Disclaimer: Do I really have to write one at the beginning of every chapter?
A/N: You keep this alive! By the way, nobody guessed who the DADA teacher would be. Does the title ring any bells?
P.S: I re-posted this chapter because I forgot some important credits (it's at the end if you're interested).
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Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix
Chapter V: Double Snape
The time passed quickly at Hogwarts. The emptiness of the halls that innerved
Harry at first quickly became a blessing. There was nobody to tell him what to
do, no Dursleys to pester him, no Filch to chase him in the corridors. He would
have been the happiest of boys if Ron were there to enjoy with him. They could
hang around Hogsmeade or explore the multiple passageways like his father and
his friends did a long time ago. Harry missed Hermione as well, but if her
letters were of any indication she had no time to take part in adventures. The
OWLs were coming.
Harry received regular letters from his friends and Sirius and felt that he was
much more in touch with the wizarding world there at Hogwarts that at Privet
Drive, though he still wasn't allowed to perform any magic. He didn't miss the
Dursleys at all.
He contented with practising Quidditch a lot and studying some. Dumbledore was
out of school most of the time and so was Professor McGonagall, but one teacher
or another was always there to keep an eye on him. Hagrid came back in the first
week of August from wherever he had been and refused blankly to speak about his
mission. The library and the kitchens were two other places he visited
frequently.
The time passed quickly. The morning of the first September resulted to be
exactly like all August mornings had been. Nothing except the sight of Hagrid
checking the dozen of boats for the first-years announced that the Hogwarts
Express would be coming in no time to bring life and animation to the sleepy
castle.
After wandering around the halls and not finding any hint of preparation for the
welcome party Harry decided to go down to the train station. He was feeling a
little bit alone for the first time in a month but full with anticipation a the
same time. It was a curious feeling, watching the train appear on the curve,
come to halt on the platform and open its doors to let the multitude of students
finally pour from its depth.
Blissfully, finding the red hairy and lanky Ron in the crowd was quite easy, and
Hermione was close by. Harry fought his way through the tide of pushing students
to join his friends.
"Great that you are here! You can help me to carry those!" Ron announced in a
way of greeting and shoved in Harry's hands a heavy bag from Flourish and Blouts
with all the books the Weasleys bought for him in Diagon Alley.
Hermione said nothing. She just hugged him so tightly like he was a long lost
friend coming home from the clutches of unspeakable danger. The conversation had
to be interrupted. Familiar faces were appearing from every direction,
bombarding Harry with predictable questions about his last adventure.
"Is it true? You-know-who was at your house?"
"Have you seen him? Is he really two meter high and looks like a dead corpse?"
"It was all over the newspapers! It said they needed twenty Hit Wizards to drive
the Death Eaters away!"
It sounded very suspiciously like Rita Skeeter's handiwork. Harry found himself
going over the whole story for the thousandth time. Blissfully, most of the
curiosity was satisfied by the time they all got into the carriages.
"We've met Draco Malfoy on the train." Hermione announced after closing the door
and making sure Harry was able to hear her voice. "He wasn't very happy about
You-know-who's failure. He tried to give us a conference on the purity of
lineage, but we didn't listen."
"She made some kind of spell and every time he tried to say Mudblood the only
thing that came out were dog barks." Ron interrupted excitedly. Hermione lit up
with pleasure. It wasn't very often when she got credit from Ron for exhibiting
her vast knowledge.
"It's an application of an Imperio Charm to the process of speaking, I've read
about it in our Defence against Dark Arts book..." she started, but Ron
interrupted again.
"Hermione, you are our hero. Keep up the good work but save us the details, OK?"
Pretending he had to tie his boot he bent down to Harry and whispered to him:
"I made a bet with Fred and George that she won't be able to sit through the
whole Sorting and Welcome fest without starting a discussion about the OWLs.
Five Galleons, but if I loose I'll have to try out their new inventions for a
week."
Harry grinned. Happy as he was at meeting his friends he couldn't escape a
feeling of shame and a bit of loneliness. True to his word to Professor
McGonagall he didn't mention any of the details concerning the Order in his
letters to his friends. It had been easy in writing. But now face to face with
Ron and Hermione Harry was finding it increasingly difficult to lie. The worst
of all was that he wanted nothing else but to tell his friends everything, and
especially the conversation on the lake he had overheard. He would feel much
better if he heard his friends laugh at the idea of him being the Phoenix. He
was mostly able to drive out those thoughts himself, but sometimes in the night
he wasn't so sure and he laid in the dark feeling the polished wood of his wand
under his fingers.
Getting out of the carriage they were greeted by the sight that made Harry
forget his worries. Draco Malfoy was trying to speak to the Slytherin prefect
about the incident on the train and failing miserably to make the impression
he's hoped for.
"I only said *** and she cursed me and now I can't say ***." The prefect didn't
look enthusiastic at all. Worse, the students moving in the general direction of
the castle were sending the barking boy bizarre looks and trying to get past him
as soon as possible. Harry doubted Malfoy would be going to any of the
professors with that. The spell was proving to be extremely handy. He made a
mental note to check his Dark Arts book for more similar stuff.
By the time he entered the Great Hall behind Ron and Hermione Harry didn't feel
himself any different from the rest of the students. The room that was empty and
silent only that morning now shone with the familiar warmth of welcoming. They
took their seats at the Gryffindor table and watched the first girl be sorted
into Slytherin. It reminded Harry of something.
"Some of the students dropped out of school. I saw the letters in Dumbledore's
office. They all were Slytherins."
"Hm... Maybe they have finally figured out they will never make it to graduation."
Offered Hermione serving some salad onto her plate with a wave of her wand.
"Some got transferred to Durmstrang. I think they want to join Voldemort."
"One thing doesn't lead to the other. Only because somebody goes to Durmstrang
doesn't mean he is evil!" Hermione noted indignantly.
"Not Krum again!" Ron rolled his eyes.
"Again?" Asked Harry.
"He spent the whole trip trying to find out where I spent the summer!" Moaned
Hermione.
"But didn't do to Bulgaria, right? Your parents wouldn't let you go just like
that."
"Maybe. But then again, I wouldn't be likely to tell you even if I were there!"
Harry put a quick end to the beginning tension by saying something he knew both
Ron and Hermione would agree to:
"Pity they couldn't send all the Slytherins to some hidden school very far from
here!"
