Chapter 14: Detention the First
They joined the rest of their classmates in the Great Hall. Dinner was filled with noisy commentaries as housemates filled one another in on the first day of class. Ginny came and joined the trio at the Gryffindor table.
"Lucky sods," Ginny said, plopping down beside Harry. Reaching for a plate, she continued on, "You lot get to duel every class. Apparently the lower years aren't considered good enough. Calabrone has us working on basic defense spells. She's going about it as if we were still babies!
"Have you had Defense Against the Dark Arts today, Ginny?" Hermione asked gently.
"No." she said, "But Luna has, and she said all we're going to do is learn basic blocking spells."
"I'm sure Calabrone won't keep it simple the entire year, Ginny. She's just starting slow." Harry said defensively. He wasn't willing to hear any criticism of their new professor yet.
Ginny harummphed and started eating. Shortly, Dean came over and sat down beside her. Harry noticed Ron immediately set to scowling at him over his plate of treacle tart.
Harry rolled his eyes and turned to Hermione. But rather than receive the support he thought he'd find, he saw Hermione had her face buried in the book they had just borrowed from Madame Pince. Harry tapped her forearm to get her attention.
She looked up at him, mildly irritated at the interruption. "What, Harry?
"Have you found anything helpful yet?" he asked hopefully. He needn't have worried.
Her eyes brightened. "Oh, yes. I have at least three spells I want to start writing up this evening. Do you think you might start looking through the book you got?
Harry nodded, taking a bite of his tart, followed by a big swig of pumpkim juice. Looking around, he got up, followed closely by Ron and Hermione. The three made their way up the stone steps, other students trickling out of the Great Hall, walking to their respective houses.
Entering the common room, they noticed Lee Jordon sitting by himself in front of the fireplace, a cheery fire already lit. Harry had completely forgotten about the twins' best friend. He wondered how Lee was doing, now that Fred and George had split.
"Hey, Lee." Ron greeted him. Lee nodded, but kept his attention on the piece of parchment in his left hand. Harry and Hermione joined the two of them on the sofa.
"What are you working on, Lee?" Hermione asked.
"Oh, er, just some stuff." he said evasively.
"C'mon, Lee. Let us take a gander." Ron said, reaching for the parchment. Lee pulled it away, but sighed.
Resignedly, he handed the paper over to Ron. Harry pulled himself up next to Ron and read over his shoulder. "Jordon's Jokes: An Appendium of Mischief Making
"What's this, Lee?" Harry asled.
Lee shrugged his shouders and replied, "Fred and George offered me a bit of floor space at the shop if I can come up with products to fill it. This is the first prototype.
"I didn't know you were interested in making joke products, Lee." Hermione said.
"Well, I'm not." Lee admitted, "At least I wasn't until the twins split. Then it came upon me that I better not let a golden opportunity pass me by. I mean, after all, how many friends have you got that have premises on Diagon Alley?
They all shook their heads. Ron handed the parchment back to Lee. "Good luck, mate." he said. Turning to Harry and Hermione, "What do you reckon we do now?
Hermione immediately said she was going upstairs to start writing parchments for classes. Ron rolled his eyes and looked to Harry, who had been ready to suggest the same, but realized he had no desire to do homework. Harry just shrugged. Ron mirrored the gesture and turned back to Lee. The two quickly fell into deep conversation about the twins' shop and how the two of them might profit from it.
Sighing, Harry pulled the red book from his bag and opened it. The symbols still didn't make any sense. Hermione had said they looked nothing like the plaques and mugs Professor Calabrone had in her classroom and she didn't recognize them from arithmancy.
That touched upon another mystery, Harry realized. How and why was Professor Calabrone connected to this book? He thought about asking her. Not tonight, though. Glancing at the time, he realized he'd better begin the trek down to the dungeons.
Receiving a distracted grunt from Ron as he said his goodbye, Harry made his way downstairs. Knowing enough to knock before entering Snape's office, Harry raised his hand to the wooden door. Immediately, Harry heard low voices. He listened closer. It was Snape and Malfoy.
"You're confident then, sir, that Father will be out soon?" came Malfoy's voice.
"Of course, Draco. The dementors left Azkaban months ago. We are simply waiting a while before acting." Harry felt his mouth go dry. Draco knew Snape was a Death Eater? Did he also know Snape spied for the Order of the Phoenix? What else did he know?
There was a brief moment of silence, followed by the sound of a chair scraping against stone. "Thank you, sir."
