Blood (thicker than) Water (but what about) Lemonade?

A Verbal Thrashing

Avril and Harry moved quickly through the corridors underneath the cloak as Harry tried to recall the way to the Slytherin House.

"Are you sure it's this way?" she asked him as they turned a familiar corner.

"No."

Avril sighed impatiently.

"Harry."

"Look, I'm trying. It's not like I have a-"

"The Map!" they both groaned.

They stopped moving.

"What do we do?" Harry asked, the adrenaline usually inspired by the cloak wearing off.

"We could go back and get it," Avril suggested, "but by then Malfoy'll probably have whatever was in the bag tucked away and hidden."

"So..."

"We keep moving. Now haul ass."

They began walking again.

After a few more minutes, Harry suddenly straightened up. "I remember! It's down here."

He turned them into another hallway, just as dark and creepy as the previous ones had been. Avril couldn't tell the difference, but she kept quiet.

After they passed a few portraits she hadn't seen before, Avril began to feel slightly more confident.

They stopped in front of a blank stone wall.

"This is it?" she asked.

Harry nodded. "Now I just have to-"

"Death to the Mudbloods." The voice surprised them both and Avril nearly shouted out if Harry had not gripped her arm.

A Slytherin, tall and thin with oily brown hair on his head and upper lip was standing behind them. He had obviously not heard them whispering to one another, and the Slytherin reputation for being 'slinky like a snake' was upheld by the fact that they had not heard him, either.

Then the wall slid open and the boy entered, nearly touching Avril as he passed.

Quickly, they followed.

The common room hadn't changed since Harry had been there three years before.

A few Slytherins were playing chess at a table, and a girl with long blonde hair was reading by the fire.

"Now, which way to the rooms?" Avril whispered. There were a few passageways leading off from the common room.

"I'm willing to follow that guy," Harry said, nodding to a boy he knew wasn't in his year (but it was a start).

"Right."

They followed him down another passage, lined with seven doors on each side.

The boy entered through the sixth door on the left and Avril counted.

"I'm guessing that these seven doors are according to year, and this side of the hall belongs to the girls," Avril whispered.

Harry shrugged. "Let's give it a try."

They opened the door and went inside. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were all standing around Malfoy's bed, staring at an object laying in front of them and talking in excited whispers.

"Let's get closer," Harry mouthed. Avril nodded.

"Where'd you get it?" Goyle grunted.

"Father gave it to me. He claims it belonged to a muggle they attacked last week. Interesting, isn't it?"

"I can't see it," Avril whispered.

"How does it work?" Crabbe mumbled, only it came out like "How .... It.... Work....?"

"I'm not sure. Father knows, but he thoughtfully left out any instructions. It wasn't very intelligent, if you ask me. I'm just going to try and figure it out on my own and I'll probably kill myself in the meantime."

"Yeah and that's way more intelligent," Avril whispered sarcastically as they tried to move around the two hulks that were Crabbe and Goyle. Harry snickered, and clapped a hand over his mouth, hitting Avril in the process.

Avril was caught off guard and lost her balance, groping at thin air for support as she fell against Crabbe's back.

Crabbe let out a yell that was similar to that of a startled cow, and leapt forward.

Harry caught a glimpse of something black and shining before it was swept back into the bag and out of sight.

Then the cloak came off.

"Potter!" Malfoy yelled angrily, shoving the bag into his robes.

His pale face was pink with anger and surprise.

Crabbe growled angrily at being frightened by someone half his own size and stepped forward, pulling Avril roughly to her feet by the scruff of her robes.

"Get off," Avril snapped, yanking away.

"Well, well, well," Malfoy mused, the familiar smirk now back on his pointed face. He stepped towards them, his pale eyes on Avril.

"What have we here? A Gryffindor slimeball and his little snoop?" At the word 'snoop', Malfoy poked his face very close to Avril's.

She made a face and pushed him away.

"The only slimeball here is you Malfoy," she spat angrily. "And the slime doesn't drip very far from the ball."

Malfoy smirk only broadened. "If you're talking about my father-"

"That's exactly who I'm talking about. Your father was the one who kidnapped-"

"Prove it," Malfoy hissed, taking another step closer.

Harry, now feeling sick with anger, advanced upon Malfoy as Avril tried to push him away.

Goyle grabbed Harry and held him back, chuckling stupidly.

