Chapter Thirty

Hermione At Large

Hermione had a lot of work to do, so she gladly volunteered to look after things that morning. She had hoped to get all of her paperwork and approvals done and her Charms classes' tests marked before she headed home for the weekend. Since most of it had to be filed in McGonagall's office anyhow, she had grabbed her case and took her tea and modest breakfast of a sugar-free muffin in there, digging in with enthusiasm. It was nearing noon when the rain began to pick up and she looked out the window thoughtfully, wondering about the strange feeling she was getting. True, the storm was a bit early in the year but hardly uncommon.

Shrugging it off, she finished filing the stack she had been working on and went to lunch, using the break more as an excuse for a casual security check rather than any plan of eating. Most of the students had settled into the Great Hall because of the rain, so she was unsurprised to find it full. She did notice, however, that none of the Snapes were present, but that was not uncommon. They often disappeared on Saturday afternoons to spend time together, and they had gathered some extensive knowledge of the passages over the years. She smiled softly at that, thinking back to when she was a student as she wandered back up into the office.

It was as she paused to add a notation to that month's schedule that she heard the sound of thunder incredibly close. In fact, it occurred to her that she hadn't heard so much as a rumble before then. Frowning, Hermione found herself fingering her wand almost reassuringly as the thunder sounded again. It was then that all of the lamps went dark and then flickered wildly back to life. Ciardoth had returned.

"Oh, no you don't. Not on my watch! Demura, set the alarm, code GH," Hermione said to the painting beside McGonagall's desk.

"Oh, very well, if I must, I must," the old secretary said with a reluctant sigh, still unsure of this new invader of Minerva's office. But Hermione ignored the attitude, hurrying out the door without another word.

"All students must report to the Great Hall immediately," rang through the corridors, and Hermione noted with annoyance that Demura had chosen to use Minerva's voice. Fortunately, Hermione knew that most of the students were already in the Great Hall… except, she remembered with a start, the four Snapes.

"Professor!" Hermione looked up to see Prefect Rose Bailey running up with her potted tree right behind, and she was completely out of breath. "The Willow! She's attacking it! And I think Alex and the others are down there!" Rose panted.

"Down there? Down where?"

"Below the tree! See, well there's…"

"Never mind! I know where they are," Hermione snapped, immediately sprinting towards the back grounds with Rose following behind, trying to get up a second wind.

The Whomping Willow stretched its full length to try to get at Ciardoth where she stood just outside its reach. Hurricane force winds blasted it as if trying to uproot it and lightning crackled threateningly above. Ciardoth was laughing strangely, although Hermione hardly knew what it was about the situation that might have struck her as funny.

"This is the second time you've attempted to foil me, twig, but this time you will not survive it. You are chained by earth, a slave to water, and decimated by wind and fire. Say goodbye to your pitiful existence, and to those you try to protect!" Ciardoth shouted, her booming voice somehow clear and audible over the roar of the wind.

"Stay back!" Hermione told Rose, stepping out into the storm and immediately snapping a spell towards Ciardoth. The Immobulus spell hit her dead on, but she turned around to view the caster unaffected, squinting at the professor standing there.

"Oh, it's you! I should have guessed!" Ciardoth giggled. "Prepared to die today?"

"If I was destined to die by you, you would have taunted me with it by now," Hermione said evenly, wondering if the woman could hear her above the storm. But apparently she could, for another ring of laughter came out in response.

"So, you think you are so clever? And yet you point that stick at me as if it could actually harm me! You are no smarter than the rest of the mortal fools!" Ciardoth declared, curling her fingers.

Immediately the winds changed. Hermione was taken by surprise by sudden gust of wind that blasted her forward until she smacked into something hard. She quickly realized it was the trunk of the Willow, its attention now divided as it not only lashed out at Ciardoth, but began to try to get the intruder away from its trunk.

As a wiry branch slashed towards Ciardoth like a whip, she severed it with a mere glance. The wind immediately picked it up and tossed it towards the trunk, wrapping around Hermione and the tree like a heavy chain and tossing her wand away. Desperately Hermione stretched her leg, attempting to tap the knothole just out of her reach. Fortunately for Hermione, the Willow was more interested in swiping at Ciardoth than what was tied to its trunk.

