Belles Of Slytherin

Rissa awoke to being bludgeoned over the head with a pillow. She groaned and burrowed deeper under the blankets. She'd been having a deliciously wonderful dream about a warm beach with the sun on her face and the very idea of waking up from it was horrid. "Go 'way. I don't wanna get up."

"You have to," Medea started firmly, whacking her again. "You told me to make sure you got up on time."

Rissa stirred and peered at her friend balefully through her hair. She hated that Medea was a morning person. She also hated that she never got up late. She had the best internal clock of anyone Rissa had ever met. If Medea said she was going to wake up at a certain time, she did, on the dot. On the other hand, Rissa woke up groggy and disoriented every day. It took her at least fifteen minutes to get into the swing of things and get her brain in working order. "What day is it?"

"Sunday," Medea answered, plopping down on the edge of the bed and crossing her arms over the pillow in her lap. "Oversleep if you want."

Rissa sat up straight and tossed her blankets back. "Oh damn. I can't. It's D-day." Sunday was the great detention day. She blinked and yawned as she slid out of the nest of blankets, staggered around trying to find her jeans and Weird Sisters sweatshirt to wear under her grungiest robes for whatever Snape would have her doing. There was no way that she was going to wear anything decent and have it ruined. After she got dressed and laced up her scuffed boots, she twisted her hair up in a loose knot to keep it out of her way.

"You look like you escaped from Azkaban," Medea muttered.

Rissa sighed impatiently as she put her wand and Issy, still limp with sleep, in the pockets of her robe. "I seriously doubt that Professor Snape will notice or care."

Medea snorted contemptuously. "I wouldn't de-gnome a garden dressed like that."

Rissa turned to regard her levelly. If Medea Malfoy had ever had to work in a garden, she'd eat her dragon hide gloves. "Have you ever had to de-gnome a garden?"

Medea laughed lightly and threw her pillow at Rissa. "It was a totally hypothetical statement. That's what gardeners are for, isn't it?"

Rissa batted the pillow away from her and rolled her eyes. Maybe if your name was Malfoy, she thought. That had been her parents' idea of a way to keep her out of mischief. She had learned, as she had gotten older that it was also a very good way to let out pent up frustrations, even if it did break a few nails. She simply imagined the gnome was someone she wouldn't mind throwing over the garden wall and went to it. "I guess I should consider myself lucky that dungeons don't get gnomes then."

Medea frowned. "Nooo, but I think we have chameleon ghouls. There's a few suits of armor that seem to keep relocating."

Rissa shook her head as she put on her watch. "Who's ever heard of a de-ghouling?

Medea arched a brow as she stood up and retrieved her pillow and tossed it on her bed. "I've seen one. Uncle Lucius had the house elves chase three out of Malfoy manor one Easter with pitchforks. He said they were disturbing him at night."

Rissa opened her mouth to say something and thought better of it. In her mind, Lucius Malfoy was just plain disturbed. She checked her watch again and groaned. "We the condemned who are about to die salute you. I've got to go."

Medea waved cheerily. "See you sometime later."

Rissa muttered something dark and waved back as she set off up the steps to the common room and then knocked on the door to Snape's office. Snape called out for her to enter and then looked up as she came to stand in front of his desk.

He raked her from head to foot with a critical gaze over the papers her was grading. "I do hope you aren't expecting me to be seen anywhere with you looking like that," he said, dryly.

Rissa looked down at her state of dress and blew a stray wisp of hair out of her face. "Who is going to see me?"

Snape gave an exasperated sigh, tossing down his quill. "I have some supplies to pick up and matters to attend to. I expect you to accompany me and deal with carrying my packages and the like, but not if you are dressed like someone's poor relation. I'd like to maintain the Slytherin image at least a bit." He paused for a moment. "If you would rather stay here and re-glaze the bottoms of my cauldrons instead..."

Several points jumped out to her at once. The first being that she was getting to go somewhere interesting with Professor Snape, the other being that she would rather be beaten with a stick than have to re-glaze cauldrons. "I can change in a minute," She quickly pointed out.

Snape nodded and made a grand gesture. "Yes, take your time," he added, his voice dripping cold sarcasm. "I'm at your disposal."

