-Hogwarts, November 4, 1976
Three days had passed since the visit to Hogsmeade...
And the whole magical community was still talking about what had happened on November 1st.
Every newspaper was talking about the events of that day.
It was mentioned as:
"Followers of the Dark Lord, calling themselves death eaters along with a group of nearly a thousand Dementors and 9 Giants, attacked and devastated the village of Hogsmeade when Hogwarts 3rd to 7th-year students were there."
Actually, it was fortunate that no students were killed, but there was a large number of people hospitalised and several even ended up in St Mungo's hospital.
Naturally, this news alarmed everyone in the magical community, especially the part of the Dementors that were supposed to be in Azkaban...
In fact, since the current Minister Harold Minchum had taken up his position, he had placed even more Dementors around Azkaban...
This now generated a lot of doubt, speculation, and great fear in everyone.
But the attack on Hogsmeade was not the only one that day, there was also mention of attacks on various villages by death eaters, werewolves, and other followers of the Dark Lord.
Other important news was about the Aurors who failed to respond in time on the day of these incidents.
It was revealed that the day all this happened most of the Aurors were at the post-Halloween party held by the Malfoy's...
It seems that Abraxas Malfoy took the initiative to invite and receive most of the members of Magical Law Enforcement...
The Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement had to take all the consequences of what happened and he was even expelled from his position and Bartemius Crouch Senior was put in his place.
There has also been a lot of suspicion about Abraxas Malfoy and his family during these days, but no one has been able to prove anything.
In short, the Malfoy's remained unpunished and the Aurors took all the blame.
But the most important news that made the newspapers were none of these:
It turns out that everything that happened on that day was just collateral damage, as the Dark Lord's followers had other targets...
They attacked both the current Minister Harold Minchum and the former Minister Eugenia Jenkins who was Minister of Magic from 1968 to 1975.
It was a relief for the entire magical community to know that the Minister of Magic Minchum survived and was fine.
However, the former Minister Jenkins was not so lucky and she and her entire family were completely wiped out.
All this was a before and after for Britain and the Dark Lord since never before happened something of such a large scale as this...
That day was known as the beginning of Voldemort's rise to power.
It was also reported in the newspapers that a figure in black with a sword supposedly appeared and single-handedly wiped out 8 giants in Hogsmeade, and as unbelievable as this was to the magical community it was reported by over 100 Hogwarts students of 6th and 7th year who saw this happening in person.
Currently, Hogwarts students are still talking about it and everyone wants to know who this person is, but no one has any idea who it could be...
Well..., Hermione and Draco had their suspicions, but they weren't present when all this happened so they couldn't be sure, but from the descriptions that Lily and Alice gave them, they came to think that this person could be Severus.
But so far the two of them didn't have time to talk about it with him, besides, they had their own secrets regarding that day.
Anyway, today, November 4th, four days after Halloween, in one of the classrooms at Hogwarts, the sixth-year Hufflepuff and Slytherin students had finished their Charms lessons and were getting up to leave the classroom.
A few minutes later, in the midst of the large crowd of students leaving class, Severus heard a familiar female voice call out to him.
"Hey, Sev, over here!" a young witch shouted unscrupulously, oblivious to the many stares from the students irritated by her loud shout.
Turning to his right, Severus identified the person shouting at him and the other witch standing next to him, unlike the first one this young witch seemed very embarrassed by her companion's behaviour, but despite this, she maintained a firm posture and a serious look as if she wanted to ignore the fact that the person next to her was shouting.
"Pandora?" asked Severus a little surprised by her sudden shout calling him "Sev".
After the Hogsmeade incident, he and Pandora hadn't been in much contact these days, so he was a little surprised by her sudden shout.
Well, the truth was that most of the houses had been excluding the Slytherins after what had happened, everyone had their speculations about how they were the least affected and the most prepared to escape the situation in Hogsmeade...
There were many rumours and outright lies pointed against them, of course, there were also many truths disguised as rumours, but as there was no proof, nothing could be done to the Slytherin...
But that didn't matter at Hogwarts, since just knowing that they had something to do with everything that happened was enough to make everyone look askance at the snakes.
"Pan - dy!" spelled Pandora with a cute pout as she approached him along with Amelia Bones.
"Severus," Amelia greeted.
