A/N: the diary excerpt is supposed to be in italics, I don't know whether ffnet keeps the italics when I upload this.
This chapter is dedicated to Kamatazi Yumi, who has birthday tomorrow and Phoenix_kiss02 whose birthday is on the 21st. Happy birthday to you both!
This chapter is a tad crazier than the previous ones, but as Harry says at the end of GoF: "We could all do with a few laughs. I've got a feeling we're going to need them more than usual before long."
What do I mean by this? *sigh* The war. I don't know what to think about the future, what will be about Iraq's retaliation policy… but I admit that I'm very afraid. I don't think I have ever been this afraid of anything. However, all I can do is pray for the peace and promise you that as long as I'm alive and have an Internet connection, I will continue updating.
Chapter 21
Great news – great ruse?
For a single second, Daniel felt he'd go blind in the incredibly strong white light, but as soon as he stepped over the curb, into the chamber, the white light vanished from the doorframe, forming itself into wonderful golden light-balls, that got scattered along the walls, settling into blood-red torch-brackets. In an instant these peculiar lamps of sparkling golden light illuminated the whole chamber.
"Wow," Norbert breathed. "The old Gryffindor really knew some magic, eh? Haven't seen stuff like this before."
"Beautiful," Gilda agreed, never taking her eyes off the golden orbs functioning as lamps. "They even have Gryffindor's colours – the brackets are red, the light is gold."
"I'm really proud of my ancestor," Daniel grinned smugly, turning around to see everything.
The chamber wasn't too large and it didn't have much furniture in it – there were only a couple of bookshelves with dust-covered tomes and a huge red marble table.
"This place could use some cleaning spells," Gilda commented, idly drawing a circle into the one-inch-thick dust-layer on the table's surface. "Hm… here's a booklet. It must be important if the old guy left it on his table... Let's see what he wrote in it," she bent over the book and blew the dust off it. After a heavy bout of coughing, she opened the little red book that was written in with golden ink. "Typical Gryffindor – red and gold again," she said. She beckoned the two boys to the table. "It's some kind of a diary… or an ancient message-board? Listen to this:
the 1014th year of the Lord
My dear Son, Godwin,
If you are reading this, it means that I'm dead and you have reached your fifteenth birthday. Congratulations, you have become a man.
You have no idea how sorry I am, but this is the only way I could enter into contact with you, given certain unfortunate circumstances. I don't know what your foster parents, the Potters, told you about your real parents – I don't know whether they told you at all that they only raised you, but I believe that it's time for you to know the truth.
I have sent your foster parents an owl, letting them know about this chamber – the chamber that I built for you, Son. In my mail, I asked them to keep this chamber a secret until you turn fifteen, and tell you about it when you are old enough to know the truth. I am sure that the Potters have been wonderful parents to you, and I'm happy to know that your childhood has been spent under two such wonderful persons' care. As I have already said, I don't know what exactly they have told you, but I'd like to tell you the whole truth now.
It all began with a forbidden love – the love that I felt for Lady Rowena Ravenclaw, who later became Lady Slytherin by marrying my one time best friend, Salazar Slytherin. Rowena and I had been in love for years before she got married, I even wanted to engage her, but her father and Salazar's father insisted on making their children join in the holy bind of matrimony.
There was no way we could stop the inevitable. So, I lost my lady, but her love for me never ceased to exist. We kept meeting in secret, and our love got blessed – she conceived. Her husband, who, meanwhile, had turned into a very, very cruel man – a man who was no more my friend - never got to know about her pregnancy.
Salazar spent several months abroad, and by the time he returned, you were born. In order to avoid Slytherin's wrath, Rowena gave you to the Potters – who are some distant relation of hers – to raise you. Not much later, she died. Many say she was ill, others say she was treated cruelly by her husband who tortured her to death – we may never know. I don't think that Salazar truly loved her, because he re-married shortly after she died. I never got married, because I loved your mother too much to give my heart to another woman.
Salazar's mother is a true Seer, all her predictions have come true so far. Years ago, she made a prediction: "A millennium later, Slytherin's heir will be the greatest dark wizard of all times, destined to rule over the whole wizarding world. However, he will be the last heir of Slytherin, because the heir of Gryffindor shall bring about his destruction." Salazar has always believed in his mother's predictions, and I fear he believed this one as well. This is the reason why I am sure that Salazar will attempt to kill me. And if he fails the first time, he'll try again and again until he finally reaches his aim and believes that the problem is taken care of: if I die, then I can no more produce an heir who can kill his heir. The only thing he didn't take into account is that I already have an heir – you. I don't know whether he is still alive when you are reading this, but in case he is, make sure that he never gets to know your true identity, Godwin.
You are the heir of Godric Gryffindor, and you have to pass your heritage down to your descendants, because the prediction has to come true. You have to know that Salazar's mother's prophecy is not the only one telling about my heir causing the death of Slytherin's last one.
A Greek witch called Cassandra two thousand years ago also made a prediction about a black-haired boy who would be born around the end of this millennium. This boy is bound to fall in love and the love of his life shall sacrifice herself to save him from the evil dark lord, this way bringing about the downfall of the most powerful dark wizard, who will be none other than Salazar's heir.
The text of Cassandra's prophecy has been translated into English by the evil Mim, who stole it from Merlin, but Mim stole an incomplete prophecy that is two verses short. The first five verses only tell us about the black-haired boy, but the last two ones tell about the girl who is going to cause the death of Salazar's last descendant. Whoever reads Mim's version, will think that the boy is the key, but those select few who read the original – seven verses long - version shall know that it is really the girl. Merlin was a good friend of mine – a mentor for me. He died at the age of 486 years and entrusted me to take care of the original version of Cassandra's prophecy.
Now that my life is in danger, I gave Merlin's version to my friend, Archibald Dumbledore. Besides your foster parents, he and his wife are the only ones who know about your existence as my true heir, Godwin. They are people you can trust and turn to with confidence. I believe they have a son of your age. I also possess a bit of the talents of a Seer, and I have seen that you'd become good friends with him as soon as you get to know each other. Though I trusted the Dumbledores very much, I did not tell them about the chamber. Just you, your foster parents and me know about it.
It is important that no one else besides the Potters and the Dumbledores may know who you really are, my Son. You must be safe from Salazar, grow up, marry and have children to pass your heritage down to them, so that they can carry a bit of Gryffindor in themselves until the time comes and the prophecy is supposed to be fulfilled.
The predictions made by Cassandra and Salazar's mother are the same from a certain point of view, but Cassandra's shall live on, while Slytherin's mother's is going to lose its meaning as soon as I die without a wife and children.
