Rosabella Black |Daughter of Sirius Black| (Book 6)

Snape Victorious

Rosabella's Point of View:
I was starting to panic when I didn't see Harry gey off the train.
     "I'm sure he's fine, Ro. Harry can handle himself. Come on, we need to get to the Kitchens and prepare the start of year prank." Ginny said and she dragged me along and we got in one of the first carriages.
Ginny and I hid among a crowd of students and then when McGonagall wasn't looking, we sprinted down to the  kitchens. I tickled the pear and we entered the kitchen.
     "Miss!" Dobby said, thrilled.
     "Hi, Dobby." I said kindly.
     "Is Harry Potter not with you?" Dobby asked, looking behind me as if Harry would just appear.
     "No –" I said and was cut of by a loud voice.
     "Young, mistress!" Kreacher said and flung himself at my feet.
     "Um, hi, Kreacher." I said and Ginny gave him a look of great dislike.
     "Do you remember the spell?" I asked Ginny.
She nodded, grinning I'm anticipation.
Ginny and I went round and charmed the plats of food and goblets to expload when contact is first made.
Ginny and I then sprinted to back to the Great Hall and joined the other students. Ginny was grinning in anticipation and I was looking up and down the Gryffindor table frantically for Harry. He wasn't here. Where is he?
Hermione was also starting to panic. I barely touched my food or laughed when the prank happened.
     "Very amusing, Miss Black. I do hope you enjo—" Dumbledore started to say.
     "I helped!" Ginny exclaimed.
     "Apologies, Miss Weasley. I hope you both enjoy your detention with Professor McGonagall." Dumbledore said.
Ron ate just as much as usual and Hermione started to hit.
     "Will - you - stop - eating! Your best friend is missing!" Hermione said between hits and the desserts started to appear.
     "Oi! Turn around you lunatic!" Ron said and pointed behind us.
I whipped round and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Harry but the relief soon vanished and the panic returned.
     "He's covered in blood! Why is he always covered I blood?" I said, desperately.
Harry sat down next to me.
    "Where've you -blimey, what've you done to your face?" Ron said, goggling at him along with everyone else in the vicinity.
  "Why, what's wrong with it?" Harry said, grabbing a spoon and squinting at his distorted reflection.
   "You're covered in blood! Come here -" I said and raided my wand.
    "Tergeo!" I said and siphoned off the dried blood.
    "Thanks. How's my nose looking?"
Harry said, feeling his now clean face.
    "Normal." Hermoine said anxiously.
    "Why shouldn't it? Harry, what happened? We've been terrified!" I said anxiously.
   "I'll tell you later." Harry said curtly.
   "But -"Hermione said.
   "Not now, Hermione." Harry said, in a darkly significant voice.
Harry reached across me for a couple of chicken legs and a handful of chips, but before he could take them they vanished, to be replaced with puddings.
   "You missed the Sorting, anyway." Hermione said, as Ron dived for a large chocolate gateau.
    "Hat say anything interesting?" Harry asked, taking a piece of treacle tart.
   "More of the same, really . . . advising us all to unite in the face enemies, you know." I said as I grabbed some apple pie.
   "Dumbledore mentioned Voldemort at all?" Harry asked.
   "Not yet, but he always saves his proper speech for after the the feast doesn't he? It can't be long now." Hermione said.
   "Snape said Hagrid was late for the feast -" Harry said.
   "You've seen Snape? How come?" Ron said between frenzied mouthfuls of gateau.
   "Bumped into him." Harry said evasively.
   "Hagrid was only a few minutes late. Look, he's waving at you, Harry." I said.
Harry looked up at the staff table and grinned at Hagrid. Hagrid had never quite managed to comport himself with the dignity of Professor McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House, the top of whose head came up to somewhere between Hagrid's elbow and shoulder as they were sitting side by side, and who was looking disapprovingly at this enthusiastic greeting.
Harry looked surprised to see the Divination teacher, Professor Trelawney, sitting on Hagrid's other side. She rarely left her tower room, and we had never seen her at the start - of - term feast before.
Draco Malfoy was miming the shatterering of a nose to raucous laughter and applause. My eyes widened and I immediately turned to look at Harry. This would explain why Harry asked about his nose. Harry dropped his gaze to his treacle tart.
   "So what did Professor Slughorn want?" Hermione asked.
   "To know what really happened at the Ministry." Harry said.
   "Him and everyone else here. People were interrogating us about it on the train, weren't they, Ron?" Hermione said.
   "Yeah. All wanting to know if you really are 'the Chosen One' -" Ron said.
