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 - Can you believe it? We've got snow in Austria! At this time of the year and down here in the Wiener Becken where it's always last to snow! And for the moment it even looks like it's staying for another night.
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Chapter 11: Conferences and Traps
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A teachers conference on a Sunday was almost unheard of. If you could believe the rumours Professors Flitwick and McGonagall had attended one years ago under headmaster Dippet, but Albus Dumbledore had never before called for one.
It was Sunday however and Lucius was sitting in the teachers' lounge along with his colleagues waiting for the headmaster to appear and explain why he'd called them there. Those teachers probably in the know of things were looking very serious and worried, which made the rest of them nervous.
Lucius of course was the most nervous of them all. He could once again see only one possible reason for an emergency meeting and that was another attack on Harry Potter. But he'd been so sure that the agent wouldn't attack without his go ahead sign again after the scolding he'd given him last time! The brat had at least looked sufficiently cowed.
What could have gotten into the child's head to start another attack anyway?
Dumbledore arrived late, several rolls of parchment in his hands and looking uncharacteristically grave.
"My friends, we have a problem." he announced by way of greeting.
"I do hope Potter wasn't killed this time?" Lucius asked hastily. If the boy was dead, he'd have less of a problem explaining this to Voldemort, of course, but the agent would be gloating and he couldn't admit he wanted Potter dead in front of these witnesses.
Nervous laughter all around him.
"Oh no, no, Lucius." Dumbleore smiled. "Harry is just fine. This has nothing to do with him."
"Nothing to do with him?" Lucius repeated in surprise. "Then there hasn't been another attack? Have you found the traitor?"
"No, nothing of the sort." Dumbledore shook his head. "We are here to deal with very different misdeeds, but please allow me to tell this chronologically so everything will be clear. Yesterday morning a concerned student informed Priscilla that a group of third year Slytherin girls had been seen with a restricted book, that did not at all seem appropriate for their level. When Priscilla checked the lists she found that no restricted books had been handed out to any third years, but several books were unaccountably missing from the restricted section."
"I used to check the section for missing books once a week, but since I took over Ancient Runes class last year and Latin this year I haven't had much time for my other duties and rarely got around to it." Professor Pince explained. "The last time I checked was after I returned from my summer holidays and I found three books missing then, which I reported to the headmaster back then, but there wasn't much else we could do. When I checked this time I found eleven books missing."
Dumbledore nodded at her, probably to assure her that he wasn't blaming her for the loss of the books. "Priscilla immediately took the problem to Remus, who confirmed that he hadn't given any third years access to restricted books and conducted a search of his third year girls' dormitory."
Lucius turned his head to regard the werewolf. That had to have been a tricky decision. The Slytherins most certainly resented the intrusion on their privacy and Lupin was still new as their head. This wouldn't help him get accepted, but on the other hand the teachers would resent a lack of cooperation in a matter as important as a theft of illegal books.
"As most of you know there are five Slytherin girls in third year." Lupin reported. "Gaia Ushton, Mathilda Harris, Marsha Alton, Roswitha Price and Rebecca Hillinger. One restricted book each was found in the trunks of Gaia, Marsha and Roswitha, while Rebecca had another one in her cupboard. Three more were in Mathilda's posession."
"Which leaves four more books missing." Lucius confirmed. "At least one of which was stolen this year and should still be somewhere in the castle. Now I understand the problem."
"Unfortunately that's only the beginning." Dumbledore corrected him. "Two of the girls had other restricted books in their possession that did not come from the Hogwarts library. We have to assume that they were given to them by irresponsible parents."
"Which girls?" Professor Hooch asked hastily.
"Gaia and Mathilda." Lupin answered. "We can't blame the children for that, though. It's their parents' fault, if they permit their children to read dark books."
"Moreover there were other forbidden objects found in the possession of each of the girls." Dumbledore interrupted. "Some more dangerous than others. From toys that are listed on Argus' list of forbidden objects to actually illegal addictive substances."
Lucius' mouth dropped. "Drugs?" he exclaimed incredulously. "You found drugs?"
"Yes, I'm afraid so." Dumbledore confirmed. "We now have to decide not only how to punish each of the girls according to the severity of her transgression, but also what to do about the still missing restricted books and about the drugs."
"Expel the student that had the drugs." Lucius recommended. "The offence is bad enough to warrant it and we're rid of the problem."
"That sounds like a solution at first glance." Lupin confirmed. "But we found different kinds of drugs with two different students. None of the girls got hers from the other, so we have to assume a different source, most likely another student."
"And that means that we have to assume that there are more addicted students than just those two." Dumbledore explained. "Suggestions?"
"Search all the dorms." Lucius said immediately.
"That sounds good, but isn't practical." Filch growled. "Even with the help of all the house elves we can't search everywhere at once, which means the students will be warned and can move their illegal objects from one dorm to the other. Not to mention that the elves' usual tasks would be left undone."
"And we can't intrude on the students' privacy like that." Sprout added. "It's one thing, if there's a concrete lead that the student in question is in possession of a stolen or illegal object, but another to search children like that. Hogwarts isn't Azkaban."
"Question the students we caught." suggested Pince. "They must know who their source was."
"We will have to observe our students more closely then search specifically those that seem suspicious." McGonagall suggested.
"To do that we need to know exactly what we're looking for." Professor Vector commented. "What are the symptoms of addiction, how do dealers behave? We should get an expert from the ministry's drug abuse department to explain to us what we are looking for."
"Maybe we could hire a detective?" the Muggle Studies teacher suggested dreamily.
Dumbledore listened quietly for a while. When the suggestions became more and more unrealistic he finally stepped in again.
"That's all very nice. For now, I think, questioning the girls and watching the other students for signs of addiction sounds like the easiest solution." he announced. "I'll also get in contact with the drug abuse department about that expert. Now, if we could decide about the punishments of the girls."
"Well, to do that we'd have to know exactly what objects were found with what girl." McGonagall reminded him.
Lupin stepped forward. "I can sum that up for you. Rebecca Hillinger had one restricted book, which was stolen from the library and three forbidden objects. She claims not to have known that they were on the forbidden objects list, which I consider credible considering the length of the list. It is difficult to know that many objects by heart and none of them are actually dangerous, merely noisy or messy. She admits however that she knew the book had been stolen from the library, though she claims that she had no part in the theft itself. She says Marsha lent it to her."
"Do we believe that?" Vector asked.
"Rebecca is usually a nice, quiet girl." Remus reported. "She's never shown a particular interest in the dark arts before and there were no truly incriminating objects other than that book found in her possession."
"She's in Slytherin." McGonagall pointed out.
"So am I." Lupin countered sharply. "I also read books on he dark arts. Do you want to expel me for that?"
"It's part of your job, though, Remus." Dumbledore pointed out. "Rebecca is only a thirteen year old girl."
"Remus is right, though." Sprout threw in. "We can't punish every student that gives in to curiosity and reads a book they shouldn't. I say confiscate the book and toys and be done with it."
"They already have been confiscated." Pince declared with a slight frown. "The books are back in the library where they belong and Argus has locked away the forbidden objects."
"Well, then Rebecca's case is solved." Hagrid declared.
"There should be sterner consequences to remind her to obey the rules." Filch insisted. "She has broken them after all and confiscating those objects was only putting things back in order. A punishment is needed as well as a warning to her and others that rule breaking is not tolerated."
"It's not worth expelling her over, though." Sprout declared. "A simple reprimand will do."
"We should contact her parents." McGonagall suggested. "They ought to know what their daughter gets up to."
"As far as I know she has very stern parents, possibly abusive." Remus warned. "Their reaction might well overshoot the mark."
"Remember that we have worse offenders to deal with." Dumbledore added. "The punishments should reflect the severity of the offence. I think a simple detention should suffice for Rebecca Hillinger. I'd make her learn the list of forbidden objects by heart, Argus."
To Lucius' surprise the caretaker smiled at that. "Then next time she won't be able to claim ignorance."
"Then we all agree?" the headmaster asked. "Excellent. The next offender, Remus?"
"Rebecca's best friend Roswitha Price." Remus announced. "Besides the book, which she claims to have borrowed from Marsha as well, she had a biting tea cup, apparently a gift from Gaia, a jar of green dragon scales, a restricted potions ingredient, and Muggle sleeping pills. Potions is Roswitha's favourite class and she has quite a collection of unusual ingredients, most of which are harmless. According to her the scales came with the rest of the collection, probably an oversight on the part of the apothecary. Sleeping pills are a drug used as medicine by Muggles, but addictive and easily abused. Roswitha clearly didn't have them for medical reasons since she is a pureblood and a sleeping drought is more effective. So far she has refused to tell where she bought the pills."
Lucius frowned. A Muggle drug?
"How dangerous exactly are the green dragon scales?" Hooch asked looking at him. "Remus said they're restricted, not illegal?"
"They aren't dark ingredients." Lucius confirmed. "They are used in one or two dark potions I can think of, but that is not their main purpose."
"Their main use is in medical potions." Dumbledore jumped in. "I asked a potions master after Remus reported the find." he added when everybody looked at him in surprise. "The reason they are restricted is that they are dangerous, if handled improperly. They become poisonous when spoiled and easily explode when left too long in direct sunlight. They also have the ability to enhance the effects of many addictive potions, possibly Muggle drugs as well."
"So we're assuming that Roswitha Price used them for that last purpose?" Lucius asked trying to safe his dignity. He was the Potions teacher! Why hadn't Dumbledore come to him before going through the trouble of contacting a potions master?
"Yes," the werewolf confirmed. "We also suspect that the scales were stolen out of the school's supplies rather than bought at an apothecary."
"Severus kept a list of all his stores in his desk." Dumbledore informed him. "I'm sure you've noticed. I'd like you to check whether there are any green dragon scales missing."
"Are you sure the school even has green dragon scales?" Lucius asked surprised. "They're restricted and expensive."
