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 of MNS. 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 - There, all done! I was already afraid I wouldn't get this one finished in time, but I just barely made it.
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Chapter 6: Dumbledore's Warning
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Even though Severus and Draco arrived a little late for dinner there was no food on the tables when they came into the great hall. All the teachers were sitting at the head table looking very serious, with the only exception being Lucius Malfoy who had his face hidden behind his copy of the Daily Prophet.
The headmaster nodded a greeting towards the boys as they came in, but kept watching the entrances intently.
Over at the Gryffindor table several seats remained empty, but to Draco's relief Ginny was there sitting next to Colin and Dennis Creevey, though she didn't seem to be participating in their conversation.
Potter was as usually flanked by Hermione and Ron Weasley who kept frowning over at the head table.
Severus assumed that he was still pouting over the detention Lucius had given him.
Considering that Weasley had actually had his essay with him, even if he'd forgotten to hand it in, the punishment did seem a little harsh, but Lucius was clearly at a loss about how to use his disciplinarian powers.
Severus almost wished he could give him some tips, but of course he had to continue to pretend that he didn't remember anything of his adult life.
Rumours were flying through the hall left and right, some about the incident at lunch, others about the lack of food on their plates.
Finally after Luisa Hunter-Moor's hasty entrance ten minutes after dinner should normally have started, Albus Dumbledore got up and called for silence. The students all turned to look up at him, most trustingly, some fearfully, some eagerly, some bored and a few challengingly.
"I have very unhappy news to tell you." Albus announced, which shut up even the last whispers along the student tables. "Most of you saw what happened at lunch today. A plate exploded hurting several of your number and I am sure you have all wondered how that could have happened. Exploding plates aren't normal household accidents and indeed upon closer inspection the plate was magically set to explode."
Little whispers sprang up from among the first years, especially at the Hufflepuff table. They'd clearly still believed in an accident.
"Of course this might have been a prank gone horribly wrong, though from the spells used it does not look like one. If so, I ask the prankster to please confess either to me or to their head of house after this meal. I promise that there will not be any serious punishment, even though it was sheer luck that nobody was killed."
More whispering, several voices commenting that Dumbledore was exaggerating.
"No, I'm afraid, that, if somebody had been sitting in front of that plate when it exploded, that person would have been killed. The shards were set to transfigure themselves into needle shape so they would cut deeper into the victims' body. That is the reason why several of your fellow students are still in the hospital wing. If nobody confesses that the incident was a prank gone wrong, I fear that we will have to assume that that was the intention behind it."
Stunned silence, then frightened gasps and more whispering. Dumbledore waited for a moment before he called the room back to order once again.
"Considering that the plate was at Harry Potter's usual seat, we will then have to assume that there is a death eater loose within the school. A death eater who definitely isn't one of the staff."
Severus groaned softly to himself. Why was Albus warning the traitor? Didn't he realise that he'd be even more careful not to be suspicious now that he knew that they were looking for him? How was he going to find him now?
"Therefore I advise all of you to be very careful and report any suspicious behaviour of one of your classmates to your head of house or myself immediately. Unfortunately not even the first years are beyond suspicion. All the spells used on Harry's plate were simple enough to be performed by any one of you."
Murmurs of protest were heard from where the first years sat.
"Yes," Albus agreed. "I know that a normal first year would not know enough to set a trap like that on their own, but they could be taught easily by an adult wizard and there is no telling what other harmful spells a death eater might teach such a child. I repeat, please be very very careful and immediately report anything suspicious you notice."
"I bet it was just another of Snape's pranks." somebody shouted from the Ravenclaw table.
"Yeah, who says he isn't the traitor." Ron confirmed. "He's always hated Harry."
"Severus would never do something like that!" Susan's voice rang out over the disgruntled murmurs of the Slytherins.
The entire house was staring at Ron.
"Sit down, Ron." Harry hissed at his best friend pulling him back into his seat. "Severus is on our side. And he'd be more likely to use a potion to kill somebody anyway."
"Children, please!" Dumbledore shouted over the insults that were now flying between Slytherin and Gryffindor. "There was a transfiguration spell on that plate and, as you all saw, it wasn't green."
Nervous laughter from the Hufflepuffs.
"Therefore I don't think Severus had anything to do with it." Albus continued. "We might of course be dealing with an imitator, though. Severus, I would like to see you and Draco in my office after dinner to discuss that possibility."
Dinner took longer than usually after Dumbledore's speech however. The students were once again busily spreading rumours and theories and Severus did his best to hear as many as possible, while Draco wolfed down his food and raced over to the Gryffindor table to check on Ginny.
Severus sighed softly when his friend took off. He knew that it was hard on Draco not to be able to talk to Ginny about her brother, but could only hope that the boy understood how important it was that he didn't give away his knowledge. If it got out that Lucius was a death eater, he'd most likely go to Azkaban which would have dire consequences for his family as well. The light side would shun the Malfoys and those on the dark side would as well out of fear of being suspected. Moreover, if Draco was the one who gave Lucius' secret away the dark side wouldn't trust him anymore, which meant that the traitor would be weary of him. That could destroy their entire mission.
Thus it was already later than Albus had planned when his two agents finally arrived in his office.
"So." Albus twinkled at them in greeting. "Did you learn anything interesting?"
"Oh yes." Severus confirmed with a smirk. "I learned that I only failed all my transfigurations last year, in order to have an alibi for my devious murder of Harry Potter."
Albus blinked. "Whoever came up with that theory?"
"A Gryffindor, I'd say." Severus shrugged. "Maybe even Weasley or Potter himself, though if it was Potter, he probably meant it as a joke."
Albus nodded. "I questioned the teachers, just like you asked me to."
Severus immediately took out his list again. "I'll probably have to start a notebook." he commented. "There are so many things I need to remember about each suspect, that I'm starting to confuse them."
"If somebody sees that book, though, they'll know exactly what you are up to." Dumbledore warned him.
"I know, but it won't help us, if we can't rely on our information about each student being correct. So, do we have any cleared suspects?"
"You'll have to tell me that. I don't remember your entire list." Albus answered. "I do know who was in class and who wasn't, though. The Slytherin and Ravenclaw first years had History of Magic. Professor Binns said that two students were missing, unfortunately the names he gave for them don't show up on any of our class lists."
"He usually gets the names of all his students wrong." Severus said calmly. "Do we know for sure that he knows how many students there really are in that class?"
Albus shook his head sadly. "Not entirely."
"In that case there might have been no students missing at all, or half the class." Draco groaned.
"Lets just say that the Slytherin and Ravenclaw first years don't have an alibi. That makes them no more or less suspicious than they were before." Severus decided.
"The Gryffindors an Hufflepuffs were in Herbology. Professor Sprout reports no missing students, but little Missy Clay went to the bathroom and took very long to return." Albus continued. "Considering that as a first year Missy probably doesn't know every bathroom in the castle and that it's quite a long way from the greenhouses to the Hufflepuff dorms, that is completely understandable, though."
"Missy Clay?" Draco asked. "Whoever is Missy Clay? I've never heard of her."
"A first year Hufflepuff, I think." Severus strained his memory. He'd seen her at the sorting. "Short blond hair, rather tall for her age."
"She's also Muggle born." Albus added. "Not our most likely candidate."
"Fine." said Severus. "Lets forget Missy for now. The first years aren't our most likely suspects anyway. What about the older students?"
"The second year Sytherins and Gryffindors had Charms." Albus continued. "Filius reports all present, but Quintus Palmer felt sick and went to the hospital wing a few minutes into class. Poppy claims that he seemed completely healthy, so she gave him a light anti-nausea drought and sent him back to class. According to Filius Quintus didn't return to the lesson at all. He's a Gryffindor, though."
"And one of the two Minerva considers suspect." Severus said sharply. "We'd better keep an eye on Mr. Palmer, I think. Any bathroom breaks in that class?"
Albus studied his notes for a moment. "I'm afraid I didn't ask." he finally admitted. "It only occurred to me to do so after Remus reported it unasked. He had the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff second years."
"I know, we already spoke with him." Severus agreed. "He cleared Sondra Summer and James McGregor for us, but gave us three new suspects in Phil Hawkins, Fatima Suleyman and Marlies King."
"None of them seem very prejudiced." Albus argued.
"Fatima is friends with Sondra." Severus informed him. "None of the three are among my top suspects, but I'm keeping them on the list just to be safe."
"The third years had a study hour I'm afraid." Albus continued with a slight frown.
"Oh no." Draco groaned.
"What's so bad about that?" Dumbledore asked him.
"That's only the year with the most suspects." Draco told him. "And we haven't searched their trunks, yet."
"The most suspects?" Albus repeated. "Who?"
"Caius Rude of Gryffindor." Severus read out. "Aemilia Andres of Hufflepuff, Gaia Ushton, Curtis Marston, Bran Lewis, Mathilda Harris, Marsha Alton and, particularly suspect, Maximius Mattels."
"Maybe their trunks will provide the proof we need?" Albus suggested hopefully.
"Unlikely." Severus said. "So far we've only found clues. Our traitor would have to be very stupid to keep any clear proof with him at all, especially now that he knows we're after him."
