Hello Lovelies!

Thanks again for the reviews and feedback. Some of you have just gotten a hold of this story and I'm tickled pink you have reviewed so many chapters in one sitting!

Glad you all liked the intensity of the last chapter. I had to use some artistic license with both Fiendfyre's nature (it's loosely described in the books as to what it can and can't do) and Hogwarts abilities. It's almost a sentient being with the various abilities it exhibits such as sending out the school letters and adding names of every new witch and wizard born to it's future hogwarts registry (all probably the result of enchantment by the founders rather than an actual consciousness).

I'm sort of surprised no one reacted to Slughorn's valiant efforts to protect the students. I wanted to portray the normally reserved and oftentimes cowardly wizard as rising to the occasion for once. I guess the excitement of nearly burning my heroes alive might have been a teeny bit distracting, eh?

If Someone Cared Enough

Chapter Seventy-Three: Overdue Apology

The girls tore the dorm room a part, but unfortunately, the diary was never found. They could account for everything else in Thea's possession, her schoolbooks, her class notes, even the cloth they'd kept the diary wrapped in still resided in the smoke damaged girl's dorm. The diary had vanished without a trace.

It left Thea beside herself with grief.

"I'm so sorry, you guys," she said tearfully, "It never occurred to me to take it with me when I left. Everyone just dropped what they were doing and ran."

Lily shushed her, sitting down next to her on Simone's bed, "Hey, the dorm was on fire; you needed to put your safety first."

Thea shook her head, "No, I should have grabbed it. I've never let the thing out of my site before, this shouldn't have been any different."

"Again, your life was at stake," Severus stated, the wards that kept boys out of the girls' dorm temporarily lifted for cleanup, "It wouldn't have brought any of us much solace if the diary was secured at the risk of your safety."

"Just like other things aren't worth throwing your life away over," Lily said pointedly.

Severus glanced down at the framed picture of him and Lily playing beneath a tree by the lake. He still kept it clutched to his chest, "Apples and oranges."

Before Lily could argue, Simone butted in, "Don't be so hard on yourself, Thea. None of us could have known the fire was a ruse to get the diary. I figured it was just some dunce showing off and that they got carried away."

"So you do think the fire was a distraction," Severus observed.

Simone nodded, "I can think of no other reason for nearly burning down a segment of the school. Whoever did it wanted the opportunity to search our things without someone walking in on them. My stuff was gone through too," she gestured to her haphazardly rearranged vanity, "They riffled through all the drawers."

"Now that I think of it," Severus murmured, thinking back, "My stuff was all over the floor. Papers and books. I was a little preoccupied when I came back for the picture, but thinking on it now, that's definitely not how I left my things."

"Was anyone else's stuff messed with?" Mary inquired.

Simone shook her head, "Nope, just me and Thea from what I can see in here."

"It was all my things scattered on the floor," Severus added, "I'd recognize the handwriting."

"So this was clearly a job with a goal in mind," Davis said, "At the very least, someone knew one of your three had something. What we don't know is who that someone is, and whether or not they knew it was the diary they were looking for."

"That's true," Simone agreed, "There's quite a number of people in this dorm who don't think too highly of mine and Thea's alignment. The same goes for Snape. We can't be sure the person was just looking for dirt on us in general and figured the diary was worth stealing only after they saw the lengths we went to hide it."

"Regardless of whether they realized the diary's purpose at the time," Severus put in, "They're bound to know what it can do eventually."

"And if it's someone in Slytherin, how long before they are used to open the Chamber?" Thea asked miserably.

Lupin poked his head into the dorm room, "Hey, you guys…how…how is everyone?"

"No worse for wear physically," Severus said stiffly.

Lupin nodded, stepping carefully over some debris, "I heard you and Lily got caught in the flames; I was worried."

Lily smiled appreciatively at him, "We're fine, Remus. Really we are."

"Still that must have been terrifying," Lupin said, "What in Merlin's name were you even doing in there?"

"The diary's been stolen, Lupin," Severus cut in with a scowl.

Lupin froze, "What? But I thought you were keeping an eye on it."

