The Severus Snape Saga-Book 1, the Sordid Hat

Chapter 8: Take me out to the tryouts....

Severus, as soon as he'd recovered from hearing Voldemort's voice, rushed off with Antonin and Professor Riddle to the attack scene. As they descended the stairs, rushed past the portraits hanging on the walls, snaked through Hogwarts like a pack of ants, Severus felt the lump in his stomach grow larger and larger until, just when he thought it would burst they arrived.

Lying there, sprawled on the floor, was Rodolphus. He was shuddering and gasping and Severus noticed that his skin was slowly getting redder.

"It's a blood burning hex!" he gasped. Dumbledore turned to Riddle.

"Professor, kindly bring us back an antidote from your stores for this curse..."

"No need, Professor," said Riddle. "I have one with me."

He produced a small, blue potion which Dumbledore poured down Rodolphus' throat.

"Will he be alright?" asked Severus and Antonin simultaneously.

"I believe so," said Riddle. "But he'll have a very high fever and possibly delusions for the next few days, and he'll be completely unaware of his surroundings."

"Pravus," said Dumbledore, "I am putting you in charge of this castle's security. These attacks must be stopped at all costs."

"My pleasure, headmaster," said Pravus Snape, and he turned to Corlagon. "You are suspended from your post as a teacher at this school until the culprit behind these attacks is caught."

"WHAT?" roared Corlagon like a huge bear, his face showing murder. "You can't do that, Pravus! They need a defense against the dark arts teacher more than ever with these attacks going on!"

"Precisely, which is why I will be teaching your classes," said Pravus, as though this was good news. "Surely, Dalverry, you would be happy to have an auror as seasoned and world wise as myself teach your classes while you are on sabbatical. Now, good bye."

Corlagon looked ready to murder Pravus, but he forced a smile with intense difficulty.

"Very well, Pravus. Good luck with my classes, you'll need it," he said shortly and he swept away down the stairs.

"Well," said Riddle. "Now I must head back up to our common room and alert Slytherin house to this threat. You'll excuse me, Headmaster?"

"Of course, Tom," said Dumbledore with a slight smile. "As a matter of fact, I had just remembered that I have a very nice bottle of port up in my office which I should like to get started on. Excuse me, Minerva."

"Well then, I'll leave things up to you, Mr. Snape," said McGonagall before sweeping off to the Gryffindor common room.

Pravus Snape gave Severus and Antonin each small smiles before leading them back up to the Slytherin common room. Had Severus stayed behind, he might have seen a mysterious cloaked figure sneak around the corner with Dalverry Corlagon, but as he did not, he did not hear the sordid conversation that went on between the two.

"Well, Dalverry. Ironic isn't it that in order to beat the man you have thought is a dark wizard for the past few years, you must practice dark magic yourself?" hissed the cloaked figure.

"I'm going to do this on my own terms, buddy," growled Corlagon, "I'm not your servant or anything. I'm just dealing with you for now." And he swept off to his office.

"We'll see about that, Dalverry. We'll see about that," said the figure in a silky voice, "Often, one is a servant of the devil at the precise moment one thinks he is master."

Meanwhile, Severus and Antonin had arrived back at the Slytherin common room, where they both suddenly found a large quantity of dark hair in both their faces and two strong arms around both their necks.

"Sev! Antonin! Thank the Gods you're alright! Where have you been? What happened?" came Bellatrix's voice from somewhere within the black hair.

"E 'ere ert der Kidditch mitch, Eh-a-trick," said Antonin through the hair in his mouth, which seemed to be impeding his speech.

Bellatrix let go of both of them and suddenly looked worried. "Where's Rodolphus?" she asked. "He went to find you and..."

"Your attention please!" came Riddle's voice from the center of the common room and they turned. Riddle cleared his throat loudly and began.

"Another student has been attacked by the maniacal entity styling himself Lord Voldemort. Rodolphus Lestrange was discovered with the words 'Lord Voldemort was here' hanging over him by myself a few minutes ago. Professors Albus Dumbledore, Dalverry Corlagon and Minerva McGonagall as well as Auror Pravus Snape and two students, Severus Snape and Antonin Dolohov were later summoned to the scene when the writing had evaporated. However, thankfully we were able to administer an antidote on the unfortunate student in question but he is still in mortal danger from the after effects of the curse placed on him. Auror Snape is now in charge of this castle's security and will be teaching your Defense Against the Dark Arts classes. Professor Corlagon has been suspended from teaching until the culprit is caught, for he is our prime suspect. In addition to these adjustments, Auror Snape has asked me to give you these safety precautions:

No exceptions."