"Well, lets move on to the fourth years then." Albus suggested. "Slytherin and Gryffindor had Transfigurations, while Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were in Potions. According to Minerva Mattis Parker was missing for still unknown reasons. Iago Orson, Rudolph Rash and Sally Arden went to the bathroom. Mr. Orson took surprisingly long and only returned after the end of class to get his bag. Minerva claims he had serious problems transfiguring his brick, which might be a reason to skip class, I suppose."
"Rash and Arden are Gryffindors, I suppose?" Draco asked since he'd never heard of the two. He knew every Slytherin in the school, though he didn't remember the names of all the first years.
"Yes," Severus confirmed. "I'll put them on the list anyway, just in case. What about Diana Bardon?"
"You'll have to ask Minerva about it. She didn't mention her. Lucius Malfoy doesn't remember any bathroom breaks and reports all students present." Albus continued.
"As if Father would tell the truth about that, if the traitor really was in his class." Draco scoffed. "We can't trust his word on that."
"Which means Keith Gorl and Sandra Invers are still suspect." Severus agreed.
"The fifth year had Care for Magical Creatures and Muggle Studdies." Albus continued apparently unwilling to comment on the trustworthiness of Lucius Malfoy. "Hagrid does not remember any bathroom breaks and thinks everybody was present. There were no bathroom breaks in Muggle Studies. Apparently the Muggle songs they were singing were quite interesting."
"We'll need a student list for both classes." Severus decided. "Otherwise we'll never know who was present and who wasn't."
"That'd be another risky document in your hands." Albus said doubtfully.
Severus sighed. "Very well, then check Hieronymus Mattels and Minx Hutchings for me."
"Both Slytherins?" Albus asked. "No, they're not on either list."
"No, Minx is a Ravenclaw." Draco sneered.
"Ah, oh right. She takes Care for Magical Creatures then." Albus corrected after checking another list. "I don't entirely trust Hagrid on the absences since he usually forgets to take attendance, but I think we can be sure about the bathroom breaks."
"Right. We need to ask Hagrid about Minx, then." Severus decided.
"The sixth year Slytherins and Hufflepuffs had a study hour, as you probably know, while the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws should have had Latin."
"But Professor Pince was in Hogsmeade to see her healer." Draco continued. "Dobby already told us."
"Which means all our sixth year suspects remain." Severus summed up. "And they are among the most important."
"The seventh year had Divination and Arithmancy." Albus continued. "Sybil reports that Neel Ferris snuck out of her class under the pretence of going to the bathroom. He might just have had enough of having his death predicted, though."
"Benjamin Davids and Lionel Bardon were in Arithmancy." Severus said before Albus could continue. "Does Stephan LaCroix take Divination?"
"No," Albus answered surprisingly fast. "No seventh year Slytherins do. Why that subject is unpopular in your house!"
"We like clear facts." Severus explained with a shrug then glanced back down at his list. "This brought less than I expected. So far I have only four students cleared for sure, while I added three new suspects, four if we count Missy Clay."
"I counted more students cleared." Draco said surprised.
"We still need to check the bathroom breaks in Charms and I want additional confirmation on Diana Bardon and Minx Hutchings from their teachers as well." Severus explained. "I think we've got just enough time to still catch Professor Flitwick in his office, if we're done here, Albus?"
"I guess that means you don't want to cheer up an old wizard's dreary life with some stories about your exciting school days?" Dumbledore asked slightly disappointed.
"Sure, old wizard with a dreary life." Severus snorted. "I still suspect you of sending Lucius after me on purpose. I won't forgive you that flight so easily."
"I only sent him to break up the fight." Albus defended himself. "I thought it would help him learn how to handle misbehaving students."
"Yeah, sure." Severus sneered.
Five minutes later the two boys knocked on Filius Flitwick's door.
The small professor looked very surprised to see them.
"Ah, Severus, Mr. Malfoy, do come in." he invited them anyway. "What can I do for you?"
"You had the second year Slytherins and Gryffindors before the incident at lunch." Severus stated more than asked.
"Yes," Flitwick confirmed. "I suppose Albus would have told you that."
"He did, but we need to know about any absences as well." Severus explained.
"Quintus Palmer." Flitwick answered at once. "He went to the hospital wing because he was feeling sick. The boy did look a little green in the face, so I don't think he was lying."
Draco nodded impatiently. "Yes we know about the Gryffindor. What about the others, though? Any bathroom breaks, early leavers or . . . well anything?"
"Bathroom breaks." Flitwick thought for a moment. "Of course there always are some of those. Oh yes, Selina Mandrake of Gryffindor and Luisa Hunter- Moor of Slytherin. They both wanted to leave at the same time, but we finally arranged for Selina to go first and Luisa after her return. Not that I'd think a Gryffindor and a Slytherin would go planning mischief together, but a rule is a rule."
"Oh, you'd be surprised." Draco grinned thinking of their dealings with Neville Longbottom.
Fitwick however took it in a very different context and chuckled: "Ah yes, indeed, but considering that they are both girls and only twelve years old at that, I'd not think that's very likely. Quite a different situation at your age of course."
Severus smiled as well, though he knew exactly what Draco had really meant. "Well, that's not really important right now. Luisa's temporary absence might be relevant, though. Thanks for your help, Filius."
"No problem." Flitwick said kindly and led them to the door. He'd already opened it when he suddenly squeaked. "Wait! There's one more thing. I forgot to tell Albus about Vestalia Flemming."
"Vestalia Flemming?" Draco repeated trying to place the name.
"Yes, we were practising Cheering charms, you see, but Mr. Parker got a little overenthusiastic with his wand swishing and accidentally hit Ms. Flemming with a full fledged laughing charm." Flitwick explained. "The poor girl was laughing so hard that I wrote her a pass so she could stay in her common room until it wore off. It was impossible to teach over her laughter, the students were distracted by it and I doubt she would have been able to participate in any class in her condition anyway."
"How long do you estimate that charm would have lasted?" Severus asked suddenly interested.
"I don't know." Flitwick shrugged apologetically. "I was showing Mr. Rover the correct wand movement at the time Mr. Palmer cast the charm and had my back on the Gryffindors. That way I didn't see how strong a laughing charm Mr. Palmer cast. It may have lasted only a few more minutes after Ms Flemming left my class, or it may still be active."
"I didn't notice anyone laughing during either of the meals today." Draco commented.
"But was Vestalia Flemming even there?" Severus asked him. "I don't remember seeing her. If she's still affected by the charm it makes sense for her to skip the meals. She'd have a hard time eating anyway and would probably get teased on top of it. If I were her, I'd get the house elves to send me some food to my dorm while everybody else is in the great hall."
"Then we have another suspect?" Draco asked eagerly.
"Professor McGonagall didn't think Vestalia a likely suspect at all." Severus mused. "I don't know. She's a terribly inconspicuous student in Potions class and I only taught her for a few weeks. What do you know about her?"
Draco shook his head sadly. "Nothing about her personally. If you showed me the whole Gryffindor second year I probably couldn't even pick her out of the group. I know that the Flemmings are purebloods, though. A rather withdrawn, very rich family. They don't have much political influence, but that seems to be mostly because they don't want to."
"And they might join Voldemort, if they suddenly changed their minds about that." Severus suggested. "At least we have nothing to indicate that they're averse to dark magic."
"She's a Gryffindor." Draco pointed out.
"Which doesn't necessarily mean anything." Severus decided. "We'll have to keep an eye on her."
"So what do we do next? Go see Hagrid or McGonagall?"
"You've got Care for Magical Creatures first lesson tomorrow." Severus reminded his friend. "Try to ask Hagrid about the incident then. Or even better, get the Gryffindors to ask about it. Potter will definitely start his own investigation and Hagrid is more likely to answer him."
"And it would seem less suspicious as well." Draco grinned.
"Yes, once they start talking about who was where, I just need you to drop the name Minx Hutchings. Hopefully somebody else will think to ask what she did during the lesson."
Draco nodded. "That shouldn't be a problem. We can always ask Neville to help us, if it doesn't work."
Severus shot him a slightly angry look. "No."
"Why not?"
"We have to operate secretly. There are already too many teachers that know about us. If we go telling everybody, our traitor will be warned."
"Neville isn't a suspect." Draco argued. "His toad even got hurt in the explosion. I'm sure he'd love to help us."
"Maybe." Severus agreed. "But we'd better do this alone. You already told him more than I wanted him to know, but thanks to Albus everybody knows that much now anyway."
"You like to keep secrets, don't you?" Draco asked only slightly angrily.
"It's what keeps secret agents alive." Severus shrugged.
"Alright, alright, I won't tell Neville." Draco gave in. "Hey this isn't the way to McGonagall's office!"
"We're not going to see McGonagall." Severus confirmed. "I'll talk to her after class tomorrow. Right now I have homework to finish."
"Homework?" Draco repeated incredulously. "Somebody just tried to murder Potter and you're going to do your homework?"
"We have to maintain our cover as students." Severus explained. "In fact, you actually are a student. Some studying will do you good."
Draco scowled at his friend, but didn't protest.
