Chapter 38: Purebloods and Half Bloods

'Oy, Snivillus, why're grubbing around in the earth like a hog?'

Severus looked up quickly from where he'd been digging up a Snargaluff pod just outside Greenhouse three. He had lingered there after double Herbology, waiting until all the Slytherins and Ravenclaws had gone for lunch, so that he could work unseen. Unfortunately, he had not counted on any students appearing so early for their Herbology lesson – especially these particular students.

Sirius was leaning on the wooden framework of Greenhouse Two, hands in his pocket and a smirk on his face. James was twirling his wand like a baton in his hand.

'None of your business.' Severus answered, calmly putting the pulsating seed in his bag and standing up. 'Don't you have some mindless game or other to play?'

'Like Quidditch, perhaps, according to you? You missed the last game, Snivillus…'

'I wonder…Could it be because we absolutely flattened Slytherin last match, James?'

'Yeah, and Snivilly here didn't even have the guts to watch, Sirius. Couldn't bear to see Gryffindor's new official Seeker catch the snitch in five minutes flat, now, could he? I wonder why?'

Severus scowled. Towards the beginning of May, James Potter had been taken on as Gryffindor's new Seeker, and he had not let anyone forget it, especially after his successful capture of the snitch early during his first game, when they were playing against Slytherin in the last match of the Quidditch season. Gryffindor had won a spectacular victory, and Potter had been carried triumphantly on his team-mates' shoulders after the match. The tousle-haired Gryffindor had spent the next few days being followed by admiring first- and second-years, and patted on the back by the older Gryffindors.

Quidditch had lost a lot of its appeal for Severus, since then.

'If you have nothing better to do than gloat over your brainless activities, get out of my way!' he snapped.

'Oh, jealous, aren't we?' James Potter said, smiling evilly.

'Cos what you're doing is so brainy!' scowled Sirius Black, 'digging up disgusting, dirty …whatever that thing is you've sneaked inside your bag! Look at your hands – you're worse than our old house elf!'

They laughed loudly. A Slytherin third-year poked his head out of Greenhouse three to see what was happening. Severus's face grew white with anger.

'You wouldn't even begin to understand what I'm doing, Black! You're too busy prancing around among Potter's fan club to know anything about …'

He paused.

'About what? Dark magic, Snape?' Potter had an angry look on his face to match his own now and Sirius Black was scowling.

This pleased Severus.

'About magic that has been handed down and perfected through hundreds of generations – nothing you would understand, Potter,' he replied, snidely.

'Generations, eh? Fine Slytherin you are, to talk about previous generations.'

'Yeah. Yours must be pretty ashamed of you. You tell him, James!'

'Tell me what?'

'Well, when all your Slytherin friends are advertising the purity of their Bloodlines and banging on about the true wizarding identity of Purebloods…' James Potter started.

'Yeah. We actually feel sorry for you, Snivellus,' continued Sirius, pouting sarcastically. 'Being two patented and warranted Purebloods ourselves, we wouldn't know what a half-blood like you might be feeling, locked away in such a Pureblood bastion as Slytherin House.'

Severus's arm twitched convulsively. If they didn't stop talking…

'Neither here nor there, see?' Potter grinned. 'But what makes us really feel so sorry for you, Snivilly, is that your mother married a muggle whose rightful place is in the gutter, which is why you reminded us so much of your father just now, when you were groping around in the -'

The words were hardly out of his mouth when Severus's hand flew for his wand, but James Potter was prepared this time, and reacted even faster – he dropped his bag, pointed his wand straight at Severus and fired a hex that lifted him off his feet, so that he toppled over. However, he still managed to extricate his wand from his robes, and pointed it at the laughing pair, but Sirius was waiting for him now, and there was a flash of light from his wand. Severus managed to roll out of the way of the flying spell, which hit the Greenhouse and exploded the lower glass panes into a hundred pieces. Unfortunately, Severus couldn't entirely evade the shards of flying glass, and some of them cut into his face and hands. Feeling the sting and warm trickle of blood down his cheek, he whipped round to face his tormentors and cried:

'Serpensortia!'

A huge snake erupted once more from his wand – long, thick coils twisting heavily on the grass whilst the hooded head rose up, hissing angrily.

Potter and Black stopped laughing immediately, and for a split-second gazed, horror-struck, at the serpent. Then Potter bent down to snatch up his bag. The serpent, seeing the movement, uncoiled itself and slithered straight at him. The two boys panicked and ran off.