"Foul weed! What care you what I do with those loathsome brats you protect? You may have survived my wrath once, but I do not think that is today! Time to meet your greatest adversary! The sky above!" she boomed.

Hermione guessed what would happen next but could do little to stop it, merely crouching as low as her bindings would let her as a giant lightning bolt crackled down, splitting the poor tree in two while Hermione was thrown violently to the side. A strange numbness went through her that told her she had probably been hurt much worse than she felt in that moment. The earth split as the tree thrashed about in one last attempt to get at Ciardoth, its roots exposed as well as the tunnel below, which was quickly starting to fill in with the surrounding mud. Ciardoth laughed in glee of the tree's demise then suddenly stopped cold, staring in the hole with a frown.

In that instant, Hermione called her wand to her. Completely disconnected from the pain running through her, she whipped around with her wand in hand, shouting a spell into the force of the wind and straight at Ciardoth, who suddenly looked over at the witch, her face pale with surprise as the spell hit her full force. Immediately, the wind died down as Ciardoth stared at Hermione with a blank expression that quickly turned to a look of sheer terror.

"Who… where… this cannot be!" Ciardoth exclaimed, looking around at the destruction and backing away. "What am I doing here?" she demanded. But Hermione was having trouble even managing to keep her wand steady in front of her, and didn't have the energy to reply. "You will not defeat me!" Ciardoth shrieked before a flash of lightning took her away. The storm retreated behind her, and the clouds rolled away like the smoke of a suffocated fire.

"Professor Weasley!" Rose said, rushing to the professor's side with her eyes full of tears.

"Prefect," Hermione murmured, trying to focus. "Was anyone else hurt?"

"Professor Weasley!" Alex said as she, Andrew, Alicia, and Halbert ran out the door and hurried over to them. "What happened? We're so sorry! You're burnt!"

"Have Professor Ravenclaw report to the Great Hall to watch over things there, then send for Madame Pomfrey and return to the Great Hall yourselves," Hermione ordered weakly.

"We're not going to leave you here by yourself!" Rose said. "One of you run and get Pomfrey!"

"No, there's a faster way," Alex said, nodding to the others as she conjured up a stretcher.

"This is no time to argue, please do as you're told," Hermione scolded them.

"Yes, you're right, there is no time to argue, Professor Weasley," Rose agreed as she saw Alicia get out her sketchpad. "And since you're injured and I'm the only other authority here, we're taking you to the hospital wing first."

"Hospital wing coming right up," Alicia said as she jumped in her sketchbook, grabbing one end of the stretcher with the others in tow, helping her to pull it in.

After making sure Fawkes was nowhere to be seen and every painting was deep asleep, Aurelius slipped out of the door and gave the signal, quickly stepping out of Lucius' path. The man walked in as if he alone had a right to possess anything he saw, glancing briefly around the circular room before going over to the desk. Squinting at the appointment book, Lucius tore off the last page before perusing the desk, moving the candy dish off a stack of papers to glance through them.

"I doubt the sword would be anywhere near there," Aurelius commented, earning a less than pleasant glance for the comment.

"There may be a clue as to where he put it. You are supposed to be guarding the door."

"I have Achilles sitting in front of the gargoyle. He's less visible than I would be, but he can be up here in a flash if he sees something," Aurelius said. Malfoy went to the books next, carefully putting each that he shifted back into place before he glanced at the curtain in the back, slipping behind it. A moment later, Aurelius heard his name called and hurriedly he came into Dumbledore's sitting room, where Lucius stood in front of a suit of armor with a sword in his hand.

"This is it, I'm sure of it," Lucius said. "How like Dumbledore to attempt to hide it in plain sight," he said, murmuring a spell to identify any protections around it. "There are spells upon the sword itself but none upon the armor, and no Dark magic. Quickly, boy, take the sword off the armor and we will get out of here," he said, pulling out his sword to cover in case anything unexpected happened.

