Chapter Nineteen
Limitations
It was just after breakfast on Sunday as Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny were talking over their plans for the day when the paper came. A sudden shock wave rumbled through the Great Hall as the sound of a forcefully slammed door echoed through the open door in the back.
Dean Thomas rushed in, quite out of breath as if he had just had a close call with doom, hurrying over to the Gryffindor table.
"What's wrong, Dean?" Ron asked when he came past to talk to Seamus.
"Snape's in a snit again. Actually, I haven't seen him this bad in while. He came billowin' out of the staff room and down the corridor, newspaper in one hand, and watch in the other. Door didn't survive it. We'll have to give it a nice careful burial."
"Uh oh, did you say watch?" Hermione said, then dove for the paper. Ron beat her to it, rolling it out as Harry grabbed for his.
"Notorious Hogwarts Professor Allegedly Saves Hogsmeade from Dementor Invasion. Boy, I tell you. We spend our entire day working on our own paper while she's off busy making stories for theirs," Ron said.
"Oh come on, Ron, you know that paper has been printing all sorts of rubbish about her lately."
"Yes, but they got a picture this time! At least that ought to dispel all the trash on the gossip page about her," Ron said, laying the paper down. Hermione leaned over.
"Wow, that's an awesome picture! And what a beautiful Unicorn!" Hermione said. The photograph captured Craw and the Unicorn in mid-stride, and as they watched, they galloped towards several dark shapes along the hillside below a familiar shack. Harry looked closer, making out two other familiar figures standing among the Dementors. And written in tiny letters below the paper were the words: Photograph courtesy of Madame Rosmerta of Hogsmeade.
"That's Sirius and Remus, I'm sure of it! I wonder if this is why he didn't come to Hagrid's last night," Harry said.
"I don't see Anna anywhere. I thought she was going to get our things?" Ginny asked Hermione.
"What does it say about Anna, Ron? Here, give me that!" Hermione said, trying to snatch the paper as he pulled it away.
"I'm not done yet! I don't see anything about Anna. It says here that the Dementors appeared outside of the condemned residence, and that Craw with the help of Sirius Black and Remus Lupin were able to drive them back. Others reportedly saw the three of them getting into a confrontation with Professor Snape just a few minutes before but there is no word as of yet if the two incidents were related. 'See gossip column for more information on that issue.' Isn't that just like them? I swear, every time they print something about her they refer people to the gossip column," Ron said, immediately turning to find it.
"Woah, look at this picture! Awesome! This just can't be for real!" Ron said, looking amazed. "Man, I'm going to frame this." Hermione got behind him in annoyance and pulled out the corned to get a better look, her jaw dropping.
"Well, now we know why Snape went haywire when the paper arrived," she winced.
"Don't hog the paper, show us!" Ginny said in annoyance. Curiosity getting the better of him, Harry flipped to the back and put in on the table, looking at it with a confused expression. There in the photograph was Professor Craw, standing by Anna in the middle of the main street with her wand out as if she had just cast a spell and Severus Snape was thrown back from it. A surprised Sirius Black and Remus Lupin were standing close by, reaching for their wands. The photo was accompanied by the headline, Snape Snap-casted Senseless by Furious Fiancée, is this Match Over?
"This doesn't make any sense at all," Harry said, shaking his head. "Snape was here all day yesterday."
"There are ways," Hermione reminded him, remembering the Time-Turner she herself had used several years ago. In fact, it had ended up saving Sirius Black's life.
"Yes, I know there are ways, but this just isn't right. There's no way that Craw would have done such a thing to him," Harry said.
"You're right, Harry. We'd better find out what's really going on here," Hermione agreed, quickly stacking her books. Ron and Ginny exchanged glances, but didn't say anything.
"Hey, guys!" Corey Willowby bounded in from the hall, earning a groan from Ron. Harry couldn't help but agree that Corey was a bit of a pest, but he really did mean well. Ron had once noted that at times he could be as just as much trouble as his older twin brothers rolled together into one person. "Did you see Snape? Boy, I think he hit 7.2 on the Richter scale," he grinned. "I'm gonna go see where he went."
"Better not bother him right now, Corey. He's mad at Craw this time," Harry told him. Corey brightened even more.
"Now I definitely don't want to miss it! I hope they went to the office. I want to try out my new toy," he said, bringing out a short fluted glass with a flat bottom.
