Disclaimer - All JKR's, nothing mine! Except for a few characters I added.
Disclaimer 2 - Draco drawing dragons belongs to PikaCheeka. Sorry I forgot to mention that in the first chapter. I sort of adopted the idea subconsciously.
Disclaimer 3 - Severus' raven belongs to J. L. Matthews. I just borrowed him because he's such a perfect pet for Sevi and promise to return him unharmed.
The catar however are all mine and I love them so please don't use without asking me first.
-
-
A/N - Grrr! They numbered me! I hate being numbered . . . And they changed my name! Okay, okay, here's the story you came for. *pouty Silverfox trotts back to her burrow*.
-
-
Chapter 3: Class with Lucius
-
-
Sometime during the evening or night Blaise and Theodore must have found time to be alone, for Severus noticed Theodore placing an extra protection charm on his trunk when they got up in the morning and the boy eyed him suspiciously all through breakfast.
Severus pretended to ignore him while at the same time he was trying to figure out the best time to break into his trunk.
Their schedules looked promising at first. Double Potions in the morning. Still with Gryffindor, though Albus hadn't been fond of the idea of letting Lucius teach that combination after having tried it himself last year.
Severus grinned at the thought. This wasn't exactly the best class for a beginner to start with.
After lunch they'd have DADA with the Hufflepuffs and their new head of house, Remus Lupin. That was one of his favourite classes since Remus usually let him co-teach it. In return Remus never had pranks played on him during class. Not that Remus was afraid of Severus' pranks. After spending his own school time with James Potter and Sirius Black as well as Severus Remus was practically immune to fear of pranks.
Transfigurations, once again with Gryffindor, promised to be the low point of the day. His relationship with Minerva McGonagall had improved marginally over their work on his project, but if he was completely honest with himself, he was still scared of her. Not that he'd ever let anyone else find out. Draco might suspect something, but even Albus was unaware.
The last class would be Flying, which he was exempted from thanks to his fear of heights. Madame Hootch feared for her brooms and Severus didn't feel like informing her that he was by now able to keep a broom under control, if he had to. As long as she believed he was still as accident prone in the air as he had been during his first childhood he was spared Flying classes.
That might have sounded like a good time to go snooping through trunks, but unfortunately Quiddich players were excused from Flying classes as well. That meant that Draco as the team seeker would be free to assist him, but also that Vincent and Gregory, the team beaters might show up at any time as well as Blaise, who was one of the three chasers. The only one out of their dorm who'd be safely out of the way would be Theodore.
Then again, maybe this was an opportunity after all. When Remus Lupin passed by him again on his way to hand some newly arrived first years their schedules Severus grabbed his sleeve.
"Do you have a moment, Professor?" Nobody should consider it odd that he wanted to talk with his head of house.
"Sure, what is it, Severus?" the werewolf smiled. Many Slytherins still seemed uneasy around him even though the protests against a dark creature teaching DADA had died down by now. Severus' fearlessness in front of the whole school would set a good example for the others.
"Could I see the seventh years' schedule, please?" Severus said so softly that he couldn't even hear himself. Remus' fine werewolf ears would pick it up anyway.
"Are you considering sitting in on seventh year DADA classes?" Remus asked more audibly presenting him with the perfect excuse.
"If I can arrange it with my own schedule." Severus confirmed.
Remus leafed through his stack of schedules for a bit until he found the seventh years. "There." he said as he laid it on the table next to Severus' plate. "Monday and Friday both in the first lesson for Slytherin and Gryffindor. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff ought to be the lesson right after that, on both days, if I remember my own schedule correctly."
Severus regarded the schedule pretending to think. The seventh year had Herbology in the last lesson on Mondays. That meant that all seventh years would be out at the greenhouses for the entire lesson.
"I can't skip Potions for it." he told Remus finally. "But Friday might work sometime."
"Excellent." Remus smiled again. "I'll be looking forward to that class, then."
"We're breaking into the seventh years' dorm during Flying class." Severus informed Draco later on the way to Potions class.
The only people around that might hear them were of their own year and would only assume that they were planning another prank.
"Are you sure we should?" Draco asked a little nervously. "What if we get caught?"
"They'll be in Herbology at the time and almost everybody else will be in class as well. Our own dorm mates won't tell on us for playing a prank on the seventh years." Severus declared for all possible listeners. "It's not like we're going to do any real harm after all."
Draco smirked. "Okay then. Just don't let father hear you."
They'd reached the Potions classroom by now. The door was open, but Lucius was nowhere in sight.
"He has much to learn." Severus commented cryptically and strolled over to the students' supply cupboard to pick out some ingredients.
"Oh Severus, please tell me we're not staging a class rebellion again." Hermione Granger pleaded when she saw that. "I fell so far behind in my studies thanks to that whole Mary Sue affair."
"We're not." Severus assured her. "I'm just stocking up on prank utensils."
"You mean we're just accepting a dark arts practitioner as our teacher?" Harry Potter asked incredulously.
"What's wrong with that?" Severus asked Harry calmly. "Are you scarred of learning a few things about dark potions?"
Harry frowned.
"Oh come on." Ron told him to everybody's surprise. "It might even be interesting."
"Interesting?" Lavender Brown gasped staring at Ron in horror. "It's dark arts."
"It's not like Ron's actually planning to use them, Lavender." Hermione reminded her angrily.
"He's right, though." Harry stated. "We'll be able to defend ourselves much better, if we know more about them."
"What should be really interesting is whether Professor Malfoy can teach or not." Neville remarked with the hint of a smirk.
"He can't." Draco smirked as well. "At least he's never done it before. He usually learns fast, though."
"We've got an advantage being his very first class." Severus reminded him. "It should be quite a show."
Lucius arrived five minutes late to find the class in chaos. Severus and Draco were trying to draw on the blackboard while a girl he'd never seen before was trying to wash it and Pansy Parkinson and another girl were scrawling rather tasteless insults all over it laughing at the annoyed reactions of the other three.
Another group of students was emptying the supply cupboard examining the contents of the various jars while the rest of the class was talking loudly and somebody had spilled an inkpot on the floor in front of his desk.
"What's the meaning of this?" Lucius thundered and the students looked at him in surprise. "Get to your seats!"
Obediently the students dropped whatever they were doing and went to their worktables. Four pieces of chalk, a sponge and several jars clattered to the floor.
Lucius glared and walked to his own desk stepping onto one of the pieces of chalk and crushing it under his foot on his way. Severus had to bite back laughter when the teacher next leaned against the desk with both feet standing in the puddle of ink. Argus Filch would not thank the new professor for this.
"I am Professor Malfoy." Lucius announced. Unfortunately there were no exclamations of surprise or joy. "I'll be teaching you Potions. Get out your cauldrons and start."
Some students obeyed and began to set up their cauldrons, others just exchanged confused glances. A bushy haired Gryffindor raised her hand.
"You've got a problem?" Lucius sneered at her.
"Well, generally our teachers start their classes by taking attendance, which would also help you learn our names." she informed him. "You're supposed to keep a list of absences that I think you have to hand in to the headmaster at the end of the day."
Lucius glared at her. "Whatever for?"
"To make sure nobody's skipping classes, I think." Severus commented calmly.
"Fine, fine." Lucius growled and picked up the class list from his desk with a distasteful look. "I'll take attendance while you set up your cauldrons. You there!" he pointed at the first student in the first row. "What's your name?"
"Parvati Patil, Professor."
Lucius frowned. He'd never heard that name before. Probably a Mudblood. In Gryffindor as well as his list proved. He checked the name and was about to ask her partner when there was a crash right next to him and suddenly his feet were wet.
Lucius stared down at two boys who were picking themselves and their cauldrons up from the floor.
"Sorry Greg, I slipped on something." one of them said blushing. "Should have looked where I was going, I guess. I'll refill your cauldron for you."
"Ah, that's okay, Neville. You can't carry both of them at once." answered Gregory Goyle much too politely in Lucius' opinion.
His boots were probably ruined.
"Watch where you're going, you blasted idiots!" Lucius barked.
The bushy haired girl raised her hand again.
"Yes, what is it this time?" Lucius was quickly running out of patience.
"You're not allowed to swear in front of students, Professor. It sets a bad example."
Lucius seethed, but the girl was doubtlessly right. "Fine. You there!" he barked at Patil's neighbour. "Your name!"
"Lavender Brown." the girl answered with a shrug and turned back to her conversation with Patil.
"I'm Vincent Crabbe and that's Gregory Goyle." the next boy reported dutifully.
"I knew that." Lucius growled, but checked the names anyway.
"Juliana Carlson." the next girl continued. "And Alice Mortimer."
