My Name's Severus!

Chapter 3: Hedgehog troubles

Severus walked into transfigurations class with a very bad feeling. Had he promised Minerva not to turn anything green? How was he to do that? He had never been able to transfigure anything without turning it green. Usually turning the object he meant to transfigure green had been the only thing he'd been able to accomplish in this class. And he hadn't even tried to transfigure anything since he'd graduated. He'd make a complete fool out of himself! In front of the whole class! In front of his Slytherins! In front of those horrible Gryffindors! In front of Harry Potter! - In front of Draco!

Well, maybe it'd cheer Draco up a bit. He'd looked miserable when he'd lost those points to Flitwick. He wondered what Draco had been doing during that lesson. 'Wish I could go and ask him.' he thought. 'But he'd never tell me. He hates me, just like the others do. At least he has friends to talk to. Guess I could talk to Albus. But he wouldn't understand. These are a boy's thoughts and feelings and only a boy would understand. Draco would understand. But he hates me. I'm just the mean kid that gets everyone detention. Why do I do that? Albus's right. I know better. It's just so easy, so tempting to the boy's mind. I guess they just don't understand just how much I am a child again. I fit in neither the adult's nor the children's world anymore. I'm all alone. The only one of my kind in all the world. At least I got rid of the dark mark. That feels good. If only one of the boys'd talk to me, be my friend. God, how my friends would laugh at me if I told them that! I ought to tell Albus. Maybe he could help me? No, he'd laugh, too. And he's already so stressed, all because of me. Because he has to do my job and because he's trying to find that antidote, for me. I can't bother him with this.! I'm alone.'

Minerva McGonagall walked in accompanied by a big, floating, wooden box. She had after much consideration decided not to change her plans for this class because of Severus. Like Dumbledore had said: Sirius Black wasn't around. Severus wasn't really a child anymore and he wouldn't do what he'd done the last time he'd been taught this spell. There had to have been a lot of coincidence involved in causing that much chaos in class after all.

"All right everybody! Come up here and grab a hedgehog each!" she ordered.

Hedgehog! That word in context with transfiguration brought up bad memories with Severus. 'Please Minerva, don't make us turn hedgehogs into ashtrays!' he thought as he walked up to the front for his hedgehog.

As he took the small animal it immediately curled up into a spiky ball. 'They'd be cute if they didn't sting so much!'

He sat the hedgehog-ball onto his desk and listened with growing fear as Professor McGonagall explained how to turn a hedgehog into an ashtray. Then she told them to do it.

Severus gulped, readied his wand and looked at his hedgehog. The little fellow had cautiously uncurled himself and was now looking around on the desk. He was a very ordinary gray little hedgehog, decided Severus. There was some brownish-yellow fur on his underside. He blinked at the boy with round black eyes and sniffed his little black nose. Nothing special, but still prettier than some stupid ashtray. Why did people need to know how to turn hedgehogs into ashtrays?

Well it couldn't be helped. Severus had to try and turn him into an ashtray. He raised his wand and ...

Severus stared miserably at the not quite so ordinary Slytherin-green little hedgehog. There was some light-green fur on his underside. He blinked at the boy with dark-green eyes and sniffed his little green nose. Not an ordinary hedgehog anymore, but definitely no ashtray! Why did people have to know how to turn hedgehogs into ashtrays?

Severus tried again...

... and again ...

... and again ...

Finally he rested an elbow on his desk, cuddled his cheek into his hand and stared at the offending little hedgehog in defeat. The hedgehog sniffed his cute little green nose and walked around on the desk his little green tail sticking out behind him.

"Uhm, why'd you turn your hedgehog green, sir?" asked a very confused Harry Potter.

Severus looked up to find himself the center of attention for several bored Gryffindors. Bad memories of taunting Gryffindors rose in Severus: Sirius and James lying on their desk howling with laughter. Remus and Peter pointing and grinning.

