Chapter Ten: Detentions and Defenses

I disclaim all events and characters recognized as belonging to JK Rowling.

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it!

Keena's Point of View:

I jumped as the door to my office burst open two days after the start of term. The baby gave an unhappy cry before Sparky distracted her from the loud noise. I looked away from Aradia to see her father pacing angrily before me.

"Do you know what she just said to me?" he growled, not breaking in his pace.

"Obviously not, love," I replied evenly, flicking my wand to close the door that he had left wide open in his wake. "What did she say this time?"

He paused and took a deep breath before finally taking a seat in front of me. I looked at him expectantly, but he was staring at Aradia. Turning to glance at her, I saw that Sparky had given her a pacifier and she was now drowsily sucking and would shortly be asleep. Sirius sighed and ran a hand distractedly through his hair.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare her," he said softly, though bitterly as he shook his head.

I frowned at him, sensing he meant more than what he'd said.

"You don't scare her, Sirius."

He raised his eyes from the baby to gaze at me. I tilted my head and stared back, a worried expression on my face. He looked haunted, as though he had gone back to Azkaban over night for a stay.

"Sometimes I wonder," he replied. "I wonder if I have any business in raising kids…"

"Stop that," I ordered, giving him a stern look. "You are a wonderful father and that little witch has no business telling you otherwise."

He didn't answer right away and gazed at Aradia again. I sighed and stood up, walking around to sit on the arm of his chair, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. Without a word, he pulled me down onto his lap and held me close to him.

"She pointed it out to me that when I'm angry I look like a deranged convict. I didn't believe her until I saw my reflection, in that hall with the portrait of that old wizard whose always asleep. I caught some upper year Slytherins bothering two second year Hufflepuffs, had their wands and everything. I gave them detentions and was walking away when she did her little coughing thing," he paused and shook his head before throwing his voice up two octaves. "What a little temper you have, Mr. Black,' she said to me. 'Why poor dear Keena must worry about the girls.' I hadn't even raised my voice to those boys, but when she said that it made me so angry…I didn't say anything to her and she walked away but…"

"But nothing, Sirius," I said softly, not moving away from him. "She's wrong."

"You didn't see my reflection, Keena. I looked like a convict."

"I hope you know how utterly ridiculous that is, Sirius. The only time I've ever seen you truly angry was when you fought with him two years ago and you had every right to be upset with what he said to you."

He sighed and rested his head on top of mine for a moment, not acknowledging the fight he had had with James.

"I'm getting too sensitive in my old age," he mumbled, making me smile.

"I certainly hope not; you're going to have to chase the boys away from Alianna soon," I answered with a light laugh.

"I'm more worried about chasing the boys away from Kailey at the moment. Snape would never forgive me if I let her date somebody while she was under our watch."

"Since when did you care about how Severus felt about you?" I asked suspiciously.

"Since he teaches my oldest daughter," he answered matter-of-factly. "And my godson and he'll teach Aradia in another eleven years."

I rolled my eyes. "As if Kailey doesn't already bug him about how he treats Harry. Did I tell you what he told me the other night at dinner?"

"The night when you didn't save me a seat and I had to sit next to the woman who is incapable of calling me 'Auror' to my face? No you never did."

"Well, he told me that she's already stopped both Neville and Harry from botching up their potions," I replied, ignoring his annoyed sarcasm. "I think he was gloating, actually. He said she's got the highest grade in potions so far out of any year. Course, then I asked about Hermione and he started talking about something else entirely," I chuckled, shaking my head. "I have a feeling he's giving her extra credit for fixing the potions without her knowing about it."

"Is that even allowed?" Sirius asked, sounding surprised.

"It isn't as though anyone is going to ever find out; you know he wouldn't admit to anything like that."

"Too right, he wouldn't," he agreed, giving me a tighter hug for a moment before releasing me. "I'd better go and write up that fight; Dumbledore wants a record of anything of the sort. He wants which years and which houses, but Merlin knows most if not all of the fights are Slytherin versus one of the other three."

"Not true, some fights are in-house."

