The Embittering of Severus Snape

Halloween arrived, and the castle was cold and drafty as Muriel rushed around her dormitory after dinner, chatting with the other girls about how to do their hair. As she'd predicted, Severus hadn't asked her anything about the dance, although he'd offered to help her with her Potions homework that night. She'd told him it was already done. He knew she was seeing someone, and had even been teasing her about her uncharacteristic daydreaming periodically. She supposed it was that knowledge that kept him from asking her to the dance, and didn't let his apparent apathy upset her. After all, it wasn't as though she was available to go with him.

She was smiling shyly as she hurried down to the Great Hall. Sirius, James and Remus were standing outside the Hall, each looking in a different direction. As she watched, a smile spread over Remus' face and he offered his arm to a girl Muriel recognized as a 5th year from her own house. Sirius spotted her as she watched and met her on the stairs. "Careful," he joked quietly, "If you stand there and stare at Moony too long I might get jealous." They laughed, and she pointed down at James.

"Who did he end up asking?"

"Aurora Youngdahl." Sirius grimaced as the tall blonde walked up to James, tossing her hair back away from her face and laughing at whatever he'd said. Muriel laughed a bit too as she and Sirius headed down the stairs and into the Great Hall. The tables had been pushed back against the walls, and the sky was perfectly clear overhead, although there were so many candles floating above them that it was hard to see the stars.

After the first few dances, Sirius left to get them something to drink, and Muriel sat down to watch her classmates. She was joined shortly by Remus, who told her his date was already dancing with someone else. "Well, let's pay her back," Muriel said, standing. Remus grinned wolfishly and offered her his hand.

"I never got a chance to thank you properly for all you did to help me," she said. They were dancing to a slow song, and Muriel was grateful. It gave her a chance to say some of the things she couldn't say when Sirius was around. Remus looked amused.

"I didn't do much of anything, except keep James and Snape from killing each other when they woke up. Sirius definitely got the best job," he replied, winking. Muriel laughed.

Over Remus' shoulder, Muriel could see James dancing with Aurora. He kept casting furtive glances in the direction of the drink table where Kyle McDouglas, the 7th year that was captain and chaser for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, was flirting outrageously with Lily Evans. Muriel spun Remus around so he was watching them, and pushed a little closer to him to whisper in his ear, "Can you get James to sit one out? I think I have a plan."

Remus chuckled and headed off toward James as the song ended. Muriel found Lily sitting with Kyle, sipping her drink and laughing appreciatively at his jokes. Muriel, having practiced Quidditch with him for several weeks, was pretty sure that Kyle's jokes weren't that funny. "Hey Kyle, aren't we playing Slytherin in next week's match?" she asked innocently.

He nodded. "Yeah, why?"

"Well I just overheard Ginger Rhodes saying she booked the pitch every night this week for Hufflepuff practices." Predictably, Kyle excused himself and hurried off, looking upset. Lily, who wasn't nearly as gullible, was looking at her with raised eyebrows as Muriel took his empty seat.

She got right to the point. "That boy hasn't looked at anyone but you all night," she said, gesturing toward James. Lily frowned, looking over at where Sirius, Remus and James were sitting. James and Sirius were both staring at them openly, while Remus tried valiantly to carry on a conversation.

"If he hadn't been so conceited when he asked me, I might have said yes," Lily admitted grudgingly. "But he's just such a prat all the time!" she added, with a bit more emotion than Muriel had expected. Mur smiled.

"If I tell you who I came with, will you promise not to tell Severus?" Muriel whispered conspiratorially.

"Didn't you come with Remus? I saw you dancing with him." Lily pulled her eyes away from the marauders.

"No. I came with Sirius Black."

Lily's eyes widened. "But he throws hexes at you every time he sees you! And he challenged you to that duel! I thought you hated each other."

Muriel nodded wisely. "You thought right. This time last year I thought he was the most conceited prat in the school. In spite of that, I couldn't help but notice that he was also passionate, brave, and intelligent, not to mention handsome." Lily giggled, still rather amazed that she was hearing this. She looked over at James again. It didn't look like he'd moved at all. She smiled and noticed the shocked look in his eyes as he smiled back. Muriel noticed too. "You know, James and I have reached something of a truce as well. He really seems to have grown up a lot over the summer." Lily had not turned back to look at Muriel as she spoke, and Mur was pretty sure she'd made her point. "Well, see you later, Lily. I'd better not leave Sirius sitting there with those drinks much longer, someone else will grab him!"

