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 - Again late hoping to give Leena a chance to get the chapter done before I post. It's not her fault, though. I only finished Thursday evening giving her too little time to work. Sorry Leena! And thanks to Iremione for the inspiration to this week's Potions disaster.
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Chapter 13: Stuffed Toys and a Fireball
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Interrogating a suit of armour was certainly more difficult than Draco had thought it would be. Especially with Severus and Filch watching with those amused looks.
Even Mrs Norris had appeared silently out of some dark corner to sit at the caretaker's feet and enjoy the show.
At first Draco tried to charm the armour the way Flitwick did at Christmas. The results were poor. Apparently an average sixteen year old couldn't do everything an experienced Charms teacher could. Somehow Draco suspected that he should have expected this.
He tried out a few simpler charms and soon the armour was reciting poetry much to the amusement of his audience.
Draco glared at it. "Stop that!" he ordered.
The armour stopped, looked at him and launched into another long ballade.
Draco decided to just bark his questions at it, but the armour only ever hesitated, looked at him and then continued its ballade.
"Oh, come on" Draco yelled. "You've got to know who cut your safety ropes!"
The armour clapped its visor shut having finally finished the ballade. Apparently Draco was not quite satisfied with the performance. It decided to try something slightly different.
"Frère Jaques, frère Jaques!" it sang at the top of its nonexistent lungs. "Dorme vous?"
"Please, try to remember this morning." Draco pleaded.
Morning? "Morning has broken. . . ." sang the armour.
"Will you quit singing!" Draco yelled.
The armour hesitated again.
"Who enspelled you to fall on Harry Potter?" Draco demanded.
"Wer reitet so spät durch Nacht und Wind?" the armour asked back. "Es ist der Vater mit seinem Kind!"
Draco looked to Severus for help. "Whatever is it doing now?"
"Er hält den Knaben. . ." the armour continued.
"Finite incantatem." Severus pointed his wand at the armour almost lazily and it shut up. "It sounded German. Must have been Goethe."
"Must have been what?" Draco asked confused by the foreign sound of the word.
"Goethe. Some German poet, or something like that." Severus shrugged. "Don't ask me, I don't know any German either."
"You could at least have left my spell active." Draco sighed and recast it.
"Mary had a little lamb." the armour promptly informed him. "And everywhere that Mary went . . ."
Severus burst out laughing.
"No!" Draco yelled at the armour. "I need you to tell me about what happened to you today?"
"Hallelujah!" the armour sang piously. "Hallelujah! Ha - le - lu -jah!"
"Please tell me there are other words to that song." Filch pleaded.
Severus had to lean against the caretaker so he didn't fall over from laughter.
"No, no church songs!" Draco hissed angrily. Lucius had raised him to thoroughly despise religious people.
"Ommm." the armour declared.
Now Filch was laughing, too and Mrs Norris looked scandalised. Her fur standing straight up she marched off looking like a ball of fur on legs. Even Greenie's sniffing sounded like snorting to Draco.
"Okay, just concentrate on your karma or something and let your mind wander back to the afternoon." Draco told the armour.
"Hare Krishna!" the armour announced happily clearly delighted to finally have found something to say that Draco didn't object to right away.
Filch and Severus had to grab for the wall quickly before they fell over.
"Sniff!" protested Greenie. The wall was much too close to him for his peace of mind. If Severus rolled a little to the right Greenie would be squashed.
"After the third lesson students were walking through, the hall. Somebody cast a magnetic charm and you fell." Draco informed the armour. "What did that person look like?"
"Ommmm!" the armour declared with more conviction this time.
"Mr. Malfoy?" Flitwick was walking down the corridor. "Do you realise that it's already half an hour past curfew?"
The Charms professor cast a bewildered glance at Severus and Argus who were still clinging to the wall laughing. "Whatever are you doing?"
"I'm trying to interrogate the armour." Draco reported dutifully. "But Severus won't help and I can't get it to do anything other than sing or recite. Maybe if you'd help me, I could find out who our traitor is."
Flitwick sighed. "Mr. Maltoy, even if I enspelled the armour to talk it couldn't tell you anything about the incident. It wasn't enspelled to be self aware at the time, so it has no memory of the events that it could recall. Don't you remember what I told you about awareness and memory in third year?"
Draco shook, his head sadly. "There's no chance?"
"No chance." Flitwick confirmed flicking his wand at the armour casually to stop its mediation. "Didn't Severus tell you so?"
"He wouldn't listen." Severus shrugged. "We wanted to talk to you anyway, though."
"Talk to me?" the Charms teacher asked surprised. "I had the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws as you know, but they'd all already left class at the time of the incident, while the next class hadn't come in, yet. I don't have anything to tell."
"The traitor used severing charms again." Severus explained. "We suspect that it might be a particular specialty so we were wondering whether you could tell us what students were particularly good at it in class."
Flitwick thought for a while. "I'll need time to make such a list." he decided. "I could give you the names of a few third years, but I'll have to check my old notes for the older students."
"None that come to mind right away?" Severus asked hopefully. "Ones that usually aren't particularly good a Charms?"
Flitwick shook his head. "No, it's not that unusual for a student to already know the charm before we do it in class. Particularly girls often know it because it's used in sewing, so I'm not surprised when students are unusually good at that particular charm. I'll try to give you the list in your next class. Just don't be surprised if your essay grows another roll of parchment while I correct it. And now I think you two ought to go to bed, before Argus and I are forced to take points."
Draco trudged back to the common room looking terribly disappointed. Severus occasionally cast a questioning glance at his silent friend, but Draco pretended not to notice.
"You know, maybe we should talk to Neville after all." Severus suggested finally.
"Really?" Draco perked up.
"Yes, we could pretend that we're just curious. After all he saw it happen, we didn't." Severus nodded.
"So we'll talk to him in Potions class on Wednesday?"
Severus considered that. Draco would see Neville in Care for Magical Creatures tomorrow, but he wouldn't be there to make sure Draco didn't say more than he should.
"Yes, unless we can catch him during one of the meals that will be the best time. Lucius won't even notice, if we talk over our work."
"But Harry will overhear us." Draco reminded him.
A wide grin spread over Severus' face. "Not if I can help it. I think I can come up with a reason for him to move his cauldron elsewhere."
Draco looked at him curiously, "What are you up to?"
"You'll see." Severus was still grinning. "Right now we'd better check our notes. We need to know what seventh year Gryffindors and Hufflepufs have alibis for the first two attacks."
Remus was hosting a discussion about vampires in the common room, which had attracted quite a lot of participants despite being unannounced, and Gregory and Vincent were in the dorm playing wizard poker. So Severus and Draco once again retreated into the bathroom with their notes.
Just in case anyone might come in they crouched in the last shower stall and pulled the curtain closed. Nobody ever bothered with that shower, since it was well known that it didn't work. It hadn't since Severus' first student days, maybe even longer than that.
"There." Severus stated with a slight frown. "The seventh years had Divination and Arithmancy during the first incident. We'll have to ask Albus for the class lists. Vector will never give them to us."
"What about the second incident?" Draco asked.
"Study hour." Severus proclaimed.
Draco groaned. "Great. Another dead end."
"Not really." Severus decided. "We'll just have to wait until we get that class list from Albus."
"He'll also have to interrogate Trelawney for us." Draco sighed.
"Be glad. You don't want to bother with her yourself, trust me."
"She can't be that bad." Draco insisted.
"Well, when she isn't predicting your death or pretending she knows what you're about to tell her, she's only a complete idiot." Severus said. "It all depends on your definition of bad, I suppose."
"So what do we do now?" Draco asked playing with the unhelpful parchments.
"Well, we could go to bed."
Draco sneered at him.
"Or we could go downstairs and join Remus' discussion." Severus continued. "It seemed interesting."
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Charms was their first class the next morning and Flitwick was true to his word. At the end of the lesson Severus received a corrected homework essay and an additional slip of parchment listing, the student that had gotten the best results in the severing charm lessons for each of his classes.
Severus frowned at his list all through History of Magic.
"What's wrong?" Draco asked when he realised Severus had just dug up the list of people Stephan had secret meetings with.
