Characters: Mary MacDonald, Severus Snape Date: Wednesday, January 3rd 1979 Setting: A little out-of-the-way pub Summary: After Mary posts her photos, she and Sev go grab a drink. Because they don't want to be social. Content: G Rated. This is NOT a date. Status: Complete
Mary wasn’t sure what had prompted her to invite Severus to come out for a drink. She didn’t really even like him, and she usually didn’t mind being alone. But she was still avoiding Jasper, even though she missed him because all of this trauma was hard to go through and no one understood her quite like Jasper did. The next closest was Violet, who even if she didn’t always get Mary, had this way of making Mary want to be better, or softer, or something, and that was its own sort of distraction. But she wasn’t well enough, and anyway, she wasn’t in the mood for that.
Since Jas and Vi were her only real close friends, that left her with the options of either just drinking alone after all, or asking an acquaintance. Though she’d already seen him that day, Severus Snape suited her frame of mind at the moment, she supposed, so she’d asked him. She couldn’t put up with the arrogant optimism of someone like James Potter, or the intense recklessness of someone like Sirius Black, and certainly not the judgmental condescension of someone like Lily Evans. Ugh. What was wrong with Gryffindors?
But Severus had said yes, so they met at a little pub, tucked out of the way of the wizarding world. It was dark inside, and the mood was somber in the wake of the attacks a few days ago, but how mellow it was in here seemed to suit the place. Which was fine with Mary.
She got there first. She was dressed in dark colours from neck to toe, as per usual, but unlike this morning, her wild hair was at least half-tamed, tied up into a frizzy bun on the top of her head. She was wearing her camera around her neck, of course. She had just sat down at a booth in the back when she saw him walk in.
Severus probably would’ve found her sooner than later, but to catch his eye, Mary lifted her camera and snapped a distance shot, her flash going off at half-power, so it didn’t attract too much attention.
***
The flash of the camera might not have compared to a Lumos charm, but in the shadowy bar, it was more than enough to grab Severus’ attention. It was also almost enough to make him turn on his heel and leave, but Severus wouldn't allow Mary the satisfaction of knowing she could so easily get at him.
“After your work the other night, I'd have thought you would have better things to do with your time,” Severus didn't bother with a greeting as he slid into the booth, as far away from Mary as he could get whilst still able to maintain a conversation.
Any onlooker would have thought they were trying to avoid each other, that they clearly weren't eager for each other's company, even if it was as if they had chosen matching outfits. Dark clothing, almost no exposed skin, and a prickly outward demeanor completed both of their ensembles.
Sev then made an exaggerated show of looking over both his shoulders. “I was told I would need to glare at a veritable barrage of people. You must have done the job for before I arrived.”
***
Mary tilted her head at him as he joined her, and made that bloody snide comment before sitting down. And another bloody snide comment once he was seated. Yeah, that was what Mary had been looking for. No coddling, no comfort, no gentle bloody ‘how are you’ or ‘are you okay’ or any of that. Just snarky, critical, and poor-tempered company. Mary didn’t know what was wrong with her that she preferred that to anything more gentle or cloying.
“Everyone who knows who I am knows I don’t go anywhere without my camera, Snape,” she said with an eyebrow quirk. “Got myself a reputation by now, I figure.”
There was an edge to her voice as she remembered, well, her bullies back at school had known that too, and they’d targeted her camera, for a laugh. That was how she’d ended up with the scars that covered most of her chest. In fact, she pressed her camera into them as she put the lens cap on.
Just so it didn’t get weird, Mary sneered, “Though, I suppose I ought to get better at disillusionment charms. Someone asked me if I do weddings the other day. Rolled my eyes so hard they got stuck for a moment.”
When he pointed out that the pub was almost empty, Mary rolled her eyes a bit and said, “Guess I’m scarier than I thought. Don’t need you, then, do I?”
But that was when a middle aged woman approached. Before she could even speak, Mary said, “Pint of your darkest ale for me.”
She didn’t order for Severus. He could order for himself, if he was going to stay. She watched him with a level expression, waiting to see if he stayed or bailed.
***
Severus’ gaze lingered on Mary for an infinitesimal moment when she talked about her reputation. He of course knew what she was referring to, had heard the snide comments from the side of those who had attacked her. Mulciber and the rest took affront to a great many things, but a Mudblood going around and photographing everything and everyone like she owned the place? Daring to participate in a newsletter that was often less than complementary of Slytherins?That was unacceptable.
