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THE ENEMIES
: Lucille Lee
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SUMMARY: One midsummer night, Remus tells Harry how Sirius and Severus' enmity intensified. Sirius/Severus Sirius/Remus Severus/OC WIP
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WARNING: Rated R for Yaoi, language and violence. So if that is not your cup of tea, you know which button to click, right?
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Review Responses:-
Alora: Ummm… This isn't a Harry and Draco story…
DarkPhoenixDragon: Thanks for reviewing!
Maranna: I was somewhat tired of seeing Severus as being the abused one always. I wanted to give a new orientation to their relationship without making it A.U. The whole point of this story is to show how their enmity deepened. I won't be going off-track – not in the end.
kill the rabbits: Thanks!
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CHAPTER 4
DIARY ENTRIES
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24th April
The sixth-year is nearing its end and as yet, I have got only three Slytherins to join the Dark Lord. Pathetic! Disgusting! I know I can do better than Goyle, Crabbe and Avery. I must! If only to spite Malfoy.
It isn't as if I hate Malfoy – far from it. But I have to show him that I can get on very well without him. I don't care if he no longer wants to follow what would have been 'our' project. He might be at Durmstrang, but is that really a hindrance? I don't think so. It is that bitch Narcissa! Not only that the idea of the two of them together is revolting, but it had to be NARCISSA BLACK – SIRIUS BLACK'S COUSIN. He has betrayed me! He has betrayed Slytherin! Even Bellatrix would have been a better choice. Narcissa is just a bloody Ravenclaw – pompous idiot!
I have got to show him that he isn't the only one who can bring powerful supporters to the Dark Lord. I have to do something. Before the end of the sixth-year, I have to find someone.
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27th April
Merlin is listening to my prayers.
I cannot understand how I overlooked Ian Richards. Maybe because he is so quiet, maybe because he flinches away from everyone and is considered to be more 'pathetic' than I am. I know what they think about me. PoorSnape! How very wrong they are! One day, I will show them. One day, I will prove how powerful I am! One day, I will avenge my humiliations at the hands of so-called Marauders. My time will come. I will wait.
As for Ian Richards… well, he is as powerful as Lucius. It was quite by incident that I learnt about it.
Flitwick had paired him up with me yesterday – quite by coincident as Nott had fallen ill. During those forty-five minutes I learnt how truly gifted this quiet, seemingly wretched boy was. I admit that his skills almost equalled mine – almost.
And then again today we were together – in Potions and Transfiguration. He sat by me during Defence Against the Dark Arts on my unspoken invitation. He is quite intelligent once you get past his façade of idiocy – because it really is nothing more than a façade. He is a very private person and does not want anyone to get to know him and then insult him. Pathetic, it's true, but he is a dark horse. The Dark Lord will be very pleased with him – once I train him.
Because even though he is intelligent and a Slytherin, he is quite a stranger to Dark Arts. He was quite intrigued by my casual mention of them during the lunch. A novice, then. Well, it is interesting anyway. I will have fun teaching him. I know he will be a willing student.
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4th May
Today was a Quidditch match – Gryffindor versus Slytherin. Fagin has got stomach flu so Haven was the Keeper and everyone knows what kind of Keeping Haven does. So instead of watching those stupid Gryffindors mash up our team, Ian and I stayed behind in the castle – in the dorm.
I knew it was just the right moment to approach him. We were alone and he had begun opening up to me, enjoying my company. I liked it, too. I have never had anyone trust me. Does he trust me? I don't know. But I think he does. He doesn't flinch away from me. He talks to me. It is odd. I have never met anyone like him ever before. It is very interesting.
So today I finally talked to him. I began with Dark Arts and how we purebloods are superior. I was relieved to find that he is a pureblood. I wasn't quite sure. He had never mentioned it before. And gradually, I got on to the topic of how beneficial it would be to know more than normal wizards.
He seemed nervous at first. I feared that it was too much for him at a single go. Anyway, he seemed interested in it. I asked him if he wanted to learn. He said that he really didn't know how to learn it. They taught it at Durmstrang but he couldn't possibly transfer there. I almost laughed at that – almost because I didn't want to hurt his feelings. That kind of a thing would have pulled him away from me forever.
So I told him about myself. I was the son of a Dark Arts Master; even though the man was the vilest I have ever seen in my life, I respected him out of fear. I know it didn't matter to him whether I was his son or not – all he wanted to do was to spread Dark Arts. What had been once forced onto me as a duty, now slowly became a love. I enjoyed the power I held over other mediocre wizards by learning this Art. Even Lucius had been afraid of me at our first meeting knowing that I was the son of THE Septimus Snape.
I can still see the awe and admiration in his eyes as I told him about my expertise. He acquiesced to take lessons.
Soon, he will be trained enough to be presented before the Dark Lord – by me!
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10th May
Of course things haveto go wrong! Fate is always unjust to me!
My mother died.
If that had been all, I won't have bothered so. She was a pitiable creature. I don't understand why she married a man as powerful as my father – or why a man as powerful as my father married a weakling like my mother. Thank goodness I am spared such stupidity!
Anyway, she hadn't died naturally – she had been killed by father. I know it. I think Fenella and Enrique know it too. But Fenella is dead scared of father and Enrique doesn't bother about anyone. I am not sure I grieve my mother's death enough to talk against my father. She is better off in heaven than she would have been in our shackle. Moreover, I don't want a man as powerful as my father to rot in Azkaban. It would be a great disadvantage to the Dark Lord.
