Old Tricks

Old Tricks - Chapter Two

A tall slender dark haired wizard stood before the Defense Against Dark Arts class as Sirius and James took their seats, smiling at the two young men, "Mr. Black, Mr. Potter, so nice of you to decide to attend class today." Taking a survey of the room, he began the lesson, "Mr. Black have you read the seventh chapter about advanced shielding charms?"

"Yes," Sirius quickly replied.

"Good, up and to the front with you, Mr. Black. Ms. Ruck since you demonstrated it so well last class, you can square off against him." As the Professor spoke Neacie rose from her chair, she held her wand tightly as she made her way up to the front of the classroom.

"Professor?" Sirius said, his voice carrying a heavy unknowing.

"Yes, Mr. Black?"

"Nothing." The heaviness was still in his voice.

"Then let's continue. Shake hands." At this, the pair shook hands. Neacie looked at his face while Sirius had looked down at their hands not wanting this to continue. "Mr. Black you will cast the spell and Ms. Ruck with will deflect it. Backs to one another now, pace ten steps."

Neacie's felt the warm line of Sirius' back lightly make contact with hers and it made her hold her breath. She had seen what he could do to Severus and he was much better at shielding charms then she was. She felt Sirius take in a deep breath.

A thought raced through Neacie's head, 'Is he nervous about this, Mr. I-am-so-big-and-bad?'

The professor voice broke into Neacie's thoughts, "Begin pacing on three. One. Two. Three."

As Neacie's back left the warmth of Sirius' back, more thoughts raced through her mind, 'What if turning him down in the corridor would make him angry and enjoy inflicting pain on her? That would be his style. Or maybe he would wait for her to cast the shield and then cast his spell.' She could only hope the last was true as she did not want to look like a fool in front of the Seventh Year N.E.W.T. Defense class.

Her feet moved the steps and she could hear Sirius' boots moving as well. In her mind she counted her own steps. As she turned to face Sirius, his wand was already pointed at her; a bitter taste filled her mouth and she swallowed hard. Looking into Sirius' face, she felt a cold chill creep across her back.

"Now when I count to three, Ms. Ruck, you will cast one of the six shield charms we touched on in chapter seven. Mr. Black, you will cast one of the defendable spells mentioned throughout the first six chapters of the book. As you are suppose to be prepared for any jinx, hex or curse that maybe sent to you from a non-friendly wizard or witch." The Professor grinned, something in the grin spoke volumes about the amount of joy he received from older students dueling. "One. Two. Three."

The word 'three' lingering in the air, Neacie swept her wand out and loudly spoke, "Munitio", a blue mist poured out of the end of Neacie's wand following the wand to the hand, the mist quickly coated her arm, torso, head, waist and legs.

"Rictusempra," Sirius shouted a second after Neacie's body had began to be engulfed by a blue mist that absorbed into her skin. As his spell hit Neacie square in the shoulder, the mist coiled around the spot where the spell had landed.

"Brilliant, Ms. Ruck, five points to Ravenclaw for demonstrating a prefect example of the Munitio Charm. As for you, Mr. Black, I highly doubt the use of a tickling charm will find little use in the real world outside these castle walls." A blonde haired girl from Slytherin high-pitched giggle came from the corner giggled at Professor Mergan's assessment of Sirius' charm.

* * * * *

In the dimly lit library of the Snape mansion stood two men, "Severus, it is either finding someone to marry at Hogwarts or serving the Dark Lord in a more permanent way."

"What do you mean a 'more permanent way'?" Severus turned to face his father as he spoke.

"Either marry a young woman from Hogwarts or become a Death Eater." His father's voice was cold as he spoke the words.

"A Death Eater?" Severus' voice was unsure; he had plans of serving the Dark Lord after his graduation from Hogwarts.

His father spoke again, "Malfoy had his son compile a list of very talented pureblood witches that attend the school." His father grabbed a roll of parchment that was resting on the desk near them, "Here is that list."

Severus took the roll and began to untie it, "Why does the Dark Lord want me to marry one of these girls?"

"He apparently wants you," His father's voice filled with disgust, "to produce children that will serve him and his cause in the future."

