Chapter Five: Snaky Halloween

Nothing unusual was happening in Hogwarts. Students were running around like mad in the hallways trying to finish homework or find books they needed. Someone walked around muttering spells under his breath. Prefects were deducting points for even the smallest breach of rules. Quidditch team members were colorfully discussing new strategies and upcoming matches. Nothing unusual happened in this buzzing anthill.

Draco and Ginny hoped against hope that Snape wouldn't say a word about their perfectly brewed potions, but Snape being Snape smashed their hopes into tiny pieces saying that half of their work was just some colourful mud. Even Draco wanted to say some not very nice words to the professor. That's why they worked more and more from day to day to reach Snape's standard, which was even higher then Heaven itself. Their work sessions went far from smoothly because they always found a point to argue about. But somehow they managed to complete all of Snape's assignments. And speaking of which, they were flooded by them, not just mixing potions, but they started research on family curses and experiments on someone's blood for Merlin knows what. They didn't asked questions, for which Snape was grateful.

Somehow, days grew into weeks and weeks into months until they reached Halloween. The traditional Halloween feast was held in the Great Hall. Above students' heads, big hollow pumpkins were floating, which were charmed to light inside. Everybody was busy chatting and playing little pranks on each other.

Then suddenly, a bolt stroke out of thin air and everyone looked at it in awe, thinking that it was something planned by the professors, something like a Halloween show, but it was far from it. Darkness began to creep from the ceiling and shadows rose on the walls. Then the light in the pumpkins grew brighter and cruel smirks appeared on their "faces". The Hall became deathly silent; nobody knew what was coming next. But they didn't have to wait for long. Hundreds of snakes started to pour onto the tables from the pumpkins' eyes and mouths. They fell on the tables and slid towards the students, who were now pinned to the walls, their dishes of food completely forgotten.

Snakes slid between plates and tables, there was a snake's river in the Hall, and everybody was paralysed. Professors tried spells, but all was in vain. Snakes kept coming out of nowhere. Screams of pain and panic were heard all around the room, but a mighty roar silenced them. All heads turned towards the source of the sound and a large tiger emerged form the darkness. This picture would always remain imprinted in the mind of every student in the Hall.

The tiger was huge, bigger then a normal one, and more, it was white with silver stripes. Its fur shimmered in the light and it had silver sparks in it. Everyone's eyes were glued to him, and only one thought was coming to mind; is it another enemy? How could you fight something that big and powerful?

But the answer came quicker than the question was raised, after the tiger jumped on one of the tables and trampled a bunch of snakes with his paw. He walked along the table crushing snakes with his paws and slicing them with its fangs. After receiving this help, students and professors brought their defences out too, and started to burn, blow up or simply step on the snakes, which were trying to bite everyone and everything in their reach, and they almost succeeded. The moans of the wounded and bitten filled the air of the Hall.

Just when they all thought that the end was near, all the snakes slid to the center of the room and began to intertwine with each other until it transformed into an enormous black cobra with fangs, which were larger than five inches. It kept hissing and showing its nasty tongue as if inviting to fight her. Everyone was stunned once again; of course, it wasn't a basilisk but still, who in their right mind would dare to fight with this.

The roar was heard again and the tiger jumped onto the cobra. Their bodies intertwined: white and black, strength against poison. No one could make a sound watching the struggle before them. The most surprising fact was that the tiger was now hissing, trying to swerve from cobra fangs.

No one understood Parseltongue in the Hall, and Harry was knocked out so he could not translate anything. But let's listen to this pleasant conversation:

"Who sent you?" asked the tiger with venom and disgust.

"You are going to die and you are asking me who sent me? How pathetic."

"I think you will be pathetic, when I skin you alive."

"Try it, and then we will see."

"I am not sure that you will be able to see anything soon." With that, the tiger slapped the cobra and traces of its sharp claws were left.

The battle continued, but even though the tiger was tired and wounded, he again and again jumped onto the snake, attempting to strangle it, but it was not an easy task. The Snake kept slithering and beating the tiger with its tail.

A few girls' gasps were heard when the cobra's fangs found their way into the tigers right shoulder, but there was no reaction from the tiger to such an unpleasant event. But then again, the tiger took all the advantage of this situation. The head of the cobra was fixed on its shoulder, because the fangs didn't leave it. He gathered all its might and pulled the cobra onto the floor with his body and paws, pulling the fangs from his shoulder in the process. A loud hissing emerged from the depths of the cobra's throat and then silence and darkness settled.

After just a few seconds, all was back to normal as if nothing had happened. No snakes, no creepy pumpkins, just disorder on the tables, and to everybody's surprise and disappointment, the tiger was gone too.

