Chapter 33
The students created an annoying hubbub during dinner. It was more intense than usual, for teenagers kept sending a short squat woman dressed in pink glares, as well as speculating about the reason she was eating in the teaching staff table.
Albus stood up. The Great Hall hushed automatically.
"As you may have noticed, there is a new staff member with us tonight. We wish to welcome our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Dolores Umbridge."
Gasps filled the room. Most students stared at Skyrah, instead of the new teacher. They couldn't grasp why she would back away from the job and kept on theorizing and commenting with their partners.
"I would like to-"
Albus was cut short by Dolores, who cleared her throat, rose up and took his place. He kept his calm façade on and acted as if nothing was wrong with that attitude, yet everybody else was glowering at the witch. Nobody had ever been so rude to Albus. It couldn't be a good sign.
Hypocrite words of welcome and delight rolled off her tongue as she paced around, an irksome smile plastered on her face. Despite keeping a high-pitched, cheerful voice, the students felt threatened by her, especially when she mentioned prohibiting practices. The more she talked, the more evident it was that the Ministry would interfere at Hogwarts due to her presence.
"And we thought Lockhart was bad," said Minerva, who was sitting next to Severus.
"She is a pink toad indeed," muttered Severus under his breath. "I already hate her."
"Told ya," mumbled Skyrah while Minerva, who had heard her, nodded.
One glimpse at the students' faces was enough to see that the three professors weren't the only ones who held that opinion.
"Why isn't Professor Skyrah teaching us anymore?" asked a gryffindor.
They all turned their attention to Skyrah, who grinned gently and revealed she was pregnant.
More gasps filled the room. Some students eyed the Snapes in wonder, some looked horrified at the idea, some grinned, and some were too shocked to even move. Skyrah noticed that Dione and Harry were smiling fondly, whereas Severus was focused on Draco's unreadable reaction, ignoring Fred Weasley's whistle and the wink his twin brother George was throwing him.
"My contract has changed to suit my needs. I will only teach fifth, sixth and seventh years. Professor Umbridge will be in charge of the rest."
The younger students pouted and pulled disappointed faces, while the older ones sighed in relief.
That night, the Snapes were summoned by Voldemort. As soon as they emerged from the dense woods, he demanded to know how the pregnancy was going.
"Your heir is perfectly healthy, my Lord," said Severus. "Everything is going well with the pregnancy according to the medi-witch."
"Excellent. I trust that Dumbledore already knows about it. What has he done regarding your position at Hogwarts?" he asked his daughter.
"He reckons it is for the best that I don't teach all levels so that the workload doesn't affect my pregnancy. I'm still in charge of Potter's class. That is what matters the most, isn't it?"
"Definitely… What can you tell me about Potter?" Skyrah raised an eyebrow and her father smirked. "You didn't forget that Severus isn't my only spy now, did you? You've spent months with the boy. Your mission was to win his trust and unveil his deepest secrets, his weaknesses."
"The boy trusts me, but I am his Professor, not his counselor."
The way she spat those words nearly made Severus cringe. He appreciated her sass. It never failed to make him crack a crooked grin. Still, he wished she would keep her sarcasm to herself when she was in front of the Dark Lord. Fortunately, Voldemort only smirked.
"You are right, but that is why I chose you, Daughter. You bond with your students. You always did. Your task wasn't only to provide me with an heir. You also had to get close to Potter. You claim you do, albeit you don't tell me anything valuable." He paused and added in Parseltongue, "Your mother won't like to hear that, Skyrah. Time isn't an excuse now. You've been teaching him for six months."
Father and daughter stared at each other with cold eyes. Skyrah wished no harm to her mother, but she wasn't keen on revealing anything that could put Harry in danger either. Her solution: telling Voldemort something he already was familiar with but that he believed she wasn't aware of until she spied.
"Potter has been having nightmares. He came to me. By what he has told me, I deduced that those dreams are induced by none other than you."
"So you were right. He truly trusts you," he said with a wicked grin. "I knew you wouldn't disappoint me. Tell me, do you know why a mere teenager manages to pull me out of his mind when he has those dreams?"
Skyrah kept her face stony and her occlumency walls up. She didn't want to tell him the reason, she really didn't, but couldn't think up an excuse at the moment. Stress was overwhelming her. Voldemort was grimacing by then. Skyrah was already picturing her poor mother under the cruciatus curse.
