Chapter 51, Duties Of Friendship
Severus was dreading the upcoming dance for a myriad of reasons. Everything was tense over the stupid thing for one. For another, he hated dances and really resented being put in the middle between Heather and Raislen. At least Raislen wasn't being mean to him about it, which was good. Regulus kept looking randomly amused, which Severus always found particularly obnoxious. It was not in the least funny! Often it was just he, Raislen and Regulus studying in the common room after classes while Heather was off with her decorating committee. It was mostly comprised of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs with only one other Slytherin aside from Heather herself. Severus knew this irrelevant fact because Raislen felt the need to share it while the two were working on Astronomy homework. "I'm going to ask one of her friends on the decorating committee to the dance, so there," he said. "Then she'll realize that she wants to go with me, and you'll be off the hook, Kid!"
"Do you think so," Severus asked hopefully. "That would be fantastic! Because otherwise I'm going to need to ask you just to let her alone for the duration of the dance so that I can at least get my book."
Raislen snickered. "Yes, of course, fine. What book is it going to be, anyway?"
Severus drew himself up with a grin. "I have decided that I want my own copy of that Greek potions book you brought back with you from this summer's vacation. I could take notes, but I want a lot of things from that book, which would make for a lot of writing."
Raislen gave a pleased grin. "That's a rare one. It'll be quite difficult for her to find. Good you're making her work for it, Kid."
Severus grinned back, pleased. If Heather was going to make him suffer, she should truly pay for it in all manner of ways. She wasn't the only Slytherin in Slytherin house, after all!
"Which of Heather's friends are you planning to invite to the dance," Regulus asked Raislen curiously.
Raislen shrugged. "I don't know. It doesn't matter, really. I don't want to date anyone but Heather Toy. I just want her to realize that she'll be jealous if I do invite one of her friends is all. I'll probably just randomly invite the first girl I see walking with her next. I mean so long as she's pretty."
In the end, though, Raislen ended up spilling the plan to Heather when she joined them at dinner. "Where are your little committee friends," he demanded. She'd come in alone looking tired and distracted.
Turning from her plate, she stared at him for several seconds as if he'd lost his mind. "What are you talking about, Raislen?"
"Friends. You have friends. Where are they?"
"Right here," Heather said with a sigh, waving her hand at him, then Severus and Regulus.
"The girl friends," Raislen enunciated carefully. "Where are the girl friends?"
Her eyes narrowed. "Why?"
"Because I am going to ask one of them to the dance. I need a date, don't I? Since you refuse to go with me."
Regulus sighed, shaking his head, but neither Heather or Raislen paid attention."You're going to do what?" Heather glared. "Oh no you are not!""
Raislen grinned happily. Clearly he was pleased that she protested his plan. "And why is that?"
"Because you're awful to girls! You'll just torment them, and I won't allow it." She stood. "In fact I am going to warn everyone to stay away from you this instant."
She stalked purposefully away from the Slytherin table before he could speak.
Regulus smirked. "Well. That went well."
"Shut up, Black," Raislen said sulkily. "And what girls am I awful to anyway?"
"Aside from Heather Toy," Regulus asked innocently.
Raislen scowled. "I am not awful to her! I treat her like gold."
"Except when you call her things she doesn't like to be called and tug at her hair," Regulus reminded gently. "The name thing, I definitely understand." He made a bitter face as if having bitten down on a lemon, and Severus knew that he had to be thinking of the Lestranges calling him Regi. And that was when inspiration struck. Knowing that he knew what Regulus was thinking simply because of his expression had Severus thinking about mind reading. He had not needed to read Regulus's mind. His face had given all the information away. Still it got him thinking about the magical art of mind reading, because if he could read the minds of the gits, he could learn Lupin's secret!
"Tell her I am not awful to girls, Kid," Raislen said, turning his focus on Severus.
"I need a good book on Legilimency," Severus said excitedly. "And by good, I mean good for practical use. Something to teach me the basics right away without getting too deep into the theory and history and all that dry nonsense. Of course I can go back to all that later, but right now, I need fast practical instruction. I don't think the Restricted Section is going to have the style of instruction that I need, but I may have to at least check if Slughorn will give me a pass. In fact, I am going to do that now!" Though the Restricted Section had disappointed all of them in the past, at times it had a few rare gems, so it was always worth investigating. If nothing else, Raislen could bring Severus what he needed from his own library after the winter break, but he did not wish to wait that long. He wasn't going to learn good enough Legilimency over night to get into the minds of the gits, so the sooner he started, the better. So excited was he, that he hadn't even registered Raislen's request.
"But why now," Raislen demanded as Severus hastily rose from the table. "Aren't you going to eat? And are you even listening to me about HeatherToy? I am not awful to girls!"
