The Embittering of Severus Snape

The days seemed to run together as the seventh years got closer to N.E.W.T.s. Classes went far too quickly for Muriel, who didn't feel as though she'd crammed enough into her head to be able to pass. Potions class was particularly difficult without Severus' help, but she knew she'd get through it somehow. She wondered how he was handling Arithmancy without her.

Muriel sat at breakfast, watching him talk with his fellow Slytherins. He sat with his back to her, which suited her fine. Her dorm mates had all gone home for the Christmas holiday and if he'd been facing her she wouldn't have had anything to look at. It was Saturday and the hall filled slowly as most students had gone home for break, and she was glad. Every class brought huge amounts of homework, and she was way behind. She had even gotten a detention last week for failing to turn in a Potions essay. Not that she expected to get much done over the holiday. Black had said he would stay with her again this year, and surprisingly the rest of the Marauders had decided to as well.

"You look thoughtful this morning," Sirius said in her ear as he plopped himself down on the bench beside her.

She jumped. "I had to move my stack of unfinished homework out of the way before I could open my door this morning," she said dryly as the rest of the Marauders joined them. "I guess if I'd been thinking about it before, I wouldn't have to think so hard about it now." She grinned. "So what kind of adventures are you boys planning? You wouldn't all be staying if you weren't up to something!"

The marauders looked slyly at one another. "Oh, we were thinking about a romp in the woods," James said casually. Muriel looked at Remus, who shrugged.

"But there's no full moon over the holiday," she whispered.

Sirius grinned. "Exactly why it would be alright for you to come along. You can keep Remus company."

Muriel smiled. "As if I don't have anything better to do than chase you animals around!" She sounded exasperated. "Alright, when do you want to go?"

"The day after Christmas," Remus answered.

"Good, because I need tomorrow for my unauthorized trip to Hogsmeade." She winked at Remus, who snorted. Peter did his best to look victimized as he remembered the candies she'd given him last year, but she ignored him. "It would be nice if we could all open presents together, but I'd hate to have to break into Gryffindor tower again. Any ideas?" At first all the boys shook their heads.

"Wait," Sirius said slowly. "Maybe that passageway on the fourth floor?"

James stared at him in disbelief. Had he really just heard Sirius giving away the location to one of their secret passageways?

Muriel laughed, hearing James' thoughts. "Oh, the one behind the mirror?" She paused to look at their shocked faces. "Sev and I found that second year." Even as she spoke the smile fell from her face and her eyes wandered passed James' face to see Severus, who was now talking quietly with a pretty Slytherin 6th year, Jolina Avery. She looked down at the table.

"That will be perfect," Remus said quickly. "And now, if you two are done shoveling, I mean eating," he indicated James and Sirius, "I think it's time we introduced James and Peter to our annual dueling tournament." He winked at Muriel and stood.

James was impressed in spite of himself. Muriel's dueling tactics were better than Sirius had described. He was thankful that his mate had taught him those new shield charms. They had practiced all summer, and he was getting pretty good at deflecting things back toward his attacker, but Muriel was just too fast. In the end, she'd caught his ankle with a wringing charm and it had twisted sharply, causing him to fall. He'd got off one last curse before she disarmed him, though.

Remus performed a healing charm on James' ankle and helped him up as Sirius pushed Peter off the bench. Peter approached Muriel cautiously. She noticed his eyes shifting a bit, as though he was looking for somewhere to hide. He hadn't visited James and Sirius at the Potter's house all summer, and therefore had never benefited from their practices. Still, his father had taught him how to cast a shield charm.

Muriel smirked. Peter kept recasting the shield charm. He deflected her curses so haphazardly that Sirius had been forced more than once to cast his own shield to protect the spectators! Unfortunately for Peter, one could not hold the shield charm while casting other curses, so he had yet to throw a single hex at Muriel. She was quickly becoming impatient. Finally she settled on a plan.

She threw another harmless curse at him, aiming high on purpose. Then, while his shield materialized near his head, she quickly cast a stinging hex at his right foot. The short boy swore loudly, and his shield charm dropped as he grasped his foot. "Rictusempra!" Her voice was triumphant, and Peter flew through the air, landing heavily in a drift of snow at the castle wall.

It took him a moment to dig his way out, scowling at his laughing friends. Sirius was rolling in the snow, clutching his sides. Peter brushed the snow from his hair and robes. "Well, YOU beat her, then," he said grumpily, aiming a kick at Sirius, who rolled deftly away.

