Reconstruction of a Death Eater

Chapter 24 - Of Course it is Fair

Professor Snape appeared at the breakfast table a week later, not there one moment and there the next, his black robes absorbing the light and a wave of coldness surrounding him. The teachers nodded pleasantly to acknowledge his presence, not at all surprised to see him. The students gave him a wide berth as they stumbled in for the meal. The day was designated Sunday so there would be no classes but no one wanted to linger too long while Snape sat in disapproving silence near the top of the table.

Draco wandered in, nodded to his head of house and collapsed into a chair fairly close. Without thinking, he slid the toast and marmalade up toward his godfather who nodded grimly, accepting the offering in equal silence. Remus grinned as Severus managed to stick his thumb in the butter and took over preparing the toast when he realised the other man was still more asleep than awake and not trying to be formidable at all. Hermione watched the interaction with keen intelligence, the truth dawning on her much faster than on the other nervous breakfasters.

"He's half asleep, isn't he?" she muttered to Draco who grinned equally sleepily and nodded.

"The idiot who invented morning should be shot at tiffin," Draco confirmed around a yawn.

There was a small agreeing grunt which almost shocked Seamus out of his chair when he realised the Potions Monster was almost amused. "What are we doing today, folks?" he asked with a hopeful expression, trying to ignore the man who was casting such a pall over the usually cheerful meal.

"I think Kingsley was planning to run us through the obstacle course, again," Draco muttered resignedly.

"He had better figure out how to neutralise the poison first then."

The quietly spoken words seemed louder than a shout in the instant silence.

"What?" Minerva McGonagall snapped, her head coming up sharply. "Please tell me you didn't poison everyone again, Severus? What on earth were you thinking? Severus Snape, you are the living end at times! How could you do that? What did you use? You tell me this instant, Mister!"

"Oh do stop yowling, Minerva, its far too early in the morning. Besides, you have about six hours before it begins to affect anyone. You are all far too trusting, you know. I have said it again and again. So, this should give you a little incentive to be rather more alert in future." The smirk was in full force, as the tall man sat back in his chair and literally grinned at the indignant headmistress. "I would suggest that you start working on the problem as soon as possible. After all, you are really bad at potions, Minerva, and Kingsley is not much better."

"I should wring your scrawny neck, Snape," Shacklebolt roared furiously, his hands working spasmodically at his sides.

"You could, of course, but that is not going to do you much good in a few hours. You have to tackle this problem with brains, not brawn." Severus rose languidly and smirked, ignoring the cries of outrage as he wandered out of the dining room leaving complete chaos in his wake.

Horrified, the whole group exchanged looks and pushed their plates away almost as one. "No need to panic, he was probably only kidding," Shacklebolt announced grimly.

"No he wasn't," Draco refuted with a shake of his head, all traces of sleepiness banished in an instant. "I have never known Uncle Severus to joke about such a serious matter. If he says we are poisoned, then we are really, really poisoned and I think we had better try and find out what it was, and fast!"

"But how?" Hannah wailed miserably, glaring at her breakfast as if it was all to blame for their predicament.

"Maybe we should check and see if we are really poisoned first of all?" Harry suggested, trying for nonchalance.

"Oh, I agree with Draco, if Snape says he's done it, he has," Professor McGonagall muttered grimly. "Severus has absolutely no sense of humour."

"Well, that's not strictly true," Hermione piped up, her wand drawn and a thoughtful look on her face. "Acclaro poison," she muttered not really expecting it to work. To her surprise every person and almost every cup on the table began to glow a dark storm cloud blue with small, purple flashes and green swirls.

Ron whistled appreciatively. "Go Hermione, so what do we do now?"

"Trace what it actually is in... Wait a moment, Neville! You have not been poisoned," Justin exclaimed in surprise.

"Nor has Luna. Okay, what did you two do that is different from everyone else?"

Neville and Luna looked at each other and blushed fiercely, making their classmates hoot and clap. "It wasn't like that," Neville protested, his ears turning bright red but Luna merely smiled and shook her head.

"We were late for breakfast so we didn't have time to do much more than get dressed," she offered by way of explanation. "Neville meant we didn't have time to even wash our faces, nothing more."

"Did you clean your teeth?" Hermione pounced, pulling out her notebook and poising her quill in a business-like manner.

"Hermione! What sort of question is that?" Lavender demanded angrily.

"Oh stop with the false modesty, I need to know if the water was poisoned, okay?" Hermione snapped at her fellow Gryffindor.

"I did not poison the main water supply to this area, Miss Granger, but good thinking," the soft, cold voice said almost out of thin air, it seemed, until they noticed Professor Snape had returned for another cup of tea.

"Sir, can we have a hint or a clue?" Draco asked immediately, smiling sweetly.

Snape raised a jaundiced eyebrow. "That overdone innocence failed to move me when you were six, I really cannot imagine it moving me now, Master Menace, can you? A clue? Humm, let me see. I think Miss Granger has the most effective course of action already worked out and she has already earned you a small reward for her intelligent approach to the problem."

