It's the first time I publish a chapter so quickly. Only one week since my last publication, and already another one... But the truth is I've never written so much in such a short lapse of time. And, a little confession I'll share with you guys: My prom dress is green, and every time I wear it I feel like a Slytherin. It makes me laugh so, so much.

Thalia let out a roar of laughter, starring with clear astonishment at her fellow teacher. "This…" she stuttered, choking in her giggles, "is… really, really… funny!" Snape's grim expression indicated he, on the contrary, did not seem to find any amusement in this situation. " Funny? Are you seriously telling me you appreciate this reunion?"

"Oh, appreciate, no, not at all," Thalia admitted, her furious laughs transforming into small chuckles, "but you have to admit this man is wicked smart."

"This man? The… Who… Who are you even talking about?" Snape shouted, annoyed.

The students were silent now, listening with great interest to this argument.

"Dumbledore of course, can't you see his plan?"

"The only possible issue of this… unhealthy night we will be forced to spend together is death. For all of us. Ha," he joked, "they chose the right setting, the blood won't show, all the furniture being red."

"No one will die, my dear," Thalia objected, calming down as her coworker starting slightly fidgeting.

"I wouldn't be so sure… We might manage to save the students, but keep acting like this and one of us is bound to leave this world."

"And which one, may I dare asking?" Thalia spat out, angry.

"Well in this state, me, but let me get a hold of myself and then we'll have a fair battle."

A spark of anger kindled Thalia's irises. She suddenly took out her wand and gave a violent jerk in Snape's direction. A green flash of light left the tip of the roughly carved wood and shot across the room, hitting Snape in the head. The man fell back loudly on one of the couches, motionless. The light had taken about half a second to cross the room, but to Harry it seemed that it took a full minute. He realized then that the flash of green was still imprinted on his retin, and that anywhere he looked, he could see the deadly spell. It did not surprise him. He could still see in his dreams the same green flash that had killed his parents fifteen years ago. What had happened only a minute ago must have marked him as badly. The students were pale, dazed. Harry was scared now. They all were.

Snape gently got up, swearing. "I hate it when you do that."

Thalia smiled gently. "You really needed it," she said as an excuse. The man let out a slow sigh. "I did. You still use this spell far too often."

"You need it far too often," Thalia pointed out. "You should really learn to relax by yourself."

"I could if you'd leave me the time."

"You know this is way more efficient."

"Yes, but it hurts."

Thalia gave out a small laugh. "I'm not kidding," Snape objected. "This was designed to use during combat on people who are nearly dying. Comfort was not taken in consideration."

"Alright, I'll stop," Thalia promised, looking like a five year-old giving up her favorite toy, but knowing she would steal it back in a day or two. "What are the orders?" she continued.

"They'll arrive in a minute or two," Snape explained.

"Of course they will," Thalia laughed. "Can't you see what Albus is doing?" she continued, seeing the man's puzzled expression. "He's locking up all the Gryffondors to make sure none of them will have the stupid idea of fighting against the enemy."

"And why are we here, then?" Snape added.

"Because," Thalia whispered in a mysterious tone, "we are also Gryffondors."

The Potions' Master seemed to choke on the words Thalia had uttered. He was livid, eyes wide open, his coal colored irises igniting in a furious flame.

"Explain. Now."

"I just said that to annoy you. But it's kinda true. He's scared I might run outside the tower to do anything stupid."

"Alright, so this explains why you are with them. Why am I stuck here? Maybe you are part-Gryffondor, but I follow my head, rather than any stupid impulsion. Why should I be in this tower?"

"In case you decide to pay a visit to old friends."

"That also applies to you."

"Exactly. But if we are angry at each other, we won't. We wouldn't leave the tower. Not alone."

"And…?"

"And therefore having both of us in here will keep the fight alive long enough for us to accept to lock ourselves in, and by the time we are reconciled, well… we'll only have a few square feet to be horribly vicious."

The tall man slouched his shoulders, defeated. "You think he'll order us to lock ourselves in?"

"Positive."

" And that's what were going to do?"

"Absolutely not," Thalia smiled.

The dark figure let out a burst of laughter. "You know I love you?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

Thalia smiled, as Snape bent forward and placed a delicate kiss on her lips.

