Well, the next couple of chapters are relatively depressing, as I was
depressed when I wrote them, though I'm not now. Hope you don't mind.
Sasina (Sass for short) Chapter 10- Of Pain
The next day Sass turned out for the first Quidditch match of the year (Griffindor vs. Hufflepuff) with the rest of the school, despite the fact that yesterday's rain had turned into a thunderstorm. Sass wished she could be playing, but despite her talent with martial arts, she was worth squat on a broomstick. She wasn't afraid of heights; she just couldn't seem to get the broom to understand what she wanted to do. Madam Hooch was understanding, but Sass was still irritated by her inability.
Sass turned to the match as the players walked out onto the field. She was sitting alone, in a space that had been conveniently vacated as soon as she approached it. This, of course, meant that there was no one to help block the wind, so she had to resort to creating a small heat-bubble under her cloak, which helped- some.
Madam Hooch blew her whistle, and the game started. Sass squinted into the rain, trying to see what was going on. At some point Sandra had told her about this game. There were four balls, and the different positions were based on which ball the player interacted with, on his or her broom. The three Chasers and the Keeper dealt with the Quaffle- Chasers trying to score through one of the other team's three hoops (worth ten points), which the Keeper tried to prevent. Two Beaters per team carried small bats to hit the balls called Bludgers, which flew around the field, trying to knock as many players off their brooms as possible. And then there was the Golden Snitch, which was small, fast, and hard to see. The Seeker on each team tried to catch it, earning their team 150 points and ending the game.
Suddenly, one of the players whooshed right in front of Sass' spot in the stands in pursuit of the Quaffle, splattering mud all over Sass. She thought she heard a few snickers, but these quickly stopped as Sass decided she'd had enough of this rain crap and Summoned an umbrella. Then she muttered, "/Jesto vath/!" which created an invisible barrier going straight down from the end of the umbrella, making it impossible for her to get any wetter than she was, and with the ball of warmth, she was actually drying off pretty quick. The rain beat on the outside of Sass' spell, but it came no closed, drawing her some jealous and envious looks. Sass ignored them, continuing to try and make out what was happening in the game.
Eventually, Sass did come to pity her classmates as the game dragged on and on into the afternoon, and then the evening. Sass heard the whistle blowing and saw players flying to the ground for a timeout. Sass squinted down at the Gryffindor team, and felt her stomach do a funny flip-flop when she saw Harry down there. /What on earth?/ she thought to herself. /I'm not falling for a wet, muddy Harry Potter, am I?/ She shook her head, watching dimly as Hermione ran out and cast some sort of spell on Harry's glasses, and then both teams resumed flying, Harry moving in ever rising circles through the pouring rain until he disappeared.
A few minutes later, Sass saw a blur of muddy yellow robes streaking towards the middle of the stadium. A moment later, a red blur from the other end of the field came racing towards it. /They must have seen the Snitch!/ Sass thought, a thrill of excitement racing through her even though she wasn't playing. /Oh, come on, Harry, come on!/
But suddenly, Harry slowed, then stopped. He looked down at something on the field, and Sass instinctively followed his gaze, and gasped. She saw the black-cloaked dementors, and felt herself fall into her memories.
Sasina limped back into the practice ring, assessing the damage when Milord Paul had thrown her out of it. Her body still seemed to be working fairly well, although her mind was reeling with the pain. Her shoulder was probably fractured where she'd hit the floor, and her right wrist was sprained where he'd grabbed her for the throw. She might have a sprained ankle, too, although that was minor. She checked her legs, and was relieved to find that the only damage there was the normal pain in her left leg and the usual assortment of bruises that covered her entire body. She would have to do a lot of kicking, then. Maybe if she was lucky, that throw would have appeased some of Milord Paul's anger, and she would only have to 'spar' a few more rounds.
Then she took her fighting stance, and looked into Milord Paul's eyes, and felt her hope shatter like glass. His eyes were narrowed with fury, his whole body tensed with a need to /hurt/. And she would be the one who took the pain.
