24

24. One problem after another

Slowly, autumn came over Hogwarts and it rained most of the time. October had started and excitement was spreading between third years.

"First Hogsmeade weekend on Hallowe'en." Ron said happily, pointing at the noticeboard. I was eager to see Hogsmeade as it was one of the rare pure wizardry towns.

That day, I made my way to Severus' office to tell him about it. I had to hide several times so that some Slytherins wouldn't notice me. As I arrived, I knocked on the door and waited but nobody opened the door. Surely, he was in the classroom and correcting some papers seeing as classes were over. Therefore, I walked the way back I had come from and turned in direction of his classroom.

Before I entered, I checked if somebody was inside but I sensed only Severus. Smiling to myself slightly I pushed the door open. I was surprised not to see him anywhere. With furrowed eyebrows, I looked around and saw some light shining through an open doorway I had never noticed before. Walking firmly towards the door I slowed down as I saw Severus working on a potion that steamed strongly. His body was tense and I saw that he was fully concentrated as he cut some roots and stirred the potion now and then.

"Hey, there." I greeted him, leaning against the door frame smiling. I loved his passion for Potions. He was very talented for this subtle subject.

Severus didn't turn around or stopped in his doing. The only sign that showed that he had heard me was the short pause whilst he was cutting the next plant I couldn't identify.

"What are you brewing, maybe I can-"

"Not now, Aryanna, please!" His sharp tone took me by surprise and I flinched. I knew I shouldn't take it personally. He was only being concentrated and obviously couldn't need any distraction right now. Nevertheless, I felt a slight pang in my heart as I left his classroom quietly.

The next few days, passed very slowly. I tried to avoid Draco as much as I could and spent more time with my friends. Severus, however, seemed to avoid me. In class, he would not even look at me once and when he did it was with this strange unreadable expression I didn't understand. The few times I caught him in his office without any work he was distant and cold. But most of the times, I wanted to talk to him or just come by for a visit he wasn't there or told me he was busy. I was worried because I knew something was wrong but on the other hand I was afraid that it was my fault. And it annoyed me to death that I couldn't even talk to him about it.

"Well, well, well. If that isn't my beloved sister!" Somebody exclaimed loudly and I jumped in surprise. I was down by the lake again and had tried to think of something else than Severus but I couldn't. My thoughts were turning around him, making me crazy. It was a wonder that my friends hadn't noticed yet that something was bothering me.

As I looked around I spotted the person I wanted to see the least: Draco. He and Blaise stood a few meters away from me, watching me closely. Then they made their way over to me and I sighted. My peace was gone, war was coming!

"Leave me alone!" I told them facing the lake again.

"Definitely not!" Draco said as Blaise replied "Nope!".

Damn it! I thought. If Blaise had decided to help Draco it would be even harder.

"Don't bother to start a conversation, I'm leaving!" I said attempting to stand up. Before I could do so, however, a firm push on either side of me made me stay where I was. Groaning, I felt that they were sitting down on either side of me.

"Would you please just look at me, Arya?" Draco's annoyed voice came from my left. I fixed my gaze on the lake and clenched my jaw.

"Definitely not!" I mimicked him half-heartedly and now it was his turn to sight.

"Come on, I know you. You're eager to talk and spend some of your time with us." Literally, I heard Blaise' grin. I decided to ignore him and didn't answer. Draco tried it a second time.

"We're here to talk to you, nothing more, nothing less." He sounded determined and if he wouldn't let me get away so easily this time. Clenching my jaw even tighter I closed my eyes and breathed deeply. Pushing him away became from time to time harder and more painful.

I count to ten and opened my eyes again. All my emotions we're wiped away as I starred distantly on the lake. They took that as a sign to speak.