As soon as Salazar manages to do away with me, he shall forget about the prediction and live his life happily, not fearing that his bloodline will ever be broken by a descendant of mine, since he has no idea about you. And that should stay that way. I ask you – no, beg you – to go on with your life as Godwin Potter – not Godwin Gryffindor. No one may know that I have ever fathered a child…
"It all fits!" Dan cut in excitedly.
Gilda stopped reading out the diary entry/message with a furious expression, clearly angry about having been interrupted. "What fits?"
"Everything," young Potter said. "Sal Slytherin thought that Godric had no heirs and didn't care for his mum's prediction anymore. The real version of Cassandra's prophecy was in the Dumbledore family's possession, that's how Albus Dumbledore knew about it, that's how he could plan the whole 'let's rid the world of Voldemort' action."
"The what action?" the girl blinked, confused.
"Well, Dumbledore knew about Cassandra's prediction and as soon as dad got mum pregnant with my sister Lily, Dumbledore made sure that Voldemort would kidnap my mum and Lils, giving dad a reason to go after them and giving mum an opportunity to sacrifice herself for dad, this way causing Voldie's destruction."
"Voldie?" Norbert grimaced. "Shouldn't you talk about the greatest dark wizard ever with a bit more respect?"
"You mean the greatest dupe?" Dan smirked. "Voldemort was a loony, I tell you, totally out of his mind… no wonder that the headmaster was clever enough to trick him with a false recipe…"
"What recipe?" Gilda asked.
"The recipe of the Potion of Eternity," young Potter replied willingly. "It should have made Voldemort immortal, but Dumbledore changed the ingredients before sending Snape to Voldie with it."
"Snape?" breathed the girl. "How did he become involved in all this?"
"Quite easily. He was a Death-Eater, like father," Norbert said. "A Death-Eater who betrayed his lord."
"C'mon, Norb, don't talk about it as though it had been something bad!" Dan grinned. "I think it was something cool. Good old Snape was quite witty to be able to deceive Voldie again, giving him the wrong recipe. Dad told me everything about the showdown at Stonehenge – imagine, Snape was dressed up as a Death-Eater, but as soon as Dumbledore and some others arrived to help dad, Snape started to fight against his fellow Death-Eaters. Sirius almost killed him, because he thought Snape belonged to Voldemort's groupies, but dad saved his life."
"What? Your father saved Snape's life?" Gilda's huge blue eyes widened in surprise.
"Yeah," Dan nodded.
"Wonder whether we'd be better off if he hadn't," Norbert added.
"Why don't you like Snape?" Daniel asked his friend. "Not because he betrayed Voldemort, right?"
"Of course not," young Malfoy shrugged. "I grew up hearing father cursing his one time friend Severus for having abandoned their lord. It rubbed off on me, I can't help it. I came to Hogwarts with a great deal of prejudice against Snape, but… somehow I don't hate him that much anymore. Dunno why…"
"Maybe because of his new smile?" a voice spoke up behind them.
The three kids turned around to see a pearly-white thing hovering in the doorframe, looking at them curiously.
"Myrtle. What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" Daniel growled, his memories of their last encounter chasing each other in his mind, making him feel disgusted and embarrassed at once.
"Just the usual," the ghost replied. "I wanted to watch a mermaid teaching her little son to swim, but her husband didn't really tolerate my presence…"
"…and tossed you into this cave again," Dan finished her sentence.
"Right," Myrtle nodded. "What are you three doing down here? How did you manage to open this door? I tried to float through it for several times but never succeeded. It must have been protected by some ghost-repelling charm, I don't know. What is in here? What are all these books? Oh, how cool! I love these lamps! Not even Hogwarts has stuff like this! Very original! Say, how…"
"Sod off, Myrtle, it's none of your business!" Dan said angrily.
"Sod off?" the ghost burst into tears. "That's so mean of you, after what happened between us here last time!" she wailed.
"Why? What happened between you?" Gilda gave the boy a questioning look.
"Nothing," Dan turned slightly pink. "She's raving."
"I'm – not – raving!" Myrtle yelled, her cheeks glowing in a more intense silvery colour, showing her fury. "Dan and I were kissing passionately!"
"Shut up, will you?" the boy hissed at her.
"No, Myrtle, don't shut up!" Gilda cut in. "I want to know it all!"
"No, you don't!" Dan yelled.
"Oh, yes, I do!" she stamped her foot. "Come on, Myrtle, tell me!"
"So…" the ghost drew herself up proudly, "It happened so…"
"I'm not listening to this!" Dan spat and stormed out of the chamber.
"Er… better not leave him alone! We'll meet up in the outer cave," Norbert told Gilda. "Close the chamber's door if you leave, will you? I bet that closing it won't need the blood of Gryffindor," with that he hurried after his enraged friend.
Ten minutes later Gilda caught up with the boys. As she emerged from the well, she saw a very sleepy-looking Norbert and an extremely miffed-looking Daniel pacing the outer cave.
"Whatever Myrtle told you was a lie," Dan told the girl.
"Really? I don't think so," she replied.
"Don't say that you could ever imagine me kissing someone like Moaning Myrtle!"
"Well, in fact I could," she shrugged, but seeing the appalled – and clearly hurt – expression on Dan's face, her mouth tucked into a grin. "No, Dan, of course I don't believe that you'd do such a thing! You must have been out of your mind… maybe because of the concussion. You fell into this pit and very possibly hit your head – you had no idea what you were doing… right?"
"Exactly," the boy nodded eagerly. "I'm soooo relieved that you don't believe Myrtle's rambling…I could never like someone like her."
"And could you actually like someone… like me?" she asked with an impish grin.
"Didn't I show you this morning?" he blushed, totally forgetting that they weren't alone.
"What did you show her this morning?" Norbert cut in.
"Er… my…"
"Poem," Gilda interjected, to save Dan from even more embarrassment. "He showed me a piece of poetry he had written."
"Really?" young Malfoy raised an eyebrow. "I never knew you wrote poems… not since your pathetic attempt at writing one for Liu Chang."
"What? You have written Liu one, too?" the girl breathed.
"Er…"
"You know what? I don't want to know," Gilda waved impatiently. "I'm sleepy. Let's go back to the castle before our dorm-mates discover our absence."
"Okay. We'll come back here later," Daniel nodded. "I can't wait to read more of Gryffindor's diary."
"Meeeee toooooo..." young Malfoy yawned. "But next time we should make sure that Myrtle doesn't interrupt us."
* * * * *
The next week passed uneventful for Daniel. He and his friends decided not to go back to the cave for a while, not to wake the teachers' and their fellow classmates' suspicion.
