1,000 Years of Wizarding Warfare, while Harry and Ron were practicing and experimenting with the spells she was reading off. At this particular moment they were practicing roping and webbing various objects in the room ... and each other, when a third spell from out of nowhere broke the rope Harry had just tied around Ron.

"Hermione! What are you ...." Harry turned to look at Hermione. But Hermione was looking over her shoulder at a fourth person.

"Hi there," called the now familiar voice of a tall Slytherin girl.

"Jaspine!" Harry greeted a bit testily. "We were practicing!"

"Yeah, yeah, I see that," Jaspine replied nonchalantly. "But we need to talk. Have you given any more thought to what I suggested?"

"Yes, we have," Hermione said firmly. "We think it's an unwise, dangerous venture, and we would prefer not to discuss it any further."

"We think you're Bangers," Ron translated bluntly.

"Even after what happened yesterday?" Jaspine said smoothly, inclining her chin just a tad, her green eyes flashing with malice.

That struck a chord with the other three. The duel. Suddenly, they were looking down at the floor, at the walls -- anywhere but at Jaspine's calculating gaze.

"Okay, assuming our suspicions are justified, and that Snape really is working for Voldemort now," Harry began, "How did you plan on getting to him long enough to give him the Veritaserum? I mean, it's not like you can just walk up to him and ask him if he would mind submitting to a little loyalty test! And where are you going to get the Truth Potion? Snape probably has some stored away somewhere, but it'll be more closely guarded than ... well, the Sorcerer's Stone. Veritaserum is highly restricted. You need a license just to be able to make it and use it."

"You won't find it in Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley," Hermione added. "You probably can't even get it on the black market in Knockturn Alley!"

"No problem," said Jaspine, crossing her arms and inclining her chin further as her ponytail bobbed with the motion. "Subduing Snape will be the easy part, and that's where you guys will come in," Jaspine replied. "And as for the Truth Potion, I have that handled, although it's going to take another month, maybe two ..."

"How have you handled it?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

"I'm making it," was the tall girl's confident reply.

"MAKING IT???" Harry, Ron and Hermione exclaimed in unison, expressions of shock and incredulity on their faces.

"How can you, a sixth-year student, make Veritaserum?" Ron asked.

"Shhh ... keep your voices down," Jaspine hissed and glanced at the door to make certain no one was watching. The other three did the same. "Listen, I've already started it. I have several batches in progress right now in case I mess up a few times, but they're all in the early stages. It will be a bit longer before I can finish any of them, and I'm still waiting for a couple of key ingredients to be delivered."

"But...but that's far more difficult than...well, polyjuice potion," Hermione stammered, remembering the difficulty that she, Harry and Ron had making it during their second year.

Jaspine fixed Hermione with a cool, arrogant glare. "Hermione, what did you get on your last Potions final?"

Hermione scowled a bit. This was the one class where she didn't always get perfect marks, because of Snape's tendency to play favorites. "I got a 97."

"Well, I got 112," Jaspine replied smugly, "And an 'Outstanding' score on my O.W.L. last year."

"Well, that's because Snape ..." Ron started to say, but stopped short when he saw Jaspine's green-eyed gaze turn slowly to him. He gulped. He suddenly realized it might not be a good idea to argue with someone who could easily lift him off his feet without the aid of the Leviosa spell, so he held his tongue.

"I haven't scored less than 100 percent on a Potions test since I've set foot here," Jaspine continued. Hermione's eyes widened in surprise -- even she wasn't that good, and she was in the top of her class. "Snape thinks I'm his star pupil, and this year has given me a pass to take any Potions book I want out of the restricted section of the library any time I want. That's how I found the way to make Veritaserum. Now, I admit, it probably won't be as powerful as what Snape himself can make -- but it will be strong enough to do the job."

Hermione was aghast. "Jaspine, don't you realize how much trouble you could get into for making Veritaserum without a license?"

Jaspine gave Hermione a disgusted look, sighed, rolled her eyes. "Really, Hermione, don't you think that making a restricted Potion is going to be the least of my worries? I'm talking about assaulting and drugging a very dangerous Death Eater who also happens to be the head of my house."

"Why do you want to get revenge on Snape for a brother you never knew?" Harry spoke up.

