Chapter Twenty-Four

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Strangely enough, Audacious Belle was not in the least bit surprised to see Severus Snape waiting for her when she walked out of the confinement area. She quickly asked the others to move on as she eyed him calculatingly.

"Quite a bold move coming out in public like that. You could have warned us."

"You could have warned me about Pettigrew, but you didn't. And why and how was the wand used that night?" Severus demanded.

"I am not responsible for that," Belle snapped, glancing around.

"No one's watching at the moment. Audi, it is time that Jennifer's wand was returned to her before any more innocent lives are taken." Severus said.

"None of those the Skull killed were innocent," she hissed softly.

"None of us were at one time or another. But that doesn't mean some of them didn't turn around, as you are perfectly aware, Audi Belle, by your own admission. Let me make it clear to you that the only reason I covered for him on Halloween was to save Jennifer. Unless you give me that wand back, I will go to Dumbledore with what I know."

"The wand is out of my hands," Audi said bluntly. "I have no more control over him than anyone else does. I can only offer my advice. As for telling Dumbledore, there's still a lot you don't know, Severus, and a there's lot to lose. Perhaps you don't care for his methods; perhaps even I don't care for them. But if he is capable of taking Voldemort down forever, shouldn't we let him try?"

"I don't know," Severus said after a moment. "I don't know."

Jennifer was very glad to get back to class, even if she had to start a couple days late. The hearings ended up as cut and dry as Vallid had said they would be, and surprisingly enough, she hadn't even been called up. Instead, Vallid called up outside witnesses in Knockturn, and then Arthur Weasley to speak of her interview with Malfoy and the missing court documents. Last she called up Albus Dumbledore, who recounted what he knew about the mirror and the spells cast on it when he had found it. It had been more than enough to warrant a full trial. Jennifer had only two and a half weeks until then, so she tried to rearrange her lesson plan so that her classes weren't too hurt by her absence.

She and Severus had decided to go ahead and have dueling club that Thursday night so that they could set up the first set of charts and pairings for the dueling tournament. She arrived early as usual, and was quickly cornered by Hermione and Ginny, while Harry and Ron walked up behind them.

"Hi! It's good to see all of you!" Jennifer smiled warmly.

"Professor Craw! Is it true what the other students are saying?" Ginny asked.

"You mean about this?" Jennifer said, quickly showing off her ring.

"Wow, that's not only an engagement ring, it's a Dragonheart diamond engagement ring! However did he find it? Do they work for you?" Hermione asked. Harry and Ron suddenly found themselves crowded out by the girls in the club, trying to get a better look.

"Are you really engaged to Professor Snape?" Parvati asked in a way that made it sound scandalous.

"Good grief, it's not a crime to be engaged, is it?" Jennifer chuckled at their skeptical faces.

"But Professor Craw," Neville said, "we just don't understand it. I mean, everyone thinks you're one of the nicest teachers. You have the most interesting classes and you're always upbeat – but Snape is mean and cranky and nobody –"

"Is this supposed to be a dueling club or a witches' cauldron party?" Severus' voice boomed from the doorway, causing everyone, including Jennifer, to jump and turn around. Jennifer felt her face grow hot and tried with difficulty to control the blush rising to her cheeks.

"Sorry, Professor," Jennifer said clearing her throat as the students around her started to move away in different directions. Severus' lip twitched.

"Everyone into your assigned rows before I get even more mean and cranky," he snapped, glaring at Neville.

Jennifer coughed slightly, hiding a chuckle. As she stepped to the back, she glanced over at Draco, mildly surprised that he was here. Draco Malfoy ignored the glance, staring stonily ahead. It was amazing that his mother hadn't pulled him from the school either, especially considering all the recent events. But for whatever reason, not only was he still at Hogwarts, but also he was still in dueling despite what he must be feeling about the professors who ran it. Perhaps there was hope for him after all?

Rolanda and Filius came in as they finished their forms and new spell drills, having volunteered to help with the tournament. Each student would have two matches in the beginning with two different people. Then they were paired according to if they had two wins or one, and anyone having two losses was out of the tournament. It was difficult to tell in the first round who might have the potential to succeed later, but from what Jennifer had seen, she was willing to bet sixth year Gryffindors and first year Slytherin would come out the best in their categories at least. They ran four matches a time, and it still took them over two hours to finish them all, meeting at the end to compile a list so that they could pair winners with winners and losers with losers for next week.

"Not a bad group of duelers, if I do say so myself," Filius said as he turned in his results. "Might I say you've done splendidly with them, Severus."

