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.
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A/N - Well, still pouting over being numbered. I wonder whether I'll ever get over that insult. On a happier note, there is now a Portuguese translation of MNS. So far there's only one chapter out, but I'm still terribly proud.
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Chapter 4: Trevor, the Hero
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Tuesday morning passed quite agreeably for Severus. In the first lesson he managed to topple Professor Flitwick's pile of books with a casual, unnoticed flick of his wand. The spell was simple enough that any second year 'could have performed it, so Filius had no proof that it had been Severus who'd sent him crashing to the floor.
Severus was quite aware that the Charms teacher had no doubts about who the culprit was. The Hufflepuffs most certainly weren't under suspicion.
The second class, History, he spent drawing a portrait of Greenie who held obligingly still while trying to eat Severus' History book. Normally Severus didn't tolerate such abuse of books, but this one was really dead boring. A few chunks missing out of its cover and back might at least give it some remarkable characteristics.
During Lunch a food fight broke out over some unfortunate derogatory remark Draco had made about Pansy. Since Remus wasn't in the great hall at the time, Albus, with a particularly innocent twinkle, sent Lucius to break it up.
Lucius seemed to assume the best way to do this was by grabbing a hold of his son and yelling "Stop that!" at the top of his lungs.
Severus used the moment of distraction when Draco accidentally kicked Lucius in the shin, to levitate a jug of pumpkin juice over the teacher's head and turn it upside down.
The sticky shower managed to do what the kick had been unable to. Lucius let go of Draco and the food fight continued just like before.
Severus followed his first attack up with a handful of peas that he threw into Lucius' face, but soon found out that that had been a bad move.
Lucius pulled out his wand, conjured some ropes around Severus and levitated him up to the ceiling.
Severus couldn't block the rope spell without being suspicious as the block would have been a seventh year level spell. He wasn't even sure that he could have cast it fast enough anyway. Lucius was one of the best duellers he knew.
The temporary Potions teacher turned back to the rest of the Slytherins, possibly planning to give them a similar treatment, but the fight was over as everybody was staring at the levitating Severus instead.
Satisfied with this result Lucius smiled and tightened the ropes around the boy with another spell. There, that hadn't gone too badly, had it?
"Lucius!" McGonagall was rushing down from the head table wide eyed. "What do you think you're doing?"
"You, you can't do that! " Professor Flitwick panted right behind her.
"Oh, the poor little boy." Hagrid agreed. "That's too much. You'll scare him."
"Lucius, you will release Severus right now!" Dumbledore ordered sternly. "That is not the way we break up fights."
"It's not?" Lucius asked. "Well, it is the way I break up fights."
"Put Severus down right now!" Albus ordered with surprising authority in his usually friendly voice.
"He's afraid of heights, Professor." Hagrid added as if that made any difference.
Remembering his sentence and the looming danger of Azkaban, not to forget the anger of Voldemort, if he found out that Lucius had gotten himself fired from the job before completing his assignment, Lucius lowered Severus back to the ground a little roughly and stalked off.
Luckily Albus managed to undo the ropes quite easily.
Severus returned to his chair, picked up Greenie, who still had some noodles sticking to his back and cuddled the hedgehog for the rest of lunch break.
He was still a little unsettled when they had to leave for Herbology and unfortunately he couldn't bring his hedgehog along. Professor Sprout worried about her earthworms too much and Severus had been unable to convince her that the natural death of being eaten by a hedgehog of a few earthworms was not a big tragedy for the ecosystem of the green houses.
Thus Severus was pouting and very cold towards everybody when they arrived in Sprout's class. One hour of being partnered with Eric Farram didn't improve his mood any. Severus couldn't stand the boy, but Albus had hoped that working with one of their suspects might give Severus a chance to gather information on him. Unfortunately all Severus could bring himself to do right now was glare at Eric and not attack him.
Eric left looking very relieved. He was probably hoping never to have to work with Severus again.
While his classmates walked over to Hagrid's hut for Care for Magical Creatures Severus returned to the castle alongside the Ravenclaws. He'd almost have preferred the Gryffindors. At least some of them would have talked to him. The Ravenclaws however kept their distance.
The common room was empty by the time he arrived. Apparently everybody really was in class.
Severus smiled to himself and quickly got out Estella's History book, which he had stolen during the food fight at lunch. If anybody caught him entering or leaving the girls' dorms he'd claim that he'd found the book and just wanted to return it.
There was nobody in sight, though, and he just walked straight into the sixth years' dorm. Now which two trunks belonged to Pansy and Millicent?
The first bed was covered in Alice's school robes. Had she spilled her entire trunk onto it? And if so why? The robes were all the same after all. Any of them would have done for today.
Severus shrugged those questions off, though. Alice was not a suspect. He had more important things to do than to wonder about her behaviour.
On the nightstand of the next bed was a picture of Mr. and Mrs Parkinson. Bingo! This one had to be Pansy's.
Her trunk proved to be filled with beauty products. Most of them were potions, of course, but Severus also discovered some Muggle lipstick and moistener. He went to Pansy's cupboard to check that as well, but the moment he opened it a wave of some sticky sweet smell assaulted him and he quickly threw the door closed again.
It took him a moment to realise that what he was smelling had only been perfume and not a spoiled bee bait potion.
From the very last bed by the wall the only other occupant of the room stared at him accusingly and wrinkled her nose.
"Sorry Kitty, I didn't mean to do that to either of us." Severus informed her.
Millicent's cat wrinkled her nose even more at being addressed as Kitty and turned her back on Severus to give herself a good wash instead.
Severus just shrugged to himself. He had no idea what the real name of Millicent Bulstrode's cat was. All he remembered about the animal was that it was a female and belonged to Millicent.
That should mean that she was likely to sit on Millicent's bed, right?
The cat hissed at him when he walked over and knelt by the trunk next to the bed she was seated on, but went back to the business of licking her chest when Severus just opened the trunk.
It was indeed Millicent's as some scrolls of unfinished homework proved. Severus pocketed the Transfiguration homework for later copying and searched on. More beauty products, but not in the amount he'd found in Pansy's trunk.
One book on the dark arts, but not a particularly vile one. If Millicent really was the traitor, she was a little behind in her dark arts education. This was more suited for a curious girl wanting to get a general picture of that kind of magic, than for a dark witch planning to use it.
The search of Millicent's cupboard didn't yield anything more incriminating either and Severus decided to class Millicent down one step in his list of likely suspects. That currently ran: Theodore Nott in place one, followed closely by Stephan LaCroix, then Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson. Next came the Quiddich players Benjamin Davids and Lionel Bardon, then Millicent Bulstrode, the Mattels brothers and the fourth year suspects.
After those he listed the Ravenclaw suspects and Slytherin third years, followed by all the rest on his list.
Which reminded him that he had better things to do right now than review that list. His next most suspect female Slytherin was Diana Bardon from fourth year and he had just enough time left to search one more trunk right now. He just needed a little bit of luck to find Diana's trunk fast.
Severus quietly slipped out of the sixth years' dorm, walked hurriedly past the fifth year and into the fourth.
The room was a mess!
Various articles of clothing were strewn all over it. There were books and scrolls on the floor and Severus almost fell over an ink pot that stood open right next to the door. Even the girls' trunks stood wide open.
That of course was almost an invitation, Severus decided. Diana's trunk was easily identified from the fact that it contained her diary. After another look at the general chaos in the room Severus stuffed it in with Millicent's Transfigurations homework. Diana would probably not be surprised at all to have mislaid something and it might contain information not only on the girl herself, but also on her even more suspect brother.
Some illegal potions and Muggle sleeping pills hinted that Diana knew Stephan LaCroix better than was good for her. Everything else looked perfectly harmless, though.
The cupboard only got a cursory glance. The second afternoon lesson was almost over by now. Severus had to go.
He retreated to the common room where he started copying Millicent's Transfigurations essay. Draco, who showed up about five minutes later, helped him to vary it a bit.
"Hey, that's mine!" Millicent shrieked when she and Pansy passed by the boys on their way back to their dorm.
"Oh, shut it. Millicent." Severus told her unimpressed. "You dropped it."
"You little cheating bastard!" Millicent yelled.
"If you stop screaming and let me finish, you can have it back in a few minutes." Severus said matter-of-factly. "If you continue to annoy me, however, I'll burn it just like I usually do when I'm done copying somebody's essay."
Millicent blanched. That essay had been a lot of work. She'd never been a particularly good student and Transfigurations was a tough subject. No way did she want to start that homework over again.
Too afraid to let the obnoxious thief out of her sight she sat down at the boys' table and watched nervously as he finished copying.
While he was working students walked in and out of the common room first calmly, then more hurriedly and finally a last few ran out.
Severus tossed the stolen parchment back at Millicent and took a look around. Only a few seventh years were left in the room and they didn't seem interested in the sixth years at all.