At least the Mortimers were purebloods.
"Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini."
Much better. Purebloods were always best.
"Harry Potter and Ron Weasley."
Well, not all purebloods.
"Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas."
"Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom."
Lucius almost winced at that last name. Damn auror brat!
"Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape, Professor." Draco announced trying hard not to laugh.
"I know who you are." Lucius growled at his son.
"Estella Rashton." The last girl continued as if he hadn't spoken. "Without a partner unfortunately."
"Without a partner?" Lucius fumed. "Why are you without a partner?"
"Uh ... I think it might be because we're an uneven number of students in this class." Estella suggested cautiously.
"Well, then get back to work!" Lucius hissed.
Lots of hands jumped into the air. This class just kept getting worse and worse. How was he supposed to make it through two hours with these idiots?
"What is it now, Mr. Crabbe?"
"What do you want us to brew, Professor Malfoy?" Vincent asked.
Lucius blinked. What were sixth years supposed to brew? He cast a nervous glance towards Severus Snape, but the boy didn't remember anything either. Oh well, he just had to pick a potion he knew well.
"Mind control potion." he decided.
A few hands went down, then right up again.
"Yes, Ms Parkinson?" Lucius pressed out behind clenched teeth.
"Which one, Professor?" Pansy asked. "The standard version or the lasting one?"
"The standard version." Lucius growled. Lets keep things simple.
Still most of the hands remained in the air.
"What's your problem, Longbottom?" Lucius hissed at Neville.
One year ago this might have been enough to send Neville running from the classroom in fear. Now he managed to answer with only a slight trembling in his voice: "Isn't mind control potion illegal, Professor Malfoy?"
"Only for use on humans, meaning unfortunately Muggles as well as wizards. It's perfectly legal for use on animals, though, which means it can't be illegal to just brew it in class and throw it away afterwards. So start working."
Still the hands remained.
Lucius nodded towards the bushy haired Gryffindor. He'd forgotten her name again, but had already noticed that she wasn't likely to give up until he called on her. "Yes?"
"You're supposed to vanish the potions, not throw them away. Throwing them away might be dangerous." she informed him.
"Yes, yes, of course." Lucius hissed. "Now start brewing!"
Several hands went down at his shout, but nobody started brewing. He needed help. Desperately.
"Draco?" his own son wouldn't let him down, right?
"Where do we find the recipe, Professor?" Draco asked softly. "It's not in our books."
Oh, he should have thought of that. Angrily he stalked to the blackboard and wrote out the recipe.
Hasty scribbling behind him . . . and still some raised hands.
"Mr. Snape?"
"It would be easier to do this, if you'd give a list of the ingredients needed at the top." Severus suggested.
"I'm sure you'll manage without it." Lucius decided. "The ingredients are all mentioned in the recipe."
"Write out the ingredients first." he heard Severus whisper to Draco.
Insubordinate little . . . Lucius decided to pretend he hadn't heard that.
"And what's with you Mr. Weasley?" he called on the owner of the last raised hand.
"What are the properties of mind control potion, Professor Malfoy? Aren't you going to tell us about it?" Ron asked eagerly.
So he wanted to draw out starting to work? "If you're so curious about it you can write an essay about it. Yes, that's a great idea. You'll write an essay about mind control potions for homework."
To Lucius' horror more hands popped into the air after he'd said it.
"How long do you want us to make the essay?" Alice Mortimer wanted to know, while Parvati Patil was worried about when they were to hand it in and Estella Rashton wanted a more exact definition of the topic after he'd decided that ten inches would suffice.
"Oh, pick your own topic!" he hissed finally. "And now get to work! I won't answer any more questions."
He finally settled into his chair in front of the slightly confused looking students and picked up today's copy of the Daily Prophet. There that was much better. Now he could relax until the students were done.
If only they weren't talking so loudly all the time.
"Silence!" Lucius bellowed without looking up from his paper.
For a second or so there was complete silence, then the talking resumed just as loudly as before. Lucius decided to just block it out. He was reading a rather interesting article. Another of the dead hostages had been found.
"Oh no! Beatle wings!" somebody shouted. "We forgot to prepare beetle wings!"
"Mole claws! Where are the mole claws?" another voice yelled.
"I can't find any black owl feathers anywhere!"
"Moon thistles? Whatever are moon thistles?"
"The little stingy things on the third shelf. Right side. But do you have any idea how to cut them? They keep crumbling whenever I try."
Running footsteps, cupboard door slamming, squealing, collisions, breaking jars, . . . BLAM!
Lucius jumped up to see that Gregory Goyle's cauldron had exploded dousing everything around it in hot mind control potion. The students that had been hit screamed, but didn't seem to be in a mind control trance. Apparently Mr. Goyle hadn't progressed far enough for the potion to have any sort of magical effect.
"Quit screaming and continue working!" Lucius ordered before retreating back behind his paper. "Mr. Goyle, start over with a new cauldron."
"But Professor Malfoy, I only had that one." Gregory whined.
"Then pick one out of the office." Lucius shrugged. Snape had several reserve cauldrons stored in there, so what was the boy worried about?
The talking running shouting and door slamming soon resumed until sometime around the middle of the second lesson a sudden puff alerted Lucius to a large cloud of black smoke that was rising from the cauldron of the Longbottom boy.
"Well, that's much cooler than what my potion did." Gregory Goyle commented into the sudden silence.
"Professor! What do I do now?" Neville Longbottom shrieked.
Lucius watched in fascination as more and more smoke rose from the cauldron and the room became darker and darker.
"Take it off the fire, Neville!" the bushy haired nuisance ordered.
"It's still smoking!" Longbottom complained moments later.
Lucius could no longer see whether it was true or not. He could barely see anything anymore.
"Open the window!" he shouted into the chaos of confused students.
SPLASH! Apparently somebody had pushed over a cauldron.
"There are no windows in here!" the voice of the bushy haired girl shouted out of the mist.
"Then open the door, damn it!" Lucius yelled. "I can't even read my paper!"
"You're not supposed to read your paper during class." the girl informed him, but somebody did open the door anyway and the smoke slowly began to drift out into the corridor.
When the caretaker raced in with a Muggle fire extinguisher in his hands sometime later the classroom was once again visible in all it's messiness.
Filch stopped in the door eyes wide with horror.
"Don't cry, Argus." Severus said kindly. "At least it can't get any worse than this."
"Unless he sets the furniture on fire or blows a hole into the wall." the caretaker reminded the boy dryly. "And this is only the second lesson of the year."
He turned around and stomped out. "You can clean that up yourself, Malfoy. I refuse to touch your mess." they heard him grumble from outside.
The class burst into laughter at the sight of Lucius' shocked face. Ron Weasley, apparently the owner of the newly spilled potion, was rolling on his conveniently cauldron and fire free table with laughter.
"Detention Weasley!" Malfoy barked out effectively silencing the class. "Now let me see your results!"
Draco's potion looked passable. Those of Severus and the bushy nuisance were correct judging from their appearance. Unfortunately there were no test animals around to make sure.
The rest of the potions failed miserably. Weasley's had been spilled, Longbottom's evaporated, Goyle never finished and the rest were every shade, colour and consistency other than the deep black liquid they were supposed to be.
Angrily Lucius vanished the potions and sent the students off to lunch keeping only Weasley behind to arrange his detention.
"That," Severus told Draco on the way out. "Is why teachers are supposed to make lesson plans. You just saw a perfect example of lack of planning and organisation."
"He was worse than Dumbledore." Draco stated slightly perplex. "I always thought Father had authority."
"Maybe he will get better once he knows what he's doing." Severus suggested.
-
-
Over lunch Severus discretely watched his suspects trying to memorise exactly who they were talking to. Of course one lunchtime conversation had very little meaning, but over time it should become obvious who their friends were. He knew of course who they got along with in their own year and a little more than that from watching the Slytherins in the common room, but he had little information about how the ones from the other houses interacted with different years.
Thus his attention was mainly on the Ravenclaws.
Draco meanwhile was watching the Gryffindor table, but Severus had no illusions that he might be keeping an eye on Quintus Palmer or Caius Rude. He was worrying over Ginny again, who in turn was worrying about her brother.
Ron Weasley had arrived together with Lucius and trotted straight over to his table without looking left or right. He'd sat down next to Potter and once again seemed to refuse to talk to anyone. The detention Lucius had given him must have set him back once again.
DADA with their new head of house Remus Lupin was quite a pleasant class. A few Slytherins complained a little that for a head of Slytherin Remus had been just a tiny bit too nice to the Hufflepuffs, but all in all he had favoured them enough to win their approval.