"Occlumency may be the answer," Severus came to the rescue, keeping a calm pose. "I overheard Dumbledore commenting something about it. They meet regularly. My guess is that he has been teaching him, my Lord."
There was a reflective look upon Voldemort before he dismissed them, a reflective, cunning look that made goosebumps prickle across their skin. He was scheming something concerning those nightmares, they could feel it.
"I'm telling you! These nightmares aren't simple dreams! This is happening! We need to go now!"
"But Harry, what if Voldemort is messing with you?" Hermione tried to persuade.
"Yeah, mate. Think about it…"
"Last time it wasn't a trap, Ron. Your father could have died."
Ron and Ginny paled at Harry's words.
"What if we tell Professor Snape? He could help us, right? You trust him," insisted Hermione.
Even though going to Severus did not sound like a good idea to Neville, he kept quiet, looking at the fireplace of their Common Room.
Harry hesitated. Last time the Snapes hadn't believed him straightaway. He couldn't take risks with Sirius, he couldn't waste time. Still, he had a feeling Hermione wouldn't go with him if he didn't at least try and he wasn't stupid enough to believe he had a chance to rescue Sirius without her, so he acceded.
"Get Luna. She will guide you to the thestrals. I will join you later and let you know if it's a trap. If it isn't, we will enter the Ministry of Magic and save Sirius. Was I clear?"
His friends had no other option.
The adamant bangs on the door echoed in the Snapes chambers shortly after. Harry distinguished a hooked nose peeking out behind the door. The boy burst into the room without permission. There was no time for formalities. His godfather was in danger, so he blurted out the words as soon as Severus closed the door behind him before Severus could reproach him for being rude.
Voldemort's wicked expression in the last meeting popped into Severus's mind. He sighed and forced himself to use a soft voice.
"Harry, it could be a mere setup."
"It isn't a setup! You only say that because you hate Sirius! You have always hated him!"
Severus narrowed his eyes at the insolence. He may not be fond of the animagus, but Sirius was his godfather. Severus wouldn't leave him to die if the situation arose.
"It is too late for me to listen to your impertinent words!"
"We have to help him! He is my godfather! Please!"
Their shouts woke up Skyrah. She crept into the living room, covering her mouth to muffle a yawn and rubbing her eyes. The sleepy state she was in went away the moment she noticed Harry's agitation.
"What is going on?"
"My godfather is in danger!" "The Dark Lord is deluding Harry!" Harry and Severus cried out simultaneously.
Skyrah frowned and studied them both before concluding her husband was probably right.
"Last meeting with my father left a bad presentiment in me… We shouldn't rush, sweetheart. At least not until we know for sure that my father isn't playing with you."
"You said the same about the dream I had about Mr. Weasley and Nagini! If we had taken any longer, he wouldn't be alive today!" the boy bellowed to the point of hysterics.
Severus sighed. "I'll see if Black is in Grimmauld Place before taking any drastic measures."
It was more than Harry had expected, so he agreed. The boy tapped his foot while he waited. Not even Skyrah's reassuring words calmed him down. As soon as Severus informed that Sirius wasn't there, Harry broke into a run. He heard the Snapes calling out for him from the distance, telling him that Voldemort could still be deceiving him, but then again, the boy wasn't willing to wait. Skyrah tried to run after him, yet Severus quickly caught her arm and spun her around.
"Don't. I will solve this. Go to bed."
"Harry's in peril!"
"I know, okay?! I have a feeling this is going to end nastily."
"Yet another reason to get him!"
"Skyrah, listen. We don't know how he is planning on leaving the castle, but he wouldn't have run away if he didn't have a backup plan. He knows how to sneak out, and he is most likely dragging his friends with him. We don't know where he is meeting them. Perhaps he is already outside. We would waste time trying to find him here. We must alert the Order. It's the wisest option. My mark hasn't burnt, so the Dark Lord doesn't require my services, but that doesn't mean there aren't Death Eaters in the Ministry waiting for Harry. Perhaps your father is there too. You cannot try to save him in front of some Death Eaters, even less in front of the Dark Lord. It's too risky."
She broke free from his clutch and stared hard at him.
"So you expect me to sleep through this?!"