Right on Monday evening, Dan had his next Imaginer training session with Professor Dumbledore, who greeted him with a peculiar question: "Was it you, Daniel?"
"What, sir?"
"Did you transform Professor Snape's teeth?"
"Er…" the boy looked at his shoes for a while, and only dared meet the headmaster's eyes after about a minute – lucky that Albus Dumbledore was a patient man. "Yes, sir. It was I. And I'm sorry, sir. I know I shouldn't have, I just…"
"Daniel," Albus cut in, "don't apologise. I like what you did - rather… amusing," his blue eyes twinkled with youthful joy. "Of course I should reprimand you for using your powers outside class, but this one time, I can only say 'well done'."
Daniel's face lit up. "You truly like it, sir?"
"I do," Albus nodded. "But I can't say the same about Severus, I'm afraid."
"I know," Dan hung his head. "I heard him yell at Mr. Bradley that his teeth weren't flashy at all and that Mr. Bradley should leave him in peace…"
"And what did Mr. Bradley do?" Albus asked.
"Showed the Professor a mirror. And the Professor almost got a heart-attack when he saw himself in it."
Dumbledore stifled a chuckle. "I can imagine that."
"Sir?"
"Yes, Daniel?"
"Is it possible that… Professor Snape is… um…"
"What?"
"…gay?"
"What gives you that idea, my boy?"
Daniel pursed his lips, thinking that perhaps he shouldn't have brought up the topic at all. Damn his eternal curiosity. "Well… I saw him kissing the caretaker."
"Did you?" a huge smile spread on the headmaster's face.
"Yeah," young Potter shrugged, not having the vaguest idea how Albus could be happy about this. "I promise I won't tell anyone… I just thought I'd ask you."
"A bit too curious, aren't we, Daniel?" Dumbledore gave the boy a quizzical look.
"I fear so," the boy said, thinking that if the headmaster only knew how curious he was, he'd be definitely expelled. "Sir… I think I should stop playing Quidditch," he said to change the topic.
"Stop it?" Albus blinked in surprise. "Why?"
"Because… I've cheated, sir," Dan said, looking down at his shoes again. "I s'pose I influenced the Snitch's way – I… I made it fly exactly my way. That's cheating, isn't it?"
"If it was intentional, Daniel, then it is," the old wizard replied.
"No. It wasn't intentional. Or perhaps it was… I don't know. I just thought that my team was losing the match and how cool it'd be if I could catch the Snitch and win the game for Slytherin… and then I felt the usual surge of energy leave my body, and the Snitch came into view… I made it happen… but I wasn't exactly angry, not even scared… I think it was my first intentional Imagining outside class, but I didn't mean to cheat with it… still I did. And I feel terrible about it."
The headmaster sent the boy a peculiar glance. "You know, son, the day after the Sorting your father came to me to ask why the Hat put you into Slytherin, and I answered that whatever the Hat had done, it must have been right. But I'm not sure about it anymore. You are nothing like a Slytherin."
"Really?" Dan's face lit up. "But I thought I was! I felt vindictive on several occasions… I wanted to hurt Kevin and the twins, and I still…"
Dumbledore waved to shut him up. "My dear boy, everyone has a bit of thirst for vengeance. If we didn't, we wouldn't be humans at all. I totally understand that you bear a grudge against Mr. Kevin Weasley, who – in my opinion – has been really mean to you. I for one bore a grudge against my own brother for more than a century."
"Why, sir?" young Potter asked curiously.
"Ehm…" Albus seemed to have gone pink – or did Daniel just imagine it? "Aberforth played a rather nasty trick on me and I just couldn't forgive him… and I wasn't even in Slytherin. I was a Gryffindor. It seems that Gryffindors can behave like Slytherins and Slytherins like Gryffindors."
"Slytherin or not, I still cheated. I shouldn't be allowed to play anymore," Dan insisted.
"We shall discuss this later," Dumbledore said. "Now tell me please, how did you get the idea of sticking poor James Lupin's lips together? And how did it occur to you to use your powers on Professor Snape?"
"Well… after I caught the Snitch, I was quite surprised that I managed to do intentional Imagining outside class, and I thought that I might as well try to do it again, just to make sure that it was intentional what I did to the Snitch."
"Ah, I see," Albus nodded. "I believe you have reached a higher level of your Imaginer talents – you are almost on the same level as Godwin Potter was at the end of his life."
"This means… that we are really going to run out of syllabus soon, right, Professor?" Daniel asked dejectedly.
"I'm afraid so. One or two more training sessions, and I won't have anything more to teach you. From that time on, it will all depend on you – you've got to practice everything you have learned so far, and with a bit of luck, you might find a way to further develop yourself."
"But will you help me with that too, sir?"
"I'll try, Daniel. But I cannot promise you anything," the old wizard said. "Oh, and Daniel…"
"Yes, sir?"
"Professor Snape isn't gay. Appearances are deceptive, never forget that. And now, let's see today's task: imagining the forces of nature. Don't worry, I have made precautions that nothing of it will be seen, heard and felt outside this classroom. So, let's start with a nice little rainy weather, then we might carry on with a beautiful rainbow..."
* * * * *
Although Dumbledore had made Daniel promise that he'd refrain from using his powers outside the Imaginer training session, he couldn't resist the temptation to use a bit of it at Transfiguration the next morning. The main reason was to make Kevin Weasley turn green with envy, because he didn't manage to accomplish the task of turning a mouse into a snuffbox while Daniel did it easily.
"That was a good one, mate," said Norbert. "How come you've become this good at Transfiguration all of a sudden?"
"Just a bit of practice and a great deal of persistence," young Potter replied. "You told me that I only had to practice and I'd succeed – you were right. I reckon that with a bit more exercising I could really be good enough to enter the tournament."
"I see," Norbert nodded with a peculiar expression – expression of disbelief? Or something else? Well, Daniel didn't care – all that counted for him was that he earned ten points for Slytherin with his amazing performance.
"The old McGonagall giving points to Slytherins?" young Malfoy whispered to his friends. "And not just Slytherins, but especially you? What got into her? I thought she hated you."
"Of course she doesn't hate Daniel!" Gilda said. "Professor McGonagall might have been a bit mad at you because of causing Gryffindor to lose those many points, but she isn't vindictive. She's quite fair, in my opinion. By the way, Dan, how did you do it?"
"What?"
"The snuff-box. No one else here managed. No offence, but I thought you'd be the last one to manage it."
"No offence taken," he grinned at the girl.
"But how did you…?" she repeated, only to get interrupted by Minerva.
