"We've got to be really quiet," Millie muttered, "There are spells to detect Disillusionment Charms… if a professor hears us, we're dead."
"Then be quiet," Jas hissed, creeping through the silent Gryffindor common room. Millie and Jas slipped through the portrait hole.
"Who's there?" the Fat Lady said sleepily.
The padded silently down the corridor and stole around the corner. Jas couldn't decide if it was a good or bad thing that they didn't encounter a single patrol on their way to the library. She'd never snuck around after hours; perhaps there just weren't very many patrols.
Just as Fred had said, the library wasn't locked. They slipped in the door and carefully slid under the rope separating the Restricted Section from the rest of the library.
"That was easy," Millie whispered, a deafening sound in the dead silence, "I always imagined it'd be more difficult to sneak around at night."
"Haven't you ever tried?" Jas asked, running her finger down the rows of titles.
"Yes, in first year, but I didn't get far." Millie rolled her eyes. "Prefect caught me. Percy Weasley- heard of him? He's Fred and George's brother. That's actually how I got to be friends with Fred and George. We served detention together."
"Fred and George's brother is a prefect?" Jas muttered. "Wow…"
Millie laughed. "I know," she agreed. "Look at some of these titles… A Magickal Death... 1,000 Torture Curses… I only know about the Cruciatus, how many are there? Ooh, look, Restricted and Forbidden Potions! I have to look at that one."
"What about later first year and second year?" Jas asked curiously.
"Well, I ran around a bit with Fred, George, and Lee Jordan first year, but they wouldn't let me in on their best pranks, since I was only a first year. Then second year, no one left their dorm after curfew- what with the basilisk creeping around. Hm…I didn't know the Polyjuice Potion was restricted?"
Jas slowly went through the shelves of books in the Restricted Section, occasionally stopping to pull one off the shelf and add it to a steadily growing pile. Time ticked by as the girls sat amidst piles of dusty books, flipping through them and sorting them. Finally, Jas nodded in satisfaction. "All right," she whispered, "I think this should do it."
Millie stared at Jas' stack of books. "Um, Jas, how exactly do you plan on getting all those books back to our dorm?"
"Like this," Jas said, pulling out her wand, pointing at the stack of books and muttering, "Resilio!" The stack o books instantly shrank into little rectangles that Jas put in her pocket.
"You're a genius," Millie said approvingly.
"I know," Jas said, grinning, as she shrunk Millie's book. "Now let's get out of here."
Millie glanced around. "Don't you think Madam Pince will notice half the Restricted Section is missing?" she whispered.
Jas shrugged. "It's not half the Restricted Section… just a few books. Besides, we're going to return them."
"I guess," Millie said, looking dubiously at the telltale gaps in the bookshelves. "Well, let's go. I'm tired."
The two witches renewed their Disillusionment Charms and Jas stealthily cracked the library door open and peaked out into the corridor. It was silent and empty. She slipped through the door.
As Millie was following through the door, Jas heard the sound of Peeves, Hogwarts annoying poltergeist, cackling and it was alarmingly close. "Millie, c'mon!" Jas hissed just as Peeves zoomed around the corridor, juggling what looked suspiciously like dung bombs.
Millie let out a gasp and fled from the library, the door closing behind her with a sharp snap. Peeves stopped juggling and looked around suspiciously. "Whose there?" he called out in a singsong voice. "Is it an ickle firstie or a scary beastie? Say hello to old Peeves, won't you?"
Jas and Millie crept as silently as they could down the corridor, away from Peeves. Without warning, Peeves hurled a dung bomb at them and they both screamed as it exploded on them in a shower of disgusting, foul-smelling contents.
"STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" Peeves bellowed. "STUDENTS OUT OF BED BY THE LIBRARY!"
Not bothering to be quiet any more, Jas and Millie broke out in a full run. They sprinted down the corridor, hurriedly recasting a Disillusionment Charm on themselves to cover up the evidence of the dung bomb, although nothing could hide the horrid stench emanating from them.
"What are you shouting about Peeves?" a voice asked irritatedly.
Jas almost fell over at the sound of that voice. SF. Oh, hell. If it was possible, Jas ran even faster, feeling as if all the demons of hell were behind her. She did not care to contemplate what SF would do to her if he caught her out of bed in the middle of the night, with a pile of restricted books in her pocket and covered in the aftermath of a dung bomb.