Jaspine looked at Harry coldly. "So...you know about that," and she redirected her steely, unwavering gaze to Ron, who shifted uncomfortably. "I shouldn't be too surprised. You guys find out about everything, and with your brother Charlie and Banzaii being good friends...."

The Slytherin suddenly looked away, her expression sad, bitter. "I never knew Calvin, but his spectre remains at our house ... his memory. Da' never got over what happened, and the rumors that our family was actually involved with the Death Eaters ... I still remember that, even though I was little. Imagine going down the street, and listening to people mutter behind your back, pointing, making rude comments... because they believe you are in league with the dark wizards. Imagine growing up with an empty place at the mealtable, having pictures on the walls and mantels to remind you every day of the brother you never knew. And on days when it's Calvin's birthday, or the holidays, when everyone else is celebrating ... your family is in mourning because the happiness of others only brings out the pain again? I knew my brother only from the stories ma and da' used to tell the rest of us ... how he loved going to Hogsmeade with his circle of friends, how he always stuck up for the underdog, how he liked helping Hagrid out around the school grounds because he loved the animals. But I never had a chance to get to know him. The Death Eaters have taken my brother away from me ... and my family's happiness and peace of mind. I can't forgive that."

Several minutes of solemn silence passed after Jaspine finished.

Ron swallowed. "So, when do you think this Truth Potion of yours will be ready?"

"Ron!!!" Hermione gasped.

Ron rounded on Hermione angrily. "All I have to do is picture this happening to one of my brothers! How would you like it if ... Look, I can't even imagine my parents' reactions if something ever happened to any of us!"

"I can ... too well," Harry muttered, his eyes closing, as he thought about the Dementor-induced memories of his parents' deaths.

"It should be ready in two months, tops," Jaspine replied. "I'm waiting for a couple of key ingredients to arrive on the next delivery carriage before I can move on to the next step."

"I'm in," Ron said, his voice firm. For the first time during that exchange, he met and held Jaspine's gaze.

"So am I," Harry added. "I have been hoping for the longest time to get back at that creep for bullying me ever since I got here. But more than that...I want to know if he had some part in the death of my parents. I know that Voldemort's wand killed them. I know that Peter Pettigrew betrayed their trust, that he told Voldemort how to get to them. And I know that Snape and my father were bitter enemies in school. So I have to wonder, was Voldemort alone that night? Or did he bring his posse for backup? I'm in because I want to know. I have to know.

"Where was Snape the night my parents were murdered?"

"You guys are ALL nuts!!!!" Hermione said, her eyes wide with horror. "Do you know ... can you even begin to comprehend ... what you are planning??? Expulsion would be the least of your worries ..."

"Your worries?" Jaspine asked, her voice cold.

"I'm not having anything to do with this," Hermione said with conviction. "Don't worry, I won't tattle on you ... but keep me out of it. If you are going to lay out your plans for your own suicide, let me know, and I'll leave. Now. I don't want to hear this." Hermione looked at the others, who returned her gaze unblinkingly. Hermione grabbed her books and stormed out of the room.

"Well, did you have anything else cooked up, Jaspine?" Ron asked after Hermione's exit.

Jaspine shook her head. "Not really. I know we'll need to distract Snape ... easy enough. He is usually in his office for an hour or two after dinner, and Slytherins pop in all the time with questions about classes. He doesn't sneak out to do whatever it is he does at night until much later. Knocking him out I don't see as a problem. You guys have already proven that you're a match for him if you can catch him off guard. The biggest obstacle is making sure we aren't seen or disturbed during our interrogation."

"You know, we should also write out everything we want to ask," Harry said. "I don't know how long the truth potion is supposed to last ..."

"40 minutes to an hour," Jaspine replied. "Depending on the concentration of Kirin blood. I, of course, am aiming for a full hour, but then I've never made Veritaserum before. We should plan conservatively. Good thinking on writing down questions. We don't want to be tongue-tied at a bad time. But we would have to keep such a list hidden ... well hidden. You guys hang on to the list. I don't trust certain Slytherins not to snoop through my stuff. I've already had to move my Veritaserum site twice because Malfoy or one of his friends was nosing around too closely."

"Are we going to test the Truth Potion first? So we know if it works?" Ron asked. "I don't think it would be too brilliant to attack Snape, give him the stuff, only to have it not work right."

