Paths

Paths

The Malfoy Slytherin Group – not the hottest name, he knew, but Severus was dead serious about not calling them The Havoc Bringers – had a new member. Narcissa DuRois. Lucius’ new girlfriend and captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team. Severus sneered inwardly. He was sure she wasn’t really French. Somtimes she used some presumably French accent, which sounded terribly fake. But he could give her credit for one thing: Since she’d decided to frequently honour them with the presence of her sparkling personality, Severus was having a lot more spare time. And he wasn’t sad about that.

And apart from the snogging and ... all, Lucius was extra occupied with Quidditch. Well, Narcissa was giving him private lessons! Severus twitched at the thought of them practicing what Lucius called "invading the enemy's territory with full force double spin". Oh dear... Severus didn’t think that a keeper had to learn that kind of move.

And then, Lucius had gotten a lot more secretive over the past month. Their sixth year would be over in a matter of time. Severus couldn’t believe that the next summer break would be his last. And they had not yet even planned another attack on the Marauders. Which was astonishing, taking into consideration the results of what he referred to as The Polyjuice Massacre. Not that Severus was sad about that either. Of course he was determined to pay Black and Potter back for blackmailing him – full force double spin – but he sort of needed time for himself. Maybe he should start a list. Writing down everything they’d done to him, so he would never ... wait – he’d done that already.

Severus looked up from his book and glared into thin air. But he didn’t need a list, did he? He’d sometimes wondered if maybe he could just stop hating them. Plain and simple. Then again - hate was something he’d been relying on for as long as he could remember. It always seemed to be there somehow. Well, hate was a bit strong, though - anger was more precise. He felt like being angry all the time. Except when making potions, and ... he concentrated on his book again. Lucius had recently started prodding him to practice more on the Dark Arts. Severus grimaced. Practice! If Lucius could play Quidditch only half as well as Severus knew the Dark Arts ... Hello Quidditch Cup!

He closed his book with an angry sigh. How had he got from Narcissa to Dark Magic?

He looked at his watch. Eight p.m. He would have the whole evening to himself if nothing went –

"SEVERUS!"

" - wrong," he sadly finished his thought.

"What’s ... wrong?" asked a puzzled Goyle.

"Nothing. What’s wrong?"

"Er?"

Severus jumped up from his bed and resisted the urge to throw that dunderhead out of the room. Speaking of anger.

"Why did you come in here, shouting my name like that, implying some emergency? Should I write the question down for you, Goyle?" Severus’ voice was pure venom and the other boy stepped back from him.

"They ... killed Lucius!" he stammered.

"Really?" Severus replied, pinching the bridge of his nose. Goyle and Crabbe had developed a somewhat sad kind of humour lately – trying to outwit each other, making puns. It was even worse than Narcissa’s fake accent. "And what should I possibly do about that? Death is a permanent state, you know."

"It’s for real!" Goyle yelped. "They brought ... what was left of him up to the hospital wing and Narcissa was – crying!" He gulped. "There was blood everywhere."

Severus stared at Goyle with a blank expression and suddenly he could hear frantic voices from the common room. He heard people shouting and ... Professor Keele’s voice right in front of the door.

And there ahe was, having entered the dormitory without knocking. Shouldn't there be a rule against that?

"Master Snape," she said in her usual icy tone, but Severus could hear a note of concern in it. "Would you please come with me."

The common room was crowded with students and all conversations died instantly when they passed through. Pale and anxious faces were staring at him and he fixed his eyes on Keele’s back.

They walked in silence all the way to the hospital wing. It took them almost ten minutes to get there, but Severus hadn’t even noticed they’d left Slytherin tower. Perhaps he was in some kind of shock, he wondered - but his logic still seemed to be working. One more thing he could rely on. So - Lucius couldn’t be dead. Otherwise Keele would have taken him to her office. She clearly wouldn’t want him to see Lucius’ dead body ... would she?

"Keep up!" she said and shoved him through the door.

Inside, someone that looked suspiciously like Black sat on one of the first beds. Severus had to look twice before he was convinced that it was indeed Black. When he looked the third time, he really liked what he saw. Black was soaked wet with something that definitely looked like blood. He was shaking all over and his face was bright white. Which frighteningly contrasted the red stream that ran down his hair and onto his face. And he smelled awfully like fresh meat, by the way. Severus was tempted to hold his nose but didn’t. But something was wrong with the image. It didn't seem to be Black'sblood.

