A Mortal Enemy

Chapter 18: The Day Nothing Went Right

The dungeons were cooler now that the season was turning into fall. The stone-walled rooms no longer felt like the burning pits of hell after a warm afternoon's lesson with twenty teenagers worth of raging hormones, cauldrons and explosions. Kara took a deep breath as the last Slytherin sixth year left the room. She picked up a stack of essays on antidotes, another stack of quizzes and with some hesitation, the morning edition of the Daily Prophet.

It had been more than a month since the Dementors had visited Hogwarts, and Kara was doing her best to avoid the spotlight and attention. She merely wanted to attend to her students, her own intellectual pursuits, and Harry's training. Nothing that was written about the incident had reached her, although Snape had kept a close eye on the gossiping and politics of it all. His well-established ritual of reading the Daily Prophet cover to cover each day hadn't slipped at all, and he usually never so much as offered her his copy, but this morning that had changed. Even before she had settled down to the head table for breakfast, he had handed it to her and whispered read at least the headline on the front page. She glanced down, caught a few words in large black ink. It had something to do with Harry; she rolled her eyes and saved it for later. Later hadn't come yet.

Now she tucked the grayish paper in between the folds of her lesson journal, somewhere between notes on how many points she'd taken from Gryffindor for Neville's destruction of yet another cauldron and what she was to teach the Ravenclaw third years tomorrow morning. This afternoon's reading in hand, she headed for her office that was still in the upper part of the castle.

Students were slowly making their way up the stairs from the afternoon lesson in the dungeons. Voices were whispering about exams in other classes, girls were giggling about cute boys and overall things seemed fairly normal. Surprising, Kara thought to herself, for a group of children in crisis. They seemed so sure and safe and she had said as much to Snape who reminded her that had always been Dumbledore's goal. It did no good to lie to them, but why not at least make them feel comfortable. That was the reason why Hogwarts was a safe place. It wasn't anything inherent in the design or the concept; it was Albus Dumbledore and his presence, and now that duty lay in Snape's lap. And in a round about way, in Kara's as well. Had they so far lived up to that responsibility? Kara decided the best way to answer that was to measure the emotions of the students, and on a scale of one to ten, she'd rate their performance at an eight.

But the good didn't come without the bad, and little skirmishes popped up here and there. There were of course the usual catfights between girls over boys, and complementary male debates over Quidditch. With the recent lull in activity on Voldemort's part, the Slytherins had calmed their rhetoric and kept pretty much to themselves. However as Kara found her way into the hall at the top of the stairs she was reminded that even absolutes sometimes have exceptions.

"Relishing in your fame, Granger?" she heard a low gruff voice say.

"Shut up Goyle, you big idiot. No one cares what you have to say."

Kara recognized the responder's voice immediately. It was Ron Weasley. She approached the scene with stealth and caution, eager to hear what this was all about before either side decided to interject their self-satisfying opinions in an attempt to avoid detention.

"It's okay Ron, let's just go," Hermione said. None of the culprits were in view, as students had formed a tight circle around them.

"That's right Weasley, you better do what your Mudblood girlfriend says."

Seconds later, the crowd began to move back; scuffling and grunting echoed through the hallway. Kara made a path through the crowd with lightening speed. But where she was expecting to find a bloody Ron Weasley, she found Sean Hardener on top of Gregory Goyle, about to land another solid punch to his face.

The fight had already stopped. Sean had no doubt sensed Kara's presence and he stood up immediately looking guilty.

"My office, now. Granger, Weasley, Potter, you too. The rest of you get to class. Go!"

The five students looked sullen and skulked off in the direction of Kara's office. When inside, they lined up before her desk as though she were an executioner. She sat down with grace, placing the quizzes and papers in their proper stacks. Silence rang in the room for several minutes while she prepared what she had to say next.

"I do not need to understand what just went on to take ten points from each of you, so that is where we will begin." Ron's mouth fell open.. "Mr. Goyle, you can explain to the rest of Slytherin how I was forced to take yet another ten points for your use of language. Language, that I will remind you, is not appropriate to use in hallways, let alone in front of the first years. Trust me, it does not please me to see Slytherin lose more points considering the disgraceful state it's in now." Even Hufflepuff was beating them this year. She thought she saw Sean Hardener smirk.

Kara let them sit there, squirming while she opened her lesson journal and noted the points taken - thirty from Gryffindor, ten from Ravenclaw and twenty from Slytherin.

