Disclaimer: The usual. Look into previous chapters to see what's up.

Author's Notes: New Chapter at last! And ... there's two !! more .

Review Responses: Look in Chapter 14

Chapter 12 - Emotional Overflow or Never dare to insult our Parents

The students left the Potions classroom as quickly as possible. The twins noticed they still had fifteen minutes to spare before the had to go to Defence. So they hurried towards the infirmary. Madam Pomfrey told them that Ginny and Draco had to stay until dinner.

She wanted to make sure that the failed potion didn't have any side effects.

"Shit, I was so looking forward to Defence today," Ginny sighed irritated.

"It's okay Ginny, we'll tell you everything later. Guess what? Ron lost another twenty points and got a week of detention. The Gryffindorks lost one hundred and twenty points in Potions today. That's a new negative record!" Harry tried to soothe the girl.

Draco didn't say anything. He had taken on the nurses offer to lie down a bit and appeared to be sleeping in one of the beds. The twins left and went to Defence meeting Hermione in the hallway.

"Hey, where's Ginny?" she asked.

"Infirmary. Want to know why?" Carya inquired and continued without waiting for Hermione's reply.

"Ron threw something into her and Draco's cauldron. The cauldron exploded, Gryffindor lost hundred and twenty points and Weasley got a week of detention. Madam Pomfrey is keeping the two until dinner to make sure everything's okay."

"Oh my, how are they?" Hermione wanted to know.

"They seemed fine but Ginny's pissed. She'll miss Defence and that was the one thing we all were looking forward to today, weren't we?" Harry answered and the friends entered the classroom.

Defence was fairly interesting today and Ginny would be furious. The started working on the Darcorn, a dark unicorn. This was something she had waited for the whole year. The twins once again explained where Ginny and Draco were but this time it was Professor Lupin who asked.

"Miss Potter, Mister Potter, would you please stay a few minutes after class?" Lupin asked before everyone left the room.

The twins nodded and told Hermione they'd meet her in the Great Hall. Remus closed the door to his office and asked the twins to sit down.

"Are your two friends alright?" he asked gently.

"It seems so. Madam Pomfrey's just keeping them until dinner to be absolutely sure," Harry said.

"That's good to hear. You two are okay?" he wanted to know and they nodded, "I am aware that Miss Weasley was very interested in today's class. Carya would you please give her this book? I'll lend it to her.

She had asked for it for quite some time but I didn't have it then. It might ease her disappointment a bit, don't you think?" he told them and Carya just grinned.

She knew Ginny would just love the book and probably be finished with it before their next Defence lesson. The Potter kids went down to lunch, followed by their Professor. After lunch the three friends brought Ginny the book and she was pleased by that. Her Professor had remembered her interest.

Sadly Harry, Hermione and Carya were ushered out of the infirmary by an overly strict Madam Pomfrey and spent the afternoon in the library. Meanwhile many Gryffindor's had noticed the lost points and asked question how that could happen on one morning.

When they were told that it had been the second years fault they got angry. Not even the Weasley twins had lost them so much point on a single day, let alone a single lesson. This was unacceptable. The whole second grade students were now ignored by the whole house.

This of course didn't go unnoticed by the Professors and the Gryffindor Head asked about the reason for the sudden loss of points. The Headmaster didn't seem too pleased either but explained nonetheless.

"As you might know, Minerva, they lost the points during Potions," he started and Professor McGonagall shot Snape a dark look,

"But although it might have been a bit much, it was a well deserved punishment on the most part. Mister Weasley threw an ingredient into Mister Malfoy's and Miss Weasley's cauldron that caused a severe explosion.

Both students were hurt by the boiling brew and are currently in the infirmary. The worst is that all of your Gryffindor were laughing at the two Slytherin's, Minerva. This kind of behaviour cannot be tolerated as you well know," Dumbledore explained calmly and with a sad expression.

The Gryffindor's had been quite violent this year and that worried him a great deal on top of the Black issue. The Gryffindor Head of House didn't comment the Headmasters statement but she would make sure that such an incident wouldn't happen again.

