A/N: Just to warn you the next chapter might be a little while in coming. But after that things will be back on target. Once a week, every week. LB

Pureblood Dreams

by Lilybet

Chapter Eight

It was nearly midnight, but there was more than one person still out of bed as Severus made his way back down from the attic room.

Severus had spotted Le Fay reading by night in several places around the castle as he had made his way back to the dorm after curfew; carefully avoiding Professor Buskist who was her near-constant watchman. Always Morrigan Le Fay was to be found with her head in some obscure text, the titles of which Severus had never seen in Hogwarts Library.

This night, as storm clouds threatened overhead, Le Fay was engrossed in a text so large that she had to balance it on both legs. Curled under the archway leading into the abandoned duelling room she blended perfectly with the statues and carvings, only the turn of a page alerting any watchers to her presence.

Snape had been attempting to avoid a pair of Hufflepuff prefects as he made his way down from one of the two east wing towers. Glimpsing the movement of Le Fay he had paused, the questions he had concerning the girl rising in his mind once more. After their meeting in the dungeons Severus had wondered exactly how much of a Gryffindor she truly was.

"Are you planning on standing there all night?" asked Le Fay softly, startling Severus from his thoughts.

He had believed that he was perfectly hidden in the shadows of the stairwell, and he pondered as he stepped forth how many Slytherin characteristics the witch had hiding beneath the surface.

"I did not wish to disturb your reading." Severus replied silkily.

"It is of little concern," Le Fay said, closing the tome, "I was coming to the conclusion that there was nothing of interest in here anyway."

"Ah." hesitated Severus, "May I join you?"

"Naturally."

The Slytherin folded himself gracefully to the floor, his robes puddling out around his thin body. He sat with his back against the other side of the archway, facing Morrigan and able to keep an eye on the corridor and stairwell for diligent prefects.

"May I enquire as to what keeps you so far from the dungeons at this late hour, Severus Snape of Slytherin?" Morrigan said, her voice low but audible.

"I could ask you the same about the circus." smirked Severus, referring to the Gryffindor sanctuary.

"Touché." came the answer, "That was quite a display of...house rivalry? that I saw before Christmas. Are you like that with all Gryffindors, or just Sirius?"

"The 'Marauders' and I have a...history. But Black," Severus paused, his hands clenching into fists, "Deserves whatever he gets."

Morrigan raised her eyebrows at the underlying anger in his voice, she hadn't heard of any particular nasty prank from Sirius that would cause that amount of hatred. Then again, six years of pranks... "I have to say, I'm not overly enamoured of their pranks." she said, "It all seems a bit...cruel. I mean, if you've got the intelligence to think up things like that why waste it bullying others?"

"And here I thought everyone from Gryffindor loved the Marauders and their oh so charming ways." said Snape.

"Lily Evans doesn't. She's always telling them off."

"Yes. Well." Severus swallowed uneasily, then swiftly changed the subject, "I've noticed that you and the Defence Professor have an uneasy truce yourselves."

"Heh. I don't think that's-"

Both their heads swung round. The quiet halls had suddenly resonated with steady footsteps. Morrigan crept out from their hiding place and peaked round the corner. Swearing under her breath she hurriedly made her way back to the waiting Snape.

"Speak of the devil." she muttered, picking up her book and moving deeper into the abandoned duelling room. Severus cautiously followed her; he had as much desire to get caught out after curfew as she.

"Do you know a back way out of here?" Morrigan asked once they were in the pitch black.

"There was an old door behind the stage, but I think it blocked itself off."

"Let's hope it will let us out then."

By touch alone, they found their way round the stage, with only a barked shin on Morrigan's part, and to the back wall. Outside the room the footsteps got louder and the small amount of light filtering in through the doorway vanished. Severus reached out to stop Morrigan from moving or saying anything, but it was too late.

"I think I've found it." she whispered.

The shadow in the doorway turned and a light flared. The Professor had lit his wand, and shone the light into the room.

"If you can find a way to open that door, now would be a good time." said Snape, his own mind racing through possible spells.

"You just keep an eye on him." Morrigan replied, glancing over in the faint wand-light. As she did the light flickered over the pair of them, and the intake of breath from the Professor could be clearly heard.

"Miss Le Fay. Out again?" said Professor Buskist, "Desist your activities at once and come here."

"Not a chance!" hissed Morrigan quietly, feeling the glamour of the hidden door under her fingers. With a focused breath and tearing motion of her left hand the glamour fell, the door revealed. "Let's go!"

Severus opened the door as the Professor marched towards them, and together they slipped through. "Colloportus." he said as the door closed, "It won't stop him for long."