"Mr. Hardener, Mr. Goyle you will both join me for detention at 8pm in the dungeons, tomorrow. I don't suggest wearing anything you would want to keep." Both of them paled instantly and Kara almost broke into a smile.

"Goyle, you may go to class." He left the room with a nasty look on his face. She waited until he was gone before continuing.

"What started all of this?"

"There was an article in this morning's Daily Prophet," Hermione said in an exasperated tone. "It was about Harry and I. Rita Skeeter wrote it. Goyle was teasing me about it." So that's what Severus had wanted to her to read earlier.

"Very well. You three may go," she said, dismissing the Gryffindors.

"But Professor, it isn't fair. We didn't even do anything, why did you take away points?"

"Don't press your luck Mr. Weasley. Now get to class."

Harry gave Kara a look that indicated he clearly wasn't pleased, but since his training had become more intense lately, he was fairly reluctant to confront her. In fact he was so afraid that people would discover they had been spending all of his free time working on his Inner Focus that he didn't speak up in potions or draw attention to himself around Kara. They left without another word and the door closed behind them at her will.

"Explain," she said shortly. The boy in front of her looked up I confusion.

"I'm not sure what to say," he said quietly.

"You were told to keep a low profile, I don't think that includes getting into fights in the hallway."

"He deserved it, you heard what he said."

"That is hardly the point. We risked a lot to bring you here, you should have some respect for that," she admonished.

"I do respect that, but I don't see how giving Goyle a black eye is going to compromise anything. I'd say it rather solidifies my political opinions on the subject."

"The fact remains that we have a rule against fighting. There will be a time and place for political stances and unless Voldemort decides on a daytime attack it won't be between classes. Understand?" He didn't respond.

"Draco?"

"Yes, I understand."

"Fine. Get to class then. I will see you at eight tomorrow for detention."

He groaned and left. Kara whipped out the Daily Prophet and read all about the latest love scandal between Hermione Granger and Harry Potter. The only thing that made it front-page worthy was that it included hints about Kara and Snape taking the pair off school grounds for weekends of hedonism. It was an accusation that put she and Snape in a strange position. The quotes were the worst, however, taken directly from students and morphed into sick implications.

She was gone for two days, once! - Susan Bones

Poor Ginny, that's Harry's other girlfriend. Of course she's too tied up in the fame to ever let go. She's really sweet and deserves better. - Pansy Parkinson

Professor Lynch is always with Harry. They meet in private and whisper to each other. It's sort of creepy. - Millicent Bulstrode

Suddenly the twenty points she'd just taken from Goyle didn't seem enough.

- - -

Kara retreated to their rooms before tea to freshen up. Snape was there when she walked in. He had one hand, full of parchment perched on the mantle of the fire, and was dazing pensively into the flames below.

"Severus?" she said in a gentle voice. He held out a hand for her to take, which she did. Snape pulled her close and hugged her with that free arm. Her nose settled softly into his neck where she could smell the dust off of Alcaeus' feathers and just a hint of rose petals. He must have been in the gardens earlier.

Without saying a word he lifted up the parchment he was holding so she could read it. She read it twice, the second time aloud because the words on it startled her so:

You have taken my Pawn, and tonight I shall take his Queen.

"Draco?" she asked mulling the words over in her head.

"Presumably," he replied solemnly.

"And the queen... do you suppose he means me?"

"That seems the logical choice, but the wording doesn't fit. I can't imagine who else it would be though."

Who indeed, Kara thought. The implication was that the pawn would die beside the queen, to save the king, but that made no sense. Surely even Voldemort knew that Draco held no great love for Harry. Besides, in this sense wasn't Kara the queen? No, that didn't seem right, there had to be another explanation.

"You read the article?" he asked.

"I did. I'm not at all thrilled with the decision to do so, however." He grunted amusingly.

"The quotes..."

"There is no way they came from students," she finished for him. "We've been too careful. Only Minerva, Black, yourself, Harry and Draco know Hermione was actually not on school grounds those two days. Top that off with the fact that Harry avoids me like the plague when we're not training. She found these things out some other way."

"She's probably been in the castle," he replied. "In her Animagus form."

"You should have never let her go." He grunted again.

"I want to try something tonight. If she's here, as I suspect she will be if the Dark Lord is going to try something, we'll find her," Snape said after a while.

"How?"

"We'll ward the castle." He pulled away from her and walked towards the desk where a book was lying open. "A Revelation ward, timed to activate sometime this evening. We'll alert the Aurors. When she's changed back, they will catch her."