'So cold. How can it be so cold even in the dungeons? I can't even see where I am going. And where am I going? So many questions and nothing but pain,' he tried to touch his head with his hands, but dizziness came like a tidal wave over him. 'My head is going to explode now'. One wrong step and he fell onto the floor and into the darkness. Professor Snape found him in this state, and it was the second time he had brought an unconsciousness person to his private chambers.

"Hm, an unregistered Animagi, are we, mister Malfoy?" These were the first words which greeted Draco after he opened his eyes on the coach in Snape's room.

"What are you talking about?" Draco asked in weak voice.

"As stupid as I seem to be to you, I can understand that nobody, who was during the attack in the Great Hall, would have any reason to be lying in the dungeons when everybody is being treated by medics upstairs. Unless, of course, they don't want to be discovered. And why don't they? Hm... Because they have some characteristic wounds they don't want to show, like two deep holes in their right shoulder."

"Don't tell anyone. Please." The last word was whispered.

"And why should I?"

"You just said yourself, because I am an unregistered Animagi."

"The Infirmary is full to the roof, you can stay here. I will say that you didn't have any big problems, and that I can heal them myself. "

"Good."

"You have some serious wounds to take care of. I don't think that it is necessary to talk about your...other self. Now, three types of snakes and a cobra bit you, what should you do?"

"What types of snakes?" he asked moaning.

"Katakana, Liliaka, Rakasita and Grand Black Cobra itself. What potions should you use to prevent their poison from penetrating into your blood and killing you?"

"I am lying here, all bloody and sweaty, I can't even talk properly, and you are asking me to heal myself? Can't I just die without troubling my brain?"

"So is that what you want to do then? Die?"

"No." No more comment, just plain "no". "I need Immunicum for Katakana, Imbrosium for Liliaka and Karasismus for Rakasita. The last one is unknown to me."

"I have taught you something then. You see," continued Snape picking up the named potions, "Grand Black Cobra doesn't exist as a creature." Draco was bewildered, he felt this "creature" on his own skin, how could it not be real? "This Cobra is a mixture of a three snake types, which we deal with here, so the antidote for its poison will be..."

"The mixture of three antidotes for the poisons of these three snakes."

"Exactly. Congratulations. Now you can save your life yourself." Snape went to sit into his chair and didn't make a move to help Draco to use the potions.

Knowing, that his favourite professor wouldn't help him, Draco stood up. Still shaking, he came to the table and took the vials, then took his clothes off without listening to protests from Snape and started to search for the typical fang-prints of every snake and used the respective potion on them. After inspecting his shoulder, he understood that it was two times bigger than it should have been. Bad news. Only then did he look at Snape.

"I am not sure about this, professor. I am not as skilled in healing arts as you." This was uncovered flattery, and Draco knew that it would help him to safe his life, as odd as it seemed. But with Snape everything was odd.

After examining his fingernails, which were surprisingly clean, Snape stood up and came up to Draco and thoughtfully looked at his shoulder.

"We can't show it to anyone, so we must think of something ourselves. Hm..." He began pacing back and forth, looking through books, reading for a while and closing them. It took him half an hour to come to something useful, but Draco was already feverish and dizzy, pain was pulsating through his shoulder, and he couldn't sit anymore and collapsed on the coach, closing his eyes. The pain was unbearable; he wanted to cut his arm off, just so he didn't have to take this anymore. The wished darkness soon came and he felt no more.

Snape rushed to Draco's side when he heard the thud of his body collapsing. 'Draco, Draco, what have you done to yourself? Why take such a risk, if no one knows who saved them? You wanted to die a heroic death? He doesn't want to be asked about his reasoning, then so be it, everyone has their little secrets.' Snape went to his closet and took out pyjamas, an old pair, maybe he wore it in his youth, but still it fitted Draco. After putting the pyjamas on Draco's sleeping body, Snape covered him with a blanket and tucked him in.

Nobody knew that professor Snape was Draco's godfather, only Narcissa who asked him to be. She didn't really love Draco, but he was her flesh and blood, and she really cared about him. She wanted Snape to protect him and keep an eye on him. There wasn't any need to really protect or help him up until now. In this case, it was Snape's duty to save his life and keep his secret.

All his life he wanted to have a son, but God didn't bless him with children. He could be named a father to children in his House, but he didn't feel like it. He felt otherwise with Draco. He saw a related soul in him. Nobody could understand his love for potions, but Draco was in love with them too; the only thing that he let himself love.

'Draco's wound needs time and good care, maybe I can ask Weasley to assist? She has probably been bitten herself. If you want to do something well, you must do it yourself.' Snape grudgingly stood up and cleaned Draco's shoulder wound. While putting bandages with ointment on it to decrease the swelling, he came to the conclusion that his idea about asking Weasley to help wasn't that bad.