It all started with what any student would have called a magical incident, but what Harry and his acolytes had learned to call a normal day in Hogwarts. For the boy who had discovered the passage to the Chamber of secrets and flown over the school grounds flying on a stolen hyppogriff, one of Malfoy's practical jokes was just simple routine. Harry later on learned that the day in question, the boy had entered the DADA class about 5 minutes before the bell for the last period rang and had released the Devil's Fog samples that Thalia had locked up in the room's wardrobe and that would be studied that day. Now the Slytherin only knew this substance by reputation, and so he thought it was dangerous. He ignored, on the other hand, that it could be mortal.
He thought that the sight of half agonizing students would be quite a good joke, probably earning this fondness for cruel hoaxes from his beloved father. He had therefore warned all the Slytherin students to arrive about 30 seconds late to the class and to prepare for a good show, adding nothing more. His plan would have succeeded if Thalia hadn't arrived early to her own class in order to prepare the precious specimens for the arrival of the teenagers. When Harry arrived with the first Gryffondors, he witnessed a horrifying scene: their teacher was lying unconscious on the ground, blood leaking from her eyes, and a black mist was floating around her, making it impossible to discern half of her frail silhouette. Even if very few Gryffondors knew the mere existence of Devil's Fog, they realized that such a scene could not be normal and they closed to doors to prevent the vapors, that had started whispering at their arrival, to reach them. It was only when Hermione wiped a tear of blood from her face that they realized that the thick haze was flowing from under the door and quickly clutching to their feet and ankles. "We have to get a teacher to come," Hermione said, rummaging through her bag looking for her DADA book.
"Sure," quickly replied Neville, "I'll go get Professor MacGonagall."
"NO!" loudly shouted Malfoy, sprinting towards the class from behind a massive column that he was probably using as hiding spot.
He walked to the door and pressed his nose against the window in order to get a better view of the macabre events that were lying before his eyes. Harry heard him mutter a low "Shit!". It was obvious the boy was nervous: his hands were trembling, and the little color that usually hid behind his features had vanished. His eyes were beginning to twitch as he murmured "Go get Snape".
"Coward," Ron said to Harry, as Crabbe and Neville ran down to the dungeons, both fighting to arrive first and to have to right to explain their version of the story to the potions master.
"I know," Harry simply answered, slightly scowling at the sight of Neville tripping in the stairs.
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked as she arrived between her two friends.
"Well he clearly wants Snape to come because he knows that if any other teacher learns he almost killed Thalia, he will be in big trouble," Ron pointed out.
"He might even get expelled," Harry added.
"Maybe, but he's still doing the right thing," Hermione replied, wiping another tear of blood that had dropped out of her eye. "Once Snape realizes that Thalia was attacked by the Devil's Fog, he will know exactly what counter-poison to use and Thalia will be safe."
"Yeah," Ron sneered at Hermione, "Thalia's safety: that's what's truly preoccupying Malfoy."
The three laughed, and Hermione finally conceded that Draco's call for Snape was a totally selfish act. "But selfish or not," she added, "it's just stupid."
"How come?" the two boys asked simultaneously.
"Well Thalia is probably the best thing that ever happened to Snape since his birth. He'll never forgive Malfoy for harming her so badly."
Panic took possession of Harry's body when he saw an angry yet worried Snape climbing up the steps at at rapid pace. The tall man wore a small bag filled with vials of all sorts slung over his shoulder, and he was followed by an out of breath Neville. Panting, the boy approached the hoard of Gryffondors that was massed by the door and said: "I arrived there first. " He seemed about to faint, but a huge grin illuminated his features. The potions master, on the other hand, seemed far from happy. He stopped at a reasonable distance from the door, and the students automatically gathered around his tall and dark figure. "First of all," he slowly said, articulating every word very closely, "I want everyone to calm down." The different groups of panicked students immediately ceased all whining of any sort, as if magically soothed. Malfoy also seemed to come back to his senses, and he even built up enough self-insurance to pronounce the words "But professor…" Snape immediately set his piercing gaze on the boy, who simply stopped half way through his sentence. Blood was dripping from his pale eyes, making the picture simply frightful, and silence installed between the two men. Malfoy was clearly gauging Snape, but the potions master simply didn't flinch. All the frustration and anger of the world were concentrated in his two pupils, and his look was so cruel that Harry wondered for a second if it was not that look that was responsible for the crimson liquid leaking from Draco's eyes. The teacher finally detached his burning stare from the Slytherin and continued: "Now those of you who are weeping blood, do not throw yourself at Madam Pomfresh's doors: simply go back to your common rooms and swallow an ounce of armadillo bile. Do not worry," he added as the girls in the assistance smirked, "you can dilute it in anything from Butterbear to pumpkin juice without adulterating it's effect. For the few of you who already have strands of white hair, calmly head towards the infirmary, and once again, do not panic! I still recommend that you pay a little visit to the school nurse if you do not the light to permanently disappear from your eyes within the next few days."
