Dumbledore had turned serious eyes first to Harry.
"Harry, what were you doing in the corridor?"
"Professor, we were on our way back to the feast. We had gone to Nearly Headless Nick's Deathday party, and wanted to get something those alive could eat," Harry replied.
"And you wish us to believe that you simply stumbled upon the second attack?" Lucy appreciated that Professor Snape's attention was focused foremost on Harry.
"Well, it does seem like I find a way to be at the center of events," Harry replied to Snape, eyes focused on him.
After that, the rumors had started following her again. Lucy grit her teeth together, the grinding noise filling the quiet corridor as the fourth year Ravenclaws put their eyes down and went past her nearly touching the stone walls.
"When you turn into a Dark lady, will I be groveling at your feet or groveling in your bed?" Blaise laughed.
She bared her teeth at him, "Oh in bed for sure."
Hermiones cheeks were bright red, "I can't tell if you too are dating or not."
"Not," the two said at the same time, and Lucy's face finally broke into a bit of a smile.
"Blaise's mother is just incredibly Italian, and she has raised him to be as perverted as possible," she grumbled.
Blaise raised a single eyebrow, but didn't deny the claim.
"We're 12. I don't think we're supposed to be perverted," Hermione scolded them.
"Yes, because you have no ulterior motives for writing letters to Charlie every week?" Blaise drawled, picking at his nails.
She wacked him with one of her books and Lucy cringed slightly. Hermione's light reading was deceptively heavy.
Hermione turned gentle eyes towards Lucy, "They just don't know you that well."
"That's hardly an excuse. It was their own fault for not trying to get to know me better," Lucy said, the smile sliding off her face again.
Blaise signed as he grabbed a book from their stack on the library table and flipped to another page, "Even if they knew Lucy better, you have to admit it's kind of suspicious. First, you release a basilisk that just happened to be able to petrify and you can speak parseltongue. Then you're one of the first at the scene of Neville's toad. Then you are one of the first three at the scene where two older students are petrified. Everyone knows you can control the basilisk and your feud with Ron."
Hermione placed her hand over Lucy's, "Most of them are more suspicious of Harry though, honestly."
Lucy pulled her own hand out from Hermione's and back to herself, "That doesn't make me feel better though. Harry didn't do it either, and everyone focusing on the two of us means they aren't on their guards against the real criminal."
Blaise and Hermione both sighed and turned back to the books. Most of the books on basilisks had already been checked out, but they'd managed to gather a few more vague books on petrification in general. Lucy kept insisting that it hadn't been the basilisk, so they were trying to figure out what could have done it.
"There are many spells capable of temporarily pausing a person's actions such as petrification totalus. Fewer are able to reach a long term form of status. For a complete list of spells, turn to page 313," Hermione read before flipping to the page requested.
They scanned the page quickly.
"All of these spells are incredibly advanced. Not only would someone need to be good at magic, but they'd need a lot of power behind them too. Not Dumbledore levels, but at least McGonagoll or Snape levels. Certainly not lower year students," Blaise said.
Hermione bit a nail, "But no one thinks Lucy was using a spell anyway?"
Lucy scowled and stood up, swinging her bag onto her back. They started to stand up with her, but she had already started walking away.
"I just need a minute. I'll see you guys later," she called over her shoulder.
She went straight to the training room. After pulling an outfit out of her school bag, she threw it into a corner of the room with more force than necessary. Several angels turned toward her at the bang. She glared back at them and stepped into a locker style room on the side of the building to change to fighting leathers.
"What is wrong with the hybrid?" An angel asked Carver as Lucy starter stretching, not even attempting to lower his voice from her.
"SHE is frustrated because the entire school thinks she's a dark wizard," Lucy called back.
The angel scoffed, "Wizards are so foolish. You could not be a dark wizard. You have been imbued with light."
"Yeah well, tell them that," she said, finishing her stretches and turning toward Carver. The dark skinned angel stepped smoothly between them.
"Fight me," he demanded.
"Excuse me?" She asked. The other angels had ignored her for the months she'd been at school other than to bully her.
"You are angry. I don't like fighting passive little worms, but perhaps you will put in a real effort this time," he goaded her.
Her fists tightened at her sides. He was trying to work her up but it was working.
"Fleecian," Carver's voice sounded like a warning.
Fleecian said, "Fight me, girl."
She did, kicking out at him. He grabbed her ankle and twisted her entire leg. Applying pressure, he pushed her down onto the mat, and laughed.
Lucy glared up at him from where she had almost immediately been pinned.
