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The Great Snape-Deveroux Grudge Match - Part II: Watcher and Hunter by Pigwidgeon [Reviews - 2]

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"All right, just in case somebody is ever tempted to poke fun at my essays or criticize me for being troll-headed, whose idea was it to try to get past the teething Venomous Tentacula in Greenhouse 3?" Ron said crossly as the trio headed down the stairs. He was nursing a nasty cut on the top of his hand, and his left cheek bore several vicious slashes.

"All right, all right!" Hermione snapped back. "So I made a mistake and we had to backtrack! We still found the clue though, didn't we?"

“Hermione finally admits to making a mistake! Mark this on your calendars!” Ron grouched sarcastically.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Hermione snapped, staring angrily at Ron.

"All right calm down, both of you," Harry grumbled. Why did he always get caught in the middle of those two when they were squabbling? "Let’s just get on with it! I don't want to lose to Slytherin -- again!"

The three students were participating in another of Deveroux's workshops, this one a treasure hunt. Each house picked five trios of students: one trio made up of first- and second-years, one trio of third- and fourth-years, and separate trios of fifth-, sixth- and seventh-years. Professor Deveroux and Professor Sprout gave each group a starting clue which gave them a hint as to where to find the next clue, and each clue led to another which would eventually take each group to a separate treasure. The new clues were revealed by a Retegere spell when cast on the right item -- it could be an ordinary brick in the wall, a painting, under the visor of a suit of armor, on a desk, or anywhere on, under, inside, above or below a variety of other objects. And the clues were all very vague and occasionally misleading. However, if the students cast the Revealing spell on the right object, it would glow a certain color -- red for the first and second years, green for the thirds and fourths, blue for fifths, white for sixth-years and yellow for seventh-years -- and the next clue would appear. The items were enchanted so that each group could see and write down only the clue intended for their age group. The students were responsible for writing down or memorizing their clues, and if they lost or forgot their last clue, then they would have to backtrack.

Harry felt as if he were hunting for the Philosopher's Stone again. The hunt had taken the three -- and the other trios from the other houses -- to Trelawney's tower, down to the dungeon, to the Great Hall -- twice -- near the kitchens, near each of the dorms for the four houses, to the greenhouses, to the lake, to the Quidditch pitch, to the seventh floor tower, and now they were traipsing to yet another destination. They had been at this for more than three hours.

"So what does that clue say again?" Harry asked Hermione, who pulled a tattered piece of parchment paper from her robe pocket. He absently rubbed the back of his head, which had the misfortune of coming in contact with the underside of the professors' table in the Great Hall while Harry had been looking for clues. The only consolation he received for the knot on the back of his skull was that he had found the clue spot underneath the table. Unfortunately, that particular clue had also led them to their misadventure with Professor Sprout's nasty, carnivorous plants.

"In this forlorn abandoned place, the only sounds you hear are running water and doleful cries," Hermione read from the soiled note. "Here in this place where evil was born and evil was conquered you will find the last clue to the precious treasure." She started to put the note back into her left robe pocket, then remembered to put it in her right pocket when her hand went clean through the first pocket -- compliments of a particularly aggressive Spider Plant vine.

"It had better be good after going through all this lot," Ron muttered as he brushed his dirty, wet hair out of his eyes. "The treasure, I mean. What do you suppose it is? A sack of Galleons? Notes getting students out of homework for a month? Extra credit?"

"No more Potions classes?" Harry asked.

"Wouldn't that be nice," Ron replied sarcastically. "But we'd never get that lucky. Not even in our dreams."

"I highly doubt we'll get money," Hermione said practically. "That's not the way Professor Deveroux thinks. Besides, money's tight everywhere and I doubt they would use money or a break from homework as a reward for something like this. I expect we'll just get house points and extra credit in Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Harry nodded reluctantly, and Ron looked crestfallen. Harry had to agree about the unlikelihood of a monetary reward or a break from class work, for he had noticed subtle changes in the day-to-day activities at Hogwarts. For example, all of the professors were assigning less written work, and more hands-on activities and Harry had noticed that none of the professors had required the purchase of brand new texts -- all the books were the same ones they had used the year before. Also, all of the teachers seemed to be pushing the students to study and to practice their lessons more diligently, to do more, learn faster, and work harder.

"I could do with a thousand-galleon prize like yours, but I suppose you're right about money," Ron said. "It's getting right scarce. Mom has been complaining about prices. Filch has been griping that Peeves is going to single-handedly bankrupt the school with his destructive rampages, and Charlie and my dad have both said that budgets are getting cut and things are changing both at the Ministry and overseas--everywhere. And everyone has been complaining about how slow shipments have been. My brothers said that Filch had a hard time getting his hands on Marvin's Easy Scrub and Polish so they could clean the floors of the Great Hall. I think they said he had to give them another detention duty instead, don't recall what though."

"Wait a minute," Hermione questioned. "I thought Snape and Deveroux were giving them their detentions."

"Oh, this was for tracking snow and mud into the Main Hall a few days ago," Ron replied. "Filch caught them as they were coming in from outside, and he nearly blew his top, according to my brothers."

"Ouch," Harry said with a wince. He could sympathize with Fred and George Weasley. Filch could be as unpleasant as Snape, if not as formidable.

