:Severus Snape's Quarters:
"What the hell was that?" Draco slammed the door shut after the Gryffindors had filed in after the Slytherin gang.
"What?" Harry turned on him.
"Calm down, that wasn't at you, just the gathering in general," he said and put his hands on his slim hips.
"I must admit," Snape said, "the Head Master is showing more and more bias against the pureblood families."
"Bloody old bugger," Narcissa snarled and went to the window bench. Everyone looked at her, startled. "If he once again accuses me of endangering anyone, I'll wring his wrinkled old neck and have him cooked for Christmas dinner."
The group took a tentative step away from her. She relaxed and leaned against the wall, her eyes moving to stare out the window. "He doesn't understand," she said, "your idea was quite good and if I had the authority I'd enact it immediately. Dark Magic my father dead arse," she said.
"Don't take your father in vain," Snape said and she shot him a look.
"I'll take whomever I want in vain, Severus," she snapped and they sensed her magic flare again.
"You're emotional mum, calm down," Draco said and she nodded. "I never knew we were Snow."
She sighed, "I want you to keep your wide mouth shut about this," she said.
"Of course," they nodded and found places to sit.
The sat on trunks covered in books, cauldrons full of books, stacks of books placed randomly around the room, book covered tables or even just the floor.
"I never told you because it is ancient, hereditary magic, it is impossible to train someone to use it if they do not have it in them already. The magic does not exist in the Dark Lord, that is that. I did not want to give you possibly false hope of carrying on the line."
"What's it do?" Ron asked.
She cast her eyes to him and nodded, "I am what is called the Keeper of Magic."
Hermione gasped, "you-you're the Keeper of Magic?"
The Slytherins looked at her, "did she not just say that?"
Narcissa explained to the Gryffindors her connection to the core of magic in the planet, the raw magic. She explained that raw magic was unrefined, pure, straight power. Refined magic was weaker and the kind used in spells and wand magic.
"It is also said there the magic of wizards and witches gone is reabsorbed and their…abilities, I suppose, are connected to the Keeper when they use raw magic. Normally it is an incredibly toxic substance, it corrodes, destroys and kills, but in the essence of the Keeper, it is neutralized and does not kill them."
"It's a legend, there has not been a Keeper of Magic for two hundred years," Hermione shook her head, "it's impossible."
Narcissa raised her brows, "this is the world of magic, my dear, nothing is impossible."
"How?"
"I explained my connection to the original Keepers of Magic, the Snow family?"
"Y-yes."
"Then there's your answer," she said and looked at her son and read his expression, "you need not worry, until I die, you will not be influenced by your heritage."
"But," he said, "I am the next?"
"It is you, or Chael."
"In theory it could also be Bidelia," Snape said and they looked at him skeptically.
"Honestly?"
He smirked, "it could happen, Lucius has as much of their magic in him as you," he said to Narcissa.
"However, Bidelia will have half what Lucius has, Chael is gifted from both mother and father, as Draco is."
"You have Snow in you too?" Pansy asked.
Snape nodded, "I managed to escape the Nordic coloring of the family, though."
They chuckled. "Did you know about this?" Harry asked, "is this why the Death Eater wanted you to get Lady Malfoy to leave?"
Pansy looked at her, "we've always known Mum Malfoy is the Keeper. When we were young the Dark Lord tried to get us to off her. I did not know it was the Snow family that caused it. I'm really rather worried, Mum Malfoy, you have to stay here now. Otherwise the Dark Lord's attack will be truly devastating."
She nodded, "we must talk to the Head Master and prepare," Narcissa said.
Draco stood and nodded, the students left, yawning, as the clock struck heavily on midnight. "Go sleep," Narcissa followed them to the door, Snape remaining where he stood, against a wall.
"You sleep," Draco countered. Narcissa connected to the raw magic and zapped him withjust atiny bit. Draco yelped and rubbed his arm where she'd touched him. "Go."
Draco nodded and went to Blaise's side. Harry, Ron and Hermione started down the other hallway when Narcissa gave Harry a pointed look. He waved his friends off and returned to her. Draco looked between them and walked away, Blaise began to talk about a romance novel he was reading, something about the Miracle of Merlin.
