LINER NOTES:

Usual disclaimers and so on apply.

RATING: This chapter is rated T/PG-13 for language and getting-up-there homosexuality. (We've finally moved past holding hands, amigos.) Oh yes, and there's a het warning, too, for Harry/some girl I won't mention yet (DIE, GINNY! DIEEEE! Okay, not really, BUT STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM MY DAMN FICS!)

REVIEWS: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Eleonora1, I sent you an email and I promise there is very little Remus torture in this one. Anyway, I think the kissing/funny rumors/glowing Ministry reports make up for it. He's a happy guy just now. Oh, and I finally moved back into the basement, so The Love Nest is open once again. That means Severus, Sirius, and Harry are all happy too. (Yeah, Harry and me, we get around . . . -snort-) Wait, I never told you about The Love Nest! I told Yulara about The Love Nest! GAHHH . . .

Okay, for those of you who now think I'm nuts - The Love Nest is a joke that started between me and Alicia, and it moved online eventually.

AND THE MOST IMPORTANT PART: What There is in a Bottleof Ink will not be affected in any way by the events, persons, or locales introduced in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The story should be read exactly as though it occurs immediately after the events in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

And . . . why are you still reading these notes? ON TO THE STORY!

"Is Snape in here?" Sirius poked his head through the hole where the heavy oak kitchen door had once been - Molly Weasley had taken it upon herself to renovate the house, one room at a time, once it was fully cleaned - and watched as eight people shook their heads.

"I think he said he was going to be in the library," Hermione mused. Sirius nodded in thanks and disappeared.

A short holiday had been granted to the Hogwarts students in consideration of the mayhem that the final - and complete - fall of He-Who-Could-For-Some-Reason-Now-Be-Named-Without-People-Wincing-And-Saying-To-Not-Say-His-Name. Everyone was expected to put their family affairs in order and be back by the twenty-third. Additional time had to be approved by the Headmaster.

Snape was indeed in the library with Harry, both poring over separate books on potion-brewing and lycanthropy, trying to find a way to help Remus. So far they'd found nothing. Sirius traipsed in and waited until both of them looked up at him, being suddenly aware of a change in their concentrated little environment. If the circumstances had been different, Sirius would have found their twin expressions to be extraordinarily humorous - broken concentration saturated liberally with concern and just a pinch of annoyance - or maybe determination, who could tell with so many shadows in the room?

Sirius grinned happily at them both.

"He's awake."

"Mmmmmm . . . "

Remus thought he must be having a very nice dream. Someone was holding his hand and gently combing his hair with their fingers in a slow, regular pattern. He was neither hot nor shivering - on the contrary, he felt the pleasant coolness of a recently changed bed, and he felt clean as opposed to the sticky, gravelly feeling he'd been covered in when he'd transformed not long after being rescued from Voldemort's strongholds (and, much to his chagrin in spite of his gratefulness, had discovered that the snakefaced cur had been telling the truth about the Wolfsbane). Someone called his name softly and he allowed his head to turn in the direction of the voice, but he didn't open his eyes - he'd tried that once already and discovered it was simply too painful even in the dim light of this windowless room.

"Remus?" That voice again, familiar but unfamiliar in that he couldn't place it anymore. The tones weren't right - couldn't the person speak normally so he could understand?

"I'm awake . . . " he murmured. thinking that perhaps the man sitting next to him (the hand was far too large to belong to any of the women Remus knew) thought he was still sleeping. "My eyes just hurt."

"That's normal," said the voice, and things started to click in Remus' brain now that most of the worry had dissipated from the deep baritone. "Do you know what happened to you?"

Remus shifted and risked opening his eyes again, just a bit. This time it wasn't so bad. "Silver poisoning."

Severus shook his head. "More than that. Lunatic's Fever. We thought you were dead for certain. Poppy couldn't even diagnose it. We had some woman from St. Mungo's in to deal with the worst of it. Two full grams of sterling sliver dust straight to the brain via the bloodstream. You were only about a quarter gram away from making lycanthropic medical history. No survivors have ever been listed past two grams and an eighth."

