(A/N: Is it possible? Yes it is! The next chapter is here! Just want to say one thing: I love Firenze! Alright, read read read! And let me know what you think! Loving the reviews - but let's have some more critical notes shall we? Wonderwhiterabbit hopping off...)
In the Head of the Snake
Chapter 29: Assistance
Snape stretched his stiff body. He had slept deeply after his meeting with Dumbledore. He had told Dumbledore about Potter's Switch. And then he had told him in depth of his theory.
Really, he had too many of those now. Too many theories and not enough proof for any of them. And still he felt like Dumbledore wasn't telling him something.
Potter had gone through the first door in the department of mysteries. He had made it into the Entrance Chamber with all its blue lights and dark doors. The Dark Lord had implanted that memory in Potter's head somehow. And when the Dark Lord had felt that Potter was most vulnerable. But how?
There was also something else to take away from the debacle; the department must have been Frozen. The very thing Snape did not want to happen, now had. The Department of Mysteries had been Mapped, and as such would not change. It was under the power of the Dark Lord and the only way to fix it would be to destroy the map. The map that he had helped create... Maybe there was another way to fix things? Why always take the difficult route when there was an alternative – albeit an invisible one at the moment, but this was Magic we were talking about; invisible did not mean impossible. Perhaps another meeting with the House Elves might help?
But the last time he had spoken to the Elves, it had been about the Room of Requirement and the power that it encapsulated, and that brought up his impending trip to the Chamber of Secrets, of which he still needed a Parseltongue for.
One problem at a time, he reckoned. And speaking of problems, he had to see Miss Weasley today. He sneered at the roof before throwing the blankets off of himself.
That woman was beyond anything he had had to deal with in his life. Even his past dramas were less than this one. It was amazing what barely three days had done to their relationship. On the Friday she was asking if they were friends. On the Saturday she was sleeping in his room and kissing him. On the Sunday she was half way to having sex with another student. And then on the Monday she was crying because he kept on winning their staring competitions.
And now it was Tuesday. Now it was time for their first Occlumency lesson since the weekend's affairs had transpired. He wasn't sure if he wanted to go or not. Hell, he wasn't sure whether she was going to go or not!
Would she pitch up?
There was only one way for him to find out.
...
Ginny stared hard at the quill, daring herself to pick it up. Daring herself to call off this farce. Daring herself. But not daring to do anything of the sort.
Snape had given her homework for this Occlumency lesson. She had to come up with a mantra that he would then put to the test. The weekend had been so hectic, from watching Snape disappear from Hogwarts' grounds, to finding his secret room, to being caught out with Michael. She hadn't thought about any such mantra. And he had told her to have a few ready so that he could test them out on her.
A mantra... what had Professor Snape said about them?
Ginny took a deep breath and calmed herself down. Memories from the weekend kept on flooding through her brain and the whisper of Harry... was permanently in the background, but every time intruding thoughts grabbed her attention she forcibly made an effort to concentrate on that last session. Thursday seemed half a year ago, but she remembered what he had said: "A few sets of words that put me into a calming state. They are born from a memory. Thinking first of that memory, then of the mantra, puts me into a state of serenity where nothing can touch me because I am nothing. Eventually you will not have to recall that memory. All you will have to do is repeat the mantra to yourself and the feeling associated with it will flood through you."
So her mantra had to be something powerful. Something that completely consumed her. Well, if that was the case, there were many memories she could choose from.
And not all of them good.
From the Gryffindor tower to the Room of Requirement was a six minute slow walk. She would give herself two minutes per mantra. A "few" was three right? Surely she could come up with three...
. . .
Snape sighed heavily. She was either late or she wasn't coming. He didn't blame her. He didn't want to be here anymore than she did. Especially after the weekend. The best thing for them would be to never have any forced interactions again.
And then he heard footsteps. Slow and steady. No rush to them. Only a purpose. He sighed. She was here. He felt his stomach drop a bit; he had been hoping that she would not pitch up. At the same time though, he felt a bit proud; she had pitched up. Typical Gryffindor.
"You're late," he growled as soon as she came around the bend.