"Now, you realize that since this will be your third try, I'm not going to go easy on you," Muriel said quietly as Sirius picked himself up and raised his wand. He smirked, remembering the practice sessions he and James had staged all summer. He bowed and counted, allowing her to cast the first hex.

By the time Remus shouted at them to stop, Sirius was covered in sweat, and Muriel had banished her robes to free her arm movement. Both were covered in snow, having landed in it several times. They each bowed again, agreeing to a cease-fire. "If we don't get in there soon, lunch will be over!" Remus said, thankful that there wasn't going to be enough time for his turn.

Muriel was quiet on the way back to the castle. She'd learned more about these boys dueling with them than she ever had talking with them. For example, she now knew that Peter and James both knew a little Occlumency. She guessed they'd gone out of their way to learn it over the summer. Remus, with the mind of a werewolf, had always had a gift at blocking her, ever since she'd first explained her abilities on the train ride home in their 5th year. She couldn't imagine that Sirius hadn't bothered to learn it when James did. In spite of having no real interest in knowledge, he tended to soak up information like a sponge. It was probably the only reason he passed all his classes.

As they headed back to the Great Hall, she grabbed his sleeve and he hung back. "So, James and Peter are Occlumens now, what about you?"

Sirius faked a shocked expression. "What do you mean?"

She smiled. "I can usually read James like a book, but several times I wasn't able to tell what spells he was thinking of until they were already on their way."

Sirius was grinning. "I made him promise only to use it in combat situations." This earned him a stern look.

"But I knew exactly what YOU were going to cast," she said, almost hating to admit it.

"Ah, so what you're saying is that I would have beaten you in that duel if it had been fair." She pushed him toward the wall and he laughed, until he saw the look on her face. "Ok, yes, I've known how to do it for quite a while, actually. You probably noticed that my mother's mind is like a brick wall? Well, when I was young, before I realized that she was training me to be a Death Eater, she used to teach me all sorts of things. Occlumency was one of them. I got pretty good at it."

"You get good at everything you learn," she said, laughing. She was a little shocked to learn that he COULD have been blocking her out all this time, but had chosen not to. It was refreshing to be around someone who wasn't hiding anything.

Sirius smiled at her, but inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. His few small secrets were still safe. She hadn't asked just how good at it he was, and didn't realize that he could protect just those pieces of information and still seem very open to her.

Mur made her way through the Honeydukes tunnel bright and early the next morning, a little worried about what she would find to get the boys for Christmas this year. She spent the entire morning wandering in and out of shops. She didn't like being alone in Hogsmeade, since it reminded her of Severus, and decided that she might have better luck in Diagon Alley. She looked at the few things she'd found: an elegant quill for Peter that was charmed to write the opposite of what he intended, and a book about experimental potions for Remus. She'd heard someone say that they were on the verge of discovering a cure for lycanthropy, and the book had an entire section dedicated to the subject. She knew Remus was about as good at Potions as she was, but figured it would at least be interesting reading. She still needed something for Sirius, James, and Lily. She was pretty sure that Lily would be opening presents with them, although James hadn't decided if he wanted the Head Girl to know about their secret passageway.

Muriel Apparated to the Leaky Cauldron, but hesitated before going in, suddenly remembering Sirius' half-finished motorcycle. He'd said it was harder than he thought, but that he'd probably be able to finish it next summer. She smiled, remembering how excited he'd been. Maybe she could get him something that would go well with that. Instead of entering the Leaky Cauldron, she headed off through Muggle London, glad to have finally thought of something.

When James woke up on Christmas Eve, he wasn't surprised to see Sirius pacing the room and mumbling to himself. Remus and Peter, however, were already up and looking at their friend with worried expressions. Sirius was never nervous. James grinned sleepily. "Going through with it then, Padfoot?" he asked, loudly enough to snap him out of it.

"What? Yeah, I think so." Sirius sat down hard at the foot of James' bed as Remus and Peter exchanged a confused glance.

"Better tell them, then, don't you think," James prodded, as Sirius stared at his hands. Peter came over to sit on Remus' bed as Sirius pulled a small green box out of his pocket. He handed it silently to Remus, who opened it and grinned.

