The first part of this is a little forced, I think, but the next parts are
better. So here it is.
Sasina (Sass for short) Chapter 9- Tale Of A Slytherin
Potions class. Sass got there bare seconds before Severus, sliding into a desk in the back. She hurriedly got her cauldron out, acting as if she was worried that Severus would see she had been late. She smiled a bit at Hermione as Severus swept in, giving no reason for his lateness and going immediately to the board to write down the ingredients of that lesson's potion. Hermione returned her smile, though she was pretty busy restraining Ron, who was struggling to get at Malfoy, who had apparently taken Severus' absence as an excuse to insult him again. Hermione suddenly whispered something in Ron's ear. He looked at Severus and suddenly stopped struggling.
Sass chuckled a bit as she got out her ingredients. No doubt Hermione had reminded Ron of his punishment if he attacked Malfoy in front of Severus. Then she bit her lip in an abrupt change of mood. Severus really was far too hard on the Gryffindors. Yes, the entire House of Slytherin was reviled by most of the world, and they had to get there own back in somewhere (and better in detentions than Death Eaters, she thought wryly, remembering the name of Voldemort's main supporters), but still. She shook her head and brewed her potion, though she wasn't completely able to shake the happiness her birthday presents had bestowed upon her.
Halfway through the lesson, Sass was surprised to see Hermione sit down beside her, cauldron and book bag in tow.
"Sass?" Hermione asked quietly.
"What is it?" Sass replied, looking up at the worry in Hermione's voice. "Is something wrong?"
"Well, it's just." Hermione looked anxiously back over at Ron and Harry, who apparently were deeply engrossed in whatever they were talking about, ". are you alright?"
That was /not/ what Sass had expected to hear Hermione say. She looked over to see if the older girl was joking, but her face was quite serious. She was worried!
"Er. why do you ask?" Sass was thinking, /Well, the truth is, I'm about as good as I've ever been in my life. I just got a birthday party, for goodness sake! But I probably shouldn't tell her that./
Hermione shrugged. "You seemed a little preoccupied and I was wondering if anything was wrong." /No, that's not true/, thought Sass. /She didn't come over here just because I'm 'preoccupied.' Which I am, I guess. She really thinks something's wrong with me! Whatever./
"Well," Sass said, deciding to go for partial truth, "my birthday was yesterday and I'm thinking about the presents I got. I'm not upset or anything, I'm just not paying much attention." She /didn't/ say, 'like I usually do.'
Hermione looked over at her in surprise, distracted from Sass' 'problems.' "Why didn't you tell me? I would've gotten you something!"
"You would've?" The words jumped out of Sass' mouth before she could stop them. /Great/, she thought, /that's just what I need. Hermione convinced that I'm abused and need comforting. Well, I was abused, but I don't need comforting. Not from her at least./
Hermione frowned. "Yes, I would've. I mean, we're friends, right?"
"Yeah, yeah, sorry. It's just. I didn't think you'd be willing to show that much support for the Gryffindor leper." Sass glanced pointedly at the other students.
"You're not really that out of favor right now, you know," Hermione said, once again distracted from what she'd come to ask about. "Ever since that thing with Malfoy."
"Yeah, well just wait. I bet I do something in the next two weeks to get them disgusted with me again."
"You're on. Five sickles. And no cheating." Hermione grinned at Sass' surprise. "What, you think I don't like a chance as much as the next Gryffindor? But really- don't do something just to win." She smiled to take the bite off of it.
Sass raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't do that. Do you think I like having the whole school dumping on me? It's bad enough with the Gryffindors tentatively on my side." She sighed. "I don't have to attract hatred. I gather it to me just by existing."
* * * * *
Sass heard shouts up ahead in the corridor. It was two Wednesdays after she'd made her bet with Hermione, and Sass was headed to lunch after an easy Defense class about pixies.
Some of the people were laughing loudly, but there was one who was screaming with fury, suddenly cut off. /Sounds like bullying/, Sass thought. /But they picked on the wrong person. Whoever's over there is gonna rip their heads off as soon as he gets a chance/. She pushed her way through the crowd. /I hate bullying. The cowardly bastards, ganging up and beating on one person./ Then she made it close enough to the front to see who was doing what, and her face hardened in fury.
Some older Gryffindors had managed to put the body-bind curse on Severus and steal his wand, which was lying on the floor. They were now conjuring buckets of she-didn't-want-to-know-what and dumping them on his head. And since he couldn't see, they wouldn't even get in trouble for it! After all, no Gryffindor was going to turn them in. well, almost no Gryffindor.
Sass stooped down and grabbed Severus' wand. /Time to learn if that new spell Remus taught me actually works/, she thought. She drew her own wand and yelled, "STUPEFY!" A beam of red light shot out of her wand, hitting two of the perpetrators and knocking them out cold.
"Stupefy! /Stupefy! / STUPEFY!" When she was done, all Severus' attackers were laid out on the floor, and everyone in the hall was staring at her, their expressions a mix of amazement, fury, shock, and horror.
At the moment, she didn't care. She glared at all of them, kneeling down next to Severus and picking him up when she couldn't remember the counter- curse. She stalked out of the crowd towards Severus' office, and the black- robed students parted dumbly before her, still staring. She felt their eyes on her until she turned the corner, and then she heard the whispering begin. /Five sickles to me/, she thought. /They'll never forgive this. /
She hefted Severus into a more comfortable position on her shoulders. /He's a damned beanpole!/ she thought. /I know I'm strong, but I should not be able to lift someone a foot and a half taller than me!/
Fortunately, she didn't see anyone on her trek to her mentor's office. Once she got there, she had a chance to look through her books to find the counter to the full-body-bind. She performed it, and the first thing he did was wipe his mouth.
"Those /god-damne/d GRYFFINDORS! I am going to /kill them/!" He fumed, stalking into his personal chambers so he could clean off. "And then I am going to hunt down the sorry bastards who whelped them, and I will-" After a moment of shock, Sass hurriedly grabbed some parchment and started taking notes as he continued ranting, starting the shower running in the bathroom. She'd never heard the like of it, and she'd heard some pretty good stuff.
