Chapter 8 ~ Frightening Possibilities
Muriel left dinner early and hurried to her deserted dormitory. She pulled out the mirror and whispered, "Papa?" as she settled herself onto her bed and drew the hangings closed. Suddenly her father's ring and several fingers appeared. That was his signal that he couldn't talk right then. But she heard voices, and one of them was calling her father's name.
"Deesia! What made that sound?" The voice was cold, and Muriel felt the bottom drop out of her stomach. She watched the mirror as her father pulled it out of his pocket.
She heard him answer, "Master, it is only a mirror that I use to talk to my daughter." She narrowed her eyes at the thought of her father calling anyone 'Master.'
The cold voice laughed. "This is the girl who so bravely kept you out of Azkaban?" it asked. Muriel's blood chilled as she realized that Riddle knew who she was. "Give it to me," he said quietly. Muriel swallowed hard as her father's masked face appeared. His eyes were uncharacteristically wide. She was momentarily dizzy as he passed the mirror to Voldemort, whose face soon appeared before her.
"Hello Deesia. I must commend you on your accomplishment. It is no small feat to break a memory charm, brew an anti-truth serum and save your father's life in a 5 hour span of time. Your father is very proud, no doubt." He paused, his red eyes seemed to bore right into hers, but she didn't speak, so he continued. "I understand that your friend Severus is well recovered?"
She nodded slightly, fear creeping over her face like the mask her father wore. She waited. More than anything she wanted to dash the mirror against the bedstead so she would never have to see those eyes again.
"Excellent," he said, laughing softly. "I was planning to pay a visit to the Snape mansion over the holidays and it wouldn't do if he were too ill to receive me. I believe you live nearby. As you have served me so well already, I will be sure to drop by to see you as well." She fought back a scream, knowing that to show her revulsion now might cause her father a great deal of pain. Still, she didn't speak, and it seemed that Voldemort was growing impatient. She could feel him pushing against her head, as though trying to get inside. She looked away and he hissed angrily.
"You will speak to me. I will visit you. Do you understand?" His voice hissed dangerously through clenched teeth.
"Yes," she said meekly.
She cringed when he replied, "Yes what?" It was all she could do to hold her voice steady. She knew what he wanted to hear, and she knew that her father would feel the Dark Lord's wrath if she failed to say it.
"Yes, master," she whispered, looking back into his hideous red eyes.
"Very well," he said softly. Muriel watched as the mirror's image spun again. A moment later she was looking at her father, who had removed his mask. He was very pale and shaking.
It was all he could do to say, "End enchantment." The mirror went black for a moment, then Muriel was looking at her own face again. She tore from the room, pushing her way through the people filing into the common room and out the portrait hole, and thinking only that she must find Severus. She was running down the corridor on her way to the dungeon stairs when she hit someone solidly. Sirius had just come out of the library. His arms snaked instinctively around her waist to catch her, and she cried out in surprise before she saw that it was him.
"Sirius!" she breathed, "I have to find Sev, have you seen him?" Sirius shook his head, looking at her with a worried expression.
"Are you all right?" he asked. He was alarmed when she shook her head.
"No, I have to find Severus. Let me go!" She was struggling now. He hadn't meant to hold onto her, but he did now. He held her still and found her eyes again, which had been wildly searching the corridor for her friend.
"Tell me what's wrong." His voice was concerned, but she was wildly afraid, and had begun pushing at him again when they were both surprised by a hard voice.
"I believe she asked you to let her go." It was Severus, and she fell gratefully into his arms, sobbing. Surprised, he held her, looking over her head at Sirius, who turned abruptly and went back into the library. When she stopped crying, she pulled Severus to an empty classroom, and sat on the nearest desk as he closed the door. "What is it? I felt a surge of fear, so I came up here looking for you because I was pretty sure that I wasn't deathly afraid of my History of Magic essay. Was he hurting you?"
She looked up as though startled. "Not Black, no. I just ran into him when I was coming to find you. I used the mirror tonight to try and talk to Papa. I wanted to find out exactly what happened at the interrogation." She repeated the conversation she'd had with Voldemort word for word. It would be etched permanently in her memory, she knew. "So whatever we do, we can't go home for Christmas," she finished. Severus had sat at the desk and now lowered his head onto his arms. He didn't say anything. He had hoped that keeping her out of his mind would protect her from Voldemort. It seemed that wasn't going to be enough. Perhaps it was time to make up with Lucius. He would know what to do.
