Snape's POV
Olivia and I spent as much time together as we could over the last few days of the holidays, made difficult by the fact that the Dark Lord had me at His side nearly every waking moment. He was furious that they had been able to cure the bite Nagini had inflicted upon Arthur Weasley. I had decided beforehand not to tell Him of Olivia's part in healing him and was glad I had not done so.
I was dreading our return to Hogwarts, not just because it meant a return to Umbridge, but because it also meant I would have to start Potter's Occlumency lessons. Albus told me I would have to go and tell the boy before the holidays were over- he was still trying to distance himself from Potter "for the boys own safety."
The last day of the holidays, after spending the majority of the day in bed with Olivia, I told her I had to go to headquarters to talk to Potter.
"About the Occlumency lessons?" she asked, propped up on one elbow in my bed, watching me get dressed.
"Yes."
"I would offer to go with you, but…"
"It's better if you don't," I finished. "Potter does not know you, does not know of your connection to me. We should keep it that way, as long as we can."
"Agreed," she said.
When I was dressed, she got up to kiss me goodbye.
"Don't torture him too much," she said with a grin. "It's the holidays."
"I'll try not to. I'll be back soon."
"I'll be here," she said, flopping back onto my bed.
I Apparated just outside the door of Grimmauld Place. I stepped inside quickly, the cold winter wind snapping at my heels as I closed to door. Molly Weasley came bustling out of the kitchen.
"Severus," she said with genuine surprise and a forced sort-of enthusiasm. "What brings you here?"
"Dumbledore asked me to come and speak with Potter," I said to her.
"I'll go and get him. Why don't you wait in the kitchen?"
I inclined my head and headed for the kitchen while she went up the staircase.
The moment I stepped into the kitchen, I regretted it. Anger flared up inside of me at the sight of Sirius Black sitting at the table. Almost as if he felt my waves of hatred, he turned his head and saw me standing there. His brown eyes narrowed.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, his dislike obvious.
"I am here on Dumbledore's orders…to speak with Potter," I said, sitting at the opposite end of the table. "This letter explains it."
I gave him the letter Dumbledore had given me, addressed to him. It explained the need for Potter's Occlumency lessons.
"I am supposed to talk to the boy alone-" I began.
"Not gonna happen. This is my house, there are no private conversations that don't include me," he said.
"By all means," I said with a sneer. "Stay. It makes no difference to me."
Black 'hmmphed', crossed his arms and stared pointedly in the opposite direction. We waited in silence, the air heavy with mutual dislike.
A few minutes later the kitchen door opened and there stood Potter, dressed in Muggle clothing.
"Er," he said, looking around the room. I glanced up at him.
"Sit down, Potter," I said.
"You know, I think I'd prefer it if you didn't give orders here, Snape. It's my house, you see," Black said, leaning back in his chair. Annoyance flickered through me, but I ignored it. I just had to get through this, and I could get back to the beautiful girl waiting at home for me in my bed…
Potter sat down in a chair beside Black and faced me.
"I was supposed to see you alone, Potter," I sneered, "But Black-"
"I'm his godfather," Black said loudly.
"I am here on Dumbledore's orders," I said quietly, "but by all means stay, Black, I know you like to feel…involved."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Black demanded, letting his chair fall back on four legs.
"Merely that I am sure you must feel- ah- frustrated by the fact that you can do nothing useful for the Order."
Black flushed and I sneered in triumph as I turned to face Potter again.
"The headmaster has sent me to tell you, Potter, that it is his wish for you to study Occlumency this term," I said to him.
"Study what?" Potter asked blankly.
Idiot! I thought to myself, frustrated.
"Occlumency, Potter. The magical defense of the mind against external penetration. An obscure branch of magic, but a highly useful one," I replied, my sneer even more pronounced.
"Why do I have to study Occlu-thing?" he blurted out. I scoffed.
"Because the headmaster thinks it is a good idea. You will receive private lessons once a week, but you will not tell anybody what you are doing, least of all Dolores Umbridge. You understand?"
"Yes," Potter replied, "Who's going to be teaching me?"
I raised an eyebrow at him- why else would I be here?
"I am."
Potter looked as if someone had just told him his owl died. He quickly looked around at Black.
"Why can't Dumbledore teach Harry?" asked Black aggressively, "Why you?"