Muriel headed back over to Sirius and took her drink, looking smug. James had not noticed her approach and was startled when she spoke. "James, you can't ask her to dance from all the way over here," she said pointedly. He hardly looked at her as he got up and headed toward Lily.

Sirius grinned and offered Mur his hand. They made it through half a dance before someone tapped Sirius roughly on the shoulder. It was Macnair. "Mur, what are you doing?" he hissed, when he had their attention.

"Dancing, what are you doing?" she answered mildly.

"Cutting in," he responded angrily, with a pointed look at Sirius. Mur shrugged and Sirius let her go. Macnair pulled her as far away from him as he could before he started. "Severus is going to have a fit when he finds out you came with Black," he whispered, looking around worriedly.

"How do you propose we deal with that?" Mur asked carefully. She knew now that it had been he who'd told Severus about Maverick in their fourth year, because he was seriously considering doing it again.

His eyes snapped back to hers. He recognized a threat when he heard one, though her tone hadn't been angry. "You'd better dance with all the usual people," he began.

"And?" Mur prompted dangerously, when he fell silent.

"And I'll keep my mouth shut and tell everyone you were here with me," he replied after a silence.

"Who do I need to talk to?" Mur asked quickly.

"We're going to have to intimidate just about the entirety of Slytherin house if you want to dance with him again. We can pass off what happened earlier as a fluke, since you've danced with Black at every other function we've all attended." Macnair was panicking, and speaking very quickly.

"Would it be easier to just obliviate you," she asked wearily, "or can you handle this?" That snapped him out of it.

"I can handle it, but I think you'd better tell him - "

"Oh for Merlin's sake, Macnair, think! Sev's hardly spoken to me since the mirror - did he tell you about the mirror?" She waited for his cautious nod before continuing. "I promise, the moment he shows any interest in my life at all, I'll tell him all about it, but not until then." In her anger, her voice was a little louder than she'd intended. The idea of spending the rest of the dance subtly intimidating Slytherins was less than pleasant.

Macnair took on a dubious expression at this proclamation, but he had little choice but to agree. "I guess I'll start with the Slytherin girls, then," he said defeatedly as the song ended. Thankfully even the seventh years were wary of upsetting Mur, and he could always hold her volatile temper over their heads. It shouldn't be difficult.

"And I'll take care of the rest. Honestly, I ought to just hex them all blind for the night." They parted with slight smiles, and Mur danced with every Slytherin boy present before looking for Sirius again. By then she'd gotten a thumbs up from Macnair that everything was taken care of. Most of them got the impression that she was just trying to regain Severus' interest by baiting him. That didn't sound too dangerous, and they were happy to play along.

Sirius was sitting sulkily beside Remus, watching Lily and James dance. He smiled suddenly when she sat down next to him. "Finished bullying the goons?" They danced happily the rest of the night, Muriel winking cheekily at the Slytherins they passed.

"You did a good thing, you know," Sirius said later, as they walked outside hand in hand. Muriel, whose mind had wondered back to thoughts of her father and the ever-nearer Christmas vacation, looked at him blankly for a moment. "I mean, whatever you said to Lily made a real difference. I don't think she danced with anyone but James the rest of the night."

"I just told her that if you could manage to behave yourself, then surely James could too." She smirked as Sirius set his jaw and tried to look angry.

"Who says I have any intention of behaving myself?" he growled, pulling her close.

---

As Muriel lay in bed, watching sunlight creep through the window, she looked back on all the things that had happened since Halloween, and smiled. Lily had been spotted with James several times, although neither of them would admit that they were going out. James had been frustrated when Lily went to the first Hogsmeade weekend with Kyle, but he seemed to have shaken it off as Christmas drew nearer.

Muriel's first Quidditch match had gone extremely well. Even though beater had not been the position she wanted, she was pretty good at it. She'd knocked the Slytherin seeker off his broom at the perfect moment, securing a Ravenclaw win. Sirius was going around telling everyone that she'd learned it all from him, which had earned him several nasty hexes from Severus about which Muriel had wisely chosen not to comment.

She was still concerned about Severus. He hadn't said what he planned to do for Christmas, although she'd done everything but beg him to stay at the castle. She rarely saw him at all, which was probably for the best, as she spent most of her free time with Sirius. Severus knew she'd had a date for the Halloween dance, but even his own housemates wouldn't tell him who it was. He had too much pride to pester them about it, so he settled for keeping his ears open. He'd heard that she'd dance with both Lupin and Black, but he knew she and Lupin were friends, and she always seemed to end up getting stuck with Black somehow. It was becoming a very interesting puzzle.

