Investigations
As Parvati slowly regained consciousness, two things immediately struck her. That insane pain was gone—had Draco used his last shred of sanity and released her from the Cruciatus curse? But how could he, it occurred to her immediately afterwards, if he couldn't move from the spot himself?
Carefully she moved her arms and legs, and there she felt the second change again quite clearly: she was no longer lying in the mossy thicket, where the branches and stones pressed hard into her back, but on a soft, comfortable pad—moreover, she was wrapped up to her chin in a warm blanket.
At that moment, she felt a gentle touch on her face. Someone brushed her hair out of her forehead and began to dab the still burning abrasions on her cheek with a pleasantly soothing substance.
Hastily, she opened her eyes—and looked directly into the face of Severus Snape, who was sitting on the edge of the sofa on which she had just woken up. When he noticed her gaze, he involuntarily withdrew his hands from her, and Parvati immediately made a move to push away the brown woollen blanket and sit up. "Where … what—" she began incoherently before groaning loudly. Her whole back ached as if from a terrible muscle ache, as did her upper arms and her legs. Yes, when she thought about it, everything actually hurt! Moreover, the slightest movement made her dizzy and her head buzzed as if she had run full force into a wall.
Severus held her by the shoulder and said resolutely, "Will you please lie still until I have finished with your face? I think it's also in your interest that it doesn't become the focus of interest at tomorrow's breakfast!"
Obediently, Parvati let herself sink back into her pillow. Do I look that bad?, she thought, concerned, while Severus dipped his long index finger into a large jar that stood beside him on a low table and carefully continued to apply the faintly camomile-scented paste to her wounds. After all that Parvati had been through in the last few hours, this little touch was almost more than she could bear. I am with him … safe! My God, I am still alive …
Her eyes filled with tears that ran down the side of her face and seeped into the cushions of the sofa.
Severus didn't seem to take any notice—under half-closed lids, his eyes followed the movements of his fingers on her skin with concentration. Parvati closed her eyes for a moment and simply enjoyed this feeling of security, of being touched by him—this feeling of having escaped hell …
All too quickly, Severus was done; to finish his treatment, he held his wand close over Parvati's wounds and murmured a lengthy healing formula. "That should do it," he said finally. "There won't be any more of it tomorrow."
Parvati nodded and this time she managed to sit up straight away. The first thing she saw was Draco Malfoy, and she froze in mid-motion. With his back to her, also wrapped up to his chin in a brown woollen blanket, he was lying on a sofa very close to her, fast asleep—as if butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. As if he hadn't bombarded her with kicks and curses just an hour ago and tried to rape her on top of that.
Parvati swallowed hard and she began to tremble slightly. Would he really have done it? Her stomach churned at the idea, and her chest suddenly felt almost too tight to breathe. Quickly, she turned back to Severus. "Where …" she began again, but her whole throat was burning like fire. Confused, she looked around the large room, whose furnishings appeared almost spartan to her. Apart from the sitting area and a large stereo, there was a massive dark wood dining table with matching chairs and—Parvati registered it with mild amazement—an old ebony piano with ornate candlesticks on each side. The lid over the keys was open and several loose slips of paper were scattered on the music stand.
"You're in my flat," Severus explained with a deadpan expression. Parvati had never been so close to her teacher before, and she noticed how infinitely tired he looked. "I Apparated to Hogwarts with you and Draco immediately after I found you both in this … probably somewhat hopeless situation."
"So …", Parvati tried to speak again, but again her voice failed her. I must have caught a cold while flying, she thought. I didn't even think of a scarf, stupid me …
But then she remembered how she had screamed herself into unconsciousness—because of this pain that no one could stand …
She turned ice cold and stared at Severus in mute horror.
"Wait," he growled now. "I'll get you something for that hoarseness." He rose from the sofa and Parvati noticed how cool the air felt on her arm now that he was no longer sitting next to her.
Snape left the room through the door, which Parvati realised led to his office. Again she let her eyes wander around the room, wisely trying to skip over the seating furniture with Draco on it.
One wall was full of bookshelves; another door led off from it, probably into the bedroom. In the opposite stone wall was a huge fireplace with the remains of a fire still glowing. Above it, as well as above the sitting area, hung artistic black and white photographs of magical animal creatures in a clever arrangement. They were Muggle photographs, but in the flickering light of the torches next to them they seemed almost alive. Several large carpets lay on the old parquet floor. Despite the sparse furnishings, the room looked warm and cosy. Quite different from what she and Lavender had always imagined.