It was one thing to play pranks like Fred and George Weasley but this was going too far. If even the headmaster said so much against Gryffindor then it had to be serious. She would write a letter to all second year parents but especially Mister and Mrs. Weasley.

When dinner finally came around Ginny and Draco were back with their classmates. Hermione was once again sitting with her friends at the Slytherin table. There was no rule that would forbid this but it rarely happened and therefore was quite unusual.

The Ravenclaw's still disapproved but didn't say anything. The Slytherin's simply ignored it now. The four friends were sitting at one end of the table. The twins next to each other and their friends opposite to them. No one bothered the kids. They all knew not to interfere with their friendship.

Carya Potter had shown them more than one time what happened to those who dared to attempt such a thing. She wasn't violent or anything like that. Just a few well voiced threats or in case that didn't work some harmless but rather annoying hexes always worked.

What worried the teachers was their disappearance on many evenings. It seemed that they couldn't locate them while they stayed in the 'Founders Chambers'. Most Professors were still afraid that the twins would do something stupid because of the whole Sirius Black issue.

But since the children always were back the next morning no one really tried to find out where they went those nights. This evening was no exception. They four students went to their secret meeting place and met in the library.

They were still practising their animagus forms because they wanted to know the change by heart. They all wanted to be prepared just in case. Shortly after curfew they Hermione went back to Ravenclaw tower and Ginny, Harry and Carya were on their way down to Slytherin Dungeon.

Luckily Harry had thought of bringing his invisibility cloak or else they surely would've gotten caught by Professor Snape. He had kept his office door open this time while grading essays. The three kids passed the entrance almost unnoticed.

Although the Professor was sure to have heard something he didn't see anyone and went back to work. He had a slight suspicion that there were three certain Slytherin's who were outside their Common Room quite often after curfew but he'd never been able to catch them.

Once they were safe behind Slytherin's portrait they immediately retired to bed. The twins didn't get that much sleep this night. Their old nightmares plagued them and especially Carya was extremely grouchy the next morning.

Harry didn't feel better either but he wasn't as ill-tempered as his sister after he had a bad night. Breakfast thankfully was rather quiet and Carya calmed down a bit but it was only a matter of time before someone got in her way. It was always the same. Even at home it had happened sometimes.

Aunt Petunia of course had understood her nightmares. When she'd found out her sister was a witch she did have some petty nightmares too. The only difference between those dreams was that Carya's actually were memories and Petunia's were just that - dreams.

Dreams created in her troubled mind out of ignorance, fear of the unknown and sometimes extreme jealousy since Lily had been the one who got all attention after that acceptance letter had arrived one summer morning.

But she never bothered her niece after such a night and their old Muggle teachers didn't do that either. Charms was okay. They learned an advanced version of the floating spell and Carya as well as many others managed it on the first try.

Transfiguration turned out to be boring to no end. Professor McGonagall had started the reviews for the upcoming exams. She'd told them to go over their notes and write down any questions they might have left.

They only people who asked questions were, of course, the Gryffindor's. Not one Slytherin did, even if they weren't that good in this subject. They'd just ask an older student of their house later on if anything was a problem.

After this double period Carya was beyond pissed. She was bored and in a bad mood too. Professor McGonagall had again given points to Gryffindor and none to Slytherin for the same work. That angered the girl quite a bit since it was meant as revenge on Snape.

Her friends already waited for the final explosion but so far everything was still alright. Their next class was Herbology and Professor Sprout made them work in pairs of four. That meant they needed a fourth person for their group. Unfortunately they had this class together with the Gryffindor's.

Two of the Slytherin's would've to work with two of their house rivals because each house had only ten students in this year. But it didn't even go that well. This time they were paired up by the Professor herself. There were quite odd pairs.

Harry was with Draco, Neville Longbottom and Pamela Wright. The worst was the group of Carya and Ginny. They got paired with Lavender Brown and Ron Weasley. A very unlucky combination even under normal circumstances but this morning it was simply worse.

