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 - Sorry for last week. I just didn't manage to finish this in time.
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Chapter 8: Severing Charms
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Severus and Hermione had just about driven Professor Vector into sending the class off early without setting homework just to be rid of them when Albus Dumbledore's amplified voice rang through the school.
"All students return to your common rooms. Morning classes have been cancelled. There will be a teachers' conference in ten minutes."
The students stared at each other.
"What happened?" "Why?" "Again?" "What's going on?"
Then the first ones realised that they were free to go and the rush for the doors started. Students were chatting happily. Only Hermione looked slightly nervous.
Severus grabbed Greenie, not even bothering to put him back into his cage, made the cage and his book bag float along behind him and rushed off to the Slytherin common room, where he expected to meet his best friend.
When he arrived however Draco was nowhere to be seen. Severus dropped his book bag and the hedgehog cage off in the dorm, but his friend wasn't there either. He even checked the bathroom, but it was as empty as the dorm. So he went back down to wait in the common room where he found a comfortable armchair near the fire. Greenie found an equally comfortable place on his lap and watched the commotion from that safe spot.
"Sniff!" the little hedgehog declared when the secret door swung open again and for a moment Severus hoped he might be announcing Draco's arrival, but it was only the first years.
Draco had been outside to watch the Gryffindors' Quidditch practise. Maybe Dumbledore's voice hadn't reached him there?
The first years looked oddly pale and were talking in excited whispers that slowly spread across the room.
"Have you heard?" Theodore appeared next to Severus' chair. "Potter fell off his broom."
"He didn't fall off the broom." Alice said from his other side. "The broom itself fell. Its magic suddenly gave out and it dropped like a stone."
"No, it was hexed." argued Estella. "A broom, especially a good one like Potter's Firebolt doesn't just lose its magic like that."
"I'm telling you it was the dark lord!" a panicking first year shrilled. "He's come to kill us all."
"He'd never kill us." Hieronymus Mattels shouted back at her, but Severus doubted that he'd been heard very far in the chaos that followed the girl's shout.
Everyone was yelling or sobbing. Some students ran up to their dorms.
"SILENCE!!!" Severus shot a shower of red sparks into the room that drew most people's attentions. "If he already got Potter, Voldemort will most likely not bother with attacking us further. We are no threat to him."
"But Potter survived!" one of the first years claimed. "Professor Sprout took him to the hospital wing."
Still the Slytherins calmed down a little. Severus watched them sit down again and discuss the event. The rumours kept growing. By now the entire Gryffindor team had been Avada Kedavraed by Voldemort himself.
Severus wondered whether he could leave the common room without attracting attention. He had to find Draco and ask him what really happened.
Some third years arrived late and were greeted with detailed descriptions of the bloody end of Gryffindor house.
Severus simply got up and walked out the secret door.
"Where are you going?" Blaise asked just before Severus could close the door.
"To try and find Draco." Severus admitted.
"What if Lupin comes to count us?" Theodore reminded him. "You'd better stay here."
"And he'd notice Draco's missing." Severus argued. "But he's not coming anyway. He's in the hospital wing recovering from his transformation and I doubt they'll think of sending somebody else, especially now that their meeting has already started."
"But what if the dark lord really is out there?" Susan asked wide eyed with fear. "What if he catches you?"
Severus snorted. "Dumbledore wouldn't be holding a meeting if the school was under attack. The most dangerous person that might be roaming the corridors right now is Filch and the worst he'd do is give me a detention."
Susan still looked doubtful, but Severus ignored it and closed the door behind him.
Draco had been watching the Gryffindor's training, so if there really had been an accident, he must have seen it, which meant that he'd probably followed the Gryffindors who must have taken their injured to the hospital wing.
And indeed Severus found his friend just outside the hospital wing with one arm around Ginny Weasley while having a glaring match with the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team minus Potter.
"What's wrong?" Severus asked stepping beside Draco.
"Potter's boom broke. I only tried to help and now they're claiming it was my fault." Draco replied sullenly.
"It didn't break." Katie Bell argued. "We all saw the pieces, Malfoy. That was a clean cut. You said yourself that it looked like a severing charm."
"That doesn't mean I did it." Draco shot back.
"And who else would have?" Ron Weasley demanded. "There was nobody else there."
"Maybe it was one of you." Draco suggested maliciously.
"Or maybe it was somebody you didn't see." Severus declared more calmly. "There are a lot of places you can hide around the Quidditch field and a severing charm works over very long distances, if you do it right. You can even cast it through a closed window, so it could have been done from inside one of the glass houses, or even from one of the castle's windows."
"There was a first year class in the glass houses." Draco shook his head. "They came over with Professor Sprout. Can a first year do a severing charm that well?"
Severus shrugged. "You'd have to ask Flitwick, I know I couldn't at that age, though I did know the words."
"We didn't see Malfoy until he ran up to us, though." Alicia Spinett admitted. "Even though he was just sitting in the stands. Someone could easily have hidden from us behind the broom shed or in the bushes near the forest."
"That's forbidden." Colin Creevey gasped.
"And you think a death eater about to commit murder cares about that?" Draco sneered at the boy.
Creevey blushed and lowered his eyes.
"Then it could have been anyone." Ron stated.
"Not quite." Severus corrected. "Not every classroom in the castle has a window you can see the Quidditch pitch from. The Potions class for example has no windows at all."
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Lucius was slightly worried as he walked towards the staff room. At first it had been a relief to know that he'd get out of two hours of teaching, but then he'd begun to wonder why the meeting had been called.
It was almost sure to have something to do with the assassin, but they hadn't made plans to attack again, yet. The assassin had been eager to fulfil Voldemort's wishes, probably due to the extra pressure to succeed the dark lord had put on him, but Lucius wasn't willing to strike this soon after the entire school had been alerted to their presence. They were looking for the assassin in force right now, but would start to relax after a few weeks of no further alarms. Then the chances of a successful attack without the assassin getting caught would be much better.
This meeting could be completely unrelated of course, but Dumbledore was highly unlikely to call his entire staff out of class to discuss the school budget or some other trivial problem. Such things could wait until after classes. Whatever the headmaster wanted to talk about right now had only just come up and required immediate attention.
And Lucius couldn't think of anything unrelated to the assassin that could be this important. What if the assassin had been caught? An untried child might spill out everything when questioned, which would most certainly land Lucius in Azkaban, maybe even get him kissed.
What if they brought in veritaserum? Was anybody besides him likely to have any?
"You're late." Hagrid growled at him when he arrived.
"The students had cauldrons on the fire and all sorts of ingredients laid out." Lucius hissed at him. "I couldn't just let them up and leave without cleaning up."
"That's alright, Lucius." Dumbledore said in that annoying kind tone of his. "I understand. Please sit down so we can get started."
Unfortunately the only free chairs were next to Trelawney. The other teachers had left room to either side of her. Lucius thanked them all with a glare at the entire room and chose the one on the Divination Professor's left side.
"I'm afraid our concerns for Harry Potter have been proven right." Albus started and Lucius had to struggle not to show his fear. "There has been another attack."
"Another attack?" Professor McGonagall gasped. "This soon? And during class time again?"
"Yes, I'm afraid so." the headmaster confirmed. "Our traitor seems to be under pressure to act fast. The chance was very good for him, though. The rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team all had a study hour, you see, and they were eager to try out their new members, so Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley decided to skip Divination so they could practise instead. During the practise Mr. Potter's broom broke in midair. His team-mates were unable to prevent the fall, but could slow it down enough that Harry only suffered a few broken bones. Madame Pomfrey tells me that he will be fine in a few days."
Sighs of relief and smiles all around the room. Lucius frowned. Another failure and why had the assassin acted without consulting him first? Yes, they had talked about the possibilities to arrange a Quidditch accident, but they hadn't really talked it through much less agreed on any course of action.
"How do we know it wasn't just a coincidence?" he asked into the excited discussions of his colleagues. "I believe you just said Potter's broom broke. Could it just have been brittle from age? Or maybe it was badly constructed? Deficient material? A bad protection spell?"
Dumbledore calmly handed him the pieces of the broom which had been lying on the table behind him. "Take a look."
Lucius accepted the pieces. He had to take a very close look indeed to determine which end of the stick was witch.
"As you can see it looks like a clean, deliberate cut rather than a break." the headmaster continued. "Your son suggested that it must have been a severing charm and it does look like that to me as well, but I would like to make sure. If you could please pass the pieces to Filius, when you're done . . ."
"Draco?" Lucius' head came up suddenly. "What does Draco have to do with this?"
"He was one of the witnesses." Dumbledore explained. "He doesn't take either Divination or Arithmancy, so he had the lesson off. He was watching the practise, I believe."
"Spying more likely." McGonagall scoffed. "Those cheating Slytherin brats!"
"The Quidditch stands are free for every student, Minerva." Remus Lupin spoke up. The werewolf looked exhausted, leaning back in the most comfortable armchair in the room. He hadn't spoken until now, but apparently felt the need to defend the honour of his house. "Slytherin students are not the only ones that like to watch other teams practise and there is no rule that says they can't."
"So Draco watched the practise?" Lucius prompted Dumbledore deciding to ignore the werewolf's bickering with the formidable head of Gryffindor.
"Yes, he accompanied the Gryffindor team to the hospital wing and brought back the evidence that I'd really like you to pass on to Filius now."
Lucius' frown deepened, but he did pass the pieces of Potter's broom to Sinistra, who handed them to Flitwick.
The small wizard inspected the cut closely looking at it, running his fingers over it, even blowing at it and finally pulling his wand and tapping it against the wood. Lucius didn't hear him say anything, but saw his lips move as he did so.
"Yes," Flitwick finally spoke up. "A severing charm indeed. Well executed. Most likely our traitor is a fourth year or higher, though a number of third years are capable enough at it as well."
"None of the first or second years could have performed this spell, then?" Dumbledore asked.
"The first years can't have that much skill with a wand, yet." Flitwick confirmed. "A very talented second year might master it, but it is unlikely they'd do this well. I've only started teaching the charm to the third years, so most of them are unlikely as well."
The headmaster nodded then cast a quick look at the schedule in his hand. "The first years were in Herbology and History?"
"I had the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs." Binns announced from where he was floating in the corner. "Everybody present this time."