So he has released us from the curses, she finishing in her mind what she wanted to say earlier. We have been so lucky! And he really thought of everything …
Parvati was wearing her robe again and felt the reassuring presence of her wand at her side. She discovered Harry's Invisibility Cloak folded on a chair next to her sofa. At least he didn't have to put my trousers on, too! she thought with a faint grin. But at the same time, this thought alone caused that pressure on her chest again that made her take a deep breath.
Snape returned from the office and handed Parvati a small vial of dark blue liquid. "Drink this!" he said curtly. "It is also, by the way, for the shock and aching limbs which follow a Cruciatus curse."
As she took the vial without a word, their fingers touched briefly and it went through her like a weak electric shock. After all the enormity of what Parvati had just been through, she was still numb, but again this little touch seemed to thaw something inside her … though she wasn't at all sure she wanted that now.
She put the vial to her lips and quickly drank the bitter liquid, which ran pleasantly down her throat and infused all parts of her body with a pleasant warmth. Almost immediately, her throat began to feel better, but now she no longer knew what to say.
Embarrassed, she knotted her fingers in her lap and only now noticed that the abrasions on her palms had disappeared without a trace—apparently Severus had treated them while she was still unconscious.
There's gonna be mega trouble, she thought. He's going to rip me a new one, because I just showed up there. If something had happened to me, he'd have the problem on his hands … but Draco haven't exactly covered himself with glory either!
Parvati squinted over at the Slytherin, of whom she only saw the blond head protruding from the woollen blanket, and despite the potion, she was already beginning to tremble again deep inside. If he hadn't lost his nerve, probably nothing would have happened. At least not to me …
Severus had meanwhile taken a seat in the armchair opposite her, and again Parvati noticed how exhausted he looked. He had deep rings under his eyes and his black hair was dishevelled and hung straggly around his face.
"Thank you for the potion, Professor Snape," Parvati said finally, in her normal clear voice. "I'm feeling much better already!"
"You're welcome!" Severus eyed her under his eyelids that were heavy with fatigue. "And now that you can speak again, explain to me, for heaven's sake, what you did at the …" he broke off, searching for a suitable word. Obviously he refused to say it straightaway. "Why did you follow us?" he finished his question curtly. "What were you thinking?! And how did you find out about it in the first place?"
"Um …" Parvati thought feverishly. Should she mention Draco's father's letter—only to get Draco in more trouble, which he would in turn take out on her? But admitting that she had been listening at the door wasn't much better, was it?
"Yes?" said Severus, looking down at her with his head held high.
"How I did find out about it …" she said drawling to gain time.
"I'm listening?" His voice sounded impatient and his fingers drummed ominously on the arm of the chair. Parvati could imagine that her teacher just felt the need to lie down and sleep for three days. And she herself was not much different.
"How is Draco, by the way, sir?" distracted Parvati desperately.
"Nice try, Miss Patil. Please answer my question."
"But …" Parvati began, then paused. If anyone should justify himself here—it should be him … She took a deep breath. "Please, first tell me what happened, Professor! What were those screams?"
But even as she spoke, the memory overwhelmed her, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up as if the terrible cries for help were still ringing in her ears. "What were those—"
"Now, if you please …" Snape began again in a completely unnerved voice, but Parvati jumped up unrestrained and cut him off, "It doesn't matter how I knew about it, does it? They were people!" The horror that had gripped her in the forest came back to her again with full force, and her voice increased to a shout. "Admit it! People were dying there, weren't they, Professor Snape?" it burst out of her. She began to sob dryly, and every bone in her battered body ached as she did so.
Snape rose quickly from his chair, in front of which she had taken up position, shaking all over, fists clenched, and raised his hands as if to calm her down. "Miss Patil …"
"And you stood by and just let it happen! You let Draco watch it happen! It totally destroyed him!" she roared.
Snape glanced briefly at the sofa where his godson lay, sleeping on impassively. "Miss Patil! It won't help us if you get hysterical—"
"Why?! Why do you let something like this happen? What kind of person are you?" Parvati breathed in and out heavily, her upper lip tingling, and she felt herself getting dizzy. She still couldn't believe that Severus Snape had just watched these atrocities—without doing anything. And now he was standing in front of her, staring at her with wide-open eyes—those night-black eyes that had seen people die just an hour ago.