The tirade continued for the entire length of his shower, the only pauses being when he ducked his head to rinse it. About twenty minutes later, there was sudden silence, both in water and Severus' voice.
"You all right in there?" she called, a little tentatively. After all, she was a Gryffindor, and she had only seen him get this angry once, and then. well, it hadn't been pretty.
Severus exited the bathroom, one towel around his waist, and another around his long black hair. "I'm fine," he muttered, digging in his closet for clean clothes. "Just angry."
"Hah!" said Sass, unrolling the parchment. "You call this 'just angry'?"
He turned to look at what she was holding, saw what it was, and started to laugh. "Oh god," he said, sitting down on his bed and chuckling. "I was livid."
Sass went over and sat beside him. "Yup," she said. "You were pretty upset. But, er, you aren't, well, /really/ going to do all those things to those people, are you?"
He sighed, scowling. "No, I'm not. I'd like to let them know how it feels to have /crap/ shoved down their throats, though." He thought for a moment. "This is really one of the better pranks that's been pulled on me, though. I didn't even see who they were. And /that's/ what I really hate."
Sass smiled serenely. "Well, then it's lucky for you I Stunned them, and saw who they were, isn't it?"
"You /what/?" Severus sat up abruptly, staring at her. "You /Stunned/ them?"
Sass continued to smile. "Your class is not the only one where I pay attention," she said. "And Professor Lupin taught me a few tricks." She thought it best not to remind Severus how good of friends she and Remus were. He knew, but still. Severus shook his head. "You never cease to amaze me, Sass. So that was what the shouting was. I had my eyes closed. Who was it, then?"
"The Weasley twins, Mark Lassman, Isaac Tiernan, Lee Jordan, Nathan Pierson, and Sarah Lensar," Sass said promptly, naming the troublemaking clique of older Gryffindor boys, and one of their girlfriends. Severus coughed.
"I guess this must be about Lensar's detention, then," he said, surprised. "I didn't think it mattered so much to her."
"What?" said Sass.
"Oh, Lensar started doing her makeup in my class when I had my back turned, working on a potion that I'm brewing," he said. "I caught her and gave her detention to do on Saturday, during the Quidditch match, and I guessed that's what prompted," he gestured towards the bathroom, "this."
"You know Severus, you really are too hard on Griffin-" Sass started to say before Severus interrupted her.
"Dear god, you stink to high heaven, Sass! What did you do, carry me here?" he exclaimed.
She raised an eyebrow. "Well, yes, how else did you expect me to get you to your office?" she said.
He shrugged. "I don't know, just go take a shower. I'll get you some clean robes to wear." Sass started to ask /how/, exactly, he was going to get clothes from Gryffindor Tower, but she was too late. Severus was out the door.
Sass went and took a shower.
* * * * *
".And so, once again, I am the most hated student in the school," Sass finished as she explained to Myrtle. "So can I sleep here tonight? Well, actually, can I stay for about a week?"
"Of course!" said Myrtle. "You know you're welcome here any time. So has Hermione given you the money yet?"
Sass started. "I'd forgotten about our bet," she said. "I bet she was planning to give it to me at dinner tonight. Like I'd be stupid enough to go down there now! They'd probably find a way to dump dragon crap on me, too, and then get away with it." She sighed. "Well, they won't be able to do too much in classes, and I can finish the Invisibility Cloak right now, so they can't find me to do things any other time." Sass pulled the cloak from her bag, feeling her way to where she'd stopped sewing.
After a few minutes, Sass exclaimed, "I /hate/ this!"
Myrtle looked up, startled. "What? I thought Invisibility Cloaks were useful!"
Sass sighed, looking down through the Cloak at her lap. "No, not the Cloak. It's this," she gestured around the enlarged stall. "I hate having to hide away from everyone, having to sneak around in a /school/, for god's sake, so that I don't get hurt! Why does it matter if Severus and I are friends? What's it to them?" To Sass' surprise, tears started to leak out of her eyes. "I /hate/ bullies!"
Myrtle blinked, and Sass knew why. /I don't break down like this often/. "Don't feel too bad," the chubby girl said tentatively. "I know how mean people can be, and you're not alone in getting picked on." She smiled a little. "I know how it is."
Sass wiped the tears from her eyes. "Thanks," she said. "You know, I think I'll dance for a while. That always makes me feel better."
Myrtle's eyes widened. "Are you any good?" she said excitedly. "I've always wanted to learn to dance, but I-" she looked down at herself. "I'm too fat," she finished quietly. Sass shrugged. "Doesn't matter since you're a ghost," she said. "I dunno- can ghosts change their appearance?" She forced herself to be distracted, and not get all gloomy.
The other girl shrugged. "I dunno. We could try it, couldn't we?" Now she sounded hopeful, happy- like a normal teenage girl.
"Sure! No reason why you shouldn't be able to. Here, what do you want to learn?"
"Oohh, well, I've always thought jazz was so cool." and they were off.
* * * * *
Sass might hate skulking around the school, but skulk she did, and she snuck into Defense class early on Friday, knowing Remus was always in his classroom before classes, and he wouldn't let anyone get away with anything. Sass didn't care if she was missing her free afternoon, so long as it was prank-free.
But to her surprise, it was Severus sitting behind the desk that day, and not Remus. Then she quickly summed up the days in her head, and realized that it was the full moon, and Remus, as a werewolf, probably didn't feel well enough to teach. She waved, and then sat down in her desk in the back, pulling out an old book about vampires and starting to read it.
/'The vampyre is a fiendish creature. They are incredybly strong, evne tho they may be smalle in stature. Theye have black hayr, though it is not agryd as to what eye-colour theye possess. Full-blouded vampyres have no reflection in myrors, tho if theye have any humane bloud whatsoever, theyr reflection will be there. Alsoe, part-blouded vampyres may not hav thee necessity to drinke bloud fore substanence, tho theye often inheryt theyr ancestors' payle skyn and dark hayr. However, one wyth even a smalle part of vampyre bloud in them will have a strong dislike of garlick, and to mayny it can cause illness or Death, as tho to a veryy stronge allergy. There are many part- vampyres in our midst who do not even knoe theyr own heritage, tho there are many whoe do, bycaus theyr mothers did not knoe what it was that theye bedded in theyr mistaykes.
