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Part 8
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About the same time as Sirius Black was spitting his Wizard Wheaties onto Remus Lupin's face, Professor Severus Snape was sitting glumly in his chair at the breakfast table in the Great Hall at Hogwarts and wondering if the world had gone mad.
If Snape had thought the day before that his life was running out of his control faster than the Hogwarts Express without a driver, that morning his life jumped the rails and derailed. When the morning mail arrived at Hogwarts, Snape discovered the true meaning of chaos.
Snape hadn't realised just how many teachers and students had the news-scroll delivered daily. He sat silently in his chair as questions and conversations erupted around him. He stared fixedly into his bowl of Rice Pop'n'Wizz Fizzies and wished he could apparate to anywhere but the Great Hall. He could have stood up and walked from the room but by the time that thought came to mind his infamous stubborn streak had taken over. There was no way that he was going to let the students and the other teachers make him leave the room unless he wanted to leave.
He listened to the shocked tones of the teachers' voices as, with his gaze fixed on his food, as he determinedly ate his breakfast. He succeeded in ignoring the words and stares from students and teachers alike until a muffled giggle drew his attention. He looked towards giggler and saw Professors Sprout, Flitwick and, surprisingly, McGonagall leaning conspiratorially over a copy of 'The Daily Prophet'. They kept looking over at him and Flitwick was giggling behind his hand.
"Most unprofessional," said Rolanda Hooch. "You can't play the game fairly without an equal start." Hooch's firm voice echoed across the table. The Flying Instructor threw her copy of 'The Daily Prophet' to Snape, earning her a gentle smile of approval from Dumbledore.
Snape nodded his thanks and bit back a smirk at the grumbles from Sprout and Flitwick, and the imperious glare from McGonagall.
Severus opened 'The Daily Prophet' and began to read.
~~~~~~~~
"Oh my!" The Fat Friar exclaimed as he read 'The Daily Prophet' over Justin Finch-Fletchley's shoulder. "Oh my, oh my, oh my!"
Over at the Gryffindor table, Sir Nicholas was listening to Hermione Granger read out the gossip article. The girl was peppering her reading with comments like 'well really' and 'almost as bad as Rita Skeeter'.
Sir Nicholas was watching the Bloody Baron. "That old Spectre has got something to do with this," thought Sir Nick, "I can feel it in my ether."
The Bloody Baron sat silently and gloated.
~~~~~~~~
'Bammmm!' The heavy door to the Astronomy Professor's room slammed open.
Professor Sinistra jerked awake, sat up in her bed and blinked owlishly. "What happened? Who died?"
The only reply was the sound of heavy breathing.
Sinistra wiped the sleep from her eyes and glowered at the figure in the doorway. Snape was leaning on the doorframe and gasping for air.
"You pervert!" Aurora picked up her wand and aimed it at the Potions Master.
"I," puff, "am not a," puff, "pervert." Snape threw Hooch's copy of 'The Daily Prophet' to Sinistra. It fell short, landing on the floor. Snape shrugged and rested his face against the doorframe.
Sinistra suddenly understood and chuckled. "Did you run up all those stairs?"
Still puffing, Snape nodded slightly.
Still chuckling, Sinistra summoned 'The Daily Prophet' and her ratty old bathrobe. She shrugged into the robe then climbed out of bed and began reading the news-scroll.
"So? Why the rush?" She waved the scroll at Snape. "It's just an announcement."
Severus stomped over from the door. "There!" He pointed at the gossip column. He watched Aurora read the article, her face becoming more thunderous by the second and she was making the familiar clicking sound with her tongue that told how angry she was.
"The whole school knows." Snape said quietly.
Sinistra calmly handed him the news-scroll.
"Excuse me a moment." She walked over to dinted waste-parchment bin and transfigured into a punching bag with the face of The Daily Prophet's gossip columnist, Eve S Dropper, drawn on it. Sinistra took a deep breath and then kicked the punching bag repeatedly. Eventually she hobbled back towards the bed, transfiguring the bag back into its former shape.
Snape smirked down at Sinistra's bruised toes and over at the very dinted waste-parchment bin.
"Don't you start," Aurora grumbled. "It's bad enough that this," she pointed at Dropper's picture, "this excuse for a - a -. Oh darn it, I'm so angry I can't even swear properly!" Aurora sat down heavily on the bed.
"What are we going to do?" her voice was quiet and shaky.