"Any bathroom breaks?" Dumbledore asked him.
"No, not that I remember."
It wasn't really surprising. Binns' students had no exams or tests to try to get out of and it was hard to go to the bathroom while asleep.
"There were three bathroom breaks in my class, but none the moment Harry fell. I saw him fall, so I'm sure of it." Sprout reported. "All students were present at the time."
"The pitch is visible from the glasshouses, though." Lucius reminded her. "And a severing charm can be cast through a glass window."
"But the first years aren't capable of it." Flitwick insisted. "Most are still struggling to even hold their wands properly."
"The second years had DADA and Charms." Dumbledore continued. "Who was teaching the DADA class?"
"Nobody." Lupin answered with a sigh. "The only available teacher was Hether and she's off visiting her daughter."
"So the Gryffindors and Slytherins don't have an alibi." the headmaster decided. "Are any of them likely to be able to perform the spell?"
"Of the ones that were missing last week?" Flitwick looked thoughtful. "Mr. Palmer is very advanced. Ms Flemming perhaps, if she worked very hard on it. I doubt Ms Mandrake would be up to it. Ms Hunter-Moor is definitely unable to perform a third year level charm. Her performance in my class is rather poor."
"And the class you were teaching today?" Dumbledore asked.
"Two students went to the bathroom. Elena Morris and Charles Barters." Flitwick shook his head. "Neither of those two is able to perform the charm."
"And they both have an alibi for the first incident." Sprout threw in.
"The third years, then." Albus continued down his list. "Care for Magical Ceatures and Muggle Studies. Julian?"
The Muggle Studies teacher shrugged. "We were singing again." he reported. "No absences. I do believe our students get too few chances to show their musical talents. Maybe we ought to start a choir."
"That's a nice idea, Julian." Dumbledore stated absently.
Lucius couldn't believe how much patience the headmaster had with the young man who always had his head in the clouds somewhere and would . . . well would suggest to found a choir during a murder investigation.
Now it was Hagrid's turn. All students had been present, but the half giant couldn't remember whether any had gone to the bathroom. He'd been too busy staring at his Flubberworms.
"Part of the Quidditch field is visible from your hut as well, Hagrid." Sprout pointed out.
Hagrid shrugged hopelessly. "I didn' see anythin'."
"I'll need to check what suspects we have in third year that take Care for Magical Creatures." Dumbledore decided. "I'll send someone to your office with a list later, Filius. The fourth years had either Potions or Transfigurations. Have you got an attendance list this time Lucius?"
"In fact I do." Lucius sneered. Damn Dumbledore and his innocent smile and twinkle. "Here. As you can see all the students were present and I didn't allow any of them to sneak out."
The headmaster glanced at the list and handed it right back to him. "Thank you, Lucius. Minerva?"
"I had the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. They were all present at the start of class, but Ms Invers wasn't feeling very well and asked to be excused. She said she was going to her dorm to lie down for a bit. She'd be better in a little while."
"She didn't go to the hospital wing and you didn't ask her to?" Dumbledore asked sounding slightly surprised.
McGonagall's face hardened. "I was assuming that it was a certain female problem that did not require medical attention."
"Ah." Dumbledore said looking confused.
'Certain female problem?' Lucius mentally shrugged. 'Well, whatever.'
"Two of the Hufflepuff girls wanted to go to the bathroom, but the first had only just left when you cancelled the class and I'd made the other wait for her return." McGonagall continued.
"The fifth years had either Latin or a study hour." Dumbledore read out.
Madame Pince shifted in her seat. "I had the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs." she said. "No absences, but part of the Quidditch pitch is visible from the window in the back of the class. Not easily, but from some of the seats it should be possible. The student would have to be very skilled to send such a charm off without my noticing as they'd have to turn around away from the blackboard for it and it would also be hard to aim properly, but a fifth year skilled at Charms and trained by a death eater might be able to do it."
"A Slytherin or Hufflepuff student shouldn't have known that the Gryffindor Quidditch team was having a practise at this unusual time, though." Vector mused. "What are the chances of a student noticing and recognising the players from the Latin classroom?"
"Not good." Rosetta answered for Pince. "A disinterested student just looking out the window in boredom would be unlikely to crane his head to see the usually empty pitch. In my experience there are usually birds flying over the forest in plain view from those windows that will attract their attention. The classroom has a very nice view."
"They might have seen the Gryffindors head outside in their Quidditch gear before they came to class." Lucius suggested.
"Or they might be a Quidditch fanatic, who's in the habit of looking to the pitch longingly." Vector added. "In that case it also wouldn't be unusual for them to sit near the back window in Latin class and turn around frequently to watch the pitch and such behaviour might easily go unnoticed."
"Professor Pince hasn't taught Latin long enough to get used to such habits, though." Dumbledore reminded them.
"I still might have overlooked it." Pince admitted. "Inattentiveness is annoying, but if the student was quiet and discreet about it, it might have gone unnoticed. I had a pair in the front row that kept disrupting class with talking so my attention was mostly on them."
Dumbledore nodded again. "In that case we'll have to check what seats the pitch is visible from and who sat there. Do you know?"
Both Pince and Rosetta shook their heads. The view of the Quidditch pitch wasn't that important.
"Most likely the seats in the last row." Rosetta supposed. "Those on the window side. Maybe a few from the row in front of that as well."
"The angle is wrong from the center isle." Pince argued. "At least from the perspective of someone standing up. The students' heads would be on a lower level since they'd be sitting. Still, I'd suspect the window row would be the most likely to be able to see the pitch. I'll try to reconstruct the seating order."
"Thank you. That might help a lot." Dumbledore smiled at her. "The sixth years were in Divination and Arithmancy. They are among our biggest suspects since they are in Harry's year."
Trelawney looked annoyed. "Well, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley skipped class, as you already know. The other two Gryffindors, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil did go to the bathroom once when Lavender was feeling dizzy. The poor girl seems to be slightly allergic to something in my class. She occasionally gets breathing troubles and has to leave for a few minutes. She says a little cold water in her face will solve the problem, but I always make Parvati go with her to make sure she doesn't faint or stumble down the stairs on her way. You know how wobbly the ladder up to my class is. A dizzy girl needs help to get down."
"That's the Gryffindors then." Dumbledore nodded. "What of the other three houses?"
"Two." Trelawney corrected. "None of the Slytherins in that year take my class. Of the Ravenclaws there's only Miranda Deering and Terry Boot who were both present. Then there's Justin Finch-Fletchley, Nicodemus Hanson, Miranda Moon and Nathaly Immens of Hufflepuff. All present as well, though I think Miranda went to the bathroom once."
"Shouldn't you have a very good view of the Quidditch pitch from your tower?" Vector reminded her.
"I do not care much for Quidditch." Trelawney scoffed. "Noisy affairs like that always cloud my inner eye for days."
McGonagall sighed and rolled her eyes.
"But can your students see the pitch from class?" Sprout demanded.
"I suppose so." Trelawney shrugged. "Not that I care."
"I see." said Dumbledore, not twinkling for once. "What of the Arithmancy students?"
"My classroom windows all look out onto the courtyard, so there is no chance the students could have seen the pitch from there. All students were present and I don't allow bathroom breaks during a first lesson. The students had enough time to go in the morning." Vector announced. "Of Gryffindor I teach Hermione Granger, Dean Thomas and Neville Longbottom. Of Slytherin Severus, Theodore Nott, Gregory Goyle, Vincent Crabbe, Blaise Zabini, Juliana Carlson and Estella Rashton. Of Hufflepuff Susan Abbott and Sissy Lawrence. Then there's nine Ravenclaws. I think that's the entire year, with the exception of Ms Deering and Mr. Boot."
"And the seventh years had a study hour." Dumbledore closed the questioning session. "I am beginning to really worry about Harry's safety. This was the second time pure luck saved his life. I think it is time we took measures to ensure his safety. Any suggestions?"
"We should rearrange the schedules so he doesn't have classes with Slytherins anymore." McGonagall suggested immediately.
"Neither of the attacks happened during class time and we have no clues to the traitor's house." Lupin shot back.
Lucius was beginning to appreciate Lupin's dedication to his house. The werewolf was a commoner and far beneath him, of course, but at least he made an effort for their house."
"Potter should be taken off the Quidditch team." he suggested to back up Lupin and demonstrate concern for the wizarding world's hero. "The sport is dangerous and provides the attacker with too many opportunities."
His fellow teachers stared at him. Apparently they hadn't expected him to say anything constructive. 'They're suspecting me.' he realised. 'They think I wouldn't do anything to reduce the assassin's chances.'
"What?" he asked them out loud. "I'm not aiming to improve Slytherin's chances at the Quidditch Cup by saying this. Potter is in danger every time he flies. This incident clearly proves that."
"The first attack happened during a meal." McGonagall pointed out.
"The boy needs to eat." Lucius answered calmly. "And with the house elves guarding the great hall until the start of the meals now, there isn't such a big risk anymore. Quidditch is an unnecessary risk, though. In fact any flying is. Potter can fly, so he doesn't need to practise it. We should ban him from getting on a broom until this is solved."
There was some squabbling about the issue. McGonagall saw Lucius' suggestion as an attack on her Quidditch team and defended it valiantly. Dumbledore considered it a too big limitation of Harry's personal freedom claiming that the boy would never bend to the rule. Flitwick thought he should be given a choice. Hagrid supported Dumbledore as usual.
Sprout and Pomfrey were fully on Lucius' side claiming that the danger to Harry's life was obvious and only a clear order not to fly could ensure the boy's safety. Vector declared it the logical course of action.
Pince was torn between letting Harry decide for himself and assuring his safety. "Sixteen year olds tend to be so terribly unreasonable." she sighed. "But they like to rebel against authority figures as well. If we make the decision for him, he might consider it a challenge."
Rosetta didn't want to take any sides, while Filch was all for anything that Potter might consider a punishment.
Trelawney didn't take any sides either and Lupin declared that he was too tired to think straight.
Hooch's absence was probably the decisive factor in the final vote. Lucius' suggestion to ban Harry Potter from playing Quidditch until the assassin had been caught won by one vote. By Binns' vote in fact.
