Chapter 29

She opened the letter, curious who would use a raven to deliver it, and read.

Dear Kayla

I hope you two are well and taking care of yourselves. I miss you all very much and hope to see you during Christmas break. Kelsey has told me everything and all these news, to say the least, shocked me.

I wish I could help you more, but I trust your abilities. If you ever need help, don't hesitate to contact Professor Dumbledore. He's the only one, who's aware of all the facts.

I won't send you the requested item with this messenger because I'm afraid it might get intercepted. Await me at midnight at the fireplace in your common room. Make sure you're alone. I don't want to draw any unnecessary attention.

Love, Dad

She would tell Kelsey about this later. He would never forgive her if there's a possibility to see dad and she would keep it from him. Harry and Ron were discussing their favourite topic...quidditch. In their opinion if they could play, they could at least talk about it.

All of a sudden, Hermione put the Daily Prophet on the table and pointed at a little article at the bottom of the page.

"This is odd" she whispered.

"Whoff iff ogg ?" Ron mumbled with his mouth full of food.

Hermione raised her eyebrows, giving her best McGonagall-look and said "I'm sorry Ronald but I don't speak ogre. Could you please repeat your statement?"

Ron swallowed the food fast and choked slightly "What is odd Hermione" he repeated, emphasizing every word.

"Look at this here. They report here that the dementors denied Fudge access to Azkaban. When he arrived at the prison yesterday for his monthly visit, the dementors kept him not only outside the prison itself, but also off the island."

She handed Harry and Ron the newspaper, while Kayla and Kelsey moved closer to have a look at the article as well.

"But why would they do that?" Ron asked, noticeably confused.

"Do you think..." Harry whispered when his eyes locked with Hermione's.

"I'm afraid so" Hermione replied anxiously.

"Would somebody mind to fill us in?" Kelsey asked impatiently.

"I assume that the dementors are not loyal to the ministry anymore" Hermione explained.

"So you think they follow Voldemort now?" Kayla asked. She didn't want to imagine what the consequences would be if these monsters had joined forces with Voldemort.

"This is what I believe and according to this reaction here" she pointed at the article "they have something to hide. Why else would they deny access to the ministry officials?"

"What do you think they're hiding?" Kayla asked. "They are still guarding Azkaban, so if they would have joined Voldemort, don't you think they would abandon it and let all the deatheaters escape?"

Harry scratched his head and replied "This is a strange thought, but what if the dementors know that Fudge is a deatheater and that's the reason why they keep him away from the fortress?" A look at his friends proved that they didn't consider it a strange thought at all.

Snape sat on his bed again. The night had been very eventful and he didn't get as much sleep as he'd liked to. The last incidents replayed in his head.

After he had sworn that he had never been unfaithful to the Dark Lord the subject had been dropped and Voldemort's attention had turned to Malfoy.

Silently he thanked Professor Flitwick for the protection charm, he had cast on him, that enabled him to perjure. Snape knew that it wouldn't have cost the Dark Lord much effort to break through the charm, but fortunately he hadn't noticed anything.

Voldemort had been very upset about the obviously groundless suspicions Malfoy had raised against the potion master and Snape could still see the blond-haired man writhe with pain after he had been hit with the Cruciatus curse.

The potion master knew that the Dark Lord still didn't fully trust him, but to his advantage he was right at the source and the Dark Lord depended on his informations. His whole body felt sore and he had a terrible headache, so he decided to skip breakfast.

He got up and walked to the bathroom. A look in the mirror made him flinch. His face was paler than ever and when he looked closer, he recognized the dark shadows under his eyes.

"Like a vampire ... from the tomb into the classroom" he muttered.

There was not much he could do about it now. He had to be in class in 15 minutes and that was barely enough for a proper refreshing potion, so he just tipped his hair, face and clothes with his wand and mumbled "Repens mundus".

Another look in the mirror proved, that his cleaning spell had worked. He left the bathroom, seized his wand from the nightstand and walked into his sitting room.

Snape spotted the tray of food, the house-elves had left and called "Accio roll". There was not enough time for a proper breakfast, but he knew he couldn't deal with Longbottom without at least something in his stomach. By the time he entered his office, the roll was gone and he felt a little better.

