{Disclaimer: The Harry Potter World was created by J.K. Rowling and rights are owned by, but not limited to Warner Brothers and Scholastic Books. I, therefore, own no parts of this, save for the characters that are parts of my own imagination, mostly including Andromeda McGee and Wyvern}
Chapter 20
Questions and Answers
**"The dew," he observed, "has clearly fallen with a particularly sickening thud this morning." Marvin the Paranoid Android, Chapter 7, Life, The Universe, and Everything Douglas Adams**
There was a staff meeting following breakfast. All of the teachers met in the staff room around the enormous table used for such meetings. Dumbledore sat at the head of the table with Professor McGonagall to his right hand side. "I would like to start this meeting by welcoming Sirius Black and Andromeda McGee to our staff." There was a polite smattering of applause, though most of the teachers at the school still held grudges against both of them for what they had done in the past.
"The main reason of this meeting is to plan a new idea. At the end of this year I would like to hold a student-faculty Quidditch match."
A stunned silence covered everyone. A few faces held pleasant grins on remembering their Quidditch playing days. "Your opinions please."
McGonagall looked dumbfounded. "Why would we hold such an event, Albus?"
"To boost school pride. Everyone would come. Think how entertaining it would be."
"I think it would be a great idea," Sirius said just to disagree with McGonagall, though he really did treasure the idea of playing competitive Quidditch again. "I know I'm not the only one who would be willing to play."
"I would," Andy spoke up. "How many times do we get the opportunity to compete against the students? You can't tell me that none of you have been tempted just to smack some of them." A few chuckled, quite well knowing that she had meant herself when she was at school.
"It wouldn't be that hard to organize a team. I'd be willing to do so," Madame Hooch said. "We could practice either before or after classes. I know when all the teams are scheduled to use the pitch so we wouldn't have to worry about their interference."
"Very well then. Madame Hooch, you are the captain of team. Find players, train them, and I will get a date set for the game. Those of you, who wish to play, see Madame Hooch after the meeting. Now on to other matters." Dumbledore went on to discuss teaching tactics, problem students, and overall student development. The meeting was adjourned leaving those who wished to play Quidditch with Madame Hooch.
"All right, let's get this started. We need three Chasers, two Beaters, a Keeper, and a Seeker." She did a quick count of the number of people that had shown up. "There is a total of six of you. We will need one more eventually. Who wants which position?"
Sirius and Andy shared an evil grin. "We're your Beaters, Andy and I."
"Yes, you would be. If I remember correctly, the two of you were a pair of human Bludgers and sent more people to the infirmary than any other team."
"That was us."
"We have the Beaters, then. Who wants to be Keeper?"
"I am, or at least I was one once," Remus spoke up quietly.
"Fine. I'm going to be one of the Chasers. Neither of you were Seekers, were you?"
"No," answered Professor Vector, the arithmancy instructor. "I was a Chaser for Ravenclaw."
"I was a Chaser as well," the velvety night sky voice of the Astronomy teacher, Professor Sinistra spoke.
"Then it is settled. All we need is a Seeker."
"Too bad Snape's not here." The team turned to look at Andy as if she had grown a few more heads. "What? He was Seeker for Slytherin when we were at school."
A few of the Professors nodded. Madame Hooch continued. "Ask him, then, where ever he is. I will get notices out as to our first practice. Anything else? No? This meeting has come to a close." The six remaining professor left the room to go do what ever they had planned for a Saturday afternoon. A hand on Andy's shoulder caused her to stop. She had been able to control herself enough not to flip the other people who touched her.
"Hello, Professor Vector," Andy recognized the woman. She had taken over the Arithmancy position in her third year just after she had gotten out of school.
"We are colleagues now, Andromeda. There is no need for formalities. You are serious about Snape, aren't you?"
"Completely."
"How do you expect him to listen to you when he's a Slytherin and you're a Gryffindor?"
"He will listen to me."
Vector shook her head. "You always were the stubborn one."
"I still am." She flashed her a quick grin as she disappeared down the hallway to the infirmary. Andy didn't bother to ask Madame Pomfrey and walked right into Snape's little room. "I'm back!"
"I'd be more thrilled, but exuberance is not my forte at the moment."
"Do you know when you'll be out of here?"
"No."
"How about by January?"
"She said maybe by Christmas at the earliest."
"Wonderful!" Andy exclaimed, showing that she would be exuberant even if he wouldn't be.
"Why is it wonderful?"
She pulled up a chair next to his bed. "Dumbledore decided that we were going to have a student verses faculty Quidditch match."
"Let me guess, you and Black," he spat the name as if the mere sound of it was foul. "Are the Beaters. Lupin is Keeper. The Chasers are Hooch and who else?"
"Vector and Sinistra."
"That could be worse. Who's Seeker?"
"You."
"Me?" Snape asked, not seeming to understand her on the first attempt.
"Yes, you. You played Seeker for Slytherin when we were in school."
"McGee, I want you to take a look at what state I'm in."
"Miami?" she answered hopefully.
"For your information however dense you may be, Miami is not a state, it's a city."
"I knew that."