"I suppose because it is a headmaster's privilege to delegate less enjoyable tasks. I assure you I did not beg for the job," I said silkily. I got to my feet, wanting this to be over, before I had to kill Black.
"I will expect you at six o'clock Monday evening, Potter. My office. If anybody asks, you are taking Remedial Potions. Nobody who has seen you in my classes could deny you need them," I said to Potter and turned to leave.
"Wait a moment," said Black, sitting up straight. I turned around to face him, sneering.
"I am in rather a hurry, Black…unlike you, I do not have unlimited leisure time…"
"I'll get to the point, then. If I hear you're using these Occlumency lessons to give Harry a hard time, you'll have me to answer to," Black said, standing up. Taking this as a threat, I clenched my fist around my wand in my pocket, ready to fight. Black was a lot taller than me and looked a lot angrier.
"How touching," I sneered, "But surely you have noticed that Potter is very like his father?"
"Yes, I have," replied Black proudly.
"Well then, you'll know he's so arrogant that criticism simply bounces off him," I said sleekly. Black knocked his chair out of the way and strode across the table towards me, pulling out his wand as he went. I had my wand out before he had his completely out of his pocket.
"Sirius!" Potter said loudly, but Black ignored him.
"I've warned you, Snivellus," said Black, his face inches from mine, "I don't care if Dumbledore thinks you've reformed, I know better-"
"Oh, but why don't you tell him so?" I whispered, livid at the use of the offensive nickname he and Potter had called me in school. I quickly made my face blank again- I couldn't let him get to me.
"Or are you afraid he might not take the advice of a man who has been hiding inside his mother's house for six months very seriously?" I continued.
"Tell me, how is Lucius Malfoy these days? I expect he's delighted his lapdog's working at Hogwarts, isn't he?" Black asked.
"Speaking of dogs," I said softly, "did you know that Lucius Malfoy recognized you last time you risked a little jaunt outside? Clever idea, Black, getting yourself seen on a safe station platform…gave you a cast-iron excuse not to leave your hidey-hole in future, didn't it?"
Sirius raised his wand.
"NO!" Potter roared, standing between us, "Sirius, don't-"
"Are you calling me a coward?" roared Black.
"Why, yes, I suppose I am," I said quietly, ready for the fight I knew was to come.
"Harry- get- out- of- it!" Black snarled, pushing Potter out of the way. The kitchen door opened just then and the entire family of redheads walked in along with Mr. Weasley, who wore striped pajamas.
"Cured! Completely cured!" he announced brightly, grinning. Everyone froze and took in the scene before them. Black and I were still facing each other, wands out.
"Merlin's beard," said Mr. Weasley, no longer smiling, "What's going on here?"
We both lowered our wands, brought back to our senses by the unexpected entrance of so many witnesses. I swept across the kitchen past the Weasleys and paused at the door.
"Six o'clock Monday evening, Potter," I said coldly, then walked out the door.
Olivia's POV
I was stretched out on Snape's bed, naked, reading a book on dragons when he returned from Grimmauld Place. He looked annoyed, but smirked a little when he saw me.
"How'd it go?" I asked casually, shutting the book.
"Fine…well, Black and I almost dueled- would have, but Arthur Weasley showed up. They released him today, apparently."
"Yes, Healer Smethwyck said they might… what were you fighting about?" I asked as he sat down on the edge of the bed.
"The usual. I don't want to talk about it. …I was thinking we could go back to school this evening, so you can see your new room and learn some of your duties as Head Girl," he said.
"I guess that's okay… but why don't you let me take your mind off things first?" I asked coyly.
"I think that will be okay," he said with a smirk.
A while later, Snape and I left the house somewhat regretfully. We Apparated outside of Hogwarts and made our way up to the castle. The grounds were covered in snow and snow was still drifting lightly from the sky.
"It's so beautiful," I said, twirling around, trying to catch snowflakes on my tongue.
"Yeah. Beautiful," he murmured, watching me with a soft look in his black eyes.
I smiled and linked arms with him, snuggling against him to fight the chill.
"You…can't do that," he said, gently pushing me away. "You never know who could be watching."
I sighed and wrapped my cloak around myself.
"I love it here. I just wish we could be…us," I said with a sigh.
"I know what you mean," he said heavily.