"Yes! No! I don't know! You are with child! I don't want you to stress over this! Can't you see?! Stress could complicate your pregnancy!" He took a big breath and caressed her cheek with his knuckles. His voice was soothing when he vowed, "I will do everything in my power to protect Harry. You know that. Try not to worry too much and let me handle the situation, for everybody's sake."
His hands were stroking her belly. His words were slowly dawning in. If there was something that convinced a Horned Serpent like her, that was logic, and what Severus had just said was logical. Stress would not do her good. She trusted him, so she gave him a nod.
"If it happens to be a real trap, the Order will save Harry. If it isn't a trap and Black is in trouble, the Order will intervene, too. I will not be with them to avoid blowing my cover either way. I promise I will be back as soon as I pass on the information."
He kissed her forehead tenderly. His lips lingered there for longer than necessary before finally parting.
The night appeared interminable.
Skyrah couldn't fall asleep, not even the circles Severus was patting on her back worked. Knocks rang out. The door flung open, revealing Harry, Hermione and Ron, only they didn't look the same. Their clothes were torn, their faces were somber, Hermione's bushy hair was disheveled and Ron's shoulders were bent. Harry was the one who worried them the most though. Stooped posture, lifeless eyes, devastated expression.
"H-he's gone. Sirius is g-gone," stuttered Harry, sinking to his knees, hands trying to muffle his sobs in vain.
Ron and Hermione nodded at the Snapes before leaving, letting them know they understood that Harry needed to spend the night in the chambers.
The couch was transfigured into a bed. In it, Skyrah kept rocking the disconsolate boy back and forth while Severus summoned a calming draught.
"The Order w-was there thanks to you. Professor Dumbledore t-told us. I… Thank you," stammered Harry, glancing up at Severus, who nodded solemnly and offered the potion.
He drank it without complaining about the taste and kept weeping on Skyrah's shoulder.
"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry… I should have listened to you two… Sirius… It's my fault."
"Sh. It's not your fault, sweetheart. You were scared and thought you were doing the right thing. My father is to blame, not you."
Harry tightened his grip on her. The potion exerted its effects. His sobs quietened. His breathing became regular. He was asleep.
Flashes of last night's events pierced his mind and ached his heart when Harry woke up the following morning. He wanted to cry, yet no tears came to his eyes.
He leaped out of the temporal mattress and looked for the Snapes. He found them sleeping peacefully in each other's arms. Severus's palm was covering his wife's belly protectively. Harry would have smiled at the scene had it not been for his current grief. He didn't want to wake them up, so he left the couple alone and cooked breakfast. He hadn't even finished cooking yet when a silky voice he recognized as Severus's despite the deeper morning pitch remarked he didn't have to cook.
"I know, sir. It is my way to apologize for not trusting you yesterday. I also wanted to thank you for letting me stay the night."
Severus would have scolded the boy for running away and scaring him and Skyrah like that, but he couldn't, not when he sounded so remorseful and his expression was of downright defeat. He was paying for his mistakes. Severus helped him out until Skyrah joined them in the kitchen. They ate in silence, the air dark due to the past events.
Harry met up with his friends in the Great Hall as soon as they were done. However, the Snapes didn't have time for themselves as someone else knocked on the door. It was thrown open with a swift move. Albus didn't bother greeting them, no twinkle in his eyes.
"The Ministry has prohibited me from keeping my post as the Headmaster."
Severus's eyes widened and he moved aside to let him come in before the door shut closed with a bang.
"My responsibility as the Headmaster is to ensure students' safety. No Hogwarts student should have found the way to leave the school last night. It was my mistake. Fortunately, dueling against Tom and helping Harry and his friends in the Battle have been my redeeming actions. They will let me return as a headmaster next year. My dismissal is temporary, a sanction for my imprudence."
"Who will be the Headmaster now?" asked Severus, straight to the point.
"Not Headmaster but Headmistress. Professor Umbridge will substitute me."
"Pardon?!" spluttered Skyrah. "The pink toad?! Why her?"
Albus smirked at the nickname. "She has connections with the Ministry. They trust her."
"Well, the Ministry couldn't be more incompetent even if they tried," grunted Skyrah.
Severus was plotting ways to give Dolores hell while Skyrah rubbed her temples. She liked Albus as a boss and didn't fancy someone like Dolores to order her around.
"Has Harry told you what happened? I know he came to you last night."
"Mere glimpses," provided Severus.