Riddle finished and Severus saw Bellatrix blanch whiter than she had ever done before.

"Rodolphus...attacked?" she whimpered. Antonin patted her on the back comfortingly.

"He'll be ok, Bellatrix," said Severus gently, putting his hand on her shoulder. She started to cry softly.

"Sev, Ant, we're going to stop that bastard!" she hissed. "We're going to see to it that this Lord Voldemort git gets it!"

"Yeah," said Severus, "that's going to be really hard to do since he seems to like talking to me."

"WHAT?!" gasped Antonin, "Sev...you...you haven't been helping him have you?"

"Don't be thick," snapped Severus, "You think I'd attack Rodolphus? He's doing this to try and get me to help him."

"But why you?" asked Bellatrix.

"He said I'd impressed him," said Severus. "He said he saw us as being powerful allies or some crap like that..."

"But how did you meet him?" asked Antonin.

"I didn't, he talks to me mentally," said Severus.

"What?"

"I know, it sounds crazy..." began Severus, "but somehow he put a telepathic connection between us."

"You know, I think only one thing can help us in this situation," said Antonin.

"What?" asked Severus, though he already knew the answer.

"Your hat!" said Antonin.

"Of course!" gasped Bellatrix, "It'll know who Lord Voldemort is!"

"I'll go get it," said Severus, and a minute later he had returned with the hat. "Well, here goes nothing," he said softly, and placed the hat on his head.

"Yes, master?"

"Who's Lord Voldemort?"

"I am forbidden to tell you that."

"For the same reason you can't tell me who sent you?"

"Yes."

Severus pulled the hat off with a sickened feeling. "Guys, he sent me the hat," he said slowly. "Lord Voldemort sent me the hat."

Slowly Antonin and Bellatrix's mouths fell open. "Wait," said Bellatrix. "I want to try something. Put the hat on my head."

Severus slowly picked up the hat and put it on Bellatrix's head. Suddenly her eyes turned glassy and she ran out of the common room with the hat still on her head.

"Come on!" shouted Severus, "We've got to follow her!"

Antonin and he bolted out of the common room after Bellatrix, but she already had a good head start. Then they heard her footsteps stop and they caught up. But before they could get the hat, she raised her wand, pointed it at Antonin and shrieked "Inflamere Pravi!"

A blast of purple flames erupted from her wand and Antonin just managed to move his head out of their way before he was struck in the elbow and dropped to the ground.

"NO!" roared Severus, "Bellatrix, what do you think you're doing?!"

"Poor Ickle Severus," came Voldemort's voice from Bellatrix's mouth, "So brave, and yet so foolish! Look at me, fool! Look at the power you passed up when you rejected me! Well, we'll see whether you're so brave when I have you writhing on the floor! Crucio!"

Severus just managed to dodge the curse before pulling out his own wand. However, rather than aim for Bellatrix, he instead aimed for the hat. "Reducto!" he bellowed, and a blast of light flew from his wand and hit the hat off of Bellatrix's head. She shook her head and looked down at her wand.

"Sev, what just happened?" she said puzzledly. "What I remember last is putting that hat on."

"Bella," said Severus, "I think we're dealing with something way beyond our reach. I'm giving that hat to my dad."

"No!" said Bellatrix stubbornly, "I won't let you. I'm gonna get my revenge for Rodolphus if it's the last thing I do. We give that hat to your dad and we lose our only clue to Voldemort!"

Severus was surprised at Bellatrix's steely resolve, but still thought that his father could handle it better. "Bella, I don't kn.." he began, but Bellatrix fixed him with a heartbreaking look.

"Severus, please," she said, "I'm sure we can do this."

Severus sighed in exasperation, but decided to play along anyway. "Ok, fine," he said. "But we've got to be careful!"

"Ok. One more thing. Promise me you won't tell your dad about the hat."

Severus sighed. "I promise," he said, and then added "What about Antonin?"

"What about him?" asked Bellatrix. Severus motioned to Antonin's supine body. Bellatrix shrieked.

"Oh, gods, Severus, did I do that?" she asked with a quavering voice.

