Harry hung on for his dear life as the Knight Bus started making it's bumpy ride come to a stop. It wasn't until he could see the streets of Hogsmeade, he started to regret calling on the Knight Bus as their transportation back to Hogwarts. For as the bus was slowing down, there was a ruckus of the people on board screaming. Hermione, standing behind the driver, pointing with one hand and covering half her face with her other was among the screaming.
"WATCH OUT! THE BOY! CAN'T YOU SEE HIM, YOU'RE GOING TO HIT THE BOY!"
In which the driver replied,
"Back behind the yellow line, miss."
Snape, who had been jolted awake from falling to the ground after one harsh turn too many, sat staring out a window and yelling an all too familiar 'weeeeeee.' Harry's head hurt. Not from his scar, but from having to listen to this. He glanced over at Ron, who was still passed out and wished that he, himself, could be in the same position. A break would be nice. He noticed Gabby was starting to stir, yet she kept her eyes closed, feining sleep. He was thrown foward and landed with a thud as the bus stopped completely. It was then he heard Hermione shreik, so loudly, he felt sorry for whomever would have to be by her side as she was going through labor.
"Open the door!" The boy! You hit him!"
"Behind the yellow line."
"Open the door."
"Yellow line."
Hermione let out a small growl and as soon as she stepped behind the yellow line, the doors opened and she was outside in a flash. Harry stood up and wobbled a bit as he looked around the bus. Snape had his face pressed against the window.
"Professor? Are you alright?" Harry asked. Snape turned his head sideways, his nose quite smashed and a bit out of shape...or in shape if anyone should dare say. It was no longer hooked, nor did it have the noticible bump in the middle of it, but rather, it was straight and thin. Snape nodded.
"Yes, I'm fine."
Harry tried not to giggle as Snape's eyes went wide. It had seemed that the straightening of Snape's nose had not only changed his appearance, but his voice as well. He didn't have a deep silky and sultry voice with any hint he was a feared teacher that enjoyed torturing kids. Instead, it sounded like someone had clamped his nostrils closed. Harry just nodded and turned around, stepping off the bus to check on Hermione.
As he stepped off the bus, Hermione had her arms around his waist and her head burried in his shoulders.
"Mione?" Harry asked, trying the best he could to comfort her. Hermione brought her head up and looked at Harry. Her eyes were red and glossy.
"They killed him, Harry." Harry swallowed and looked around. He couldn't see any sign of who had been hit and looked back at Hermione.
"Who?"
"They killed Kenny." Harry sighed, he remembered meeting Kenny a few weeks before Snape's first class with his problem.
"Oh dear." Was the only thing Harry could say as a crowd of Hogwarts students started to gather around. The crowd was pushed apart a mere few seconds later as Professor McGonnagal made herself known.
"Move aside, move aside!" McGonnagal's eyes met with Kenny's lifeless body and her jaw dropped. She shot her eyes upward to the bus and before anyone could say "Transfiguration," She had lept onto the bus and was now having a heated conversation with the driver. The crowd slowly dispursed leaving Harry and Hermione standing there alone.
"I tried to warn him." Hermione let out a deep sigh. Harry rubber a shoulder to comfort her.
"Shhh, Hermione it's going to be alright. I'm sure Madam Pomfrey has a few good tricks up her sleeve."
Hermione sniffed once more and pulled away just as McGonnagal was stepping off the bus. She looked at the two and gave them a look to follow her. Professor Snape stepped off the bus after McGonnagal, nose back to normal, and they all started the short walk back to Hogwarts.
*******
The moonglow that lit the infirmary by the glass windows standing side by side along the walls, gave Ron's skin an even more sickly look than what he already showed. His red hair, a disgusting contrast against his soft light green skin did him no good either. Hermione sat in a wooden chair by the side of his bed. Harry stood, looking out a window that faced the Quidditch pitch. He sighed and Hermione glanced over.
"A sickle for your thoughts?"
Harry didn't move his eyes from the pitch. He took in a slow and deep breath and held it in. Hermione tilted her head and asked again.
"Harry?"
"Hmmmm?...oh, uuhh, it's nothing."
Hermione cleared her throught.
"Harry." She didn't sound too convinced. Harry stood still again and took in a short breath.
"What?"
"Harry."
There was now a testing edge in her voice. Harry sighed once more and closed his eyes. He didn't feel like talking at the moment.
"What?"