Harry threw a quick glance at Thalia's body and observed that more than half of her rich brown hair had turned white. Around him, students were starting to checking each others heads, and a few of them burst into tears, creating a wave of panic that had quickly grew on the entire group. The boy had to admit that Snape's words were far from reassuring, but they had the advantage of being true. Realizing that he was still standing in the small cloud of Devil's Fog that had formed in the hallway, he had stepped back. "What did I say about staying calm?" Snape asked loudly, causing a few cries of fear. "Now all of you will go into your respective common rooms, drink a single ounce of armadillo bile and take a shower until all the mist floating around you has gone. We don't want you to spread it anymore than it already is… Those with white hair you will go to the infirmary and the other ones will stay put until a teacher come and get you, do I make myself clear. Mr. Longbottom, you will go get Ms. MacGonagall and help her clear up this mess," he added, pouring different liquids that vanished with the fog before even touching the ground. "And Malefoy, you will go see Professor Dumbledore. Now please excuse me, but I do not have time to answer to all you ridiculous questions. I can assure you that all students will survive this oh so difficult experience, but sadly I cannot say so about Miss Beauregard, so I ask you to please get out of my way so I can step in this classroom before Death itself does so." All the students moved away from the door and started leaving the hallway in direction of the infirmary, but Harry remained besides the door for about another minute. What he witnessed he never mentioned to Ron and Hermione, who had already departed for the Gryffondor common room. He saw Snape gently kiss Thalia on the forehead, and then empty a huge bottle of a purple substance on the ground. The fog then hardened and fell to the ground in the shape of little black beads. The potions masters then started pouring the content of little glass vials into Thalia's half open mouth. After a few seconds, Harry felt the blood streaming for his eyes reaching his neck and he left the scene, but he had stayed long enough to view the tears that were filling the eyes of his hated teacher, mixing up with the blood that was starting to flow.
Harry met Ron about 15 minutes later as he entered the boy's showers in the Gryffondor Tower. His friend was leaving the installations, a horrified look on his features. When Harry had asked the red head the reason of his fear, he had simply frowned a little bit more. "It's just… disgusting," he said, his eyes wandering freely, fixing themselves upon random objects. "For the first time in my life, I actually pity the house elves," he added with a smile. "But hey, don't tell Hermione." Harry smiled and entered the shower. It was only in there that he understood was Ron was talking about. The blue tiles that composed the shower walls were covered with a black slime that resembled tar. It's only difference with this substance was that it was moving. It had it's own sense of motion, as if animated by some sort of spirit. Harry shivered as we wondered how literal was the expression Devil's Fog. Harry felt his heart jump and he could almost feel it jerk up his throat. As he gathered up his courage to step into a cabins, he saw Seamus leaving one of them. "That ain't no fashion twist," he said with a wink, quickly leaving the slimy bathroom. Harry smiled back and took a little pause, simply disgusted by the idea of approaching any closer the substance. It was only when he understood that only water would stop his nose from showering his body with red liquid blotches that Harry closed his eyes and stepped into the shower the closest to him. It only took a minute and a half to remove all the mist covering him, and a soon as the boy was sure he was clean, he threw himself into a thick, warm towel and ran out of the washrooms.
He was received in the common room by a volley of feminine giggles, which he chose to ignore. He quickly found Hermione sitting by the fireplace, wrapped up in a long woolen scarf, reading a book that probably weigh a ton. When he asked were was Ron, she replied: "He's at madam Pomfresh's, of course."
