Chapter 10

Target of Tarnation

"I got to admit, at your age, I could barely make a rubber ball jump on its own without having to throw it," said Darren Tickcorn, a very chubby fifth-year boy with a cheerful face and shiny, golden hair.

"Don't encourage him, Big D, he could have set the whole room on fire!" Olivia Braggle remembered, folding her arms, disapprovingly.

Akio Rin nodded briefly.

"Oh, come on! With these skills in a few years you can become a top duelist, kid, you could even surpass Flitwik!" Said Rudolf Wood.

Olivia's cheeks flushed and Patricia smirked in her direction, amused.

The older students were not much different from the younger ones. But Severus felt strange knowing that he had their admiration, though a little embarrassed to have everyone gathered around him and perched on the armchairs or on the comfy, dark red carpet.

However, he knew very well a certain Gryffindor who would not be as appreciative of his duelist qualities.

He hadn't even managed to pull out his wand when James sent the pimples-eruption-jinx toward him. But what had really surprised him was when that jinx ended up countered in a wall by Remus' shielding spell.

"Seriously now, James! Severus won fair and square!" He said, lowering his unicorn hair wand.

Severus had the impression that James would retaliate when he noticed the reproachful look he was throwing Remus, but he only pressed his foot forcefully on the floor before returning to the table where Sirius was arranging the pieces on a chessboard.

"Thank you," Severus said as he approached the edge of the bed where Remus sat down.

"You would have done the same for me," Remus smiled. "That is, at least before I turned my back on you. But it won't happen again, you will see!"

Severus sat down next to him. Remus was struggling so hard to regain his trust, but something in his voice and in his eyes that were a fainter green than Lily's, but full of hope just like hers, made him realize that those were sincere words.

He returned the smile, reassuringly, and Remus relaxed pushing his back into the pillows before showing him a comic book borrowed from Lily.

"Where have you been, Pete?" Sirius asked as the shorter Gryffindor opened the door. He was sweating as if he had run all the way to the tower.

"Oh, P-pringle made me mop, s-something about me leaving foot prints," Peter stammered.

"Pfft, crazy old guy ..." James murmured as he urged one of his pawns to approach Sirius' black tower.

"So, between you and Sabrina ..." Remus decided it was the right time to bring up the topic, while Peter pulled out a stool to have a better view at the chess match.

"I know the situation doesn't look very good, but she is just another student like you and I. As long as there are also professors in this school, she won't try anything out of the ordinary," Severus assured him, convinced of himself.

"I don't know, Severus, that last curse was kind of out of the ordinary."

Severus had to admire the logic in his reasoning, but he wouldn't let Sabrina's threats worry him.

She told him that from now on she would target him before Lily. Of course, to a pampered Slytherin, that must have been a real disadvantage, but to him it was nothing but a great relief.

XXX

Many times during the night Severus was having dreams so scattered and mixed up that he couldn't remember them at all when he was waking up. But when he heard a strange Bang! and felt as if seeing a lightning-yellow spark, he realized that the effects were a little too realistic.

He opened his eyes, clutching the blanket in his hands. The curtains of his bed weren't drawn that night because Remus wouldn't stop whispering to him a fully detailed anecdote, before he fell asleep. Somehow the 'Kung Fu Kangaroo Himalayan Adventure' rendered in Lily's comic book had reminded Remus about a mountain trip with his uncle.

Above him, Severus noticed some kind of smoke accompanied by a few small sparkles that were gradually dying out. It was certain, someone had tried to enchant him during his sleep!

His eyes instantly fell on James Potter, who was switching in the most ridiculous positions in his bed, trying to find the most comfortable one possible. Severus wondered if James was such a good actor, or such a grubby wizard to attack someone who was sleeping.

All he knew for sure was that someone had been there. Studying himself for a bit, nothing was different. Maybe it was one of those spells that needed more time to take effect, as did some of the healing ones. He lay back on his mattress, though he knew all too well that he would not close an eye until morning.

XXX

"But are you really sure it was James?" Remus asked at Breakfast.

