The Severus Snape Saga-Book 1, the Sordid Hat

Chapter 13: Snakes on Xmas and Serpentine Valentines

Severus found himself being woken up by a thoroughly overexcited Antonin, who Severus at first thought was wearing some grotesque red squirrel skin on his head which Severus later realized was a Santa hat. And then he realized. OH BLOODY HELL! It's CHRISTMAS!

"Merry Christmas, Sev," said Antonin jovially, clapping his friend on the back and causing Severus to gasp for air. He later realized this was because Antonin had slapped him on the back with a large parcel from his present pile at the foot of the bed.

"Thanks, Ant," said Severus weakly, pulling the parcel off his back and looking at it. The card read:

"To my fellow chaser and leader of Villa Severum. Cheers, Antonin."

Severus unwrapped the package with meticulous care and out fell a box of what Severus at first thought were miniature Quidditch balls and hoops but he saw (From the label) were "Quidditch sweets". They contained chocolate malt bludgers, cherry Quaffles, peppermint posts and little caramel snitches. Severus grinned at Antonin and said with some grief:

"Er...I haven't go..."

"Don't be silly, Sev! You don't NEED to give me anything. Your dad's taken care of that!" said Antonin, holding up a sleek racing broom at which Severus' mouth fell open. "It says: to Antonin Dolohov, my son's highly effectual partner on the field. From: Pravus Snape. And look, Sev, it's a Comet two-twenty!" Severus gaped and saw another long, thin parcel at the foot of his bed. He unwrapped it to discover another comet two-twenty. He looked up at Antonin and gasped:

"Did my dad give these to all the Quidditch team members?"

"Dunno, Sev. But try the others, why don't you? Heaven knows you'd better get started."

Severus gasped as he saw the massive pile of presents at the foot of his bed and he asked "Where did these come from?"

"The other members of Villa Severum seem to think their leader deserves proper tribute. Well, get started!"

Severus took awhile to open all the presents from his affectionate members. He found no less than twelve different sets of sweets, a joke kit from Zonko's and even a Quick Quotes Quill (from Rita Skeeter). Then he started on the presents from people he actually knew. There was a highly ornate black and silver cloak from Bellatrix, a box of Pepper Imps from Lucius, a set of Fillibuster's Fireworks from Rodolphus, a book of highly complex potions from Augustus which Severus somehow thought he had bought down Knockturn alley, another book (this one dealing with the history of goblin rebellions) from Serena and finally...Quidditch through the ages from Lily.

But on top of all this there was one more present. Severus checked it for a card, but didn't find one. He checked it for an inscription and didn't find that either, so he cautiously opened the present with his muscles ready to bolt of it turned out to be dangerous...

When the paper came off he found himself staring into a large glass case in which sat a snake. It raised its head to look at Severus and he suddenly saw that it had unfurled a hood.

"What the--" he gasped, and the snake spat a card out which actually went right through the glass.

"Hey, look, everyone! Someone got Severus a cobra!" came Iago Zolario's voice, but Severus was too busy reading the card.

Severus,

You do not know me personally, but I have seen fit to send you this gift along with the book he has in his cage. You may take it with impunity. He will harm no one I have expressly told him not to. Enjoy both the book and Niddhog, who has been approved for your possession.

It was unsigned. Severus looked at the snake and, feeling very stupid, he put his finger cautiously into the cage. The snake did not try to bite it, but rather simply slithered up to it, sniffed it, and went back to sleep before looking at Severus with an almost human stare. Severus scanned the cage and saw that the snake was nestled next to a very large black book. He took a deep breath and plunged his hand in to take the book.

The snake did not budge. He pulled the book out easily and sat there looking at it and his new pet before opening the book. Its title page read: "The Beginner's Guide to Occlumency." Severus opened up the book and read the first few pages before jamming it next to his other presents. The first words of the book had been:

"Beware of he who seeks the secrets of the mind, for they are weapons more terrible than the wand, pen and sword."