"Severus was a potions master." Dumbledore reminded him. "And he brewed most of Poppy's potions himself. The dragon scales are expensive, but not as expensive as the finished potions. The school kept some for Severus' use only, not for the students'."
"So Roswitha is guilty of reading a dark book and owning a forbidden object just like Rebecca." Vector summed up. "Additionally she also smuggled, and probably used, drugs and dangerous potions ingredients. Do we believe her that she didn't break into the restricted section and steal the book herself?"
"If we believe that of Rebecca, I'd say the same is true for Roswitha." Lupin judged. "They are best friends, so most likely they would have broken into the library together. Also considering that most of the books were found in Marsha's trunk, I think it's quite plausible that she was the one to steal them as well. It is rather unlikely that all five girls would have raided the restricted section together. The risk of getting caught is just too big with such a big group."
"She is innocent of stealing from the library then, but suspected of breaking into the potions lab." Vector continued. "I trust the objects in question were confiscated as well? Including the drugs?"
"Of course." Madame Pomfrey confirmed. "Both the dragon scales and the sleeping pills are locked up in my potions cupboard."
Lucius bristled. The dragon scales were suspected of belonging in his lab after all.
"We are hoping that students are less likely to think of breaking into the hospital wing's potions stores since they contain only medical potions and there's always somebody in the hospital wing which makes sneaking in very difficult." Dumbledore quickly explained.
"We should inform Ms Price's parents." Vector announced. "They have to know about the drugs at least."
"And she will have to serve a detention as well, since we can't punish her any more lightly than Rebecca." Remus added.
"Not together, though." Filch remarked. "I don't see much use in her learning the forbidden objects list because of one biting teacup."
Dumbledore nodded. "Let her help with the repairs of the Potions Classroom, then." he decided. "And Poppy will have to keep an eye on her for any symptoms of withdrawal, or signs that she's taking drugs again."
"I thought you'd confiscated everything?" Lucius demanded sharply. "If we ban her from the next Hogsmeade weekend, she shouldn't be able to renew her supplies."
"Banishing her from the Hogsmeade visit is an excellent idea, Lucius." Dumbledore beamed. "But you are assuming an outside source. There is the possibility that the girls bought the drugs from another student, though. If so, Roswitha can buy more at any time."
"So we have detention for Rebecca and detention, an owl to the parents and banishment from Hogsmeade visits for Roswitha." Lupin said. "Anything else?"
Dumbledoe shook his head. "I think that should suffice for those two. Next?"
"Gaia Ushton." Lupin sighed. "A troublemaker, but insists she had nothing to do with the theft. According to her Marsha and Mathilda were the ones to break into the library. Marsha accuses Gaia and Mathilda, while Mathilda swears it was Gaia alone."
"Marsha was the one who had most of the books and lent them to Rebecca and Roswitha, though, wasn't she?" Vector asked. "I'd say that makes it quite obvious that she was part of the theft."
"I agree." said Lupin. "But did she do it alone, or did she have an accomplice?"
"Accomplice." Pince supplied. "That's quite a pile of books for one girl to carry and she most likely needed her wand hand to light her way. Two would be more likely to make off with so many books at once."
"Gaia or Mathilda, then?" Dumbledore asked. "Or perhaps both?"
Remus thought that over. "Hard to say. If she had only one accomplice, it definitely was Mathilda. Those two are always together while Gaia usually hangs out with the boys of her year. She's clever and daring enough to have planned the whole thing, though, while Marsha always seemed a little clumsy to me."
"She seems to me like a girl who trusts nobody but herself." Lucius opined. "She'd prefer to work alone."
Lupin nodded. "Possibly, but more likely not, guilty of breaking into the library, then." he stated. "Gaia also had a lot of prank utensils. We confiscated all of them, though mousetraps aren't technically forbidden objects."
Lucius glared at his long healed right hand and wondered why he'd just defended Gaia Ushton.
"I can't put mousetraps on the list." Filch declared. "They are necessary objects that serve a useful purpose. I occasionally make use of them myself when Mrs Norris can't keep up with the little pests. And Severus would never get out of detention, if I blacklisted his favourite toys."
Several teachers laughed, Lucius growled. He absolutely hated mousetraps.
"Besides those Gaia's suitcase also held several unidentified potions, that might be drugs." Remus continued.
"Actually those are no longer unidentified." the headmaster cut in waving the parchments he'd brought with him. "That's why I went to my friend the potions master in the first place. This is a detailed report on the contents of each vial." he smiled. "Most of it of purely academic interest, of course. Our expert was quite thorough."
"So what was in there?" McGonagall demanded slightly impatiently.
"Huh? Oh yes!" the headmaster smiled again. "Invisible ink, colour changing potions and the like. They are all simple 'fun potions' easy to brew and with effects children tend to like. The most dangerous is a fireworks potion, which could cause a minor explosion, if it were of a slightly higher concentration. As it is it's barely strong enough to set parchment on fire."
"You mean they're just the products of a child's potions kit?" Pince exclaimed incredulously.
"According to S . . . our expert the fireworks potion isn't part of such simple potions kits, but all the ingredients are among the normal students' stores, so Gaia is allowed to have them. They are no danger to the school or its students, though some of them could be used for possibly disruptive pranks." Dumbledore reported.
Remus sighed. "A stolen book, she might, or might not, have stolen herself and prank utensils, then. Some of the later forbidden objects."
"We can't prove that she was involved in the theft, though." Vector stated. "And without that she did nothing worse than Ms Hillinger. We'd have to give her the same punishment then."
"I doubt learning the list of forbidden objects by heart will have much of an effect on a known prankster." McGonagall argued.
"Maybe not," Dumbledore agreed. "But we have to be fair. Both are to be punished for possession of forbidden objects and reading a stolen book."
"Can't we claim a repeated offence in Gaia's case?" Filch asked. "I caught her with a firecracker and two dung bombs only a week ago."
"But she was already punished for that, wasn't she?" Lupin demanded.
"Why yes, I made her scrub the stairs in the astronomy tower." Filch admitted.
"Then that's done with." McGonagall decided. "You can give her a warning that next time she won't get away as easily, though."
Fich frowned. Apparently he didn't think that was quite sufficient, but Lupin went right on to the next student.
"Mathilda Harris had several dark arts books and a store of potion ingredients, some of which are definitely dark and illegal." he reported. "Some of the legal ones might have come out of the school's stores, but considering her possession of illegal ones, that the school most certainly never owned, we have no proof of it. Mathilda herself claims she got them from various family members and doesn't remember who gave her which exactly."
"A blatant lie, if you ask me." Lucius sneered. "Of course she remembers. She just won't incriminate any particular person. As long as she doesn't give a name the Aurors can't arrest anybody. If asked each of them will claim to have given her only legal ingredients, the illegal ones must have come from the others."
"And of course the brat is completely innocent and had no idea the ingredients were illegal." Filch added sarcastically. "She never thought her relatives would give her anything dangerous or illegal."
"Exactly." Pince confirmed. "However did you guess?"
"The ingredients were confiscated of course." Dumbledore declared before this could go any further. "We will have to hand the illegal ones in to the ministry on Monday."
Did Dumbledore actually look sad about that? Lucius began to wonder. He wasn't as sure as the werewolf that there was nothing illegal to be found in Snape's stores, but could it be that the headmaster knew about it? Actually approved of it?
"We'll also have to report where we found them." he said out loud. After all he was experienced in such matters. "That would cause an investigation of the Harris family. Do we really want that?"
"We can't keep this from the Aurors!" Sprout exclaimed horrified. "Those ingredients are dangerous. They can't just remain in the school."
"I wasn't suggesting to keep them." Lucius confirmed. "Just that maybe there is a way to dispose of them quietly while sparing the family the scandal."
"Unfortunately hiding this would be criminal as well." Dumbledore stated calmly. "That is out of the question."
"We should owl them before we report it to the ministry, though." Flitwick suggested. "Better they find out from us, than from a squad of Aurors come to search their home."
Dumbledore nodded. "We'll owl the parents today, then, and the Aurors tomorrow. The ingredients are safely locked away and it wouldn't be polite to bother the ministry on the weekend, if it isn't a life and death situation."
"What of Mathilda's punishment, though?" Pince asked. "The possession of illegal and dangerous objects should validate an expulsion, shouldn't it?"
"Isn't that a bit extreme?" Hagrid asked. "Maybe the poor girl really didn't know they were illegal. She's just a little girl after all."
"We should at least threaten her with expulsion to make the severity of her offence clear." Filch insisted.
"Threaten her, but give her detention instead." Lupin suggested. "I'm against expelling any of the girls. They are still young and it would destroy their entire future. The simple possession of certain objects, no matter how dangerous, shouldn't have such dire consequences."
"And what will you do when we catch the traitor that tried to murder Harry?" Pince demanded. "Slap him on the wrist and say 'bad boy'?"
"That's different." Lupin argued. "The traitor actually tried to murder Harry, while the girls didn't intend anybody harm. The traitor has to leave of course."
"Drugs can kill as well." Madame Pomfrey pointed out.
"The girls that took drugs harmed themselves, but not others." Lupin explained. "As long as they didn't sell drugs to their friends I still don't see that as a reason to expel them."
"They are the victims here." Dumbledore agreed. "We need to find their dealer, and if he is a student, I promise you he will be expelled."
"That leaves Marsha Alton, then." Lupin announced. "Most likely the one to steal the books, definitely the one who kept them and owner of several vials of addictive potions."
"Anything illegal?" Lucius asked.
"The drugs." Lupin reminded him.
"I'm aware of that." Lucius growled. "Anything else? Dark arts objects, potion ingredients?"
"No, just the books and the drugs." Lupin repeated. "Isn't that bad enough for you?"
"We'll have to inform her parents, of course." Madame Pomfrey said hastily before this could turn into an argument.
"And ban her from Hogsmeade visits." added Pince. "I'd also like to ban her from taking books out of the library altogether."
"That would limit her studying." McGonagall pointed out.