Avril shoved Malfoy a few more feet away as he grew too close for comfort and tried to change the subject.

Dumbledore had told her himself that nothing could be done to prove the Lucius Malfoy had been one of the people who had kidnapped her, as Snape was untrustworthy in the eyes of the Ministry and Lucius had Disapparated before anyone else could get there to witness it.

"What's in the bag Malfoy?" she asked, eying the bulge in his robes by his shoulder.

Malfoy grinned. "Like I'd tell you. It's just a little present from my father. But you and Potter probably don't know what getting a present from your father is like, do you?"

Avril's face grew red with anger. Harry felt a ringing in his ears.

Malfoy pulled slightly at her robes. "But let's focus at what's important, shall we? Three noble, well behaved Slytherins were in their room, minding their own business, when all of a sudden two Gryffindors appear! What were they doing there in the first place? And most importantly, what's going to happen to them now that they've been caught?"

Harry angrily struggled against Goyle's vice like grip on his arms, gritting his teeth as Malfoy looked Avril up and down, making his blood boil.

Avril's back was against the post of one of the Slytherin beds now, and she too was gritting her teeth as Malfoy pulled at her robes, taunting her.

She wished those two idiots would stop laughing.

Avril reached for her wand, but Malfoy grabbed her arm.

"Sure you want to do that?" His tone was soft, threatening, and mocking.

Avril yanked her arm away.

"I'm warning you, Malfoy. If you don't back off-" Malfoy just laughed and stepped closer (if it was possible).

"You'll what? Tell your uncle Sevvie?"

"She doesn't have to," a cold and very hard voice suddenly broke in, making everyone jump.

Snape was standing in the doorway, arms crossed, looking angrier than Harry had ever seen him before in his life.

Still, he managed to keep it under control.

Malfoy leapt about three meters away from Avril, looking terror stricken.

"Goyle," Snape looked meaningfully at the troll, who let Harry go at once.

Malfoy was now a brilliant pink and pointed at Avril and Harry.

"Sir! They broke into our-"

"That will do, Mister Malfoy," Snape cut him off, narrowing his eyes. "Potter, Avril, come with me."

There was no comfort or sympathy or even kindness in his voice. In fact, the venom in it frightened Avril right down to the bone.

Harry scooped up his cloak.

They left the Slytherin house, following closely behind Snape. They didn't speak and until they reached the door to Snape's office, which, Avril noted, wasn't very far from his living quarters.

Snape opened the door and stood back.

"In," he said, his voice still tight with anger.

Avril and Harry quickly entered the cold room.

Snape shut the door behind him and went to stand behind his desk.

Only then did he speak.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" he asked them harshly, looking at Avril in particular.

"Uncle Severus, we-"

"Professor-"

"Malfoy had-"

"We only-"

"Silence!" Snape barked. Avril and Harry fell silent.

"You both snuck into house that was not your own, to spy on a fellow student, in broad daylight, under an invisibility cloak? Merlin- where are your brains?"

Avril opened her mouth to reply, but Snape held up a hand and began pacing.

"I'd have thought you especially, Avril, would have had more sense than to allow yourself to enter a scenario such as this. Particularly after your close encounter with another member of the Malfoy family."

"We didn't mean to get caught!" Harry exclaimed, not thinking.

Snape rounded on him. "And I know you weren't thinking, Potter! I don't expect you to- not the famous Potter- he can do whatever he pleases. But when you endanger someone who is my responsibility, a little common sense on your part is necessary!"

Snape wasn't even finished. "What would you have done if Malfoy had hurt her? 'I didn't mean for her to get hurt!' Is that what you'd say? It would be a little too late for that, wouldn't it? And I saw how hard you were fighting to help her, too-"

"That's not fair!" Avril interrupted.

"No," Snape snapped, "what isn't fair is the fact that my own niece doesn't have the intelligence to know when something isn't her own business! Not when Potter's around to impress! No! Sneaking around is far more fun than remaining safe and uninjured. If I had not found you-"

"How did you find us?" Avril broke in. "How did you know we were there?"

Snape began pacing again. "I didn't. I was searching for Mister Malfoy. Dumbledore wanted him for questioning-"

He stopped, having said too much, then continued.

"-and I was informed he was in his room. You are very lucky I found you there."

And suddenly, the yelling resumed.