The entire crowd gasped, as if one. Harry, on the other hand, felt sickened. Ron had adopted the same shade of green as Harry, and he slowly muttered: "I thought they had broken up for good." Snape pulled himslef away, eyes wide with panic. Apparently, he had forgotten he couldn't approach his loved-one in public. He tried speaking, but simply opened his mouth quickly, to shut it half a second later. Thalia, on the other hand, seemed at ease with the situation. She threw Snape a grave look, placing her arms around his waist, and then, slowly, as if testing his capacity of enduring her words, she answered Ron's question. "Yes, we were in a fight. But it seems we are back together." Harry looked around. Though the other Gryffondors bore rather surprised expressions, none of them appeared to be as nauseous as he was. Probably because he knew both of the teachers too well. He suddenly let out a small curse. Sirius had recommended he stay away from both of them. And now he would have to spend the entire night with both of them. On his right, Seamus gasped. "You two are back together? As in were together all this time?"

"As in were together before the atoms constituting your body were even together," Snape replied.

"But… Isn't there a rule saying two teacher's can't… be together?" the student asked, full of hope. The boy was about to use another word than the generic expression be together, but the simple use of any other, more-appropriate word would have catapulted this impossible fact straight into reality. Consequently, be together appeared to be an excellent option.

At that point, both teachers were sitting closely on the same small couch, Thalia half-sitting on the seat, half-sitting on Snape. At that remark, she giggled again. "Let's see… To stay together, he had to break, well, the school rules, as students, then the Dark Lord's rules, when we were both Death Eaters, then, simple common sense, when I left the group and a death sentence was place upon me, and now, now, honey," she said, focusing her attention on Snape, overemphasizing her dramatic expression, "we need to defy the Headmaster's rules." Snape laughed, and added: "You're right… I think this is the most perilous decision yet."

The students laughed slightly, and Thalia took control again, sitting up on the couch's large armrest. "So yes we are together, and you will have to accept this fact, but it stops there. We won't be traumatizing your innocent little minds." Harry tilted his head until his mouth was behind Ron's ear, and whispered: "Too late for that." This time the teachers did not understand his words, as Snape went on. "Speaking of silly minds… Where are the little ones?" he asked in surprise. "Upstairs, in groups of fours, taking care of each other."

"Nice one."

"Thank you. I'd still like to mention you're going to have to go check on them a few times this night."

"Don't send him up there!" pleaded George, "the poor kids are going to have nightmares."

The tense students finally let out their anguish and followed George in his mockery. "Who doesn't dream of being tucked in by a Death Eater," started Seamus.

"Good night, sleep tight…" Lee mumbled in a small, shy voice.

"Don't let my friends kill you!" Fred finished, shouting in a deep, angry voice.

"Are your sheets a little cold?" tried a young fifth grade student. "I can set fire to them."

"If you need anything, don't disturb me, I'll be planning your death."

"Don't open the window, alright, because if you do the toxic gas I have unleashed in your room will disperse and it won't be as lethal."

"Alright, enough!" Thalia cut short to these more and more tasteless jokes. "What are we to do then?" she honestly asked the students.

"You can go," Harry found himself proposing.

"On the "Death Eater" part, I'm as bad as Severus, I fear."

"Yeah but you're hot," explained Fred.

Silence overpowered the giggles. Snape took his wand out, and firmly grasped it in his long fingers. He then passed his arms around Thalia's waist, and pulled her back to him, encircling her, until his wand was placed in obviousness on her lap. "You have my answer," he stated.

Fred laughed. "What, I'm supposed to say she's ugly?"

"No," replied Snape, "you're supposed to shut up."

As soon as Snape finished his sentence, a roll of parchment emerged from the burning fire-place and landed on Thalia's lap, intact. She silently unrolled it, rapidly skimming through the text covering it entirely. "Lock ourselves up for twelve hours," she stated, sighing deeply. "I know I'd go mad." Snape nodded, accordingly, eyebrows frowned. He then addressed Thalia as if they had been alone. "What are we supposed to do, vote?"

"Why? We can just… not do it."

"No, I understand but… The kids have the right to be locked in if that's what they want to. Originally, that was the plan."