"So it is a process of elimination," Hermione persisted, seeking clarification.

"Of course it is. Unfortunately, if you don't work fast then you and your fellow students will be the ones who are eliminated." He smirked in huge satisfaction as he sipped his tea.

Quiet and observant until that moment, Shacklebolt suddenly lunged and wrapped his hands around Snape's throat with a snarl of fury. The surprise on Snape's face would have been very funny under other circumstances but then Remus roared and bounded over the table in one leap, smashing his hands down on the crooks of Kingsley's elbows to break his hold. Shocked, the Auror stumbled back from the small man's maniacal fury leaving him crouched on the table growling and glaring from glowing amber eyes.

Coughing slightly, Severus leaned forward and stroked the length of Remus' back soothingly until the smaller man settled backward on his haunches, then he blushed vividly, his head drooping in shame. "Oh no, I am so sorry Kingsley, I never meant to..."

"Hush, Remy, you have no need to apologise. If idiot features had not reacted with his gonads rather than his brains he would not be suffering the consequences of his own rashness," Snape said flatly, with no allowance for argument in his pronouncement.

Shacklebolt's eyes narrowed but he stepped back, giving the werewolf room to calm down. He was amazed to see most of the class had their wands out and were ready to use them although whether in defence or attack he was not at all sure. He also noticed Justin nudging Dean who cast a surreptitious spell on Snape and both gaped when the results came in. "Er, Sir, did you know you were poisoned too," Justin asked hesitantly.

"Naturally. You will gain no advantage by observing my behaviour and seeing what I avoid," the teacher replied in very self-satisfied tones.

"And if we fail to discover the poison, will you too die of it for the sake of authenticity?" Draco asked curiously.

"Oh, I don't think I'll go quite that far. After all, there is only one of me and such a lot of you."

"Severus!" Remus protested scandalised.

"Sorry, Remy," he muttered then glared at the werewolf grimly. "I will say there is an antidote to the poison which you are all supposed to be capable of brewing, except perhaps Mr Longbottom, therefore, if you use your brains and apply your minds you should all survive quite nicely. And if you don't, I have enough antidotes to revive your teachers so they may start again on the next lot of trainees."

"Are you just going to let him get away with this, Professor McGonagall?" Harry demanded grimly, turning to their headmistress who had not as yet ventured an opinion.

She pursed her lips in thought. "Yes, I believe I am. Mind you, Severus, if you prove to be untrustworthy, then I do assure you I will haunt you for the rest of your days."

The Potions Master smirked but the Headmistress did notice a hint of gratitude in the cold black gaze.

"That's not fair!" Ron burst out almost by rote.

"Of course it is fair. Besides, 'fair' was never very well distributed at the best of times. I would suggest you hurry along with your research," Snape added with an evil grin that seemed even more wicked now that the headmistress had spoken.

Harry sighed. "So, we are all poisoned and we have no idea by what or how. Suggestions, people?"

"We need to find the source of the poison to find out what it is. Neville, since the water has been eliminated I want you and Luna to list everything you have either eaten or drunk this morning, with attention to the smallest detail. Hannah, you do the same and let's see, Seamus and Vincent. Hermione, you and Draco and Lavender get started looking in the library for things that glow blue and green under Acclaro." Harry glanced around the intent group. "Any further ideas people?"

"Maybe we should start trying to analyse the poison from stuff that is glowing," Dean said tentatively.

"Why not, we must cover as many angles of attack as possible. Let's get started folks."

The group scattered with a purpose."

~~*~~

"It's in the sugar!" Lavender yelled running through the Rooms of Requirement waving a bundle of parchment over her head as she burst into the library. "Hermione, Harry, it's in the sugar! It's the only common denominator and the one thing Neville and Luna did not touch. They have been using a sugar substitute to see if Neville can lose some of the baby fat which is why they were not poisoned. Blasted sugar! We all take it in our tea or coffee or on our porridge or cornflakes or even, Dean confessed, sprinkled on his toast!"

"Yuck!" Draco remarked as he turned to take the paperwork from the excited girl. "She's right, well done. Let's confirm it with Professor Snape before we go further."

"Would he tell us if we were right?" Terry asked consideringly.

"Oh yes, that was part of his rules of engagement, if we got hold of the truth, he would tell us but if we made a mistake he would lie."

"How do you know that?" Dean asked suspiciously.

Draco glanced at the young wizard with a raised eyebrow. "He's my uncle, that's just how he operates, always has. I'm afraid, much as you dislike the notion, you will just have to trust me on this one."

Dean snorted but didn't argue further as Draco swept out of the library and went in search of the errant professor. The tall man was sprawled untidily on a couch obviously napping as Draco approached but at the tiniest squeak of a sneaker on the floorboard, he jerked awake, his wand out and ready for defence. All the students made sure they stopped instantly, hands in clear sight until their professor relaxed with a snort of disgust and settled himself back on the sofa with a distinctly disgruntled humph of disgust.

"What do you lot want?" he asked grumpily.

