CHAPTER 5: WHEN SEVERUS MET VERENA (PART 2)
INT. THE SYTHERIN QUIDDITCH ROOM – AFTERNOON (APR. 27TH, 1972)
After a half hour with Verena in the school library, Severus made his way to the rooms where the Slytherin Quidditch team had gathered and were preparing for the coming events. A voice carried from the far end of the room where the Slytherin Quidditch team was gathered as Severus entered it. The voice was emanating from Augustus Hovelshot, the captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team.
"Hey Severus," said Augustus, "I heard that you were sitting with Verena Witchazel earlier. You're lucky if you have gained favor with her. Lucius has been trying to do for ages what you only did in a matter of minutes. I can't say I'm not jealous."
It didn't take Severus long to realize that Lucius had told everyone on the Slytherin team that he had been sitting with the mysterious Verena Witchazel. However, Severus still could not understand why so many Slytherin students were so interested in Verena. Being in a House which normally shunned away any students from House Slytherin, it seems that Verena must have done something so utterly remarkable that it had impressed most of the Slytherin students, thus labeling her as being a friend to them rather than a foe. Severus however, knew that he would have to get to the bottom of the mystery that was Verena Witchazel and more sooner than later.
Saying nothing, Severus found his way to a small broom cupboard, where his broom and other necessities for Quidditch are waiting for him. Severus's place on the Quidditch team was as the Slytherin team Seeker, the most important place on the Slytherin team. As the Seeker, his job was to seek out and catch the smallest ball used in the sport, the Golden Snitch.
Having already flown onto the field, Trevor Bobscandel and the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team dressed in their long, flowing Quidditch robes of solid blue were mounted upon their brooms and busy showing off their flying skills to the onlookers who sat in the seats.
Trevor's place on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team is that of a Beater, someone who used a thick, wooden club to bat away the bewitched Bludgers as they flew through the air on their own accord.
Bludgers were thick iron balls, ten inches in diameter, which were used to knock out the members of the opposing team. The job of a Beater was to protect their team mates by knocking away the Bludgers and sending them towards the members of the other team.
From atop one of the spectator towers, a loud voice of a Ravenclaw student rang out over the loud speaker and over the Quidditch pitch below.
His greeting was short and to the point, "Welcome to Quidditch!"
This was followed by the usual fanfare of fireworks, which shot up into the air and burst out over the Quidditch pitch. The crowd rose to their feet and cheered as the fireworks ceased and the Slytherin team flew through the large doors and out over the pitch. The Quidditch pitch was flanked by high walls which wrapped around the entire pitch from underneath the towers which jetted up above them. Hovering high above the pitch mounted on her broom, Verena looked down at the players that were flying below her, dressed in her long and flowing Ravenclaw Quidditch robes.
This was Verena's first game as the Seeker for the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team and was making the most of it by being the first to get a glimpse of the Slytherin Team Seeker. After all the other Slytherin Quidditch team members leave, Severus mounted his broom and flew out onto the Quidditch pitch.
Looking around calmly, Verena's eyes soon caught a glimpse of Severus, adorned in his long, flowing solid green Slytherin Quidditch robes. Realizing that it was Severus who was the Seeker for House Slytherin, she narrowed her eyes and sneered before swooping down on her broom to level up with him. Severus, suddenly noticing Verena hovering in front of him, sneered and narrowed his eyes.
"So," said Verena curtly, "Severus Snape is the Slytherin House Seeker?"
"What is it with you?" hissed Severus, who was becoming more and more frustrated by the fact that he couldn't figure Verena out and why she was so liked by those of House Slytherin. "And why would you want to know?"
"Because I want to! You are the Slytherin Seeker, Severus, my target in this game! Do you really think you can take me on?" snarled Verena, "I am two years older than you are and much more experienced on a broom then you!"
"Why you…!" snapped Severus, "How dare you say that you're better than I am? I can beat you with one hand tied behind my back!"
While Verena and Severus continued to talk back and forth to one another, the rest of the Slytherin Quidditch Team were busy doing a brief warm-up by showing off some tricks with their brooms. Among them, one of the Slytherin students does a hand stand on his broom in mid-flight, while another Slytherin student flew upwards and then spiraled down into a free-fall.
"I will beat you, Verena!" hissed Snape once more. "I've caught the Golden Snitch before and I will do it again!"
"Oh please, Don't humor me!" said Verena, "I've seen how you fly on that broom of yours! I've seen old hags fly better on a broom stick then you do! Give it up! I'm going to catch the Golden Snitch before you! You will never escape me, Severus Snape! Or should I call you Neverus Cape?"