"Amelia how's everything going?" asked Severus completely ignoring Pandora's complaints for him to call her Pandy.
"Fine, still trying to process everything that happened, but better, And you?" said Amelia with a faint smile of amusement as she watched him ignore Pandora while she continued pouting.
"Same as always... although things have been pretty annoying in Slytherin lately."
" I can imagine..." nodded Amelia sympathetically, she already knew that many of those who supported the Dark Lord must be pleased with the recent events and many others frightened, worse it was for the inocent snakes with the constant angry glares from the students of 3 other houses.
" What about Ravenclaw, how is everything?" asked Severus curiously.
" Ravenclaw is a very organised house and we all try to talk and solve any problems as quickly as possible by cooperating with each other" replied Amelia proudly.
"Hey you two, did a torposoplo get in you?" asked Pandora confused to see that they had ignored her.
" One what?" asked Amelia not understanding what she was referring to.
"A torposoplo. They're invisible. They float around, get in your ears and dull your brain. I thought that might be why you don't listen to me," explained Pandora.
"In that case, we wouldn't be able to talk to each other either, Pandora," replied Severus with a smile, he already knew about the torposoplos, in fact, it was Pandora who told him about them.
"Oh true, then why won't you listen to me?"
"I heard you from the beginning, but as I told you before, no matter how much you insist I won't call you Pandy" Severus replied lightly.
"Well... you practically just did" smiled Pandora.
"She's right about that," said Amelia amused, she couldn't believe that Severus would actually fall for such a basic trick.
Severus just sighed and shook his head.
"Uh-oh I was already forgetting Sev," Pandora said suddenly.
"Do you want to go with us to the stands to watch the first Quidditch match of the season between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor today?" she asked him excitedly, though Pandora was more excited about going with friends than the match.
Unlike Amelia who was excited for the match, after all, she is a huge Quidditch fan and a good player.
"Sure, I was thinking to go watch it anyway, who are you backing to win?"
"Most in Ravenclaw are supporting Hufflepuff in today's match, although Gryffindor have clearly a better team and are probably going to win" Amelia answered truthfully.
"We support Hufflepuff, why?" asked Pandora cluelessly.
"Because in the last few years Gryffindor has been going on a really good winning streak, if Hufflepuff wins, Ravenclaw has a better chance this year" clarified Amelia.
"Ohhh, so that' s the reason..., but Sev's cousins aren't in Gryffindor?" asked Pandora looking at Severus along with Amelia.
"True, would it bother you..." Amelia started to speak but Severus interrupted her.
"That's not a problem, it doesn't matter to me who wins, let the best one win," smiled Severus making them both nod in agreement.
Later that day, Severus was in one of the stands overlooking the large Quidditch pitch, and next to him was Amelia and Pandora as well as other Ravenclaw's who mostly went to Potions with him so they already had a 'good relationship'.
Actually, Olivia Greengrass had also invited Severus to watch the match with her usual group in Slytherin, but as he had already made plans, he had to politely decline.
To Severus' surprise, despite what had happened in Hogsmeade all the students now in the stands seemed to have forgotten about it and were excited for the match.
However, turning his attention away from that, Severus focused his attention on the playground.
The playground was all wooden, with a lot of huge bleachers filled with students and some teachers, these were decorated with pictures of mostly Hufflepuff House and some Gryffindor, as they were the two teams participating in this first match.
And inside the pitch, there are three large high hoops at each end of the pitch.
Finally, both teams entered and the Gryffindor captain, James Potter, did some exaggerated, flashy, and funny moves in the air as he flew his broom to entertain the crowd, earning him a standing ovation from the stands of his house, there were even students from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw clapping and cheering.
Once the game was about to start, both teams found themselves with 7 players from each side flying on their broomsticks, facing each other as they awaited the start of the long awaited match.
Before the game began the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor captains shook hands as usual.
"Now, I want a good clean game, all of you...Brooms up, ready..." blew the referee's whistle to finally start the game.
"And so begins the first quidditch match of the season! Hufflepuff versus Gryffindor!" the match commentator was heard to say to all the stands.
"The quaffle is immediately caught by Gryffindor..., let's see what new tricks they bring us this year" the commentator continued to narrate the match.
"Great play by James Potter and Sirius Black, Gryffindor scores and gets 10 points!"
Instantly there was cheering and clapping in the Gryffindor stands.