Harry jumped back into the hall. Malfoy sneered as he say Harry. "What are you doing down here, Potty?"
"Ah. Mister Potter. A few minutes late, I see. Well? Do not waste any more of my time. Inside." Snape drawled from the entrance of his office. Harry marched past Malfoy into Snape's office. Once they were both inside, Snape magically closed and locked the door. Harry raised an eyebrow. Snape noticed.
"It would not do to be interrupted." he said.
"Yeah." Harry agreed, "Baby Death Eaters breaking in could put a damper on things."
Snape narrowed his eyes. "How much did you hear, Potter?
"Nothing, sir." Harry said quickly. This wasn't the time to pick a fight, he figured, since Snape was still far better at Legimency than Harry was at Occlumency. Snape looked closely at him, but didn't press the issure further.
"Stand." Snape commanded. With a quick swish of his wand, both Harry and Snape's chair, along with Snape's desk shrunk to the size of doll furniture. Snape picked them up and placed them on a shelf.
"Room to manouever," Snape said as way of explanation. Harry nodded, feeling nervous about the need to manouver. Snape eyed Harry. Harry gulped and raised his wand to a defensive position. Snape raised his wand as well and said plainly, "Legimens.
Harry had been ready and immediately closed the curtain in his mind. He let Snape see his memory of potions class that morning, Defense against the Dark Arts, and Care of Magical Creatures. Harry concentrated especially hard on Defense Against the Dark Arts, forcing him to take in every detail. Finally, Snape released the spell.
"Was there a particular reason you wanted me in Calabrone's class so long, Potter?" Snape sneered.
Harry shook his head, unable to get a word out between breaths.
"Let's try again, shall we?" Snape said. Harry straightened himself just in time for the second round. He fought back immediately. Suddenly, he was seeing memories that were not his own.
Voldemort was sitting in a high-backed chair a few feet in front of Snape. "You failed me again, Severus." hissed the cold voice. Snape remained motionless, his head down. Harry lifted himself quickly out of that memory and tried to find something different, more pleasant.
Instead, the next time the blur settled down, it was the same setting. This time, however, there were several Death Eaters present. Also, this time, Snape was on his knees. Harry could see his face was deathly pale and there was blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
Harry watched in mute horror as one by one, Death Eaters stepped out of the circle and cast a curse at Snape. Harry tried to escape the memory, but something was holding him there. After the fourth Death Eater stepped back, Harry noticed that Snape had yet to utter a sound.
He was just kneeling in the middle of the circle, on a dirty wooden floor. He had fallen forward twice, never making a sound, except for heavy labored breathing. None of the Death Eaters were making noises either. Only Voldemort, who occassionally hissed or clapped in appreciation, broke the silence. After a few more attacks, bringing the total to twelve, Harry thought, Voldemort shook his head.
"My dear boy. When will you learn? I can tell immediately when someone is lying. Do not let it happen again. Get out of my sight." he dismissed Snape with a wave of his hand.
Snape slowly raised himself off the ground. He shook the dirt from his robes and gave a curt bow before disaparating with a pop.
The pop brought Harry's thoughts back to the present. His eyes open wide, he stared at his professor, who was standing stock still, eyes glistening. The room was silent. Harry thought a minute must have passed before he had the courage to speak up.
"Professor?" he asked quietly.
Snape didn't move. Harry inched closer. Snape didn't appear to registering Harry's presence at all. "Professor?" he asked again.
Something clicked. Snape shook his head and look at Harry, but didn't say a word. Harry tried again. "Professor, is that what happened to you over the summer?
Snape fixed a steely glare at Harry and compulsively gripped his left forearm, massaging it. Harry briefly glanced down at it, then forced his eyes back up to his professor's face.
"Yes." Snape said simply.
Harry gulped. "But why?
Snape closed his eyes for a moment. "I failed to mention you would be present in Diagon Alley relatively unprotected. Isabella Nott was shopping with her son and saw you. My failure was reported and I was punished." he delivered the information in a listless voice, staring at a spot on the wall about four inches above Harry's head.
Harry couldn't think of anything to say. He fidgeted about, moving his wand back and forth between his hands.
ÔYou may leave, Mister Potter. You are progressing quite nicely. Continue your exercises." Snape said. Harry looked warily at him, but gave a small nod and left the room.
He slowly made his way towards the steps when he heard Malfoy's drawling voice echo down the corridor from in front of him.
"Don't be ridiculous, Crabbe. Snape won't punish us-it's Potter. Come on. His detention should be over soon, we'll just wait.
