I'm back, babies!
Thanks again for the lovely reviews and feedback. I appreciate everyone's viewpoints and perspectives :)
Not much to say in this author's note, other than that I'm glad people enjoyed the previous chapter. I'm also sort of amused and pleased by the number of people still weighing in on their dislike of canon Lily. I'm sure Remus was right that she was generally a nice, kind person, but I honestly never agreed with her overall dismissal of Severus's struggle at school and her inability to understand what drove him to the wrong side. Harry may have had a hard life and turned out good, but while they both pretty much had no one to count on for the beginning of their childhood, the key difference is Harry found a slew of friends the moment he turned eleven. Severus only found more enemies and people willing to exploit him. Harry had friends willing to break the statue of secrecy to fly a car and rescue him from his relatives house, for goodness sake! Severus had one actual friend as far as we know, a friend (Lily) who trivialized his mistreatment at the hands of her own Housemates.
So yeah, not a fan of canon Lily either. Glad so many share my sentiments, but its fine if some of you don't. Not saying she was a terrible person; she did fight tooth and nail to save her only son.
Anyway, on with the story!
If Someone Cared Enough
Chapter Sixty-Two: Bathroom Browsing
Severus tugged at the mirror adhered over the broken sink. Hiding yet again in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, he searched for any inconsistencies or details to the structure that would set it apart from the others.
It seemed almost ludicrous that a bathroom sink would have anything to do with the Chamber of Secrets giving the indignity of connecting a founder's supposed greatest secret to a restroom, but Severus couldn't shake the feeling there was more to this that meets the eye.
Most would believe it inconsequential that the creature that killed Myrtle just somehow happened to be in the same bathroom as she that night; a bathroom seemed an unlikely place for a lair. However, given that no creature was ever seen the night in question—aside from Aragog who Severus had already ruled out—it would make sense that rather than the creature having entered the bathroom and left without being seen, it instead came from the bathroom and never left, giving it no opportunity to be seen.
Given the eye level at which Myrtle indicated she was at with the beast, the creature was large, far larger than Aragog at the time and even less likely to leave the bathroom without garnering quite a bit of attention.
Severus also couldn't help but find it intriguing that the very sink Myrtle saw it by was rumored to have been broken since it was installed when new plumbing was put in place. It seemed suspicious that anyone would install a sink that was already broken, meaning it had to have been tampered with shortly after being put in place. The fact that the sink had never worked led Severus to believe it had another purpose. It would be an ideal way to hide a secret; if everyone knew the sink didn't work, they'd leave it alone and never examine it closely enough to find what was hidden.
According to legend, Salazar Slytherin hid the Chamber of Secrets away in the school at it's founding, claiming to have concealed a terrible monster within its depths. If the Chamber was opened back in 1943, it would be entirely plausible that whatever killed Myrtle and attacked the other students came from within the Chamber. Therefore, it couldn't be Aragog as Hagrid brought him to the castle from the outside.
When Lily had come running into the library a few days ago, Severus had been near speechless with what he had heard. He was so shocked he nearly forgot he wasn't technically on amicable terms with Lily at the moment. He hadn't a chance to coldly rebuke her as he had been doing all week because she instantly started talking and her words left him stunned.
Not only had Helena confirmed that Tom—the supposed hero of the school—tricked the diadem out of Helena's safekeeping and corrupted it somehow, but the students attacked in 1943 were all of muggle birth.
When Hagrid first mentioned that a student had been going around leaving messages claiming to have opened the Chamber, Severus had been somewhat inclined to brush it off as a kid making up stories to further scare their classmates during the panic over the attacks. The very idea of a teenager opening a supposedly nonexistent chamber seemed laughable. Now with the knowledge that the attacks only harmed muggleborns that year…Severus wondered if the Chamber truly did exist. If so, the heir of Slytherin was among the students back then and Tom seemed to fit the bill.
