Chapter Eight

6 September 1991

Hogwarts, Scotland

'When my father hears of this — '

'Mr Malfoy,' said Professor McGonagall icily, 'your father does not oversee all decisions at Hogwarts, and certainly not this one.'

Draco lowered his voice, and said to Harry, 'When my father hears of this, he's going to kill me. And Grandfather — ' He gulped, his shoulders slumping. Harry looked sympathetic for a moment, then gasped.

'Oh no! My father! If I'm expelled . . .'

'Father says there's some great drunken oaf of a gamekeeper — he was expelled but Dumbledore kept him on. Maybe he'll let us . . . follow him along or something.'

Harry wrinkled his nose. 'We wouldn't have to, we're wizards . . . would they snap our wands, do you think?'

'Plenty of people don't ever come here at all, and they're allowed to do magic. I don't see why they'd have any business breaking our wands. We'd just have to get new ones and all.'

Harry clutched his. 'But I like mine . . . besides, I think there's something mysterious about it. Mr Ollivander seemed really surprised that I got it, so I'm going to find out why.'

'If we don't get expelled.'

'Yeah.'

They fell into silence for a few minutes, hurrying to keep up with Professor McGonagall's long strides, then Draco said, 'D'you think Ollivander was right about Longbottom's wand? He seemed more worried about ending up in Ravenclaw, honestly, but if he's got a hair from the same unicorn as the Dark Lord . . .' His voice trailed off.

'Ollivander knows what he's doing, I reckon, and Neville's really special,' said Harry proudly. 'The only reason he doesn't do better is because he's a bit frightened. And Dad says that it's control that's his problem. That's why he's so bad at Potions.'

'I thought it was because Professor Snape hated him.'

'He was pretty bad even before Professor Snape. I mean, I blew stuff up, but I was experimenting. And I was just little. Neville . . . well, he gets scared. He doesn't like magic that can go wrong.'

Draco laughed scornfully, then stopped with a fearful glance at Professor McGonagall. 'What sort of magic is that?' he whispered.

'Herbology,' said Harry.

Draco snorted — then, with a glance around, turned even whiter than usual. 'Harry,' he said tremulously, 'we're going to — t-to the dungeons.'

'We live in the dungeons, Draco. It could be worse — '

'Don't be an idiot. We're going to Professor Snape!'

'Oh!' Harry's voice squeaked. 'Well, maybe it'll be fine . . . he likes you . . .'

Draco flushed. 'He doesn't seem to mind you, any more — I think he calls on you in Potions just to have an excuse to give points to Slytherin.'

'Yeah, that's fun.' Harry grinned. 'He does it mostly when it looks like another House is gaining on us, did you notice? It helps, I guess, that I'm a Slytherin. He hated me as much as Neville at first, or nearly, but wasn't half so bad.'

Draco shrugged. 'He takes care of us, 'cause everybody else hates us. Even if he doesn't have anything to do with the first years, except in Potions.'

'Neville doesn't hate us!' Harry protested.

'The teachers, Harry.'

They walked right past the Potions classroom — Draco's heart lifted — then it thudded back in place, filling his ears as Professor McGonagall marched right up to a blank piece of wall and announced, 'Felus.'

After a long moment — Draco took several steps closer to Harry — the wall slid open, and Professor Snape appeared. He looked every bit as dour and menacing as usual, if not more so.

'Professor McGonagall,' he said flatly, lifting one eyebrow. Then his eyes fell on the two Slytherins behind her, and narrowed. 'Is there some sort of difficulty with Potter and Malfoy?'

'Difficulty!' Her nostrils flared. 'Never — in all my time at Hogwarts — ' She exhaled a breath, then said, more calmly, 'I am not discussing this matter in the hallway.' She swept right past him, into what seemed to be some part of his private rooms. Harry and Draco glanced nervously from one teacher to the other.

'By all means, Minerva, come inside and make yourself at home. I would hate for you to feel as if you were in someone else's quarters.' When she only sniffed, he turned to the boys and said, 'Potter, Malfoy. In.'

The wall slammed shut behind them, sounding rather like — well — a dungeon door. Harry and Draco, unsure which adult was more to be dreaded, stood an equal distance from both and close together, treading on each other's robes.

'Very well,' said Professor Snape, striding across the room to face Professor McGonagall over a strangely innocuous couch, 'to what do I owe the honour of your presence?'

'I cannot even count how many rules these two — miscreants — have broken in the last half-hour!' she exclaimed.

'Ah, well. As I recall, Arithmancy was never your strong suit. Perhaps you should leave it to me to decide.'

'That, Professor Snape, was my object in bringing them here.' She took several deep breaths. 'I saw this boy — Potter — on a broomstick, several minutes after Madam Hooch had taken Neville Longbottom to the infirmary.'

Snape's lip curled. 'Do you expect me to pretend to be surprised, Minerva? After all, his father, not to mention his godfather, sets no stock by mere rules — '

Draco glanced at Harry, who was furiously biting his lip, but before either could do anything, Professor McGonagall cried, 'He caught that thing — ' she pointed at the Remembrall — 'in his hand, after a fifty-foot dive! James Potter couldn't have done it.'