"Yes ma'am?"
She pulled him back in and sat him down on a trunk, "how have things been going?"
Harry turned scarlet and told her, mumbling, that they'd kissed and the proposition was on the table. Now the whole thing was in Draco's hands. Narcissa nodded approvingly.
Snape looked more than a little sickened at the idea of his godson snogging the boy-wonder, but not due to any bigotry, he simple was not a huge fan of the black haired boy.
"Go to bed," she said, "we'll talk again in a few days."
"Yes ma'am," he nodded obediently and left, following the stone walls through Hogwarts towards the tower he slept in.
:Seven and one half hours later:
"Bloody hell," Ron grumbled and rolled over in bed, he slammed his fist onto the clock and it snoozed.
"Fuck," Blaise yelled and hurled the singing goblin alarm clock across the room into the fire.
"My gosh, Ronald," Hermione appeared in their room and saw the heavily dented clock.
"Bugger," Theodore watched the goblin melting, buzzing loudly as it was eaten by the blazing fire. That was the third one they'd lost that year.
"Come on," Harry and Hermione dragged the red head from bed and towards the bathrooms. Harry shoved him into a shower while Hermione went back to her dorm to change. Soon enough they could hear snoring from the shower he was asleep in.
"Get up you lazy sod," Theo hurled a book at Blaise. Draco and Nott left him be and entered the coed, communal Slytherin bathrooms. Pansy was singing along to a Twitching Tigers song on the radio, popping in and out of her shower to sing into a shampoo bottle.
Twenty minutes later the Gryffindor trio, sans Ron, was walking to the Great Hall.
Thirty minutes after abandoning Blaise to sleep, the Slytherins were swaggering into the same Great Hall, smirking at everyone in their path.
Ten minutes into potions, Ron appeared, glaring, ruffled and a little damp.
Another ten minutes later, Blaise appeared, preening, perfect but quite pissed looking.
Snape paired them together in the back of the room. With a growl Blaise sat closer to the Slytherins and with a similar growl, Ron sat closer to the Gryffindors.
Their best friends may have been trying to go together, but that didn't mean they were friends. In fact, they did little but sit and glower during the entire lecture, luckily for both, it was not a lab day and they did not have to worry about brewing a potion.
"What are you pissed about?" Draco leaned across the aisle.
"What do you think you great git? Left me to rot in bed, you did," he snapped and turned to face his potions text.
"Come off it Blaise, you weren't going to wake up if the Dark Lord himself did the mambo in a green frock. You destroyed your alarm clock as well, what did you expect from us?" Ron stifled a laugh at the mental image but Blaise seemed unaffected by it.
"At least an attempt," he answered.
"We did. Theo wanted to pull off your comforter and set that Third Year's cat on you, Pansy stopped him, too bad though."
Blaise glowered, "you're a prat," he said and unfolded a copy of the Prophet and began to read Rita Skeeter's column on the back page. "Since when is Lucia Ameritas a crack whore in New York?" he asked.
"Lucia Ameritas? She's living in Florence attending Berince College of Wizarding Fashion," Draco said.
"Not according to Miss Skeeter she's not," he handed the article to Draco who read it over and contained a laugh.
Ron glanced over at the photograph, a pretty, mid-twenties woman standing on a street corner in a short skirt with her hair tousled by the wind. A man appeared in the picture, they talked and walked away together. The picture then stopped and repeated again.
"Mr. Malfoy, if you would please put down your copy of the news, we may continue?"
"Yes sir," he nodded and folded up the paper. Blaise snatched it back and reopened it to the middle somewhere, making a racket as he did so.
"Mr. Zabini?"
"Yes sir?"
"Put down the paper," he said.
Blaise quirked a brow at him and then returned to the paper. Snape drew his wand and pointed it at the paper, it exploded into flames. Blaise yelped and jumped into of Ron's lap. The paper was incinerated and lying in ashen shards all over his chair, desk and book by the time Blaise realized what had happened. Glaring, he slid of Ron, who was scarlet, shocked, and stammering.
"Bloody old man," he muttered.