"Corey, where did you get a Snoop Glass? Those aren't allowed at Hogwarts. If Filch finds you with it, you're in for it for sure," Hermione warned him. "In fact, I ought to turn you in."
"Don't be so stuck up, Hermione," Corey said with exasperation. "I want to go hear Snape get reamed."
"Don't you mean Craw?" Ginny asked.
"Not likely, she's got him wrapped around her little finger tighter than string. I'll see you later," he said, heading back to the door.
"Wait, Corey!" Hermione said, trying to be firm.
"Hang on a moment, Corey, I'm coming too," Ron said, getting up and following him.
"We'd better go reel them in before they get us all in trouble," Harry said to the others. "I think right now we're much better off trying to get answers from Sirius anyhow. Ginny, when we catch up, you try talk Corey into staying out of this, he normally listens to you."
"Right you are," Ginny agreed as they got up. In fact, Harry suspected he had a slight crush on her. They found them on the back stairs heading up from the dungeons, looking disappointed.
"No sign of them. I bet they're in her room," Corey said.
"Well, you're definitely not going to start snooping up there." Hermione said.
"Yes, but I have some homework to turn in, so I'll just go up and knock," Corey said, grinning.
"That can wait, Corey. Don't you think they deserve a little bit of space?" Ginny said, folding her arms and frowning at him.
"What's wrong with a little healthy curiosity? From what I've been hearing, it's not like all of you keep your noses clean either," Corey said defiantly. "Come on, seriously, don't you want to know what's really going on?"
"Maybe we ought to take him along. He's just going to get into trouble if we leave him on his own," Ginny said.
"Yeah! Where we going?" Corey asked with interest.
"No, he's not been given permission to go anywhere. Corey, why don't you just go find out what Taylor and Doug are up to? I'm sure they're doing something much more interesting," Hermione said.
"No they're not, they're in detention," Corey explained. "I narrowly escaped it myself. I'm totally free today!"
Just then they heard footsteps on the stairs from above them, and Corey quickly stuffed his Snoop Glass in his pocket, still looking at them expectantly. Ron, standing behind Corey, was shaking his head at Harry pleadingly. Hermione didn't look too thrilled with the idea either. But before Harry could say anything, Snape came into view on the stairwell, followed closely behind by Craw. The Professor stopped short when he saw them. Craw, standing on a higher stair behind him, peered over his shoulder curiously.
"What are you Gryffindors doing lurking in the stairwell? Don't you have anything better to do?" Snape snapped, his voice lined with pure irritation.
"I was looking for Professor Craw. I got my homework assignment done, Professor," Corey said quickly, taking a crumpled paper from his pocket and straightening it easily with a spell. Craw sighed softly, passing Snape to reach the landing.
"Well, it's about time, Corey. You know, if you keep this up you really are going to completely ruin Gryffindor's chances this year on points," Craw chided him, holding her hand out and taking the paper. She then took a moment to study all their faces before settling again on Corey. "So what are you really up to, Corey?" she asked, watching him a moment.
"Nothing, just hanging out with the seventh years today," Corey said cheerfully. Jennifer then put out her other hand, frowning at him. "What?"
"You know what. Hand it over this instant, Corey, or Flitwick is going to find another helper today," Craw demanded, her face unusually serious. Reluctantly, Corey took out the Snoop Glass and handed it over to her. She immediately passed it back to Snape, who took it and glared at all of them suspiciously. "Where did you get it?"
"I bought it off Amadeus Longbottom," Corey admitted. Craw and Snape exchanged glances.
"We're going to have a long talk about this later," Craw told him sternly, and then continued to head down the stairs.
"Not right now?" Corey asked, curiously. "I've got time."
"This may be a big surprise to you, Mr. Willowby, but the world does not revolve around your existence," Snape said, "and if I were you, I'd be very glad of that fact at the moment, or I'd have something to say about this as well. Potter, since you're obviously not doing anything productive, would you mind coming down to my office?"
"Oh, uh… sure," Harry said, wondering how he got mixed up in this.
"Anything I can help with?" Corey asked.
"No, Corey, just stay with Hermione, okay?" Craw said, trying to hide her exasperation. "Hermione, try and keep him out of trouble for a little while if you can."
Snape took a glance back as if to indicate that he doubted all of their abilities to stay out of trouble, but said nothing as he followed Craw down to the dungeon.
"I'll be right back, guys. Let's meet in the courtyard, and I'll try to contact Sirius from there," Harry whispered to them before heading down the stairs.
