Disclaimer: view Chapter 01 for that one
Author's Notes: See Chapter Seven ^_^.
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~...~ = Parseltongue
/.../ = Telepathy between Harry & Carya (in italics)
' ... ' = thoughts
~*~*~ ... ~*~*~ = Flashback or changing POV
Chapter 12 - Yule Ball and Detentions or Snape can dance? and Friends?!
(Small OotP Spoilers inside from now on!)
It had been over half an hour since Draco and Harry had gone towards the bathroom. But when they came back they were both smiling slightly.
"You figured it out?" asked Hermione and they nodded.
Harry took a piece of parchment and wrote the song down for everyone to read. They would leave the parchment here in the library so that it couldn't be stolen or looked at by accident.
"So, what do we do now? They'll take something that's important to you. But what? It has to be taken down into the lake since they can't speak that well outside of the water and neither can they live without water," Ginny summarised the song.
"You have one hour to get whatever this is back. Meaning you'll have to survive sixty minutes or more under the surface. How will you do that? It's a big problem, isn't it?" said Hermione knowing that aqualungs from the muggles wouldn't work here at Hogwarts.
"You're right. How to breathe under water? I have no idea. Anyone a clue?" Harry asked and met silence.
Carya and Tom seemed to be deep in thought and didn't seem to have heard his question. The remaining four looked worriedly at their frowns and were about to ask when both Slytherin looked each other in the face and started grinning like mad.
"I think we ...," began Tom.
"... got the solution!" continued Carya.
"You'll just have to remember..." said Tom again.
"... one of our recent Herbology classes," added Carya.
"Professor Sprout mentioned how ...," replied Tom.
"... you could achieve this," Carya said.
The other's looked confused now. Sure they had seen Harry and Carya continuing each other's thoughts but this was scary. They weren't really sure what those two meant and couldn't remember what they were talking about.
"What the hell are you talking about? We can't remember anything like that," sighed Hermione exasperated.
"Gillyweed!" the other two exclaimed in unison.
"It enables you ...," said Tom.
"... to breathe under water!" added Carya.
Draco, Ginny, Hermione and Harry stood gaping at them. They remembered vaguely now. Professor Sprout had indeed mentioned this but they hadn't listened. The four were only able to shake their heads in confusion.
The relationship between Carya and Tom had started strange enough and now they were understanding each other without words or the mind link that the twins shared. It was scary to say the least.
"That's a brilliant idea. But how do we get this? I don't think the store in Hogsmeade has something like that and I don't know if Sirius or Remus are good enough at Potions to obtain this for us," said Harry.
"We have another Hogsmeade weekend in early February. If we can't get it then by floo-ing over to 'Diagon Alley', we'll order it by owl. I'm sure I know what we'll do but until then we should keep this quiet and deny that you have figured out the clue," Carya suggested and the other's agreed wholeheartedly.
The 17th had already been the last day of term and that meant that they wouldn't be missed when they were out after curfew these days. The six friends used this chance thoroughly and didn't return to their dorms on the 18th at all. They stayed in the 'Founder's Chambers'.
The next few days were spent up there and they missed much of what was going on in the other houses. The six kids didn't bother though because they already had dance partners and wouldn't need other's asking them as a last attempt in finding someone.
They did their homework early and were finished before christmas eve. The night from 24th to the 25th was the second night the 'Slytherin Six' had actually spent in their own dormitory. They had wondered why no one had told on them but didn't mind at all.
Carya, Tom and Harry woke up early on christmas day. Carya woke Ginny and the two boys threw Draco out of bed with a tickling charm. They all gathered their presents and settled down in the Slytherin Common Room to open them.
The headmaster had given Tom a bit of money to spend on presents since he hadn't thought of helping the boy when buying school supplies. Tom had gotten sweets for Ginny and Hermione and some joke items for Harry and Draco.
For Carya he had bought a beautiful green silk shirt with a silver snake embroided on the left side. The other's gave each other the usual. Sweets, books and the occasional odd article of clothing. Their boy- or girlfriend got something special though.