"She can study in the library where I can keep an eye on her." Pince insisted. "If she wants to work after hours she'll have to ask her friends to get the books for her."
"It might teach her to appreciate the non-restricted books more." Dumbledore mused. "As a temporary measure of course. Lets say until after the Christmas holidays. That will leave her enough time to study properly for the finals."
"What about her detention, though?" Filch asked. "Can I chain her to a wall for a bit? Just to scare her?"
"No Argus!" Dumbledore said sharply. "You can't. No, chains, no whips. You can make her clean and repaint the Potions classroom once it is sufficiently repaired. That should keep her busy for several days."
"Without magic?" Filch asked almost pleadingly.
"Without magic." Dumbledore agreed.
The rest of the meeting consisted of rather impractical suggestions of how to get the rest of the restricted books back and prevent further disappearances. Lucius found it all rather boring and was relieved when Dumbledore finally let them go. He had better things to do than listen to Flitwick drone on about security charms. His new office was full of boxes and those damn house elves refused to unpack them. He'd gotten all dusty unpacking the smallest box himself.
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Theodore was standing all alone in the middle of the dorm and realised that he was afraid. Not afraid of being alone, of course, but afraid of touching anything.
He hadn't encountered a mousetrap today, yet, and he knew Severus would never skip a day.
Of course this was his chance to find and disarm it quietly, but where could it be?
The first traps had all been in his bed, under the blanket, under the pillow, under his pyjamas, once even folded into the blanket. Once he'd taken to checking the bed thoroughly before getting in, the traps had started popping up elsewhere. On or in his nightstand, once actually baited with his wand, on his trunk, then in his trunk until he'd gotten afraid of even opening it. Then he'd gotten another one in his bed, just as a reminder, Severus had said. The next in his cupboard among his socks, one under his desk in History of Magic, another in his book bag and twice under his homework scrolls. The worst so far had been the one behind his Transfigurations book in Transfigurations class. McGonagall had almost given him a detention on top of the pain. He still hadn't figured out how Severus had managed to slip an armed mousetrap into his robe pocket without getting caught in it himself and then there was the time the trap had been under his plate. At least the one among the chicken legs had only caught his fork and the one inside his shoe had already snapped before he'd tried to put them on. Theodore suspected it had attempted to catch a cockroach.
Carefully Theodore examined his clothes. No, nothing there.
Watching closely where he stepped he walked over to his bed. Nothing on the floor around it, nothing under it, nothing in it. He even double checked the pillowcase before he dared sit down on the bed.
Next the nightstand, the trunk. Would Severus put it in his book bag on a Sunday?
It couldn't hurt to check. Then the cupboard, the door.
It'd probably be in the great hall again. Unless he had overlooked something. Most likely he had.
Theodore was still trying to think of a place he hadn't looked when Severus and Draco came in.
"Alright, I surrender!" he greeted the surprised boys. "I'll get you your damn rope, just stop with the mousetraps. You'll just have to give me time until the Hogsmeade weekend. I can't buy it before then."
Severus regarded him icily. "Hogsmeade weekend." he agreed finally. "But if I don't get it then, you'll get a mousetrap from me everyday until the end of school."
"When I say you'll get your rope, I mean you'll get your rope." Theodore informed him angrily. "You don't have to make any more threats."
"Ah, but I'm letting up on you early." Severus pointed out. "I promised you'd get the mousetraps until I get my rope and now I'm stopping two weeks early just on a promise. I think I'm entitled to a few threats."
"Whatever." Theodore sighed, too relieved Severus had accepted his capitulation at all to argue much about minor details, and turned to leave.
"Oh, Theodore?" Severus said casually.
Theodore stopped in the door. "Yes?"
"It's under your toothbrush."
"What is?" Theodore asked confused.
"The mousetrap." Severus stated with a grin.
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Monday morning as usual started with Potions class. This time in the new classroom.
It wasn't a problem for the Slytherins, of course. After all Draco had already been there on Saturday and Severus had known the way for years.
As usual they arrived before their teacher which gave them a chance to look around undisturbed. The room was bigger and darker than the old Potions classroom. It's naked stone walls had never been painted, but there were soot stains above the old stoves and the floor had been tarred, probably to hide the stains left by spilled food. The domed ceiling was supported by two parallel rows of pillars that ran through the entire room and additional pillars supported the numerous alcoves that gave it the appearance of a maze at first glance.
The worktables didn't all match, but the chairs were even worse. It was rare that you could find two of a kind in the room. Everything looked old and shabby.
"There must be better chairs than these left somewhere in the castle." Pansy commented with a frown after her robe got caught on a rough spot on her chair and almost ripped.
"Filch probably fears that Malfoy will only wrack them again anyway, so he gave him the worst he could find." Blaise smirked.
Severus nodded agreement. "Mary Sue cost the school a lot of furniture, too. I wouldn't be surprised, if Filch really were having trouble finding any more worktables. He can use any chairs for Potions class, but the common students' desks that most of the abandoned classrooms have are completely unsuitable for brewing. There can't be that many of them in the castle."
Since at nine o clock Lucius still hadn't arrived the Slytherins set up their cauldrons and continued working on their study projects.
Five minutes later their teacher finally arrived, but there still wasn't any sign of the Gryffindors. Neville finally stumbled in just when Lucius had been about to put down the attendance list.
"I'm sorry, Professor." Neville panted. "I got lost. If Trevor hadn't jumped off again, I'd never have found the right corridor."
Lucius glared at him, but only threatened him with an additional homework assignment, if this ever happened again. Severus doubted he'd go through with his threat, even if Neville arrived late for every Potions lesson from now until Christmas. It was quite obvious that he hated correcting homework.
"With the usual length and difficulty of his homework assignments, I'd be done with it in five minutes anyway." Neville whispered to Draco a little later when Lucius' attention was no longer on them.
Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and Harry Potter were next to arrive, with Dean Thomas and Seamus Finigan not far behind them. This time it occurred to Lucius that he could take points and since he never did things by halves he took one hundred off the group for being late and another fifty for Weasley having forgotten his Potions book.
Neville and the others just groaned, but Potter shouted something about it not being fair and ended up having to copy another chapter of his Potions book for homework. Well, maybe he'd at least remember some of the stuff he wrote for the finals. With the way Lucius was teaching them that was likely to be the only thing Potter would learn in Potions this year.
"I have to find a way to make Lucius give the finals." Severus confided in Draco. "For one thing I don't know what to test, if he doesn't teach anything and for another he'll hate all the grading."
"But what would our grades be then?" Neville asked a little worriedly. "I don't think he has any kind of grading system."
Their discussion was interrupted by the entrance of Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil who ended up losing another one hundred points and for some reason seemed to blame the Slytherins for it. Apparently the Bloody Baron had taken too long to show them the way.
The results might have been worse hadn't Theodore's cauldron exploded right after the point deduction distracting Lucius from the girls' grumbling. Then Millicent's potion boiled over and Severus let a pillar of fire rise from his cauldron just to see the look on Lucius' face. It burned the ceiling a bit, but another soot stain didn't make much of a difference.
Severus considered redecorating the room once he was teaching again. Some simple curtains could close off all the alcoves to make store rooms and smaller labs. The corner with the sink could be turned into a proper washroom and once the room was properly painted and furnished it would make a great classroom. It's size allowed for more worktables and still would leave the individual students more room to move that the old classroom.
"I might get to like it here." he told his partners to their surprise.
"It's too far from the common room." Draco protested.
"They didn't move my living quarters." Severus pointed out. "They're still close enough and the old classroom will be repaired too. I could see us using both classes in future, though."
"The lighting is insufficient." Neville pointed out.
"We could add more torches." Severus returned. "Or candles, or just standard oil lamps, for safety reasons."
The torches were something to worry about indeed. To be safe they should be mounted higher up, but that would make it more difficult to change them. No problem for the house elves, of course, but the Muggle servants the room was originally built for couldn't have levitated them into place and neither could Argus Filch.
Another explosion interrupted his thoughts. Weasley's cauldron.
"Detention Weasley." Lucius commented laconically.
Most likely the boy would even have stayed for detention, if he had forgotten to say it, by now.
Somehow Trevor had gotten into the students' cupboard and was feasting on the scarab wings. Lucius shouted about it while Severus fed Greenie from a jar of ladybird larvae and Gregory punched Dean Thomas in the face. Potter was folding paper aeroplanes.
Hermione and Estella got into a spirited discussion over the merits of red onions over shrivelfiggs on which they wanted Lucius' opinion even though they should have been able to guess by now that he didn't have one. Alice needed help with the too thick texture of her potion. Pansy required a fresh ladle.
Draco pulled out a piece of parchment while waiting for his potion to boil and started to sketch the scene. Neville had to hold Trevor out to him, so he could draw the toad properly. Severus wasn't required to do anything, since Draco had drawn Greenie before and was familiar with his form.
One of Harry's aeroplanes accidentally fell into Gregory's potion, but with Vincent's help Greg managed to fish it out before it did any harm or Lucius noticed.
Unfortunately the next plane hit Lucius in the face.
"Detention Weasley!" the Potions teacher roared out of habit.
"Oh, sorry, Professor Malfoy." Harry said with the most contrite look he could manage. "That was me. I . . . um . . . meant to throw it into the wastepaper basket. I thought this was faster than carrying it."
Lucius took a deep breath, balled his hands to fists, then forced them open again. "Detention Potter." he ground out between clenched teeth.
"Yes Sir." Harry agreed meekly.
"SLURP!" added Harry's cauldron and Harry's soup was gone.
Lucius quickly extinguished the fire and threw an old goose feather into the cauldron. It floated gently to the bottom where it began to curl up from the heat. Greenie sniffed in complaint about the smell that caused.
"Congratulations, Potter." Draco smirked. "You've just brewed the world's first self eating soup."
"At least you spared the Professor having to vanish your potion today." Neville tried to console him.
Or was he intentionally teasing Harry?
