A/N: As promised, this one is quite a bit less messy than the last. However, this is a bit questionable about my sanity because, I honestly don't know how exactly I came up with Angels and Underwear mixing together...maybe because I was watching Dogma again (angels do come ill-equipped, you know!), so...yeeeeeeeeeah...Have fun reading about them.
PS: Leena does something to a Catholic Relic that's not exactly endearing, but it ain't too-too bad, so I'm sorry if it offends anybody; it wasn't done with malicious intent.
Chapter 15: Of Angels and Underwear
Leena sat up groggily to three people peering at her worriedly. "Visiting hours already?" she mumbled, rubbing her forehead with her hand tiredly. Two arms wrapped tightly around her. "Thank God you're alright!" she heard Hermione exclaim. Harry and Ron sat down quickly on the rug next to them. "What happened?" Hermione questioned firmly, finally letting go of her friend.
"Long story" came the terse reply.
"We've got time"
Leena's eyes swirled from grey to black in a matter of seconds. "Perhaps it is not a tale I'd wish to tell," she said dangerously soft. The three of them backed up a few inches unconsciously, coldness, secrecy, and darkness emanating from her like a winter breeze. "Well, we'd best let you clean up, then..." Harry said falteringly. Leena closed her eyes and pushed herself up with a great effort. "I'll see you all at breakfast," she said frigidly as she went noiselessly up the stairs.
"You know, if she gets any grouchier, I'm going to start calling her Snape," Ron remarked after a while. Harry and Hermione nodded in agreement, dumbfounded.
***
The next few days were spent walking on eggshells because Leena refused to talk about that night at all. Harry and Hermione tried let the matter drop, but Ron kept at her until she punched him in the jaw. After going to see Madam Pomfrey, Ron shut up about it. Leena smirked at him. "Sooo...how's it feel to get socked by a girl?" she asked nonchalantly. He immediately flushed a deep shade as his friends chuckled at him. All was well between them now, much to Hermione's relief.
***
"Longbottom, how many times do I have to pound it into your thick skull that you do not add glumbumble extract with dried hornbellow blood!?!" Snape yelled irritably as Neville struggled to correct his Everglow Party Potion a week later. The Slytherins giggled. Hermione and Leena glanced up uncertainly from their table in the back. Snape was towering over their terrified classmate and plunked an empty phial next to the cauldron. "Dump it in there, cork it, and bring it to my desk so I can dispose of it," he snapped, "That combination is known to explode if it is so much as bumped." Draco smirked as Neville hesitantly poured the gently churning potion into the glass container. Everyone went back to their own work benches; the excitement was over.
Draco's smirk widened into a wicked grin as he stuck his foot out in the aisle. "Oy, Neville! You forgot to kiss your toad good bye!" he called out and Neville spun around to see who spoke.
"OOF!"
The bottle flew through the air in a graceful arc. Snape looked up and in an instant had his wand out. "Somebody get ready to catch that thing!" he shouted as the class looked up. "I can't hold it forever!" he called out as they watched Neville's reaction with bated breath. He was cowering on the ground, waiting for the certain-to-come explosion. The potion was faintly glowing red as it slowly swooshed towards the back of the room. Hermione chewed her lip worriedly, wondering what to do. Leena darted backwards, trying to line up with the bottle as it descended. Hermione clutched at her hair as the class erupted in an effort to see if she would actually catch it, leaving all seats and desks unattended. Leena tried to jump up and catch it, but it didn't work; it was too far over her head. The class 'oohhhhhhhed' as the bottle continued its flight.
"Oh, SHIT!" Leena screeched as her shoe caught her hem on the way down to the floor. The class started babbling all at once. Snape dashed to the back of the room when he saw all the boys cringe and the girls squawking like a bunch of birds. "What the hell are you all - Oh, GOD, Leena!" he started to say, but couldn't finish. Leena was in a split on the floor, robes ripped up the middle. He couldn't help cringing a bit himself...he was never that flexible....
Snape pushed his way through the throng of students to where Leena was, still in the split, clutching the bottle close to her chest. He crossed his arms across his chest as he looked down at his student. The Slytherins were tittering nastily to themselves, discussing the possible punishments and taking bets on how long it was going to last. The Gryffindors were in an uproar themselves. Their points were sure to take a beating now.