"I tried to cross reference Flitwick's list with our suspects list, but the results are disappointing." Severus answered. "So now I'm trying our addicts. Maybe Voldemort has somebody working for drug money."
"Or working for drugs?" Draco suggested.
"Then he most likely wouldn't be on our list, as he wouldn't have to obtain his drugs through, the normal channels."
"You think Stephan sells the stuff of his own accord?" Draco asked surprised.
Severus shrugged. "The variety of drugs he sells shows he doesn't produce them himself, but whoever his outside contact is has very good connections to Muggle suppliers as well as wizarding ones. That doesn't sound like death eaters to me."
"So who's on our list?" Draco pushed.
"In seventh year Filtus has Gryffindor with Slytherin and Ravenclaw with Hufflepuff." Severus reported. "The best results in the first group were Katie Bell's, in the second Catherine Cree's."
"A Hufflepuff over the Ravendaws?" Draco noted.
"Sewing charms." Severus reminded him dryly. "Hufflepuffs are more likely to do a lot of sewing, than Slytherins and Filius also noted that Catherine always was one of the best students in his class. Talent, interest and practise combined probably are responsible for her good results. In our class Filius mentions Susan Bones and predictably Hermione Granger in the Gryffindor/Ravenclaw group."
"Okay, that I believe." Draco decided. "Granger always has to be first at everything and Bones does indeed give me some competition in Charms."
"And does a lot of sewing as well." Severus confirmed. "Have you seen those little toys the Hufflepuffs wear on their key chains?"
"The stuffed badgers and rabbits and the like?"
"Yep, they're mostly gifts from Susan, though she occasionally makes them on demand." Severus said. "Doesn't sell them, though, I've heard. She just makes them for fun."
Draco blinked. "I'm sure a lot of girls would be willing to pay for them. Maybe even some of the smaller boys, if she were to make some more manly animals, or lions for the Gryffindors, ravens for Ravenclaws. There might even be a market for snake key chains in Slytherin"
"Well, that's Hufflepuffs for you." Severus smirked. "Fifth year we have, guess who?"
"What are the combinations?"
"Slytherin/Ravenclaw and Gryffindor/Hufflepuff." Severus grinned.
Draco sensed a trap. The combinations apparently weren't important to answer that question and that would mean . . . "Ginny?"
"Precisely. It makes sense, too. Most of the Weasley's clothes get passed down from one child to the next and with so many of them there must be a lot of sewing to do."
"The Weasley boys often do their own sewing." Draco commented. "I watched Charlie mend a rip in his robe in Romania and Ginny told me her mother thought all of them to sew very early."
"Gives her an advantage." Severus grinned. "The Slytherin/Ravenclaw severing charm master is none other than Luna Lovegood. Again makes sense, since she lost her mother very early and her father probably doesn't have the time to do much housework. Fourth year we have Slytherin with Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw with Gryffindor. In the first group the best was Diana Bardon, who unfortunately is already cleared, in the second Sandra Invers, cleared as well. Do you notice a pattern?"
"The most suspect of them all would be Katie Bell?" Draco asked in surprise.
"Simply for being on the Quidditch team and having had Potions before yesterday's incident, yes." Severus confirmed. "To add to the problem none of them show up on our addicts list either."
"A dead end then?" Draco sighed.
"Not entirely. We still have to check, the alibis of Catherine and Katie for the first incident." Severus reminded him. "If they don't have any, the information might be relevant after all."
"We need to talk to Dumbledore next then," Draco realised. "And maybe we can catch Neville at lunch."
"Dumbledore first." Severus decided. "If Neville could name the traitor, he already would have done so of his own accord. Albus can at least clear some suspects for us."
They didn't manage to catch the headmaster before lunch unfortunately and had to wait until after the meal.
"Gummy bears." Severus told the gargoyle outside Dumbledore's office as they arrived.
"Gu . . . what?!" Draco stared at him.
Severus shrugged. "I don't pick Albus' passwords."
"I thought they were usually sweets, not exotic animals." Draco commented somewhere between a statement and a question.
Severus shrugged again. "Maybe they are. I've never heard of a gummy bear before, so it could be anything."
"Not even as a potions ingredient?" Draco asked incredulously. He'd never have expected that there was something in the wizarding world that Severus didn't know.
"No, I could ask Albus to get me some to experiment with." Severus said lightly. "We can put them into Potter's soup. Maybe it'll stop creating weather phenomena then."
"Ask me to get you what?" the headmaster asked apparently having overheard the end of their conversation.
"Gummy bears." Draco answered, obligingly.
Albus twinkled, smiled, opened his top desk drawer and pulled out a multi coloured little bag.
"Well, here you are." he said and held it out to Draco.
Draco accepted the bag hesitantly. It did indeed say 'Gummy Bears' on the outside and part of it was see through, so he could get a look at the contents' as well. They were small bear shapes in different colours!
He poked a few of them through the bag with one finger, but they didn't react.
"Don't worry, they don't run away." Dumbledore assured him. "They're Muggle made, so there aren't any enchantments to make them move at all. You should try the red ones. They're the best. Though the green ones are very good as well."
Draco looked to Severus for help.
"Thank you, Albus." Severus said with a slight smirk at his friend who'd never run into the headmaster in one of his 'twinkly moods' before. "We'll give them a try and see what we can do with them in the lab, too. Right now we need your help with a more pressing matter however."
"Ah yes, what can I do for you?" the headmaster was still twinkling, but at least no longer at Draco.
"We need to know which Hufflepuff and Gryffindor seventh years take Divination and which Arithmancy."
"All of them?" Dumbledore asked surprised.
"Yes, all of them, just to be sure." Severus confirmed. "None of them really seem suspicious to me, but they were free during the second incident and had electives during the first."
Dumbledore nodded: "Let me see."
To Draco's surprise the headmaster took a huge book off its shelf rather than get out a piece of parchment.
"What's that?" he asked surprised as Dumbledore waved his wand over it.
"The Hogwarts book of students." the headmaster explained while opening it. "It contains the information on all students currently in school and here we are: seventh year, Gryffindor. Mr Alcott, Andy: Care for Magical Creatures and Divination, Mr. Barnes, Robert, Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, Ms Bell, Katherine, Arithmancy and Care for Magical Creatures, Mr. First, Hendric, Ancient Runes and Muggle Studies. Guess that's your first suspect then."
"Well, that's a first." Severus grinned.
"What is?" Dumbledore asked absently.
"Hendric the last being first at something." Severs declared.
"I see." the headmaster stated and Draco wondered whether he really did know of Hendrics habit of always being late, or just didn't want to ask. "Mr. Harringer, Louis, Divination and Muggle Studies, Ms Humperding, Berenice, the same, Mr. Melter, Zachary, Ancient Runes and Care for Magical Creatures."
"Somehow he seems a slightly more likely suspect." Severus muttered.
"Why? I thought he was too clumsy." Draco looked up from his suspects list.
"Maybe he isn't as clumsy in Charms as he is in Potions." Severus suggested. "Our traitor hasn't once used a potion in one of his attacks so far."
"Ms Miller, Anita, Divination and Ancient Runes," Dumbledore continued. "Ms Scattering, Eudora, Ancient Runes and Muggle Studies. Do you think a student that takes Muggle Studies is likely to be our traitor?"
Severus shrugged. "She might have taken it to learn more about the enemy, or maybe her views have changed since third year."
Dumbledore nodded. "That's all then, since Ms Spinet, Alicia takes Arithmancy and Care for Magical Creatures. On to the Hufflepuffs."
The headmaster turned a page and Draco saw the badger of Hufflepuff flash into view for a moment before the page fell flat and only Dumbledore could see it anymore.
"Ms Cree, Catherine, Arithmancy and Care for magical Ceatures." the old wizard announced. "Mr. Fitter, Lionel, Ancient Runes and Muggle Studies."
"Do tell me, Pat Footer takes the same?" Severus grinned.
"Yes indeed." Dumbledore confirmed. "However did you guess?"
"It's the only reason I could imagine Lionel Fitter taking such a difficult subject as Ancient Runes." Severus shrugged.
"I see." Dumbledore smiled. "Ms Lost, Linda, Divination and Care for Magical Creatures, Mr. Highflyer, Sebastian, Divination and Muggle Studies. What's so funny about that?"
