Chapter 24
Lexie!" shouted a voice from across the great hall as Lexie made to sit down to dinner. She turned around to see where the voice was coming from.
It was Carrie, her Gryffindor friend. She looked pissed. "Uh oh… someone's in trouble…" Lexie muttered to herself as she waved at Carrie who was stomping toward her, a little red in the face.
"Hey Carrie! What's up?" Lexie asked congenially.
Carrie stopped in front of her. "I can't believe you!" she said, standing nose to nose with Lexie.
"Sorry?" Lexie asked, befuddled.
"How could you do this to me!" Carrie asked. Now that she was so close, Lexie could see her eyes were red and wondered if she'd been crying. It certainly looked as though she had.
"Erm… do what exactly?" Lexie asked.
"YOU'RE GOING TO THE DANCE WITH OLIVER WOOD!" Carrie shouted.
Lexie flinched. "Yeah… I guess that's his name. He asked me after I had Potions today." She said uncertainly. "What's wrong with that?" Lexie asked.
"WHAT'S WRONG WITH THAT! I wanted to go to the dance with Oliver!" Carrie said, as thought it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I don't believe this."
Lexie's jaw dropped. Perfect. One of the few friends she'd made while at Hogwarts and now she hated her.
Carried turned to walk away. "Carrie! Wait." Lexie said, stopping her.
"What?" she snapped.
"I'm sorry… I really am. I didn't know." Lexie told her honestly.
"How could you not know Lexie?" Carrie said indignantly. "You're supposed to be my friend! How is it possible that you didn't know that I liked Oliver?"
"I'm sorry… I don't know. I've just been… really preoccupied lately." She said, thinking to herself just how true that was. She'd been so wrapped up in Snape and the investigation that she'd neglected her friend. She'd been so busy doing her job as an Auror, that she'd forgotten to do her job as a friend.
"Carrie… say the word and I'll break it off. I won't go with him. I didn't even want to go to the dance anyway." Lexie offered.
Carrie sighed. "OK. Break it off." She said solemnly.
But just then they were interrupted. One of the notorious Weasley twins had come up to stand beside Carrie. Lexie looked between them. She had no idea how to tell those two apart.
"What's up Carebear!" he asked, grinning his silly grin at Carrie.
"Don't call me that Fred." Carrie said, trying to keep a straight face, but failing badly. Everyone knew she actually didn't mind being called Carebear.
Apparently she knew which witch was which… or wizard, rather.
"So… C-a-r-r-i-e." he said slowly, putting his arm around her shoulders and making it obvious that he was obeying her wish to not call her Carebear. "Wanna take me to the dance with you?" he asked slyly.
"Fred, you're not old enough to go to the dance. You've gotta be in 6th year or above to go." She said, exasperated.
"Carrie, Carrie, Carrie!" Fred laughed. "Has that ever stopped me from doing anything before?" he asked smiling devilishly. "C'mon. I'll wear a disguise! No one will recognize me. Besides, who's keeping track of how many under-agers sneak in anyway?" he said confidently.
Carrie was smiling now. "Well… it could be fun." She said slowly.
"Yes, it certainly could… I've got abottle of Odgen's Firewiskey!" Fred said mischeviously. "You can help me spike the punch! We can give like 5 glasses of it to Professor McGonagall and see if she'll let us carry on after the dance in the common room?"
"OK!" Carrie agreed finally.
"SPIFFING!" he said in a loud voice, planting a large, wet kiss on her cheek and making her blush obviously. "Good on ya Carebear!" he said and walked away. Carrie watched him go, shaking her head.
She sighed and turned back to Lexie. "You can keep your date." She said.
"Are you sure?" Lexie asked kindly.
"As long as you don't go off and marry him." Carrie said scoldingly, but her eyes were smiling.
Lexie laughed. "Don't worry… there's actually someone else I'm interested in… someone who can't go to the dance with me… or I would've asked him instead."
"OK… but you two have got to hang out with us. That way I can look at Oliver too!" she said sternly, extending a hand.
Lexie took it gratefully and gave it a shake. "Good deal." She said.
The two didn't know it, but their little exchange was being closely watched.
Snape was at the head table, fork in hand starting intensely at the two girls. The last thing he wanted was for Lexie to go and get herself beat up. He'd already been watching Lexie as she'd entered the great hall, and he'd consequently seen the beginning of the argument.