"You saw him yesterday, he would do anything to get revenge for defeating him at the Dueling Club," Severus replied before taking another sip from his pumpkin juice.

"Yeah, but ... James prefers fair fights."

Severus raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, most of the time ..."

Severus shushed him as Lily approached their table.

"Sorry I'm late, guys. Crookshanks made himself a nest out of Courtney's clothes. And Courtney was very angry. I told you before, she's allergic and she said that if she ever finds orange hairs near her stuff again, she'll kick him out of the bedroom!" She said troubled, slumping on the bench, next to Severus.

"No problem, Lily, if that happens, he can stay the nights with us. We're not allergic, right, Severus? "

"No. But I guess Pettigrew is," Severus said, handing Lily the toast tray.

"Peter? What makes you say that?" Remus asked.

"Mm," Severus said with a mouth full of toast. "He's allergic to almost everything."

Truth been told, Peter Pettigrew was pretty much the opposite of everything the lion's House entailed. He was not athletic as James or Sirius, nor resistant as Severus or Remus (who never needed more than a day to be released from Hospital Wing), nor was he a bit of both as Lily.

Peter was often stumbling even on his own two feet, had a really slow thinking, and was stammering or falling silent every time a professor was asking him something, even things with obvious or rhetorical answers such as: 'Mister Pettigrew, where's your tie?' or 'Mister Pettigrew, if you've done this disaster anyway, why don't you lend me a hand and clean up what you spilled out of your cauldron?'

It seemed incredible to Severus that James and Sirius had never made fun of Peter. Well, except when they were pranking him, but the three of them were always laughing together afterwards.

And that day, in the Library, as Severus was searching in the 'Myths and Legends' section for something that might have given him any clue about the Cursed Vaults, Peter kept following him down the same aisle between the shelves. It didn't take Severus long to lose his patience.

"Can I help you find something?" He asked, unfriendly.

"Uh, n-no, n-not exactly, I-I-I, you see, I ..." Peter began with his classical, annoying disconcertedness. "I just wanted to congratulate you on yesterday's duel!"

Severus did not let his guard down. It could just as well have been a new prank devised by James and Sirius, who were often using Peter as a decoy.

"Which one of them?"

"Oh! The one with that Slytherin girl, of course. But you also arranged J-james quite nicely. "

"Hm, weird to hear that coming from you," Severus said coldly.

"Oh-heh ... You know how it goes ... I know how to appreciate a strong wizard when I see one."

Peter Pettigrew probably had the impression that he was flattering him, but all Severus saw was a pathetic, little boy who would change sides depending on who seemed more likely to win. That was not friendship for it was not loyalty. Severus knew that if he were to accept him, Peter would trade him for the next kid who might manage to turn his goblet into a real-life dragon or something like that. He didn't need such a friend, he'd better leave him be James' and Sirius' problem.

"Aha. Well, if that was all ... "

"No-no, actually ... I was wondering if you had any advice for me, uh, you know, how could I become more cool, like you."

"Cool?" Severus asked slowly.

"Yeah, the way you ignore everyone when they bother you and you always answer them back sarcastically, or the way you sit with the older kids and they don't tell you 'Go away, pipsqueak!' and even that girl, Rakepick, who everyone says it's a jinx, but you're not scared to hang out with her, and your hair ... "

"My... hair?"

Severus had heard many adjectives attributed to his hair, but he was certain cool was not one of them.

"Y-yeah. I mean, mine is so boring and ordinary that all I could do was hide it altogether, see?"

At first, Severus had believed that ridiculous cap with the symbol of their house was just an exclusive propaganda Peter was doing for the Quidditch season that was due to start in a few weeks.

"Aha. So... done now?"

"Ah, yes, you're a guy who knows how to capitalize on his time, I understand that. Uh, sorry I bothered you, uh, see you later! Uh, what are you up to today after classes?"

"Oh, a bit of that, a bit of this, you know how it goes. You can never know what life's got in store for you."