A vampyre may be kylled-'/
Sass looked up as Severus cleared his throat and called for silence, looking through Remus' papers. /Oh dear, he's going to try to embarrass Remus, and the others are going to object and he's going to punish them which'll make them hate me worse./ she thought worriedly. Severus looked up and said, "I do not know what I am going to do here. Professor Lupin has been very messy, and there are no records-"
The door swung abruptly open and Harry rushed in, saying, "Sorry I'm late Professor Lupin, I-"
He realized it was Severus teaching the class today and quickly shut his mouth. Severus looked up. "This lesson began ten minutes ago, Potter, so I think we'll make it ten points from Gryffindor. Sit down." Sass groaned inwardly. /Here goes./ she thought. Harry remained where he was.
"Where's Professor Lupin?" he said.
Severus smiled and Sass glared at him, both for being happy at Remus' problems, and for making trouble. "He says he is feeling too ill to teach today." Severus raised an eyebrow. "I believe I told you to sit down?"
Sass put her head in her hands as Harry still refused to go to his seat. "What's wrong with him?"
"Nothing life-threatening," he said, leaning back in his chair, his dark eyes glittering. "Five more points from Gryffindor, and if I have to ask you to sit down again, it will be fifty."
Sass mentally thanked god when Harry did so. Severus looked back to the rest of the class.
"As I was saying before Potter interrupted, Professor Lupin has not left any record of the topics you have covered so far-"
"Please sir," Hermione said quickly, "we've done boggarts, Red Capps, kappas, and grindylows," Sass winced- didn't she know anything from three years of Severus' classes? - "and we're just about to start-"
"Be quiet," Severus said harshly, glaring at Hermione. "I did not ask for information. I was merely commenting on Professor Lupin's lack of organization." Sass sighed, wondering if she could go to the bathroom so she didn't have to witness this scene. /You are being a bastard, Severus Snape/, she thought at the teacher. /This is why everyone hates you!/
One of the boys, Dean Thomas, lifted his chin defiantly. "He's the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we've ever had." The class murmured assent. /Well he is a good teacher/, Sass thought as Severus glared at Dean, /but that's hardly saying much, from what I've heard of the last two. And this is Severus' queue. /
"You are easily satisfied," Severus said, confirming Sass' predictions. "Lupin is hardly overtaxing you- I would expect first years to be able to deal with Red Caps and grindylows. Today we shall discuss-" Sass moved her head down as Severus flicked farther and farther back in the textbook. /Damn you/, she thought. /Why do you do this? Why do you hate Gryffindors so much?//
"-werewolves." Sass stared at Severus in shock. She understood immediately. He was trying to get the students to find out that Remus was a werewolf! Why? What did he have against him? /What's going on here?/ she thought.
"But sir," Hermione burst out, causing Sass to bite back a scream of frustration, "we're not supposed to do werewolves yet, we're due to start hinkypunks-"
Severus' voice was flat, toneless, and full of menace. "Miss Granger, I was under the impression that I am teaching this lesson, not you. And I am telling you all to turn to page 394." He glared around the room. "/All/ of you! /Now/!"
Sass opened her book immediately, though many of the others took their own sweet time. Once all the books were open to the correct page, Severus barked, "Which of you can tell me how we distinguish between the werewolf and the true wolf?"
Sass kept her hands firmly in her lap. The last thing she needed now was to answer 'Snape' correctly in a class that he was being such a bastard in. Hermione, of course, stabbed her hand up in the air immediately, but to Sass' surprise, no one else did. /You'd think at least a few of these people would have done some extra reading/, she thought.
Severus looked hard at Sass, but said nothing. Predictably, he ignored Hermione's hand.
"Anyone?" he said, smiling slowly. "Are you telling me Professor Lupin hasn't even taught you the basic distinction between-"
"We told you," Parvati burst out, "we haven't gotten as far as werewolves yet, we're still on-"
"/Silence/!" Sass' mentor snarled, his face a mask of fury that she had rarely seen there. Sudden realization came to her. /He must still be mad about what happened on Wednesday. No matter that none of the culprits are in this class, he blames the House at large. Which is fair enough, but this isn't helping anything!/ Severus continued. "Well, well, well, I never thought I'd meet a third-year class who wouldn't even recognize a werewolf when they saw one. I shall make a point of informing Professor Dumbledore how very behind you all are."
Hermione couldn't seem to keep her mouth shut. "Please, sir," she burst out, her hand still in the air, "the werewolf differs from the true wolf in several small ways. The snout of the werewolf-"
"This is the second time you have spoken out of turn, Miss Granger," Severus said, his voice cold enough to make ice. "Five more points from Gryffindor for being an insufferable know-it-all."
Sass wished she could dig a hole in the floor of the classroom and disappear on the spot. Hermione turned bright red and put her hand down, holding back tears. The class glared at Severus. No mind they'd all called Hermione a know-it-all at least once, it was /Snape/ now, attacking one of their own. Ron protested. "You asked us a question and she knows the answer! Why ask if you don't want to be told?"
He had gone too far. Actually, his brothers had gone too far (the Weasley twins), but right now to Severus it made no difference. He advanced on Ron, putting his face very close to the teenager's. "Detention, Weasley," Severus breathed. "And if I ever hear you criticize the way I teach a class again, you will be very sorry indeed." Sass sighed with relief, though the rest glared at Severus harder than ever. Detention was the least of the things she'd worried Severus would put Ron through. Maybe he was somewhat appeased at the punishments being meted out to his real sources of anger. She hadn't heard what those were, yet, though the grim smile on Severus' face when he'd come back from that particular meeting told her they were bad.