Millicent immediately lost interest as well. She just grabbed her scroll and ran off towards her dorm.
"Lets go to the dorm. I've got something to show you there." Severus suggested to Draco.
But when they walked in Blaise and Theodore were already inside so they just dropped off their bags and went back out.
"Fifth year dorm." Severus decided. "Lets check on Hieronymus first."
The dorm was empty and quiet. Quite differently from the forth year girls' dormitory it was almost too orderly.
"We'd better be careful to put everything back exactly in here." Draco remarked.
"I checked the sixth and fourth year girls." Severus reported while opening the first trunk. "Nah, this is Patrick's."
"We're looking only for Hieronymus?" Draco asked.
"Yes," Severus confirmed closing the trunk again. "Patrick's father is an auror. He's one of the most unlikely candidates we have."
"So what about the girls?"
"Nothing really suspicious about Pansy." Severus reported. "And this is Marvin's bed." He closed the second trunk as well. "Millicent's interested in the dark arts, but apparently doesn't have as much knowledge of them as we thought. I won't say that clears her, but it does make her a less likely suspect. Nope, not this trunk either."
The fourth trunk put up a little more resistance and when Severus had finally opened it he smiled in triumph.
"Hieronymus at last." he told Draco. "And quite a reservoir of books on the dark arts. Most seem highly theoretical, though."
"What does that mean?"
"That either he's not planning on using any dark magic this year, or he knows his spells so well that he doesn't feel he needs to read up on them first. The first option would make him less suspect, the second more."
Neither the trunk nor the cupboard gave them any more hints, though.
"Well, let's move on to the fourth years." Severus finally decided. "We'll just have to keep a closer eye on Hieronymus Mattels from now on."
"What suspects do we have in fourth year again?" Draco whispered as they quietly slipped into the dorm.
"Iago Orson and Mattis Parker in here and Diana Bardon among the girls." Severus answered softly. "Diana's got similar illegal substances in her trunk as Stephan, which would indicate that Lionel might be involved with that stuff as well. Oh, and I have her diary right here in my pocket."
"You stole her diary?" Draco gasped. "Don't you think she'll miss it?"
"The dorm was a mess and the trunks even stood open." Severus grinned. "Diana and her friends probably misplace things all the time. And if she really gets the idea that it might have been stolen, she'll be more likely to suspect one of the other girls."
"Hey look!" Draco called excitedly. "This is Mattis' trunk. It has a name plaque."
Severus wrinkled his nose in disgust at the magnificently decorated trunk with it's golden plaque. "How overloaded."
"Well, yes, it is a little tasteless, but at least we know which trunk to start with." Draco said taking Greenie from Severus' hands once again.
"Sniff!" commented the little green hedgehog who wasn't used to being passed around this much.
"It's alright Greenie. Just two more trunks for today." Severus reassured his pet. "Now lets see what Mattis keeps in here."
The trunk opened surprisingly easily and revealed a large amount of sweets, some comic books and another diary. Severus considered taking this one with him as well, but changed his mind quickly. Mattis wasn't nearly as messy as Diana and two diaries missing from the same year might attract unwelcome attention.
Instead he just sat down on Mattis' bed and opened the little book right there. He almost didn't believe his eyes.
"He's got his dark arts training planned out for the entire year in here and is adding a progress report for each day."
"In an open diary that anyone can read?" Draco asked surprised.
"Yes, it appears that this is meant to be read by somebody, in fact." Severus reported. "The lesson plans are in a different handwriting. It could be Mattis' father or mother, but might also be somebody else, of course. "
"Highly suspect then." Draco decided and Severus nodded.
"Any idea which trunk might be Iago's?" Severus asked while he was still closing Mattis'.
"The one in the corner?" Draco suggested, but unfortunately turned out to be wrong. It took them two more attempts to find the right trunk.
"I'll have to take empty vials with me next time we do this." Severus declared when he reached the bottom of Iago's trunk.
"What? Why?"
"There's another potion hidden in here." Severus reported unscrewing the unlabelled bottle and sniffing it carefully. "Smells like a strong pain killing potion, but I can't tell for sure without taking a sample to analyse. I probably should have made sure all of Pansy's beauty potions are what they claim to be as well."
"Why would Iago need a pain killing potion in school?" Draco asked abandoning his fruitless search of the boy's cupboard.
"That," Severus said. "Is a really good question."
Despite the many open questions Severus was quite satisfied with their progress when they returned to their dorm. The only suspects left that they hadn't searched, yet were their own dorm mates and those in third year and below. Considering that it was only the second day of school that wasn't too bad.
After dinner Severus set up a little trap so he didn't lose his reputation as Slytherin's worst prankster, sabotaged a few tubes of tooth paste in the bathroom and went right to bed pulling the curtains closed behind him. Time to see what Diana Bardon had to tell her diary.
His first discovery was that Diana was in love with Mattis, but Mattis apparently had his eyes on Pansy. Well, Severus wished him good luck, if that was true. He'd most certainly need it to catch the interest of a girl that was two years older, rich and considered a beauty by most of her house mates.
Mattis wasn't Diana's only problem, though. She was also seriously annoyed with her parents, who refused to buy her a more expensive racing broom than her brother had. And said brother was another problem. He got much more attention from their father and knew the dark arts so much better and everybody took him much more seriously.
Severus sighed. The whole diary was a series of typical teenage girl complaints. Aside from the occasional remark about her brother knowing more about the dark arts there was nothing incriminating in there so far and he was just running out of patience. He'd continue this tomorrow.
Remus stumbled into his trap at almost one in the morning waking the whole dorm as he clattered to the floor along with the chair the rope he was tangled in was tied to.
"Severus? Was this really necessary?" the werewolf asked when the boys gathered around him curiously.
"It's not nearly as sophisticated a trap as I used on Albus." Severus pointed out through his laughter. "And I just had to give you some kind of welcome to your position."
"Fine then." Remus declared. "Five points off Slytherin for each minute I am tied up."
Theodore hastily vanished the rope.
Severus looked at him accusingly. "You spoiled my fun."
"We were losing points." Theodore argued.
"So? I'll probably put us into the negatives again anyway." Severus shrugged. "And that was a perfectly good rope you vanished. I'll expect you to replace it."
"Or else?" Theodore challenged.
"Else you might find a mousetrap in a very inconvenient place sometime soon." Severus smirked at him.
"No more mousetraps Severus!" Remus said in a stern but calm tone. "You sent enough of your classmates to the hospital wing with those last year. And now go back to bed. You're supposed to be asleep."
"You're the one that woke us up with all the noise." Severus declared, but trudged back towards his bed anyway. "You might be right, though. I have used mouse traps much too often already. Maybe I can come up with something better this year."
Something better did happen the very next morning in the bathroom. Draco and Severus had just stepped out of the showers when Gregory put his toothbrush into his mouth and . . . spit it right out again.
"Ahhh!" Gregory yelled tears streaming down his face and bent down over the washbasin to drink water right out of the tab.
Vincent regarded him cautiously, then gave his own toothbrush a try. Nothing.
He put toothpaste on it and put it in his mouth again.
"Ahhh!" he started spitting as well, but managed to tell his worried friends. "Hot! Like fire in my mouth!" though it was hard to understand over Severus' laughter.
Blaise and Theodore exchanged a look. Theodore tasted his toothpaste with the tip of his tongue before putting it on his toothbrush.
"No, tastes all normal." he reassured his friend and started brushing his teeth.
Blaise followed his example and took a cautious lick at first. Tiny sparks started flying from his nose.
He tried drinking some water as well, then put an extinguishing charm on his nose, cast finite incantatem . . .
Nothing worked.
"What the hell did you do this time, Severus?" Vincent demanded once he could speak normally again.
"Oh, you and Greg just got a little taste enhancing potion into your toothpaste." Severus grinned. "It'll wear off in a moment. As for Blaise and Theodore, well, they got some more special potions. Those will last for at least a day."
"What do you mean?" Theodore asked, mouth full of toothpaste. "There's nothing wrong with mine."
"Really?" Severus asked kindly.
Theodore spit out the toothpaste and blacked his teeth at the mirror. They were a striking Gryffindor red.
"Why you little!" Theodore launched himself at Severus, but he ducked out of the way and Theodore crashed headfirst into the metal rim of the shower stall behind his target.
"Ouch." he said softly as he sank to the floor to nurse the bump on his head.
The day started out with Arithmancy and Divination for the sixth years. The later subject was usually avoided by the Slytherins. Only Gregory and Vincent took it, but Severus, Blaise, Theodore and Estella took Arithmancy.
Which of course meant that Severus ended up sitting next to Estella. After a bit of an internal conflict Severus decided to use that chance to return her History book to her. She'd notice it was missing long before he got his next chance to sneak into the girls dorms and it would be suspicious, if he returned it a whole week after she lost it.