Remus Lupin was once again in the common room when they arrived. This time the werewolf wasn't on his own either. The first years had joined him at the table and were chatting away quite happily. It seemed Remus had managed to calm their fears after Severus' explanation of explosions and Voldemort.
The Mattels brothers however were once again conspicuously absent.
Severus greeted their head of house with a simple nod and went over to where their dorm mates were sitting with Pansy and Millicent, doing Charms homework.
"Hey Theodore, where's my rope?" Severus asked as they sat down beside them.
"What rope?" growled Theodore.
"The one to replace the one you vanished yesterday." Severus answered icily while gently placing his hedgehog on the table.
"I don't have one." Theodore frowned at Greenie. He just didn't understand why anyone would want to keep a hedgehog as a familiar. Green or not, it didn't make any sense.
"You have until Monday." Severus declared calmly. "If I don't have my rope by then, it'll be mousetraps for you."
Gregory shivered at the threat, but Theodore remained completely unmoved. He clearly didn't understand the severity of the threat. Well, he would by this time next week.
It wasn't until much later in the bathroom that Draco thought to ask Severus what the results of their talk to Flitwick really were.
"We cleared Elton Rover, Monique Lassiter and Clarissa Charlton." Severus reported calmly. "But added Vestalia Flemming to the list of possible suspects."
"What if our traitor has an ally?" Draco suggested suddenly. "If he worked through someone else while he was in class? He might have somebody under imperious, or mind control potion, or simply threaten them into doing his bidding. A house elf, for example, could be a perfect tool."
"House elves are immune to any kind of mind control." Severus stated calmly. "Magic doesn't affect them the same way as it does us. Blackmail would be the only way to turn a house elf against his charges and even then they aren't capable of committing murder. They might assist a murderer, but wouldn't be up to actually setting a deadly trap. They're just too kind by nature."
"Alright, not a house elf. What about another wizard, though?"
"The teachers would have been missed by their students, if they had left their classes." Severus explained. "The rumours would be flying all over the school, by now in that case. Madame Hooch didn't have a class at the time, but she has told me that she has the entire Wednesday morning off this year, so she can spend that time at home with her family. Her daughter had a baby in July, you know. She just enjoys fussing over her grandchild. Professor Pince wasn't here at all which leaves only Madame Pomfrey and Mr. Filch. Madame Pomfrey can't leave the hospital wing that easily as there's always the risk of an emergency coming up suddenly and we know that she had at least one patient. Filch as a Squib could not have cast the spells needed to set the trap."
"Which leaves the possibility of our traitor working through another student." Draco pointed out.
"That's why we're keeping an eye on students like Missy Clay or Fatima Suleyman. They don't have a motive that we can see, but they did have the chance. If the person who set the trap is not the traitor, catching them can still lead us to the actual culprit."
"There's still a lot of students who didn't have class and for the ones whose years had electives we don't even know." Draco pointed out.
"I know. It's difficult, but it's the only way of eliminating suspects we have right now. As long as nobody actually sees the traitor attack Potter ..." Severus trailed off and bent over the cage that held his hedgehog. "Good night Greenie." he wished the little animal. "Come on Draco. We'd better go to bed before they start wondering what's taking us so long."
Draco sighed. He still believed that recruiting Neville would have helped hem a lot. Neville could go places and do things that neither of them could and he was absolutely trustworthy. Maybe there was something else he could do, though. If he spent some time with his father, much as he hated the idea, maybe Lucius would drop a hint or two by accident. He did trust his son, after all.
Then again, Draco remembered Vincent's assumption that he was afraid of being called a teacher's pet. He hadn't really thought about that before, but that danger was probably quite real. If he hung around his father too much, the other students would become suspicious, or even think he depended on his father's protection. That could make his life hell once Lucius was gone and Severus was back in charge. Right now Severus was almost constantly with him to protect him from any attacks, but once he was an adult again, Draco would once again spend a lot of time on his own. He'd rather his fellow Slytherins kept respecting him.
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Lucius was not having a particularly good time. Some of his fellow teachers kept shooting him suspicious glances, while others openly accused him of having had a hand in the attack on Potter. And the rest were still trying to give him advice on how to handle his students.
Lucius saw no need for the later. He'd improved a lot since Monday, hadn't he? That last class today had gone by almost without incident. A few exploded cauldrons were normal for a Potions class, weren't they?
His worst worry however was the letter he was writing right now. He had to report their agent's problem to Voldemort, who would most likely accuse him for the failure. So how to explain the whole story without angering Voldemort?
The first parchment was easy, but it was only a cover after all. They'd agreed that he'd send out his reports under the pretence of writing to his wife, so all it took for the cover parchment was a short report on how he and Draco were doing and some sugar coating of 'darlings' and 'I miss yous' and 'how are you doings'.
Not that Lucius cared one bit about what Narcissa was getting up to without him as long as she didn't cause him any trouble. Still for appearances' sake he had to pretend to be a loving husband and owl her frequently.
The really important part however was the second parchment, which Narcissa was to pass on to Voldemort right away. It needed to be carefully enspelled so that the writing on it only became visible, if the recipient cast the exact counter spell. Narcissa of course didn't know that spell. She would receive and pass on a blank parchment. To anybody else who opened one of his letters it would appear as if Lucius had accidentally put in two parchments that had somehow gotten stuck together.
The only downside was, that an agent who intentionally caught off and opened several of his letters would notice the pattern and know that the second parchment was intentional. Lucius didn't think it possible that the ministry could counter his spell and decipher the text of the message, but they would know that he was sending secret messages.
Well, there was no way around it. He could only hope that they didn't have time for such intensive monitoring of his mail.
"Letter?" the weird mail bird Argus Filch had lent him asked. Lucius really wished he could have brought his owl to Hogwarts with him.
"Professor Snape always used this raven." Filch had told him with a shrug when he'd complained about the looks of the creature. "He said he looked dignified and had style."
"Yes, you ugly chicken." Lucius sneered. "I'm writing a letter. You'll get to deliver it in a moment."
"Cockroach!" Corvus answered happily.
"Stupid bird." Lucius returned after a quick look around. "There's no cockroach here right now."
Though there were lots of them down here in the dungeons. They made excellent targets to practise curses on. Lucius' current hobby was hitting them with a well aimed Avada Kedavra as they ran. Quite tricky and a lot of fun.
"Cockroach!" Corvus insisted anyway.
"Stupid bird!" Lucius sighed and returned to his letter.
"Cockroach." Corvus declared sounding slightly insulted.
"Letter!" he demanded ten minutes later when Lucius finally looked up from his parchment again.
"Just a moment." Lucius growled. "I still have to enspell this."
Of course after that he had to address the envelope and fold up the parchments before he finally put them in and sealed his letter, then threw it at the bird.
"There, now get out of my sight."
"Cockroach!" Corvus declared one last time before grabbing the letter and taking off.
He left the castle through the first open window he found and flew upwards feeling the air rush along his feathers. A quick swerve to avoid crashing into the south tower and he was exactly above the center of Hogwarts, the big courtyard right below him, but Corvus didn't look down to appreciate the view of the empty courtyard.
Instead he landed as quietly as possible on the windowsill in front of him and peered into the room. Ah yes, Albus was alone. Excellent.
Corvus knocked his beak against the window to get the headmaster's attention.
Albus looked up at the sound, smiled and came over to open the window and let the raven in. "Hello there, Corvus."
Corvus immediately flew to the table and dropped Lucius' letter onto it. "Letter!"
"Ah, I see. Thank you." Albus smiled. "Who is it from?"
"Cockroach!" Corvus declared happily.
"Already?" Dumbledore returned surprised. "Lucius sure keeps you busy, doesn't he."
"Stupid Cockroach!"
"Now now, lets not insult any innocent insects." Albus admonished while he carefully extracted the parchment from the closed envelope. It wasn't an easy Transfiguration, if you hadn't even seen the contents before. "There. And another blank parchment."
Albus sighed turning the secret message over in his hands a few times. None of his revealing spells worked on these and he couldn't use a revealing potion on them without letting the recipient notice that the message had been opened by a stranger. Most revealing potions left obvious traces on the parchment they were used on and those few that didn't all took several days to unfold their power. Voldemort would definitely get suspicious, if the letter arrived several days late, or there was no secret message in it.
He considered replacing the parchment with a false message, but wasn't sure how well Voldemort knew Lucius' handwriting, what style and manner of address Lucius used in these letters, or what exact spell was used to hide the message. No, he had to let this one go unread. Again.
With a slightly worried expression Albus returned the letters into their envelope and handed it back to Corvus. "There you go. Deliver it to Narcissa Malfoy as Cockroach told you to."
"Letter!" Corvus agreed happily, took up the envelope again and flew out the window.
Albus watched the small black dot in the sky fly south until it disappeared. He worried about what Voldemort's reaction would be. He couldn't take his anger out on Harry, the agent, or Lucius as long as they remained at Hogwarts. The same was true for Trevor and Neville. Still Voldemort would need an outlet.
If he blamed Lucius, Voldemort could punish him by attacking Narcissa or Malfoy Manor, but the first probably wouldn't touch Lucius as much as it should and the later was likely to backfire since the Malfoy fortune financed most of Voldemort's bigger operations. None of his other supporters could afford to donate that much money to the cause.