Carya gave Tom something that she had made on her own. Mrs. Weasley had taught her how to make a pullover. She had already known how to knit both the muggle and the magical way but a pullover was a bit more difficult than a scarf.
It wasn't made of rough wool like the infamous Weasley-jumpers everyone received. It was made of a very smooth and fine wool which made a soft emerald green fabric. On the left side were the initials 'T' and 'R'. Curled around them was a silver snake with crimson eyes.
Tom loved it and put it on immediately as did Carya with the shirt he had given her. Harry, Ginny and Draco had put on the silver and green jumper's from Ginny's mother. They would find that Hermione had done the same.
The twins and Draco had also gotten presents from Sirius and Remus. Draco got a copy of '1001 Ways to Cheat at Quidditch' by Kronos Flint, Harry got the book 'An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe' by Mary Monroe and Carya's present was 'Poisons and Cures - A Medical Study Guide' by Dylis Derwent.
(A/N: Spoiler OotP! Dylis Derwent was a famous mediwitch and a former headmistress of Hogwarts.)
The friends met their housemates and their fellow students in the Great Hall for breakfast. Blaise admired the shirt Carya was wearing but she wouldn't tell where she got it. And everyone looked at the pullover Tom was wearing. It was shimmering in the light as if it was made of tiny scales although it was just wool.
The Ball would start around dinner which would be a bit later that day. Just around five that afternoon the boys and girls disappeared to their dorms to get dressed. Naturally most girls needed a bit longer to prepare themselves than the boys.
The Slytherin's were no exception. Ginny was the first to go and make herself presentable. She looked really good in her blue and emerald green robe. It was the one Carya and Tom had given her as a birthday present. Those colours suited her perfectly since they complimented her dark red hair.
Draco was wearing a nice black and silver robe. It was stylish, made of silk and he looked pretty good in it. Hermione was wearing a midnight blue robe made of a flowing material while Harry had put on dark green and black robe.
Tom had chosen his bluegreen robe. It looked good and reminded everyone of the deep sea. Although his hair was a bit tamer than Harry's it was still quite difficult to handle when cut short. To avoid those struggles he had it grown out during summer and now could pull it back into a ponytail.
Carya had chosen an emerald green robe that was shimmering the same was as Tom's new pullover. It seemed that she was covered in scales depending how the light was reflected from her robe. It was very long and seemed more like a dress than anything else.
Her long black hair was piled on top of her head and a few ringlets hung out at different places. When she stepped into the Common Room the boys were already there and gaped at her. One could hear whispers among them and not few asked who she was.
"You look ... I can't find words to describe this but stunning is the best I think," said Tom softly.
"Thanks, Tom. You're looking absolutely gorgeous yourself," she replied and right now everyone envied their crimson eyed housemate. Ginny and Draco made another adorable couple. Harry had already left and collected Hermione form the Ravenclaw Common Room.
Carya noticed that Blaise was also gone. She seemed to have found a date from another house too. The friends met outside the Great Hall and they kept in the shadows as long as possible. A few minutes later Professor McGonagall asked the champions and their partners to lead the other students into the Hall.
Harry noticed that Cedric was going with Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw Seeker. Terence was with Cat as everyone had expected. Draco, Ginny, Carya and Tom were the last to go in. They heard gasps before they went inside and noticed that Blaise Zabini had come with Neville Longbottom and they looked quite cute together.
Now the friends stepped inside and the whispers they had to endure in their own Common Room started again. Everyone pointed at Tom and Carya asking who the girl was. She began giggling slightly and leaned over to Tom to say something.
"They are pretty stupid don't you think? All I did was pull up my hair and wear a more feminine robe as I would normally do. I didn't even put on make-up like Pansy and many other's did," she whispered and Tom started grinning before he nodded.
As they went further down into the hall she saw some of the teachers staring confused as well. It seemed no one recognised her. Well she could change that. Carya took a quick look around the hall and started smirking as she usually did when she was up to something.
