Detention with Snape

Tap. Tap. They were the smallest knocks Siria could make. She barely knocked. It was more that she pressed her fingertips to the door, like she patted it. Siria squeezed her eyes shut. Maybe, Snape forgot.

The door swung open. She sighed and hung her head. Siria closed the door behind her. She walked down a walkway framed by shelves full of jars with organs, plants, and Siria had no idea what, suspended in different liquids. The Hogwarts Potion Master probably needed loads of creepy jars to keep his hair so well greased. Siria tightened her jaw.

"Good evening, Professor Snape," Siria showed her teeth in a poor attempt to smile.

"Potter-Bl—your hair," Snape sneered. Siria ran her hands over her french braid, which felt as well done as when she left the tower.

"I wasn't sure what I'd be doing and wanted it out of the—" Siria started. Snape pointed his wand at her head and flicked it. Siria bit her tongue and focused on her hands. She did not have to look to know what he had done. Her hair would be back to its usual jet-black.

"Professor," Siria said in a controlled tone, "there's nothing in the rules about Transfigured hair."

"Do not attempt to lecture me about the rules, Potter-Black," he told her. "You are the one in detention."

Siria clenched her fists, released them, and repeated the process. "Right you are, Professor," she said through gritted teeth. At this rate, she would be surprised if her teeth made it through the detention. "What would you have me do, for my detention, Sir?" Snape ignored the shaking fury in Siria's voice and pointed to a desk, crammed in a corner, with a book. Chloe's strut of confidence came to Siria's mind, so she mirrored it in the few paces to the desk.

Snape's book was completely white. Even the title, which Siria supposed was more of a champagne white than the ivory of the book. The material used was coarse and… Siria sighed. She was judging a book by its cover— literally. "Is there something wrong with my book, Potter-Black?" Snape asked from his desk.

"No…" Siria quickly added "Sir," and sat down.

"Defenses of the Mind, by Mentis Resistentiam" Siria read. She rested her elbow on the desk, to hold her head, and hoped he didn't expect her to read the entire book.

"What have you learned Potter-Black?" Snape asked with fifteen minutes to go before curfew.

"That you take cheek from no one," Siria showed her teeth in another poor attempt to smile, "sir!"

"About Occlumency," Snape snapped at her.

"Oh, the book— yeah," Siria nodded. She rubbed the back of her hand absently over the prickling scar. "Well, I'm obviously a very poor fit because I'm a little short tempered." Snape's eyes narrowed at her. "Very short tempered?" Siria adjusted. "It's all very cool and all," she was digging her grave and knew it.

"Occlumency protects against legilimency, which is where someone attacks your mind to..." Siria groaned. She knew this. She had just read it. "It's basically mind reading, but magical? Occlumency can either show people what the person being legilimency-ized wants to show the person occlumency-ing them or block them out completely?"

"It appears you can read after all," Snape flicked his wand and the door of his office opened. "You may go. In the future, watch your mouth. There are teachers who will not take so kindly to your sass." Siria jerked to move, but something rooted her to the spot.

"Sir, if I may?" Siria requested.

"What is it?" Snape sighed.

"Why are you so mean to Neville— Longbottom, Sir?" Siria asked. "I get me because my dads bullied you, so that's deflected, but…" she tilted her head to the side.

"Out, unless you want to cancel your date— again," Snape told her. Siria clicked her tongue, but nodded and headed out.

"Of course," was all she could think about it. If he doesn't need a reason to save my life, why would he need a reason to bully someone. Snape was only nice to the Slytherins. "Maybe Neville's just an easy target?" Siria wondered. Dudley used to think Siria was an easy target. Could Siria give Neville… "what would they be? Confidence lessons?"

"Moony & Padfoot is out of fashion," someone said and Siria turned on her heel. It was Lily Moon, with a box in her hands. "That's a lie," Lily Moon confessed with a shy smile. She shrugged. "You were really in your head. I was worried you wouldn't notice me. Was the detention that bad?"

"No," Siria shook her head. A smile took over her eagerness to argue with herself. Lily Moon wanted her attention. "And I managed to stay out of more. Hermione thinks it'll be too poor for a walk, so library? Is it weird if we match? I don't know what I'm wearing yet…"

"You could pull off a potato sack," Lily Moon muttered at the ground. Siria leaned in, having not heard clearly. "It'll be whack," Lily Moon said, louder, "I said 'it'd be whack,' our date. Here!" she held the box out to Siria. "I got them in case your detention is bad, I'll see you Saturday!"