"Go back to your seats. NOW" he snapped, not taking his eyes off Leena's. A collective groan rose from everybody as they slowly turned and went back to their cauldrons. "Nice going, Longbottom," they heard Draco say sarcastically. Snape held out his hand silently and Leena handed him the churning potion hesitantly. Snape put out his other hand and Leena stared at him. "Are you just going to sit there leering at me or are you going to accept my offer of assistance?" he said impatiently. She gingerly placed her hand in his and allowed him to pull her up. Dead quiet reigned over the astonished class as they all stared wide-eyed over their shoulders at the unnatural display of kindness from their teacher. Even Neville had looked up from his position on the floor.
Snape realized his mistake too late. Quickly, he searched his mind for an insult to toss out. He smirked as he caught sight of Leena's ripped robes. "I know you are a Gryffindor, Miss Riddle, but I have to admit, I'm surprised..." he started off icily. She looked confused. "On what, exactly?" she asked.
"Your loyalty to your House. Or lack thereof. How touching that you're wearing such a nice shade of Slytherin green undergarments."
Leena blushed scarlet as she pulled the front pieces of her robes together. The Slytherins were laughing hysterically, tears coming out of their eyes. The Gryffindors paled as they glared daggers at their professor. Neville went back to cowering on the floor. To take points away unfairly was one thing, but to deliberately deface a student on this caliber was just plain wrong.
"And I think it safe to assume that the other piece might be either black or grey, depending on how accurate you wanted to be..."
By now, the Slytherins were rolling on the ground, not even bothering to try and control themselves. Some of the braver Gryffindors were protesting, others were throwing dirty looks at the hysterical Slytherins, and the rest were frozen in hatred. Leena pursed her lips, narrowed her eyes, and squared her shoulders, raising her chin arrogantly. "Glad you like them so much, Professor," she said silkily, "Perhaps you'd like me to order you a pair?"
Professor Snape narrowed his eyes to match. The Gryffindors stared at their classmate, disbelieving. The Slytherins toned it down considerably, Crabbe and Goyle cracking their knuckles at her.
"Boxers or Briefs, Professor?" she continued scathingly, crossing her arms across her chest, all modesty lost in anger. Now the Gryffindors were giggling like there was no tomorrow and the Slytherins were threatening to hex them all. Snape raised an eyebrow coldly at her.
"Do you really want to know?" he retorted, trying to swing the conversation in his favour again. It didn't work.
"No, I just wanted to be sure I got the style right when I order it. And speaking of ordering, that brings up the issue of size..." She stood back casually, acting like she was sizing him up, "...I think a small might be too big..."
That broke it for the Gryffindors. Half were happy that she took a stand, the other half were angry about the points she was certain to lose, but all were laughing as hard as the Slytherins were only moments before. Professor Snape placed the phial on a nearby table before he broke it in his grasp. "You're impertinent," he snapped tersely.
"You're vicious!" she shot back. Hermione spoke up, "Leena! That's enough!" Leena turned on her. "You're not my keeper, and he's not going to walk all over me, either!" she cried, pointing at him. Her chest was heaving with emotion. Snape grabbed her by her upper arm and yanked her up to his desk, snatching Neville from the floor on the way. Draco called out, "Nice view, Riddle! If I throw another potion at you, will you take the rest of it off?" Pansy laughed particularly hard on that one as Leena swung her free arm at him. Snape tightened his grip. "You wait here," he hissed at Neville, pushing him into a chair in front of the desk, "And you come with me." He pulled her towards the door and they heard her mutter sulkily, "It's not like I have much of a choice, is it?" and the door slammed shut behind them.
Ron muttered, "Trust a Slytherin to start something..." Draco threw a plimpy's spleen towards Harry and Ron's table. They calmly retaliated by chucking rat feet at him. Hermione ducked under her desk as an all-out potion-ingredient war was unleashed. She saw Pansy do the same. Neville squeaked, then hid in the store room. Seamus and Dean were happily pummeling Crabbe and Goyle with hunks of whatever they could find on the floor. Pansy pulled a letter out, glanced over it, glanced at the door, tucked the letter back into her pocket, then crawled towards the door. Hermione's interest peaked and she followed.
***
Snape and Leena had reached his office and he pushed her inside, slamming the door. "You truly are impertinent, you do realize that."
"Hey! It's your genes, don't blame me!"
"I'm not blaming you for anything, I'm just stating a fact."
"Right."
Snape was rummaging through his wardrobe. "I don't think I have anything in your size."
"I'll take one of your robes full size, don't worry."
"Fine." And he tossed a parcel of black cloth in her face. She slipped it over her head and was rewarded with a hearty laugh. "What?" she asked, grinning a little. "Go-go look at yourself-in the mi-in the-mirror!" her father gasped between laughing bouts. Tripping over the hem, she made her way to the bathroom and started giggling herself. The cloth dripped off her like shadowed water, it was so long! Six inches from the tip of the sleeves to her hands and it was a good thing that she had kept her ripped robe on: The neckline to her father's robe plunged down farther than was comfortable for her.
