Chapter Ten – Spiral's End
Kiru and Harry awoke the next morning to find that Severus had stayed the night in the Hospital Wing and had brought Chessie straight here. He was also here laying on one of the empty beds, fast asleep. The curtains were drawn in a manner that stopped people from peering in on them all. Needless to say, everyone was now on edge. They knew that Chessie was back, and that now both Snape Professors were up and about.
Within hours of waking up, and that very night, Harry, Kiru, Draco, Severus, and Chessie headed out to the end of the year feast. They could all tell that Madame Maxime was upset, but Karkaroff was gone, so Viktor took the position he held. He wasn't upset, but he had been confused until he was told that he and Fleur were put under the Imperius curse to kill Harry.
"Now, due to zealous circumstances, our points are all in the negative. I can assure you that this is no longer the case. I award ten thousand points to each house in celebration of all of our champions making it through the Triwizard tournament alive!" Dumbledore announced once the hall grew silent.
There was an outburst of applause from all of the students, but it was painstakingly obvious which house won the House cup – the Gryffindor house was the house that had the least points docked that year, somehow, and through Professor McGonagall's eager point giving for her lion cubs.
"Yes, well done, Gryffindor! However, there are a few last minute points to be awarded in light of recent events," Dumbledore said calmly. "To Mr. Draco Malfoy, I award one hundred sixty points for helping Professor Chessie Snape return here safely after being sealed inside of a cursed portrait inside the Lestrange Manor, to which he has had to steal said painting to accomplish under the direst of circumstances."
The Slytherins all raised their goblets, as well as most of the people on the staff table. The others in the Great Hall were eagerly cheering since they all knew it would sober their Potions Master up now that his wife was back and safe. Severus was laughing at their erratic behavior, and putting his arm around Chessie to let him know that he was still there for her now that she was still recovering from her miscarriage.
"Yes, thank you, Mr. Malfoy," Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eyes. "To Miss Kiru Snape, I award one hundred points for the safe return of a Ravenclaw girl by the name of Myrtle Fussweep." Another burst of applause, this time from both Slytherin and Ravenclaw. "And now, to our Slytherin prefects for keeping a perfect calm in the Slytherin Commons during a time of severest crises. I award the Slytherin prefects forty points."
"We're tied with the others!" Kiru whispered excitedly.
"And last, but not least – to Misses Mellicent Bullstrode, and Pansy Parkinson, for the courage and skills it took to battle Ariadne Arachne, a former Slytherin house-mate of theirs – I award them twenty points. That being said, I believe some new decorations are in order!" he said clapping his hands once, and the red and gold banners now became green and silver. "Slytherin wins the house cup!"
"Yes!" Kiru and Draco yelled, hugging each other tightly before blushing and sitting down once more once all the others had started wooing over their relationship.
"To hell with the rules!" Kiru yelled, grabbing Draco's robes and yanking him into facing her. Without a second thought, she immediately covered his lips with hers, to which he blushed scarlet.
"Lovebirds!" some of the other Slytherins crowed, but the pair paid them no mind they were so absorbed in each other. Finally, at about one in the morning, a new, and outraged, figure entered the Great Hall.
"DRACO MALFOY!" Rodolphus Lestrange roared, and Severus flicked his wand to silence the man.
"Uncle Rodolphus! How nice of you to join us!" Draco sneered. "For a funeral!"
Out of nowhere a horde of Dementors appeared, and most of the other students started screaming, all at Rodolphus' hand.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry, Kiru, Draco, Severus, and Chessie yelled in unison.
A stag, serpentine dragon, snake, thestral, and Pegasus appeared from the tips of their respective wands as the rest of the crowd stared in awe. They had never seen a thestral before, or that their History of Magic teacher would have a Pegasus for a patronus. Chessie smiled, and Snape stared at his patronus in awe, like he'd never seen it before. Chessie could tell what it was – he was confused that his patronus was a thestral instead of a doe like it had always been up until now. Dumbledore was also staring at Severus' patronus, his blue eyes twinkling mysteriously, as though he knew something that they didn't.
