Time for Me

Chapter 7: A Cold Chill

Aries hurried back up to Gryffindor tower to retrieve more wrapping paper. As he deftly covered the small box, he laughed to himself at how horrified Aunt Petunia would be that the skill she had instilled in him, hoping to make him feel unwanted as he wrapped his cousin's presents, was now being used to wrap basilisk skin for a wizard. She would likely turn that odd shade of puce and dispose of every last bit of wrapping paper in the house. A shame, really, as the deep blue one with silver stars was rather nice.

The wrapping paper he had purchased from the post office in Hogsmead was green with scale texture, and he tied it with a silver ribbon. He'd thought about getting a black ribbon or black paper instead, but it just didn't seem festive enough. Aries had, however, bought a length of gold ribbon to tie Charles' present with, mostly to annoy him. At the base of the bow, he tied on the nametag - useless, really, since he was delivering it in person, but it looked more formal that way.

Satisfied, he rushed back down to the dungeons, taking as many shortcuts as he knew. Barely six minutes later, he stepped out from behind a portrait of three dragons dancing in the air, just a few feet down from the entrance to the Slytherin common room. It had taken a good deal of investigation, but in the middle of the previous year, Aries had finally realized that the entrance could be distinguished from the surrounding wall by a tiny snake carved in one of the stones. Once you knew what to look for, it was obvious. He knocked loudly and waited.

"Hello?" a tiny second year girl asked snootily, pushing open the door from the inside. "What do you want, Gryffindor?"

Aries raised an eyebrow. "I would like to speak with Severus Snape, could you please get him for me," he asked politely.

The girl sneered at him - looking quite frankly ridiculous - and appeared to be about to tell him off when someone pulled her away.

"Hello, Aries," Bellatrix cooed. She had been trying to 'seduce' him for a while now, but every time he saw her, Aries had to stop himself from cursing her into oblivion, so she was getting nowhere fast.

"Black," Aries greeted with a growl. "Either get Severus for me or kindly get out of my way so I can seek him out myself."

Bellatrix pouted, almost making Aries gag, but moved aside. He entered the cavernous common room, shuddering as he felt her eyes checking out his rear end. The layout was the same it had been in second year, though he now knew more about it. Sev had once told Aries that he spent a good deal of his time in the Slytherin study area - a large quiet room with resource books, desks, spare parchment, quills and ink, and a small potion's lab. The proper door was unmarked, but easy to identify as it was far more decorative than the closet doors.

Aries didn't look left or right, walking straight across the hearth as if he belonged there. He knew very well that practically everyone's eyes were on him, but he just opened the door and shut it behind him.

Severus was, of course, at the potions lab, bottling and labeling from what looked like five separate cauldrons. Aries wouldn't be surprised if all the other Slytherins had left that particular area for him alone, deciding it would be better to find their own potion area than to disturb the youth's work. He could just imagine Sev biting the head off some first year who had managed to upset one of his experiments. He'd probably use the same words his future self often used on Neville.

"Can I help?" Aries asked, peering over the edge of the last still-full cauldron.

Severus jumped, almost dropping his vial; there was a tense moment where he fumbled with startled fingers to grasp the slick glass before he finally managed to hold it still again. The Slytherin glared at Aries for the near-miss.

"Sorry," said Aries, unrepentantly. Sev rolled his eyes and managed a slight lift at one corner of his mouth that meant he was not entirely displeased. "I brought your Christmas present. Do you want to open it now or when you're done storing your concoctions?"

Sev raised an eyebrow. "Is 'at Christmas' not an option, then?" he teased.

"Nope," Aries replied candidly, grinning.

"Very well, help me bottle the rest of this and I will open it then," Sev agreed.

They got to work - Aries holding the bottles and Sev ladling the potions - and were finished before a quarter of an hour had passed. As soon as the Slytherin had finished carefully placing all his vials in a carrying case, Aries practically thrust the gift at him. Amusement flashed in Sev's eyes, but he dutifully sat and began to open it, with the same methodical grace with which he did everything. First he read the card, then he untied the bow and carefully undid the ribbon, by the time he finally got one corner of the wrapping opened up, Aries was almost out of his seat with impatient excitement.

Finally - finally! - Sev got down to the box and lifted the lid. Aries watched carefully as confusion, realization, and something close to awed gratitude made their way onto his face in close succession.

