"Hey, Emma."
She turned her head to frown at him, as he closed the door of the second-floor classroom behind him. "I didn't think you were still talking to me, considering how much time you've been spending with your Slytherin friends." Her voice sounded cold and piercing, but she couldn't help it. She hadn't seen him in days, and with Lily spending all her time with Potter and the Gryffindors, she only had her toad to keep her company.
Severus froze by the door. He squared his shoulders and folded his hands behind his back – something he'd been doing lately when he got upset. That, and lashing out. "I don't have to apologise for having other friends."
The words sliced through her heart like a dagger, but she kept her face carefully under control. "You don't need to. I just wish you could still be friends with me, as well." Leaning her head against the window, she stared outside.
Just go, she thought. You're going to leave anyway. Just go.
Instead, she heard his footsteps come closer. "We are still friends. It's just that... They don't really have a high opinion of Hufflepuffs."
A scoff escaped her, but it came dangerously close to a sob. She kept her eyes firmly on the swaying trees outside.
"I'll come and see you here whenever I can," he muttered. "Just... No more lunching together, alright? For now."
For now. Just until we graduate. She swallowed a poisonous remark down as she turned to face him. "Promise me we'll stay friends."
It sounded pathetically weak to her ears, but Severus only nodded. "I promise. Listen, I have to go, but... I'll see you here tomorrow? I'll skip Potions, you still have a free period after lunch, right?"
Her eyebrows rose. "Skip Potions? But that's your favourite subject."
"It's also my easiest." He smiled, the tension in his shoulder dissipating. He moved to turn around, but seemed to change his mind. His hands dug into the pockets of his robes. "I'll keep them away from you. Just so you know, I told them you're a half-blood. They're not as bad to half-bloods. Just go with it."
"You lied for me?"
He nodded uncomfortably. "It's easier that way."
She stared back at him. He had changed. It was subtle, but she could tell. The bags under his eyes seemed much more pronounced lately. A line had formed between his eyebrows that used to only be there when he was upset. His head hung as he turned and opened the door.
"You shouldn't have to pretend to be someone you're not," she called after him. Those Slytherins were bad news, and everyone knew it. It hurt her, having to watch him try to fit in with that lot. What if he became just like them?
Severus froze in the doorway, but didn't turn around. "Perhaps I'm not pretending," he said, before snapping the door shut.
For much of the following week, Emma found herself distracted by work. As much as she wanted to sleuth and play detective, as much as she wanted to find out what happened to her aunt, she still had a job to do. The kids were depending on her. And since she'd wasted away the weekend, she had to spent most of her free time marking homework. She didn't go down to the Great Hall to eat anymore; she simply ate in her office, so that she could continue working.
She didn't even get a chance to speak to Severus properly. And she still hadn't apologised for missing dinner the other night.
One evening, as she was struggling through a heap of essays, there was a knock on her door. She lifted her head hopefully. Would that be Severus, finally forcing her to take a break from work? God knows I could use it. "Come in!"
The door creaked open, revealing a hesitant Harry. His eyes flicked to the pile of scrolls on her desk. With the doorknob still in his hand, he asked, "Do you have a moment?"
"Yeah, of course!" She gestured for him to sit down, as she tidied away some of the scrolls.
Harry shut the door behind him and stepped into the office, but he stopped behind the chair, fiddling with the sleeves of his robes. "Last time..." He hesitated, but seemed to find his voice again. "I told you something bad is happening in the school. Remember?"
Emma's eyebrows knotted together in thought. When had she last spoken to him again? "Oh! Yes, of course! Those Ministry people interrupted us. Sorry, Harry, it's been a hectic couple of weeks."
He shook his head. "It's okay. It's just... Something strange happened. Yesterday, in detention."
"Something strange happened in detention? And here I was thinking detentions were supposed to be boring." Her weak attempt at a joke did not seem to lighten the mood. "Go on then, what was it?"
