At the end of the second week of term, Severus went to see Professor Brax. As he had predicted, the genial teacher provided him with a note to Madam Pince which would allow him to have access to the Restricted Section of the library.
Whenever he found the time, Severus would be in the library, researching. Because his pass did not include Rosier and Avery, he had to carry tottering piles of obscure Charms texts back to their dormitory in order to divide the burden of research.
By early October, Severus was becoming anxious about their lack of progress. This exasperation was an unwelcome addition to the more mundane frustrations of his life at Hogwarts: having to endure the sporadic attentions of Potter and Black, the resulting detentions, the malaise of Astronomy and History of Magic, the fruitlessness of Dark Order meetings, the tedious cut-and-thrust of Slytherin common room politics, the avalanche of homework, and the ever more dire warnings from their teachers regarding their impending OWL exams.
The second Saturday in October, Severus arose much later than usual and went down to breakfast alone. As he entered the Great Hall, he noticed Rosier sitting with Lestrange, Keech, and a few other members of their Dark Order group. Judging by his friend's rapt expression, Severus guessed that the discussion was political. Too early in the morning for politics, he thought muzzily as he sat by a group of third year boys excitedly discussing the following weekend's Hogsmeade visit. He poured himself a cup of tea and took a slice of toast from a plate in front of him. Shortly after, he heard Rosier's voice behind him.
"How's Alfwyn's Deflection of Flight?" his friend asked, referring to the huge, crumbling tome Severus had been reading until three o'clock in the morning.
"Marvellous," he replied sarcastically. "I have so much free time to spend on this."
"What are you working on?" Rosier asked, looking around furtively to see if anyone was close enough to overhear them.
"Hurling hexes. They're quite complicated. More than I thought they would be, actually." Severus rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. He was exhausted and the headache he'd had since the previous afternoon was worsening by the minute. How in Merlin's name am I ever going to catch up with my homework?
"So, you're focusing on a Quidditch accident?" Rosier asked, leaning over, an intent look on his face. "I thought you said no permanent damage."
Severus snorted dismissively. "He'll be fine, Rosier. Even if he doesn't manage to hang onto his broom, Dumbledore won't let his precious little darling be injured." He paused as he leaned back against the long table. "Just think of the embarrassment: Potter, self-proclaimed Quidditch god, crashing around the pitch on an uncontrollable broom while the entire school watches. The only problem is that making the hex time-delayed is a very complex process." Rosier's expression became very solemn. "By my calculation we'd need his broom in our hands for at least an hour, and that's if we've already mastered the hex."
"Potter keeps his broom in his dormitory," Rosier said, his voice leaden.
"I know. All the House players do," Severus replied as a resigned grimace crossed his face.
The two boys were silent for a minute, surrounded by the hubbub of late risers eating breakfast. For the fifth or sixth time, Severus contemplated the risk versus reward of bringing Burke into their plan. Burke would have no qualms about helping take Potter out of the upcoming match. What gave Severus pause was Burke's probable reaction to the plan's secrecy. He would want to tell Keech, but this was out of the question.
"Our first priority has to be finding a way to get to Potter's broom," Rosier said with a sigh.
"Unless I can come up with an easier alternative that gives us the same results." Severus stood up to leave.
"Transfiguration essay?" Rosier asked.
Severus answered with a sneer. "Bloody McGonagall. I swear, that woman lives to torture Slytherins."
Rosier laughed.
- -
One week later, Severus was sitting at a long table in the Slytherin common room, almost hidden behind a tower of textbooks.
"Come on, Snape," Rosier wheedled.
Severus looked up from his Arithmancy homework. "I don't have time, Rosier." He scowled at the devilish grin on his friend's face.
"Come on, Snape," Rosier repeated. "All work and no play make Snape an even more boring bastard than usual."
Severus snorted in reply. "Sod off, Rosier," he shot back, but with less venom than he'd intended.
"Come on, you know you want to go."
"Rosier, I have too much to do," Severus countered. "That research put me behind in everything."
Rosier gave a frustrated grunt and flopped into a nearby chair. For a few minutes he glumly watched his friend struggle with massive columns of numbers, symbols and calculations before he stood again. "Fine then; I'll go with Burke and Clarice."
"They left already," Severus replied, not taking his eyes from his parchment.
"Damn." Rosier paused for a moment, weighing his options.
"You could always go with Avery. But he's still in bed, I think," Horrell said as he walked by with his sister, a third-year off on her first trip to Hogsmeade. Severus snorted again in amusement.
