Chapter 10
Death Eater Extraordinaire
As exams drew ever nearer, Charity noticed that Charles Whitney, usually the most boisterous student in class, had been acting rather subdued. She'd thought he was probablyjust a little depressed in anticipation of the long hours to be spent studying for exams, until one day he raised his hand in her class, and as his robe slipped down his arm, she caught a glimpse of blood-red marks on his hand. She may have thought nothing of it and assumed it was just a scrape from goofing off with friends if he hadn't been so quick to cover his hand. She continued with the lesson without comment, but asked him to stay behind after class.
"Charles, let me see your hand," she said. He looked at her wide-eyed and shook his head. "Look Charles, I know I haven't been very strict, but I am your professor and you do need to listen to me," she said firmly.
He slowly pulled his sleeve away from his hand to reveal the thin red lines. On closer examination, Charity realized that the lines formed letters, and there was a sentence written across his hand. Squinting, she read, "I must not disrupt class."
At first she thought it was written in red ink, but then she noticed that the skin around the marks was puffed and irritated. The words were definitely formed by drawn blood from repeated scratching…or something. Her voice shook when she asked him, "How did this happen?"
Charles looked at the floor and answered, "I...I got a detention in D-Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"Did Professor Umbridge do this?"
"N-No. I d-d-id it to my-myself."
"How?"
"With this special p-pen in Professor Umbridge's office." His voice faltered and Charity could see that he was crying.
"Charles," she said, gently rubbing his shoulder. "Did she make you do it?" Charity tried unsuccessfully to control the anger in her voice.
"Y-Yes! But please don't say anything!" he pleaded, looking up at her with his tearstained face. "PLEASE! I deserved it. I enchanted some tacks and was sticking –"
"You did not deserve this!" Charity said forcefully. "Detention, yes, but this…this is torture!" He started crying again and Charity did something very unteacherly and hugged him. She rocked back and forth and let him cry on her shoulder. By the time he calmed down, her eyes were also filled with tears. Wiping away both of their tears, she told him, "Look, you just fly right in her class from now on. Save your jokes for my class, okay?" He nodded and she added, "No flying tacks though." He laughed a little, and then she wrote him a late pass for his next class. She handed it to him, telling him not to worry - she wouldn't say anything to Umbridge, but she was going to make sure this didn't happen again.
She didn't say anything to Umbridge, but she did go to McGonagall, as deputy headmistress. "Do you know that Doloris Umbridge is torturing students!" she practically shouted as she marched into McGonagall's office.
"I'll admit, her methods are a bit archaic," replied McGonagall distractedly, while she filed parchment in a drawer.
"Archaic? That woman is positively demented!" This time Charity actually did shout, drawing McGonagall's full attention. "Do you know that she made one of my students carve scars into his own hand? He's always been a bit of a trouble maker, but I'll take that over what she's trying to turn him into – a dejected little…little ZOMBIE!"
McGonagall let Charity carry on this way for a short while, then asked her to sit down and explained very calmly, "I know. I know. Believe me I feel the very same way and have vented my anger many times. What I've found out is that we are stuck in a powerless position to do anything about the situation. As far as we are concerned, Doloris Umbridge IS the Ministry and, therefore, the law around this school."
"Well, then I'll go talk to the law!" Charity jumped out of her chair and headed toward the door.
McGonagall raised her voice to warning level and said, "I'm afraid all you'll accomplish by confronting her is to rid Hogwarts of Muggle Studies, once and for all." This stopped Charity in her tracks. McGonagall was right - cross Umbridge just once, and she wouldn't hesitate to eliminate you and your course. Look what had happened to Trelawney and Hagrid. Charity slumped back down onto her chair in front of McGonagall's desk, while the black cat from Salem stared down at her.
"So that's it - we can't do anything?" she asked in a defeated tone. "Are the other teachers okay with this?"
"About as okay as you and I are. I'm afraid the best we can do is to try to keep our students out of detention with that…that…ugh." McGonagall sighed and leaned back in her chair with her head tilted up toward the ceiling. Charity could see with that sigh that McGonagall had already had more than her share of frustrations with Umbridge The last thing she wanted to do was cause more problems for her.
Resigned to her position and feeling philosophical, Charity muttered, "Yet another example of how absolute power warps the mind."
After leaving McGonagall's office, Charity headed down to the dungeons. Snape seemed to command a tiny bit more respect from Umbridge than did the other professors, so she thought she'd try to persuade him to have a little chat with the headmistress on the matter. Apparently he was not in, however, because his classroom was dark and he didn't respond to several knocks on his office door. On her way back up to her room, Charity considered that, perhaps, this was for the best. She wasn't sure that she and Snape saw exactly eye-to-eye on acceptable punishment for students.
