Chapter 21

Madame Rakepick didn't return for another full week, by which time Marian was so impatient that she was almost ready to renege on their deal. However, in the very last week of February, Rakepick suddenly appeared in the Great Hall at breakfast, sitting at the staff table as if she'd never been away. Marian almost fell over as she glanced up and noticed her sitting there. She clutched Rowan's arm in excitement. "She's back! Finally!"

Rakepick seemed to sense Marian's mood because she looked up and nodded towards her once, a small smile on her thin lips.

Marian was all for dashing over to the Gryffindor table to speak to Bill and Charlie at once, but Rowan laid a restraining hand on her arm, dragging her down to their usual spot at the Ravenclaw table to eat breakfast. "Don't do anything suspicious!" she warned her quietly. "Remember – we don't want Snape or anyone else knowing that we've been back to the forest again!"

Marian nodded, but she could hardly sit still throughout Charms. As soon as it was breaktime, she dashed down to the courtyard, hoping to find one or both of the Weasleys there. She was racing along the corridor outside the Transfiguration classroom when she was suddenly grabbed from behind.

"Aaarh!" she screeched, struggling wildly to get free.

"Ouch! Marian! Stop it!" It was Charlie, who let go of her quickly and rubbed his cheek where she'd accidentally scratched him.

"Oh! Sorry, Charlie! I thought you were trying to attack me!"

"No, you idiot! I was trying to catch up with you! You were sprinting away like you were being chased by a pack of werewolves!" He looked aggrieved.

"Well I was trying to find you! You and Bill. Did you see that…"

"Rakepick's back? Yeah!" His eyes were bright with excitement. "Bill suggested we meet at lunch and go to her office."

Marian nodded. "Good. I can't wait! Do you think we'll be able to go to the forest today? After school maybe? Oh blast it! I've got quidditch practice!"

Charlie laughed. "I don't think we'll be able to go that soon anyway. Weren't you waxing lyrical about planning and strategising and all that? Or was that just for McNully's benefit?"

Marian looked a little shifty. "Well. It'll make him feel better about us going."

At lunchtime, Marian wolfed down her baked potato, her eyes fixed on the two red heads at the Gryffindor table. They seemed to take an eternity to finish their lunch, but eventually, they both rose. Bill made eye contact with her as he left the room and she nodded, following them out a couple of minutes later. The three of them headed quickly upstairs to Rakepick's office and Bill knocked on the door.

"Enter!" Rakepick's harsh voice called and they trooped inside. Marian realised she hadn't actually been in her office before. It looked quite bare, she thought. As if Rakepick hadn't really had time or an inclination to unpack. There were a few books scattered about and bits of parchment. The dark detectors that Rowan had mentioned were lined up on top of a bookshelf that was otherwise empty. In the corner of the room was a crate and Marian spotted Sickleworth's little face staring out of it hopefully. "Ah! I thought I might be seeing you three," Rakepick said jovially. "Miss Snyde already told me the good news this morning."

"She did?" Bill sounded very disappointed.

Rakepick laughed shortly. "Yes, but you can tell me again if you like, Weasley. Better yet – show me this arrowhead."

Bill pulled it from his inside pocket and laid on her desk. Rakepick bent over it, examining it closely. "It looks unspectacular to me, but as long as it's the one that the centaur wants, that's all that matters," she muttered, almost to herself. She straightened up again. "Good! So we have some plans to make, I believe?"

"Yes!" Marian exclaimed eagerly. "When can we go into the forest? Can we go tonight?"

Rakepick surveyed her through narrowed eyes. "Oh, you want to come along on the next little expedition, do you, Baker? You leave others to do your dirty work and you expect to share in the exciting parts of the adventure, hmm?"

Marian frowned. "That's not fair! Bill and I spent ages hunting through all those other places!"

"'That's not fair!'" Rakepick repeated, mocking her. "Come, come, Baker. You'll need to do better than that. Stop acting like a little girl. You might think the life of a cursebreaker is all glitz and glamour but I can assure you it's not. If you aren't prepared to put in the elbow grease, then you should give it up now."

"I'm not Bill!" Marian snapped angrily. "I'm not after a job here! I just want to get into the vault to find my brother! That's it!"

"I wonder," Rakepick muttered, assessing her. "It probably was just that for you at the start, but I wonder how you would feel about the remaining vaults if your brother turned up in this one. Would you really be able to let them go now? Would you want to?"

