CHAPTER 9 –The Order Returns
It may have looked like Professor Snape was headed to the dungeons with the twins floating in front of him, in fact that thought was running through the twins minds also.
They were also thinking, 'how in the world did we get ourselves into this mess?' and 'how could our own Father turn us over to Snape?'. 'We are done for, finished, Thestral food'.
They could not talk, as they had tape over their mouths, they could not move as the Elves had bound them tight. They were moving but only under the Snape's spell.
The next minute they became very confused. Just when they thought they were headed for Professor's Snapes office, the git takes a right turn and heads toward the kitchen. Upon reaching the wall entrance to the kitchen he tickles the pear and the door opens.
The twins are then levitated into the kitchen, where about one hundred and fifty House Elves, who are not happy very happy with them, gather around, wondering why they were being brought back.
Severus lowered them to the floor then removed the bindings and the tape. "Get up, Gentlemen".
"You, gentlemen, in an effort to entertain yourselves, have caused these kind Elves a lot of extra work, not to mention that they could have been seriously hurt."
"I might also remind you, that YOU could have been seriously hurt and your family would not be smiling and enjoying life but grieving for you."
"I consider that a very selfish way to deal with life. You have not considered the frustration and discouragement that you have caused others with your behavior and your personal desire to have a little fun at someone elses expense."
"It is time Gentlemen that you learn that your choices have consequences and that House Elves are very important beings, not to be trifled with."
"First; you are each going to receive a spanking and then you are going to apologize to these fine Elves for all the extra work you caused them. Do you understand?"
"Yes Sir", they replied each hanging their head. They had not planned on any of this happening and it was totally embarrassing.
"Ok, gentlemen if you will step over to this table, drop your pants, and bend over the table please!"
The boys knew they had no choice so they slowly walked over to the table, one on each side. They lowered their jeans down to their knees and bent over the table. Severus smiled and said, "I don't think so boys, we will do this on the bare," as he lowered their shorts also.
Both boys moaned, knowing this was definitely not going to be pleasant.
"So since you like to talk together why don't you both tell us why you are being spanked". And with that a loud SMACK resounded through the room, catching everyone by surprise. Severus, using his hand, a hand made of deep and hardened calluses, began to apply many more smarting smacks.
"Because we..."
"Blew up our potion..."
"In your wonderful, clean kitchen..."
"Getting it all over the kitchen..."
"And all over the Elves..."...said the boys.
With each word Severus warmed up the bum in front of him, bringing the quivering bottom to a bright red and the owner of the bottom crying loudly.
He finished with the first twin and was moving over to the second when he noticed that the Elves had brought their young to the show and had moved them up front.
Then he heard one of the Mama Elves say, "Watch close because this is what will happen to you if you misbehave". The little ones stood there and watched, their eyes becoming as big as saucers.
As Severus started spanking the second twin he asked, "And for what, other, VERY important reason are you being spanked?"
Both of them talking through snot filled noses, and sobs, replied..."Because we could have harmed the House Elves or ourselves."
"You're correct" and with that he applied a bit more swing to his arm and, and as with the first twin, he made sure that the sit spot was going to twinge for the rest of the day."
When he finished he said..."Alright Gentlemen, you can stand and pull up your britches". He handed each of them a handkerchief and gave them a few moments to settle down.
"Now, Gentlemen, I want you to EACH SEPARATELY apologize to these kind Elves". When he heard no sound coming from them he said, "Now! Please! Unless you feel that perhaps the message your bum received has not, for some reason, connected with your brain."
With that each boy were jerked back to reality and apologized separately to the House Elves. Each hoped that this was the end of it and that they could go back to their dorms now, but such was not to be.
Severus asked Honcho, "Elf Honcho, am I correct in understanding that the Elves eat lunch after feeding the wizards and that one hundred and fifty to two hundred place settings are used daily?"
"You are correct Master Snape" replied Honcho.
"Good, then these fine fellows feel SO bad about what they have done, that they want to wash your lunch dishes, dry them and put them away for a whole week. They also REALLY desire to wash all the tables and the floor...Don't you boys?"
The Twins answered 'yes' with their mouths, but their eyes told a completely different story.
"Would this be OK with you Head Elf Honcho?" asked Severus.
