Trial By Fire
Chapter 3: Snape's New Look
Disclaimer: Familiar characters belong to J.K. Rowling, the others are mine.
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It was ten P.M. and Harry was sitting in an isolated corner booth, sipping Butterbeer and waiting for Cho. After arguing with himself, he had decided that it couldn't hurt to meet Cho here. He had gotten a note from her earlier that day requesting, no, begging, that he meet her here to "talk". He was a little wary of what 'talk' meant, but his curiousity convinced him that nothing could go wrong.
By ten thirty, Harry had finished his Butterbeer and Cho still hadn't shown up. By ten forty-five, he was ready to leave. But his curiosity made him stay, convincing him that she was just running late and that she would be here any minute. By eleven, he was actually worried. Sure Cho had done a lot a rotten things in his life, but still...By eleven fifteen, he had finished his third Butterbeer, and was standing up to leave. He walked up to the bar and paid for his drinks.
As he was about to walk out the door, a teenage wizard; about fifteen, came running up to him.
"Mr. Potter! Here!"
"What is it?" Harry wondered aloud, taking the folded scrap of parchment from his hand.
"I don' know, sir. I just found it on the bar as I was wippin' it down."
"Well, thank you." Harry said, giving him a few knuts as a tip.
The boy walked back to the bar, and Harry walked outside. He squinted as he tried to read the note in the dim light.
HARRY-SORRY I COULDN'T MAKE IT. WE'LL TALK LATER. CHO
Weird, Harry thought, If she was in the bar, why didn't she just come over and tell me? Maybe it's because this note wasn't written by her. Maybe she was kidnapped. Of course not. You've been to too many Arurs conventions, He told himself. She probably got some kid to go in and leave it. There's nothing wrong. Why would anybody want to kidnap Cho? That's ridiculous. Harry convinced himself as he apperated to his house.
"Mr. Potter?"
"Yes?" Harry turned to face the house-elf.
"Is there anything you need before I go to sleep?"
"No, thank you. I have to get up early tomorrow, so I'll go to bed now, also. Good night." Harry said as he climbed the stairs to his room.
*The next morning*
Harry woke up at eight, the time he usually wakes up, and walked downstairs for breakfast. Sitting at his kitchen table were Fred and George Weasley.
"'Lo." Fred said glumly.
"'Lo." George repeated, just as glum.
"Good morning to you, too. What's the matter?" Harry asked, sitting down.
"It's not a very good morning." Moaned George.
"Why?" Harry said, fixing himself fried eggs, sausage and biscuits with a flick of his wand.
"They closed down our shop." Fred complained.
"Our shop!" Wailed George.
"Why?" Harry asked in between a bite of eggs.
"They think Wormtail got loose."
Wormtail, unfortunately, had not been defeated when Voldemort had. They had captured him, and put him in Azkaban, but apparently he had escaped.
"How?" Harry wanted to know.
"Dunno. They put him in a special cell so he couldn't become a rat, but I guess he escaped." George helped himself to a biscuit.
"But, he can't do that much damage, can he? I mean, Wormtail isn't exactly the smartest wizard around. All he can do is carry out orders."
"But what if there's someone still out there? Someone who could use him to carry out their orders?" Said George.
"Someone like?" Harry wondered.
"Draco Malfoy!" Fred said, stabbing a sausage with his fork.
"But I thought he wasn't a Death Eater."
"We don't know if he is. That doesn't mean he isn't." George pointed out.
Harry pondered this information while he finished his breakfast. George and Fred stayed, as if waiting to ask him something.
George cleared his throat. Harry looked up.
"Harry, old buddy, old pal." Fred started.
"Since you have some extra room here,"
"And our house in Hogsmeade is currently, ah-"
"Off limits."
"And we hate to butt in on Mum and Dad."
"We were wondering-"
"If we could, possibly...."
"Stay here-"
"Just for a few days."
"Until we get our house back."
Harry laughed. "Sure. Move your stuff up to the guest bedrooms. I'll have Blenny and Ferry do it."