Maybe he could use Diana's diary instead next week.
So he pulled out the book along with his Arithmancy one and slid it over the table towards Estella.
"Here," he declared. "I found this in my bag yesterday evening. I must have accidentally packed it up after class."
Estella frowned at him. "I was sitting behind you. How would it have gotten on your desk?"
"Maybe it fell off and I picked it up from the floor after Boot fell over my bag?" Severus suggested.
"Boot fell over your bag?" Estella looked doubtful.
"Well he didn't really fall. He just stumbled a little and caught himself, but some of my things spilled out of the bag and I had to pick them up in a hurry." Severus lied.
"Boot isn't usually that clumsy."
"He's always half asleep on his feet after Binns' class." Severus said this time truthfully.
Estella accepted that. After all nobody was awake after History of Magic.
The second lesson was a study hour for the Slytherins. Draco and Severus met up in the common room and snuck into the second year boys dormitory once they were sure classes had started again.
"This is getting really, really boring." Draco declared while Severus was searching for the trunk of Elton Rover, the only male Slytherin suspect in second year. "All I found in the first years' trunks were stuffed animals, plastic and wooden toys and school things. And the usual sweets of course."
"I never said the first years would be interesting." Severus told him. "They are our most unlikely suspects, but also the ones we know the least about."
"And I don't think we missed anything there either." Draco frowned. "Searching trunks is getting old. I thought being a secret agent would be exciting."
"Only, if we get caught and I'd rather we don't." Severus commented. "It'd be quite dangerous."
"Can we at least do something other than search trunks sometime soon?" Draco whined.
"We're almost done anyway." Severus reminded him. "After Elton there's only the third years, Blaise and Theodore left of the boys and I'll be checking the girls on my own while you're in Care for Magical Creatures. Ah, this is it!"
Elton Rover's trunk was rather unremarkable, but filled with a lot more books and parchments than he was supposed to need.
"Novels mostly." Severus reported. "He seems to like reading fiction. And here we've got a diary." He opened the book and started to read, blinked a few times, then put it down again. "He doesn't only read fiction. Apparently he's also writing his own and it's pretty blood thirsty."
"Really?" Draco grabbed for the book. "Finally something interesting."
Severus however snatched it away from him at once. "Don't! When I say blood thirsty I mean it. He must have read a few torture books before he wrote this. Or maybe he's actually watched torture. There may not be any dark objects or dark arts books in here, but Elton's still suspect."
"His grandfather's an auror." Draco reminded Severus suddenly.
"Yes, but we don't know much about his parents, the boy's fascinated by violence and very prejudiced." Severus said closing the trunk and putting the locking charm back on.
"Do you consider me very prejudiced, too?" Draco asked with a frown.
"Yes, but not as much as you used to be and you're definitely not fascinated by violence." Severus answered. "Do you want to go to the library and do some homework? We've still got over half an hour left until lunch."
"Shouldn't we rather get the third years over with instead?"
"That'd be nice, but they don't have any classes right now either. They might be in the dorm or come in any time."
"Alright, library then, but lets work on the dragon drawing, not homework." Draco suggested. "I want to put it on our door when it's done and see whether it scares Lupin as much as the other one did Dumbledore."
"Fine. Did Neville give you those fireworks for Transfigurations?"
"Yes, passed them to me right under Hagrid's eyes and the buffoon never noticed." Draco smirked.
"Hagrid isn't that bad, you know. He might not be very bright, but he's got a good heart."
"I know, I know. I still don't like him. Are you sure you want to play a prank on McGonagall?" Draco asked remembering all the problems Severus had had with her last year.
"Of course." Severus grinned. "The only alternative is your father and that would be a waste of fireworks since all I'll need to do to make things explode in his class is brew an explosive potion."
"Which is much easier than using fireworks." Draco added with a touch of sarcasm.
"Yep." Severus confirmed. "And cheaper as well, since the ingredients are paid for by the school."
They spent a while in the library doing Transfiguration homework and keeping an eye on Blaise and Theodore, but the two suspects were only doing homework and after a while it got boring, so Draco suggested they should go to lunch early.
The great hall was still almost completely empty which would give them the chance to observe who their suspects would come in with. The tables were set when they arrived, but there was no food yet, much to the disappointment of Greenie who waddled from plate to plate checking whether there really wasn't anything to eat around.
About five minutes later class ended and the first students started coming in chatting and laughing and sat in their usual places. The food appeared and Draco and Severus started filling their plates while taking turns watching the door.
"There's Monique Lassiter and Clarissa Charlton." Draco commented about ten minutes into lunch. "Wonder what they're so excited about. Ah, and here comes Ginny. What's she doing talking with Mudblood Granger?"
"Hermione's a friend of her brother's." Severus pointed out looking over to where Ginny was just about to reach the Gryffindor table along with her fifth year housemates. "I suppose she must still be worried about him."
"You're right." Draco agreed. "He still seems a little depressed and Potter isn't even noticing."
Indeed Harry Potter was talking and laughing with Seamus Finnigan while Dean and Neville were once again trying to recapture Trevor the toad, who was happily hopping down the Gryffindor table.
"Oh no, Trevor!" Neville scolded as the toad landed in the salad bowl, but Trevor ignored him and with another leap jumped right out again just managing to escape Ginny's reaching hands.
The toad landed next to Harry Potter's plate and a sudden flash of light blinded all the watchers as the plate exploded into millions of tiny sharp shards that were catapulted into the air above the plate.
Most of them flew harmlessly to where Harry Potter's face would have been had he already been sitting at the table, but some took a more sideward route and several of the bystanders who'd already been hurt by the heat of the explosion screamed in pain as the shards cut deep into their skin.
"Ginny!" yelled Draco jumping to his feet and racing over to the Gryffindor table. "Ginny!"
Ron too immediately forgot his worries about Percy and jumped to his sister's side, while Neville was torn between aiding Dean, Ginny or Trevor.
Severus followed Darco as fast as he could through the crowds of terrified students some of which were trying to get away, while others were heading for the site of the explosion either out of curiosity or the desire to help.
Even the teachers' voices sounded panicked as they tried to get through to the injured.
"Please return to your common rooms!" the headmaster's magically amplified voice boomed over the noise. "The house elves will send up your lunch shortly.
Severus noticed a few horrified elves somewhere in the background. Dobby was in tears next to the headmaster's chair at the high table. Once the student crowds started to settle down and head towards the exits Dumbledore bent down to gently pat the elf's back trying to comfort him.
Ginny had a few burns and superficial cuts, as McGonagall had just determined when Severus finally got through to them. Luckily the shards had only grazed her.
"Nothing Madame Pomfrey can't heal in a matter of minutes." the head of Gryffindor said reassuringly. "You'll have to wait a bit until she's done with the more seriously wounded, though. Mr. Weasley, are you hurt as well?"
"N . . . no Professor. I wasn't at the table, yet, when . . ." he trailed off staring at Ginny in horror.
"Then I suggest you take your sister to the hospital wing. You too, Mr. Malfoy. I'm sure she'd be glad to have your support while she waits."
Draco looked over to Severus a little unsure what to do.
"Go ahead." Severus nodded at him. "I'll meet you at the hospital wing later. I need to talk to somebody first."
McGonagall meanwhile had moved on to Dean who was bleeding badly from a deep cut in his shoulder. Harry and Seamus were trying to stop the bleeding, but apparently their ministrations hurt more than they helped.
"I don't think you should attempt to close that wound, Mr Finnigan." McGonagall advised in a slightly reprimanding tone. "Especially not with that shard still inside." She conjured a stretcher that Dean climbed onto without protest. "Now you can levitate him up to the hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey will take care of it. Neville, what's wrong with you? Are you hurt?"
Neville shook his head. "Trevor." he managed to sob, tears streaking down his face.
For a moment Severus felt a touch of panic at the realisation that Greenie wasn't with him, then he remembered that the hedgehog was probably still snuffling around happily on the Slytherin table. He just hadn't thought to pick him up when he'd raced off towards the scene of the explosion.
"He only appears to have some slight burns." McGonagall diagnosed after a quick look at the toad. "Just take him over to Professor Hagrid for some salve or potion. I'm sure he'll know which one is best for a toad."
Neville smiled bravely through his tears, gently picked up the little patient and went to look for the Care for Magical Creatures teacher.
"Lucius!" Minerva continued. "Stop yelling at the poor house elves. They've done nothing wrong. Why don't you do something useful for a change and show these two first years the way to the hospital wing. They look like they could do with a calming potion."
Lucius Malfoy was probably not the best person to take care of two hysteric eleven year old girls, but he was the first one on hand and Severus silently agreed that he needed something to do that would keep him from driving the house elves into self mutilation.