"Now tell me at last!" she screamed at him, shaking her fists. "Tell me, what has—this monster done to them! How could you just watch! How could you let this happen? How could you, how COULD YOU!"
"Miss Patil!" Suddenly she felt his hands firmly on her shoulders and he shook her gently. "Calm down, it will be all right!"
"All right?" shrieked Parvati, and again he shook her gently and looked her urgently in the eyes, this time without saying anything.
His resolute grip, the warmth that seeped from his hands into her stunned limbs, actually brought some clarity to her shocked mind. She would have liked to throw herself into his arms, and be comforted like a little child; but could she trust him at all? And she wasn't Lavender, who wasn't shy about crossing those kinds of boundaries. Parvati could fly to a Death Eater meeting, but she didn't dare hug Severus Snape. Besides, she was afraid of letting the horror that seemed to be leaving her just a little bit, come crashing back over her if she showed weakness again.
So she stared into Severus's black eyes, which wouldn't let her go, which were her only support in a world where suddenly nothing was the same any more. "I can't understand it," she stammered hoarsely.
"Sit down!" he said firmly. "I will explain it to you."
Parvati let Severus guide her back to the sofa without resistance and push her down on it. He sat down next to her and asked, "Would you like something to drink?"
"A glass of water, please," Parvati heard herself reply and suddenly realised how absurd this whole thing was. She was sitting in Professor Snape's flat and he was offering her something to drink! And Draco was still sleeping like a log on the other sofa. He hadn't noticed a thing about Parvati's yelling.
Who knows what Snape has given him, she thought. And why is he being so nice to me now? Parvati had expected all kinds of reactions from him to her fit of rage—but certainly not sympathy.
Severus had got up in the meantime and gone over to the small bar next to the stereo. A few moments later, the desired water was on the glass coffee table in front of her, and gratefully she took a big gulp. He himself had poured himself a glass of firewhisky, which he downed in one gulp, only to magically refill it for himself immediately afterwards.
"I will try to explain it to you," Severus finally said in a brittle voice. "However, I am not sure you will understand!" Still he looked at her steadfastly, and she suddenly thought she saw immeasurable grief in his gaze. Grief for those who had to die so senselessly, Parvati thought, and felt her eyes watering.
"You know that Volde—, I'm sorry, You-Know-Who regained his full strength over a year ago," he began quietly. "The Ministry of Magic has worked hard to keep it a secret from the public …," Snape pulled up one corner of his mouth mirthlessly, "… but by now, every child knows. The Dark Lord, as his followers call him, has regained his full power and is now working to raise an army on a grand scale."
"You call him that, too?" asked Parvati hoarsely.
"It depends in whose presence," Severus replied seriously. "I go to Death Eater meetings, but you must know—I am not on his side. Rather, I work as a spy—for Professor Dumbledore."
Parvati tried hard to put on a surprised face. How could she have told him that she already knew without discrediting Harry? "So he knows what You-Know-Who is planning," she stated in a matter-of-fact tone.
Snape nodded. "You are a clever girl."
Skilled, quick, smart, Parvati thought, but it did not trigger the warm feeling in her stomach area as usual. Too many terrible things had happened.
"And he plans to raise an army? How?"
"Various strategies," Severus said courtly, running a hand through his hair. "The most common is to make people obedient by the Imperius curse … the band of his real followers would never be enough to raise an army."
"And what does he want with this … army?" asked Parvati.
"War," Severus said in a sepulchral tone, and Parvati's blood ran cold.
"War?" she repeated in a trembling voice. "Like, really? I mean …"
"No one knows what it will look like. And I wouldn't advise you to force your imagination too far in that regard." Severus lowered his gaze to the whisky glass, which he twirled absentmindedly in his slender hands.
"And what is Dumbledore going to do about it?" Parvati spoke on quickly, trying to ignore the ice-cold hand reaching for her heart. "What is he going to do with your information? Does he write down how many people were killed again this time and then open a bag of chocolate frogs on that?" Parvati couldn't stop herself from raising her voice again. She just didn't understand.
"Miss Patil …" said Severus, and then he did something that almost made Parvati pass out. He reached out his hand and gently took her fingertips. "You mustn't think like that. We can't do anything right now … we have no choice but to gather information, develop a strategy and hope at the same time that he makes a mistake! Do you understand, that's the only way we can outwit him!"