Harry braced himself, wondering whether he should slip into the secret passageway about halfway down the hall behind him, or wait to confront Malfoy. Tempting though the latter option may be, Harry figured three detentions in the first week of class was probably enough. He silently backtracked his steps and ducked behind a small passageway behind a tapestry.
Malfoy was still talking loudly about the excuse they'd need to explain their presence to Snape. Harry let them pass by, but couldn't restrain himself from peering out at Malfoy's back. He pulled his wand from his back pocket and whispered ÔTarantellegra!". Immediately, Malfoy started tapdancing down the hall. Harry covered his mouth and choked back laughter as Crabbe and Goyle attempted to keep Malfoy under control. Harry backed up the passageway which spit him out just down the hall from the Gryffindor commonroom.
Walking up to the portait of the Fat Lady, Harry gave the password and stepped inside. Ron and Lee were still plotting things by the fire. A few other Gryffindors were scattered throughout the common room, but it looked like most had already gone upstairs.
Harry climbed the steps and opened the door to the sixth year boys dormitory. He gave brief nod hello to Neville, Dean and Seamus, who were sitting on Neville's bed poring over spell books. Harry changed into his pajamas and crawled in to bed.
Closing the curtains around him, he lay down. He wasn't exactly tired, but after seing what the Death Eaters had done to Snape, he didn't really feel like doing anything else. He laid awake for quite awhile. He heard Ron come in and everyone else go to bed.
Finally, after three hours of not getting anywhere in his thoughts, he decided he needed some answers. He crawled out of bed and rummaged through his trunk. Finding his Invisibility Cloak the Maurader's Map, he exited the dormitory and started down the stairs.
He made his way to the teacher's lounge. Pushing open the door slowly, he found exactly who he was looking for. Professor Calabrone was seated at a small table in the corner. Taking a quick glance around, Harry noticed Professor Flitwick was reading a book in the armchair next to the fire. Harry moved over to a chair and made himself comfortable. Fortunately, after about five minutes, Flitwick stood up and made for the door. Harry slowly climbed out of the chair. He had just turned to face Professor Calabrone, when she looked right at him.
"Well, Mister Potter? Out with it. It had better be worth sneaking out of bed to come find me."
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They joined the rest of their classmates in the Great Hall. Dinner was filled with noisy commentaries as housemates filled one another in on the first day of class. Ginny came and joined the trio at the Gryffindor table.
"Lucky sods," Ginny said, plopping down beside Harry. Reaching for a plate, she continued on, "You lot get to duel every class. Apparently the lower years aren't considered good enough. Calabrone has us working on basic defense spells. She's going about it as if we were still babies!
"Have you had Defense Against the Dark Arts today, Ginny?" Hermione asked gently.
"No." she said, "But Luna has, and she said all we're going to do is learn basic blocking spells."
"I'm sure Calabrone won't keep it simple the entire year, Ginny. She's just starting slow." Harry said defensively. He wasn't willing to hear any criticism of their new professor yet.
Ginny harummphed and started eating. Shortly, Dean came over and sat down beside her. Harry noticed Ron immediately set to scowling at him over his plate of treacle tart.
Harry rolled his eyes and turned to Hermione. But rather than receive the support he thought he'd find, he saw Hermione had her face buried in the book they had just borrowed from Madame Pince. Harry tapped her forearm to get her attention.
She looked up at him, mildly irritated at the interruption. "What, Harry?
"Have you found anything helpful yet?" he asked hopefully. He needn't have worried.
Her eyes brightened. "Oh, yes. I have at least three spells I want to start writing up this evening. Do you think you might start looking through the book you got?
Harry nodded, taking a bite of his tart, followed by a big swig of pumpkim juice. Looking around, he got up, followed closely by Ron and Hermione. The three made their way up the stone steps, other students trickling out of the Great Hall, walking to their respective houses.
Entering the common room, they noticed Lee Jordon sitting by himself in front of the fireplace, a cheery fire already lit. Harry had completely forgotten about the twins' best friend. He wondered how Lee was doing, now that Fred and George had split.
"Hey, Lee." Ron greeted him. Lee nodded, but kept his attention on the piece of parchment in his left hand. Harry and Hermione joined the two of them on the sofa.
"What are you working on, Lee?" Hermione asked.
"Oh, er, just some stuff." he said evasively.
"C'mon, Lee. Let us take a gander." Ron said, reaching for the parchment. Lee pulled it away, but sighed.
