"Quod Me Nutruit, Me Destruit – Chapter 2"
By The Crystalline Temptress
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, the brilliant writer J.K. Rowling does. So don't sue me.
A/N: To those who commented on the first chapter, you also have my gratitude. It inspires one to write when people give their opinions on the written piece. I also would like to thank my beta readers for their patience in editing this chapter. This part was particularly problematic for some reason, but thankfully, my betas were able to help me sort it out. :)
Basically this chapter is when the plot shoves off. Most things won't be explained just yet, but I guess this is where I make everything really start.
This chapter focuses more on Harry, Ron and Hermione, with a bit of Snape in the beginning. As much as I hate leaving Severus out, that's how the plot goes. Don't worry; there'll be much, much more of him in chapter 3. :)
-----
The dungeon was stifling hot. Snape looked around groggily, trying to assess the situation. He was alone in the Potions dungeon, having fallen asleep after checking some test papers. Usually, the laboratory was freezing, especially during the winter season. Why was it scorching?
He glanced around and noticed with alarm that wisps of smoke had billowed forth from the crack beneath the oak door. Flashes of orange could be seen through the gaps between the wood.
The last thing he remembered was taking down the grades, then nothing.
Cursing himself for losing track of things, he grabbed his wand, pocketed it, and rushed to the doorway. Throwing the heavy panels open, he was assailed by the sight of everything smoldering in a great holocaust. The portraits were reduced to ashes, the beautiful tapestries down to nothing but pieces of burnt cloth.
The classrooms were empty; items were splayed around, as if abandoned in a rush.
Consoling himself that everyone else must be safe, Snape sprinted to the front doors leading to the outside. The flames nipped at his robes, singeing most of the material, while the heat penetrated his clothes, almost unbearable to his skin. The smoke made visibility near zero, and it seared his lungs painfully.
Finally reaching the entrance, he stumbled through the threshold and took in gulps of the clean, night air. The cool wind soothed his throat as he regained his breath.
"A minute too late," a cold voice remarked.
"You bastard . . . Have you no sense of loyalty to your own school?" Snape growled, choking on both his anger and of lack of oxygen. He reached into his pocket to pull out his wand, but the man was a second faster.
"Avada Kedavra!"
The words had sounded so real. Snape bolted upright, drenched in cold sweat. Heaving breaths to calm himself, he fell back on his bed, glancing at the stars outside his window. They twinkled brightly in the velvet sky that cloaked all of England. High in the heavens hung the crescent moon, peeping through a thick layer of clouds, while pristine flakes of snow drifted downward to canopy the castle in a blanket of sparkling white. Everything looked normal. Beautiful, even.
He shut his eyes and heaved a sigh of relief. It was just a dream.
"I know you hate staff meetings, but this is quite unusual."
Snape awoke from his stupor as McGonagall's voice interrupted his thoughts. He swore internally at having been caught drifting off. He was thinking about the dream again; the details seemed to dwell his mind.
The witch was looking at him severely, as if he were her student.
"What is?" he asked absently, cushioning his cheek upon his knuckles as he shook his head in annoyance.
"You don't usually stop listening to daydream," she replied. "Not when the topic is Sirius Black."
"Sirius Black?" His irritation swelled almost palpably. "Why is he the subject?" He glanced at the hourglass, cursing mentally in impatience as it showed ten in the morning. One more hour.
"This is odd as well; you haven't been keeping up with the news." McGonagall's mouth flattened into a thin line. Snape narrowed his eyes. She was obviously trying not to smile. Blasted woman. Why did such a difficult person have to be the head of his rival house?
She gestured to the front, where Dumbledore was conversing with the rest of the teachers.
"The accusations have come a bit late, don't you think?" Professor Sinistra was saying.
"I agree. Why didn't they say it earlier?" Professor Flitwick nodded.
"I guess tha' they thought it was obvious," Hagrid shrugged, although he looked worried. "Like with me an' my bein' half-breed." He never talked about the subject freely unless the situation was of importance, and obviously this one was.
"They never should have let him escape," Professor Trelawney remarked in that misty voice of hers. "I foresee that much destruction is to come about, because of this rumor. . . ."
"Isn't that apparent?" McGonagall snapped.
"This is sad; it just had to happen before the trip to Hogsmeade. . . ." Professor Sprout sighed.
"Sirius Black, a Death Eater?" Professor Flitwick shook his head.
Snape nearly jumped out of his chair. That was preposterous!
The work of either a lunatic or a genius, he thought as confusion wormed its way into his mind. Of course, it all made sense. When Black escaped from Azkaban, everyone knew that he was a criminal thought to be on Voldemort's side, but no one had actually stated out loud that he was a Death Eater. Now that someone had said that he could be one, it would cause a bigger stir. The question was . . . Why at that point in time? What was the purpose?
"We must stay alert." Dumbledore shook his head, his eyes uncharacteristically subdued as he peered at the teachers from behind his spectacles.
It was a beautiful Saturday morning with the prospect of Christmas vacation fresh in the students' minds. A few groups of students milled about in the common rooms, while others proceeded to the great hall to have breakfast.
