Chapter nine is posted! Yay!
Detention with Severus Snape
"Albus, what can it be?" A distant voice asked.
"I know as much as you do, Minerva." Dumbledore answered.
"But that wall of snakes! How could it have possibly…" McGonagall's voice trailed off. "No student in Hogwarts is powerful enough to create that wall, Albus. This is the work of dark wizards!"
"I think it may be the work of Lord Voldemort." Dumbledore answered, calmly.
"No!" McGonagall disagreed. "It is impossible for him to even enter the castle! All of the extra enchantments that you added to the castle since Harry Potter's arrival, not to mention the ancient ones that have guarded it for centuries-"
"I shall say it once more, I know as much as you do. For now we must let Miss Thompson and Mr Fox rest."
Maria could feel Dumbledore's penetrating stare on the back of her head, but her eyes remained shut tight.
"Ah, Mr Fox, awake already." Dumbledore smiled. Despite herself, Maria flipped over and saw Aiden pushing himself to sit upright on his bed. "This is convenient. I was off to my office to greet the Minister for Magic, who seems to have heard of this unfortunate mishaps…"
Aiden allowed Dumbledore to trail off and become lost in his thoughts for a few moments before he interjected. "Uh, Professor Dumbledore, what happened?"
Dumbledore looked startled at his presence, as though seeing him for the first time. Then he smiled warily, the lines on his face becoming more apparent as the candles on the wall flickered across his old looking face. "I was afraid of this."
"Afraid of what, headmaster?" Maria asked, kindly. Her head was groggy, and her memory was faulty.
Dumbledore disregarded her question. Instead, he asked, "Miss Thompson, please recount in great detail the last thing that you remember."
Maria racked her brain. "I was in the Gryffindor common room. I was working on an essay that Snape-"
"Professor Snape." Dumbledore corrected.
Maria blushed, sheepishly. "Yes, an essay that Professor Snape set me. It was really late; everyone else had already gone to bed. And then- and then Aiden came downstairs. He said he couldn't sleep."
"And then…" Dumbledore asked, expectantly.
"That's it." Maria finished, lamely. "That's all I can remember."
"Mr Fox, can you recount anything after that?"
Aiden shrugged. "That's about all I can remember, too."
"I see." Dumbledore said. He surveyed them through his half-moon spectacles for a few more moments until he began to explain. "For some reason, you two were out of bed. It was fortunate I was up as well. I was strolling along the corridor, heading to the kitchen for a nice hot cocoa. As I can recall, Dobby the house-elf makes excellent hot cocoa-"
Dobby the house-elf, Maria thought. I've heard of him. But it feels as though there's something more to do with him…
"Well, I was heading for the north side of the castle when I noticed a green haze of smoke. It was actually poisonous gas, being discharged by a wall of enormous snakes. Luckily I spotted the two of you across corridor. It looked as though the poison had forced the door to the Room of Requirement open-"
"The Room of Requirement?" Maria enquired.
"That is what the name of the small broom cupboard in which you two sheltered yourselves in is called."
Aiden looked revolted at the thought of being in a broom cupboard with Maria. "I don't remember a broom cupboard!" he cried, indignantly.
"Yes, of course." Dumbledore said, continuing with his story. "I used a summoning charm to call you two over as quick as possible; it was the only way I could save you. However, you had to pass through the poison and I wasn't sure if you'd make it. But Madam Pomfrey says you're going to be just fine." He smiled.
"Won't the poison be spreading through the school?" Maria asked, looking horrified.
"Oh no, for some reason it only seems to be surrounding the wall of snakes. This can be nothing good. No, nothing good at all…" Dumbledore once again trailed off. After a few moments he stood up abruptly. "I must get going, Cornelius will be waiting for me in my office. Madam Pomfrey will tend to you." With one last grieved smile, Dumbledore swept out of the room.
After Madam Pomfrey had forced a bottle of unlabeled antidote down both of their throats and left the room huffily muttering about how unsafe Hogwarts was becoming, Maria glanced over at Aiden. He looked confused.
"I don't get it." He said. "I just can't remember anything. And Dumbledore said that name- Dobby- and it sounded really familiar. But I haven't heard it before. At least, I don't think I have."
"I'm as lost as you." Maria nodded. "What is up with this wall of snakes? And Dumbledore said it could be You-Know-Who behind it all. You-Know-Who can't be in the castle, can he?"
"No, I don't reckon he can." Aiden commented. "Like Dumbledore said, there's all sorts of enchantments around the castle, forbidding Dark Arts to occur."
"Could it have been a Death Eater-"
"I don't reckon so." Aiden said. "That seems like a very powerful spell. I think only Voldemort-"
Maria gasped. "What is wrong with you?" she hissed. "Don't say the name!"
"Don't get your knickers in a twist." Aiden said, carelessly. "Harry, Hermione and Dumbledore say it, so you should learn to, too."
Maria rolled her eyes. She was extremely tired; most of the effect from the poison was wearing off, thanks to Madam Pomfrey's antidotes, but she still felt drowsy and sick. She rolled over and faced the opposite direction of Aiden, then immediately fell into a dreamless sleep.
The next morning, Maria had several visitors. Madam Pomfrey refused to release either one of them, insisting that they need a good day's rest in the hospital wing. However, this did not refrain Hermione, Harry, Ron, Faye, Jacie, and Madison from visiting her throughout the day. Hermione, Harry and Ron seemed much quieter than usual after Maria told her the exact account of what had happened. She could almost see the wheel's turning in their brains, trying to fit the pieces together. But by the time they had left, Maria could tell that they were no nearer to solving this mystery than she was. Dumbledore had sealed off the entire north side of the castle; Transfiguration and Trelawney's Divination classes had to be relocated to the south side of the castle, much to Trelawney's dismay. Maria had heard her complaining about how her room was where she could See the best, and it gave off a magical, foreseeing aura that helped the students to study the subject better. He had also forbidden anyone from going near it, if they did not want to die a most horrible death.