Muriel understood that he needed time to think about it all, so she stood up. She felt like she needed some time alone too. He didn't stop her as she left, and she made her way back toward her common room, knowing that it was a good while after curfew by now, and if she got caught she'd probably receive her 3rd detention of the year before it was even Halloween.
'It will be a simple thing to stay at Hogwarts for the holidays, but what about this summer?' she thought to herself. She was so lost in thought that she didn't even know that Sirius was near her until he caught up with her and grabbed her arm to turn her around. She stifled a squeal as he dragged her into the first available classroom. Unfortunately the door he chose led straight to Peeves, who was delighted to see them and began screaming at the top of his lungs. "Students out of bed! Students out of bed in the Transfiguration Department!"
Sirius swore and they ran back out the door, looking for someplace to escape to. "This way," Muriel hissed, pulling him by the sleeve toward the girl's lavatory. They waited in silence, listening as Professor McGonagal questioned Peeves. Sirius swore again when Peeves was able to tell the Professor his name and house. Thankfully he couldn't identify Muriel. When Professor McGonagal's footsteps died away, Sirius turned to Muriel. He looked very angry. "What was that all about with Snape? Are you seeing him?"
Muriel looked at him as though he was nuts. She didn't really want to discuss her conversation with Voldemort again, but at the same time, she could see how it all must have looked to Sirius. "Calm down, Black. I'm not dating Sev. You know that." She spoke softly and looked him in the eye.
"Well, you're an excellent actress then!" he snapped, turning his back to her. Muriel took a deep breath and sat down on the cold tile floor to launch into a second telling of her story. She knew that nothing short of the truth would be enough to make this up to him, and as much as she'd like to hex him for his accusations, he deserved an explanation.
"So you see, I had to find Severus because it's for him that I'm so scared," she finished. His back was still to her and he was silent. She had left out the last bit of the story where Voldemort had forced her to call him 'master.' It seemed like a wise omission.
He turned, finally, to meet her gaze, looking very uncomfortable. She smiled in understanding and patted the floor beside her and he came over gratefully and sat down, glad for the first time that he didn't have to look her in the eye. They sat together this way in silence.
"I heard about what you told Aurora at dinner." Muriel whispered suddenly. Sirius looked at her guiltily. He knew he should've asked her before he'd told people he had a date.
"Wouldn't you think it absurd if I asked you who your date was and why you hadn't asked me?" He blinked at her and nodded.
"Just as absurd, I think, as you wondering if I would rather be with Severus," she said carefully, avoiding his gaze. Sirius didn't answer. To her surprise, he pulled out a mirror of his own. She realized immediately that this was how he'd called Remus to bring them robes in their third year.
"Prongs?" She watched in astonishment as James face appeared in the mirror. Charming mirrors like that was advanced magic. She'd been impressed that her father had managed it!
"Padfoot? Where are you?"
Sirius gave him a lopsided grin. "Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. We could use some help getting out of here, can you come?"
James laughed and nodded, then disappeared. For a while they waited in silence for James to arrive with the invisibility cloak. Sirius seemed to be thinking hard about something and Muriel had a difficult time ignoring the many conflicting ideas that were intruding in her mind.
"Do you think you would like to go to the Halloween ball with me? It might blow our cover with Snape, but James is going to find out in a few minutes anyway." She looked at him sadly and for a minute he was sure she would say no.
"Sev doesn't go to those sorts of things. I can personally guarantee that he'll be practicing potions in his common room that night." He was glad to see the corners of her mouth twitching and realized that he was having trouble looking away.
He was just leaning forward to kiss her when the door opened and closed and James appeared in front of them, scowling. He had disliked Deesia enough after she'd thrown him in the lake, but ever since the incident in the shrieking shack, he had loathed her. Still, the mystery of Sirius' date for the Halloween dance was instantly answered, and that was some consolation.
"Did she slip you a love potion, mate?" he asked, trying to keep his voice light. Hexing Snape in the halls when he wasn't looking was one thing. Antagonizing Deesia to her face was a good deal different, especially considering that he was nearly sure she'd used the Unforgivable Cruciatus Curse earlier this year.
Sirius and Muriel scrambled to their feet, Sirius looking guilty, and Muriel looking defiant. "Potter, we need to talk." It was all she could do to keep from strangling him as he shrugged nonchalantly.
