Chapter 10 - Snape Returns

"How touching." Lucius said as he approached Christine's bed in the infirmary. She was sleeping and Sirius was sitting near the bed.

Sirius turned to stare at Lucius. He managed to hide his surprise of the sudden interruption of silence in the room.

"What do you want Malfoy?" Sirius asked.

"I'm the one who should ask you that. What are you doing here?"

"That's none of your business." Sirius got up and left the infirmary.

Lucius looked at him as he left. He suspected that there was something going on between the two.

"He did this to her." Lucius muttered. "And now you're feeling guilty about it, aren't you Black?"

He sat next to Christine on the bed and held her hand. "I hope that you'll feel better soon, and I'll make sure that Black would pay for doing this to you."

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The students were at the Great Hall having dinner when the door opened. Suddenly all eyes were staring at a black, greasy haired boy who walked in gracefully and took a seat at the Slytherin table.

Professor Dumbledore stood up and that made the students turn their full attention to him.

"My dear students, I am pleased to welcome one of our students. As you can see Severus Snape has joined us again fully healed from his injury."

Everyone in the Hall applauded happily for Snape's return, except for Sirius, who was glaring at him like he wanted a chance to rip his throat out.

"I wish I killed him." Sirius muttered.

"Don't be such a fool Sirius." Peter said. "Just leave him alone. The teachers are going to keep an eye on you and you better be careful. I heard them talking about it this morning at the Hospital Wing when I was visiting Remus."

"I don't care about the teachers." Sirius snapped and got up. Peter stared at him in disbelief.

"What's wrong with him?" Peter asked.

"Maybe it's because of Christine, the new Hufflepuff girl." James replied with a full mouth.

"Oh." Peter said and continued his meal.

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Sirius didn't know where to go. He didn't want to go to the Hospital Wing because he knew that he would see Lucius there and he wasn't in the mood for a fight. He was about to go to the Gryffindor tower when he changed his mind. He needed to be alone and there was only one place where no one would disturb him.

The Shrieking Shack.

Sirius walked through the school grounds until he reached the Whomping Willow. He transformed into his dog form and ran toward the entrance at the base of the tree. He barked loudly and howled in pain as one of the branches hit his back. He managed to enter the passage and transformed back into his human form.

He cursed loudly at the pain in his back. He walked through the passage and as soon as he entered the Shack he hurried to a room and searched for a mirror. He saw one and took off his robes and shirt and turned around to check his back in the mirror.

The branch has caused a scratch and a big red mark on his back.

"Bloody tree." Sirius muttered as he put on his shirt. He picked up his school robes and went to another room. There were four beds in that room and it was the one where he and his friends slept during the full moon nights.

He threw his robe on the edge of the bed and lay down on it. He stared at the ceiling for a while, remembering his short but wonderful moments with Christine. She was with him all day until the time of his detention.

Detention! He already missed one today and it won't do him any good to show up late.

"Professor McGonagall might start questioning me about why I was here." He said to himself. "I wish…" he sighed. "Whatever."

He knew that none of his wishes would come true while Snape and Malfoy were around. He never liked them since his first day at Hogwarts.

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Lucius turned around to see Severus enter the infirmary.

"They said that I'd find you here." Snape said in a whispering manner.

"Hi mate!" Lucius whispered back and got up to give Severus a friendly hug. "It's good to see you back."

"Thanks." Severus replied and looked at Christine. "Who's she?"

"An old friend who end up here by Sirius Black."

"Looks like he has an aim to hurt every student at school." Severus said.

"I won't let him get away with it." Lucius' voice was getting louder.

"You'll wake her up you know, and not only her." Severus motioned to the bed where Remus was sleeping.

"Yeah. I think that it would be better if we went to our common room. She's not going to wake up tonight anyway." Lucius looked at Christine, who was still sleeping peacefully.

"Let's go then." Severus said.

They left the infirmary and headed to the Slytherin common room. As soon as they entered all the Slytherins jumped in front of them and screamed: "SURPRISE!!"

"What the…" Lucius was surprised. He saw a big flashing sign at the top of the fireplace saying: "Welcome back Sev!" and he understood what that was all about. He smiled as he saw Severus being pulled by some of their classmates to the center of the room and the first years formed a circle around him and danced.

Severus looked at them with a smile on his face. He didn't know that his housemates would feel so happy for his return. He never thought that they would even care that he was at the hospital at all. This was new to him. He looked at Lucius who smiled at him and nodded. He smiled back. This was unbelievable. The room was decorated in green and silver ribbons and there was a table full of food in one corner. Severus decided that it was time to be hungry, at least he would sneak out of the circle. He walked toward the table slowly, smiling at anyone who would be looking at him. As soon as he reached the table he poured himself some apple juice and drank it. Lucius joined him and stood next to him.

"Looks like our friends here are happy to see you back." Lucius said.

"I didn't expect that, honestly."

"I didn't either. But I think that it's good to have them on our side."

Severus didn't know what was Lucius talking about at that moment, until it hit him. Lucius has been telling him about a strong wizard who is collecting talented young wizards around him and train them to become as strong as he is, and he wanted the school of magic to teach only true witches and wizards, which meant that only purebloods would study there. Severus liked the idea of purebloods being the only wizards around, and he was convinced to join the strong wizard that Lucius has been talking about, but one thing was a mystery for him. Lucius has never told him the name of the wizard. He always referred to him as The Dark Lord. Severus never asked Lucius about the choice of the name, although he was curious about the reason for the wizard to be called a Dark Lord. Did he have anything to do with dark magic? Severus wanted to know, and he was planning on accepting Lucius' suggestion to join him and his "Lord".

"Yeah, sure." Severus muttered as he took another sip of juice. "You know Lucius, I think I might join your group after all."

"That's wonderful mate! The Dark Lord will be more than happy to have you on his side. He's a very powerful wizard you know." Lucius said excitedly.

"You have told me about that."

"Hey, isn't that Narcissa?" Lucius motioned to a girl at a corner of the room.

"Black?" Severus asked.

"Yeah, I think it's her. She looks different each day and I can't even recognize her." Lucius' eyes were stuck at Narcissa who was speaking to another Slytherin girl. "I'll go and talk to her."

The little Slytherin party continued until midnight. Lucius was having fun dancing with Narcissa Black, the girl that he liked so much but never had a chance to tell her about his feelings. He had an image to keep after all!

"I'm going to bed." Severus told Lucius and went to the boys' dormitories. He entered his room and looked around. The few days that he spent at the hospital seemed to be an eternity. He never thought that he would miss this place. He changed into his pajamas and lay in his bed. "Home sweet home." He muttered before he drifted into sleep.