Chapter 6: Let The Games Begin
He was gone. Severus had fled the room before Lauralie or any of the other onlookers could say another word. How could I have been so stupid? Why couldn't I have left it alone?
Lucius began to walk forward towards the stone door. But Lauralie caught his arm and tugged him back.
"No," she said. "Let me handle it."
"You mean like you handled things back there?" he growled, jabbing a finger back into the common room.
"This is my fault, let me fix it," she pleaded.
He stared at her. His light gray eye's meeting her dark black ones. She couldn't read his face. She never could. He was a very guarded person, as most Slytherins were. It was a trait she was slowly but surely picking up. She was still grasping the sleeve of his robes.
"Fine," he said. He stepped aside and let her pass.
She rushed out the door and into the dungeon corridor beyond it. The door sealed itself close behind her with the sound of rock scraping against rock. She looked down both directions of the hallway. One led deeper underground, to a great deal of unused classrooms, and the dungeons in which prisoners had been held when this had been an active castle, and not a school. The other direction led to the stairs that led into the Entrance Hall.
Lauralie hesitated, staring down the hall that led to the dungeons. She bit her lip. She didn't know where to go. Suddenly, she turned to head in the other direction, only to find herself walking through the Bloody Baron. It felt as if an ice cold bucket of water had been overturned on her head. She shivered in the sudden cold.
"Excuse me, dear," he said in his raspy voice.
"No, excuse me," she said, taking a nervous step back. The Bloody Baron was a fairly frightening ghost. He was tall, dark, and covered in silver bloodstains. "Mr. Baron, sir, you didn't happened to see a boy run by here, did you?"
"Why yes, a lad with black hair just ran up into the Entrance Hall, and out the front door," the Baron said. "I was wondering where he was wandering off to so quickly. But I rather like to mind my own business."
"Thanks!" she shouted over her shoulder, as she dashed down the corridor in the direction of the Entrance Hall.
The Bloody Baron was taken aback. He stood for a moment, watching her retreating back, before shaking his head. "Students," he muttered, and then walked through the stone wall to his left.
There's only one place out side he would go! What if he's not there? Then I'll keep looking.
Lauralie held a stitch that had developed in her side as she dashed past the lake, and over the hill to the Quidditch pitch. As she rounded around the locker rooms, she saw him. Severus was sitting midway up in the stands, his head in his hands. Lauralie felt relieved, her breathing was ragged and tired now.
She began to trudge slowly up the stands, but Severus didn't seem to notice. It wasn't till she was level with him that he even moved.
"Why have you come here?" he asked. "Want to try to hurt me some more?"
"Sev, you know I didn't mean to hurt you," she said. "I had no idea that your parents were…"
"Dead, you can say it," he hissed. "I know they're dead. And refusing to say the word won't change that."
"Severus, I am so sorry," she whispered. She was speaking to him in a hushed voice, as if he was on his death bed. He was beginning to find it quite annoying.
"Look, I'm fine," he snapped. "Now if you would be so kind as to go jump in the lake, and leave me alone."
Lauralie pulled back, stung. "I deserve that."
"But you still aren't leaving?"
"No, I'm not going to leave you like this," she said. "Friends don't do that."
"Friends don't make you relive the most horrible experience of you life," he breathed.
There was a long silence after this statement. But the words hung in the air. Lauralie was beginning to feel like she'd lost his friendship forever. Things will never be the same now.
It was Severus who finally broke the silence. "You're one of my best friends, Lauralie," he said. "This is not going to change that."
Lauralie stared at him. It seemed almost as if he had read her mind.
"My parents were good people," he said.
"Tell me about them."
"Well, Mum was a house-wife, she stayed at home and did work around the house, and looked after me," he said. "Dad? Dad was an accountant."
"Your parents were muggles?" she gasped. "I had no idea."
"No one knows. 'Cept Dumbledore, of course. Slytherin aren't exactly kind to Muggle-born students."
"But, I thought you hated Muggle-borns," she said. "I mean, you called Lily Evans a Mudblood on the train."
"You have to understand," he said, "I'm in Slytherin. These things are expected of me."
"No, no they aren't," Lauralie insisted. "You don't have to be cruel. You just have to be cunning. Slytherin doesn't equal mean."
"I know," he said.
"Severus, how did your parents die?"
"They were mauled," he said, "by werewolves."
"Oh, how horrible," she said, her hand over her mouth.
"Of course, this was before I knew about being a wizard," he said. "I was only eight at the time. But Dumbledore came anyway. He told me what I was. And he told me what had killed my parents. He said that he didn't see a point in lying to me. That lying would only make the truth hurt more when it was revealed. He's a wise man you know."
Lauralie nodded, feeling it would be better not to interrupt.
"He brought me here after that. And I stayed here until they could find a suitable place for me. A Muggle orphanage in London has been my home since then."
She couldn't think of anything to say to this. She felt sympathy welling up inside her. Before pausing to think about it she threw her arms around his neck.
"Oh, Severus. I had no idea. This is all my fault. I had no idea," she sobbed into his shoulder. "Can you forgive me? You're my best friend in the world. I am so, so sorry. Please believe me."
Severus was simply horrified. He patted her on the head. "Come on Lauralie, forget it," he said. "Please don't cry. Please, just stop. I forgive you."
"You do?" she whimpered.
"Yes, I do."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Halloween crept up on them with surprising speed. And it was with excitement that Lauralie and Narcissa trotted down the stairs from their dormitory that morning. They had streaks of orange and black running through their hair, and their cheeks were alight with sparkles. They were both wearing their black witch's hats, with orange and black ribbons woven around the brim.