Parvati nodded mechanically. The words trickled like syrup into her brain, which found it infinitely difficult to make a coherent sentence out of them. He had taken her hand! Just like that, as if it was a common thing. What was probably meant to calm her down had at least the opposite effect on her. Her heart was pounding and the blood was rushing in her ears.
"Until then, I'm afraid, people will have to give their lives!" Severus squeezed her fingers tighter and looked at her urgently. "If only we could stop it somehow, we would. But Vol … You-Know-Who is no ordinary opponent."
"How often are these meetings?" asked Parvati in a pressed voice. Her hand still burned like fire where his warm skin touched hers.
"Normally at the new moon. Usually, no one is killed, it's about other things … today's meeting was an exception. It was a ritual to strengthen the Dark Lord. The ritual of the blood-red moon …"
"What was that ritual?"
"I cannot and will not speak of that! Respect that!" said Severus sharply and abruptly let go of her hand.
"What kind of people were they?" continued Parvati, unflinching. "Men? Women? Were they Muggles? Did they have … family?" Her voice began to shake and Severus just looked at her wordlessly with his dark eyes that knew so many terrible answers.
"And how do you cope with that?" asked Parvati quietly.
"Dumbledore's Pensieve," Severus said curtly, pointing to a large, shallow stone bowl that stood on the piano. "You can deposit memories there if it becomes … too burdensome."
How convenient, Parvati thought somewhat sourly, but tears came to her eyes again when she saw Severus swallow clearly visible. And again a quiet voice began to make itself heard inside her, wondering more than a little why Severus confided such things to her so readily—why he was so kind to her and had even taken her hand! Just to reassure her?
He will regret that tomorrow, she thought. Unless he intends—Parvati winced imperceptibly—to cast the Memory Charm on me. So that I forget everything …
Severus had poured himself another glass of the firewhisky in the meantime. "Good," he said in conclusion and took a small sip. "I have explained as much as I could to you. Now I want you to tell me what happened between you and Draco earlier!" He raised an eyebrow and added in an indefinable tone, "I've already examined him. You're really good at the Shrinking Charm."
Parvati snorted behind her hand. "That was really good, wasn't it?" she asked as she tried unsuccessfully to suppress the shrill giggle that was now trying with all its might to come out of her. "I can only hope for the sake of all the female beings in this school that you left him like that!"
She was overcome with another fit of laughter at the thought. She glanced over at the sleeping Draco, then back at Severus, who was staring at her silently. Only the corners of his mouth twitched, as if he was considering whether or not to join in her mirthless laughter.
"What is it?" asked Parvati, wiping away a tear of laughter. "Is that enough of an answer? Are you going to tell me that you warned Lavender and me from the beginning?"
"No." Severus shook his head. "You are going to tell me what happened. Please," he added quietly.
In response, Parvati covered her face with her hands and began to cry violently. Everything came up inside her—in a sharpness she could no longer defend herself against. She seemed to be back in the dark, cold forest, Draco's cold hand on her neck as he dragged her through the undergrowth … Draco pushing her to the ground and kicking her as if out of his mind; the mortal fear she had endured … the inner emptiness when she was under the Imperius curse and Draco was on the verge of—
Oh my God! She sat next to Severus on the sofa and sobbed so hard it shook her. Only after a while did she feel his hand hesitantly on her shoulder. "Parvati," she heard his dark voice. "You don't have to talk about it. I just thought it might help you … Besides, it would be good if I knew about what kind of effects this …" Severus took a deep breath, " … ritual had on Draco. After all, I have to look after him."
Parvati wheeled around. "Oh, really? What's he got a father for?" she asked wildly. "Was he perhaps not there?"
"Lucius was looking for Draco after the meeting as much as I was," Severus explained. "I was just the first to find you both! Besides, who could better look after Draco than me, being around him all year?"
Parvati knew nothing to say in reply. It sounded plausible, but his eyes still spoke a different language. Seemed to tell her about a cold-hearted, fair-haired Death Eater, for whom the well-being of his son was at the bottom of his list. Who was nothing but disappointed because Draco had failed again in front of the Dark Lord—in the night of all nights …
Severus reached into a pocket of his long robe and handed Parvati a fresh handkerchief. "Please, calm down," he said softly, and this simple sentence was indeed enough to make her tears dry up. She wiped her eyes and guiltily realised that she had enriched the formerly spotless white handkerchief with half an ounce of mascara, eye shadow and kohl in the blink of an eye. She turned away to blow her nose and then quickly let the handkerchief disappear into her robe.