"Put them all on a ship and let it sink on the way!" Ron added helping himself
to a second portion of pineapple cake.
At the Slytherin table Draco Malfoy was welcoming the new students. He obviously
tried to say something he shouldn't have because his whole table was hovering
with laughter and he was glaring at Hermione with a murdering stare.
"How long will he be like that?" Harry asked.
"I don't know, but I hope he recovers before the classes start. The spell I
used, it's really nasty."
"It's perfect! I don't mind him staying that way forever." Hermione seemed
unconvinced. In fact she seemed a little uncomfortable when somebody mentioned
the spell.
"Does anybody know who will be teaching Defence against Dark Arts this year?"
She clearly intended to change the conversation.
"What?" Harry was taken by surprise by the question. He looked at the table
where the teachers sat and instantly understood what Hermione meant. Dumbledore
was sitting in the middle, as cheerful as any of the previous years. Professors
McGonagall and Snape were sitting near him, along with the rest of the
personnel. There were no new faces at the table.
"Dunno." Answered Harry with the mouth full of pumpkin pudding. He was
accustomed to the excellent food at Hogwarts, but this outdid any of the meals
the kitchen elves prepared for him in the last month.
"Hope it's Moody!" Grinned Fred and George.
"Having Professor Lupin again would be nice." Said Neville. He had been very
afraid of Mad-Eye Moody even when the Auror was nice to him.
"It's not him, I'm sure. And if we are to have Moody it better be the real one."
Corrected Harry. It still bothered him that the famous Auror who gave him
classes last year turned out to be a condemned Death Eater.
"Hope nothing happened to him on the way here." Joined Ron.
"More biting dustbins!"
"Poisonous snakes!"
"Flesh-eating flowers in the garden!"
Dumbledore's voice was the only thing that succeeded in shutting up the excited
chatting of the Weasley twins.
He welcomed the first-years, went over the common announcements, explained the
forbiddance of the Forbidden Forest and the importance of the hundred and fifty-
seven Filch's rules before moving to the topic that interested the Gryffindors
most.
"For the fifth year in road I have the pleasure to introduce a new teacher for
the Defence against the Dark Arts class to all of you. As the older students
remember, many distinguished teachers have held that post in the past, but for
different reasons nobody was able to stay long. I hope that this year it will be
quite different. I am happy to announce that Professor Severus Snape, who has
been our Potion teacher for quite some time, has kindly agreed to take this
post."
The applause from the Slytherin's table wasn't enough to fill the Great Hall.
Some students from Hufflepuff and Rawenclaw joined in politely but stopped when
it became clear that nobody from Gryffindor planned to move a finger. Far from
looking pleased about his new position, Snape stared at the students with a
peculiar expression. To anyone who knew him it looked exactly like badly hidden
loathing.
"He doesn't look very happy." Hermione seemed to read Harry's mind.
"Must have realised by now how loved he is in this school."
"I think he is trying to remember all the people who didn't applaud to give them
a detention." Neville whispered from over the table.
"He can't send three quarters of the school to detention!" Retorted Hermione.
Ron looked positively green at the idea of having Snape for Dark Arts teacher.
"Do you reckon my mum will be very furious if I drop out of Hogwarts in fifth
year?" He seemed to give the idea a good thought.
"See? Maybe the people who got transferred to Durmstrang knew what they were
doing..."
"Dumbledore trusts him." Harry interrupted the conversation. And the Phoenix
accepted him, after all, he thought to himself.
"Since when are you on Snape's side?" The entire Gryffindor table stared at him
incredulously.
Saying that Harry was on Snape's side was like saying that Dumbledore was on
Voldemort's. Harry could think of nothing else that could ruin the evening so
quickly and fully, but was determined not to let anything get to him. He was
alone in this battle. Nobody but the Weasley twins had any hunger anymore, and
even they spend the moments between bites telling the nervous first-years
frightening tales about Snape's teaching methods. One by one people stood up and
left the table, making excuse about being tired after the trip. The truth was,
nobody wanted to sit there under the looks of triumph coming from the
Slytherins.
By the time they all left the table and went up the Gryffindor fifth-year's
dormitory Harry was finally able to come up with a positive thought concerning
Snape.
"Come on," he called Ron, who was furiously preparing his bed for sleeping, "I
agree that there's nothing worse than Snape in Dark Arts. But before there was
nothing worse than Snape in Potions. We'll just change the subject we hate
most."
There was no answer before Ron drew the curtains around his bed. When Harry
finally gave up and closed his eyes he heard his friend saying loudly for the
whole dorm to hear:
"Can you believe that I spent the whole summer actually looking forward to
coming back here?"
Nothing Harry could say was going to cheer Ron up. It made no sense trying, and
much less bringing some bad news. In the agitation of the day Hermione hasn't
mentioned the OWLs at all. Harry just wondered what kind of new Weasley Wizard
Wheezy product would Ron's brothers make him try.
Hermione made up for her unforgivable forgetfulness right in the next morning
when she greeted the boys with a cheerful phrase:
"I've checked the new plan and we now have two hours on Friday evening specially
for the preparation of the OWLs."
"Isn't it thoughtful? The year before we had the same two hours specially for
free time!" Ron's mood hasn't changed over the night, and the fact that Fred and
George had already talked to him didn't make the things any better. He snapped
the paper from Hermione's hand and looked through it. Harry expected him to put
on a grimace of anger but Ron did something much more frightening. He smiled.
"Harry? You wanted to know what could be worse than Snape at Dark Arts or
Potions?"
"Nothing?" He guessed, and from the expression of his friend's face he knew he
was quite wrong.
"Try Snape in Dark Arts and Potions."
"Try Professor Snape in Double Dark Arts and Potions." A voice from behind the
table joined in. "Looks like we have a meeting with the Gryffindor loosers after
the lunch." Draco Malfoy and a group of Slytherins smiled cheerfully at them.
"Hey, Malfoy! Can you say "Mudblood" for all of us? I miss my puppy!" George
called. Draco Malfoy went red and some of the Slytherins tried hard to suppress
a laugh. Gryffindor table didn't do for that trouble.
"I know where you got that spell from." Draco muttered between clenched teeth to
Hermione. She turned away.
Half and hour later Harry and Ron were climbing the stairs, looking forward to
their first Divination lesson. Clutched in Harry's hand was a letter from Sirius
that a grey and tired-looking owl brought him at breakfast. His godfather wanted
to know how the first day of school went. Harry thought he was going to have a
lot to tell him after putting up with Snape and Slytherins for two hours.