Lucius wasn't sure why the ghost had voted at all. Nobody had minded when Trelawney and Rosetta had decided not to and Binns hadn't participated in the discussion at all. Lucius wondered whether he even knew what he had voted for.
Either way it was a victory for Lucius, though, even if he didn't really care about whether Harry Potter played Quidditch or not. He had demonstrated concern for the boy's safety thereby proving that he was not in any way supportive of Voldemort. That should get the other teachers off his back.
He left the meeting in a considerably better mood than he'd arrived in. There was still about an hour until lunch and no class to teach during that time. He could get his paper and . . .
There was a group of students outside his door. He immediately recognised Blaise Zabini, Theodore Nott and the Mattels brothers. Then there was Seamus Finnigan further in the back, Luisa Hunter-Moor behind him and Stephan LaCroix was the name of the one leaning nonchalantly against his door.
There were two or three others as well.
"What's going on?" Lucius asked them surprised.
He'd soon realised that those Slytherins that didn't accept Lupin as their head of house had chosen to turn to him instead, but usually they'd come one at a time, rarely more than one a day in fact. Slytherins had always been used to looking after themselves. At least until Snape had taken over.
Other students sometimes bothered him about Potions related questions or problems with homework assignments.
His own son however apparently preferred Lupin. It hurt, but then again maybe it was just an attempt to show Slytherin independence. The boy was growing up after all.
"We need to talk to you, I guess." Stephan answered for all of them. "I'm first. The others can wait."
Grumbling from the group. Luisa mumbled something about having been here first, but a single glare from Stephan silenced all protests and the seventh year followed Lucius into his office. He'd be happy to hear about Potter's suspension from Quidditch.
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When Remus reached the common room he found rumours flying left and right. Everybody had something to say about the incident. Nobody really knew what had happened.
And Remus was so tired! All he'd planned to do here was find Severus and tell him that the headmaster wanted to see him.
With a sigh he let himself drop into his favourite chair. "There was another attack on Harry Potter. I guess we're sure there's a death eater in the school trying to murder him now."
Silence fell over the room. Everybody was curious to hear what he had to say.
"Contrary to the rumours nobody other than Harry was harmed this time." Remus continued. Some of the students actually looked relieved. It was good to see that Slytherin had not really changed into a club for mini death eaters since his school days. "Harry is hurt, but Madame Pomfrey says he'll be fine. The only problem is that the death eater is still loose in the school and most likely very dangerous. Please be careful, trust nobody and report any suspicious behaviour of one of your fellow students to me. It doesn't matter if it's something trivial and turns out to have nothing to do with the death eater at all. It's better if I check out twenty false leads, than if one of you gets hurt or killed, because someone didn't report something that seemed too inconclusive."
He looked around at the frightened faces of the younger students and the studied masks of indifference of the more experienced. As usual in Slytherin it wasn't just the older students that were masters at hiding what they felt. Even some of the first years looked back at him as calm and serious as adults. He wondered whether Severus would know all their stories.
"On to a different matter." he smiled at them hoping to calm their fears. "Severus, Draco, the headmaster wants to see you about some matter apparently involving a mousetrap."
The laughter of the students sounded only slightly nervous. Remus felt proud of them. He didn't want to know what might be going on in the Hufflepuffs' or Ravenclaws' common rooms right now. The Gryffindors were probably either in hysterics or forming a lynch mob to attack Slytherin house right now. He hoped Minerva had caught them still in the common room, if they did. Or at least that they didn't happen to find any solitary Slytherin walking through the castle on his own.
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Severus and Draco had Ancient Runes right after lunch, but as usual Professor Rosetta was late. Seeing that everybody else was busy either doing homework or discussing the new attack on Harry Potter, Severus calmly pulled out their list of suspects and the new list Albus had given him in his hurry to pass on the information before the meal. It would have been too suspicious, if their 'punishment' had taken so long that they'd been late for lunch.
To make it seem more realistic Albus had even taken thirty points off Slytherin, which put them at five points right now. Still in the positives to everybody's surprise. Considering that Severus had been in school for two weeks now that was a remarkably good result.
"We can take Missy Clay off the list." Severus decided studying the two parchments.
"What are you doing?" Draco hissed at him. "People are going to see."
"See what?" Severus grinned. "That I'm either comparing or copying your homework again? They're used to the sight."
Draco nodded. From afar this would look like Severus doing homework. He only hoped nobody was bored enough to want to take a closer look.
"Can we really rely on Binns that much, though?" he asked. "Last time we doubted he knew how many students he was supposed to have, so can we be sure he really had them all this time?"
"Binns might be wrong, but Flitwick is reliable. If he says none of the first years can perform a severing charm, I believe him. In fact, I remember I could only do it over short distances when I was eleven. Harry was too high up in the air for them to get close enough."
"What of the second years then? We have Luisa Hunter-Moor, Vestalia Flemming and Quintus Palmer free, since they should have been in DADA." Draco pointed out.
"We'll have to ask Flitwick about them." Severus decided. "He says a very advanced second year could have done it, but not which students are that advanced."
"Palmer messed up a cheering charm last week." Draco remembered. "I guess that puts him out of the question."
"Not necessarily." Severus decided after a moment. "He could have done it on purpose, which makes him even more suspect. I'll wait for Flitwick's verdict before I eliminate him. Phil Hawkins, Fatima Suleyman and Marlies King have a fool proof alibi, though."
"What about those other two that went to the bathroom?" Draco suggested.
"They were in class last time and they can't perform the charm." Severus shook his head. "We'll have to ask Flitwick about the third years as well."
The headmaster had checked the class lists for them and found that none of their suspects took Muggle Studies. That wasn't really a surprise, but annoying nonetheless. Care for Magical Creatures didn't offer an alibi since the students could see the pitch without leaving the class and Maximius Mattels, Severus' current main suspect hadn't had a class in the first place.
"Iago Orson and Mattis Parker were in Potions." Severus continued with a sigh. "That doesn't help us at all. Keith Gorl and Sandra Invers in Transfigurations."
"But Sandra left class and didn't even go to the hospital wing." Draco frowned at the headmaster's parchment. "There's no way to check her story."
"Keith should be cleared according to this, though." Severus decided. "I'll ask McGonagall about him again, but I think we can eliminate him."
They had to stop there, because Professor Rosetta finally arrived. The teacher was very distracted during the entire lesson, however so that Hermione Granger actually remarked to Severus that it had been a waste of time as they walked out.
"She's right, you know." Severus told Draco as soon as they were out of earshot. "We could have used that time better by continuing our list."
"At least we have Latin right now." Draco reminded him. "We can ask Pince about the seating arrangements and check the view."
"Hieronymus Mattels is our only suspect in that class." Severus declared. "Fifth year's all clear except for him."
"And you still think that Maximius is the more dangerous brother." Draco grinned.
"He seems to like the use of needles and protects his belongings more fiercely than Hieronymus." Severus told him once again. "Checking Hieronymus can't hurt, though. There is of course still the chance that the brothers work as a team."
"So then we'll only need to talk to Flitwick and McGonagall and that's all?" Draco asked.
"Yes, I'm our witness that Blaise and Theodore really were in class and Eric Farram as well."
"Blaise and Theodore were your very first suspects, weren't they?"
"Yes, along with Stephan LaCroix." Severus sighed. "At least we still have him and Maximius left."
"Wonderful." Draco sighed. "Just wonderful. I thought we're trying to cut the list down to just one suspect?"
"We are." Severus confirmed. "But if all the best suspects were eliminated, chances are we made a mistake somewhere."
"What kind of mistake?"
"Either we eliminated somebody we shouldn't have, or the traitor was never on the list at all. I was expecting the number of less suspect students to reduce rather quickly, not the number of the really suspect ones."
"We only need one." Draco reminded him. "My money's on Stephan. He'd be the perfect choice. He's a Quidditch player, which means he can get close to Potter, he's respected, pureblood and from a family with a history of dark wizards."
"There's one thing that speaks against him, though." Severus said.
"What's that?"
"The drugs. Addicts are unreliable and I doubt Volemort would risk hiring one." Severus explained.
"But does he know?"
"That's one question." Severus admitted. "The other is whether Stephan actually is an addict himself. He might as well just be selling the drugs without taking any himself."
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"Hieronymus Mattels?" Professor Pince asked surprised. "No, he didn't seem distracted at all. He participated quite eagerly today."
"Is that unusual for him?" Severus asked while walking up and down the class trying to see the Quidditch pitch.
"A little." Professor Pince admitted. "He seems to like Latin, though he's never been one to spend much time in the library until this year."
"I can only see it from just about the height of the last row." Severus reported. "You're taller which probably gives you a better view when walking the class, but the students would be sitting. I'd say only the last row really has any chance to see the pitch. Which was Hieronymus' seat today?"
"There." Pince pointed at a seat in the center of the second row.
Severus frowned. "That doesn't look promising."
He walked over and leaned against the desk. Then sat down, leaned forward and backward, to the left and right, even tilted the chair back and finally sat on the desk.
"Nothing. All I can see is the forest." he declared finally. "I'm smaller than Hieronymus, though. You're closer to his size, Draco. Maybe you can see it."
But Draco couldn't find a position where he could see the Quidditch pitch from either. Outside in the corridor the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw fifth years were starting to get noisy. They'd been waiting for class to start for almost a quarter of an hour now.
Professor Pince walked out and sent them away.
"But why?" Colin Creevey asked. "I thought you were going to explain how varying the words to a spell can alter it's effect."
"Yes, but . . ." the teacher hesitated. "I found some cockroaches in the classroom. Probably a prank, but I have to exterminate them before some crawl too far away and infest the whole castle. We'll just have to talk about the variations next week."
There was some disappointed mumbling mostly from the Ravenclaws, but as soon as Professor Pince had returned into the classroom and closed the door behind her they could also hear cheers and footsteps hurrying away.
Pince didn't seem to mind. She returned to the boys and tried the chair herself this time. Still no result.
They tried a few of the other seats as well and pushed Hieronymus' desk around a bit. After all one of the later students might have righted the desk, if it had been in the wrong position. Nothing. There was simply no chance Hieronymus could have seen the pitch as long as he remained in his chair.