"B-basilisk skin?" he stuttered uncharacteristically. Aries nodded happily, feeling very proud of himself. His smile faltered, though, as his friend continued. "I cannot possibly accept this," Sev insisted, trying to hand the box back. Aries didn't take it, feeling as if lead were gathering in his fingers and holding his arms at his sides.

"Why ever not?" he asked. Was it bad? Had he not gathered it right? Was it too old? Did Sev just plain not want it?

"Something this valuable - you can't mean for me to have it without something in return," Severus explained.

Aries almost laughed in relief. Then he thought, Why not? and did laugh in relief.

"Well, I wouldn't mind getting a gift of my own, but it's not mandatory, and certainly not payment for yours," he said. "Don't worry about cost or any of that, I promise it didn't require as much effort as you are likely assuming. You do like it, though, right?"

Severus snorted. "No, I don't have any use at all for one of the rarest and most valuable potions ingredients available," he said sarcastically. Aries grinned a little sheepishly at his own insecurity. "Thank you," Sev added sincerely.

Aries grinned at him and walked with him back to the Slytherin common room. Where he realized that he was out after curfew, deep in Slytherin territory.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Rodolphus Lestrange, known pre-Azkaban for a jealous streak like none other, stepped out of the shadows. "A little bitty Gryffie out after curfew."

Aries froze and reached for his wand, only to remember that his holster had interfered with wrapping Sev's gift, so he had taken it off. And left it behind. With his wand.

"What shall we do with him, Rody-dearest?" Bellatrix cooed, appearing beside the Slytherin and latching onto his arm. Rodolphus glanced at her before smirking triumphantly back at Aries, who barely restrained himself from rolling his eyes. Like he would want to steal Bellatrix from her future husband.

"Well, we can't just let him leave," Rodolphus sneered. "He'd get caught and given detention."

"Poor thing," Bellatrix added. "Then we shall have to keep him here, shan't we?"

"I think I'll take my chances in the halls, thanks," said Aries, walking off. He hadn't made it more than a few steps before he saw the felt the flash of a spell behind him.

Aries ducked and rolled forward and slightly to the right, coming up nearer the entrance, but out of line and turned sideways to his attackers. Not sparing a moment, he bolted for the door, but didn't quite make it before he felt an itching hex hit his back. The magic spread quickly over his skin, making him want to curl up in a ball and scratch himself bloody. Desperately, he resisted the urge and wrenched the stone portal open, slipping through just before another hex came flying at him.

It would be safest, in the darkness of the halls, to transform into minimus form, but the cat's instinct to scratch would be considerably harder to ignore than his own. The worst thing about the itching hex was not the itch itself, but the potential damage that could be done by the victim. Those who had been left under it for more than a day had been known to scratch most of the skin from their body and leave long gouges in their flesh in futile efforts to quell the incessant itch. If only he hadn't been so absent-minded as to leave his wand in the dorm!

Aries growled, these thoughts were getting him nowhere - literally. He hadn't moved from the area just in front of the Slytherin dorms. Focusing, the Gryffindor forced his legs to move, despite the horrible sensation of fabric pulling against his hexed skin. If he could just get up to the tower and his wand without ripping some part of his body off, he'd be in good shape.

Each step was agony and he had to force himself to complete the motions as he slowly passed out of the dungeons. The stairs were the worst, and he had to go on hands and knees to manage them. The stone was cool and firm under his hands, offering some small comfort as he pushed himself on. Right arm - lift, place, push. Left leg - lift, place, push. Left arm - lift, place, push. Right leg - lift, place, push. Over and over and over until he reached the fourth floor and nearly collapsed in front of the Pink Lady.

"Par...Parsimony," he gasped, sighing in relief as the portrait swung open. He slowly climbed through it then collapsed on the carpeted floor of the common room, one leg twitching incessantly.

Maybe I'll just lie here for a bit before going to the dorm, he thought exhaustedly. Yeah, that sounds good.

"Aries?!" he heard someone nearby exclaim. The brunet opened one eye (when had he closed them?) and espied Charles standing over him with mixed concern, confusion, and amusement written clearly on his face.

"Evening Higgins," Aries slurred. "D'you know the counter-charm to the Itching Hex?"