"Right. I was attacked by a fire breathing demonic dragon! I'm blind for the Gods' sakes!"
"So? I can see that."
"How the hell can I play Seeker if I can't see ten centimeters in front of my face?!" Snape tried to raise himself off his pillows.
Andy put a hand on his chest forcing him back down into his bed. "Calm down. I'm not as stupid as you seem to think I am. Madame Pomfrey can heal your eyes. It might just take a while. You could wear glasses, you know. They do work."
Snape tried to force his way upright again, but Andy still held him down. He was too weak to resist. He collapsed downward, chest heaving rapidly with the strain of breathing. "You little bitch."
"You know, Sev, I bet I could talk McGonagall into being Seeker if you won't."
"McGonagall doesn't know a Snitch from a cactus." It probably wasn't a true fact, but it was the thought that counted.
"All right let us try a new approach. "Which team is most likely to win Quidditch cup? Be honest now, Sev."
"Gryffindor," he spat. "With their bloody potter as bloody Seeker." There was a pause as he realized what she was getting at. "Oh."
"Now you see where I was going with this?"
"I do. If we win, I can bring Potter down with one fell swoop."
Andy could have sworn she saw wheels turning in his head. "So are you in?"
"I am your Seeker. What shape is the rest of the team in?"
"It could be worse."
"That is not what I wanted to hear."
"Fine. Sirius and I were two of the most dangerous Beaters in Gryffindor history. Hooch called us human Bludgers. That is as long as I can keep Sirius from shooting the Bludgers at you, which I can do."
"You have an extreme amount of faith in yourself."
"Without faith in yourself, how can you have faith in others?"
"Shut up, McGee. What other assets do we have?"
"Remus is Keeper. With his reflexes, we're great."
"I don't know where you get these ideas, having homicidal Beaters and a werewolf for Keeper. What else?
"We have you and if I remember correctly, Slytherin only lost to Gryffindor a few times when you were Seeker and won all of the rest of their matches. Plus you're a Slytherin, so that gives us the upper hand on tactics."
"Illegal or legal?"
"Sev, you know more ways to find loop holes in rules than anyone else I have ever known. You also know the Quidditch rule book cover to cover. The Gryffindors don't."
Snape could see exactly where she was going with this. "How about the Chasers?"
"They're our weakest point, I think. Hooch can fly better than about everybody. Vector and Sinistra were both Chasers at one point in time though I don't know how good they were."
"Vector was for Ravenclaw. Sinistra was Hufflepuff. They're mediocre," Snape interjected.
"Ouch. Is she still?"
"A Hufflepuff? Yes, as far as I can tell."
"Damn. There goes using her for illegal tactics."
"Since when do Gryffindors start being illegal?" he sneered.
"Since this Gryffindor ended up locked in a dark cell for sixteen years. Any moral values that I once had were lost forever."
Snape contemplated for a moment. "I suppose that's probably the best team we can muster up from who we have. Flitwick, Sprout, McGonagall, Dumbledore, and the rest of them won't play. Hagrid won't fit on a broomstick, so yes. That's the best we can do."
"Oh, good. I'm glad you agree," Andy decided sarcastically. "Because if you didn't, all hope would be lost."
"Cut the sarcasm, McGee. It doesn't suit you."
"How do you know it doesn't suit me? You barely knew me during school. Hell, you barely know me now. For all you know, I could be in my birthday suit pole dancing."
"What?!"
Andy slumped into the chair laughing hysterically. "That was priceless! Never mind. Just never mind."
"I am going to ignore the pictures that you just gave me."
"Thank you. I shall do the same. Now back to Quidditch. Where were we?"
"For a team we have two Ravenclaws and a Hufflepuff for Chasers, one of them being extremely skilled with flying, a werewolf as Keeper, two Kamikaze Beaters, and me as Seeker," he reiterated. "The Gryffindors don't stand a chance."
"You don't get any adjectives?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean you could have at least used some description, such as maybe evil, demonic, or vampirical, et cetera."
"McGee, I am a Slytherin. That does not necessarily make me evil. I am not demonically possessed and as much as people are convinced that I am one, I am not in any way, shape, or form part vampire or full vampire."
"Damn," Andy swore. "I was hoping on using the fangs as a scare tactic."
"Don't you have anything more useful to do than bother me?"
"No, come to think of it, I don't. Sirius said that he would grade the essays, so I am completely free."
"That was not what I wanted to hear."
"Would you like me to leave?"
"McGee, it is not whether I want you to leave or not."
"Then what is it?"
"You said yesterday that most people don't like me. It's the truth. And, yes, a person does get lonely locked in a dark room."
Andy grinned. "Is that as close to a thank you as I'm going to get?"
"Slytherins don't thank people, they manipulate them."
"So what are you getting at here?"
"I want to know why a Gryffindor like you is purposely going out of your way to visit a Slytherin like me, life debt notwithstanding. Your life debt didn't make you come back to see we today."
"No, Hooch did actually. I just happened to open my big mouth at the wrong time when I remembered that you had been a Seeker.
"So you aren't here of your own free will?"
