The days leading up to the quidditch match passed more quickly than Sayuri expected. She had to skip her usual tutoring sessions with Hermione in favor of honing the range and strength of her diarrhea jutsu in time for the game. Hermione hurriedly told her in passing that it was fine, as she needed to help Harry study anyway. Which was honestly a relief because Sayuri was not looking forward to answering any questions about what had happened on Halloween.
She hadn't gotten wind of any odd rumors about that night. Based on that she guessed that so far the three Gryffindors had kept the details of the crow's intervention secret.
The one good thing that came of the troll attack was she finally had a name for her new genjutsu. Magen: Yoki Shinai Geri.
The bad thing was Gemma Farley now shadowed her everywhere, or assigned other students to do so. No doubt on Professor Snape's orders because of everything that happened with Quirrel. It bothered Sayuri, but all the same it was nice to not have to worry about running into Quirrel or the unicorn killer alone.
It meant that she couldn't visit Hagrid though. None of the other Slytherins were very keen on making the trek down to the groundskeeper's hut now that the weather was turning more cold and rainy. The unicorn foal had gotten strong enough to be moved out into a protected forest paddock shortly before Halloween so she couldn't even bribe them with promises of petting a baby unicorn. Millicent and Daphne would have totally gone with her otherwise.
Captain Flint was able to convince Gemma to let him take Sayuri to the quidditch pitch during their practices at least, which gave her a chance to sit by herself under the stands while the Slytherin players zoomed about. She couldn't monitor all of them as closely as she would have liked from where she was hidden, but at least it gave her some exposure to people flying.
He snuck her out to the pitch a few times during Gryffindor's practices too. That way she could get a feel for her target's chakra. While she familiarized herself with Oliver Wood, Captain Flint took the opportunity to spy on the Gryffindor maneuvers.
She hadn't believed the rumors that Harry was the new seeker were true at first. The truth stung more than she expected. Hearing it from Draco of all people was probably the worst.
It wasn't like Harry was obligated to tell her everything he was doing. But it did seem like something that would have been really important to him. Something a friend would have shared. And Draco had known about it before she did. Harry and Draco barely tolerated each other at the best of times.
Maybe he's just been too busy to mention it, she reasoned. We haven't really talked since Halloween.
But, didn't friends try to talk to each other regularly?
Everyone in Slytherin house was looking forward to the game. Blaise spent all week painting Slytherin banners with some of the older students when he wasn't buried in homework. The morning of the game the prefects set up a face paint table in the common room for everyone who wanted to show extra support for the team. Draco passed out scarves to all the first years which Mrs. Malfoy had sent in a care package.
"Here Sayuri, this one's yours," Draco called, throwing a balled up scarf her way. She snatched it out of the air before it hit her in the face.
"What does it look like?" she asked, rubbing the soft knit between her fingers.
"Green and white stripes. How did you do that?"
"What?"
"You caught it."
She shrugged. "Just lucky I guess." Then she felt a little annoyed at Draco for throwing a scarf at her face and expecting to hit her with it.
Draco's attention was soon pulled away by Crabbe and Goyle's new face paint. Sighing, she wound the scarf loosely around her neck and went up the stairs to her room. When it was time to go Gemma rounded up all the younger students, then barged into Sayuri's room in a panic when she wasn't found among them.
"Sayuri! Line up with the rest of the first years!"
Sayuri shook her head. "I'm staying behind."
"What do you mean? You've been following Marcus around like a lost cruppy all week, and now you're not even coming to the game?"
"Practices are fun because hardly any people are there. The games are too intense."
"If it's too loud you can borrow my earmuffs."
"It's not just noise. Too many people in one place feels like-," Sayuri made an exaggerated shuddering motion. "But thanks anyway."
"Well," Gemma said helplessly. "You can stay behind but you must stay in. Do not go out on your own. Professor Snape's orders."
Flopping backward onto her mattress Sayuri called out, "Yes ma'am!"
Once the Slytherins had all filed out she waited, counting the seconds. Played with the soft fringe on the ends of her scarf as the minutes ticked by. Ten minutes after they had left, she slipped out and made her way to the Slytherin team's tent, just like Captain Flint had instructed. She ran her fingertips along the heavy canvas until they found the untied door flaps, then let herself in.
