Chapter Nineteen

Threats and Accusations

Jennifer dressed and got ready for the first day back to class. She walked over to the large mirror in her room, having misplaced her small one. She then asked herself if she was ready.

"This should be a lot of fun," she told herself in the mirror. She had warned everyone, especially Severus, what her class was going to be working on. It wouldn't do to have professors bolting up the corridor and learning it the hard way, she grinned at herself.

"We're going to start looking at fear spells," she told them, "how to see through them, and how to beat them. There are many creatures that use fear spells as well, and I know that you have had some experience learning how to defeat those. You are even going to get to learn a few fear spells. But the reason I'm going to be teaching them is not for you to use them," she glanced suspiciously around the class, "but because nothing defeats fear like knowledge. For example, how many of you remember how to defeat a Boggart?"

The entire class raised their hand. "How many of you are afraid of Boggarts now?" most of the hands went down. "Anyone brave enough to admit they were afraid of them before they knew how to defeat them?" she asked with a grin, looking around. A few more hands went up. "Oh come on, now. I was afraid of them, I'll admit it. I had one in the closet once when I was seven and I thought my parents would never believe me," she raised her hand, and after a few chuckles, a few more hands went up.

"Sometimes you can just use a little old fashioned reasoning to discount them. Other times, you have to first recognize that it's a spell, and then cast a counter to end it. They can be a little unnerving, but please remember, these spells cannot directly harm you. They harm people through manipulation, so you won't be in any danger while under one of the spells I'm going to cast. Any volunteers?"

The class began looking around at each other. "All right then, we're going to do this another way," she grinned, closing and locking the door. "Stay in your seats, please." Taking out her wand, she waved it around the classroom and said, "Timere atar!"

The room was instantly black, no light came in from windows or lights, nothing.

"Is that it?" they heard Neville's voice say.

"There's something moving in here," Ron's voice said.

"Did anyone here a noise?" Hermione asked.

Suddenly they were assaulted by what they perceived as creatures crawling all over them, and strange sounds behind them. Some of them started screaming.

"Come on, class, you can do better than that!" Jennifer shouted over the others. "What defeats dark? Think about this, it's just a spell! It's JUST A FEAR SPELL."

"Lumos!" she heard someone say. Suddenly light poured from someone's wand, and within moments, the light in the classroom returned to normal. Jennifer grinned at the pointed up wand being held by the crouched figure of Harry Potter.

"Good job Harry! Five points for Gryffindor! Is everyone okay?" Some of the students were up on their chairs, and Neville crawled out from under his desk. None of their robes looked pressed anymore. "All right, I'm going to do it one more time. You're going to sit in your seats until I say 'now' and then… Neville, you're going to cast Lumos, okay?"

The second time went much better, she thought. No one screamed, even though she heard some instinctively trying to fight the crawling perception off. "Now."

"Lumos!" The spelled dissipated as before. Everyone had stayed in their seats that time.

"Well done!" Jennifer smiled at them. "Did anyone get hurt? No? No. Why? Because fear can only hurt you if you allow it to." She looked around at the class, meeting their gazes. "Now, for the rest of the term, we're going to be having what I am going to call fear drills. That means, at any time I deem it necessary, I'm going to let off one of the spells that we are going to be studying. Some of them you'll know, and some of them you won't. Oh, and if I don't get volunteers again when I want to introduce a new spell, I will hit everyone with it like I did just now," she smiled warmly.

The class didn't look quite as enthusiastic as she was. In fact, none of her classes were. Screams went out through the first week as she got the students acquainted with their new topic. She even started with a different spell in each class, so that talking students wouldn't prepare them for what was to come. It wasn't surprising, however, when Draco got caught using one of the fears, the drowning fear, on one of the students at lunch at the end of the week. Fortunately, enough of the students had sat in that class and was able to figure out that wind dissipated it, so it came to nothing. He swiftly got detention and was warned that another violation would mean suspension.

For the most part the new agenda went very well, and Jennifer was very pleased with their progress. Then one day, as Jennifer was teaching the vertigo spell, Severus burst in, making the class jump. His wand was out, looking around the class.

"Professor Craw, you may want to get the students out of here," Severus snapped.

"Everyone, quickly file into the corridor," Jennifer said, pulling out her wand. Just then one of the students fell, and Jennifer started towards her.

"Don't move, it's a Venowraith!" he warned. Jennifer saw the shadowy snake slither past the fallen form of Ginny.

"Oh, no, Ginny!" Jennifer's face paled. Venowraiths were rare and deadly, their magic venom notoriously quick and hard to stop. Watching the snake, Jennifer got to the girl and dragged her towards the door. "Malor, Go get Madame Pomfrey quick! The rest of you report to the great hall untill next class." she called. Ginny's limbs were beginning to turn grey. Laying her just outside the door, she raised her wand and pointed it at the swollen leg. "Sanguis morte!" Just where she pointed the wand, a tiny cut appeared, and a trickle of blood started to appear, and then a heavy stream.

