Don't own anything recognisable from JK Rowling's Harry Potter books.

Chapter 5

Overdue Homework.

"Come on ref!! What are you? Blind??" Lee Jordan's younger brother Josh screamed down the microphone. "Foul!!! That was a Slytherin foul!"

The crowd started chanting. "FOUL! FOUL!".

But Severus ignored it, mentally taking notes of the Gryffindors that were screaming the loudest. They would have a bit of a shock the next time he taught them. He would make them pay.

He swooped up to the middle of the pitch, giving a Slytherin chaser the quaffle.

He had seen the Slytherin Beater take a swipe at Harry Potter, and then move directly in front of him when the snitch had appeared momentarily. He would tell the boy off later, but not in front of Potter or the Gryffindors.

"Gryffindor Score!! Yeah!! Shove that in your pipe and smoke it Snape!! Uhhhh…. Sorry Professor!" The loud voice of Josh cut into Severus' thoughts.

"Damn!" Severus muttered under his breath. Many of the parents of the students in Slytherin had approached Severus and told him, in no uncertain terms, that they wanted Slytherin to win the Quidditch Cup and the House Cup.

"No chance of that happening." Severus muttered again, and flew over to separate the Slytherin Keeper and the Gryffindor Chaser, who had started to argue.

~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~

"Well done Harry!"

"Yeah! Good job!"

The congratulations echoed down the corridor as Ron, Harry and Hermione walked down the hallway towards their lesson.

"I don't understand it!" Hermione exclaimed frustratedly.

Ron and Harry stopped dead.

"Did she just say what I think she said?" Ron asked in an exaggerated shocked tone.

"What?… Oh. Stop being stupid." Hermione narrowed her eyes at Ron as he and Harry shared conspiratory grins. "What I mean is I get high grades and earn Gryffindor points. Harry catches the snitch and earns points for Gryffindor, and if you mathematically split the points between the other players he earns about the same as me… So why don't people cheer me as we walk down the corridor?"

Ron gave a big snore and pretended to wake up. "Sorry, did you say something? I fell asleep when you said "mathematically"!"

She punched him in the arm and looked at Harry. "Well…"?

Harry shrugged. "I don't know!"

"Probably because not many people find schoolwork fun like you, whereas Quidditch! Gosh! Quidditch is…" He began a lengthy talk on his favourite subject, the teams, the trick shots, the players…

Harry fell behind Ron slightly and grabbed Hermione's bag from behind making her stop too.

They watched, shaking in silent laughter, as Ron continued walking down the corridor, and turned the corner.

They could still hear him talking as he accidentally walked into the girls bathroom.

They couldn't contain their hilarity as they heard Moaning Myrtle saying.

"Well… I prefer Hockey."

Ron's flaming face appeared and he walked swiftly down the corridor towards Harry and Hermione who were doubled up in laughter, gasping for breath as they wiped the tears from their eyes.

"Sorry!" Harry said when he had caught his breath. "I just couldn't help it!"

Ron glared at Harry, his face going an even deeper shade of red as Myrtle came flying out of the bathroom.

"You've dropped your books in there!" She lowered her voice as Ron rushed back to get his stuff. "You haven't come to the bathroom recently. Do you not have another problem to solve? I can help! I did find the chamber of secrets!"

Hermione stared at Myrtle in disbelief, but Harry came up with a plan.

"We suspect that Professor Phaon is not who she says she is. We need two things. One, if you could watch her and tell us what she does. And two, we're going to need supplies for a secret spell we're working on. We may need you to distract Snape nearer the time. We'll tell you when…"

"Mr Weasley!" The harsh sound of Filch's voice came around the corner. "I presume you have a good reason for being in the girls' lavatories?"

~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~

Katrina had been in the back of the bleachers keeping an eye on the Slytherins while Severus was refereeing the Quidditch match. It wasn't a job teachers sought for, but Albus seemed to think that the Slytherins were somewhat in awe of her since she performed the spell on them.

This explained her tiredness as she headed towards her rooms.

"I'm never doing that again." She grumbled to herself as she headed up the stairs.

She had just about enough time to collect a couple of books she was reading before she had to teach her next class. Entering her room she gave a sigh of relief and leaned back against the now shut door she had just used.

She rotated her shoulders and winced. A friend she had once had had given her a massage once, she really wanted to repeat the experience now. She laughed harshly as she pictured what the other Professors' faces would look like if she asked them.

Severus' stuck in her mind.

Growling at herself and her stupidity, she retrieved the well-worn books from the pile on the dresser beside her bed. Lady Chatterley's Lover and Frankenstein.

"Shows my mental state." She grumbled.

She rubbed the back of her hand against her forehead and recalled the Slytherins' behaviour towards her and wondered about what could have been.