"Yup. Sorry, Bella," he said. Bellatrix started fanning herself. "Well," said Severus, "I guess there's only one choice then. It'll certain make things more secure." And with a sigh he wrote "Lord Voldemort was here" over Antonin's body. "Ok, Bellatrix. On my signal you scream. 1...2...3."

Bellatrix screamed deafeningly and a few minutes later Professor Riddle came running. His face turned white when he saw Antonin lying on the floor. "Mr. Dolohov!" he gasped and turned to Severus and Bellatrix.

"Do either of you know how this happened?" he asked.

"No, Professor," lied Severus, "We just found him this way."

"Both of you get back to your common rooms!" snarled Professor Riddle. "You are not to leave again tonight! He's been hit with a hellfire jinx, which thankfully has only got him on the elbow. You two could have gotten worse!"

Severus and Bellatrix turned away and stalked back to the common room. However, just as they were about to go to bed...

"You know who I think Lord Voldemort is? I think he's not just any one person, but three people: Antonin Dolohov, Bellatrix Black and Sev..." came the voice of Dolores Umbridge, but the boy she was talking to said "Shut up, Umbridge." And moved on. Severus had had enough now, he was going to burst Umbridge's bubble.

"So you think it's me, Bellatrix and Antonin, eh?" he snarled at Umbridge when he had gotten full in her face, "Well, I hate to tell you this, but Antonin was just attacked. Professor Riddle told us."

Umbridge's face compressed. This had obviously ruined her little theory and she glared up at Severus. "No proof that it's not you, though, Snape!" she snarled. "Your dear father's just protecting you by getting rid of Corlagon, he and I were the only ones who saw through you!"

"If your dad can see through me I must be pretty damn transparent," sneered Severus, "But he'll be able to see through you when I finish blasting a hole in your stomach."

Umbridge whimpered and backed away in horror. She was so eager to get away, though, that she knocked over a table. The student who had been working at it stood up angrily. Severus saw with satisfaction that it was Lucas Avery.

"Hey, Lucas," Severus said brightly. "Sorry, but Umbridge here thought she'd knock over a table. You know, for a bit of attention."

"Well, I'll give her attention," leered Avery, looking down at Umbridge with a sinister smile, "Petrificus Totalus!"

Umbridge froze as Avery's full body bind hit her. He then looked at her with disdain. "Now, I think I'll just levitate her upside-down outside our common room for the rest of the night. How's that for attention?"

Severus smiled, said good night to Bellatrix and went up to bed.

When Severus got to breakfast the next day, he vaguely wondered where Antonin was before he remembered the whole horrible previous night. His hat being Lord Voldemort's, Bellatrix's temporary possession by Voldemort and her assault on Antonin....

And then it hit him. Today was the Quidditch tryouts! Antonin would be unable to attend them due to the curse and if he, Severus, got on the team wouldn't that infuriate Antonin? He managed to swallow a piece of bacon before feeling horribly sick. Antonin's father would be furious if his son was not the star player. Gods knew what would happen if he didn't make the team. Severus forced himself to swallow a piece of toast. Should he not try out? No, that was ludicrous. He was good enough to be on the team and that was all that mattered. Severus forced his moral pangs to subside and adopted the typical Slytherin pragmatism. If Antonin couldn't be there, tough luck on him. Severus would be there, and Severus would make the team.

The tryouts were scheduled to occur that night, so Severus had to sit with his nerves through all his classes. In Herbology he made a mistake while pruning his snapping lauralie bloom and wound up with a very nasty cut. He found himself accidentally thumping his foot in Astronomy, causing Professor Sinistra to dock points from Slytherin for disturbing their concentration. Charms was perhaps the worst of all, as Severus bastardized the words on his movement charm so badly that rather than making his quill zoom across the table, he ended up making large purple mushrooms sprout from Professor Verbrechen's ears and nose.

And Potions, which never failed to relax Severus, seemed also just to be something which was determined to make Severus' day miserable. Twice he almost made a mistake with his glamour potion, but was stopped by Lucas Avery on both occasions. And when he cleaned his cauldron, he accidentally splattered a little potion on one of the Gryffindor sixth year fingers, which made it look glamorous and godlike. When Riddle had managed to break up the small finger worshipping cult which had developed, he seemed especially disappointed in Severus and took ten points from Slytherin before sending him on his way.

Finally, Severus went back to Professor Binns' office, where he found the old ghost reading a book entitled "The complete Idiot's Guide to Ghosts." Binns had just finished snorting when Severus made a small coughing noise.

