Chapter 10 –5th Year
No one spoke to Remus for nearly a month after the incident. Alanze'smother held a respective funeral for the young girl with an empty, closed casket. He didn't attend; he felt too ashamed that the whole situation was his fault. It was from then on he became very broody and quiet and took back to his studies. He didn't get around to speaking much, yet he always had his little snide sarcasm when he was around James and Sirius.
Speaking of his friends, they had finally accomplished their Animagi charm. Each had successfully transformed into an animal of their mind's choice… of course Sirius and James had to help Peter. He wasn't altogether as bright as the rest.
Like Remus was nicknamed Moony, the other three had their own nicknames too. The first nickname, 'Wormtail.' for Peter had confirmed itself when Peter had tried the charm and instead of transforming the whole way, a fat, worm-like and balding tail erupted from his backside. Almost the same effect happened when Sirius got his own nickname. The handsome charmer tried the charm, and hoping he would be better at transforming than Peter… he did get into the form of a large dog…with a minor problem. One of his four paws had been inflated to nearly ten times its normal size. So from the swollen paw came Sirius' nickname of 'Padfoot'. James was the first one out of the three to actually get the charm right. He transformed perfectly on his first try, which wasn't that big of a surprise since he had an O in all his Transfiguration classes. As a full-grown stag, James had a very nice set of antlers upon his head, which caused him to be named 'Prongs' which generally meant 'the pointed tip of an antler'. The group as a whole nicknamed themselves as 'the Marauders' because of all the havoc they always seemed to cause while at school. They were all favorites on McGonagall's detention list at times all year round.
In the meanwhile, it was their fifth year at Hogwarts. A lot had changed since the third. Lots of passageways had been discovered, a lot of studying had been done, a lot of pranks pulled and a lot of relationships changed. Remus had now been made a Prefect. Another example was that Sirius now had somewhat of a steady girlfriend. It was hard for him to just sit down and commit to just one girl when there were many; but his girlfriend, Ariana Tyne wasn't the normal stalker that 'Sexy' Sirius seemed to have. She was polite, reasonably pretty, and smart… and had a good taste in practical jokes. Often, Ariana and Sirius put their heads together to team up with James to pull a good prank. Besides that, being such a flirt… Sirius and Ariana often had a lot of rows among each other. No one knew yet if Sirius took his relationship seriously and never worked up the nerve to ask him.
Another relationship that was on it's hinges was that between Remus and believe it or not… Lily. It took the girl a while to realize that Remus didn't want a relationship with her and it upset her. She, in a way, had always liked Remus because he was logical and a good friend. Lily thought that if she asked Remus to a dance that he would get over his slight grief from Alanze and cheer up in their fourth-year. Unfortunately, her therapy had the reverse affect. Remus blew up and clearly stated that after all that time that still Lily was just a friend to him and that he didn't want to hurt another girl that liked him. Lily argued that just because an old friend died that he shouldn't avoid girls all of his life – and Remus… to James' pleasure and misfortune… clearly stated that he wasn't interested in her at all and that if she opened her eyes then she would have noticed that his best friend was. Since then, Lily had taken to avoiding the four of the Marauders, despite how dull she thought life at Hogwarts was without speaking to them. Remus thought that it wasn't his fault she felt that way and let her feel sorry for herself.
In the meanwhile, it always took something off subject to cheer Remus up from the depression of studying, relationships, and transformations. Unfortunately, that off subject topic was Quidditch, of course. James had made the team second year, and was a superb Chaser and fellow beefcake of the Gryffindor Team. The other "hunk" of the team was unpredictably… Sirius. Taking James' hints over the years, fourth year Sirius tried out for the Quidditch Team as a Beater. His amazing reflexes and backhand swings allowed him to be added on, although at first he wasn't a natural on the broomstick. However, he grew accustomed to flying (thanks to the help of James) and drew many fans to the Gryffindor games because of how "attractive" he looked in his Quidditch gear.
