Have Faith:
Part six:
Why He Made Sectumsempra
A/n: Ok, this is the longest chapter I have EVER written, but I kinda got into a groove, so...yea. From now on, all of the flashbacks will be in Italics, seeing as it seems stupid to introduce them as flashbacks and ruin the mood, and every single one of them is important to the present story. Whoever's flashback it is will be centered over the segment. Also, if you don't recognize terms I use, look them up in the online Harry Potter lexicon. Okay, I'm done now. Enjoy the chapter
"Appleby Arrows."
The gargoyle leapt aside. Sylvestra looked at it warily. In her seven years attending Hogwarts School, she had been this way twice, both times with Albus Dumbledore standing between her and the giant stone beast. She laughed at herself inwardly and told herself it was a foolish child's fear. But she still felt her adrenaline rise slightly as she walked past the gargoyle, which upon hearing the right words, sprung to life, its eyes glowing with a swirling red and silver mist.
Well, Headmistress McGonagall had said in her acceptation letter that she was allowed to ask any question she needed to feel more at home here... Still, Sylvestra had a disquieting sensation in her stomach that she had never felt even on the quidditch field.
She took a deep breath, and raised a hand, grabbing hold of the large brass knocker and pulling it back, intent to make sure that she could be heard through the thick doors.
"Ah, but isn't it romantic, Minerva! Two students, fated to be together since Severus' third year (that was Sylvestra's first, mind you) reunited at last," Said a jubilant voice, followed by a chuckle. "I always knew they were going to find there why back to each other, Headmistress."
Sylvestra screeched to a halt mere millimeters away from the door. She frowned, knowing what she was about to do was not right, but knowing she could not stop herself either way. She hesitated, and then pressed her ear hard against the door, one hand stretched out for balance, the other still on the knocker.
"Yes, I suppose so. It appears they've been reduced to lover's quarrels already. You should have seen them at the quidditch field, Albus. At first I thought they were merely bickering friends, but then...well..." McGonagall trailed off, and Sylvestra could almost feel her trying to change the subject. It was obvious, aged as the headmistress was, that she was uncomfortable with such topics. Sylvestra grinned. Professor McGonagall had always been this way, she remembered fondly, her mind going back to the dancing lessons for the Yule Ball in her sixth year.
Then there was that little amused chuckle again. "I know, it's hard to believe they were once our students..." The ghost of Albus Dumbledore suddenly cut off.
"Wait Albus, where are you..."
Quite unexpectedly, not a foot away from where she had her ear pressed, The silvery-blue Dumbledore emerged from the solid oak door. There was an awkward moment, in which, unsure, Sylvestra smiled.
Dumbledore looked at her over his spectacles, smiling the way an owner might when they catch their kitten doing something bad, yet inevitably cute.
"Good evening, Miss MacMathan, I trust wherever Severus is, he's well aware of your location." He said, His eyes glinting.
Sylvestra laughed nervously. "Well, about that..."
Dumbledore tsked disapprovingly, before sticking his head back through the door. "You have a visitor, Headmistress!"
Syvlestra jumped back hurriedly as she heard footsteps coming toward the door. Albus chuckled one more time before dissolving into nothingness, just before the door opened, to see a slightly surprised Professor McGonagall.
"Can I help you, Sylvestra?"
Sylvestra was already a deep shade of scarlet as she followed McGonagall into the office. It was one thing to kiss Snape in front of McGonagall, but to actually talk to her about this thing she was about to...was purely horrifying. And as Minerva took her seat behind her desk, she had a sudden fleeting burst back to the past, back to her favorite class in Hogwarts.
Sylvestra
Outside the icicles on the trees were just beginning to melt. By her third year, Sylvestra had learned to pry herself from the window just long enough for lessons, granted it was easier during the winter.
"Today class, we will be discussing...yes discussing, not much magic today," Professor McGonagall said to her class as they moaned, putting away their wands. "As I said, today we'll be discussing animagi."
Sylvestra's head snapped to the front of the class, eyes widening as McGonagall's gaze swept over the children. Sylvestra's weird stare was silently taken note of. The girl never paid that much attention.
"Now, can anyone tell me what an animagus is?"
The entire classroom seemed taken aback as Sylvestra MacMathan's hand shot up in the air.
"Well, well, Ms. MacMathan?"
"An animagus is a witch or wizard who can transform into an animal at will. They retain the brain and willpower of themselves in human form, unlike werewolves, and so have control over their actions. Furthermore, they do not have a choice of what animal they change into, and it is very difficult and very dangerous to become one, because it is a very complicated form of transfiguration."
"Very good!" Said Professor McGonagall, trying to subdue the incredulous tone in her voice "Ten points to Ravenclaw! It's nice to see you finally paying attention, Ms. MacMathan."
