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Six Feet and Fallingby Saerry Snape
Chapter 30 :: February 8, 1996 :: Hogwarts – Afternoon
"Aboleo!"
"Aboleo!"
"Again!"
"Aboleo!"
"AGAIN!"
"ABOLEO!"
"Get off it, Snape!" yelled Draco. "Throw a spell at us!"
Harry scowled at the blond and snapped, "I'm not throwing a spell at anyone until you can do the bloody spell right!"
"Try me."
"Don't tempt me, Malfoy."
"Scared?"
Harry's eyes narrowed and he growled, "You want me to throw a spell at you, Malfoy?"
"Harry," said Hermione warningly, lowering her wand.
"Yeeeaaaah," sneered Draco.
"Fine. Obsequium!"
A look of pain passed over Draco's face and he shook, as though he was trying to stand up against a great weight pressing down on his back. Knees shaking, he growled, "That…all…you…got…Snape?"
"Draco, don't be an idiot," snarled Harry, releasing the spell with a flick of his wand.
"This is supposed to get us ready to fight Death Eaters, isn't it?"
"Your point?"
"My point," sneered Draco, "is that if you don't push us, we'll never learn anything."
"He has a point," remarked Sheyne. "Lord help me, I just agreed with Malfoy."
"Yes, you did," said Neville.
"Kill me. Please."
Draco glared at Sheyne then looked smugly at Harry. "Well?"
Harry frowned for a moment then turned to the other students. Their group consisted of the Death Eater Children, all of the Gryffindor fifth and sixth years along with two seventh years (Fred and George), and half of the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff's of these same classes. None of the Slytherins beside the DE Children had joined. He looked at all them in turn then spread his arms slightly away from his body and said, "What do you all think?"
"Good idea," said Dean.
Seamus nodded as Lavender remarked, "We need the practice."
"Most of us," grumbled Fred, eying Draco distastefully. The other Slytherin's bristled at this behavior and Harry quickly waved them down.
"Fine. But first, let's get something straight. We're all equal." He eyed the Gryffindors and the Slytherins here. "Every single one of us. If we're going to do this, we can't afford to be fighting among ourselves. And we've got to be careful about how we meet."
"Why?" asked a Hufflepuff sixth year. "All of the DEC's are gone."
DEC was the slang term for Death Eater Children.
"Well, with the exception of us," said Sheyne in a hiss. She scowled at the sixth year, looking very perturbed. The fact that she bore Voldemort's Mark annoyed her to no end as he had stolen both her parents and her childhood. Not to mention her half-brother's and her adopted brother's.
"Yes," said Harry, frowning slightly at his sister.
"But there are still students in the school who can report back to Voldemort," explained Draco.
"Another thing," said Harry as a Ravenclaw fifth year shivered at the sound of the Dark Lord's name. "Get used to hearing – and saying – Voldemort's name. We're all practicing to fight him. The first thing to fighting him well is getting over this stupid fear of his name. Got it?"
"Got it," chorused several voices back.
"Good. So, er – let's pair off. Pick a partner and we'll practice. One will throw a spell and the other will try to used the Aboleos Spell to dispell it. Then we'll switch. Alright? Go!"
"I'm with you, Snape," said Draco, moving to Harry's left as everyone else in the room scattered.
Harry frowned down at the shorter boy and grumbled, "I had a feeling you were going to say that. C'MON YOU LOT, ITS NOT THAT HARD!"
The mass of students shifted and swirled for a moment before it stilled, every head turning towards Harry.
"Alright. Everyone have a partner? Good. Now, line up, one person on one side of the room and the other straight across from them. Okay, ready? Everyone even with me – yes, me, Jonas – cast a spell at their partner. Nothing lethal OR potentially dangerous. We're practicing, not taking down DE's. Ready? FIRE!"
"Barathrum!"
"Gelo!"
"Taratallengara!"
"Expelliarmus!"
"Alacer Casus!"
"Commoveo!"
"Dolor Acidus!"
"Praecipito!" yelled Harry, jabbing his wand at Draco. A rush of silver motes flew out of his wand and headed straight for the blond, who lifted his wand in retaliation.
"Aboleo!"
Several of the motes vanished as they hit what appeared to be an invisible shield but the majority of them went right through it and hit Draco, sending him sprawling face first on the floor.
"Fuck," snarled Draco, pushing himself painfully up. A hand suddenly appeared in his face and he looked up into Harry's green eyes. Scowling, he grabbed the offered hand and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet.
The two boys stood staring at each other for a moment, still gripping hands, until Harry's lips twitched and he said, "You told me to give you my best shot."