"We know why you're doing this. You're trying to protect Draco and I understand you, honestly." It was rare that Blaise was being totally serious and it scared me. It showed that this matter was very important to him. "If I would put my best friend in danger by hanging out with him I would push him away too. After Draco told me about you only trying to protect him I've been thinking about it a lot. And at first I thought you were right to do it, I understood what you thought. But then I thought about Derek. He's my brother and I love him as such even if we're not sharing the same blood but neither of us cares. We've been raised together so we belong together.

Over summer I've spoken with him about you and he wishes nothing more than coming here and seeing you. He and I, we've both been thinking about your reason separately and came to the same conclusion. Derek may be in danger by living with us, a Slytherin family. If the Dark Lord comes back he'll turn to every Slytherin. My mother has talked to him about it several times and once she even pleaded him to leave us so that he would be safe but he wouldn't. He said he'd never abandon his family, with us he'd be stronger, he'd have something to fight for…

Arya, I decided to come here on my own but Draco insisted on coming and he had to promise not to interrupt me. You and Draco, what you have is special! I know you love your friends but I know you love him in another way." I gulped and turned my head to him, trying desperately to keep my composure. "He's your brother. He knows you better than your friends do. I bet he knows you even better than Snape does even if you're on speaking terms again. Remember the feeling you had back at Malfoy Mannor. You could speak with him about everything and I really mean everything. Your brother's the person you can turn to if you can talk to nobody else or if you don't want to talk. He'll be there for you and you feel safe and trusted. He's your true family! Don't throw that away, Arya! And remember that you're his only family too. Like Derek he doesn't want to abandon his family. Don't make it harder than it is…"

Blaise turned his gaze toward the lake and he smiled slightly thoughtfully. "You know, when I asked Derek why he wanted to put himself in danger by staying with us he answered: 'And what if one day something happened to you or your mother… or to me? I know I'm putting myself in danger by staying but if really something happened I would hate myself for not having spent every second I'd have had with the people I care about.'" Now he turned to me again and looked me deeply in the eyes.

"What I mean to tell you with this is that you don't know when your father comes back. You don't know if it's tomorrow, in one year or in ten. Do you seriously want to waste your time and energy with pushing your brother away? I know you Aryanna and I cannot believe that you wouldn't regret having pushed Draco away all this time if something happened…"

I gulped again and fidgeted nervously with my hands. Blaise sighted and glanced shortly at Draco and then back at me. "Just think about what I said in Derek's and my name, okay?"

Shortly, I nodded staring at my hands. I felt both standing up. "You know where to find us." Blaise said in his usual light voice but I couldn't reply anything. A huge lump in my throat made it impossible.

A squeeze on my shoulder made me look up and I stared at Draco's calm light blue eyes. "Don't let your father do what mine tried to do with me. Don't let him control your life! He's not worth it!" He whispered me as if he didn't want Blaise to listen. Then he turned around and left.

My body started shaking, I was sobbing quietly. Everything was sinking in. It was all too much. First Severus acting strange and now Blaise and Draco. As tears streamed down my face I lay down and curled up, pressing my hands and knees against my chest.

When I opened my eyes again I felt a sharp pain in my whole body. I didn't know where I was. There were trees around me and I lay on grass. I groaned in pain as I sat up… The lake… I had fallen asleep. I felt so cold and shivered with clattering teeth.

"Crap!" My voice sounded raspy and I sighted. I decided not to use any magic to heal my body from the effects of the unusual sleeping place.

Wait, I thought. The sun. Surely, classes had already started. It took me several moments to remember what subjects I had today. Magical History, Potions and subsequently Transfigurations in the afternoon.

As fast as I could run with my aching body I made my way up to Gryffindor tower to get my books. As I entered the common room I realized that Magical History would end in half an hour and decided not to go. So I let myself plop down on one of the couches, rubbed my arms to warm up and stared into the flames. Luckily, the common room was empty. I decided to skip the rest of this class seeing at is would be over soon. I was still freezing and shivering. The pain in my body didn't help but I didn't want to heal my body, punishing myself for my stupidity and recklessness.