"If there's something good about having so much of Snape it has to be that it
makes you look forward to all the other classes and be grateful you don't have
to face him yet." Hermione said to them before heading for Aritmancy.
The plan had worked well until Professor Trelawney gave each one of them a pack
of cards, told to open the books on page six and announced that the most
talented student in the class will be given an opportunity to foresee what
subjects may come up in their OWLs with her own crystal ball at the end of
semester. They had to work in pairs and she insisted that Lavender and Parvati,
being the two most gifted students in the class helped Harry and Ron to develop
their Inside Eyes.
Harry's first card turned out to be the black king.
"No wonder." Lavender Brown assumed a patronizing air. "You have got You-know-
who in you future in every Divination lesson, from crystal balls to tea leaves."
"Voldemort's not a king!" Protested Harry. "Only because he's back doesn't mean
he has won already!" The only answer he got was a point blank stare at the
mention of the fearful name.
He tossed the cards on the table and took another one. It was a diamond knight.
The figure on the card winked at him naughtily. Harry smiled. He had a very good
idea about who this man could be.
"Now explain, my children." Professor Trelawney emerged from behind their backs
and was examining the cards.
"It's very clear, Professor!" Lavender started. "Here's the negative force, and
here's the positive. Harry's got an enemy, but he's also got a protector, he
stays between him and You-know-who..."
"Not quite right, my dear." Professor Trelawney's smoky voice had lost a bit of
its mystery and acquired some didactical notes. "See the nine of spades here? It
changes everything."
Harry groaned both mentally and physically. For the first time in quite a lot
something seemingly close to truth had come out of a Divination lesson.
Something that didn't end with his death or some global disaster. But she
couldn't have that, could she?
"Changes what? Does my enemy become my friend or something?" The diamond knight
was real, and Harry wasn't about to hear somebody say that Sirius didn't exist.
"The positive force that stays between you and the evil, it won't protect you
forever. His strength will come to an end, and you will change places. You will
stand in the middle of the battle." Harry didn't have enough presence of mind to
hide the expression on his face. It told quite clearly what he thought of this
prediction.
Ron's fortune turned out much more prosaic.
"A queen of spades all the time. Do you reckon my mum will be sending me Howlers
of what?"
"A queen of spades is considered to bring good luck to somebody who sees it
three time in a road." Parvati explained patiently. At least somebody was having
good luck that day.
They went back to the main part of the castle and met Hermione at the entrance
to the Transfiguration classroom. Being the Head of House Gryffindor Professor
McGonagall started the lesson by explaining the dynamic of the OWLs once more.
They were to have intermediate exams before Christmas and Easter vacations to
assess their knowledge before the actual OWLs took place in summer. On Friday
evenings an intensive practical preparation would take place for all who needed
it.
"And for now I've seen only one student in this class transform a stone into an
eatable hamburger." Even the point of Hermione's nose became red with pleasure.
She could be the only one who didn't need the extra practise, but she surely
would be the first one to go there.
"The part of Transfiguration we will be studying this year is advanced magic
already. Only the simplest notions of it will be expected from you. It has to do
with Materialization. Who can tell me what does it mean? Mr. Weasley?"
"Probably Hermione, Professor." It wasn't the answer Professor McGonagall
expected but she gave him the benefit of the doubt and turned in the direction
of Hermione's waving hand.
"Materialization involves a Transfiguration in which a tiny part of many objects
is taken to create a new entity, so that the basic source of matter remains
seemingly unchanged."
"Very accurately explained, Miss Granger. The right Materialization borrows
matter from the ground, the trees, even the air around us. Knowing that, where
would it be unwise to perform one?"
A couple of hands rose this time.
"In a closed room? You'll use all the air and die." Parvati offered.
"You can use the walls and the floor."
"In a closed room with Preserving charms on the walls?" Neville made a
correction.
"In a room full of gold!" That was Ron's idea.
"In space." Said Seamus, whose father was a Muggle.
"That's some of it. As I said before, you are not expected to perform advanced
Materialization, but by the end of the year you should be able to combine
several objects into one."
They spend the rest of the class taking notes on the origins and history of the
technique and stopped only when it was time for lunch. Nobody had a lot of
appetite. The wonderful fries and sandwiches had lost all their attraction. Ron
announced he didn't want to eat anything to avoid vomiting it after seeing
Snape. The Slytherins looked happier than ever.
Considering that nobody was in much of a hurry to see Professor Snape it took
Harry and his friends a surprisingly small amount of time to finish eating and
get to the right classroom. Stomaching him was bad enough; coming late was pure
suicide. As a result all the Gryffindor fifth-years were sited and ready by the
time the hook-nosed teacher entered the room. The silence was complete.
"Well, well, well." Snape started happily. "I see no need of introductions here.
We know each other very well indeed. I must make it clear, anyway, that someone
who is hopeless in Potions can't expect to do any better in the intricate art of
defence against the dark forces."
Neville went whiter than it seemed possible only a second ago at hearing that.
"I don't expect any of you to understand the beauty of the interaction between
the light and the darkness," Snape went on.
"Beauty?" muttered Harry incredulously. If there was something close to beauty
in there he hoped indeed he would never understand it.
"But," barked Snape, turning to where he was sitting and hammering him to the
chair with his stare, "I will make sure that nobody leaves this class without
having a notion of the essential dark curses and a good look at their
consequences. Now, who can explain the basic classification of the dark curses
to me?"
Nobody moved a muscle. They did a lot of work on that the last year with Mad-Eye
Moody, but he never cared much for the theoretical studies, preferring to go
straight to the practical applications.
"I see... You are not the expert on curses Headmaster Dumbledore considers you to
be." That was something Hermione couldn't bear. She held up her hand shyly, as
if the knowledge of the classification of Dark Arts was a crime in itself. Snape
stared at her without saying anything, and she took it for an invitation to
speak.
"The Dark curses are classified considering their target. Two basic groups are
mind affecting curses and body affecting curses. The first are usually more
powerful and..."
"Enough! Who can give me an example of a Mind-controlling curse?"
"Obliviate!"
"Privo Sensorium!"
"Imperio!"
"Ilusio Sensorium!"
Trust the Slytherins to know that kind of things.