Jaspine nodded. "One of us will have to be a guinea pig. I'll volunteer if no one else will. I don't have too much to hide anyway ... nothing you two couldn't figure out on your own anyway. But I'm worried about Granger ... do you think she'll keep her word?"

"I know she will," Harry said. "She's not a Slytherin, you know."

Jaspine glared at Harry. "Not all Slytherins are the scum of the earth, you know ..."

"But didn't you just finish telling us about how you were having a hard time keeping this under wraps because your friends in Slytherin house ..." Ron started to say.

"Not my friends," Jaspine hissed. "Malfoy's friends."

"All right," Harry interrupted, trying to soothe the tension between the two. "We sneak up on Snape, knock him out, and take him elsewhere. We force-feed him the Truth Potion ... any ideas on that?"

"Oh, a couple," Jaspine replied. "I'm thinking of offering him a glass of water that has been laced with the potion. Or if that doesn't work, I can get some syringes from either Professor Sprout or Madam Pomfrey. Probably Sprout ... she'll think it's for an herbology project. Pomfrey would be too suspicious."

"I thought it had to be administered orally," Harry said, brow furrowing.

"It works best that way," Jaspine said, then looked up, thoughtful. "If we can find a way to restrain him, tie him up very securely, so we can force the stuff down his throat ...."

"When we have a working Veritaserum, I know the first question we should ask," Ron said cackling and rubbing his hands with glee.

"What is that?" Jaspine asked as she folded her arms across her chest.

"What on earth did Professor Deveroux show him that day in the practice room that made him fly out of there so fast his shadow couldn't keep up?" Ron finished.

Ron and Harry started laughing hysterically, clutching the desks for support, at the memory and the possibility of finding out this juicy secret. Even Jaspine chuckled. She, of course, hadn't witnessed Deveroux's first coup, but she had heard all about it.

"That's great," Jaspine said. "Good trial question. But we shouldn't dwell on that. We have more important scores to settle. By the way, any word on Professor Deveroux?" Jaspine looked at Harry and Ron, her expression concerned.

Harry shrugged. "Dumbledore said that she would be okay after a couple of days' rest ... and that the spell Snape cast was only an accident."

Jaspine snorted and rolled her eyes. "Yeah right. We'll soon find out how 'accidental' it really was!"

****

Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting in Potions class Friday learning how to make a vanishing potion, a concoction that if sprinkled on or ingested, could cause someone to disappear temporarily, or even permanently if the potion was strong enough. It sounded like a particularly nasty concoction to give to someone: they might reappear in a strange place, or not reappear at all, depending on the Potion's strength. And from the way Snape talked, taking the potion could be a very painful experience...which probably meant that he was thinking of feeding it to Harry one of these days, the teen thought with a bitter snort.

Harry furiously stirred his cauldron, trying to avoid any confrontations with the Potions master, who was growing increasingly irritable as the class wore on. The Vanishing potion was one of the most difficult ones Harry's class had ever attempted, and the Gryffindors were not doing well. Nor, for that matter, were the Slytherins, judging from Snape's steady stream of criticisms.

"MR. LONGBOTTOM!!!" Snape roared at the cowering Neville. "Don't you EVER pay attention??? Your potion is like gelatin, which means that you have forgotten to add more fuel to your fire, and to add the lacewings and spider eyes as I have explained to you already!!! What will it take to get this through your thick skull!?!"

Neville shook with fear, but he kept his voice surprisingly steady, and what he said electified the classroom.

"At least I've never nearly killed a teacher!" muttered Neville, his voice low, but loud enough to carry to the entire room.

There were a few shocked gasps from the Gryffindors, and even a couple from the Slytherins, but the students kept their heads down so that Snape hopefully wouldn't know who the culprits were.

Snape clenched and unclenched his hands, and looked nearly ready to throttle the boy. "Well, Mr. Longbottom, I wouldn't brag about that. The school year is only half over, and you are as still as clumsy as ever. Your time may yet come ... if your incompetence doesn't kill you first," he said nastily.

Malfoy's snotty, drawling voice piped up.

"If Deveroux can't block even a simple spell, then maybe she deserves to die," sneered Malfoy.

"And you, Malfoy," Snape roared, whirling suddenly on the boy, "had better learn to keep a civil tongue in your head before someone cuts it out and feeds it to you!"

