Into the Mouth of Hell

Into the Mouth of Hell: Chapter 4

The Red Letter Day

Unlike most first year students, Severus Snape had no problem finding his way around Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. His best friend, a girl named Bella, was in the fourth year, and she gave him a map of the castle his first day of classes so that he wouldn't get lost.

He liked his classes well enough: he had Potions with Ravenclaw, Transfiguration, Charms, History of Magic (which he found very interesting), Herbology with Gryffindor, and Dark Arts, which was taught by the Head of Slytherin House, Professor Meadowes. He generally knew most answers to the questions his professors asked, which made him the most sought-after study partner in the Slytherin first year. However, there was one subject he had been dreading since he arrived at Hogwarts: flying. And to make matters worse, Slytherin split that period with Gryffindor.

Severus at least had been on a broomstick before, which was more than could be said for the Muggle-born members of Gryffindor. Still, as the afternoon sun beat down on the lawn his first Friday at school, Severus couldn't help but feel just a bit nervous. Even with his friends from Slytherin, Evan and Robert, by his side, he wished as they waited in the yard that the Gryffindors would just not show up for their first flying lesson. No sooner had he remarked on the Gryffindor lack of punctuality, than a stream of black robes burst from the castle doors. Leading the pack were the only two displeasures Severus had found at Hogwarts: James Potter and his sidekick, Sirius Black. Behind them, every Gryffindor first year seemed to be laughing loudly.

Severus narrowed his eyes, not against the sun, but against the approaching group.

"There's one thing I don't understand," Evan said loudly, clutching the school broom tightly, "is why no one has told Potter and Black what great prats they are."

"Oh, they've been told," Severus said coldly.

"Yeah," Robert continued for him, "but nothing seems to get through those thick skulls of theirs." The group of Slytherins around them laughed as the Gryffindors drew up on the lawn.

Potter and Black stood looking at Severus and his friends. When the tension was so thick you'd need a slashing hex to break through it, Sirius suddenly snapped his fingers.

"Oh, I know!" he exclaimed, turning to Potter, "We forgot the Magical Mess Remover!"

Potter clapped his hand to his forehead. "Oh, damn! Now what are we going to do if Snivellus touches one of our brooms? It'll be so slick, we'll fall right off!"

Black and Potter laughed loudly, but Severus was keen to note that not all of the Gryffindors were laughing. A dark shadow stretching across the lawn told him why: Madam Hooch, the flying instructor, had arrived.

"Gather round, first years!" she called.

Severus turned from the Gryffindors and made his way toward Madam Hooch. The students automatically began to form two lines on either side of her: Slytherin on one side, Gryffindor on the other. Severus glared at Black and Potter. Looking down the line of Gryffindors, he recognized Alice Waterhouse and Lily Evans, who had both ridden across the lake in a boat with him their first night at Hogwarts. Alice was talking to Lily, examining a chunky pink bracelet she was wearing. Severus noticed that she was again wearing her knee-high, shiny white boots.

"It's so strange!" Alice said to Lily.

Lily rolled the bracelet off her tiny wrist and handed it to Alice, "I just can't believe you don't have plastic! It's all the rage back home."

Alice's eyes got wide, and she put the bracelet on her own wrist. "Thanks!" Alice whispered.

"Don't mention it. It's my sister's," Lily whispered, then put her finger to her lips, and turned her attention to Madam Hooch, who was giving them instructions.

Severus walked around his broom like the rest of the class, and said, "UP!"

Several of the brooms flew up immediately to greet their riders; Severus' however, just rolled lazily on the grass. Potter had gotten it on the first try, and Black smugly grinned at Severus. Even some of the Muggle girls had theirs up before Severus had his firmly in his hand. Everyone then mounted their brooms (Evan got his robe stuck around the twigs), and soon they were hovering a few inches off the ground. This isn't so hard, Severus thought. He touched back down with the rest of his class when Madam Hooch blew her whistle.

"Excellent!" she hollered. "I have never had a group of first years that showed so much promise! We'll make international Quidditch players of some of you yet, I think!" She was positively beaming, and several of the students exchanged smiles. "So, let's move on to second lesson. You may fly around the courtyard at a reasonable altitude. In a few weeks, you shall be free to fly as high as safety allows."