"Five points to everybody who named a curse."
Snape was obviously very pleased with his House.
At Harry's side Ron was boiling with anger. "Five points for every fool whose
father is a Death Eater and nothing for Hermione, and what she answered was more
tricky!"
"Ron, control yourself. We won't be getting any points here, that should be
clear already. We will be lucky to get away without loosing some." Draco Malfoy,
who chose this precise moment for asking a question, distracted Hermione from
calming Ron down.
"What is the punishment for using a curse like Verba Imperio"? Hermione went
white like the snow at hearing that.
"It's not punished very strictly by the magical law, mostly because it's not of
any actual use. But it's a mind-controlling curse by definition, which means
it's Dark Magic, enough to keep an eye on everyone who has been known to perform
it. It's certainly not allowed in this school. Where did you hear about it?"
Snape looked kindly at his favourite student. Malfoy in his place glared at
where Hermione was sitting enjoying like a spider that has got a fly in his web.
"I don't remember now. Just heard it... from somebody." Harry's right hand let go
of the quill and gripped his wand. He couldn't believe that the curse Hermione
used was illegal, but now wasn't the right time for dealing with that. To his
relief Malfoy didn't continue, but the malicious flames in his eyes said he
wasn't planning on letting go of the matter.
"Well, looks to me that only a half of the class has prepared the lesson. Do any
of you know the essentials of contracursing?" The question was addressed to the
Gryffindors alone.
"Potter, contracurse for Terrificius!" Snape pushed the matter. He could have
asked about the number of unicorns in the Forbidden Forest according to the last
cense. Harry was completely clueless and he said so.
"Oh, really? I would have thought that the great Harry Potter was an expert in
fighting the Dark Arts. Or maybe his reputation is a little overblown? We will
take five points from Gryffindor to refresh your mind and try again. Ilusio
Sensoria!"
Snape had found his golden mine. He could go on until the end of the class,
naming curses Harry had never heard about and taking points from Gryffindor at
his will. And knowing him as they all did, that was exactly what he planned to
do. To Harry's great relief Hermione came to the rescue.
"Haloperidol!" She whispered urgently. Harry didn't waste time to find out if
Snape had overheard.
"Haloperidol!" He shouted. Maybe a little too triumphantly. Snape still looked
very pleased with himself, and it couldn't mean anything good.
"Very well. You will earn ten points... after you show us all how to use this
spell. Now!"
Harry realised that he had fallen into the trap. He looked around, but he knew
nobody could help. Not even Hermione knew how to actually cast the contracurse.
Theoretical knowledge just wasn't enough sometimes.
Very slowly Harry started to get up.
"Harry, don't! You have no idea what you are against!" Ron tried to stop him by
gripping his arm and forcing him to sit down again but didn't succeed.
He moved to the forward of the class, very aware of the Slytherins in the first
rows looking at him with morbid interest and the white faces of the Gryffindors
behind them.
"If I end up in infirmary they may end up expelling Snape for attacking a
student." Harry thought darkly. It could even be worth the trouble.
But the hope was extinguished when Snape asked casually.
"Do any of you know how to actually cast the Illusion Charm?"
"I know, Professor!" The voice of Draco Malfoy sent chills down Harry's spine.
He preferred dealing with Snape by far, he could always write his failure down
to Snape's questionable experience in the dark curses. But with Draco it was
different.
Malfoy positioned himself in front of Harry and took out his wand. Harry tried
to act logically and to figure out what kind of magic he was facing. The curse
was easy enough. Ilusio Sensoria could be nothing but a hallucination, most
probably a very dark one. The problem was, the word Haloperidol didn't ring any
bells in his head and he doubted that even with knowledge of Latin he could
figure out the way the contracurse was supposed to work.
He took out his wand in return. He wasn't sure about the spell but was
determined to wipe the nasty smile off Malfoy's face. He didn't have much time
to prepare. A black band shot out of Draco's wand, very reminiscent of the snake
he sent on Harry during their duel in second year.
"Haloperidol!" Harry shouted taking a step aside. Nothing happened with his
wand, but not much got out of Malfoy's curse at any rate. The black thing hit
Harry in his left arm and disappeared.
He looked around with relief and was greeted by a line of grinning faces behind
a line of disappointed grimaces. He didn't care to check the look on Snape's
face. Trying to appear as nonchalant as he could given the circumstances Harry
stuck his wand back in his robes and went to his place. The spot on his left arm
where the curse hit him was starting to hurt, and it was getting worse with each
step he took. He was determined not to let it show but by the time he reached
his chair he couldn't avoid gripping his arm and rolling the sleeve to take a
better look. What he saw made him stumble.
Lines were appearing on his flesh, lines that looked and hurt exactly like
burns. They even smelled like burning flesh to him. Someone invisible was
drawing with an incandescent piece of iron on his arm. And even before the image
was finished Harry knew was it was going to look like.
He screamed, half out of pain and half out of uncontrollable terror and
revulsion the thought evoked. The Dark Mark was appearing on his arm, the image
of a snake coming out of a skull glowing in red, exactly like the mark on
Snape's arm had done. Harry screamed again and stumbled on the floor, unaware of
the students around him, some staring at him with puzzled expressions, some
kneeling around and looking really worried. The only thing he was aware of
before his mind lost its hold of the reality was the incredible pain in his arm,
the smell of burning flesh and the voice that sometimes came to taunt him in his
dreams.
"Welcome to my circle, Harry Potter."
A/N:
-The idea of Hermione's curse is not originally mine. I got that from a children story about a boy who freed a thousand years old genie and got stuck with him in the modern world. I don't remember the title and sincerely doubt any of you have read it, but credits are credits. If anyone knows which story I'm talking about let me know!
-The word Haloperidol is a real medicament against hallucinations (just thought
maybe someone would like to know).
-I'm convinced that Snape WILL be the DADA teacher in 5th book. The guy had
waited for 4 years, isn't it enough?
-I tried to find a beta-reader for this but something went wrong, so as you may
have noticed you still have to put up with my Spanish-English. I'll give it one
last try, though. Does somebody out there want to help me? Please? Would be
great.
-I really, really, really need to know what you think about this, because
writing about life in Hogwarts seems to be the most difficult part of the story.
It's strictly necessary to develop the plot, so if you have a problem have
patience. If I don't get enough reviews I'll start writing cliff-hangers all the
time (and no, I won't stop writing as some of you may have hoped).