"My name's Severus! Why can't anybody seem to remember that?" he hissed back at them.

"Okay, Severus!" said Ron Weasley rolling his eyes up in exasperation. "Why did you turn your hedgehog green, Severus?"

"I think," Severus went icy, as always when he was very much afraid of people. "he turned green cause he just wanted to be green."

Neville grinned triumphantly. "He can't do it! Snape made a mistake! And I did it right!" he almost sang.

Severus grabbed the first thing that was there, which just happened to be a green hedgehog, and threw it at Neville's face.

Neville yelped in surprise and dove out of the way. The hedgehog soared past him, grazed Professor McGonagall's ear, where he left several bloody little scratch marks and luckily fell into a stack of pillows that were meant to be turned into boots by Minerva's seventh years class.

The Gryffindors immediately retaliated by throwing their ashtrays back at Severus. As Lavender Brown drew back her arm for the throw she accidentally hit Millicent Bulstrode, who was walking past behind her in the head. Millicent screamed in pain and outrage and the Slytherins threw themselves into the fight.

It took Professor McGonagall two full minutes to re-establish order in her classroom. She had the pupils clean up the mess they had made, pack away their stuff and sit in their chairs. Then she turned upon Severus eyes blazing.

"How many points did I take off you last time you hit me throwing a green hedgehog around class, Severus Snape?" she asked barely able to restrain herself from slapping him in the face.

"It was an accident!" claimed Severus. "I was aiming at ..."

"Sirius Black again? He isn't even in this school anymore!" shouted Minerva McGonnagal.

"Honestly Minerva! I didn't mean to hit you, I didn't mean to start a fight and I didn't mean to turn him green! You have to believe me!" Severus pleaded.

"I don't care what you did or didn't mean to do! I only care what you did! How many points was it Severus?"

Nobody in class dared to breathe. 'They must have heard her all the way up on the astronomy tower.' they thought.

"T ... twenty." Severus whispered.

"Louder! I can't hear you!" demanded Professor McGonagall.

"Twenty points and a detention!" Severus shouted fighting tears of humiliation.

"Well since that doesn't seem to have been enough to teach you not to throw green hedgehogs around in class, this time it will be thirty points off Slytherin and a detention!" decided Professor McGonagall.

"No! You can't do that!" shrieked Draco without thinking. "We'd have only seven points left!"

"Do you want to loose those seven for talking back to a teacher, Mr. Malfoy?" asked Professor McGonagall.

"I'm sorry Professor."

"Alright everybody, back to the subject!" Professor McGonagall ordered. "Show me your ashtrays!"

"Mine broke in the fight!" shouted Harry.

"Mine, too!"

"And mine!"

"Somebody stepped on mine!"

"Just put them on your desks and I'll repair those that are broken." sighed McGonagall.

Suddenly Pansy Parkinson jumped up backing away from the wall, where the pillows were stacked.

"That pillow's moving!" she shouted pointing.

"Mouse!" shrieked Lavender Brown and jumped onto the table.

Several girls and Neville screamed.

Professor McGonagall calmly walked over and lifted the pillow. Beneath it she found something that looked a bit like an oversized chestnut. She picked it up and put it on Severus' desk.

"Your ashtray I believe." was her only comment.

The class roared with laughter. Severus ducked behind his book hiding as best he could. The green ball slowly, cautiously unrolled himself and sniffed his green little nose.

"Well, as I can see all of you did very well at this exercise." announced McGonagall at the end of the lesson. "All except Severus that is!" Again the whole class laughed. Severus cringed and tried to make himself even smaller behind his book. "That is very lucky for you because you just might need this for your OWLs. So keep practising!"

Severus waited until most of his classmates had left before he went up to McGonagall with his hedgehog in hands.

"Minerva?" he asked carefully. "Could ... um ... could you please ... um ... turn him back?"

McGonagall stared at him over her glasses.

"It looks like it's a bit unnatural for him to be green, you know." he explained. "It might harm him, don't you think?"