"I feel like I'm getting married!" she said, returning.
"Why's that?"
"I have a train to my dress." Leena said in a would-be-cute-if-not-for-the-fact-that-I'm-evil voice, batting her eyes.
***
Pansy sneaked down the hall, every bit as conspicuous as she didn't want to be. Hermione congratulated herself on casting an invisibility charm on herself. Pansy darted around the corner and Hermione caught sight of the piece of paper that Pansy had looked at before. 'Curiosity killed the cat, but the cat wasn't invisible,' she thought to herself as she picked up the paper with interest. It was a nice hue of indigo, she noted. Silvery writing flowed easily across the dark surface:
Pay close attention to a Gryffindor with initials LASR. She has rather 'close' connections to a certain Potions Master. You know what to do.
Hermione snapped her head up, looking around the corner to see if Pansy was coming back yet. Pansy was dashing back, intent on not getting caught. Hermione dropped the letter and hid behind a projection of rock. Pansy paused, picked up her note, then ran back to the dungeons. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief and turned herself visible again, walking towards Snape's office. Reaching it, she knocked softly and quickly fixed a scowl on her face.
Snape whipped the door open. "What now?" he groused at her. "I thought you'd like to know that your class is officially out of hand and your room is now ruined. That's all,' she told him, every bit as cross as he was. He brushed past her, robes swirling. Leena sheepishly reappeared, robe dragging. Hermione burst into giggles. "I'm amazed that he even let you touch his things!" she exclaimed.
"He didn't exactly have a choice, as all my other robes are in the wash..." Leena grinned as they made their way back to class.
***
Later that night, Leena dashed up to the Astronomy Tower, clutching a bundle tightly. Hermione had wanted the four of them to go to the Library, but she had begged off. She and Neville each had about a week's worth of detention now and had lost a round 150 points. Once word had gotten round Gryffindor Tower on why, most agreed whole-heartedly that it was worth it if the hated Potions Master was ridiculed and couldn't come up with a comeback. However, her detention didn't start for another hour and a half. Poor Neville was stuck with Filch for the week. Snape made sure that Leena's was to be served with him. Neville had patted her sympathetically on the shoulder, but was just relieved it wasn't him. Seamus and Dean had warmed up considerably towards her. It seemed that she had proven herself to them and they thought themselves lucky to find an ally in future Prank Wars Against the Slytherins.
'It's windy,' she thought distractedly as the gale tore her hair out of its pony tail flip and made her robes snap. She set down her bundle, unwrapping it with care. Out came a tiny leather pouch, a glass marble, a single candle, two silver rings, a rosary, four polished stones, a pen and ink, and her sketchbook. Smiling to herself, she flipped the sketchbook open to her most recent piece: the Metatron. He was one of her favourite characters. And that was precisely why she wanted him for this experiment: A grumpy dude with wings who gave good advice. Who could resist?
She placed to four stones on the corners of the page, clearing her mind of all else but her task. The candle went at the top of the drawing, a simple charm placed on it to protect the feeble flame. She closed her eyes, took off her shoes and socks, let down her hair, and spread her palms to the heavens. A few moments later, she opened her eyes and put the silver rings on her middle fingers, hair blowing crazily with her robes. All was prepared.
Leena stood over the drawing and held the rosary in her right hand, marble in her left and started to chant the old spell.
By the Water, the Fire, by the Earth and the Wind, I call to thee, Spirit!
Storm clouds started gathering as she cried into the night, lifting her face and hands to the sky, icy fingers tearing at her from the precarious perch on the Tower.
From the Power of the Elements, I summon thee, Spirit!
The flame from the candle started to trickle down the candle in a thin line onto the paper and slow, heavy droplets of water began to fall from the grey clouds. The line of flames reached the ink outlining the sketch and traced it in an instant, leaving no mark of wear it had been previously. Mist began to rise from the flames now, reflecting the orange glow.
Leave your Place and Come to Me! Enter your new Home and Come to Me!
She held the marble towards the paper in her outstretched hand, beckoning the fog to come towards her. It rose slowly, still flickering in the light of the candle. She concentrated with all her might to control it and make it come to her. Her reward for it was the mist wafting gently to her hand, surrounding the marble.
Come to me, Spirit, I call you! Approach your destiny and Enter!
