Chapter 6

It seemed as though Lexie had just closed her eyes when she heard her roommates stirring around in their room. She opened her eyes half way and squinted out the small, square window at an overcast sky. Rain was still splattering lazily against the glass. "What a miserable day…" Lexie thought to herself flopping back down on her pillow. This was the sort of day that it was good to stay in bed, all day long. She yawned and stretched her shoulders and arms. Her eyes were still itching with fatigue and she, despite her 6 hours of sleep, felt completely unrested.

"Hurry up, or you'll miss breakfast." Said Dru as she hurried out the door at Natasha's heels.

Lexie nodded and rolled herself out of bed grumpily. She dressed quickly, putting on the familiar school attire. The collared shirt, tie, Hogwarts vest, pleated skirt, knee high socks and shoes that horribly reminded her of the saddle shoes she wore when she was five. Over top of it all, she dawned her new black Hogwarts robe with the Slytherin crest embroidered on the right shoulder. She pulled her curls back into a modest ponytail, in an attempt to remain inconspicuous.

When she arrived in the Great Hall, and not a moment too soon, Snape was passing out course schedules. Lexie took a seat beside Natasha and Dru and helped herself to a light breakfast. She didn't feel very hungry, she supposed that had something to do with the flock of butterflies fluttering around in her stomach; always a sure sign of nervousness. The first day in a new school was always the hardest. When Snape reached their spot at the table, he paused to read over their choice of classes.

"Bane… Transfiguration, Defense, fine." He said staring down his long hooked nose at the piece of parchment that held her choice of classes. (At least the ministry had let her choose that much. Lexie had half expected that they would choose for her, picking out the classes that they thought she needed to review.) "Divination…" he sniffed, skeptically, giving Lexie the impression that he didn't think much of the subject. "Ancient Runes and Astronomy, satisfactory, History of Magic, fine, Charms… you barely scraped a passing mark… and advanced Potions." At this he raised a scrutinizing eyebrow, "Your final grade from last year is impressive. The American teacher must be rather substandard to allow his pupils to obtain such high grades in a NEWT level course. I assure you, my class will prove to be much more challenging." He said, thrusting the parchment at Lexie, which landed in her the cereal she'd poured, soaking it with milk.

She glared after him as he swished down the table as schedules rained down on the first years, hating him. "If he thinks he's going to fail me in potions… he's got another thought coming." Lexie said to herself smugly. "He's got no idea who he's dealing with." Lexie had been something of a wiz in potions while she was in school, and now, she was 21 years old; and an Auror for the Ministry, not just your average student.

Lexie cleaned off her schedule and took a quick look at it. Snape's jagged scrawl read across the top…

Alexandra Bane, Slytherin, 7th Year

MondayTuesdayWednesday

Double TransfigurationDouble DADADouble Transfiguration

History of MagicHistory of MagicDivination

FreeFreeFree

LunchLunchLunch

Ancient RunesDouble HerbologyFree

9 p.m. AstronomyDouble Potions

ThursdayFriday

Double DADADouble Charms

Free Divination

LunchLunch

FreeFree

Double HerbologyDouble Potions

9 p.m. Astronomy

Lexie openly groaned as she read down through the schedule. Hogwarts did block scheduling; two classes in a row of the same subject. She understood the need for such class periods in classes such as potions, where once you started a complex potion, it needed to be tended to for a longer period of time and couldn't be left unattended. But charms? She sighed. "I hate charms…" she thought vaguely as she stuffed her schedule in her bag and walked off to her first class, Double Transfiguration.

McGonagall proved to be an excellent teacher. Excellent, but strict and demanding. She used the first fifteen minutes of their block to lecture them on the importance of their performance in her class over the next 9 months, overusing phrases such as, "If you ever fancy having a job…" and "to ever amount to anything…" Lexie noticed that most of her fellow classmates were beginning to glaze over but, despite her fatigue, she tried to remain alert, as best she could.

She yawned her way through History. It was the most dry, factual, uninteresting history class she'd ever attended. The teacher was a ghost who plowed right along even though half the class was sleeping, the other half talking and clearly paying him absolutely no attention at all.