Severus eyed the wastepaper basket in the front of the room for a while. The corner it was in couldn't possibly give you a view of the pitch, but what about the way from Hieronymus' seat to the wastepaper basket? Not likely, but he might have taken a less direct route.
He tried out a few paths, but unless Hieronymus had taken a detour in the opposite direction there just wasn't a chance and if he'd stopped on his way, that would certainly have attracted attention. He couldn't just have walked past the window, found Harry, pulled his wand, taken aim and done the spell without stopping. Definitely not, if he hadn't known that Harry would be in sight the moment he'd gotten up either. Even from the best spot in the room only about half of the pitch was visible so Hieronymus would have had only a fifty percent chance that Harry would be in sight at all and he couldn't keep throwing things away until he finally got lucky. Especially not, if he took a detour every time.
The student in the back corner seat that had the best view had been a Muggle born Hufflepuff girl who was known to faint at the sight of blood. Next to her had been her best friend, another Hufflepuff, that Severus didn't think capable of harming a fly either.
The Slytherin with the best chances would have been the one sitting alone at the center desk in the back row. Nicholas Elvers, an orphan whose parents had both been killed by death eaters and who'd once told him that his goal in life was to become an auror and avenge them.
"I give up." Severus declared after hearing those news. "The fifth years are all cleared."
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Lucius was furious when they finally walked into Potions class half an hour after it had started. Apparently Neville had taken their absence as a reason to put his prank utensils to good use. Since he didn't like working without partners and couldn't continue to work on their project without Severus' samples, he'd teamed up with Gregory and Vincent. Apparently he'd developed a preference for partnering Slytherins.
The area around their worktable was scorched and there were pieces of Vincent's cauldron strewed across the room. Lucius was soaked from head to toe and pink liquid was dripping out of his hair forming a puddle on the floor which was already covered with some white substance, that looked suspiciously like snow, but wasn't showing any intention of melting despite the heat from the cauldrons.
"You!" Lucius barked while the boys were still taking in the scene. "Where the hell have you been?"
"You shouldn't curse in front of students, Professor Malfoy." Hermione reminded him.
Lucius suddenly had his wand in his hand pointing it at the Gryffindor.
"We have a note from Professor Pince explaining our absence." Severus explained hastily holding out the parchment.
Maybe hiring Lucius hadn't been such a good idea after all. So far his presence had yielded no real clues and Severus was beginning to worry that he might do serious harm to a student in a fit of rage and frustration. Lucius Malfoy clearly wasn't made to be a teacher.
Lucius tore the parchment from Severus' hands and glared at it.
Severus and Draco exchanged a nervous look. They had no idea what exactly Pince had written. It hadn't seemed important at the time.
"So, Professor Pince needs the help of two students and half an hour to get rid of a couple of cockroaches!" Lucius thundered.
Oh, so she had decided to stick with the story she'd given the fifth years.
"Well, she was really worried that we might miss one and it would lay eggs somewhere and there'd be cockroaches running loose all over the school." Draco explained trying to imitate Severus' puppy look.
"Fifty points." Lucius hissed through clenched teeth. "From each of you."
"For obeying a teacher?" Theodore dared to argue.
"And fifty off you, for questioning my punishments." Lucius hissed at him. "Now get back to work. Longbottom, I want you to return to working on your own project now that your partners are here. You and Misters Crabbe and Goyle together are a walking disaster."
Nervous laughter from the class. They weren't quite sure whether Lucius wouldn't punish that as well.
"Potter." Lucius continued ignoring the laughter. "If there isn't any written project you can think of, copy chapter one of your Potions book for me. Just don't touch another cauldron."
Severus raised an eyebrow towards Neville questioningly.
"I just threw a firecracker into Harry's potion and instead of exploding it started to snow." Neville explained at a whisper.
"Goyle and Crabbe, start over with a new cauldron." Lucius ended and collapsed into his chair. "Oh and Weasley! Detention. I'll need you to clean up this mess."
Ron frowned. "Why don't you take Harry or Neville for that for a change?"
"Oh, because you clean so well." Lucius smirked. His mood was beginning to improve again. He cast a drying charm over himself and grabbed for his newspaper.
Snap! This time the mousetrap did manage to capture his fingers and end class. Lucius had no intention of enduring the pain until the end of the lesson. He dismissed everybody except Ron and took off for the hospital wing and Madame Pomfrey's help.
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Mala Zloca - Lucius thinks Corvus is just repeating random words without attributing them a meaning. . . . Better than the original? You really think so? I was thinking I wasn't doing particularly well. (Then again whenever I think I'm doing well at something and feel proud of it, it's usually complete trash. I just can't judge these things.)
The Muses - Sure I remember you! Not everything we talked about, of course, but I remember. . . . I think it was just after I'd finished MNS, though, because we talked about the end. . . . Well, I've had years of practise. I don't even remember when I first started writing stories in my head (because I hadn't learned to read, yet.) Those first ones were trash of course. It took me years and years of practise until they started sounding the way they do now and I think I'm still learning. Keep writing and someday you'll probably be much more successful than I. . . . You know, I wanted Spanish for my fourth language. My school only offered four languages, though, so I had to take French. (Subjects weren't really for taking, they were given to you according to what school you were in. Some years you got a choice between two subjects, but usually ... Well, like Harry's first year: Everybody had certain subjects. You weren't asked.) . . . So where do you live right now? Do you like it there? . . . You know, having a hedgehog is probably nothing like I describe it in my stories. I had no idea there where countries where people really keep hedgehogs as pets at all. They're protected as an endangered species here and must be left in the wild.
JerseyPike - Huh? Um . . . It's Latin. (Just in case you used the wrong language. I haven't the slightest idea how you arrived at that result!)
Pam Briggs - Well, luckily Sevi knows Draco is innocent, but just who did do it?
Black Angel - Well, it wouldn't be any fun, if I just went and said: '. . . did it.' . . . Oh dear! I never thought people would go thinking of such things as Turkish! No, that's not it. And the potion isn't really called that, so the ladle is not a clue either.
Kim - I'm not answering questions like that, yet, sorry.
TatraMegami - Well, his own son would never do anything like that to Luci, of course. He's sure of it.
M.moony - Well, what did you expect from a bunch of Gryffindors?
Laughing Cat - Getting closer. Aga has nothing to do with great, if I picked the right word there. I'm beginning to doubt my memory. Ten years is a long time. Matris isn't a nominative, but yes the nominative of the word would mean mother.
Mala Zloca - You too are apparently thinking of Turkish, where Aga is some kind of title. I'm looking for a Latin word, though. Matris isn't a nominative, but yes the nominative of the word would mean mother.
Ruby - Weird. And they want to burn Harry Potter, but don't mind sex on cartoons . . . Then again I've heard people say that in America cartoons aren't just for kids.
Thistle - Seamus wasn't in Potions, though. If he had been, Sevi, Draco and Harry would have had Potions too. Not so easy with the being missed, though.
Lynn - Well, his own son would never dare play a prank on Luci. That much he is absolutely convinced of.
Demon of Fear - Weetabix? Sounds like a spell the twins taught Ron before he started Hogwarts, but I guess it must be a potion, if you put sugar in. . . . Unfortunately Theodore was just eliminated from the list of suspects. He was in Arithmancy at the time. . . . MNS is a fanfic, a fic written in a world that belongs to JKR and her publishers. Publishing it would be illegal. That's why we write disclaimers.
Iremione - Well, Draco knows how to manipulate his Gryffindors. They are so easy, really. . . . Okay, so if the teachers tell them the meaning of the words to the spell they learn, but the students never learn the language all their spells are in. How then does anybody ever develpo a new spell? How do they discern the possible result of a spell they haven't learned? Voldemort definitely wouldn't give an auror time to run for his dictionary between the moment he says his spell and it takes effect. (And I do think that you need to have an idea what you're up against, if you want to do a counterspell.) . . . Harry isn't quite taking Potions class seriously enough. Especially now with Luci teaching it. . . . How the trio broke up? Simple: Hermione wanted to do this really difficult potion that went over the heads of the boys while Ron wanted to retry the mind control potion and Harry didn't like that idea either and went cooking instead. . . . Well, Americans have problems with sex ed in school mentioning the existence of condoms, so . . .
kalariah - Right now our agents are assuming that the traitor is most likely working on his own as Voldemort spoke of only one agent. . . . Don't worry. Maximius may be good at potions, but he isn't yet anywhere near good enough to brew a poison Poppy doesn't know. The one he used to protect his trunk was a very commonplace one that she easily recognised and knows all effects of.
Weasleylover - You didn't really expect Luci to spare anybody's feelings, did you? He cares less about these things than Sevi does. . . . HPHC gives an idea of the stories I usualy don't write down. It's rather tame, though, considering that Harry doesn't really kill himself and the rest of the cast is still alive at the end as well. I once managed to cry myself to sleep over a story I came up with . . . and that one left few survivors. . . . I love Neville. He's a lot stronger than he thinks he is, you know, but he'll never agree that he really is a hero.
Chiggins - There's no + or - in the Austrian grading system, only in the teachers' personnal notes about their students' performances. And considering that apparently F is much, much rarer than 5, they aren't really quite the same. (Quote from one of my nastier, but no way nastiest, teachers: "Unless at least half the class gets a 5, the teacher knows the test was too easy.")
Robert_frogg - There's lots of fics where Severus gets turned into a child. Mine's the original, though. (I didn't much care about that fact until somebody accused me of writing cliché.) Since you only just started MNS I suppose you won't get to read this anytime soon, but I still want to thank you for reviewing. Better late than never.
Jenna Matthews - That's okay. I knew you were away from your computer, after all (Yes, I'm on your list again, even if I don't post as much as I used to. Didn't manage to stay away for long.), so I really didn't expect you to review anytime soon. (In fact I'm surprised and thrilled you spent some of what little computer time you got on reading my fic!) . . . Yes, Lucius got off, or better into the school. People asked for him as Potions teacher last time, so when I came up with a plot device to get him there, I just couldn't resist.
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A/N: Should Harry have gone back to classes this soon after his accident? Was it a wise idea of Lucius to suggest banning him from Qidditch? And how did Seamus manage to get accepted by the crowd of Slytherins outside Luci's office? (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 visits Filch, Draco followes Stephan team and Filch reports on Lucius and his visitors.