"Not what they want." Severus said coldly, he had gained control of his breathing during Aurora's assault on the punching bag. "I do not like being manipulated, particularly by amateurs."
"I used to have a decent reputation." She sniffed and wiped her eyes with the heel of her hand. "If I was a meek little Hufflepuff I'd resign and let you save your reputation. But I'm not and I won't!"
"You will fight?"
"Yes. It is my life and I don't like other people running it." She squared her jaw and looked up at Snape. "It is past time they did the running."
"You may end up as hated as I." Severus replied, inwardly surprised at the young woman's determination.
"Not everyone hates you, Severus. The Slytherin students think you're cool."
Snape blinked at that reply then began to pace the room. "We will start by not commenting." He stopped pacing close to the bed. "There must be a legal way out of this. And if not - "
"If not we'll find an illegal one." Sinistra replied.
"Spoken like a true Slytherin." Snape sat down beside the Astronomy Professor. "We will have to face a lot of questions from the students."
"We can handle them. It's the teachers and this," she pointed at the news-scroll in Snape's hand, "that worry me."
Snape nodded. Both Professors sat in companionable silence for a few moments, their minds full of the possible outcomes of the gossip article. Snape was imagining trying to explain the situation to Voldemort and Malfoy while Sinistra was imagining what her very proper mentor at the Wizarding Astronomers And Stargazers Unified Procedures Society (WASSUPS) would have to say on the matter.
"Dropper insulted both of us." Snape hissed.
"We'll get even, somehow." Sinistra added, patting his shoulder with her hand. "Hey, don't you have a class?"
Snape nodded and then it suddenly occurred to him that he was in Aurora Sinistra's room, sitting on her bed and she was wearing her nightclothes. If anyone one was to see the pair of them like this they could make some big and improper assumptions.
"I should be going!" He leapt to his feet as though scalded.
"Uh, good idea. Shouldn't keep the students waiting." Aurora added, "Shall we discuss this during dinner this evening?"
Snape nodded and almost ran out the door. The Bloody Baron, who had followed Snape and had been listening by the open door the entire time, barely had time to float through the wall before the Potions Master charged past him and down the stairs.
To be continued
Part 8
--------------------------------
About the same time as Sirius Black was spitting his Wizard Wheaties onto Remus Lupin's face, Professor Severus Snape was sitting glumly in his chair at the breakfast table in the Great Hall at Hogwarts and wondering if the world had gone mad.
If Snape had thought the day before that his life was running out of his control faster than the Hogwarts Express without a driver, that morning his life jumped the rails and derailed. When the morning mail arrived at Hogwarts, Snape discovered the true meaning of chaos.
Snape hadn't realised just how many teachers and students had the news-scroll delivered daily. He sat silently in his chair as questions and conversations erupted around him. He stared fixedly into his bowl of Rice Pop'n'Wizz Fizzies and wished he could apparate to anywhere but the Great Hall. He could have stood up and walked from the room but by the time that thought came to mind his infamous stubborn streak had taken over. There was no way that he was going to let the students and the other teachers make him leave the room unless he wanted to leave.
He listened to the shocked tones of the teachers' voices as, with his gaze fixed on his food, as he determinedly ate his breakfast. He succeeded in ignoring the words and stares from students and teachers alike until a muffled giggle drew his attention. He looked towards giggler and saw Professors Sprout, Flitwick and, surprisingly, McGonagall leaning conspiratorially over a copy of 'The Daily Prophet'. They kept looking over at him and Flitwick was giggling behind his hand.
"Most unprofessional," said Rolanda Hooch. "You can't play the game fairly without an equal start." Hooch's firm voice echoed across the table. The Flying Instructor threw her copy of 'The Daily Prophet' to Snape, earning her a gentle smile of approval from Dumbledore.
Snape nodded his thanks and bit back a smirk at the grumbles from Sprout and Flitwick, and the imperious glare from McGonagall.
Severus opened 'The Daily Prophet' and began to read.
~~~~~~~~
"Oh my!" The Fat Friar exclaimed as he read 'The Daily Prophet' over Justin Finch-Fletchley's shoulder. "Oh my, oh my, oh my!"
Over at the Gryffindor table, Sir Nicholas was listening to Hermione Granger read out the gossip article. The girl was peppering her reading with comments like 'well really' and 'almost as bad as Rita Skeeter'.
