Amazing Grace
The Second Year
He was not looking forward to this year already. Little brat Potter had decided to miss the train. Her snowy owl had shown up at Hogwarts a couple of hours after the train had departed. Dumbledore dispatched McGonagall to go retrieve the child, and they were back no more than ten minutes later. He'd just been finishing up his lunch in the Great Hall when they walked in.
McGonagall instructed the brat towards the staff table. The girl approached awkwardly, sitting stiffly on her chair, several seats down from where he sat. He poked moodily at his remaining food while McGonagall ate and spoke with the girl about what happened. He narrowed his eyes at her story: the barrier had simply closed itself off. He wondered what happened to the rest of the students that would have arrived after the brat. And he wondered why the barrier had closed itself. As much as he hated the child, he knew she wasn't one to lie.
He swept away quickly, knowing that he had to investigate this strange occurrence. Firstly, what kind of magic could close the barrier? Naturally, it was closed for all but about three hours out of the year. Otherwise, some completely unsuspecting Muggle could happen across it. However, he was pretty sure that the only way to actually close the barrier was to know the correct code for it, of which only the engineer could open and lock the barrier. Not even dark magic could penetrate it; the magic surrounding the barrier was as old as the protections around Hogwarts.
Then that meant that it couldn't have been a wizard who did it. He scowled at the possibilities, but his logical brain quickly narrowed down the choices. It had to be either a goblin or a house-elf. They both had magic that worked along different planes as wizards, making it all too easy for any of them to affect the magic around the platform.
He moved quickly through the dungeons, intent on first obtaining a Calming Draught before going to do more research.
~{-}~
The Start-of-Term Feast went by smoothly. He watched the Potter brat as she chatted with Granger, occasionally stopping to take a bite of something. He noticed that the two of them paid careful attention to the first-year Gryffindors, making sure that they got to know all of them.
Their first class together, he could already feel the resentment pouring off of the brat as she glowered at him from the front of the room. He had separated her and Granger and partnered them up with someone else. Granger now sat with Miss Greengrass, and the brat sat right in front of him with that Weasley fool who had barely scraped by with an Acceptable last year. At least that was one dunderhead he wouldn't have to deal with in his NEWT class.
He smirked as the brat failed to catch the fool before he went to add a wrong ingredient for the third time now. She had been quite diligent so far, but this one time she just didn't catch him in time, and he congratulated himself internally as she let out a moan of despair.
He thoroughly enjoyed marking that D next to her name on his grade sheet.
The next day, he was making his way through the corridors when he suddenly heard shouting. Quickly, he made his way to investigate.
At the other end of the hall were several students; spells and hexes were flying.
"Immobulus!" he roared, waving his wand at the students. Anger radiated off of him as he took in the scene around him. The students were completely frozen besides their eyes, which had grown wide in fear at the sight of him. All had except for one pair of eyes, one pair of very green eyes.
This scene could almost be called an all-out war between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, except for the fact that a first-year Ravenclaw stood cowering behind his least favorite Gryffindors along with Miss Greengrass. On the opposing side were Ravenclaws, varying between first- and third-years.
He knew what was going on, but it wasn't his responsibility; it was Filius'. His Ravenclaws could be quite cruel at times, even worse than his Slytherins. His eyes traveled to the first-year huddled behind three second-years. Ah, Xeno's child, that's why she's being cast out as a freak.
His eyes briefly met the brat's, and he wished that he hadn't as he was forced into her mind.
There was a house-elf standing on her bed in her closet-like room. It told her about horrible things that would happen at Hogwarts this year, but everytime it got close to revealing something, it would begin beating itself with something. She tried to keep it quiet, casting fearful glances at the floor. Her fear increased as she heard the voices stop and thunderous footsteps up the stairs. She slung the house-elf into the wardrobe just in time to see the door fly open and a hand backhand her across the face.
She crumpled to the floor, sobs emerging as soon as she could catch her breath, her hand lifting to meet her bruised cheek to find a line of blood escaping from her skin.
They closed their eyes simultaneously, both trying to escape the images flooding their minds.
"Detention, Misses Potter, Granger, Greengrass, Lovegood, Fawcett, Chang, Edgecombe, Brocklehurst, Li, McDougal, Everhart, and Jamison with me for one week."
