Chapter 10: Communication
Christmas break was too short. Since he had become a member of the Evans family, Severus had prefered holidays over terms, while it had been the other way round as long as his father was alive. This break was especially pleasant, as it was spent mostly at Severus´ own house in Lily´s company studying potions and charms and transfiguration and – last but definitely not least – kissing. The boy found that holding his sister, the thought of her being considered his sister made him chuckle, in his arms felt great. In fact it seemed this had always been the very place Lily belonged to and sometimes he wondered how he could have failed to notice this for years.
He spent the evenings thinking of ways to solve their secrecy problem at Hogwarts and, as he found no means to help them, started working on a spell which should allow them to at least talk more openly when they met. It soon became clear that it couldn´t be done without experimenting, so he needed to wait until he was back at school, but he at least got an idea what to try.
-x-
The journey back reminded him of his ongoing war with the Gryffindor four. The boys cornered him in his compartement.
"So, Snivellus, not even my little brother here to keep you company?" Black sneered at him.
Severus glared at the other boy. "What would I need him here for?" he asked coolly.
Black chuckled and the other boys followed his lead. "Let´s finish him off quickly, pals," he said, "Prongs wants to meet Evans and we don´t want to hold him off." He raised his wand.
The mention of Potter meeting Lily had been the wrong thing to say but Black couldn´t know that. Severus didn´t even move as he slammed all four boys into the compartment door. He quickly rummaged for his wand while they tried to recover from the blow.
"Out," he raged at them, "out of here at once!"
The four boys rose to their feet and left at a run as he pointed his wand at them threateningly.
"He´s so quick! How´s he doing this?" was the last thing Severus heard Lupin say before the door was closed.
-x-
The first evening back was ideal for trying out his new spell. As the students held ´Hurray, we´re back´-parties in all common rooms, the library was empty save Severus. He cast his new spell and started talking to the book in front of him. (It felt awkward to talk to a book, but he had to talk to try the spell out.)
"Now, now, Master Snape," Madame Pince was heard from her desk, "the fact that you´re the only student using the library at the moment does not annul the rules."
"Sorry!" Severus said and started altering his spell.
He had to apologize four times more before he managed to change the spell satisfyingly. After having talked to his book for several minutes, at last telling it that the librarian was an old hag – to make sure the spell worked and the woman hadn´t simply given up telling him off – he was satisfied. He´d have to try the spell on several different people to make sure, but he was confident he had something to improve their situation.
-x-
It wasn´t before their second Runes lesson that Severus thought the spell was good enough to show to Lily. He went to Professor Stonecarver´s classroom in anticipation what the girl´d say to his latest accomplishment.
He performed the new spell as soon as they had taken their seats. "Done," he stated, not caring to whisper. Lily and Myra looked at him as if they expected him to grow an extra head. He grinned and let them wonder for a minute before he explained.
"I invented another spell," Severus said, not trying to hide his pleased expression. "The incantation is ´Muffliato´. It prevents people from listening in on you."
"That´s great!" Lily beamed.
"Is there a special wand movement?" asked Myra.
Severus showed them. Professor Stonecarver scowled at him. The spell didn´t prevent people from watching you. He reminded the girls of that and both nodded.
They started their assignments, but chatted happily all lesson under the protection of the new spell. Severus could hardly wait to talk to Lily without Myra listening.
-x-
On Friday Severus learned that he wasn´t the only one to work on their problem. He cast ´Muffliato´ – his new spell – as soon as they had started their work on another assignment for the hospital wing. They were really lucky that Myra readily borrowed them her notes on the regular assignments or both of them were going to fail spectacularly in their OWLs. Severus was well aware that he, other than Lily, had the additional problem of explaining where he got the notes from as he could hardly admit he borrowed them from Myra. No use in getting another Gryffindor girl into trouble.
"How was your week?" he asked while he measured the right amount of sheep´s fat.
"Good," Lily answered and pretended to concentrate on chopping cocoa beans. She looked so beautiful when she concentrated on her work. "You remember the idea I mentioned at your house? It worked. You get something out of your bag later and leave it open so I can put something in it for you without beings seen rummaging in your things."
When the end of the lesson was approaching, Severus did as he had been told and Lily slipped a parcel into his bag while she was pretending to pack her own book away.
The boy could hardly wait to find out what it was.
-x-
Severus wondered where to open Lily´s parcel. He couldn´t risk being caught, so maybe his bed was a good idea, but closing the hangings in the afternoon´d arouse suspicion. So this wasn´t really an option unless he was ready to wait for hours to learn what his girlfriend had given him.