   "There has been much talk on that very subject even amongst the ghosts." Nearly Headless Nick interrupted, inclining his barely connected head toward Harry so that it wobbled dangerously on its ruff.
  "I am considered something of a Potter authority. It is widely known that we are friendly. I have assured the spirit community that I will not pester you for information, however. 'Harry Potter knows that he can confide in me with complete confidence,' I told them. 'I would rather die than betray his trust.'" Nearly Headless Nick said.
    "That's not saying much, seeing as you're already dead." Ron observed.
   "Once again, you show all the sensitivity of a blunt axe." Nearly Headless Nick said in a affronted tone, and he rose into the air and glided back toward the far end of the Gryffindor table just as Dumbledore got to his feet at the staff table.
Hermione and I glared at Ron.
    "What?" Ron said.
     "You're so insensitive!" Hermione and I said at the same time.
The talk and laughter echoing around the Hall died away almost instantly.
    "The very best of evenings to you!" Dumbledore said, smiling broadly, his arms opened wide as though to embrace the whole room.
   "What happened to his hand?" Hermione gasped.
    "I don't know but it looks bad!" I whispered in concern.
We were not the only ones who had noticed. Dumbledore's right hand was as blackened and dead - looking. Whispers swept the room. Dumbledore, interpreting us correctly, merely smiled and shook his purple - and - gold sleeve over his injury.
   "Nothing to worry about. Now . . . to our new students, welcome. To our old students, welcome back! Another year full of magical education awaits you. . ." Dumbledore said, airly.
    "His hand was like that when I saw him over the summer. I thought he'd have cured it by now, though . . . or Madam Pomfrey would've done." Harry whispered to me.
   "It looks as if it's died. But there are some injuries you can't cure . . . old curses. . . and there are poisons without antidotes . . ." I said, with a worried expression.
   ". . . and Mr. Filch, our caretaker, has asked me to say that there is a blanket ban on any joke items bought at the shop called Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes." Dumbledore said.
Ha! Good luck stopping me Filch. I thought as I smirked.
   "Those wishing to play for their House Quidditch teams should give their names to their Heads of House as usual. We are also looking for new Quidditch commentators who should do likewise." Dumbledore said.
I felt my heart sink. Lee had gone, along with my twin brothers and the Weasley twins. It'll be heard tobfind someone as good as Lee.
   "We are pleased to welcome a new member of staff this year. Professor Slughorn, is a former colleague of mine who has agreed to resume his old post of Potions master." Slughorn stood up, his bald head gleaming in the candlelight, his big waistcoated belly casting the table into shadow.
   "Potions?"
   "Potions?"
The word echoed all over the Hall as people wondered whether they had heard right. No . . . No, it can't be . . . Dumbledore wouldn't . . .
   "Potions?" Ron and Hermione said together, turning to stare Harry.
   "But you said -" Ginny started to say.
   "Professor Snape, meanwhile, will be taking the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." Dumbledore said, raising voice so that it carried over all the muttering.
    "I take it back. I TAKE IT BACK!" I said at first in a whisper and then I shouted it.
I distinctly remember, me saying that Snaoe would be better then Umbridge.
   "No!" Harry said, so loudly that many heads turned in his direction.
Harry and I were staring up at the staff table, incensed. How could Snape be given the Defense Against the Dark Arts job after all this time? Hadn't it been widely known for years that Dumbledore did not trust him to do it?
  "But Harry, you said that Slughorn was going to be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts!" Hermione said.
   "I thought he was!" Harry said.
Snape,who was sitting on Dumbledore's right, did not stand up at the mention of his name. He merely raised a hand in lazy acknowledgment of the applause from the Slytherin table, yet I was sure I could detect a look of triumph on the features I loathed so much.
   "Well, there's one good thing. Snape'll be gone by the end of the year." Harry said savagely.
  "What do you mean?" Ron asked.
  "That job's jinxed. No ones lasted more than a year . . . Quirrell actually died doing it. . ." Harry said, trailing off
    "Personally, I'm going to keep my fingers crossed for another death. . . " I said, reading Harry's mind.
   "Harry! Ro!" Hermione said, shocked and reproachful.
   "He might just go back to teaching Potions at the end of the year. That Slughorn bloke might not want to stay long - term. Moody didn't." Ron said, reasonably.
Dumbledore cleared his throat. Harry, Ron, Hermione and I were not the only ones who had been talking. The whole Hall had erupted in a buzz of conversation at the news that Snape had finally achieved his heart's desire. Seemingly oblivious to the sensational nature of the news he had just imparted, Dumbledore said nothing more about staff appointments, but waited a few seconds to ensure that the silence was absolute before continuing.
