AN: Thanks to OCfan and Irze for the reviews. I love them, keep 'em coming. Wouldn't hate to hear from some new people too! Irze, it must be that damned twinkle in his eyes. ;)
Midnight Capers
He was getting highly sick of the suspicious looks The Brat Who Lived kept levelling at him with his mother's green judgemental eyes. He knew full well that the ungrateful little toad was suspicions of him for something. He wasn't sure what it was as he couldn't possibly know about the stone. He also knew that nearly every time that he'd run across Potter's path had been while he'd been trailing Quirrell, who seemed very interested in the where abouts of Harry Potter these days. Of course the little twit never noticed Quirrell lurking about, only himself.
If the trio didn't stop looking at him funny he was going to stop trying to feel bad if he was unable to keep from treating them poorly. He really was trying to be better, but the more wound up he got, the harder it was. He'd at least managed to stop taking points from random students for whatever reason he could find when he was in a bad mood. He knew that was small and petty and not a proper way to deal with things, so he'd decided to start working on bettering himself there. Brie's words had really struck home, you could make yourself a better person if you tried hard enough. It was a small step, but at least it was something. It had taken a lot of years to make him the cranky sod that he was and he'd never really had a great role model for being a good person, he wasn't going to fix that overnight. Or at all if he was going to have to trail Quirrell around for much longer.
He was absolutely flummoxed about how Quirrell might be receiving his orders. As far as Severus could tell he rarely left the castle itself, never mind the grounds. He was fairly sure he'd caught him talking to himself in empty classrooms a time or two, but he'd seen no one but Quirrell there when he'd stealthily peeked in. He'd finally managed to grab him alone after the Gryffindor/Huffelpuff game and hiss in his ear to meet him in the forbidden forest after the sun went down. He'd been a bit surprised when he'd actually shown up, for all the good it did. He'd played dumb about everything from the troll to the three headed dog to trying to bewitch Potter's broom, with that ridiculous stutter of his. He just hoped that Quirrell didn't have anything to do with the unicorns that Hagrid had found slaughtered in the forbidden forest but, given what unicorn blood was used for... He shuttered to truly think it but heightened his guard all the same. He was constantly on edge these days. It took very little to set him off.
Now he looked at Draco Malfoy, who Minerva had dragged into his office first thing this morning. She'd caught him out in the halls last night spinning some sort of story about Harry Potter and a dragon. Then Filch apparently caught Potter, Granger, and the Longbottom boy out as well. But no dragon. Draco was the last thing he needed right now. Potter had obviously fed him some sort of fantastical story to get him out of his common room and caught. He and the rest of them had probably been out to laugh at him when he fell for it. He was surprised about the Granger girl. She may have been a people pleaser but he hadn't taken her for the type to play pranks on other students. Probably Potter's influence. Another family trait.
He chastised Draco for being a gullible fool when he insisted that he'd seen the dragon in Hagrid's hut and warned him not to give him anymore reasons to contact his father about his behavior. If Hagrid had had a dragon, someone would have known about it. He didn't think that even Hagrid and Harry Potter could get themselves mixed up with dragons without someone finding out. The threat seemed to work as Draco stopped protesting. He blinked in surprise when Severus removed twenty points from Slytherin. He figured it was the smallest amount he could possibly take without Minerva and Albus questioning his judgment.
"Yes Draco," He said in answer to the surprised look on his face. "Even your father would know that I have to take points for this. There are some things that can't be overlooked by me without causing people to talk. Now get to breakfast."
Draco slid wordlessly from the chair and out of his had a feeling he wouldn't be so meek in a few days when he found out what Minerva planned for his detention. Then he might just not care about his father finding out what he'd been up to.
Later on he passed by the house hour glasses in the entrance hall and chuckled to himself. It seemed that, thanks to Potter and his crew, Slytherin would be winning the house cup again this year. He was proud of the streak his house had had going for the last six years. People so often looked down their noses at Slytherin house because of it's past reputation. Being willing to do whatever you needed to do to reach your goals wasn't evil. It very easily could become so, but knowing how to walk the line was an art form. Goals weren't always personal either, sometimes you did what you had to do for the greater good. Knowing how to do that and being willing to follow through were traits just as important as knowledge, bravery, and hard work. Too often the Slytherin students had to face undeserved animosity because people didn't understand that. Winning the house and Quidditch cups took a bit of the sting out of it. He tended to favor his house because of that. The other houses would never be able to understand what it truly meant to walk around as a Slytherin.