"Ha-"
"You're beginning to wear my name out 'Mione." Harry turned anad opened his eyes looking back at Hermione. She shrank back into her chair slightly, keeping eyes with Harry.
"Well, if you'd just talk to me..."
"Talk? Talk?! I'm sick of talking at the moment..."
Hermione held her hands up protectively.
"You must have something that you want to get out, I'm just allowing you the chance."
Harry let out a breath and looked down at the ground. There was something that ran through his bones. An itch that needed to be scratched. He looked up at Ron and looked over his shoulder, out the window once again before looking back at Hermione.
"You have no idea." Harry answered as he headed out the infirmary doors. Hermione stood up and watched him leave, curious of where he was going. She jumped when she heard a faint 'That was close' come from behind her. She turned quickly and her eyes widdened at the sight of Ron, his eyes slightly opened and a familiar goofy grin on his face.
"It seemed like he was going to blow up again..." But his quiet and weak voice was drowned out by Hermione screaming..
"Ron! Madam Pomfrey! Madam Pomfrey! He's awake! Ron's awake!"
It took a few seconds before Madam Pomfrey was heard, hustling out of her office. She was carrying a tray filled with assorted bottles and a tall glass of water.
"Oh, Miss Granger, don't you think you should be in bed by now?"
Hermione shook her head.
"I'm not that tired."
"But you must be exhausted...you need your sleep, dear."
Hermione took a moment before nodding finally and tried to surpress a yawn. Madam Pomfrey smiled and handed her a blue bottle off of the tray.
"Here. Dreamless sleep potion. Go, get your rest." Pomfrey put the tray down and pointed Hermione towards the door.
"I can assure you, Mr. Weasley will be up and ready by tomorrow's breakfast."
Hermione left with one last look at Ron. She walked fast back to her common room, ready for a good nights sleep.
*******
Harry walked out onto the quidditch pitch. He breathed in the chilly night air and felt every muscle in his body relax. His broom was gripped tightly between his fingers and he mounted it, pushing off from the ground and rising into the night sky quickly. The cool air rushed through his hair and brushed against his face, numbing it to where his cheeks turned red and his eyes watered. He pulled out of his accent and took a sharp left, urging the broom to fly faster and went into a spiral. Suddenly stopping, Harry went into a snose dive and headed startight for the hard ground beneath him. Harry hesitated about pulling his broom up until the very last minuet and skimmed parallel the ground. He heard a light gasp that made him bring his broom to a hault and he looked over the stands. No one was in the stands, but he felt a pressence behind him. He turned and saw the familiar white beard and twinkling eyes that belonged to Professor Dumbledore. Harry dismounted his broom quickly.
"Professor Dumbledore..." He sounded startled.
"Professor, I was just about to go in..."
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he looked at Harry and he smiled.
"No need to appologize, you've had a confusing couple of days."
"No kidding." Harry mumbled. Dumbledore tilted his head and smiled a bit. He walked over to a sideline bench and stood beside him.
"Argus caught your father out here many a time, flying around after hours."
"Really?"
Dumbledore nodded.
"Usually before a final or big game. He said it helped to relax him."
Harry stayed quiet, his eyes wide, trying to imagine his fathers moves on the field. Dumbledore took a deep breath before standing.
"Well, Harry, you should try to get some sleep tonight."
"I'll be inside in a few."
Dumbledore nodded once more and walked back to the castle. Harry studdied the sky and sighed before putting his broom away and walked back inside.
*******
"You know, it's fun to say poop." Severus stated with a grin. Minerva let out an exasparated sigh and looked at Pomfrey.
"Poppy, please do something, I've had-"
"POOP!"
"-quite enough for today."
Pomfrey rushed over to the potions cabinet, but was startled by a boy that came through the infirmary doors and had bumped into her. She turned, putting her hands on her hips.
"Fred Weasley, what on earth are you doing out of bed at this hour?"
"I'm George-" He was soon pushed further in by Fred, following close behind. Fred answered her question.
"Hermione came in and told us that our little Ronnikins was awake."
George looked around and spotted Ron's bed, he patted Fred's arm and headed over. Fred excused himself and followed. They were stopped by Profesr Snape.
"Georgie Porgie and....Fred!"
"Hi professor." They answered in unison.
"Tell me, what do you think of the word 'poop?'"
George and Fred started to laugh. Minerva looked at the boys with a weary eye before she started to talk.
