Ch.14 Halloween Revel-ations
When Prof. Blizzard entered the Great Hall wearing maroon robes in honour of the Gryffindor victory, she was greeted by applause from the Gryffindors, who appreciated the gesture and many of whom broke into laughter when they guessed from the looks passed between her and Madam Giovanni that they had had a bet of sorts.
However the entry shortly thereafter of a tall man also clad in maroon or rather blood red robes, with black shoulder length hair combed back so that only the shorter front locks fell on his forehead, confused the students, all of whom looked up from the sumptuous dinner spread before them to stare at the befuddling sight.
Perhaps it was because of the slightly aghast look on the faces of the Slytherins seated at their table opposite him, or maybe it was the way the man glared at the Gryffindor table; somehow Harry suddenly realized that the mystery man was none other than their very own Potions Master, Prof. Snape! A very different looking Potions Master, indeed!
By now, most of the students had recognized him. An uncanny hush had filled the Hall; Snape rather thought he enjoyed the attention; when suddenly it was broken by the cheers and whistles of the Seventh year Gryffindors, led by Fred and George Weasely. The rest of the table soon joined in though they still looked as if they couldn't believe their eyes.
Snape ignored the cheering crowd, which now included most of the students of the other houses, with the exception of Slytherin who were still sore over the defeat, as he took his place at the Teacher's table beside Dumbledore.
" Very sporting of you Severus," said Dumbledore by way of greeting. Snape just narrowed his eyes at the headmaster but kept his expression neutral. On Dumbledore's other side, Minerva McGonagall beamed at him.
" I'd never thought I'd be glad to loose a bet ever," she said as she handed a small sum over to Yana Giovanni who was wearing a huge grin on her face and who had the audacity to wink at Severus when he looked at her. He turned away, disgusted. His disgust deepened when he saw that Minerva wasn't the only one who had a bet on with Yana, indeed, Yana was going to collect quite a tidy sum this evening!
Next to him, Myra dressed in an almost identical colour, sat looking rather sedately at the students.
" Et tu Severus?" she asked looking at him out of the corner of her eyes, a slight smile on her face. Severus chose to ignore the remark.
When Yana finally took her seat beside Myra, having finished her collection, Myra remarked, "I can't believe you bet against your own protégé."
That dampened Yana's mood slightly, as it was intended to, but she decided not to let the Slytherin spoil her fun. Instead she looked past her at Severus and said;
" I never thought I'd say this to you Severus, but you do look sharp this evening. Why don't you stick to the hairstyle, eh? Its less of an eye- sore."
Severus gave her a warning look as he went on eating, and then resumed his observation of the students, particularly our well-known trio. Ever the researcher, he had decided that if he was going in for a temporary make- over, he might as well observe the effects.
Over at the Gryffindor table, our trio was involved in a heated discussion, quite unaware of any observing eyes.
" Wow! Is that really Prof. Snape? Maybe its the good twin!"
Harry snorted at Ron's insinuation that Snape was the 'evil twin'. " No, it's him alright. Nobody glares quite like him."
" I told you he had it in him," said Hermione, evidently pleased to be proven right.
Harry and Ron both gave her weird looks.
" What? He does look ...quite good actually," was Hermione's hesitant but firm response.
Ron immediately pretended to choke on his food. Harry nearly spit out a mouthful of pumpkin juice.
Nearby, Fred and George suddenly turned to them and said, "Looks like our Potions Master is out to impress somebody" with identical, mischievous winks. Nobody took them seriously. Ron privately expressed his opinion to Harry that the twins were rather bonkers. Harry thought that was the understatement of the century. The idea of their Prof. being 'interested' in someone was hard to swallow, even for Hermione.
...