Aiden also had many visitors; several first-year Ravenclaw girls and even a couple of second-year Hufflepuff girls had come to visit him. Maria glared over at all of them; she just couldn't figure Aiden out. At times he seemed so mysterious, but at other times he could be an obnoxious downright pain in the butt. Maria could not stand the irritating giggles of the girls, so she rolled around, clamped a pillow over her ear as tight as she could and drifted off to sleep.
Once they were released from the hospital wing, classes had already been in progress. Maria interrupted a Potions lesson with her return.
"Sorry sir, I was in the hospital-"
"Ten points from Gryffindor." Snape smirked nastily, completely disregarding Maria's valid excuse for her tardiness. "Where is my essay?"
Maria smacked her fist to her forehead. She had completely forgotten the essay!
"Well, you see sir, I was doing the essay when-"
"Another ten points and a detention, Miss Thompson. Further neglect of homework in this class will earn you a month's worth of detention and a failing grade, do you understand?"
Maria glared at Snape, loathing him equally as much as he loathed her. "Yes, sir." She replied, holding her tongue.
The rest of Potions went by miserably. Maria ruined her potion, but managed to salvage a little bit of it by adding a pinch of powdered newt spine; at least it was now a darker blue compared to the baby blue it was before.
Snape ordered Maria to stay after class to arrange her detention. She was to clean each jar on the shelves of Snape's office by hand, inside and out.
"Urgh!" Ron cried, disgusted. "Do you have any idea how disgusting those jars are? He has eyes and animal parts and things in them-"
Maria looked revolted, causing Ron to shut up immediately.
By the time eight o' clock rolled around, it was time for Maria to say goodbye to her friends and head down to Snape's office, alone. She walked sullenly through the corridors, going as slow as possible as though it would help make the evening disappear quicker. Snape's office was right off of the north side of the castle; however, it was more considered to be in the middle, because his classes were not relocated due to the wall of snakes. Maria caught a glimpse of the green haze under the temporary wall that Dumbledore had used to seal off the north side of the castle.
"What are you doing, Thompson?" a voice spat.
Maria veered around and spotted Dru emerging from the dungeons, which is where the Slytherin common room is.
"I don't think that's any of your business, Delaney." Maria replied, coldly. But she couldn't help thinking about something. Dru's presence was strange to Maria; she felt as though she had seen her somewhere before. Obviously she had, since they had lessons together. However, it wasn't lessons she was referring to; her memory tried to trigger some sort of explanation, but nothing came.
"Where were you last night?" Maria asked.
Dru's eyes opened wide; she looked horrified at the question, but covered up her shock quickly. "And I don't think that is any of your business." And with that, Dru turned on her heel and left in the direction she was headed in before.
Maria glared at her before realizing that she had a detention. She hurriedly rushed down the stone steps and across a long corridor until she reached a tall oak door, labeled Professor Severus Snape. With complete bitterness, she knocked and then entered without waiting for a response.
Snape was sitting at his desk. "You're late. Five points from Gryffindor."
Maria glared at him, unable to speak through gritted teeth. Oh, how I would just love to…
"Now, you are from a muggle family, are you not?" Snape enquired.
"Yes." Maria replied, sharply.
"Good, so you are aware how to clean the muggle way. Here," (Snape indicated a bunch of cleaning supplies) "are the muggle's methods of cleaning. Get to work."
Maria was so angry that the first jar she cleaned broke, causing Snape to take another five points. She continued to clean the jars, trying to withhold her anger, until something caught her eye. She glanced over at Snape, who was lazily marking essays and looking as though he marked each one with a failing grade.
"Abysmal idiots." He muttered under his breath. But right behind his head, standing six feet tall was a snake. By the looks of it, it was one of the snakes from the wall closing off the north side of the tower, but this one looked as though it could be a baby.
"Is my detention beginning to have an effect on you?" Snape asked Thompson, grinning nastily at the look of revolt on her face as she stared at him.
"Sir, it's-" she began to point, but Snape hushed her.
"Get back to work, you still have several jars to finish. Do not interrupt me. I, unlike you, am busy with important work." Snape said.
Maria stared at the huge snake hovering over Snape. It was about to strike, she could tell by its poise and by the glare in its eye.
Maria stood up from where she was crouching on the floor. She withdrew her wand and pointed it straight at the snake. However, Snape was under the impression that she was aiming it at him.
"What are you doing, you silly girl!" Snape cried, shrilly. He reached for his wand.
"Destrium!" Maria cried. Red sparks shout out from Maria's wand, heading straight for the snake. She meant it to shrivel up and disappear, but the spell did not seem to be powerful enough. The snake was still hit by the spell, though, and it got sent backwards a few feet, which was enough to make it leave Snape alone.
However, the snake was angry. It glared at Maria through its cold eyes, ready to strike her next. Instead, it spit out the same green poisonous gas that surrounds the north side of the castle directly at her. The next thing she knew, she had fallen unconscious onto the cold, stone floor of Professor Snape's office.
Thank you so much for reading it! I really hope you enjoyed, my purpose is to serve my audience and make sure they're happy! So, if you're happy (or angry, miserable, disgusted with the story) then review!!! The little button in the bottom, left handed corner….