Severus looked at the list of girls. They were written in Lucius Malfloy's hand writing and a few names where crossed out in a dark green ink, "Some are crossed out."

"The Dark Lord reviewed the list and eliminated some of the young ladies that he felt would be... detrimental to his cause."

Severus' eyes turned back to the list there were seven names, Narcissa Black. Sirius' cousin, I doubt that she would give me the time of day, attractive though. The next name was, Neacie Ruck. A Ravenclaw, she would give me the time of day, and she's also my potions partner. Brilliant, if she turns me down, I can always move down the list. Severus thought he glanced for the parchment and a few of the names that had been inked out; there was a Weasley girl and another cousin to her as well. He turned away from his father, clumping the parchment in his hands; the only person that was keeping him from becoming a permanent supporter of Voldemort was a now sixth year Ravenclaw girl.

Severus sat upright the silent darkness of Slytherin dormitory, his body was sticky with sweat. He had been having dreams reliving the last night of summer break, for the past few months, ever since Neacie agreed to go to the first weekend visit to Hogsmeade with him and he had sent word to his parents that he had been success in beginning to date one of the girls on Voldemort's approved list. It was soon after his letter to his parents that a steady supply of love potion arrived at his window on Thursday mornings. After their first few outings together, he had kept the potions as a backup plan, but then she kissed him on the cheek and that was when he began disposing of the vials of translucent pink potion.

Severus reached out of the silver and green curtains and pushed them to the side. He climbed out of bed and felt relief as his bare feet touched the cool dungeon floor. Glancing around at the five beds sharing the space with his, all the curtains were pulled tightly closed and the muffled sound of snoring drifted out from the bed across from Severus'. Sitting on the edge of his bed he glanced at his clock. Two fifty-six in the morning. He began to pull his legs beck into the bed when something out of the corner of his eyes stopped him. He turned to look at the small window, a small light brown owl had fluttered into the dormitory and was carefully looking around the room. The owl looked at him and gave a small muffled hoot in recognition from behind the folded parchment held in it's beak. Severus found himself nodding back without realizing it. Something about the owl looked familiar, though who's it was he had no idea and what it was doing in the dormitory at three o'clock in the morning was beyond him.

With a graceful sweep and spread of his wings, the owl glided down to Severus' desk and gently set the folded paper down. Still watching him, it cocked it's head, looking at him as if he were a puzzle. Severus reached for the parchment on his desk and racked his brain to remember who the owl belonged to. As he looked at the note he recognized the handwriting and then the bird, both belonged to Neacie. He unfolded it with one hand while picking up his wand and flicked in the direction of the candle sitting on the corner muttering a Latin incantation.

Severus,

I can't sleep so I thought that I would write you a quick note. Hopefully, you are sleeping and Caesar will stay on your desk so that you can remove the package on his leg. I know that you have been having bad dreams lately, I overheard you talking to Lucius Malfoy. If you look in the tin box on Caesar's leg it is full of lavender. It always helps me sleep and I thought maybe it would help you too.

Love Always,

Neacie

Severus smiled walked the few steps to his desk and sat down. Untying the tin box from the owl's leg, he opened it to see it filled with the lightly fragrant purple flower. Just as Neacie said it would be, Severus smiled faded and he shook his head, 'Lavender isn't going to help me get rid of these dreams darling,' he thought. He set down his wand and pulled out a piece of parchment and his quill quickly wrote:

Thank you for the very thoughtful gift. I feel tired already. I think that Caesar would have grown very bored sitting on my desk. Have a good night's sleep, Darling.

Severus

Severus quickly folded it and gave it to Neacie's owl, "Bring that back to Neacie, Caesar." His voice was a quiet hoarse whisper. The owl gave a grateful hoot, took the note in it's beak and made a graceful exit through the same window it had entered from. Severus let out sigh and picked up the tin box as he stood up. As he made his way back to bed he blew out the candle and crawled back into canopy of his bed. Placing a pinch of lavender between his pillowcase and the pillow, he buried himself in the blankets of his bed and quickly feel into a dream filled sleep.