As they fled up a seemingly never-ending staircase, Filch's voice rang out behind them: "Wait! Who's there? Stop!"
Not believing their terrible luck, they didn't stop running until they reached the Fat Lady.
"Fortuna Major, Fortuna Major, Fortuna Major!" Millie panted desperately.
"All right, all right," the Fat Lady said. "What are you two doing out of bed so late?"
They ran into the common room, up the staircase to the girl's dormitory and they both made a beeline to the bathroom. They didn't speak until they'd ripped off their offending robes and were in the shower stalls with water running over them. Finally, Jas began laughing and Millie joined. It was the hysterical laughter of people who have just nearly avoided death.
"W-why are you laughing?" a voice yawned.
Jas jumped and Millie let out a small scream. Recognizing the voice, Jas asked, "Er- why are you up, Hermione?"
"Because I'm going to take a shower," Hermione replied cautiously. "Why are you two up so early? You usually sleep in, don't you, Jas?"
"Oh, no," Millie groaned, realizing what Hermione was implying.
"We're up early today," Jas replied in a strangled voice. Had they really been in the library that long? She hadn't even noticed. Classes today were going to be wretched.
Jas and Millie dragged themselves to Potions after a lunch spent staring blearily off into space. Herbology had been terrible- Millie had spent at least five minutes trying to shove her mandrake into her water pail rather than the pot. Jas had been vaguely aware of Ernie Macmillan chattering away by her ear. She had nodded at what she hoped were appropriate times and tried not to doze off on the Venomous Tentacula next to her. It was a relief when they were finally able to put their ear muffs on so she no longer had to pretend to listen to people.
To her relief, they were only brewing a Pepper Up Potion today, which was rather straightforward to brew. She had also brewed it on many occasions and thus could probably brew it in her sleep, which is more or less what she would be doing. To her dismay, SF told her to stay after class. She knew it could not be because of her potion; it had been perfect.
Millie shot her a worried look and the rest of the class stared at her curiously. Jas vaguely wondered what sort of relationship they imagined she and SF had. She decided she probably did not want to know.
"Yes, sir?" Jas inquired wearily in front of SF's desk.
"You are tired," he remarked, not looking up from the essays he was marking. He scratched angrily with his quill and put a large 'D' on the one he was marking.
"Yes, sir," Jas replied dully. It surprised her how complacent she was when she was tired. She sadly considered that she still had History of Magic to go to.
SF may have found her complacency odd as well; he looked up at her searchingly. "Could your tiredness be related to nighttime strolls in the library?" he asked, his tone deceivingly light.
Jas was thankful for her weariness, as it took a full five seconds for his words to sink in, so she pushed out a reply before she had time to so much as flush. "Or perhaps homework," she replied innocently. She hadn't had much homework, but she figured that statement was safe enough. It revealed nothing.
"Perhaps," SF said dryly. "I would advise against doing so much… homework in the future." He eyed her, a small frown gracing his features. "You look almost sick," he chided. "I trust I do not have to detain you in my quarters to ensure you do not wander the castle at night- or, forgive me, to ensure you do not do excessive amounts of homework in the middle of the night?"
Jas had the grace to blush, feeling confused and somewhat ashamed. Had her homework lie been that transparent or was he reading her mind again? She would need to read that Legilmency book as soon as possible. As soon as she got some rest, that is. "N-no, sir," she stuttered. The idea of being trapped in his quarters was more than slightly terrifying.
"Good. You are dismissed," he said, returning to his marking.
Jas fled the room, unsure what had just happened. She almost ran into Millie, who was waiting for her outside the door.
"What happened?" Millie prompted once they were a safe distance from the Potions classroom.
"He knows," Jas muttered, "Somehow, he knows."
"Knows about what?" Millie asked, puzzled.
"Last night! He more or less told me not to do it again," Jas explained, frowning at the memory of the conversation.
Millie stopped. "Wait," she said, a small giggle rising in her throat, "You're telling me that Professor Snape knows you were the one wandering around in the middle of the night… and he didn't do anything?"
Jas shrugged. "C'mon, we'll be late for History of Magic. And no, he said if I did it again he'd 'detain' me in his quarters… I'm guessing that means make me sleep there? Because I have a room there too. I don't know. He was surprisingly calm, though. Maybe it's because he can't prove it."
"You have a room in Snape's quarters?" Mille murmured in awe.