Remus shuddered. "But how did it -"

"Through your ankle. The brace they gave you was impregnated with it, from what I've been able to gather since I woke up."

"And what got to you?"

"Nothing so elaborate, I'm afraid. Plain old-fashioned arsenic in the drinking water."

Remus' eyes grew wide as he took in the implications of this.

"It doesn't have a taste when used in the right form. And we've already determined that you're immune to it, for some reason we've yet to discover. Don't beat yourself up over it. It wasn't your fault."

Remus nodded.

"Do you want to see Harry?"

Remus considered. "For a little bit, maybe."

Severus nodded and stood up.

"Where are you going?"

"I have no plans to wear you out fifteen minutes after you wake up."

Remus tried to pout, but the effect was lessened by the fact that he could barely sit up.

"Severus . . . "

Severus turned back.

"Severus . . . when I was still . . . you know . . . I thought I saw Sirius. Several times. I know it was a real person because things would . . . change. You know, my clothes would be changed or I'd have water with me or something . . . I just wondered . . . if you knew who -"

"Nobody seems to know where Black came back from, but it is most certainly a fact confirmed by both the Ministry and Dumbledore that Sirius Black is very much so alive and living in this house. For pity's sake, Remus, don't you dare try getting up until you're told it's safe for you."

Severus left the room in search of Harry, leaving Remus alone to grumble about being treated like a baby.

The students of Hogwartsarrived back to the school exactly on schedule, thrilled to see Remus with a mostly-healed ankle and no other apparent injuries or illnesses. Some were perhaps less enthusiastic about finding out that the 'old bat' of the dungeons had also made a full recovery, but if it was so, they didn't show it. Life went on quite as it had before Remus' kidnapping, in fact, except that the Aurors had left the school and Remus had become something of a celebrity. At the height of the excitement he managed to turn himself into an older-looking version of a very hairy Harry (complete with overexaggerated lightning-bolt scar on his forehead and a pair of wax fangs) and came to class in a Gryffindor uniform with a sign reading "The Werewolf Who Lived" hanging from his neck. It garnered plenty of laughs (especially from Harry and his friends, they being the ones who'd helped him set the prank up in the first place) and some embarrassment for people like Lavender Brown, who'd been caught taking a quill out of his desk without a good reason for it. The mania died down a bit after that, but Remus still had cause to complain of a positive epidemic of missing handkerchiefs, self-memos, index cards, ballpoint pens, bookmarkers, and on one memorable day someone had taken a Honeydukes chocolate wrapper out of his desk and left the chocolate (half-eaten by Remus in a fit of craving while marking first-year essays), sitting exactly where it had been before the paper covering had been removed. It was after his pocket-watch (actually a wristwatch with a broken strap) came up missing that he was called to the Headmaster's office, and his surprise was great upon finding Harry and Severus there as well.

Dumbledore opened their conversation by offering tea and sherbet lemons all around and then informing Remus that his watch had been found and left on the Head Table at lunch, and he (Dumbledore) was inclined to believe that Remus had lost it in the halls, seeing as it had certainly happened before (twice, in fact, and both times returned by some first year or other, clearly the Hufflepuff House pariah - Remus had never been entirely convinced that it had just fallen out of his pocket). Then he grew serious.

"I think, gentlemen, that you all have a right to be asking me a rather pressing question, and yet only Harry has ventured so far to ask it. I must confess myself completely surprised."

Remus and Severus exchanged a glance (while Harry squirmed uncomfortably in his seat and blushed) before Remus spoke. "About the Prophesy."

Dumbledore nodded and twinkled. "Correct."

Harry finally sat up straight. "So - why wasn't the Prophesy fulfilled, Sir? Was it because Voldemort didn't know all ofit, or -"

"On the contrary, Harry, it has very much so been fulfilled."