"Yes, sir," she answered with no emotion in her voice. She had a small crease between her forehead – the same one she got when she was desperately trying to stay calm and think clearly. It was the look she got when she was pushing memories to the back of her mind and trying not to think of them.
She was trying to concentrate. Good – he needed to concentrate as well. He would keep this professional. He had organised these lessons before their relationship had taken a turn for the worse and he wouldn't let that affect them. He had made a promise. He would keep it.
Snape turned around automatically as Ginny Weasley activated the Room. When he turned back, he saw the door that marked the entrance to their customary classroom. Ginny opened it and walked through, only to stop suddenly. Following, Snape saw why. The Room had changed just slightly. The table and chair on wheels were against the wall, leaving the middle of the room open. But it was the floor that had changed; it had a spongy feel to it a little like a foamed-up carpet.
"I didn't want to get hurt," explained Ginny with a slight red flush to her cheeks. Snape hated how he had noticed the flush. Even more how the flush made him look away as if he had seen something inappropriate.
Clearing his throat, he walked over the bouncy carpet to his desk. There, sitting serenely, was the Pensieve. Carefully he extracted some of his memories. They were now easy to differentiate from the others, mainly because of his continued extraction of them.
Then he turned and faced Ginny. She was staring at him with both apprehension and something else in her eyes. Excitement? He couldn't place it.
"On the count of three, I will be performing Legilimens on you. I have explained the theoretical aspects of this process. I have told you of the Receiver's and the Holder's roles in this process. I have also spoken in detail of the various methods available to the Holder to protect their memories from the Receiver," Snape assumed his lecturing stance, hands behind his back, as he allowed his black eyes to convey everything that the rest of his body would not. "You are going to hurt," said his eyes, "You are not going to be able to resist," they said. "Nothing I have taught you will help you now..." they whispered through their depths. And Ginny, knowing all this, merely accepted it with a gulp. "Last lesson I instructed you to come up with a few mantras so as to attempt a block through Force. This is the method whereby you empty your mind of all thought and become nothing. We will attempt this now."
Ginny barely had a moment before Snape had twisted his arm from behind him, drawing his wand in a flourish faster than she could follow, and said, "One...two...three...Legilimens!"
She had never felt anything so forceful. So intimate. So imprisoning. She was stuck in her own mind. She saw images blur past her mind's eye. She tried to push past her own memories to the one that would help her.
Running down the stairs of her house, only in her pyjamas, because a letter had come from Hogwarts. She was in! She was finally going! Her mother wrapping her arms around her in happiness, but at the same time staring at the price of the new books she would have to buy.
Staring in disbelief at Professor Lupin. Then at her hand. What had happened? He had touched her hand to correct her wand-hold, and something had gone through her. A knowing beyond her knowing. He was something different. But what she had no idea.
Standing in front of the fireplace, Floo Powder in her hand, watching as her family demonstrated to her how to use the Floo Network. So nervous. But she couldn't be scared in front of the Twins. So in goes the Powder, and then Ginny, and then she's spinning and spinning and spinning...
And then she was standing in a classroom, all the rest of the class had been sent out already. Now it was just Snape and Ginny. She was angry. So very angry. But then just a finger touch and there was nothing...
Nothing...
Silenced with a touch. Silenced with a touch. Silenced with a touch.
The feeling was spreading through her. Silenced with a touch. He had touched her forehead and everything had disappeared. She had felt nothing. Her mind was her own. Her thoughts were under her own control. Nothing. Silenced with a touch.
Touch.
Professor Moody had slapped her hand. She had been reaching for a jar, not fully realising what was in it, but the whole class wanted to see it closer. "Do you realise what could have happened to you if that jar broke? CONSTANT VIGILENCE! If you don't know what's in it, don't go blindly reaching for it! Test it first! I expected more from you Miss Weasley – especially after the stories I've heard of dark objects around this school!" She was shocked...Not because of the talking too she had just been given, but because again she had a Knowing beyond her knowing. He was something else. Someone else. Touch.
Silenced with a touch.
Ginny forced the thought through, trying to get back to her previous state of nothingness, but still the Link pushed on her mind, pushed her back into her memories.