"Nothing." Severus giggled. "Divination just fits Mr. Highflyer so well."
Dumbledore watched the boys try to stifle their laughter for a moment, then returned to his list. "Mr. Hinks, Roland, Arithmancy and Muggle Studies, Ms. Hollster, Liselotte-Elisabeth, Divination and Muggle Studies."
"What kind of name is Liselotte?" Draco shook his head in wonder.
"A German one." Dumbledore answered obligingly. "Actually a double name of Lisa, short for the German version of Elisabeth and Lotte short for Charlotta."
"Elisabeth-Charlotta-Elisabeth?" Draco wondered.
"It appears so." Severus shrugged. "She should have been in Divination, though, so she's probably innocent anyway. Please continue, Albus."
"An unusual name doesn't make somebody suspicious, I hope." the headmaster commented, but continued anyway. "Ms Horace, Martina, Ancient Runes and Muggle Studies. There's a suspect for you. Ms Ivory, Ines, Arithmancy and Care for Magical Creatures and Ms Monk, Rosalind, Ancient Runes and Care for Magical Creatures."
Severus regarded Draco's list for a moment, then rearranged it with a quick series of spells.
Draco watched the names Hendric First, Zachary Melter and Eudora Scattering climb to stand right under Stephan LaCroix and Maximius Mattels on top of the list. Seconds later Lionel Fitter, Pat Footer, Martina Horace and Rosalind Monk followed that same path.
"Do you think Sybil still has any memory of the first incident?" he asked the headmaster who just shrugged. "If so try to ask her once again whether Alcott, Harringer, Humperding, Miller, Hollster, Lost, and Highflyer were present or left her class at any time. We'll take care of the Arithmancy students ourselves."
"Not right now, though." Dumbledore admonished. "Right now you'd better get to class."
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Ginny sighed. It was just her bad luck that had seen to it that the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff fifth years had double Potions on Tuesday right after lunch, she decided. The worst possible spot in her opinion, since for some reason that was usually the time Lucius decided to make an actual attempt at teaching.
"Today we are going to brew a paralysing solution." he announced as soon as the last student had stepped through the door. "Please do not fill your cauldrons with water as this potion is based on oil."
Ginny shuddered as visions of hot oil splashing over unsuspecting students flittered through her mind. No wonder the potion wasn't in their Potions text! She couldn't quite tell him that that sounded dangerous, though, could she?
Still she raised her hand. Professor Malfoy did seem to favour her slightly, after all. Apparently the threat of Draco going out with Hermione still had its after-effects.
"Isn't that a little expensive for a school exercise?" she asked when he nodded towards her. "I mean, there are twenty students in this class, who will each require at least two litres of oil and in the end we just throw it all away."
"It may be a little expensive, but you do have to learn the special precautions needed when working on oil based potions." Lucius declared. "You see, for the potion to really have any magic at all a special conduit spell is required. Unfortunately that spell must never come into contact with water or your bodies. Otherwise you will be struck as if by lightning."
A nervous squeak was heard from somewhere in the back where the Hufflepuffs sat.
"Don't worry, the spell forms a kind of net that has a distinctive silver shimmer. You will be easily able to see and avoid the lines once they are in place." Lucius tried to calm them. "I recommend that you get all the ingredients you need right now so there won't be too much stepping around the spell."
Ginny swallowed hard to calm her fears. 'Nothing will happen.' she tried to convince herself. 'Nothing, Madame Pomfrey can't fix, at least. Just a few minor burns. You just have to be careful.'
She checked over her list of ingredients twice, then once again for good measure, before she took them back to the worktable she shared with Colin Creveey today, because he had had some sort of falling out with his best friend. Having no best friend in your year really was a nuisance. Ginny always had to work with whoever was left without a partner.
If only they'd had Potions with Ravenclaw rather than Hufflepuff! Then she could have worked with Luna Lovegood who actually almost liked her, even if she was a little weird.
Colin frowned at her. Going out with Draco hadn't exactly improved her relationship with her Gryffindor classmates.
The class watched a little anxiously as Lucius set the spell, drawing strange silvery lines into he air with his wand. Slowly he moved from cauldron to cauldron until the lines ran through the entire classroom.
Ginny did not think they looked easy to avoid at all.
She helped Colin pour the oil into his cauldron and he reluctantly returned the favour. Oh to be as popular as Mariah Farson two rows behind her.
Mariah was working with Nina Ellis today. Last week it had been Ambrosia Melter. Both girls claimed to be Mariah's best friend.
Today Ambrosia was forced to work with Bibiana Morris, the fourth and most quiet member of the quartet. Of course that had to be better than working with that ugly little Ginny Weasley girl who never had any money to spend on sweets and drinks for her dorm mates.
Ginny frowned and concentrated on putting the dragon berries into her potion without making the oil splash out. If somebody got burned today it had better not be her. The others at least had somebody to bring them their homework assignments, if they had to stay in the hospital wing for several days.
At the desk to her right Ulric Keaton and Walter Ermaine were having some sort of argument. Walter angrily threw his next ingredient into the cauldron and hot oil splashed out and over his hand.
Walter screamed and jumped away from his cauldron colliding with Ulric.
For a moment it seemed like that was all that was going to happen, but then Ulric lost his battle for balance. One of his flailing hands accidentally grabbed the ladle in Ambrosia's cauldron and it spilled all over the neatly prepared ingredients on Ambrosia's table causing a fireball to burst forth and hit the wall beside them.
Lucius' eyes went wide as water extinguished the fireball and began to run down the wall. His face grew even whiter than it usually was as he stood there right in front of Ginny frozen and staring at the water.
Students screamed. Ginny heard another splash behind her. The water was beginning to form a puddle on the floor that was slowly but surely growing towards the silvery lines. Which one was it going to reach first? Or would one of the panicking students run into a line long before the water set them off?
"Spell." Lucius was mumbling to himself. "Take off spell." But still he didn't move.
"Finite Incantatem!" Ginny yelled at the top of her lungs waving her wand in a maybe slightly exaggerated movement. She could only pray that the unfamiliar net spell responded to that spell and didn't require a specific counter.
For one heartbeat she thought nothing would happen, then the silver net flashed and dissolved.
Ginny breathed a sigh of relief, but Lucius was still standing around staring and some students were still screaming. Walter was moaning in pain.
"Silence!" Ginny yelled. Surprised eyes turned towards her. "Colin, Lara!" She picked two moderately calm looking students at opposite ends of the class. "Extinqo the fires before the cauldrons boil over! Ulric, are you hurt?"
The boy stared at her in wonder for a second. "No, just burned my hand a little on some hot metal."
"Then take Walter to the hospital wing!" Ginny ordered. The boy looked like he wouldn't make it on his own the way he was grimacing and crying in pain. "Nala, Herb, try to reparo the waterline!" The two Hufflepuffs were threatening to panic again so Ginny picked the first task she could think of. "Mariah and Nina, vanish the potions."
Ginny picked two students she knew had already mastered the new transfiguration for that task.
"Is anybody else hurt?"
Janus McGregor's ear was bleeding and two Hufflepuffs had collided with their heads and were now suffering from headaches.
Ginny decided they could make it to the hospital wing on their own and sent Bibiana to Filch for mops and buckets while she set the rest of the class to rescuing the potions ingredients, bags, books, parchments and quills.
Lucius sank into his chair and breathed a sigh of relief.
The request for cleaning tools in the Potions classroom brought Filch running with several house elves. Ginny gladly let the caretaker take over and soon the classroom was completely restored.
"Detention, Creevey!" Lucius closed the lesson.
"That was good thinking, Ginny." Nala smiled at her on the way out. "If you hadn't reacted so fast, somebody might have been seriously hurt. You saved us."
Ginny smiled back at her gratefully, but shook her head. "I shouldn't have had to. If Malfoy had done his job, I shouldn't have had to. If Snape had been here . .."
"If Snape had been here, it could never have happened, because he'd never have risked having twenty cauldrons of boiling oil in the classroom, not to mention a spell that can kill you woven between our desks." Nala agreed. "Maybe he'd even have been able to stop that fireball."