He attacked, and Sasina mutely tried to fight back, but he was better than her, stronger, and she was still being hurt by the mysterious and excruciating pain that coursed through her body whenever Milord Paul got really angry. Sasina bit back a scream as he knocked her down onto her hurt shoulder.
Sasina heard a voice calling her name from far away. She wondered why. No one would dare interrupt Milord when he was this angry. someone was shaking her. "Sass! Sass! Come on, shake the memories! Like in the train!" What? She'd never been on a train. Except the Hogwarts Express. The Hogwarts Express! The spell!
"EXPECTO PATRONUS!" she yelled, feeling her hand grasping her wand. Sass opened her eyes slowly, forcing herself /not/ to cry. "I- what happened?"
A worried face was bent over her. Although she didn't recognize it, she knew she would soon. Sass groaned a little, feeling something digging into her back. Sass' life came back to her slowly at first, faster as she fought back unconsciousness. the adoption, the letter, Hogwarts, dementors, Severus, classes, Quidditch- and then seeing the dementors on the fields. Sass looked up again at the man who was crouched beside her. "You're Remus, right?" He nodded. Sass sat up slowly, feeling something pop in her back. She looked around. The stadium was empty.
"Where- where is everyone?" she asked.
Remus smiled a little. "Gone. The match ended right after the dementors showed up. Are you alright?"
Sass nodded. "Yeah. what happened?"
"Well, in terms of Quidditch, Harry fell off his broom when the dementors came, so Cedric Diggory- that's the Hufflepuff Seeker- got the Snitch. The game ended, and I started to leave with all the rest, until I saw a lovely red umbrella still up in the stands." He smiled at her. "I remembered you, and the dementors, and realized you might not have been able to fight them, and if the rumors are true, no one would help you if you collapsed." Remus raised an eyebrow and Sass nodded in confirmation.
"Well, I came back up here, and you still were trapped in the memories induced by the dementors, even though they were gone. So I tried to snap you out of it. And here you are."
Sass took a deep breath, trying /not/ to remember the end of the memory the dementors had replayed for her this time. She had never been raped, at least not physically, but you didn't need to rape someone to torture them. She knew.
"I- Remus, say something, anything, distract me, /please/!" she said suddenly.
Remus jumped a little, but said the first thing he thought of. "In the hall, did you really Stun those students?" he said.
Sass forced her mind down this new path. "Yes," she said slowly. "Yes, I did. I'm not sure I could do it again, though."
"Why not?" asked Remus.
"Because I was furious. I hate bullies of any kind, but what they were doing to Severus. well, I know he's pretty evil to them, but /nothing/ I've ever heard warranted that."
Remus chuckled a bit. "Oh, when I heard what'd happened, it took me forever to stop laughing. I mean, yeah, maybe he's nice to you, but he hates me completely, and, well. if I'd been there I would've stopped it, but. I imagine it must've been quite a sight." He noticed Sass' glare. "What? I know you two are friends, but I still don't like the man. And you have to admit, he is positively cruel to Gryffindors, no?"
Sass nodded reluctantly. "Yeah, I had a talk about that with him just the other day." She grinned a bit. "I'm afraid he was a bit, ah, /rude/ in your class yesterday. Be prepared for a lot of complaints when you get back. He assigned us an essay on recognizing and killing werewolves," she added gingerly, looking to see how Remus reacted.
"Shit!" he growled. "How /dare/ the little bastard do that." Then he looked at her. "Er." said Remus.
Sass knew what he was doing. He was trying to think of how to explain. He'd obviously forgotten for a moment that she supposedly didn't know he was a werewolf. Sass cheered up even more. That meant that he'd forgotten that she was one of the students, and that she wasn't one of his closest friends, which, maybe, on reflection, she was.
Remus was still sputtering, so Sass decided to take away the suspense. "I already know," she said quietly.
"What?" he shouted. "You mean Snape /told/ you? He was under /orders/ from /Dumbledore/ not to-"
"No, no, wait!" Sass said. "He didn't tell me!"
