My Name's Severus!

Chapter 15: Albus goes skating

Draco and Severus made their move that same night. They quietly sneaked up to the library hearts pounding, but nothing moved anywhere in the castle. It seemed that even Mrs Norris was asleep.

Or maybe they were all waiting for them in the library having somehow found out about their plan?

"Sniff!" said Greenie when they finally reached the library door.

Both boys started. Draco glared at the hedgehog angrily.

"Did you have to bring the hedgehog?" he complained. "He's gonna betray us."

"Greenie would never do that! He's our friend."

"It just happens he can't understand the situation. Or did you train him to be silent on command?"

Severus looked down at the excited hedgehog in his arms. He hadn't gotten the impression that hedgehogs could be trained at all so far.

"Shhh, Greenie!" he whispered to his little friend. "You have to be very quiet now. We don't want to loose Slytherin any more points. Remember what happened when Albus caught us in there?"

Greenie didn't respond.

"See he understood me. He's gonna be quiet now."

"Yeah, sure."

"Good boy, Greenie. Don't make a sound."

"Sniff!"

Draco shot Severus an angry glance but did not comment. It was too late anyway. They'd gotten too far to take the hedgehog back now.

"Okay. Ready?" Severus asked pulling out his wand.

Draco quickly grabbed his own wand and went through the spell Severus had taught him once again. It wasn't an easy one, but the spell required to open the door without setting off the alarms was even more difficult and Draco knew he wouldn't have been up to that.

He nodded at Severus to signal he was ready.

Severus cast the complicated spell with ease, while Draco prepared his own spell.

The door swung open and seconds later the sleeping spell hit the librarian's desk. Draco held his breath until a loud snore told them that he had indeed hit Dobby and the spell had been correct.

The boys slipped into the dark library and tiptoed over to the forbidden section.

"Are you sure you know how to undo the wards?" Draco asked nervously.

"I set them often enough. It'll just take a little time to do it correctly."

"You were older then."

"That's just my body."

"Oh, yeah? Dumbledore is beginning to doubt that."

Severus glanced at Draco angrily.

"I assure you my skills have not suffered."

"You sure proved that in transfigurations."

"Have you ever seen me do any transfigurations before that incident?"

"Er ... no."

"See, now you know why."

"Well, I don't remember you throwing firecrackers, setting mousetraps for students or carrying around green hedgehogs as an adult."

"Doesn't mean I never felt like it. And I never had a green hedgehog to carry around before. Now just sit down and shut up so I can concentrate on the spells."

Draco sighed and sat down. For a moment he wished he could go back to bed. Severus didn't really need him anymore after all.

About ten minutes later Severus announced that he was done and Draco crept over to the bookshelves again curious.

There were several books here that had familiar titles. Yes, he was sure he'd seen some of them in his father's library.

Severus started pulling out books and stuffing them into his bag. He didn't waste much time looking through the titles. He seemed to know exactly which books he wanted and where they stood.

"Can I touch them?" Draco asked cautiously.

"Of course you can. I already did and the alarm didn't go off so what are you afraid of?"

"Well, I thought maybe your spell worked only for you." explained Draco and pulled out an interesting looking book.

It was on torture methods used by dark wizards. Very descriptive and with pictures. Draco stared.

Severus finished packing and came over to his side.

"Okay, I'm done. Lets go."

Draco didn't react. Severus put a hand on his shoulder and felt him shake.

"Draco?"

Still no reaction. Severus gently took the book out of his hands, took one look at it and closed it quickly.

"Maybe I shouldn't have let you touch them. They're kept under these spells for a reason. It's just a book though. Nobody here would actually do something like that. Come on." he steered Draco back towards the door and reactivated the wards by casting a quick spell back over his shoulder.

Draco said nothing during their walk back to the dorm and when they got there he dug his teddy out of his trunk and curled up in his bed looking like a small frightened child. Severus was right of course. Nobody at Hogwarts would do something like that, but Draco was convinced that his father would. Yes, his father would do such things and maybe even worse then that one picture he had seen.

Severus felt terribly guilty. He knew very well why the students weren't allowed access to those books. He shouldn't have let Draco play around with them. He was an adult and he'd seen a lot of things. He could handle what was in those books and he knew how to use them. But Draco was just a boy. A very sensitive one at that even if he didn't show it most of the time. He should have watched out for him. Maybe given him one of the more harmless books. Asked him to look for certain titles ...