"Oh, Padfoot, you shouldn't have! Of course my answer is - " Sirius tackled him before he could finish and ripped the box back out of his hands, then resumed his pacing. Peter was laughing silently, not wanting to incur a similar reaction.

James reached out and took the box out of his hands. "She'll love it Padfoot," he said. Sirius stopped to look at him and noticed a strange expression cross his friend's face.

"What?"

"Alexandrite, right?" James asked slowly.

"Well, yeah. I thought it would match her dress robes, and that necklace I got her last year. She seems to really like that color. Why?" Their minerology class had been discontinued in 4th year for lack of a teacher, and he'd never really been interested in the magical properties of stones.

"Alexandrite is really easy to charm, and holds a charm forever once you've done it," James said slowly. "This was a Black family heirloom, right? Have you checked it for hexes?" Sirius' face paled as he took the box back from James. He hadn't thought about that, he'd been too excited when he found it at the house before he left last summer. He didn't even know which of his ancestors it had belonged to.

James saw the anguished look on his friend's face. "Don't worry," he said quickly. "I know someone who's amazing with charms. I'm sure she'll be able to tell us if it's got one or not." Sirius looked up sharply, then headed for the door. James called him back, laughing. "You should probably put a shirt on before you go stand at the base of the girl's staircase and bellow. Besides, I want to go with you."

Sirius took his hand off the doorknob and caught the shirt Remus tossed him. A few minutes later a very annoyed Lily Evans was shaken awake by one of her dorm mates. "For Merlin's sake find out what he wants so he'll shut up!" The girl said, falling back into her own bed.

Lily threw on a dressing gown and ran down the stairs. "Quiet, both of you! What's wrong with you two?" She gave Sirius and James the most exasperated look she could muster, and was determined to be upset with them, until she caught the desperate look on Sirius' face. "What is it?" She couldn't recall ever seeing that look on his face before.

The boys explained the situation and watched with satisfaction as Lily's eyes widened at the sight of the ring. She ran upstairs to dress. By the time she came back down, James, Peter and Remus were watching Sirius pace again. They all headed to the library, where they spent the rest of the day testing the ring for every charm, curse and hex they could think of. It was nearly time for the Christmas Eve feast when Lily cast yet another detection charm and was surprised when the ring began to glow a deep golden color.

Sirius, the only Marauder who was still watching intently, poked James in the ribs. "What? OH!" He turned from the wizard chess game he'd been losing to Remus and frowned. But when he met Lily's eyes, she was grinning.

"Well, that's perfect then!" Lily exclaimed, smiling happily at Sirius, who looked confused. "Alexandrite can only hold one charm, and once it's cast it's permanent. It can't be replaced or removed. This one has an escryvian charm on it, but its mate was destroyed, so it can't ever be used again. For all intents and purposes, it's now an ordinary Muggle ring!"

"How can you tell the mate was destroyed?" Sirius asked, taking the ring from her and placing it back into the box.

"Because the escryvian charm turns whatever stone it's cast on a deep blood red, and when the charm is detected, it will glow red. But when half of the charm is broken, the other half reverts to itself. I can detect the charm, but it glows a harmless gold."

Sirius set the box down on the table in front of him and rubbed his eyes. He suddenly felt like he hadn't blinked all day. When he opened his eyes again, Lily had tapped the box with her wand, wrapping it in pretty gold paper and a lot of silver ribbon. "Thanks, Lily!" he said. "For everything!"

Sirius hid the box under his pillow before joining the others in the Great Hall for the feast. The hall looked spectacular as usual, and they all had a good time pestering Muriel about how her unauthorized shopping trip had gone. She shrugged off their pointed questions with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Well, Lily," Muriel asked as they finished dinner, "Do you want to come and help me decorate our secret Christmas hideaway?" She stifled a grin as James choked on his pumpkin juice. He glared at her.

"Relax, James, I have a very handy blindfold in my pocket, and she is really good with charms, so she'd be a lot of help."

Sirius' head snapped toward Muriel, and Remus coughed to cover it. "Maybe you wouldn't mind some help? I was planning to ask someone to join us as well, so she and I could meet you two up there if you want." He was talking very quickly and Muriel looked him hard in the eye for a moment before nodding.

In the hall, Muriel pulled out her blindfold and tied it around Lily's eyes. "Remus must be really nervous about whoever he's asking to have Christmas with us," she commented casually. "I don't think I've ever heard him talk so fast."