"How come?"
"Haven't you hear Snape? All people with white hair…"
"Must go to the infirmary, right, I remember. How bad was his hair?"
"Oh, he was fine honestly, only a few strands were paler than the rest. I offered to cure him myself, but he really preferred to see a specialist. It's funny how after all those times I saved his life he still doesn't thrust me."
She had said all this without detaching her eyes from the aged pages of the huge volume she had on her knees. Harry looked over her shoulder and understood she was reading about The Devil's Fog. A few glances at the images illustrating the book convinced him to go for a walk in the castle. As he stepped outside, the fat lady in the portrait guarding the access to the common room spoke to him. "Are you clean?" she asked with her high pitched voice
"Yeah, just stepped out of the shower," Harry replied with a smile, pointing at his wet hair.
"Oh good! I don't want that revolting slime all over me, especially not after I bought my new Christmas dress."
Harry looked at the fat lady's avalanche of red and green ribbons and promptly complimented her, and then left the hallway, searching for something to do. He had finally decided to go meat the other students in the Great Hall when he heard Peeves flying in his direction. Avoiding the poltergeist, he hid behind an armor and watched a group of terrified Ravenclaws try escaping an unfailing salvo of pebbles. When they finally escaped and Peeves went of to pursue other errands, Harry left the crowded left wing and entered the right wing, that was usually empty around lunchtime, and which gave him all the silence he needed for his reflections.
As he was calmly wandering in the corridors, he heard a piercing screech hit his ears. "Where is he?"
"He is in my office, and from this moment on I will take care of his case," Dumbledore replied.
"Absolutely not, this… murder attempt," Thalia said after a while, "happened during my class, so the punishment to give to the boy is under my jurisdiction."
"It was until Snape sent him to my office," the Headmaster replied.
"Well thanks for doing that", Thalia added, apparently furious.
"Oh I'm so sorry, my dear," said a deep voice that Harry recognized as being Snape's. "I guess I should have kept him with me instead of doing all my possible in order to keep you into this world."
"Alright I get it," Thalia finally said. "Thank you for the saving my life part, by the way."
"You're absolutely welcome. Do you really think I would have let the Devil bring you down in hell with him?" he asked, sounding amused.
"Of course not, you're way to possessive for that," Thalia giggled.
"Oh haha! Now stop moving if you ever want you hair to be brown again."
Silence fell into the corridor, only interrupted by a few of Thalia's complaints. Apparently, the cure to the Devil's Fog was slightly painful. Devil's Fog. Harry shivered again, thought he was standing close to flaming torches, as he realized that a few seconds ago, he had been in contact with Satan himself. When the conversation stopped, Harry realized that the three teachers were probably in the teacher's room, situated on the angle between the corridor he was standing in and the one perpendicular to it. Taking a few steps, he finally caught a sight of the scene he was overhearing. Thalia was sitting in a large chair and the potions master was standing behind her, applying a brown substance to her hair, which was already starting to get darker. Dumbledore was standing, both facing them. It was Thalia who finally resumed the conversation by asking the man facing her: "So what do you intend on doing?"
"The boy will be in detention every weekend until Easter," he simply replied, as if the conversation had never drifted away from it's original subject, which Harry guessed was Malfoy.
"That's it?" Miss. Beauregard continued, looking absolutely astonished.
"I will also retract 150 points from the Slytherin House," he added.
"Shit," Harry saw, more than he heard, Snape mutter.
"Oh, you and your ridiculous House Cup," Thalia replied to Snape, tilting her head upwards in order to smile at him. "But still," she said, turning her head back to a normal angle and facing Dumbledore again, "I refuse. It's not this way that we'll ever manage to change the kid, he has serious behavior problems and I know there's only one thing that will put a stop to that."
"So what do you intend on doing then?" Dumbledore asked, exasperated.
"I'm going to go see Lucius."
Harry did not see Dumbledore's reaction, but he saw that Snape had frowned at the simple mention of Draco's father. Nevertheless, it was Dumbledore that replied first. "I know it's the thing to do," he said, diplomatic, "but Lucius Malfoy has refused each and every invitation to meat a teacher we have ever sent him." This news, that should have been dramatic to Thalia, seemed quite amusing to her. She simply smiled and looked up at Snape, who smiled to her before switching back to his anterior expression the second she stopped observing him. Looking straight in the Headmaster's blue eyes, she simply said: "Truth be said, I know that Mr. Malefoy will refuse to meat Miss Beauregard. But," she added as her interlocutor was about to speak, "I'm certain that Lucius would never refuse a little visit from Thalia."