"You are the one who turned him green in the first place. You want him changed back? Do it yourself! Now get lost! I've pretty much run out of patience with you already. After only one lesson!"

"I honestly didn't do it on purpose." said Severus as he retreated out of the room.

His Slytherin classmates were waiting for him with accusing glares. He immediately turned cold.

"What?" he demanded staring Draco right in the eyes. Draco was the leader. If he could scare off Draco the others would leave him alone. But Draco returned his stare with equal iciness. He knew that game inside out. Severus knew he didn't really stand a chance.

Draco glared at Severus. He had protested the loss of points in class. Everyone had heard it. Now they expected him to do something. Severus needed to be thought a lesson. That was what they thought and he was the one expected to teach him. Or else they'd turn on him. He needed to scare Severus into surrendering. But Severus was just as cold as Draco always pretended to be. Draco knew he didn't really stand a chance.

"This is a warning, Severus!" he smirked. "Loose us any more points and you'll really get in trouble. Understand?"

"You're the one who's going to get in trouble if you pick a fight with me. I already told you I'm way more dangerous than all of you. Now get out of my way!" Severus walked right into the wall of Slytherins as if expecting them to back away. A small part of him actually hoped that they might, but he knew it wouldn't happen. He'd been in these situations too often in his life not to know. He kept his cold stare on Draco as he walked challenging, never breaking eye contact. 'Don't let them know you're scared!' When the first punch hit it didn't come as a surprise.

Professor Lupin, once again the DADA teacher of Hogwarts, was on his way to the last lesson of the day when he came upon Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall arguing in front of the large hourglasses that told the points given to each of the houses.

"Albus? Minerva? Is something wrong?" he asked surprised.

"It's the Slytherins!" explained Dumbledore. "The fifth years ganged up and beat up Severus! Mr. Filch caught them and took five points of everyone involved in the fight. That would make fifty-five points, but it turns out they had only seven points left to start with. We've never had a house loose more points than they had before. So I suggested to just put them on 0, but Minerva thinks they'll be impossible if they know that they can't loose any more points. She insists that we need to find a way to show a negative score."

"Why don't you just leave the hourglass empty and put a minus in front of the numbers shown underneath?" suggested Remus grinning. 'Slytherin with a negative score. Ha, Take that Severus Snape!' he thought.

"Well, I guess that's what we'll have to do." said Dumbledore sadly.

Remus suddenly remembered how much Dumbledore liked Severus. And the Slytherins had ganged up to beat him. All of them? Ten on one?

"I've got to go." he told Dumbledore and McGonagall. "I have those very fifth years to teach and if there is this much tension among them, I'd better not be late or they might start up again."

It had been a wise decision to hurry, Remus decided when he entered his classroom and saw the Slytherins. They all looked a little ruffled, several were limping and Pansy Parkinson wore her left arm in a makeshift sling. Draco had an ugly bruise on his cheek and Severus, who was sitting on the Hufflepuffs' side of the room, sported a black eye and a split lip.

All of a sudden Remus felt uncomfortable about having Severus in his class. He was a fellow teacher after all. And he did help him a lot with that wolfsbane potion. On the other hand the tricks that very boy had played on him and his friends!

Just how was he supposed to treat his new 'pupil'? He decided to avoid the problem. He wasn't going to treat him at all. As far as he was concerned Severus Snape was not in this class. And there was definitely no green hedgehog on his desk!

The only problem with this solution was that Severus didn't like to be ignored. On the contrary he seemed very eager to participate in the lesson raising his hand at every chance. Remus ignored him anyway but noted that Severus looked more and more angry as the lesson progressed. Remus avoided looking in his direction as best he could, but that meant that he was also ignoring the Hufflepuffs.

Ah what a relief when the lesson was finally over and Severus hadn't done anything to disturb it! But there was that nagging feeling that he might not be so lucky next time. And maybe Severus wouldn't even have done any mischief if he'd just let him participate? He did have a lot of knowledge he might contribute to the class if he wanted to and Remus let him.