Rissa hurried back to her room and quickly threw open the lid of her trunk and dragged out another change of clothes, these, she hoped, much more suited to a shopping expedition. As she was changing, Medea raised her head from her pillow and squinted at her through one eye.

"What are you doing back so soon?" She grumbled. "Testing poisons?"

Rissa snorted and pulled her charcoal gray robe trimmed with green and silver piping over her head and belted it. "Nope, I was incorrectly dressed. No drudgery today, unless you consider carrying parcels drudgery."

Medea sat up with a confused look on her face. "Close. What exactly are you doing?"

Rissa rolled her eyes and took her hair down, quickly braiding it and pinning the braid in a coronet. "I have no idea, except Professor Snape seems to be going on a supply trip and I have to go with him."

"Hogsmeade?" Medea asked with a lift of one brow.

"You know, I didn't stop and ask. Why? You need me to take a list for you too?" Rissa retorted as she pulled on her shoes.

Medea laughed. "I see. You're joking."

Rissa smiled sweetly as she collected Issy and her wand once again. "I'll tell you at dinner." With that parting shot she hurried back to Snape's office, where he was waiting for her, his arms tucked into his sleeves, one foot tapping impatiently. "Do I pass inspection now?" She asked quickly.

"Adequate," he replied shortly, tossing her a leather satchel. "Let's be on our way before even more time is wasted.

Rissa quickly followed him as she strode out of the dungeons and through the castle to the broom shed. Snape paused in front of the rack and then pulled out a very neat, well maintained Twigger 90. "We'll fly to Hogsmeade," he said as he stepped back.

Rissa grabbed her own Nimbus 2000. "Is that were we're going?" She asked as she looped the satchel's strap over her head.

He nodded as he ducked out of the broom shed and mounted his broom. "For now."

She rolled her eyes at his cryptic answer as she followed, mounted her broom and waited for him to lead the way. The flight to Hogsmeade was brief; brief enough to make her wonder why they even bothered with the brooms. It was only a short brisk walk. She wondered if Snape was that adverse to physical exercise or if what some of her housemates said was true: that Professor Snape had a natural aversion to too much time spent outside in fresh air and sunlight.

Rissa was also surprised when their first stop, instead of Dervish and Banges as she had expected, was The Three Broomsticks. Snape waved dismissively at Madam Rosmerta, who was seated at the bar having a cup of tea and barely looked up, as he walked to the fireplace. "We're just passing through, my dear, don't stir yourself."

Snape helped himself to a pinch of Floo powder from the box on the mantle bearing the Hogwarts crest and tossed in the fire. He looked back at Rissa before addressing the fire. "The Leaky Cauldron."

Before Rissa could question, he stepped into the fire and disappeared in a whirl of flames and soot. She blinked, staring at the fire in shock for a moment.

"Go on, sweetie. He gets so pettish when he's kept waiting," Madam Rosmerta prompted.

Pettish? Rissa questioned as she tossed her pinch of Floo powder in the fire. "The Leaky Cauldron," she muttered with a sigh. What was Professor Snape doing dragging her all the way to London for his shopping? Was it even permissible to take a student that far on detention? And just what sort of detention was that? Shopping at Diagon Alley was a punishment? She shook off the questions and stepped into the fireplace, holding her breath and closing her eyes.

Moments later, she was shaking the last of the soot off her robes in the Leaky Cauldron. Snape thrust a list in her hand. "See that you get everything on this list, in the shops listed. Have them put it in my Hogwarts account." Then he handed her another list. "This is my personal list. See that it is put on my personal accounts."

Rissa looked at the two lists that were both about as long as her arm. To think there for a moment, I thought this would be fun, she sighed to herself. "If they should give me any trouble with putting it on account?"

"Are you daft, Miss Covington?" He handed her a sealed envelope. "A signed letter giving you permission to fill the lists, and before you think of it, I will know if you should try to slip in so much as a beetle eye that is not on that list."

Rissa stiffened in anger. To dare accuse her of something like that... it was an insult to her family as well as the Slytherin house. "I hardly think that I would steal!"

Snape eyed her as he straightened the cuffs of his robes. "Indeed... I have some personal things to take care of. I'll meet you back here in three hours. Do be prompt, so that I'm not searching for you."