Severus normally wouldn't jumped to unfair bias and conclusions against his own House, but he couldn't deny an ambitious Slytherin seeking knowledge and power made the most sense to be Slytherin's heir. With Tom being the one who cursed the diadem for some nefarious reason, it made it even more likely he was the 'heir' who opened the chamber to wipe out Muggleborns. Being a prefect and later Head Boy gave him the perfect cover to operate under while carrying out Salazar's will.
His own heritage bared little consequence. Marvolo was a name of wizarding origin, so any muggle blood Riddle got from his father would probably make him half blood. The idea of a half blood carrying out a role of such prejudice towards muggleborns wasn't as unbelievable as Severus would like to claim it was. After all, Severus had found himself wrapped up in that blood purity nonsense out of a hatred for his father. Tom might have been in a similar boat, only with a far darker heart than Severus bore.
Riddle most likely reveled in his wizarding side. Being a descendant of one of history's most famed wizards would give anyone a big head. If Riddle had gone to the trouble of carrying out his ancestor's wish to remove all muggleborns from the school, it was very likely he himself held quite a great amount of ill will towards them as well.
The trouble was Severus could find no record of Riddle after graduating. Even his short-term job at Borgins and Burkes was mere word of mouth. Who knew what sort of horrors Tom was wrecking on the world, magical and muggle alike? And if what Lily said was true, he might have gathered a collection of items to curse, for Merlin knows what.
The Cup of Helga Hufflepuff was long rumored to be hidden away by her descendants, but that didn't mean Riddle was incapable of finding it. He certainly managed to find the diadem everyone believed lost forever. It was all a matter of charming the right people for information.
A position at Borgin and Burkes would have put him in the ideal spot to sniff out valuable and presumably powerful family treasures purebloods normally guarded in secrecy. He could flatter them and get them preening under his praise, making them feel important enough to brag, possibly. He somehow convinced an entire board of school governors to condemn Hagrid for a crime without any real investigation, so he could probably accomplish a great deal by word alone.
Slughorn's behavior was strange too, considering how Lily described it. The man seemed unnaturally reserved when speaking of Riddle, an unusual reaction to the mention of someone who once 'saved' the school from permanent closure. Normally, anyone achieving even the most miniscule of achievements meant Slughorn was sure to swoop in and take credit for having taught them, insist his influence shaped their greatness, so to speak. But he seemed almost ashamed to speak of Riddle, as though somehow the boy's accomplishments weren't enough to sway his opinion of the lad. Slughorn must have known some sort of truth about Riddle, be it Tom's culpability in Myrtle's murder, the diadem, or something much worse.
According to Lily, not even Slughorn's claim of not knowing Riddle's current whereabouts seemed convincing. Rather, it sounded as if he knew and wish he didn't. It was obvious that whatever Riddle went on to become after graduating, Slughorn saw it as too terrible to reveal. Meaning Dumbledore wasn't the only one who distrusted Tom.
Unfortunately, Slughorn was a notoriously obstinate man when trouble, so it would yield little results to harass him about what he knew. At worst, he may run to Dumbledore. If Severus suspicions about Dumbledore were correct, the man could and probably would use legillimency on Severus or his friends to extract information from them, leading him right to the diadem Severus didn't trust him to have.
Slughorn's assistance would have to end with the album he showed Lily; there was little chance Slughorn would share any further in regards to Riddle. This left Severus at a disadvantage once again, filled with new useful information, but with the inability to utilize such knowledge at this moment, he was burden under their weight. Being back at an insufferable square one, Severus had to resort to his usual investigative methods; tireless examination.
Severus actually didn't intend on opening the Chamber if it existed. Even with the utmost confidence in his abilities and skill, a teenager had little hope of confronting and surviving an encounter with any creature deemed worthy enough to serve someone as powerful as one of the Hogwarts founders. His goal was rather to find the Chamber and—once he worked up a believable reason to have 'stumbled upon it—bring it to the attention of the teachers. If all went well, discovering the true beastly murderer of Moaning Myrtle would clear Hagrid's name and simultaneously place scrutiny on Tom.