He passed Potter sitting at the Gryffindor table looking more subdued than Severus had ever seen him. He almost felt bad for him until he remembered that he'd lured Draco out into the castle for sport and had a penchant for going out alone. All this watching of Quirrell and making sure Potter always had someone around him was all going to be for naught if the little git kept sneaking around alone at night. How very like a Potter.
He caught Brie's eye as he sat at the table and remembered their chat from before the Easter break. He'd gotten her note and met her up on the Astronomy tower with her guitar again. She'd told him about being able to make the scarf work at the Quidditch match and how much more strongly she felt magic at those events. She'd tried the Lumos spell again to no avail. It appeared that the light wasn't going to hold for any longer than it previously had. After awhile she'd asked how he was doing and he'd complained about how like his father Little Potter was because he knew that's what she had meant.
"Severus, he's not his dad." She had said gently, but firmly. "Considering that he wasn't raised by him either it's a pretty good bet that he's someone radically different. You need to try harder to see the whole picture with him. Remember that he's Lily's son too. Some of her has to be in there."
"He's nothing like Lily! Lily was an amazing student and didn't drag others along with her into degenerate behavior." He had answered, irritated. "I doubt Potter cracked a book before coming here and doesn't seem to think the rules apply to him."
Brie had hummed noncommittally. She was beginning to think that Severus was holding some undeserved prejudice against the boy because of the connection to his father. She tried a different tactic. "I don't know where he's been staying since they died, but I think he's had a crappy childhood to be honest. He's small and quiet, he flinches at odd things, seemed to keep mostly to himself at first, and he's been steadily putting on weight since he came here. Which indicates that he probably doesn't always get enough to eat. Those are all classic signs of mistreatment."
He hadn't wanted to discuss it further that night. Instead he'd asked her to play him something to take his mind off of things and she had given him a hard look that said, 'I hope you at least try.', before she'd picked up the guitar. He thought now of the Petunia Evans that he'd known as a child. He had no reason to think Petunia Dursley would be any better of a person. It didn't change the fact that the boy often found himself in the middle of anything suspicious. He was still firmly convinced that that type of thing must run in the Potter family no matter who raised you. He didn't think Dumbledore would leave the boy anyplace where he was horribly mistreated, but he was starting to think that he should pay a little visit to Petunia after the school year ended. They could have a nice chat. Maybe reminisce about old times. He grimaced at the thought, which flew from his mind after the midnight caper crew came back from their detention with Hagrid.
He wasn't sure what had happened, but now there was downright loathing in Little Potter's green eyes. What in the world did the little slug think he was involved with? He'd asked Draco what had happened but all he'd been able to do was babble about a cloaked figure and a dead unicorn and running away from it in the forest. The information didn't help him figure out why he was getting extra dagger spells from Potter's eyes, but did make his blood run cold. Really, there had only been one explanation for dead unicorns, but still, it didn't make sense. Draco had said that he'd seen a solid body crawling across the ground, drinking the unicorns blood. If the Dark Lord had managed to get his corporeal body back Severus' Dark Mark should have burned, or at least gotten darker.
He didn't have as much time as he would have liked to puzzle it out due to exam week. Most of his students did very well. The Longbottom boy was a disaster as usual and the newest Goyle proved to be just as useless as the rest of his family but other than that there were no major mishaps. Even the Weasley twins didn't melt anything. Miss Granger's essay looked like she'd memorized the textbook. That kind of learning bothered him. He felt that it was better to remember in your own words, rather than word by word from the books.
He finally figured out what Potter was suspicious about on the day exams ended as he overheard him talking to the youngest Weasley and the Granger girl about trap doors and Albus being away. So the little sneaks suspected him of wanting to steal the stone. He didn't even bother to try to guess how they even knew about it in the first place as he warned Potter about being out at night. Not that it was going to help, but he had to at least try to keep him in his common room. Perhaps expulsion would be a big enough deterrent.
With a feeling of increasing dread, he quickly checked the staffroom for Albus and Quirrell and noticed the Granger girl hanging around as he left. The little meddlers must really be worried that he was going to steal the stone if they were going to try to keep tabs on him. He had to nip this in the bud right now. He couldn't have her following him around as he searched the castle for Quirrell, so he asked her what she was doing and she lied and said she was waiting for Filius. Perfect. He went back into the staffroom and got him, then took off while Filius kept her busy.
