Part 33 – Another Meeting with Dumbledore

Severus stepped out into the corridor, leaving Moaning Myrtle alone in the dismal bathroom.

"Ah, Severus," the voice of Professor Dumbledore echoed down the corridor causing the boy to jump back, startled.

Severus looked to his right and saw Dumbledore appear as he stepped out of the shadows. Although he knew that the headmaster could not have known he was in the girls' bathroom, he had the unsettling feeling that he had been waiting patiently for him to emerge.

Severus looked down at his feet in guilty embarrassment. Professor Dumbledore gestured for Severus to follow him and lead him along the corridor until they reached his office.

"Dreadful news in the Daily Prophet this morning," Dumbledore began with a worried shake of his head. "I saw you were upset by the news."

Severus nodded dutifully and decided to hold his tongue.

"Understandable, understandable," Dumbledore nodded. "Did you notice who the victims were?"

"No," Severus shook his head. "I didn't notice their names."

"I meant did you notice they were muggles?"

"Yes, with a wizard son," Severus nodded, wondering where the conversation was going.

"Their son was a good student whilst he was here. He graduated two years ago. Works for the Ministry of Magic now. Doing quite well too. He was on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team for three years, a good Chaser he was."

Severus frowned as Dumbledore continued to reminisce about the old student who was now an orphan. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat as Dumbledore remained lost in his thoughts. He was just wondering if he should remind him that he was still there when the professor turned to him with a sad smile.

"These are troubled times ahead of us. Some of the students will be more affected by the events outside of Hogwarts than others. Those students who are muggle-born will be amongst those who will be most affected by the times ahead. You've met Lily Evans' parents haven't you?"

"Yes professor," Severus replied with a frown. He wondered how it was that Dumbledore knew he had met Lily's parents when even his own parents had no idea that he had.

"Lovely folk," Dumbledore said with a smile. "So proud of their daughter."

Severus nodded.

"Lily's a bright girl and very brave; a true Gryffindor. But she's going to need every friend she has over the coming months. You understand what I'm saying?"

Severus nodded again.

"It's going to be hard for her and for those who stand by her, no matter who they are."

Severus nodded as his stomach flipped. He didn't know whether to be grateful for the barely concealed warning or not; he knew that the Slytherins would not tolerate his remaining friends with Lily, they had made that clear before the murder.

"Any students with muggles in their family lines will be at risk. Only the pureblood wizards will escape the victimisation."

Severus nodded. Dumbledore wasn't telling him anything he didn't already know. As one of the few half-bloods in Slytherin he was well aware of the precarious position he was in.

"The Aurors are searching for the murderers and until they're caught things are going to be difficult for anyone with muggles in their family."

"Murderers?" Severus asked him surprise.

"Oh yes," Dumbledore nodded. "There's more than one person responsible for this atrocity. The Daily Prophet reporter believes differently but they are still trying to deny that this is a movement by an organised group. They're still hoping that it's the work of a single rogue wizard determined to expose our world to the muggles."

Severus remained silent, unsure whether the professor was expecting him to comment or not.

"The Ministry will need all the help it can get to bring these murderers to justice. They will need to follow up every clue, no matter how small, to ensure that every last wizard in this group is caught. Every little clue…"

Severus shifted in his seat again as Dumbledore's voice trailed off again. He wondered if he should tell him about the drawing he had done at the New Year Party, and about the wizard who had taken it from him and, it seemed, cast it into the night sky above the scene of a murder. Although he wished it was a coincidence he knew deep down that it wasn't and he knew instinctively that it would help the Ministry to know the name of the wizard who had been at the Black family's house on New Year's Eve.

He opened his mouth to speak but shut it again almost immediately. He didn't know exactly why he didn't want to tell the understanding headmaster what he knew, but he knew that a part of the reason he didn't want to say anything was because he was scared that his drawing would incriminate him in the murders too. Even though he hadn't been there, even though he had not known about it, even though he was just a student in his first year at Hogwarts, he was the one who had drawn the sign that was now associated with the murder of muggles.

"Well, I think that's about all," Dumbledore finally said. "You're already late for Transfiguration so you just run along to the kitchens and get something to eat. You didn't get much breakfast did you?"

"No Sir," Severus replied, jumping up from his seat, eager to be out of the office.

"I'll let Professor McGonagall know you were with me."

"Thank you."

"There's nothing troubling you is there?" asked Dumbledore, from where he remained seated at his desk.

"No, Sir," Severus repeated with a shake of his head.

"Well if you ever have something troubling you, feel free to come and talk to me."

Severus nodded as he edged towards the door.

"Oh, one more thing," Dumbledore said as he stood up and walked around the desk. "Would you mind sending this subscription renewal form with one of the school owls? My own owl is away on a long distance journey and not expected back for a few days and I would like to keep up with the Daily Prophet reports."

