The Fire You Touch

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Chapter 22: Recovery

Cold...can't breathe...Aeryn flailed her arms and legs, trying to crawl back to the surface, but she was fighting a losing battle. My lungs...muscles...hurts to move...The light above her grew dim as she sank lower and lower in the water. The last molecule of oxygen burned from her lungs, and she gurgled, feeling consciousness slip from her body, her movements becoming more sluggish, her vision blacking out...

I'm going to die...

Something large and slimy slithered around her waist. Aeryn tried to clamp her hands around it, to pry it off of her, but a stream of bubbles escaped her lips as her head lolled backwards. Her hands slackened and fell away, and Aeryn very quietly passed out.

* * *

Warmth. Light flickering behind her closed eyelids. Lying on something soft, pillowy, a sheet against her skin. Shallow breathing, a raspy noise that sounded as if it were snagging on hooks. Broken body, throbbing with pain, like she had been haphazardly glued together. Twitching a finger, attempting movement, but a surge of white-hot agony shot through her muscles, and she groaned softly.

"Poppy! She's coming to!" A voice, relieved, someone she knew...

Aeryn cracked open a swollen eyelid. A fuzzy haze of light floated above her, and she blinked, hard. A haggard face came slowly into view, the face of a woman whose black hair was wild and whose bloodshot eyes revealed she had been awake for hours. A relieved smile broke across her face as Aeryn lifted her eyes to her.

"Professor...Mc..." The words caught in her throat and Aeryn coughed, tearing the breath from her bruised body.

Madam Pomfrey's face came immediately into view. "Calmus," she murmured, and Aeryn's coughs subsided. The school nurse put a hand to Aeryn's forehead. "Her fever's still high," she said to Professor McGonagall. Madam Pomfrey ducked out of view, then reappeared holding a small bowl, which she held to Aeryn's lips. "If you can, dear, take a drink of this."

Aeryn parted her lips and let the cool liquid slip into her mouth. It hurt to swallow.

"Tell Hagrid that she's awake," Professor McGonagall said to someone Aeryn couldn't see.

"No visitors," Madam Pomfrey said sternly, running her wand over Aeryn's body. "She's got to rest."

"The poor man has been pacing outside the infirmary for hours, Poppy," Professor McGonagall said. "At least let him in for a moment, just to see her."

"No." Madam Pomfrey shook her head firmly and gently placed the tip of her wand against Aeryn's chest. "She's extremely weak, Minerva. Any excitement could be detrimental to her recovery."

Aeryn rolled her eyes to the Transfigurations professor. "What..."

Professor McGonagall put a comforting hand on Aeryn's arm. "Don't worry, Miss Blake, you're going to be fine," she said soothingly.

A very large worry-line had appeared on Madam Pomfrey's forehead. "I need that medicine," she muttered, half to herself, as she ducked out of Aeryn's line of vision. "What is taking him so long?"

"Professor..." Aeryn croaked. "Where...what..."

"Shh," Professor McGonagall hushed. "You're in the infirmary, Miss Blake, and you've had a very bad accident. We've--"

A wicked twinge rattled through Aeryn's body and she spasmed in pain, arching her back and giving a soft hiss.

Madame Pomfrey immediately reappeared. She pressed her fingertips swiftly against Aeryn's temples and murmured a word. A soothing numbness swept through Aeryn's body, and she thankfully slumped back against the bed with a shudder. Madame Pomfrey quickly picked up her wand and waved it around. A gray cloud shot out from the tip. "I need that medicine now," Madam Pomfrey said urgently.

Aeryn groaned, very quietly. Her head felt light, almost as if it wasn't attached, and black spots were swimming before her eyes.

Professor McGonagall got to her feet. "Poppy, what can I--"

A clatter at the infirmary door cut through her words. "I'm here, let me through," muttered a low voice.

"Thank the Maker," Madam Pomfrey exclaimed, running to join the speaker. "She's regained consciousness--her injuries are so extensive--" Her voice dropped, and Aeryn just barely caught her next words "--I don't know how much longer she can hold on--"

"The potion is cool enough for her to drink immediately," said the unknown speaker as they walked back towards Aeryn's bed. A tall figure came into view, the light playing across his greasy black hair and hooked nose--

"No!" Aeryn shrieked in terror, crawling back against the pillows.

