Sarah And Snape

The next morning he awoke refreshed, and as soon as he could he searched out Professor McGonagall. He found her on his way to the Great Hall. He clenched the letter in his hand. "Professor," he called.

"Yes, Harry?" she inquired.

"My schedule is wrong. It says that I have Potions today, but I..." he looked up. He noticed McGonagall was waiting for him to finish.

"Harry, this is between us and Professor Dumbledore. He had an exception drawn up in your case so that you could fulfill your..."

"But why?" Harry asked.

"Your future with... the Dark Arts, of course." She looked at him sternly. Harry knew she really wanted to say with Voldemort. "And Professor Dumbledore also knew that Severus hadn't been grading you properly before, anyway." Harry felt that the latter excuse was lame, for Snape did not grade the O.W.L. tests. "Now go and get some breakfast, Harry." She said and Harry left knowing that his career as an Auror was possible even if it did mean dealing with Snape for two more years.

He met Ron and Hermione at the Gryffindor table and saw that they, too, had received their schedules and scores.

"What did you guys get?" asked Harry eagerly. Hermione was smiling widely, and she opened her mouth to speak, but Ron interrupted her.

"We all know that you got outstanding on everything," Ron said before turning his attention to Harry. "I have an E in Defense Against the Dark Arts and Care of Magical Creatures, and thanks to our last minute studying last year I made an E in Transfiguration too." He seemed very happy. "In Charms, Herbology, History, and Astronomy I made an A. And in Potions and Divination I, of course, received a P. But who cares about those subjects anyway; I am so thankful I won't have to deal with Snape anymore. Anyway, Harry, are we going to take any classes together?" Hermione watched as Harry and Ron examined each other's schedule until it was time for their first class. They got up and began making their way up to their Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Fortunately, they all passed this subject and were assigned the same class times.

"I wonder who she is?" asked Hermione out of the blue while they were walking. Harry thought for a moment before remembering the odd event of yesterday. But Hermione wasn't the only person asking that question. It seemed the whole school was wondering about her. Everywhere they went, they would hear snippets of conversations, and they were all about Sarah. Sarah Evans was a mysterious character indeed. She kept to herself, mostly, but was quite friendly. Harry began to wonder why she was even in Slytherin; and he didn't have to wait long to find out. Ron, who had healed overnight, had been updated on the story. He didn't seem to care much about it, however; but he was constantly thinking of ways to get back at Malfoy. Sometimes, in the middle of studying he'd look up and yell, "I've got it!" And after that he either started to plan how to perform his revenge, or threw it away for a better idea.

They finally arrived at the classroom. They walked in to take their seats still aware of the chatters about Sarah and about their new Defense teacher. Harry hoped he wouldn't be anything like what they had last year. But at least his questions about what Mr. Collings had meant at the Dursleys' were answered. It was five minutes past, and the class began to whisper even louder. At half past, they were about to give up on the teacher when the door creaked open. All heads turned to the crack in the door trying to see who it was. They could hear people talking outside in the corridor, but they couldn't make any of it out. And then Snape walked in. Almost everyone gasped. He stopped on his way to the desk to look at the awed class.

"Your teacher will not be present for a couple of weeks. I am to substitute," he said scowling at the students.

"What happened to him," the Gryffindors chanted together.

"Never you mind," he replied shortly. He shuffled some papers on the desk before addressing the students once again. He faced the students and said, "First, this year, I will teach you Mandorian. You should have learned this in your third year, but as you are so far behind..." Harry knew he was implying Lupin,but Harry didn't say anything

"Mandorian," he continued, "is very useful when trying to confuse your enemies. It can last for three weeks, and there is no cure." He displayed a little smile here before he continued, "When you are hit with the spell, all your past memories come back very clearly and interrupt what you were thinking about before the spell hit you. However, the spell can be counter-acted. With much practice you can block the spell, but you must first have a stable mind which is doubtful many of you have." He looked around the class for a moment expecting some kind of reaction besides the blank stares that he was getting. And then Hermione's hand shot up into the air. "Yes, Miss Granger?" he asked with an annoyed expression on his face.

"How will we go about practicing the spell and preventing it?" she asked.

"You don't know Miss Granger?" he said with a malicious smile.

"Yes, I do, but it can be dangerous..."

"Miss Granger, what about Defense Against the Dark Arts is not dangerous in some way? You are too used to in-apt teachers who show you things a toddler would know."

"Lupin was not an in-apt teacher," Harry said firmly staring Snape in the eye. Snape turned to look at him.