Everyone turned to Draco who was appointed spokesman in that instant. "Er, we believe the primary source of the poison is the sugar. Can you confirm or do you deny this?"

"Yes, confirmed," Snape said shortly.

"We think it is something in powder form or crystalline form that is odourless, tasteless and readily dissolves in water which means it is undetectable in tea or coffee."

"Or hot chocolate," Severus added with an evil grin. "I even caught the werewolf without too much trouble."

Draco sniggered while the rest looked scandalised, amused or horrified by degrees. "Is it a common poison?" Draco chanced but Snape's good mood had gone again.

"You lot figure that out."

They headed back to the library where Hermione was waiting for their input.

"Definitely the sugar? That's great!" Hermione enthused, sweeping her hand over half the books and banishing them back to their places on the shelves.

"Why did you do that?" Emily asked, staring down at her empty hands.

"Well, think about it, everyone would have noticed if there was a potion in the sugar, it would be all soggy so it must have been in a powder form, yes? So now we look at powders and mixed powder poisons that are white only, again because any other colour would show up in the sugar."

There was a round of nodding before Lavender squeaked excitedly. "Here, try this one, it says. 'Febris Crotequia was invented by the Boggamin Hagg some four hundred years ago and was used extensively in the late 1500s and early 1600s to remove unwanted relatives and other useless encumbrances. Being of an innocent, white, powdery appearance, it was easily disguised in flour or dissolved into milk for almost undetectable ingestion. The symptoms are stomach cramps, discomfort of the bowels, a weakness of the legs and a spinning in the head. Later a high fever will develop and the symptoms can often be mistaken for Typhoid or Dysentery by the unwary practitioner.' Sounds pretty grim to me," she said, rubbing her stomach and biting her lip. "Does anyone else feel awfully sick?"

"Lavender! We haven't any time for hypochondriacs, not now; we have more important things to do," Ron snapped, reading over her shoulder. "Says here we can use the Acclaro Arsenide spell to make sure we have the right poison." He performed the test and sure enough, they all glowed very specifically blue and purple. "Well, there you go, a classic. Now, do we have a recipe for the antidote?"

"Let's go see Snape first and make sure we have the right poison. I would hate to waste my time when it is so limited."

There was a harangue going on in the room the teachers tended to use as an office, raised voices thumps and clangs. The argument was muffled by the thick walls and door but it was obviously a loud and acrimonious one. Hermione and Draco exchanged looks and grinned before Draco raised his wand, transfigured it into a brass knocker and pounded on the door. Before he could transfigure it back, the panels were flung open and a very red faced professor McGonagall glared at them, a strand of grey hair flopping loose from her usually immaculate bun. "What do you want?" she snarled then visibly reined in her temper. "My apologies, we were just ... discussing the current situation."

"Screaming like a bloody banshee more like," came Severus' comment, just loud enough for the students to hear.

McGonagall's back went ramrod straight again and she spun on a toe, her wand up and ready to meet Snape's expression which was so bland it was an offence on its own. "Are you really looking to be transfigured into a toad, Severus? Because believe me! I will have Neville Longbottom appointed your keeper, I swear!"

One black eyebrow rose but before the Potions Master could reply, Remus intervened placatingly. "What can we help you with, people?"

"Er, we needed to ask Professor Snape a few questions," Hermione said quickly, ignoring the harsh looks her ex head of House was shooting her fellow teacher. "Professor Snape, we need to confirm something and we need you to tell us the absolute truth. Is that part of the rules?"

"If you have the correct answer I will tell you," Snape confirmed with a regal nod.

"And if we are wrong?" Draco asked with a familiar smirk.

"Then I'll lie."

Draco laughed, McGonagall hissed and Remus shook his head in disgust.

"Very well. First question. Was the poison in the sugar?"

"Yes, correct."

"Was the poison Mortis Avaricia?"

Snape narrowed his eyes then smiled. "Very possible, a good candidate to be sure."

Hermione smiled blandly, ignoring the others totally.

"Humm. Was the poison Febris Crotequia?"

"Yes, correct."

"That's what I thought," Hermione smirked back. "Will the classic remedy work?"

"Yes, correct."

"Will we find the remedy recipe in our class notes?"

"There certainly is one version of it in there."

"But not the best version."

"Correct."

"Thank you, Professor," Hermione nodded and dragged everyone out, ignoring the buzz of speculation as she hurried back to the library. "Well, that was a painless exercise, he was quite amiable, wasn't he?" she commented as she set her troops to searching out the latest and best remedy for the poison.

"He'd just had an obviously wonderful argument with McGonagall and was very pleased with himself, no doubt because he had managed to provoke her into screaming back," Draco said into her ear and kissed her neck most discretely. "Well done on the handling of him, Wild Hair."

Finding and brewing the antidote was a distinct anticlimax, all inhabitants of the Room of Requirement taking their dose without complaint. When they sat down to dinner that evening, Severus Snape almost caused a riot when he laughed aloud, so heartily he almost fell off his chair. Every single member of the crew had drawn their wands and cast Acclaro over their meals, almost in unison!