He certainly couldn't take off points since Miss Greengrass was in his own House, but he could barely contain his anger. He released the young chits from his freezing spell and waited for them to disperse before leaving so that he could make sure that their war wouldn't break out again.
The Ravenclaws scampered off instantly, alerting him even further to their guilt, while the brat, Granger, and Miss Greengrass escorted Xeno's daughter along the corridor at a much slower pace.
He just barely caught the brat say, "Don't worry, Luna, we'll get your books back. Even if it costs us even more detention." Damn brat.
~{-}~
He looked over Filch's disgusting feline companion without a modicum of feeling. It was basically a rock with fur, and he was actually more concerned about the well-being of the quartet that was currently on Filch's most hated list. Wait, did he seriously just think that? Well, at least Miss Greengrass was a Slytherin.
He pondered whether this event was in any way related to the Malfoys' house-elf. It hadn't taken him long to realize that the house-elf in the brat's memory belonged to the pureblood family because of the amount of time he had spent over at the manor.
He turned his eyes to the four girls who were staring with apprehension at the mangy feline. The brat looked particularly shaken up, but he couldn't imagine why. She was adamantly refusing to meet his eyes, but that was really nothing new. But it was something about the way that she was doing it; he could see that she was hiding something.
~{-}~
The Chamber of Secrets and Dobby the house-elf had some sort of connection; he knew it. But what was it? All he knew about the Chamber of Secrets was that it had been opened when his mother was a second-year, several students had been turned to stone, and eventually a girl died: a certain Myrtle Daggy.
Voldemort.
He racked his brains, trying to remember something his neglectful mother might have mentioned from her school days. It was fruitless; he hadn't done a whole lot of listening back then, just a lot of running away.
He checked out the library's yearbook from that year, and came upon a relatively familiar face from a group of fifth-year Slytherin boys. TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE. He wrote the name down a spare piece of paper and wrote LORD VOLDEMORT underneath it. He drew lines between each name and ended up with an A, an I, and an M. Annoyed, he penciled them in before the Lord Voldemort part:
TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE
I AM LORD VOLDEMORT
He snorted. Leave it to the Dark Lord to make up something as simple as an anagram to conceal his true identity. But... Riddle wasn't a wizard name. It was a Muggle surname. He slumped over in the seat he was in; this couldn't be. The Dark Lord, who was so completely against the idea of mixing Muggles and magical, was not even a pureblood. His father had to have been a Muggle, and it was questionable as to who his mother was.
~{-}~
He watched his Slytherin team on their brand new Nimbus 2001s as they flew circles around the Gryffindor team. However, he did notice that something was definitely wrong with that Bludger; it was as close to the brat as it could be without hitting her, and she was flying furiously to keep it away from herself.
Draco was so busy laughing at the brat to notice that the Snitch was flying around his very head.
But of course the brat had noticed. She darted at Draco like an arrow, bringing the Bludger with her. Her fingers closed around the Snitch just as the Bludger snapped her outstretched arm like a twig and continued on to hit and dislocate Draco's shoulder. Snape winced as he heard both of their cries in pain; he wasn't sure which voice had caused him to do that.
While the Beaters from both teams attempted to wrangle with the Bludger, all the other members of the team helped their respective Seekers onto the ground and into safety. However, they would never make it there, thanks to a certain inadequate teacher who quickly rid the brat's arm of every bone it had contained. Lucky for Draco, his Head of House managed to make it down there to stop Lockhart just in time from probably completely removing his entire left arm.
He had the Seekers' respective teammates take them to the Hospital Wing, glaring daggers at that fool, Lockhart, until he had the good sense to leave.
~{-}~
Loud knocks awoke him from his slumber. It was one of his nights off, so he was quite annoyed that he was being woken at this ungodly hour. He pulled open his door in ire, coming face-to-face with Professor McGonagall.
"Can I help you, Professor?" Her face seemed to crumple a bit. He knew something had happened. "What happened?"
"One of my Gryffindors was attacked tonight. Albus confirmed that the Chamber has in fact been opened," she said in a wavering voice.
He blinked uncomprehendingly for a moment. Then he said, "I'm so sorry, Minerva." He reached out a hand to grasp her shoulder slightly. "Would you like to come in?" She nodded and let him wave her inside. He set a kettle of tea to boil while she sat by the fire.