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 - Sorry for last week. I just didn't manage to finish this in time.
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Chapter 8: Severing Charms
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Severus and Hermione had just about driven Professor Vector into sending the class off early without setting homework just to be rid of them when Albus Dumbledore's amplified voice rang through the school.
"All students return to your common rooms. Morning classes have been cancelled. There will be a teachers' conference in ten minutes."
The students stared at each other.
"What happened?" "Why?" "Again?" "What's going on?"
Then the first ones realised that they were free to go and the rush for the doors started. Students were chatting happily. Only Hermione looked slightly nervous.
Severus grabbed Greenie, not even bothering to put him back into his cage, made the cage and his book bag float along behind him and rushed off to the Slytherin common room, where he expected to meet his best friend.
When he arrived however Draco was nowhere to be seen. Severus dropped his book bag and the hedgehog cage off in the dorm, but his friend wasn't there either. He even checked the bathroom, but it was as empty as the dorm. So he went back down to wait in the common room where he found a comfortable armchair near the fire. Greenie found an equally comfortable place on his lap and watched the commotion from that safe spot.
"Sniff!" the little hedgehog declared when the secret door swung open again and for a moment Severus hoped he might be announcing Draco's arrival, but it was only the first years.
Draco had been outside to watch the Gryffindors' Quidditch practise. Maybe Dumbledore's voice hadn't reached him there?
The first years looked oddly pale and were talking in excited whispers that slowly spread across the room.
"Have you heard?" Theodore appeared next to Severus' chair. "Potter fell off his broom."
"He didn't fall off the broom." Alice said from his other side. "The broom itself fell. Its magic suddenly gave out and it dropped like a stone."
"No, it was hexed." argued Estella. "A broom, especially a good one like Potter's Firebolt doesn't just lose its magic like that."
"I'm telling you it was the dark lord!" a panicking first year shrilled. "He's come to kill us all."
"He'd never kill us." Hieronymus Mattels shouted back at her, but Severus doubted that he'd been heard very far in the chaos that followed the girl's shout.
Everyone was yelling or sobbing. Some students ran up to their dorms.
"SILENCE!!!" Severus shot a shower of red sparks into the room that drew most people's attentions. "If he already got Potter, Voldemort will most likely not bother with attacking us further. We are no threat to him."
"But Potter survived!" one of the first years claimed. "Professor Sprout took him to the hospital wing."
Still the Slytherins calmed down a little. Severus watched them sit down again and discuss the event. The rumours kept growing. By now the entire Gryffindor team had been Avada Kedavraed by Voldemort himself.
Severus wondered whether he could leave the common room without attracting attention. He had to find Draco and ask him what really happened.
Some third years arrived late and were greeted with detailed descriptions of the bloody end of Gryffindor house.
Severus simply got up and walked out the secret door.
"Where are you going?" Blaise asked just before Severus could close the door.
"To try and find Draco." Severus admitted.
"What if Lupin comes to count us?" Theodore reminded him. "You'd better stay here."
"And he'd notice Draco's missing." Severus argued. "But he's not coming anyway. He's in the hospital wing recovering from his transformation and I doubt they'll think of sending somebody else, especially now that their meeting has already started."
"But what if the dark lord really is out there?" Susan asked wide eyed with fear. "What if he catches you?"
Severus snorted. "Dumbledore wouldn't be holding a meeting if the school was under attack. The most dangerous person that might be roaming the corridors right now is Filch and the worst he'd do is give me a detention."
Susan still looked doubtful, but Severus ignored it and closed the door behind him.
Draco had been watching the Gryffindor's training, so if there really had been an accident, he must have seen it, which meant that he'd probably followed the Gryffindors who must have taken their injured to the hospital wing.
And indeed Severus found his friend just outside the hospital wing with one arm around Ginny Weasley while having a glaring match with the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team minus Potter.
"What's wrong?" Severus asked stepping beside Draco.
"Potter's boom broke. I only tried to help and now they're claiming it was my fault." Draco replied sullenly.
"It didn't break." Katie Bell argued. "We all saw the pieces, Malfoy. That was a clean cut. You said yourself that it looked like a severing charm."
"That doesn't mean I did it." Draco shot back.
"And who else would have?" Ron Weasley demanded. "There was nobody else there."
"Maybe it was one of you." Draco suggested maliciously.
"Or maybe it was somebody you didn't see." Severus declared more calmly. "There are a lot of places you can hide around the Quidditch field and a severing charm works over very long distances, if you do it right. You can even cast it through a closed window, so it could have been done from inside one of the glass houses, or even from one of the castle's windows."
"There was a first year class in the glass houses." Draco shook his head. "They came over with Professor Sprout. Can a first year do a severing charm that well?"
Severus shrugged. "You'd have to ask Flitwick, I know I couldn't at that age, though I did know the words."
"We didn't see Malfoy until he ran up to us, though." Alicia Spinett admitted. "Even though he was just sitting in the stands. Someone could easily have hidden from us behind the broom shed or in the bushes near the forest."
"That's forbidden." Colin Creevey gasped.
"And you think a death eater about to commit murder cares about that?" Draco sneered at the boy.
Creevey blushed and lowered his eyes.
"Then it could have been anyone." Ron stated.
"Not quite." Severus corrected. "Not every classroom in the castle has a window you can see the Quidditch pitch from. The Potions class for example has no windows at all."
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Lucius was slightly worried as he walked towards the staff room. At first it had been a relief to know that he'd get out of two hours of teaching, but then he'd begun to wonder why the meeting had been called.
It was almost sure to have something to do with the assassin, but they hadn't made plans to attack again, yet. The assassin had been eager to fulfil Voldemort's wishes, probably due to the extra pressure to succeed the dark lord had put on him, but Lucius wasn't willing to strike this soon after the entire school had been alerted to their presence. They were looking for the assassin in force right now, but would start to relax after a few weeks of no further alarms. Then the chances of a successful attack without the assassin getting caught would be much better.
This meeting could be completely unrelated of course, but Dumbledore was highly unlikely to call his entire staff out of class to discuss the school budget or some other trivial problem. Such things could wait until after classes. Whatever the headmaster wanted to talk about right now had only just come up and required immediate attention.
And Lucius couldn't think of anything unrelated to the assassin that could be this important. What if the assassin had been caught? An untried child might spill out everything when questioned, which would most certainly land Lucius in Azkaban, maybe even get him kissed.
What if they brought in veritaserum? Was anybody besides him likely to have any?
"You're late." Hagrid growled at him when he arrived.
"The students had cauldrons on the fire and all sorts of ingredients laid out." Lucius hissed at him. "I couldn't just let them up and leave without cleaning up."
"That's alright, Lucius." Dumbledore said in that annoying kind tone of his. "I understand. Please sit down so we can get started."
Unfortunately the only free chairs were next to Trelawney. The other teachers had left room to either side of her. Lucius thanked them all with a glare at the entire room and chose the one on the Divination Professor's left side.
"I'm afraid our concerns for Harry Potter have been proven right." Albus started and Lucius had to struggle not to show his fear. "There has been another attack."
"Another attack?" Professor McGonagall gasped. "This soon? And during class time again?"
"Yes, I'm afraid so." the headmaster confirmed. "Our traitor seems to be under pressure to act fast. The chance was very good for him, though. The rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team all had a study hour, you see, and they were eager to try out their new members, so Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley decided to skip Divination so they could practise instead. During the practise Mr. Potter's broom broke in midair. His team-mates were unable to prevent the fall, but could slow it down enough that Harry only suffered a few broken bones. Madame Pomfrey tells me that he will be fine in a few days."
Sighs of relief and smiles all around the room. Lucius frowned. Another failure and why had the assassin acted without consulting him first? Yes, they had talked about the possibilities to arrange a Quidditch accident, but they hadn't really talked it through much less agreed on any course of action.
"How do we know it wasn't just a coincidence?" he asked into the excited discussions of his colleagues. "I believe you just said Potter's broom broke. Could it just have been brittle from age? Or maybe it was badly constructed? Deficient material? A bad protection spell?"
Dumbledore calmly handed him the pieces of the broom which had been lying on the table behind him. "Take a look."
Lucius accepted the pieces. He had to take a very close look indeed to determine which end of the stick was witch.
"As you can see it looks like a clean, deliberate cut rather than a break." the headmaster continued. "Your son suggested that it must have been a severing charm and it does look like that to me as well, but I would like to make sure. If you could please pass the pieces to Filius, when you're done . . ."
"Draco?" Lucius' head came up suddenly. "What does Draco have to do with this?"
"He was one of the witnesses." Dumbledore explained. "He doesn't take either Divination or Arithmancy, so he had the lesson off. He was watching the practise, I believe."
"Spying more likely." McGonagall scoffed. "Those cheating Slytherin brats!"
"The Quidditch stands are free for every student, Minerva." Remus Lupin spoke up. The werewolf looked exhausted, leaning back in the most comfortable armchair in the room. He hadn't spoken until now, but apparently felt the need to defend the honour of his house. "Slytherin students are not the only ones that like to watch other teams practise and there is no rule that says they can't."
"So Draco watched the practise?" Lucius prompted Dumbledore deciding to ignore the werewolf's bickering with the formidable head of Gryffindor.
"Yes, he accompanied the Gryffindor team to the hospital wing and brought back the evidence that I'd really like you to pass on to Filius now."
Lucius' frown deepened, but he did pass the pieces of Potter's broom to Sinistra, who handed them to Flitwick.
The small wizard inspected the cut closely looking at it, running his fingers over it, even blowing at it and finally pulling his wand and tapping it against the wood. Lucius didn't hear him say anything, but saw his lips move as he did so.
"Yes," Flitwick finally spoke up. "A severing charm indeed. Well executed. Most likely our traitor is a fourth year or higher, though a number of third years are capable enough at it as well."
"None of the first or second years could have performed this spell, then?" Dumbledore asked.
"The first years can't have that much skill with a wand, yet." Flitwick confirmed. "A very talented second year might master it, but it is unlikely they'd do this well. I've only started teaching the charm to the third years, so most of them are unlikely as well."
The headmaster nodded then cast a quick look at the schedule in his hand. "The first years were in Herbology and History?"
"I had the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs." Binns announced from where he was floating in the corner. "Everybody present this time."