Just as Aurelius touched the sword, a strange compelling force passed through him much like an electric shock, pushing him away from the sword with such force that he nearly fell and toppled a covered painting in the process. Lucius suddenly cringed in pain, holding his chest.

"What was that? Don't you have gloves on?" Lucius snapped, glancing over where Aurelius showed him his hands to prove that he had. "What about the Shield?"

"Apparently it only protects against direct damage, sir, caused by someone else. It doesn't seem to protect against things I'm responsible for," Aurelius said. "Even still, I'm not sure the spell meant to hurt me. It was trying to keep me away from it."

"It must be charmed so that only certain people can pick it up," Lucius said irritably, cautiously putting his own gloved hand out only to repelled back. "Something about the sword itself," he muttered, and then squinted at the name sketched upon the hilt. "Gryffindors," Lucius concluded. His eyes flitted over towards Aurelius speculatively, immediately formulating a plan. "Come, before they return," he said, quickly turning and leading them back out again.

Alex, Alicia, and Rose stepped out of the way to let Ron past the doorway of the hospital wing. He peered in with his hands in his pockets before walking to the back room, having a few words with Sagittari before stepping inside.

"Trying to take on the entire world without me again?" Ron asked when Hermione looked over at him, grimacing sheepishly.

"You got here quick," she said.

"If I wasn't the first to know everything, I wouldn't be editor," Ron said jokingly. "Dumbledore and the others are right behind me, they stopped to take a look at the damage. From what I hear, you're lucky that it was only the tree that got split in half."

"I'm just glad none of the Snapes were down there, that's who she was after," Hermione said. "In fact, I'm not sure they weren't. I bet they backtracked or something… what were they doing, anyhow?" she asked. Ron shrugged, even though he was pretty sure she was actually talking to herself rather than him. But then, he was used to that. There was a soft knock on the door and Dumbledore peered in, smiling softly before stepping inside and closing the door behind him. "Oh, you were all called out of your meeting, I'm so sorry!"

"It isn't your fault. I hope you don't mind… Sagittari said I could come see you so long as I didn't excite you. I'm afraid there's not much left of the Whomping Willow. You're quite fortunate that you only suffered burns after that nasty blow."

"She would have killed me then and there, if I hadn't found a way to effectively stun her," Hermione admitted.

"You found a way to stun her?" Dumbledore asked with intense interest.

"Yes, but I doubt everyone will be happy when they find out how," Hermione said ruefully. "I cast the Obliviation Charm on her." Dumbledore blinked at her in surprise, a strange glimmer of light flickering in his eyes a moment later. "Living in all times at once has caused her to go insane, but she also completely relies on her 'memories' of the past and future to judge any situation. Of course, because of the way her curse works, the memory erasure is only temporary… as time passes away from the moment that I cast the spell on her, she'll regain her knowledge of the future and past again."

"Hermione, I think everyone including myself is well aware of how brilliant you are, but I daresay you've outdone yourself this time," Dumbledore said. "Why didn't I ever think of it before?"

"Probably because everyone's been avoiding the spell like the plague, considering what happened to Jennifer," Hermione said, Dumbledore nodding somberly. "And I don't blame them, but what if it's the only way we can find to stop Ciardoth?"

"Hermione, there are other ways as we have stopped her before… albeit by unorthodox methods," Dumbledore said in a quiet but firm tone. "But this breakthrough of yours cannot be understated. It is the first conventional spell tried that has truly affected her to any great extent. Perhaps it will mark the beginning of a turning point for us."

There was a soft knock again, and Minerva stuck her head in, looking apologetic.

"Professor Dumbledore, there's something that requires your attention. If I could have a moment please?" Minerva said.

"Certainly, Minerva. I'll return in a bit, Hermione, but if Sagittari gives you leave to return home, feel free to do so," Dumbledore said with a smile.

"Thank you Professor. I'm sorry if I, well, messed things up here," Hermione blurted out, prompting a warm smile from Dumbledore.

"Oh, no more than I would have, I'm sure," he winked, stepping out the door and joining Minerva.

