Light November Confrontation

You managed to finish your remaining essays easily enough and then you went to Quidditch practice after dinner. It was even more of a nightmare than you were dreading.

Flint yelled and screamed at all of you. He threatened to kick everyone off the team - even you and Draco who hadn’t been playing and thus weren’t to blame for the loss to Gryffindor. But he was especially furious at Higgs, Pucey, Warrington, Bole, Derrick, and Bletchley who had all gotten distracted by Potter’s jinxed broom and forgot about the game. Flint had scored five times in the confusion but he seemed to think if the others had been paying attention they would’ve not only scored twice as many goals but Higgs likely would’ve spotted the Snitch before Potter and secured the Slytherin win.

For three hours the practice went on with Flint repeatedly shouting “no mercy!” The Slytherin Captain made all of you re-earn your spots on the team by targeting you with multi-person assaults and then screamed at anyone who got distracted for even a brief second. You regularly served as target practice during training so you were used to this sort of thing but you didn’t want to give Flint more of a reason to be mad at you so you pushed yourself as hard as you could and blocked anything that came anywhere close to the hoops. Perhaps as a direct result, you had a splitting headache when he finally released you well after ten at night.

You searched your school bag for a Headache Cure Potion but were horrified to find that you didn’t have any left. Slytherin’s next match wasn’t until February and the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff teams would be taking over the Quidditch pitch as they practiced for their upcoming match at the end of November. You thought you were done with practices until next year but Flint had sprung the surprise punishment practice on the team and you had been so caught up with getting your homework done before it that you’d forgotten to brew a new batch of Headache Cure.

Your headache got even worse as you made your way back to the castle. By the time you reached the dungeons, your head was absolutely throbbing and your vision was starting to get hazy to the point where you almost tripped going down the stairs. Speaking Parseltongue was normally second nature to you but on this night it took you three attempts to get the entrance to the common room to open. Someone called out to you as you entered but you didn’t bother to answer and concentrated on not falling on your face in front of the entire house as you staggered to your bedroom. You grabbed your Potions kit then turned around and staggered back through the common room and headed for the Student Potions Labs.

The Student Potions Labs were small rooms in the dungeons that were set aside for students to practice brewing outside of class. Most first years - especially the non-Slytherins - didn’t even know they existed but Gemma Farley had been kind enough to tip you off about them after catching you brewing potions in the common room one too many times. They were first come, first serve and you were extremely relieved to find that one was still free. The other two were likely occupied by older students.

The process for brewing a Headache Cure Potion had become second nature to you considering how many times you’d brewed this particular potion in the weeks leading up to yesterday’s Quidditch match. But like with anything, brewing a potion became much more difficult when you were suffering from a headache. The fumes didn’t help either. They made the throbbing pain in your head ten-times worse. At this point, your hands were shaking and you could barely see straight.

You were only halfway through the brewing process when the door was pulled open and a dark shadow limped into the little room.

“Gaunt, what the devil do you think you’re doing?” Professor Snape demanded. You suspected that he had some kind of monitoring charm in place to tell him when a student was using each of the labs. There was also a chance that the charm even told him exactly who was in the lab because he didn’t seem to be bothering the other two students who were brewing.

You shook yourself out of your delirious train of thought and tried to answer your Head of House’s belligerent question. “Quidditch practice… out of Headache Cure…”

The Potions professor took one look at your simmering half-complete potion before he barged into the room and shoved you away from the cauldron and your potion which you just now realized was the wrong color. He drew his wand and gave it wave. “Evanesco!”

Your potion vanished and left behind an empty cauldron. But your monster headache still remained.

“Gaunt, the only thing that mixture - because I wouldn’t deem to call something so subpar an actual potion - would do is scramble what’s left of your already addled brain. Five points from Slytherin for doing something so colossally stupid as brewing while impaired.”

You recoiled back as if he’d hit you. Your headache let up for the split second your brain needed to process what had just happened. Five points FROM Slytherin. You’d only ever earned points up to this point. These were the first points you’d lost. And to make matters worse, they’d been taken by your Head of House. There went the five points you had earned from helping to fight the troll. Your personal total was down to forty-one. You hung your head in shame. It was probably the pain from your headache and the lingering potion fumes that were making your eyes burn.

