Here we go, Chapter 16: Detention and Defense Against the Dark Arts

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"You missed a spot."

Malfoy scowled from his position, which happened to be kneeling over a dark stain on the floor, sponge in hand.

Snape looked up from behind him. "Don't provoke him, Potter."

Harry rolled his eyes before putting the Pixie Dust into the sizzling cauldron. "What now, Professor?"

"Stir it twenty times clockwise, then twenty times counterclockwise."

Vanella was at a different station with a different potion, adding in three Eyes of Newt. "After the Eyes of Newt, Professor?" she called.

Snape looked up from his own bubbling cauldron. "It should be black; is it?"

The girl looked down, then told him it was.

"Stir it counterclockwise for exactly two minutes, then add the Dragon Scale I supplied you with."

Vanella nodded, conjured up a stopwatch, and began to stir. Across the room, Harry was switching directions.

Ron Weasley was leaning over a burn mark on a table. "Professor, I can't get this off with a sponge."

"Of course not. But you still have to wash it."

He began scrubbing at the mark Neville Longbottom made on the first day, grumbling under his breath. He was forced to be there because of his little spell on Malfoy, and the fact that Dumbledore made McGonagall give him just punishment. Detention for a week with Snape and Potter. Ugh. He felt as though someone put the Sickness Spell on him.

"I'm done stirring Professor." It was Harry.

"Add in the Phoenix Feather and back off quickly. Wait, is the potion green?"

Harry looked at it. "Yes, sir."

"Good then. Add the feather and run away."

Harry was puzzled at this, but did what he was told. As soon as the Feather touched the surface of the green potion, he ran a few desks over.

Watching it, he didn't see anything happening. He began to move towards it again.

"Potter, no!"

He stopped in his tracks. Then the awaited reaction happened. The potion floated--floated-- right out of the cauldron. It was now a golden color, shimmering and glowing. It had little specs of silver light shining through it, making it one of the most beautiful things in the world. Hanging in the air, it took the shape of a phoenix, and began flying around the room. It moved with speed and grace, with a great wingspan and aerodynamic body. After three laps around the room followed by ten awed eyes, it stopped above the cauldron it had recently emerged from and turned back into a glowing ball, before splashing back down into the cauldron.

Harry walked over to look at the shimmering potion, but was disturbed by Vanella's stopwatch going off.

Realization came over Snape's face, but not before-

**BOOM!**

Vanella's cauldron exploded. She was sent flying backwards into a table, and most of the contents of the potion were sent soaring into the ceiling of the dungeon.

Snape composed himself and walked over. "Are you hurt?" he asked, brusque.

She tried to get up. "No, no.  Maybe, a little. Just a little sore." She felt her back where she had slammed into the side of the table, and moaned. "Oh, there's going to be a bruise there," she whined. She got to her feet, then abruptly fell back down.

"The effects of the potion. Did you, per chance, inhale some of it?"

She arched her back and tried to get a sense of where it hurt most. She was confused, because her legs definitely did not hurt, yet she couldn't stand. "Maybe. It's possible."

Snape conjured up a stepladder. "Weasley, get to that spot," he said, pointing at the purple gel stuck to the ceiling. He conjured up a Muggle- fashioned stretcher. "Potter, help me get her to Madame Pomfrey."

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After the struggle of getting Vanella to the hospital wing, finding out that she would be, at least, spending the night, and returning to the dungeons, Snape declared that detention was dismissed. The three boys that were left exited the dungeons in an autopilot route to their common rooms, leaving Snape alone in the Potions classroom. He had work to do.

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Harry trudged to breakfast the next morning in a bad mood. He'd had a strange nightmare, and he wasn't too happy about it. Adding to that, Vanella wasn't back from the Hospital Wing yet, and he had double History of Magic with the completely-boring-Binns first thing in the morning. It wasn't even nine o'clock in the morning and it was already a horrible day.

"Why, good morning, Potter. How was your sleep?"

Harry grumbled under his breath at Draco Malfoy's cheeriness before sitting down across the table and munching on eggs and bacon.

"It was fine, Malfoy. Wonderfully fine. And yours?"

They continued with the daily ritual: sarcastically friendly small talk. After eating breakfast, Harry walked into the History of Magic classroom, scowl firmly in place and Malfoy on his heel. Sitting at his desk, alone, he took out his little pouch and enlarged his History of Magic book.

As soon as it was time for the class to start, the ghostly teacher began his drawling lecture, lulling most of the class to sleep.