Sylvestra turned an alarming shade of pink and looked down at her parchment. The professor looked out over the rest of her class, continuing with her lecture. "Yes, Ms. MacMathan is absolutely right. An animagus is someone who has mastered the ability to transform into an animal, like so..."
And there, where their transfiguration teacher had so recently stood, was a tabby cat, slightly graying around the muzzle, and silver spectacle marks around her eyes. The cat remained long enough for people to gasp and gawk, and then turned back into their teacher. She went on talking as if nothing had happened, and the sudden outburst of whispering stopped almost as soon as it started.
"However, as Ms. MacMathan said, an animagus cannot change into any animal it wishes. Depending on the person's personality, the animal they change into is fixed, and almost always the same as their corporeal patronus, which you will be learning about this year in Defense Against the Dark Arts..."
Sylvestra frowned, her mind sliding easily out of focus. This was all stuff she already knew. What was the point of paying attention if it didn't get her anywhere? Her head turned to the window outside again. It would be nice feel the cool air on her skin. She couldn't wait until break...
"We had an interesting transfiguration class today..." She said, her feet dangling below her as she sat on the wall at the edge of the courtyard. Severus had cleared a patch in the snow below her and sat there, unwrapping a bunch of chocolate frogs.
"Really?" He asked, not very interested, but deciding to give her the benefit of the doubt. Some of her stories could be quite entertaining.
"Yea..." She beamed down at him. "Guess what it was about?" her smile took a more mischievous turn, and she jerked a thumb over to a willow tree downhill, where four fifth-years stood, one playing with a snitch, two others watching him, and a third leaning against a tree, his nose deep in a book.
Severus' heavy brow furrowed for a moment, before his eyes widened in realization. "Animagi?!" He asked, His lip curling into a smirk as he reached a hand up, passing a chocolate frog to her.
She munched on it gleefully. "Yup. Did I ever tell you?" She said, not really biting the frog as much as she let it melt in her mouth. Severus had stashed them in the snow overnight. They didn't hop about when they were frozen.
"Tell me what?" He asked as he looked at his trading card from different angles. "Laverne de Montmorency..." he whispered to himself, reading the name underneath the picture of a blonde haired veela-like woman smiling through a steamy pink mist that billowed from a potion bottle. Severus paused and looked again from a different angle. Without her face obscured by the smoke, she was a pockmarked, raggedy looking hag, her skin a sickly shade of green.
"I'm an Abraxan..." The girl said absentmindedly. "Ew, Glover Hipworth...I have about five of him, do you have anything to trade?"
"Are you kidding, I wouldn't trade anything for him, he's one of the most common...Hold on, you're a what?!"
Sylvestra blinked, scooting to the left of him and sliding down the wall, making sure her cloak was under her so her skirt wouldn't get wet. She was now sitting beside him, resting her head on his shoulder. Severus was too surprised to even shrug her off like he normally did.
"Yea, I'm an animagus, I have been since I was like... well, everything in my mind is compared to quidditch, and I became an animagus shortly after I started, so about six, yea...I've been one since I was about six." She said, as though it wasn't any big deal. Severus obviously didn't feel the same way.
"Is everybody here an animagus except me?" He growled, stacking his books and replacing them in his bag huffily.
"Oh, I would highly doubt that, that would be a lot of unregistered animagi." She said, looking up at the sky, not really noticing the dark tone that Severus took.
Severus stood up abruptly, flung his bag over his shoulder and started down the hill, not looking back. Sylvestra stood still, frozen with shock a moment, then scrambled down after him, kicking up a great deal of snow in her haste.
"Severus wait!" She called after him. The four boys by the willow tree looked up. She grabbed his sleeve when she finally caught up with him, her cheeks and knees turned raw with the chill. She had lost her cloak some way down the hill, and so hugged herself to keep from getting to cold.
Severus tried not to smile triumphantly as he turned to look at her with what he hoped was a furious expression on his face. Yes, he was mad at her for not telling him, but he'd found over the past year that he could never hold a grudge against her. It was just in her nature to be scatterbrained, and once she realized she'd done something wrong, she'd go to the ends of the earth to try and make it right. It was a wonder she had not been put in Hufflepuff.
"Severus I'm sorry, what'd I do?" She asked, searching his eyes for an answer.
"What did you do? What did you do?! Nothing except completely obliterate the trust I thought we had for one another!" He said, keeping his voice to a hiss so that no one would overhear them. Sylvestra didn't quite do the same
"What? Well, I can't help it! I didn't think it'd make much difference in how you thought about me!"
"I can't believe you didn't tell me! I know you must be unregistered, but that's no reason!" Snape wondered to himself whether he should end the fight by storming away and leaving her to brood for a few hours, or if he should be the one to give in.