"It definitely is the least messy result you've gotten so far." Severus agreed.
Harry just sighed accepting that this lesson would once again end with a minus in addition to the detention he'd just gotten. Maybe he should have followed Vincent and Gregory's example and worked on practising simple potions he already knew.
With the exception of Harry and Ron everybody left Potions class in high spirits. After all they wouldn't have to deal with explosions again until Wednesday afternoon. Only Greenie was a little disappointed to leave all the delicious snacks everybody called ingredients behind. Potions definitely was his favourite class.
His sniffed complaints didn't help any, though. Severus lifted him off the table and carried him away.
"Oh, come on Greenie." he told the hedgehog. "It's lunchtime. I promise to find you a big delicious potato. Maybe we'll even have steak again. You like steak, don't you?"
"Sniff?" asked Greenie wondering what Severus might be talking about. Those humans could make such a big variation of sounds. How was one little hedgehog supposed to know what all of them meant?
Still, the humans, especially his human and that blond one, weren't half bad. They had all sorts of delicious treats for hedgehogs. Greenie could barely remember that he'd once been afraid of them. After all it made no sense. Why would anyone be scared of someone who fed them?
With another sniffed sigh Greenie let himself be carried out of the Potions classroom and to the dorm, where his cage and the humans' bags were left behind before they took him to the other delicious room. Potions class might be Greenie's favourite class, but mealtime was his favourite time of day. He immediately forgave Severus for taking him away from the potions ingredients when he was placed in front of his saucer, which was soon filled with a big potato and a piece of chicken.
Severus and Draco spent the next two weeks observing various suspects while the rest of the school was nervous and jumpy and expecting the traitor to strike again at any moment. Still nothing happened.
The Hogsmeade weekend came and went without any special events. Both Harry and Severus were forbidden from going, as were the third year Slytherin girls and two Gryffindor boys, who'd been caught smoking joints in moaning Myrtle's toilet by a very enraged Argus Filch.
Their entire dorm had been searched as well, but no drugs were found in the possession of their classmates and it had been decided that the possession of dung bombs and itching powder alone didn't warrant a ban from Hogsmeade.
That evening Theodore handed Severus a nicely wrapped up package, that turned out to contain a nice curled up rope, that was only a little thicker than his old one had been, with a sheepish grin.
Neville and Draco almost got a detention for returning late, but managed to convince the headmaster that it had only been because they'd lost Trevor on the way and had taken almost an hour to find him again. It was pure luck that the caretaker hadn't thought to search them when he'd caught them sneaking in, because their pockets had been stuffed full of firecrackers and mousetraps along with the usual collection of sweets.
They also told Severus of all the wonders they'd seen in the Weasley twins' new little booth next to Honeydukes. According to Draco, who had it from Ginny, the twins weren't yet able to afford renting a second shop, but they didn't want to miss out on the good business Hogsmeade weekends promised, so they'd rented the portable booth for the day and George Weasley had set it up in Hogsmeade while Fred had tended to their usual shop in Diagon Alley on his own.
Gregory and Vincent had apparently spent the entire day in Honeydukes. They refused to come to dinner claiming that they were too sick from all the chocolate they'd eaten, which left room for Neville to join the Slytherin table for the meal.
Minerva McGonagall looked almost like she might faint at the sight of her Gryffindor eating with the Slytherins, but the headmaster only smiled and told her inter house friendships were much too rare in the school anyway.
Blaise and Theodore kept going on about the racing brooms that were on sale in the village. Apparently Theodore was hoping to get a new broom for Christmas. Pansy pouted a little at the lack of attention, then turned to discuss fashion tips with Millicent and Alice.
And still no sign of activity from the traitor.
Monday evening Severus first heard a second year tell a first year: "I think the dark lord must have given up. Potter is just too well protected now that they know he's after him."
"Voldemort would never give up this easily." Severus assured them. "If he would, he'd never have become as feared as he is."
But Severus couldn't be everywhere and remind everyone every time. The guard was beginning to relax.
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Madame Moony - Thanks. Well, Remus and the first years get along really well. They never had Sevi, so they don't have a problem accepting him.
jamie469 - (I really hope that number wasn't assigned to you by ff.net!) . . . You think it's a Weasley plot then? Now wouldn't that be a shock to Minerva . . .
Pam Briggs - Uh, yes, sorry about the wait. Sometimes things just won't work the way I want them to. Well, Sevi scared the little ones. I can't even claim it was unintentional, though he really wasn't looking to create a scene like that.
Kayla Hemlock - Another one suspecting Ginny. Hm . . . Don't worry, they're already repairing the classroom and now they have an excuse to keep Luci out of it.
Honor - Well, some people might disagree with you on Sevi being in character, but either way I like him like this.
JerseyPike - Lemon flavoured socks? Yes, that would probably be just the thing for Albus. (Too bad I currently have to find a birthday present for my Dad and not for Albus.). Well, forensics is one thing, spy work another. We'll find that traitor in the end, don't worry.
black sayain - Thanks.
EriEka127 - Thanks. I'm trying.
Dave - Albus? Well, he does lack an alibi . . .
kalariah - Sevi and Draco? They can take a lot. Harry and friends are more rewarding targets. . . . Sevi only searched two trunks. (Though he did open more. He only glanced into those.) Professor Pince doesn't feel like revealing exactly what horrors escaped her library, but you did get a list of objects found. . . . Those are the old kitchens. The house elves work in the new ones and Luci is the last person they want to share them with. (With the possible exception of 'that weird girl who's wants house elves stops workings' Hermione.)
Weasleylover1 - Yes, I wanted one Marauder in Slytherin when I wrote MNS and Remus always was my favourite, so he got picked. That was long before book five, though. I no longer believe any of them were Slyths. James the jerk just wouldn't have hung out with them. . . . Sevi hopes they will think twice. Parental pressure might make it a lost cause in some cases, but for those from neutral families it might be a good strategy. . . . I insist that Waldi (Vodemort) is the most evil. Luci's just Luci. . . . The old kitchens just sprang into my mind like that and have taken permanent residence. I have no idea where they came from, but I like the place. . . . Ms Johnson was only practising her drum solo (in her imagined band). Thee are a lot worse kids in that class. The kids aren't really that bad . . . as long as you keep those two houses separate from each other. . . . Minerva's been taking Slytherin problems to Sevi for years. Who else would she think of?
Colibi - Those stairs wouldn't be visible from the rest of the castle, but there was no reason to hide the servants' stairs from the servants' tract. Actually I was thinking about the problem of having two rooms on opposite ends of the castle to keep an eye on, though. And that will be a problem.
doug rogers - Wow, a whole flood of reviews from skyehawke! You just made me very happy! . . . Okay, let's take this one by one: Double O: The new part's right here. I try to upload one every Friday, but can't always keep up with my own schedule due to work. RD: I believe they're all human actually. Harry just never got a chance to get to know Draco thanks to not wanting to be in Slytherin. TLL: Not really. TLL is a spill over of plot hedgehogs in my head. I had to write one of them before I went crazy. It was a challenge too, but nobody ever answered it. (Well, one reader told me she's working on something, but doesn't have much time, so it'll take a while.) . . . As for depressing for Gryffindors. I tend to think up depressing stories, though I rarely write them down, and I never did write primarily for the Gryffindor fans. I'm a Slytherin and my fics show it. MNS: Oh, little Sevi is actually more icy than adult Snape when he wants to be. It's all on the outside, though. We've always just seen the mask he shows Harry. A POV character can only hide his feelings from the reader, if he hides them from himself. HPHC: No, this one is finished. It's open ended, but still very much closed. Anything further would only detract from it. The end hints at what will happen in future, but the rest you'll have to imagine for yourself.
Iremione - It took me long enough to come up with that simple solution (about two years I think. I only had the idea a few days before I actually started writing Double O). . . . I just had to give points for that effort. (I bet nobody else made friends with a teacher over researching my fic.) . . . And don't worry, Slytherin gets all the other points I ever give. (And no, Ravenslyths are Slytherins so their points go to Slytherin alone. Slythravens' points go to Ravenclaw.) . . . My bosses are actually both very nice. Who has to write what kind of contracts is predetermined, though and they are never required at even intervals. Currently it's: This really big project is coming in any moment now, that one needs to be finished, the other researched, two old contracts need changing (three months ago if anyhow possible) and by the way that other one, that was so urgent and just got done was all about the wrong subject. Somebody messed up and provided us with the wrong information. Now it requires me to stop the old one and start over. . . . Where exactly is Minerva stupid? She's slightly biased towards her own students without admitting it to herself and very stressed out. That's all. . . . Of course I like all of Luci! He cares a lot about his proper looks, though. (And not much about students. His favourite spell is Avada Kedavra, what did you expect?) . . . Yep, they're 11 and like to think of themselves as big, but when in terror and far from home they're still just little children crying for Mummy. (And Remus was the closest thing to Mummy they could find at the moment.) Regression is a normal reaction for children under too much stress (and thinking Voldemort is going to kill you any moment now for weeks is a lot of stress.) . . . Actually, if I remember Dita's explanations correctly that Telehorror was named Tinky-Winky. Winky is taken from cannon and Twinky from twinkle. Dipsy is a suggestion worth keeping in mind, but Lala and Poo lack the y in he end that all house elves seem to have. (That and Po is one of several words we use to describe that body part we sit on in German without using bad language. It causes enough giggling when children discover there's a river by that name in Italy. We don't need a house elf as well.) . . . I'll re-list the Gryffindor suspects in the fic for you at an appropriate time. Right now Sevi has no reason to go through his list of suspects like that.
Jade Kirk and Max LBC - Thanks. Here's a little more right now. More, hopefully, next week.
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A/N: Will the traitor strike again now? Were the punishments apropriate? And will Sevi keep the replacement Potions classroom? (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: The results of Sevi's spying on Lucius, Draco wants to interrogate a suit of armour and Lucius isn't happy with events.
