Chapter Seven

A Special Kind of Discipline

Jennifer was reading when Severus finally made it to her office that night, snapping the book closed as he came in and immediately getting up.

"Sorry it took me so long. I had to have some words with Zacchius about the situation with his sister," Severus explained with a sigh. "Ready for our walk?"

"So how much did you tell him?" Jennifer asked curiously, grabbing her cloak and following him back out. Severus waited until they had made it up the stairs and out into the courtyard before answering, wary of being overheard despite having his Snoop Chain on.

"I didn't tell him anything that Sirius didn't want me to tell him about," Severus said. "Merely that it would be in his best interests not to get involved in any way with any plans she might hatch."

"Personally I don't like all of this dodging about. I think we should tell him the truth," Jennifer said. "What if it had been one of our own children? Wouldn't we want the rest to know what was going on?"

"Well first of all, they wouldn't be getting into a situation where they'd be tempted by Muggle drugs or any of that she was exposed to…"

"Well, no, but they do have full access to a complete potion lab…"

"And they know the dangers of abusing it."

"And you're saying Zoë didn't?" Jennifer said.

"No," Severus sighed, "From what Anna has told me they had spoken to them about it on numerous occasions. Zoë has always had a very unhealthy tendency to take life-threatening risks to get attention, but obviously they didn't recognize it until it was too late. Their one mistake was thinking that Zoë was responsible enough and capable enough of disciplining herself when she wasn't anywhere near ready to do so. You know as well as I do that one of the reasons students are told never to use their magic outside of school is not only because of training concerns but protection of the Muggleborns' families. In fact, when I was going to school, a similar case happened where a Muggleborn student lost their temper and ended up burning the house down…it did nothing but fan the other fire going on with the Death Eaters at the time," he added in a low voice. "Here we have a girl going through changes as they all must and in a situation where she's surrounded by Muggles and what few wizards she's exposed to at school have powers that pale in comparison to her own. Of course she's going to be tempted to abuse it. No one could stop her, and they were too afraid to tell her parents."

"Yes, but even after the fact, I think a lot of this could have been prevented if Anna and Sirius would have just come to terms on how they were going to handle it," Jennifer said.

"They can barely come to terms with each other, let alone their children. The two of them may be soul mates, but they also both have a lot of baggage in their pasts that neither seems much inclined to give up. They won't be coming to terms with each other until they come to terms with themselves."

"Yes," Jennifer sighed. "As I recall, the two of us had that problem ourselves."

"Really? I don't remember that at all," Severus said, but Jennifer knew him well enough to not despite his expressionless face that he was joking. "We've both been through terrible times, Jennifer, but neither of us had to bunk with Dementors for twelve years."

"He'll never get over that," Jennifer said, shaking his head.

"No, and there are things in my past I will never get over as well, but I learned to live with it. And somehow he is going to need to learn to live with his past, as bad as it is. The longer he ignores it and puts another face on it, the worse he gets."

"Well, at least now that the kids are here their parents can hopefully take care of themselves," Jennifer sighed.

"Yes, all we can give them is time, as I attempt to make sure that Zoë doesn't accumulate too many demons of her own," Severus said.

"That is not going to be easy," Jennifer said, shaking her head.

"I don't expect it to be," Severus said. "But I'm going to make sure that when Zoë sneaks out tonight, she'll find she'll have met a match in me."

"Sure she's going to try to run away?" Jennifer asked.

"Without question," Severus said with a nod. "Trust me, I've had experience with worse students."

"Perhaps that is true, but they were all in Slytherin," Jennifer pointed out. "Even Aurelius."

"Aurelius' problems had much different roots than Zoë's had, Jennifer," Severus said. "And much more hauntingly familiar… the anger… the sense of betrayal. He also knew whom he wanted to lash out at. Zoë simply wants to lash out at everyone, including herself. It will take a great deal of time to get through to her."

"Especially since I know she's not fond of you anymore," Jennifer pointed out.

"Actually, I think that's going to make it much easier," Severus said thoughtfully as they made their way past the brambles to get to the brook. But just as they passed, one of the thorny twigs slapped back along the bottom of Jennifer's ankle and she winced in pain, hurrying to pass the bush before kneeling and feeling against the back of her foot.

"Are you all right?" Severus said, looking alarmed.

"Just a scratch, it's nothing," Jennifer said in a low voice, wishing she could get a look at it as she carefully stood back up again. "Nothing that a quick balm can't fix, right?"