Albus came over with a still sniffling Dobby on his arm and cast a fast series of revealing spells at the remains of Harry's plate.
"Quite an elaborate trap." he diagnosed. "I'm surprised it didn't kill anybody."
"You mean to say this was done on purpose, headmaster?" Severus was surprised at how horrified Argus Filch sounded.
"Yes, indeed." Dumbledore confirmed. "A number of very simple spells was combined with the intention to kill the person sitting at this place. The moment somebody touched the fork the plate would explode. The shards would then be transfigured into the shape of needles and head into a preset direction at high speed." He pointed at the needle shaped shards that had embedded themselves in the wall. "Our traitor isn't after Harry's secrets at all. He's out to kill him."
A shocked silence followed, then the house elves began to wail once more.
"Please, calm down." Albus said kindly rocking Dobby in his arms and rubbing his back. "We will find the culprit before he manages to reach his goal. There is no need to cry. The attack failed and there were only a few smaller injuries."
While he watched the headmaster console the elves and calm the fears of the rest of the staff Severus' mind was racing. The traitor must have set his trap before he and Draco had arrived in the great hall or else they would have noticed. The spells he had used might have been simple, but it would have taken him more than just a few seconds at Harry's place to set them. Severus knew that he'd have noticed anyone stopping at that seat.
But they had arrived while most of the school had still been in class. The dishes however had already been laid out, so the traitor would have had no problem getting at Harry's plate and silverware.
"Winky," Severus addressed the least panicked of the elves. "When did you set up the dishes?"
"We is starting to prepare the great hall half an hour before meal is starting, Sir." Winky looked up at him with huge frightened eyes. "We is wash all tables and floor, then set up plates, then silverware and last glasses. Then we is return kitchen and prepares food and drink for apparate into hall later when Sirs is wanting it."
"Did you see anyone in the great hall, while you were preparing it?" Severus continued.
"No, Winky is seeing nobody. Only house elves."
And house elves, especially the Hogwarts ones were incapable of committing a brutal murder like this.
"So the trap must have been set during class time." Severus decided.
Albus looked at him in surprise. "What makes you think that?"
"Our traitor could not have set it before the dishes were laid, which was done during class time. I'd have seen him, if he'd done it since I arrived and that was a few minutes before the end of class." Severus explained. "Albus, we need to find out where everybody was during the last half hour of the second lesson today. What students had study hour, what classes had electives and what students don't take them, who was absent during class, who left the class for any reason ..."
Albus nodded. "We'll have to ask all the teachers and consult the schedules then. Do you have any idea why the attack failed? I'm surprised it didn't kill whoever set it off."
"Because whoever it was must have remained under the planned trajectory of the shards." Professor Vector theorised. "Somebody must have reached for something from a few seats away and been stretched out low over the table."
"No," said Severus. "It was Trevor, Neville Longbottom's toad. He'd escaped and was hopping around on the table. He must have landed on the fork setting off the explosion. He's even smaller than somebody stretched out on the table would have been, so the shards didn't harm him and he only got burned."
Albus shook his head incredulously. "The big murder plot fails because of he heroism of one brave toad. Voldemort will be fuming with rage."
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Delfeus - Ah, there's a history behind my hate for being numbered. My primary school teacher decided to number me and the two other girls that shared my first name on the first day of school. Looking back now I can see that she did it by alphabet, but since she didn't say so, I just assumed it was by how important we were to her (My last name starts with Z.) I think that's when I started hating my name. Or maybe it's because I associate everything I'm ashamed of with my real name, while Silverfox used to stand for things I was proud of. Silverfox1 now stands for not having a right to my name and maybe not the things I associated with it either. . . . And I would still have my name, if stupid ff.net hadn't suddenly decided Silverfox and Silver Fox were the same name. Before this Silver Fox wouldn't show up as the result of a search for Silverfox. Now I don't show up in a search for Silverfox anymore. Thank you, ff.net. I'm sure people will find it very easy to find me now. I wonder how many of my readers will give up looking for me when I don't show up in a search anymore. . . . Stephan will probably cast the counter spell before opening his trunk again and unless there's some visible sign of the spell being lifted, he won't notice it isn't doing anything. He might get suspicious, if he does have a visible sign, though. Unfortunately Seva and Draco don't know whether he does.
Thistle - Well, when I'm at work they expect me to work, too, you know. Why should Luci fare any better? . . . Sevi had his schedule with him to help him. He'll just associate the various free hours he has with a certain dorm. . . . Yes, I think they will talk out of class sometime unless I forget to write the scene. I have no idea where to put it yet. Luci meeting Ginny? Now that is an interesting idea, but it would call for either a Luci or a Ginny POV with Draco and Sevi not around. Gotta work on Luci POVs anyway, so maybe . . . can't give away the traitor, though and Luci knows who it is and thinks about it a lot. Tricky.
chickens - Thanks. Hope you like this, too.
Teri - I know you weren't suggesting it, but that's where the idea came from. Future stories? Very unlikely. I doubt I'll ever do a seventh year fic. I wouldn't be comfortable writing about a bunch of seventeen year old boys. (Just like I never was comfortable in their presence. Too mature to want a platonic relationship with a girl, too immature to treat her as an equal.)
Leevee of Team Socket - That's Stephan, not Stephen. He's French, or at least from a French family living in England. . . . There's a war going on and I'm afraid in a war people die. I needed to put that in somehow. But of course Percy's body hasn't been found, yet, and Luci doesn't really know what became of the hostages. He only assumes.
TatraMegami - Oh, Luci will get a few tips and a little more experience before the next time. And Sevi will be a tiny bit preoccupied, so there's a chance it won't end in disaster.
magnetic-starfish - Terribly sorry, but RD's over. I'm working on this fic now.
zippy zany - I'm no good at romances, though Susan does like Sevi a little. The problem is, he's never even noticed.
Pam Briggs - Ah, so is that Theodore or Stephan you're suspecting then? Or have you found a new candidate in this chapter?
Black Angel - Oh wow! That is one big review! . . . Well, I couldn't quite get Sevi stuck as a boy again. That wouldn't have been believable. The original idea was to have Luci believe that adult Sevi was still around and little Sevi his nephew, but Albus would have had to alter the memory of the entire school and that just felt too contived. I'm afraid little Sevi and Minerva just don't really understand each other. They've got better chances of getting along once Sevi's an adult again. (And it will take time for him to overcome little Sevi's bad memories of her.) . . . Minerva wouldn't turn Greenie into an ashtray. She's accepted him as Sevi's exotic pet by now and thinks he's actually rather cute, but she'll never admit it. Sevi just doesn't know. . . . Well, I'm a little afraid of giving too much away, so there probably won't be too many clues. And I do like to keep all of you guessing.
magnetic-starfish - Thanks. I'm trying to update once a week again, but sometimes I just don't find the time to write that much.
Kiarene - Glad you like it. I'm afraid I can't say anything about the traitor, so you'll have to wait and see.
holly - Well, how else could I really have ended RD? It was the only way to make them all happy. . . . A lot of people would have liked to see Luci as a teacher after I suggested it as a joke in MNS, so I went and found a way to do it.
Iremione - Remus is a capable head. He'd have been disappointing in MNS where everything the others tried just ended in chaos. . . . Ginger's a nice name, but doesn't seem British to me. I try to stick with names that I'm sure would be used in Britain. Ginger might be an American invention . . . and Ginny really doesn't want anyone to confuse her with ginger ale. . . . I'm afraid Luci needs the teaching and Hermione just couldn't bare to watch his clumsiness. . . . Hermione has grown quite a bit since second year and I'm assuming that Luci hasn't met her in between, or thought much about her. . . . I'm assuming that Sevi has seen all sorts of drugs before. It's the kind of thing Volemort would have his potions master study. (For possible use as a recruiting tool or weapon.) . . . Blaise is the only one without a friend in the group right now. Theo is lonely, so he makes friends with Blaise.
Fly - Oh dear! I do hope you find your wand again before some Muggle accidentally picks it up. Who knows what trouble that might cause! . . . I actually knit my first Greenie, but my father managed to buy me one that was green from the start (He's made from hay.).
Jedi Knight Hunter - Thanks! . . . Neville saw Sevi. Remember that he was sitting at the head of the table? He was kind of obvious there. 8Neville's prank supplies weren't originally meant to be shared with others, but seeing Sevi back changed Neville's mind about that.)
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A/N: Do the girls really just have beauty potions in their trunks? Is Millicent as innocent as that book makes her seem? And what will our traitor do now that his trap has failed? (Guesses about the identity of the traitor as always will be read with great interest, but not answered, yet.) Please R/R.
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Next: Sevi brews s potion for Trevor, Draco gives away more than Severus would like him to and Lucius grades homework.
