Goodnight, Sweet Princess
Or May Flights of Angels wing thee to thy sleep
A Harry Potter FanFiction
Notice: The only characters I own in this fanfiction are Tara Landers and Danielle Bousquet. I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters, as they belong strictly to J.K. Rowling. Also, I am well aware that at points, at least in the later chapters, Severus Snape and Harry Potter do not always act as as they should.
Chapter 10 – Revenge?
Severus Snape leaned heavily against the door of his chambers, his eyes closed. Over and over his mind replayed the scene in the dungeon, Tara leaning over, kissing that blasted Potter gently on the cheek. Thinking about it, he could feel his hands clench into fists at his sides. Though he didn't want to admit it, not even to himself, he felt both betrayed and jealous. She shouldn't affect him this much, and yet, despite all the distance he had already put between them, it clearly wasn't enough. He resolved to double his efforts. Slowly, his eyes slid open, unconsciously searching the room for any signs of Tara. His gaze passed swiftly over the fireplace, an armchair, the coffee table, the couch, and was quickly pulled back to the coffee table. Sitting on the polished wood, wrapped in silver and green paper, two boxes, and a good-sized bag of candy. It hardly took a genius to guess that the packages were from Tara, and Snape briefly toyed with the idea of leaving them boxes unopened, but curiosity tugged at him, drew him to the couch.
The bag was filled with an assortment of Ice Mice, Peppermint Toads, and firewhisky-filled Chocolate cauldrons. Snape withdrew a small peppermint toad from the bag and bit it's head clean off, before setting the rest of the bag aside. The first box, Snape discovered, held a number of vials, all neatly labeled with names like powered windstone, essence of twilight, and shredded wildhoof vine. A small scrap of parchment proclaimed that the vials were top quality, extremely rare potions ingredients. Snape gazed in mild awe, essence of twilight, and two of the other ingredients within the box were so rare, even he, the potions master, had never used them. All of the vials contained highly powerful substances, and Snape momentarily wondered how Tara had been able to get such large quantities of them, and how much it had cost her. Still in shock, he carefully set the opened box next to the bag of candy, and turned to the final package. Cautiously, he peeled back the paper, and lifted the lid off of the box. Inside, nestled within a layer of thin tissue paper, lay a pair of men's pajamas. But not, he saw immediately, normal pajamas. The silver silk pants and shirt had cauldrons printed all over them, which rocked back and forth as small vials poured their contents in from above, causing green bubbled to appear over the cauldron rims. Snape could not hold back a laugh; she had clearly remembered his comments about her own pajamas.
As he pulled the pajamas from their box to examine them further, a small envelop slid from the fabric and fluttered to the floor. Inside he found a note, in Tara's lilting script, thanking him for allowing her to stay in his rooms. With a jolt, he realized that she had signed the note "Love, Tara". Seeing the word on paper, though he quickly assured himself that she did not mean it, made something inside him uncoil, relax. His mind conjured images of Tara's eyes, blue and sliver, as they had been earlier, when she had collided with him in the dungeon. There had been something strange about her eyes, though he could not place what that was. His mind shifted its focus, and Severus found his mind had fixated itself firmly on Tara's lips. Hastily, he returned both note and pajamas to their box, and carried all of the gifts into his temporary bedroom.
A number of floors above, the fireplace in Dumbledore's office flickered emerald green, and out of the flames stepped a short witch, clad in Day-glo orange robes, brushing soot off of herself absently. "Ah, Miss Keller, it is good to see you, however, I must confess, I was not expecting you so soon. Cherry cordial?" an amused voice offered. Albus Dumbledore, sat behind his desk, eyes twinkling, a box of muggle sweets in front of him. It had only been a few days since Tara Landers had come back through his fireplace, and it was completely true that he had not expected Shirley Keller to have her analysis done so quickly, nor had he expected the small witch to deliver her report in person. He gestured to the nervous witch to take a seat, but she merely kept pacing. She obviously had disturbing news, but he could wait until she was ready to hear it. It was as he ate another cherry cordial that she began to speak, telling him everything she had discovered. When she finally returned to her office via Floo powder, Dumbledore was left to decide the course of action that would be in the best interests of both his student and one of his professors.
Meanwhile, Tara was introducing Harry Potter, as her boyfriend, to Danny, just loud enough that the gossips sitting by them were sure to hear. Sure enough, in a few minutes, each of them had leaped off the bench, and had spread themselves out around the great hall, spreading what they had just heard like wildfire. Tara smiled at her best friend, who was still gazing at her in shock, while Harry looked around for Ron and Hermione. "What about Sn-" Danny asked, still stunned at this new development, but Tara cut her off with a glare. "I'll tell you later" she assured her friend, and turned back to Harry, who had just spotted Ron and Hermione. Tara had briefed him on the way up from the dungeons, after she had collected her wits, and had made it very clear that if her plans were to work, then no one could know that they were only pretending to go out. He had protested that Hermione would kill him if he lied to her about something like this. Tara had relented and agreed that he could tell them, if they swore to secrecy. As the two seventh-years crossed towards their table both wore looks of utter confusion on their faces at finding their best friend sitting at their rival houses table. Ron quickly sidled up to Harry, and asked, none too quietly, "Harry, did she Imperius you? I swear, I'll get Ginny to put her bat-bogey curse on her." Harry hesitated a moment, then replied, "Ron, Hermione, this is Tara Landers," he paused, cheeks turning red, before gathering the courage to continue, "my girlfriend."