Snape turned over his shoulder and shot them a look. He ignored it mostly but Ron felt his old dislike of Slytherins rise up. They got away with quite a bit during Potions, Gryffindor house would be in the negatives by now.
:Defense Against the Dark Arts class:
"Isn't she great?" Ron asked halfway through class.
Cuida, dressed in a rather tight red and black robe set was handling a grey orb that was sort of a floating ball but mostly a liquidy looking mass…that was floating. She was talking about its uses in the Auror department, it had something to do with restraining suspects. Harry was, admittedly, not listening to a word she said. He was fairly sure only the girls were listening, most boys were preoccupied with wondering how she managed to not pop out of her very tight, very low cut robes.
"These can be specialized," she said and then followed the gaze of the nearest boy to her chest. Cuida raised her brows smirked to the girls and then threw the grey orb at him. It spread out and wrapped around his arms and abdomen and around the chair, then solidified into what appeared to be steel.
"If you'll kindly redirect your eyes to my face," she pointed to her nose, "if you don't I may be persuaded to turn you all into crabs and have you for dinner with my boyfriend," she said. "You remember him, Professor Locke."
The boys all gulped, Locke was dashingly handsome, tall and obviously very strong. There eyes remained unfalteringly on her face the rest of class as she removed the boy from the grasp of the object, called a Grinita, and continued to describe its uses and properties.
The door was pushed open and Seventh Year girl walked in, mostly using her hips, and handed the teacher a note, "from McGonagall," she said by way of explanation and sauntered back out of the room.
Cuida read it over, again, and a third time, "your schedules have been revised due to the addition of a new class just prior lunch. All Gryffindor and Slytherin sixth years report to lecture hall four-two-zero-six on the Third Floor for Wizarding Families and Polotics."
"Hmm," she hummed and set the note aside, she consulted a clock, "only a pair of minutes left, may as well just leave."
They left and moved in a great herd to the Third Floor. The lecture hall was quite large, with steps down to a stage where a massive blank backdrop hung against the far wall. A podium was standing in the centre of the stage and many of the seats were filled with Slytherins.
"I wonder what this is about."
The rest of the class filed in and seated themselves.
Narcissa Malfoy walked onto the stage and smirked at them. Boys who had just come from Cuida's class grew a little restless, they thought 'two gorgeous women in a row?' It was so unfair. "I am Lady Narcissa Malfoy, wife of Lucius Malfoy, daughter of Black and Mervaute.
"You may wonder why I have come to teach here, why on such short notice, why this subject and why me. I will not be explaining myself to you. This course is to teach you how to operate in the exceedingly complex world of Wizarding polotics, to do so you must understand the backgrounds that most of the men come from. You will learn about Wizarding pureblood families, their history, legacies and tendencies. We'll bestarting with the most ancient families, beginning with Ershè." She whirled around and pointed her wand at the backdrop. On one side, at the very top, there appeared the name Orchid Ershè.
"She was the first known witch of the family, they were originally a nomadic tribe that hunted deer and elk in France. In twenty-three B.C., she began to refine the magic she found herself able to do. Orchid, as she is now called, her original name was Irenesalel, is credited with the creation of many spells dealing with earth.
"Early magic dealt almost exclusively with using the elements, they had no need of turning porcupines to stools." She moved her wand over a plant set on the stage, the leaves shuddered and grew twice their size, "old magic is often most potent. They did not use words, only strict concentration and the magic in their blood. Orchid is so called because she focused on herbs and earthen magic, as I mentioned."
She explained of Orchid's three daughters and three sons, all of whom had her magic. Their names appeared on the backdrop beneath her name. Two were killed, their names were crossed out, and only two went on to have children.
Harry watched, during the forty five minute lesson, as they made it all of four lines down the lineage. Lunch came and she dismissed them, immediately receiving her son on the stage.
"What is this about?"
Narcissa smiled at him, "this morning Professor Dumbledore came to his decision and signed me on as a professor. I think it was quite wise of him to do so," she said.
"Why am I enrolled in this class?" he said, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Posterity," she answered.
Draco threw his hands into the air, "I would much prefer time to study for my other subjects."