"Any bathroom breaks?" Dumbledore asked him.
"No, not that I remember."
It wasn't really surprising. Binns' students had no exams or tests to try to get out of and it was hard to go to the bathroom while asleep.
"There were three bathroom breaks in my class, but none the moment Harry fell. I saw him fall, so I'm sure of it." Sprout reported. "All students were present at the time."
"The pitch is visible from the glasshouses, though." Lucius reminded her. "And a severing charm can be cast through a glass window."
"But the first years aren't capable of it." Flitwick insisted. "Most are still struggling to even hold their wands properly."
"The second years had DADA and Charms." Dumbledore continued. "Who was teaching the DADA class?"
"Nobody." Lupin answered with a sigh. "The only available teacher was Hether and she's off visiting her daughter."
"So the Gryffindors and Slytherins don't have an alibi." the headmaster decided. "Are any of them likely to be able to perform the spell?"
"Of the ones that were missing last week?" Flitwick looked thoughtful. "Mr. Palmer is very advanced. Ms Flemming perhaps, if she worked very hard on it. I doubt Ms Mandrake would be up to it. Ms Hunter-Moor is definitely unable to perform a third year level charm. Her performance in my class is rather poor."
"And the class you were teaching today?" Dumbledore asked.
"Two students went to the bathroom. Elena Morris and Charles Barters." Flitwick shook his head. "Neither of those two is able to perform the charm."
"And they both have an alibi for the first incident." Sprout threw in.
"The third years, then." Albus continued down his list. "Care for Magical Ceatures and Muggle Studies. Julian?"
The Muggle Studies teacher shrugged. "We were singing again." he reported. "No absences. I do believe our students get too few chances to show their musical talents. Maybe we ought to start a choir."
"That's a nice idea, Julian." Dumbledore stated absently.
Lucius couldn't believe how much patience the headmaster had with the young man who always had his head in the clouds somewhere and would . . . well would suggest to found a choir during a murder investigation.
Now it was Hagrid's turn. All students had been present, but the half giant couldn't remember whether any had gone to the bathroom. He'd been too busy staring at his Flubberworms.
"Part of the Quidditch field is visible from your hut as well, Hagrid." Sprout pointed out.
Hagrid shrugged hopelessly. "I didn' see anythin'."
"I'll need to check what suspects we have in third year that take Care for Magical Creatures." Dumbledore decided. "I'll send someone to your office with a list later, Filius. The fourth years had either Potions or Transfigurations. Have you got an attendance list this time Lucius?"
"In fact I do." Lucius sneered. Damn Dumbledore and his innocent smile and twinkle. "Here. As you can see all the students were present and I didn't allow any of them to sneak out."
The headmaster glanced at the list and handed it right back to him. "Thank you, Lucius. Minerva?"
"I had the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. They were all present at the start of class, but Ms Invers wasn't feeling very well and asked to be excused. She said she was going to her dorm to lie down for a bit. She'd be better in a little while."
"She didn't go to the hospital wing and you didn't ask her to?" Dumbledore asked sounding slightly surprised.
McGonagall's face hardened. "I was assuming that it was a certain female problem that did not require medical attention."
"Ah." Dumbledore said looking confused.
'Certain female problem?' Lucius mentally shrugged. 'Well, whatever.'
"Two of the Hufflepuff girls wanted to go to the bathroom, but the first had only just left when you cancelled the class and I'd made the other wait for her return." McGonagall continued.
"The fifth years had either Latin or a study hour." Dumbledore read out.
Madame Pince shifted in her seat. "I had the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs." she said. "No absences, but part of the Quidditch pitch is visible from the window in the back of the class. Not easily, but from some of the seats it should be possible. The student would have to be very skilled to send such a charm off without my noticing as they'd have to turn around away from the blackboard for it and it would also be hard to aim properly, but a fifth year skilled at Charms and trained by a death eater might be able to do it."
"A Slytherin or Hufflepuff student shouldn't have known that the Gryffindor Quidditch team was having a practise at this unusual time, though." Vector mused. "What are the chances of a student noticing and recognising the players from the Latin classroom?"
"Not good." Rosetta answered for Pince. "A disinterested student just looking out the window in boredom would be unlikely to crane his head to see the usually empty pitch. In my experience there are usually birds flying over the forest in plain view from those windows that will attract their attention. The classroom has a very nice view."
"They might have seen the Gryffindors head outside in their Quidditch gear before they came to class." Lucius suggested.
"Or they might be a Quidditch fanatic, who's in the habit of looking to the pitch longingly." Vector added. "In that case it also wouldn't be unusual for them to sit near the back window in Latin class and turn around frequently to watch the pitch and such behaviour might easily go unnoticed."
"Professor Pince hasn't taught Latin long enough to get used to such habits, though." Dumbledore reminded them.
"I still might have overlooked it." Pince admitted. "Inattentiveness is annoying, but if the student was quiet and discreet about it, it might have gone unnoticed. I had a pair in the front row that kept disrupting class with talking so my attention was mostly on them."
Dumbledore nodded again. "In that case we'll have to check what seats the pitch is visible from and who sat there. Do you know?"
Both Pince and Rosetta shook their heads. The view of the Quidditch pitch wasn't that important.
"Most likely the seats in the last row." Rosetta supposed. "Those on the window side. Maybe a few from the row in front of that as well."
"The angle is wrong from the center isle." Pince argued. "At least from the perspective of someone standing up. The students' heads would be on a lower level since they'd be sitting. Still, I'd suspect the window row would be the most likely to be able to see the pitch. I'll try to reconstruct the seating order."
"Thank you. That might help a lot." Dumbledore smiled at her. "The sixth years were in Divination and Arithmancy. They are among our biggest suspects since they are in Harry's year."
Trelawney looked annoyed. "Well, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley skipped class, as you already know. The other two Gryffindors, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil did go to the bathroom once when Lavender was feeling dizzy. The poor girl seems to be slightly allergic to something in my class. She occasionally gets breathing troubles and has to leave for a few minutes. She says a little cold water in her face will solve the problem, but I always make Parvati go with her to make sure she doesn't faint or stumble down the stairs on her way. You know how wobbly the ladder up to my class is. A dizzy girl needs help to get down."
"That's the Gryffindors then." Dumbledore nodded. "What of the other three houses?"
"Two." Trelawney corrected. "None of the Slytherins in that year take my class. Of the Ravenclaws there's only Miranda Deering and Terry Boot who were both present. Then there's Justin Finch-Fletchley, Nicodemus Hanson, Miranda Moon and Nathaly Immens of Hufflepuff. All present as well, though I think Miranda went to the bathroom once."
"Shouldn't you have a very good view of the Quidditch pitch from your tower?" Vector reminded her.
"I do not care much for Quidditch." Trelawney scoffed. "Noisy affairs like that always cloud my inner eye for days."
McGonagall sighed and rolled her eyes.
"But can your students see the pitch from class?" Sprout demanded.
"I suppose so." Trelawney shrugged. "Not that I care."
"I see." said Dumbledore, not twinkling for once. "What of the Arithmancy students?"
"My classroom windows all look out onto the courtyard, so there is no chance the students could have seen the pitch from there. All students were present and I don't allow bathroom breaks during a first lesson. The students had enough time to go in the morning." Vector announced. "Of Gryffindor I teach Hermione Granger, Dean Thomas and Neville Longbottom. Of Slytherin Severus, Theodore Nott, Gregory Goyle, Vincent Crabbe, Blaise Zabini, Juliana Carlson and Estella Rashton. Of Hufflepuff Susan Abbott and Sissy Lawrence. Then there's nine Ravenclaws. I think that's the entire year, with the exception of Ms Deering and Mr. Boot."
"And the seventh years had a study hour." Dumbledore closed the questioning session. "I am beginning to really worry about Harry's safety. This was the second time pure luck saved his life. I think it is time we took measures to ensure his safety. Any suggestions?"
"We should rearrange the schedules so he doesn't have classes with Slytherins anymore." McGonagall suggested immediately.
"Neither of the attacks happened during class time and we have no clues to the traitor's house." Lupin shot back.
Lucius was beginning to appreciate Lupin's dedication to his house. The werewolf was a commoner and far beneath him, of course, but at least he made an effort for their house."
"Potter should be taken off the Quidditch team." he suggested to back up Lupin and demonstrate concern for the wizarding world's hero. "The sport is dangerous and provides the attacker with too many opportunities."
His fellow teachers stared at him. Apparently they hadn't expected him to say anything constructive. 'They're suspecting me.' he realised. 'They think I wouldn't do anything to reduce the assassin's chances.'
"What?" he asked them out loud. "I'm not aiming to improve Slytherin's chances at the Quidditch Cup by saying this. Potter is in danger every time he flies. This incident clearly proves that."
"The first attack happened during a meal." McGonagall pointed out.
"The boy needs to eat." Lucius answered calmly. "And with the house elves guarding the great hall until the start of the meals now, there isn't such a big risk anymore. Quidditch is an unnecessary risk, though. In fact any flying is. Potter can fly, so he doesn't need to practise it. We should ban him from getting on a broom until this is solved."
There was some squabbling about the issue. McGonagall saw Lucius' suggestion as an attack on her Quidditch team and defended it valiantly. Dumbledore considered it a too big limitation of Harry's personal freedom claiming that the boy would never bend to the rule. Flitwick thought he should be given a choice. Hagrid supported Dumbledore as usual.
Sprout and Pomfrey were fully on Lucius' side claiming that the danger to Harry's life was obvious and only a clear order not to fly could ensure the boy's safety. Vector declared it the logical course of action.
Pince was torn between letting Harry decide for himself and assuring his safety. "Sixteen year olds tend to be so terribly unreasonable." she sighed. "But they like to rebel against authority figures as well. If we make the decision for him, he might consider it a challenge."
Rosetta didn't want to take any sides, while Filch was all for anything that Potter might consider a punishment.
Trelawney didn't take any sides either and Lupin declared that he was too tired to think straight.
Hooch's absence was probably the decisive factor in the final vote. Lucius' suggestion to ban Harry Potter from playing Quidditch until the assassin had been caught won by one vote. By Binns' vote in fact.
