Chapter Eight

Harry had always enjoyed the first morning of term: he loved waking up in a soft, warm and very large goose-feather bed, drawing back the heavy drapes that surrounded him and becoming wrapped in a sun-beam which shone in through the window. He revelled in the idea of not being woken up by either Aunt Marge or Uncle Vernon and only the soft chime of a clock. The other thing Harry adored about being back at Hogwarts, was that he had another one and a half hours of time to go after he had woken up: giving him the option of a further half an hour lie-in. He never took the opportunity on the first day of term though- there was always too much to look forward to.

Having got washed, dressed and more or less packed a satchel containing the ordinary school equipment (wand, quill, spare roll of parchment, the now silent homework planner and the Marauder's Map), Harry started to hear others beginning to wake up. In no more than a good half an hour, the other occupants of the sixth year boy's dormitory were in the same state as Harry: all buzzing with the anticipation of a new term. Another five minutes passed before the boys were ready to go. Descending the steps, Harry chatted with his fellow Gryffindors about their new teacher. Seamus was particularly talkative.

"I liked the look of her, but I didn't like the look of those dogs- especially the big black one. What did you say its name was Harry?"

By now, the occurrence on the train was well known and was a favourite topic for gossiping. Harry didn't mind reliving it, and neither seemingly did Ron...

"Oblivion: it's name is Oblivion. Not a very nice looking dog when you first meet it, but the strange thing was that once I had said it's name- it was so tame it was almost unrecognisable! I wonder what breed it is…?" Ron snorted from his left.

"Doesn't matter does it: if it's that dangerous Hagrid will be wanting one too- then we'll get to know all about them." This was greeted by a mixture of snorts of laughter and a groan of agreement from Harry, who by now had experienced more than enough dangerous creatures through Hagrid to last for a lifetime. The conversation didn't seem to end at the creatures that Nirethyls, it passed through the many topics of what she might approach in her lessons, her family, a lot of the time was spent on her profession. By the time they had reached the end of their many topics, they had reached the main entrance hall: so it seemed had two of the teachers. Clearly visible in the centre of the hallway was Professor Nirethyls, standing opposite in the shadows was Professor Snape: both seemed to be mid-way into a conversation.

At just short of ten feet away from the stationary staff, the group of boys stopped just in time to hear the Slytherin ask with strained cool-politeness and familiar sarcasm.

"And what, pray, will you be trying to instil in their heads? How to paint nails or groom a dogs fur?" a snigger could be heard from the fellow Slytherin pupils who made up part of the crowd which had now formed a ring around the two adults. A low growl was enough to silence them as Oblivion rose from where he had been lying at his mistress's heels and stood facing Snape, a soft snarling noise coming from his muzzle. The two ebony eyes of the Potions master took this in, but no other sign of recognition that he could be treading on think ice showed on Snape's face. A dry chuckle came from his adversary as Nirethyls answered his jabbing comment.

"No Severus, I intend to teach them what you have failed to cover as the residential Potions Master." A slight amount of emphasis was placed on those last two words, but it was enough to send a ripple of unhidden laughter through the rest of the assembled children of the other three houses: even the two dogs at her heels seemed to react to her words, as the Dachshund puppy let out a low growl and Oblivion rolled his lips back into a silent snarl (which eerily resembled a sneer). Snape's eyes flared with black flames at this come-back, this soon died down as the trademark sneer of his own curled around his thin lips. Raising his inky eyebrow, he murmured.

"Evidently you have not had contact with your old friend Lupin. I seem to recall that he was not always able to maintain a full attendance when it came to teaching, he seemed to deem that it was more important to…" Before he could say anymore, Nirethyls cut across him with a small snarl of her own.

"Yes I have had contact with Remus, and as you so rightly say my dear Severus- he is a good friend. A friend I seem recall from his letters, you so kindly covered for when he was recovering from his…" she paused for a second, thinking of a word to best come up for the condition which affected Lupin,

"illness; but then surely with such a brilliant mind you already realised the seriousness of it and how it affected him and how he could not have been able to teach in that condition! A problem both the staff and the students did not have to put up with for longer than a year thanks to your brilliant idea of informing the students of what he was!"

"I think you mean, what he is- Professor. You speak of him as if he has the hope of changing, becoming a person with no permanent flaws." A few confused murmurs escaped from the first, second and third year students who had not been taught by Lupin; from the Slytherins came a mixture of sniggers and giggles, but from the rest of the school there was a series of growls, snarls, gasps and hisses of anger. No matter what the reaction, however, all eyes were fixed on the expressionless face of their Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. A few seconds passed before Nirethyls placed her hands on her weapon-loaded belt and whispered.

"Of course, you'd know all about permanent flaws with a past like yours, wouldn't you Severus."

Silence.

