Part 34 – The Gryffindors' Reaction

When Severus finally felt composed enough to face the rest of the students he left the common room with a feeling of relief that none of his classes that day were shared with the Gryffindor students. He did not think he could contend with James Potter and his friends on top of everything else.

He was still silently debating whether to try to track down Lily when she found him instead.

"Severus!" she shouted from the far end of the corridor, earning a frown from Professor Flitwick who merely shook his head in disapproval and moved on.

Severus considered whether to pretend he hadn't heard her but the only way to avoid her was to turn around and walk in the direction he had come, an action that would show her quite clearly that he was avoiding her. It seemed like he had been avoiding people all day, taking a deep breath he decided enough was enough and this was one person he was going to face without running away.

"I saw you run out of the Great Hall this morning," Lily said in a quieter tone as soon as he was in earshot. "Are you all right?"

Severus felt a twinge of guilt at her words of concern, especially when he recalled Dumbledore's words and knew he should be the one asking her that question.

"I just felt a bit ill," Severus said with a shrug. "Nothing to worry about."

"It looked to me like you were upset by the news in the paper," Lily observed, a slight questioning to her tone.

"Was it anyone you knew?" Severus asked, avoiding her unspoken question.

"No," Lily replied, shaking her head, as they continued to walk down the corridor. "But they didn't live that far from us. That close…"

Severus looked at Lily who was staring straight ahead down the corridor, her eyes not wavering from her path. He could tell exactly what she was thinking; he was thinking it too. If the murderers lived local to them, her family could be targeted next. He felt a shiver and wondered if he would dare to risk visiting Lily in the holidays again or whether it would be safer for all of them if he kept his distance.

"I'm sure they're hidden out far away from the scene of the crime," Severus offered and Lily silently nodded in response.

"Hey Lily, there you are!"

Severus turned at the sound of a female voice calling from behind them and saw Veronica running towards them, her books and parchment toppling from her overflowing arms.

"What are you doing talking to him?" Veronica asked with a scowl in his direction. He took a sharp breath and held his tongue, silently congratulating himself on how well he was starting to control his temper.

"Nothing's changed," Lily replied with a shrug. "Severus had nothing to do with the murders."

"He's a Slytherin," Veronica snapped. "The whole school is blaming their type for the murders. He may not have been there but it's his type that were and in ten years time he'll probably be out there with them."

"You sound as bad as them," Lily said with sadness in her voice. "Everyone's pointing the finger at the Slytherins just because that's where a hat says they should be."

"You sound like you don't believe in the Sorting Hat," Veronica said in surprise.

"It's just a hat, and to judge someone just because of what it says means that we aren't judging them for ourselves. I don't care who's in what house, I make my own friends based on my judgement."

Veronica paled at Lily's words and Severus could tell that she had never heard anyone criticise the Sorting Hat before. He had never really thought about the Hat himself, other than to think about what house he should be placed in. He looked at Lily, set in her resolve, and felt a small measure of pride in his friend.

"The Sorting Hat is a tradition that's been upheld for years," Veronica whispered with a nervous glance around to see if anyone was listening. "You don't want to be criticising it and drawing attention to yourself. You never know who might be listening."

Severus didn't miss Veronica's sharp glance at himself and he bristled at her implied meaning.

"Severus is my friend," Lily insisted in a tired voice that gave away the fact that they had clearly had this conversation, or one similar, before.

"You hear that James?" Sirius Black's voice carried down the corridor from where he stood in an open doorway to what Severus had thought was an empty classroom. "Snivellus has a friend."

"How sweet," James snickered as he came into view in the doorway.

Severus felt himself flush in embarrassment and his hand reflectively moved towards his wand. He looked at Lily who now had a look of boredom on her face; a glance at Veronica however showed that she was clearly enjoying the interruption.