Three hours. She figured that it would take at least that to get everything on his lists, if she hurried. She watched Snape's retreating form for a moment before turning to start the long task of dealing with shopkeepers. She looked at the lists and sighed. It appeared that she would have to deal with every shopkeeper in Diagon Alley. She took a deep breath and set off to Odds and Tails, the shop that specialized in bulk potion ingredients. She surely hoped that the half a barrel of pickled ferret hearts wasn't one of the parcels that she was expected to lug around.

In the first shop, she devised a plan to shave some time off the process. She carefully tore the lists into the parts and left them with the shopkeepers, promising to return for the orders when she was done. It turned out to be a very good plan because in an hour, she had conducted all the business she needed to other than the collecting. She was pausing in front of Madam Malkin's shop and peering in the window at a set of lovely royal blue robes trimmed in seed pearls when she caught a glimpse of Snape out of the corner of her eye.

She slipped behind a post she watched him as he looked around surreptitiously as he slipped toward Knockturn Alley. Rissa blinked and leaned as far as she dared to watch him. He hurriedly ducked down the street and disappeared from sight. She held her breath for a moment as she thought about what she had just witnessed. What was he doing down there? Nothing legitimate she was sure. Was that what his 'personal business' was? She chewed her lip for a moment, curiosity eating at her. She thought about following him for a moment. What would Medea do if she were in Rissa's place? She could practically head her friend's voice hissing in her ear. Follow him! See what he's up to!

Probably not the soundest advice, Rissa mused as she looked at her watch. She had time, she estimated, to see if she could track where he had slipped off to if nothing else. Then she could backtrack and pick up the packages and meet Snape at the Leaky Cauldron, without him ever being the wiser. Yes, she sighed to herself as she stealthily followed after him up Knockturn Alley, she was in fact stalking a professor, who was up to something that had a high probability of being up to something shifty. Medea would be proud.

Rissa ducked behind a cart of desiccated lizards and Occamy as Snape slipped in the open door of a disreputable looking shop, which according to the small weather-beaten sign above the door was Foxworth's Procurement. Well that certainly clears up what the contents were, she thought darkly. She edged to the open doorway peering into the dark and musty interior of the shop, trying to remain unseen as she strained her ears to discover what Snape was doing.

"So Severus, what do you have for me today?" The shopkeeper asked. He was as equally disreputable looking as his shop and wares were. He was short, dark and had a decidedly piggy stare. He was rubbing his hands together in a greedy fashion as he gestured Snape further into the shop.

The shop itself reminded Rissa of nothing so much as a wizard garage sale with it's heaped tables and jumbled dusty shelves of everything imaginable, crammed haphazardly together. Her eyes picked out something that looked like a vampire skull on a shelf with a half burned black candle on the top. A small gritty case full of jewelry had a sign on the front proclaiming it was cursed. She half wished that she could take a look around the place.

Snape reached in his robe and quickly produced two vials out of an inner pocket and held them in front of the man. Rissa squinted trying to get a better look at them. The first was a sulfurous yellow and murky. The second, a clear crystalline color with tiny specks flashing in it like dust motes in a beam of sunlight. "I think you will find that both are hot enough commodities for your shop, Reginald," Snape replied silkily.

The shopkeeper, presumably Reginald, held out a hesitant hand and touched the vial of yellow potion. "Is that Winged Death?" He asked in a reverent hush.

Rissa shuddered. That one, she had heard of. It had been mentioned in DADA class. It was a horrible poison. It didn't kill you outright. It just made you think that you could fly. An extremely powerful and selective hallucinogen that was very hard to trace. That was probably because the victims were usually splattered all over the flagstones.

Snape smiled coldly. "In that high of demand, is it?"

Reginald blinked and straightened up, clearing his throat with a loud harrumph. "And what were you looking to trade those in on? Obviously more than your usual odds and ends."

Snape nodded. "I need a hundred grams of maiden's hair."

Reginald's eyebrows shot up. "Ho ho... harvested post mortem, I assume?"

Rissa blinked as the implications sunk in. Hair of a dead virgin? Somehow, she didn't think that was in the class syllabus at Hogwarts. Plus she didn't think she had ever read of a spell that included anything like that. Polyjuice required a bit of someone, but she was pretty sure that you couldn't use it to impersonate someone dead. Besides that, anything that required dead people bits couldn't be good.