She was standing with her mother, barely three, while her father stared disbelievingly at a paper on the table. "I don't think we'll make it through this month unless we sell. We can't keep the house at this rate," said her father. "Yes we can keep it!" stated Molly. "We'll just have to squeeze a bit, that's all. And I'm sure I have some heirlooms somewhere that I can sell. We can do this, Arthur." "Alright, dear. I can believe in you..."
"STOP!" yelled Ginny. It took her a moment to realise she was on the ground. The spongy floor soft against her cheek. She blinked her eyes. A throb was starting up at the back of her head that was making her eyes water. She felt like she had been hung upside down for too long.
"Get up," spat Snape. "Silenced with a touch? That was your great Mantra?"
Getting shakily to her feet, Ginny said, "Well, yeah, that was one of them."
"It's weak! You didn't feel it strongly enough! You didn't allow it to consume you! It must be your only thought. Don't lose track!"
"It's difficult not to lose track, ok?" shouted back Ginny, which only made her head throb harder.
"At this rate I'm going to know your whole life in detail... not a proposition I am at all happy with. And that wasn't even a brush of a Link. Those were surface thoughts that I was aiming for!"
"And you think I'm happy with you seeing into my head? You get to hide your deepest darkest thoughts in the Pensieve, but I'm just a book you can open at will and read!"
"A book?" whispered Snape. "I thought by now you would know that the mind is a much more complex item than a book that can be opened and read. It has convolutions and intricacies that must be manoeuvred. Movement must be planned and directed so as to identify each memory in its singularity. What is it with students that they believe the mind to be as simplistic as a book?"
Snape sighed. Miss Weasley and Potter were sometimes so alike it was maddening. No, it was not merely them. It was this whole new generation of witches and wizards.
"Sorry," whispered Ginny. "I have other Mantras. Let me try them out. They might work better."
"Hmm, alright," he said, not at all convinced but readying himself once more. "Again, on the count of three. One...two...three...Legilimens!"
This time she knew what to expect, but the blow was still too much for her; it knocked her back, pushing her into disorientation.
She was dancing in a pretty dress with Neville. The dress had been horrible but she had managed to transfigure bits of it and change the colour so now it looked almost like the new dress Pansy Parkinson had spent Galleons on. She was quite proud of it. But now Neville was looking shiftily at his feet, making his dancing even worse than it was a few seconds ago. "You want something to drink?" he asked. "Sure," she agreed, happy to get off the dance floor. "I'm almost as bad at dancing as I am at flying," Neville was saying as they walked towards the drinks.
The thought was there, she was reaching for it. She caught at a word in the memory and used it to push past the link, searching for the memory that she needed for her mantra. Instead of the Link opposing her, however, it turned with her thoughts and increased the momentum.
Flying. It was their first lesson with Madame Hooch. She stood over her broom and said to it, "Up!" And the broom obediently lifted to her hand. She felt it buzzing, ready to lift to the skies.
The memory was not the one she had been planning on, but she could use it. She forced through the blur of images and concentrated on that first time legitimately mounting her broom and feeling that this was right...that she could go anywhere...do anything...All she had to do was...
Turn with the wind. Turn with the wind. Turn with the wind.
Wind.
She was flying high up, her eyes searching frantically for the snitch. She saw it, but directly behind it she saw him...he was watching their game even though his team wasn't playing. He was here for her. She hesitated, the Snitch disappeared, and only his eyes made her get back into the game. Snape was watching.
Turn with the wind! Turn with the wind!
Snape couldn't – mustn't! – know what was going through her mind at that time! That game...it had been just after she had kissed him...And with the thought came the memory.
"But I've never been, er, overly-powerful," Ginny frowned. "I know..." Snape whispered slowly. "You-you know?" asked Ginny, her voice rising. "Then when did this-this-this thing start happening to me?" "I believe that it may have happened in your first year." "That's why you've been nice to me all this time?" she asked. "You think that something happened in the Chamber! You just want to diagnose me? Watch me? Investigate me?" "No," Snape was shaking his head sadly, "I've been nice to you because I want to help you." "I need answers, Professor," she said before she lowered her head and kissed him.