Lucius wasn't sure why the ghost had voted at all. Nobody had minded when Trelawney and Rosetta had decided not to and Binns hadn't participated in the discussion at all. Lucius wondered whether he even knew what he had voted for.
Either way it was a victory for Lucius, though, even if he didn't really care about whether Harry Potter played Quidditch or not. He had demonstrated concern for the boy's safety thereby proving that he was not in any way supportive of Voldemort. That should get the other teachers off his back.
He left the meeting in a considerably better mood than he'd arrived in. There was still about an hour until lunch and no class to teach during that time. He could get his paper and . . .
There was a group of students outside his door. He immediately recognised Blaise Zabini, Theodore Nott and the Mattels brothers. Then there was Seamus Finnigan further in the back, Luisa Hunter-Moor behind him and Stephan LaCroix was the name of the one leaning nonchalantly against his door.
There were two or three others as well.
"What's going on?" Lucius asked them surprised.
He'd soon realised that those Slytherins that didn't accept Lupin as their head of house had chosen to turn to him instead, but usually they'd come one at a time, rarely more than one a day in fact. Slytherins had always been used to looking after themselves. At least until Snape had taken over.
Other students sometimes bothered him about Potions related questions or problems with homework assignments.
His own son however apparently preferred Lupin. It hurt, but then again maybe it was just an attempt to show Slytherin independence. The boy was growing up after all.
"We need to talk to you, I guess." Stephan answered for all of them. "I'm first. The others can wait."
Grumbling from the group. Luisa mumbled something about having been here first, but a single glare from Stephan silenced all protests and the seventh year followed Lucius into his office. He'd be happy to hear about Potter's suspension from Quidditch.
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When Remus reached the common room he found rumours flying left and right. Everybody had something to say about the incident. Nobody really knew what had happened.
And Remus was so tired! All he'd planned to do here was find Severus and tell him that the headmaster wanted to see him.
With a sigh he let himself drop into his favourite chair. "There was another attack on Harry Potter. I guess we're sure there's a death eater in the school trying to murder him now."
Silence fell over the room. Everybody was curious to hear what he had to say.
"Contrary to the rumours nobody other than Harry was harmed this time." Remus continued. Some of the students actually looked relieved. It was good to see that Slytherin had not really changed into a club for mini death eaters since his school days. "Harry is hurt, but Madame Pomfrey says he'll be fine. The only problem is that the death eater is still loose in the school and most likely very dangerous. Please be careful, trust nobody and report any suspicious behaviour of one of your fellow students to me. It doesn't matter if it's something trivial and turns out to have nothing to do with the death eater at all. It's better if I check out twenty false leads, than if one of you gets hurt or killed, because someone didn't report something that seemed too inconclusive."
He looked around at the frightened faces of the younger students and the studied masks of indifference of the more experienced. As usual in Slytherin it wasn't just the older students that were masters at hiding what they felt. Even some of the first years looked back at him as calm and serious as adults. He wondered whether Severus would know all their stories.
"On to a different matter." he smiled at them hoping to calm their fears. "Severus, Draco, the headmaster wants to see you about some matter apparently involving a mousetrap."
The laughter of the students sounded only slightly nervous. Remus felt proud of them. He didn't want to know what might be going on in the Hufflepuffs' or Ravenclaws' common rooms right now. The Gryffindors were probably either in hysterics or forming a lynch mob to attack Slytherin house right now. He hoped Minerva had caught them still in the common room, if they did. Or at least that they didn't happen to find any solitary Slytherin walking through the castle on his own.
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Severus and Draco had Ancient Runes right after lunch, but as usual Professor Rosetta was late. Seeing that everybody else was busy either doing homework or discussing the new attack on Harry Potter, Severus calmly pulled out their list of suspects and the new list Albus had given him in his hurry to pass on the information before the meal. It would have been too suspicious, if their 'punishment' had taken so long that they'd been late for lunch.
To make it seem more realistic Albus had even taken thirty points off Slytherin, which put them at five points right now. Still in the positives to everybody's surprise. Considering that Severus had been in school for two weeks now that was a remarkably good result.
"We can take Missy Clay off the list." Severus decided studying the two parchments.
"What are you doing?" Draco hissed at him. "People are going to see."
"See what?" Severus grinned. "That I'm either comparing or copying your homework again? They're used to the sight."
Draco nodded. From afar this would look like Severus doing homework. He only hoped nobody was bored enough to want to take a closer look.
"Can we really rely on Binns that much, though?" he asked. "Last time we doubted he knew how many students he was supposed to have, so can we be sure he really had them all this time?"
"Binns might be wrong, but Flitwick is reliable. If he says none of the first years can perform a severing charm, I believe him. In fact, I remember I could only do it over short distances when I was eleven. Harry was too high up in the air for them to get close enough."
"What of the second years then? We have Luisa Hunter-Moor, Vestalia Flemming and Quintus Palmer free, since they should have been in DADA." Draco pointed out.
"We'll have to ask Flitwick about them." Severus decided. "He says a very advanced second year could have done it, but not which students are that advanced."
"Palmer messed up a cheering charm last week." Draco remembered. "I guess that puts him out of the question."
"Not necessarily." Severus decided after a moment. "He could have done it on purpose, which makes him even more suspect. I'll wait for Flitwick's verdict before I eliminate him. Phil Hawkins, Fatima Suleyman and Marlies King have a fool proof alibi, though."
"What about those other two that went to the bathroom?" Draco suggested.
"They were in class last time and they can't perform the charm." Severus shook his head. "We'll have to ask Flitwick about the third years as well."
The headmaster had checked the class lists for them and found that none of their suspects took Muggle Studies. That wasn't really a surprise, but annoying nonetheless. Care for Magical Creatures didn't offer an alibi since the students could see the pitch without leaving the class and Maximius Mattels, Severus' current main suspect hadn't had a class in the first place.
"Iago Orson and Mattis Parker were in Potions." Severus continued with a sigh. "That doesn't help us at all. Keith Gorl and Sandra Invers in Transfigurations."
"But Sandra left class and didn't even go to the hospital wing." Draco frowned at the headmaster's parchment. "There's no way to check her story."
"Keith should be cleared according to this, though." Severus decided. "I'll ask McGonagall about him again, but I think we can eliminate him."
They had to stop there, because Professor Rosetta finally arrived. The teacher was very distracted during the entire lesson, however so that Hermione Granger actually remarked to Severus that it had been a waste of time as they walked out.
"She's right, you know." Severus told Draco as soon as they were out of earshot. "We could have used that time better by continuing our list."
"At least we have Latin right now." Draco reminded him. "We can ask Pince about the seating arrangements and check the view."
"Hieronymus Mattels is our only suspect in that class." Severus declared. "Fifth year's all clear except for him."
"And you still think that Maximius is the more dangerous brother." Draco grinned.
"He seems to like the use of needles and protects his belongings more fiercely than Hieronymus." Severus told him once again. "Checking Hieronymus can't hurt, though. There is of course still the chance that the brothers work as a team."
"So then we'll only need to talk to Flitwick and McGonagall and that's all?" Draco asked.
"Yes, I'm our witness that Blaise and Theodore really were in class and Eric Farram as well."
"Blaise and Theodore were your very first suspects, weren't they?"
"Yes, along with Stephan LaCroix." Severus sighed. "At least we still have him and Maximius left."
"Wonderful." Draco sighed. "Just wonderful. I thought we're trying to cut the list down to just one suspect?"
"We are." Severus confirmed. "But if all the best suspects were eliminated, chances are we made a mistake somewhere."
"What kind of mistake?"
"Either we eliminated somebody we shouldn't have, or the traitor was never on the list at all. I was expecting the number of less suspect students to reduce rather quickly, not the number of the really suspect ones."
"We only need one." Draco reminded him. "My money's on Stephan. He'd be the perfect choice. He's a Quidditch player, which means he can get close to Potter, he's respected, pureblood and from a family with a history of dark wizards."
"There's one thing that speaks against him, though." Severus said.
"What's that?"
"The drugs. Addicts are unreliable and I doubt Volemort would risk hiring one." Severus explained.
"But does he know?"
"That's one question." Severus admitted. "The other is whether Stephan actually is an addict himself. He might as well just be selling the drugs without taking any himself."
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"Hieronymus Mattels?" Professor Pince asked surprised. "No, he didn't seem distracted at all. He participated quite eagerly today."
"Is that unusual for him?" Severus asked while walking up and down the class trying to see the Quidditch pitch.
"A little." Professor Pince admitted. "He seems to like Latin, though he's never been one to spend much time in the library until this year."
"I can only see it from just about the height of the last row." Severus reported. "You're taller which probably gives you a better view when walking the class, but the students would be sitting. I'd say only the last row really has any chance to see the pitch. Which was Hieronymus' seat today?"
"There." Pince pointed at a seat in the center of the second row.
Severus frowned. "That doesn't look promising."
He walked over and leaned against the desk. Then sat down, leaned forward and backward, to the left and right, even tilted the chair back and finally sat on the desk.
"Nothing. All I can see is the forest." he declared finally. "I'm smaller than Hieronymus, though. You're closer to his size, Draco. Maybe you can see it."
But Draco couldn't find a position where he could see the Quidditch pitch from either. Outside in the corridor the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw fifth years were starting to get noisy. They'd been waiting for class to start for almost a quarter of an hour now.
Professor Pince walked out and sent them away.
"But why?" Colin Creevey asked. "I thought you were going to explain how varying the words to a spell can alter it's effect."
"Yes, but . . ." the teacher hesitated. "I found some cockroaches in the classroom. Probably a prank, but I have to exterminate them before some crawl too far away and infest the whole castle. We'll just have to talk about the variations next week."
There was some disappointed mumbling mostly from the Ravenclaws, but as soon as Professor Pince had returned into the classroom and closed the door behind her they could also hear cheers and footsteps hurrying away.
Pince didn't seem to mind. She returned to the boys and tried the chair herself this time. Still no result.
They tried a few of the other seats as well and pushed Hieronymus' desk around a bit. After all one of the later students might have righted the desk, if it had been in the wrong position. Nothing. There was simply no chance Hieronymus could have seen the pitch as long as he remained in his chair.
