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

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"Oh, bugger off, Hermione!"

"But you are insane! She's a teacher ... how do you plan on giving that to Deveroux, anyway?"

"I'm just going to slip it under her door, then I'm leaving. No big deal!"

"And since when were you the romantic?"

"And what is that supposed to mean???"

Harry chuckled as he heard his two friends arguing on the other side of the common room. Thankfully, he, Ron and Hermione were the only ones in the common room at the time. The other Gryffindors were either studying in the library, gossiping in the Great Hall, participating in the snowball fight led by Fred and George outside, or off somewhere exchanging Valentines. Ron clutched a small red paper heart trimmed with white and gold lace and pierced with a small, silver arrow made of something like tin foil. When you touched the arrow, a message such as "Happy Valentine's Day," "Will You Be Mine?" or "You Are Sweet" or some other sappy Valentine's Day message appeared in scripty gold ink in the center of the heart. Obviously, Ron had bought it for Professor Deveroux, and Hermione was trying to talk him out of giving it to her.

"You know, you are going to look like an idiot, Ron!"

"And what do you care?"

"Fine! Be that way!"

"Besides, I'm not the only one with a Valentine ... am I, Harry?"

Harry looked up from his own red paper heart that he was writing on with a special ink that, if you touched a pink dot in the center of the heart, words would appear.

"Ummm ... I have a Valentine to give, but not for Professor Deveroux," Harry said, his face turning a bit pink. "Sorry, can't help you, Ron."

Ron shrugged. "Is that for Cho, then?"

Harry nodded.

"Harry? Are you sure that's a good idea?" Hermione said softly. "I mean, you two are only going to the dance ... will she want that?"

"Why wouldn't she?" Harry said, more sharply than he intended.

"Welllll ... " and Hermione paused and bit her lip. "I'm just remembering, what you were saying after you two talked at Hogsmeade. She's still not over Cedric, is she?"

"They were together for a couple of years at least," Harry said, his tone even more sharp. "That's understandable. But I don't see the big deal. I just want to give her a Valentine. It's not ... an engagement proposal."

"Yes, but Harry, is the feeling mutual?" Hermione asked softly. "Because..."

Ron rounded on her. "What have you got against Valentine's Day anyway? What's wrong, did Vikky forget to send you one?"

"DON'T CALL HIM THAT!" Hermione shouted. "And I'm just trying to help! Harry, I think you are making a mistake, that's all."

"Why?" Harry asked as he looked at Hermione through narrowed eyes."Why is it such a mistake? I know you sent a Valentine to Viktor recently, despite your protests that you don't have any feelings for him besides friendship."

"Aren't you being a wee bit hypocritical telling us not to send Valentines, 'Mi'?" Ron said nastily.

Hermione burst into tears. "I did NOT send Viktor a Valentine, you insensitive trolls! I just sent him a letter asking how he was doing, especially with the tension and fighting in that area lately. I didn't send him a Valentine! You don't have to be such jerks about it!" She ran from the room back to her dormitory, sobbing.

"Blimey, she's mental sometimes," Ron said emphatically. "What has gotten into her?"

Harry shrugged. "Maybe she's jealous or something. How should I know? So, how are you going to sneak down to Deveroux's office with that thing? Without being caught, I mean? Because you know how quickly it will be all over the school if someone sees you with a valentine for a teacher."

Ron shrugged. "I'll figure out something."

"Well, good luck."

"Thanks. Same to you."

Harry watched Ron march out the door, letter in hand. Then he turned back to his own Valentine and wrote a few more words before putting his quill down and leaving the common room to find Cho.

Ron walked towards Professor Deveroux's office, at first with brisk, rapid strides, but his footsteps slowed as he grew more nervous. Maybe Hermione is right, Ron thought. Maybe I am bangers to give a Valentine's note to a teacher.

Even though she was the most beautiful witch he had ever clapped eyes on -- except maybe Fleur Delacour, who was part veela -- Deveroux also wasn't someone you wanted to cross. She did hold her own during that mort-de-kai with Snape, after all.

Ron steeled his courage and rounded the corner of the corridor which led to her office -- to find a dozen other students waiting near her door. He quickly hid his Valentine behind his back as he approached the doorway where the others stood.

"Hey, what brings you lot down here?" Ron asked. "Justin, I thought you and Dean and the rest of you would have been outside having snowball wars with my brothers."

"Ummm ... no," Justin replied. "In fact, we all thought that about each other."