Professor McGonagall flew to her side. "Miss Blake, what--"

"Get him away from me!" she cried. Pain lanced through her body as she lashed against the sheets, and the blood thundered in her ears. Panicked, she reached out for her mutant powers, but found only blankness. "Get him out of here, he's going to kill me--"

The Potions Master backed up a step, his sallow face shocked. Aeryn whimpered and grabbed Professor McGonagall's hand so tightly the teacher winced. He was standing--the mental image of the table leg smashing into his face flashed across her mind's eye--now, the light glanced off the shallow grooves her fingernails had made in his cheek, and his face was covered in a discolored bruise where she had kicked him, but he looked only as if he had been in a street brawl, none the worse for the wear--and he was standing--

"Miss Blake," Professor McGonagall said through clenched teeth, trying to pry her fingers from Aeryn's grasp. "Please, calm--"

"Someone, please, help me!" Aeryn sobbed.

Madam Pomfrey's wand began twisting violently in her fingers. "Minerva, calm her down!" she cried, her hand snaking out towards her medicine table.

Snape quickly held up a hand. "Miss Blake, I'm not going to hurt you," he said, but at his movement, Aeryn curled into a ball, flinging her arms protectively over her head.

"Back away, Severus," Madam Pomfrey snapped, grabbing Aeryn's arm. Aeryn thrashed against her grip, to get away, to save herself, but there was a swift prick on the inside of her elbow, and her eyelids fluttered suddenly. Her muscles relaxed against the bed, and she blacked out, but not before she saw the Potions Master's coal-black eyes...filled, not with their usual malice...it was almost like...grief....

When she woke, it was night. The infirmary was filled with clear moonlight, turning the sheets of her bed into silver. He mouth was extremely dry. Aeryn twitched her hand, reaching out towards the table for the water pitcher. She nearly jumped as a dark shape sitting beside her bed stirred.

"Don't move, I'll get it fer yeh," exclaimed a voice from the shadows.

"Hagrid," Aeryn gasped feebly as the figure stretched out an arm and poured a glass of water.

Hagrid handed her the goblet, wrapping his huge hand around hers and helping her guide the brim to her lips. He put his other hand to her forehead. "Yeh still feel hot." Aeryn made a noise in the back of her throat, gulping the cool water thankfully. When she had finished, the giant man put the goblet back on the stand and made a move as if to get up.

Aeryn grabbed his hand. "No," she protested.

"Madam Pomfrey said t' get her when yeh woke up," Hagrid said quietly.

"No," Aeryn repeated. The instant the school nurse came back into the room, she would stick another needle in Aeryn's arm and send her back to sleep. As much as her body ached and she longed for drugged oblivion, there was a catch in her friend's voice that made her pause. "Hagrid...tell me what happened."

The gamekeeper shook his head. "I don't think now--"

"You found me, didn't you," she whispered.

The room became utterly silent. Hagrid's chair was half-turned to the window, and a beam of moonlight slanted across his haunted features. "I..." He swallowed hard. "I don't rightly know what happened, Aeryn," he murmured so quietly that she had to strain to hear him. "Allus I remember's that I was sittin' at home, an' all of a sudden Fang started barkin' somethin' awful, scratchin' at the door an' howlin' like I've never heard, so I...I opened the door an' he bolted out into th' storm, but then he doubled back 'n grabbed my clothes in his teeth, tryin' t' pull me outside."

The gamekeeper looked down at his folded hands. "'Course I followed him," he said slowly, "an' he shot like a rocket straight for the shore o' the lake." The catch in his voice had become more pronounced. "I saw..." He coughed, awkwardly. "It was hard t' see through the storm, but...I thought I could see somethin' not too far out, like a dark splotch or somethin'...Fang went crazy, yelpin' and runnin' along the shore, an'..." Hagrid lifted a hand and nervously stroked his beard, still refusing to look at her. "Like I said, it was hard t' see through the blowin' snow, so I grabbed his collar an' started back for home...."

Through the slanting moonlight, Aeryn saw the corners of the gamekeeper's eyes tighten, and when he continued, his voice was choked. "Then, there was this horrible crackin' noise, an' I turned back an' saw th' ice in the shallows break...an' then this dark shape rose up from th' water...an'..."

