By the way, in your wonderful reviews I saw a GREAT abundance of remarkable, VERY alluring plot bunnies. They MUST be utilised, it's a shame if they aren't!
Therefore the need arises for ... *drumroll* a Challenge!
The Challenge requirements are:
1. It must include Severus Snape and Harry Potter.
2. It must NOT be slash, sorry!
3. One of the two or both have to be somehow physically impaired in a significant way at the start of the story (or at least not at the end of it)
4. Not more than one non-canon character should be central to the story (except for our two lead people, of course).
If you take up the challenge and write a story, PLEASE tell me about it! I want to read it, and I am sure others will too, so I will be posting you in my Stories section at my profile, and mention your fic in the next chapter I put up!
*rubs hands with glee* I can't wait!
Now, on with the story. Chapter 15, *hits play*
________________
"I tell you, Professor, that Potter hurt me!" Draco was having trouble controlling his rage enough to appear traumatised. Snape side looked momentarily at him between scratching harsh remarks on potions essays.
"You look fine to me, Malfoy."
"But sir!" Draco was aghast. Would Harry get away with almost blinding him, with daring to stand up to him more actively than before?
Snape sneered.
"I would like nothing more than to expel Potter for you, Malfoy. But I think we shall be having a bit of trouble convincing the Headmaster or Professor McGonagall that a -blind- student assaulted you so gravely, and managed not to leave a trace of his assault behind."
Draco felt his ears hot as he looked down, clenching his teeth in rage and shame. The very idea that a blind Harry Potter bested him and his two henchmen and so effectively that there was nothing he could do about it. He did not dare meet the gaze of his Professor, an accomplished Death Eater... and he dreaded to see how his father would react to hear such news.
The prospect was as odious as letting Potter off the hook. Perhaps even more so.
"I suggest you return to your common room, Mr. Malfoy. And next time you come to complain to me about anyone-- especially Mr. Potter -- be sure to have evidence." Snape's voice was like a cut with glass-- deep and surgically accurate. Draco's hatred for the glorified gryffindor, that now on top of everything else was starting to wear the martyr's mantle, skyrocketed. He stormed out of the Potion Master's office, and past Crabbe and Goyle that were waiting for him outside. When Goyle tried to talk to him, Draco hexed his lips shut and didn't let the curse up until the Slytherin Head Girl came to see what the muffled squeals were all about.
Draco swore revenge. He spent the whole weekend thinking about it.
***
Monday mornings were reserved for 5th year Divination class.
"My dears, welcome to this year's Divination. I feel that this year will offer you great insights into the mists of the future..." Sybil Trelawney said mistily to the class of 5th years sitting in the poufs. Ron snorted, and Harry half smiled in a rather sarcastic smile. Trelawney's eyes squinted behind the monstrous lenses at the two Gryffindors.
"My dears, your year will be so very hard, I can see." she said bitingly. Both boys had the expression of 'you are great at stating the obvious'. Actually, the only obviously content parties in Professor Trelawney's class were Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown and Hedwig, that enjoyed the warm and close to stifling atmosphere enough to settle on Harry's shoulder and puff out her feathers for a nap.
"This year we shall learn how to coax the secrets of the future out by the throwing stones. Of course I have to warn you that only those with talent shall be able to truly appreciate the Divining Stones..." she said as she set two pouches on each table.
Harry opened the pouch, and in his hand cool pebbles rolled out. They felt smooth and warm. Sasha's eyes focused on them, and Harry saw that they were of grey or obsidian in colour, with a signle white one in every set. There were 3 grey, 3 obsidian and one white. They looked like stones from a seashore. Ron beside him smirked again.
"Oh wow, I can see my death already," the redhead whispered under his breath, knowing that Harry would hear-- and indeed Harry chuckled.
"Padma's glaring at you." Ron said conspiratorily and Harry smiled some more. Professor Trelawney clicked her tongue and said in an irate voice:
"Restlessness will cloud your Vision, and the Divining Stones won't serve you. Please, my dears, we need utmost silence."
When perfect quiet was restored again, she started to say in a mysterious, aloof voice:
"Open your books on page 328... but my dears, if you can't already feel the pull of the stones, I am afraid it will not be of much use to you... Now take the stones in your left hand, the white one in the center. When you feel ready to see your future, shake the stones in your hands seven times and throw them in front of you on the table."
Harry heard several stone claquing on the tables, and he released his own as well, although he did not feel any kind of pull except that of Hedwig's claws on his shoulder. Then with Sasha's help he saw the pattern in which they had scattered and tried to compare it with pictures in his Divination book, so that he could get a prediction. Not that he expected to, really.