Once the papers got wind of a possible cover-up over the murder all those years ago, the best and most determined reporters and investigators would no doubt seek to uncover every single detail about the boy who the school once called a hero. All Severus would have to do then was sit back and let the information on Riddle come in the form of every juicy expose the media could publish.
It might seem lazy for Severus to let others look into Riddle, but given how questionable the man's past and present appeared, Severus didn't wish to get himself or his friends too closely involved in uncovering the truth. Who knew if Riddle was still dangerous or what he'd gotten into since his disappearance?
It was bad enough Severus and his friends had to take on the burden of destroying the diadem. If Severus could guarantee without any doubt that the item wouldn't fall into the wrong hands, he would pawn the responsibility off on the staff. But given their inability to simply protect one student from a quartet of his harassing classmates…well Severus doubted the lot combined could destroy the diadem without something going wrong.
To top things off, his group might have to destroy the diary too. Riddle's curse on the diadem demonstrated a great deal of skill, making anything belonging to him and enchanted quite dangerous. So Severus and his friends already had their hands full, they didn't need any threat from Riddle being added to it for openly snooping.
If Severus was going to learn about Riddle, he planned to do so from a safe distance…just as soon as he found the Chamber.
Back to the task at hand, Severus gripped the sides of the sink and pulled experimentally, testing for any give. Unfortunately, there wasn't any; as far as he could see, it appeared to be a normal, dirty sink. There hadn't been any visible signs of a button or handle on the sink that could open a door, though Severus knew magic probably could prevent such a thing from being obvious to passersby.
Still there had to be some indication that the Chamber resided here. How else would the heir find it? Salazar died centuries ago, so it wasn't like he could tell his heir where to find it. His bloodline faded into obscurity after his passing with many professing familial ties to him, but no claims being proven. And given Riddle's surname, his branch of Slytherin's bloodline would have had to have strayed so far from the clan's roots that it was doubtful Tom would have any real connection to his heritage that could pass down the information to him. He might not have even known his relation to the founder prior to discovering the Chamber. So what could he have possibly found to tip him off that this was the place?
A pair of hands suddenly came over Severus's eyes, "Guess who?"
"Judging by the scent of strawberry chamomile, I suppose I can rule out a ghoulie," Severus said with a sigh.
"It's me!" Mary declared, jumping back with a giggle, "I thought I'd see if you wanted some company."
"That is kind of you," Severus said, wanting to be polite.
The predicament with Mary was proving another perplexing issue on Severus's mind lately. The kiss she gave him their first night back to school caught him off guard and to put it bluntly, surprised the hell out of him. He'd no idea the girl even felt that way, so used to being at the bottom of the food chain when it came to looks and popularity that a girl's interest was a foreign concept.
Just having Lily express a desire for him had been enough to blow his mind. The only explanation he could provide was that perhaps Lily was just close enough to him that their shared interests and similar personalities matched up in her eyes. They'd known each other long enough that Lily developing any fondness for him was somewhat believable.
Severus frowned inwardly. Things with Lily hadn't lasted long though, did it, he thought sourly.
Still, Mary was the definition of surprise. Figuring out what could have honestly attracted her to him plagued Severus thoughts. It was a tiring quandary to say the least, as all question of how she could possible like him circled back to a cycle of self-deprecation, and Severus was growing weary of reminding himself of his own flaws. It did little to stave off the confusion though. Mary knew so little about Severus and his good traits were few and far between.
Mary never had an interest in Severus before he helped her on the train. In fact, she hardly acknowledged his existence, though proved a lovely alternative to the number of Gryffindors who taunted him. He honestly couldn't figure out what changed.
It wasn't like Severus had become sunshine and rainbows about the incident. His alignment may have changed, but he was still the same irritable bastard he always was. He took little enjoyment in most games; preferred reading in silence to engaging in conversation, and his humor was always on the dry side with more than its fair share of bite than merriment. He smirked instead of smiled, scowled heavily in most situations, and overall his patience for foolishness and tomfoolery was almost nonexistent.