The following day everything was back to normal. As expected, Snape took points off almost all the Gryffindors esp. those who had been cheering the loudest. The Slytheirns recovered from last evening's shock rather well when they observed their beloved head of house back in action. They all tended to favour the opinion that the Prof. had suffered a temporary bout of delirium or had been drugged. They found it hard accept that their Prof. had been quite in his senses at the time. So did the rest of the students, by the end of the next day.
October soon drew to a close, and the students, esp. the fifth and seventh years( who were preparing for their O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s respectively) began to look forward to Halloween as a pleasant diversion from the non- stop drag of lessons and studies. Rumours flew about that something special was being planned for Halloween Eve; rumours that were confirmed when notices appeared on the boards asking students to 'dress up' for the occasion. Hermione decide to go as a banshee, much to Ron and Harry's surprise. Ron advised Harry to go as a vampire. There had been some anxiety over whether they'd have to ask any girls out, but Madam Giovanni had laughed out loud when Ron had asked her hesitantly about it after a dueling session and said it was up to him. That greatly relieved almost all the boys who had no girlfriends.
Ron himself dressed up in the Chudley Cannons playing uniform; the resultant contrast with his hair was garish enough to make the costume worthy of a Halloween party. Quite a few of the students dressed up as vampires, including Draco. Reive dressed as a muggle rock-star, in a costume with sequins, spangles and all. It was a small miracle she still managed to look good. The Weasely twins dressed up as pirates, complete with the patch on the eye and the stubbly beards. It was, all in all a rather colourful crowd that descended on the Great Hall that eve.
However, it is worth mentioning that 2 weeks before the planned mysterious event, the second years managed to guess what was going to happen at the party. They had been asked to conduct a short research on the origins and customs of All Hallows Eve as a History of Magic assignment; and one of the students had accidentally stumbled upon an old newspaper that carried an article about a Halloween bash about twenty years ago. Apparently some foreign dignitaries had been entertained at the party. What was most interesting about the article were the pictures accompanying it. Pictures that featured the people dancing . And not just dancing casually, it appeared that the entire performance had been planned meticulously. About a dozen received praise for their organizing efforts, the names including newly graduated Hogwarts students Myra Blizzard of Slytherin, Yana Giovanni of Gryffindor and Eva Eowen of Hufflepuff, the later members of the Weird sisters. They were even in the pictures that still moved, dancing gracefully.
Little did the second years know that they had uncovered much more than the plans for Halloween eve; for when copies of the pictures were passed around, it didn't take long for Reive and Draco to recognize in the pictures Lucius Malfoy and ...Severus Snape?! The picture in question featured both Severus and Lucius apparently tap- dancing with others in a well-timed sequence (the pictures WERE moving afterall!) and another was discovered in which they were dancing with Myra and Eva in a complicated looking type of ballroom dancing.
It didn't take long for the news to travel throughout the school and the uproar caused by it was quite evident. Students whispered excitedly every time they sighted either of the three professors. At first, the professors didn't realise what was going on; however, when Minerva caught sight of the article in the staffroom she understood immediately. She wondered if Severus knew about it as she smiled to herself.
Meanwhile, down in the dungeons, the Potions Master wasn't very pleased about the discovery and certainly wasn't reminiscing about the 'good ol' times'. He had been half-forced into the stupid musical and had spent almost the entire evening pretending it was a dream and he wasn't REAlly doing all that stuff! Unfortunately those pictures proved otherwise.
"I thought I'd destroyed every last bloody copy of them" he muttered furiously to himself as he sat brooding at his desk.
Just then there was a knock at his door. "Enter." He wondered who was the poor fool who dared to disturb him at a time like this!
It was Draco Malfoy with Reive in tow. Snape's eyebrows shot up briefly. Evidently the students didn't notice his mood as they were too busy being self- conscious.
"Yes?" he asked them tersely, wondering what idiotic request Draco had this time.
" Well, sir, we just thought we'd let you know about the ...the pictures..."
" But it seems you already do so we'll be leaving now," Reive cut into Draco's speech when he faltered.