A burst of laughter rang out from some of the Ravenclaw team members who were in ear range of the conversation.
"Good one Veri! Neverus Cape, Never escape! Ha-ha!" said a Ravenclaw team mate, laughing.
"Ha-ha, you show him, Veri!" said another Ravenclaw team mate, laughing.
Severus bared his teeth and hissed angrily. Verena was clearly not as friendly on the Quidditch pitch as she was away from it. It was as though she was living up to the usual bantering Ravenclaw antics of badgering the members of the opposing Quidditch Team. Though somehow, Severus felt that she did not really mean it and was simply showing off to her fellow teammates.
A whistle rang out over the Quidditch pitch, signaling to everyone flying above to get into their assigned positions above the center of the pitch.
Below them, a man in white and brown robes and with a sliver whistle around his neck walked out to the center of the Quidditch pitch, where a large wooden trunk was jostling and moving about, as though something inside of it was desperate to get out. The man stood next to the trunk and looked up at the player hovering above him.
"Now, I want you all to play a nice, clean game!" said the man, "You know the rules! There will be no foul language and no foul actions while this game is taking place. I will be watching you all from the sidelines to make sure that you all play fair and by the rules. Now, prepare yourselves!"
As the man pulled out his wand, the two teams give final serious looks at each other before he pointed his wand toward the trunk and blew his whistle once more, shooting a beam of blue light from the tip of his wand toward the hinge lock on the trunk. The lid on the trunk violently blew open, releasing a large ball which shot into the air, followed closely by two Bludgers.
The voice on the loud speaker rang out once more, running into a play by play of the events that were soon to follow: "The Quaffle is released, followed by the two Bludgers – the Quaffle snatched up by Joseph Teggery of Team Slytherin, flying towards the Ravenclaw goalpost – the Golden Snitch is released, heading towards the Seekers..."
In a flash, Severus was off on his broom, flying after the Golden Snitch, followed closely by Verena on her broom.
The play by play continued: "Trevor Bobscandel and Marie Windbellows of Ravenclaw flank Teggery to the Ravenclaw goalpost – Teggery shoots – ooouuu, and the Quaffle is knocked away by the broom of Adrian Whippoorwill of Ravenclaw..."
The crowd roared with excitement. Adrian Whippoorwill, a boy with light skin and brown hair, smirked mischievously, while getting a barring of teeth and a scowl from Joseph Teggery, a boy with dark skin, in return.
The play by play continued once more: "Trevor Bobscandel takes possession the Quaffle and flies towards the Slytherin goalpost – oouuu, and Trevor ducks as a Bludger almost hits him – He is flanked by Lucius Malfoy and Petunia Prestrill of Slytherin – Lucius slams hard into the side of Trevor – oouuu, an Trevor loses his grip on the Quaffle – Lucius takes possession of the Quaffle, almost crashing into Marie Windbellows – Lucius shoots –Lucius scores! – ten points for Slytherin…"
Marie Windbellows of House Ravenclaw was a girl with light skin and bedraggled brown hair.
As Marie ducked, she began to shriek, "Lucius! Fiend!" - then shook her fist at him.
Laughter roared up from the Slytherin tower, where other Slytherin folk are sitting and watching, amused by the sight. Looking to see where Lucius had gone, Trevor failed to realize that he was flying towards the side of one of the spectator towers. In an instant, Trevor lost control of his broom, crashing into the tower with a mighty thud. A barrage of laughter from some of the Slytherin Team burst through the loud roar of the crowd as Trevor fell to the ground and slid to a stop on his back.
Noticing that Trevor had fallen, Verena looked down at Trevor before looking up again, glaring and sneering at the Slytherin team members who were laughing. Then the Slytherin team members who were laughing at Trevor suddenly shrieked as Verena quickly aimed herself and her broom towards them and flew with great speed past them, only inches away from them as though she was purposely trying to hit them and stop them from laughing.
"Arrgh!" cried the Slytherin students that Verena passed.
Verena flew back around to briefly look down at Trevor again and yelled, "Get up Trevor, Dunderhead!" as a Bludger zoomed over Verena's head, causing her to duck. Verena lifted her head up again, "Get back into the game!"
The play by play continued: "The Quaffle is snatched up by June Dillaweed of Ravenclaw – Slytherin is trying hard not to let her score – oouuu, and a hard slam into June by Lucius Malfoy – June shoots – Edwin Hovelshot misses the save – she scores! – ten points for Ravenclaw!"