"You had such a strange expression cross your face for a moment is all. I thought it was something more serious."

"It just caught me by surprise," Jennifer said, grinning slightly. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to worry you! I just thought it was a snake or something!"

"Oh. Well it's too bad that it wasn't, then you could have gotten even by biting it back," Severus decided, causing Jennifer to sigh in exasperation.

"Stop trying to be funny, Severus, you are no good at it!"

"Then how did you know I was trying to be funny?" he inquired solemnly. Jennifer raised a finger as if to shake it at him when suddenly she saw a flashing on his wrist and pointed at it.

"What's that?"

"Oh, it's a detector bracelet Sirius and I had made, it's based on the same principles as both the fey magic detectors in the school and on our watches… it pulses whenever an unusual amount of wild magic is used in the area. I would gather from the quick pulse that it means Zoë just left the castle."

"You had better get going then," Jennifer sighed. "The sooner you can get to her, the better."

"Very well," Severus said, but then paused. "Perhaps I should walk you back first."

"Severus, I'm the Sentinel of Dark Magic. I can very well walk myself out of this forest," Jennifer sighed at him. "You just worry about our niece."

"Of course," Severus said, nodding to her as he crossed the brook, wondering why he had felt a particular need to do so. There was something wrong… he could sense it, although what he wasn't sure. But Jennifer was right; he needed to find her, and if she was where he thought she was, he had a long way to get there.

Jennifer waited impatiently for him to get out of bounds to Disapparate, waving to him as she turned to leave. But the moment she heard the pop, she bent to inspect her ankle more closely, slipping off her shoe. The scratch had gone across the entire back of her ankle just above the bone and she frowned at as she thought about how the edge of all her pairs of shoes would fall along the lines, and just how many staircases weren't bypassed from the secret passages.

At least it wouldn't get worse; Lucius had made sure of that, she sighed. But the thought of trying to pad it against her shoes day after day seemed like a daunting task. She stood then, silently walking back to the castle. Over the last few weeks, she had gotten several bruises, a hand burn, and a paper cut… so minor… so very minor… and yet with every action she became aware of their presence. At least some were preventable, she mused, feeling the scratch on her arm distractedly, and a low dose analgesic would help to keep her mind off it for a while. But how long would it take before she got one that wouldn't be so easy to ignore?


There was still a little sunlight left in Modesto as Zoë knocked on the trailer door, glancing at the notice taped on it a moment before rolling her eyes and taking it off. The family trailer park had actually been one of the few in the area that had been kept up, and this one of the last of the ones on the block that the neighbors took offense to. A rather large woman in a black tank top that was too small for her opened the door.

"Oh, it's you," she said, letting Zoë into the smoky room without a second thought and turned to finish getting ready for work. "Mike, one of yours!"

Mike, who had been intent on the video game in front of him suddenly did a double take, frowning at her and then cussing profusely when his warrior in the game got torn apart by aliens.

"What the hell are you doing here? I thought your parents ditched your ass in private school."

"Nobody ditches me, I ditch them," Zoë said. "Have you seen Chunk?"

"Nobody's seen Chunk. He's been in hiding since your father threatened to kill him if he ever saw him again. Why didn't you tell anyone you had a psycho father anyhow?" Mike said.

"Doesn't everyone?" Zoë retorted, and Mike shrugged noncommittally, waving to his mother as she left for work. "There's nothing to worry about anyhow. My Dad's washed his hands of me. So tell me where Chunk is."

Mike stared at her, blowing smoke at her thoughtfully.

"What makes you think I would know?"

"Because he's gotta get his hash from somewhere, and I'm not stupid," Zoë sighed.

"No, but you're jailbait, and what's worse, witch jailbait. The moment anyone finds out you're gone again you'll be bringing the DEA and the WIAB on down on us at the same time. So unless you're here to do business, I got better things to do," Mike said, turning back to his game. Zoë watched the screen for a moment while he did his best to ignore her.

"Will you change a galleon?"

"No," Mike said, making a face at her at her, "Remember what happened the last time I tried to exchange one of those things? Dollars or nothing. I got a living to make."

"Like you just don't use the money to keep up your own habit," Zoë said, tossing down the paper she had taken off the door. "By the way, they're trying to condemn this thing again. They're going to end up evicting you, you know."

"Would you mind your own damn business? Now, go the hell away until you get me some real cash, and it had better be more than a couple of Jacksons, babe."

"Fine, but you'd better be willing to tell me where Chunk is when I get back," Zoë threatened.