Remus stopped yelling suddenly. "What?"
"I said," repeated Sass, "That Severus didn't tell me."
"Then how in the hell did you find out?" Remus replied.
Sass sighed. "It's sorta a long story, and the person who told me made me swear never to tell you because he said you would kill him. Which seems pretty true." she jabbed at his violent reaction, smiling a little.
Remus smiled, but wasn't distracted. "Then- who? Not that many people know. I mean, all the teachers do, but none of them would've-"
Sass grinned. "You'll never guess who it was, so don't try. Oh, and about the essay- don't worry. Most of the people in that class are idiots, and they'll never make the connection. The only one I'd worry about is Hermione. she's too smart for her own good."
Remus frowned a little at her phrasing, but let it pass. "Here," he said, pulling a large bar of chocolate out of his robes. "Eat this." Sass took the bar and began to munch on it. Remus pulled her up and they walked back to the castle together.
* * * * *
Ron Weasley walked quietly down the halls, searching in vain for something to do. Hermione was working on homework (no surprise there), and Harry was playing Seamus at chess. Nobody would play Ron anymore, claiming he was too good. That was fine, except that now Ron had nothing to do. So here he was, wandering around the castle.
He passed the spot where his brothers, Fred and George, and their friends had ambushed Snape the other week. That had been a sight! But then that first year girl, Sass, had ratted them all out. He scowled. What a brat. /She deserves everything she's getting/, thought Ron. /And more. I mean, she betrayed her /own House-mates/ for /Snape/! Yeah, maybe they went a little bit overboard- especially if they didn't want to get caught- but she told! She /helped/ the slimy bastard!/
/And besides/, he thought with a small shiver, /she scares me/. Ron remembered the look she'd had in her eyes as she Stunned the pranksters. Those grey eyes had glared viciously out of her small face, framed by chin- length black hair. /She was absolutely furious/, he thought. Sass had stared down practically every person in the corridor; quite a feat, considering she'd done it in the time it took to kneel down and put someone your shoulders. /And that scares me too/, he realized. //Nobody/ should be able to lift someone so much bigger than them onto their shoulders, especially a girl!/
Ron suddenly clapped a hand to his mouth, looking quickly around in case somehow Hermione had heard his last thought. /She would kill me./
When Hermione didn't appear, Ron was able to laugh at himself and his silly fears, but he still couldn't banish the image of that first year glaring daggers at him- /daring/ him to prove Snape deserved that he was getting. Which he did, of course- Sass was deluded- but he still couldn't meet those eyes, even in memory.
Ron checked his muggle watch. It was almost curfew, time for him to be getting back. The others should be finished playing chess, and maybe he could coax them into playing a game of Gobstones. Harry said Gobstones was just like muggle checkers, which he'd apparently been pretty good at.
* * * * *
Sass watched as Ron came back into the common room, realizing with his start then grimace as he saw her that she must have been the subject of his recent thoughts. She now came back to the common room when she was done in the library, making a /pretense/ that she went to bed in her dorm, instead of in Myrtle's bathroom, courtesy of Sass' ghost-walker, or ghoster, as Sass liked to call it. Sass slumped back a little in her armchair. She was the most hated student in the school, which she supposed she ought to try and get used to. /But I just keep thinking, 'this place is so amazing, so magical, that the people just have to be better than the ones back home.' But they're really not, and I should stop deluding myself. My friends here are Severus, Myrtle, Remus, and Hermione and Sandra when they can. I'll just have to adjust. Like I said to Hermione. I draw hatred to myself just by existing./
Sass checked her watch, and then trudged up to her dormitory to get her ghoster and Invisibility Cloak. She happily turned her mind to Myrtle when the chance presented itself. Dance lessons were going well; and to Sass' eye, the girl did seem slimmer. But the biggest difference was in Myrtle's self-confidence. The loneliness and doubt that had lessened with Sass' arrival were now all but gone. Myrtle no longer stayed in her toilet; she went around the castle like all the other ghosts, although she still avoided the students. Sass was really happy for her.