"Fred and George are probably waging war by themselves right now," Neville added. "Course, they may have been down here earlier, with their detentions."

"So, what does bring you lot down here?" Ron asked.

The other teens exchanged looks, then each of them sheepishly held up their own pink or red hearts trimmed with lace, ribbon, paper doily or glitter.

"We all thought we'd sneak down here," Seamus said.

"And slide these under her door," said Ernie.

"But we all happened to come down at the same time," Argyle said.

"We had to confess to each other what we were about to do," said Lee Jordan.

"We caught each other in the act," Colin said. "Funny, isn't it?"

Ron cracked up laughing as he showed his Valentine to the others. Soon, they were all in hysterics.

"Oh man, are we pathetic!" howled Dean as he clutched his sides.

"Quick! Enough gabbing -- she could come back any minute now," said Argyle.

One by one, the students hastily slid their Valentines underneath Deveroux's office door and crept away.

"Want to join us in the snowball fight?" Seamus asked Ron. "Snow's great for it, and the temperature is halfway decent for a change."

Ron grinned. "Sure, but I need to get my cloak and gloves first. And no iceballs, right?"

"No," Dean said with a grin. "But we were thinking of leaving little Valentine's day messages for Deveroux outside her window."

This set the teens laughing again as they went to go retrieve their outdoor gear.

****


Harry was wandering the halls, wondering where to begin to look for Cho. The Great Hall? The library? Somewhere on the grounds where the snowball fights were taking place, or where groups of students were making moving snowmen and small ice forts? He decided to head to the Great Hall first, but when he was about halfway there, he overheard three girls talking.

Harry walked towards the voices and peered around the corridor to see Cho and her friends Deena and Gloria talking in hushed voices.

"But you have to admit, Cho, he is sort of cute," Deena said. "In a ragamuffin sort of way."

"He's a kid, and he's weird," Cho said, her voice flat. "You've heard the stories, same as I."

"Yeah, from Rita Skeeter, a most reliable source of information to be certain," Gloria said sarcastically. "But I don't think this is about Harry. Admit it. You still aren't over Cedric."

Harry stood there dumbfounded and hurt as his jaw dropped. The others continued.

"Cedric and I were together for a long time," Cho said. "You don't forget that overnight. Not even for the child celebrity on campus."

"Come on, Cho! No one expects you to forget, but you have to move on, luv," Gloria reprimanded.

"I will, just not with Harry," Cho said.

"But aren't you going to the dance with him?" Deena asked.

Cho nodded. "Yes," she said wearily. "Because he had asked me last year, but I went with Cedric of course. He asked me again this year, and I didn't have the heart to tell him no. It's just a dance."

"Harry has a crush on you," Gloria said. "It's not fair to lead him on like that."

"I haven't been leading him on," Cho spat out. "I haven't encouraged him to talk to me in the library or between classes or at the Quidditch matches when we aren't playing. He seems nice enough, but I don't really know him, and I don't think that I ever will. He's different, strange, even downright creepy at times. He's not for me."

Harry had started walking towards the three, not even realizing his feet were moving. His head was spinning with mixed hurt and anger. Strange! Child celebrity! Weird! Creepy! The words echoed in his head in a monotonous, persistent beat.

Deena suddenly let out a bit of a gasp and gave a loud cough.

Gloria and Cho turned to see Harry standing there, card in hand.

"H-harry? What brings you down here?" Cho asked nervously.

"I was looking for you, actually," Harry said. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize that I was bothering you. Any news about your brother, Gloria?"

Gloria shook her head. "No," she said sadly. "Thank you for asking. It's strange, you don't expect an apprentice Auror to up and vanish without a trace, but it happened to us." She looked down.

Cho looked away from Harry, the ridges of her cheekbones a bright red. "Harry, I'm ...."

"Never mind, Cho," Harry interrupted, his attention again on her. "Perhaps I assumed too much. Don't worry about the dance. If someone else asks you, say yes. Unless, of course, you find them as strange or weird as me."

Without another word, Harry turned and walked rapidly away before Cho could reply. He fought the urge to bruise his knuckles against the stone walls. While he admittedly was never sure whether Cho had any feelings for him besides perhaps friendship and a common interest in Quidditch, he never dreamed she thought so little of him.

Harry was so lost in thought that he nearly collided with Hermione, who was heading to the library.

"Harry! Watch where you're going!" Hermione scolded as she struggled to hold onto her armload of books. She then noticed the Valentine still clutched in Harry's hand. "No sign of Cho?" she asked slowly.