"There's more than one in this room," Severus alerted her, "there's one coming out of your desk drawer. I don't think it was meant for the students…." Just then, he jumped. "Petrificus totalis!" Severus intoned, having finally petrified the one that had bit the girl, and then stepped cautiously over to the desk.

Jennifer bit her lip, watching the girl closely. Although the greyness wasn't increasing, she was losing an awful lot of blood and Jennifer hadn't exactly done this before. She listened to her heart, beating faintly and rapidly. At last Pomfrey arrived and, after quickly filling her in, Jennifer dove for her office.

Sweat beading down her brow, she started up the beakers, muttering each ingredient out loud before she set it on her desk, sticking in thermometer in a couple of the ingredients, trying to get the most sensitive two up to temperature. Severus came in a moment later, grabbing a phial and some cloth, milking the venom out of the snake he had just caught.

She heard Dumbledore's voice down the hall, hearing him cast the counterspell to the spell she had cast on Ginny a few minutes before. They were running out of time. Severus handed her the distilled venom before turning, looking for something, then quickly left. A moment later he came back with the nausca moss. Taking off the heat portion she added the temperature sensitive ingredients, counting to herself to keep her from rushing until Severus picked up the count to keep it steady. At last she added the three drams of moss as the catalyst and then quickly walked out, making sure not to drop any, and knelt in the blood around the girl. Her lips were blue now, and only parts of her cheeks and forehead were still pink when Jennifer gave Ginny the anti-venom, gritting her teeth as she attempted to get in every drop as quickly as possible. Jennifer finally sat back, breathing hard, looking at her helplessly.

"I slowed down her metabolism, so it may take a moment to tell if it's going to work," Pomfrey said quietly. It seemed an interminable amount of time. Jennifer started to find herself going through every ingredient of the Nauscametim Antivenom in her mind… it was one of the most complex formulas she had ever learned, and any mistake... a degree in temperature, an extra grain of verbex, would have rendered it useless.

At last, in what seemed an eternity, Jennifer noticed Ginny's face begin to regain some color. Jennifer felt almost like fainting from relief, for she had so much doubt that it would actually work. Pomfrey nodded to her in affirmation, using her wand to clean up the blood and wrap the girl tightly in blankets.

"She's lost a lot of blood," Pomfery said in a strained voice, indicating she was still unsure if Ginny was going to make it. "I need to get her upstairs now." Dumbledore nodded for her to proceed.

"Could someone tell me where those snakes came from?" Dumbledore asked at last.

"From my desk, apparently," Jennifer said, letting Severus help her up. Now that the worst was over, she felt her anger creeping up that an attempt on her life resulted in a student getting hurt.

"There were two. Apparently whoever was responsible thought it might improve their odds," Severus said in a low voice. "But perhaps that'll be their undoing. I was able to keep one alive so that we might question it."

"Question it?" Jennifer asked, looking at Severus with a frown. Dumbledore nodded grimly.

"Let's put it in my study and call Harry up there," the Headmaster agreed.

Minerva walked up just as Severus walked out with the container, the snake still motionless inside.

"I heard but I couldn't believe it! Venowraiths in the school? Then Ginny's…."

"No, Minerva, she's not dead. She's alive thanks to the efforts of Poppy, Severus and Jennifer," Dumbledore said. Severus handed the box over to Jennifer, who didn't look too thrilled to have it.

"I'll go dismiss my class and get Potter," Severus said.

As they got up to the study, Jennifer put the snake on the desk and Dumbledore motioned for her to sit. She sank into the high-backed chair, watching the snake thoughtfully as the other two sat down, each in their own thoughts. Severus and Harry entered, walking up to the box.

"Thank you for coming, Harry," Dumbledore said. Harry nodded slowly, "Could you please find out who put the snakes in Professor Craw's desk?"

Harry looked surprised. Is that why Snape had left the class so quickly? But how did he know? Harry turned to the Venowraith talking to it in a series of hisses, looking startled.

"He said he bit someone. He bit a red-haired girl!" he said surprised.

"We know, it's all right. Go on," Dumbledore coaxed.

"A student, taller than me…stockier, brown hair…" Harry hissed again, then listened to the snake. "Left them last night in a bag of some sort. It hasn't eaten in awhile. Someone else captured them."

Dumbledore stood up, pacing. "A student. A student of this school attempted to kill a teacher, and now another student is fighting for her life." He stopped pacing. "Severus, can you go get the bag they were in? Minerva, I want you to call an assembly. Jennifer, please go make sure an owl has been sent to Ginny's parents informing them of the situation. Please stay here with me, Harry, and we can see what more we can find out."

The hospital wing was already filled with Weasleys by the time Jennifer got there, and she quickly found herself surrounded in a group hug. She felt envious for a moment since she had been an only child and never having been close to her parents.

"We hear if it wasn't for your quick thinking…"Arthur started to say, his voice faltering. "Thank you."

