Chpt. 12- Deception and Confessions

Lyric was sleeping very happily when she felt someone shake her violently.

"Lyric," the voice called, "Lyric!"

"What?" Lyric replied sleepily, rolling over to find Iona standing above her.

"Breakfast is in five minutes, you overslept," Iona said.

Lyric jumped out of bed and dressed very quickly, foregoing the shower this morning. As she and Iona made their way to the dining hall, Iona quietly asked if the mission was accomplished.

"Not exactly," Lyric responded quietly, "I got a picture, but we decided it was too cruel to show it around." Lyric chose to leave out the fight her and Tristan had had last night.

"Thank God!" Iona said a little too loudly, then she added in a whisper, "I really hoped you wouldn't go through with it."

As Iona and Lyric entered the dining hall, they looked for Tristan, but couldn't find him anywhere. She saw her uncle sitting at the teacher's table talking to Professor McGonagall. He must have gotten back this morning. Lyric looked to find Snape looking rather well rested, but somewhat confused. The image she had of him last night caught up with her, putting a large smile on her face. Iona and Lyric sat down and tucked into the food. As they ate, the post came. Once again, green pieces of paper began to fall from the ceiling.

"The Wart Report?" Iona asked confusedly. They had gotten a copy yesterday, happily free of stories on Lyric, but it was rare to have two editions back-to-back. Rita usually needed two or three days to gather enough good dirt. "Oh," Iona's voice fell about an octave as she looked at the paper. All around, students had begun to stir.

"What?" Lyric asked, worried Rita had printed something horrible about her. Iona continued to stare at the paper. Lyric grabbed her own copy from the air and was horrified to find Professor Snape dressed in an ill-fitting black tutu, eerily swaying back and forth, just as he had last night. This was the picture. The picture she had taken. All around, students had begun laughing, as the teachers looked confusedly from the students to the other teachers. Finally, McGonagall reached out and grabbed one of the green papers.

The room fell silent upon seeing McGonagall's face. "Skeeter!" she screamed, "Come with me right now!" She then showed the paper to Snape, whose face turned even whiter before pink began to creep into his cheeks. Next, she showed Dumbledore, whose kind smile had turned cold upon seeing the image. Across the dining hall, Rita had slowly gotten out of her chair. She looked as confused as the other teachers. But she followed McGonagall out of the dining hall with Dumbledore and Snape in tow. As soon as Snape's robes had disappeared out the door, the entire dining hall burst out into laughter and conversation.

Iona glared at Lyric, "I thought you weren't gonna show this around?" she was upset with her friend. "You went too far with this and now Rita's in trouble for it. Granted, I hate the bitch, but she doesn't deserve to get expelled for your mess," she said with disgust in her voice.

Lyric struggled to know what to say, "I, we, Tristan said he wasn't going to develop the picture at all."

As if on cue, Tristan sat down next to Iona grinning wildly. "So ladies," he asked amused, "did I miss anything?"

"Tristan, you asshole!" Lyric yelled, the entire hall hushed at her exclamation. Immediately, Lyric lowered her voice, and laid into her friend, "You told me you wouldn't do it. You lied to me. And what's more, Rita's now in trouble for what I did."

"I did you a favor," he defended in a whisper, "I got back at the prat arse professor and that cow Rita that prints lies about everyone in this school."

"Tristan," Lyric pleaded, "it is not your job to protect me. I have to go fix this," Lyric ran off in the direction Skeeter had headed with Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape. She ran to her uncle's office, slipped the statue the password and ran full on up the stairs.

She stopped at the top, and quietly poked her head into the office. McGonagall with shaking her head, Snape was staring daggers, and Skeeter sat crying "It wasn't me. I don't even have a camera. I wouldn't print that. I didn't even make an issue for today, I swear."

Lyric was about to enter the office, when she heard something she had never heard before. Her dear uncle Albus began yelling. "We have tolerated your rumors, your lies, and your snooping," Lyric's heart stopped beating, hearing him yell seemed unnatural, "but we will not tolerate your cruelty. A blatant disregard for your professor, and for what? A good story. Miss Skeeter, this is entirely unacceptable. You're facing expulsion for this. How did you do it then?" Rita just sat crying.

