Chapter 2: Rubicundus Simius Amor
Albus Dumbledore, the ever poster wizard for 'love' seems to be twinkling his bloody eyes out nonstop for the last few days. His energy is getting on the nerves of Severus Snape and he exactly know where the blame lies- the dizzyingly sparkling Goblet of Fire aka now The Chalice of Love. He sneered at the term Love. Of course, as if organizing the Triward Tournament after a long hiatus is not a big enough task for Hogwarts faculty. Now they have to take turns to guard the spinning chalice from the students of not one but three magical schools. Veela induced boost in the teenage hormones did not help at all in this matter.
There seems to be a lot of 'sneaking around' going around the castle. Let it be the regular Hogwarts miscreants such as the Weasley twins and others Hogwarts pupil seeking trouble, or the new miscreants from other schools, or Rita Skeeter sneaking into the castle for a getting a snap of the chalice, or the Creevey brothers doing the same thing every possible hour. Not to forget, Mad-eye Moody always sneakily limping behind him and openly glaring at him whenever he gets caught during the act. Seems like his glorious Auror days are behind him and so is his Constance Vigilance.
The Golden Trio, as dubbed by Rita Skeeter in an article on Daily Prophet, seemed to brew their own batch of trouble. One would think it was Potter who tipped off Professor Snape into a fit of fury and drastic point loss for Gryffindor. Potter seems to have no care for the fact that he is not only risking himself but also his friends, the Order, and his godfather by carelessly getting in touch with the latter for a matter so trivial such as him falling out of favour with his red-headed sidekick. Severus Snape sneered at Weasley's dunderheadedness on thinking that Potter would be intelligent or tactful enough of do so. The Potter boy has absolutely no knowledge or discipline whatsoever required for a person to stay alive.
Nor it was Miss Granger who set Gryffindor a hundred points back. She got onto the nerves of the Irma Pince, the Hogwarts Librarian, by checking out all the books on the Chalice of Love from the library under different names of Gryffindors. She drove mad many Ravenclaws and few other students who wanted to check information on the Chalice but only to found out that all the available books have been checked out by Gryffindors. She even drove her fellow Gryffindors crazy by dragging them out of their warm beds very early in the morning to go to the Library in order to check out more books in their names. Her failed attempt on sneaking into the Restricted Section for more books and the resultant detention from an irritant McGongall was not the reason for the point loss. Though Miss Granger had been successful in sneaking out restricted books from the Restricted Section, she got caught when she accidently dropped one of the books on a cat in the corridor and the injured cat screeched bloody murder. That cat being the Head of the House of Gryffindor didn't help Miss Granger. Severus Snape couldn't help but allow the smug smirk creep onto his lips at the thought of his counterpart and her book tussled paw.
The person to bear the wrath of Professor Snape's sour mood was the other infamous friend of Harry Potter, Ronald Bilius Weasley. After partly listening the information spouted by Miss Granger after her Library escapades, understanding not even half of the said information, mixing it with variant levels of colourful Common Room gossip, believing the half-truths from the Daily Prophet, fueled by the charms and trance induced by the Veela populace of Beauxbaton, and mostly by his jealousy ensued from Mr. Potter's assumed betrayal of friendship over the Goblet of Fire; Ron Weasley has set the Gryffindor points back by one hundred. Not talking with Harry Potter turned out to be a disadvantage to Ron Weasley as he could not borrow his friend's Invisibility Cloak or the Marauder's Map. So he chose a time well past midnight to sneak into the Antiques Room on the second floor corridor where the Chalice of Love was displayed for the viewing pleasure of everyone as instructed by the Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. Dressed in an atrocious pair of century old dressing robes, with a red rose neatly clipped onto the robe front pocket, a piece of wood with his full name carved on it in one hand and his wand in the other, Weasley somehow managed to sneak into the Antiques Room unnoticed by anyone eascially Mrs. Norris. Thanling his lucky stars, he silently opened the door and walked towards the Chalice. Little did he know that it was Professor Snape's turn to guard it.
Severus Snape had cast a disillusionment charm on himself and was sitting on a chair in the corner inside the Antiques Room. However, the reason for the charm was only partly attributed to his intention to catch any possible miscreant and guard the Chalice. The main reason for his disillusionment was Professor Sybill Trelawney and her irritatingly constant fraudulent predictions on the possible candidates for the soulmate bond from the Chalice of Love. He felt squeamish when Sybill predicted a soulmate bond between him and Albus Dumbledore. Especially when Albus replied with his eyes twinkling madly, 'You know how to make an old man blush, my dear Sybill. Though I wouldn't mind brewing love potions with a dark and brooding man skilled in potion making.' That put Severus Snape off any food for the day. Although, he could not help but smirk when Sybill predicted a soulmate bond between Minerva McGonagall and herself. Mainly when she insisted that when that happens, she would prefer to wed Minerva in her cat form to placate the ill effects of Mars.
From his corner, Severus Snape noticed Ron Weasley slip into the Antiques Room and walk towards the Chalice. The odd ensemble of Weasley's attire made Snape to stop his advance and observe the dunderhead in silence. Weasley approached the Chalice, bowed to it, closed his eyes and started waltzing alone facing the Chalice. He stopped after a minute and once again bowed to the Chalice. He then produced his wand and waved it at the Chalice as if tracing the shape of a heart and muttering Rubicundus Simius Amor seven times. He then kissed the piece of carved wood he was holding and threw it at the Chalice. The look on Mr. Weasley's face when the piece of wood rebounded off the Chalice, hit him on face, and then flew into the outstretched hand of his disgruntled Potion Master was of pure horror.
'Mr. Weasley, hundred points from Gryffindor and two weeks of detention with Mr. Filtch starting tomorrow at 8pm. Return to your dormitory before I deduct more points' yelled Professor Snape. As soon as the utterly horrified and thoroughly embarrassed Weasley scattered out of the room in hurry without a single word, Severus Snape slammed the door shut behind his blockhead student, placed a silencing charm on the room and burst out into a fit of laughter.
Author's Note: Rubicundus Simius Amor means red monkey love in Latin. Please read and review. No flames please.