Chapter Twenty Two: Changes
"Severus, I was not pleased to hear about what you did to Jorkins."
Avery had been unsettled to hear about Snape's vicious hexing of the half-blood Slytherin, just for intruding on a snogging session. He counted on Snape's unquestioning compliance. It scared him to think that he might not be able to regain it if it were lost.
"She was intruding." Severus kept his face and tone polite, but he was still rankled about the whole incident.
Avery was even more uncomfortable. He had expected an immediate apology, not an excuse. His growing feeling of being out of control made him want to strike out.
"She is almost a pure-blood, Snape. You were completely out of line," he snarled.
Severus dropped his eyes. "I'm sorry," he said, in the same polite, emotionless tone.
"You will apologize to her, publicly, at dinner in the Great Hall tomorrow night. I'll tell you when."
Severus kept his eyes down and it took every ounce of his self control to keep the anger from his voice. "Yes, sir."
Avery was relieved. He had been afraid that Snape would argue, or refuse, and he wasn't quite sure what he would have done if that had happened. Now for a display of magnanimity, he thought.
"Well, that's settled, then. How about moving on to more pleasant things?" he said, waving to the animal in the cage. This time, it was a rabbit.
Severus looked up. There was an unpleasant smile on his face.
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It was Friday night, and the Marauders were celebrating in their dormitory. Lily had finally broken off her friendship with Snivellus. And it had been just icing on the cake to witness his public apology to Jorkins at dinner that night.
"To Bertha Jorkins!" toasted James, lifting his glass of Firewhiskey. Peter had managed to procure a bottle somehow during their last Hogsmeade weekend and James had smuggled it in under his Invisibility Cloak.
"Here, here," said Sirius. "Never thought I'd find something to toast about that obnoxious gossip."
"You don't need a reason, Siri, you'll drink to anyone," teased Remus.
"That's a dirty lie!" retorted Sirius. "I'd never drink to Snivvie ... or Reggie ... or Mum ... or -"
"Enough, enough," laughed Remus, and refilled the other boy's glass, as well as his own and James'. Peter's glass was still half full.
"To Peter and his hangover potions!" said Sirius. "We are sure going to need some tomorrow!"
They all drank to that.
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After witnessing Snape's public apology to Jorkins, Evan decided it was time to make his move.
He called Snape into the fifth year boys' dormitory. He was in the armchair and the other boy had pulled up his straight-backed bedside chair.
"Sev, I want you to work for me instead of Lucius," the pure-blood boy was saying.
"Agreed," the other Slytherin answered. "But how do we do it? I don't want my loyalty called into question."
"I'll talk to Lucius during the next Hogsmeade weekend and ask for you. I'll promise to put you at his disposal if necessary, but insist that you report to me rather than Avery."
"What are you going to offer him?"
"A vial of Felix Felicis."
Severus whistled through his teeth. "That's hard to get."
"I know. I haven't got any yet. That's what you're going to do."
"I can't. It takes six months to brew and I'd have to fuss over it too much. I couldn't count on always being there when I needed to for each step."
"I didn't mean you were going to brew it. I meant you were going to steal it for me. Word has it that Slughorn has some in his stores."
"You couldn't just buy it?"
"Not without going through my father. It's a restricted substance. Father has enough pull that he could get the necessary permissions, but he wouldn't approve of this. He's Malfoy's creature all the way - the father, not the son. And he doesn't think much of you either."
"OK, I'll think of something. Will you want to know the details?"
"No. Just give me an idea of when I can expect it, once you've got everything worked out. So I know when to bring it up to Lucius. Anything else we need to discuss, Sev?"
Severus shook his head.
"Send in Yaxley, then, would you?"
Severus nodded and left the dormitory.
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Severus discovered that he was never safe, except when he was in the Slytherin common room or dormitory. His possessions were reasonably safe, with the wards he had placed on them. At least, they could not be stolen or "modified" without his being aware of it. But he could not place wards on himself, only on objects, so he was subject to the myriad hexes and jinxes Potter's gang saw fit to throw his way on a regular basis.
A Shield Charm was enough to block anything they threw at him, but he couldn't go around constantly invoking Protego, so a certain percentage got through. At least, the Headmaster had apparently told Filch and the rest of the staff that Severus was allowed to use the Shield Charm in the corridors. Once, when Filch had come across Potter's gang trying to hex Snape, who had thrown up a shield, he took in the other four boys but just told the Slytherin to get out of there.
Still, Severus was getting twitchy.
Posted by Madmaxime at January 2, 2007 06:41 PM