Thea whimpered, hiding her face in her hands.

Simone wrapped her arms around Thea, glaring at Lupin.

"When a magical fire is burning down everything in its path, you tend to prioritize your life over your possessions," she snapped.

Lupin raised his hands in surrendered, "Sorry, sorry. Didn't mean to imply anything by it. Of course your safety should come first. I'm just surprised someone found it during all the panic."

"We think the panic was what the caster was counting on," Mary revealed.

"Remus, they only looked through Simone, Thea, and Severus's things," Lily explained, "We think the fire may have been intentional to chase everyone out."

"And since no one would be stupid enough to waste time grabbing their stuff," Lupin missed the glare Severus shot him at that comment, "People would naturally leave everything but the clothes on their backs behind. So they knew what to look for."

"At the very least, they knew we were hiding something," Simone said, "So the question is: how much time do we have before a Basilisk starts rampaging through the school?"

"Now can we go to a teacher?" Lupin asked.

Severus sneered, "Of course you want to run off and tattle."

Lupin rolled his eyes, "It's not like that."

"Don't forget, Remus," Thea said, her words muffled by her hands. She looked up, her eyes watery and red, "I've still got dirt on you. Don't make me regret trusting you."

Lupin blanched, "Got it."

"Besides, what could we possibly say?" Thea went on shakily, accepting the proffered tissue from Nesme to blow her nose, "That for months we've been carrying around a dark item that can reopen the Chamber? And we told no one? We'd probably be expelled on the spot."

Davis nodded, "They'd break our wands for sure."

"Not old reliable!" Nesme said despairingly, clutching her crooked wand.

Lupin looks around, "You do realized you've essentially backed us into a corner from the beginning, right? You didn't want to tell a professor because it could fall into the wrong hands, now it's in the wrong hands and you'll be in trouble if anyone finds out you've had it all this time and not told a professor."

Nesme looked at Davis, "Is that irony or…?"

Davis sighed, "Stupidity, Nesme…the answer you're looking for is stupidity…"

"It's a moot point," Severus snapped, "What's done is done. Now all we can do is try and stop the Chamber from being opened."

"But how?" Lupin asked, "We don't even know who it is that has the diary. How can we stop them if we can't confront them?"

"Well, we can cross Wilkes off the suspect list," Thea announced, dabbing at her eyes, "If he took it, the diary would leave with him. That doesn't serve any purpose for the Chamber."

"Plus Wilkes would have to be an idiot to cast Fiendfyre and then leave his wand behind to be found," Simone pointed out.

Severus nodded, "He's not a strategical planner either; he wouldn't have thought to come up with this whole scheme to begin with."

"So we've taken Wilkes out of the running," Davis said, "So what? We still have the rest of them to suspect. How do we keep them from opening the chamber when we don't even know who to be looking for?"

"We have to keep them out of that bathroom," Lily stated, "Even if we don't know who it is currently, we can buy ourselves some time if they can't get to the secret entrance to open it."

"Hey yeah," Mary agreed, "Having the diary won't do them much good if they can't access the chamber."

"Sounds like some handsome young lads need to convince Myrtle to be on her most wicked behavior," Nesme said, smiling evilly at Lupin and Davis, "I'd include you, Severus, but you're attitude doesn't do much in the way of wooing, no offense."

Severus waved off her concern, "None taken. Now Myrtle's antics won't be enough; anyone with their mind set to it could endure a barrage of toilet water if they chose. We need something more to keep people out."

"Well…we could take a page out of Hogwarts book," Nesme said, "Or should I say, Hogwarts: A History?"

"Nesme, you magnificent madwoman," Severus said approvingly.

Nesme beamed at him.

Mary frowned, "I'm confused; what are the rest of us missing here?"

"The charms around the school," Severus said, "The ones guarding us from discovery."

Lily perked up, "Of course! Aside from the illusions that make the castle appear as a ramshackle ruin, the school's defended by several charms that prevent even the most curious muggle from coming to take a closer look. There's charms that make you forget what you were thinking of doing here, charms that make you suddenly think you have somewhere else you need to be. Any of those charms could prevent people from entering the bathroom if we apply them right."