"All he would have had to do was stop Ulric from falling or vanish Ambrosia's potion before it hit her ingredients." Ginny said. "The kind of thing Snape does all the time."
"And we always thought he was mean for making our entire potion disappear for spilling some." Nala shook her head. "When he was really protecting us from nasty accidents."
"Yes." Ginny looked at the floor feeling a little ashamed. "I guess Draco's right about Snape after all."
"Who?" Nala asked curiously.
"Draco." Ginny beamed. "My boyfriend. He's in Slytherin, you know, so he knows Snape really well."
"Oh right!" Nala realised. "He must be that handsome blond boy that came to rescue you when that plate exploded. That was so romantic! I'd know him, if he were in our year, though."
"He's in sixth year." Ginny admitted.
"Oh wow! An older boyfriend. That is so cool!" Nala exclaimed. "And he's really good looking, too. I bet he could have had any girl in his year, if he'd wanted to. He must really love you a lot."
Ginny blushed. She'd never realised what a catch Draco was.
"I just like how sweet he is to me. He even drew me a portrait and he's always there for me when I feel down." she tried to explain.
Nala sighed. "I wish my boyfriend were a little more like that, but I guess that's what I get for dating a Ravenclaw. They've got no fire and are always buried in a book and lost to the world when you need them. . . . Ah, but once I get him dragged out of the library."
Ginny bit her lip. Nala sounded really nice and she was actually talking to her. If only she didn't make a mistake now. How to show Nala that she really wanted to talk to her and not just brag about Draco?
"That's a really cute stuffed badger." Ginny nodded towards the little toy dangling from the fastening of Nala's book bag.
"Huh? Oh, you mean my badger key chain." Nala beamed. "It's a gift from a friend. She's really talented isn't she?"
"It's handmade?" Ginny said honestly surprised. "That's incredible. It looks even better than the ones they sell in Hogsmeade."
"Oh yes, my friend loves sewing them. Almost everyone in Hufflepuff has one. I bet she'd make you one, too, if you told her how much you like them."
"But I can't just walk up to someone I don't even know and ask her to do something like that. It must take her days to get one just right." Ginny blushed again.
"Don't worry she enjoys it." Nala assured her. "But if you don't want to barge in like that, I could just introduce you and you can make friends first." her face lit up even more. "You could come to our story telling session tonight after dinner. Then you can meet all my friends. Please say you'll come. It'll be great. I know story telling session sounds a little boring." This time it was Nala who blushed.
"Oh, I'd love to come." Ginny assured her.
Ginny felt like she was walking on clouds all the way to Transfigurations. Despite McGonagall's disapproving look she picked the seat right behind Nala on the Hufflepuff side of the class.
Quiet little Olivia Mason smiled happily when Ginny sat down next to her and Ginny began to wonder. Olivia had always seemed so much a part of the Hufflepuff girls' group, but she often ended up sitting alone. Could it be that she too had been feeling lonely all these years?
Ginny decided to make this her fixed spot in Transfigurations class from now on. Olivia was certainly a better partner than Ulric, whom she usually ended up working with, because none of her friends wanted to put up with his bad transfigurations.
It wasn't like Ulric was that bad a partner, of course, Ginny tried to convince herself. He'd just had a few very unfortunate accidents in Transfigurations and could be very unpleasant about it.
That and Olivia was a girl. It just looked less like she was an outcast, if she sat next to another girl regularly, almost as if they were actually friends.
Maybe they even could become friends in time, Ginny dared to hope. They wouldn't have to be best friends. Ginny would settle for just a little bit friends, just more than tolerated.
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kateydidnt - 'Come on Luci. Just a little hint.' 'No Albus!' 'Lets play hot and cold, okay?' 'No Albus!' 'Awwww, please!!!' 'Fine: It's not a first year Hufflepuff girl.' (Luci laughs while Albus interrogates all first year Hufflepuff girls under veritaserum.)
JerseyPike - Yep, talking to a suit of armour. (Well, you just saw how that turned out.) How would Ron have an alibi? He was right with Harry during the last attack.
haha - Yes, yes, no, yes. Well, at least That Dog is convinced that his name is Dog, so why bother to train him to respond to something else?
Kayla Hemlock - Um . . . Draco isn't reluctant to get Neville involved at all! It was his idea! . . . And Draco has an alibi for two of the three attacks, while we were in his POV during the one he doesn't have one for.
darkbeauty - Nobody ever writes about Sevi? Try the character selection again. There are lots of writers out there who love Sevi. (Or try some of my favourites. They're not all Sevi fics, but most of them at least feature him in a prominent role.)
samson - Ah, but that was just an ordinary everyday class as seen through Sevi's eyes. (Actually, a few of you complained all the lists of student names were boring, so I tried to lighten it up a little.)
Pam Briggs - Multiplying? No, not quite. As you just saw the list went down again pretty fast. It'll go through at least one more big change before we finally corner our traitor, though.
Marauder3Moony - Oh yes, he did. I have no idea where that idea came from (Who am I kidding: It came from Greenie, of course!), but it wouldn't stop bugging me until I'd written it.
Cricket13 - I'll write the sequel after I finish this, but it won't be big. I've got to get down to writing that Catar fic someday and RD had my full attention for over a year. None of my other fics can claim that. It was time to end it, even though it was hard for me too.
EriEka127 - Thanks!
Colibi - So you think Ron wants to become famous as the boy who killed the boy who lived?
Thistle - Well, Luci hasn't really made an effort to improve. I wonder whether he would, if he really needed to have a job ...
the great and powerful ME - You seem pretty sure it's Seamus. Got any particular rasons?
Jade Kirk and Max LBC - Thanks. I'm trying to write faster again, but broken notebook and little time make it hard ...
biblios - Actually Iremione found a mistake right in chapter one, if you want to go error spotting. . . . The castle is able to identify an intruder, but not to monitor all the people inside all the time. It doesn't know either. . . . Sevi's actually enjoying himself as little Sevi right now and too conscious of the dangers of getting caught as big Sevi. He'll only transform, if there is a real need.
Iremione - Well, you didn't think Luci was doing it out of kindness, did you? . . . When Greenie isn't curled up in fear, his spikes flatten down a little so he doesn't sting so much. Still, you have to hug him very lightly. . . . Actually Pince was only having one class before and after that particular incident. You're right about Minerva, though. (I try to pick the times my schedule works out for the attacks, but this time I overlooked Minerva being double booked. Just imagine what she could have been teaching a mixed class of fourth and seventh years!) . . . He meant her worth as a Potions partner (always perfect potions), not her worth as a woman! . . . We'll see. My biggest problem are actually the last names for students, though I'm running low on good first names as well. There are still a lot of unnamed later suspects running around, but right now the naming is finished. . . . Poor Argus! Take a look at Ozma's works and then tell me what's wrong with loving Filch. . . . Can't kill the traitor. Look at the rating of this fic! You can rest assured that he will die in Azkaban in the end, but I can't write it without upping the rating, and there's no way I'll do that to my younger readers. . . . No POV can ever be truly objective. In fact nobody can be. Humans are subjective creatures. Everything we see say and write is coloured by our own experiences and associations. The trick in writing POV is just there. The POV can't just reflect the entire truth of the story, nor can every POV coincide with your own opinions. You have to adopt different views to write them.
semmel - Ah, das ist gerade die Frage die ich nicht beantworten kann. (Okay, können schon, wolen nein.) . . . Der gute Luci war auch nie an ner PädAk (obwohl da genug Leute sind die um nix besser sind als er). Da kann man es ja wohl kaum von ihm erwarten.
S.S._luver - More like Holiday Blues? Hm . . . currently no really good ideas for that, but I will, if I come up with something.
RotnDragon - Thanks, but we do not have 'Turkey Day' in Austria (not even turkeys). In fact your Thanksgiving is a very normal hard working day to me.
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A/N: Will Ginny become a part of the Hufflepuff clique? How will Draco react to her new friends? And just why does the traitor always use severing charms? (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: Severus will probably put his Gummy Bears to use, Draco gets his wish to interrogate Neville and I don't really know what Lucius will get up to, yet. Lets hope it doesn't end up destroying the school.
