Chapter Eleven: Trust Wisely
Although Sianna had firmly established a state of enmity between her and most of Gryffindor, her Slytherin roommates were considerably more amiable after the "Green Gryffindors" incident. Somehow, she'd proven her "worthiness" and suggested to the formerly hostile girls that maybe—just maybe—she really did belong in their house. In any case, they gradually began to get used to her presence, even if she had not been accepted into the fold entirely. That would take some more time.
The rest of her house, however, was not quite so accepting. This was all too apparent the day of Quidditch trials, when Sianna signed up to try for one of the Beater positions. Derrick and Bole, the old Beaters, had graduated the year before, along with one of the Chasers.
The sun was setting, falling into a clear, if somewhat foggy night. The prospective players lined up on the damp pitch with their brooms in hand as the four existing team members paced in front of them, looking the group up and down in assessment. The new captain, a seventh year called Montague, called his players together in a conference, and Sianna felt rather sick when she noticed the way they eyed her during their discussion. She made an extra effort to stand up straight and look tough—or at least, tougher than she really felt.
When they finally concluded their conversation, Draco, Bletchley (the Keeper), and Warrington (a Chaser), began pacing again, but Montague stopped directly in front of Sianna.
"You," he said, pointing as if she could not see to whom he was speaking, "out."
"What?! I haven't even flown yet, you can't call me out," she argued.
"I'm the captain, and you're out if I say you're out," he growled threateningly. "I won't have some jumped-up mudblood brat playing on my team, talent or no talent. So you might as well just foot it off this pitch."
It was Sianna's turn to growl after hearing that, and she could barely keep herself from chucking her loaned broomstick in his square, pimply face and stalking off. She stood her ground, quietly seething, and stared at him until he spoke again.
"Fine, stand there all night. I don't give a damn. But you're not getting in the air, no matter how long you wait," he promised with a smug sneer before continuing down the line. By that time, they'd attracted the attention of every other person on the field. Sianna made sure to send the other three team members one fuming glare apiece. Warrington and Bletchley just laughed, but Sianna was pleasantly shocked when she saw Draco look away. Was that shame on his face?
When she was sure that they all knew how angry she was (not that it really helped), she retreated up the bleachers to watch the rest of the proceedings. They team drilled and studied their hopefuls, weeding out the worst and continuing on with the not-so-bad players. Even Sianna could tell that none of them were really impressive.
In the end, they chose the fastest as the Chaser and the two biggest as the Beaters. Sianna had seen those to hulking blobs following Draco all over the place, but she could not recall their names. They looked as if they possessed about half a brain each and twice as much mass as was normal for any fifteen year old, wizard or no. So much for that fantastic Quidditch team, Sianna thought ruefully, recalling Draco's proud description of his house.
As the lingering sunlight finally disappeared, the last of the players left the pitch, patting each other on the back in congratulations, and Sianna climbed back down the stadium stairs to the grass. On a whim, she mounted her broom and soared up to the sky, mostly just to spite Montague, but the feeling just wasn't the same. She was too angry, too upset to enjoy flying that night.
She landed with an unrestrained sigh and slumped shoulders, a posture that clearly conveyed her emotion. She looked up longingly, gazing at the amazing clarity of the night sky. It was a view that normally filled her with a certain sense of awe, but that night, she couldn't help but think that she wouldn't mind trading the spectacle for someone to talk to, a friend that could at the very least offer a comforting hug.
She didn't turn when she heard the slow, measured footsteps in the grass behind her. They stopped beside her, and Sianna was a little surprised to hear Draco speak.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" he said quietly, following her gaze.
She looked down at her feet, then turned to the side and backed up a step to see him better.
"What are you doing here?" she asked tiredly.
"The same thing you are," he answered evasively. The darkness partially masked her annoyed look, but he could sense it just as well, and he admitted reluctantly, "I wanted to talk to you."
"I wasn't aware we were on speaking terms," Sianna said, directly her gaze upward once more.
Draco sighed and looked at his shoes. "What happened today, at the try- outs...that wasn't right," he said, almost apologetically.
"Damn straight it wasn't," Sianna agreed crudely.