He ran into Minerva while he searched, who told him that she'd just shooed Potter and Weasley away from the third floor corridor and that they somehow knew about the stone and were convinced that someone was going to try to take it. She confirmed that Albus was not at the school and agreed that this was all just too odd and that it would probably be best if Severus went after him considering what Hagrid and the others had seen in the woods last week. Minerva would keep an eye on Potter. He was about to tell her that Quirrell was missing too before he remember that only he and Albus suspected him of anything involving the Dark Lord.
He ran out to the school gates as the sun set and Apparated to the Ministry. Albus hadn't arrived yet, according to the voice on the Muggle telephone at the visitors entrance to the Ministry. Severus wondered why in the world he'd chosen to fly from Hogwarts to London while he waited outside in the dark. Albus finally arrived and Severus stepped out to meet him. He didn't even have to say anything. He and Albus Apparated straight back to Hogwarts and Albus went pelting away up the lawn, asking Severus to go wake Poppy. Albus must have assumed that he'd been waiting at the ministry to tell him that Potter was in trouble. He was already too far away to hear anything Severus said, so he didn't hurry as he made his way to the castle doors. He was sure Minerva had been able to keep the boy contained.
He became less sure when he found Weasley and Granger in the entrance hall looking worriedly up the grand staircase. He frowned at them and sent them back to their common room, too distracted to take points for being out after curfew. He was about to go wake Poppy after all, just in case, when Minerva hurried up to him and said that Potter, Weasley, and Granger were all missing from their dormitories and she'd found Longbottom in the common room in a Full Body Bind. He told her about Weasely and Granger as he hurried to Poppy's rooms. He waited with her in the hospital wing with a feeling of increasing dread, wondering how the meddlesome trio had managed to get out into the castle without anyone seeing them.
Albus brought the boy in, limp and pale, shortly afterward and even Severus was stricken by his pallor. He really was small for his age, he thought as he looked down at the white face against the white sheets, noticing that blasted lightning bolt scar stood out in a dull red, and worried that he'd failed in his promise to keep the boy safe. He'd failed Lily and the completely rubbish 'life debt' that he supposedly owed James Potter.
After they were reasonably certain the boy wouldn't die, Albus had filled him in on what had gone on and he'd been stricken all over again that the Dark Lord had essentially been inside the school all year. He suddenly understood what had been happening to Brie every time she'd gotten near Quirrell. She must be sensitive to extremely Dark Magic. Besides repeatedly drinking unicorn blood, whatever was keeping Voldemort from dying completely must be powerfully Dark. He'd have to catch her before term ended to tell her, but for now he really wanted to be alone. He finally remembered to mention it to Albus, who was a bit put out that neither he nor Brie had mentioned anything about it.
For three long torturous days he waited to hear what would become of Little Potter. He was more distressed then he thought he'd be and had the house elves bring meals to his room so he wouldn't have to face the racket of the Great Hall. Crowds and conversation were too much for his jangled nerves to bear right now. It was as if all the stresses of the year were finally breaking over him now that Quirrell and the Dark Lord were gone. Finally Albus said that the boy had woken up and was alright and would be allowed to attend the end of term feast the following evening. Severus felt an odd mixture of relief and something he couldn't put his finger on when he heard the news. Now he would truly be able to enjoy Slytherin's victory as they were awarded the house cup the next night.
He should have known it was too good to be true. Not only did Albus snatch the victory away from his House, he did it in the most damaging way possible for the students of Slytherin. Severus had seen each and every face at the table fall in disappointment as the green Slytherin banners that adorned the Great Hall changed over to Gryffindor scarlet. It put him in such a foul mood that it took him most of the night to notice that Brie wasn't sitting at the head table. In fact, he realized that he hadn't seen her in the castle since the day exams had ended. He wondered where she was.
While packing up his things later on he noticed that his vanishing box had turned colors and wondered how long ago that had happened. He lifted up the false bottom and extracted Brie's hastily scrawled note.
Summer trip was suddenly bumped up, had to leave as soon as I found out.. Couldn't catch you, will miss you.
He'd barely seen her since Easter break because he'd been so busy keeping tabs on Quirrell, now he wasn't going to even be able to catch so much as a glimpse of her until September and he could really use a friend right now. He was glad he'd given her more potions for her summer trek before Easter break. He felt good about that at least. That good feeling lasted about five seconds, until he remembered that he'd given her the first batch of potions as a birthday gift and realized that he'd forgotten her birthday last month. He'd been preoccupied with keeping tabs on Quirrell and was just unused to remembering birthdays in general. He felt bad all over again as he walked out the school gates and Apparated back to Spinner's End for another summer break.