He backed away, and let her try again. Over and over again she tried to attack him and every time he had her pinned within three moves.
"Girl, are you ever going to think?" Fleecian taunted her.
Panting, sweat running down her back and pooling in the waist band of her leathers, she glared at him. He shook his head.
"How anyone could think you some powerful dark Lord? You are a child," he said, going to the edge of the room and sitting cross legged on the floor.
She glared for a second before going over and flopping down next to him, much less gracefully. Her chest heaved big breaths of air, and she felt like she had been sprinting.
"I have been doing my best to instruct her," Carver intoned above them.
"You have done fine Moncarvertor, but you are not an instructor," Fleecian said. Carver bowed his head in acknowledgement.
"And I suppose you are?" Lucy asked.
"Yes, for over 5000 years," he said.
Lucy's eyebrows raised, he had been teaching other angels longer than Carver had even been alive, and Carver seemed almost unbearably old.
"Your anger at being considered a dark witch was reassuring to me. I have decided that you need some better instructions," he continued.
"I wouldn't call that teaching, just humiliating," she said.
"There is always a lesson within humility. Let us now have discourse on what you were doing wrong," he said.
He then spent another hour explaining her form and where she was going wrong. She tried to absorb what he was telling her, recognizing that he was indeed a good teacher.
Eventually he stopped as her stomach growled loudly, "My apologies, I must remind myself that you truly are a child and not just a fletchling."
"A fletchling?" She asked.
"What we call newly created angels. They are created fully grown and do not need as much nourishment as a growing human hybrid. You have missed the human's supper. Do you have access to food?"
She nodded, "Yeah I'll just go stop by the kitchens."
"Very well," Fleecian inclined his head.
She paused before leaving, "Thank you."
He inclined his head silently again.
Lucy was finally feeling better as she walked towards the kitchens.
Right up until she passed by students. Every time they would look away or glare at her. When a first year squeaked slightly and ran away, any peace she had found had gone away.
She scowled as she stepped into the kitchen.
"Wow Lucy, are you gonna eat one of the house elves?" A voice called from one of the tables that replicated the house dining spaces of the Great Hall.
Lucy looked over in surprise at Cedric sitting at the kitchen version of the Hufflepuff table, pastries spread around him. He raised his eyebrows at her and looked towards the house elves who were tugging their ears and looking worriedly at the second year.
She schooled her expression into a gentle smile for them and headed over to the older boy.
"What're you doing here?" She asked as she snatched a pastry off his plate. He fake scowled at her and pulled the plate out of her reach. As she munched on the pastry she had grabbed, he waved over a house elf.
"What can Mipsy be getting the young Miss?" The elf asked.
"Whatever you recommend," Lucy said before turning back to Cedric.
He gave a dramatic sigh, "If you must know, I am having a pity party."
Her eyebrows raised, "For what?"
He coughed as he rubbed the back of his neck, where a bit of red seemed to be creeping. Was he blushing?
"I asked out Celia Rockshure to Hogsmeade, and she - uh- didn't say yes," Cedric said, half mumbling around another pastry.
"Celia? But, not Ch-?" Lucy asked before stopping, "I mean, she's a sixth year."
Cedric nodded, "Yeah, but she's beautiful."
His eyes looked slightly dreamy, and he didn't seem to notice Lucy's almost slip of asking about Cho. She had never known that Cedric had dated other girls too.
"But you're a fourth year," Lucy said.
Suddenly she actually looked at Cedric and realized he wasn't the 17 year old that had died. 14 year old Cedric was average height for a boy who clearly hadn't gone through puberty yet. His voice hadn't dropped yet, and his hair was longer than it would be when he died, sweeping slightly into blue eyes. He was cute, she guessed, but he suddenly looked so young. Like a boy. Certainly not someone the beautiful and curvy 16 year old would be interested in.
She laughed out loud.
He scowled at her, "Oh yeah, rub it in. One day, I'll be older and she'll regret turning me down then. Anyway, dad always says that you should try for the impossible, so when you go for what you really want, it doesn't seem impossible."
"So you asked someone out that you were almost certain would say no, so you wouldn't be so nervous about asking out a girl in like your own year?" Lucy said.
He nodded, "Yep, after being humiliated by Celia, it shouldn't be bad to ask out another girl. Plus one of them might say yes out of pity. I knew what I was doing, but there was always a chance she might've said yes. I wanted to avoid the gossip at supper after asking her at lunch. I just need one pity party and I'll be ready to face the music."
He ate a strawberry danish as Lucy received her plate of roast beef, crispy potatoes, and buttered green beans with a soft roll. She thanked the elves and started eating.
