The Embittering of Severus Snape

"I am pleased with you," Mrs. Deesia said formally to her daughter before sending her to bed. "The Dark Lord was most impressed with our pavilion, and you did not allow the children to ruin the evening."

"Thank you, Mother," Mur replied demurely. She was exhausted, and didn't want to be interrogated. She was glad when her mother dismissed her and she could climb into bed. It had been so nice to dance with Severus. Even though his mind had been elsewhere, she could feel his happiness. She couldn't understand why he had refused to take her to the Halloween dance.

Mr. Deesia was at the front door, a wry smile on his face as the boy in front of him chattered excitedly. "I danced with her and everything, I just kept reciting potions ingredients to myself. She thought I was crazy, but at least I didn't get hexed into next week!" Severus couldn't believe he was talking to Papa about this.

"The books I sent helped then?" Papa asked, amused, but knowing he was going to have to bring him down a bit before he could send him home. If Severus went home this happy, his father would be sure to wipe the smile off his face.

Severus was nodding when Papa continued. "You understand that there are more important reasons for learning Occlumency?" he asked, with a glance over his shoulder. "Lord Voldemort was here tonight. He will be taking up residence in Britain again. You heard me tell Mur that he's a powerful Legilimens. It won't be long before you'll be under a lot of pressure to take the mark, Severus." He kept his voice low as the boy's eyes widened. The grin had fallen from his face, which now looked oddly emotionless. Papa was glad. That was nearly as important as learning Occlumency.

"With a strong background in Occlumency, you'll be able to lie to your father about your intentions for a lot longer. You'll also be able to keep Dumbledore or anyone else from knowing where you stand."

Severus nodded, solemnly now. He had wondered if this wasn't going somewhere more serious. "When can we start?"

They agreed that the best way to gauge how Severus was coming along was to use Muriel. Papa would send him instructions by owl. Now that he'd read the books, it would primarily be trial and error to see what worked at blocking his thoughts and what did not. Sev went home in a much less giddy mood than he'd been when he walked Mur to the house earlier. He fell into bed thinking hard about Occlumency. His father had already begun telling him some of the Dark Lord's plans. He didn't want Muriel to get involved in that, and if Occlumency was going to keep her safe from it, he was going to learn it, and learn it fast.

By the time the Hogwarts Express pulled into Hogsmeade station, Muriel was thoroughly frustrated. Try as she might, she couldn't get Severus to admit that he'd had any fun at the party at all.

"I hate to dance, Mur," he insisted again as they climbed into a carriage. He kept his mind focused as hard as he could, but it was no use.

"Severus," she said for the fifth time, "You enjoyed yourself. I could tell. I don't understand why you keep telling me you didn't when you know I can always tell."

He heaved a sigh and gave in. "Alright. Things weren't so bad once the hexes started flying, I suppose."

At this comment, she chuckled. It had been very funny to see that little green-headed duck appear in front of Black. "Yes, well, we're going to pay dearly for that when the house elves tell your father." Severus rolled his eyes and they fell silent.

The Professors were giving them more and more homework. Muriel even skipped the Hufflepuff / Slytherin Quidditch match in January to try and get ahead. Hufflepuff hadn't beaten Slytherin for over a century anyway. As Muriel sat in History of Magic, listening half-heartedly to Professor Binns talk about the importance of next year's O.W.L.s, she was startled by a sharp knock on the classroom door.

Professor Dumbledore, his eyes grave, politely asked the ghost if he could speak with Deesia and Hawthorne, a Gryffindor girl that Mur had never bothered to talk to. Mur gathered up her books and silently followed him into the hall.

When he turned and handed each of them an envelope, she stared at him distrustfully. The other girl took the black envelope from him, confused, but obviously not understanding. Mur took hers as well, thanked him stiffly and went back to her class before Hawthorne could start crying. Dumbledore didn't stop her. She made sure the envelope was out of sight before she pushed open the door, closed it quickly, and sat down again to take notes. Hawthorne never came back.

She felt people's attention straying to her several times during class, but wasn't going to give anyone the satisfaction of seeing the envelope. The silver handwriting on the front had been her father's, so she already knew what information it contained. She would prefer that no one else found out.

It was nearly midnight when she got back to Ravenclaw tower. She had hidden in the passageway behind the mirror on the fourth floor for hours, reading and rereading her father's letter. She could tell that there was information missing. Her mother had been killed by Aurors during an attack on the parents of several mudbloods. "Which Auror killed her, Papa?" she had whispered to herself, over and over. But there was no answer to that question and never would be.

