All of this really belongs to J.K. Rowling. I'm making no money from this work of fan fiction.

Part Three: Student Found

I began to head towards the kitchens. Supper might be over, but the house elves would get me something. Then I remembered.

Potter.

Occulemency.

And I was going to be late.

I arrived one minute late. And no Potter. I was not surprised. He didn't seem to grasp the importance of these lessons. Or maybe he simply didn't care until he mastered his mind he was a danger to us all. I had to grudgingly admit that he had a bit of natural ability, but he was point blank refusing to practice. After a promising first lesson, the lessons had progressed steadily downhill. I had resorted to relentlessly breaking into Potter's mind, hoping to find some memory painful enough that Potter would use his natural talents to repel me. If I could think of a better way of teaching Occulemency, I would. Unfortunately for Potter, I had learned it the hard way, and so would he.

Well, no reason for me to sit on my hands. I began to remove memories into the pensieve. Potter deigned to show himself after another five minutes.

"You're late, Potter. So, have you been practicing?"

"Yes"

Again, not sure why I asked. I wouldn't have need Legilamency to see that Potter was lying. So much for Professor and Sir, as well. I had given up on trying to teach Potter manners. Only loyalty to Dumbledore kept me from doing the same with Occulemency. I felt fury raging in my veins. Fury against Potter, fury against Dumbledore for wasting my time with an impossible task, fury that I needed to get under control if I wanted to do this lesson justice. I took a deep breath, trying to drive out thoughts of Weasleys or obstinate students.

"Well, we'll soon find out, won't we? Wand out, Potter." I waited until Potter was behind the desk. He looked frightened, which refueled my fury. To have any sort of success he needed to have control of his emotions!

"On the count of three then. One -two"

I almost jumped out of my skin as Draco Malfoy came barging into my office. I suppose that I should have locked the door. But having Potter alone in my office was damning enough. Having Potter in my locked office might get me killed.

"Professor Snape, sir -oh -sorry"

Draco looked bemused. Thankful that I had already thought up an excuse for Potter being in my office, I tried to defuse his curiosity. "It's all right, Draco, Potter is here for a little remedial Potions."

I could see Draco filing away this information for further use. Hopefully his delight in having something over Potter would make him temporarily forget that you don't need a wand to brew potions. I could see Potter turning red, and felt I had better to end any potential confrontation between him and Draco.

'Well, Draco, what is it?' I asked. Draco might be a bit arrogant, but he rarely bothered me without good cause.

"It's Professor Umbridge, sir- she needs your help," said Malfoy. "They've found Montague, sir, he's turned up jammed inside a toilet on the fourth floor."

That definitely qualified as a good cause. I felt a surge of irritation. The fourth floor bathrooms had been checked by Flich yesterday, and myself earlier this afternoon.

"How did he get in there?" I demanded.

"I don't know, sir, he's a bit confused."

This was not sounding good. I felt a bit of panic, quickly suppressed, rising through my gut. I needed to get to the fourth floor before Umbridge decided to do something rash, like actually trying to extract Montague.

I took a deep breath. Forcing a calm voice, I said, "Very well, very well. Potter, we shall resume this lesson tomorrow evening."

I hurried out of my office, Draco at my heels. As we turned the first corner out of the dungeons, I slowed to allow Draco to catch up. I did a quick check that no teachers, students, or ghost were in the vicinity, pointed my wand at Draco's back and muttered "Obliviate". Draco stopped and looked at me with blank eyes.

"Thank you for finding me, Mr. Malfoy. Could you be so kind as to bring Mr. Nott his homework? He is in the hospital wing."

I felt a twinge of guilt has Draco nodded and headed the other way. The last thing I needed was Draco writing to Lucius that Professor Snape had Harry Potter in his wand sights. And hadn't finished what the Dark Lord had started.