Severus was staring at his dinner plate He just couldn't bring himself to eat. Minus 48 points! And it was all his fault!

The only thing keeping his house-mates from beating him up again was the presence of the teachers.

Professor McGonagall was once again staying close to the Slytherin table shooting angry glances at Severus every few minutes, but for once Severus didn't seem to be up to mischief. He was pushing his food around not eating. Was he still hurting from the beating he had taken after her lesson? She'd thought that he deserved it for the trick with the green hedgehog, but now she was beginning to feel sorry for him. It seemed that nobody was talking to him and there had been no progress in the search for an antidote. They hadn't even been able to reconstruct the recipe for that dreadful youth-potion yet.

'I guess Albus already told him he might be stuck as a child for a while.' she thought.

The green hedgehog meanwhile was creeping around on the dinner table blinking and sniffing at his odd new environment. Something smelled delicious nearby! The hedgehog was hungry. McGonagall hadn't fed them before handing them out to the students. Ashtrays didn't feel hungry, after all.

He followed the smell to an odd white object on which lay all sorts of good-smelling things. Mmm! He bit into the first treat: A little hot for his taste, but not bad! He took another bite.

"Hey! That's my dinner!" scoffed Draco, grabbed the little green thief, who immediately curled up again and placed him in front of Severus' plate.

Severus glanced up distractedly.

"Oh, sorry!" he mumbled.

Draco stared at him.

"What?"

"Sorry!" Severus repeated still distracted by his own miserable thoughts. "Shouldn't have let him run off like that."

"You owe me a potato!" claimed Draco curious for the reaction.

Severus pushed over his plate.

"Take it!"

He did.

The hedgehog cautiously stuck his little green nose out, smelled more potatoes and resolved to return to his meal. Severus watched him eat his way onto his plate.

"I thought you were supposed to be a meat-eater?" he asked. (Draco gave him an odd look: Talking to hedgehogs?)

The hedgehog looked up at him, decided Severus wasn't going to eat him (He didn't know what a plate was for or else he might have changed his mind about that.) and sniffed his little green nose at him before continuing on another potato.

Severus sighed. He shouldn't have forgotten to feed his new pet. Pet! Great, everybody else had some useful animal like a cat or an owl and he got stuck with a hedgehog! A green one at that!

Thinking of pets: What had happened to his raven? (A/N - Sorry J. L. Matthews, kidnapped Corvus! Promise to return him unharmed!)

Pupils at Hogwarts weren't allowed ravens, for they could be very difficult and cause a lot of trouble. But somebody had to take care of his bird. Albus Dumbledore should know.

Severus gently lifted his hedgehog out of the plate and walked over to the teachers' table giving Minerva McGonagall a wide berth, just to be save. He'd probably be hungry tonight, but it couldn't be helped.

Minerva noticed the evasive manoeuvre with a touch of concern. Was Severus beginning to be afraid of her? Most of the Slytherins were. She was well aware of that. But Severus wasn't a pupil! Well not normally, anyhow. 'Maybe I ought to talk to him?' she thought. But here and now was neither the place nor the time for a private conversation.

Headmaster Dumbledore looked up and smiled when he saw Severus.

"Got a new friend?" he asked indicating the hedgehog.

"More like a new problem! Minerva says she won't un-green him!" complained Severus.

"Won't un-green him?" repeated Dumbledore. "I think he's rather cute that way. Very special, you know."

Severus considered that answer. It didn't seem he'd get any help there.

"I just came to ask what you did with my raven. He needs someone to care for him till I'm back."

"Ah yes, the raven!" smiled Dumbledore. "He wouldn't stay at the owlery ..."

"Ravens hate owls!" explained Severus. "They never get along."

"Well, Mr. Filch has kindly agreed to take care of him. I think he'll let you visit, if you ask him nicely."