"I swear. He gets all the luck, doesn't he? He gets to do anything he wants around here," Corey said after they'd gone.
"I seriously doubt he wanted to go down there, and if you had any sense at all, you wouldn't want to either," Ron said as they headed out of the stairwell. "What do you think he wanted Harry for? It was obviously a spur of the moment decision."
"I'm sure we'll find out soon enough," Ginny said.
As it turned out, they had not had long to wait before Harry came back out, looking thoughtful.
"So, what was all that about?" Corey asked before anyone else had a chance to say anything.
"Oh, he just wanted me to talk to Rasputin. They seem to be concerned about people getting in Snape's office that shouldn't be," Harry said thoughtfully. "I also stopped long enough to send Hedwig to look for Sirius. If he's home or in the forest, we should know soon."
"Wow, you mean we might go in the Dark Forest? I thought that wasn't allowed," Corey excitedly.
"You're not allowed. In fact, you should probably stay here," Hermione told Corey.
"Nope, Professor Craw said to stay with you so that's what I'm going to do," Corey grinned.
"Since when are you an advocate of doing what you're told?" Ron asked him.
"Well, I don't want to get in any more trouble than I am already in," Corey explained.
Hedwig dropped down then and Harry put his arm out, petting her gently as he accepted the note.
"He's at the house. Come on, let's go find somewhere quiet so we can leave," Harry said.
"What about Corey?" Ginny asked.
"Craw took an awfully long look at us. I'm sure she knows what we were planning, so I'd guess it's all right," Harry shrugged. "She probably has her reasons." They walked out the gate of the castle and away from the grounds, then making sure no one else was around had everyone hold onto him as he took hold of his house Portkey.
Their surroundings melted away, and Corey found himself in front of a small house nestled in between the mountains. No roads led there, nor hardly a trail. With that exception, nothing else seemed very remarkable about it; rather homey in appearance, in fact. Just then the door opened and Sirius Black looked out, smiling warmly at Harry and telling them to come in, pausing to look curiously at Corey.
"Sirius, this is Corey Willowby," Harry introduced. "He's a friend of Professor Craw's and ours."
"Ah, yes, I've heard of you," Sirius said with amusement. "You're the one McGonagall calls the Reigning Terror of Gryffindor, aren't you?"
"Yeah, I don't think she likes me too much," Corey admitted. "This is the first weekend since school started that I haven't been in detention. Fortunately, I was doing last week's detention when Taylor and Doug got in trouble, so I ended up escaping this week's," he explained, looking pleased with himself.
"A Hogwarts student after my own heart," Sirius declared with amusement. As they came in, Corey became aware of another man in the room. Sitting in a comfortable chair looking disheveled and tired was another wizard, harboring a strange haunted look in his eyes as he gazed into his steaming teacup. "The kids are here, Remus, I told you it wouldn't take them long to figure out something was up. And this is Corey Willowby, a friend of Jennifer's." Corey couldn't help but wonder all the sudden why they kept referring to him as a friend of hers, not really understanding why it would matter. But Remus looked up at him and offered him a weak yet warm smile.
"So what's the paper going on about, Sirius? We know it's definitely not telling the whole story," Harry asked.
"Paper? What did the paper say?" Sirius asked, suddenly worried. Remus also looked extremely worried, watching as Harry handed him the paper.
"Anything about unusual werewolf sightings?" Remus asked.
"No," Harry said, looking at him strangely. Wasn't it the wrong moon for that? "It's mostly about Professor Craw. And I was hoping you'd explain maybe what the picture in the gossip column was all about too, because I am getting the feeling that wasn't Snape."
"Hang on, hang on," Sirius said, reading through the first story and fumbling to the next. Grimacing, he handed it to Remus. "No, Harry, that wasn't Snape. That was Pettigrew. Take a look at the second picture, Moony, they have a good picture of Anna there, too."
"Do you think anyone will make the connection?" Remus said thoughtfully as he stopped to look at the pictures before reading the articles.
"I don't know. We should probably talk to Dumbledore about it," Sirius sighed, sitting down.
"What connection would that be?" Harry asked. Remus and Sirius exchanged thoughtful glances.
"Anna is the Unicorn on the front page, Harry," Sirius said. "But I'd rather that not be public knowledge just yet until I figure out what Dumbledore thinks of it. It's not supposed to be public knowledge that she's even here. I'm sure he'd want to keep this quiet."