"No sir, it was definitely a group effort," Jennifer insisted. "Severus and Pomfrey did as much. And, sir, I'm afraid that I… had to cross a few lines in this matter, and I'd rather not take credit for it."

"Sometimes lines need to be crossed to save lives, and I'd say that even if it were someone else's little girl in there. Thank you." Molly said gratefully. Jennifer smiled at them, wishing them luck before heading back to the study.

Students were walking in lines down the stairs as she passed, heading to the Great Hall and whispering softly to each other as they attempted to figure out what was going on. Jennifer slipped back inside the study, and Dumbledore stood, along with Harry. Severus was standing near the back curtain.

"Shall we get this over with?" Dumbledore asked. Never had she seen him so disappointed. Severus picked up the box and they went down the stairs and straight into the Great Hall. All of the students grew quiet when they entered, and their eyes were on the glass box. The entire staff was also there, standing in front, each one of them wearing somber expressions.

"As some of you may know," Dumbledore said, glancing at each table in turn, "a crime was committed here this morning, a very serious crime. I cannot even begin to express the amount of anger, horror, and disappointment I feel at this very moment. That one of our students would attempt such a heinous act as to attempt to kill a professor, endangering his own classmates, and nearly taking the life of a fellow student, Miss Ginny Weasley." Dumbledore put up a hand as the murmur began to arose. "I want to first convey how serious her condition is. It is a miracle that she is still alive, and some of that credit must go to Professor Jennifer Craw, who was able to brew from scratch a highly sensitive potion under great duress to administer the cure on time. This, I'm told by my staff, has never successfully been done before. So, it is an irony, perhaps, that the professor the vipers intended to kill ended up being the only person on staff who could have saved the life of the innocent student who had been victim to it." Jennifer shifted uncomfortably. She could have done without him saying that.

"As it happens, we have not yet confirmed the student who has done this, and I would like the opportunity to offer this moment for that person to come forward on their own, to face the school decision and the wizard's council on his own terms rather than ours." Dumbledore waited patiently, watching the students turning from side to side looking at each other. To his credit, Dumbledore waited longer than Jennifer would have, or probably any other member of the staff, before finally sighing and shaking his head.

"Professor McGonagall, would you accompany Professor Snape and Mr. Potter down the aisles please?" The students began to whisper, suddenly understanding why Harry had been called to the front. Had the student known Harry was a Parselmouth, Jennifer wondered, watching the three go up and down the isles, the snake watching every move, and every student was under speculation. Row by row they went, Jennifer growing more and more uncomfortable, disturbed by the necessity of such a procedure. At the very last table, the snake became increasingly interested, pressing up against the glass, then it hissed, and Harry stopped.

"The snake says it's Goyle," Harry told them.

"He lies! Harry's just lying… they can't prove anything, don't listen to them," Malfoy told him.

"Mr. Goyle? Is there anything you would like to say on your behalf?" Minerva asked, trying to remain civil.

Malfoy jabbed him, but Goyle was looking at the snake, who was indeed watching him and hissing. Harry hissed back in reply.

"He says there's no mistake. Gregory Goyle was the last person to touch him." Harry said.

"So what if it were!" Goyle stood up angrily. A ruckus began to break out at the tables as Malfoy yelled at him to get down and not say anything. "I did do it! I wanted her dead. It was all her fault that my father is in jail! Do you know what it's like, having to be criticized about being your father's child day after day? How he was weak to get caught, when it was all because of some young nobody teacher whose father was a coward? Voldemort wants you dead, you know, and one of these days you'll get what's coming to you!"

"ENOUGH!" Dumbledore was furious, and the rest of the students looked at him wide-eyed. "Professor McGonagall, please remove this ex-student from my sight at once. He will be held until the Ministry of Law Enforcement comes to get him." Everyone shifted uncomfortably about, Harry returning to his table and Severus returning to stand by Jennifer. "Also, let me assure you that if the investigations turn up any more student names, they will also face punishments. This is not something that I do gladly, but I will do so in order to preserve the peace and safety of this school.

"If any of you have any doubts on where I stand on this matter, let them end now. You are all my family, and I despise the thought of losing any of you to the evils of the world in which we live. As I have said in the past, if we all stick together, we shall be able to get through this together. It is something I suggest we all work harder to remember. Dismissed."

As the students started to leave, Dumbledore looked at Severus and Jennifer.

"Would you please take the viper down to Hagrid to look after? I won't be available the rest of the day. And Jennifer, no classes for the rest of the afternoon. The Ministry will probably want to take a look in there."

Severus and Jennifer left out the back, walking around to get away from the students who were still mulling about the front of the Great Hall.

"Do you think Draco knew about it? I couldn't see his face from where I was standing." Jennifer asked. Severus looked thoughtful.

"Knew, yes, helped, no. I doubt that a Malfoy would do anything that would directly get his hands dirty."

"Just my rotten luck," Jennifer grunted.