"So it is," Dumbedore simply answered. "You can go see the boy's father during the weekend."
On these simple words, he saluted them and went to the back of the small room. There, he lifted a heavy tapestry and a door instantly left the darkness to expose itself to all that were there.
As Dumbledore entered the secret passage, Snape abandoned his task, pulled himself a chair and sat in front of Thalia. They both remained silent for about a minute, as if guessing they were not alone, and then finally Snape oppened his mouth and questioned Thalia. "You really want to go?"
"Yes," the woman replied, rolling her eyes.
"Look, you know the man's admiration for you has no limits and…"
"And you know my admiration for him has limits. You would have reasons to be scared if a was a stupid rag doll with no will power, but I happen to be a woman who knows when to say no."
"Alright then. Well have a good trip."
"Hey, I'm only leaving tomorrow."
"Yeah I know… you really don't think there's any other way to…"
"No!" Thalia almost screamed. "I've already told you, I am not letting Draco get out if this one. He can play innocent all he wants, but he's the son of Lucius Malfoy. The guy probably knew the composition of Devil's Fog before he even knew the composition of pumpkin juice! He could have killed half of his group if I hadn't arrived early, and the worst is, he wouldn't even had cared…"
"He seem scared of what he had done to you…" Snape pointed out.
"Because he knew he would be in trouble!" Thalia interrupted him. "You know as well as me that he did this voluntarily, and that the only person that can have influence on him is his father. I'm telling you, this will be of big aid to all the teachers who couldn't stand him either."
"That is, if you can get his father to shut him up.
"Oh, I'm sure I will…"
Thalia finally soothed herself, and when she spoke again, she had reached a quite lower one of voice. "Anyways," she said, "pulling herself out of the cozy bench, "I have to get back to my room. Classes are over anyways…" Harry looked at his wristwatch and saw it was already five o' clock. His friends were probably waiting for him in the common room: after all, the classes had ended about half an hour ago, when Harry had left the Gryffondor tower. Inside himself, he knew he should leave his hiding spot and go back to his friends, but he was strangely fascinated by what he was seeing. He had to admit it: since he had started listening to the secret conversations that took place in the Order of the Phoenix, he had developed a certain taste for eavesdropping and learning new secrets. Only the conversation ended quite quickly, and he didn't have time to learn anything worthy. "True," Snape said, walking up to kiss her. "I guess I'll see you Monday then."
"Wait a minute," Thalia said, pulling away from his embrace and walking up to the exit Dumbledore had used moments ago, "I'm only leaving tomorrow morning. Coming?"
Snape smiled at her invitation, but still nodded. Lifting up the heavy bag of vials of all sorts, he simply whispered: "I'll see you in a second, I just have to bring these back in the classroom."
"Sure…. Why don't you come up here," she replied with a wink.
Harry shrugged. For some reason, Thalia wanted the potions master to enter that dark, secret corridor. He did not want to know why. Luckily enough, he didn't have to fall asleep that night as a traumatized kid, as Snape poke. "I'm sorry, I won't, but why don't you prepare whatever you had in mind for…" Harry immediately shut his mind to everything surrounding him. When he oppened his eyes and unblocked his ears, he heard the man's deep voice say: "Yes, it's quicker if I use the normal corridor." Harry's thought were swallowed by the racket his heart made is it thudded loudly against his chest. If his teacher found him spying on his most intimate conversations… He quickly got up and sprinted towards the end of the corridor. As he thought he had made it, he heard Snape calling for his name, sounding absolutely furious: "Potter!"