“Hogwarts has a Healer for a reason, Gaunt,” Professor Snape sternly reminded you, “I suggest you go there.”

“Sir… Flint just spent the last three hours screaming ‘no mercy’ at us,” you attempted to plead your case. “He’s furious about the loss to Gryffindor and is likely looking for any excuse to boot someone off the team. He already looks down on me because I’m a first year… I didn’t want to look weak by going crying to the Hospital Wing because I was out of Headache Cure.”

Professor Snape glowered at you for a moment then he spun around which caused his black robes to swirl dramatically. “Come.”

You followed your limping Head of House out of the potions lab and back through the dungeons to the Slytherin common room. But he stopped abruptly before he reached the entrance and held out his arm which stopped you in your tracks.

Professor Snape took the extra two steps forward and spoke the password. You found yourself fortunately out of view from the entrance as it opened. “Bulstrode, come here.”

Millicent hurried over to the door with a nervous expression but that look vanished and was replaced with a worried one the moment she stepped out of the common room and saw you. “Marvolo... are you alright?”

“This dunderhead saw fit to brew Headache Cure while he was already suffering from one,” Professor Snape explained. “See that he gets to the Hospital Wing and receives a properly brewed potion from Madam Pomfrey.”

“Yes, sir,” Millicent responded.

You let out a sigh of relief. No one else had seen you and you knew that you could trust Millicent not to go blabbing. She wasn’t a gossip. Your head was still throbbing and the potion fumes had made it even worse. Not to mention your vision was still hazy. You managed to make it up the steps out of the dungeon and up to the Grand Staircase perfectly fine. But it was when you got stuck on a moving staircase going from the second to the third floor that you lost your balance.

Millicent was quick to catch you and thankfully kept you from doing an unpleasant face-plant. The large girl hauled you back to your feet and you mumbled a quick thanks. From then on, Millicent made a point of walking even closer to you as you made your way up to the Hospital Wing.

Madam Pomfrey was already up and waiting for you when you arrived.

“Mr. Gaunt,” the stern Matron greeted you. “Professor Snape called ahead to inform me that you’d be paying me a visit.” She drew her wand and waved it at your head. “Why is it this the first time I’m hearing that you’ve been suffering from regular headaches?”

“Er… they’re just headaches… from Quidditch practice…” you struggled to explain. “I’m a first year so Flint puts a lot of pressure on me... plus he yells a lot. I didn’t want him to think I couldn’t handle it if he caught me running to the Hospital Wing after every practice. Professor Snape showed us how to brew the Headache Cure in class… that seemed like the perfect way to solve my problem while improving my brewing skills at the same time.”

“I see,” came her clipped reply, “Because as an thirteen-year-old who has just started your magical training that makes you qualified to self-medicate.”

“Uh… I suppose I’m not…” you acknowledged.

“No, you’re not,” the Matron growled fiercely. She produced a vial of a familiar potion. Even with your hazy vision, you could tell that this headache cure was the proper color and was brewed properly. You reached out to take the vial but Madam Pomfrey didn’t release it. She leaned closer and stared you straight in the eye. “Know this, Mr. Gaunt, if Quidditch really is the source of your headaches and another incident like this occurs where your headache is so bad that you become a danger to yourself… I will see to it that you are barred from the team.”

Your jaw dropped in shock, “You can’t-”

“Oh, yes, as the school’s Healer it is well within my power to bar at-risk students from playing on their House Quidditch team,” Madam Pomfrey insisted. “And if another incident like this occurs, whether it’s three months from now or three years from now, I will not hesitate to do so. Your health and physical well-being are more important than that horrid game. Is that clear?”

“Y-yes ma’am,” you stammered your affirmation.

Madam Pomfrey nodded and finally released the potion vial. You quickly downed it and let out a sigh of relief as it quickly took effect. Your head stopped throbbing, your vision cleared, and everything looked brighter - despite it being a quarter to eleven at this point. Madam Pomfrey waved her wand at your head again and gave a satisfied nod. “Very well. You’re free to go.”

“Thank you, Madam Pomfrey,” you said quickly before you turned to leave.