He smirked at me and shook his head. "Tell me when you hear of one; it'll be a first."

Kailey's Point of View:

I did try to stop myself, really, I did. I ignored him when he made cracks about how I only wanted to give myself a scar bigger than the one Harry had. I ignored him when he said I was a waste of magic. I even helped hold Harry back when he insinuated that Cedric had had his death coming to him. But when Draco Malfoy said I was such a worthless piece of muddy half-blood that my own muggle mother hated me, that was when I snapped.

"MS. SNAPE!"

I didn't flinch as I stood with my wand aimed at Malfoy's head, just outside of the Great Hall where lunch was being served. Malfoy lay on the ground covered in ash and holding his lightly bleeding arm close to him, staring up at me in a combination of fury and horror. I was panting with anger. I had only had time for two spells, though my reductor curse had collided with something of his which had caused the explosion of ash and alerted the teachers to our duel. The second was my disarming spell, which had hit him hard enough to break his arm when he tried to hang onto his wand, at least according to the loud cracking noise and his cry of pain.

"Lower your wand," Umbridge ordered, not bothering with her sugary coated kindergarten voice.

I did so, relaxing my stance and removing my glare from Malfoy to stare at the squat woman in front of me. She crossed her arms and did her little cough, shaking her head as she did so.

"I think a good twenty-five points from Gryffindor along with two nights worth of detention will do you some good, Ms. Snape," she stated before raising her voice slightly. "Wouldn't you agree, Headmaster?"

I didn't let myself gulp as I looked beyond her to see that the other teachers had gathered behind Umbridge. Sirius was shaking his head at me in disappointment while Snape was giving me one of his signature glares. Keena and McGonagall, on the other hand, exchanged somewhat nervous glances.

I turned my gaze back to Dumbledore, waiting for him to say something as other students gathered around and began whispering.

"I believe you are right, Professor Umbridge," he stated calmly. "Ms. Snape, you shall accompany Auror Black in—"

"Hem hem."

The whispering halted as Umbridge interrupted the headmaster again.

"I do believe, Headmaster, that Mr. Black was not the one who called off this fight."

"Auror Black handles such detentions so that the teachers may focus better on the students' school work," Dumbledore replied, placing delicate emphasis on Sirius' title.

"Even so, I wouldn't want Auror Black to be too harsh with the girl; she does spend holidays with him and his family does she not?" no one corrected her. "And he seemed quite angry just this morning after giving several other students detention. I would not want to overwork the man. Besides, I have plenty of time to spare," she punctuated her sentence with a girly giggle.

I felt my mouth go slightly dry as Dumbledore nodded his agreement. I noticed behind him that Snape's glare had softened, though it had moved from my face to the back of Dumbledore's head. That alone gave me some gratification.

"Very good then, Ms. Snape, come to my office at five o'clock both this evening as well as the next," and with a nod to herself, Umbridge turned around and marched back into the Great Hall, most of the other teachers and students following at a distance.

"Crabbe, Goyle, escort Mr. Malfoy to the infirmary. Ms. Snape, come with me," Snape growled and I had the sense to cower slightly under his glare.

A few of the other students gave me pitying looks and when I looked back to Harry, Ron and Hermione, it was to see that they looked as though they were thinking of following. I shook my head slightly at them and Hermione nodded, dragging the boys into the hall with her.

Snape led me to his quarters and soon I was sitting on the sleek, black leather couch in his living room as he put up a silencing charm. Not that he needed the cover to yell at me.

"What were you thinking? Fighting outside of the Great Hall? What if your curse had gone through? You could have killed him!" he raged, towering in front of me. "I thought you were going to avoid detention with the DADA professor, not plunge into it! I am disappointed with you, Kailey!"

I flinched at his words.

A heavy silence fell between us and I heard the leather of his favorite chair squeal slightly as he took a seat. But I couldn't look up at him, feelings of shame bringing tears to my eyes.

"What did Malfoy say to you?"

It wasn't a request; it was an order.