Muriel was spending so much time with Sirius that she got sent to detention twice for things the marauders had done. She was surprised that she hadn't had more, considering all the crazy pranks they'd pulled. She smiled as she remembered walking down the hallway and watching the suits of armor bobbing like corks near the ceiling, as they sang Christmas carols mournfully. Ever since the night they hid from Peeves in Myrtle's bathroom Sirius had been back to his old self, although a bit more restrained. He never mentioned Severus. When she brought it up he usually just listened with an indulgent expression and then changed the subject.

The other girls in her room were up now, and busily packing their trunks. Muriel thought she'd go down with everyone else and try to catch Severus, so she dressed quickly and tossed on her school robes.

Severus groaned when he saw her coming, though he was pleased to see that she didn't have a trunk with her. At least he'd managed to keep her from wanting to come home with him. He'd done his best to avoid her since their last Hogsmeade visit, when she'd pestered him continually about not going home. But his mother had written to ask him to come. She'd been alone since September, when his father had gone into hiding, and he couldn't let her down. He carefully closed off his mind as Muriel approached, but he could see the tears starting in her eyes and knew it wouldn't make much difference.

"You're going, then, Sev?" she asked quietly. He nodded and moved the trunk at his feet away from the doors a bit. He was sure she was about to ask him to stay, and wasn't looking forward to the scene that would probably ensue.

To his surprise, she just handed him something. "A friend of mine charmed these for us. I want you to contact me the minute it's over. I won't try to contact you, I'm not sure I could stand a repeat of that conversation." He nodded again, not sure what to say to her. He wondered who she knew that was able to charm mirrors. Lily Evans, maybe, or Black? He narrowed his eyes as he thought about this, but he pushed the name out of his mind. Muriel would never hang out with Black, he'd been tormenting her since before their 1st year. Still, there weren't many people at Hogwarts who could do magic at that level.

"See you, then," he said quietly. He resisted the urge to hug her, and enchanted his trunk to float instead.

"Be careful, Sev, and tell your mother I'm sorry I couldn't make it." She knew how lonely his mother must be, not that her husband had been good company. But Mrs. Snape loved Severus and as much as she wanted him to stay here where he was safe, she knew that an angry Dark Lord showing up at his house to find his mother alone was more than Severus could bear. She waved shortly and ran back up the stairs before her tears could start in earnest.

Sirius stood on the stairs above and watched, as Muriel gave Snape the mirror Lily had charmed. He didn't follow her when she ran back toward her dormitory, but watched, instead, as Snape unwrapped the mirror, then put it in his pocket. He wondered if Snape would give in and become a Death Eater. At the beginning of the year he'd been jealous of how much Muriel worried over Snape, but he was beginning to realize that with him walking into this kind of danger it was hard NOT to worry about him.

Sirius headed back to Gryffindor tower. He still had to wrap Muriel's present. He'd found a beautiful necklace in Hogsmeade, and since Muriel always went with Severus, he had been free to purchase it without her seeing. James had made fun of him, but Sirius was pretty sure he'd gone back there later in the day to buy something for Lily.

Sirius was surprised to see Remus staring at the fire in the common room when he got back. "Thought you were going home."

"Me too, but it turns out the full moon is the last day of the holidays and Mum didn't want to make a special trip to bring me back." Remus looked ruefully at his friend and tried to smile.

"Don't worry, mate. If I told my mother I was coming home for the holidays, she'd probably hide the house!" Mrs. Black had said nothing about Christmas this year, probably because Lord Voldemort wasn't going to be there, and couldn't get offended when people didn't show up. Sirius grinned at his friend. "Come on, let's go find Mur. I want to see how you duel!" Remus, who'd been glad for company a minute ago, was a little apprehensive about dueling with Muriel, but agreed. They made their way down to the Great Hall to find that breakfast was still being served. Muriel walked in a few minutes later with red, puffy eyes, but a pleasant smile.

"Hi Remus! Black didn't tell me you were staying." She sat down next to Sirius and poured herself some water. When no one answered her, she looked up again. "So, what are you two doing today?"

"I thought it'd be fun to watch you and Moony duel," Sirius answered immediately, in spite of the sound kick he received from the other side of the table. Muriel looked at Remus, who had turned a bit green in spite of himself. She winked.

"I've sworn off dueling with anyone who doesn't already know shield charms. It's too much like bullying." Remus tried and failed to stifle his laughter, and Muriel grinned at her plate of food. Sirius, however, scowled, knowing she was baiting him.