His voice cracked, and he put a trembling hand to his face. Aeryn was silent as the giant man drew a deep, shuddering breath. "It was th' giant squid," he said in a low tone, and Aeryn could hear him fighting for control. "An' he had yeh in one o' his tentacles, holdin' yeh free o' the ice..." He laughed brokenly. "Cripes, Aeryn, I thought fer sure yeh were dead, yer face was all blue an' you weren't movin'...

"I...I stood there fer a minute, 'cause I couldn't believe what I'd seen...an' then, I, I jest grabbed yeh and started runnin', an' I got yeh t' th' infirmary as quick as I could...but..." His voice trailed off and he looked away, blinking furiously.

Every movement of her muscles was agony, but Aeryn slowly reached out and put her hand on her friend's knee. He did not look back at her, but his huge hand quickly covered hers and held it tightly. For a long moment they sat like that, their features silver in the moonlight.

With a heaving sigh, Hagrid finally stood up. "I gotta get Madam Pomfrey," he murmured, turning to look at her.

Aeryn gripped his hand as hard as she could. "Could you..." She could hear the quaver in her words. "Do you mind...would you come back and sit with me?" A small smile fluttered her lips. "Until I go back to sleep?"

With his back to the window, Hagrid's face was shrouded in shadow, but Aeryn could hear the smile in his voice. "As yeh wish," he promised quietly. His robes rustled as he bent down and pressed a swift, gentle kiss on her forehead.

Had he turned and walked away from the bed a moment later, he would have seen Aeryn shakily lift a hand to wipe her eyes.

* * *

The smell of perfume awoke Aeryn the next morning. With a jaw-cracking yawn, she stretched and opened her eyes. Madam Pomfrey was placing a dazzling floral arrangement on the bedside table. Slightly startled, Aeryn lifted herself on one elbow to get a better look.

Madam Pomfrey looked up and smiled. "So you've finally decided to join us in the land of the living," she said, fixing the curved stem of an aster. "For a little while there, I was afraid we had another Sleeping Beauty on our hands."

Aeryn nodded in the direction of the flowers. "What's this for?" she asked groggily, her voice as rusty as an unoiled gate.

Madam Pomfrey handed her a large white card with a picture of a dragon with an ice pack and a thermometer on the front. Aeryn opened it and read:

Hope your sickness doesn't drag-on!

GET WELL SOON!

The card was filled with the signatures of the residents of Gryffindor Tower--including, Aeryn noticed, a scrawling Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington. She smiled.

"And how are you feeling this morning?" the school nurse asked briskly, taking Aeryn's pulse.

"Fine," Aeryn replied. She still felt shaky, like she had just gotten over a bout of the flu, but the Fireveins Curse had disappeared from her muscles. She wiggled her jaw from side to side experimentally to see if her bones had healed. Her body was sore, but everything felt intact.

Madam Pomfrey put a hand to Aeryn's forehead. "You've still got a bit of fever, but it's gone down considerably." She held out a small bottle filled with a thick, amber liquid. "Drink this. It should help with your fever and give you some of your strength back."

Aeryn gladly took the small bottle and drained the contents.

"Now, I know you may be feeling better, but you're not to have any excitement yet," Madam Pomfrey warned. "I'll get you something to eat, but you're to go straight to--"

A knock at the door interrupted her in mid-sentence, and three familiar faces peered into the hospital wing. Hermione cleared her throat uncomfortably. "Um--we heard that Aeryn had woken up," she said hesitantly, "and we were wondering--er--if, maybe, we could--um--see her?"

"I really don't think--" Madam Pomfrey began.

"Guys!" Aeryn exclaimed. She stretched out a hand, ignoring the disapproving look the school nurse gave her. "Come on in."

Her friends, after an uncertain glance at Madam Pomfrey, shuffled into the room. "Thanks for dropping by," Aeryn said cheerfully. "How're things?"

Ron mumbled something incoherently, and Hermione twirled a strand of bushy brown hair around her index finger.

Aeryn frowned slightly. Her friends didn't usually act so closed-mouthed, but perhaps they didn't want to say anything hush-hush in front of Madam Pomfrey. Aeryn glanced pleadingly up at the school nurse. "Madam," she asked sweetly, "would you mind terribly much if I had a little time alone with them?"

Madam Pomfrey looked at Aeryn, then at the anxious faces of the second years, then threw her hands in the air despairingly. "Five minutes, Miss Blake, but then you have to get some more rest." She muttered something under her breath about students and pension pay, then whirled on her heel.