"I cannot believe the pair of you could be so careless- no, wait! Yes I can." Snape went on for a while longer, glaring, slapping the surface of his wooden desk more than a few times, pointing fingers and pacing until Harry grew dizzy.

Finally, he seemed to have run out of things to say and pointed to the door.

"And thirty points from Gryffindor for being in another House that is not your own. Potter- out."

Harry nodded and backed away to the door. He hurried out of the office and was met by a wave of warmth that engulfed the castle. He had forgotten, what with the shouting, how cold Snape's office had been.

When Harry had shut the door, Snape turned to Avril, who sighed.

He began to scold again, repeating much of what had already been said, but differently.

There was a familiar tone to his voice now.

Avril had never heard it coming from his mouth, but rather, her father's.

It was the same tone of voice Ray had used on her when Avril had once flown too far out to sea on her McNally and had fallen in.

She had nearly drowned, and if it hadn't been for Athena, flying in with a letter from lone of her friends, Ray and Sydney would never have known she was out there.

Ray, after assuring she didn't hypothermia, had shouted for hours.

It also applied to the time where she run away, angry at her parents for being called away on her twelfth birthday.

She didn't get far, as she owned a Cleansweep four (a safety precaution on her father's part, as he knew of her love for risk taking) and soon grew tired anyway.

But when they had found her, both Ray and Sydney had yelled for almost a day- all the way home, at least.

Recalling these (and many other) occasions, and comparing them to what was happening at the very moment, Avril couldn't help but smile. A small smile, but obvious enough for Snape to see it and grow angrier.

"Why are you smiling? Do you not grasp the severity of the situation?"

Avril shook her head.

"No, I mean, I understand it was stupid, I mean, you've somehow managed to point out why what we did as wrong and how in a sixteen paragraph oral essay. But..."

Snape, very irritated at the breezy way she was dealing with this, snarled "but what?"

Avril smiled again and said in a very sing-songy voice, "you care about me!"

Snape was totally caught off guard. He had expected a stupid joke, or story. Anything but that. How the hell was he supposed to reply to that?

"That," he said slowly, "is not the point."

Avril smiled but said nothing.

"The point is-"

"I know what the point is, Uncle Severus. If you tell me again you're going to lose your voice. I'm sorry, ok? Can I go now?"

Snape hesitated. "Promise me you won't do anything stupid like trap yourself like that again."

Now it was Avril's turn to hesitate. She didn't want to do that. She loved sneaking off under the cloak. She loved excitement. Adventure. But the look on Snape's face was- was that desperation?

"I... Promise."

Snape sighed, seemingly relieved.

"You can go."

******

Snape watched her go, tense and still very angry.

When she shut the door, Snape fought the almost overwhelming urge to hunt down and strangle Malfoy.

How dare he even try something like that- it didn't matter what Avril and Potter had been doing. That was going too far."

Snape took off, heading again towards the Slytherin House, not to kill Malfoy (though it was tempting at the time) but because the Headmaster was still waiting to have a talk with him.

He ran into Malfoy and his cronies halfway.

"Sir!" Malfoy looked very afraid. After all, Snape had caught him breaking his only niece's personal boundaries. He should be afraid.

"Malfoy, the Headmaster wishes a word."

Good, Severus. Keep it short. That way, there's no increasing urge to disembowel him.

Malfoy went very pale.

Obviously he thought it had something to do with what had just happened.

"Yes sir."

Snape led Malfoy away from his friends and up to the Headmaster's office, where he left him with Dumbledore.

He didn't tell Dumbledore what had happened.

******

"Merlin, that was tiring." Harry greeted Avril as she came through the portrait hole.

He was slumped on the couch, still recuperating from the verbal beating he had received.

He also felt guilty. And even a little angry at himself.

Snape was right, for once. Malfoy really could have hurt Avril, and there as nothing he could have done- not with Crabbe and Goyle standing there, holding him down.

He had felt totally helpless, standing there and watching.

"Let's not talk about it," Avril groaned. She flopped down on the couch beside Harry and rubbed her face, totally exhausted.

"I just wish we could have found out what Malfoy had in that damned bag."

Avril grinned, suddenly.

"What makes you think we can't?"

Harry tensed. "Avril, we're not going back there-"

Avril laughed and extracted a familiar bag from her robes.

Harry's eyes widened and he grinned too.

"How did you get that?" He asked, reaching for it.

Avril pulled the drawstring open.

