Good Snake
Slytherin's final Quidditch match against Hufflepuff was just two weeks away. No one was feeling particularly anxious about it. Slytherin was in such a good position going into the game that even Parkinson was beginning to relax. So much so that he organised a team bonding session in the Three Broomsticks during the spring Hogsmeade weekend.
The whole team was sitting at the back of the pub, trying very hard not to celebrate their victory prematurely. Macmillan and Burke were in the middle of a heated argument about the firing of the Chudley Cannon's manager. Sick of listening to them, Parkinson turned to Claudia.
"Which team do you support, Avery?" He asked. Macmillan laughed.
"Better not be the Tornadoes, like your brother." He said. Claudia shook her head.
"Hollyhead Harpies." She said. It was Parkinson who was chuckling now.
"No surprise there." He said. It took Claudia a while to understand. She never paid much attention to the fact she was the only girl on the team.
"So what? They're good." She shrugged.
Claudia's eyes floated towards Anthony, who was shifting uncomfortably. Macmillan poked him in the ribs.
"You don't like the Harpies, do you?" He said, jokingly. Anthony mumbled something inaudible. He clearly did not want to get into it.
"Why wouldn't you like them?" Burke pitched in.
"I just don't think that women should be playing professional Quidditch." Anthony said quietly, trying extremely hard not to look at Claudia. And rightly so. She was shocked!
"Why? Women can be as good at Quidditch, sometimes better!" She said, very sharply. The rest of the team fell silent. Some of them chuckled. She was not only the only girl on the team, she was also the youngest. And usually kept herself to herself around the rest of them.
"Well, I wouldn't want my wife doing that. It just would be very hard to play Quidditch and raise children at the same time." He replied, defending himself. He was, however, completely red in the face.
Claudia rolled her eyes. It was as if her mother had spoken. She opened her mouth to tell Anthony exactly how stupid he was, but Parkinson spoke first.
"That's enough. No more talk of Quidditch teams... This was supposed to be a team bonding session. And I would quite like a team at the end of it." He barked.
No one dared to argue with him. They finished their drinks and, one by one, the team began to disappear back to the castle.
"I think the Harpies are cool." Whispered Julius to Claudia, as they were walking out of the Three Broomsticks. She gave him a brief smile. She could not believe that she ever liked Anthony. All the feelings she ever had for him were gone in an instant. She was surprised how little it bothered her. If anything, it made her quite happy.
Claudia caught up with Alice at dinner that evening.
"How were your drinks?" Alice asked, seeing her friend grin, she continued. She sounded very eager. "Did you speak to Anthony?"
"Oh, I spoke to Anthony…" Claudia replied.
"And?" Alice could barely contain herself.
"And… he's a complete idiot. I literally could not care less about him anymore." Claudia said, smiling. Alice was not convinced.
"For real? You know how you sometimes have the tendency to dismiss people quite quickly…" She began to say, carefully. Claudia got usually quite annoyed when Alice pointed out her character flaws. But this time she laughed and began to recount their conversation in the Three Broomsticks.
"Fine, he's an idiot." Replied Alice, laughing with her.
Claudia could not wait to play that last game. It was her Birthday. All the pressure was gone, and she could fly freely. And it showed. She had an incredible game and Slytherin wiped the floor with Hufflepuff. It was still possible that Ravenclaw would overtake them, but only in the realm of mathematics. No one believed that it could happen in the real world. Even Slughorn's victory speech was bearable.
He caught up with Claudia afterwards.
"I've been very impressed, Miss Avery. Not just on the Quidditch pitch. But in the classroom too." He said. Claudia grinned and thank him. "You seem so much more confident this year. Keep it up and you'll do very well." Slughorn added and began to walk away.
She knew he meant it, but she could still sense a degree of uncertainty in his voice. Or perhaps surprise. Claudia swallowed hard.
"Professor… I am not my father." She said, without really knowing where it came from. The Quidditch result much have gone into her head.
Slughorn looked taken back for a moment but composed himself quickly. He smiled at her.
"Good." He whispered and disappeared into the crowd.
When she saw Slughorn in potions the next day, he acted noticeably warmer towards her. He even complimented a potion that Claudia knew full well was not her best. How could it, when she – and the rest of Slytherin – barely got a wink of sleep last night. She was pleased regardless.