"The ones that practice with Jennifer on Saturdays seem to be doing decidedly better," Severus admitted.

"That's only because they practice more, and they use the training mirror more," Jennifer protested.

"Ah, yes, Truth Seekers are always looking at mirrors, aren't they?" Filius teased.

"Well, not so much anymore with my pocket mirror gone. To be perfectly honest, they've been losing their appeal to me lately," Jennifer admitted.

In fact, she'd been avoiding the training mirror herself since before Christmas. She knew she would have to get over that if she planned to teach with it. And because of that, she decided to try it again that weekend, despite the fact that she knew it wasn't likely to be easy.

Saturday morning she got up extra early to give her plenty of time before the students began to wander in, slipping down the hallways when everything was quiet and still. As she did her warm-ups, she gazed warily at the mirror across the room. If she had any doubts about being her own worst enemy at the beginning of the year, she didn't have any now; her weakness to the Mortification Curse had proven it.

She told herself over and over not to be hard on herself. All she had to do was to do her best and it'd be all right. Since when was she ever afraid of a mirror anyhow, she thought to herself. Mirrors had long been her best friends, showing her sides of herself she might have missed otherwise. Deciding to err on the side of caution, Jennifer muttered a few quick identify spells, double-checking to make certain that the mirror hadn't been tampered with in any way.

Jennifer stepped up to see her image gazing warily at her, but apparently ready to begin. As usual, her image quickly corrected her, demanding perfection, repeating through the chosen forms until they were flawless. Usually she found working through the mirror challenging or even invigorating; but now it seemed to be having the opposite effect. Jennifer felt as if it were wearing her down, as if her mirror image was trying to break her spirit. In response, Jennifer worked harder, determined to not let it beat her, and determined not to show any weaknesses it might expose… but it was no use. Every time she fought harder, the image also fought harder, and every time she defied it, it grew stronger. What was it going to take to get past this, she asked herself as her anger rose. Suddenly, the mirror shattered into thousands of pieces as Jennifer instinctively fell to her knees, shielding her face from the falling glass. She sat there a moment, exhausted, stunned, and glancing at the bare wood surface.

"Oh, gee. That went well," she muttered to herself, wondering how she was going to explain how the mirror got broke. A hand came down in front of her, and she took it, standing up and stepping away from the glass. "Guess I overloaded it," she admitted sheepishly.

"It definitely seems that way," Severus agreed, looking at her thoughtfully. He cast a quick spell to clean up the glass, and then calmly pushed the broken mirror against the wall. "I suppose I'll have to be your shadow today."

In the last few minutes before the students began to arrive, Severus and Jennifer mirrored each other's forms like a complicated dance, stopping every now and again to correct something as they did. Jennifer paired up the students as they came in, getting them to spot mistakes for each other as well. Several of them glanced curiously at the mirror frame, but none of them asked what happened to it. Finally Jennifer told them to go to lunch, but took the time to pull aside Harry, Ron and Draco a moment before they left.

"You boys aren't doing those girls any favors by being lenient on them, you know," Jennifer she told them gently. "I saw quite a few things they did that you three should have picked up. You're the best duelers in the class. Are you afraid of the competition?"

"But Ginny's a year younger than me," Harry protested.

"No excuses. Everyone started learning together. Of course, you have the right to choose to practice with, but I hope you'll respect your friends enough to help them as much as they're trying to help you," Jennifer said, letting them go. Severus watched them leave then stepped over to Jennifer, handing her cloak to her.

"You know, I think Patil is the reason Malfoy is still here," Severus confided in a low voice. "I know his mother had considering transferring him to Durmstrang, but apparently Malfoy wanted to stay."

"Got to admit, that kid's got guts," Jennifer said with a sad smile.

"The question is, is that a good thing or a bad thing," Severus said with a frown.

The next Sunday was the big Gryffindor versus Slytherin game, and Jennifer had the distinct honor of it being the first game she was going to referee on her own. She rounded the pitch on her Eaglewing Automatic-Uncrashable before the game, helping Rolanda with the pre-game security. Fortunately, ever since Jennifer had been at Hogwarts, none of the games had had any major mishaps, and now with the Death Eaters in disarray with Malfoy and Pettigrew waiting trial in prison, Jennifer guessed that this would be another typical game. She went down and inspected the equipment, checking for curses and making sure the Bludgers were feisty. At her nod the gates opened, and the teams stepped out and sped around the pitch to cheering crowds.

