Ad Mortem Festinamus

He increased his efforts to befriend the little mudblood. As it turned out, the boy was as apt with curses and hexes as any senior student, he was intelligent, and endlessly grateful for great Mr Malfoy's attention. To be sure, he flattered Lucius' vanity well enough, and this one had already found a possibility to assure the kid's genuine affection. The Quidditch team was wildly admired, and it was a long-standing tradition that each member of the House team had a kind of personal assistant for all sorts of jobs, like taking care of the brooms, fetching books from the library, mending the Quidditch robes and so on.

The boy entrusted with the honour to do so for Lucius was one Delbert Harper, and he was doing his job just fine, additionally he came from a good family. There was no actual reason to dispose of him, so Lucius played him a nasty trick for the cost of his own broom. What the fuck, he had wanted to get the new Comet 250 anyway. Harper was chased out of his office, and Lucius donned the spare post straight to his new protégé.

Severus Snape was flabbergasted. He had spent his first months in Hogwarts like a Pariah, and all of a sudden, he had two great patrons?! The great Lucius Malfoy, unrivalled hero of Slytherin House, who had everything in abundance that Severus himself was so totally without, and the incomparable Miss Black, who was the most enchanting witch in the entire school - in the entire universe, as far as Severus was concerned! He didn't know what he had done to deserve such luck.

Admittedly, he sometimes felt like a divorce child, because his two great friends... Well. To stay in the imagery - Miss Black must have been the one to file for the divorce, and wanted nothing to do with Mr Malfoy. This one on the other hand was smitten to hear every tiny detail about her, demanding absolute secrecy, and showering him with well-meaning in return. Severus was only eleven years old, but he had some imagination, and it was rather easy to guess that Lucius Malfoy had quite a crush on Miss Black. Still, this was none of Severus' business, and he wouldn't have gambled with his friends' benevolence for the world. 'Tua quod nihil refert, ne cures,' Miss Black used to say, and right she was, as always.

Not only was he allowed to take care of Lucius Malfoy's things, next he was introduced to their Head of House's little club, to which only selected students were admitted. Mr Malfoy just took him along, and indeed, he was quite warmly welcomed by Professor Slughorn, although it was obvious that he would never have been invited if it hadn't been for the Professor's favourite student.

"Snape!" The voice was familiar, Severus needn't turn around to know who had called out. "Look what's the cat brought in!"

"Slowly, slowly, Mr Black," Professor Slughorn chuckled good-humouredly. "Mr Snape, let me welcome you for a start, and introduce you to your fellows. Mr Malfoy and Mr Black you know, of course. I trust it you also know Miss Evans from your own year - very talented, very talented indeed. This dapper fellow is Frank Longbottom, over there the Messrs Belby and Bobbin, and those lovely young ladies are Miss Tatting, Miss Lestrange and Miss Black."

Not The Miss Black, but her older sister Andromeda, who was in the same year like Lucius Malfoy. There was yet another sister which had already graduated from school; Severus had never met her, but he had heard a lot. Bellatrix Black was a legend in Slytherin House, it was said that she was as gifted as her younger sisters, as pretty, but most of all, that she was as fierce as a dragon on war path. However, he knew that his Miss Black should be here as well, the Professor was very fond of her, but she flatly refused to go. "I spend too much time with people I don't like already," she used to say, "I have no desire to waste my free time on them as well."

"Please welcome Severus Snape. He's a good lad, Mr Malfoy's help and very deft in potion-making. Listen well, Miss Evans, you two could found a study group together!"

Miss Evans dutifully nodded, gave Severus a smile and he nodded back. He knew her by sight and name; the Slytherins had Defence Against the Dark Arts together with the Gryffindors. She was muggleborn, she was nice and smart, but he had no whatsoever wish to befriend a Gryffindor. Surely Mr Malfoy and Miss Black wouldn't approve either.

"Sir, my sister wishes me to excuse on her behalf," Andromeda Black said now. "She is preparing for a test."

Slughorn chuckled again. "Yes, yes, Miss Black is a very avid student. Take an example in her, lads."

Some of them rolled their eyes, others forced themselves to smile, only Sirius Black would sneer and hiss, "Come on, Andy. You needn't lie for her. My dear cousin's just too full of herself to come!"

Andromeda sharply replied, "Leave her alone, Sirius!"

"Andy -"

"You've heard me."

She received a benevolent glance from Lucius Malfoy for her sister's defence, which she did not return. Yes, Severus thought to himself, Mr Malfoy did like Miss Black very much. Who could blame him?

This might be the opportune moment to explain a little more about the noble Black Family, for noble they were. The latest offspring of the London branch of the family, which incidentally dated back to the Dark Ages, were the two sons of Orion Black and his wife Walpurga, and the three daughters of Orion's brother Cygnus Black and his wife Amandine. All five recommended themselves by their great looks and apt skills, but otherwise they could hardly have been more different from one another.