"Well, I never thought I'd ever say this, but I actually sympathize with Filch, at least where slow shipments are concerned," Hermione said. "After I dumped that bottle of ink in Potions class, I ordered a new bottle straight away, from that Speedy Owl catalog I picked up at Flourish and Blotts when we bought our school stuff. It still hasn't come through yet!"

"It might never make it here, Hermione," Harry replied. "A few days ago in The Drummer, I read that there was a huge raid on the Owl Post."

"Oh yes, the Neo-Death Eaters," Hermione said, and she rolled her eyes. "That was in the Daily Prophet as well."

"Neo-nothing," Harry muttered. "It sounds like the old crowd."

"I agree, but that's what the Ministry, or at least Fudge, is saying," Ron said.

"And I saw something about a raid at the Romanian dragon reservation, too. That's very serious isn't it?" Harry asked.

Ron nodded fearfully. "Oh yes," he agreed quietly. "Dragonets and dragon eggs are very hard to come by, very well guarded, and very hard to steal or smuggle. Dad said it's the kind of thing that hasn't happened since er...the Dark Years when ... when You-Know-Who was at the height of his power. It was Charlie who got the news to Bill right after the raid happened; otherwise The Drummer wouldn't have been able to report it. Ministry slapped a Silencio order on the whole thing to try to keep people from finding out, demanding answers."

"So that's why there wasn't a word about it in the Prophet," Hermione remarked, outraged. "The Ministry wanted to hush it up! They don't want people to believe that Voldemort is back, but they're playing right into his hands!"

"I know. That's what I thought too at first. But in a way I can see their point. Imagine what will happen if and when people do find out the truth! It'll be total chaos! They're keeping this incident quiet because they don't want panic in the streets," Ron explained.

"Maybe," Harry said skeptically. "But I think it has more to do with the fact that certain parties are still hoping to get that Peace Preservation Act passed, and if people found out about this raid, then maybe they'd start demanding some honest answers from the Ministry."

"Oh yeah. They'd want to know how it could have happened, all right. Ten nests of eggs from different species stolen, including a nest of Ironbelly eggs. At least thirty dragonets taken, too. Three dragons killed, four seriously injured, not to mention three Aurors and four dragonriders slain among the reservation's security forces," Ron recalled. "Official word is that it was done by a small band of anarchists calling themselves Neo Death Eaters, and that's the story Bill printed. But the one question he raised in his article that no one has bothered to answer is: where did the dementors go during the raid, and why haven't they returned to their posts since?"

"There were dementors at the dragon reservation?" Harry wondered in amazement.

"Only a few. Not like the dozens at Azkaban," Ron replied. "But yeah, they get sent out to guard a lot of different places, just like Aurors and dragons."

"Ron," Harry asked in a fearful, serious tone. "What will happen if the dementors rebel?"

"It'd be bloody awful then, wouldn't it? Dementors free to go wherever they want, anytime they want, administer the Kiss to whoever they want," Ron replied. "There'd be hundreds of deaths every day, maybe even thousands, maybe even things worse than death. Yeah, I suppose it'd be like the Years of Terror all over again. But don't worry. Dad says it won't happen again. Not like the last time. They've got a lot of heavy enchantments on the dementors nowadays. Chains you can't see, that they can't break. They're bound to carry out the Minister of Magic's orders."

Harry thought about the way the dementors had behaved at Hogwarts two years ago and said skeptically, "But something must have broken them free, or else they wouldn't have abandoned their posts. I don't think the Ministry has as much control over them as they like for everyone to think."

"But that's impossible! Dad says that no wizard in the world could possibly..."

"I'll bet Voldemort could."

Ron gulped nervously. "If...if that's the case...then I'm never going to sleep soundly again in my life!"

"I haven't slept soundly since the night I saw him."

Hermione snorted and said, "Never mind the dementors, who could possibly be gullible enough to believe that this raid was committed by a group of rebellious teens? It takes several trained wizards to even knock one dragon unconscious! If this incident doesn't wake people up then nothing will!"

"People prefer sleeping soundly," Harry remarked acidly, thinking of Cho Chang.

"Well they won't be sleeping soundly for much longer," said Hermione. "I think the wake-up call is coming, and soon. I went down to the kitchens ...."

"Still harping on S.P.E.W.?" Ron said as he rolled his eyes.

Hermione glowered at Ron momentarily before continuing. The red-headed teen merely smirked in retaliation. "Dobby was telling me that their deliveries have been coming in late as well," Hermione informed. "And sometimes not at all."

"Yeah, I wondered about the food lately," Ron complained. "Not quite what it used to be."

"It's still better than what I get at home," Harry said, but he, too, had noticed a change in the meals. He still had plenty to eat, and the food was good, as always. But it was simpler, more basic: bologna or ham sandwiches with swiss instead of open-faced roast beef for lunches, more fruit and fewer sweets, more limited selections ... was this an effort to conserve resources?

"Well, anyway, we have wandered off track and had better get back to the puzzle before Slytherin does. Or else we're going to lose again," Ron said. "Let's see, it looks like its a place not often visited and it has water. Part of the moat?"

"We've been there already, though," Hermione said, exasperated.

"But we also had to go to the Great Hall twice, just different parts," Ron persisted. "Look, even the doleful cries fits. Harry, don't merfolk give rather melancholy cries, especially above water?"