"Yes," Marian replied immediately, but even as she said it, a little voice inside her head told her that Rakepick was right. She would want to get to the bottom of it all.

Rakepick seemed to realise this, because she just smiled thinly at Marian. "This is by the by. Before we can attempt to open the vault, we must check with the centaur that this arrowhead is the correct one and make sure he will hold up his end of the deal. And before we do that, I must ask for your assistance in something else."

"What is it?" Bill asked eagerly. "How can we help?"

Rakepick lifted up the crate containing Sickleworth and set it down on her desk. "I intend to return Sickleworth to his usual home, now that he has helped us in our task. But I believe he can help me to locate one more item that might be of use to us. Perhaps not for a while, but I believe it will serve a purpose in the future."

"What kind of item?" asked Charlie, shuffling forward, his brow furrowed. He'd been silent so far and Marian sensed that he didn't feel anything like his brother did towards Rakepick. He distrusted her – that much was clear to Marian, and she was glad she wasn't the only one.

"It is a key," Rakepick continued. "And I know its location so it shouldn't take Sickleworth long to find it. However, this is a two-man job. The key is located inside Filch's office, so someone will need to distract him while his office is searched. Now, I am quite capable of distracting Filch for a short while, but you must take Sickleworth in and search the office while he is gone. Baker, since you didn't take part in our last little escapade, I think it's only fair that this task falls to you, don't you?"

Marian rolled her eyes. "Fine. I've been in there before anyway."

Rakepick smiled at her. "Good. We'll go down there now then."

"What – now?" Marian stared at her. "But class is supposed to start in ten minutes!"

"Well you'd better be quick then, hadn't you?" Rakepick sneered. "I'm sure Severus will understand if you say you were helping me."

Marian was sure that this was the last thing Snape would understand, but she didn't have much choice. She opened Sickleworth's crate and lifted him out, scratching him behind the ears and cuddling him in close to her chest.

"Follow me downstairs," Rakepick instructed. "You can conceal yourself behind that suit of armour where you hid when you were spying on me before. As soon as the coast is clear, you go. I will give you ten minutes – no more. You must be quick."

Marian nodded, feeling mortified that Rakepick had clearly been aware of her spying from the very start. A career in espionage was definitely not for her, she thought. Sickleworth was generally very well-behaved and seemed to realise the need to remain still and quiet under her robe as she hurried downstairs behind Rakepick. Once she reached the suit of armour, Marian hid, stroking Sickleworth gently as they waited.

"Ah, Mr. Filch!" Marian heard Rakepick greet the caretaker in honeyed tones. "Just the man I was hoping to see!"

"What can I help you with, Madame Rakepick?" Filch asked slimily.

"There's been a little trouble in my office," Rakepick replied, sounding slightly breathless. "I think it might have been Peeves. I don't think I can deal with it myself, but you…"

Marian rolled her eyes again. Rakepick was obviously a practised seductress. She cringed inwardly at the idea of Rakepick and Filch together. Was this how she was casting such a spell on Bill? She cringed again. Pulling herself together, she heard Rakepick and Filch hurrying off together up the corridor. After waiting another few seconds, she slipped out and hurried into Filch's office, shutting the door behind her. She'd been in here on a number of previous occasions, usually when she was in trouble for something. She set Sickleworth down carefully. "We're looking for a key, Sickleworth," she instructed him slowly. "A key."

Sickleworth looked at her consideringly for a moment. Marian was never sure how much he understood but he did seem to be unusually clever, even for a niffler. Then he immediately scuttled over to Filch's filing cabinet, tapping on different drawers, sniffing at them. At one point, he sniffed at a drawer and looked back at Marian. She tried to open the drawer, but it was locked. "Alohamora," she muttered, and the drawer clicked open. Immediately, Sickleworth climbed inside and started shuffling about. Marian could hear him rootling through. Suddenly, he reappeared with something in his mouth – unmistakeably a key but looking very dirty. It almost looked green and slightly slimy. Marian took it from Sickleworth with distaste and stashed it inside her robes. She could see that he had something else concealed in one paw, but she conveniently ignored it, feeling that he might as well get something for his troubles. She picked him up, shut the drawer and headed back over to the office door, glancing up and down the corridor outside before she hurried away, back up to wait outside Rakepick's office, making sure Filch wasn't anywhere to be seen.

When she knocked, Rakepick called out for her to come in straight away. "He's gone," she said in answer to Marian's questioning glance. "Did you find it?"