It will sure be useful to have the good will of her head of house as she goes into her OWLs year, Claudia though to herself as she was packing up her things after potions.
As she turned to leave the classroom, she noticed Sirius waiting for her by the door.
"Did I see you eating birthday cake in the Great Hall earlier?" He asked with a cheeky smile. Claudia nodded. Sirius reached into his bag and handed her a leather-bound notebook.
Claudia opened it. It was blank.
"Thanks?" She said tentatively, unsure what kind of present it was. Sirius laughed.
"Take out your quill." He said and took out another, identical notebook. "Do you remember when I said we needed a better way of communicating?" He asked. Claudia did remember it very well. James seemed grumpy for days after he found that note she wrote to Sirius.
Sirius opened his notebook and scribbled something in it. Claudia still had no idea what he was getting at.
"Look into yours." He said with a smile. She did just that and to her astonishment, Sirius' handwriting had appeared on the first page.
It read 'Happy Birthday'.
"That's amazing. Does it really work?" Claudia asked. Sirius nodded. She took out her quill. She was going to replied with a simple 'thank you' but thought better of it - too predictable if it was a trick item. But could it really be the real thing? She had read about them… She began to write.
'Ta. I'm pretty sure these have been outlawed because of Grindelwald. Illegal merchandise – the best Birthday present a girl could ever want'.
Sirius looked into his notebook.
"So you know what this is then." He said, with a laugh.
"Where did you get this? I thought they were all destroyed." Asked Claudia, astonished that it had worked. Sirius shrugged.
"Not important… Do you have any plans for the day?" He asked, looking rather keen to change the subject. Claudia sighed.
"Library… It's the downside of having a Birthday so close to the start of exams." She whispered. They walked back to the library together. Even Sirius had to study eventually.
The demands of revision were truly relentless. Between studying and obsessing about the code to Slytherin's safe, Claudia did not know where the time went. Every day, she was in the library until it shut.
One evening, it was Transfiguration, Ancient Runes the next.
Suddenly, it hit her. She turned to Pauline, who top of the class in History of Magic.
"When did Slytherin teach here?" She asked. Pauline blinked couple of times.
"Until the beginning of the eleventh century, I think." Replied Pauline, before adding. "Panicking much about the exam?" Claudia barely heard her, she was halfway across the library, her trusted wheel in hand.
"It must be in Old English. I just need the dictionary. How stupid am I?! This is so obvious." She was muttering under her breath. She frantically searched the shelves in the Ancient Runes sections. She grabbed an Old English dictionary, hid at the end of the aisle and began searching.
"Have you lost your mind completely?" She heard Sirius' voice say. She looked up.
"Good. You're here. Didn't see you." She said quickly.
"You run right past me!" Sirius sniggered. "Muttering something about Old English?" He added, as he sat down next to Claudia.
"Must be. The timing fits. I want to go through some of the obvious words again." She said and shoved the dictionary into his hand.
"This is so tedious. Can't we just blast it?" Sirius asked, impatiently. Claudia shook her head. Sirius groaned, but began flicking through the dictionary again. They tried all the types of snakes, nothing. Pure-blood was too long.
"Hang on. Try this." Whispered Sirius and began spelling. "A-N-D-S-U-N-D-N-E-S." Claudia was turning the wheel as fast as she could.
It worked, the wheels lines up perfectly to spell this word.
They looked at each other.
"Purity." Whispered Sirius, before Claudia could even ask what it meant.
"See you in the dungeon in ten?" Claudia asked. Sirius nodded and disappeared. Claudia went back to her table, made some excuse, packed her things, and run to the dungeons as fast as she could.
Sirius was already there, waiting by the painting. They lied down next to the safe again, propping themselves on their elbows. Claudia began turning the mechanism on the safe. As she moved the last letter into place, the mechanism clicked, and the wheels began to disappear into each other. It was opening.
They both shuffled even closer to see inside.
"Bloody hell. There is a second door." Said Sirius angrily, looking at a metal snake curled around a knob. He reached for it and tried to pry it open forcefully. In an instant, the metal snake lifted its head and bit Sirius.