They were not the first ones in the common room, despite how early they had rose.
Severus and Lucius were sitting in the chairs by the fire. They looked up as the girls entered the room.
"Love the look, girls," Ludo said, emerging from the stairs that led up to the boys dormitory. He walked over to the Slytherin bulletin board and pinned up the list.
They all threw themselves forward at once. Ludo only just managed to move out of the way.
Beaters: Ludovic Bagman and Marcus Crabbe
Chasers: Simon Goyle, Martin Bulstrode, and Patrick
Parkinson
Seeker: Lucius Malfoy
"You made it," Lauralie squealed, throwing her arms around Severus, and then Lucius.
"Awesome," Narcissa agreed. "And the first match is in two weeks against Ravenclaw."
"No problem there. Ravenclaw's team is horrible," Lucius announced.
And together they wandered down to the Great Hall for breakfast. It was decorated in its usual Halloween regalia. Live bats were fluttering across the enchanted ceiling. There were hundreds of glowing pumpkins, some large enough for Lauralie to crawl into, replacing the usual candles. They bathed the hall in an eerie orange light.
Lauralie caught snatches of people's conversations as the walked to their table. Out of them she singled out the voices of her brother and his friends.
"Congratulations, James," Lily was squealing. "Gryffindor seeker."
"And Sirius is Chaser," Remus added.
"Shhh," James hissed, "Gilderoy reckons we should keep it a secret. Don't want it getting around to the other teams who they will be playing against until they're on the pitch."
"Our first match will be against Slytherin, too," Sirius whispered. "They play Ravenclaw in a couple of weeks. Then they play us, just after Christmas."
Lauralie's mind was reeling as she sat down. She looked up and realized Rita Skeeter was sitting just across from her. Lauralie smiled. It couldn't have been more perfect timing.
"Hey Rita, you'll never guess what I just heard!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The match with Ravenclaw rushed up to meet the Slytherins at a surprising pace. Two weeks became one. One week became two days. And then the day had arrived. The first year Slytherins sat in History of Magic, bored out of their minds. Katia was absentmindedly chewing on the end of her quill. Anastasia was doodling little broomsticks and snitches all over her notes. Narcissa was gazing fixedly out the window and across the grounds to where the Quidditch pitch was.
Lauralie couldn't say she was much better. She anxiously awaited the magical chime that indicated class was over. In fact, she was so caught up in a daydream in which Slytherin steamrollered Ravenclaw that she didn't realize it was time to go until Katia poked her in the back.
"Come on, I want to get good seats," she hissed, and led the way out of the stuffy classroom.
The stands on the Quidditch fields were packed. They were splattered with the colors of blue, for the Ravenclaw supporters, and green, for the Slytherin supporters. All four girls had green and silver scarves tied around their necks.
The found seats near the top of the stands, where they'd have a great view.
"Hullo, Lauralie."
She turned around to see Sirius and the rest of his band of Gryffindors sitting in the row behind her.
"Are you speaking to me again, brother?" she asked.
"You wouldn't happen to know the origin of the rumor spreading around school about who made the Gryffindor Quidditch team, would you?" Sirius asked.
Anastasia stifled a snigger. Lauralie elbowed her in the side.
"I haven't the foggiest idea what you are talking about," she said.
"Funny, Rita said she heard it all from you," he said, frowning.
"How odd," Lauralie commented.
"Just because you're in Slytherin doesn't mean you have to act like one," he hissed.
"Oh, silly me. How dare I act like a Slytherin, when I am one," she laughed a laugh that did not reach her black eyes.
Sirius fell silent. And Lauralie turned back to her friends, who were now sniggering wildly.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, Professors and Students, I present to you the Ravenclaw team," shouted the announcer through his magic megaphone. Max Jordan was a Gryffindor fourth year, and Quidditch announcer for all of the House matched. "Perkins, Diggory, Mullet, Moran, Finch, Washington, a-a-and Chang."
Seven players dressed in blue Quidditch robes strolled onto the pitch.
"Now, I present to you, the Slytherin house Quidditch team! "Bagman, Crabbe, Goyle, Bulstrode, Parkinson, Snape, a-a-and Malfoy!"
The girls were shouting, but Lauralie could still hear her brother scoff behind her.
"They let Snape on the team?" he snarled. "We'll be able to beat them no problem!"
Lauralie ignored the flash of red that had shot across her vision, and instead focused on the pitch. She watched as the two captains, Ludo Bagman and Amos Diggory, shook hands. And then, in a blur of blue and green, they were off.
"Most excellent. Ravenclaw is in possession. Mullet passes
to Finch who passes to Moran. Moran goes for the goal… blocked! Perfect block
by Slytherin Keeper Severus Snape." ("Go Sevi!" the girls shouted.) "Slytherin
in possession. Parkinson passes to Bulstrode. Oh no! Intercepted by Chaser
Finch. FINCH THAT'S A BLUDGER!"
The girls watched as David Finch did a corkscrew to avoid the Bludger, dropping the Quaffle, which was soon plucked out of the air by Goyle.
"Slytherin in possession again. Goyle moves forward. Washington flies forward to meet him and… Goyle drops the Quaffle to Bulstrode who scores. SLYTHERIN 10, RAVENCLAW 0!"
Cheers emanated from the green clad supporters. They were so distracted in fact that it took them a moment to realize what was now happening. The girls gasped as Lucius went into a daring dive, speeding towards the ground. His right arm stretched forward, and his fingers closed around the Golden Snitch.
Next chapter: Party in the Slytherin common
room. The Slytherin Quidditch team begins to prepare for their match against
Gryffindor.