As we got closed to the castle, we passed a group of Hufflepuff girls having a snowball fight. When they saw Snape coming they squealed and ran off, giggling. I glanced at him and smirked. He just rolled his eyes.
Snape and I made our way to the Slytherin Common Room together. There were a few students lingering, reading or chatting in the corner. They paid little attention to us as Snape led me through the door that led to the hall where the girls' dormitories were. At the end of the hall, there was a door almost identical to the others, but this one had no door handle. Snape pulled out his wand.
"We have to set a new password. What do you want it to be?"
I thought about it a moment.
"Mandrake," I said finally. The door glowed faint gold for a moment, then the glow disappeared and the door swung open.
It was a big room, bigger than my room at home. There was a queen-sized four-poster bed hung in green and silver satin. There was a large oak wardrobe and an oak writing desk. There was a fire crackling merrily in the fireplace by the bed.
"Wow… I could get used to this," I said, looking around.
"Why 'mandrake'?" Snape asked curiously.
"Huh? Oh… Well I always thought that if I ever had a kid…if I had a son, I would name him Mandrake," I said, carefully studying his reaction.
He looked surprised at first, then thoughtful.
"I like it. It's strong," he said.
"And potion-y," I added, smiling at him.
We didn't stay long in my room so no one would get suspicious. We walked through the corridors as he told me where I would patrol as Head Girl and when. Mostly it was in the dungeons.
"If you find any students out of bed, you are to bring them directly to me. You are also in charge of the Prefects, telling them what to do-"
"Aren't the Head Boy and Girl usually Prefects beforehand?"
"Not always. It isn't necessarily a prerequisite."
We finished walking around the corridors and went to his office, where he summoned us some tea.
We sipped silently for a while and he seemed to be thinking about something.
"So…if we had a girl, what would you name her?" he asked.
"Belladonna," I replied without hesitation.
"Huh. I like it," he said, smiling.
I smiled, too, my heart thrilled that he had said if we had a girl…
Snape's POV
I spent several nights a week attempting to teach Potter Occlumency. Needless to say, it didn't go well. He just didn't get it and with Occlumency, you either got it or you didn't.
The only thing that made the days easier was getting to do night patrols with Olivia.
One evening we were just finishing our patrol when Albus came into the dungeons. He looked quite anxious and pale.
"Severus I need to see you upstairs, immediately… it has happened."
Without waiting for an answer, he turned and hurried back upstairs.
"Olivia, finish up the patrol and return to your room," I instructed.
She nodded obediently.
"Can you tell me what's happened?" she asked quietly.
"It is what we have feared… there has been a breakout from Azkaban. I've got to go."
"…Be careful," she said breathlessly.
I couldn't help it- I made sure no one was around, then pushed her into the shadows and kissed her briefly. I left her standing in the shadows and headed upstairs.
Minerva was already in Albus' office when I got there.
"Kingsley just sent the Patronus… it happened almost an hour ago."
Minerva swallowed heavily.
"How many?" she asked anxiously.
"Ten," he said heavily.
"Who?" I asked, feeling a little sick to my stomach.
"The worst of the lot, it sounds like. Dolohov…Rookwood…Bellatrix."
I winced. Bellatrix Lestrange and I hated each other.
"I need you to go, Severus. Their first night out, they may try something. You know what to do."
I nodded and hurriedly left the castle.
As it turned out, the Dark Lord kept the escaped Death Eaters under control.
"There will be plenty of time to wreak havoc, but for now we lay low. The majority of the Wizarding world does not believe Potter that I have returned. We will see how the Ministry deals with the outbreak. Tonight, we will eat, drink…and welcome back into the fold those who have been most loyal to me, who never denied me, who sacrificed everything…for me."
Bellatrix let out a little cry and fell to his feet.
Lucius and I caught each other's eye and smirked.
The next morning we found out just how the Ministry was handling the break-out. Any hope that it might open their eyes to the situation at hand was crushed when the owls brought the Morning Prophet. The Minister was blaming the outbreak on Sirius Black, which I found amusing. Now he would definitely be too frightened to leave home. Albus seemed surprised that they had reported it at all, as desperate as the Minister was to keep people under the illusion that there was no danger.
I glanced down to the Slytherin table. Most of the students were eating breakfast cheerfully, oblivious to anything other than their own affairs. Olivia was one of the few reading the Prophet. She felt my eyes on her and met my gaze. She was pale-faced and tired-looking, like she had stayed up all night worrying. She smiled wearily at me, then returned her attention to the paper.