"Miss Lockhart, Mr. Potter! Twenty points from Slytherin for talking in my class."
"So… who's fair?" Dan whispered to Gilda.
So far McGonagall had been known for her strictness and fairness, and Snape had been known for his strictness and unfairness. Somehow it seemed to have changed to the opposite, as it was proved right at their next Potions class.
The first unusual thing was Snape entering the dungeon in deep green robes – for the second time in their lives, the students had seen him wearing a colour other than black. The next unusual thing was that Severus kept his head down all the way through the lesson, explaining the ingredients of the personality-changing potion to his shoes.
"What happened to him?" Donald Rookwood of Slytherin wondered.
"No idea," Jerry Travers shook his head.
"Oh, probably he woke up with a stiff neck and cannot straighten his back," Lavinia Flint suggested.
"It seems that not everyone has seen his wonderfully white teeth yet," Norbert grinned at Dan.
"Pity," Viviane Weasley pouted at the neighbouring table.
"Yeah," Valentine nodded, propping her chin into her palms, fixing the Professor with a dreamy stare. "If only he'd look up properly. I'd like to see those teeth again. So beautiful…"
"Is that why you outlined the Potions class in little hearts, Val?" Dan mocked, grabbing the girl's timetable.
"Give it back!" she hissed.
"No, I've got to have a look at it," Daniel said. "Hm… why haven't you outlined Lockhart's class as well? He still looks better than Snape."
"No, he doesn't!" Valentine retorted.
"Uh-oh… Val has a crush!"
"I do not!" the girl whispered through gritted teeth.
"Miss Weasley?" Snape finally looked up, enraged by the fact that the students weren't listening to his lecture. Up till now, no student had dared talk during his class. "I didn't let you talk. But if you like attention this much, then please, come up to the blackboard and complete the formula I started to write. Well, what are you waiting for?"
By this time, all the students in the dungeon were gaping at him with open mouths. As Valentine rose from her seat and headed for the blackboard, loud murmurs ran down the classroom:
"Did you see that?"
"Impossible! That's not Snape but a clone for sure!"
"I'm sure he's using Wizard Fresh Whitening toothpaste!"
"He's so cute, isn't he? Flashy teeth and green robes… and he's washed his hair again!"
"I don't understand… why would he want to hide those teeth? I'd be happy if mine looked like his!"
But Snape didn't seem to hear the murmurs – he also seemed to have forgotten that he was supposed to be looking downwards to conceal his teeth. He passed Valentine a chalk and motioned her to write. "What are you waiting for? You have five minutes to finish the formula," he said the girl just stood there, gazing at him with misty eyes. "Get started or Gryffindor is going to lose many points because of you - again. I presume you would like to avoid it, Miss Weasley."
Reluctantly, Valentine turned towards the blackboard, hesitating what to write. She clearly had no idea.
*It's my fault. My bloody fault again!* Daniel thought bitterly. Had he not nicked the girl's timetable, she wouldn't have wanted to get it back and she wouldn't be in this embarrassing situation again – a situation that would very likely end with Gryffindor having another hundred points less. Suddenly, he clasped his forehead, then snatched up his Magical Drafts and Potions book, and started flipping over its pages.
"What are you looking for?" Gilda whispered.
Dan, however, didn't reply, but kept searching. After two minutes (by that time, Valentine had turned rather white, her face in total contrast with the colour of the blackboard), he finally found the description of the personality-changing potion. Gilda's eyes kept bouncing between Valentine and Daniel, feeling sorry for the other girl and feeling confused about the boy's actions. What good could it do to Val – or anybody – if Dan found the description of the required potion? Her confusion grew by the second as she saw that Daniel's eyes fixed on the book's page for some seconds, then he closed them, as though concentrating hard on something. His eyebrows kept twitching and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. Was he feeling all right at all? She glanced over Dan's shoulder at Norbert, who was also eyeing Daniel in a rather strange way. It wasn't confusion, wasn't surprise, wasn't even worry on his face. It was something else. Before Gilda could ask either friend of hers to explain what was going on, Valentine's hand set into motion, leading the chalk across the blackboard, writing the rest of the formula.
Snape's expression changed from angry to surprised, then from surprised to totally amazed.
"There," Val put the chalk on the Professor's table with a triumphant grin.
"Well…" the Potions Master seemed to not find words. "This… this is a very complicated formula, Miss Weasley. I never thought you'd be able to… Fifty points to Gryffindor."
The two classes present (both the Gryffindors and the Slytherins) gasped as one single entity.
"Snape? Giving Gryffindor points? Let alone fifty?"
"I think he's gone mad."
"Yeah, mad, but… he's still dashing."
"Would you explain what you were doing at Potions?" Gilda demanded as they walked down the corridor towards the Charms classroom.
"Me?" Dan gave her a questioning look. "What do you mean?"
"Don't take me for a fool, will you?" she snapped. "You were doing something to your cousin. It looked like… I don't know… telepathy."
"Telepathy?" Dan laughed. "C'mon, Gil, how on Earth would I know how to communicate through telepathy? Wizards can do lots of things, but not that. Have you ever heard of a wizard sending a mental message to another?"
"No," she admitted.
"See? You must have seen too many Muggle movies, Gilda."
Miss Lockhart, however, couldn't be convinced. She decided to close the topic for a while, but somehow she didn't believe a word of Dan's. She wished she knew what Norbert thought of it. But Norbert also seemed reluctant to discuss telepathy – to Dan's great relief. He knew he had already done too much to wake his friends' suspicion, but he simply couldn't leave Valentine in the lurch… he simply couldn't let Gryffindor lose any more points because of him. He felt that his conscience wouldn't bear another wave of hate from the Gryffindors.
"Fifty points to Gryffindor?!? You know what? I don't really hate Snape anymore," Viviane told her twin.
"Neither do I," Val smiled.
"Of course you don't, you're in love with him!" Lancelot interjected.
"Am not!" Val snapped.
"Are too!" Kevin smirked.
"Am not!"
"Are too!" Viv, Kevin and Lance shouted in unison.
"Who's in love with whom?" a voice spoke up behind them. They turned around to see Hermione smiling down at them, holding a huge stack of books.
"Er… no one, mum," Val cringed.
"Val has a crush on Professor Snape," Lancelot replied willingly, only to get a kick in the shin from the girl.
"Am not."
"Then why did you outline his lesson in little hearts?" Kevin grinned.
"You have done WHAT?" Hermione gasped, dropping all her dozen books. "VALENTINE!"
"Come on, mum, you did the same with Lockhart!" Viviane said.