"Fred, George, even though I understand-"
"I mean everyone poops."
"-Your need to see your brother-"
"I poop."
"-But he's still not well, it would be best if-"
"Merlin knows Minerva poops too."
"You go.....POPPY! MEDICINE!! NOW!!!"
George and Fred smirked and Poppy, who seemed to forget about the medicine the first time, rushed back over to the medicine cabinet. Fred rushed over as well and stood between Poppy and the cabnet, his hands in his pockets.
"I'll advise you to move, Mr. Weasley."
"I'm only offering you my help."
"You'll help me to move."
"I'll tell you what..."
Fred turned, taking his hands out of his pockets and opened the cabnet doors and grabbed a blue bottle.
"...I'll give him the potion, you just sit back and relax."
"Mr. Weasley-"
"No no, I insist."
Fred stepped past Pomfrey before she had another word to say and walked over to Snape. Pomfrey watched and McGonnagal tapped her foot and crossed her arms.
"This is your final warning, don't make me take points, boys."
George looked at McGonnagal.
"Professor, trust us, we're professionals."
McGonnagal rolled her eyes and watched as Fred gave Snape a bit of the potion. It took a while before Snape's eyes closed and soft snores were heard.
"Oh thank Merlin." McGonnagal praised as the word 'poop' vanished from the room. Poppy gave a sigh of relief as well.
"Actually, you should be thanking me, professor. Merlin had no part in this."
"Don't be a smart arse, Weasley. Two points from Gryffindor."
"You can take as many points as you wish, professor, but I still saved you from Snape's 'poop' wrath."
Mc Gonnagal opened her mouth to reply, but both twins had already raced over to Ron's bedside and had started a soft conversation with him. Pomfrey had joined her side.
"Don't worry, Minerva. They'll be fine. I'll keep an eye on them, send them to bed in an hour or so."
Minerva stared at Poppy for a second before just shaking her head and leaving silently.
*******
Snape was in a cave. A dim light from an unknown source lit the room, making the Fools Gold that was embedded in the cave's walls shimmer with a happiness that brought a nautious feeling to Snape's stomach.
"You need to return young grasshopper."
Snape turned quickly and his nose wrinkled with confusement as he came face to face with air.
"What the-"
"Down here you idiot."
Snape looked down and saw an odd figgure. It had the body of a wrinkled midget that reminded him of Hoggle, a character in a muggle movie he had once seen. What was even odder was that his head, accented by his overly-large ears was also a character from a muggle movie he once saw a long time ago...Yoda.
"Oh..."
There was a moment of silence before the thing talked again.
"You are ready to escape this dream and return to the world where you belong."
"Huh?"
"Severus, listen to me. You cannot use your Schwartz in this land of Oz."
"You're out of your mind. Are you insinuating that I need to get laid?"
"You poor sould, don't you remember a thing?"
"About what?"
Snape watched as the thing sadly shook his head.
"You are Professor Snape. The most feared Professor of all those not in Slythern at Hogwarts."
Snape grinned.
"Indeed."
"And you forgot something else."
"What might that be?"
"Severus...I am your father."
Snape looked shocked.
"You lie!"
"Try me."
"I'll cut your heart out with a spoon and match it with mine."
"Ah, but why a spoon?" Snape sneered, this Yoda thing was dumb.
"Because it'll hurt more you twit!"
The thing gulped and Snape sneered. He still had it, the power to scare.
"Well, it's been great to converse with you, but you must be leaving."
Snape opened his mouth to protest, but felt his body being shaken. He closed his eyes for a second.
When he opened them he found himself in the infirmary. Pomfrey was looking at him and he jumped back.
"Severus, it's alright."
"What happened?"
"You were asleep."
Severus sighed before looking around.
"Poppy? What am I doing in the infirmary?"
"You don't remember, do you?"
"Now, if I were to remember, why would I be asking?"
Poppy waited for a second, catching the hint that he was no longer his goofy self, but back to the old, grouchy, Professor Snape. When she went to answer, all she came out with was...
"You hit your head."
"When?"
"A few weeks ago."
Snape stood and looked out the window. It was daylight and he tried to think about the last week. Nothing came to mind and he turned around. He looked over the beds and noticed a familiar red head awake and looking at him.
"Having a staring problem Mr. Weasley?"
Ron shook his head.
"No Professor."
"Then quit gawking."
