Chapter Five- Severus Snape
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"Good, very good Aaron." Snape said with a minute smile on his sallow face. His shoulder length greasy hair was pulled back into a black hair tie and his robes had been discarded on a couch in the bright living room he was standing in. In front of the head of Slytherin were seven small children, girls and boys, with wands held in their hands.
Aaron, the smallest and oldest boy, was standing closest to Snape. Aaron was panting for breath; his light brown hair was plastered to his head from the sweat that was dripping down his face and there were pillows flying around his head, but he was smiling brightly up at Snape.
"Uncle!" Aaron gasped out through his panting. "I did it Uncle. I Accio'ed the entire stack of pillows and I levitated them at the same time!"
Snape nodded down at the small boy. "Next!" He barked. "Meghan, why don't you try now?"
Twenty minutes later Snape stepped out of the room and quickly stood aside as the children ran from the living room into the dinning room for dinner. Snape quickly pulled his hair out of the tie and walked down the hallway into the study where the owner of the house was waiting for his report on the progress of their students.
Snape knocked and opened the door. Lucius Malfoy rose to meet him. Although the man was a fugitive he still lived in hiding in Malfoy manor. Lucius's idea was that none of the Ministry officials would believe that he would return to such an obvious place. Snape personally thought it to be ludicrous but went along with the elder Malfoy anyway.
"I trust that our little investments are doing well?" Lucius said and waved for Snape to take a seat. A house elf placed two glasses of red wine in front of them and disappeared.
"They are doing exceptionally well. Training the prospective first years that we captured was an excellent idea. You really must congratulate Draco and Blaise on their brilliant idea. In particular Aaron is excelling. When your son returns home for the holidays I think Aaron should be placed under his tutelage."
"Very good. Thank you for teaching them Severus."
"I am still hoping that you find a better tutor. I don't believe Dumbledore truly believes that I am at Death Eater meetings the entire time I am not in Hogwarts. I don't want the old man to start watching me too closely." Snape shook his head. He enjoyed being able to teach children without needing to hide behind the Slytherin mask; something he couldn't do at Hogwarts; but it was becoming too dangerous for him to spend so much time outside of Hogwarts. All of the children they had obtained were either muggleborns or orphans and they had all been mistreated in their previous homes. True some of their parents had died but, in the long run, the children benefited from their care with the Malfoys.
"And the Dark Lord?" Malfoy asked quietly. "I do not wish for the Dark Lord to learn of my son's plans."
"The Dark Lord continues to trust me and though he is wary of you, Lucius, because of your mistakes at the Department of Mysteries, the Lord believes that your son and his friends are loyal."
"Good. That is a relief to hear. When will you return for the children's next lesson?"
"Next week, before the Death Eater meeting. I will tell Dumbledore that the Dark Lord has ordered me to arrive early. Tell the children to have their cauldrons ready. We will practice potion making next time." Snape lifted his glass of wine, gulped the remaining liquid and swept out of the room.
III
Severus Snape glided along the dungeons. He had his scowl firmly in place and had a sinister snap to his black robes that screamed evil Slytherin. He had just made his report to Dumbledore about the Death Eater meeting and had been forced to make excuses so he could leave before the old man became curious about how a usual hour to two hour meeting had managed to last five hours.
As he was leaving the room Dumbledore had stopped him. "Severus, I believe that some of your Slytherins are planning something. I do not know as of yet if it is for Voldemort or for their own personal gain but I would ask that you watch your students for me."
"Which students in particular?" Snape asked as he carefully guarded his expression.
"Draco Malfoy, Blaise Zabini, and Pansy Parkinson are the ringleaders."
Snape nodded and hid his dismay deep in his mind where Dumbledore would not find it. "I will watch them headmaster."
Snape turned the corner toward his office and let his glare grow. The object of his displeasure was leaning nonchalantly against the door to his office. Draco Malfoy was clearly waiting for Snape to get back from his fathers house. Snape stopped walking next to his godchild and glared up at the taller teenager.
"Dumbledore knows you are up to something," Snape snarled before turning and casting his complicated unlocking spell on his office door. Draco followed him into the office and arrogantly took a seat in one of the straight hard backed chairs.
"What does the old fool suspect?" Malfoy drawled in his cold voice that he usually reserved for the less savory Gryffindors.
"He knows that you are up to something although he is not sure whether your plans are for your own gain or for the Dark Lords." Snape snarled. "Whatever you are doing inside the school that I don't know about needs to stop now or you will be caught."
"Actually," Draco said quietly, "that is what I'm here to talk to you about."