"What's she doing here?" Adrian Pucey asked. He was the team's seeker, and a 7th year. "It's one thing to have her at practices, but we're about to start the game."
"You expect me to have our little good luck charm sit with the crowd?" Flint demanded. "Never."
"If you say so," Pucey muttered.
Ignoring the rest of the team for a moment, Flint knelt in front of her and rested a heavy gloved hand on her shoulder. He smelled like oiled leather and peppermint. "Remember what we practiced," he said quietly. "When I tell you it's clear, go straight across to the stands. Slip under and climb the timbers to reach your usual spot. If you can make Wood shit himself for real I'll pay you a galleon bonus in addition to your flying lessons."
A smile pulled at the corner of her mouth. She saluted the older boy. "Yes Captain Flint." His chakra crackled with approval. He'd never asked her to, but definitely liked being addressed as Captain.
She braced herself to try and withstand the weight of the crowd, still trying to sort out what she felt about Harry's involvement in the game. He seemed like, maybe he was a friend? Friends gave each other birthday presents, and protected each other, right? She'd done both of those things for him so far.
But, friends also told each other stuff. Granted, she had secrets too but that was different. Her secrets could get people killed.
Well, if he was going to keep quidditch secrets then so would she. As far as she was concerned, the games were like team sparring at the academy. It only made sense for each team to use every technique available to win. In Konoha, cheating was encouraged. Punishments were for people who got caught.
Only weaklings were caught. She couldn't afford to be weak any more.
If she had ever thought the Great Hall or the wand shop was overwhelming, she was wrong. She darted forward on Flint's cue. Ducked underneath the heavy canvas hangings, then scrambled upward, using her chakra to stick to the timbers as she went. Combined, the weight of the crowd's presence overhead loomed oppressively. The spectators roared and stomped their feet, sending tremors through the thick timbers supporting the stands.
The announcer's voice was almost drowned out by the clamor, and she was glad Captain Flint had chosen to position her near the teacher's stands where she could more easily make out the words. She tried to feel out the people directly above to orient herself. There were many adults she didn't recognize. It was hard to pick out the individuals the way everyone bled together.
Sensing out a little further along the benches, she flinched when she reached Quirrel. It was disappointing that they hadn't fired the man who had tried to murder her. She tried not to take it personally.
In Konoha she was only of value until one of the elders could harvest her eyes. Her parents' unwavering loyalty to the village carelessly discarded. She swallowed hard, tearing her thoughts away from her family.
I have to focus, for Sasuke's sake.
Then her shoulders relaxed. Professor's Snape's quicksilver chakra was directly in front of Quirrel. Apparently he was keeping close tabs on the murderous asshole.
A little more grounded now that she had located a friendly adult, she turned her attention to the field where the teams marched out to face each other and waited for the players to take their positions as the game started.
When Wood flew to hover in front of the goal posts, Sayuri snared him in the genjutsu. The keeper was concentrating so hard on defending his physical surroundings he left himself completely unguarded.
"Slytherin Captain Marcus Flint has the quaffle now. He's trying for a goal, but Wood is ready for them. Wood is-"
Sayuri pushed a carefully measured spike of chakra into Wood's body, which responded with a deep shudder.
"Slytherin scores! I can't believe it! Wood almost saved it there."
The crowd roared. The excitement of so many people was like thousands of pinpricks driving through her skin, but she couldn't afford to withdraw her chakra and shield herself from it. If she did that it might take too long to find Wood again. Besides, she had to be careful. Had to be clever. If Wood only felt sick when a Slytherin chaser was approaching, it would be extremely suspicious. So she made certain Wood had pangs of discomfort in his gut randomly throughout the game.
Slytherin was already up by 90 points when a wave of fear rippled through the stands overhead.
The announcer's voice rang over the buzzing of the crowd. "It looks like Potter has completely lost control of his broom! Will he be able to hold on?"
Screams rang out above her. It was as if the entire match had stopped while everyone watched Harry wrestle his broomstick. From what the announcer was saying, it was getting more and more dire.