Ron obidently snapped his head towards an opposite wall. Madam Pomfrey stared at Snape as she went over to Ron and put a hand on his forehead.
"How are you feeling?"
"Much better."
Poppy nodded and stood straight.
"Well, if you feel well enough to be hungry, you may go get dressed. Breakfast starts in a few minuets."
Ron nodded and stood, he avoided eye contact with Snape, also sensing that Snape was back to normal and left for the Great Hall with curiosity.
"What happened to him? No, no, let me guess." Snape laughed and sucked air in, looking at Pomfrey with an amused expression.
"His wand blew up again."
"Severus, why don't you go have a cup of coffee. There's a lot of explaining to do, well have a meeting after breakfast and explain it all to you."
Severus didn't have a chance to reply due to Pomfrey pushing him out the infirmary doors and closing them as he stepped out of the room.
*******
The breakfast hall was as loud and busy as it usually was. Harry, Hermione, George and Fred were sitting together, silently. Ron soon came up and sat beside Hermione causing a bunch of people to notice and a whole bunch of welcome backs and gossip to spread about why Ron had been in the infirmary.
"Ron!" Hermione was screaming again as she threw her arms around his neck and gave him a hug. Ron smiled and tried to reach for a muffin that was sitting infront of him.
"Hello 'Mione. Hey guys." He nodded around the table. Fred and George smiled at Ron.
"And how was the rest of your night in the infirmary?" George asked.
"Ah, quiet, counted the tiles in the celing...Alright, I guess....Snape's back to normal."
Harry and Hermione exchanged looks and Fred and George just kept smiling.
"You mean, just like that?" Hermione snapped her fingers. Ron nodded. They were too busy to hear Fred and George whispering across the table to each other as Ron continued talking.
"Yes, Fred gave him some sleeping potion, he was knocked out until right before Madam Pomfrey let me leave."
"Hang on.." Harry tilted his head feeling something that didn't feel right.
"Why did Fred give him the potion and not Madam Pomfrey?" His question caused Ron and Hermione to also start wondering and they all quickly looked at Fred.
"What did you do?" Hermione asked, her eyes changing between them both, George happily spoke up.
"Oh, alright alright, we wern't going to tell anyone, but it's one of our new products." George paused and Fred continued talking, a smile on his face as well.
"We found out that if you switched the ingrediants around in the potion he was having us whip up-"
"A whole new theme of a potion took place." George finished nicely. Hermione growled and spoke slowly and quietly, obviously trying to keep her cool.
"You mean to tell us that we were doing all that work just to find out what was wrong with Snape for all that time and for NOTHING!?! That you had the solution all this time and never once helped us?!?" Harry and Ron were holding Hermione back from having her stand up to yell. Fred and George nodded and answered innocently...
"You never asked us if we had a solution."
Hermione growled and tried to jump over the table, Harry had a hold of one arm and Ron had a hold of the other. Fred and George had jumped back a little, almost falling out of their seat and ready to run when the doors to Great Hall opened with a bang and the inside went quiet. Hermione sat down immediately and Fred and George straightened up as a dark billowly figgure found it's way through the tables and up to the head staff table. Professor Snape was indeed feeling back to his normal self. As he sat hastilly in his chair, Harry looked over at Fred and George and whispered.
"You're in for some detention time after he finds out who had done this." Fred and George tore their eyes off of the Professor and looked back at Harry. George laughed lightly and shook his head.
"Our dear Hary, detention is the least of our concerns."
After a while, the Great Hall went back to being loud. Up at the teachers table, Madam Trelawney was studdying Snape with a great intrest. She lightly tapped his shoulder after a while and pointed to the coffee cup in which he was staring.
"You know, you can't quite see your future as clear in coffee...perhaps if you tried a glass of water...."
She took said coffee cup away and pushed a glass of water infront of him.
"That should be more clear for you."
Snape slowly turned his head and looked at the overdone professor and sneered. He surely wasn't in the mood and answered simpily, recalling his dream he had just a few hours ago...
"You know, Sybil, You're like Yoda...but dumb." He stood, nodding his head as politely as he could and walked out of the hall, heading to where he can relax and gather everything before he had to teach class in the morning.
***********
Yay! It's finished! *jumps for joy* Thank you to all who reviewed! I love each and every one of you. Hope you liked this ending...well, Mandy, my roomie is bitting me ass to get going, so.....Love Peace and bullet-proof marshmallows,
Jennie!