Olivia's POV
February came surprisingly fast with no more news of the escaped Death Eaters - or at least, nothing that was public knowledge. Snape spent more and more weekends away from school while Umbridge continued to make life harder for everybody. It was times like this I was glad to have my Internship at St. Mungo's.
One Friday evening, Snape summoned me to his office after dinner. We had patrol that night together and I wondered why he would call me down before I was supposed to meet him. I knocked on his office door and opened it.
"Good evening," he said as I shut the door behind me.
"What's up?" I asked curiously.
"Why does something have to be 'up'?" he asked. "I thought perhaps you would like to have tea with me before we go patrol."
"Uh, sure," I said, sitting in my usual chair.
We sipped tea and talked about mundane things- Quidditch, the weather, work at St. Mungo's. When we finished our tea, he cleared away our cups. WE left his office to begin our night patrol.
"Tomorrow is a trip to Hogsmeade," he said casually.
"Yeah, I know."
"It's also February 14th… Valentine's Day…"
"Stupidest holiday ever, in my opinion."
"Oh I agree. Completely ridiculous. …Would you like to go get a drink with me?"
I chuckled quietly.
"Of course," I replied. "Did you even have to ask?"
He smiled sheepishly.
The next morning I got up and began to get ready for my day with Snape. I dressed in a long black skirt, boots and a grey cashmere sweater, as it was still cold outside. I brushed my hair and applied some light makeup. I left my room and headed into the Common Room.
The Common Room was pretty much empty but I spotted Alexandria lying on a couch in the corner.
"What's wrong?" I asked, walking over to her.
"Nothing," she said with a sigh.
"Something."
"…It's just… It's Valentine's Day and I don't have a date."
"So?" I said with a snort. "It's a stupid holiday."
"I know. Normally I wouldn't care, but for some reason…"
"Well… I could stay and hang out with you, if you want."
She looked me over.
"No, Liv. I don't want to ruin your day. We can hang out tomorrow. I'll just stay here and read a book."
"If you're sure…"
"Totally. Have fun with… him," she said with a wink.
Snape met me on the steps outside the castle and we began walking towards the village. He looked close to smiling. There wasn't anyone else on the path- everyone was already in the village most likely- and he allowed me to link arms with him.
"What if we see Umbridge?" I asked quietly.
"She won't be in the village. She has a meeting with the minister, I saw her leave a little while ago."
"No good can come of her meeting with the minister," I said darkly.
"Well, I can think of some good that might come of it," he said, glancing around quickly then kissing me swiftly. I grinned.
"So, where are we going?" I asked curiously.
"I thought we might go to the Hog's Head for a drink first, then walk around some…maybe visit the Shrieking Shack," he said with a smile. "Where we can be alone."
"Sounds good to me," I said, smiling.
We didn't stay long at the Hog's Head because there were only a few people there and Snape felt uneasy.
"You never know who could be under some of these hoods," he whispered to me. "I know some of the Order frequent this place and if they saw us, they might say something to Dumbledore."
"You know, I don't think he cares, really," I said as we finished our drinks and left the pub. "Dumbledore. He always seems so delighted when he sees us together. And smiley."
"That's just his way. Anyway, I don't want him to know."
We walked around the outskirts of town together, not wanting to be seen together in the middle of the street. After a while we made our way to the Shrieking Shack where we spent the rest of the day together.
Snape's POV
The next few months were tough and passed agonizingly slowly. I had postponed by Defense lessons with Olivia in order to focus more fully on attempting to teach Potter Occlumency, pointless as it seemed. Our lesson was interrupted one evening by shrieks from upstairs. Umbridge had fired Sibyl Trelawney, the Divination teacher. Albus allowed Trelawney to stay, however. He hired Firenze the centaur as a replacement, an act that made Olivia loathe the fact she had abandoned Divination.
Shortly after the incident with Trelawney, Umbridge and a few of her favorite students found out about Potter's secret Defense meetings and one evening burst her way into the Room of Requirement to catch them in the act. I wasn't there when it happened, but heard about it all later from Minerva. Apparently Umbridge had called Fudge to Dumbledore's office and she caught Potter and took him up there. Somehow Albus turned it around to make it look like he had commissioned Potter to start the Defense group. Fudge had brought some Aurors with him, planning to arrest Albus, but Albus fled before he could do that. The next day, Umbridge declared herself Headmistress and life became a little bit harder for those who didn't cooperate with her. I knew better- I cooperated.