"It wasn't my idea," he stated, only slightly defense. "I told them how good you are, but Warrington insisted. You should've at least gotten a chance."
Sianna sighed again. "It's not your fault, not really. I guess I should've expected it," she lamented. She didn't truly blame Draco...she couldn't ask him to argue with superiors over a principle he was expected to agree with. She turned and began to trudge back up to the castle. Draco remained on the pitch for a moment, but then he seemed to come to a decision and jogged to catch up with Sianna.
"Sianna...I can tell them to lay off if you want," he offered awkwardly. "I mean, just because you're Muggle-born doesn't mean—"
"Muggle-raised, not Muggle-born," Sianna corrected in a fit of impatience. "If it's such a huge deal, you guys should at least keep the facts straight."
Draco looked entirely perplexed, although Sianna couldn't see it. "What?"
"What do you mean, what?"
"You told me your parents were Muggles..."
Sianna sighed and stared off into the forest to keep from glaring at Draco. "First of all, I never told you anything, one of the professors did. Secondly, it's my adoptive parents who are Muggles. I've no idea who my real—did you see that?" Her unfocused gaze had spotted something moving in the trees, but she wasn't sure what. Sianna stopped in her tracks and took a few involuntary steps towards the woods, squinting into the deepening darkness. Something was walking upright, just behind those first branches...
"Huh? What?"
It looked like a human, but she couldn't be too sure...
"What is it?" Draco persisted, trying to follow her line of sight. He leaned over her shoulder and looked past her pointing finger. It took a moment to find, but eventually Draco eventually saw it. It had to be a person, nothing else could walk quite that way. But how could they have gotten through the wards? Everyone always said that Hogwarts was the safest place in England, and not just anyone could get past those gates.
As he watched intently, Sianna started to slink away towards the woods in a heedless effort to see the person more clearly. Now she was almost entirely positive that it was a man—
Draco snapped out of his focus when he felt that Sianna was gone. He cursed softly when he saw her sneaking down the slope, and put on a burst of speed to catch up with her before she reached the forest. The girl had obviously forgotten the danger...
She gasped as Draco caught her arm and pulled her back, stumbling.
"Just what the hell do you think you're doing?" he reprimanded in her ear. "We have no idea who that is! You're going to get yourself killed!"
But Sianna kept her eyes on the forest, watching her quarry disappear into the cover of the trees and out of her sight. When she could no longer see him, she relaxed in Draco's grip and turned around to face him.
"I saw his face," she told him with frustration, "but he was wearing a mask...I couldn't tell who it was."
Draco dropped her arm as a suspicious expression spread across his features. "What kind of mask?"
"It was white, I'm pretty sure," she said honestly. "Why?"
Draco grabbed hold of her arm again and began running back up the hill towards the light of the castle. "Come on," he urged, "we have to get to the castle." Sianna just followed him blindly, unsure of the source of his haste but aware that the white mask had struck some degree of fear in his heart. She breathed an internal sigh of relief when they finally crossed the threshold of the castle and slowed to a walk. They were both too busy catching their breath to speak, until they reached the passage to the dungeons and Sianna stopped suddenly.
"You go down, I'm going to Professor Dumbledore's office," she told him, turning around.
"No!" Draco said urgently, cringing when his voice echoed in the stone passage. He lowered his voice and reiterated, "You can't tell him—"
"You don't think he should know that there is a strange man in a white mask running around the grounds?" she asked incredulously. "Whatever, I'm going," she dismissed, starting to walk away.
Draco caught her arm (he seems to be doing that a lot lately, doesn't he?) and pulled her back. "No, don't! You don't understand..." he stalled.
"Then by all means, enlighten me, Draco!" she said with harried impatience.
Draco froze in a mental panic. How was he supposed to explain why Dumbledore couldn't know about a Death Eater hiding unnoticed at Hogwarts? Uncle Severus would be...less than pleased if his status were revealed, to Sianna or Dumbledore.
"Please, Sianna," he entreated, "just trust me on this...just this one time, take my word for it. Dumbledore cannot know about this."