"I found her," Harry said in a low voice. "But you were right ... she wouldn't have liked it, so I didn't give it to her."

Hermione looked at Harry sadly. "I'm sorry, Harry. But maybe it's for ...."

"You knew something, didn't you?" Harry asked, his voice rising. "You overheard something."

Hermione bit her lip and nodded.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Harry asked. "Why didn't you tell me before I made a complete and total fool of myself?"

"Harry, what could I have said? That I heard Cho say bad things about you? That she doesn't feel the same way about you as you do for her?"

"Did feel. And yes, that would have been a good start."

"Harry, would you have believed me? Would you have listened?"

"Well, we will never know now, will we?" Harry spat out. He turned and walked away, as Hermione stared after him, books in hand and tears in her eyes.

Harry continued down the corridors, fuming, pounding his fist into the cold stone walls as he walked along, lost in thought.

"Mr. Potter? Is everything alright?"

Harry turned, startled, to find Professor Deveroux staring at him, a concerned look on her face. He nodded silently, not having the faintest idea what to say.

"Not a good Valentine's day, I presume," Deveroux continued as she gestured towards the card Harry had half crumbled in his hand.

Harry looked down on the card. "You might say that," he said bitterly, and he crumpled the card into a ball.

"I have a pot of water boiling over the fire," Deveroux said. "Would you like a cup of cocoa?"

Harry shrugged. "Yeah, sure. Thanks, professor," he said listlessly. And spike it with Blacklotus Nacre while you're at it.

He followed the petite, blonde Defense teacher as she turned left down the corridor leading to her office. After they reached her office, Deveroux pulled out her silvery wand and the door swung open with a soft "alohamora." But they were both startled to see dozens of pink, white and red paper hearts and small bundles of pink and white flowers covering the floor in front of the doorway. Harry couldn't help a half-grin of amusement as he recognized Ron's card -- apparently, he hadn't been the only student to leave the professor a holiday greeting. Did Ron know about his competition, he wondered. Would Ron even care if he did know? Probably not. Ron was blind, hopelessly smitten, head over heels, even after the disappointment of the last workshop. Harry's small grin quickly became a frown of misery as he realized that he had been just as blind about Cho.

"Oh my," Deveroux said, cocking an eyebrow and smiling. "It seems I've had some students stop by while I was away."

Harry noticed that the largest bundle of flowers was spraying a fine mist, like a small fountain.

"Those must be from Fred and George Weasley," Deveroux said with a chuckle. "Just like those two rogues. I sincerely hope these were merely leftover inventory. I'll turn a blind eye to their jokes for once."

She stooped down and started picking up the cards and flowers (including the watering ones), but after she had picked up four of them, she began to laugh at herself.

"You suppose, Harry, it would be easier if I just did this?" she asked with a twinkle in her eye as she brandished her wand over the pile of hearts and flowers. "Wingardium Leviosa!" The Valentine's gifts flew off of the floor and lined themselves up neatly on one of the bookshelves that stood on the left wall. The watering flowers floated through the air a moment longer before resting on a separate table that already held a small stone fountain.

Harry forced a half-hearted chuckle. "Yes, I think that is a bit faster, Professor."

Deveroux walked in and went to the crackling fireplace, which was to the right of the bookshelf that now held the gifts of cards and flowers. "Yes, this should be hot enough now."

She walked over to the cabinet and pulled out a jar of cocoa powder, two cups and two saucers. Harry watched her, thinking it odd that she didn't use a Summoning spell like most of the professors would have. But then Deveroux had never done things the same way as the other teachers.

"Have a seat, Harry," Deveroux said as she gestured towards a chair. She then turned her attention toward making two small cups of hot cocoa.

Harry slowly sat down in the offered chair and looked around the office, remembering his former Defense teachers, and how their offices had looked. Deveroux's decor was the most down-to-earth, the most "Mugglish" by far, especially compared to the rest of the castle. None of the pictures moved and none of the trophies or knickknacks did anything. The office was filled with ordinary non-magic flowers -- almost the Muggle equivalent of Sprout's greenhouses. Deveroux must be, indeed, Muggle-born -- but even Hermione used magical items as decorations, and thought more like a witch than a Muggle, unlike Deveroux. Harry's friend would have used an Accio spell to retrieve the mugs, for example. But thinking of Hermione only made him feel angry again, so instead Harry stared at the roaring fireplace. It was quite toasty in here, he thought. In fact, it was almost a little too warm, but it was a nice change of pace from the chill of the corridors.