"It was Colin Creevey, one of my first-years," she said, looking into the fire, still stunned, "He was going to visit Miss Potter in the Hospital Wing, and..." she trailed off.
Of course the brat was in some way involved, he thought wearily. The girl always seemed to attract the worst kinds of trouble, both directly and indirectly, and others were usually hurt in the crossfire.
"Who would want to do this, Severus?" she asked, eyes pleading for answers. He stared at her for a moment before sighing and looking away.
"I do not know the answer to that question, Minerva, but believe me, I will find out." As the attacker was thought to be the Heir of Slytherin, the best place to start looking was his own House, so he was in the best position to find out who was opening the Chamber.
~{-}~
He stood staring at that dim-witted Lockhart who dared to both start up a Dueling Club of all things and then to also ask him, Snape, if he would assist him in the demonstration. He couldn't imagine this going any way other than Lockhart ending up flat on his ass. Or perhaps his back or face.
He just happened to look over at the brat; she was staring at him, and he thought that was probably the reason why his eyes had been drawn over there. He winced internally at the baleful glare she had fixed on him.
He waited just long enough for Lockhart to finish giving all those dunderheads those idiotic instructions (no one had dueled like that since the 1700s) before blasting him off his feet and proving that he really knew nothing about dueling. Though, the gasps that rang throughout the Great Hall did do a great deal to improve his ever-foul mood.
Snape watched warily as Lockhart began partnering up the students, and so he proceeded to help him by starting at a spot where he knew he would come upon the brat before Lockhart did. She, Greengrass, Granger, and Lovegood were all together.
"Time to split up the Dream Team, I believe," he said sneeringly. The brat just glared at him defiantly. She glared an awful lot, he noted disdainfully. He partnered Greengrass with a third-year Ravenclaw, Granger with a fourth-year Slytherin, Lovegood with another first-year Ravenclaw, and pulled Parkinson aside and put her in front of the brat. They glowered at each other, but he ignored it.
When Lockhart mentioned having a pair come up and demonstrate for the rest of the students (as if he and the buffoon hadn't already done that), Snape picked the brat and his prized Slytherin to be the example. He knew that Lockhart would completely agree since he had that fame-based, unhealthy obsession with the brat.
He watched as Lockhart tried to show the brat how to do some ridiculous wand movement that would never work even if he had managed not to drop his wand and leaned close to Parkinson's ear to whisper something that would surely terrify the brat, at the very least.
Intense satisfaction at seeing the brat's shocked face was quickly replaced with uncertain dread as she began speaking in Parseltongue to the snake that had come out of Parkinson's wand. He hurried forward to get rid of his mistake, but the damage was done. How was she a Parseltongue, and even more, what else didn't he know about her?
~{-}~
He didn't actually suspect anyone in his second-year Slytherin-Gryffindor class of arson until he actually found the remnants of a firework in one of his Slytherins' cauldrons. He knew it had to be a Gryffindor because Slytherins generally wouldn't deliberately try to hurt another Slytherin, and he didn't want to believe it was the brat, but there was definitely something about her demeanor that screamed out her guilt.
He decided against using Legilimency on her, seeing as what had happened the past couple of times. Therefore, he really had no way of proving it had been her, and he watched with trepidation as she walked out of his classroom with Granger and Greengrass. He had no way of knowing what they could be planning or why they had to destroy what could have been a perfectly fine way to end a Friday.
~{-}~
Snape paced restlessly in his office. He knew there was something that he was missing. Another student and a school ghost had been attacked. What could possibly attack something that was already dead? He leaned over a piece of parchment on his desk and made a list:
1.) The Heir of Slytherin: What was Slytherin known for? Hating Muggleborns and speaking to snakes.
2.) Petrified students: What has the ability to petrify? Why haven't the rest of us seen anything?
3.) Dobby, the house-elf: How did the Malfoy elf know that terrible things would happen this year? Does Lucius have something to do with this?
He sighed and sat down in his chair heavily. Then he had a sudden surge of brilliance. He headed out into the corridor swiftly, making his way towards the headmaster's office. After passing those hideous gargoyles, he rapped sharply on the door to the office.
A weary "Come in" was heard, and he entered.
"Ah Severus, what can I do for you tonight?" Dumbledore asked. Snape noticed the slight darkness under the headmaster's eyes and knew that the attacks had been troubling him even more than himself.