"Professor Keele - " Black began but didn’t get to finish, because Severus threw a punch and knocked him out on the spot.

"MASTER SNAPE! What do you think ... " Keele grabbed him by his robe and dragged him away. "Thirty points from Slytherin," she managed through ground teeth. "And don’t do that EVER again. Am I making myself clear?"

Severus nodded shakily. He felt weird. If Lucius really was ... he would have to kill Black.

Keele made a questioning face and Severus realised that he must have been mumbling. "What is this all about?" he finally blurted out. "Is he dead or what? Could someone please tell me what’s going on?"

Keele released him from her grip, but only to seize him by the shoulder with her other hand. Severus thought that this was probably Keele's idea of a calming gesture, but she was making this painfully calming. "Master Malfoy is - "

"Victoria. Let me talk to your student, please."

"Professor Dumbledore -"

"Could you make sure that Master Black gets up on his bed again?"

She was about to protest but then thought better of it and walked away swiftly. Severus was really worried now. There was no possible way he could stand this uncertainty any longer.

"Please follow me, Severus." Dumbledore’s voice seemed too stern for his usual paternal attitude.

"No! I won’t go anywhere. What happened?"

The Headmaster sighed and said plainly: "Master Malfoy exploded."

"He exploded." Severus repeated sheepishly. This was so not real. This had to be a dream. Dumbledore would start to ... shrink or melt any moment ... and then he would wake up and ...

"But he’s alright." Dumbledore added, patting him on the shoulder – which still hurt from Keele’s patting.

Severus' logic made a feeble attempt to kick back in. "How can he be alright when he exploded?"

At this the Headmaster took his hand from his shoulder. "What do you know about Master Malfoy’s activities this evening?"

Severus’ cheeks flushed deep red and he could feel his stomach contracting. In an instant his anger was back, and stronger than it had been all evening. Of course Dumbledore would suspect him of ... whatever! That was so typical! He defiantly crossed his arms. Dumbledore's face darkened - he'd obviously noticed the changing atmosphere.

"I was in my dormitory all evening. I didn’t attend dinner because I wasn’t hungry. There’s definitely no law against that. And of course I can’t prove these facts, because I was alone."

"I know you weren’t involved in this directly," the Headmaster said, a little less harsh than Severus would have expected. "But -"

"What about Black?" Severus cut in. "He -" Dumbledore raised a hand.

"Sirius Black was lucky he wasn’t hurt. As was your friend Lucius, to come out of this one - alive! Master Black was just what could be called an innocent bystander."

Dumbledore paused and looked firmly at him. His face showed a mixture of concern and disapproval. Severus felt like being thoroughly scanned and after a moment of uncomfortable silence, Dumbledore pulled out a flask and handed it over to him. "Do you recognize this?"

Severus did and in the same moment he realised that he was in deep trouble. He looked back at the Headmaster and his anger only became worse, because – Dumbledore actually had every right to suspect him. The old man held his eyes, still with that judging look.

"I brewed it," Severus said curtly, hoping that his voice wouldn’t show his nervousness. Just because he hated almost everything and everyone in this school didn’t mean he wanted to get expelled.

"So I take it you know what this potion can be used for?"

"It’s not a full potion yet. It’s a basis that can be used for various kinds of Healing or Endurance Potions. And it’s the decisive factor in a ..." Damn, damn, damn! Why couldn’t he shut up when it came to explaining potions?

"Yes?" The Headmaster raised a heavy eyebrow and Severus wondered if he could be judged guilty by knowledge. "Please continue."

"It’s the decisive factor in a most powerful and illegal Initiation Potion." Lucius had been asking for this special potion two weeks ago and Severus had obliged. Of course he wasn’t so stupid as to keep the potion in its finished form. He had provided the ingredients and prepared the basis substance. He couldn’t believe now that he’d actually forgotten all about it, just because Lucius hadn’t come back to ask him to finish it. Well - obviously – he’d done that himself. With blowing success!

"And what does this Initiation Potion do, Master Snape?"

Severus bit his lips. As if the old man didn’t bloody well know! "It kills you. And after some time, something around ten or twenty minutes, it brings you back. Gives you the full death-rebirth experience. You have to take it two hours before you want to die, and it’s highly dangerous if used inappropriately."

"Not only then – if I may add. It can lead to a permanent state of halflife. I don’t think I have to explain to you the seriousness of this kind of Dark Magic."