"Of course." Snape rolled his eyes. "And I do hope that you wouldn't try to pass off anything of lesser quality... this time."

"And how do I know that you won't try to cheat me?" The shopkeeper asked angrily. "How do I know that those are the real thing? Someone of your skill could produce fakes."

"Because," Snape stated impassively, his stare going chillier. "Unlike some people, I have vestiges of honor and pride."

Reginald sniffed superciliously. "Let me see what I have in the back." He disappeared through a beaded curtain and left Snape alone in the front of the shop.

Snape wandered around, picking up the odd items here and there to look at it. Rissa flattened herself back against the wall next to the door as he got closer to her. She held her breath and wondered if there were any possible excuses for her being there if discovered. None came to mind. She was saved as Reginald returned from the back.

"Here you go, have a look at this," he said triumphantly.

Rissa heard a soft rustle almost in the doorway as Snape turned and walked back to the counter. She sighed imperceptibly and relaxed, her heart beating so fast she swore they could hear it in the shop. After a moment she turned to peek back around the door and saw Snape bending over to peer intently at a pile of reddish brown hair in tiny braids. She made a face as the two men turned to the small set of brass scales and carefully weighed out the hair. "Yes, that will do nicely," Snape murmured as Reginald tipped the plate of hair into a small bag and handed it to him.

Rissa pulled back quickly and looked around before she quickly ran across the street and started making her way back toward Diagon Alley. She was going to take no more chances on being caught by Snape during her spying. She barely called out an apology as she careened into an old crone, neatly dodging the hex lobbed after her. She slowed down, holding her side and panting to catch her breath as she came back to the doorway of Slug and Jiggers. After a moment she took a deep breath, composing herself and smoothing her hair as she walked to the counter and collected Snape's packages and stowing them in the leather satchel over her shoulder.

Feeling more composed, she hurried through the rest of the list, collecting things and stowing everything in the bag, which remained relatively light and empty looking though she had packed enough stuff in it to fill it three times. What she wouldn't give to have one of them for herself, she mourned as she headed for Flourish and Blotts to pick up the three special order books that Snape had instructed her to collect for him. She glanced at the titles of the two rare first editions as the shopkeeper perused the letter of credit Snape had given her and slipped them in the bag. She half hoped that she would have a chance to glance through them when she was done and waiting for Snape to conclude his shady dealings.

At last she was done collecting everything except the order from Odds and Tails, which was going to be delivered. She wandered back past Madam Malkin's, giving the blue robes in the window one last wistful glance before heading back to the Leaky Cauldron. After sitting at a table near a window and pulling out one of the books to read she ordered a butter beer and sat back to read a very dry treatise on potions.

Professor Snape arrived at last and crossed his arms watching her. "Enjoying my book?"

Rissa started and closed the book with a thump. "I... was just waiting here for you."

Snape slid into the chair across from her and inclined his head to the empty butter beer bottle. "I see you made yourself comfortable for the wait."

She placed the book carefully back in the satchel and shrugged. "I did skip breakfast."

Snape looked pained for a moment then clicked his tongue once before waving over a waitress and ordering tea and scones for two. "I hardly want to end up on review for starving a student."

As the tea arrived, Rissa busied herself stirring sugar into her tea, nervous under Snape's regard. The heavy silence hung between them, picking at her nerves. She tried to think of anything she could say to break it but drew a blank. She sighed and sipped her tea, picking at her scone, trying to pick out the currents.

Snape cleared his throat a moment later, apparently not bothered by the quiet at all, though he broke it. "Professor Trelawney is very impressed with the dedication to your project this term."

Rissa managed a wan smile. It was not a subject she would have chosen to talk about, considering it was that project that had, in a round about way, landed her in the detention. "Yes, it's been very interesting."

Snape smirked slightly. "She seems to think that you have a very real talent for divination."

Rissa considered her reply before she spoke. It was no great secret that Snape thought that just about any branch of magic besides Potions was a waste of time and effort, Divinations especially so. On some fronts, she agreed with him, on others, she didn't. Divinations, at least phrenology, she was still debating. "I find phrenology at least to be..." She paused, looking for the right word. "Worthwhile study, if only for a hobby and insight into people."

Snape arched a brow. "Oh? Do tell."