"Thanks a lot, Snape. Now my choices are to go alone or wait for Avery to drag his lazy arse out of bed some time this afternoon."
Severus sighed and rolled up his parchment. "Oh, very well, then. I suppose I can spare a few hours." He smirked at his friend.
"Thank you very much. I'm much obliged, I'm sure," Rosier replied sarcastically.
Twenty minutes later, the two boys passed through the school's huge iron gates. The day was glorious - a perfect Scottish autumn day: clear, cerulean skies, a slight nip in the air, and the sharp tang of the Forbidden Forest carried across the grounds on a light breeze. Severus noticed four students a ways ahead of them, or two couples as they appeared to be. He recognised the slim red haired girl as Lily Evans and the tall girl with shoulder-length dark brown plaits as Nina Bottle. The two boys were both blond, the taller one walking shoulder to shoulder with Bottle. The shorter one had his left arm around Evans' waist. Severus assumed that this was Bottle's twin brother Andrew, the Ravenclaw prefect. He'd noticed him studying with Evans in the library. The taller boy leaned over to the other couple and said something that made all three of his companions laugh out loud. As the boy turned to the side, Severus saw that he was David Dryden, son of the Minister for Magic.
"Hmm, always thought Bottle played for the other team, if you know what I mean," Rosier said with a sly grin.
"What?" He wondered for a moment what Rosier was talking about; then he saw the boy's archly raised eyebrows. "Oh." He sniggered unpleasantly. "Which one?"
"Both, probably; her, definitely," Rosier replied as his smirk widened. The four students ahead of them burst out in laughter again.
"I don't know. The brother and Evans look cozy."
"Probably a cover. They're probably couples, all right, just not that ... arrangement," Rosier said as he waggled a finger back and forth, pointing at the four ahead of them.
Severus topped and stared down at his friend. "Why this sudden interest in the personal lives of Ravenclaws?"
"What do you mean?"
He noted Rosier's sudden discomfort. Aha, he's got a little crush, has he? "What could possibly be the source of this fascination?"
"Shut up, Snape."
Sniggering at Rosier's angry scowl, Severus followed as his friend stomped off down the path.
Half an hour later, they arrived at the High Street of Hogsmeade and entered Scrivenshaft's, the stationers. Severus made his way over to the barrels overflowing with different types and grades of parchment, budgeting in his mind for the rest of the term. As he contemplated his purchase, he heard the shop's bell, followed by a less pleasant sound: James Potter and Remus Lupin jabbering away. Severus sidled behind a haphazardly-piled stack of ledgers at the end of the counter and watched the two boys amble over to the shelves piled with ink bottles. A few seconds later, he peeked around a bookshelf and saw Potter make a beeline for the back of the shop, where Lily Evans was looking over a display of quills.
"Hey, Evans," Potter said as he approached the redhead.
"Hey, yourself, Potter."
Severus smiled at the obvious disinterest in the girl's voice. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lupin and Nina Bottle pointedly ignoring each other over the ink display. Glad to see the Gryffindors getting along as well as ever.
"Ready to go?" Rosier asked from behind him. Severus jumped in surprise and turned around. "We should probably get out of here. Black could arrive any time."
"In a minute." Severus did some quick mental calculations, then chose four thick rolls of parchment.
"Like I'd ever go out with you, Potter."
Severus snapped his head around. Evans was walking away from a puzzled and unhappy-looking James Potter. After a second or two, Potter noticed him watching. Severus was pleased to see the bane of his existence flush a bright pink and scowl back. What? No scathing rejoinder? Not so brave with only the weedy little git to hold your hand, eh, Potter? He turned back to the counter and saw the Bottle twins in front of him.
"What do you think you're doing?" he hissed indignantly. The two interlopers turned and stared at him levelly, both almost exactly Severus' height, and presented him with two flinty glares, one blue and one hazel.
"You snooze, you lose, Snape," the brother said in the flat foreign monotone that always set Severus' teeth on edge in Arithmancy and Transfiguration. The sister cocked an eyebrow and smirked. They both turned and paid for their purchases, leaving Severus fuming at their backs and contemplating hexing them where they stood.
A moment later, Evans and Dryden rejoined their companions. Bottle put his arm around Evans' waist in a proprietary way and looked over her shoulder to the back of the shop. Severus was pleased to see him give a small condescending smile to Potter as the four friends walked out the door. A minute later, he and Rosier followed them into the bright sunshine.
As the boys turned up the street, they watched the two couples ahead of them.
"Beautiful girl. Clever, too. Pity she's a Mudblood," Rosier said as if he were appraising the merits of a fine racing broom.