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.
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A/N - Well, still pouting over being numbered. I wonder whether I'll ever get over that insult. On a happier note, there is now a Portuguese translation of MNS. So far there's only one chapter out, but I'm still terribly proud.
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Chapter 4: Trevor, the Hero
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Tuesday morning passed quite agreeably for Severus. In the first lesson he managed to topple Professor Flitwick's pile of books with a casual, unnoticed flick of his wand. The spell was simple enough that any second year 'could have performed it, so Filius had no proof that it had been Severus who'd sent him crashing to the floor.
Severus was quite aware that the Charms teacher had no doubts about who the culprit was. The Hufflepuffs most certainly weren't under suspicion.
The second class, History, he spent drawing a portrait of Greenie who held obligingly still while trying to eat Severus' History book. Normally Severus didn't tolerate such abuse of books, but this one was really dead boring. A few chunks missing out of its cover and back might at least give it some remarkable characteristics.
During Lunch a food fight broke out over some unfortunate derogatory remark Draco had made about Pansy. Since Remus wasn't in the great hall at the time, Albus, with a particularly innocent twinkle, sent Lucius to break it up.
Lucius seemed to assume the best way to do this was by grabbing a hold of his son and yelling "Stop that!" at the top of his lungs.
Severus used the moment of distraction when Draco accidentally kicked Lucius in the shin, to levitate a jug of pumpkin juice over the teacher's head and turn it upside down.
The sticky shower managed to do what the kick had been unable to. Lucius let go of Draco and the food fight continued just like before.
Severus followed his first attack up with a handful of peas that he threw into Lucius' face, but soon found out that that had been a bad move.
Lucius pulled out his wand, conjured some ropes around Severus and levitated him up to the ceiling.
Severus couldn't block the rope spell without being suspicious as the block would have been a seventh year level spell. He wasn't even sure that he could have cast it fast enough anyway. Lucius was one of the best duellers he knew.
The temporary Potions teacher turned back to the rest of the Slytherins, possibly planning to give them a similar treatment, but the fight was over as everybody was staring at the levitating Severus instead.
Satisfied with this result Lucius smiled and tightened the ropes around the boy with another spell. There, that hadn't gone too badly, had it?
"Lucius!" McGonagall was rushing down from the head table wide eyed. "What do you think you're doing?"
"You, you can't do that! " Professor Flitwick panted right behind her.
"Oh, the poor little boy." Hagrid agreed. "That's too much. You'll scare him."
"Lucius, you will release Severus right now!" Dumbledore ordered sternly. "That is not the way we break up fights."
"It's not?" Lucius asked. "Well, it is the way I break up fights."
"Put Severus down right now!" Albus ordered with surprising authority in his usually friendly voice.
"He's afraid of heights, Professor." Hagrid added as if that made any difference.
Remembering his sentence and the looming danger of Azkaban, not to forget the anger of Voldemort, if he found out that Lucius had gotten himself fired from the job before completing his assignment, Lucius lowered Severus back to the ground a little roughly and stalked off.
Luckily Albus managed to undo the ropes quite easily.
Severus returned to his chair, picked up Greenie, who still had some noodles sticking to his back and cuddled the hedgehog for the rest of lunch break.
He was still a little unsettled when they had to leave for Herbology and unfortunately he couldn't bring his hedgehog along. Professor Sprout worried about her earthworms too much and Severus had been unable to convince her that the natural death of being eaten by a hedgehog of a few earthworms was not a big tragedy for the ecosystem of the green houses.
Thus Severus was pouting and very cold towards everybody when they arrived in Sprout's class. One hour of being partnered with Eric Farram didn't improve his mood any. Severus couldn't stand the boy, but Albus had hoped that working with one of their suspects might give Severus a chance to gather information on him. Unfortunately all Severus could bring himself to do right now was glare at Eric and not attack him.
Eric left looking very relieved. He was probably hoping never to have to work with Severus again.
While his classmates walked over to Hagrid's hut for Care for Magical Creatures Severus returned to the castle alongside the Ravenclaws. He'd almost have preferred the Gryffindors. At least some of them would have talked to him. The Ravenclaws however kept their distance.
The common room was empty by the time he arrived. Apparently everybody really was in class.
Severus smiled to himself and quickly got out Estella's History book, which he had stolen during the food fight at lunch. If anybody caught him entering or leaving the girls' dorms he'd claim that he'd found the book and just wanted to return it.
There was nobody in sight, though, and he just walked straight into the sixth years' dorm. Now which two trunks belonged to Pansy and Millicent?
The first bed was covered in Alice's school robes. Had she spilled her entire trunk onto it? And if so why? The robes were all the same after all. Any of them would have done for today.
Severus shrugged those questions off, though. Alice was not a suspect. He had more important things to do than to wonder about her behaviour.
On the nightstand of the next bed was a picture of Mr. and Mrs Parkinson. Bingo! This one had to be Pansy's.
Her trunk proved to be filled with beauty products. Most of them were potions, of course, but Severus also discovered some Muggle lipstick and moistener. He went to Pansy's cupboard to check that as well, but the moment he opened it a wave of some sticky sweet smell assaulted him and he quickly threw the door closed again.
It took him a moment to realise that what he was smelling had only been perfume and not a spoiled bee bait potion.
From the very last bed by the wall the only other occupant of the room stared at him accusingly and wrinkled her nose.
"Sorry Kitty, I didn't mean to do that to either of us." Severus informed her.
Millicent's cat wrinkled her nose even more at being addressed as Kitty and turned her back on Severus to give herself a good wash instead.
Severus just shrugged to himself. He had no idea what the real name of Millicent Bulstrode's cat was. All he remembered about the animal was that it was a female and belonged to Millicent.
That should mean that she was likely to sit on Millicent's bed, right?
The cat hissed at him when he walked over and knelt by the trunk next to the bed she was seated on, but went back to the business of licking her chest when Severus just opened the trunk.
It was indeed Millicent's as some scrolls of unfinished homework proved. Severus pocketed the Transfiguration homework for later copying and searched on. More beauty products, but not in the amount he'd found in Pansy's trunk.
One book on the dark arts, but not a particularly vile one. If Millicent really was the traitor, she was a little behind in her dark arts education. This was more suited for a curious girl wanting to get a general picture of that kind of magic, than for a dark witch planning to use it.
The search of Millicent's cupboard didn't yield anything more incriminating either and Severus decided to class Millicent down one step in his list of likely suspects. That currently ran: Theodore Nott in place one, followed closely by Stephan LaCroix, then Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson. Next came the Quiddich players Benjamin Davids and Lionel Bardon, then Millicent Bulstrode, the Mattels brothers and the fourth year suspects.
After those he listed the Ravenclaw suspects and Slytherin third years, followed by all the rest on his list.
Which reminded him that he had better things to do right now than review that list. His next most suspect female Slytherin was Diana Bardon from fourth year and he had just enough time left to search one more trunk right now. He just needed a little bit of luck to find Diana's trunk fast.
Severus quietly slipped out of the sixth years' dorm, walked hurriedly past the fifth year and into the fourth.
The room was a mess!
Various articles of clothing were strewn all over it. There were books and scrolls on the floor and Severus almost fell over an ink pot that stood open right next to the door. Even the girls' trunks stood wide open.
That of course was almost an invitation, Severus decided. Diana's trunk was easily identified from the fact that it contained her diary. After another look at the general chaos in the room Severus stuffed it in with Millicent's Transfigurations homework. Diana would probably not be surprised at all to have mislaid something and it might contain information not only on the girl herself, but also on her even more suspect brother.
Some illegal potions and Muggle sleeping pills hinted that Diana knew Stephan LaCroix better than was good for her. Everything else looked perfectly harmless, though.
The cupboard only got a cursory glance. The second afternoon lesson was almost over by now. Severus had to go.
He retreated to the common room where he started copying Millicent's Transfigurations essay. Draco, who showed up about five minutes later, helped him to vary it a bit.
"Hey, that's mine!" Millicent shrieked when she and Pansy passed by the boys on their way back to their dorm.
"Oh, shut it. Millicent." Severus told her unimpressed. "You dropped it."
"You little cheating bastard!" Millicent yelled.
"If you stop screaming and let me finish, you can have it back in a few minutes." Severus said matter-of-factly. "If you continue to annoy me, however, I'll burn it just like I usually do when I'm done copying somebody's essay."
Millicent blanched. That essay had been a lot of work. She'd never been a particularly good student and Transfigurations was a tough subject. No way did she want to start that homework over again.
Too afraid to let the obnoxious thief out of her sight she sat down at the boys' table and watched nervously as he finished copying.
While he was working students walked in and out of the common room first calmly, then more hurriedly and finally a last few ran out.
Severus tossed the stolen parchment back at Millicent and took a look around. Only a few seventh years were left in the room and they didn't seem interested in the sixth years at all.