Meanwhile, the Dementors were scattering in fear of the five patronus charms' forms and leaving through the entrance. Once they were all gone, the doors were bolted shut, and the patronus animals went towards their respective casters. The two horse-like creatures went obediently to the staff table, while the stag vanished alongside the Gryffindor table. Draco and Kiru dropped their patronus animals just as their mentors did. Rodolphus Lestrange, however, was on the ground, having received the Dementor's Kiss, which Myrtle had witnessed. Kiru would have to use Occlumency to get the memory from her newest friend, and Severus was thinking the same thing.
The students all got to bed soon after, more than wore out by the sudden arrival of the dementors, and the excitement of seeing not one, but five, patronus animals at once. Slytherin were eagerly congratulating the students to whom they owed the house cup, while the said students just wanted to go back to bed. Severus and Chessie, meanwhile, were also going to bed, their eyes becoming heavy with fatigue.
It was with great regret that the students all had to go home the next day. After spending an hour on the train, Harry, Hermione, Kiru and (surprisingly) Draco all in the same compartment, Ron came up towards Harry. Harry glared, and Ron soon found four wands pointed directly at his face. Ginny was behind him, and also had a wand pointed at her – by none other than Mellicent Bullstrode. It seemed to the foursome that the gap between Slytherin and Gryffindor had finally been bridged over by family ties amongst the houses and multiple houses under one roof.
"I just wanted to tell Harry that I'm sorry," Ron said before turning to leave. "And that they have nothing more to worry about from the Weasley family."
"Damn right you don't," Kiru snapped. "You aren't coming anywhere near him without dad's permission, and even then – you're not gonna get it."
"Right. Sorry," Ron said while leaving. He grinned, knowing he had the upper hand now. He'd poisoned Harry's bottle of pumpkin juice before Harry had left the Gryffindor common rooms.
"Weird one, that bloke," Harry said bringing the water bottle to his lips. Ginny, however, yanked it away, spilling its contents. "Hey! What was that for?"
"I – I can't say," Ginny said softly. "For the same reason I'm not allowed near you anymore. Please, I want no part of it."
She proceeded to run away in a fit of tears, leaving two Gryffindor, three Slytherin, and one teacher standing and sitting confused in her wake. Severus raised an eyebrow before settling in into the same car that his three favorite students and the know-it-all were in. He sighed, pulling out a different canteen, this one with strawberry juice inside of it, and handed it to Harry.
"The one she ruined was poisoned," Severus explained simply while waving his wand to clean the mess up as Harry took the canteen with a nod. "I can smell it. I'll have to teach you how to be able to tell the smells of the different poisons."
Harry and Kiru grinned as Severus apparated back to King's Cross, more than eager to get back home to Privet Drive, but also needing to set up numerous hideouts. He grinned, more than eager to get some work done in this scrawny neighborhood that he'd come to call home the previous summer. He cracked his knuckles, sending Dudley out into the front yard with a jerk of his head. Dudley, who had been told to pack everything the day before, was now perfectly packed.
"Perhaps it would be best if I finished. Pack!" he ordered, and immediately the photos on the mantle and the food in the fridge and freezer were suddenly in three different boxes. The potions ingredients were now in three boxes, all neat and tidy in small boxes alongside. He shrunk the six boxes with the house's components, and began casting wards and hexes upon the house.
Heading across the street, he did the same to Chessie's old home, and wasn't at all surprised to find that she didn't have very many things – it wasn't in her nature to be overly cluttered. Severus smirked as he cast the same spells upon this house that he had to Number Four Privet Drive. The only catch now was to close off his home of Spinner's End for twenty-four hours while he got everyone's rooms ready at his other home.
He grabbed hold of Dudley tightly with his left hand, apparating the teen away and to Spinner's End. He set the boy straight with a glare that would leave seventh years quaking in their boots, and tossed the boxes upon the table and didn't even bother to put them back into their proper size.
"Winky! Dobby!" he snapped, and the two house elves appeared from nowhere with two loud pops.
"How may we be serves Master Snape?" they asked in unison, eager to serve.
"Make sure the food inside some of these boxes doesn't spoil. Don't mess with the Potions ingredients, and don't mess with anything that's not food," Snape ordered. "And while you're at it, make sure that Dudley doesn't leave this room except to go to the bathroom."