The only thing Harry saw in Deveroux's office that definitely came from some magic shop were the small, irregularly shaped lamps that cast a bluish-white light in the office. Most looked like twisted pyramids, although the one on the Defense teacher's desk and the largest one on the top shelf of the bookcase nearest the back window looked like spheres that someone had twisted and squished.

Harry smiled inwardly, remembering when he had seen the Shimmer Lamps at Dervish and Banges and the low opinion most of the wizarding community seemed to have for them. Trust Professor Deveroux to have several.

A large, framed picture above a smaller bookshelf on the right of the fireplace caught his eye -- a picture of Aurellia Deveroux, a young, blond-haired man and ....

"Say, isn't that Profess ... errr, Mr. Lupin?" Harry asked, surprised.

Deveroux grinned. "Yes, that was taken two years ago, after I came back from the States."

"So you know him, then," Harry said.

"Oh, yes, for many years. Remus, in fact, is the one who recommended me for the Defense position here."

"I miss him. He was a great teacher, and ... I'm ... I'm sorry, that probably sounded ... I mean, I didn't mean to say you aren't ...."

Deveroux laughed. "I'm not offended in the least. Remus will be pleased to know that he's remembered fondly here, for he truly loved teaching. He talks a good deal about his students, especially you, Harry. He saw something very special in you, and I don't think it was entirely the fact that you probably remind him of your father. I've lost count of how many times he told me about your Patronus charm. He was very impressed."

Harry flushed a bit, but he was smiling again. "How is Mr. Lupin, anyway? Have you heard from him? I always wondered if he could get another job, seeing as how ...." Harry paused. Did Miss Deveroux know Lupin's secret?

"Yes, I know he's a werewolf," Deveroux said, as if reading his thoughts. "Remus, my cousin and I lived together for about three years in Cambridge. But no, I haven't heard any news from him in nearly two months. Things, as I'm sure you've noticed, are getting quite tense out there, with Lord Voldemort back. We've had to keep all but urgent communications to a bare minimum. But Remus is doing all right. He has been working hard for Dumbledore ... gathering and storing information, then feeding it to wherever it needs to go. It keeps him quite busy. Perhaps you can write him a brief note whenever you send a fireparchment to your godfather."

Harry gaped. "How did you know about Sirius? And the fact that he's my godfather? And how did you know that Sirius sent me ...."

Deveroux laughed again -- an easy, relaxed sound. "I've met Sirius a couple of times, and Remus told me a few stories about their days at Hogwarts. And the fire parchment was, admittedly, a lucky guess. Professor Dumbledore, being the wise man that he is, started stockpiling fireparchment and other supplies years ago, in anticipation of an event like this. He always feared that there would be another war with Voldemort someday. It is very expensive, and very hard to get, but Dumbledore managed to pull some strings and had a nice collection stored up when everything broke loose. He distributed sheets to his most trusted allies.

"I know Sirius wouldn't want you to owl him right now. It's too dangerous. But I know he misses you and cares about you, so I'm not the least bit surprised to find out that he sent you some of his limited supply of fire parchment so you can get in touch."

"Were you an investigator or something before you came to Hogwarts?" Harry, asked, impressed by her deductive work.

"Actually, no. I was a lawyer."

"A lawyer? With the Ministry?"

Deveroux sighed. "No. With the London courts."

Harry blinked. "Oh. Ummm ... that's ... interesting. So, your parents are Muggles, then?"

The Defense teacher didn't say anything for a long time, and Harry began to wonder if perhaps he had pried a little too much. Then she pointed to another, smaller photo in a silver frame. The photo depicted a stern, formidable-looking man with black hair that was greying at the temples and sides. His dark eyes had a fierce intensity, like a raptor's, and his square jaw was firmly set. There was only a trace of a smile on his lips. He had his arm around a petite, fair-complected woman, who smiled a bit uncertainly at the camera. She had shoulder-length dark brown hair with a few streaks of gray, and brown eyes that seemed somehow less intimidating than the man's, if more uncertain and distant.

"Jeorges and Marie Deveroux," Aurellia said as she gestured towards the picture. "They are non-magic users."

"Oh," Harry replied. "Well, there's nothing wrong with that. I mean, just because someone is a pure-blood doesn't make them any better ...."

Deveroux gave Harry an amused glance. "Yes, I know. I'm not embarrassed by my parents. And you don't have to sound so apologetic -- you have nothing to apologize for."

"Ummm ... OK," Harry replied.