If his life is in danger, why isn't anyone helping him? Where are his teammates? She took her attention off Wood. Wherever Harry was, he was outside her range. The screams in the crowd intensified. Out of desperation, Sayuri covered her ears and tried to sense out Professor Snape.
While everyone else around them was going mad Snape's chakra was intensely focused, as if he was casting a spell. Dread settled over her as she shifted her attention, and found Quirrel doing the same.
That fucking asshole Quirrel again.
She wondered how noticeable it would be if she was to turn Quirrel's legs into charred stumps right then, but didn't get the chance to find out because someone else already had a similar idea. There were sounds of complete confusion roaring around her, the crowd suddenly cheering as Harry was apparently able to right himself.
Completely overwhelmed, Sayuri deadened her sensing to try and get her bearings back. Then nearly jumped out of her skin when a fizzing, sparking hand suddenly grabbed her shoulder.
Hermione's voice was shrill. "Sayuri! What are you doing down here?"
Heart pounding, Sayuri flinched away from her. "I, I just wanted hear how Harry's first game was going!" she lied. Her hands were still clapped over her ears to drown out the deafening shouts. "Is everything okay? It sounded like he was in trouble!"
The other girl gripped Sayuri's arm and leaned close. Curly hair tickled her cheek as Hermione spoke. "Snape just tried to kill Harry! He was jinxing his broom!"
Sayuri recoiled, stomach dropping to her feet. "Professor Snape would never do that."
"Look, I know he's your head of house so it's hard to believe but Ron and I saw it happening. He was really casting a jinx on Harry's broom! As soon as I set his robes on fire it stopped!"
"You what?" Sayuri demanded.
"I-, n-nevermind!" Hermione stammered. "The important thing is I got him to stop. As soon as he broke eye contact the jinx broke off and Harry was okay."
Sayuri was a little bit impressed. She never took Hermione for a girl who would set a teacher on fire. New respect blossomed for the bossy little Gryffindor.
"You're not going to tell Snape are you?" Hermione sounded worried now.
"Pfft, no! He's a teacher. He can handle a little fire. If he didn't realize it was you then he doesn't deserve to be told."
"Thanks," Hermione breathed. "I'm going to head back to sit with Ron and Hagrid again. Do you want to come with?"
Sayuri shook her head, hands still clamped over her ears. "It's too overwhelming up there."
"All right. Just, be careful around Snape. And let me know if you notice him do anything suspicious at all."
"Sure," Sayuri said. Yeah right, she thought as the other girl hurried away. It wasn't Snape they needed to worry about. Strange though, that he hadn't openly attacked Quirrel and exposed him when he had the chance.
Hermione, Ron, and Harry all filed into the empty transfiguration classroom and pulled lunches from their bags. Harry bounced lightly as he walked, the exhilaration of winning the match still lingering two days after the game had ended.
"Do you think Sayuri will show up for tutoring today?" Harry asked, unloading a small stack of sandwiches from his pockets. He still had so many questions about Halloween, and wanted to get her thoughts on what Snape was trying to steal from that three headed dog.
"She might," Hermione said, her brows drawing together with worry. "I don't know though. We had a big argument the same day the troll attacked. She didn't seem upset with me at the quidditch game though. She even promised not to tell Snape that I set fire to his robes during the game, and I haven't gotten in trouble for it so she must have been telling the truth." Hermione spread her books out on a table then picked at her sandwich.
"Wait, how does she know about that?" Ron demanded.
"She was listening to the game from under the teacher's stands. It was too loud up top, which is frankly understandable. I'm surprised she was able to tolerate being near such a large crowd at all. Either way, try not to interrogate her about what happened." Hermione's face fell a little. "I always ask too many questions and I think it upsets her."
"I want to know about her bird though," Ron said. "How do you think it disapparated like that? Do you think it's really an animagus?"
"We've been through this before," Hermione sighed, setting her quill on the blank page of her open notebook. "It's impossible for wizards and witches to apparate or disapparate on school grounds. He has to be a magical creature of some kind. I just don't know of any bird species with all the abilities he seems to have."