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After being yelled at for sleeping in class three times, the period was finally over. Harry put his book away and trudged heavily up to his Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

Vanella was there, this time. Two large sticks were leaning against their table; Harry recognized them as Muggle crutches. Harry gave her a questioning glance before sitting down in the chair next to her.

"The potion I was making caused me to lose feeling in my legs. Madame Pomfrey says there's nothing I can do. She said it would wear off in twenty-four to thirty-six hours, but until then I need to use these things to walk. And you need to help."

Harry nodded and un-shrunk his Defense Against the Dark Arts book. Quirrell sat at his desk in front of the class, watching him. Harry met is eyes and winced. The sharp pain in his forehead was gone as soon as it came. Quirrell quickly averted his eyes and glanced at the lesson plans sitting on his desk.

Harry looked questioningly at the Professor that was avoiding his eyes before turning back to Vanella.

"...and she says that that's why I'm paralyzed. Harry? Harry!"

Harry caught the last bit of her segment and said, "What...?"

"Are you listening to me?" she asked angrily.

Harry shook his head. "Yes. No. I don't know." He furrowed his eyebrows. "Do you know anything about Professor Quirrell?"

She shrugged, with an apathetic look and said, "No, of course not. Why?"

Harry shook his head again. "No reason, just... wondering." He said the last word at almost a whisper, talking to the hands that were resting on his lap.

Quirrell stood, beginning the lesson.

"Today, s-s-students, we'll be learning a few defensive spells. Now, these are just basic spells; n-nothing that would defend you against an Unforgivable, or per say, the F-f-flaming Insides curse." He shot a look at Vanella and Harry before continuing. "These are more like what M-mr. Potter used against Mr. Weasley, and o-o-others like that."

Hermione raised her hand from the Gryffindor side.

"Yes, M-m-miss Granger?"

"What exactly did Harry use against Ron?"

With a small chuckle, Harry remembered that Hermione wasn't there to see Ron defeated.

"Mr. Potter, why d-d-don't you tell her."

Harry cleared his throat. "The Glass Wall spell, where a window of deflective glass is placed in front of the caster, repelling any curses thrown at said defendant," Harry recited, from his Defense Against the Dark Arts book.

Professor Quirrell started for a second before turning back to Hermione. "T-t-that sums it up, Miss Granger. He r-repelled Mr. Weasley's curse in defense of himself. Wonderful job if I do say so m-m-myself."

Harry smiled and Ron groaned. Hermione rolled her eyes.

Quirrell moved on with the lesson, pairing people up. "Ron and H- hermione," he said, expelling another groan from Ron. Harry smiled despite himself. Poor Ron, paired up with the Jr. Know-It-All.

"Harry and..." Quirrell furrowed his eyebrows. "Vanella c-cannot work t- today?"

Vanella stiffened. "Of course I can."

"Y-y-you must stand for t-these spells. Y-you cannot hold yourself up and p-protect yourself as well."

Vanella pursed her lips. He was right, of course. She rolled her eyes.

"Harry and D-d-draco."

Harry looked over. Pansy was absent once again. Hmm, convenient of her to be sick when Vanella was incapable of working, Harry pondered dully.

"Y-y-you may use your own s-spells originally, the ones that w-will be blocked. N-nothing harmful or you will be g-given d-d-detention."

Ooo, this should be fun... Harry thought.

Vitesse hissed quietly from inside his robes. "Don't do anything stupid, Harry..."

Harry grinned evilly.

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Author's Note: Okay, here goes: I AM REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, TERRIBLY SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE! I had some familial issues to deal with, I swear, which has been consuming most of my thoughts lately. I'm not going to go into details, but I had quite a bit of thinking to do. Not to mention the fact that I'm about three weeks behind on my Algebra 2 work, and, considering that we are about three weeks into the quarter, that is really horrible. I swear, I'm six-feet-under with little hope of recovery.

Anyway, Vanella's injury serves no purpose other than to make Harry bored enough to go on escapades and discover the Mirror of Erised. Please do not come to the conclusion that she is a Mary Sue because I injured her. It is merely for the benefit of my somewhat-thought-out plot. In the next chapter the Mirror of Erised comes into play, and the stage is set for Halloween. Trolls! Yay!

If there are tons of grammatical and/or spelling errors in this chapter, excuse me. I was in a hurry during most of it because of the two weeks since my last update and my incredible guiltiness because of it...

Alright, reviewers. Nine today, because they all had time... (sorry again!)...

starangel2106: Thank you again! It is difficult... but I think that it may be stopped soon. After two weeks will you hold it against me? Really, really sorry about that. Really. Anyway, yep. Long night for our sweet little Mr. Malfoy...