Mrs. Deesia had been a loving, vibrant person once, when Muriel was very small. It was difficult to understand how she'd become the cold, distant woman she had been the day she died.

As she made her way up the stairs, Mur fingered the pouch in her pocket that Severus had given her the day before. Little pills for turning Mrs. Norris green. He'd tested them on himself to make sure that they didn't have any side effects this time. They'd had a bad experience with color change potions and he wasn't anxious to repeat it. She let one fall outside Filch's office door just for fun, though no smile graced her features.

She tried hard to concentrate on this trivial prank, but her mind seemed to be stuck on the image of her parent's wedding portrait. It hung beside their fireplace, and she had spent a good deal of time looking at it over the summer. She had been trying to reconcile that happy, beautiful woman who waved and winked at her with the Dark Mark she'd seen.

Mur climbed into bed. In her mind the image of the Dark Mark floated over her parents' wedding portrait and she fell asleep on a pillow wet with tears, not for the last time.

As usual, Mur was one of the first people to arrive in the great hall for breakfast. Since the day she'd received her father's letter, she had come to breakfast early and left late each morning. Her dorm mates seemed to understand, and left her alone. Severus had written home that first day and Mrs. Snape had told him what was wrong. Muriel was grateful. It meant she didn't have to explain it. Even the marauders had stopped hexing her. She supposed Sirius had gotten the news from his parents.

The Hawthorne girl and two Hufflepuffs had received similar letters that day, and it was because her mother and others had attacked them. Muriel felt the weight of that like lead in her shoes as she climbed the stairs to Divination. She hadn't written in her dream diary at all since that day, but the Professor didn't scold her. He seemed to note the date of her last entry, then nodded and moved on. Mur hung her head. She rarely turned in an assignment incomplete, but she wasn't going to write down the dream image that had haunted her.

"What if it had been Marisa's father?" she whispered to Severus in Potions. "Or Kyle's mum? How would I ever have been able to face them again?" He looked up sharply. They had been avoiding any conversation about her mother for two weeks. Now she wanted to talk about it in a room full of Slytherins? For a minute he thought she'd gone crazy. But she was silent again for the rest of the class, and left the building for her Care of Magical Creatures lesson without another word. It was during this class that she received another unexpected letter.

Muriel,
Your Aunt Rosa is coming for a weekend visit.
I have already owled Dumbledore, and he has agreed
to let you come home while she is here. I will be up
to the school to get you Friday after your classes.
Papa

Severus spent the weekend in his room, worrying. Muriel was upset enough without having to go home and see that her mother really wasn't there. He didn't realize that more than anything, that's what she needed. She needed a reason to believe in the reality of it, and watching Papa and Aunt Rosa go through her mother's things gave her nothing, if not reality.

It would have been a perfect trip, really, if it hadn't been for the boggart that had moved into a drawer in the kitchen. Muriel came downstairs the first morning and opened the drawer only to have her mother, clearly alive, but covered in Dark Marks, appear in front of her. The hideous burnt spots were all over her, except for her face. Thankfully, Mur had learned to deal with boggarts years ago. But what would make this funny? Maybe if the spots were pink bunnies instead of skulls and snakes. She thought hard of that. "Riddikulus!" she said, raising her wand.

But she couldn't bring herself to laugh, even at her mother covered in pink bunnies. It just wasn't funny enough. The boggart got confused, however, and she had time to grab a pan and slam it over the creature's head. Her mother disappeared and the boggart shrank until she had it trapped under the pan. Then she ran for a box. She was sure she could find a good use for that boggart once she got back to school.

What she learned from her trip home was that her mother had been no more or less than she had been, and that there was no guilt necessary if she really felt she didn't need to mourn anymore. She had watched her father mourn the loss of his wife long before she had died. He did not do so anymore. If anything, he seemed to be more at ease than she had ever seen him. It would be just the two of them now, and Muriel thought that would work out just fine.

Her father let her apparate to Hogsmeade alone. She wanted to think as she walked back to the castle. She clutched the boxed boggart tightly to her side as she trudged along, her trunk following. She meant to think about her mother, but found that she'd exhausted all her thoughts on the matter. It was over. Her mother had lived and died in the service of Lord Voldemort and been a very cold woman in between. Papa wasn't dwelling on it, and Muriel wouldn't either.

Instead she thought about Severus. He'd been acting very strangely ever since the Christmas party, beginning with trying to tell her he'd had no fun. It wasn't like him to lie like that, at least not to her.