Malfoy flinched slightly at suddenly having the full fire of Snape's wrath directed at him. He kept quiet and looked scared and apologetic until Snape stalked away and looked for another victim to chew on.

"What's gotten into him?" Harry and Ron heard Crabbe whisper to Malfoy.

Draco merely shrugged and looked daggers at Snape's back.

At the front of the room Snape turned with a graceful whirl and stared down his long nose at the class. He folded his arms and donned his best mess-with-me-today-and-you-will-die expression. "The next person who says a single word about Professor Deveroux or the duel is going to be responsible for the loss of thirty points from their house, and will be the subject of our next Potions demonstration. Is. That. Clear?"

Thirty heads nodded in unison.

Snape went back to patrolling the aisles of cauldrons, winging insults and criticisms wherever he passed by, sparing no one this day, not even his pet students.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville exchanged looks and shrugs.

Draco meanwhile pretended to be totally cowed, but whenever Snape's back was turned the Slytherin youth shot him murderous glances.

****

Harry, Ron and Hermione walked in the crisp, autumn air toward's Hagrid's cabin, enjoying the sunshine. They walked up to the door, and Harry knocked on the large wooden door.

"Is that you out there, Harry?"

"Yeah, it's us!" Harry replied and grinned.

"Come on in," Hagrid called. "I have stew on in the fireplace, and don' want it to boil over."

With some effort, the three opened the heavy door and saw Hagrid bent over a huge black cauldron, with what must be the stew inside. It didn't smell too pleasant, and Harry was glad he had taken Ron's advice and grabbed a snack from the kitchen first.

"So, what have yeh all been up to, lately?" Hagrid asked as he turned from the cauldron.

"Well, we've been doing a little investigating," Harry started, and paused. Should he mention his suspicions about Snape? As with Dumbledore, the half-giant frequently defended the Potions teacher whenever Harry and his friends openly questioned his motivations. Harry looked at the other two, who nodded. Go ahead, they seemed to be saying.

"We think Snape is up to something again," Harry began tentatively.

"Don't you always," growled Hagrid, shaking his head. "Despite the fact that you're always wrong about him..."

"Snape nearly killed ..." Harry began, but Hagrid cut him off.

"Listen, the lot of you ... I know the headmaster talked about this with you already, but I'm going to tell you too. It was an accident. Plain and simple."

"But Hagrid, he hates her, and he's jealous! She was beating him before ..."

Hagrid sighed. "You didn't see Perfessor Snape when he came up to the hospital wing after he'd cancelled his classes. I did. I went and got my finger chomped on a bit, see?" and Hagrid showed the trio his bandaged finger. "One of the larger jeweled drakes I've kept for the sixth-year classes. 'E chewed it up good, 'e did. But not nearly as bad as Snape was chewed up. He wouldn't leave even when McGonagall and Dumbledore told 'im that they were sure Miss Deveroux would be alright. Kept trying to push his way past the main entrance to see her until one of Madam Pomfrey's apprentices snuck a charm on him and knocked him out cold! Must've been a mighty big scrap those two perfessors had, because Madam Pomfrey had to treat the both of them for an awful mix of burns, cuts and bruises. So before you get too mad at Snape, remember he took almost as much as he dished out. And I think yer wrong about him hatin' her...."

"Well, if Snape doesn't hate Professor Deveroux, he sure acts like he does," Ron said with open skepticism.

"He's a strange one, that Snape," Hagrid said. "And Deveroux's got her quirks, too. Come to think of it, they are an awful lot alike in some ways, those two. Probably why they keep bumpin' 'eads all the time."

This was the most ridiculous thing Harry had ever heard Hagrid say, so he decided to give up and change the subject. "So, when will lunch be ready?"

"Oh, in a few minutes, Hagrid said. "Don' that smell good? Made it meself, from scratch. It has venison, beefsteak tomatoes, mushrooms from right here in the forest, three kinds of peppers ... Olympe gave me the recipe idea, but I've modified it."

"Yummy," said Hermione, through gritted teeth, and Harry wondered if he would be taking a trip to the hospital wing himself after this lunch.

But the stew, while it didn't smell that terrific, turned out to be quite tasty.

"Hagrid, this is great," said Ron, between mouthfuls.

"So, how is Madame Maxime," asked Hermione. "Have you seen her lately?"

