A/N: Sorry this is a tad late, I'll try to get them out at a regular basis now - probably be a Thursday (starting next week), just had to get back into the habit.



Chapter Ten

Monday came around a bit too soon to Severus' liking, Severus didn't exactly despise teaching and the students, however it was rather wearing when everyone despised you. Although Severus had been playing the part of the vilest professor in all of Hogwarts for the past nineteen years, it was not a task that he particularly enjoyed playing, perhaps second to playing Voldemort's loyal servant.

The question to Severus' sudden apparition onto the grounds of Hogwarts was still unanswered, at least not to Severus' satisfaction. Albus and Minerva were satisfied that it was Indomitus Magicus, though they were open to any other suggestions.

The planned attack on the Van Allen household that Saturday had been foiled, due to the fact that many of the Van Allens had been replaced by Aurors who had been disguised as family members with the use of the Chameleon charm. Several Deatheaters had been killed, none of the higher- ranking Deatheaters though.

The first class with the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws was disastrous, not as disastrous as the lesson on the first day of term, but caution and commonsense had not been learnt by over two-thirds of the class.

Suanne managed to melt her cauldron, even though the influenza potion that they were brewing did not contain any ingredients to make it corrosive, and it had been idiot-proofed by Severus, but idiots were always ingenious. And Justin was still jittery around the Potion Master; thankfully he had yet to explode any potions.

Though Severus would not public admit it, Charlie was actually a natural at potions, he was conscientious yet he lacked confidence in his own talents, something that Severus hoped would develop over the next seven years.

The next class that Severus had to teach was the 6th year Gryffindors and Slytherins, they would be learning about the lanterna de manes that Severus had picked on Halloween.

The Slytherins were the first to enter the classroom as they previously had charms with the Ravelclaws in one of the rooms on the first floor, whilst the Gryffindors had care of magical creatures with the Hufflepuffs outside by Hagrid's hut so entered slightly later.

All of the students took their respective places, Slytherins near the back of the room, and Gryffindors at the front. The seats that they all took were almost identical to the seats that they sat in on their first potions lesson, with a few alterations in the Slytherin half as allegiances changed.

When all of the students had sat down, Severus stood up and walked in front of his desk, and began the lecture.

"Can anyone, apart from Miss Granger, tell me anything about the lanterna de manes?" Severus asked in his usual velvety voice.

Hermione looked crest-fallen at the slight dig and frowned, before allowing herself a small smile when she realised the hidden compliment.

"Mr Malfoy?" Severus said, pointing to the young man.

"Lanterna de manes, or as they are more commonly known as ghosts' lantern, are flowering plants that grow only on Halloween. They are used by spirits of the dead to guide them between our world and the shadow world," Draco said with a smirk.

"Good," Severus said, as he turned to his next victim, "Mr Longbottom, how about you?"

Neville looked very much like the proverbial rabbit caught in the headlights, his eyes widened and he grew paler. "Er.it has one silver flower that sits on top of the stem, it has silver veins on the leaves, and.and they grow in small clumps," Neville finished quickly.

"Passable," Severus said with a sneer, "Lanterna de manes belong to the mystical plant class umbra runcare, they are extremely valuable in the brewing of potions, as they can increase the potency of any potion one- hundred fold. I will not go into the botanical aspects of the plant, as Professor Sprout will no doubt be covering them in her Herbology classes later this week.

"Only the flower and leaves of the plant are used, as the active composite Danube's factor, named after the Potion Master who discovered it, is found at those sites. Danube's factor contributes to the silver colour inherent in the flower and veins of the leaves.

"However, Danube's factor has to be extracted out of the flower and leaves before it can be used because the plant also contains several toxins that safeguard it against being consumed by wildlife.

"To begin with the flowers and leaves need to be crushed and the pulp boiled with blessed water. After half an hour, the mixture is strained and resultant liquid is refined in two evaporating and condensing columns, made of clear quartz. The refined liquid is then caught and stored in a crystal bottle, as glass and metal containers would contaminate the purity of the solution.