Nesme nodded eagerly, bouncing on her heels, "And it wouldn't be suspicious in the slightest. If everyone aside from us who goes near that bathroom forgets wanting to go in, none of them will question why that is because they won't recall why they wanted to go in there in the first place."

"So how do we prevent ourselves from being affected?" Davis asked.

"By all casting the charm together," Severus answered, "Maybe more than one, even. Either way, doing it all together will not only strengthen the charm, it will ensure we're all immune to it."

"This means study session, folks," Simone declared, clapping her hands, "The charm is a pretty standard one for Seventh years; prepares us for hiding magic in our daily lives as adults and all that. So, I'll provide the material from my classes. All the rest of you have to do is learn it."

"In the meantime, we'll ask Myrtle to ward people off from the bathroom as much as possible," Severus added. He looked at Davis and Lupin, "Good luck gentlemen."

"Why do I get the feeling that statement was entirely sarcastic?" Lupin asked wearily.

"Because it was," Severus sneered, "Now, I have to make sure my own property is safely secured before I'm forced to sleep on the floor of the Great Hall."

"It won't be that bad, Severus," Nesme said with cheer, "Think of it like a great big sleepover!"

"With a vast majority of the people there despising me," Severus deadpanned.

Nesme shrugged, "At least you'll have Simone and Thea."

"I think they'll probably be separating us by gender, Nes," Simone pointed out.

"Leaving me with Rosier and his sorry lot," Severus finished, "All of whom are surely quite sore over losing one of their ranks, especially since it appears he's been framed."

"I can't say I feel sorry for him," Mary admitted sheepishly, "Sure, he didn't do the crime, but that's not to say he wouldn't do things just as bad."

"Back when we associated with one another," Severus said, "Wilkes once cryptically implied that the number of cats and dogs near his home dropped dramatically after he got his first hunting knife. I don't doubt someone like him has the proclivity for terrible things."

Everyone grimaced.

"Is it really better for him to be expelled though?" Lupin asked, "At least here, Dumbledore could watch him."

Mary nodded, "That's true. Most of what Mulciber did at school was pretty discreet or low key; I mean, aside from nearly suffocating me…it was only when we were isolated on a train away from professors that he and Avery tried worse."

Lily suppressed a shudder.

"If he isn't incarcerated," Simone said, "If he's just expelled, he can merrily go off to join You-Know-Who's ranks early."

Severus nodded, conceding to that point, "Unfortunately you may be right. As of now though, he isn't our concern. If anything, it is one more person we don't have to worry about inside these walls. Let's be thankful for that."

"Well then," Severus went on, "If you'll excuse me, I have a room to tidy up."

"I'll help," Mary offered.

Severus shook his head, "If it's alright with you, I'd rather have some time to myself right now."

Mary reluctantly nodded, stepping back.

Severus took the stairs down into the common room, sidestepping students searching for lost items and professor working with house elves to repair damage. Hogwarts was repairing itself relatively quick, scorch marks on the walls vanishing as the blackened floor faded back to a remarkably clean.

"Hey Severus," Someone called out, "Wait a second."

Simone picked her way through the remaining mess of the common room, managing a ballet pirouette around the sudden appearance of a house elf that popped out of thin air to scamper by with new throw pillows.

"I wanted to talk to you real quick," Simone said when she reached him.

Nodding, Severus led the way to a seat by the window. It had been one of the first places accessed in the aftermath, professors reinforcing the damaged glass to ensure it held against the weight of the lake outside. Apparently, Hogwarts took it upon itself to create miniscule holes in the frame to leak in lake water in an attempt to douse the fire. The school was certainly a tricky, crafty little mystery.

Sitting down on a settee, Severus gestured for Simone to join him, cast a quick muffliato.

"The floors all yours," he said casually.

"Right," Simone let out a breath, "So…you know how I said you could have died before I could apologize? Well…it occurs to me that I haven't actually don't it yet. Apologize, I mean."

"I assumed it would have been implied," Severus shrugged.

