Of Vampire Bats…

What Ron really wanted to do right down was lie down and sleep for a very, very long time. Umbridge, his death, Sirius' death, that Smith woman, You-Know-Who about to walk through the front door and a long-term relationship with Hermione found out all in one day! It was too much to take in at once but any chance of a reprieve from this whirlwind of discovery was impossible when faced with the horrible nightmare of Snape's potions class.

The slimy head of Slytherin showed no immediate difference, though the low amount of death stares sent by Harry was a little disconcerting. Like usual, a set of awkward potion instructions appeared in spidery writing on the board with a wave of Snape's wand, he then proceeded to give curt examples of what he would do to anyone who made a mistake.

"What are you smiling for?" Harry asked, letting go of any resentment remaining from the earlier argument to put up a united front against the potions professor.

"I just realised that none of the work I do here will affect my grades back home!" Ron answered.

"Lucky sod."

"I know."

Hearing their conversation Hermione joined in all to happy to wipe the smirk off Ron's face. "You do realise that you would have been learning almost exactly the same thing back there don't you? And that if Snape knows who you are he'll just send a parchment of your marks back through with you anyway?" she quipped.

Ron's face became a mask of horror, "Dumbledore wouldn't tell him would he?"

She smiled, "I don't know, but if Snape doesn't send your grades for this month then I certainly will."

"You wouldn't!"

"Try me."

"Miss Granger, would you care to inform the class of what it is you have to discuss that is so important that you don't have to listen to me?" said Snape in deadly calm voice, and yet without the slight inflection of pure disgust that Ron had become accustomed to back home.

Hermione gulped and quickly turned to the front of the room, "No, sir. Sorry sir, it won't happen again."

"Just to see that it doesn't ten points from Griffindor."

A snigger swept around the half-full room as, just like his own world, it was mainly the Slytherins that had passed potions with a high enough grade to enter the class; they were in company of a slight smattering of Ravenclaws (though many had passed the exam well in the brainy house, few had decided to torture themselves with yet another two years of the sardonic, sullen teacher). Ron had often wondered why he voluntarily did this to himself every week until he remembered that elusive Auror training.

Silently fantasising about a world where Snape actually washed his horribly greasy hair Ron sniggered as he crushed a bowl of doxy droppings. His wishful thinking was disturbed however by a small explosion to the left hand side of the room.

Snape cursed under his breath and strode towards the unfortunate student, who was unfamiliar to Ron. "Miss Silverstone if you can not understand the rudimentary knowledge that lobalug venom and ashwinder skin explode when not stirred in an anticlockwise direction then maybe it would be best if you returned to Honoria Nutcombe School for Witches."

The teenage girl cringed in response to the professor's sarcastic tone and hurriedly mumbled her apologies. Beside him Ron felt Hermione shift on her chair in empathy with the poor student but their attention was drawn away as an annoying Slytherin made his presence known.

"Hello mudblood, Potter, new boy, enjoying the show?" The temporary distraction of Snape had allowed Malfoy the opportunity to introduce himself to the 'new' student.

Ron clenched his fists under the table and felt Harry's and Hermione's hands gently holding them down out of the ferret's sight.

"So Rob is it?"

"Yeah," Ron murmured grudgingly.

"Well I expect you know my name. Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

Ron bit down a snide remark as Hermione's grip tightened in warning.

"Of course, it's to be expected," he continued, "the Malfoy name can be a little overwhelming."

The self-righteous git actually thought that Ron was in awe of him, that the inability to speak came from admiration and not the fact that Ron was just one more word away from punching his lights out.

And he didn't seem to know quite when to quit, "You know it's odd that these two have taken you under their wing, maybe the mudblood has finally decided to move on from the Weasel."

Ron's attack was beaten by the flying leap Hermione took across the table. It was only due to Harry's quick reactions that they didn't lose a few thousand points for Griffindor as Snape chose that moment to return to teaching. Instead she was grabbed around the waist and hauled into her seat before suspicion could be aroused.

"Sit down," Harry hissed into her ear, firmly holding her shoulders. Hermione calmed slightly at his touch and Draco moved back to his own table.

"The smug arse, damn him and damn his father," she cursed under her breath

"Shh, you won't change anything." Harry whispered soothingly.

"No but it would make me feel better to repeat that third-year punch," she smiled weakly.

"I think we'd all love to see that again but I don't want you to disappear on me. Okay?"

The words seemed to work and Harry was soon back in his seat.

"It's a shame he turned out that way really," Harry whispered conversationally to Ron, returning to his bubbling potion.

"What do you mean?" Ron asked.

"Well Dumbledore has this strange notion that Malfoy may have actually joined our side if his father hadn't become one of Voldemort's key deatheaters."