Albus nodded and explained, "Voldemort was after the prophecy…"
Severus knew for sure then that the spheres Harry had dreamt about were prophecy records from the Hall of Prophecies. He utterly despised prophecies. They only got people killed and left children parentless, like Harry.
"Said prophecy claims that Harry will either defeat Voldemort or be defeated by him. Neither can live while the other survives. Harry is the Chosen One. That is why I told him it is important to spend at least some weeks with the Dursleys. The blood wards must be recharged to ensure his protection."
"He'll be staying with us for the rest of the summer," deduced Skyrah.
"Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons imparted by you would benefit the boy immensely. You need to agree first, as it is natural."
The Snapes exchanged looks and knew they wouldn't be alone during the summer break.
A month passed. Harry wasn't the same. His pose was droopy and his green eyes hadn't sparked since he came from the Ministry. Even his marks dropped. That was why Severus asked him to meet him in his chambers after class. The first thing the boy noted when he arrived was that Skyrah wasn't there, but he didn't question her whereabouts. Instead, he inquired about the reason of the meeting.
"I wanted to talk to you about your mother."
His mouth went ajar and his eyebrows lifted. Of all the things Severus could have called him for, that was not what Harry had expected. Yes, Severus had promised him he would tell him about her. He just didn't imagine it would be right then.
"Why now?"
"Because I reckon it will do you good. Your current attitude isn't beneficial for you. If talking about your mother improves your mood, that is what I will do."
Harry lowered his gaze. He knew he was referring to the way he was coping with his godfather's death.
"Lily was my best friend, my only friend. I was the one who told her she was a witch."
"Really?" he asked, finally meeting his eyes, some vitality returning to them.
"Really."
There, the smile Severus had missed was back on his face.
"What was she like?"
Severus chuckled at his sudden display of enthusiasm. It reminded him so much of the way Lily got overexcited about the little magical knowledge he shared before going to Hogwarts.
"She was a talented, popular, vivacious student, just like you."
"You think I am talented?" he asked, his mouth open.
"Not in Divination and History of Magic, and certainly not in Potions, albeit I must admit that you are quite adept at Defense Against the Dark Arts." Harry grinned up at him. Realizing he had been too praising, he teased, "I also reckon you have a special talent for getting in trouble, not a good one, but a talent nonetheless."
"I don't go looking for trouble. Trouble usually finds me."
Severus raised his eyebrows and shook his head. That was Gryffindor philosophy, and even though the assumption may sometimes be true, it didn't apply to the boy. Had Harry not left Hogwarts as he and Skyrah had requested, he wouldn't have come face to face with a famished pack of Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort himself. That was the last thing Harry needed to hear though, so Severus resumed to Lily's topic.
"Lily always did what she thought was morally right. She wasn't afraid to stand up for herself and for others."
Harry frowned. "Why did she marry a bully then?"
Severus paled. How was he supposed to tackle the matter without upsetting Harry?
"Your mother was incredibly kind. She saw the best in others, even when they could not see it themselves. That must have been one of the reasons she married him and became my friend in the first place."
Harry had a déjà-vu, recalling the moment Remus recited those same words.
"Didn't it anger you that your best friend married your enemy? I would go nuts if Hermione dated Malfoy," he said with a nervous laugh, his stomach churning by just picturing it.
He expected Severus to chuckle or to flash him a smirk, but he averted his green eyes.
"Sir? Did I say something wrong? The conversation can end if you are uncomfortable," he said, although he couldn't hide a hint of disappointment in his voice.
"I promised you I would tell you about her, Harry. We haven't even started yet." He inhaled slowly, telling himself that the boy needed to hear about his mother, even if recalling certain memories distressed him. "We weren't friends by the time she started dating Potter."
"Why? What happened?"
"I called her a mudblood." Severus grimaced as if the word tasted foul in his tongue. His baritone tone lowered. The lines of his face hardened. "I was not a good guy, Harry. I still am not."
Harry couldn't help but think of Draco calling Hermione a mudblood in second year. She had taken it bad, and they had never been friends. His mother must have felt awful. He didn't understand why Severus would call her a mudblood if they were friends. Didn't that make him as bad as James?
All of us have good and bad within us, Harry heard Skyrah's voice in his head, the words she had told him after finding out James bullied Severus. We make mistakes.