"Oh, we correspond regularly," Hagrid said, a bit evasively. The teens, who interpreted the response as shy coyness on Hagrid's part, grinned but didn't press for details.

"Any luck with communications with the giants?" Harry asked.

Hagrid nearly dropped the pitcher of pumpkin juice he was carrying over to the table. "How did you lot know about that?" he barked out, startled.

Hermione shrugged and rolled her eyes. "We know Dumbledore wanted to meet with them before Voldemort did. We know that you and Madame Maxime did some traveling over the summer, and I notice you have a suitcase out there near your cot, which means you are probably leaving during Christmas break to meet with them again. Also, you and Madame Maxime are the perfect candidates to try to convince the giants to help Dumbledore."

"Well, keep it under your hats, all right?" Hagrid said. "It's supposed to be secret."

Harry couldn't supress a small smile, and noticed Ron was trying desperately not to snerk into his pumpkin juice. A secret told to Hagrid almost never stayed a secret for very long.

"The meetin’s have bin goin' well," Hagrid continued. "Perfesser Dumbledore met with them about a week or so ago. Most agreed to help, or at least stay outta the way. Their leader, Gaba Maal, his son Jerran, and a small group of 'em are coming to Hogwarts 'round finals time to help with some clean-up work. More then that, I better not say -- top secret project, although I reckon you'll find out yerselves before summer's end."

Ron spat out his mouthful of pumpkin juice at the mention that giants were coming to the school grounds.

"Giants? Are coming here? To Hogwarts?" Ron croaked out. "Is Dumbledore bangers? Giants are little better then wild mountain trolls!"

"That's codswallup!" Hagrid said sternly. "Now mind yeh, there are some savage ones out there, but couldn't yeh say the same about some wizards? Would it be fair to judge all wizards based on the Malfoys? Or You-Know-Who? I know me mum weren't no prize, but I've met some decent giants. Gaba Maal is a pretty smart ol' fella if a bit on the suspicious side, and his oldest son Jerran is a right fine chap, and sharp as a dragon's tooth. Yeh don't want ter rub 'em the wrong way; they’re purty tempermental at times. But most of the giants I ever met were good enough blokes."

Blimey, but this was an interesting year, Harry thought for the hundreth time. And it looked as if it were going to get even more interesting, with the arrival of the giants. He was wondering how the other wizarding families and students would take the news that giants would be visiting Hogwarts. Then again, after the basilisk, and the werewolf, and the Dementors, and the polyjuiced pretender... maybe they wouldn't even bat an eyelid.

****
Harry, Ron and Jaspine shivered a bit in the darkened room, dimly lit by a few distant shafts of sunlight despite the fact that it was mid-afternoon. They were in the third floor wing, the passage where the sorcerer's stone had been hidden five years ago. That wing had been declared off-limits then. It wasn't forbidden now, but few students ventured into that part of the castle, with its cobwebs and gargoyle statues and strange runes. So it made for a perfect covert meeting place.

"Ok, guys, we know what we want to do," Jaspine said as she tried to keep a small, portable fire going. Harry couldn't help but wish that Hermione was there ... it wasn't the same without her, and besides, no one could top Hermione's portable fires. "Now we need to map out a plan. Any thoughts?"

"Snape's dangerous," Ron said, shivering from more than the cold. "However we subdue him, we had better do it bloody fast. If he gets a wand on us, we are history."

"We also have to do it in such a way that no one else will catch on to what we are up to," Harry added.

"I have an idea about that," Jaspine said. "I could go up to him sometime after classes are done for the day on the pretense that I need help with an assignment. We'll go to his office. You guys will wait outside and then the three of us will zap him with Stupefy or something."

"But where would we hide?" Harry asked. "Those halls are long, and there aren't many good hiding places." He thought about his invisibility cloak, but decided not to mention it to Jaspine. He still wasn't sure if the tall Slytherin could be trusted, and he thought it wiser not to mention the cloak until he had definitely made up his mind to go through with her plan.

Jaspine thought for a moment. "Then we'll break into his office. You guys can hide in there and zap him when he comes in. Snape won't know what hit him."

"What? But his door is always locked and sealed by loads of magic charms! Especially after what happened last year!" Ron said, and he gaped at the tall Slytherin.

Jaspine merely shrugged. "I can get past any lock. And as for charms, I doubt he'll have anything I can't disable. I know how he thinks, you see. Snape's smart, and he's powerful... but he's too predictable, and he's too obvious. Whatever he'll have on the door will be strong ... but basic."

