up. The edges of his vision were fading to black. A moment later, he'd toppled over into the snow. Severus levitated him back into the house. No one else wanted to face Mr. and Mrs. Avery, and Severus had insisted that Muriel stay outside. She watched him walk away before turning to find the snowball. She picked it up in both hands. It was as big as a cantaloupe. Avery might just as well have been hit by an anvil. She levitated it over the fire before the adults could find it. No one said a word.

As the water dripped into the fire, hissing and spitting, Muriel glanced at each of the boys around the fire, trying to determine who'd charmed that ball of ice. But everyone's thoughts were jumbled. None of them seemed to be feeling particularly guilty. She knew it couldn't have been Severus, since he'd been behind her.

"I don't know which of you did it, but thanks," she said quietly. Outside the circle of light cast by the fire, Sirius nodded in answer, though no one saw him.

When Mr. and Mrs. Avery stormed out the back door, demanding explanations, no one had any to give. Everyone looked guiltily at the fire, avoiding the adults' eyes. The party broke up shortly after that, and Severus and Muriel were glad to get home.

Mrs. Deesia gave Muriel a stern talking to, convinced that she had harmed the Avery boy in some way. Mr. Snape patted his son on the back for the first time in years, believing exactly the same thing.

*******

"I'm sorry, Marisa! She just has a mind of her own!" The new term had begun, and Muriel was to be found clinging halfway up her bed post, reaching tremulously for Rena, whose blue wings were flapping furiously as she tried to stay aloft just a little longer. In her mouth she held a sparkly earring that matched the one Marisa already had in her left ear.

"Rena, get down here!" Mur fell to the bed with a muffled thump, and rolled to her night stand, grabbing her wand. "Immobulus!" she shouted. The bird, held up by physics rather than magic, fell into her outstretched hand when her wings stopped beating. She pried the pink earring from her beak and set her gently in her cage. "It will be at least a week before I let you out of there again," she scolded as Marisa laughed.

"You told her that the day before yesterday. Honestly, you ought to set HER loose on the marauders." Marisa had been relieved to come back to school this year to find that things had gone back to normal between Muriel and the Gryffindor boys. She had been awake when her friend came back into the room after they'd tricked her with that horrible Latin curse.

As much as she had come to like Muriel and respect her magical ability, she had been legitimately afraid for those boys that night. She'd managed to talk her into not forcing her way into their dormitory and killing them in their sleep, but she felt it had been a very near thing.

"I can't," Mur responded to interrupt her friend's thoughts. This was one time when it was decidedly uncomfortable to hear someone else think. Had Marisa really thought she would murder the marauders?

"They've already seen her in Diagon Alley. They'd know she was mine. Of course, if she wasn't seen - " Muriel sounded thoughtful, and brushed her hair absentmindedly. She decided that it was time to ask Professor Kettleburn, the Care of Magical Creatures professor.

Marisa rolled her eyes. Now she'd done it. The last thing you wanted to do was get Mur thinking about pranks. She ALWAYS came up with something.

In the next two weeks, Muriel's bird could be seen taking small packages to and from the Slytherin and Ravenclaw tables during every meal. The younger students were dazzled by her pretty color, and the older students were amazed that anyone had managed to train a Cornish Wren.

Lucius Malfoy caught the bird at dinner one evening as it tried to deliver yet another package to Severus, and had a nasty surprise. The bird had a serrated beak. It fit together so nicely that you couldn't tell, until it bit you. He screamed like a banshee, and then looked around sheepishly. An instant later, the traditional Malfoy expression was on his face again, and he calmly asked which of his cronies was going to offer to heal his finger, which was bleeding all over the table.

Severus tried not to roll his eyes as half the Slytherin table pulled out their wands. It was Narcissa Black who healed him, asking him if it hurt very much. Severus just shook his head and took the small package from the bird, which had limped over to him as soon as it was released.

He left the package on the table, it was only filled with sand anyway, and took the bird over to Mur. "Rena needs another trip to Professor Kettleburn," he said quietly, opening his cupped hands to show her the mournful bird. She only nodded, since she'd heard Malfoy's shriek.

"Good show, Rena," she said, taking the bird from Severus and feeding her one of the little blue seeds that Kettleburn had recommended. The bird perked up a bit, though it's twittering still sounded pathetic. "And you embarrassed Malfoy, you get another one for that," she added, putting another seed in the bird's mouth.

"You always get an extra one if you embarrass Malfoy," she whispered. Severus couldn't help but smile, though he noticed immediately that it startled the girls Muriel sat with. He snapped his mask back into place. It wouldn't do to show anyone that he wasn't overly fond of Lucius. The boy knew where he slept, after all.

Madam Pince was frowning at them, some three days later, as Rena twittered happily on Severus' shoulder. He was trying desperately to be nice to the annoying critter, since it had just gotten better, but he was losing patience. Muriel fought back her laughter as she finished her star chart for Astronomy.