"Headmaster, I need to know what you know. About the Chamber, I mean. It's real, isn't it? What else are you hiding?" he responded quickly, hoping that he wouldn't be interrupted.
Dumbledore gazed at him piercingly for a moment before saying, "You may want to sit down for this."
Snape didn't remember the walk back to his office; his head was spinning with so much new information, and he found that it was beginning to be difficult to breathe.
The Dark Lord was the heir of Slytherin and a half-blood who attacked fellow students while at Hogwarts; he shouldn't really find it so surprising, but the strangest part was that he hadn't really even thought about the Dark Lord as a student. Tom Riddle. Snape had to know more about him.
~{-}~
"I still think that little brat is guilty," Filch grumbled, "An absolute menace."
He had just gotten finished telling Snape about the Hufflepuff and the Gryffindor ghost that had been attacked, how the brat had found them. No, Snape knew she wasn't behind the attacks, just rather unfortunate in her timing.
He hadn't yet had the chance to begin research on Tom Riddle, but he certainly was going to start as soon as all these dunderheads left for winter holidays. He seriously needed some time away from the incessant demands of his students, so he was very fortunate to have the holidays coming up so soon. He could also continue some of his more delicate potions–
"Wish Dumbledore would allow corporeal punishment again. Bet that brat wouldn't make any more trouble after that," Filch muttered, pulling Snape from his thoughts.
"Yes, well Dumbledore is the headmaster for a reason, I'm sure," Snape replied delicately, wanting nothing than to end the conversation as soon as possible.
~{-}~
He was in the middle of making a Blood-Clotting Potion, which has to be made incredibly fast to avoid overcooking it, when he felt his wards on Slytherin House being disturbed by a non-Slytherin. He made a split second decision to go check on his snakes, who were staying over break, and quickly vanished the contents of his cauldron, scowling all the while.
The common room was nearly empty, but he took in automatically that Draco was sprawled out luxuriously on one of the black leather sofas, Pansy Parkinson simpering next to him. Millicent Bulstrode was sitting on another sofa, talking to them quietly, while Daphne Greengrass, surprisingly, sat at a nearby table working on homework. She usually worked with Granger and the brat in the library. Or, at least she was pretending to work on homework; her eyes kept flitting over to the three on the sofas, and Snape became very aware that only four of his second-year Slytherins had stayed over the holidays, and three of them were male.
"Miss Parkinson, Miss Bulstrode, Miss Greengrass, might I have a word with you in my office?" He noticed that neither of the imposters seemed particularly bothered by this, but Greengrass had taken on a look of apprehension.
"Of course, Professor," Miss Parkinson said coyly. They all stood and followed him out of the common room.
Once in the corridor, fake Parkinson spoke up, "Professor, before we go to your office, would it be possible for us to use the little girls' room. I was really enjoying spending time with Draco, and I didn't realize how much I had to go, and I'd prefer not to go alone."
He stared at her intently, fairly certain he knew exactly who this really was, but he didn't see the harm of allowing her to go to the toilet. In the dungeons, there were no windows they could sneak out of, and he knew there was no passageway to escape through in this particular toilet.
"Of course, Miss Parkinson," he said politely, leading them to the toilet. He watched on with a touch of apprehension when fake Parkinson propped the door open.
"Just so you can make sure we don't disappear," she said, with a knowing look in her eyes before turning the corner inside of the toilet.
He waited three minutes before, not hearing any noises at all from the toilet, walking over to the door and looking inside. He saw no one and did a quick homenum revelio. Cursing, he stalked back to his office in anger.
~{-}~
Over the first few weeks of the new semester, Snape made sure to punish those students, even if he couldn't prove it was them, by smothering them with mountains of homework. He did notice that Granger disappeared for several weeks; he had heard several different stories about what had happened to her, but the most prominent two was that she had been petrified, which he knew hadn't happened, and that she had been cursed and no one was allowed to see her, which he thought was entirely probably, considering how distinctly annoying she was.
Easter Break came up soon enough, and he had to sit down with all of his second-year, fourth-year, and sixth-year Slytherins.
As usual, he encouraged many of his students to take Care for Magical Creatures because Professor Kettleburn was always an easy O for his... less academically-suited students. He made sure none of them took that fraud Trelawney's class, and he managed to stop all but one from taking Muggle Studies (damn Nott). His more intelligent students then split between taking Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, while his not intelligent students (like Crabbe and Goyle) took on extra Flying classes.