In fact, Harry was ready to claim that he had yet once more seen his impeding and dreadful doom, when actually the pattern of the grey, and obsidian stones did appear in the illustration of the Divination textbook:
Friendly Peril: When one of the three grey stones is away from the other two and close to the white. To further analyse this pattern, refer to page 330.
Harry quickly flipped to that page.
Unexpected Ally: when two black stones cluster with the remaining two grey, away from the white.
Harry looked at his stones again through Sasha. True enough, the white and one grey stone were touching, whereas two black and the rest of the grey were together. He saw that the remaining black stone was furthest away from the rest of the stones, almost mingling with Ron's. He turned to look for the list of interpretations for straying stones.
Standoff: when any one of the three black stones is completely away from any clustering of the remaining stones.
"Have you made a prediction, my dear? I feel that your inner Eye is active." he heard Trelawney's approaching voice. Harry swallowed, unsure of what to think.
"I am to have an unexpected ally, a standoff and ...friendly peril." he said, saving what he estimated would excite the Divination professor for last. Trelawney almost cooed with sympathy that woke Hedwig and made her squawk, and made Harry want to go down the trapdoor that very minute.
"Oh my dear, my dear. That is grave indeed! You must set your affairs straight soon, my dear, with such a sombre divining from the Stones!" she said, her many bracelets jingling in what Harry had no doubt was a flurish of movement. Ron scoffed beside him.
"Come ON, that could mean anything! It's not always BAD."
To that, Trelawney shook her head sadly and sagely, like a wise one to an imbecile. Although Harry felt like smirking himself, he felt somewhat preoccupied and decided to keep his first truthful divination in mind, just in case.
***
Draco was waiting for Harry right outside the DADA classroom. And sure enough, the blind boy walked up, tapping lightly around, his two friends on his right-- Harry seemed to avoid being in the middle of the trio lately.
"Malfoy is waiting at the door" Ron said, already bristling for a fight.
"Calm down Ron. It's going to be okay, he won't try anything with Professor Lupin at hearing shot. Why don't you and 'Mione go find a seat?" he urged in a way that made Hermione pull Ron in the class before the redhead could object. Harry took his time approaching, winding Draco up with his tardiness.
"I won't let this pass, Potter." the blonde boy snarled low. Harry armed himself with a sardonic smile.
"I haven't the faintest idea what you are talking about, Malfoy. I am after all, struggling to get along." he said mockingly making Draco seeth even more. How was it possible that the gryffindor was toying with him so? How on -earth- could he have become more of an opponent now than before?
Draco watched as Harry walked confidently past. He frowned, watching the gryffindor call to his friends and deftly direct himself to where he heard them be. It definately did not add up. Nobody could be like this on his own. Potter had some secret that was helping him be the shining hero-slash-martyr.
Draco decided he would find out. And then, he would use it against him-- and let him flail in the darkness like he had until the Disocculo curse wore off. He would extract revenge in multiples. He would make Potter pay. Along with anyone covering for the sorry brat.
"Mr. Malfoy, if you wouldn't mind joining us?" Professor Lupin's voice made him pay attention to the here and now. Draco walked hautily in the class and took a seat. One more year with a werewolf in tatters as an excuse for a DADA professor. Pathetic.
Remus looked at his class, diligently setting up for a lesson. His eyes fell on the trio. Harry was frowning, listening to whatever it was that Ron was whispering to him, and Hermione was rolling her eyes. He smiled inwardly-- it looked almost normal. If only it could have been. He sighed and started his lecture.
"Today we will talk of Golems-- they should be at page 90 of your books. Does anyone know what they are?"
Hermione's had shot up, as usual.
"Yes, Miss Granger."
"A Golem is a man made of clay. It can be a protector or an assassin. It does not know pain or fear and cannot think for itself. It was first created by Rubey Lew in 1390."
"Very well, Miss Granger. 5 points to Gryffindor. One can animate the Golem by writing on its forehead the word Ameth. What does that mean?"
Draco's hand shot up this time.
"Mr. Malfoy."
"It means Truth, sir. And Meth means Death." he sneered towards Hermione's way.
"Very good Mr. Malfoy. 5 points to Slytherin. To kill a golem you must erase the letter A from the word Ameth on its forehead so that 'Meth' remains which, as Mr. Malfoy informed us, means Death."
"What does the scar on Potter's forehead mean?" Draco quipped and the Slytherins roared in laughter.
Ron scowled as did Hermione, but Harry found it somehow funny and suppressed a chuckle. It surprised the young Gryffindor that a jibe from his constant opponent would amuse him, but there it was. In fact, after Snape and his snippy lines were seeming moderate in the effect they produced in him, schoolmate comebacks made him laugh.
Still, Professor Lupin took those 5 points from Slytherin back.
***
"I have called you, my most loyal of Death Eaters... for a very special reason."