Severus exchanged excited looks with Evan and Robert as they kicked off from the ground on their brooms. They soared around the courtyard, and Evan attempted a move he had seen in Quidditch Through the Ages, but didn't pull out of his dive fast enough and ran straight into the ground. Many of the Slytherins touched down to see if he was okay, and Robert helped him to the hospital wing under orders of Madam Hooch.

Severus began to rise again, when his broom gave a mighty lurch and began to buck. Several of his housemates laughed at first, but then caught the note of panic in his voice as he yelled, "WHAT IN THE NAME OF MERLIN!"

Almost all the other students landed on the ground to watch as Otto Bagman tried to help Severus off his broom. But the broom only jumped higher, and Severus, who was just barely hanging onto the twigs, was afraid to let go. He looked down at the ground. Many of the Gryffindors were roaring with laughter, including Lily and Alice. Madam Hooch stood under him, shouting instructions that weren't very clear at all.

And behind her, sitting in the shade of the courtyard wall, Potter and Black had their wands pulled. It suddenly made sense: they were bewitching his broom. Well, he wasn't going to let them have that satisfaction. So, he let go.

* * * * *

During his stay in the hospital wing, Severus got his first package from home. Inside were a few more boring reference books from their library on potion making and herb growing, several galleons, and a new pair of dragon-hide gloves. A short note from his mother told him that she had been notified by Professor Meadowes and was concerned to hear he had a spill on his broomstick ("I always thought those things were dangerous! But did your father listen?"), but was otherwise very pleased to learn that he had made friends with several older students and was doing well in his classes. Inside also was a red envelope with a white piece of parchment wrapped around it.

Severus unrolled the parchment, and was shocked to find a note from his father. Apparently, he had arranged through his contacts at the Ministry for Severus to have a pen pal from another wizarding school.

"The boy," his father explained in his letter, "is named Igor Karkaroff, and his father and I recently worked on a project together. He is in his fifth year at the Durmstrang Institute, but I am sure you two will have plenty to discuss. His father is quite a fine wizard and very well-connected."

When Severus had finished his father's note, he picked up the heavy red envelope. It was the same parchment on which his invitation had been written, although his mother had made him pretend that he had never been invited to "that other school," and he had not told his father.

He opened the letter slowly, a bit apprehensive. Bella had told him that the students at Durmstrang were very rough, indeed, and that it was generally considered a substandard school among England's finest wizarding families. There was only one page of parchment over which scrawled the handwriting of Igor Karkaroff.

Dear Severus,

My father has told me that he is a colleague of your father, and that they desire us to become friends.

My name is Igor Karkaroff, and I am in my fifth year at Durmstrang Institute. It is located in northern Europe, but I cannot be more specific. Our headmaster insists on the utmost secrecy of the location.

I am taking many interesting classes this year, including Dueling, Potions, Tactical Defense, and Transfiguration. I am also taking Charms, Magical Creatures, Rune-reading and Astronomy, but I do not favor those.

What subjects do you study at Hogwarts? Do you find your classes interesting? I've heard that you do not study the Dark Arts there. Is this true? It is my best subject.

I am pleased to read your response as soon as you should send it.

Sincerely,

Igor Karkaroff

Severus had just finished the letter when Bella, Roddy, and Eugene came into the hospital. Evan had only been infirmed for one evening treating a broken wrist. Severus had spent four days in the infirmary already, but Madam Pomfrey, the fairly young, flighty nurse, had insisted that he stay until she could without a doubt confirm that all of his bones were healed properly and he was no longer seeing blue spots. Severus had quit hurting days ago, but didn't dare object. And the spots hadn't quite disappeared yet.

"Well, it's official!" Bella said exasperatedly, sitting down on the edge of Severus' bed. "You've missed Quidditch trials."

Severus groaned even though he had lost the taste for flying. "Who made the team?"

"Eugene and I made Chasers this year!" Roddy said, smiling and counting off the players on his fingers. "Then there's Malfoy, he's a Chaser and Captain." He put up several more fingers. "Then Mortlake and Crabbe are Beaters."

Eugene cut him off. "Keeper is that gorilla kid, Goyle, and Higgs made Seeker."

"Talula?" Severus asked, surprised that the small, square girl from his class had made the team.

Eugene shook his head. "Nope, her older brother Trevor. First years never make House teams."

"And neither do girls," Roddy said, inspecting a hunk of chocolate Madam Pomfrey had left for Severus on his bedside table.