By the end of the day Lexie felt like an absolute zombie. She had stacks of homework but absolutely no energy with which to complete any of it. Lexie took a moment after her classes to ponder on how ludicrous it was for her to actually have to do homework while she had already graduated from school and had a job. The whole thing was just terribly unfair. She had Astronomy later that night. She'd seriously considered skiving off, but she thought it might just be the wrong impression on the first day. So she went.

The next day followed exactly the same. Lexie felt slightly more rested than the night before, but found herself agitated that she couldn't begin her mission until late Wednesday afternoon when she'd be shut up in the dank, smelly dungeon for Snape's double potions.

After dinner on Tuesday night, Lexie returned to her dormitory, intent on setting to work on all of the homework her teachers had assigned. She'd barely gotten her things spread out on her desk when her roommates returned, talking excitedly with one another. Lexie looked up as the door shut behind them.

"Get changed." Natasha ordered. "We're going out."

Lexie blinked. "Wh- what?"

"We're going out." Natasha said smoothly. "Are you coming? Or are you going to be a good little girl and stay in to do your homework?" she asked as she perused her trunk for something to wear.

"Er… where are you going?" she asked, suddenly curious.

"Hogsmead." Natasha answered. "So are you coming or what?"

Lexie tossed down her quill which she had not yet bothered to dip into the ink well that was sitting beside her stack of parchment, unopened. "I'm coming."

She wasn't really sure what he roommates were up to, but she figured that this was as good an opportunity as any to bond with her roommates. And besides, curiosity had gotten the best of her. "This is probably, in large part, why I hated school. Classes and homework always got in the way of my magical lifestyle." Lexie mused as she dressed at top speed.

Fifteen minutes later, they were peering down the dungeon corridor, checking to be sure that no one was watching them. After securing their secrecy, Natasha led her roommates down the dark hallway and into a secret passage at the end, which led them to the southern most corner of the castle. They scampered across the lawn and into the forest.

Wands alight, they made their way through the forest and out the other side. This was the only way to leave school grounds without scaling an impossibly high fence or facing tricky, upper level spells and enchantments. They passed through the dense trees and brambles without incident. This surprised Lexie. By reputation, the "Forbidden Forest" – was quite tricky to navigate. But Natasha managed it with such ease that Lexie had the feeling that this was not their first trip to Hogsmead via the Forest route. Upon emerging on the other side, the three of them made the long walk into the village.

"Let's go for a drink at the Hogshead." Natasha suggested as they set off down the street, side-by-side. They entered the dimly lit pub and ordered three firewiskies. Lexie, being the only one of age, seemed twice as nervous as the other two, who again, looked as though they'd done this before. They chose a seat along the side of the pub and sat down. No one hassled them as they sipped their drinks. Every time Lexie saw this place it was practically deserted.

Within half an hour of arriving at the pub, Natasha had already thrown back three firewiskies and Dru was struggling to finish her second. Natasha was obviously a professional drinker, Lexie thought as she watched her roommate return to the bar to retrieve her fourth drink. The two girls chatted just like the rest of their classmates from other houses, about boys and complained heartily about classes and homework. Lexie listened, intently waiting for them to talk about anything that would be useful in her mission.

An hour later still, Lexie found herself yawning and becoming immensely bored. It wasn't until Natasha's sixth that things got interesting. She slammed the heavy glass down on the table, slopping some of the amber liquid over the side. "You know…" she began, slurring her words ever so slightly. "I can't wait to get out of this school."

"Yeah… me hic too." Dru hiccupped, obviously having had far more than her limit.

"I mean, it's all worthless anyway isn't it? The only reason I'm here is to make connections and get in with the right people. And you both know who I mean when I say 'the right people'…" she trailed off as she examined her drink intensely. "Of course… my father is friends with all of them. But he's not actually in their ranks. But he reckons it'd be good if I could get in." Natasha spoke freely.

"Yeah but how can you? Don't they handpick their members?" Lexie asked.

Lexie's head was spinning. There was no doubt of it now. Natasha was speculating on becoming a death eater. Lexie arranged her face into what she hoped was an innocent, tipsy sort of curiosity.

"Of course they choose their own members." Natasha snapped. "They have to, haven't they? Can you imagine the sort of dunderheads they'd end up with if they just let anyone in?" her lip curled into a characteristic sneer. "Mudbloods, half-bloods, blood traitors… people trying to sneak in to spy on them." She said with disgust dripping from her words. "That's why this year I'm going to make it my goal to get as close to Snape as possible."

