A/N: And here's the next chap! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: It's all mine! Mwa ha ha haaaaaa! Or not. If you recognize it, it's J.K.'s. Details were referenced in the books and in the Harry Potter Lexicon.
Chapter Fifteen
The plan had gone quite smoothly. Harry had distracted Professor McGonagall so that she hadn't gotten around to assigning homework before the bell rang. Fred and George had gotten away without reprimand. And, of course the next transfiguration class would be disrupted, courtesy of the fireworks Fred and George had set up while the esteemed professor was distracted. They would, naturally, get in trouble for the last bit, but they didn't particularly care. That was one of the thing about the twins- they liked getting credit for their "achievements."
Most of the rest of the classes went fairly uneventfully, with a few exceptions- such as Professor Flitwick falling off his stack of books in surprise at Harry's appearance. Most of the students were still a bit too surprised to consider talking to Harry yet. Potions, however, taught by Professor Snape, and taken with the Slytherins, didn't run nearly so smoothly.
Snape obviously had plenty of ideas and memories for the ghost-boy. Upon seeing his presence, he got that rather odd, startled look he'd had they day in the Great Hall, and snapped:
"I've never had ghosts attend classes before, Potter, and I've no reason to allow one to now, celebrity or not."
"Your point, sir?" Harry remarked, eyebrows raised. There was a slight flash in his eyes as well, though not enough for anyone to notice.
"Get. Out. NOW!" Snape snarled.
"Whatever you say, mate-"
"I'm sure we can find some other fine room to make things explode."
The twins headed towards the door, Harry floating behind them. They rather wondered, on their way out, if Snape knew that this meant war...
It was later that day that Harry made his way down to the Slytherin dungeons once more to look for the Bloody Baron. If this 'Peeves' was as much trouble as the Slytherin ghost claimed, Harry thought he'd rather like an introduction.
Upon entering behind a group of third years, he remained invisible for a moment to glance about. It seemed, to his misfortune, that he was the only one haunting the common room at the moment. The Malfoy heir, however, was present.
He glided over, appearing across from the blond-haired boy, and taking a seat in a near by chair.
Seeing a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye, Malfoy glanced up from whatever he was reading.
"Oh, it's you."
"I suppose you're probably right, but then again, one never can tell..."
Malfoy snorted, before glancing back down.
"How odd..." he muttered softly.
"What's odd?" inquired Harry, keeping the interest in his voice carefully veiled.
"Everything this year."
"Such as?" Persisted Harry, raising an eyebrow at the blond.
Malfoy glared.
"Don't you know anything Potter? But then, I don't suppose you even read the Prophet, since your only a ghost, after all. They aught to call you the boy-who-died now, don't you think?"
"Tact, Malfoy. One would think a Slytherin such as your self would have the wit to charm people when it's to their advantage. No need to make unnecessary enemies. Are you sure you've got the cunning, or did you merely lack any other traits?"
"You know, you're with out a doubt one of the most interesting people at Hogwarts, and you're just a ghost. How pathetic."
Harry rolled his eyes.
"You know Malfoy, you still need some practice in being tactful..."
The article Draco Malfoy had been reading was, actually, rather startling. As he informed Harry several minutes after said boy-who-lived inquired on what eccentricity of events he'd been muttering about, someone had broken into Gringotts bank- without getting caught. The vault had been, apparently, emptied earlier that same day.
Harry found this information rather interesting. It could, of course, be completely unconnected to Quirrel- but Harry didn't think there was much chance of it being a coincidence. It was rather likely that the vaults contents had been 'the stone' he'd heard them discussing- and this Voldie-what-it's was probably one of the only people capable of breaking into the bank. The security must be good, since it had never been successfully broken into before, and according to Draco, it had been around for centuries.
The students were making their way down to the Great Hall for dinner. Harry followed, knowing His Bloodiness was sure to be there.
The hall was packed, as usual. Harry floated over, taking a seat by the Bloody Baron. He wouldn't eat now, of course. He only took food from the tables invisible, and the twins would bring him another package of food tonight, which would last him a while.