Now most of the assembled got it and their eyes nearly fell out. The whispers started again when the couple sat down at one of the tables. Snape stared openly at them. He couldn't hide his surprise, neither could McGonagall. Albus Dumbledore looked quite amused now that he knew who she was.
No one had expected that the normally boyish girl could look so feminine. Soon the champions opened the dance and Tom asked Carya if she wanted to go too. She agreed and they all but swept towards the dance floor. They were aware that everyone was watching but it didn't bother them.
They were dancing as if they were only one person and no one had thought that the rebellious Slytherin girl could dance at all. After a few turns Tom asked Carya if he could have a dance with Ginny should the other girl agree.
Carya said yes and watched them from her seat. Ginny had agreed. She knew now that Tom was truly her friend and she wasn't afraid of him anymore. Dumbledore only smiled. It seemed that some wounds had already healed.
One hour later it started. Several students had started asking their teachers to dance and some had agreed. Dumbledore found this amusing and immediately made it clear that every teacher had to dance at least once with a student. He thought it was a wonderful idea.
Severus Snape of course was furious about that. He didn't want to dance with one of those brats. Carya noticed his constant scowl and decided to ask him. She knew it was pure torture for him to sit there until the end because no one else would want to or even dare to ask him for a dance.
Dumbledore seemed to find it funny but Snape surely didn't see it that way. She walked to her brother and boyfriend to tell them. Tom and Harry shot her looks that could only mean they thought she had gone nuts.
But she didn't care. The girl slowly approached the teachers table and curtsied slightly once she stood next to her Potions Professor. He looked at her at a loss for words when she asked him.
"Professor Snape, would you dance with me?" Carya asked politely and shocked him to the core.
Severus sat there saying nothing. He didn't know how to respond. He had always told himself that he hated the Potter twins but right now he wasn't so sure. The girl in front of him might be only fourteen but she was certainly beautiful. A second later he made his choice.
Albus had insisted that they danced at least once that evening before they were allowed to leave at all. Although he knew he couldn't leave because of his champion - because of Harry Potter - but he could refuse anyone else when he danced with the female Potter now.
"Why not, shall we go then?" he said without his usual sneer and sarcasm.
'How soft he sounds when he's not sneering at everyone, I wonder if he ever had a girlfriend,' Carya thought while he lead her to the dance floor.
At first it was a bit awkward to dance with her Potions Professor but then she relaxed and found out that he was a really good dancer. She was aware that half the school was staring at them. Half of the onlookers were confused and utterly shocked and the other half envied Snape for the chance to dance with Carya.
Many had tried over the last two hours but she'd refused everyone but Tom and Draco. She wouldn't dance with her own brother though. It just seemed wrong although they had learned to dance together.
When the song was over Snape bowed slightly while Carya curtsied once again. He left the dancefloor and returned to his seat at the table. His scowl once again in place. The girl just smiled and sought out Tom. Seconds later she was back and resumed dancing with her boyfriend.
Soon it was nearing midnight and the majority of the students had settled down in small groups for talking after being exhausted from dancing. The band Dumbledore had hired - The Weird Sisters - would leave just after midnight.
Their last song was a very slow one and most of the couples were back on the dancefloor. Among them were the Champions with their partners, the 'Slytherin Six', Terence and Cat as well as Neville and Blaise to everyone's surprise.
Just as the song was about to end Carya and Tom forgot that they weren't alone and shared a kiss just like their friends did. To their surprise Neville kissed Blaise and she kissed him back. Carya smiled. Here was the solution to her questions about the changes Neville had gone through.
They weren't aware of the whispers that had broken out when the couples had kissed each other. The teachers had just watched. They had never expected that there were so many pairs from different houses.
Cho Chang (Ravenclaw) with Cedric Diggory (Hufflepuff), Cat Williams (Ravenclaw) with Terence Higgs (Slytherin), Harry Potter (Slytherin) and Hermione Granger (Ravenclaw) and finally Neville Longbottom (Gryffindor) with Blaise Zabini (Slytherin).
