Chapter Seven- The Marauder's Map
The next morning Severus was eager to actually eat breakfast. Since regaining the use of his jaw, he found eating to be most pleasurable and even worth waking up early for. He happily munched on very crunchy waffles happily and tried to just eat and not talk to his roommates too much.
"Okay, so it's a date," Wilkes whispered, leaning in so no one else could hear their conversation.
"Good! Tomorrow at Hogsmeade?"
"Yeah, thanks, Snape! I'm glad you were able to help me with that."
"No problem, oh, here's your girlfriend," Severus said as Camilla entered the Great Hall.
"Good morning Severus, good morning Simon," she said, taking her seat.
"I often forget you have a first name, Simon!" Severus teased as Wilkes blushed.
"I often forget your name isn't Snivellus," Wilkes replied, which annoyed Severus somewhat, but not enough to leave the rest of his waffle and leave the table just yet. So instead he shoved the waffles in his mouth and then took his leave.
---
Arithmancy was good. Camilla and Severus shared some minor small talk, and then he went was on to his next class without her. His day dredged on as usual. Verbal taunts from his aggressors, ignored by Lily, and work on his Draught of Living Death. He added the volatile valerian root and followed the instructions in his book to a T, only to find…that it turned lime green instead of clear. 'Um, that's not right,' Severus thought to himself. 'Shit!'
When he looked around, no one in his class had lime green goo in their cauldron. Some had blue, some had yellow, some had orange and none had clear.
"Ah, Mr. Snape, I see you have finished and finished incorrectly at that. What do you think you did wrong?"
"I'm uncertain. I followed the directions," he replied.
"Ah, but I said on the first day of class that there is a misprint in the book and to add one milligram less valerian root than it calls for."
"Oh."
"Oh, yes, oh. Well you have two more tries Mr. Snape," Slughorn said as Severus slowly wrote down his professor's instructions and cleaned out his cauldron.
Severus always excelled at Potions and usually made up his own short cuts and tips. To be publicly humiliated at his prowess really set him off. No one else did it correctly either, but that didn't stop Pettigrew from laughing some at Severus's plight. He was not angry at Slughorn or even Pettigrew, but he was angry at himself. Without thinking or even being conscious of his actions, he instinctively pulled his stringy and ever- oily hair from behind his ears and over his face, to hide his shame from himself more than anything else.
He decided to try to make it on his own in private, probably in the loo, and see how he did. He had three more weeks and two more chances to brew it properly. He stayed up very late that night and went into one of the showers in the Slytherin washroom toand worked on his potion. He first brewed the entire potion in his head and tried to visualize exactly what would happen when he added certain ingredients. He discovered, at least theoretically, that there was more wrong with his text book than the typo about the valerian root.
He wrote some notes down in his book and continued his potion theory before actually setting out to brew. Before he knew it, someone had entered the loo. He looked up and noticed the window from the shower-stall was glowing green from beneath the lake. The sun was up. It was Saturday morning and all of his roommates were heading to Hogsmeade so he could just sleep all day and no one would bother him. He gathered up his ingredients that he 'borrowed' earlier in the day from the Potions Lab and set a 'stasis' charm on his spare cauldron.
He crept into his room to find his roommates sleeping. He noticed it was only seven in the morning. He didn't even bother changing from out of his robes. He removed his shoes, crawled beneath the covers and went to sleep.
---
He was having a lovely dream about flying over the town of Tuscany. He could feel cool breezes in his face and the tickle in his stomach from being up so high and flying so quickly. He was flying higher than he ever did in real life. He looked down and could just barely make out the orange roof tops and lush green hill country. The air was getting down right cold and the wind was drying his eyes out and making it hard to breathe. He had no idea how high he was or how fast he was going but it was higher and faster than he'd even gone in real life. The dream was still enjoyable and he was not afraid at all. The only bad part was he kept hearing someone call his name.
"Snape! Ya dead?" the voice of Simon Wilkes, spoke as Severus was instantly thrust from flying high to being buried beneath a wealth of blankets and a comforter.
"What?" he asked with a lot of attitude as his protesting eyes were forced open.
"Wake up man, it's four thirty! Come on, I want to tell you how my date went!"
"Jolly-wow Wilkes," he said finally climbing out from the mass of covers. "Well, let me get cleaned up and I'll meet you in your room."