Harry suddenly sat upright. "Hold on. I remember something. Hagrid brought Sayuri along to Diagon Alley with me. When we got to Ollivander's, none of the wands he had worked for her. He started talking to her in another language so I don't know what he said, but she started telling him off, saying she didn't want to "summon them". That it was dangerous. And then Ollivander said some stuff about blood and contracts and things. I don't really remember everything, but Hagrid got angry. Said it was dark magic. Right after that she did something and a crow appar-, uh, appeared by her. Then it vanished, and a few seconds after that she did too. I'll bet that was the same bird!"
"Wha-" Ron began. "Are you sure she didn't have a portkey? You have to be old enough for a license to apparate, and it's really dangerous besides."
Hermione shook her head. "Maybe Hagrid was right. That really does sound like dark magic Harry. Are you sure you remember correctly? Oh, but that could mean he isn't a bird at all!"
"What if he's some sort of demon?" Ron asked quietly.
Harry frowned at them. Sayuri couldn't be a dark witch, even if she was sorted into Slytherin. It's not like she had wanted to summon whatever Ollivander had goaded her into. "Does it really matter if that bird was a dark creature? He did save our lives after all."
The door to the room swung open. All three Gryffindors jumped in their seats, as the subject of their conversation stood in the doorway for a moment. She wore the same dingy blindfold framed by jagged hanks of black hair, and a green and white banded scarf that matched the ones Draco and his gang had worn to the match was loosely wrapped around her neck. The result was hardly any of her face was visible. "Is there a party in here today or something?" Sayuri asked.
"There's an idea," Ron sat on the tabletop, his voice shaking a little. "We should celebrate not being crushed by a troll. I grabbed a pie from the Great Hall. Who wants some?"
Harry enthusiastically helped himself to a piece and crammed it into his mouth. Ron pushed the pie plate toward Hermione while rummaging in his book bag for more.
"Go on then, it's pumpkin," Ron said.
Sayuri settled onto a chair next to Hermione. "Aren't you going to offer any to Professor McGonagall?" she asked.
"What?" Ron spluttered. "She's not even here. And good thing too."
The Slytherin ignored him. She tilted her head as if listening for something, then turned to face an empty part of the classroom. "Good afternoon professor! Have you eaten yet?"
There was a brief silence, then a silver tabby cat stood and hopped lightly down from a cushy chair behind McGonagall's desk. It glided into a human shape so smoothly that booted feet landed with a light tap on the stone floor.
Harry's stomach dropped as he stared at those tightly laced high heeled boots.
"So, what is this about Miss Granger setting a teacher on fire?" Professor McGonagall asked, her voice tight. He kept his eyes firmly on her boots.
Hermione's mouth opened and closed several times, like a goldfish. Wrenching himself from staring at McGonagall's boots, Harry finally looked up into the professor's face. Her mouth was set in a hard line, eyes cold and angry. "Hermione was trying to save my life!" he blurted. "Snape was jinxing my broom. You saw the whole thing from the commentators box. I almost died!"
"ENOUGH. Professor Snape might want Slytherin to win, but did not, and would never jinx a players broom. Detentions for all of you, as you all knew about this and did nothing to bring it to a teacher's attention. Miss Granger, if you truly thought you had identified an individual responsible for tampering with Harry's broomstick, there is no reason for you to not bring it to the attention of a qualified adult. There were at least a hundred present at the game."
"We were worried no one would believe us if we told anyone!" Ron blurted. "Hagrid didn't believe us, and now you! But Snape did try to kill Harry. We think Snape must have let the troll in too."
"That's Professor Snape, Mr. Weasley. Now you three," she gestured at Harry, Ron, and Sayuri, "twenty points from Gryffindor and ten from Slytherin. Miss Granger, you actions have cost Gryffindor fifty points. You will also be apologizing to Professor Snape personally. I cannot believe you of all my students would assault a teacher. I am mortified, that a student from my own house would stoop to such malicious shenanigans. You are fortunate not to be expelled."
Hermione made a strangled sound, and looked as if she was about to start crying.
McGonagall whirled to face the sullen Slytherin girl. "As for you, I am extremely disappointed you would involve yourself in concealing these kinds of activities. You will have to explain yourself to Professor Snape and accept any additional punishments as he sees fit, as he is your head of house."