"Well, we just knew you couldn't say no to us." George said smiling. "So they all ready moved our stuff. George has the green room, and I have the blue room."
"And we have nothing to do, so we thought, maybe we'd hang around with you." Fred threw his arm around Harry's shoulders.
Harry laughed. "Well, I'm supposed to go to Hogwarts and talk to the kids. Some kind of Quidditch promotional thing. Hermione roped me into it. I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you guys came along."
"Is Snape still teaching?" Fred asked, his eyes shining with anticipation.
"Yep." Harry replied, wondering what they were going to do to him.
"Oh, goody. This is going to be so much fun." George said, summoning things from his room and stuffing things in his robe pockets.
*At Hogwarts*
"Thanks so much for coming." Hermione greeted them as they stepped out of the carriages.
"The kids are all so excited. Minerva (the Headmistress) canceled classes and everyone has their parchment and quills ready so you can give autographs." Hermione lowered her voice. "Snape is almost livid. He snaps at anyone who is talking about it. Make sure you smile and wave at him."
"That's not all we're going to do." Fred muttered so Hermione couldn't hear.
As they walked into the Great Hall, there were cheers and clapping. The teachers were even clapping. All except Snape, who remained defiantly in his seat, arms folded over his chest. Harry, Fred and George greeted the teachers. Snape had finally gotten his dream job, Defense Against the Dark Arts; McGonagall was now Headmistress and Hermione was now Professor of Transfiguration. Still teaching Care of Magical Creatures, but with many scrapes and scars, was Hagrid. Professor Binn's ghost was still teaching History of Magic. Flitwick had retired, but Emma Mallory, from Ireland, was now teaching. Even though she wasn't here, Professor Trelawny, he heard, was still Teaching Divination. Professor Sprout, who was still teaching, gave Harry a warm hug before he was allowed to sit down in between Hermione and Fred. Dumbledore had retired from Headmaster, but still stayed on the grounds, substituting for teachers if they needed a break.
McGonagall rose to announce Harry, Fred, and George. "We were only expecting Mr. Potter today, but Fred and George Weasley, who are also on the Chuddley Channons team with Mr. Potter, have found time in their busy lives to come spend some time with us also. As most of you probably know, all three of them played on the Gryffindor team." Cheers from the Gryffindors; boos and hisses from the Slytherins. "So now I turn the floor over to them."
"Thank you, Professor McGonagall." Harry said. "I don't really have a speech prepared, so I'll just let you ask questions, and we'll answer them." Several hands shot up into the air.
"We'll start at the Ravenclaw table." Fred pointed to a blonde haired boy.
"How much do you practice?" He asked.
Fred, Harry, and George chuckled. "We, um, have practices three times a week, for three hours. Then after that we have at least an hour, of what our coach calls 'Strategy Talks'. We listen to him explain plays. And then we have games usually once or twice a week, and then different tournaments throughout the year." Fred explained.
"Umm...You. Yes, you, with the black hair." George pointed to a girl, sixteen or seventeen years old, with curly black hair.
"Can we see you fly?"
"I don't think they brought their brooms, Ellen. Maybe some other time." McGongall objected.
"Actually, Professor, we did. If you don't mind-" Harry, Fred, and George turned to look at her.
"Um, well, in that case...Out to the Quidditch field!"
So everyone trooped out to the Quidditch field, the students and teachers taking their places in the bleachers, while Harry, George, and Fred retrieved their broomsticks from Hermione, who had been holding them.
A husky seventh year presented them with the case of equipment. Fred and George took the clubs used for the Buldgers, and after they had mounted their broomsticks, Harry released them. The students watched as Fred and George ducked, dived, and dodged the buldgers, who seemed intent on knocking them off their brooms. After the three of them had wrestled the Buldgers back into the case, George removed the red Quaffle from the case. After they were all in the air, Fred and George took turns throwing the Quaffle and making Harry dive for it. At the very end, they flew up so high, that they could barely see the ground. Fred dropped the Quaffle, and made Harry wait for seven seconds before he was allowed to dive after it.