"Ya right, try and hex me, bitch, see you on the next milk carton," Mike said unconcernedly, going back to his game.

But when Zoë opened the door again, she saw something a lot more frightening than any threat the dealer could make, for Severus Snape was standing on the other side of the door. She opened her mouth to scream, but Severus was a bit quicker, muting her with his wand as he stepped in.

Mike did another double take before he went diving behind the couch, his arm appearing long enough to dig his wand out from under the cushions as several other wizards Apparated around the room, each taking a different position around him, the badges of the Wizard Illegal Activities Bureau on the sleeve of each arm.

"Drop the wand," warned the wizard standing in the narrow hallway behind him.

Mike slumped then, staring at the girl and shaking his head as he dropped it.

"You're even stupider than I thought you were," he muttered.

"I suggest you shut up until you have your rights read," said one of the other agents. "Sir, if we could just get your statement and fill out your complaint at the office, Judge Vallid said she'd take care of the rest."

"Thank you, we're going to do that now," Severus said evenly, grabbing Zoë by the back of the collar and walking her out.

"How the hell did you find me?" Zoë snapped.

"Do you really think I'm going to tell you?" Severus said, squinting at her. "Suffice it to say that from now on wherever you go, I go, and wherever I go, I'll have someone there to pick up whoever it is you're meeting with. You know, I really don't think you realize the exact severity of the situation, Zoë. Like it or not, you answer to me from now on. I am the last chance you have."

"Right. Or what?" Zoë asked defiantly.

"For the rest of your family's sake, I hope you never find out," Severus said.

"In other words, you're saying you're not doing this for me," Zoë said.

"Yes, I believe that is exactly what I'm saying," Severus said icily, meeting with the officer waiting outside to take them back to headquarters.

Despite being turned green for several hours the day before, Alicia was in fairly high spirits the next day as she and Phoebe went downstairs for an early breakfast before Potions. But they were both more than a little surprised to find Zoë parked in the corridor in front of the Great Hall with a tiny brush in hand, looking as if she was about to fall asleep on the wet floors on either side of her. Several of the Slytherin boys were busy coming up with crazy excuses on why they had to walk back and forth upon it, making Zoë all the angrier.

"Since when are detentions done before classes?" Phoebe frowned.

"I hope this isn't about yesterday," Alicia said worriedly. "It seems awful harsh if it is. Zoë!" Zoë looked up and glared at them, despite the fact that the two of them took great pains to go around. "You're in detention? Don't you have class with us?"

"Who are you sitting detention with?" Phoebe added.

"Guess," Zoë said dryly.

"Filch?" Alicia suggested.

"Lower," Zoë said acidly, sitting up. "Look at my hands!"

"You must have gotten up hours ago," Alicia said, feeling worse by the minute.

"Gotten up? I haven't been allowed to go to bed! Alicia, you've got to write to my father…"

"Good morning," Snape said, appearing in the door of the Great Hall, his eyes flashing dangerously. "Don't you two girls have something better to do than gawk, or did you both want to face detention as well?"

"We were just going to breakfast," Phoebe said quickly.

"Then keep going," Snape snapped at them, but caught Alicia's sleeve just before she went in. "And no Owls," he added. Alicia looked at him nervously, then apologetically at Zoë before she kept walking. "Aren't you done with that section yet? You have half an hour until your first class, you know."

"I'm not going to class. I'm exhausted!"

"Considering that you had already committed yourself to not sleeping last night, it is hardly my fault that you were not in your room in bed when you were supposed to be. You will go to class. Oh, and I have already spoken to most of your teachers today, and I would highly recommend that you don't allow yourself to fall asleep in any of your classes today… especially mine," he said as almost an afterthought. "Go eat. Now, while you still can," he added, standing over her until she finally got up and walked in, waiting until she took her seat before heading up to sit at the head table by himself, unconcerned about the students staring at him wondering why he wasn't eating in the back with the rest of the staff.


The smell of coffee twisted very strangely with the aroma of the musky boiling cauldrons in the Potion Lab as the students began to wander in for their first class. Zack waved to Morfinn as he sat down at the next table, sniffling the entire time, and then to Alicia who sat closer to the back. Zoë was one of the last students to arrive, literally looking as if she were dragging her feet as she slumped into her place next to Zack in the front row.

"What's wrong with you?" Zack asked.