Another possibility was that Voldemort might decide to punish the agent by attacking his family. They'd have to keep a close eye on the next few attacks. Maybe that'd give them a clue as to the traitor's identity.
On the other hand the traitor's loyalty was extremely important to Voldemort. Could he afford the risk of losing it through an attack like that?
Harry had no family other than the Durseys, whom Voldemort didn't know where to find and Harry was known not to like. The closest people to Harry Voldemort could get at were the Weasleys. The headmaster shuddered at the thought of what he might do, if he decided for that course of action. He seriously hoped poor Percy was already dead.
Or would Voldemort decide to take his revenge on the Longbottoms as the owners of Trevor? It seemed very unlikely as the toad would probably not even become aware of the death of any of Neville's relatives. A toad's mind was much too simple for that.
And then there always was the possibility of a random outburst of violence against an unconnected party. In that case the first easy victims on hand would suffer Voldemort's wrath. That was really the worst possible scenario since it couldn't be guarded against and would yield no clue whatsoever about the traitor's identity.
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The first lesson for the sixth year the next morning was Care for Magical Creatures, or Muggle Studies, for those few that took that class. Severus used that chance to take a look inside Theodore's trunk.
There were several books on the dark arts in there alongside others on Charms and Transfigurations. A letter from Theodore's mother confirmed that she had apparently really been sick. At least she was writing about how much she was enjoying life again now that she was almost completely cured.
So Theodore most likely had really been called home because of his mother's illness rather than on the dark lord's orders, as they had suspected. Still that didn't mean that the boy couldn't be working for Voldemort.
His family was involved deeply in the dark arts, which was a sufficient explanation for the books, but also made him a likely person for Voldemort to rely upon. All in all the results of this investigation had turned out to be rather inconclusive, Severus decided.
He went on to Blaise's trunk, which didn't look much different from last year. Mostly the same books, similar, though not the same clothes, the same old stuffed dragon toy, same hair care potions, same firecrackers and some sweets.
After a moment of indecision Severus took samples of the hair care potions, pocketed the firecrackers and slipped a chocolate frog into his mouth. Blaise was probably expecting this anyway.
A glance at the clock informed him that he still had enough time to sneak into he third years' dorm as well. He picked up Greenie, who'd been snuffling around on his bed and snuck down the stairs. The third years' dorm was one floor below his own actually on a level with the common room, though you couldn't enter it from there directly. You had to go up the stairs into the boys dorms, then down another staircase into the lower dorms. Sometimes the older students down there complained about it, but most of the time nobody really cared.
Right now it was the third, second and first years who were down there so complaints were rather rare. The kids still thought it was fun.
Stephan LaCroix was the only person Severus met in the corridor and he only gave him a passing sleepy glance as he trudged past towards the common room.
"Morning, Stephan." Severus said lightly. "Shouldn't you be in class?"
Stephan yawned. "No, I'm starting today with Creatures in second lesson. You?"
"Creatures now, but I take Arithmancy and Runes."
"Runes sucks." Stephan commented and yawned again. "I really wish I hadn't picked that subject."
"What then?" Severus asked him. "Divination?" he wrinkled his nose. "Or Muggle Studies?"
Stephan frowned. "Yuck. Arithmancy of course. My best friend takes that too."
"That's about the only subject that's more work than Runes, you know." Severus commented. "You're probably better off with the schedule you have."
Stephan grumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "I don't really give a damn." and walked past Severus.
Severus allowed himself a tiny satisfied smile and went down into the third years' dorm.
The room was dark and uncomfortable. The boys had apparently extinguished all the candles when they'd left. Severus considered lighting them again. After all they were meant to burn all day, but then the candles were all completely cold. The boys would probably notice that somebody had been in the room, if they were warm when they returned.
Whoever had given that pack the idea to save their candles like that?
There was less of a chance of them noticing if he lit only a single candle, but it was still an unnecessary risk. Severus lit up his wand, put Greenie on the first bed and went to work.
He got lucky the first time. The trunk he'd started with belonged to Curtis Marston, one of his suspects.
Then again it wasn't all that surprising since he did suspect three out of the five boys that slept here.
Severus stared at the contents of the trunk in disgust. Dirty underwear, some of it women's underwear and leather strips? Some books with rather disturbing content considering that this trunk belonged to a thirteen year old. Handcuffs. A whip?
Severus closed the lid and shook himself. Curtis was a rather quiet boy most of the time. He was very prejudiced and the son of a death eater, but this was completely unexpected.
"That boy needs therapy." Severus told Greenie before going on to the next trunk.
It was almost a relief that Bran Lewis had his entire trunk stuffed full of potions ingredients, some of which were definitely illegal. Nothing out of the ordinary.
He opened one wrong trunk before finding Maximius Mattels'. Several sharp needles shot out of the lock when Severus opened it, one of them hitting him in the shoulder. It stung but that was all at first.
Severus immediately pulled the needle out and bent to check the contents of the trunk. Spare clothes on top. A few recent letters from friends and family. Maximius got a lot of mail. The boy did spend an extraordinary amount of time in he common room writing long letters, though, so this wasn't entirely surprising. Maybe he was one of those people who could express themselves better in writing.
Severus closed his eyes for a moment to try and focus on his task again. He was feeling a little dizzy. He didn't have much time left to check what was under those clothes.
The dizziness didn't go away. Strange. Usually dark rooms didn't affect him like this. He hadn't lit a candle so ...
The needles! They had to have been covered in some potion.
Hastily Severus morphed back into his adult form and the dizziness got a little better. Yes, definitely a potion. Due to the frequent exposure that came with his profession he had a higher tolerance for almost all potions than most wizards. Maximius' trap would probably have put any other student to sleep by now.
Severus dropped the lid of the trunk and grabbed Greenie not bothering to try and close it or reset the trap. Maximius would know that somebody had broken into his trunk, but it couldn't be helped. He had to get out of here before the potion took full effect.
Still in his more resistant adult body he raced out of the room and up the stairs. To cross the common room unnoticed he had to turn back into a boy at the top of he other stairway, but luckily he managed to get through without stumbling or being addressed.
As soon as he was through the secret door he transformed again and raced on. He could only hope that nobody saw him. Most students and teachers were supposed to be in class right now and Filch knew about his mission. So there was a good chance, if he avoided the main corridors and the vicinity of the library.
Somehow he made it to the hospital wing. He stumbled inside.
"Poppy!" he managed to call just before he passed out.
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Thistle - Actually Luci counted the heads of his students and the number of essays on his desk and got one less essays. Then he told them that one essay was missing (but not that he'd counted the students present to determine that). Seamus said that it was Dean's essay, but Dean wasn't present so he hadn't been included in the count in the first place. (Dean's essay was missing, but with this method, Luci would not have noticed it.)
Black Angel - Well, I couldn't harm a poor little pet, could I.
JerseyPike - Mean? Vector? I'll have to reread that. I planned on her being a rather distant person, but not mean.
Pam Briggs - I'm not sure I'll always be able to update each Friday. This chapter was rather hard to get ready in time, so unless some additional time pops up by magic, I might occasionally take two weeks for a new chapter.
TatraMegami - Well, they all did have something they found more interesting than actually waiting for Luci to think of something to do ...
kalariah - Actually, it's both intentional and unintentional. There's supposed to be three dots there that ff.net swallowed. There used to be a time when it didn't do that. Sniff!
annakas - And there the brats haven't found time to actually deal with Lucius so far . . .
nix - No sorry, last time I checked, I was still only boring old me. Updates will only be fond here for this fic for now. RD is done. (and with 55 chapters I think it was about time.) The mini sequel will follow right after that. (I'm currently thinking about including Harry in it. Wonder whether I should ...)
Iremione - There's nothing wrong with Estella at all. It's just Luci who doesn't like an intelligent girl. . . . And the same goes for Hermione: It's just Luci who thinks that a Hermione should look differently. . . . Did you never learn to do summaries in school? Of course there is such a thing as a maximum length for essays. (Though Luci's idea of a maximum lengths for a potions essay might make Sevi feel a little sick . . .) I'm not necessarily trying to be subtle. I'm trying to make people suspect. . . . Well, nobody guessed the Latin. Either I forgot too much to do it right or too few of my readers have learned it. . . . What is hentai? Somebody said it in a review and I don't speak Japanese! I've figured out kawai and a few others, but hentai's new to me. . . . Well, it was the end of a very long day full of learning how to teach. Luci's mind was slightly exhausted.
Imprisoned - I will. I just have to finish this first.
yuyin - Dreadfully sorry, but that was the final chapter you read. I'm working on this now. You're supposed to see the Gryffindors through Slytherin eyes in RD, by the way. And Slytherins hate Gryffindors as much as Gryffindors hate Slytherins.
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A/N: What does the name Harry gave Hermione's potion actually mean? (Since nobody guessed it last time, I'll try again) Will Lucius figure out what Corvus means when he says 'Cockroach'? Who will suffer Voldemort's revenge? (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 analyses potions, Draco investigates and Lucius gets a visit from his son.