"Well it isn't," Simone stated, "After how I behaved…you deserve an actual apology, not just the implication of one."

Simone took a deep breath, straightening up, shoulders back.

"I'm sorry I struck you," she said sincerely, "I'm sorry I didn't want to hear what you had to say and I'm sorry I lashed out at you. No matter how mad I was, it doesn't excuse my actions."

Severus shifted in his seat, stretching his back, "I can't say it was wholly unwarranted on your part. If we're being honest, I was feeling a little vindictive; I wanted my words to hurt."

Simone shook her head, "That doesn't make it right. I shouldn't have hit you. I…I should have handled myself better…but I didn't."

"We're allowed to be flawed, Serapuem," Severus replied sagely, "I'm certainly bearing my fear share of…inadequacies."

"Yeah but flaws aren't supposed to be some quirky traits that you tote as endearing," Simone insisted in frustration, "It's not, 'Oh, I'm so clumsy, tee-hee.' It's things you're supposed to work on."

Simone drew her legs up to her chest, "I know how bad my temper gets. I know I need to work on it. When I slip up…I feel terrible…I don't want to be the person who loses it all the time while people make excuses for me."

"To be fair," Severus said, "I'm not making excuses for you. That would imply I was covering up blame for you. I'm not. I pushed, you fought back."

"Yeah, well I can push and push until the dragons come home, that doesn't give me the right to lay a hand on you," Simone said heatedly. She raked a hand through her hair, "Geeze, why do you always blame yourself when someone you care about fails you? You're allowed to say what you want, Severus, that doesn't mean that when you get hit you 'made them do it. You're not in charge of what others do."

Severus shrugged, picking at a pulled thread in his robes, "Force of habit, I suppose. There was always a correlation between my mouth and my father's fists. Hard to argue with those results."

"Well your father was an ass who hit you for the hell of it," Simone said, "He'd hit you even if you'd done nothing to him."

"But you wouldn't have hit me if I hadn't said what I said," Severus pointed out.

Simone huffed, "So? I'm still responsible for my own actions. I can't just pass the buck to you and say I didn't have a choice in the matter. I was upset, but it's not like I hate you or anything; you didn't deserve what I did. I just…I didn't want to hear it…I was afraid…"

"For the day I met Thea," Simone began, "From the day I met her parents, I knew life outside my house wasn't the same as the happy cheery life I lead. I knew there was a scary world out there that I'd be forced to face someday and I've been dreading it ever since."

Simone rested her head on her knees, "Feeling powerless…it's not something I generally experience. It's unsettling…terrifying. I'm so used to everything being simpler, easily fixed. But the thing with Thea, there's no one right or wrong answer. As much as I despise her parents, Thea will always have this connection to them, whether she wants it or not. She's got these expectations and rules enforced on her that my parents would never dream of imposing on me but are apparently quite normal for so much of the wizarding world. How can you fight something that everyone thinks is the norm?"

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Severus said, "But wasn't there a time where people like you being segregated was also 'the norm?' Last I checked that changed."

Simone scoffed, "Yeah, browbeating it into everybody that we were, you know, people. But that took ages to accomplish; I don't have that kind of time to help Thea."

"Well not with the legal or political methods, no," Severus conceded cryptically.

Simone eyed Severus carefully, "It's like you said, isn't it? Sometimes you have to compromise what you believe in to save those you care about."

Severus leaned back in his seat, gazing out into the murky greenish hues of the lake, "The muggle saying is 'The path to hell is paved with good intentions.' Arguably, the path to heaven, or rather what's good, is probably paved with many questionable choices, all done because ultimately the end result will be a good one."

Simone listened intently, carefully considering Severus's words.

"No one can live a life free of mistakes or tough choices," Severus told her, "You don't have to like every choice you make, or even want to do it, but if it will help those in need, I don't think it wrong to occasionally stray from the path of 'right' to do what's right."

"There's lawful good and chaotic good," Severus went on, "One follows the law, one follows the heart. What's legal isn't always what's fair, what's right; isn't always what's legal."