...
...
"Close, very close, but Hufflepuff fails!" said the commentator again.
Grunts from the Hufflepuff students filled the pitch, as did cheers from the students on the red and gold team.
"And again GRYFFINDOR POINT! Potter has scored again after skillfully dodging two of the Hufflepuff players, it looks like the Hufflepuff team is falling terribly before the strong Gryffindor offense!" the commentator continued to narrate under the piercing gaze of many Hufflepuff students and the applause/cheers of the Gryffindors.
"THAT'S POTTER!"
" AWESOME!"
"COME ON, KEEP IT UP!"
"GRYFFINDOR, GRYFFINDOR, GRYFFINDOR, GRYFFINDOR!"
A large crowd of students could be heard cheering the game style of Potter and the other Gryffindor players.
"Amazing, to think he can do all that in the air!" commented Amelia rather impressed.
Pandora and Severus who were standing next to her just looked at her for a few seconds.
It was then that Amelia froze.
Amelia knew instantly that she was probably saying something out of line, even though Severus acted very calm and partial all the time, she knew that he and Potter had a troubled history, so complimenting a person he hated wasn't very polite, especially when it was her and Pandora who invited him to watch the match with the two of them.
"This... Severus..."
"Actually, he moves quite well," Severus nodded lightly, he could now easily admit that Potter was an excellent chaser, though he doubted he was better than him now...
Too bad Severus wasn't on the Quidditch team, although with his limited past skill it was understandable.
Amelia took a sigh and smiled a little as she saw that Severus actually seemed sincere when he said those words and also didn't seem annoyed.
'He' 's so interesting...' Amelia thought, but she pushed those thoughts out of her mind and focused on the match again.
"Oops, that had to hurt the Hufflepuff keeper!" said the commentator.
"The Gryffindor chasers keep scoring on the Hufflepuff guard and they don't seem to be planning to show any mercy on them" narrated the commentator the bad situation of the yellow and black team, as cheers and applause could be heard in the Gryffindor stands and the wails of the Hufflepuff students.
The match continued with a one-sided massacre by Gryffindor that ended in a disastrous defeat for Hufflepuff.
" That must have certainly hurt the Puffs," said Pandora.
"Yes, it was a terrible defeat, but it can always be worse," nodded Amelia.
"Amelia is right, although I don't think the Hufflepuffs feel the same way," said Severus gesturing to some of the students crying and frustrated by the result.
" Pity..." commented Pandora, looking at the Hufflepuffs as if she wanted to console them.
"There's nothing they can do about it now, just try to improve," replied Amelia.
"By the way, Ravenclaw's match against Slytherin is next, I hope you don't look like that if Slytherin loses" joked Amelia to raise their spirits a bit.
"I'm not part of the team," Severus replied lightly.
"But you're still a Slytherin," Amelia added.
"Yeah, but it won't really be me who loses if that happens"
"Excuses," commented Amelia.
"Do you think we'll win?" asked Pandora.
"It's going to be a great victory on our part, we're fully prepared for the match," commented Amelia proud of the Ravenclaw team and their strategies.
Pandora nodded with a smile as the three continued walking back to the castle.
And that was how the first Quidditch match of the season ended, with Gryffindor victorious thanks to an impressive James Potter and Hufflepuff defeated by a poor keeper.
…
-Hogwarts, 24th November 1976
Several days had passed since the first Quidditch match in which Gryffindor defeated Hufflepuff and now there was only one day left until the second match between Slytherin and Ravenclaw.
Severus was now alone early in the morning eating breakfast in the Great Hall, there were only a few students in the Hall at this hour and it was only a few minutes before it started to fill up as usual.
As he was eating his breakfast, two young witches approached him where he was sitting at the Slytherin table.
Severus looked up and smiled.
"Pandora! Amelia! It's good to see you awake so early and with such energy," he greeted them jokingly, after all, they were always among the first students to arrive in the Great Hall for breakfast...
Severus on the other hand, well, he was always too early.
"Severus, I see you're still arriving before the breakfast hour even starts," Amelia added smiling as she sat down next to him at the dining room table.
While Pandora as usual complained that he didn't call her Pandy.
"I don't know what you mean, the breakfast is already on the table," Severus said pointing to the food on the table already.
"Yeah... Only 2 minutes ago maximum" Amelia replied shrugging her shoulders as she rolled her eyes.