Harry aimed his broom towards the ground and urged it to go faster, faster, faster. Plummeting to the ground, feeling the wind rushing in his hair, this is what he loved to do best. He could see the ground clearly now, it was only twenty-five feet away. The Quaffle still loomed ahead of him, just out of his grasp. Faster, faster, Harry thought. The ground was speeding up on him, now only twenty feet away. And that Quaffle, still just beyond his grasp. I can almost get it, Harry thought. Just a few more inches...Now the ground was ten feet...now seven feet. Almost got it. Come on, come on. Five feet. I can touch it...
"Got it!" Harry shouted as he pulled out of his dive, just in time, feet skimming the grass.
The stadium bursted into applause. Harry toppled off his broom and onto the soft grass, where Fred and George landed beside him.
"Gosh, Harry, we didn't think you'd make it." Fred patted him on the back.
"Thanks for the confidence." Harry said wryly.
"Harry! You nearly killed yourself!" Hermione scolded, rather than congratulated, him. "Just think of how Hogwarts would have looked if you'd have died. Honestly!"
"Reminds me of that first dive you made." McGonagall said from behind him, reffering to when he, in his first year, had dived to get Nevile Longbottom's Rembrall after Malfoy threw it into the air while on his broom. "Perhaps you and the Weasley's would be kind enough to sign autographs. The students are looking forward to it."
Harry was in the middle of signing Quidditch Recently when he saw Snape, looking quite annoyed at the whole scene, make his way through the mob of students to the table where they were signing autographs.
"Hello, Severus. I hope you don't mind if I call you by your first name, seeing as I passed your class seven years ago. Would you like me to sign something for you?" Harry asked, smiling fakely and trying to annoy Snape even more.
"I wouldn't take anything of yours, Potter, much less anything that you signed. I didn't even keep your Potions assignments. I burned them as soon as I gave you the bad mark you so rightfully earned." Snape growled.
"Sorry to hear that, Severus. Is there anything else I can do for you?" Harry asked, working very hard to be aggravatingly pleasant to him.
"I just wanted to make sure you know that you don't deserve any of this attention. The only reason you're here is because Ms. Granger is your friend, and because McGonagall was the head of your house, and she favors you. I, of course, would have picked someone more deserving of this attention. Someone who had to work hard, someone who actually studied and was disciplined. Not someone who was constantly being disruptive in class." Snape said with loathing.
"Who, someone like Draco Malfoy?" Harry sneered. Forget the annoyingly-nice-thing.
"Yes. Now that I think of it, Mr. Malfoy would have been a very good candidate. He actually works hard. Unlike you." Snape spat.
"Of course he would have been a good candidate for you. You and his father were buddy-buddy when you were Death Eaters, serving Voldemort." Harry sneered before he could stop himself. Bringing up Snape's forgotten past was a bad idea.
"How-How-" Snape sputtered, his face turning a deep purple. Harry couldn't tell if it was in fury, or of embarrassment, but without saying another word, Snape turned and quickly made his way to the castle, where he disappeared inside it.
"What was that all about?" asked a wide eyed student.
"Nothing." Harry sighed, picking up his quill and wishing to anything he hadn't said what he did.
"Where'd Snape go? Fred asked from the other end of the long table the three were seated at.
"I don't know." Harry said while signing a Prefect's badge. He didn't want to tell Fred and George about Snape.
*During Lunch*
"I'm sure we would all like to thank Mr. Potter, and Fred and George Weasley for spending some time with us." Professor McGonagall addressed the students before lunch. "So, after lunch, we have a special treat for them."
"Can't wait!" Fred's eyes grew wide as he thought of what the surprise might be.
The golden plates and bowls filled with food, and everyone dug in.
After everyone had eaten, Professor McGonagall stood up again.
"Now, the surprise." She said, turning to one of the doors. Wheeled out by six house elves, on a bulky silver cart, sat a cake at least four feet high, with four layers. The bottom layer appeared to be death-by-chocolate. Chocolate cake, oozing with chocolate sauce, covered with chocolate icing, and then sprinkled with chocolate chips and chocolate sprinkles.