Lily laughed. "I wonder who it is. I haven't heard him say that he was interested in anyone, but then he does usually keep to himself." Muriel waved a hand in front of her friend's eyes as she spoke, but got no response. She cast a quick spell to muddle Lily's mind a bit so she wouldn't think to count staircases and turns, then led her to the fifth floor. They walked around a bit before she led her back downstairs to the fourth floor, and opened the mirror that was the gateway to their passage. When it closed behind her she took off Lily's blindfold.

"OH!" Lily said. Muriel looked around the wide chamber. There was a door to a tunnel on the other side of the room, but when she'd come through earlier, levitating the still undecorated evergreen, she had magicked it to look like part of the wall. For all Lily knew, it wasn't a passageway at all.

"I couldn't find you guys when I first got back, so I went ahead and scavenged some decorations from the house elves. But I knew I'd be up all night if I didn't have some help!" For a while they worked in silence. Lily levitated ornaments to the upper boughs of the tree and Muriel transfigured spare bed sheets into ropes of garland and hung them from the rough-hewn ceiling.

"So how have things been going with you and James?" she asked.

Lily smiled. "I honestly didn't believe you last year when you said he'd grown up. I think he's starting to, though. He's stopped being so bloody arrogant all the time, though he still musses his hair on purpose."

"He'll probably always do that, especially if you keep drooling over him whether his hair is messy or not."

"I do not drool!" Lily exclaimed, tossing a sprig of holly at Mur, who banished it back to her without thinking.

"You do, I've seen you. Are you two going out yet?"

Lily turned back to the Christmas tree to hide her smile. "Yes, he asked me at Halloween, after you left the feast."

"That's great, Lily!" Muriel caught the dreamy look in her friend's eyes and fell silent. Muriel had known that Lily liked James since fourth year, when they'd first got to be friends, but Lily had never wanted to admit it.

"Well, what about you and Sirius?" Lily already had a shrewd idea how things were going with that, but didn't want to raise suspicion by not asking.

"Oh, well, sometimes I still have trouble believing that he really wants to go out with me. At least, when he isn't around I do, but the beauty of my particular gift is that I can tell exactly how he feels when we're together. That's why that whole bet with Aurora was so stupid. She didn't realize that if he ever stopped caring for me, I'd probably know it before he did!" Muriel flashed Lily a grin and fell silent as the mirror swung open to reveal Remus leading a pretty Ravenclaw 6th year. Muriel recognized her as Trista Chesser.

"Hi Trista!" she said as he removed the girl's blindfold. She knew that Trista wasn't overly fond of her, and she was pretty sure that she'd been trying to help Aurora win her bet, but if Remus liked her, she wanted to be nice to the girl.

"Hello," she replied coldly. "Where's everyone else?" She looked around at the decorations as though she was already bored.

"They'll be here in the morning," Remus answered, exchanging a glance with Muriel. He hadn't realized that the two didn't get along. "We're just decorating now." He saw Muriel's eyes narrow, and before he could react, she had her wand out and was pointing it at her housemate. The blindfold she'd been wearing whipped out of Remus' hands and tied itself tightly around the girl's head, causing her to squeal.

Muriel looked apologetically at Remus. "Trista and I need to have a chat," she said forcefully.

The girl beside him whined, "Remus? What's going on?" Lily looked on with wide eyes, but Remus only shrugged and stepped aside as Muriel took the girl's arm and led her back outside. When the mirror was closed behind them, Muriel led her most of the way around the corridor in front of the stairs and stopped just before they reached the mirror again.

"Why did you come here," she hissed, waving her wand to remove the blindfold.

"I don't know what you mean! I was invited." Trista insisted hotly. Muriel could feel her fear, just as she had heard her thoughts a moment before.

"I mean that if you think it's funny to accept an invitation from Remus just to try and get close to Potter you need to think again!" Muriel kept her voice low.

Trista took a step back, shocked. "How could you have known that?"

"It's a well kept secret that I tend to be able to see what people are thinking. When we're finished here, you won't remember any of this, but first you are going to go back in there and apologize to Remus! He deserves a lot better."

"I will not! He doesn't ever have to know." She turned to leave, but Muriel cast an impediment curse on her. "Let me go!" she exclaimed.

"No. I won't have Remus thinking I ran you off just because I don't like you. He deserves to know why you don't want to stay."