This time Ginny felt the pull as the Link exited her mind. She also felt her head beat extra hard, somehow lying again on the ground. This was not going according to plan at all. Flying was the one emotion that she could bring up at will. The sensation of falling, the feel of the wind in her face, the fight against the odds as she willed her way forwards... apparently that wasn't enough either.
But the memory had brought forth something else as well. A question.
"Do you still feel the same way, sir?" she asked, getting slowly to her feet again.
"The same way as what?" Snape asked, his face an emotionless mask, his voice bored.
"Do you still want to help me?"
Snape stared at her and silence filled the room.
"I am here, am I not?" he said pointedly. "Despite all that has happened, I am still here. You told me that actions must reiterate words. Is what I am doing not proof enough of my intentions to help you?"
"...Yes, sir," said Ginny hesitantly. "I have one more Mantra that I would like to try out. If you would let me?"
"That is why we are here, Miss Weasley. One...two...three...Legilimens!"
She watched his eyes disappear as the Link hurtled into her mind.
I am a secret.
The Link pushed harder, it latched onto a stray memory.
"Hey Ginny!" shouted Michael. "That hex was absolutely brilliant! When did you get so good?" "Ah, well, Michael, you know how these things go. Practice!" She winked and laughed.
I am a secret.
The memory was pushing back. It was fading. Michael's dark hair and eyes were slowly disappearing.
I am a secret.
The probing Link found another memory.
She was sitting on a rock by the Lake, watching a giant tentacle make ripples that lapped slowly at her rock. A book lay in her lap, its pages slowly absorbing the ink that was just written on it.
I am a secret.
Now she sat in a room, so large and vast it appeared to go on for an eternity. And yet it was full to the brim with forgotten and hidden objects. Before her was a broken mirror, a part of it still clinging to its immense frame. It was at this frame that she was staring, trying to make out the massive words written across its top, even though half of it was missing. The mirror itself called to her and she looked to it...in it...
I am a secret. I am a secret. I AM A SECRET!
And then she was. She was in her chamber. No one knew about her. Of her. She was nothing. No one would ever find her. She was finally alone. She was warm inside. She did not have to worry about anything anymore. She was a secret...
A secret.
"A secret?" asked a voice. It did not come from outside. It was from inside her head. Where no one was supposed to be. Where no one should be! Didn't she promise herself? Years ago now, didn't she promise herself that she wouldn't let anyone else in her head?
"You cannot hide from me," laughed the voice. "I am you now. I told you, it is too late for Ginny Weasley. She's long gone, and will never come back."
But Ginny wasn't going to let the voice intimidate her...not again.
"It's not too late for me! I will come back from you! I will heal! I will get better! You can't keep control of me forever!"
But Tom laughed and the words "I am Lord Voldemort" burned into her mind.
I am a secret...
. . .
Ginny fluttered her eyes as the light bounded around the room off of the blackboard.
"I was going to give you a potion if you didn't come round in another two minutes," drawled a voice somewhere above her.
Blinking back the light, Ginny saw Professor Snape leaning against his desk, nonchalantly holding his wand.
"A potion? Or something else?" asked Ginny as she eyed the wand in his long fingered hands.
"Maybe both," he shrugged. "I tried to enervate you, but either you are immune to the spell, or it was not strong enough to pull you from your passed-out state. I reckon the latter, although I wouldn't mind testing the former a bit more..."
"Considering it was you who put me in that "passed out state" I don't think the former needs to be tested at all."
"Implying that I purposefully knocked you out to such an extent? My my, aren't you a chirpy one in the mornings?"
Grumpily, Ginny got to her feet.
"What happened then, if you didn't knock me out?"
Snape shrugged.
"There are many theories – "
"I don't want theories," interrupted Ginny. "We have too many of those already. I want your thoughts."
"We are here because of your thoughts, Miss Weasley, not mine."
Ginny growled.
"Ok, what did you see?"
"Everything..." whispered Snape. "Although that just made me think more. You were out for a reasonably long time. The room, with all of the things, and the mirror...where was that?"
"Here," Ginny said, spreading her arms out to the room.
"Here?"