Severus spent the rest of the morning reading the book and half-heartedly musing with the snake. He couldn't speak Parseltongue, but he got the feeling the snake understood what he was saying anyway.

"Half of this book is about blocking your mind against intrusion. But who's going to have their minds intruded on, Niddhog?" Severus asked bewilderedly. He couldn't think of any reason someone would be invaded mentally at all...except....

If someone wanted to use what was inside against them. He leaned back and cursed himself for being so thick as not to realize it and continued reading.

Severus found controlling his emotions like the book suggested slightly more difficult than normal, but being a Slytherin he soon mastered it far more easily than most would have. Then, closing the book, he walked to breakfast...

And his mouth dropped open. The place had at least seventeen Christmas trees around it and the four house tables its own Christmas tree plus a symbol associated Christmas hanging over it. An actual sleigh with the house elves and Professor Flitwick in it had been set up over the Ravenclaw table. A depiction of the Nativity was over the Hufflepuff table. A menorah was over the Gryffindor table and Severus saw with some disgust that the Slytherin table had mistletoe hanging over it. He took a seat next to Bellatrix, who was looking up at the mistletoe as though she was considering burning it.

"Morning," said Severus, and Bellatrix snapped out of her reverie. "Nice decorations, eh?" asked Severus, but Bellatrix was in no mood for games.

"Why us?" she asked in a crushed voice. "Why did we get the mistletoe? Rodolphus walked right over here and pulled me into a smooch the instant he saw them...he was a really good kisser," she added dreamily, but then said firmly, "for a shameless user of women's baser instincts."

Severus snorted into his porridge. Bellatrix really had issues with trying to make it look like she didn't fancy Rodolphus (which he knew she did). He saw Rita Skeeter involved with giving Gaston Mulciber a sloppy smooch.

"She's not wasting any time, is she?" he asked tiredly and Bellatrix rolled her eyes.

"Oh, Skeeter's been abusing her privileges. There isn't a single boy she hasn't already kissed except Lucius and only because he pulled out his wand when she came near him.

"And she was asking for a good cursing," came Lucius' low, controlled voice, and he slid into the seat next to Severus. "Morning, Bella," he said to Bellatrix casually before starting on porridge. Bellatrix gave him a small smile and then went back to talking to Severus.

"He's just in a good mood because that Stormblossom girl pecked him," she whispered. Severus shot a glance at Lucius. For some reason he didn't look right for Michelle. At first he even thought that if anyone was right for her it was him, but he pushed that thought out of his mind. Didn't he want Lily? No, she was more a close friend...a VERY CLOSE friend...

"Peck her yourself, then," said a nasty little voice in Severus' mind.

"I've got more respect for her than that," he snapped back at it, but it started laughing.

"You're just chicken. Oh, I can imagine you and Lily snogging each other..."

"SHUT UP!"

"I didn't say anything!" said Bellatrix, scandalized. Severus looked at her in a hard way.

"I wasn't talking to you," he snapped.

"Then who were you talking to?"

"No one, just thinking."

Bellatrix gave him a funny look before going back to her porridge and Severus was just about to apologize when he was suddenly enveloped in a lot of black hair and a very sloppy amount of lips on his own. He went "mmf" and tried to make out who it was when she let go of him. He stared with some surprise into Michelle's face, which was giving him a crooked grin.

"How are you, Sev?" she asked nicely, ruffling his hair. Severus grimaced a little. He HATED it when people ruffled his hair, but this seemed the wrong time to object.

"I'm fine," he said breathlessly, "A little short on oxygen but fine."

"Well, good," she said. "Keep your eyes open, though. Skeeter is looking this way."

It was true. Rita Skeeter had moved up and Severus had the good sense to pull out his wand and point it at her sternly. She pouted and moved on to her next victim (whom Severus saw with some laughter was Antonin).