Meanwhile, Pandora sat down across from Severus and began to eat from a large stack of pancakes in front of her as she spoke.
"Mmm...yeah well...mmm...Amelia wakes up really early too and she keeps thinking about the next Quidditch match, mmm... Merlin, I know I always say it, but after Hogwarts, I'm going to miss these meals, these pancakes are amazing," said Pandora as she continued to eagerly grab the pancakes one by one.
"I see, the nerves before an important match..."
"Nothing like that, actually, I just like to get up a bit earlier to go over the strategies, besides I have to be pretty ready for today" Amelia clarified quickly without letting Severus continue.
Severus just smiled as he shook his head.
Yes, Ravenclaw's tended to be very organised about everything, but they could also be quite stubborn.
Pandora just shrugged her shoulders wordlessly as she continued to pull another pancake from the table to eat.
Unlike the other three houses where many students from different houses were usually seen eating breakfast together, at the Slytherin table it was quite abnormal for students from other houses to sit with them, but Amelia and Pandora were both from important noble houses, and purebloods, so no one ever made many comments about it, and with Severus there they wouldn't either... although maybe if they were still Muggles there might be a problem despite Severus being there.
"So, what's so special about today?" Severus finally asked curiously.
Amelia looked at him and realised that he shouldn't know since they weren't in the same class, instantly she made an anticipating and defiant face as she answered.
"Well you see, today both the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and the Charms teacher are going to be evaluating us Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff in a wizarding duel."
'Oh it looks like this time Professor Harvey decided to invite Professor Flitwick... he must not want the same thing to happen again or repeat what happened with our class on the first day' thought Severus remembering the first day of class and the incident with Draco, Potter, and Black.
Usually at Hogwarts, students from 5th year upwards, usually have training duels, and occasionally an outstanding student is selected for one of the competitions that take place in other schools of magic and it seems that today the students from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff have a selection, hence Amelia's enthusiasm.
Pandora wiped her mouth a bit and when it looked like she was about to say something, she opened her mouth to swallow the pancakes again.
Severus turned to Amelia curiously.
"So you're thinking of going to compete outside?"
" Sure, it's the dream of every witch or wizard who wants to be an Auror, plus it's very useful since it's on your file and then getting a position in the Ministry of Magic is easier" Amelia stated enthusiastically with the idea as she explained her reasons to him, after all, she always wanted to be part of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
"No!" shouted Pandora, surprising both Amelia and Severus...
But she quickly added embarrassed while smiling and sticking out her tongue making a very funny and tender face, "This... heh... sorry, I dropped my pancake."
Severus and Amelia just laughed lightly and continued talking.
"And you don't plan on going to compete outside?" asked Amelia intrigued since with his skills he could win a competition which would give him quite a bit of prestige in the magical community.
"Hmm, I haven't decided yet, I think it would be good to see the level that other wizarding schools have, but besides that, I'm not too interested in the idea of participating."
"Well... if I decided to participate I'm sure that with your level you could win, you're among the best duelists at Hogwarts..." said Amelia.
'If you're not the best' she thought to herself, Amelia really admired that about him, Severus was smart, strong, interesting, a good duelist, sometimes funny but also serious, he had a lot of good qualities.
"Yes, Sev, you should give it a try, I'm sure it would be awesome to see you participate, must be fun!" Pandora commented enthused.
"Oh and why would you think that?" grinned Severus.
"Oh, come on Sev, everyone already knows that you are a level above the others in 6th year and you performed exceptionally well in the dueling practices that Slytherin had with Gryffindor, even Professor Harvey commented that you have quite particular spells for every situation, being one of the best students he saw," said Pandora.
"Even Amelia admits that she prefers not to duel you but she certainly thinks you're the best at Hogwarts," she added lightly.
"So Amelia said that huh" replied Severus as he gave an amused look at Amelia who bit her tongue at the sudden conversation involving her.
"Pandora!" Amelia gave her friend an annoyed look as Pandora innocently dodged her eyes and ignored the tone of voice she used when calling out to her.
"Don't stress Amelia, I might think about participating, after all, if a Ravenclaw like you considers me the best student I must be, right?" joked Severus.
Pandora laughed as Amelia glared at her.
After chatting for a while longer, Severus, Amelia, and Pandora prepared to leave the Great Hall together.