"I'm not sure I'd describe them as doleful or melancholy," Harry replied, remembering the awful sounds that came out of his golden egg used for the second task of the Tri-Wizard tournament. "Earsplitting, perhaps."

"And then there's this part about evil," Hermione said. "That doesn't fit."

"Then where could it be?" Ron said, then he snapped his fingers. "Hey! Maybe Hagrid's cabin! You know, we haven't been there yet! He has all sorts of nasty creatures there that I think are evil. And the doleful cries could be those of the students in his classes trying to care for those creatures...."

"RON!" both Hermione and Harry chorused.

"Just joking," Ron said as he threw up his hands as if to ward off a blow.

"Besides, we visit him frequently, so that doesn't fit the riddle," Hermione said. "So where...?"

"I've got it!" Harry suddenly shouted. "How could we, of all people, overlook this? It's ...."

But Hermione clamped a hand over Harry's mouth and pointed upwards. Harry looked up and over his left shoulder to see Draco, Crabbe and Pansy coming down another stairwell, looking the worse for wear.

"Come on," Hermione whispered. "I think I know where you were thinking, and I think you're right. But we don't want them following us."

The three Gryffindors crept down three more flights of steps and turned left down a dark hallway.

"Blimey, I’ll bet they made the same mistake we did in the greenhouse," Ron said with a smirk after they were well out of sight of the three Slytherins.

"Either that, or they found the same wrong clue the Ravenclaws found in the Quidditch stands," Harry said, remembering a conversation he overheard during their second trip to the Great Hall. Padma Patil, Terry Boot and Mandy Brocklehurst had been bemoaning the fact that they had found a note that said if they followed its directions, it would take them on a short-cut to the treasure. So after going through more perilous things than a teething, biting plant if looks were any indication, they found another note at the so-called treasure spot smugly telling them that there were no such things as shortcuts for the treasure they were seeking.

"By the way, where are we going?" Ron whispered.

"Ron, isn't it obvious?" Hermione said with an exasperated huff. "Look around!"

Ron looked and gaped. "But of course! We should have guessed that clue ages ago."

"You've finally caught on," Harry said sarcastically.

Ron's ears were still red as the three walked into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

"Ok, guys, let's fan out to search for the next clue," Harry said. "This probably isn't the last stop, so let's hurry."

"Yes, it does say we will find the 'last clue' to the treasure," Hermione agreed.

"Why don't we ask Myrtle for help?" Ron suggested.

Harry shrugged. "I don't think she'll help us. I think she's somewhere in the U-bend today, and when she's down there, Myrtle seldom leaves. Myrtle? Myrtle? Can you hear us?"

No response, just a loud sniffle and more humming.

"See what I mean?" said Harry.

"Well, I suppose it was worth trying anyway," Hermione said with a shrug as she started opening the stall doors and peering in each one, looking for clues. Harry started circling the large sink in the center of the room, checking the spigots and running his fingers over the serpent carved into the one he had discovered three years ago that led to the Chamber of Secrets. Ron started looking behind the mirrors, on the ceiling and on the floor.

Suddenly, Hermione gasped. Harry and Ron simultaneously turned toward her.

"Dobby!" she cried out in shock as she held open the door of the third stall.

"Dobby?" Harry called back as he and Ron ran over to where Hermione was standing. "What on earth are you doing in there?" Harry stared. His heart caught in his throat as he saw the house-elf seated on top of the toilet, his hands and legs bound by cords and his mouth sealed with a tightly wrapped cloth.

"Who did this to you, Dobby?" Harry asked angrily as he and Hermione tried to enter the stall at once to assist the house-elf.

"Oof! Harry, I think we should try this one at a time!" Hermione remarked as Harry tried to squeeze back out again. "We aren't second-years anymore."

"Don't remind me," Harry muttered as he managed to squeeze out of the narrow stall.

"I bet it was Malfoy and his lot," Ron said darkly. "Dobby did once belong to the Malfoys. Bet Draco has the clue from here already!"

"No, I don't think it was Malfoy," Hermione disagreed. "These ropes have been enchanted, and whoever did it is far more sophisticated than that prat.” She tried cutting the ropes with a severing charm with no results. “Well, now what … wait! I wonder ... good, Dobby's not tied to the loo ...." and Hermione picked up the house-elf and hefted him out of the stall. "Here, now we can all have a go at this -- these knots are wicked!"

"Right," Harry said as he knelt down and tried undoing the knots with an "Expedire," or undoing spell. The knots didn't budge.

"I told you Harry, magic won't work!" Hermione said as she tried to pry a large knot binding Dobby's hands loose with the tip of her wand. Harry followed suit.

"Too bad we don't have Jaspine with us," Ron mused as he started looking in the other cells. "Her knife would come in dead useful right about now. Say, I'm going to see if I can find that last clue."

"Ron, forget the treasure," Hermione said tersely as she began working at the knot around Dobby's hands with her fingers. "We could use your help here, and as soon as we finish untying Dobby, we'll go after the creeps who did this and...."

"But how did they do this?" Harry mused. He was still prying at the knot that bound Dobby's legs. "I once saw Dobby flatten Malfoy’s dad, four years ago. He's not defenseless."

"No one is invincible," Ron said sagely. But he still seemed torn between looking for that clue -- and catching up with Slytherin -- and helping his friends. After a brief, internal struggle, Ron went over to Dobby and started to unknot the rag that tied his mouth. "Maybe Dobby can help us win," he said hopefully. "Maybe he can help us find the last clue."