"If you can get us in Jaspine, then we can wait behind the door ..." Harry mused.

"You lead him in ..." Ron continued.

"Then zap!" Jaspine said, clenching her fist as if she was squeezing the life out of Snape that very minute.

"Well? Say we've zapped him ... then what?" Harry asked.

"We'll have to restrain him," Jaspine replied. "Before we take him elsewhere. And I have the perfect place in mind, where we won't be disturbed."

"Here?" Ron asked, his eyebrow quirking. "But this is a bloody awful long way from the dungeons. We would almost certainly get caught."

"No kidding, Carrot Top," Jaspine said waspishly.

Carrot Top? Harry thought as he tried not to smile. Ron's ears turned red, but he didn't comment.

"We would almost certainly get caught if we tried to drag him up here," she continued. "But we don't have to. Snape has a private lab off of his office. I've never seen the inside of it, and the door is easy to miss if you aren't looking for it. But if you look closely to the left of his desk, half-hidden behind a movable book cabinet and behind a gauzy curtain, you can see the door that leads to the lab."

"Perfect!" Ron exclaimed cheerfully. "Now for restraints ... I was thinking ... Snape will be able to break through magic rope, and can almost certainly counter any type of binding spell we use."

"How about ordinary hemp rope? In addition to magic cords?" Harry asked. "I can see him breaking through one or the other, but not both."

Jaspine smiled, her grin cold, calculating. "Good idea. Let's go for it."

"Now, how are we going to get, what's it called again? Hemp rope?" Ron asked.

"Isn't there that new Muggle novelty store in Hogsmeade?" Harry asked. "I remember seeing an ad in yesterday's Daily Prophet."

"You're right!" Jaspine said. "We are all going to Hogsmeade tomorrow, right?" The others nodded. "Good. Can one of you get the rope? Meanwhile, I'll get a blank sonoroball. We want his confessions on record. Just wish there was some way we could visually record the traitor, but they won't be coming out with visiballs for at least another year or two. I hear they're still having problems getting the vid gems inside them to retain images for more than a day or two."

"I'll get the rope," Harry said quickly. He knew Ron's family was always financially strapped, and he wasn't sure of the cost.

"Before we bind him," Jaspine continued, "we'll have to make certain he's unarmed. If he lays hands on a wand before we're done with him, we're all dead. Ron, you are in charge of disarming and binding him. Harry, your job will be to make sure the doors are locked behind us when we go down to the lab. I'll carry him downstairs, and then Harry, you help me force the Truth Potion down his throat. Ron, you will activate the sonoroball and stand guard."

"How are you going to get him to drink it? What if he tries to spit it out?" Harry asked.

Jaspine grinned maliciously. "I've had practice giving large pills to my family's cat. A tightly-bound Death Eater won't pose as much difficulty as giving Kozmo his liver pill."

Harry wondered if perhaps Jaspine was being a bit overconfident, but he held his tongue.

"You know, mates, I just thought of something. What will we do afterwards? When the Veritaserum wears off? We have to let him go eventually," Ron asked.

Jaspine shrugged. "I see two possibilities. One, he's a murderous Voldemort-loving traitor. Then we hand the evidence and the criminal to Dumbledore, and let him take it from there. Two, maybe we don't find enough dirt to get him thrown into Azkaban. Then we make sure we get enough on him so he has to keep his mouth shut about this. I don't think it will be hard, given the kind of people he's always associated with. He's bound to have a closet full of skeletons."

Harry suddenly had a bad feeling about all of this, but he tried to ignore the feeling until it went away. After all, Snape had once threatened to use the Veritaserum on him, among other things. It was only fair that Snape get a taste of his own Potions for once, right?

"So we go to Hogsmeade this Saturday. The school recesses for Christmas Break," Jaspine continued. "We are all staying, right?"

Harry and Ron nodded.

"Good," Jaspine replied. "We can practice what we'll do and try to make sure we have every possible contingency covered. Some time after break, I think we can have our first trial of the Truth Potion. It's not quite ready yet, but we can see if we are on the right track."

"And who will be the ... the guinea pig?" Ron asked.