"Professor, someone unauthorized was in your office while we were gone, probably during the incident with Ciardoth," Minerva said. Dumbledore nodded and immediately left the hospital wing, the children at the entrance parting to let them through.

"Was anything taken?" he asked.

"Only a page out of your appointment book as far as I can tell," Minerva said. "I think they were trying to hide the fact that they were in there."

Alex, Alicia, and Rose watched glumly as the professors passed by them. Then they gazed at each other with grim expressions.

"I still don't believe this is happening," Alex said.

"What is taking Andrew and Halbert so long?" Alicia asked.

"They probably stopped to grab something in the Great Hall," Rose said.

"Yeah, hopefully it was Aurelius, and they took time to pummel some sense into him," Alex glowered.

"Andrew? Pummel someone?" Alicia asked, gazing at her sister curiously.

"I can hope, can't I?" Alex brooded.

"Alex! Rose!" The three of them looked up to see Mandria running over to them. "So this is where you've been, and all of us cooped up in the Great Hall! Did someone get hurt? What's wrong, Rose?" she asked, alarmed by the devastated look on her face.

"The Whomping Willow… it's dead," Rose said softly, Alex putting an arm on her shoulder. "Ciardoth killed it with a lightning bolt trying to get at Alex and the others. And Professor Weasley was injured too."

"What? You were in the passage? Lucky you didn't all get killed," Mandria said.

"I saw her standing there when we tried to get out so we backtracked and came in another way," Alex said, and then paused. "Wait a minute! Why would Professor Weasley go to so much trouble to protect the tree unless…" she looked over at Rose, who looked uncomfortable. "Oh, no."

"Please don't look at me like that! I thought she was going to kill you!" Rose said, Alicia grimacing a bit. "I had to tell her!"

"Yes, and she's bound to tell our parents," Alex grumbled. Just then there was a knock and they looked up to see Ron standing in the door.

"I figured you'd still be lurking about. My wife wants to speak with you, if you don't mind," Ron said.

"That settles it, our lives are over," Alicia said.

"Not mine, I wasn't involved this time," Mandria said quickly, "I'm waiting here."

"If you see Halbert and Andrew, show them in, will you?" Ron said, Alex and Alicia exchanging another grimace as they reluctantly went inside.

Loose bandages covered the professor's arms; her face was a curious color and her head was covered in a loose wrap, but otherwise she seemed all right. At least, the look in her eyes was the same sharp gaze they had come to know in all of her classes, eyes that never seemed to miss anything.

"Ah, there you are, at least some of you," Hermione said, looking them over with a wry smile. "I thought perhaps we ought to have a little chat and collaborate a bit before your parents make their way up here."

"You mean you're not going to tell them where we were?" Alicia asked cautiously.

"Well, that depends on how up front you are with me," Hermione said evenly. "Rose thought you were down in the secret passage below the tree, now why would she think that?" The three of them looked at each other, Rose and Alicia's eyes finally settling on Alex.

"Well, I guess it all started with the picnics, really. See, being in different years and houses and all, well, it made it difficult to find a place to get together, especially on Saturdays, that's always been family day, you see. Anyhow, once we lost the house, we felt like we needed a place of our own. Zoë and Zack found the passage, really, and we decided it'd be a perfect place to meet and talk and to work on Andrew's model," Alex said, Alicia looking at her sister wide-eyed.

Alex suddenly realized that she probably said more than she should have and hesitated, but Hermione's gaze didn't change from the steadfast look she had given them from the beginning.

"Model? What sort of model was he working on this time?" Hermione asked.

"Actually… well, it's a detailed model of Hogwarts," Alex sighed. "We were making it to scale to go with the Hogsmeade town model that he's been working on for years."

"Really?" Hermione said with interest and then caught herself, squinting. "Just how detailed is it?"

"Very," Alex admitted. "In fact, except for the entrance to the Chamber which we decided to leave out, it has every room and passage in the castle."

"Well at least you had enough sense to leave that out! So that's why you were spending so much time in the secret passageways!" Hermione sighed.

"Yes, and that's how we lost the map. We were using it as a sort of guide, even though we found that not all the passages are listed on the map. The model is more complete than the map, actually," Alex admitted.