The second layer was vanilla and caramel. The cake was vanilla, but the icing was swirled with light brown caramel and then sprinkled with caramel chips.
The third layer was carrot cake, with tiny carrots poking out of it.
But the most unusual layer was the fourth. It changed colors, from pink, to blue, to orange, to a chocolate color, to yellow, to purple, to green and then back to pink again. It looked as if it had been tie-died.
"What's the fourth layer?" Harry asked George, who had a glazed look on his face and was drooling.
"Taste-changing cake." George replied, not taking his eyes off the cake, which was now sitting in front of McGonagall, just a few seats from him.
McGonagall rose. "Please stay in your seats." She addressed the students. "There will be plenty for all. Would are guests like to slice the cake?"
Fred and George made eye contact, Fred nodded, and then they, along with Harry stood up and walked over to the gigantic cake.
"Let's serve the teachers first." Fred suggested.
"What kind would you like?" George asked the teachers.
"A thin slice of the chocolate." replied the teacher sitting at the farthest end. "And a tiny slice of the taste-changing cake."
Fred waved his wand and two thin slices, one from the top layer and on from the bottom layer, landed on the plate that George held in his hand. Harry then waved his wand and it floated over and landed softly in front of the teacher.
They did this over and over until they got to Snape. George accidently dropped his wand, and stooped over to pick it up. When he stood up, Harry could see he had a tiny blue packet open in his hand. Fred then cut a slice of the cake (vanilla and caramel) and it landed on the plate George held in his hand. Quickly, George dumped the packet filled with tiny white crystals on the cake before Harry floated it over to land in front of Snape. George and Fred looked exceptionally proud of themselves.
After everyone had been served, Harry served himself (a small slice of all four layers), and then Fred and George served them selves (a slice of all four layers) and they sat down.
"Dig in!" McGonagall said, sitting down with her fork raised.
Harry did just that. He took a bite of the chocolate cake, stuffed it in his mouth, and leaned back in his chair and sighed. He had never tasted anything better. Then he moved on to the vanilla and caramel. The caramel was still hot and the vanilla was creamy. He closed his eyes and just let the taste sink in.
He was on his second bite of carrot cake (he hadn't tried the taste-changing cake yet) when Fred nudged him and jerked his head in Snape's direction. Snape was eating the vanilla and caramel cake and it looked like he had taken just a few bites.
"What was that powder stuff you guys put on his cake?" Harry whispered, taking his eyes off Snape.
"You'll see." Fred responded.
"But we have to get him out in front of everyone. No body will be able to see him if he stays there the whole time." George said, looking worried.
"How long do you have before it starts working?"
"Ten, maybe twenty minutes."
"Leave it to me." Harry said, getting an idea.
*Five Minutes Later*
"Follow my lead." Harry whispered to Fred and George. Harry stood up, and so did Fred and George.
"We'd like to thank all our teachers for putting up with us over the years. So here are our small tokens of appreciation." Harry, followed by Fred and George, walked in front of the teachers table, so the students could see better.
"The first gift we'd like to give, is to a teacher who has run this school smoothly for so many years, and still continues to help out, even though he is officially retired. Professor Dumbledore, we'd like to give you your present now." Harry said, waving his wand. A rectangular box appeared in Harry's hand, wrapped in dark navy blue paper tied with a silver bow.
Dumbledore took it and unwrapped it. When he saw what was in the box, his face broke into a smile, and his eyes twinkled. Students and teachers stood up to see what was in the box. Dumbledore smiled and turned the box so they could see it. Both groups looked from the box to Dumbledore inquisitively.
Dumbledore smiled knowingly and said "You can never have enough." He said by way of an explanation. He then removed his shoes and socks, and replaced his original socks with the thick woolen ones Harry had given him. Dumbledore thanked Harry, Fred, and George, and then took his place at the teachers table.
Fred, George and Harry presented the rest of the teachers with their presents taking up fifteen more minutes, saving Snape for last.
"What will happen first?" Harry muttered to Fred and George, barely moving his lips
"His hair will grow longer." Fred muttered back.