Disclaimer 2 - Draco drawing dragons belongs to PikaCheeka. Sorry I forgot to mention that in the first chapter of MNS. 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 - There, all done! I was already afraid I wouldn't get this one finished in time, but I just barely made it.
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Chapter 6: Dumbledore's Warning
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Even though Severus and Draco arrived a little late for dinner there was no food on the tables when they came into the great hall. All the teachers were sitting at the head table looking very serious, with the only exception being Lucius Malfoy who had his face hidden behind his copy of the Daily Prophet.
The headmaster nodded a greeting towards the boys as they came in, but kept watching the entrances intently.
Over at the Gryffindor table several seats remained empty, but to Draco's relief Ginny was there sitting next to Colin and Dennis Creevey, though she didn't seem to be participating in their conversation.
Potter was as usually flanked by Hermione and Ron Weasley who kept frowning over at the head table.
Severus assumed that he was still pouting over the detention Lucius had given him.
Considering that Weasley had actually had his essay with him, even if he'd forgotten to hand it in, the punishment did seem a little harsh, but Lucius was clearly at a loss about how to use his disciplinarian powers.
Severus almost wished he could give him some tips, but of course he had to continue to pretend that he didn't remember anything of his adult life.
Rumours were flying through the hall left and right, some about the incident at lunch, others about the lack of food on their plates.
Finally after Luisa Hunter-Moor's hasty entrance ten minutes after dinner should normally have started, Albus Dumbledore got up and called for silence. The students all turned to look up at him, most trustingly, some fearfully, some eagerly, some bored and a few challengingly.
"I have very unhappy news to tell you." Albus announced, which shut up even the last whispers along the student tables. "Most of you saw what happened at lunch today. A plate exploded hurting several of your number and I am sure you have all wondered how that could have happened. Exploding plates aren't normal household accidents and indeed upon closer inspection the plate was magically set to explode."
Little whispers sprang up from among the first years, especially at the Hufflepuff table. They'd clearly still believed in an accident.
"Of course this might have been a prank gone horribly wrong, though from the spells used it does not look like one. If so, I ask the prankster to please confess either to me or to their head of house after this meal. I promise that there will not be any serious punishment, even though it was sheer luck that nobody was killed."
More whispering, several voices commenting that Dumbledore was exaggerating.
"No, I'm afraid, that, if somebody had been sitting in front of that plate when it exploded, that person would have been killed. The shards were set to transfigure themselves into needle shape so they would cut deeper into the victims' body. That is the reason why several of your fellow students are still in the hospital wing. If nobody confesses that the incident was a prank gone wrong, I fear that we will have to assume that that was the intention behind it."
Stunned silence, then frightened gasps and more whispering. Dumbledore waited for a moment before he called the room back to order once again.
"Considering that the plate was at Harry Potter's usual seat, we will then have to assume that there is a death eater loose within the school. A death eater who definitely isn't one of the staff."
Severus groaned softly to himself. Why was Albus warning the traitor? Didn't he realise that he'd be even more careful not to be suspicious now that he knew that they were looking for him? How was he going to find him now?
"Therefore I advise all of you to be very careful and report any suspicious behaviour of one of your classmates to your head of house or myself immediately. Unfortunately not even the first years are beyond suspicion. All the spells used on Harry's plate were simple enough to be performed by any one of you."
Murmurs of protest were heard from where the first years sat.
"Yes," Albus agreed. "I know that a normal first year would not know enough to set a trap like that on their own, but they could be taught easily by an adult wizard and there is no telling what other harmful spells a death eater might teach such a child. I repeat, please be very very careful and immediately report anything suspicious you notice."
"I bet it was just another of Snape's pranks." somebody shouted from the Ravenclaw table.
"Yeah, who says he isn't the traitor." Ron confirmed. "He's always hated Harry."
"Severus would never do something like that!" Susan's voice rang out over the disgruntled murmurs of the Slytherins.
The entire house was staring at Ron.
"Sit down, Ron." Harry hissed at his best friend pulling him back into his seat. "Severus is on our side. And he'd be more likely to use a potion to kill somebody anyway."
"Children, please!" Dumbledore shouted over the insults that were now flying between Slytherin and Gryffindor. "There was a transfiguration spell on that plate and, as you all saw, it wasn't green."
Nervous laughter from the Hufflepuffs.
"Therefore I don't think Severus had anything to do with it." Albus continued. "We might of course be dealing with an imitator, though. Severus, I would like to see you and Draco in my office after dinner to discuss that possibility."
Dinner took longer than usually after Dumbledore's speech however. The students were once again busily spreading rumours and theories and Severus did his best to hear as many as possible, while Draco wolfed down his food and raced over to the Gryffindor table to check on Ginny.
Severus sighed softly when his friend took off. He knew that it was hard on Draco not to be able to talk to Ginny about her brother, but could only hope that the boy understood how important it was that he didn't give away his knowledge. If it got out that Lucius was a death eater, he'd most likely go to Azkaban which would have dire consequences for his family as well. The light side would shun the Malfoys and those on the dark side would as well out of fear of being suspected. Moreover, if Draco was the one who gave Lucius' secret away the dark side wouldn't trust him anymore, which meant that the traitor would be weary of him. That could destroy their entire mission.
Thus it was already later than Albus had planned when his two agents finally arrived in his office.
"So." Albus twinkled at them in greeting. "Did you learn anything interesting?"
"Oh yes." Severus confirmed with a smirk. "I learned that I only failed all my transfigurations last year, in order to have an alibi for my devious murder of Harry Potter."
Albus blinked. "Whoever came up with that theory?"
"A Gryffindor, I'd say." Severus shrugged. "Maybe even Weasley or Potter himself, though if it was Potter, he probably meant it as a joke."
Albus nodded. "I questioned the teachers, just like you asked me to."
Severus immediately took out his list again. "I'll probably have to start a notebook." he commented. "There are so many things I need to remember about each suspect, that I'm starting to confuse them."
"If somebody sees that book, though, they'll know exactly what you are up to." Dumbledore warned him.
"I know, but it won't help us, if we can't rely on our information about each student being correct. So, do we have any cleared suspects?"
"You'll have to tell me that. I don't remember your entire list." Albus answered. "I do know who was in class and who wasn't, though. The Slytherin and Ravenclaw first years had History of Magic. Professor Binns said that two students were missing, unfortunately the names he gave for them don't show up on any of our class lists."
"He usually gets the names of all his students wrong." Severus said calmly. "Do we know for sure that he knows how many students there really are in that class?"
Albus shook his head sadly. "Not entirely."
"In that case there might have been no students missing at all, or half the class." Draco groaned.
"Lets just say that the Slytherin and Ravenclaw first years don't have an alibi. That makes them no more or less suspicious than they were before." Severus decided.
"The Gryffindors an Hufflepuffs were in Herbology. Professor Sprout reports no missing students, but little Missy Clay went to the bathroom and took very long to return." Albus continued. "Considering that as a first year Missy probably doesn't know every bathroom in the castle and that it's quite a long way from the greenhouses to the Hufflepuff dorms, that is completely understandable, though."
"Missy Clay?" Draco asked. "Whoever is Missy Clay? I've never heard of her."
"A first year Hufflepuff, I think." Severus strained his memory. He'd seen her at the sorting. "Short blond hair, rather tall for her age."
"She's also Muggle born." Albus added. "Not our most likely candidate."
"Fine." said Severus. "Lets forget Missy for now. The first years aren't our most likely suspects anyway. What about the older students?"
"The second year Sytherins and Gryffindors had Charms." Albus continued. "Filius reports all present, but Quintus Palmer felt sick and went to the hospital wing a few minutes into class. Poppy claims that he seemed completely healthy, so she gave him a light anti-nausea drought and sent him back to class. According to Filius Quintus didn't return to the lesson at all. He's a Gryffindor, though."
"And one of the two Minerva considers suspect." Severus said sharply. "We'd better keep an eye on Mr. Palmer, I think. Any bathroom breaks in that class?"
Albus studied his notes for a moment. "I'm afraid I didn't ask." he finally admitted. "It only occurred to me to do so after Remus reported it unasked. He had the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff second years."
"I know, we already spoke with him." Severus agreed. "He cleared Sondra Summer and James McGregor for us, but gave us three new suspects in Phil Hawkins, Fatima Suleyman and Marlies King."
"None of them seem very prejudiced." Albus argued.
"Fatima is friends with Sondra." Severus informed him. "None of the three are among my top suspects, but I'm keeping them on the list just to be safe."
"The third years had a study hour I'm afraid." Albus continued with a slight frown.
"Oh no." Draco groaned.
"What's so bad about that?" Dumbledore asked him.
"That's only the year with the most suspects." Draco told him. "And we haven't searched their trunks, yet."
"The most suspects?" Albus repeated. "Who?"
"Caius Rude of Gryffindor." Severus read out. "Aemilia Andres of Hufflepuff, Gaia Ushton, Curtis Marston, Bran Lewis, Mathilda Harris, Marsha Alton and, particularly suspect, Maximius Mattels."
"Maybe their trunks will provide the proof we need?" Albus suggested hopefully.
"Unlikely." Severus said. "So far we've only found clues. Our traitor would have to be very stupid to keep any clear proof with him at all, especially now that he knows we're after him."