Hotfooting it down the revealed corridor, Morrigan and Severus followed the twists and turns, up stairs and ramps until Severus had lost his sense of direction completely. Pausing to catch their breath they both listened intently, unfortunately hearing the sound of rapid footfalls behind them.

"Will that man never give up!" exclaimed Le Fay.

"He seems remarkably persistent, even for a teacher." gasped Severus, stretching his side in an attempt to relieve the stitch forming there. Then they were off again, finding their way out of the back corridor and into the main routes.

"Do you know where we are?"

"West wing, somewhere near Ravenclaw Tower, I think." Setting off down the corridor, Severus glanced over his shoulder at Morrigan, "You coming?"

"I'd better not. You get going, don't want him catching us both." said Morrigan.

"He doesn't have to catch either of us." Severus frowned.

"Just go." Morrigan turned her back on him and walked towards the sound of Buskist's oncoming footsteps.

Shaking his head, Severus left. Now he knew she wasn't like the other Gryffindors he would be more willing to seek her out in future. He'd find out why what was going on – he was a Slytherin after all.

XOXOX

The storm that had raged all night, casting its bolts of lightening across the moors, had practically rained itself out. It had left behind a light mizzle (misty-drizzle) that made everything more damp than if it had been raining properly.

James dived after the quaffle, scooping it up at the last possible moment before taking off into the sky again. It was a Friday, which meant that the three third years on the team had a free morning after their late-night astronomy lesson. It also meant that James had a free period; giving him half of his team for the whole morning. So, as team captain, it was early Friday morning that James had designated as one of the Quidditch practices for Gryffindor, much to the annoyance of the team who had to get up insanely early or find themselves drenched in ice-cold water.

He had been out especially early this morning though, running through some warm-up exercises to clear his head. James had not slept well last night, the sound of the storm keeping him awake long after he was tired.

Both Sirius (by force) and Remus (by choice) were sitting in the stands, though on opposite sides. Remus was wrapped warmly in his thickest cloak, an Umbrella Charm keeping the worst of the petulant rain off him and his book. Sirius, on the other hand, seemed to be resuming his sleep with a stupid grin on his face as he leant back, apparently enjoying the feel of the rain on his skin.

James shook his head, lately he thought that Sirius smiled only when Remus was miserable, just to irritate. Unfortunately, that was probably the case, what with the prank war/sporadic nasty cursing between the pair appearing to be unceasing.

Noting the sight of a group of red and gold uniforms making their way onto the pitch James sped down, landing a few yards away from his team mates.

"I don't suppose we could put this off 'til, oh I don't know, summer?" exclaimed Vince Taylor, fifth year keeper and professional complainer.

"Not unless you want to hand over the Quidditch cup to the Ravenclaws." replied James.

Normally the Slytherins were the second-best team at Hogwarts (Gryffindor being the best, obviously), but to the surprise of the majority of students the Ravenclaw team had beaten all comers two years ago, leaving the snakes trailing in third. With a combination of a nimble keeper and a pair of sneaky beaters the eagles were able to stop the opposing team from scoring, something that was not to James' liking.

This year the Gryffindors were in good shape to take the cup after beating Slytherin, but their next match was against the Champions themselves and James planned to work his team hard before then.

"Willis, Fox, get both practice bludgers. I want to see you hitting those things at us with everything you've got." James ordered, "Martin?"

"Yes, boss?" answered the tiny third year seeker who looked a little lost amongst the taller team members.

"Wronski feint."

"Boss!" whined Martin, hating the manoeuvre which always ended up with him in the infirmary.

"No arguing."

Martin took off into the glowering sky, his thin complaints receding out of hearing as he climbed.

"I suppose you want me to fly in circles." moaned Vince, sounding like Eeyore.

"No. I want you to stop these." James held out his hand in which sat a collection of golf balls he had pulled from his pocket, "I've charmed them so they'll act like thrown quaffles."

"You mean Lupin charmed them." said one of the McReedy twins; the other two chasers, both third years.

"Same difference," waved James, "If you can catch these in this weather, you can stop the quaffle."

"Fine. Throw golf balls at me. Doubt my skills. Make me play in the rain!" huffed Vince with a tiny smile on his face.

"We need to work on dealing with those bludgers." finished James, directing the twins to take off.

As he circled around, ready to catch the quaffle, James kept an eye on the rest of the team. Later, he reflected that he should have been keeping an eye on Sirius too.

A flash of spell-light alerted him to the continuation of the war, but he was far too late to stop its effects - as he had been doing when he had the chance. In one complicated moment Sirius had dissolved Remus' Umbrella Charm and turned the drizzle over the bookworm into invisible ink. This resulted in Remus slowly starting to fade away in spots as the rain hit him, his book, and the patch of stands around him.

