SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1Disclaimer: I don't own the concept of Harry Potter or any of the characters. Only the plot is my own.
Thank you to everyone who reviewed the story. A big thank you to my beta, Sepia, your efforts are greatly appreciated. J
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Follow the link and then click on "Lady Assassin's" Link. Her pictures aren't uploaded yet, but they'll be up in a couple of days so please check back then.
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CHAPTER 10
It had been a long week for Draco, and he was glad it was Friday afternoon. He had been as good as his word and had assisted Harry with his practical lessons all week. If he had to be honest, Draco had a dual motive for wanting to help Harry. First of all, he was genuinely interested in Defence and was not without skill in the subject. It only stood to reason though; he would never have survived as a spy in Voldemort's circle of Death Eaters if he was inept. Secondly, and perhaps just as importantly, by spending so much time helping Jason, he avoided having to help Hermione research for her journal articles on new developments in the field of Arithmancy, which was in his personal opinion, an unequivocal snore-inducer.
Truth be told, Draco was a little apprehensive at the idea of being in contact with the students. His family was very well known in the wizarding world – for many of the wrong reasons – and though he didn't much care what others thought about him, he didn't want some of the more vocal students creating trouble for Jason over his choice of assistants. Harry spent Monday threatening to give his students extra essays to write on the reasons why idle gossip wouldn't be tolerated inside his classroom in an effort to stop his students gossiping about Draco in his class. Needless to say the prospect of writing extra essays worked its magic on his classes almost immediately.
The former spy's cheeky and mischievous trouble-making ways had already managed to overcome some of the students' hostility though. In actuality, he enjoyed putting Harry through his paces as much as he was actually assisting him during his lessons. Just yesterday, he and Harry were giving the students a visual demonstration of a wizard's duel. Since they were both so skilled, they both quickly tired of simply throwing curses and defending them in the usual way, to make things interesting they began to incorporate wild and outlandish styles of spell casting and defence eventually managing to hit each other with cheering charms.
However, in their enthusiasm, they put too much magic into their cheering charms and were in fits of laughter for more than half an hour, and due to its contagious nature, sent the students into fits of hysterical laughter as well. Many of the students became more friendly after that. After all, someone who could throw a highly charged cheering charm while making loud chicken noises to throw their opponent off couldn't be that bad, could they?
On another occasion, Harry and Draco were preparing to demonstrate to sixth year class how to throw and defend against a particularly nasty variation of the stinging hex.
"So when I say 'go', Mr. Malfoy will throw the hex and I'll defend against it. It's going to happen fairly quickly, so watch carefully after I say 'go' – hey!" cried Harry as he saw the hex go zinging past his arm. "What was that for?" he asked Draco, who was trying to suppress a grin.
Draco had taken advantage of the situation to lighten the mood a little. Harry had been explaining what was going to happen for the last fifteen minutes and the former spy saw that some of the students were beginning to get a glazed eyed look about them. Though he had observed that Harry was an excellent and thorough teacher who definitely knew his subject, he sometimes tended to be a little over cautious and explain things perhaps one time too many. He saw a golden opportunity for a little mischief and took full advantage of it, throwing his hex unexpectedly at Harry, and deliberately aiming to miss.
"What do you mean?" he asked, wide eyed and feigning innocence. "I was only doing what you told me to do."
"I didn't ask you to try and hit me while my back was turned," Harry cried in mock outrage, having caught the amused expression on Draco's face.
"You said that I should throw the hex when you said 'go', and you did say 'go'."
"I didn't mean for you to throw it then."
"But you said 'go'."
"But I didn't mean it for you to hex me that time."
"How am I supposed to know whether you mean it or not?" Draco cried, now grinning openly and waving his arms around in the air in mock exasperation.
"They knew I didn't mean it, so there isn't any reason you shouldn't have known as well," Harry said as he pointed to his students, who were following this exchange with more than a little amusement. Some of them were trying, unsuccessfully, to stifle a laugh.
Draco turned to the class and asked, "He said 'go', didn't he?"
One of the students bravely volunteered. "Er, professor, I have to say, you did." This turned out to be the undoing of them all and laughter bounced off the walls of the room.
Harry's last class of the day was about to end and he stood next to Harry, helping to arrange the furniture back into its proper place in the room.
"Did you read the paper this morning?" Draco asked as he idly directed a desk to right itself and fly into its allocated spot in the room.
"No, I missed breakfast," Harry replied.
"Apparently, those muggles that started shooting everything in sight in the pharmacy last Saturday have told everyone that they were put under some sort of spell and made to do it. They mustn't have been obliviated by anyone and now all the muggles think it's a great joke but the Ministry has had to round them all up and erase their memories. Apparently, they'd all been put into some an 'asylum' for their own protection and that made it easy for the Ministry to find them all."
"I guess that's ruined it for whoever was making them do it. Is the Ministry doing anything about it yet?" Harry asked, watching his students taking their seats again.
"Well, their official comment is that they're looking into it, but knowing Minister Fudge, he'll just sweep the problem under the carpet and hope it'll go away."
"They'd have to realise that this is important though. It's been a while since wizards have been doing things like this, hasn't it?" Harry replied, eyes creased in genuine concern. Surely even that dough-brained tub of lard can see that if he doesn't get to the bottom of it, it could turn into something big! Then again, maybe I'm giving that fellow too much credit. All paunch and no brains, that one.
"The Ministry's funny like that," Draco commented offhand.
"Yeah, they must be. Oh incidentally, thanks a lot for helping this week. The students learn so much faster when there's two of us to help them with their spell work and not just one of us."
"No worries. I'm enjoying it, and you're really doing me a favour keeping me busy while I'm here."
Harry turned to dismiss his class. "Right, for homework, I want you to write an essay on the strengths and weaknesses of that spell. I want you to particularly concentrate on how you can exploit its strengths as the castor of the spell, and how you can exploit its weaknesses as the target of the spell. That's all for today. Enjoy your weekend."
"You give that essay topic out a lot, don't you?" Draco observed as the class filed out of the room.
"Yeah, just about every time they learn a new spell. I think if they can understand the strengths and weaknesses of any particular spell then they'll cast it and defend against it more effectively. Well, that's how I was taught, anyway." Harry replied as he gathered his notes together. "So how's Ginny keeping herself busy?" Harry asked as he and Draco left the classroom.
*****
Harry had spent much of his free time engaged in research on what ingredients he could use to make a muggle preventative medication for Theresa that would be completely effective, like its potion counterpart. He had learned that it was the tonga tree root which made the potion completely effective, so he had been testing different muggle chemical compounds alongside the tree roots hoping to stumble onto one, or a few, that had comparative properties, so far without success.
He had set up another controlled test this morning and was hoping for better results. After his final class of the week, he arranged to meet up with Draco on the weekend to plan their next set of classes and quickly returned to his rooms to check on the results, but was disappointed and annoyed that he had come up against another brick wall.
Once he'd angrily tipped the contents of the vial down the sink, he removed his contacts and sat down at the desk in his study, rubbing his eyes in frustration and tiredness and reaching for his eye drops. He normally wore lenses he could wear for days on end and then toss, but he'd pushed the limits; it was almost going on a week and-a-half, and now he was suffering the consequences. His eyes were bloodshot and puffy and his eye drops were the only thing that gave him any sort of relief.
He had found all of his chemistry and biomedicine text books in one of his trunks and stacked them all on his desk so he could have them close at hand while he worked on Theresa's medication. Sighing loudly, he picked up one of the particularly thick ones, thumping it down on the desk in front of him and turning to the chapter which he hoped would be useful. Right, let's see if this works.
*****
A fortnight later, Harry still hadn't met with any success in his research. Madam Pomfrey had approached Harry discreetly the previous evening, and let him know that Theresa had had an episode during the day. It wasn't quite so bad as the ones she had experienced before she began taking the medication and she was able to make it to the infirmary before it set in properly. She informed him that she would need to see the doctor on the weekend and Harry assured the medi-witch that he would go with her again.