The deafening quiet fell cross the assembled wizards and witches like a tidal wave crashing across a beach. Harry had never seen Snape look so frightened and angry at the same time: his skin suddenly looked like a transparent white, the flesh on his face seemed stretched taught across his skull and his hair seemed to quiver with fear and rage. His eyes burned with hatred and his left hand holding his wand seemed to quake with the urge to curse the woman where she stood.

He's probably never been challenged like that before, thought Harry. He had only seen something like that happen before in his fourth year between Moody and Snape, but even that seemed tame compared to this. Snape seemed ready to say something, but his eyes suddenly shot to where Nirethyls's hands were, her fingers drumming softly against the dagger on her left hip and wand on the right. They then seemed to swiftly shoot to the now loudly growling black dog at her side which, noticing the glance, started to move forward. Nirethyls also must have acknowledged this, because a hand left the belt and smoothed the fur on Oblivions back, a soft shushing noise falling from her lips- calming the livid canine.

Before anymore could be said, a quiet cough came from the doorway of the Great Hall. Albus Dumbledore was standing with his hands clasped behind his back with a small, humoured smile in his face.

"Is there something wrong here, Professors?"

While Snape remained silent, Nirethyls turned to face the Headmaster.

"Nothing Albus, nothing at all. Severus and I were just catching up for the seventeen years worth of snide comments we've missed." With that, she excused herself saying that she had a class to prepare for. The wall of children (and hovering ghosts) swiftly parted to make room for the Auror to pass; she had taken a couple of steps before stopping and turning around. Only one of her two dogs had followed.

"Oblivion, leave him alone and come here." The black dog stopped his snarling and, with one final look at the Potions Master he had backed into a suit of armour, slunk away towards his mistress (who, Harry was amused to notice, whispered "Good Boy" as he arrived at her heel and smoothed his fur as she walked away).

"Brilliant, absolutely brilliant!" chortled Ron as they sat down for their breakfast.

"What happened?" both Harry and Ron turned round to see their other best friend, Hermione Granger, approaching the table with a wad of papers in her hand (which soon turned out to be timetables). Ron spared no time in filling her in. They were a couple of minutes into their breakfast before the morning mail arrived: Hermione groaned.

"This is it, these are our results arriving now." At those words, all of the sixth years looked up and nervously began to chatter amongst themselves. Within the space of a few short minutes, Harry Ron and Hermione each held a yellowy-brown envelope in their hands. Swallowing, Harry turned to his friends.

"On the count of three?" The other two nodded, neither looking up from their envelope. Licking his lips, Harry started.

"One"

"Two" whispered Ron.

"Three" finished Hermione. A thick ripping sound seemed to echo across the hall as one hundred envelopes were opened. Shaking, Harry unfolded his piece of parchment and read.

"Dear Mr. Potter,

Below are the results of the exams you sat the previous spring.

Pass Grades:

O-

Outstanding

EE-

Exceeds Expectations

A-

Acceptable

Failure Grades:

P-

Poor

D-

Dunce

T-

Troll

Astronomy

A

Care of Magical Creatures

A

Charms

EE

Defence Against the Dark Arts

O

Divination

P

Herbology

A

History of Magic

EE

Potions

EE/O

Transfiguration

A"

Harry couldn't believe his eyes, he had passed eight of his nine exams, best of all was his Potions grade: remembering the list of books he was given, his heart skipped: he had been told to buy a book for Potions- he'd passed! Below all of the grades was a small note in very familiar handwriting.

" Harry,

I've had a word with Professor Snape, who seems to be willing to accept you into his class for N.E.W.T level and agrees that your work is more bordering an O than an EE- congratulations.

A. Dumbledore. "

Harry didn't seem to be the only person who was delighted with their grades- Hermione was flushed pink as she accepted that she had received eleven Outstandings our of eleven, and Ron had passed the same number of passes as Harry.

"This is brilliant!" squealed Hermione, "That means that we can all take Potions together!" a small cough came from Harry's right.

"We can't actually Hermione- Snape only accepts Outstandings to enter his class remember? I only got an Acceptable- you two are going to be able to go together, I wont be able to join you." Harry and Hermione shared a look and both looked to see a rather downcast face as Ron continued with his fourth maple-syrup pancake. Deciding to break the ice, Harry put on a fake chuckle and said.

"Oh, come one mate- are you saying you're that upset about missing Snape's classes? I thought you hated the miserable old git!" This seemed to cheer Ron up a bit, as he snorted into his pumpkin juice before adding.

"Yeah, I do: I just want to see how he reacts about Nirethyls that's all." It wasn't long before Hermione cleared her throat and piped up.

"If you two would care to look at your timetables- I think you'll see that we have her first." She was right, first thing on a Monday morning was Defence Against the Dark Arts. All three agreed that this was going to be an enjoyable lesson, despite the fact that they were sharing this class for the sixth year running with Slytherin- in fact, they all agreed that it might make things all the more enjoyable. Soon afterwards, all of the food was eaten and the hour for breakfast had passed: it was time for the school to start a-fresh yet another year.