"I am. I could have forced Sirius to come but I didn't want to wake anyone up from the shouting and throwing things."
"How considerate of you."
"Yes, I am here of my own free will."
"Then why did you come?"
"Because you are a cruel, cold hearted bastard with no empathy towards others. That's why, okay?"
"And you are an obstinate, self important little bitch with a temper problem."
"Thank you. Now that we have found each other's major faults, can we move on to other topics?"
"Like why you came here?"
"Fine you want answers? I came here because I used to respect you. You were strong, self confident, yet you never let your guard down for an instant. I couldn't get inside you mind. That's what always intrigued me about you. You were a closed and locked book, and I respected that. Is that what you wanted?"
Snape heard her stomp out of the room. He knew that she would be back eventually. He didn't quite comprehend what she had meant by what she had said. 'closed and locked book?' Sometimes, she just completely confused the hell out of him. He had almost wanted her to stay, to talk more. She had been right. He did get lonely after a while. Snape thought for a few moments. She was one of the few people who saw him as a human being with flaws and problems, yet she wanted his advice on Quidditch of all topics. Snape sighed to himself. It was going to be rather difficult having to turn her into Lord Voldemort. Oh, well.
{Author's Note: The entire point of having a Quidditch Match was (1) I was bored and (2) I just felt like forcing Snape and Sirius to cooperate and get some more verbal abuse going, which I enjoy full heartedly. This chapter was written in a hammock by the shore of a lake. What fun! Of course, that was during the week of the fourth of July and I'm finally getting around to posting it, but that's quite alright. I've been trying to finish this fic and it has been going no where in particular. I'm up to chapter 28 right now and a few people *ahem*Jess*ahem* have been giving me ideas again, so things shall continue for a while just so I manipulate it into a further twistedness. See, I was going to finish this after the trials and everything would have been fine, but no! Did any one think I could do that? Of course not! Then I was going to stop at chapter 30, but a conversation last night that lasted until two in the morning gave me other ideas see mentioned person above. So I shall leave with this in explanation that I have more to write! Enjoy!
Atheis Gainsborough: Yes, I do appreciate long reviews. Mallets are like the xylophone and stuff like that. I played one last year and hated it. It was loud, high pitched, and annoying, which is one of the main reasons that I switched instruments to the clarinet. Fluffy's Harp is a good song, though it's a bear to play. It has triplets made of 32nd notes with the counter melody played in left hand with regular eighth notes. Voldemort just has all sorts of sharps and flats and is rather annoying because there's so many of them. There are some good songs in the book, though. Hedwig's Theme is pretty easy to play. Harry's Wondrous World is about eleven pages long and changes time signatures every few pages. There's a piece called Nimbus 2000 that's from the song Mr. Longbottom Flies, which is fun to play. The only piece that I can play in the book currently is entitled Family Portrait, which my friend and I think is from the scene with the Mirror of Erised. It's a great book, keeps me occupied for long periods of time, which is not that hard to do. (This is from someone who spent an entire art class making origami figures out of Tootsie Pop wrappers, including some hopping frogs and was flipping the frogs across the table.) As for the Peanut Butter, I have done that before. I mainly tend to eat peanut butter sandwiches for breakfast. Usually its peanut and raison or peanut butter and marshmallow on a taco shell, for breakfast. I advise you to ignore any strange comments through out this fic, such as the "Mature is only a state of mind." There are many worse ones. Yes, I did beat up the guy at karate. He is about seven ranks below me and I am a Second Degree Black Belt, so it wasn't that difficult to do. Most of the people there fear me for some reason. I don't know why. I'm not that scary! I would like to congratulate you for being a Slytherin. Most people seem to dislike the concept. I, for one, am also a serpent. So are two of my good friends. (One of the others is a Gryffindor, and I don't know about the rest, but three of us are most definitely Slytherin.) So I shall leave with this: Slytherin Rocks! I'm way too hyper right now. Sorry about that.
WeasleyTwinslover1112: Here is more for you. Thanks, I'll get better eventually.
Iggie: I sent you 28 to make you happy. Or at least I think I sent you 28. If not, I can send you 28.
Anna Black: No problem, don't mind at all. Honestly don't care either. Shadow was the name of one of my best bud's cats. She was a cute little black kitten but they had to put her to sleep because she was diagnosed with feline leukemia. So that's where my Shadow came from, don't ask what it has to do with the story, because there is nothing to do with the story, just random thoughts. I apologize for going off on the lyrics to that song. I happen to like it and I can play it on my piano and I can actually sing it since the version I have is in my range! Yes! Never mind…Don't give me coffee ice cream ever again.
Reviews are always welcome! Just in case you need more fics to read, these are some that I recommend:
Seeing Grey by Iggie: A well written Remus fic that goes in some really cool ideas about Lycanthropy and Remus's past.
Black Prospects by Kary Starr: A Snape fic that is rather dark, but fun because of all the sarcasm and violence. And it has Snape, need I say more?
Peace, Love, and Peanut Butter Butterscotch Cookies, Nataly Ravenlock The One and Only and Rather Hyper and Odd One}