"Hah! I got it!" Hermione cried out triumphantly as the knot finally came loose in her hands. She started unwrapping the cords from Dobby's hands and legs and gingerly examined the house-elf’s skin. "Well, at least these weren't too tight -- I don't see any marks." She started prying away at a smaller knot binding Dobby's legs. Dobby looked at each teen in turn with hopeful, pleading eyes.

"Got this one!" Harry said a few moments later. "Whoever tied these sure knew what they were doing." He and Hermione both started unwrapping the cord from Dobby's legs. Ron, meanwhile, wrested his knot free and the rag binding up the house-elf's mouth fell away.

"Dobby!" Hermione called out, concerned. "Are you all right?"

"Yes, miss, Dobby is fine!" Dobby said, and he shook his head and grinned as if Harry had given him a dozen pairs of socks.

He's awfully happy for someone who's been tied up, Harry thought in puzzlement as he removed the last of the ropes. Dobby stood up, stretched and spoke again, and none of the students were prepared for his next words.

"You win, Mister Harry Potter, sir!" Dobby called out jubilantly and he raised his hands in the air. "You win the contest! I knew you would do it, Mr. Harry Potter, sir! I knew you would!"

The three students exchanged puzzled looks as the house-elf danced with glee.

"Huh?" Harry asked.

"How did we win? Where's the treasure?" Ron asked impatiently.

"I have the treasure!" Dobby said excitedly, and he pointed to himself.

"You're the treasure?" Ron wondered dubiously. Hermione glared at Ron.

"No, Wheezy, sir!" Dobby replied, his eyes shining. "Dobby is not the treasure, but Dobby has the treasure. Dobby is free! You set me free today, Mister Wheezy. You and Harry Potter and Miss Hermony. And that is the treasure. Freedom is a treasure wizards should not take for granted, begging your pardon young masters. Because nothing in the world is more precious than freedom! Dobby understands this because he knows what it was like in the days before his freedom," he said winking at Harry.

"Why, that's true, Dobby!" Hermione said, her eyes becoming as bright as the house-elf's. "It's brilliant! Ingenious! We have taken our freedom for granted...and we have never been more in danger of losing it than we are now. If You-Know-Who takes over..."

"So, who tied you up, then?" Harry interrupted. Ron looked somewhat disappointed at finding out that the treasure wasn't something more tangible.

Dobby chuckled. "Oh, Professor Deveroux did, Harry Potter sir. But she asked my permission first, and I said yes. Dobby was amazed, Harry Potter, sir! A witch asking a house-elf for his permission to tie him up! Oh, Dobby hates to see You-Know-Who coming back just when things are starting to get better for house-elves..."

"So, you were the treasure, more or less," Ron interrupted testily. "I always thought Professor Deveroux was a bit mental, but this clinches it. Oh well, at least this means 50 more points for Gryffindor, and Slytherin doesn’t take first."

Harry and Hermione exchanged looks but didn't say anything. Hermione was still looking extremely happy about Deveroux's clever puzzle, and Harry suspected that Professor Deveroux had just gained a new fan.

"Did anyone else come in here, Dobby?" Harry asked.

Dobby nodded. "Yes, three Slytherins came in and they saw me. But they left me."

"Was it Malfoy and his gang?" Harry asked. Dobby nodded.

Now Ron's grin nearly matched Hermione's at this unexpected good news. "Oh, that is beautiful! They were this close – this bloody close! -- to winning, and they snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory!" Ron started cackling, his spirits restored by the happy thought of Draco’s reaction when he found out what the prize was.

****


Knock, knock, knock.

No reply. Aurellia waited impatiently with a frown on her face, then tried again.

Knock, knock, knock.

I know you're in there, thought Aurellia, because Filch just told me. So you can quit pretending that you aren't home.

Knock, knock, knock.

But there was still no reply.

All right, Snape, Aurellia thought with a wicked grin. You asked for it. She pulled out her wand and pointed it at the door. "Sonoro!" she whispered.

This ought to get his attention, she thought, nodding to herself with satisfaction.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

This time Aurellia's persistent knocking echoed along the stony walls and floor of the dungeons like cannon blasts or peals of thunder, and she winced at the sound. She wouldn't have been surprised if the Gryffindors had all run to the windows of their seventh floor common room and peered out, thinking that someone had just set off a box of Filibuster's Fireworks outside.

For Snape, who was considerably closer to the source of the noise, and whose ears could pick up a bit of student gossip being whispered halfway across the castle, Aurellia's magically enhanced knocking was more than annoying. It was deafening.

"Oh, whoever you are, go away!" Snape ordered testily from between a pile of freshly graded third year Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw quizzes, and a stack of essays his sixth-year students had turned in that afternoon. "I am not in the mood to be bothered!"

"It's me, Snape," Aurellia called back through the door, and the Sonoro spell magnified her conversational tone to a Quidditch stadium-worthy shout. "Oops! Finite!" Aurellia exclaimed quickly, pointing her silvery wand at the door, and removing the spell.

"Sorry about that," she said meekly at a more ordinary decibel level.

"Don't waste your time apologizing, Deveroux," Snape retorted nastily, "because I won't forgive you for this one even if my ears ever do stop ringing. Wasn't the unicorn a week ago bad enough?"