"Ouch!" He screamed, pulled away and began examining his finger. Claudia let out the tiniest laugh. Sirius shoot her an annoyed look. She grabbed his finger and looked at it closely.
"Relax. If it was really poisonous, you'd probably be dead by now." She said. Sirius did not look convinced.
"Impressive enchantment, though." Claudia said, as she moved even closer to look the snake. The floor underneath her creaked.
"Wonderful." Said Sirius sarcastically. Claudia paid little attention to him. She noticed that the snake's head was shinier than the rest of his body. She stroked it.
"Good snake." She whispered, mainly just to annoy Sirius, who was still sulking. To her astonishment, the snaked bowed and slithered away. Claudia pulled on the knob and the safe flew open.
"You've got to be kidding me." Said Sirius, in amazement. Claudia laughed and plunged her arm into the safe.
"Turns out, Slytherin had a sense of humour." She said as she searched the inside of the lopsided safe. And then she felt something. Something that was of a similar shape to the artefact in the picture. She grabbed it with her fingers and pulled it out. She could not believe her eyes. They had found it!
Sirius stopped sucking on his injured finger and looked first at the artefact and then at Claudia, who was examining the artefact in her hand.
"I thought it would be bigger." She said. Sirius chuckled.
"I have to confess... I was not even convinced it was real." He said, sounding fairly amazed. Claudia looked up at him. She must have been really happy, as she could not even come up with anything snarky in response. She smiled.
"Thanks for helping me anyway." She said, earnestly.
"Can I have a look?" Asked Sirius and shuffled closer to her. Claudia kept the artefact in her palm and put it under Sirius' nose. She did not quite feel like letting go of it completely.
"The runes around the edge must be the incantation." Sirius said, as he run his fingers around the outer edge of the artefact. Then, he moved his hand towards Claudia's fingers and closed them over the artefact.
"What now?" He asked, as he held her hand tight.
"Now, we destroy it." Said Claudia and began to crawl away from the edge of the hole. She scrambled to her feet. Sirius did not look convinced. If anything, he looked bit confused. Claudia laughed.
"Don't tell me you want to test it first?" She asked.
"Why not?" He shrugged when he too got on his feet. Claudia opened her mouth to protest, but this time it was Sirius who was laughing. "Relax, I'm only joking…" He said. Claudia closed her eyes and shook her head.
"Sometimes it's really hard to tell." She whispered.
They walked back through to Slytherin's study. Sirius surveyed the room.
"All the spells I know that could potentially work are too loud for here. We'll need to find somewhere else…" He said. Claudia put the artefact into her pocket.
"But not today." She said, yawning. "I need to sleep." She was so tired.
She could not remember the last time she did not wake up several times a night, having had a nightmare about the runes wheel.
A week or so went by, filled almost entirely by relentless revision. The only respite was the Gryffindor – Ravenclaw game that confirmed Slytherin as the winners of the Quidditch cup.
Claudia could not wait to finish her final exam, then she could celebrate properly. She was lying in bed, doing last minute revision for Charms. She moved around some parchment and noticed that the notebook she got from Sirius was covered in tree leaves. It could mean he had written something.
She opened it with anticipation. There were just two lines.
'Congratulations. Proud of you.'
'Please don't tell James I wrote this.'
Claudia chuckled. She picked up her quill.
'I'm counting on your support in next year's opener. Will get you a Slytherin shirt.'
She put the notebook away and tried to study but could not help by glance at it every thirty seconds. Eventually, the tree appeared again.
'Good grief. I cannot belief I'm friends with a Slytherin.'
She smiled to herself and begin writing again.
'Friends? Is that what we are now?'
She chewed the end of her quill, waiting for a response. None came for couple of minutes. Then, it appeared.
'Of course. Do you think I would get hit by a collapsing ceiling or bitten by a metal snake for someone who wasn't my friend?"
Claudia flicked through the blank pages, thinking what to write. She began to scribble again.
'A knight in shining armour you are… But that snake was your fault. Harmless if treated properly…'
She stared at the page for good few minutes and when nothing else appeared, she quickly added a 'good night', tugged the notebook under hew pillow, threw the rest of her books and papers on the floor and tried to go to sleep. Eventually, she managed it.