Ron was still angry with Ginny and Ginny only glared and scowled at him. Lavender made faces at Ginny and Carya. At first nothing spectacular happened and although Carya did all the work it was quiet.

But then Ron started mumbling about 'slimy Slytherin's', 'traitors' and when Lavender even spoke of being 'a disgrace to all wizards', the Potter girl finally exploded. She had enough of her classmates behaviour.

"Who do you think you are? You're nothing better than we are. You Gryffindor's are mostly too stupid for your own good. Even the Hufflepuff's get better grades than you. The only thing you can think of is hurting others, even your own family!

If anyone is a disgrace to wizard kind then you two are the prime examples," she yelled at them.

Ron noticed that he had gone a bit too far this time but Lavender only made it worse. And her best friend couldn't stop her in time.

"Look who's talking! The 'Queen of all Traitors' herself. Everyone keeps telling how wonderful light wizards your parents were but I think they were just as bad as you! You know what I think? 'You-know-who' only disposed of them because they wanted his position," she teased sneering.

Lavender never noticed the point when the Potter girl had stopped shaking and stood totally still. Carya's reply was spoken in a deathly calm voice. Her facial expression rivalled Snape's when he was in his worst mood.

"How dare you talk like that about my parents. I will not tolerate the violation of their memory. Insulting the dead who can not defend themselves, really courageous, Brown.

You should know better than to even think that my parents were in one league with Voldemort," she said and all students except Lavender backed away.

They had only seen the girl like this one time and that hadn't been this serious. But Lavender was still ignorant of everything. Not even Ron's pleas reached her now or the unsuccessful tries of Professor Sprout. Not even Harry was able to reach his sister. She had blocked him out.

Two windows already had cracks from the raw power which Carya emitted just now. And when Lavender snorted sarcastically in return to Carya's warning the girl had enough. The curse was barely audible but Lavender shrieked when it hit her.

The spell itself was already bordering to the Dark Arts but it was perfectly legal and every Slytherin second year knew it. It wasn't really that offensive but it let your victim feel the same pain that you felt at the time you cast the spell.

That is why it was still legal. It was the most harmless pain curse one could know. The cracked windows broke when the young Gryffindor girl started screaming and a very furious Carya Potter ran out of the greenhouse only followed by her brother and her best friend Ginny.

Professor Sprout said the counter curse as soon as she got over her shock but the three Slytherin's were already gone and couldn't be found until dinner. Carya still refused to go to the Great Hall because she knew that she might curse Lavender again if she so much as caught sight of her.

So she wisely stayed in her dormitory and Ginny with her. Harry went to dinner alone and met with Hermione who by then had heard the wildest rumours about that incident. No one but Ron, Lavender, Ginny and Carya knew what exactly had happened in greenhouse three.

Everyone else was scared. The rumours went from physical attack to Unforgivable Curses. Harry got a note to meet with Professor Snape after dinner and he got up as soon as the professor left the Hall.

"We are going to my office Mister Potter. The Headmaster will join us soon," the Potions Master said and walked away.

Once they were sitting in Snape's office the teacher asked about the incident and the whereabouts of his sister.

"Explain, Mister Potter, what you know about that incident and the whereabouts of your twin!" he told Harry.

"I don't know about everything that happened in the greenhouse but from what was said I think Brown insulted our parents pretty bad by indicating that they most likely had been Death Eaters and ... and only got killed because they were Voldemort's rivals for power..." Harry said, barely able to suppress his own anger about that ridiculous suggestion,

"My sister is currently in her dorm with Ginny Weasley. She said that if she saw Brown she might curse her again and thought it wiser to stay away from everyone until she has calmed down," he continued.

At that moment the Headmaster and Professor McGonagall walked into Snape's office. Harry was sent to fetch the two girls since they were directly involved and five minutes later they were standing in their Professors office.

Harry kept looking at his twin while Ginny looked very uncomfortable and Carya stared at the floor with an unreadable stony expression clouding her features.

"Miss Weasley, Miss Potter, would you care to explain what exactly happened in your Herbology class," McGonagall demanded in a sharp tone.