Lexie carefully chose this moment to speak, "What can he do for you exactly?" Lexie asked cautiously. Her mind was racing and her heard thundering in her chest. This was exactly the sort of information she'd been looking for to complete her mission.

"He's the one you see while you're still in school if you're interested. Of course, not everyone knows that." Natasha said knowledgably. "And he won't see just anyone you know. It's usually whoever they tell him to seek out that gets the recruitment. But this year I'm going to make sure it's me." She said determinedly draining her whiskey.

"But how? How can you know he'll choose you?" Lexie asked. "I mean, if, like you said, whoever gets the spot is recommended by someone who's already in, how do you know you'll get the recommendation?"

"I'll make sure that Snape is the one who gives me the recommendation."

"And… how exactly do you plan on doing that? Snape doesn't quite strike me as the type of person who takes orders kindly."

"By seducing him of course." Natasha said licking the last of the liquor out of her glass in a way that Lexie was fairly certain was supposed to be sexy. Lexie tried not to look disgusted. She had a lot of new questions that needed answered.

"Right." Lexie said shortly, trying hard not to laugh. "So… what happens if you do get the recommendation? Do they just let you in? Just like that?" Lexie asked, trying to sound interested, but not overly so.

"No, of course not. Snape trains you for your initiation himself." Natasha said, waving her hand around carelessly.

"So would you say he's running a sort of Academy for… you know who?" Lexie said, daring to push the envelope a little further and barely noticing that Dru was all but passed out in the booth next to her, face on her hand and drooling lavishly.

"A what?" Natasha snapped. "I don't know… Why are you so concerned anyway?" she asked, suddenly on the defensive.

"Oh…" Lexie stumbled. "I'm not… I was just being polite I guess."

"So you're not interested for yourself?" Natasha raised a scrutinizing eyebrow.

Lexie rapidly planned her words in her head. "Well… sure I'd be interested… that is, if you weren't already doing it." She said sheepishly.

Natasha smiled smugly. Her eyes were glossy and her pale cheeks were flushed brick red due to the alcohol. "That's right…" she said waspishly.

In that instant, Lexie realized just how much like Snape Natasha actually was. Or perhaps she'd fashioned herself accordingly to be sure to be as appealing to him as she could make herself.

Lexie looked sympathetically over at Dru. "We'd better get her home. She's going to be a mess tomorrow."

Lexie pulled Dru out of the booth, slung her arm over her shoulder and wrapped her other arm around her waist. It was lucky that Dru was a frail little thing for all the walking they'd have to do. Natasha paid them no attention as she waltzed over to the door and flung it open theatrically, stepping out into the street gracefully, leaving Lexie to make her way along with Dru draped over her. Lexie caught the door with her foot and heaved it open with her bad shoulder, wincing as it put pressure on her tender joint. Natasha walked up ahead, still chatting confidently about how her plan "simply couldn't fail." Though, Lexie noticed, she was more careful now to leave out the crucial details that she'd revealed earlier, that they were in public.

It was particularly difficult to make their way through the forest that Dru was unable to walk on her own. Lexie struggled through the underbrush and brambles, under tree branches and over roots, tripping more than once and nearly dropping Dru in the process. All of the foliage that was there on their way out that evening seemed to have doubled by the time they made their return trip, making it twice as difficult to find their way. Perhaps it was the fact that she now had double the amount of people to pull through on their way out, Lexie thought bitterly as she watched Natasha sliding underneath a particularly low branch.

Finally they'd emerged from the forest on the other side of Hagrid's cabin. Lexie gave a cautious look around before setting off for the secret passage back into the castle. Natasha actually waited for them and held the door just long enough for Lexie to slink inside and let the door swing closed on Dru's shoulder this time. Lexie's shoulder was aching as she strained to keep Dru upright. It was becoming more difficult now as Dru's feet drug heavily behind her.

It was very late. All of the torches that usually illuminated the dungeon passageways had long since been extinguished. No one stirred. And Lexie didn't blame them, if this school was anything like her last, the punishment for being out of bed past curfew was steep. So steep in fact, that few bothered to risk it. If they could just get inside their dormitory, they'd be safe. Surely no one would be out prowling the halls at this hour anyway… not even Filch, the caretaker or his ruddy cat, Mrs. Norris.

