Secrets of a Slytherin Princess

Nothing unusual seemed to occur over the following two months, which surprised Apollonia greatly. The Carrows, as per usual, were torturing poor defenseless students, both in class and during detention. Although, they did start targeting her again, or at least more frequently than they had been since the incident on Halloween. With the pendant’s protection, however, Apollonia was always able to withstand any attack and lived to fight another day, to which the Carrows were rather confused about; they didn’t seem to understand what gave Apollonia the strength to continue on, a fact that the Head Girl would never reveal.

On the battle front, Apollonia continued to help Poppy tend to injured students. It was specifically the younger students that Apollonia paid the closest attention to: those in first and second year. Since she was not only Head Girl, but the one healing them, Apollonia made sure that they were okay. Those students were young and impressionable, susceptible to the Carrows’ biased teachings; so Apollonia often took extra time in tending to them to make sure that they did not give in and accept their teachings as the truth.

While this was going on, Neville and Ginny were busy working in the Room of Requirement, helping students to defend themselves. In place of Luna, Apollonia sometimes filled in to help Neville and Ginny in this capacity, using a combination of her father’s and Lupin’s methods to help the students. It was rare, of course, that Apollonia ever did so. She did, after all, make a promise to her father that she would not fight in the war. Well, it was actually more along the lines of not participating in the war effort at all, but Apollonia chose to ignore that, especially when considering the fact that she couldn’t just sit around and do nothing, watching as people around her died. No, she decided that, while she would not fight in war, she would impart her wisdom to a new generation and heal injured students. It was the best way for her to stay involved in the war without losing her life.

Back at the Burrow, the Order seemed to be at a stand-still. There wasn’t much that anyone could do, other than Potterwatch. The underground radio broadcast was the only Order operation that seemed to do anything; it kept the hope alive. Weekly updates came from Tonks regarding the Order plans, despite the fact that there wasn’t much to report. And a report from Arthur Weasley came around the same time to inform Apollonia about how Dudley, Aunt Petunia, and Uncle Vernon were doing. Again, there wasn’t much of a change since she saw them, so Apollonia didn’t think about it all that much.

When it came to Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the search for the horcruxes, the only issue Apollonia had with it was that there was no more progress. Despite the fact that Hermione assured the Slytherin that it wouldn’t be long before they were finished, it was not to her liking. Two months were already gone; how much longer would it take? There were four months left before Apollonia was done with Hogwarts; would it take until she and all other seventh-years took their N.E.W.T.s for Harry and his friends to find the other horcruxes? If it did—which Apollonia suspected that it would since something always seemed to happen after Easter break: the battle for the Philosopher’s stone; fighting a basilisk; helping Sirius Black escape; Voldemort’s return; the Department of Mysteries battle; Dumbledore’s death; it all occurred during the latter portion of the year—Harry’s adventure would interrupt the school year, like it usually did. Apollonia hoped that it would, but not as late as it normally did; that simply couldn’t happen; not that late.

Today was one of those rare days in which Apollonia needed to help Neville and Ginny with the Resistance. It was the last week before Easter and the pair of Gryffindors wanted Apollonia’s help with the last session before break. Apollonia provided the younger kids a different perspective on magic, simply because she was a Slytherin. It would help the younger students to use their magic in unpredictable ways. Before the session was to begin, Apollonia stared up at the wall featuring every Harry Potter story. A large picture of her brother stared back at her, a picture that served to remind the young Snape of what her brother was trying to do; what he was fighting for, namely destroying Voldemort.

“How do think he’s doing?” Ginny asked from beside her.

Apollonia never discussed what her brother, Ron, and Hermione were up to; the less amount of people who knew, the better. Telling Ginny what the trio of friends was up to was not an option. Revealing such a thing would put them in danger. So, Apollonia kept it to herself. “He’s probably doing his best,” Apollonia answered. “I’d bet he’s almost done out there and will be on his way back here pretty soon.” The problem with that statement was that she had no idea as to how true that statement was. For all she knew, Harry was trapped halfway across the country, unable to do anything. She really didn’t know. An update from Hermione had not come for awhile, perhaps three weeks, which made Apollonia wonder what was going on, if her brother and his friends were in any trouble.