I'd kill for a cup of tea now, he thought and took some sheets of paper from his office table. A look at the clock over the fireplace told him that it was five minutes to nine, so he entered the classroom through a side door to let the students in.

Harry felt anything but ready for a double dose of Snape. The night had been unpleasant enough and his scar was still throbbing slightly. Hermione and Kayla were still talking quietly about the article in the Daily Prophet, while Kelsey was staring maliciously at Malfoy.

"Harry, what do you think Snape was doing with the deatheater last night?" Ron whispered.

"Dunno... questioning I guess" the dark-haired boy replied.

"I still don't trust him, no matter was Dumbledore says." his friend insisted. "I bet he found out something and didn't tell Dumbledore about it"

"Drop it Ron!" Hermione whispered her hands on her hips. "I trust Dumbledore and he trusts Snape. Just because he's a greasy git doesn't mean he's a traitor"

Kayla walked over to her brother and nudged him "Kelsey, please do me a favor" Her brother turned around and raised an eyebrow. "Please don't do anything funny to Malfoy today. Not in Snape's class"

"And why shouldn't I? This moron almost killed me and Snape didn't even take points" he whispered angrily.

"Snape is spying on Voldemort and Malfoy's dad is very close to him. For some reason Snape started punishing Malfoy after he injured you and I don't think Malfoy sr. is going to like it. I know you really hate Snape, but Dumbledore needs him. So I'd really appreciate it if you would not get Malfoy punished in Snape's classes." Kayla urged. Kelsey looked at his sister, like he would just see her for the very first time.

"You haven't started liking this sorry excuse of a teacher, have you?" he hissed.

"No I don't like him, but I fear for him. He's doing an extremely dangerous job and I don't want him to get killed" she replied calmly. "And I didn't say you can't take revenge on Malfoy... just not during Snape's lessons. And one last thing..." Her brother gave her a very annoyed look. "...please don't get caught. Gryffindor can't afford to lose anymore points if we want to win the house-cup, and our quidditch team can't help this year."

Kelsey knew she was right and nodded. Then the classroom doors opened and they entered. As usual they settled at tables in the very back, set up their cauldrons and waited. Snape walked back to his desk and seized a stack of paper.

"Cauldrons away!" he called "Today you'll be doing a written test about everything we have covered so far. It will tell you...and me...where you stand and where you need to study more."

While he passed out the tests, nobody said a single word. All the students, including the Slytherins, stared at him in shock. When the truth sank in, Kayla heard several students cursing under their breath and her eyes fell on Neville. His face had lost all its color and his hands were shaking terribly.

I should offer him tutoring; she thought when Snape handed her the test. "Start now! You have two hours" the potion master called and set up a huge hourglass on his desk.

Harry felt suddenly very sick. This was about the worst think that could have happened. He turned the test around and skimmed over the questions. It wasn't as bad as he had feared, so he started right away.

The first question was quite easy; What potion would you use to change your appearance into another person and what problems would you have to face.

They had used Polyjuice potion in their second year, so he knew how to answer this one. Kelsey had less pleasant thoughts and they all revolved around the strict potion master. An unannounced test on his first day after a month was highly unfair. He had no doubt he could ace this test, but still...

What is the Wolfsbane potion and when was it discovered.

Ron chewed on his quill before he answered the question. Fortunately he knew a werewolf personally, so this question wasn't really a challenge. Most of the students didn't consider Snape's test a piece of cake.

Kayla heard a moan every once in a while she concentrated on her work. She was done after a little more then an hour and put down her quill. Taking a look around the room, she recognized her fellow students sweating and scribbling always one eye at the hourglass.

Snape was sitting at his desk, reading in a large, leather-bound book. Then he looked up and met her eyes, while his lips distorted into a malicious smirk.

"Staring into space will not answer the questions Miss Warren" he sneered.

"I'm already finished Professor" she answered in the same manner.

Snape rose slowly from his chair and Kayla knew that this behaviour was supposed to scare her, but it didn't. The potion master came to her desk and picked up the sheet of paper.

"Let's see if you are REALLY finished" he growled and walked back to his desk. Kayla took out her potions book and started reading, trying to ignore all the glares of bewilderment and shock she was receiving from her fellow classmates.