Annoyed that he was still hitting a brick wall regarding his experiments and research into Theresa's problem, he threw the vial he was holding at the sink and felt a small surge of satisfaction at his outburst, however childish it may have been. He had been through all of his textbooks and they had proven to be useless. Maybe I'm too used to thinking like a muggle. Maybe I should be looking for a potions ingredient that can be used in place of tonga tree roots. Hmm…Maybe I should have thought of that in the first place. He silently berated himself as he removed his teaching robes and headed out to the library.
A new library assistant greeted him and helpfully pointed out where the Potions textbooks were kept. Despite his protests that he already knew how to use the library, she gave him directions on how to use the cataloguing and book retrieval system and emphasised certain rules.
"The 'accio' spell belongs outside the library – it isn't to be used inside under any circumstances. It's far too dangerous."
"I can imagine." Harry nodded, trying not to laugh as he imagined unsuspecting students being hit across the side of the head by flying books.
She then returned to her desk and left Harry to work in peace. He found a large table in the Potions section and started to read.
"What's a nice professor like you doing in a place like this?" queried Draco impishly some time later as he and Professor Snape rounded the corner to find Harry buried under a tower of thick books and thoroughly absorbed in three large tomes at once. Draco's sudden intrusion startled Harry, whose head snapped up and hand automatically reached for his wand. He visibly relaxed once he realised who it was.
"Bloody hell! Don't do that! You scared the heck out of me!" cried Harry.
"So, you didn't answer my question, what is a nice professor like you doing in a place like this?"
"What, you mean a library? Where professors go to increase the wealth of their knowledge which they're paid to pass onto their students? That sort of place?" Harry replied in jest, rubbing his tired eyes and blinking a few times to try and bring everything back into focus.
"Yeah. Some of the worst days of my life were spent in a library. No good can come from places like these. They encourage bad habits," Draco observed sagely. "But now that we've found you, we have a message for you."
"A message? From who?"
"Our esteemed Headmaster would like to invite you to a…gathering tomorrow evening in his office. There are some matters that need to be discussed." Draco looked meaningfully at Harry as he passed the message on. Harry, for his part, looked a little confused and annoyed. What now? I can't bloody move in this place without being hauled up there to be interrogated.
"What matters? What have I done this time?" asked Harry slamming his book closed and throwing his hands up in the air.
"Ssh!" the young librarian rebuked them from where she was seated at her desk.
Professor Snape raised his eyebrows at Harry's outburst. "Have you done something? If you haven't, then there isn't any need to be concerned," he observed with a sneer.
Harry glared at the Potions Master, who seemed to be completely unaffected it. "It doesn't matter if I have or haven't, every time I so much as twitch around here I'm brought in for an accounting, as you well know." Harry's glare spoke volumes. Of course the older professor knew this, most of the time he was the one firing questions at Harry in the headmaster's office, trying to prove that he was untrustworthy and should be thrown out of the school.
"These matters cannot be discussed…here," Professor Snape pointed out mildly, casting a discreet glance around the library.
Harry understood immediately – Albus was calling a meeting of the Order. "Of course," he agreed, nodding to show that he understood and trying to stifle a yawn at the same time, but failing abysmally. "Excuse me. It must be later than I thought."
"I'll say, except for the librarian, we're the only ones in here. We tried looking for you in your rooms but you weren't there so we were going to look for you tomorrow and talk to you then. It was only by luck that we found you here. Severus wanted to have a quick look at something before his class tomorrow so we ducked in," explained Draco as Professor Snape began to look through the shelves near him.
"Speaking of which, what are you doing in here?" Draco asked, moving closer so he could look at the books in front of Harry.
"I'm just…researching," Harry replied as he rose from his desk and began closing the books in front of him, carefully making a note of book names and page numbers in the notebooks he had brought with him. "But I'm going to call it a night. It's getting late and I don't think I could read anymore anyway."
"Um, correct me if I'm wrong – and I certainly hope I'm not, because if I am, it means I've been walking around with my eyes closed for the last three weeks – but you teach Defence Against the Dark Arts, right?" Draco enquired, sitting on the desk that Harry was tidying up and idly flipping through the pages of one of the books.
"What do you think you've been helping me with for the last three weeks?" Harry replied wryly.
"I just thought I'd check because these," Draco paused to gesture at the books before him "are Potions texts. And they don't look like they're talking about defensive potions either. You must really have an interest in the subject to want to read so much on it."
Snape stopped scanning the shelves and turned his attention to the two younger men who were only a short distance from him. "Perhaps you have the book I'm looking for," he noted, moving toward the pile of books in front of Harry and sifting through them. "Ah, yes. Here it is. May I?" he asked, pointing at the book.
"Yes, by all means. I'm all done here," Harry said, still trying to gather his notebooks together and jot down some last minute things.
"I am also curious to know why you were reading so extensively on the subject," Professor Snape noted casually, looking through the book he had picked up off the desk.
"Are you now?" Harry tossed out casually as he tried to return some of the books to the appropriate shelves around him.
This caused both Draco and Professor Snape to look up in surprise.
"Of course, your business is your own," Professor Snape noted after a short pause, as he continued to calmly look through the text he was holding.
Harry sighed as he returned to the table to pick up another arm load of books. "Look, to answer your question Draco, yes I guess potions work is sort of a hobby of mine. I enjoy it very much, which isn't too hard to believe when you remember that I'm a pharmacologist, which is sort of the muggle equivalent of being a Potions Master. But I wasn't reading for enjoyment this evening. I was looking for something specific."
"Did you find it?" Draco enquired absently, picking up a few books and looking for their places on the shelves as well.
"No. I didn't."
The only sounds that could be heard for a short time were the sound of Harry and Draco re-shelving books and Professor Snape flipping pages in the book he was reading. The silence was broken by the Potions Master. "What were you looking for?"
Harry stopped what he was doing and turned to face the older man. "Excuse me?"
"I simply asked what you were looking for. I am, after all, a Potions Master, so I may be able to point you in the direction of more helpful texts."
Harry's eyes narrowed in suspicion as he contemplated this innocent offer to help, such as it was. "How much do you know about tonga tree roots?" Harry asked the professor.
"It is a commonly used potions ingredient in both its crushed and liquified states. I cannot give you a more specific answer unless you give me more information."
Harry thought about how much information he really wanted to give the other man about the circumstances surrounding Theresa's illness. "Are you aware that Theresa Chan has epilepsy?" he tentatively asked. He decided he'd find out how much the professor already knew about it and go from there.
"Yes. I understand that she cannot take the potion that is used to control the illness and that you are providing her with muggle medication."
"Well, something like that. Theresa is allergic to Tonga tree roots. Poppy told me that she'd never seen or heard of a case of someone being allergic to the roots. Anyway, I thought that if there were documented cases on this sort of allergy maybe they could name a potion that they could take to get around it or something like that. It turns out that there are no documented cases, so I'm completely on my own with this one. When you found me in here earlier, I was trying to find a potion ingredient with comparable properties that I could substitute in place of the Tonga tree roots in the potion…and as I said, I couldn't find anything."
Draco had stopped what he was doing and was leaning against one of the shelves, listening to the conversation. "Now, don't take this the wrong way, but…why are you going all out for Theresa? I mean," Draco quickly rushed on before Harry could say anything, "I'm not saying that you shouldn't, but look at it this way and then explain it to me. You said yourself that you couldn't find any documented cases like Theresa's and that it's been difficult to think of a way to get around her allergy. Hermione explained everything to Ginny and I last Saturday so I understand that the muggle medication that's available will be nearly as effective as the potion. Lots of muggles live with the illness every day and they're doing just fine on the same preventative medication that Theresa's taking. They're fine with it, so she'll be all right as well. So…why are you spending so much time doing this?" he asked, with a vague gesture toward Harry's desk, and the textbooks they were re-shelving.
Harry said nothing at this. He just picked up the last stack of books on the desk and started to re-shelve them. "Did Professor Snape put you up to asking me this, or is this one of your own questions?"
"Severus had nothing to do with this question. It's my own curiosity speaking."
