The Letters Of Savannia Prince

March 19, 1987 (pt. 2)

As the months went on, I visited Severus as often as I could manage with school and keeping up appearances, but one night, I was caught sneaking back to bed after tucking Sev in.

"Savannia Prince?" Professor McGonagall appeared behind me.

I turned around slowly, "Yes, Professor?" I smiled trying to look as inconspicuous as possible.

"What in the world are you doing up and about at this hour of the night?"

I was prepared to tell her the truth when Pringle, the caretaker, emerged behind her, "See, headmaster, she has been sneaking out every night this month. Causing mischief no doubt."

Professor Dumbledore tailed behind him, "Miss Prince, this is not the behavior expected from a prefect. You'd better have a good reason for this."

My expression hardened, "Of course, Headmaster! I was just tending to my duties patrolling for a student who I suspected was out of bed."

"In that case, you should have told Professor Slughorn of this student so he could handle it, and besides, an incident of that level does not constitute being out of bed every night for a month like Mr. Pringle has reported." the Headmaster retorted.

"Well, you see-"

"No more lies, Miss Prince." he cut me off, "We shall see if you continue your tune under Veritiserum."

My eyes widened before I forced them to relax. They couldn't find out about Severus. I was only weeks away from graduation and Dumbledore would gladly take that from me if my brother was discovered. It didn't matter that Slughorn was one of Dumbledore's oldest friends, I was still a Slytherin and I was still a Prince, and that overrides every other piece of evidence in my favor. Dumbledore saw me as my lineage's dark past. I followed the professors to Slughorn's office where he was already waiting with Veritiserum.

"Take a seat," Slughorn said, pulling a chair from his desk.

I sat across from the professors as Slughorn handed me the vial. I swallowed it. awkwardly; the gaze of all three professors felt hot against my skin, overpowering the heat from the desk lamp.

"So-" I stuttered trying to break the deafening silence, "how's your night been?"

"Are you ready to tell us why you've been sneaking out, Miss Prince?" The headmaster ignored my question.

"What, you don't trust my word?" I said sarcastically, "What a surprise."

"Savannia." Professor McGonagall replied dryly unfazed by my sarcasm.

I smirked, "Well, if you really want to know, I was chasing nargles all over the castle like a good prefect should because they have been causing mischief in the Slytherin commons." An obvious lie and everyone in the room knew.

The heavy silence returned. I closed my mouth, shocked at what had just come out of it. I had just assumed that those words would not be able to leave my mouth or that other truthful words would take their place, but no, I had just lied under the influence of Veritaserum. I let out a small surprised snort smirking to myself. My mother always told me I was a liar. She left out the part that I was a good one. I guess she was right.

"A resistance to Veritiserum. Interesting. A very rare talent." Slughorn muttered unclear if this was just meant for his ears or others'.

This discovery would both make me more interesting to Slughorn and less trustworthy in everyone else's eyes. Untrustworthy would be the first word used to describe me when I was accused of murder, the first reason why I was guilty.