"What? No, not really. I can't make Heather do anything, Raislen. If you would just stop pulling her hair and calling her Heather Toy, it would be fine. Hell if you had stopped last year, I would not be stuck going to this blasted stupid dance," Severus told him darkly before hurrying up to the staff table to speak to Slughorn. The old potions professor was mildly annoyed to be disturbed during his evening meal, but he conjured a library pass for Severus regardless. "I cannot fault a student so eager to learn," he said with a grudging smile. "And ten points to Slytherin too, for going above and beyond to even study at mealtime," he added, tossing a smug look to Dumbledore.
"Thank you, Sir," Severus said gratefully. He had not been so excited to learn something in at least nine months.
"I do not know why people seem to think I mind when houses other than Gryffindor are given house points," Severus heard Dumbledore grumbling as he hurried away, pass to the Restricted Section in hand. Before going to the library, Severus dashed down to his dorm to grab a quill and some sheets of parchment for note taking. He spent the next few hours poring over the three books on Legilimency that the Restricted Section held. The skill was far more difficult to master than he'd hoped, or these books were the sort he hadn't wanted, because they lacked direct and easy teaching methods.
Though he hoped for the later, he truly believed both were the case. He had quite a bit of confidence in his learning ability, which he felt he'd earned, but this particular subject was not feeling nearly as easy for him as he'd hoped. When he left the library with his three pages of notes in hand, there was a small frustration headache beginning behind Severus's eyes. He found his friends in the Slytherin common room. Heather sat a few chairs away from Regulus and Raislen, pointedly ignoring them. Severus hesitated, glancing back and forth before finally taking a seat in one of the empty chairs that Heather had between herself and the others.
"Is Legilimency hard for you," he asked, glancing from Raislen to Heather. "I'm not sure I like it."
"It's a skill set, Kid," Heather said. "It isn't for everyone. Trying to do it gave me a headache the one time I gave it a go, so I lost interest. We don't have to be good at everything to still be great," she concluded with an encouraging smile.
"It feels weird when I try, though I did not get a headache," Raislen said. "And though it does seem useful and even tempting, I'm not sure I really want to know what people are thinking. I might accidentally see something that I can't unsee if I were to get good at such a thing, you know?"
"Good thought," Heather murmured, before shooting Raislen a glare. "I forgot. I am not speaking to you."
Raislen shrugged and scowled at her before returning his attention to Severus. "What did you want it for anyway?""
Severus sighed, equally as unhappy with the group tension as with his lack of ease in understanding the functional principles of Legilimency. "I thought it could provide another helpful way to spy on the gits in order to learn Lupin's secret," he said dejectedly. "Do you think you've a book at yours that would have a more straightforward teaching method? I didn't truly expect the Restricted Section to have what I needed, but I had to try anyway.""
"I'll check for you on winter break, but it isn't for everyone, so if you don't learn it, don't fret yourself over it," Raislen said.
"I have got to try, though," Severus said. "And thanks in advance for checking yours for a more straightforward book. Or one that at least cracks the code to make it easier for people. Anything like that would be brilliant."
Raislen nodded. "Sure, Kid. It is a useful skill if you can grow to master it."
"Until I get that book from you, though, I shall have to content myself with the notes I took from the books in the Restricted Section. Perhaps if I read them over and over and over again, they will begin to sound sensible." He sighed in frustration.
"And when you need a break from that, there is always studying for OWLS," Heather said.
Severus felt his stomach knotting at the thought of OWLS. "I am not concerned about any subject save for Transfiguration. That one is going to be my undoing, though."
"We'll help you practice," Raislen said. Severus nodded weakly. He would practice, and he would take the help of his friends, but practice would only help him so much. "And if practice doesn't help, we can always cheat," Raislen added reassuringly.
Severus felt his mouth drop as he turned to gape at the older boy. "You can't cheat on OWLS," he hissed in a low whisper that only his friends could hear. Even if other Slytherins heard, there could be trouble for something so dangerous. OWL or other important exam cheating was the biggest school crime there was, after all.
Raislen smirked. "Are you presenting a challenge, Kid? Because I think I can. I've been working on a plan for years concerning how to do just that in case you end up needing it."
"For me," Severus asked dumbly.
"Sure," Raislen said. "We've all got one another's backs, after all. Once you've got a decent OWL mark for Transfiguration, you shall never have to take Transfiguration again. You'll be free to explore avenues where you actually excel, which lets face it is most anything else."
Severus allowed himself to bask in the hope and relief that washed over him at those words. He did hate Transfiguration with his entire heart and soul. Though he'd never failed, he always had to try far harder than he felt he should've done for passable marks. His mind just didn't work along the proper lines of McGonagall's teaching style. Not to mention he felt the art itself a sham and a waste of time. More than once over the years, Heather had insisted that this view gave him mental blocks. He knew she was correct, but as he had not yet discovered a way to Transfigure his own feelings on the matter, he was stuck with them. Now it seemed that Legilimency was going to join Transfiguration in being another of his banes. In fact, at that point in Severus's young life, he would have been beyond shocked were someone to tell him that mental magics would be things that, under extreme necessity, he would quickly grow to excel at in only a few years.