Severus thanked Dumbledore, then left the great hall. the headmaster watched him go wondering what was wrong. he had the distinct feeling that there was something that Severus needed to talk about but somehow hadn't been able to tell him. Was he loosing his friend's trust?

Severus feared another attack from his fellow Slytherins as soon as he was out of the teachers earshot too much to return to the common room and therefore went outside instead.

The weather had gotten surprisingly warm for this time of the year and it was raining slightly. Good, that meant that everybody else was likely to stay inside.

Severus smiled. He liked rain. Especially when he was feeling down. There was something peaceful and calming about rain that always helped him to relax.

He sat on a bench by the wall getting wet and enjoying the freshness of the air and the soft dripping sound. Maybe the rain would wash the snow away and there would be an early spring. He knew it was much too early for that, but he liked to pretend he believed it.

For a while he just closed his eyes and listened and felt the rain. His mind wandered detachedly analysing his problems without searching for solutions. He knew that he was in deep but right now he was feeling oddly content. The soothing effect of the rain and loneliness.

He opened his eyes again and regarded the hedgehog in his arms a little closer. The little guy was getting used to being carried around. He hadn't even curled up completely this time, which meant that he didn't sting so much either.

Severus gently turned him around to face him. Had something just moved on his head? Indeed, there was something small crawling around between the spikes! Severus lifted him to look more closely.

"You know what, Greenie? You've got green fleas!" he told the hedgehog.

The hedgehog sniffed his nose and blinked as if to say: 'So what? Doesn't everybody?'

"We'll have to do something about that. Come on!"

Nervously Severus knocked on Argus Flich's door. Filch opened and looked at him, then smiled.

"Ah, yes, Professor Dumbledore said you might come to see your bird. He's right over there on the table wreaking havoc with my report papers.

"Oh, I'm sorry about that!" Severus quickly apologised. "It's just that he's so curious. He thinks anything you leave lying around's a toy, you know."

"Hmm..." mused Filch intrigued. "That might be useful! Think I could train him to pick up dropped papers and forgotten quills, for me?"

"Sure! Just feed him every time he grabs something and he'll take everything to you. He might start stealing though." grinned Severus. "He's still my raven, after all and pets do tend to take on their masters habits, you know."

"Yes, I've heard about that incident." grumbled Filch no longer smiling.

Severus walked into the room and the raven immediately dropped the papers he was busily tearing up and flew over to sit on his shoulder and be patted. Severus caressed him gently. It felt good to be still recognised!

"You wouldn't happen to have any flea-powder I could borrow, would you?" he asked Filch.

"Why would I? You know I'm a squib! And I wouldn't give you any even if I did! You're not supposed to leave Hogwarts, remember!" scolded Filch.

"Not floo-powder! Flea-powder! For my hedgehog." Severus explained holding up his little green friend. "He has fleas!"

Filch eyed the hedgehog. The hedgehog eyed Filch and sniffed his nose disdainfully.

"I'd try giving him a good bath if I were you." recommended Filch after a moment. "But put on some dry clothes first! You'll catch your death running around like this!"

"Will do!" grinned Severus. "Thanks!"

He handed the protesting raven back to Filch and turned to leave, but hesitated in the door.

"Can I come back and see him again some time?"

"Sure, any time. Just come over and knock!"

Severus smiled and with another "Thanks!" dashed off towards the common room.

Draco entered the bathroom to find a very wet and soapy Severus scrubbing away at something in the far corner. There was water splashed everywhere! Judging by how wet everything was Severus must have been at it for hours!

Draco carefully crept closer trying to avoid the deepest puddles as best he could. Still water soon got into both his shoes soaking his socks. Annoyed he considered going back and making the first years let him use their bathroom, but it was too late now that he was already wet and he was too curious to find out whatever Severus was doing. He decided it was no use avoiding the water anymore anyhow, stepped into the large puddle beside Severus and peered into the basin.

He saw a soap covered green hedgehog!