"What about Neutral good?" Simone asked.

Severus scoffed, "Indecisive fuckers, the lot of them."

Simone snorted, "I don't think you quite understand the alignments."

Severus smirked, "I know enough. Regardless, you know as well as I that you can't always stand by your principals. Principals are a good thing, something we shouldn't forsake or cast aside on a whim. However, when it comes to what's truly important to you, or whom, that's got to take priority over a moral compass. What good is having your principals intact if you lose everyone that matters to you in order to keep it?"

Simone looked down at the ground, studying the patterns in the rug.

"Listen, you've got a lot to think on," Severus said, standing up, "But you don't have to make any decisions right this minute. There's still several months of school left, Thea's safe for now. Just…give what I said some thought."

He dispersed the muffliato spell, the din of the common room returning.

"And for the record," Severus added, turning back to look at Simone once more, "Apology accepted."

{page break}

Severus rolled over restlessly in his sleeping bag, unable to sleep.

Residing in a dorm room with many boorish, slobbering halfwits was difficult enough with the snoring, the sleepy mumblings, and the ghastly flatulence, but at least Severus could rely on spells to block out the worst of it. Here in the Great Hall though, spellwork had been forbidden, professors roaming up and down between the rows of sleeping bags to check for any mischief. Stuck in a room with his entire House and their various sounds and smells was unbearable for Severus, and so sleep was not a possibility.

'I suppose I could ask for a potion,' Severus thought bitterly. He'd seen her douse a few younger students who were still too shaken from the earlier mayhem. As much as he loathed being magically put under—he'd had enough of that at St. Mungos—it wasn't like he had many options if he planned on a good night's sleep. Regardless of the fire, they still had classes the following day, though it would mostly be reviews so Slytherins could rewrite notes or homework lost in the blaze.

'I could use some water, first of all," Severus thought. Scooting out of his sleeping bag, he waved over a professor to request a trip to the loo. Once a prefect was assigned to escort him, they wandered off towards the nearest bathroom.

There was already a prefect standing guard outside the bathroom when they got there.

"You go back to the Hall," Severus's prefect—a girl named Ambrosia—stated, "I'll take them both back when they finish.

The first prefect tipped his head towards her, "Sounds good to me."

"Go on then," Ambrosia ordered, "Be quick about it. My shifts almost up and I'd like to get some sleep."

Severus rolled his eyes at her brusqueness and headed inside, only to stop short in the doorway.

"Regulus," he greeted politely.

"Snape," Regulus replied, toweling off his hands at the sink, "I trust you are well?"

"Been better," Severus said stepping further into the room, "Nearly burning alive isn't my favorite activity."

"I wouldn't expect it to be," Regulus said simply, "If you'll excuse me," he went to leave.

"Leaving so soon…Babbity?" Severus drawled.

Regulus froze. Rigidly, he slowly turned to face Severus, "What was that?"

Severus waved his wand, muffliato descending over them, "What's wrong, Babbity? House elf got your tongue?"

Regulus stared at Severus in shock.

"Oh yes," Severus said, "I know you sent that note."

Regulus gulped, "How did you—"

"Figure it out?" Severus interrupted, "Not an easy task, I assure you. Admittedly, once my suspicion turned to you I had my doubts," he wisely chose not to mention his friends' assistance at the moment, "It was the name you signed that baffled me, really? What could 'Babbity' have to do with you?"

Severus walked around Regulus, the younger boy looking considerably pale.

"And then it hit me," Severus said, coming to stop before the boy, "Babbity Rabbity. Rab…R.A.B…your initials. Most wouldn't have thought to think so obvious and childish…but that's what makes it perfect."

"So you know," Regulus spat.

"So I do," Severus said back, "The question is, what do you know?"

He pointed his wand at Regulus, "Legilimens!"

Instantly, a barrage of images assaulted his vision. A dark haired toddler holding a house elf's hand. A stern face woman refusing her child's hug. Bellatrix laughing as a man pointed his wand at a young Sirius, while a smaller, familiar looking boy cried in the corner.

Then came a different image, more focused, more defined.