"And therefore all the more dangerous. How many students were involved in this little project?" Hermione asked.

"Us four, the Black twins, Rose, Mandria, and Halbert," Alex admitted.

"And please tell me it doesn't report locations of everyone in the building like the map does!" Hermione said worriedly.

"Well, yes and no," Alex said. "See, we found that if we carved figures of ourselves and used a bit of Alicia's ghost paint, we could make little dolls that act like us, and if we put those figures inside, they seem to go where we go… well, mostly they hang out behind the castle where the tree is… was, rather," she corrected, Rose turning somber again. "But figures of other people don't work at all if we do them. They have to carve it themselves to work, so the only figures we have are of us."

"Be that as it may, I think for everyone's safety including your own that that model be moved to a safer location as soon as possible," Hermione said.

"Yes, Professor. I think I would agree with you, if we knew where the model was," Alex said. Hermione stared openly at her. "It's missing, Professor. It came up missing just before Ciardoth appeared. She may even have it herself."

"Wait, back up, let's not jump to any conclusions," Hermione said, resuming her steady gaze. "When was the last time you saw it?"

"It was there this morning," Alex said. "When we got back, it was gone, and Ciardoth was outside taunting the tree."

"When you got back?" Hermione repeated thoughtfully, a knowing smile appearing on her face. "And just what were the four of you doing in Hogsmeade, anyhow?" There was a knock on the door before Ron accompanied Halbert and Andrew inside.

"I found them in the Great Hall," Ron said.

"They wouldn't let us out once we got there and gave your instructions, Professor!" Andrew said quickly. "Are you all right?"

"Recovering, thanks to Pomfrey and Sagittari's work, and thanks to all of you for getting me here in so quickly," Hermione assured him. "Right now, I'm a bit more worried about what might have happened to the model."

"You know about the model?" Andrew said with surprise.

"She had to know, Andrew," Alex said, "It could be dangerous."

"But I found it!" Andrew said. "You'll never guess where!"

"You found it?" Hermione said curiously.

"Yes, it was in my storage wardrobe, all locked up and safe! I stopped by my room first to get Darwin to take the message to Dumbledore about what happened, and there it was!"

"But I thought we were the only ones that had keys to our own wardrobes," Alicia said with confusion.

"Yes, I know! I don't understand how it got there either! I had my key on me the entire time," Andrew said. Hermione sat up quickly, ignoring the pain that shot threw her when she did, scrambling to her feet and brushing off Ron's suggestion to take it easy.

"Come on, Andrew. We need to see Dumbledore," Hermione said, gesturing for the rest of them to follow.

Jennifer followed Pomona around the back castle grounds as she inspected the damage, the remorse evident on the older woman's face. Near the door stood Severus and Dumbledore, side by side.

"At least it was quick," Pomona said with grief, kneeling by the severed wood. "I'm sure many students current and former will be glad to never have to deal with the old bark anymore, but he was a part of the character of this school for over thirty years."

"And so he will for all time," Jennifer said softly, putting an arm around her, "They say a tree's soul is reflected in its wood."

"Professor Yewling said that," Pomona murmured. "The professor before me, and my own instructor."

"And we're going to save every last bit of it, Pomona," Jennifer assured her as the woman wiped her tears and nodded, smiling weakly at her.

"Another victory for Ciardoth," Severus murmured grimly. "Why snuff out lives when you can destroy your victim's spirits?"

"It was hardly a clean victory, Severus," Dumbledore said softly. "It is true, we lost a faithful guardian. But in the process, Hermione has indeed discovered a new way to keep Ciardoth at bay."

"And what way might that be?" Severus asked, Dumbledore glancing thoughtfully over to where Pomona and Jennifer stood at a distance, talking to each other. But before he could answer, Dumbledore heard footsteps and looked up with surprise to see Hermione walking over with Ron at her side and Andrew right behind her. Severus blinked, frowning curiously at him.

"Professor, may I borrow a moment of your time? Perhaps even an hour or two?" Hermione asked. "It's very important."

