The Unlikely Side Effects of Floo Powder
Chapter Two
By Miss Augurey
The Floo Network has been up and running for over 400 years and there have been hardly any real problems. Well, there may have been a misplacement here, or an accidental transport of illegal items there, but we at the Ministry are very proud of our transport standard for . . . well . . . standardized transportation. We deal with any problems in a calm and collected manner, and we have never failed to locate a person or reattach a body limb. Yes, well, that is, of course, until the incident at Hogwarts.
--Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic, Great Britain
Last time:
There was a flash of light and Snape turned to look at the green flames that were the only thing that filled the fireplace in front of him. He heard a few gasps from the nearly silent Potions class behind him and resisted the urge to scream.
This wasn't going to be a good day.
*
The silence was almost palpable—there were no giggles or whispers or even breaths. The only sound in the classroom was that of the crackling of the flames as they slowly turned back from green to orange.
Snape himself was speechless. He stared at the fireplace, willing the two students who had disappeared there moments before to reappear—whole, alive, and perhaps having ceased fighting. Instead, the last of the green in the fire disappeared.
Harry stared viciously at the back of his professor's neck.
"You did this," he declared, breaking the silence and directing his statement pointedly at Snape. "You made Hermione work with Draco and you're the reason she's gone."
Snape turned around and matched the hatred in Harry's visage with his own venomous stare.
"Stupid boy," he muttered, looking up at the rest of his class.
"You may have just killed her," Harry said, nearly yelling now.
"How can you even think of that stupid mudblood when my poor Draco's missing?" Pansy suddenly screeched, melodramatically sniffing, trying to push the tears out of her eyes so to look even more pitiful.
Harry looked over at Pansy disdainfully.
"Why are you even here?" he asked, suddenly wondering what a dunderhead like Parkinson was doing in the Advanced Potions class.
Pansy turned a light shade of pink as Snape turned his eyes to her and raised an eyebrow.
"I . . . I . . . was showing Blaise my new manicure," she began, trying not to look even the slightest bit embarrassed. "I have a free period and—oh! That's not the point!" Pansy wailed and squinched up her face in what Harry thought must be a look of sadness.
"M-my poor Draco is gone!" even Blaise was beginning to look irritated.
"You can't really care about that stupid git, can you?" asked Harry incredulously. He snorted. "Typical. Just typical."
Pansy looked up.
"What's typical?" she snapped. "The love of my life has just . . . " she burst into fake sobs again.
Snape, who had only just recovered, barked loudly at both of them to shut up.
"Miss Parkinson, get out of my
class, and sit down Potter or, I
swear to Merlin, you will pay."
Pansy slunk out of the room and a bewildered Harry sat nearly automatically, frowning afterwards at his obedience. Snape didn't even take the time to notice his small victory.
"You—all of you: copy down the last two pages of Chapter three and DO NOT go ANYWHERE near the fire. Do you understand?" he asked the shell-shocked class. They all nodded dumbly. "Good. I need to see Dumbledore. When you are finished, you may leave," he said, half of his body already out the door.
Fifteen seconds after he left, the class was empty except for a few pieces of stray parchment still floating down to the floor, blown up into the air from the rush to get out of the classroom.
Deep in thought, Severus swept down the hallways, paying very little attention to anything.
So it was really his fault when he knocked into that suit of armour, but he blamed the stationary object anyway.
When he reached the entrance to Dumbledore's office, he nearly turned back, remembering the password and dreading to utter it. But this was a matter that the headmaster had to know about.
And, Albus always kept biscuits in his office—the kind that Snape was rather fond of. Having left breakfast early, he was quite hungry.
After nearly pleading with the gargoyle to let him in, Snape sighed and mumbled something incoherent
Nothing moved.
Snape clenched his fists, and, grinding his teeth, he managed to speak:
"Pretty purple fairy lights," he said, nostrils flaring as the gargoyle moved to ____ the spiral staircase. Snape could have sworn he heard it giggling.
Dumbledore looked up and smiled when he saw Snape enter his office.
"Severus, how nice to see you so unexpectedly. Would you care for some tea?" he asked good naturedly as he set down his own cup.
"No thank you, headmaster . . ."
"Yes, yes, I remember those years when I was young—used to skip a class perhaps, to rebel," Dumbledore looked reminiscently through Snape. "Of course, that usually happened when I was a student, not a teacher," he continued, focusing back on Snape, his eyes sparkling like they always did. "Care for some tea?"
"No thank you headmaster," Snape said again impatiently. "I really must tell you--"
"When I was young, we never visited the headmaster when we skipped class," Dumbledore mused. He laughed to himself. "Ahhh, but perhaps times have changed. I remember this one time, when I was but a tiny sixth year—my beard only two feet long back then, and more silver than white--"
"Headmaster! Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy just disappeared into the Floo network!" Snape finally snapped.
Dumbledore looked up.
"How?" he asked simply
Snape told him of the events of the Potions class that day and Dumbledore immediately forgot about his tea and his memories.
"Do you know how serious it might be?" Dumbledore asked finally.
"They entered the Floo Network simultaneously, neither speaking coherently," Snape responded. "They might have turned up somewhere in China for all we know."
"More than that," Dumbledore said softly. "They could very well be . . . dead."
Suddenly, Dumbledore was very, very serious.
The first thing that Draco noticed as he came to was the aching pressure in his chest.
Wait: scratch that—on his chest.
He was suddenly very aware of the fact that he was lying on a wooden floor with a girl lying on top of him.
It wouldn't have been that bad if he hadn't woke up any further and pretended that the floor was comfortable, his mouth wasn't full of soot, and there wasn't a light layer of auburn brown hair covering his face that belonged to a certain know-it-all.
As Hermione quickly came to and immediately screamed shrilly (rolling off of him as quickly as she could) the room finally came into focus.
Draco cringed. Everything, including both he and Hermione, was covered in dust. The corners of the room they now stood in were not visible, the cobwebs were so thick, and the floorboards only a few paces away from him were black from rot.
He looked up at the screaming, bushy-haired, soot-covered girl that was sitting beside him, and the headache that must have been waiting for the most opportune moment kicked in.
Draco grasped his head and eyed Hermione warily as she finished screaming, then spoke, his voice coming out a croak as he tasted ash.
"Is this hell?"
A/N—Sorry that was so short. I promise to do better next time. Thank you so much for all of the reviews—they literally turned a very horrible day into an amazing one. To know that people actually liked your story . . . well, it made me write a whole lot faster, let me tell you that much. I promise to update soon, and I'm sorry if there wasn't enough D/Hr action in this chapter—there will be soon. Excuse me for using Snape so much also—but he really is very fun to write for. I really do love you for reading this story (and especially this author's note) Loves—Miss Augurey
Thanks to: Jesse S (for being my first reviewer! Wow—you don't know how much that means!) Siriusly Searching for Black (very cool name, I'm glad you like it) SingSingMa (thanks!) awaysheflew (you're way too kind—thank you so much for all the happy butterflies that your review got going in my stomach. I hope you like this chapter) Shattered Halo (I'm glad you like the style and I'm sorry if I ever do anything wrong—your review is the kind that makes me want to be a better writer) Aurora (I'm glad you liked the whole Snape part and I'm sorry if there was too much in this chapter. And Harry's not dumb, per se. He's . . . just . . . naïve? Hee hee) Vivian (I'm glad you liked it—I just hope I updated fast enough) hyparly4suger (cute name, thanks!) mouse (aww, thanks. Hope you like this new chapter too!) merryday (thanks--hope you liked it!) and riverseaocean (Thanks! I tried to make it as original as possible. Please tell me if I get stereotypical)
