Hogwarts Friends, Hogwarts Enemies

Chapter 4 - The Picture on the Daily Prophet

It was Severus's sixth year at Hogwarts, and also the day after one his greatest moments of glory. The Quidditch season was now well under way, and yesterday Ravenclaw had utterly smashed Slytherin. Ravenclaw had been 140 points up, their Seeker's fight for the Snitch had been terrifying, but Severus had caught it, right in front of the other's face.

He was seeing less of his Gryffindor friends these days. James, Sirius, Peter and Remus all seemed to be up to something, he didn't know what. Filch, the new caretaker, had none of the power of Apollyon Pringle, but twice the malice, and he seemed particularly hateful against the four Gryffindors. Today, Severus was a little more concerned about something else. During the match, Avery, the Slytherin Seeker, had briefly revealed a strange tattoo on his arm… he was sure he'd seen the same thing on Lucius Malfoy… and he wanted to find out what it was. The books were telling him nothing.

"It's useless… completely useless…" Not his words, but they could have been. Lily Evans fell into a chair by him, carrying a stack of heavy books.

"What?"

"This Potions test… I can't find the ingredients anywhere."

Severus smiled a little. Lily was a bit of a disaster at Potions, he wouldn't have been surprised if Samovar had deliberately prevented her from finding them. Last week's escapades with acne cure that turned out to be itching potion proved the point.

"I'll help you if you like."

"Oh, would you?"

She laid out the books rather aggressively, and he carefully picked out the one required, and flicked immediately to the right page. James found his girlfriend there a little later, completely unaware of his presence.

"Add some bat's whiskers… now you need the activator."

"The unicorn hair?"

"Yeah, that's right. How much?"

"Um…

"It's a proportion for a fixing agent – do it in hair length if you find that easier."

"Oh… one small pewter cauldron, so 15 centimeters."

"That's right…"

"And the potion will be pink!" Lily sounded pleased with herself.

"Good, but one last ingredient."

"Pond weed gathered at midnight!"

"Until the potion's dark green."

"Thanks Severus… I understand it so much better now… Oh, hi James."

James looked over the books. "Oh, that test… I was going to try glancing at the ingredients before we went in, can never memorise potions. Can I have my girlfriend back?"

Lily giggled. "He hasn't stolen me…"

Severus smirked. "I would have told her the ingredients to a love potion, but she doesn't have a great record of adding just one drop of dragons' blood…"

"Severus!" James and Lily said at exactly the same time, and then laughed. "You have an evil sense of humour," Lily said. "Anyway, James and I are off to Hogsmeade. We'd invite you but I suspect we'd bore you to death."

"Geoff and I were going to go down soon anyway… see you there."

"Thanks for all your help… James, Sev is the one to ask about Potions… he knows everything, I'm sure of it. Was it Potions you were going to teach? You'll be excellent…"

"Defence against the Dark Arts, actually…" But Lily and James were going, they didn't hear his last remarks.

*

He and Geoff arrived in the Three Broomsticks just in time for an apparent celebration. The Gryffindors were toasting to – Sirius? They sat down. "What's going on?" Geoff asked mildly.

Remus explained. "You know Hazel Redwings, our Seeker, came down with that magical strain of 'flu? Sirius just volunteered to be our Seeker in the Ravenclaw match! No one else was willing to do it on such short notice…" He smiled to Severus. "…You know you Ravens have a tough seeker."

"How is Hazel, anyway?" Mandy asked, overhearing the conversation from her gaggle of Hufflepuff friends.

"Madame Pomfrey was stumped for a cure, but Hazel seems to be fighting off the infection on her own. She should be better soon. She really wasn't up to it when we played Slytherin. Great victory yesterday by the way, Sev."

"Thanks."

He and Geoff collected a couple of butterbeers, and sat down with the Gryffindors. Sirius and James were clinking glasses. "All's fair in love and Quidditch!"

A commotion seemed to be starting in the other end of the pub – the Daily Prophet being handed around, people talking all at once, but in hushed, emotional tones. James got up, and walked over.

"What's going on?"

"Don't you know?" A woman asked him, tearfully. She handed him a paper. The picture on the front was hideous green skull, with a snake winding through it… an apparition in the air not unlike Malfoy's prank ghoul. James swallowed as he read the headline.