Sir Nicholas was watching the Bloody Baron. "That old Spectre has got something to do with this," thought Sir Nick, "I can feel it in my ether."
The Bloody Baron sat silently and gloated.
~~~~~~~~
'Bammmm!' The heavy door to the Astronomy Professor's room slammed open.
Professor Sinistra jerked awake, sat up in her bed and blinked owlishly. "What happened? Who died?"
The only reply was the sound of heavy breathing.
Sinistra wiped the sleep from her eyes and glowered at the figure in the doorway. Snape was leaning on the doorframe and gasping for air.
"You pervert!" Aurora picked up her wand and aimed it at the Potions Master.
"I," puff, "am not a," puff, "pervert." Snape threw Hooch's copy of 'The Daily Prophet' to Sinistra. It fell short, landing on the floor. Snape shrugged and rested his face against the doorframe.
Sinistra suddenly understood and chuckled. "Did you run up all those stairs?"
Still puffing, Snape nodded slightly.
Still chuckling, Sinistra summoned 'The Daily Prophet' and her ratty old bathrobe. She shrugged into the robe then climbed out of bed and began reading the news-scroll.
"So? Why the rush?" She waved the scroll at Snape. "It's just an announcement."
Severus stomped over from the door. "There!" He pointed at the gossip column. He watched Aurora read the article, her face becoming more thunderous by the second and she was making the familiar clicking sound with her tongue that told how angry she was.
"The whole school knows." Snape said quietly.
Sinistra calmly handed him the news-scroll.
"Excuse me a moment." She walked over to dinted waste-parchment bin and transfigured into a punching bag with the face of The Daily Prophet's gossip columnist, Eve S Dropper, drawn on it. Sinistra took a deep breath and then kicked the punching bag repeatedly. Eventually she hobbled back towards the bed, transfiguring the bag back into its former shape.
Snape smirked down at Sinistra's bruised toes and over at the very dinted waste-parchment bin.
"Don't you start," Aurora grumbled. "It's bad enough that this," she pointed at Dropper's picture, "this excuse for a - a -. Oh darn it, I'm so angry I can't even swear properly!" Aurora sat down heavily on the bed.
"What are we going to do?" her voice was quiet and shaky.
"Not what they want." Severus said coldly, he had gained control of his breathing during Aurora's assault on the punching bag. "I do not like being manipulated, particularly by amateurs."
"I used to have a decent reputation." She sniffed and wiped her eyes with the heel of her hand. "If I was a meek little Hufflepuff I'd resign and let you save your reputation. But I'm not and I won't!"
"You will fight?"
"Yes. It is my life and I don't like other people running it." She squared her jaw and looked up at Snape. "It is past time they did the running."
"You may end up as hated as I." Severus replied, inwardly surprised at the young woman's determination.
"Not everyone hates you, Severus. The Slytherin students think you're cool."
Snape blinked at that reply then began to pace the room. "We will start by not commenting." He stopped pacing close to the bed. "There must be a legal way out of this. And if not - "
"If not we'll find an illegal one." Sinistra replied.
"Spoken like a true Slytherin." Snape sat down beside the Astronomy Professor. "We will have to face a lot of questions from the students."
"We can handle them. It's the teachers and this," she pointed at the news-scroll in Snape's hand, "that worry me."
Snape nodded. Both Professors sat in companionable silence for a few moments, their minds full of the possible outcomes of the gossip article. Snape was imagining trying to explain the situation to Voldemort and Malfoy while Sinistra was imagining what her very proper mentor at the Wizarding Astronomers And Stargazers Unified Procedures Society (WASSUPS) would have to say on the matter.
"Dropper insulted both of us." Snape hissed.
"We'll get even, somehow." Sinistra added, patting his shoulder with her hand. "Hey, don't you have a class?"
Snape nodded and then it suddenly occurred to him that he was in Aurora Sinistra's room, sitting on her bed and she was wearing her nightclothes. If anyone one was to see the pair of them like this they could make some big and improper assumptions.
"I should be going!" He leapt to his feet as though scalded.
"Uh, good idea. Shouldn't keep the students waiting." Aurora added, "Shall we discuss this during dinner this evening?"
Snape nodded and almost ran out the door. The Bloody Baron, who had followed Snape and had been listening by the open door the entire time, barely had time to float through the wall before the Potions Master charged past him and down the stairs.
To be continued