Guilt Is A Useless Emotion (HP) Chapter 7/???
Title: Guilt Is A Useless Emotion
Author: Bree (dhampirvampire)
Rating: T
Pairing(s): None at the moment
Spoilers: Eventual spoilers for Snape's past
Warnings: A bit of language.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter in anyway.
Summary: How different would Snape's life be if he had a close friend other than Lily Evans?
Author’s Notes: I still don't know exactily how I am going to end this fic... or how many chapters it will have.
Chapter 7: Suspicions about Lucius
Victoria woke up early the next morning and quickly changed and went over to Viera and tried to wake her. Viera was a heavy sleeper. Victoria tried calling to her, the thing that finally woke her up was heavy shaking and calling. “What?” Viera said as she sat up rubbing her eyes.
“Come on, get dressed. Let’s go and meet Remus. You can talk to him yourself about his lycanthropy.” This caught Viera’s attention and quickly got dressed and followed Victoria down towards the Whomping Willow. James, Sirius, and Peter were already down at the Willow when they arrived.
“Where is Madam Pomfrey?”
“She went down to meet Moony.” Peter replied and Victoria and Viera stopped next to them. “They should be out soon.” As soon as he said that Remus and Madam Pomfrey came walking out.
“Come along, back to the school.” Madam Pomfrey said as she escorted them back toward the Great Hall.
“What time is it?” Peter asked as they all headed back towards the school.
“About 7 dear.”
“Everyone else is probably still asleep.”
“Well, all the students anyway.” Viera replied.
“In that case, I think I’m going to go hang around the lake for a while.” Victoria said as she started to head off in that direction.
“I’ll go to the library...” Remus said.
“Can I go with you?” Viera asked.
“Sure, I could use a little company.”
“And we are going to scrounge for food.” James spoke up for the rest of the group.
* The Library *
Remus was looking for a book to help him with his future studies as Viera trailed behind him. “Remus? How did you become a werewolf?” Viera asked somewhat hesitantly. He grabbed a book and found a nearby seat.
“Do you really want to know?” He asked with a hint of interest as he started to open the book.
“I do. Normally werewolves your age are used to transformations… I take it you weren’t born a werewolf?”
“No I wasn’t. When I was quite young… a werewolf named Fenrir Grayback bit me after my father insulted him.”
“Why did your father do that?”
“I really don’t know to tell you the truth. But I suppose that Grayback bit me as payback.”
“I’m sorry Remus.”
“It’s alright. This is now just something I have to get used to.”
“At least the ancient blood feud between our species is over. You don’t have to worry too much about vamps… maybe the older generations though.”
“Why? Do some of them still harbor ill will towards each other?”
“Unfortunately.”
“Well what about you? How did you become a vampire?”
“I was born a vampire. My mother and father are both vamps as well as magical.”
“So you’re a pure blood in every aspect.”
“Why yes…”
“Why not find a book and stay awhile?” Remus said with a smile.
“Sure. I’m glad that we got to know a little about each other Remus.” Viera said as she went off to find a book. Remus nodded in agreement and went back to his reading.
* The Lake *
Victoria was still somewhat in a vampiric mode. Her footsteps making no sound as she continued down towards the lake. “There are a few potential candidates, my Lord.” It was Lucius’ voice. Victoria looked over to her left through the bushes and saw Lucius in front of someone in all black. She could not see the man’s face, he had a black hood over his face.
“Excellent Lucius.” The man in all black said as he looked over towards Victoria. She quickly jumped up into a nearby tree and the man looked back down at Lucius. “How many?”
“I don’t have the exact count. But it is quite a large group of Slytherin students… very talented sixth-years.”
“Try and get them to join as soon as possible, Lucius. We can’t delay much longer.”
“It will be done soon my Lord.” With that, the man in all black walked off in the opposite direction. Victoria quickly climbed up farther into the tree, as Lucius made his way back towards the castle. As soon as Lucius was nearly out of sight Victoria jumped down from her position on the second branch of the tree. “Impressive.” A voice said behind her. She spun around, her fangs glinting in the sunlight.
“Jesus Christ Severus…” She said as she started to lower her guard. “What are you doing out here?”
“I saw you and Viera leave the common room, I just wondered where you went and set off to find you.” He looked in the direction that Lucius had gone. “I saw that Lucius left from this way… and figured you wouldn’t be too far off. You know, I often joke about Lucius being around you and bothering you so much… But if he ever does anything to you, I’ll be more than happy to take care of it for you. After all maybe I can talk some sense into him since he is a friend.”
“You’re too sweet Sev.” Victoria said with a smile. “I was actually spying on him. He never even knew I was here.”
“Good for you. Glad he wasn’t annoying the shit out of you.”
“He annoys the shit out of me just for being within 20, no 30 feet from me.”
“Do you want me to take care of that for you?”
“It’s alright.” Victoria laughed.
“Why the hell were you spying on him anyway?”
“Well, when someone is referred to as a ‘my Lord’ it’s a little hard to ignore.”
”’My Lord?’ Who? Lucius?”
“No, I have no idea who it was. I couldn’t see his face and his actual name was never mentioned.” Both Severus and Victoria looked back at the castle. “Something bad is going to happen here.”
