Snape's Worst Memory

BY ORDER OF THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC

Dolores Jane Umbridge (High Inquisitor) has replaced Albus Dumbledore as Head of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-eight

Signed: Cornelius Oswald Fudge

The notices had gone up all around the school overnight and the entire school inexplicably knew everything that had happened. John hadn't slept and was too ill to go to lessons, but made sure to drag himself to the hospital wing, where he wouldn't get in trouble at least.

To Dean's surprise, Cas was at breakfast. Though he didn't say much, Dean saw a new fire blaze in his eyes as he watched the members of the new Inquisitorial Squad sauntering around. They were all Slytherins, including Draco Malfoy, and they were busy finding any excuse to take points from anyone they could find.

Cas watched Malfoy take points from Dennis Creevey for having messy hair, but waited until Malfoy had left the room before getting up and stalking over to Roger Davies at the Ravenclaw table.

Dean watched him talk furiously with Roger, gesturing angrily. For a moment, Dean thought that Cas was angry at Roger, but he noticed that Roger appeared to be agreeing with Cas about something, looking the way Malfoy had gone. Satisfied, Cas came back to Dean.

'What was that?' Dean asked curiously.

Cas shrugged. 'Our match against Slytherin is on Saturday. Roger wanted me to let the other Chasers handle the Quaffle for a while but now he's going to let me flatten them.'

Dean grinned. 'Awesome. I can't wait.'

'Don't tell anyone. I want to hit them hard in a way they won't expect.'

'You got it,' Dean said, enjoying this new side of Cas he hadn't seen before.

With Dumbledore gone, the Ravenclaws were finally forced back into class, much to Padma's dismay, as she had spent a long time putting together a comprehensive curriculum for them to follow. By lunch, Gryffindor had lost almost all of their house points, and the Slytherin house hourglass was full of glittering emeralds, but the Inquisitorial Squad weren't the only ones they had to worry about that day. Just as Dean was walking into the Great Hall, John appeared out of nowhere and grabbed his arm.

'Don't drink anything she gives you,' he whispered, before disappearing again.

Dean blinked, then saw Harry being escorted out of the Great Hall by Filch.

'You and all,' Filch barked, pointing at Dean. 'Come with me.'

'What for?' Dean demanded.

'The Headmistress would like to see you.'

Dean's whole body tensed, but he followed Filch without a word. He and Harry listened to Filch mutter about how Dumbledore was too soft on them, and about how he'd be able to dole out proper punishments now. Dean moved his wand from his pocket to his sleeve where it was easier to access, his arms tingling, eyes darting around. Goosebumps erupted on his skin, but he forced himself to keep moving.

'Here we are,' Filch said when they arrived at Umbridge's office. He rapped on the door and pushed it open. 'The Potter and Winchester boys to see you, Ma'am.'

Umbridge's office was the same as it had always been, except now there was a wooden block on her desk that had HEADMISTRESS printed on it in gold lettering, and Harry, Fred and George's brooms were chained up behind her desk.

Dean walked in slowly, his nerves on fire.

Umbridge herself was sitting behind her desk, busily scribbling on her pink parchment.

'Thank you, Argus,' she said sweetly.

'Not at all, Ma'am, not at all,' said Filch, bowing and exiting the room backwards.

'Sit,' Umbridge said curtly, pointing at the chairs in front of her desk.

They did so, and while Harry looked at all the kittens gamboling around on her decorative plates, Dean didn't take his eyes off her while she finished off whatever she was writing.

'Well now,' she said smugly, finally setting down her quill. 'What would you like to drink?'

'What?' said Harry.

Dean's mouth went dry.

'To drink, Mr Potter,' she said. 'Tea? Coffee? Pumpkin juice?'

'Oh, er, nothing, thank you,' said Harry.

'I wish you to have a drink with me,' she said. 'Choose one.'

'Fine… tea then,' said Harry.

'And you, Mr Winchester?'

'Pumpkin juice for me,' Dean said quietly.

Umbridge's smile widened, and she made a show of filling their mugs with her backs to them.

As she did so, Dean nudged Harry to get his attention and mouthed, 'Don't', and showed Harry his wand stuffed up his sleeve.

Harry nodded, understanding.

'There,' said Umbridge, coming around the desk with the cups in her hands and passed them to Harry and Dean. 'Do drink up. Now, then… I thought we ought to have a little chat about what happened last night.'

Neither Harry or Dean said anything, both of them sat there and waited for her to continue. A few moments passed and she said, 'Drink up!' in an overly pleasant tone.