"Don't worry, we won't say anything," Harry said, and the others (including Corey who had only seen her around the school from time to time and didn't really know her) agreed.
"It explains a lot, though. I wondered how Craw managed to pull off riding a Unicorn," Corey quipped before getting jabbed in the side by Ginny who was standing next to him.
"Well, at least Rosmerta somehow managed to convince the paper to print a complementary story about her," Remus said, "Although with all the damage done already, I'm not sure it'll make much difference."
"So, the person in the other picture you say was Pettigrew? Like he took a polyjuice potion?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, he had walked up to us asking if we'd found Pettigrew yet, and was suggesting that we try the shack when Jennifer came out, spotted him and Stupefied him. Then he just seemed to Disapparate with the spell full force on him," Sirius sighed.
"That's what happened in the caverns too," Harry nodded.
"He must have some sort of device on him that automatically relocates him if it's hit," Hermione said.
"Likely. Whatever it is, it's quite annoying. We could have had him by now," Sirius muttered.
"And now, thanks to me, he'll be harder to get rid of than ever," Remus said, sounding bitter.
"No, the only one to blame is Pettigrew himself," Sirius said. "He's the only one responsible for what happened out there." Suddenly he noticed the five pairs of eyes staring at him curiously and decided to quickly change the conversation. "You know, we need to find out how he got that potion."
"You think it was someone inside the school?" asked Ginny.
"It's really the most likely place it could have happened, if you think about it," Hermione said. "I mean, where else does Snape go?"
"Usually when he's out and about he's with either Jennifer, Dumbledore, or me," Sirius said. "Ever since he left the Death Eaters for good he's been extremely cautious."
"Snape would never let his guard down outside of Hogwarts, alone or otherwise. It is more likely to have been in the school," Harry agreed.
"So, it's a student?" Hermione asked thoughtfully. "Because if the same student made the other potions as well, it has to be a pretty advanced one. Professor Craw seemed to imply that enchantment potion was far from basic."
"Whoever it is also has access to some rather rare ingredients as well," Remus added.
"Well, that explains why Professor Craw and Snape were worried about someone getting into Snape's office earlier," Harry said.
"Professor Craw has a lot of rare ingredients in her private stock too," Hermione pointed out. "And there's a few other places in the school one can find them, that is if whoever it is doesn't either have their own supply. Or perhaps it's someone who isn't in the school, but visits often and has had contact with Snape." Sirius looked at them thoughtfully.
"Well, I'm sure Snape and Craw are already putting the same clues together you are. Still, if you guys can stay relatively discreet, I wouldn't object to you doing a little snooping to make sure it's not coming from a student. As much faith as I have in Craw in this, you guys will probably have more luck finding out who it is if it's a student."
"I wonder if it's one of the students in Snape's special class?" Corey asked thoughtfully.
"Special class? What special class?" Ron asked.
"Snape runs a short Dabbler's class for his "gifted" students during one of his conferences now. That's how come he never hovers about during our Defense class like he used to last year," Hermione said. "It's nearly all Slytherin students, though, which is why I turned it down."
"Well, I'm in it," Corey said. "So maybe I can help out by checking things out there?" Hermione's eyes went wide and she stared at him.
"You're only a first year, and you're in his Dabbler's class?" Hermione asked, staring at him.
"Snape knew I was getting bored. His class was too easy," Corey shrugged. "So when he offered the potion alteration class, I took it."
"That's fantastic, Corey, I'm sure that'll be a big help," Ginny said quickly as a silence threatened to settle in. Hermione, Ron and Harry exchanged glances. Surely it wasn't Corey.
Corey couldn't wait to get back to school for lunch, making excuses so he could run ahead, literally sliding across the floor, stopping to whisper to Taylor at the Ravenclaw table before hopping into place by Doug.
"So how bad was it?" Corey asked.
"The nerve of you to ask, considering it was your idea what got us in trouble in the first place," Doug grumbled. "But really, it wasn't that bad. Not like McGonagall the week before. Mainly we had to clean the classroom, dust and whitewash the ceilings. We got to use magic though, so it was actually sort of fun."
"Wow. You guys lucked out then. You should have seen what I got stuck doing with Professor Sprout, pulling weeds, bloodying my fingers…" Corey started, hamming it up.
"Oh, come on, Corey. You like that class almost as much as Potions and you know it. It wasn't as bad as you make it out to be."