As Severus had intended, he had probably said something typical of a cool boy or whatever Peter called them, because he had finally agreed to leave.

Severus returned to his search among titles, only he had seen most of them already scattered on Patricia's research table. Perhaps he could have checked in every Merlin's writing, though Patricia had certainly tried that too, and Merlin, if he had truly intended for the Cursed Vaults to never be discovered, then he surely hadn't let anything escape.

XXX

Two days had passed in which James Potter hadn't initiated anything against him. In fact, if Severus were to think about it, James was quieter around him and seemed to be struggling to ignore him. Some would have called this hostility, but for Severus it was a real blessing. Peter, on the other hand, was holding on to him as sticky as maple syrup.

But on the bright side, at least he didn't need to worry about Sabrina for a while. She was busy all week scrubbing every cauldron used in Slughorn's classes, as a punishment the two Heads of their Houses had agreed on. Severus would have added some extra snail mucus into his cauldron if he hadn't known all too well that would ruin his potion.

And the moments when they were seeing each other were, fortunately, increasingly rare.

"I'm sure surprised seeing you here, Snape. I thought that after all this time you would realize that you are simply not meant to take off and you would eventually give up on your own."

Severus placed his broomstick back on the grass and turned to face her with a very bored gaze.

"Not as surprised as I am, Sicattio. I thought Slughorn would keep you too busy all week to take part in ... sport recreations."

"Oh snap!" Said Peter, who had also remained on the ground, taking advantage of the fact that Sirius and James were far above them and could not hear him.

Sabrina shot Peter a calculated look but decided to ignore him.

"What are you waiting for? Hop up already!" Madam Hooch's voice was loud and clear.

Once in the air, Peter tried to fly high enough to reach Sirius and James, who were passing an ordinary ball from one to the other, not a Quiddich one, but they were able to create competitive exercise out of literally anything.

Severus flew close to the ground and to Remus, as he was usually doing. Sometimes Remus's chubby owl, Oakflake, would fly around them until Madam Hooch would chase it away, calling them to pay more attention to her tumultuous stunts, though to Severus they were all looking quite the same.

However, it was as if his broom was trying to get him higher and higher that day, no matter how much he wanted to lower it by tightening its wooden stick.

"Uh, everything all right, Severus?" Remus worried.

Severus didn't answer as he felt his broom shaking beneath him.

"Severus ... Maybe it would be better if you-"

But Remus didn't finish his sentence because Severus' broom dashed through the sky as if it had a conscience of its own.

Severus gripped his broom tighter for dear life. It hurried past classmates whose faces he could not recognize and whom he almost knocked down.

"Was that ..."

"I don't believe it..."

"Snivellus?"

Severus could make out the shocked voices of Sirius and James. So that's how high he had reached!

He tried to make a U-turn when he approached the castle towers menacingly. He heard Madam Hooch shouting after him and advancing like a rocket coming from behind him, but the distance between him and her seemed difficult to cover.

He managed to avoid the sharp tip of one of the domes, only that made him lower his broom towards the brick wall. He closed his eyes ready for the impact, but instead of feeling pain, he found himself pulled back by the hood of his robe.

When he opened his eyes he saw with a gaping mouth the statue of the Gargoyle holding him tightly in his stone, yet somehow flexible arms.

"Oh, thank Heavens!" Madame Hooch stopped beside him, breathing heavily and with one hand over her beating chest. "You can let go now."

Severus didn't know if she was talking to him or to the Gargoyle, because under no circumstance did he feel ready to come out of the grip that was separating him from the crushing ground.

He hardly agreed to let himself be picked up by the professor, clinging tightly to her flight robe.

"Broom ... cursed ..." It was all he managed to articulate.

"Do you think I didn't realize that, boy?" Madam Hooch asked, watching the broom still spinning around them with no precise direction.

Severus didn't dare to detach himself from her until the tip of the professor's broomstick had touched the grass.

Several curious students came down as well.

Sirius and James remained up high. They looked at him with interest, smiling mischievously when they met his eyes. Sabrina smiled similarly, behind Marry McDonald and one of her Slytherin friends.