To put it lightly, he was a rather prickly person that few found enjoyment in being around. Even those with newfound respect for him were more than happy to keep him at a distance, finding little pleasure in his dour presence. His ragtag group of friends seemed capable of enduring his brisk attitude due to their own stubborn, absurd quirkiness that already made them misfits in their own rights.
Nesme was oblivious even by Hufflepuff standards and her notoriously silly brand of curiosity had led to more than one occasion of her getting her thumbs, foot, or in one rare occasion, her head stuck in something. Her whimsical nature was certainly on par with the Hufflepuffs she roomed with, but her decision to befriend Slytherins went against the perceived weak timidity most people expected from a Puff.
Davis was probably the only Ravenclaw to have ever cheated on a test and been proud of it. Unlike his fellow housemates, Davis did not take pleasure in tests, feeling anyone can memorize a subject to spout a monotonous paragraph for an essay, but the really goal should be to properly apply one's knowledge in the real world. By that logic, he saw no reason to put an effort in a test that favored parroted information over real world application.
Thea's gift made her housemates naturally wary of her and her selflessness went against the very ambition Slytherins defined itself by. In fact, Simone revealed that the only Slytherin trait Thea demonstrated to get sorted there was a desperate attempt to bribe the hat with a new stool to sit upon, all in an effort to comply with her overbearing parents' wishes. That sneakiness was enough to convince the hat that Thea had what it took to be craftily resourceful.
Simone was an outcast for obvious reasons. Her explosive temper contradicted the Slytherin motto of keeping things close to the vest. Her outspokenness in regards to fair rights and equality for all didn't match up with blood purity ideals and her drive for friends and inclusion didn't fit well with the aloof nature of most Slytherins. Then there was her crass way of always sharing what's on her mind and her penchant for mischief when left unsupervised too long; a noteworthy trait that in her fourth year led to a series of detentions after Simone had decided for whatever reason to try and make a classmate's toad hatch an egg she'd nicked from Hagrid's chicken coop. Severus knew there was some sort of significance to that, but it escaped him. Either way, McGonagall had been fit to be tied that day.
In a way, it made perfect sense such an unusual bunch could tolerate Severus for all his particularities.
But Mary and Lily weren't those who stood on the outskirts of society. They were popular and loved by most of the student body, radiating a sense of belonging and capability to fit in with any crowd. Their looks made them the envy of many girls, and their kindness won them the favor of their classmates and teachers alike. The very fact that either of them enjoyed Severus's less than cheerful company was baffling. Lily, perhaps he could understand; they'd grown up together. But Mary had no reason to seek Severus out, there was no charming quality of his she could admire. He was just…Severus.
After the kiss, Severus had sat in stunned silence for quite some time while a very nervous Mary waited for any kind of response. She'd probably been worried that Severus had stopped breathing, he was so still. When the shock had passed—or at the very least subsided—Severus had attempted to make sense of Mary's actions, though her reasoning proved unhelpful.
"I don't know," she'd said, "I just…I really like you Sev. I have for a while now, I guess."
She'd been at as much of a loss as he'd been as to why she'd like him. All she could provide was a description of a fluttering in her stomach when he was close, a heat to her cheeks when he looked her in the eyes or complimented her.
Severus's attempts to rebuff her—gently of course—had gone just about as well in that it hardly went the way he expected at all.
Mary seemed very well aware that he didn't return her feelings, been expecting it even. In fact, she'd very accurately surmised that Severus's heart resided with Lily. However, she appeared to be under the impression that those feelings were unrequited, something Severus saw no reason to correct her on; no matter how mad he was at Lily he wasn't about to ruin her friendships by telling Mary that Lily had returned his feelings, nor that they had acted on them to some degree. It seemed like unnecessary conflict, especially since Severus was sure Mary's infatuation with him was only temporary and would die out soon enough.
For that matter, he didn't exactly know where he stood with Lily now either.
Matters with Lily aside, Mary seemed unbothered by Severus' lack of mutual affection for the brunette. Rather, she seemed fairly confident that things would change if Severus gave it a chance.