"Why did you do it?" asked Harry, swallowing hard.
Severus's hands began to sweat. His green eyes looked as hurt as Lily's had been when he called her that slur. Severus hadn't imagined the discussion would take this turn. He had simply thought it would cheer Harry up to talk about Lily, but the topic had distorted to the point he doubted it would have the desired effect on the boy.
"The memory you saw during that occlumency lesson… I occluded before you could see Lily trying to help me, before you could see me insulting her in return… I tried to apologize, I truly did, but she thought I was no better than the Slytherins I hung out with, all future Death Eaters… She wasn't wrong. I became one, too."
I expect you to remember the good and the bad and understand that nobody is perfect. Do not judge Severus.
"Do you regret calling her that?"
Severus didn't even hesitate to answer. "I will always regret it."
That was everything Harry needed to hear. The small grin that appeared on his face caught Severus off guard.
"You are wrong, you know? You aren't a bad man now. If my mother was alive, she would see how much you are trying to redeem yourself. She would forgive you. I forgive you."
Honesty radiated from his emerald eyes, and for a moment Severus could have sworn Lily was looking right at him and pardoning him. It left him breathless, with a lightest heart.
"You have your mother's eyes," muttered Severus, his voice incredibly soft.
"So I've heard," said the boy with a cheeky smile, the kind Lily used to flash him when she joshed him. "So tell me, what did you do as kids? Did you two brew potions or was she as useless as me when it came to those? Oh! And what about Aunt Petunia? What was your relationship with her?"
Severus cracked a smug grin. "I hit Petunia with a branch when we were kids."
"No way!" he exclaimed, chortling. "I would have paid to see that!"
"It was accidental magic, mind you? But that didn't make it any less fun. Regarding your other questions, Lily was remarkable at Potions and we sometimes brewed together."
"Then I'll blame my mediocre skills on my father."
Harry blushed and cursed himself for mentioning James the moment the famous scowl returned to Severus's face.
"Don't you dare. I do not tolerate sluggish students, Harry. Your inaptitude in Potions is due to disinterest and lack of effort, not due to genes."
Did that mean Severus believed he could get higher marks if he tried harder? Was he disappointing him with his performance? Harry rubbed his nape, unsure of how to proceed. Luckily, Severus didn't dig further into the topic.
"Lily and I used to lie on the grass and talk about our future in Hogwarts..."
Harry got lost in the silky voice, enjoying the experience as if he was a child listening to a fairytale. Only he was older, and it wasn't a fairytale; the stories were real. The more Severus talked, the easier it was for Harry to see how much Severus cherished his mother. Up to what point though, he was not sure.
"Sir, were you in love with my mother? Is that why you changed sides?"
The air caught in his throat. Severus hadn't stopped seeing Lily since Harry came to talk to him, but now, no matter how green his eyes were, he saw Skyrah in the boy, no trace of judgement on his face. Harry only wanted to understand.
"For many years, Lily was the only light I had in my life."
Harry nodded, intuiting it was a yes. Strangely, it did not bother him.
"But now you have Skyrah."
Severus smiled softly. "Yes, I do."
"How do you know you are in love? How does it feel to love someone like that?"
Severus raised an eyebrow. "Why? Do you suspect you might be in love?"
Harry shrugged, cheeks slightly pink. When Severus spoke, he wasn't looking at Harry but at a History book Skyrah had left on a table nearby, his voice merely above a whisper.
"It feels like an obsession. You want to be with her, all the time. You wake up and fall asleep thinking about her. When you think about the future, she is always there. Being in love is being yourself, not being afraid of showing your scars and deepest secrets. It is sharing your all with her, wanting to be a better person. It is being angry with her yet knowing you still care for her, not wanting to lose her. It is a feeling that consumes you entirely. Her happiness is your happiness. You would do anything for her. It is scary, and it confuses me, but I don't want to ever stop feeling this way."
He was using present tense. He was talking about Skyrah. Harry wished Skyrah was there, overhearing them. But she was in her office. Severus had meant for the talk to be between him and Harry.
"I am definitively not in love," he said, making Severus smirk. "Do you think my father felt that for my mother?"
"Lily wouldn't have married him if he hadn't loved her like that."
Harry nodded.
"It is dinner time, Harry. You should go."
Harry's face contorted in pain again. He didn't want to leave. Severus was distracting him from the pain.