Bella rolled her eyes. "It's because we're discouraged, not because we're not allowed, Roddy. You make it sound like the dark ages." She rolled her eyes again, and then slapped Severus on the shoulder, making him wince a bit. "You are not going to believe this," she said, sounding annoyed, "but that kid who's friends with my cousin? That Potter kid? He made reserve on the Gryffindor team."

"That doesn't make me feel any better," Severus remarked in the same annoyed tone Bella had used.

"Just shows what a cocky show-off that kid is, though, right?" Eugene said, trying, no doubt, to make Severus feel better.

"Oh well, it doesn't really matter," Severus said lightly, trying to sound chipper. "Guess what? I've got a pen pal!" Severus said, holding up the red letter.

"Oooh, really? I always wanted one," Bella said, taking the letter from Severus' outstretched hand. "Who is it?" She began to read the letter while Severus addressed the others.

"It's the son of a man my father works with," Severus said, "His name's Igor and he goes to Durmstrang."

Roddy turned up his nose. "Durmstrang?"

"Yeah," Severus continued, "but he sounds all right. He's in his fifth year, and--"

Bella suddenly gasped. "I don't believe it! He takes Dueling? How cool is that?" She had leapt from the bed to read off Igor's list of classes to the others. "Listen to this, 'I am taking many interesting classes this year, including Dueling, Potions, Tactical Defense, and Transfiguration. I am also taking Charms, Magical Creatures, Rune-reading and Astronomy,' but he doesn't much care for those." Bella lowered the letter and looked at her audience. "I'm suddenly wishing I went to Durmstrang."

"No you're not," Roddy said quickly. "I hear it's really cold there, and besides, they don't even let girls in."

"That doesn't sound like a very fun place at all," Severus mused, taking the letter back from Bella and looking it over curiously.

"Well, so what?" Bella said viciously, clearly miffed that her chance of learning proper dueling was squashed.

"What if I write him and ask him to give us some pointers?" Severus suggested.

Bella looked up at him, "That's a great idea, Severus! We can get all sorts of information out of him, like how to fight and poison people!" She was ecstatic at the thought of it.

Eugene shrugged. "Okay, let's give it a shot."

Bella didn't wait to hear if Roddy had any objections, but quickly pulled out a quill and some parchment from her bag and handed them to Severus, who leaned against his pillows, propped one of the books his mother sent him against his knees, and started the letter.

Madam Pomfrey bustled in, checked Severus' head, and shooed Bella and the others out, assuring them that Severus would only need one more night in the infirmary.

After finishing the letter, Severus set to the chocolate Madam Pomfrey had left with a large pitcher of pumpkin juice. He watched shadows begin to crawl along the walls after the sun set a deep red, but did not bother to light the lamp next to his bed. Carrying a heavy candelabrum, Madam Pomfrey came in a short time later to make sure that Severus was comfortable. As she drew a screen around his bed for the night (Severus preferred it), she looked out the window at the sky.

"Full moon next week," she said more to herself than to Severus. She sighed heavily, then smiled at Severus, a look of concern crossing her face. "Good night then, Mr. Snape. Sleep tight."

She left the room with a swish of her heavy robes, leaving Severus in the dark.

"I wonder what that was about," he muttered as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * * * *

As Severus descended the stairs into the Entrance Hall the next morning for breakfast, a block of chocolate from Madam Pomfrey in his pocket, he overheard a gaggle of girls gossiping.

"Really," chuckled a voice from the center of the group, "who falls off a broomstick?"

Severus felt the color drain from his face as he walked by the giggling girls. They began to disperse, and he spotted Lily amongst them.

"Oh, er, hi!" she said, blushing, then ran off with several of her friends.

Severus wondered, as he sat down at the Slytherin table, if Lily had been the girl in the center leading the gossip. Bella sat down opposite him, clutching the Daily Prophet, her eyes wide. Severus noticed several other people reading the paper at their table.

"Hey, Bella," Severus said irritably to her when she sat down. "What's the deal with girls, anyway?"

Bella was still looking at the paper. "Hmmm?" she said distractedly.

"I just don't get it. Girls are just weird," Severus said, trying out one of his new vocabulary words. He poured himself a glass of orange juice and glanced down at the page Bella was reading. What he saw there wiped girls clean from his mind.

Bold black letters across the top of the paper read: "Mass Muggle Murders in London, Ministry Suspects Dark Witches or Wizards Unknown." Beneath it was a picture of a Muggle neighborhood with several destroyed houses, and beside it was a picture of a man with a very thin moustache who appeared to be speaking to reporters.