"So, are you going anywhere with your question, or do I have to guess what your point is?" he asked quietly without looking at either of the other two men.
"Well, you're doing all of this for just one student. I'm sure the other students have their problems too…"
Harry turned to face him. "And?
"To me – and bear in mind that I'm an uninformed observer here – it looks like you're showing…favourable attention to one of your young female students," Draco said bluntly.
"Is that so?" Harry asked calmly.
"I just…I can see that she's a very pretty girl, and from what I've seen, she certainly seems to like you. Just let me know, one way or the other." Draco said, genuinely. "Er, ignore Severus for a minute. I'm sure he wouldn't mind closing his ears."
Severus snorted into his text as he kept his eyes focused squarely on the page in front of him.
"My relationship with Theresa is strictly professional."
Draco looked like he was struggling to believe this.
"Alright," Harry began, "when I found her that night, she was in the middle of one of her…seizures. Have you ever seen someone in the middle of a convulsion?"
Draco shook his head, but the Potions Master gave no response.
"She was really hurting herself, hitting herself on the stone and biting her tongue. I wanted to help but I couldn't do anything until she settled down. And then, when she had calmed down, she was covered in bruises and she was bleeding. It looked horrible…I wouldn't wish that on anyone, let alone a young girl. There's a potion that can completely control the illness and prevent the onset of seizures and, after seeing what I saw, I don't want Theresa, or anyone else for that matter, to miss out if they don't have to. I don't believe for a second that Theresa's case is the only one of its kind. I'll bet there are other people who have the same problem but who won't say anything."
"I get your point, but think about this for a second. In the grand scheme of things, this is such a small thing. Why are you losing sleep over it? I'm not suggesting anything, I'm just curious." Draco asked cautiously.
"Not everything we do has to be earth shattering, does it? All big things are made up of little things, and, to me at least, it's the little things that count. In any case, I happen to like doing things like this. When I was at university, I used to belong to a student research group and we'd conduct experiments and research to try to find ways of helping people who couldn't be assisted by the medication available at the time."
Severus looked up from his book, a curious expression on his face.
"Besides, Poppy let me know just last night that Theresa had another episode. It wasn't too bad and she managed to get to the infirmary before it set in. I'll be going with her to the muggle Doctor again this weekend. It's all experimentation until she finds a medication and a dosage that suits her…if she ever does. Not everybody benefits from taking preventative medicines," Harry said matter of factly.
Draco looked at Harry for a moment before moving over and taking some of the books from him so that he could re-shelve them. "I'm sorry I suggested anything improper. I've already volunteered to be your academic assistant, so if I can do anything to help, I will. Even if it means spending time in a…library," he finished, his face screwed up in mock distaste at the thought of seeing so much of the library.
"Thanks, but you really don't have to…"
"It's alright. I want to. Besides, I've already told you that I want to keep busy while I'm here at the castle – busy enough that I won't have time to help Hermione research anything to do with Arithmancy," Draco said with a shudder.
Professor Snape chose this time to interrupt. "There is a…clandestine…organisation that develops and tests experimental potions, in a similar way I'd imagine as your university research group. I'll contact them and see if they can shed some light on the subject."
"I've never heard of that group," Draco observed.
Severus sneered. "That's why it's a clandestine group."
Harry had stopped when the Potions Master mentioned the secret organisation. "What other sorts of things do they do?"
"They are mainly involved in research and experimentation, however, some of their methods have not been…'approved' by the Ministry and that's why they remain a clandestine group."
"How did you come across the group? Were you ever a part of it?" Harry asked, genuinely interested.
"I was at one time," Severus said, shifting uncomfortably. "But I no longer have the time for it. I keep in contact with their members though. Their research is very useful."
"It sounds that way," Harry agreed.
"To my knowledge though," Professor Snape said, bringing their conversation back to the topic at hand, "Tonga tree roots are quite unique in their properties. As I said they are a very commonly used potions ingredient, and this is because they have so many properties. The interaction of so many properties in the one ingredient has a very unique effect in potions…. Let me think on it." Snape looked as though he was deep in thought, contemplating the problem at hand. If the truth was to be known though, he was actually considering the conversation that had just passed between Draco and Harry.
Why is he doing so much for one person? Why is he really doing this? He had seen Harry and Theresa together on a few occasions and each time, he could observe no improper conduct from either person. He had also spent many evenings alone with Theresa tutoring her in potions and could observe nothing from her but a shyness and an eagerness to learn and to succeed. For his own part, if he had come upon Theresa as Harry had, he was sure he would have helped her to find the best potion…or medication…available to treat her disease, but he wasn't sure that he would have looked into developing a whole new potion for her to be able to take when a suitable muggle preventative was available to her.
He had to admit though, his professional curiosity had been piqued, and he was now genuinely curious to know whether there was a potion ingredient in existence that could substitute for the tonga tree root. He was so deep in thought that Draco had to clap his hands a few times in front of his face to get his attention and let him know that if he was finished looking through the book he was holding that he was ready to call it a night as well.
Harry bid them a good night and left to find his own rooms. Am I hearing things or did Snape just offer to do something helpful? Maybe he just felt professionally insulted because I was researching his subject. Harry rolled his eyes at the childishness of such an implication, chuckling at the idea of the formidable Potions Master having a tempter tantrum over something so insignificant.
*****
Harry entered the Great Hall the next day for breakfast to find a large group of newspaper and magazine reporters and various official looking witches and wizards scattered in small groups about the Hall. The staff were shooting him furtive glances and many of the students were glancing at him out of the corner of their eye. Students tended to breakfast late on the weekends and only about half of them were trying to eat breakfast at this time. Taking his usual seat at the table, Jason turned to Ron and Hermione and asked what was happening.
"Jason, you might not want to be here right now...but I just want you to know that Ron and I don't believe a word of it," Hermione told him in a very quiet whisper.
Harry was puzzled. "Don't believe a word of what?" he asked, as he idly picked up the newspaper and scanned the front page. Hermione moved his hand away and hurriedly turned to page three.
"What – " he started to ask Hermione but she cut him off, glancing at the journalists.
"Just read all of it."
Page three of the Daily Prophet carried a full page story titled "What Education Is Hogwarts Offering?" Harry clenched his jaw as he read the story which reported that he had abused his position of trust as a Hogwarts Professor and seduced Theresa Chan, a girl of only fourteen years. The article went on to report that he was a man of scant background and that the Headmaster had allowed him a position of trust in spite of all this.
"None of them know who you are. They only have a name, not a picture. You're pretty new around here so not too many people can actually identify you," Hermione whispered urgently. "So don't draw any attention to yourself."
"Hermione, all the students and staff in the room can identify me. Who wrote this drivel?!" Harry asked her, in chilly tones.
"But no one's pointing you out. Look," Ron noted. He was right, in fact, it looked like people were trying very hard not to look at him at all, for fear of accidentally identifying him to the journalists.
"I would ask that you all move back to the room in the next corridor and we will join you shortly," Albus told the group of journalists in a loud voice, rising from his seat and trying to usher the journalists out of the Hall. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist."
"We have a right to know who he is!" cried one of the reporters
"You will be able to meet him in a short time, now leave my students and staff to finish their breakfast," the Headmaster instructed the journalists, raising his voice slightly. Most of the journalists began to put their cameras and quills away and began to make their way out of the Hall.
"I don't believe this," Harry muttered angrily. "This is absolute rot. Is being an unprincipled bastard who wouldn't know the truth if it slapped them a pre-requisite of being a journalist for the Daily Prophet?" Harry asked through clenched teeth. A small amount of his magic leaked out in response to his anger, and the newspaper in his hand started to smoulder. He noticed this and quickly put his napkin over the smouldering corner, in an attempt to smother it and stop it from lighting up.
His own previous experiences with the journalists of the newspaper had cemented his disdain for everyone who worked in the newspaper industry forever. He hadn't met a single journalist that he'd ever liked and he had to work very hard to keep from hexing every journalist in the room. The only thing that kept him from doing just that was his recollections of what Greg would say whenever something angered or upset him.