"Yes, Master Snape!" the two house elves grinned widely. Severus scowled as he apparated back away to Hogsmeade. He sighed heavily, heading into the Hog's Head, where he knew Lucius would be waiting.
The two Death Eaters were talking away happily, Severus drinking Butterbeer to his heart's content to wash away his stress at teaching. He sighed as he put his mug on the table for the twelfth time, Lucius' eyebrows raised in interest. Severus grinned and laughed, explaining how Kiru had been forced into the Triwizard tournament against her will by Barty Crouch, Jr. He didn't explain, however, that Harry had also been there, and that Kiru had fought Voldemort alongside the Gryffindor boy and Myrtle.
Lucius was extremely interested, and was quite upset when they had to leave to go to King's Cross. They laughed, paid Aberforth, and apparated away. Severus smiled as he saw who else was waiting here at the station. He had half a mind to approach Molly and Arthur, but he instead tapped on Lucius' arm, who turned his head in interest. Severus proceeded to explain how the youngest Weasley male had almost killed a fellow Gryffindor house-mate and had only failed because he himself had shoved a bezoar down the boy's throat. He didn't, of course, mention who this said Gryffindor was by name, and even elaborated at how it might have been a trick to try to kill Kiru since the same boy was carrying a drink poisoned by the same boy sitting in the same compartment as his daughter and Draco.
Lucius scowled at this last piece of information. Draco and Kiru sitting together, he could understand, and more so with a couple friends of Kiru's. However, the fact that a Gryffindor boy had almost been poisoned, and had been sitting in the same car as Kiru and Draco didn't bode well with him at all. He had half a mind to march up to the couple, but he then smirked, having a perfect plan to get Arthur Weasley fired from his job at the Ministry.
"Arthur," Lucius nodded coldly. "Are you aware that your youngest son tried to poison my son's friend?"
"No," Arthur lied coolly. "But rest assured, he will be punished."
"Oh, I don't doubt that," Lucius smirked. "More especially since we wouldn't want it known that he also tried to kill two Professors and their daughter. And my son was in the same car as them, holding the canteen that had the poisoned beverage in it mere moments before his friend almost drank from it."
"You wouldn't dare," Arthur gasped coldly, his eyes glaring into Lucius' cold ones. "You wouldn't! Ron would never do such a stupid and rash thing!"
"I would," Lucius sneered, "And I think I know your son better than you do. Your wife is the one telling him to do the horrible experiences, if I'm correct."
"You – you-you!" Arthur raged, but was cut off by the train pulling into the station. "You bastard!"
Harry left the train, and easily found two familiar faces – Remus Lupin and Severus Snape. He went to Lupin, knowing it was a cover-up for what was really going on and that the werewolf would apparate him home. Kiru, meanwhile, had gone straight to her father, with Hermione coming with her. It was only natural, but a sudden crack next to Severus made him jump slightly.
The two girls stared in confusion as Kingsley Shacklebolt and Professor McGonagall spoke urgently to their Potions Professor. Hermione knew that it was something major, while Kiru knew that if her father was involved, she was officially going to be in for a very rough summer. She didn't even want to know what her father had been ordered to do by Dumbledore this time since it was very evident by his facial expressions that he very much didn't want to do it.
"A word, Miss Granger," Professor McGonagall said gently, pulling the teen aside. Once they were out of earshot, she cast a powerful Mufflatio spell around them. "Miss Granger, you will stay with Professor Snape this summer, and until you come of age. I'm sorry to say this but – your parents are dead."
"No," Hermione sobbed. "No, no, please no! Please… not Death Eaters…"
"No," the old woman soothed. "It – it was a car accident. They – they were coming here to pick you up, my dear. I've already told Severus, he knows that you're coming. He's not happy with it, but he's allowing for you to stay with him."
"Th-thank you," Hermione sobbed. "W-will you visit?"
"I may," Professor McGonagall relented. "However, Chessie will be there as well. They are, as I'm sure you're aware, husband and wife."
"How?" Hermione asked, confused as to how her heartless professor had found love.
"That is a question for him, my dear," the animagus said gently. "Come – let's not keep him waiting much longer. You'll be staying with him at Spinner's End, I believe."
Minerva couldn't have been more accurate on Severus' feelings, and by the time they returned to him, he was ready to kill the Weasley clan.
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