Sianna looked about as ready to trust him as any half-decent Gryffindor would have, but she sighed with what seemed like resignation, and Draco was fairly sure that she would not go running off to the headmaster as soon as he released her arm. When he let go, she traipsed sulkily down the corridor ahead of him, clearly intent on keeping some distance between them. He sighed and smoothed his hand over his glossy white-gold hair before following her down to the dorms. There was still some lingering anxiety from that close call...but at least she'd listened in the end.
Or had she?
Three hours later, when the Common Room had finally emptied, Sianna snuck silently out of the dormitories and treaded softly up the stairs, utilizing the nearest shortcut out of the dungeons. She checked behind her periodically for any sign of a follower, but her passage remained luckily unhindered. When she arrived at the entrance of the headmaster's fifth- floor office, she flattened against the wall beside the guarding gargoyle and whispered, "Jelly Bellies." A breath of relief escaped when the gargoyle slid to the side, allowing her passage. Thank Merlin Professor Dumbledore hadn't seen fit to change the password since the last time she'd visited.
Her feet ascended the spiral stairs quickly but halted quite abruptly when she heard voices on the other side of the door. Why would Dumbledore have visitors at this time of night? She shrugged, hoping his meeting wasn't too important, and knocked three times loudly. The voices silenced and there was a moment of tense quiet before the headmaster poked his head out the door and raised his brows in surprise at his guest.
"Miss Castell, you are out past curfew," he informed her politely, but she could detect a hint of a question in his tone.
"Professor, I have something very important to tell you," she replied urgently, hoping he would not send her away.
"Oh really? Well then by all means, come in," he said, opening the door and ushering her in. Both seated themselves, Dumbledore behind his desk and Sianna facing him.
"Now what is it you want to tell me?" he asked curiously. Sianna was glad to hear no condescension in his voice.
"Well, Draco and I were walking back from Quidditch trials earlier, and—well, we were rather late because he'd wanted to talk to me about something," she explained rapidly. "So it was dark out and as we walked back I could've sworn I saw someone in the forest, and before Draco could stop me I got up closer to see what it was—I know, it was very reckless and stupid, but that's not the point," she dismissed. "I had to tell you because I definitely saw a man in the forest, dressed in all black and wearing a white mask. I thought you needed to know."
Dumbledore sat back in slight surprise. "Why didn't you come to me earlier, Miss Castell?"
"Because Draco wouldn't let me! He said that you couldn't know about, but he wouldn't say why...and I must admit, I don't trust him entirely," she confessed. "And I couldn't get out until now, everyone was in the Common Room, they'd have stopped me."
There was a quiet noise behind her, like a piece of paper had fallen to the floor with a tiny rustle, but when Sianna spun in her chair, saw nothing. She turned back around to find Dumbledore scrutinizing her carefully, looking thoughtful. Sianna didn't know what to make of his reaction. She'd expected a bit more interest, at least.
"Professor?" she addressed cautiously.
"Hm?"
"What was the white mask?" she inquired. "Draco seemed to know, but he wouldn't tell me. He seemed almost afraid of it, to tell you the truth."
"Ah, the mask..." he said slowly. "Miss Castell, do you know what a Death Eater is?" he asked in reply. She nodded solemnly. "Good. Well, Death Eaters are known for their uniform of black robes and a silvery-white mask. Does that explain Mr. Malfoy's reaction?"
Sianna's brow creased and her eyes narrowed. "Do you mean to say that you think the man in the forest was a Death Eater?"
"Yes. In fact, I know he was," Dumbledore replied calmly.
"What are you going to do about it?" she asked seriously.
The headmaster seemed slightly taken aback by that question. "It will be taken care of," he responded elusively. Sianna turned her head to the side and regarded him with one piercing eye, but said nothing.
"Now is that all, Miss Castell?" Dumbledore asked. She nodded and stood.
"Thank you for your time, professor," she said politely as she turned to leave. She was nearly at the door when she stopped in her tracks at something on the floor. She toed what looked like a stiff piece of cloth and gasped when it turned over. She bent to pick it up...a pale, shining oval shape with holes like empty eye sockets.