Dean's heart raced, but he raised the cup to his lips, using both hands to keep his wand concealed. With the cup covering his face, he whispered, 'Evanesco' as quietly as he possibly could. Umbridge didn't appear to hear him, and he breathed a sigh of relief as the potentially poisoned pumpkin juice Vanished, making it easy to pretend to drink it.

Harry had to make do with keeping his mouth tightly closed, but it was convincing enough to Umbridge.

'Good,' she said, leaning forward. 'Now… Where is Albus Dumbledore?'

'No idea,' said Harry.

'Don't know,' said Dean.

'Drink up, drink up,' she said, still smiling. 'Let us not play childish games. I know that you know where he has gone. The three of you have been in this together from the beginning…' She turned her head to look at Dean. 'Consider your position, Mr Winchester… The Ministry were more than happy to grant your protection order, but now that you have been found to be participating in an attempt to undermine the Minister… well, perhaps we ought to reconsider…'

Dean gulped. 'I don't know where he is,' he repeated, pretending to drink again.

'Very well,' said Umbridge, looking displeased. 'In that case, you will kindly tell me the whereabouts of Sirius Black.'

'I don't know,' said Harry.

'Never met him,' said Dean.

'Let me remind you that it was I who almost caught the criminal Black in the Gryffindor fire in October. I know perfectly well it was you he was meeting, and if I had any proof, none of you would still be at large today, I promise you. I repeat… where is Sirius Black?'

'I don't know,' said Dean.

'Haven't got a clue,' said Harry.

They all stared at each other, then Umbridge stood up.

'Very well, I will take your word for it this time, but be warned: the might of the Ministry stands behind me. All channels of communication in and out of this school are being monitored. A Floo Network Regulator is keeping watch over every fire in Hogwarts - except mine of course. My Inquisitorial Squad is opening and reading all owl post entering and leaving the castle. And Mr Filch is observing all secret passages in and out of the castle. If I find a shred of evidence-'

BOOM!

The very floor of the office shook. Umbridge slipped sideways, clutching her desk for support, and looking shocked.

'What was-?'

She was gazing at the door, and Harry took the opportunity to empty his cup of tea into the nearest vase of dried flowers. They could hear people running and screaming several floors below.

'Back to lunch, you two!' cried Umbridge, raising her wand and dashing out of the office.

Harry and Dean looked at each other, then jumped up and followed her to see what the source of all the uproar was.

It was not difficult to find. One floor down, pandemonium reigned. Somebody had set off what seemed to be an enormous crate of enchanted fireworks.

Dragons comprised entirely of green and gold sparks were soaring up and down the corridors, emitting loud fiery blasts and bangs as they went; shocking pink Catherine wheels five feet in diameter were whizzing lethally through the air like so many flying saucers; rockets with long tails of brilliant silver stars were ricocheting off the walls; sparklers were writing swear words in midair of their own accord; firecrackers were exploding like mines everywhere they looked. Instead of burning themselves out, fading from sight or fizzling to a halt, these fireworks seemed to be gaining energy and momentum the longer they watched.

Umbridge was joined by Filch, and they both yelled with fright and ducked as a large Catherine wheel whirled towards them. It soared straight out of the window behind them and out into the grounds. Meanwhile, several of the dragons and a large purple bat that was smoking ominously took advantage of the open door at the end of the corridor to escape towards the second floor.

'Hurry, Filch, hurry!' shrieked Umbridge. 'They'll be all over the school unless we do something - Stupefy!'

A jet of red light shot out of the end of her wand and hit one of the rockets. Instead of freezing in midair, it exploded with such force that it burned a hole in a nearby painting of a witch in a meadow.

'Don't Stun them, Filch!' shouted Umbridge angrily.

'Right you are, Headmistress!' wheezed Filch, who as a Squib could no more have Stunned them than swallowed them. He dashed to a nearby cupboard, pulled out a broom and began swatting at them; within seconds the head of the broom was ablaze.

Harry and Dean ducked away, but where Harry was suppressing laughter, Dean's heart was still racing and his mouth still dry.

'I gotta go,' he muttered, then ran all the way down to the Great Hall to find Cas. Already the fireworks were escaping, and he knew Cas would be frightened, or so he thought until he found Cas sitting calmly at the Ravenclaw table, watching a sparkler write a particularly nasty swear up by the teachers' table. He waved pleasantly when he saw Dean come in, but he frowned when he saw the look on Dean's face. He got up and hurried over to where Dean was standing in the doorway.

'What's the matter?' he asked.

'I - I - nothing, I just w-wanted to make sure you were okay. Since there's explosions and fire around.'

'I'm fine, they warned me what they were going to do… Dean, what's wrong?' Cas said seriously, putting a hand on Dean's arm. 'You're shaking,' he added, alarmed.