After weighing all possibilities, the boy took the parcel to a toilet and opened it there. In it was a small mirror. Severus felt a jolt of relief that he had chosen to look at his gift in absolute privacy. He had considered opening the parcel in a quiet corner of the common room. He shuddered to imagine what had happened if one of his house-mates spotted per chance that he had unwrapped a mirror. He! A mirror! After years of being smirked at for neglecting his appearance! Well, true, he didn´t spend much time in the bathrooms to optimize his looks. Not that he didn´t care, he was a teenager after all. But he knew that his hair´d always look stringy, no matter what he tried, due to its natural thickness and weight. He had no problems with spots and pimples unlike most of his peers and the most prominent part of his face was his large nose, which couldn´t be changed by pampering it in front of a bathroom mirror. So why fuss with it.
Severus shook his head to get rid of the thoughts concerning his appearance. He was handsome enough for Lily to want to kiss him. That was all he needed. He looked for a message to explain what the mirror was for and found it on the inner side of the paper Lily had used to wrap the mirror.
"Sweetheart, take this item to a private place at ten in the evening, cast the spell I learned earlier this week and look at it." The message said. Instead of signing it, Lily had drawn a small heart under it. How very clever that girl was. She didn´t mention names, the mirror or the spell. The message was completely useless for anybody but him. He smiled. Sweetheart was a nice alias.
-x-
Severus pocketed the mirror and went to the Great Hall for supper. Lily was there, too, but he wasn´t able to signal her as Regulus chose this evening to socialize with him. As was to be expected, Sirius Black shot them both furious glares from the Gryffindor table.
After the meal Severus and Regulus went to the library, chatting happily. Once in the quiet of Madam Pince´s realm, they parted as none of the marauders was nearby to tell Sirius about their meeting.
Regulus disappeared behind a shelf full of potions books, while Severus decided to look up some advanced healing charms.
The boy returned to his dormitory a bit earlier than usual. After getting ready for bed, he wished his dorm mates a good night, closed the hangings of his four poster, cast ´Muffliato´ and ´Lumos´ and waited.
At ten he took the mirror in his hand and looked at it.
He nearly dropped it in shock. The eyes, which looked back at him, weren´t black but green. The most startling green eyes he had ever seen.
"Did you cast a Muffliato?" Lily whispered.
"Yes," the boy replied. "This is awesome. How did you make them?"
"The images are exchanged due to a slightly changed Protean charm, the sound is exchanged in a similar way."
"That´s sly." Oh, how clever his girl was! He could hardly believe that this beautiful, intelligent and powerful witch had chosen him of all boys to be her boyfriend.
"Thank you." Lily smiled her enchanting smile.
They chatted happily for an hour.
Life was perfect.
-x-
January changed into February. It was cold outside and the lake was covered with ice, where those, who had been taught it, enjoyed skating in the afternoons.
Severus had a perfect term. He studied, talked to his girlfriend every evening and survived several encounters with his archenemy´s unharmed due to fellow Slytherins, who needed guinea-pigs for new jinxes, and his study of advanced healing charms. The marauders spent quite an amount of evenings in detentions and on an overall view things could hardly get better.
They got worse, when the next Hogsmeade weekend was announced.
Severus invited Lily to meet him on their clearing near the village – an invitation she gladly accepted – and had to learn that the girl had already made an appointment with Potter – Severus decided to try the nose-bleed jinx he had found in the library on the Gryffindor – for a walk in the morning.
"You take care," he said to Lily, not mentioning his plans to punish the other boy for inviting his girl. "Potter is a rat. Do you want me to be nearby in case you need help?"
"No, really, I can handle this. We don´t want a battle when he sees you. I won´t get any information from him while you´re around."
"Probably you´re right. I don´t like this." He hated to admit she was right and he hated letting her meet Potter alone even more. Somewhere in his mind an idea for an anti-Potter curse began to form.
"As if I was enjoying it. It has to be done."
Severus sighed. "You take care."
After wishing Lily good night, he took a piece of parchment and noted down the idea he had had. Wasting a spell´d be wrong, wouldn´t it?
-x-
The Hogsmeade weekend was icy cold. Severus hoped that the cold´d make Lily cancel her walk with Potter, but to be truthful he knew that Lily´d never cancel a plan she wanted to carry out because of the weather. She´d go for a walk in a blizzard if she had to to achieve her goal.