A small, timid looking young house elf crept over to a blank section of wall in a hallway. Urgently yet hesitant, it waved over Regulus, before snapping its fingers and causing a section of the wall to open up, revealing a hidden room.

"Master would be cross with Dobby if he knew…" the little house elf said, "But Master Regulus is family now, it's not technically breaking rules…"

Dobby led Regulus into the room, up to a large wooden desk. Opening it, Dobby revealed a humble, plain leather book.

Severus recognized it immediately.

"Terrible things are coming to Hogwarts," Dobby warned, "Master wishes to bring terrible things to the students there. Dark days are coming...and they must be stopped before it's too late…"

Just as Dobby was resealing the room, Severus found himself being unceremoniously thrown out of the memory, finding himself sprawled out on the bathroom floor.

Regulus slumped against the sink, panting.

"So you know Legilimency," he panted.

Severus nodded, struggling to his feet, "And you know Occlumency."

Regulus shrugged, "I dabbled in a little of both."

"So do I" Severus said, "I take it your father taught you?"

"Mother actually," Regulus said, catching his breath, "But clearly you were self-taught."

"Clearly," Severus said, "We don't all have people to teach us the Dark Arts."

"How unfortunately," Regulus drawled, drawing himself to his full height.

"You don't seem too fazed by having me in your head," Severus observed.

Regulus shrugged, "It's something one grows used to living around my mother and Bella. You could have just asked me, you know. You already know from the message that I'm on your side."

"All I know is you wanted me to find out about the diary," Severus pointed out, "I had no way of knowing whether you wanted me to destroy the diary, or hoped it would fall into my hands to control me."

"Fair point," Reg conceded, "So…what's it do anyway? Dobby wasn't precisely sure."

"Perhaps you should enlighten me on why it is you're helping me first," Severus suggested.

Regulus sighed, "You were right, okay…nothing good is going to come from joining You-Know-Who. I tried to tell myself that he means well, that it's all for the best but…his most favored lieutenant is Bellatrix, and she's crazy! Yet he favors her. He likes how cruel she can be. Bella isn't a part of the cause for the sake of wizards, to end the statue of secrecy. She just enjoys hurting people and he likes that about her!"

"You've met him then?" Severus inquired.

"Only briefly," Regulus confided, "He was at Rodolphus's house shortly after the wedding. Bellatrix hexed Kreacher to feel like he was on fire…everyone thought it was funny…even the Dark Lord."

"There's no better future for them in his new order," Severus stated, "Only more pain and cruelty."

Regulus nodded reluctantly.

"I see that now," he admitted sadly, "But I can't turn against him, not with my family involved."

"I know that book came from Him," Reg went on, "I thought, maybe you could figure out how to destroy it…or at least help me to."

"Considering the diary's been at the school since January, that's what we've been trying to do," Severus said bluntly.

Regulus's head snapped up, "What? It's here? How? And what's this 'We' business?"

"I'm not alone in my endeavors to destroy it," Severus explained, "As for how it got here, it would seem Lucius deemed it necessary to sneak onto Thea's person after her betrothal dinner. He means to open the Chamber of Secrets with it."

Regulus's eyes went wide, "The Chamber actually exists?!"

"Hurry up in there," came the angry voice of Ambrosia, "Don't think I won't come in to fish you out!"

"Later," Severus advised Regulus, dispersing his muffliato spell.

The pair stoically followed Ambrosia back to the Great Hall in silence, the older girl fuming to herself about a lack of beauty sleep.

When they all reached the Great Hall, Severus gave Regulus a slight nod, sending the boy on his way.

Ready to get some rest after so dramatic a day, Severus sought out Pomfrey for a sleeping draught.

Sooo...what did you all think of my convoluted explanation for the nickname Regulus used on his message all those chapters ago?

As I already explained, I couldn't put R.A.B. or else all of my readers would figure out who it was immediately. So I needed a different name. Aaaaaaand, I came up with Babbity. Fuck it.

I hope you guys like Simone's apology. That girl needed to accept she can't save the world and she can't have all the answers.

Review please.