"Or maybe he's just on drugs or something," Jas continued to herself.
Millie laughed. "The idea of Snape on drugs is… preposterous. I can't imagine him being anything besides completely in control."
"True," Jas agreed with a yawn. "Ugh, History of Magic is going to be terrible."
"Isn't it always? At least, afterwards, we can nap until Astronomy tonight," Millie said bracingly.
"Afterwards?" Jas snorted. "I don't know about you, but I'm planning on napping during."
They slipped into the History of Magic classroom and sat at a bench in the very back. Harry, Ron and Hermione sat at the other bench in the back. To her amusement, Harry and Ron looked as thrilled as she was to be here, while Hermione was diligently organizing her parchment to take notes. Ron was dozing off with his head propped up on his hand while Harry doodled on a scrap of parchment.
Following Harry's example, Jas began doodling while Professor Binns began his lecture. During her first few classes with Professor Binns, she had felt badly for her inability to pay the man- or the ghost of the man, anyway- proper attention, but now she knew it was a lost cause. Besides, Binns did not seem to mind that the majority of his class dozed off regularly; on the contrary, he seemed to expect it.
Jas, still somewhat slap happy from lack of sleep, made an amusing cartoon of SF and herself, imagining what would happen if she made him truly angry. In the cartoon, he was breathing fire on her. She was attempting to run away, but was hindered by the chair that was seemingly stuck to her, in much the same manner as the one he had stuck her in the previous week. Using her new found knowledge of parchment spells, Jas colored and animated the cartoon.
She turned to show it to Millie, only to see that she had dozed off with her quill still pressed to the parchment in the middle of making some note about the Goblin Rebellion of 1639. Just as she was considering joining her, a snort of laughter from her right roused her.
Harry had seen her cartoon and was grinning wolfishly at her depiction of SF. She recalled that he and SF hated each other; of course, she couldn't think of a single Gryffindor that actually liked SF. She smirked back at him, wondering why SF disliked him. He was, after all, hailed by most of England as the savior of the wizarding world. She was rather immune to all of that nonsense, having been brought up in France where Harry Potter was not a household name, but she would have thought SF could have seen past his Gryffindor status in light of his history. Then again, this was SF she was thinking about.
She was surprised when he lightly tossed a piece of parchment at her. In trouble? The note simply read.
You have no idea. She wrote mysteriously, then directed it to float elegantly back to him.
He grinned. Show off. What's with the chair?
She smiled ruefully to herself, then found herself explaining, for inexplicable reasons: Am not. He put me in… time out.
When Harry read that, he had to stifle a laugh, for which Jas shot him a glare. Hermione was also glaring at him, but Jas suspected it was because Harry was not paying attention. Ron grunted in his sleep at the sound of Harry's stifled laughter. Hermione turned her glare to Ron, sighed in exasperation and continued taking notes.
I always imagined Snape as being more violent in his punishments, Harry wrote, his continued laughter evidenced by his crooked writing.
Tell anyone, and I'll have him kill you, Jas threatened. And no, no violence. Yet.
Trust me, Snape doesn't need an excuse to kill me, Harry replied.
I've noticed you aren't his favorite. What did you do, poison his favorite pet snake? Jas was curious as to why SF relentlessly antagonized Harry.
I'm not really sure. Dumbledore told me before that my dad and him hated each other when they went to school. So is he different with you? Harry was curious about the formidable Potions Professor as a father.
So he hates you for who your father is? I would've thought he'd be more logical. And I'm not sure what you mean by different. He usually refrains from taking points from Gryffindor or giving me detention while I'm in his quarters, anyway.
In his QUARTERS? Harry replied.
Why is everyone shocked by that notion? Did you think he slept in a coffin?
You have to admit, it's a possibility, Harry replied with a slightly apologetic smile, as if he thought perhaps he had gone too far.
I will admit I cannot confirm or deny the presence of a coffin in his room. The last time I tried to go in his room, the doorknob bit me.
Harry choked on his laughter again. Binns dismissed the class at that moment, giving them a long essay for homework. Hermione glared at Ron and Harry, coldly informing them that she expected her notes would help her a great deal with the essay and that she sincerely hoped some people would not expect to use her notes.
"Oh, Hermione," Ron yawned, "Don't be like that. You're more focused and driven than us. We're just not as smart as you. Is it nice to rub it in?"