The Hall was predictably crowded at this hour with students who were just getting up at this hour to get a quick breakfast and then head off to class.
As Severus, Amelia and Pandora were in no hurry, the three of them waited quietly for the crowd to clear.
As they left they noticed a large group of students gathered around the notice board outside the Great Hall.
"Is it because of the Quidditch match tomorrow?" Amelia, who was walking next to them wondered aloud.
"Hmm, or maybe it's something new and interesting...it could be some creature that has appeared at Hogwarts. Come on, let's have a look," Pandora said excitedly.
The three of them made their way to the notice board and instantly began to listen to the conversation between all the people there.
"Damn!"
"Who did this?"
"Who else but the Slytherins!?"
"The Headmaster must see this immediately..."
"Nonsense, Dumbledore must know by now."
"Yes, nothing happens without Dumbledore knowing..."
"Don't be naive!"
"Where are the prefects!?"
"Never mind, we have to take them down!"
"But..."
"Shut up and take them down."
"Take what down?" Amelia as a Ravenclaw prefect asked loudly, but her question was answered when she reached the notice board.
A dozen pages of parchment were pinned up, covering the entire surface, with bold black letters that said:
"THE BEGINNING OF VOLDEMORT'S RISE TO POWER".
Amelia's heart skipped a beat.
Then, taking a deep breath, she organised everyone and tore off the pages of parchment one by one.
Finally, they had all the parchment sheets out in a few seconds.
Turning to the others, Amelia said seriously, "If you see any more of these, report it to a teacher or prefect immediately, is that understood?"
Everyone was silent. Finally, a fifth-year Hufflepuff student coughed loudly and said, "This...sorry, but we could go all day if we do that."
"What do you mean?"
"Haven't you seen...?"
"Have you seen what?" asked Amelia a little confused but already anticipating what the young man in front of her might be insinuating.
"The signs are all over the place," said the 5th-year Hufflepuff and pointed to the end of the corridor.
The wall, which ran perpendicular to the corridor they were in, was covered, floor to ceiling, with the pages of parchment that said: "THE BEGINNING OF VOLDEMORT'S RISE TO POWER."
"There's even in our common room," said one of the Hufflepuff students.
"And in ours!" added another Gryffindor.
"It's the same with ours" added a Ravenclaw to Amelia's surprise.
"Why haven't the teachers seen it?" asked Amelia curiously.
"They were not here this morning,"
"And we only noticed them recently."
"Me too."
"Yes, me too."
In fact, Severus, Amelia, and Pandora hadn't seen these pages of parchment when they got up either.
" Fine, I'll go and report it right away, you don't do anything rash until then," Amelia said earnestly.
"But the classes are about to start, the bell will ring any minute now," Pandora commented to Amelia.
"Don't worry, I will arrive, but if anything happens I will ask the teacher I find to explain the reasons why I was late or missed the class" Amelia replied calmly having already thought of everything.
"All right, everyone, go and have a quick breakfast and then go to your classes. I'll tell the teachers and they'll take care of it," Amelia told everyone.
Finally, the crowd of students nodded and slowly dispersed.
Amelia turned to Severus.
"I have something to request you, and I don't think you will like it, but if it's any consolation, I promise to make it up to you at Slughorn's feast," Amelia said.
Severus frowned, but then sighed and shook his head.
"Tell me and I'll see what I can do, but no promises."
"You could ask the Head of Slytherin to take care of this matter in your house? surely if you ask him personally he would consider finally doing something," said Amelia.
"You want me to ask Professor Slughorn for a favour, you know he's going to use that at the feast afterwards to introduce me to everyone."
"Yeah..., well, I know it's a bother, but he's the only one who can do anything inside your house, the other professors have no authority there and you know if anyone says anything to Slughorn, he'll just think they're trying to badmouth his students or something else," said Amelia rolling her eyes at Professor Slughorn's stupidity.
Everyone knew how proud he was, and that he didn't like others telling him he was doing things wrong or that something was going on in Slytherin without him knowing, he wasn't a bad person or teacher, just too proud and blind to see his mistakes.
"Very well, I will do that, but at least you must then show me a few books from Ravenclaw's private library..."
"Sure..."
"The ones that only prefects have access to," Severus added.
"Fine, fine, it's a deal!"