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 - Again late hoping to give Leena a chance to get the chapter done before I post. It's not her fault, though. I only finished Thursday evening giving her too little time to work. Sorry Leena! And thanks to Iremione for the inspiration to this week's Potions disaster.
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Chapter 13: Stuffed Toys and a Fireball
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Interrogating a suit of armour was certainly more difficult than Draco had thought it would be. Especially with Severus and Filch watching with those amused looks.
Even Mrs Norris had appeared silently out of some dark corner to sit at the caretaker's feet and enjoy the show.
At first Draco tried to charm the armour the way Flitwick did at Christmas. The results were poor. Apparently an average sixteen year old couldn't do everything an experienced Charms teacher could. Somehow Draco suspected that he should have expected this.
He tried out a few simpler charms and soon the armour was reciting poetry much to the amusement of his audience.
Draco glared at it. "Stop that!" he ordered.
The armour stopped, looked at him and launched into another long ballade.
Draco decided to just bark his questions at it, but the armour only ever hesitated, looked at him and then continued its ballade.
"Oh, come on" Draco yelled. "You've got to know who cut your safety ropes!"
The armour clapped its visor shut having finally finished the ballade. Apparently Draco was not quite satisfied with the performance. It decided to try something slightly different.
"Frère Jaques, frère Jaques!" it sang at the top of its nonexistent lungs. "Dorme vous?"
"Please, try to remember this morning." Draco pleaded.
Morning? "Morning has broken. . . ." sang the armour.
"Will you quit singing!" Draco yelled.
The armour hesitated again.
"Who enspelled you to fall on Harry Potter?" Draco demanded.
"Wer reitet so spät durch Nacht und Wind?" the armour asked back. "Es ist der Vater mit seinem Kind!"
Draco looked to Severus for help. "Whatever is it doing now?"
"Er hält den Knaben. . ." the armour continued.
"Finite incantatem." Severus pointed his wand at the armour almost lazily and it shut up. "It sounded German. Must have been Goethe."
"Must have been what?" Draco asked confused by the foreign sound of the word.
"Goethe. Some German poet, or something like that." Severus shrugged. "Don't ask me, I don't know any German either."
"You could at least have left my spell active." Draco sighed and recast it.
"Mary had a little lamb." the armour promptly informed him. "And everywhere that Mary went . . ."
Severus burst out laughing.
"No!" Draco yelled at the armour. "I need you to tell me about what happened to you today?"
"Hallelujah!" the armour sang piously. "Hallelujah! Ha - le - lu -jah!"
"Please tell me there are other words to that song." Filch pleaded.
Severus had to lean against the caretaker so he didn't fall over from laughter.
"No, no church songs!" Draco hissed angrily. Lucius had raised him to thoroughly despise religious people.
"Ommm." the armour declared.
Now Filch was laughing, too and Mrs Norris looked scandalised. Her fur standing straight up she marched off looking like a ball of fur on legs. Even Greenie's sniffing sounded like snorting to Draco.
"Okay, just concentrate on your karma or something and let your mind wander back to the afternoon." Draco told the armour.
"Hare Krishna!" the armour announced happily clearly delighted to finally have found something to say that Draco didn't object to right away.
Filch and Severus had to grab for the wall quickly before they fell over.
"Sniff!" protested Greenie. The wall was much too close to him for his peace of mind. If Severus rolled a little to the right Greenie would be squashed.
"After the third lesson students were walking through, the hall. Somebody cast a magnetic charm and you fell." Draco informed the armour. "What did that person look like?"
"Ommmm!" the armour declared with more conviction this time.
"Mr. Malfoy?" Flitwick was walking down the corridor. "Do you realise that it's already half an hour past curfew?"
The Charms professor cast a bewildered glance at Severus and Argus who were still clinging to the wall laughing. "Whatever are you doing?"
"I'm trying to interrogate the armour." Draco reported dutifully. "But Severus won't help and I can't get it to do anything other than sing or recite. Maybe if you'd help me, I could find out who our traitor is."
Flitwick sighed. "Mr. Maltoy, even if I enspelled the armour to talk it couldn't tell you anything about the incident. It wasn't enspelled to be self aware at the time, so it has no memory of the events that it could recall. Don't you remember what I told you about awareness and memory in third year?"
Draco shook, his head sadly. "There's no chance?"
"No chance." Flitwick confirmed flicking his wand at the armour casually to stop its mediation. "Didn't Severus tell you so?"
"He wouldn't listen." Severus shrugged. "We wanted to talk to you anyway, though."
"Talk to me?" the Charms teacher asked surprised. "I had the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws as you know, but they'd all already left class at the time of the incident, while the next class hadn't come in, yet. I don't have anything to tell."
"The traitor used severing charms again." Severus explained. "We suspect that it might be a particular specialty so we were wondering whether you could tell us what students were particularly good at it in class."
Flitwick thought for a while. "I'll need time to make such a list." he decided. "I could give you the names of a few third years, but I'll have to check my old notes for the older students."
"None that come to mind right away?" Severus asked hopefully. "Ones that usually aren't particularly good a Charms?"
Flitwick shook his head. "No, it's not that unusual for a student to already know the charm before we do it in class. Particularly girls often know it because it's used in sewing, so I'm not surprised when students are unusually good at that particular charm. I'll try to give you the list in your next class. Just don't be surprised if your essay grows another roll of parchment while I correct it. And now I think you two ought to go to bed, before Argus and I are forced to take points."
Draco trudged back to the common room looking terribly disappointed. Severus occasionally cast a questioning glance at his silent friend, but Draco pretended not to notice.
"You know, maybe we should talk to Neville after all." Severus suggested finally.
"Really?" Draco perked up.
"Yes, we could pretend that we're just curious. After all he saw it happen, we didn't." Severus nodded.
"So we'll talk to him in Potions class on Wednesday?"
Severus considered that. Draco would see Neville in Care for Magical Creatures tomorrow, but he wouldn't be there to make sure Draco didn't say more than he should.
"Yes, unless we can catch him during one of the meals that will be the best time. Lucius won't even notice, if we talk over our work."
"But Harry will overhear us." Draco reminded him.
A wide grin spread over Severus' face. "Not if I can help it. I think I can come up with a reason for him to move his cauldron elsewhere."
Draco looked at him curiously, "What are you up to?"
"You'll see." Severus was still grinning. "Right now we'd better check our notes. We need to know what seventh year Gryffindors and Hufflepufs have alibis for the first two attacks."
Remus was hosting a discussion about vampires in the common room, which had attracted quite a lot of participants despite being unannounced, and Gregory and Vincent were in the dorm playing wizard poker. So Severus and Draco once again retreated into the bathroom with their notes.
Just in case anyone might come in they crouched in the last shower stall and pulled the curtain closed. Nobody ever bothered with that shower, since it was well known that it didn't work. It hadn't since Severus' first student days, maybe even longer than that.
"There." Severus stated with a slight frown. "The seventh years had Divination and Arithmancy during the first incident. We'll have to ask Albus for the class lists. Vector will never give them to us."
"What about the second incident?" Draco asked.
"Study hour." Severus proclaimed.
Draco groaned. "Great. Another dead end."
"Not really." Severus decided. "We'll just have to wait until we get that class list from Albus."
"He'll also have to interrogate Trelawney for us." Draco sighed.
"Be glad. You don't want to bother with her yourself, trust me."
"She can't be that bad." Draco insisted.
"Well, when she isn't predicting your death or pretending she knows what you're about to tell her, she's only a complete idiot." Severus said. "It all depends on your definition of bad, I suppose."
"So what do we do now?" Draco asked playing with the unhelpful parchments.
"Well, we could go to bed."
Draco sneered at him.
"Or we could go downstairs and join Remus' discussion." Severus continued. "It seemed interesting."
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Charms was their first class the next morning and Flitwick was true to his word. At the end of the lesson Severus received a corrected homework essay and an additional slip of parchment listing, the student that had gotten the best results in the severing charm lessons for each of his classes.
Severus frowned at his list all through History of Magic.
"What's wrong?" Draco asked when he realised Severus had just dug up the list of people Stephan had secret meetings with.