"So why are you here kid?" He asked her.
She suddenly remembered and frowned again, "Everyone is convinced I'm an evil dark lord in the making."
"Cause of the Percy and Penelope thing?" He asked gently.
She nodded.
"Listen kid, it wasn't the best situation. In the future, maybe spending time where you are supposed to be would help keep you from being blamed for stuff. On the other hand, those who know you, don't think you are a Dark Lady in the making. Those who don't know you, don't matter," Cedric said softly.
She knew he was scolding her, but his words made her chest feel warm, even if Blaise and Hermione had already said similar things.
"Thanks Cedric," she said.
He ruffled her hair, "Besides kid, anyone willing to hug Snape can't turn into a Dark Lady. They'd just be riding on his curtails, like Malloy."
Several days later she walked up to Snape's back after potions and tugged on his black robes. Flaring nostrils called her attention more than the dramatic spin.
"What, you little miscreant?" He snarled at her.
"I have to go check on Mr Giant Slither," she told him.
"The bASILisk?" His voice had started to raise before he became frosty. She realized he must be occluding and cutting off all emotions.
She nodded, "People are blaming him for Romilda Vane being petrified this morning, but it wasn't him! Let alone the other students too."
One coal black eyebrow raised, "I am not your head of house. Why are you informing me?"
Her own eyebrows raised right back, "You are the head of the snake house, sir. You'll need to accompany me."
"Accompany you? I will certainly do no such thing!"
"Sir, it's called the Forbidden Forest! I'm not allowed to just go in there. Besides, I need you to corroborate my story!"
"Listen to yourself! You would need the Headmasters permission to go into the forest. Besides, I don't speak Parseltongue, how could I corroborate your story?"
"Thank you for pointing out the flaws."
Without another word, she turned and left the classroom as Snape remembered to call out ten points removal. Despite her leaving, he had a feeling she wasn't finished.
A horrible sinking feeling dropped in his stomach when he watched the tiny girl approach the head table with brazen boldness and approach the Headmaster. She stopped politely in front of the man and waited for him to acknowledge her even as Snape's nostrils flared again.
The headmaster had to lean forward slightly to see the girl beyond the table.
"Ahh yes, Ms Ogden, right?" The old man asked her.
She grinned up at him, the picture of innocence, "Yes sir!"
"Can I help you?" He asked her, "Would you like a lemon drop?"
"No thank you sir, I'm actually more partial to Air heads if you have any of them?" She offered.
He seemed to consider, "A fine, American choice but I'm afraid I think I ate the last of them a week ago."
"Well, in that case, I think I should get to the point. I need to go into the Forbidden Forest and check in on Mr Giant Slither, but I learned I need your permission. And I need Mr Snape sir to come with me to corr-corroborate what happened. He is the head of the snake house, sir," she managed all of that in a single breath, which was quite impressive.
"Check in on ...Mr Giant Slither? The basilisk, correct?"
"Yes, that's right," Lucy nodded.
"Well, if Snape is along, I'm sure it'll be fine. Besides, it would be prudent to double check that the basilisk is not the one petrifying students. Professor Snape, how does Friday at 4pm sound?"
He shook his head, "Absolutely not!"
"I have to agree, Headmaster, I think basilisks are nocturnal. It seems a bit early," Lucy added.
"Is that so? Learn something new everyday. 8pm then?" The headmaster adjusted.
Lucy nodded, "That should be much better."
"If you are set to go at such a time, I feel it would be prudent to make this a learning opportunity. Severus, please pick a student or two from your house to accompany you on this journey. They can help harvest any potions ingredients needed and learn a new aspect of the responsibilities of the snake house," the headmaster added.
"Ohh can we take Blaise!"
The two seemed to be ignoring the protesting potions master. If he was not Severus Snape, Minerva would swear he was spluttering, even as she tried to hide her laughter behind her palm.
"I'm sorry, Ms Ogden, but Mr Zabini has detention with me on Friday," Flitwick added.
"Marcus Flint," Snape finally growled out in his deep baritone.
"Me?" An indignant voice rose from the Slytherin table.
"Yes, Flint, because your last round of potions was positively dreadful. Clearly you need more practice with the ingredients. Perhaps harvesting some will jog your memory," Snape snarled at the sixth year boy. Clearly this conversation was affecting him strongly for him to be snarking at one of his Slytherins in public.
Lucy smiled brightly, and thanked the headmaster before returning to her seat.
