Chapter Twelve- Revenge of the Slytherins Part II
Severus and Sirius spent the night planning. Totally aligned toward their goal, they neither argued nor made fun of the other's ideas. What resulted, Sirius thought as he stared at their plans, was pure gold. That bitch that had harmed his son was going down. It couldn't be locked on either of them or their helpers and would most likely force Umbridge to resign both here and at the Ministry.
Draco, Blaise and Pansy walked in early the next morning, sitting in a row on the edge of the couch. Pansy surveyed their prank with a rather nasty smile and Sirius made a mental note to never cross the Slytherin girl. She was angelic and sweet when she wanted, but from her tone of voice when she discussed a few details with Blaise, she also had the temper and speedy strike of a viper.
Rial still hadn't woken by the time they were ready to play their prank, so Severus made an excuse for the teen, pulling him from his classes for the day. Then he handed Draco a small golden potion and headed to the staff meeting. Sirius followed the teens into the Great Hall, where a few early risers were getting their food or finishing a paper at the last minute.
Draco headed for the gigantic hourglasses that held the yellow citrine, sapphires, rubies and emeralds that accounted the house points. There were a number of students already there but Draco's reason was due to the staff table being just in front of the hourglasses. Pretending to study the distance between the house points for Slytherin and Gryffindor (lions were currently leading due to Umbridge), he pulled the stopper out of the small bottle and emptied it into Umbridge's glass.
His slow, careful move was unseen by anyone besides Sirius, who pretended to be studying the banners behind the table. With his deliberate pace Draco approached his fellow Slytherins, popping off one of his predictable comments about the Gryffindors. The entire thing was as slick as possible and Sirius could only shake his head and admit that the Malfoys were indeed superior in many ways.
The staff walked into the room and Sirius made his greetings to the Headmaster and Minerva before slipping into the open seat left for him by Severus. Umbridge drained her glass to the last pearly drop, much to Sirius' satisfaction. According to Severus the resulting effect would last an entire week.
Toward the end of the meal there was a loud pop! Sirius blinked and looked around like the rest of the students, before looking to Umbridge's chair which was obscured by white smoke.
When it cleared a number of students burst out laughing. Instead of their much disliked DADA teacher there was a large pink toad, wider than it was tall. The toad had orange, green and yellow spots and Umbridge's tight curls mashed to the top of its head. When she tried to speak all that resulted was a gigantic croak.
Sirius sniggered and watched as Dumbledore asked her to meet him in the staff room. When she reached the door one huge hop got her stuck, to Severus' snort of laughter. "I purposefully made the potion so she would be wider than the door," he hissed under his breath.
Sirius watched in satisfaction as the toad was forced to hop sideways out the door. Dumbledore summoned the rest of the staff with a glance and they followed the hopping professor. Once again she had to sidle sideways through the door; Flitwick took much satisfaction in refusing to assist her with a Levitation Charm, pretending he couldn't understand what she wanted.
Sirius bit his lip. This next part was the one they'd had trouble with; combining a mild truth potion with the potion to change her form had been tricky. Dumbledore changed her back with a flick of his wand. Her coloration remained however and she was furious. Severus had been highly inspired by Rial's tactic with the Femmelia Potion the year before, her coloring would last a week.
"I want the student responsible for this punished!" she shrieked. "A month's detention at least with me personally!"
"Why would a student do this to you, I wonder?" Albus questioned out loud. It was a rhetorical question but Sirius was discreetly watching Umbridge.
Her mouth was twitching slightly and she looked horrified. Severus had finally realized that a Truth Potion wouldn't combine with the other two but a strong Compulsion Potion would and it would compel her to tell the truth. Severus couldn't have asked for a better question if he'd given Dumbledore a script to read.
"Because I tortured a student with the Cruciatus Curse for a week," she finally said, face paling.
Minerva suddenly looked very much like her Animagus form. "You did WHAT? Albus, she cannot go unpunished. She needs to be sent to the Ministry immediately and thoroughly questioned."
"Indeed," Dumbledore answered, very little of the infernal twinkle in his eyes. "Dolores, I must ask you to pack your things. We cannot keep a teacher in Hogwarts who would use an Unforgivable on a student. You will use my Floo and go straight to the MLE. I will announce a dismissal of classes for today."
Severus couldn't resist a barb. "I daresay Cornelius will be looking for a new Senior Undersecretary."
"Severus," Albus said mildly, frowning at his Potions Professor.
"Sorry, Albus. I will head down to my quarters and work on a few papers."
Sirius excused himself as well, stating that he was going to check on his son. "He is down in the dungeons, Black," Severus said mildly, to cover Sirius' departure. "He asked me if I could get him excused from classes for today as he isn't feeling well."
"I guess I will accompany you down to the dungeons," Sirius said with creditable fake sullenness.