"Yes, I did, but at least he looked good. But… Snape?" Hermione's face was disgusted.
"Don't worry, auntie," Kevin said, "if someone asks, you can peacefully say that Val's knack for perversion didn't come from you, but from Uncle Ron."
"Ron?" the Arithmancy professor winced. "He'd better never get to know this, or he'll commit suicide. Valentine, dear, I think we should have a nice, long talk."
* * * * *
However strange it might sound, Professor Snape was being less nasty to the students than he used to be. No one understood it, perhaps save for Daniel – given that he was the only student who knew about Severus' feelings for the caretaker. It was possible that love really changed people… it had to be that way or Snape wouldn't have changed this much, would he?
How exactly did Dumbledore formulate it? – Dan thought. 'Professor Snape isn't gay. Appearances are deceptive, never forget that.' What could it mean? Daniel tried and tried to find the meaning behind those cryptic words, but the brainwave refused to come until the end of March. Then, one day, as he and his best friends left the Quidditch pitch after a training session (Slytherin would be playing against Hufflepuff in a week), they met the caretaker, who looked as white as a sheet.
"Mr. Bradley, are you all right?" asked Gilda.
"Not exactly, Miss Lockhart," came the answer as Bradley leant to the wall, clearly feeling dizzy.
"Maybe you should go up into the hospital wing," Daniel suggested.
"No… What I need now is…" with hands pressed over her mouth the caretaker hurried into the nearby toilet.
"He doesn't look doo well, does he?" Norbert said, blowing his nose. Since it had been raining for about a week now and they had had training sessions regardless of the weather, he had developed a nice little head cold. Many people in the castle – Professor McGonagall included - were suffering from similar symptoms, even without having to train in the rain.
"Have you noticed? He went into the girl's bathroom," Gilda pointed out, clearly finding it rather amusing.
"Crazy that ban, don't you think, Dan?" Norbert said in a nasal voice.
But Daniel didn't answer. He was gaping at the door of the girl's bathroom, his eyes widened in surprise.
"Hey, anybody hobe?" Norbert waved his hand in front of Dan's eyes.
"Huh?" the boy shuddered.
"What got into you? You looked like sobeone who had seen a debentor," Norbert said between two sneezes.
"No. No dementor," Dan shook his head. "Poor Snape."
"What? What does he have to do with Bradley?" Gilda frowned.
"Er… nothing," young Potter waved, feeling extremely proud that he had finally managed to understand how Snape could love the caretaker without being gay. The caretaker was a woman. But… wait a minute! When does a woman faint? When does a woman feel sick? "Holy snitch!" Dan breathed.
"WHAT?" the other two started to get impatient.
"I cannot tell you. Sorry guys, I cannot."
"Friends don't keep secrets from each other," Gilda pointed out.
*If she only knew how many secrets I keep from her and Norb!* Dan thought. "Listen, I... promised Dumbledore not to tell…"
"You know that we're no gossips, Dan," Norbert winked at him. "You can trust us."
"Oookay," the other boy sighed, then pulled the map out of his robe pocket. "No one around," he declared contentedly. The only person near was the caretaker, whose little dot seemed to be crouching next to a toilet.
"Why all this precaution?" his friend raised an eyebrow.
"Because what I'm going to tell you is top secret," Dan whispered, his voice muffled even more by Bradley's retching behind the door. "Snape is… in love with the caretaker."
"Whad?" young Malfoy gasped. "Shit, he's gay!"
"No, he isn't! And sssh!" Dan pressed his index finger to his lips. "Look at this," he showed the map to his friends.
Gilda's eyes popped, seeing the little dot's name. "He's a she! She's called Beryl!"
"Yup."
"You knew this? You knew this all along? Dumbledore told you?"
"Not exactly," Dan shook his head. "Once I overheard Snape and Bradley quarrelling. Bradley was accusing Snape of having used some potion by mistake – a potion that made them crazy for each other… they ended up in bed. It was back in January. And Snape seems to be in love with him… er, her, ever since. It's no more the effect of the potion – it's real."
The retching stopped, the kids heard the sound of a toilet being flushed, and Dan hastily hid the map.
"Feeling better, Bister Bradley?" Norbert asked when Beryl exited with a sweaty face.
"A bit. Thank you," replied the caretaker and walked away.
Gilda stared after her, her mouth agape.
"I see you understand everything," said Dan.
"I do," the girl nodded. "I just can't believe it! It seems that Snape's whole life is going to change soon, not only his teeth."
"What do you bean?" Norbert frowned.
"He's going to be a father."
* * * * *
The rainy March turned into sunny April. While Norbert healed out of his cold quite quickly (maybe Slytherin's victory over Hufflepuff helped him heal), Professor McGonagall's symptoms didn't seem to want to cease at all. She was no more sneezing or blowing her nose – she was rather sick and her head hurt all the time. Her condition worsened so much that she needed to pay Madame Pomfrey a visit.
"I hope Minerva is feeling better," Albus told his brother as they walked out of the staff room.
"Well, she is feeling a bit better… but she'll continue having this sickness for a while, I fear," Aberforth said with a dramatic sigh.
"Why? Cannot Poppy just cure her with some Pepperup Potion?" Albus asked, taking a sip of hot chocolate.
"I fear Pepperup Potion cannot do anything against morning sicknesses," Aberforth replied, looking devastated.
"What?" the headmaster spat out the mouthful of hot chocolate he was just about to swallow. "Arrrgh, my beautiful beard!" he cursed, trying to wipe the warm brown goo off it. In his surprise, he even forgot that he could have performed a simple cleaning charm. "Minerva… pregnant???" he breathed.
"Well… yeah," Aberforth seemed to be thoroughly embarrassed.
"But… at her age?"
"Do you remember the Bible Sarah who gave birth at the age of ninety? My sweet Minnie is barely two years older than Sarah was," came the answer in a rather wavering tone. "But I'm soooo concerned, Albus… what will everyone say? And… I'm not sure about these family relations - if that baby's born, who will be Julie to him? His great-niece? Or great-aunt? I'm hopelessly confused!"
"Somehow I can understand that… daddy," Albus gave his brother a quizzical look. "Heh, that will be some event!"
"Don't even remind me! I'm already dreading everyone's reactions," Aberforth said timidly.
* * * * *
McGonagall was walking upstairs from the library, carrying several huge books to prepare for the lecture she'd give the seventh year Ravenclaws on Monday.
"Ah, Minerva, already out of the infirmary?" the headmaster joined her with a jovial smile.
"Yes, Albus. Why, should I have wasted my whole day there?" she replied indignantly. "I've got to prepare for tomorrow."
