Chapter Twenty-Five: Detention

Wow. I'm at chapter 25 of my fifth story and it still is not mine. Seriously, somebody review if this disclaiming is not necessary anymore! Personally, it seems redundant after so long…

Happy Thanksgiving! To your enjoyment! (Raises glass of sparkling cider and bows head in toast) enough silliness, now please read and enjoy!

Kailey's Point of View:

"Ms. Snape, you cannot continue getting into these sorts of fights," the aged headmaster stated calmly, staring down his crooked nose at me. I fidgeted in my seat, uncomfortable with his stare. "I understand that you are feeling a tad stressed and perhaps a bit taken advantage of, but this behavior is unacceptable,"

"I know, sir," I answered quietly, playing with one of the burn holes that now adorned my robes, staring at my ash-covered hands. "But this time I didn't cast the first spell," I felt that this point was incredibly important to make.

He sighed. "That is not an excuse, and you know that, Ms. Snape,"

"But, sir, why should she have let him attack her without defending herself?" I glanced over at Harry's blackened face as he sat with his arms folded, staring at the headmaster in challenge. "Besides, the fight was unfair in their favor, not ours," he added.

"Mr. Potter, please try to understand. The two of you have managed to place five fellow students into the Hospital Wing all at once. This may be your first offence, but Ms. Snape has already been involved in one large scale duel this year. I expect better behavior, from each of you as a matter of fact," he explained.

"It isn't our fault that Slytherins can't duel properly," I mumbled. "They should have crushed us, sir," I tacked on hastily when he shifted his gaze back to me.

I swear I saw his lips quirk up for a moment before his serious expression resumed dominance over his features. "Regardless," he said. "I believe a month's worth of detentions are in order here as well as fifty points each from Gryffindor,"

"Fifty?" I cried, managing to rip a larger hole in my robes which I stared at in dismay as Harry took up the argument again.

"But sir, they were just as guilty for fighting as we were!" he implored. "Why is it we're being punished for defending ourselves?"

Dumbledore sighed again. "Do not worry, Mr. Potter, Slytherin House will be docked points as well and they will all serve an appropriate amount of time in detention,"

"But not as much because they lost the fight? Sir, that's so unfair!" I complained, not really caring that he could easily use the whole 'life's not fair' argument against me.

"Ms. Snape, this is not about fairness," he answered. "Now, please go up to Gryffindor Tower. I trust Mr. Weasley and Ms. Granger will be wondering after the two of you. Your detentions will be determined at a later date," his order was clear. "And Ms. Snape, please do be more careful in the future,"

It was all I could do to keep from rolling my eyes at the old man behind his academic desk. This was just so unfair. We had come back from Hogsmeade with Ron and Hermione before heading for the Room of Requirement to practice for the third task with Cedric. The three of us had practiced for well over an hour before we decided we should all head to dinner. Cedric had parted ways with us earlier on so that he could meet up with Cho so it was just me and Harry that the five Slytherins had found walking from the Room back up to Gryffindor Tower to find Ron and Hermione. I had bumped into one of them as we rounded a corner and he shouted something about my being a 'muddy half-blood' and ruining his shoes. I had ignored him, or tried to, when he sent a hex my way. The duel had escalated until Harry and I were standing back-to-back firing off any spell we could think of, which were plentiful considering we'd just spent our time practicing a huge assortment of curses.

Considering our new array of hexes and shields, the two of us had managed to make it out with only burns and scrapes, though at one point one of the Slytherins had sent a huge fireball at us which destroyed the shield I'd hastily put up. That was why we were both covered in soot. The backlash from the shield and his curse had been what finished off the remaining Slytherins.

"I don't know when he expects to keep us in detention; we've got to keep practicing!" I mumbled unhappily as Harry and I made our way obediently back to the tower.

"Maybe whatever the detention is will have to do with the task?" Harry suggested hopefully, though it sounded more like a question. "Any ideas?"

"No, I haven't got a clue what Dumbledore's detentions are like…I didn't know that they existed at all, actually," I said slowly. "Oh Merlin, they're gonna kill us!"

"There's no way they could kill us," Harry reasoned, though he sounded nervous. "I mean…honestly, they got into more trouble than us," he finished sounding flustered.