To everyone else he was the same insufferable git he'd always been. He hexed Potter and Black every chance he got. She smiled. He'd been leaving Peter Pettigrew alone lately. The boy was so pathetic that even Severus felt a little guilty hexing him. She'd noticed that he wasn't cursing Remus much anymore either. He'd asked her about Remus several times, but as they hadn't really spoken much since second year, she'd had little to tell him. And she wasn't going to tell him the one thing she DID know.

But there was definitely something going on with him. Sometimes he looked as though he was deep in thought, but she couldn't hear anything going on in his head at all.

The boggart shook the box a little and she held it more tightly, letting a smirk creep across her face. Maybe he needed a little shock to get him back to normal? She had just the thing. After she took her trunk up to Ravenclaw tower, and greeted her roommates, she put the box under her arm again and set off for the Slytherin dungeons. She ran into Bernice Rollens, a 2nd year half-blood who really didn't have any business being in Slytherin anyway, and forced the password from her. She was almost there when she stopped dead and flattened herself against the wall. Professor Warrington had just rounded the corner up ahead, chatting pleasantly with the Ravenclaw prefect. She cast her invisibility charm before she realized that it didn't work on boggarts, and the squirming thing (Yuck! Who knew they were so disgusting when they thought no one could see them?) appeared to be floating in midair. Panicking, she opened the nearest door and threw the box inside.

She was about to run, since the closing door had caught the Professor's attention, when she heard a hoarse shout followed by a piercing scream. Smiling widely, she backed against the wall again, keeping herself invisible.

She watched as Professor Warrington threw open the door to the broom closet, and nearly laughed out loud when she saw who was in there. Malfoy Sr., his face red with anger, towered over a cringing Lucius Malfoy, shouting furiously about the impropriety of being caught snogging in a broom closet. Narcissa was crying, her lips puffy and bruised.

Professor Warrington knew immediately that it couldn't REALLY be Mr. Malfoy, so he cast a riddikulus charm on the boggart, turning Mr. Malfoy into a tomato with a shock of blond hair where the stem should be.

Professor Warrington and the Ravenclaw prefect laughed loudly and the boggart disappeared with a POP! Malfoy was beside himself, and trying desperately to master his fear. Narcissa was drying her eyes, and looked both relieved and amused.

But Professor Warrington no longer looked amused at all. Muriel held her sides and shook as he told off the Head Boy for snogging in a broom closet, gave them both detention, and stormed off toward his office. Her silent giggles stopped abruptly however, as Malfoy bent down and picked up the box she'd thrown. Aunt Rosa had sent her a present in that box once, and the address was probably on it.

"Deesia." He said in a dangerous voice, showing the box to Narcissa. They both looked around angrily before stomping off to their common room, box still in hand.

Mur dropped her spell as soon as they were out of sight. It was the longest she'd ever held it, and it drained her horribly, but it had all been worth it. She couldn't wait to tell Severus.

"I heard all about it," Severus said, cutting off Muriel's story. "Malfoy threw the box at me and stomped off in a rage. Narcissa explained the whole thing."

Muriel was still laughing, in spite of Sev's obvious lack of mirth. Although the snow had melted, the grounds were cold as they walked toward the lake. No one else was outside, which made it the perfect opportunity to talk about Malfoy's boggart.

"Did she tell you that Warrington turned the boggart into a tomato with blond hair? That was the best part. If Malfoy's father ever hears about it there'll be hell to pay for Warrington!"

Severus looked over at his friend. He was amazed at how the trip home had helped her. She was still sad sometimes, and she avoided the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindor who had lost their parents as if her life depended on it, but otherwise she seemed back to normal.

He let her take his hand as they stood looking at the lake. It was still covered in a thin sheet of ice, so there was no squid to watch, but it gave him something to look at besides her. Papa said he was doing very well with Occlumency. He'd been able to report that he'd gotten away with several white lies to Muriel in the last few weeks, and Papa had seemed pleased. He'd sent still more books, and Severus was studying them as hard as he could.

He was excited that he could at least hold her hand without her hearing his thoughts, but he was starting to worry about her ability to sense emotions as well. Obviously she knew, and had always known, exactly how he felt about her. When he'd asked Papa about it, he'd only said that emotions would come later, and be a good deal more difficult. But Severus knew he could do it. If he could stand here and look her in the eye, thinking about Occlumency without giving himself away, then he could close her out entirely. It would just take some time.

Mur looked up at him questioningly. "Severus, are you alright?" she asked quietly.

"Of course. Just wondering if you've tried out any of those pills on Mrs. Norris yet."

She looked at him oddly for a moment. "I dropped a few outside Filch's office, but didn't stick around to see if they worked. We could try tonight if you want. I think I can keep us invisible long enough to watch."