Carya didn't answer but her body started shaking slightly. No one knew if it was of fury, shame or something else, so Ginny started.

"Eh, it all began with the pairings Professor Sprout assigned. As you might know we aren't on the best terms with my, eh ... brother and his friends. At first everything was alright and Carya did most of the work while ... while Ron and I, well we just glared and scowled at each other, I'd say.

Then Ron started mumbling about 'slimy Slytherin's' that we are 'traitors' and Lavender Brown called us a 'disgrace to all wizards'. That was when Carya exploded. She yelled at them about not being any better than us.

She pointed out one of the wound points the Gryffindor's have right now - the fact that even most Hufflepuff's do better in classes than they and that people who, eh ... treat their family like shit because of houses rather should be called all that," Ginny said and glanced up for a second.

The teachers looked slightly shocked, Harry now stood closer to Carya than before and she was trembling a bit more. The Weasley girl continued with her explanation.

"I think the following part is responsible for what happened next. Lavender, she called Carya the 'Queen of all Traitors' and then ... then she said that the Potters weren't as everyone is telling us.

She hinted that they probably got killed because they were You-Know-Who's rivals for power ..." at that point Ginny stopped not only because of the gasps from their teachers but the choking sound from behind them.

Carya had a very hard time to suppress whatever she felt right now. Her face was a bit red by now but her expression still unreadable. Harry stood so close to her that one would think they were the same person.

"Excuse me Miss Weasley but did you just say what I think you said? Did I hear you right?" Professor McGonagall asked wide eyed.

"Yes, Professor, unfortunately you did. Lavender Brown did say all that" she replied and added with a glance to Snape, "Even under any kind of truth serum or spell I would just tell the same. That was the point where every student but Lavender backed away, even Ron did.

When, eh, ... when Carya is angry and suddenly is all quiet and seems totally calm, well, it's the proverbial calm before the storm, professor," she said and waited for a sign to continue.

Snape nodded slightly into her direction.

"Carya then said that Lavender should know better than to insult her parents memory and that no one should dare to say that they were in one League with the Dark Lord. And ... when Lavender, when she just snorted at that it was too late ...

I think you know the rest, Professors," Ginny ended her explanation in a very quiet voice.

Meanwhile between the twins

While Ginny told their teachers the whole story Harry desperately tried to calm down his twin.

/Carya, are you okay? What's wrong?/ he wanted to know.

/I ... Harry, I ... what if they want to know everything? I cannot tell them about the nightmares, can I? And the thing with the Dementor? They'll think we are weak. I can't let that happen. And I might start crying when I have to tell them.

I ... I just can't do that. Slytherin's don't cry, I don't cry! Especially not in company, well ... you are an exception but ... you're my twin .../ she muttered frantically.

/ I'm afraid you have to tell them. Otherwise they would surely punish you severely for cursing a fellow student. Even if it was not right what she said to you about Mum and Dad. We both know it was only lies. They could expel you if you don't tell, please Carya .../ Harry pleaded.

/O ... okay, I'll tell ... if I have to. But please, please stay near me, would you?/ she told her brother sounding very scared.

End Meanwhile between the twins

"Miss Potter," the Headmaster began and Carya looked up with fear and pain clearly visible in her eyes.

The first show of emotion was also visible on her face now. She seemed slightly anxious, scared even, an emotion which they'd never seen with her.

"Would you care to explain what lead to that 'display of temper'?" Dumbledore continued softly since he too was shocked to see her afraid of something.

Carya nodded barely noticeable and started telling what she dreaded the most.

"Ginny told the truth. I ... got angry when Brown and, eh ... Lavender and Ron started to insult the Slytherin's. And when she started to say those ... those things about Harry's and my parents I just ... I couldn't help myself then.

Of course it wasn't right, I know that but ..." she stopped and swallowed hard.

The teachers now knew that there was more to it than petty insults. Carya Potter never was this nervous or afraid. The girl continued and she continued staring at the edge of Snape's desk to avoid having to look at anyone right now.