"There's no point getting angry about it, it doesn't solve anything."
Harry's jaw was beginning to ache from being clenched and unclenched. It may not solve anything, but it makes me feel a heck of a lot better.
"Albus has already told them that it will be sorted out after breakfast. There's too many of us to fit into his office, so we'll be going to Minerva's classroom to discuss this," Hermione informed Harry.
"That's all very well and good, but I'm not the only one who's been affected by this. Look," he said, nodding his head in the direction of Theresa, who was sitting alone at the end of the Ravenclaw table, looking miserably at her breakfast and trying desperately to get rid of the three reporters who were crowded around her.
"Oh." Ron, muttered. "Well, they'll all be-"
"PROFESSOR GREEN'S THE ONE ON THE VERY END, NEXT TO THE BRUNETTE AND THE REDHEAD!" shouted a student who had just entered Hall. Silence filled the room for about 10 full seconds before every journalist turned back to the staff table and made a beeline for Harry, all talking at once. Harry, for his part, leapt away from the staff table, pulling his wand out and surrounding himself in a ring of fire, which no one in the room was brave enough to approach.
"He's going to set the Hall on fire!" yelled one journalist, with a worried look on her face.
"Actually, he's not," Professor Snape said quietly to Draco, who was seated beside him. "It's all heat and only the illusion of flames."
"How do you know that?" Draco asked, throwing a curious look at his friend.
"I asked him to show me how to perform the spells he used to dispel the shadow creature that attacked me and this was one of the spells he used. It's got a distinctive red cast to it, whereas real fire is more of an orange colour. You'll notice that there is also no smoke rising from the flames."
"Yes, I can see that now. Tell me, did you ever get the hang of performing those spells. You were telling me that they were really difficult to perform."
"I have progressed…" the Potions Master mumbled, without looking at Draco. Both men turned their attention back to the other end of the staff table, where some of the reporters were trying to edge their way closer to the fire surrounding Harry, but before any of them could move much closer Albus rose from his seat.
"STOP!" The Headmaster rarely ever raised his voice, so when he did, everybody knew that it was an indication that his patience was rapidly reaching its limit and that it was best to do exactly as he wanted. Every head turned to face Albus who, at this moment, did not look like a good-natured and wise Headmaster. He looked like an extremely angry wizard.
"Thank you. Despite my best efforts, it would seem that this matter will need to be dealt with at once. Students, please continue your breakfast," he commanded, looking at his students who could only nod in silence and return to the meal in front of them – or at least try to. What was happening in the Hall was far more interesting than food.
Turning his steely gaze upon the reporters, he noted, "When I left you in Minerva's classroom this morning with a promise of returning and answering all of your questions, I didn't expect that you would all be so rude that you would interrupt our breakfast and harass one of my professors and one of my students." A number of reporters could be seen squirming at the Headmaster's rebuke and looking guiltily at the floor and at each other. "There is a door on your right. You will kindly wait in the first room on the right hand side of the hallway on the other side of that door." The reporters silently obeyed Albus' command as one, each one of them staring at Harry, who was still safe within his ring of fire, as they passed him.
"I would like the two of you to join them," Albus directed at Theresa's brother, Duncan, and his fiancée, Sarah, who had arrived at the school with the journalists.
"Of course, Headmaster," Duncan politely acquiesced. "Theresa! Come on!" he called to his sister.
"No. It will not be necessary for Theresa to attend," Albus rebuked firmly, glancing at his student.
"But, sir, I want to go with you," she said, standing up and looking at her Headmaster in a rare display of assertiveness.
Albus blinked in surprise. "There is no reason for you attend, child. I'm afraid I must insist that you remain here. It will all be taken care of."
"No sir. I want to be there. Professor Green didn't do anything. HE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! I want to make sure that they know that," Theresa shouted, nodding in the direction of the reporters who were still in the Hall, and her brother and his fiancee. Theresa was normally a very shy girl and abhorred drawing attention to herself, but her new found assertiveness was fuelled by her sense of outrage. Professor Green had given her his unwavering support, both as a professor and a friend, since he had come across her in a dark and out of the way corridor of the school. He'd been the first person to recognise her illness for what it was, and the first person to offer her any hope of therapeutic or medicinal relief. And she couldn't forget the way he had looked after her in the pharmacy at the risk of his own personal safety.
She would never be able to thank the professor properly for everything that he'd done for her, but she could certainly do everything she could to make sure that everybody knew that her favourite professor would never – ever – do anything as despicable as what the Daily Prophet had accused him of.
By now all of the reporters had left the Hall and Harry had ended his spell.
"We can settle this without you Theresa. I'm going to insist that you do as Albus has suggested," Harry said calmly. Theresa nodded at her professor before she angrily sat back down in her seat crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at the table.
"Professors Green, Snape, McGonagall, Weasley, Weasley…and Mr & Mrs Malfoy. Please, if you would, join me," Albus invited as he rose and led the way out of the Great Hall. The end of the staff table where Harry usually sat was nearest the door that the reporters and Theresa's brother and his girlfriend had just stepped through. This meant that Professor Snape and Draco, who sat at the other end of the staff table, brought up the rear end of the line of professors as they made to follow Albus.
Quick as a cat, and desperate to help her favourite professor, Theresa leaped up from her seat at the student table and rushed over to speak with Draco.
"Mr Malfoy. Mr Malfoy. Sir," she whispered loudly.
Draco swivelled around as soon as he heard his name being called, as did Professor Snape.
"Ah, you go on ahead. Let them know I'll be there in a second, okay?"
The Potions Master looked carefully at Theresa and simply nodded, before he spun on his heels and quickened his pace to catch up with the group of professors as they moved out of the Hall.
"I need a word with you, sir," Theresa whispered urgently.
Draco looked around the hall and pulled her over to a quiet corner behind the staff table and waited for her to begin.
"Sir, you're one of Professor Green's friends, aren't you? I mean, you both get along really well in our classes…" Theresa began.
"Yes, I am."
"Good. Sir, the Professor didn't do any of those things that they say he did. I swear it. I –"
"It's alright." Draco interrupted her quickly. "I don't think that he did any of those things either."
"…but it doesn't matter what anyone says because the reporters won't believe anything but what they want to believe. They won't care." Theresa paused and went on bitterly, "I've been telling them all morning that the story wasn't true, but they just kept smiling and patting me on the head and saying that they expected me to say something like that to protect him and that he'd probably say the same thing to protect me.... They've already decided what they're going to write. They're just here to get pictures to disgrace him."
"Oh that's not good," Draco muttered, his brain stirring into action.
"Sir, my best friend's Dad works in the Department of Education at the Ministry. I know it's a Saturday, but maybe she could ask him to come in and bring a few of the people who work with him to sit in on the meeting. They'll treat it as a formal investigation and if they think the reporters aren't questioning Professor Green properly, they'll question him themselves using their own veritaserum to make sure that all of his answers are truthful."
Draco stared at her. "I can see why you're in Ravenclaw, though you wouldn't make a bad Slytherin either. How long have you been thinking about this?"
Theresa blushed at the praise. "My best friend subscribes to the Daily Prophet and she showed me the story as soon as we woke up. We've been discussing it since she mentioned that her Dad's Department would probably be conducting their own investigation right away on Monday morning."
Draco thought about it. "It's a workable idea…not to mention the only one we've got. Hang on a minute, Professor Snape might have an objection to the part about using their veritaserum, though. Something to do with professional courtesy. Let me go and get him, okay? Wait here a minute."
"Um, sir, Professors Green and Snape don't…like each other very much…" Theresa explained mildly, before Draco left.
"I know. But this is different Theresa. They've attacked Professor Green in his capacity as a Hogwarts Professor, and when that happens, all the staff close ranks and look after each other. I'll be right back."
*****
"Excuse me, Mr. Malfoy has had to take care of something. He asks that we wait for his return before we begin the meeting," Professor Snape informed everybody politely as he stepped into the room and closed the door behind him.