Severus eyed the wastepaper basket in the front of the room for a while. The corner it was in couldn't possibly give you a view of the pitch, but what about the way from Hieronymus' seat to the wastepaper basket? Not likely, but he might have taken a less direct route.
He tried out a few paths, but unless Hieronymus had taken a detour in the opposite direction there just wasn't a chance and if he'd stopped on his way, that would certainly have attracted attention. He couldn't just have walked past the window, found Harry, pulled his wand, taken aim and done the spell without stopping. Definitely not, if he hadn't known that Harry would be in sight the moment he'd gotten up either. Even from the best spot in the room only about half of the pitch was visible so Hieronymus would have had only a fifty percent chance that Harry would be in sight at all and he couldn't keep throwing things away until he finally got lucky. Especially not, if he took a detour every time.
The student in the back corner seat that had the best view had been a Muggle born Hufflepuff girl who was known to faint at the sight of blood. Next to her had been her best friend, another Hufflepuff, that Severus didn't think capable of harming a fly either.
The Slytherin with the best chances would have been the one sitting alone at the center desk in the back row. Nicholas Elvers, an orphan whose parents had both been killed by death eaters and who'd once told him that his goal in life was to become an auror and avenge them.
"I give up." Severus declared after hearing those news. "The fifth years are all cleared."
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Lucius was furious when they finally walked into Potions class half an hour after it had started. Apparently Neville had taken their absence as a reason to put his prank utensils to good use. Since he didn't like working without partners and couldn't continue to work on their project without Severus' samples, he'd teamed up with Gregory and Vincent. Apparently he'd developed a preference for partnering Slytherins.
The area around their worktable was scorched and there were pieces of Vincent's cauldron strewed across the room. Lucius was soaked from head to toe and pink liquid was dripping out of his hair forming a puddle on the floor which was already covered with some white substance, that looked suspiciously like snow, but wasn't showing any intention of melting despite the heat from the cauldrons.
"You!" Lucius barked while the boys were still taking in the scene. "Where the hell have you been?"
"You shouldn't curse in front of students, Professor Malfoy." Hermione reminded him.
Lucius suddenly had his wand in his hand pointing it at the Gryffindor.
"We have a note from Professor Pince explaining our absence." Severus explained hastily holding out the parchment.
Maybe hiring Lucius hadn't been such a good idea after all. So far his presence had yielded no real clues and Severus was beginning to worry that he might do serious harm to a student in a fit of rage and frustration. Lucius Malfoy clearly wasn't made to be a teacher.
Lucius tore the parchment from Severus' hands and glared at it.
Severus and Draco exchanged a nervous look. They had no idea what exactly Pince had written. It hadn't seemed important at the time.
"So, Professor Pince needs the help of two students and half an hour to get rid of a couple of cockroaches!" Lucius thundered.
Oh, so she had decided to stick with the story she'd given the fifth years.
"Well, she was really worried that we might miss one and it would lay eggs somewhere and there'd be cockroaches running loose all over the school." Draco explained trying to imitate Severus' puppy look.
"Fifty points." Lucius hissed through clenched teeth. "From each of you."
"For obeying a teacher?" Theodore dared to argue.
"And fifty off you, for questioning my punishments." Lucius hissed at him. "Now get back to work. Longbottom, I want you to return to working on your own project now that your partners are here. You and Misters Crabbe and Goyle together are a walking disaster."
Nervous laughter from the class. They weren't quite sure whether Lucius wouldn't punish that as well.
"Potter." Lucius continued ignoring the laughter. "If there isn't any written project you can think of, copy chapter one of your Potions book for me. Just don't touch another cauldron."
Severus raised an eyebrow towards Neville questioningly.
"I just threw a firecracker into Harry's potion and instead of exploding it started to snow." Neville explained at a whisper.
"Goyle and Crabbe, start over with a new cauldron." Lucius ended and collapsed into his chair. "Oh and Weasley! Detention. I'll need you to clean up this mess."
Ron frowned. "Why don't you take Harry or Neville for that for a change?"
"Oh, because you clean so well." Lucius smirked. His mood was beginning to improve again. He cast a drying charm over himself and grabbed for his newspaper.
Snap! This time the mousetrap did manage to capture his fingers and end class. Lucius had no intention of enduring the pain until the end of the lesson. He dismissed everybody except Ron and took off for the hospital wing and Madame Pomfrey's help.
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Mala Zloca - Lucius thinks Corvus is just repeating random words without attributing them a meaning. . . . Better than the original? You really think so? I was thinking I wasn't doing particularly well. (Then again whenever I think I'm doing well at something and feel proud of it, it's usually complete trash. I just can't judge these things.)
The Muses - Sure I remember you! Not everything we talked about, of course, but I remember. . . . I think it was just after I'd finished MNS, though, because we talked about the end. . . . Well, I've had years of practise. I don't even remember when I first started writing stories in my head (because I hadn't learned to read, yet.) Those first ones were trash of course. It took me years and years of practise until they started sounding the way they do now and I think I'm still learning. Keep writing and someday you'll probably be much more successful than I. . . . You know, I wanted Spanish for my fourth language. My school only offered four languages, though, so I had to take French. (Subjects weren't really for taking, they were given to you according to what school you were in. Some years you got a choice between two subjects, but usually ... Well, like Harry's first year: Everybody had certain subjects. You weren't asked.) . . . So where do you live right now? Do you like it there? . . . You know, having a hedgehog is probably nothing like I describe it in my stories. I had no idea there where countries where people really keep hedgehogs as pets at all. They're protected as an endangered species here and must be left in the wild.
JerseyPike - Huh? Um . . . It's Latin. (Just in case you used the wrong language. I haven't the slightest idea how you arrived at that result!)
Pam Briggs - Well, luckily Sevi knows Draco is innocent, but just who did do it?
Black Angel - Well, it wouldn't be any fun, if I just went and said: '. . . did it.' . . . Oh dear! I never thought people would go thinking of such things as Turkish! No, that's not it. And the potion isn't really called that, so the ladle is not a clue either.
Kim - I'm not answering questions like that, yet, sorry.
TatraMegami - Well, his own son would never do anything like that to Luci, of course. He's sure of it.
M.moony - Well, what did you expect from a bunch of Gryffindors?
Laughing Cat - Getting closer. Aga has nothing to do with great, if I picked the right word there. I'm beginning to doubt my memory. Ten years is a long time. Matris isn't a nominative, but yes the nominative of the word would mean mother.
Mala Zloca - You too are apparently thinking of Turkish, where Aga is some kind of title. I'm looking for a Latin word, though. Matris isn't a nominative, but yes the nominative of the word would mean mother.
Ruby - Weird. And they want to burn Harry Potter, but don't mind sex on cartoons . . . Then again I've heard people say that in America cartoons aren't just for kids.
Thistle - Seamus wasn't in Potions, though. If he had been, Sevi, Draco and Harry would have had Potions too. Not so easy with the being missed, though.
Lynn - Well, his own son would never dare play a prank on Luci. That much he is absolutely convinced of.
Demon of Fear - Weetabix? Sounds like a spell the twins taught Ron before he started Hogwarts, but I guess it must be a potion, if you put sugar in. . . . Unfortunately Theodore was just eliminated from the list of suspects. He was in Arithmancy at the time. . . . MNS is a fanfic, a fic written in a world that belongs to JKR and her publishers. Publishing it would be illegal. That's why we write disclaimers.
Iremione - Well, Draco knows how to manipulate his Gryffindors. They are so easy, really. . . . Okay, so if the teachers tell them the meaning of the words to the spell they learn, but the students never learn the language all their spells are in. How then does anybody ever develpo a new spell? How do they discern the possible result of a spell they haven't learned? Voldemort definitely wouldn't give an auror time to run for his dictionary between the moment he says his spell and it takes effect. (And I do think that you need to have an idea what you're up against, if you want to do a counterspell.) . . . Harry isn't quite taking Potions class seriously enough. Especially now with Luci teaching it. . . . How the trio broke up? Simple: Hermione wanted to do this really difficult potion that went over the heads of the boys while Ron wanted to retry the mind control potion and Harry didn't like that idea either and went cooking instead. . . . Well, Americans have problems with sex ed in school mentioning the existence of condoms, so . . .
kalariah - Right now our agents are assuming that the traitor is most likely working on his own as Voldemort spoke of only one agent. . . . Don't worry. Maximius may be good at potions, but he isn't yet anywhere near good enough to brew a poison Poppy doesn't know. The one he used to protect his trunk was a very commonplace one that she easily recognised and knows all effects of.
Weasleylover - You didn't really expect Luci to spare anybody's feelings, did you? He cares less about these things than Sevi does. . . . HPHC gives an idea of the stories I usualy don't write down. It's rather tame, though, considering that Harry doesn't really kill himself and the rest of the cast is still alive at the end as well. I once managed to cry myself to sleep over a story I came up with . . . and that one left few survivors. . . . I love Neville. He's a lot stronger than he thinks he is, you know, but he'll never agree that he really is a hero.
Chiggins - There's no + or - in the Austrian grading system, only in the teachers' personnal notes about their students' performances. And considering that apparently F is much, much rarer than 5, they aren't really quite the same. (Quote from one of my nastier, but no way nastiest, teachers: "Unless at least half the class gets a 5, the teacher knows the test was too easy.")
Robert_frogg - There's lots of fics where Severus gets turned into a child. Mine's the original, though. (I didn't much care about that fact until somebody accused me of writing cliché.) Since you only just started MNS I suppose you won't get to read this anytime soon, but I still want to thank you for reviewing. Better late than never.
Jenna Matthews - That's okay. I knew you were away from your computer, after all (Yes, I'm on your list again, even if I don't post as much as I used to. Didn't manage to stay away for long.), so I really didn't expect you to review anytime soon. (In fact I'm surprised and thrilled you spent some of what little computer time you got on reading my fic!) . . . Yes, Lucius got off, or better into the school. People asked for him as Potions teacher last time, so when I came up with a plot device to get him there, I just couldn't resist.
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A/N: Should Harry have gone back to classes this soon after his accident? Was it a wise idea of Lucius to suggest banning him from Qidditch? And how did Seamus manage to get accepted by the crowd of Slytherins outside Luci's office? (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 visits Filch, Draco followes Stephan team and Filch reports on Lucius and his visitors.