"Ahh, Mr. Snape, welcome back! Now, seeing as though you know the information covered this year pretty damn well, I figured I'd see if you had any special interests regarding History Of Magic and if you didn't I'd let you off coming to see me. Well, do you?"

"Sir," said Severus nervously, "I was wondering if you could teach me...the history of the dark arts."

Binns didn't seem the least bit deterred. "An EXCELLENT choice!" he beamed, "Why, the history of the dark arts is such a rich topic that I could spend three years teaching it! Unfortunately, I only have you for this one year, so I shall have to condense."

Binns conjured a blackboard and wrote over the top: "The history of Dark Magic". Severus pulled out some parchment and began to take notes. Binns started talking, but it was not his usual droning tone. He actually sounded interesting for once.

"Now, Dark Magic first came into being in the year 1049 B.C., with the forming of the cult of Set in Egypt. The cult of Set was an obscure religious group which dedicated its worship to the god of chaos and darkness and the first dark wizards emerged from this cult. However, the dark magic they had back then is quite different from the dark magic of today! Back then, all curses and harmful magic were considered 'dark' by wizard kind..."

Severus wrote down as much as he could over the span of the lesson, and even though the Quidditch tryouts were still on his mind, he was too interested in what Binns had to say to notice. By the time Binns had finished, they had only covered the first basilisk breeder: Herpo the foul. Severus was quite content, though. Binns' calm voice had a positive effect on Severus' sore nerves.

Then, finally, with the last of his classes out of the way, Severus put his books away and hurried to the Quidditch pitch. He mumbled 'sorry' when he collided with another boy, but then stopped in his tracks.

It was Antonin, and he was standing there looking perfectly healthy. He had already taken a broom from the brooms that Professor Riddle had layed out on the ground. Severus managed to stop himself from staring as if he'd seen a ghost (though it felt that way).

"How?" he gasped after about five minutes.

"It was easy, Madam Pomfrey just gave me this potion and told me I should stay the night in the hospital wing and that was it! Rodolphus didn't look so good, though, poor bloke," said Antonin as if he were discussing the weather. Severus managed to keep his jaw in position, but cracked a grin.

"Good, this means that they can have us both on the team and we'll steamroller the other houses."

"Will you, now?" asked the voice of Vladimir Dolohov, who they now saw standing behind them. "I expect that is an accurate evaluation of the situation. Go get 'em son! Good luck, Severus."

Severus walked over an retrieved a large, oak broom which felt supple in his hands. Though it was nowhere near the quality of his original broom, it certainly seemed to do and he walked back to wait with Antonin. Ludo Bagman then clapped his hands and Severus caught his breath.

"Alright! Here's the deal. We're going to play out an actual game of Quidditch between you lot. Those of you who are trying out for seekers will all fly around trying to catch the Snitch. The one who actually catches it will be the new Slytherin seeker. Those of you who are trying for Keeper will alternate and the one who blocks the most goals will be the new Slytherin keeper. Those of you trying for beaters will compete to unseat as many players as possible, and the one who ends up doing that will be our new beater. I'm the other one. Now, the Chasers will be judged on three things: Goals, Tactics and Overall Skill. The three Chasers will be the three who manage to excel at these three areas the most. All the Chasers are for themselves, there are no teams. Alright, so mount your brooms and off you go!"

Bagman blew a whistle and all the players kicked off. Severus seized the Quaffle as soon as it was out of the box and swerved between his fellows with the grace of a dancer. He managed to avoid the bludgers with fluid motions and shot like a bullet striaight for the goalposts, where he made a feint to distract the Keeper, pretended to throw the Quaffle into the right hoop but really shot it at the center hoop.

His feint worked. The Quaffle went straight through the center hoop and Severus watched as Antonin caught it. But Severus wasn't going to let even Antonin get ahead on this one. This was the real thing and he was going to play the real way. He dived for Antonin and within seconds had the Quaffle again, which he flew back to the goal hoops with and scored again. He then watched as a burly fifth year caught it and decided to play his most offensive tactic.

He flew circles around the fifth year, distracting him. The fifth year didn't pay any attention until he tried to shoot and Severus caught the Quaffle in mid air and threw it through the hoops again. The fifth year who he'd stolen the goal from swore at him, but Severus didn't care. He was off again, this time following another boy. This one, however, was more skillful. He made feints and tricks and twisted around to avoid Severus before pitching the ball through the goal hoops. The keeper was replaced.