"Oh, shut up and leave me alone," Zoë snapped back grumpily. Morfinn nudged him, passing Zack a note, and he glanced at it quickly and slipped it away as Jennifer walked in from her office, beaming warmly at them.

"Now, I know how hard it is to get up early, so if you're inclined to coffee there's some on the warmer over there," Jennifer said. "I suggest you get it now before we get started, because of course you won't be allowed to have them on your table when we start labs later. Zoë? You really ought to have a cup, it's quite strong."

"I hate coffee," she snapped. "I'd rather have a No-Doze styled potion, if you don't mind. I've been up all night."

"Which is all the more reason why you can't have one, even if you were of legal age to use a Wakeful Dose," Jennifer said calmly. "Does anyone here know why? Yes, Morfinn?"

"Potions that keep you awake magically tap into the reserve energy that everyone has, often referred to as a 'second wind,'" Morfinn said, "When you're already tired, you may already be tapping into it, and even if you're not, after the potion wears off and it leaves that reserve depleted, it can lead to severe exhaustion to the point of collapse, or in very rare cases death, especially when it's been used several days over a short period of time," he finished, blowing his nose.

"Very good, Morfinn. Five points for Hufflepuff… but from now on I'd appreciate it if you stepped outside to do that," she said, pointing at his handkerchief. Morfinn smiled apologetically, folding it up and put in back in his vest. "So have some coffee, Zoë. You can catch up on your sleep after dinner, I'm sure." Zoë merely sat and glared at her as Jennifer headed walked away, her nose directing her eyes downward as she saw a cup had already been put on the table for her.

"Now, as some may have already warned you, third year potions is very extensive in formulas… much more than I like myself, actually," Jennifer admitted with a wry grin. "And of course you will also be expected to learn the different magical properties, quirks, and breakdown temperatures for any new components used this year. But there is one other thing we'll be doing this year that hasn't been done in years past with third year, and that is a long term experiment that I will label as Cause and Effect. At the back of the lab, you may have noticed that quite a number of glass cages have been added to the back wall, thanks to the efforts of Doctor Sagittari.

"Each one is numbered and contains a pair of mice. I will assign each table with one of these cages, and you will be responsible for them. One of these you will treat normally, while the other will be receiving small doses of the same potion of the course of the year, which I myself will make for test control reasons. You will be given charts and will be responsible for writing down any physical and behavioral changes, and then hang them up so that everyone can see. During the last month of the school year, we will be spending all our class time going over and discussing the results. Because of the amount of time we are going to dedicate to that and with the Headmaster's permission, third year classes will not be given final exams this year. However," Jennifer said quickly as quite a number of the students began to grin, "I must warn you that that means that every test you have will be all the more important since that score will not be added to your final marks. And, of course, how well you do analyzing this experiment will also have a great impact on your marks. So, shall we get started?"

Everyone in the class began to talk enthusiastically about the plan as they opened their books…everyone except Zoë, who stared at Craw angrily, half tempted to intentionally chuck her coffee. In fact, she stayed so angry that she had very little trouble staying awake, and was still seething when she and Zack left the classroom.

"What is this, some sort of corrections school?" Zoë said furiously, storming up the stairs.

"What are you talking about?" Zack said.

"That stupid thing with the mice. Who are they trying to fool? That was aimed completely at me! I swear it has Snape written all over it!"

"Zoë, even if I had any idea what you were talking about, didn't she mention this was something she and the Headmaster worked out?" Zack said.

"I know what she said, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have our uncle's fingerprints all over it!" Zoë snapped, pausing in front of the Defense room door and glaring at it, refusing to go in until they had to. "Guardianship or not, he's got no right to try to run my life, and if he thinks for a moment I'm going to play up to his game, he's wrong."

"Sounds to me like your ready to declare war on him and the school, and it's only the second day," Zack sighed.

"So I am, and you're going to help me," Zoë said.

"Think again," Zack said, turning towards the door. Zoë stopped him.

"Come on, Zack! I can't believe you've gone and sold out! I don't know what he threatened you with last night, but you've got to admit that this whole situation is ridiculous. He's not our parent, and he has no right to act like it. Admit it, you don't like his teaching any more than I do. If we put our heads together, I bet we could come up with a way to get him thrown right out of this school," Zoë said. Zack stared hard at her for a moment.

"I'm not helping," Zack said at last. "If you want to try go right ahead, but I don't think it's going to work." Zoë shook her head in disbelief.

"Just what have they done to you?" she murmured sadly.