All three stared at him quizzically. Dumbledore smiled. "You remember, Harry, in your third year, when you saved the life of Peter Pettigrew?"

Harry nodded uncertainly.

"I told you then that when one wizard saves the life of another, a very strong bond is formed - and that a day might come when you would be glad you had saved him. You understand now?"

Harry shook his head. Dumbledore tried again.

"If you had chosen not to save him, Harry - there are many things that would doubtlessly have been different, but for simplicity's sake we will assume that everything would have been the same, in some way, up to this point. As I understand it, Voldemort was destroyed after being infected with lycanthropy, having tried a most unwise method of restraining Remus and using him as some form of torture instrument. Pettigrew, who has the most interesting possession of a silver hand, was forced under Imperius to strangle his own master. You see now, all of you? If Harry had allowed Pettigrew to die, there would have been no ceremony in which he lost his hand, therefore no silver hand to replace it, therefore no danger to Remus that had to be redirected, and therefore no silver strangulation of Lord Voldemort. You fulfilled the Prophesy, Harry, by creating the tools to fulfil it. You remember, all of you: "Either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives." Sooner or later, Harry, Pettigrew would have killed one or the other of you in some way. It had occurred to me years ago that 'the other' referred to in the Prophesy might not have meant you or Voldemort at all, but could instead have referred to another, third, person, not bound by any of the other constraints of the Prophesy: date of birth, heritage, the mark of Voldemort. It seems I was right. An interesting little study, to be sure, don't you think, gentlemen?"

Harry stared broodingly at his reflection in the mirror. Dumbledore had announced a "Valentine's Dance," though everyone down to the suits of armour knew this was nothing more than a glorified victory ball. Harry, of course, couldn't find a way to squirm out of going, and so here he was in his green dress robes, hogging the mirror even though he knew there were other people who needed it. Ron finally elbowed him out of the way.

"Really, mate, I don't care if you're carrying on an affair with your own reflection, but I've never had these on and I don't know . . . " Ron turned from side to side and scowled at the brown-sugar-colored robes hanging from his lanky frame. "I look like one of those bloody monks you read about in those old books Hermione's so fond of," he lamented, turning suddenly as Harry seized a hair brush from his bedside table and tried desperately to make his hair lie flat for once.

"Mate, what're you so on about tonight?"

Harry didn't answer. He was busy thinking about a quiet voice and large, glittering eyes.

Three hours into the dance Harry gave up on trying to have a good time. Ron and Hermione were off somewhere doing couple-y things, Seamus and Dean were either dancing or trying to find a partner, Neville had stayed upstairs to do his homework, and though Draco Malfoy and his human gorillas had been expelled after Remus' kidnapping (and, being of age, all three would be standing trial as well), there were plenty of others - like Marietta Edgecombe, for example - who were conspiring to make Harry feel generally watched and miserable. He was so distracted that he reached for his bottle of butterbeer and didn't realize until after he'd taken a healthy swig that it shouldn't have had enough left in it for him to take a swallow that size. He started, the memory of Severus' poisoning still fresh in his mind, and looked up. Luna was sitting across from him. She smiled dreamily.

"Do you always sit alone when the school holds dances?"

"Er," Harry stuttered, his brain jamming as he tried to think of something interesting to say, and for a moment he almost wished he were Remus or Severus, both of them always ready with an answer. "Er, no, I just - I mean - it's - well - er - " Harry gave up.

Luna just smiled. "You looked thirsty."

Harry looked down at the new bottle in his hand. "Er - I mean - thanks. I mean, you didn't have to do that. Or - I mean - er -"

"Gryffindor is favorite for the Quidditch Cup this year, aren't they?" Luna queried, and Harry let out a mental sigh of relief. Here was something he knew.

"I guess it's not so hard to beat a team when four of its members (1) are missing and the remaining Captain is too thick to realize they're not coming back in time for the game and need replaced, you know?"