While I was running up the stairs, I realized that I had seriously breached Order security. My Persieve was sitting in an unlocked office. With some seriously damning thoughts swirling inside. I hesitated, briefly, and then continued up the stairs. Order business came second to the welfare of the students, Dumbledore and I agreed on that. And Montague's welfare could be in serious jeopardy if Umbridge should decide he needed her help.

Headmistress Umbridge was already in the fourth floor bathroom. Just looking at her toadying face gave me a pounding headache. However, she was the acting Headmistress, so I'd better do some acting of my own.

"Good evening, Headmistress."

When Malfoy had said stuffed, he hadn't been exaggerating. Montague's head was protruding from the toilet seat. The rest of his body was jammed through the plumbing, with his legs sticking out from the head. His legs also appeared to be elongated, probably the result of an improperly cast extraction charm. Probably cast by none other than Dolores Umbridge; living proof that those who can do, those who can't become Ministry drones.

"I've had no luck in extracting Mr. Montague"

I bit back the scathing remark that probably would have landed me on probation. Struggling to keep my tone civil, I suggested, "Why don't I break the toilet apart?"

Umbridge looked at me as if I had suggested murdering the Minister of Magic and said, "Break it? As in damage school property deliberately?"

Montague was beginning to mutter incoherently. I should have just broken the thing open, and not bothered with chitchat. Not a mistake I normally make. Now I had to convince a Ministry drone that it was necessary. I suddenly occurred to me that the last time I had eaten was well over twelve hours ago.

I concentrated hard on Minerva, who seemed to have such a knack for dealing with Umbridge. "I'm sure that you would agree, Headmistress, that the cost of a restroom fixture is nothing compared to that of the welfare of our students. Besides, we will be able to repair it after we have removed Montague."

Umbridge looked irritated. "Can you think of no other way of removing him?"

"I would rather not take the chance that they might injure Mr. Montague further."

Umbridge gave a nod for me to proceed and in short order Montague was sprawled on the floor, attempting to get up. When I grabbed the front of his robes to help him to his feet, Montague promptly spewed all over my robes.

Umbridge made a hasty retreat with a "Well, you seem to have everything under control. Please let me know if you need anymore help."

I conjured up a stretcher and took a still spewing Montague to the hospital wing. Madame Pomfry was still there, fussing over a back to normal colored Nott. She looked up.

"Not another one. What happened?"

"I don't know"

Madam Pomfrey fussed over Montague, while I hovered anxiously in the background. Finally she stood and said, "I'm not sure what's wrong with him. The best I can do is see if a good night's sleep will sort him out. But he's definitely not in any condition to study for N.E.W.T.'s!"

In nurse speak, that meant Pomfrey had no idea what was wrong with him. Not good. Pomfrey glared at me for a good minute to be sure I got the point, then checked on Nott, who was dutifully looking at his Charms textbook.

I quietly pulled out my wand and pointed at Montague, "Legilimens", I muttered, trying to get a glimpse of what had happened to him. I saw two familiar identical red heads, laughingly pushing him into a cabinet. Which was not meant to vanish people. Montague was lucky to be alive. A two day stay in the cabinet could have been fatal.

I felt a rage of fury. I was half way to Umbridge's office when I realized that I had no proof. My abilities in Legilimency were top secret. There was no way I could incriminate the Twins.

I left Montague in Pomfrey's capable hands, and stalked back to my office. I tried to think of some appropriate curse to use on the Weasley twins. The problem was most of the curses I was contemplating would land me in Azkaban. I needed a shower, I desperately needed something to eat, but I needed to secure the Pensieve first. The safest place for my thoughts was in my own head, scary place as that was right now. I kept seeing the Wealey's laughing facing as they attempted to commit murder. No doubt they thought it was amusing. A funny joke to be played on a Slytherin who was making their life difficult. What was even more infuriating was that they would probably get away with it. My skills were top secret, and if Montague recovered, well, it was doubtful he would remember anything of being pushed.