The rest of the class passed in silence, the class taking notes on werewolves as Severus stalked around the classroom, criticizing everything. After the bell rang, Severus assigned them a ridiculously long essay on werewolves, then finally let the class go. Sass was glad when it finished, but she remained in the room behind everyone else. She needed to talk to Severus, and waiting had the double advantage of causing possible tormentors to get bored.
When the last student had filed out of the classroom, Sass walked to the door, shutting it before she turned to her teacher. "Severus, that was totally barbaric," she said, advancing on him. "I know those people in the hall made you mad, but this is /no way/ to get back at them! Teachers are supposed to /prevent/ inter-House rivalry, not create it!"
"I /am/ inter-House rivalry," Severus growled. "Trust me, if it weren't for that, I would /not/ be the person I am today, and I would probably never have joined Voldemort." He looked at her, calming down. "Sit. I'll explain." Sass perched on the edge of Remus' desk, looking curiously at Severus. She had never seen him in this mood, except that evening after her first potions lesson, when he was talking about his years at school. He had only spoken of them briefly, and she now remembered feeling as though he hadn't told her everything.
When Severus didn't seem to want to continue, Sass prompted, "Well?"
He sighed, closing his eyes and collecting his thoughts. "I don't come from a big Slytherin family, for starters. My family was mostly Gryffindors, with a few Hufflepuffs mixed in. My father was blonde and my mother was a redhead, and they both had blue eyes, so it was enough of a surprise when I turned out like I am physically." He gestured to his almost-black eyes and black hair.
"Then I got older, and all I wanted to do was read. My older siblings were all popular, pretty, and a little low in the brains department. By the time I went to Hogwarts, I could out-wit, out-talk, and out-think everyone in my family, including my parents. Of course, it was useful if I needed to make up an excuse, but imagine being smarter than your parents!" He eyed Sass.
"Like if Kincaid'd had the IQ of, say, a dog, as well as all the other kids in the orphanage. Anyway, I never really fit in with them, and I never had a lot of friends. Well, then I went to Hogwarts, and I got Sorted into Slytherin. End of problem, right?" he said, scowling.
"Well, yes, a lot of the Slytherins were like me, but none of them trusted me! 'No one trusts a Gryffindor'- that's the saying. My family was the essence of /Gryffindor/, and none of them believed I was any different. And," he smiled bitterly, "the saying outside my House was, 'never trust a Slytherin.' Which is bigoted, on both sides.
"Slytherins aren't all bad; we're just ambitious. We like to get our way. A lot like Gryffindors, for that matter. It's just that since Salazar Slytherin was a Dark Wizard, and Voldemort came from Slytherin, people blob us all together. No one remembers the /Gryffindors/ who went bad, and the /Ravenclaws/ who used their knowledge to gain power, and the /Hufflepuffs/ who got people killed with their stupidity. It's just us.
And so we see that the world is against us, and turn to someone who will give us a place in the world, who will appreciate us for who we are. That's how Voldemort's recruiters pitched it. 'Come to a world that loves the House of Slytherin.' 'Come and join us, we want you.' It's a heady thing, Sass, being wanted." His mouth tightened with pain at the remembrance.
"Some of the kids signed up before they had finished their fifth year. And Dumbledore, though I owe him my loyalty, and I like and admire him greatly, did not help. He himself was a Gryffindor, and has the Slytherin- inferiority complex. He was far worse before I started working for him."
"And I know," he said vehemently, "I /know/ some of Voldemort's spies weren't Slytherins. Black was just one of them. A lot of people wouldn't trust a Slytherin with information, at that point. It was assumed we would sell it to Voldemort. And so, a lot of our folk would try to ferret out information and give it to him, just to spite everyone who'd spited them. It was like after the Battle of Cullivan, when Scots were imprisoned just for being Scottish. No one would believe that they weren't trying to put 'Bonny Prince Charles' back on his throne." He sighed. "I'm not saying that most of His servants didn't come from Slytherin. And a lot of us are at least a little 'evil.' But most of it is just bitterness." He rolled the word around in his mouth, tasting it. "Bitterness. Yes," Severus closed his eyes. "We're bitter."
He opened his eyes again and looked at Sass. "You see why I hate Gryffindors. Everyone loves them- they're outgoing, funny, 'chivalrous.' I'm tired of it. They can afford to take some extra crap from me. Especially Potter and his friends," he growled.
Sass grimaced. "Look, it's not Hermione's fault, none of it. You did not have to call her a know-it-all. How does that make you better than anyone else? I can understand the way you feel. but try to ease off of Hermione. She's my friend, and she sticks up for me when she can. Okay?"
"I'll try, Sass, for you. But she /is/ a know-it-all, and she gets on my nerves. But," he looked at the clock on Remus' desk, "you need to get to class. I'll see you tomorrow at the Quidditch match." He patted her hand, and then made a flicking motion with his hand. "Go on, get!"
Sass smiled, hopped off the desk, and ran out of the room.
* * * * *
Sass had to run to History of Magic, but it turned out Professor Binns (their only ghost teacher) was late, so she needn't've bothered. Sass had caught up in this class long ago, and was now coasting through their study of pre-medieval witch-hunts. She only paid enough attention in class to know what was covered, then read about it in some /interesting/ history books she'd ordered after her first attempt to read ^A History of Magic^, which was their course book.
Today was no exception. Sass watched the mid-November sleet run down the windowpanes of their third floor classroom and drip onto the stone courtyard below. The room felt stuffy, and Sass decided to try something to open a window.
She sat by a window, but it wouldn't do for Binns to suspect her. Instead she chose the window next to Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil's best friend. She aimed her wand carefully, then used the incantation they'd learned in Charms a couple of weeks ago. "Wingardium Leviosa!" she muttered quietly at the window-latch. This was the levitation spell, and if it worked.
The latch slowly moved up, and the window followed it, sliding open without a squeak. Lavender looked at it in surprise, but ignored it. Professor Binns didn't even notice it. Sass sat back in her desk as a waft of cool air hit her, quite happy, and tuned out the dull monotone of her teacher, planning what she would do after she finished her homework today.
I know that's a pretty bad ending, but it was getting long and I wanted to end it. So there you have it. Go read the next one, and:
R
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V
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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE? It makes me so happy.