At last they were in position. Jennifer released the Bludgers and the Snitch, giving them a moment to clear before throwing up the Quaffle. As the teams dove to grab it, Jennifer quickly gave the chest a magic shove off the field, slipped on her goggles and flew up to watch the Quaffle, ducking instinctively as a Bludger beamed across the field towards the Slytherin side. Jennifer's broom couldn't possibly match the speed of the others, so she kept as close to the center as possible, ready to change directions in a moment's notice.

Ginny had quickly blocked it, but Amadeus, Slytherin's newest Chaser, caught it and threw it back through the lower ring, giving them the first points of the game. Back and forth it went across the pitch until the score was 40-30 Slytherin, but still neither Draco or Harry, the Seekers, had moved more than necessary to dodge Bludgers. As one of the Gryffindor Chasers passed the Quaffle towards the rings, Jennifer noticed one of the Bludgers smack hard into Millicent's arm, the Keeper for Slytherin. Somehow she managed to keep the broom steady and block the shot with her hurt arm hanging limply against her broom. Jennifer suspected that it was broken, but Millie wasn't ready to back down yet, determined to keep Gryffindor at bay. As the Quaffle passed back across the pitch and the Slytherin chasers moved close together, Jennifer saw a sparkle of light and the Seekers dove, banking towards the Gryffindor side.

The Slytherin Beaters, who'd been determined before that point to knock Ginny from her position, quickly changed their tactics. They caught up with the Bludgers just as Amadeus threw another one through the rings, knocking them off to the other side of the pitch towards Harry. At the last minute, the Snitch rose straight up and Harry and Draco along with it, narrowly avoiding the Bludgers. Meanwhile, the Gryffindor Chasers were hoping to even up the score, which was now twenty points behind, passing near Jennifer on the way to their rings. Millie was still having trouble managing her broom, and as she went to block, another Bludger nearly hit her from the front, causing her to have to pull back so sharply that it caused her to lose control. Down she went, barely able to pull up at the field, and Jennifer gave the signal for someone to tend to her before turning her attention to the Seekers.

The Snitch was right in front of them high above the rings, zigzagging inches away from their hands. Just as Draco was pushing forward to make the grab, a Bludger came barreling up from below. It had been intended for Harry, but Harry had happened to look down and was able to break off his pursuit and veer to the side to avoid it. Draco, intent on the Snitch, hadn't seen it coming and got hit in the side of the head. Jennifer could tell that he had been hit hard from the way the Bludger ricocheted off, quickly drawing her wand and forcing her protesting broom into a spin dive just as Draco started to fall.

Muttering the Featherlight spell, she snap-cast the spell before anyone else realized what was going on, and dozens of brown eagle feathers appeared in the air beneath the unconscious boy, lowering him to the ground. She heard a whizzing sound by her ear as the Snitch flew by and saw Harry spin around to meet it, rolling over several times on his broom with his hand out, the Snitch landing easily in his waiting hand. Jennifer quickly blew her whistle declaring Gryffindor the winner and dove down to where Poppy and Hagrid huddled over Draco.

"Is he alright?" she asked when she was hovering close enough, needing to shout to be heard over the crowd.

"Knocked out before he hit the ground. It's a good thing you slowed them down! Don't worry, we'll take care of it," Poppy assured her. Nodding, Jennifer went to get out of Poppy's way and gather the balls, but her broom did not want to cooperate. Muttering softly, she realized she must have damaged it when forcing it into a dangerous dive like that, and not only did not want to function right, it didn't even want to land, hovering four feet off the ground. The Slytherin Beaters, feeling a bit guilty for hitting their own team mate, offered to get the Bludgers, so Jennifer was able to get everything put away just as Rolanda walked over from where Draco was being carted off.

"Well done, Jennifer! Splendid work today, I couldn't have done better myself!" she said pleased.

"I broke my broom," Jennifer said matter-of-factly, glancing at where the Eaglewing was still hovering over the pitch.

"Broke the transmagic right out of it I'd imagine with that dive. For a second I thought you were one of the Seekers. You gave your poor broom a heart attack!" Rolanda chuckled. "And you thought you couldn't handle a dive! I'd be surprised if Snape hadn't just had his own heart attack just now seeing you do that. It was brilliant! Why are all the feathers brown? I thought the Featherlight Charm always had white down."

"Who cares?" Jennifer shrugged as they walked over to her broom. "All that matters is it worked and all the students are safe. Bad day for Slytherin though, eh?"

"Rough game, Quidditch," Rolanda agreed.