The next morning, as she was walking into her Charms exam, she could feel someone catch-up with her and whisper in her ear.
"No snake is ever harmless." It was Sirius. She turned to him and grinned.
"Me?" She pointed at herself and mouthed.
"You, least of all." Sirius chuckled. He looked around to make sure no one was listening to them. "I thought of a place. Meet by the gamekeeper's hut. Saturday at ten." He whispered.
"OK." Said Claudia, before adding. "Good luck in the exam." Sirius smirked.
"Won't need it." He whispered. Claudia shook her head. He really could be insufferable. She made her way to her desk and spotted Julius, who was sitting next to her and eyeing her suspiciously.
"Was he bothering you?" He asked.
"Who? Black?" Replied Claudia, trying to laugh it off. "Just Quidditch banter. Their lot is not taking it well." She added. Julius scoffed.
"Serves them right…" He just had the time to add before they were called to order.
On Saturday, Claudia met Sirius on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. She did not like the idea one bit. She hated magical creatures and was terrified of setting a foot in there. Not to mention that it was forbidden. It was literally in the name. But she sure was not going to admit her fears to Sirius. He would probably spend the whole day trying to scare her to death.
The grounds were still empty, as most students were enjoying a post-exam lie-in, and it was not difficult for them to slip into the forest unnoticed. They walked for about ten minutes before they got to a small forest clearing.
"Shall we?" Asked Sirius. Claudia looked around nervously.
"Fine." She mumbled and tossed the artefact to the ground.
They took turns trying all the spells that they knew or read upon.
"Expulso!"
"Reducto!"
"Confringo!"
Nothing worked. All they managed to do was to create a rather large crater in the forest floor. The artefact did not have a scratch on it.
"Can I try blasting it?" Asked Sirius, his eyes twinkling.
"Fine." Shrugged Claudia. She knew it was a stupid idea, but she had nothing better. And there was no point arguing with him.
"Bombarda Maxima!" Shouted Sirius. The force of the spell propelled the artefact into the nearby bushes. Sirius swore under his breath and run after it. Claudia followed him, furious.
They spent the next half an hour on their knees, searching manically for the artefact. No spell would summon it or reveal its location.
"Is it such a bad thing? You-Know-Who will never find it here." Said Sirius after a while.
"Keep looking." Barked Claudia. She was not going to lose it in some stupid bushes after spending the best part of the year searching for it.
"Should we try anything else?" Asked Sirius with a huge grin, holding the artefact in his hand. Claudia snatched it from him.
"Not a chance." She said, putting it in her pocket. She was desperate to get out of the forest.
"I'll keep looking over the summer. Maybe I'll stumble onto something again." She added. Suddenly, Sirius looked bit worried.
"Do you think that's a good idea? Taking it with you to your parents' house?" He asked. Claudia thought for a minute. It was smaller than the necromancy book and much easier to conceal.
"It'll be fine." She said, finally. Sirius did not look convinced.
"Promise to write to me if it ever looks like it's not going to be fine?" He asked. Claudia smirked.
"And what are you going to do? Come and rescue me?" She replied, sarcastically. Sirius did not laugh.
"Claude! Promise me." There was urgency in his voice.
"Fine." Claudia whispered. It was touching that he cared for her well-being, but she did not need another Alice in her life.
The school year was over.
Claudia was fighting her way through the packed aisle on the Hogwarts Express, the artefact carefully concealed on a chain around her neck. At first, she was bit disappointed that they did not manage to destroy it before the end of the year. But now that she had few days to think about it, she was almost glad.
She enjoyed looking for the artefact with Sirius. It was meaningful and he was good company. If they managed to destroy it, she would probably not get to talk to him at all. He was always up to something with his friends, or busy with his army of admirers. Just as she thought that, she saw him.
Lounging in a compartment with his fellow Gryffindors, a butterbeer in hand. He raised his bottle to her and winked. Claudia waved back at him discreetly, but clearly not discreetly enough. A girl sitting next to Sirius noticed her and was visibly bothered by this. She touched Sirius's arm and resumed talking to him. Claudia rolled her eyes. She had no idea who that was and was finding it increasingly difficult to keep up.
Maybe one day, he would realise he deserved better.