Albus and Professor Snape exchanged a meaningful look before Albus nodded his agreement.
"How dare you touch my sister, you – " Duncan began, hotly.
"WE WILL WAIT," the Headmaster interrupted loudly, "until Mr Malfoy joins us and we begin the meeting before we say anything further on the matter." Albus ended more softly, but in a tone that brooked no disagreement said, "If you cannot hold your tongue, you can leave."
Duncan silenced himself but turned back to glare at Harry, who matched his angry gaze with one of his own. Neither man looked away and it seemed an eternity passed before Duncan turned away, muttering under his breath as Harry coolly leaned back against the wall he had been standing against earlier.
"Are we the only ones who realise how absolutely ludicrous this story is? I mean, the man is gay. There's no way he'd be doing that to a young girl," Ron whispered to his wife.
"Ron! Ssh. Someone might hear you," Hermione admonished as she threw a look at Harry on the other side of the room; thanking her luck that she, her husband and Severus were the only ones actually in this part of the room.
"What I mean is, why isn't he saying anything? This whole thing could be cleared up in about two seconds," Ron explained.
"Perhaps that type of information is private and he doesn't wish to share it with the readers of the Daily Prophet," Professor Snape whispered. He had been standing near them when Ron had blurted that information out and had moved to stand behind them so he could speak to them. "You are lucky that we are the only ones over here, or your comment may have been overheard by more than just me."
"Oops. You're right. I shouldn't have said anything. Um, just don't say anything to Jason about it, okay? I know you two don't really get along, but it wasn't my place to say anything in the first place and I didn't think anyone could overhear me."
"Sometimes you just don't think at all, do you?" Hermione whispered angrily to her husband.
"I was just curious about why he won't try and clear his name," Ron blushed before he looked curiously at the older man. "You don't look very surprised about the news."
"Should I be? His sexual orientation is his own business, wouldn't you say?"
"Ah, sure."
"Hey, is he alright?" Hermione asked quietly watching Harry lean against a wall, seemingly gasping for breath. "He really doesn't look like he's doing well, does he?" she noticed, watching Harry closely as he pushed himself off the wall he was leaning against and walked quickly past them and out the door.
All of the reporters in the room began protesting immediately. Some even moved to follow him, but Ron and Hermione swiftly moved to stand in front of the door and block their access. "We'll go after him," they quickly offered, noting the potential for the situation to get of hand.
"Thank you. Nobody else will leave this room," Albus said coolly. It was well known that Albus was one of the only wizards You-Know-Who was actually afraid of, and no one really wanted to make Albus angry enough to find out why that was the case. So no one else made a move for the door, but Professor Snape did stand beside it, wand in hand, arms crossed over his chest and a menacing sneer on his face.
Ron and Hermione found Harry standing just outside the door, pale, shaky and gasping for breath.
"Are you alright?" Hermione asked the obvious question.
"Yeah." he gasped. "I just…don't like…being…crowded by people. It makes me…very…edgy," Harry replied between breaths. Just the thought of being mobbed by the circus of journalists had pushed him into a mild panic attack. Nothing like this ever happened when whole groups of Death Eaters would come at me, but as soon as a big group of people wants to talk to me, I can't breathe… Man, oh man I have serious problems. Tony's right, I really do need to have my head examined.
Hermione watched him shrewdly as he concentrated on evening his breathing out.
"He'll be fine, Ron." Hermione informed her husband, matter of factly as she transfigured her handkerchief into a brown paper bag for Harry. "I've read a little bit on muggle psychology and muggles call this agoraphobia or social anxiety or social phobia."
"So which one is it?" asked Ron.
"I think it's a bit of all of them, really," Harry commented quietly, concentrating on breathing into the bag and calming himself down.
"They all describe basically the same sort of condition." Hermione added, watching Harry carefully
"Er…what on earth is he doing? What have you got in that bag?" Ron asked his wife, his brow creased in confusion.
"When muggles have a panic attack, they find themselves feeling shaky and their breath comes in really short gasps. They don't exhale fully before they inhale again, and when they inhale, they try to inhale too deeply, so they end up gasping for breath. People often have them breathe into a brown paper bag so they can breathe in the carbon dioxide they keep exhaling. It has a calming effect. See?" She explained to her husband, as Harry visibly began to calm down.
"Oh. Hey, you're really handy to have around, sweetheart," he grinned at his wife.
"Thank you, darling," she said as she blushed prettily.
"Thanks," Harry said quietly as he handed the bag back to Hermione.
"You keep it. You might need it again before we're finished here today," she offered wisely. Harry simply nodded and put it into one of the pockets in his trousers.
"Um, I'm curious to know…. Why don't you tell them that you wouldn't do anything to Theresa because you – you know, swing the other way? I mean, it would definitely clear this whole mess up, wouldn't it?" Ron asked quietly.
"Actually, it wouldn't. In any case, that information's rather personal, wouldn't you say? In any case, it would probably just make things worse," Harry replied matter of factly, looking around to make sure that no one was nearby to over hear them.
"How?" Ron asked, genuinely puzzled.
"Well, there's no guarantee that they'd actually believe me. They might just think that I'd cooked up a convenient excuse to avoid facing their 'investigations' – and I'm using that word loosely, incidentally. Besides that, they'd probably start running stories about how young boys shouldn't be left in my care either."
"So what are you going to do?" Ron asked.
"I'm still working on that," Harry admitted, his eyebrows furrowing in thought.
"Well, you can't go back in there. Let me go and get Albus," Hermione offered as she went back into the room behind her, leaving Ron alone with Harry. She re-appeared a moment later with Albus, Minerva, Snape and Ginny behind her.
"I apologise, I completely forgot about your – thing."
"What's wrong? What thing?" asked Ginny curiously. "It's nothing bad, is it?"
"No. I just don't like feeling…closed in by people, that's all. It's not normally a problem," Harry muttered, genuinely embarrassed.
"Do you need a calming draught?" the Potions Master asked.
"No. I've got a bag, it's alright," Harry told him, still panting. Professor Snape looked at him as if he'd gone mad.
"It's a muggle thing." Hermione quickly explained.
"Where is this meeting going to be held? Not in there I hope," Harry asked. He already knew where the meeting was going to be held, but he wanted to suggest a change in venue.
"I thought we could hold it in my classroom," Minerva volunteered.
"Um…is there a bigger room we could hold the meeting in? I think I'd feel a bit more comfortable with a bit of space around me right now," Harry said.
"How about my classroom? The muggle studies rooms are the biggest in the school. I mean, we've got cars and fridges and everything in those classrooms. It won't take long to clear them out though and then there'd be plenty of room," Ron offered.
"Excellent," Albus agreed turning to Harry. "What say you?"
"I haven't seen it, but if it's the biggest classroom, then it'll have to do. There's just a couple of things though. When we get into the classroom, I don't want to be seated in the middle like I'm on trial. I think that we should have all the reporters up the front of the room. I want to sit right near the door, I don't know where you all want to be, but I guess if you stand to the side you could monitor what's happening fairly well."
Albus thought about this. "That sounds perfectly suitable. You and Ron should go and prepare the classroom. We will let the reporters know that Ron is keeping an eye on you and we will wait for one of you to come and tell us that you're ready."
"Hey, what happened to all the reporters? Boy, when you said you were going to 'take care of them all' you weren't kidding were you? Remind me never to annoy you again," Draco commented to the Headmaster in cheek as he approached the small group.
"Oh good, you're back – " Ron began.
"I'm sorry to have held you all up, but there's something important that I had to do. I'm nearly done but I actually came to get Severus. I won't be too long, I promise," Draco apologised. Ginny narrowed her eyes suspiciously at her husband. In all the years they'd known one another, every time Draco mentioned that he was doing 'something important' it meant that he was doing something devious or sneaky. Draco gave his wife an imploring look as if to say 'I'll tell you later', before he looked at Professor Snape.
"It won't take long," Draco explained as he looked at his friend.