Kara walked over to read the incantation, it seemed like a perfect plan.

- - -

It took only an hour for the two of them to cast the spell unknowingly upon the castle. After a simple walk around the perimeter and an over-application of Inner Focus, Kara and Snape settled into their quarters to wait for something to happen. No use causing alarm by appearing to be out of place or behaving unusually. The Aurors were on high alert, waiting for someone to appear, although they hadn't been informed who they were looking for. At 10pm the wards would activate and Rita Skeeter, if she were in the castle, would be exposed. The thought made Kara's toes tingle.

- - -

It had been a horrible day, Hermione thought. First there was the article that had arrived courtesy of the Daily Prophet's owl. It had landed hard on the table, spilling her orange juice into her plate of eggs. From there the drippy mess had landed in her lap. After reading the headline Potter Does It Again and the first two paragraphs that described some illicit affair she was having with Harry, Hermione was forced to race to her rooms to change (and wash the running mascara off her face, although she never let Ron or Harry see her cry). This made her late to Herbology where Professor Sprout took off ten points from Gryffindor.

Then there was Potions, where she failed to complete the assignment. It was a simple task: create an antidote made of dragon liver according to the description you gave in the essay that was due today. Hermione had finished her essay long ago, writing at length about Peruvian Dragons and Prixel poisons. It was all theory of course; Peruvian Dragon livers were outlawed in Britain. She had chosen the topic because Polishnikov had let it slip, during one of those long sessions while Professor Lynch was sleeping, that it was an interest of hers. Hermione was hoping for bonus points on her essay. She never dreamed it would come back to bite her.

So was she ever surprised when Professor Lynch announced the day's assignment: put the essay to practical use. She paled and waited for everyone to start working before she approached the lectern.

"Professor, I uh... I sort of wrote about something I can't complete in class," she had said. Professor Lynch smiled at her demurely.

"I am well aware of that Ms. Granger. It's all you've been thinking about for the last three weeks. Go into my storeroom. On the second shelf from the bottom there is a blue glass jar with your name on it. Please be discrete."

Hermione had felt her eyes go wide and her sense of joy carry her swiftly into the dark room (a room she had snuck around in before when Snape still inhabited the dungeons). Perched right where Professor Lynch had said it would be was the blue jar with her name written on it, and inside, one rare, illegal and highly difficult to obtain Peruvian Dragon liver. Where on earth had she acquired it?

It took Hermione only minutes to set up her station, light the fire under her cauldron and begin smashing Prixel berries. The first try failed. Surely the recipe was right, she had gotten it straight from a book in the library. Three bezoars and an hour later, it was still failing. Where had she gone wrong? Professor Lynch stopped by her workstation at the end of class and peered down into the cauldron. It had only taken one brief glance at the ladle full of bubbling, droopy mess to see that she had failed. Horrified, Hermione wanted to curl up under the desk and hide for the rest of the day.

It was some sort of unnatural phenomenon, or so Ron had said. You shouldn't have chosen such a difficult project. She wanted to slap him. And what was wrong with Harry, she wondered. He was being so quiet. Quiet, that is, until the new boy in school had approached them. And as soon as Harry had opened his mouth to say something uncharacteristically rude, Goyle and Crabbe had showed up to rub this morning's headline into her face. A fight ensued and the new boy had pummeled Goyle, an action that was simultaneously heroic and stupid. Thirty more points from Gryffindor and she was late to History of Magic.

All she wanted was a walk. Prefect privilege afforded her that much after curfew, but the last thing in the world she was in the mood for were questions from Professor McGonagall about how she was holding up under the stress or the way Filch's cat looked at her. She wasn't supposed to use her Animagus powers until she was eighteen, but Hermione decided that if the Ministry found out, she'd just tell them where they could stick their laws on the Restriction for Underage Wizardry. One incantation later she was on all fours and enveloped n the freedom of her feline self. She sprinted down the hallway silently, down several flights of stairs and out the front door of the castle where it was cool.

Everything was so different from this perspective. The grass seemed taller and it was just one of a plethora of aromas that filled her nostrils. Hints of rodent pheromones and insect chemicals floated up to tingle her senses. Hermione usually avoided grass because of the overwhelming nature of the smells, but tonight it felt good. It reminded her that just for a moment she could hide from all her responsibilities and failures.