"Of course, Hermione. I'm certain that you wouldn't have asked if it wasn't important. You may use my office. Allow me at least ten minutes to finish things up here," he added with a nod.

"Thank you sir," Hermione said, Severus taking a step towards her as she started to turn.

"Is there anything I can help you with? Perhaps help dealing with a troublesome student?" Severus said in an inquisitive voice, his eyes intent on Andrew.

"It's nothing that's any of your business at the moment, actually," Hermione said in such a curt tone that Andrew's jaw dropped.

"Professor Weasley, as head of security, everything that goes on in this school is my business," Severus said. Hermione glanced over at Dumbledore, who seemed to be more interested in poking at damaged ground with a cane rather than the exchange going on behind him.

"Professor Snape, I report my activities directly to Professor Dumbledore now. I'm quite sure that if there's anything I do that he thinks you need to know about, he will tell you," Hermione said with a firm smile, turning around. Ron stood there in a daze as she walked off, glancing between her and Severus, who merely stood there with a murderous look on his face. "Coming, Ronald?"

"Sorry. I just had to capture that moment in my memory first," Ron said, hiding a grin when Snape's eyes darted towards him. Severus growled deep in his throat as the three of them walked away.

"Now, Severus, we all have our jobs to do," Dumbledore said in such a gentle tone that Severus glared at him.

"And might I remind you that right now my job depends on knowing exactly what is going on? Don't you think she's taking this administrative authority thing a bit too far?"

"No, not really, no," Dumbledore said, but wouldn't look him in the eye.

"Professor, I demand to be kept completely in the loop! May I remind you that lives are at stake?" Severus said. Dumbledore paused in thought, and then gazed at him over the rim of the glasses.

"Curious, I was under the impression that the reason you weren't telling Jennifer everything was that lives were at stake," Dumbledore said. "So which is more fruitful, Severus, telling all or telling only what a person needs to know? You can't have it both ways," he said. Severus clamped his jaw together and did not offer a reply.

By the next day, as the students on weekend trips returned to the school, the official story of what happened had already been circulating heavily. Jennifer was quite certain that what she and the rest of the school had been told was not the entire story. She sighed as she took her seat for dinner, glancing the polished spoon in her hand until she couldn't resist taking out her pocket mirror and gazing in it. But a flutter of black near the entrance alerted her and she quickly slipped it in her cuff, oblivious to the sideways glance that Dumbledore gave her as Severus stepped up to his seat.

"Sorry I missed the game," he said. "I thought I would be back by now but Thomas was in rare form today."

"Poor Thomas. One can hardly blame him," Dumbledore put in as he sat down.

"All the same, if he's in that mood, I'm glad I didn't go," Jennifer said.

"I promised to get him settled by the end of the month, one way or the other. He seemed to be placated by that," Severus said.

"You haven't had any luck getting him out of there yet and it's been over two months since he was up for parole. What makes you so sure you'll find something now?" Jennifer asked.

"Winter is breaking. Sirius says that people are more likely to put up housing in warmer months, and even if not, we can always put him in a flat temporarily," Severus said.

"What? Severus, the board wouldn't possibly approve putting him anywhere near a Muggle flat, he's a Craw. And no one in a wizard flat would possibly want a Craw convicted of murder living next door," Jennifer chuckled.

"Boltin has offered to put him up temporarily," Severus said.

"Boltin is never home except on rare weekends," Jennifer pointed out.

"Same as we, if he lived with us," Severus said, immediately getting a freezing look.

"Let's not go there again, shall we?" Jennifer said dangerously. Severus merely sighed, taking a sip out of his cup.

"Pleasant game today, albeit a bit short," Dumbledore put in casually. "In fact, it took longer to get to our benches and get settled than it took for the game to end, thanks to Alicia. I'm surprised that scouts aren't already banging on my door."

"Well if they do, you can turn them away, because we're not about to authorize her to play before she's out of school," Jennifer said firmly. "There will be no Krums in this family."

"Certainly not," Severus said in agreement. "And it is not an issue that either of us will budge on."