Marian nodded and pulled out the key, placing it on Rakepick's desk. "What's it for?"

Rakepick glanced at her sharply. "Never you mind. Thank you – your task is done. I'll meet you and the Weasleys tomorrow after school and we can go over our plans for going back to the forest. You'd better get going now or Severus will have to destroy the new broom he bought you."

Marian tried her best not to show her shock at this comment, turning to leave quickly. How on earth did Rakepick know that Snape had bought her the broom? The only people who knew about that were Snape himself, Marian and Murphy. The same three people that knew about Marian spying on Rakepick. The only time that Marian could remember speaking to Murphy about Snape giving her the broom was on their way to Hogsmeade – could someone have overheard them? The alternative was too horrible for Marian to contemplate – that Murphy had told someone else, or had even told Rakepick. He wouldn't do that. She could trust him completely – couldn't she?

By the time she reached the dungeon, she was twenty minutes late for Potions. Charlie wasn't in her class for this so Snape would have no idea why she was late. Taking a deep breath, Marian hoped he was in a forgiving mood and would understand if she shared the information about why she was late – not that she had a choice, she thought grimly. He could find the information in her head quicker than asking her out loud.

As Marian pushed open the door to the dungeon, the class fell silent. Snape, who had been bent over Merula's cauldron, straightened up, his eyes narrowing as she hurried over to her seat. For a moment, he didn't say anything, but Marian knew this wasn't a good sign. He paced around until he stood directly in front of her. Behind him, Marian could see Murphy at his table across the room, his face concerned.

"Miss Baker," Snape said, his voice so soft it was almost a whisper. A very bad sign. "How good of you to finally join us."

Marian didn't reply. She could hear her blood pumping through her veins. She was very aware of all the things she didn't want Snape to know but she tried not to think about any of them. Think about anything else, she thought desperately. Think about…

"Where have you been?" His voice suddenly cut through her, harsh and sharp as a whip. Marian jumped and she felt Rowan jump next to her, too.

Feeling her face heat up, Marian replied, "I'm very sorry, Professor. Madame Rakepick asked me to help her with something. She said you would understand."

Snape stared at her for a moment. "Did she?" he sneered. "How little she knows me. What were you helping her with?"

Marian's mind went blank. "Nifflers!" she cried desperately. "Er – her niffler, Sickleworth, escaped and she needed help to…"

"You're lying, Baker!" Snape interrupted, his eyes flashing. "Tell me the truth."

There was no way Marian could tell him the truth. He must know that, she thought. What does he want me to say? Seconds ticked by and Marian still hadn't answered. Snape stood, his nostrils flared, eyes fixed on her. No one else spoke or moved a muscle. Then, suddenly, Marian felt him prodding her mind. She couldn't describe how she knew he was there – it was more of a feeling. She gasped and tried to think of something that wasn't incriminating. Chocolate. She thought about chocolate. Murphy had got her chocolate as part of the picnic. What flavours were there again? Honeycomb (her favourite), mint, strawberry, salted caramel… A key floated into her mind and Marian tried to suppress it desperately… Dark chocolate, white chocolate, fudge… Sickleworth's little face, pressed against the door of the crate… There was that bar of chocolate that Barnaby got her as well – what did it say on it again? She tried to remember, forcing her mind to obey her. She pictured the bar of chocolate. All her energy was directed at reading the writing on it again: There's no chocolate sweeter than your smile. Suddenly, she let out a loud snort of laughter as she visualised it clearly in her mind, and she realised that Snape was no longer there. Looking up she saw him, leaning hard against her desk, his face a little paler than it had been before, his eyes guarded now. Marian was suddenly aware that her hands were shaking, and she could feel sweat on her face and under her arms.

"Ten points from Ravenclaw for your lateness and ten more points from Ravenclaw for your lack of honesty," Snape said slowly, his voice very quiet once again. "If you ever turn up late for one of my classes again, Baker, you will leave them permanently. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," Marian replied through gritted teeth. Twenty points lost! It was so unfair! This was all Rakepick's fault! She hated them both, her and Snape.

"Now sit down and get your parchment out or I'll take away another ten points!" he snapped, whirling around and heading back over to his desk.

Marian felt a little light-headed as she finally sank onto her stool and pulled out her books, parchment and quill for the lesson. Nobody else dared to speak – Snape was clearly in a vile temper and they weren't anxious to bring down his ire upon any of them. Rowan shot Marian a sympathetic look but didn't say anything.