The serpent would have followed immediately, but at that moment the door of Green house three slammed shut. Before it did, Severus glimpsed the wide eyes and apprehensive face of Mulciber. The movement of the door distracted the snake momentarily from its pursuit, and Severus waved his wand, muttering the counter-curse, so that the serpent vanished in a cloud of black smoke.

He thought, overall, that it would be best not to have a dirty great snake wandering about near the greenhouses until the magic wore off. If it was found, or actually managed to bite those two Gryffindor gits, questions would be asked.

He staggered to his feet. At that moment, the door of the furthest Greenhouse opened and Professor Sprout came puffing up, a trowel in one hand and her wand in the other.

'What was that noise? Merlin's beard! Mr Snape, there's blood all over your face! What happened?'

'Tripped and fell,' he mumbled, trying to keep his soil-covered hands out of sight.

Professor Sprout looked at the shattered glass.

'Reparo.' she said, and the shattered glass rose together to form a whole pane. 'Well, I want you to go straight to the Hospital Wing, Mr Snape, and have those cuts seen to right away or you'll be left with some nasty scars. I'll speak to Professor Ironwood so that she'll know you won't be coming to her lesson. What were you doing here anyway? Lesson's been over for ages!'

He mumbled some excuse about having lost his quill, and made his way quickly towards the castle, before she could ask more questions He did not want her to find out he had nicked a left-over Snargalaff pod and hidden it in the soil outside the greenhouse, to collect later, when the soil had softened the shell.

In the Hospital wing, Madame Pomfrey cured his cuts in a thrice, tut-tutting about how clumsy growing boys were, how they did not seem to know the size of their own feet and were always tripping over themselves.

Severus kept a stony silence, answering her questions in monosyllables. He was still seething inside, as Potter's words came back to him: 'Being two patented and warranted Purebloods ourselves, we wouldn't know what a half-blood like you might be feeling...' they had said. And how had they known about his father? But then, being Purebloods, they probably knew who was who in the wizarding world, just as much as Malfoy and Rosier did. They would undoubtedly have pounced upon the fact of his mother's 'mistake' in malicious glee.

He left the hospital ward pressing a wad soaked in Dittany against his cheek, still fuming silently. He took the small two-way mirror from his bag and examined himself. There was a thin red mark where the glass had cut deepest, like a lash mark, but he knew that would soon disappear, and no one would notice anything. Just then he heard footsteps coming towards him, and he hastily stowed away his mirror in his bag.

It was Lily, and she was panting slightly.

'Sev, what's wrong? You didn't come to DADA and Professor Ironwood told me you were in the Hospital wing…'

' 'm alright. Just cut myself a bit.'

Lily looked anxiously at his face, but even the thin red line had almost gone from his face.

'Are you sure? Potter and Black were saying -'

'What?' he snapped, when she hesitated.

He looked thunderous.

'They were boasting they smashed you through Greenhouse Three. I didn't believe them, and they shut up about it when I jinxed their robes together with a Sticking Charm. Don't think they expected that,' she grinned. 'But when you didn't turn up for DADA, I knew something had happened.'

For a moment he looked at her crossly, and she thought he would not even answer her, but he seemed to relent when he heard what she'd done.

'They ambushed me behind the greenhouse,' he said eventually 'Wanted to know why I didn't come to the Quidditch match…'

'Huh. Potter is being totally obnoxious about that. If he was big-headed before, now his head is twice as big as Hagrid's largest pumpkin!' Lily said disdainfully, as they turned to walk towards the main staircase. 'Did they hurt you?'

'Black's spell exploded the glass on the greenhouse, and I got cut, but I think they got more than what they bargained in return,' he replied, smugly.

'What did you do?' Lily's eyebrows were raised.

'Remember that snake I set on the spiders when we went into the Forbidden Forest?'

'You set a snake on Potter and Black?' Lily sounded shocked.

'Yes, why? You thought it a good idea then.'

'But Sev, those were monster spiders. These are students! What've the snake bit them?'

'Are you taking their side now?' he snapped, turning round to face her. 'Perhaps you think I should've just lain there and taken their insults quietly?'

'No, but …'

'They'd've deserved it, had the snake bit them! I'm sure Madam Pomfrey would've fixed them in a jiffy and given them the best treatment! They are, after all, Purebloods!'