"Well, lets move on to the fourth years then." Albus suggested. "Slytherin and Gryffindor had Transfigurations, while Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were in Potions. According to Minerva Mattis Parker was missing for still unknown reasons. Iago Orson, Rudolph Rash and Sally Arden went to the bathroom. Mr. Orson took surprisingly long and only returned after the end of class to get his bag. Minerva claims he had serious problems transfiguring his brick, which might be a reason to skip class, I suppose."
"Rash and Arden are Gryffindors, I suppose?" Draco asked since he'd never heard of the two. He knew every Slytherin in the school, though he didn't remember the names of all the first years.
"Yes," Severus confirmed. "I'll put them on the list anyway, just in case. What about Diana Bardon?"
"You'll have to ask Minerva about it. She didn't mention her. Lucius Malfoy doesn't remember any bathroom breaks and reports all students present." Albus continued.
"As if Father would tell the truth about that, if the traitor really was in his class." Draco scoffed. "We can't trust his word on that."
"Which means Keith Gorl and Sandra Invers are still suspect." Severus agreed.
"The fifth year had Care for Magical Creatures and Muggle Studdies." Albus continued apparently unwilling to comment on the trustworthiness of Lucius Malfoy. "Hagrid does not remember any bathroom breaks and thinks everybody was present. There were no bathroom breaks in Muggle Studies. Apparently the Muggle songs they were singing were quite interesting."
"We'll need a student list for both classes." Severus decided. "Otherwise we'll never know who was present and who wasn't."
"That'd be another risky document in your hands." Albus said doubtfully.
Severus sighed. "Very well, then check Hieronymus Mattels and Minx Hutchings for me."
"Both Slytherins?" Albus asked. "No, they're not on either list."
"No, Minx is a Ravenclaw." Draco sneered.
"Ah, oh right. She takes Care for Magical Creatures then." Albus corrected after checking another list. "I don't entirely trust Hagrid on the absences since he usually forgets to take attendance, but I think we can be sure about the bathroom breaks."
"Right. We need to ask Hagrid about Minx, then." Severus decided.
"The sixth year Slytherins and Hufflepuffs had a study hour, as you probably know, while the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws should have had Latin."
"But Professor Pince was in Hogsmeade to see her healer." Draco continued. "Dobby already told us."
"Which means all our sixth year suspects remain." Severus summed up. "And they are among the most important."
"The seventh year had Divination and Arithmancy." Albus continued. "Sybil reports that Neel Ferris snuck out of her class under the pretence of going to the bathroom. He might just have had enough of having his death predicted, though."
"Benjamin Davids and Lionel Bardon were in Arithmancy." Severus said before Albus could continue. "Does Stephan LaCroix take Divination?"
"No," Albus answered surprisingly fast. "No seventh year Slytherins do. Why that subject is unpopular in your house!"
"We like clear facts." Severus explained with a shrug then glanced back down at his list. "This brought less than I expected. So far I have only four students cleared for sure, while I added three new suspects, four if we count Missy Clay."
"I counted more students cleared." Draco said surprised.
"We still need to check the bathroom breaks in Charms and I want additional confirmation on Diana Bardon and Minx Hutchings from their teachers as well." Severus explained. "I think we've got just enough time to still catch Professor Flitwick in his office, if we're done here, Albus?"
"I guess that means you don't want to cheer up an old wizard's dreary life with some stories about your exciting school days?" Dumbledore asked slightly disappointed.
"Sure, old wizard with a dreary life." Severus snorted. "I still suspect you of sending Lucius after me on purpose. I won't forgive you that flight so easily."
"I only sent him to break up the fight." Albus defended himself. "I thought it would help him learn how to handle misbehaving students."
"Yeah, sure." Severus sneered.
Five minutes later the two boys knocked on Filius Flitwick's door.
The small professor looked very surprised to see them.
"Ah, Severus, Mr. Malfoy, do come in." he invited them anyway. "What can I do for you?"
"You had the second year Slytherins and Gryffindors before the incident at lunch." Severus stated more than asked.
"Yes," Flitwick confirmed. "I suppose Albus would have told you that."
"He did, but we need to know about any absences as well." Severus explained.
"Quintus Palmer." Flitwick answered at once. "He went to the hospital wing because he was feeling sick. The boy did look a little green in the face, so I don't think he was lying."
Draco nodded impatiently. "Yes we know about the Gryffindor. What about the others, though? Any bathroom breaks, early leavers or . . . well anything?"
"Bathroom breaks." Flitwick thought for a moment. "Of course there always are some of those. Oh yes, Selina Mandrake of Gryffindor and Luisa Hunter- Moor of Slytherin. They both wanted to leave at the same time, but we finally arranged for Selina to go first and Luisa after her return. Not that I'd think a Gryffindor and a Slytherin would go planning mischief together, but a rule is a rule."
"Oh, you'd be surprised." Draco grinned thinking of their dealings with Neville Longbottom.
Fitwick however took it in a very different context and chuckled: "Ah yes, indeed, but considering that they are both girls and only twelve years old at that, I'd not think that's very likely. Quite a different situation at your age of course."
Severus smiled as well, though he knew exactly what Draco had really meant. "Well, that's not really important right now. Luisa's temporary absence might be relevant, though. Thanks for your help, Filius."
"No problem." Flitwick said kindly and led them to the door. He'd already opened it when he suddenly squeaked. "Wait! There's one more thing. I forgot to tell Albus about Vestalia Flemming."
"Vestalia Flemming?" Draco repeated trying to place the name.
"Yes, we were practising Cheering charms, you see, but Mr. Parker got a little overenthusiastic with his wand swishing and accidentally hit Ms. Flemming with a full fledged laughing charm." Flitwick explained. "The poor girl was laughing so hard that I wrote her a pass so she could stay in her common room until it wore off. It was impossible to teach over her laughter, the students were distracted by it and I doubt she would have been able to participate in any class in her condition anyway."
"How long do you estimate that charm would have lasted?" Severus asked suddenly interested.
"I don't know." Flitwick shrugged apologetically. "I was showing Mr. Rover the correct wand movement at the time Mr. Palmer cast the charm and had my back on the Gryffindors. That way I didn't see how strong a laughing charm Mr. Palmer cast. It may have lasted only a few more minutes after Ms Flemming left my class, or it may still be active."
"I didn't notice anyone laughing during either of the meals today." Draco commented.
"But was Vestalia Flemming even there?" Severus asked him. "I don't remember seeing her. If she's still affected by the charm it makes sense for her to skip the meals. She'd have a hard time eating anyway and would probably get teased on top of it. If I were her, I'd get the house elves to send me some food to my dorm while everybody else is in the great hall."
"Then we have another suspect?" Draco asked eagerly.
"Professor McGonagall didn't think Vestalia a likely suspect at all." Severus mused. "I don't know. She's a terribly inconspicuous student in Potions class and I only taught her for a few weeks. What do you know about her?"
Draco shook his head sadly. "Nothing about her personally. If you showed me the whole Gryffindor second year I probably couldn't even pick her out of the group. I know that the Flemmings are purebloods, though. A rather withdrawn, very rich family. They don't have much political influence, but that seems to be mostly because they don't want to."
"And they might join Voldemort, if they suddenly changed their minds about that." Severus suggested. "At least we have nothing to indicate that they're averse to dark magic."
"She's a Gryffindor." Draco pointed out.
"Which doesn't necessarily mean anything." Severus decided. "We'll have to keep an eye on her."
"So what do we do next? Go see Hagrid or McGonagall?"
"You've got Care for Magical Creatures first lesson tomorrow." Severus reminded his friend. "Try to ask Hagrid about the incident then. Or even better, get the Gryffindors to ask about it. Potter will definitely start his own investigation and Hagrid is more likely to answer him."
"And it would seem less suspicious as well." Draco grinned.
"Yes, once they start talking about who was where, I just need you to drop the name Minx Hutchings. Hopefully somebody else will think to ask what she did during the lesson."
Draco nodded. "That shouldn't be a problem. We can always ask Neville to help us, if it doesn't work."
Severus shot him a slightly angry look. "No."
"Why not?"
"We have to operate secretly. There are already too many teachers that know about us. If we go telling everybody, our traitor will be warned."
"Neville isn't a suspect." Draco argued. "His toad even got hurt in the explosion. I'm sure he'd love to help us."
"Maybe." Severus agreed. "But we'd better do this alone. You already told him more than I wanted him to know, but thanks to Albus everybody knows that much now anyway."
"You like to keep secrets, don't you?" Draco asked only slightly angrily.
"It's what keeps secret agents alive." Severus shrugged.
"Alright, alright, I won't tell Neville." Draco gave in. "Hey this isn't the way to McGonagall's office!"
"We're not going to see McGonagall." Severus confirmed. "I'll talk to her after class tomorrow. Right now I have homework to finish."
"Homework?" Draco repeated incredulously. "Somebody just tried to murder Potter and you're going to do your homework?"
"We have to maintain our cover as students." Severus explained. "In fact, you actually are a student. Some studying will do you good."
Draco scowled at his friend, but didn't protest.