This time Severus managed to get the Quaffle and he soared off toward the opposite goal hoops, which were guarded by a keeper he hadn't tested yet. The boy who'd just scored tried to get the Quaffle from him, but Severus flattened himself and sped off, leaving the boy helpless. But when he got to the hoops, he found himself being attacked again, this time by Antonin.

Antonin was desperate. He was clawing at Severus and snarling "Give it to me, you GIT! NOW!" Severus paid him no heed and flew up to the Keeper, who was staring at him defiantly. Severus made a couple of feints before throwing the Quaffle at the left hoop. Amazingly the Keeper blocked it and sent it to Antonin, who flew off. Severus sped after him, with the air rushing in his ears. He decided to play dirty and circled Antonin, who screamed some insult Severus couldn't hear.

Severus eventually disarmed the Quaffle from Antonin and threw it into the goal hoops, this time managing to deceive the keeper. He watched as another boy got the Quaffle, but this one was so obviously hopeless that Severus had no trouble stealing the Quaffle from him. He found himself scoring again.

As the game wore on, Severus found that he was actually better than almost everyone else except Antonin (who actually managed to steal the Quaffle and score about four times) and the boy who had managed to evade Severus the first time. But the rest of the players could only swear at the three of them as they made goal after goal. Severus and Antonin actually banded together to make more goals at one point during the course of the game. Severus found it all too easy, he was just putting goal after goal past keeper after helpless keeper....

But then they got a new keeper, this time a girl. For some reason, almost nothing Severus threw got past her. Antonin and the other kid weren't having much luck with her either. She was too level-headed to fall for most of Severus' feints and simply refused to let the Quaffle in under any circumstances. That didn't mean Severus didn't make any goals. When he got fed up with her blocking him he would speed off to the other end and make a goal there just to keep his record popping.

All the same, as the game wore on he found himself starting to hate the girl. Why couldn't she just let the Quaffle in a bit? She didn't need to be a God to get on the team! He finally managed to put a goal past her after about a half an hour between goals. He was going to break her cool if it was the last thing he did.

He seized the Quaffle and flew towards the goal posts. He started by doing his typical feints, and pretending to think he couldn't beat her, he flew off toward the other end. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her slump in fatigue. It was then that he whirled back around and tossed the Quaffle through the center hoop with a triumphant smile. She stared at him in wonder. It suddenly occurred to Severus that she was quite good looking. But that didn't stop him from pulling more and more deceptive feints to the point that she started to soften up.

At last, Bagman's whistle blew. All the players landed and Ludo strode toward them with a look of absolute bliss.

"All right. I've seen some impressive playing up there and I now know exactly who will be playing which positions. Our other beater will be Gaston Mulciber. Our Keeper will be Michelle Stormblossom. Our Seeker is Lucius Malfoy."

Severus gaped and turned to see Lucius smiling. Why hadn't he seen him when the tryouts had started? He turned his head around to see Ludo begin reading the chasers.

"And last, but not least, our Chasers are Antonin Dolohov, Matthew Travers and possibly the most amazingly untouchable player I've seen yet: Severus Snape!"

Severus grinned. He'd be even more untouchable when they had their matches against the other houses. He listened to Ludo telling them to meet him for practice on Friday and then walked back to the school while fighting a massive desire to jump into the air and whoop.

But then the girl who'd played Keeper walked up to him. "So, I guess we're on the same team now then," she said in a quiet but firm voice. "The name's Stormblossom. Michelle Stormblossom. Glad to meet you." She didn't wait for him to extend his hand, but instead pulled it up and shook it resolutely. Severus tried to find his tongue.

"Er...my name's Snape, Severus Snape. Nice to meet you too. Er...to what do I owe your talking to me?"

"I just wanted to make sure there were no hard feelings about the way I was so frustrating back there," she said, smiling sweetly. Severus couldn't understand how she'd even think he'd have hard feelings.

"Er...no. No hard feelings," he said.

"Good," she said, and slapped him. "Because I think you acted like a dishonest, ruthless pack rat."

Severus gaped. He'd never expected this.

"Er...sorry," he said.

"Don't be," she said, and smiled again. "I should be sorry. We need to have players like you on our team and here I am accusing you of having bad morals when I'm a Slytherin!" she hung her head.