“She’s right, you know,” Millicent spoke up as you were making your way back down to the common room. “I know you like Quidditch, Marvolo, and I know you’re really good at it. And I know a lot of people get obsessed over it. But it’s already a really dangerous game. You shouldn’t be risking hurting yourself just so that you can play. You’re my friend and I don’t want to see anything bad happen to you.” Despite her large and intimidating appearance - Millicent was really a sweetheart. Her clear concern over your well-being showed that.

“I’ll be more careful going forward, Millie,” you vowed. “I promise.” Tonight had been a big slip up. And you knew that Professor Snape, Madam Pomfrey, and even Millicent would be watching you much more closely when Quidditch practice picked up again next term. You still weren’t sure what was causing your Quidditch headaches but you needed to keep them under control if you wanted to have any hope of actually playing. The thought of playing next Keeper next year was what got you through Flint’s torturous practices. You didn’t want all your suffering to be for nothing.

You made it back to the common room and found a number of older students milling about. Most of the first years had gone to bed at this point. But Draco was still up. He appeared to be struggling to complete an essay near the fire. You and Millicent made your way over to him and he looked up and seemed grateful for the distraction.

“There you are,” your roommate noted. “Professor Snape stopped by and dropped off some of your things. He said you were in a potions accident. He also called you an arrogant dunderhead.”

You smiled faintly. Despite the insults towards your intelligence - which in this case you probably deserved - your Head of House had not only come up with a cover story to keep you from getting ridiculed but he also returned the equipment and ingredients that you left behind in the Student Potions Lab. Your cauldron, Potions kit, and your school bag were all sitting there on the table.

Students said a lot of harsh things about Professor Snape. They said he was a biased professor, that he was a bully, and that he was completely unprofessional. And there was truth to a lot of that. But one thing about your Head of House that had become very clear over this weekend was that he really did look after the students, especially his Slytherins. Yesterday, Professor Snape had kept Harry Potter from plummeting to his ****, and tonight, he’d likely saved you from giving yourself permanent brain damage with an improperly brewed potion. He brought a lot of the students’ hostility upon himself because of his dour attitude… but he wasn’t all bad.

“Er… yeah…” you replied. “I suppose it happens to the best of us. I like to experiment with my brewing from time-to-time. But after dealing with Flint screaming at us for three hours… I was off my game. Professor Snape got Millicent to bring me to Madam Pomfrey and she got me sorted out in no time.”

“Speaking of which,” Millicent spoke up, “I think I’ve had enough excitement for one weekend. So I’m going to bed.”

“I’ll probably turn in as well,” you said. “Thanks for your help, Millie.” She headed off while you looked over at your roommate and the essay he was writing. “How much longer do you have?”

“‘Til I finish this stupid Dittany essay,” Draco complained.

“I warned you at lunch about putting it off,” you reminded him. “But if it helps, Dittany is an active ingredient in the Wiggenweld Potion. You can find some basic information on it in our Potions textbook. If you word things carefully you should be able to get another few inches out of that.”

“Right… thanks,” Draco said as he hastily shifted through his things to get out his copy of Magical Drafts and Potions.

You gathered up your things and returned to your room… then you made a point of counting everything to ensure that nothing had been stolen. You were relieved to see that everything was accounted for… minus the ingredients that you had wasted in your failed brewing attempt. Apparently, Draco’s presence out in the common room had been a good thing and the Malfoy heir had served as a deterred to keep other Slytherins from stealing your things.

You changed and went to bed. It hadn’t been the best day but you at least got all your homework done. That would definitely help in the coming week.

Sure enough, things improved for you as the week progressed. You had your assignments completed for Monday’s Herbology, Charms and Transfiguration lessons and because you had taken the time to do your homework so thoroughly, you managed to perform well in class. But despite your stellar in-class performance, you weren’t able to earn back any of the points that Professor Snape had taken from you. Minus five points from Professor Snape stood out in your points log due to the red ink you used.

Wednesday saw you back in the library. This time you were completing an assignment for Professor Quirrell. You spotted Hermione also working in the library. Unsurprisingly, she was alone. You’d given the Gryffindors the information they had been searching for on Sunday so Harry, Ron, and Neville saw no reason to ‘brave the library’ again as Harry had put it.

You’d been meaning to talk to Hermione about what had happened at the Quidditch match for quite some time now. You knew that she thought Professor Snape had been the one jinxing Harry’s broom and after your Head of House had saved you from your own stupidity, you felt the need to repay the favor by at least attempting to clear his name. That’s why you brought your Omnioculars along with you to the library.