Unlike Albus Dumbledore and Mary Sue Blackwell, last year's temporary heads of house, Remus understood the Slytherin way and what was needed to keep the house under control.
Transfigurations wasn't that nice an experience.
For one thing it was with the Gryffindors again. Potter didn't break the strange truce they'd had last year and Neville continued to be friendly, but the rest of them were back to taunting and insulting the Slytherins every chance they got, though, Severus realised with surprise, there had been no actual fights in Potions despite the chaos Lucius' lax attitude had caused.
Professor McGonagall handed out pot plants to all of them as soon as she had taken attendance.
"Your task for today is to age your plants. In other words you are to transfigure them into older plants of the same species." she explained. "Severus, please take an entirely green one so you won't have to worry about the colour."
Severus grinned sheepishly and chose a nice looking fern, while Draco took a violet.
"Now remember that this is a transfiguration even though you're not meant to change the material of the plant at all. I'd also appreciate if it remained the same kind of plant you started with." McGonagall continued.
Unfortunately it didn't work. Much to the amusement of the Gryffindors as well as Blaise, Theodore and the girls Severus ended up having to go to McGonagall to turn his fern back from what looked like clover with little green feathers sprouting from its leaves.
McGonagall sighed at the sight. "What am I going to do with you? Can't you at least try? You're supposed to turn a fern into an older fern. It's already green and will be just as alive afterwards as it was before. What's the problem?"
"It wanted to turn into clover?" Severus suggested with his cutest little pout. For once it was an advantage that they hadn't managed to age his boy form from what it had been last year. Severus suspected that he was in fact not even fifteen as they'd assumed the first time, but at least that made him terribly cute.
"Well, at least you managed to alter it." Minerva decided. "That is an improvement over the results you usually get with living objects. You still failed this assignment, though."
Ron Weasley's triumphant smirk hurt even more than the failing grade. If that idiot weren't the brother of his best friend's girlfriend, he'd be the target of some really nasty prank now. As it was Severus only gave him his icy look until the smirk disappeared under the threat.
The other Gryffindors kept teasing him, though, and he didn't even have Greenie with him.
Severus left Transfigurations in a very bad mood, which improved as soon as he'd reached the Slytherin common room and picked up his hedgehog.
"Sniff!" Greenie greeted him happily as if to say: 'There you are. When do we eat?'
Food was far from Severus' mind right now, though. He sat the hedgehog onto his favourite table right next to the fire and pretended to be doing his Potions homework. Draco sat next to him with an open book in his hands, but kept watching the people around them.
The coming and going soon died down indicating that class was about to start. Neither of the boys dared to check the time too often.
Gregory and Vincent had gone upstairs while Blaise was playing chess against fourth year Iago Orsen. Another suspect, Severus noted. Apparently the fourth year had an elective right now, because two more of them were in the common room. The two other fourth year suspects, Mattis Parker and Diana Bardon were missing however.
The first years were crowded around one of the other tables chatting excitedly, probably still getting acquainted.
"It's time." Severus finally decided and they got up, packed their things away and walked to the stairs as if heading towards their dorm.
Instead they stopped in front of the door that said seventh years, though. There was nobody out in the corridor and only the high laughter of the first years down in the common room could be heard.
The boys exchanged another glance and walked into the room.
"Messy." Draco commented taking a look around while Severus cast a warding charm on the door.
There were five beds in here and five trunks right next to them.
"Try searching the cupboards." Severus suggested. "It's very unlikely that our traitor would leave anything suspicious in there, but you never know."
The cupboards were actually standing open and didn't have any locks at all so anything you put in there would be freely available to your dorm mates.
"Which ones belong to our suspects?" Draco asked eyeing the mess inside.
"No idea, but their robes should have name tags." Severus answered without taking his eyes off the trunk he was kneeling in front of.
A quick spell and it was open. Severus glanced inside and closed it again.
"Wrong trunk." he reported and went on to the next one. "That's better." he commented once he'd opened it. "This is Lionel Bardon's bed, Draco. Try the second cupboard. They're probably arranged in the same order as the beds."
Draco searched the second cupboard, but aside from Lionel's Quiddich uniform he didn't find anything unusual.
"Hey, that's not the standard cloak!" Draco protested.
"It's not against regulations to have your own cloak made." Severus answered while leafing through a photo album he'd found in Lionel's trunk. "I suspect that it has an illegal charm that keeps it from fluttering in the wind too much, but we're not here to check whether Lionel cheats at Quiddich."
"Having fun with his family pictures?" Draco teased.
"There are several known death eaters in here repeatedly." Severus answered seriously. "And Lionel seems to have a lot of friends at Durmstrang. I found letters from them. Letters in Russian."
"Russian?" Draco asked surprised. He'd been on the Quiddich team with Lionel for four years now and had thought he knew the boy rather well. "He never mentioned that he knows Russian."
"Yes, suspicious, isn't it? I wonder why he didn't go to Durmstrang himself."
The next trunk was innocent once again, but the fourth resisted Severus' attempts to break in for almost five minutes until it finally popped open with a flash of some nasty curse. Severus had wisely taken cover under the trunk's owner's bed however where the curse couldn't reach him and they never found out what it actually did.
"Was that an alarm?" Draco asked nervously.
"No, it was definitely an offensive curse meant to scare us off. An alarm would either be louder or try to be unnoticeable at this end, so the caster has a chance to catch us unawares." Severus climbed out from under the bed and peeked cautiously into the trunk. "Ha!" he exclaimed triumphantly. "Stephan LaCroix. I should have known."
This time the results were more interesting. While there was nothing remarkable at all in Stephan's cupboard his trunk contained three different kinds of illegal potion ingredients, a quill that Severus claimed held some dark spell and, in a box that almost bit Severus' finger off, some strange white powder, that Severus only sniffed at cautiously before hastily closing the box and returning everything into the trunk.
"What's that?" Draco pushed curiously, but Severus ignored the question until Stephan's trunk was once again safely locked.
"Cocaine." he finally said.
"Co . . . what?"
"A Muggle drug. It's very dangerous." Severus hesitated. "Stay away from Stephan, Draco. Don't accept anything he gives you."
"You know I would never join them." Draco protested.
"Yes, I trust you about that, but there are other dangers from Stephan that can be quite as deadly. He's not just into the death eaters and the dark arts."
Benjamin Davids' trunk and cupboard proved to be completely boring. There wasn't even a book on the dark arts in there.
"Either he has some other hiding place, or he's innocent." Severus decided as they slipped out of the dorm again.
"We've still got five minutes until the end of class." Draco remarked. "They won't be up here right away and we've got only one suspect in fifth year."
Severus shook his head. "No, we don't know where the fifth years are nor which trunk belongs to Hieronymus Mattels. If they're in Potions class they can be here in less than five minutes after the end of class. That's too risky. And we also don't want to be seen coming out of another year's dorm, if we can avoid it."
-
-
After dinner that day Slytherin house got a surprise. The last stragglers had only just arrived when the secret entrance opened again and their head of house stepped through.
Remus smiled, greeted them kindly and chose to sit in a battered old armchair that only Severus knew had already been his favourite spot when he'd still been a student.
The Slytherins fell silent and all eyes turned on the teacher in their midst. Some students even looked hostile.
It wasn't really that unusual an occurrence. Severus often visited the common room and it rarely caused a stir among the students, but of the werewolf it was unexpected and many hadn't accepted him as their head, yet.
"We don't want any stinking Gryffindor dogs in here!" Hieronymus Mattels actually challenged Remus.
The werewolf looked back at him calmly. "What Gryffindors?" he asked in his usual kind tone.
"He's a Slytherin, too, you idiot." Stephan LaCroix informed Hieronymus who blushed slightly, but didn't back down.
"He's still a dog." he insisted.
"Wolf." Remus corrected pleasantly. "I advise you not to take the difference too lightly, Mr Mattels. I know you are a little behind in DADA mostly due to the teacher you had in your first year, but you ought to be aware of the difference. On a full moon it can well be the difference between life or death."
Hieronymus took an uncertain step backwards, but his brother Maximius jumped in to help him out.
"And what are you doing in here, Wolf?" he demanded in the same challenging tone his brother had used.
Remus smiled at the third year. "Why as your head of house I came to see whether you all, but especially the first years, were settling in well, to lend an ear to any problems you might have and to have some company. This is our common room after all and Severus once told me that he found spending the evenings with his house quite enjoyable."
"Under those circumstances I need to go to the library." Maximius announced and walked out.
A few others followed him. His brother, Blaise and Theodore, his fellow third years Curtis Marston, Bran Lewis and Gaia Ushton and second year Luisa Hunter-Moor. All of them suspects, Draco noted.