"Oh, you know what, screw Potions." I spoke to myself in annoyance. Severus hadn't bothered to be nice to me so why should I come in time for Potions. Today, I don't care!

Therefore, I made my way up to my dorm's bathroom and stayed under a hot shower until I didn't feel cold or pain anymore. Feeling more relaxed now I dressed myself slowly and packed everything I would need for Potions and Transfigurations.

I glanced at the watch before leaving the dorm and grinned inwardly. Almost twenty minutes late for Potions. That'll definitely seem like a provocation.

Taking my time walking down to Potions I arrived half an hour late. Not bothering to knock I pushed the door open and walked in. Every head turn to me as the door closed with the sound of a gunshot. Severus was moving quietly in my direction, anger written all over his face. Good!

"Jackson, you're half an hour late. Any excuse as to why I shouldn't make Gryffindor lose thirty points and give you detention for the rest of the week for strutting in my classroom like this?"

He fixed me with his piercing gaze and I noticed the burning in his eyes.

"Nope." I mimicked Blaise seriously and let the 'p' plop.

His whole attitude changed in rage now but it didn't affect me. Crossing his arms threatening with a deadly calm he came closer but I didn't even blink. Acting as if he had intimidated me all the sudden I lowered my head and bowed my shoulders slightly, looking embarrassed.

"Sit down and don't make a sound or you'll regret it, Jackson!" Severus threatened coldly.

Now, I straightened up again and copied his cold, bored attitude. "Obviously."

"That makes thirty points from Gryffindor and detention. Now, sit down!" Severus voice was quiet but it was like the calm before the storm.

"Of course, Sir!" I exclaimed provoking making him only more furious. Not caring that he wanted to say something I made my way to my friends table. Putting my bag on the empty spot I looked over at Severus again who had moved swiftly towards me.

"Don't you dare turn your back on me, Jackson!" Severus spat with curled lips. That blew away my calm in less than a second and I shot him an ice cold threatening reply.

"BE CAREFUL NOT TO TURN YOUR BACK ON ME or you will regret it one day… Sir!" I emphasized the last word sarcastically. That brought him on the edge but I didn't care. He didn't want to talk to me at all so he would have to deal with me during detention.

"That makes Gryffindor loose twenty points again and detention for the rest of the week!" I heard the Gryffindor's groan in annoyance.

"Good." I replied grinning slyly.

"One more word and Gryffindor loses another fifty points." Severus said wiping off my grin. Now it was his turn to grin. "Too afraid your classmates wouldn't like you anymore, aren't you?"

I didn't say anything, killing my bag with my look. What the hell was wrong with him?

At the end of the class, Severus gave me a note to pass to Professor McGonagall and even if I didn't show any sign of annoyance I groaned inwardly. I hated lying to her and I couldn't tell her what was bothering me now. Definitely not!

I run away from my friends during the short break, telling them I needed to use the loo. I locked myself in until I had only a few minutes left so that I would arrive just in time so that Hermione couldn't ask me about Potions right now. I knew I would have to face them later but I just didn't want to do it now.

Professor McGonagall gave me a stern look as I entered just as the bell rang and I sat down quickly, earning a quizzical look from Hermione. Class passed smooth as always. I liked Transfigurations, it made me practice my wand using. Sadly, it ended to early. I had dreaded its end. So when the bell rang I didn't leave with my friends but stayed behind.

"Do you need something, Ms. Jackson?" She asked not looking at me as she wrote something down.

"Well," I said nervously. That made her look up in surprise. "Professor Snape gave me this note for you." I told her and handed her the paper. With her typical stern look, she glanced at me then at the paper. I bit my tongue nervously as she read it through and when she looked up again I watched her closely.

"He asks me to take care of your detention for the rest of the week." She looked at me accusingly.

I, however, was shocked. High pitched, I exclaimed: "What?". He dared to avoid me again?!