His hands gripped the arms of his chair and he made to get up to separate the two girls before wands were drawn, if it came to that. However, as the two continued to talk, Snape, sensing that a fight would probably not ensue, settled himself back down in his chair and continued to watch. He wondered what their exchange had been about.
Once things had calmed down, he went back to his dinner. He was extra disgusted today for there had been a staff meeting after his last lesson of the day. The headmaster informed them that the heads of houses should be prepared to chaperone the dance on Saturday night. Dumbledore read the look on his face and cut him off.
"And Severus… before you ask, there will be no substitutions. You may, if you wish, be in charge of keeping the students within the castle. We will not have them running all over the grounds to be alone." He said seriously, but there was a twinkle in his kind blue eyes.
Snape shut his mouth with a snap and rolled his eyes. Dumbledore sniggered quietly. This would be good for his young Potionsmaster. There was more to life than just books and Potions.
Snape put the dance out of his mind. He still had tonight to look forward to. He smirked and finished his dinner in absolute silence… as usual.
When Lexie knocked on his door later that night, he answered it himself, rather than telling her to let herself in. He could tell that she was surprised by this. She stepped back a little when she saw him there.
"Do come in." he offered, sweeping his hand in front of him. "Unless you plan on standing in the hallway all evening?"
She narrowed her eyes, then brushed past him and up to her usual seat in front of his desk. She tossed her bag down and took a seat. "OK Professor, I'm ready to learn. Let's go." She said without bothering to look at him, while he remained standing in the doorway.
Snape was puzzled. From his previous experience with women (slim as it was), he'd known them to want to talk about things, especially the kind of things that had happened on Saturday evening. He raised his eyebrows, but said nothing, feeling rather relieved that there wasn't going to be an awkward conversation.
Lexie was very focused and attentive during their lesson, though she did take more notes and stare at her parchment slightly more than usual. It was still slightly uncomfortable to be around him. She had lingering feelings of shame that just wouldn't subside.
Snape lectured her on the daily duties and expectations that were required of them. It was pleasant to be able to give a lecture without being interrupted 30 times by someone's cauldron overflowing, blowing up or some know-it-all's hand waving impatiently in the air to question something he'd just said.
When he was through, Lexie packed up her things moved around her desk and stood in front of him.
"Friday evening then, at - " Snape began to say.
"Oh!" Lexie cut him off. "About Friday's lesson."
His blank look effortlessly changed over into a frown.
"I won't be able to make it. I have something to do." She said, clasping her hands behind her back politely.
"Do I even want to know what is more important than preparing yourself to become a Death Eater?" he asked, scowling. His previous good mood with her quickly blowing out the door.
"There are some things that are more important…" Lexie said mysteriously.
"More important than your future?" he asked, eyebrows arching into his hairline. He actually wasn't sure which annoyed him more, that she didn't care about missing a lesson with him, or that he wouldn't get to see her that evening.
"There are some things that come up, that can't be done 'tomorrow'… some things that you just have to capitalize on when you've got the chance… because the chance might not turn up again." She said knowledgeably.
Snape paused, gears in his head turning furiously. "This has something to do with the dance on Saturday… doesn't it?" he asked, his voice waspish and deathly quiet.
Lexie smiled slightly and nodded.
"I thought you were above that trite sort of thing." He said tilting his head. A lock of black hair flopped gracefully into his eyes.
Lexie's heart dropped. That hurt… her head dropped as well. A few seconds later she looked back up at him. "Professor… I know I've got one up on some of the other students as far as maturity goes… I know what I want to do with my life and I'm taking steps to get what I want." She said the last word with such a strange emphasis that Snape wondered exactly what she meant by what she 'wanted'.
"But… I'm young, and I don't want to have regrets when I look back on this time in my life. I want to be successful, I want to have friends and people who love me, I want to find out who I really am, who my real family is… I want to live… Please… give me this one night… I promise I'll work twice as hard at our next lesson if you let me have this time… because I can't get this weekend back." She said wisely.
Snape was mildly impressed with her wisdom. Sometimes he had a hard time believing that she was only 17 years old. He let her sweat it out for a few minutes. "Fine." He said finally. "But I want you here for an extra hour next Wednesday." He said, evoking a smile from her.
"Thank you sir!" she said giving him a genuine smile. She reached out and grabbed his forearm absentmindedly. He jerked it back as though he'd been burned by her touch.
She flinched at his withdrawal and looked at him with a slightly opened mouth. "I'm sorry…" she said finally, wondering whether he hadn't wanted her to touch him. "That was inappropriate."