Rissa sighed, feeling like she was back in potions class trying to describe how sometimes she just knew that a potion was right, without a hard fact to support it. Snape was always exacting and by the book. He didn't accept feel or anything that was subject to interpretation. "Everyone has more to them that what is on the surface, the facets of a person that we don't see. It's a window into that, and tells you where they are going."

Snape looked pensive for a moment and concentrated on drinking his tea, his eyes not meeting hers. "And what do you think you would find if you were to have a look at me?"

Rissa fumbled with her cup for a moment nearly spilling her tea over her sleeve. What indeed? There was no telling. Snape was... the great enigma. Then she gauged the bridge of his nose and forehead critically, mentally running through what it would be like to read him, if she could keep her hands from shaking enough to rattle his brain. "I... don't know."

He waved a hand dismissively. "Sheer speculation of course."

"I could do it," she blurted out before she could stop herself. Inwardly she groaned and tried not to blush under the stony glare he gave her.

"That would hardly be appropriate, I'm afraid."

Rissa composed herself. "I'm doing readings for a couple of other professors. Professor Trelawney, Professor Dumbledore and Flitwick have all agreed."

He frowned slightly for a moment. "I see."

"I would have asked you, but..." She trailed off thinking back to the incident with Medea in the Potions classroom and his anger at their misunderstood remark.

He cleared his throat and gave a slight shake of his head as he took a small bite of his scone. "Understandable," he said at length.

But Rissa couldn't brush it off that easily and was even uneasier after the exchange than she had been before. She finished her tea and scone in silence. Snape finished his briskly and flicked a stray crumb off his robes. "We'll be heading back now," he said as he placed the knuts for their tea on the table with a small tip.

Rissa jumped up and shouldered the bag. She remembered the letter of credit in her pocket and hastily dug it out, smoothing the edge where Issy had amused herself by nibbling it. "Oh, I should return this."

Snape took it from her, scowling at the ragged edge and returned it to his pocket. "Somewhat worse for the wear, I see." Then with a gesture he motioned for her to precede him to the fireplace. He offered her a small bag of Floo powder.

Rissa took a dainty pinch and tossed it in the fire. "The Three Broomsticks," she pronounced clearly before stepping into the fire.

It was nearly dinnertime before they got back to the castle. After helping unpack all the school things Snape had purchased and getting them put away, plus the things that she had picked up for his private stores, Rissa was tired and her feet ached. Of the package or packages that Snape had picked up in Knockturn alley, she saw nothing.

She hurried to her room and changed back into her school robes for dinner in silence. The dorm was thankfully deserted and the common room nearly so. She wondered where everyone was and then remembered that she was missed the big Slytherin versus Ravenclaw Quidditch match. That must have been why Snape hurried off as soon as he could and left the putting of things away to her. She shrugged and headed to the main hall for dinner.

Dinner at the Slytherin table was a raucous one. They had won the game by a whopping two hundred points. It seemed that every time things had just about died down, someone would start another round of cheering, especially for Draco and his daring and luckily timed catching of the snitch. Draco stood up and bowed from his seat at the far end of the table, setting off more cheers each and every time. The rest of the team and the loyal Quidditch groupies surrounded him to the point that she hardly got a glance at him.

Medea rolled her eyes and sighed. "He'll be even more insufferable after this."

Rissa nudged her, partially glad that he was earning such accolades, even if it was in a game against Ravenclaw and not Gryffindor. "He earned it, from what I hear."

Medea looked at her sharply. "That's right, you did miss it. So how was the detention? I thought Professor Snape would at least let you go early so you could get to the game... as a matter of fact, he missed all but the very end too."

Rissa nodded, her enthusiasm somewhat lackluster. "I told you he had supplies to get. I played personal shopper."

Medea snorted as she elbowed Malcolm Baddock who jostled her. "Where did you have to go? London?"

"Exactly," Rissa replied dryly.

"Get on with you!" Medea stared at her. "That's no detention!"

Rissa had thought the same thing at first. The end opinion was that it could have been worse, of course, but it hadn't quite been as rosy as it sounded. She chuckled and shook her head. "Trust me, it had it's moments, but it was still work. For someone who doesn't look like the shopping kind he certainly doesn't mind piling it on someone else. I think I walked up and down Diagon alley picking up his stuff at least three times."