Aeryn rolled her eyes as the school nurse bustled from sight. "Rest," she muttered confidingly to her friends. "I don't think I've been awake more than ten minutes straight ever since I got here."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione laughed politely, then fell silent.

Aeryn's eyes narrowed at their curious reservation. "Um...how long have I been in here, anyway?"

Harry pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Er...well, it's Tuesday now."

"Oh." Aeryn nodded musingly. She'd been in the hospital wing for nearly five days--although wizards brewed potions that could regrow bones in one night, curing the combined effects of pneumonia, near-drowning, the Fireveins Curse, and a heavy beating, still wasn't instantaneous.

There was an awkward pause.

"Guys, what's the matter?" Aeryn asked finally, getting fed up with their silent charade.

Harry looked straight at her, his thin face serious. "Are you really feeling okay, Aeryn?"

"Is that what's bothering you?" She leaned back against her pillows and heaved a sigh, a determined look spreading across her features. "To tell you the truth, as soon as I can get out of this bed, I'm going straightaway to Dumbledore and nailing Snape to the wall." She ruefully put a hand to her face. "He won't ever teach again once I'm through with him."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione glanced at each other nervously.

A frission immediately ran up Aeryn's spine. "What, guys?" she asked slowly.

Her friends again exchanged looks, but this time decidedly guilty ones. "Aeryn..." Harry began hesitantly. "You can't just accuse Snape of doing this to you."

Aeryn stared at him in open astonishment. "You saw what he did!" She pointed an accusing finger at Harry. "He...he tried to kill you, Harry, and then when I defended you, he turned on me and did this!" She gestured angrily to her bruised face.

"I know!" Harry exclaimed. "We all know, we saw what he did...but, Aeryn, he's the Head of a House." He spread his hands out in front of him helplessly. "If we accuse him, that's like opening a huge Pandora's box."

"Is that justice?" she asked bitterly. "I don't care if he's the Head of a House, or...or even if he was the head of the Ministry of Magic! I'm going to accuse him, I don't care what people may think, it isn't fair--"

"Aeryn," Hermione interrupted her suddenly. The brown-haired witch put a hand on Aeryn's arm. "We can't prove it."

"What do you mean?" Aeryn snapped. "You saw--"

Hermione shook her head. "Snape took Veritaserum," she said quietly.

Aeryn glared at her. "What the hell's that?"

"It's a Truth Serum, one of the most powerful you can make," the young girl explained. "Whoever takes it can only speak the truth while under its influence."

Aeryn couldn't see where this was going. "So? He took it and confessed to beating me up, he had to have..."

"No." Ron's voice was low and very serious. "He didn't."

Aeryn stared at her friends, her mouth agape.

Harry twisted a bit of his school robe between his fingers. "We went to Dumbledore after class on Thursday, to get some help," he said, not looking at her. "When we got back, neither you or Snape were anywhere to be found, and we didn't know anything that had happened until we heard that Hagrid had found you in the lake."

Ron cleared his throat. "Then Snape appeared on the scene, looking...well..." His voice trailed off.

"Yes," Aeryn said tightly. "I've seen how he looks." Barely a scratch on him, that bastard....

"No, it wasn't the bruise," said Ron thoughtfully, "it was almost like he was distraught. I've never seen him like that before."

Hermione continued the story. "By that time everyone knew what had happened to you, and when Dumbledore said something about the events in the classroom, Snape practically begged to take the Veritaserum."

Aeryn's fingernails dug into her blanket. "So what happened?"

Ron shrugged. "Snape and Dumbledore and the other Heads went into Dumbledore's office, and when they came back out, Snape had been cleared." He smiled helplessly at the anger contorting Aeryn's face.

Aeryn's lips tightened. She threw the covers off her with a sharp gesture. "I've got to talk to Dumbledore," she exclaimed, swinging her feet to the floor. "He's got to let me take this Veritaserum, I'll tell him my side of the story--"

Hermione's hands stopped her, pushed her back down on the bed. "Veritaserum is extremely controlled in use, Aeryn," she said, her brown eyes serious. "It's darn near impossible to make, and just as impossible to skew the results. You're not going to be able to take it if they've already got their answer."

"What?" Aeryn gasped.

"She's right, Aeryn. If Snape said he didn't put you in this condition, then he didn't put you in that condition, and that's that." Ron's eyes narrowed. "Even though we know the git's lying."

