Author's note: SOOO sorry for the exceptionally long delay! I had a ridiculously busy year, graduated college, started a career and am finally getting some real time for writing! I so appreciate everyone's support and hope you continue to enjoy!

Chapter 7 - Presumptive

The next two weeks following the attacks on Justin Finch-Fletchy and Nearly Headless Nick were riddled with rumors that centered around Harry being a parselmouth and his sinister plot to eliminate all muggle-born wizards. The theories behind his reasons for these attacks varied from a crazed bitterness that other muggle-borns lived when his mother did not to a quest to become the next dark wizard who wanted to pick up where Voldemort left off.

Snape did his best to try to ignore the whispers but he could see that Potter was not having as easy of a time ignoring the rumors. He saw it in class as everyone muttered and whispered, and in the halls as the crowds of students parted to let him past. Too often he was seeing the boy missing from meals and his schoolwork had taken a significant decline.

Refusing to speak with the boy directly yet not willing to let his true concerns be revealed, he approached Gryffindor's Head of House, Professor McGonagall about the boy's declining academic progress. He was surprised at his own frustration when his colleague immediately dismissed him. He had scolded her for not taken more of an interest in her students and was immediately met with a retort about minding his own business and taking better interest into what his snakes were doing. Realizing that he wasn't going to get anywhere trying to get through to her, Snape doubled his efforts to find the true reasons behind the attacks. He was looking forward to the Christmas break in which he would be able to conduct a more thorough investigation.

The Christmas break was usually something that Snape looked forward to as a much needed rest from the busy semester, but was tainted this year with the mystery of the Chamber looming over everyone's head. At least he would have the time to continue searching the castle for the Chamber although he was beginning to believe that it was a lost cause. He knew that Dumbledore himself had searched the castle quite thoroughly several times over the past years, but still he felt this desire to do so himself. It wasn't that he didn't trust the old man, but that he wouldn't feel right not actually making an attempt to find it himself.

This of course would be in-between the normal responsibilities that he had somehow assumed since he had begun staying at the castle over the break. There were several teachers that left with the students, but Snape had made the decision about three years after he began teaching at the school to stay over the break. It was, he had found, a great time for him to do some brewing to replenish the school's and his own potion stocks. Plus it seemed to keep Dumbledore happy since he seemed to enjoy the staff party that was held after curfew on Christmas Eve.

One of the duties that he had assumed was to have owls sent to the families of any muggle-born children staying at the school over the break to allow for them to send along their gifts and/or Christmas greetings. He was unsurprised to see that Potter was to be staying at the school, but nearly reconsidered sending the Dursley's an owl, knowing that it would probably be ignored. However, the thought of the fuss they would make at seeing the owl at their house and the inevitable panic that it would cause them quickly overcame his doubts. Besides, perhaps his visit over the summer instilled some sort of a sense of decency in them, although he highly doubted that.

Still, he was most surprised when they owl returned carrying a very small and poorly wrapped gift addressed to the boy. He had, out of pure distrust, nearly opened the gift before sending it down to the elves to be delivered to the boy to assure that it was nothing harmful to him, but thought better of it at the last moment. He truly did not think that the Dursleys were really stupid enough to try to harm the boy here at the school. Especially after his visit previous to the beginning of the term.

Instead, he simply tossed it aside and began grading papers. Much to his frustration, he found himself unable to concentrate on the papers in front of him. On a normal day, trying to make sense out of the chicken scratch nonsense that the first years spew onto their parchments was enough to drive him mad, but the lack of sleep that he has been getting due to the extra night patrols added to the stress of having an unsolved mystery constantly taunting him has proven to be too much for him.

The papers would wait until tomorrow. He decided instead to take a quick turn about the castle before reporting for the party in the staff room that was already in progress. He wasn't sure what he was hoping to find with the absence of the majority of the student body, but he was greatly disappointed that nothing new or out of place jumped out at him. Despite what he had told Minerva, he did not believe that there was actually a Chamber of Secrets in the school. He did not, however, have any logical explanations for the events of the last few months.

The complexity of the petrification of the victims immediately ruled out Snape's suspicions of any possible student involvement. Which left a more disturbing possibility that there was some witch or wizard with access to the castle that was at fault for the attacks. He was confident of the innocence of the staff at the school. There was no one here that he had not known for a great number of years aside from Lockhart and he knew that he was no threat to anyone by his own pompous self. He supposed that he should have been grateful for Dumbledore's insistence on hiring Lockhart after the disastrous situation with Quirrell the year previous. There were times, however, the Snape was certain that he would have preferred Quirrell complete with his Voldemort possession to the blithering lavender robed idiot. No. Snape was convinced that whomever was responsible for these attacks had to be someone outside of the school. Which still left the mystery of how they were getting into the castle and what exactly they were doing to the students.