He smirked. It was working. "Okay. I'll meet you in Myrtle's bathroom after dinner. They usually hang around the Great Hall once the kids leave. It would be really funny if he could be there when it happens." They laughed and headed back up to the castle.

They stood in the entrance hall for a moment, rubbing their frozen hands. "Oh, I got an owl from Mother. She wants me to come for Easter." Severus had been meaning to mention this for a week, but didn't want to upset her with talk of going home. Sure enough, her face fell. "She asked if you wanted to come too," he added anyway. It wouldn't do to not invite her at all, even if he was sure she wouldn't come.

"I don't think I can, Sev," she said apologetically. "Papa won't be home, and I'm not ready to be there yet without him."

He nodded. "It's alright. I'll probably just catch up on homework anyway." She smiled, grateful that he understood, then headed up to her dorm to change for dinner. She was dressed much too warmly to be comfortable in the Great Hall!

"I'm staying," Peter announced morosely as he plopped down beside Remus. He hated staying at school for the holidays. All his friends went home.

"Great, so are we!" James said happily, making him look up sharply.

"Really?"

"Yeah, Prongs' parents are going away for the holiday so we're stuck here. We sure aren't going to my place!" Sirius had finished his first plate of food and was working on the next. He was proud of James, who'd been the first among them to master his animagus form, and had taken to calling him Prongs. He was jealous because James and Remus had already spent a full moon in the shrieking shack without him, but that only served to intensify his desire to get it right.

James had given him all the advice he could, but there was still something he wasn't getting. Transfiguration just wasn't his best subject, in spite of his grades. He looked up as Muriel walked by on her way to the Ravenclaw table. A glance around the room told him Snape hadn't come in yet.

"Deesia?" he said, jumping up and following her. She spun around with her wand in her hand so fast that he nearly ran into her. His dorm mates looked on, wondering what he could possibly be up to. He usually at least warned them before he started a prank.

"Easy!" he said, smiling. "I was just looking for some information and I remembered you were good at transfiguration, so I thought maybe you could help me." Muriel narrowed her eyes before casting a look around. She wasn't really inclined to help Black with anything after the near fiasco at Christmas.

"Come on, if you can dance three songs with me, you can surely stand to have me around long enough to answer one question." He gave her what he hoped was a winning smile.

Had she really danced with him through three songs? She shook her head to clear it. It didn't matter. "Alright, Black, what do you want to know that James can't tell you? He's top of the class, and you and I aren't far behind him, so I can't imagine that you think I know anything the two of you don't."

"But you do," he said quickly. "I haven't ever transfigured a person before. What do you have to do differently from animals?"

She couldn't help but scoff. "Do you honestly think I WANT you to know how to turn me into a duck? Sorry, Black. If you want to get back at me for that one, you've got to do it on your own." She skipped back to her table, for the first time, wondering why she had let herself dance with that boy. It had obviously inflated his already over-large ego.

Marisa had watched the entire exchange with a smile on her face. Her experience with Sirius had gotten her well past the crush she once had on him, but it didn't stop her from noticing how haughty Muriel looked talking to him, or the pleasure she obviously had in goading him. She had also noticed, after Muriel turned her back on him, the odd look on Sirius' face. She determinedly thought about her food as Mur sat down. No reason to upset her already.

As for Sirius, he decided right then and there that Muriel wasn't in the least upset about her mother anymore, which made her fair game for his hexes again. He wasted no time in planning the next prank. He was very comfortable with their ongoing duel, and would be glad to get back to it.

It was this that found them both sitting at opposite ends of Professor Tantry's classroom all day the following Saturday while their friends went to Hogsmeade. Sirius had tried to hit her all week with various curses, and Mur had cast shield charms to block them. Unfortunately most of his hexes had hit the people nearest him, since she'd been trying to aim them back at him. James caught two, and Remus took one that didn't affect him, but neither of them would have told. It was when Lily, who James had finally convinced to walk with them to class, got hit with a bat bogey hex that the whole thing came crashing down. The bats had scratched her face and neck and scared her half to death.

Peter had been sent for Madam Pomfrey and told her that Muriel had cast the hex. She and the marauders had been sent to Dumbledore's office for a long interrogation. It was James who told the Headmaster the truth, apparently with Sirius' and Remus' consent. Muriel had been surprised. They could easily have pinned the whole thing on her, and she certainly felt bad enough about it as it was. Lily hadn't done anything to deserve that hex.

She was startled out of her thoughts when a piece of parchment landed with a swish on top of the book she'd been reading. She frowned, reading it over quickly.