"I completely understand, Severus," Dumbledore said with a smile. "And I must say I agree with you. But it is rather fun to see her play, no matter how short the time is. Don't you agree, Minerva?"

But Minerva wasn't paying attention. Instead her eyes were fixed on the Gryffindor table, where some sort of argument was going on between Zoë, Zack, Halbert, and Andrew. Suddenly Zack stood up with a furious look on his face, his eyes fixed on the Slytherin table while Halbert and Andrew were busy trying to pull him back to his seat, finally succeeding. Severus squinted and excused himself, but when Minerva tried to protest, Dumbledore merely raised a hand, deciding it would be best to let him handle it this time.

"You can't just sit here and do nothing, you just can't," Zack hissed at Andrew, yanking his arm away. "Someone needs to go over there and pummel some sense into him."

"Don't you think that'll just make it worse?" Andrew whispered fervently. "Look, you can't think we're happy about this. But he's our brother. We're not going to turn him in."

"Family loyalty only goes so far, Andrew!" Zack hissed. "You might as well be turning your backs on him so he can stab them again."

"We're not planning on turning our backs on him, Zack, we wouldn't in any case," Andrew said. "But not because we're afraid of him stabbing it. We've been through too much together. I mean, how would you feel if were your sister doing something like this?"

Zack was startled a moment, gazing at his sister and sharing a private look with her before turning back to Andrew.

"Then I'd hope that someone would knock sense into her. And since you all feel you can't do it, I'll be more than happy to." Zack declared. Just then Zoë jostled him. Zack looked up to see Severus coming over to them, gazing between the four of them suspiciously.

"Is there a problem, Mr. Black?" Severus asked in a low tone.

"Would you know if there was?" Zack challenged, Andrew hissing softly at him.

"Try me," Severus said challengingly.

"All right. What would you say if I told you that your Slytherin son was seen in the Pig's Pannage yesterday before Ciardoth attacked, apparently in a meeting with Lucius Malfoy?" Zack said bluntly. All of the students around them suddenly stopped eating and stared agape, looking between Zack and Snape, whose expression hadn't changed despite the daring tone in Zack's voice.

"Mr. Black, I may have been misinformed, but did you or did you not have a family leave yesterday to visit your relatives in America?"

"Yeah, and it's a good thing too, because if I had been here, I would have done something about it myself," Zack said.

"That being the case, may I ask exactly how you came by this alleged information?" Severus asked calmly. Zacchius caught himself then, his anger making way with the realization that he couldn't prove anything without outing what his other cousins had been doing.

"What does it matter where I got it? I bet if you asked around, you'll find out he was gone all morning! He was there, and if you don't look into it, you probably deserve exactly what you get," Zack said. Severus leaned over between Zoë and Zack's chairs then, glancing around at the other students first who immediately became interested in their plates.

"I spoke to Aurelius myself just after I arrived, Zacchius, and I find it interesting that he actually arrived in the Great Hall well before the rest of his siblings," he said, squinting at Andrew who was busy wolfing down his food. "Mr. Black," he said in a louder tone, "I don't know exactly what sort of grudge has developed between you and the other Mr. Snape, but false accusations are taken very seriously in this school. If you dare to make another scene to perpetuate this over inflated know-it-all attitude of yours, you will find yourself in detention every weekend for the rest of the school year. That's fifteen points off Gryffindor for running your disrespectful mouth again, and I do believe that'll send your house back into negative numbers. You know, you might want to sleep with one eye open from now on. If I were one of your fellow housemates, I think I would be tempted to spell your mouth shut with wire for the rest of the year. And if that did happen, and you showed up in my class in that condition, I might even forget to report it," he added before walking back up to the table.

"That's not your father. That's evil incarnate," Zoë declared to Andrew, who merely sighed.

"Fine, let him believe what he likes. We'll just take matters into our own hands, is all," Zack said.

"Please, really, let us handle it," Andrew pleaded. "He's our brother, after all. I'll make sure he doesn't get into trouble."

"Right. And who's going to keep you out of trouble in the process?" Zack asked.

"Me, of course," Halbert volunteered. Zoë and Zack stared at them as if neither were two impressed with that idea.