"Your mother would hate to see you suffering for Black," said Severus, accompanying Harry towards the door. "She would like you to keep going, to keep smiling."
"I wouldn't like to disappoint her."
A sense of satisfaction washed over Severus upon hearing those words, drawing on his face a proud smile. He had accomplished his goal: he had given hope back to Harry.
Before the boy could open the door, he swung about and crushed Severus in a tight embrace. Severus put his arms around him a few moments later, after the shockwaves passed. The embrace wasn't as awkward as usual; it actually felt natural, parental. Harry felt like his mother somehow lived in Severus, like he was hugging a part of Lily. Harry teared up, not knowing Severus was having similar thoughts.
"Thank you for telling me about her, sir. It means a lot."
"You're welcome, Harry."
The Professors didn't intervene when students pranked Dolores, mainly Fred and George. It was their sweet, subtle revenge. They could have a laugh in their private quarters about the pranks later. It was the only thing that kept them going since she had brought Tartarus, or the Ministry, to Hogwarts. Not like they were semantically different.
Dolores had banned Skyrah from conducting practical classes, threatening her with firing her if she didn't follow Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard by heart, a useless textbook, to Skyrah's mind. She tried to teach as Dolores instructed, although it was evident that she detested the style by the scowl that had developed on her face, so similar to her husband's.
"Skyrah, why don't you teach us spell work anymore?" inquired Lavender Brown, interrupting her lesson.
"The Headmistress has asked me to teach according to the restricted Ministry-approved curriculum." AKA, the curriculum designed in hell, thought Skyrah as she heard and watched the disappointed huffs and faces of the students.
"But we don't actually learn anything by doing this! You-Know-Who is back! What are we going to do if there is a war? We'll be defenseless! This subject is called Defense Against the Dark Arts. I don't see how these lessons make us competent in this area."
"They don't, Dean. That's what Professor Umbridgeand the Ministry want. I can do nothing about it."
His response was to press his lips thin and lower his gaze.
"The Ministry and Professor Umbridge don't need to know," suggested a timid voice that belonged to Daphne Greengrass, a quiet student who never participated unless required. "You could still teach us as you have always done. We should simply bring the book and pretend you are teaching from it."
The students' faces shone with hope but soon darkened when Skyrah replied, "I would love to do that, Daphne. Nevertheless, I can't risk losing my job. If Professor Umbridge caught me breaking the rules I-"
"Oh, come on! Aren't Slytherins supposed to have a certain disregard for the rules?" cried out Harry, who couldn't wait to go back to her lessons, the ones in which he could move, experiment and learn, for a change.
Skyrah squinted.
"Harry Potter! Don't interrupt me and don't take that tone with me if you don't want me to deduct twice as many House points as my husband would for your impoliteness."
Harry instantly shut up and blushed. By her stern expression, the same she had displayed in front of Petunia, he didn't query her threat. He sometimes forgot that Skyrah was supposed to be a teacher to him, nothing else. It was easier to pretend nothing had changed with Severus, as his classes were rigidly structured and he kept making snarky remarks. Skyrah, on the other hand, made him feel as comfortable as when they were in Spinner's End.
Hermione interrupted his thoughts with her slightly bossy voice.
"Daphne's idea isn't bad, in fact. If we all brought our books and hid from Professor Umbridge that your classes are practical, we could get away with it. Couldn't you consider it at least?"
Skyrah stood still, a reflective yet grave expression on her face. One glimpse at her hopeful students and her decision was made.
"You will have to be extra-cautious. You cannot even talk about my classes with your friends. Professor Umbridge may overhear you. It would be good that you had the textbook with you and commented something about its theory if she approached you. That should tell her I am obeying her orders. Both my job and your education are at stake here. May I count on you?"
They all nodded vividly, looking like infants who had just got a chocolate bar. Only when the steps of the students didn't resonate anymore in the classroom, did she realize what she had got herself into.
She rubbed her temples and muttered under her breath, "My husband is going to kill me."
"You agreed to what?" spluttered Severus, raising his eyes from the potion he was brewing and locking them with Skyrah's.