He sat down on the bed beside Draco talking soothingly and stroking his hair until he finally fell asleep.

During lunch break on Friday Draco and Severus started checking the books they'd 'borrowed' for all references on youth or aging potions. Severus chose the books he handed Draco very carefully this time and didn't even allow him to peek over his shoulder at the books he'd chosen to keep to himself.

Draco felt a little like sulking, but then he remembered how Severus had sat with him for almost the whole night.

'He must think that I can't take it, that I'm week and he's trying to protect me.' he realised. Maybe Severus was right. Draco still trembled slightly whenever he remembered that picture.

Severus looked up when Draco shuddered again.

"Would you rather I do this alone? I can check them a lot faster than you anyway."

"Oh really? You think you're so much better?" Draco did his best to sound tough, but the result sounded more like insulted even to him.

"No, but I've read them before, you know. I know what chapters to look in."

"You'll still be faster if I help you."

"True, but I don't want to scare you. I can manage without you if I have to."

"I'm never scared!"

"Yep, and I never cry."

Draco smiled. Severus was giving him a chance to retreat without losing face. He'd just accept it if Draco said this was too much for him. But it wasn't!

"I'm okay. I haven't seen anything in any of these books yet. It was just that one picture. Or just that particular book. I only start shaking when I think of it. These books are okay. Really."

"I'm still not giving you anything with pictures in it." Severus declared calmly.

That was the adult teacher coming out. Draco grinned.

"And they say you're not responsible enough to teach."

"I'm not. I throw firecrackers and stuff."

They both laughed and returned to work. For a while Draco's mind had been taken off the picture he'd seen in the library, but after a while the thought came back and he started shaking again.

"Nobody here would do that, Draco. Honest. It's just a picture of things that some very evil wizards used to do a long time ago."

"Were they any more evil than Voldemort?" Draco asked softly.

Severus sighed. He couldn't lie about that. Maybe Draco wouldn't ask any further if he told him.

"No, I don't think so."

"So Voldemort and his followers would do these things?"

"They can't get in here, Draco. Hogwarts is protected and they're afraid of Albus anyhow."

"But they would do something like that?"

'No, I don't want to tell you that! I don't want you to be afraid!' But Severus felt he had to be honest with Draco. "Yes, some of them would."

"How do you know that my father's a death eater?"

Well, that was slightly safer ground. Still Severus didn't like to talk about that. He picked up Greenie who had been sniffing around between the books and kept staring at the hedgehog while he answered.

"I know, because he was the one who recruited me."

"You ... "

"I was very lonely as a boy. I never had any friends. The kids never liked me and adults usually ignored me. Only your father didn't. He made me believe he liked me and I admired him for it. He was my hero. I'd have followed him anywhere. I wanted to be exactly like him and when he asked me to become a death eater ... I did. I did it to be like him."

"But I thought you hate him? He certainly hates you."

"Because in his eyes I'm weak. Maybe I am."

"Weak? Because you sometimes cry?"

"Because I can't torture and kill."

"Torture!? Like in that picture?" Draco's face had gone all white again.

"No, not like that picture. Few people can do that. No, I can't use the cruciatus curse. I can't see how it hurts people."

"Voldemort would do it, wouldn't he?" Draco asked suddenly sounding very calm even though he was still very pale.

"Would do what?"

"Would torture somebody like in that picture."

"I don't know. I've never seen anyone do anything like that."

"So Voldemort doesn't do it?"

"I've never seen anything of the sort, but some people claim that it happened. They wouldn't have told me if they did."

"Why not?"

"Well, they already knew that I couldn't stomach cruciatus."

Draco thought back to his reaction to seeing that picture. Only a picture of somebody being tortured and Severus had seen it too and hadn't had the slightest problem with that. Or had he hidden his true reaction? But even if he had he'd been strong enough to suppress his shock. Draco had not.

"I think I couldn't either." he stated and they returned to searching the books.

Strangely Draco felt better now. Maybe it was knowing that Severus understood his reaction or maybe it had just helped to talk about his fears.

"Draco?" Severus said after a while.

"Yes?"

"Don't become a death eater."

"But, it's what I was born for. My father's been training me all of my life. He expects me to follow the family tradition. I can't just walk out on him like that. I have to continue the family line and traditions."

"If you can't do the cruciatus curse that'll be the end of the line. They'd kill you."

"They didn't kill you."

"They needed me. To brew complicated potions for them. Good potion masters are rare and they couldn't find a replacement. But I was still living in constant danger and Lucius still wants to se me dead."