"You have nothing to see here!" The professor snapped at them. "Snape, do you need me to take you to Madame Pomfrey?"

"No, I'm fine," he said, though he wasn't very convinced of his own words.

"Very well, then I want you right away in front of the Headmaster's office door. I'll be there soon, too. Wait for me and don't go in without me. Do you know where the Headmaster's office is? "

"Uh, I know! I'll show him how to get there," Remus offered, shyly raising his hand.

Lily didn't even ask for permission to accompany them. It was quite obvious that she would not have had it any other way.

"Sev, what was that? What happened to your broomstick? Are broomsticks like motorcycles? Because I once heard of one that got out of control and threw its rider into an electric fence."

"No, Lily, it certainly wasn't a technical failure, it was a curse," Remus said.

Lily winced.

Severus shot Remus an accusing look. Lily saw that.

"All right, guys," she lowered her voice. "It already happens for some time now. I can't shake the feeling that you two are trying to hide something from me. Sev, I thought we were friends, best friends! And best friends don't keep secrets from each other!"

Severus sighed. Lily was sweet as a flower, but more stubborn than a rodeo bull. She wouldn't stop until she would get everything out from them.

"Lily, look, I ... I just wanted you not to worry. It's Sabrina. That duel was not at all random. I had planned everything with her in advance. Patricia and I convinced Tenebris to set up the Club so that our duel would not be against the rules, although some of the techniques she used were. If I had won, then she would have sworn to leave you alone. But as she felt humiliated by my last spell, she promised that she would do her best to take her revenge on me from now on."

Severus moistened his lips a little. He had the impression that he had confessed everything in one breath, though those were not the only facts he was trying to hide away from Lily.

Lily said nothing but stared right into his eyes. She didn't look angry, just kind of disappointed.

"So you think it was Sabrina?" Remus asked suddenly, breaking the silence between them.

But Severus paid no attention to him. Remus had led them down a corridor where he had never been before.

"Uh, Remus? Where are we?" Lily practically took the question out his mouth.

"The West Towers. It is also the way to the Ravenclaw rooms, but Dumbledore's office is a little bit closer."

Severus wondered how did Remus know where the Headmaster's office was. Did he ever got into trouble that no one else knew about?

They turned a corner and stopped in front of a statue depicting another Gargoyle, larger and more wrinkled than the one that had saved Severus' life.

"It won't open unless we tell it the password," Remus explained, pointing to the statue.

Lily looked curiously at the Gargoyle, before waving her hand in front of its puffy eyes.

"I knew it! I knew statues live too!" She said victoriously as the Gargoyle blinked grumpily.

"I was not sure either. It is said that most of them stay still when you simply pass them by, but when they feel that someone is in danger they jump into action to help," said Remus.

The three of them sat down with their backs against the cold wall.

"You have to tell Dumbledore what Sabrina did to you, Sev. This is the second time she's almost killed you!" Lily advised.

"I don't think he will believe me without any concrete evidence. Besides, I'm not even sure it was her."

"You don't think it was James, do you?" Remus asked.

"He was rather distant in the past few days. Maybe he was setting up something bigger all this time."

"Oh! It better not! If it was him, I swear I'll make him swallow a whole Bludger!" Lily said, clenching her fist and probably imagining she was crushing a miniature James.

Remus and Severus looked at each other in surprise.

Soon they heard Madam Hooch's hurried footsteps. She was holding something long in her arms, which was writhing to free itself, and was covered in a thin blanket, tied up with a rope.

"Evans. Lupin. The rest of your classmates are waiting for you in the Great Hall."

Lily and Remus threw Severus one last apologetic glance before walking away.

"Cherry tart," said the professor.

Dumbledore had some strange tastes in passwords because the statue suddenly moved apart and the wall behind it split into two.

Severus followed his professor on the spiral steps that were moving slowly upward. He heard the wall close behind them as the stairs were advancing in circles. The stairs stopped in front of a well-polished door with a gold handle in the shape of a griffin's head.