Still thinking of Myrtle, Sass covered herself with the cloak, then whispered, "/creare fantasma/!" willing herself to drop through the floors as quickly as she could. Once she reached the second floor, she stopped, and drifted along towards Myrtle's bathroom for the remaining few seconds, and then knocked softly on the door.
"Myrtle? It's me- Sass." The door creaked open and Myrtle looked out. Sass slipped in, then took off her cloak. "Hey Myrtle! Fancy a game of chess before I go to sleep?" The two girls grinned and sat down on the floor. Right now Sass didn't care about the other students, didn't care about anything, although she knew she would tomorrow. Right now, she was just happy.
* * * * *
The next morning at breakfast Sass was grumpy and tired, because she had stayed up with Myrtle until about four in the morning. She saw Jessica and Marisa talking to a couple of older students, who all looked at her as she sat down. The one of them called over to her, "Hey, Sass! You have fun in bed with him last night?" Sass supposed he must have pointed at someone. She didn't bother to look.
"Bugger the hell off!" she said back, helping herself to toast and jam.
That evening when she went to have her Animagus lesson with Sirius, she was still irritable, and so was even more hopeless than usual. Finally Sirius gave up and sat her down.
"Sass, what's up? Spit it out."
Sass sighed, and told him about staying up late and the boy at breakfast. Sirius growled a bit, then looked thoughtful. "So you didn't see who he pointed at? If you can't come up with some sort of counter, rumors are gonna be all over the school by this time tomorrow," he said.
"No, but I can guess," Sass said. "I've had all day to think about it."
"Well?" Sirius said when she offered no further comment. "Who do you think it was?"
Sass suddenly realized she'd never told Sirius that she was friends with Severus. Well, it was too late to back out now.
"Severus," she said simply.
"What?" said Sirius, confused. "Why him? I mean-"
"No, no," Sass said, mentally sighing. "I'm friends with him. I was raised in a muggle orphanage, and he was a teacher there for a while. Anyway, I'm pretty sure that's the only person they'd suspect. Except for maybe Remus, but they like him, so they wouldn't start rumors like that." She shrugged. "I know you hate him, but we're good friends, and no, he's not after me," she finished, forestalling Sirius' protests. He sat for a moment, digesting this.
"Well, I won't deny that I have my doubts about Snape," he said finally. "But I trust your word. And there's one idea I have that you can try to stop people bothering you." He grinned a little. "There's a charm that's a variant of the Fidelius Charm, actually the original, simpler version. It's called the Lateus Charm, and it makes you unnoticeable. Not /invisible/, but people won't know who you are. They-" he frowned, "well, it's hard to explain, but they don't remember anything about you. You're just another person in a crowd. Do you want to try and learn it? It's quite advanced, but you should be able to handle it, and it gets easier every time you use it." He thought for a moment. "I won't be able to teach it to you, though. Ask Remus. I'm sure he'll help you."
"Thanks, Sirius. I think that'll help a lot," Sass said, smiling happily.
Sirius grinned slyly. "Good. Now, since you've got that off your shoulders, what do you say we try this charm again?"
I'm sorry, another bad ending, but the next part really needs to be in its own chapter, so whatever. And you have now reached the end of my story, the other chapters will be up sporadically, as I write them. But now the reviews.
flowerlily99- thank you, you were my first reviewer and I REALLY appreciate it. Glad you liked.
geuss- thanks! I'm hurrying!
Iggie- I'm glad you like it, your story is great too! (Everyone else go read Seeing Grey by Iggie!)
harrypottermagic32- thanks for ploughing through, I hope the formatting is better in this version.
Ashitiba- Thanks for reviewing, as I said before I don't mind your not reviewing, I'm glad you like it!
Diety- THANK YOU!!!!!! You are the best, and I really appreciate your advice. I hope you continue to give it.
Safety Munkey- Thanks! I'm glad you like this as well as Shadowdancer. And I am now planning on continuing to post this, because people say I should. Thanks!
