CHAPTER 3: WHEN SEVERUS MET VERENA (PART 1)
EXT. HOGWARTS SCHOOL GROUNDS – AFTERNOON (APR. 27TH, 1972)
For the entire afternoon, Verena, aged 13, had been quietly hiding and brooding in the sheltering branches of a large oak tree which sat atop a vast grassy knoll, looking over a vast expanse of forest patches, wide open fields, sloping lawns, flowerbeds, vegetable patches and green rolling hills.
Verena could see Hogwarts Castle off in the distance, which sat atop a steep hill and high cliffs overlooking the large, dark loch below it, the Black Lake. Hogwarts Castle was an immense and towering structure of stone, eight stories tall, a jumble of high towers, pillars, weathered walls and tall sprawling battlements with flag poles and bright and colorful streamers which blew around in the warm spring breeze. Inside the castle, there were long, sweeping corridors, elegant arched doorways and a countless number of rooms which filled every part of the castle.
The walls of the corridors were covered in fine enchanted portraits of people and animals which moved within them, framed in elegant, finely decorated picture frames. It was also where Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was located, where young wizards and witches from the ages of 11 to 17 could go and be taught the ways of witchcraft and wizardry.
Like all students of Hogwarts, each student was sorted into one of four Houses, according to their personality traits: For those who were brave and chivalrous, it was House Gryffindor; for those who were intelligent and creative, it was House Ravenclaw; for those who were hard working and loyal, it was House Hufflepuff; and for those who were ambitious and resourceful, it was House Slytherin.
Verena could never forget the day when she had been sorted into House Ravenclaw. As was occasionally the case of some students, Verena had been rather difficult to place, as she also bared many of the personality traits and qualities that were revered by both House Slytherin and House Gryffindor. But in the end, she had been sorted into House Ravenclaw, as it was often the will of the student which chose the House they wanted to be in.
And like all students who were of House Ravenclaw, she wore the Ravenclaw House colors of blue and gray about her long and flowing school robes, marked with the Ravenclaw House insignia of a raven. Unnoticed by the other students who were wandering about below her underneath her feet, Verena continued to look down upon them silently, sitting high upon a thick branch that was stretched over the ground below her.
Some of these students were playing with their wands and testing out there flying skills atop long brooms while others were quietly reading books underneath nearby trees and busily scribbling notes onto yellow stained parchment with board pointed quills. Verena shook her head and let out a long sigh of boredom, as though the long hours of sitting around and doing nothing were starting to take its toll on her.
But then – pop! – a light skinned boy with brownish-blond hair and stormy gray eyes suddenly appeared next to her, causing her to jump and yelp in surprise, nearly causing her to fall almost fifteen feet to the ground below.
"Idiot dunderhead, Trevor!" Verena shrieked angrily, punching Trevor in his left side. Trevor mouthed the word ouch as his face wrenched briefly from the punch and rubbed his side briefly.
"I told you never to surprise me like that!" Verena hissed once more, "If you want to abuse your Apparition powers, you could at least give me some warning!"
Verena narrowed her eyes and scowled, her face contorting with anger and disapproval. Although Verena appeared to be small and stringy, she had an air of authority and grace about her. She had a cold, calm, bitter, cynical and sarcastic disposition which often reflected on her pallid face. But in the case of Trevor, she had made a most disagreeable exception. Trevor however, was amused and cheerful as always, undeterred by Verena's harsh words.
"But that's no fun, Verena," said Trevor, "If I had warned you, I would have never got a chance to see that funny, grim look upon your face!"
Like Verena, Trevor was of House Ravenclaw and thus wore the same colors and robes like that of Verena. And like Verena, Trevor was born and raised in a rustic English village that was collectively known as The Shambles.
The Shambles was an elaborately complex village that was predominantly inhabited by wizards, witches and magical folk alike. It included vast hanging gardens, small fenced in parks, trees, patches of green grass and flower beds. The cobblestone streets were flanked by Victorian street lamps as well as street vendors, pubs, shops, inns and a various rustic assortment of terraced row houses and rows of small shingled, thatched roofed English cottages. All of this was built atop five long and wide viaducts made of cobblestone and brick. The viaducts were connected by a vast network of brightly lit cobblestone footbridges that were stretched out over the empty spaces which lied between the viaducts.