Looking away an instant later, as if bored of the topic, Sev wondered if Mary was going to listen to his earlier advice. Her ‘avid fan’ was powerful, far more powerful than Mulciber could ever hope to be, and getting on the wrong side of that could lead to things far worse than supposedly irreversible scarring.
When Mary mentioned that she had been asked to do a wedding, Severus smirked. “They are worth quite a bit of money, you know. You should have offered her your standard wedding package, it comes with a discounted photoshoot for the inevitable divorce.”
The middle aged woman who approached them was a marked improvement on Aberforth Dumbledore at the Hogs Head, but that really wasn't saying much. “Pint of lager,” he added, tacking the request on to the end of Mary’s. He would have much preferred a fine whiskey, but those cost money he didn't have, and in this dingy bar, Sev was quite sure that their finest whiskey was going to be something akin to paint stripper.
***
Mary noticed the way Severus looked at her. She suspected he knew exactly what had happened to her in school. A lot of people did. Honestly, the worst part about that whole ordeal itself wasn’t that it had been scorching agony when the camera had exploded around her neck, nor that her camera itself had been entirely destroyed. No, the worst part was that everyone talked about it. Everyone knew. Mary hated that sort of attention almost as much as she hated the attention from the healers who tried and failed to get rid of her scars. She refused to keep seeing the specialists after a few attempts.
Instead, she’d devoted her attention to revenge. Jasper had helped her poison the whole Slytherin table. They’d had it coming out of both ends for days, and quite a few of them had ended up in the hospital wing for dehydration. Mary had never been caught for that.
“Not worth the money. The list of things I’d rather do than photograph a wedding is very, very long,” Mary replied as soon as the waitress walked away with their orders. “I’d even rather drink the potion Jas and I dosed the Slytherin table with about a month after… my first camera combusted.”
She spoke casually, but she was watching him for a reaction. There was no reason not to admit it now that she had graduated. Besides, he would appreciate the art of it, she thought, even if he had gotten sick from it. She’d brewed the potion herself, of course, and it wasn’t like it had been one that came with instructions.
“Do you know what I mean? That’s how much I don’t want to be a wedding photographer.”
*** If Severus wasn't confident in his hearing ability, he would have doubted that he'd heard Mary right. She was the one behind the poisoning back in his Fifth Year? No, that had been James and Sirius and their two little hang-ons. Potter had apparently laughed so hard about it that he'd fallen off his seat at dinner, the self-satisfied prick.
Mary didn't strike Sev as the sort who would take credit for the handiwork of others though, and Severus regarded her with a level gaze, seemingly neither annoyed or impressed. “You didn't land me in the hospital wing, just so you know. Sorry to disappoint you.”
What Severus wasn't about to admit to was the fact that he had still been ill for days. He had felt the onset of the poison immediately, and made a hasty retreat to his dormitory, where he kept a stash of remedies that he had brewed for just such an emergency. Sev had always suspected the Gryffindors would try to poison him, and was fortunately saved from its worst effects.
The problem was, because he couldn't figure out the exact nature of what he had consumed, he wasn't able to counteract all the symptoms. He never vomited, and the only things that exited the other end were perfectly normal and on schedule, thank you very much. But his guts had felt like they were bound in barbed wire for days.
“But if your aim was to have Mulciber’s bed combust like your camera, then mission accomplished. At least, I assume that's what the house elves did with the sheets and mattress. No amount of cleaning was going to get those stains out.”
So that was supposed to be a guarded Slytherin secret, but Sev really didn't care. He was out of Hogwarts and would likely never see the other wizard again; Mulciber had ceased all contact once exams were over and he no longer needed Sev’s help to pass his Potions NEWT.
***
His reaction was perfect. She didn’t care that Severus hadn’t been in the hospital wing. Severus had only been guilty by association, like the rest of Slytherin house. No, her actual target had been Mulciber, of course, and when Severus said what he did about Mulciber, he made Mary’s night.
It had such an effect that when the waitress returned with their drinks, Mary actually smiled at the woman. Okay, it was more of a smirk. But as she passed over some of the money Alice had given her just today for an extra set of the London attack photos, she still said, “Ta. Keep the change.”