"Cool," Wilkes said. Only then did Severus notice Wilkes had a large smile on his blushing face. He hoped to God he'd not created another Lucius or he'd just have to kill himself.
Severus had been ga-ga for Lily for years and never dredged on like Lucius did and now it seems, Wilkes was. Sure, he may have perked up some when he'd mentioned her name but he never bored others to death with his tales of her beauty and overall glory. Why put other people through that kind of hell?
He changed into his Lucius hand-me-down robes and met Wilkes in his room. Severus was pleased that more and more Slytherins were 'lounging' in robes instead of hideous Muggle clothing. Dressing like the others did make him feel more proper, though the only roommate of his who dressed in robes was Mulciber.
"Hey, wow, never seen you in traditional robes before, when did you get those?"
"A while back," Severus said taking a seat on Wilkes's bed. He crossed his legs Indian-Style and awaited his fate. "So, where did you take her?"
"Oh Madam Puddifoot's., I thought she'd like that, being a girl and all."
"Did she?"
"No! She said we should have gone to the Hog's Head but I thought she was kidding. Apparently she wasn't."
Severus chuckled at the thought of such a lovely witch slumming in such a seedy place. She was not an ordinary woman that was for certain.
"So did she drink the tea?"
"Oh…yeah, all proper with her pinky out and all. She liked the tea and ate the biscuits and acted all refined and all. She just said she'd always wanted to go to the Hog's Head and hoped I'd take her there. To be perfectly honest Severus, I'm afraid of that place."
"Why?" Severus asked.
"Well, it's a dump, it's dirty and my father told me only shady people go there. Oh and you have to wear a hooded cloak too, very odd. Not a place for a lady."
"She is no lady, it seems."
"Huh? Well, sure she is," Wilkes said, sounding rather offended. "Oh you mean 'cause she wanted to try that place? Yeah, well….she's not the typical lady, it seems."
"So, anything else? I have research to do."
"Yeah, well, we talked and all. She's pretty cool, actually."
"Yup, well glad you had fun," Severus said rising to leave.
"And she's so pretty, and I mean pretty! She was wearing robes, violet ones and her hair was up in a bun with little curls falling down the sides of her face…" Wilkes drudged on, as Severus sat back on the bed, rolled his eyes and began fantasizing about death. "…and those eyes of hers are almost gray, compliment her black hair well, I think…" Wilkes continued as Severus became more and more nauseated at the hell that was his life. "…and she's pretty athletic. She said she wanted to play Quidditch for our House but her Mum forbade her! Said it wasn't lady-like to get Quaffled in the head. Did you know she wants to be a map-maker when she leaves Hogwarts?"
"Uh huh," Severus said beginning to zone out as he stared at the cracks on Wilkes's walls.
"Yeah, neato! Far out, man, to want to make maps, I mean what kind of chick wants to make maps? Most chicks I know, at least the ones in my family want to be medi-witches or professional tutors, and a few lawyers -- but those are my third cousins who are studying law and…"
"Simon!" Severus nearly shouted. Wilkes jumped up and stared at Severus for a few moments.
"Yes?"
"You're going on and on…I'm glad you had fun. Go, get married, make babies and be sure NOT to name any of them after me…good bye!" Severus sneered, slamming the door behind him.
Why was he so angry? True listening to another 'Lucius wanna-be' go on and on about a girl that he set up their date for was annoying but Severus was more than annoyed. He was flat- out pissed off and he had no clue why. He had set up his buddy with a girl that he considered a friend, and they seemed to hit it off, why be angry? They were perfect together. Both were purebloods from middle-class backgrounds. Both were smart and funny and he supposed they looked good together.
Surely Simon Wilkes deserved a lovely witch with long, silky spirals of black locks that cascaded ever so elegantly down her lean back, just leading the eyes to her well- but not over- pronounced supple rear-end. Her blue-gray eyes that were so large and deep and crystal clear and tucked away behind the longest, darkest, thickest and perfectly curled lush lashes just beneath perfectly shaped eyebrows on her clear and clean face which was dotted with muted and lovely medium brown freckles that danced around the naturally rosy apples of her high cheekbones which complimented her always naked and sweet pink lips which exposed the most brilliant and perfectly white teeth in God's creation…shit!
He liked her. No, Severus more than liked her, he downright had a full- blown, all- encompassing, heart-wrenching crush on the girl who had a crush on him, whose friend had a crush on her, so he had sacrificed his own happiness for his friend's and set them up and now….well shit.