Madam Hooch opened the door forcefully, as if she was owning that place.

It was an office as eccentric as Professor Tenebris', but nowhere nearly as depressing as hers.

It was a large, circular room with a warm, bright atmosphere. Lots of shiny silver trinkets were arranged on the shelves. Some were swaying gently on their small feet, others were puffing out friendly, tiny clouds.

On the walls were portraits of former Hogwarts Headmasters who were frowning at Madam Hooch, unhappy with the way she burst in or with the way she was tapping the floor with her sole, gradually losing her patience since Dumbledore was not there just yet.

The desk was wide and had claw-shaped legs. Behind it, Severus noticed the Magic Sorting Hat, as ragged as at the Reception Banquet, but now inert, glued to life. On a high stand by the door stood a large, majestic bird. It had fire-like feathers and a beautiful, wavy beak. When it felt Severus' gaze, the bird's clear and shiny black eyes looked back at him, slowly lowering its head to one side.

Madame Hooch was tapping her foot faster and faster. Severus thought it would not be long before she will form a hole, when the office door opened gently, and Dumbledore, with his long, silver hair bouncing on his shoulders, entered, walking backwards. He was carrying a huge, white Earth globe with gold-colored continents.

"Ah, Rolanda, my dear, so glad to see you."

Severus heard one of the former headmasters snort, showing that he did not share Dumbledore's opinion at all.

The Headmaster placed the globe next to his desk. He touched it three times with the tip of his wand. Several black spots appeared on each continent. Below them Severus could read indications such as 'The MACUSA Headquarters' on the edge of North America or 'The Transylvanian Dragon Natural Reserve', which was located right next to 'The National Vampire Committee'.

"What a bargain, isn't it?" Dumbledore said chuckling, touching the spot for the Dragon Reserve. At once, bursting up and growing, as if it were shown on TV, started to develop the animated image of dragons blowing flames at some people who were avoiding them by using huge shields made of enchanted metal. The people were trying to feed the dragons considerable pieces of raw meat.

"Headmaster," Madam Hooch made her presence be acknowledged once more.

Dumbledore and Severus both turned from the globe toward her, and Madam Hooch placed the rebellious, tightly-packed broom on the large desk.

The Headmaster sat down slowly in his tall chair, adjusting his crescent-shaped glasses over his long nose.

"Cursed, cursed from fabrication," he said, not even having to undo the broomstick, but just waving his wand lightly over it.

"Then someone must have replaced Mr. Snape's broomstick with this one," said Madame Hooch, frowning.

"Hm, is that so?" Dumbledore asked for his opinion, too.

Severus didn't want to admit with Madam Hooch as witness, that to him all broomsticks looked exactly the same. It would have sounded aberrant to her ears. But that was exactly what made him such an easy target for whoever had replaced his broomstick. Whoever that person was, they must have known he couldn't tell them apart.

"Albus, the boy was about to crush into pieces! Sabotaging someone's flight is extremely serious! Anyone with such a crazy idea for a prank should be expelled immediately!" Madam Hooch used her noisy voice, which she was usually applying on her more bold and hard to control students.

"I can't contradict you there, Rolanda. But you have to understand that my hands are tied until true evidence is brought to light. We wouldn't want to accuse someone unjustifiably."

"Right... Snape, quick! Do you have anyone in mind?"

Severus felt really small in the silence of the adults who were waiting for him to say something for the first time since he had entered the circular and beautifully-decorated office.

Madam Hooch began tapping impatiently with her fingers on the surface of the director's desk, promptly expecting some names from him. But Dumbledore noticed Severus' uneasiness because he said:

"Thank you for your intervention, Rolanda. As usual, your insight has made sure every student is safe and sound, but I think I'll take Mr. Snape from here now on."

Madame Hooch looked at Dumbledore in protest, but agreed to leave them alone behind the polished door, which she closed a little more smoothly this time.

"Lemon drops, Severus?" Dumbledore offered, lifting the small bowl from the edge of the desk.