The pairing Carya Potter - Tom Riddle was just as surprising for most. They had known that those two were friends but there had been no visible outward sign that they were together. There was more than one jealous boy at the moment who wished he'd gotten the place at Carya's side.
She might be the 'Dark Princess of Slytherin' but she was a really beautiful girl if she tried to be one. Even Severus was surprised that they had been willing to come out after all those rumours about the twins. This was bound to reach the newspapers.
He was also still wondering why Carya Potter had asked him to dance with her. Was this some kind of sick joke or had she meant it? He would have to try and ask her if she and her boyfriend managed to get the Veritaserum right the next time during Survival which was unlikely.
He would just have to make them all take the potion to see how they handled the situation. It might be restricted in use by the ministry but if the students agreed there would be no problem at all. The following day was truly quiet.
Most students slept in and after that went towards Hogsmeade because of the special permission Dumbledore had put up the night before. The friends stayed inside though. It was no use to buy the Gillyweed right now since they didn't know how long it would be usable.
The afternoon was spent playing some wizarding games, reading or simply snogging their partner. They went towards the Hogwarts library an hour before dinner where they found Neville and Blaise cornered by some angry Gryffindors and Slytherins from higher grades.
They knew what was going on. The others were criticising the couple for their inter-house relationship. They had tried to do the same with Hermione, Harry, Cat and Terence but due to the kids reputation things hadn't gone very far those times.
Neville and Blaise were different though. The boy was still a timid Gryffindor when confronted like that and Blaise wasn't all that good at fighting either. Carya had enough of playing lady-like and stepped in.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing? Leave those two alone, now, or you'll regret it!" she growled.
"Who do you think you are, ordering us around, eh? This doesn't concern you at all Potter!" hissed a seventh year Gryffindor.
"Oh, I think it does concern me since Blaise is one of my dormmates and a friend. And Neville is now included since he's Blaise's boyfriend. So shut up an leave them the hell alone," Carya shouted at them.
By now Madam Pince was alarmed too which had been Carya's intention by shouting. She ran off to the next fireplace to call the heads of Gryffindor and Slytherin.
There were twelve students opposing Neville and Blaise meaning if the 'Slytherin Six' joined the two they would still be outnumbered. But the friends knew that Carya's temper and skill made up for that problem until a teacher arrived.
"Get out of the way Potter or I'll hex your half-blood ass to Mongolia!" sneered one of the Slytherin seventh years present.
Knowing that she was actually a pureblood Carya only snorted over that comment just like her mum had done all those years ago and replied to the actual threat of being hexed by the other boy.
"I'd like to see you try, Morrigan. You seem to forget that you had no chance against me in Duelling. What makes you think you can take me out now where I don't need to follow protocol?" she said icily and deadly calm.
A few of the others backed down a bit. This wasn't exactly a good sign. As long as Carya Potter was shouting or growling at you, you were relatively safe. But once she started using this kind of tone it could indeed be dangerous to continue fighting her.
Luckily it didn't come to that. Snape and McGonagall arrived first. They surveyed the assembled group of students and quickly knew who was fighting with whom. Curious was though that Carya and her friends were sticking up for a Gryffindor.
Especially when said Gryffindor was Neville Longbottom who had messed up more than one Potion when alone or even when paired with anyone regardless of his or her house.
"What is going on here, Potter?" Snape asked surly.
"Some of our fellow students are opposing the idea of an inter-house relationship, sir," said Harry and Snape looked at the others.
"What's the meaning of this all, Miss Potter? Why do you have your wand out?" demanded McGonagall.
Carya raised an eyebrow as if she was saying 'isn't it obvious what I was doing' but she answered nonetheless, "I was trying to help Neville and Blaise since neither of them is very good at duelling and being bullied by twelve students who are older and more experienced is simply unfair, even for Slytherins, professor!"
Minerva only looked suspicious at that but Severus expression was unreadable. This girl was absolutely infuriating. You just couldn't categorise her like so many other students. She and her friends were multi-layered and could easily belong into each of the houses.