The viaducts stood 700 feet high, standing side by side to one another, built across the river of Topplemoor which flowed underneath them. It was called The Shambles for good reason, as there were bits and pieces stuck all over everything in the village, as though a child had taken pieces of old foundation, metal and wood and then glued them onto everything in sight. There were also broken rows of small rustic English huts that were stuck to the sides of the viaducts, overlooking the river below. The buildings and structures that were sitting on top of the viaducts were only accessible to the small huts by means of narrow balconies and staircases that stretched out from the sides of the viaducts and led up to the main platforms above.
"Why are you here anyway?" hissed Verena, "You should know perfectly well that I don't like sharing this tree with anyone. My great grandfather grew this tree from a seedling and planted it on these grounds many years ago. And besides, shouldn't you be beating bludgers around with the Ravenclaw team on the Quidditch pitch right now? We have an important game against House Slytherin later this afternoon!"
"Practice ended early," said Trevor happily, "And besides, you looked like you were bored and lonely up here. I just thought you wouldn't mind the company."
Verena looked on, agitated and put out. She narrowed her eyes once more and gave a disagreeable snort, crossing her arms over her chest. At that moment, Trevor smiled serenely at her and pulled out his wand. He waved his wand through the air. "Accio flask!" said Trevor enthusiastically, conjuring up a small, sliver flask out of thin air.
He grabbed hold of the flask and offered it over to Verena, "Here," Trevor continued, "Have some of my Boggerberry juice! I made it from fresh berries I picked from Professor Sprout's greenhouse this morning."
Of course, Verena had the nagging suspicion that there was something sinister in the flask. For all she knew, the flask was full of some wicked cursed potion that might turn her into something horrid or make her do something that she would not normally want to do.
"You first, Trevor James Bobscandel!" said Verena, narrowing her eyes and sneering mischievously. Of course, her suspicions were proven well founded when a grin of mischief once again began to form on Trevor's face as he slowly shook his head.
"How are you able to do that?" Trevor breathed, as Verena scowled at him once more. Her eyes were nothing but slits now, as a stern and contemptuous look fell upon her face.
"I am not a fool, Trevor!" snapped Verena, "I know you've been trying to slip Kissing Potion into my pumpkin juice lately. Think I was going to fall for that just so that you could try and get me to kiss you...only in your dreams, Trevor!"
"Awe, Verena!" said Trevor childishly, as he stuffed the flask deep into his right robe pocket. "You're no fun! You know how much I like you."
"My name does not mean truth for nothing, flirtatious Bobscandelous!" snarled Verena.
"I love it when you call me that!" grinned Trevor, leaning into and towards Verena, "Come on, just one little kiss please!"
"Arggh! Get lost!" hissed Verena, putting her hand on Trevor's face and pushing it away from hers. "You are sickening me! I know all of your tricks Trevor Bobscandel, much more then you realize! And I can always see the truth and intention behind them! And you are a fool to think that I was going to fall for it!"
Trevor smirked mischievously, leaning away and enjoying every ounce of Verena's bantering at him. "I will never understand you, Verena." said Trevor with a grin.
"Good!" said Verena curtly, "I don't want you to! Now run along flirtatious Bobscandelous, before I do something to you with my wand that I'm going to regret! Find that other girl you're so interested in…Enola Pendragon is it, of House Gryffindor? I'm sure she'll oblige you because I certainly won't!"
With his plan faltered, Trevor shook his head and scoffed. And with a swish of his wand, there was another loud pop and Trevor vanished into thin air out of Verena's sight. With Trevor now gone, a tiny smirk formed on the corner of Verena's thin mouth. She could not say that she wasn't amused by Trevor's ill-fated attempt at trying to steal a kiss from her.
There was no denying that Trevor, being two years older than her, was smitten with her and was using every trick in the book to try and gain her love and affection. However, this amusement was swiftly short lived as the sounds of panting and hurrying footsteps rushed past her from under her feet. Looking down past her feet, she could see that it was a stringy, black haired boy with pale skin, running as hard and as fast as his legs could carry him. It was also a boy that she clearly recognized.