Millicent immediately lost interest as well. She just grabbed her scroll and ran off towards her dorm.
"Lets go to the dorm. I've got something to show you there." Severus suggested to Draco.
But when they walked in Blaise and Theodore were already inside so they just dropped off their bags and went back out.
"Fifth year dorm." Severus decided. "Lets check on Hieronymus first."
The dorm was empty and quiet. Quite differently from the forth year girls' dormitory it was almost too orderly.
"We'd better be careful to put everything back exactly in here." Draco remarked.
"I checked the sixth and fourth year girls." Severus reported while opening the first trunk. "Nah, this is Patrick's."
"We're looking only for Hieronymus?" Draco asked.
"Yes," Severus confirmed closing the trunk again. "Patrick's father is an auror. He's one of the most unlikely candidates we have."
"So what about the girls?"
"Nothing really suspicious about Pansy." Severus reported. "And this is Marvin's bed." He closed the second trunk as well. "Millicent's interested in the dark arts, but apparently doesn't have as much knowledge of them as we thought. I won't say that clears her, but it does make her a less likely suspect. Nope, not this trunk either."
The fourth trunk put up a little more resistance and when Severus had finally opened it he smiled in triumph.
"Hieronymus at last." he told Draco. "And quite a reservoir of books on the dark arts. Most seem highly theoretical, though."
"What does that mean?"
"That either he's not planning on using any dark magic this year, or he knows his spells so well that he doesn't feel he needs to read up on them first. The first option would make him less suspect, the second more."
Neither the trunk nor the cupboard gave them any more hints, though.
"Well, let's move on to the fourth years." Severus finally decided. "We'll just have to keep a closer eye on Hieronymus Mattels from now on."
"What suspects do we have in fourth year again?" Draco whispered as they quietly slipped into the dorm.
"Iago Orson and Mattis Parker in here and Diana Bardon among the girls." Severus answered softly. "Diana's got similar illegal substances in her trunk as Stephan, which would indicate that Lionel might be involved with that stuff as well. Oh, and I have her diary right here in my pocket."
"You stole her diary?" Draco gasped. "Don't you think she'll miss it?"
"The dorm was a mess and the trunks even stood open." Severus grinned. "Diana and her friends probably misplace things all the time. And if she really gets the idea that it might have been stolen, she'll be more likely to suspect one of the other girls."
"Hey look!" Draco called excitedly. "This is Mattis' trunk. It has a name plaque."
Severus wrinkled his nose in disgust at the magnificently decorated trunk with it's golden plaque. "How overloaded."
"Well, yes, it is a little tasteless, but at least we know which trunk to start with." Draco said taking Greenie from Severus' hands once again.
"Sniff!" commented the little green hedgehog who wasn't used to being passed around this much.
"It's alright Greenie. Just two more trunks for today." Severus reassured his pet. "Now lets see what Mattis keeps in here."
The trunk opened surprisingly easily and revealed a large amount of sweets, some comic books and another diary. Severus considered taking this one with him as well, but changed his mind quickly. Mattis wasn't nearly as messy as Diana and two diaries missing from the same year might attract unwelcome attention.
Instead he just sat down on Mattis' bed and opened the little book right there. He almost didn't believe his eyes.
"He's got his dark arts training planned out for the entire year in here and is adding a progress report for each day."
"In an open diary that anyone can read?" Draco asked surprised.
"Yes, it appears that this is meant to be read by somebody, in fact." Severus reported. "The lesson plans are in a different handwriting. It could be Mattis' father or mother, but might also be somebody else, of course. "
"Highly suspect then." Draco decided and Severus nodded.
"Any idea which trunk might be Iago's?" Severus asked while he was still closing Mattis'.
"The one in the corner?" Draco suggested, but unfortunately turned out to be wrong. It took them two more attempts to find the right trunk.
"I'll have to take empty vials with me next time we do this." Severus declared when he reached the bottom of Iago's trunk.
"What? Why?"
"There's another potion hidden in here." Severus reported unscrewing the unlabelled bottle and sniffing it carefully. "Smells like a strong pain killing potion, but I can't tell for sure without taking a sample to analyse. I probably should have made sure all of Pansy's beauty potions are what they claim to be as well."
"Why would Iago need a pain killing potion in school?" Draco asked abandoning his fruitless search of the boy's cupboard.
"That," Severus said. "Is a really good question."
Despite the many open questions Severus was quite satisfied with their progress when they returned to their dorm. The only suspects left that they hadn't searched, yet were their own dorm mates and those in third year and below. Considering that it was only the second day of school that wasn't too bad.
After dinner Severus set up a little trap so he didn't lose his reputation as Slytherin's worst prankster, sabotaged a few tubes of tooth paste in the bathroom and went right to bed pulling the curtains closed behind him. Time to see what Diana Bardon had to tell her diary.
His first discovery was that Diana was in love with Mattis, but Mattis apparently had his eyes on Pansy. Well, Severus wished him good luck, if that was true. He'd most certainly need it to catch the interest of a girl that was two years older, rich and considered a beauty by most of her house mates.
Mattis wasn't Diana's only problem, though. She was also seriously annoyed with her parents, who refused to buy her a more expensive racing broom than her brother had. And said brother was another problem. He got much more attention from their father and knew the dark arts so much better and everybody took him much more seriously.
Severus sighed. The whole diary was a series of typical teenage girl complaints. Aside from the occasional remark about her brother knowing more about the dark arts there was nothing incriminating in there so far and he was just running out of patience. He'd continue this tomorrow.
Remus stumbled into his trap at almost one in the morning waking the whole dorm as he clattered to the floor along with the chair the rope he was tangled in was tied to.
"Severus? Was this really necessary?" the werewolf asked when the boys gathered around him curiously.
"It's not nearly as sophisticated a trap as I used on Albus." Severus pointed out through his laughter. "And I just had to give you some kind of welcome to your position."
"Fine then." Remus declared. "Five points off Slytherin for each minute I am tied up."
Theodore hastily vanished the rope.
Severus looked at him accusingly. "You spoiled my fun."
"We were losing points." Theodore argued.
"So? I'll probably put us into the negatives again anyway." Severus shrugged. "And that was a perfectly good rope you vanished. I'll expect you to replace it."
"Or else?" Theodore challenged.
"Else you might find a mousetrap in a very inconvenient place sometime soon." Severus smirked at him.
"No more mousetraps Severus!" Remus said in a stern but calm tone. "You sent enough of your classmates to the hospital wing with those last year. And now go back to bed. You're supposed to be asleep."
"You're the one that woke us up with all the noise." Severus declared, but trudged back towards his bed anyway. "You might be right, though. I have used mouse traps much too often already. Maybe I can come up with something better this year."
Something better did happen the very next morning in the bathroom. Draco and Severus had just stepped out of the showers when Gregory put his toothbrush into his mouth and . . . spit it right out again.
"Ahhh!" Gregory yelled tears streaming down his face and bent down over the washbasin to drink water right out of the tab.
Vincent regarded him cautiously, then gave his own toothbrush a try. Nothing.
He put toothpaste on it and put it in his mouth again.
"Ahhh!" he started spitting as well, but managed to tell his worried friends. "Hot! Like fire in my mouth!" though it was hard to understand over Severus' laughter.
Blaise and Theodore exchanged a look. Theodore tasted his toothpaste with the tip of his tongue before putting it on his toothbrush.
"No, tastes all normal." he reassured his friend and started brushing his teeth.
Blaise followed his example and took a cautious lick at first. Tiny sparks started flying from his nose.
He tried drinking some water as well, then put an extinguishing charm on his nose, cast finite incantatem . . .
Nothing worked.
"What the hell did you do this time, Severus?" Vincent demanded once he could speak normally again.
"Oh, you and Greg just got a little taste enhancing potion into your toothpaste." Severus grinned. "It'll wear off in a moment. As for Blaise and Theodore, well, they got some more special potions. Those will last for at least a day."
"What do you mean?" Theodore asked, mouth full of toothpaste. "There's nothing wrong with mine."
"Really?" Severus asked kindly.
Theodore spit out the toothpaste and blacked his teeth at the mirror. They were a striking Gryffindor red.
"Why you little!" Theodore launched himself at Severus, but he ducked out of the way and Theodore crashed headfirst into the metal rim of the shower stall behind his target.
"Ouch." he said softly as he sank to the floor to nurse the bump on his head.
The day started out with Arithmancy and Divination for the sixth years. The later subject was usually avoided by the Slytherins. Only Gregory and Vincent took it, but Severus, Blaise, Theodore and Estella took Arithmancy.
Which of course meant that Severus ended up sitting next to Estella. After a bit of an internal conflict Severus decided to use that chance to return her History book to her. She'd notice it was missing long before he got his next chance to sneak into the girls dorms and it would be suspicious, if he returned it a whole week after she lost it.