Severus nodded and took the subscription form that Professor Dumbledore held out for him.

Leaving the room with a sense of relief Severus hurried to the owlery.

He paused a moment before sending the owl he had chosen on its way and frowned at the remaining paper in his hand. Professor Dumbledore had carefully completed the renewal part of the form but the second form for new subscriptions was still blank. The tawny owl gave him a look of impatience as Severus looked at the form and decided to subscribe to the publication himself. Quickly detaching the part of the form he needed he took out his quill and completed the form. He then sent the owl on its way, secure in the knowledge that the next time there was bad news in the paper he could at least hide behind his own copy.

"What are you doing up here?"

Severus jumped, startled yet again. He turned round to see the familiar figure of Lucius Malfoy in the entrance to the owlery with a small package under his arm.

"You should be in class," Lucius continued.

"I was just sending an owl for Professor Dumbledore," Severus explained.

"Too good to send his own owls now, is he?" Lucius sneered.

Severus shrugged.

"You disappeared from the Great Hall rather abruptly this morning," Lucius commented as he looked around for his own owl with a frown.

Severus looked about for the Lucius's personal owl and quickly spotted it inching its way along the ledge away from Lucius. Severus bit his lip to hide his smile and continued to watch the bird from the corner of his eye.

"Lazy, good-for-nothing bird," Lucius muttered as he continued to search for the owl that was now hiding behind a rather overweight Long-Eared Owl.

"Why not use one of the school owls?" Severus asked as Lucius pushed aside a couple of birds, clearly frustrated by his lack of success.

"This is an important parcel. I'd rather not trust it to the school owls, not when I have my own owl that already knows where to go," Lucius stood back and looked down the ledge again and Severus could tell the second he spotted his owl.

Jumping back out of his way, Severus watched as Lucius stalked across the room and jostled aside the Long-Eared Owl to grab his own errant bird and attach the parcel to it. "You know where to go," he instructed the bird in a harsh tone. "And don't take all week about it this time either."

"So what were you sending for Dumbledore?" Lucius asked, his eyes narrowed, as though in anticipation of something interesting.

"Just his renewal form for the Daily Prophet," Severus replied before remembering that he really didn't want to remind Lucius about the paper.

"Yeah, what was all that about this morning when you ran out after seeing the paper?" Lucius moved towards the door in a casual manner that still had the effect of trapping Severus in the room until Lucius decided he would let him out.

Severus felt his palms begin to sweat and despite the cool breeze coming into the airy room he felt hot and panicky under the stern gaze of Lucius Malfoy.

"You recognised the sign didn't you?" Lucius continued. "The Dark Lord showed us your drawing on New Year's Day. That's what he meant about inspiring others. I didn't understand at the time."

Severus felt his stomach flip over as any idea of a wild coincidence went up in flames. He nodded dumbly.

"It certainly looked impressive," Lucius continued, oblivious to Severus's discomfort. "Excellent work that you can be proud of."

Severus shifted from one foot to the other as an idea flashed into his mind and he realised that he had the perfect excuse for leaving the room. "I rushed out to write a letter to my parents but didn't know whether to send it or not. I'm not sure they'd understand."

"Your mother should be proud of you for what you've contributed," Lucius assured him. "Go ahead and tell her. But better not mention it to anyone else without checking with me."

"Okay," Severus agreed with a nod. He was quite sure from what his mother had said at the Black household that she'd be nothing of the sort. "I'll send it later today, I left it in the common room and then got summoned by Dumbledore."

"What class are you missing from?"

"Transfiguration," Severus replied, not bothering to mention that Dumbledore would be speaking with Professor McGonagall about his absence.

"McGonagall's another muggle-loving professor," Lucius sneered. "Don't bother about going to her class this morning. Just send your letter and if anyone asks, tell them you're running an errand for me and I'll help you catch up if you missed anything important."

Severus nodded as Lucius stepped aside with a proud, if rather condescending, smile on his face.

Walking past him Severus hurried down the stairs from the owlery and headed towards the Slytherin common room. He was relieved that Lucius didn't follow him to the common room because he had no idea how he would answer any question about where the fictional letter was.

A short while later he looked at the blank sheet of parchment as he struggled to think of what to write. Although he had kept his word to Professor Dumbledore by writing to his mother, he didn't want to write to her about the events of the morning at all. Eventually giving up on the task, he decided that he would just say it was lost in delivery if the matter was ever brought up again. His excuse for leaving the Great Hall was solidly in place and he would just have to remember to be more careful in the future.

He knew without a doubt that this morning's events were just going to be the first of many; Dumbledore had as good as said so. The next time he would have to make sure that his reaction was like that of the other Slytherin students because the last thing he wanted to do was to draw attention to himself, especially now he knew what they were capable of.