Today was a day for a game. It was a Saturday in June before the Monday that they would be taking their O.W.L. tests. Remus needed a stress reducer and the only innocent way of getting calmed seemed to be going to the Quidditch game. It was Gryffindor versus Slytherin… and of course the match hyped up nearly everyone in school. Remus sat on the Gryffindor side of the pitch, and spotted a familiar patch of red-hair two rows ahead and three seats away from him. Sighing, he went directly over and sat next to Lily… who he hadn't talked to for nearly a year. She spotted who he was at once, and went to leave.
"Lils, don't." Remus pleaded, "I came over here to make things right,"
Lily turned her nose up at him, though she looked defeated. She always had a soft spot for Remus. She turned her back to him, though stayed in her seat.
"I was wrong to you, I was. I was horrible and rude and I'm not afraid of women…" Remus tried to add his joke on the end, "But the truth is, I miss having you as a friend. I just don't want you to be hurt; I couldn't bear it if something happened to you. You're a good person. You deserve more than me after what I caused to happen to…"
He trailed off. He wasn't going to finish his sentence, and Lily knew why.
"Well," the girl started, narrowing her eyes at him, "I do forgive you. I don't appreciate what you said about me. You could've just came out and said you didn't have any feelings for me."
Remus felt himself smirking, and Lily raised her eyebrows at him. "Well, sorry," the werewolf apologized, "I just don't bother with other people's marked territory."
Lily blinked and smirked a bit despite herself, "I'm considered marked territory? By whom?"
Remus laughed at her. "Are you really that blind that you did just not notice how much Prongs liked you?"
Lily paused for a moment. She hadn't heard Remus address his friends by their nicknames in months and she had to figure out which of the three was called Prongs.
"Prongs… The Stag… James?" she narrowed her list down. Silently, a deep blush appeared across her fair cheeks. Remus found it hilarious and laughed at her as she rolled her eyes. By that time the game had begun to start, and they both took to chatting and watching their friends play.
After Gryffindor scored twice in the next half-hour, Lily hadn't mentioned anything about the subject. As the Referee, Madam Hooch told Slytherin to take a penalty point from Rodney Yarrow (the other Gryffindor Beater) taking the Quaffle from him, Lily turned to Remus.
"Really?" was all the red haired girl could ask with a smirk on her face. "Well, I think James Potter is a selfish jerk. Did you see what he did last week to Severus Snape?"
Of course Remus knew. He was involved in the whole thing. The incident caused all three (meaning Peter didn't get involved) of the Marauders to receive two days worth of detention. It was a simple, yet funny prank involving Snape's shoes and banana pudding at lunch. Remus was still unsure of how James and Sirius had managed to charm the pudding to ooze out of Snape's sneakers… but his job was to be the distraction. And the only means of distracting Snape was by calling him out on something he wasn't good at… which also happened to be Quidditch. So while Remus was busy luring him into their trap, Snape got provoked and went to lunge at the werewolf when the pudding upset his footing. Snape tumbled over and landed on his backside with the whole school laughing at him.
And yet Remus couldn't help but smile. "Don't judge a wand by its maker. He's a nice guy – and – FOUL, REF!"
Lily laughed. She was glad to have her friend back. She went back into the game, and said nothing more on the subject.
-x-
If Remus had a choice between being stressed and taking the actual test, he would've been sure to just take the real thing. The test had been unsurprisingly easy… it was weird because for the past few days (it was Wednesday now) he had breezed by in Astronomy, Care of Magical Creatures and Transfiguration. Today was the day for the Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. Remus was sure that he would pass – DADA had always been easy for him. He planned to ace the written exam and then do exceptionally good on his practical exam and spend the rest of his afternoon at his leisure.
The day went on as the class filed into the Great Hall. Professor Flitwick was to be supervising the testing. He explained how the quills had an anti-cheat spell placed on them and told each student to choose a desk to sit. He personally separated the Marauders. Remus glanced around quickly before the actual test started. James was sitting somewhat near the Entrance in the front; Sirius was conveniently four seats behind James to the left, he himself was just a row and several seats away from Sirius, and Peter sat somewhere on the other side of the room. Their exam started.
Remus himself found the exam not entirely challenging until a certain point. He frowned slightly and tickled his chin a bit with the end of his quill as he re-read his answers. He was sure that everything was correct and it was the precise time too… Professor Flitwick was now summoning the papers.