Resignedly, he handed the paper over to Ron. Harry pulled himself up next to Ron and read over his shoulder. "Jordon's Jokes: An Appendium of Mischief Making
"What's this, Lee?" Harry asled.
Lee shrugged his shouders and replied, "Fred and George offered me a bit of floor space at the shop if I can come up with products to fill it. This is the first prototype.
"I didn't know you were interested in making joke products, Lee." Hermione said.
"Well, I'm not." Lee admitted, "At least I wasn't until the twins split. Then it came upon me that I better not let a golden opportunity pass me by. I mean, after all, how many friends have you got that have premises on Diagon Alley?
They all shook their heads. Ron handed the parchment back to Lee. "Good luck, mate." he said. Turning to Harry and Hermione, "What do you reckon we do now?
Hermione immediately said she was going upstairs to start writing parchments for classes. Ron rolled his eyes and looked to Harry, who had been ready to suggest the same, but realized he had no desire to do homework. Harry just shrugged. Ron mirrored the gesture and turned back to Lee. The two quickly fell into deep conversation about the twins' shop and how the two of them might profit from it.
Sighing, Harry pulled the red book from his bag and opened it. The symbols still didn't make any sense. Hermione had said they looked nothing like the plaques and mugs Professor Calabrone had in her classroom and she didn't recognize them from arithmancy.
That touched upon another mystery, Harry realized. How and why was Professor Calabrone connected to this book? He thought about asking her. Not tonight, though. Glancing at the time, he realized he'd better begin the trek down to the dungeons.
Receiving a distracted grunt from Ron as he said his goodbye, Harry made his way downstairs. Knowing enough to knock before entering Snape's office, Harry raised his hand to the wooden door. Immediately, Harry heard low voices. He listened closer. It was Snape and Malfoy.
"You're confident then, sir, that Father will be out soon?" came Malfoy's voice.
"Of course, Draco. The dementors left Azkaban months ago. We are simply waiting a while before acting." Harry felt his mouth go dry. Draco knew Snape was a Death Eater? Did he also know Snape spied for the Order of the Phoenix? What else did he know?
There was a brief moment of silence, followed by the sound of a chair scraping against stone. "Thank you, sir."
Harry jumped back into the hall. Malfoy sneered as he say Harry. "What are you doing down here, Potty?"
"Ah. Mister Potter. A few minutes late, I see. Well? Do not waste any more of my time. Inside." Snape drawled from the entrance of his office. Harry marched past Malfoy into Snape's office. Once they were both inside, Snape magically closed and locked the door. Harry raised an eyebrow. Snape noticed.
"It would not do to be interrupted." he said.
"Yeah." Harry agreed, "Baby Death Eaters breaking in could put a damper on things."
Snape narrowed his eyes. "How much did you hear, Potter?
"Nothing, sir." Harry said quickly. This wasn't the time to pick a fight, he figured, since Snape was still far better at Legimency than Harry was at Occlumency. Snape looked closely at him, but didn't press the issure further.
"Stand." Snape commanded. With a quick swish of his wand, both Harry and Snape's chair, along with Snape's desk shrunk to the size of doll furniture. Snape picked them up and placed them on a shelf.
"Room to manouever," Snape said as way of explanation. Harry nodded, feeling nervous about the need to manouver. Snape eyed Harry. Harry gulped and raised his wand to a defensive position. Snape raised his wand as well and said plainly, "Legimens.
Harry had been ready and immediately closed the curtain in his mind. He let Snape see his memory of potions class that morning, Defense against the Dark Arts, and Care of Magical Creatures. Harry concentrated especially hard on Defense Against the Dark Arts, forcing him to take in every detail. Finally, Snape released the spell.
"Was there a particular reason you wanted me in Calabrone's class so long, Potter?" Snape sneered.
Harry shook his head, unable to get a word out between breaths.
"Let's try again, shall we?" Snape said. Harry straightened himself just in time for the second round. He fought back immediately. Suddenly, he was seeing memories that were not his own.
Voldemort was sitting in a high-backed chair a few feet in front of Snape. "You failed me again, Severus." hissed the cold voice. Snape remained motionless, his head down. Harry lifted himself quickly out of that memory and tried to find something different, more pleasant.
Instead, the next time the blur settled down, it was the same setting. This time, however, there were several Death Eaters present. Also, this time, Snape was on his knees. Harry could see his face was deathly pale and there was blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
Harry watched in mute horror as one by one, Death Eaters stepped out of the circle and cast a curse at Snape. Harry tried to escape the memory, but something was holding him there. After the fourth Death Eater stepped back, Harry noticed that Snape had yet to utter a sound.
