Chapter Seventeen: The Detention in the North Tower

The day went by pretty slowly. Double Transfiguration saw us going up a step, changing quills to fountain pens, what I had been doing in the library at what seemed like a long time ago. Jim and I completed the transfiguring, then spent our extra few minutes tossing the pens at each other using the simple spell Wingardium Leviosa. McGonagall observed us and asked, ¡°Do you two practice your magic all the time?¡± I answered yes, whenever we could. She thought for a while, then told us that there was a coming wizard¡¯s duel club that we could be a part of. There were age divisions, and we could go against people in other Houses for extra House Points. It sounded interesting. McGonagall said that it was going to be held every Tuesday after school and Saturday as from the first week after the Christmas holidays. The only drawback was that it was supervised and tallied by Snape. Well, she didn¡¯t say that, but that was how Jim put it.

When school ended, Jim and I went to dinner as usual. Apparently Snape hadn¡¯t told anybody about our detentions because pretty much nobody stared at us or made any snide comments. So dinner went by almost normally. At six pm, Jim and I were dueling in the Owlery while Torque snoozed above. Jim did a rather violent spell, and it knocked me right down on the straw-strewn floor. ¡°Jim! Ouch!¡± Oops. Sorry. I guess I was thinking too much about Snape and how bad the detention¡¯s going to be. ¡°Jim, this is the whole point of us dueling right now. We¡¯re not supposed to be thinking about it. And anyway, it won¡¯t be that bad.¡± Jim barked a laugh. Ha! Yeah, and my gran says that detention sees you chained to the wall of a bottomless pit in the Forbidden Forest for four days! While the magical beasts try to gouge you from it! ¡°Jim, the rules ought to have changed by now. You have to agree that your gran¡¯s days have long since been over, and surely they¡¯d be more considerate about punishment now.¡± He didn¡¯t look so sure. He cast another spell, and I crashed into the wall beside me.

The Great Hall looked barren and empty when we entered it. Much of the light was gone, and the only places that were lit up were a few spots along the walls where low-burning torches were held. We reached the front of the room and looked around. There was no sign of Snape, and it was already going towards ten minutes past eight.

Do you think something¡¯s wrong? ¡°It¡¯s Snape. Nothing¡¯s ever wrong. We just must be in the wrong place or something.¡± For the first time I hope not. I don¡¯t want another detention from Snape. I said nothing to that. I didn¡¯t know if I wanted the same thing.

At that moment, something bumped behind us. Jim leapt, and exclaimed, What was that?! It was the wall behind the teachers¡¯ table. A large, rectangular part of it was slowly sliding away, siphoning dust through the still air, with a low rumble to reveal what seemed like an opening to another room. As we stared, Snape¡¯s lean, thin figure came into view. He looked at us through the cloud of dust, and a slight sneer overcame his face.

¡°Late, children?¡±

Well how were we supposed to know there was a secret doorway we had to go through? Jim¡¯s thought to me was annoyed and skeptical.

¡°I think this serves for another detention, don¡¯t you?¡±

Jim¡¯s mouth dropped to the floor. Snape turned and walked into the room out of our sight. I nudged Jim, and we followed him in.

The room was large, and dusty. Everywhere we looked dust coated the surface of this, or dust collected in cracks of that. There was a single wall, or refuge island, in the middle of the room in front of which were ancient-looking stone heads mounted on pedestals. Portraits covered the walls, all showing sleeping figures in dull coloured robes or frozen in time battling ferocious beasts. Not exactly frozen, since nearly every painting or picture in the wizarding world tended to move around a lot, even into others¡¯ frames. The ancient things stretched all the way up to the ceiling, and i wondered how Snape expected us to ¨C

¡°Clean it up,¡± Snape ordered, sweeping his arm over the whole place. ¡°Make sure that it is spotless. Pity, this, that no one has bothered to keep our Hall of Fame tidy for the future generations of the school. Not that,¡± he sneered,¡°any of you dunderheads would want to acknowledge anything as historic as this.¡±

Jim sighed. I began to pull my wand out of my pocket, but Snape glared. ¡°No, Ms Rastrick. Today you will abide by the Muggle ways of cleaning.¡± At his words, a pair of dustpans and brooms appeared at his feet. He began to walk out of the chamber, but he turned at the doorway. ¡°If I hear as much as a magic wave of a wand, you can be assured that you will receive another detention.¡± He stepped out, and the wall slid back behind him.

Jim sighed again, and looked up at the walls. How the hell are we supposed to get up there?

Progress was slow. Jim frowned the whole time he was pushing the broom across the floor, looking even more depressed as he sneezed in all the dust he brought up. Things were made worse by the portraits themselves. A lot of them groaned and complained when Jim swiped over their faces with his brush. Others were more appreciating, and blessed us for coming along to clean them after such a long while since the last ones. Then they discovered that we were only there because of a detention and they grumbled about insolent students.