"Quills down, please!" squeaked Professor Flitwick. "That means you too Stebbins!" he yelled at some Ravenclaw that Remus knew from his Muggle Studies class. "Please remain seated while I collect your parchment! Accio!"
Remus watched as more than a hundred rolls of parchment zoomed into the air and into Professor Flitwick's outstretched arms, knocking him backwards off his feet. Remus chuckled lightly as several people laughed at him. A couple of people at the front desks helped Professor Flitwick up. James didn't bother and sat crumpling up a piece of paper of something he'd been scribbling moments before.
"Thank you… thank you," panted Professor Flitwick. "Very well, everybody, you're free to go!"
Everyone began to go, Remus was a little tousled as Snape rushed by as he went to leave. Silently, Remus then went to go join James and Sirius as they too went outside. It was awkward because for a few seconds they didn't speak until Sirius decided to liven the situation.
"Did you like question ten, Moony?" asked Sirius as they walked out into the entrance hall.
Remus grinned insanely. "Loved it," he replied briskly, repeating the question from the test. "'Give five signs that identify the werewolf'. Excellent question."
James grinned, identical to Remus. "D'you think you managed to get all the signs?" said James. Remus could tell he was teasing, and he rolled his eyes.
"Think I did," Remus said, so seriously that everyone blinked at him as they finally got to the exit towards outside. He glanced at Snape nearby… but didn't care too much.
"One: He's sitting in my chair," he started, and the group burst into grins again. "Two: He's wearing my clothes. Three: His name's Remus Lupin…"
The trio burst into laughter. The only one who didn't laugh unsurprisingly was Wormtail.
"I got the snout shape, the pupils of the eyes, and the tufted tail," Peter said so anxiously that Remus felt almost offended, "-but I couldn't think what else-"
The comment made James a bit irked. "How thick are you, Wormtail?" said the tousle-haired boy impatiently. "You run round with a werewolf once a month –"
"Keep your voice down," Remus implored. The only other people who knew what he was were the three of his friends and Lily. Yet, he took no chances. He didn't want to be found out.
After that comment, the quartet began to walk towards the lake. There were a lot of people outside, but not a lot of people were populating the part of the grounds they were on.
"Well, I thought that paper was a piece of cake," Sirius tried to make conversation again, "I'll be surprised if I don't get Outstanding on it at least."
"Me too," said James. Remus rolled his eyes was he watched his friend put his hand in his pocket and take out a struggling Golden Snitch.
"Where'd you get that?" questioned Peter, blinking.
"Nicked it," said James so casually as he started playing with it. To Remus, it was just another ploy to show off his reflexes. The quartet stopped walking when they reached a rather large beech tree on the edge of the lake. Simultaneously they all threw themselves down on the grass. Nearby, there was a group of laughing girls who had just left the Great Hall were sitting with shoes and socks off, cooling their feet in the water. Remus ignored them and pulled out a book to read. Sirius puffed out his chest, and put his arms behind his head. Remus knew that pose was his 'I'm haughty and bored but I'm sexy' attempt. He knew his friend couldn't help but showing off when large groups of girls were nearby. James was still playing with the snitch, and Peter was being his spectator as usual. Each little save of James', Wormtail gasped and clapped. It got on Remus' nerves but he was too drawn into what he was reading to comment. However, Sirius spoke up. He knew his best friend enjoyed attention like he did, but perhaps Peter's enthusiasm was a bit much.
"Put that away, will you?" asked Sirius, grumbling and squinting in the sun. "Before Wormtail wets himself from excitement."
Wormtail himself turned slightly pink, and Remus chuckled. James grinned, rather proudly.
"If it bothers you," said James, stuffing the Snitch back into his pocket.
'Typical' Remus thought to himself, 'The only person that James would ever listen to would be Sirius,'
"I'm bored," said Sirius, nearly five minutes later. "Wish it was full moon."
"You might," snapped Remus darkly from behind his book. He decided to change the subject. "We've still got Transfiguration, if you're bored you could test me… Here." Remus held out his book. However, he knew Sirius would refuse and he smirked.