"Of course. Ron and Jason are going to prepare the room for the meeting so we will be a short while yet," Albus assured them. He had a feeling that Draco was planning something, but he trusted him enough to know that whatever it was, it wouldn't jeopardise or undermine anything that the Headmaster was doing.
"Thank you," Draco said seriously, and he nodded once in his direction before heading off, Professor Snape following silently behind him.
"What is this about?" he asked as Draco brought him over to where Theresa was waiting for them in a dark out of the way corner of the Hall. Draco told his friend everything that Theresa had told him earlier.
"I don't care for the idea of the Department members using their own veritaserum," Professor Snape observed to Draco and Theresa.
"Sir, I don't think they'll trust anyone else's," Theresa nervously volunteered.
The professor snorted. "I wouldn't trust theirs. In any case, I would at least like to test it."
"I thought you might," Draco affirmed, nodding.
"You should know that there is a problem with your idea, though," the Potions Master told the two before him.
"What problem?" Draco asked, genuinely confused.
"Professor Green will never agree to take it."
"What?" exclaimed Draco, trying to keep his voice down since there were still people in the Hall. "Why on earth not?"
Professor Snape threw a glance at Theresa before delicately stating, "The professor has…personal reasons…for not wanting to take veritaserum." During the first few months of Harry's stay at the school, Severus had discovered that the Ministry had no record of 'Jason Green's' existence and he had confronted the young man with this information during a meeting held in Albus' office before the Headmaster and a few members of staff. He had suggested that Harry give his answers under the influence of the potion to ensure that he was telling the truth, however, he had flatly refused. He had told everybody in the room, in no uncertain terms, that he didn't trust them not to ask other questions and fish for information that he didn't want to disclose. Professor Snape could perfectly understand that. Goodness knows, he also had information that he didn't want to disclose to people in general and if he were in Harry's position, he wouldn't take the veritaserum, even if it was the only way to prove his innocence. That was why he knew, with absolute certainty, that Harry wouldn't take the veritaserum today.
Theresa thought quickly. "He might not be willing to take it, but I am."
"You are very young and it may be dangerous for you to – " Professor Snape began, giving Theresa a severe look.
"It doesn't matter," Theresa interrupted. "You don't understand. I owe him so much…I have nothing to hide, Professor. He's done nothing wrong, and no one should think otherwise. Let me do it. Please," she finished, with her head held high and looking her Potions professor in the eye. "If you don't let me do it, I'll go to the Ministry myself on Monday and ask someone from the Department of Education to administer it so I can make a statement to them personally."
"You're developing a stubborn streak. Personally I think that's from spending so much time with Professors Snape and Green," Draco observed impishly, making Theresa grin despite the severity of the situation.
After a long pause, her Potions Master relented, silently admiring her resolve and courage. "Very well. But I will insist that I test and supervise the administration of the veritaserum to you myself."
"Thank you sir, and you Mr. Malfoy."
"Can we use the floo network to contact Theresa's friend's Dad on such short notice?" Draco asked his friend.
"I don't see why not. Mr Weasley's classroom has a fireplace in it and I am sure it is connected to the network."
"Theresa, we don't want to involve your friend in this anymore than she is already, but we'll need her to write a note to her Dad for us. We need her to explain what's going on and to ask him to come in as a personal favour to her. Okay? We can deliver the note via floo, so it'll be faster than sending it by owl. Professor Snape and I need to go and get a few things but meet us back here as soon as you can, okay?"
"Yes, sir," Theresa said as she raced off to find her friend.
"Do you think Albus will let Theresa take the veritaserum?" Draco nervously asked Severus.
"Yes. He will have a much bigger problem on his hands if this situation is not resolved," Severus replied.
"Speaking of which, I think Albus will want to speak to the kid that pointed Jason out."
"I am sure he will do so once we have resolved the problem at hand. The Headmaster would not overlook something like that," the Potions Master told him.
"Do you believe her?" Draco asked the older man after some moments, as they headed out of the Hall.
"Yes – but if she were not about to be given veritaserum I would be inclined to reserve judgment until all the facts were known."
"Typical Snape-ish answer," muttered Draco.
"Blind trust will get you killed."
"I don't trust blindly."
"But you are naive."
"I may be many things, but I don't think 'naïve' is one of them."
*****
"We'll all be meeting in the muggle studies classroom so wait for us in the passageway behind the tapestry round the corner from the room. We'll come and get you when we need you, alright?" Draco told Theresa when he and Severus met her in the Hall again. Theresa nodded her head as she turned and hurried out of the Hall.
"Let's go," Draco suggested.
"Sorry we took so long," Draco apologised as they entered the room.
"That's alright, I only just got back to let everyone know that the classroom's ready," Ron explained.
"We need a moment of your time," Professor Snape whispered to the Headmaster as everyone else in the room made ready to leave.
"Of course. Let's move over here a little," the Headmaster indicated with his hand.
The two men quickly explained what they proposed to do and Draco overrode Albus' objections.
"I don't think I can allow such a young girl to take veritaserum," Albus protested.
"There's no other way to prove what's going on. Jason will never take it and this could quickly get out of hand. The Ministry will want to thoroughly investigate this in their own time and the reporters won't be happy until they can get a few more weeks worth of headlines out of this. We need to clear this up today and I can't think of another way to do it. In any case, she's already told us that she'll make a personal statement to the Department of Education herself on Monday under veritaserum if she can't do it here," Draco explained quickly.
"Has she? She's quite determined to do this, then," the Headmaster noted more to himself than anyone else. "Unfortunately, I can't think of an alternative solution right now. Very well. Severus, when you 'test' the Ministry's veritaserum, I want you to swap it for your own. I trust your potions more than I trust theirs," he praised his Potions Master, "and I want you to supervise the administration – if possible, I'd like you to administer it yourself."
"Of course, Headmaster," Professor Snape agreed.
"Gentleman, do you have any doubts about Theresa's sincerity?" Albus asked them.
"No," answered Draco, after some thought.
"She seems determined to go through with this, so I have no doubts," Professor Snape admitted.
"I must say, this behaviour seems to be completely out of character for her," Albus noted.
"I agree." Severus said.
"Very well, Draco, have Ron go on ahead and give Miss Washington's letter to her father through the floo in his classroom. Have him ask him to come as quickly as possible. It should only take about fifteen minutes for him to get here. We shall stall everyone for as long as we can."
"Hey, now that I've found my favourite brother-in-law, I have a favour to ask of you…" Draco began as he led Ron to the door.
*****
"I believe the Headmaster requested that everybody produce three pieces of identification, not two." Professor Snape told the journalist in front of him, coldly.
"This is absolutely ridiculous. I don't have three pieces of ID on me," the witch wailed as she searched through her handbag.
"Then you may not join us in the meeting. You will be escorted off the premises shortly, if you'd kindly wait over there..." the Potions Master replied, gesturing to the other side of the room with his hand.
"Hang on, hang on. Oh, I don't know, maybe I've got a gym membership with me or something…" she muttered angrily.
Professor Snape had to fight to keep the smile off his face. He was enjoying this enormously.
"Professor Dumbledore! Why are we doing this? It's bloody ridiculous. I've never had to produce three pieces of ID to anyone before in my life. What's the meaning of this? I demand an answer sir!" shouted a beefy looking reporter.
"My good sir, I'm sure you can understand our need for security. After all, this is a school and I will not put my students in danger if I can help it. This is nothing more than a security measure," Albus replied pleasantly, watching as Hermione, Ginny, Minerva and Severus bullied the reporters into producing the required identification and then took their time thoroughly checking them and cross checking them against one another. That should buy us just about enough time, shouldn't it Draco?
"This is an outrage sir. An outrage. I have never been so insulted in all my life!" cried one loud reporter.
"No, Severus," Minerva warned as she saw that the Potions Master had opened his mouth and was about to comment. He abruptly closed his mouth and looked at Minerva, the corners of his mouth twitching, threatening to form a smirk.
"You're right. Too easy and not worth the effort," he observed. Minerva looked back at the outraged journalist and worked very hard to stifle a laugh as he continued to yell and bluster.