"Moony knows shield charms anyway." He mumbled. Remus, after all, was the one who paid attention in class. Surely he'd picked up shield charms somewhere.

Remus nodded, feeling a little better about the idea. "I know a few. We'd better go and get extra cloaks, though. I'll meet you outside in an hour." He grabbed one last biscuit from the table and headed off, thinking that maybe Christmas at Hogwarts wasn't going to be so bad after all.

The snow was unusually thick this year, but an hour later Muriel and Sirius plowed their way through it to meet Remus, who was already standing with his wand out. "Have you had enough time to look up curses then?" Muriel inquired politely, smirking.

Remus smiled slightly and inclined his head as he waited for her to join him. That's exactly how he'd spent the time.

Sirius wiped the snow off a bench and sat down, looking amused. By the time Muriel ran over to help Remus up off the ground, Sirius, who had hardly moved, was nearly frozen. She'd stuck with curses they all knew, and won fair and square, but she felt bad for knocking him silly with that last one. He'd hit her with a few good hexes too, though. When they joined Sirius on the bench, he held her by the chin with one hand to look at the scrape on her cheek. Remus had managed once to throw her backwards and her face had grazed the side of the empty water fountain. "I can fix that," he said solemnly. A moment later the scrape was gone, but Muriel had twigs sprouting out of her head in place of hair.

She shrieked as the boys laughed at her and pulled her wand out again. Sirius had a difficult time blocking her curses, since every time he looked at her he started laughing again. It was a long time before either of them landed a curse. She finally hit him with a bat bogey hex and told him he'd be spending Christmas with the flying rodents if he didn't fix her hair.

"I can't see you, how can I cast the spell?" he yelled, swiping at the bats fluttering around his face. In a moment they were gone.

"Cease fire?" Muriel asked. He nodded and picked his wand up out of the snow. He cast the counter curse and the twigs became hair again, which stood out for a moment, then fell down around her face. He stared at her for a bit, before Remus coughed and they both looked around.

"Just about lunch time," he said. "If you two are done trying to hex each other, let's go get some hot chocolate."

They sat at the Gryffindor table, since the Great Hall was practically deserted, laughing about their duels and planning what they'd do the rest of the holiday. "You're both really good, you know," Muriel told them. "I've been dueling with Papa and Sev since I was 8, and you managed to hold your own, when you weren't too busy laughing to think," she added. She fell silent, then, as Sirius and Remus chatted on. 'Papa and Sev. I sure hope you're okay,' she thought to herself. Remus insisted that they at least try to get some of their homework done, so they spent the afternoon in the library, working on star charts and Potions essays.

The next day was Christmas Eve. When they met for breakfast in the Great Hall, they were astounded to see that huge evergreen trees had appeared overnight. Professor Flitwick was supervising the tree decorations, so they offered to help. It took most of the morning to decorate all four trees, but they had a wonderful time. Sirius was glad to see Remus laughing and enjoying himself. He'd been afraid that his friend would spend Christmas being upset about his parents. They'd stayed up late last night, thinking up pranks for the next term, planning the last night of holidays, and talking about everything that had happened this year. Without Prongs, they decided to just stay in the Shrieking Shack for the full moon. Sirius wasn't sure that he could control Moony on his own, but he WAS sure that he was going to keep his friend company.

When the decorations were complete they stood back and admired their work. Unmeltable icicles hung from the branches of one tree. Muriel had turned each one a different color, and Remus knew a trick to make them glow. There were only so many live fairies to be had, after all.

The Christmas Eve feast was really stunning. So few students had stayed for the holidays that Sirius, Muriel and Remus ate with the teachers, and a few other students at one table. It was a rather noisy group until Professor Dumbledore, taking advantage of a lull in the conversation, looked down the table to Muriel and inquired about her father. The table went silent.

"I haven't heard from him for some time. He warned me that he might be busy this year," she said warily. Sirius and Remus exchanged a meaningful glance, but didn't know what they could say to help her. Muriel knew that Dumbledore was aware that she'd spent half the summer with the Blacks, since her book list had arrived there. He was looking at her now over the top of his glasses.

"I also have not received an owl from your father lately," he said gravely, as though he had regularly corresponded with him before. The entire table was listening now, and Muriel could feel her face growing hot. She wondered just how often her father was sending owls to Dumbledore. Surely not often, since Riddle would be furious if Mr. Deesia did any such thing.