"What was he doing while you were doing his shopping?"

Rissa darted a glance up and down the table. "Later. I really have to tell you about that."

Medea tossed back the last of her pumpkin juice and stood up, tugging on Rissa's arm. "No way you are getting out of telling me something good. I want to get out of this madhouse anyway."

Rissa let the blonde tug her out of the hall until they left the noise behind them. Then she pulled away and straightened her robes. "Okay... we can slow down now."

"That's what you get for being cryptic and cagey with me. Now spill." Medea looked at her intently.

"Remember when we saw Snape making that puce potion in the classroom that day?" Rissa asked as they trailed down a vaulted hall lined with portraits on their way to the dungeons.

"Of course, I went half batty trying to find a potion that color in one of my books," Medea sighed. "I came up with nothing."

Rissa chewed her lip and nodded. "When we were in Diagon Alley, he made a side trip while I was supposed to be busy. I think it could be related."

Medea stopped for a moment and blinked before she hurried to catch back up to Rissa, who had kept walking. "You mean..."

Rissa paused at the door to the Slytherin common room to give the password. "Skullduggery."

Then she nodded as she slipped into the common room and looked around. It was even emptier than earlier. At the far end of the room, Jace Darling, one of the boys in their year, sat hunched over a scroll writing feverishly. Rissa dropped her voice to a whisper. "I mean he was in Knockturn Alley selling some seriously dark potions in exchange for even worse ingredients."

Medea's eyes rounded. "Details! How do you know? What potions?"

Rissa gestured for her to be quiet and headed for their room. When the girls were settled on Rissa's bed, she answered. "One was Winged Death. The shopkeeper called it by name. The other was clear with golden motes dancing in it. I'm almost positive it was crystal euphoria."

Medea let out an awed breath and then blinked in surprise. "What were you doing? Spying on him?"

Rissa propped her hand on her fist and grinned. It wasn't often that she got a chance to catch the Malfoy darling off guard. "Of course I was! I had to know what he was doing, didn't I?"

"If he would have caught you..." Medea shook her head, looking pale.

She didn't even want to think about that. It could have been a disaster. She really didn't know what Snape would have done if he had caught her. She hadn't been expecting him to be making high-grade, death eater quality poisons for sale on the open market, that was for sure, much less infamous narcotics. "Well he didn't."

"So what did he take in trade for them?" Medea grinned broadly.

"Hair."

"Hair?" Medea looked at her blankly. "What sort of hair? Chimera? Veela?"

"Maiden hair."

Medea sat up straight. "That's it? You'd think he could come by that easy enough."

"Dead maiden's hair."

Medea paused. "Riss, if I happen to keel over, do protect my hair."

Rissa laughed. "Dia! Is there any need to?"

Medea flushed and swatted at her. "You're horrid."

"I know," Rissa grinned and then frowned. "What could he be doing with that?"

Medea composed herself and sighed, a thoughtful look on her face. "I'm not sure. I don't have any of the books that would be helpful here at school. I don't know that we could even find that one in the restricted section.

Rissa sighed. That was another of those things that made her feel so different from most of her housemates. She always wondered what it was like to have the access to things dark and powerful at home, or at least to have parents who understood the ambition to know about them. It seemed that if she so much as warmed her tea the wrong way at breakfast when she was home, her parents started looking nervous. To have a family with connections and the same interests would have been... She cut herself off sharply. That line of thought never went anywhere.

She twisted a curl of her hair around her finger, still not willing to give up on the idea of figuring it out just what it was that Snape was up to. "Dia, you've been in Professor Snape's private stores more than I have. Didn't you help inventory them not too long ago?"

Medea nodded. "I sure did. Took most of two afternoons."

Rissa nodded. "Anything that would be of any use in figuring out something here?"

"Other than he has a locked chest that he told me not to mess with. It was charmed up tight, too." Medea sighed. "Obviously that's where he keeps the good stuff. I just figured it was because he worries about those bloody Gryffindors breaking into it again."

Rissa sighed and slumped back against her pillows. "Well that's that then. Unless we can get another lead, the mystery of the purple potion is going to stay just that."

"We won't give up, we'll just have to be patient," Medea sighed. "We'll follow up with checking the library and keeping our eyes open." She snickered. "Constant vigilance."