The Staff of Orkney

Chapter VI

Creevey’s Surprise

 
Harry walked numbly back to the regular part of the school. He thought about going to the library but then though better of it and headed off to Gryffindor tower. How was he going to tell Neville that LeSal was there that night?

Was he?

Something just didn’t seem right. He had to admit that Sirius and Lupin were prejudice against the Snapes. Perhaps they were too ready to draw conclusions. After all, Harry highly doubted that Dumbledore would allow anyone guilty, or highly suspected, of committing such a heinous crime to teach at Hogwarts.

The more he thought about it, the more Harry doubted whether he should tell Neville. If the news got out that the Snapes had been Death Eaters and that LeSal might be guilty of torturing an Auror and his wife… Dumbledore might be forced to fire them. He remembered when parents found out about Lupin being a werewolf. It was probably better if he didn’t tell anyone about the Snapes, though he did not entirely dislike the idea of getting Snape sacked.

“Niminy piminy,” he said to the fat lady, and he crawled through the portrait hole.

“Harry!” Hermione exclaimed upon seeing him enter. His hopes of having a while to sort things out were gone. “You wouldn’t believe what we found. Did you find anything out from…uh, Snuffles?” Neville was in the room and gave Hermione and Ron a queer look.

Harry stared dumbly at them. He scratched at his head and then forced a shrug. “He didn’t know much. He couldn’t have known much about it because of where he was at the time.”

Hermione understood and nodded. “We did manage to find a few things in the library,” and she opened up a book.

“Look, we got a picture of Snape’s parents,” Ron had leaned in and started flipping through the pages. “Nasty set,” he commented, stopping and pointing to a very bony and angry looking couple.

“They were some of the first supporters of Voldemort. They worked as a team and were wanted by the Ministry for several years until they were finally tracked down by a group of Aurors.”

“Look,” Neville suddenly pointed out. “One of the Aurors who finally caught them was my grandfather, Lawrence Longbottom.”

Harry found it hard to believe that Neville came from a long line Aurors. He was suddenly hit with a realization: if a Longbottom had been responsible for throwing some Snapes in Azkaban…

He wondered how close LeSal had been to his aunt and uncle. They had raised him, had they not? Though by the picture, they didn’t appear to be much of the nurturing type.

“Did you find out anything about why he was raised by his aunt and uncle?” Harry asked.

Hermione reached for another book. “Not exactly.”

“Now this is weird,” Ron commented.

“Claudius Snape, Old Snape’s father and LeSal’s uncle, didn’t have any brothers, only a sister.”

They all leaned closer over the book. There was a picture of a beautiful woman with black sparkling eyes and hair. “She doesn’t look much like a Snape,” Ron pointed out.

Harry had to agree.

“She went missing shortly after LeSal would have been born. We believe she was probably his mother. The Snape family, while it is old, is extremely small. The two at this school are the only ones left.”

Harry studied the book and saw why she was in a book. “She murdered a muggle?”

Hermione and Ron nodded. “She was wanted by the Ministry, but was never found,” Hermione explained.

“Great family, huh?” said Ron. “Prisoners in Azkaban, murderers on the run, Death Eaters. Lovely bunch. It’s no wonder why Snape is such a…”

Harry blocked out Ron’s rant. He had noticed something that made his heart slide into his throat. He pulled the book with the picture of LeSal’s mom closer.

The caption read: “Nagini Snape, former employee at Department of Muggle Artifacts is wanted by Magical Law Enforcement for the murder of a muggle male in 1961. She is suspected of being a close follower of You-Know-Who and is deemed extremely dangerous. Miss Snape is still at large, however, no trace of her has been found since the murder.”

He stared hard at the picture. Her eyes, as he stared at them, the common room seemed to disappear and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up on end. He had seen them before…

“Harry?” Hermione said after a time. By the look on her face, she seemed worried. “Harry? Are you all right?”

“Was she ever found?” he questioned.

Slowly, Hermione shook her head. “Do you know something?”

“I know that look, Harry. Have you seen her?” Ron asked.

Harry pried his eyes away from the picture. “How common of a name is Nagini?”

Hermione pulled the book away from Harry as if she didn’t, he might hurt himself. “Not very. I’ve never run across it until now. Why?”

Harry wondered what the chances were… No, he was letting Voldemort get to him. This was crazy. “Nothing,” he replied. “Quit being so paranoid,” he told himself as he got up from the table. “It’s time for dinner and I’m hungry,” he said, needing to change the subject.

* * * * *

“Colin Creevey?” Ron said with a moan. “Look, Harry, it’s your number one fan. He’s not going to try out, is he?”

Harry whirled around and looked with dread as Colin Creevey came marching across the field.

“He’s not going to start that again,” commented Ron, pointing to a camera around his neck.

Harry rolled his eyes. He was somewhat relieved, however, when Colin didn’t stop and just went and sat in the bleachers. He then waved to his brother, Dennis—who was clutching a broomstick in his hands. Harry thought back to last year at how excited Dennis got at being thrown into a boat by a giant squid.