They were quite courageous most of the time - a Gryffindor trait - although they weren't as reckless as the usual Gryffindor. They were cunning and stuck together when they needed each other - the Slytherin side; true friends.
They were loyal to their friends and helped those who couldn't defend themselves - quite Hufflepuff of them. And all six of them were as smart as most Ravenclaws. It certainly seemed as if they possessed the best traits of each house.
They didn't fit in the most common description of a typical student at Hogwarts. But the most prominent feature seemed to be their cunning, strategic mind. They were quite ambitious too. He could see that every time in Potions although he criticised them often.
They never gave up. Severus couldn't help but grudgingly start to respect them and had to admit that to himself too. He briefly wondered if they had figured out what the second task would be about but dismissed that thought quickly.
His attention returned to the library where some of his students had just threatened a younger fellow Slytherin.
"You deal with your students Minerva. I will deal with the Slytherins on my own!" he sneered and told them to follow him.
Neville and Blaise were sent to the hospital wing because of the bruises they had received from some hard pushes. Carya grinned at the older Slytherin's behind Snape's back. They knew they would get into trouble now.
The group of students quietly followed their Head of House towards his office. Carya didn't feel apprehensive though. Snape might be a bastard towards her most of the time but he was incredibly fair to every Slytherin outside of class.
When they arrived he ushered them inside and sat down at his desk. One by one the students were asked to tell the story from their point of view. Carya and her friends of course told a completely different tale than the others.
Snape knew this wouldn't get him anywhere. He walked over to a storage cupboard and took out a vial. It contained a crystal clear liquid that seemed a bit oily because it stuck to the glass a bit longer than water would have.
Snape then asked the students if they knew what he had there,
"Mister Morrigan, do you know what this is?" asked the Potions Professor deathly quiet.
"N ... no, sir," said Morrigan who seemed a bit scared now.
"Does anyone of your friends know this?" Snape inquired with a raised eyebrow but all shook their heads.
"I see. Miss Potter! Would you tell your fellow Slytherin's what is in here?" Severus sneered into Carya's direction.
"It looks like Veritaserum, sir," she answered carefully, fully knowing what he was implying while just holding the vial in front of them.
The rest of the students gasped now. He surely wasn't threatening them to use this on his own students, was he? It was illegal to force feed this without ministry permission. The students looked scared now. And Snape asked further what effects this potion had.
"Mister Riddle, tell us what it does, will you!" he commanded coldly.
"Er ... when someone takes this Potion he or she will answer every single question truthfully. The person has no control over anything they are saying or feeling at that time. Weaker memory charms are overruled as well.
If too many question are asked at the same time the drinker might go insane from the effort of attempting to answer all of them at once," Tom said and Snape nodded slightly.
"Will you tell me the truth about that incident in the library now or do we have to use some more ... drastic measures?" Severus demanded scathingly.
The older ones admitted the truth now and got detentions. Carya got detention too because she had threatened a fellow student with her wand drawn.
"The seven of you will serve a week worth detentions with Mister Filch. Miss Potter, you will serve detention on Saturday, December 31st with me. I expect you down here at seven in the morning. Now get out!" he growled and the students fled.
~*~*~ Slytherin Common Room five minutes later ~*~*~
"That's not fair. Why did you get detention too? You didn't do anything. We were only helping Neville and Blaise!" cried Ginny enraged.
Hermione was currently sitting in the Common Room too. No one of their fellow students dared to protest though. They didn't want to anger the six just now since they already seemed quite pissed off. Carya was for once quite calm after being more or less punished unfairly by Snape.
"What else could he do Ginny. It is against the rules what we did - what I did after all. We are lucky that only I got detention and not you five too. The reason for that is that they only saw my wand drawn and not yours as well.
It was worth it. I doubt that the Gryffindor's got away that easily. You know how McGonagall is. She doesn't truly favour anyone but if the Gryffindors misbehave she's furious beyond belief," Carya told her friends.
"You're right, sister. But still, it's not fair. What if he keeps you as long as the last time?" asked Harry frowning.