Professor Snape's eyes widened, the contempt fading from his face. He gave Harry a calculating look. 'Are you certain, Minerva?' he demanded. 'It was not some — trick — or, or — '

'I know what I saw,' she said coldly. 'He didn't take a scratch.'

Professor Snape's expression became positively hungry. 'I believe I might have a word with Professor Dumbledore,' he said smoothly. 'A rather ridiculous rule, I've always thought . . .'

'I'm sure, Severus.' Professor McGonagall gave him a frosty smile. 'There is, however, another small matter — '

'And what might that consist of? Is Malfoy channelling his cousin's ability now?'

Cousin? Draco mouthed at Harry, who shrugged.

Grimly, Professor McGonagall said, 'It consists of Mr Malfoy's unprovoked attack upon another student. Fifty points from Slytherin, at least — '

'Unprovoked?' Draco shouted. 'You weren't even there — you don't know anything — you couldn't have heard — '

'It wasn't just Draco, either,' Harry added. 'We both hexed him. And he deserved it!'

'I wonder, Minerva, why you bothered bringing this matter to my attention at all,' drawled Professor Snape, 'since my own opinion is clearly unnecessary and undesired.'

'I was suggesting appropriate consequences for Mr Malfoy's — excuse me, Mr Malfoy and Mr Potter's — behaviour. Zabini was actually screaming.'

'Zabini?' Professor Snape's mouth tightened, and he turned back to Professor McGonagall. 'Minerva, this is clearly a House matter. I will deal with it. Is that all?'

With a dignified look, she straightened her robes and lifted her chin. 'It appears so. Good day, Professor Snape. Mr Potter, Mr Malfoy.'

'Goodbye, Professor McGonagall,' the boys chorused resentfully.

'Oh, and Minerva?' Snape called after her, a cruel smile curling his lips. 'The answer is two.'

'I beg your pardon?' She stopped on the threshold, glancing back at them.

'Surely you can count the two rules that they broke?'

That, apparently, did not merit a reply; she said something to the wall, walked through — and they were left alone with Professor Snape.

He said nothing, only stared at them a moment. The boys huddled together. 'Follow me,' he said.

They gulped, but didn't dare disobey, and soon found themselves in his office, seated opposite their Head of House. The familiar bottled creatures and plants were back. Several seemed to be gurgling.

'Perhaps,' Professor Snape said, his voice dangerously soft, 'you two would care to explain yourselves.'

Draco's throat seemed to seize up, but Harry rushed right ahead. 'Well, I'm not sure where you want us to start, but, er, it began with Neville really, he went up on the broom and fell down and Madam Hooch took him away, and then Parkinson laughed at him and took his Remembrall on her broom, so I had to save it. His grandmother got it for him, and he would have been so angry, or upset, or something, if anything happened to it. And he wouldn't know when he's forgotten stuff. So I got it.'

'I believe I had apprehended that aspect of the scenario, Mr Potter,' said Snape. He didn't seem too angry. Yet.

Draco entered the fray. 'Pansy said something sort of funny about Longbottom, and I was laughing, and then Harry told me to stop, because Longbottom's his cousin — and so I did. And then Zabini said . . . ' Draco scowled. 'He said I was an animal, for taking orders from the son of a . . . of a Muggleborn, and he was going to tell my father. So I hexed him. Furunculus.'

'And which did you use, Mr Potter?'

'Petrificus Totalus,' said Harry, his green eyes hard and blazing. Professor Snape's mouth tightened. 'Professor, Zabini didn't say Muggleborn. He called my mother a Mudblood — a filthy Mudblood, that's what he said.' Draco blinked. Had Professor Snape twitched? 'That's why he deserved it! My mother is worth ten of him and she was far more talented than that vile little rat will ever be — '

He was shouting now, shouting at Professor Snape — Draco grabbed Harry's sleeve and hissed, 'Harry! be quiet!'

'Malfoy. Potter.' Snape clasped his long, potion-stained fingers together, and stared at the boys over them. 'Let me make myself perfectly clear. You retaliated, quite rightly, against what might well be called a vicious and unprovoked attack.' He allowed this to sink in. 'However, you — are — Slytherins. We do not get vengeance by throwing spells about in full sight of half the first year, and we certainly do not betray our House's weaknesses in public! Keep your pathetic little quarrels inside the dungeons.'

Draco muttered, 'They started it.'

'I am quite aware of that, Mr Bl—Malfoy. They will be disciplined. Well? Why are you still here?'

'Er,' said Harry, 'aren't you going to punish us? Take points, or something?'

'Damage Slytherin's chances because of Blaise Zabini's vapid insults? Nonsense. You will both have detention, twice a week.'

Draco and Harry looked at each other. 'Okay,' said Harry.

'That's it?'

Harry's bony elbow hit Draco's ribs. He gasped for air.

'Unfortunately, as your little demonstration was so public, you will likely find yourself before the Headmaster.' Snape shrugged. 'Now, get out before I think of anything more creative.'

They fled.