Then she turned back to her teacher. "He fled, didn't he?"
Severus nodded, his face reflecting the full implications of that action. "He couldn't stand it. He's actually too young to join the Death Eaters."
"Then why is he doing it? It's tearing him apart!" Parvati said vehemently, and again horror settled on her chest like a leaden ring, making her throat tight. "You're right, he really needs someone to look after him!"
"I wouldn't have thought you of all people would be so worried about your favourite enemy," Snape remarked, a hint of his usual sarcasm resonating.
"I'm not only worried about him," Parvati replied brusquely, "but also about Lavender and me! No—in fact, about everything which isn't up the trees before counting to three!"
Severus raised his eyebrows. "What happened to Lavender?" he asked slowly. "Did he … get too close to her?"
"Yes! He was lying in wait for her in the changing room, he witched away her clothes and tried to blackmail her. He wanted one night with her, and he stopped at nothing to intimidate her! She was totally messed up!"
It was much easier for Parvati to recount Lavender's experience than her own bitter encounter. Despite her anger, she watched Severus's expression with interest, on which compassion and understanding alternated with disappointment and even anger. And while she described to him in detail how Draco had forced his kiss on Lavender, how he had demanded a night from her as if she were some whore, and what he wanted to blackmail her with, she had the unmistakable feeling that something was falling apart inside Severus. But that's the truth he wanted to know …
"By the way, when you caught me with Draco by the collar the next day … that was precisely because of that," Parvati explained in conclusion. "Lavender did not go to him, of course!"
Severus sighed and ran an almost imperceptibly trembling hand through his hair. Is this getting him down so badly? thought Parvati with quiet amazement. Or is it simply the tiredness? All the other horror?
"That was very … brave of your friend," Severus finally said in a toneless voice.
"Indeed," Parvati said grimly. "He must have been so terrified of the meeting—I would have believed him capable of anything."
"Rightly so, it seems," Severus said, looking directly at Parvati. And once again, she felt as if he was looking deep into her soul—as if he knew exactly what was going on inside her. "You know, Dray is not a bad person," he continued. "He's just unfortunately living with the wrong values at the wrong time …" He fell silent and seemed to lose himself in her eyes for a moment. A moment that was enough to send hot and cold shivers down Parvati's spine. Finally, she could stand it no longer—how could anyone stand to look into those eyes for more than three seconds?—and she lowered her head.
"I can understand you not wanting to talk about what Draco did to you," Severus said quietly. "But it would still be good if I knew. To be able to assess him better. To help him …"
"Okay …" Parvati looked up and everything inside her began to tremble. She could tell by the look in his eyes that he was afraid too—afraid of what else she had to tell him about his godson.
"You don't have to tell me," he said again. "There would be other ways …" Absent-mindedly, he stroked his chin with his thumb and forefinger, then fixed her again with that probing gaze. "You could, for example, leave this memory to me—put it down in the Pensieve …"
Severus's face was more inscrutable than ever when he made this suggestion to her—and suddenly Parvati had the strange feeling that he had wanted to direct her right there all along. You wish, she thought, her eyes widening involuntarily at the thought of him watching her memory over and over again like a film—picking it to pieces analytically, each time looking for further effects of the ritual on Draco's behaviour as he watched the young Death Eater abuse and mistreat her—
"No, I'll tell you," she said in a clear voice and straightened up. "If I could have a whisky like that, please …" When he hesitated, she gave him a challenging look, and not two seconds later, the very same glass Severus was holding was in front of her, but only a quarter full. Parvati took it and sipped briefly. Immediately her face twisted, but gratefully she realised that even the small sip was enough to flood her with a short shiver of warmth, similar to the one after the potion earlier.
Then she began to recount in a halting voice. She told how she had run into Draco, who was on the verge of going crazy; how he had threatened to hand her over to Voldemort, but wanted to abuse her for his own pleasure first—because he could not have Lavender …
That was when Severus filled his glass again with a wave of his wand—the fourth, as Parvati noticed well—and immediately took a deep sip. One could clearly tell he was shaken, but Parvati kept talking. Now he had her ready to get it off her chest—and whom should she tell but him?