"Severus said he would check on him for me, while he's home," Muriel replied. Dumbledore nodded.

"Yes, and how is young Mr. Snape feeling? I understand he was under the weather earlier this year." Muriel had the same sinking sensation that she'd experienced talking to Voldemort, and knew her eyes were widening in spite of every effort to appear unconcerned. Dumbledore, she was now sure, knew all about what had occurred in the Shrieking Shack. Sirius chose this moment to spill his pumpkin juice spectacularly over his and Muriel's robes and plates. Muriel knew an opportunity when she saw one, and gave a little shriek, jumping up from the table. Sirius stood too.

"Excuse me!" she exclaimed, and ran out of the hall to change her robes. Sirius followed her as Remus tried to sop up the mess with his napkin, looking disgusted to hide his grin. Dumbledore's eyes followed them out.

"Thanks!" she said breathlessly as they raced up the stairs. When they reached the Ravenclaw portrait hole, she turned to him, still dripping orange liquid. "I think I'll just turn in for the night. I don't want to go back down to the feast."

Sirius was disappointed, but he didn't want to be questioned by Dumbledore either. "Me neither. See you, then."

" 'Night," she replied. She hesitated only a moment, then stood on tiptoe and planted a quick kiss on his lips before disappearing behind the portrait to Ravenclaw tower. Sirius grinned widely all the way back to his dorm room. It was silly, really, but that was the first time she'd ever kissed him, though he'd kissed her several times. And for some reason it had made him unaccountably happy.

---

The light was just beginning to creep into Muriel's dorm room on Christmas day when she awoke. After dressing carefully, she grabbed the bag of presents she'd got for the marauders. She'd tricked one of the younger Gryffindors into giving her their password only two days ago, and she hoped it hadn't changed.

As quietly as she could, she entered Gryffindor's common room and headed up the stairs to the boys' dormitory, looking for the door that said '6th years.' She pushed it open and slipped inside. The empty bed nearest the door she guessed was Peter's. She carefully extracted a wrapped box and left it for him to find when he returned. Remus was next. He hadn't bothered to close his bed hangings, but he'd pulled the covers all the way over his head to block out the light. She left his boxes too. Then she found the smallest box and left it for James.

Sirius was in the bed by the window. She pulled out the last present and put it at the foot of his bed, then knelt down to look at him. His hair was scattered around his face, and she smiled. It reminded her of when she'd sent him spiraling across his back yard. She leaned on the bed and laid her head down on her arms, watching him sleep. She didn't realize she'd fallen asleep herself until Remus awoke.

"Padfoot, get up! Presents!" Muriel and Sirius both jumped, then stared at one another. Sirius grinned. They heard Remus thumping around.

"Er, Moony? Better toss on some clothes before you come over here. We've got company." Sirius was trying not to laugh. He knew the kind of goofy things Remus slept in. Muriel grinned.

"You, too, I would say." She stepped back and pulled his bed hangings closed as he got dressed. Remus came stumbling over a minute later, his hair sticking up at odd angles.

"Happy Christmas, Mur," he said sleepily, handing her a little box that trailed a great deal of red ribbon.

"Thanks Remus, you too. I put yours on your bed." There were now several more boxes than she had placed there. "The house elves must have been here since I arrived," she laughed. "Only two of those are from me, and it looks like they're on the bottom."

"Remus got two? I only got one!" Sirius exclaimed, thrusting aside his bed hangings dramatically. His hair was pulled back into the usual sleek ponytail, and he was smiling broadly in spite of his words.

"Happy Christmas, Muriel."

"Happy Christmas, Sirius." They must have looked at each other a moment too long, because Remus was already opening what she'd given him.

"It's a book," he said, "Thanks!" He was about to toss it aside when Muriel came back over to his bed.

"It's not just a book! Don't you recognize a port key when you see one?" Sirius and Remus both gaped at her. "Sirius told me you didn't get to go home for Christmas because you couldn't catch the train to get back," she explained delicately. "So I made this port key that activates with the same password as the Honeydukes passageway. It links to this room."

"You made me an unauthorized port key for Christmas?" His voice was dull, and suddenly Muriel was uncomfortable. Remus was the prefect of the group, but she'd been pretty sure he'd broken a few rules in his time. She threw a glance at Sirius, who was grinning knowingly. You can't make a port key for a place you'd never been. He finally had his confirmation that she'd hexed his broom all those years ago. She winked at him, then turned guiltily back to Remus.