Jaspine shot Ron an irritated look. "I already told you guys, I'll volunteer to do it. It's my potion, and I realize I'm not exactly in a position where I can ask you to do it, since this whole thing is my plan."

Harry suddenly looked up and listened. "Uh oh," he said, a bit nervously. "I thought I just heard Mrs. Norris. We had better move. I for one don't want a run-in with Filch right now."

"Then we meet back here Saturday, after Hogsmeade," Jaspine whispered. She extinguished the portable fire and the three snuck outside and back down the stairs.

****

Aurellia Deveroux was in her office, working away at the stacks of quizzes and essays that had piled up during her stay in the infirmary due to the mort-de-kai incident five days ago. This was her first full day back on the job, but just because she had been confined to a hospital bed didn't mean that she couldn't give assignments. Although, the Defense teacher admitted ruefully, she wondered if perhaps she shouldn't have been quite so diligent.

She was so intent on her work that she didn't hear the persistent tapping on the window pane. It wasn't until she heard a loud, impatient "hoot" that she looked up from the scrolls piled around her to see a familiar barn owl face pressed against the glass and looking at her with eyes that were both pleading and exasperated.

"Poor Gremlin," Aurellia said as she opened the window and let the owl in. "You look rather miserable today."

Gremlin flew in and landed on her desk. He ruffled his feathers, and a fine spray of water flew off. It was cold and misty outside, and from the chill in the air, the wet drizzle would turn into snow overnight. Aurellia shivered a bit as she closed the window. She opened her left desk drawer to pull out a couple of owl snacks and a water dish. Gremlin munched on the treats and drank the water as Aurellia removed the letter from the owl's leg and read it. She was not surprised in the least at the first few lines:

"Aurellia Istiana Deveroux,

How could you be so stupid?"

Uh oh, Aurellia thought. This is the letter I've been dreading.

"Dueling with Snape? In front of students? And using spells like the Shimmering Veil and the Screamer? Dumbledore told me all about it. It's a miracle both of you are still alive. I considered sending you both a Howler! What you two did was juvenile enough to merit one! Alas, my financial circumstances prevented me from being able to obtain one. So I guess you are getting off rather lightly this time."

Aurellia frowned. I beg to disagree, big brother, she thought ruefully. The point of your quill can be just as bad. I don't need a Howler to hear your tone of voice coming through the words loud and clear.

"I am surprised and ashamed of you. You know better than this! What were you thinking? You're supposed to be his Watcher not his executioner!! The next time I see you, we are going to sit down together and read The Way of the Watcher from cover to cover and you are going to show me where it says that Watching involves a mort-de-kai with your assignment. What did you think you were doing???"

Ouch, Aurellia thought with an inward wince. Big brother is extremely peeved at me, and it takes a lot to get under his skin -- unless of course my father is involved, in which case a heated argument is almost guaranteed. But I knew this letter would come sooner or later. In fact, I'm surprised it wasn't sooner.

"OK, enough with the lecture I guess, except to say don't you ever do something that foolish again."

Yes, big brother, by all means. I think you have made your point abundantly clear, Aurellia pouted.

"I would have written earlier, but various Ministry officials have been nosing around, looking for Snuffles and asking a bloody lot of nosy questions. But worse than that ... your father has been coming around as well. I think I prefer the Ministry officials.

“I have pretended not to be home, and let's just say thank heavens Padfoot makes a marvelous guard dog. I don't think his venerable honor likes dogs very much. At least, not this one. Heh. You may be adopted, but you sure take after your dad, do you know that, Ari? You are both stubborn and persistent, and you couldn't take a hint to save your life. Let's just say that it took Padfoot snarling and showing his teeth to get 'the point' across. You should have been there when our 'guard dog' went after the judge's expensive, tailored grey slacks. Your dad runs surprisingly quickly for a man pushing seventy."

Aurellia laughed at that and shook her head. You and Sirius are quite incorrigible, but then, knowing my father as I do, he probably asked for it.

"In all seriousness, though, I really don't want to speak with your parents, especially not after an incident that happened three weeks ago. I had stopped by to ask them if they had any letters to send to you. Big mistake, as it turned out.

"You remember our little agreement they would send me their letters, and then I would forward them to you. I know you had stated that in the note you left for them when we stopped by and they weren't home the day we went to the Allee. Well, it worked quite well for a while. They had sent a couple in the beginning, which I dutifully forwarded to you through Gremlin. And then, without explanation, they stopped. I wanted to make certain the post wasn't losing your letters, so I went to visit to your parents. Big mistake, as I have already written. You know how well your father and I get along."