"That…mom hated me for being a worthless muddy half-blood…" I trailed off in a whisper, raising a hand to swipe away a tear before it fell. "I'm sorry."

"Not for the fight," he suggested.

"No, for being a disappointment," I replied in confirmation.

I heard him sigh heavily while I continued staring at the carpet at my feet. It wasn't worth defending myself if it would lead to disappointing the only parent who actually cared for me.

"You are not a disappointment," he stated quietly. "You're actions today are what have disappointed me. And now you shall have to endure two detentions with Umbridge."

I nodded slowly.

"I'm giving fifteen points to Gryffindor."

My head snapped up and I looked at him in complete confusion.

"For having the knowledge and skill needed to correct other students' mistakes in the Potions lab. You thought I failed to notice?" he smirked at me.

"Hoped is a better word for it," I mumbled, unable to hide a relieved smile that he was not as angry with me as he could have been. "Did you see me?"

He smirked at me and shook his head.

"It was the only explanation for Longbottom's potion being worth an A," he replied.

"Not an O?" I asked, affronted.

"Let's not pretend he knocked the beetle juice into the cauldron."

That night I made my way to the Defense room for the first of my two detentions. With a fool's hope, I had decided to bring my own ink and quill, and even my own parchment, just in case she had me write lines.

I sucked in a deep breath as I arrived before knocking on her office door.

"Come in," she called quietly and I gently pushed the door open. "Ah, Ms. Snape, right on time I see."

I sincerely hoped she realized her girly mannerisms were not fooling anybody.

"You may take a seat right there," she ordered, gesturing to a rickety old desk that had a doily perched on top of it.

I did as I was told and waited patiently for her to continue.

"Now, tonight you will be doing lines for me."

I bent over to grab my things but froze as she coughed.

"I have a special quill for you to use, my dear," she simpered, standing and coming around her desk. She placed the spiky black quill along with a sheet of parchment in front of me.

I bit my lip and looked up at her. "Shall I use my own ink, Professor?" I asked quietly.

"Oh, you won't be needing any of that, dear," she giggled before sobering herself. "I should like you to write 'I must not use magic'."

I blinked at her for a moment before nodding. "Yes Professor," I added when she continued to stare at me.

I lifted the quill, gingerly touching it to the parchment. Withholding a shudder, I wrote out the first two words as quickly as I could. The pain was different from the hot flashing pain that had resulted in the scar on my face or the bite marks on my left arm. It was sharper in some ways, but far less painful in others. I wrote the rest of the sentence before quickly continuing onto the next line.

It went on for hours, I was certain. The sun had set long before and the skin on the back of my hand was taking slightly more time to heal. When I reached the end of the parchment, she handed me another sheet. I continued to write quickly, hoping that I could write fast enough that the wound would not have time to heal so that she would be satisfied.

Finally, after five feet of parchment, she asked me to pause.

"Hand," she requested, taking it in hers when I offered.

I focused on breathing slowly as she ran a stubby finger over the words that were reddened on the back of my hand.

"You seem to be quite the fast learner, Ms. Snape. I think by tomorrow we should have made an impression on you," she smiled, a strange glint in her eye. "You may go."

"Good night, Professor," I forced out before turning, grabbing my bag and exiting the room, managing to resist sprinting more than half-way to the common room.

Keena's Point of View:

"You know, don't tell him I told you this, but you and George seem to have picked this up faster than Bill," I informed Fred as I helped him to his feet.

The twins, along with at least half of the seventh years and a quarter of the fifth years, were crowded in my classroom. Even though we were only two weeks into the school year, at least half of each year had come to my classroom to practice defense. I had the seventh years working on sixth year non-verbal spells at the moment while the fifth years struggled to produce a reductor curse; they were aiming at large blocks of soft wood, enclosed in shields. Kailey had decided to go and catch up on other homework instead.

Umbridge, as far as I was concerned, had severed all ties with me one morning during the first week when she called the baby an 'ugly little thing' after Aradia had began crying simply due to the close proximity of the pink toad.