Harry stopped the second he heard his name, and turned around right in time to see Snape running towards him. "He's going to execute me in this corridor," was the only thought that crossed Harry's mind. His brain was ordering his legs to start running, but the boy refused to listen to them. Running would prove to all he was guilty, and in this case he couldn't even try to get out of this situation with his words. He therefore stood straight as a tree when the teacher arrived and violently grabbed his hair. Puzzled, Harry simply gagged at the pain that quickly vanished. He did not know what to think: was Snape trying to scalp him in a strange, new way? His movements were gentle, as it seemed he was analyzing his hair more than he was ripping it off from his head. "You pretentious idiot," he heard Snape mutter through his teeth, "you thought the Devil wouldn't dare attacking the great Harry Potter?"
"What?" Harry asked, not sure if Snape was talking to him or not.
"Go to the infirmary, and now!"
He released Harry and immediately turned to his right, talking the long alley of steps that led to his beloved dungeons. Harry stayed still for a moment, then started walking towards the infirmary, as he had been told. It was only when he walked by a mirror that he understood the potions master's reaction: the Devil's Fog had affected him more than he thought, and now about a third of his thick black hair was a white as snow.
The next day, all the students were healed and they were now heroes among the other students: someone, probably a Slytherin, had started the rumor that the students had actually fought against the Devil, instead of simply washing him off. When Fred and George asked Harry and Ron to relate to them the epic tale of the battle against the Devil itself, they had been quite honest. "Well at first, he had an obvious advantage on me," Ron said, immediately captivating his two older brothers, "but when I turned on the shower, you could sense in the air that the wind was turning and that soon I would show him who was superior. When the water started running, it's faith was sealed: it would transform into…" Harry saw the two redheads hold their breath, waiting to see in what fantastic and deadly creature the Devil had shaped into when in contact with the clear and pure water. Ron took a theatrical pause, and continued. " … a harmless slime that was later on collected by a bunch of innocent house elves." Harry joined Ron in his laughter at the sight of the other boys' expression: you could obviously see they were disappointed, but they also seemed to have realized that everything they had heard for the last 24 hours was simple rubbish.
The finally managed to turn the situation at their advantage when, as they were heading to eat breakfast, they heard Crabbe and Goyle parasing their own courage in front of a group of younger, and obviously impressed, Slytherin girls. "So then we discovered," Goyle said, "the way to annihilate him."
"Annihilate…" said Fred. "Well now we know this text was learned off by heart and written by someone else."
"We had no clue what it was," continued Goyle, who hadn't heard the Gryffondor's comment, "and we had to find it out quickly, because our lives were in danger."
"Yeah," said George, loud enough for the crowd to hear this time, "it's not like Snape had told you that water was enough to eliminate him."
The girls looked at the two boys, asking for explanantions, but they somehow managed to turn the situation back around. "True, but have you ever tried to attack the Devil, with any kind of substance?" Crabbe asked, redirecting his attention on the group of grils, who looked impressed. "It was the hardest ordeal of my life."
"Why, was the shower so hard to open?" asked Fred.
The Gryffondor's went roaring with laughter and continued their walk. "Too bad Malfoy wasn't there," George said.
As it is, Malfoy only appeared a week later. Harry knew perfectly well where the boy was: he was at home with his father and Thalia, probably getting the punishment of a life time. By respect for Thalia and Snape, but mostly for Dumbledore, he chose to talk about what he had seen only to Ron and Hermione. Therefore, when, on Monday, they discovered Malfoy's chair was empty, they were the only ones to understand why and to deny the rumors that mentionned he had been killed by the Devil's Fog last Friday. Only, when on Wednesday the three Gryffondors noticed that their enemy was still absent, and Thalia had returned to the school, they started worrying. What if someone else had killed Malfoy? The thought wasn't very saddening, but it was sure frightening: Thalia had enough influence on Lucius Malfoy to make him punish his son so badly he could not present himself to classes. What influence did she have on other Death Eaters? Also, the kids wondered if she was responsible for Draco's disparition. Finally, it was on Friday that the Slytherin finally showed up to class. He was unharmed, but he seemed as withdrawned as ever. Even his Slytherin compatriots ignored the reason of his absence. Harry didn't know how, but in some way students had made the link between Draco's ridiculously dangerous prank and his missed week of class, making at the same time the link between him and Thalia. Very few knew she was an old friend of his father's, and even fewer knew about her visit. After a few weeks, the students calmed down, and by Christmas everyone had forgotten this story. Only one thing remained: Malfoy was finally calm and obedient, eand everyone stayed out of Thalia's way.