Remus Lupin was once again in the common room when they arrived. This time the werewolf wasn't on his own either. The first years had joined him at the table and were chatting away quite happily. It seemed Remus had managed to calm their fears after Severus' explanation of explosions and Voldemort.
The Mattels brothers however were once again conspicuously absent.
Severus greeted their head of house with a simple nod and went over to where their dorm mates were sitting with Pansy and Millicent, doing Charms homework.
"Hey Theodore, where's my rope?" Severus asked as they sat down beside them.
"What rope?" growled Theodore.
"The one to replace the one you vanished yesterday." Severus answered icily while gently placing his hedgehog on the table.
"I don't have one." Theodore frowned at Greenie. He just didn't understand why anyone would want to keep a hedgehog as a familiar. Green or not, it didn't make any sense.
"You have until Monday." Severus declared calmly. "If I don't have my rope by then, it'll be mousetraps for you."
Gregory shivered at the threat, but Theodore remained completely unmoved. He clearly didn't understand the severity of the threat. Well, he would by this time next week.
It wasn't until much later in the bathroom that Draco thought to ask Severus what the results of their talk to Flitwick really were.
"We cleared Elton Rover, Monique Lassiter and Clarissa Charlton." Severus reported calmly. "But added Vestalia Flemming to the list of possible suspects."
"What if our traitor has an ally?" Draco suggested suddenly. "If he worked through someone else while he was in class? He might have somebody under imperious, or mind control potion, or simply threaten them into doing his bidding. A house elf, for example, could be a perfect tool."
"House elves are immune to any kind of mind control." Severus stated calmly. "Magic doesn't affect them the same way as it does us. Blackmail would be the only way to turn a house elf against his charges and even then they aren't capable of committing murder. They might assist a murderer, but wouldn't be up to actually setting a deadly trap. They're just too kind by nature."
"Alright, not a house elf. What about another wizard, though?"
"The teachers would have been missed by their students, if they had left their classes." Severus explained. "The rumours would be flying all over the school, by now in that case. Madame Hooch didn't have a class at the time, but she has told me that she has the entire Wednesday morning off this year, so she can spend that time at home with her family. Her daughter had a baby in July, you know. She just enjoys fussing over her grandchild. Professor Pince wasn't here at all which leaves only Madame Pomfrey and Mr. Filch. Madame Pomfrey can't leave the hospital wing that easily as there's always the risk of an emergency coming up suddenly and we know that she had at least one patient. Filch as a Squib could not have cast the spells needed to set the trap."
"Which leaves the possibility of our traitor working through another student." Draco pointed out.
"That's why we're keeping an eye on students like Missy Clay or Fatima Suleyman. They don't have a motive that we can see, but they did have the chance. If the person who set the trap is not the traitor, catching them can still lead us to the actual culprit."
"There's still a lot of students who didn't have class and for the ones whose years had electives we don't even know." Draco pointed out.
"I know. It's difficult, but it's the only way of eliminating suspects we have right now. As long as nobody actually sees the traitor attack Potter ..." Severus trailed off and bent over the cage that held his hedgehog. "Good night Greenie." he wished the little animal. "Come on Draco. We'd better go to bed before they start wondering what's taking us so long."
Draco sighed. He still believed that recruiting Neville would have helped hem a lot. Neville could go places and do things that neither of them could and he was absolutely trustworthy. Maybe there was something else he could do, though. If he spent some time with his father, much as he hated the idea, maybe Lucius would drop a hint or two by accident. He did trust his son, after all.
Then again, Draco remembered Vincent's assumption that he was afraid of being called a teacher's pet. He hadn't really thought about that before, but that danger was probably quite real. If he hung around his father too much, the other students would become suspicious, or even think he depended on his father's protection. That could make his life hell once Lucius was gone and Severus was back in charge. Right now Severus was almost constantly with him to protect him from any attacks, but once he was an adult again, Draco would once again spend a lot of time on his own. He'd rather his fellow Slytherins kept respecting him.
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Lucius was not having a particularly good time. Some of his fellow teachers kept shooting him suspicious glances, while others openly accused him of having had a hand in the attack on Potter. And the rest were still trying to give him advice on how to handle his students.
Lucius saw no need for the later. He'd improved a lot since Monday, hadn't he? That last class today had gone by almost without incident. A few exploded cauldrons were normal for a Potions class, weren't they?
His worst worry however was the letter he was writing right now. He had to report their agent's problem to Voldemort, who would most likely accuse him for the failure. So how to explain the whole story without angering Voldemort?
The first parchment was easy, but it was only a cover after all. They'd agreed that he'd send out his reports under the pretence of writing to his wife, so all it took for the cover parchment was a short report on how he and Draco were doing and some sugar coating of 'darlings' and 'I miss yous' and 'how are you doings'.
Not that Lucius cared one bit about what Narcissa was getting up to without him as long as she didn't cause him any trouble. Still for appearances' sake he had to pretend to be a loving husband and owl her frequently.
The really important part however was the second parchment, which Narcissa was to pass on to Voldemort right away. It needed to be carefully enspelled so that the writing on it only became visible, if the recipient cast the exact counter spell. Narcissa of course didn't know that spell. She would receive and pass on a blank parchment. To anybody else who opened one of his letters it would appear as if Lucius had accidentally put in two parchments that had somehow gotten stuck together.
The only downside was, that an agent who intentionally caught off and opened several of his letters would notice the pattern and know that the second parchment was intentional. Lucius didn't think it possible that the ministry could counter his spell and decipher the text of the message, but they would know that he was sending secret messages.
Well, there was no way around it. He could only hope that they didn't have time for such intensive monitoring of his mail.
"Letter?" the weird mail bird Argus Filch had lent him asked. Lucius really wished he could have brought his owl to Hogwarts with him.
"Professor Snape always used this raven." Filch had told him with a shrug when he'd complained about the looks of the creature. "He said he looked dignified and had style."
"Yes, you ugly chicken." Lucius sneered. "I'm writing a letter. You'll get to deliver it in a moment."
"Cockroach!" Corvus answered happily.
"Stupid bird." Lucius returned after a quick look around. "There's no cockroach here right now."
Though there were lots of them down here in the dungeons. They made excellent targets to practise curses on. Lucius' current hobby was hitting them with a well aimed Avada Kedavra as they ran. Quite tricky and a lot of fun.
"Cockroach!" Corvus insisted anyway.
"Stupid bird!" Lucius sighed and returned to his letter.
"Cockroach." Corvus declared sounding slightly insulted.
"Letter!" he demanded ten minutes later when Lucius finally looked up from his parchment again.
"Just a moment." Lucius growled. "I still have to enspell this."
Of course after that he had to address the envelope and fold up the parchments before he finally put them in and sealed his letter, then threw it at the bird.
"There, now get out of my sight."
"Cockroach!" Corvus declared one last time before grabbing the letter and taking off.
He left the castle through the first open window he found and flew upwards feeling the air rush along his feathers. A quick swerve to avoid crashing into the south tower and he was exactly above the center of Hogwarts, the big courtyard right below him, but Corvus didn't look down to appreciate the view of the empty courtyard.
Instead he landed as quietly as possible on the windowsill in front of him and peered into the room. Ah yes, Albus was alone. Excellent.
Corvus knocked his beak against the window to get the headmaster's attention.
Albus looked up at the sound, smiled and came over to open the window and let the raven in. "Hello there, Corvus."
Corvus immediately flew to the table and dropped Lucius' letter onto it. "Letter!"
"Ah, I see. Thank you." Albus smiled. "Who is it from?"
"Cockroach!" Corvus declared happily.
"Already?" Dumbledore returned surprised. "Lucius sure keeps you busy, doesn't he."
"Stupid Cockroach!"
"Now now, lets not insult any innocent insects." Albus admonished while he carefully extracted the parchment from the closed envelope. It wasn't an easy Transfiguration, if you hadn't even seen the contents before. "There. And another blank parchment."
Albus sighed turning the secret message over in his hands a few times. None of his revealing spells worked on these and he couldn't use a revealing potion on them without letting the recipient notice that the message had been opened by a stranger. Most revealing potions left obvious traces on the parchment they were used on and those few that didn't all took several days to unfold their power. Voldemort would definitely get suspicious, if the letter arrived several days late, or there was no secret message in it.
He considered replacing the parchment with a false message, but wasn't sure how well Voldemort knew Lucius' handwriting, what style and manner of address Lucius used in these letters, or what exact spell was used to hide the message. No, he had to let this one go unread. Again.
With a slightly worried expression Albus returned the letters into their envelope and handed it back to Corvus. "There you go. Deliver it to Narcissa Malfoy as Cockroach told you to."
"Letter!" Corvus agreed happily, took up the envelope again and flew out the window.
Albus watched the small black dot in the sky fly south until it disappeared. He worried about what Voldemort's reaction would be. He couldn't take his anger out on Harry, the agent, or Lucius as long as they remained at Hogwarts. The same was true for Trevor and Neville. Still Voldemort would need an outlet.
If he blamed Lucius, Voldemort could punish him by attacking Narcissa or Malfoy Manor, but the first probably wouldn't touch Lucius as much as it should and the later was likely to backfire since the Malfoy fortune financed most of Voldemort's bigger operations. None of his other supporters could afford to donate that much money to the cause.