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 - Can you believe it? We've got snow in Austria! At this time of the year and down here in the Wiener Becken where it's always last to snow! And for the moment it even looks like it's staying for another night.
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Chapter 11: Conferences and Traps
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A teachers conference on a Sunday was almost unheard of. If you could believe the rumours Professors Flitwick and McGonagall had attended one years ago under headmaster Dippet, but Albus Dumbledore had never before called for one.
It was Sunday however and Lucius was sitting in the teachers' lounge along with his colleagues waiting for the headmaster to appear and explain why he'd called them there. Those teachers probably in the know of things were looking very serious and worried, which made the rest of them nervous.
Lucius of course was the most nervous of them all. He could once again see only one possible reason for an emergency meeting and that was another attack on Harry Potter. But he'd been so sure that the agent wouldn't attack without his go ahead sign again after the scolding he'd given him last time! The brat had at least looked sufficiently cowed.
What could have gotten into the child's head to start another attack anyway?
Dumbledore arrived late, several rolls of parchment in his hands and looking uncharacteristically grave.
"My friends, we have a problem." he announced by way of greeting.
"I do hope Potter wasn't killed this time?" Lucius asked hastily. If the boy was dead, he'd have less of a problem explaining this to Voldemort, of course, but the agent would be gloating and he couldn't admit he wanted Potter dead in front of these witnesses.
Nervous laughter all around him.
"Oh no, no, Lucius." Dumbleore smiled. "Harry is just fine. This has nothing to do with him."
"Nothing to do with him?" Lucius repeated in surprise. "Then there hasn't been another attack? Have you found the traitor?"
"No, nothing of the sort." Dumbledore shook his head. "We are here to deal with very different misdeeds, but please allow me to tell this chronologically so everything will be clear. Yesterday morning a concerned student informed Priscilla that a group of third year Slytherin girls had been seen with a restricted book, that did not at all seem appropriate for their level. When Priscilla checked the lists she found that no restricted books had been handed out to any third years, but several books were unaccountably missing from the restricted section."
"I used to check the section for missing books once a week, but since I took over Ancient Runes class last year and Latin this year I haven't had much time for my other duties and rarely got around to it." Professor Pince explained. "The last time I checked was after I returned from my summer holidays and I found three books missing then, which I reported to the headmaster back then, but there wasn't much else we could do. When I checked this time I found eleven books missing."
Dumbledore nodded at her, probably to assure her that he wasn't blaming her for the loss of the books. "Priscilla immediately took the problem to Remus, who confirmed that he hadn't given any third years access to restricted books and conducted a search of his third year girls' dormitory."
Lucius turned his head to regard the werewolf. That had to have been a tricky decision. The Slytherins most certainly resented the intrusion on their privacy and Lupin was still new as their head. This wouldn't help him get accepted, but on the other hand the teachers would resent a lack of cooperation in a matter as important as a theft of illegal books.
"As most of you know there are five Slytherin girls in third year." Lupin reported. "Gaia Ushton, Mathilda Harris, Marsha Alton, Roswitha Price and Rebecca Hillinger. One restricted book each was found in the trunks of Gaia, Marsha and Roswitha, while Rebecca had another one in her cupboard. Three more were in Mathilda's posession."
"Which leaves four more books missing." Lucius confirmed. "At least one of which was stolen this year and should still be somewhere in the castle. Now I understand the problem."
"Unfortunately that's only the beginning." Dumbledore corrected him. "Two of the girls had other restricted books in their possession that did not come from the Hogwarts library. We have to assume that they were given to them by irresponsible parents."
"Which girls?" Professor Hooch asked hastily.
"Gaia and Mathilda." Lupin answered. "We can't blame the children for that, though. It's their parents' fault, if they permit their children to read dark books."
"Moreover there were other forbidden objects found in the possession of each of the girls." Dumbledore interrupted. "Some more dangerous than others. From toys that are listed on Argus' list of forbidden objects to actually illegal addictive substances."
Lucius' mouth dropped. "Drugs?" he exclaimed incredulously. "You found drugs?"
"Yes, I'm afraid so." Dumbledore confirmed. "We now have to decide not only how to punish each of the girls according to the severity of her transgression, but also what to do about the still missing restricted books and about the drugs."
"Expel the student that had the drugs." Lucius recommended. "The offence is bad enough to warrant it and we're rid of the problem."
"That sounds like a solution at first glance." Lupin confirmed. "But we found different kinds of drugs with two different students. None of the girls got hers from the other, so we have to assume a different source, most likely another student."
"And that means that we have to assume that there are more addicted students than just those two." Dumbledore explained. "Suggestions?"
"Search all the dorms." Lucius said immediately.
"That sounds good, but isn't practical." Filch growled. "Even with the help of all the house elves we can't search everywhere at once, which means the students will be warned and can move their illegal objects from one dorm to the other. Not to mention that the elves' usual tasks would be left undone."
"And we can't intrude on the students' privacy like that." Sprout added. "It's one thing, if there's a concrete lead that the student in question is in possession of a stolen or illegal object, but another to search children like that. Hogwarts isn't Azkaban."
"Question the students we caught." suggested Pince. "They must know who their source was."
"We will have to observe our students more closely then search specifically those that seem suspicious." McGonagall suggested.
"To do that we need to know exactly what we're looking for." Professor Vector commented. "What are the symptoms of addiction, how do dealers behave? We should get an expert from the ministry's drug abuse department to explain to us what we are looking for."
"Maybe we could hire a detective?" the Muggle Studies teacher suggested dreamily.
Dumbledore listened quietly for a while. When the suggestions became more and more unrealistic he finally stepped in again.
"That's all very nice. For now, I think, questioning the girls and watching the other students for signs of addiction sounds like the easiest solution." he announced. "I'll also get in contact with the drug abuse department about that expert. Now, if we could decide about the punishments of the girls."
"Well, to do that we'd have to know exactly what objects were found with what girl." McGonagall reminded him.
Lupin stepped forward. "I can sum that up for you. Rebecca Hillinger had one restricted book, which was stolen from the library and three forbidden objects. She claims not to have known that they were on the forbidden objects list, which I consider credible considering the length of the list. It is difficult to know that many objects by heart and none of them are actually dangerous, merely noisy or messy. She admits however that she knew the book had been stolen from the library, though she claims that she had no part in the theft itself. She says Marsha lent it to her."
"Do we believe that?" Vector asked.
"Rebecca is usually a nice, quiet girl." Remus reported. "She's never shown a particular interest in the dark arts before and there were no truly incriminating objects other than that book found in her possession."
"She's in Slytherin." McGonagall pointed out.
"So am I." Lupin countered sharply. "I also read books on he dark arts. Do you want to expel me for that?"
"It's part of your job, though, Remus." Dumbledore pointed out. "Rebecca is only a thirteen year old girl."
"Remus is right, though." Sprout threw in. "We can't punish every student that gives in to curiosity and reads a book they shouldn't. I say confiscate the book and toys and be done with it."
"They already have been confiscated." Pince declared with a slight frown. "The books are back in the library where they belong and Argus has locked away the forbidden objects."
"Well, then Rebecca's case is solved." Hagrid declared.
"There should be sterner consequences to remind her to obey the rules." Filch insisted. "She has broken them after all and confiscating those objects was only putting things back in order. A punishment is needed as well as a warning to her and others that rule breaking is not tolerated."
"It's not worth expelling her over, though." Sprout declared. "A simple reprimand will do."
"We should contact her parents." McGonagall suggested. "They ought to know what their daughter gets up to."
"As far as I know she has very stern parents, possibly abusive." Remus warned. "Their reaction might well overshoot the mark."
"Remember that we have worse offenders to deal with." Dumbledore added. "The punishments should reflect the severity of the offence. I think a simple detention should suffice for Rebecca Hillinger. I'd make her learn the list of forbidden objects by heart, Argus."
To Lucius' surprise the caretaker smiled at that. "Then next time she won't be able to claim ignorance."
"Then we all agree?" the headmaster asked. "Excellent. The next offender, Remus?"
"Rebecca's best friend Roswitha Price." Remus announced. "Besides the book, which she claims to have borrowed from Marsha as well, she had a biting tea cup, apparently a gift from Gaia, a jar of green dragon scales, a restricted potions ingredient, and Muggle sleeping pills. Potions is Roswitha's favourite class and she has quite a collection of unusual ingredients, most of which are harmless. According to her the scales came with the rest of the collection, probably an oversight on the part of the apothecary. Sleeping pills are a drug used as medicine by Muggles, but addictive and easily abused. Roswitha clearly didn't have them for medical reasons since she is a pureblood and a sleeping drought is more effective. So far she has refused to tell where she bought the pills."
Lucius frowned. A Muggle drug?
"How dangerous exactly are the green dragon scales?" Hooch asked looking at him. "Remus said they're restricted, not illegal?"
"They aren't dark ingredients." Lucius confirmed. "They are used in one or two dark potions I can think of, but that is not their main purpose."
"Their main use is in medical potions." Dumbledore jumped in. "I asked a potions master after Remus reported the find." he added when everybody looked at him in surprise. "The reason they are restricted is that they are dangerous, if handled improperly. They become poisonous when spoiled and easily explode when left too long in direct sunlight. They also have the ability to enhance the effects of many addictive potions, possibly Muggle drugs as well."
"So we're assuming that Roswitha Price used them for that last purpose?" Lucius asked trying to safe his dignity. He was the Potions teacher! Why hadn't Dumbledore come to him before going through the trouble of contacting a potions master?
"Yes," the werewolf confirmed. "We also suspect that the scales were stolen out of the school's supplies rather than bought at an apothecary."
"Severus kept a list of all his stores in his desk." Dumbledore informed him. "I'm sure you've noticed. I'd like you to check whether there are any green dragon scales missing."
"Are you sure the school even has green dragon scales?" Lucius asked surprised. "They're restricted and expensive."