"Just get to know me a little better," she'd insisted, "Maybe you and I will find a lot of things in common. You're not dating anyone right now, so what's the harm in spending time with me? Who knows, you might even grow to like me."
And so began Severus's newfound companionship with Mary. They weren't dating; Severs made sure Mary understood that. It did little to change Mary's joyous mood though, the girl enjoying every single moment of extra time spent in Severus presence. She seemed convinced that given time, Severus might transfer his affections from Lily to her and thus had taken it upon herself to show him how nice 'dating could be' by being overly affectionate. She'd hold his hand under the table at the library, hook arms with him in the halls. She made an effort to be attentive, asking him how his day was and even listening to him describe his work with legillimency and occludmency.
Severus couldn't deny, having someone agree with him and support his efforts to protect people was a lovely change. Mary demonstrated an open-mindedness Severus always yearned for. For a time, he'd gotten just that from Lily, her opinions on Dark Magic having lightened up a bit after the attack on the train. Unfortunately, they'd come back with a vengeance during the ride into school this term and Severus didn't know if she'd changed her mind, or if she'd never come around to his way of thinking at all.
Mary's voice brought Severus back to the present, "So what are you doing in here?"
"Checking out the sink," Severus replied, "If the attacks did indeed originate from this bathroom, this would be the most likely place. Why else would someone install a sink that didn't work?"
"So you think the sink is a ruse?" Mary queried.
Severus nodded, "Most likely. It makes sense, really. I'm sure every girl who ever tried to use this sink just brushed it off as broken and moved on with their lives. There'd be little reason for anyone to think this thing didn't work for any reason other than faulty plumbing."
"But you've found nothing so far?" Mary asked.
Severus sighed, crouching down to look underneath the sink, "Not a single thing. It looks just like the other sinks; it's just the only one with a tab that doesn't work."
"Where's Myrtle, by the way?" Mary inquired, glancing around, "She usually hangs around during your visits."
"Someone may have flushed her down the U bend while she was daydreaming about death," Severus said evasively.
Mary laughed, nudging Severus, "You cad! She'll be very pissed when she finds out it was you."
"Doubtful she'll find out," Severus said, "She tends to get disoriented and lost in the lake from all the spinning. It will take her a bit to find her way back the right direction; she'll probably get sidetracked spying through the common room window in my dorm along the way. She…likes to watch the boys."
Mary whistled, "Hot blooded even as a ghost."
Severus walked around the ring of sinks, poking and prodding at their decors, the molding of the stonework around them. There didn't seem to be any discrepancies in the pattern, all the sinks were for all cases and purposes uniform. It really was a wonder how anyone could have ever stumbled upon a secret entrance in so inconspicuous a place.
"You said it was this sink that doesn't work?" Mary pointed at the first sink Severus looked over.
"Yes," Severus replied, returning to the sink in question, "Or rather, the tab doesn't work. I've poured water into the sink using charms, and it drains out just fine, so the plumbing technically works. But the tab," he wrenched on the faucet, "It's like it isn't hooked up to anything. Normally when you turn a faucet, you hear the pipes doing something even if water doesn't come out. Like…air in the pipes, lots of rattling, you know? But the tab doesn't do anything at all. That's why I'm sure there is another purpose for it; it clearly wasn't hooked up to the plumbing for a reason."
Severus rubbed at his head with his other hand, "I feel like I'm missing something but for the life of me I can't figure out what."
Mary rested her hand over top of Severus's on the faucet.
"You'll figure it out," she assured, rubbing her thumb back and forth across the back of Severus's hand, "I know you can. If anyone can makes sense of all this, it would be you, Sev."
Severus smiled gratefully at Mary, the vote of confidence was appreciated.
Mary smiled dreamily at Severus, her eyes half lidded. She took a step closer to Severus and for a minute he feared she'd try to kiss him again.
Thankfully, something else caught Mary's attention.
