Marc followed Severus out of the room and down towards the entrance hall.
"Where did you learn to duel like that?" his father asked. "Don't tell me it was in your Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons, Umbridge couldn't teach even first year defence adequately, even Sprout admitted that."
"I guess I've just had more reason to work at it than most, not many boys having a famous Dark Lord ready to kill them on sight. I started duelling more seriously in my fourth year; I had to if I wanted to complete the tasks. Ron and Hermione helped me practice. In fifth year I was persuaded to take the DA, of course, and that made sure that I kept up with it. It would not have done for them to overtake me."
" DA?"
"Forget I said anything."
" No, if Harry Potter was doing something, I'm sure Dumbledore would want us to arrange an alternative, wouldn't you say? It might take some organising, especially if its you usual crowd that you're talking about. I can hardly see them accepting a Snape as a leader."
"Thank Merlin Hermione removed that hex," Marc muttered. "Okay. A few weeks into fifth year, Hermione decided that Umbridge was a complete incompetent and with Voldemort back we needed proper coaching. I think she was actually more concerned about her OWL results but it had the same result. She persuaded Ron to back her up, blackmail probably. Then she came up with the idea that I would be the ideal person to lead such a group. I was hardly about to argue seriously when she was in that kind of mood. Before I knew it, she'd recruited a whole crowd of students, mostly Gryffindors, and some older Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, to come. I suppose it was fairly useful."
"From what I've heard about this mysterious study group, it helped students to get the best OWL and NEWT marks in Defence they've had in years. How did you arrange meetings? If you had to schedule to miss the three Quidditch practices and work around Umbridge's rules, yet still not arouse suspicion for talking too much to other houses."
"Hermione did a Protean charm on some fake galleons. We changed the numbers to show the date and time."
"Granger did a Protean charm aged fifteen? Remind me never to underestimate your friends, Marc. So, what does DA stand for?"
"Well it was supposed to be Defence Association, but then Ginny came up with the idea of calling it Dumbledore's Army, because that's what Fudge was most afraid of."
"Gryffindors," Severus sighed. "If it continues, I hope you'll be accepting certain Slytherins, on my recommendation. They aren't all Dark, you know."
"Sure."
"Excellent. Well, we're in the Entrance Hall of the Manor now. No interesting stories that I can think of, I'm afraid. Over on the far wall is a picture of my grandfather, Septimus Snape, Minister of Magic. He gets a bit pompous sometimes, just ignore him if you have to. Opposite him is Marcus Snape, Potions Master, founder of the Snape line and, should anyone ask, your namesake. He was the first to develop a strain of Veritaserum and a favourite student of Salazar Slytherin. The portrait hanging above the door opposite the entrance is, of course, Slytherin himself. You might like to talk to him sometime. He only ever talks in Parseltongue, a problem when none of us speak it. He'd probably welcome the company. The other portraits here are other family members, most, I'm afraid, I cannot name.
Severus led Marc through, down the corridor to another huge room, this with a long, dark wooden table running its entire length. On the wall above the head of the table was a huge representation of the Snape crest and around the tops of the walls were tapestries. At eye level, old shields and swords were hung up, most with the Snape crest but a few bore other, less recognisable designs. It was, well, intimidating, especially with the gloomy black and green colour scheme.
"The banqueting hall," Severus said, scowling slightly. "Everyone hates it, but we can't change it because of our reputation and it's the only room big enough for a proper formal meal. There was a pureblood council meeting here when I was seven. I had to serve my father, it was beneath his dignity to be served by house elves on such a momentous occasion. I can still remember how much my legs hurt from standing still behind his chair for the entire evening. I was only glad there were others in the same situation."
"Who?"
"The other heirs to council seats. Let's see, that would have been your uncle, Marcus Dumbledore. He was older than I was though, he must have been about fourteen at the time. Then Lucius Malfoy was there, James Potter and Sirius Black but I avoided them as much as possible. Merlin, they even avoided each other at that point. Theodore Bones and Alexander Pritchard would have been the other two."
"Interesting combination."
"The ancient wizards arranged it so that the High Council was made up of three traditionally light families, three traditionally dark and one neutral. It makes for some interesting dinner conversation though. I remember watching Harold Potter and Nigellus Black hexing each other during dessert while my father desperately tried to keep order. There were definitely reasons no one wanted to be the host."
"What about now?"
"There isn't really much of high council. Albus is still around, of course, so are Theodore Bones and myself. James Potter died, as you know, leaving Albus as your guardian until you came of age. Sirius died last summer, but hadn't taken his seat since before you were born anyway. I don't know who he named as his heir. Alexander Pritchard died in Azkaban five years ago and his son is a few years younger than you are. Finally, Lucius is in Azkaban unless he's been broken out already and Draco is too young to replace him. You'll learn more about all this later this summer. It's already on your lesson schedule. When your year graduates, the council will almost be full again."
"So, are there any other interesting rooms?"
"A ballroom, but that's been closed up, you've seen the library already. There's always been rumours of a secret room that some ancestor has used, but no one's found it yet, though you're welcome to look."
"You bet I will. Maybe it takes a Parseltongue? That's what happened with the Chamber of Secrets."
"I never heard the full story for that one either? You'll have to tell me sometime."