Sirius snorted, just like Remus thought he would. "I don't need to look at that rubbish, I know it all."
Remus shook his head, and was about to go back into reading… until he noticed James' wondering eyes. He saw where they were headed… and knew that Prongs was up to no good.
"This'll liven you up, Padfoot," said James very quietly. "Look who it is…"
Sirius' head turned. He had become very still, and closed his eyes. Remus knew, from also being a fellow canine that Sirius could easily sniff out certain people's scents.
"Excellent," Sirius said softly. He opened his eyes and grinned. "Snivellus."
They all turned to watch Snape get to his feet. Supposedly, he had been sitting somewhere nearby reading a paper of some sort. He emerged from the shadows of wherever he had been sitting, and James and Sirius stood up. Remus sat, pretending to read… even though his eyes weren't moving and he frowned. Peter looked scared, though he was looking between Padfoot and Prongs to Snape secretly hoping for some drama.
"A perfect time to use what we learned from him in Potions." James teased gently.
"So you actually stole the book?" asked Peter eagerly.
"Nah, just borrowed it. We gave it back after we copied all the spells." Sirius smirked, stretching as James started the foul play.
"All right, Snivellus?" said James loudly.
As if he knew he was going to get into trouble, Snape dropped his bag, plunged his hand insides his robe and was about to throw a spell. He was a second too late, however because James counteracted.
"Expelliarmus!"
Snape's wand flew twelve feet into the air and fell with a little thud into the grass behind him. Sirius let out a small bark of laughter. Remus pretended to ignore them… the last thing he needed to do was join in on their escapades and have Lily mad at him again. She hated when the quartet picked on Snape… especially for no reason (which was the excuse most of the time).
"Impedimenta!" Sirius shouted while pointed his wand at Snape, who was knocked off his feet, halfway through a dive toward his own fallen wand.
Students all around turned to watch. Some of them had gotten to their feet and were edging nearer to see what was going on. Some looked apprehensive, and others looked quite entertained.
Snape lay panting, and unsure what to do on the ground. James and Sirius advanced on him, wands up. James glanced over towards the girls at the water's edge as he went. Even Peter wanted to see what was going to happen, because he was now on his feet and trying to get around Remus for a better view.
"How'd the exam go, Snivelly?" said James.
"I was watching him, his nose was touching the parchment," said Sirius viciously. "There'll be great grease marks all over it, they won't be able to read a word."
Several people that were watching laughed, and Peter sniggered awful shrilly. Snape tried to get up, but the jinx was still in his system and he looked as if he were struggling, as if bound by invisible ropes.
"You – wait," Snape panted, staring up at James with a look of malice upon his face. "You – wait…"
"Wait for what?" said Sirius coolly. "What're you going to do, Snivelly, wipe our nose on us?"
Snape began yelling out random spells but it didn't help because his wand was so far away. Then he began throwing out random swear words.
"Wash out your mouth," said James coldly. "Scourgify!"
Pink soap bubbles streamed from Snape's mouth at once; the froth was covering his lips, making him gag, choking him-"
"Leave him ALONE!"
James and Sirius looked around. James' free hand jumped to his hair to wrinkle it up again. Remus still didn't look up, but he could sense that it was Lily.
"All right, Evans?" said James, and the tone of his voice suddenly pleasant, deeper, and more mature. Remus heard it, even though he was so far away, and snorted.
"Leave him alone," Lily repeated. She was looking at James with a great sign of loathing on her face. "What's he done to you?"
"Well," said James, appearing to deliberate the point, "It's more the fact that he exists, if you know what I mean…."
Many of the watchers nearby laughed, including Sirius and Wormtail. Now that Lily was nearby, Remus was definitely not getting involved in any of the drama, and stayed out of it.
"You think you're funny," Lily said coldly. "But you're just an arrogant, bullying toerag, Potter. Leave him alone."
"I will if you go out with me, Evans," said James quickly. Remus' eyes snapped up from his book as he waited for Lily's answer. "Go on… Go out with me, and I'll never lay a wand on old Snivelly again."
No one noticed as the jinx wore off Snape, and he crawled for his wand.