"Yes, that room that you saw is another of the Room of Requirement's forms. I found the mirror this year when I first started using the Room for my own...er...purposes."
"Interesting...and the voice? Where does it come from?"
"You heard the voice..." Ginny was resentful. She didn't want anyone to know about the fight inside her head.
"Yes, I heard the voice," stated Snape. "I also saw the writing. When did that happen?"
"First year," mumbled Ginny. "Tom Marvolo Riddle. It's his name, just muddled up."
"How does that voice get in your head? It did not feel or sound like a memory to me," said Snape. Actually, the way the Link had twisted within his power had felt all too similar to how it had felt with Potter just yesterday evening. It had slipped through the mind to something...more... And then it hadn't let go. That was probably why Ginny had fainted; it had taken double his energy to release the Link from that deep part of Ginny's mind.
"It's always been in my head. Since that time, I mean. It, er...it whispers to me."
"Whispers to you?" asked Snape, his curiosity peaking.
"Yeah... it, er, it usually says "Harry" a lot, but every now and then it comes out with something else. I can mostly block it out, but it must have come through while I was concentrating on my mantra."
""I am a secret". Not a bad mantra – if you can get the emotion associated with it right. It would help if you had some assistance in that matter. Find someone or something to taunt you, to try and goad you, and then use your mantra to calm yourself down. It would help if the person you choose is seriously trying to taunt you, otherwise the farce will not help you in the least."
"Are you telling me I have to purposefully get someone to fight with me?"
"You're a Gryffindor, it shouldn't be too difficult," sighed Snape. "Consider it your next homework assignment. Now, however, we must go. I have classes to attend to, and you have to get to the Great Hall for breakfast before your little friends find you missing."
"One last thing, Sir," said Ginny hurriedly as Snape turned to gather his things.
"Yes?" he arched an eyebrow.
"The thing that we do whenever we see each other – the staring contest I mean... will that carry on?"
"Does it affect you so sorely?"
"Yes," she said immediately.
"It will end when you win," Snape said in dismissal.
. . .
"There you are!"
Snape froze, caught between sneering at the culprit calling to him or ignoring her. Neither seemed appropriate so he turned instead and gave a curt nod of his head.
"Implying that I have been nowhere else this whole time?" he said as Minerva made her way through the bustling crowd of students towards him. She had never quite mastered the art of parting students as well as Snape had. She stepped into the open ring around Snape, staring at the students who seemed to automatically manoeuvre themselves far away from the Potion's Master as if he was just another moving part of the castle.
"Well, no where that I've been able to find you. Where have you been?"
"Torturing students. Or maybe it's the other way around," Snape glared at a first year who squeaked and ran into another student.
"Definitely not," said Minerva in a flat tone of disbelief. "But that is beside the point. You and I have a job to do, and barely an hour to do it."
"A job?" asked Snape, feigning surprise.
"Oh don't give me that! When I was teaching you at school, your dry sense of humour was all very well, but now you're a grown up and you can't get out of detention that easily!"
"Why, Professor McGonagall, I never got out of your detentions easily. I can assure you I used every skill I possessed at the time..."
"Very funny, Severus. Entrance hall. Now."
"Yes, Professor," drawled Snape, his lip curling up at the side. Snape knew she only wanted Snape to lead so that they could cut through the students quicker.
On the ground floor, Snape turned to Minerva.
"Which classroom is it anyway?"
"I believe room three – that way," and they made their way to the empty classroom.
Inside it was stuffy and something or other crawled away from their footsteps as they walked daintily between the tables and chairs.
"So what does Dumbledore want us to do with the room?" asked Severus, brushing his fingers in distaste over a dusty tabletop.
"We have to make it similar to Firenze's natural habitat. That would mean the Forest. With a clearing, I would assume, where he would teach."
"Hmm, living transfigurations? Or just simulations?"
"If simulations are all you can manage," smiled Minerva wryly, pulling up the sleeves of her robe and readying her wand.