I didn¡¯t mind. I ignored the portraits and the stone heads, and whistled as I worked. Jim gave me a horrified look as if he thought ¨C Are you actually enjoying this? ¡°No, Jim. But think of it this way ¨C at least we¡¯re not being dangled above a bottomless pit in the Forbidden Forest.¡± He looked at the wall we had come through and leant onto his broom. Maybe if we just used a tiny bit of magic. He wouldn¡¯t know, would he, if we just used a tiny bit¡­ ¡°Better not risk it, Jim. Look, we¡¯ve still got to do the ceiling.¡± How the hell are we supposed to do that? All we¡¯ve got are dustpans and brooms. I shrugged, just as the doors in the Great Hall opened with a small creak that was deafening in the silent Hall. At first I reckoned that Snape was going for a bathroom break, but then Jim pressed his ear to the wall out of his own boredom and said suddenly, Hey, there¡¯s someone in there with Snape. Interested, I propped my broom against the head of Professor Kipkin of Horkley (¡°Of all the rude things!¡± he cried) and joined Jim at the wall to listen.

It took a few seconds to detect a second voice in the Hall, somewhere just outside the wall. I groaned when I had distinguished the young, lively tones. ¡°It¡¯s Duckett, that idiot. What¡¯s he doing annoying my Snape?¡± I was ready to get back to work when suddenly I got an urge to eavesdrop ¨C my troublesome self had broken to my mind again. I tried to catch the conversation.

Duckett seemed to think that the last thing Snape wanted was to be left alone. I heard the sound of someone patting someone very hard on the shoulder, and Duckett¡¯s voice going, ¡°Well, Severus, fancy finding you here! I guess I don¡¯t have the Hall to myself after all. I¡¯ll just keep you company, shall I? Or are you in one of your self-pity states again?¡±

Snape, to my delight, sounded very annoyed. His voice was definitely lower. ¡°I do not have self-pity states, Aidan. What are you doing here?¡± ¡°Oh, just out for a stroll. Looking around the school actually¡­you¡¯ll never grow out of thinking how magnificent the school is at night, especially the Great Hall. I was thinking of getting supper later on, if you would like to join me. Now what might the Potions master be doing here, my turn to ask.¡± ¡°I am simply here because I have to supervise a detention. Kora Rastrick and Jim Rickman are cleaning up the Hall of Fame this very moment.¡± There was a pause, then Duckett spoke. His tone had gone quieter, and he didn¡¯t sound too cheerful anymore.

¡°From Gryffindor? What have they done?¡± ¡°I caught them walking around on the third floor after lights out, no doubt looking for trouble. Believe me, I gave it to them.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Duckett tsk-tsked. ¡°I was waiting for that moment to happen. Those two did seem to have an aura of dilemma around them, didn¡¯t they?¡± ¡°Yes¡­¡±

Go, Snape, I thought. He didn¡¯t seem too keen on talking about us.

¡°You don¡¯t suppose they were¡­¡± Duckett must have made some sort of obscene gesture, because Snape quickly said in a louder, more incredulous manner, ¡°I doubt it! Aidan, they are only barely in their first year. I don¡¯t know how you could get such ideas ¨C¡± ¡°All in good curiosity, Severus,¡± Duckett said respectively. ¡°The girl¡¯s family is wrong in the head, you know.¡±

Snape sniffed, in what I thought was disapproval. ¡°Indeed. My opinion is that they¡¯re different this once. Kora won¡¯t let us down, I don¡¯t imagine. She¡¯s a brilliant student, quite ¨C¡± ¡°¨C quite like all those before her? Yes, Severus, you never know, she might turn out cursed, just like the fate that lies before her. That girl is not to be trusted. And that young boy Jim¡­who knows what must have lured him to her, after that hustle about his parents and her father.¡± ¡°I do think that their friendship is genuine, Aidan,¡± Snape said sharply, then lowered his voice. ¡°I have them in my classes. I would have noticed if some form of mind-taking was going on, Aidan. You and I both know that.¡± ¡°I have them in my classes as well, Severus, and I say that Jim has been pulled into this too far.¡± ¡°And what do you suggest we do, Aidan, pull these too apart? Kora is bonafide, I say that much. She won¡¯t be causing us any trouble. And Jim¡­do you know what that boy used to do in his spare time a few months before? Shooting down gnats at the lake with his wand, and doing nothing but read in the library. They both still do that now, but at least they have company in each other.¡±

Duckett¡¯s next sentence was pure rubbish. He said quietly, ¡°What would you know about friendships, Severus?¡±

There was silence. Even Jim had a slight look on his face like he couldn¡¯t believe it. We both jumped back as the wall began to crumble to the side once more ¨C by the time Snape had come through it we were back where we had previously been dusting, trying to act as if we hadn¡¯t moved at all. Duckett was gone; behind Snape the doors of the Great Hall were just creaking to a close.

Snape looked over the place with a slight turn of his head. I saw a tiny part of his face twitch, and he said in his dreary old trademark tone, ¡°Your next detention is the Friday of next week. Be sure that you get to the trophy room before eight p.m. Otherwise¡­¡± Yes, Snape, I thought as I looked admiringly at his long black robes. We know what would happen, and I¡¯ll make sure that we¡¯re late.

No you won¡¯t, Jim warned me, as if reading my mind.