What could have been back then……

~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~

"I can't believe you got a week's detention just for being in the girls' loos!" Hermione exclaimed.

It was later in the day and they were all sat down at the banquet table. They had just finished their meal, and were about to leave.

Filch had taken Ron straight to the nearest teacher to dole out the punishment. Luckily for Ron it hadn't been Severus. Professor McGonagall had been amused by Ron's predicament, but agreed with Filch that Ron shouldn't have been in there in the first place.

"And I have to polish those bloody trophies again." Ron complained. "As if they get dirty in this place. Couldn't they come up with some sort of dust repelling spell? You would have thought that …"

"What is up with him?" Harry asked distracted from the conversation by Grant Livery, a first year in Hufflepuff. Grant was stood at the door of the room, waving "subtly" at Harry. By subtly I mean he had his elbow stuck against his chest and he was waving his hand furiously. When he gained Harry's (and the rest of the school's) attention he moved his head to one side and widened his eyes.

"I think he wants to talk to you." Hermione said dryly.

Harry got up from the table and made his way towards Grant. Ron and Hermione followed, but kept their distance, many people wanted to talk just to Harry.

"I have some information for you." Grant muttered from one corner of his mouth, not moving his lips while speaking. Unfortunately this meant that Harry had no idea what he said.

"What?" He asked.

"I said, I have some information for you." Grant muttered, slightly louder, but again without moving his lips. Harry just heard a louder mumble of incoherent words.

"What?!?!" He asked again.

"I said…." Grant started, but again without moving his lips.

"Look Grant…" Harry interrupted. "I understand that you don't want anyone else to hear you, but it would help if I could hear you!"

Grant's shoulders slumped. "I said, I have some information for you."

"Right that's better. Now what kind of information?"

"Well… I was on my way back to Snape's room, cos I didn't do my homework. He told me to come back with an excuse, and I had one! I was in the infirmary after falling off my broomstick. You see I'm not as good on a broom as you! You're great! I wish I could fly like you. I hope to play Quidditch for Hufflepuff someday! Ohhhh! Could you give me some tips on…"

"Grant!" The speed in which the boy could talk was confusing Harry. "You were on your way to Snape's room, and…"?

"Oh yeah! I saw Professor Phaon coming down the corridor. I hid, cos I have homework overdue for her as well. You see I was in the infirmar…"

"You saw Professor Phaon coming down the corridor towards Snape's room and then…"?

"And then she knocked on Snape's door and apologised for calling him a coward! I wish I had been there when she called him a coward! It would have been so cool! Gosh! If I'd been there maybe I …"

"Grant! For god's sake!" Harry was getting frustrated. "She apologised?"

"Yep! Saw it with my own eyes!"

"Did she say anything else?"

The boy stuck his tongue out of the corner of his mouth as he thought, and finally shook his head. "Nope! She walked out of the room pretty fast tho'."

"Okay. Thanks Grant."

"You don't think she's in league with…" He lowered his voice. "…He-who-must-not-be-named?"

"I …" Harry though for a moment.

'If I tell him yes it will be round the school in minutes.' He thought to himself.

"No. She's not in league with Voldemort…" Grant's eyes flared and he backed a few steps from Harry when he mentioned Voldemort's name. "…I think she's just trying to be friendly!" Harry lied through his teeth. "Don't mention this to anyone, you don't want people suspecting an innocent woman do you?"

Grant frowned, but agreed. "Okay! Anything for you Harry. Wow! I'm talking to Harry Potter! I never thought that would happen! My parents used to tell me your story every bedtime! Imagine their faces when I tell them that…"

"Great! You go and tell them now Grant. Bye now!"

When Grant had teetered off down the corridor waving furiously at Harry, he turned to Hermione and Ron.

"Did you hear that?" He asked.

"It was pretty hard not to hear! He practically told the school!" Ron said sarcastically.

"Well? What did I say? I knew there was something funny about her!" Harry told them anxiously.

"So? She only apologised to Snape! It wasn't like she pledged her life to him and offered her left arm!" Ron protested.

"We have to do the spell soon." Harry said, ignoring Ron for his own good. "If she's innocent then it shouldn't reveal anything. If there's anything dodgy then why shouldn't we know?"

Hermione nodded. "We have a spell to do, we have overdue homework."

A/N Okay!!

As promised I'm back again!! Yay!!! Before I start I just wanted to say HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I hope you all had a good 2002, a Merry Xmas, and a fantastic New Year!!!

Thanks to JoeBob1379 for reading all 4 chapters so quickly!! I hope this one lives up to your high expectations!!!

Love to you all! And see you next week!

Love

Krusty

xxx.