" Hold on," he said effectively halting the steps of the retreating students. " You made the discovery, I presume?" It wasn't really a question.
The guilty looks on their faces confirmed his suspicions. " Well a right mess you've gotten me into" he said , suddenly casual . Reive and Draco exchanged glances.
" Actually sir," Reive ventured, " You've got something of a reputation as a Casanova of sorts now."
Draco stared disbelievingly at her. Severus was tempted to do the same. The former because he knew it was true and was mildly horrified that she had divulged the information so blatantly to the Potions Master; the latter because he found it hard to believe!
" Indeed" was all the Prof. said.
" Sir, did you dress that night of your own will?" Draco had decided that since Reive hadn't been vaporized he would be bold as well.
" Yes," said the Prof. evenly. " Sometimes, Draco, it is advantageous to give in to demands." /Esp. the ones you can't find an earthly reason to get out of!/
"What are you going to do now sir?" Reive asked.
" Do?" But even as he said it he had a sudden...'brainwave'.
The students noted the change in his expression from one of resignation to one that almost looked like a mischievous, calculating one with mild apprehension.
" Ah, well...since you got me into it..."
...
And so it was that at the Halloween party the students witnessed the incredible; a revival of the images that had so recently been made famous in the school - that is to say the Slytherins performed a niftily choreographed number that actually was the same as Lucius and Severus had been photographed performing and Draco and Reive both were in it this time.
The dance itself was rather easy and quite catchy so that by the end of the party almost the entire school knew the steps and was joining in. Harry and Ron were one of the first to do so and at one point Harry ended up next to Draco when Ron disappeared to get a drink.
"Look sharp Potter we're changing the moves." He said and proceeded to show Harry the new steps. " Who choreographed this anyway?" Harry asked curiously as he tried to keep up with Draco. " Prof. Snape" he answered. Harry was momentarily stunned but when he looked up again Draco was gone; Reive had replaced him. "Hey Harry. Wanna dance?" she asked and they both laughed. "Sure " he finally managed in reply.
The next time he looked up he saw Draco dancing next to Ginny, apparently giving her a few pointers as well. The dance wasn't really a duet more like line dancing where everyone did the same moves. / Somebody's in a good mood./ He thought to himself. /Or maybe has had a change of heart/ was his next thought. As he followed Reive, pleasantly surprised that he was not finding it hard to keep up with her, he spied Ron out of the corner of his eye trying to convince Hermione, who looked quite un-Hermione like in her blue makeup and raven blue floor length wig, to join them.
Yana, who had been performing a few songs by the Weirdsisters on a stage that had been erected in the Great Hall with Myra before the Slytherins came on stage and stole their thunder, sidled over to where Severus was standing and said , " This is a costume party. What are you supposed to be?"
" A boggart." He answered poker faced. He was dressed in his usual black and looking very normal, thank you.
Yana couldn't help smiling. Myra suddenly appeared next to them and said, " Nice work Severus. Quite a show-stopper you arranged there."
" If I remember correctly it was you three who came up with the idea in the first place."
" That's no excuse to show us up" said an indignant Yana who wasn't smiling anymore.
" Is payback a good enough excuse?" he replied smoothly.
He watched satisfied as Yana turned on her heel and marched off. Right then the music changed to a familiar tune, the one he had danced to (been forced to by Lucius anyway) with the first and last non-giggly Hufflepuff he had laid eyes on, Eva Eowen. The girl had been positively frightened when she found out he was to be her last-minute replacement partner. Severus couldn't help grinning at how he'd terrified her at their first rehearsal by staring at her till her cheeks turned a fiery red. He had been a jerk then. But she was a good dancer and not talkative, all in all much better than having to dance with the insufferable Gryffindor Giovanni, so he cut her some slack and didn't bother her anymore.
His thoughts were interrupted by Myra. "Shall we?" she asked, indicating the impromptu dance floor that was looking positively deserted now as very few students had any idea of how to dance to this one.