When they were walking down the hallway he started to snicker. "I wonder who will be replacing that toad? Her animal was appropriate, don't you think?"
Severus hadn't known the form Umbridge would take, as Sirius had claimed that honor with a creepy gleam in his eyes. He snorted slightly and said, "Indeed. A bit obvious but well worth the reaction."
Once again, Severus found himself in complete accord and understanding with Sirius Black. Looking sideways at the Auror he smiled slightly. It was a state of mind he could most easily get used to.
Once the staff had departed Draco headed down to Sev's quarters. He was anxious to see if his friend was awake and if he needed anything. The same tight emotion filled his chest that had happened after Rial had almost committed suicide. Draco couldn't put a name on it but it was more than just concern. Uttering the password he walked into his godfather's private quarters and took off his shoes.
Rial's door from the previous evening was open and the bathroom door was firmly shut. He could hear running water and summoned a house elf, asking for a decent but light meal. According to Severus one didn't feel like they could eat much after a bout of the Cruciatus Curse.
When Rial made his appearance, soft black hair still dripping from his shower, Draco swallowed. His best friend had dark circles under his eyes and was bundled in a warm turtleneck and thick slacks despite the relative warmth of Severus' rooms. The stark black clothing made his pale skin look even paler and it seemed to glow.
Looking at the small spread of assorted cheese, toast, orange juice and oatmeal he chose a piece of medium dark toast and spread it with thick raspberry jam. Biting into it he chose a glass of orange juice and sat down in the softest chair pulled up to the table.
"They cancelled classes for today," Draco said eventually. "Would you like to join Blaise, Pansy and I in Hogsmede?"
Rial looked away and answered quietly, "I'm actually supposed to meet Theodore Nott at half past noon. We were going in together."
Draco's eyes flashed, though Rial didn't see it. Biting back a feeling of irritation he replied, "That's all right, this is only the 1st trip we're allowed this year."
Dark green eyes appeared to burn into his gray ones from across the table as Rial looked up and frowned. "I am well aware of that, Draco. We've planned for this since the first DADA lesson; I'm not going to turn him down at the last minute."
At that moment the door opened and Sev walked in, followed by Sirius Black. Rial got up and walked over to his father, accepting the warm hug the older man offered. They sat down next to each other, Rial leaning quietly into his father's shoulder. Sirius carded his fingers through now dry hair and said, "How are you feeling?"
"Much better than I have any time this week," Rial said, smiling weakly. "I know," he continued as Sirius frowned at him, "it was stupid of me not to tell anyone. I didn't realize how much damage that spell does."
"Whether or not it hurts you I do not want you hiding anything like that anymore, Rial." Sirius looked into his son's dark green eyes and continued, "Write me, tell Severus or your friends, just don't try and hold up on your own again."
Seeing the obvious concern in his father's eyes Rial nodded. "Now, aren't you doing something today?"
Rial's face reddened and he nodded. He hugged his father and after a hesitating moment hugged Severus as well, who was shocked but his thin lips were quirking into a small smile. "Thank you, sir."
"Any time, Rial," Severus replied.
Rial plucked his wand from the table and walked to the door. "Bye Draco, see you later."
Draco watched Rial disappear through the door with narrow silvery-gray eyes, unaware of the two adults watching him with amusement. After a moment he stood and said, "Goodbye Sev, a pleasure to see you again Sirius."
He turned and swept out of the room in his usual regal style. I don't care who Rial spends his time in Hogsmede with! He wasn't quite sure he'd convinced himself of the fact, however.
Monday morning the students were eating breakfast and gossiping over the fact that Dolores Umbridge had been dismissed. The topic of the morning was exactly who was going to be teaching DADA. None of the students had any clue, though guesses ran from bringing back Professor Lupin to incredulous ideas like a vampire.
Zachary, Rial noticed warily, looked very smug. A quick look to the Head Table showed that Severus was watching the Gryffindor teen as well, near-black eyes hard and calculating. Dumbledore, on the other hand, was smiling brightly, twinkle out at full power. Rial's shoulders instinctively stiffened at the megawatt smile, that could only mean trouble.
Dumbledore stood up and approached the podium. "As you may have noticed, our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher Dolores Umbridge resigned due to unacceptable spells used in detention sessions. We are pleased to announce that her replacement is more than qualified to teach such a subject with an eye for the return of the Dark Lord."
"Thus, I am pleased to announce that your new DADA teacher is none other than Auror James Potter!"
The double doors swung open and revealed James Potter, arrogance personified, standing cockily in the doorway. When dark brown eyes landed on his green ones Rial could only think of one thing to say.
"Oh shit."
A/N: *cue Jaws theme song* Uh oh! Sorry this took so long to write, I ran out of inspiration for this chapter about half-way through. I hope it came out all right, it's probably not getting any better.