Thalia smiled slightly, and Harry was unable to distinguish Snape's expression, his head facing the ground. It became clear though that the two adults were softly whispering to each other. After a few silent minutes, Thalia spoke up. "Alright everybody. I think you understand what's happening. He have orders to lock all of us in the Gryffondor towers for twelve hours. Nothing will be able to enter it, so we would be entirely safe: nothing, absolutely nothing, - on that she gave out a small laugh, as if renewing with good memories - can break through this spell. Only, we couldn't go out before the spell runs out, not before tomorrow morning. Dumbledore wants us to be safe and we understand that, of course," she added rapidly, "only Sev… Professor Snape and I are uncomfortable with this idea, for many reasons, some personal, we will not hide it, and some perfectly logic. And we want to know what you think." She took a deep breath. Harry thought she probably hated the idea of having the decisions taken by others. Worst, by simple kids. Worst again, by Gryffondor students. He let out a small smile. He liked this form of revenge. Thalia gave them a few minutes of silence to make their decision, and all the students sank into their heads. Harry had no idea what to do. He, for one thing, did not care much about the issue of the vote. It was obvious to him that Dumbledore and the other teachers would never let any of their opponents approach them, and the boy was convinced of his safety. He also knew Snape and Thalia would never let the Gryffondors, and especially not Harry himself, leave the tower before the end of the battle. Hence, this decision would not influence his night the very least.

Only, he kept hearing Sirius' words running in his head… you know who you can thrust, stick to them…He still hadn't decided if his godfather wanted him to thrust the two teachers or not, but knowing the man as well as he did, he was almost certain that he would want him to stay away from them. In which case, which option was better? Following the teachers' idea, and going against Dumbledore's will? This was nonsense to Harry's ears. Only, the other option left was also far from brilliant: was it a wise to lock himself up with these two dubious characters with no possibility of escape? Harry found the vote arrived far too quickly. He was about to decide to restrain himself from expressing his opinion, being incapable of formulating one, when he realized doing so he would let the two teachers have their way. Another thing Sirius would hate. Harry let out a silent groan of anger towards his godfather. He would not vote, end of the internal discussion.

"Those in favor of…" Thalia started. "Wait. How much do we count for?" she asked, turning towards Snape. He seemed puzzled for a while. "I don't know… half?"

"No, then we count for too much… no need for a vote…"

"A third?"

"I guess so…" Thalia said hesitantly. A sixteen year old student cut her short. "You call that democracy? Seems you're not used to taking fair decisions," he pointed out, his eyes locked on the two Dark Marks. Snape seemed absolutely furious, and the boy shrunk back slightly. "You ridiculous, idiot…" he began, cutting short to his chaplet of insults as the woman sitting next to him placed a hand on his knee. "You are right, the Dark Lord doesn't use a democratic system to take any decisions, but you sill have noticed that Dumbledore also uses a dictatorial system to give away orders. Right now, we are about to mutiny against the authority, which is not accepted in any of these cases. The fact that we add a democratic edge to this mutiny is pure generosity." The student swallowed loudly, understanding his mistake. Snape nevertheless pursued. "We understand you do not like the fact that we are marked with this," he spat out, gesturing towards his forearm, "but stop trying to rub it in. I can guarantee you none of your puerile remarks will add as little as an ounce of guilt to our consciences. So save your saliva."

Thalia seemed uneasy. "So… We'll deal with the importance of our vote later. For now, everyone please close your eyes." Snarls and chuckles were heard in the audience of students. A girl shouted out: "We've passed the age of being influenced by others." Thalia let out a bitter sound that slightly ressembled a laughter. "I thought you all had democracy tatooed on your heart… So those in favor of locking ourselves inside the tower, raise your hand." About a dozen hands lifted upwards. Harry observed with astonishment that most of his fellow students refused to stay inactive, or at least be obliged to stay inactive, in this fight – even Hermione. "Those in favor of…" continued Thalia. Before she had the time to finish her sentence, all the other students launched their hands in the air, some of them even standing up to emphasize their point. Thalia seemed happier now. " You must know that this means you will collaborate with us when will comme the time to lie to the Headmaster." The hands did not budge, and so Thalia declared: "Mutiny it is."