Severus paused for a moment before replying. "I can only assume you're referring to Evans. Unless, of course, you've developed an appreciation for trolls." He looked down at his friend. "I never would have suspected your tastes ran in that direction, Rosier," he continued, teasing.
"Shut up, Snape. Of course I'm talking about Evans." Rosier shuddered slightly.
As they proceeded up the High Street toward Honeydukes, Severus saw Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew step out of Zonko's Joke Shop. Before the two Gryffindors could see them, he grabbed Rosier's arm and dragged him into the doorway of Gladrags Wizard Wear, causing a stout witch and her two children to scurry out of their way with angry looks.
"What?" Rosier demanded, startled.
Severus pulled out his wand. "Black and Pettigrew." Rosier looked around the doorway, then down at the wand in his friend's hand.
"Get caught doing magic out of school - "
"Don't be such an old woman, Rosier," Severus snapped back with an irritated scowl. His companion watched with an amused expression as he glanced quickly around the corner of the doorway. "No one's watching. They're heading the other way." He leaned around the doorway and as he flourished his wand at Black's back said, "Prurigo." Then, he turned his attention to Pettigrew and said, "Offensio." He watched just long enough to see Pettigrew fall flat on his face in the mud and Black contorting himself in an effort to address his new total body itch. He leaned back into the doorway, satisfied with a job well done. He turned a twisted grin in Rosier's direction; his friend gave him a bemused look as they stepped back out into the street.
The two boys saw that Potter and Lupin had joined their stricken friends. Though it appeared that one of them had cast the counter spell to the Omni Itch Jinx, Black was still idly scratching his chest as if he were chasing fleas. Severus pulled Rosier into the next lane before the other boys saw them, and proceeded to Honeydukes by the back way. Halfway there, they ran into Burke and his girlfriend, Clarice Whicker, another Slytherin fifth-year.
After their visit to Honeydukes, the four Slytherins split up. Severus wanted to stop in at Quill and Quire, a second-hand book shop to look for back issues of The Alchemist's Annual. The other three Slytherins went on to the Hogsmeade branch of Quality Quidditch Supplies so that Burke could purchase new gloves.
Twenty minutes later, Severus was on his way to the Quidditch shop to meet up with his classmates. In the alley behind the Post Office, he again heard the sound he didn't want to hear, particularly now that he was alone. His heart sank and he groaned quietly as he turned to see Potter and his cronies coming out of the back door of the Post Office.
"Well, well, if it isn't little Snivellus, out all alone," Potter drawled as he slowly dropped from one step to another. "I hear you've been busy today." Potter glanced over to Black, who was taking up a position on the other side of the alley. Severus' heart rate accelerated rapidly on seeing the slightly manic grin on Black's face. He took two steps back.
"Going somewhere, Snivelly?" Black growled behind him. Severus ignored him and continued to glare back at Potter, who was casually leaning against the railing at the bottom of the steps. Behind Potter was Lupin, looking as if nothing of interest was going on, and Pettigrew, who looked as though he was watching a highly amusing show being put on just for his benefit. Despite his rising panic and his anger at Rosier for convincing him to come to Hogsmeade and then abandoning him, Severus managed to keep his composure as he watched Potter raise his wand. Though he couldn't see him, he imagined Black had done the same. There was no way he could take them both; he'd have to turn his back to one of them to hex the other. Potter opened his mouth to speak, then stopped.
Following Potter's gaze, Severus turned and saw the Bottle twins standing about twenty feet away. Like a pair of bookends, each was leaning against a side of the narrow alley, arms identically crossed across their chests, identical expressionless, level gazes directed at Black and Potter. Severus noticed that each had their wands in their hands, tucked harmlessly under an arm, but in full view. Wonderful, he thought sourly, five on one. This gets better by the minute.
"Three on one. Hardly fitting for a great sportsman like you, Potter," the sister said quietly.
"Hey! Four, not three," Pettigrew protested. The others ignored him as the glares exchanged between Bottle and Potter threatened to melt the cobblestones beneath their feet.
"Piss off, Bottle," Black growled.
"Standing up for Slytherins now, Nina?" Potter snarled at his team-mate. He pointed his wand at Severus. "He's already jinxed Sirius and Peter today. "
Severus began to slowly edge away from Potter, keeping an eye on the Gryffindor's wand, which didn't waver as Potter kept it levelled at his chest. Five more feet over and I have the angle to take them both.