"If she'd just ... just insulted me or Harry, I don't think I would've reacted that way. It's just ... it's ... since we were very little we kept having the same nightmares. At first we didn't know what they meant but when we were told about Mum and Dad, ... we knew what they were. ...

It always ended in a flash of green light, you know? Co ... contrary to popular belief we do remember the night of ... of Halloween 1981...," she stuttered before swallowing again.

Her trembling increased rapidly now. The Professors were quite shocked. No one had thought that they might remember what had happened when their parents died but apparently they were all wrong. They knew that there was more, too.

The girls hesitation was clearly noticeable now. She looked almost scared of something. Harry squeezed her shoulder reassuringly and she continued her part of the story.

"... I ... think you know a bit of ... of what happened on the train, don't you? Professor Lupin sent a letter. ... When we are near the Dementors ... we can hear them ... our parents fighting against Voldemort and ... dying fighting ..." Carya said and by now tears were running down her cheeks.

"And when Lavender ... when she said that our parents ... that they were or had been Voldemort's ... allies at one point ... I ... I couldn't ..." the girl stuttered and then broke down in tears.

Harry instantly was by her side and took her into his arms. His eyes were full of tears as well but he didn't really start crying. This time he had to be strong for his sister. Professor Snape knew what he had to do.

He went over to his private storage cupboard and brought a strong calming potion back. He gave Harry the small vial and told him to give Carya the potion. Between two sobs Harry managed to make her drink it. A few minutes later her sobbing ceased and she calmed down a bit.

McGonagall was looking miserable. Although these were no excuses for cursing a fellow student, they were understandable reasons. Dumbledore looked thoughtful and Snape as always was unreadable. Harry still held his sister and added a part to the explanation.

"Eh, it might have been an additional problem that we ... had one of those nightmares last night. And although we know how it ends it is horrible every time it happens. ... She had already been quite edgy all day and well, ... it might possibly have triggered everything," he said.

"Miss Potter, I understand why you did what you did but that is no excuse. You will serve detention with Mister Filch next weekend," the headmaster said and Carya nodded numbly.

She was still in Harry's arms when the girl added softly, almost inaudible," I'm sorry ..."

"What for child? For cursing Miss Brown?" asked Dumbledore.

"That too, but ... mostly for being so weak ..." she added not looking up.

This surprised the three teachers. The girl thought she was weak but they didn't understand why.

"Carya, why do you think you're weak?" Snape asked softly.

Minerva McGonagall was really shocked now. She'd seen it only once that Severus Snape had been almost gentle towards a student. But then again ... he had already surprised her a few times this year.

"For ... for not having control over myself, for being afraid, for breaking down like ... like this ..." the girl told them and it was clear that although the potion had calmed her down her inner turmoil was as great as before.

They didn't have a reply for that. A few minutes nobody said a word and you could only hear their breathing. Harry continued to stroke his sisters back and telepathically tell her that everything was alright now.

The Professors finally decided that the kids should go to bed now because it already was rather late. Dumbledore asked Snape for a Dreamless Sleep Potion for the Potter girl but before Snape could say something she spoke.

"No, thank you, professor. I'll ... I'll have to deal with this sooner or later. ... And the earlier I do it, the sooner I can go on. I only hope ... that I can keep myself in check in the future. ... Good night, Professors," Carya said and the three Slytherin's left towards their Common Room.

By the time they arrived there Carya had collected herself and with ignoring everyone's stares and whispers they straight went to bed. The teachers didn't go to sleep immediately. They thought about the twins revelations. Those two had tried everything to keep that a secret.

But the were only twelve years old. At that age they were bound to slip one time. The thing that worried them more than the fact that Carya had cursed Lavender Brown had been the raw power they had felt when it happened.

It had been noticeable all over the castle. They only hoped that the Potters would stay on the path of light. Such raw power could be used as a terrible weapon when used for the dark side. Severus worried about the same things but he was also worried about the girl as his student.

She had always appeared to be strong and it had seemed that nothing could throw her off balance but now ... Snape suspected that most of it was a mask created to protect herself against others.

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Thx ,

Carya

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