"I didn’t - "

"Don’t." Dumbledore cut him. "You know I can’t prove you made such a potion, although knowledge of the kind you just displayed speaks against you. And perhaps you didn’t make it after all – judging by the incompetent result. But you have to understand that this is way beyond usual pranks or -"

"I know all about 'beyond usual pranks'!" he yelled. "And I’m not stupid."

Dumbledore lowered his head. "No, you are not. That’s what makes it worse."

Severus couldn’t speak and finally dropped his gaze.

"I want you to come to my office tomorrow after your classes. I will have a talk with Master Malfoy at a later point, when he has recovered. The re-assembling spell took a lot of energy out of him. You can go and see him now. But make it short."

***

"Severus? What happened to you? You’re all hot in the face." Lucius sounded slightly disoriented. "I feel ... swirly."

"You want to know what happened to me? You did. Why didn’t you tell me? You could have been killed. Not that it would be such a great loss!"

Lucius smirked – tried to anyway.

Severus looked around for a chair. When he couldn’t find one, he sat on the rear end of Lucius’ bed and went on with his tantrum. "This was the stupidest thing you’ve ever done! And yes, that’s including the incident with your father’s dragon, thank you very much! Why did you even want to take an Initiation Potion? You should have let me -"

"I know! Will you shut up."

Severus glared at him and Lucius sat up, and his face went green with the effort. "I bet Black didn’t look pretty. He was bothering me with some of his Gryffindor nonsense after lunch when it happened – one hour too early. I must have been exploding right into his face. Surely he threw up afterwards."

Severus let out a laugh. "You bet he did." This would probably make up for some of the minor incidents on his list. "And he didn’t look pleased either when I knocked him out."

"You did?" Lucius showed a smug grin.

"I wish he would explode too. No offence. And Dumbledore questioned me like I was ... he wants to speak to me tomorrow. And you are next. I don’t think he can expel us. If he could he would have done so already. But we wouldn’t be in such a mess if you had told me!"

Lucius narrowed his eyes on him. "I wasn’t so sure you would cooperate."

"And bloody right you are. I should have tried to talk you out of this when you asked me to make this potion in the first place."

"That’s not what I meant."

"..."

"You’ve been acting a bit, let’s say - unusual lately." Lucius stressed the last two words and Severus knew what he meant. They’d had a nasty fight over what had happened during the Polyjuice Massacre and Severus had decided to keep a low profile for a couple of weeks. The weeks eventually stretched into months, during which he’d made himself extremely busy with learning and extra credit work. And as for Lucius - well, there had been the Quidditch position gained, girlfriend attached, less time for friends affair.

"I told you more than once that my loyalties -" Lucius waved a tired hand to shut him up.

"I want you to stay with me at Malfoy Manor over the next holidays. I want to introduce you to some new friends."

Severus frowned. He’d been dreading this for quite a while now. Perhaps that was why he wanted to spend so much time on his own.

"You wanted the potion for your friends then?"

"Hah! They clearly don’t need some student to provide them with that kind of stuff. But they wanted a little demonstration of ... good faith. Well, mainly I did it for the kick."

Lucius looked at him expectantly and Severus had no ecxuse for not asking the next question.

"Is this about Voldemort?"

Lucius twitched and Severus sneered with disgust. He would never understand people’s fear of a mere name. "So that’s what kept you busy all the evenings? And I thought you were s ... dating Narcissa."

"I was. She’s quite determined on many subjects, you know. So. What do you say?"

***

Severus didn’t go back to Slytherin tower. He blew caution to the wind and sneaked out to his new hideout - an old stable with stone walls on three sides. He'd discovered it last year, right before the Shrieking Shack. It stood near the Forbidden Forest on top of a little hill, hidden behind a row of mighty old trees, and the view through the open side of the shack was magnificent. No-one would find him here – that is, if someone wanted to at all.

He stretched himself out on the grass and closed his eyes. He’d told Lucius he would get his answer tomorrow. And Dumbledore would want answers too. The old man would offer him some of his icky sweets while lecturing him about the Dark paths which would lead to certain destruction blablabla. He would have to come up with a good excuse. Maybe ... maybe he should – No! No way. Not ... ever. He would never forgive Dumbledore for not being on his side when he almost got killed in the Shrieking Shack, for playing the father figure for blasted Potter and his damn wolf. Perhaps hate wasn’t too strong a word after all. Dumbledore wouldn’t listen anyway. And besides ... he could decide for himself. He opened his eyes and gazed at the half moon. He would accompany Lucius to one of those meetings and see for himself. Couldn’t hurt to take a look.

The end