"I tried to cross reference Flitwick's list with our suspects list, but the results are disappointing." Severus answered. "So now I'm trying our addicts. Maybe Voldemort has somebody working for drug money."
"Or working for drugs?" Draco suggested.
"Then he most likely wouldn't be on our list, as he wouldn't have to obtain his drugs through, the normal channels."
"You think Stephan sells the stuff of his own accord?" Draco asked surprised.
Severus shrugged. "The variety of drugs he sells shows he doesn't produce them himself, but whoever his outside contact is has very good connections to Muggle suppliers as well as wizarding ones. That doesn't sound like death eaters to me."
"So who's on our list?" Draco pushed.
"In seventh year Filtus has Gryffindor with Slytherin and Ravenclaw with Hufflepuff." Severus reported. "The best results in the first group were Katie Bell's, in the second Catherine Cree's."
"A Hufflepuff over the Ravendaws?" Draco noted.
"Sewing charms." Severus reminded him dryly. "Hufflepuffs are more likely to do a lot of sewing, than Slytherins and Filius also noted that Catherine always was one of the best students in his class. Talent, interest and practise combined probably are responsible for her good results. In our class Filius mentions Susan Bones and predictably Hermione Granger in the Gryffindor/Ravenclaw group."
"Okay, that I believe." Draco decided. "Granger always has to be first at everything and Bones does indeed give me some competition in Charms."
"And does a lot of sewing as well." Severus confirmed. "Have you seen those little toys the Hufflepuffs wear on their key chains?"
"The stuffed badgers and rabbits and the like?"
"Yep, they're mostly gifts from Susan, though she occasionally makes them on demand." Severus said. "Doesn't sell them, though, I've heard. She just makes them for fun."
Draco blinked. "I'm sure a lot of girls would be willing to pay for them. Maybe even some of the smaller boys, if she were to make some more manly animals, or lions for the Gryffindors, ravens for Ravenclaws. There might even be a market for snake key chains in Slytherin"
"Well, that's Hufflepuffs for you." Severus smirked. "Fifth year we have, guess who?"
"What are the combinations?"
"Slytherin/Ravenclaw and Gryffindor/Hufflepuff." Severus grinned.
Draco sensed a trap. The combinations apparently weren't important to answer that question and that would mean . . . "Ginny?"
"Precisely. It makes sense, too. Most of the Weasley's clothes get passed down from one child to the next and with so many of them there must be a lot of sewing to do."
"The Weasley boys often do their own sewing." Draco commented. "I watched Charlie mend a rip in his robe in Romania and Ginny told me her mother thought all of them to sew very early."
"Gives her an advantage." Severus grinned. "The Slytherin/Ravenclaw severing charm master is none other than Luna Lovegood. Again makes sense, since she lost her mother very early and her father probably doesn't have the time to do much housework. Fourth year we have Slytherin with Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw with Gryffindor. In the first group the best was Diana Bardon, who unfortunately is already cleared, in the second Sandra Invers, cleared as well. Do you notice a pattern?"
"The most suspect of them all would be Katie Bell?" Draco asked in surprise.
"Simply for being on the Quidditch team and having had Potions before yesterday's incident, yes." Severus confirmed. "To add to the problem none of them show up on our addicts list either."
"A dead end then?" Draco sighed.
"Not entirely. We still have to check, the alibis of Catherine and Katie for the first incident." Severus reminded him. "If they don't have any, the information might be relevant after all."
"We need to talk to Dumbledore next then," Draco realised. "And maybe we can catch Neville at lunch."
"Dumbledore first." Severus decided. "If Neville could name the traitor, he already would have done so of his own accord. Albus can at least clear some suspects for us."
They didn't manage to catch the headmaster before lunch unfortunately and had to wait until after the meal.
"Gummy bears." Severus told the gargoyle outside Dumbledore's office as they arrived.
"Gu . . . what?!" Draco stared at him.
Severus shrugged. "I don't pick Albus' passwords."
"I thought they were usually sweets, not exotic animals." Draco commented somewhere between a statement and a question.
Severus shrugged again. "Maybe they are. I've never heard of a gummy bear before, so it could be anything."
"Not even as a potions ingredient?" Draco asked incredulously. He'd never have expected that there was something in the wizarding world that Severus didn't know.
"No, I could ask Albus to get me some to experiment with." Severus said lightly. "We can put them into Potter's soup. Maybe it'll stop creating weather phenomena then."
"Ask me to get you what?" the headmaster asked apparently having overheard the end of their conversation.
"Gummy bears." Draco answered, obligingly.
Albus twinkled, smiled, opened his top desk drawer and pulled out a multi coloured little bag.
"Well, here you are." he said and held it out to Draco.
Draco accepted the bag hesitantly. It did indeed say 'Gummy Bears' on the outside and part of it was see through, so he could get a look at the contents' as well. They were small bear shapes in different colours!
He poked a few of them through the bag with one finger, but they didn't react.
"Don't worry, they don't run away." Dumbledore assured him. "They're Muggle made, so there aren't any enchantments to make them move at all. You should try the red ones. They're the best. Though the green ones are very good as well."
Draco looked to Severus for help.
"Thank you, Albus." Severus said with a slight smirk at his friend who'd never run into the headmaster in one of his 'twinkly moods' before. "We'll give them a try and see what we can do with them in the lab, too. Right now we need your help with a more pressing matter however."
"Ah yes, what can I do for you?" the headmaster was still twinkling, but at least no longer at Draco.
"We need to know which Hufflepuff and Gryffindor seventh years take Divination and which Arithmancy."
"All of them?" Dumbledore asked surprised.
"Yes, all of them, just to be sure." Severus confirmed. "None of them really seem suspicious to me, but they were free during the second incident and had electives during the first."
Dumbledore nodded: "Let me see."
To Draco's surprise the headmaster took a huge book off its shelf rather than get out a piece of parchment.
"What's that?" he asked surprised as Dumbledore waved his wand over it.
"The Hogwarts book of students." the headmaster explained while opening it. "It contains the information on all students currently in school and here we are: seventh year, Gryffindor. Mr Alcott, Andy: Care for Magical Creatures and Divination, Mr. Barnes, Robert, Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, Ms Bell, Katherine, Arithmancy and Care for Magical Creatures, Mr. First, Hendric, Ancient Runes and Muggle Studies. Guess that's your first suspect then."
"Well, that's a first." Severus grinned.
"What is?" Dumbledore asked absently.
"Hendric the last being first at something." Severs declared.
"I see." the headmaster stated and Draco wondered whether he really did know of Hendrics habit of always being late, or just didn't want to ask. "Mr. Harringer, Louis, Divination and Muggle Studies, Ms Humperding, Berenice, the same, Mr. Melter, Zachary, Ancient Runes and Care for Magical Creatures."
"Somehow he seems a slightly more likely suspect." Severus muttered.
"Why? I thought he was too clumsy." Draco looked up from his suspects list.
"Maybe he isn't as clumsy in Charms as he is in Potions." Severus suggested. "Our traitor hasn't once used a potion in one of his attacks so far."
"Ms Miller, Anita, Divination and Ancient Runes," Dumbledore continued. "Ms Scattering, Eudora, Ancient Runes and Muggle Studies. Do you think a student that takes Muggle Studies is likely to be our traitor?"
Severus shrugged. "She might have taken it to learn more about the enemy, or maybe her views have changed since third year."
Dumbledore nodded. "That's all then, since Ms Spinet, Alicia takes Arithmancy and Care for Magical Creatures. On to the Hufflepuffs."
The headmaster turned a page and Draco saw the badger of Hufflepuff flash into view for a moment before the page fell flat and only Dumbledore could see it anymore.
"Ms Cree, Catherine, Arithmancy and Care for magical Ceatures." the old wizard announced. "Mr. Fitter, Lionel, Ancient Runes and Muggle Studies."
"Do tell me, Pat Footer takes the same?" Severus grinned.
"Yes indeed." Dumbledore confirmed. "However did you guess?"
"It's the only reason I could imagine Lionel Fitter taking such a difficult subject as Ancient Runes." Severus shrugged.
"I see." Dumbledore smiled. "Ms Lost, Linda, Divination and Care for Magical Creatures, Mr. Highflyer, Sebastian, Divination and Muggle Studies. What's so funny about that?"