"Look! Snivellus is trying to run away again!" said another light skinned, dark haired boy, who quickly ran close behind the other.
That boy was then quickly followed by several more students, who were brandishing the red and gold colors and the insignia of a lion upon their long and sweeping school robes. Verena looked on angrily, her cold, piercing blue eyes staring down upon the scene which was unfolding before her.
"Snivellus, Come back! We haven't pulled down your trousers yet!" said yet another boy, bespectacled, with light skin and short black hair, as he ran past.
"Meddlesome Gryffindor students!" shrieked Verena angrily, "Why can't you just leave those who are less able to defend themselves alone! Leave him alone!"
But her angry cries fell upon deaf ears. Angered, bored and not wanting to miss out on what was happening in front of her, Verena climbed down from her perch and swiftly chased after the group of fleeing students who began to vanish behind a gathering of large granite boulders. After a few minutes of running after the group of Gryffindor students, she suddenly stopped and slipped behind one of the larger boulders which were scattered across the large, grassy field behind Hogwarts Castle.
To Verena, it appeared as though the group had lost sight of their quarry and they were now busy trying to relocate it. But unlike these students, Verena had been the more observant one. She knew precisely where the boy they had been chasing had run off to and continued her way there, keeping herself hidden and unnoticed by the Gryffindor students in front of her.
After walking over the school grounds for several yards, she quickly found her way to an area of the school grounds known as the Crying Ruins. They were called as such because the large gathering of stones, boulders and broken walls in the area were almost constantly weeping water. So was told so very long ago, once evil spirits were trapped in these boulders and ruins for all the evil deeds they had done.
Now the sobs and cries of these evil spirits could be heard coming from the boulders and ruins in the area, their tears seeping through into the living world through the moss covered stone and heavily vine draped ruins. This was a place that was often avoided, as it was such a terribly sad and depressed place, but it was also the perfect hiding place.
Verena turned a corner before she stopped and hid behind a large boulder, the sounds of soft sobbing, retching and crying filling the air around her. Peering around the edge of the ruin, she caught sight of the boy that the group of Gryffindor students had been ruthlessly chasing and tormenting. The boy was cowering behind a large boulder, looking towards the place where the group of Gryffindor students was standing.
The boy was wearing the colors of green and black upon his long and flowing robes, along with the insignia of a snake which marked him as being a student of House Slytherin.
Knowing who the boy was and where he had come from, Verena silently walked up behind him and spoke, "You're that Severus Snape boy who comes from the town of Cokeworth aren't you?"
Startled, the boy jumped a couple feet into the air and let out a cry of fright, before turning to face Verena and flattening himself against the boulder. Verena smirked slightly, as though she was mildly amused by the fact that she had made the boy jump in fright.
"A bit jumpy are we?" said Verena softly, though she was not sounding as bitter and ill-natured as she usually did.
"Who are you?" snarled Severus, his cold black eyes peering out past overlong black hair which frames his pallid face in curtains. "Go away! Leave me alone!"
To Verena, Severus appeared to be slightly paler and slightly stringier then she was. He was also clearly shaken, not just because Verena sneaked up behind him, but because he was scared that he might be found there by the group of Gryffindor students, who were now starting to crest over the small hill which lied beyond the Crying Ruins. To Severus, he felt as though he had been wedged between a rock and a hard place, for he not only had to worry about the group of Gryffindor students coming his way, but also about Verena, who was standing between him and his only means of escape.
"Well, aren't you? Severus Snape?" said Verena, glaring at him and crossing her arms.
"Why would you want to know?" hissed Severus, sneering.
"Because I want to," said Verena softly, "I may be of a rival House, but I know a kindred soul when I see one."
"I am no kindred soul of yours!" snapped Severus as he began to regain his composure and his courage, "You are of Ravenclaw House! An enemy! I would not dare make friends or associate myself with such filth!"
Though Severus was clearly trying to insult Verena and get Verena to leave from his sights, Verena remained unaffected by Severus, neither convinced by nor yielding to his harsh, but empty words.