R
E
V
I
E
W
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE? It makes me so happy.
Sasina (Sass for short) Chapter 10- Of Pain
The next day Sass turned out for the first Quidditch match of the year (Griffindor vs. Hufflepuff) with the rest of the school, despite the fact that yesterday's rain had turned into a thunderstorm. Sass wished she could be playing, but despite her talent with martial arts, she was worth squat on a broomstick. She wasn't afraid of heights; she just couldn't seem to get the broom to understand what she wanted to do. Madam Hooch was understanding, but Sass was still irritated by her inability.
Sass turned to the match as the players walked out onto the field. She was sitting alone, in a space that had been conveniently vacated as soon as she approached it. This, of course, meant that there was no one to help block the wind, so she had to resort to creating a small heat-bubble under her cloak, which helped- some.
Madam Hooch blew her whistle, and the game started. Sass squinted into the rain, trying to see what was going on. At some point Sandra had told her about this game. There were four balls, and the different positions were based on which ball the player interacted with, on his or her broom. The three Chasers and the Keeper dealt with the Quaffle- Chasers trying to score through one of the other team's three hoops (worth ten points), which the Keeper tried to prevent. Two Beaters per team carried small bats to hit the balls called Bludgers, which flew around the field, trying to knock as many players off their brooms as possible. And then there was the Golden Snitch, which was small, fast, and hard to see. The Seeker on each team tried to catch it, earning their team 150 points and ending the game.
Suddenly, one of the players whooshed right in front of Sass' spot in the stands in pursuit of the Quaffle, splattering mud all over Sass. She thought she heard a few snickers, but these quickly stopped as Sass decided she'd had enough of this rain crap and Summoned an umbrella. Then she muttered, "/Jesto vath/!" which created an invisible barrier going straight down from the end of the umbrella, making it impossible for her to get any wetter than she was, and with the ball of warmth, she was actually drying off pretty quick. The rain beat on the outside of Sass' spell, but it came no closed, drawing her some jealous and envious looks. Sass ignored them, continuing to try and make out what was happening in the game.
Eventually, Sass did come to pity her classmates as the game dragged on and on into the afternoon, and then the evening. Sass heard the whistle blowing and saw players flying to the ground for a timeout. Sass squinted down at the Gryffindor team, and felt her stomach do a funny flip-flop when she saw Harry down there. /What on earth?/ she thought to herself. /I'm not falling for a wet, muddy Harry Potter, am I?/ She shook her head, watching dimly as Hermione ran out and cast some sort of spell on Harry's glasses, and then both teams resumed flying, Harry moving in ever rising circles through the pouring rain until he disappeared.
A few minutes later, Sass saw a blur of muddy yellow robes streaking towards the middle of the stadium. A moment later, a red blur from the other end of the field came racing towards it. /They must have seen the Snitch!/ Sass thought, a thrill of excitement racing through her even though she wasn't playing. /Oh, come on, Harry, come on!/
But suddenly, Harry slowed, then stopped. He looked down at something on the field, and Sass instinctively followed his gaze, and gasped. She saw the black-cloaked dementors, and felt herself fall into her memories.
Sasina limped back into the practice ring, assessing the damage when Milord Paul had thrown her out of it. Her body still seemed to be working fairly well, although her mind was reeling with the pain. Her shoulder was probably fractured where she'd hit the floor, and her right wrist was sprained where he'd grabbed her for the throw. She might have a sprained ankle, too, although that was minor. She checked her legs, and was relieved to find that the only damage there was the normal pain in her left leg and the usual assortment of bruises that covered her entire body. She would have to do a lot of kicking, then. Maybe if she was lucky, that throw would have appeased some of Milord Paul's anger, and she would only have to 'spar' a few more rounds.
Then she took her fighting stance, and looked into Milord Paul's eyes, and felt her hope shatter like glass. His eyes were narrowed with fury, his whole body tensed with a need to /hurt/. And she would be the one who took the pain.