Another possibility was that Voldemort might decide to punish the agent by attacking his family. They'd have to keep a close eye on the next few attacks. Maybe that'd give them a clue as to the traitor's identity.
On the other hand the traitor's loyalty was extremely important to Voldemort. Could he afford the risk of losing it through an attack like that?
Harry had no family other than the Durseys, whom Voldemort didn't know where to find and Harry was known not to like. The closest people to Harry Voldemort could get at were the Weasleys. The headmaster shuddered at the thought of what he might do, if he decided for that course of action. He seriously hoped poor Percy was already dead.
Or would Voldemort decide to take his revenge on the Longbottoms as the owners of Trevor? It seemed very unlikely as the toad would probably not even become aware of the death of any of Neville's relatives. A toad's mind was much too simple for that.
And then there always was the possibility of a random outburst of violence against an unconnected party. In that case the first easy victims on hand would suffer Voldemort's wrath. That was really the worst possible scenario since it couldn't be guarded against and would yield no clue whatsoever about the traitor's identity.
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The first lesson for the sixth year the next morning was Care for Magical Creatures, or Muggle Studies, for those few that took that class. Severus used that chance to take a look inside Theodore's trunk.
There were several books on the dark arts in there alongside others on Charms and Transfigurations. A letter from Theodore's mother confirmed that she had apparently really been sick. At least she was writing about how much she was enjoying life again now that she was almost completely cured.
So Theodore most likely had really been called home because of his mother's illness rather than on the dark lord's orders, as they had suspected. Still that didn't mean that the boy couldn't be working for Voldemort.
His family was involved deeply in the dark arts, which was a sufficient explanation for the books, but also made him a likely person for Voldemort to rely upon. All in all the results of this investigation had turned out to be rather inconclusive, Severus decided.
He went on to Blaise's trunk, which didn't look much different from last year. Mostly the same books, similar, though not the same clothes, the same old stuffed dragon toy, same hair care potions, same firecrackers and some sweets.
After a moment of indecision Severus took samples of the hair care potions, pocketed the firecrackers and slipped a chocolate frog into his mouth. Blaise was probably expecting this anyway.
A glance at the clock informed him that he still had enough time to sneak into he third years' dorm as well. He picked up Greenie, who'd been snuffling around on his bed and snuck down the stairs. The third years' dorm was one floor below his own actually on a level with the common room, though you couldn't enter it from there directly. You had to go up the stairs into the boys dorms, then down another staircase into the lower dorms. Sometimes the older students down there complained about it, but most of the time nobody really cared.
Right now it was the third, second and first years who were down there so complaints were rather rare. The kids still thought it was fun.
Stephan LaCroix was the only person Severus met in the corridor and he only gave him a passing sleepy glance as he trudged past towards the common room.
"Morning, Stephan." Severus said lightly. "Shouldn't you be in class?"
Stephan yawned. "No, I'm starting today with Creatures in second lesson. You?"
"Creatures now, but I take Arithmancy and Runes."
"Runes sucks." Stephan commented and yawned again. "I really wish I hadn't picked that subject."
"What then?" Severus asked him. "Divination?" he wrinkled his nose. "Or Muggle Studies?"
Stephan frowned. "Yuck. Arithmancy of course. My best friend takes that too."
"That's about the only subject that's more work than Runes, you know." Severus commented. "You're probably better off with the schedule you have."
Stephan grumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "I don't really give a damn." and walked past Severus.
Severus allowed himself a tiny satisfied smile and went down into the third years' dorm.
The room was dark and uncomfortable. The boys had apparently extinguished all the candles when they'd left. Severus considered lighting them again. After all they were meant to burn all day, but then the candles were all completely cold. The boys would probably notice that somebody had been in the room, if they were warm when they returned.
Whoever had given that pack the idea to save their candles like that?
There was less of a chance of them noticing if he lit only a single candle, but it was still an unnecessary risk. Severus lit up his wand, put Greenie on the first bed and went to work.
He got lucky the first time. The trunk he'd started with belonged to Curtis Marston, one of his suspects.
Then again it wasn't all that surprising since he did suspect three out of the five boys that slept here.
Severus stared at the contents of the trunk in disgust. Dirty underwear, some of it women's underwear and leather strips? Some books with rather disturbing content considering that this trunk belonged to a thirteen year old. Handcuffs. A whip?
Severus closed the lid and shook himself. Curtis was a rather quiet boy most of the time. He was very prejudiced and the son of a death eater, but this was completely unexpected.
"That boy needs therapy." Severus told Greenie before going on to the next trunk.
It was almost a relief that Bran Lewis had his entire trunk stuffed full of potions ingredients, some of which were definitely illegal. Nothing out of the ordinary.
He opened one wrong trunk before finding Maximius Mattels'. Several sharp needles shot out of the lock when Severus opened it, one of them hitting him in the shoulder. It stung but that was all at first.
Severus immediately pulled the needle out and bent to check the contents of the trunk. Spare clothes on top. A few recent letters from friends and family. Maximius got a lot of mail. The boy did spend an extraordinary amount of time in he common room writing long letters, though, so this wasn't entirely surprising. Maybe he was one of those people who could express themselves better in writing.
Severus closed his eyes for a moment to try and focus on his task again. He was feeling a little dizzy. He didn't have much time left to check what was under those clothes.
The dizziness didn't go away. Strange. Usually dark rooms didn't affect him like this. He hadn't lit a candle so ...
The needles! They had to have been covered in some potion.
Hastily Severus morphed back into his adult form and the dizziness got a little better. Yes, definitely a potion. Due to the frequent exposure that came with his profession he had a higher tolerance for almost all potions than most wizards. Maximius' trap would probably have put any other student to sleep by now.
Severus dropped the lid of the trunk and grabbed Greenie not bothering to try and close it or reset the trap. Maximius would know that somebody had broken into his trunk, but it couldn't be helped. He had to get out of here before the potion took full effect.
Still in his more resistant adult body he raced out of the room and up the stairs. To cross the common room unnoticed he had to turn back into a boy at the top of he other stairway, but luckily he managed to get through without stumbling or being addressed.
As soon as he was through the secret door he transformed again and raced on. He could only hope that nobody saw him. Most students and teachers were supposed to be in class right now and Filch knew about his mission. So there was a good chance, if he avoided the main corridors and the vicinity of the library.
Somehow he made it to the hospital wing. He stumbled inside.
"Poppy!" he managed to call just before he passed out.
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Thistle - Actually Luci counted the heads of his students and the number of essays on his desk and got one less essays. Then he told them that one essay was missing (but not that he'd counted the students present to determine that). Seamus said that it was Dean's essay, but Dean wasn't present so he hadn't been included in the count in the first place. (Dean's essay was missing, but with this method, Luci would not have noticed it.)
Black Angel - Well, I couldn't harm a poor little pet, could I.
JerseyPike - Mean? Vector? I'll have to reread that. I planned on her being a rather distant person, but not mean.
Pam Briggs - I'm not sure I'll always be able to update each Friday. This chapter was rather hard to get ready in time, so unless some additional time pops up by magic, I might occasionally take two weeks for a new chapter.
TatraMegami - Well, they all did have something they found more interesting than actually waiting for Luci to think of something to do ...
kalariah - Actually, it's both intentional and unintentional. There's supposed to be three dots there that ff.net swallowed. There used to be a time when it didn't do that. Sniff!
annakas - And there the brats haven't found time to actually deal with Lucius so far . . .
nix - No sorry, last time I checked, I was still only boring old me. Updates will only be fond here for this fic for now. RD is done. (and with 55 chapters I think it was about time.) The mini sequel will follow right after that. (I'm currently thinking about including Harry in it. Wonder whether I should ...)
Iremione - There's nothing wrong with Estella at all. It's just Luci who doesn't like an intelligent girl. . . . And the same goes for Hermione: It's just Luci who thinks that a Hermione should look differently. . . . Did you never learn to do summaries in school? Of course there is such a thing as a maximum length for essays. (Though Luci's idea of a maximum lengths for a potions essay might make Sevi feel a little sick . . .) I'm not necessarily trying to be subtle. I'm trying to make people suspect. . . . Well, nobody guessed the Latin. Either I forgot too much to do it right or too few of my readers have learned it. . . . What is hentai? Somebody said it in a review and I don't speak Japanese! I've figured out kawai and a few others, but hentai's new to me. . . . Well, it was the end of a very long day full of learning how to teach. Luci's mind was slightly exhausted.
Imprisoned - I will. I just have to finish this first.
yuyin - Dreadfully sorry, but that was the final chapter you read. I'm working on this now. You're supposed to see the Gryffindors through Slytherin eyes in RD, by the way. And Slytherins hate Gryffindors as much as Gryffindors hate Slytherins.
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A/N: What does the name Harry gave Hermione's potion actually mean? (Since nobody guessed it last time, I'll try again) Will Lucius figure out what Corvus means when he says 'Cockroach'? Who will suffer Voldemort's revenge? (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 analyses potions, Draco investigates and Lucius gets a visit from his son.