At the next class, Charity announced without any reference to Charles that the students were to toe the line in all of their classes, most especially in Defense Against the Dark Arts. "If you are having any issues with the instructor for that particular class, please come to me with these problems rather than acting out in class. And if any of you do find yourself with a detention with Professor Umbridge, you are to tell me and I will accompany you," she told them, speaking with an edge rarely heard in her voice. The students listened attentively, although most had no idea what she was talking about.
One morning Charity woke up and was heading through her office to feed Bnickel when she found her parents sitting with wide grins on her cushy sofa.
"Surprise kitten!" sang her father jovially, while her mother rushed up for a hug.
"Mum, dad, what are you doing here?" Charity asked delightedly.
"Oh, your father has some business in the area so we thought we'd pop in for a birthday visit."
"Excellent! My class is about to arrive; would you like to sit in?" Her parents were thrilled and took seats at the back of her classroom, smiling away at the students as they entered. The students plastered on smiles in return, but then immediately turned to Charity for some explanation.
"Class, this is my mum and dad – Mr. and Mrs. Burbage." Smiles and nods all around. The lesson started out pertaining to the expeditions of Magellan, but somehow turned into a presentation of Charity's expeditions from birth to current times, complete with baby photos and all.
"…and here she is in Majorca at age five. See what a good swimmer she already was?" Mrs. Burbage said, showing off a picture Charity kept in her office. Charity tried turning the tide, but gave in once she saw how much her parents were enjoying themselves. After shadowing Charity around Hogwarts all day and meeting her students and various colleagues, Charity's parents decided to treat her to dinner in Hogsmeade. In the entrance hall on their way out, they ran into a colleague that Charity particularly wanted them to meet. Snape had just emerged from the doorway to the dungeons.
"Mum, Dad, I would like you to meet our Potions Master, Severus Snape. Professor Snape, these are my parents, Ralph and Trudy." Snape was as pleasant as Snape could be expected to be, but Mr. Burbage was surprisingly reserved, only nodding his head and not extending his hand to meet Snape's. Her mother said, "Hello," politely enough, but looked rather nervous.
Charity was confused by her parents' reactions, "Do you already know Professor Snape?" she asked.
"Only by reputation," her father answered stiffly.
Trying to cover for her father's rudeness, Charity said, "Professor Snape is quite an expert in potions—"
Her father cut her off by saying, "I understand he's quite skilled in all forms of magic." He then continued walking through the entrance hall. Charity followed and glanced back at Snape with an apologetic look.
Once they were settled into a cozy table at the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade, Charity asked her father, "What was that about back there with Professor Snape?"
"Did you really expect me to shake hands with a Death Eater?"
"What?" she exclaimed with shock.
"Didn't you know?" her father asked, looking somewhat incredulous. "Surely Dumbledore warned you about who you'd be working with?"
"C'mon dad, you don't know that for a fact," she answered. Being in the publishing business, Ralph Burbage was clued in to a lot of inside information, but not all of it turned out to be true. "Besides, even if there were any truth to it, he's obviously a changed man now," Charity added.
"Death Eaters don't change," her father replied darkly.
"He does have a rather sinister look about him," chimed in Mrs. Burbage with a shudder. It was funny to think that, not long ago, Snape had inspired the same kind of fear in Charity. But now that she saw him in a new light, his serious and dark presence inspired more of a warm respect in her.
"And he wasn't just any Death Eater," her father continued importantly. "They say he was becoming one of You-Know-Who's most trusted advisors."
"Well, why would Dumbledore welcome one of what's-his-face's most trusted advisors into Hogwarts? I'm telling you - it's not true," Charity said firmly.
"As for why Dumbledore's decided to trust him, I can't say. Unless he's just trying to keep his enemy close," Mr. Burbage said with his eyes narrowed in a knowing look. "I know all about the strange happenings around this school during the past few years, and I don't care what the papers are reporting – you can't tell me that Snape's not behind it."
Charity sat back, exasperated. She was clearly not going to convince her father. "Now kitten," he said, looking at her importantly, "don't you go cavorting with the likes of Snape. You just keep your distance."
"Oh Ralph," said her mother, rolling her eyes and patting Mr. Burbage on the shoulder. "Our Charity's not going to go 'cavorting' with a nasty man like Snape. Really!" She shook her head in amusement at the very thought, and Charity suddenly became intensely interested in her cheese plate. "Now can we please change the subject and enjoy our dinner?"
"Agreed," said father and daughter in unison.
Charity didn't get a chance to talk to Snape for the next couple of days. He exited the Great Hall quickly after meals and didn't linger in the hallways. After classes one afternoon, she waited in a dank corridor for his potions class to end. The students flooded into the hallway and cleared, and Snape emerged a few minutes later.