So, he learned of her attempt to calm Draco, which had backfired so fatally. At her description of how he had knocked her to the ground and kicked her, Severus draw in a sharp breath. "So that's where those bruises came from! You were lucky, though—he could have hurt you much worse … I examined you while you were still unconscious," he explained when he noticed Parvati's questioning look.
"Excuse me?" Parvati sat up bolt upright. "Examined?"
"It's all right," he assured her. "I've put some ointment in your robe pocket for the bruises."
"You examined me?" repeated Parvati, stunned.
Severus raised an eyebrow. "While fully clothed," he added, letting out a hint of his well-known smug grin as he noticed her relief. "There are definitely ways to magically accomplish this!"
"I see." Parvati let out a short giggle and brushed her tangled hair behind her ears.
"Go on," Severus invited her. She heard the urgent impatience in his voice, but in his eyes flickered the wish that it might just have been it already.
For a brief moment she was overcome with pity—why can't I just tell him after he had a good sleep?—but she knew he wouldn't let her go today until he knew everything.
Furtively, she sipped her whisky again, earning a warning look from Severus. Then she took a deep breath and continued to tell, her choice of words becoming ever more terse, her voice ever softer—of her further unsuccessful attempts to render Draco harmless until he tried to subdue her under the Imperius curse … How she was able to fend it off at the last moment before it was too late … Her subsequent self-defence reaction, which enraged Draco so much that he used the next Unforgivable curse …
Severus hid his face in his hand with his eyes closed.
"It was only very brief," Parvati whispered, as if to take the gravity out of this act that promised Azkaban for life. "He was very angry about the Shrinking Charm and I'm sure he just wanted to scare me …"
Severus took his hand from his face and emptied his glass in one go. And if the flickering light of the many torches and candles didn't fool her, his eyes were red. From the alcohol, Parvati thought. Besides, he's dead tired.
"The common way among Death Eaters to punish someone," he said in a monotonous voice. "What happened then?"
"He wanted me to use the counterspell," Parvati said hesitantly, "but I tried again to give him the Full Body-Bind curse. Well … you saw the result with your own eyes …"
"Indeed!" said Severus harshly. "And you were both bloody lucky that I found you there and not Lucius! I'm not even talking about the others!"
A chill ran down Parvati's spine. She could vividly imagine what Severus was trying to imply.
"Not to mention what would have happened if I had not found you," Severus continued. "You know what happens when you are exposed to the Cruciatus for an extended period of time?"
"Can you die from it?" asked Parvati quietly.
"Not die," Severus said. "But become incurably insane. There are a few cases in St Mungo's—people tortured with Cruciatus curses of immense strength … and so now Draco has shown to be already capable of producing the curse with almost the same intensity—which I would not have suspected," he murmured, almost more to himself, his gaze lowered into his empty glass.
Despite her intense compassion, suspicion once again arose in Parvati. He chats decidedly too much for me at times. I don't know him like that. Well, the ritual and the thing with Draco pretty devastated him, as it seems … does he just want to talk? Or is he willing to do anything to get me to talk … before he manipulates my memories?
"Professor?" she said after a while, and Severus raised his head. "How does Draco even know the Unforgivable curses?" she asked timidly. "Does he learn that from the Death Eaters?"
Severus resolutely put his glass down on the coffee table. "I think that's enough about Draco Malfoy," he said, now in a completely changed voice. He stood up and began pacing up and down in front of the seating corner in teasingly slow movements. "Let's get back to you, Miss Patil. Before you finally disappear into your tower, I would like to know one thing from you: How did you know about the meeting!"
Parvati went rigid with shock and disappointment. All right, I knew it! Yet although she clearly felt betrayed by Severus, she felt a familiar blush rise in her cheeks. Her hand wandered to her lower lip as if of its own accord, to tug at it sheepishly—the inveterate reaction to a reprimanding person of respect, especially the Potions Master. What am I going to tell him now?
As the silence dragged on, Snape said tartly, "It is very important for me to know where you got such information! And such a good student as you …" he stopped pacing and pierced her with his eyes, "surely knows what Veritaserum is used for, doesn't she?"
"Okay," Parvati said grudgingly. She still hadn't come up with an excuse and her eyes narrowed with suppressed anger as she informed him in a gruff tone, "I was eavesdropping the other day. When I was supposed to be making the whelks and you were here with Draco."
"So," Severus said very quietly now. "She was eavesdropping. That's a very nice habit!"
"At least as nice as watching defenceless people being slaughtered!" cried Parvati fiercely. "Besides, you yourself are the best example of an eavesdropper!"