Between the various members of the staff, there had been none with any possible suggestions regarding what was done to the victims that would cause them to have been petrified. They had all exhausted all possible curses, hexes, potions and plants with no leads to the cause. This of course meant that they were left to simply awaiting the maturation of the mandrakes with no guarantee that it will even be effective. All of the unknowns and what-ifs was more than enough to leave Snape increasingly frustrated.

With a small sigh, Snape finished his rounds and headed down to the staff room where the faculty party had already begun. Everyone was happily chatting, eating and drinking and he was most pleased to realize that Lockhart was among those gathered. He found himself a chair and a glass of bourbon and finally allowed himself to relax. Before too long, Professor Dumbledore made his way to the empty chair next to him.

"Enjoying the quiet, Severus?" he asked conversationally.

Snape smirked. "Are you referring to the quiet due to the absence of the students or our fool of a dark arts professor?"

Unable to hold back a chuckle he replied, "Whichever you prefer." He paused, taking a drink of his eggnog before continuing, "I take it you have not discovered anything on one of your many late night search missions."

"What makes you think I've been looking for anything?" Snape retorted.

"I know you Severus," he said with a knowing smile. "I know that you do not believe in the legend of the Chanmber, but I urge you to not dismiss the idea entirely. Even I have yet to discover all of the secrets this castle holds."

"Do be reasonable, Albus," Snape argued, "There is no way that such a place could be contained with these walls and the is even lesser of a chance that some ancient creature has been able to survive within this chamber for centuries without drawing attention of some kind. I think it may be time for you to face what you have been so reluctant to face…there is someone behind all of this."

Dumbledore nodded. "I agree with you. There is someone behind this. I fear we may both be surprised when we learn exactly who the culprit is."

As he stood, Professor Dumbledore withdrew a small brightly wrapped package from his robes and pressed it into his hand. "Merry Christmas, Severus."

With a growl Snape took the present and turned it over in his hand. He thought for a small moment about simply tossing the gift aside, but his curiosity got the better of him. He tore open the paper to reveal a small white box. He opened to lid of the box to reveal a golden pocket watch with a simple silver doe on the lid. Snape's hands trembled as he stared unbelievingly at the trinket. What did that old man think he was doing? If he believed that he could guilt Snape into caring for Potter's brat simply by trying to stir up old memories of the boy's mother he was seriously mistaken.

Suddenly decided that he was not in the holiday mood or even the mood to be around others, Snape stood and rushed towards the door causing him to run right into a festively dressed Lockhart. The dark arts teacher had donned a red velvet robe trimmed with white fur like a glamorously magical Saint Nicolas.

"Surely you aren't leaving Severus," Lockhart cried out. "You must see what I have planned for tonight!"

Snape said nothing to him as he pushed passed and made his way down the hall and back to his quarters, clutching the box with the locket tightly in his right hand.

With the exception of the incident with Hermione turning herself into a cat, which Snape had to admit was an admirable testament to her brewing abilities, the rest of the holiday passed uneventfully. By the time that the rest of the students came back to the school, Snape had exhausted his search of the school and was thoroughly convinced that the Chamber of Secrets was nothing more than a myth.

It didn't take long for the school to fall comfortably back into it's pre-chamber scare routine. The students and teachers alike were convinced that the dangers were gone. Naturally, much to Snape's disgust, Professor Lockhart began taking credit for scaring away the beast even claiming that he had known all along where the chamber had been. His declaration seemed to have heightened the admirations he received from the female student body something made disgustingly obvious at his ridiculous Valentine's Day spectacle.

It wasn't until after the Spring holiday break that Snape was reminded of the horrors that had begun the year. Most of the students had already left the school in preparation for the Quidditch Cup match between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor when the Bloody Baron confronted him about another attack down the hall from the library.

Snape was the first to arrive on scene and felt his stomach drop when he recognized one of the victims as Hermione Granger. Just behind her stood an equally petrified sixth year Ravenclaw prefect named Penelope Clearwater. Taking in the scene he noticed a small mirror laying on the ground in front of where they stood.

A gasp from behind him tore his attentions away from the two girls as he saw Professors McGonagall, Flitwick and Dumbledore arriving. He exchanged a look with Dumbledore and he knew that this attack would change things. He knew that ministry officials had contacted the school with questions about the attacks after the students had returned to the school, most likely as a result of students discussing with their parents what had occurred over the break. Dumbledore had been able to smooth things over by telling them that they had gotten the situation under control. There was no way that they could keep up that ruse now that they were faced with two more students mysteriously petrified.

