For the next following days, Snape had requested that En stay as an aid to
his class. She made sure that nobody took more materials than necessary, as Snape
cautiously watched various cauldrons.
"He's been in the best mood!" exclaimed Hermione.
"Yeah, for the last few days. No points have been taken from us yet!" added
Harry.
Ron made an odd face, "I think I know why too." He pointed over to where
Snape and En were standing. They were making light conversation, which ended
with En pulling Snape's hair into a ponytail.
The room was silent. Everyone watched in curiosity. Snape looked back over
at them, and the class went back to work nervously. Ron had nearly chopped his
finger off while gawking at Snape.
"What the hell was that?!" demanded Ron quietly.
"I have no idea," Harry whispered back.
"They can't be.involved? Can they?" asked Hermione.
Ron and Harry turned an odd shade of purple.
Millicent Bulstrode, a beefy Slytherin, threw something at En just then. It
was part of her potion. It landed with a horrible splattering noise on the side of her
face.
En had a horrified look on her face. She was trembling and looked on the
verge of tears. The potion gooped off and it landed with a putrid splat on the
ground. The place on her face where it had landed had been dyed a horrible shade
of green.
Snape just stood there with his jaw open. He was usually looking for trouble
like this, but not today.
Millicent hid her guilt very well, and the rest of the class was too surprised to
say much else.
Hermione mouthed, `Oh my God,' and shook her head slightly.
En was still shaking, it was even worse now. She turned suddenly and looked
straight at Millicent. En's eyebrows rose suddenly, and her eyes flew open as wide as
they could. She had a look of horror on her face.
The last of the potion dripped off of En's face.
"M-m-miss Winters?" Snape started, but at that moment, the entire contents
of Millicent's cauldron flew straight up violently and landed on top of her.
Neville passed out again. The rest of the class all took steps back. Millicent
was completely green. Head-to-toe, a giant slime ball.
It was En's turn to faint, and Snape caught her.
Snape had had enough, his lip was twitching more than usual, "CLASS IS
DISMISSED!" he roared. Justin and Lee Jordan picked Neville up and carried him
outside.
Hermione, Ron and Harry all rushed outside to avoid Snape's wrath. He had
grabbed Millicent by the collar and was yelling at her seriously. He usually didn't
yell at his house too much, but he was really giving it to her.
The three of them went into the common room and sat there in disbelief.
"Why did she throw that slime ball?" asked Hermione in sheer amazement.
Ron looked pissed off, "Because she is one."
"What nerve. What nerve." Harry muttered.
Both En and Millicent weren't seen the next few days. Snape was also back to
his horrible mood. Nobody dared to ask how or why Snape had made Millicent's
potion go all over her. He had assigned triple homework, all to be done before next
week. With Quidditch practice being postponed until after break, he had a little
extra time for work. At lunch, after a tiresome morning of Divination, Harry
received a letter from Hagrid.
Sorry I couldn't have just talked to ya Harry, but I've been up to my ears (and
that s a big distance, mind ya) in paper work about the rogue Astomi that had been
wandering about. (Astomi is the proper name for Apple-Smellers of course) I just
wanted to know if you wanted to come down for a little visit. I heard about the whole
incident in Potions. I can give you some inside info if you like. Drop by for some tea
after Transfiguration if you want.
See you tonight hopefully,
Hagrid
"Did you want to go too?" asked Harry to Hermione and Ron.
"I'd like to, but I have to finish my extra credit Arithmancy project," sighed
Hermione.
"Of all the timings! Sprout wants to talk to me about those siren flowers
she's helping me grow," Ron moaned. "It turns out I have to tend them everyday!"
They shrugged. They only had about thirty minutes before Transfiguration.
The time flew.
Transfiguration was boring. Professor McGonagall seemed distracted, and
turning cookies into dirt just wasn't what anyone wanted to do.
"How is this remotely useful?" whined Malfoy, who had an even bigger
grudge against Harry now. Whenever anyone made dirt-tasting cookies, he would
gather them for later use on some prank.
After class Harry hurried down to go see Hagrid. He was waiting outside his
door, shoveling snow from his porch.
"Oh! Hallo `arry!" he said, throwing down his shovel and opening the door
to his little house. "Come on in!"
Fang, Hatred's gigantic black dog, greeted Harry sloppily. Hagrid put a
large kettle on the stove and offered Harry some fudge.
"I wanted to talk to you about En Winters," Hagrid said suddenly.
"Seems like most conversations lead to her lately," Harry said.
"She came about a week and a half ago. Harry, she has an odd case of
amnesia."
Harry shuffled in his seat, "Well I guess that answers some things."