"Nothing." Severus giggled. "Divination just fits Mr. Highflyer so well."
Dumbledore watched the boys try to stifle their laughter for a moment, then returned to his list. "Mr. Hinks, Roland, Arithmancy and Muggle Studies, Ms. Hollster, Liselotte-Elisabeth, Divination and Muggle Studies."
"What kind of name is Liselotte?" Draco shook his head in wonder.
"A German one." Dumbledore answered obligingly. "Actually a double name of Lisa, short for the German version of Elisabeth and Lotte short for Charlotta."
"Elisabeth-Charlotta-Elisabeth?" Draco wondered.
"It appears so." Severus shrugged. "She should have been in Divination, though, so she's probably innocent anyway. Please continue, Albus."
"An unusual name doesn't make somebody suspicious, I hope." the headmaster commented, but continued anyway. "Ms Horace, Martina, Ancient Runes and Muggle Studies. There's a suspect for you. Ms Ivory, Ines, Arithmancy and Care for Magical Creatures and Ms Monk, Rosalind, Ancient Runes and Care for Magical Creatures."
Severus regarded Draco's list for a moment, then rearranged it with a quick series of spells.
Draco watched the names Hendric First, Zachary Melter and Eudora Scattering climb to stand right under Stephan LaCroix and Maximius Mattels on top of the list. Seconds later Lionel Fitter, Pat Footer, Martina Horace and Rosalind Monk followed that same path.
"Do you think Sybil still has any memory of the first incident?" he asked the headmaster who just shrugged. "If so try to ask her once again whether Alcott, Harringer, Humperding, Miller, Hollster, Lost, and Highflyer were present or left her class at any time. We'll take care of the Arithmancy students ourselves."
"Not right now, though." Dumbledore admonished. "Right now you'd better get to class."
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Ginny sighed. It was just her bad luck that had seen to it that the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff fifth years had double Potions on Tuesday right after lunch, she decided. The worst possible spot in her opinion, since for some reason that was usually the time Lucius decided to make an actual attempt at teaching.
"Today we are going to brew a paralysing solution." he announced as soon as the last student had stepped through the door. "Please do not fill your cauldrons with water as this potion is based on oil."
Ginny shuddered as visions of hot oil splashing over unsuspecting students flittered through her mind. No wonder the potion wasn't in their Potions text! She couldn't quite tell him that that sounded dangerous, though, could she?
Still she raised her hand. Professor Malfoy did seem to favour her slightly, after all. Apparently the threat of Draco going out with Hermione still had its after-effects.
"Isn't that a little expensive for a school exercise?" she asked when he nodded towards her. "I mean, there are twenty students in this class, who will each require at least two litres of oil and in the end we just throw it all away."
"It may be a little expensive, but you do have to learn the special precautions needed when working on oil based potions." Lucius declared. "You see, for the potion to really have any magic at all a special conduit spell is required. Unfortunately that spell must never come into contact with water or your bodies. Otherwise you will be struck as if by lightning."
A nervous squeak was heard from somewhere in the back where the Hufflepuffs sat.
"Don't worry, the spell forms a kind of net that has a distinctive silver shimmer. You will be easily able to see and avoid the lines once they are in place." Lucius tried to calm them. "I recommend that you get all the ingredients you need right now so there won't be too much stepping around the spell."
Ginny swallowed hard to calm her fears. 'Nothing will happen.' she tried to convince herself. 'Nothing, Madame Pomfrey can't fix, at least. Just a few minor burns. You just have to be careful.'
She checked over her list of ingredients twice, then once again for good measure, before she took them back to the worktable she shared with Colin Creveey today, because he had had some sort of falling out with his best friend. Having no best friend in your year really was a nuisance. Ginny always had to work with whoever was left without a partner.
If only they'd had Potions with Ravenclaw rather than Hufflepuff! Then she could have worked with Luna Lovegood who actually almost liked her, even if she was a little weird.
Colin frowned at her. Going out with Draco hadn't exactly improved her relationship with her Gryffindor classmates.
The class watched a little anxiously as Lucius set the spell, drawing strange silvery lines into he air with his wand. Slowly he moved from cauldron to cauldron until the lines ran through the entire classroom.
Ginny did not think they looked easy to avoid at all.
She helped Colin pour the oil into his cauldron and he reluctantly returned the favour. Oh to be as popular as Mariah Farson two rows behind her.
Mariah was working with Nina Ellis today. Last week it had been Ambrosia Melter. Both girls claimed to be Mariah's best friend.
Today Ambrosia was forced to work with Bibiana Morris, the fourth and most quiet member of the quartet. Of course that had to be better than working with that ugly little Ginny Weasley girl who never had any money to spend on sweets and drinks for her dorm mates.
Ginny frowned and concentrated on putting the dragon berries into her potion without making the oil splash out. If somebody got burned today it had better not be her. The others at least had somebody to bring them their homework assignments, if they had to stay in the hospital wing for several days.
At the desk to her right Ulric Keaton and Walter Ermaine were having some sort of argument. Walter angrily threw his next ingredient into the cauldron and hot oil splashed out and over his hand.
Walter screamed and jumped away from his cauldron colliding with Ulric.
For a moment it seemed like that was all that was going to happen, but then Ulric lost his battle for balance. One of his flailing hands accidentally grabbed the ladle in Ambrosia's cauldron and it spilled all over the neatly prepared ingredients on Ambrosia's table causing a fireball to burst forth and hit the wall beside them.
Lucius' eyes went wide as water extinguished the fireball and began to run down the wall. His face grew even whiter than it usually was as he stood there right in front of Ginny frozen and staring at the water.
Students screamed. Ginny heard another splash behind her. The water was beginning to form a puddle on the floor that was slowly but surely growing towards the silvery lines. Which one was it going to reach first? Or would one of the panicking students run into a line long before the water set them off?
"Spell." Lucius was mumbling to himself. "Take off spell." But still he didn't move.
"Finite Incantatem!" Ginny yelled at the top of her lungs waving her wand in a maybe slightly exaggerated movement. She could only pray that the unfamiliar net spell responded to that spell and didn't require a specific counter.
For one heartbeat she thought nothing would happen, then the silver net flashed and dissolved.
Ginny breathed a sigh of relief, but Lucius was still standing around staring and some students were still screaming. Walter was moaning in pain.
"Silence!" Ginny yelled. Surprised eyes turned towards her. "Colin, Lara!" She picked two moderately calm looking students at opposite ends of the class. "Extinqo the fires before the cauldrons boil over! Ulric, are you hurt?"
The boy stared at her in wonder for a second. "No, just burned my hand a little on some hot metal."
"Then take Walter to the hospital wing!" Ginny ordered. The boy looked like he wouldn't make it on his own the way he was grimacing and crying in pain. "Nala, Herb, try to reparo the waterline!" The two Hufflepuffs were threatening to panic again so Ginny picked the first task she could think of. "Mariah and Nina, vanish the potions."
Ginny picked two students she knew had already mastered the new transfiguration for that task.
"Is anybody else hurt?"
Janus McGregor's ear was bleeding and two Hufflepuffs had collided with their heads and were now suffering from headaches.
Ginny decided they could make it to the hospital wing on their own and sent Bibiana to Filch for mops and buckets while she set the rest of the class to rescuing the potions ingredients, bags, books, parchments and quills.
Lucius sank into his chair and breathed a sigh of relief.
The request for cleaning tools in the Potions classroom brought Filch running with several house elves. Ginny gladly let the caretaker take over and soon the classroom was completely restored.
"Detention, Creevey!" Lucius closed the lesson.
"That was good thinking, Ginny." Nala smiled at her on the way out. "If you hadn't reacted so fast, somebody might have been seriously hurt. You saved us."
Ginny smiled back at her gratefully, but shook her head. "I shouldn't have had to. If Malfoy had done his job, I shouldn't have had to. If Snape had been here . .."
"If Snape had been here, it could never have happened, because he'd never have risked having twenty cauldrons of boiling oil in the classroom, not to mention a spell that can kill you woven between our desks." Nala agreed. "Maybe he'd even have been able to stop that fireball."