Jas laughed silently at their antics and shook Millie awake. "Time to continue your nap elsewhere," she announced.
"Wha-?" Millie groaned.
As Jas dragged Millie out of the History of Magic classroom, strangely enough, she felt a small pang of regret that her and Harry's conversation had ended.
"Millie," Jas moaned the next day in the library, "It's worse than I thought."
"What?" Millie mumbled absently frowning at her Muggle Studies text.
Jas was staring in horror at a book that, as far as anyone else could tell, was about knitting patterns. She glanced around to check for potential eavesdroppers and lowered her voice. "He can go through memories! Memories, Millie! I don't even have to be thinking about them!"
Mille looked up at Jas, horrified. "Can you tell when he does it?" she whispered.
"No, it says an accomplished Legilmens can easily do it without the target noticing, although eye contact is usually necessary for the Legilmens to go through memories. Also, a spell can be used to make the process of going through memories faster, although the target almost always notices if the Legilmens does that."
"Wow," Millie muttered. "What can he tell without eye contact and a spell?"
"Without eye contact and a spell, an accomplished Legilmens can get a feeling for a person's emotional state or some sort of rubbish. It says the most talented Legilmens can almost always tell if a person is lying in their presence, whether they look them in the eye or not." Jas groaned. "He can do that, too. Great. Not only is he a mind reader, he's bloody good at it."
"How does he read minds? With eye contact?"
"Well, it says Legilmency isn't mind reading, actually. It's more like interpretation than reading. The difference between reading a textbook and reading poetry, the author says. Like the Legilmens gathers information from a person's mind: their emotional state, their memories, maybe a spare image or two floating around in their head. From that, they can speculate on their thoughts."
"That's just disturbing. Is there a way to stop it?" Millie asked, rubbing her head absently.
"Yes, it's called Occlumency. But I didn't get a damn book on Occlumency," Jas grumbled, "And this book is all about Legilmency, though it mentions techniques used in Occlumency often enough. Obviously most people learn Occlumency before they use Legilmency."
"Not another trip to the Restricted Section," Millie groaned.
Jas grinned. "Oh, yes. Don't worry; it won't be any time soon. I want to return these other books when I go back."
"Yes, by all means, let's consolidate trips," Millie muttered.
"I have to find out how to keep him out of my mind," Jas insisted. "I'm going to be around him twenty-four-seven until I come of age! Do you know how difficult it's going to make my life if he knows everything I'm doing?"
"Jas, I've grown up around wizards and witches. My family is very academic. And I've never heard of Occlumency or Legilmency. What if it's dark magic or a rare skill or just incredibly difficult to learn?" Millie's tone betrayed her doubt.
Jas sighed. "It can't be that dark of magic, or I doubt Hogwarts would have books about it, even in the Restricted Section. As for being a rare skill, with any luck, it's hereditary. As far as being really hard to learn- what do you think, I'm an idiot?"
Millie eyed her dubiously. "No, but everyone knows Snape is really smart; too smart to be a professor, really. That's why-" suddenly she stopped, obviously self-conscious. "I'm just saying, you might have to just get used to the idea of him being able to know what you're up to."
"That's why what?" Jas demanded, not missing a beat.
It was Millie's turn to sigh. "I will not repeat stupid rumors," she said primly, "Especially since you will definitely confront him about them and he will be able to see where you heard said rumors."
"Millie," Jas growled. "Don't make me use my Legilmency book on."
Millie snorted. "As if you could do anything," she retorted. "You've barely started reading it."
"I was talking about hitting you with it, but trying to Legilmize you wouldn't be a bad idea either."
Milled rolled her eyes. "Fine, but don't get mad at me. It's just-" Millie paused, considering her words. "You know that You-Know-Who was in power all those years ago in Britain. That he had quite a few followers, with more people joining him every day. I'm sure you've heard that his followers were called Death Eaters." Millie stopped again, looking uncomfortable. "Jas, are you sure-" she began.
"Yes," Jas said tightly, a feeling of dread creeping over her, "Carry on."