"Ah, I see the student is about to surpass the professor," drawled Snape, whipping his wand to the ready. "I'll take the left, shall I?" and in a flourish the desks and chairs had rearranged themselves to form half a circle, a few leading towards the door. Taking a breath, he focused on the furthest chair and table combination and started throwing transfiguration spells towards them, chanting under his breath. The wood of the table and chairs started to shimmer a yellow glow, slowly growing hotter. Then a branch shot out of the table top, reaching for the roof. Then others followed it, each sprouting and reaching upwards. A winding trunk formed, sprouts splitting and growing from its base. While the table came to life, the chair fell to the ground, nothing but a compost heap that littered the floor. Then the compost bubbled as growths split it from the bottom up, grass slowly pushing its way towards the open air.
Snape dropped his wand and looked at his handiwork. A tall tree stood firmly rooted in the ground, covered in autumn coloured leaves, its base surrounded by lush green grass.
"Not bad, Severus," said Minerva. "But a little slow, don't you think?"
Snape turned and arched an eyebrow. Whereas he had done only one tree, Minerva had already made up four!
"Quantity versus quality, I reckon," he said slyly.
"I don't know what you mean – I have both quantity and quality in my trees."
"Yes, trees with no leaves."
Minerva turned with a gasp, and sure enough there were no leaves on her trees.
"A minor setback," she mumbled and raised her wand to the first tree.
Snape turned back to his lot of chairs and tables, and began working on them again.
"There!" cried Minerva half an hour later. "Now I'm finished."
"Uhhuh," said Snape disinterested.
"I am a perfectionist, Severus. You must give me some artistic leeway."
"We had to make the roof look like the night sky, not increase its depth and allow for weather patterns as well."
"But now it's more authentic, wouldn't you agree so?"
"Yes, Minerva, much more authentic..."
"Don't you go giving me lip, young man."
Snape grunted.
"You are a young man! And speaking of which, when are you going to get yourself a decent young woman?"
Snape grunted again non-commitantly.
"Severus..." said Minerva in a warning tone.
"I do not see the reason for me to 'get myself' anyone," he answered.
"Alright, I just don't think it's very healthy."
"Healthy?"
"Well, you are surrounded by students all the time, Severus, and you are a young man after all – "
"Minerva, please tell me you are not suggesting that I would look to a student for my personal needs?" Snape blurted out.
Minerva put up a hand quickly, "I was not suggesting anything, Severus. However, it might not be for personal needs so deep as what you are insinuating. Now normally I would not intrude, but since she is one of my students – "
Snape sighed and ran his hand through his hair, knowing exactly where Minerva was going with this.
"– I just happened to notice that you and Miss Weasley seem to have a, er, thing going on. The whole of yesterday you stared at her whenever she came across your path, and I couldn't help noticing her running off in tears after the one encounter. Now I'm not saying that it's a very bad thing for you to get to know your students, but this psychological game that you are playing with her is detrimental to her educational growth! Surely you can see that, Severus?"
"If you must know, Professor McGonagall," said Snape once Minerva had finished her soliloquy, "I am currently giving Miss Weasley extra lessons and she deliberately stepped over a personal line. She went into my personal quarters expressly without my permission, and while I trust so surely in our Points system, I felt that a little extra...begrudgment would send the message a bit more firmly."
"So that's why you were so angry at her? During the Mr Corner debacle? I tried to uncover what was going on and she was not very forthcoming. I thought maybe some encouragement would do her some good. You are not a very easy person to get along with at the best of times, after all."
"I do not deny it, but she broke my trust – something I do not give out lightly."
Minerva sighed.
"You can't give her a second chance, can you?" she asked.
"No, Minerva. In life a second chance means nothing but another debt to pay."
Minerva shook her head sadly.
"You are nothing but a life full of oxymorons, Severus."
"I know," he said simply, and rose. "I have a class soon. I am sure Firenze will be happy with what we have achieved here."
"Yes," agreed Minerva, "I think he will be happy. Thank you for your assistance, Severus."
"Any time, Minerva. Oh, and about Miss Weasley, keep an eye on her – she may want to let out her frustrations onto the other students."
"To be honest Severus, I don't blame her," and she dusted herself down and swept her way over the green grass to the door and let herself out.
Raising an eyebrow, Snape followed at a more leisurely pace.
. . .