"Where did you learn to duel like that?" his father asked. "Don't tell me it was in your Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons, Umbridge couldn't teach even first year defence adequately, even Sprout admitted that."
"I guess I've just had more reason to work at it than most, not many boys having a famous Dark Lord ready to kill them on sight. I started duelling more seriously in my fourth year; I had to if I wanted to complete the tasks. Ron and Hermione helped me practice. In fifth year I was persuaded to take the DA, of course, and that made sure that I kept up with it. It would not have done for them to overtake me."
" DA?"
"Forget I said anything."
" No, if Harry Potter was doing something, I'm sure Dumbledore would want us to arrange an alternative, wouldn't you say? It might take some organising, especially if its you usual crowd that you're talking about. I can hardly see them accepting a Snape as a leader."
"Thank Merlin Hermione removed that hex," Marc muttered. "Okay. A few weeks into fifth year, Hermione decided that Umbridge was a complete incompetent and with Voldemort back we needed proper coaching. I think she was actually more concerned about her OWL results but it had the same result. She persuaded Ron to back her up, blackmail probably. Then she came up with the idea that I would be the ideal person to lead such a group. I was hardly about to argue seriously when she was in that kind of mood. Before I knew it, she'd recruited a whole crowd of students, mostly Gryffindors, and some older Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, to come. I suppose it was fairly useful."
"From what I've heard about this mysterious study group, it helped students to get the best OWL and NEWT marks in Defence they've had in years. How did you arrange meetings? If you had to schedule to miss the three Quidditch practices and work around Umbridge's rules, yet still not arouse suspicion for talking too much to other houses."
"Hermione did a Protean charm on some fake galleons. We changed the numbers to show the date and time."
"Granger did a Protean charm aged fifteen? Remind me never to underestimate your friends, Marc. So, what does DA stand for?"
"Well it was supposed to be Defence Association, but then Ginny came up with the idea of calling it Dumbledore's Army, because that's what Fudge was most afraid of."
"Gryffindors," Severus sighed. "If it continues, I hope you'll be accepting certain Slytherins, on my recommendation. They aren't all Dark, you know."
"Sure."
"Excellent. Well, we're in the Entrance Hall of the Manor now. No interesting stories that I can think of, I'm afraid. Over on the far wall is a picture of my grandfather, Septimus Snape, Minister of Magic. He gets a bit pompous sometimes, just ignore him if you have to. Opposite him is Marcus Snape, Potions Master, founder of the Snape line and, should anyone ask, your namesake. He was the first to develop a strain of Veritaserum and a favourite student of Salazar Slytherin. The portrait hanging above the door opposite the entrance is, of course, Slytherin himself. You might like to talk to him sometime. He only ever talks in Parseltongue, a problem when none of us speak it. He'd probably welcome the company. The other portraits here are other family members, most, I'm afraid, I cannot name.
Severus led Marc through, down the corridor to another huge room, this with a long, dark wooden table running its entire length. On the wall above the head of the table was a huge representation of the Snape crest and around the tops of the walls were tapestries. At eye level, old shields and swords were hung up, most with the Snape crest but a few bore other, less recognisable designs. It was, well, intimidating, especially with the gloomy black and green colour scheme.
"The banqueting hall," Severus said, scowling slightly. "Everyone hates it, but we can't change it because of our reputation and it's the only room big enough for a proper formal meal. There was a pureblood council meeting here when I was seven. I had to serve my father, it was beneath his dignity to be served by house elves on such a momentous occasion. I can still remember how much my legs hurt from standing still behind his chair for the entire evening. I was only glad there were others in the same situation."
"Who?"
"The other heirs to council seats. Let's see, that would have been your uncle, Marcus Dumbledore. He was older than I was though, he must have been about fourteen at the time. Then Lucius Malfoy was there, James Potter and Sirius Black but I avoided them as much as possible. Merlin, they even avoided each other at that point. Theodore Bones and Alexander Pritchard would have been the other two."
"Interesting combination."
"The ancient wizards arranged it so that the High Council was made up of three traditionally light families, three traditionally dark and one neutral. It makes for some interesting dinner conversation though. I remember watching Harold Potter and Nigellus Black hexing each other during dessert while my father desperately tried to keep order. There were definitely reasons no one wanted to be the host."
"What about now?"
"There isn't really much of high council. Albus is still around, of course, so are Theodore Bones and myself. James Potter died, as you know, leaving Albus as your guardian until you came of age. Sirius died last summer, but hadn't taken his seat since before you were born anyway. I don't know who he named as his heir. Alexander Pritchard died in Azkaban five years ago and his son is a few years younger than you are. Finally, Lucius is in Azkaban unless he's been broken out already and Draco is too young to replace him. You'll learn more about all this later this summer. It's already on your lesson schedule. When your year graduates, the council will almost be full again."
"So, are there any other interesting rooms?"
"A ballroom, but that's been closed up, you've seen the library already. There's always been rumours of a secret room that some ancestor has used, but no one's found it yet, though you're welcome to look."
"You bet I will. Maybe it takes a Parseltongue? That's what happened with the Chamber of Secrets."
"I never heard the full story for that one either? You'll have to tell me sometime."