"Excellent choice of course," Dumbledore said to Severus in a low enough voice that only Minerva could hear them as conversations resumed around the Great Hall, "He is unconnected to the girl in any way, not one of her friends or allies. His corroboration will mean much more than Zabinis. I have heard they are close friends. We shall see what this adventure brings."
"Ogden, why did you drag us out here? You could be simply telling the basilisk what to do without needing an excuse to be in the Forbidden Forest," Flint complained as the trio marched through the trees.
A shadow seemed to be falling over his shoulder frequently, and he kept glancing back. Nothing was ever there when he did though.
The tiny second year marched in front determinedly, seemingly unafraid of the forest.
"I'll have to remember that for next time," he thought she heard her mumble to herself before she said more clearly, "Professor Snape can read minds. I'll have him listen in through the snake's brain."
"You can what sir?" Flint turned towards his head of house.
"You are a Flint, surely you have heard of Legilimancy?" Snape snarled at him.
Flint signed in relief, "Is that all she meant? With the Ogden, I thought she meant something more serious. Wait, is that how you always know who did what?"
"Go harvest three of those Moonflowers, Flint. Ogden, we are traveling in circles. There are the cut stems from where Flint cut the Rue."
Ogden looked up, "It's not my fault I didn't realize how big this Forest is. I don't have a tracking spell on the snake; I'm just trying to find him."
Flint managed to block out their voices as he headed towards the Moonflowers a slight distance away.
When the shadow seemed to flicker across the flowers, he turned quickly, but nothing was there.
Mumbling about creepy forests he turned back around.
There seemed to be a white stickiness over the flowers when he touched one.
Scowling he wiped his hand on the ground, but the stickiness just caused the first to stick to his hand instead of coming off.
A shadow moved again, and he jumped.
Still nothing when he turned.
He reached out quickly to cut the flowers and go back closer to his two companions, but a stream of white stickiness was suddenly covering his mouth.
Both hands reached up to pull at it, but then his hands were stuck to his mouth.
Raising his eyes slowly, he tried to scream at the many eyes staring back at him.
It may not have included any words, but the muffled scream still got the attention of the other two who turned with wands pointed.
"Flint!" Snape called, as the three took in the giant spider crouched in front of them, already starting to spin Flint up in its web. The boy was being spun in circles as the deceptively strong webbing tied up his ankles as he pulled at his mouth frantically.
"Hey, let him go!" Lucy yelled, pulling out the dagger she kept on her thigh.
She ran forward and sliced through the spraying spider web, and Flint fell forward, his shins wrapped together completely, losing the spider's momentum.
The spider turned towards the girl with a hiss, but backed up as Snape hit it with a blast of purple light. The spell seemed to be mostly deflected but hurt enough to turn the spider's attention.
Unfortunately, it backed up slightly as many more spiders stepped forward.
Snape stepped between Lucy and the spiders, Flint lying on the ground behind her.
"We are from the school. I am a professor and these are two of the students. If you hurt us, Dumbledore will come and remove all of you from the Forest," he warned the spiders.
"Dark one, this Forest is ours and the school is yours. You have left your territory. Why would we be punished for eating what is in our space?"
"Regardless, you would be," Lucy agreed with Snape.
The spider seemed to shrug, "Perhaps. Still, we are hungry, and you are here now."
The clicking sound of the spiders spread throughout the clearing. Snape pushed Lucy further behind him from where she was trying to come up beside him.
"All the magic at your fingertips, and you pull out a paring knife?" He complained.
"Hey! At least it's something!" She defended herself without any heat behind it, strangely happy from the way Snape tried to defend her and Flint, even though he often complained he hated her. This wasn't like when she had been Harry and a vow was forcing him to protect Harry. This Snape was willing to stand in between Acromantula and his students.
The clicking grew louder as the spiders formed more of a half circle around the trio and started to press in tighter.
"Sir!" Flint's voice suddenly sounded as he ripped the webbing off his mouth.
"What?" Snape asked without turning his head.
"There's a-"
Flint's warning was cut off by the giant snake slithering through across the ground and swallowing the head Acromantula before Lucy could even comprehend what was happening.
"Mr Slither!" She called out happily between crunching sounds as the snake's powerful throat swallowed the spider, the others fleeing almost instantly, like a portkey had just touched each of them.
"Tiny human!"
"I'm not that small!"
"Not master!" The basilisk tried, she shrugged at that one, "oh you wouldn't believe the time I've been having! It's so wonderful out here! Did you provide all the meals for me? I mean, these spiders are like really big massaging rats. About as much hair, but those legs! They are so snappy! And tickle so pleasantly. Where there's this spot like five Chamber of Secrets floor tiles down my throat that's been itching for three hundred years, and these spiders legs scratch at it wonderfully!"