"Now, if I may ask," Deveroux said, again sympathetic. "The Valentine ... it was meant for someone who didn't accept it, then?"

"More or less," Harry replied, debating how much to say. "She ... didn't feel the same way about me as I did her. But I think what hurt more is that a friend of mine knew that, and didn't tell me before I made a big fool of myself."

"I see," Deveroux murmured, then she paused. "Do you know why your friend didn't tell you?"

"Because ... because she said she didn't know how to tell me, and that she didn't think I'd believe her anyway," Harry said slowly, the words sinking in.

"And maybe she hoped she was wrong, or that you would never find out," Deveroux said. She looked at the picture of her, Lupin and the other man. "Sometimes, a friend will try their best to protect you from harm, from finding out about unpleasant things, but it winds up backfiring because unpleasant things are an unfortunate part of life and you have to learn to deal with such things on your own. Otherwise, you never find out who you really are, and where you truly stand."

Harry wasn't sure how to reply, but just then, their attention was diverted by a soft splat outside the Defense teacher's office window. They glanced over at the window to see, stuck to the outside of Deveroux's window....

"I must be seeing things," Harry said in disbelief. "Don't tell me that's a snowball heart???"

Deveroux stared, open-mouthed at the splotch on the window, then she started to laugh. "No, I don't think you're hallucinating. I'm seeing it too ...." Just then a small, snowy cupid flew by, complete with bow and quiver. It shot a small, snowy arrow at the window, and the arrow hit with a wet "plop."

"Let me guess, Fred and George are hoping I'll let them out of detention this week," she said wryly. "I'm very amused ... but their ploy isn't working."

Harry went over to the window, peered out and grinned in spite of himself. "Yeah, they are out there, but they aren't alone," he said with a small chuckle as he pointed toward the ground. Deveroux looked outside to see about a dozen or so students waving their wands and sending up heart-shaped snowballs. Another white cupid flew by, shooting off a string of well-aimed arrows that pierced some of the hearts. Fred and George were working together to make a huge heart shape out of several small, moving snowballs. Lee Jordan was waving his wand over a growing snow drift, in the process of making a third snow cupid. And on the ground, Ron, Dean and Argyle Greytalon had stomped large letters into the snow with their boots. The message read, "Will you be mi..." They hadn't finished yet.

Ron stopped to catch his breath and looked up at the window.

"Oy! Harry, is that you up there?" Ron's voice, muffled by the thick glass window, drifted up. Harry grinned and waved. "Come on down, Harry, the snow is great! And you can help us write another message!"

Harry nodded and gave Ron a "thumbs up" sign. "Thanks for the cocoa, professor," Harry said as he turned back to the Defense teacher.

"No problem," Deveroux replied with a kind smile. "Now go out there and have fun. Be a kid, while you can." Her expression suddenly became sad, distant ... haunted. She then turned her attention back to Harry, the amused twinkle in her eye again. "Oh, and tell the snow bunnies out there that if they break anything, they will have to pay for it, and I mean in galleons, not house points. Two of them in particular."

"I will," Harry said, returning the smile with a grin of his own. He then ran out of the office and started to head towards the Gryffindor tower. But after a few steps, he stopped, thought, and then redirected his feet towards the library. He tossed the Valentine in his hand into a wastecan on the way. Even if she didn’t want to join, Hermione would love hearing about the antics outside.

****


With a sympathetic expression Aurellia watched Harry Potter leave the office in considerably better spirits than when he had entered. She sighed softly and shook her head. Student antics aside, she knew too well what it was like to be in Harry's position. It seemed that the ones she fell for always ended up breaking her heart. And the ones who fell for her... she just never seemed to feel the same way about them. If Christmas is a holiday for idealistic dreamers, she thought bitterly, remembering Snape's cynical remark, then Valentine's Day is a holiday for fools and hopeless romantics. The question is, which am I? she thought, as she stared sadly at the gifts from her admiring students.

The splatting of the heart-shaped snowballs and cupid arrows on the window had stopped a while ago, but now the silence was replaced by a gentle tapping. Aurellia looked up from her bitter musings and away from the crackling fire over toward the window. Fingolfin was standing on the ledge tapping gently at the pane with his bill.

Thinking that Remus had probably sent her a note, Aurellia sprang up, darted over toward the window, and opened it. Fingolfin flew in, landed gracefully on the desk and waited patiently for a treat. Aurellia obliged him, and then gently removed the small note that was tied to the owl's leg. "Follow me," she read.