Severus decided he was in a good mood. So he agreed. It was only in the middle of the dance that he remembered the reputation he was supposed to have. It made him take a good look at Myra. Myra and Yana had dressed identically in flowing off-white gowns; (supposedly as wood nymphs) yet, looked as different as dusk and dawn. He knew which he preferred. The one he was dancing with ofcourse. The whisperings of the watching students didn't escape his attention either. Neither did they escape Myra's. Both looked up at the same moment and catching each others eye, grinned.
" I did always like a good scandal." Was all she said.
The trio, Reive and Draco sat at the same table ( there were small ones scattered throughout the Great Hall) too mesmerized by the sight before them to notice anything odd about their seating arrangement. The dance was in fact called the 'The Bewitching Dance' and if done properly was designed to look like a scene out of a fairytale. Or so Reive said as she explained.
" Well, this is a pretty weird fairy tale then." Ron remarked, apparently unperturbed by the fact that he was having a decent conversation with a Slytherin. Draco absently murmured his agreement. He too was thinking about how unlikely it was that the pair of Professors would end up in any kind of fairytale. /A wizard-tale however.../ he let the thought trail off, not knowing what to make of it.
At the end of the 'song', Yana asked for everybody's attention. She was standing in the centre of the stage and spoke with a magically magnified voice.
"Well now as the party's coming to a close...yes, unfortunately all good things must come to an end...its time for the prizes to be awarded. There are a few categories and all nominations have been submitted by members of staff . I have made the final decisions and I warn you it would not be a very smart idea to try any stunts in a vain attempt to exact revenge upon me! Right then now that's out of the way..."
" The first category is: Best Male costume... the nominees ...( she rattles off names that include no vampires)..." The award ( a bagful of Honeyduke's best along with a commemorative plaque) went to a third year Hufflepuff who had dressed as a mummy.
" The second category is: Best Female costume..." The nominees included Hermione Granger, who not-so-surprisingly won on the basis of her 'attention to detail'.
" Now we decided to have a separate category for vampires as there were quite a few of them so, the next category is : Most Convincing Vampire..." the nominees included Harry and Draco. Yana made a snide comment about how Prof. Snape should have been included in the list, which drew a lot of guffaws. Snape merely raised his eyebrows. Draco won. Harry found himself clapping along with other students which also included the Weasely twins apart from the slytherins(duh!).
"...and the last category is a personal favourite; the Most Imaginative Costume! ..." the nominees included: A girl dressed up as Prof. McGonagall A boy dressed up as Dumbledore Another dressed up as a House-Elf A particularly daring Ravenclaw dressed up as Prof. Snape (and rather doing him justice! He even went about talking, walking and generally doing the Snape thing, which greatly amused the students.) Prof. Snape dressed (supposedly but 'allegedly' was the word used by Yana) as a 'Boggart'!
The last nomination drew appreciative cheers throughout the Hall.
"Ah yes, that's a particularly good one, I think so too!" remarked Madam Giovanni.
However the award went to the Ravenclaw. All the Slytherins clapped and to the students' very great surprise, even Prof. Snape joined in with what can only be termed as 'polite applause'.
"What's gotten into the Professor lately?" Ron asked, looking bewildered.
Harry and Draco( who was still at the same table) wore identically bewildered expressions.
However, Reive said quite confidently, " He's enjoying himself is all."
Hermione however was chewing her lip thoughtfully. She had an idea but she needed to do a little research to back it up. Ron caught the look on Hermione's face and exchanged knowing glances with Harry.
A/n: Thanx a lot to all who reviewed. Its really nice to receive them. Really, they're like a breath of vitalizing air! If there are some scenes you'd like to see be sure to send me any ideas you may have. Btw in case you're wondering, i do know where this is going. Atleast i think i do! Till next time...! And don't stop sending those reviews. I want to know the minute i slip and make a boo-boo.