"I said I didn't think it was important! Besides, it never came up in a conversation and-"
"Well looky here, Padfoot, the old married couple are having a row are they?" Called a voice over Severus' shoulder. He whipped around, his hand going to his pocket automatically, where he kept his wand.
But James had already beaten him to it, whipping his wand out and pressing it under Snape's pointed chin.
"Well well, Snivellus," James said, smiling "Looks like I've got the upper hand."
"Leave him alone, Potter!" Sylvestra snapped, her hands on her hips. Her wand was stuck in her belt, inches from her right hand and unbeknownst to them.
Sirius actually laughed right then, tugging on his rumpled tie. "Oh no! Come on Snivellus, are you really that wimpy that you have to hide behind a little third-year girl?" He asked, smirking.
Enraged, Sylvestra drew her wand and pointed it not five inches from Sirius. A jet of orange sparks flew from the tip and hit him right in the face. At first it seemed like nothing had happened. Sirius blinked away the sparks, and scowled, looking much like the black dog they had seen last year in Hogsmeade. "Why you little-"
But then it happened. Sirius had been rubbing his face, the orange sparks having left a stinging sensation, but as he pulled his hand away, a clump of hair came with it. Sirius stared at the coarse blackness in his hand, then slowly, fearfully, grabbed a fistful of hair and tugged. Instead of meeting resistance like one normally would, the hair just fell out. Soon it started to just drop from its place on his scalp, the chunks getting bigger and falling faster as the spell set in.
James faltered, torn between helping his friend and punishing his enemy. His hesitation cost him plenty, because soon, there was a ring of black hair surrounding Sirius, a few stray strands clinging to his robes, and none left on his head. Sirius staggered back in horror, his hands running across his smooth head.
"My...my hair! Its all gone! He said, dropping to his knees and taking fistfuls of the hair on the ground, inadvertently grabbing fistfuls of snow as well. Slowly his horror struck face hardened into a steely mask of raw hatred.
"You! He snarled, pointing his wand at the girl. "You little bitch, I'll show you! Asperiscindo!"
Severus' eyes widened. Sylvestra didn't know what that spell was, but it sounded nasty. She cringed and, just to be careful flung her arms over her head. The air in front of Sirius' wand waved and became distorted, like a great deal of heat was shooting from it. Sylvestra closed her eyes, fearing the worst. She knew James would never seriously injure someone, but had never been so sure about Sirius.
But then she heard a cry that was not her own. She opened her eyes in shock and saw James had fallen back on the ground, his glasses askew, and Severus standing in front of her, blocking the spell. She staggered away to the left so she could see better. Sirius' face was ashen. Apparently he didn't know the effects of the spell either. But then se caught side of Severus' front, and a scream escaped her lips.
Across Severus' chest were two gashes, each deep enough that they cut almost completely through his ribs and wide enough that it looked more like he had pieces of flesh ripped from him than he had been slashed at. They crossed each other halfway through, making a gigantic bloody 'X'.
Severus look down at his front, his face so contorted in pain that it was unrecognizable, then slowly up at Sylvestra, before finally resting his terrified eyes on Sirius, he shuffled forward, apparently trying to get to the Gryffindor boy, before tripping and falling limply to the ground, wasting no time in turning the snow around him scarlet. The two boys still by the tree ran over. Peter Pettigrew had an eager, almost hungry look in his eyes, and Remus' face was etched with lines of worry.
"Padfoot, what'd you do?" He whispered.
Remus' words seemed to make something click together in Sylvestra's mind. It was Sirius that had done this to him. It was all Sirius fault...
Without knowing it, she stood up and walked very calmly over to the now bald boy, then exploded, trying her best to knock him senseless. She didn't even know what words she was shrieking, but she knew there were red hot tears flowing down her face, and all she wanted to do was beat him to a pulp. By the time James and Remus had managed to restrain her, Sirius was sporting a hefty black eye and a split lip, among another nasty looking marks. They had managed to restrain her just in time, too, because at that moment a tall harsh looking figure in black and grey robes appeared over the hill.
"What's going on? I heard screaming." Madame hooch called, looking about at the group, frowning at one of her favorite students, who was now trying to attack another. Then her hawk-like eyes focused on Snape, and she gasped in horror.
The entire scene froze as she realized what had happened to Severus, each person waiting for their punishments. She looked around at them for another moment before remembering Remus Lupin's position as prefect.
"Mr. Lupin. You will help he carry this boy over to madam Pomfrey. The rest of you will stay where you are until he can get your head of houses to deal with you..." She glanced at the girl, who had her arms forced behind her back, her face sticky and red with tears. "Sylvestra, you will accompany us."
A/N: sorry for the cliffie guys. I didn't want to make the chapter too long. The new one will be up wicked soon, I promise.