"You really don't have any room to complain," Aurellia replied unsympathetically, "because if you had opened that door when I first knocked, or the second time, or the third, then I would not have had to resort to a more persuasive means of getting your attention."

"And if I had not been in, would you have continued pounding like that all night until the whole school came down here to see whether or not another mort-de-kai was in progress?"

"If you had not been in, Mister Filch would have told me so when I spoke to him a minute ago, and I would not have resorted to using a Sonoro spell," Aurellia pointed out, unperturbed.

"It seems that I shall have to have a little chat with Filch later tonight," came the venomous reply.

"Remember you agreed this morning that we were going to work on the flies tonight. And don't you dare say that you don't have time -- because this will have been the third night in a row that you've skivved off. Besides, if you've got time to argue with me, then you've got time to work on this project."

"Oh, very well. Alohamora!" came the waspish response. "Come in, then, and make it quick. I haven't got all night!"

"Why are you so impatient all of a sudden? Have you got a hot date with a bird tonight?" Aurellia teased as she opened the heavy door and walked into Snape's ever icy office.

Snape looked up sharply from his pile of sixth year essays, raised an eyebrow, crossed his arms, and stared at Aurellia in a curious fashion. "Perhaps..." he replied cryptically.

"What?" Aurellia asked. Thinking that he was deciding whether or not to take offense, she hastily explained, "I was only joking, Snape. I know you have a lot of work." And no social life.

With an eyebrow still hovering halfway up his forehead and a hint of a sneer at the corners of his lips, Snape remarked in a silky tone, "You truly do not know, do you? I would have thought by now.…" He narrowed his eyes, trailed off into a guarded silence, and abruptly changed gears. "You should not be here tonight, Miss Deveroux. And your little joke is not as amusing as you think."

The elf shivered slightly. Something seemed odd about Snape tonight, she reflected, and his aura seemed darker than usual. Perhaps it was only her imagination...or perhaps...but no, she did not think that he would ever go back to Voldemort willingly. Was something else going on, then? Or was he simply in a fouler mood than usual?

Aurellia chanced a quick glance around the office. As usual, the room was ice-cold and the fireplace was unlit. The only light in the office came from a tall candle on his desk and several smaller ones on long black stands behind him. There were no windows down here, but Aurellia knew that it was snowing heavily outside. Fingolfin had come in from an unsuccessful hunt an hour ago, and he had been covered with snow and hungrily begging for owl treats. Aurellia had caught a full blast of the bitter February wind when she had briefly opened the window to let the miserable owl in. Outside Snape's domain and sixteen feet up, she could imagine the cold wet flakes landing, drifting, sticking to the castle walls and adding yet another layer of white to the five inches of snow already on the ground.

Thank heavens I remembered my cloak this time, Aurellia thought as she walked over to Snape's desk and set upon it one green-gold metallic fly and one golden sphere. The Defense teacher held another fly and sphere in her right hand as she tightened the cloak around her.

"And what, pray tell, is this?" Snape asked, picking up the orb and peering at it suspiciously.

"That is the beacon," Aurellia replied. "Each fly is enchanted to automatically return to its beacon when it is commanded to do so, even if the beacon is very far away. We--that is the Weasley Twins and I--are still working on increasing the range of these beacons. So far we have only sent the flies around the school grounds and into the forbidden forest and back. We would like to eventually be able to send them overseas, perhaps even across the Atlantic. However, the biggest obstacle we have encountered has been the problem of getting the flies back before their enchantments wear off. The flies, unfortunately, have a tendency to forget where they are supposed to be going after twenty four hours, and we have to go looking for them. However, we are beginning to have marginal success with these new beacons. The last two weeks we have been able to recall the flies from their destinations after three or four days have passed."

"And how many of these beacons have you made?"

"Well, we only have two of the new and improved ones, but hopefully by the end of the year every staff member in Hogwarts will have at least one along with an accompanying fly. That way, if someone needs to send an urgent message to someone else, the fly will find that person no matter where they are in the castle or on the grounds. And for long-distance communications--within a day's flight of course, unless the flies could be Apparated to their destinations...." Aurellia trailed off into silence as Snape interrupted.

"Yes, I see your plan," he stated in an interested tone. "Because Voldemort's allies have been watching the Floo network and targeting owls and familiars, the flies will be a new and nearly undetectable substitute. They will not be able to carry notes or scrolls as owls do... but then, they will not need to be able to do so in order to deliver their messages. And if the homing beacons work as well as you hope, then the flies could be Apparated anywhere. They will always be able to return 'home' ... or wherever the beacon happens to be."

"Exactly," Aurellia said, nodding. "We are at the point where we are now testing the range of the homing beacons, now that we know the flies will always return to them even after several days have passed since they were sent out."

"And what range have you established thus far?"

"Well, the furthest we have sent one is Aragog's lair...which, by the way, turned out to be a bad idea. The fly almost didn't make it back. Fortunately, when the shrinking potion wears off, our enchanted flies are much larger and stronger than real flies. Else it would still be stuck in a spiderweb somewhere underground..."

Snape curled his lip. "And whose brilliant idea was it to send a fly into the spider's lair?" he asked with a sneer.

