Chapter 6

Dumbledore looked at the desk and realised Snape was not there. He left a letter on the desk and turned around to leave. Just as he was about to leave he caught sight of Fred, Snape and Spleen. Dumbledore's jaw dropped. Standing before him was Professor Snape with ruffled hair, dressed in his black vest and shirt with no pants on. Beside him was Professor Spleen, scantily clad in her corset and lace underwear with her black pantyhose ripped and torn. And trembling in the corner beside the two Professors was Fred Weasley, clutching a pillowcase full of stolen potions. Dumbledore recovered from the shock and cleared his throat. Finally he spoke. "I think you all better come with me." He said weakly.

Licce and George sat anxiously in the Gryffindor Common room. Neither of them dared to speak. Fred had been gone for three hours. Though Licce and George were not speaking they both knew something was wrong. It would never take three hours to steal a few things from the dungeons. Deep down Licce and George knew that Fred must have been caught. But they could not do anything but wait restlessly for him to return. Licce sighed and caught George's eye. He gave her a hopeless look. Licce plucked up the courage to speak. "He's been caught hasn't he." She said. George nodded grimly. "What do we do now?" she asked George. He turned to face her. George threw up his hands and shook his head "I wouldn't have a clue."

Ron stirred his porridge gloomily. "Come on Ron! You've been stirring that for the last twenty minutes!" said Harry through a mouthful of scrambled egg. Ron scowled at him as bits of egg from Harry's mouth landed in his porridge. Ron smiled tightly and pushed the bowl away from him. Hermione frowned at Harry. "Have some compassion!" she said rather rudely. Hermione looked Ron in the eye. "Look," she said firmly. "Fred will be alright. He's only been gone for one night! Trust me he will turn up!" Harry rolled his eyes at Hermione. Ron smiled weakly. "S'pose your right" he mumbled. Hermione smiled with satisfaction. "Now just relax and I'm sure he will turn up today". "He has probably gone to the hospital wing or something" Harry added. Ron looked even more worried. "With a headache of course" added Harry quickly. "Err, nothing serious". Hermione frowned at Harry and signalled him to be quiet. Harry stopped speaking. Ron gave him a half- hearted smile. "Fingers crossed."

Harry Potter sighed with relief. He had made it to the bathroom just in time. A minute longer and he would have burst! (Or probably just humiliated himself by wetting his pants in front of his entire Charms class.) Harry was thankful that Professor Flitwick had allowed him to go to the toilet in the middle of the lesson. Harry had never needed to go in the middle of class before, but that the last thing on his mind as he was rushing to the boys' bathroom. Harry zipped up his pants and reached over to pull the chain and flush the toilet. He found that he couldn't reach it. Harry thought about walking away and leaving the toilet unflushed but decided against it, although he had done it before. A smile played on Harry's lips as he remembered how the boy who used the bathroom after him had gotten a nasty shock.

He climbed up onto the toilet seat and held one hand against the wall of the cubicle to steady himself. Then Harry reached out carefully and pulled the chain. It would not budge. One hand alone was too weak to pull the stiff chain. Harry reached out with his other arm and tugged the chain with both hands. He pulled so hard but finally the toilet flushed. Harry stepped off the seat but lost his footing and fell into the toilet bowl. "Ugh!" he thought as the water sprayed him in the face. As the flushing died down Harry prepared to step out of the bowl when all of a sudden he was sucked down with the sewerage. Harry tried to scream but the toilet water splashed into his mouth. He felt like a superhuman force was pulling him.pulling him down. He was sucked through the tiny opening of the toilet and found himself slipping down the sewerage pipe.

The slime and grime that surrounded him helped him slide further and further down. Harry finally reached the bottom and fell head first into an enormous gluggy, stinking cesspool. Harry was covered from head to toe in filthy waste. He tried to stand up but the river of sludge he was floating in was too deep. Harry struggled to reach the edge but the gunk was too thick. The putrid smell was overpowering. Harry could feel the squashy warm sewerage leaking into his shoes. It was getting underneath his shirt too and touching his bare skin. Harry shuddered in disgust. He had to get out of there! He wondered how he winded up there in the first place. Harry did not know toilets had the ability to suck people into them! As though someone was reading his mind, the answer appeared immediately on the wall of the pipe. The words splattered in sloppy brown goo on the wall read "Potter I said I was going to kill you." A chill ran down Harry's spine. He knew this was the work of the same person who had set him alight.

Just when Harry thought things could not get any worse he felt his hair being drenched. He looked up to see an ocean of yellow water gushing from a connecting pipe. Harry winced as the water splashed onto is face and soaked his hair. Soon he realised from the revolting smell coming from his hair the liquid was not water at all. Harry was covered from head to toe and reeked of sewerage. Then he had an idea. Harry hoisted himself up by his hands and crawled into the drainpipe above him which the yellow water had gushed out from. He figured he could creep back to a bathroom this way. Slowly he inched forwards, and soon enough could see a faint light up ahead. Harry's heart soared and he scurried towards the opening.

All of a sudden he was knocked back as another fresh wave of piss hit him in the face. Harry slid backwards as the rapid force pushed him out of the pipe. Once again, he landed headfirst in the cesspool. Harry groaned silently and re-emerged to the surface. He decided to search for another connecting pipe. He paddled through the thick sludge until he saw a large pipe protruding from the wall. It was quite far up. Then Harry noticed a chain hanging from it. "Here goes nothing" thought Harry and gripped the chain tightly. He heaved his body upwards and climbed up the chain. It was rusty and dug into his skin. He could feel his skin tearing as he heaved further and further up towards the opening of the pipe. When he finally reached it he swung from the chain to the pipe and landed squarely in the middle of it.