"Rena, look," she whispered. The bird stopped twittering and came obediently to the table to look at the constellation Mur was pointing to. Muriel had gone to Professor Kettleburn right after Christmas in desperation. There wasn't much literature on Cornish Wrens, but the battered old animal handler was a wealth of knowledge. She knew now why her father had chosen this type of bird. It was partially telepathic, just like her. It hadn't listened to her during first term because she'd only been using words to train it. Now that she was 'thinking at' it, the training was going very well.

"This is the dog star, Sirius," she whispered. She pictured Sirius Black in her head and sent the image to the bird, careful to include his Gryffindor robes. "Bring me his star chart," she whispered. Severus sniggered, earning them another disapproving look from the librarian.

The little bird waited patiently on a picture frame high above the portrait of the fat lady. Soon some older students spoke the password and she flew in silently behind them. She landed on the mantle over the crackling fire. Four boys sat in front of it. One was doing homework, one was doodling, and the other two were playing exploding snap. Rena waited.

James Potter set aside the scrap of paper he'd been doodling on and looked at Sirius and Peter, not noticing that the scrap seemed to disappear from the table. "Reckon we ought to get some of this finished tonight?" he asked, gesturing toward the piles of books they'd each brought down. Remus didn't look up. His star chart had been finished an hour ago and he was half way through with his History of Magic essay.

Peter agreed immediately and left the game, much to Sirius' annoyance. James reached for his pile of books while Peter took out his star chart and spread it out on the table beside Remus.

As Sirius cleaned up the game, none of the boys noticed little Rena pulling with all her might on a sheet of paper in the only untouched pile of books. She got it loose just in time and got around to the back of the chair before Sirius picked up the stack and rifled through it, looking for his own star chart. Naturally he couldn't find it anywhere. He grumbled a bit before digging for his History of Magic book.

An hour later Muriel bent over the chart, copying her work onto it in haste as Rena pecked happily at a large pile of blue seeds. Mur made only one mistake. When it was finished, she sent the little bird back up, hoping she could manage to return the paper without being seen. Then she took a look at the other paper the bird brought down.

J.P Loves L.E. was doodled across it in elaborate lettering. Muriel handed it to Severus, who looked as though his birthday had come early before pocketing it for later use.

The Gryffindors had Astronomy the next evening with the Slytherins, so Muriel wasn't there to see what happened. Severus told her at breakfast the next day how the teacher had gone on about Sirius' work being nearly perfect only to reveal to the entire class that the only thing he'd labeled incorrectly on his chart was the star he was named for. Even the other Ravenclaws had a good laugh. As annoying as Muriel's bird had been over the last few months, they all thought she was turning out to be pretty handy.

But a week later, Muriel was starting to worry. Perhaps the bird had a conscience. She swiveled around in her chair while Professor Tantry turned back to the board. There was Rena, sitting on Sirius' shoulder quietly. Sirius grinned at her, and she scowled before turning back around.

'Rena, come here!' she thought with all her strength. But behind her she heard Sirius whispering, and the bird didn't come. Loyalty was supposed to be a main characteristic of Cornish Wrens! That bird was only supposed to like Muriel's friends, NOT the people she spent her time thinking up pranks for.

Professor Tantry had written several more things on the board, and Muriel's enchanted quill scratched on the parchment, copying the notes down for her. She had turned around in her seat again to look at Rena when there was a knock on the classroom door.

A moment later Avery stuck his head in. He smirked at Muriel for a moment before addressing Professor Tantry. "Excuse me, sir, but Professor Chesser sent me to get you. One of her third year students got himself hexed during class, and she can't determine how to fix it." Professor Chesser was the minerology professor, and not very good with spells.

Muriel knew immediately what had happened. Avery had hexed Severus because he was upset about the Christmas party. He obviously thought that Severus had charmed that snowball. Avery had a way of walking past their classrooms and messing things up, just like he had with the blue potion in their second year.

'Perhaps she should send you for Madam Pomfrey instead." Tantry said, testily.

Avery looked back at Muriel. "Well, she thinks it was a dark art curse, and she doesn't want to ask Madam Pomfrey, because the nurse will probably have to involve the Headmaster." His self-satisfied smirk was more than Muriel could take.

Muriel didn't realize that she had raised her wand until Marisa reached over and pushed her arm down to the table with a hiss. "Mur, don't!" She couldn't help it, she was so angry she could have turned him into a bat.

"Well then, class is dismissed until I can sort this out," Professor Tantry said wearily before following Avery quickly downstairs to the Minerology classroom.

"He hexed Severus," Mur said quietly to her friend.

"You don't know that!"

"I DO know it, I just can't prove it." Muriel couldn't explain all this to Marisa right now. She really needed to find out how Severus was. She turned to the back of the room. "It's time to go, Rena, come here."

The bird looked up at Sirius from his desk, then at Muriel. When that boy had popped his head into the room, both had felt a great deal of anger. She twittered and flew back to Muriel. In her little brain, she had decided that Avery was a much better target than Sirius.