He was just kneeling in the middle of the circle, on a dirty wooden floor. He had fallen forward twice, never making a sound, except for heavy labored breathing. None of the Death Eaters were making noises either. Only Voldemort, who occassionally hissed or clapped in appreciation, broke the silence. After a few more attacks, bringing the total to twelve, Harry thought, Voldemort shook his head.
"My dear boy. When will you learn? I can tell immediately when someone is lying. Do not let it happen again. Get out of my sight." he dismissed Snape with a wave of his hand.
Snape slowly raised himself off the ground. He shook the dirt from his robes and gave a curt bow before disaparating with a pop.
The pop brought Harry's thoughts back to the present. His eyes open wide, he stared at his professor, who was standing stock still, eyes glistening. The room was silent. Harry thought a minute must have passed before he had the courage to speak up.
"Professor?" he asked quietly.
Snape didn't move. Harry inched closer. Snape didn't appear to registering Harry's presence at all. "Professor?" he asked again.
Something clicked. Snape shook his head and look at Harry, but didn't say a word. Harry tried again. "Professor, is that what happened to you over the summer?
Snape fixed a steely glare at Harry and compulsively gripped his left forearm, massaging it. Harry briefly glanced down at it, then forced his eyes back up to his professor's face.
"Yes." Snape said simply.
Harry gulped. "But why?
Snape closed his eyes for a moment. "I failed to mention you would be present in Diagon Alley relatively unprotected. Isabella Nott was shopping with her son and saw you. My failure was reported and I was punished." he delivered the information in a listless voice, staring at a spot on the wall about four inches above Harry's head.
Harry couldn't think of anything to say. He fidgeted about, moving his wand back and forth between his hands.
ÔYou may leave, Mister Potter. You are progressing quite nicely. Continue your exercises." Snape said. Harry looked warily at him, but gave a small nod and left the room.
He slowly made his way towards the steps when he heard Malfoy's drawling voice echo down the corridor from in front of him.
"Don't be ridiculous, Crabbe. Snape won't punish us-it's Potter. Come on. His detention should be over soon, we'll just wait.
Harry braced himself, wondering whether he should slip into the secret passageway about halfway down the hall behind him, or wait to confront Malfoy. Tempting though the latter option may be, Harry figured three detentions in the first week of class was probably enough. He silently backtracked his steps and ducked behind a small passageway behind a tapestry.
Malfoy was still talking loudly about the excuse they'd need to explain their presence to Snape. Harry let them pass by, but couldn't restrain himself from peering out at Malfoy's back. He pulled his wand from his back pocket and whispered ÔTarantellegra!". Immediately, Malfoy started tapdancing down the hall. Harry covered his mouth and choked back laughter as Crabbe and Goyle attempted to keep Malfoy under control. Harry backed up the passageway which spit him out just down the hall from the Gryffindor commonroom.
Walking up to the portait of the Fat Lady, Harry gave the password and stepped inside. Ron and Lee were still plotting things by the fire. A few other Gryffindors were scattered throughout the common room, but it looked like most had already gone upstairs.
Harry climbed the steps and opened the door to the sixth year boys dormitory. He gave brief nod hello to Neville, Dean and Seamus, who were sitting on Neville's bed poring over spell books. Harry changed into his pajamas and crawled in to bed.
Closing the curtains around him, he lay down. He wasn't exactly tired, but after seing what the Death Eaters had done to Snape, he didn't really feel like doing anything else. He laid awake for quite awhile. He heard Ron come in and everyone else go to bed.
Finally, after three hours of not getting anywhere in his thoughts, he decided he needed some answers. He crawled out of bed and rummaged through his trunk. Finding his Invisibility Cloak the Maurader's Map, he exited the dormitory and started down the stairs.
He made his way to the teacher's lounge. Pushing open the door slowly, he found exactly who he was looking for. Professor Calabrone was seated at a small table in the corner. Taking a quick glance around, Harry noticed Professor Flitwick was reading a book in the armchair next to the fire. Harry moved over to a chair and made himself comfortable. Fortunately, after about five minutes, Flitwick stood up and made for the door. Harry slowly climbed out of the chair. He had just turned to face Professor Calabrone, when she looked right at him.
"Well, Mister Potter? Out with it. It had better be worth sneaking out of bed to come find me."
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