"Severus," she called and rested her hand on his arm to keep him by her. "I want to apologize for the way my father treated you the other day. If I had known, I would never have even introduced you." In the silence that followed, she added, "I'm sorry."
Still avoiding eye contact, Snape said in his deep voice, "He certainly has reason not to trust me. No apology necessary." He started to walk away, but Charity tightened her grip on his arm.
"But, Severus, you didn't deserve it."
They looked at each other for a moment before Snape began to roll up the sleeve on the arm she wasn't gripping and said, "Some sins are never forgiven." He turned his bare forearm over and showed her what looked like a tattoo of a skull with a snake coming out of the mouth. It was the same symbol that had been pictured all over the Daily Prophet two years earlier, when it had been conjured in the sky after the Quidditch World Cup. It was the Dark Mark, Voldemort's symbol.
Hot tears involuntarily sprang to Charity's eyes. She hated seeing that mark on him. She wanted to get rid of it. Releasing his other arm, she moved her hand towards it, but he gripped her hand firmly and shouted, "Don't touch it!" It seemed he'd been more forceful than intended because he immediately calmed his voice to a quieter tone and explained softly, "He marked each of us with this. He uses it to communicate."
Charity pulled her hand back, but the lump in her throat wouldn't let her say anything. Tears were streaming down her face. Snape began roughly rolling his sleeve back down, recovering the mark, and said, "So you see, your father is right. You shouldn't be associating with someone like me."
Charity found her voice again and said, "Severus, you're here now. Professor Dumbledore obviously believes you have changed, and so do I." She felt terrible when she remembered teasing him about becoming darker. Seeking to reassure him, she stepped closer and looked straight into his face, although he was now avoiding her tear streaked eyes. She said quietly, "All sins can be forgiven, Severus, if you really want them to be. I know that if what's-his-face does come back, like some are saying he will, you'll never go back to him."
Now Snape's eyes snapped onto Charity's. They shone with gratefulness, but soon glazed over into something Charity couldn't read. "One never knows exactly what they'll do in a situation until they are faced with it," he said.
This ended their conversation, but Snape stopped avoiding Charity in the halls after that.
The following are scenes that took place about this time, but to which Charity was never privy. Nevertheless, I thought it might provide some insight to the reader. The scenes took place at the headquarters of the legendary Order of the Phoenix. The Order is an independent and secretive organization that formed to fight Voldemort when he first came to power. The Order re-formed under the new threats and worked to prevent Voldemort's return to power:
Professor McGonagall and Mrs. Weasley found themselves alone in the kitchen at headquarters. McGonagall leaned in and spoke quietly to Mrs. Weasley. "Molly, you know I'm not one to give credence to rumors but…" she trailed off, apparently unsure how or if she should continue.
"Go on," said Mrs. Weasley. "Out with it."
"I trust this will go no further than this room," she said, looking Mrs. Weasley directly in the eye.
"Of course," answered Mrs. Weasley. The plump red head was now sitting at the edge of her seat.
"I simply need to run this past someone to make sure it's nothing we should be concerned about," McGonagall said as if convincing herself. She shook her head slightly, her decision made. As she readied herself to have out with it, her mouth curled into a rather girlish smile, which looked very strange upon her typically stern face. "It appears there may be a bit of a staff romance at Hogwarts," she said.
"Fred and George didn't have anything to do with it did they?" asked a panicked Mrs. Weasley. "No lovesick pasties or anything like that?"
"No. Well, I hadn't really thought about it, but…no, I'm sure the victim in this case would be quite impervious to such amateur attempts." Mrs. Weasley looked for a moment as if she might argue the 'amateur' comment, but decided against it in the interest of finally getting the story out.
"Minerva…" she prompted.
"Well, Professor Vector came to me the other day with a suspicion that Severus may be developing feelings for the new Muggle Studies professor - Burbage. He doesn't have any concrete evidence, he's simply noticed some friendly exchanges in the hallways, but I must say, I can't argue with him. Severus does seem to scowl much less at her than he does at the rest of us."
"So, he may have a heart after all?"
McGonagall chuckled and said, "It would appear so."
"Well, he better be careful around that one. My Charlie knows her, and if you ask me she's very fickle—"
"Molly, I didn't bring this up so we could rake Burbage's romantic history over the coals. I only wonder if it's anything we need to worry about as members of the Order. Severus knows most of what goes on here, probably more than any of us, and one thing we've always been able to count on is the fact that he's got no personal contacts - in other words, no grapevine through which any of our secrets might travel. If things, ehm, progress between him and this woman, should we be concerned that some of our secrets might slip."