Or at least pretended to cooperate. When she tried to enter the Headmaster's office to take over, the office sealed itself against her. I could have easily opened it, but pretended to try and fail. Umbridge put in place an Inquisitorial Squad, a group of students she selected- most of them mine- who had a little more power than Prefects. Olivia joined the Squad to please Umbridge, but didn't abuse her powers like the others.
I was in my office one evening, grading papers but really thinking about Dumbledore and wondering how he was going to regain control of the school, when Olivia came in, looking glum.
"Umbridge wants to see you," she said with a sigh.
"Do you know why?" I asked, reluctantly getting up.
"No idea. …When's Dumbledore coming back?" she asked sadly.
"I wish I knew."
Olivia followed me back up to Umbridge's office. Filch was leaving as we approached, a gleeful look in his eye.
"Mr. Filch," I said with a nod.
"Professor," he said, acknowledging us. "Miss Cain."
"Good news?" I asked him.
"Educational Decree Twenty-nine is in the works," Filch said gleefully. "Reinstating the right to whip and other harsher punishments this school hasn't seen since the old days."
"Excellent," I said to him. "Congratulations."
Filch continued on down the hall, practically skipping. Olivia glanced at me and smirked.
"There's only one person I want chaining me up and whipping me," she whispered, glancing to make sure no one was around. "And that's you."
I chuckled quietly, then shushed her as I knocked on Umbridge's door.
"Come in," she said sweetly.
"You wished to see me, headmistress?" I asked, entering the room.
"Severus, yes. Miss Cain, you can stay if you want. Severus, I am in need of a truth potion. A strong one."
"Veritaserum, headmistress?" I asked.
"Yes, that will do nicely. I plan to interrogate Potter and other known members of this 'Dumbledore's Army' by order of the Minister himself."
"May I ask why, headmistress?"
"To see if they know the whereabouts of Albus Dumbledore…and any other information that may be useful to me."
"I see. Well, that I can do. I will send Olivia back with the potion momentarily."
"Thank you, Severus," Umbridge said.
Olivia and I left her office and started back down to the dungeons, my mind working quickly. It was almost lunchtime and no one else was around, but we still didn't speak until we made it to the Potions classroom and closed the door.
"What are you going to do? You aren't actually going to give it to her, are you?" Olivia asked me.
"No, of course not. Here," I said, taking an empty vial and walking over to the sink. I filled the vial with water. "I guarantee she won't know the difference. Colorless. Odorless. No one can tell the difference."
"I can tell the difference," Olivia said, examining the vial.
"You just watched me put it in there," I said, rolling my eyes.
"Besides that- it doesn't move like Veritaserum," she said, gently shaking the vial.
"Hm," I said with a small smile, impressed but not surprised. "I doubt anyone will look that close."
"You want me to take this to her now?" Olivia asked.
"Yes, and when you do you can come back to my office and help me grade these papers, if you want to."
"I will."
I was in my office waiting for Olivia to come back when I heard a loud BOOM that resounded through the castle and shook the walls of the dungeons. I sprang to my feet and hurried out the door and up the stairs, pushing my way through the sea of students trying to see what was going on.
Someone had set off a large crate of enchanted fireworks on the floor below Umbridge's office. Sparks were flying everywhere. A number of large dragons comprised entirely of sparks were zooming around emitting fiery bags as they went. Rockets with long silver tails were bouncing off the walls. Brilliant Sparklers were writing swearwords in midair all by themselves. I glanced around for Olivia and spotted her standing to the side, laughing as one sparkler spelled out the word POO in giant, red letters. I made my way over to her and we watched the chaos ensue. Umbridge tried Stunning the fireworks, but that only made them explode with such force they destroyed anything nearby. Vanishing only made them multiply by ten. After a minute, I gestured for Olivia to follow me away before Umbridge recruited me to try and help.
"I can't say for sure," Olivia said as we went back downstairs. "but I'd say that looks like a Weasley product."