Once you finished your Defense Against the Dark Arts essay, you packed away your school supplies and approached Hermione’s table.

“Granger, might I have a word in private?” you requested.

Hermione looked up from her work, “I… suppose so. Would you mind giving me a minute to clean up?”

“Take your time,” you replied. “There’s an abandoned classroom down the hall. Meet me there.”

You left the library and made your way down the hall to the same classroom where Professor Quirrell had taught you the Stinging Jinx… and its much more painful hex variant. You didn’t have to wait long until Hermione arrived.

“Alright, what did you want to talk about?” Hermione asked.

“I think it’s time we discussed what happened at the Quidditch match on Saturday,” you replied.

Hermione’s eyes widened and, for a split-second, she looked nervous. Probably from a guilty conscience. The muggleborn girl was honestly brilliant… but she had a terrible poker face. “You mean… Harry’s broom getting jinxed?”

“No, I mean you setting Professor Snape on fire to stop it,” you responded.

She went pale and rushed to defend herself. “I… he was trying to kill Harry! And you were the one who told me that some things are worth breaking the rules for!”

Oh, right. You said that about breaking curfew to face Harry and Ron in that Wizard’s duel all the way back in September.

“Actually, the reason I brought you here is to tell you that Professor Snape’s innocent,” you said. “You managed to unintentionally stop the person who was jinxing Harry’s Nimbus but you set fire to the wrong man. Believe it or not, Professor Snape was trying to save Harry. Whatever you saw that made you think it was him, was actually him casting a counter-curse.”

“...” you could tell from Granger’s skeptical expression that she didn’t believe you.

“Look, I know you and the other Gryffindors don’t have a high opinion of him,” you continued. “But Professor Snape saved me from a bad situation the other day so I feel the need to return the favor by clearing his name. Professor Snape’s a lot of things - biased, spiteful, unpleasant. I won’t even deny that he hates the ground Harry walks on. But he’s not out to kill him.”

“You know, you’re not the first person to argue in his defense,” Hermione admitted. “Hagrid wouldn’t hear a word against him. And when we told him what happened, Harry didn’t believe that Snape was the one jinxing his broom either. He wouldn’t say why. But I think I heard him say something about his mother.”

You blinked in surprise as your mind went back to September when you’d worked with Daphne Greengrass to deliver Professor Snape’s hidden message from your first Potions class to Harry about regretting his mother’s ****. Was it possible that Harry was actually arguing in Professor Snape’s defense… because of what you had told him? You smirked to yourself as you imagined your Head of House’s expression when you told him that Harry Potter was defending him to his friends.

“Then who does he think it is?” you inquired.

“He doesn’t know,” Hermione told you. “But he’s adamant that it wasn’t Snape. Meanwhile, Neville’s terrified of that man and says he wouldn’t put anything past him. It was actually Ronald who suggest another suspect the other night…” She trailed off and looked down.

You had a feeling you knew where this was going but you asked anyway, “And who was that?”

“You,” Hermione answered without looking up. “He says because of your… relative… that it might be possible.” Oh… him. Still ruining your family name from beyond the grave.

“Weasley’s actually giving me too much credit,” you remarked. “Fancy broomsticks like the Nimbus Two Thousand aren’t super expensive just because they’re really fast and have built-in cushioning charms on the seat. There’s also a bunch of safety spells in place specifically to prevent anyone from jinxing them. It would take an extremely powerful jinx from an extremely powerful wizard to overpower those defenses. I’m only a thirteen-year-old first year. Perhaps I should be flattered that he thinks I’m powerful enough to do something like that?”

“I tried to tell him that he was being silly and that you would never do something like that,” Hermione confessed. You were pleased to know that you had your own defender in the group of Gryffindors. “But they’re all so stubborn. Once they get an idea in their head… there’s almost no hope of convincing them otherwise.”

You grinned. That was Gryffindors for you. But then you remembered that you still had the Omnioculars in your bag to help you argue your case. “Well, then I guess it would help if I told you that I had actual proof that it wasn’t Professor Snape.”

Granger blinked in surprise, “Why didn’t you say that from the start?”

