Chapter Nine

Sirius Black has been spotted in the castle. The portrait of the Fat Lady was slashed, and rumors fly about the castle that a student's bed was ripped to shreds by him inside of the Gryffindor common room. Security is tighter than ever, leaving the atmosphere around Hogwarts dark and uninviting. Students travel in packs more so than before, and Snape personally fetches Danu twice a week and walks her down to the dungeon for their private lessons.

Most students seem to believe that Black escaping is a sure sign that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named will return. Danu had never been particularly afraid of him before; she never had a reason to. She didn't grow up in the wizarding world, she had no idea what the aftermath of his reign was like. She only heard the stories, saw the children in the castle who, like her, had no parents. To her, he was a scary story, a tall tale concocted to scare children into behaving. Of course, she knew he was real at one point, but there was no way he could return. Harry Potter, if only an infant at the time, defeated him when his curse backfired. Even Dumbledore believed this to be true.

Now, the possibility of his return seemed real. If Sirius Black were one of his supporters, if he could turn on his own best friend and have him murdered, what else would he be willing to do for him?

Danu heard the stories that Snape was a Death-Eater. She did not believe them to be true. If he were, wouldn't he have been on trial like the rest of the supporters? Not to mention, Dumbledore would never let him in the castle if he were. Of course, Snape favored the Slytherin students, but Flitwick favored his Ravenclaws, and that didn't make him a bad person. No, there was just simply no way that Snape was, or had ever been a Death-Eater. After a long night of crying, she had forgiven Snape for telling her that her parents did not care about her. She knew, of course, that he must be right in his accusation. If they were indeed alive, they had made no effort to locate her. This did not stop her from wondering about them, though.

Summer was fast approaching, and the thought of leaving Hogwarts for the last summer before her final year made Danu's stomach turn. Every year she became depressed as the last few months of the school year flew by, but this year was even harder on her. She knew that as soon as the summer ended and she was back at Hogwarts in September, the school year would go by faster than ever. Then, she would need to quickly produce a plan on where to go and what to do afterwards. She had a very promising future at St. Mungo's, but what would she do until then? She had no job, no money, and nowhere to go. She had seen what happened to the people who aged out of Bernadette's, they left broken and terrified with no one and nothing. The thought of it terrified her.

On the edge of the park, just out of reach of the Womping Willows branches, grows wild bitter root. Professor Sprout showed her where to find it during her second year. Here Danu sits, spade in hand, digging the valuable roots out to deliver to Snape for tonight's potion. They will be brewing Burning Bitter Root Balm to bring to Madam Pomfrey. Apparently one of the Weasley twins' pranks backfired and she is in dire need of replenishment.

Making her way down to the dungeon after filling her foraging basket to the brim, Danu feels rather proud of herself. Not only has she managed to collect more bitter roots than she had anticipated, but she had also found vervain and wormwood close by. She had noticed that Snape was getting rather low on both of these plants in his stores. It was still too early for her lesson with Snape, but she planned to drop the basket of herbs off with him then make her way up to the dining hall to grab dinner before returning to the dungeon. Lost in thought, she doesn't hear the group of students approaching from behind until she feels a sharp push on her left shoulder, and the basket falls from the crook of her elbow spilling its contents throughout the passageway.

"Might want to watch where you're going, Mudblood." The culprit spits the words at her as he goes out of his way to stomp on the plants that had fallen from her basket as he passes her. His group of friends follow suit, laughing as if he had just told the joke of the century. She had never been called a Mudblood before, in fact, she had never actually heard the word at all. Being still ignorant of most wizarding slang, and spending most of her time alone, she could only imagine what it actually meant. Obviously, the word was vile, saved only for the persons you truly despise.

Danu quickly collects her fallen herbs, taking care to put the more damaged plants in the bottom of the basket. She knocks quickly at Snapes door, and it opens for her. "Yes?" He asks, not taking his eyes off of the stack of parchment on he's busy grading. "I collected some herbs for you, sir."

Snape stands, and slowly stalks towards her. She can only imagine what she looks like right now. Sunburn blooms across the bridge of her nose, her hair sticking to her sweaty face, dirt beneath her fingernails and more than likely smeared across her cheek from brushing her hair off of her face. Maybe she should have showered before going to the dining hall, instead of dripping the herbs off here. Then she wouldn't have encountered the Slytherin students who had knocked the basket from her arms, and most of her hard work wouldn't be ruined.

"Did you collect these herbs Ms. Black, or did you simply torture them into your basket?" He raises one brow at her as he dumps the contents of the basket on to the table before him.

"I'm sorry, sir. I had a bit of an accident just down the hall. I believe I can salvage some of it. The rest, I can go back out tomorrow afternoon and collect some more." Snape simply grumbles and begins busying himself with separating the different herbs into piles, Danu approaches the desk with the intention of helping him, when someone bursts through the door without knocking. That someone happened to be the boy who knocked into her, just outside of the door stands his posse.

"What do you need, Mr. Malfoy?" Snape doesn't look up at him, he must have been expecting him. Malfoy struts around the room picking things up at random, just to place them in a different spot once he's finished. The very act annoying even her, Snape must be fuming inside. "Well, I was only wondering if you could give us permission to use the Quidditch field for practice this Saturday. Gryffindor had it last weekend, it's only fair we should have it this weekend. We are coming to the end of the season, and I will not lose to them again."

"I shall put the request in at dinner. I will have an answer for you by tomorrow."

"Excellent. I will write Father. He won't want to miss the final game." Malfoy turns towards the door and stops; he looks towards Danu and smirks. "Ah. Such a shame your lovely flowers were squashed." With that, he slams the door.

Danu scoffs in disgust at his exit and continues sorting through the herbs.

"Problem, Ms. Black?"

"Yes, actually. Mr. Malfoy is the accident I had down the hall."

Snape doesn't respond. His hands are busy snapping the ends off of the most damaged pieces of wormwood and inspecting the bitter root for bruising.

"Sir, what is a Mudblood?" Snapes hands stop instantly, his eyes slowly lift up to her in surprise.

"Where did you hear that?"

"Malfoy. He called me a Mudblood. I have never heard that word before."

"I shall speak with Mr. Malfoy about his choice of words." Snape says, between grit teeth. He brings his eyes back down to his hands and continues working.

"No!" She blurts out too quickly, causing Snape to lift his head towards her. "I mean, no sir. You don't have to do that. I was only curious; I know it isn't a nice term. Well, I figured as much anyway, by the way he said it."

Snape turns his attention once again towards the plants. Just when she thinks he has abandoned their conversation, he clears his throat.

"It is a term given to people who are not pure blood. And you are correct in your assumption that it is not a nice word