The fireworks ran rampant through the castle throughout the rest of the day, getting into classrooms and disrupting class. None of the other teachers seemed to mind- in fact they seemed to enjoy summoning Umbridge to their classrooms to watch as she tried to get rid of the fireworks. I found them to be quite irritating and inconvenient and was glad when classes ended that day. By the next morning, they all seemed to have disappeared.
Olivia's POV
The day after the fireworks catastrophe, Snape was due to have an Occlumency lesson with Potter. I was in the library studying for finals when I heard Malfoy and some of his cronies come in.
"-found Montague jammed inside a toilet on the fourth floor," Malfoy was saying, ignoring the shushing of the librarian. "He had no idea how he'd gotten there, I got to stay and watch Professor Snape get him out."
"Was he alright?" Pansy Parkinson squealed.
"Snape was taking him to the hospital wing, last I saw."
I closed the book I was reading and got up. If Snape had been helping Montague, that must mean his lesson with Potter was over. I put my stuff away and headed down to the dungeons.
As I turned down the corridor I heard a loud crash and saw Potter fleeing Snape's office, a terrified look on his face. I watched him run as if the hounds of hell were chasing him, until he disappeared around the corner and presumably up the stairs out of the dungeon. I hurried into Snape's office to see what had happened, but yelped and jumped back when I stepped on dead cockroaches and shards of glass. Snape stood in the center of the room, looking livid, his wand clenched tightly in his hand, so hard that sparks were shooting out of the end of it.
"Hey. What happened?" I asked, carefully crossing the threshold, avoiding the dead roaches and glass.
"I threw a jar of cockroaches at Potter," he said, fighting to regain his composure.
"Well yeah, I can see that," I said. With a wave of my wand, I resealed the jar and it flew back onto the shelf. I shut the door behind me.
"What happened?" I asked quietly.
He muttered something about Pensieve and it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Potter had been snooping through his most personal memories. I could only imagine what those could be- memories concerning his childhood, concerning Lily…concerning me.
"Are you okay?" I asked gently.
"No. I feel like killing someone," he said through clenched teeth.
I thought about it a moment.
"I have an idea. Will you follow me?"
He said nothing for a moment, then nodded and followed me out of the room.
Ten minutes later we were inside of the Room of Requirement, surrounded by practice dummies, all of which had Potter's face on them. The corners of Snape's mouth twitched a bit at that.
"There," I said. "Take your rage out on them. Explode them…whatever… The walls are sound proof."
I watched as Snape spent the next hour cursing all of the dummies into oblivion, using the Blasting Curse, Deprimo, and a number of other spells, some I had never even heard of. When he had finished he stood, panting slightly, with a look of grim satisfaction on his face.
"Thank you, Olivia," he said to me. "I needed that."
"No problem. …Want to talk about it?"
"Not particularly," he said darkly.
"Then we don't have to," I assured him. "…You know Easter holidays are coming up?"
"Yes, I am well aware."
"Well, I was just thinking…we could go home, couldn't we?" I asked in a small voice. He gave me a pained expression.
"I wish we could, Olivia. But I can't leave. Not without Albus here. I'm supposed to protect the school… And you should be studying for your finals. You graduate this year."
"I know," I said miserably.
"Don't sound so upset- this is supposed to be a happy time for you."
"I don't want to leave Hogwarts…or you," I said, feeling tears well up in my eyes.
"Olivia… You don't have to leave me. You may stay with me as long as you like."
"Really?"
"Of course. You can stay forever, if you want to."
"I like the sound of forever," I said with a smile.
The first day of classes after Easter break, Fred and George Weasley turned a deserted corridor into a swamp, stole back their confiscated broomsticks, and flew away from Hogwarts. I didn't witness it firsthand, but heard about it almost immediately in the Slytherin common room. They were badmouthing them of course, but I thought it sounded epic and wished I had been there to see. I hurried to the abandoned corridor to catch a glimpse of the swamp, which Umbridge and Flitwick were trying to vanish, though I suspected Flitwick wasn't really trying.
After the Weasley twins' departure, almost everyone seemed to be trying to one-up them. Soemone dropped a niffler into Umbridge's office and it made an awful wreck and was rumored to have tried to eat the rings off her fat fingers when she came in. Dungbombs and stink pellets were dropped so frequently in hallways everyone who could would perform a Bubble-Head Charm on themselves before leaving a classroom. I could have made a small fortune had I charged those who asked me to perform the charm for them.