"Hagrid took us out to the Forbidden Forest to find an injured unicorn."
She raised an eyebrow, muttering, "That is a strange detention."
"I saw something. Something evil. He was cloaked, I didn't see his face, but he was bending over the unicorn. It was already dead. I think... I think he was taking its blood." The boy shuddered at the thought.
"Taking unicorn blood?" Emma's jaw dropped. "That's... awful!"
"Hermione read about them. She said it can make someone immortal."
"Yes, but at a terrible price." She hesitated, choosing not to elaborate on that. "You really think you saw a person take that creature's blood? They can't have been... trying to tend to the wound, or something?"
He shook his head forcefully. "I'm sure of it. I never saw his face, but... I think I know who it was."
Emma sat up straight. "You do? Who?"
Harry glanced over his shoulder. "It's... It's someone from Hogwarts."
"Okay," she said, gesturing for him to continue. When he didn't, she added, "Have you told all of this to Hagrid?"
His shoulders sagged and he stared at the floor. "Yeah. He didn't believe me."
Ah. So that's why you're so nervous. "Did he say why?"
"He says anyone who works here can be trusted, because Dumbledore trusts them."
A smile tugged at her lips. "He does make a good point there, Harry."
"Even Dumbledore can make a mistake!" Harry shot back.
"Fair enough. Go on then, who do you think it was?"
"I think..." He glanced over his shoulder again. "I think it was Snape."
It took a lot of effort to keep her face straight. She took a moment to sit up in her chair and collect her thoughts. She swallowed down the urge to respond with, "Don't be ridiculous!", but for a few moments she wasn't sure how else to respond to the accusation. "Alright," she said eventually. "And why do you think Professor Snape would be taking a unicorn's blood?"
"You... You believe me?"
"I..." She racked her brain, but there didn't seem to be an appropriate response to this one. "I don't know. Look, here's what I do know." She gestured for him to sit down again, but he didn't move. "Professor Snape has been my friend for a very, very long time. I know you don't like him, and I don't blame you for that. But I do trust him. With my life. Professor Dumbledore is not the only one who trusts him."
Harry stared at the floor. "You don't believe me."
"It's not that I don't believe you, it's just..."
Before she could finish her sentence, he turned on his heel and stormed out of the room.
"Harry!" she called after him, but he was already gone. With a deep sigh, she sunk back into her chair, wondering if she'd just lost his trust completely.
With Harry's words swimming through her mind, Emma found herself unable to focus on the students' essays any longer. A glance at the clock told her it was dinnertime, so she decided to have dinner in the Great Hall for a change. Perhaps she could finally speak to Severus, if he was there too. She needed his help if she was ever going to figure out who killed her aunt.
After putting Croak back in his cage, she made her way down the stairs. She smiled when she recognised a head of raven-black hair among the sea of children. He'd just left the Great Hall and was on his way back towards the dungeons.
"Severus!" she called, but he didn't seem to hear her. She rushed down the last few steps and chased after him, catching up just as he turned around a corner.
"Hey, Severus! Listen, I want to talk to you about something."
"No!" came his immediate response.
Her eyebrows shot up. She turned her head to face him, but he didn't slow his pace and she struggled to keep up. "What?"
"I don't want to talk about it. I'm busy tonight. We'll talk another time."
She stumbled to a halt, watching her best friend stomp off into the dungeons, a sinking feeling in her gut. What the hell was that all about?
She turned back and treaded back up the stairs, confusion slowly but surely turning to disappointment, then anger. She needed his help with Aunt April's bloody riddle, but he wouldn't even talk to her. How could he do that? How could he shut her out at such a crucial time?
Fine. I don't need him, she thought eventually, slamming her officedoor shut behind her. I'll figure it out myself.
The words swam on the parchment. Emma had been staring at them for so long, the letters seemed to be moving about. She rubbed the exhaustion from her eyes. Think, Emma. These were the phrases most important to Aunt April during her investigation. How are they connected?