"You have a point here dear brother mine. But fact is, if I have to do similar things to my last detention with Snape then I don't mind at all. I learned plenty about ingredients and Potions in general that day," she responded grinning slightly.
Harry rolled his eyes at this and muttered under his breath. It sounded strangely like 'she's nuts, happy about detention, who are you and where's my twin-sister'. The others still heard him and started laughing.
This was too funny but neither Tom nor the others understood how someone could be happy about having detention with Snape. The one sentence she had told them in November came back to them. She'd said 'I love the subject and not the teacher!'.
"You know, I'm going to thoroughly annoy him by liking the detention. That will irk him more than anything else," the girl said smirking widely.
Tom grinned at her, "You know what, Carya? You ... are ... evil!"
"I know, Tom, I know!" she replied still grinning like mad.
"And you're completely nuts as well!" remarked Harry.
His statement got him a playful punch from his sister. The rest of the day was quiet. Blaise came back an hour later and thanked them for interfering. Neville would tell them thank you when he got the chance.
"So it's you who helped our clumsy, little Neville to grow a backbone, eh?" teased Ginny lightly and Blaise blushed.
"Uhm, yeah, I think so. It's just, I like him and ... he likes me too. I help him with some subjects and he helps me with Herbology and History," she answered embarrassed.
They later heard that the Gryffindors got detentions too. They would do a fortnight of detention with Filch and their parents would be notified of their behaviour too.
"Woah, I'm happy that I'm not in Gryffindor. Although Moony and Padfoot would be angry and upset, I don't want to imagine if someone has a mother with the temper of one Molly Weasley!
No offence Ginny your mum's really nice but I don't want to get on her bad side!" Draco blurted out when they heard the news.
Their christmas holidays were continuing quite peacefully and even the twins didn't have any more nightmare's over the following week. Suddenly it was Saturday again. Their second last day of freedom before the new term would begin.
Carya awoke in time, dressed and made her way down towards the dungeons. At five to seven she knocked on the door to Snape's office.
"Come in!" he called and Carya opened the door.
When she was inside she found her professor sitting at his desk grading papers.
"Sit!" he said and motioned to a chair in front of his desk.
Carya sat down and waited patiently. At quarter past seven he was finally finished. He packed his papers away and looked at Carya.
"It seems you finally have learned to be patient. Follow me!" he sneered and led her towards the potions workroom she had already been in.
"Those ingredients over there have to be stored properly. I trust you know the procedure?" Snape said questioningly.
Carya knew exactly what he meant. Sure you could just put them in jars and bottles but they would turn foul very soon. One had to sterilise the containers first to enhance the durability and to make sure the new ingredients wouldn't react with anything that had been in the bottle before.
She nodded with a serious expression and he regarded her critical for a second before snapping,
"Then get to work!"
Snape himself set to work on a potion at his worktable. Carya shook her head slightly, shut his presence out and concentrated on her work. Since the storage cupboards were open she assumed that she was to put the new containers away too but she'd ask first.
Snape seemed to sense the question though, "Once you're finished labelling the containers you'll put them into the storage cupboards. You should already know how!"
The girl just nodded and continued her work. She shook her head inwardly. Yes, this was close to a real detention. But Snape didn't only make her do this because she'd broken a rule. It was boring work and took a lot of time. Though you actually needed the proper knowledge to do this right.
It was also a backhanded compliment towards the Potter girl. These were Snape's personal stores. He trusted her skills enough that she wouldn't make any mistakes. The girl smiled slightly and was relived that her professor couldn't see her face.
She saw plenty of ingredients here which she had hardly ever heard of. Just the right thing for a potions obsessed student like her. Carya carefully memorised each ingredient she didn't know or have in her own Potions kit.
Her professor had given her a book where she could find the ingredients unknown to her to find out how they had to be stored. Thankfully there had been name tags on those boxes containing the ones she didn't know but then again, all of the boxes and jars were labelled.