"I see this subject won't let you go," Snape remarked with raised eyebrows.
"You don't say!" Parvati couldn't believe it. Where had this far too nice Severus gone all of a sudden, who had so delicately held her fingers just a moment ago and shown emotions? I knew it from the start … it's all just tactics! Typical Slytherin!
"And, why did you follow us in the first place?" he now wanted to know in a hard voice. He propped his hands on the back of the armchair in front of him and leaned forward. "Have you ever considered the consequences, you silly goose? Did you seriously think you could cope with such memories? Or did you want to die anyway?"
Parvati bowed her head and remained silent.
"Oh yes, you don't even need to answer!" he sneered. "Probably this occasion came just in time for you to bring some excitement into your boring little life, didn't it?"
Parvati looked up indignantly. "I'm not—"
"Of course not!" hissed Severus. "You are perfectly content and even-tempered. That's why you can sometimes be found in tears at the piano!"
"I—"
"And maybe that's exactly why you wanted to watch a bit of people being sacrificed, and to top it all off, being violated and murdered yourself! Or what do you think Voldemort would have done to you if he had discovered you! Damn it, Patil, where have you actually left your brain! How can one be so retarded!" He shouted the last words and tears sprang to Parvati's eyes.
"I don't know either …" she said meekly. "It was—"
"Simply harebrained!" Snape hurled at her, banging the back of the armchair so hard with the flat of his hand that a cloud of dust rose. "And of course you haven't thought about the position you could have put me in, you super smart girl—at least, I could hardly have helped you!"
Speechless, Parvati stared at him. His angry words created terrible images in her mind that would surely haunt her for some time. She was close to tears.
"Of course I won't let you get away with such irresponsible behaviour," Snape continued; he had regained his composure somewhat, but his face looked really grey and he was breathing heavily. Parvati could tell he was on the edge of his strength. "From now on you will come twice a week to help me in the lab! I have plenty of whelks and other delicacies ready for you."
Parvati winced. "Twice a week?" she gasped.
"Tuesday and Thursday suit you?" asked Snape in an ironic chatty tone. "Eight o'clock?"
"Until when?" she asked wanly. "I mean, how many weeks do you want me to come?"
"We'll see about that. There is enough to do for the next few months! I will definitely remind you."
All alarm bells immediately went off in Parvati. "That won't be necessary!" She stood up quickly, wanting to reach for Harry's cloak, which was waiting next to her on the chair—
"Yes. It is necessary," he said very softly. "Because from now on you won't be able to remember certain things!" In saying so, Snape was pulling his wand out of his robe. "I'm sorry, Parvati!"
"No!" cried Parvati as he came towards her with his wand raised. He can't do that—oh God, he really was only being nice to make me tell him all about Draco—that swine—
Thoughts flashed wildly through her mind as she snatched out her own wand and bellowed, "Expelliarmus!" And while Severus stared stunned at his wand flying away, Parvati, heart pounding and muscles screeching, took flight; ran through his office, out through the sluggish door into the corridor and up the stairs, ever upwards …
Only when she had reached the Gryffindor common room, panting, did she allow herself a break. Severus hadn't followed her—is he too drunk? He didn't really show any signs of it …
But Parvati knew that the last word had not yet been spoken. She had no intention of telling anyone a single word about that night, but how could she make Severus understand? With what she knew now, she was a danger to him, Dumbledore and their entire strategy—he would not be allowed to risk that.
Slowly, Parvati crept into the dormitory. It was already half past three, but if she was lucky, Lavender was still sitting at her telescope, shivering with cold, and had not noticed Parvati's excursion at all.
And she had guessed correctly. Lavender's bed was still empty, but Hermione was already fast asleep. Parvati quietly undressed, slipped into her nightgown and flopped into her bed like a heavy sack.
Lavender arrived not five minutes later. Parvati, who was pretending to be asleep, heard Lavender carefully rummaging around on her bedside table. She was obviously inspecting the alarm clock, which Parvati, as usual, had set for half past seven.
So Lavender would think she had just missed this incomparably great event of a lunar eclipse, and be a bit pissed off. And that's a good thing, thought Parvati. She mustn't hear about all this madness here. She would surely go crazy.
And as she turned to the wall, and the cruel images of the last hours rose again behind her clenched eyelids, she admitted to herself that she herself was already on the verge.