"I… I think you should have stayed a bit longer in the hospital wing, Minerva, just to make sure that you're okay. And why on Earth are you carrying such heavy books? You shouldn't!"
Albus reached out and took the pile of tomes out of the witch's arms. "I'll carry them for you."
Minerva shrugged. "If you think so. Would you please take them up to my study and place them on my desk? I still have to go and discuss the plan of work with the Prefects for the next week and for the duration of the Easter holidays as well. Oh, and of course I've got to arrange a staff-conference about the tournament…"
"No, no, no, dear Minerva, I insist that you leave these things to another time and have some rest. Go up into your room and lie down a bit."
"But, Albus, these things have to be done! And who else would do them? It's always been my task to arrange things like these! What would become of Hogwarts if I started neglecting my duties?"
"I'm not concerned about Hogwarts, Minerva, but I'm concerned about you. Your health. You have to rest a lot, in your condition."
McGonagall rolled her eyes. "Madame Pomfrey said I could continue working without any problem. And that I will do."
"But… Minerva! How can you be so selfish?" Dumbledore looked scandalised.
"Selfish? Albus!" she hissed, ripping the books out of the wizard's hands. "I'm having the school's best interests at heart, and you call me selfish!"
"Yes, because you don't care for that child at all!"
"Which child?" she blinked.
Albus blinked, too. "Wow… twins?"
"What?" she knitted her eyebrows, fearing that the headmaster had gone mad.
"Your child, Minerva!"
"You mean, Julie? She's like a granddaughter to me, Albus, and I have no idea why you think that I don't care for her…"
"I'm not talking about Julie, I'm talking about the baby you are carrying!"
McGonagall dropped the books. "What… what are you talking about?"
Suddenly Peeves appeared through a wall, wearing a pink-orange striped jester's hat, howling at the top of his lungs: "Happy April Fool's Day to everyone!"
For a couple of seconds nothing happened, only Albus' head was beginning to turn reddish-purple. In the next instant:
"ABERFORTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
* * * * *
"Oh, good afternoon, Aberforth!" Gilderoy Lockhart waved at the wizard approaching. "My gosh! What happened to you?" he pointed at the other man's face.
"Er… I happened to run into the door-handle," Dumbledore grunted.
"With both your eyes at once?" Gilderoy frowned at Aberforth's two huge black eyes. "You poor one. I have a very efficacious cream for cases like this. You just rub it around your eyes and they'll be back to normal by tomorrow morning. I'm using it daily to make the shadows under my eyes disappear if I didn't have enough time to sleep. You know that I cannot appear in front of my students looking like that, now, can I?"
"You really don't care for anything else but your looks, do you, Gilderoy? You really care for no one else but yourself!" Aberforth snapped. His mood was clearly very low for some reason.
"But of course I do! There are lots of other people I care for… for example… my wife. My daughter. My tailor. My hairdresser… I'm hurt by the insinuation that I'm selfish! If someone's selfish, then it's Severus. He's been refusing to tell me the secret of his miraculous tooth-whitening method for weeks!"
But Aberforth wasn't listening to Lockhart anymore. His attention was engaged by a seagull tapping at a window of the corridor. "A seagull? Here?" he muttered and walked up to the window to open it.
"Not seagull, but Snape!" Gilderoy said, looking around, searching for his one-person audience. That was when he saw that Aberforth had stepped to the window and let a bird in. "This is really a seagull!" Gilderoy declared. "What does a seagull want here?"
"No idea," the older wizard shrugged and watched as the bird soared into the corridor and disappeared out of sight.
"So, where was I?" Lockhart asked. "Oh, yeah, Severus. So, I'm telling you, Aberforth, this man is simply greedy. He wants all the good for himself. That is why he keeps this new beauty-recipe a secret, but I swear I'm going to get it out of him…"
Aberforth had no idea how long he had been listening to Gilderoy's raving when his brother Albus rushed up to him with furiously glinting eyes.
Aberforth cringed from his very sight.
"Have you sent me this, Aberforth?" the headmaster demanded, flourishing a letter in front of his brother's eyes.
"No," the younger Dumbledore shook his head.
Albus gave him a suspicious look. "This letter has been brought by a seagull. It came… or supposedly came from my old friend, Aaron."
"Aaron? From Azgard?"
"Yes, him," Albus nodded. "You know that I've been keeping in touch with him ever since I got to know him at your wedding. He wrote me this letter to visit him at Azgard urgently. But… for some reason I don't really trust a letter that arrived on the first of April. It could as well have come from you, given that you belong to those very few people who know about my correspondence with Aaron."
"It wasn't me, Albus, I swear!" Aberforth said. "I don't even know where to get a seagull! Perhaps it was from Minerva. She also knows about your correspondence with Aaron."
"Brother… I know Minerva. And she's not the type to trick me on April Fool's Day."
"No, really not," Aberforth sighed, massaging his left eye. "She's the type to give me a second black-eye after you have already given me one."
"Exactly. She is that type," the headmaster nodded. "But… if it wasn't you… then it is possible that our Aaron just doesn't know the calendar and really sent me a letter… well, one way to find out. I'm going to Azgard."
"Right today?"
"Yes. Tell Minerva to take care of the school as long as I'm away, Aberforth."
The younger Dumbledore brother cringed again. "I fear it won't be easy. Minnie isn't talking to me at all. Anyway, she wouldn't believe me if I told her that you left."
"Wonder why?" Albus' blue eyes glinted impishly. "Well, Gilderoy, then you tell Professor McGonagall that I had to leave urgently."
"Certainly, headmaster," Lockhart beamed. "I'm happy to be of service."
* * * * *
Albus arrived at Azgard after sunset. The castle of Azgard was built on the North Cape, on a cliff by the Barents Sea. Although it was April, the weather up here was still very cold – in fact the column of mercury in the thermometers never climbed higher than ten Celsius degrees, not even in summer. Although the whole castle was made of ice, it was pleasantly warm inside.
"Albus, my friend, what an honour that you have accepted my invitation!" Aaron greeted the Hogwarts headmaster, who made a mental note to apologise to Aberforth for having insinuated him. The invitation had been real, then.
"I have come as soon as I received your letter," Albus replied. "You wrote that you had something to discuss with me – something that couldn't be discussed in mail, and that it was urgent."
"Yes, my friend, I'm afraid…" Aaron nodded, steering the old wizard into the living room. Certainly, Aaron was much older than Dumbledore, but looked considerably younger, given that he had spent 1104 years in the captivity of ice and got melted out by Draco Malfoy and the champions of the triwizard tournament twelve years earlier. He still looked around 45 years old. "Have a seat, please."