"But," Siria watched Lily Moon hurry off. "I'll see you tomorrow too" Siria carried the box back to Gryffindor tower. Ron was knocked on in an armchair. Siria put the box on the table and sat in the chair next to him. Hermione must not have returned. She would have waited with Ron. It couldn't hurt to rest her eyes for a minute, while they waited for Hermione.

Darkness greeted Siria. The black door she started dreaming of when summer started met her again. Taunted her, really. It would not open. This was not the sort of door that Alohomora would work on; she knew it.

"Siria!" Hermione hissed and shook Siria's shoulder. Siria stretched, but shook her head and nuzzled the warm— she jerked up. Ron winced. He pulled his arm into his lap.

"It's asleep," he groaned, as he massaged it.

"Sorry," Siria yawned. She rubbed at her eyes.

"Honestly, you two. Did you do any homework?" Hermione asked.

"How?" Siria asked. "I barely had time for dinner." She pulled the box Lily Moon gave her into her lap and untied the gold ribbon.

Ron sniffed and leaned over the box. "You're sharing, yeah?" He asked.

"Always," Siria smiled. They each pulled a small meat pie from the box.

"Honestly," Hermione shook her head, but sat in the other armchair, "doesn't it bother you that you're associated with being hungry?"

"Bu' we har hu'gerhe," Ron said through a mouthful. Siria nodded and finished her bite.

"If it means being fed, I'm not bothered at all," Siria confessed. "I think I like Lily Moon even more now." Hermione crossed her arms and huffed. "What?"

"Did you like Lily Moon before she asked you out?" Hermione asked. Siria shrugged. Ron scooped up another pie.

"She's pretty cute and she's obviously thoughtful— am I thoughtful?" Siria paused. She looked to Ron.

"Course you are!" he assured her. Siria smiled at him.

"You can be," Hermione said, "but relationships are a lot of work. Besides, what are you going to do? Agree to anyone that asks you out?"

"Would that be so bad? I mean, not while I'm dating someone already," said Siria. Hermione sighed and shook her head.

"Siria, I love you, but I worry about you," Hermione confessed. "Finish your pies. We've got to get some sleep, especially if you're running in the morning again."

"But what about your detention? What's Umbridge have you doing?" Siria asked. "Snape had me weird this weird book." She saw Ron eyeing the last pie. "Half," she told him and they split it.

"Just lines," Hermione said. She wrapped herself in her robes, like she was cold.

"That's not that bad," Siria said.

"Don't you feel a little silly now?" Hermione asked. "You were all 'I'd walk through fire to get you out of detention', and it's just lines." Siria shrugged.

"For you two, I'd still walk through fire," Siria grinned. "Heck, I'd take the Cruciatus Curse— bet you anything Umbridge can't do it as well as Voldemort." Ron flinched. "What?" Siria asked. "Honestly, Ron, the man tortured me. If I don't joke about it, I'm going to dwell on it."

"Why do you think that is?" Hermione asked.

"Are you Dr. Rose-ing me?" Siria asked. Hermione tilted her head to the side in a half-nod. "Fine, I'll humor you." Siria leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes.

"We spent last year trying every jinx, hex, and curse we could get out hands on," Siria said. "We practiced together, with the others, and I even practiced alone, but…" Siria bit her lip. She cracked her eyes open as she tilted her head back to stare at the ceiling. "But then we found out I'm a Horcrux, or whatever." Even now, She wasn't sure she understood or that she wanted to. The library only had a single line that they were evil and better left unmentioned.

"When I was in the graveyard with Cass, when I thought 'here it is; this is where I'm supposed to die', I just wanted him to be able to return. My plan is nothing to something either of you would have made and I knew it," she confessed.

"But I didn't know I'd try to fight him…" Siria said. "My body acted on its own. Despite all the spells we learned, even though I was against Lord Voldemort himself, I fired out a Disarming Spell." She dropped her head into her hands and shook it. It was such a simple, silly spell, but might have been what delayed her death.

"Then, against Barty Crouch, Jr. I," Siria paused. She knew that it was wrong; the way she felt about it was weird. "We saw him duel before. I dueled him before, but it was different in the office. He came at me harder and each time I blocked something seemed to make him more eager, more clever, more ready. It wasn't until it was over, not just the fight, but everything. When Fudge had gone, when I was alone and thought about it that I realized it. I enjoyed it.."

Siria locked her fingers in her lap. She peered over her glasses at Hermione then Ron. They remained silent. Ron shifted in his seat.

"Well, it wasn't like you enjoyed, you know," Ron said, "the torture part or something."