"Hear me out!" She raised her hands in self-defense. "I can teach theory. That is not the problem. I've actually taught History of Magic, a quite theoretical subject, for nine years. The thing is that knowledge about History permits students to understand the present and somehow change or predict the future. It is useful. Defense Against the Dark Arts is entirely useless if there is no practice. What are students supposed to do when they find themselves in front of inferi? Recite that they are creatures of the dark that dislike light and heat and that the most useful spell is the firestorm charm? They would have never even cast the fire-summoning spell in the first place! They would die before they got the spell right! Can't that loathsome pink toad see it?! Can't the Ministry see it?! We are talking about education here. It should provide knowledge and skills to live, not to die!"
Severus sighed.
"You are right, but this doesn't change the fact that you are violating the law. Be patient. Albus will return next year and you will teach as you please."
She snorted. "Easy for you to say. The Ministry hasn't touched the Potions curriculum. The pink toad hasn't given you an inutile textbook to follow. I've read Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard. It's atrocious. I don't even know why book shops sell that."
"Actually, the Potions curriculum recommends using a few inutile textbooks too, as you put it."
"Recommending and coercing are very different terms. I will give practical lessons." Skyrah saw the preoccupation in his coal eyes. She didn't want to worry him, but she didn't want to go against her nature if she could help it either. She couldn't disappoint her students or herself like that. "At the minimal sign of risk, I will drop it and follow the bloody curriculum by heart. Does that sound acceptable?"
"It's more than I would have thought you'd accede to do. Be careful."
His hand had reached for her belly, caressing it protectively. Her expression softened as she put her hand over his.
"I will."
Skyrah taught her own way for two weeks, not only to Harry's class but also to sixth and seventh years. Everything ran smoothly until somebody knocked on the door in the middle of a practical lesson. Amidst the panic, Skyrah commanded the fifth-years to sit on the floor, right in front of her, since they were all spread out and there was no chance all of them would make it to their wooden seats in time. Dolores peeked out right after all the students complied orders.
"Professor Snape, I think we already discussed that practice isn't allowed in Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons," started Dolores, speaking in her poisoned honey voice.
"We did, Headmistress," Skyrah said, gnashing her teeth.
"And you are aware that I am the authority here and, as such, you must obey me?"
"Yes."
"Then do you mind telling me why the students aren't in their seats, listening attentively to your lecture and following Wilbert Slinkhard's book? I gathered you were an intelligent witch, Professor Snape. Surely, you wouldn't dare to flout the law, would you?"
All the students held their breaths, praying that Skyrah would know what to say.
"I've obeyed the law, madam. I was just starting a lecture on the inferi, as the curriculum requests. They were not in their seats because it helps them be more relaxed and consequently find it easier to pay attention. Nothing more, nothing less."
Dolores looked askance at Skyrah, who kept the same expression she pulled when she was in front of her father; stony.
"A real lecture should be given by the Professor while the students are in their seats and follow the book. I do not approve of your methods, Professor Snape."
"You never said anything about the distribution of the class. I apologize. I know what I must do from now on. Shall I proceed with the lesson?"
"You shall, although I will stay here for a few minutes. As a Headmistress, I must ensure my students' education. If I do not see you fit to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, I will intervene."
If there is someone in this room who is disturbing students' education, that happens to be you, loathsome pink toad, thought Skyrah. She suppressed the primal urge to send her a deathly glare and cleared her throat. An order and the students returned to their seats. She gave the lecture, reciting the words of the book as if they were a memorized poem.
Dolores appeared pleased with the performance until Harry raised his hand.
"Yes, Mr. Potter?"
The formal form tasted foreign to Skyrah, but she had a feeling that Dolores wouldn't appreciate it if she called her students by their first names. She was already on the line. She couldn't make another mistake.
Harry cringed at the way she had referred to him.
"Professor Snape," he started, following suit and calling her by her surname. "Voldemort owns an army of inferi. What if we find ourselves in front of them? What should we do to combat them?"
Skyrah loved the boy, but at that moment she would have given anything for him to keep his mouth shut.
...
A/N: In this story, Lucius didn't participate in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. Voldemort didn't trust him enough after Dione escaped. Hence, there will be no Azkaban for him. It is a necessary change for the plot, and this is an AU story, so…
Also, in canon, Fudge resigned because of the pressure he received from the media and the public in general after the Battle. Rufus Scrimgeour took his place. In my story, the Battle takes place earlier and Umbridge still works at Hogwarts as a headmistress. This means Fudge resists the pressure until summer. Rufus takes his place then.