"Fuck!" he said to himself just before he entered his common room. He stormed through the room and straight into his bedroom. He got to his room to find it was occupied by all of his roommates, none of whom he wanted to see right then.
"So, Snape, another Hogsmeade weekend that you didn't participate in," Mulciber said.
Severus ignored him entirely, did not say a word, grabbed his book bag and walked out of the room. He roamed the halls with his head held low, his greasy hair covering his face and his appetite for dinner diminished. He made his way to the library and sat alone at the furthest and darkest table in the back.
He went to the racks to get a certain Herbology book when he ran into Shanni Bloon, literally. He looked at her and was about to apologize when she cut him off.
"Asshole!" she whispered loudly and walked off. It seemed she'd never forgive him for using her as a human shield. With her girth she did prove to be a most effective shield;, a large Hufflepuff was a good thing to have around in the time of crisis it seemed. It was best for him to think lowly of her or he'd feel even worse out of the guiltier if he didn't. He hated guilt, and he was resigned to just not feel it.
He sat and did his research, studied his Arithmancy, and started work on his Defense essay. Before he knew it, he was being shooed out of the library by Madam Pince, but he was not tired and still had more work to do. He contemplated returning to his Common common Room room but he overheard some people say they were going to throw a party, and watching a bunch of stuffy purebloods boogie along to Abba's 'Dancing Queen' was not conducive to studying.
He thought about hiding in a shower stall again, but there were plenty of night-bathers and it would not be very private. Argus had told him all about the girl's bathroom on the second floor that 'no one' ever used because it was haunted. Severus was not afraid of ghosts and he was pretty sure ghosts were not afraid of him so he decided to go ahead and sneak in.
He entered the bathroom to find it was the worst bathroom he'd ever seen and that was saying a lot. The bathroom at Spinner's End was appalling and the loo in his motel room in Brazil was atrocious but this one was just disgusting. It was evident it was never used:, the fixtures were rusty, the cabinets were old and wooden and even though it was lit with candles, he could hardly see a thing. One thing he clearly did not see at all was the fabled ghost. Perhaps it was a load of rubbish.
He sat down near the sinks and brought his books to his over- sized nose. His eyesight had not worsened, for he feared worse would be legally blind, so he still needed to bring his books right up to his face in order to read them. He tried not to think about Camilla or Lily or his Mum or the Dark Lord. He really wanted to perfect the Draught of Living Death so he un-shrunk his cauldron and began work. He was fairly confident no one would come in and bother him, no one at all.
"Who are you?" a little girl voice asked. When Severus turned he saw he was being asked a question by a ghost for certain. The ghost was in her Hogwarts robes and was wearing a Ravenclaw tie. Her hair was in pig-tails and she had huge glasses on.
"I'm Severus, are you the ghost who haunts this toilet?" he asked which made her look suddenly angry.
"What? Are people still talking about me and teasing me?"
"No," he said as she suddenly calmed down a little. "People fear you, you're infamous."
"Oh?" she asked, her tone lightened and an almost with a twinkle in her eye. "They do? They don't tease me for my pimples?"
"No, they tease me for my pimples."
"They don't tease me for being ugly?"
"No, they tease me for being ugly."
"They don't tease about my hair?"
"No, they tease me about my hair."
"Brilliant! I'm infamous! So why are you here?" she asked, sounding very interested in his response.
"Um, well I was looking for peace and quiet and figured this would be the place to get it."
"Ah I see. So you come into my domain and expect me to just be quiet?" she asked, sounding angry again.
"No, I just thought…well…I'm not sure what I thought. I just wanted to read in peace, that's all. I'm not in the mood to talk, at all."
"Oh, girl troubles?"
"Girls are becoming the bane of my existence but I have lots of troubles. One of them is I need to finish this research."
"Research, for what?" she asked floating down on the floor next to him. She rolled over on her stomach and propped her chin up on her hands and stared at him.
"Potions."
"Ah, I was wonderful at Potions, I wanted to brew them for a living before I was murdered."
"You were murdered?" he asked, nearly gulping. He knew she had died and at school, so he assumed it was not of old age but he didn't suspect murder.
"Some weird thing ate me, it had big yellow eyes. I was just here one minute and poof, dead the next."
"You don't know who did it?" he asked, suddenly very interested in what the ghost-witch had to say.
