Why does it rain (snow!!!) on Knockturn Alley?

Chapter 4: O, Come all ye Faithful



"Sirius, there is nothing you can do, we don't even know if it's the same wizard"

"It's the same wizard. He uses the exact same mark. How dare he come here? If I ever see him, I'll tear him limb for limb, then chomp him into little pieces, then burn them, and then I'll jump all over them."

"Sirius, don't be ridiculous. He's much to dangerous."

"Remus, don't tell me how dangerous he is. I know exactly how dangerous he is, and that is why he deserves it, along with all his slimy snakes."

As Rebecca Wilkes walked past the enraged Gryffindor and his friends on her way to the Hogwart's Express, they leered at her. Now it was her fault. Yeah, right. Slytherin is the root of all evil. Guilt by association, a silly Ministry official, from the office of Muggle Relations no less, gets himself killed by an unknown curse and suddenly everyone was on edge.

So they were worried about that attack? Sirius Black was obviously surprised and angry while the rest of his group were just plain shocked. It shouldn't have surprised them. No, not at all. It didn't surprise her. What had they been doing, living under a rock? Of course, that was precisely where they thought she lived, probably the exact same rock as this new dark wizard, but that was beside the point. What was the point was that the dark wizardry that had been plaguing Eastern Europe, where it had only been a remote threat, had recently started appearing in England. She had known, or suspected, it was coming, from various whispers of her parents' friends and talks in the Slytherin common room. Now that the first public attack had taken place, everyone was surprised, at least the Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, Gryffindors, staff, and Ministry of Magic were surprised; and what was more they were surprised that the Slytherins weren't. Blind as bats they were. Rebecca walked into the compartment where her friends were expecting an interesting Christmas.

"Hey, Becca- did you hear about the attack? It's about time we started setting things right." Evan Rosier was a little too enthusiastic about it, but of course that was what we were all thinking. This strange Dark Wizard would set everything right.

"Evan, we shouldn't seem to pleased about these things, the rest of the school already associates Slytherin with the attacks." Severus whispered. Which was of course true, but she got the impression that he wasn't exactly happy about the attacks. Often, Severus was more reserved about these things than Evan and Martin. Probably just afraid of his mother, the coward. After that Howler he was being noticeably better behaved.

"Yeah, we shouldn't draw suspicion." Martin smirked. "Who wants to play a game of Snap?" Just what we need, a distraction. People will come looking for the big bad dark wizards, and find us playing cards.

"I'll deal"

***

This Christmas is going to be unbelievably boring! Staying with mum in her new muggle apartment, while she goes to work her muggle job and wandering through muggle London. She'd better not try to make me dress in muggle clothing! I've seen some of the things they wear. Bell-Bottoms, mood-rings and tie-dyed t-shirts. Absolutely no taste. In addition, I'm going to have to face endless hours of her fretting over me and the 'negative influences' and 'bad choices' in my life. And on top of all of this, she'll be running herself ragged about the recent attack. Oh, well. At least he'd escape Lucius.

Ouch! Why do we always have to play Exploding Snap? He really didn't like it when he got singed playing this game. What about Gobstones, or chess, or something else?

"Ha, I won." Martin says.

"Lets play again." Evan has obviously gotten into not attracting attention. Good. Attract as little suspicion as possible. One of the cardinal rules of the dark arts, my father had taught me. That way, you won't get caught. That was precisely what was so worrisome about this new dark wizard; he didn't care about getting caught. Left his calling card and everything. A skull with a serpent crawling out of his mouth. No wonder they associated the attack with Slytherin.

***

"Can't find mom either, huh." Now that was stupid, Cassius. We had been standing here on the platform for half an hour waiting for mum, and he knew we hadn't found her yet. Pointless mundane chitchat, but he was speaking to me. Usually he would just ignore me. Stuck at a train station, with Cassius, waiting for mum. To take us for a month among the muggles. Why hadn't I stayed at Hogwarts over Christmas?

"Nope." Now where can she be though? Being this late meant something was wrong. Mum could be hurt, or maybe Anastasia. Please don't let it be Anastasia, she's the only person left in this family that doesn't think I'm evil, does she?

"Cassius, why don't you send her a note with your owl. That way we can see if anything is wrong and..."

"Excuse me, you wouldn't happen to be young mister Snape, would you?" Strange man in a train station asking whether I'm me or not. Now I'm really worried.

"Yes, I'm Cassius Snape, and this is my brother Severus. Why do you ask?" Stupid Cassius, you actually answered him before you figured out what he wanted. Now it will be hard to get away if this is trouble.