It wouldn’t be much of a tip, but it was still more than Mary could usually afford, thanks to Alice Sayre. Mary didn’t even feel badly about it. The Sayres were a rich old family, and Alice had wanted her own copy of the photos Mary had risked life and limb for, so Mary had sold them to her for approximately the going rate. She’d only given them to Alastor Moody for free because he was an Auror. The Auror. Whatever. Almost-trainees didn’t get special privileges.
“Suffering, was the aim. And I figured the most important thing to him was his pride, so something like that would sure hit him there,” Mary said, completely unapologetically. “Besides, it was kind of fun. It was a bit of a Frankensteined sort of potion, so I’m not sure it entirely counts as inventing my own poison, but… it turned out even more disgusting than I expected it to be, so I consider it a success.”
Obviously there was a certain risk in dosing people with an untested poison. Mary could’ve killed someone if it had gone wrong, but she understood potions theory enough that she’d been quite sure sheh wouldn’t. There had been nothing in the potion that was known to be fatal.
“Did you figure out an antidote?” she asked curiously, because even if she didn’t know him very personally, she knew enough to know he’d have tried to counteract it. Maybe he’d been successful, if he hadn’t ended up in the hospital wing.
***
It had been a long time since Severus had made a girl smile. After Lily, his social circle had been comprised entirely of wizards from Slytherin. If anyone wanted to get technical, they could have said it was a stretch to claim Mary was smiling, but Severus saw that smirk and took it for what it truly was.
On a personal level, Sev felt he should have been resentful to Mary for what she had done, and her completely unapologetic attitude. But he wasn't, he could relate. Severus was by nature quite a vengeful person, and understood that Mary had just done what she needed to do. And with more style and finesse than those ham fisted Gryffindors would ever possess.
“I deduced that it was a poison of its maker’s own creation as it wasn't one that I knew of.” Sev knew a great deal about a great number of philters, potions and poisons, and none had quite aligned with what had been slipped to Slytherins. “I was able to counteract the primary effects before they manifested so I was never truly ill. There was some discomfort for a couple of days, it passed before the others were released from the hospital wing. Every time the symptoms subsided, there was a brief respite before they came back. It was an...adequate poison for the intended purpose, what did you do exactly?”
Having made it clear that he was able to look after himself and guard against any real damage, Sev saw no harm in asking what Mary had done. There was a difference between his confidence and arrogance that the likes of Potter and Black possessed; Sev knew he was a prodigy, but was always willing to listen and learn. Arrogance assumed that all important knowledge was already possessed, and in the end it would (hopefully) be James’ undoing.
***
Mary didn’t feel any remorse for what she’d done. Mulciber had almost killed her, and he wouldn’t have cared one whit if he had. The collateral damage maybe hadn’t been fair. After all, Mary knew not everyone in Slytherin was a purist arsehole. But Mary also knew she had a petty, bitter, self-conscious streak a mile wide, and it often got in her way. After all, it was why she was out with Severus right now instead of back at Jasper’s, sorting things out with her best mate.
She listened to Severus describe his reaction to the poison, and she felt a bit of pride. Everyone knew he was the potions guy. Prodigy. Whatever. Mary was all right at potions. It had been her best class, sure, but she wasn’t a genius, by any means, so she kind of liked that he was curious enough to deem her poison adequate and asked for more information.
“Well, I started with a confusion concoction as the base, and then amplified the physical sick symptoms with mistletoe leaves, cowbane, and a few different types of toxic pus. And then I added a bit of saltwater to stabilize it all and keep it from being too potent. To really put the cherry on top, I used some of that snail slime I mentioned this morning?” Mary said, referencing their joke in Knockturn about the ear plugs. “That’s how I made it last a few days. Slow release, and all that.”
***
Severus listened as Mary ran through the list of potions ingredients, mentally checking off each one as it was mentioned. Yes, he had gathered there were mistletoe leaves in the mix. Yes, he knew there was cowbane and pus. If there hadn't been any salt water, or if she had used plain water, the mixture would have eaten away at the cauldron bottom or been so potent the Slytherins would have been dead before they could make it to the nearest bathroom.
He knew all that, but pauses at the mention of the snail slime. Ah. There it was. The one thing he hadn't considered. There was no shame in that, there were literally endless possibilities for potions ingredients, and Severus nodded once, smirking back at Mary at the mention of their earlier joke.