"Yes, Master Snape, this would provide a wonderful break for the Elves, thank you!"
"Good" said Severus, "You boys will report here at noon each day and eat your lunch.
You will eat only the lunch they provide for you. You will then handle ALL the clean up. You will clean until you have achieved the standard of perfection desired by Chief Elf Honcho. When he is satisfied with your work then, and only then, you may return to your dorms."
"Also" said Severus, "You are grounded for the week, meaning NO leaving the dorm for ANY activity except class, detention, study in the library, and meals, is that understood?"
"Yes Sir" they replied.
"Good, then I think we are finished here. Honcho, they are basically good boys, but as with all youth, they sometimes stumble off course. Thank you for helping us teach them the error of their ways".
"If they give you any problems please feel free to call on me and I will take care of it."
"Have a good day all" and with that said he left.
All this was said with that "Snape" smirk, and a large portion of sarcasm. The boys would recognize this but Honcho was very impressed that the Wizard would think so highly of the Elves. Severus was raised a couple notches in his eyes.
The boys looked at each other, not sure if they had been excused or not but noting the look on the faces of the Elves they decided that leaving would be in their best interest now.
While walking back to the common room they were not looking forward to the next week as they could envision the impossible standards that would be set for them.
All the kids were waiting to see when and IF the twins returned.
Hermonie shared with everyone that she had received permission from her parents and Professor Dumbledore to remain at Hogwarts for the summer.
"Now I wonder why I'm not surprised? Let's see, extra study time, Professors available to teach courses, access to the Hogwarts library...hmmmmmm sure doesn't take a genius to figure that one out" said Ron with a smile.
The twins entered the common room before Hermonie could clobber Ron, and were besieged with questions. They had hoped to keep it a bit quiet but with Snape knowing, they were sure everyone would soon know.
They explained to the rest of the group what had happened and that they were grounded for the week. Everyone sympathized with them, promised to bring them goodies, and spend time with them in their prison for the week.
The twins were also disappointed because they had planned on trying to send their new fan-dangled-creation, expendable ears, up the stair case and into the meeting room tonight. They wanted to find out if the Order was being called up again, and why.
They tried very hard to get someone else to do it for them but there were no brave giants available. They had all seen how the twins had exited the Great Hall and had no desire to upset anybody else this soon. Spying would have to wait for another day.
Albus had expanded the office so that everyone could sit around a board table and be comfortable eating and talking. The House Elves brought in drinks and snacks and soon everyone started arriving.
The Order of the Phoenix had not been very active since Voldemort disappeared after the confrontation with the Potters. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss the necessity of activating the Order again and who to invite.
Arthur walked in and spotted Severus. "Sev, how did it go with the twins? Have they repented of their ways yet?" he smiled.
"Oh yes Arthur! Each has been soundly spanked, grounded for a week, and will be cleaning up the kitchens after the Elves eat lunch each day. That way they will only be dong their punishment time during what would have been play time." They are not happy campers" smiled Severus.
"Aren't there around two hundred House Elves down there at any given time?" asked Arthur.
"Yes, that is what Honcho tells me Arthur" said Severus.
Arthur laughed, "Well they will think about doing the dishes at the Burrow from now on to be a piece of cake. Well done!" and he continued to laugh along with many more at the table.
Albus got everyone's attention by clearing his throat and saying, "OK...Let's begin by discussing a few in-house issues. Severus, how did your visit with the Dursleys go?
"I obtained all the school and health information. All of which you could put in a thimble. It would seem that in fact Harry has been abused for the entire time he has been with those idiot Muggles. It was mostly mental abuse, along with starvation and hitting here and there. The night we found Harry was the first time that the Walrus had gone that far. Vernon lost a big contract that day and decided that beating on Harry would make him feel better, in more ways than one. You do know that he is a borderline Pedophile. We do need to follow-up before he decides that his son looks attractive. You need to know I got this information out of Petunia's memories, so she knows exactly how bad he is."
He continued, "As you can see in the report Alice and I submitted to you, Cassy is in pretty good shape. She had not been there long enough for them to get into the abuse routine. We still don't know her name but we do know she is very smart, alert and full of the devil. She will definitely be a handful."