"Where on earth did he get that idea?!"

"I don't really know, but it is Dumbledore we're talking about, sometimes I just think that he knows everything."

"You're not so sure of that in my world."

Surprise showed in Harry's face, "Really?"

"It does make sense." Hermione joined in, "Remember how distrustful you were of him when you first found out about the prophesy. It seems that if Rob's right then in his world that Harry would have been lied to for longer."

"While we're on the subject of change, how come there are new students? What happened to the others?" Ron asked his two friends. Conversation was now easier as all of the cauldrons were letting off bangs and whistles.

"That's the reason you've got to be careful around here." Hermione explained, "When Voldemort got his followers into the top levels of the ministry there were some witches and wizards that tried to inform the public. Needless to say they quickly disappeared. Anyone who speaks out against what's happening find that their families leave home suddenly one night never to be seen again."

Harry joined in, "Hogwarts is still reasonably safe, students of 'rebellious' families only vanish into thin air when they go home at the holidays," his voice was sombre, "The first student to not come back was Susan Bones and then the Creevy brothers didn't return."

"But the Creevys come from a muggle family." Ron argued.

"That's when we realised that Voldemort wasn't going to attack the school outright," Hermione continued, "if he can't get rid of mixed blood during term time then he's just going to pick them off one by one. Even though it's slower it has a very demoralising effect. Be muggle born and wait for the end or object to it and watch as that waiting time evaporates in seconds. Families whose children never made it into Hogwarts or preferred other schools now leap at the chance to be under the Headmaster's diminishing protection."

Harry took up the explanation again, "Anyone who steps out of line, even the pure blooded, are at risk. What do you think would happen to Hermione if she took one step out of line? The only reason her and her family haven't had a visit from the Wizarding Relations Protection Service- " at Ron's befuddled look, he added a quick explanation, "their the ones in charge of 'keeping the peace', is because of image."

"Image?" Ron questioned, now thoroughly confused.

"It's all about the look of the thing," Hermione took over, "there can be no real denouncing of the government because there is no real proof that the WRPS is anything more than a normal policing body, people disappear at the dead of night, no witnesses, no bodies."

"And they won't take Hermione until they have an excuse because she's too visible," Harry interrupted, "she's smart, vocal and well known," she blushed slightly at his words, "If her family aren't around one day it won't be as easy to brush under the carpet."

"They've done the same thing with Lupin-"

Ron interrupted her, "Yeah, I was going to ask how come he's still teaching. In my world he resigned in his first year because he got found out during the whole Sirius thing."

"Well that didn't happen here did it," Harry started, his voice had a slight edge again that always appeared when his Godfather's name was mentioned. He was about to continue when Malevolous Smith appeared in the doorway.

"Professor Snape," she squawked, her voice sounded terse and strained by self-control. The woman was a picture of forced calm, the façade of ease before the storm. "A word please. Now."

Snape nodded his acquiesce and gestured towards his office before speaking to the class in his usual tone, "Bottle your potions, label them and leave them on my desk before leaving. You should have finished five minutes ago. Class dismissed."

As the teachers headed towards the office the students scrambled to clear away. Smith's smile became more and more forced as she passed the cauldrons, her eyes narrowing with every step.

Ron took the vials of potion to Snape's desk whilst his friends cleaned up. The door to the office had been left ajar and he took his time during the labelling to listen in.

"It has come to my attention," came the voice of the High Inquisitor, "that you are still refusing to follow Ministry guidelines in your lessons. This will not be tolerated for much longer. Next lesson you will teach this class the Flame Immobilising potion and get them to right a five foot essay on its history and uses, do I make my-"

"Rob! Rob!"

Ron turned his head to Harry who was calling him.

"Come on mate, Defence next."

"Right, coming," Ron placed the marked bottles on the desk and followed Hermione out of the classroom, silently wishing that he could have heard Snape's response.

"Hey Hermione," he asked once in the corridor, "what is the Flame Immobilising potion?"

"Come on Ron you know this, it was summer homework after second year," at his blank look she continued, "you know, Witch Burning in the Fourteenth Century Was Completely Pointless- discuss."

"Nope sorry Hermione I'm normal, I can't remember essay titles from four and a half years ago."

Hermione ignored Harry's snicker and gave Ron 'The Look', "Well you should. It's a mixture that makes fire ineffective, like a pre-prepared Flame-Freezing Charm."

"Why would Smith be so keen on us learning about stopping fires?" Ron asked thinking back to the professor's intense tone.

"No idea," Hermione answered, "Maybe it's the witch burning she's interested in."

Shrugging the threesome made there way to Defence against the Dark Arts.


AN: Sorry about the wait but I havn't been home much over the weekend and had no accass to my computer on Friday, please forgive me.