"Thank goodness there's nothing to worry about anymore," Harry yawned as they walked down the staircase. "All exams are finished, and all we'll have to do is wait for the results."
"I'm so excited," Ron muttered sarcastically.
"If you had studied, then you wouldn't be griping so much right now," Hermione lectured, bracing her hands on her hips. "But anyway, I won't waste my time on trying to convince you to actually study."
They reached the great hall, settled down into their house table and began to eat their breakfasts at a leisurely pace.
"Here comes the mail," Hermione said as the rush of owls flew over their heads, dropping parcels into the laps or into the food of their owners. An owl nearly released the subscription of Hermione's Daily Prophet into Harry's bacon and eggs; luckily he had caught it and saved it from splattering his breakfast.
The headline immediately caught his eye.
"Sirius Black accused of being Death Eater?" he retorted dubiously.
Hermione and Ron looked at him in surprise. They both clamored to get the newspaper from him, Ron winning because he was a head taller than Hermione. They spread the front page out on the table and read it hastily.
"Someone raided the Ministry of Magic last night, and the dossier of Sirius Black was taken?" Hermione shook her head in disbelief. "The files on the Death Eaters as well . . . It all makes sense, why he's thought to be one of them. It rarely is coincidence that one would erase his own name with the names of the accused Death Eaters, unless he was on their side. If he did do this, then he was blatantly declaring to the world that he was one of them!"
"I don't believe this." Harry's eyes flashed in anger. "Sirius wouldn't do this! He's not on Voldemort's side!"
"Don't say You-Know-Who's name!" Ron hissed.
"We know that," Hermione replied edgily in unison with Ron's fearful comment.
"Maybe they just want to ruin his reputation," Ron suggested, his face paler than usual.
"His name is bad enough as it is," Harry said exasperatedly.
Each of them looked equally shaken as the other. "I think . . ." Hermione said carefully, "that this is a hoax to frame him. To those who don't know the truth about Sirius, this all makes sense. But to us . . . We know otherwise."
"You're right," Harry nodded. "But what do we do?"
"Write to Sirius," Hermione suggested. Harry nodded and hurriedly dug into his bag and pockets for parchment, ink and a quill. He scribbled a letter to his godfather, asking if Sirius knew about the happenings, and what the older man was going to do about it. After finishing, they headed to the Owlery and sent the note off on Hedwig.
Harry watched the snowy owl anxiously as it took flight. "What do you suppose is going to happen?" he asked.
His two friends looked at him helplessly.
The three spent the entire day and the next morning thinking about the situation. It seemed to them that waiting for Sirius' response was nothing short of letting him get arrested.
"What if they put him back in Azkaban?" Harry said worriedly as they prepared for Hogsmeade.
Hermione knew that Harry valued Sirius' freedom, because earlier on, Sirius had told Harry that he would be taking the boy in when his name was cleared. But really, Harry's nervousness was making him exaggerate things a bit.
"Will you be patient?" she admonished, although she searched the clear skies for Hedwig as well. "Complaining about it won't get you anywhere."
"I just feel like we have to do something," Harry insisted as he scanned the article yet again.
"Want to play a game of chess to take your mind off it?" Ron proposed as he spotted his brothers, Fred and George, finish their game.
Harry looked incredibly relieved for a distraction. "Sure," he agreed, and with a quick word to Hermione, they went to the board.
This is all very suspicious, Hermione thought as she reread the paper. It was easier for her to think when the two boys were away; there were usually fewer disturbances and less noise.
But she didn't have as much time as she would've wanted to have, because at that very moment, Professor McGonagall came in and declared that everyone going to Hogsmeade was to proceed to the great hall.
They toured around the village, enjoying themselves and pushing the matter of Sirius Black out of their minds for a while. But a hushed murmur returned the issue to their heads, as well as a new suspicion.
"This is really good," Ron said happily as he chewed on a licorice lollipop from Honeydukes. The three of them strolled down the sidewalks, contented with their purchases and savoring the momentary freedom.
"It's great, their new supplies," Harry agreed as he ate a sugared cinnamon quill.
"Why don't we stop by the Three Broomsticks for some butterbeer? We could really use some now," Hermione suggested, noticing that all of them were flushed with the cold.
"Good idea," Ron grinned, and they took the next turn, which lead to the tavern.
As they were making their way down the street, they ran across an odd looking pair with a very interesting conversation.
"If you ask me, I'm surprised that they haven't figured it out before," the shorter and older man of the two whispered, his dark blue eyes darting to and fro nervously. "I mean, if Sirius Black was on the side of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, wouldn't it be obvious that he's a Death Eater? He's probably the leader of the lot!"
Hermione caught Harry's eye as they listened. Ron tapped their shoulders, and they slowed their walk.
"I heard that they spotted a ripped part of his dossier in the Moonshine Tavern," the other one said. He looked calmer in comparison to his partner, yet somehow more stressed. "You know that place has a bad reputation. The people there must be keeping it quiet, lest the Ministry of Magic get a wind of it."