Luna laughed a bit. "I suppose that's true." A pause. "You'll have a harder time beating Ravenclaw next week."

Harry grinned. "Maybe." Then, "Will you still love me even if we win?" in an attempt to tease.

Luna stared at him. Bad move, Harry, an inner voice that sounded remarkably like Remus informed him. You shouldn't ever try to flirt like that. Then Luna started to laugh. "I only go to Quidditch games because everyone else does, actually," she informed Harry. "It's a nice game, but there are too many people who forget that it's only a game." She stirred her drink (cherry soda and vanilla ice cream) lazily with her straw while Harry tried to think up a good response. Luna gazed off into a corner of the Great Hall. "You know, I don't understand why nobody else saw it before," she said, still looking off into the corner. "It's always been clear as day to me. They're perfect for each other, don't you think?"

Harry followed her line of sight, trying to figure out what on earth she was talking about. He squinted, and the corner's two occupants came into focus. Severus, his hair braided, wearing wine-red dress robes (several people were staring openly) over a black button-down shirt and trousers, standing very close to Remus, who'd forgone his normal comfortable-but-very-worn-out blue jeans and cardigan in favor of robes much the same color as Ron's. They were extremely old fashioned though still in almost-perfect condition, and Harry remembered, with a twinge of amusement, that he'd seen those robes in Remus' graduation pictures.

The odd couple turned in a slow circle, apparently unaware of (or ignoring) the many eyes watching them and their queerly placed progress. Remus had placed one hand behind Severus' neck, turned backward, and Severus had rested one hand on his partner's waist. Their other hands were clasped together, held down near their sides. They continued to turn, foreheads together, dancing to a drummer all their own.

"Mmmm . . . " Remus smiled against Severus' neck.

"You do enjoy saying that, don't you?"

"Mmm?"

Severus shook his head and smiled, almost invisibly, at the tiny man in his arms. "Do you realize people are staring at us, Remus?"

Remus opened his eyes lazily and gazed up at the dark man above him. "Do you care?"

Severus considered. "Not particularly."

Remus closed his eyes and rested his head against Severus' chest again. "Good."

Some mischievous part of Severus' brain - the part that would have made him an excellent Marauder if he hadn't been so keen on rules - gave him a rather amusing idea, which he wasted no time in sharing with his partner.

"What do you suppose would happen if I kissed you right now?"

"Here? With everyone watching?"

"Yes."

Remus considered for several moments. "I think the breakdown in authority we'd both experience makes it prudent for us to wait until we're upstairs."

"Remus Lupin, are you actually considering being discreet for once?"

"Mmmm."

"Do you want to go?" Severus almost-whispered as Remus shifted his weight uncomfortably to rest more fully on his left ankle, the right one not being entirely healed yet.

"After this song, maybe. Or we could sit down. I don't think we ought to do any unannounced disappearing any time soon."

Severus nodded in understanding.The music faded and then picked up again, going into a faster number. Severus released the blonde in his arms and held out his hand. "Shall we?"

Remus smiled and took his arm for support as the crowd fractured in front of them.

Harry stood outside the portrait to the common room. The Fat Lady seemed quite annoyed that he hadn't yet given the password, and even moreso that he didn't seem about to. Instead he was staring off into space, his face looking completely and utterly shell-shocked, until Dean came up the staircase and ushered Harry into the common room. Harry floated off to bed, finally giving up on his pajama top after he'd buttoned it wrong four times (one of those times inside out).

It occurred to him just as he fell asleep that maybe he ought to have kissed back.

Remus darted into the Great Hall fifteen minutes before breakfast ended, his hair still damp from the showers and his sleeve cuffs unbuttoned. Several people, mostly Remus' friends in the older years, stared at him and laughed in a friendly way as he plunked into a seat at the Gryffindor table, clearly not wanting to waste the time to get to the teachers' table, and began adding sugar to a bowl of apple-cinnamon oatmeal. He poured a cup of tea and drained most of it at one go before crunching into a piece of toast. Harry leaned back hastily to give Remus free access to the bacon and muffins.