Aurellia groaned and put a hand over her eyes. Oh no, Remus, don't tell me you got into it with Dad again, she thought.

"The justice became quite belligerent with me. He started asking me a lot of questions about your whereabouts, about what happened to your cousin, what hospital you were at and more. I tried giving him the standard answers, but the judge would have none of it. After calling me his usual litany of names -- you know, 'no-good bum, thief, drug addict, leech, skinny little no-good punk, panhandler' -- he then added 'kidnapper' and 'liar' to the list. Then he threatened to call the police, and he bodily threw me off the porch. You know, for a man approaching his 70s, he hasn't lost much of his strength from his oft-spoken-of 'grand ol' army days.' Needless to say, I haven't gone back there, and I haven't spoken to your parents since."

And I'm sure that you said absolutely nothing whatsoever to my father to provoke him into such an outburst of wrath, Aurellia thought sarcastically. You really don't have any room to lecture me about getting into a duel with Snape, she thought. Even on the best of days he's more intolerable than my father in one of his fits. But I digress.

"It was after that incident that he started coming by the house."

Uh oh, thought Aurellia. If I know Dad, it will take more than Snuffles to discourage him from nosing around and stirring up trouble.

"I think your mother is hurt and upset that you haven't called home in months. She didn't say one word to me when I went over there, which is highly unusual for her. We used to get along so well. I think her cold greeting hurt more than my forced landing on my bum in the driveway.

"Aurellia, you really need to talk to them."

No kidding! Aurellia thought. Ouch, poor Remus. I'm sorry that I put you in the middle. Well, I knew that I was going to have to deal with this sooner or later. Looks like it will be sooner than I expected.

"Show this letter to Dumbledore, talk to him, and ask for a leave over the holidays. It's not just a matter of my pride (or my aching backside) we are talking about here. They need to see you. I think that it is time for you to tell them the truth, but if you won't, then at least go quiet their suspicions. Your father could make things extremely difficult for me if he ever connects me with Snuffles -- remember, someone we know is being sought by Muggle police as well as the Ministry. And with your father's connections in high places, it wouldn't be difficult to find out that we once went to school together -- even if the Muggle papers list said school as St. Brutus instead of Hogwarts."

Aurellia chewed on her lower lip. She had not expected her parents to raise such a fuss over her hasty departure, or to give Remus a hard time because of it. They had practically ignored Luk -- except when her cousin brought one of his strange, questionable friends over. And they had pretty much let Aurellia do as she pleased. As long as the two received good grades and kept their noses and rooms clean, the Deverouxs had left Aurellia and Luk alone. Apparently something had changed. Perhaps it was Aurellia's long silence, or perhaps they had picked up on Lupin's fears over the developing problems in the wizarding world.

And she had forgotten that the wizarding world had also alerted the Muggle press about Sirius Black. Given her father's connections with the courts and other government officials, and his uncanny ability to ferret out the truth ... Remus was right. This could get ugly. Fast.

"I'm beginning to regret that we departed so quickly before speaking to them, Ari. I take responsibility for that, as Dumbledore had been expecting us that afternoon ... but in retrospect, I think he would have understood a delay, and the reason. We should have waited for your parents to come home and talked to them in person. I am sorry -- I helped create this mess, but unfortunately, you are going to have to be the one to fix it. They don't trust me.

"Don't write me back, and don't attempt to come over. I hate to tell you that, but it's not safe right now. It is becoming harder and harder to hold meetings without drawing the wrong type of attention. Let me know that you received my letter by sending Gremlin back to me with a small sprig of one of your lilacs. Your lilacs always smell so wonderful.

Take care, luv. And please, no more picking fights with the school bully!

Love, Remus."

Aurellia gave a small smile and retreived a pair of scissors from her middle desk drawer. She cut a small branch from her lilac bush and handed it to Gremlin, who took the sprig in his beak.

"Take care, Gremlin," the Defense teacher murmured as she opened the window. Gremlin circled her office once, then soared out into the cold night air -- it had, as she thought it would, started to snow. Within minutes, the owl could no longer be seen amidst the falling flakes.

End of Chapter 17