A/N: You keep this alive! By the way, nobody guessed who the DADA teacher would be. Does the title ring any bells?
P.S: I re-posted this chapter because I forgot some important credits (it's at the end if you're interested).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix
Chapter V: Double Snape
The time passed quickly at Hogwarts. The emptiness of the halls that innerved
Harry at first quickly became a blessing. There was nobody to tell him what to
do, no Dursleys to pester him, no Filch to chase him in the corridors. He would
have been the happiest of boys if Ron were there to enjoy with him. They could
hang around Hogsmeade or explore the multiple passageways like his father and
his friends did a long time ago. Harry missed Hermione as well, but if her
letters were of any indication she had no time to take part in adventures. The
OWLs were coming.
Harry received regular letters from his friends and Sirius and felt that he was
much more in touch with the wizarding world there at Hogwarts that at Privet
Drive, though he still wasn't allowed to perform any magic. He didn't miss the
Dursleys at all.
He contented with practising Quidditch a lot and studying some. Dumbledore was
out of school most of the time and so was Professor McGonagall, but one teacher
or another was always there to keep an eye on him. Hagrid came back in the first
week of August from wherever he had been and refused blankly to speak about his
mission. The library and the kitchens were two other places he visited
frequently.
The time passed quickly. The morning of the first September resulted to be
exactly like all August mornings had been. Nothing except the sight of Hagrid
checking the dozen of boats for the first-years announced that the Hogwarts
Express would be coming in no time to bring life and animation to the sleepy
castle.
After wandering around the halls and not finding any hint of preparation for the
welcome party Harry decided to go down to the train station. He was feeling a
little bit alone for the first time in a month but full with anticipation a the
same time. It was a curious feeling, watching the train appear on the curve,
come to halt on the platform and open its doors to let the multitude of students
finally pour from its depth.
Blissfully, finding the red hairy and lanky Ron in the crowd was quite easy, and
Hermione was close by. Harry fought his way through the tide of pushing students
to join his friends.
"Great that you are here! You can help me to carry those!" Ron announced in a
way of greeting and shoved in Harry's hands a heavy bag from Flourish and Blouts
with all the books the Weasleys bought for him in Diagon Alley.
Hermione said nothing. She just hugged him so tightly like he was a long lost
friend coming home from the clutches of unspeakable danger. The conversation had
to be interrupted. Familiar faces were appearing from every direction,
bombarding Harry with predictable questions about his last adventure.
"Is it true? You-know-who was at your house?"
"Have you seen him? Is he really two meter high and looks like a dead corpse?"
"It was all over the newspapers! It said they needed twenty Hit Wizards to drive
the Death Eaters away!"
It sounded very suspiciously like Rita Skeeter's handiwork. Harry found himself
going over the whole story for the thousandth time. Blissfully, most of the
curiosity was satisfied by the time they all got into the carriages.
"We've met Draco Malfoy on the train." Hermione announced after closing the door
and making sure Harry was able to hear her voice. "He wasn't very happy about
You-know-who's failure. He tried to give us a conference on the purity of
lineage, but we didn't listen."
"She made some kind of spell and every time he tried to say Mudblood the only
thing that came out were dog barks." Ron interrupted excitedly. Hermione lit up
with pleasure. It wasn't very often when she got credit from Ron for exhibiting
her vast knowledge.
"It's an application of an Imperio Charm to the process of speaking, I've read
about it in our Defence against Dark Arts book..." she started, but Ron
interrupted again.
"Hermione, you are our hero. Keep up the good work but save us the details, OK?"
Pretending he had to tie his boot he bent down to Harry and whispered to him:
"I made a bet with Fred and George that she won't be able to sit through the
whole Sorting and Welcome fest without starting a discussion about the OWLs.
Five Galleons, but if I loose I'll have to try out their new inventions for a
week."
Harry grinned. Happy as he was at meeting his friends he couldn't escape a
feeling of shame and a bit of loneliness. True to his word to Professor
McGonagall he didn't mention any of the details concerning the Order in his
letters to his friends. It had been easy in writing. But now face to face with
Ron and Hermione Harry was finding it increasingly difficult to lie. The worst
of all was that he wanted nothing else but to tell his friends everything, and
especially the conversation on the lake he had overheard. He would feel much
better if he heard his friends laugh at the idea of him being the Phoenix. He
was mostly able to drive out those thoughts himself, but sometimes in the night
he wasn't so sure and he laid in the dark feeling the polished wood of his wand
under his fingers.
Getting out of the carriage they were greeted by the sight that made Harry
forget his worries. Draco Malfoy was trying to speak to the Slytherin prefect
about the incident on the train and failing miserably to make the impression
he's hoped for.
"I only said *** and she cursed me and now I can't say ***." The prefect didn't
look enthusiastic at all. Worse, the students moving in the general direction of
the castle were sending the barking boy bizarre looks and trying to get past him
as soon as possible. Harry doubted Malfoy would be going to any of the
professors with that. The spell was proving to be extremely handy. He made a
mental note to check his Dark Arts book for more similar stuff.
By the time he entered the Great Hall behind Ron and Hermione Harry didn't feel
himself any different from the rest of the students. The room that was empty and
silent only that morning now shone with the familiar warmth of welcoming. They
took their seats at the Gryffindor table and watched the first girl be sorted
into Slytherin. It reminded Harry of something.
"Some of the students dropped out of school. I saw the letters in Dumbledore's
office. They all were Slytherins."
"Hm... Maybe they have finally figured out they will never make it to graduation."
Offered Hermione serving some salad onto her plate with a wave of her wand.
"Some got transferred to Durmstrang. I think they want to join Voldemort."
"One thing doesn't lead to the other. Only because somebody goes to Durmstrang
doesn't mean he is evil!" Hermione noted indignantly.
"Not Krum again!" Ron rolled his eyes.
"Again?" Asked Harry.
"He spent the whole trip trying to find out where I spent the summer!" Moaned
Hermione.
"But didn't do to Bulgaria, right? Your parents wouldn't let you go just like
that."
"Maybe. But then again, I wouldn't be likely to tell you even if I were there!"
Harry put a quick end to the beginning tension by saying something he knew both
Ron and Hermione would agree to:
"Pity they couldn't send all the Slytherins to some hidden school very far from
here!"