"Severus was a potions master." Dumbledore reminded him. "And he brewed most of Poppy's potions himself. The dragon scales are expensive, but not as expensive as the finished potions. The school kept some for Severus' use only, not for the students'."
"So Roswitha is guilty of reading a dark book and owning a forbidden object just like Rebecca." Vector summed up. "Additionally she also smuggled, and probably used, drugs and dangerous potions ingredients. Do we believe her that she didn't break into the restricted section and steal the book herself?"
"If we believe that of Rebecca, I'd say the same is true for Roswitha." Lupin judged. "They are best friends, so most likely they would have broken into the library together. Also considering that most of the books were found in Marsha's trunk, I think it's quite plausible that she was the one to steal them as well. It is rather unlikely that all five girls would have raided the restricted section together. The risk of getting caught is just too big with such a big group."
"She is innocent of stealing from the library then, but suspected of breaking into the potions lab." Vector continued. "I trust the objects in question were confiscated as well? Including the drugs?"
"Of course." Madame Pomfrey confirmed. "Both the dragon scales and the sleeping pills are locked up in my potions cupboard."
Lucius bristled. The dragon scales were suspected of belonging in his lab after all.
"We are hoping that students are less likely to think of breaking into the hospital wing's potions stores since they contain only medical potions and there's always somebody in the hospital wing which makes sneaking in very difficult." Dumbledore quickly explained.
"We should inform Ms Price's parents." Vector announced. "They have to know about the drugs at least."
"And she will have to serve a detention as well, since we can't punish her any more lightly than Rebecca." Remus added.
"Not together, though." Filch remarked. "I don't see much use in her learning the forbidden objects list because of one biting teacup."
Dumbledore nodded. "Let her help with the repairs of the Potions Classroom, then." he decided. "And Poppy will have to keep an eye on her for any symptoms of withdrawal, or signs that she's taking drugs again."
"I thought you'd confiscated everything?" Lucius demanded sharply. "If we ban her from the next Hogsmeade weekend, she shouldn't be able to renew her supplies."
"Banishing her from the Hogsmeade visit is an excellent idea, Lucius." Dumbledore beamed. "But you are assuming an outside source. There is the possibility that the girls bought the drugs from another student, though. If so, Roswitha can buy more at any time."
"So we have detention for Rebecca and detention, an owl to the parents and banishment from Hogsmeade visits for Roswitha." Lupin said. "Anything else?"
Dumbledoe shook his head. "I think that should suffice for those two. Next?"
"Gaia Ushton." Lupin sighed. "A troublemaker, but insists she had nothing to do with the theft. According to her Marsha and Mathilda were the ones to break into the library. Marsha accuses Gaia and Mathilda, while Mathilda swears it was Gaia alone."
"Marsha was the one who had most of the books and lent them to Rebecca and Roswitha, though, wasn't she?" Vector asked. "I'd say that makes it quite obvious that she was part of the theft."
"I agree." said Lupin. "But did she do it alone, or did she have an accomplice?"
"Accomplice." Pince supplied. "That's quite a pile of books for one girl to carry and she most likely needed her wand hand to light her way. Two would be more likely to make off with so many books at once."
"Gaia or Mathilda, then?" Dumbledore asked. "Or perhaps both?"
Remus thought that over. "Hard to say. If she had only one accomplice, it definitely was Mathilda. Those two are always together while Gaia usually hangs out with the boys of her year. She's clever and daring enough to have planned the whole thing, though, while Marsha always seemed a little clumsy to me."
"She seems to me like a girl who trusts nobody but herself." Lucius opined. "She'd prefer to work alone."
Lupin nodded. "Possibly, but more likely not, guilty of breaking into the library, then." he stated. "Gaia also had a lot of prank utensils. We confiscated all of them, though mousetraps aren't technically forbidden objects."
Lucius glared at his long healed right hand and wondered why he'd just defended Gaia Ushton.
"I can't put mousetraps on the list." Filch declared. "They are necessary objects that serve a useful purpose. I occasionally make use of them myself when Mrs Norris can't keep up with the little pests. And Severus would never get out of detention, if I blacklisted his favourite toys."
Several teachers laughed, Lucius growled. He absolutely hated mousetraps.
"Besides those Gaia's suitcase also held several unidentified potions, that might be drugs." Remus continued.
"Actually those are no longer unidentified." the headmaster cut in waving the parchments he'd brought with him. "That's why I went to my friend the potions master in the first place. This is a detailed report on the contents of each vial." he smiled. "Most of it of purely academic interest, of course. Our expert was quite thorough."
"So what was in there?" McGonagall demanded slightly impatiently.
"Huh? Oh yes!" the headmaster smiled again. "Invisible ink, colour changing potions and the like. They are all simple 'fun potions' easy to brew and with effects children tend to like. The most dangerous is a fireworks potion, which could cause a minor explosion, if it were of a slightly higher concentration. As it is it's barely strong enough to set parchment on fire."
"You mean they're just the products of a child's potions kit?" Pince exclaimed incredulously.
"According to S . . . our expert the fireworks potion isn't part of such simple potions kits, but all the ingredients are among the normal students' stores, so Gaia is allowed to have them. They are no danger to the school or its students, though some of them could be used for possibly disruptive pranks." Dumbledore reported.
Remus sighed. "A stolen book, she might, or might not, have stolen herself and prank utensils, then. Some of the later forbidden objects."
"We can't prove that she was involved in the theft, though." Vector stated. "And without that she did nothing worse than Ms Hillinger. We'd have to give her the same punishment then."
"I doubt learning the list of forbidden objects by heart will have much of an effect on a known prankster." McGonagall argued.
"Maybe not," Dumbledore agreed. "But we have to be fair. Both are to be punished for possession of forbidden objects and reading a stolen book."
"Can't we claim a repeated offence in Gaia's case?" Filch asked. "I caught her with a firecracker and two dung bombs only a week ago."
"But she was already punished for that, wasn't she?" Lupin demanded.
"Why yes, I made her scrub the stairs in the astronomy tower." Filch admitted.
"Then that's done with." McGonagall decided. "You can give her a warning that next time she won't get away as easily, though."
Fich frowned. Apparently he didn't think that was quite sufficient, but Lupin went right on to the next student.
"Mathilda Harris had several dark arts books and a store of potion ingredients, some of which are definitely dark and illegal." he reported. "Some of the legal ones might have come out of the school's stores, but considering her possession of illegal ones, that the school most certainly never owned, we have no proof of it. Mathilda herself claims she got them from various family members and doesn't remember who gave her which exactly."
"A blatant lie, if you ask me." Lucius sneered. "Of course she remembers. She just won't incriminate any particular person. As long as she doesn't give a name the Aurors can't arrest anybody. If asked each of them will claim to have given her only legal ingredients, the illegal ones must have come from the others."
"And of course the brat is completely innocent and had no idea the ingredients were illegal." Filch added sarcastically. "She never thought her relatives would give her anything dangerous or illegal."
"Exactly." Pince confirmed. "However did you guess?"
"The ingredients were confiscated of course." Dumbledore declared before this could go any further. "We will have to hand the illegal ones in to the ministry on Monday."
Did Dumbledore actually look sad about that? Lucius began to wonder. He wasn't as sure as the werewolf that there was nothing illegal to be found in Snape's stores, but could it be that the headmaster knew about it? Actually approved of it?
"We'll also have to report where we found them." he said out loud. After all he was experienced in such matters. "That would cause an investigation of the Harris family. Do we really want that?"
"We can't keep this from the Aurors!" Sprout exclaimed horrified. "Those ingredients are dangerous. They can't just remain in the school."
"I wasn't suggesting to keep them." Lucius confirmed. "Just that maybe there is a way to dispose of them quietly while sparing the family the scandal."
"Unfortunately hiding this would be criminal as well." Dumbledore stated calmly. "That is out of the question."
"We should owl them before we report it to the ministry, though." Flitwick suggested. "Better they find out from us, than from a squad of Aurors come to search their home."
Dumbledore nodded. "We'll owl the parents today, then, and the Aurors tomorrow. The ingredients are safely locked away and it wouldn't be polite to bother the ministry on the weekend, if it isn't a life and death situation."
"What of Mathilda's punishment, though?" Pince asked. "The possession of illegal and dangerous objects should validate an expulsion, shouldn't it?"
"Isn't that a bit extreme?" Hagrid asked. "Maybe the poor girl really didn't know they were illegal. She's just a little girl after all."
"We should at least threaten her with expulsion to make the severity of her offence clear." Filch insisted.
"Threaten her, but give her detention instead." Lupin suggested. "I'm against expelling any of the girls. They are still young and it would destroy their entire future. The simple possession of certain objects, no matter how dangerous, shouldn't have such dire consequences."
"And what will you do when we catch the traitor that tried to murder Harry?" Pince demanded. "Slap him on the wrist and say 'bad boy'?"
"That's different." Lupin argued. "The traitor actually tried to murder Harry, while the girls didn't intend anybody harm. The traitor has to leave of course."
"Drugs can kill as well." Madame Pomfrey pointed out.
"The girls that took drugs harmed themselves, but not others." Lupin explained. "As long as they didn't sell drugs to their friends I still don't see that as a reason to expel them."
"They are the victims here." Dumbledore agreed. "We need to find their dealer, and if he is a student, I promise you he will be expelled."
"That leaves Marsha Alton, then." Lupin announced. "Most likely the one to steal the books, definitely the one who kept them and owner of several vials of addictive potions."
"Anything illegal?" Lucius asked.
"The drugs." Lupin reminded him.
"I'm aware of that." Lucius growled. "Anything else? Dark arts objects, potion ingredients?"
"No, just the books and the drugs." Lupin repeated. "Isn't that bad enough for you?"
"We'll have to inform her parents, of course." Madame Pomfrey said hastily before this could turn into an argument.
"And ban her from Hogsmeade visits." added Pince. "I'd also like to ban her from taking books out of the library altogether."
"That would limit her studying." McGonagall pointed out.