I shook myself away from the maddening thoughts and forced myself to focus on the students. George had just successfully knocked Fred flat onto his back, though he had been trying to turn his twin's hair bright blue. Still, magic had been performed.

Fred gave me a slightly disbelieving look.

"Hey, magic is magic and I can't tell you how many times I've said that non-verbal sixth year magic is harder to learn. Some students can't even manage a puff of smoke when they first start trying these spells."

He shook his head at me and turned back to his brother. Meanwhile a muffled explosion sounded from the other side of the room. Everyone froze as we turned to see the inside of Seamus' shield was full of dark gray smoke. With a wave of my wand, the shield disappeared and the smoke dissipated revealing an ash covered Seamus and a pile of burnt wood.

"Did it work?" he asked through a cough.

Before I could answer there was a loud knock on the door. I straightened up in time for the door to bang open, revealing an angry looking Umbridge. The students seemed to freeze up, all except for Fred and George, who returned to practicing non-verbals only now they were aiming at a pair of chairs. Within a moment, the rest of the room returned to practicing either a bit of charms or transfiguration, with the exception of Seamus.

"What on earth is going on here, Professor Black?" Umbridge demanded, striding up to stand between Seamus and me.

"The fifth years are practicing for their Transfiguration OWLs while the seventh years are preparing for their Charms NEWTs," I replied smoothly. "Mr. Finnigan, what did we just finish speaking of?"

"Pronunciation, Professor," he replied truthfully, though his eyes flickered to Umbridge for a moment.

"Exactly, now remember the incantation needs to match up to the wand movements and you'll be Vanishing things in no time at all," I said with an encouraging nod before fixing the block of wood and setting up his shield again. "Was there something you needed, Professor Umbridge?"

She glared at me, dropping her sweet girly act in a heartbeat.

"I am revoking your tutoring rights. You may only assist certain students at scheduled times and only with teacher approval."

The students in the room all froze, even those still within the shields, and stared between the two of us.

"With all due respect, Professor," I couldn't stop from sneering the title. "You have absolutely no authority over who I help and when. I only work within my office hours and I only help those who need it."

She opened her mouth to argue back when a cry sounded from within my office. Angelina Johnson cleared her throat quietly and nodded at me before heading into my office to see that the baby was alright.

"You may not tutor in Defense Against the Dark Arts any longer," she said with finality in her words. "And I would be very careful if I were you; there's talk in the Ministry going round that parents may not like it if there is a…distraction to two of the staff members."

I made no reply as I glared at the squat woman in front of me. Thankfully, she had nothing more to say and she swept out of the room, slamming the door behind her and renewing the cries of the baby. I pinched the bridge of my nose for a moment before looking around the room to see the students all staring.

"Professor?"

"Apparently someone did not get the memo that the Defense tutoring needed to be kept under wraps. I will speak with Professor Dumbledore but until then…" I trailed off as my eyes rested on Neville. I had never seen him looked so angry.

I shook my head and turned to face Angelina, who was cradling Aradia. I accepted my baby from her arms with a nod of thanks.

"It's alright, Professor," Padma Patil said softly.

"We'll figure something out," her twin echoed.

One by one, the seventh years lowered the shields for the fifth years and they all left quietly until only Hermione remained. She hesitated for a moment before coming forward.

"Do you really think she can do this?" she asked quietly.

"There isn't much else I can do. Her next move is to get me out of the castle completely and then where would all of you be?" I sighed, shaking my head in disappointment.

Kailey's Point of View:

"You know what Ron? I think Percy's view of exciting news and our views on exciting news are probably wicked different sets of views," I stated after a glance at the morning's Daily Prophet.

"What the bloody hell is a high inquisitor, anyway?" Ron asked after sparing me an eye roll.

"One leg up from professor, half a leg down from headmaster," I replied with a shake of my head. "And likely higher up than Sirius and Keena too."

"Judging by the look on Keena's face I'd say so," Fred said, leaning into our conversation.

Several of us looked around to see that Keena did indeed look particularly livid. It was a good thing that Umbridge was not sitting within hexing range that much was certain.