"I can't believe this is a classroom," whispered Ginny. All of the students in Ginny's fourth year were talking in hushed tones as they gingerly crossed the fresh grass towards the clearing. She felt as if she were in the Forbidden Forest, in the parts where first years definitely didn't roam freely.
"Welcome, all," said a voice, followed by a few muffled clop-clops of hooves, and then there stood Firenze, standing serenely on four sturdy horse-legs under his trees, as if a forest in a castle with a Centaur were the most normal things ever. "Please find a space on the ground and make yourself comfortable."
Ginny looked to the ground and found it littered with fallen tree trunks and some large stumps that could take four people easily. She settled herself on the grass instead, leaning against the closest tree. The tree felt cool against her warm skin and she felt something else in it...she could feel the magic reverberating off of it. She sighed in contentment; the magic felt good too. She looked up and couldn't help but let out a small "Oh..." as she saw the stars. At that moment a streak lit up the night sky above her, and a shooting star flashed through the still-standing stars, leaving behind only a memory on the insides of Ginny's retinas. She closed her eyes and breathed out a wish, "Forgive me..."
But then Firenze was starting with his class and she had to rouse herself to take notes.
It was unlike any other class she had ever had. Firenze kept on changing his mind as to whether humans could or could not see the future, and just when Ginny thought she was grasping the concept he was talking about, all of a sudden the whole concept would take a turn and she would be stuck in the deep again. Divination would never be the same again with Firenze as their teacher.
The bell rung and Ginny couldn't help but jump. The Forest was so real she had forgotten she was actually inside the castle in an actual classroom. There was the normal scatter of students as they gathered all of their belongings and then they stood to be dismissed. On the way out, however, Ginny turned back to her new Professor.
"Excuse me, Sir?" she enquired politely of Firenze.
"Ginny Weasley," acknowledged Firenze slowly, his huge eyes surveying her from his high vantage point. One of his hooves stomped at the ground and his tail whipped back and forth slowly.
"Yes, Sir, I, er... I just wanted to thank you, for what you did for me."
. . .
Snape had not meant to pry. He had waited for the class to leave and then slowly stepped into the classroom – intending to find out if Firenze really did like his new classroom or not – when he had heard talking. He had waited, politely, behind a tree for the talking to end, trying not to listen to the conversation.
"I just wanted to thank you, for what you did for me," said the one voice. And that voice could only belong to one person. There was an awkward silence, where Snape pictured Ginny staring at the ground as a flush crept up her neck as it always did with him.
"I did not do it for you, human girl," said Firenze eventually. "I did it for myself."
"Oh..." said Ginny. Snape thought of her bright eyes opening in surprise as she tried to figure out the riddle that she had found herself in. "Either way, thank you. I was really stupid to run to the Forest of all places. I guess I was just looking for trouble."
"Yes," said Firenze in his cool voice, "you were."
"Yeah. I was," admitted Ginny. "I wouldn't have made it out there if it wasn't for you though. I was a real mess. I hope you didn't get into any, er, trouble or anything? With your herd, I mean..."
Snape frowned. When had Ginny run away to the Forbidden Forest? Ah, yes; it was when he had come back from his Spy duties with that stupid head wound and she had kissed him when he had fainted. Afterwards she had run to the Forest. And then disappeared for quite some time. Potter had asked about her during their Occlumensy Meeting. Wait, why was he remembering that?
"Ginny Weasley, the culture and structure within a centaur's herd is not for the discussion of Witches or Wizards – never mind young students."
"I didn't mean for you to tell me or anything. I just wanted to say thanks...so, er, thanks."
There was a crunch of leaves as Ginny turned to leave.
"Ginny Weasley," called Firenze suddenly, "you must experience the Power of Mars before you can overcome Mars. You have forgotten what that is like. That is all."
Snape stepped out of the shadow of the tree before Ginny could find him lurking there. He walked purposefully towards Firenze, making sure his feet made crunching sounds underneath him. He completely ignored Ginny who glared at him at each step.
"Firenze, I am glad to find you free. A word?" asked Snape.