The eldest and most trying to her parents' nerves was Bellatrix. She had been a handsome child, which had led her parents to spoil her to no end, and had grown up to be a true beauty. She had sleek black hair and fiery black eyes, a determined chin and dramatic brows. More dramatic than her brow however was her character. Benevolent observers would say she was fierce, the rest of the world would call her foul-tempered. She was easily annoyed and highly irritable, completely lacked patience and self-control, and combined those shortcomings with an unsettling amount of talent for curses and nasty jinxes.

Her poor mother had stopped counting the owls sent home on her account, reporting incessant trespassing of every rule that had ever been laid down. Mr Black, who was a man of steady principles, had punished his child in every way he could think of, but the only result he had yielded was an ever-growing alienation among her and her parents. After her graduation from Hogwarts, she had assigned for Artemis College, taken a flat of her own and only returned to her father's house on special occasions.

Not only had Bellatrix moved out at the soonest occasion, she had also married the next best guy of pure ancestry who'd worship her. This wasn't just a phrase; he did worship her, reading every wish from her eyes, never disagreeing with her, never restricting her in whatever it was, in short: a man that couldn't be more unlike her own father in her eyes. Or rather: the man that her father should have been for her, and eleven years her senior.

Still, Rodolphus could cover only one side of Bellatrix' want for a father figure. He was too nice, in a manner of speaking, and sadly, not the sharpest tool on the shelf. But Bellatrix was bright, extremely bright, and she admired talent when she found it in others. In combination with her long-standing interest in the Dark Arts, she quickly found the right place for sheer and heartfelt happiness - she and her husband joined the ranks of a certain warlock, who had returned to England after many years of travelling. This wizard styled himself 'Lord Voldemort', but his disciples did not pronounce his name, reverently calling him 'Master' or 'Mylord' instead. He had founded an Order in which the Dark Arts were practised, and from Bellatrix' point of view this meant: there were clear rules to follow, and retribution when they were violated, there were demanding tasks, and praise when she succeeded. She had found at last what she had been looking for.

The next one, less dark and far more moderate, was Andromeda. She was quite a sweet girl in fact, not quite as accomplished as her sisters, but making up by much more pleasant manners. She had not once given their parents a sleepless night, her marks were good and so was her appearance, with her shiny hair and dark grey eyes, even features and slender figure. Later on, she would trouble her parents beyond words, but at that time, there was no whatsoever indication that she could ever fail in delighting her family.

The youngest girl was Narcissa. She was fair, the essence of a fair girl really, and although it seemed almost impossible, the most beautiful of them all. She was her parents' pride and joy, finally reconciling them to all the trouble they had had with Bellatrix. She could boast many talents of magical and other nature; she had a special gift for languages and music, for drawing and most of all, she was a great reader. At first, her proud parents were nothing but delighted by her quiet ways, but Narcissa was so quiet and reserved that their anxiety for her sake grew with each year. It could not be healthy, it could not.

As a first measure, they had dragged her to every good family with daughters roughly the same age. They couldn't have done worse. Everything about that scheme had abhorred the poor girl; playing for the hosts, piano, flute or harp, or if nothing else was available she was coerced to sing, delighting everyone older than thirty, disgusting anyone younger than that. After this, she was sent upstairs to accompany supremely belligerent children, some boys who would pull her hair, but mostly girls who would scowl at her and mock her and make up rude insults.

Other remedy concepts had contained horseback riding - her dislike for horses grew by the hour; sailing - which she really enjoyed, but after a minor incident her father would not permit her closer to open water than fifty feet; and enrolling her in a choir - which was so awful an afternoon that she was sick on the next four dates, until her mother showed some consideration and cancelled again.

But the very worst of all had yet been to come. Her eleventh birthday, and with it her Hogwarts letter. How she had begged her parents to let her stay at home! She had literally been on her knees, imploring them to go on like before, with some capable tutors... But she had shed all her tears in vain; as much as Mr Black doted upon his darling daughter, on this head he remained inexorable. Hogwarts it was, a dorm with four other girls it was, classes with twenty to forty other students it was. Narcissa lacked the adequately profane vocabulary to describe the ghastliness of it all.

In Hogwarts, she also met with her three years younger cousin Sirius. He, too, was exceptionally good-looking, and as smart as his older cousins promised. Unfortunately, he had got a share of Bellatrix' unstable temper and recklessness. He also had a ridiculously high opinion of himself, though this was a general family defect, and was too proud for his own good. Narcissa and Sirius couldn't stand the sight of each other; she avoided him if she could, he wouldn't stop taunting her whenever he got the opportunity. With Andromeda, he got along much better. She had a more sociable disposition, and her easy-going attitude impressed him enough to bridle himself.

The youngest of the lot was Sirius' brother Regulus. When the former rejected his cousin Narcissa, one could well state that he downright detested his little brother. He was their parents' favourite, being so much more gentle and obedient. Where Sirius was rebellious, Regulus was devote, where Sirius would stamp down his foot, Regulus would duck and cower. The softer Regulus was, the more Sirius despised him, and the more cruel Sirius treated him, the more Regulus tried to please him. It was a vicious circle, and Orion and Walpurga made it only worse by favouring Regulus so blatantly.