"How did you turn me into a duck?
I managed the hamster, but couldn't
change Peter into one, even though
I know the incantation is a little different.
What else has to change?"

She hid the parchment quickly as Professor Tantry came downstairs from his office, and went back to her book: Common Punishments for Careless Spellcasters. Sirius had apparently been given the same book. She was sure the book itself had been written to be a punishment. It was as dull as a flobberworm circus.

Professor Tantry looked at the two students hard. He'd just been summoned to the Headmaster's office and wondered if it would be safe to leave them here together. But they both seemed perfectly well interested in their books, so he continued out of the classroom, closing the door softly behind him.

Sirius turned around in his chair immediately. "Well?"

She ignored him.

"Mur, come on, I know you can tell me how to do it!" Somehow, Sirius was sure that if he could just understand this one thing, it would help him become an animagi. Then he could join Remus and James at the next full moon.

She sighed and put her book aside. "You have to have an understanding of someone to transform him. I probably wouldn't be able to cast it on Professor Tantry, because I don't know him very well. But YOU I understand just fine. It's about knowing deep down what someone is like."

Sirius was looking at her incredulously. How could she know deep down what he was like? They'd hardly ever spoken. And could that apply to animagi transformations too? Maybe there were some things he wasn't admitting about himself that were getting in his way.

Muriel fought back a smile. He was trying to become an animagus. No wonder he wanted all the information he could get. She picked up her book again and smirked at the words, not reading them.

"You don't understand me!" he exclaimed heatedly. She raised an eyebrow and lowered her book again, still smirking.

"I understand that you're an egotistical prat trying desperately to convince the world that your mother's indifference doesn't hurt you," she said forcefully, realizing at once that the reason she understood this about him was that it described her as well.

She plastered a grin on her face as he sputtered, unable to come up with a suitable response. "Apparently that was enough understanding to make the spell work," she said smugly, ignoring the wrenching feeling in her chest. Had her own mother's coldness really mattered to her so much? She pushed the feeling aside and concentrated on the anger emanating from Sirius instead.

He turned around sharply in his seat and picked up the book again, furious with himself for even talking to her. Muriel finished the book half an hour later and left a note in it for Professor Tantry before heading back to Ravenclaw tower. It was nearly time for dinner, and she was pleased. That little exchange had been better than a prank. She could tell that he hadn't read another word in the book until after she'd left, because he was so angry.

Muriel walked sullenly back from the library, her arms loaded with books. She wished Severus hadn't gone home for the Easter holiday. She wondered fleetingly if Remus had stayed. She'd barely talked with him since the end of their second year when he'd helped Black, Potter and Pettigrew pull a particularly painful prank on her. She wasn't angry anymore, though. She was just lonely. An entire week without Severus seemed like a long time, even if he had been acting strangely lately.

She was thinking so hard that she didn't realize anyone was near her until a heavy hand fell on her shoulder and spun her roughly around. Her books scattered. "Avery!" she exclaimed. "What do you want?"

He didn't answer, but put a hand on each of her shoulders and pushed her hard against the wall. Muriel's eyes closed involuntarily when her head hit the stone. She tried instinctively to reach for her wand, but he was too close. Desperate, she tried to shove him away.

"Well, Deesia, it looks like your beloved Snape is a little out of your reach this time," Avery sneered. "You filthy blood traitor. How does it feel not to have anyone to protect you for once?"

"If you're still sore about last year's Christmas party - " she began, intending to apologize for the huge block of ice that had knocked him out last year. She hoped it was that, and that he wasn't starting to remember THIS year's Christmas party.

But the tall 6th year Slytherin cut her off. "Funny you should bring it up. I was just thinking that maybe it was time to pick up where we left off."

Muriel's eyes widened. She had convinced herself that Avery hadn't meant anything by his crude remark. She turned her head as he bent to kiss her. "Get off me!" she exclaimed. She was painfully aware that being a Quidditch beater had made him an awful lot stronger than she was. If only she could get to her wand. She struggled harder, and the older boy laughed.

"Have you seen the Slytherin dormitories yet, Deesia? Maybe I could give you a little tour."

Muriel nearly retched at the thoughts going through Avery's head as he took her by the wrists and pulled her back toward the library. She was panicking now. If she couldn't reach her wand, she wasn't going to be able to get away. She heard footsteps behind her, but couldn't turn to see who was there.

"Help me, please!" she called, but the footsteps only pounded away in the distance as Avery sniggered wickedly. She hadn't been able to get any idea who it was, feeling only a flash of surprise, and then fear. 'Probably afraid of Avery,' she thought angrily. But at just this moment she was afraid of Avery too. She strained against his grip, but it was no use.