"What were you doing last night to be so hungry?" Harry stared in disbelief. He'd never seen anyone eat so much so fast, not even Ron at the Welcoming Feast.

Remus mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "necking" into his orange juice before standing up and hurrying out to brush his teeth.

"So if we assume that all undetectable poisons are indeed illegal, how are the laws banning them enforced?" Severus looked desperately in the direction of the Slytherins before calling on Hermione.

"All undetectable poisons show certain signs after the death of the person or persons who ingested them, Professor," Hermione answered promptly, and Severus nodded absently before starting in on the laws about undetectable poisons, and when they were created, and so on. Harry took advantage of his unusual distractedness to scribble a note to his two best friends.

Terribly out of it today, isn't he?

He expected Ron to crack a joke and Hermione to be generally disapproving over writing notes in class, so their reactions shocked him immensely. Ron just stared at Severus for several seconds before shrugging. Hermione inked an answer beneath Harry's original line.

Lavender was in the Hospital Wing last night because she tripped on her robes and twisted her ankle, and she said when she was leaving she saw him kissing Remus good night right in the middle of the corridor.

Hermione rarely indulged in gossip and even more rarely spread it around, so Harry knew there was more to be had.

What else did she say?

"Miss Granger?"

Hermione gasped and hastily shoved the parchment under her book. "Eighteen ninety-four, sir," she answered promptly. Harry was impressed. He had no idea what the question was, much less the answer. Hermione pulled the parchment back out.

Well, she did say they looked rather . . . involved . . . in each other, Hermione admitted grudgingly.

I think Remus said this morning at breakfast that they were -

Hermione poked him in the side. Harry looked up.

"Er, sorry, sir?"

The class laughed. Harry turned a becoming shade of pink. Severus rolled his eyes.

"Mr. Potter, do I need to buy you a hearing trumpet so I may save my vocal cords?"

"Er . . . sorry," Harry responded, "Professor."

Severus sighed heavily before moving back toward his own desk. "Since Mr. Potter does not wish to contribute to the class . . . The potion known as veneficus abolesco (2), or "Vanishing Poison," is the most recently discovered potion classified as 'undetectable,' having been discovered in 1976. Can anyone tell me why its classification is inaccurate?" A long pause, and then a resigned "Miss Granger?"

"The poison works by causing the drinker to fade," Hermione responded unhesitatingly. "Death doesn't actually occur until the person is merely a shadow, almost invisible, and completely permeable. At this point the blood is forced to drain from the body and the lungs can no longer sustain -"

"Thank you, Miss Granger," Severus cut across Hermione's explanation of the unsavory things that happened once the skin membrane became completely pervious.

Dean raised his hand. "Who discovered it, sir? The name's not listed in the text -"

"I did," Severus responded, "entirely by accident in my first N.E.W.T. Potions class. I was quite lucky in that my partner decided a bezoar was in order when she tried to seize my wrist and her hand passed through it entirely, and from that point forward I restricted my experimentation to gnomes." Several people tittered nervously at the face Severus made when he said 'gnomes;' it was something like a cross between a grimace and a snarl.

That's not true, Hermione wrote indignantly. Remus was one of his test subjects for an early version of the Wolfsbane. He told me so himself.

Harry was stunned - that was something he hadn't known. Really?

He also told me he had to wear robes for a month until he transformed again, because the first time he took it he inexplicably retained his tail and they couldn't get rid of it.

Harry couldn't help it - the mental image of Remus trying to calm a tail he was unconsciously wagging at the dinner table was simply too much. Hermione's warning came in the form of several badly suppressed, rapid breaths, and then Harry started laughing uncontrollably. Even Severus Snape's Raised Eyebrow of Evil Death wasn't enough to stop him. What did bring him back to earth - with an extremely painful bump - was Severus' query.

