I don't own nothin' at all. cuz If I did, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction.

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Fifty Points

The creature stood in the center of a group of children. Marcus Newland, the prefect, held his wand to the creatures face. Tudacio arulliuos. The repellent held off the creature, but it would not let the young Ravenclaw go. Newland repeated the spell over and over with dyer urgency. When Snape and Maylin reached the landing, Maylin drew her wand and carried over the spell.

The creature looked to be the same as the one that had dropped her through the roof of the banquet hall a month earlier. Maylin held out her hand to the children to silence them.

"I want everyone silent. I want no movement, I want no crying screaming or sudden movement…if you've understood what I've said then please stay still." The students did as they were told. Snape moved slowly around the creature and stood beside Newland.

"Who is the child?" he asked quietly.

"Jack Winters, first year, Sir," the boy replied.

"Damn."

The creature stood on its hind legs and periodically screeched; his head faced the ceiling. In his hands he held the body of young Mr. Winters.

Maylin moved with her wand to face the creature.

Her eyes widened. It's trying to talk. Snape moved his eyes toward her.

Are you sure? He replied.

Yes, she continued, It's ancient, a dead language. Her mind raced. Visions from the creature began to pour into her brain. The captive child whined softly in fear.

Maylin got low toward the ground and sized up the creature, what are you and how the hell did you get in here?

The creature jerked upward and the child screamed. Snape pulled his wand "Retillus paralius." The creature froze in its stance. Snape moved to Maylin "That won't hold him long," Snape turned her face to his. "Can you figure out what it wants?"

Maylin nodded.

"It keeps saying something over and over in it's mind. Like a repeated message."

"Orders perhaps?"

"I think so. Severus, have you ever seen Voldemort use a creature of this nature?"

"No, but I am sure it is him."

"What is it saying…?"

Maylin slowly stood and approached the creature. Even in its frozen state it managed to hold on tightly to the child.

What are you trying to tell me…What do you want me to know…?

An image came into her mind. The creature's eyes panned down over its frozen body.

Boy…It answered… boy…spell…

Maylin understood.

"Jack, dear hold tight, no one else move." She turned to Snape, he held the creature with his wand.

"If you let go now, how long until the spell breaks itself?"

Snape blinked enough to think.

"Five minutes, maximum."

Maylin nodded.

Severus, I need a decoy, do you have one?

A potion?

Yes.

I have the potion but no subject. Who do you need?

Potter.

Of course.

Snape rolled his twenty three year old eyes in the same fashion as his pushing forty eyes.

Get off it, Severus, can you do it or not, because if you can't we'll use force and that child will be crushed to death.

Options, options, Snape sighed. Five minutes.

"Wait here." And he was gone.

Snape ran through the halls of Hogwarts. He instructed the ghosts to inform the rest of the staff of the creature's whereabouts and continued toward the dungeons. In the distance in the hallway he could see Potter and his friends round the corner with their fellow Griffydors.

"Potter!" He called. All of Griffyndor stopped dead in their tracks. Snape pushed through the children and reached toward Harry. Out of habit Harry attempted to duck but Snape was too quick. He took hold of Harry's head and pulled a single hair from his head. Snape nodded.

"Five points to Griffyndor." And he was off quickly to the dungeons.

There he found the potion and a potion shaker. He poured the decoy liquid into the shaker and dropped the hair into the batch. Decoy Martini. He secured his office tightly and literally flew back to Ravenclaw.

With only a moment to spare, Maylin stood staring down the creature. The spell was beginning to wear off and the creatures head moved violently. She probed its tiny mind. It had orders to find a dark haired boy. It was supposed to find his spell.

Snape returned shaker in hand. He stood beside Maylin and opened the canister behind his back and poured it onto the floor. Students almost cried with confusion but they were too terrified to even breathe.

Snape pulled out his wand and moved it over the liquid. It began to bubble and boil and rise off of the floor. The liquid took shape. It took human shape. It took a Harry Potter shape.

Snape looked over at the creation and nudged Maylin's mind.

It's ready.

Maylin acknowledged and moved to speak to the creature.

She opened her mind as she spoke aloud.

"We have what you want. We have the boy and the spell. He is useless. His spell is useless. Do to him as you will, return us that child and the boy with the spell is yours."

Maylin and Snape separated and revealed the decoy behind them. The creature lowered itself to the ground. It held the child with one hand and peered at the boy. Maylin scanned its mind. Give me the child you hold or you will not receive the boy. The creature's reptilian body shot up at her and Snape. With a wave of Snape's wand the Potter potion began to walk toward the creature. Young Jack refused to cry, but hurt inside where the creature held him. He would not cry. Again the creature screeched and extended it's wingspan over the crowd of cowering children. In a fit of rage or relief, the creature threw the boy at Snape and Maylin and reached out for the Potter potion.

Snape caught the boy and passed him safely to the prefect.

Snape thrust his wand toward the creature. Maylin pulled her gun. The creature jerked up when it faintly realized what had happened. The image of Potter began to melt before its eyes which then turned a deadly fiery red.

"Get down everyone!" yelled Snape. A bright green spell of protection fell over the students. Maylin's gun fired once at the creature. It leaped upward to the high ceiling and she missed. "Shit."

Snape raised his wand again. Crucio That would get him in trouble.

Again the creature swept from right to left trying to find a way out. But it was cornered. In a panic the creature swooped downward pinned Maylin against the wall before she could get a shot off. The children now screamed at the top of their lungs. Where the hell is the rest of the staff, thought Snape as he lunged for Maylin's fallen gun.

The creature pushed Maylin against the stone and pulled her upwards toward the ceiling. Dammit not again.

Severus! Help here!"

Snape braced himself in one hand he held the wand, in the other the gun.

"Maylin!" He called to her. "I swear to you woman…Do not move."

Maylin held her breath as the boom of the gun went off in her ears.

The creature's voice shook the walls as it loosened its grip. She was falling.

Maylin closed her eyes. The creature hit the ground with a rattling "thunk."

Then there was nothing. She opened her eyes and looked downward. Snape was holding her up with his wand as the children circled around the creature. He slowly lowered her to the ground. "Thank you," Maylin nodded to him. "You're welcome Professor."

"That was an impressive shot."

"I learned from the best."

Maylin stifled a blush when young Jack Winters threw his arms around her waist. Soft warm tears fell down her side. Maylin stroked the boy's hair.

The tone of her voice sweetened.

"Jack," she whispered, "Master Jack Winters why are you crying?"

Light tears became heavy sobs. "You…were…go-ing to die, Prof-fes-fes-sor H - H -Hunter." The boy turned his face toward her body. Snape motioned for Ravenclaw to continue on to their common room.

When the students were safe, Newland returned to retrieve Jack.

"One moment, Newland," said Snape quietly.

Snape turned his attention to Maylin and her tear machine. Maylin sent Snape a half smile. Snape returned it. "Jack," intervened Snape. His voice was low but nonthreatening. Jack looked up. "Yes, Professor?" Tears stained his face and wetted his scraggly dark hair. "You were very brave tonight, you listened to your Professor, and possibly saved the lives of your house members." Jack cracked a smile.

"Listen to me, child," Snape continued. "The first rule of perfecting any sort of wizardry is knowing when to act and when to listen. Acting is easy, but listening is different, and it takes wisdom to know when to fight back and when to take things to heart. You did that tonight and we are very proud of you." Jack smiled beneath his blankets of tears.

Snape put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Fifty points to Ravenclaw."