"Er ... Severus, I don't think you'll get the colour off of him that way." he remarked trying hard to keep a strait face. Just how desperate was Severus? And why didn't he just use the counter-spell?

"I'm not trying to!" explained Severus in his matter-of-factly voice. "I'm just trying to drown the fleas!"

"That thing's got fleas?" shrieked Draco jumping back. "Don't give any to me!"

"Hedgehog fleas." clarified Severus still in his matter-of-factly persona. "They don't like human blood."

"Why don't you just turn him into an ashtray and hand him in to McGonagall?" asked Draco. "It'd save you the trouble."

"I already tried to turn him into an ashtray, blondie! He just turned green!"

"You mean it really was an accident?" asked Draco surprised. "I thought ..." He stopped. Then started to giggle. This was hilarious. Severus Snape the great potions master of Hogwarts was unable to turn a simple hedgehog into an ashtray. A spell even Neville Longbottom could perform without much difficulty!

Severus heard him laugh and snapped. He flung the wet soapy brush, he'd been using on the hedgehog at Draco, who ducked away quickly, and chased him from the room.

Draco raced out as he was unable to fight back because he was laughing so hard.

"That's priceless!" he gasped between his laughter. "Our potions teacher sucks in transfigurations! Wait till I tell everybody!"

Draco dashed into their dorm to tell his friends, but was laughing so hard that he had to let himself drop into his bed and rolled around there much as Severus had that first night when Dumbledore had stood there with the bucket on his head.

Gregory, Vincent and Blaise stood around his bed staring at each other unsure what to do. Was Draco under some sort of spell? Should they get a teacher to help?

"Maybe we ought to call Madame Pomfrey?" suggested Gregory.

"No! I'm fine!" managed Draco panting.

The three of them stood there for almost a minute until Draco could get enough control over himself to sit up and explain.

"It wasn't a prank!" he gasped and dissolved into laughter once again.

"What? What are you talking about?" inquired Vincent while Gregory and Blaise exchanged more puzzled looks. "What wasn't a prank?"

Draco tried hard to speak, but couldn't. Finally he got out: "... hedgehog ... can't transfigure ..."

"You mean Severus?" screamed Gregory in delight. "He can't transfigure a hedgehog into an ashtray?"

Draco nodded. That was easier than speaking.

Now Gregory and Vincent started laughing, too. Blaise stared at them.

"I don't see what's to laugh about. We've still got the school record for lowest score ever in the House Cup!" he declared. "But it is something we can use to torment Severus!" he grinned evilly.

When Severus returned from the bathroom his hedgehog comfortably tucked into a big soft towel the whole common room greeted him with nasty grins and occasional giggles. He was in for a bad evening, he realised, but he had to sit it through. If he retreated now it would only be worse in the morning. Fight the battle now and they'd get tired of it some time.

He slunk into his favourite chair, sat the hedgehog in a towel on the table and began to do homework. (Some Susan's, some of some other people he'd made deals with and a very small part his own, because he was going to copy everything that wasn't potions or DADA as soon as he found someone who'd let him.) He fought off the teasing as best he could using his icy persona and hoping that they didn't realise yet that it meant they were getting to him when he turned cold.

A loud rattling and then a sniffing sound jerked Draco out of his sleep.

"Huh, what's up?" mumbled a sleepy Vincent from the next bed.

"What's all that noise?" yawned Gregory.

"There must be something in the room." stated Blaise.

"Well, what do you think it is?" Draco asked him feeling a bit nervous. What if it was a poisonous snake or something?

"How would I know?" Blaise asked back. "I can't see a thing in this darkness."

"Lumos!" said Severus calmly.

His wand lighted immediately and the five boys saw the green hedgehog crawling along one of the walls sniffing and making smacking sounds.

"Severus, get that thing restrained!" ordered Draco impatiently. "I'm tired. It must be about one in the morning."

"Yeah, the little freak's supposed to sleep." complained Gregory.