"Ten points from Gryffindor for interrupting me," he said, "and you have just volunteered yourself to be the first to practice counter-acting the spell." Harry shifted nervously in his seat. He and Snape rarely got along in practicing preventing spells. He stood up and walked to the front of the room. "To prevent the spell, you must concentrate on the thing you don't want to forget. If you were dueling, you would try to remember the next spell you would use. If you were traveling, you'd think of the place where you are headed. You also try to forget that you even have past memories. The spell has a harder time recalling your memories if you've put them out of your mind. Now, Mr. Potter, I want you to remember the names of your classmates, so think hard on it." Harry began to get nervous. What about the part when the person stays confused for three weeks, and how was he supposed to forget memories? It reminded him too much of Occlumency. Snape waited a few seconds before raising his wand. Harry, who was already confused, tried to think hard of his fellow Gryffindor's names, but as Snape called, "Mandorian," his brain seized up. He couldn't control it. He couldn't think of what he wanted to think about. Memories just came floating about his mind; memories even he didn't know existed whizzed past his eyes that could no longer see. He had never felt like this before. It was as if he was thinking everything at once, and he was becoming exhausted since he could not tell his brain to stop thinking. In the distance he could just make out a voice clearer than the ones already spinning in his head.

"Tell me their names," the voice called, echoing against the walls of his brain. And for a brief moment, he remembered he was to say his friends' names. He was getting hot now; if his brain had fuses, they were certainly burning out. It was almost agony; he just couldn't stop. He couldn't focus on anything, but he felt his mouth forming words; words that he could not quite remember. A word that sounded something like "Her... Hermy" came out. He wasn't sure if that was the right word, for he had forgotten what word he was supposed to say. And then his mouth, seemingly on its own, formed another word, "R-R-Ro..." And then suddenly his brain seemed to shut down, and he fell to the floor.

He awoke in the Hospital Wing. His head still felt hot, but he remembered everything fine. He saw to his right Hermione sitting next to him. "Hermione," he mumbled, and it still didn't come out quite clearly.

"Oh, you're awake. Do you feel okay?" she asked.

"No," he said slowly. "How long have I been here?"

"Just four hours," she said. He was relieved. He had thought for a moment that he had been asleep for possibly three weeks. "Snape only gave you a weak spell, but he was still wrong to do so. Only certain people can defend themselves against that spell. You can learn how to, but you'll never get it quite right if you ask me," she said stonily. Ron came in at that moment and seeing Harry awake said, "Madam Pomfrey says she'll let you out by the end of the day." He had a big smile on his face. "You had Snape in a bit of a frenzy. I think he hoped that the spell would just knock you flat out, but no. You stood there very quietly and, apparently, lost in thought. And all of a sudden you made a funny noise and scared half the class to death. I think they thought you had been petrified or something. And then you turned that noise into Hermy, which, I suppose you meant Hermione. And after that you said Ron." He seemed overjoyed.

"No, he did not," argued Hermione. "He said Ro, and then when he hit the floor he made a 'un' sound. You just thought he said Ron."

"Whatever, but it was bloody brilliant," he finished.

"I fainted?" asked Harry.

"No," they chorused. He looked at them as though they were lying.

"You didn't faint," said Hermione. "You were standing there just fine staring off into the distance. And then you jerked real violently and fell backwards with your eyes still open."

"And I'll tell you something," said Ron, "If you didn't have the class scared before, you certainly showed them. Some actually thought you died, and stuff. And the ones who knew you were alive thought you to have permanent brain damage. We just about had a field day with Snape. Everyone was yelling at him, and he was all shocked like..." He took a deep breath and waited.

"Died? Isn't that a bit much?" Harry asked.

"Not when you consider who you are, and what's happened in your past," replied Ron.

"Though you're right. It was most silly of them to think such a thing," added Hermione. "I mean, Snape wouldn't accidentally kill you," she continued.

"But he could do it on purpose," suggested Ron will a smile. Hermione rolled her eyes.

They watched each other for a moment. After a while Harry shook his head, leaned back on his pillow, and drifted into peaceful, thoughtless sleep.

Even though Snape continued to teach their Defense Against the Dark Arts class, the students definitely noticed a dramatic change in his lessons. He was now teaching them less difficult spells for self-defense. This was apparently due to the fact that Dumbledore had a very long conversation with Snape after he sent Harry to the Hospital Wing. So Snape had no chance of putting them through tortuous defenses which left a lot of the class in relief, especially Harry. During class, Snape purposely did not look at him or most of the other Gryffindors for that matter. And Harry had to be honest that when Snape controlled himself, he wasn't that bad of a teacher.