Millie frowned and twirled a stray lock of hair around her finger. "When I first came here, the older kids would tell us that Snape used to be a Death Eater and that if you got detention with him, he'd make you write out five hundred ways to torture a Muggle, or something ridiculous like that. You know, stories older kids tell because they think they're funny. Anyway, at Christmas one year, I mentioned it to my aunt- she'd had a few too many night caps at that point, mind you- and she told me about how Snape had been on trial for being a Death Eater after You-Know-Who fell. She used to be a journalist, see. She said Dumbledore stuck up for him and said that Snape had been a spy for Dumbledore from the beginning, so Snape wasn't sent to Azkaban. She said he's been a Potions Professor here ever since then."
Jas sat there, numb. After several moments of silence, she croaked, "When exactly were you planning on telling me this?"
"Oh, Jas. This is why I didn't want to tell you- who knows what the truth is. I was hoping he'd tell you himself, but that obviously isn't going to happen. I just didn't want someone like Malfoy to throw it in your face one day and then you'd wind up dueling again," Millie sighed, looking down at her book. "Besides, it's not so bad, is it? Dumbledore stood up for him, so he must not be a real Death Eater. And if he was a spy, then that means he was really, really brave."
Jas' eyes narrowed. Millie wasn't looking at her. "What aren't you telling me?" she demanded.
"Noth-" Millie began.
"Don't lie!" Jas cried out, angry. "Everyone else knows more about him than I do! Tell me what everyone really thinks," she demanded harshly.
Millie stared at her for a moment. Then she sighed. "No one believes that he was really a spy," she said slowly. "Or, at least, not for Dumbledore. They reckon he was a spy on Dumbledore, since Snape had been rumored to be a Death Eater before he started working at Hogwarts. Dumbledore is the only person You-Know-Who ever really feared, so it makes sense that You-Know-Who would want someone to spy on him."
Jas stared at her friend. "So Dumbledore thought SF was spying on Voldemort and Voldemort thought SF was spying on Dumbledore?"
Millie winced at the sound of Voldemort's name, but shrugged. "More or less, I guess," she agreed. "But don't worry about it, Jas. It all happened so long ago, most people have forgotten about it. And even if they haven't forgotten, they don't think about it. No one really wants to remember those times."
"Don't worry about it?" Jas repeated. "I've just found out the man entrusted with my care was definitely a former Death Eater and possibly loyal to Voldemort and you tell me 'don't worry about it!'" Jas nearly shrieked the last part.
"Jas, calm down," Millie hissed. "Look, you can ask him about it-"
"It won't matter. He can lie quite well, I expect. Obviously, he was lying successfully to either Voldemort or Dumbledore, so I doubt he'd have any trouble lying to me!" Jas said, her voice continuing to rise.
"Jas, please," Millie begged, looking around. "People don't like hearing his name…"
"I don't care," Jas snapped, angrily shoving her books in her bag.
"Where are you going?" Millie asked, worried.
"Somewhere to think," Jas replied shortly. "Don't follow me, I'll be fine."
Jas had discovered the Astronomy tower was an excellent place to brood. It was always deserted during the daytime and almost always deserted at nighttime, after classes were over, at any rate. One could stare over the edge of the tower's walls with ease; the walls were short to allow for easy stargazing.
She found it difficult to wrap her mind around this newest piece of information that apparently everyone already knew. How could students walk around so calmly; knowing that their professor used to be a Death Eater? But, Jas reasoned, none of them really knew it. Even Millie had her doubts and she had heard it from someone who had supposedly witnessed Snape's trial. All they had was rumors and a surly Potions Professor's reputation to feed the flames.
And Millie was right about one thing, at least: no one seemed willing to discuss Voldemort or the past. Everyone was content with the way things were; with the peaceful state of the wizarding world. No one wanted to revisit those trying times of war. Jas laughed bitterly to herself. She had always longed for her real parents. Now she had one of her parents, at long last, and not only was he surly, uncaring and indifferent, he was an ex-Death Eater.
She had never better understood the platitude 'Be careful what you wish for.'
What did this knowledge change? Arguably, it only changed her. Dumbledore knew about it. Most of the student body had some knowledge of it. SF obviously knew about it, although she supposed he might not be pleased that she knew. She doubted he had intended to keep it from her though; how could he? He must have known she would eventually find out. That thought made her angry. He would rather she found out from a stranger than bothering to tell her himself? What sort of father was he?
The Death Eater sort, I expect, she thought, feeling entirely sorry for herself.
Her anger fueled her into action. She would find out once and for all it he was truly a Death Eater- they were all branded, after all. She would just need a short trip to the library to discover how to reveal his branding.