Nobody Cared

Begin Term 1992

Severus Snape's Third Year at Hogwarts

Salazar Slytherin was either a very clever wizard, paranoid, or simply loved secrets. Out of the four Founders, it was Salazar who had the most intriguing secrets within the stony walls of Hogwarts. One of those secrets had been discovered a long time ago by a third year Slytherin who was trying to evade four bullies who had the intention to severely worry his backside with Stinging Hexes.

Severus Snape had gone down to the dungeons, and for a short time had hidden in the Slytherin common room, but there he faced teasing from his Slytherin fellows who bothered him about running from Gryffindors. Severus had left under a dark cloud of annoyance, and had nearly run into Potter, and Black, two of the four who never seemed content to allow him a moment of peace. How they knew of where the Slytherin common room was, he didn't know, but at least he had seen them first, and he dashed down the corridor in the other direction.

James, and Sirius had heard the distinctive clacking of Snivellus' over-sized, pointy-toed boots, and the chase was on.

An hour later, an exhausted, and thoroughly bewildered Severus Snape wondered, once again, how the two nitwits kept finding him, in the dungeons, when neither had an entire brain cell between the two of them!

He had been caught by two Stinging Hexes; one upon his posterior, the other on his upper left thigh. Severus was sure he'd gotten Potter with an Acne Hex, and he had certainly hit Black with a Nose Enlarging Hex. He was angry enough that he was contemplating a nasty curse that would obliterate both Gryffindors permanently, when, as he leaned against the wall to catch his breath, he fell through into deep shadows.

A Lumos, meant to light his wand, also lit a series of torches placed several feet apart as they vanished downward. Had Severus fallen a bit further, he would have had a painful trip down a narrow, walled in, spiral staircase. He glanced behind himself to find that whatever hole, or door he'd slipped through, was gone. There was no choice but to venture further down, and explore.

The spiral staircase descended to a ridiculous depth and Severus, who prided himself on never being weak, felt rather dizzy once he did reach the bottom. Unconcerned with what might be around him, he thumped his seat down onto the bottom stair, and lowered his head. He didn't lift it until his thoughts had settled back into place once more.

What Severus saw, at first, really was nothing to get excited about. Ahead of him, lit by more torches spaced much further apart than on the stairs, was a long tunnel, that appeared to vanish in a turn, just ahead.

Severus stood, and walked down the corridor, discovering that there were, indeed, wonders to get excited about.

3 Jan 1992, Friday

The Dungeon Under the Dungeon, that hidden tunnel Snape had found so long ago in his third year had been his secret alone until he had revealed it to Poppy.

-When Quirrell Disappeared-

The medi-witch had been suitably impressed as they wandered down the torch lit corridor – corridor being a friendly term – for something that hadn't been excavated and carved out by an expert in building design. There were niches of shelves that held books, or artefacts. The artefacts were from simple toys to magnificent creations that would even make the Headmaster drool if he saw them. Larger rooms, that were off-shoots from the main tunnel-corridor either lay empty, or were cluttered with old furniture, armor, and all manner of oddities. Poppy had stared at the one room that was filled to the ceiling with bolts of Acromantula Spider Silk cloth. She then saw a lovely black silk wool.

"Your robes, Severus?" asked the medi-witch.

Snape shook his head as he stroked the cloth. "My robes come from a bolt of fabric I found in my grandparents vaults." Snape smirked, and nudged the medi-witch gently with his elbow. "I am amenable to sharing, Poppy."