"So, let's talk. What should we discuss? You know a lot about Snape and a good deal about Death Eaters. Word has it that you've even experienced the Cruciatus Curse first hand. Why don't we talk about that?" He had a smug smile on his face, but it faded as Muriel continued to stare at him.
"Alright," she said slowly. Any vestige of a smile was wiped off his face. "Let's talk about that. First, though, let me apologize for throwing you in the lake. It was more than was necessary to stop what was happening and I shouldn't have done it." She waited, but he only nodded. They had hexed each other for years, but that sort of thing wasn't what bothered him anymore.
"As to the curse you saw me performing on Severus, I was trying to break through a memory charm that had been put on him by the ministry's Aurors after they interrogated him." She explained the entire situation with her father, not as she had explained it to Wormtail, but as it actually was. She filled him in all the way up to tonight's talk with Voldemort. Sirius listened silently, thankful that James wasn't interrupting.
When she had finished, James asked, "Why would you go to so much trouble to get your father off the hook if he really is a Death Eater?"
"Because I love him." The boys looked at her in silence, so she continued. "He never wanted to be a Death Eater. I don't think he understood, when he followed my mother to those meetings, what they would eventually lead to. He'd only just moved here from Italy when they got married. I don't think she explained it to him at all." James nodded. He remembered the one and only time he'd heard Muriel's mother's voice firing insults across the Great Hall at breakfast. "Once you're in you don't get back out." she added quietly. "That's why he's gone to such great lengths to keep me out of it." James swallowed hard. He still thought it was wrong of her to use that curse, even to save her father. But if Snape had really been the one to suggest it, and if his best mate really did care for her, then he was going to make an effort to get along with her. At least while Sirius was around.
Muriel could hear James' thoughts as clearly as if he were speaking them to her. She smiled at them both and said, "Good, then it's settled." She held out her hand to James, and he shook it.
"Now, what I REALLY want to know is how the two of you ended up in here, and what exactly I was interrupting?" James said laughingly, winking at Sirius, who'd gone a bit pink. They sneaked out of the lavatory under the cloak, and made their way back to their common rooms undetected.
Muriel left dinner early and hurried to her deserted dormitory. She pulled out the mirror and whispered, "Papa?" as she settled herself onto her bed and drew the hangings closed. Suddenly her father's ring and several fingers appeared. That was his signal that he couldn't talk right then. But she heard voices, and one of them was calling her father's name.
"Deesia! What made that sound?" The voice was cold, and Muriel felt the bottom drop out of her stomach. She watched the mirror as her father pulled it out of his pocket.
She heard him answer, "Master, it is only a mirror that I use to talk to my daughter." She narrowed her eyes at the thought of her father calling anyone 'Master.'
The cold voice laughed. "This is the girl who so bravely kept you out of Azkaban?" it asked. Muriel's blood chilled as she realized that Riddle knew who she was. "Give it to me," he said quietly. Muriel swallowed hard as her father's masked face appeared. His eyes were uncharacteristically wide. She was momentarily dizzy as he passed the mirror to Voldemort, whose face soon appeared before her.
"Hello Deesia. I must commend you on your accomplishment. It is no small feat to break a memory charm, brew an anti-truth serum and save your father's life in a 5 hour span of time. Your father is very proud, no doubt." He paused, his red eyes seemed to bore right into hers, but she didn't speak, so he continued. "I understand that your friend Severus is well recovered?"
She nodded slightly, fear creeping over her face like the mask her father wore. She waited. More than anything she wanted to dash the mirror against the bedstead so she would never have to see those eyes again.
"Excellent," he said, laughing softly. "I was planning to pay a visit to the Snape mansion over the holidays and it wouldn't do if he were too ill to receive me. I believe you live nearby. As you have served me so well already, I will be sure to drop by to see you as well." She fought back a scream, knowing that to show her revulsion now might cause her father a great deal of pain. Still, she didn't speak, and it seemed that Voldemort was growing impatient. She could feel him pushing against her head, as though trying to get inside. She looked away and he hissed angrily.
"You will speak to me. I will visit you. Do you understand?" His voice hissed dangerously through clenched teeth.
"Yes," she said meekly.