The rest of the day was spent between Severus, Michelle, Bellatrix, Antonin and Lucius having a furious snowball fight in brooms. Severus and Antonin, being Chasers, found this easier than the others and hit more in their joint efforts than the rest put together. When they had finished, Severus suddenly remembered two entirely disconcerting facts about the day. He had a meeting with Villa Severum scheduled on the Quidditch pitch and a Dark Arts lesson with Professor Riddle. He sighed and landed to go to the meeting. The others, who hadn't forgotten the meeting, landed and walked with him.

Severus' mouth nearly dropped open when he saw all the members of Villa Severum standing there. They were almost all Slytherins and he saw only one chest bearing red and gold. It was Lily, and she was talking animatedly to Evan Rosier, who looked surprised at seeing a Gryffindor there. Severus' arrival was greeted with cheers and whoops and he felt himself go very red. He was also alone as Bellatrix, Michelle, Antonin and Lucius had vanished into the crowd too. Crossing to the center of the pitch and muttering the spell that would make his voice carry, he began to talk.

"Alright! Welcome, members of Villa Severum! For those of you who don't already know me, I am your head: Severus Snape, a Slytherin first year. I can see that most of you are Slytherins too. Good, this should lessen animosity. Now, here's the first thing I have to say. In light of the size of this group, I have decided to appoint several executive cabinet officers to aid me in leading this group. Now, I have several positions and I have chosen for each of them!" he tried to remember all the names. "Let's see, for Correspondence with Different Years Officer I choose Lucas Avery! Come up here!" he was surprised at how well he was doing and when Lucas walked over to him and actually shook his hand reverently, he wondered how far his influence went. "Ok, and...our Duelling Chief is Lucius Malfoy!" Lucius swaggered over the crowd and smiled at Severus. "Our Female Student Correspondent is Bellatrix Black!" Bellatrix strode up and hugged Severus, which made him embarrassed. "Er...our Senior Undersecretary to the Leader is Michelle Stormblossom!" Michelle ran up and grinned up at the others. "And finally, our inter-house correspondence officer is Lily Evans!"

There was stunned silence as Lily, the only Gryffindor in the crowd, ran up and threw her arms around Severus, looking shocked that she'd gotten one of the executive offices. There was a little scattered applause afterwards, but Severus knew the other Slytherins were furious that they hadn't gotten the roll and were even more incensed that a Gryffindor had. He wondered vaguely why he was consorting with someone who entered the Griffin's door...and had the moment intensified by the arrival of his father.

Pravus Snape barreled down from the stands of the Villa Severum followers looking livid. He crossed to Severus and seized him by the shoulders. "Severus, what do you think you're doing?!" he roared, eyeing Lily with rage. "She's a Gryffindor and a muggle-born! Do you have any idea how against the Snape family honor that is?!"

Severus stared his father in the face and quailed. He had never seen the man so enraged and almost wanted to run away as fast as he could, but he felt compelled to make a stand. "Dad, she's my friend..."

"Your friend?" came Pravus Snape's voice, as cold as ice with a coat of Liquid nitrogen, "YOUR FRIEND?!" he seized Lily by the shoulders and spat in her face, "NEVER come within a hundred yards of my son again, mudblood! I'll see to it that you and your unclean heritage comes to an untimely end!" he pushed Lily away and turned to Severus, his eyes bugging out. In fact, there was something unnatural about his eyes...something fake. "You will appoint someone else for this office, Severus," he growled.

But Severus had had enough. "No," he said fiercely.

"NO?!"

"She's my friend, father, and there's nothing you can do about that!" yelled Severus, glaring up at his father with the sneer that would remain plastered on his face for the next thirty four years. Pravus Snape seemed to size his son up. He then gave him a look of extreme coldness.

"Go your own way, Severus," he said angrily, "Consort with filth if it pleases you...but remember that you will regret it. She will hate you one day and then you will be very sorry indeed. Be friends with a mudblood, Severus, but may every mudblood you consort with meet an early doom at the hands of the one wizard you most consider trustworthy!" and with that, Pravus Snape stormed back into the castle. The sneer remained on Severus' face, never to leave. He turned to face the crowd and now there was none of the good-natured, bright young wizard in him. He had felt his heart break and now his voice had a hard, sarcastic edge and his black eyes lost all trace of warmth.