"Put them all on a ship and let it sink on the way!" Ron added helping himself
to a second portion of pineapple cake.
At the Slytherin table Draco Malfoy was welcoming the new students. He obviously
tried to say something he shouldn't have because his whole table was hovering
with laughter and he was glaring at Hermione with a murdering stare.
"How long will he be like that?" Harry asked.
"I don't know, but I hope he recovers before the classes start. The spell I
used, it's really nasty."
"It's perfect! I don't mind him staying that way forever." Hermione seemed
unconvinced. In fact she seemed a little uncomfortable when somebody mentioned
the spell.
"Does anybody know who will be teaching Defence against Dark Arts this year?"
She clearly intended to change the conversation.
"What?" Harry was taken by surprise by the question. He looked at the table
where the teachers sat and instantly understood what Hermione meant. Dumbledore
was sitting in the middle, as cheerful as any of the previous years. Professors
McGonagall and Snape were sitting near him, along with the rest of the
personnel. There were no new faces at the table.
"Dunno." Answered Harry with the mouth full of pumpkin pudding. He was
accustomed to the excellent food at Hogwarts, but this outdid any of the meals
the kitchen elves prepared for him in the last month.
"Hope it's Moody!" Grinned Fred and George.
"Having Professor Lupin again would be nice." Said Neville. He had been very
afraid of Mad-Eye Moody even when the Auror was nice to him.
"It's not him, I'm sure. And if we are to have Moody it better be the real one."
Corrected Harry. It still bothered him that the famous Auror who gave him
classes last year turned out to be a condemned Death Eater.
"Hope nothing happened to him on the way here." Joined Ron.
"More biting dustbins!"
"Poisonous snakes!"
"Flesh-eating flowers in the garden!"
Dumbledore's voice was the only thing that succeeded in shutting up the excited
chatting of the Weasley twins.
He welcomed the first-years, went over the common announcements, explained the
forbiddance of the Forbidden Forest and the importance of the hundred and fifty-
seven Filch's rules before moving to the topic that interested the Gryffindors
most.
"For the fifth year in road I have the pleasure to introduce a new teacher for
the Defence against the Dark Arts class to all of you. As the older students
remember, many distinguished teachers have held that post in the past, but for
different reasons nobody was able to stay long. I hope that this year it will be
quite different. I am happy to announce that Professor Severus Snape, who has
been our Potion teacher for quite some time, has kindly agreed to take this
post."
The applause from the Slytherin's table wasn't enough to fill the Great Hall.
Some students from Hufflepuff and Rawenclaw joined in politely but stopped when
it became clear that nobody from Gryffindor planned to move a finger. Far from
looking pleased about his new position, Snape stared at the students with a
peculiar expression. To anyone who knew him it looked exactly like badly hidden
loathing.
"He doesn't look very happy." Hermione seemed to read Harry's mind.
"Must have realised by now how loved he is in this school."
"I think he is trying to remember all the people who didn't applaud to give them
a detention." Neville whispered from over the table.
"He can't send three quarters of the school to detention!" Retorted Hermione.
Ron looked positively green at the idea of having Snape for Dark Arts teacher.
"Do you reckon my mum will be very furious if I drop out of Hogwarts in fifth
year?" He seemed to give the idea a good thought.
"See? Maybe the people who got transferred to Durmstrang knew what they were
doing..."
"Dumbledore trusts him." Harry interrupted the conversation. And the Phoenix
accepted him, after all, he thought to himself.
"Since when are you on Snape's side?" The entire Gryffindor table stared at him
incredulously.
Saying that Harry was on Snape's side was like saying that Dumbledore was on
Voldemort's. Harry could think of nothing else that could ruin the evening so
quickly and fully, but was determined not to let anything get to him. He was
alone in this battle. Nobody but the Weasley twins had any hunger anymore, and
even they spend the moments between bites telling the nervous first-years
frightening tales about Snape's teaching methods. One by one people stood up and
left the table, making excuse about being tired after the trip. The truth was,
nobody wanted to sit there under the looks of triumph coming from the
Slytherins.
By the time they all left the table and went up the Gryffindor fifth-year's
dormitory Harry was finally able to come up with a positive thought concerning
Snape.
"Come on," he called Ron, who was furiously preparing his bed for sleeping, "I
agree that there's nothing worse than Snape in Dark Arts. But before there was
nothing worse than Snape in Potions. We'll just change the subject we hate
most."
There was no answer before Ron drew the curtains around his bed. When Harry
finally gave up and closed his eyes he heard his friend saying loudly for the
whole dorm to hear:
"Can you believe that I spent the whole summer actually looking forward to
coming back here?"
Nothing Harry could say was going to cheer Ron up. It made no sense trying, and
much less bringing some bad news. In the agitation of the day Hermione hasn't
mentioned the OWLs at all. Harry just wondered what kind of new Weasley Wizard
Wheezy product would Ron's brothers make him try.
Hermione made up for her unforgivable forgetfulness right in the next morning
when she greeted the boys with a cheerful phrase:
"I've checked the new plan and we now have two hours on Friday evening specially
for the preparation of the OWLs."
"Isn't it thoughtful? The year before we had the same two hours specially for
free time!" Ron's mood hasn't changed over the night, and the fact that Fred and
George had already talked to him didn't make the things any better. He snapped
the paper from Hermione's hand and looked through it. Harry expected him to put
on a grimace of anger but Ron did something much more frightening. He smiled.
"Harry? You wanted to know what could be worse than Snape at Dark Arts or
Potions?"
"Nothing?" He guessed, and from the expression of his friend's face he knew he
was quite wrong.
"Try Snape in Dark Arts and Potions."
"Try Professor Snape in Double Dark Arts and Potions." A voice from behind the
table joined in. "Looks like we have a meeting with the Gryffindor loosers after
the lunch." Draco Malfoy and a group of Slytherins smiled cheerfully at them.
"Hey, Malfoy! Can you say "Mudblood" for all of us? I miss my puppy!" George
called. Draco Malfoy went red and some of the Slytherins tried hard to suppress
a laugh. Gryffindor table didn't do for that trouble.
"I know where you got that spell from." Draco muttered between clenched teeth to
Hermione. She turned away.
Half and hour later Harry and Ron were climbing the stairs, looking forward to
their first Divination lesson. Clutched in Harry's hand was a letter from Sirius
that a grey and tired-looking owl brought him at breakfast. His godfather wanted
to know how the first day of school went. Harry thought he was going to have a
lot to tell him after putting up with Snape and Slytherins for two hours.