"Today, you will be extracting the Danube's factor from the lanterna de manes, however because of its rarity you will all work in groups of four or five. The Danube's factor you extract today will be used in the brewing of several potions in the next class.

"All of the additional equipment you require are on the side, the instructions are on the board as well as in your textbooks on page 643. You have fifty minute to complete your task, now, get to work," Severus said, as the students hurriedly scribbled down his lecture before splitting themselves up and getting to work.

The rest of the lesson went by with only a few minor hitches, Neville accidentally scalded himself on a hot cauldron, and Pansy and Gregory smashed one of the quartz evaporation columns, much to Severus' horror.

Miraculously every group managed to produce a bottle of Danube's factor, which they had all labelled up and deposited into the student potions cupboard. And when all the equipment had been cleared up Severus dismissed them all to lunch.

Severus was about to sit down when he heard a cackling outside in the hallway that sounded very much like Peeves', with a long-suffering sigh Severus walked over to the door, wrenched it open and peered out.

The Potion Master had been right; it was Peeves, the only poltergeist at Hogwarts. Peeves seemed to get a thrill out of annoying teachers and students with pranks and stupid stunts, the only people he was afraid of was The Bloody Baron, the Slytherin ghost, and Albus.

Severus could see the silvery form of Peeves as he dragged a suit of armour high above the heads of the students who were all cowering and dodging it.

"Peeves, stop this at once or I will call the Bloody Baron down here to deal with you," Severus said in his silkiest and deadliest voice.

Peeves stopped and regarded the Potion Master before continuing, "You can't call him," Peeves yelled in a shrieky voice, "his at the other side of the castle,"

"Don't you know all Heads of Houses and their respective ghosts are linked, Peeves?" asked Severus, "I can call the Baron here even if he was on the other side of Scotland,"

Peeves eyes narrowed, as if assessing if Severus was bluffing or not, he decided against staying and finding out for himself and zoomed up through the ceiling. Unfortunately, Peeves conveniently forgot that although he could pass through solid objects the suit of armour could not. And so, obeying the laws of gravity the suit of armour began its descent.

And just as luck would have it, Neville was standing underneath the falling object. Without hesitation Severus cast wingardium leviosa to stop the suit of armour in mid-air, it stopped a few feet above Neville's head, moving it to a clear spot Severus gently deposited the suit of armour down who grumbled its displeasure and slowly made its way back up to the first floor.

It was that time that Severus noticed that he was the centre of attention, as all eyes were on him. Severus sneered at them, "Don't you all have places to go?" Severus said harshly.

Hermione was the first to snap back into reality, "Wandless magic," she gasped.

With a frown Severus looked down at his right hand and realised that Hermione was right, he did not have his wand in either of his hands. Quickly hiding his own surprise Severus turned back to the gawping children.

"Has six years of charms not taught you that in dire situations magic without a wand is possible?" asked Severus. When the students made no sign of moving, he added, "Dunderheads, all of you. Just get out of my presence,"

The students literally ran down the hall, in case they incurred the wrath of the Potion Master and lose all of their house points. As the last student disappeared round the corner Severus walked back into the classroom and gently closed he door and leant on it.

Severus frowned as he looked at his hand; it was replaced with a thoughtful look as he looked up at his desk. Then one of Severus' Raven feather quills lifted itself from the desk and began to float toward him, Severus' eyes widened and his mouth parted in surprise, the quill faltered and fell onto a desk.

Hesitantly Severus extended his hand toward the feather and his brow furrowed slightly in concentration, the feather rose waveringly before it floated smoothly into Severus' palm.

Looking toward his desk Severus called out, "Accio parchment," the top piece of parchment floated to Severus' open hand. Severus smiled and looked around the room, pointing his right hand toward the open fireplace it ignited and then extinguished itself.

Suddenly Severus dashed out of the room and made his way to the Great Hall, as he neared the door Severus slowed down and his face melted into neutrality. Spotting Albus in his usual place on the staff table Severus stalked over and whispered, "I need to speak to you after Lunch," into Albus' ear before taking a seat near the end of the table.