"Strange, I was asking myself the same question about you," Zack said, walking into the Seven

A Special Kind of Discipline

Jennifer was reading when Severus finally made it to her office that night, snapping the book closed as he came in and immediately getting up.

"Sorry it took me so long. I had to have some words with Zacchius about the situation with his sister," Severus explained with a sigh. "Ready for our walk?"

"So how much did you tell him?" Jennifer asked curiously, grabbing her cloak and following him back out. Severus waited until they had made it up the stairs and out into the courtyard before answering, wary of being overheard despite having his Snoop Chain on.

"I didn't tell him anything that Sirius didn't want me to tell him about," Severus said. "Merely that it would be in his best interests not to get involved in any way with any plans she might hatch."

"Personally I don't like all of this dodging about. I think we should tell him the truth," Jennifer said. "What if it had been one of our own children? Wouldn't we want the rest to know what was going on?"

"Well first of all, they wouldn't be getting into a situation where they'd be tempted by Muggle drugs or any of that she was exposed to…"

"Well, no, but they do have full access to a complete potion lab…"

"And they know the dangers of abusing it."

"And you're saying Zoë didn't?" Jennifer said.

"No," Severus sighed, "From what Anna has told me they had spoken to them about it on numerous occasions. Zoë has always had a very unhealthy tendency to take life-threatening risks to get attention, but obviously they didn't recognize it until it was too late. Their one mistake was thinking that Zoë was responsible enough and capable enough of disciplining herself when she wasn't anywhere near ready to do so. You know as well as I do that one of the reasons students are told never to use their magic outside of school is not only because of training concerns but protection of the Muggleborns' families. In fact, when I was going to school, a similar case happened where a Muggleborn student lost their temper and ended up burning the house down…it did nothing but fan the other fire going on with the Death Eaters at the time," he added in a low voice. "Here we have a girl going through changes as they all must and in a situation where she's surrounded by Muggles and what few wizards she's exposed to at school have powers that pale in comparison to her own. Of course she's going to be tempted to abuse it. No one could stop her, and they were too afraid to tell her parents."

"Yes, but even after the fact, I think a lot of this could have been prevented if Anna and Sirius would have just come to terms on how they were going to handle it," Jennifer said.

"They can barely come to terms with each other, let alone their children. The two of them may be soul mates, but they also both have a lot of baggage in their pasts that neither seems much inclined to give up. They won't be coming to terms with each other until they come to terms with themselves."

"Yes," Jennifer sighed. "As I recall, the two of us had that problem ourselves."

"Really? I don't remember that at all," Severus said, but Jennifer knew him well enough to not despite his expressionless face that he was joking. "We've both been through terrible times, Jennifer, but neither of us had to bunk with Dementors for twelve years."

"He'll never get over that," Jennifer said, shaking his head.

"No, and there are things in my past I will never get over as well, but I learned to live with it. And somehow he is going to need to learn to live with his past, as bad as it is. The longer he ignores it and puts another face on it, the worse he gets."

"Well, at least now that the kids are here their parents can hopefully take care of themselves," Jennifer sighed.

"Yes, all we can give them is time, as I attempt to make sure that Zoë doesn't accumulate too many demons of her own," Severus said.

"That is not going to be easy," Jennifer said, shaking her head.

"I don't expect it to be," Severus said. "But I'm going to make sure that when Zoë sneaks out tonight, she'll find she'll have met a match in me."

"Sure she's going to try to run away?" Jennifer asked.

"Without question," Severus said with a nod. "Trust me, I've had experience with worse students."

"Perhaps that is true, but they were all in Slytherin," Jennifer pointed out. "Even Aurelius."

"Aurelius' problems had much different roots than Zoë's had, Jennifer," Severus said. "And much more hauntingly familiar… the anger… the sense of betrayal. He also knew whom he wanted to lash out at. Zoë simply wants to lash out at everyone, including herself. It will take a great deal of time to get through to her."

"Especially since I know she's not fond of you anymore," Jennifer pointed out.

"Actually, I think that's going to make it much easier," Severus said thoughtfully as they made their way past the brambles to get to the brook. But just as they passed, one of the thorny twigs slapped back along the bottom of Jennifer's ankle and she winced in pain, hurrying to pass the bush before kneeling and feeling against the back of her foot.

"Are you all right?" Severus said, looking alarmed.

"Just a scratch, it's nothing," Jennifer said in a low voice, wishing she could get a look at it as she carefully stood back up again. "Nothing that a quick balm can't fix, right?"

