A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed. This is where things get really interesting...this chapter is half plot and half filler, but it's good filler! Just some filling in the blanks from "The Prince's Tale." Enjoy~
"Professor Dumbledore, I didn't do it."
"I believe you, Severus."
"You…do?"
"You do?!" Umbridge asked shrilly, digging her clawlike nails deeper into Severus' shoulders the angrier she became.
It was nearly midnight, and after a long day of teaching and dealing with rebellious students, Darcy Umbridge's patience was wearing thin. Just ten minutes ago, she had caught her least favourite student writing a message on the walls in blood. It couldn't have been a better moment for her: caught— literally— red-handed, Severus Snape would undoubtedly receive a massive punishment for his crimes. Ignoring the boy's protests, she had jerked him by the arm all the way to Dumbledore's office. Without bothering to knock, Umbridge had charged inside and harshly shoved Severus into a nearby chair before announcing to Dumbledore and McGonagall that he had done something terrible and she had caught him in the act.
"I believe that you did not open the Chamber of Secrets; I highly doubt it has been opened at all," Dumbledore continued quietly.
Umbridge scoffed. "You can't be saying that you believe there is such a thing?"
McGonagall, clearly offended by Umbridge's lack of respect for her colleagues, opened her mouth to speak, but Dumbledore held up his hand for silence. Severus didn't dare speak a word while his professors argued; he wanted to hear what the headmaster had to say about this. His heart was pounding forcefully against his chest, and his mind was whirring, wondering why he always ended up in trouble and his friends— namely, James— were never caught.
A long time ago, he had heard about the Chamber of Secrets, but he had thought it was just a myth. Something about Salazar Slytherin…aside from that, he couldn't remember anything.
"Darcy, if there is no such thing, then why have you brought this boy to my office at this hour for a minor case of vandalism?"
Umbridge was affronted. "Well!" she bristled, "I would think that someone such as yourself would care about students sabotaging your school!"
"But I didn't—" Severus cut in, only to be silenced once more.
"Think of your students, Dumbledore," Umbridge continued, breathing heavily. "The boy was obviously trying to scare them into thinking such a thing actually existed! Not to mention the questionable ink in which he used to write it!"
"Was it really written with blood, Severus?" McGonagall asked calmly. He knew she was looking at his hand, where the blood had now dried onto his skin. He looked to Dumbledore, who was watching him curiously, rather than disapprovingly. Severus got a strange feeling that the headmaster was going to use Legilimency against him before he could declare him guilty. Unconsciously, Severus freely allowed the man to see his thoughts. After all, he was not exactly skilled in Occlumency and this could possibly prove his innocence.
"Yes," he answered McGonagall. "I don't know where it came from though, and I didn't write it," he added firmly.
"Then you are free to leave," Dumbledore said at last, waving to the door. This sudden dismissal was unexpected but relieving as well. Shielding his face from Umbridge, Severus hurriedly nodded goodnight to McGonagall and ran out before Umbridge could find yet another reason to punish him.
"You let him go free?!" Darcy shrieked after the door had closed behind them.
"He was telling the truth, Darcy."
"But I caught him—!"
"The only issue now is who truly did it," Dumbledore muttered, ignoring Darcy's protests.
"It can't be open again, Albus?" Minerva whispered.
Darcy looked from Dumbledore to Minerva in disgust. "You two honestly believe there is a Chamber of Secrets? It's a myth! A legend!"
Dumbledore got to his feet and stared directly into the woman's eyes, smiling as she cowered slightly. "It is real, Darcy, I cannot help if your superiors at the Ministry have not seen fit to inform you of this. It has not been opened in nearly three decades, however. I cannot say if it has been opened once more or if this is merely a student prank…the latter certainly seems more accurate, seeing that the one who opened it the first time has since left Hogwarts."
Darcy was speechless. She couldn't tell if Dumbledore had lost his marbles or was telling the truth; she had been working at the Ministry of Magic for thirty two years and had never heard of such an incident. Surely a woman of her standing in the Ministry would have known if this was indeed true?
She eventually concluded that she was at least right about Snape; no matter what Dumbledore said, she knew Snape was trying to stir up chaos behind her back.
And he didn't think he'd be caught, she thought triumphantly. She didn't know how the boy had won over Dumbledore, but she was still determined to give him the punishment he deserved…
"Seeing as there is no evidence that the Chamber of Secrets has indeed been opened, I believe it is wise to drop the matter for now," Dumbledore said finally.