"I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid." said Lily. To Remus, she looked defiant… yet the tone of her voice sounded sarcastic.
"Bad luck, Prongs," said Sirius smartly, turning back to Snape. For a few seconds, his heart fluttered when he realized Snape had his wand. He called out to James, quickly. "OY!"
Sirius' warning came a bit too late; Snape had directed his wand straight at James; there was a flash of light and a gash appeared on the side of James' face, spattering his robes with blood. James whirled about; a second flash of light later, Snape was hanging upside down in the air, his robes falling over his head to reveal skinny, pallid legs and a pair of graying underpants.
Many people in the small crowd watching cheered. Sirius, James and Peter roared with laughter.
Remus watched as Lily's furious expression twitched for a second… he knew she wanted to laugh, but then she said, "Let him down!"
"Certainly," said James, and he jerked his wand upward. Snape fell into a crumpled heap on the ground. He tried to detangle himself from his robes and get to his feet to counterattack, but Sirius said, "Locomotor mortis!" and Snape keeled over once again, stiff as a board.
"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Lily shouted, now taking out her own wand. Sirius and James knew that she was just as great as they were in all their classes, and they eyed her wand warily.
"Ah, Evans, don't make me hex you," said James earnestly. Both he and Remus knew that he would never do such a thing.
"Take the curse off him, then!" said Lily, squaring her shoulders. On the reverse side, both James and Remus knew again that Prefect Lily wouldn't hesitate to defend the helpless.
James sighed deeply, then turned to Snape and took the curse off of him.
"There you go," James grumbled, as Snape struggled to get to his feet again, "You're lucky Evans was here, Snivellus-"
"I don't need help from filthy little Mudbloods like her!"
Lily blinked. She didn't look offended, but somewhat amused. "Fine," she said coolly, "I won't bother in the future. And I'd wash your pants if I were you, Snivellus."
Despite himself, Remus choked back a slight laugh. It was Snape's fault he now had no defense on his behalf whatsoever.
"Apologize to Evans!" James roared at Snape, his wand pointed threateningly at Snape once again.
"I don't want you to make him apologize," Lily shouted, now sneering as she rounded on James. "You're as bad as he is…"
"What?" yelped James, looking ashamed. "I'd NEVER call you a – you-know-what!"
Lily took his comment beyond herself. Obviously, James had been getting on her nerves for some time now and she let all her anger out at that moment.
"Messing up your hair because you think it looks cool to like you've just got off your broomstick, showing off with that stupid Snitch, walking down corridors and hexing anyone who annoys you just because you can – I'm surprised your broomstick can get off the ground with that fat head on it. You make me SICK."
Then Lily turned on her heel and hurried away. She glanced at Remus, who still said nothing and watched her storm away. Remus finally got to his feet and slowly headed over towards the crime scene.
"Evans!" James shouted after her, "Hey, EVANS!"
But she didn't look back and Remus didn't expect her too. He was definitely going to be hearing about this escapade in her little rants sometime during the rest of the week.
"What is it with her?" said James, trying and failing to look as if his question wasn't really important to him.
"Reading between the lines, I'd say she thinks you're a bit conceited, mate," said Sirius, a smirk appearing on his face. "Bad luck."
"Right," said James, who looked beyond furious now, "Right-"
There was another flash of light, and Snape was once again hanging upside down in the air. By that time, Remus had reached his other friends. He looked quite bemused, though he didn't have his wand out.
"Who wants to see me take off Snivelly's pants?" James growled, now furious. He wanted Snape to pay for all the trouble he caused. As things looked, he would never get a chance to go out with Lily.
"Take them off!" many of the people in the crowd yelled. James smirked, as well did Sirius. Remus folded his arms and looked up at Snape in the air, yelling swearwords at the quartet.
"Don't you think you should let him down?" he questioned James smoothly. James glared at him.
"You put Lily up on this, didn't you? You got buddy-buddy with her again and – and-" James tried to argue. He made no sense, however.
"You're not making sense," said Remus calmly, so that it pissed James off. Sirius noticed the upcoming quarrel, and tried to break it up.