"He's not a freak!" shouted Severus without thinking. "He's just green. And I think hedgehogs are night active by nature."

"Whatever. Just put him in a box or something before I use the killing curse on him." threatened Blaise. "I want to go back to sleep."

"You wouldn't dare touch him." growled Severus but slipped out of bed and picked up the hedgehog. "Come on Greenie, you're going to sleep."

He looked around for something to put the hedgehog in. He didn't have a cage for him of course and neither were there any empty boxes lying around. So he just put him into an empty drawer in his nightstand and left it a crack open to let some air in.

Relieved everybody turned around to go back to sleep.

Only seconds later loud rattling snarling and growling could be heard emanating from the drawer.

"Oh no!" shouted Draco. "Now he's even louder than before."

"Shut him up, Severus, or else I'll kill him." said Blaise groping around for his wand.

"He'll go to sleep once he realises that he can't get out." answered Severus coldly. "Just wait a few minutes."

About half an hour later Severus finally rolled out of bed, drew open the drawer, picked up the noisy little green hedgehog and walked out of the room. Only seconds later he came back and climbed into his bed again.

"What did you do with him?" asked Draco sleepily.

"Lock him in the bathroom. Nobody'll hear him there. We just have to be careful not to let him run away tomorrow morning." explained Severus.

The next morning Gregory was the first to enter the bathroom. The others were still in the dorm hesitant to leave their beds after their hedgehog-disturbed night.

But Gregory's sudden scream got them out of bed and into the bathroom in less then a second. They found Goyle sitting on the floor clasping his left foot with both hands.

"What happened?" asked Vincent as they bent to examine Gregory's foot.

"I stepped on that cursed hedgehog." complained Gregory near tears.

"Greenie!" screamed Severus at once and raced over to the corner where a suspicious green ball was lying motionless.

He picked up the little frightened hedgehog and upon finding no obvious injuries turned his attention back to Gregory.

"Can't you big idiot watch where you're stepping?" he asked accusingly. "You nearly scared him to death."

Gregory who had just discovered that he couldn't walk on his hurt foot shot him an angry glance and declared:

"I bet he did that on purpose. He's always picking on me. First it was my nose, then the shower and now he's set his hedgehog on me."

"Want a fight over it?" cold Severus asked.

Draco quickly decided to step in before the situation really deteriorated into a fight.

"Oh, come on Greg, hedgehogs don't attack people." he told his friend calmly. "And we all knew he was in here. You just overlooked him and had an accident."

"Oh yeah? Then why wasn't he locked up in his box or something?" demanded Gregory.

"Because he doesn't have a box yet." declared Severus. "I meant to get one for him today." he added a little less coldly.

"See, it was an accident." Draco said quickly before Gregory could respond with anything Severus might consider a challenge. "Now if you'll just put one arm over Vincent's shoulders and the other over Blaise's they'll help you up to the hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey will fix your foot in no time, I bet."

"Why don't you carry him yourself?" grumbled Blaise as he and Vincent moved closer to help Gregory.

"Because," grinned Draco smugly. "I'm too small. You and Vincent are nearly the same size. That way Gregory will be much more comfortable."

"Hah! I bet you couldn't even support the weight." snorted Blaise, gabbed Gregory's arm and slung it around his shoulders.

Draco shrugged at them still grinning and watched them limp from the room.

As Draco had predicted Madame Pomfrey cured Gregory easily. He was back in time to glare angrily at Severus during breakfast. Severus countered with his usual cold stare. Draco who felt rather uncomfortable sitting between the two did his best to keep all sorts of sticky food out of their reach, but luckily it didn't result in another food-fight. (The threatening presence of Minerva McGonagall only a few paces behind them might have had something to do with that.)

Double potions was the first lesson of the day.

Still to come: Dumbledore teaches potions!, Severus working with Harry!, problems with homework, mousetraps, more transfigurations, and some adventures at night