As Remus noticed what was happening he looked up, a tempered annoyance on his face, and flicked his wand in Sirius' direction.

James quickly looked over to see the rain above the other boy turn black. It too left marks wherever it fell, but rather than turning Sirius invisible it left ghastly black spots on him. Sighing, James considered banning the pair from watching practice, even though it was one of the few times that he could persuade them both to be in the same space voluntarily.

Sadly, his attention was on his friends and not the quaffle, which meant that he didn't see it until it was rebounding back off his face, and then the pain in his broken nose was too much for him to think about catching it.

As he spiralled down, his temper rising, the McReedys on either side of him, James saw that the exchange of spells had continued. And was distracting not just him but the rest of the team.

Remus, who had raced down the stands, his invisible ink cloud still hovering over him, had grown a pair of pointed elvish ears, broken out in warts and was wearing Slytherin robes.

"Are you alright?" he asked, concerned, apparently oblivious to his spell damage, "I can fix it right up if you let me have a look."

"Tanks, Rebus." said James, fuming lightly as a similarly afflicted Sirius joined them.

"Episkey." intoned Remus, pointedly ignoring the black-spotted, tail-adorned, blond boy.

"I think you're supposed to catch it with your hand, not your face." teased Sirius, holding his lion's tail out of the mud.

"If you two hadn't been distracting me!" exclaimed James darkly, "In fact, I think you should leave."

"What?" Sirius yelped.

"Go, Padfoot. You too, Moony, thanks for the nose, but I've had it. Don't either of you bother coming to watch us again until you've sorted out your issues. In fact just don't speak to me today!" he snapped, reaching the end of his tether with the canines. Turning his back on them he took off as fast as he could to resume practice, yelling at the rest of the team as he did.

"James!" called Sirius pointlessly, "This is your fault." he accused Remus, only to find that Lupin had collected his nearly invisible book and was heading back up to the castle.

He looked forlornly up at the players above him, then set off to trudge back to the warmth of indoors. Things were not going well for him today. He had been dragged out of bed to join James in the cold and damp, then his plan had backfired, and now he had alienated his last friend.

Sirius muttered under his breath, waving his wand in an attempt to remove the tail Lupin had gifted him with. Muddy, damp and stuck with a tail was not his idea of fun. Intent on undoing the charm he failed to notice Professor McGonagall emerging from the Great Hall.

"Mr. Black, why is there a cloud over your head?" she asked, stopping the sixth year.

"Is there? Oh..." Sirius sighed, the mess that was his life swirling round in his head again.

"Black...Sirius, why don't you join me in my office." McGonagall suggested, gently pushing the miserable looking boy in the correct direction. To her surprise he didn't object or complain, only sighing more deeply and renewing his efforts to remove the fine tail he had acquired.

"Here." she said as he entered the office, sweeping her wand and returning him to his usual human form, though the black spots from the rain remained. "Now, what's wrong?"

"Hmm? Oh, nothing." he replied morosely.

"Sirius, both yourself and Lupin have been walking around with metaphorical black clouds over you for weeks now. I have it on good authority that you boys haven't played a single prank on the school since the start of the year. And now I find you inside on a Friday morning looking like a wet dog when you should be out enjoying your friend's flying." Professor McGonagall elucidated, conjuring up a plate of biscuits and some tea.

Sirius looked up from his contemplation of his wand, mildly shocked that his head of house was being nice and not shouting at him like usual.

"It's nothing. It's just...it's Remus. And the mess I made of things last year, and the nasty remark at breakfast, and running away from home! Merlin! It hurts! I didn't think that would be so hard!" he blurted, finding his words tripping over each other as they emerged, "It's James and his stupid promise to Evans, and that damn werewolf's stubborn refusal to accept an apology. I meant it every time, and he just refused to even acknowledge it.

"Then he went and made that comment and it hurt so much, that he would say something like that! Then he started retaliating over the payback, and James refused to help. Said that the chance of being Head Boy was more important." he sneered, unconsciously echoing Severus Snape's usual expression, "I just...don't feel like I have friends any more."

Sirius sighed, slumping into the chair in front of McGonagall's desk, rubbing at his face with his hand. It was like a dam had burst and all the feelings he had kept locked inside had flooded out all at once. All the anger that he had felt towards Remus and lately towards James as well had vanished, leaving a gaping hole where his best friends had been.

"Feeling a wee bit better?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"Sort of." he admitted. It did feel better not to be carrying round the anger, but the emptiness was cold and hurt inside.