"We managed to have the Dursley's sign over guardianship of the children; Cassy to Alice and Harry to me. Alice has talked about making it permanent if possible and I took guardianship of Harry until someone else can be found. As you know the boy and I get along like two north ends of a magnet, not to mention I do not want to raise the spawn of James Potter."
Severus continued, "Lupin and I have decided not to say anything to Harry, about the guardianship, until their counseling sessions show more progress and he can handle the news without blowing up the castle during a temper tantrum."
Lupin, not wanting Severus to get on a roll, interrupted saying, "I think I can find out what Cassy's name is if you will give me a few minutes and not ask a lot of questions."
Albus just smiled, his eyes twinkling as if he knew, but waved his hand at Remus to go. Then he turned to Severus and said "If you can't find it in your heart to say something nice about Harry then I strongly suggest that you don't say anything at all or we will have further words in private...do you catch my drift Son?"
Severus blushed and responded, "Yes Sir".
The rest of the table was in shock and decided pouring more tea was very important at the moment.
Remus quickly went to the Gryffindore Common Room and asked to speak to the twins. They were a bit apprehensive and asked, "What did we do now?".
"Nothing said Remus, it's what you're going to do. Please look at that parchment, I know you have, and write down the name of a little girl that is now sleeping in Madame Pomfrey's office."
The boys looked at him like he had lost his mind and almost started to lie about the map that they had hidden away. But, they knew that he knew, and he wasn't asking for the map, just some information. Perhaps it would be best to just keep their mouths shut and give him what he wanted.
With that in mind they ran for the Dorm room and checked the map. There she was, right where Remus said she would be, and her name was Cassandra Bannister. They wrote the name down and gave it to Remus when they arrived back in the common room.
Remus just smiled and said thanks as he bolted out the door. He arrived back at the meeting sooner than they expected and gave Albus the name.
Charlie of all people stood up and sputtered. "I know the Bannisters, at least I knew the Bannisters. Eric Bannister was a dragon handler. We found him and his wife dead in their home one morning with no sign of their daughter. The Dark Mark was over their house. I never met the girl but he used to talk about her and how she loved the purple dragon he gave her. According to Eric they had no other family".
Alice smiled and said, "She still has that purple dragon, in fact she won't go anywhere without it. We will check again but if there are no relatives then I will put in for adoption papers."
"How did you find her name so fast" asked Molly.
Remus knew that if he told Molly where he got the information she would go bonkers so he just said with a smile, "Well, I have my sources and they are very reliable."
Albus and Minerva were looking pale and very uncomfortable. "That also confirms another rumor that has been floating around" said Albus.
Albus continued in a harsh voice, "It would seem that there are a number of Death Eaters who believe that Voldemort will return soon. With this in mind they are trying to build up revenues for their movement. One of the things they are doing is killing people who have small children then selling the children on the black market."
"That would explain how the Dursleys were able to adopt a wizard child without us knowing about it" said Arthur. "I think it is imperative that we try and get to the bottom of this and apprehend whoever is acting as leader right now. Do we have anything to go on Albus?"
"No, not yet. The idiots we caught at the Burrow didn't have much to share other than their movement is starting to form up and everyone is competing for positions of power in it" replied Albus.
"I do feel there is a higher intelligence at work here, and a method to their madness, we just have to figure it out and try to put a stop to it. The Ministry is still burying their heads in the sand, playing like Voldemort is gone forever and these incidents are just isolated."
"Let's get the word out to all those in the old Order and each of you come to the next meeting with names of those you feel can be trusted" continued Albus.
"Also, this room will not be able to accommodate us all, plus it is just too visible. People who are interested could watch and see who is coming and going. There is a room, deep in the castle, that will be perfect for us. It has a large fireplace we can add to the floo system, plus it has its own entry from the outside. I will see about getting it ready and warded then send out the information you will need to find it for our next meeting."
Albus then smiled and said, "It's been a long day, I suggest we get some rest as we have classes and students to keep up with. OH...and by the way, Xenophilius Lovegood is going out of the country, looking for one of his weird animals again and asked me if I knew of someone who would be willing to take care of Luna for the summer. I told him we had some special classes going on and that she could come and stay with the other students. She will be arriving tomorrow as I figured one more couldn't make that much difference."
Everyone rolled their eyes and moaned but accepted his statement as fact and headed for their humble abodes.