"George said that he wanted to check out his brother Ron's story about an acromantula living in the Forbidden Forest. I didn't believe it myself until I saw it with my own eyes! What on earth Hagrid was thinking when he brought that thing to school with him, I can't imagine!"

"Oh, I have an inkling," Snape said. "Hagrid thinks that it is possible to tame any kind of monster if you give it a name and treat it as a pet."

"In Fluffy's case, I might be inclined to agree with him, albeit grudgingly," Aurellia mused. "But in Aragog's case..." she shuddered.

"In Aragog's case...?" Snape prompted with a curious and rather unsettling gaze.

"Er...I really think that a giant can of Raid might be in order," Aurellia decided.

"Raid?" Snape queried blankly.

"Very potent Muggle pesticide," Aurellia enlightened.

"Ah," the Potions master replied, his gaze turning suddenly and subtly colder, "I see."

Aurellia wondered at the sudden chill in his tone. Surely Snape did not think of an acromantula as a potential pet?

"Er...anyway," Aurellia said awkwardly, steering the conversation back towards the matter at hand, "we'd like to be able to have a beacon in each office and classroom so that we can send the flies there with a simple command. Each beacon will, of course, have a unique name, corresponding to its location or owner. But until the Weasley twins have made enough beacons to go around, we'll have to either Apparate or direct the flies wherever we wish for them to go." With that, Aurellia placed her fly on the edge of Snape's desk and tapped it with her wand. "Activate."

The metallic eyes of the fly started glittering and its wings fluttered up and down in a blur of motion and a low-pitched hum.

"Controlling the flies is rather simple," Aurellia said. "But it does take considerable concentration. Hover!"

Deveroux's fly fluttered its clear wings faster and rose about two feet off of Snape's desk before coming to a halt right in front of the Defense teacher's nose. Aurellia grinned past the fly at Snape and said, "Your turn."

"Hover!" Snape commanded the second fly, somewhat reluctantly. The fly remained motionless.

"You have to activate it first," Aurellia reminded with a small grin. Snape scowled and activated the fly, and the second time Snape said "Hover," the fly took off and rose into the air.

"You can tell the fly to go 'forward," Aurellia explained as the first fly moved forward an inch and stopped, "And 'backward', and 'ascend', 'descend', 'bank right', 'bank left', 'stop', 'hover', and 'land'. Or if the fly is in visual range, you can simply direct it with your wand, but this takes a little practice."

"Obviously, Dumbledore needs more practice," Snape grumbled as Deveroux smiled thinly.

"He's been doing better lately," the Defense teacher pointed out mildly. "We'll start recording and replaying next. The flies contain sonoro gems and new experimental visi gems, compliments of one of Doc Hyran's friends, so you probably already know the basics of how they work."

"If you are talking about the same friend who also acquired some experimental Flash Spheres last semester... Yes, I think I know how they work."

"Good. Then perhaps tonight, if you don't mind taking the time, we'll start enchanting the flies to go to Dumbledore's office and the medical wing. This can get rather tedious and time-consuming after you've done it a few times, but the flies keep forgetting their instructions after twenty-four hours, and you have to keep reminding them."

"Such is my life's work," Snape observed acidly. "But at least the flies will not talk back to me and attempt to destroy all of my favorite cauldrons."

"True," Aurellia agreed. "The worst these flies might do is land in your hair and startle you," which in your case would be a disaster for the fly, Aurellia thought.

"If more of those beacons are going to be created, then why is all of this enchanting work necessary?" Snape groused.

"Because it will be quite a while before Fred and George can finish the ones they have in progress right now, especially since we are still testing them," Deveroux explained. "And remember, when we begin enchanting, we'll have to map out the destinations for the flies from several different starting points. For example, if we send a fly from here to Dumbledore's office, and then later we want to send the fly to Dumbledore's office from, say, my classroom, we will have to teach it the new route. The fly won't understand how to get to there from a new departure point."

"Sounds like a dreadful amount of bother for something that will only last about twenty-four hours anyway," Snape muttered.

"Well, I suppose so," Deveroux conceded, "But it's only a fly. What did you expect, Snape, a Centaur's intelligence?"

"I suppose his Vile Eminence most likely would notice a Centaur flying about spying on him," Snape remarked drily.

"You might be pleased to know that the Weasleys and Hyran's friend and I are trying to make more intelligent flies without increasing their size. However, we haven't been successful yet."

"Apparently there are times when nature simply cannot be outdone..." Snape remarked.

"On the contrary," Aurellia disagreed. "Muggle technology can put a Centaur's intelligence on a tiny piece of metal slightly larger than the head of a pin. They're called microchips."

Snape returned a skeptical glare to what he considered a ridiculously exaggerated claim.

"And they don't have to be reprogrammed...er...re-enchanted every day either," Deveroux continued. "Unfortunately, Muggle technology does not mesh well with magic. If we tried sending electronic gadgets to snoop on Voldemort's activities, they'd either go haywire from the magical energy and wards around his strongholds... or they'd simply burn up."

"Thus our two worlds operate best when we are ignoring one another," Snape summarized, glaring at Aurellia. "Isolation is a more effective means of maintaining the peace between the magic and non-magical worlds than cooperation. I've always thought so. Especially those two weeks in December..."

"Oh really?" Aurellia remarked, raising an eyebrow. "Then why did you start hanging around my classes in the first place?"