"I snagged it when the little creep was rubbing up against me." She shuddered. "It still wasn't worth it, but here we go!"

She tipped the bag upside down, and out fell-

A gun.

35

A Scary Thought

Ron and Hermione walked along the dewy grass on the cool April morning. It was almost May, and the sun had begun shining more often, rather than the rain.

Ron wished that this would just end right now. He wanted to ask Hermione how she felt about him, then get the horrible nervousness over with (preferably with some snogging).

He cleared his throat.

"So, er, Hermione."

"Yes Ron?" Hermione was nervously twisting her hands in front of her, and chewing her lip as well. This was going to be very hard. She had done some thinking over breakfast, and was met with a difficult conclusion.

Ron plunged into the question, eager for the answer.

"Givenanythoughttomynote?"

Hermione frowned.

"Sorry?"

"Have you- have you given any thought about the note I sent to you?" Ron was looking at her with puppy eyes.

Hermione stopped.

"I'm sorry Ron, but no."

Ron stopped too. He couldn't believe what he had just heard.

He was sure Hermione had liked him back. He was positive!

"But- why?"

Hermione shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

"I just... I can't."

And without another word, Hermione turned and fled back to the castle, leaving Ron alone, bewildered and confused.

*****

Avril and Harry stared down at the gun lying between them on the sofa with surprise.

It was shiny and black, glinting up at them.

Suddenly, Avril frowned.

"What is it?"

Harry looked up to see Avril looking questionably at him.

"A gun," he said.

"What's a gun?"

Remembering that Avril was from a pure blooded wizard family, and probably didn't understand a lot of Muggle concepts, Harry carefully lifted the gun by the handle and placed it in front of them on the table.

"It's a sort of Muggle weapon. You pull this trigger here while pointing it at someone, and a metal bullet comes out and kills them."

"Oh."

There was an awkward silence for a moment.

"Avril?"

Avril was staring intently at the gun, looking afraid to touch it. Harry wasn't sure whether it was loaded or not.

"Yeah?"

"I'm... I'm really sorry," Harry apologized quickly, hoping to forget the whole thing.

Avril tore her eyes from the shiny black .45 mil and looked into Harry's eyes with a quizzical expression.

"About what?"

"Back in the dungeon... With Malfoy. I should've- I could've helped you, but I didn't." Harry felt himself going red.

Avril smiled, looking a little taken aback. "Harry, don't worry about it. It wasn't your fault; I saw Goyle holding you down. Besides, I can take care of myself. I thought you knew that."

Harry grinned a little. "Yeah, I figured that when you snapped Voldemort's wand in half."

Avril noticed his eyes had gone a little softer than they had been a moment ago.

She also noticed he was a few inches closer to her now that the gun had been moved out of the way.

"You don't always have to be a hero you know," she said quietly.

Harry stopped inching.

"Yes I do," he muttered.

Avril shook her head. "No, you don't," she assured him firmly. "Sometimes it's better if you don't get involved. Let Harry look after Harry."

Harry moved a little closer again. "When would that work?"

Avril watched, a little nervously, as Harry's eyes met hers. "Well," she said slowly as Harry's knee touched hers, "if you had knocked Malfoy out, for example, think of what Crabbe and Goyle would've done to you. And they don't hit girls, so it would have been better if I had done... It."

Avril's voice grew softer as she finished her sentence and she watched Harry's face grow closer to hers.

His eyes, a hypnotic swirl of green and darker green, seemed to be locked onto hers. His lips gently touched hers and Avril felt a spinning in her head.

"Avril!"

Hermione scrambled through the portrait, and Harry threw himself backwards onto the couch.

Avril blushed furiously and turned to Hermione whose eyes, to her surprise, were terribly bloodshot; she looked like she'd been crying.

"Hermione- what's wrong?" Avril got up and went to her friend.

"Upstairs," Hermione whispered, hurrying up the winding staircase.

Avril followed, Harry forgotten.

But Harry had not forgotten about Avril.

He sat, shaking slightly, thinking of what had almost happened. Why had it happened? He couldn't possibly like her, could he?

No, it was impossible. She was Avril. She was like a guy friend. They had been through way too much together to be... That.

Then again, maybe that was it. Maybe it was because they had done so much together, it had felt right at the time.

That must be it; Harry couldn't remember thinking before it happened.

He couldn't really remember what he had been thinking while it happened either.

All he could remember was that he had liked it.