Sasina (Sass for short) Chapter 9- Tale Of A Slytherin
Potions class. Sass got there bare seconds before Severus, sliding into a desk in the back. She hurriedly got her cauldron out, acting as if she was worried that Severus would see she had been late. She smiled a bit at Hermione as Severus swept in, giving no reason for his lateness and going immediately to the board to write down the ingredients of that lesson's potion. Hermione returned her smile, though she was pretty busy restraining Ron, who was struggling to get at Malfoy, who had apparently taken Severus' absence as an excuse to insult him again. Hermione suddenly whispered something in Ron's ear. He looked at Severus and suddenly stopped struggling.
Sass chuckled a bit as she got out her ingredients. No doubt Hermione had reminded Ron of his punishment if he attacked Malfoy in front of Severus. Then she bit her lip in an abrupt change of mood. Severus really was far too hard on the Gryffindors. Yes, the entire House of Slytherin was reviled by most of the world, and they had to get there own back in somewhere (and better in detentions than Death Eaters, she thought wryly, remembering the name of Voldemort's main supporters), but still. She shook her head and brewed her potion, though she wasn't completely able to shake the happiness her birthday presents had bestowed upon her.
Halfway through the lesson, Sass was surprised to see Hermione sit down beside her, cauldron and book bag in tow.
"Sass?" Hermione asked quietly.
"What is it?" Sass replied, looking up at the worry in Hermione's voice. "Is something wrong?"
"Well, it's just." Hermione looked anxiously back over at Ron and Harry, who apparently were deeply engrossed in whatever they were talking about, ". are you alright?"
That was /not/ what Sass had expected to hear Hermione say. She looked over to see if the older girl was joking, but her face was quite serious. She was worried!
"Er. why do you ask?" Sass was thinking, /Well, the truth is, I'm about as good as I've ever been in my life. I just got a birthday party, for goodness sake! But I probably shouldn't tell her that./
Hermione shrugged. "You seemed a little preoccupied and I was wondering if anything was wrong." /No, that's not true/, thought Sass. /She didn't come over here just because I'm 'preoccupied.' Which I am, I guess. She really thinks something's wrong with me! Whatever./
"Well," Sass said, deciding to go for partial truth, "my birthday was yesterday and I'm thinking about the presents I got. I'm not upset or anything, I'm just not paying much attention." She /didn't/ say, 'like I usually do.'
Hermione looked over at her in surprise, distracted from Sass' 'problems.' "Why didn't you tell me? I would've gotten you something!"
"You would've?" The words jumped out of Sass' mouth before she could stop them. /Great/, she thought, /that's just what I need. Hermione convinced that I'm abused and need comforting. Well, I was abused, but I don't need comforting. Not from her at least./
Hermione frowned. "Yes, I would've. I mean, we're friends, right?"
"Yeah, yeah, sorry. It's just. I didn't think you'd be willing to show that much support for the Gryffindor leper." Sass glanced pointedly at the other students.
"You're not really that out of favor right now, you know," Hermione said, once again distracted from what she'd come to ask about. "Ever since that thing with Malfoy."
"Yeah, well just wait. I bet I do something in the next two weeks to get them disgusted with me again."
"You're on. Five sickles. And no cheating." Hermione grinned at Sass' surprise. "What, you think I don't like a chance as much as the next Gryffindor? But really- don't do something just to win." She smiled to take the bite off of it.
Sass raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't do that. Do you think I like having the whole school dumping on me? It's bad enough with the Gryffindors tentatively on my side." She sighed. "I don't have to attract hatred. I gather it to me just by existing."
* * * * *
Sass heard shouts up ahead in the corridor. It was two Wednesdays after she'd made her bet with Hermione, and Sass was headed to lunch after an easy Defense class about pixies.
Some of the people were laughing loudly, but there was one who was screaming with fury, suddenly cut off. /Sounds like bullying/, Sass thought. /But they picked on the wrong person. Whoever's over there is gonna rip their heads off as soon as he gets a chance/. She pushed her way through the crowd. /I hate bullying. The cowardly bastards, ganging up and beating on one person./ Then she made it close enough to the front to see who was doing what, and her face hardened in fury.
Some older Gryffindors had managed to put the body-bind curse on Severus and steal his wand, which was lying on the floor. They were now conjuring buckets of she-didn't-want-to-know-what and dumping them on his head. And since he couldn't see, they wouldn't even get in trouble for it! After all, no Gryffindor was going to turn them in. well, almost no Gryffindor.
Sass stooped down and grabbed Severus' wand. /Time to learn if that new spell Remus taught me actually works/, she thought. She drew her own wand and yelled, "STUPEFY!" A beam of red light shot out of her wand, hitting two of the perpetrators and knocking them out cold.
"Stupefy! /Stupefy! / STUPEFY!" When she was done, all Severus' attackers were laid out on the floor, and everyone in the hall was staring at her, their expressions a mix of amazement, fury, shock, and horror.
At the moment, she didn't care. She glared at all of them, kneeling down next to Severus and picking him up when she couldn't remember the counter- curse. She stalked out of the crowd towards Severus' office, and the black- robed students parted dumbly before her, still staring. She felt their eyes on her until she turned the corner, and then she heard the whispering begin. /Five sickles to me/, she thought. /They'll never forgive this. /
She hefted Severus into a more comfortable position on her shoulders. /He's a damned beanpole!/ she thought. /I know I'm strong, but I should not be able to lift someone a foot and a half taller than me!/
Fortunately, she didn't see anyone on her trek to her mentor's office. Once she got there, she had a chance to look through her books to find the counter to the full-body-bind. She performed it, and the first thing he did was wipe his mouth.
"Those /god-damne/d GRYFFINDORS! I am going to /kill them/!" He fumed, stalking into his personal chambers so he could clean off. "And then I am going to hunt down the sorry bastards who whelped them, and I will-" After a moment of shock, Sass hurriedly grabbed some parchment and started taking notes as he continued ranting, starting the shower running in the bathroom. She'd never heard the like of it, and she'd heard some pretty good stuff.
