58 Chapter 55:"THE BEGINNING OF VOLDEMORT'S RISE TO POWER"

-Hogwarts, 24th November 1976

Several days had passed since the first Quidditch match in which Gryffindor defeated Hufflepuff and now there was only one day left until the second match between Slytherin and Ravenclaw.

Severus was now alone early in the morning eating breakfast in the Great Hall, there were only a few students in the Hall at this hour and it was only a few minutes before it started to fill up as usual.

As he was eating his breakfast, two young witches approached him where he was sitting at the Slytherin table.

Severus looked up and smiled.

"Pandora! Amelia! It's good to see you awake so early and with such energy," he greeted them jokingly, after all, they were always among the first students to arrive in the Great Hall for breakfast...

Severus on the other hand, well, he was always too early.

"Severus, I see you're still arriving before the breakfast hour even starts," Amelia added smiling as she sat down next to him at the dining room table.

While Pandora as usual complained that he didn't call her Pandy.

"I don't know what you mean, the breakfast is already on the table," Severus said pointing to the food on the table already.

"Yeah... Only 2 minutes ago maximum" Amelia replied shrugging her shoulders as she rolled her eyes.

Meanwhile, Pandora sat down across from Severus and began to eat from a large stack of pancakes in front of her as she spoke.

"Mmm...yeah well...mmm...Amelia wakes up really early too and she keeps thinking about the next Quidditch match, mmm... Merlin, I know I always say it, but after Hogwarts, I'm going to miss these meals, these pancakes are amazing," said Pandora as she continued to eagerly grab the pancakes one by one.

"I see, the nerves before an important match..."

"Nothing like that, actually, I just like to get up a bit earlier to go over the strategies, besides I have to be pretty ready for today" Amelia clarified quickly without letting Severus continue.

Severus just smiled as he shook his head.

Yes, Ravenclaw's tended to be very organised about everything, but they could also be quite stubborn.

Pandora just shrugged her shoulders wordlessly as she continued to pull another pancake from the table to eat.

Unlike the other three houses where many students from different houses were usually seen eating breakfast together, at the Slytherin table it was quite abnormal for students from other houses to sit with them, but Amelia and Pandora were both from important noble houses, and purebloods, so no one ever made many comments about it, and with Severus there they wouldn't either... although maybe if they were still Muggles there might be a problem despite Severus being there.

"So, what's so special about today?" Severus finally asked curiously.

Amelia looked at him and realised that he shouldn't know since they weren't in the same class, instantly she made an anticipating and defiant face as she answered.

"Well you see, today both the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and the Charms teacher are going to be evaluating us Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff in a wizarding duel."

'Oh it looks like this time Professor Harvey decided to invite Professor Flitwick... he must not want the same thing to happen again or repeat what happened with our class on the first day' thought Severus remembering the first day of class and the incident with Draco, Potter, and Black.

Usually at Hogwarts, students from 5th year upwards, usually have training duels, and occasionally an outstanding student is selected for one of the competitions that take place in other schools of magic and it seems that today the students from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff have a selection, hence Amelia's enthusiasm.

Pandora wiped her mouth a bit and when it looked like she was about to say something, she opened her mouth to swallow the pancakes again.

Severus turned to Amelia curiously.

"So you're thinking of going to compete outside?"

" Sure, it's the dream of every witch or wizard who wants to be an Auror, plus it's very useful since it's on your file and then getting a position in the Ministry of Magic is easier" Amelia stated enthusiastically with the idea as she explained her reasons to him, after all, she always wanted to be part of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

"No!" shouted Pandora, surprising both Amelia and Severus...

But she quickly added embarrassed while smiling and sticking out her tongue making a very funny and tender face, "This... heh... sorry, I dropped my pancake."

Severus and Amelia just laughed lightly and continued talking.

"And you don't plan on going to compete outside?" asked Amelia intrigued since with his skills he could win a competition which would give him quite a bit of prestige in the magical community.

"Hmm, I haven't decided yet, I think it would be good to see the level that other wizarding schools have, but besides that, I'm not too interested in the idea of participating."

"Well... if I decided to participate I'm sure that with your level you could win, you're among the best duelists at Hogwarts..." said Amelia.

'If you're not the best' she thought to herself, Amelia really admired that about him, Severus was smart, strong, interesting, a good duelist, sometimes funny but also serious, he had a lot of good qualities.

"Yes, Sev, you should give it a try, I'm sure it would be awesome to see you participate, must be fun!" Pandora commented enthused.

"Oh and why would you think that?" grinned Severus.

"Oh, come on Sev, everyone already knows that you are a level above the others in 6th year and you performed exceptionally well in the dueling practices that Slytherin had with Gryffindor, even Professor Harvey commented that you have quite particular spells for every situation, being one of the best students he saw," said Pandora.