"Well, I think there must be detentions, and there are detentions," Corey explained, lowering his voice dramatically. "I heard last time Harry and them went down the pipes, they ended up scrubbing all the stands and boxes in the Quidditch Pitch by hand. Oh, and guess what… I got to spend the entire morning with them while you two were in detention."
"Yeah? What'd you guys do?"
"Nothing much, I just met Sirius Black," Corey grinned.
"Awesome! Did you ask him about what the ice cream was all about?" Doug asked. Corey slapped himself.
"Cor, I was so busy having a good time I forgot all about that! I'll ask him next time, I got a feeling I'm gonna see him again," Corey said, smiling mischievously.
"You're up to something again, aren't you? You better not get us in trouble again. You know what Seamus said he'd do to us if we make Gryffindor lose any more points."
"Bah, I'm not afraid of Seamus, I don't care how big he thinks he is. Besides, I've got dirt on him and Susan now," Corey grinned.
"So the Snooping Glass worked?" Doug grinned.
"Yeah, but unfortunately Craw found out about it and I lost it all ready," Corey sighed.
"You didn't get in trouble for it?"
"Not yet, she was busy. So if you see her or Snape coming, warn me so I can try to clear out until she forgets about it," Corey said.
"She won't forget," Doug said, shaking his head. "In fact, here she comes now."
It was too late to hide, for Professor Craw; dressed rather stylishly in her riding dress and silk black ribbons, walked straight over to where Corey was sitting.
"Wow, Professor, you look very stunning today, doesn't she Doug?" Corey said quickly. Doug nodded slowly, trying not to stare. It had always been hard not to notice how pretty she was, but he wasn't about to go on about it like Corey did.
"Thank you, Corey, but that's not going to work with me today. I want to see you in my office right after you're done eating, and don't take all day about it. Half an hour at the most," she said, then glided over to the Slytherin table. Corey watched her as she said something to Amadeus, whose back was turned to him. As she walked off, Corey was suddenly aware of another pair of eyes flicking up to look straight at him. The seventh year student squinted at him and frowned in a way that would have caused many fellow students to clear out. Instead, Corey took interest in his lunch, which had appeared before him. Doug, however, felt a chill go up his back, and looked between them worriedly, leaning over to Corey.
"Corey, this is really bad. Did you see the look the Head Boy gave you? You really had better watch your back." Doug whispered, extremely concerned.
"Oh, pish, Doug, I'm not afraid of Draco Malfoy, let alone any Slytherin. He's in my Dabbler class. I told you about that, remember?"
"Yeah, and you haven't been the same since you started taking that class. Whatever it is they're getting you to do, they're using you, Corey. They're purists, they don't see Muggleborn as anything but dirt," Doug told him.
"Oh, Doug, you worry too much. I've got more brains then all of them put together. I can handle them. Besides, I think before the game's over, I'll have the Snitch on my side of the Pitch," Corey grinned at him, glancing back towards the Slytherin table, where several of the students were now eyeing him with a disapproving look.
When Professor Craw got them both there, she kept it short yet anything but pleasant. Amadeus had immediately denied knowing anything about the glass, and perhaps might have been able to pull it off had it been nearly any other teacher but Jennifer Craw. But Craw was quick to point out that she didn't need a certificate to use her talent in the school, and quickly deducted forty points from him and informed him there would be a note about the item and its confiscation sent to his parents. After that, she released him so that she could speak a few minutes alone with Corey.
"Corey, I want to talk to you a moment about your schoolwork," Craw sighed. "Look, let me be frank here. I know what you're capable of doing. You're intelligent, you have perfect memory, and you're a Focus Caster. You seem to have plenty of time to get into trouble, and yet you never seem to get your homework done. Even though you always ace your technical questions, you kill your marks on essays and no turn-ins. What's the matter, Corey, don't you want to be a good wizard?" Corey propped his head up in his hand and looked at her.
"Professor, I nail every spell you teach me the first time around, don't I?" he asked.
"Well, yes, but there's…"
"And any time you test me on the material without essays, I get them all right, right?"
"Corey, there's more to homework than just that. For one thing, essays me to get a handle on how you see things, how well you understand what I'm saying, and it helps me make decisions on how better to teach you…"
"But, Professor, you can just look at people and tell what they're thinking, why can't you just use that to judge how I'm doing?"
"Corey," Professor Craw sighed. "For one thing, students have a lot of other things on their minds when they come in here, and besides, I like to take my time and evaluate everything. Homework is also there to enforce some level of discipline that you're going to need later in life if you're ever going to succeed."