"You find undetectable poisons amusing, Mr. Potter?"

Harry gaped foolishly for several seconds before finally stuttering, "I just - er - well - I mean - I just wondered - which parts vanish first, or is it a uniform fade?"

Severus gifted him with a long-suffering look. "Seeing as I was fully clothed at the time of ingestion and the veneficus abolesco potion has only since been brewed by qualified Masters in the employ of the Ministry of Magic, Mr. Potter, I am afraid I am completely unable to answer your question . . . although I would assume that the extremities are first to go, seeing as I wasn't forced to run from the classroom naked and screaming."

As class ended fifteen minutes later, Harry could have sworn that Severus smiled at him very slightly.

"Good afternoon, class," Remus chanted in the friendly-mocking way he used to greet his classes, and the usual mosaic of "hey" and "what's up Professor" and "Good afternoon Professor Lupin" (from Hermione) and "hmmmpphho Prphhhsrrrr" (from Neville) floated back to him. Remus gestured to the tiny, colorful woman sitting in the corner.

"Today we're playing host to a Ministry employee, . . . " Remus faltered. "I'm sorry, I still can't figure out how to pronounce your name."

The woman smiled at him. "Neh-fur-tee-tee," she enunciated clearly. "Nefertiti Jones. Don't worry about it," she added, as Remus did his usual shrug-blush-apologetic-smile, "I get it all the time."

"Right then, everyone, this is Nefertiti Jones - you know what, I think I'm going to go change my name to Jones and have a kid just so I can name her that. That's got to be one of the positively coolest names I've heard since I was eleven years old and this big chunky kid walked up to me, called me four-eyes, and told me his name was Sirius and what was I laughing at," Remus reminisced, and everyone started laughing - it was common knowledge that Remus - who absolutely hated being called four-eyes, a common occurrence when he was eleven years old and still in coke-bottle spectacles - had promptly got in a fistfight with Sirius, who gave up after Remus broke his nose. (It wouldn't be the last time, either.)

"Anyway - she's here to check out the class and make sure I'm not teaching you all how to feed dynamite to iguanas -" several people laughed - "or things like that, although - that would be rather amusing . . . I wonder if we could get Peeves to swallow some dynamite in the name of a practical demonstration?" Remus pretended to ponder the idea as everyone started laughing again - this class had no trouble remembering Gred and Forge and "Give her hell from us, Peeves," and several people linked the two in their minds, coming up with the general picture of the Weasley Twins (they were immortalized as such forever within Hogwarts, now) feeding Peeves their fireworks.

"Open up to page four hundred and sixty-nine, everyone - honestly, what's got into you all today?" Harry didn't have the heart to tell his guardian he'd started it all by repeating Remus' "necking" comment to Ron, who - in tones of loud disbelief - accidentally reported it to half the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables, who'd wasted no time in spreading it further, until now the story went that Remus and Severus had been practically having sex right in the corridor. Harry wondered what kind of a time Severus was having down in the dungeons right now, and grinned as he opened his book to the section on Acromantulas.

"Now I should warn you all right now that next lesson we're going to be going into the forest with Professors Hagrid and Snape -" Ron let out a small gasp of terror; it didn't take Trelawney's crystal ball to see what was coming - "because there's a colony of Acromantulai (3) in there, and he's managed to get a male and female who've agreed to let us study them without attacking us -" now several people whispered to each other - "so you'll have the opportunity to see them up close." Remus' attitude suddenly changed, and he became more serious than Harry had ever seen him. "Acromantulai are very intelligent creatures, and are of course capable of holding conversations and understanding what is said around them. If you feel you cannot be . . . mature enough to join us in the forest, I will arrange for you to stay behind and write a report instead. The forest is a dangerous place, even with teachers around you and in the daylight, and if you've done your reading I'm sure you'll be aware that Acromantulai are also quite dangerous and absolutely must be treated with complete respect. Anyone who makes light in an inappropriate manner will be punished severely. Yes, Ron?"

