Harry hurried from the potions classroom and wasn't surprised to find Ron and Hermione waiting for him. "This may be the best day I've had in a long time!" he said quickly, sweeping them off towards the Great Hall.
"Whoa!" Ron said, coming to a quick stop. "You just got handed detentions until the end of term with Snape and you're happy about it?"
"Yeah," Hermione said, turning to face Harry as well, "What's up with you?"
"Come on, I'm starving," Harry said, trying to move them along but they wouldn't budge. He glanced around and saw no one in sight. "Ok, here's the deal. He only gave me detention so Umbridge couldn't. He told me I would spend the time studying for my exams."
Ron and Hermione exchanged glances. Ron was the first to speak, "Sounds a bit dodgy, mate."
"Look, I'm not going to look a gift hippogriff in the mouth. If he wants to suddenly be nice, I'm not going to complain. Now c'mon!" Without waiting to see if they followed, he headed off. He had a note to Maggie he needed to write.
-- --
Katrina woke again, her head clear and the nausea gone. She slowly sat up. She saw Voldemort seated at the table, studying her intently as she carefully stood up. She could see that the sun had set while she was unconscious, therefore the meal on the table must have been her dinner.
She slowly approached the table, freezing suddenly as she registered the presence of cold metal around her neck. She reached a hand up to trace along the metal choker. It felt completely smooth and she figured it to be about an inch wide and but a fraction of that thick.
"That will… inhibit… your returning magic," he said in response to her silent question. "The wavesss of power you were generating asss your magical core repaired itssself threatened to bring down the whole cottage."
Her eyes widened as she realized that the potion she had ingested had been the reversal potion. But why was Voldemort going to all this effort? He obviously had plans and she wasn't sure she even wanted to know what they were. She silently finished approaching the table, taking her usual seat, and glancing at the tray of food before her.
"Go ahead and eat," he said, gesturing dismissively over the food. "Your magic should completely ssstabilize in a day or two."
"Thank you," she responded and she decided to let him wonder whether she was thanking him for the meal or for the return of her magic.
-- --
Maggie glanced up at her father as they ate dinner. She swallowed hard as a wave of dizziness swept over her. She quickly shrugged it off as it immediately passed, turning her attention back to her meal.
Ten minutes later, they were headed for her father's office when another wave hit her. She put her hand out to the wall to stabilize herself, but it passed as quickly as the first. She debated saying something to her father, but decided it was probably nothing more than her being tired. She was also afraid that if she said anything that she would be sent back to her room and she would miss seeing Harry.
"I'll be back in here shortly," her father said as Maggie settled in. "I will greet Potter and then I will come back here so we can start working on the Skelegrow potion."
"Ok," she replied with a bright smile.
-- --
Severus exited his office into the classroom, pondering his daughter's behavior this evening. He had seen her falter slightly as they walked to the office but he refrained from remarking on it. He decided that she was probably simply tired. They had spent a lot of time working on potions and he forgot how tiring it could be when one was just beginning.
He heard a tentative knock on the classroom door and told Harry to enter. He watched Harry Potter slowly enter and tentatively take a seat near the front of the room.
"Er, Professor? I'd like to thank you again for the salve and for heading off Umbridge…"
Severus acknowledged the boy's thanks with a nod as he rose. "I trust I can leave you alone in here, Mr. Potter? I do have better things to do with my evening…"
"Of course, sir," the boy answered respectively.
Severus turned towards his office and had taken a single step when a wave of force slammed him to his knees and rattled all of the glassware in the classroom. He quickly rose and turned to face Potter. The boy looked dumbfounded.
"It wasn't me," the boy said hastily, rising to his feet and drawing his wand.
Severus turned back towards his office and was suddenly back on his knees as another sharp wave slammed into him. "Damn!" he hissed, pulling his wand and spelled the office door open. "Maggie!" His daughter was slumped on the floor, her face turned away from him. A wave of panic rose in him as he heard Potter echo his cry of Maggie's name.
Another wave of magic slammed both men as they tried to rise. They both moved forward as soon as the wave passed, not waiting for another to hinder them. Two waves later and Severus reached Maggie's side a second before Potter did. He pulled his daughter into his arms, "Maggie, you have to wake up!"
-- --
Harry had been stunned speechless for a moment after the office door opened. For a moment he hadn't recognized the girl on the ground, but then Snape had called out and all of the pieces fell into place.
Now, as he knelt beside Maggie and Snape, he felt panic welling up inside his chest. He carefully took one of the girl's hands and nearly dropped it as he felt the telltale buzz of magic. He entwined his fingers with hers and gently squeezed her hand, willing her to wake up.
He glanced up at his most hated professor, "What happened to her?" He gasped as another wave of magic rolled off the girl, almost dropping him to his back.
Snape began gently shaking Maggie, "Maggie, you have to wake up! Please, wake up."
Potter watched, surprised by the tenderness with which Snape was treating the girl. He wasn't sure if the other man had noticed the change in Maggie or not, so he decided to voice it, "She's a witch now…"
Snape's ebony eyes snapped to him and Harry forced himself to hold the older man's gaze. "What?" Snape asked sharply.
"She was a muggle before, but she isn't anymore. I don't understand it," Harry said after the most recent wave passed. He squeezed Maggie's hand, wishing she would wake up. Maybe then the waves would stop.