Chapter
Five
As
Halloween approached, Snape grew increasingly nervous. He found himself
unusually temperamental, and took fifty points away from Gryffindor when Fred
and George Weasley began to sing, "Snape and Cassandra, sitting in a
tree…"
Somehow
the students had found out about his love interest, and some of them, such as
the Weasley boys and their compatriot Lee Jordan, were teasing him endlessly
about it. He wondered briefly if Dr. Oliver, who had grown close to these
Gryffindor first-years, had told them. Surely she wouldn't do such
a thing…would she?
He
tried to put the thought out of his mind. We're
friends now, he reminded himself, and
friends don't accuse each other needlessly. Yes, he
could now claim that he had a friend, at least in Dr. Oliver, whom he had been
meeting for jogging every morning since the day he had asked Cassandra to the
party, and he was enjoying every minute of their philosophical discussions.
They would range from nihilism to solipsism, from ontology to metaphysics
proper, and anything else the two cared to talk about.
It
wasn't all
philosophy. Snape found himself sharing things with Sylvia that he had never
told another person, and felt much less burdened for getting them off his
chest. It was good to have a friend.
He
found Sylvia very mysterious and close-lipped on topics such as her past, her
family (even old Ulysses and Grayson), and her love life. There seemed to be
little she would tell him but he refused to let this cloud their friendship and
figured that if she wanted to let him do the talking and her do the listening
it didn't bother him that much.
On
Halloween morning, Snape awoke with the anticipation of a small child on
Christmas Day. He hastily showered, forced a comb through his hair, and forced
it into a low ponytail. The mirror said sleepily, "Don't you
look nice, dear."
"Thanks," he
replied, conjuring up a (long-sleeved) t-shirt, shorts, and tennis shoes. He
was going jogging with Sylvia before he dressed in his robes.
"Howdy," she said
as she met him right outside the large front doors of the castle.
He
cringed at the Americanism, but added, "Hello," and they
were off, jogging comfortably around the grounds.
As
they passed by the Whomping Willow, he felt a trickle of hatred seeping into
his veins as he remembered the night that Sirius Black and his cohorts had
played their cruel joke on him.
"Do you
know why that was planted?" he asked, a little out of breath, as they passed by the
tree.
"Yes," she said
simply, without further elaboration.
He
was a little taken aback, but added, "Do you know why I hate that tree?"
She
looked at him piercingly as if she did know, but then answered, "Tell me."
So,
with a few pauses every now and then to catch his breath, he told her the story
of what Black, Potter, Pettigrew, and Lupin had done to him that night. "And I
hate all of them," he said vehemently at the end.
"Surely
you can't mean it," she answered.
He
gaped at her. "Not mean it? Sylvia, do you understand what they did to me?
They tried to KILL me, damn it! You can't expect me to love someone for
doing that to me."
"They
couldn't have all wanted to kill you. I don't think
Remus…er…Lupin had
anything to do with the plot, and James tipped you off. Pettigrew wasn't even
involved. And you can't imagine that Sirius, God bless his soul, knew what he was
getting you into."
He
shook his head at her. "You don't understand, do you, Sylvia? They all hated me. Everyday,
they would look for new opportunities to mock me, to show me up. I will never
forgive them!" he spat.
She
bit her lip a little nervously. "Tonight's party
should be interesting," she said.
He
thought she was trying to change the subject, and was glad. "I know," he
replied, almost happily. "Can you believe that Cassandra is coming with me?"
"Yes, I
can believe it, Sevy," she said cheerfully. "After all, you are a handsome
man."
This
evoked a chuckle from him. "You don't have to lie to be nice, Sylvia, whether they do so in the
South or not!"
"I would
never," she mock-protested, and, laughing, sprinted up the stairs
into the castle.
***
Snape,
dressed to the nines in his nicest black robes, walked down the hall excitedly,
heading towards Dr. Oliver's room. He wanted to make sure he passed the good hygiene
test before he ventured to find Cassandra. He felt as if nothing could curb his
good mood, on which point he was grossly mistaken.
Walking
around the corner enthusiastically, he suddenly froze, horrified. Sylvia was
standing in the hall, talking closely to none other than Remus Lupin, patched
robes and all. In fact, they were doing more than just talking. He distinctly
saw Lupin bend his face down to kiss Sylvia. It was at this point that he could
literally feel his jaw dropping, and then a great boiling cauldron of hate
exploded in him and he surged forward.
"Remus," he said
nastily, walking towards the two, who separated guiltily. "Why not
tell me that you were in town? We could have had a welcoming party."
"Severus," Sylvia
said pleadingly, "a little restraint."
"I could
ask the same of him!" Snape snapped. "If you recall, Sylvia, he tried
to kill me."
"He did
nothing of the sort," she said defensively. "Remus wouldn't even
think of it."
"This is
why you were singing his praises earlier, isn't it? And I thought it was all
your saintliness and sweetness! Why didn't you tell me what was between
you two?"
Sylvia
opened her mouth angrily as if she was prepared to tell him in no uncertain
terms, but Lupin stopped her. "Perhaps I should speak with him, Sylv," he said
gently.
"By all
means," Snape replied, gesturing for him to continue.
"You see,
Sylvia and I have been together since I was very young. I'm
surprised you didn't know, Severus. It was back in the day of James and Lily's
wedding, before they…well…"
Snape
continued to stare at him coldly. He knew that Lupin had no idea what he had
been doing during those years, but somehow the thought made him feel guilty.
Perhaps he was too paranoid.
"But this
woman—she's not
even a witch! And she's from America!"
Lupin
smiled faintly. "She may not be a witch, Severus, but she's still
very powerful, you know, what with the…" He trailed off at the blank look
on Snape's face. "You do know, don't you?" He
turned to Sylvia. "You didn't tell him?"
"No one at
Hogwarts knows but Albus," she replied softly, giving Lupin a look that showed he was
going to be in some trouble later.
"Anyway," Lupin
continued, trying to save face, "she and I moved to America when I
was in my early twenties, back to her family. That's where
we've been
since."
"This is
just too much," Snape proclaimed, walking off quickly.
"No! Sevy!" Sylvia
called, running after him.
"Good
lord, Sylvia," he said, when they were in another corridor. "Couldn't you
have told me this? You know, when you said we were friends? Don't you
know what that man is?"
"He's nothing
worse than what you are!" she said angrily, and he watched, almost in slow motion,
as she grabbed his left forearm. But she didn't lift up the sleeve. Had she
simply reached for him in anger, and touched him by coincidence?
Then
he winced, and gave her a look of wide-eyed terror. The Dark Mark burned when
she touched it! What was she? Who was she? In the midst of his terror, he only
half-noticed that she too grimaced as if in pain, her hand clutched over her
heart. "Get…away…from…me," he said weakly.
"I can
explain," she answered, her eyes pleading.
"I can't imagine
that you could," he replied, his eyes like ice.
"You're right,
I can't really.
Not now, anyway. But understand me, Sevy, I don't want to hurt you. Please
understand that. Forgive Remus, and forgive me. And come to my party tonight."
"I will
come to your party tonight," he responded coolly, "But not because you are forgiven." And with
that, he swept off down the hall, lifting up his sleeve to see where the dark
mark had burned black.
****
Okay, I promise I'll explain what in the world is going on with Dr. Oliver, but don't get too far on the edge of your seat, because it might be a while before Snape finds out who and what she is. By the way, thanks to Rosmerta, Hermione Williams, the invaluable Severa, Himitsu Natsume, Eowyn Star, Poltergeist, and Raistlin Majere for your reviews. They mean so much to me! And I will definitely get the philosopher's song in here soon!
