"Lack of rain hardly equals good, does it?" Great. Now they were chatting about the weather. He shouldn't have trapped himself in this situation but it was his own damn fault. He should have just wordlessly given him the paper and left. That was smart. He'd do that in future. The less conversation he made, the better.
Eyeing up the paper, he wondered what Barty had been so interested in, watching his eyes run over the paper and recalling what he'd skimmed through.
"It's Scotland. Lack of rain is as good as it gets." At least this time of the year. Not that Barty really minded, he wasn't the biggest fan of going outside no matter the weather. Unfortunately his constitution was a little too like his mother's to be eager for any of that, he'd just catch a cold.
"My father is doing brilliantly, from the looks of it." And, yes, he hated that, but there was no need to give that away. "People like his hard but fair approach."
Really, the wizarding community seemed to be so eager for radicalism. Fascism. No wonder the dark Lord was gaining influence. No wonder his father had his own followers too.
"Well, he's exactly what the ministry would want." Snape couldn't say he cared for his approach or his motives. He respects the man for getting what he wanted but that was about it - he had no love for the ministry. "Personally, I've never gotten a man who derides cruel criminals and then acts as one himself."
He heard about the man's methods from his friends, he knew what that sort got up to. They were hard on crime to the point of approving torture. Extreme methods for extreme times, he supposed.
"I prefer men who own their darkness, not hide or disguise it."
"It's a good time for ambitious and self-righteous men." And his father was certainly both of them, perhaps to an extreme. Barty smiled briefly. It was true, of course his father didn't own his darkness, to the degree where he always neglected to mention that his son had been sorted into Slytherin, just for the association with dark magic. Yet he was the one urging for allowing the use of the Forbidden Curses where necessary. And, of course, it would be up to him to decide when they were necessary. "There is a lot of profit to be made with hypocrisy. You wouldn't go for that?"
"Hypocrisy is for those who wish to be better than they are. I have no desire for that and no delusions of it either." He didn't pretend to be better, he didn't really pretend over anything - he was proud of what he believed and flaunted it quite happily. Most in their house knew by now what kind of boy Severus was, what kind of man he'd be, and he liked it that way. "Some men care how other see them, I really don't."
"There's a luxury to that. I think it's easier to stop caring when people have always thought badly of you." Something that Barty imagined had to be true to Severus. Something that, admittedly, was also true for him. With a family that, in these circles, had always been not old enough, not rich enough, not dark enough and a father hellbent on making it harder and harder still. "And for someone as talented as you, Severus, it must be easy to make people think of you the way you want them to."
"Like that's even hard. Most people have brains the size of a pea. It's not a brag to manipulate idiots." And sadly, he was surrounded by them. He didn't think it was an achievement to outdo any of his peers, they weren't a real challenge he could measure himself against. He looked to his elders as true competition - he aspired to be up there with the Dark Lord. After all, what did he have to lose if he tried? "If you have little to lose and everything to gain, would you not gamble on riskier ventures?" That's why people fear those like himself.
"Perhaps so." Or definitely, but Barty didn't see much of an advantage to talk about how willing he was to risk the nothing his life would amount to for the something he felt was worth it. Besides, he didn't think he had to. If Severus cared at all - and he wasn't sure whether he did, he was two years older and ingenious in many ways - Barty was certain he could know. When he was out of school, the age difference would matter less. When he - if he - ever managed to get the Dark Lord's attention as he intended, Barty knew he'd no longer have any reason to defer to anyone but him.
But for now he was still here and he envied Severus for having his freedom sooner. "I'm sure you already have ventures in mind."
"Of course." He said it in a mocking tone, as if Barty was a total moron for suggesting otherwise. Rolling his eyes, he shook his head and looked down, not wanting to give a lot to the son of such a man. He was not about to leak information to someone like this but he did find a boy like Barty fascinating. There was something in his eyes that left Snape feeling cold inside. Thrilling, in it's own way, but not enough to get cocky.
"I'm always thinking ahead. If you're not then you'll soon fall behind. There's a lot of ambition in this house, you have to be prepared or you'll lose out."
"I doubt you are that worried about it. You shouldn't be, anyway. Between your talents with potions and spells..." He had seen the things Severus could do. Barty wished he could ask him more about it. Dark magic, of course he studied it as much as possible. Unfortunately, it wasn't as available to him as it was to many others in his house. He didn't have a family harbouring ancient books of magical theorems, he wasn't yet old enough to be granted access to the forbidden section of the library and it was a hard topic to openly discuss with anyone. "You could make career anywhere."
And, of course, he had more of an inkling to where Severus' ambitions went.
"True." He knew where he'd go but it was funny to hear this boy flatter him. No one had ever done that, not really, until he started to show his true self. It was quite funny, actually. Years of trying, of wanting to be better for Lily, they were all a waste - she didn't care and he couldn't be better. It only hurt himself to not be who he was. Nothing made people come to him quite like his dark magic did.
With a sigh, he got up, done wasting his time on small talk. He'd been quite social enough for one day. "If you'll excuse me, I have somewhere better to be." Alone, in his room, not by someone.
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alwaysimpure) wrote2019-12-02 11:47 pm
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Eyeing up the paper, he wondered what Barty had been so interested in, watching his eyes run over the paper and recalling what he'd skimmed through.
Ah. Now he knew. "How's your father?"
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"My father is doing brilliantly, from the looks of it." And, yes, he hated that, but there was no need to give that away. "People like his hard but fair approach."
Really, the wizarding community seemed to be so eager for radicalism. Fascism. No wonder the dark Lord was gaining influence. No wonder his father had his own followers too.
no subject
He heard about the man's methods from his friends, he knew what that sort got up to. They were hard on crime to the point of approving torture. Extreme methods for extreme times, he supposed.
"I prefer men who own their darkness, not hide or disguise it."
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But for now he was still here and he envied Severus for having his freedom sooner. "I'm sure you already have ventures in mind."
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"I'm always thinking ahead. If you're not then you'll soon fall behind. There's a lot of ambition in this house, you have to be prepared or you'll lose out."
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And, of course, he had more of an inkling to where Severus' ambitions went.
no subject
With a sigh, he got up, done wasting his time on small talk. He'd been quite social enough for one day. "If you'll excuse me, I have somewhere better to be." Alone, in his room, not by someone.