They'd just turned into the hallway to the Slytherin common room when a cold voice drifted out behind them. "Good evening ladies."

Horror slid down Lexie's spine. She knew that voice. She didn't even bother to turn around right away. She wasn't keen on the head of her house catching her out of bed past curfew on her third night at the school. Especially when she was trying to "keep a low profile".

"Professor Snape." Natasha said from somewhere in the darkness in front of Lexie. She knew Natasha had turned to face the spot where Snape's voice had come from. "We were just…" she began but Snape cut her off.

"Normally, I would not be the least bit concerned with what you've been up to Miss Zaizen. However, I am curious as to why Miss Sena seems to be unconscious and draped over Miss Bane's shoulders." Snape asked smoothly.

Lexie winced. She'd hoped that perhaps he wouldn't have recognized her. And silently she wondered how he managed to recognize all three of them without being able to see them, as there was absolutely no trace of light in the corridor.

"I guess she had a little too much to drink." Natasha said sweetly and Lexie felt her brush by her shoulder as she approached Snape's velvety voice in the darkness.

Lexie struggled to hold Dru upright and draw her wand from her pocket. But just as she reached for it, she felt her roommate sliding down toward the floor. "Shit." Lexie hissed as she grabbed Dru again. "Lumos." She said aloud and her wand lit in her pocket, giving a dull glow through the black of her traveling cloak, but enough to see what she was doing.

She saw Natasha standing confidently in front of Snape who was leaning casually against the wall, arms folded crossly over his chest and wearing an unfathomable scowl. Lexie gulped, Dru snored but Natasha took another bold step towards Snape.

Snape's eyes darted to Lexie and moved between her pocket, where her wand rested and her face. There was a curious look in his eyes that was instantly replaced with the scowl as he returned his attention to Natasha.

"Too much to drink." Snape repeated.

Natasha batted her dark eyelids. Inwardly, Lexie thought that this probably wasn't the best time to start her seduction of their Potionsmaster. Not when he was in a mood like this. Personally, she would've waited until they'd just won their first Quidditch match, or he'd just taken a hefty amount of points from another house. Natasha shrugged nonchalantly. The whiskey must have been giving her too much courage for her own good. Liquid courage.

"Miss Zaizen… unless I'm very much mistaken, none of you are old enough to have a drink in the first place, let alone 'too much to drink'…" He trailed off, reiterating her words.

"It's just a bit of fun Professor… nothing to worry about."

"Nothing to worry about…" he repeated again, nodding, and Lexie could almost sense the anger bubbling up inside of him. "You are out of bed past curfew, roaming about the halls, assumably coming from somewhere out-of-bounds and you are all drunk. Incidentally, Miss Zaizen… I believe that this is something to worry about."

"We're not all drunk." Natasha argued, the sweetness in her tone turning slightly bitter. All the same, she extended both of her hands and rested them on Snape's chest, just below his shoulders.

"No indeed." Snape said curtly. "Miss Sena is unconscious. You smell like whiskey and are being entirely too bold." He said removing her hands from him and dropping them as though they were a dead animal. "And Miss Bane is being far too quiet. Would you care to explain yourself, or would you rather plead the fifth?" he asked arching an eyebrow.

Lexie said nothing. Snape locked eyes with her. It was as though there was a staring contest going on that neither wanted to lose. "I see…" Snape said, finally breaking eye contact with Lexie. It appeared that he'd decided that she was being defiant as he spoke again moments later. "Well then, that will be a detention for all three of you with Mr. Filch, for being out past curfew. Another for Miss Sena with Mr. Filch for being so drunk that she cannot walk on her own accord. One for Miss Zaizen with, let's say Hagrid, for acting inappropriately with a teacher…" he paused and looked at Lexie. Something that resembled a smile… no, a smirk crossed over his face in the muffled wandlight. "And one for Miss Bane for her… cheek…"

Lexie's jaw dropped, "Cheek?" she asked, stunned.

"Ah… she speaks." Snape said dangerously. "And I was afraid she didn't know how… The next time I ask you a question Miss Bane, you will answer me respectfully." He said, his voice growing softer with each syllable and dread likewise growing in Lexie. "You will serve your detention with me… so that we can… get to know one another."