"Oh, don't give me that!" hissed Verena, wearing a cold, stern look upon her face. "You act just like me! Your hair style is even the same as mine! I don't know if you realize this, but it appears to me that we were meant to be friends in some way."
"But you're Ravenclaw! I am Slytherin!" spat Severus.
"So what?" said Verena curtly, uncrossing her arms and bringing them down to her sides. "Both of my parents were of Slytherin House and I didn't think any less of them! My wizard blood is just as pure as yours, if not more so!"
"Snape!" said the voice of another, breaking the attention of that Verena and Severus had on each other.
Looking over towards the small hill, they saw that it was the light skinned, bespectacled boy with short black hair, who had broken away from the rest of the Gryffindor group and was now finding his way to where Severus and Verena now stood.
"I know you're hiding over here!" called out the boy, "I heard you cry out! What's the matter? Did someone else pull down your trousers without me knowing?"
A look of dread suddenly fell upon Severus's sallow face, giving out a fleeting whimper and casting a pleading glance between Verena and the boy. The boy was going to find Severus for sure if he did not find a way to get past Verena and escape to the safety of the castle or to some other part of the grounds.
Perhaps using his wand could help him get away from Verena and the boy, but Severus was so full of dread of what would happen to him at this moment, using his wand to escape would have been the worst and last thing for him to do. Though Severus was not saying that he wanted help with his voice, he was most certainly expressing it. Verena, realizing that Severus would soon be in the hands of troublesome Gryffindor students, she looked over at the boy coming over the hill coldly before glancing back at Severus again.
"Follow me," said Verena, as she quickly turned on her heels and darted towards the rear entrance to Hogwarts Castle, running over the back courtyard with Severus following reluctantly close behind.
INT. HOGWARTS CASTLE, THIRD FLOOR CORRIDOR – AFTERNOON (APR. 27TH, 1972)
The wondrous world of wizards and witches had always been full of strange and fantastic creatures. Things that were considered odd and out of the ordinary in the normal, everyday world of non-magical folk, was considered normal and commonplace amongst those who lived in the Wizarding realm.
Thus, it was no surprise to Verena and Severus to see the ghost of one of the dead school librarians, which came floating past them as they ran past. The ethereal specter looked up from the book that it was reading and scowled at them, clearly not amused by the sudden disturbance of thundering footsteps hurrying down the long, narrow corridor towards the entrance to the school library.
"Sorry!" yelled Verena, as she quickly turned a corner and vanished.
"Sorry!" yelled Severus, as he vanished around the corner with Verena.
Severus and Verena quickly ran through the entrance to the school library with their long and sweeping robes blowing back behind them, flanked by long wooden tables and rows of long, sweeping bookshelves of old and dusty books. They were deep within the interior of the library by the time Verena stopped and brought herself behind one of the crowded bookshelves, quickly pulling Severus behind it by the arm and right up next to her.
With hands to their knees, they stood for a brief moment, panting and looking up at one another as though both were surprised that they were so willing to follow one another and run away together. After a few moments more, Verena stood up straight again and leaned herself up against the bookshelf behind her.
"Wasn't that James Potter? The leader of the Marauders that we were just running away from?" asked Verena.
"Yes, that was James Potter...meddlesome, wicked Potter," replied Snape, though he was not at all pleased about uttering the name aloud as he finally stood up straight again.
Verena scoffed, as though she was not amused with placing the name with the face. She was never really acquainted with James Potter except through her friendship with Trevor Bobscandel, but she knew James Potter well enough to know that he was not at all the type of student that she would make friendly with.
"Phbt! Such trouble that Potter boy is!" snarled Verena, "I have a right mind to take out my wand and teach that arrogant Gryffindor creep and his loathsome Gryffindor cronies a lesson! I am at least two years older than him! I can easily give him what for!"
As Verena started to banter on about James and his friends, a subtle glint of amusement began to form on Severus's face. Perhaps there was some manner of kinship there between him and Verena, despite the fact that she was of House Ravenclaw. Perhaps she was meant to be his friend. But he was still unsure about her.