"Well, yeah, I checked the lunar chart and saw that the same thing will happen over the Easter break and I thought - " She didn't get to tell him what she thought, however, as he tackled her with a huge bear hug.

Sirius laughed, but when Muriel started to turn blue he decided to interrupt. "All right, Moony, that's enough, you're squishing her!" He pushed Remus back onto the bed and pulled Muriel away as they all laughed.

"This is the best," Remus said, flipping through the book. Muriel grinned.

Sirius picked up the little package on James' bed. It was the only one, since all his other presents had been sent to his house. "You got something for James? I thought he was still hexing you in the hallways?"

"He is, but at least it hasn't been welts and boils lately," Muriel answered. "Besides, I'm still hexing him too. I only got him that because our team's seeker is tired of trying to practice without a snitch." Sirius laughed again and tossed the box back onto the bed.

"Your turn," he said, handing her a small box. He sat down on his bed to watch her open it. Remus paused as well. She gasped when she saw it, then looked up at Sirius.

"It's beautiful," she whispered, lifting the chain out of the box. It was a sliver chain hung with alternating black and purple gems to match her dress robes. He took it from her and turned her around to fasten it for her.

"Now it's beautiful," he whispered in her ear as he caught her eye in the mirror. Remus snorted, and they both looked over at him. He had opened Muriel's other present and apparently eaten one of the candies inside, as water was now pouring out of his ears and nose in alarming quantities. Sirius was laughing so hard that he had to sit down, but Muriel ran for her camera. She managed to snap a picture just before the effect wore off.

"What was that?" Remus asked, looking at the drenched bed and floor.

"Waterspout Wafers from Zonko's," Muriel said.

"The new joke shop in Hogsmeade? When did you manage to get there?" Sirius asked. The shop hadn't been open yet when they'd last gone to Hogsmeade.

"It just opened last week. I knew there'd be something there to get you guys for Christmas, so I took a little unauthorized trip."

"Unauthorized is the word of the day, then," Remus said, shaking his head.

"Did I get anything unauthorized?" Sirius laughed as he picked up his package and shook it.

"Don't!" Muriel exclaimed, "You might set them off!" Sirius got a mischievous look in his eye and winked at Remus as he tore open the package and pulled the lid off the box. Inside were many different colored and labeled boxes, all of which said "Zonko's."

"Two of everything they had. Notice yours are labeled," Muriel said, throwing a wicked grin at Remus. Remus looked down at the unmarked box in front of him, and then at the box on Peter's bed, which was about the same size. Muriel followed his gaze. "Don't tell, you'll spoil the fun!" She warned, as Sirius started pulling oddly shaped packages out of the box. In a few moments his bed was covered with wet-start fireworks, and candies that caused everything from water spouting to static electric charges that make you shock anyone you touch.

They spent the next few days planning what they'd do with Sirius' new stash of jokes, practicing shield charms in the snow, and checking on the honking daffodils in greenhouse two that they were supposed to keep alive for their friends over the holidays. Sirius couldn't help but notice that Muriel grew quieter as the end of the holidays approached. On the last day before students were expected back, she still hadn't heard from Severus or her father, and she spent all morning in her room with the mirror, waiting. Remus and Sirius disappeared after lunch, and she knew she wouldn't see them again until late the next day. She finished up the last of her homework before heading down to dinner, dreading what Dumbledore might ask her.

To her surprise, Dumbledore wasn't present at dinner, and she had a pleasant time chatting with the young Gryffindor who'd given her his password, and a few young Ravenclaws who'd also stayed for Christmas. She didn't stay long, however, before disappearing back to her room in case her father or Severus tried to contact her.

When the students returned, Muriel was determined to track down Severus and find out what had happened. She was still afraid to use the mirror to contact her father, and owl post could always be intercepted. She caught a glimpse of him at dinner, but by the time she made it to the Slytherin table, he was gone. For the few classes that Ravenclaw had with Slytherin, he came in as late as possible, and by then Muriel always had another partner. To top it all off, he traveled the halls surrounded by other students from his own house, and they were apparently under orders not to let her anywhere near him. She'd had to threaten Macnair just to get that much information. No matter what she said, he wouldn't help her corner Severus.

Three days before the third Quidditch match of the year, Gryffindor vs. Slytherin, Sirius found Muriel crying quietly in the library. It was the end of January, and she had not managed to get Severus to say a single word to her. She'd had an owl from her father to say that everything was all right, and that he'd arranged for her to stay the summer in Italy with his sister Rosa. But she didn't think anything was all right at all, or Severus would certainly have told her so.