BlackSparrow: Harry and Ron may get along eventually... anything's possible.... Sorry about the late update... I know I said it already but I'm not sure I can say it enough. Thanks though!

Hakkai - Gojyo - Goku - Sanzo: Malfoy can definitely be a git sometimes. But others... well, who knows how Malfoy will turn out? This could get interesting.... I like Severus, too. I know he's out of character, but just a bit... okay, a lot..., but anyways, I like him like this.

shirriez: Thanks, me too! I like Snape like this even if he is a bit different than he is in the books. It seems like he's a bit more... human, maybe? Well, anyway, Vanella seems to be a bit out-of-control. She wants what she wants and gets it, but is still willing to stand up for what she believes in. I suppose she doesn't like cursing, since she tortures people, yet stands up for the same person when she is insulted. Oh, well. I guess we'll have to see! And thank you! It's really good to hear that someone loves the story; it feels good. Anyway, enjoy the chapter, next is the Mirror of Erised.

leggylover03: Thank you, and your welcome. I don't know when it'll be... soon, hopefully, but I will do an alternate. Fun, fun, fun, honestly. I don't know... I kind of like Slytherins... (LOL)

ReflectionsOfReality: First Review: I know she fits some definitions. She fits 1 and 2. for number 3, I don't quite understand what it means, which could be caused because of my stupidity or not, but I honestly don't know if she fits it. Number 4, she does not have a god-like status. Getting hurt in this chapter is, like I said, essential to my existing plot line. That is all. Number 5, I was thinking about that. I can't see why her being killed by her father would make her a Mary Sue, but I was, honestly, thinking about her being killed eventually. But then, everybody dies eventually. Number 6, HELL NO. She will never have a relationship with a cannon character. Nor, I believe (haven't gotten everything in my plot set out definitely yet), will she become a matchmaker. I don't believe in the sort. Heh, heh. As for number 7, I don't think so. The only things I really accent are her eyes, and that's because I love eyes. Sapphire, Emerald, Ruby, Hazel. Hell, even Chocolate-Mocha colored eyes. I think eyes are very important to a human being. By reading someone's eyes, you read someone's soul. Well it's a good thing it's not derogatory, even though it doesn't matter too much to me. Maybe she is a Mary Sue, maybe not. But, I believe, in her case, if she is, it is not in a negative sense. Oh, well. Maybe that's just me. Okay, Second Review: Bloody Americans? Sorry about the Philosopher's Stone versus the Sorcerer's Stone thing, but I was just using what it says in my Harry Potter book (THE SORCERER'S STONE!). Anyway, I see now. But I've already started with the Sorcerer's Stone, and, since that's what it says in my book, that's what I'm going to use. Alright, on the to the Third Review: Yes, different circumstances, different possibilities. I know, but... well, I guess I'm just deciding things as they come. I didn't want to change his owl. The chances are slim to none, I know, but I'm writing as if the cannon never existed, with the same plot line -- er, well, very, very loosely the same plot line. Therefore, Hedwig is in it. What can I say. Okay, Harry's photographic memory... I think that it's definitely possible. And I like it. Harry having a photographic memory will definitely come in handy for him and me. As for Ron... I would have looked up some spells and curses if I had lost a fight like that, so I figured that would be good for him. Give him some incentive for learning. He and Hermione are not friends... yet. Harry's intervention and the troll scene are still to come, so who's to say? Weasley temper and house loyalties are to blame for his actions as of yet. Thank you. I know I've said it before, but I hope to carry this story for miles on end. Anyway, thanks again.

Hermione88220: Thank you! Okay, Malfoy's sneer... That must have been a slip of the fingers or a slip of the brain. Chances are I meant to say scowled and made a minor mishap. Oh, well. Maybe I was just being an idiot. Who's to say? Anyway, Vitesse and Hedwig will be seen more later, when Harry is a known Parseltongue and when he starts to get a bit of mail... Yes, yes. Hedwig is ignored, the poor girl. Heh, heh. Malfoy scrubbing the floor... what a sight for a rich boy. Thanks, again! And sorry the update was not soon....

Andromeda Snape-Malfoy: Thanks and Sorry. I meant it to have something to do with the summary, then I got carried away with my own ideas. I'm really not a terribly good planner, sorry. Though I am a terrific procrastinator. Anyway, thanks, and I believe that eventually things will fall into place.

Okay, I'm done. That was fun. Now I'm off to work on Chapter 17. Remember, the Mirror of Erised and Halloween time. Fun, Fun, Fun. Yay. Alright, I'm gone. Enjoy the chapter, peoples!