However, it seemed that my mother's house-elf, Tinny, has said something that makes Aurors think that my father is a murderer. I have to go home. My father is detained at the Ministry. Someone has to settle that house-elf. And arrange for my mother's funeral. Even though she was a miserable creature, she was my mother. She shielded me from my father's beatings. She was the first creature that thought I wasn't what I am now – evil, ugly and Death-Eater. To her, I suppose, even on her death-day, I was the boy she loved, kissed and protected. What a sentimental fool!
But for all that, she deserves a funeral. I cannot afford the freshest flowers, but she deserves being blessed by Merlin before she goes.
Anyway, all this is a major hindrance with my plan with Ian. I will be gone until the beginning of September. Someone has to take care of Fenella and Enrique – and that will be me. It will all take time. I don't think I will be able to present Ian before the Dark Lord this summer. It is a great setback to my plans.
But… I not only feel, but also think that my mother deserves last respects.
And it isn't as if Ian will be lost to me. I can present him at Christmas. The Dark Lord will be impressed whether I present him at Christmas or Easter or whatever. The main thing is that I haveto. He will be a powerful Death-Eater.
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14th May
When people say that funerals are depressing, I had never understood why. But now I do.
They are pretty rotten things. I will never go to another ever again.
It was a quiet business. The wizard-priest was there and Fenella, Enrique and myself. I could spot Tinny at a corner. I didn't bother. Someone who loved mother with all their heart ought to be there, right?
However, the greatest surprise came when I reached home. Fenella had gone back to school. She found it all too depressing. Enrique locked himself in his room. He hasn't been talking or eating ever since he has been here.
I was idling about the place, wanting to get this melancholy away from my mind, when the contraption which serves as a 'door-bell' rang.
It was Ian – Ian Gaius Richards.
He had secretly got out of the castle and flooed, and then flown here. He remembered I lived in Suffolk and had enquired and found my house.
I don't know what I felt on seeing him there. Why was he here? I had told him I needed to go home because of my mother's death – but why was 'he' here?
He had this sad sort of smile on his face and apologized for not being in time for funeral. It had been raining and it had decreased his flying speed.
I was stunned. He actually cared – about… me
I asked him to come in because there was nothing else I could say. How was I to tell him that I was mighty glad that he hadn't come earlier? How was I to tell him that my mother was better off dead? How was I to tell me that there had been a murder in this house?
We sat quietly. I didn't know what to say. What could I say anyway? My thoughts were in a turmoil my brain couldn't disentangle. He sat near me.
I asked him if he wanted some lunch.
He said I was strange.
I asked him what he meant.
He said I wasn't sad that my mother had died.
I said I wasn't.
He stared at me but didn't say anything.
I said we'd better lunch – I was hungry. I called out to Enrique, but I knew that he won't come.
We ate in silence. I wasn't sure about anything. Why was he here? I still couldn't figure out. So what if my mother had died? He barely knew me.
And then we were silent for the rest of the time. I only directed him to the bathroom as he was filthy from the journey. I went to my room and sat staring out. There was a lot of work to do – paper-work that I barely understood. But I had neither the heart nor mind to do it.
As he dressed in my old worn pair of pyjamas, whose poorness didn't seem to bother him, he asked me if I wanted him to stay longer.
I reminded him that the next day was Monday. His absence would be noticed.
He said that he didn't particularly care. His father was in the Board of Governors of Hogwarts. He would tell him.
I was amazed. How had I missed the existence of Ian Richards for all these years?
I didn't reply. I didn't know what to say.
He owled his father. He is asleep on the sofa as I write this. I don't know what to make of him.
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"I woke up at around one or something. It had been a nightmare. I realized that Sirius wasn't in bed."
Harry's eyes widened. "Had he gone to meet Snape?"
Remus smiled slightly. "That was my first thought, too. First he doesn't go to Hogsmeade. Now he isn't at bed at this time of night. Of course, it would be anybody's thoughts."
"I can't believe this!"
"Well, I don't remember if I believed it then or not. Anyway, I was somewhat angry."
"Somewhat?" Harry raised a brow.
Remus grinned. "Okay, I was incredibly furious. What was he doing? Agreed that I had no right to interfere in his private life, but that did not mean that he ignore us – his best friends – and went to be with Snape, his enemy – or so James and Peter still thought. So I went out to search for him."
"Poor you! Witnessing Sirius with Snape again and again!"
"No, I didn't. Sirius was downstairs. He was reading something. Plus, I told you Snape wasn't disgusting, Harry. He was…"
"He was my Potions Master."
Remus sighed. "Anyway, I was relieved to find that Sirius was just downstairs. But he was reading. That was odd. I mean what would you think if you found Sirius keeping awake just to read something?"
"I'd hit him over the head to see if he is sane."
"Well, I didn't quite do that," said Remus. "But I startled Sirius badly enough."
"What was he reading, then?"
Remus shrugged. "He hid the journal as soon as I touched him on the shoulder. Yes, I am sure that it was a journal. And I think I recognized that spidery scrawl. Snape's handwriting was very distinct. I was once paired up with him in Potions for a whole month."
"Snape's journal! I wonder what he wrote in it!"
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AUTHOR'S NOTES: So how was it? It is turning out longer than I expected. I hope you won't be bored.
- Lucille.
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