"You had such a strange expression cross your face for a moment is all. I thought it was something more serious."

"It just caught me by surprise," Jennifer said, grinning slightly. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to worry you! I just thought it was a snake or something!"

"Oh. Well it's too bad that it wasn't, then you could have gotten even by biting it back," Severus decided, causing Jennifer to sigh in exasperation.

"Stop trying to be funny, Severus, you are no good at it!"

"Then how did you know I was trying to be funny?" he inquired solemnly. Jennifer raised a finger as if to shake it at him when suddenly she saw a flashing on his wrist and pointed at it.

"What's that?"

"Oh, it's a detector bracelet Sirius and I had made, it's based on the same principles as both the fey magic detectors in the school and on our watches… it pulses whenever an unusual amount of wild magic is used in the area. I would gather from the quick pulse that it means Zoë just left the castle."

"You had better get going then," Jennifer sighed. "The sooner you can get to her, the better."

"Very well," Severus said, but then paused. "Perhaps I should walk you back first."

"Severus, I'm the Sentinel of Dark Magic. I can very well walk myself out of this forest," Jennifer sighed at him. "You just worry about our niece."

"Of course," Severus said, nodding to her as he crossed the brook, wondering why he had felt a particular need to do so. There was something wrong… he could sense it, although what he wasn't sure. But Jennifer was right; he needed to find her, and if she was where he thought she was, he had a long way to get there.

Jennifer waited impatiently for him to get out of bounds to Disapparate, waving to him as she turned to leave. But the moment she heard the pop, she bent to inspect her ankle more closely, slipping off her shoe. The scratch had gone across the entire back of her ankle just above the bone and she frowned at as she thought about how the edge of all her pairs of shoes would fall along the lines, and just how many staircases weren't bypassed from the secret passages.

At least it wouldn't get worse; Lucius had made sure of that, she sighed. But the thought of trying to pad it against her shoes day after day seemed like a daunting task. She stood then, silently walking back to the castle. Over the last few weeks, she had gotten several bruises, a hand burn, and a paper cut… so minor… so very minor… and yet with every action she became aware of their presence. At least some were preventable, she mused, feeling the scratch on her arm distractedly, and a low dose analgesic would help to keep her mind off it for a while. But how long would it take before she got one that wouldn't be so easy to ignore?


There was still a little sunlight left in Modesto as Zoë knocked on the trailer door, glancing at the notice taped on it a moment before rolling her eyes and taking it off. The family trailer park had actually been one of the few in the area that had been kept up, and this one of the last of the ones on the block that the neighbors took offense to. A rather large woman in a black tank top that was too small for her opened the door.

"Oh, it's you," she said, letting Zoë into the smoky room without a second thought and turned to finish getting ready for work. "Mike, one of yours!"

Mike, who had been intent on the video game in front of him suddenly did a double take, frowning at her and then cussing profusely when his warrior in the game got torn apart by aliens.

"What the hell are you doing here? I thought your parents ditched your ass in private school."

"Nobody ditches me, I ditch them," Zoë said. "Have you seen Chunk?"

"Nobody's seen Chunk. He's been in hiding since your father threatened to kill him if he ever saw him again. Why didn't you tell anyone you had a psycho father anyhow?" Mike said.

"Doesn't everyone?" Zoë retorted, and Mike shrugged noncommittally, waving to his mother as she left for work. "There's nothing to worry about anyhow. My Dad's washed his hands of me. So tell me where Chunk is."

Mike stared at her, blowing smoke at her thoughtfully.

"What makes you think I would know?"

"Because he's gotta get his hash from somewhere, and I'm not stupid," Zoë sighed.

"No, but you're jailbait, and what's worse, witch jailbait. The moment anyone finds out you're gone again you'll be bringing the DEA and the WIAB on down on us at the same time. So unless you're here to do business, I got better things to do," Mike said, turning back to his game. Zoë watched the screen for a moment while he did his best to ignore her.

"Will you change a galleon?"

"No," Mike said, making a face at her at her, "Remember what happened the last time I tried to exchange one of those things? Dollars or nothing. I got a living to make."

"Like you just don't use the money to keep up your own habit," Zoë said, tossing down the paper she had taken off the door. "By the way, they're trying to condemn this thing again. They're going to end up evicting you, you know."

"Would you mind your own damn business? Now, go the hell away until you get me some real cash, and it had better be more than a couple of Jacksons, babe."

"Fine, but you'd better be willing to tell me where Chunk is when I get back," Zoë threatened.