'What are you on about? What does that have to do with anything?' Lily said, angrily.

.

'Never mind. I vanished the snake, soon as they ran for it. Happy now?' and with that he turned on his heel, and hurried down the corridor.

'You can do that? Vanish it?' Lily asked, hurrying after him.

''Course I can. Would go for me, if I didn't know how to get rid of it when I'm alone, wouldn't it?'

'Oh, right.'

They walked on in silence for some minutes.

'You know, Sev, Potter and Black looked really stupid coming in to DADA stuck together by their robes. They were too embarrassed to tell Professor Ironwood about it, so they had to sit close to each other until the charm wore off.'

Severus knew she was trying to make him feel better, but he was still disgruntled that she hadn't thought a snake bite good punishment for those two.

'Why, wasn't there any one of their fan club to set them free? Where was Lupin? He's their number one fan now, isn't he?

'Well, only those close by noticed. It was dark, for Ironwood had her stupid projector out again. Besides, Remus was absent again.'

'Really? Sick again? Well, let me tell you something about 'Remus',' He placed an unpleasant emphasis on his first name. 'Remus Lupin was NOT in the Hospital Ward. I've just been there, and he was nowhere there. I think it's pretty fishy where he-'

'Oh, he's not sick this time. He's visiting his mother. He told me. She's sick now, and he left yesterday.'

Severus had no answer to that, so he just made an impatient noise and started down the steps. 'I've got to go to Transfiguration,' he said abruptly. 'I'll see you later.'

Lily nodded. 'I'll fill you in on what you missed in DADA,' she called after him. 'And I've got the unicorn hair from Hagrid you asked me to get you. I'll see you in the Library.'

Severus did not answer. He had seen Rosier and Wilkes waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs as he and Lily went their opposite ways.

'Mulciber's just told us what you did, Severus,' Evan Rosier said, grinning, as soon as he had come down to their level. 'You're refining your technique, I see.'

Wilkes, who had been looking up to where Lily had stood a moment before, looked round.

'Yeah, he told us you set a bloody great snake on those two Blood traitors from Gryffindor!'

Severus tried to shrug it off. He didn't want Wilkes running after him, asking him how to conjure up snakes. Although actually Wilkes had eased off pestering him somewhat, since he had hexed him for it in the beginning of term.

'Blood traitors, eh?' he was intrigued by this term. Anything that insulted Potter or Black was a welcome sound to his ears.

'Of course. Blood-traitors. Black – for obvious reasons: what in Merlin's name is he doing in Gryffindor, when all his family were in Slytherin? And Potter – well, there are rumours that his family consorts in despicable ways with Muggles, giving away wizarding secrets…'

Severus stored this information away - he would find out all he could about Potter and Black. He would give anything to be able to return those insults with some of his own.

'And you know what, Severus?' Rosier was saying. 'Mulciber told us something else…He said he would speak to Rabastan about you, for he knows him well. He's in Third-year too. With any luck, he'll ask to see you.'

Rosier paused, as if for dramatic effect.

'And why should I be overjoyed that another third-year wants to speak to me?' Severus said sarcastically.

'Don't pretend you don't know who Rabastan is, Severus,' Rosier said, severely.

'Why, everybody knows.' Wilkes interjected, his eyes wide.

Severus looked at them calculatingly. He did, of course, know Rabastan Lestrange by reputation, but it would not do to appear eager. In reality, he was curious about Rabastan and his supposed link to this Lord Voldemort that many whispered about. In fact, in Slytherin, they whispered as much about Rabastan Lestrange, as they did about Lord Voldemort himself, but Severus had only seen him a few times in the common-room, or in the Dining Hall, and on most of these occasions he had always been in a huddle with other, usually older, Slytherins.

'And what makes you think I would want to speak to him?' he continued. Although he had to admit he was curious, he was not quite sure he liked the idea of being 'summoned' that way by any third-year student.

'Oh. I think you would like it.' Rosier said, with a shrewd smile, as they took their places in McGonagall's Transfiguration class.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

It was a couple of weeks later; in the beginning of June that Severus finally met Rabastan. Actually, he was waylaid on his way to his dungeon hideout by two students. Avery and Mulciber were waiting for him in the shadows of a door in one of the torch-lit subterranean passages, and he had already drawn his wand before he recognised the gangly form of Mulciber, and the short, skinny one of Philistus Avery.