Lyric couldn't take it anymore. She stepped in the doorway and opened her mouth to tell her uncle to stop, but she had no words. Luckily, McGonagall looked up at that moment. "Miss Dumbledore, this doesn't concern you. Please leave." Everyone in the room had turned to stare at her. Lyric could feel Snape's eyes boring into her, the kind vulnerable face was now hidden by hatred and embarrassment. She was mad at herself for finding humanity in the man last night. She looked away from his glare, and back at her uncle.

Lyric stood fast to her spot in the doorway. "Miss Dumbledore, you must leave immediately, or I will be forced to take points from Gryffindor." Lyric didn't move, but instead looked at her uncle. The anger in his face almost killed her.

"It was me," she said barely above a whisper.

"Pardon," said Snape, "what did you say?"

"I said," Lyric started, still unable to look at the pale man, "it was me. I took the picture. I put it in the Wart Report. It was me. All me." Though she was mad at Tristan, she had never intended for him to take the blame. He would surely be expelled, while Lyric doubted her uncle would do that to her.

The anger in Dumbledore's face had left, but was replaced by something that made Lyric feel even worse: sadness. McGonagall stared in disbelief, while Snape had simply turned his evil glare from Rita to Lyric.

"Rita," Dumbledore said calmly, "do you swear you had nothing to do with this?"

"Yes, sir," her voice was overcome with relief.

"Then you are free to leave. Minerva, please escort Miss Skeeter to her first class. Severus, I must ask you stay here."

Rita bolted out of her chair and automatically reached for the pen in her book bag. "Not now," warned McGonagall as she led Rita out of the room.

Dread filled Lyric's stomach. She silently cursed that her uncle had not asked Snape to leave the room as well. Facing her uncle was one thing, but facing Snape was something entirely different. Lyric prepared herself for the same verbal lashing that Rita had gotten, but instead she was faced with silence. Lyric wasn't sure which was worse.

After what seemed like a lifetime, Dumbledore finally spoke, "I'm not going to ask why you did what you did, Lyric. Frankly, I have a hard time believing it. But if you admit to it, you must be the culprit." He voice was calm, but sad. "Do you remember when the school board tried to keep you from coming to school, Lyric?"

Lyric just nodded, she knew if she opened her mouth, tears would start in her eyes.

"I convinced the school board that they would be allowed to review your grades to ensure that I was fair. And I also told them that any sort of disobedience would not be handled by me. I told them that the other teachers at Hogwarts would be allowed to procure an appropriate punishment for you."

Lyric nodded slowly, not quite understanding where this was going.

"If it were up to me, expulsion would be the most appropriate punishment-" he was interrupted by Lyric.

"No! I have to finish school. I-" Lyric was in turn interrupted by her uncle.

"As I just said, that is not up to me. In this case, it seems most appropriate that I would allow Professor Snape to decide on an appropriate punishment."

Lyric turned cold. Snape would inevitably find something worse that expulsion. Lyric guessed the death by spell squad would be his choice punishment. Snape, who up until this point, had been making a face as though he had just eaten a lemon, smiled. Not a warm smile though, the smile of a small child pulling the wings off of a fly.

"Well," he began coldly, "expulsion seems the most obvious punishment." Lyric hung her head defeated. "But," he started, "after six years of excellent grades and no prior incidents, other than hanging out with the Merton boy, that would be far too harsh."

Lyric perked up, she was going to stay in school after all.

"Detention," Snape hissed.

Lyric fought back a smile she was getting off easy.

"Three nights a week," he continued.

A little worse, but Lyric was still happy to avoid getting kicked out.

"Until the Easter holiday," Snape went on.

Lyric was getting a little upset, that was an awful lot of detention.

"With me," he finished with a smirk.

Lyric's heart sank. She wondered if it was too late to take the expulsion.