"Foolish toad, getting on the wrong side of an angry hormonal momma bear," George added, shaking his head.

Word of Keena and Umbridge's argument had spread around the school like wildfire. Judging by the talk going round in the girl's lavatories, most were siding with Keena even if only because they thought that Aradia was adorable. Even the majority of the Slytherins seemed to think the lack of magic in DADA was outrageous.

I sighed and rubbed the back of my hand. The writing was just a faded scar that you couldn't see right away but once you did, it was all you could look at. Or maybe that was just me. I still hadn't told the others what she had made me do those two detentions and luckily Harry hadn't served any yet, but I had a feeling it was only a matter of time.

In Potions that day I managed to get a seat between Neville and Ron. After a few carefully timed coughs, Neville got himself to calm down enough to really concentrate. I glanced at Ron on my other side and bumped his arm just in time to force him to stir in the proper direction. I gave him a slight nod when he smiled at me in thanks. Their potions weren't perfect, but they were acceptable.

From Potions, we went to lunch where we verbally spared with the twins about grades. Well, Hermione and I did. Harry and Ron had tuned them out in favor of discussing something about their latest Quidditch practice. Apparently it had gone decently.

Before long, the boys and I had said goodbye to Hermione and were heading up the stairs to Divination. We entered the stifling room to see that it would be our first inspected lesson. I contained an annoyed sigh at the sight of the pink blob before following Ron and Harry over to a table in the back of the room.

Trelawney was milling around the room, looking far less earthy and much more disgruntled than I remembered ever seeing her. She paused as she reached our table for a moment and stared at me.

"Ms. Snape, your aura…it seems blue today."

I blinked at her in brief confusion for a moment before she swept away and began the class, halting all chatter.

"Today we shall be continuing our study of dreams. Please divide into pairs and interpret one another's nighttime visions. You may use the aid of the Oracle to guide you."

Blue…blue…what does that mean…blue…?

I barely registered that Neville had come forward and I had agreed to be his partner as I wondered over what Trelawney could possibly be talking about. It wasn't as out of the ordinary as it should have seemed. Why was blue so important?

"I haven't had any dreams lately," Neville mumbled glancing over his shoulder at Umbridge who was scribbling on her clipboard.

"Oh," I said shortly, jerking myself out of my thoughts before they veered to my latest nightmare. "I…uh…had one. I guess."

Neville straightened up slightly, waiting for me to continue and holding his book at the ready but Trelawney approached us just then.

"I am sensing a great reluctance from you Ms. Snape," Trelawney stated grandly.

Umbridge sat up primly at the declaration before coming to stand behind the other professor.

"I don't generally have good dreams, Professor," I replied deciding to help Trelawney. Between the two, I hated Umbridge more.

"Yes, I can See that. Perhaps you would share with the class one such night vision?"

Kudos to you, picking the one student who you know knows the future…too bad I'm shouldn't actually say anything about it…

"Well I did have one that was neither good nor bad, really," I stalled, hoping to think of something good off the cuff. "I don't know the how or the why even but…it was both very clear and very cloudy at the same moment. It was some kind of celebration I think. There were fireworks and two boys on broom inside of the Great Hall. I couldn't make out their faces, but all of the students were cheering and even Peeves seemed to be behaving."

"And the teachers were simply allowing all of this to take place?" Umbridge simpered with a shake of her head. "Magic in the halls?"

I stiffened and her smile widened.

"It's what I Saw, sorry if it does not comply with your notion of what is and is not acceptable. But I do think I Saw something blue too," I added, suddenly understanding what Trelawney had been on about. Last year I had fantasized about turning Umbridge blue.

Trelawney grinned to herself, though it quickly faded as Umbridge began to interrogate her.

"What the bloody hell was that nonsense?" Ron demanded once the two professors had migrated a little further away from us.

Harry and Neville leaned in to listen but all I did was shrug.

"Improvisation?"

Neville snorted, shaking his head and opening his book while Harry and Ron stared at me a little longer. I shrugged again and turned back to Neville.