"Why did you help me?" said Severus, wearing a shrewd look of puzzlement upon his face.
"Because I wanted to," said Verena softly, speaking barely above a whisper. "And besides, The Marauders are a bunch of meddlesome Gryffindor creeps. But it doesn't matter to me if you're Slytherin, Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, no student deserves to be tormented by them unless deserving of it."
Verena pulled out a book from the bookshelf behind her and went to sit at one of the nearby tables, placing the book down on the table in front of her, "But you really need to work more on your defensive spells if you wish to truly stand up against James and the Marauders. You can't just keep following the Marauders around all the time trying to find them doing something wrong. That's cowardly!"
"I am not a coward!" hissed Severus, narrowing his eyes at Verena.
"I never said you were," said Verena softly, "I just said it was cowardly. Come, sit down next to me and I will show you something in this book that can help you."
Hesitant to accept Verena's gesture of good will, Severus again began to look around him cautiously for any sign of other Slytherin students that might be in the library with him. However, seeing Slytherin students in this library was somewhat unlikely, as they had their own collection of books in their own part of the castle from which to read and study from.
"We're not in the Dark Arts Library, Severus," said Verena nonchalantly, noticing what Severus was doing. "It's alright. We're quite safe here...I think..."
But the scowling and piercing looks that were being projected from some of the students that were sitting at some of the nearby tables were telling Verena otherwise. Verena thought that she would certainly be called a traitor for helping a student from House Slytherin. But she did not care what they were thinking. Severus needed her help and her guidance and nothing was going to deter her from achieving that goal. Seeing as there were no other Slytherin students around, Severus cautiously walked over to Verena and sat down next to her.
However, Trevor wasn't the only student in Hogwarts who had a fondness for Verena. To many students at Hogwarts, Verena was a beautiful girl as well as a complete and utter mystery, which was something that was considered attractive to some. But for one student of House Slytherin in particular, she was of particular interest. It didn't take long for that student to walk up and announce his presence to Verena and Severus.
"Is this seat taken?" said the voice of an older student, who was wearing long, flowing Slytherin robes, his cold gray eyes looking down upon the sight before him. Severus, suddenly noticing the Slytherin student behind him and knowing who the Slytherin student was, a look of dread swiftly fell upon his face.
"Lucius Malfoy," said Verena nonchalantly, looking behind her and up at Lucius with a subtle smile of mischief, "I was just thinking about you. I was wondering how you were getting along with Narcissa Black."
Though Verena was looking up and smiling softly and mischievously at Lucius, Severus on the other hand was looking absolutely petrified. He was not at all expecting to see Lucius here, among so many Ravenclaw and Gryffindor students and fears that Lucius would tell other Slytherin students that he had been sitting with someone from House Ravenclaw.
But instead of narrowing his eyes and scowling in disapproval, Lucius gave a smile of mild amusement and sat down to the left of Verena while Severus continued to sit to her right.
Lucius Malfoy was tall and spindly with long blond hair and a pointed face. He was four years older than Verena and five years older than Severus. He was also ruthless, arrogant, selfish and snobbish, as well as being highly concerned with his reputation. In many respects, Lucius seemed to be a perfect match for Verena to take on. Though from what Severus could see of the relationship between Verena and Lucius, Verena was not letting Lucius's charms get to her so easily.
As a Slytherin Prefect, Lucius was an older Slytherin student of authority and had the power to keep the younger Slytherin students in line. He was also one of Severus's most promising and highly respected best friends who did nothing but speak high praises for Severus. Next to his and Snape's other close friend, Victor Scabior, Lucius was the one person who would always stand up for Severus whenever he would get into trouble, no matter if Severus was at fault in the matter or not.
Lucius had even once shared the blame for something that Severus had done and they both ended up sharing detention together, made to spend the entire afternoon pulling weeds out of the Snapdragon Patch. It was dirty work considering that you were forced to wear your punishment for a brief time afterwards in the form of soiled robes and muddy faces, which was in some ways doubling your punishment.