Perhaps these things happen in all families, rivalry among siblings, anxious parents, parents who will lock up their adolescent children, children who wouldn't fit in and were plain miserable when they were forced to fit in nevertheless. It's really nothing special, and still those circumstances reign the course of everyone's future life; they determine who we are and what we are, how we will react most likely in certain situations, what makes us tick, what makes us angry. And the same was true for the Blacks.

Professor Slughorn had been slightly offended that he hadn't got all of them for his own house. Sirius had been made a Gryffindor - the first Black in four hundred years that hadn't gone to Slytherin, and this simple fact still widened the gap between the cousins and brothers. There was a habitual rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin - the members of both houses didn't take Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff seriously - and if the cousins hadn't been fond of each other before, they now loathed each other.

Sirius was ashamed of his own relations. Those cocky cows - always excepting Andromeda, who was pretty cool - and his brother sucking up to them still. All that ridiculous pureblood crap, the noble family, the sacred values, the wonderful Slytherin House! Idiots, all of them! The other way round, Narcissa wasn't exactly ashamed of her cousin - she'd rather be ashamed by Regulus' dim wit - but she strongly disapproved of Sirius' complete lack of manners, the disparaging fashion in which he'd talk to his own parents even, let alone everyone else. She could only despise the way how he'd jinx everyone whose nose he didn't like, and that he particularly enjoyed to humiliate little Severus was unpardonable. That little hypocrite! On the one hand, he'd nag and nag that his parents set great store by the purity of people's pedigree, on the other hand he tormented kids as unfortunate as Severus!

This one was the most grateful object for attention one could possibly imagine. Poor kid. Literally. His parents had no money at all; apparently his father wasn't only a muggle, but also a completely waste of time and space, a drunkard, unreliable, choleric and good-for-nothing. Narcissa would have pitied Severus' mother, but then again - why had she got married to this bloke? She had no one to blame for that but herself. The boy had been sent to school in hand-me-down robes, his shirts so greyish that no magic could bleach them white again - Narcissa had given it quite some tries, and she was usually very gifted with spells. His textbooks were so old and worn-down that they positively fell apart, mended by masses of spell-o-tape, just to rip on the next best bit.

She had written to her mother to send her some of her own old school books, which were much better-kept, but that had only worsened the boy's embarrassment, and Narcissa decided she wouldn't humble him again. Why had the Sorting Hat placed him in Slytherin, eh? To humiliate him in every possible way? Not only that he had that infamous muggle parent, which would have been bad enough in the midst of all the purebloods here who looked down on him. Poverty was second only to a lack of pedigree in the eyes of most Slytherin students - even those families that had no money at all would go and pretend, rather taking up mortgages than sending their kids to school in second-hand robes. Clearly, Severus' mum hadn't thought of that, or her vile husband didn't allow her to equip their son properly.

Narcissa liked him; he was a loner like herself, and by far the cleverest wizard to walk around in this school. Strictly speaking, he was in no need for help with his homework either, but she wanted to do something for him and so they had started to do some extra work that was beyond his own level of classes. When she heard that Lucius Malfoy had dragged the poor boy to old Slughorn's club and how Sirius had behaved, she instantly decided that she'd for once accept the regular invitations and go, too. Severus needed a little backup - Malfoy wouldn't help him anyway. He possibly only took him there to humiliate the poor kid!

"You'll come!"

"Yes, I will."

"Excellent!"

"Yes, well..."

Honestly, the kid had taken the news with much more dignity yet than her Head of House. Lucky that she couldn't witness Lucius Malfoy's face when Severus mentioned it, or she might have lost the last scraps of respect she harboured for him.

"She'll come? Really?"

"I believe so, yes."

"Did she say anything else?"

"Something about her awful cousin."

"The Gryffindor, I presume?"

"That's the one. I hate that guy."

"I believe it at once! Suits the little maggot right to be in Gryffindor. Just imagine we'd have to deal with him! Did she say something more?"

The boy mused and shrugged at last. "She's said a lot of things. About potion-making. About her crazy dorm mates. She's got a letter from her oldest sister -"

Lucius lifted his eyes to the ceiling, weighing his chances. "Severus, I know that you are very fond of Miss Black and would never want to disappoint her, right? I furthermore suppose that you like helping the House Team?"

Nodding, nodding. Lucius continued with a smirk that was both sardonic and sly. "Then help me for a start. I want to know everything about your dear Miss Black. Don't worry, I have no intention to harm her -"

"I know you wouldn't."

"Exactly!" Admittedly, Lucius was slightly surprised with the boy's earnest statement, but it came in handy. "I would never harm her. Trust me. So, tell me about Miss Black."

"She's lovely!"

"Yes, but that I already know!"

"What do you want to know?"

Lucius smiled and wriggled a brow. He had known that it would pay off to befriend the little half-blood.

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Tua... Don't care for businesses that aren't your own.