The tirade continued for the entire length of his shower, the only pauses being when he ducked his head to rinse it. About twenty minutes later, there was sudden silence, both in water and Severus' voice.
"You all right in there?" she called, a little tentatively. After all, she was a Gryffindor, and she had only seen him get this angry once, and then. well, it hadn't been pretty.
Severus exited the bathroom, one towel around his waist, and another around his long black hair. "I'm fine," he muttered, digging in his closet for clean clothes. "Just angry."
"Hah!" said Sass, unrolling the parchment. "You call this 'just angry'?"
He turned to look at what she was holding, saw what it was, and started to laugh. "Oh god," he said, sitting down on his bed and chuckling. "I was livid."
Sass went over and sat beside him. "Yup," she said. "You were pretty upset. But, er, you aren't, well, /really/ going to do all those things to those people, are you?"
He sighed, scowling. "No, I'm not. I'd like to let them know how it feels to have /crap/ shoved down their throats, though." He thought for a moment. "This is really one of the better pranks that's been pulled on me, though. I didn't even see who they were. And /that's/ what I really hate."
Sass smiled serenely. "Well, then it's lucky for you I Stunned them, and saw who they were, isn't it?"
"You /what/?" Severus sat up abruptly, staring at her. "You /Stunned/ them?"
Sass continued to smile. "Your class is not the only one where I pay attention," she said. "And Professor Lupin taught me a few tricks." She thought it best not to remind Severus how good of friends she and Remus were. He knew, but still. Severus shook his head. "You never cease to amaze me, Sass. So that was what the shouting was. I had my eyes closed. Who was it, then?"
"The Weasley twins, Mark Lassman, Isaac Tiernan, Lee Jordan, Nathan Pierson, and Sarah Lensar," Sass said promptly, naming the troublemaking clique of older Gryffindor boys, and one of their girlfriends. Severus coughed.
"I guess this must be about Lensar's detention, then," he said, surprised. "I didn't think it mattered so much to her."
"What?" said Sass.
"Oh, Lensar started doing her makeup in my class when I had my back turned, working on a potion that I'm brewing," he said. "I caught her and gave her detention to do on Saturday, during the Quidditch match, and I guessed that's what prompted," he gestured towards the bathroom, "this."
"You know Severus, you really are too hard on Griffin-" Sass started to say before Severus interrupted her.
"Dear god, you stink to high heaven, Sass! What did you do, carry me here?" he exclaimed.
She raised an eyebrow. "Well, yes, how else did you expect me to get you to your office?" she said.
He shrugged. "I don't know, just go take a shower. I'll get you some clean robes to wear." Sass started to ask /how/, exactly, he was going to get clothes from Gryffindor Tower, but she was too late. Severus was out the door.
Sass went and took a shower.
* * * * *
".And so, once again, I am the most hated student in the school," Sass finished as she explained to Myrtle. "So can I sleep here tonight? Well, actually, can I stay for about a week?"
"Of course!" said Myrtle. "You know you're welcome here any time. So has Hermione given you the money yet?"
Sass started. "I'd forgotten about our bet," she said. "I bet she was planning to give it to me at dinner tonight. Like I'd be stupid enough to go down there now! They'd probably find a way to dump dragon crap on me, too, and then get away with it." She sighed. "Well, they won't be able to do too much in classes, and I can finish the Invisibility Cloak right now, so they can't find me to do things any other time." Sass pulled the cloak from her bag, feeling her way to where she'd stopped sewing.
After a few minutes, Sass exclaimed, "I /hate/ this!"
Myrtle looked up, startled. "What? I thought Invisibility Cloaks were useful!"
Sass sighed, looking down through the Cloak at her lap. "No, not the Cloak. It's this," she gestured around the enlarged stall. "I hate having to hide away from everyone, having to sneak around in a /school/, for god's sake, so that I don't get hurt! Why does it matter if Severus and I are friends? What's it to them?" To Sass' surprise, tears started to leak out of her eyes. "I /hate/ bullies!"
Myrtle blinked, and Sass knew why. /I don't break down like this often/. "Don't feel too bad," the chubby girl said tentatively. "I know how mean people can be, and you're not alone in getting picked on." She smiled a little. "I know how it is."
Sass wiped the tears from her eyes. "Thanks," she said. "You know, I think I'll dance for a while. That always makes me feel better."
Myrtle's eyes widened. "Are you any good?" she said excitedly. "I've always wanted to learn to dance, but I-" she looked down at herself. "I'm too fat," she finished quietly. Sass shrugged. "Doesn't matter since you're a ghost," she said. "I dunno- can ghosts change their appearance?" She forced herself to be distracted, and not get all gloomy.
The other girl shrugged. "I dunno. We could try it, couldn't we?" Now she sounded hopeful, happy- like a normal teenage girl.
"Sure! No reason why you shouldn't be able to. Here, what do you want to learn?"
"Oohh, well, I've always thought jazz was so cool." and they were off.
* * * * *
Sass might hate skulking around the school, but skulk she did, and she snuck into Defense class early on Friday, knowing Remus was always in his classroom before classes, and he wouldn't let anyone get away with anything. Sass didn't care if she was missing her free afternoon, so long as it was prank-free.
But to her surprise, it was Severus sitting behind the desk that day, and not Remus. Then she quickly summed up the days in her head, and realized that it was the full moon, and Remus, as a werewolf, probably didn't feel well enough to teach. She waved, and then sat down in her desk in the back, pulling out an old book about vampires and starting to read it.
/'The vampyre is a fiendish creature. They are incredybly strong, evne tho they may be smalle in stature. Theye have black hayr, though it is not agryd as to what eye-colour theye possess. Full-blouded vampyres have no reflection in myrors, tho if theye have any humane bloud whatsoever, theyr reflection will be there. Alsoe, part-blouded vampyres may not hav thee necessity to drinke bloud fore substanence, tho theye often inheryt theyr ancestors' payle skyn and dark hayr. However, one wyth even a smalle part of vampyre bloud in them will have a strong dislike of garlick, and to mayny it can cause illness or Death, as tho to a veryy stronge allergy. There are many part- vampyres in our midst who do not even knoe theyr own heritage, tho there are many whoe do, bycaus theyr mothers did not knoe what it was that theye bedded in theyr mistaykes.