"Because of Baker's interruption, you will not have time to complete your potions during the lesson so you will all stay behind for an additional half an hour to finish them after school," Snape announced coldly. Some muttering broke out at this, and Marian could see a few of the Slytherins openly glaring at her.

"But sir!" Skye cried, bravely in Marian's opinion. "We have quidditch practice after school!"

"Do I look like I care about your quidditch practice, Parkin?" Snape spat. "Get on with your work or you'll be in here every time you have a practice scheduled!"

By the time the lesson finally came to an end, Marian was almost at the end of her tether. All the time, Merula and Ismelda were constantly muttering insults at her and other members of the class kept throwing her dirty looks as the minutes ticked by. Skye looked furious, and Marian hoped this was directed at Snape rather than herself, but she couldn't be sure. On top of this, Snape criticised every little thing that she did, from the way she cut up her dandelion stalks to the number of times she stirred her potion. When the time came for him to grade their potions, his lip curled as he surveyed Marian's and he wrote down what looked suspiciously like a zero on his clipboard. She had a fairly strong suspicion he would try and question her again at the end of the lesson and she was not disappointed. As everyone else made a beeline for the door, he called out, "Not so fast, Baker. You will stay here until you reveal to me what you were up to."

Marian cast a longing look towards the door and hoped that Orion was in a forgiving mood, before reluctantly heading over to Snape's desk. He gazed at her, his eyes guarded once again, his face impassive. It must have been minutes that she stood there while he watched her, but it felt to Marian like an eternity. She could still feel her hands trembling a little.

Eventually, he spoke. "I want to know what Rakepick wanted with you. I am not concerned with punishing the behaviour or you or any of your little friends any further if that is what you are so anxious about. I merely want to know what she is up to now."

With a sigh, Marian nodded. She visualised what Rakepick had asked her to do and what she had done in her mind. Again, she was aware of Snape's presence – she felt like she was watching the whole thing unfold in front of her but with a shadow looming behind her. As it finished, she felt suddenly weak and grabbed hold of Snape's desk to stop herself from falling over.

"Sit," Snape said brusquely, suddenly beside her, pushing a chair forward for her to sit on. She sank into it gratefully, shaking worse than ever. "Where did you learn to shield your mind?" He asked abruptly, returning to sit down behind his desk, steepling his fingers together.

Marian shrugged. "I didn't, sir. I just – it felt like the right thing to do."

"Indeed," he replied, his face masklike. "And Rakepick's comment to you about the broomstick – this concerns you?"

"Of course!" Marian said desperately. "I don't understand how she knows about it! I don't know who to trust!"

"I told you to tell no one!" Snape replied in irritation.

Marian hung her head, feeling stupid.

"You should trust no one but yourself," he said slowly, after a moment. "Your instincts are good. Trust them. You may go."

She stood up, feeling half-relieved and half-panicking. "Sir, the twenty points…?" she asked hopefully.

"Go!" he replied coldly, not looking up. Sighing, Marian hurried out of the room. As there was only fifteen minutes left of quidditch practice, she felt there probably wasn't any point in getting changed or fetching her broom, so she headed straight down to the pitch. Orion was up in the air with the others as she arrived. She headed in to the changing room to borrow a school broom, but her hands were shaking so much that she couldn't hold her wand steady to unlock the locker.

"Hey – I don't think you should be getting on a broom just now." It was Murphy's voice. Turning, Marian saw him at the entrance to the changing room. "I saw you arrive," he said quickly. He moved closer to her. "What happened? You're shaking like a leaf!"

All Marian wanted to do was to collapse in his arms at that moment. It had been the day from hell – or the afternoon had, anyway. But Snape's words rang in her ears, 'Trust no one but yourself'. And who else could have told Rakepick? "Murphy," she heard herself asking, her heart sinking so rapidly that she almost felt sick. "Who did you tell about the broomstick?"

"What?" He frowned at her, not understanding.

"The broomstick. My new broomstick. Who did you tell about it?" she repeated, definitely feeling sick now.

His brow furrowed even further. "What do you mean? Everyone saw it arrive in the Great Hall."

"No, I mean – about who sent it. Did someone ask you? Orion maybe? Or Skye?"

There was silence for a second. Then he replied, "No one. I didn't tell anybody. You know I wouldn't tell anyone that. Why are you asking?" He sounded hurt, Marian realised. She felt terrible, but how else could Rakepick have known? It had to have been him. She didn't think he'd done it on purpose, but he must have mentioned it to someone.