Inwardly, he was slightly worried about the message the Snape boy had found written on the walls, but this was definitely not the first time a student had attempted scaring other students like this. Unless they found evidence to the contrary, he would simply assume this was yet another false alarm. For now, he would keep a closer eye on the happenings within his school, but he was fairly certain that even a wizard as great as Tom couldn't operate within the castle completely undetected. The Imperius Curse could only do so much, and he doubted anyone but the Heir himself would be able to open the Chamber and release the monster of Slytherin upon his school again…
xXxXxXxXx
"Sectum…sectum…sectumsempra!"
Nothing.
Severus growled and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. He had been working on this spell since the beginning of last summer, and so far, nothing. Ever since he had learned that people could actually invent new magic, he had successfully created just one measly spell, and it was hardly better than a regular Shielding Charm. Sectumsempra was an idea he had been fiddling around with since he was nine years old, the year he read his first book on creating one's own spells. Initially, Severus had been excited by the idea, but it was turning out to be much more difficult that he had initially believed.
He knew what Sectumsempra was supposed to look like, but he didn't know how he'd actually go about performing it. The lizard he had found sunbathing on a rock by the lake this morning was his current victim, and it hadn't spilled a single drop of blood yet.
Severus couldn't explain why he wanted to create a spell that would have a sword-like effect on his victim, spurting their blood all over the place until they fell helplessly to the ground, begging for mercy. The image in his head was strangely fascinating to him; this violent streak must have come from years of being bullied, by his father and the Muggle kids at his former school. He would never get to use Sectumsempra on them of course, but he wouldn't hesitate to use it on an enemy in the wizarding world— if he ever managed to finish it, anyway.
He looked over his shoulder to see if any of his friends had silently intruded in on him. Luckily, he was still alone. The last thing he needed right now was everyone badgering him with a million more questions.
It had been two nights since the writing on the wall incident, and within twelve hours, it seemed as though the entire school knew about what he had supposedly done. The Gryffindors believed his side of the story, that he had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time, but members of the other three houses weren't so confident in him. Most of the non-Gryffindor students believed he really wrote the message, and some even went as far as saying he really did open the Chamber of Secrets, despite the fact that there had been absolutely no attacks as of yet.
Trying to create new Dark spells like Sectumsempra certainly wouldn't improve his reputation, but Severus didn't care. Focusing all his energy into making the damn spell work took his mind off of what others were whispering behind his back in the halls in between classes.
"Sectumsempra!"
The lizard looked up at him and yawned, obviously tired from having the young wizard muttering nonsense at it all afternoon. Severus shoved his wand into his pocket and sighed.
His mood had gone from bad to worse lately, thanks to Professor Umbridge's nasty remarks about rebellious students (him) who got away with terrible deeds (writing threatening messages on the walls). He couldn't even remember the last time a class had gone by where she didn't insult him at least twice.
Nearly all of the Slytherins in his Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Mulciber, Malfoy, Black, Avery, Pettigrew, Goyle, Gehringer, and McNair, relished in Umbridge's criticism of him. Lily was the only one who remained quiet. When her friends started laughing, Severus would sometimes hear her tell them to shut up. Yesterday, unable to control himself after this happened, he turned around and smiled gratefully at her. She noticed him at once and, reddening slightly, she smiled back. So there was still hope left after all.
"Don't worry mate, we believe you," James had informed him the moment he walked into their dormitory the night of the incident. As annoying as he could be sometimes (well, actually, most of the time), James was undoubtedly a good friend, Severus knew. Sirius and Remus nodding in agreement only made him feel better.
Thinking back on it, Severus realized this was the first time he ever had friends (besides Lily, of course). Before he met Lily, his mother would often restrict him from leaving the boundaries of the neighbourhood. He didn't mind this too much, but it only increased his loneliness, since all of his neighbours down at Spinner's End consisted of cranky old retirees, convicted child molesters, and deadbeat drug addicts. Hardly what he'd consider friendship material.
Later on, he had not been popular in Muggle school, thanks to his peculiar displays of accidental magic. Smiling slyly, he remembered the first time in memory he had performed magic. He had been three or four at the time, and he had made his father's favourite telly explode by simply staring at it. That was later followed by an incident where he 'accidentally' turned all of his father's countless bottles of rum and whiskey into chocolate milk. The lashing that had followed had not been pleasant, but Severus could not help but think of it as a happy memory.