Ron had raised his hand, trying not to shake when he did. "Er, Professor - could I - I mean - would it be too much trouble if - "

"I'd prefer if you came with the class, Ron," Remus answered, before pulling a small, angular ball-type thing, about the size of an orange, out of his desk and tossing it casually in the air. (4) "So, can anyone tell me the origin of the Acromantula?"

Hermione threw her hand in the air just as Neville raised his own, hesitantly. Remus tossed the ball to Neville.

"Erm . . . well . . . nobody knows, really, do they? I mean, we're pretty sure Acromantulai were wizard-created and not natural creatures, but nobody can say for sure where they came from," Neville answered. The ball broke open in his hands and a Chocolate Frog card slipped out before the ball re-sealed itself. Neville looked round cautiously and then threw the ball back to - or, rather, in the general direction of - Remus, who ducked and cast his hands quickly into the air above his head to palm the ball and pull it out of the air. "Excellent answer, Neville. So, why do we think Acromantulai were created?" He lobbed the ball to Lavender, who squealed and dropped it. "Er - um - well - Professor, um - she - wants you," Lavender stuttered, pointing toward Nefertiti Jones, who was ducked down in her chair with an apologetic smile. Remus turned to her, clearly braced for an Umbridge-like attack.

"I'm sorry, Professor Lupin, but I forgot to ask you before the beginning of class - could I have maybe five minutes at the end to speak with your students individually?"

Remus flicked to the end of the day's lesson in his binder (never again would Severus be able to make a comment about his disorganization . . . regarding his lesson plans, anyway) and traced halfway down the page with a finger before pausing to do some mental calculations. Then he smiled warmly at the black-haired woman in the corner. "I think we can manage at least that if Lavender puts away her Divination homework and pays attention to the lesson," Remus stated, laying a good deal of stress and volume on the last part of the sentence. Lavender squeaked and dropped Unfogging the Future on her bag. "Now, Lavender, didn't you have a question to answer?"

Lavender stuttered and stammered until it came out that she didn't know the answer. Harry caught the ball as she lobbed it toward him, feeling quite glad he had well-honed Seeker skills - Lavender's aim was even worse than Neville's.

"Acromantulai were first sighted in the 1790's right after the War of Thade, and because so much gold was at stake during the war, it's believed that they were originally bred to guard treasure and contraband." The ball fell open and Harry extracted a square of chocolate with a grin.

"Go ahead and pack up everyone, and please show Miss Jones the same respect you would any of your teachers," Remus announced, closing his binder with a snap (5) and turning the class over to Nefertiti Jones.

"Actually, Professor, I think I've got all I need - if I could just speak with you -"

Remus made some kind of affirmative gesture as the students packed up. Harry deliberately knocked his bag off his desk and began putting things back in it very, very slowly so he could hear what was going on. Nefertiti Jones was asking about the wisdom of taking the students to see potentially dangerous creatures.

"The creatures in question were bred by Rubeus Hagrid - the Care of Magical Creatures professor - and we're talking a maximum of eight students per teacher," Remus answered promptly, and Harry felt proud. "We've also got two other people coming with us, although the students don't know it yet, and they're both qualified to work with dangerous creatures. We've been planning this since - oh, I'm going to say, mid-October maybe? Several months at least. I think hands-on experience, when it's possible, is always preferable to simple book learning because there's only so much you can learn off a page."

Nefertiti Jones finished scribbling her comments, smiled at Remus briefly, and shook his hand firmly before informing him that his report would be available within five days. Remus smiled her out of the classroom, and then he just looked tired. He yawned and considered getting a potion from Poppy for the headache that was settling in behind his eyes before going down to lunch.

