"Expelliarmus!" Ron stepped back reflexively, arms flailing in attempt to
keep himself upright after the sudden force hit him. His wand launched out
of his clenched fist and propelled across the room like a bullet. All
movement seemed to slow, the room itself in an isolated time warp as the
wand began to spin around and gain speed, Hermione's eyes never leaving it
as it sped across the frozen room. In a sudden rush of noise and movement,
real time was restored as the wand fell from where it had hit its rather
shocked victim. The fifth year witch let out a horrified gasp, and dread
filled her gut. Ron's eyes were wide.
"GRANGER!!!!!" An extremely displeased and more than a little red-faced Snape stormed over to the petrified duo, his ears almost visibly steaming with anger and humiliation. The roars of laughter that had filled the hall of students at the Duelling Clubs weekly meeting suddenly hushed and the onlookers watched anxiously as Snape grabbed Hermione by her cloak and literally dragged her out of the hall, Ron and Harry trailing behind, timidly mumbling excuses in their friends defence.
"Never in my life have I seen such insolence . . . three, no four detentions each . . . in their fifth year and can't even control a simple disarming spell . . ." Snape ranted furiously as the three students followed meekly down the corridor in the direction of his office. As they entered the dank entrance to the dungeons, Hermione was sure she heard a tap of footsteps momentarily followed by a muffled snigger, but neither Ron nor Harry seemed to be in the mood for sniggering -their faces ashen with anxiety -so she shrugged it off as someone in one of the classrooms that lined the dingy corridor.
Snape seemed to cool down before they reached his office. His steps became slower and quieter and he stopped rambling on about their impertinent behaviour and how many nights they'd be scrubbing floors until their backs ached.
"Must be the dungeons," Ron whispered at Hermione, obviously thinking the same as her, "they sooth him." She stifled a giggle and followed Snape into his slimy cave of an office, trying to ignore the squirming contents of an array of jays on his shelf (one of which that contained a huge eye that she was sure was watching her every move). Snape eased himself down onto a wooden chair, and motioned for Hermione to do the same on an identical one at the opposite side of his desk.
"Please sit, Miss Granger," he said in an eerily calm voice, "you two can stand." He continued with a quick, harsh glance at the boys behind her.
"You've put yourself in disgrace, Miss Granger. Not only one, not only two, but three incidents in as many days . . ." he droned on, but Hermione couldn't help but be distracted by the floating hand that appeared behind his head, and began imitating his rant, making little hand speech gestures. When another hand emerged from the empty air and was attacked by the first, as though being eaten, the three of them snorted in suppressed laughter. Snape's eyebrows narrowed and he looked over his shoulder at what they were laughing at -the hands immediately disappeared. Snape turned back cautiously.
"And what is so funny, might I ask?" he almost hissed at them.
"Nothing sir," Harry quickly answered. Snape looked at each of them suspiciously, then continued.
"As I was saying . . . As you know, three incidences involving summons to a teachers office for punishments in one week, as has happened to all three of you," he waved a pile of papers at them in evidence and then placed them on the table, leaning forward toward the terrified students, "results in a letter to your parents . . . or guardians," he shot a look at Harry, not noticing that the hand had reappeared and was carefully pulling away one of the middle sheets of the wad he had put down, "and a severe punishment at my disgression."
"That's not a rule!" Harry cried in dismay, but Hermione was one step ahead of him.
"But sir, I only remember us being summoned to a teachers office twice this week . . ." she said innocently. Snapes eyes narrowed even more at her.
"I can assure you there has been three, and here's the proof," he proceeded to picking up and shuffling through the wad of paper on the table, then looked at Hermione's expression of sincerity suspiciously.
"I seem to have mislaid it. Stay here." He got up and left the room through a back exit. Almost immediately, two bundles of red hair gradually appeared behind where he was sitting, and the invisibility cloak they had been wearing was discarded in Harry's direction.
"Fred? George?" cried Ron.
"Sh! He'll hear you!" the twin on the left (Hermione couldn't tell them apart) quickly replaced the piece of paper he'd taken to the middle of the pile, and waved his wand at a kettle on Snapes desk Hermione hadn't noticed, whispering "Obliviate!" in a hushed voice as he did so. "Now quickly, let's go!"
They all hurried out of the door that they'd come in, and as soon as they were safe in the Gryffindor common room, began rolling around in laughter.
"Sorry - we - took - your - cloak - Harry," giggled Fred in between fits of laughter, holding his side, "we - were - just - borrowing - it!" George wiped a tear from his eye. "Good thing we did too!" Just as they were recovering, boasting to themselves over how they'd escaped the wrath of Snape the Snake Lord yet again, Ron made a rather good point.
"But when Snape comes back into his office and finds us gone . . ."
"Don't worry, Ronny old boy, we put a memory loss spell on his tea!"
"We've been studying the Snapester for a while now," Fred continued for his brother, "and we found out that after a student escapes from his office, he always takes a deep swig of tea and then sets off toward their common room."