"Of course, Severus Snape," Snape tried not to grit his teeth at the Centaur's obvious lack of title. The horse called Dumbledore Professor, the least he could do was address the rest of them the same. "Ginny Weasley, I believe you have another class to attend."
Snape watched as Ginny stomped away from them, transferring her anger to her feet. He waited for the stomps to cease before he carried on.
. . .
Like hell Ginny was going to leave those two to talk alone! Firenze was way more interesting than Professor Binns in any case, and to top it off she might learn something more from listening to Professor Snape and Firenze than anything she would hear in History of Magic.
So Ginny stomped all the way to the door, opened it and closed it, and then tiptoed back up the pathway, using the trees as cover. She found the tree that she was looking for and gently lifted herself up into its branches. Carefully she climbed through the large tree, its magic humming through her palms, and nestled herself in between two branches to listen to the conversation below her.
"So everything is to your liking?" enquired Snape.
"Yes, thank you Severus Snape, the transfiguration has been adequately performed."
"Adequately?" and Ginny had to stifle her giggle as she saw his eyebrow rise. He always used the left one when he wasn't concentrating on it, she knew now.
"There are a few requirements that may have to be adjusted, but I trust I can ask whenever that is necessary?"
"Naturally," Snape nodded in agreement.
There was another of those silences you could expect from Centaurs. Firenze stared upwards at the sky, his eyes marking a constellation. "You have something else you want to discuss," he said eventually, although his eyes never left the star-strewn sky.
"Yes, it is about Hagrid's little problem," Snape got straight to the chase.
"I have already spoken to Hagrid, he will not listen to me."
"Nor me, however I have an idea of someone who might make him see reason."
Snape let the Centaur drop his gaze from the stars and settle on him instead before he continued.
"Harry Potter," he said. Ginny had to clamp her hand over her mouth in fear of her gasp being heard. Snape was actually speaking of Harry without his usual sneer. Without his usual venom. Actually, he was speaking of him as if he was worthy of being spoken of!
"I do not follow you..." answered Firenze.
"Hagrid will listen to Potter. Or at least accept assistance from him. If you want to fix the problem, involve Potter."
"Your plan is a relatively good one."
"Potter has his uses."
"No," Ginny saw Firenze shake his head and his tail flick in irritation. Apparently he did not like humans' thought patterns. "The plan you are currently implementing with the beast."
"Ironic coming from you," sneered Snape. Firenze grunted in annoyance but he did not rise to Snape's taunt. Ginny felt completely lost. Hagrid had a problem? And Harry could help? But Snape was already trying to do something that was kind of helping... What was the problem? Why was Firenze talking about a beast? Ginny didn't put it past Hagrid to bring a crazy wild animal near the grounds, but surely he wouldn't ever jeopardise the student's safety by bringing it too close?
"The beast must be trained, not tamed. Combat is its most natural reaction and if you can overcome the communication barrier, it might be of use... in the future..."
"In the future?" drawled Snape.
In answer Firenze merely said, "Mars is bright. So is Venus. There is a war coming."
"Your prediction is a couple of years late to impress me."
"Your decision was too late to change anything. We have read the stars. The thing you fear most will come to pass."
"The thing I fear most has already happened," snapped Snape in so much bitterness Ginny shrunk back into the crook of her tree.
Firenze just smiled a sad smile and flicked his tail back and forth a few times.
"If you are done, Severus Snape, I must prepare for my next class."
"Yes," Snape nodded his head in agreement, "so must I," and he turned and left, Ginny noticed without so much as a crunch of leaves.
Letting out her held in breath she turned and started her slow incline down the tree. Touching down she brushed her hands off on her robes and turned. Right into the chest of a horse. Or, in this case, a centaur.
"Er," she began.
"Class, Ginny Weasley," was all Firenze said, and although it was said relatively calmly his brown eyes held a shimmer of suppressed anger. His tail twitched. Ginny didn't need to be told twice.
(A/N: So how did you enjoy it? Quick Question: who do you think is Ginny's best friend? I've been thinking of bringing in Luna - her character being so awesome to write - but I may need some support before I do that...Although I'm very much against making my own characters unless 100% necessary. Next chapter coming soon! WonderwhiteRabbit hopping off)