"Nope, I thought it was Olive but I'm now thinking it was not."
"You were murdered by a fruit? Or is an olive a vegetable? Sure not a mineral."
"Olive was a horrid creature in my House who used to tease me. I haunted her after my death, but now I just haunt this toilet."
"I see…interesting. I'm sorry to hear that. I have three Olives who tease me on a constant basis, if I die, I think I'll haunt them too."
"Oh, haunting someone you hate is the most fun! It's the best thing about death. I do miss it so. Tell me about this potion."
"Draught of Living Death."
"Ooh, lovely! Death, how wonderful, perhaps I can help?"
"Ever brewed it?"
"Nope. But I would still like to help."
"I don't really need any help, well, some more light would be good."
"I'll see what I can do."
The ghost named Myrtle brought all the candles down from the walls and placed them near Severus so he could see better. He thanked her and continued with his work. She, for the most part, sat near him, watched him and kept quiet enough for Severus to tolerate her existence. Around five in the morning he packed up and began to leave.
"Thanks Myrtle, I need to leave now."
"Will you be back?"
"Probably, maybe tonight, we'll see."
"Good- bye Severus," she said. Hearing his own name, his real name and not his horrid nickname spoken took him aback for a moment. He turned and gave her a tiny smile and then snuck back to the dungeons and to the comfort of his bed.
---
He slept for a few hours and then made his way back to the library, where he hoped he'd not run into Shanni Bloon again. There were no available empty tables and he was not about to share one so he found a quiet corner and claimed the floor as his own. He emptied his bag of his books and sat in the dark corner alone. He brought his Herbology book up to his nose and let his mind wander. A few people would walk by, a few giggled, a few whispered 'there's that weird kid' or 'Does that Snivellus have no friends?' all of which he ignored.
He looked up a few times to see some of his roommates in the library, giggling at one of the tables and getting no studying done what so ever. None of them even noticed him tucked back in that corner. Someone else, on the other hand, did find him.
"The map says he's right here," Black whispered.
"I don't see him, maybe the map is lying?" Potter asked.
"The map doesn't lie," Lupin whispered. "Perhaps he got an invisibility cloak?"
"With what money? Snivels is poor!" Pettigrew spoke in a much louder tone.
Severus was seated a few feet from them, granted the candle that was lit above his head the hour before had gone out. His eyes had adjusted for him to continue to read. Plus he used his 'lumnos' but when he heard them coming his way, he removed the light spell and just listened instead.
"Shut up, Peter! This is a library; we don't want that Pince-bitch coming to kick us out!" Black whispered loudly.
"I don't get it…I really wanted to try that new hex on him today, the freakin' map says he's standing right here!" Potter whispered even louder.
Severus giggled internally. What is this map? Why a new hex? Are there any lone Hufflepuffs around to use as a human shield? He looked up at the boys whose outlines he could see and noticed Lupin staring right at him. Well, he was a werewolf, and werewolves have great night vision. Severus was not an animal but also had excellent night vision, the one benefit to having enlarged pupils. He clearly saw Lupin looking right at him and he was certain Lupin saw him right back.
"Hey, guys, he's not here. It's nice and cloudy outside, his kind of weather, let's go look outside for him," Lupin insisted.
"But I don't understand, you said the tracking magic in this map was the same kind the Ministry used to track underage wizards. It should be accurate!" Potter protested.
"I know., Snape is pretty good though -, perhaps he has his shield charm on him;, as you know, using that charm is the only way for you not to show up on the map," Lupin said a bit louder, again looking straight at Severus.
"True, but why is he showing up here?"
"Dunno, I'll check the map when we get back to our room, maybe it's defective., Llet's go outside," he repeated. The other's agreed and they all left. Just as they all turned the corner Severus relit his 'Lumnos' just in time for Lupin to look back once more. Lupin smiled some and then turned the corner with his oppressive mates.
'Hmm, a tracking map and a shield charm, thanks for the info, werewolf,' Severus thought to himself as he resumed his studying.
When it was time for dinner, he made his way to the Great Hall. Once inside, he saw Wilkes sitting very close to Camilla, and the rest of his roommates were bunched up together discussing Quidditch. Severus gobbled his food quickly and, without saying a word, got up and made his way back to the library. At least that time he got a table all for himself. No one would want to sit with him anyway, but just to make sure,; he spread out all of his books and moved the other chairs back to some other empty tables.