"If there's something good about having so much of Snape it has to be that it
makes you look forward to all the other classes and be grateful you don't have
to face him yet." Hermione said to them before heading for Aritmancy.
The plan had worked well until Professor Trelawney gave each one of them a pack
of cards, told to open the books on page six and announced that the most
talented student in the class will be given an opportunity to foresee what
subjects may come up in their OWLs with her own crystal ball at the end of
semester. They had to work in pairs and she insisted that Lavender and Parvati,
being the two most gifted students in the class helped Harry and Ron to develop
their Inside Eyes.
Harry's first card turned out to be the black king.
"No wonder." Lavender Brown assumed a patronizing air. "You have got You-know-
who in you future in every Divination lesson, from crystal balls to tea leaves."
"Voldemort's not a king!" Protested Harry. "Only because he's back doesn't mean
he has won already!" The only answer he got was a point blank stare at the
mention of the fearful name.
He tossed the cards on the table and took another one. It was a diamond knight.
The figure on the card winked at him naughtily. Harry smiled. He had a very good
idea about who this man could be.
"Now explain, my children." Professor Trelawney emerged from behind their backs
and was examining the cards.
"It's very clear, Professor!" Lavender started. "Here's the negative force, and
here's the positive. Harry's got an enemy, but he's also got a protector, he
stays between him and You-know-who..."
"Not quite right, my dear." Professor Trelawney's smoky voice had lost a bit of
its mystery and acquired some didactical notes. "See the nine of spades here? It
changes everything."
Harry groaned both mentally and physically. For the first time in quite a lot
something seemingly close to truth had come out of a Divination lesson.
Something that didn't end with his death or some global disaster. But she
couldn't have that, could she?
"Changes what? Does my enemy become my friend or something?" The diamond knight
was real, and Harry wasn't about to hear somebody say that Sirius didn't exist.
"The positive force that stays between you and the evil, it won't protect you
forever. His strength will come to an end, and you will change places. You will
stand in the middle of the battle." Harry didn't have enough presence of mind to
hide the expression on his face. It told quite clearly what he thought of this
prediction.
Ron's fortune turned out much more prosaic.
"A queen of spades all the time. Do you reckon my mum will be sending me Howlers
of what?"
"A queen of spades is considered to bring good luck to somebody who sees it
three time in a road." Parvati explained patiently. At least somebody was having
good luck that day.
They went back to the main part of the castle and met Hermione at the entrance
to the Transfiguration classroom. Being the Head of House Gryffindor Professor
McGonagall started the lesson by explaining the dynamic of the OWLs once more.
They were to have intermediate exams before Christmas and Easter vacations to
assess their knowledge before the actual OWLs took place in summer. On Friday
evenings an intensive practical preparation would take place for all who needed
it.
"And for now I've seen only one student in this class transform a stone into an
eatable hamburger." Even the point of Hermione's nose became red with pleasure.
She could be the only one who didn't need the extra practise, but she surely
would be the first one to go there.
"The part of Transfiguration we will be studying this year is advanced magic
already. Only the simplest notions of it will be expected from you. It has to do
with Materialization. Who can tell me what does it mean? Mr. Weasley?"
"Probably Hermione, Professor." It wasn't the answer Professor McGonagall
expected but she gave him the benefit of the doubt and turned in the direction
of Hermione's waving hand.
"Materialization involves a Transfiguration in which a tiny part of many objects
is taken to create a new entity, so that the basic source of matter remains
seemingly unchanged."
"Very accurately explained, Miss Granger. The right Materialization borrows
matter from the ground, the trees, even the air around us. Knowing that, where
would it be unwise to perform one?"
A couple of hands rose this time.
"In a closed room? You'll use all the air and die." Parvati offered.
"You can use the walls and the floor."
"In a closed room with Preserving charms on the walls?" Neville made a
correction.
"In a room full of gold!" That was Ron's idea.
"In space." Said Seamus, whose father was a Muggle.
"That's some of it. As I said before, you are not expected to perform advanced
Materialization, but by the end of the year you should be able to combine
several objects into one."
They spend the rest of the class taking notes on the origins and history of the
technique and stopped only when it was time for lunch. Nobody had a lot of
appetite. The wonderful fries and sandwiches had lost all their attraction. Ron
announced he didn't want to eat anything to avoid vomiting it after seeing
Snape. The Slytherins looked happier than ever.
Considering that nobody was in much of a hurry to see Professor Snape it took
Harry and his friends a surprisingly small amount of time to finish eating and
get to the right classroom. Stomaching him was bad enough; coming late was pure
suicide. As a result all the Gryffindor fifth-years were sited and ready by the
time the hook-nosed teacher entered the room. The silence was complete.
"Well, well, well." Snape started happily. "I see no need of introductions here.
We know each other very well indeed. I must make it clear, anyway, that someone
who is hopeless in Potions can't expect to do any better in the intricate art of
defence against the dark forces."
Neville went whiter than it seemed possible only a second ago at hearing that.
"I don't expect any of you to understand the beauty of the interaction between
the light and the darkness," Snape went on.
"Beauty?" muttered Harry incredulously. If there was something close to beauty
in there he hoped indeed he would never understand it.
"But," barked Snape, turning to where he was sitting and hammering him to the
chair with his stare, "I will make sure that nobody leaves this class without
having a notion of the essential dark curses and a good look at their
consequences. Now, who can explain the basic classification of the dark curses
to me?"
Nobody moved a muscle. They did a lot of work on that the last year with Mad-Eye
Moody, but he never cared much for the theoretical studies, preferring to go
straight to the practical applications.
"I see... You are not the expert on curses Headmaster Dumbledore considers you to
be." That was something Hermione couldn't bear. She held up her hand shyly, as
if the knowledge of the classification of Dark Arts was a crime in itself. Snape
stared at her without saying anything, and she took it for an invitation to
speak.
"The Dark curses are classified considering their target. Two basic groups are
mind affecting curses and body affecting curses. The first are usually more
powerful and..."
"Enough! Who can give me an example of a Mind-controlling curse?"
"Obliviate!"
"Privo Sensorium!"
"Imperio!"
"Ilusio Sensorium!"
Trust the Slytherins to know that kind of things.
"Five points to everybody who named a curse."
