The next day they had their Transfiguration exam. Severus thought he did fairly well in both the practical and written parts. He just hoped that the examiner didn't notice the whiskers still on his teacup.
After the exam Severus followed Mary down to the kitchens. They stopped at a painting of a giant bowl of fruit. Mary reached out and tickled the pear. A green door knob appeared. Mary turned it and the painting swung open to reveal a cavernous room fillled with-
"House elves!" he exclaimed. He had never seen one before. There were tons of them here. They had bat-like ears, and huge eyes. They were whisking around, cooking, mixing, baking, and cooking. As the Slytherins approached, the house elves rushed to serve them.
"Some pumpkin juice,sir?" asked one of them.
"Er, no thanks," Sev replied.
"So why did you want to come down here?" Mary asked.
"Er, just curious," he replied.
There was no one in the halls as they left. "They're all outside, after exams," Mary said, "and we should be there as well."
"I'll catch up with you later," Severus said, "I have to go to the library."
"The library!" Mary exclaimed. "Sev, only you would go to the library the day exams are done."
Only after Mary had left did Severus mutter, "That's what I am counting on."
He was right, there wasn't a soul to be seen in the library, except for Madam Pince, the grumpy librarian. Sev quickly realized that what he was seeking could not be found here, or at least in this section. With a well aimed flick of his wand he sent a bookshelf tumbling. As books tumbled through the air, Madam Pince rushed over. Severus rushed over to the Restricted Section and quickly stuffed the most likely books into his bag. Then he rushed out. In the common room he searched through the books. He was looking for poison.
Moste Potente Potions served to be the most useful. There were many poisons. He glanced down at the ingredients and winced. Some were easy, but many of them were very expensive and hard to get. There were pictures of people with greatly pained expressions on their faces. It was horrible. Sev smiled as he pictured Potter, Black, Lupin, and Petigrew suffering like that. It was definitely worth it.
His spirits high, he headed down to the grounds. He spotted Mary and was about to yell here name, when he saw who she was talking to, and all his happiness crashed to the ground. It was Lily Evens. He knew Lily would never, ever approve of what he was planning to do. Well, maybe with Potter out of the way she will change her mind about me, he hoped.
He headed back to the castle, and caught sight of Mulciber and Avery, two fellow Slytherins. "Hey guys," he shouted, "I need your help with something!"