"You know what'll really be fun?" Avery sneered when they finally reached the portrait that concealed the Slytherin common room. He pulled her wrists harder and she heard a sickening pop. She tried not to wince with the pain as she fell toward him.

"We'll use Snape's bed," he whispered.

But as he turned to the portrait to say the password, Muriel heard a whisper behind her. She ducked instinctively and felt a spell whiz over her head. Avery dropped her wrists and fell to the floor, eyes open, but unable to move.

Muriel spun on the spot, breathing heavily. No one was there. No one was anywhere nearby. She looked back down at Avery. Suppressing the urge to do him any serious damage, she ran toward the hospital wing. Her wrist throbbed painfully, but she paused on the stairs.

"Whoever you are, thank you," she whispered. She paused for a minute before adding, "again." No one answered.

But she already knew who he was. She didn't know how he had come to be there, or why he had helped her, but she knew that somewhere in that corridor, Sirius Black was standing under an invisibility cloak.

When he was sure she was gone, Sirius took off the cloak and performed a variety of unpleasant hexes on the stunned Slytherin, then left him blocking the portrait hole.

"Thanks, James," he said, arriving unceremoniously in his dorm and tossing the cloak down on his friend's bed.

"Is she alright?" Peter asked quietly. He'd run for their dorm as soon as he saw Avery grab Deesia, not knowing if any of the teachers would be in their offices over the holiday.

"She's fine. Probably a dislocated wrist, but nothing worse." Sirius threw himself down on his own bed and grabbed a book from his table. He read a few pages, knowing he'd remember it later, no matter how distracted he was right now.

"It will be the ultimate prank when you tell her it was you!" James said, imagining the horrified look on Deesia's face when she found out that she owed something to Sirius.

"I'm not GOING to tell her, James. And neither are you. She'll have to figure it out for herself." He hadn't told any of his mates about the prank he'd pulled on her in their first year. Remus had known, of course, but he'd been wise enough not to mention it again. If Muriel found out it was him this time, she'd know it had been him that time, too.

Sirius noticed James giving him a funny look. "WHAT? I like things the way they are. If she ever thanked me, I wouldn't have anyone to practice new hexes on anymore!" At this James and Sirius both laughed. Even Peter joined in, when he realized that Sirius wasn't angry.

"What did he want with her?" James asked, suddenly somber.

Sirius put the book in front of his face. "Who knows? I just hexed him and got out of there, I didn't wait around to hear what they were saying." That wasn't exactly true. He'd heard enough to figure out what Avery intended. He made a mental note to use Avery for target practice for the last few weeks of school.

Hiding things from Severus was getting to be more and more difficult. Muriel sat in her room, remembering all the awful things Avery had done to her that she'd never told Sev about, and wondering how she was going to hide this one. Obviously Black wouldn't say anything, but she could hardly hide that fact that every time Avery's name was mentioned she turned red in the face and reached for her wand.

She hadn't left her room at all since that first day of break, and Severus would be back tomorrow. She massaged her wrist again. And as if she didn't have enough to worry about, she couldn't stop thinking about Black. She'd been nothing but mean to him in detention last week, and yet he'd hexed Avery for her. How had he known that she was in trouble? Why had he even cared?

Severus ran up to Ravenclaw tower as soon as his trunk was in his room Sunday night. Avery had tried to hex him when he came in the common room, and he hadn't chosen a very friendly hex, either. He was sure something had happened, and since Avery was now unconscious, he wanted to track down Mur.

Several of her house mates were just getting back, so he asked them to send her down, then waited nearly an hour in the empty corridor. Finally he got impatient and banged on the portrait, wishing he'd heard their password. One of the 7th year girls narrowed her eyes at him when he asked to see Muriel, but let him in when Marisa came over and vouched for him.

"She isn't coming down, Severus," Marisa said quietly. "I don't know what happened over break, but when Vanessa told her you were here, she didn't answer. We know she's in there, though, she's got her curtains charmed to bite anyone who touches them."

Severus smirked. He was glad now that he'd asked Malfoy how to get past the girls' dormitory trick staircase. "Marisa, could you run upstairs and bring me her broom?"

When she came back downstairs, she was holding a mahogany handled broomstick that looked very well taken care of. It was certainly not Mur's shooting star, however. "Vanessa says you can borrow Kyle's," she said, with a look at the boy in question. Kyle nodded mutely from across the room and she continued, "Mur's is under her bed and she wasn't very happy when I asked her to lend it to me. I think she knows you're on your way."