"He'd do it, wouldn't he?"

"Do what?"

"T ... torture.... " Draco couldn't go on, but that wasn't necessary.

"I suspect Nott's the one who does these things. He takes the most pleasure in seeing others suffer. Lucius's much calmer and to high up in the ranks to bother with these simple things. He's more active in the strategy department."

But Draco knew that Severus had been avoiding the real question.

"He's capable of such things though, isn't he?" it wasn't really a question anymore.

"The way I judge him? I think so, but I've never seen any prove and I might be wrong about him. He's hard to read and I don't think I can be entirely objective about him. Too much has happened between us."

"You hate him as much as he hates you, don't you?"

"No, I think I hate him more than he could ever hate me. I'm just a bug to him, some insect he'd like to crush, but I admired and trusted him once and he deceived me. That hurt more than anything he thinks I could ever do to him."

"Anything HE THINKS you can do." Draco repeated slowly. "You're thinking about sending him to Askaban some day?"

"I'd probably do you a favour if I did." Severus answered not meeting his eyes. "Voldemort would most likely forget about you after that."

Draco stared down at the book he was supposed to be searching. Severus was right. If his father went to Azkaban he'd be free of a lot of things. Then again how would his friends react? What would life be like if his father's name no longer protected him? And he really didn't want to imagine Harry Potter's reaction. And the Weasleys? What would Ginny say? Would she want the son of a death eater? But the Weasleys already knew that Lucius was a death eater. Right?

Then something else hit him.

"What if he told on you? They'd question him, ask him to reveal the names of other death eaters. He'd take you down with him. That's just the sort of thing he'd do."

Severus laughed and shook his head.

And suddenly Draco realised the truth. Suddenly he understood why Dumbledore had been so worried that Voldemort might have killed Severus when they'd thought he'd run away. The ministry already knew. Voldemort had been tricked.

"You're not weak. Not weak at all."

"I can't torture people and I can't turn a simple hedgehog into an ashtray and you say I'm not weak?"

"Weak people don't even dare say Voldemort's name. ... Even some death eaters don't, you know."

"Oh yes, I know that. I know more about death eaters than anybody would want to and you don't fit in with those guys any more than I do."

Draco nodded, but didn't answer. He didn't want to make a promise he couldn't keep. No, he didn't want to become a death eater, but he didn't think he could tell his father no either.

"We've got to get going." he said instead. "Potions starts in five minutes."

"Oh joy. We get to spend another hour with Mary Sue."

"Don't tell me you did your homework or something."

"Did my homework? Of course not! I hate potions, remember? I couldn't do a potions essay if I tried."

Mary Sue still wore a shawl over her most likely still green hair. Judging from the look on her face she had tried just about everything to get rid of the colour and was getting desperate. Severus grinned contentedly. He was definitely not going to tell her the secret formula that might actually work. He'd never had any reason to try it though and wasn't even sure it would.

The classroom had once again been repainted and Mary Sue had moved the student supplies cupboard in front of the hole Severus had blasted into the wall. Well, that situation had potential. Stealing some additional ingredients was gong to be easy. Rudimentary plans were beginning to form in Severus' mind.

Mary Sue once again started the lesson by asking for homework.

"I still didn't find time to replace my house elf." claimed Draco.

Mary Sue, dressed up in a lavender robe and matching paint today, shot him an angry glare and informed him that that had just earned him two bad points as there were now two homeworks overdue.

"I already told you I don't do potions homework." Severus stated patiently.

"I didn't find the time." explained Harry.

"I didn't feel like it." said Hermione.

"I didn't remember the assignment." claimed Gregory. "I think you told us while we were asleep."

"I don't understand it. It's too complicated." complained Vincent.

Mary Sue's lips were pressed together so tightly that Draco suspected they had to be all white somewhere underneath all the blood red lipstick.

"I suggest all of you take a very good look at this list." she said pointing at the blackboard. "Some of you are already very close to an additional homework and we've only been using this system for two lessons. No wonder the poor headmaster was so desperate to find a new potions teacher. My predecessor most likely walked out from frustration."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." grinned Draco.

"You probably are the one who drove him away."

"For your information: Your predecessor liked me. I was one of his favourite students."

"I sincerely doubt that." stated Mary Sue coldly and once again wondered about the class' giggles.

"As several of you failed miserably in their attempts to brew a sleeping potion yesterday we will brew that potion again today. Take out your notes and get to work."