Surprised enough that the Headmaster knew his first name, Severus accepted the candy, although mostly out of politeness.

"And how did you find your first weeks here, at Hogwarts?"

"They were ... interesting, sir," Severus said, a little confused.

Dumbledore clasped his hands on the table, sustaining his chin on them. He looked up at the chandelier that was scattering white spots of light throughout the room.

"You also made new friends, I hope to hear."

"Friends, but also enemies," Severus admitted slowly, more to himself.

But Dumbledore heard him.

"It is true that the line between friendship and enmity can be extremely thin at times," he said, looking at the clouds filling the angry autumn sky through the round-framed glass of the many windows. "But do you know what the most charming part of friendship is, Severus? You never know where from to expect to see it bloom."

The beautiful bird nodded softly to Dumbledore.

The rebel broom was still on the desk. Dumbledore untied it with some fine movements of his long fingers. Before having the chance of taking off, most predictably towards one of the shelves with the many fragile trinkets, Dumbledore immobilized it with an incantation that Severus didn't know.

"But I'd like you to come to me if you ever run into such problems again."

Severus hesitated a little, but nodded slowly.

He wondered if he should mention Sabrina. After all, Dumbledore was an individual with far more important occupations than clearing up a silly conflict between 11-year-olds.

Severus had learned as a young child how to solve all his problems without the help of either of his parents. It had always been this way. He couldn't depend on adults. But something of Dumbledore's speech was still resonating in his mind: 'The line between friendship and enmity can be extremely thin.'

XXX

James's apparent oath of silence was over. He didn't let Severus get away cheap after the Flying Class incident. James was constantly pretending to simply lose his balance and collapse on the carpet.

But Severus was ignoring him. He was scratching Crookshanks' fluffy back.

Crookshanks had become their new roommate after Courtney Buttermier had finally snapped and Lily had to get him out of the girls' bedroom, at least until the other Gryffindor girl would calm down, or until Madam Pomfrey would find her a stronger antiallergenic.

But it was right on cue. Crookshanks, although not exactly fit, had a very fine hearing and a seventh sense that was making him hiss and puff up his fur every time he didn't like someone, like when James called him a stinking sack of fleas. Crookshanks would warn him in case anyone tried to attack him again while sleeping.

The cat's ears perked up as Peter opened the door. He had been the last one to come to bed all week. As usual, he was also the last one to get out of bed in the morning and to go to Breakfast.

Severus told Remus to go without him because he couldn't find his Transfiguration homework. Remus believed him.

It didn't take long for a small, chubby hand to come out through the curtains of the bed next to the other wall. The hand touched the nightstand, but as it couldn't find the object that would normally have been there, Peter stuck his head out as well.

He remained stunned when he took into account Severus sitting in a chair pulled up next to his bed, legs crossed and holding the Gryffindor Quidditch fan cap between his fingers.

"Challenging, well, I suppose you really did find a more ... cool haircut, after all."

Severus was glaring at the green algae that had grown directly from Peter Pettigrew's scalp.

Peter, after coming out of his temporal state of shock, began to shake frantically on the blankets.

"Severus! I swear! It was Sabrina, she made me do it!"

The furrows on Severus' forehead were deep enough to prove how much he believed in the validity of that excuse.

"Pretty clever though. You were keeping an eye on me, weren't you? You wanted to know my every move. Shall I understand you changed my broomstick, too, while Sicattio was distracting me?"

"It was her idea! I swear! It was her broomstick! She ordered it from a shop in Knockturn Ally! She f-f-forced me to!"

"Ah, yes? And how did she do that, if I'm allowed to ask?"

Peter seemed to have ran out of words.

Severus threw him one last disgusted look before letting the Gryffindor supporter cap fall on Peter's bed.

Severus got down the stairs to the Great Hall. This time around, he wanted to inform Lily and Remus about what was going on. There were already too many enemies!

AN/ Yay! 10 Chapters done, 10 more to go! I hope you all liked it this far.