She was prancing around in the grass not far from the entrance when one of the watch Aurors spotted her. He walked close and made one of those cute sounds that humans make towards their pets, but Hermione was repulsed at the idea of some old pervert petting her so she sprinted off towards the back of the castle. The sound of wings startled her slightly and when she looked up she spotted a postal owl overhead. Birds always fascinated her when she was in her Animagus form. Was it feline instinct, or simply the perspective of being a much smaller creature? She wasn't sure. The bird swept inside a window and Hermione curled up on a large rock to bathe in the moonlight.

An hour later, the swift approach of several Aurors woke her from a catnap and the overwhelming feeling of sleepiness dulled her senses. It seemed safest to retreat to the castle and her bed. She jetted off towards the front entrance again, looked around to see that no one was watching and quickly ran up the stairs, her fur padded feet not making a sound on the stone floor beneath.

She had just turned the corner when she felt a strange feeling in her stomach. It spread from there to her feet and her hands. A loud squelching was coming from in front of her, and Hermione raised her head just in time to see a black owl (the same she had seen overhead an hour earlier) fall off the windowsill in the hallway. It landed hard on the ground and squelched again. Hermione felt her body convulse and seconds later she was kneeling on all fours, this time in her human form.

She looked up again, expecting to find the black owl on the floor. Her first thought was making sure it wasn't injured. H ad she frightened it in her feline form? But instead of finding the owl, she saw Draco Malfoy with his blond hair, gray eyes and Hogwarts uniform staring back at her.

It was perhaps only two seconds before Hermione realized she needed to get the hell out of there. It was another two before she was on her feet and physically moving, but Draco was faster than she was. He rushed forward, put both hands on her shoulders and kept her from running.

"Stop," he said forcefully. He was whispering.

"Get away from me. HELP!" Hermione screamed as she kicked him in the shins and turned to run.

"Petrificus Totalus," she heard from behind her. The spell hit her a second later and she fell face first onto the pavement, hard. She felt Malfoy turn her over. He looked into her eyes.

It was funny how being hexed made you think strange things. Why was Malfoy wearing a Ravenclaw uniform and what had he done to his hair?

"Look, I'm going to take off the spell, but you have to listen to me. We have to go find Professor Snape. There is something going on. Hey, can you hear me?"

Hermione grunted. Professor Snape seemed like a good idea, but Hermione knew Malfoy was lying. This was some ploy so he could take the spell off and set her free with the intent of chasing and hexing her. Malfoy would find it great fun; chase the Mudblood know-it-all. He'd probably sell tickets to the event if he could. And then a thought occurred to her, Voldemort must be here already. Hermione's heart sunk. She needed to get word to Harry, he needed to retreat to the Chamber.

She planned it. She would disarm Draco as soon as he took the spell off, then she would immobilize him and drag him down to Snape's quarters. With any luck Professor Lynch would be there too. She could get Harry into the Chamber.

"Finite Incantatum," he whispered as he pointed his wand at her. A moment later, Draco was under the same spell and Hermione was floating him down the nearest staircase.

- - -

The knock came sooner than either of them had expected. Kara was sure it would take the Ministry a half hour or more to seek out Rita Skeeter. Snape accompanied her to the door. When the door opened, they both gasped audibly.

"In. Now." Snape commanded. The door slammed shut when Hermione and the floating had entered. "Explain."

"I... I was taking a walk." Hermione was out of breath. She had obviously run here. "And all of a sudden this black owl... turned into Malfoy! It's him! He stunned me and then went to take the curse off so he could start torturing me and I..." she broke into tears.

"Take off the spell, Hermione," Kara said calmly while handing the girl her handkerchief. "Go on. It's ok."

Hermione walked to stand behind Kara, raised her wand and whispered Finite Incantatum. Draco fell to the floor with a loud thud. He groaned in pain.

"For the love of... I was going to come willingly. I already told you that!"

"What are you doing out of your dormitory?" Snape asked quickly before a dialog between Hermione and Draco could start.

"Taking a walk. Same as her," he nodded towards Hermione.

"Severus, the Revelation wards," Kara said in shock.

"Did anyone else see you?" he asked quickly.

"No, no one else. We took the back stairs. I think," Draco replied, rubbing the elbow he had landed on. He then stood and put his wand back up his sleeve. "There are a group of people on their way up the road from Hogsmeade though. I saw them as I was flying back."

"Flying back?" Snape asked.

"From Hagrid's." Draco replied quickly. Kara could tell Snape wanted to grab Malfoy and strangle him. Even in his forced calm mode, the anger was apparent on his face.