"I would much prefer to be in Rome seeing Avid's Metamorphoses but we can't always have what we prefer."
Draco glowered, "some mother you are."
"Want to get zapped again?" she asked and held out her thumb and index finger, a sparkle of raw magic jetted across them, sparkling blue.
He puffed out his cheeks as an upset child would, "no mum."
She nodded and shooed him off to lunch, "you go eat some food and apologize to Blaise."
Draco nodded grudgingly and exited the room, running into Harry in the process.
Harry had been halfway to the Great Hall when he realized his book for History of Magic was still in the lecture hall. He returned, about to enter when Draco exited, straight into his chest.
"Oomph," Draco was about to fall but Harry's arms wrapped around his waist just in time to save him from impact with the wall.
"You all right?" Harry asked, realizing who was in his arms.
"I'm fine," Draco looked into his green eyes, "I did not mean to run into you, I should watch where I'm going," he admitted with a smirk.
"I should too," Harry added and pulled Draco up into a straight and standing position.
"Where are you headed?"
"I forgot a book," Harry said.
Draco nodded, "I'll see you in the great hall," he murmured and slipped from Harry's arms, down the hall and out of sight.
Narcissa had disappeared but his book remained by his seat. Harry picked it up and left, following his original path out. Inside he saw Narcissa seated next to Snape, they were talking about something, and Cuida on her other side, was listening intently and throwing in comments which were taken and expanded on and discussed.
Harry sat next to Hermione who was glowering at the fact that Ron was focused more on the two women than the fact that most of his food was ending up in his lap.
"Ronald, you're making a mess," she hissed.
He snapped from his daze and groaned, "bloody hell, 'Mione can you fix it?"
"Why? So you can soil them again while watching Lady Malfoy and Professor Cuida?"
"Come on," Ron whined, "I thought we had this worked out, they're nice to look at and all but I'm dating you."
Hermione's eyes narrowed, "if you can't keep your eyes off older women, then maybe we shouldn't be dating."
"What?"
The table began to stare at the two so Hermione lowered her voice, "you've never once looked at me the way you look at them."
"Because they're-" Ron stopped himself from saying something truly harmful, he then realized there was nothing to say that wouldn't make her mad.
Hermione clenched her jaw, "I see, why are you dating me Ron?"
He stammered, "you're a great person, 'Mione, I fancy you."
"Why?"
"I can't explain it-"
"Are you physically attracted to me at all?" she asked, nearly whispering.
Harry would not have wanted to get involved for anything. Between the conversation they were having and fighting three angry Hungarian Horntails, he would always take the dragons.
"Of course," he answered.
"Then why don't I ever see you acting like it?"
"It's not the same, 'Mione, you're a different kind of pretty, it-it's not as obvious."
Hermione narrowed her eyes further and slammed her fork to the table, "I really don't think this will work Ron, if you can't tell me why you fancy me, if you can't find any words at all to describe it, then I'm not interested."
Ron got angry then, "why can't anything just be with you? Always got to get complicated, explain it, analyze it. You know what Hermione, you're right, like always, this won't work. Not while you're a self-conscious, nagging little girl."
She gasped and most people were staring at them. With her head held high, Hermione Granger stormed out of the room, all eyes on her. This included the hazel eyes of the Italian Slytherin who felt a little guilty for perhaps causing her to bring the situation to a head.
People broke into whispers and Lady Malfoy was looking apprehensively between the doors and the two males of the Golden Trio.
Dun Dun DUN! Hermione and Ron broken up! It's true my dears, it's true, but it makes way for more wonderful things.
This story has 600+ reviews.
That is more than I have ever recieved for any story, ever, in my history of fics. I would like to thank you all so much and I will dance for you- :Happy Slash Author Dance:
Okay :still dancing: I had a great New Year, hope you did too, school is horrible, rwghhshgopaasd! My computer is being taken in to have the data transferred from my sister's account to her new laptop, since she's in Germany and her old one died. I did get this Chapter and 22 onto a disk and I have them, just in case the computers take a long time. I have through 24 or so written, that makes me giggle and so...:dance some more:
I love you!