"Ya right, try and hex me, bitch, see you on the next milk carton," Mike said unconcernedly, going back to his game.

But when Zoë opened the door again, she saw something a lot more frightening than any threat the dealer could make, for Severus Snape was standing on the other side of the door. She opened her mouth to scream, but Severus was a bit quicker, muting her with his wand as he stepped in.

Mike did another double take before he went diving behind the couch, his arm appearing long enough to dig his wand out from under the cushions as several other wizards Apparated around the room, each taking a different position around him, the badges of the Wizard Illegal Activities Bureau on the sleeve of each arm.

"Drop the wand," warned the wizard standing in the narrow hallway behind him.

Mike slumped then, staring at the girl and shaking his head as he dropped it.

"You're even stupider than I thought you were," he muttered.

"I suggest you shut up until you have your rights read," said one of the other agents. "Sir, if we could just get your statement and fill out your complaint at the office, Judge Vallid said she'd take care of the rest."

"Thank you, we're going to do that now," Severus said evenly, grabbing Zoë by the back of the collar and walking her out.

"How the hell did you find me?" Zoë snapped.

"Do you really think I'm going to tell you?" Severus said, squinting at her. "Suffice it to say that from now on wherever you go, I go, and wherever I go, I'll have someone there to pick up whoever it is you're meeting with. You know, I really don't think you realize the exact severity of the situation, Zoë. Like it or not, you answer to me from now on. I am the last chance you have."

"Right. Or what?" Zoë asked defiantly.

"For the rest of your family's sake, I hope you never find out," Severus said.

"In other words, you're saying you're not doing this for me," Zoë said.

"Yes, I believe that is exactly what I'm saying," Severus said icily, meeting with the officer waiting outside to take them back to headquarters.

Despite being turned green for several hours the day before, Alicia was in fairly high spirits the next day as she and Phoebe went downstairs for an early breakfast before Potions. But they were both more than a little surprised to find Zoë parked in the corridor in front of the Great Hall with a tiny brush in hand, looking as if she was about to fall asleep on the wet floors on either side of her. Several of the Slytherin boys were busy coming up with crazy excuses on why they had to walk back and forth upon it, making Zoë all the angrier.

"Since when are detentions done before classes?" Phoebe frowned.

"I hope this isn't about yesterday," Alicia said worriedly. "It seems awful harsh if it is. Zoë!" Zoë looked up and glared at them, despite the fact that the two of them took great pains to go around. "You're in detention? Don't you have class with us?"

"Who are you sitting detention with?" Phoebe added.

"Guess," Zoë said dryly.

"Filch?" Alicia suggested.

"Lower," Zoë said acidly, sitting up. "Look at my hands!"

"You must have gotten up hours ago," Alicia said, feeling worse by the minute.

"Gotten up? I haven't been allowed to go to bed! Alicia, you've got to write to my father…"

"Good morning," Snape said, appearing in the door of the Great Hall, his eyes flashing dangerously. "Don't you two girls have something better to do than gawk, or did you both want to face detention as well?"

"We were just going to breakfast," Phoebe said quickly.

"Then keep going," Snape snapped at them, but caught Alicia's sleeve just before she went in. "And no Owls," he added. Alicia looked at him nervously, then apologetically at Zoë before she kept walking. "Aren't you done with that section yet? You have half an hour until your first class, you know."

"I'm not going to class. I'm exhausted!"

"Considering that you had already committed yourself to not sleeping last night, it is hardly my fault that you were not in your room in bed when you were supposed to be. You will go to class. Oh, and I have already spoken to most of your teachers today, and I would highly recommend that you don't allow yourself to fall asleep in any of your classes today… especially mine," he said as almost an afterthought. "Go eat. Now, while you still can," he added, standing over her until she finally got up and walked in, waiting until she took her seat before heading up to sit at the head table by himself, unconcerned about the students staring at him wondering why he wasn't eating in the back with the rest of the staff.


The smell of coffee twisted very strangely with the aroma of the musky boiling cauldrons in the Potion Lab as the students began to wander in for their first class. Zack waved to Morfinn as he sat down at the next table, sniffling the entire time, and then to Alicia who sat closer to the back. Zoë was one of the last students to arrive, literally looking as if she were dragging her feet as she slumped into her place next to Zack in the front row.

"What's wrong with you?" Zack asked.

"Oh, shut up and leave me alone," Zoë snapped back grumpily. Morfinn nudged him, passing Zack a note, and he glanced at it quickly and slipped it away as Jennifer walked in from her office, beaming warmly at them.