A vampyre may be kylled-'/
Sass looked up as Severus cleared his throat and called for silence, looking through Remus' papers. /Oh dear, he's going to try to embarrass Remus, and the others are going to object and he's going to punish them which'll make them hate me worse./ she thought worriedly. Severus looked up and said, "I do not know what I am going to do here. Professor Lupin has been very messy, and there are no records-"
The door swung abruptly open and Harry rushed in, saying, "Sorry I'm late Professor Lupin, I-"
He realized it was Severus teaching the class today and quickly shut his mouth. Severus looked up. "This lesson began ten minutes ago, Potter, so I think we'll make it ten points from Gryffindor. Sit down." Sass groaned inwardly. /Here goes./ she thought. Harry remained where he was.
"Where's Professor Lupin?" he said.
Severus smiled and Sass glared at him, both for being happy at Remus' problems, and for making trouble. "He says he is feeling too ill to teach today." Severus raised an eyebrow. "I believe I told you to sit down?"
Sass put her head in her hands as Harry still refused to go to his seat. "What's wrong with him?"
"Nothing life-threatening," he said, leaning back in his chair, his dark eyes glittering. "Five more points from Gryffindor, and if I have to ask you to sit down again, it will be fifty."
Sass mentally thanked god when Harry did so. Severus looked back to the rest of the class.
"As I was saying before Potter interrupted, Professor Lupin has not left any record of the topics you have covered so far-"
"Please sir," Hermione said quickly, "we've done boggarts, Red Capps, kappas, and grindylows," Sass winced- didn't she know anything from three years of Severus' classes? - "and we're just about to start-"
"Be quiet," Severus said harshly, glaring at Hermione. "I did not ask for information. I was merely commenting on Professor Lupin's lack of organization." Sass sighed, wondering if she could go to the bathroom so she didn't have to witness this scene. /You are being a bastard, Severus Snape/, she thought at the teacher. /This is why everyone hates you!/
One of the boys, Dean Thomas, lifted his chin defiantly. "He's the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we've ever had." The class murmured assent. /Well he is a good teacher/, Sass thought as Severus glared at Dean, /but that's hardly saying much, from what I've heard of the last two. And this is Severus' queue. /
"You are easily satisfied," Severus said, confirming Sass' predictions. "Lupin is hardly overtaxing you- I would expect first years to be able to deal with Red Caps and grindylows. Today we shall discuss-" Sass moved her head down as Severus flicked farther and farther back in the textbook. /Damn you/, she thought. /Why do you do this? Why do you hate Gryffindors so much?//
"-werewolves." Sass stared at Severus in shock. She understood immediately. He was trying to get the students to find out that Remus was a werewolf! Why? What did he have against him? /What's going on here?/ she thought.
"But sir," Hermione burst out, causing Sass to bite back a scream of frustration, "we're not supposed to do werewolves yet, we're due to start hinkypunks-"
Severus' voice was flat, toneless, and full of menace. "Miss Granger, I was under the impression that I am teaching this lesson, not you. And I am telling you all to turn to page 394." He glared around the room. "/All/ of you! /Now/!"
Sass opened her book immediately, though many of the others took their own sweet time. Once all the books were open to the correct page, Severus barked, "Which of you can tell me how we distinguish between the werewolf and the true wolf?"
Sass kept her hands firmly in her lap. The last thing she needed now was to answer 'Snape' correctly in a class that he was being such a bastard in. Hermione, of course, stabbed her hand up in the air immediately, but to Sass' surprise, no one else did. /You'd think at least a few of these people would have done some extra reading/, she thought.
Severus looked hard at Sass, but said nothing. Predictably, he ignored Hermione's hand.
"Anyone?" he said, smiling slowly. "Are you telling me Professor Lupin hasn't even taught you the basic distinction between-"
"We told you," Parvati burst out, "we haven't gotten as far as werewolves yet, we're still on-"
"/Silence/!" Sass' mentor snarled, his face a mask of fury that she had rarely seen there. Sudden realization came to her. /He must still be mad about what happened on Wednesday. No matter that none of the culprits are in this class, he blames the House at large. Which is fair enough, but this isn't helping anything!/ Severus continued. "Well, well, well, I never thought I'd meet a third-year class who wouldn't even recognize a werewolf when they saw one. I shall make a point of informing Professor Dumbledore how very behind you all are."
Hermione couldn't seem to keep her mouth shut. "Please, sir," she burst out, her hand still in the air, "the werewolf differs from the true wolf in several small ways. The snout of the werewolf-"
"This is the second time you have spoken out of turn, Miss Granger," Severus said, his voice cold enough to make ice. "Five more points from Gryffindor for being an insufferable know-it-all."
Sass wished she could dig a hole in the floor of the classroom and disappear on the spot. Hermione turned bright red and put her hand down, holding back tears. The class glared at Severus. No mind they'd all called Hermione a know-it-all at least once, it was /Snape/ now, attacking one of their own. Ron protested. "You asked us a question and she knows the answer! Why ask if you don't want to be told?"
He had gone too far. Actually, his brothers had gone too far (the Weasley twins), but right now to Severus it made no difference. He advanced on Ron, putting his face very close to the teenager's. "Detention, Weasley," Severus breathed. "And if I ever hear you criticize the way I teach a class again, you will be very sorry indeed." Sass sighed with relief, though the rest glared at Severus harder than ever. Detention was the least of the things she'd worried Severus would put Ron through. Maybe he was somewhat appeased at the punishments being meted out to his real sources of anger. She hadn't heard what those were, yet, though the grim smile on Severus' face when he'd come back from that particular meeting told her they were bad.
The rest of the class passed in silence, the class taking notes on werewolves as Severus stalked around the classroom, criticizing everything. After the bell rang, Severus assigned them a ridiculously long essay on werewolves, then finally let the class go. Sass was glad when it finished, but she remained in the room behind everyone else. She needed to talk to Severus, and waiting had the double advantage of causing possible tormentors to get bored.