"A little family matter," joked Severus, not noticing how his lips curled, "This meeting is over."

The other members of Villa Severum left and Severus even told the executive members to get lost. He sank down on the ground and began to weep before suddenly hearing a high-pitched girlish voice that sent rage through his veins.

"So, your dear dark wizard dad getting you down?"

Severus looked up into the face of Dolores Umbridge and felt rage well up in him. There was only one thing to be done with a person like this. "Petrificus totalus!" he growled, and Umbridge froze up. He then pointed his wand at her and did a silencing charm. What he was about to do required absolute caution. He felt all the rage, anger and hatred at his father well up inside him. "Crucio."

Despite the fact that Umbridge stayed completely still and didn't scream, Severus knew the pain she was in. He laughed evilly over her supine form and cried at the same time. He had damned himself. Corlagon was right, he was no different from his father. Then, pointing his wand at her again and dispelling the curse, he muttered "Obliviate" and said "Finite Incantatem." Her body relaxed and she sat up, rubbing his head. It registered dimly on Severus that she had absolutely no rebuke on her mind. He walked away, leaving the puzzled Umbridge to puzzle over why she was on the Quidditch field.

He strode away to the castle and walked towards the dungeons for his Dark Arts lesson. He felt himself mentally berating himself for acting that nastily towards Umbridge, but knew she'd never bother him again after that. He'd be left alone from that point on and he felt happy about that despite the fact that he had tortured her to make it happen. Professor Riddle's office door came in sight and Severus entered. Antonin and Lucius were already there and they were looking nervous. Riddle walked in after Severus.

"Greetings, students," he said, using the words he always said before their lessons. "We will not be studying any Dark magic today."

There was some hopeful chattering at this, as nobody wanted to learn any of the chilling things they'd been learning for so long. Riddle gave them all an unpleasant smile. "Instead," he said slowly, "we will be learning the art of mind invasion known as Leglimency."

Any levity there might have been in the office disappeared at that, and quite Antonin looked terrified. "Leglimency is a sophisticated art," said Riddle slowly. "I do not expect any of you will be able to master it just now, but later...later you will be able to tap the mind's terrible secrets with impunity."

Professor Riddle then pulled out a large black book that read "Invasion of the mind: An elementary guide to Leglimency," and handed Severus, Antonin and Lucius permission slips. They read: I, Professor Tom Marvolo Riddle, give "Name" unlimited access to all book pertaining to the subject of Leglimency in the restricted section. "Those will give you the license to study," he said.

They then set up about learning how to do Leglimency. They learned the spell (Leglimens) and set about practicing on each other. But none of them successfully infiltrated the other's mind and Professor Riddle had to show them each how to do it repeatedly.

Just as he was about to give up, Severus gave it one last try. "Leglimens!" he roared, as he pointed his wand at Lucius, and suddenly he felt himself flooded by images. A blonde haired boy riding his first toy broom, a younger Lucius attending wizarding pre-school, Lucius in Diagon Alley, Lucius chasing Lily Evans off the Hogwarts express...the images came one after the other and he only snapped out of it when Professor Riddle placed his hand on Severus' shoulder.

"Congratulations, Mr. Snape," he said, "You have broken into his mind. You may stop now."

Thoroughly unnerved by it all, Severus left the class with his other friends and went up to bed filled with both the images of Lucius and one crushing image: the image of Umbridge motionless on the Quidditch pitch.

The following months went by easily despite the fact that Severus felt like hell. He wanted to hex himself for doing that to someone, but there was an advantage. Umbridge left him and his friends alone from that point on and spent more time thinking about and wondering what had happened before she woke up on the Quidditch pitch. Even James Potter was less of a prat than usual (despite the fact that he did try to hex Severus in Transfiguration and got fined five points consequently), but Severus heard him and his friend talking about to what they referred to as "The Marauders". He wondered what this could possibly be.