She'd written them all down on one piece of parchment, all the words Aunt April had scribbled down in thought.
Overseas. Dark Arts. Two-faced. DeathEater. Severus? And, just in case that one had something to do with it as well, Back at Hogwarts. And finally, of course, there was the strange riddle she'd left behind: Troll + broom = stone.
What did it mean? What was the connection between all of these random brainwaves?
Emma found the riddle especially puzzling. Her aunt never had a particular preference towards riddles, so why would she suddenly start writing so cryptically?
At first, Emma had thought the three words might be code for something else. Troll could stand for huge, or dumb, or green. Broom perhaps meant flying, or Nimbus, or... cleaning? And stone... Well, there was an endless list of things the word stone could stand for. She'd given up on this theory rather quickly.
Then she thought maybe the words were a literal puzzle. Stone could be an anagram for notes, or tones, or onset. But she couldn't think of any anagrams for the other two words.
When her eyes caught the words Back to Hogwarts, she'd considered the events that had been happening in the castle earlier in the year. Back in October, a troll had invaded Hogwarts. A few weeks later, there was the incident with Harry's broomstick during the Quidditch match. But what did any of that have to do with a stone?
With a deep sigh, she shoved the parchment away from her and suppressed a yawn. She wished Severus would help her solve this. He was much better at such puzzles than she was. But she still hadn't had a chance to talk to him. It was as if he was avoiding her. But why would he do that, when things had been going so well between them? He was another mystery, but perhaps this was one she could solve.
She stood up and left her office, dragging her feet through the second floor hallways. She'd almost reached the stairs when she heard voices.
"... didn't believe us."
"We have to do something!"
"We can't just go in. We'll get in so much trouble!"
The three students rounded the corner and froze when they saw Emma. She smiled, tilting her head. "Mind telling me what you three are getting in trouble for?"
Harry exchanged a glance with his friends. Ron shrugged, but Hermione made a gesture with her head that obviously meant, "Tell her!"
"You didn't believe me last time," said Harry. "But you have to do something! He's going after the philosopher's stone. You have to stop him."
Emma froze. "The philosopher's... stone?"
Harry nodded. "It's hidden here in the castle. Dumbledore is hiding it for a friend, Nicholas Flamel. Please, Professor. You have to do something."
The philosopher's stone... Emma knew about it, of course. It was a marvel in the world of Healing. It had astonishing powers. Not only could it turn any metal into pure gold, it also produced an elixir that could make the drinker immortal. She knew Flamel had invented it, but she thought the stone and its owner were lost forever. No one knew where they were.
"You're saying that stone is here, in the castle? How do you know this?"
The three glanced at each other. "Hagrid told us. His dog, Fluffy, is guarding it," Hermione said eventually. As the boys protested, she took a step back. "What? She wouldn't have believed us if we didn't tell her!"
"Hagrid won't be in trouble, will he, Professor?" Harry asked.
But Emma was barely listening. Her mind raced, struggling to keep up with her thoughts, with all the pieces of the puzzle that were suddenly falling into place, connecting one brainwave to another.
Stone. The philosopher's stone. Troll + broom = stone. It wasn't about the items, it was about the person behind them. The same person who caused the incidents with the troll and Harry's broomstick, was now after the stone! That had been her mission. To find out who was after the stone and stop them.
Emma gasped with the realisation. The scratched out word Severus? was clear as well. Aunt April had suspected Severus first, but she'd discarded the theory in favour of something else. Severus had suspected Quirrell all along. Had she come to the same conclusion as him?
Yes, she had, Emma knew. Overseas, Back to Hogwarts, Dark Arts – it all fit. Quirinus had been travelling the world for a year before coming back to Hogwarts in September to teach Defence against the Dark Arts. He was the one who'd let the troll into the castle, who'd jinxed Harry's broom...
And who is now after the most priceless object in the world.