Chapter 8
He was in quite the bad mood the next morning. Not that he was ever truly in a good mood necessarily, but it was worse than normal. He was going to have to go to Madam Pomfrey now, and that alone was annoying. Not to mention it was with Lucius Malfoy. That lone meant that this was going to be...quite the interesting morning. He would bet that Lucius was doing this just to ensure his own power over Severus. Like Severus needed another reminder of yet another person that was above him in practically every way. He already knew that Lucius had more power over him, more so than he would have liked just in general, let alone now that they had this little...little pact or whatever one wanted to call it. He was really annoyed that he had even allowed himself to agree to this proposal, yet it was a really good one, even Severus cannot deny it.
He sat on one of the armchairs in the far corner of the common room, feet hiked up on the edge of the cushion, elbows on his thighs and holding a book up in his hands. It was an interesting read, and one of the darker books that he had managed to find after canvassing several book stores. Should he be going into Knockturn alley by himself as young as he was...possibly not, but at the same time they were the only places that held the darker readings that truly interested him. Florish and Blotts was all stupid light tiered magic that they were already aware of, and nothing was all that stimulating. He had managed to scramble this book and barely managed to get away with it. Not having enough money for it he...well comandeered it. It had been a little more difficult than it was stealing books from Florish and Blotts but he had still managed it nonetheless.
The book itself was rather interesting and went into the differences between dark and light magics and how one would go about using the darker side of magic. It was a rather basic beginners book, one that he had obtained in his second year, and had thoroughly read multiple times, but it was a go to when he felt agitated or stressed. More of a rememberance that he had the ability, and the will and capability to use dark magic should he want to. It also went over some basic darker curses, but that was more towards the end and for more example work. He had a variety of darker spell books. Nothing as wide of fancy as the Pureblood Slytherin houses did, but he supposed given what he had to work with-which was next to nothing-it was quite decent for a fellow such as himself.
"I see you truly did wait for me." The soft and dulcet tones of the Prefect caused Severus to grit his teeth, roll his eyes, and snap his book shut before staring up at Lucius with a glower. He tucked the book under his arm before Lucius could get a good look at the cover, something which he had obviously been trying to do. Sending a rather frustrated huff towards the Prefect, he did not really know what he should respond to that line of statement. He of course knew very well that he had no choice in actually waiting up for Lucius. The other would have hunted him down, and whilst Severus was quite good at hiding away from people, he was not sure that he wanted to test his capabilities against a Prefect. Lucius could very well have all the school staff and the entire Slytherin house looking for him, not to mention portiats and everything. Definitely not something he wanted to deal with. Hiding against one person? Easy. Hiding against an entire slew of people? Well the last time Severus had managed that was when he had stolen a pair of clothes from the local tailors. It was not really something he wanted to try again.
"It was not as though I had much of a choice," Severus muttered under his breath. Lucius gave a faint smile, grabbing Severus suddenly by the arm and pulling him up from the chair. Severus could feel his body tense at the sudden grasp. He had not been expecting it and to be perfectly honest he was not sure that he liked the feeling. Lucius was far stronger than he would have thought.
"Right, well nonetheless, I am glad to see you have listened...for once." Severus bristled at the implications. He could be plenty obedient when he had to be, he just did not often feel as though he had to. There was only few circumstances that made that necessary, and this was seemingly an unfortunate one. IT was nothing to really be proud of, intimidating Severus into obedience. He was not even fully intimidated, he just knew when to back down from a fight...when his emotions did not make that difficult that were.
"Whatever,"
"Look, I realize you are not overly fond of this, but I am merely taking precautions." Lucius stated primly as he forced Severus out of the common room, ignoring the stunned and baffled looks given to the both of them.
"Right," Severus scoffed, not believing that for a second. It was more likely a control thing than it was a concern thing. He did not believe that the likes of Lucius cared much for him.
"Take it however you will, Severus..." Severus bristled at the overly fond usage of his name. It was bad enough that Dumbledore had a bad tendency to do it, now he had to deal with a Pureblood doing it as well? He hated it on a general basis, and he hated it now. It was all rather unfortuate. "But we cannot proceed if you are all banged up already. Going to the good Madam will ensure a trail, of a sort at least."
"You really think that they are going to just...what...leave evidence? Of the good old Gryffindor's mistakes?" Severus scoffed at the stupidity.
"Perhaps before, but you forget, my dear, I am involved now. Dumbledore is bound to be treading at least a little more carefully then previously."