"Trevor, get on your feet!" yelled Verena once more.
Trevor quickly got back onto his feet, grabbing up his broom and quickly flying away on it again, flying after the Quaffle.
The play by play continued as the crowd grew louder: "The Quaffle is once again in the possession of Ravenclaw by Alana Dragonspyre – Alana aims towards the Slytherin goalpost, flanked by Lucius and Petunia – Alana shoots – the Quaffle is knocked away by Edwin – another save for Slytherin – Marie Windbellows snatches up the Quaffle once more – she shoots – she scores! Another ten points for Ravenclaw!"
As a way to get revenge off of Lucius for causing him to fall off his broom, Trevor zeroed in on a Bludger and, using his club, knocked it towards Lucius, causing Lucius to duck. Lucius looked up at Trevor angrily and shook his fist at him. Trevor grinned vindictively as some of the Ravenclaw team laughed.
Alana Dragonspyre, of Team Ravenclaw, a girl with light skin and long black hair, yelled over at Verena, "Verena, the Golden Snitch! Look!"
Verena swiftly looked up at the empty space in front of her. Unknowingly, the Golden Snitch was hovering in front of her, taunting her to grab it. The Golden Snitch quickly zipped off as Verena tried to grab it. Verena flew off after it as Severus suddenly appeared out of nowhere, nearly running into her.
"Arrgh!" Verena shrieked.
"That is for Team Slytherin!" said Severus confidently, with a grin of mischief, having noticed what Verena had done to cause a shriek among his fellow Slytherin team mates. The crowd was cheering even louder now as the two Seekers were now flanking one another and chasing the Golden Snitch.
The play by play continued once more: "The two Seekers are neck and neck – ohhh, and Verena Witchazel of Team Ravenclaw gives a body blow into the side of Severus Snape of Team Slytherin – Severus slams back in return – Verena slams into Snape once more – The two Seekers are gaining ground on the Golden Snitch – it's going to be close! – closer...closer..."
In an instant, the two Seekers reached out for the Golden Snitch, both losing control of their brooms and falling to the ground below. Verena slid to a stop on her stomach, while Severus came to a stop on his back.
A loud gasp rose from the crowd as the whistle was blown, stopping the game. A sudden silence fell over the pitch, with both teams unsure as to which Seeker has caught the Golden Snitch, or if either Seeker was conscious.
The members of both teams landed on the ground and began to from a circle around the two still bodies which were sprawling upon the ground, looking down at them. The man in the white and brown robes ran out into the pitch towards Severus and Verena, who continued to remain silent and still.
"Everyone make a space! Out of the way, let me through!" yelled the man as he broke through the crowd of students surrounding Severus and Verena. He kneeled down and began to look over Severus and Verena, "Are you two alright? Is anybody hurt?"
For one tense moment, there was a heavy silence, as both Seekers lie on the ground next to one another. Slowly, one of the Seekers raised their arm above their head and slowly opened their palm, revealing the Golden Snitch.
The man in white and brown robes quickly turned and looked up towards the towers, flailing his arms at the crowd and blowing his whistle once more. He was signaling that all was well and that one of the Seekers had caught the Golden Snitch. The crowd instantly roared into a loud cheer of joy as the circle of bodies surrounding the two Seekers parted, revealing Severus Snape, sitting up and holding the Golden Snitch that was hovering only a couple inches above the palm of his left hand.
The man blew the whistle once more as the play by play concluded: "Severus Snape has caught the Snitch! Severus Snape gains one hundred and fifty points for catching the Snitch..."
"Slytherin wins!" yells the man, as the Slytherin Team began to cheer Severus's name.
"Hurray for Severus Snape! Hurray for Team Slytherin!" yelled the Slytherin team mates.
Verena slowly sat herself up and looked up at Severus, putting her legs underneath her and rubbing the back of her neck. Severus was helped onto his feet by Lucius Malfoy before Severus began to hold the Golden Snitch above his head once more, with the crowd chanting Severus's name. Verena narrowed her eyes and sneered at Severus for a moment before her narrowed eyes turned into a glare of fondness and her sneer turned into a shrewd smirk.
"Well done, Severus Snape, well done." Verena muttered under her breath, looking at Severus's face lit up as Severus looked up at the crowd and began to grin, waving the Golden Snitch over his head. The praises continued long into the evening hours and long after the game had ended.