Aeryn put a hand to her forehead. This couldn't be happening. All her carefully thought-out plans, her way of escape, her one chance to get back at him...how on earth could he have..."Do you know what he said?" she asked in a low, tight voice.

"No." Harry shook his head. "None of the Heads has said anything about what happened, and I don't think they're likely to tell."

"If we get some people from the Potions class, get their side of the story, what they saw happening that afternoon..." But from the look on her friends' faces, Aeryn knew it was a hopeless cause.

Ron looked ready for murder, if given the chance. "Slytherin's already made sure that what happened in Potions class is hushed up."

She gritted her teeth. "How?"

"Well, the Slyths all stick behind Snape--that even if he did lay you up like this, that it was self-defense, that you attacked him first for no reason--"

"That's so not--"

"And then Malfoy--dear old Draco--" Hermione snorted "--he's vowed that if any of the Gryffindors speak about it, they get the same treatment as Snape gave you."

Aeryn covered her eyes. If the whole situation weren't so serious, she would laugh. Heartily. She could already feel the hysterical giggles welling up in her chest. "So the whole world's against me," she muttered softly.

"Not all of it," Hermione said instantly. She reached across the bed and grasped Aeryn's hand in hers. "We're going to try and prove what happened."

Harry looked as if he wanted to say something more, but Madam Pomfrey burst into the room, clucking her tongue disapprovingly. "That's enough," the school nurse said briskly, ushering the three students towards the door. "Miss Blake needs to rest."

"We're behind you all the way, Aeryn," Ron said quickly before his fiery head disappeared from view.

Aeryn lay back against the pillows silently as Madam Pomfrey came towards her with a steaming bowl of soup. She ate it mechanically, barely tasting the scalding liquid. Her thoughts were elsewhere. Just when she had glimpsed an escape, a chance to take charge of her fate, it had been cruelly snatched away....

Madam Pomfrey removed the empty bowl and pulled the sheets back over Aeryn, explaining something about medicine and movement, but Aeryn wasn't listening. A hazy blanket of sleep swam about her--the soup must have been loaded with drugs, as usual--and Aeryn fell quickly asleep. But had Madam Pomfrey seen her patient's eyes before they shuttered into oblivion, she would have been shocked at the crystals of ice that had suddenly frozen in their slate-blue depths.

* * *

Madam Pomfrey pulled the thermometer from Aeryn's lips and glanced at the reading.

"Can I please go?" Aeryn pleaded.

Madam Pomfrey's brow furrowed. Aeryn arranged a suitably hopeful expression on her face. It was now Wednesday evening, and Aeryn was about ready to scream with boredom. She had heard from her friends that a Dueling Club was starting that evening, and it was as a good an excuse as any to try and get out of the infirmary wing. She clasped her hands together. "Please, Madam Pomfrey, it's already eight-fifteen and the meeting started at eight."

The school nurse sighed. "If I let you go," she said, pointing a finger at Aeryn, "do you promise only to watch, and not to participate?"

"I promise," Aeryn exclaimed. Not that she had much of a choice--her mutant powers still hadn't returned, and Aeryn was becoming more than a little nervous.

Madam Pomfrey didn't look pleased, but she sighed again and shrugged her shoulders. "All right, then. You can go, but--" as Aeryn happily jumped from the bed "--you're not to exert yourself, understand? No dueling."

Aeryn nodded her assent as she pulled on a dressing robe. One of her black school robes was hanging in the infirmary closet, but Aeryn had no desire to get dressed up just to come back in an hour and put her pajamas on again. She half-heartedly shoved a hand through her tangled hair. She probably looked a fright, but beauty was the last thing on her mind at the moment. With a hurried "thanks" to Madam Pomfrey, Aeryn started for the Dueling Club meeting.

The infirmary wing wasn't far from the Great Hall, but with her slightly weak muscles, it took Aeryn a good ten minutes to reach the heavy double doors. They were closed, but Aeryn could hear the low rumble of voices through the thick wood. It sounded as if most of the school had turned out for the meeting.

She carefully pushed open the doors and found herself in the middle of chaos. A greenish haze of smoke was hovering over the scene. Students were scattered around the room in various states of ill-being--Neville Longbottom and Justin Finch-Fletchley were lying on the floor, panting; Ron was holding up an ashen-faced Seamus Finnigan, apologizing for something; Millicent Bulstrode had the whimpering Hermione in a headlock, and Harry flew over to pull them apart.