Maybe he could use Diana's diary instead next week.
So he pulled out the book along with his Arithmancy one and slid it over the table towards Estella.
"Here," he declared. "I found this in my bag yesterday evening. I must have accidentally packed it up after class."
Estella frowned at him. "I was sitting behind you. How would it have gotten on your desk?"
"Maybe it fell off and I picked it up from the floor after Boot fell over my bag?" Severus suggested.
"Boot fell over your bag?" Estella looked doubtful.
"Well he didn't really fall. He just stumbled a little and caught himself, but some of my things spilled out of the bag and I had to pick them up in a hurry." Severus lied.
"Boot isn't usually that clumsy."
"He's always half asleep on his feet after Binns' class." Severus said this time truthfully.
Estella accepted that. After all nobody was awake after History of Magic.
The second lesson was a study hour for the Slytherins. Draco and Severus met up in the common room and snuck into the second year boys dormitory once they were sure classes had started again.
"This is getting really, really boring." Draco declared while Severus was searching for the trunk of Elton Rover, the only male Slytherin suspect in second year. "All I found in the first years' trunks were stuffed animals, plastic and wooden toys and school things. And the usual sweets of course."
"I never said the first years would be interesting." Severus told him. "They are our most unlikely suspects, but also the ones we know the least about."
"And I don't think we missed anything there either." Draco frowned. "Searching trunks is getting old. I thought being a secret agent would be exciting."
"Only, if we get caught and I'd rather we don't." Severus commented. "It'd be quite dangerous."
"Can we at least do something other than search trunks sometime soon?" Draco whined.
"We're almost done anyway." Severus reminded him. "After Elton there's only the third years, Blaise and Theodore left of the boys and I'll be checking the girls on my own while you're in Care for Magical Creatures. Ah, this is it!"
Elton Rover's trunk was rather unremarkable, but filled with a lot more books and parchments than he was supposed to need.
"Novels mostly." Severus reported. "He seems to like reading fiction. And here we've got a diary." He opened the book and started to read, blinked a few times, then put it down again. "He doesn't only read fiction. Apparently he's also writing his own and it's pretty blood thirsty."
"Really?" Draco grabbed for the book. "Finally something interesting."
Severus however snatched it away from him at once. "Don't! When I say blood thirsty I mean it. He must have read a few torture books before he wrote this. Or maybe he's actually watched torture. There may not be any dark objects or dark arts books in here, but Elton's still suspect."
"His grandfather's an auror." Draco reminded Severus suddenly.
"Yes, but we don't know much about his parents, the boy's fascinated by violence and very prejudiced." Severus said closing the trunk and putting the locking charm back on.
"Do you consider me very prejudiced, too?" Draco asked with a frown.
"Yes, but not as much as you used to be and you're definitely not fascinated by violence." Severus answered. "Do you want to go to the library and do some homework? We've still got over half an hour left until lunch."
"Shouldn't we rather get the third years over with instead?"
"That'd be nice, but they don't have any classes right now either. They might be in the dorm or come in any time."
"Alright, library then, but lets work on the dragon drawing, not homework." Draco suggested. "I want to put it on our door when it's done and see whether it scares Lupin as much as the other one did Dumbledore."
"Fine. Did Neville give you those fireworks for Transfigurations?"
"Yes, passed them to me right under Hagrid's eyes and the buffoon never noticed." Draco smirked.
"Hagrid isn't that bad, you know. He might not be very bright, but he's got a good heart."
"I know, I know. I still don't like him. Are you sure you want to play a prank on McGonagall?" Draco asked remembering all the problems Severus had had with her last year.
"Of course." Severus grinned. "The only alternative is your father and that would be a waste of fireworks since all I'll need to do to make things explode in his class is brew an explosive potion."
"Which is much easier than using fireworks." Draco added with a touch of sarcasm.
"Yep." Severus confirmed. "And cheaper as well, since the ingredients are paid for by the school."
They spent a while in the library doing Transfiguration homework and keeping an eye on Blaise and Theodore, but the two suspects were only doing homework and after a while it got boring, so Draco suggested they should go to lunch early.
The great hall was still almost completely empty which would give them the chance to observe who their suspects would come in with. The tables were set when they arrived, but there was no food yet, much to the disappointment of Greenie who waddled from plate to plate checking whether there really wasn't anything to eat around.
About five minutes later class ended and the first students started coming in chatting and laughing and sat in their usual places. The food appeared and Draco and Severus started filling their plates while taking turns watching the door.
"There's Monique Lassiter and Clarissa Charlton." Draco commented about ten minutes into lunch. "Wonder what they're so excited about. Ah, and here comes Ginny. What's she doing talking with Mudblood Granger?"
"Hermione's a friend of her brother's." Severus pointed out looking over to where Ginny was just about to reach the Gryffindor table along with her fifth year housemates. "I suppose she must still be worried about him."
"You're right." Draco agreed. "He still seems a little depressed and Potter isn't even noticing."
Indeed Harry Potter was talking and laughing with Seamus Finnigan while Dean and Neville were once again trying to recapture Trevor the toad, who was happily hopping down the Gryffindor table.
"Oh no, Trevor!" Neville scolded as the toad landed in the salad bowl, but Trevor ignored him and with another leap jumped right out again just managing to escape Ginny's reaching hands.
The toad landed next to Harry Potter's plate and a sudden flash of light blinded all the watchers as the plate exploded into millions of tiny sharp shards that were catapulted into the air above the plate.
Most of them flew harmlessly to where Harry Potter's face would have been had he already been sitting at the table, but some took a more sideward route and several of the bystanders who'd already been hurt by the heat of the explosion screamed in pain as the shards cut deep into their skin.
"Ginny!" yelled Draco jumping to his feet and racing over to the Gryffindor table. "Ginny!"
Ron too immediately forgot his worries about Percy and jumped to his sister's side, while Neville was torn between aiding Dean, Ginny or Trevor.
Severus followed Darco as fast as he could through the crowds of terrified students some of which were trying to get away, while others were heading for the site of the explosion either out of curiosity or the desire to help.
Even the teachers' voices sounded panicked as they tried to get through to the injured.
"Please return to your common rooms!" the headmaster's magically amplified voice boomed over the noise. "The house elves will send up your lunch shortly.
Severus noticed a few horrified elves somewhere in the background. Dobby was in tears next to the headmaster's chair at the high table. Once the student crowds started to settle down and head towards the exits Dumbledore bent down to gently pat the elf's back trying to comfort him.
Ginny had a few burns and superficial cuts, as McGonagall had just determined when Severus finally got through to them. Luckily the shards had only grazed her.
"Nothing Madame Pomfrey can't heal in a matter of minutes." the head of Gryffindor said reassuringly. "You'll have to wait a bit until she's done with the more seriously wounded, though. Mr. Weasley, are you hurt as well?"
"N . . . no Professor. I wasn't at the table, yet, when . . ." he trailed off staring at Ginny in horror.
"Then I suggest you take your sister to the hospital wing. You too, Mr. Malfoy. I'm sure she'd be glad to have your support while she waits."
Draco looked over to Severus a little unsure what to do.
"Go ahead." Severus nodded at him. "I'll meet you at the hospital wing later. I need to talk to somebody first."
McGonagall meanwhile had moved on to Dean who was bleeding badly from a deep cut in his shoulder. Harry and Seamus were trying to stop the bleeding, but apparently their ministrations hurt more than they helped.
"I don't think you should attempt to close that wound, Mr Finnigan." McGonagall advised in a slightly reprimanding tone. "Especially not with that shard still inside." She conjured a stretcher that Dean climbed onto without protest. "Now you can levitate him up to the hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey will take care of it. Neville, what's wrong with you? Are you hurt?"
Neville shook his head. "Trevor." he managed to sob, tears streaking down his face.
For a moment Severus felt a touch of panic at the realisation that Greenie wasn't with him, then he remembered that the hedgehog was probably still snuffling around happily on the Slytherin table. He just hadn't thought to pick him up when he'd raced off towards the scene of the explosion.
"He only appears to have some slight burns." McGonagall diagnosed after a quick look at the toad. "Just take him over to Professor Hagrid for some salve or potion. I'm sure he'll know which one is best for a toad."
Neville smiled bravely through his tears, gently picked up the little patient and went to look for the Care for Magical Creatures teacher.
"Lucius!" Minerva continued. "Stop yelling at the poor house elves. They've done nothing wrong. Why don't you do something useful for a change and show these two first years the way to the hospital wing. They look like they could do with a calming potion."
Lucius Malfoy was probably not the best person to take care of two hysteric eleven year old girls, but he was the first one on hand and Severus silently agreed that he needed something to do that would keep him from driving the house elves into self mutilation.