For a while everything seemed to work just fine. Mary Sue began to relax and turned to grading homework.

BOOM!

This time it was Draco and Ron's potion that exploded. Draco had been studying: He had found out exactly how Severus had gotten his potion to explode and had been very happy about this chance to try out the recipe.

Once again a large part of the room had been blackened by the explosion and there was another hole in the wall. This time it showed a nice view of the hallway outside the classroom.

Mary Sue raced over to the two boys and had just opened her mouth to scream at them when ...

HISS!

Hermione and Pansys cauldron once again melted away under the influence of their potion.

Mary Sue turned and ran to their table to quickly clean up before the acid could bum away the table.

"Get the other cauldron and start again!" she ordered the girls.

"But that one melted yesterday!" said Hermione calmly. "We'll have to buy new ones during the next Hogsmeade weekend."

"But that's in three weeks!" exclaimed Pansy in dismay.

Mary Sue sighed.

"I will try to arrange for you two to be allowed to go to Hogsmeade this weekend to buy new cauldrons. Now pack up and ... "

"Ahhh! Professor, help!" screamed Seamus.

Mary Sue turned around immediately. Seamus and Vincent's potion was boiling over. The hot dark brown liquid was running down the sides of the cauldron and over the neatly painted blue table from where it was dripping slowly onto the pink floor.

Mary Sue quickly doused the fire and set to wiping the floor. It didn't help much though. The liquid kept bubbling over the rim for a while and left ugly stains on the table and floor.

She kept rubbing at them until Gregory approached her.

"Um... we have a problem, Professor." he said trying his best not to laugh.

Mary Sue got up and glanced over to his and Neville's work-table. Neville was staring sheepishly at his latest accident. His cauldron had grown feet and was dancing merrily around on the table splashing its contents in all directions creating even more stains on the floor, walls and furniture.

Draco had to fight hard not to laugh. They hadn't planned that of course, but it sure was an excellent prank.

Mary Sue didn't believe her eyes. She walked once around the table eying the dancing cauldron. Then she closed in on it still staring. The cauldron didn't seem impressed.

After almost five minutes Mary Sue finally pulled out her wand and pointed it at the dancing cauldron.

"Fini..."

The cauldron danced out of the way. Mary Sue adjusted her aim. She didn't see Severus gesturing to his classmates behind her back.

"Finite i... "

The cauldron performed a sudden jump and Mary Sue found herself aiming at the table once again. Behind her Draco sneaked over to Harry and Severus' table to pick up Greenie while everybody else was quietly packing their bags.

Mary Sue dropped the keys she'd been holding in her left hand onto the table and grabbed the cauldron. Pulling it close with one hand she used the other to point her wand.

"Finite incantatem!"

The cauldron's legs disappeared and it tilted to one side in Mary Sue's hand covering the entire table in brown goo.

"What do you two think you're doing?" Mary Sue screamed at Neville and Gregory.

Gregory closed his bag and shrugged. Neville was hiding under the table still packing.

"Don't try to pretend you didn't do that on purpose." Mary Sue screeched. "That will cost each of you a bad point. ... Why are you packing? The lesson isn't over yet!"

Neville thought fast.

"To protect our books from that sticky potion. It might have ruined them if they'd been hit."

"Well, that's no excuse for..."

A strange blue mist rising from Severus and Harry's cauldron caught her eye.

"Whatever is that?" Mary Sue came closer to investigate.

The pupils retreated further away from the mist trying not to inhale any of it. Draco and Greenie were already at the door. Neville silently grabbed his cauldron off the table. His eyes fell on the set of keys lying there right beside the cauldron.

Mary Sue stared at the blue mist. She'd never seen anything like it before. She bent over the cauldron noting absent mindedly that the mist smelled rather strange.

Severus and Harry joined the rest of the class at the door grinning proudly. Neville was still staring at the keys. This was his chance to take part in a real prank. He glanced over at their teacher.

Mary Sue dropped to the floor fast asleep.

Neville grabbed the keys and ran for the door.

"Okay everybody, the lesson's over." announced Severus. "Lets go."

The seventh years who arrived for their potions lesson almost half an hour later found Mary Sue sleeping on the floor beside an empty cauldron. They made one half hearted attempt to wake her up then shrugged and walked back out again. They had to do some studying for their NEWTS.

On Monday evening Severus arrived in the common room smiling happily and carrying a big hammer that Mr. Filch had been missing for days.