  "Now, as everybody in this Hall knows, Lord Voldemort and his followers are once more at large and gaining in strength." Dumbledore said.
The silence seemed to tauten and strain as Dumbledore spoke. Harry and I glanced at each other and then at Malfoy. Malfoy was not looking at Dumbledore, but making his fork hover in midair with his wand, as though he found the Headmaster's words unworthy of his attention.
    "I cannot emphasize strongly enough how dangerous the present situation is, and how much care each of us at Hogwarts must take to ensure that we remain safe. The castle's magical fortifications have been strengthened over the summer. We are protected in new and more powerful ways, but we must still guard scrupulously against carelessness on the part of any student or member of staff. I urge you, therefore, to abide by any security restrictions that you teachers might impose upon you, however irksome you might find them - in particular, the rule that you are not to be out of bed after hours. I implore you, should you notice anything strange or suspicious within or outside the castle, to report it to a member of staff immediately. I trust you to conduct yourselves, always, with the utmost regard for your own and others' safety." Dumbledore said and his blue eyes swept over the students before he smiled once more.
   "But now, your beds await, as warm and comfortable as you could possibly wish, and I know that your top priority is to be well - rested for your lessons tomorrow. Let us therefore say good night. Pip pip!" Dumbledore said.
With the usual deafening scraping noise, the benches moved back and the hundreds of students began to file out of the Great Hall toward their dormitories. Harry was in no hurry at all to leave with the gawping crowd, lagged behind, pretending to retie the lace on his trainer, allowing most of Gryffindors to draw ahead of him. I stayed with him, Winter got out from under the table where she had been lying at my feet. Hermione had darted ahead to fulfill her prefect's duty of shepherding the first years, but Ron remained with Harry, as well.
   "What really happened to your nose?" Ron asked, once we were at the very back of the throng pressing out of the Hall, and out of earshot of anyone else.
Harry told us. It was a mark of the strength of their friendship that Ron did not laugh. Malfoy had stunned Harry and then stomped on his nose and covered him back up with the Invisibility Cloak. Tonks found him and I felt a swell of great affection towards my cousin.
   "I saw Malfoy miming something to do with a nose " I said darkly and Ron nodded.
   "Yeah, well, never mind that. Listen to what he was saying before he found out I was there . . ." Harry said, bitterly.
I was stunned. Malfoy has to be up to something. Ron was unimpressed.
   "Come on, Harry, he was just showing off for Parkinson . . . What kind of mission would You - Know - Who have given him?" Ron said.
   "How d'you know Voldemort doesn't need someone at Hogwarts? It wouldn't be the first -" I said.
   "I wish yeh'd stop sayin' tha name, Harry," said a reproachful voice behind us.
Harry and I looked over our shoulders to see Hagtid shaking his head.
   "Dumbledore uses that name." Harry said stubbornly.
   "Yeah, well, tha's Dumbledore, innit?" Hagrid said mysteriously.
    "So how come yeh were late, Harry? I was worried." Hagrid asked.
   "Got held up on the train. Why were you late?" Harry said.
   "I was with Grawp. Los' track o' the time. He's got a new home up in the mountains now, Dumbledore fixed it - nice big cave. He's much happier than he was in the forest. We were havin' a good chat." Hagrid said, happily.
   "Really?" Harry said, taking care not to catch Ron's and mine's eye.
The last time I had met Hagrid's half-brother, a vicious giant with a talent for ripping up trees by the roots, his vocabulary had comprised five words, two of which he was unable to pronounce properly.
   "Oh yeah, he's really come on. Yeh'll be amazed. I'm thinkin' o' trainin' him up as me assistant." Hagrid said, proudly.
Ron snorted loudly, but managed to pass it off as a violent sneeze. They were now standing beside the oak front doors.
   "Anyway, I'll see yeh tomorrow, firs' lesson's straight after lunch. Come early an' yeh can say hello ter Buck - I mean, Witherwings!" Hagrid said, raising an arm in a cheery farewell and he headed out of the doors into the darkness.
Harry, Ron and I looked at each other. I  could tell that Ron and Harry were experiencing the same sinking feeling as I was.
   "You're not taking Care of Magical Creatures, are you?" Harry asked Ron.
Ron shook his head.
    "And you're not either?" Ron asked.
Harry shook his head too. They both looked at me hopefully.
I bit my lip and shook my head.
   "And Hermione, she's not, is she?" Ron said.
Harry and I shook our heads again.
    "Hermione and I are taking the same classes." I said, apprehensively.
Exactly what Hagrid would say when he realized his four favorite students had given up his subject, I did not like to think about.