"I was walking in the woods, an' I sees this girl, she was very lost lookin'. So
I says to myself, `what the hay,' I'll go `elp `er out."
Hagrid attended to the whistling teakettle and poured Harry a hot glass.
"She was very polite, had a funny talk to her, foreign. She says ta me, `hi sir!'
an' I guess I thought I should be cordial and what-not."
"What was she doing out in the woods?" questioned Harry.
"Oh, I was gettin' ta tha'. She says to me, `I had an accident, my car, I think
it may be broken,' so I goes and takes a look. Sure enough the thing was squashed
flat. I asked `er who she was, and she couldn't answer, but she found a little slip of
paper with her name on it."
"How horrible!" gasped Harry.
"Well she was fine, quite chipper for the situation she was in. Very cold
though. So I invited o'er to my house. I figured if she could see Hogwarts, she must
have at least some kind of magic in her. That's when you dropped by. I didn't want
you to tell yer classmates that I was just bringing in random people, possible
muggles into Hogwarts. So being as positive as she could be, she asked if perhaps
she could have a job."
"And you sent her to Dumbledore?"
"Yup. He seemed to think it was a great idea, Filch was on vacation anyways.
It seemed to think she had some sort of old magic in her or somethin'. He kept
saying `deep, deep magic,' dunno really what that means but I don't mind. She
certainly is helpful eh?"
Harry nodded, "Snape seems to appreciate her too."
At this Hagrid coughed loudly and turned a bit pink. "Yes, he has taken
quite a fancy to her. But I don't know if it is what you think. He says that she
reminds him of someone."
"Is that why he dumped all of that potion on Millicent Bulstrode?" asked
Harry with a grin.
"Oh and about that, he swears that he didn't. He said that it was probably a
really unstable potion."
"Well does En really have any magic?" questioned Harry.
"Well. not that anyone can see, but she has been getting tutored in the
areas that are not magic related. Certain types of charms, potions, heck, even some
Herbology. She's a fast learner. Like she's already taken the classes or something."
Harry had hardly touched his tea.
"Oh and swell move with that Astomi the other day. I heard you shut that rat
Malfoy up real good," he chuckled. The whole staff thought it was brilliant. Even
Snape gave a slight snigger. Well maybe not Binns. Those ghosts sometimes."
It was dinnertime. Hagrid walked with Harry to the Great Hall.
his class. She made sure that nobody took more materials than necessary, as Snape
cautiously watched various cauldrons.
"He's been in the best mood!" exclaimed Hermione.
"Yeah, for the last few days. No points have been taken from us yet!" added
Harry.
Ron made an odd face, "I think I know why too." He pointed over to where
Snape and En were standing. They were making light conversation, which ended
with En pulling Snape's hair into a ponytail.
The room was silent. Everyone watched in curiosity. Snape looked back over
at them, and the class went back to work nervously. Ron had nearly chopped his
finger off while gawking at Snape.
"What the hell was that?!" demanded Ron quietly.
"I have no idea," Harry whispered back.
"They can't be.involved? Can they?" asked Hermione.
Ron and Harry turned an odd shade of purple.
Millicent Bulstrode, a beefy Slytherin, threw something at En just then. It
was part of her potion. It landed with a horrible splattering noise on the side of her
face.
En had a horrified look on her face. She was trembling and looked on the
verge of tears. The potion gooped off and it landed with a putrid splat on the
ground. The place on her face where it had landed had been dyed a horrible shade
of green.
Snape just stood there with his jaw open. He was usually looking for trouble
like this, but not today.
Millicent hid her guilt very well, and the rest of the class was too surprised to
say much else.
Hermione mouthed, `Oh my God,' and shook her head slightly.
En was still shaking, it was even worse now. She turned suddenly and looked
straight at Millicent. En's eyebrows rose suddenly, and her eyes flew open as wide as
they could. She had a look of horror on her face.
The last of the potion dripped off of En's face.
"M-m-miss Winters?" Snape started, but at that moment, the entire contents
of Millicent's cauldron flew straight up violently and landed on top of her.
Neville passed out again. The rest of the class all took steps back. Millicent
was completely green. Head-to-toe, a giant slime ball.
It was En's turn to faint, and Snape caught her.
Snape had had enough, his lip was twitching more than usual, "CLASS IS
DISMISSED!" he roared. Justin and Lee Jordan picked Neville up and carried him
outside.
Hermione, Ron and Harry all rushed outside to avoid Snape's wrath. He had
grabbed Millicent by the collar and was yelling at her seriously. He usually didn't
yell at his house too much, but he was really giving it to her.
The three of them went into the common room and sat there in disbelief.