"Do you honestly think that'll work? Besides, Keena is pregnant which means she's bound to be hormonal and slightly irrational," I argued.

"Maybe she'll just be so overwhelmed with joy that we came out more or less without a scratch?"

We paused as we reached the Fat Lady and stared at one another. The Fat Lady snorted.

"If you're talking about the Keena McIntosh I knew, the two of you are worrying over nothing. However, if you're talking about the Keena Potter I know, then the two of you are not worrying nearly enough,"

I glared at her as Harry barked out the password. She just snickered at us as she swung forward to allow us inside.

Keena's Point of View:

Sirius knocked on the headmaster's office door and we were granted immediate admittance. We entered to find Dumbledore sitting behind his desk, hands together in front of him as he gazed intently at us. "I trust everything was alright at the Healer's?"

"Yes, Amanda is going to come here for the next few months as needed," I answered with a slight smile, unable to shake the feeling that he had dire news to tell us. "She said that the baby is healthy, as healthy as she can be,"

"Ah, so it is to be a girl," his eyes twinkled. "Congratulations,"

"Thank you, sir," Sirius answered, his arm wrapped around my shoulders.

"Now, why don't you sit? We have much to talk about," he replied with a nod, gesturing to the two seats in front of his desk.

I looked down at the cushion and wiped off what appeared to be ash. "A burning day?" I asked before looking up as Fawkes gave an indigent squawk from his perch. I frowned.

"That is part of what I wish to discuss," Dumbledore replied, sounding tired.

"Merlin, what did she blow up this time?" Sirius asked, though he managed to keep from rolling his eyes as well as keep the smile off of his face.

"They didn't blow anything up…that I am aware of…" he trailed off. "I shall have Filch look into it. In any case, young Mr. Potter and Ms. Snape found themselves in yet another duel. This time they placed five students in the Hospital Wing,"

"All at once?" Sirius asked before giving a low whistle at Dumbledore's nod.

I shook my head. "That's hardly anything compared to what the four of us got up to,"

"Yes, the four of you. This time it was two fourth years against several sixth and seventh year students." Dumbledore replied. "I cannot allow this behavior to continue, especially from Ms. Snape."

"Professor, you are her legal guardian at the moment, we just watch her for you," I answered. He gave me a look. "But of course you never explained that to her, did you?" I managed to keep myself from snapping at him or rolling my eyes.

"I did not think it necessary; it is but a legal technicality, her father still has the last say as far as I am concerned," he answered with a tone of dismissal.

That wasn't good enough.

"Sir, that's ridiculous. Don't you think you've left her out of the loop enough? The poor girl was concealed from the fact that her mother doesn't want her with the excuse of expenses just after getting back from a very exhausting mission. A year later, the man who had suddenly become her father has to give her over because he's put in a difficult position and you don't have the decency to tell her who she 'belongs' to?"

"We don't know that what her mother said was an excuse, Keena," he reprimanded gently.

"The hell we don't! Do you know what it's like to not be able to look at your daughter? To talk to her, or hug her? No mother in her right mind would allow something as common as money to interfere for so long of a period. It's been what? Three years now? Not to mention she wouldn't need an airplane, just a portkey and Fawkes would be happy to provide that, I'm sure. And she's had absolutely no contact with her at all! Not one word. So unless magical mail is suddenly costing oodles of galleons…" I trailed off as the twinkle in his eyes went out. I resisted the urge to say 'I told you so'.

He sighed and my temper cooled slightly.

"Headmaster, I know you believe her father should have the last say," Sirius began, hedging rather than being blunt as he usually was. "But the reality of the situation is that he can't. Not until we know everything that's going on. It has to be you,"

"I wish it weren't so," he replied, hanging his ancient head in what looked close to being shame. "But alas, wishes rarely do come true," he sat up straight in his chair.

"What else did you want to talk about, Professor?" I asked, much more gently than I would have a few minutes ago.

"Does it by any chance have to do with a certain arrogant prick?" Sirius asked and I rolled my eyes and contained the smirk that was dying to escape my lips. Dumbledore, however, frowned.