Aeryn had but to glance up at the front of the room to see who was in charge of this mess. The ubiquitous Gilderoy Lockhart, resplendent today in robes of deep plum, was skittering through the crowd. "Dear, dear...up you go, Macmillan...careful there, Miss Fawcett, pinch it hard, it'll stop bleeding in a second, Boot--"

Aeryn's fingers curled against her side as she saw a familiar black-robed figure surveying the pandemonium nonchalantly. Snape. His skin was paler than usual beneath the gashes on his face, but he grinned devilishly as Harry wrested Hermione from Millicent's grasp. A smoldering rage began to bubble deep inside Aeryn.

"I think I'd better teach you how to block unfriendly spells," said Lockhart, standing flustered in the midst of the Hall. He glanced at Snape, whose black eyes glinted, and looked quickly away. "Let's have a volunteer pair--Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley, how about you--"

"A bad idea, Professor Lockhart," said Snape, gliding over like a large and malevolent bat. "Longbottom causes devastation with the simplest spells. We'll be sending what's left of Finch-Fletchley up to the hospital wing in a matchbox." Neville's round, pink face went pinker. Snape slowly looked around at the assembled students. "How about Mal--"

His coal-black gaze snagged on Aeryn's face, and the Potions Master's words choked in his throat. Aeryn narrowed her eyes and stared coldly back at him, unblinking, and watched his sallow face drain of color.

"Miss Blake!" Gilderoy Lockhart exclaimed as all the students turned to see what the professor was staring at. "So glad to see you on your feet, my dear! How are you feeling?"

"Fine," Aeryn said coolly, watching Snape gulp and quickly look away. "But don't let me interrupt your meeting." Her lips curled into a sickeningly sweet smile. "What were you saying before I interrupted, Professor Snape?"

Lockhart turned to look at his partner.

"Malfoy and Potter," the Potions Master choked, rearranging his face into a semblance of normality. "Use Malfoy and Potter as...volunteers."

"Excellent idea!" said Lockhart, gesturing Harry and Malfoy into the middle of the hall as the crowd backed away to give them room. "Now, Harry...when Draco points his wand at you, you do this." He raised his own wand, attempted a complicated sort of wiggling action, and dropped it. Malfoy smirked as Lockhart quickly picked it up, saying, "Whoops--my wand is a little overexcited--"

Aeryn watched as Snape trained his eyes on the floor, apparently fighting to keep his face expressionless.

"Professor," Harry said nervously, "could you show me that blocking thing again?"

Lockhart cuffed Harry merrily on the shoulder. "Just do what I did, Harry!"

"What, drop my wand?" But Lockhart wasn't listening.

"Three--two--one--go!"

Malfoy raised his wand quickly and bellowed, "Serpensortia!"

The end of his wand exploded. Aeryn watched, aghast, as a long black snake shot out of it, fell heavily onto the floor between Malfoy and Harry, and raised itself, ready to strike. There were screams as the crowd backed swiftly away, clearing the floor.

"Don't worry, Harry, I'll get rid of it!" shouted Lockhart. He brandished his wand at the snake and there was a loud bang; the snake, instead of vanishing, flew ten feet into the air and fell back to the floor with a loud smack. Enraged, hissing furiously, it slithered straight toward Justin Finch-Fletchley and raised itself again, fangs exposed, poised to strike.

Aeryn started forward; to do what, she wasn't sure--but Harry was suddenly at the snake's side, and a sharp hissing noise erupted from his mouth, and, miraculously--inexplicably--the snake slumped to the floor, docile as a thick, black garden hose, its eyes now on Harry. Aeryn took a hesitant step backwards.

"What do you think you're playing at?" Justin shouted, his face twisted in anger and fear. Harry opened his mouth to say something, but Justin turned and stormed out of the Hall. Snape stepped quickly forward, waved his wand, and the snake disappeared in a small puff of black smoke.

Aeryn glanced around the Hall. An ominous muttering had arisen among the students, who were all staring at Harry with very hard eyes. Aeryn watched helplessly as Ron grabbed Harry by the arm and steered him out of the Hall, Hermione hurrying alongside them. Aeryn almost followed them, but hung back as the students drew away from Harry as though they were frightened of catching something. Her three friends hurried through the doors, which shut behind them with a loud boom.

A heavy silence filled the Hall.