Mrs. Weasley thought about it for a good long while and finally said, "No. Snape's not going to let anything get out of his control. If he's been able to turn spy for us without You-Know-Who finding out, I don't think we have to worry about his ability to keep secrets. Besides, he being sweet on her doesn't mean she's returning the sentiment. Honestly, if my Charlie wasn't good enough for her, I don't see how Snape could possibly fit the bill," she said, shaking her head.
"Good. That's exactly as I thought, but I needed a trusted second opinion. Let's keep this between you and me. I'm sure Severus would sooner set fire to the poor girl than have us suspect that he may actually have feelings for her."
The conversation stopped immediately as a long-haired, somewhat wild-looking man walked into the room with a rather smug smile on his face.
A few days later in the entrance hall of Order Headquarters:
Severus Snape walked in the front door, shaking raindrops from his umbrella. The wild-looking man poked his head out from the kitchen to see who it was and upon observing Snape, swaggered into the hallway.
"Coming to greet me? How thoughtful of you," Snape sneered at him.
"Actually, Snivelus, I've been meaning to ask you – how is Hogwarts' beautiful young Muggle Studies professor these days?" the man said. Snape seemed surprised by the question and didn't answer, but instead gazed suspiciously at him. "Does she still smell like wildflowers on a sunny, spring day?" the man asked in a purposefully wistful voice.
"Yes," Snape answered cautiously, still eying him.
"And is her skin still as soft as --" Now Snape's eyes flashed, and his face contorted with oncoming rage. "Ah," continued the man, his eyes shining on what used to be a very handsome face. "You haven't felt it. Well, let me assure you, you're missing out," he said and gave a nasty chuckle.
Snape's contorted face transformed into unreadable stone as he said calmly, "How do you know Professor Burbage?" His suppressed rage was evident only in the slight vibration of his voice.
"Remember, I lived in Hogsmeade all last year…" the man said in the tone of one embarking on a beloved bedtime story.
"As a dog," Snape spat at him. He meant it quite literally. It was rare, but some gifted wizards had the ability to transform themselves into the shape of an animal at will. McGonagall, for example, was an animagus (the name given to those who can make such transformations) and could become a cat whenever she wanted. This man's animagus was a big black dog.
"When in public," the mangy man responded suggestively. "Yes, well, Professor Burbage and I became quite friendly in Hogsmeade and we spent a lot of, ah, time together," he said softly, smiling nastily at Snape.
Snape looked stricken, and his hand tightened on his wand inside his pocket. Just then Mad-Eye Moody (the real Mad-Eye Moody) burst through the front door, nearly knocking over the two men as he stepped in. "What's this?" he said in his gravely voice. His magical eye roved around the hall and he said, "Good, you're here, Snape. You're the one I want to talk to."
"Naturally," Snape said, turning a sneer onto the mangy man.
The man turned to leave them and head upstairs. At the foot of the stairs, he stopped and called out, "Snape, tell our young friend 'hello' for me. Better yet, give her a lick on the neck for me - that ought to bring back memories…"
Snape made an angry move towards him, but Moody held him back. "Knock it off!" he barked at Snape and the man. "Do I need to remind you that we're in the middle of a damned war? And we don't need you two fussing about like a couple a' bloody school girls!"
Near the end of May, in the middle of a lecture on the Bubonic Plague and Muggle vaccines, Charity looked up from her chalkboard to see her students shifting uncomfortably in their seats. Some were shooting nervous glances towards the doorway at the back of the room. She raised her eyes to see Snape standing there.
"Oh, hello, Professor Snape," she said, smiling questioningly.
"Good afternoon," he addressed her in his formal tone, completely ignoring the students. "I am here for your peer review. Standard procedure for all junior teachers, Professor Burbage. Headmistress Umbridge should have told you." With no more explanation, he sat in a vacant chair at the back of the classroom and looked up at her expectantly. Charity stood silent, still trying to figure out what was going on when he added, "Please continue."
Charity continued with her lecture as if he wasn't there (as if that was remotely possible, but she did her best). In the last ten minutes of class she gave the students time to do a worksheet matching the Muggle vaccine with the injection site - bicep, shoulder or bottom - while she walked around and checked their work.
She allowed herself to glance at Snape with just a few minutes left of class and saw that he was staring at her. His face was ever the stony picture of reserve, but she, and probably only she, could detect the smallest trace of a smile cross onto his lips as he locked his eyes on her. The smile that suddenly lit up her face was much easier to see and she held his gaze as she continued her slow roam around the classroom. She somehow knew from that look that everything was okay between the two of them. Better than okay. She held Snape's gaze, oblivious to everything else around her, until she knocked into poor Lucas Snively's desk just as the bell sounded to signify the end of class. She helped Lucas pick up his pencils and books, and by the time the commotion of departing students had cleared, Snape was gone.