In these ever so monotonous moments, he was able to continue thinking about the mystery surrounding this year. Voldemort, or Tom Riddle, was the Heir of Slytherin. Lucius Malfoy was a Death Eater, so it would only make since that his house-elf would know about some of his dealings, but there was still one thing missing, one last piece of the puzzle; but why were they connected now? He also hadn't figured out which kind of monster was in the Chamber.
It was the day of the Gryffindork-Puff Puff game that Hogwarts was shaken up again. He was sitting sullenly in his office, trying to decide whether or not he wanted to begin grading when a Patronus, a tabby cat, appeared in front of him.
It spoke in Minerva's voice, "Severus, there's been another attack. Gryffindor Granger and Ravenclaw Clearwater. I'm cancelling the match and sending the students to the dormitories. Let them know as much as they need to know." It disappeared.
Just perfect.
~{-}~
His Slytherins watched dispassionately as he related what had happened, all except one. Greengrass let out a soft sob and ran down to her dormitory, no doubt to cry for hours.
The new safety policies set in place drove him almost over the brink. He had to put a barrier spell on the Slytherin common room between 7 PM and 7 AM to prevent anyone from entering or leaving, and he had to call roll at 7 every evening to make sure that every Slytherin was within Slytherin House. It was also tedious having to walk all of his classes to their next class.
Every other night, Minerva came to his quarters, crying about how she was certain that Hogwarts was going to be shut down. He would make her tea and, after the first couple of times this happened, also served her biscuits or cookies that he had the house-elves prepare beforehand.
The two had been close for years, bitter rivals as far as quidditch went, but she had been the only other person he had ever confided in besides Dumbledore, and he knew that Minerva would never use that information in the same way that Dumbledore had on so many occasions. He thought he knew why she would be coming tonight; that Granger girl had been petrified earlier that day.
"Hagrid's been taken to Azkaban," she said in an upset, weary voice. Her eyes were bloodshot from crying, but he couldn't imagine that the fate of that great oaf had her so unsettled. "And Lucius Malfoy had Albus suspended from the school!"
He was stunned. Dumbledore was no longer here? Instantly, his thoughts drifted to the brat. He wasn't sure why, but he had a feeling something would happen to her... or because of her.
"Minerva, this may sound strange, but... I need you to put a tracker spell on the Potter child. I have a feeling that she's in danger."
Minerva glanced up at him from behind a tissue she'd been sniffling into, "Why would you think that?"
"Just a feeling. Please, if you don't, I will, and I'd prefer for her not to know that I would ever cast magic on her."
Minerva nodded slowly, "I understand, but it's a complete disregard of our privacy policies, Severus."
"Fine," he said, ending their visit abruptly by declaring fatigue. He knew she was right, but he didn't have to like it.
~{-}~
That night, he was patrolling the halls, and as he passed by that idiot Lockhart's office, he heard distinct sounds of copulation. Blending into the shadows, he waited until a rather unintelligent Hufflepuff stumbled out of the office. She was walking bowlegged, and he assumed that she was simply trying to pass Lockhart's class. He recognized her as a sixth-year that hadn't made it into his NEWTs class. Unfortunately, she was already of age, so what Lockhart was doing was only morally wrong, not actually against the law.
Strolling into Lockhart's office, he slammed the door loudly so as to automatically have Lockhart's attention.
"Ah Professor Snape, how are you this pleasant evening?"
"Less fortunate than you, I'm afraid," he replied with a curl to his lip. He strode closer to Lockhart, smelling the scent of sex on him, "If I ever catch another student walking out of here, having done the same thing as that student," he paused, calming his fury, "I will kill you."
Shoving him backward, Snape stalked from the room, leaving a stunned Lockhart behind.
He slept uneasily that night, sensing something looming close by. For two weeks, nothing happened. No one was petrified, attacked, or killed. Things would have been quite normal, if Dumbledore and Hagrid had been there, and if there hadn't been a half dozen rock-hard children in the hospital wing.
It was late when he heard a voice calling him from his fireplace. Pulling a robe around himself, he went to meet Madame Pomfrey, who asked him to bring several antidotes as quickly as possible.