"Should we follow them?" he asked Severus softly.
"I need to talk to Remus." Severus answered shaking his head. "Lets just finish this and join him."
'This' was their Potions homework which Severus had decided to scribble in the tiniest script he could manage. Despite that he'd already written twice the required length without ever consulting a book and stopping only occasionally to giggle a little.
"What's so funny about it anyway?" Draco, who was working with the assistance of a borderline dark potions book that had been a gift from his father once, asked.
"I'm just imagining the look on Professor Malfoy's face when he reads my cross references to the wolfsbane potion and other psychoactive potions. I even borrowed a few terms from Muggle medicine to make it sound more professional."
"You're giving wrong facts?"
"No, just using highly technical terminology." Severus smirked. "I expect your father to be stumped by the end of the first sentence and the Lexicon of Potions from my lab will only take him so far."
"You won't be able to play stupid in his class after this." Draco warned him despite his laughter.
"No, but I can still prank him. We can use Neville and Greg, if we need somebody to play stupid. He's less likely to look through that anyway, right Greg?"
"Huh? What?" Gregory Goyle looked up from his own essay in confusion.
"You're better at playing stupid than I am." Severus repeated.
"Why would you want him to?" Vincent asked cautiously.
"At the moment we don't at all, but we might want to do it as a prank in Potions sometime." Draco explained.
"But the teacher's your father." Gregory said confused.
"So? Can't I play a harmless little prank on my father?" Draco smirked.
A minute or so later Severus was finished and he and Draco got up to walk over to Remus' table.
"Are you afraid of being called teacher's pet, because he's your father?" Vincent asked suddenly.
Draco was surprised. That was a rather complicated deduction for Vincent, even if he'd had some time to think now.
"I haven't really thought about it." he admitted. "But I don't really want him here supervising my whole life and with a few little pranks I can get back at him."
"Are we going to fight Professor Malfoy like we did Mary Sue?" Greg asked Vincent worriedly.
Vincent looked after Draco and Severus thoughtfully. "I don't think so, Greg. Not right now at least.
Remus smiled when the two boys sat down beside him. "Ah, Severus! Would you like to start planning out your visits to my DADA classes? I have the schedules and a calendar with me." and to Severus' surprise he pulled out the normal student schedules rather than his own class schedule which would include only the DADA classes.
"Thanks Remus, that's a great idea! Let me have a look."
"Take your time, partner." Remus smiled benignly. "I'm in no hurry today. Albus said you should come up to his office before curfew, though."
"What does he want?" Severus asked surprised. "I haven't even played any real pranks, yet."
"I think he just wants to monitor you very closely this year." Remus shrugged. "You know, talk you out of it, before you do anything."
In other words Albus wanted regular reports. Severus wondered whether he should mention the cocaine to him. It should be confiscated, but if Stephan found out that his trunk had been searched, he'd get suspicious.
Right now he needed to concentrate on the schedules, though. His next chance would be the Care for Magical Creatures lesson in the fourth lesson the next day. Did Theodore take Creatures?
He thought so, but wasn't entirely sure. Draco would know, but he couldn't ask right now without risking to be overheard.
On the other hand it was well known that he'd broken into all his dorm mates' trunks last year, so if Theodore caught him searching the trunk of a fellow sixth year, that wouldn't be considered too suspicious.
He'd have to ask Draco about the girls, though. Every other year had a mandatory class during that lesson, which made it a great chance to search some girls' trunks. He really didn't want to be caught in the girls' dorms.
The last lesson on Tuesday was a study hour for his year and those seventh years that didn't take Ancient Runes would be around, but it was his chance to search the dorm of a lower year's boys. With a little luck he could manage both the fifth and fourth year tomorrow. If he left the girls for next week, he ought to manage easily.
Wednesday he had Arithmancy in the first lesson, but Draco was free to do some snooping. The seventh year would be around, though and the third years had Care for Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies at the time. And Draco wasn't as good at breaking in as he was.
Severus grinned suddenly. Draco could search the first years' dorms. They shouldn't know any worthwhile locking spells, yet, and would most likely prove to be of little interest.
Second lesson was another study hour, but not a very promising one. Both the seventh and the fifth years had electives and the third year a study hour as well. That left only the second year boys' dormitory where their only suspect was Elton Rover. The third year would be much more interesting.
His next chance would be Thursday first lesson. Another Creatures class, which meant he'd have to work without Draco. Study hour for fifth and seventh year, which meant no chance at the girls' dorms. He could do the third year boys then, though and be done with all the boys dorms, but then he had another study hour Friday first lesson with only his own and the fourth year around.
Maybe it would be better to use Thursday for his own year and Friday for the third, leaving fourth lesson Tuesday for the girls' dorms. The time would never suffice for more than one dorm, though.
In other words it would take four weeks to search the dorms of all his suspects. And that only because he had no female suspects in seventh and fifth year.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Leevee of Team Socket - Well, that's the simple explanation. (Severus doesn't fully understand it the way Minerva explained.) Technically it isn't really an animagus at all, since that requires a lot of Transfiguration talent that Sevi doesn't have. They only used part of it combined with the youth potion and polyjuice to give Sevi the ability to transform at will. . . . Of course Hufflepuffs can be death eaters, too. They are just very rare and Voldemort tends not to trust them
zippy zany - Corvus is once again with Mr. Filch . . . and Severus is a little preoccupied with finding that traitor. He doesn't have as much time to play pranks this year.
Pam Briggs - Ah, and who do you think is the least likely one? Or will I prefer to be obvious and it's one of the prime suspects after all?
TatraMegami - Luci's having slight problems taking his job seriously. I think it might take a while for him to realise that he has to give it his full attention. (He used Ron and some house elves to clean up, by the way. Didn't lift a finger himself.)
BurrowedLurker - Um ... you do realise that this is set in Harry's sixth year, don't you? Percy graduated in third year, so he couldn't even be at Hogwarts.
dstrbd child - Sorry, not telling. Of course I'll write more of this. I wouldn't have started posting it., if I weren't intending to finish it.
Midnight Tiger - Ah, there's a few things I'd like to say, but I promised myself I wouldn't give clues. . . . Glad you liked that scene. I was a bit unsure whether I'd done it right.
Thistle - No, they generally don't let teachers read the paper in class . . .
Laughing Cat - Oh, right now I pity all of them ... after all, what did they learn in that lesson?
Slithers - Thanks! Especially for noticing that the humour wasn't the main idea behind the fic.
Playmara - Oh, reading instead of studying for tests is dangerous. (Trust me, I've tried it.) Hope you passed anyway. ... So far Sevi sees no reason to torment Luci all that much. Luci's doing it all to himself. ... Nah, your English isn't that bad. I've read worse and still didn't mind. The purpose of learning languages is to communicate = be understood. I understood your review easily, so there was nothing wrong with your English. ... No, I wouldn't mind German reviews at all. I'd even answer you in German, if my brain weren't in English mode right now. (It switches languages instead of translating. Makes translating anything very difficult.)
rob * bob - Thanks!
annakas - AuthorAlert had another breakdown? (Grumble grumble, what am I paying these guys for?) ... Well, ReviewAlert seems to have worked at least. ... Not telling any more clues about the traitor right now. It will be revealed at the end of the fic. ... Ah, PegaPony likes Theodore as well. ... The DADA line was originally meant to be Ron's, but then I had Neville so comfortably on hand and no reason to send my boys to Gryffindor, or Ron to Slytherin ...
Demon of Fear - Gee, what does your computer have against MNS? Well, it was probably part of ff.net's upgrade. (Sniff! They changed my name! Sniff!) ... Dialogue for Greenie? He speaks only hedgehogish which none of my other characters understand, but I'll see what I can do about an occasional monologue. Sorry, but HPHC has to end there. I did the open end on purpose. Anything more would break the style of the fic.
Teri - Ah yes, that would have been more important for my original plot idea, to have young Sevi pretend to be his own nephew, but it wasn't realistic since the whole school already knows who he is after MNS.
Iremione - So you like Theo too? He seems to be quite popular. . . . I don't know about the title. I think it would be obvious to all those reader who have English for their first language, so I suppose they wouldn't comment. . . . No, never even saw Die another Day. I came up with that sentence on my own. It seemed to fit. . . . Ah, I'll find out on Monday, then!
-
-
-
-
A/N: What did Lucius make Ron do for detention? Will his teaching improve? And what is our traitor up to? (Guesses about the identity of the traitor as always will be read with great interest, but not answered, yet.) Please R/R.
-
-
Next: Sevi sneaks into the girls' dorms, Draco has to take Ginny to the hospital wing and Lucius has to break up a fight.