"Assuming you are speaking of Barty Crouch, then yes, it does." His tone made it clear that all was not well.

"What happened?"

"No doubt you witnessed Mr. Crouch being brought into St. Mungo's as you were leaving. Orion has promised to get in touch with me as soon as they can determine his condition. Security at the castle, meanwhile, will be heightened. I have requested that the Ministry provide another Auror as well as allow me to access information on an ex-Unspeakable so that he will be able to assist in the case that any more curses be performed. The students will be told that he is simply another Auror. Both will be under your command, Sirius," he looked over his half-moon spectacles as if that would stop the outrageous grin that had flooded over Sirius' face.

"Uh huh…and you know that this ex-Unspeakable will cooperate how, exactly?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at the old man. It wasn't as though it was easy to find Unspeakables. The only reason he even knew that Lily, Remus and I had been ones was because we had offered to use our positions for the Order. Technically, we shouldn't have even allowed that, our friends had only known since they had needed to sign a contract while living with us that they would never pry into our work nor tell anyone else about what we did.

"I'm sure he wouldn't mind being closer to the castle at the moment," his eyes twinkled.

"Right, because that won't get the students to ask questions about it," Sirius snorted. Dumbledore shrugged. "Honestly, sir, I highly doubt he'll do it,"

"What about the Auror? How do you know we can trust one of them?" I asked, deciding to ignore the Remus situation for the moment. It was highly unlikely that the werewolf would agree anyway.

"She is rather new to the unit, but I have confidence in her skills," he answered. "I'm sure you'll have no trouble getting on with Nymphadora,"

"Andy's little girl?" Sirius asked incredulously.

I snorted. "Really, Sirius, she was working by the time I was an Auror. Don't you remember seeing her just after that whole fiasco over the summer? And she isn't exactly 'new' either, Headmaster," I answered. "Tonks was new just after I quit my teaching job here. We got to do the newbie work together. When will you get in touch with her?"

"Before the day is out; I'd rather deal with the extra security swiftly than to allow Ms. Skeeter to further blemish the school's image. The next time she's spotted within these wards you have my permission to arrest her for trespassing, Sirius," Dumbledore informed him with a nod.

"Finally," Sirius mumbled. "Course, that means I'll have to find her first,"

"Three pairs of eyes are better than one," I answered with a grin. "Four if Moony actually shows up,"

Kailey's Point of View:

"Take a picture, it'll last longer," I growled at one of the under-year Slytherins as she completely stopped in the entrance to the Great Hall Monday morning to glare at me with her friends. She blinked, apparently not understanding the phrase and I rolled my eyes, following the other three into the hall.

News of our duel had spread through the school faster than the news of that Keena and Sirius' re-engagement had, which was saying something. The Slytherins were going out of their way to give us angry looks or mutter under their breath, but the rest of the school just goggled at us whenever we walked by. I think they must have been somewhere between utter disbelief and complete anger. Of course there was no telling what the other two schools thought, at least not yet.

"Good morning, Viktor," Hermione said politely as we took seats near the Durmstrang students at the end of the table. He smiled at her, managing to pronounce her name almost completely correct, and nodding to the rest of us.

"Is it true vot the other houses have been saying?" he asked and it seemed that every red cloak leaned closer as he did so.

"What exactly have they been saying?" Harry hedged when I ignored the question in favor of piling my plate with breakfast.

"That you both have placed ten first-years into the Hospital Ving this veekend," he answered. I paused with the syrup bottle upside down and looked at the foreign students before glancing down the rest of the table where some movement had also stopped.

"Um…first-years?" I asked, laughing a little. "Well, that does explain the staring,"

"So it is not true?" he pursued.

"No, it wasn't ten first years, it was five upper years," I answered shaking my head, causing a murmur to break out all along the table. "Besides, they started it,"

"Vhy vould they duel two champions?" one of the other boys asked, looking shocked. "Did they not realize that you both vould vin?"

I shrugged. "I bumped into one of them and he got angry that I 'scuffed his new shoes' and the five of them went off,"

"Vere they punished?" Krum asked just as an owl landed in front of Hermione.