“And miss the opportunity to learn the inner workings of the minds of four Gryffindor lemmings?” you retorted. “Not a chance.” You fished into your school bag and pulled out your Omnioculars. “Do you know what these are?”

“They look like binoculars,” Granger answered.

“They’re Omni-oculars,” you explained. “A regular pair of binoculars just give you a closer view of things that are far away. These do that too but they also slow things down, replay scenes, and sometimes even show a play-by-play. And for a small additional fee, you can even get them to record specific scenes.”

“Re-record?” Hermione repeated as her face went pale. “So you… r-recorded me setting Snape on fire?”

“Relax, you’re the first person I’m showing this to,” you reassured her, “Plus, it’s been four days so I’m pretty sure you’ve gotten away with it.” You held out the Omnioculars to her. “Have a look for yourself. You’ll see that the jinx on Harry’s broom stopped long before you even set Professor Snape on fire.” The muggleborn girl took the Omnioculars and raised them to her eyes. “Press down on the triangle-shaped knob at the top to play the scene.”

Hermione followed your instructions but then she frowned, “This isn’t Harry’s jinxed broom… it’s just Angelina Johnson scoring that first goal.”

“Oh, oops!” you exclaimed as you reached out and snatched the Omnioculars back. “Sorry, I was using these the other night to study her form.”

“Studying her…” The bushy-haired girl’s eyes narrowed, “you pervert!”

“What? No!” you rushed to defend yourself as you snatched the Omnioculars back. Hopefully, she didn’t notice you blushing. “I’m Slytherin’s Reserve Keeper. I was… er...” you hesitated as you tried to come up with a less incriminating word, “...scouting her in the hopes that I’ll actually be able to play next year.”

“I guess that’s a little better,” Hermione said but her expression told you that she didn’t completely believe you.

You turned the triangle knob to bring up the proper scene then spun around so you were standing directly next to Hermione and held the Omnioculars up so you were looking through the right side with your left eye while she was looking through the left side with her right eye.

For some inexplicable reason, you were both blushing now. It definitely wasn’t because you were standing practically cheek-to-cheek with the fourteen-year-old muggleborn girl. Nope. Definitely not that. You hastily pressed down on the triangle knob to play the scene and shift focus away from your close proximity to the Gryffindor girl.

“So here we start,” you began to narrate, “And there’s Professor Quirrell staring up at Harry’s broom and muttering something. Oops, someone’s knocked him over. Who’s that? Oh, I know! I’d recognise that bushy hair anywhere! That’s you! Shame on you, Granger, you didn’t even stop to apologise.”

“And as you can see,” you continued as the scene moved up to the air to show that Harry’s broom had already stopped bucking. “The jinx on Harry’s broom has already stopped.” The scene went back down to the stands. “But there you are again, and that’s you lighting an innocent Professor Snape on fire while he’s caught up in casting his counter-curse.” The blue flames ignited on Professor Snape’s robes.

Your view went back up to Harry and his well-behaved broomstick. “And there’s Harry again, the broom still isn’t bucking. Everything’s perfectly fine. Professor Snape still hasn’t noticed he’s on fire yet. We’re just waiting… and waiting… and waiting… Oh! There it is!” The recording of Professor Snape yelped and finally broke eye-contact with Harry’s broom when he noticed that his robes were on fire. “And there’s Harry again, he’s finally realised that his broom stopped trying to kill him about thirty seconds ago and there he goes into that final dive where he nearly swallows the Snitch.”

You lowered the Omnioculars and stepped forward then turned around to see Hermione staring straight ahead with wide eyes and an open mouth. You grinned and raised the Omnioculars again. “Well, Granger? There it is. What do you have to say for yourself?”

“I… I was wrong…” Hermione blurted out. “Professor Snape wasn’t jinxing Harry’s broom… It stopped well before he even noticed the fire… I… OH NO! He’s going to expel me for sure!”

You pressed save which caused Hermione’s confession to replace the scene containing her act of arson. “And how’s he going to do that? There’s no proof. Professor McGonagall wouldn’t want to lose her best student due to an unfounded accusation.”

“You’re holding the proof in your hands!” Hermione exclaimed.