It faltered for a moment, then entered the marble, making the glass light up like a lamp. The flames on the drawing went out as suddenly as they appeared. A fiendish light rose in her eyes as she observed the glowing orb, the orange light reflecting in darkness of them. The wind subsided a little as she knelt quickly on the ground and took up her pen. She flipped to a new page in her sketchbook, wrote Honesty, tore it off, and set fire to it by the candle. The smoke sank into the marble encased in her hand. She did the same with Humour, Sympathy, Trust, Intelligence, Reason, and a number of other qualities. Each time she burned the paper, the smoke entered the marble and turned instead of fog to a single flame as the flame of the candle diminished to nothingness. Carefully, she placed the marble into the leather pouch, tied it around her waist, and stood up, holding the rosary stretched between her hands. Into the darkness, she called:
The Cycle is Complete! The Contract is binding and the Deed is done! Let it end with this!
And she snapped the Holy Icon, beads rolling everywhere as she threw it off the battlements. Thunder crashed as she rolled everything back into a parcel with a flick of her wand and ran back into the castle. Lightning struck where she had been standing and the wind howled its sorrow. Leena laughed as she sprinted through the Tower. The effort was well-worth the result, she felt. Plunking everything on a step, she sat down and surveyed her handiwork: A glass marble with a single lick of fire was dancing merrily around. Placing it in her palm again, she closed her eyes and whispered to the marble, 'Enter, Friend.' The flame overtook the marble and a voice rang out clearly: BEHOLD THE METATRON! HERALD OF THE ALMIGHTY AND VOICE OF THE ONE TRUE GOD!
Leena laughed again and the voice stopped. "Well, who're you and what do you want?" it continued indignantly after a moment, the flames taking the shape of the drawing, then becoming solid, three dimensional, real. The Metatron stood in the palm of her hand, hands on his hips, wings spread. "Sorry," she giggled, "I'm just happy that the spell worked. Now I have a Muse!"
The Seraph looked a bit confused. "Muse?" he asked, "Serendipity is the Muse..."
"I know that, but I took you and made you my Muse. Well, at little piece of you, at least."
"But I'm not a Muse, I am a Seraphim! The highest choir of Angels! You do know what an angel is, don't you?"
Leena scoffed. "Who doesn't know what an angel is? Look, I know that you're not the Muse, but I wasn't exactly going to spill everything to Da! Or to my friends...they wouldn't understand." She looked down and the Angel peered into her face. "I guess what I was really trying to do was create a best friend. You know, someone to confide in and give advice and..."
"And what?" Metatron asked gently.
"And not be afraid of me," she whispered, allowing her feelings to show for the first time. Metatron put his tiny hand on her cheek. "I'm not afraid of you," he said kindly, "And I know who you are. All of who you are, good and the bad." She smiled thinly and stood up. "I've got to go to detention before he trounces me within an inch of my life," she said glumly. "See you around, then..." Metatron said, condensing back into the ball of flames. She whispered, 'Be Gone, Friend' and the marble with the flame inside returned. She tucked the marble back inside the pouch, slipped on her shoes and socks, and ran to the dungeons.
***
Hermione was busy telling Harry and Ron her suspicions in the Library, meanwhile. "What do you think it all means, though?" she asked, "I mean, couple that with the note I found earlier, I wouldn't be surprised if in some way she was related to Snape!" Harry yawned. "That would explain her moodiness, alright," he said when he finished. Ron got a disgusted look on his face all of a sudden. "What's with you? Swallow a bottle of Skele-Gro or something?" Harry quipped. Ron shook his head.
"I just thought of another less appealing explanation on why she's so comfortable with the snake, that's all," and he wrinkled his nose. "Well, don't leave us hanging, let's hear it!" Hermione and Harry chorused. Ron turned an interesting shade of purple and replied, "I'd rather not say..."
"Ohhhhh, just tell us already! Before I smack you in the head!"
"Fine! Don't say I didn't warn you...What if they aren't related, but are in quite *gulp* intimate relations of sorts...?" Now he was a lovely shade of green.
Harry blinked slowly. Hermione frowned. "What?"
"You heard me!"
"What do you mean not related but in a rela- RON! THAT'S NASTY!" she shrieked. She finally realized his intent and smacked him in the head anyway. Harry blinked again. He didn't trust himself to open his mouth. Madame Pince came rushing over, hissing like an angry goose. "What are you doing?" she snapped at them. They didn't answer and she kicked them out of the Library.
"Nice going, Ron," Hermione said sulkily. Harry blinked.
A/N: Hmm. I don't know what to say. O.O That's a first...