Albus came over with a still sniffling Dobby on his arm and cast a fast series of revealing spells at the remains of Harry's plate.
"Quite an elaborate trap." he diagnosed. "I'm surprised it didn't kill anybody."
"You mean to say this was done on purpose, headmaster?" Severus was surprised at how horrified Argus Filch sounded.
"Yes, indeed." Dumbledore confirmed. "A number of very simple spells was combined with the intention to kill the person sitting at this place. The moment somebody touched the fork the plate would explode. The shards would then be transfigured into the shape of needles and head into a preset direction at high speed." He pointed at the needle shaped shards that had embedded themselves in the wall. "Our traitor isn't after Harry's secrets at all. He's out to kill him."
A shocked silence followed, then the house elves began to wail once more.
"Please, calm down." Albus said kindly rocking Dobby in his arms and rubbing his back. "We will find the culprit before he manages to reach his goal. There is no need to cry. The attack failed and there were only a few smaller injuries."
While he watched the headmaster console the elves and calm the fears of the rest of the staff Severus' mind was racing. The traitor must have set his trap before he and Draco had arrived in the great hall or else they would have noticed. The spells he had used might have been simple, but it would have taken him more than just a few seconds at Harry's place to set them. Severus knew that he'd have noticed anyone stopping at that seat.
But they had arrived while most of the school had still been in class. The dishes however had already been laid out, so the traitor would have had no problem getting at Harry's plate and silverware.
"Winky," Severus addressed the least panicked of the elves. "When did you set up the dishes?"
"We is starting to prepare the great hall half an hour before meal is starting, Sir." Winky looked up at him with huge frightened eyes. "We is wash all tables and floor, then set up plates, then silverware and last glasses. Then we is return kitchen and prepares food and drink for apparate into hall later when Sirs is wanting it."
"Did you see anyone in the great hall, while you were preparing it?" Severus continued.
"No, Winky is seeing nobody. Only house elves."
And house elves, especially the Hogwarts ones were incapable of committing a brutal murder like this.
"So the trap must have been set during class time." Severus decided.
Albus looked at him in surprise. "What makes you think that?"
"Our traitor could not have set it before the dishes were laid, which was done during class time. I'd have seen him, if he'd done it since I arrived and that was a few minutes before the end of class." Severus explained. "Albus, we need to find out where everybody was during the last half hour of the second lesson today. What students had study hour, what classes had electives and what students don't take them, who was absent during class, who left the class for any reason ..."
Albus nodded. "We'll have to ask all the teachers and consult the schedules then. Do you have any idea why the attack failed? I'm surprised it didn't kill whoever set it off."
"Because whoever it was must have remained under the planned trajectory of the shards." Professor Vector theorised. "Somebody must have reached for something from a few seats away and been stretched out low over the table."
"No," said Severus. "It was Trevor, Neville Longbottom's toad. He'd escaped and was hopping around on the table. He must have landed on the fork setting off the explosion. He's even smaller than somebody stretched out on the table would have been, so the shards didn't harm him and he only got burned."
Albus shook his head incredulously. "The big murder plot fails because of he heroism of one brave toad. Voldemort will be fuming with rage."
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Delfeus - Ah, there's a history behind my hate for being numbered. My primary school teacher decided to number me and the two other girls that shared my first name on the first day of school. Looking back now I can see that she did it by alphabet, but since she didn't say so, I just assumed it was by how important we were to her (My last name starts with Z.) I think that's when I started hating my name. Or maybe it's because I associate everything I'm ashamed of with my real name, while Silverfox used to stand for things I was proud of. Silverfox1 now stands for not having a right to my name and maybe not the things I associated with it either. . . . And I would still have my name, if stupid ff.net hadn't suddenly decided Silverfox and Silver Fox were the same name. Before this Silver Fox wouldn't show up as the result of a search for Silverfox. Now I don't show up in a search for Silverfox anymore. Thank you, ff.net. I'm sure people will find it very easy to find me now. I wonder how many of my readers will give up looking for me when I don't show up in a search anymore. . . . Stephan will probably cast the counter spell before opening his trunk again and unless there's some visible sign of the spell being lifted, he won't notice it isn't doing anything. He might get suspicious, if he does have a visible sign, though. Unfortunately Seva and Draco don't know whether he does.
Thistle - Well, when I'm at work they expect me to work, too, you know. Why should Luci fare any better? . . . Sevi had his schedule with him to help him. He'll just associate the various free hours he has with a certain dorm. . . . Yes, I think they will talk out of class sometime unless I forget to write the scene. I have no idea where to put it yet. Luci meeting Ginny? Now that is an interesting idea, but it would call for either a Luci or a Ginny POV with Draco and Sevi not around. Gotta work on Luci POVs anyway, so maybe . . . can't give away the traitor, though and Luci knows who it is and thinks about it a lot. Tricky.
chickens - Thanks. Hope you like this, too.
Teri - I know you weren't suggesting it, but that's where the idea came from. Future stories? Very unlikely. I doubt I'll ever do a seventh year fic. I wouldn't be comfortable writing about a bunch of seventeen year old boys. (Just like I never was comfortable in their presence. Too mature to want a platonic relationship with a girl, too immature to treat her as an equal.)
Leevee of Team Socket - That's Stephan, not Stephen. He's French, or at least from a French family living in England. . . . There's a war going on and I'm afraid in a war people die. I needed to put that in somehow. But of course Percy's body hasn't been found, yet, and Luci doesn't really know what became of the hostages. He only assumes.
TatraMegami - Oh, Luci will get a few tips and a little more experience before the next time. And Sevi will be a tiny bit preoccupied, so there's a chance it won't end in disaster.
magnetic-starfish - Terribly sorry, but RD's over. I'm working on this fic now.
zippy zany - I'm no good at romances, though Susan does like Sevi a little. The problem is, he's never even noticed.
Pam Briggs - Ah, so is that Theodore or Stephan you're suspecting then? Or have you found a new candidate in this chapter?
Black Angel - Oh wow! That is one big review! . . . Well, I couldn't quite get Sevi stuck as a boy again. That wouldn't have been believable. The original idea was to have Luci believe that adult Sevi was still around and little Sevi his nephew, but Albus would have had to alter the memory of the entire school and that just felt too contived. I'm afraid little Sevi and Minerva just don't really understand each other. They've got better chances of getting along once Sevi's an adult again. (And it will take time for him to overcome little Sevi's bad memories of her.) . . . Minerva wouldn't turn Greenie into an ashtray. She's accepted him as Sevi's exotic pet by now and thinks he's actually rather cute, but she'll never admit it. Sevi just doesn't know. . . . Well, I'm a little afraid of giving too much away, so there probably won't be too many clues. And I do like to keep all of you guessing.
magnetic-starfish - Thanks. I'm trying to update once a week again, but sometimes I just don't find the time to write that much.
Kiarene - Glad you like it. I'm afraid I can't say anything about the traitor, so you'll have to wait and see.
holly - Well, how else could I really have ended RD? It was the only way to make them all happy. . . . A lot of people would have liked to see Luci as a teacher after I suggested it as a joke in MNS, so I went and found a way to do it.
Iremione - Remus is a capable head. He'd have been disappointing in MNS where everything the others tried just ended in chaos. . . . Ginger's a nice name, but doesn't seem British to me. I try to stick with names that I'm sure would be used in Britain. Ginger might be an American invention . . . and Ginny really doesn't want anyone to confuse her with ginger ale. . . . I'm afraid Luci needs the teaching and Hermione just couldn't bare to watch his clumsiness. . . . Hermione has grown quite a bit since second year and I'm assuming that Luci hasn't met her in between, or thought much about her. . . . I'm assuming that Sevi has seen all sorts of drugs before. It's the kind of thing Volemort would have his potions master study. (For possible use as a recruiting tool or weapon.) . . . Blaise is the only one without a friend in the group right now. Theo is lonely, so he makes friends with Blaise.
Fly - Oh dear! I do hope you find your wand again before some Muggle accidentally picks it up. Who knows what trouble that might cause! . . . I actually knit my first Greenie, but my father managed to buy me one that was green from the start (He's made from hay.).
Jedi Knight Hunter - Thanks! . . . Neville saw Sevi. Remember that he was sitting at the head of the table? He was kind of obvious there. 8Neville's prank supplies weren't originally meant to be shared with others, but seeing Sevi back changed Neville's mind about that.)
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A/N: Do the girls really just have beauty potions in their trunks? Is Millicent as innocent as that book makes her seem? And what will our traitor do now that his trap has failed? (Guesses about the identity of the traitor as always will be read with great interest, but not answered, yet.) Please R/R.
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Next: Sevi brews s potion for Trevor, Draco gives away more than Severus would like him to and Lucius grades homework.