'Quick, in here,' Avery said, looking up and down the corridor to make sure there wasn't anyone else.

They hustled him inside an old, disused, classroom. Severus, whose pockets were full of forbidden ingredients, thought it better to follow, since it would be useless to attempt to get to his hideout now.

The interior was dimly lit by a few stubs of candles placed on old, graffitied desks. Sitting at one of them, his feet resting on another desk, was a rather robust boy with thick, brown hair and a broad face. He was reading a folded piece of parchment that looked like one of those pamphlets he and Lily used to write to each other to, many summers ago. He stood up when Severus came in.

'So you're the one who set the snake on the blood traitors!' he said, by way of greeting.

Severus noticed that he was shorter than Mulciber, but broadly built, and his voice was rather gravelly.

'Mulciber here told me all that happened,' he continued, when Severus did not speak. 'He also said you usually sneak off to the lower dungeons, at around this time, so we waited for you…'

Severus scowled. He didn't like the idea that his movements were being noted. He mumbled something about wanting to study in peace in an empty classroom.

Rabastan Lestrange gave a loud guffaw.

'Of course. Of course. Wouldn't do to be disturbed, would it?' Smiling broadly, he held out his hand. 'I'm Rabastan Lestrange, and anyone who can set those two gits from Gryffindor running for their lives, is a friend of mine!'

Severus, just as surprised at the tone of sincere admiration in Rabastan's voice, as at the rather pompous introduction, shook his hand.

'Pity your serpent missed its mark, Snape. Would've loved to see 'em thrashing around after a poisoned bite!' Mulciber said, grinning maliciously.

'I noticed you ran back inside the greenhouse the moment the serpent looked at you.' Severus said, acerbically.

'What could I do, mate? I was on detention re-potting Mandrakes for Sprout- I had just finished when I heard you. Couldn't allow a dirty great snake in Green house three, could I? Would've looked bad.' Mulciber's rather full lips twisted in a grin. 'What happened to it anyway?'

'Vanished it.'

'Good thinking, overall,' Rabastan interrupted before Mulciber could protest. 'We wouldn't want to draw any attention to ourselves at this point…'

Severus had hardly registered the use of the word 'we' before Rabastan was proffering him the parchment he had been reading before he came in.

'Here, I want you to read this and tell me what you think,' he said, handing him the folded parchment.

He read the parchment in silence. It was in fact, a form of Flyer, entitled 'The Mismanagement and Errors of the Ministry for Magic from the Eighteenth Century to the Present Day.' Inside was a series of articles taken from various sources, the most notable of which was The Daily Prophet, describing the misfortunes of wizards and witches at the hands of bungling Ministry Officials. Most of them depicted the wizards or witches as victims of brutal, stupid Muggles, distrusting and vindictive when confronted with the strange ways, or the aloofness, of their magic neighbours, and which Muggles were aided and abetted by the Ministry officials on the pretext of upholding the Statute of Secrecy.

'They're all true.' Rabastan nodded at the parchment in Severus's hand, his face serious. 'All those stories. They were taken out of the Prophet, and everyone knows that rag parrots whatever the Ministry tells it to. '

'D'you see the one with that witch, Vanda Bletchley?' Avery said 'They threw her in Azkaban for hexing two blokes that were trying to rob her house. Said she was vicious and uncontrollable. All they need have done was wipe the robbers' memories and hand them to the Muggle police…'

Severus wondered if Vanda was related to Phil Avery, for he was uncharacteristically serious about it.

'Or the one with the wizard who foolish enough to marry a muggle girl? She ran off with his son, when she discovered he was a wizard. He tracked her down and used the Imperious Curse on her to get her to return his son,' Mulciber continued. 'The Wizengamot sentenced him to Azkaban for life for that!' he added quietly.

Rabastan nodded in agreement. 'You get a lot of those stories. Where I come from, one of our neighbours, a witch called Estrella, married a muggle. It was a big scandal, for she came from an old, rich, wizarding family – the Puceys, you know, but she married a piece of filth that was only after her money, and he turned quite nasty when her family disowned her and left her penniless,' Rabastan paused, frowning. 'Not clear what happened next – some say he tried to steal her wand and her magic, given he couldn't get her money. She said, at her trial, that he had tried to take her children, and she killed him in self-defence. She, too, got a life sentence in Azkaban, and her children are now in a Muggle orphanage!'