"But," she emphasized. "He didn't say as to why I should put you in detention… Tell me what happened and I might talk to him if it was out of a bad mood. Obviously, you thought he'd take care of it." She smiled but it vanished quickly.

"I was late half an hour and obviously both of us in a bad mood so one thing laid to another and I made lose Gryffindor fifty points." I said quietly. I shifted nervously. "And I skipped Magical History this morning." I added staring at her desk.

After a long silence, she spoke: "You will have detention with me. Whatever it is that's between you and Severus now, it's private. You cannot take out your problems in class. In this classroom, he's your teacher, Jackson. Do you understand me? I don't want to hear about private problems during Potions class again!"

"But it's not entirely my fault!" I exclaimed annoyed, throwing my hands up. "I tried to talk to him so many times but either he pretends to be busy or he's nowhere to be found. I know it's wrong what I did but he's avoiding me, professor." Anger and sadness traced my voice and I could see pity in her eyes as she sighted.

"You'll come to me for detentions at seven pm until Sunday. You promise me not to bring up your problems in class again and I'll have a word with him too, that's what I can promise you." She said determined but her corner of the mouth twitched slightly upwards.

Thankfully, I nodded. "I promise and thank you."

With that she dismissed me and I steeled myself for lying to my friends again for what happened yesterday and today.

The morning of Hallowe'en, I prepared myself along with Hermione and Ron to go to Hogsmeade. Sadly, Harry couldn't come because his aunt hadn't signed the permission. Corresponding was his mood as we parted from him. We went everywhere we could possibly go: the wizarding equipment shop, Zonko's Joke Shop, the Three Broomsticks, the post office, Honeydukes.

As we walked back to Gryffindor tower that night, we noticed that a crowd had formed in front of the Fat Lady's portrait. We caught a glimpse at the portrait and were shocked. The Fat Lady was gone and the portrait had been slashed. Sirius Black had tried to break in our tower.

Dumbledore sent every Gryffindor back to the Great Hall where the tables had vanished. Instead the floor was covered with hundreds of sleeping bags. Even after hours of turning in my sleeping bag I couldn't fall asleep and neither could Hermione, Harry or Ron. As I heard Severus' voice near me I listened attentively with closed eyes. His behaviour hadn't changed much after Professor McGonagall had talked to him but I knew it was something we had to discuss on our own. If only Severus was willing to…

"I've searched the whole of third floor and Mr. Filch has done the Dungeons. There's no sign of Black."

"To be honest, I didn't expect Black to linger anywhere." Dumbledore's calm voice seemed to come nearer.

"Have you any theory as to how he got in?" Severus asked him now.

"Plenty, one more unlike as the other, Severus." There was a long silence. "I know what you're thinking but I don't believe somebody from the inside would have helped Black to enter the castle."

Now I knew what he was talking about: he thought Lupin helped Black seeing as they were old friends.

"You told me that she would be safe here." I heard Severus' quiet voice as if he tried to speak as silently as possible. There was the slight trace of anger in his tone.

"She's safe if she stays inside this castle." There was a warning undertone as Dumbledore seemed to have arrived near our sleeping bags.

"No, she's not! Black managed to break inside the castle and now he tried to enter the Gryffindor tower. I told you, I didn't trust… him! I don't want her near him." Severus continued.

"As long as I'm headmaster, Black is not going to hurt any student in here." His tone made it clear that the subject was closed so Severus didn't dare to reply anything. I heard footsteps leaving and knew that Severus was still standing next to me. I could feel anger and worry around him and wished I could get up and speak with him.

The next few days, Sirius Black was the only thing people were talking about. Gryffindor had gotten a new guardian as replacement for the Fat Lady, Sir Cadogan who spent most of his time with challenging people. The school was preparing for Gryffindor's match against Slytherin but they cancelled it so we played against Hufflepuff. A day before the match, I made my way to Defence against the Dark Arts with Harry and Ron.