He Flooed into the Hospital Wing after grabbing a few strong antidotes as well as some bezoars.
He was barely surprised to see Greengrass, Lovegood, and the brat there; he had told Minerva something was going to happen. However, he set about his work immediately. Lovegood looked the worst off; she was turning blue, which led him to believe whatever had happened was keeping her from getting oxygen, even though she was breathing. Shoving a bezoar into her mouth until her could figure out what was wrong with her, he felt better as she began to regain a natural color. Greengrass was covered in all kinds of scratches, which were starting to ooze green pus. He selected a bottle of thick black goo and told Madame Pomfrey to begin applying it to every cut.
It was strange though, when he began to examine the brat. She had neither cuts nor anaphylaxis. In fact, if he hadn't known better, he would have said she was sleeping. But he did know better. She was suffering from intense magical exertion.
"Who brought these students in?" he asked tersely to Madame Pomfrey.
"The centaurs. Firenze and a female I didn't recognize," she responded competently.
"So," he started slowly, looking at the student of his own House, "What were you three doing in the Forbidden Forest?" She looked into his eyes blankly as he silently cursed; he should have known the Greengrass family would put protection on their children's minds.
He looked over to Lovegood, but she was looking down. Annoyed, he pulled his wand out and waved it over the still unconscious brat. He didn't really want to do this, seeing as how the last few times had turned out, but he really saw no other way. He delved lightly into her mind at first, feeling only emotions of fear and pain, before going deeper and sorting through a few memories. After touching upon more than a couple, one was suddenly shoved into his mind, and he realized belatedly that her mind had a natural tendency to Occlude if it felt that it was being invaded.
Lily was standing right in front of him. Just like she was still alive. But she was holding a baby, Potter's brat. There was fear written across her face, but there was also determination. He gasped as he saw Voldemort ascending the stairs to the nursery.
Not this memory, not this memory... he begged to whatever being was keeping him there.
He watched, unable to close his eyes, as Voldemort murdered the only person he had ever truly loved.
Suddenly, he was shoved out of her mind and he stared into her now-open eyes, Lily's eyes, until they closed again as she fell into a fitful slumber.
~{-}~
It was less than a week later when another message appeared painted on the wall. A quick head count by the deputy headmistress, and it was discovered that little pureblood Ginny Weasley was missing and, according to the message, was down inside the not-so-mythical Chamber of Secrets.
He was addressing his Slytherins, telling them Hogwarts would be closing, when he noticed that Daphne Greengrass wasn't in the room. She wasn't easy to miss, with bright platinum hair and skin as pale as a ghost, especially in the darkness of the dungeons.
After leaving his prefects in charge to make sure no one left the dormitory, he charged through the halls to the headmaster's office.
"Lemon drop!"
Inside, he was met with the sight of the two parent Weasleys, looking much worse for wear than the last time he had seen them. Not that he could blame them so much; their daughter had just been discovered dead after all, not that he cared for any of these snotty little children anyhow.
"Yes, Severus?" the Headmaster asked solemnly, looking at the Weasleys pointedly.
He cleared his throat and said, "One of my students has disappeared, Headmaster. I request another check on the students be done to make certain that no one else is missing."
Dumbledore knew he was referring to the brat. He nodded and summoned Fawkes immediately. However, Fawkes didn't appear. A crease appeared on the old man's forehead as the twinkle in his eyes dimmed. Thinking for a moment, he suddenly smiled a small smile.
"Everything will be just fine, Severus."
And he was right. Just under an hour later, three young girls, Greengrass and Weasley covered in grime while the brat also had some blood on her, came stumbling into the Headmaster's office.
Another remarkable tale later, and Severus was once again in his office, shooting back shots of Firewhiskey. His nerves were shot from all of the excitement of the day. The End-of-the-Year feast had been interesting; almost everyone (except his Slytherins) were wearing their pajamas, and the victims of the basilisk, as well as Hagrid, made their way into the Great Hall as Madam Pomfrey revived them steadily.
But now, he sat in his office alone; he had half-expected Minerva to come visit, but it was already four in the morning, so he doubted she would now. Sighing, he knocked back a fifth shot of Firewhiskey and stood, slightly off-balance.
As he collapsed into bed and started the quick transition into passing out, he desperately hoped that next year wouldn't be nearly as draining on him as these past two had been.