"What's going on here?" Hermione asked in a quiet voice. "Am I the only one here who doesn't realize this is Draco Malfoy?"

"We are all well aware of that Ms. Granger, thank you for the excellent observation," Snape replied sarcastically.

Kara had been studying Hermione intently for a few minutes, hearing the thoughts inside her mind. She too had been out on the grounds that night in her Animagus form. Kara then looked to Draco and was instantly startled by a revelation.

"Severus, could I have a moment please?" He looked at her curiously, but followed without question to the corner.

"She's the one," Kara whispered discretely.

"The one?"

"The queen," she said meaningfully. Snape didn't get it.

"There is more here than we know about, between them; at least from Draco's perspective. We can't just send her back to her dormitory. Not if Voldemort is going to try something tonight. You heard Draco, they're already on their way up here."

A knock on the door made everyone jump.

"Quiet," Kara hissed as she moved quickly to answer it. This must be the Aurors with Rita Skeeter. She would just tell them Severus wasn't ready and ask them to wait while they sorted this out.

When she opened the door however, it was not the Aurors.

"Minister!" Kara proclaimed. "What on earth do we owe the pleasure of this visit to?"

"Unfortunately bad business and not pleasure, Professor. I wonder if I could come in a speak for a moment with you?"

"Of course," Kara blanched. This wasn't turning out well. She decided to turn the flushing of her cheeks into something useful. "You don't mind if I ask you to wait a moment... um... Severus is sort of... well... not suitable for visitors at the moment, if you know what I mean." She gave Fudge a quick wink and he smiled, nodded and retreated into the hallway. Kara closed the door, locked it and put up a silencing charm.

"Rita Skeeter," Hermione whispered to herself. "This has to be about Rita Skeeter."

"Severus, they can't be seen here."

Snape began to pace. "Go get your Invisibility Cloak. He'll want us to help conduct the search. When we search the dungeons, take them to the Chamber."

Hermione gasped and opened her mouth to speak, but one look from Snape silenced her. Kara didn't need to be told twice. She rushed into the bedroom, through the hidden magical door that spanned both their quarters and retrieved her cloak from the rack it was hanging on.

"Give me your wands and get close together so this will cover the both of you," Kara instructed. Hermione was in no mood to be anywhere near Malfoy.

"Hermione, look at me." Red eyes met hers. "You're going to have to trust me. Draco isn't going to hurt you."

Hermione looked between her Professor and Draco Malfoy.

Draco pulled his wand out and handed it over willingly to Kara. Reluctantly, Hermione did the same, but she didn't move. Sensing her apprehension and the lack of time, Draco walked over slowly and stood beside the shorter girl. Kara threw the Invisibility Cloak over the two of them. It didn't cover completely.

"Move closer. Put your arm around his waist, good. Now don't move." She said after pushing them against the wall. Snape rushed to the door.

"Minister," he said curtly. "Do come in."

"I hope I haven't interrupted anything."

"Nothing that can't be finished later," Snape replied slyly. "What can we do for you?"

"Draco Malfoy. He's missing and we have reason to believe he's here."

"I can assure you he's not. There are Ministry Aurors here day and night. We would have seen him."

"There is also an issue brought to my attention this morning. That of a cover-up by you and your staff in relations to the kidnapping of Rita Skeeter."

"That is news to me as well, Fudge," Snape replied curtly.

"Interesting, as Rita Skeeter says you were at her rescue, personally."

"Indeed, but I wasn't aware she was being held against her will. You know Rita Skeeter, Fudge. Let's not get into this circular argument."

"I agree. I would like to take Ms. Granger in for questioning tonight though, Severus. And if you would permit me, I'd like to conduct a search of the school for Mr. Malfoy. Now, now, don't object. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner you can prove he's not here."

"Very well," Snape said with his lest content voice. "Where would you like to start?"

"We're at the bottom, we might as well start there," he replied lazily. Snape gestured for Fudge to lead the way.

Kara kept the door to their quarters open long enough to detect that Draco and Hermione had left. She felt the soft fabric brush against her when they went by. They were walking slowly and carefully, making sure they made no sound and couldn't be seen.

Fudge looked in each room and several other Ministry officials joined him. It was nearly an hour before they had proceeded into the lower dungeons where the entrance to the Chamber was. They walked all the way to the portrait covering the entrance and as they walked back up, Kara opened it with her mind and whispered to them to go inside. It shut quickly without a sound and she caught back up with the group.

A thought crossed her mind: was it too much to ask that they not kill each other?