"Prongs, lets go, I'm bored," he yawned, though he didn't look sleepy. Sirius glanced up at Snape, then over at James who was still glaring at Remus.
"Fine," said James, and jerked his wand upward, letting Snape fall about six feet back towards the ground again. "Let's go Padfoot." He indicated, that the only person he wanted to accompany him was his right-hand best friend.
"Alright," said Sirius and they left, backs to Snape. Unfortunately, Snape wasn't going to let them get the upper hand.
"Stupefy!" Snape yelled towards the backs of the two dark-haired boys.
Many people screamed to get James and Sirius' attention – they turned around, but it looked as if they were going to get hit… until…
"Impervius! Reflecto!"
Remus reacted before his mind even thought the situation over. He wasn't going to stand by and allow Snape to curse his friends unfairly. James and Sirius watched, quite surprised as the spell reflected from them and hit its sender instead.
Snape dropped to the floor, obviously stunned and unconscious. Remus and James looked at their friend.
"Never knew you had it in you, Moony." Smirked Sirius, grinning like a madman. "What overcame you to do something like that, mate?"
Remus put down his smoking wand and looked through wide eyes at the scene. People were leaving now, obviously, because nothing more could happen when Snape was stunned. James now smirked at him.
"So you didn't put Evans up to defending Snivelly, Moony?" he supposed, smirking despite himself.
"Why would I?" answered Remus, now smirking too. "I say celebration in the Common Room?"
"I'll get the drinks!" chimed Sirius happily as they gathered their things and headed back towards the castle. Little thing did they know that one of their number was missing… but they didn't care.
-x-
"W-Wake up!" said a soft voice, as the speaker fumbled for the right spell to cast. "E-Enervate!"
Severus Snape got to sitting up, rubbing his head miserably. He looked around, and realized he was still outside. He wondered what happened, but once he saw it was a Gryffindor tending to him… he shrugged his help off.
"Get off of me, Mudblood," he grumbled, "What are you helping me for? Did you enjoy today's festivities?"
The person who he was addressing shook its head no. "I'm Pureblood, so don't ca-call me a-a you-know-what." The boy broke off, sweating. "But what h-happened today… it… it was unfair. You should get them back."
Snape glanced at the kid, despite himself and nodded in agreement. "I shall," was all he said.
"I-I could help if you'd know what I mean." Said the Gryffindor kid. "I can get the dirt on th-the Gryffindors and help you to… destroy them, per se."
"I like the way you think, kid. What year are you in?" asked Snape, getting to his feet and brushing his robes off.
"I'm in your year… and nearly all your classes. I'm the Potion's failure." The kid told.
"Really?" asked Snape, thinking it over. "I've seen you with the almighty Trio. You're that… Pettigrew kid, aren't you?"
Pettigrew nodded, "Yeah," he answered. "Do you want me to help you or not?"
Snape thought about what the kid was asking of him. "And what do you want out of this deal?"
"Protection. You mustn't hurt me and if worse comes to worse… you'd have to defend me against them if they found out." Told Pettigrew, nodding furiously, "That's all I ask for the partnership."
"You're testing my patience," said Snape.
"Do you want to get back at the Marauders, or not?" asked Pettigrew, smirking now that he had an upper hand.
"You've got a deal," repeated Snape, "Just don't address me in public." He added quickly, thinking. "They've got a club name?"
Pettigrew laughed, "Let's start at the beginning. I'll fill you in on EVERYTHING I know…"
And they talked until it was time for the afternoon practical exam in Defense Against the Dark Arts.
-x-
The end of the school year was over. Unfortunately, he had no choice but to go home… to the house he hated. He walked off the platform miserably, watching his enemies cheerfully say goodbye to each other. He felt sour as he took his trolley and left the train station. It was up to him to get home on his own… and he hated that factor.
He had to take the Muggle underground, so he left quick… just in case any other Hogwarts students caught him in such a place. He got off at a stop nearby the heart of London, and set off to find the Leaky Cauldron. It took about fifteen minutes because he was hauling his trunk with him… but it didn't matter. He made it there fine, and entered to go out back towards Diagon Alley.