Tara was sure that Ron's jaw would have to be magically reattached because it fell so far. Hermione, on the other hand, took the news remarkably well. She smiled at Tara and told Ron, "I'm sure he'll tell us all about it later, right Harry?" as she sat down next to Tara. Ron continued to stand gaping at them then plunked himself down next to Harry. Dinner was a remarkably pleasant affair, with only Danny and Ron sulking. Harry and Hermione were very pleasant, and Tara found it very easy to get along with the Head Girl, who even whispered to Tara that she was very pleased that Harry had finally found a girlfriend, and how nice it would be to have another female to talk to. Harry, who was trying to convince Ron that the food at the Slytherin table was just as good as the food at the Gryffindor table, didn't hear the comment, but Tara felt her cheeks turn pink. When dinner ended, Harry dragged Hermione and Ron, who had been glaring daggers at Tara since she gave him another quick kiss on the cheek as they parted ways, off to their common room, while Danny dragged Tara off to the edge of the lake. As she settled into bed that night, Tara hoped that Harry had had an easier time explaining the situation to his friends that she had had with Danny.
The a few days later, Tara and Harry exchanged hellos as they passed each other on the way to breakfast, and Tara had whispered "Keep your eyes on Malfoy," as they passed. Ron had tugged Harry away towards the Gryffindor table, and Tara had headed towards her own house table, sitting across from Danny, who was reading a book on Quidditch. Danny ignored her, and Tara munched happily on toast with blackberry jam, smiling at her plans. She had been awake at the crack of dawn to put her plans in motion, and she had nearly been caught as she gathered and returned the necessary supplies. It was well worth it, she knew, when violent laughter began erupting from the castle's entrance. A circle of onlookers had formed at the hall doors, laughter spreading as people stood to see the cause of commotion. There, in the middle of the circle, looking murderous, was Draco Malfoy, clad from head to toe in pink. Not only were his robes, shoes, and book bag pink, but his hair, which was now also pink, had grown, and was braided down the back and tied off with a pink bow. Tara, who had enchanted all of his robes, and his shampoo, smiled, admiring her handiwork.
All over the hall people had pulled cameras out of nowhere and began taking pictures of the pink-clad Draco. Danny remained engrossed in her book, until Malfoy had pushed his way through the crowd, threatening anyone who would listen, and sat down heavily next to Danny. She looked up and let out a small shriek to the amusement of the rest of the hall. It took Danny a second to realize that he was glaring at Tara, who was now laughing just as hard as everyone else in the hall. "You look very… nice today, Draco," Tara managed to say through her giggles. "What did you do to my robes?" The once platinum-blonde haired boy growled back. "What do you mean, you know I don't have access to the boy's dorms!" she protested, and Draco gave her one last glare before stalking off to hunt down all the boys who shared his dormitory. Danny, however, did not look convinced. "Whatever you've done," she hissed at Tara, "you'd better fix it! If he stops speaking to me, I swear Tara, I'll tell Snape!" Tara continued smiling, but told her friend, "I'm telling you Danny, it wasn't me!" Danny scowled at her, then marched off to find Malfoy.
After the eventful breakfast, Tara's morning classes were dull and made her sleepy. Danny was not speaking to her, but every time Tara caught sight of a flash of pink in the halls, she knew that it was worth it. Once the spells wore off, Danny would stop being mad at her. After a particularly difficult herbology lesson, Tara headed back into the castle, to change robes before lunch. When she finally entered the great hall, Danny was still shooting her daggers, but Harry and Ron were eagerly waving her over. Harry, it seemed, had told Ron that she was the cause of Draco's unusual dress, something he obviously approved of. "That," Ron told her, glancing at Draco, "was bloody brilliant!" Tara smiled, then chanced a cautious look at the staff table. Snape was glowering down at the four of them, looking somewhat beleaguered and tired. He had been avoiding her again, and she wondered if her plan was backfiring on her. Unable to think in the noisy, crowded hall, Tara gave Harry an absent-minded kiss on the cheek, and fled to the library.
A.N.: Once again, as always, I want to thank all my loyal readers and reviewers, especially all you new readers! I might write this for myself, but you guys inspire me to keep writing it! And, on a side note, I should have Chapter 11 up here in another week or two, depending on whether I have free time before or after I go out of town this weekend for a family thing.