Dean took a deep breath to steady himself. The adrenaline from his encounter with Umbridge was beginning to wear off, and his knees felt oddly weak. He pulled Cas to the marble staircase and sat down with him on the bottom step. 'Pretty sure Umbridge just tried to dose me with something. Veritaserum if I had to guess.'

Cas gave him a sympathetic look.

'Sorry, I'm just overreacting a little,' Dean said with a short laugh. 'It just reminded me of the drills my dad used to make us do.'

'Drills?' Cas asked, shocked.

Dean nodded. 'There was one he used to do where he would trick us into drinking something that was poisoned - not enough to hurt us, just make us a little sick - so we'd learn not to drink stuff we didn't know for sure wasn't poisoned. It got kinda scary sometimes…'

'Your father poisoned you?' Cas breathed. 'Dean, that's awful.'

Dean shrugged. 'He just wanted to make sure we were safe.'

Cas shook his head incredulously. 'No, Dean, that's not an acceptable way to teach children to be safe. I learned not to drink things I didn't know the origin of in a similar manner, and though I'm sure your father's intentions were very different from mine, that doesn't make it any better.'

Dean held his head in his hands, and the way his heart was still racing made him think Cas might be right.

Cas put an arm around him. 'It's all right,' he whispered, and Dean relaxed his head into Cas's shoulder.

Dean sniffed. 'I'm gonna go to class with you this afternoon. Something tells me Umbridge will be too busy to care.'

'All right,' Cas said softly, as a tiny gold dragon fizzed past them.

The fireworks continued to burn and spread all over the school that afternoon. Though they caused plenty of disruption, particularly the firecrackers, the other teachers didn't seem to mind them so much.

'Dear, dear,' said Professor McGonagall, as one of the dragons soared around her classroom, emitting loud bangs and exhaling flame. 'Miss Patil, would you mind running along to the Headmistress and inform her that we have an escaped firework in our classroom?'

Professor Umbridge spent her first afternoon as Headmistress running all over the school answering the summonses of the other teachers, none of whom seemed able to rid their rooms of the fireworks without her. When the final bell rang, they saw, with immense satisfaction, a dishevelled and soot-blackened Umbridge tottering sweaty-faced from Professor Flitwick's classroom.

'Thank you so much, Professor!' Flitwick squeaked. 'I could have got rid of the sparklers myself, of course, but I wasn't sure whether or not I had the authority.'

Beaming, he closed his classroom door in her snarling face.

John and Sherlock were still hiding in the hospital wing at dinner, and Cas didn't feel like eating much, so he asked Dean to go with him to the Astronomy tower.

'What for?' Dean frowned.

'We'll get a better view of the fireworks from up there,' Cas smiled.

'Ah, good thinking. Smart.'

They climbed all the way upstairs, just as it was getting dark outside. Cas went over to the stone wall and leaned over the nearest parapet, watching several silver rockets fly out of a window, multiplying seemingly on their own.

Dean joined him at the ledge and Cas gently held his hand.

'What am I going to do, Dean?' Cas asked quietly.

'What do you mean?'

Cas pointed down at the grounds. 'Look. It's Filch. He's patrolling past the Whomping Willow. That can only mean that they know about the passage to the Shrieking Shack… and there's no way we'll be able to get into the Room of Requirement unnoticed anymore…'

Dean's heart sunk as he realised what Cas was saying. 'Look, I know it's scary, but maybe it's time we start looking for other ways to deal with this. Maybe using your power more so it doesn't build up so much.'

Cas didn't look convinced. 'Or I could leave,' he said quietly.

Dean squeezed Cas's hand. 'Don't say that. You belong here, Cas.'

Cas sighed.

'And… maybe it's time to recruit some of our friends to help, you know I'm sure Hermione could come up with some really good ideas.'

Cas shook his head, alarmed. 'I don't know, Dean… Maybe...'

'Just something to think about… I want you to stay.'

Cas gave him a small smile. 'All right. I'll stay. But if I blow someone up it's your fault.'

Dean blinked, momentarily shocked until he realised that Cas was messing with him again, and grinned. 'Oh yeah, totally on me.'

Cas hugged him.

'It'll be okay,' Dean said. 'We'll figure it out.'

'If you say so.'

Cas was quiet for the next day, only speaking to offer Harry extra Occlumency practice when Snape refused to teach him any further. Harry wouldn't say why, but he seemed upset by his final lesson with Snape. Cas still hadn't said much by Saturday, but he walked down to the Quidditch pitch with a determined gleam in his eye.

'You look good,' Dean said, brushing down Cas's Quidditch robes.