Sayuri bowed her head deferentially. "Yes ma'am."
"Weasley, Potter, you are dismissed. Granger, Uchiha, pack up your things then and follow me."
Ron and Harry glanced at each other. "Okay, but we're not leaving Hermione," Harry said. "She's only in trouble because she saved my life."
McGonagall cast a warning glare at him. Hermione gave him a grateful, watery smile. Sayuri sighed in a very put-upon way as she slung her unopened bag back onto her shoulder.
"He's going to murder me," Hermione said in a very quiet voice.
"You should have thought of that before setting him on fire," McGonagall snorted. "Now hurry up. Potter, Weasley, you may accompany us but I suggest you wait in the halls while Miss Granger apologizes. I do not think it will improve Professor Snape's disposition for extraneous Gryffindors to be present."
Harry had to agree with her on that. Even though he had done nothing to Snape ever, it would probably only make Snape more angry at Hermione if Harry and Ron were where he could see them. As far as Harry was concerned, Hermione was a hero and Snape deserved to be set on fire a hundred times for trying to murder someone. He wished Hermione had set the rest of the old bastard on fire too. His hair was so greasy it would have probably lit up like a torch if any flames had touched it.
Ron picked up the partially eaten pie, "So Professor, you don't want any pie after all?" Ron asked in a small voice.
"If I wanted a pie with questionable handling I would be taking my lunch with Hagrid," the transfigurations professor snapped. "Quickly now before you all are late for afternoon classes and I take even more points."
Quirrel sat on the opposite end of the staff lounge, hunched over a pile of essays. His pretentious turban swayed slowly back and forth as the he read through the parchment clutched in his hands, pausing only to tug at and readjust the deep plum colored scarf wrapped tightly around his neck.
Severus eyed him as he formulated his strategy for not just catching Quirrel, but learning where the Dark Lord was currently hiding and trapping him too.
He suppressed an involuntary shiver at the thought, then adjusted his wounded leg where it was propped on a cushioned stool. The blasted bites kept reopening every time he thought they were finally starting to heal.
Minerva burst in through the doors. Stray hairs escaped her bun and she looked white faced and thin lipped in a way that Severus knew meant some student had done something atrocious. His money was on the Weasley twins. He also hoped it had cost them a lot of points. Her eyes locked on him and she made a beeline his way.
"Severus, I'm sorry to interrupt your lunch break but Miss Granger has something to say to you."
He frowned at the two first years trailing single file behind her. If Gryffindor was the house of courage, it was difficult to see how Granger had managed to get sorted in. She was a blubbering mess. Uchiha hung back a few paces, looking like her usual bored and disheveled self.
"Well?" he raised an eyebrow.
The Gryffindor hiccoughed out something unintelligible, tried to take a few shuddering breaths, then finally stammered, "I-I-I'm so sorry sir. At the quidditch game, I was the one who set fire to your robes."
A cold feeling clenched in his gut. How very like Potter, to surround himself with vicious, cruel lackeys who would assault a person unprovoked. But even the boy's father had never had the guts to attack a teacher. He wouldn't be surprised if Potter had put Granger up to it. The boy was certainly following in his arrogant, bullying father's footsteps.
"Am I to assume your uncontrollable weeping is because you are being expelled after such a vicious attack on a teacher?" he sneered.
"She is not being expelled," McGonagall cut in sharply, "but you will be gratified to learn that Gryffindor is now down by seventy points." She paused to glare at the quivering first year. "And if she puts another toe out of line, she'll be sent straight home."
Granger let out a pathetic squeak at that, eyes wide and watery.
"I also brought Miss Uchiha, as she conspired to keep this secret. Ten points have been taken from Slytherin, and detention assigned. I'll leave her to you should you choose to impose any additional penalties."
"Thank you, Minerva. You may take Miss Granger now."
The door to the staff room swung open as his colleague left. Granger chased after her head out house without looking back. Potter's voice echoed out in the corridor. "-can't just leave Sayuri alone with Snape! -not safe!" McGonagall's reply was sharp, though he could not make out the words.
Quirrel sat in the corner, only his hands moving. His pale face carefully buried in schoolwork.