Then suddenly she heard a thud and looked up. Snape had slammed his fist on the desk and called "Time's up". The students walked up to him and handed over their tests before they left the classroom. Kayla put her book back in her bag and got up. Harry, Kelsey and Hermione looked slightly relaxed, but Ron looked like he had to struggle hard. His hair was all messy, so much it almost resembled Harry's, and he had big ink spots on his cheeks and hands.

"Snape'll pay for this" he growled when he wiped his forehead with his sleeve. "Let's get out of here" Kelsey exclaimed and they left the classroom.

Ron went on finding more and more unpleasant names for the potion master during the following lessons. During Transfiguration he was so absentminded that he missed the pigeon he was supposed to turn in a raven and hit Neville with his wand instead. His classmate spun around and wanted to protest but out came only a hoarsely croak. Neville grabbed his throat and Kayla assumed he wanted to complain but he couldn't stop croaking.

"Mr Weasley, please take Mr Longbottom to the hospital wing and then go right to lunch, before you kill somebody today." Professor McGonagall called.

Ron grabbed Neville's arm and dragged him out of the classroom. Professor Sprout finally lost her nerves, when Ron accidentally decapitated the dozing daisy, he was supposed to repot. Her finger pointed at the door instantly and the red-haired boy scuffled outside. By the end of the classes, Ron had cooled down a bit but his face had still a gloomy expression, every time he thought about the potion master.

When they sat down in the common room to study and Ron drew cartoons of drowning Snape in his cauldron, Hermione had enough "Ron do you think you did soooo bad in the test"

"No not really. I did pretty well I guess, but Snape shouldn't do unannounced tests on principle"

Hermione threw desperately her hands in the air and sighed. "You drive us up the wall all day because of a principle?" she called, her voice sounding noticeably annoyed.

"Look who's speaking! Miss Principle herself!" he replied in a mocking voice followed closely by a groan, when Hermione slapped the back of his head forcefully. Ron decided not to push it any further and looked over to Kelsey and Harry, who were working on their star charts for astronomy.

"What do you think Trelawney is going to come up with in the next lesson? I'm running out of good ways to die." he smirked. Everybody started laughing hysterically about Ron's dry comment, when they suddenly heard a squeaking and quacking in the background.

They spun around and spotted Fred and George looking very pleased with themselves. "Oh my..." Kayla groaned, when she recognized a group of firstyears' running around like scared chicken. The more disturbing fact was that some of them literally looked like that.

Harry and Kelsey couldn't stop laughing about the first years, while Ron gasped "Look...look at their...heads" Hermione and Kayla just kept staring at them with open mouths. They had no idea how the Weasley twins had managed to turn the heads of the first years into the heads of ducks, chicken, turkeys and geese. Kayla felt really sorry for the girl who had to support the swan-neck that emerged from her shoulders.

The twins walked over to them and asked impishly "So how do you like our Paradox Poultry Perfume."

Hermione gave the twins a most disapproving look and said "I'll have to report this. I've told you before NO TESTING SILLY STUFF ON STUDENTS"

The Gryffindor prefect walked over to the disfigured students and shook her head "When is this going to wear off?"

"Oh they will have their own heads back in" he looked at his watch "20 seconds" Just when a little girl with a chicken head started acting like she was going to lay an egg, there was a little plop and all the students looked like before.

Most of them had to sit down for a second and the one with the swan head had to go to the hospital wing with a whiplash. "It still need some improvement" was the comment of Fred and George, when they walked back to their table. "You're not going to report this, right?" Ron asked anxiously.

"I most certainly will" Hermione confirmed "this girl was really hurt and I'm quite sure they didn't ask the firstyears if they could test this crap on them"

"Hermione is right. They need to learn their lesson one day. I know most of their stuff is really funny, but this time they were going too far." Kayla agreed.

The boys rolled their eyes on them and Kelsey called "We can't afford losing any more points. You just told me that today." "This is not the point Kelsey. They crossed the line tonight and they know it. And it will mostly likely be detention anyway" Hermione exclaimed.

"Oh and this shall comfort us now" they heard George calling over from their table.

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