Severus sat in the library, trying to distract himself from thinking about Lily and Potter walking arm in arm to the lake. Arm in arm? Unconsciously Severus started refining his anti-Potter curse.
Half an hour later he gave up and went for his cloak. He stepped out of the castle and tried to see from the entrance where Lily and Potter where. They were nowhere to be seen.
The boy remembered that Lily had mentioned going to the lake, so he strolled towards the shore, looking out for his girlfriend´s vivid red hair.
At last he spotted her from the distance. Was it really necessary that Potter stood so close?
Lily seemed to have seen him, too, for she took Potter´s arm and turned them both so that the other boy turned his back on Severus.
Reluctantly Severus returned to the castle. He could hardly wait to meet Lily in the afternoon.
-x-
In the afternoon they met near the clearing they had chosen the last time and Severus could tell that Lily was upset from a distance.
The girl cast ´Muffliato´ as soon as she joined him and spilt the news immediately. "An invisibility cloak!" she spat. "Potter has one."
Severus was more concerned about Lily than about cloaks. "Are you OK? He didn´t try anything?" He´d break his nose if he did.
Lily appeased her boyfriend. "I´m OK. Nothing happened to me. Look!" She turned on the spot. "I´m as good as new."
Severus sighed. "I love it, when your hair is flying like a veil." How could a girl look so – breathtaking, without being aware.
"Don´t change topic, dear. We were discussing invisibility cloaks. I was at the library and I found a charm. I know how to look through that bloody cloak. The incantation is ´per invisibilitas ad corum´. You have to point your wand at your eyes with a little flick. It´s fairly easy."
Severus did his best, but ´fairly easy´ wasn´t easy enough. "You´re better at Charms than I am," he lamented. "This may be too advanced for me."
"Then I´ll be your eyes," Lily smiled. "I see them!" she cried. "They are over there, beside the oak. Don´t look at them," Lily suggested. "It might be an advantage, if they´re not aware I see them. Black was holding a parchment. I had the impression, it was leading them here. I wonder what it is."
"We have no possibility to find out now. What are we going to do?" He hated the thought that Potter – he surely WAS going to break his nose – might spoil their date.
"Nothing. You teach me another spell for duelling. We have to wait for a good opportunity to get them."
Severus chose a tripping charm to floor an opponent. He advised Lily to try it non-verbally, explaining why this was an advantage in duel. The girl mastered the spell easily and they practiced for a while. They enjoyed helping each other to their feet, holding their hands the fraction of a second longer than necessary.
Severus felt great. Here he was, touching Lily in plain view of Potter, while the other boy had nothing. Well, an invisibility cloak, but who cared for that.
"Now, let´s see how you´re doing in battle," Severus suggested after a while. "Don´t hesitate to hit me with any spell you know. I´ve looked up some more healing charms."
Lily laughed. "I won't damage what is mine!"
"You have to or you won't learn," the boy pointed out.
"OK, I'll damage you, if I can," the girl gave in. Even smirking, she looked charming!
They battled for a while and Severus was very content with what they had achieved in only two lessons. Lily did great.
"You have to aim more carefully!" cried Severus when the girl missed him with a stinging hex.
"I was aiming perfectly!" Lily answered and dodged her boyfriend's jinx. "I hit Black!"
"You're a sly lady, my dear!" Severus answered and cast a shield charm to repulse Lily´s next attack.
After some more minutes they announced a truce. They sat side by side on a rock and chatted a while. Lily described Black´s stiffled howl of pain when he was hit by her hex in detail and they had a good laugh. Too soon they had to go back. Lily went to meet Myra and Severus set out for the castle.
-x-
They didn´t forego their evening chat via mirror although they had spent the afternoon together. Lily had important news despite the short time it had been.
"Black wanted ´Muffliato´, but Potter stopped him," she told a shocked Severus. "He stepped between Black and me, I was kind of relieved," she admitted.
"Perhaps there´s a trace of decency in him," Severus admitted. "I don´t like him nevertheless. He´s after my girlfriend."
Lily giggled happily. "Let him be. I´m yours," she reassured Severus.
They started making plans concerning Potter´s invisibility cloak and the enigmatic piece of parchment. They needed a plan for neither of them was going to stand Black and his friends slink after them for two more years.