"What's that?" Mary asked, looking down at their hands.
"What's what?" Severus asked, grateful for the distraction.
"That," Mary pulled her hand away, taking Severus's with it. When the full faucet was uncovered, Mary lightly fingered the metal curiously, feeling it out for anything odd, "I felt something…it was near the back of the faucet."
Growing curious himself, Severus gently pushed Mary's hand away, replacing it with his own. Sure enough, there was something there. A shape of some sort, curvy and thin.
Intrigued, Severus bent down, his nose practically touching the sink as he craned his neck to see the faucet better. He brought up his wand, "lumos."
The light lit up the shadows in the recesses of the sink's frame, illuminating the cramped space beneath the mirror. There, along the curve of the faucet protruded the shape of a serpent.
"There," Severus exclaimed excitedly, "There's a snake on this faucet."
"There is?" Mary asked in surprise, peering around him to get a better look at it.
Severus nodded, running his hand all over the faucet.
"It's small," he said, "Tiny even. No wonder I didn't feel it before with how far back it is."
Severus raced around the other sinks.
"It isn't on any of the other faucets," he declared triumphantly, "Do you know what this means?"
Mary shook her head, "Not exactly."
Severus ran over to her, grabbing her by the shoulders.
"It means you found the key to the Chamber," Severus cried.
Mary blinked, "I did?"
Severus nodded enthusiastically, "Yes. Don't you see? I knew the faucet held some importance, but the snake on it confirms it; the faucet is what is used to open the chamber."
He crouched down, feeling around the faucet, turning it this way and that, "It isn't a faucet at all. It must be a handle or something…maybe a trigger. Whatever it is, this has to be what Riddle found to tip him off the Chamber resides here."
"Soooo, how do we open it?" Mary asked.
"Well it won't open with Alohomora," Severus explained, "I tried that on the sink a few times before you arrived. No luck. There must be a specific spell that opens this; or even a password of some sort."
Mary titled her head to the side, looking at the little snake etched on the tab, "Riddle's diary knows about the murder and attacks, so he must have been writing in it prior to opening the chamber. Maybe he left a clue in there."
Severus snorted, "Yon can sure as hell bet no one is going to risk fiddling with that thing again if Riddle made it. We also don't know entirely what the enchantment is that makes it write back to us; for all we know whatever spell he used allows him to see who's using it now and what they're saying to it. Provided Riddle didn't die somewhere along the line, I would rather him not knowing we're prying into his secrets. It's too risky to fiddle with the diary without knowing what it was designed to do."
"So what now, then?" Mary asked.
Severus stood up, "For now, we need to tell the others what we found."
A gurgling from one of the toilets started up.
"And get out of here before Myrtle shows up!" Severus added hastily, grabbing Mary and dragging her from the bathroom, the girl laughing all the while.
So here we have a good look into the workings of Severus mind with the whole Mary situation. He's not really agreeing to date her, but he doesn't have the stomach to coldly tell her it will never happen. Instead, he is hoping the crush will run its course when Mary fails to get the romantic reactions she wants to coax out of Severus and move on. Meanwhile, Mary thinks of Severus as a guy needing a little push to get over what she believes is an unrequited love for Lily.
It was only a matter of time before someone *coughSeveruscough* decided to look into why the flipping sink doesn't work. Seriously, I question how in canon no one found it aside from Harry and Riddle. You mean to tell me no one ever complained to whatever maintenance Hogwarts has that the sink wasn't working? I mean they would be there to fix clogged toilets or broken stalls, right? It's odd that people simply went, "Oh well, that sink is broken, lets leave it be." Wouldn't someone, a wizard repairman maybe, have fiddled with that tab enough at some point while inspecting it to discover that snake on the side? Seriously, I'm honestly writing Severus out of character here by having him give that 'well hidden-ness' of the snake so much credit. Hell, Myrtle fucking lives in that bathroom, she memorized which sink she saw the eyes at. How could she have never taken a closer look at it?
Okay, rant over. Be sure to leave a review, lovelies!