Once he was in Diagon Alley, it seemed as if no one were there. Perhaps no one had any reason to be… with Hogwarts letting out its students and all. Sadly, he sighed and set off towards Knockturn Alley, where he sat down to wait for his sitter to take him home.
How foolish he felt… nearly a man and yet, he was still being taken care of by a housekeeper. It wasn't his fault; he rarely saw his father, though that's whom he lived with. His mother had died a while ago; but he kept his mind off of that subject.
His sitter was a wretched old woman, who had a hooknose to rival his and was unfittingly overweight. She rapped him roughly on his shoulder and looked down at him through eyebrows as thick as wool and an untamed mustache.
"Come, Severus. Your father has been expecting you," she barked in a raspy voice. Severus nodded as his Sitter held out a portkey. He touched it and vanished towards his family heirloom manor.
Severus arrived in the main hallway. He looked around, unfazed and very bored. His sitter looked at him, as if she was expecting something like a thank you. Severus thanked her anyway.
"Much obliges, Dosya." He told her, and the woman nodded and waddled off in the direction of the kitchen. Perhaps it was time already for her to begin preparing dinner. She wouldn't be doing it alone, however. Severus knew that his father had tons of servants, humans and non-humans alike.
Afterwards, Severus took it upon himself to venture up towards his room. Unfortunately, his room was on the fifth floor… and he still had to lug his trunk around. As he made it to the third floor, he heard a clatter of something falling… and he seized himself up. Who was it?
"Who's there?" he called defiantly, "I'm Severus Snape and I own this manor and I demand you to show yourself!"
The thing that he expected was actually not what he got. A skinny, under-fed looking… child was it? Fell out from the shadows. Severus watched the kid with a sneer upon his lips. The child was covered in soot and looked as if it were wearing too-short aged robes. It wore glasses and looked pathetic… in a sad sort of way.
"What're you doing in my manor?" Severus asked, looking down at it, "Who are you? Do you have a name?"
"I am sorry, Mr. Snape sir," the person apologized, "It will never happen again – I was cleaning and I sneezed and vase toppled over… I tried to fix it with my... my wand but since I never learned any proper spells it didn't do much use… and then the whole thing ended up backfiring… it's just… please don't tell Master Snape," it pleaded.
Severus blinked, trying to take in the whole of what the person just said. It was obviously a kid, maybe a few years younger than him. However, he had never seen this servant around the manor.
"How did you get into working here?" asked Severus, putting his trunk down and helping the child up. He gasped. The child was a girl… not even… a young woman. He recoiled slightly. A girl! In the manor…
"It's a long story – but I am indebted to Master Snape. I've been working for him for two… nearly three years now. I've seen you before, but I doubt you've seen me." Answered the young woman.
"Wand… you're a witch?" asked Severus incredulously, "And my father allowed you to live here?" he then went on, eyes very wide.
"Yes… yes… he's forbid me to learn spells – but I still try every now and then. I know a few from what I've read in your room." She added, quite shyly. If she were blushing, Severus wouldn't have noticed it. The girl was filthy.
"What is your name?" Severus asked, totally wondering about this servant. "How old are you?"
"He calls me Ria." Answered the girl, "But besides that… I think I'm thirteen. I stopped counting the years… thirteen or fourteen. I've been here so long…"
"Do you have any family at all?" answered Severus, taking pity on the girl called Ria.
"I did, but they disowned me. I had a guardian… but somehow I ended up here in… in this Alley…" Ria answered, "I mustn't talk any longer. I'd be beat if he knew I were talking to you."
"Do you know where my father is?" answered Severus, having a need to talk to the girl. She would probably be the only company he'd have in a while. "Are you here alone?"
"I don't know where Master Snape is – but he knows where I am… always. I'm one of his," Ria whispered softly. "But I work this level by myself – it's not much to do. How far do you have to go with your trunk? I'll help you."
"To the fifth." Severus told her, his sneer diminishing a bit. Perhaps there was hope to this summer break, after all…
( Note, there is a reason why Severus doesn't now live in the house as described in Half Blood Prince. The reason will be given later as the story progresses. So for those that call me paranoid, I'm not. I got things under control, I promise)