Severus hoped Kyle's broom was fast enough to get him past the secondary defenses that would go up once he started. "Which room?"

"Third landing on the right," she replied as he mounted the broom. He nodded once. By now, everyone in the common room was smirking at him. Most of the older boys had tried this once or twice, but they didn't have the benefit of Malfoy's rather extensive experience.

He kicked off hard in the direction of the stairs, casting a shield charm around himself. The stairs turned into a slide immediately when he flew over the first stair, and several spells shot out of the marble ravens that graced the first landing. He managed to dodge them, but the spells from the second landing glanced off his shield charm, which he recast before he reached the door.

He kept is wand ready and shouted "Alohamora," as soon as her door was in sight, flying fast through it as it opened. Stunning spells from the ravens on the third landing chased him into the room, but he pulled up hard, and they hit the curtains of the first bed instead. He dismounted fast and closed the door, panting a bit. He leaned Kyle's broom against the wall and took a look around. Only one bed had its curtains pulled closed, so he approached it, cautiously.

Sure enough the bloody curtains tried to bite him when he reached out his hand. "Finite Incantem," he said, laughingly. The curtains fell harmlessly back around the bed and he heard Muriel swear.

"You know the sad thing is that not a soul in my house thought of that," she said wryly as he pulled back the curtains. He laughed, but became somber quickly, remembering why he'd come.

"Why are you hiding, Mur?"

That was when the tears started. She had spent the entire break thinking, but hadn't cried at all. Severus was nearly knocked off his feet at the fury and pain that seemed to pour out of her. He did his best to set up wards around his mind as she stood up and threw her arms around him, sobbing into his shirt.

She told him everything, from the time Avery had tried to vanish her skirt when she was 10 to his comment at last year's Christmas party at the Rosiers'. All his jeering remarks, and lastly what had happened the first day of break.

When she was finally done crying, she sat back down on the bed, wiping her eyes. Severus was relieved that she'd let him go. His shirt was soaked, and he'd never seen anyone cry like that, least of all his best friend, who had never let herself cry over anything for more than a few minutes. He found himself pacing the room as he contemplated exactly how he could murder Avery without getting sent to Azkaban. Obviously he couldn't use his wand, it would give him away.....

"Severus?" Mur said quietly. He continued to pace until finally she laughed at him a little. That snapped him out of his thoughts.

"What?"

"Don't be ridiculous, you can't murder Avery until we're all out of school. I'm starving, can we get some food?" Severus looked startled. He had hoped his Occlumency was coming along well enough that she wouldn't hear him thinking all that. It occurred to him that perhaps she hadn't heard him. Perhaps she just knew him well enough to know what he was thinking. Or maybe she was thinking it herself.

Muriel was digging under her bed. "Here, go out the window so the ravens outside don't stun you when I open the door." She handed him her broom.

He nodded. "I'll meet you outside the portrait. You aren't walking anywhere alone."

She smiled. "Thanks, Sev." She closed the window behind him and picked up Kyle's broom. The staircase had reverted to normal, and the common room fell silent when she entered. She didn't feel much like talking, although she knew it would be obvious that she'd been crying.

"I sent him out the window so he wouldn't get stunned." She handed Kyle his broom.

"That was a nice piece of flying," Kyle said quietly in answer. "Anyone who can dodge like that should be a seeker." Muriel nodded and managed a small smile. Severus had just corrupted most of her house, she knew. She sat quietly with Marisa until Severus started pounding on the portrait again. Dinner wouldn't start for another half an hour, but it would be good to get there early. She'd barely eaten all week, since she'd been trying to avoid Avery.

They sat silently at the Ravenclaw table, which was why they were so startled when several shouts rang out in the hallway. A moment later the marauders walked in, looking very smug indeed. Muriel hadn't told Severus who had been under the cloak, only that she was sure it was the same person who had caught her on the stairs in their first year. But she smiled a little more as the food appeared. Obviously the marauders had done something awful to Avery a moment ago. It was grimly satisfying to have the Hogwarts demolition team helping with her vendetta.

"Do you know, I think you set a record this year, Avery." Voices drifted past the train compartment that Severus and Muriel shared on the way home. "In the last two months of school you spent more time in the Black and Deesia Ward than Black and Deesia combined."

"Stuff it, Minchew," came the sullen reply. Muriel grinned. She'd restrained herself from hexing the marauders, taking all her frustration and putting it into the worst hexes she could get away with casting on Avery. Severus had done the same, although he still went out of his way to get Potter once in a while. Muriel had noticed that the marauders were having their fun at Avery's expense as well. Which was good, because she was still just fragile enough that one good hex would have landed all four of them quacking on the floor.