"No." he shook his head, insisting that it hadn't been. "It's a reflex." He said, rolling up his sleeve. He showed her the pale outline of a skull, with a snake protruding from its mouth. The crest of the Death Eaters. A magical tattoo, branded onto Voldemort's followers. When the Dark Lord touched any one of his followers 'Dark Marks', as they were called, it summoned all of the rest of the Death Eaters to him.
Lexie stared down at it in silence. She took a step closer to him. They were standing toe to toe now. She stretched out her hand, but paused and drew it back. "Can I touch it?" she asked shyly.
He nodded solemnly. He felt his stomach muscles contract when her fingers made contact with his bare flesh. He willed the goosebumps popping up to go away. He willed something else to go away too; that he managed to master.
She cradled his arm in one hand. She ran her index finger, then all of her fingers of her other hand over the mark. His arm was ghastly pale and had a pleasant amount of black hair on it. She traced the outline of the skull, which was almost transparent now, with her finger. Snape was sure the hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end.
He felt her breath out and watched her with great interest.
"Did it hurt?" she asked finally, still staring at it.
Snape thought back. It had been so long ago… at least it seemed like long ago. "I supposed you could say it hurt a good bit." He answered thoughtfully.
Lexie nodded and continued to run her fingers over it. "So… this is what I have to look forward to…"
He nodded in response.
She looked up at him and their eyes locked, properly, for the first time since Saturday night. It sent a cold chill running from the back of her neck, down her spine and out her arms. She let both of her hands clasp onto his arm and slide down to grasp his wrist.
She nodded, then… with great difficulty, let go, letting her fingers trail over his hand as she did so. "Goodnight Professor." she said softly, feeling her voice quake at the perspective of having a tattoo burnt onto her arm.
"Goodnight…" he said, as he watched her leave the room. Suddenly he felt that empty feeling consuming him again.
A/N: THANK YOU SO MUCH TO ALL WHO'VE REVIEWED! Look! This is what happens when you review - you get acknowledged in the Authors Note! Woo hoo!
Special thanks to...
Puddlemere United: If it were not for you - I might not have written ANYTHING today - thanks for the pep talk mate! Don't worry - things will work out, I promise! Scouts Honor!
Popess2: I know, I have an annoying habit of stopping where it's just getting good. I'll chalk that up to watching soap operas since I was in 7th grade - wow, that's been... pfff 11 years or so! Ha ha! Blame it on Days of our Lives! Puddlemere up there is also a HUGE, HUGE HUGE, Oliver Wood fan. I could hardly write a story and leave him out! I think he's an enjoyable little edition! And incidentely, I'm VERY MUCH looking forward to making Snape jealous myself... wait til you see what happens!
Fulleree: Never being able to compete the story, that's something I've struggled with in my mind. I've never read a Snape fic that I've been happy w/ the ending YET... and I've read a pile... grumbling - well, we'll see how it goes! An English teacher once told me, "When is it done?" (speaking about a bit of writing) ... & made us repeat, everyday of the semester, "IT'S NEVER DONE!" But yes, mild regrets... sighs... such is an "angsty" story. Sometimes I read this & think, "Wow... you ARE dark..." eventhough I'm really a little blonde haired, blue eyed "goodie 2 shoes" - most of the time, winks HAH! Thanks for the review!
Lordheaven: I'm glad you like my version of Snape - so many of the fics out there today are so ... fluffy. I want to show a softer side of Snape, without making everyone sick w/ the true love & romance, bullshit! HAH! I know it's a little confusing... which, the fact that it's confusing is going to bounce back into the story here in another chapter or so - that's why Lexie is on this case & they're not just throwing someone else in to replace her after her screw-ups. She's in WAY too deep!
Katherine5: WELCOME TO MY FANTASY LAND! Ha ha! I'm glad you're enjoying so far - much more to come! Thanks for taking the time to review & not just slinking into the world of "lurking"! Well done!
Mark Darcy: Thanks for the reviews - as always, very helpful & insightful! I JUST CAN'T GET OVER THAT LINK! Unbelievable!
THANKS AGAIN GUYS... HERE'S WHERE I BEG FOR REVIEWS! THE MORE REVIEWS I GET, THE MORE MOTIVATED I GET TO WRITE - SO IF YOU'RE A LURKER & SECRETLY ENJOYING THE STORY... TAKE 3 SECONDS TO POST A REVIEW & GIVE ME SOME MOTIVATION!
