sweet as lemonz: Snape's going to have to do a lot more then act civil to Adrian if he wants her forgiveness. And upbringing or not I'd still keep an eye on Draco if I were you. Oh and the next chapter of The Sorcerers Tale should be up before the weekend's over.
Chapter 13: Valentines Day pt 1
Waking up one morning to a castle that has seemed to turn pink, red and white overnight is just about enough to make you want to crawl back into bed and not get up until the next day. As it was I knew I had to get up because I had to escort a couple hundred lovesick teenagers to Hogsmade for the day. Grumbling under my breath about Grandpa's excess Valentines Day sprit I headed down to the great hall for breakfast.
"Ahh, Adrian, you made it," said Grandpa cheerfully. "I'm surprised you're late down on such a gorgeous morning."
A few other staff members smiled and chuckled as I sat in the empty seat next to Severus who was glaring daggers at his coffee. Well, I thought ruefully, at least not everyone else thinks it's a gorgeous morning.
Later when we were walking to Hogsmade I couldn't help but feel that not only are the students not taking the idea of a possible Death Eater attack seriously but neither are a large number of Professors.
I spent my morning strolling through the village, keeping an eye on things. The only other person who seemed to be doing the same was Severus, who's mere presence seemed to be deterring a large amount of Valentines day sprit in the students. The other Professors had all went to The Three Broomsticks as I found out when I stopped in for a bite to eat at lunch. Pulling the collar of my robe up to ward off the cold wind as I walked back outside after lunch I made a mental note to tell Grandpa that his staff was something less then concerned about the possibility of Voldemort and his Death Eaters attacking the village.
Just when I was sure that my fingers were going to go numb from the cold there was a loud bang and some screaming. Pulling out my wand I sprinted in the direction of the screams to find half a dozen Death Eaters doing what they did best, doing damage to everyone and everything.
Harry stood off to one side with his friends throwing spells at the Death Eaters from behind the partial cover of a bench.
"Harry," I yelled. "Get the hell out of here, NOW!"
A pair of spells came in my direction and I threw up a shield without even thinking about it. Retaliating with a few spells of my own I saw McGonagall out of the corner of my eye trying to direct students back to the castle. A Death Eater was taking aim at her back and I sent a curse at him that caused him to go flying back into a wall and remain in a crumpled heap on the ground.
Seeing a group of students crouching down behind a stores window ledge I raced over and grabbed them. "Get up and get back to Hogwarts. Go!"
"Behind…" one of them started but I was already spinning and casting a shield in front of me which came up just in time to block the curse that was flying at me. I retaliated with a stunner that caught him in the face causing him to do a back flip before crashing to the ground.
"Go!" I ordered the students who didn't need to be told twice this time.
A building exploded to my left and I ducked under a large rock that came flying my way but failed to avoid a smaller sliver of stone which sliced open my forehead, barely missing my right eye. Darting towards an ally in hopes to cut over to the next street I froze upon seeing Severus standing there talking with Lucius.
"Do you have any idea what this little assault of yours could be costing us?"
"Since when do you know the Dark Lords plans?" Lucius drawled. "Last I checked you were in a great deal of trouble with him."
"Hardly any more then you for last years fiasco at the ministry."
It suddenly occurred to me that there was a lot of in fighting among the Death Eaters for a higher spot in the pecking order, just as there was in any other pack of animals.
Lucius had gone very pale and looked angrier then I had ever seen him but before he could speak Severus cut him off;
"The Dark Lord has been hinting for the last while that he is interested in Hogwarts. Your attack here will only cause an increase in the wards around the castle as well as implementing of other defences. In short you have just made it harder for everybody to get at Potter."
"Except for you."
"You know I can't show my true allegiances yet. Now withdraw from Hogsmead before you create anymore trouble, but don't look like you're withdrawing."
"You can't give me orders."
"Hogwarts is my field of expertise, you need to go back to yours."
Severus looked frightening to me and I wasn't the victim of his wrath. But for a long moment Lucius didn't look like he was going to back down then he sneered at Severus and said, "you'll regret this" before turning and heading straight at me.
I back-pedaled along the wall trying to keep as much distance between Lucius and myself as possible so that he didn't realise I overheard the conversation. However Lucius still spotted me instantly and sent a curse flying my way. I deflected it into the stone overhang above me showing myself in chips of granite.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw a pair of Death Eaters enter at the street and take aim. Focused on Lucius I didn't have time to block their spells so I simply ducked. A purple beam of light stuck the wall above me and there was a loud rumbling sound. I looked up just in time to see hundreds of tones of stone tumbling down towards me before everything went black.
A/N: that was an evil cliffhanger, wasn't it? The next chapter should be up in a week but updates might be a little more spread out after that since in the next five weeks I have 3 major projects due and 4 exams to write (ah the joy of being a university student).