Lunch seemed to drag as Severus sat and played with his food, finally the bell sounded to announce the end of the lunch hour. Most of the students had already left the Great Hall, and so had a few teachers who had the job of monitoring the students who were outside or checking that the students were not getting into trouble within Hogwarts Castle.

Albus stood and said, "Will you walk with me, Severus?"

Severus nodded and followed Albus out of the Hall and up to his office.

"Take a seat, Severus," Albus said, "Tea?"

"No thank-you, Albus," Severus replied.

"How was your morning, Severus?" Albus inquired.

"I did wandless magic," Severus said, seeing the surprised look on Albus' face Severus explained what happened with Peeves and the suit of armour.

"It was a life or death Situation for Mr Longbottom. The first use of indomitus magicus could have overcome some of your psychological boundaries," Albus said

"Albus, look," Severus said.

Pointing his hand to a rose quartz paperweight on Albus' desk Severus said, "Wingardium leviosa," and the paperweight began hovering a foot above the desk, then the fire in the fireplace extinguished and then re-ignited itself.

Albus sat with a stunned expression on his face, but quickly composed himself, "Interesting," he commented, "this could be linked to Friday night. We will have to research more on this topic. Though I have not read anything that indicates that indomitus magicus would allow the user the ability to use both wandless magic, as well as speechless magic,"

"Am I right to assume that I should not inform anyone of my 'ability'?" asked Severus.

"Yes," Albus said, "it would be quite dangerous if that knowledge got into the wrong hands,"

Just as Severus and Albus were finishing the finer details when door opened and Snuffles padded in and transformed back into Sirius. He eyed Severus darkly and sneered.

"Is that the best you can come up with, Black?" Severus asked, matching sneer for sneer.

"Why don't we just settle this now?" Sirius goaded.

Albus gave a cough to remind them that he was still in the room.

"I don't have time for your childish games, Black," Severus said as he walked past Sirius.

"Severus," Albus said in a warning tone.

Severus turned back toward Albus and stifled a laugh as he saw an anvil floating above Sirius' head, Sirius looked up but it had already disappeared.

"Perhaps you will need to learn to control it, Severus," Albus said.

"I believe that would be necessary," Severus agreed, "Good day, Albus," As soon as Severus left Albus' office he made his way to the library, there were only a few people in the library, Severus spotted (barely) Hermione behind a stack of books scribbling furiously.

Severus headed toward the restricted section and searched for books with anything to do with 'indomitus magicus' and/or 'wandless magic'. Opening the first book Severus began to read:

".All living beings posses an essence that makes them what they are, for a magic user this essence is known as Indomitus Magicus, it is what gives a person their magical abilities. In ancient times the ability to use Indomitus Magicus was known only to certain witches and wizards, entitled Grand Masters or Mistresses. However this knowledge was guarded closely, even between a Grand Master and their apprentices, which resulted in the knowledge being diminished as the generations increased. Also, because the knowledge was not written down some Grand Masters died before they could pass it on to their apprentices, that is if they had any. What information that has survived the ages all indicate a mental discipline that unifies the mind and the essence, the exact discipline, however, is not clear.

".There have been a few documented and validated cases through the ages, most notably that of Christopher Jacobson. In 1652 Christopher was found living alone in the New Forest, after exhibiting the ability of wandless magic Christopher was made a ward of the Magic Court. What information that Christopher could supply about his background indicted that he has lived all his life in the forest and that his mother had died many years ago. When quizzed about his ability to perform wandless magic, Christopher was astounded to discover that other magic users used wands to execute spells. Christopher was subjected to various experiments to discover the exact secrets of indomitus magicus. During one of the experiments Christopher disapparated from the Ministry of Magic Laboratory, which was heavily guarded with wards and charms to prevent individuals disapparating and apparating onto the premises. Days later Christopher's body was discovered in the New Forest, the depletion of indomitus magicus was attributed to his death. More recent cases involving the use of wandless magic are attributed to the individual being placed in a desperate situation. However, when asked to replicate this ability later after the incident they were unable to."

Severus shut the book with a sigh and frowned.

*****