"I don't think not turning in homework is going to keep me from being a good wizard," Corey decided. "You said it yourself, I pick up every spell as I read it…"
"Corey, my class isn't about just learning spells. It's more about learning when to use them and when not to use them and that's what I'm concerned is not getting through to you. And discipline, obviously, is not getting through to you either. If you don't shape up, I'm going to go to Professor McGonagall about taking away your activities and give you an enforced study time until you get caught up. And I definitely will be writing your mother about this if it continues. There really is no excuse for this."
There was a gentle knock on the door and Professor Snape stuck his head in, frowning.
"Are you still here? You're going to be late," he told Craw, who immediately sighed and glanced at her watch and back at Corey.
"All right, that's it for now, Corey, just try to do better, okay?" she said with exasperation, grabbing her cloak.
"Yes, Professor Craw," Corey said, sighing as well, glumly heading out of the room as Snape made way for him to pass.
Severus glanced over at Jennifer thoughtfully as she walked over towards the door. It was more than obvious that the entire situation with Corey was bothering her to no end, more than any other student situation had ever bothered her in the past.
"Do you want me to talk to him?" Severus asked carefully. Jennifer shot him a sharp, annoyed glance then walked past him, heading down the hall. "Jennifer?" Severus shut the door to her office and caught up.
"It's my class, it's my problem, okay? I'll handle it," Jennifer said. "I'll see you later. I'll say hello to Dad for you."
"You know, you don't have anything to prove, Jennifer, especially not to me. It wouldn't kill you to accept an offer of help now and again. Some students just don't respond well to some teachers," Severus said.
Jennifer paused a moment, not looking back, then decided to continue without answering. Severus stopped where he was and leaned on the wall, folding his arms, tapping his fingers in annoyance. What was causing this growing communication problem they seemed to be having? She was reluctant to talk to him and even more reluctant to listen. Then again, he knew that she'd been under a lot of pressure lately, and perhaps this was actually a result of that.
As he turned back down the hallway, he found his attention attracted by a small group of students down a side corridor made up mostly of Slytherin students. Suddenly suspicious, he decided to wait at the corner.
"It wasn't exactly as if I could do anything to hide it. Of course I tried," Corey explained to the group. "But you know how Craw is with that Truth Seeking thing. Besides, she never asked what it was for. She just started in on my class work, so no harm done."
"What harm was done is for us to decide, not you, Willowby," Draco said, looking down at the younger boy with obvious distaste. "I suggest you be a bit more cautious in the future. I assure you, I won't be so forgiving the next time. Crabbe, why don't you walk our mudder friend to the library? Take the long way," he added. Amadeus nudged Draco from the other side.
"Incoming recreant," Amadeus warned them, and the group looked up to see Snape descending on them.
"Good Afternoon," Snape said quietly. "So nice to see all of my best students… getting along," he said, looking over at Draco with a questioning look on his face. Not one of the Slytherin students missed it. Snape very much wanted to know what interest Draco would find of any kind in any Muggleborn, let alone Corey.
"Professor Snape, could you help me get a book on advanced potions I need from the library for my project? Madame Pince said first years aren't allowed to check out that book I want but I need to look up some rare ingredients for Dabbler's," Corey asked quickly, taking a subtle step away from the rest of the group.
"Very well, I was heading that way anyway," Snape said expressionlessly, "but come along now, I don't have all day."
"Yes sir!" Corey said cheerfully, moving up to the Professor's side, and waving to the other boys. "I'll see you in class, mates," he said.
"Yes, if not before," Draco said, smiling coldly at him. Snape nodded slightly to them as he walked Corey down the hall, looking thoughtfully at the relief that crossed Corey's face as they walked away.
"So how are you doing in your other classes, Corey?" Snape asked suddenly, causing Corey to look up in surprise.
"My other classes?"
"Yes, considering how you're excelling in mine, I assume you're probably doing as well in your other studies," Snape said calmly.
"Well, sort of," Corey shrugged.
"How about Professor Craw's class? You're paying special attention to Defense, I'm sure. At least, I hope you are."
"You do?"
"Yes, in some ways it's geared towards students that have a tendency of getting in way over their heads and not realizing it until it's too late," Snape said. "Not that I know any one who would fit into that category. Do you?"
Corey shrugged innocently and shook his head with a grin, picking up his pace so that he could slip into the library door ahead of him. Snape looked after him with a frown, adding Corey to his list of students to keep an eye on.