“Not anymore,” you said. “I already replaced that scene with something new. Take a look for yourself.” You handed over the Omnioculars and allowed Hermione to watch her own embarrassing confession. “You mentioned the fire but you didn’t admit to starting it. That’s nowhere near as incriminating.”

“Why… why would you do that?” Hermione asked. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “What do you want?”

“Pardon?”

“Ronald said you Slytherins always have an ulterior motive,” she recalled. “What do you want in exchange? Money? Do you want me to do your homework or something?”

“What? No!” you refused. “I don’t need your money and I can do my own homework. Why? Is that something your new friends make you do?”

“Well, I… I offer…” Hermione admitted.

“Ron Weasley is one Confundus spell away from being a blithering idiot,” you bluntly stated, “And he is not a trusted authority on Slytherins. I told you from the start what I was doing here - proving Professor Snape’s innocence. I expect you to spread word of that to your Gryffindor friends.”

“And what’s to stop you from holding this over me?” Hermione challenged you.

“Holding what?” you questioned. “The incriminating scene is gone and I’ll probably be replacing the others at the next Quidditch match. I have nothing to hold over you. Relax, Granger.”

“...” Despite your best efforts, she wasn’t relaxing and she still seemed suspicious. This was why Slytherins rarely did nice things. Whenever you did everyone was always immediately suspicious and waiting to find out what was in it for you.

“Okay, you know what? Fine,” you conceded, “I just thought of something you can do for me. And then we’ll be even. Does that sound fair?”

“What it is?” she asked.

“I want you… to teach me that fire spell you used,” you announced.

Hermione thought for a minute but then she smiled. It was a wide smile the showcased her large front teeth. “Yes. That’s perfect. And when you learn it you’ll realise that Professor Snape was never in danger! You see, the spell is a charm called the Bluebell Flames. It’s also called Cold Fire because it can’t actually burn anything. They’re enchanted flames that can be picked up and touched and held in your hand. You’ll feel the heat if you hold your hand directly over them but they could never burn you. That’s why it took Professor Snape so long to realise he was on fire.”

After that brief lecture, Hermione began to teach you the spell in earnest. And less than an hour later, your wide grin was illuminated by the blue flames that were flickering in your hand. Your cunning Slytherin mind had already come up with three different uses for this latest spell that you had added to your repertoire.

“I feel like it might have been a bad idea teach you another fire spell,” Hermione realised. “I still remember what you did to Ronald back in September.”

“Then I trust you remember that I put him out almost immediately, Miss. Set-a-teacher-on-fire-for-thirty-seconds,” you countered. “And I hope you also remember that the last thing I set on fire was that troll back in October. I’ll be extra responsible with this new spell...”

“For some reason, I don’t completely believe that,” Hermione dead-panned, “But I do have one last question... if Professor Snape wasn’t jinxing Harry’s broom… then who was?”

You clenched your fist and the blue flames were snuffed out. You’d specifically pointed out Quirrell in the scene. But the man was so good at playing the fool that he had the entire school convinced he was a timid buffoon who was scared of his own shadow. Even a bright witch like Hermione Granger completely dismissed the notion that he was capable of murdering a student.

But you knew better. And you also knew that you didn’t want him coming after you for spilling his secret to a friend of the very student he seemed to have it out for.

“Come on, Granger,” you goaded her, “you’re supposed to be smart. And I’m sure the other three have at least one functioning brain between them. I can’t solve all your problems for you. I told you that something you did in the faculty section stopped that jinx. Figure it out yourself.”

You gave the girl a nod and packed the Omnioculars back into your school bag before you left the room. You felt a sense of accomplishment. You’d learned a new spell, you’d cleared Professor Snape’s name, and you hadn’t done anything to earn the ire of Professor Quirrell.

You thought back to the very beginning of the year. All the way back to Professor Snape’s speech on the first night about only truly exceptional Slytherin students being able to maintain friendships with students in other houses. You were a Slytherin pureblood with a lofty family legacy on your shoulders and Hermione was a muggleborn Gryffindor. The chances of you actually becoming friends were practically nonexistent. But after your interactions with Hermione and those other three these past few days, you couldn’t help but think that maybe, just maybe, you stood a chance after all.

Marvolo Gaunt House Point Ledger

Severus Snape: -5

Current Total: +41

Points awarded by: SS, RH, QQ, MM