From a young age, he had maintained unusually good control over his magic: he could make bad things happen to the kids who were mean to him at school, the teachers who punished him would often experience a rather horrifying hairstyle change, and one time, after a particularly miserable day at school, Severus accidentally performed the equivalent of Apparition and went from the playground to his bedroom in the blink of an eye. He had been expelled that day for 'ditching class,' which was perfectly fine with him, because that meant he never had to go back to wretched school.
Once he was free from that burden, Severus turned to magic to solve his other problems: his out of control father, the endless days of boredom, and his scarcity of friends. He figured he would be alone for the next three years— until the summer when he would receive his Hogwarts letter— but everything changed a year later. He had just been sitting by himself among the bushes— as usual— when a small redhead girl and her overbearing sister came to the park for the first time. He had never seen them before, and he assumed they were just a couple of pretty Muggle girls— until he saw the redhead turn the sandbox into a small pool on a warm summer day. That was when he knew, and when it became apparent that she didn't realize what she was, he had anxiously gone about planning ways to tell her that she was a witch.
When the big day had come, everything had gone horribly wrong. Things always went horribly wrong for Severus Snape, so he didn't quite know why he had expected anything different.
Besides this unlucky streak, Severus had always been extremely shy. He never thought he'd see the day when seemingly normal kids would actually want to have a friendly conversation with him, instead of bullying and mocking him. Now, here at Hogwarts, he was actually friends with these seemingly normal kids.
Despite Umbridge's taunting voice still ringing in his ears and his latest failures with Sectumsempra, simply thinking about his friends made him feel better. He still couldn't muster up the courage to start talking to Lily again, but their brief eye contact yesterday was a start, nonetheless.
xXxXxXxXx
"Hey Sev."
Severus' heart flip-flopped in his chest at the sound of Lily's voice softly floating into his ear. He hesitantly looked away from the Potions book and to his right, where Lily sat, smiling. Beyond her, he saw Malfoy and Black glaring at him. Somehow, seeing Lily go against her friends' wishes to talk to him only made him feel better about this.
"Mind if I sit here?"
Severus shook his head slowly and moved the textbook closer to Lily so she could read it too. Class didn't start for another five minutes, but silent reading was the only thing Severus could think of that would relieve the awkwardness of the situation.
Lily knew better.
"So, tell me more about this chamber of secrets," she said teasingly as she pushed the book aside. Severus heard James and Sirius gagging loudly behind him, but he ignored them.
"I didn't do anything," he sighed, trying not to be short with Lily, but after being asked about his involvement with the Chamber of Secrets hundreds of times already, he couldn't help but feel irritated with her idea of a joke. However, keeping the conversation away from his outburst at Christmastime was his primary goal, and he would go along with the Chamber of Secrets talk if he had to.
Lily's smile disappeared and her expression grew more serious. "I know. But Laika seems to think it really has been opened," she lowered her voice to a whisper, "she keeps saying something about how Mud—"
"Don't," Severus interrupted her at once.
"So you know what this chamber has to do with Mud—I mean, Muggleborns?" Lily whispered so quietly that Severus could barely hear her.
He shrugged. "Lily, if Dumbledore doesn't really think it has been opened, then I don't think we should worry. No, I don't know much about it though," he added.
Lily looked a little doubtful, but her troubled expression immediately disappeared as she looked down at his notebook.
"Sectum…sempra? What's that?"
"Nothing," he said hurriedly and slammed it shut. If Lily ever found out what Sectumsempra was supposed to do…he'd be in a load of trouble.
Lily frowned, but didn't say anything. He was obviously still stressed over the Chamber of Secrets episode, and she didn't want to harass their already fragile friendship.
Hiss…
Severus blinked and looked up at Lily. "What?"
"I didn't say anything."
"Are you sure?" Severus knew he heard something, but…no, that couldn't have come from Lily. He probably just imagined it…
xXxXxXxXx
Hiss…
"There! Do you hear it?" Severus whispered.
Underneath the Invisibility Cloak, Severus could feel his friends nodding silently.
Idiots…like I can actually see you nodding when we're invisible!
"Where's if coming from?" Sirius asked.
"It's probably just a broken pipe," James said. "Nothing important."
"But…I've been hearing it all day. It can't just be one pipe."
And it might not be a pipe at all, Severus added silently.
It was already past midnight, and the three Gryffindors were on a nightly prowl, investigating the source of the hissing sounds Severus had been hearing all day. Thankfully, they were all short enough to fit under the Cloak, and the prefects on night patrol hadn't even noticed them. It would have been much more difficult to fit all four of the boys under the Cloak, but Remus had been "feeling ill" and left for the Hospital Wing immediately after dinner. Severus felt a pang of pity for the boy, realizing what he really meant. James and Sirius had been adamant about going after him to make sure he "got there safely," but Severus knew they just wanted to find out what was really wrong with him and convinced them to go on this little adventure instead.