-x-
The school year was nearing its end, when Severus had to go to the hospital wing. Black had hexed the tentacles of a giant flesh eating plant in the green-house to grab the Slytherin when he was heading towards the door after the lesson. Severus had managed to get away from the hungry plant, but gotten a bad bite on his left arm.
The boy swore under his breath as he made his way towards the castle. None of the healing spells he knew was apt to use on a plant bite. There was no help, he had to see the nurse.
Severus approached the hospital wing slowly and carefully, always watching out for his enemies. It wouldn´t do to let them catch him when he was injured. He just hoped they weren´t waiting for him under Potter´s bloody cloak.
They must have been, though, because when he approached the doors to Mme. Pomfrey´s realm, one of the suits of armour collapsed with a loud clatter. With predictable speed, Argus Filch appeared at the end of the corridor.
"You!" the caretaker roared and closed in on Severus. "Inflicting damage on the school property is a severe crime!" Severus looked for a way out, but couldn't find one.
The Slytherin was prepared to follow the caretaker to his doom, when the caretaker suddenly uttered another cry of triumph.
Two pairs of feet had appeared in the corridor and Filch removed the invisibility cloak from two very shocked Gryffindors, Potter and Black.
After confiscating the cloak and a piece of parchment Potter had been holding (was it THE piece of parchment?) Filch drove all three boys to the headmaster´s office.
Severus was relieved. He hadn´t done anything wrong, the headmaster´d know.
-x-
They walked to the headmaster´s office in silence. Filch overtook the boys when they reached to moving staircase that led up to Dumbledore´s rooms and Severus was able to get a glimpse at the parchment the caretaker had confiscated. It was a map and – Severus couldn´t be sure – there were moving dots on it. Where those people? Had Potter a map showing people?
Severus shuddered. If that was true, he could never ever meet Lily without Potter knowing!
Potter and Black must have communicated silently, for Potter stepped forward to Filch and started pleading to let them go.
Filch grinned at the boy maliciously. "Too late for remorse, Potter."
Potter started arguing and while Filch was concentrating on him, Black extended his wand and touched the parchment. It went blank. As soon as this was done, Potter fell behind to Black. The taller boy gave a small nod and Potter smiled.
Filch knocked at the headmaster´s door and they were asked to come in.
"These boys, headmaster," said Filch, "damaged the suit of armour of Ermenrich the Elusive on the first floor."
"Can the damage be repaired?" the headmaster asked solemnly.
"I don´t know," said Filch. "Not without magic. I confiscated these objects." He presented the cloak and now blank map.
"Whose are they?" Dumbledore asked.
"Mine, Sir," said Potter.
Dumbledore stepped to the Gryffindor and gently held his chin with his left hand. He looked the boy in the eye as if trying to see the truth there.
"Thank you, Mr. Filch," the headmaster said. "Leave the cloak here. I´ll handle the culprits. Master Snape here has nothing to do with this case of vandalism. You may go Master Snape."
Severus had hoped that the headmaster´d believe him, but being declared innocent without having to defend himself was more than he had hoped for. He followed Filch out of the office and pretended to go back to the hospital wing.
When he didn´t hear the caretaker any longer, he returned to the gargoyle and hid behind a near statue. He didn´t have to wait long.
Potter and Black left the office only minutes after them.
"Damn Snivellus!" Black swore. "Map lost, cloak lost!"
"I'll get the cloak back at Easter," Potter soothed him. "You heard Dumbledore. He´ll give it to my father. And then it´s only a question of minutes before I have it." He made puppy eyes and Black laughed.
"But the map´s lost," Severus heard Black say when the two Gryffindors disappeared behind the next corner.
-x-
The Gryffindors blamed – no surprise there – Severus for the loss of the cloak and map and tried to pay him back on several occasions. The map seemed to have helped them a lot in the past for their attempts were rather feeble compared with what they had done .
They actually managed only once to corner the Slytherin and then Severus only needed to picture Potter trying to date Lily to get access to his wandless magic. The four boys didn´t look good, when Severus was finished. Potter´s nose was broken.
Severus smiled. His own nose was broken, too, for Black had hit him by surprise from a niche and the fact that his face hurt so much had let him drop his usual caution. Normally, the boy fought only defensive battles; he never injured his opponents seriously. But Black had crossed the line first and so he had struck back. The fact that the four Gryffindors must be in equal pain was satisfying.
The Slytherin went to the nearest boys´ lavatory and started a healing charm on his nose. With a critical look into the mirror he tried to straighten it. Yes, that was better. All he needed was being questioned for his nose looking different.