"I'm Mr. Blackletter. Your mother told me to come and get you at the train station and take you to your father's place for Christmas. Is everything in order?" Yeah right, mum wants us to spend Christmas with dad. But it does get us away from the muggles, so maybe I'll just let Cassius deal with it.

"Are you sure? I mean, last I heard they weren't talking to each other."

"Your mother wants to spend Christmas as a family, so if you would please follow me to somewhere a bit more private, we'll take a portkey out of here." Cassius turns to me to see what I think and I shrug and follow him. He looks like the type of person who would associate with father, and more importantly looks like the type of person you don't want to mess with. Besides, he probably really is going to take us to father's, whether mother asked him to or not.

***

Tonight it is really dumping, and it is cold enough that it has formed a mushy sleet, not quite rain, not quite snow. Mom is really here and so is Anastasia. Mr. Blackletter took us where he said he would, but I'm not sure if this was really Mum's idea. She just seems a little dazed.

"Severus, is there anything bothering you?" Why would dad suddenly be so thoughtful? Inquiring about my welfare, that was something new.

"Oh, nothing, just wondering why it rains here." I don't think he would really want to know about my trivial troubles in Slytherin or the annoying Gryffindors and I'm not sure if I can trust him with anything involving Mum's trance-like state so diversion is probably the best tactic.

"Provides cover. Better atmosphere for keeping secrets. Now go change into your dress robes, we're having important guests for dinner." So that was what this sudden episode of kindness was for, to get me dressed to impress his visitors. That was probably also why Mum is here also.

***

"Anastasia, stop fidgeting." Here we are waiting for dad's guests, and it all seems kind of strange. Rarely do we have guests here, and when we do it is usually on business and we must stay out of the way. Now he wanted to introduce us to his guest?

^Knock^

Dad goes and opens the door. Rena, the old witch from the potions shop walks in. I didn't know dad knew her well enough to invite her to dinner.

"How's business?"

"Could be better. Had the ministry come in today and they confiscated my supply of demonsflare, but they didn't find most of the good stuff, thankfully. They seemed a bit worried, after the attack you know. Have any of the others arrived?" Of course the ministry's worried, after the attack. Demonsflare, interesting.

"Just Mr. Blackletter, he's waiting in the sitting room. No one else but us and Mr. Riddle for dinner, anyways." Mr. Riddle, never heard of him before. So dad is inviting more complete strangers into the house. "You can go join him in the sitting room if you like."

"Thank you, Octavius. Without you, the cause would be nowhere, and don't forget it." Then she rudely ignores the rest of us and walks into the sitting room. What cause was she talking about?

^Knock^

"Oh, hello Tom." Tom. So this is the infamous Tom. A man with dark hair and shining eyes. Looks rather pale, but then I'm not exactly the healthiest looking person either. Riddle, so Tom's last name is Riddle.

"I told you not to call me that name, Octavius, you know how much I hate it." Dad leans over to whisper something in his ear. "...children...don't know... deMorte...dangerous" What? Something about death. And what don't we know. Why doesn't he like the name Tom?

"Ah, yes I forgot. You can call me Tom, then. And this must be Cassius. Congratulations on being head boy. Pity it wasn't for Slytherin. And little Anastasia, you're just as si... pretty as you mother. And Severus, I have heard so much about you. Such hopes for the future... Milificent, long time no see." And then he hugs my mother. And my mother hugs back. Strange, I thought she hated him. And what hopes for the future.



Disclaimer: A lot of the characters belong to JKR, others don't. The ones that do are protected by copyright, so I reject the right to make money off of them.

Review responses:

Blackletter: Thank you very much for that new spell name. I liked it more than reversio, so you got a cameo (if you hadn't noticed) And thank you again for beta-reading

Lucathia: Thanks, I did get back to the rain, and I probably will more later, but it probably is more symbolic than much else :) the rest I cannot divulge.

Sphinx: No, I'm sorry about the letter, it's to early for any redemption. While he might not have liked it, he's too proud to apologize or explain. You're pretty close with the philosophy, but he really doesn't buy into the pureblooded ideals that much, though he is proud of his heritage. As for being unclear, part of it is because he himself is a little unclear on what he really thinks.

Drummergirl: I change tenses?? The point of view changes are intentional and I am actually beginning to think I'm writing this better outside of Severus's point of view. Went back and changed the beginning of Chapter on a little so that from here on out when in first person it's Severus and when in third person it's not.