'Thank you. It'll make my victory even better.'

Dean smiled and ran a hand down Cas's arm. 'Go get 'em,' he said, before leaving the changing rooms and making his way out to the stands.

'Hope you guys are ready for this,' he grinned, sitting next to Harry, with the rest of the Gryffindor team close by.

'What do you mean?' Ginny asked curiously.

Dean grinned, and John, who clearly already knew what Cas was up to, smiled.

'Just watch and see,' Dean said.

Soon enough the Slytherin team flew out from the changing rooms and waited for the Ravenclaw team. Apparently Roger had explained the plan to the rest of the team, and they all flew out looking gleeful. Cas flew out last, lazily soaring up from the changing room and taking his place. The Slytherin team all glanced uneasily at each other as Cas stared them down.

The pitch was still while they waited for Madam Hooch to release the balls, the Bludgers and Snitch first, but no one moved after them. They were all holding their breath and waiting for the Quaffle.

Madam Hooch threw it into the air, but before anyone could move, Cas was already shooting towards it.

He snatched it out of the air, darted between every single Slytherin player, and hurled the Quaffle through one of the goal hoops before any of the opposing team could even turn towards him. He caught the Quaffle on the other side of the hoops, then flew back to the Ravenclaw team, who were all howling with laughter at the Slytherins' stunned expression.

'Ten points to Ravenclaw!' Lee Jordan called out, barely holding back laughter himself.

The Slytherin team's expressions turned rapidly from shock to fury, and they all finally sprung into action.

Throughout the match, the Ravenclaw team mostly played interference, keeping the Bludgers away from Cas, while the Chasers blocked their Slytherin counterparts from getting in Cas's way - not that Cas needed it. He ducked around the players, rolling and flipping on his broom as though he weighed nothing at all, scoring over and over again. Cho too appeared to be in on the strategy, and instead of actively looking for the Snitch, she distracted Malfoy constantly, preventing him from even spotting the little golden ball.

The Slytherins only got angrier and angrier the more Cas scored against them, but there was nothing they could do about it. Bludgers sailed past him, players were jumped over or spun around, even a couple of bats flew his way, but he easily dodged them.

With the amount of time Cas was spending holding the Quaffle, none of the Slytherin Chasers even got a chance to score, and when Ravenclaw hit a hundred and fifty points, jeers and laughter erupted around the stands, but still Cas wasn't done.

He shot past despondent Slytherins, continuing to score, even though it would be impossible for Slytherin to catch up. He got all the way up to two hundred and thirty points before he was flagged down by Roger Davies, and called a time out.

When they flew back into formation, Cas threw the Quaffle to one of the other Chasers and circled the pitch. Cho changed tack, and flitted back and forth, now searching for the Snitch. Roger seemed to have decided it was time to end the match, though Cas didn't look pleased. He got the chance to give one final stinging blow, however. As Cho closed in on the Snitch, one of the Slytherin Chasers got hold of the Quaffle and streaked towards the goalposts while the Ravenclaws were distracted. Cas shot after them and intercepted the Quaffle, dashing all the way back across the pitch and throwing in one more goal moments before Cho caught the Snitch, ending the match at three hundred and ninety points to zero.

Everyone in the stands stamped and roared, cheering wildly at the Slytherins' crushing defeat. Ron was the only one that looked less than pleased, knowing that Gryffindor would be the next to face Ravenclaw, and he would be the only one standing between Cas and the goalposts.

Madam Hooch blew the whistle, and everyone rushed the pitch, except the Slytherins.

Dean pushed through the crowd, just as Cas landed lightly on the pitch nearby.

'Cas, that was amazing!' he yelled. 'You were so good!'

Cas turned around, spotting him, then walked right over to him.

Dean grinned, but before he could say anything else, Cas grabbed him and kissed him. Dean made a small surprised noise, but closed his eyes and sunk into it. Cas's lips were chapped, and his nose was cold from the speeds he'd been flying at, but Dean didn't care. He cupped Cas's face and kissed him back, until someone wolf-whistled and they broke apart.

'Sorry,' Cas said, embarrassed.

'No, don't be sorry,' said Dean, slightly giddy. 'It was great.' He put an arm around Cas's shoulders. 'Come on, let's go, I'm sure Fred and George have something up their sleeves. That was incredible, man, you were like a one-person army! You could play pro, seriously!'

Cas rubbed his arm bashfully. He couldn't imagine being that competitive for a living. Seeing the look of humiliation on Malfoy's face as they walked past was satisfaction enough for him.

Welcome back everyone, thanks to Morgan Tara Befan for the review :) See you again next time.