He was ahead on studying and couldn't work on his potion until later, so he just delved into some fiction for a little while. He looked up to notice Lily sitting with Mary. Lily must have noticed him, as he was the only other person in the library but she completely ignored him. Was what he said to her that bad? She'd called him a Snivellus and he was over it. It was apparent to him that she'd never speak to him again, and so be it.
He remained in the library until Madam Pince kicked him out at five minutes to nine. He went back to his room since his eyes were tired. Some people were having a bit of a party in the Common common Room room and it seemed another was going on in his room. Avery, Mulciber and Rosier seemed rather deep in conversation about nothing important while the wireless blasted "Blinded By The Light" and "You Should be Dancing". 'Disco? Really?' he thought to himself as he rolled his eyes. If it was one thing Severus hated more than anything, it was disco music.
He needed a smoke. He knocked on Wilkes's door but he never answered. He was probably with Camilla somewhere. He went so far as to even go to his great- uncle's room but he too never answered. Where was everyone on a Sunday night?
He snuck outside only to find his aggressors. He instantly cast a shield charm on himself but couldn't help but notice they were all outside near the Whomping Willow with a wireless and they too were listening to…disco music. Perhaps the most disturbing thing Severus ever saw, other than Lupin transformed, was Lupin disco dancing with Sirius Black. 'Disco Duck Lupin?' he thought before nearly vomiting into his mouth.
He went into the Slytherin washroom and closed the drapes around one of the semi-private showers around him. He sat on the tiny bench meant to hold a toiletries bag and brought his knees to his chest. He never felt more alone than he did at that moment. No Lily, no roommates -per the Dark Lord's instruction - and now, thanks to himself, no Wilkes and no Camilla. Plus the aggressors have a map to track his movements now:, how charming.
A few tears began to drip down his sullen cheeks as he wept silently. He heard a few people come and go in the washroom but no one thought to open the closed curtain to expose the sniveling Snivellus inside. Without thinking he cast his own spell on himself and watched as his right forearm was split open. Blood trickled down his arm and onto the floor. He watched as the blood made what he thought was a pretty cool design on the marble floors. He felt no pain at first. Inevitably the pain came and he used magic to close the wound and more magic to clean the blood stained floor.
More and more people were coming in so he quickly realized he'd get no privacy in there. He headed back to Myrtle's bathroom where he could at least brew his potion. He sat alone on the floor of the girl's bathroom and was brewing his Draught of Death in peace when Myrtle finally decided to make her presence known.
"Oh, you again. Still brewing, I see,." Myrtle noticed.
"Yup."
"Same potion?"
"Yup."
"Not very talkative tonight?"
"Nope."
"Why? What's wrong? Girl problems still?"
"You have no concept of time, do you?"
"Nope, none."
"Okay, well, in the twenty- four hours since you last asked me that question, nothing has changed."
"Oh, I see, a whole day, huh? Felt like an eternity."
"Really?"
"Well, yeah, not that I minded."
"So you don't mind a day feeling like an eternity?"
"It's not like I have a choice."
"Don't you have somewhere else to go?"
"Somewhere else? I like to haunt the boy's toilet from time to time."
"No, I meant, like Heaven, or is that really bollocks?" he finally asked. He'd always wondered.
"Oh, I suppose I could go there, or come back and live again, but for now, I feel like I'm meant to be here, right here. Not sure why."
"Perhaps you have a task to complete before your soul can finally be laid to rest?"
"I don't know, perhaps. I thought it was my mission in death to haunt that horrid Olive but as it turns out, someone has bigger plans for me, though I'm not sure what or when."
"Is there a God?"
"I don't know., Iif there is, I've never met him. I hope he's cute if I ever do meet him , though!"
Severus rolled his eyes. That was the horniest ghost to ever haunt a bathroom and of that he was certain.
"I just feel like I'm meant to be here, maybe God is that overall feeling, I don't know."
"How can God be a feeling?"
"I don't know, stop asking me questions!" she shouted, clearly growing angry.
"You started it!"
"I started what?"
"Asking me about girl problems!"
"Oh," she said, suddenly lowering her tone and seeming less angry. Then she smiled a shy, little- girl smile and sat beside him. "You're right, so tell me about the girl."
"Which one?"
"I have all eternity."
"Well I don't, so I'll tell you the condensed version."
"I'm all ghost-ears."