He attacked, and Sasina mutely tried to fight back, but he was better than her, stronger, and she was still being hurt by the mysterious and excruciating pain that coursed through her body whenever Milord Paul got really angry. Sasina bit back a scream as he knocked her down onto her hurt shoulder.
Sasina heard a voice calling her name from far away. She wondered why. No one would dare interrupt Milord when he was this angry. someone was shaking her. "Sass! Sass! Come on, shake the memories! Like in the train!" What? She'd never been on a train. Except the Hogwarts Express. The Hogwarts Express! The spell!
"EXPECTO PATRONUS!" she yelled, feeling her hand grasping her wand. Sass opened her eyes slowly, forcing herself /not/ to cry. "I- what happened?"
A worried face was bent over her. Although she didn't recognize it, she knew she would soon. Sass groaned a little, feeling something digging into her back. Sass' life came back to her slowly at first, faster as she fought back unconsciousness. the adoption, the letter, Hogwarts, dementors, Severus, classes, Quidditch- and then seeing the dementors on the fields. Sass looked up again at the man who was crouched beside her. "You're Remus, right?" He nodded. Sass sat up slowly, feeling something pop in her back. She looked around. The stadium was empty.
"Where- where is everyone?" she asked.
Remus smiled a little. "Gone. The match ended right after the dementors showed up. Are you alright?"
Sass nodded. "Yeah. what happened?"
"Well, in terms of Quidditch, Harry fell off his broom when the dementors came, so Cedric Diggory- that's the Hufflepuff Seeker- got the Snitch. The game ended, and I started to leave with all the rest, until I saw a lovely red umbrella still up in the stands." He smiled at her. "I remembered you, and the dementors, and realized you might not have been able to fight them, and if the rumors are true, no one would help you if you collapsed." Remus raised an eyebrow and Sass nodded in confirmation.
"Well, I came back up here, and you still were trapped in the memories induced by the dementors, even though they were gone. So I tried to snap you out of it. And here you are."
Sass took a deep breath, trying /not/ to remember the end of the memory the dementors had replayed for her this time. She had never been raped, at least not physically, but you didn't need to rape someone to torture them. She knew.
"I- Remus, say something, anything, distract me, /please/!" she said suddenly.
Remus jumped a little, but said the first thing he thought of. "In the hall, did you really Stun those students?" he said.
Sass forced her mind down this new path. "Yes," she said slowly. "Yes, I did. I'm not sure I could do it again, though."
"Why not?" asked Remus.
"Because I was furious. I hate bullies of any kind, but what they were doing to Severus. well, I know he's pretty evil to them, but /nothing/ I've ever heard warranted that."
Remus chuckled a bit. "Oh, when I heard what'd happened, it took me forever to stop laughing. I mean, yeah, maybe he's nice to you, but he hates me completely, and, well. if I'd been there I would've stopped it, but. I imagine it must've been quite a sight." He noticed Sass' glare. "What? I know you two are friends, but I still don't like the man. And you have to admit, he is positively cruel to Gryffindors, no?"
Sass nodded reluctantly. "Yeah, I had a talk about that with him just the other day." She grinned a bit. "I'm afraid he was a bit, ah, /rude/ in your class yesterday. Be prepared for a lot of complaints when you get back. He assigned us an essay on recognizing and killing werewolves," she added gingerly, looking to see how Remus reacted.
"Shit!" he growled. "How /dare/ the little bastard do that." Then he looked at her. "Er." said Remus.
Sass knew what he was doing. He was trying to think of how to explain. He'd obviously forgotten for a moment that she supposedly didn't know he was a werewolf. Sass cheered up even more. That meant that he'd forgotten that she was one of the students, and that she wasn't one of his closest friends, which, maybe, on reflection, she was.
Remus was still sputtering, so Sass decided to take away the suspense. "I already know," she said quietly.
"What?" he shouted. "You mean Snape /told/ you? He was under /orders/ from /Dumbledore/ not to-"
"No, no, wait!" Sass said. "He didn't tell me!"
Remus stopped yelling suddenly. "What?"