"Ah...well," Lockhart exclaimed cheerily after a moment, grinning broadly at the somber faces before him. "That's probably enough excitement for one meeting, eh? You're all dismissed, and I'll let you know in class when the next meeting will be held."

Aeryn waited quietly as the rest of the students hurried from the room, her ears catching the mutters to their pale-faced neighbors--"Parselmouth, should have known"--"only Salazar Slytherin's descendants can speak it, do you think"--"poor Justin--Potter's had it in for him from day one--"

Snape had sat down on the edge of the golden stage lining the far wall, his head in his hands. Aeryn walked slowly towards him, shouldering her way through the mass of students going the opposite direction. Her slippered feet whispered against the stone floor as she stopped in front of him.

"Hello, Professor," she said quietly.

Snape's head jerked up. Beads of sweat rimmed his sallow brow. "Miss Blake," he gasped. "You're better, I'm so glad--"

"You patronizing, snake-faced, son of a bitch," she hissed. "Don't you dare pretend you're concerned for my well-being."

He held out a hand. "Miss Blake--"

"How did you do it, Professor?" she sneered. "Damnably impossible to do, lie under the influence of Veritaserum. How'd you do it, hypnosis? You're so good at magic, maybe you cast a Memory Charm over all the teachers so they'd forget what you did to me!"

Snape unsteadily rose to his feet. "Miss Blake, we have to talk--"

Aeryn pushed him forcefully in the chest, sending him tumbling onto the stage. "No more talking," she snarled, her slate-blue eyes blazing. "I don't know what you did to my mutant powers, but I nearly killed you without them, and I sure as hell can finish the job without them." Her hands clenched into fists as she leaned forward over the Potions Master. "If you ever so much as look at me again in a way that I don't like, I will--"

"Miss Blake!" cried a cheery, unwelcome voice beside her. Aeryn swallowed a scream as Gilderoy Lockhart caught her shoulder and turned her to face him. His periwinkle-blue eyes twinkled. "We've been so worried about you, my dear, and I can't tell you how relieved I am that you're feeling better."

"Thanks," Aeryn muttered through tight lips as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor patted her cheek.

"I must say, I've missed seeing your smiling face in class," Lockhart continued, putting a comradely arm around her stiff shoulders. "Have your friends kept you up-to-date on what we've been doing? No?" He pursed his lips thoughtfully. "Well, if you've got time now--the night is still young--I would be honoured if you would accompany me to my rooms, and I could give you your homework--get you something to drink--"

"Don't even think about it, Lockhart," snarled the Potions Master. Aeryn turned to see him on his feet, his coal-black gaze hot enough to blister as he glared at Lockhart.

Pressed against the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's side, Aeryn felt Lockhart stiffen, then give a barking laugh. "Severus, really," Lockhart said in a sorrowful voice. "I'm hurt that you would think I had any ill intentions towards Miss Blake." Aeryn looked up in time to see a hard, knowing expression cross his handsome face. "I, at least, know the rules against student-teacher relationships."

Snape did not move, but his lips turned white.

Lockhart heaved a sigh and removed his arm from Aeryn's shoulders. "Perhaps it would not be the wisest thing, after all--you're still not looking one hundred percent better, and I'm sure Madam Pomfrey wants you to get some rest tonight." A wide, toothy grin split his face. "I shall bid you adieu for now, Miss Blake, and hope that your charming features will grace my class again in the near future." He bobbed his handsome head in a bow and whirled away in a swirl of plum.

Aeryn's throat was burning. Lifting her chin haughtily, she turned on her heel and stalked towards the double doors of the Hall.

"Miss Blake!"

Aeryn did not stop. "Leave me alone, Professor," she hissed between clenched teeth.

"Libertario," he whispered softly an instant before the Hall doors slammed shut.

Aeryn strode back to the hospital wing, shaking with fury. Madam Pomfrey swooped on her the instant she walked into the room, holding out several vials of medicine for her to take. Aeryn drank the draughts down without complaint and crawled back into her bed, a loud ringing echoing in her ears.

She was beginning to feel the effects of the sleeping draught when Aeryn realized the curtains hadn't been drawn. Madam Pomfrey had already bustled off to bed, so Aeryn yawned and instinctively reached out for the curtains with her mind.

It wasn't until she heard the metallic scrape of the curtain rings as the drapes slithered shut that she realized that her mutant powers had returned.