Disclaimer 2 - Draco drawing dragons belongs to PikaCheeka. Sorry I forgot to mention that in the first chapter. I sort of adopted the idea subconsciously.
Disclaimer 3 - Severus' raven belongs to J. L. Matthews. I just borrowed him because he's such a perfect pet for Sevi and promise to return him unharmed.
The catar however are all mine and I love them so please don't use without asking me first.
-
-
A/N - Grrr! They numbered me! I hate being numbered . . . And they changed my name! Okay, okay, here's the story you came for. *pouty Silverfox trotts back to her burrow*.
-
-
Chapter 3: Class with Lucius
-
-
Sometime during the evening or night Blaise and Theodore must have found time to be alone, for Severus noticed Theodore placing an extra protection charm on his trunk when they got up in the morning and the boy eyed him suspiciously all through breakfast.
Severus pretended to ignore him while at the same time he was trying to figure out the best time to break into his trunk.
Their schedules looked promising at first. Double Potions in the morning. Still with Gryffindor, though Albus hadn't been fond of the idea of letting Lucius teach that combination after having tried it himself last year.
Severus grinned at the thought. This wasn't exactly the best class for a beginner to start with.
After lunch they'd have DADA with the Hufflepuffs and their new head of house, Remus Lupin. That was one of his favourite classes since Remus usually let him co-teach it. In return Remus never had pranks played on him during class. Not that Remus was afraid of Severus' pranks. After spending his own school time with James Potter and Sirius Black as well as Severus Remus was practically immune to fear of pranks.
Transfigurations, once again with Gryffindor, promised to be the low point of the day. His relationship with Minerva McGonagall had improved marginally over their work on his project, but if he was completely honest with himself, he was still scared of her. Not that he'd ever let anyone else find out. Draco might suspect something, but even Albus was unaware.
The last class would be Flying, which he was exempted from thanks to his fear of heights. Madame Hootch feared for her brooms and Severus didn't feel like informing her that he was by now able to keep a broom under control, if he had to. As long as she believed he was still as accident prone in the air as he had been during his first childhood he was spared Flying classes.
That might have sounded like a good time to go snooping through trunks, but unfortunately Quiddich players were excused from Flying classes as well. That meant that Draco as the team seeker would be free to assist him, but also that Vincent and Gregory, the team beaters might show up at any time as well as Blaise, who was one of the three chasers. The only one out of their dorm who'd be safely out of the way would be Theodore.
Then again, maybe this was an opportunity after all. When Remus Lupin passed by him again on his way to hand some newly arrived first years their schedules Severus grabbed his sleeve.
"Do you have a moment, Professor?" Nobody should consider it odd that he wanted to talk with his head of house.
"Sure, what is it, Severus?" the werewolf smiled. Many Slytherins still seemed uneasy around him even though the protests against a dark creature teaching DADA had died down by now. Severus' fearlessness in front of the whole school would set a good example for the others.
"Could I see the seventh years' schedule, please?" Severus said so softly that he couldn't even hear himself. Remus' fine werewolf ears would pick it up anyway.
"Are you considering sitting in on seventh year DADA classes?" Remus asked more audibly presenting him with the perfect excuse.
"If I can arrange it with my own schedule." Severus confirmed.
Remus leafed through his stack of schedules for a bit until he found the seventh years. "There." he said as he laid it on the table next to Severus' plate. "Monday and Friday both in the first lesson for Slytherin and Gryffindor. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff ought to be the lesson right after that, on both days, if I remember my own schedule correctly."
Severus regarded the schedule pretending to think. The seventh year had Herbology in the last lesson on Mondays. That meant that all seventh years would be out at the greenhouses for the entire lesson.
"I can't skip Potions for it." he told Remus finally. "But Friday might work sometime."
"Excellent." Remus smiled again. "I'll be looking forward to that class, then."
"We're breaking into the seventh years' dorm during Flying class." Severus informed Draco later on the way to Potions class.
The only people around that might hear them were of their own year and would only assume that they were planning another prank.
"Are you sure we should?" Draco asked a little nervously. "What if we get caught?"
"They'll be in Herbology at the time and almost everybody else will be in class as well. Our own dorm mates won't tell on us for playing a prank on the seventh years." Severus declared for all possible listeners. "It's not like we're going to do any real harm after all."
Draco smirked. "Okay then. Just don't let father hear you."
They'd reached the Potions classroom by now. The door was open, but Lucius was nowhere in sight.
"He has much to learn." Severus commented cryptically and strolled over to the students' supply cupboard to pick out some ingredients.
"Oh Severus, please tell me we're not staging a class rebellion again." Hermione Granger pleaded when she saw that. "I fell so far behind in my studies thanks to that whole Mary Sue affair."
"We're not." Severus assured her. "I'm just stocking up on prank utensils."
"You mean we're just accepting a dark arts practitioner as our teacher?" Harry Potter asked incredulously.
"What's wrong with that?" Severus asked Harry calmly. "Are you scarred of learning a few things about dark potions?"
Harry frowned.
"Oh come on." Ron told him to everybody's surprise. "It might even be interesting."
"Interesting?" Lavender Brown gasped staring at Ron in horror. "It's dark arts."
"It's not like Ron's actually planning to use them, Lavender." Hermione reminded her angrily.
"He's right, though." Harry stated. "We'll be able to defend ourselves much better, if we know more about them."
"What should be really interesting is whether Professor Malfoy can teach or not." Neville remarked with the hint of a smirk.
"He can't." Draco smirked as well. "At least he's never done it before. He usually learns fast, though."
"We've got an advantage being his very first class." Severus reminded him. "It should be quite a show."
Lucius arrived five minutes late to find the class in chaos. Severus and Draco were trying to draw on the blackboard while a girl he'd never seen before was trying to wash it and Pansy Parkinson and another girl were scrawling rather tasteless insults all over it laughing at the annoyed reactions of the other three.
Another group of students was emptying the supply cupboard examining the contents of the various jars while the rest of the class was talking loudly and somebody had spilled an inkpot on the floor in front of his desk.
"What's the meaning of this?" Lucius thundered and the students looked at him in surprise. "Get to your seats!"
Obediently the students dropped whatever they were doing and went to their worktables. Four pieces of chalk, a sponge and several jars clattered to the floor.
Lucius glared and walked to his own desk stepping onto one of the pieces of chalk and crushing it under his foot on his way. Severus had to bite back laughter when the teacher next leaned against the desk with both feet standing in the puddle of ink. Argus Filch would not thank the new professor for this.
"I am Professor Malfoy." Lucius announced. Unfortunately there were no exclamations of surprise or joy. "I'll be teaching you Potions. Get out your cauldrons and start."
Some students obeyed and began to set up their cauldrons, others just exchanged confused glances. A bushy haired Gryffindor raised her hand.
"You've got a problem?" Lucius sneered at her.
"Well, generally our teachers start their classes by taking attendance, which would also help you learn our names." she informed him. "You're supposed to keep a list of absences that I think you have to hand in to the headmaster at the end of the day."
Lucius glared at her. "Whatever for?"
"To make sure nobody's skipping classes, I think." Severus commented calmly.
"Fine, fine." Lucius growled and picked up the class list from his desk with a distasteful look. "I'll take attendance while you set up your cauldrons. You there!" he pointed at the first student in the first row. "What's your name?"
"Parvati Patil, Professor."
Lucius frowned. He'd never heard that name before. Probably a Mudblood. In Gryffindor as well as his list proved. He checked the name and was about to ask her partner when there was a crash right next to him and suddenly his feet were wet.
Lucius stared down at two boys who were picking themselves and their cauldrons up from the floor.
"Sorry Greg, I slipped on something." one of them said blushing. "Should have looked where I was going, I guess. I'll refill your cauldron for you."
"Ah, that's okay, Neville. You can't carry both of them at once." answered Gregory Goyle much too politely in Lucius' opinion.
His boots were probably ruined.
"Watch where you're going, you blasted idiots!" Lucius barked.
The bushy haired girl raised her hand again.
"Yes, what is it this time?" Lucius was quickly running out of patience.
"You're not allowed to swear in front of students, Professor. It sets a bad example."
Lucius seethed, but the girl was doubtlessly right. "Fine. You there!" he barked at Patil's neighbour. "Your name!"
"Lavender Brown." the girl answered with a shrug and turned back to her conversation with Patil.
"I'm Vincent Crabbe and that's Gregory Goyle." the next boy reported dutifully.
"I knew that." Lucius growled, but checked the names anyway.
"Juliana Carlson." the next girl continued. "And Alice Mortimer."
At least the Mortimers were purebloods.
"Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini."
Much better. Purebloods were always best.
"Harry Potter and Ron Weasley."
Well, not all purebloods.
"Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas."
"Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom."
Lucius almost winced at that last name. Damn auror brat!
"Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape, Professor." Draco announced trying hard not to laugh.
"I know who you are." Lucius growled at his son.
"Estella Rashton." The last girl continued as if he hadn't spoken. "Without a partner unfortunately."
"Without a partner?" Lucius fumed. "Why are you without a partner?"
"Uh ... I think it might be because we're an uneven number of students in this class." Estella suggested cautiously.
"Well, then get back to work!" Lucius hissed.
Lots of hands jumped into the air. This class just kept getting worse and worse. How was he supposed to make it through two hours with these idiots?
"What is it now, Mr. Crabbe?"
"What do you want us to brew, Professor Malfoy?" Vincent asked.
Lucius blinked. What were sixth years supposed to brew? He cast a nervous glance towards Severus Snape, but the boy didn't remember anything either. Oh well, he just had to pick a potion he knew well.
"Mind control potion." he decided.
A few hands went down, then right up again.
"Yes, Ms Parkinson?" Lucius pressed out behind clenched teeth.
"Which one, Professor?" Pansy asked. "The standard version or the lasting one?"
"The standard version." Lucius growled. Lets keep things simple.
Still most of the hands remained in the air.
"What's your problem, Longbottom?" Lucius hissed at Neville.
One year ago this might have been enough to send Neville running from the classroom in fear. Now he managed to answer with only a slight trembling in his voice: "Isn't mind control potion illegal, Professor Malfoy?"
"Only for use on humans, meaning unfortunately Muggles as well as wizards. It's perfectly legal for use on animals, though, which means it can't be illegal to just brew it in class and throw it away afterwards. So start working."
Still the hands remained.
Lucius nodded towards the bushy haired Gryffindor. He'd forgotten her name again, but had already noticed that she wasn't likely to give up until he called on her. "Yes?"
"You're supposed to vanish the potions, not throw them away. Throwing them away might be dangerous." she informed him.
"Yes, yes, of course." Lucius hissed. "Now start brewing!"
Several hands went down at his shout, but nobody started brewing. He needed help. Desperately.
"Draco?" his own son wouldn't let him down, right?
"Where do we find the recipe, Professor?" Draco asked softly. "It's not in our books."
Oh, he should have thought of that. Angrily he stalked to the blackboard and wrote out the recipe.
Hasty scribbling behind him . . . and still some raised hands.
"Mr. Snape?"
"It would be easier to do this, if you'd give a list of the ingredients needed at the top." Severus suggested.
"I'm sure you'll manage without it." Lucius decided. "The ingredients are all mentioned in the recipe."
"Write out the ingredients first." he heard Severus whisper to Draco.
Insubordinate little . . . Lucius decided to pretend he hadn't heard that.
"And what's with you Mr. Weasley?" he called on the owner of the last raised hand.
"What are the properties of mind control potion, Professor Malfoy? Aren't you going to tell us about it?" Ron asked eagerly.
So he wanted to draw out starting to work? "If you're so curious about it you can write an essay about it. Yes, that's a great idea. You'll write an essay about mind control potions for homework."
To Lucius' horror more hands popped into the air after he'd said it.
"How long do you want us to make the essay?" Alice Mortimer wanted to know, while Parvati Patil was worried about when they were to hand it in and Estella Rashton wanted a more exact definition of the topic after he'd decided that ten inches would suffice.
"Oh, pick your own topic!" he hissed finally. "And now get to work! I won't answer any more questions."
He finally settled into his chair in front of the slightly confused looking students and picked up today's copy of the Daily Prophet. There that was much better. Now he could relax until the students were done.
If only they weren't talking so loudly all the time.
"Silence!" Lucius bellowed without looking up from his paper.
For a second or so there was complete silence, then the talking resumed just as loudly as before. Lucius decided to just block it out. He was reading a rather interesting article. Another of the dead hostages had been found.
"Oh no! Beatle wings!" somebody shouted. "We forgot to prepare beetle wings!"
"Mole claws! Where are the mole claws?" another voice yelled.
"I can't find any black owl feathers anywhere!"
"Moon thistles? Whatever are moon thistles?"
"The little stingy things on the third shelf. Right side. But do you have any idea how to cut them? They keep crumbling whenever I try."
Running footsteps, cupboard door slamming, squealing, collisions, breaking jars, . . . BLAM!
Lucius jumped up to see that Gregory Goyle's cauldron had exploded dousing everything around it in hot mind control potion. The students that had been hit screamed, but didn't seem to be in a mind control trance. Apparently Mr. Goyle hadn't progressed far enough for the potion to have any sort of magical effect.
"Quit screaming and continue working!" Lucius ordered before retreating back behind his paper. "Mr. Goyle, start over with a new cauldron."
"But Professor Malfoy, I only had that one." Gregory whined.
"Then pick one out of the office." Lucius shrugged. Snape had several reserve cauldrons stored in there, so what was the boy worried about?
The talking running shouting and door slamming soon resumed until sometime around the middle of the second lesson a sudden puff alerted Lucius to a large cloud of black smoke that was rising from the cauldron of the Longbottom boy.
"Well, that's much cooler than what my potion did." Gregory Goyle commented into the sudden silence.
"Professor! What do I do now?" Neville Longbottom shrieked.
Lucius watched in fascination as more and more smoke rose from the cauldron and the room became darker and darker.
"Take it off the fire, Neville!" the bushy haired nuisance ordered.
"It's still smoking!" Longbottom complained moments later.
Lucius could no longer see whether it was true or not. He could barely see anything anymore.
"Open the window!" he shouted into the chaos of confused students.
SPLASH! Apparently somebody had pushed over a cauldron.
"There are no windows in here!" the voice of the bushy haired girl shouted out of the mist.
"Then open the door, damn it!" Lucius yelled. "I can't even read my paper!"
"You're not supposed to read your paper during class." the girl informed him, but somebody did open the door anyway and the smoke slowly began to drift out into the corridor.
When the caretaker raced in with a Muggle fire extinguisher in his hands sometime later the classroom was once again visible in all it's messiness.
Filch stopped in the door eyes wide with horror.
"Don't cry, Argus." Severus said kindly. "At least it can't get any worse than this."
"Unless he sets the furniture on fire or blows a hole into the wall." the caretaker reminded the boy dryly. "And this is only the second lesson of the year."
He turned around and stomped out. "You can clean that up yourself, Malfoy. I refuse to touch your mess." they heard him grumble from outside.
The class burst into laughter at the sight of Lucius' shocked face. Ron Weasley, apparently the owner of the newly spilled potion, was rolling on his conveniently cauldron and fire free table with laughter.
"Detention Weasley!" Malfoy barked out effectively silencing the class. "Now let me see your results!"
Draco's potion looked passable. Those of Severus and the bushy nuisance were correct judging from their appearance. Unfortunately there were no test animals around to make sure.
The rest of the potions failed miserably. Weasley's had been spilled, Longbottom's evaporated, Goyle never finished and the rest were every shade, colour and consistency other than the deep black liquid they were supposed to be.
Angrily Lucius vanished the potions and sent the students off to lunch keeping only Weasley behind to arrange his detention.
"That," Severus told Draco on the way out. "Is why teachers are supposed to make lesson plans. You just saw a perfect example of lack of planning and organisation."
"He was worse than Dumbledore." Draco stated slightly perplex. "I always thought Father had authority."
"Maybe he will get better once he knows what he's doing." Severus suggested.
-
-
Over lunch Severus discretely watched his suspects trying to memorise exactly who they were talking to. Of course one lunchtime conversation had very little meaning, but over time it should become obvious who their friends were. He knew of course who they got along with in their own year and a little more than that from watching the Slytherins in the common room, but he had little information about how the ones from the other houses interacted with different years.
Thus his attention was mainly on the Ravenclaws.
Draco meanwhile was watching the Gryffindor table, but Severus had no illusions that he might be keeping an eye on Quintus Palmer or Caius Rude. He was worrying over Ginny again, who in turn was worrying about her brother.
Ron Weasley had arrived together with Lucius and trotted straight over to his table without looking left or right. He'd sat down next to Potter and once again seemed to refuse to talk to anyone. The detention Lucius had given him must have set him back once again.
DADA with their new head of house Remus Lupin was quite a pleasant class. A few Slytherins complained a little that for a head of Slytherin Remus had been just a tiny bit too nice to the Hufflepuffs, but all in all he had favoured them enough to win their approval.