Draco started to scowl then paused and burst out laughing.
* * *
Four months later…
"Alright, you lot. Term's about to end and Hell knows if Voldemort might try us before then. He might even attack the train."
"You don't think he'd…" began Jonas Filbrey, one of the Ravenclaw's.
"I know he would if he thought he'd succeed in getting us. Lord knows he's been trying."
"Us?" squeaked Jonas.
"Not you, bats for brains," scolded Sheyne. "Us. DEC's."
"Oh. Sorry…"
"S'alright," said Harry. "We've got a working charm that blocks him just fine. Its DE attacks that I'm worried about."
"And if He does attack the train?" asked Parvati.
Harry grinned and replied, "Then we give him Hell. And I'm looking forward to doing it."
"For Papa," whispered Sheyne, eyes glittering.
Harry nodded then said, "One more practice before we leave. Everyone be back down here on the 15th after classes end. We'll go over everything we've done in the last four months and a few new one's as well."
"Where'll we meet?" asked Mika Davids, twirling his wand in his fingers.
"My group'll meet me outside the entrance hall. Shey's: take Myrtle's bathroom. Draco's: dungeons, of course. Mika's: library. And for cripes sake, don't let Madam Pince catch you lurking this time, Jonas!"
"Aye," mumbled the Ravenclaw.
"What's the new passwords for the entrance's?" asked Draco.
"I'll get to that in a minute. Group leaders, get your arses over here. Everyone else, back to your common rooms."
"Aye, sir!" chorused several voices and the group dispersed. Draco, Mika, and Sheyne all gathered around Harry, waiting patiently until the others had cleared from the room.
"New passes?" asked Mika, crossing his arms and peering about the Chamber. That was their meeting place: the largest chamber of Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets. Harry had found three entrances besides the main one about the school and had set up groups (led by himself and the three around him) to switch between each entrance periodically. He set all of the passwords, which were in Parseltongue. Everytime the groups shifted, he changed the passwords. And the three people about him were the best at learning the Language of the Snakes.
"I'm getting to that, Mik. You're library, which is Morpheus."
"Morpheus," repeated Mika in Parseltongue. When Harry shook his head, he repeated it. Still one of the parts was off.
"No," said Harry. "You're saying Morphous. It's Mor-phe-us."
"Morpheus."
"There you go. Shey?"
"Yeah?"
"Hekate."
"Hekate," repeated Sheyne flawlessly, the Parseltongue rolling easily off her tongue. Perhaps it was because she too had a language that came naturally to her. Madam Pomfrey had called it Aisteanga, which was a mix of the Gaelic words aistrigh (change) and teanga (tongue). It was essentially the natural language of the Shifter's and could be spoken in any form they took.
"Can I get mine now?" whined Draco.
"Spoiled brat," grumbled Harry. "Aevenwing."
"Aeven – wha? What the heck is that?"
"It's a type of bird that was used as a messenger by the High Elves before they died out."
"The bird's or the Elves?"
Harry growled under his breath and hissed, "Just. Say. The. Word."
"Okay, okay. Aevenwing."
"Turn that last asis into a hosis and you'll have it."
Draco repeated the word and Harry nodded.
"You all got it. Let's head up top."
Mika and Draco nodded then turned, heading off towards the entrance that lead out into the dungeons. Sheyne and Harry headed for the main entrance, climbing up the slippery pipe with the help of a rope Harry had installed during their first days of using the Chamber.
"Y'know," gasped Sheyne as they climbed, "we really should clean this pipe."
"I know. You're going to the kitchens as soon as we get up, right?"
"Shower, then kitchen. Why?"
"Tell Dobby to clean the pipe. He'd be happy to do it."
"Harry…"
"What? He will. He likes work. Just about as much as he likes me."
"Heng," said Sheyne, heaving her way up out of the pipe into Myrtle's bathroom. She side-stepped out of Harry's way as he clambered up out of the pipe, slowly unfolding his 6'3 frame. As he stretched, she moved close to him – close enough that when his arm came down it was about her shoulder.
"Do you think we'll get him back?" she whispered as the two of them left the bathroom.
Harry frowned, knowing exactly who she was talking about.
"Yeah. We'll get him back, Shey. I promise."
"Don't make promises you can't keep, Harry."
"Who says I can't keep that one?" asked Harry, looking down at her.
Sheyne turned her face up towards his, expression one of grief, and said, "Don't promise, big brother. You'll never know for sure whether you can keep it or not."
"Alright then, little sister. Alright then…"