"There's nothing wrong with being a Slytherin," said Severus a little offendedly.

"You should talk," she said bitterly.

"Why? What have I done?" asked Severus with a slight edge to his voice. She paid no attention.

"You've only acted exactly the way my Mum and Dad think Slytherins act," she said condemningly, "When you can't win fairly, you act sneaky."

"I didn't act sneaky, I just played to my strengths and not to yours!" said Severus hotly. "And I hate to break it to you, honey, but you're here because you're the same as me!"

"Yeah, whatever. Just don't sneak up and murder me in my sleep for offending you," she snapped and walked off.

At first Severus was tempted to curse her, but then he remembered when she'd mentioned how her parents told her that Slytherins were sneaky hypocrites. He could just imagine how he'd feel if he'd been sorted into Gryffindor and James Potter were telling him that not all Gryffindors were bad.

"Damn!" cursed Severus, "I am such a prat!"

Then he was accosted with Antonin, who was ecstatic.

"Sev!" he whispered rapturously, "I'm on the team! I'm actually on the team! My dad's not gonna kill me!"

"Congrats," said Severus a bit more shortly than he'd intended.

"Is anything the matter, Sev?" asked Antonin.

"Yeah. You know that girl who got Keeper?" asked Severus.

"Oh, don't get me started. I might as well have been trying to shoot past a Hungarian Horntail. I still don't understand how you got as many as you did past her," said Antonin tiredly.

"Well, she just told me she thought I was a typical Slytherin, which in her mind equals a backstabbing dark wizard," said Severus with a tinge of regret.

"Wait, wait. You're telling me there's a Slytherin who's prejudiced against her own house? Oh, this is rich! Wait, what was her surname again?"

"Stormblossom," said Severus, wondering how this had anything to do with the issue.

"Oh, well, that explains a lot," said Antonin in an all-knowing way. "The Stormblossoms are a long line of Ravenclaws. My dad went to school with one, and he said they don't think much of the other houses but Slytherin is at the bottom of the list."

"So why is she a Slytherin if her family's all Ravenclaws?" asked Severus.

"Search me. But all I know is that her folks are probably not too happy with her, since Dad told me that they give about as much credibility to Slytherin as you'd give to Corlagon," Antonin gave a small whistle.

"Dang, no wonder she seemed really touchy about being in Slytherin. I'd better talk to her again, try and explain to her that Villa Serpensum isn't a bad place."

"What?" asked Antonin quizzically.

"Villa Serpensum, it's a nickname for our house," said Severus.

"Weird," said Antonin. "Well, let's get to the common room. Maybe we can see if Umbridge is still hung over the entrance!"

"I don't think you'll be doing that," said Lucius' voice behind them. They turned around. "At least, you won't be doing it without me," he said.

"Hey, Luce. Where's Crabbe and Goyle?" asked Antonin.

"They're in the hospital wing. Their entire cauldron exploded in Potions today. Of course, they were drenched in the potion. It was a Confusing Concoction. Madam Pomfrey's still having trouble convincing Crabbe that he's not a tree. I'm just glad I was in the toilets when it happened, the three of us were working together," laughed Lucius.

"Isn't he a tree?" asked Severus, "Or is that hair and not moldy old needles?"

Lucius and Antonin guffawed hysterically at this and they were still grinning broadly when the three of them entered the common room. To their immense disappointment, Umbridge was off the ceiling, but she now seemed too terrified to go anywhere near them. But Severus wasn't paying any attention to her, his eyes had focused on Michelle Stormblossom, who was sitting off in a corner of the common room crying softly. Severus excused him and walked over to where she was sitting.

"Hey, everything ok over here?" he asked as he sat down in front of her. She glared at him through her tears.

"How d-d-dare you talk to me after what you did back there?" she whimpered, trying to sound threatening, "I'll curse your eyes out for insulting me th-that way!"

Severus bent down and gently pulled her wand from her hands. It sent out a shower of sparks.

"Just for your info," he said, "you don't want to get into a duel with me. But that's not important, what's important is that I came over here to apologize for being such a prat back there."

"Oh no, you weren't a prat at all!" she hissed shrilly. "You were just a slytherin!" she pronounced the name of their house like it was some kind of disgusting swear word. Severus decided that the first step in lightening her up was to make her believe that the house wasn't full of dark wizards.