"Your plans?" Snape asked incredulously. The only plan he had been informed of was with the children. Draco and his father had been firmly closemouthed about everything else they had been planning.
"Yes. One of my plans was to convince a Weasley to return to Slytherin." Snape lifted his eyebrows in surprise but otherwise managed to stay stoic. "Last night I was able to get one."
"Who?" Snape asked quietly.
"Ginevra Weasley." Draco answered with a satisfied smile on his face. "I spent most of last night telling Ginny everything that I'm planning."
"She knows everything? You trust her not to run to Potter or Dumbledore?" Snape stood up and went to lean on the desk in front of Draco. He angrily loomed over the blond. "Are you sure that telling this girl was a wise decision?"
"I know what you're thinking Severus." Draco sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "You think I just threw everything away for a girl but let me warn you; there was a reason my father gave Tom Riddle's diary to Ginevra Weasley in my second year. I have spent the past weeks gauging her loyalty before going to speak with her. Ginny is loyal to my cause and she knows more of my plans than you."
"Does she know more than your father or your two friends?" Snape hissed. He was not jealous of the little girl that Draco had taken a fancy towards. Snape was merely worried about the welfare of his Slytherins.
Draco laughed. "More than my father? My father began planning this for me the second he found out my mother was pregnant. Even then, when my father was still firmly loyal to the Dark Lord, he knew that the last thing he wanted for me was to be forced to submit to a half-breed. I only wish I knew some of what he has planned for me. Blaise and Pansy know a little more than Ginevra but that is only because they have been around me for much longer. They know how I was trained and what I am to become. Ginny only knows our current plans. She knows about the children and about our dislike of Voldemort."
Snape sighed. It was clear that Miss Weasley knew much more but Draco was unwilling to part with even a scrap of the information to his godfather. Draco thought Snape was too close to Dumbledore and Voldemort and could be forced to give away some delicate information so the boy refused to tell him anything except the basics. "When did you have time to tell Miss Weasley all of this?"
"We had a picnic last night on the roof and ummm," Draco paused and a faint pink color tinged his cheeks. "Well, after we erm, never mind…" Draco took a deep breath and started over. He ignored Snape's pointed, knowing look and continued speaking as if he hadn't just given away a large secret. "After we were finished eating we talked. I told Ginevra everything and she told me some very interesting information. The point is, I trust her and she trusts me enough to follow all of my plans."
Snape nodded. He had just learned that Draco liked Miss Weasley with more than a professional interest and that one of Draco's secret plans was to get not just a Weasley, but Ginevra Weasley in particular, to join him.
"If you don't need my help with one of your plans Draco, then why are you here?" Snape asked wearily.
"I need your permission to be allowed to bring Ginny into my private rooms." Snape lifted an eyebrow and Draco's ears went red. "Not for that!" Draco snarled. "I want to introduce her to Blaise and Pansy and have a safe place to talk to all three of them!" Draco stood up and glared down his nose at the Head of Slytherin.
"Very well. You have my permission to bring Ginevra Weasley into your private rooms." Draco nodded his thanks and turned to walk out of the room. "But, if I ever catch you doing something inappropriate I will revoke my permission." Draco slammed the door so hard on his way out that a couple potion bottles fell off the shelves.
Snape smiled and turned to go to his private rooms where he kept a small supply of floo powder. Lucius would enjoy knowing how well Draco's plans were progressing. The fact that Draco had taken fancy to the Weasley girl would no doubt amuse the elder Malfoy.
III
Draco Malfoy stormed down the corridors apparently in a very black humor. He glared angrily at anyone who caught his eye and sent the first and second years flying out of his path. His gray-blue eyes were moving quickly around his face and nearly everyone backed away from him. No one wanted to be the object of his negative attention. Suddenly his eyes stopped moving. They were focused on the small red headed girl walking by herself to class.
All of the students who noticed where Draco Malfoy had decided to rest his gaze left the corridor as quickly as possible. If Malfoy started fighting with Weasley other innocent people around the feud would get hurt. By the time Malfoy stomped across the hall to Ginny the corridor was almost empty.
Instead of starting a fight with her, Malfoy forced his shoulder into hers and pushed the smaller girl into the wall before stomping out.
Ginny hid her smile and rubbed her shoulder with a hand that held a small folded piece of parchment, a hand that had been empty moments before.
Written on the parchment was a small map of the dungeons and the words 'tonight' and 'heart sore'. Ginny tucked the map to Draco Malfoy's rooms deep into the pocket of her robes and continued on to her next class in a considerably better mood than before.