"Yes, but not as much as us," Harry answered as Hermione took the letter cautiously. "Who's that from? And Kailey, you're getting syrup everywhere," he asked as Krum's attention turned to her as well, in confusion. I jumped and looked at my plate before turning the bottle right side up and pushing my plate away in favor of getting a less…sticky one.

She didn't answer at first as her face turned red and her eyes narrowed. "Well I never!" she cried, throwing it down onto the table just in time for several more owls to land, some of them landing in front of me.

"No way am I dealing with this," I grumbled, accepting the letters addressed to myself and leaving them unopened. "Hermione, don't bother with anymore of them unless you know the handwriting," I added quickly as she weighed a thicker looking envelope in her hands.

"But what are they?" Ron asked as he pushed the syrup filled plate aside as another owl touched down on the table.

"Hate mail," I answered before cursing as another owl dumped my milk over, drenching the entire table. "This is one of those mornings where I think I hate people,"

"Is that hereditary?" Fred asked, leaning past Angelina a few seats away.

"Shove it,"

"I guess it is, Fred," George laughed.

"Look, unless you've a mind to help us out over here, I suggest you both return to your breakfasts," Hermione said with an air of dignity. "Honestly, how many more can there be?" she asked, looking up. I glanced up as well and groaned at the sight of circling owls.

"Merlin, is that a Howler?" Ron asked just as the owl dropped it. It was addressed to both of us.

I tried to get my hand into my pocket but realized Harry was sitting on my robe. "Move over," I cried and Harry jumped up in surprise as I fished my wand out of my robe and aimed it at the letter as it began to smoke dangerously. "Incendio,"

I sighed as the letter burst into flame, cutting off the beginnings of a shrill shriek. The fire went out on its own thanks to the spilled milk and I slumped into Harry's shoulder before stiffening and straightening back up as he froze. "Sorry,"

"No, its fine," he answered quickly.

"Ms. Snape, what is going on over here?" I nearly jumped at the sound of Professor McGonagall's voice. I looked up to see her nose flaring.

"I was saving our eardrums, Professor, I swear!" I answered, throwing my hands in the air as a sign of surrender. "Hermione and I are getting hate mail," I added, gesturing to the growing pile of letters.

The Professor's eyes narrowed as she took in the scene. "Very well, but please do not use magic in the Great Hall again, I would like Gryffindor to finish with some points after all,"

"Professor, can't you do anything about the letters?" Hermione asked, her eyes shining with unshed tears, as McGonagall turned to head back to the head table where Keena and Sirius were watching with interest.

"I shall have a word with the headmaster," she answered with a nod, holding her hands out for the offending pieces of parchment.

"I am sorry for you, Her-my-oh-ninny," Krum said as McGonagall walked away. "I know vot it is to have hate mail,"

"Thank you, Viktor," she answered, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her cloak. "C'mon, you lot, we'd better get to class,"

The four of us stood up and headed out of the hall, ignoring the whispers that had begun following us as well. "I really can't wait for all of that to stop," I mumbled, shaking my head as we got onto the grounds.

Harry snorted.

"No, I mean it, Harry, this is just ridiculous," I complained.

"Welcome to my life," he answered and I rolled my eyes.

"You don't get hate mail, though," Hermione pointed out, her voice shaking ever so slightly and Ron awkwardly patted her on the back. "Thanks, Ron," she muttered, reaching into her pocket for her handkerchief.

"Maybe not, but I do know what it's like to have the whole school hate you," he replied and Hermione gave another sniff.

"Harry?" I said and he turned to look at me in confusion. "I don't think you're helping," I finished in a slightly sarcastic whisper as Ron started trying to comfort Hermione. "I'd let Ron take it from here," Though he might make it worse too…maybe I should keep an eye out…

Harry smirked. "You say that like we didn't plan it that way," he answered in a whisper.

I frowned. "How'd you know she'd get hate mail?"

He rolled his eyes at me. "That isn't what I meant, you know,"

I raised an eyebrow and slowed down enough that Ron and Hermione went by us. "Then what did you mean?"