"Let's get them down to Madam Pomfrey," Dumbledore said. "Minerva I need you to go down to the Quidditch Pitch and tell the students to report to their common rooms immediately. New rules need to be briefed and put into effect. No students are to leave their common rooms after six in the evening, and all evening activities and school organizations are to be postponed until further notice. This includes all Quidditch matches and practices. From now until you hear differently, no student is to be walking through these corridors for any reason, unless they are escorted by a Hogwart's Staff member."

Snape hurried to his office to await the return of his students and began to revise the staff security patrol schedules. He knew that they were going to need to have a plan together for when the ministry came calling and he needed to be more than ready to explain what that plan was. Unfortunately he was even more at a loss as to what was to blame for the attacks than he had been before.

Despite the severity of the situation and his desperation to have a plan ready to present to the ministry, he could not help but think about what Mr. Potter would do when he learned of the attack on Ms. Granger. His ridiculous need to play hero would inevitably be triggered. Snape knew that he needed to have a chat with him to assure he was very aware of the consequences if he were to attempt to deviate from the behaviors expected of him. He was sure that would stop the boy in his tracks before he even had the time to think of doing anything foolish.

Snape paced the floor in Dumbledore's office anxiously awaiting the headmaster's return. Things were not happening as he anticipated them and his only hope was that Albus had been able to resolve things, and perhaps put Lucius Malfoy in his place. It had taken everything he had to not hex the pompous man as he boasted of his influence in "convincing" the other members of the board that Dumbledore needed to be removed as headmaster.

When at last the headmaster returned, Snape was surprised to see that he was not alone. Professor McGonagall who had been tasked with securing the ground floor was trailing in behind him with a very grim look on her face.

"Severus," Dumbledore began, "I'm glad you are here. I must leave the school and I need you and Minerva to see that things are run as smoothly as close to normal as possible."

"You can't be serious," Snape interrupted. "Surely you can see what Lucius has done. He must have influenced the other members of the board in some way. There must be a way around this."

Dumbledore smiled sadly. "I am sure you are right, however for the time being I have no choice but to do what has been asked of me. I am certain that this is not a situation that will be permanent. Right now our primary focus needs to be the students. Their safety is paramount in the light of these new events. I expect everyone to be on constant look-out for whomever or whatever is harming the students. Fudge has been temporarily placated by his apprehension of our own Rubeus Hagrid. Everything that can be done must be done to free him as soon as possible in my absence."

"What can we do for you?" Professor McGonagall asked determinedly.

"Just keep the school running. As the Deputy Headmistress, Minerva, you will take over as Headmistress and I want you, Severus to assumer Minerva's previous position as Deputy. I have faith in you both and know that I can rest easy knowing you both are in charge."

Dumbledore quickly flicked his wand and a small bag appeared and several items from around the room zoomed into the bag before the back made it's way into his out stretched arm.

"Severus," the old man said as he made his way to the door, "Walk me out."

Grumbling to himself Severus followed Dumbledore down the spiral staircase and out into the corridor. He walked silently beside him as he tried to process the events of the day.

"It seems Mr. Potter has made use of his father's old cloak again this year," Dumbledore began softly. "He and Mr. Weasley were present in Hagrid's cabin when he was taken away to Azkaban. I'm not sure what they were after but it's a good bet that they are trying to solve this Chamber mystery themselves. I want you to keep an eye on them. I think we need to remember their determination and cleverness from last year. It may prove to be of use this year."

"Are you suggesting that I let them continue trying to do…whatever it is he's trying to do?" Snape scoffed. "He may have gotten lucky last year, but whatever it is we are up against is far more dangerous than that idiot Quirrell."

Dumbledore shook his head, "I am not suggesting you allow him to continue his pursuits, but perhaps you can figure out just what information he and his friends may have learned that could assist your investigation. I do not think that Ms. Granger's visit to the library was in anyway connected to this year's studies."

"I will not collaborate with the delinquent and his friends!" Snape declared angrily. "You have been too lenient with him and this is why he continues to think that is above the rules!"

"Do what you think you must, Severus. I am just asking you to not overlook any help that he might be able to give. He really is, despite what you want to think, quite an intelligent young man and may just surprise you if you were to give him the chance," Dumbledore said as they reached the front hall.

With just a simple nod of his head, Dumbledore left the castle, leaving Snape staring after him in disbelief. He had already decided to have a talk with Harry, but he could not believe that the old man was actually suggesting that he work WITH the boy to solve this mystery. He was most definitely not going to do anything of the sort. He would warn the boy and his friends to keep their noses clean as he had intended to do previously and nothing more. He didn't need help from a child, especially if that child was Harry Potter!