Class ended with no more interruptions, thankfully, and soon we were heading down to another exciting DADA class. Umbridge had barely given the order for silence when Hermione's hand went flying into the air. Unfortunately, Ron and Harry were sitting between the two of us and I had no way of getting her attention before Umbridge made her way over.

The class watched in curiosity. No doubt people were wondering what would happen now that Keena was not here to intercept our questions.

"What is the problem this time Ms. Granger?"

"I've already finished chapter two," Hermione stated, a slight edge to her tone.

"Well, then, you may continue onto chapter—"

"I've already finished the entire book," she said, not waiting for Umbridge to finish.

There was a slight pause and then Umbridge quizzed Hermione on some of Slinkhard's opinions about counter jinxes. The description she gave and her opinion on the matter made me think that Hermione may have read the book more than once at this point.

"But I don't agree with him," she finished as I tuned into the conversation again.

"You don't?" Umbridge repeated slowly, her eyes narrowing.

"No, I don't. He doesn't seem to like jinxes, does he? But if you use them defensively I think they can be quite useful," Hermione answered matter-of-factly.

"Well, Ms. Granger, it is not your opinion that matters in this classroom," she said, raising her voice when Hermione tried to interrupt. "Enough of this! Five points from Gryffindor."

There was a mere heartbeat of silence.

"What for?" Harry blurted out, starting off the angry murmurs.

Hermione made shushing noises, but Umbridge had already targeted him.

"For disrupting this classroom! I am here in order to make sure a Ministry approved method is used in these classrooms. Your foundation in Defense Against the Dark Arts leaves much to be desired and I firmly believe that not one of your past teachers would have passed inspections. Well, with the possible exception of Quirrell who at least appeared to have an idea as to how to teach properly—"

"Oh, yeah, Quirrell was great," Harry snarled, his voice loaded with sarcasm. "There was just the problem of having Voldemort stuck to the back of his head!"

I closed my eyes and shook my head as the silence enveloped the classroom.

Keena's Point of View:

I rubbed my temples as I listened to Sirius pacing behind my desk. Harry sat before us, having been sent by McGonagall, bearing the news of his weeklong detention with Umbridge.

"Do you at least understand why we're so angry?" I asked finally, looking up at Harry to find that he was staring at the floor. Sirius' footsteps paused behind me as Harry gave a half shrug.

"Answer your aunt."

"I understand," he answered, though he didn't sound like he meant it.

"Harry, Dolores Umbridge is already fighting to get rid of Sirius and me. Don't make it any easier for her to do."

He looked up at me then, confusion clouding his eyes.

"How is my getting detention going to get you kicked out?" he asked bluntly.

"She'll claim we're addling your brain by allowing you to talk about Voldemort. Or at the very least that we're not being attentive guardians," Sirius replied, coming to place both hands on the back of my chair. "She's already interrogated your cousin about how the two of us do as parents; don't think that she isn't watching both you and Kailey more carefully because of your association with us. Or vice versa."

"We all have to be careful. They can't take Alianna or Aradia from us, but you they can."

He was quiet for a few minutes and I exchanged a look with Sirius.

"Do they know about this? Back at home, I mean."

"Not yet, but you bet they will," Sirius answered firmly.

Harry just nodded.

"Don't think that Severus went any easier on Kailey when she got her detention," I warned.

He nodded again and then sighed.

"Can I go and start my homework? I don't think I'll have much time to get it done with the rest of the week and Hermione isn't helping Ron or me at all anymore and Kailey only helps out in potions."

I sighed before nodding. "Just try and keep yourself out of trouble. You're better off just not speaking to Umbridge at all."

"Fine, I'm sorry," he said, standing and shouldering his book bag. "I'll see you two later."

Once the door to my office closed behind him, Sirius threw up a silencing spell before taking a seat on my desk and running a hand over his face. I shook my head and sighed again.

"This won't be the last one he gets with her, you know," Sirius stated.

"Yeah, I know. He's got too much of James in him for that."

That's the end of this one! Sorry that it took me so long to get through! Next will be chapter 11! Until then.

:-D