But the day that was the bane of Severus' existence was approaching: Valentine's day. He absolutely detested this day of pink hearts and giggling. He was sure that he'd get very few valentines(if any) and didn't particularly care. He didn't want Lucius and Antonin cooing like nutcases, though.

When Valentine's day dawned, Severus walked wearily down to the great hall full of foreboding about the coming of the day...

And when he entered he was not disappointed. Pink hearts and flowers were all over the place and some ditz had made the ceiling color the sky pink. He shook his head and walked over to the breakfast table and awaited the owl post with dread. Bellatrix was jittering with Michelle and didn't notice his entrance. Lucius and Antonin were running bets on who would get the most Valentines and even Serena was busy cooing like an idiot. Severus could have slammed his fist down on the table in frustration.

The owl post came and Severus was shocked to see his owl, Imperius carrying a large parcel. Imperius dropped the parcel and Severus opened it to find a regular host of Valentines sitting there with a short and irritated note from Professor Riddle telling him that he had received so many Valentines that they needed to put them all in a parcel so Imperius could carry them. Trembling, Severus opened one of them and found himself staring at a pink envelope with a very sentimental inscription on it.

"Severus, just saying your name makes me feel giddy and lightheaded. Ciao, baby!"

The valentine made an obnoxious smooching noise and Severus pushed it away in disgust before having Antonin pick it up and start laughing. He had one too, and it bore a similar inscription in exactly the same handwriting. It too made loud smooching noises and Severus saw with horror that nearly every male along the table was pushing away a large, smooching valentine. Well, there was no doubt who this was from: Rita Skeeter. Severus could barely hear himself think over the smooching and he opened his next valentine. This one was a bit more personal (despite the fact that it was an even more lurid shade of pink). It read:

Hail Villa Severum and its dead-sexy leader! You make my heart skip fifty beats whenever I see you, oh wonderful Severus!

-Cassandra Benton

Severus stared along the table until his eyes found Cassandra Benton. She was a third year and she was looking at him with such a dreamy look in her eyes that he suddenly became very interested in putting a valentine between himself in her gaze. The next one he opened was from Bellatrix and it told him that she was sending him a valentine to annoy him. Then one from (at first, to his horror, Antonin) that was horridly sentimental and mushy but was ineffectual due to the fact that the valentine kept on screaming "NOT!" Severus supposed it was another of Antonin's jokes. But he found many more that were dead serious from female members of Villa Severum like Cassandra Benton. His heart skipped a few beats when he came to one from Michelle, but he thought it would stop when he found one from Lily. It ran,

Dear Severus,

You greasy black hair and nose inflame my heart in the most mad and blind of passion. Let me be yours and yours alone and rescue me from the clutches of the thugs I associate with. Bring me into your beautiful Slytherin dormitory and show me the glory of your house.

Lily Evans.

PS: Is this too mushy?

Severus looked at Lily and saw her smiling at him. He smiled back at her and felt bashful that he'd sent her a valentine himself. He looked down at his package and saw that he was on the last one. It was in a black envelope. Odd.

Severus didn't need to open it, though, as it let out a sinister hiss and opened on its own, transforming into a long paper serpent with green eyes which then began to speak in a cold, high-pitched voice. "Severus, clever isn't this? It is interesting that you, like me, are the object of so much affection. Rather like I will be in a strange way, boy. Enjoy your Valentine's Day and know that I still consider you to be a possible ally. Best wishes, Lord Voldemort."

The entire table had silent and was listening to the snake in horror. It changed into a bunch of black paper and fell onto the bench next to Severus, whose mouth was open. He addressed the table shakily.

"Voldemort...wanted me to join him. He gave up on me a little while ago, but now he's back. All members of Villa Severum be on your guard. Don't leave anywhere without a partner. Understood?"

The other members looked shocked, but nodded their heads. Severus stomped on the black paper valentine (if you could call it that) and finished his breakfast.