The Baron was watching him intently.
"So, what are you up to this time?"
"Who, me?" Harry smirked innocently at him. Or tried to. Some things, unfortunately, just aren't possible to pull off convincingly...
"I do believe it was quite apparent that you are the individual I was addressing. And incase you hadn't noticed, dodging questions won't get you anywhere with me."
"Yeah, yeah. I was just hoping you might introduce me to this... Peeves person you mentioned."
"And why should I want to do that?"
"To prove that he's as, shall we say, problematic as you claim."
"Sounds like an addition favor to me, Potter."
"We had a bargain. You said I needed your help, especially for purposes of controlling this... 'Peeves.' I'm just asking for a bit of proof that I couldn't handle things on my own."
His Bloodiness merely raised an eyebrow.
Harry sighed.
"You do want me to stop Quirrel, and protect the school, don't you? ...Oh come on, surely you could use a bit of entertainment?"
"Alright. What do you have planned?"
"You have the nerve to just come up here and hang out in the Gryffindor common room as if nothing happened?"
Ronald Weasley was not, Harry deducted, in good mood.
"And what exactly, pray tell, has happened?"
"You sat at the Slytherin table. With the Slytherins!"
"You know, ickle-Ronniekins," Fred cut in, "If he was at the Slytherin table-"
"It stands to reason that there were Slytherins there."
Ron was apparently not amused.
"In case you hadn't noticed, I don't belong to any house. The ghosts have always associated with one another. Gryffindor does not own me, and I had a few things to discuss with the Bloody Baron."
Ronald Weasley rather had to give up, and deal with it. After all, none of his house mates supported him on this point. Even his brothers, whom, he suspected, probably had some idea what the boy-who-lived had needed to talk to the Baron about.
The week of Professor Severus Snape had gone rapidly down hill. A certain poltergeist had been specifically targeting him for days, something that had never happened before, considering he was Head of Slytherin house. The Bloody Baron had completely refused to assist him, and he was getting the rather nervous feeling that this had something to do with Hogwarts's new resident ghost. He could probably have asked Dumbledore for help, but, curse the man, he'd probably support the poltergeist if he knew what was going on.
His current class, double potions with the third year Gryffindors and Slytherins, contained, unfortunately, the Weasley twins. He'd spent most of the class so far keeping a close eye on them. Their potion was decisively off, though nothing in danger of exploding at the moment- he'd make them test it at the end of class.
Moments later, the Weasley twins walked up towards his desk.
"Sir-"
"We think there may be something wrong with our potion."
He glared at them.
"Let's see it then, and if there is, you'll be the first to test your potion."
He strode swiftly down the room, towards the cauldron at which the twins had been working, Fred and George following behind him.
Moments later, as he approached the caldron, it exploded, botched potion splattering over everything- including Snape.
Glaring, he cleaned up the splattered potion with a flick of his wand. The effects of the potion, however, remained. Everywhere the potion had touched was now tie-died. A look that, on Professor Severus Snape, had never been seen before.
"WEASLEY!"
"Which one-"
"Are you talking to?"
"Both of you, detention and-"
"Professor, we were still on our way back from walking up to talk to you when it exploded. In fact-"
"You were closer to it then we were."
"I know you did it," he hissed.
But he couldn't prove it.
He took it up with Professor McGonagall later that day.
"If your that confident in their potions skills that you think they could have set it up ahead of time to explode at a specific time, with specific effects, then perhaps you should give them private lessons. It is, after all the duty of a Professor to nurture the talents of their students."
He didn't bring it up again after that.
Potions class was canceled for the rest of that day, as well as the two that followed. Professor Snape regretted not having taken samples of the potion before cleaning it up, because it would have made reversing it much easier. Fred and George thanked Peeves immensely for his assistance, despite that he'd done so at the Baron's request, even giving him several packages of dung-bombs, water balloons, and filibuster fireworks.