DARK WIZARD TERROR ATTACK KILLS OVER 1000

*

The air was tense as they walked back. The gaggle of Hufflepuff girls was clinging to one another, James and Lily hugging, Remus, Peter, Sirius, Severus and Geoff all in solemn silence.

"It seems so surreal," Peter murmured.

"How could someone do that…" Remus murmured in an equally low voice.

"I feel guilty… we were just talking Quidditch like it was the most important thing in the world, and then…" Lily hugged James harder.

The horror was impossible to comprehend. Voldemort had completely destroyed an entire magical primary school – the Headmaster was a heavy campaigner for Muggle-born/Pureblood equality, and heavily against the Dark Arts. The parents had all been waiting to collect their children… The horror tripled in intensity when they encountered people who had relatives and friends who had been killed. Nothing was left but the 'Dark Mark', the huge floating apparition in the sky after the devastation.

Severus was shaken – and the Dark Mark, it was the tattoo he'd seen on Avery and Malfoy. How could they admire someone who could do this?

Back in Hogwarts, people were crying, talking in muted voices. Even the Slytherins were subdued, shifting around without saying a word. "I hope…" Mandy said softly. "I hope it makes some of them rethink supporting the Dark Arts!"

"So do I," Severus whispered. So many killed, it was terrible.

Instead of going to respective common rooms, all students were summoned to the Great Hall. Never had it been so full of owls delivering letters, never had so many people been hugging each other and tearful. As letters got opened, several people left the hall, soon followed by their respective head of house. Dumbledore moved to the front, his face grave. He stood up, needing no words to silence them. Everyone was attentive.

"Today, an act of great evil was done – and an act that killed many innocents who could have caused no harm to Voldemort. Many of us have friends or relatives who were killed or injured…" His voice was composed, but deeply sincere. Severus thought - Many of 'us' – in this situation, we're all the same. Dumbledore's voice became strained – touched with human pain, human emotion many had thought him to be immune from. "My niece Taryn taught at Greentrees Primary School for Magical Children… I know that others of us have similar stories. Even if we did not know those involved, this is a terrible moment – for humanity, as well as the magical community.

There are few words that can be said on an occasion such as this – I have no way to comfort you in pretty speeches. All I can do is urge you to compassion – we must comfort each other, listen to each other's stories, and help one another stay strong after this great evil. I know that for many of you, Voldemort's acts were distant tragedies until this day. So I urge each of you to remember how you have felt today, and not let the evil acts go ignored or unnoticed – they cannot be tolerated. And remember this – beyond the Death Eaters, beyond Lord Voldemort, is our greatest enemy – the enemy of evil. Our greatest weapon against it is to do good."

Dumbledore said a few words, flicked his wand, and the tables of the Great Hall disappeared, and were replaced by numerous comfortable chairs. The students and teachers of Hogwarts stayed there until late hours, the curfew forgotten and the food informally laid out by house elves, who were also subdued and pale. Professor McGonagall sat on the floor talking to several young Gryffindors, Professor Bulwark was seen in the middle of a sofa, talking emotionally with a mixed group of all ages, Professor Flitwick shuffled around the Ravenclaws that were crying, offering tissues and words of sympathy. Selina Snape left her Gryffindor friends for a moment just to go hug her brother… Severus and Selina clung close in thankfulness that they still had each other. And each of the friends who had met in the Three Broomsticks went to bed hoping it had all been a bad dream – but when they woke up, the Dark Mark still drifted menacingly on the cover of the Daily Prophet.

***

A/N - I think there really are times when we have to remember the bad times.

A/N 2 - I stole a couple of the potion ingredients from another book all together. Anyone care to guess from where?

A/N 3 - I figure Potions is a bit like Chemistry, except instead of utilising chemical properties of materials, the wizard utilises the magical properties of the materials involved. There are probably items with magical properties that we Muggles don't even realise.

A/N 4 - Magical strain of 'flu - essentially, the influenza virus which has become resistant to magical cures.

A/N 5 - Witches and Wizards do not generally send their children to Muggle Primary School. Instead, they could go to a special primary school that caters for their children's special abilities and different upbringing, and can teach them to read/write/add up etc. in a way best suited to them. There are not many of these schools, and children are taken by Floo Powder daily as opposed to boarding.

Next chapter features the Ravenclaw/Gryffindor Quidditch match… and an accusation from Sirius.