"Why did she throw that slime ball?" asked Hermione in sheer amazement.
Ron looked pissed off, "Because she is one."
"What nerve. What nerve." Harry muttered.
Both En and Millicent weren't seen the next few days. Snape was also back to
his horrible mood. Nobody dared to ask how or why Snape had made Millicent's
potion go all over her. He had assigned triple homework, all to be done before next
week. With Quidditch practice being postponed until after break, he had a little
extra time for work. At lunch, after a tiresome morning of Divination, Harry
received a letter from Hagrid.
Sorry I couldn't have just talked to ya Harry, but I've been up to my ears (and
that s a big distance, mind ya) in paper work about the rogue Astomi that had been
wandering about. (Astomi is the proper name for Apple-Smellers of course) I just
wanted to know if you wanted to come down for a little visit. I heard about the whole
incident in Potions. I can give you some inside info if you like. Drop by for some tea
after Transfiguration if you want.
See you tonight hopefully,
Hagrid
"Did you want to go too?" asked Harry to Hermione and Ron.
"I'd like to, but I have to finish my extra credit Arithmancy project," sighed
Hermione.
"Of all the timings! Sprout wants to talk to me about those siren flowers
she's helping me grow," Ron moaned. "It turns out I have to tend them everyday!"
They shrugged. They only had about thirty minutes before Transfiguration.
The time flew.
Transfiguration was boring. Professor McGonagall seemed distracted, and
turning cookies into dirt just wasn't what anyone wanted to do.
"How is this remotely useful?" whined Malfoy, who had an even bigger
grudge against Harry now. Whenever anyone made dirt-tasting cookies, he would
gather them for later use on some prank.
After class Harry hurried down to go see Hagrid. He was waiting outside his
door, shoveling snow from his porch.
"Oh! Hallo `arry!" he said, throwing down his shovel and opening the door
to his little house. "Come on in!"
Fang, Hatred's gigantic black dog, greeted Harry sloppily. Hagrid put a
large kettle on the stove and offered Harry some fudge.
"I wanted to talk to you about En Winters," Hagrid said suddenly.
"Seems like most conversations lead to her lately," Harry said.
"She came about a week and a half ago. Harry, she has an odd case of
amnesia."
Harry shuffled in his seat, "Well I guess that answers some things."
"I was walking in the woods, an' I sees this girl, she was very lost lookin'. So
I says to myself, `what the hay,' I'll go `elp `er out."
Hagrid attended to the whistling teakettle and poured Harry a hot glass.
"She was very polite, had a funny talk to her, foreign. She says ta me, `hi sir!'
an' I guess I thought I should be cordial and what-not."
"What was she doing out in the woods?" questioned Harry.
"Oh, I was gettin' ta tha'. She says to me, `I had an accident, my car, I think
it may be broken,' so I goes and takes a look. Sure enough the thing was squashed
flat. I asked `er who she was, and she couldn't answer, but she found a little slip of
paper with her name on it."
"How horrible!" gasped Harry.
"Well she was fine, quite chipper for the situation she was in. Very cold
though. So I invited o'er to my house. I figured if she could see Hogwarts, she must
have at least some kind of magic in her. That's when you dropped by. I didn't want
you to tell yer classmates that I was just bringing in random people, possible
muggles into Hogwarts. So being as positive as she could be, she asked if perhaps
she could have a job."
"And you sent her to Dumbledore?"
"Yup. He seemed to think it was a great idea, Filch was on vacation anyways.
It seemed to think she had some sort of old magic in her or somethin'. He kept
saying `deep, deep magic,' dunno really what that means but I don't mind. She
certainly is helpful eh?"
Harry nodded, "Snape seems to appreciate her too."
At this Hagrid coughed loudly and turned a bit pink. "Yes, he has taken
quite a fancy to her. But I don't know if it is what you think. He says that she
reminds him of someone."
"Is that why he dumped all of that potion on Millicent Bulstrode?" asked
Harry with a grin.
"Oh and about that, he swears that he didn't. He said that it was probably a
really unstable potion."
"Well does En really have any magic?" questioned Harry.
"Well. not that anyone can see, but she has been getting tutored in the
areas that are not magic related. Certain types of charms, potions, heck, even some
Herbology. She's a fast learner. Like she's already taken the classes or something."
Harry had hardly touched his tea.
"Oh and swell move with that Astomi the other day. I heard you shut that rat
Malfoy up real good," he chuckled. The whole staff thought it was brilliant. Even
Snape gave a slight snigger. Well maybe not Binns. Those ghosts sometimes."
It was dinnertime. Hagrid walked with Harry to the Great Hall.