"Now, I know how hard it is to get up early, so if you're inclined to coffee there's some on the warmer over there," Jennifer said. "I suggest you get it now before we get started, because of course you won't be allowed to have them on your table when we start labs later. Zoë? You really ought to have a cup, it's quite strong."

"I hate coffee," she snapped. "I'd rather have a No-Doze styled potion, if you don't mind. I've been up all night."

"Which is all the more reason why you can't have one, even if you were of legal age to use a Wakeful Dose," Jennifer said calmly. "Does anyone here know why? Yes, Morfinn?"

"Potions that keep you awake magically tap into the reserve energy that everyone has, often referred to as a 'second wind,'" Morfinn said, "When you're already tired, you may already be tapping into it, and even if you're not, after the potion wears off and it leaves that reserve depleted, it can lead to severe exhaustion to the point of collapse, or in very rare cases death, especially when it's been used several days over a short period of time," he finished, blowing his nose.

"Very good, Morfinn. Five points for Hufflepuff… but from now on I'd appreciate it if you stepped outside to do that," she said, pointing at his handkerchief. Morfinn smiled apologetically, folding it up and put in back in his vest. "So have some coffee, Zoë. You can catch up on your sleep after dinner, I'm sure." Zoë merely sat and glared at her as Jennifer headed walked away, her nose directing her eyes downward as she saw a cup had already been put on the table for her.

"Now, as some may have already warned you, third year potions is very extensive in formulas… much more than I like myself, actually," Jennifer admitted with a wry grin. "And of course you will also be expected to learn the different magical properties, quirks, and breakdown temperatures for any new components used this year. But there is one other thing we'll be doing this year that hasn't been done in years past with third year, and that is a long term experiment that I will label as Cause and Effect. At the back of the lab, you may have noticed that quite a number of glass cages have been added to the back wall, thanks to the efforts of Doctor Sagittari.

"Each one is numbered and contains a pair of mice. I will assign each table with one of these cages, and you will be responsible for them. One of these you will treat normally, while the other will be receiving small doses of the same potion of the course of the year, which I myself will make for test control reasons. You will be given charts and will be responsible for writing down any physical and behavioral changes, and then hang them up so that everyone can see. During the last month of the school year, we will be spending all our class time going over and discussing the results. Because of the amount of time we are going to dedicate to that and with the Headmaster's permission, third year classes will not be given final exams this year. However," Jennifer said quickly as quite a number of the students began to grin, "I must warn you that that means that every test you have will be all the more important since that score will not be added to your final marks. And, of course, how well you do analyzing this experiment will also have a great impact on your marks. So, shall we get started?"

Everyone in the class began to talk enthusiastically about the plan as they opened their books…everyone except Zoë, who stared at Craw angrily, half tempted to intentionally chuck her coffee. In fact, she stayed so angry that she had very little trouble staying awake, and was still seething when she and Zack left the classroom.

"What is this, some sort of corrections school?" Zoë said furiously, storming up the stairs.

"What are you talking about?" Zack said.

"That stupid thing with the mice. Who are they trying to fool? That was aimed completely at me! I swear it has Snape written all over it!"

"Zoë, even if I had any idea what you were talking about, didn't she mention this was something she and the Headmaster worked out?" Zack said.

"I know what she said, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have our uncle's fingerprints all over it!" Zoë snapped, pausing in front of the Defense room door and glaring at it, refusing to go in until they had to. "Guardianship or not, he's got no right to try to run my life, and if he thinks for a moment I'm going to play up to his game, he's wrong."

"Sounds to me like your ready to declare war on him and the school, and it's only the second day," Zack sighed.

"So I am, and you're going to help me," Zoë said.

"Think again," Zack said, turning towards the door. Zoë stopped him.

"Come on, Zack! I can't believe you've gone and sold out! I don't know what he threatened you with last night, but you've got to admit that this whole situation is ridiculous. He's not our parent, and he has no right to act like it. Admit it, you don't like his teaching any more than I do. If we put our heads together, I bet we could come up with a way to get him thrown right out of this school," Zoë said. Zack stared hard at her for a moment.

"I'm not helping," Zack said at last. "If you want to try go right ahead, but I don't think it's going to work." Zoë shook her head in disbelief.

"Just what have they done to you?" she murmured sadly.

"Strange, I was asking myself the same question about you," Zack said, walking into the classroom.