"On the other hand, too much isolation may leave one woefully uninformed and unprepared to face a rival..."

"Oh, is that how you see things?" said Aurellia, lifting the eyebrow a tad higher.

"There is an old expression which even you must have heard, Miss Deveroux. Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes...." and he turned a very deliberate glance toward Venator's empty cage. Venator must be out hunting in the blizzard right now, Aurellia noted, and probably having about as much success as poor Fingolfin.

"Yes, 'I fear the Greeks even when they offer gifts'," Aurellia said drily, and she crossed her arms. It was one of her father's favorite expressions. "Nice try, Snape, but rude remarks are not going to get you out of working on this project tonight. I thought we had an agreement?"

Snape shrugged irritably and stared at the two flies which hummed and hovered in the air between himself and the Defense teacher in a tense standoff. "I suppose, that since I have given my word I must abide by it, no matter how much I may regret having given it."

Thus Snape and Deveroux diverted their attention from further conversation to commanding the flies. The teachers proceeded to send the insects buzzing around the office, landing in various places and returning to their hands when Summoned. Aurellia noted that Snape very quickly became adept at controlling the fly, and that he preferred to use his wand over giving verbal orders. But then, she reasoned, it was little wonder since he enjoyed controlling things. Snape, on the other hand, was thinking of a hundred or so interesting and creative uses for these new little winged wonders, few of which had anything whatsoever to do with his job, and none of which he cared to mention to Deveroux.

"Well, I think that I have had sufficient practice in handling these," Snape decided as his fly returned to his hand from a spot on the wall, and he neatly caught it in his left hand. "But I think that we shall save further practice for another time, Miss Deveroux."

"But it's only a little after 10! And aren't you always harping on having to move faster to prepare for the war?"

"Yes, but by postponing the rest of this to another night, we will be averting another war," Snape remarked testily.

Aurellia glared at him. "It has been much more than five minutes, Snape. In fact, we've been working together for more than a half hour and managed to avoid drawing wands against each other. Why don't you work with me another half hour, so we can practice recording -- and then I'll go, and you can get on with doing whatever it is that's so important you can't wait for me to leave. Deal?"

Snape sat silently for a moment, as if considering the deal. He almost seemed fidgety which was unusual for him, and that made Aurellia wonder. What was his problem tonight?

"Wait here," Snape finally said. He rose from his chair and walked rapidly to the far left corner of his office and seemed to disappear. Aurellia slowly followed to where he had gone, and found the plain, black, cobweb-draped door which led to the lab. Although she had had no hesitations about barging in uninvited the last time she had gone down to the lab, circumstances were quite different tonight. For one thing she was here of her own volition, not because of Dumbledore’s orders, and for another…some indescribable intuition was strongly urging her toward caution tonight.

However, curiosity triumphed over caution, and Aurellia put a hand to the door and tentatively pushed it about half an inch into the stairwell. What on earth was he doing down there tonight, she wondered. Making more ‘elf repellent’?

"Can you not obey the simplest directions???" Aurellia suddenly heard Snape roar wrathfully. "Stay where you are, and DO NOT COME DOWN HERE!"

"All right, all right!" Aurellia snapped back. Blimey, but he was cranky, tonight! She stepped away from the door and resumed her seat by the desk and waited for him to come back.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Aurellia began to tap her foot in impatience as she watched the sand mark ten minutes, than 20, then 25. Nearly a half hour passed before Snape finally came through the door, muttering under his breath.

"Almost out," Snape said under his breath.

"What?" Aurellia asked, puzzled.

Snape seemed startled to see her sitting there. "Why are you still here?"

Aurellia rolled her eyes. "Because in spite of your best efforts at stalling, or playing your strange game of hide-and-seek, or whatever it is you are doing, we still have work to do, remember? So what is it that you are almost out of?"

"Patience," Snape retorted. He did not move from the doorway.

Aurellia ignored the implied brush off. Snape sighed and walked back over to his desk, but he did not sit down immediately.

"You may stay another half hour, but when that time has elapsed you will leave, do you understand me?" the Potions master said as he towered over Deveroux.

"What is it, Snape? Are you meeting with one of your contacts tonight? Because if that's the reason why you're so agitated and keep watching the hourglass, then I think I should remind you that I'm your Watcher. You don't have to be so evasive about going out to meet your friends. I'll know if you're in any sort of trouble."

"Do you understand me?" Snape repeated the question forcefully in a tone bordering on fury, as if Aurellia had not said a word.

The elf stared in surprise for a moment. "Fine, whatever. Half an hour and then I'll leave, if that's what you want," she decided icily. Something was definitely bugging him tonight, Aurellia thought, and it wasn't the flies. "But as you've said at the meetings, I thought you were keen to get ahold of any new tool that would simplify your job. You could be a little more appreciative of all the work that has gone into these."

Snape snorted irritably and gave the defense teacher a very Venator-like glare.

"You know, if you're trying to get out of working on this project by being rude, then I hate to disappoint you, but it isn't going to happen."

Snape stole another quick glance at the hourglass on his desk, which Aurellia did not miss. "You have held me to my word, and I shall hold you to yours," he said as he reluctantly resumed his seat. "Get on with it!"