Albus took place in a comfy ice-armchair that felt unusually warm and soft for something made of ice. "All right, now tell me, Aaron, what is troubling you? Because I see that something it amiss."
"True, Albus. Something is seriously amiss," the Viking wizard nodded. "You have written me about all those sinister things that happened over the last few months, and you wrote that you had no idea who was behind it all. Now I might be able to tell you who it is. I'm not sure, but…"
"Get to the point, please."
"All right," Aaron sighed. "See, Albus, my wife Desideria and I made a decision months ago – we thought that this castle was way too big and empty… way too big for her, me and our son. We're just a small family, and don't need this many rooms. So we decided to turn the greatest part of the castle into a wizarding museum - a museum showing ancient Viking wizarding equipment and stuff like that… people might be interested," Albus nodded his agreement, and Aaron carried on. "So, we have employed a bunch of architect wizards to do the work. They started at the parks around the castle. We told them that we wanted some never freezing fountains around the building… you know, just to serve as a spectacle. If you look out the window, you'll see that the ground has been dug up at several places. The thing is that… there was a rock in the garden just where we wanted to place the biggest fountain. The rock… that Lucius Malfoy or whatever his name is had placed over Tatyana's tomb. I trust you know Tatyana's story?"
"Of course I do," Dumbledore nodded. "Harry told me the whole story from Natasha and Anor to Tatyana taking his powers. I know everything."
"Good. So… I never liked Natasha, or Tatyana, call her whatever you want… I hated her, all right, but she was almost my sister-in-law… So, I thought that it wouldn't be fair just to er… chuck out her bones because of that fountain. Desideria and I decided to have her bones dug up and replaced into another part of the garden."
Albus nodded calmly, but his expression already revealed that he had a good idea what he was going to hear.
"So…" Aaron continued, "we had the tomb opened… and it was empty."
A/N2: I'm getting eviler and eviler by the second, right? ;)
No Longer a Lone Wolf: well, now you've seen what's in the chamber. Glad you like the Dan/Gilda pairing.
Altec: Lily as the enemy? Another interesting guess :)
seashell: don't worry, there'll be a good evil guy ;) Black light? I simply can't imagine light that is dark. Those two are just antonyms, aren't they? Where have you seen black light?
gothicbutterfly: thank you very much for taking your time for a change and writing a review. It means a lot to me, especially at times when people are telling me their low opinion of TGSiHH… your review – and all positive reviews – made me feel a little better. Thanks once more.
weirdo_without_a_clue: funny that for you Dan/Gilda is so strange… all the others have been anxiously waiting when they'll get together… About Snape and dashing… LOL. I agree, they are antonyms, but they make things funny.
Katie Bell: *hugs you for reviewing my arts* I have two new on ArtisticAlley, perhaps you've seen them, I don't know. They are in the Harry and the 'Everyone Else' section. Glad you liked the D/G parts, LOL, it's so weird that Draco/Ginny, Draco/Gabrielle and even Daniel/Gilda are D/Gs.
Houou: Snape won't faint when he finds out about becoming a father, but he'll be pretty shocked.
Princess Ginny: yes, Dan and Gilda will be a couple. I'm still at school, and I'm doing okay :)
Alexander Phoenix: I'm glad you thought so :D
Romina: glad you like the Devil's Deal, webba's a cool author :) Hehe… yeah I found it funny too, when I decided to put clupea into this fic as well… and it's even funnier that many people actually remembered it from TGSiHH…
Bucky: yes, Dan is a bit dense :) I'll continue torturing Snape for a while, but he'll be happy at the end, don't worry. Can't give you a hint at the enemy, but I'm giving you a list of who have been accused by readers so far (in alphabetical order): Aberforth, Angel (the baby-unicorn!), Bradley, Cho, Daniel, Draco, Gilderoy, Harry himself, Kevin, Lily, Madame Rosmerta, Norbert, Peter Pettigrew, Petunia, Philippe (Bradley's ex), Remus, Rudolph (the reindeer), Salazar Slytherin, Sirius, Snape, Trelawney, Vicar Diggle, Voldemort. I wonder who else will be accused in the future… well, Tatyana for sure, LOL.
Lavendar Brown: I hope you are feeling better :) Yes, in certain cases it is normal to want to go to school… but only in exceptional cases ;)
C-chan: I haven't seen or read the Princess Bride, though I have heard it was cool. When it comes to the cinemas, I'll surely watch it. Yes, I also hope that the ferret thingie will be in the GoF movie. No Sean? That's bad! And have you heard that there'll be no Quidditch in the PoA movie at all? A HP movie without Quidditch is like a Star Wars movie without lightsabers!
2Coolio: I haven't seen the Disney movie in which Beryl was an evil queen, which one was that? No, the reason for choosing the name Beryl was that it was something whose chemical formula I managed to find in a book… The thing about Beryl getting to know about the wizarding world… Neville is her BROTHER-IN-LAW! Her sister Mary-Sue married a wizard. And her brother played in the same Quidditch team as Neville (I'm not sure I've mentioned this before, but I mention it somewhere in the story). So, with a wizard brother and a wizard brother-in-law, Beryl couldn't be ignorant of the wizarding world. About Chemistry: she is a Chemistry teacher in a Muggle school, Muggles study Chemistry, don't they?
Hermione We@s!ey: you wrote: "you said this story was going to be much darker… how much can happen in 11 chapters?" Well, I maintain what I said: it will get very dark soon. Perhaps the ending of this chapter was dark enough already??? But it'll get much darker in chapter 27. In fact I was a bit scared by the darkness of chapters 28-29 when I wrote them… and don't worry, a LOT OF THINGS will happen in 11 chapters, more than you could possibly imagine :D
Beauty in Disguise: I'm glad you like Draco in this fic :) Hehe… I had so much fun writing the bush-fight. Welcome in the Cho-hater club! Glad you like Norbert! A new car behind the door? Big LOL :D
Katrina: glad you liked the poem :D Aberforth? Hmmm… About Durmstrang being in Bulgaria or not… that's something we don't know. Rowling never said where it was, but Hermione said in GoF that it was very far in the north, so I supposed it was rather Russia than Bulgaria since Bulgaria is rather in Southern-Europe. (sorry to ask stupid questions, but are you the same Katrina who wrote a review for chapter 20 before reading it? I don't want to confuse anyone for someone else).
SiriDragon: thanks! Is Harry the heir of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw in your fic, too?
sabby: no, I'm not cruel to my dad. Truth is I never told him how I felt. I never felt close enough to him to tell him what I thought :( Probably he has no idea that I've ever missed him. Dan will officially start dating Gilda in chapter 30.