Severus squirmed uncomfortably, the story seeming far too familiar for his liking. 'Why're you showing me all this?' he asked.

'I'm showing you just the tip of the iceberg, Snape,' Rabastan answered 'It's much bigger than you think – the old order of wizarding supremacy has long been overturned; ancient, powerful, magic is labelled 'dark' and frowned upon; the Ministry and the muggle-loving fools who run it are giving more and more power to muggles. 'Peaceful co-existence' they call it.' He made a derisive noise. 'When in reality, it should be us who are ruling, for we are born superior, whatever else any muggle-lover would have you believe!'

'If you have magic in you, you are different - with one wave of your wand you can substitute all those mechanical and electrical gadgets the muggles have invented to make up for their lack of magic! ' His eyes shone with a fanatical light. 'We're better, Severus Snape – we're better, and you can't deny it!'

'I wasn't going to. Magic is everything for me,' Severus said simply.

'Well, then, there's your answer. That's why I'm showing you all this. Before the ancient order of magic dies, before it's too late, we'd like to make a difference!'

'Yeah. We got friends outside, who-' Mulciber broke in. But Rabastan cut him off with a dirty look:

'You just need to look around you here at school to see how unfair the whole system is. Dark magic is spoken of as though it were something shameful! And it isn't! Even Professors admit that the 'darkness' about it, is nothing more than the Wizard's intended use of that particular spell! Many know that Dark magic is ancient, powerful knowledge, and it is our birthright!' He spoke passionately, leaning so close to Severus that he could see the dancing candlelight reflected in his eyes.

Mulciber and Avery nodded in agreement.

'There is nothing 'dark' about Dark Magic, Snape, if it is used as it was meant to be! Do not believe all the lies you're told! For everything is not as it seems to be!' Rabastan paused, leaning back in his chair. Then he continued, more quietly but still vehemently: 'Look, Mulciber told me about what those two gits said: bragging about their pureblood status, when they're really Blood-traitors! Besides, don't Gryffindors always say they're all for muggle rights, and that blood doesn't matter? And yet it was them that called you half-blood!'

Severus reddened, but Rabastan paid no attention. 'Seems to me that in Gryffindor they are just as aware as anyone else, who's who in the wizarding world, but we in Slytherin get all the bad press for it.' He folded his arm and nodded at the desk behind him. 'Are you interested in seeing more? You won't regret it – some of this stuff comes from … um… friends of mine outside school, and it's ... Well, let's say we like to keep it hidden.'

Severus nodded solemnly.

Avery opened the drawer of the desk, and took out empty parchments of different colour and length. Rabastan waved his wand over them and words appeared, some hand-written by different hands, others printed. They sat down on the rickety chairs around the desk and handed the pamphlets around.

It was hours later, in the depth of the night, that the four boys headed back stealthily to their dormitory. Severus's head was full of what he had just read and discussed.

It had been an exciting journey - he had seen stories of atrocities on magical people; some he could hardly believe (and privately thought he would check out independently), others reminded him disturbingly of home, for many witches and wizards, stupid enough to marry Muggles, had been betrayed by their Muggle spouse, and lived wretched lives; but what came to him most often where Rabastan's parting words before they broke up for the night:

'I know only one wizard who is clever enough, and brave enough, to change all this, Severus. And he will do so – he will restore us to our former glory, and give Dark Magic its proper dignity. It is time to stop skulking in the dark, as though ashamed of whom we truly are!'

He had closed the door to the third-year's dormitory then, without actually saying the name of the wizard who wanted to overthrow the current system, but Severus knew.

It was a long time before he could get to sleep that night. The idea that Dark magic could be considered by so many as powerful and dignified ancient knowledge, was new to him; that it could have its rightful place in the magical world, to impress, and not scare, witches and wizards, was an idea that took hold of him as much as the revelation that so many others were suffering, like him, because of doomed, unnatural marriages between magical and non-magical people. That the Ministry mishandled such cases, or was corrupt, or inefficient, was not news to him, but that things could be changed was certainly surprising and exciting. What little he previously knew about the Ministry made it seem all-powerful and unassailable.

Lord Voldemort, must, indeed, be a powerful wizard, as well as brave, he thought before falling asleep, to challenge and attempt to fight the Ministry for Magic.