"She can study in the library where I can keep an eye on her." Pince insisted. "If she wants to work after hours she'll have to ask her friends to get the books for her."
"It might teach her to appreciate the non-restricted books more." Dumbledore mused. "As a temporary measure of course. Lets say until after the Christmas holidays. That will leave her enough time to study properly for the finals."
"What about her detention, though?" Filch asked. "Can I chain her to a wall for a bit? Just to scare her?"
"No Argus!" Dumbledore said sharply. "You can't. No, chains, no whips. You can make her clean and repaint the Potions classroom once it is sufficiently repaired. That should keep her busy for several days."
"Without magic?" Filch asked almost pleadingly.
"Without magic." Dumbledore agreed.
The rest of the meeting consisted of rather impractical suggestions of how to get the rest of the restricted books back and prevent further disappearances. Lucius found it all rather boring and was relieved when Dumbledore finally let them go. He had better things to do than listen to Flitwick drone on about security charms. His new office was full of boxes and those damn house elves refused to unpack them. He'd gotten all dusty unpacking the smallest box himself.
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Theodore was standing all alone in the middle of the dorm and realised that he was afraid. Not afraid of being alone, of course, but afraid of touching anything.
He hadn't encountered a mousetrap today, yet, and he knew Severus would never skip a day.
Of course this was his chance to find and disarm it quietly, but where could it be?
The first traps had all been in his bed, under the blanket, under the pillow, under his pyjamas, once even folded into the blanket. Once he'd taken to checking the bed thoroughly before getting in, the traps had started popping up elsewhere. On or in his nightstand, once actually baited with his wand, on his trunk, then in his trunk until he'd gotten afraid of even opening it. Then he'd gotten another one in his bed, just as a reminder, Severus had said. The next in his cupboard among his socks, one under his desk in History of Magic, another in his book bag and twice under his homework scrolls. The worst so far had been the one behind his Transfigurations book in Transfigurations class. McGonagall had almost given him a detention on top of the pain. He still hadn't figured out how Severus had managed to slip an armed mousetrap into his robe pocket without getting caught in it himself and then there was the time the trap had been under his plate. At least the one among the chicken legs had only caught his fork and the one inside his shoe had already snapped before he'd tried to put them on. Theodore suspected it had attempted to catch a cockroach.
Carefully Theodore examined his clothes. No, nothing there.
Watching closely where he stepped he walked over to his bed. Nothing on the floor around it, nothing under it, nothing in it. He even double checked the pillowcase before he dared sit down on the bed.
Next the nightstand, the trunk. Would Severus put it in his book bag on a Sunday?
It couldn't hurt to check. Then the cupboard, the door.
It'd probably be in the great hall again. Unless he had overlooked something. Most likely he had.
Theodore was still trying to think of a place he hadn't looked when Severus and Draco came in.
"Alright, I surrender!" he greeted the surprised boys. "I'll get you your damn rope, just stop with the mousetraps. You'll just have to give me time until the Hogsmeade weekend. I can't buy it before then."
Severus regarded him icily. "Hogsmeade weekend." he agreed finally. "But if I don't get it then, you'll get a mousetrap from me everyday until the end of school."
"When I say you'll get your rope, I mean you'll get your rope." Theodore informed him angrily. "You don't have to make any more threats."
"Ah, but I'm letting up on you early." Severus pointed out. "I promised you'd get the mousetraps until I get my rope and now I'm stopping two weeks early just on a promise. I think I'm entitled to a few threats."
"Whatever." Theodore sighed, too relieved Severus had accepted his capitulation at all to argue much about minor details, and turned to leave.
"Oh, Theodore?" Severus said casually.
Theodore stopped in the door. "Yes?"
"It's under your toothbrush."
"What is?" Theodore asked confused.
"The mousetrap." Severus stated with a grin.
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Monday morning as usual started with Potions class. This time in the new classroom.
It wasn't a problem for the Slytherins, of course. After all Draco had already been there on Saturday and Severus had known the way for years.
As usual they arrived before their teacher which gave them a chance to look around undisturbed. The room was bigger and darker than the old Potions classroom. It's naked stone walls had never been painted, but there were soot stains above the old stoves and the floor had been tarred, probably to hide the stains left by spilled food. The domed ceiling was supported by two parallel rows of pillars that ran through the entire room and additional pillars supported the numerous alcoves that gave it the appearance of a maze at first glance.
The worktables didn't all match, but the chairs were even worse. It was rare that you could find two of a kind in the room. Everything looked old and shabby.
"There must be better chairs than these left somewhere in the castle." Pansy commented with a frown after her robe got caught on a rough spot on her chair and almost ripped.
"Filch probably fears that Malfoy will only wrack them again anyway, so he gave him the worst he could find." Blaise smirked.
Severus nodded agreement. "Mary Sue cost the school a lot of furniture, too. I wouldn't be surprised, if Filch really were having trouble finding any more worktables. He can use any chairs for Potions class, but the common students' desks that most of the abandoned classrooms have are completely unsuitable for brewing. There can't be that many of them in the castle."
Since at nine o clock Lucius still hadn't arrived the Slytherins set up their cauldrons and continued working on their study projects.
Five minutes later their teacher finally arrived, but there still wasn't any sign of the Gryffindors. Neville finally stumbled in just when Lucius had been about to put down the attendance list.
"I'm sorry, Professor." Neville panted. "I got lost. If Trevor hadn't jumped off again, I'd never have found the right corridor."
Lucius glared at him, but only threatened him with an additional homework assignment, if this ever happened again. Severus doubted he'd go through with his threat, even if Neville arrived late for every Potions lesson from now until Christmas. It was quite obvious that he hated correcting homework.
"With the usual length and difficulty of his homework assignments, I'd be done with it in five minutes anyway." Neville whispered to Draco a little later when Lucius' attention was no longer on them.
Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and Harry Potter were next to arrive, with Dean Thomas and Seamus Finigan not far behind them. This time it occurred to Lucius that he could take points and since he never did things by halves he took one hundred off the group for being late and another fifty for Weasley having forgotten his Potions book.
Neville and the others just groaned, but Potter shouted something about it not being fair and ended up having to copy another chapter of his Potions book for homework. Well, maybe he'd at least remember some of the stuff he wrote for the finals. With the way Lucius was teaching them that was likely to be the only thing Potter would learn in Potions this year.
"I have to find a way to make Lucius give the finals." Severus confided in Draco. "For one thing I don't know what to test, if he doesn't teach anything and for another he'll hate all the grading."
"But what would our grades be then?" Neville asked a little worriedly. "I don't think he has any kind of grading system."
Their discussion was interrupted by the entrance of Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil who ended up losing another one hundred points and for some reason seemed to blame the Slytherins for it. Apparently the Bloody Baron had taken too long to show them the way.
The results might have been worse hadn't Theodore's cauldron exploded right after the point deduction distracting Lucius from the girls' grumbling. Then Millicent's potion boiled over and Severus let a pillar of fire rise from his cauldron just to see the look on Lucius' face. It burned the ceiling a bit, but another soot stain didn't make much of a difference.
Severus considered redecorating the room once he was teaching again. Some simple curtains could close off all the alcoves to make store rooms and smaller labs. The corner with the sink could be turned into a proper washroom and once the room was properly painted and furnished it would make a great classroom. It's size allowed for more worktables and still would leave the individual students more room to move that the old classroom.
"I might get to like it here." he told his partners to their surprise.
"It's too far from the common room." Draco protested.
"They didn't move my living quarters." Severus pointed out. "They're still close enough and the old classroom will be repaired too. I could see us using both classes in future, though."
"The lighting is insufficient." Neville pointed out.
"We could add more torches." Severus returned. "Or candles, or just standard oil lamps, for safety reasons."
The torches were something to worry about indeed. To be safe they should be mounted higher up, but that would make it more difficult to change them. No problem for the house elves, of course, but the Muggle servants the room was originally built for couldn't have levitated them into place and neither could Argus Filch.
Another explosion interrupted his thoughts. Weasley's cauldron.
"Detention Weasley." Lucius commented laconically.
Most likely the boy would even have stayed for detention, if he had forgotten to say it, by now.
Somehow Trevor had gotten into the students' cupboard and was feasting on the scarab wings. Lucius shouted about it while Severus fed Greenie from a jar of ladybird larvae and Gregory punched Dean Thomas in the face. Potter was folding paper aeroplanes.
Hermione and Estella got into a spirited discussion over the merits of red onions over shrivelfiggs on which they wanted Lucius' opinion even though they should have been able to guess by now that he didn't have one. Alice needed help with the too thick texture of her potion. Pansy required a fresh ladle.
Draco pulled out a piece of parchment while waiting for his potion to boil and started to sketch the scene. Neville had to hold Trevor out to him, so he could draw the toad properly. Severus wasn't required to do anything, since Draco had drawn Greenie before and was familiar with his form.
One of Harry's aeroplanes accidentally fell into Gregory's potion, but with Vincent's help Greg managed to fish it out before it did any harm or Lucius noticed.
Unfortunately the next plane hit Lucius in the face.
"Detention Weasley!" the Potions teacher roared out of habit.
"Oh, sorry, Professor Malfoy." Harry said with the most contrite look he could manage. "That was me. I . . . um . . . meant to throw it into the wastepaper basket. I thought this was faster than carrying it."
Lucius took a deep breath, balled his hands to fists, then forced them open again. "Detention Potter." he ground out between clenched teeth.
"Yes Sir." Harry agreed meekly.
"SLURP!" added Harry's cauldron and Harry's soup was gone.
Lucius quickly extinguished the fire and threw an old goose feather into the cauldron. It floated gently to the bottom where it began to curl up from the heat. Greenie sniffed in complaint about the smell that caused.
"Congratulations, Potter." Draco smirked. "You've just brewed the world's first self eating soup."
"At least you spared the Professor having to vanish your potion today." Neville tried to console him.
Or was he intentionally teasing Harry?