As they continued creeping down the shadowed corridors, Severus' thoughts kept drifting back to Remus. He wished there was something he could do to help his friend, but he didn't know much about werewolves. Remus had once mentioned that his transformations were painful and his confinement was lonely; somehow, Severus thought those were understatements. Severus was no stranger to loneliness, but he didn't know how to keep a fully-transformed werewolf company without getting bitten. Remus wouldn't know what he was doing, of course, but Severus wasn't exactly keen on joining the pack with him.
He promised himself he'd think of something. A potion or spell or something. Anything to help his friend.
Hiss…
"There it is again," James whispered, interrupting Severus' thoughts. The Cloak slipped off of their heads, giving them the appearance of three heads that had misplaced their bodies.
"The noise came from in there," Sirius said, pulling the Cloak off of his hand and pointing at a door down the hall. Severus was rather skeptical of this, but James agreed with Sirius, and the majority vote always wins.
"Agh! It's the girl's bathroom," he said in disgust once they reached the door. "I'm not going in there."
"Why not? I'd say you're more qualified than Sev or me," Sirius replied haughtily. Severus muffled a snort; for the first time ever, he found one of Sirius' jokes amusing. James was none too pleased with allowing his friends to make a mockery of his manhood and irritably shoved Sirius towards the door, saying "Real ladies first, Sirius!"
It opened immediately, and Sirius fell to the water-covered ground with a mighty splash. It was quite dark inside, but the full moon faintly illuminated the main entrance to the decaying bathroom. Severus and James hesitantly walked forward with their wands and whispered "Lumos."
There was nothing special about this room. There were hundreds of cracks in the sinks and mirrors, and the floor was flooded up to the boys' ankles. Some of the toilets to their right were still regurgitating water, and one of the faucets on the sinks was still running.
"Doesn't look like anyone's been in here for years," Severus breathed, trying to ignore the strange chill running up his spine. If there was nothing peculiar about this bathroom then why was his body shaking as though he'd just seen something terrifying? Judging by his friend's facial expressions, they were feeling the same way.
"What's that?" James asked suddenly, pointing at a motionless glowing mass that looked sickeningly like a corpse. Trying to suppress their fear, the trio cautiously crept forward and peered down at the person.
She had two girlish pigtails and a pair of the ugliest glasses they'd ever seen. She was obviously a ghost, but when Severus poked her with his foot, her body remained stubbornly rigid. Ghosts weren't supposed to be solid…
Looking up towards her face, Severus noticed something else odd: her eyes were wide open as though she had seen something truly horrific. But what could that be?
"I think she's been Petrified," Severus said at last. There were simply no other possibilities. Ghosts didn't need to sleep, and they couldn't die again…his conclusion was the only one that made sense.
"How do you Petrify a ghost?"
"I think it's more of a why Petrify a ghost? What's the point?"
None of them knew the answer to that. Was she not the intended victim? Perhaps the attacker mistook her for their real target? They didn't know who she was either, but right now that didn't matter…
Hiss…
The boys' eyes widened at the return of the hissing. This time, it was louder than ever, practically echoing in their ears. Their blood ran cold as their minds unconsciously made the connection between the Petrified body and the hissing noises. The light at the tips of their wands fell dark, and the room felt suddenly chilly, as though a few dementors had intruded in on them. The three Gryffindors' courage was on its last limb: slowly looking from the body up to each other's ghastly pale faces, they screamed.
A/N: Hey, even Gryffindors get scared sometimes.
In case you're wondering why I made Dumbledore look like an idiot: he's not. At this point in the timeline, he doesn't know about Horcruxes (the only way Tom Riddle operated within the castle without actually being present), and unlike HP canon, there was no evidence (such as Mrs. Norris) to prove that the CoS really has been opened.
Sectumsempra will be important to this story. I know he wrote it in his sixth year potions book, but that doesn't mean Severus didn't invent this curse earlier. In DH, someone said Sectumsempra was his specialty, and when you have a 'specialty' it's usually something you learned very early on (like an athlete specializing in a certain sport). Also, none of our Gryffindor boys can speak Parseltongue. Just thought I'd remind you of that.
Anyway, thank you for reading, and as always, I appreciate your comments on these chapters :)