"Can't we move this along?" Sarah asked huffily.
"We are moving this along as quickly as we can. But we do need to be thorough, after all, this is for security. And I only have four staff here with me. It wouldn't take so long if there weren't so many of you but…" Albus shrugged helplessly, indicating that they brought this dilemma on themselves.
"Right, so who's next then?" Ginny asked as she passed one more journalist through.
"Me!" Sarah yelled, pushing her way to the front and dragging Duncan along with her.
*****
"Excuse me, Headmaster, a word with you?" Draco politely asked.
"Of course," he replied mildly as he followed Draco outside the room and closed the door behind him.
"What on earth are you doing in there?" Draco asked, though he could more or less figure it out from the snippets of conversation he could pick up from various parts of the room.
"Screening process, my boy. Very thorough – and lengthy – process too," Albus replied, casting a significant look at Draco.
"Oh," he replied, cottoning on and trying to repress a smile.
"Albus Dumbledore, this is Johnathon Washington."
"Yes, excellent student when he was here," he observed to Draco.
"Thank you Professor Dumbledore."
"Please, call me Albus. You're not in school anymore. Now. Has Draco explained to you what has happened?"
"Yes. I have Jane's letter with me as well. I know what's going on and I was told me that you wanted me to conduct an investigation here right away. I brought a couple of assistants from my Department with me as well, so everything is nice and official."
"I realise that conducting an investigation on a Saturday is a little unorthodox, but I'm sure you can understand that we want this resolved as quickly as possible, one way or the other," Albus observed.
"I agree. When do you want me to begin?"
"Er, we've just implemented a new security measure and the checks are just about done. Why don't you get set up in the room and we'll join you down there?"
"Suits me."
"Excellent. We will see you shortly then." Albus called out as he returned to the room.
"Right, now, about your veritaserum. Our Potions Master will want to test it first – professional courtesy you understand, nothing more…" Draco explained as they made their way to the muggle studies classroom.
*****
"That's odd. I'm sure there were more of you than that," Harry observed from his position sitting on the desk at the back of the room, near the door, after all of the reporters had filed in.
"Some of them didn't make it through our…screening process," Ginny replied with a perfectly straight face. Several people threw dark looks at her and Harry decided that whatever the process involved, it mustn't have been pleasant.
"Why are we all squashed up the front like this?" complained one of the reporters.
"Look, these are the arrangements. If you don't like them, you can leave," Ron told her.
"Can we finally get on with this?" asked Sarah loudly. "We've spent all morning holed up with them, when it's you we came to see," she complained in a loud voice, pointing her finger up at Harry, who looked back at her, completely nonplussed.
"I gathered that much."
"Do you deny the truth of the article Professor Green?" called out one of the journalists.
"There is no truth in that article," Harry replied calmly.
"Liar!"
"And who are you?" Harry asked, with every intention of being rude.
"I'm Sarah Walters, Duncan's fiancée." she replied haughtily, jutting her chin out.
"Uh-huh. So who's Duncan?" Harry asked rudely.
"I'm Theresa's brother," he replied angrily, standing up.
"And what are the two of you doing here?"
"We've come to hear your explanation," Sarah answered.
"Right. Well, I think you've already made up your minds, so I wonder that you took the trouble to come all the way over here," Harry observed. "And Ms. Walters, my hearing is very good, you don't need to scream. If you can't speak in normal tones then I'll simply remove you from the room. Is that clear?" Harry asked, levelling a steely gaze at her.
"I'm not one of your students. How dare – "
"Sit down!" Harry snapped irritably. He turned to face Duncan. "There is nothing improper happening between your sister and myself. I give you my word, should you choose to accept it."
"I don't accept it."
"What makes you think I'm lying?" Harry asked, trying to reason with the man.
"She's been writing to me about you," Duncan told Harry as he pulled out some of the letters that Theresa had written.
"Professor Green is just the best teacher. I really understand what I'm doing in his class. I mean I love all the other subjects, but Defence is my favourite now, I think."
"Professor Green is giving me extra lessons in defence so I can catch up. He's awesome. There isn't any question he can't answer and he knows how to do things that I've never seen in any of the books. He taught me how to punch like a muggle. You just wait – the next time you annoy me, pow!"
"Professor Green did something so awesome for me today. I'm not allowed to tell you what it was because the Headmaster swore me to secrecy, but he got hurt and I think it was because of me. He's really cool, Duncan. And guess what, he convinced me to get extra tutoring in Potions as well and Professor Snape just told me I got the highest mark in the last class quiz he gave out. Isn't that awesome? And Potions of all things!
"You tell me, Professor, why should I think you're not lying? Extra tutoring lessons? You did something for her and then swore her to secrecy? Just what am I not supposed to be suspicious about?"
"I am sure this can all be explained away," Albus reasoned gently.
"Of course it can," Harry replied impatiently. "Her grades have improved ten fold since I began giving her extra lessons in my subject. Considering all the work she's had to do to pull her grades up so much, I'm surprised that you'd think there was any time left in those lessons to do anything other than work."
"Maybe her marks improved because she likes you so much," Sarah countered, with a smirk.
"Well if that's the case, I think you've written the article about the wrong professor. It's true, she's made a big improvement in my subject, but her marks have made an even bigger improvement in potions. By your reasoning, that must mean she likes Professor Snape more than she likes me." Professor Snape glared at Harry.
"If he keeps saying things like that, your reputation as a heartless Potions Master is going to go up in smoke," Minerva observed to Severus, who just smirked at her comment.
"Maybe that's a reflection of how…intimidating…he is." said one reporter, with a nasty grin.
"Maybe that's a reflection of how good a teacher he is," snapped Harry angrily. Severus raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Let's bring things into focus. You've caused enough problems by insulting one
Hogwarts Professor, don't try and make things worse by insulting two. We're not here to call names and I'm not here to be questioned by you. It's obvious that you're just going to write whatever you feel like writing, regardless of what I say, so, I'm going to be asking you questions, and I'll start with…you." Harry said, pointing to a young wizard at the front of the group of reporters.
The professors were impressed at the way Harry had managed to manipulate the situation so that he was now the interrogator, rather than the one being interrogated. Several of them grinned in open amusement, Ginny gave voice to a particularly nasty little laugh and Professor Snape nodded in silent approval and admiration of Harry's skill.
"Who gave you the story to print?" Harry asked, directly.
"I don't understand."
"Who gave you the 'facts' for the story? Who did you interview? Who came to you and told you that I'd behaved improperly toward one of my students?" Harry asked evenly.
"How do you know I wrote it?" he asked.
"I saw your name tag, genius."
Ginny snorted from her position in the room and tried to disguise the rest of her laughter by pretending to have an extended coughing fit.
"Oh, well I'm not permitted to reveal my source."
"Do you even have one?" Harry asked "because – " Harry was interrupted by someone coming into the room. Draco had left earlier, but Harry simply assumed that he was heading to the bathroom or had gone in search of a drink, so he was surprised to see Draco re-enter the room followed by a man, who he didn't know, and Theresa, who was looking every inch and angry young woman.
"Theresa, come over – " Duncan began.
"Leave me alone!" Theresa yelled out, causing several people to gasp at her rudeness. Turning to Professor McGonagall, she asked "Professor, does he believe the stories too?"
"I'm afraid so, dear."
"You sodding idiot! You didn't even ask me," she said in cold tones as she turned back to face him. Many of the journalists eyed the pair with interest, and some of them started to jot down notes about the argument.
"You would have denied it, to protect him," Duncan countered, angrily.
"He's old enough to be able to protect himself. And, if there really was anything happening between me and the professor, you would have been the first person I'd have told. Let me emphasise would have," she responded, icily.
"What's going on?" asked one of the reporters up the back.
"Actually, I wouldn't mind knowing that myself," Harry said coolly, his arms folded across his chest, eyebrows raised at Draco, Theresa and the gentleman that had entered the room with them.