“And then it can end,” Ginny stated.

Students filed into the Room of Requirement and Neville tapped the Slytherin on the shoulder as they started talking to one another. “I believe you’re up, Apollonia,” the Gryffindor announced.

Apollonia nodded and turned to the students. “Hello…”

***

Apollonia sat in her usual compartment, Draco at her side, on the Hogwarts Express, preparing to once again journey to the Burrow along with Ginny for her Eater break. She hated—well, absolutely despised was more like it—having to do this. If not for Voldemort trying to rule the world, she would have spent her break at Malfoy Manor. But, that maniac bent on killing her brother insisted on using Malfoy Manor as his base of operations, forcing Apollonia to stay elsewhere for the duration of the war. Staying anywhere near Voldemort was prohibited, as ordered by her father and Narcissa. So, she did; she stayed away, no matter how much she hated spending her time not at Malfoy Manor.

The train soon pulled into the station and Apollonia took one last look at Draco. For the next two weeks, she would be staying at the Burrow, unable to see or speak to her best friend. A quick wave goodbye and Apollonia headed off to meet Ginny. Just as before, the Slytherin needed to apparate Ginny back to the Burrow so that her parents would not waste precious time that could be used on Order business. It didn’t take long for the Slytherin to find Ginny. “There you are, Ginny. Are you ready to go then?” she asked.

“Yeah. I’m ready,” the younger girl replied.

“Grab hold then,” Apollonia said. Only moments later did the girls return to the Burrow for what was to be a relaxing two weeks; two weeks away from those bent on destroying her life. Apollonia collapsed onto the couch with a smile. “Two weeks without worry. Two weeks without ever having to worry about any of that maniac’s men coming after us.”

“Should be nice,” Ginny replied.

***

It was about two days into her break when Apollonia decided that she needed to get away from the Burrow for awhile, opting to go see how Dudley was doing rather than doing nothing at the Weasley home. She apparated to the front of the Dursley safe house and knocked on the door to find that her cousin was the one to answer. He quickly motioned for her to come in. “You’re on break?” he asked. Apollonia nodded. “Good. Maybe you can tell me about what’s been going on. I’ve tried asking some of the others, but they won’t say. I thought you might.”

Apollonia shrugged and walked into the dining room. “I really don’t know how much I can tell you. Not much has actually happened since we last spoke. There’s a megalomaniac taking over the world, and succeeding because Harry is nowhere to be found. So, like I said, I really don’t know what I can tell you. Everything that’s going on, you already know about.” Apollonia wished that she had better news, perhaps the news that the war was over. But, that was wishful thinking. It had been seven months since Voldemort took over the Ministry, ultimately forcing the Order underground. There wasn’t much that they could do to fight against Voldemort, at least until Harry showed up.

“Do you know anything about Harry?” he asked.

Apollonia winced. That was a topic she should have seen coming, but didn’t. “I’ve been in contact with one of his friends since they left. She usually keeps me informed about what they’ve been doing,” the Slytherin said in a quiet voice. “There’s been no contact in a few weeks, so I don’t know how he’s been doing. Contact is made when she can, when something important has happened. It doesn’t seem as if anything happened as of late, so Hermione hasn’t felt the need to tell me anything about their exploits.”

“You know as much as I do then,” Dudley realized.

“I’m afraid so,” the young Snape muttered.

The Slytherin remained at the Dursley safe house, ignoring the ranting and raving of her aunt and uncle, for another two hours. Apollonia apparated back to the Burrow to find that everyone in the Weasley family was hurrying about the house. She pulled one of them aside and silently questioned the person—who turned out to be Arthur—about what was happening. “We were discovered,” Arthur replied. “Or rather Ron was discovered as not being here. We’re going into hiding, you included. I talked to Dora and she insisted that you should come with us. Said that it was for your own protection that you come with us to Aunt Muriel’s. You might want to go up and get your things ready. We’re leaving first thing in the morning.”

As Arthur continued what he was doing, Apollonia slumped down. If Ron was discovered, wouldn’t that also mean that Harry and Hermione were in trouble? They’re in trouble, I just know they are. After all, why else would this have happened to the Weasleys?