"Muffliato," Snape said softly. "You make speak freely, Miss Uchiha. Professor Quirrel cannot hear us now. Did anyone threaten you to keep you quiet? Potter? Granger?"
"No one, sir."
He frowned deeply and folded his arms, furious that a student from his own house would choose to side with a gang of Gryffindors against him. "You will tell me why you did not immediately inform me of Miss Granger's actions."
She cocked her head sideways, face all but obscured between the blindfold, her scarf, and the shaggy mop of hair cascading over both of those. "You're a powerful wizard, so I thought there was no way you didn't realize who did it. I just figured you had your own reasons for not drawing attention to it."
"And how would concealing such a thing benefit me?" he asked sharply.
"Maybe the same reason you didn't destroy Professor Quirrel in the quidditch stands while he was trying to murder a student? He's not even going to get fired for it."
Unsurprised she had figured out who the culprit was given her experience with the man, he shifted in his seat. With a sigh, his shoulders relaxed a bit. Perhaps she hadn't sided with Potter's gang after all. She wasn't wrong either. As wizards went, he could hold his own against most. If he hadn't been so focused on the counter-curse he would have definitely noticed Granger's sabotage. "Would you like Quirrel to be fired?" he asked, voice growing bitter. "Frankly, nothing would please me more."
A muscle in her cheek twitched. "I'd like to melt his skeleton to the floor, but that would probably mess up the headmaster's plans."
"What makes you think he has plans?" Severus asked sharply. It wouldn't do for her to suspect too much. Any student involvement was too dangerous, much less a first year who had already been targeted twice.
She shrugged carelessly. "Why else would he keep someone like Quirrel here after everything? Anyway, my guardian told me before school started that, 'the headmaster is always plotting something, so don't let him drag you into his ruddy schemes!'"
She said the last bit in a mock gruff voice.
"That was a sound bit of advice," Severus muttered darkly. "See that you take it."
She nodded once. "Whatever is going on is way above my clearance level, and it's not like I'm getting paid for any of it."
The child said odd things like that sometimes. As if she was familiar with the workings of organized secrecy. Even the way she held herself now, like some sort of pint sized soldier making a report. Severus leaned forward, dropping his voice out of habit in spite of the active privacy spell. "Where you came from, are people paid for things like this?"
She faltered a little. "I'm not supposed to talk about that, sir."
He narrowed his eyes. She hadn't lied to him, but he still disliked questions answered with non-answers. "It is a simple yes or no question."
"I understand, but sometimes the best way to protect someone is to withhold information."
He stared at her, bristling, wondering if he ought to assign a detention for that sort of insolence. If he did that, he risked souring his little informant against him though. He had promised not to punish her if she was honest with him.
"Who exactly are you trying to protect?"
"Everyone."
"From what?"
"Torture. Dismemberment. Death."
"That is not an appropriate responsibility for an eleven year old."
"It's not like I have to do anything," she said tersely. "It's the opposite. I have to not do anything. Not say anything. So, I'm done talking about it, sir."
He stared, willing himself to peer into her mind. For anything, even a small glimpse that might give him some clue as to the nature of this threat she was clearly so frightened of. Nonverbal legilimency was still just beyond his grasp though, much less on someone without any eyes to peer into. He thought back to Draco's recent claims that she'd been sent a threatening letter.
Protecting the stone came first, but this was something he'd have to stay aware of as well.
"You are dismissed. Do not be late for your next class and cost Slytherin any more points."
Her head dipped in a small bow, she turned, and left.
Quirrel watched the girl leave as Severus silently dispelled the privacy charm. He scowled at the other Quirrel, making no effort to mask the hatred consuming him at that moment.
"Ch-charming girl," Quirrel muttered softly, almost to himself. He risked a glance toward Severus, one eye spasming as he did so. Quirrel really did look terrible, with purple shadows under his eyes to match his turban. "I couldn't help but n-notice she'd been p-p-pulled from my class," he stuttered. "Any p-particular reason? She'll f-fall behind."
"While the headmaster has no ear for their troubles, my Slytherins know they may tell me anything in confidence," Severus drawled silkily. A look of genuine apprehension crossed Quirrel's face.