We decided to sit in the middle row and I took my books out. Professor Lupin wasn't there yet so there was chattering around us. Harry and Ron sat at one table next to me, Hermione hadn't arrived yet. It was odd as she normally was the first in a classroom. My thoughts of Hermione were suddenly interrupted by a loud noise like a canon. And there it was again. The room became darker. As I looked to the side I saw that the folding shudders were banging shut one after another. Looking around in surprise I saw Severus walking to the front with big steps. I could see confusion on everybody's face.

"Excuse me, Sir, but where is Professor Lupin?" Harry asked the question we all wanted to know the answer to. Severus turned dramatically slow in his direction and fixed him with a piercing gaze.

"Professor Lupin is in no state to teach a class for the moment. Now, open your books and turn to page three hundred and ninety-four." The rustling noise of paper filled the room.

"Werwolves?" Ron exclaimed surprised. Before Severus could say anything Hermione – who had appeared all the sudden next to me – spoke up.

"But Sir, we're not supposed to do werewolves yet. We're just about to start Hinkypunks-"

"Quiet!" Severus said in dead calm. "Now, which one of you can tell me the difference between an animagus and a werewolf?" Hermione's hand shot up immediately. I knew the answer but I also knew that Severus wouldn't ask either of us to answer the question so my hands stayed on the table.

"No one?" He ignored Hermione and looked around the room with a sharp gaze.

"Please, Sir. An animagus is a wizard who decides willingly to turn into an animal. A werewolf has no choice."

At that Draco started to howl and I turned in his direction with furrowed eyebrows. He only grinned provoking.

"Thank you, Mr. Malfoy. This is the second time that you've spoken up out of turn, Ms. Granger. Are you incapable of restraining yourself or do you take pride in being an insufferable know-it-all?" Horrified, I looked up at Severus who stood now right in front of our desk glaring at Hermione. I became angry, I didn't know what had gotten into him.

"You have no right to talk to a student like that, professor!" I spat furious. In a second his gaze went to me and I saw a warning in his eyes. But I didn't care. "You asked a question and she knew the answer, end of story!"

Slowly, Severus leaned slightly forward putting on an unreadable expression. "Detention, Ms. Jackson! And if you don't want Gryffindor to lose points I suggest you sit down again."

Right, I hadn't even noticed that I had jumped up. I remembered the promise I had made to Professor McGonagall. Staring at Severus angrily, I sat down again and he nodded slightly.

Nobody made a sound throughout the rest of the lesson. We made notes about werewolves whilst Severus ranted on about how bad Lupin had taught us before. I was on the edge of screaming at him. I couldn't even write properly because my hands were shaking so badly of anger. When he had told me where he knew Lupin from I had understood why he disliked him but now he was going too far!

"By Monday morning I want an essay about how you recognise and kill werewolves, two rolls of parchment. And Ms. Jackson, stay behind." Severus said at the end of the class and everybody hurried to get out of the classroom as fast as possible. Aggressively, I stuffed my things in my bag. When the door closed after the last student I let it drop on the floor.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I exclaimed loudly. Severus sighted and turned in my direction.

"Arya, I-"

"Oh no! You don't say anything now, Severus Snape. Until today I thought you disliked Lupin but it seems as if you hated him. However, that gives you no right to treat anybody like you talked to Hermione before." I had stepped forward and stood now face to face with him. "Honestly, I don't understand what's wrong with you lately. If you got a problem, you can tell me and I'll help you. But why are you avoiding me? I tried to talk to you so many times but you just pretended to be busy. I even tried with detention but you would make Professor McGonagall deal with me, that's not fair! She's got nothing to do with this, Severus, so don't you dare involving her another time! This is between you and me!... You know what, I've had enough for now. If you're ready to explain what's going on you can call for me but right now I'll leave and believe me I won't bother you any time soon!"

And with a last angry look over my shoulder I grabbed my bag and left not stopping as he called after me.