"I wanted to see how Won-Won was doing, that's all!" she rolled backwards and took out her broom, biting nervously at the tip.
"Won-Won?" the twins looked at each other and laughed. Ron turned red as his hair and slammed his head on his knees. Cadmus mouthed the word psycho and the twins laughed even more. Ron could have sworn this was the most fun he had had with any Slytherin but he'd become immune to the nastier ones over the years.
"Go on, Lav," he chuckled as he half-heartedly waved her away.
"She really is your girlfriend?" Cadmus scratched his head, "Maybe Slughorn was right- you are a right odd one!"
"She didn't mean any harm, sir," Ron sat unmoving from his seat, nervously tinkering with a small plume of fire.
"Nonetheless this class isn't meant for those who shouldn't be here. Run along now, or I'll inform your House Head and you'll really be in trouble. Weasley, you too if you don't escort the young lady out of the perimeter."
"What perimeter?" Lavender looked around incredulously. Cadmus' answer was a burning ring of blue fire that grew around the hill, plus a dark cloud that moved over their heads out of nowhere.
"This perimeter…next time I'll cast a charm that will better keep students out. The cloak, young Miss Brown," Cadmus stuck his hand out. She reluctantly handed it over, getting on her broom and moved away through a gap in the wall escorted by Ron. "Disposable Cloaks?! 'Use Once and Then Discard' it says…used, now abused," he set fire to the now totally visible cloak and blew the ashes into the wind.
The twins and the returning Ron continued the class with a demonstration of Pyramid Building, a medium-level display of power mixed with artistic prowess. Word was, the son of the Pharaoh of Egypt overdid his attempt three times, resulting in the Pyramids of Giza and some pretty nifty statues of himself and his three best friends. His rather angry father ordered him to sweep them up and eventually, live in them. The class pyramids were a lot smaller, no larger than a child's outstretched palm. But even these were quite difficult to construct as fine motor skills were required. The twins gave up on constructing two and instead built one unified structure instead. Ron's pyramid looked more like a tower of woe but he shrugged it off, earning an eye roll from Cadmus.
"That's all for today," he sighed, "homework is the creation of an ice sculpture that remains solid overnight. Read Chapter 5 for instructions."
The students dispersed, Ron immediately looking for Hermione to tell her the good news.
"Do you mind?" Cadmus threw a gust of wind over a seemingly empty space, revealing none other than Harry Potter underneath his own Invisibility Cloak.
"Are you in love with Ron as well?" the professor smiled broadly, pleased with himself for making that joke.
"Actually sir, I was curious about something," Potter picked up his cloak.
"You don't have to hide Potter; you should come see me during my non-teaching hours."
"The other professors say you're out here practicing your magic when you're not teaching or marking. It looks bloody hard, if I may say so."
"Why thank you. If we ever get to go to China or Japan I'll show you the place where I learned to do it. The Shang-Ri-La Academy is pretty popular in those parts. 'Hogwarts of the East' they called themselves once. So Potter, what is it you want to ask?"
"Do you know who the Half-Blood Prince is?" he held out his Potions textbook, now with a new cover but the same insides as earlier in the term.
Cadmus felt a shot of lightning down his back and twitched, reaching back to resist the impulse to react out of step.
"Is that the famous Potions book?" he looked at the yellowing pages in Potter's hand.
"Yes sir, I was wondering if you knew who he was. No one seems to know, not even the Library."
"Whoever the Half-Blood Prince is, I guess he didn't think of writing his real name on the book...I don't know either, and I'm surprised even now nobody's ever found out. Let's just call it a Hogwarts mystery."
Harry could sense nothing from Cadmus, although Dumbledore had told him that Cadmus Pendragon was especially skilled at resisting interrogation and was in fact Severus Snape' s partner during Occulmency and Legilimency sessions they used to hold regularly in secret as boys under Dumbledore's personal tutelage. Harry felt the urge to try out what little Snape had taught him but Cadmus was a rather nice guy with an impeccable reputation despite his friendship with the teacher that despised him the most. What would he have to hide?
"Yes sir, I guess the mystery will have to wait," Harry shrugged."You're not going to take my cloak, are you sir?"
"I know exactly what that cloak is, Potter," Cadmus moved towards him, "the only thing stopping me from taking it is that your mother as well as Dumbledore gave it to you," his tone became harsher.
"Sir," Harry plucked up the courage to ask one more question, gulping as Cadmus' hands erupted with lightning.
"Yes Potter?"
"Professor Snape once gave me some…some Legilimency lessons…I saw…well… my parents…and you… did you know them? My parents I mean."
"I knew your mother," Cadmus recalled the lightning and started walking along the lake shore. Harry followed him, two lonely figures on foot. "She was the joy of our classes, someone everyone liked to be with. She and I liked a lot of the same things- music, sweets, flying, you know, what teenagers like. She introduced me to things from the Muggle world as well. I remember when the Slug caught us playing with what she called a yo-yo…"
"Were you, you know…?"
"Oh no, Harry! It was nothing like that," Cadmus put his hand on Harry's shoulder. "She was a lot more pleasant than some people in my House, so I spent more time with her than I thought I would, I suppose." He stopped short of telling Harry how Snape felt about her, but that was not his tale to tell and as Secret Keeper for Severus it would be a betrayal of the utmost tragedy. Harry's parents had been betrayed by Pettigrew and the price of that had rumbled on for sixteen years. Something the Sorting Hat never seems to tell people was that Slytherins above all valued secrecy and trust, being able to hold on to them until their bones withered away into dust. If Harry had read what he and Severus wrote to each other after their unfortunate separation he would learn just how good they were at wearing pained masks of content.
Even Harry knew that Snape was the only teacher that ever seemed to talk to Dumbledore on his own, often in the manner of apprentice to master but sometimes in the tone of father and son. This year alone Harry and Snape crossed paths no less than ten times as Harry came to Dumbledore's office and Snape was leaving, usually in a gruff mood. He said nothing during DADA lessons, teaching strictly by the book and ignoring all sentiment for anyone, with the side effect being the most focused DADA lessons the sixth year students at Hogwarts ever had. In his last lesson Snape promised a demonstration of quick fire dueling, but kept his opponent's identity secret- he was thrilling for a change. He had tried Sectumsempra on his own after having discovered it in the book, mastering it with ease although he had no idea what the spell actually did beside sparking on rocks and pushing trees aside. The book wrote it in as 'Dark' but Harry felt no malice in it. He thought about trying it with Ron and Hermione but something stopped him for some reason, as if the spell itself was choosing the time to be used. As Cadmus walked faster towards the castle, Harry found himself a full twenty feet from him. It was useless to chase someone who flew under his own power, although Potter felt like he had done it before for some reason….