Charles cursed. "Yeah, hang on," he waved his wand and muttered, "scabio subvenius."

Instantly, his skin spotted feeling as if sand was stuck under it. All that was left was a vague feeling of chill, but that was a normal after-effect of the hex. One of the body's reactions to the itch was to constrict the blood vessels, reducing flow of warm blood to the skin, where thermal sensing nerves lay. Luckily, this was an easily solved problem, as the fire was still roaring in the grate.

"Thank you so much, Charles," Aries breathed, stretching out his tense muscles as he slowly stood. "What are you doing down here this late?" he asked curiously.

"Are you slow or something?" Charles sneered. "You agreed to meet me down here tonight to talk about the break."

"Oh, yeah, sorry," Aries apologized, ducking his head sheepishly as he slouched down in front of the fire. "A lot of things happened tonight and it sort of slipped my mind."

"Like what?"

Aries told him about bumping into Lily on his way down to give Sev his gift, goin to Dumbledore's, having to rewrap it (and taking off his wrist holster to do so), giving the gift, and finally being ambushed by Rodolphus and Bellatrix, referring to the Slytherin girl by several colorful epithets along the way.

"I swear," Charles shook his head, chuckling slightly. "Only you could get into that much trouble."

Aries snorted. "Ah yes, as it is my fault Evans misunderstood me, that Black whore has started eying me, and Rodolphus is jealous and vindictive," he drawled sarcastically. "Though I will admit it was my own folly to leave my wand behind. In any case, what did you want to talk about?"

"I was just wondering if it might seem...suspicious for us to stay here for the break," said Charles. "Especially for you, with your supposedly over-protective family. I can easily get away with the excuse that it wouldn't be practical to travel to America for three weeks."

Aries blinked. He hadn't thought about that. What would he say if asked? He knew for a fact that, if he did have a family waiting for him, no matter how over-protective, he would want to go back for Christmas. It was difficult to come up with an imaginary reason to stay away.

"Maybe...maybe my parents are going to Greece for the break, and I decided I would rather stay here than go to a country where no one even speaks my language," he suggested.

Charles thought it over carefully. "Why wouldn't they insist on you coming?" he prodded.

"Well, they tried, but I managed to convince them I'd be happy here, and that I wanted to spend the holiday with my friends - and with Hogwarts' legendary library," Aries answered wryly. "Mum never can resist when I tell her I'm doing research."

"Very good," Charles complimented him. "Are you going to the Room tonight?"

Aries laughed incredulously. "I think I'm tired enough. Besides, I overdid it the night before last with the magic, I think. Need to give myself a day to recover. Don't want to risk magical exhaustion."

Charles gasped and placed one hand over his heart. "Aries Hesuchazo, not risking something! The world must be coming to an end. It's Armageddon I tell you!"

"Prat," Aries teased lightly. They laughed and chatted together for about an hour longer, until Aries almost couldn't talk for yawning. Then they slowly, groggily, made their way back up to bed.

The next few days were, remarkably, nearly cloudless, the sun glinting off the blanket of snow like a million tiny prisms. Aries and Charles decided to use the time off to its fullest, and in the four perfect days had six games of snowball Quidditch, no less than twelve impromptu snowball fights, wrote a naughty limerick in the snow that spanned the entirety of the Quidditch pitch, and made a snowman army each, which they then animated to battle each other. Charles won, but not before Aries' side had stripped him of all but his last three 'men'.

By the end of the day Tuesday, both boys had come down with colds. Madam Pomfrey gave them each a dose of Pepper-Up and told them it was bed rest for a day at least, 'or else'. Neither of them really wanted to find out what came after 'or else', but knowing Madam Pomfrey it would likely be painful and foul-smelling.

"Can you imagine what would happen if Madam Pomfrey was a Death Eater?" Aries murmured amusedly as they left. Charles snorted.

"She'd probably watch the Dark Lord like a hawk, badgering him about his blood pressure," he joked. Inside, though, Charles felt a little twist in his gut. He hadn't thought about Death Eaters or the Dark Lord for a while, but now something came to his attention that he'd been putting off subconsciously since his and Aries' little game of 'twenty questions'.

Should he inform Aries that Severus Snape would one day become a Death Eater himself?