EXT. HOGWARTS SCHOOL GROUNDS - LATE AFTERNOON (APR. 22ND, 1976)
It was now early spring, 4 years later, and all was starting to come back to life after the long and cold winter. Sitting underneath a lone magnolia tree atop a small hill, Severus was busy scribbling notes in his potions book with a long, narrow pointed quill pen while petals from the magnolia flowers above him fell all around him. It was nearing late April, which had long been known to the Wizarding world as a time of renewal and of new life. However, this was to be Verena's last year at Hogwarts, when she would be graduating with her class and thus wanted to spend as much time with Severus as possible, the one person who had been her only true best friend ever since meeting him so long ago.
As Severus quietly glanced through his tattered potions book, he began to notice a rustling sound above his head. Severus looked up and noticed a familiar face looking down at him. It was Verena, who had been up in the tree and looking down at Severus.
"Catch!" said Verena, in an unusually cheerful, but melancholy tainted manner, as a small rock was tossed down and was instantly grabbed from the air by Severus.
"Excellent!" said Verena, with a gentle smile, "You still have the reflexes of a proper Quidditch Seeker."
Mildly irritated that he had been disturbed while he was studying his potions book, Severus sneered and narrowed his eyes briefly.
"What do you want?" said Severus breathlessly, tossing the small rock away from him and looking back down at his potions book, "I am busy studying for my end-of-the-week potions exam!"
"Is that what you are doing?" said Verena with fleeting mischief in her voice. "If I didn't know better, I would have sworn that you were busy eyeing young Lily Evans standing by that large rock over there."
Severus's pallid face began to blush aflame with embarrassment. He was indeed looking over at Lily Evans, who was standing next to a large boulder along with several other Gryffindor students, including one James Potter.
Though Severus was happy in his own way that he was seeing Lily Evans from afar, he was not at all pleased to see James Potter so close to her and if given the least fleeting chance to, Severus would have taken out his wand and cursed James Potter. But he wasn't about to give him the satisfaction.
"Oh yes, Severus Snape is looking at Lily Evans because Severus Snape likes Lily Evans…no, loves Lily Evans," said Verena coolly, "But Lily Evans is no longer talking to Severus is she? Called her a Mudblood did you?"
Severus's face went from blushing with embarrassment to completely flaring with anger, "How do you know about that?" snapped Severus, "How dare you speak that word in front of me!"
The word Mudblood, was an insulting and derogatory slang used to describe those wizards and witches who were of mixed Magical and Muggle blood. The word Muggle was the wizard word used to describe folk who are without magical powers and live in the normal, non-magical world.
As the story goes, Severus, in a flare of agitation and anger while the Marauders were tormenting him one day, caused him to accidentally call Lily Evans a Mudblood, even though it was true that she was of mixed Magical and Muggle blood. Now the only girl that he thought he had any chance of falling in love with was no longer speaking to him and tried as he did, he still had yet to gain any forgiveness from her.
"I have eyes, Severus!" said Verena with a sneer. "I saw the whole thing. You had a fight with Lily Evans when you called her a Mudblood. She ran off and then you ran after her. And how you tried to apologize, oh yes, how you begged for her to accept your apology. But no, she continues to reject your apology. But that is not the only reason why she has shunned away from you isn't it?"
"Stop it!" snapped Severus, who was getting more and more agitated by the second.
"It is the painful truth, Severus," said Verena coolly, "Severus, the boy whose love of the Dark Arts is shunned by the one he loves."
"Stop it! Stop it right now!" snapped Severus ever more loudly as the anger within him began to boil over.
"Mudblood!" hissed Verena, as Severus was not stopping her from saying it. "I'll say it again, Mudblood!"
It was clear to Severus that Verena, for some terribly strange reason yet to be understood, was trying to cause a fight between her and him. In his anger, Severus quickly pulled out his wand and casts a few curses towards Verena, but Verena quickly deflected them away from her with her wand as she jumped from tree branch to tree branch above him, knocking more petals down onto Severus's head. Magnolia petals were flying everywhere as they fought.
At the last moment, Verena casts a spell of her own towards Severus, "Accio rope!"
Verena quickly conjured up a finely woven rope out of thin air and sent it charging towards Severus with her wand. The enchanted rope quickly wrapped tightly around Severus's body and legs, causing him to drop his wand and his potions book. Severus shrieked in frustration, wiggling and sprawling on the ground like some wriggling worm on a hook.
"Enough!" snapped Verena loudly, looking down from the branches of the tree for a brief moment before she quickly climbed down the side of the tree to the ground below. Verena quickly grabbed up Severus's wand and stuffed it into her waist band as she walked up to Severus and looked down at him dangerously.