A small wave of water passed by and Harry clung to the walls to stop himself falling again. He was pushed forward and gripped the rim of the pipe. Holding on, he was six feet from the edge and thinking, maybe six feet aint so far down. "Hold me now!" he cried. "I'm six feet from the edge and I'm thinking, that maybe six feet aint so far down!" his words echoed through the pipes and bounced off the walls. Then Harry realised if he did fall those six feet down he would land in the sewerage again. He scrambled towards the exit and found himself coming out at the other end through a drain on the floor of the boys' bathrooms. He lifted the grate and climbed out, dripping wet and stinking, yet relived to be free from the Hogwarts sewer. Harry stood up and replaced the grate. He was about to go off and clean himself up when the door to the bathrooms swung open and in walked Draco Malfoy; Harry's archenemy. Draco caught sight of Harry and stared at him in disbelief. Then his eyes lit up and he ran from the bathrooms to round up and audience.

Dumbledore sat at his desk, with his head in his hands again. He heaved a sigh and turned to Fawkes his phoenix. "Whatever should I do?" he asked the bird wearily. Fawkes cocked his head. Dumbledore was undecided on what to do with Snape, Spleen and Fred. He had taken them back to his office last night and questioned them where they had reluctantly told Dumbledore the truth and begged Dumbledore to forgive them. He had let them go for the night but did not know what punishment to give them. After all, Snape and Spleen as two teachers had shown most inappropriate behaviour and Fred Weasley had been stealing from the potions storeroom.

He wished Professor McGonagall was there to help him. They were a team, and a damn good one at that. Dumbledore cast his mind back to that night when he and Minerva had told Harry and Ron their punishment. They had been very harsh with the boys at the time but were in hysterics afterwards. Somehow Minerva had found the fact the boys were spying on the girls with an invisibility cloak hilarious. Dumbledore smiled as he remembered how she had burst into fits of laughter after the boys had left and would not calm down. They had laughed the night away until it became very late and she left in a hurry.

Dumbledore sighed again and wondered what it would be like if his headmistress was still here. No doubt she would be highly amused by the antics of Spleen and Snape, and then Dumbledore remembered Spleen would not even be here if it wasn't for Minerva's resignation. He cleared his throat and noticed one of the house elves from the kitchen standing timidly in front of his desk, holding a mug of coffee. She had bright green eyes and long ginger eyelashes. "Professor Dumbledore sir, we thinks you must be needing a hot drink to help you think clearly" she said meekly, holding out the mug to Dumbledore. He smiled kindly. "Why thank you Maemae" he said as he accepted the drink. He sipped it and was very pleased. Maemae looked disappointed. "This is very nice" he reassured her, but Maemae was not convinced. "Professor Dumbledore sir is not satisfied" she said dejectedly. "Professor Dumbledore wants something else". Dumbledore slowly placed the mug on his desk and looked at her curiously. "We house-elves can sense when master is not content." The elf continued. "But Professor Dumbledore sir, I am merely a house-elf. I regret that I cannot provide you sir with what you truly want". Dumbledore stared at the elf with bewilderment. "And what is it that I truly want?" he challenged her. "I think we both know who she is" said the elf. Maemae gave him one last sorrowful gaze then clicked her finger and vanished, leaving Dumbledore feeling very perplexed.

"Dobby! Dobby! You must help!" cried Maemae in despair. She had already returned to the kitchens and was now surrounded by her fellow house-elves once again. "Master Dumbledore sir needs our help!" Dobby turned around and removed his apron to reveal and elf sized pinstriped suit. "I told you its Dobe~" said the elf coldly. "Now, how can one help Dumbledore sir?" Maemae frowned at Dobby, but continued to be very polite to him. "Dumbledore needs his headmistress." She began. "We must get her back. Dobby, uh I meant Dobe~ if only you saw the despair in sir's eyes." Dobby yawned. "Will I be getting paid?" he asked causally. Maemae flared up. "How could you! After all master has done for you! He has given you the finest clothing and agreed to pay you!" she roared. Dobby looked ashamed and hung his head. "I will help you" he mumbled. Three other house elves that were covered in cake batter approached Maemae. "We wish to help too" they said timidly. Maemae's green eyes lit up with glee. "The plan begins tomorrow" she said coyly, and winked.

Professor Dumbledore sat in front of the wobbycusto in the staff room, mindlessly switching channels. It was past midnight but he did not feel like sleeping. He flicked past the weather channel. A gust of wind and rain flew out of the wobbycusto and hit him in the face. "Well it must be raining outside!" he thought irately, wiping the raindrops off his face. Dumbledore flicked past the cooking channel where two plump wizards were fussing over a gobbler pie. Dumbledore reached into the wobbycusto and pulled out a gobbler pie for himself. He tasted it but was not impressed. Dumbledore switched off the wobbycusto and sighed. He left the pie sitting on the table and trudged off to his bed.

Maemae, followed by her team of house elves Dobby, Shellie, Faere and Merri were hiding in the bushes outside the Prestonn Family's house. Maemae could just see the family car driving away with everyone inside. Maemae nodded to the others with a serious look upon her face and they all clicked their fingers simultaneously.