When the last student had filed out of the classroom, Sass walked to the door, shutting it before she turned to her teacher. "Severus, that was totally barbaric," she said, advancing on him. "I know those people in the hall made you mad, but this is /no way/ to get back at them! Teachers are supposed to /prevent/ inter-House rivalry, not create it!"
"I /am/ inter-House rivalry," Severus growled. "Trust me, if it weren't for that, I would /not/ be the person I am today, and I would probably never have joined Voldemort." He looked at her, calming down. "Sit. I'll explain." Sass perched on the edge of Remus' desk, looking curiously at Severus. She had never seen him in this mood, except that evening after her first potions lesson, when he was talking about his years at school. He had only spoken of them briefly, and she now remembered feeling as though he hadn't told her everything.
When Severus didn't seem to want to continue, Sass prompted, "Well?"
He sighed, closing his eyes and collecting his thoughts. "I don't come from a big Slytherin family, for starters. My family was mostly Gryffindors, with a few Hufflepuffs mixed in. My father was blonde and my mother was a redhead, and they both had blue eyes, so it was enough of a surprise when I turned out like I am physically." He gestured to his almost-black eyes and black hair.
"Then I got older, and all I wanted to do was read. My older siblings were all popular, pretty, and a little low in the brains department. By the time I went to Hogwarts, I could out-wit, out-talk, and out-think everyone in my family, including my parents. Of course, it was useful if I needed to make up an excuse, but imagine being smarter than your parents!" He eyed Sass.
"Like if Kincaid'd had the IQ of, say, a dog, as well as all the other kids in the orphanage. Anyway, I never really fit in with them, and I never had a lot of friends. Well, then I went to Hogwarts, and I got Sorted into Slytherin. End of problem, right?" he said, scowling.
"Well, yes, a lot of the Slytherins were like me, but none of them trusted me! 'No one trusts a Gryffindor'- that's the saying. My family was the essence of /Gryffindor/, and none of them believed I was any different. And," he smiled bitterly, "the saying outside my House was, 'never trust a Slytherin.' Which is bigoted, on both sides.
"Slytherins aren't all bad; we're just ambitious. We like to get our way. A lot like Gryffindors, for that matter. It's just that since Salazar Slytherin was a Dark Wizard, and Voldemort came from Slytherin, people blob us all together. No one remembers the /Gryffindors/ who went bad, and the /Ravenclaws/ who used their knowledge to gain power, and the /Hufflepuffs/ who got people killed with their stupidity. It's just us.
And so we see that the world is against us, and turn to someone who will give us a place in the world, who will appreciate us for who we are. That's how Voldemort's recruiters pitched it. 'Come to a world that loves the House of Slytherin.' 'Come and join us, we want you.' It's a heady thing, Sass, being wanted." His mouth tightened with pain at the remembrance.
"Some of the kids signed up before they had finished their fifth year. And Dumbledore, though I owe him my loyalty, and I like and admire him greatly, did not help. He himself was a Gryffindor, and has the Slytherin- inferiority complex. He was far worse before I started working for him."
"And I know," he said vehemently, "I /know/ some of Voldemort's spies weren't Slytherins. Black was just one of them. A lot of people wouldn't trust a Slytherin with information, at that point. It was assumed we would sell it to Voldemort. And so, a lot of our folk would try to ferret out information and give it to him, just to spite everyone who'd spited them. It was like after the Battle of Cullivan, when Scots were imprisoned just for being Scottish. No one would believe that they weren't trying to put 'Bonny Prince Charles' back on his throne." He sighed. "I'm not saying that most of His servants didn't come from Slytherin. And a lot of us are at least a little 'evil.' But most of it is just bitterness." He rolled the word around in his mouth, tasting it. "Bitterness. Yes," Severus closed his eyes. "We're bitter."
He opened his eyes again and looked at Sass. "You see why I hate Gryffindors. Everyone loves them- they're outgoing, funny, 'chivalrous.' I'm tired of it. They can afford to take some extra crap from me. Especially Potter and his friends," he growled.
Sass grimaced. "Look, it's not Hermione's fault, none of it. You did not have to call her a know-it-all. How does that make you better than anyone else? I can understand the way you feel. but try to ease off of Hermione. She's my friend, and she sticks up for me when she can. Okay?"
"I'll try, Sass, for you. But she /is/ a know-it-all, and she gets on my nerves. But," he looked at the clock on Remus' desk, "you need to get to class. I'll see you tomorrow at the Quidditch match." He patted her hand, and then made a flicking motion with his hand. "Go on, get!"
Sass smiled, hopped off the desk, and ran out of the room.
* * * * *
Sass had to run to History of Magic, but it turned out Professor Binns (their only ghost teacher) was late, so she needn't've bothered. Sass had caught up in this class long ago, and was now coasting through their study of pre-medieval witch-hunts. She only paid enough attention in class to know what was covered, then read about it in some /interesting/ history books she'd ordered after her first attempt to read ^A History of Magic^, which was their course book.
Today was no exception. Sass watched the mid-November sleet run down the windowpanes of their third floor classroom and drip onto the stone courtyard below. The room felt stuffy, and Sass decided to try something to open a window.
She sat by a window, but it wouldn't do for Binns to suspect her. Instead she chose the window next to Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil's best friend. She aimed her wand carefully, then used the incantation they'd learned in Charms a couple of weeks ago. "Wingardium Leviosa!" she muttered quietly at the window-latch. This was the levitation spell, and if it worked.
The latch slowly moved up, and the window followed it, sliding open without a squeak. Lavender looked at it in surprise, but ignored it. Professor Binns didn't even notice it. Sass sat back in her desk as a waft of cool air hit her, quite happy, and tuned out the dull monotone of her teacher, planning what she would do after she finished her homework today.
I know that's a pretty bad ending, but it was getting long and I wanted to end it. So there you have it. Go read the next one, and:
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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE? It makes me so happy.