Author's Note:
Okay, I admit, I actually wrote this for xxGrimxLullaby's Anonymous Correspondent competition. But I wish her a happy belated birthday just the same. =)
Something There
"Who are you writing to?" Sirius asked, looking over Marlene's shoulder as she wrote.
"No one," she said quickly and covered the parchment with her hands. "Stop sneaking up on people."
"I wasn't sneaking. You just didn't hear me." He sat on the chair beside her in the common room. "So, really, who are you writing to?"
"It's none of your business."
"So it's not your parents then?" He grinned as she threw a crumpled piece of parchment at him.
"Not having your first fight already, are you?" James said, walking up to their table with his arm draped around Lily's shoulders. "Because you know that would mean five galleons to me. Right, mate?"
Sirius glared at him. "'Course we're not fighting."
"Another bet?" Lily said disapprovingly.
"Just a small one. When Sirius told me that he and Marley were dating, I bet that they'd be fighting within a week."
"As opposed to the first day, like us?"
"Exactly."
Lily rolled her eyes and sat down on Marlene's other side. "So, what were you two ... talking about?"
"Marlene was just telling me who she was writing too."
"Oh, is it for that Muggle Studies project? Emma was just telling me about it," Lily said. Marlene glared at her.
"What project?" Sirius wondered.
Sighing, his girlfriend started to explain. "Professor de Sales is encouraging people to do things the muggle way this year. He's starting with interactions by making us get penfriends within school."
"Within school?"
"Yeah. A bunch of students wrote letters anonymously and everyone in the class had to pick one and write back to the person. We're supposed to continue writing to each other and keep our identities a secret until the end of the school year."
"Sounds cool," said James. "Is it just open to Muggle Studies students."
"No. There were lots of extra letters that didn't get answered. They're all up in the little chamber below the owlery."
"We should go up there. Take a look around. What do you say, Sirius?"
"Sure. I don't have anything better to do."
The chamber wasn't as tiny as Marlene had let on. Cubby holes covered two walls, each hole either black or purple, and all were numbered. A shelf under the large window held an abundance of quills, ink pots, parchment rolls and envelopes. Two large desks filled the rest of the room, enough space at each for four people to work together.
"The purple cubbies already have assigned writers. No one but those two people will be able to get in there. The black cubbies need replies though. Read through as many as you like, but you can only reply to one," Marlene told them before settling at one table to finish her letter.
Sirius searched through at least twenty letters before finding one that he found interesting rather than just plain whiny or overly depressing. Lily had long ago found the perfect one for her, and James had left after getting bored reading his fourth.
Letter one-twenty-nine read:
I wonder what will get me first, death or Azkaban? Both sound like paradise compared to what awaits me outside the castle walls. Whether by killing that soulless creature that calls himself my father, or killing an innocent muggle under His power, I'm doomed. I've accepted it, I'm ready for it, but that does not mean I have to like it.
I do not expect anyone to reply, so don't feel guilty for leaving my letter on the shelf.
Sincerely, Starkey
The letter was enough to send Sirius scrambling for quill and parchment. There was something in the way the person wrote ... so desperate. Sirius knew that desperation all too well. The strong desire to do better and be something more than what his parents wanted him to be. It was evident in the letter-writer's comment about his father that he had family issues. Sirius could definitely sympathize.
But there was more too it. The person talked about someone who would make him kill muggles. It could only mean one person, if that's what he was. Voldemort had ruined Sirius' life as well - marked his little brother just that summer - and the seventh year wanted nothing better than to mess up any plans of future recruiting.
He wrote, ignoring the surprised glances from Lily and Marlene as he worked quickly. When the letter was signed and sealed in an envelope, Sirius tossed it into the cubby marked one-twenty-nine. The hole turned purple instantly and the he found himself wearing a small, silver amulet in the shape of an owl.
Many floors below him, in the dungeons of the castle, Severus Snape sat on his bed in the empty dorm room, muttering over a Transfiguration essay when he suddenly sat bolt upright. Pulling on the chain around his neck, an amulet identical to Sirius' was lifted from beneath his shirt. He dangled the owl in front of his face for a few seconds, watching as it turned gold.
It took him exactly seventeen minutes to sprint up the eight flights of stairs and into the tiny letter chamber, but when he arrived the three Gryffindors were long gone.
After seeing that he was completely alone, Severus went to his cubby and pulled out the letter. The envelope was blank, and at first glance he thought the parchment inside was, too, because there wasn't enough writing on it to call it much more than a note.
You have a choice. Don't give up hope.
Author's Note:
All right, I was going to make this a oneshot, but it would be an extremely long oneshot. Plus, I saw other people doing multi-chapters on the challenge thread, so I figured it was okay if I did too. That being said, I'm thinking no more than four total.
In case you were wondering about Severus' code name, Hesper Starkey is a witch who studied the use of phases of the moon in potion making, according to her chocolate frog card on JK's website. =)
Please review, it'll make my day.
-Lizzy