"Uhm I'm glad you think so? Listen, there's a problem at the castle and I need to prove you didn't do it so no one tries to hurt you," Lucy said quickly.
"Hurt me?" The snake's voice suddenly sounded tiny and timid.
"Don't worry! I won't let them," lucy felt like an awful hypocrite since she had killed this very snake in her past life.
"What do you need to make sure?" The snake asked.
"Just for this man to look into your mind. Just show him everything you've been doing since I freed you," she told him.
Relaying that the basilisk had agreed, Lucy tried to free Marcus while Snape's eyes peered into the baslisk's scales.
"I thought direct eye contact was required," Flint mused.
"I think it makes it a lot easier, it's not required for a master of the field," she said.
"Makes sense, slytherins are naturally better at everything," he nodded to himself.
"So you're just naturally better at getting captured?" She asked him sweetly.
Snape marched into the Great Hall at breakfast the next morning, Flint following closely behind him, though appearing much more asleep than the Potions Master.
In the typical dramatics of said Potions Master, Snape marched up to the Head Table and handed Dumbledore several scales from the basilisk.
"The basilisk is not the one petrifying students. He has not left the forest," he said.
"Not a single time?" Dumbledore clarified.
"Not even once," Snape snarled and headed for his seat. At Dumbledore's nod, Flint headed over to the Slytherin table."however, there is a rather bad Acromantula infestation in the Forbidden Forest. Ones that are not afraid of the consequences of eating students. The basilisk seems to have decided that he is the defender of Hogwarts within the Firest's limits."
Lucy skipped in and sat at the Hufflepuff table, somehow seeming to have gotten much more sleep than Snape or Flint.
"I will have Hagrid look into the forest situation," Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "I am quite pleased to hear that the basilisk is not the perpetrator of the attacks."
Omake:
Sirius and Remus jumped at a branch breaking somewhere in the forest behind the Ogden residence.
"Why are we doing this?" Sirius asked.
Remus shot him the Look, "Sirius, that poor raccoon took your punishment in Azkaban over the last years. This is the least it deserves."
"But, why do we have to look for it at 11pm at night, in the dark, in a magical forest?" Sirius whined.
When another branch snapped, he practically jumped into Remus' arms, who easily caught him.
Sirius squeezed Remus' bicep, "Wow, Moony, been working out?"
Remus dropped Sirius on his butt with a snort, "Yeah I'm on the rabid wolf monster plan. It gives me enough strength to be able to pick up your fat arse. Have you been eating too many dog biscuits?"
Sirius made a hurt expression, "Dog biscuits? Why I would never-"
He was cut off by a strange chirping sound.
Remus and Sirius would never admit that they may have moved closer together at the sound. Thirty two year old war veterans, a werewolf and Azkaban escapee, scared of whatever animal lie before them.
They creeped closer to the quivering bush where the noise had come from.
"Go check."
"No you."
"Why would I do it?"
"You're the one who said we had to check on the raccoon. Thing probably has rabies."
"You're already rabid, what more could it do to you."
"I'll show you rabid!"
The men shrieked like little girls when the raccoon dragged himself out from the bush.
Mostly glazed eyes with pupils pointing in different directions. Mangy fir with patches missing, but surprising no bugs like fleas or ticks. A mouth that always hanged slightly open, revealing a few sharp pointy teeth, but mostly just gums.
Remus shoved Sirius who just as quickly scuttled back behind Remus. The taller man sighed before approaching the messed up coon.
"Come on Archie, let's get you back to the Ogden house," he said as he scooped up the little coon.
Archie's one hand curled ominously in Remus' shirt and the whole animal growled as he latched tighter to Remus.
Safely in the Ogden's backyard, they gave the animal fresh water and soft dog food. Then they placed him in his warm dog box filled with the softest of blankets. Mrs Ogden felt it was only fair to try to give the animal some peace in his final years. Only problem, she'd assigned Remus and Sirius with his upkeep, which frequently involved trips into the forest to retrieve the animal.
A guest of the Ogden's looked in the backyard.
"Mrs Ogden, your dog does not look healthy at all," she said.
Mrs Ogden followed her gaze threw the back window to where Sirius was trying to brush Archie's fur as Archie snarled at Remus, who was keeping the biting away with a thick pillow tied around his arm.
"Age affects all of us differently. I'm sure he's just getting old," she said.
Mr Ogden snorted at the kitchen table as he listened in, "Definitely old age and not the dementors."