9

Chapter 9 Hitting the Books

Severus chose a table close to Madam Pince's desk to revise for the Transfiguration OWL. Unfortunately, Avery and Wilkes joined him. He had been hoping Lily would head here after dinner.

The two Slytherins did concentrate on their studying, but there was a silent undercurrent to their group. Severus was weighing the possibilities –

they really wanted to study

they were keeping an eye on him in order to make sure he didn't get away from some punishment

they were keeping an eye on him to make sure there was not another embarrassing incident

Knowing the rotten luck he possessed, Severus was sure that some sort of in-house repercussion awaited. It shouldn't be unbearable since Ravenclaw did not gain any points from the debacle, and Regulus Black had been awarded twenty points, along with Lily and Alice. Severus had not been awarded any points, but anytime he encountered the Marauders and didn't lose them was favorable. It didn't really matter that they lost 200 points for Gryffindor. There were no rewards for second place in the race for House Cup.

Severus decided to be contrary and stayed in the library studying until Madam Pince informed the room it was closing time. It made little difference to him whether Avery or Wilkes got a decent grade.

There were a few grunts that adolescent boys use to communicate amongst themselves to confirm they were all heading back to the Slytherin common room. It was unlikely that Severus would be able to lose them between now and curfew. They were too smart for the 'got to use the gents' excuse. He paced himself on the return to the dungeons. Warily, he kept even with them so they were not behind him. It seemed they too did not want to let Severus fall back to the rear.

Severus knew the time had come when he entered the common room, and a sixth year girl asked, "All right, Severus?"

He stopped and stared at her trying to unravel the depths of her devious plan. He perceived a larger plot when a seventh year girl lifted her face out of her book to stop her NEWT revision long enough to ask, "All right, Severus?"

This was bad. Better not to let them know that I know, thought Severus, and he returned a stiff nod. He began to move again taking the best strategic course between the common room entrance to the boys' dormitory. Close to the wall with furniture nearby to conveniently use as a shield, if needed, and that kept his back turned away from the main part of the room.

More Slytherin ladies asked, "All right, Severus?"

He grunted out "Fine," a few times, and finished with a "Fine. Thank you for asking," to the last interrogator before escaping the room.

Cautiously, Severus moved to his door while keeping an eye out for anyone following, or tell-tale shimmers of someone disillusioned laying in wait to strike. It was a huge disappointment when he found himself alone in the dorm. Severus didn't want to waste all night playing this stupid game. Now that he was alone, he cast a precautionary shield charm upon himself, in case the first few spells sent at him were particularly nasty.

He also remembered to throw Rosier's shoes back in his trunk, now that Longbottom got the chance to feel good about himself for donating a pair and a belt to miserable Severus Snape. If Longbottom didn't, then Severus was sure Alice Oakby would be sure to tell him in no uncertain terms and with lots of spit exchanged. That was the only reason that Severus even accepted Longbottom's castoffs because he felt there would be nothing owed since Longbottom was going to receive a reward from Oakby.

Severus waited close to twenty minutes in readiness for their next move.

Mulciber came in with his other four roommates and asked, "Yo Snape, were you in my trunk?"

"No." Which was absolutely true if one limited the time period to either today or just this week.

"Someone was in mine too," Rosier added dismissively. "All my wards were removed."

"Did that berk, Longbottom, go searching for contraband?" demanded Wilkes.

"No. He stayed right there the whole time," Severus replied while pointing next to his own trunk.

Avery muttered, "Some little sneak must have gotten into our room. I'll change the password again."

Severus saw when their eyes shifted to each other to coordinate whatever they had planned. He was sure he could at least get one or two to join him in the infirmary tonight, if it was to be a confrontation here with his rather dull fellow fifth years.

"So …" Wilkes said in a sly tone, "we hear you unleashed your ravenous beast out by the lake and challenged the giant squid to a duel, Snape."

The others snickered, and Severus suspected they had spent all day coming up with this bit of wit. Even more of a letdown was their crude reference. Being the son of Tobias Snape, Severus knew that any word could be twisted into something lewd. However, he would punctuate his speech with enough swear words to make sure no listener was left in the dark. Here Severus was at this bastion of enlightened learning, and these dunderheads were trying to be humorous about cocks, specifically his. It was sad to have his juvenile dream of Hogwarts further degraded, but it only proved to Severus once again that dreams and hopes were for children and fools.