"I said," repeated Sass, "That Severus didn't tell me."
"Then how in the hell did you find out?" Remus replied.
Sass sighed. "It's sorta a long story, and the person who told me made me swear never to tell you because he said you would kill him. Which seems pretty true." she jabbed at his violent reaction, smiling a little.
Remus smiled, but wasn't distracted. "Then- who? Not that many people know. I mean, all the teachers do, but none of them would've-"
Sass grinned. "You'll never guess who it was, so don't try. Oh, and about the essay- don't worry. Most of the people in that class are idiots, and they'll never make the connection. The only one I'd worry about is Hermione. she's too smart for her own good."
Remus frowned a little at her phrasing, but let it pass. "Here," he said, pulling a large bar of chocolate out of his robes. "Eat this." Sass took the bar and began to munch on it. Remus pulled her up and they walked back to the castle together.
* * * * *
Ron Weasley walked quietly down the halls, searching in vain for something to do. Hermione was working on homework (no surprise there), and Harry was playing Seamus at chess. Nobody would play Ron anymore, claiming he was too good. That was fine, except that now Ron had nothing to do. So here he was, wandering around the castle.
He passed the spot where his brothers, Fred and George, and their friends had ambushed Snape the other week. That had been a sight! But then that first year girl, Sass, had ratted them all out. He scowled. What a brat. /She deserves everything she's getting/, thought Ron. /And more. I mean, she betrayed her /own House-mates/ for /Snape/! Yeah, maybe they went a little bit overboard- especially if they didn't want to get caught- but she told! She /helped/ the slimy bastard!/
/And besides/, he thought with a small shiver, /she scares me/. Ron remembered the look she'd had in her eyes as she Stunned the pranksters. Those grey eyes had glared viciously out of her small face, framed by chin- length black hair. /She was absolutely furious/, he thought. Sass had stared down practically every person in the corridor; quite a feat, considering she'd done it in the time it took to kneel down and put someone your shoulders. /And that scares me too/, he realized. //Nobody/ should be able to lift someone so much bigger than them onto their shoulders, especially a girl!/
Ron suddenly clapped a hand to his mouth, looking quickly around in case somehow Hermione had heard his last thought. /She would kill me./
When Hermione didn't appear, Ron was able to laugh at himself and his silly fears, but he still couldn't banish the image of that first year glaring daggers at him- /daring/ him to prove Snape deserved that he was getting. Which he did, of course- Sass was deluded- but he still couldn't meet those eyes, even in memory.
Ron checked his muggle watch. It was almost curfew, time for him to be getting back. The others should be finished playing chess, and maybe he could coax them into playing a game of Gobstones. Harry said Gobstones was just like muggle checkers, which he'd apparently been pretty good at.
* * * * *
Sass watched as Ron came back into the common room, realizing with his start then grimace as he saw her that she must have been the subject of his recent thoughts. She now came back to the common room when she was done in the library, making a /pretense/ that she went to bed in her dorm, instead of in Myrtle's bathroom, courtesy of Sass' ghost-walker, or ghoster, as Sass liked to call it. Sass slumped back a little in her armchair. She was the most hated student in the school, which she supposed she ought to try and get used to. /But I just keep thinking, 'this place is so amazing, so magical, that the people just have to be better than the ones back home.' But they're really not, and I should stop deluding myself. My friends here are Severus, Myrtle, Remus, and Hermione and Sandra when they can. I'll just have to adjust. Like I said to Hermione. I draw hatred to myself just by existing./
Sass checked her watch, and then trudged up to her dormitory to get her ghoster and Invisibility Cloak. She happily turned her mind to Myrtle when the chance presented itself. Dance lessons were going well; and to Sass' eye, the girl did seem slimmer. But the biggest difference was in Myrtle's self-confidence. The loneliness and doubt that had lessened with Sass' arrival were now all but gone. Myrtle no longer stayed in her toilet; she went around the castle like all the other ghosts, although she still avoided the students. Sass was really happy for her.