Harry studied Snape closely. His hair did seem a little longer, but he couldn't be sure. Suddenly, his hair spurted out, so it was as long as his shoulders, and it turned gray. Then, out of nowhere, a tall hat with a stuffed vulture appeared on his gray hair. Harry, suddenly realizing who Snape was about to turn into, snorted, trying to contain his laughter, and was forced to start coughing to cover it up.
"And now our last present," George started, also catching on to Snape's sudden 'transformation.' "To the potions master of this school."
"We present"-even as Fred was speaking, Snapes black robes were transforming into a long, puke green dress, with a high neck, and cuffs laced with cream frills. Around his neck a thin auburn fur scarf hung, with a fox head at one end-"Professor Severus Snape with this present."
Snape slowly rose, scowling.
As he made his way around the table, the students' attention turned to Snape, and his new attire. Several snickers broke out from the students; Dumbledore's lips curved into a small smile; and McGonagall, along with several other teachers, put their napkins over their face to try and muffle the laughter.
By the time he had reached Harry, Fred and George, Snape's outfit was complete. His tall, hat, complete with a stuffed vulture, was perched on his head. His long, ugly green dress, high neck, frills and all looked somewhat less than ravishing on him; the fox scarf was hanging grotesquely around his neck; a bright red hand bag was looped over his arm; and his shoes completed the outfit. The shoes were also bright red with three inch heels, and the toes were very pointed and curved upwards a little bit. Perhaps the funniest thing of all was that Snape, despite the weight of the hand bag on his arm, the scratchy frills at his neck and wrists, and the obvious discomfort of the shoes, did not seem to notice his outfit had changed entirely.
By the time Snape had reached the front of the teacher's table, the students were in an uproar. It was all Harry, Fred, and George could do to keep from laughing right along with them. Several times one or all of them got "mysterious" fits of coughing or sneezing.
Snape's response to all the laughter was to glare out at the students, silencing the table he was glaring at for a few seconds, before they were unable to contain themselves any longer, and burst out laughing again.
Snape reached Harry, Fred, and George, and George handed Snape his present, a solid gold goblet, before Snape couldn't stand it anymore.
"What is so hilarious?" He bellowed, and silence commenced upon the room imediately.
From the back of the room, near Gryffindor tables, someone shouted, "Check a mirror, Snapey!"
Snape, too curious to persue the matter of who shouted, conjured up a full length mirror and took a look at himself.
He looked in disbelief from the mirror down at himself, like he wasn't seeing the same thing in the mirror as he was seeing on himself.
Enraged, Snape tore off the hat, threw the bag across the room, and kicked off the shoes, sending them into the wall with a thunk, and leaving a dent.
"IT'S THEM!!" Snape screeched. "POTTER AND WEASLEYS!!!! DAMN YOU! YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS, I SWEAR IT!!!!" Snape pushed the mirror onto Fred and George, who jumped out of the way just in time, allowing the mirror to crash onto the floor, smashing it into thousands of pieces. With out a backward glance, Snape stormed out, slamming the door on his way out with all his might.
Complete silence. Fred and George tried not to look to guilty, while Harry, with a flick of his wand, repaired the mirror and set it upright.
"Well," McGonagall said nervously. "Thank you for coming today, Mr. Potter and the Weasley twins. I'm sure our students enjoyed your talk and your demonstration. Ms. Granger, if you would escort them off the grounds, where they may apparate home."
"'Bye, everybody." Harry called.
"So long, Hogwarts!" Fred and George called together.
Hermione hurried over to their side, and they left together.
Once they were out of earshot from the castle, Hermione started yelling. "What were you thinking?! Setting an example like that?!"
"It wasn't us, 'Mione, honest." George said, with an innocent look.
"Yeah, 'Mione. It must have been someone else." Fred insisted.
"Right." Scoffed Hermione.
"Believe what you wish." George said.
Harry stayed silent, trying not to smile. He had done it! At last! After seven years of enduring Snape's unfairness toward him and his fellow Gryffindor's, he had finally shown Snape up. And in Neville's Gran's attire, at that.