Lily Evans avoided going back to the Gryffindor common room until curfew. When she arrived, she saw that she needn't have worried because those two conceited fatheads, Sirius Black and James Potter, were holding court. Of course, they wouldn't be bothered studying for their Transfiguration OWL. Their egos were so large that there was no need to burden themselves with real knowledge.

Heading straight for the stairwell to the girls' dorm, Lily overheard, " … banned from playing Quidditch. What are Gryffindors chances for the Cup next year then? You should get your parents to write Dumbledore, especially if they were Gryffindors themselves."

"No worries, Prongs, you know he'll lift the ban before the first game. He's got to. Dumbledore was just trying to get sourpuss McGonagall off his back."

"You're right, Padfoot, but for him even to threaten it … I think he deserves some payback."

Lily marched up the stairs in a fouler mood. Quidditch! Of course, that was the only thing that mattered. Those jerks probably planned to wait till year-end to reveal that they were the ones casting that jinx. Always enjoy taking credit for their dirty tricks. Couldn't let this remain a mystery. Pity was that only Potter was on the house quidditch team. Some freaking punishment.

Mary and Helen were already in the room when Lily arrived. Seemed strange since they were both sweet on Potter and Black, and should be downstairs hanging on their every word.

Helen said, "Lily, I heard. How terrible for them to do that. And to think they have been jinxing Gryffindor girls too to cover their tracks all this time. Don't worry though. Us girls are sticking together and avoiding all four of those losers. What creeps!"

"Thanks," replied Lily. At least she could count on the Gryffindor women to take a stand. "With all that was going on, I wasn't as humiliated as I could have been, and I was able to keep my school robe closed."

"That's certainly a relief," Mary said with a firm nod. "No one was looking at you after they hit Snape."

"Did they really …?" Helen's question petered out, but Mary understood.

"Oh yeah. Stark naked in his birthday suit," Mary replied. "I could see everything."

"If you were there to see everything," snipped Lily, "why didn't you help?"

"What? And get that jinx cast on me by those pervs? Oh no. I am more than willing to learn from your mistakes, Lily."

"Well?" Helen asked encouragingly.

Mary giggled and commented, "He's a dark, brooding … hippogriff."

Helen smirked and then teased, "Is that what you see in him, Lily? You know I've noticed he can get very intense. That's got to be way better than boys that can't pay the simplest attention to a girl if quidditch, food or a shiny object comes along."

"Stop talking about Severus like that!" Lily pleaded. "He's only my potions lab partner."

"Yeah, for like five years … all of the rest of us switch around, but you two are always partners, even when you say you are mad at him."

"Why are you two being so thick? There's an odd number of Gryffindors and Slytherins in our potion class, that means whenever we have a lab that there's going to be one Gryffindor stuck with a Slytherin, unless someone is out sick."

Mary and Helen laughed, then Helen said, "Oh, now I see. You are sacrificing yourself for our safety. Well, if I get into NEWT level, maybe I'll bravely volunteer to suffer with your Sevvie. At the very least, he is brilliant at Potions."

"Sevvie," Mary repeated with a titter.

"Oooooh, you two," Lily growled. "Just stop talking about him like that."

"Jealous? We are just trying to be supportive, Lily. It's not like we can talk about your boyfriend's other charms without being insulting. I mean, he's … not much to look at."

"He is not my boyfriend."

"So you won't mind if I send him a couple letters over the holiday then?" Helen asked.

Lily's face screwed up as she asked, "What would you even write to him about? You don't even know him."

"We could write to him about our holiday potions assignment," suggested Mary.

"Sev knows I'm good at potions too. He'll think you are trying to be silly, and he doesn't like people making fun of him," huffed Lily.

"We may be Gryffindors, but I think we can understand how to be subtle. Since you said you two live so close to each other, why don't you have the two of us over early in the holiday, and then we can kind of meet up with him when we go for a walk near his house? Then we can at least have the excuse to write thank you notes. Those Slytherins are really big on etiquette and writing little notes."

"Arrrgggh, just stop it. There is no way I'm showing you where he lives. You can't go there."

"Unplottable?"

"So dangerously warded that birds flying over are shot out of the sky?"

"No!"

"All right then. We'll go along with your plan to keep your beau a man of mystery."

"Good. Because I want to finish studying and get some sleep without any more of your crazy talk about Severus Snape."

Lily was noisy as she got ready for bed, and lay down with her books to do a little more cramming. Mary and Helen may be the teasing sort, but for a moment there, it sounded like they were really serious about bothering Sev over the holidays. What was the world coming to?