"Well, I remembered what you said last year about them liking each other and then it was obvious at the Yule Ball how jealous he got, so I got him to admit it." he grinned, obviously pleased with himself. My jaw dropped. "I know; I didn't expect it either. But I told him to lay off her some and see if it worked and so far it has. Haven't you noticed that they've been sitting next to each other in class, the common room and at meals?"

"Um…no, I guess I didn't…when did you become Mr. Match-maker?" I smirked.

He shrugged. "I dunno, but I wasn't actually supposed to tell you all of that so don't tell Hermione alright?"

I shrugged as well. "Whatever, if it gets them together sooner I'm all for it," I answered. "Then again, as far as I know they haven't actually gotten together by sixth year," I added quietly as we approached the green houses. "But if it means less fighting in the common room and consequentially less time playing relationship-therapist with her…"

Harry smirked again. "You're welcome,"

Keena's Point of View:

"What do you mean you won't switch quarters with her?"

I jumped as the door to our quarters slammed open Monday night. I looked up to see Remus glaring at Sirius, who rolled his eyes as he walked over to me a dropped a kiss on my cheek. I raised an eyebrow, but he shook his head so I shrugged and turned back to the practice sheets I was grading.

"I thought that that was exactly what I meant, Moony," Sirius answered, landing next to me on the loveseat.

"But I can't possibly share with her!" he cried. "She's…she's…"

"Not privy to your furry little problem?" Sirius prompted. I rolled my eyes.

"No, love, he's going to say that 'she's a girl' first," I grinned, winking at Remus as he scowled at me.

"This is hardly amusing,"

"On the contrary, it's very amusing," Sirius answered with a grin. "Keena, sit back, please, I don't think you should bend over like that,"

"Sirius, I'm pregnant, not ill, we've been over this. The baby will be fine and I could stand to stretch a bit. Besides, I'm hardly showing yet," I answered, gently slapping his hands away from my sides as he went to lift me upwards.

He huffed but said nothing.

"Can we get back to the issue at hand please?" Remus growled, apparently not amused as I was about Sirius' over protectiveness.

"No, Moony, I'm not switching,"

"Why not, Padfoot?"

I snorted. Remus only ever really used our nicknames when he either was in a really good mood or if he really wanted something. Personally, I was pretty sure it was the latter in this instance.

"Because Moony, my fiancée is pregnant and even though she doesn't get morning sickness as much now that she's finally seen a healer," I huffed in indignation but he ignored me. "I still don't think I should leave her alone," Sirius explained, sounding like he was actually serious for once.

I looked up to see Remus opening his mouth. "I agree with him, Remus," I said quietly. "I'd much rather he stay with me. You and Tonks are adults, Remus; you can handle being her roommate for a few months. She's not the type to care about furry problems either,"

He sighed and sat down on the chair across from us. "I can't believe I agreed to all of this," he muttered. "Did you know I was nearly accosted by a few Ravenclaws on my way to your office today, Sirius? This is really a bad idea,"

"What did you tell them?" I asked, wondering why Ravenclaws were even in that part of the castle to begin with.

"The story; Dumbledore asked me to return to help this mutt keep things in order. Few people know that we lived together for years and even fewer remember that the three of us had been good friends."

"Except for the teachers," I grinned. "Poor Snape looked over his shoulder a total of five times tonight at dinner and even tested his food before eating it,"

"Don't tease me, love, you know how much I'd love to prank him!" Sirius groaned.

I smiled and Remus rolled his eyes. "Somehow I doubt that Kailey would appreciate you saying that, Sirius," Remus replied dryly.

"Trust me, Moony, she's one of two things keeping me from pranking him," Sirius answered sadly.

"What's the other?"

"The tournament,"

"Way to dampen the mood, Sirius," I said, slapping his knee with the parchment I was checking over. Then I sighed. "It's almost over at any rate and then we can go home for the summer and relax. Well, I can relax, at least until August,"

"What makes you think I won't be able to relax?" Remus asked innocently.

Sirius barked a laugh. "Moony, trust me, you've never lived with this woman while she's pregnant,"

"What are you trying to say, exactly, fiancée dearest?" I asked with a smile, batting my eyelashes. My smile transformed into a grin as he gulped and Remus laughed. "That's what I thought. Now, Remus, are you feeling better about sharing a room with the lovely Tonks?"