"Excuse me. Johnathon Washington, Manager of the Department of Education at the Ministry of Magic." Johnathon introduced himself to Harry, moving over to shake his hand. "My Department is responsible for investigating these sorts of complaints and I would have been here on Monday to begin my investigation,
class=Section2>but I understand that we'd all be interested in a speedy resolution of this matter so I'll be conducting an investigation today. These are my assistants, Tom Black and Amy Shire. It's a simple matter really. I already know the nature of the complaint, and I'd normally begin by bringing everyone into the one room to see if we can talk about the problem a little bit, but in the interest of speed, I'll begin with the veritaserum right away. Oh, and incidentally, you won't be permitted to write your stories on this," he addressed the reporters, specifically. "My assistant is the department's public relations officer and she'll be submitting her own report to your magazines. You all know the rules."
"Ah, excuse me. I won't be taking veritaserum," Harry stated evenly.
"Ah ha! Still think he's innocent, do you?" one particularly shrill witch asked Albus.
"It's not an admission of guilt. I'm just exercising my right not to take vertaserum. I think you'll find, if you check the rules, that I'm permitted to do that," Harry noted in his 'lawyer' voice.
"Oh, it's okay, professor. The veritaserum isn't for you, it's for me," Theresa replied determinedly from beside Draco.
Harry's eyes widened in surprise. "Theresa, I asked you not to get involved," he firmly told his student, who's resolve began to waver at the tone of his voice.
"And I gave my permission for her to get involved. You can see Miss Chan's predicament, she has to disobey one of us, and since I'm the Headmaster, I'm afraid she's going to have to listen to me instead of you." Albus stepped in, a familiar glint in his eye. "Professor Snape, if you would test the potion please."
The Potions Master made a show of testing the Ministry's veritaserum on one of the benches while discreetly swapping the sample for his own serum. After declaring that the serum was authentic, he handed the sample to Johnathon who dipped an eyedropper into the vial and added a few drops to some juice for Theresa to drink.
"The dosage that Theresa is taking should give us about an hour to work with her. Normal investigation rules apply, so I'll ask that no one in the room speak while she is under the effects of the serum," Johnathon instructed as Theresa drank the potion and Professor Snape looked on.
"If anybody breaks that rule, I will be forced to take steps." Albus threatened the people in the room and a few people gulped in response to Albus' warning which pleased Albus to no end as he sent Theresa a wink and an encouraging smile.
"Okay. Please state your full name." Johnathon began his questioning.
"Theresa Kai Lun Chan."
Johnathon looked over at Duncan, who nodded to verify that this was her full name.
"That's a very pretty name."
"Thank you."
"What school House are you in?"
"Ravenclaw."
"Is Professor Green your Defence Against The Dark Arts Professor?"
"Yes."
"Is he a good professor?"
"Yes."
"What makes him a good professor?"
"We learn all about the strengths and weaknesses of a spell and we learn about its origins so it makes it easier to remember how to use it and what the proper incantation is. Every other time I've had to learn a spell it's just been rote learning and it can get pretty confusing after a while keeping them all straight."
"Does Professor Green give you extra lessons?"
"Yes."
"What do you do during those lessons?"
"We revise the spells that I've learned and we go over anything I'm having problems with. We've been doing a lot of duelling lately."
"Were you, or are you involved in a romantic relationship with Professor Green?"
"No."
"Has he ever touched you?"
"Well, when I fall over during lessons he sometimes helps me get back up, and when he was teaching me how to punch he had to show me how to clench my fist properly and brace my wrist."
"Has he ever kissed you?"
"No."
"Has he ever discussed the possibility of having a romantic relationship with you?"
"No."
Duncan had handed Theresa's letters to Albus who had brought them over to Johnathon so that he could ask more questions to put Duncan's suspicions to rest.
"Have you been writing home to your brother about Professor Green?"
"Yes."
"You've said he's wonderful, fantastic and a great professor. Is that right?"
"Yes."
"Do you find Professor Green attractive?"
"Yes."
"Do you love him?"
"I think he's one of the nicest people I've ever met…and he's really cute…but I don't love him romantically. I love him as much as I love my other friends."
"What makes him so 'wonderful' and 'fantastic'?"
"First of all, he's a great professor. His teaching style makes it so easy to learn because he only really focuses on what we need to know to be able to use the spell. He doesn't worry about making us learn all about the person who invented the spell, or something equally as useless.
"He's a great person. I've suffered from epilepsy all my life and I can't take the preventative potion because I'm allergic to one of the ingredients in it. At first I only ever had seizures once every now and then. They were really rare and mum always kept an eye on them. But since I came to Hogwarts, I've had them pretty frequently. Maybe it's all the lights from the spells coming out of everyone's wands that sets it off, I don't know. I tried to hide it because, well, I don't want to be seen in the middle of a seizure. I don't know if any of you have ever seen one before – it's really humiliating, and painful.
"Professor Green came upon me in the middle of one of my episodes when I was trying to hide in one of the hallways down where all the storage cupboards are. I was so embarrassed afterwards when he and Madam Pomfrey figured out that I'd been lying about the number of seizures I had. I thought I'd be in big trouble, but he put me onto muggle medication and it seems to be working, for the most part. I was supposed to be going to the doctor with Professor Green today to see about a change in medication but I can't now because the surgeries will all be closed by the time we finish here so I'll have to wait until next weekend, I guess."
Quite a few of the reporters in the room squirmed uncomfortably when they heard this and Professor Snape grinned viciously at this.
"I haven't felt this healthy for years. I'm exercising more now and I'm even thinking of trying out for the quidditch team next year.
"I rarely ever miss classes anymore and my marks are much better than they used to be. I'm getting extra help with the two subjects I find the hardest and I think I'm doing really well. Professor Snape told me the other day that I'm currently running fifth in the year for fourth year potions, and I was nearly failing the class before."
Theresa paused to have a drink of plain juice.
"Theresa, you mentioned that Professor Green did something awesome for you but the Headmaster swore you to secrecy. What did he do?"
"We were at a pharmacy a few weeks ago, picking up my medicine and some people came crashing through into the pharmacy and started firing guns everywhere. I was so scared and couldn't move, but he picked me up and threw me over a counter so I wouldn't get hit by any of the bullets. There was a man who was trying to grab me and I'd moved back as far as I could go and he was getting nearer and then Professor Green threw a knife into his hand before he could reach me and the man passed out. Professor Green ended up getting hurt himself trying to help us."
"So the story in the newspaper wasn't true?"
"No! It was all lies. Professor Green is wonderful and he's a perfect gentleman…and you can all go to Hell before I let anyone believe anything else!"
Johnathon checked his watch. "The potion should be starting to wear off right about now, so I'll let Professor Snape take you out, maybe he can give you a sleeping draught if you'd like to rest," Johnathon suggested.
"Oh my God," muttered Duncan, his head in his hands.
"Oh wow," said Hermione quietly while Ginny, sitting by her side, dabbed at her own eyes with a hanky.
"Well, that was nice," Draco commented.
"Theresa," began Harry, "um…thank you." He was genuinely moved and humbled by the words of his student.
"No, Professor, thank you," she replied as she let all the gratitude she felt for him flow into the small smile she gave as she rose from her seat, waiting for Professor Snape to lead her out of the room. Before the Potions Master had stood up though, Sarah had leapt up from her seat and pointed her wand at Harry.
"Legillimens!" she cried in a shrill voice.
Harry had just finished speaking to Theresa and his mind was unguarded, but with the speed of his reflexes he was able to throw off her attack without having allowed her to glimpse anything of importance in his mind. The force of having her spell thrown off pushed Sarah back into her chair.
Everything had happened so quickly and unexpectedly that no one in the room had had the time to prevent Sarah from acting.
"What on earth are you doing?" Duncan asked her, sounding very unsure of himself.
"No! I need to know! Legilimens!" she cried desperately as she threw the spell again. Once more, Harry threw off her attempt with ease.
With a level gaze at Sarah, Harry told her, "There's no excuse for sloppy spell work. This is how you do it." Harry lectured her as he pointed his own wand at her before calmly saying, "Legilimens."