“Will you relax! Dumbledore is the ‘greatest wizard who ever lived.’ If something is going to happen he will take care of it before we ever find out.”
“What if it isn’t the school but the students…?”
“Let’s see… school equals students, which means that Dumbledore will take care of it.”
“He can’t take care of everyone, all of the time you know.”
“It will be fine.” Severus said to reassure her again. The clock tower bells started to ring 8 o’clock.
Victoria and Severus spent the rest of the day together, and although Severus kept inquiring about where Remus went the previous night, Victoria refused to tell. The only advice she offered him was to drop the subject and his curiosity on the matter of Remus’ monthly disappearances. They ran into Lily in the corridor and Severus would try and apologize yet again for his actions last year, but she would not hear it and walk away. It took her a number of minutes to find a way to cheer him up without killing James. The two of them also kept a close eye on Lucius throughout the course of the day as well. They followed Lucius around for quite a while and found nothing shady going on. It was quite late in the day when Severus convinced Victoria to finally abandon her thoughts on Lucius.
Remus and Viera took time to get to know each other better and within hours became good friends. Viera learned the truth of the Shrieking Shack from Remus and how people believed that it was haunted. As for Sirius, Peter, and James they spent the remainder of the day pranking and hexing first-years… just because they could. It was not until dinner in the Great Hall that they all saw each other again.
“I take it you and Remus had a pleasant conversation.” Victoria stated as Viera came and sat down next to her.
“We did. He’s actually a good friend now.”
“I’m glad.” Victoria said as Lucius walked by. She just stared at him, a slight hint of suspicion still lingering in her gaze.
“Let it go love.” Severus said as he looked over at her from across the table. Victoria looked back at Severus as he just smiled at her. Viera asked if she had missed anything today. “Not much… well, nothing of too much importance.” Severus answered her.
“With that gaze, I sure missed something.” Viera stated as the food appeared before the students.
Victoria was the first person to arrive back at the common room. She didn’t really eat that much today, which made all her friends worry about her. She grabbed a nearby book, sat down on the couch and started to read. It was not long before people started pouring into the common room. “Oi, Anastasia.” Avery called out to her.
“What?” She asked placing her book down on the table.
“Dumbledore wants to talk to you in his office.”
“Ok… thanks.” Victoria replied. Avery was never all that fond of Victoria, for reasons unbeknownst to even himself. Victoria was a little confused as to where Viera and Severus were, but she knew that they would turn up eventually.
* Dumbledore’s Office *
Victoria stood outside Dumbledore’s office door for a few seconds, wondering what it was he wanted to see her for. “The door’s open Victoria.” Dumbledore called out to her. Victoria slowly opened the door and walked in.
“How did you know I was outside, sir?” She asked somewhat befuddled.
“When statues move it makes quite a bit of noise.” Dumbledore replied with a laugh. “Have a seat.” He said with his hand extended to the chair in front of his desk. “I have something for you…. Ah, here we are.” He threw Victoria a bag of blood as she sat down.
“How did you…? Thank you, Headmaster.”
“It is really Severus you should be thanking. He expected that you might have needed some soon and told me soon after you left the Great Hall.”
“I’ll have to thank him next time I see him.” Victoria’s fangs quickly grew as she bit into the bag.
“He… also told me that you have something on your mind. He didn’t tell me anything, he thought it would be better if you told me.” Victoria looked up at Dumbledore, a little blood dripping off her fangs. “Do you... have something you need to tell me Victoria?”
Victoria set the half empty bag of blood on the edge of Dumbledore’s desk. “I have reason to believe that Lucius maybe a danger to some of the students, sir…” Victoria stated as she looked down at her feet.
“Why do you think this?” Dumbledore asked as he sat down giving Victoria his attention. She recalled what she had seen early in the morning. The black figure, Lucius bowing, everything she could think of.
“I’m glad that you told me this Victoria.” Dumbledore smiled a little. “The man in all black might have been the Dark Lord, Voldemort. I heard that he was trying to get more followers.” Dumbledore stood up and started to pace.
“Professor?” Victoria asked hoping to get more information.
“Voldemort intends to rid the wizarding world of all muggle-born witches and wizards. I’m sure you already know this however, it is all over the Prophet. A war will be upon us soon and he is looking for more followers. We will keep a closer eye on Lucius, I promise. If you could keep an eye on him as well and report anything suspicious, it would be very helpful.”
“I will sir.” Victoria stated as she headed for the door. She looked back for a moment and saw Dumbledore placing a blue-silver strand into something that looked like a bowl of water.
Victoria arrived in the common room a few minutes later and was greeted by Viera and Severus. Viera had started a round of Solitaire and Severus immersed himself in Magick Moste Evile. Both stopped what they were doing momentarily to say “Hi” to Victoria as she walked through the wall into the common room. Victoria found a seat near Severus and watched Viera’s game for a moment or two before she remembered and thanked Severus.
“For what?” He asked rather absentmindedly.
“For telling Dumbledore.” Victoria replied.
“Oh that. Viera could also tell that it might have been nice for you to have some soon as well.”
“So, finding the book interesting?”
“There are a few things in here that are, indeed, very interesting. You were right, I would like it.” Her continued reading, Victoria tried to show Viera moves she overlooked and when her game decided to screw her over she looked at the other two and stated that it was probably a good idea to get some sleep.