Chapter 8: In Which They All Lose Their Temper

Daystar was really taken aback. One of his own teachers whom he trusted was the cause of all this trouble?

"What are you gawking at?" Snape snapped at him. "Surely you've seen more impressive things in your lifetime than an old walking stick."

Daystar was searching for words, but nothing was coming out. "You, you, you fool!" Snape looked at him sharply, and Daystar checked himself. "I am sorry. I meant no disrespect. Please let us in, and we'll have a little talk. Leave your staff at the door."

Snape gave him one more, hard glare then allowed Daystar and Harry in. Once he let go of his staff, that horrible pulling feeling in Harry's soul helped. Snape offered a chair to his guests and sat at his own desk. Harry stared at Snape with increasing anger. Snape gave Harry a particularly nasty look before Daystar spoke up.

"How long have you had the staff?"

"Since last night."

"You were not responsible for what happened at the Quidditch match?"

"I am not."

"You swear it?"

"Yes. I had nothing to do with it."

"You have seen what this thing does then, what damage it has cause to this school."

"Do you know for a fact that it was a staff?"

"Of course. There is nothing else it could have been. So one question remains: Why?"

"Because I was elected." Snape handed Daystar a letter, which the prince read aloud:

Dear Professor Severus Snape,

Congratulations! We have reviewed your record and are impressed with your credentials. We have nominated you for our new Head Wizard. Enclosed is a gift we wish for you to take to consider joining us. We wish to meet with you in your dungeon to discuss initiation on the evening of--

"There they are!" Hermione ran in, followed by Morwen, Telemain, and Ron. Ron's hair looked frizzled and singed in some places. Telemain inspected the staff by the door and verified that it was from the Society of Wizards. Harry had never seen Morwen so angry. She had been strict, yes, but now she looked like she would blow her top.

"All right, Severus, put it away!"

"Make me."

"Severus, do you know our school's motto?"

"Of course, 'Draco Dormiens Nuquam Tittilandus.' It's a common sense phrase: 'Never tickle a sleeping dragon.' So?"

"Well, you might as well be tickling a dragon's nose with that thing! Listen, the Dark Lord has returned, and the Society of Wizards has given you a tool to drain this school and all that dwell within it dry of all its magic!"

"That's where you're wrong, Morwen. It has an on/off function; it has to. They know what environment I live in."

"Negative," Telemain answered. "I had such a staff in my possession for years. The only method to cease its absorption function is to cause the staff itself to dematerialize."

"Meaning?" Ron said impatiently.

"In order to make it stop soaking up magic, the staff needs to disappear," Hermione explained.

"That's what I said!" Telemain yelled.

"With as much as Telemain knows about figuring magic things out, you should know this is tricky magic," Morwen added. "The Society does not like those staffs turned off."

"Hear me out, woman! I have never been the head of anything, never head of my class, head of the school, not even head of a household!" He looked at Morwen jealously.

Telemain sensed this and seethed with anger. "You are head of Slytherin house. Isn't that enough for you?"

Snape ignored him. "These wizards are practically giving me the chance to be the very top of something. You think I would pass this up?"

At that moment, Dumbledore ran into the doorway. "Severus, there you are. You too Morwen, and Telemain I've been looking all over for you. The Christmas feast is about to start."

"Albus, I'm glad you're here," Snape said standing up. "I'd like to announce that at the end of this year, I, Severus Snape, am resigning from Hogwarts."

Dumbledore looked flustered. "Resigning? Dear me, this is rather sudden. Are you sure?"

"Yes sir."

"Well, how in the world are we going to replace you, especially in these turbulent times? We need you, Severus. I'll give you that Defense Against the Dark Arts position you have wanted so badly if you stay."

Snape walked up to Dumbledore so that they were standing crooked nose to crooked nose. "You have allowed me to be candid before, so let me do it again. I hate teaching. I hate my students. And most of all, I hate this school. It's nothing personal, but I have been called to loftier things. It is time for me to move on. And I do not care whom you get to replace me. Indeed, I don't care anything you do in this world. Just let me go."

Dumbledore paused, looking hesitant. "Very well. We shall meet later, try to make this final. For now, come to the feast. Let us have a happy Christmas."

"I will be there shortly."

Dumbledore turned and left. Morwen walked after him, but first she grabbed Snape's arm and turned him around. "I thought you were supposed to be fighting evil," she hissed. "Very well, do as you wish, but I'm warning you: as long as you have that staff, Hogwarts is going to be a city without walls." She turned away, refusing to look at him. Telemain walked after her, giving Snape a hairy eyeball all the way.

"I almost forgot. This is for you." Daystar tossed a gift to Snape and said the most un-merry "Merry Christmas" that Harry ever heard. He promptly got up and left. Harry, Ron, and Hermione followed.

The rest of the day was a very somber Christmas among the four of them. Daystar was infuriated and paced in front of the fireplace in the common room. Harry and Hermione were arguing with him what the best plan of action would be to take. Ron was more worried about something completely different.

"I'm really a firewitch?"

Hermione seemed annoyed. "Don't you have any notes from when Morwen taught that lesson? Yes, all the clues of late show that you are a firewitch. Actually, it's rather amazing that I didn't think of this before. It's rather bizarre that an entire family would have such read hair. And most of you seem to have a short temper at times, and then of course your hair burst into flames earlier today."

"I'm really a firewitch? Why didn't Mum and Dad tell me?"

"Didn't you already speculate that your mother was a firewitch?" Harry spoke up.

"I was kidding! I didn't want Mum or anybody in my family to really be a firewitch. Oh, I bet that's why we're so poor and why we aren't respected."

"What do you mean? Morwen didn't say firewitches were really bad, and Daystar's going out with one."

"Well, that's in his world. Firewitches are in our world, but they're often seen as loons. They have so much magic in them, even proper training can't tone it down. They're a danger to Muggles and wizards alike. Most of them are institutionalized."

"Now, you're not being rational," Hermione said. "Sure, you can control your magic fine."

"Yes, there are some firewitches that have no trouble. Most of them joined You-Know-Who. They're still seen as crazy, often evil."

"Ron, please," Daystar said. "Firewitches are people, like everybody. You're sister is as sweet as they come, from what little I've seen of her, and you and your brothers are clever and funny. Shiara has no sense of humor, save for maybe some sarcasm she uses when she's really angry. Besides, I'm not sure whether or not you could be a firewitch. You and your brothers are very allergic to wizard staffs, and firewitches are not. In fact, if you are really a firewitch, you will be a great asset to us."

"How?"

"That's what I'm trying to decide."

"I keep telling you," Harry yelled, "let's all just go down, melt Snape, and break his staff in half."

"No!" Daystar said. "I can't do that to a teacher, even though he isn't much of one. And staffs don't just break like that. The spells on them are too strong."

"Should we talk to Dumbledore?" Hermione asked.

"Dumbledore knows. He saw Snape's staff in his office, didn't he?"

"What would Morwen and Telemain do?"

"Well, they tried to negotiate, we saw that. Telemain's probably devising a spell to protect the castle right now. Who knows how long it will be before it goes up?"

Daystar heaved a sigh. "There's only one thing left to do. I must go home and tell Mother and Father." He then stopped pacing and looked his friends in the eye. "And I want you to come with me."