"No, I just don't see why we have to be put into the same quarters," he grumbled.

"Don't you think you might be insulting her by all of this? You're overreacting and being a bit rude if truth be told," I replied dryly. "And Dumbledore already explained that he would prefer not to use the Founders' quarters because that would make them much more public than they should be; you know he uses them for families to hide in during 'troubled times of woe'." Remus raised an eyebrow at me "His words, not mine,"

He grumbled a sigh under his breath but didn't bother to reply. It was a sign of defeat. "I suppose you're right, I have been a tad standoffish…" Sirius snorted and Remus shot him a quick glare, but he stood up all the same. "Any word on what Dumbledore has planned for the two of them yet?"

I shook my head. "I tried to get it out of him at dinner, but he ignored me. I think they're with him now,"

Sirius shook his own head. "A detention with Dumbledore…Merlin, I'll bet that hasn't happened since he was a Transfiguration professor and that was what? Fifty years ago?"

"Somewhere around there," I mumbled. "Poor souls," I added, scribbling a note on the bottom of a page. "Still, she's going to kill them this summer with both worry and anger,"

Both men shuddered in agreement.

Kailey's Point of View:

"I can't believe we're doing lines," I said to no one in particular, stretching my hand and rotating my wrist as the parchment became blank again.

"Count yourself lucky, brat! In my day you'd be washing the windows of all the towers, inside and out the muggle way!" snapped Phineus.

Harry snickered but said nothing as I rolled my eyes. Dumbledore had left us to our tasks in his office while he went up the stairs that must have led to a little room of some sort. He'd left no instructions concerning talking, but saying that until our lines stayed on the parchment we had to keep on writing "I will not succumb to anger and blow up the grounds nor shall I give in to peer pressures." He mentioned something about this not being the only type of detention we'd receive, nor would it be the only time we did lines. I was just glad the lines made sense, to be honest.

"All of that worrying for nothing," Harry mumbled in agreement, shaking his head. "Though I'm not too eager to find out what we're doing tomorrow night,"

"Oh Merlin," I grumbled, the old wizard's name coming out like a curse.

"What?"

"I just misspelled 'succumb'…do you think that'll count against me if I forget a 'c'?"

"You've been at this how long now and you just now started misspelling words?"

I refrained from flicking my quill at him in order to splatter ink onto his parchment, but only because I didn't want the portraits to tattle.

At the end of a grand total of three hours, the ink finally dried onto the parchment and Dumbledore reappeared at the top of the small staircase. A fledgling Fawkes squeaked from his shoulder and flew clumsily through the air to land on my shoulder. The headmaster came down the stairs and stood in front of our desks, reading over the parchments with great care it seemed before he looked up at the portraits.

"Well?" he asked quietly.

Several of them burst out making it impossible to understand anything before Dumbledore held up a hand for silence and the pointed at Phineus. "The brats were hardly grateful enough for this to be their only punishment, Dumbledore! It was almost like they were complaining that it was only lines,"

Dumbledore chuckled. "I'm sure it was quite the let down," he answered, eyes sparkling as he pointed to the next portrait.

"Be that as it may, I believe the two should be doing something more practical with their time; they do have quite a task ahead of them," this from a long-faced witch with long black hair and a blue-green robe. She scratched her nose in an almost dignified manner, though there was some dirt under her fingernail.

"What do you suggest, madam?"

"Manual labor, of course!" she cried. "Something to do with magic as well,"

"Hm…" he hummed, stroking his beard. "I shall have to ask you more of this later, Professor Spore. In the meantime, the two of you are free to go. If Filch should give you trouble tell him to come and speak with me. We will begin again tomorrow at the same time."

We were nearly back to the tower when Harry spoke up.

"When she said 'manual labor'…you don't think he's going to actually listen to her…do you?"

I paused and turned to stare at him. "Maybe it's a good thing you don't have Quidditch practice to worry about,"

And so ends this chapter! I'm sorry for the wait, but such is college life I suppose (not to mention the wicked writer's block, but that sounds more like an excuse…). Thanks again for reading and here's to a happy start to your holidays! Next will be 26!

:-D