Dennis was smiling broadly and Harry grinned back and motioned for him to come over.

“Okay,” Harry explained. “Katy and Angelina, I need you to take the Quaffle and try your hardest to score a goal. Everyone who is trying out for the position of keeper will take a turn at guarding the goals…” Harry had to stop. There was commotion around Dennis Creevey. “Listen,” he pleaded, “I’m explaining…”

“C’mon, where’d you get the Firebolt, Creevey?” someone said.

Harry took interest. “A Firebolt?”

Dennis nodded. “Professor LeSal lent it to me. Said I could use it for games if I made the team,” and he held it up proudly. “And he said Victor Krum of the Bulgarians has used this one.” The crowd around him became even more rowdy at this.

“Professor LeSal lent it to you?” Harry said in disbelief.

“Wait a minute,” Fred eyed it suspiciously. “Let me get this right. A Slytherin offered to lend a broom to be used on the Gryffindor Quidditch team?”

“He helped me practice. I don’t think he’s a real Slytherin,” Dennis said defensively.

Harry didn’t wish to comment, so he said loudly, “I need everyone who is trying out to line up. You’re going to take turns.” He noticed that Ron had run to be first in line. If Ron didn’t do well, Harry was dreading having to turn him down.

“Might as well get it over with,” he said shakily but smiling.

Ron did do well. Very well in fact, but he was no match compared to Dennis Creevey on a Firebolt. Creevy seemed to become just a blur that managed to repel almost every single of Katy and Angelina’s shots. Harry stared in wonder and only looked away once when he heard a series of rapid clicks, and he turned to see Colin taking pictures. For once he couldn’t blame him. Watching Dennis block the Quaffle, which the girls had begun to beat at the goals in true earnest, was something that made Harry hang his mouth open and stare. Eventually, they all landed, exhausted. Dennis landed near Harry, a wide grin plastered across his face.

“So how’d I do, Harry Potter?”

“Well,” Harry reached up and scratched the back of his head. He’d have to admit that he’d never seen anything quite like it. With hardly a thought, he said, “I think you’ve got it.”

There was a round of applause after he said this; only Harry noticed a hurt look cross Ron’s face.

“Ah, Ron, don’t taking it hard,” he heard both Fred and George say. “You play better as a beater, like us. You’ll be on the team next year after we’re gone.”

“It’s because of that Firebolt!” Ron spat. “If I didn’t have such a crappy broom,” and he stormed from the field.

Harry felt the urge to go after him but it was then that Professor McGonagall arrived.

“Have you found our new keeper already?” she asked.

“It’s me, Professor!” Dennis exclaimed.

“Yah, you should have seen him,” Colin boasted. “I got pictures.”

McGonagall just smiled. “That’s wonderful, Dennis. I hardly expected—didn’t even know that you were going to try. Good for you.”

“Why’d you come out, Professor?” Harry asked, remembering last time.

“I was just interested to see who our new player was going to be. That and Professor Snape will be coming out shortly to talk to you about games and practice schedules.”

Harry nodded. By the tone of her voice, he sensed that she had come to oversee as these happened.

“Ah, there he is now.”

“Minerva, nice to see you out here,” LeSal said formally as he approached the crowd. Harry saw him give a thumbs up to Dennis, and Dennis promptly returned it.

McGonagall gave only a slight smile and stepped back. LeSal strode up to Harry.

“You’re the captain, right Harry?”

“Yes, Professor.”

“I’ve got the game schedule for you.” He leaned his staff against his shoulder and unrolled a piece of parchment. “I also need you to sign up for practice times. Draco and Miss Chang already have. I still need to find out who the Hufflepuff captain is, however.

“When’s our first game?” Harry asked, not at all happy that the Slytherin and Ravenclaws had gotten first dibs on practice times. There was also a strange feeling in his chest at the mention of Miss Chang as the new Ravenclaw captain as well as a pang for the mention of a Hufflepuff captain.

“You’re first game is on Saturday,” LeSal replied. “And I was just informed that the Minister of Magic has expressed to me that he might take a break with his family to come watch.”

The team members began to talk excitedly and Harry felt happy about it as well, but when he glance up at Professor LeSal, he noticed that his lips were tight and his eyes especially dark. “Who are we going to play?”

LeSal looked down at the parchment. “Uh…Slytherin House.”

The chattering abruptly ceased and there was some grumbling. LeSal didn’t notice. He suddenly didn’t seem to be paying attention to anything. He only stared back at the castle before tossing the parchment to Harry. “Here, fill this out—try to be considerate of the Hufflepuffs, okay?” he said quickly. “Drop it off at my office when you’ve fill it out.” With that, he took off at a brisk pace for the castle, and once a distance from the students, he rolled up the sleeve of his left arm. He took a glance at his forearm before breaking into a run.

Harry stared after him briefly, but was forced to turn back to his teammates.