"Very well," Aurellia said testily, her patience with Snape nearly exhausted. Half an hour of trying to teach him how to control the flies was worse than two hours of defense practice with her surliest Slytherin students, she decided. "All right, the fly you are holding is fly 1, and the one I'm holding is fly 2. When we are done testing the prototypes and begin making them for everyone, you will be able to name them whatever you want."

"And in the meantime, I am number one; you are number two," Snape replied with a sneer. "Never forget that, and we will work together much more smoothly."

"You're not funny, Snape, so don't even try," Aurellia retorted impatiently. "Now, hold the fly and say 'open channel.'"

"Open channel," Snape repeated sarcastically, deliberately mocking Aurellia. Aurellia once again made a conscious effort to ignore his insolence. It was becoming a very tiresome chore. She focused her attention instead on the fly in his hands as it raised its wings perpendicular with the floor, then spread them again in a V-shape, like two antennae.

"Good. Now watch this!" Aurellia said as she launched her fly. Mindcasting her commands to the fly, she proceeded to send it buzzing around the room. "Can you see what fly #2 is seeing?"

"Yes," Snape replied. "Can you direct your fly once it has flown out of sight? Out into the hallway for example?"

"It's a little trickier, but yes, it can be done," Aurellia said as she moved behind the desk, stood next to Snape, and peered over his shoulder to look at the image.

"Stop hovering over my shoulder!" Snape snapped angrily, and Aurellia took an involuntary step backwards. "It is most intolerable when you intrude on my space like that!"

"But I have to be able to see the other fly in order to keep it from... oh, now look!" Aurellia said as the picture between the fly #1's wings started to swirl while the second fly spiraled out of control. "Stop! Hover!" Aurellia commanded, speaking into the beacon. The fly out in the corridor recovered its balance and obediently hovered in midair.

"Forget it. Just keep the dratted thing in the office!" Snape complained nastily.

"Why are you so touchy about your space, Snape? I have never told you to back off, even though you very much deserved it on several occasions!" Aurellia snapped as she piloted fly #2 back into the room.

"You really aren't supposed to be anywhere near my classroom anymore without my express permission," Snape mimicked sarcastically.

Deveroux pursed her lips and scowled. "That was different," she insisted. "You really should have told me you were going to be borrowing my classroom for your Scattershards practice."

Snape stared back defiantly.

Deveroux sighed. "Well, do you want to practice piloting it down the corridors, using the other fly and your beacon as guides?"

"I'd rather you left for the evening."

"We have 23 minutes left, according to your own hourglass," Aurellia pointed out as she jerked her thumb towards the timepiece.

"And I'm counting every minute," Snape said waspishly as he looked up from the fly on his desk and glared at the elf. "I really don't have ti..." Snape involuntarily swatted a hand through the air in front of his face as the metallic fly returned to the classroom and flew mere inches away from his nose. Aurellia spoke a command to the beacon and ordered the fly to land on the ceiling just above the Potions master's head.

"That was not funny, Deveroux! I am not in the mood to be trifled with!"

"You're never in the mood to be trifled with. You know, Snape, it would do you some good to lighten up once in a while."

"Do not think for one instant that I will tolerate you telling me what sort of mood I should be in, or how I should run my life! Oh yes, that's right!" Snape hissed. "Dumbledore made you my babysitter, therefore you now think that you have the right to tell me what to do!"

"Watcher, Snape. And I thought we had reached an agreement about that."

"Why don't you take a hint and leave now," the Potions master groused as he picked up a large, red leather book accented with silver runes, which took up the only corner of his desk not covered in student papers or occupied by hourglass, quill, beacon, and other magical items. "It is obvious to me that we are not going accomplish anything worthwhile tonight," he remarked as he started to flip through the pages. "I wish to be left alone, but you insist on wasting my time, on playing practical jokes, claiming that all of this will have some measurable impact on the outcome of the war that is fast approaching."

"That's right Snape, we have work to do. And a deal is a deal," Aurellia countered. "You agreed to another half hour, and your hourglass says we still have about twenty minutes."

"Consider the twenty minutes expired. Take your flies and go."

"Fine. Forget the flies. We won't work with them anymore, if that's what you want. But before I leave I want a straight answer about why you're so cranky this evening!" She pocketed the fly and the beacon she was holding, and Summoned the second fly to her hand.

"Hmm... other than your odious presence outside my door every single night this week pestering me relentlessly, I cannot think of a thing." Snape said, dripping venom.

"It isn't just me that's bothering you, Snape. I know better. So tell me the truth. What's going on? And what is that book you're reading?" Aurellia put the second fly in her robe pocket, pulled a chair around from in front of the desk, plopped it next to Snape's chair and tried to look over his shoulder.

"Why can't you take a hint?" Snape shouted, leaping to his feet in fury. "Leave this instant or I'll curse you into oblivion!"

Aurellia didn't budge an inch. She merely folded her arms across her chest, threw a glance over at the hourglass and quirked her right eyebrow up at him.

Snape glared at her for several moments, silently fuming before whirling towards the half-hidden doorway through which he had exited and returned earlier.

"Where are you going?" Aurellia snapped. "We still have twenty minutes."

"Miss Deveroux, as you once said to me, my time and whereabouts are my concern, not yours," Snape replied coldly. "And if you have any sense at all in that pretty little head of yours, you will not be here when I return."

***************

The Great Snape-Deveroux Grudge Match - Part II: Watcher and Hunter by Pigwidgeon [Reviews - 2]

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