When Potions classes began again, Professor Snape sincerely hoped things would be back to normal. Peeves had left him alone so far that day, but the Weasley twins class was next.
Upon entering the classroom, everything seemed, fairly normal. The students were all sitting in their places, notes out, ingredients organized. In fact, everyone was being so perfectly behaved that he knew at once that something was wrong.
The Bloody Baron was seated at the front of the room.
"Good morning, Professor Snape. I decided I would like to sit in on one of your potions classes."
Snape just stood there for a moment, staring at the Slytherin ghost.
The Baron raised an eyebrow at him challengingly. Snape took a deep breath, and looking strait at the Baron, finally spoke.
"Fine."
He knew then, no matter how uncomfortable it made him, he would have to deal with the Potter ghost-child attending his class.
A/N: Sorry about the timing, I did hope to have it up a bit earlier (about a day) but I ended up getting sick. I still feel like crap... but I got it up anyway. Yay! So I hope you all enjoyed it. That's what makes it worth my time to make sure each chapter gets up. Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter:
Nankinmai- You had some amusing answers in there... I especially like the 'because the author says so.' You definately have quite a few creative guesses... the most acurate being the survival vs. learning. Thanks for reviewing!
Molly Morrison- Great points, of course. And yep, Hermione is definately a likely person to find out before the year ends... assuming that she lives that long...
alen- It definately has to do with his emotions, yes. And once he learns something, he can do it again.
Xaldaran- Accurate guess, and thanks for the review.
HazelWolf111- Very perceptive. Not many people got the magic on self/ out of necessity part. And actually, he was seven at the time of the fire. He's still malnurished, so he's a bit on the small side, and there can be a good deal of height variation around that age.
relative1983- Correct, and I'm glad you're enjoying it. Thanks!
Kaaera- Grins. Thanks!
Bukama Stealth- Great guesses. Thanks for reviewing.
Rachel A. Prongs- Yep. Aging definately sets a time limit.
seantidwell- That is rather likely. That is, if she doesn't die during said incident...
Ang- If they were able to find him, he would have gotten his letter whether they were looking or not.
Isis's Rose- Not by being at the Riddle house, but your on the right track. There are some specific parts I worded rather carefully that might give you further clues...
Neqs2- Sorry about the grammer. I still don't have a beta (and if I did, it would probably take longer to post...) Glad you like it so far.
VB- It's not so much to do with using a wand, though it does provide a bit of complication. And the Deatheaters weren't sure at that point whether he was alive or dead.
n0b0dysang31- Yep.
Kkwy- He will age, yes. That is the limiting factor. However, saying that his cover will be blown because of it... would be incorrect.
Shadow101- Probably not, actually. Dumbledore isn't exactly someone Harry is anxious to spend too much time near at the moment. Too risky. And do I really use that many comas? blinks. I think it's often grammatically incorrect not to have most of them there... And here's the next chapter you were waiting for.
mystik- I'm glad you like how Harry interacts with people. You'd be right about the aging, of course. I just had to put that up as something for people to guess. I was getting bored of reading the same reasons why he couldn't get away with it repeatedly... Thanks for reviewing!
Serpentine Goddess- I'm honored. Thank you.
Christiane- I must say, you definately have the most thorough, acurate idea of the differences the magical tasks Harry's been working with. People won't notice the aging as an unghostly thing, because, let's say other things will happen first. It is the time-limiting factor, however.
kendog52361- House elves don't ask questions. The twins can easily ask for food, then bring some to Harry. Harry, Ron, and Hermione did that for Sirius in cannon, if you recall. And alot of things about Dumbledore in cannon don't make sense. I've basically seen two main perspectives on the man. The manipulitive one usually doesn't know as much as he thinks he does, and the cannon version is extremely eccentric, and tends to be amused by pranks...
FroBoy, Caelistes, azntgr01, Thestrals, Slash Goddess Connla, Night-Owl123, jbfritz, Sweetest Thang, majesticmare, Hazel Maraa, anniePADFOOT