Toby Haine: glad you liked Snape's teeth :D Btw, I don't know whether you've read my comment to your review for 'Harry in drag' on GTnet, but I told you that I wasn't insane. The idea for that pic came from a fic of Jenna Mae. Read her fic called Miss Hogwarts, it's very funny and you'll finally understand that art of mine ;)
PhoenixFire: I'm not surprised that you like the Snape part of this fic better than the Potter part… my mum's fave parts were the Snape parts. No, no Pandora's box.
Indigo Ziona: I have seen three different versions of The count of Monte Cristo movie, but not the one with Richard Harris :( The other three were cr*p, if you ask me, I don't know whether this one was any good. Did Richard Harris play the old Faria?
Colibi: Gilda was described in chapter 3, as far as I remember. She is very lean, looking a lot like a boy, with short brown hair and blue eyes, and no tits (yet, anyway).
heavenly182angel: well, we in Hungary call the Big Dipper "Göncölszekér", so it has a totally different name, but I knew its English name as well. About H and G not being able to take their hands off each other… as I mentioned in chapter 18 (the Valentine's chapter) they hadn't slept together since before Ginny had lost the baby. So, after two months of abstinence, they just had to do it, LOL.
starheart20: thanks, it is nice to see that most people understand how I felt.
Punky Poet: I like the Snape stuff, too ;)
Chrissi: I'm sad to hear that you relationship to your dad isn't rosy either.
Lupin's Angel: I don't know where the 'Promise me not to scream and I'll release you' line comes from. I think I have seen loads of movies with such lines in them. I tried to look at the site you mentioned, but it always said that it was under maintenance.
AmandaPanda: neither :)
apple-pie: hehe… my mum was also rotfl when reading the cheese part.
Mistri: thanks :)
jasper: yes, Draco and Gabie will consummate their marriage. Just not yet.
Muggle: I'm not a wimp, I just didn't think Snape was the type to fall for a guy, that's all.
Cassandra Anthemyst: Davie has already found a girl in chapter 18: Circe Diggory (read back the Dave/Viv/Val scene in chapter 18, it ends with Davie giving his bouquet to Circe.) You'll see Dave and Circe together again, later.
Squalldaman: glad you think it rocks again :D
Tap Dancing Widow: I like Kenneth Branagh a lot, too :) Yes, Fred and George will be back for the Quidditch match in chapter 25, but you'll already see them in chapter 23.
Myr Halcyon: thank you, I'm glad you thought that the Lily/Harry scene was well-written. I have no gay friends, so I don't really know how that goes. But strangely there is a gay guy and a lesbian girl in a reality show I watch once in a while. I found it a bit odd that they both got in… the gay guy is really nice and funny, but the lesbian girl goes on my nerves, especially since she seduced another girl in the reality show house. The family of the seduced girl freaked out, since the girl had had a dentist fiancé outside the house, and of course the fiancé broke up with her. Yes, I also realised that Gilda was a bit like Hermione, but every class needs a bookworm :) And well, I'm quite a bookworm myself, so couldn't help making her act like that. I hope it was nice in Mexico.
tyleet: Gillian is a really nice name :)
Wood's secret lover: glad you found it funny :)
ruffled owl: yes, I like Gabrielle, too. I think she's perfect for Draco, strange that there are almost no Gabie/Draco fics out there (I have read only one besides my own).
Inken: Dan doesn't know about Norbert and Lily yet. There won't be more poems from Dan, sorry. But I have written one more poem for the story, when we reach that chapter, I'll tell you WHERE I wrote that poem, you'll be surprised, I don't think that people write poems at places like that. Glad you liked the Snape's teeth thing, and I'm even happier to hear that you didn't find Snape ooc :)
Nefertiri: no, I haven't heard about the kidnapped girl, but I'm happy that she was found. In many cases kidnapped people never turn up, or only their skeletons years later :( The same happened to an 8-year-old girl here in Hungary. She was kidnapped about four years ago and her skeleton got found last year. Her poor parents had been hoping to find her, and then they got to know that she was dead… so terrible.
Kit Cloudkicker: yes, hopefully it does :)
SparkleCharm: no, Lily's period won't have an impact on the future of this story. No, none of the Potter kids is a Parseltongue. Why did H and G leave their window open? Hm… it must have been a very warm night and they needed some fresh air from the garden, LOL.
candycaneOgram: the contest will be in chapter 24. The chamber doesn't have anything to do with the contest, nor does it fulfil any kind of prophecy. What is so evil that will happen? Well, most of the evil has already happened, but you poor readers are unaware yet, LOL. Wait till chapter 27-28 and you'll find out.
phoenix_kiss02: I can send you a copy of this for your birthday, but you can read it already, so perhaps it's unnecessary? Well, in case you don't review till Friday, you'll get a mail :) Soon Draco and Gabie's relationship will get 'warmer'.
Inigma: it isn't that strange that a 50-year old person would read HP stuff. Last summer I was sitting on the tram, reading PoA and a 70-something-year old lady opposite me kept giving me funny glances all along. I had no idea what her problem was, but when we reached the end station and got off the tram, she said: "you were reading the 'Voldemort's servant' chapter, right? I saw its title… Voldemort's servant is Peter Pettigrew, isn't he? I just love the Potter books…' and we started to talk about HP. It was funny, really, discussing HP with someone who could be my granny :D
VegaKeep: I agree :)
Lady Schezar: in the next chapter you'll see what happens to Dobby and Dinky :) Okay, just carry on practicing Cho-deflecting hexes! :D
Lana Riddle: yup, evil as always. This cliffie was even eviler, wasn't it?
Jennifer W: Beryl's hubby did all kinds of nasty things, I'll mention it in one chapter, just can't remember which one. But he's no murderer. I don't know whether I'll write long fics again. I think I will, but only after I've read OotP, since I'm sure I'll get totally new ideas about the new characters and scenes introduced in OotP (I'm pretty sure we'll see giants, perhaps even the home of the giants and it'll provide cool new opportunities to write novel-length fics). We'll also get to know from OotP why Voldie was after Harry, so I could base a new fic on that information. Until June I'll be writing my goat story (three chaptered and almost ready) and I'm thinking of another few-chaptered fic about Nearly Headless Nick (how he got nearly headless), but I'm not sure whether I'll write that or not.
Red Ridding Hood: I'm happy you still managed to submit a review :) Yes, I heard that there'd be not Sean and no Quidditch in the PoA movie and I'm upset about it. I'm glad you think I'm full of surprises, LOL.