"Forget it," came a voice from behind them. Muriel looked around to see that Remus had emerged from behind the mirror. His jaw was set, and he didn't meet Muriel's eye. "Let her go."

Muriel did as he asked and Trista ran down the stairs as quickly as she could go. "I'm sorry, Remus. I didn't mean for you to hear all that."

He shook his head. "Happens all the time. I should have known better, really." They could still hear Trista's footsteps as she pounded down the staircase. Muriel leaned over the rail and aimed carefully.

"Obliviate," she whispered as Trista reached a landing. The force of the spell made her stumble, but she didn't fall. When she straightened up, they saw her look around, confused, then continue walking calmly down the stairs back toward the Great Hall. Mur turned to Remus. "She won't remember that you asked her."

"Thanks," he said hollowly. Muriel felt awful, but she would have felt far worse if the girl had sat with them on Christmas morning flirting with James.

"You want one too?" She offered, knowing already what his answer would be. She took his hand.

"No," he replied as she pulled him back toward the mirror. "Let's just finish up and go to bed."

Lily looked up as they came back in. The room looked wonderful. You could hardly tell that it was just an unfinished passageway. "Remus?" Lily asked hesitantly. "Could you make these glow? Mur said you knew a charm to do that, and I don't know it." In reality, Muriel hadn't said anything of the sort. She had sent the idea into Lily's mind at that very minute. But Remus nodded and went to help her.

When they finished, the three friends looked around the room appreciatively. Mur dragged a box out of a corner and starting putting presents under the tree. She grinned up at Remus. "Thought I'd better get him two this year," she explained, setting out two packages wrapped in the same paper. When her box was empty, Remus blindfolded Lily again and they walked back toward Gryffindor tower in silence.

Lily said goodnight and went inside, but turned when Remus didn't follow her. "Go ahead, tell them I'll be up in a bit," he said. She nodded and closed the portrait. "Don't mind if I walk you back, do you?" he asked, smiling wanly.

"I'd be honored," Mur responded solemnly. They headed for the other side of the castle, eyes and ears open for any indication of Filch or Mrs. Norris.

"You know," Remus said finally, "I think that's the 9th time that has happened to me. I've never had proof before, but it always seems that anyone I'm interested in likes James or Sirius instead. Girls only hang out with me to get to know them." He didn't sound bitter, only hurt. Muriel nodded, but didn't know what to say.

"I mean, it's hard enough to get close to anyone when I'm gone so often, and usually not feeling well. Plus the fact that, no matter what, I'll always have a secret to keep. I guess werewolves aren't designed for romance," he finished softly.

Muriel stopped walking. "That's ridiculous," she said bluntly as he turned to face her. "The only reason you can't find someone to date is because there isn't a single girl in this school who's good enough for you. I can promise you it isn't because there's something wrong with you. And it doesn't have anything to do with being a werewolf either. Lily and I both know, and it hasn't changed how either of us think of you."

"Lily knows?" he asked quietly. Lily had never mentioned it. "I wonder if James told her."

"I doubt it. Knowing Lily, she probably just pieced the information together herself. She knows about Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, too."

Remus laughed suddenly. "And what else have you gleaned from her head lately?" He tried to sound casual, hoping Mur hadn't learned about Sirius' ring.

"I didn't glean it from her mind! We were comparing notes fifth year, that's all." Muriel laughed, but became serious again quickly. "I hope you aren't too upset about Trista, Moony. Had you two been dating for a while?"

"No," he said, relieved that she hadn't learned anything about the day's activities from Lily. "We went to Hogsmeade together last time, but she was disappointed that we didn't hang out with James or Sirius then, too. They were with you and Lily, and Peter didn't go. I really only asked her so I wouldn't have to wander around by myself."

"Well, next time you're coming with Sirius and me." She said as they reached the Ravenclaw portrait. "And no arguments," she added as he opened his mouth.

He closed it again, then said, "Ok, but if I do decide to ask anyone, I want you to talk to her and find out if she has a crush on Padfoot or Prongs BEFORE I ask her." He was grinning lopsidedly and Muriel decided he was going to be alright.

"It's a deal." They shook on it. She whispered the password and the portrait swung open.

"Thanks, Mur," Remus whispered as she entered. They said goodnight as the portrait closed, and Remus made his way back to Gryffindor tower, wondering when he'd ever meet someone like Muriel or Lily.