Complications // Severus Snape

• Ch 31 Lies and Guilt •

That Friday evening, I made my way down to the icy-cold dungeons, accompanied in my misery by Shay. It could be much worse, true; had Severus not intervened, Shay and I might have had detention with Cecil until the end of term.

Shay's bout of sleepwalking was, as it turned out, not a single occurrence. Twice already I had caught her leaving the dormitory in the middle of the night, and both times guided her back before she had left the Ravenclaw tower. I had not, however, caught any further coherent mutterings while she was in her sleepwalking state, nor had I asked her what she knew about Sage being cursed and Cecil. An opportune time for that would arise during or after our detention—when we were alone, without risk of being overheard by Cecil.

"Good evening, Professor," I said as Shay and I entered the Potions room.

Severus was sat at his desk with a quill in hand, leant over a scroll of parchment about three feet long, leaving bright red marks on seemingly every word. The entire room was lit by a single candle, which was placed at the corner of Severus's desk.

He set down his quill and rose from his desk, making his way toward the storeroom attached to the classroom. "Miss Kelly, Miss White. Tonight for your detention, you will be organizing and re-labelling my collection of potions and ingredients, as that obnoxious poltergeist Peeves has disarranged them." he said, procuring a skeleton key from his pocket and with it unlocking the door to the storeroom. "I trust that you will not purloin anything." With a wave of his wand, Severus lit two torches within the storeroom.

Shay and I entered the storeroom to see shelves upon shelves bearing various jars and bottles, all labelled with the same spidery scrawl.

"I must take leave now, as I have rounds; however, I expect when I return this storeroom to be catalogued." With that, he left the Potions room.

"Well, then," said Shay.

This detention was not nearly as fun as had been the one with Aura the month before; not a single strand of spaghetti was thrown. However, it did allow me the opportunity to ask Shay about what she had muttered while sleepwalking.

"I'm worried about Sage," I said, trying to identify a jar containing a sludgy dark green potion. "I think that, if she isn't healed soon, she'll be moved to a permanent ward in St. Mungo's."

I peeked at Shay out of the corner of my eye. She had frozen, but quickly regained her composure. "It's that bad?" she asked, sounding slightly nervous.

"It is. But who would do such a thing to her? I mean, it's not like she's on bad terms with anyone—sure, she's rather competitive grade-wise, but that's not reason for someone to curse her..."

"Have you... well, don't take offense to this, it's just a thought—but have you considered that maybe Snape cursed her?"

I set down the potion I was trying to identify so that I could turn to look at Shay, and also so that I wouldn't drop it in my frustration.

Before I could speak, Shay hastily said, "Just—just think about it, Am. He miraculously saves you from a werewolf one day, and a girl is cursed the next? It may just be a coincidence, but you have to admit that it does look suspicious..."

"What are you implying? That Severus made a werewolf to attack me so that he could play the role of the hero? That has nothing to do with Sage!"

"Well, what if Snape was using you as a diversion, so that he wouldn't be blamed for Sage? What if he meant for you to be injured far worse in the Forest—maybe even die—but then had second thoughts, or..."