"Murphy, please! Just tell me! I won't be angry, but I need to know!" she begged him, sounding slightly insane to her own ears.

He recoiled from her slightly, his face showing disappointment. "Marian, I didn't tell anyone. I promise. I'll even swear an Unbreakable Vow if that'll prove it to you!"

She stared at him. Snape had told her to trust her instincts and every instinct in her body was yelling at her that Murphy was telling the truth.

"I can't believe you thought I'd betray your trust like that," Murphy said quietly. Marian couldn't look at him. "I thought we were good. I thought you trusted me."

"I do!" Marian cried desperately. "I did! More than anyone else! But Rakepick knew that Snape had given me the broom and she knew I'd been spying on her, and I hadn't told anyone but you! I didn't know what to think."

"Yes, you did," he replied, his voice still quiet. "Your first thought was that it must have been me. There are lots of other ways she could've found that out – she could have seen it being delivered and seen the way you looked up at Snape. She could have just put two and two together – it's not that hard! She could have seen or heard him ordering the broom in the first place or had someone tell from the shop, or… don't you see? There are lots of things that could have happened! It's all a matter of calculating the probability of each possibility. But you immediately thought that it was me – that I'd betrayed you! Why would you think that, Marian?"

She buried her face in her hands. "I didn't want to think that at all! It's just – after Ben, then finding out Bill's been telling her things, and then when Rowan said she'd been in Rakepick's office, I just… I don't feel like I can trust anyone anymore!"

"Including me?" His voice was almost as cold as Snape's had been.

"Snape told me to only trust myself," Marian muttered.

"And you're taking advice from him now? The person who just took twenty points from you and made you so weak from mentally invading your mind that you can hardly stand now! Who blackmailed you and made you spy on another teacher! You're trusting him, and not me?" He sounded angry.

"I don't know!" She was suddenly on her feet. "I'm confused! I don't know who to trust!"

"Well, clearly you don't trust me," he said. His cheeks were flushed with anger and his eyes were bright.

"Murphy," Marian started, not sure what she was going to say, but he interrupted her anyway.

"No. Save it. This…" He indicated between them. "This doesn't work if we can't trust each other. I can't tell you how hurt I am right now, that you'd think I would betray you when I know how important this is to you."

"Murphy, please," Marian's voice was pleading. She felt queasy again. "Please, just…"

He shook his head vehemently. "No. If we can't trust each other, then this isn't a relationship, Marian. It's finished. You're the one who's acting as a double agent. You're the one reporting to Snape, then reporting to Rakepick, but I still trusted you. And so do all of our friends, even though you've not told them any of this. Do you think they'd still trust you if they knew you'd been reporting it all back to Snape? That he gave you a broomstick, for Merlin's sake, when they all thought he'd treated you terribly? I don't know. But…"

"What?" Skye was standing in the doorway, with Orion just behind her. She looked shocked. "Snape was the one who gave you that broom? Why?"

Marian looked desperately from Murphy to Skye and then back again. "He – he agreed to get me a new one if I told him what Rakepick was up to."

Skye frowned. "You mean if you spied on her?"

Marian nodded miserably.

"And you obviously did that because you got a new broom." Skye's voice was cool. "And you never told us. After we all put our necks on the line for you."

Marian couldn't take it anymore. "Look, please, just… let me explain!"

Skye shook her head. "Not interested." And she stalked out of the changing room.

"You can explain to me why you missed practice!" Orion stormed over to her, his face angrier than Marian had ever seen it before. "And why you caused Skye and Andre to miss most of practice, too! What a waste of a session!"

"I'm sorry!" Marian cried, feeling tears not far away but not wanting to embarrass herself in front of them. "I'm sorry! I didn't want it to happen! I didn't want anyone to miss practice! I…"

Orion's brows were drawn together into a straight, angry line. "You've been all over the place this year, Baker. First missing practices because your broom was broken, then because you were in the Hospital Wing. I've been understanding but these absences are adding up. If you weren't my friend, I'd have chucked you off the team by now. This is your last warning. Miss another practice and I will find another chaser. Got it?"

Marian nodded, not trusting her voice. Orion swept out of the changing room, with Murphy close behind him. He shot Marian another disappointed look as he left. Soon, she was alone. Even Andre didn't seem to have a kind word for her today.