"Look, I know you've been brought up to believe that we're all villains," he said. "But there's a difference between what you've been told and the actuality. The sorting hat put you here and are you a vill-"

"Don't try to patronize me, Severus Snake!" she shouted, and she hurled a book at him. Severus sprung out of its way. "The sorting hat put me here because I asked it too!"

Severus mouthed soundlessly. "But...if that's the case, then why do you hate us?"

"Because I didn't believe all the horrible things Mum and Dad said about Slytherin. The hat told me I was equally qualified for both Slytherin and Ravenclaw and I asked it to put me here because I thought that maybe it wasn't such a bad place and...because I wanted to redeem the house for my family! But now that I see that everything my parents told me about it is true I wish I could go to Ravenclaw!" she sobbed.

"But...why do you think what they said is true?" asked Severus, bewildered.

"I've seen the way you Slytherins are always at each other's throats! The first time I tried to make friends I was told to go screw a Niffler! Then...after that, when I tried to get to be friends with someone else who looked like they didn't have any friends but she didn't want me as her friend either! Then there were those fliers about other students who were rumored to practice the dark arts and they were all in Slytherin! And then tonight, when you acted so expediently!" she broke down into sobs. Severus patted her, but she pulled away.

"Well who did you try and make friends with the first time?" asked Severus. Michelle raised her disconsolate finger and pointed at Iago Zolario. Severus could have laughed out loud.

"Well, he hates anyone getting close to him!" he exclaimed. "And the second time?"

Michelle raised her hand and pointed to Umbridge. Severus punched the air.

"You've just picked out the two biggest assholes in the school and tried to make friends with them," he said incredulously. "Well if I'd done that I'd probably think we were all scum suckers too! And as to the fliers," he said in a low voice, "they were a bunch of slanderous lies. Professor Riddle gave Umbridge detention for putting them up and forced her to tell everyone why she put them there and it was out of pure malice. As to tonight," he finished somewhat sadly, "I was nervous and punchy. I thought one of my friends was near death and then he turns up all safe and sound! And I was really nervous about being graded down if I couldn't get past you. Sorry I offended you."

Michelle looked up at him with surprise in her eyes. "You're actually sorry?" she asked.

"All in one," said Severus. Michelle gave him one of the most pitiful looks the human face can manage.

"Will you be my friend?" she asked.

Severus gave her a broad smile. "Of course."

Michelle got up, dried her eyes and followed Severus over to a corner where Lucius, Antonin, Bellatrix and Augustus were all playing Gobstones. Severus introduced her to all of them and explained to the others that she was really sensitive and unhappy since the only other people she'd tried to make friends with were Iago Zolario and Umbridge. Bellatrix looked on pityingly.

"You poor thing!" she gasped, and actually gave Michelle a hug. This was fairly uncommon with Bellatrix, so Severus decided she must really be feeling pity. She seemed to feel much less charitable, however, when Michelle beat her at Gobstones.

"So, Sev, how'd you meet your new friend...oof!" Augustus had just been sprayed by one of Lucius' pieces.

"She's the new keeper," said Antonin. "And she's a stubborn ass on the field!"

Michelle looked like she might cry again before Antonin cracked a smile. "And that's EXACTLY what we want for a keeper!" Michelle looked properly encouraged.

It was safe to say that after Michelle had managed to overcome her sensitivity and native mistrust of Slytherins, she easily became one of the most adored presences among Severus and his friends. She was calm and level-headed but had a fun-loving nature and a surprisingly warped sense of humor. Once, when Umbridge tried to claim that Severus was really brewing illegal potions during his private time with Professor Binns, she planted an entire colony of toads in Umbridge's dorm with a note that said:

Sorry about these, but they heard there was a toad whore in this dorm. If you didn't know this, she's masquerading as a so-called 'concerned student' named Dolores Umbridge. Enjoy your new beaus, toady.

-Villa Severum

"Villa Severum" was her name for Severus, Bellatrix, Antonin, Lucius, Augustus and of course, her. It was based on the Slytherin nickname "Villa Serpensum." Severus had unanimously been elected leader since he was the one who the society was named after. But he didn't act like a leader, but instead only accepted the post in order to gratify everyone else. Severus was enjoying himself so much with his new post on the Quidditch team and their warped ways of punishing Umbridge that he almost forgot about Voldemort until one day in the midst of October when, during Astronomy, he felt a strange sensation in the back of his head which could mean only one thing:

Someone had been attacked.