'This could be useful during exams and experiments,' she thought to herself, carefully memorising names and looks of those ingredients she didn't know yet, 'Knowing these gives me quite an advantage over the others. I'll definitely look them up in my books later.'
Around lunch she had finished this task. It had taken almost five hours to put everything away since some ingredients had to be prepared properly first. Some had to be cut, others to be ground up and many had to be prepared in more than one way.
When she was sure that everything was sufficiently done she told her professor so and waited for his answer. He was currently concentrating on his potion and she wondered what it was until she recognised the smell.
It was the Wolfsbane Potion. She had forgotten that the full-moon would be in two days.
'Poor Moony! I swear, one day I will find a permanent cure for you, Remus!' she vowed to herself.
Only a few minutes later Snape lowered the flames beneath the cauldron and watched her in return.
'What's the girl thinking about? She hasn't even noticed that I'm finished for now. Does she know what this is? Sure she does. She's seen and smelled it often enough at the mutt's home,' Severus mused and dismissed her.
"You may go, Potter!" he said friendlier than intended but he too was hungry and would head towards the Great Hall once he had cleaned up a bit.
"Okay, thanks Professor!" she said happily and walked out of the workroom and office to clean herself a bit.
Severus was gaping slightly when she had left. Had she just thanked him? How could this girl be so damned cheerful after her detention? Sure, most students were happy when he dismissed them but no one had ever behaved like Carya Potter. He just couldn't figure out why.
He knew she obviously liked potions but the work she had done that morning had been dull and boring. Snape had been all too glad to find someone who he could 'force' to do that and who was actually skilled enough for it. He shook his head and went towards his bathroom.
Carya too reeked of Potions right now and wanted to at least wash her hands. When she finally arrived at the Slytherin table her friends were already there and Snape was sitting at the head table. Carya put her best smirk onto her face and walked towards her friends.
"Hey guys, what's up?" she asked annoyingly cheerful.
Harry, Draco, Ginny, Hermione and Tom gaped at her in sheer disbelief.
"This isn't true. Tell me this is only a joke. She's gone and done it again!" groaned Draco before banging his head against the table.
"What has she done again?" asked Tom confused.
"In second year she had detention with Snape on a Sunday. He kept her over eight hours and she was happy about it. Happy, you get it? Eight hours detention and she tells us it was great!" sighed Ginny exasperated before she ran a hand through her hair.
Tom started chuckling at that. He had know his girlfriend was strange but this he hadn't expected at all. Carya just continued grinning and let her gaze wander over the head table. Naturally her cheerful smirk didn't go unnoticed by the teachers. Snape started scowling and the headmaster chuckled lightly.
"I take it Miss Potter had detention with you today, Severus?" Albus asked his younger colleague.
"Yes," Snape ground out, "That girl is infuriating. How can she be so damned cheerful after five hours?" he growled.
"Perhaps we should ask her? You might even get an honest answer," suggested the headmaster.
He had always been curious why Carya Potter didn't mind detentions with the Potions Master. Although it looked as if they despised each other. The girl returned her attention towards the food on her plate and pulled a book out of her bag.
She propped it against a pitcher of Pumpkin Juice and started reading. Severus and Albus squinted to read the title. It was a Potions book from the medical field. The book was a famous one and quite advanced too. One of the former Hogwarts Headmasters had written it.
She had been a very qualified mediwitch when she wrote that book. It was 'Poisons and Cures - Medical Study Guide' by Dylis Derwent. The teachers who noticed were surprised by this. Everyone saw the Ravenclaws stick their noses into books during lunchtime but Slytherin's rarely did that.
Carya was obviously discussing something from the book with Tom Riddle because she kept looking at him and then pointed at the book and he looked too. A bit later the two were still discussing something when the other four got up and assumedly asked if Carya and Tom wanted to accompany them.
Both kids nodded and got up. The Potter girl grabbed her book in one hand and a roll in the other before leaving the Great Hall next to her boyfriend. Dumbledore had made up his mind and would ask her about the detentions the next chance he got.
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R&R,
Carya
2008-12-18