The dark cloaked, white-masked people shifted uneasily. Most 'special reasons' that Voldemort had involved high levels of pain. Usually theirs included.
"A plan has been thought of how to bring Hogwarts down from the inside." Voldemort savoured each word.
"How, my lord?" and eager voice from the dark gathering.
"Ah, Lucius, my loyal friend. I taste the eagerness in your voice. But I do not like interruptions."
Lucius retracted, but no curse came. Apparently Voldemort was too glad with his plan to feel like punishing anyone just yet.
Voldemort petted Nagini, and started talking again.
"The gates of Hogwarts shall open on the full moon of my choosing... and there will be no way wards will keep us out. I shall see to that. You, in the meantime, see to it that the Dementors are on our side by that time-- and that your brothers and sisters in Azkaban are freed within October."
The Death Eaters all bowed, to show their obedience. Voldemort then said:
"Severus."
"My Lord."
"I need your Potions skills. I need a powerful multiplication potion."
"My Lord, what sort of multiplication would it need to perform?" Snape asked, as if that was relevant to the potion. It was not-- but it was highly relevant in order to get a clue as to what the Dark Lord was cooking up.
"Of large things-- the size of human bodies." was all the Dark Lord would reveal.
And Snape did not feel it safe to ask any further.
***
Draco had found the way to get back at Harry Potter. Mulling it over in his mind over the past weekend, he realised one of Harry's weaknesses-- his owl. He used Hedwig to see in classes-- or at least that was part of the story. Draco was determined to know just how much a part of the story it was.
And so he headed towards the owlery.
As he opened the door, seeing the snowy owl, he grinned, the dusk's sunlight glinting off his eyes and teeth almost ferally.
Revenge was truly sweet.
__________________
This is somewhat shorter than usual *hides behind a defiant Snape* don't hit me! There was no other place to stop the chapter without ruining the next!
Myk: *chuckles* it's ok. It's safe for me to be nervous-- I am a decreed overachiever. I would like to remain so. It -was- rather impressive... hee hee. Rubber ball practice pays off.
Kamenran: it would be fun, but then they will wonder who taught him to hex people so well....
kateydidn't: *evil smile* No comment on that.
t.a.g.: Snape must first build up the nerve to tell Harry... which will be soon. As for Draco, it is up to him to reform. I only write what he does. *chuckles* And I LOVE the long review!!
athenakitty: *relays your question to Draco* ummm *Draco looks back blancly* he won't answer me. *chuckles*
sk8reagle: *relays your question to Draco* *he snorts* he says not yet. *giggle*
DraconicalPriest: The idea has... a -lot- of merit.
Angel Baby: As Snape has demonstrated, it's never late for anyone. *grins widely* But first he has to sort out issues. *chuckles* *blushes for kind comments*
enahma: I have stated before that I simply don't do slash. :)
bluestarfish: *blushes* awww shucks. Thanks. And yes, he does seem more dangerous than before... *L* which was my intent. I hope this chapter was ok too.
Katy999: Yes it does have to wear off, cos Harry wouldn't wish his problems on anyone-- he's inherently good, remember? *chuckles*
Blackrose1356: takes more than one hint for one so deep into stuff, don't you think? *chuckles*
Mikee: Harry did that on his own. Snape was not going to prevent the root from falling in, he would just charm the cauldron frozen. He did not have the time tho. Credit goes all to Harry and his rubber ball training. *grin*
phreakreader: of COURSE there will be Lupin coming up. *chuckles* There is some Ron/Hermione there, true. Opposites attract. *chuckles* Ginny is always quiet... but I'll come to that when it's more appropriate to dwell on. As for Harry, I think he has enough on his plate. Perhaps a certain Cho, if he manages to finetune everything else.
Melissa Lupin: *L* I might, just for you.
Lee Lee Potter: Snape/Harry time is rarer as it is more dangerous with kids around. And I was very nervous about that, and even more nervous bout this!
Kaat Shadow Lover: *never had whiskey cake before* interesting! Snape gets into all sorts of dilemmas, doesn't he? *L* And yes, that would definately happen with Hedwig in the class.
Illustrius Sorrow: I truly have no idea-- entirely up to Draco himself. As for Snape being caught.. *Snape glare* he won't say.
Amber: Kinda difficult... but you never know.
Nightspear: Harry won't be giving with that piece of information... but you know how it is in Hogwarts...
PandaBear007: thanks!
deathsatmydoor: how can I resist that? *laughs*
Lirael: he didn't cry per se... he sniffled like in the Forbidden Forest.
Sabrina: you caught me! he didn't need to. I'd say he'd want to double check, in in truth, I just wanted to give Sasha some dialogue. *sheepish*
Shadowfax: perhaps, perhaps, perhaps! *sings along*