She cringed when he replied, "Yes what?" It was all she could do to hold her voice steady. She knew what he wanted to hear, and she knew that her father would feel the Dark Lord's wrath if she failed to say it.
"Yes, master," she whispered, looking back into his hideous red eyes.
"Very well," he said softly. Muriel watched as the mirror's image spun again. A moment later she was looking at her father, who had removed his mask. He was very pale and shaking.
It was all he could do to say, "End enchantment." The mirror went black for a moment, then Muriel was looking at her own face again. She tore from the room, pushing her way through the people filing into the common room and out the portrait hole, and thinking only that she must find Severus. She was running down the corridor on her way to the dungeon stairs when she hit someone solidly. Sirius had just come out of the library. His arms snaked instinctively around her waist to catch her, and she cried out in surprise before she saw that it was him.
"Sirius!" she breathed, "I have to find Sev, have you seen him?" Sirius shook his head, looking at her with a worried expression.
"Are you all right?" he asked. He was alarmed when she shook her head.
"No, I have to find Severus. Let me go!" She was struggling now. He hadn't meant to hold onto her, but he did now. He held her still and found her eyes again, which had been wildly searching the corridor for her friend.
"Tell me what's wrong." His voice was concerned, but she was wildly afraid, and had begun pushing at him again when they were both surprised by a hard voice.
"I believe she asked you to let her go." It was Severus, and she fell gratefully into his arms, sobbing. Surprised, he held her, looking over her head at Sirius, who turned abruptly and went back into the library. When she stopped crying, she pulled Severus to an empty classroom, and sat on the nearest desk as he closed the door. "What is it? I felt a surge of fear, so I came up here looking for you because I was pretty sure that I wasn't deathly afraid of my History of Magic essay. Was he hurting you?"
She looked up as though startled. "Not Black, no. I just ran into him when I was coming to find you. I used the mirror tonight to try and talk to Papa. I wanted to find out exactly what happened at the interrogation." She repeated the conversation she'd had with Voldemort word for word. It would be etched permanently in her memory, she knew. "So whatever we do, we can't go home for Christmas," she finished. Severus had sat at the desk and now lowered his head onto his arms. He didn't say anything. He had hoped that keeping her out of his mind would protect her from Voldemort. It seemed that wasn't going to be enough. Perhaps it was time to make up with Lucius. He would know what to do.
Muriel understood that he needed time to think about it all, so she stood up. She felt like she needed some time alone too. He didn't stop her as she left, and she made her way back toward her common room, knowing that it was a good while after curfew by now, and if she got caught she'd probably receive her 3rd detention of the year before it was even Halloween.
'It will be a simple thing to stay at Hogwarts for the holidays, but what about this summer?' she thought to herself. She was so lost in thought that she didn't even know that Sirius was near her until he caught up with her and grabbed her arm to turn her around. She stifled a squeal as he dragged her into the first available classroom. Unfortunately the door he chose led straight to Peeves, who was delighted to see them and began screaming at the top of his lungs. "Students out of bed! Students out of bed in the Transfiguration Department!"
Sirius swore and they ran back out the door, looking for someplace to escape to. "This way," Muriel hissed, pulling him by the sleeve toward the girl's lavatory. They waited in silence, listening as Professor McGonagal questioned Peeves. Sirius swore again when Peeves was able to tell the Professor his name and house. Thankfully he couldn't identify Muriel. When Professor McGonagal's footsteps died away, Sirius turned to Muriel. He looked very angry. "What was that all about with Snape? Are you seeing him?"
Muriel looked at him as though he was nuts. She didn't really want to discuss her conversation with Voldemort again, but at the same time, she could see how it all must have looked to Sirius. "Calm down, Black. I'm not dating Sev. You know that." She spoke softly and looked him in the eye.
"Well, you're an excellent actress then!" he snapped, turning his back to her. Muriel took a deep breath and sat down on the cold tile floor to launch into a second telling of her story. She knew that nothing short of the truth would be enough to make this up to him, and as much as she'd like to hex him for his accusations, he deserved an explanation.
"So you see, I had to find Severus because it's for him that I'm so scared," she finished. His back was still to her and he was silent. She had left out the last bit of the story where Voldemort had forced her to call him 'master.' It seemed like a wise omission.
He turned, finally, to meet her gaze, looking very uncomfortable. She smiled in understanding and patted the floor beside her and he came over gratefully and sat down, glad for the first time that he didn't have to look her in the eye. They sat together this way in silence.