"Let us play a game," said Verena coldly and mischievously, "It is called 'Teaching Severus Snape how to control his emotions'."
"Untie me! Untie me this instant!" shrieked Severus angrily, who was trying to break free of his bonds.
"You are an Occlumens, Severus, a boy with the talent to hide his deepest and darkest thoughts and emotions behind the wall of bitterness and grim expressions," said Verena contemptuously, "And you would be happy to know that I also have that most distinctive of powers and use it to better my advantage. But Severus has yet to truly master the power. You are a good Occlumens Severus, but not quite good enough."
"Let me go! Let me go or I will curse you!" hissed Severus, who snapped at Verena, so loudly in fact that Lily Evans herself was soon to notice what was going on from afar. James Potter on the other hand, was looking on and laughing at the sight of Severus tied up and wriggling on the ground. James Potter was certainly amused to no end.
"With what?" Verena said calmly and coolly, "You'd need your wand to do that and unfortunately, you don't have your wand at the moment."
However, there conversation was quickly cut short by the voice of one of the teachers, "What is going on?"
Verena turned to look behind her, only to see that it was the Potions teacher, Professor Horace Slughorn, glaring down at the scene that was unfolding before him. Professor Slughorn was wearing long and flowing gray-green robes and a short, gray-green pointed hat, looking very much like a proper and respectable wizard of high standing.
Horace was also the Head of Slytherin House at the time and was one of the very few wizards who came from House Slytherin that was actually nice and good-natured to everyone, no matter which House they were from. However, he had a well-established root of mischief and cunningness running through his veins, like all who are of Slytherin House did and had a talent for producing mildly grim humor whenever the urge hit him. He was also highly experienced in the art of potion making as well as being a master duelist, may it be with a wand or with a sword.
It appeared that Slughorn had been wandering about the school grounds and was watching over the students who were studying quietly nearby. Having been alerted to what was happening by Lily Evans; Professor Slughorn strutted over to investigate.
"Sorry, Professor," said Verena softly, "Me and Severus were just playing a game."
"No, we're not! She is tormenting me! Tell her to untie me!" protested Snape, who was still struggling to free himself from his bonds.
But Slughorn didn't seem too keen on releasing Severus from his bonds right away and gave a smile as though he was amused, crossing his arms.
"Oh, I see," laughed Horace, smiling down at Severus before looking back at Verena again. "Trying to teach a fellow student how to use their Occlumency powers properly again are you? You should have told me that Occlumency Practice was in session, I would have joined you. But for now, Verena, I want you to release him. Young Severus Snape here gets plenty of attention from the Marauders without you putting your ten pence in..."
Verena raised an eyebrow briefly before going back to looking bitter and blank-faced again, releasing Severus from his bonds with her wand as she spoke, "You know about that, Professor Slughorn?"
"All the teachers here at Hogwarts do," Horace said, "It's just that Severus Snape never comes to any of them to report it. Oh, he'll tell us when the Marauders do something wrong or against the rules, but he won't tell us when they tease and torment him."
Severus protested once more as Professor Slughorn walked up closer to Severus and looked down at him, "But sir, it's just that...the Marauders...they would."
"Do what, Severus?" said Horace in a mildly harsh voice, "Hurt you more if they found out that you were ratting on them for tormenting you? You really should grow a backbone, my dear boy.
"Young Verena here can help you. She's the exception among Ravenclaw students. If anyone can teach you how to stand up against James Potter and the Marauders, it's her, as long as you don't physically hurt one another in the process. Now if you two are quite done picking on one another, I suggest you both part ways and get back to your studies. Run along now, the pair of you..."
"Yes, sir...I'm going, sir." said Verena as she pulled out Severus's wand from her waist band and handed it back to Severus. But Severus was still holding a grudge, narrowing his eyes at Verena as he snatched back his wand from her. Verena reacted by raising her hands up in surrender and looking on mischievously.
Disgruntled, Severus paused briefly and closed his eyes a moment, then opened them again, narrowing his eyes and scowling, "Fine," said Severus curtly, "I'm going to...back to my Common Rooms! At least there I can study in peace!"
"Good lad! Now off you go." smiled Horace as he waited and watched to make sure that Severus and Verena didn't start into a fight again. After they left his sight, Horace walked off with his arms behind his back, looking across the expanse of grassy green fields once more.
CONTINUED…CHAPTER 6…