"Well then. Why don't we start at the beginning and see what we can do about that?" she smiled pouring him some tea.

"Erm, alright."

"Start with Remus." McGonagall suggested.

"You know about what happened last year?" he sighed, continuing at her nod, "Well, I was trying to apologise about it for the first few weeks, months...but then -" his face darkened as he recalled that morning, "- he insulted me, said that I was no better than those Death Eaters."

"That doesn't sound like him." said the Professor, frowning.

"It's what he said," glowered Sirius, "That's why I cursed him, then he cursed me, and..." he lifted his hands upwards.

"It got out of hand." concluded McGonagall.

"A bit. Now James won't let us watch him practice, we kinda distracted him. I think he's had enough of us really."

"I see. Perhaps it's time you both had a long chat, I could arrange a convenient opportunity."

"You mean detention." smirked Sirius, who after five years knew exactly how far he could push the transfiguration Professor.

"You do still have three days left."

"Ah."

"What about the situation at home? I understand you're living with the Potters now?"

"Yes. I just..." Sirius paused, watching an owl struggling through the wild winds around the towers outside the window, "I don't like my family, especially after last summer, but..."

"That doesn't mean you don't miss them."

Sirius nodded, wondering how he could possibly feel anything except hate for the people who had punished, degraded and cursed him for the majority of his life, finally disowning him after he had left. To be hurting because they were no longer in his life seemed to go against everything he knew. It wasn't like he missed the snide remarks and cutting looks, but for the reason behind the hurt to be that he missed them...

"It's a natural reaction. It's not so much a case of missing the individuals concerned," Professor McGonagall said, pursing her lips as the only sign that she agreed with Sirius' opinion of his erstwhile family, "More a case of missing the security of home. After all, it is the first place we know."

Again Sirius nodded, testing out her words against his feelings and finding they fitted. He did miss having a place in the family, no matter whether it was a position as the outcast. At the Potters he was a guest still, though that had changed slightly over the holidays. Smiling, he realised that recognising that eased a fair amount of the pain he had been carrying with him, and he felt lighter than he had done in months.

"Thanks Minnie." he grinned.

"Mr. Black..."

"Sorry. Thanks, Professor McGonagall."

"Alright then. Now, about your friends... I think that the best thing to do is talk to them. If Mr. Lupin incurs another detention I shall see that you have an opportunity. Mr. Potter, on the other hand, is completely your responsibility. If you want to regain his friendship then you may need to make amends.

"Now – I believe you have places to be, and I have a group of second years to teach." she said, shooing him out of her office.

Sirius smiled and raced off, giving a tiny wave to her as he did, nearly knocking down a fourth year as he went. Professor McGonagall shook her head; that boy was not as obvious as he seemed.

XOXOX

A thick fog streamed over the land, filling valleys and easing its way round doors and windows, till nothing could be seen. With it the fog brought a wintry cold the like of which Mr. Brown had never known. Pushing open the gate and latching it behind him, Mr. Brown shook the bucket in his hand, calling out to his flock as he did.

Sheep were hard to see in a fog, but always you could hear them bleating to each other. There was a silence over the land now though, the sheep silent, no birds or other wildlife to be heard. Mr. Brown shivered and walked towards the old oak he knew the sheep gathered round at night.

A figure loomed out of the grey light, and for a moment Mr. Brown through he'd found his flock, then the figure became clearer and he realised it was a man in a cloak.

"That you, Jack?" he asked, "What you doin' out 'ere?"

The man made no reply, and Mr. Brown shivered again: the cold was growing worse. More than that, there was a strange feeling in the air, like there had been over on the Harding farm when they had to destroy their flock due to foot and mouth. It was that soul-destroying numbness that came with the destruction of your livelihood.

"Quit playin' silly bees an' help me find the flock, Jack." Mr. Brown said authoritatively, trying to shake off the feeling.

The figure moved closer still, and now Mr. Brown could hear strange rattling breaths. Though he couldn't tell you why, the sound chilled him to the bone and he started backing away.

"Jack? Stop this now, lad." he commanded, the strength slipping from his voice, "Stop it, d'ya hear?"

Inside, part of him was telling him to run, run and not look back, but the cold had crept within and Mr. Brown stopped, the bucket falling to the ground. Gliding towards him, the cloaked figure reached out a skeletal hand and Mr. Brown felt all the happiness in him drain away; thoughts of his family back in the farmhouse, his plans for the flock, his love of the simple life and the rewards it brought. Everything that was good was drained away by the foul creature in front of him.

Dimly Mr. Brown saw the being push back its hood and lower its grotesque parody of a face to his.

Then Mr. Brown knew no more.

XOXOX

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