"I heard about what you told Aurora at dinner." Muriel whispered suddenly. Sirius looked at her guiltily. He knew he should've asked her before he'd told people he had a date.
"Wouldn't you think it absurd if I asked you who your date was and why you hadn't asked me?" He blinked at her and nodded.
"Just as absurd, I think, as you wondering if I would rather be with Severus," she said carefully, avoiding his gaze. Sirius didn't answer. To her surprise, he pulled out a mirror of his own. She realized immediately that this was how he'd called Remus to bring them robes in their third year.
"Prongs?" She watched in astonishment as James face appeared in the mirror. Charming mirrors like that was advanced magic. She'd been impressed that her father had managed it!
"Padfoot? Where are you?"
Sirius gave him a lopsided grin. "Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. We could use some help getting out of here, can you come?"
James laughed and nodded, then disappeared. For a while they waited in silence for James to arrive with the invisibility cloak. Sirius seemed to be thinking hard about something and Muriel had a difficult time ignoring the many conflicting ideas that were intruding in her mind.
"Do you think you would like to go to the Halloween ball with me? It might blow our cover with Snape, but James is going to find out in a few minutes anyway." She looked at him sadly and for a minute he was sure she would say no.
"Sev doesn't go to those sorts of things. I can personally guarantee that he'll be practicing potions in his common room that night." He was glad to see the corners of her mouth twitching and realized that he was having trouble looking away.
He was just leaning forward to kiss her when the door opened and closed and James appeared in front of them, scowling. He had disliked Deesia enough after she'd thrown him in the lake, but ever since the incident in the shrieking shack, he had loathed her. Still, the mystery of Sirius' date for the Halloween dance was instantly answered, and that was some consolation.
"Did she slip you a love potion, mate?" he asked, trying to keep his voice light. Hexing Snape in the halls when he wasn't looking was one thing. Antagonizing Deesia to her face was a good deal different, especially considering that he was nearly sure she'd used the Unforgivable Cruciatus Curse earlier this year.
Sirius and Muriel scrambled to their feet, Sirius looking guilty, and Muriel looking defiant. "Potter, we need to talk." It was all she could do to keep from strangling him as he shrugged nonchalantly.
"So, let's talk. What should we discuss? You know a lot about Snape and a good deal about Death Eaters. Word has it that you've even experienced the Cruciatus Curse first hand. Why don't we talk about that?" He had a smug smile on his face, but it faded as Muriel continued to stare at him.
"Alright," she said slowly. Any vestige of a smile was wiped off his face. "Let's talk about that. First, though, let me apologize for throwing you in the lake. It was more than was necessary to stop what was happening and I shouldn't have done it." She waited, but he only nodded. They had hexed each other for years, but that sort of thing wasn't what bothered him anymore.
"As to the curse you saw me performing on Severus, I was trying to break through a memory charm that had been put on him by the ministry's Aurors after they interrogated him." She explained the entire situation with her father, not as she had explained it to Wormtail, but as it actually was. She filled him in all the way up to tonight's talk with Voldemort. Sirius listened silently, thankful that James wasn't interrupting.
When she had finished, James asked, "Why would you go to so much trouble to get your father off the hook if he really is a Death Eater?"
"Because I love him." The boys looked at her in silence, so she continued. "He never wanted to be a Death Eater. I don't think he understood, when he followed my mother to those meetings, what they would eventually lead to. He'd only just moved here from Italy when they got married. I don't think she explained it to him at all." James nodded. He remembered the one and only time he'd heard Muriel's mother's voice firing insults across the Great Hall at breakfast. "Once you're in you don't get back out." she added quietly. "That's why he's gone to such great lengths to keep me out of it." James swallowed hard. He still thought it was wrong of her to use that curse, even to save her father. But if Snape had really been the one to suggest it, and if his best mate really did care for her, then he was going to make an effort to get along with her. At least while Sirius was around.
Muriel could hear James' thoughts as clearly as if he were speaking them to her. She smiled at them both and said, "Good, then it's settled." She held out her hand to James, and he shook it.
"Now, what I REALLY want to know is how the two of you ended up in here, and what exactly I was interrupting?" James said laughingly, winking at Sirius, who'd gone a bit pink. They sneaked out of the lavatory under the cloak, and made their way back to their common rooms undetected.