"But this time . . . he'll take a swig, set off, and forget where he's going!" Fred and George congratulated each other on their fantastic plan.
"And how would you know all this? About Snape, I mean." Hermione asked curiously.
"The best and only way, of course," started George.
"Self-experience!" Finished his brother. And then they were off again.
"GRANGER!!!!!" An extremely displeased and more than a little red-faced Snape stormed over to the petrified duo, his ears almost visibly steaming with anger and humiliation. The roars of laughter that had filled the hall of students at the Duelling Clubs weekly meeting suddenly hushed and the onlookers watched anxiously as Snape grabbed Hermione by her cloak and literally dragged her out of the hall, Ron and Harry trailing behind, timidly mumbling excuses in their friends defence.
"Never in my life have I seen such insolence . . . three, no four detentions each . . . in their fifth year and can't even control a simple disarming spell . . ." Snape ranted furiously as the three students followed meekly down the corridor in the direction of his office. As they entered the dank entrance to the dungeons, Hermione was sure she heard a tap of footsteps momentarily followed by a muffled snigger, but neither Ron nor Harry seemed to be in the mood for sniggering -their faces ashen with anxiety -so she shrugged it off as someone in one of the classrooms that lined the dingy corridor.
Snape seemed to cool down before they reached his office. His steps became slower and quieter and he stopped rambling on about their impertinent behaviour and how many nights they'd be scrubbing floors until their backs ached.
"Must be the dungeons," Ron whispered at Hermione, obviously thinking the same as her, "they sooth him." She stifled a giggle and followed Snape into his slimy cave of an office, trying to ignore the squirming contents of an array of jays on his shelf (one of which that contained a huge eye that she was sure was watching her every move). Snape eased himself down onto a wooden chair, and motioned for Hermione to do the same on an identical one at the opposite side of his desk.
"Please sit, Miss Granger," he said in an eerily calm voice, "you two can stand." He continued with a quick, harsh glance at the boys behind her.
"You've put yourself in disgrace, Miss Granger. Not only one, not only two, but three incidents in as many days . . ." he droned on, but Hermione couldn't help but be distracted by the floating hand that appeared behind his head, and began imitating his rant, making little hand speech gestures. When another hand emerged from the empty air and was attacked by the first, as though being eaten, the three of them snorted in suppressed laughter. Snape's eyebrows narrowed and he looked over his shoulder at what they were laughing at -the hands immediately disappeared. Snape turned back cautiously.
"And what is so funny, might I ask?" he almost hissed at them.
"Nothing sir," Harry quickly answered. Snape looked at each of them suspiciously, then continued.
"As I was saying . . . As you know, three incidences involving summons to a teachers office for punishments in one week, as has happened to all three of you," he waved a pile of papers at them in evidence and then placed them on the table, leaning forward toward the terrified students, "results in a letter to your parents . . . or guardians," he shot a look at Harry, not noticing that the hand had reappeared and was carefully pulling away one of the middle sheets of the wad he had put down, "and a severe punishment at my disgression."
"That's not a rule!" Harry cried in dismay, but Hermione was one step ahead of him.
"But sir, I only remember us being summoned to a teachers office twice this week . . ." she said innocently. Snapes eyes narrowed even more at her.
"I can assure you there has been three, and here's the proof," he proceeded to picking up and shuffling through the wad of paper on the table, then looked at Hermione's expression of sincerity suspiciously.
"I seem to have mislaid it. Stay here." He got up and left the room through a back exit. Almost immediately, two bundles of red hair gradually appeared behind where he was sitting, and the invisibility cloak they had been wearing was discarded in Harry's direction.
"Fred? George?" cried Ron.
"Sh! He'll hear you!" the twin on the left (Hermione couldn't tell them apart) quickly replaced the piece of paper he'd taken to the middle of the pile, and waved his wand at a kettle on Snapes desk Hermione hadn't noticed, whispering "Obliviate!" in a hushed voice as he did so. "Now quickly, let's go!"
They all hurried out of the door that they'd come in, and as soon as they were safe in the Gryffindor common room, began rolling around in laughter.
"Sorry - we - took - your - cloak - Harry," giggled Fred in between fits of laughter, holding his side, "we - were - just - borrowing - it!" George wiped a tear from his eye. "Good thing we did too!" Just as they were recovering, boasting to themselves over how they'd escaped the wrath of Snape the Snake Lord yet again, Ron made a rather good point.
"But when Snape comes back into his office and finds us gone . . ."
"Don't worry, Ronny old boy, we put a memory loss spell on his tea!"
"We've been studying the Snapester for a while now," Fred continued for his brother, "and we found out that after a student escapes from his office, he always takes a deep swig of tea and then sets off toward their common room."
"But this time . . . he'll take a swig, set off, and forget where he's going!" Fred and George congratulated each other on their fantastic plan.
"And how would you know all this? About Snape, I mean." Hermione asked curiously.
"The best and only way, of course," started George.
"Self-experience!" Finished his brother. And then they were off again.