"All he would have had to do was stop Ulric from falling or vanish Ambrosia's potion before it hit her ingredients." Ginny said. "The kind of thing Snape does all the time."
"And we always thought he was mean for making our entire potion disappear for spilling some." Nala shook her head. "When he was really protecting us from nasty accidents."
"Yes." Ginny looked at the floor feeling a little ashamed. "I guess Draco's right about Snape after all."
"Who?" Nala asked curiously.
"Draco." Ginny beamed. "My boyfriend. He's in Slytherin, you know, so he knows Snape really well."
"Oh right!" Nala realised. "He must be that handsome blond boy that came to rescue you when that plate exploded. That was so romantic! I'd know him, if he were in our year, though."
"He's in sixth year." Ginny admitted.
"Oh wow! An older boyfriend. That is so cool!" Nala exclaimed. "And he's really good looking, too. I bet he could have had any girl in his year, if he'd wanted to. He must really love you a lot."
Ginny blushed. She'd never realised what a catch Draco was.
"I just like how sweet he is to me. He even drew me a portrait and he's always there for me when I feel down." she tried to explain.
Nala sighed. "I wish my boyfriend were a little more like that, but I guess that's what I get for dating a Ravenclaw. They've got no fire and are always buried in a book and lost to the world when you need them. . . . Ah, but once I get him dragged out of the library."
Ginny bit her lip. Nala sounded really nice and she was actually talking to her. If only she didn't make a mistake now. How to show Nala that she really wanted to talk to her and not just brag about Draco?
"That's a really cute stuffed badger." Ginny nodded towards the little toy dangling from the fastening of Nala's book bag.
"Huh? Oh, you mean my badger key chain." Nala beamed. "It's a gift from a friend. She's really talented isn't she?"
"It's handmade?" Ginny said honestly surprised. "That's incredible. It looks even better than the ones they sell in Hogsmeade."
"Oh yes, my friend loves sewing them. Almost everyone in Hufflepuff has one. I bet she'd make you one, too, if you told her how much you like them."
"But I can't just walk up to someone I don't even know and ask her to do something like that. It must take her days to get one just right." Ginny blushed again.
"Don't worry she enjoys it." Nala assured her. "But if you don't want to barge in like that, I could just introduce you and you can make friends first." her face lit up even more. "You could come to our story telling session tonight after dinner. Then you can meet all my friends. Please say you'll come. It'll be great. I know story telling session sounds a little boring." This time it was Nala who blushed.
"Oh, I'd love to come." Ginny assured her.
Ginny felt like she was walking on clouds all the way to Transfigurations. Despite McGonagall's disapproving look she picked the seat right behind Nala on the Hufflepuff side of the class.
Quiet little Olivia Mason smiled happily when Ginny sat down next to her and Ginny began to wonder. Olivia had always seemed so much a part of the Hufflepuff girls' group, but she often ended up sitting alone. Could it be that she too had been feeling lonely all these years?
Ginny decided to make this her fixed spot in Transfigurations class from now on. Olivia was certainly a better partner than Ulric, whom she usually ended up working with, because none of her friends wanted to put up with his bad transfigurations.
It wasn't like Ulric was that bad a partner, of course, Ginny tried to convince herself. He'd just had a few very unfortunate accidents in Transfigurations and could be very unpleasant about it.
That and Olivia was a girl. It just looked less like she was an outcast, if she sat next to another girl regularly, almost as if they were actually friends.
Maybe they even could become friends in time, Ginny dared to hope. They wouldn't have to be best friends. Ginny would settle for just a little bit friends, just more than tolerated.
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kateydidnt - 'Come on Luci. Just a little hint.' 'No Albus!' 'Lets play hot and cold, okay?' 'No Albus!' 'Awwww, please!!!' 'Fine: It's not a first year Hufflepuff girl.' (Luci laughs while Albus interrogates all first year Hufflepuff girls under veritaserum.)
JerseyPike - Yep, talking to a suit of armour. (Well, you just saw how that turned out.) How would Ron have an alibi? He was right with Harry during the last attack.
haha - Yes, yes, no, yes. Well, at least That Dog is convinced that his name is Dog, so why bother to train him to respond to something else?
Kayla Hemlock - Um . . . Draco isn't reluctant to get Neville involved at all! It was his idea! . . . And Draco has an alibi for two of the three attacks, while we were in his POV during the one he doesn't have one for.
darkbeauty - Nobody ever writes about Sevi? Try the character selection again. There are lots of writers out there who love Sevi. (Or try some of my favourites. They're not all Sevi fics, but most of them at least feature him in a prominent role.)
samson - Ah, but that was just an ordinary everyday class as seen through Sevi's eyes. (Actually, a few of you complained all the lists of student names were boring, so I tried to lighten it up a little.)
Pam Briggs - Multiplying? No, not quite. As you just saw the list went down again pretty fast. It'll go through at least one more big change before we finally corner our traitor, though.
Marauder3Moony - Oh yes, he did. I have no idea where that idea came from (Who am I kidding: It came from Greenie, of course!), but it wouldn't stop bugging me until I'd written it.
Cricket13 - I'll write the sequel after I finish this, but it won't be big. I've got to get down to writing that Catar fic someday and RD had my full attention for over a year. None of my other fics can claim that. It was time to end it, even though it was hard for me too.
EriEka127 - Thanks!
Colibi - So you think Ron wants to become famous as the boy who killed the boy who lived?
Thistle - Well, Luci hasn't really made an effort to improve. I wonder whether he would, if he really needed to have a job ...
the great and powerful ME - You seem pretty sure it's Seamus. Got any particular rasons?
Jade Kirk and Max LBC - Thanks. I'm trying to write faster again, but broken notebook and little time make it hard ...
biblios - Actually Iremione found a mistake right in chapter one, if you want to go error spotting. . . . The castle is able to identify an intruder, but not to monitor all the people inside all the time. It doesn't know either. . . . Sevi's actually enjoying himself as little Sevi right now and too conscious of the dangers of getting caught as big Sevi. He'll only transform, if there is a real need.
Iremione - Well, you didn't think Luci was doing it out of kindness, did you? . . . When Greenie isn't curled up in fear, his spikes flatten down a little so he doesn't sting so much. Still, you have to hug him very lightly. . . . Actually Pince was only having one class before and after that particular incident. You're right about Minerva, though. (I try to pick the times my schedule works out for the attacks, but this time I overlooked Minerva being double booked. Just imagine what she could have been teaching a mixed class of fourth and seventh years!) . . . He meant her worth as a Potions partner (always perfect potions), not her worth as a woman! . . . We'll see. My biggest problem are actually the last names for students, though I'm running low on good first names as well. There are still a lot of unnamed later suspects running around, but right now the naming is finished. . . . Poor Argus! Take a look at Ozma's works and then tell me what's wrong with loving Filch. . . . Can't kill the traitor. Look at the rating of this fic! You can rest assured that he will die in Azkaban in the end, but I can't write it without upping the rating, and there's no way I'll do that to my younger readers. . . . No POV can ever be truly objective. In fact nobody can be. Humans are subjective creatures. Everything we see say and write is coloured by our own experiences and associations. The trick in writing POV is just there. The POV can't just reflect the entire truth of the story, nor can every POV coincide with your own opinions. You have to adopt different views to write them.
semmel - Ah, das ist gerade die Frage die ich nicht beantworten kann. (Okay, können schon, wolen nein.) . . . Der gute Luci war auch nie an ner PädAk (obwohl da genug Leute sind die um nix besser sind als er). Da kann man es ja wohl kaum von ihm erwarten.
S.S._luver - More like Holiday Blues? Hm . . . currently no really good ideas for that, but I will, if I come up with something.
RotnDragon - Thanks, but we do not have 'Turkey Day' in Austria (not even turkeys). In fact your Thanksgiving is a very normal hard working day to me.
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A/N: Will Ginny become a part of the Hufflepuff clique? How will Draco react to her new friends? And just why does the traitor always use severing charms? (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: Severus will probably put his Gummy Bears to use, Draco gets his wish to interrogate Neville and I don't really know what Lucius will get up to, yet. Lets hope it doesn't end up destroying the school.