Snapdragons were enchanted crimson colored magical plants whose flowers were shaped like a dragon's head that would snap and bite at you whenever you got to close to them. Again, it was all a part of the punishment. However, Lucius did not care that he was being punished for something that he did not take part in, as it was an excuse for him to get out of having to take the end-of-the-week potions exam in Potions class. But it was never the less all in good fun and in the friendship that he and Severus shared.
"I see that you've found an interest in the younger blood, Verena," said Lucius mischievously, "What's the matter? Am I not worthy of your interest and affection?"
Lucius looked around Verena at Severus, who was shifting his eyes nervously and sinking into his chair, while Verena narrowed her eyes and sneered at Lucius.
"Don't give me that, Lucius," hissed Verena, "I know your heart lies with Narcissa. She is much more worthy of you then I will ever be. And besides, I am Ravenclaw, and with a Slytherin student of your caliber and standing, our relationship would never be accepted. Also, you're four years older than I am. Come the end of this year, you will be graduating from Hogwarts and then who will I be able to flirt with?"
"Please, flirt with me, I don't mind." said Lucius mischievously.
Though Verena had long since fallen for Lucius's charms, she was not about to show it by obliging to him. Of course, Severus could not believe what he was seeing and hearing. Never, in all the time that he had known Lucius, did he ever see Lucius pine so much for a girl, especially when she was of House Ravenclaw.
"At least with Narcissa, you have a better chance at finding true love!" said Verena coolly, "Narcissa is not that much younger then you are. She is also from a highly respected Slytherin family. Though I can't say the same for her first cousin Sirius. Imagine a member of the Black family becoming turn coat and joining Gryffindor and the Marauders...it's almost to unthinkable to imagine."
Though silently, Verena had to admit that it was a pretty courageous and gutsy move on Sirius Black's part. Most Slytherin folk believed that all magical powers, abilities and teachings should be kept only within pure wizard blood families, untainted by those of non-magical or inferior blood. The Black family was genuinely Slytherin by blood and the thought of any member of the Black family being in Gryffindor was not only seen as a traitor to the pure blood ways of Slytherin wizard folk, but was considered to be utter blasphemy.
"You know, Severus, you need not worry about being seen as a traitor to our House," said Lucius, smiling over at Severus as Severus continued to sink further and further into his chair, shifting his eyes nervously and looking as though he was uncomfortable being there. "Verena is the exception among Ravenclaw students. Many Slytherin students like her and feel that she should have been placed in Slytherin instead of Ravenclaw."
Both curious and confused, Severus suddenly rose up in his chair and began to listen to Lucius with interest. Since when was a student of Ravenclaw favored by Slytherin? Verena must have clearly made an impression on the Slytherin students that no other student of Ravenclaw has ever done before. Though Severus thought that there was more to this story then met the eye.
"My place is with Ravenclaw, not with Slytherin..." hissed Verena softly, "and neither is it with Gryffindor."
"You see, I was in a bit of trouble some time ago and Verena helped me get out of it," said Lucius, "Like you, I found it rather surprising to me that a student of Ravenclaw was so willing to help a student of Slytherin House when for the most part, it seemed to be so wrong. I am her friend and continue to be indebted to her for that day. Though I would much prefer that we were more than just friends."
Verena once again narrowed her eyes at Lucius and sneered. Realizing that his charms, as far as he could tell, were not winning Verena over so easily, Lucius smiled and looked over at Severus again and smiled, "I don't know what you did to get Verena interested in you, Severus, but whatever it is, I want to know."
"Go find Narcissa will you," said Verena breathlessly, opening the book in front of her and peering down its pages. "I think I hear her calling for you."
"Very well, I'm leaving..." said Lucius as he got up from his chair and started walking off. But before he got too far away from the table, he looked back and spoke again, "By the way you two, the Quidditch match is in one hour. I suggest you two get ready soon before your Quidditch captains find you here together and change their minds about your places on the Quidditch teams...good day."
Verena looked over the edge of the book and narrowed her eyes at Lucius before Lucius smiled and turned away, strutting towards the entrance to the library. Verena scoffed and shook her head before looking back at the book again. Severus on the other hand, continued to look on in shrewd puzzlement, more confused than ever.
CONTINUED…CHAPTER 4…