Chapter Six:

The Potions Master's Suite: The Luna Look

It only occurred to Luna that she was stark naked when she decided to take a shower and realized that there was nothing to take off. She snorted and stepped under the warm water.

I believe that ten hours in this suite causing me to feel comfortable walking around ass naked is a bit… off. But oh well. I am the definition of off-kilter. The Mexican girl thought with a snide grin. She practiced the belly-dancing moves she had learned while in the south as she shampooed her hair. Snake arms! She began to slither her arms up and down in the sensual movements. She hoped Severus would enjoy it. He was a snake after all.

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"Acid pops?" The statue did not budge. Harry groaned. That was his twenty-eighth guess. "Lemon drops?" No movement.

"Try fortified fairy fang." Harry jumped and shrieked with a rather womanly tint when he heard a particularly devious voice from behind him.

"Sirius! For crying out loud! You nearly made me wet myself!" Harry cried. He had thought it was the dark Potions Master checking in on him. Sirius sniggered.

"Hiya Harry. Watcha' up to?" He said in a very Marauder-esque voice.

"Not much. I am trying to get up to see Dumbledore."

"Why?"

"Because Snape murdered Luna Azura!" Harry randomly wailed. Sirius snorted.

"I wouldn't put it past the slimy bastard," he announced.

"Neither would I," Harry added. "Now, do you know the password?"

"I told you, fortified fairy fang," Sirius emphasized with a one-eyed squint.

"I thought you were joking. That sounds a bit… violent… for Dumbledore."

"Nah. Fortified Fairy Fang is a type of sugar ball. It is really yummy and really dangerous." Sirius said as his tongue lolled out in a very canine manner.

"Dangerous? Why?" Harry asked nervously. He suddenly hoped he would not run into any Fortified Fairy Fang.

"It holds a very high risk of…" Sirius paused to heighten the anticipation in Harry's eyes, which were hidden behind his customary glasses.

"Yeah? Yeah? A high risk of what?"

"Hyperactivity!" Sirius shrieked before throwing his arms outward.

"Oh my," Harry smacked his forehead, directly over his legendary scar. Leave it to Sirius.

"Fortified Fairy Fang!" Harry shouted at the statue and before he could cringe with the wonder of whether or not it would move, it began to turn and move upward, creating a swirly stone staircase.

"Thanks Sirius."

"No problem. Now what did you say you were going to talk to Dumbledore about?" Harry's godfather asked as the staircase began to retract and carry the two up towards the headmaster's office.

"Professor Snape murdered Luna Azura! You know, the cute Mexican girl… the weird one."

"Yeah, I know who she is," Sirius added in a wolf-whistle. "She is cute."

"Good day, boys. How may I help you? Fortified Fairy Fang?" Dumbledore held out a tiny brown package full of fang-shaped candies.

"N-no thank you—Sirius!" Harry threw his godfather a strange look when he saw him stealing the entire bag.

"Sorry."

"Professor Dumbledore! Snape killed Luna Azura! We are sure of it! We cannot—" Before he could finish Dumbledore began to wave a shame-shame finger at Harry.

"Harry, Harry, Harry." Harry sighed. He had forgotten the Potions Master's title as professor. He tended to do that often.

"Sorry, Sir. I mean Pro—"

"Yeah Harry. Shame on you," Sirius admonished. "His name is Snivellus."

"Mr. Black," Dumbledore now waved Sirius the shame-shame finger.

"Sorry. Continue."

"Professor, we have searched everywhere for Luna, but then when we decided to come to you, Sna—Professor Snape stopped us and—what?" Harry asked rather hurriedly as the headmaster shook his head and clicked his tongue.

"Harry, my silly boy. Luna is not dead, and Severus by no means would kill her. She has merely had a long night and needed to rest."

"But she is not in her dormitory. Hermione checked."

"She is in Severus'." The Headmaster said this a bit too coolly for Harry's tastes.

"What!"

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Dinner and a Demon

"Hola!" Hermione felt a surge of relief flood her body when she saw Luna running happily into the Great Hall, attracting everyone's attention as she came. She was always a bit too loud.

"Luna! You are alive!" She shrieked. "What did he do to you? What happened?" Luna looked quizzically at her friend.

"What do you mean?"
"I mean Snape! What did he do to you?" Luna sniggered.

"Oh, he did nothing too bad. We only made some pretty damn hot—" Luna stopped when she noticed Professor Snape up at the teacher's table sliding his hand across his neck. He had a mortified look on his normally cool face. The Mexican girl grinned and turned back to Hermione who also caught the Professor's odd look.

"What? What were you about to say?"

"Uhh… we made some potions. You know how I am flunking all my potions lessons… so he kept me after in his office for extra help and one of them we made was really hot and it burnt my arm so he had to treat me." Luna said with one breath. Upon glancing up, she noticed Snape leaning with visible relief against his arm, which was propped up on the table. McGonagall was firing him eccentric looks.

"What?" He snapped at her.

"Have I ever told you how cute you are when your face shows emotion?" Minerva asked with a roguish smile. Snape snarled at her.

"I am not cute." He spat the last word as if it were hard vinegar.

"I just think that Azura girl was correct. You are handsome when you smile." Severus' face seemed to melt at Minerva's words.

"W-what?"

"I was only joking. She never said anything. I thought it up myself. And of course, it was originally suggested by Hagrid." Severus' response was more of a shriek than a statement.

"Hagrid!"

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"Severus, tonight is the new moon. And you know what that means, do you not?" Professor Moody asked as he handed Severus a bottle of Bloodbane potion. It was related to the werewolf suppressant potion, only for demons, who, unlike werewolves, transformed on the new moon instead of the full.

"Yes, I know. I know," the Potions Master hated to be told down as if he were a child… especially by Alastor Moody whose nickname suited him just fine. He was indeed mad.

"You know your orders?"

"Yes," Severus hissed.

"If she becomes uncontrollable you may have to kill he—" Snape's head filled with heat.

"I know! Now leave me to my work!" He roared. Moody, who was never phased by Snape's outbursts, walked casually back inside the castle. He emerged a few moments later with Luna, who was looking pale. She had a seemingly perpetual twitch to every movement she made. She appeared as if she would go into an epilepsy episode at any moment.

"Are you ready, Luna?" Severus asked as he led her gently towards the whomping willow. It was a good thing that werewolves and demons did not transform at the same time or the shrieking shack may not still be standing.

Luna nodded and followed her dear to the monsters' sanctuary. As they walked off, Alastor wondered why he referred to the girl by her first name. Severus never titled his students by their first names.