Snape was obviously very pleased with his House.
At Harry's side Ron was boiling with anger. "Five points for every fool whose
father is a Death Eater and nothing for Hermione, and what she answered was more
tricky!"
"Ron, control yourself. We won't be getting any points here, that should be
clear already. We will be lucky to get away without loosing some." Draco Malfoy,
who chose this precise moment for asking a question, distracted Hermione from
calming Ron down.
"What is the punishment for using a curse like Verba Imperio"? Hermione went
white like the snow at hearing that.
"It's not punished very strictly by the magical law, mostly because it's not of
any actual use. But it's a mind-controlling curse by definition, which means
it's Dark Magic, enough to keep an eye on everyone who has been known to perform
it. It's certainly not allowed in this school. Where did you hear about it?"
Snape looked kindly at his favourite student. Malfoy in his place glared at
where Hermione was sitting enjoying like a spider that has got a fly in his web.
"I don't remember now. Just heard it... from somebody." Harry's right hand let go
of the quill and gripped his wand. He couldn't believe that the curse Hermione
used was illegal, but now wasn't the right time for dealing with that. To his
relief Malfoy didn't continue, but the malicious flames in his eyes said he
wasn't planning on letting go of the matter.
"Well, looks to me that only a half of the class has prepared the lesson. Do any
of you know the essentials of contracursing?" The question was addressed to the
Gryffindors alone.
"Potter, contracurse for Terrificius!" Snape pushed the matter. He could have
asked about the number of unicorns in the Forbidden Forest according to the last
cense. Harry was completely clueless and he said so.
"Oh, really? I would have thought that the great Harry Potter was an expert in
fighting the Dark Arts. Or maybe his reputation is a little overblown? We will
take five points from Gryffindor to refresh your mind and try again. Ilusio
Sensoria!"
Snape had found his golden mine. He could go on until the end of the class,
naming curses Harry had never heard about and taking points from Gryffindor at
his will. And knowing him as they all did, that was exactly what he planned to
do. To Harry's great relief Hermione came to the rescue.
"Haloperidol!" She whispered urgently. Harry didn't waste time to find out if
Snape had overheard.
"Haloperidol!" He shouted. Maybe a little too triumphantly. Snape still looked
very pleased with himself, and it couldn't mean anything good.
"Very well. You will earn ten points... after you show us all how to use this
spell. Now!"
Harry realised that he had fallen into the trap. He looked around, but he knew
nobody could help. Not even Hermione knew how to actually cast the contracurse.
Theoretical knowledge just wasn't enough sometimes.
Very slowly Harry started to get up.
"Harry, don't! You have no idea what you are against!" Ron tried to stop him by
gripping his arm and forcing him to sit down again but didn't succeed.
He moved to the forward of the class, very aware of the Slytherins in the first
rows looking at him with morbid interest and the white faces of the Gryffindors
behind them.
"If I end up in infirmary they may end up expelling Snape for attacking a
student." Harry thought darkly. It could even be worth the trouble.
But the hope was extinguished when Snape asked casually.
"Do any of you know how to actually cast the Illusion Charm?"
"I know, Professor!" The voice of Draco Malfoy sent chills down Harry's spine.
He preferred dealing with Snape by far, he could always write his failure down
to Snape's questionable experience in the dark curses. But with Draco it was
different.
Malfoy positioned himself in front of Harry and took out his wand. Harry tried
to act logically and to figure out what kind of magic he was facing. The curse
was easy enough. Ilusio Sensoria could be nothing but a hallucination, most
probably a very dark one. The problem was, the word Haloperidol didn't ring any
bells in his head and he doubted that even with knowledge of Latin he could
figure out the way the contracurse was supposed to work.
He took out his wand in return. He wasn't sure about the spell but was
determined to wipe the nasty smile off Malfoy's face. He didn't have much time
to prepare. A black band shot out of Draco's wand, very reminiscent of the snake
he sent on Harry during their duel in second year.
"Haloperidol!" Harry shouted taking a step aside. Nothing happened with his
wand, but not much got out of Malfoy's curse at any rate. The black thing hit
Harry in his left arm and disappeared.
He looked around with relief and was greeted by a line of grinning faces behind
a line of disappointed grimaces. He didn't care to check the look on Snape's
face. Trying to appear as nonchalant as he could given the circumstances Harry
stuck his wand back in his robes and went to his place. The spot on his left arm
where the curse hit him was starting to hurt, and it was getting worse with each
step he took. He was determined not to let it show but by the time he reached
his chair he couldn't avoid gripping his arm and rolling the sleeve to take a
better look. What he saw made him stumble.
Lines were appearing on his flesh, lines that looked and hurt exactly like
burns. They even smelled like burning flesh to him. Someone invisible was
drawing with an incandescent piece of iron on his arm. And even before the image
was finished Harry knew was it was going to look like.
He screamed, half out of pain and half out of uncontrollable terror and
revulsion the thought evoked. The Dark Mark was appearing on his arm, the image
of a snake coming out of a skull glowing in red, exactly like the mark on
Snape's arm had done. Harry screamed again and stumbled on the floor, unaware of
the students around him, some staring at him with puzzled expressions, some
kneeling around and looking really worried. The only thing he was aware of
before his mind lost its hold of the reality was the incredible pain in his arm,
the smell of burning flesh and the voice that sometimes came to taunt him in his
dreams.
"Welcome to my circle, Harry Potter."
A/N:
-The idea of Hermione's curse is not originally mine. I got that from a children story about a boy who freed a thousand years old genie and got stuck with him in the modern world. I don't remember the title and sincerely doubt any of you have read it, but credits are credits. If anyone knows which story I'm talking about let me know!
-The word Haloperidol is a real medicament against hallucinations (just thought
maybe someone would like to know).
-I'm convinced that Snape WILL be the DADA teacher in 5th book. The guy had
waited for 4 years, isn't it enough?
-I tried to find a beta-reader for this but something went wrong, so as you may
have noticed you still have to put up with my Spanish-English. I'll give it one
last try, though. Does somebody out there want to help me? Please? Would be
great.
-I really, really, really need to know what you think about this, because
writing about life in Hogwarts seems to be the most difficult part of the story.
It's strictly necessary to develop the plot, so if you have a problem have
patience. If I don't get enough reviews I'll start writing cliff-hangers all the
time (and no, I won't stop writing as some of you may have hoped).