She was just contemplating this when Sirius' head appeared in their compartment door. "What do you want, Black?" Severus growled. Muriel made a show of pulling out her wand. He wouldn't be there if he didn't want trouble, and she intended to be ready for it. He was grinning like an idiot, but didn't answer.

"Would you like to be a green duck this time, or did you prefer black," she asked quietly. She kept a conversational tone of voice, but his smile vanished anyway as Severus smirked.

Sirius had made James stay in their compartment so he could get a few last minute hexes in on Avery. He had thought that Muriel might enjoy seeing the result, which was now oozing across the corridor floor, trying to get back to its cabin. But he knew he couldn't tell them that.

As he thought this, Muriel couldn't help but smile. Severus, however was scowling angrily.

"Easy, Mur," Sirius answered, then he smiled at her again before turning to Severus. "I just thought Snape might want to help his fellow Slytherin. It seems he had some sort of unpleasant encounter in the hall, here." He stepped back so they could see. Severus came to the door, while Muriel, who already knew the answer, asked him exactly which Slytherin it was.

Sirius calmly told her that he didn't know, not realizing how entirely transparent he was. Muriel could tell that he was horribly pleased with himself. 'What an arrogant prat!" she couldn't help thinking. 'Still, Avery looks thoroughly miserable, and that's worth something.'

She looked at the partially transfigured slug that was half scampering, half oozing across the floor. "Still not so good with human transfiguration, Black?" she asked casually. She turned to him and looked him in the eye for the first time since Christmas. Odd, she'd never noticed how bright his dark eyes were. "That's Avery. What you have to know about him is that he really is slime, all the way through." A swish and flick later a complete slug rolled across the floor. Muriel put her wand in her pocket and returned to the compartment, followed by Severus, who was chuckling in spite of himself. Who would have thought Sirius Black would be useful for anything?

A moment later they both grinned widely as a shriek from the hallway shattered the quiet. Someone had found Avery. Sev got up to lock their compartment door. He didn't know if Avery would remember who had completed his transformation into a slug, but he didn't want him barging in later to pay them back if he did.

"Are you going to Aunt Rosa's at all this summer?" Severus asked, breaking out a game of gobstones. Maybe he and Papa would have some time to practice Occlumency this summer.

"I don't want to play that, I've seen enough goo for one day. Don't you have exploding snap?"

"No, but you do," Severus answered, digging around in Muriel's trunk instead.

"I think I'm just going to stay home this summer. Papa doesn't want me to go after the problems there over Christmas. Besides, I've had enough excitement this year. What about you, are you going anywhere on holiday?"

"I doubt it. It will be holiday enough if Father doesn't come home. He's still away since Easter." Severus said as he dealt the cards.

Their game was interrupted by someone knocking on the door. They both pulled out their wands. "Sev?" Severus put his wand away and opened the door. Malfoy was standing in the doorway, a piece of parchment in his hand. "I meant to catch you earlier but - "he stopped, seeing Muriel, whose wand was still drawn, looking at him curiously. The usual sneer was on his face in an instant and his mind snapped closed. Muriel only shook her head.

Malfoy thought briefly then formed his words carefully. "Just wanted to let you know that I'll probably finish that book you leant me tonight," he said pointedly.

"Well, owl it back to me anytime. I'm always home." Severus kept his voice carefully neutral, and his mind as sealed as he could make it. Lucius obviously didn't want to share this particular secret.

"Right. Have a pleasant holiday." With that, Lucius Malfoy strode back down the corridor, stepping over Avery and around the people who were trying to transform him back. Minchew called to him when he was halfway down the corridor.

"Malfoy, do you know how to reverse this?"

Severus let a smile creep over his face as Lucius sneered coldly at the boy. "Of course I do you poncy idiot." Then he continued down the corridor and stepped into the compartment where Narcissa had been waiting for him. Severus closed the door, still grinning. Muriel was looking out the window, wondering at Malfoy's civility. He had yet to say anything about the boggart, though she knew he was aware of her involvement. She wondered again about the tall blond's loyalties. She knew Riddle didn't care how old you were, only whether you were willing. Perhaps he'd already taken the mark. Yet he seemed far more pleasant than she recalled from the beginning of the year. It bore thinking on.

"Do you think Papa took the mark when Mother did?" Mur asked finally, not turning to look at Severus. He paused, then joined her on her bench, not sure how her mind had made the jump to this particular topic. "I'm going to find out this summer," she added. Severus wasn't inclined to think that was a very good idea, but said nothing.