“Of course. There would have been no sense in putting in all that effort, only to have the end result over and done with before bed time.” If Severus was going to make someone suffer, he would make sure they suffered for the length of time they deserved. If Mulciber had just that one unfortunate accident, it likely would have just been attributed to an undercooked chicken leg. No, sending him (and others) to the Hospital Wing ensured that all were aware that it had been a deliberate act of sabotage.
***
“Well, I was out of commission for three days. I just returned the favour,” Mary said softly. She’d just never taken credit out loud before, because she hadn’t wanted to be expelled. Or killed by some haughty pureblood who thought, how dare someone like her poison people like them.
It had been dangerous. But not brave. Mary was okay with that distinction. She was a Ravenclaw, and she didn’t need to be good all the time. Maybe that was the same reason she’d run towards the explosions on New Year’s Day, instead of away from them. She wasn’t brave, but she still took risks.
“You’re not angry,” she observed, but it wasn’t a question.
She might have asked, but the waitress returned with their pints, and set them down hard, but Mary didn’t flinch. She just watched her walk away, and then flicked her eyes back to Severus. He was an interesting person, she thought. She appreciated that she didn’t have to be nice to him, and she was finding that she actually sort of enjoyed having conversations with him.
Except now, there was this awkward moment hovering in the space left behind by the waitress, and Mary took a deep sip of her beer. Disgusting. Almost thick. Just the way she liked it, and once she lowered it, she had to wipe foam from her lip. She’d been to this pub a few times. It was off the beaten path a bit.
“Mine’s terrible. How’s yours?”
***
If the bar had been busy, Severus could have busied himself with people watching to avoid looking at Mary when she talked about her own stay in the hospital wing. Sev didn't watch people for the same reason that other people did. He didn't give a rat’s arse about what clothes someone was wearing or other such rubbish. No, he watched people because after seven years of Potter and Black trying to ambush him without warning, a moment of inattention could cost him dearly.
Without the distraction of other bar patrons, Sev instead focused on the condensation on his pint glass, tracing patterns in it as she spoke.
Mary’s observation was correct, but Severus shrugged. “If you thought I was angry, you would be on guard. And then it would be all the more difficult when I wanted to slip you a retaliatory poison,” he answered back, completely deadpan.
Not that Sev thought that was necessary or worth the bother. He understood the need for revenge, and really hadn't been affected all that much, compared to some people.
At the question, Severus glanced down at his beer. “I never bothered with Divination, but I can already tell this is going to be terrible.” And he took a sip anyway, not bothering to clink his glass to Mary’s, or offer a ‘cheers’ or any of that other nonsense. They were there to have a drink, not be friendly and social.
***
Mary looked around a lot too, but it was multi-tasking. One one level, like Severus, she knew to keep an eye on her surroundings for her own safety. After all, she’d been bullied in school too. But part of her was always on the look out, always ready to capture interesting events. It was a constant consideration. A lot of the things she did or places she went were to get important or unique or unbelievable things on film. Mary’s sense of discovery and documentation was stronger than her survival instinct, perhaps.
Perhaps that was what led her to so easily match his deadpan but raising her eyebrows and asking earnestly, “Did you just ask me to be your test subject? Because I’d be honoured.”
Okay, those last few words were dry, not earnest. Though, much that she wasn’t being serious, the idea didn’t… horrify her either. Mary was the sort of girl who would test experimental muggle drugs for money, if she was really broke. She’d lived in London since graduation, and a freelance photographer didn’t make much, so she all too often lived day to day rather than go home.
“I don’t mind bitter like this, actually. It’s better than sweet. Sweet always makes me think of sick.”
She remembered muggle medicines from her childhood, before she got her Hogwarts letter and her whole life changed, that tasted sickly sweet. She’d preferred spicy and savoury to sweet as long as she could remember, and maybe that was why.
***
A lot of people would have gotten uppity at even a joking suggestion of being poisoned. When factoring in things like his propensity for dark magic, people tended not to see the funny side. Because even if Severus Snape was only joking about poisoning someone, the fact was that he could easily do so, if the urge were to strike.
“If you're vying for a position as test subject, you will have a fight on your hands. Maybe literally. I'm not sure Ted Tonks understands the concept of having a diverse range of test subjects to ensure effects are uniform and not one-off reactions. He'll want to take it all.”