Unlike Albus Dumbledore and Mary Sue Blackwell, last year's temporary heads of house, Remus understood the Slytherin way and what was needed to keep the house under control.
Transfigurations wasn't that nice an experience.
For one thing it was with the Gryffindors again. Potter didn't break the strange truce they'd had last year and Neville continued to be friendly, but the rest of them were back to taunting and insulting the Slytherins every chance they got, though, Severus realised with surprise, there had been no actual fights in Potions despite the chaos Lucius' lax attitude had caused.
Professor McGonagall handed out pot plants to all of them as soon as she had taken attendance.
"Your task for today is to age your plants. In other words you are to transfigure them into older plants of the same species." she explained. "Severus, please take an entirely green one so you won't have to worry about the colour."
Severus grinned sheepishly and chose a nice looking fern, while Draco took a violet.
"Now remember that this is a transfiguration even though you're not meant to change the material of the plant at all. I'd also appreciate if it remained the same kind of plant you started with." McGonagall continued.
Unfortunately it didn't work. Much to the amusement of the Gryffindors as well as Blaise, Theodore and the girls Severus ended up having to go to McGonagall to turn his fern back from what looked like clover with little green feathers sprouting from its leaves.
McGonagall sighed at the sight. "What am I going to do with you? Can't you at least try? You're supposed to turn a fern into an older fern. It's already green and will be just as alive afterwards as it was before. What's the problem?"
"It wanted to turn into clover?" Severus suggested with his cutest little pout. For once it was an advantage that they hadn't managed to age his boy form from what it had been last year. Severus suspected that he was in fact not even fifteen as they'd assumed the first time, but at least that made him terribly cute.
"Well, at least you managed to alter it." Minerva decided. "That is an improvement over the results you usually get with living objects. You still failed this assignment, though."
Ron Weasley's triumphant smirk hurt even more than the failing grade. If that idiot weren't the brother of his best friend's girlfriend, he'd be the target of some really nasty prank now. As it was Severus only gave him his icy look until the smirk disappeared under the threat.
The other Gryffindors kept teasing him, though, and he didn't even have Greenie with him.
Severus left Transfigurations in a very bad mood, which improved as soon as he'd reached the Slytherin common room and picked up his hedgehog.
"Sniff!" Greenie greeted him happily as if to say: 'There you are. When do we eat?'
Food was far from Severus' mind right now, though. He sat the hedgehog onto his favourite table right next to the fire and pretended to be doing his Potions homework. Draco sat next to him with an open book in his hands, but kept watching the people around them.
The coming and going soon died down indicating that class was about to start. Neither of the boys dared to check the time too often.
Gregory and Vincent had gone upstairs while Blaise was playing chess against fourth year Iago Orsen. Another suspect, Severus noted. Apparently the fourth year had an elective right now, because two more of them were in the common room. The two other fourth year suspects, Mattis Parker and Diana Bardon were missing however.
The first years were crowded around one of the other tables chatting excitedly, probably still getting acquainted.
"It's time." Severus finally decided and they got up, packed their things away and walked to the stairs as if heading towards their dorm.
Instead they stopped in front of the door that said seventh years, though. There was nobody out in the corridor and only the high laughter of the first years down in the common room could be heard.
The boys exchanged another glance and walked into the room.
"Messy." Draco commented taking a look around while Severus cast a warding charm on the door.
There were five beds in here and five trunks right next to them.
"Try searching the cupboards." Severus suggested. "It's very unlikely that our traitor would leave anything suspicious in there, but you never know."
The cupboards were actually standing open and didn't have any locks at all so anything you put in there would be freely available to your dorm mates.
"Which ones belong to our suspects?" Draco asked eyeing the mess inside.
"No idea, but their robes should have name tags." Severus answered without taking his eyes off the trunk he was kneeling in front of.
A quick spell and it was open. Severus glanced inside and closed it again.
"Wrong trunk." he reported and went on to the next one. "That's better." he commented once he'd opened it. "This is Lionel Bardon's bed, Draco. Try the second cupboard. They're probably arranged in the same order as the beds."
Draco searched the second cupboard, but aside from Lionel's Quiddich uniform he didn't find anything unusual.
"Hey, that's not the standard cloak!" Draco protested.
"It's not against regulations to have your own cloak made." Severus answered while leafing through a photo album he'd found in Lionel's trunk. "I suspect that it has an illegal charm that keeps it from fluttering in the wind too much, but we're not here to check whether Lionel cheats at Quiddich."
"Having fun with his family pictures?" Draco teased.
"There are several known death eaters in here repeatedly." Severus answered seriously. "And Lionel seems to have a lot of friends at Durmstrang. I found letters from them. Letters in Russian."
"Russian?" Draco asked surprised. He'd been on the Quiddich team with Lionel for four years now and had thought he knew the boy rather well. "He never mentioned that he knows Russian."
"Yes, suspicious, isn't it? I wonder why he didn't go to Durmstrang himself."
The next trunk was innocent once again, but the fourth resisted Severus' attempts to break in for almost five minutes until it finally popped open with a flash of some nasty curse. Severus had wisely taken cover under the trunk's owner's bed however where the curse couldn't reach him and they never found out what it actually did.
"Was that an alarm?" Draco asked nervously.
"No, it was definitely an offensive curse meant to scare us off. An alarm would either be louder or try to be unnoticeable at this end, so the caster has a chance to catch us unawares." Severus climbed out from under the bed and peeked cautiously into the trunk. "Ha!" he exclaimed triumphantly. "Stephan LaCroix. I should have known."
This time the results were more interesting. While there was nothing remarkable at all in Stephan's cupboard his trunk contained three different kinds of illegal potion ingredients, a quill that Severus claimed held some dark spell and, in a box that almost bit Severus' finger off, some strange white powder, that Severus only sniffed at cautiously before hastily closing the box and returning everything into the trunk.
"What's that?" Draco pushed curiously, but Severus ignored the question until Stephan's trunk was once again safely locked.
"Cocaine." he finally said.
"Co . . . what?"
"A Muggle drug. It's very dangerous." Severus hesitated. "Stay away from Stephan, Draco. Don't accept anything he gives you."
"You know I would never join them." Draco protested.
"Yes, I trust you about that, but there are other dangers from Stephan that can be quite as deadly. He's not just into the death eaters and the dark arts."
Benjamin Davids' trunk and cupboard proved to be completely boring. There wasn't even a book on the dark arts in there.
"Either he has some other hiding place, or he's innocent." Severus decided as they slipped out of the dorm again.
"We've still got five minutes until the end of class." Draco remarked. "They won't be up here right away and we've got only one suspect in fifth year."
Severus shook his head. "No, we don't know where the fifth years are nor which trunk belongs to Hieronymus Mattels. If they're in Potions class they can be here in less than five minutes after the end of class. That's too risky. And we also don't want to be seen coming out of another year's dorm, if we can avoid it."
-
-
After dinner that day Slytherin house got a surprise. The last stragglers had only just arrived when the secret entrance opened again and their head of house stepped through.
Remus smiled, greeted them kindly and chose to sit in a battered old armchair that only Severus knew had already been his favourite spot when he'd still been a student.
The Slytherins fell silent and all eyes turned on the teacher in their midst. Some students even looked hostile.
It wasn't really that unusual an occurrence. Severus often visited the common room and it rarely caused a stir among the students, but of the werewolf it was unexpected and many hadn't accepted him as their head, yet.
"We don't want any stinking Gryffindor dogs in here!" Hieronymus Mattels actually challenged Remus.
The werewolf looked back at him calmly. "What Gryffindors?" he asked in his usual kind tone.
"He's a Slytherin, too, you idiot." Stephan LaCroix informed Hieronymus who blushed slightly, but didn't back down.
"He's still a dog." he insisted.
"Wolf." Remus corrected pleasantly. "I advise you not to take the difference too lightly, Mr Mattels. I know you are a little behind in DADA mostly due to the teacher you had in your first year, but you ought to be aware of the difference. On a full moon it can well be the difference between life or death."
Hieronymus took an uncertain step backwards, but his brother Maximius jumped in to help him out.
"And what are you doing in here, Wolf?" he demanded in the same challenging tone his brother had used.
Remus smiled at the third year. "Why as your head of house I came to see whether you all, but especially the first years, were settling in well, to lend an ear to any problems you might have and to have some company. This is our common room after all and Severus once told me that he found spending the evenings with his house quite enjoyable."
"Under those circumstances I need to go to the library." Maximius announced and walked out.
A few others followed him. His brother, Blaise and Theodore, his fellow third years Curtis Marston, Bran Lewis and Gaia Ushton and second year Luisa Hunter-Moor. All of them suspects, Draco noted.