"Even Amelia admits that she prefers not to duel you but she certainly thinks you're the best at Hogwarts," she added lightly.

"So Amelia said that huh" replied Severus as he gave an amused look at Amelia who bit her tongue at the sudden conversation involving her.

"Pandora!" Amelia gave her friend an annoyed look as Pandora innocently dodged her eyes and ignored the tone of voice she used when calling out to her.

"Don't stress Amelia, I might think about participating, after all, if a Ravenclaw like you considers me the best student I must be, right?" joked Severus.

Pandora laughed as Amelia glared at her.

After chatting for a while longer, Severus, Amelia, and Pandora prepared to leave the Great Hall together.

The Hall was predictably crowded at this hour with students who were just getting up at this hour to get a quick breakfast and then head off to class.

As Severus, Amelia and Pandora were in no hurry, the three of them waited quietly for the crowd to clear.

As they left they noticed a large group of students gathered around the notice board outside the Great Hall.

"Is it because of the Quidditch match tomorrow?" Amelia, who was walking next to them wondered aloud.

"Hmm, or maybe it's something new and interesting...it could be some creature that has appeared at Hogwarts. Come on, let's have a look," Pandora said excitedly.

The three of them made their way to the notice board and instantly began to listen to the conversation between all the people there.

"Damn!"

"Who did this?"

"Who else but the Slytherins!?"

"The Headmaster must see this immediately..."

"Nonsense, Dumbledore must know by now."

"Yes, nothing happens without Dumbledore knowing..."

"Don't be naive!"

"Where are the prefects!?"

"Never mind, we have to take them down!"

"But..."

"Shut up and take them down."

"Take what down?" Amelia as a Ravenclaw prefect asked loudly, but her question was answered when she reached the notice board.

A dozen pages of parchment were pinned up, covering the entire surface, with bold black letters that said:

"THE BEGINNING OF VOLDEMORT'S RISE TO POWER".

Amelia's heart skipped a beat.

Then, taking a deep breath, she organised everyone and tore off the pages of parchment one by one.

Finally, they had all the parchment sheets out in a few seconds.

Turning to the others, Amelia said seriously, "If you see any more of these, report it to a teacher or prefect immediately, is that understood?"

Everyone was silent. Finally, a fifth-year Hufflepuff student coughed loudly and said, "This...sorry, but we could go all day if we do that."

"What do you mean?"

"Haven't you seen...?"

"Have you seen what?" asked Amelia a little confused but already anticipating what the young man in front of her might be insinuating.

"The signs are all over the place," said the 5th-year Hufflepuff and pointed to the end of the corridor.

The wall, which ran perpendicular to the corridor they were in, was covered, floor to ceiling, with the pages of parchment that said: "THE BEGINNING OF VOLDEMORT'S RISE TO POWER."

"There's even in our common room," said one of the Hufflepuff students.

"And in ours!" added another Gryffindor.

"It's the same with ours" added a Ravenclaw to Amelia's surprise.

"Why haven't the teachers seen it?" asked Amelia curiously.

"They were not here this morning,"

"And we only noticed them recently."

"Me too."

"Yes, me too."

In fact, Severus, Amelia, and Pandora hadn't seen these pages of parchment when they got up either.

" Fine, I'll go and report it right away, you don't do anything rash until then," Amelia said earnestly.

"But the classes are about to start, the bell will ring any minute now," Pandora commented to Amelia.

"Don't worry, I will arrive, but if anything happens I will ask the teacher I find to explain the reasons why I was late or missed the class" Amelia replied calmly having already thought of everything.

"All right, everyone, go and have a quick breakfast and then go to your classes. I'll tell the teachers and they'll take care of it," Amelia told everyone.

Finally, the crowd of students nodded and slowly dispersed.

Amelia turned to Severus.

"I have something to request you, and I don't think you will like it, but if it's any consolation, I promise to make it up to you at Slughorn's feast," Amelia said.

Severus frowned, but then sighed and shook his head.

"Tell me and I'll see what I can do, but no promises."

"You could ask the Head of Slytherin to take care of this matter in your house? surely if you ask him personally he would consider finally doing something," said Amelia.

"You want me to ask Professor Slughorn for a favour, you know he's going to use that at the feast afterwards to introduce me to everyone."

"Yeah..., well, I know it's a bother, but he's the only one who can do anything inside your house, the other professors have no authority there and you know if anyone says anything to Slughorn, he'll just think they're trying to badmouth his students or something else," said Amelia rolling her eyes at Professor Slughorn's stupidity.

Everyone knew how proud he was, and that he didn't like others telling him he was doing things wrong or that something was going on in Slytherin without him knowing, he wasn't a bad person or teacher, just too proud and blind to see his mistakes.

"Very well, I will do that, but at least you must then show me a few books from Ravenclaw's private library..."

"Sure..."

"The ones that only prefects have access to," Severus added.

"Fine, fine, it's a deal!"