Still thinking of Myrtle, Sass covered herself with the cloak, then whispered, "/creare fantasma/!" willing herself to drop through the floors as quickly as she could. Once she reached the second floor, she stopped, and drifted along towards Myrtle's bathroom for the remaining few seconds, and then knocked softly on the door.
"Myrtle? It's me- Sass." The door creaked open and Myrtle looked out. Sass slipped in, then took off her cloak. "Hey Myrtle! Fancy a game of chess before I go to sleep?" The two girls grinned and sat down on the floor. Right now Sass didn't care about the other students, didn't care about anything, although she knew she would tomorrow. Right now, she was just happy.
* * * * *
The next morning at breakfast Sass was grumpy and tired, because she had stayed up with Myrtle until about four in the morning. She saw Jessica and Marisa talking to a couple of older students, who all looked at her as she sat down. The one of them called over to her, "Hey, Sass! You have fun in bed with him last night?" Sass supposed he must have pointed at someone. She didn't bother to look.
"Bugger the hell off!" she said back, helping herself to toast and jam.
That evening when she went to have her Animagus lesson with Sirius, she was still irritable, and so was even more hopeless than usual. Finally Sirius gave up and sat her down.
"Sass, what's up? Spit it out."
Sass sighed, and told him about staying up late and the boy at breakfast. Sirius growled a bit, then looked thoughtful. "So you didn't see who he pointed at? If you can't come up with some sort of counter, rumors are gonna be all over the school by this time tomorrow," he said.
"No, but I can guess," Sass said. "I've had all day to think about it."
"Well?" Sirius said when she offered no further comment. "Who do you think it was?"
Sass suddenly realized she'd never told Sirius that she was friends with Severus. Well, it was too late to back out now.
"Severus," she said simply.
"What?" said Sirius, confused. "Why him? I mean-"
"No, no," Sass said, mentally sighing. "I'm friends with him. I was raised in a muggle orphanage, and he was a teacher there for a while. Anyway, I'm pretty sure that's the only person they'd suspect. Except for maybe Remus, but they like him, so they wouldn't start rumors like that." She shrugged. "I know you hate him, but we're good friends, and no, he's not after me," she finished, forestalling Sirius' protests. He sat for a moment, digesting this.
"Well, I won't deny that I have my doubts about Snape," he said finally. "But I trust your word. And there's one idea I have that you can try to stop people bothering you." He grinned a little. "There's a charm that's a variant of the Fidelius Charm, actually the original, simpler version. It's called the Lateus Charm, and it makes you unnoticeable. Not /invisible/, but people won't know who you are. They-" he frowned, "well, it's hard to explain, but they don't remember anything about you. You're just another person in a crowd. Do you want to try and learn it? It's quite advanced, but you should be able to handle it, and it gets easier every time you use it." He thought for a moment. "I won't be able to teach it to you, though. Ask Remus. I'm sure he'll help you."
"Thanks, Sirius. I think that'll help a lot," Sass said, smiling happily.
Sirius grinned slyly. "Good. Now, since you've got that off your shoulders, what do you say we try this charm again?"
I'm sorry, another bad ending, but the next part really needs to be in its own chapter, so whatever. And you have now reached the end of my story, the other chapters will be up sporadically, as I write them. But now the reviews.
flowerlily99- thank you, you were my first reviewer and I REALLY appreciate it. Glad you liked.
geuss- thanks! I'm hurrying!
Iggie- I'm glad you like it, your story is great too! (Everyone else go read Seeing Grey by Iggie!)
harrypottermagic32- thanks for ploughing through, I hope the formatting is better in this version.
Ashitiba- Thanks for reviewing, as I said before I don't mind your not reviewing, I'm glad you like it!
Diety- THANK YOU!!!!!! You are the best, and I really appreciate your advice. I hope you continue to give it.
Safety Munkey- Thanks! I'm glad you like this as well as Shadowdancer. And I am now planning on continuing to post this, because people say I should. Thanks!
R
E
V
I
E
W
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE? It makes me so happy.