"What happened, Bella?" Severus asked as he stretched to read the article.

Bella's eyes were sparkling, not with fear, but with excitement, like they had done on the train when Severus had shown her the Cruciatus Curse. Bella looked at him for a moment, and when she spoke, it was in a low, dark voice.

"They say the Dark Lord is gaining support, but the Ministry cannot even find him. They say he is growing more powerful everyday."

Severus' stomach squirmed. He looked nervously up at the Head Table. Dumbledore was absorbed in a conversation with Professor McGonagall, and further along Professor Meadowes was speaking fervently to little Professor Flitwick.

"You mean they don't know where he is?" Severus whispered, leaning further across the table.

Bella leaned toward him so that their noses were almost touching. She nodded down the table toward Lucius Malfoy, the Head Boy, who was talking animatedly with some burly seventh years. "Malfoy says no one even knows what he looks like. They say," she began, and then lowered her voice even further so that she was barely audible, "they say he's going to cleanse the wizarding world of Muggles and Mudbloods and restore the power to the pureblood families." Bella grinned malevolently, leaned slowly back down into her seat, and winked at Severus. She pushed the paper across the table to him, and began to hungrily eat her breakfast.

Severus hardly noticed when Roddy and Eugene sat down with Evan and Robert. Severus was absorbed in the paper, but nodded when Roddy asked if he had sent off the letter to "that Durmstrang prat."

He picked at his toast, but had lost his appetite. Once he thought he had felt Dumbledore's eyes on him, but when he looked up at the Head Table, he was still deep in conversation with McGonagall.

When it was time for Potions, he tugged his bag onto his shoulder, following Bella out of the hall and clutching the newspaper.

The rest of the day, Severus could not get the headline out of his thoughts. He reread the article under his desk in Potions, and Evan, who sat beside him, had to remind him to stir his cauldron.

He returned to the article in between classes, reading it as he slowly walked down the corridors. Evan and Robert were good enough to steer him as they conversed on either of his sides. He put the paper away once in the courtyard, but was only vaguely involved in the conversation Evan and Robert were having about the new Nimbus racing brooms.

Bella came over after a while, leaving some other fourth year girls behind.

"Have you seen Roddy and Eugene?" she asked.

Severus shrugged. "No, why?"
"Well," Bella said, flipping her hair, "I was going to ask them if they heard that Malfoy wants to start a Slytherin Dueling Club. You know," she lowered her voice conspiratorially, "to start training for the war."

Evan and Robert stopped arguing over braking charms. "What did you say?" Evan asked.

"A Slytherin Dueling Club," she repeated, annoyed that they hadn't been hanging on her every word.

"With Malfoy?" Robert asked. Malfoy had scolded him and Evan regularly for being too loud, too ignorant, or too arrogant. Severus thought it might have something to do with all the attention they got from the girls in the House. And it was only the second week of school.

But that's not what Severus was concerned with. "What do you mean 'the war'?"

Surprisingly, Bella broke out into a broad grin. "You'll see! Just meet in the common room tonight!" She said excitedly, skipping off without answering Severus' question.

"I don't know about her," Robert said quietly. "She's a bit brash, isn't she?"

"I know what you mean," Evan said. "She always seems to be on the verge of some nightmarish new adventure, doesn't she?"

Robert and Severus nodded together in assent, staring after Bella as she skipped through the courtyard back to class.

* * * * *

After dinner, Severus sat in one of the high-backed chairs in front of the common room fire, rereading the interview that Bartemius Crouch, Sr. had given the Daily Prophet. He had not seen Bella since morning break; she was conspicuously absent over lunch, and had failed to produce herself in the Great Hall that evening. Severus could have missed her, though: his appetite had not returned since breakfast, and he had only stayed at dinner for a quarter hour before returning to the common room. Severus assumed that Bella was off somewhere, probably with Roddy and Eugene, but when they came through the dungeon wall without her shortly before curfew, he knew something must be up.

He tore his eyes up from the passage in which Mr. Crouch, the Undersecretary for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, assured the witches and wizards of Britain that whoever was responsible for the "horrendous crime and abuse" would not go unpunished. ("We are currently looking into broadening the list of acceptable curses in use by the Aurors in order to better combat evil of this magnitude," he told reporters.)