"Severus was just showing concern for a friend after the awful news in the Daily Prophet this morning," Lily announced with a sharp look at Sirius and James. "Unlike some others I could mention whose only thought was the glory they would get if they caught the murderers."

Sirius grinned, far from bothered by Lily's words.

"The Ministry of Magic needs all the help it can get," James said as he drew out his wand and pointed it expertly in the standard opening position for a duel. "They'd be happy to have a couple of talented young wizards on board in their search."

"All we'd have to do is turn over all the Slytherins to them and their work would be half done already," Peter said from where he sat perched on the end of one of the desks.

"Yeah, the school will be much better off without them," Sirius said with conviction.

"They're not all that bad," Remus said with a frown from where he sat leaning back on one of the chairs, an open book on the desk in front of him.

"Name one that's not a complete creep," James challenged him.

Severus glared at James's back and waited for Remus to reply. He saw his gaze flicker over himself and thought for an instant that he was going to say him. But the moment passed in silence before Sirius laughed out loud and the others joked that they had finally found a question Remus couldn't find an answer to.

"What's going on here?"

Severus groaned silently as Lucius stalked down the corridor with Bellatrix at his heels. The morning really couldn't get much worse.

"I see the black sheep of the Black family is still lowering the tone of the whole family," Lucius sneered.

"How are you going to get moved into Slytherin if you keep associating with people like him?" Bellatrix added with a sigh of the long-suffering.

"Maybe it's escaped your notice," Sirius sneered back, "but I don't want to be in Slytherin."

"You might not want to be but it's in your blood," Bellatrix replied with a cold smile. "You can't deny your heritage."

"Leave it Bella," Lucius said with a scornful look at the Gryffindors. "He'll come around sooner or later. The Slytherin within will rise eventually."

"Never," hissed Sirius with another glare at his cousin.

"So Severus, what we were you doing with this scum?" Bellatrix asked with an equally hostile glare back at Sirius.

"I'm sure he was just pointing out that they shouldn't be in the classrooms between lessons," Lucius suggested with a smirk. "Five points from each for breaking the school rules, I think."

Bellatrix laughed, "maybe you should make it ten points from Sirius for answering back?"

"Good idea," Lucius agreed. "Ten points from Gryffindor."

"That's not fair," Lily blurted out.

"And another five points from Gryffindor for answering back," Lucius smirked. "I wonder how many I should deduct for being a mudblood."

Bellatrix laughed in delight as Lily's face turned a mottled red and Severus recognised the signs of her temper rising.

"Dumbledore," he hissed at Lucius with a nod down the corridor behind him. "He just went that way."

"Nicely spotted Severus," Lucius smiled, and Severus felt relief that his lie was not noticed. "Come with me, I have a job for you to do."

Severus nodded as he followed Lucius and Bellatrix down the corridor. He glanced back as he turned the corner and saw that Sirius was still glaring after him. Lily too was looking in his direction and he felt a flush come over his face as he saw her silently mouth the words 'thank you' after him before the Gryffindors disappeared from his sight.

"So you understand what you have to do?" Lucius asked a short time later, after he had explained to Severus the task he wanted him to undertake.

Severus nodded in response, a sickening feeling in his stomach at the monumental mission he had been given by the older boy.

"I'll leave you to get on with that then," Lucius said with a cold smile as he left Severus alone in the dungeon common room.

Severus looked into the brightly burning fire as he wondered what sort of miracle Lucius was expecting him to perform.

His friendship with Lily had gone unnoticed but his regular presence with the other Gryffindors had not. He wondered how in the world Lucius had managed to mistakenly come to the conclusion that he was friends with Sirius, James and the others.

For a long time he stared into the flames until he realised that Lucius knew very well what the situation was between him and the others. He knew that they hated him, and he knew that by setting him this task they would hate him even more and any budding friendship he had with Lily would be destroyed in the process.

There was no other explanation he could think of for Lucius to ask him to use his 'friendship' with Sirius Black to convince him to request a transfer to Slytherin House.