"It definitely is the least messy result you've gotten so far." Severus agreed.
Harry just sighed accepting that this lesson would once again end with a minus in addition to the detention he'd just gotten. Maybe he should have followed Vincent and Gregory's example and worked on practising simple potions he already knew.
With the exception of Harry and Ron everybody left Potions class in high spirits. After all they wouldn't have to deal with explosions again until Wednesday afternoon. Only Greenie was a little disappointed to leave all the delicious snacks everybody called ingredients behind. Potions definitely was his favourite class.
His sniffed complaints didn't help any, though. Severus lifted him off the table and carried him away.
"Oh, come on Greenie." he told the hedgehog. "It's lunchtime. I promise to find you a big delicious potato. Maybe we'll even have steak again. You like steak, don't you?"
"Sniff?" asked Greenie wondering what Severus might be talking about. Those humans could make such a big variation of sounds. How was one little hedgehog supposed to know what all of them meant?
Still, the humans, especially his human and that blond one, weren't half bad. They had all sorts of delicious treats for hedgehogs. Greenie could barely remember that he'd once been afraid of them. After all it made no sense. Why would anyone be scared of someone who fed them?
With another sniffed sigh Greenie let himself be carried out of the Potions classroom and to the dorm, where his cage and the humans' bags were left behind before they took him to the other delicious room. Potions class might be Greenie's favourite class, but mealtime was his favourite time of day. He immediately forgave Severus for taking him away from the potions ingredients when he was placed in front of his saucer, which was soon filled with a big potato and a piece of chicken.
Severus and Draco spent the next two weeks observing various suspects while the rest of the school was nervous and jumpy and expecting the traitor to strike again at any moment. Still nothing happened.
The Hogsmeade weekend came and went without any special events. Both Harry and Severus were forbidden from going, as were the third year Slytherin girls and two Gryffindor boys, who'd been caught smoking joints in moaning Myrtle's toilet by a very enraged Argus Filch.
Their entire dorm had been searched as well, but no drugs were found in the possession of their classmates and it had been decided that the possession of dung bombs and itching powder alone didn't warrant a ban from Hogsmeade.
That evening Theodore handed Severus a nicely wrapped up package, that turned out to contain a nice curled up rope, that was only a little thicker than his old one had been, with a sheepish grin.
Neville and Draco almost got a detention for returning late, but managed to convince the headmaster that it had only been because they'd lost Trevor on the way and had taken almost an hour to find him again. It was pure luck that the caretaker hadn't thought to search them when he'd caught them sneaking in, because their pockets had been stuffed full of firecrackers and mousetraps along with the usual collection of sweets.
They also told Severus of all the wonders they'd seen in the Weasley twins' new little booth next to Honeydukes. According to Draco, who had it from Ginny, the twins weren't yet able to afford renting a second shop, but they didn't want to miss out on the good business Hogsmeade weekends promised, so they'd rented the portable booth for the day and George Weasley had set it up in Hogsmeade while Fred had tended to their usual shop in Diagon Alley on his own.
Gregory and Vincent had apparently spent the entire day in Honeydukes. They refused to come to dinner claiming that they were too sick from all the chocolate they'd eaten, which left room for Neville to join the Slytherin table for the meal.
Minerva McGonagall looked almost like she might faint at the sight of her Gryffindor eating with the Slytherins, but the headmaster only smiled and told her inter house friendships were much too rare in the school anyway.
Blaise and Theodore kept going on about the racing brooms that were on sale in the village. Apparently Theodore was hoping to get a new broom for Christmas. Pansy pouted a little at the lack of attention, then turned to discuss fashion tips with Millicent and Alice.
And still no sign of activity from the traitor.
Monday evening Severus first heard a second year tell a first year: "I think the dark lord must have given up. Potter is just too well protected now that they know he's after him."
"Voldemort would never give up this easily." Severus assured them. "If he would, he'd never have become as feared as he is."
But Severus couldn't be everywhere and remind everyone every time. The guard was beginning to relax.
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Madame Moony - Thanks. Well, Remus and the first years get along really well. They never had Sevi, so they don't have a problem accepting him.
jamie469 - (I really hope that number wasn't assigned to you by ff.net!) . . . You think it's a Weasley plot then? Now wouldn't that be a shock to Minerva . . .
Pam Briggs - Uh, yes, sorry about the wait. Sometimes things just won't work the way I want them to. Well, Sevi scared the little ones. I can't even claim it was unintentional, though he really wasn't looking to create a scene like that.
Kayla Hemlock - Another one suspecting Ginny. Hm . . . Don't worry, they're already repairing the classroom and now they have an excuse to keep Luci out of it.
Honor - Well, some people might disagree with you on Sevi being in character, but either way I like him like this.
JerseyPike - Lemon flavoured socks? Yes, that would probably be just the thing for Albus. (Too bad I currently have to find a birthday present for my Dad and not for Albus.). Well, forensics is one thing, spy work another. We'll find that traitor in the end, don't worry.
black sayain - Thanks.
EriEka127 - Thanks. I'm trying.
Dave - Albus? Well, he does lack an alibi . . .
kalariah - Sevi and Draco? They can take a lot. Harry and friends are more rewarding targets. . . . Sevi only searched two trunks. (Though he did open more. He only glanced into those.) Professor Pince doesn't feel like revealing exactly what horrors escaped her library, but you did get a list of objects found. . . . Those are the old kitchens. The house elves work in the new ones and Luci is the last person they want to share them with. (With the possible exception of 'that weird girl who's wants house elves stops workings' Hermione.)
Weasleylover1 - Yes, I wanted one Marauder in Slytherin when I wrote MNS and Remus always was my favourite, so he got picked. That was long before book five, though. I no longer believe any of them were Slyths. James the jerk just wouldn't have hung out with them. . . . Sevi hopes they will think twice. Parental pressure might make it a lost cause in some cases, but for those from neutral families it might be a good strategy. . . . I insist that Waldi (Vodemort) is the most evil. Luci's just Luci. . . . The old kitchens just sprang into my mind like that and have taken permanent residence. I have no idea where they came from, but I like the place. . . . Ms Johnson was only practising her drum solo (in her imagined band). Thee are a lot worse kids in that class. The kids aren't really that bad . . . as long as you keep those two houses separate from each other. . . . Minerva's been taking Slytherin problems to Sevi for years. Who else would she think of?
Colibi - Those stairs wouldn't be visible from the rest of the castle, but there was no reason to hide the servants' stairs from the servants' tract. Actually I was thinking about the problem of having two rooms on opposite ends of the castle to keep an eye on, though. And that will be a problem.
doug rogers - Wow, a whole flood of reviews from skyehawke! You just made me very happy! . . . Okay, let's take this one by one: Double O: The new part's right here. I try to upload one every Friday, but can't always keep up with my own schedule due to work. RD: I believe they're all human actually. Harry just never got a chance to get to know Draco thanks to not wanting to be in Slytherin. TLL: Not really. TLL is a spill over of plot hedgehogs in my head. I had to write one of them before I went crazy. It was a challenge too, but nobody ever answered it. (Well, one reader told me she's working on something, but doesn't have much time, so it'll take a while.) . . . As for depressing for Gryffindors. I tend to think up depressing stories, though I rarely write them down, and I never did write primarily for the Gryffindor fans. I'm a Slytherin and my fics show it. MNS: Oh, little Sevi is actually more icy than adult Snape when he wants to be. It's all on the outside, though. We've always just seen the mask he shows Harry. A POV character can only hide his feelings from the reader, if he hides them from himself. HPHC: No, this one is finished. It's open ended, but still very much closed. Anything further would only detract from it. The end hints at what will happen in future, but the rest you'll have to imagine for yourself.
Iremione - It took me long enough to come up with that simple solution (about two years I think. I only had the idea a few days before I actually started writing Double O). . . . I just had to give points for that effort. (I bet nobody else made friends with a teacher over researching my fic.) . . . And don't worry, Slytherin gets all the other points I ever give. (And no, Ravenslyths are Slytherins so their points go to Slytherin alone. Slythravens' points go to Ravenclaw.) . . . My bosses are actually both very nice. Who has to write what kind of contracts is predetermined, though and they are never required at even intervals. Currently it's: This really big project is coming in any moment now, that one needs to be finished, the other researched, two old contracts need changing (three months ago if anyhow possible) and by the way that other one, that was so urgent and just got done was all about the wrong subject. Somebody messed up and provided us with the wrong information. Now it requires me to stop the old one and start over. . . . Where exactly is Minerva stupid? She's slightly biased towards her own students without admitting it to herself and very stressed out. That's all. . . . Of course I like all of Luci! He cares a lot about his proper looks, though. (And not much about students. His favourite spell is Avada Kedavra, what did you expect?) . . . Yep, they're 11 and like to think of themselves as big, but when in terror and far from home they're still just little children crying for Mummy. (And Remus was the closest thing to Mummy they could find at the moment.) Regression is a normal reaction for children under too much stress (and thinking Voldemort is going to kill you any moment now for weeks is a lot of stress.) . . . Actually, if I remember Dita's explanations correctly that Telehorror was named Tinky-Winky. Winky is taken from cannon and Twinky from twinkle. Dipsy is a suggestion worth keeping in mind, but Lala and Poo lack the y in he end that all house elves seem to have. (That and Po is one of several words we use to describe that body part we sit on in German without using bad language. It causes enough giggling when children discover there's a river by that name in Italy. We don't need a house elf as well.) . . . I'll re-list the Gryffindor suspects in the fic for you at an appropriate time. Right now Sevi has no reason to go through his list of suspects like that.
Jade Kirk and Max LBC - Thanks. Here's a little more right now. More, hopefully, next week.
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A/N: Will the traitor strike again now? Were the punishments apropriate? And will Sevi keep the replacement Potions classroom? (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: The results of Sevi's spying on Lucius, Draco wants to interrogate a suit of armour and Lucius isn't happy with events.