"What's this, Fingolfin?" she asked as she looked at the owl. "Is Remus up to something?"

The owl stared at her quizzically, then lifted his wings and took off.

"Oh, you are the mysterious one today, aren't you, ahmatte!" Aurellia scolded, following the owl out of the office and down the corridor.

Fingolfin took her to Sinistra's planetarium, which occupied the base of Trelawney's tall tower. Then he landed lightly on her shoulder and folded his wings as if to say, "Well, my part is done. I'm going to take a little rest now if you don't mind." Aurellia had never been in here before, although she had once made the long climb up the stairwell to visit Trelawney's and Sinistra's astrology and astronomy classrooms, back when she had first arrived at Hogwarts.

Stars decked the domed ceiling in myriad splendor, but there was no moon in the artificial sky. Aurellia dimly lighted her wand with a soft "Lumos," and discovered that the circular wall of the planetarium was shrouded in fog halfway up to the domed ceiling, and the floor was covered with pink and red rose petals. The students' chairs had apparently been stacked and shoved to one side against the wall, but the fog made it impossible for Aurellia to see them. In fact she could not see much of anything at ground level beyond the reach of her fingers. There was a hint of lilacs in the air, and the scent was carried on a warm breeze that seemed to come from nowhere. Lilacs... her perfume and shampoo were lilac-scented. Aurellia had always loved the scent. It reminded her of her birth mother.

A sonoroball floated across the artificial sky, glinting faintly in the light from the stars. A strange, haunting melody emanated from it, and an eerie voice crooned words in some language she did not know. "What does it mean?" she whispered to the stars. "I don't understand the language." The song came to a haunting close, and Aurellia shivered slightly, despite the fact that the room was comfortably warm. She was beginning to get that strange tingling sensation again, the one she always got when she knew that someone was watching her.

The stars began to move, to draw together into words, and shortly they spelled out a message across the "sky" in flowing cursive. "Welcome, Aurellia Deveroux," the stars spelled out. "This is for you."

Aurellia put a hand to her mouth to stifle a giggle. "Okay, Ron Weasley, this is very sweet of you," she said, "but you still need to spend more time practicing and paying attention in my class if you want high marks."

"Weasley is still outside playing in the snow," replied the stars. "And you deserve better than cards, candies and heart-shaped snowballs."

"Okay, so I guessed wrong," Aurellia said with a shrug. Fingolfin ruffled his feathers and nipped her ear as if to say, please don't do that when I'm standing here! "Come out whoever you are, and I'll give you ten house points for creativity," Aurellia continued, reaching up a hand to soothe the owl by stroking his soft feathers.

"You don't approve of the point system," replied the stars.

"I'll make an exception this time," Aurellia stated flatly, beginning to feel a bit nervous. There was a very powerful aura in this room besides her own, but it was difficult to read. It felt...confused, divided, drawn in conflicting directions. Must be a shy, infatuated student, she decided. "Neville Longbottom?" she guessed. No, she thought, as soon as the words were out of her mouth. Neville was a sweet kid, but his aura was far weaker, more self-conscious. And he could not have conjured something this elaborate.

"Please," spelled the stars. There was a hint of hurt in the aura now. "Don't insult me."

Now Aurellia was definitely beginning to lose patience. "Look, I'm not going to be angry with you. I just want to know who you are. Why would you go to all this trouble to impress me and then not tell me who you are?"

Fear. Anger. Hurt. "Don't ask questions. Enjoy the flowers, the stars, the night, the mystery. They are my gift to you. Take what I can give you, and do not demand what I cannot." Sadness.

"Okay, I know you're a student," Aurellia decided. "At least tell me which house you're in so I know where to award the points."

Disappointment. Retreat. A starry serpent appeared in the sky.

"Slytherin!" she hissed. "I might have known." She inhaled sharply. "Draco Malfoy???" Please, tell me I'm wrong!

Oh there was definitely pain now. Rejection, hurt feelings.

"No. This was a mistake. I should have known..."

"Known what?"

No reply. The stars returned to their normal positions.

"What?" she demanded hotly. "Tell me!"

"Goodnight Miss Deveroux. I will not trouble you again," the stars spelled out.

"Who are you? What should you have known?" Deveroux demanded, practically shouting.

The stars spelled out one last message.

"That you would only see the serpent."

And with that the mysterious presence left.

Aurellia turned and left the planetarium as well. That was very strange, she thought. Well, I have a secret admirer. I wonder who it is?

End of Chapter 28

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

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