"She's been arrested, she's been arrested!" Dean Thomas raced down the aisle between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables, screeching like a fire siren, rousing people left and right before skidding to a stop at his seat opposite Harry, Ron, and Hermione, throwing his Daily Prophet down on the table, and plonking down on the bench. Harry and Hermione both grabbed for the paper at the same time and succeeded only in ripping the entire bottom section in half. At that moment Hermione's morning paper fluttered down in front of her, along with Harry's copy of the Quibbler (he'd started taking it in November). Both paper and magazine showed a picture of a toadlike woman in a pink cardigan and a black hair bow, her face slightly more pleasant for the lack of a smile. UPROAR AT MINISTRY - SENIOR UNDERSECRETARY TO THE MINISTER ARRESTED, read the Prophet's headline. COVERUP IN THE MINISTER'S OFFICE - THE STORY THE MINISTRY DOESN'T WANT YOU TO KNOW! screamed the front cover of the Quibbler. Both told essentially the same story - Dolores Umbridge had been arrested for using the Cruciatus Curse on two werewolves - one of them a child - and the inquiry into her work at the Ministry was being intenisfied. In addition to the Unforgivable Curse, she was being held on counts of perjury, abuse of power (Harry and Remus were both mentioned), breach of Magical Conduct, and high treason - it seemed she'd been caught talking to a group of known Death Eaters, and maybe even passing them information. Trial by the full Wizengamot was set for April 19.

Up at the Head Table, Remus sneezed miserably into his handkerchief before opening his post.

He had two letters from the Ministry.

One informed him that he'd performed excellently in his examination by Miss Nefertiti Jones, etc.

The other was a request for him to testify in front of the Wizengamot on April 19 in regard to charges set forth, and so on. Remus' eyes wandered and teared up yet again, and he dabbed at them wearily with the corner of the handkerchief. Severus tapped him on the shoulder and passed him the front page of the Prophet. Remus read as much of the article as he could before turning to grin at his partner.

"Think I'll be over this in time to give the bitch what she deserves?" he queried, before coughing heavily into his tea.

Severus smiled at him almost invisibly and patted his back in a reassuring manner as he shook his head. "You'll be over it, for sure, but I'm damned if I can tell how the bloody hell you caught a head cold," he murmured, before rubbing his temples and sniffing slightly. "Think I'll go see Poppy about this headache," he murmured, scrubbing a hand over his eyes before standing and exiting the Hall.

Remus thought back to the dance four nights ago and the kiss goodbye that followed it.

"Oh, dear," he chuckled quietly into his corn flakes as he folded the Prophet and set it aside in favor of a large breakfast.

(1) Malfoy, Seeker; Crabbe and Goyle, Beaters; and one unnamed ChaserI decided to get rid of just for the hell of it.

(2) Definitions from http/ humanum .arts. cuhk. edu. hk/Lexis/Latin/ and are directly copied:

veneficus : poisonous, magical/witch, wizard, caster of spells.

abolesco : to die, perish, vanish.

I felt quite lucky to find a word that meant "to die" and also describes the effects of this potion - I thought this would have to be a three-part definition, but the Gods of Fanfiction Fate were kind to me! -thanks muses-

(3) No plural is given for this in Books 1 - 5 or either of Harry's schoolbooks (the Comic Relief books), and since I'm not using Half-Blood Prince as a writing tool for this story (although the story was a good one . . . kind of . . . I prefer my version, LOL), especially since I'm sure some of you probably haven't finished the book yet, I'm making it an "optional" plural (in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, "a colony of Acromantula" is mentioned), the plural being "Acromantulai." Think along the lines of "octopus, octopi" for this one.

(4) A huge thank you to my social studies teacher, Kevin Wible, who played a similar review game with us every day to make sure we were doing our homework.

(5) I just wanted to share a laugh with you all: Upon rereading this for draft, I realized I'd typed "Snape" instead of "snap." I think I've been reading too much . . .