"It will be taken care of, will it?" she quoted savagely, spinning a hundred and eighty degrees and holding up the artifact with a look of pure disgust and mounting distrust on her face. She heard a whispered curse behind her and whirled to see Professor Snape striding out of an inconspicuous corner with every semblance of rage and vexation. Sianna tried to back away as he approached, but he grabbed her arm (which was getting quite sore by that point) and pulled her back into the chair in front of Professor Dumbledore.
"What's going on here?" she asked accusingly, trying to keep the fear out of her voice.
"I'm sorry, Albus. It fell, and I couldn't get to it in time without making noise," he explained, obviously disappointed and annoyed with himself. He slumped into the chair beside Sianna and ran a hand over his face.
Dumbledore didn't answer, only hung his head in his hands with exhaustion that had not been apparent a moment ago. "I'll Obliviate if you wish, Severus," he offered tiredly.
"No, Albus," Snape refused almost immediately, just as he had with Harry Potter. "No one is having their memory altered tonight."
He sat heavily and Dumbledore said, "In that case, I think we both have some explaining to do." Snape nodded and sat up stiffly.
"Professor Snape," Dumbledore said bluntly, "is a Death Eater."
"I gathered as much," Sianna replied cheekily, glancing sideways at her potions professor.
"But he is not a Death Eater as you would think of them," Dumbledore corrected. "He also works for me...as a spy."
This caused Sianna to raise her eyebrows cynically. "And which side are you really on, Professor?" she asked tactlessly, addressing Snape directly.
He sneered at her and spat, "Guess."
"Now, Severus," Dumbledore reprimanded halfheartedly. He gazed at Sianna over his spectacles and assured her, "He labors for the same cause you and I do, merely under different pretenses. That's what he is doing here: he had a meeting with Lord Voldemort tonight and he is reporting back to me," Dumbledore clarified, hoping that it would convince this overly skeptical teenager.
Sianna contemplated both her professors for a long, drawn-out moment, as if judging their worthiness. Dumbledore's sparkling blue eyes entreated her to believe, but Snape seemed to challenge her with his piercing black stare, daring her to disagree...she held the Potions Master's eyes as she sat back and nodded in understanding and acceptance.
"Now you understand, Miss Castell," Snape began, "that this information does not leave this room. You will under no circumstances repeat anything you have learned since you entered this office, and you will not speak of your experience with Mr. Malfoy earlier this evening. To anyone," he stressed.
Sianna nodded with all gravity and promised, "I won't, professor. I understand." She was a little offended by his condescending tone, but she could comprehend that his need for secrecy made the statements necessary, so she said nothing of it.
"You may return to your dormitory, Miss Castell," Dumbledore dismissed after a moment of quiet. "And remember—not a word," he cautioned, "or you will put us all in grave danger."
Sianna rose, nodding resolutely, and exited quickly. She would certainly have something to consider that night, and she was not expecting much sleep.
Back in the headmaster's office, Dumbledore said quietly, "I hope she's as trustworthy as I think she is."
"I hope so too," Snape replied before he gathered his mask and Flooed down to his chambers in the dungeons. He added to himself, She had better be...
A/N: I know this chapter is pretty short, compared to the others, but I stuck it in here because it had to happen. It took a couple rewrites, but I think I've got it going in vaguely the right direction. You can see, this marks the entrance of the Dark Lord in the plot line (see, I told you he'd be along sooner or later! Or did I? Oh, I don't remember...), so you can bet on more Snape and more Draco. YAY What was that? Are those cheers in the background? Yeah, that's what I thought...
Sage and Snape- I was thinking, maybe I should just leave my reviews for you at the end of each chapter I post. I can't wait until this piece of junk gets fixed...but anyway, I know you've been waiting for that moment of revelation, and I'm here to tell you IT'S COMING! Next chapter, all is revealed to you, I promise. I just had to get his in there first.
And to all you other crazy people who don't review...just click the little button. It's right there! Go down...now to the left...no, other left...yes, that's it! Go for it, say some mean stuff, I can take it. I'm still trying to get my number of reviews up to the number of chapters I've got posted...