"Should we follow them?" he asked Severus softly.
"I need to talk to Remus." Severus answered shaking his head. "Lets just finish this and join him."
'This' was their Potions homework which Severus had decided to scribble in the tiniest script he could manage. Despite that he'd already written twice the required length without ever consulting a book and stopping only occasionally to giggle a little.
"What's so funny about it anyway?" Draco, who was working with the assistance of a borderline dark potions book that had been a gift from his father once, asked.
"I'm just imagining the look on Professor Malfoy's face when he reads my cross references to the wolfsbane potion and other psychoactive potions. I even borrowed a few terms from Muggle medicine to make it sound more professional."
"You're giving wrong facts?"
"No, just using highly technical terminology." Severus smirked. "I expect your father to be stumped by the end of the first sentence and the Lexicon of Potions from my lab will only take him so far."
"You won't be able to play stupid in his class after this." Draco warned him despite his laughter.
"No, but I can still prank him. We can use Neville and Greg, if we need somebody to play stupid. He's less likely to look through that anyway, right Greg?"
"Huh? What?" Gregory Goyle looked up from his own essay in confusion.
"You're better at playing stupid than I am." Severus repeated.
"Why would you want him to?" Vincent asked cautiously.
"At the moment we don't at all, but we might want to do it as a prank in Potions sometime." Draco explained.
"But the teacher's your father." Gregory said confused.
"So? Can't I play a harmless little prank on my father?" Draco smirked.
A minute or so later Severus was finished and he and Draco got up to walk over to Remus' table.
"Are you afraid of being called teacher's pet, because he's your father?" Vincent asked suddenly.
Draco was surprised. That was a rather complicated deduction for Vincent, even if he'd had some time to think now.
"I haven't really thought about it." he admitted. "But I don't really want him here supervising my whole life and with a few little pranks I can get back at him."
"Are we going to fight Professor Malfoy like we did Mary Sue?" Greg asked Vincent worriedly.
Vincent looked after Draco and Severus thoughtfully. "I don't think so, Greg. Not right now at least.
Remus smiled when the two boys sat down beside him. "Ah, Severus! Would you like to start planning out your visits to my DADA classes? I have the schedules and a calendar with me." and to Severus' surprise he pulled out the normal student schedules rather than his own class schedule which would include only the DADA classes.
"Thanks Remus, that's a great idea! Let me have a look."
"Take your time, partner." Remus smiled benignly. "I'm in no hurry today. Albus said you should come up to his office before curfew, though."
"What does he want?" Severus asked surprised. "I haven't even played any real pranks, yet."
"I think he just wants to monitor you very closely this year." Remus shrugged. "You know, talk you out of it, before you do anything."
In other words Albus wanted regular reports. Severus wondered whether he should mention the cocaine to him. It should be confiscated, but if Stephan found out that his trunk had been searched, he'd get suspicious.
Right now he needed to concentrate on the schedules, though. His next chance would be the Care for Magical Creatures lesson in the fourth lesson the next day. Did Theodore take Creatures?
He thought so, but wasn't entirely sure. Draco would know, but he couldn't ask right now without risking to be overheard.
On the other hand it was well known that he'd broken into all his dorm mates' trunks last year, so if Theodore caught him searching the trunk of a fellow sixth year, that wouldn't be considered too suspicious.
He'd have to ask Draco about the girls, though. Every other year had a mandatory class during that lesson, which made it a great chance to search some girls' trunks. He really didn't want to be caught in the girls' dorms.
The last lesson on Tuesday was a study hour for his year and those seventh years that didn't take Ancient Runes would be around, but it was his chance to search the dorm of a lower year's boys. With a little luck he could manage both the fifth and fourth year tomorrow. If he left the girls for next week, he ought to manage easily.
Wednesday he had Arithmancy in the first lesson, but Draco was free to do some snooping. The seventh year would be around, though and the third years had Care for Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies at the time. And Draco wasn't as good at breaking in as he was.
Severus grinned suddenly. Draco could search the first years' dorms. They shouldn't know any worthwhile locking spells, yet, and would most likely prove to be of little interest.
Second lesson was another study hour, but not a very promising one. Both the seventh and the fifth years had electives and the third year a study hour as well. That left only the second year boys' dormitory where their only suspect was Elton Rover. The third year would be much more interesting.
His next chance would be Thursday first lesson. Another Creatures class, which meant he'd have to work without Draco. Study hour for fifth and seventh year, which meant no chance at the girls' dorms. He could do the third year boys then, though and be done with all the boys dorms, but then he had another study hour Friday first lesson with only his own and the fourth year around.
Maybe it would be better to use Thursday for his own year and Friday for the third, leaving fourth lesson Tuesday for the girls' dorms. The time would never suffice for more than one dorm, though.
In other words it would take four weeks to search the dorms of all his suspects. And that only because he had no female suspects in seventh and fifth year.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Leevee of Team Socket - Well, that's the simple explanation. (Severus doesn't fully understand it the way Minerva explained.) Technically it isn't really an animagus at all, since that requires a lot of Transfiguration talent that Sevi doesn't have. They only used part of it combined with the youth potion and polyjuice to give Sevi the ability to transform at will. . . . Of course Hufflepuffs can be death eaters, too. They are just very rare and Voldemort tends not to trust them
zippy zany - Corvus is once again with Mr. Filch . . . and Severus is a little preoccupied with finding that traitor. He doesn't have as much time to play pranks this year.
Pam Briggs - Ah, and who do you think is the least likely one? Or will I prefer to be obvious and it's one of the prime suspects after all?
TatraMegami - Luci's having slight problems taking his job seriously. I think it might take a while for him to realise that he has to give it his full attention. (He used Ron and some house elves to clean up, by the way. Didn't lift a finger himself.)
BurrowedLurker - Um ... you do realise that this is set in Harry's sixth year, don't you? Percy graduated in third year, so he couldn't even be at Hogwarts.
dstrbd child - Sorry, not telling. Of course I'll write more of this. I wouldn't have started posting it., if I weren't intending to finish it.
Midnight Tiger - Ah, there's a few things I'd like to say, but I promised myself I wouldn't give clues. . . . Glad you liked that scene. I was a bit unsure whether I'd done it right.
Thistle - No, they generally don't let teachers read the paper in class . . .
Laughing Cat - Oh, right now I pity all of them ... after all, what did they learn in that lesson?
Slithers - Thanks! Especially for noticing that the humour wasn't the main idea behind the fic.
Playmara - Oh, reading instead of studying for tests is dangerous. (Trust me, I've tried it.) Hope you passed anyway. ... So far Sevi sees no reason to torment Luci all that much. Luci's doing it all to himself. ... Nah, your English isn't that bad. I've read worse and still didn't mind. The purpose of learning languages is to communicate = be understood. I understood your review easily, so there was nothing wrong with your English. ... No, I wouldn't mind German reviews at all. I'd even answer you in German, if my brain weren't in English mode right now. (It switches languages instead of translating. Makes translating anything very difficult.)
rob * bob - Thanks!
annakas - AuthorAlert had another breakdown? (Grumble grumble, what am I paying these guys for?) ... Well, ReviewAlert seems to have worked at least. ... Not telling any more clues about the traitor right now. It will be revealed at the end of the fic. ... Ah, PegaPony likes Theodore as well. ... The DADA line was originally meant to be Ron's, but then I had Neville so comfortably on hand and no reason to send my boys to Gryffindor, or Ron to Slytherin ...
Demon of Fear - Gee, what does your computer have against MNS? Well, it was probably part of ff.net's upgrade. (Sniff! They changed my name! Sniff!) ... Dialogue for Greenie? He speaks only hedgehogish which none of my other characters understand, but I'll see what I can do about an occasional monologue. Sorry, but HPHC has to end there. I did the open end on purpose. Anything more would break the style of the fic.
Teri - Ah yes, that would have been more important for my original plot idea, to have young Sevi pretend to be his own nephew, but it wasn't realistic since the whole school already knows who he is after MNS.
Iremione - So you like Theo too? He seems to be quite popular. . . . I don't know about the title. I think it would be obvious to all those reader who have English for their first language, so I suppose they wouldn't comment. . . . No, never even saw Die another Day. I came up with that sentence on my own. It seemed to fit. . . . Ah, I'll find out on Monday, then!
-
-
-
-
A/N: What did Lucius make Ron do for detention? Will his teaching improve? And what is our traitor up to? (Guesses about the identity of the traitor as always will be read with great interest, but not answered, yet.) Please R/R.
-
-
Next: Sevi sneaks into the girls' dorms, Draco has to take Ginny to the hospital wing and Lucius has to break up a fight.