"Where's Bella?" Severus asked Roddy and Eugene as they sat down in front of the fire with him.

"Dunno, mate," Eugene said, moodily tossing a bit of someone's homework into the fire. "Thought she'd be down here. Haven't seen her since Charms."

Roddy looked around the common room, as if Bella would jump out from behind a tapestry. "Rather odd for her, usually she's in the thick of things like this."

"What do you mean?" Severus asked, eyebrows knitted. He set the paper down in his lap and leaned forward.

"Well," said Roddy, giving up his search and settling into the chair beside Severus, "you weren't at dinner when those idiots from Gryffindor started bewitching the puddings to fly round the Slytherin table." An odd smile twisted on his face. "One of them exploded right on Mortlake, you know, and he stood up and started throwing curses." He paused, as if relishing the image of a bespattered Mortlake letting loose on their rival House. "When he hit Longbottom with Tarantallegra, all hell broke loose."

Eugene laughed sarcastically. "Well, everyone on the team jumped in, of course, and Dumbledore had to break it up, you know, and then he gave us all detentions and banned us all from the pitch, so we can't even practice." He let it out in one fast stream, as if going any slower were painful.

"Dumbledore was madder than a manticore in heat," Roddy said darkly. "And Malfoy wasn't even there! And then we noticed Bella was gone, too, because she would have had quite the fit."

"She loves Quidditch just as much as anyone," Eugene said heatedly. "She probably would have gone right up to Dumbledore and given him the bat-bogeys for that -- if she had been there."

Both boys looked into the fire. Severus was pretty sure that the heat rising in their faces wasn't from the flames, however.

Just then, Bella came crashing through the dungeon wall, carrying a tower of books and looking disheveled.

Roddy flew up from his seat. "Where've you been? We've been looking all over for you! And we sure could have used your help up in the Great Hall--"

Bella cut him off with a wave of her hand. "Oh, bully for you, Roddy, getting into a stupid little fight with the Gryffindor team--"

"IT WAS NOT STUPID! THEY SMASHED A PUDDING ON MORTLAKE! WE'RE TOSSED OFF THE PITCH FOR A WEEK AND WE'VE ALL GOT DETENTIONS WITH MEADOWES!" Roddy yelled.

Bella threw the books angrily down onto the stone floor at his feet. Everyone in the common room was watching with interest. Eugene was still staring moodily into the fire.

"Oh, come off it, Rodolphus Vindicis Lestrange!" With each word that came out of Bella's mouth, she seemed to grow larger and louder. "For your information, I was researching in the library with Malfoy--"

"You were with MALFOY?" Roddy asked angrily. "I can't BELIEVE you! We're off getting detention, and you're off with Malfoy doing Merlin knows what with that nasty, slimy--"

"Now, do you really want to finish that sentence, Lestrange?" Lucius Malfoy said coldly as he stepped into the common room. He fixed his gray eyes on Roddy, then stepped level with Bella.

Roddy lowered his head. "Not really," he said quietly.

"I thought not." Lucius put a hand on Bella's shoulder and surveyed the engrossed audience in the common room, his eyes finally landing on the scattered books in front of Roddy. "Now, why don't you be a good boy and pick up those books."

It was not a question; it was an order. Roddy obediently bent to pick up the books Bella had thrown at him.

"First years who want to go to the library will please be ready in five minutes. I have quite a load of work to do." Lucius sat down elegantly in the chair that had been formerly occupied by Roddy.

"Ahh, so you're reading the Daily Prophet, are you?" Lucius asked Severus, slipping the paper out of his lap with one clean movement. Lucius' gray eyes danced across the page. "Load of rubbish, Crouch," he sneered, "no proper wizarding feeling in him. Fancies himself the champion of Muggle security now, I imagine."

Severus, quite shocked by the familiarity with which Lucius was acting, merely said, "Hmm."

"Of course, my father is on the board at the Prophet, you know, so he has to give the people what they want, even if they don't know what that may be." Lucius moved closer to the fire with the paper, then looked steadily at Severus. "Do you mind?"

Severus shook his head before he knew what Lucius meant. And then, with a quick flip of his wrist, Lucius tossed the newspaper to the flames.

A savage grin raised the corners of his mouth slightly. "You better get your bag, Snape. And you might want to bring those books of your father's. Yes, I know about those." Lucius did not look at Severus as he said this, but comfortably relaxed in his chair. "I just might fancy a look."