"Yeah, and that justifies this," Bottle replied, casually waving her wand over the scene in front of her, then tucking her hand back under her arm. She turned to Black. "You want to take him on one-on-one, I have no problem; I couldn't care less if the two of you kill each other. But this," the girl gestured with a casual flick of her wrist, "is not on." Severus watched the girl turn her attention back to Potter. "So you can bloody well back off." As angered as Severus was by having to be rescued by a Gryffindor and a Ravenclaw, he was amused by the open hostility between Bottle and her house-mates. He was about to tell the two of them to bugger off and mind their own business, when the brother turned to Potter.
"And Potter, if you ever pester Lily again, you will regret
it."
Perfect, Severus thought to himself gleefully as both Potter and Black's
attention was now taken by the interfering siblings. He relaxed as he felt
the tension in the air shift. As Potter and Andrew Bottle began to bicker
over Evans, and Black and the sister continued to eye each other with menace,
Severus slowly sidled down the lane away from them. At one point, he saw
Lupin glance at him. He froze, waiting for the prefect to alert his friends
that their quarry was escaping. As soon as he realised that Lupin wasn't
going to do or say anything, Severus kept backing away slowly and slipped
into a narrow passageway between two shops. Muttering under his breath, cursing
all nosy Gryffindors and their equally meddlesome brothers, Severus disappeared
into the High Street crowds.
After exhausting the entertainment potential of the busy Quidditch shop, the four Slytherins made their way back to Hogwarts without incident. Walking with Rosier, Severus quietly told his friend about the run-in with Potter's gang and his unexpected escape.
"I don't believe it!" Rosier exclaimed angrily. Over the next ten minutes, Severus was amused by his friend's display of the more colourful aspect of his vocabulary, speculating on various methods of inflicting slow, creative torture on certain Gryffindors. As they approached the school gates, Rosier stopped and looked up at him, squinting slightly in the sharp late-afternoon sunlight. "You know, Snape, for all our sakes, you'd better come up with something good to take care of those bastards."
Severus grinned malevolently. "I'll see what I can do."
- -
The next day, Severus was sitting with Rosier and Horrell in the common room, working on his Charms homework. Burke arrived with the rest of the Slytherin Quidditch team from their early morning practice. Grumbling, the tall boy dropped into the chair across from Horrell's and tossed his broomstick onto the low table between them. Severus was roused from his contemplation of Silencing Charms by the rattle of ash on oak.
"Problem?" he asked, looking up slowly.
"Bloody broom," Burke replied. "The steering's gone all wonky." The boy grimaced. "Of course, it had to happen today. If it'd happened Tuesday, I could have gotten it fixed in Hogsmeade yesterday."
"Use your old broom," Tristan Raeburn, one of the Slytherin Chasers, yelled in exasperated tones across the common room. "We've only got one match before the next Hogsmeade Day."
"Right. Gryffindor," Burke called back over his shoulder. Severus was surprised by Burke's irritation; he was usually so easy-going. "I need my best broom, Raeburn, if we want any chance of holding their Chasers back."
Severus saw that Raeburn had noticed the slur on his talents. Not without cause. "What's wrong with your other broom? It seemed perfectly adequate last year," he asked Burke.
"You can keep that monstrous nose of yours out of it, Snape," Raeburn called from his chair by the fire. "Just because you try out for the team every year doesn't give you the right to comment on it."
Severus' angry reply was cut off by Burke, who ignored his team-mate. "Potter and Bottle both have new 1500's this year, as well. The old Cleansweep just doesn't have the speed to keep up."
"Can't you get it fixed?" Horrell asked.
"I can't get to Hogsmeade until December."
"Can't you fix it yourself?" Severus asked, ignoring Raeburn's melodramatic sigh.
"I could try, I suppose." Burke scratched his chin. "There's some broom repair books in the library. But if I bollix it up, my dad'd kill me. I've only had it four months and it's a damned costly broom."
While the other boys debated the possibility of fixing Burke's Nimbus 1500, Severus turned back to his Charms textbook. As his forebrain researched potential variants of Silencing Charms, unbeknownst to him, his hindbrain had latched onto Burke's news. Consequently, as he lay in bed later that evening, just as he was drifting off to sleep, an image popped into his consciousness. His sleepy eyes flew open and he sat bolt upright.
"Damn!" he hissed to himself excitedly, grabbing onto the thought before it slipped away. "Brilliant," he whispered to the green velvet curtains surrounding him. His eyes glazed over as his mind replayed the scenario. He examined the sequence of events carefully. It could work, he thought to himself. I can make it work. Severus sighed contentedly as he leaned back onto his pillows.
The plan was set.