Their newly agreed to business venture was not public knowledge, but Ted’s propensity to take any and every drug available was as well known as the colour of the sky.
Mention of sweet flavours bringing up feelings of sickness made Sev nod. “Butterbeer is essentially vomit in a mug.” And no one could tell him otherwise. The drink might have been happily savoured by students on Hogsmeade weekends, but Sev had never liked the stuff.
***
Mary quirked her eyebrow. She was aware of Ted Tonks and his interest in drugs. She was pretty sure everyone on this trip was, even though Mary hadn’t been one of the many who had accidentally eaten his brownies at that muggle Halloween party. She also knew that Severus was in Ted’s car, along with the Frank Longbottom and Sirius Black. She knew that because she James Potter in her car, who was almost as loud as Fabian Prewett, or maybe louder, and who had magic mirrors that connected to… too many people. James and Sirius had a magic mirror set. Fabian had arranged for his brother the quidditch star to get one. Lily Evans had one, because she was dating James… Mary thought. There were probably even more. Whatever, she just hated those very distracting mirrors, because they made it all the harder for her to get people to just shut the fuck up while she drove.
But she hadn’t exactly been aware that Severus and Ted were friendly. Even if the stories were more Jasper’s department than hers, Mary tried to keep on top of gossip, at least as far as it helped guide her photography hobby to interesting options.
“I’m pretty sure I could take Ted Tonks. Not that I’d want to,” Mary said. Because she didn’t really want to fight him, obviously. In fact, she didn’t really touch people. Like, ever. Except maybe Jasper and Violet sometimes, but otherwise, Mary was pretty good at keeping people at an arm’s length. “Is he a mate of yours? He seems… overly peppy.”
His comment about butterbeer came just as Mary was taking another sip of her ale, and she snorted a little, just barely managing to swallow without coughing or choking. Once she set her pint back down again, she smirked at him and quipped, “Vomit in a mug is probably the most apt description for Butterbeer I’ve ever heard.”
It also made Mary think that, well, she and Severus were more alike than she’d realised. She could recall a time when someone had offered her hot cocoa, and she’d drawled something about how they could keep their scalding cup of nasty to themselves.
***
Sev thought back to the last time he had been to Diagon Alley before the road trip had started. He had believed he could take Ted Tonks too. Or more accurately, he had believed he could fool him. A charm to deflect attention should have been more than enough to slip away through the crowd, away from Ted and an unwanted social interaction, but Sev hadn't counted on a drug affected Ted being able to see things he was not meant to see.
Most people likely thought that they could take Ted Tonks, because most people underestimated him. Sev didn't dissuade Mary from her belief, the more people who wrote Ted off as a hopeless case, the more likely that they'd never be caught for their new little business venture.
“Please, go ahead and try. I'd be interested to see how your poisons work on Ted. Might I suggest upping the dosage though, you'll need enough to take down a hippogriff. And just hand him the vial, no need to try and slip it into something I might eat this time.”
Mary’s question about his connection to Ted was uncomfortable and unwelcome. “Of course not,” Sev replied, a little too quickly. The snarky, dry conversation they had been sharing was quite reminiscent of his exchanges with Slytherins, and no self respecting wannabe pureblood serious wizard would be friends with someone like Ted Tonks.
Except he was. Severus wasn't quite ready to admit that aloud, but he was friends with the utterly ridiculous Ted Tonks. Instead of agreeing with Mary’s sentiment, Sev just shrugged noncommittally and took a long sip of his drink.
It wasn't as if Sev had never declared a friendship with a muggleborn before. His connection to Lily had been well known, even moreso a few weeks into their First Year when a Seventh Year Slytherin had tried to bail them up, saying he was an embarrassment to their whole house. At a time when most First Years could barely manage a simple Stinging Hex, Sev had cursed the other wizard so severely that no one else ever confronted him outright on the issue again.
When it came down to it, Sev just couldn't understand why Ted liked him. They were polar opposites; Sev was dark and dour and Ted was all sunshine and drug-induced rainbows. Then again, Andromeda Black was hardly all sweetness and light, so…
Snapping out of his introspection when Mary snorted, Sev couldn't help but be pleased at her reaction. Raising his glass then, he figured the situation warranted a toast. “To all things vomit inducing; butterbeer, poison or otherwise."