He tried to catch Quirrel's wilting gaze with his eyes as he slowly stood and stalked closer. "Miss Uchiha informed me she had a particularly distressing encounter with you in the dungeons."
Quirrel's face had gone the color of clay, not quite matching his pale eyes.
"Besides, I will be able to teach her more defense against the dark arts in an afternoon than she could learn from you in an entire year," he sneered. "You should have stayed at your post teaching muggle studies, Quirinus. Having your pathetic murder attempt on Halloween foiled by a first year. How does it feel to lose to a little blind girl?"
"I-I don't know w-w-what you mean."
Ignoring the dull throb in his leg, Severus closed the remaining distance between them in two strides. Grabbed the scarf draped about Quirrel's neck and hauled him to his feet. "I know you let the troll in on Halloween. I know you attempted to murder one of my Slytherins," he growled. "Now, I have invested a third of my entire life into teaching these collective dunderheads. If a single student of any house is harmed, goes missing, or is confirmed dead this year it won't matter who has the headmaster's ear. I will personally render your organs into a variety of restricted potions. There is one in particular that requires the crushed heart of a coward. I've wanted to try it for ages."
Quirrel made a faint squeaking sound.
Fingers still wrapped in the scarf, Severus loosened his grip slightly. "Now, I believe we can come to a mutually beneficial agreement without getting any students involved. Miss Uchiha will remain silent regarding your untoward behavior as long as I command her to."
Convincing Quirrel to work with him was the best strategy he had right now. He could keep the students safe this way. If Quirrel voluntarily kept him informed, it would be much easier to entrap him, to get irrefutable evidence he was seeking the stone. And if he played his part well enough, Quirrel would relay his actions directly to the Dark Lord. If Severus could get back into the Dark Lord's confidence now, his eventual capture would be that much easier.
As far as protecting the Potter boy, he had to gamble that his former master valued the stone more than short term revenge. That he'd put off targeting the boy further if it granted a faster revival.
Quirrel's body sagged in what could almost be relief. "W-what do you want?"
"The stone," Severus whispered fervently. "I want it. I know you do as well. If we combine efforts we could get it much faster, and no one will learn of your sloppy murder attempts."
The silence from the other professor was deafening. Try as he might, Severus could not get him to make eye contact. Finally, Quirrel's pale eyes squeezed shut. "Yes. Y-yes I see the advantage. What do I do?"
"I've figured out most of the obstacles," Snape whispered. "Just not that blasted mutt. Once you learn how to get past it, come to me and together will we do the rest."
Quirrel nodded, his tightly wrapped turban bobbing like a bloated plum. "That's, a-a-agreeable," he said.
Feeling triumphant, a twisted grin pulled at Severus' mouth as he loosened his grip on Quirrel's scarf and took a step back. "I'll be checking in with you soon."
Quirrel continued to nod as he twisted away from Severus and fled the staff lounge, leaving a pile of essays behind.
Glancing down at the sudden cold on his fingertips, he was surprised to see them wet with fresh blood. Not his own blood either. Why was Quirrel letting himself bleed out while he graded essays in the staff room? Had the cerberus nicked him too? Smiling to himself, he carefully drew a clean handkerchief from his pocket, wiped the blood onto it, then stowed it safely inside his robe.
There were many things a potions master could do with a person's blood.
Author's Note: Thanks for bearing with me on the sporadic updates and things. We had a really hard last two months after losing a couple of very dear people to covid just before the holidays. Please remember to wear your masks and wash your hands, and stay safe. It was hard to get back into the swing of writing after that, even though writing helps.
Regarding romance, there will be some of that as she gets older. Right now she's only 11 and very goal focused. It will be slow burn. I haven't settled on who yet, because some story elements like that I prefer to leave open so it can kind of organically happen. There will be other non-canon pairings too, because people from the Elemental Nations will be more and more involved in things as the story goes on. ;) I will say that to Sayuri, the way a person's chakra feels is a million times more important to her than how they look.
Are there any particular pairings people are interested in seeing?
Also, the rough English translation of her genjutsu is Demonic Illusion: Unexpected Diarrhea.