"Moonshine Tavern," Hermione muttered aloud as the two men disappeared behind the corner.
"Have you heard of that place?" Ron asked in puzzlement.
Hermione shook her head. "Is that even here in Hogsmeade?"
"We can't exactly ask, can we?" Harry said in annoyance. "That would make us look suspicious, and it wouldn't help Sirius' case if we were discovered to be linked to him one way or the other."
"Maybe we could search the entire town," Ron said hopefully.
"Right," Hermione replied, raising an eyebrow. "Be practical. That would take us two days, at the least."
"Here's an idea," Harry cleared his throat, glancing back and forth between the two of them. "Since this Moonshine Tavern is something we haven't heard of, it's probably in the lesser known parts of Hogsmeade, if it's even here. We could search around the outskirts, and if we find it, we're lucky. And besides, we could still sneak out using my invisibility cloak and the trapdoor leading to Honeydukes."
"Besides, Hogsmeade isn't that big," Ron said dubiously.
"We have about four hours before we have to return to school. Do we start now?" Hermione questioned, glancing at her watch.
"We might as well. We're close enough to the edges of the village anyway," Ron shrugged.
Strengthening their resolves, they hurried on their way, skipping their visit to the Three Broomsticks.
After walking for some time, they still hadn't found the bar they were looking for. Dusk had come, and the horizon had already darkened to the inky black of night.
Exhausted, flustered and frustrated, the three sat on benches that lined the road, sighing tiredly as they rested their aching feet.
"We haven't gotten anywhere. We've only spotted one tavern, and no one was in it except for some old guy sipping tea." Ron's expression was one of disappointment.
"We've only gone halfway," Harry encouraged them as he regained his breath. They had chosen to run the last few blocks, thereby enervating themselves further.
"If only we knew how to Apparate," Ron complained, wincing as he rubbed his calves. "We could just return to the entrance of Hogsmeade without that much work."
"Maybe we should start heading back," Hermione exhaled sharply as she stood again. "We could try again tomorrow."
"Let's just finish looking at this block, then let's walk back," Harry said.
They strode down the last bend. What they saw was a dead end.
"Smashing." Ron's statement dripped sarcasm. "All those extra steps for nothing . . ."
"Wait." Hermione stepped forward, eyeing the brick wall before her. "Maybe this is like Diagon Alley; you need some sort of code or something . . ." She inched forward, examining the barrier.
When she placed her hand on the center of the partition, the surface glowed bright red. Hermione jerked her palm back in surprise, hurriedly taking a few steps back. Harry and Ron came forward, looking at what had happened in curiosity. The crimson light formed words: Access Denied. Underage.
"What?!" Ron yelled. "All that work, to discover that we're underage?" He looked about ready to murder.
"Do you suppose that this is Moonshine Tavern?" Harry questioned skeptically. "What if it isn't? Or what if the rumor we followed wasn't even true?"
"For heaven's sake," Hermione snapped. "We did not walk all that way just for nothing. We're going to find out. And if the rumor isn't true, maybe we can still gather some information from this Moonshine Tavern. There's bound to be gossip we can dig up at a bar." She ran her fingers agitatedly through her hair and observed the wall again. The words had already faded.
"Look, this isn't that far from the Three Broomsticks," Harry piped up as he peered past the shop to their right. "We could just go straight ahead from here, and four more streets and we're there." He pointed at a dingy alleyway.
"Better than walking all that way," Ron answered scathingly. "Now, let's take that shortcut so we can get back to Hogwarts without being late."
As they returned to their meeting point with the rest of the Hogwarts contingent, they pondered how they could possibly get in.
"I don't think that we should use an aging potion," Hermione said, swiping her hand in the air. "We'll have to take that at an hourly basis, like a Polyjuice Potion. The more you take, the older you get, but only for an hour. The amount of potion has nothing to do with how long it is in effect."
"So, what do we do now?" Ron inquired crossly, apparently still irritated at having to walk such a long distance back.
"I'll research on it," Hermione offered tiredly. "And Harry, I don't think it's such a good idea for you to come along. . . ."
"Why not?" he asked indignantly.
"Because you're you," Hermione answered impatiently. "Even if you looked older, you'd still look like Harry Potter. You'd most likely get yourself in trouble, especially if you were discovered to be searching for Sirius. Imagine what that would cost your reputation and his." She interrupted him as he was about to open his mouth to argue. "If you're not worrying about how much trouble it would bring you, think of how much it would bring to Sirius."
"She's got a point," Ron agreed reluctantly, exhaling in relief as they passed the last street.
"Oh, all right," Harry said bracingly. "But I'd still like to help."
"Then help us research," Hermione said.
"Us?" Ron interrupted.
"Yes, us," she affirmed, fixing him with a stern glare. He relented with much vocal protests.
-----
A/N: For some reason, I had a lot of difficulty with this chapter. *Sigh* Hopefully, the coming of the next chapters will be smoother.
I chose "moonshine" for the name of the tavern because it all fits in. It can mean: 1.) Moonlight; 2.) Nonsense; or 3.) Illegally distilled whiskey. Take a pick. :)