He tried shoving the thought away, but it kept coming back. This is stupid, he thought, Aries Hesuchazo is my friend, not Harry Potter. Why would Aries need to know?

Stop lying to yourself! Aries and Potter are one and the same, and he will be shocked and hurt when it happens. At least this way he has some way to prepare himself, maybe even get himself out of the friendship.

And what would that do to Severus? Losing Aries might be the very thing that pushes him to join.

Well, that's double reason to tell him, then, because you can't change the future. You can't not tell in the hopes that Aries will keep him away from the Dark Lord.

Tired of the voices arguing in his head, Charles suddenly threw up his hands and dragged Aries into the nearest alcove, almost dislodging the other boy's potion doses in the process.

"Wha- Charles, what are you doing?" Aries asked, watching his friend run ana agitated hand through his hair.

"Look, there's something you need to know, and I don't really know why I should tell you except that it's going to be on my mind forever if I don't," the redhead rambled. He blew air out through his teeth and gathered his thoughts, before blurting out, "Severus is going to be a Death Eater. I don't know when, but sometime within the next couple of years. I just thought you ought to know."

Aries regarded him solemnly, then raised his wand and cast a high-level privacy charm, followed by a silencing ward and a disillusionment ward.

"Malfoy, are you planning on joining Voldemort," he asked bluntly. Draco flinched at the use of his true name.

"I don't...I..." he stammered slightly, then gathered himself together and stood proudly, like the Slytherin and Malfoy he was inside. "No," he said firmly. "I will not join him."

He was slightly surprised at his own answer, but knew it was right. Draco also knew what had happened that had really caused such a change. It was the second Quidditch game of the season, and for some reason Lucius Malfoy had shown up to watch, the 21-year-old accompanied by his 18-year-old fiancé Narcissa Black. After the game, Potter (the elder) and Black (the mutt) had decided to celebrate their win over Slytherin by tormenting Severus in the Entrance Hall by shooting fire spells at him until he backed himself against the wall. Charles and Aries had tried to get to him, but the wall of students that stood between them and the action had been impenetrable, despite their liberal use of magic. Then Lucius had walked in, escorting Narcissa, looked at the seen with impassive eyes, and walked on.

Charles had been outraged that his own father would turn his back on a Slytherin like that. The man who had taught him everything he knew about house pride.

"At Hogwarts, it's Slytherin against the world, so you need to stick with your housemates," he had told Draco just days before he left for school first year. "Unless it is against improbable odds, do not let a student from another house, especially Gryffindor, pick on a Slytherin. Slytherin sticks together, and so Slytherin prospers, remember that."

And he had, he had lived by it, and adored his father because of it. But Lucius Malfoy was nothing but a liar and a hypocrite, turning his back and walking away when the odds were in his favor. Who could admire a man like that?

Despicable.

In front of him now, in the alcove, Harry nodded, a slight smile spreading on his face. "Good," he said. "Then let me ease your worries. Yes, Severus will some day become a Death Eater, but he will also become a spy for the light, and a highly successful and valuable one at that."

Draco nodded, returning the smile. That was actually something he'd suspected during the last year or two in the future. Thankfully, he'd never mentioned it to his father, and it was probably the idea that Severus didn't approve of the Dark Lord that had started him doubting in the first place, now that he thought back.

Aries took down his spells and the two walked back to Gryffindor Tower in silence, except for the occasional sniffle.

That evening they lazed about on couches with big fluffy quilts, cups of hot cocoa (courtesy of the house elves), and books. Aries' was one he had seen in the Room and wanted to take a closer look at. Unfortunately, nothing inside the room could be taken out. He had tied once with his favorite sword, but it had vanished from his hand the moment he stepped through the door. So, the brunet had been forced to seek out a copy in the library.

However, interesting though it was, Aries' mind was not on his book. Instead, it had returned to the conversation he'd had with Charles. It had brought up many questions he really wanted answers to. Some for pure curiosity's sake, such as:

"Why and when did Draco decide he wouldn't be a Death Eater?"

"What is Charles going to do with his life, then?"

"Might his loyalties change back when we return to our own time and he can be himself again?"

And others, of more pressing concern, such as:

"What in all the blue blazes am I going to do when Sev joins Voldemort?"

He didn't turn a page of his book the whole evening.