"I suggest you remove everything you don't want to get wet as far as possible from the floor." he announced.

"Why? Are we expecting a flood?" asked Susan who being one of his main suppliers for sweets and joke utensils was one of the few Slytherins still daring to approach him when he was smiling.

"Yes." was his only answer.

He walked up into his dorm followed at a safe distance by most of the other Slytherins and hoisted his trunk onto his bed then turned to do the same with Draco's. Seeing that, the others quickly retreated to their own dorms to prepare for whatever Severus was planning.

Draco walked in about ten minutes later a wooden box in his hands and grinning almost as widely as Severus. He stopped in surprise and took in the situation in the room.

"Hey, where have you been?" Severus greeted him. "I've been looking for you for hours and all I found was this hammer."

"You were looking for me in Filch's toolbox?"

"No, around the Quiddich field. Filch must have forgotten his hammer after he repaired the door of the broom shed."

"I was in the Gryffindor common room." announced Draco.

"The Gryffindor common room?"

"Ginny let me in. She also convinced Hermione to get me these." he said showing Severus the box.

Severus peered inside.

"Hermione had me promise to only use them in the dungeons and around Mary Sue though." Draco continued. "I thought we could just let them go in the common room and in front of her office."

Severus smiled.

"Perfect, but we'd better wait until we've put that hammer to use. We don't want to drown them all."

"Drown them? What are you up to?"

"Do you want to climb that shower again?"

Draco thought about it for a moment. He'd managed okay once but it had felt very wobbly up there.

"Not really."

"You'd have the hammer to keep you company." Severus coaxed grinning.

"No."

"Okay, I'll do it, but you'll have to hand me the hammer."

"Okay, lets go! Can I put our little friends on your bed for now?"

"Oh, sure. ... No, wait! You can't. Greenie's in my bed. He'd eat them. Put them on Blaise's bed. Then it doesn't even matter if some of them get out."

Half an hour later there was a knock on the door to Mary Sue's office. Mary Sue opened the door looking very annoyed. Her still green hair was all wet and there was a bottle of hair dye in her hand.

Outside stood a large group of Slytherins whose robes were as wet as Mary Sue's hair.

"Oh Mary Sue, our common room is filling up with water!" Pansy exclaimed as soon as the door opened.

Nobody had passed Severus' warning on to Mary Sue's 'fan club' and Pansy and Millicent were badly frightened.

"We think there must be a leak somewhere." said Susan doing her best to look confused and innocent.

Unlike Pansy she had a pretty good idea what had happened.

Mary Sue sighed heavily. Couldn't she get a moment's peace to tend to her beauty?

"Well, try to remove everything you can out of the water's way and use some towels to soak up the water. I'll be with you in half an hour." she ordered and closed the door.

"Half an hour! We can't wait half an hour!" shrieked Pansy and knocked again, but Mary Sue had returned to the serious business of dying her hair and didn't answer.

It was almost an hour until she finally emerged out of her office freshly painted and a fresh shawl slung over her head to hide her still green hair. She was in an especially bad mood, because of her failed efforts to redye it and didn't feel like dealing with water leaks at all. Where was Mr. Filch when she needed him?

Mr. Filch in fact had been warned about the flood in the Slytherin common room a long time ago, when Severus had shown up in his office to return the hammer. He had at first been very angry as he'd be the one who'd have to repair all the damage done by the water, but then he had remembered the way Mary Sue always treated him like dirt and that she'd even kicked Mrs Norris.

The thought of his poor mistreated cat had convinced him that the stairs up in the astronomy tower needed a good scrubbing and that was what he was tending to right now.

After about ten minutes of banging on the caretaker's door Mary Sue had to accept that Filch was currently not in his office. She decided to take a look at the problem herself and found the Slytherins sitting in front of the closed secret entrance with trunks, bags and pets scattered all about.

"What's the meaning of this?" she demanded. "Why aren't you trying to clean up the water?"

"We ran out of towels." Severus commented dryly despite being wet from head to toes.

He looked like someone had upended a bucket of water over his head. Mary Sue decided that somebody probably had. That kid was annoying enough that that wouldn't surprise her. The other pupils had soaked clothes too, but their hair was mostly dry.

Mary Sue stepped in front of the entrance and said the password. The panel swung open and water gushed out, splashed over Mary Sue's legs and flowed on down the hall. The pupils jumped up screeching and dragged their possessions in the direction of the nearest stairway.