"No," Siria let out a quiet, short laugh, "I did not enjoy that, but I felt so alive fighting. It was mostly luck, but the more I think about it, the more I worry I have a death wish or something." Siria looked to Hermione, who had gone pale. "If I stop joking about the graveyard and Junior, I don't know what will happen, but it feels wrong. I feel like, if I stop joking about it, if I actually dwell on it, then I'll let something awful out of me." Her throat tightened.

No more needed to be said among them. To Hermione and Ron, it was finally written on Siria's face. If Siria was a Horcrux of Voldemort, if she held a piece of his soul inside her, what could stop the piece from taking over? How could she be sure that these feelings were even hers?

Professor Flitwick continued the practice of an O.W.L. lecture for the first half hour of class. Siria wondered if they were really as important as she heard. To her surprise as much as anyone else's, Siria raised her hand. Hermione examined Siria, who starred, resolutely, away. They hardly spoke since last night.

"Yes," asked Professor Flitwick, "Ms. Potter-Black?"

"Er," Siria held her right wrist in her hand as she dropped them to her lap. "Professor, what about… well, O.W.L.s are for magic jobs and the like, but what about working in the Muggle world?"

"Ah, yes," tiny Professor Flitwick nodded from the top of his cushion pile. "I suppose you're looking to take over your father's company."

"Well, not just that," Siria confessed. "There've got to be Muggleborns and Half-bloods that want to be…" she caught Hermione's eye, then quickly focused her eyes on the rim of Professor Flitwick's hat, "dentists or doctors, or something."

"This is quite an important question, Mr. Finnigan," said Professor Flitwick. Siria did not look at whatever Seamus had been doing behind her.

"Should any of you with Muggle heritage wish to pursue Muggle occupations, you may do so," Professor Flitwick explained. "You'll want to bring that up during your Career Counselling session, so you can receive additional information about the process. There is additional schooling required, but, if a Muggle occupation is what you want, you would start different classes next year. It would be your maths, languages, alongside your other subjects. The Ministry of Magic then takes the steps to help you get your certifications, degrees, and experience for your field."

Down the Chamber of Secrets, Cassius's crowd, the trio, and Cedric Diggory and Cho Chang continued to clean. "You want a Muggle job?" Cho Chang asked Siria. She pointed her wand down. Siria sighed and pretended to be looking for more to clean on the Chamber floor. Alice Travers sat, flicking her wand at bits of debris and blasting them to dust.

"Siria would be great at a Muggle job," Cedric said. He flicked his wand to summon another small ball of light. "Well, you'd be great at any job," he told Siria, who faced Ron to avoid his eye.

"Would she now?" Cho asked cooly. She focused on the wall behind Maddy and Patricia, so she didn't glare at Siria.

"So," Siria said loudly. Her voice carried through the Chamber of Secrets. "Hermione, what do we do with the basilisk?"

"Well," Hermione dusted her hands on her robes, "Cassius and I are going to extract the venom and use what we can. Fred and George have bribbed some off of us though."

"How?" Ron asked.

"I don't want to say," and Hermione pinched the bridge of her nose.

"A galleon says they promised to make something for P.B.," Maddy called. Siria swept a rock from the floor and chucked it. It went right over Maddy's head and Patricia caught it a few feet away.

"Comments like that'll make people misunderstand," Siria said, "especially from you."

"P.B., chill," Maddy said. "Most people don't even know." Siria paused.

"People see what they want to," Patricia added. Her smile was small and distant.

"You're not wrong though," Maddy said and put her arm around Hermione's shoulders. "People take one look at the two of you and assume 'famous Potter' and the 'Muggleborn' are together."

"Who are you dating, Siria?" Cho asked with the air of someone trying to be casual.

"No one, yet," Siria said. Though, she was hoping that after tomorrow's date, she could say "Lily Moon" next time someone asked.

"Don't you got to get going," Ron asked Siria an hour or so later. "You've got Quidditch tryouts."

"We should all head out," Cho suggested. She eyed Cedric, who nodded.

"If you're heading out," Cedric said to Siria.

"We are. I've got to lock up," she said. Cedric left with Cho. Maddy sighed, but followed with Patricia soon after. Cassius eyed Siria, who nodded to Alice. Alice was in worse spirits than over summer. Mr. Travers finally reached out to her, with a "letter." "Trash" or "hogwash" would describe it better. It was full of lines like "I'm sorry you disagree with my decision" and "once you grow up a little more, you'll understand." She lifted her arm then let it drop to her side in an attempt to wave goodbye.

"Maybe a walk to the Room," Siria mouthed to Cassius in suggestion. He bit his lip and shrugged. Cassius put an arm around Alice and they headed out of the Chamber. Hermione, Ron, and Siria watched until the pair was out of sight.