The last Quidditch match of the season came quickly with Gryffindor playing Ravenclaw. Slytherin, of course, had not had a chance. Montague had been the team captain and he still had not recovered from his bout in the toilet. As much as I hated him, I felt sort of bad for him and offered my assistance to Madam Pomfrey whenever I could. A number of other Slytherin players had been hexed, though none could say who had done it. So, of course, we ended up supporting Ravenclaw.
It was a close win for Gryffindor, thanks- to everyone's surprise- to Ron Weasley. The Gryffindor supporters were thrilled and turned Malfoy's clever little song to fit their own use.
I spent most of the time studying for final exams. One evening I was out doing rounds with Snape- the only time we had alone together anymore, it seemed- when we spotted Umbridge coming out of the castle with several Aurors. We saw them before they had a chance to see us and Snape swept me away into the shadows. We watched as they made their way to Hagrid's hut, knocked, and were let in. We were silent a few minutes, waiting to see what would happen, when a loud BANG resounded across the grounds as the door burst open. Seven people walked out, including Hagrid. The other six were trying to Stun him, but the spells merely bounced off of him.
"They can't-!" I exclaimed, starting forward, but Snape grabbed the back of my robes and pulled me back.
"We must not interfere," he hissed quietly. Cries and yells echoed across the grounds.
"Be reasonable, Hagrid!" cried a loud voice.
"Reasonable be damned, yeh won't take me like this, Dawlish!" Hagrid roared. The doors to the castle opened, flooding the grounds with light.
"How dare you!" shouted a voice, "How dare you!"
It was Professor McGonagall.
"Leave him alone! Alone, I say!" she continued, "On what grounds are you attacking him? He has done nothing, nothing to warrant such-"
No fewer than four Stunners flew straight at McGonagall and hit her dead in the chest. For a moment she looked luminous, illuminated by an eerie red glow, then she flew backwards, landed on her back, and moved no more.
"No!" I cried, wanting to run to her, but again Snape held me back. He pulled me to his chest.
"Four stunners to the chest…at her age," I croaked. "There's no way she survived…"
I felt tears well up in my eyes.
"She'll be fine," he whispered in my ear. "She's a tough old bird."
"COWARDS!" bellowed Hagrid, "RUDDY COWARDS! HAVE SOME O' THAT- AN' THAT-"
He swung out, knocking two of his attackers out cold. He grabbed his dog, Fang, who had been knocked out by the Stunners, and ran to the gate. There was a long silence in which I felt sort of numb.
"Come, quickly," Snape said. "Back into the castle."
I wiped the tears from my face in the dark and followed him back into the castle. We pretended as if we had been making our rounds when the Aurors came back in, levitating McGonagall between them. She was unconscious, her hair and glasses askew, and a thin line of blood trickled from her mouth. I had to keep myself from uttering a cry.
"Is there anything we can do to help, headmistress?" Snape asked Umbridge.
"Yes," she said with her toad like smile. "You and Olivia can take Minerva to the hospital wing- this is not a job for Aurors."
"Of course, headmistress," Snape said smoothly.
We took over the task of levitating McGonagall and the Aurors followed Umbridge upstairs to her office. Snape and I walked the long walk to the hospital wing alone. I stopped fighting back my tears and let them flow. I was all cried out by the time we reached the hospital wing.
"Oh my-! What happened?" Madam Pomfrey asked, shocked. We set McGonagall down gently on the bed and Snape proceeded to explain what we had seen happen. Trembling slightly, I straightened McGonagall's glasses and used a tissue to wipe the blood from her mouth.
"Four Stunners? Was that really necessary? And at her age," Madam Pomfrey said fretfully, taking my place at her bedside. "Cowardice! That's what it was, sheer cowardice! As if any of them would dare take her on in broad daylight!"
"Madam Pomfrey," I said, clearing my throat. "I was wondering if I might stay and help? I've had some experience with things like this at St. Mungo's and…anything I can do to help…"
"Of course, dear. I would be glad of the help."
Madam Pomfrey and I stayed up all night, doing what little we could for McGonagall. Snape stayed for a while, but retired a little after midnight. It was obvious that she would have to be transferred to St. Mungo's, but it would have to wait until morning. I stayed by her side all night and when the Healers came the next morning, I got Umbridge's permission to fly out with them and did not return to Hogwarts that day.