Mary Sue stared at the common room. The water inside was by now knee deep. It was going to flood the entire dungeon. Something had to be done right now.

She waded into the room and tried to determine where the water was coming from. There! It was flowing down the stairs from the boy's dorms.

Mary Sue splashed up the stairs fighting her way up against the water. Tracing the current back to it's source she arrived in a bathroom. There she found it. A broken water pipe was the source of her problem. But she saw no way to get up there to plug it. She'd need a ladder. But even if she'd had one it would have been carried away by the water.

So Mary Sue had to wade back out. She considered closing the door behind her to keep the water contained, but she'd have to go back in once she'd found somebody to turn off the main waterline and then it would flood out anyway as soon as she opened the door.

Now who would know where to turn off the water? Filch of course. But he was nowhere to be found.

Who else might know? Or who might know where the caretaker was?

Albus Dumbledore looked up in surprise as a soaking wet potions teacher stormed into his office.

"Ah, Mary Sue!" he exclaimed happily. "What brings you here?"

"There is a water leak in Slytherin house." panted Mary Sue. "It's flooding the entire dungeon and I can't find that lazy idiot Filch."

"Now, now, Mary Sue." admonished Dumbledore. "Mr. Filch has a very big castle to take care of I'm sure he's just busy in one of the remote areas of Hogwarts. You should just leave him a note at the door of his office and I'm sure he will take care of it as soon as he comes back."

"That's a major leak I'm talking about. By the time he gets back he might have to dive into the dungeons. I need someone to turn off the main waterline right now." Mary Sue seethed.

"That serious? Well, then I'd better have a look and see what I can do."

"You headmaster?" Mary Sue looked him up and down critically. "I don't see what you can do."

"I can turn off the waterline, if nothing else." stated Dumbledore twinkling happily. "But lets have a look at the situation first. Maybe it wont be necessary to cut all of Hogwarts off from water entirely."

"Trust me, it is." Mary Sue mumbled angrily as she followed Dumbledore back into the dungeons.

They soon met the Slytherins on the stairs and Dumbledore got his first view of the water flowing through the hallways.

"Ah, I do hope you remembered to bring your skates." Dumbledore remarked to the pupils and with one simple spell turned the water into ice.

When they reached the hallway he quickly transfigured his and Mary Sue's shoes into skates and took off in the direction of the Slytherin common room with a happy smile on his face.

"Ah, it's been so long since I last went skating. I really should take some time for it next year."

Mary Sue who happened to be a very bad skater clung desperately to the wall and tried to walk after him.

Albus soon disappeared through the secret door. He had to wait for her in the common room though, as the now frozen water left no clue as to where it had come from. He glided around between the tables enjoying himself immensely for several minutes until Mary Sue finally climbed through the door.

"Ah, Mary Sue. Come to join me for a quick waltz on the ice?"

"No I came to show you to the water leak."

"Oh yes, the leak. It's a pity, but I fear we'll have to dance some other time." Dumbledore said disappointedly.

Mary Sue directed him up the stairs and into the bathroom. Once there the leak was clearly visible due to the large ice waterfall originating from it.

"Ah, I see." stated Dumbledore. "Reparo!"

The leak closed immediately.

Mary Sue stared at the ice covered floor angrily. Any pupil could have performed that spell. Why hadn't she thought of it?

"Hey Albus, where are we going to sleep tonight?" called another happy voice from behind them.

They turned to see Severus standing in the door. His laughter answered all questions Albus Dumbledore might have had about the origin of a certain water leak.

"You could have repaired that yourself, Severus." he remarked laughing too.

"Why would I? It was fun to watch all the confusion. Can I have skates too?"

"Sure." said Dumbledore and transfigured Severus' shoes. "And tell your house mates to take everything they need for one night and move into the hospital wing."

Then Albus conjured a large ice pick that immediately set to hacking up the ice and several buckets that scooped up the pieces and flew them off to dump into the lake.

"There, I think your dungeon should be back to normal by tomorrow evening. Now lets enjoy ourselves while the ice lasts."

But Mary Sue just shook her head and stumbled and slithered back to her office to try once more to dye her hair. The office door however was frozen shut. Mary Sue cursed at it angrily, but that didn't help. She had to rent a room at the Three Broomsticks for the night.

Still to come: What is in that box Hermione gave Draco? What will Neville do with the keys he stole? And will Severus find a way to turn himself back? Dumbledore has a surprise for Severus, and so do Draco and a bunch of Gryffindors