The Moon Has Spoken

“By the pricking of my thumbs,something wicked this way comes”.

These words echoed ominously in Severus’ mind as he surveyed the Hourglasses. Of course, a Muggle play. How fitting. He felt his skin creep and he squared his shoulders. He could hear laughter coming his way, and he turned his head just in time to see them approaching, Fiddler among them.
Something wicked…

They stopped dead when they noticed his sulking presence, and drawing himself upto his full height, he shot them a venomous glance and turned around on his heels, rather dramatically, and strode furiously towards the Headmaster’s office. Still, he was still able to hear her ask:

“What is wrong with him?”

And Potter’s contemptuous answer:

“He’s an arse, Fidd. Ignore him”.

Oh, he was going to pay for that one, but later. He paused his feline stride when he reached the gargoyle, and opened his mouth to snarl the password.

“Treacle past---”

But the gargoyle swung aside of its own volition and Snape sd.
d.

“He does that everytime”, he murmured to himself as he entered Dumbledore’s office.

“Who is she, Albus?”, he asked with no preamble. “Just who the HELL did you tuck into this castle?”

“Oh, Severus! How lovely of you to drop by! Would you like some tea?” Albus was gazing at his twelve hands’ clock as if he was expecting Severus and was pleased with his punctuality. He beamed at the Potions Master and put the clock aside. Fawkes chimed from his perch, and Severus felt himself blush. So much for manners, his chant seemed to say.

“I--- No, Albus, I would not like some tea, thank you the same. I would like, however, some answers”.

“Always so eager, my boy… But then, you do look unnerved. What is it about her that has you so unsettled?”

Severus had a seat, and run his hands through his dark hair. He sighed gloomily and told Albus what had just happened. A tea tray had appeared out of thin air, and Dumbledore sipped at his cup thoughtfully before he spoke.

“I told you you would feel it, remember, Severus? Before you summoned her?”

“Yes, and I do feel it. But still that doesn’t explain the points”.

“Oh, the points! One would think they are a matter of life and death!”, Dumbledore laughed happily at Severus’ scowl and continued. “Very well, then, the points. I gather, there were no points lost from Hufflepuff nor Gryffindor, is that correct?” Severus nodded. “Well, I don’t see a reason to worry!”

“What?”

“Well, aparently she does not possess those Gryffindor qualities you so despise!”, Albus said cheerfully. “On the contrary, she seems to hold both the brilliance of a Ravenclaw and the archness of a Slytherin. I would have thought you would be delighted”.

Severus’ head snapped right up in clear annoyance.

“What was that?”

“Oh, nothing, my boy… Just an old man’s babbling, that is all”.

Severus eyed him suspiciously. He had learned to mistrust Dumbledore’s “old man’s babbling”.

“Wondering why I did not Sort her, are you, Severus?”, he heard him say.

Severus nodded.

“Well, it would have been the must difficult task to our dear Sorting Hat upto date”, Albus sighed. “I am not saying it could not have succeeded… But I guess I did not want to take that risk. She’s only half human, Severus, do you not see?”

Finally, the weight of this fact sunk in.

“Merlin’s wand… I---”

It was a rather unusual sight, Severus Snape at a loss of words.

“That is correct, Severus. The Sorting Hat was provided with pieces of the Four Founders’ minds, so it could find similarities in the wizarding children. Human children, Severus. Only twice in its thousand years of existence was it forced to Sort halfbreeds. You know them both, and you know the House they were both Sorted into. And none of them get even close to the ancient magic a Banshee can conjure”.

“Something wicked this way comes…”, Severus drawled.

“Rather callous, I should say, but fitting all the same. Banshees are not benevolent creatures, Severus, and I can only hope that Fiddler’s wizarding side along with her rather unexpected upbringing will get the best of her. My hopes are up since she’s a doctor and you need some sort of moral strength to pursue that career. But yet…”, Dumbledore fell silent and Severus felt there wasn’t really anything else to say.

~§~§~§~

“What are you reading, Hermione?”, asked Ron that morning during breakfast. “Not another letter from Vicky, is it?”

“Don’t call him Vicky”, Hermione admonished distractedly without taking her eyes from the paper she was perusing. “And if you have to know, no, it’s not a letter from him”.

“What is it then?”

“The Daily Prophet, of course”.

“Anything good these days?”, Harry inquired between mouthfuls of ham and eggs.

“Um... not really. Let’s see... Two blokes got into a fight at H End End… Wow, they hexed each other pretty badly! Look at it!”, and she showed them the moving pictures that showed what it seemed to be the victims of a rather vicious bubotuber. They all winced in disgust and she kept reading out loud: “Well, wouldn’t you know, Percy’s travelling to Greece in a ‘Diplomatic Mission for the Minister of Magic’…”

“Wonder if he’ll be able to deflate his head enough to Apparate this time”, Ginny said mockingly.

“We can always give him a hand”, Ron grimaced. Percy, his older brother, had come around after that pompous Fudge had finally admitted the return of Voldemort but he still was the same insufferable twit he had always been.

“Fudge sacked yet another Unspeakable!”, Hermione exclaimed then and all thoughts of Percy fled from their minds.

“Is he in the Order?”, asked Harry right away.

“Uh, let’s see… Owen Donovan. Does it ring a bell?”

“No, not really… But then again, I don’t think we’ve actually met all the members of the Order”, said Harry pensively.

“We can ask Remus then”, Ginny said.

“Remus? Since when do you call him Remus?”, asked Ron, outraged.

“Oh, loosen up”, Fiddler intervened. “I’ve called him Remus as well since I met him”.

“Yes, but you’re 26!”

“What does age have to do with anything?” Ginny asked, bemused.

“Shut up, peeps, we’re drawing too much attention to ourselves!”, Hermione hissed.

And she was right. More than one of theirffinffindor fellows was shooting them inquiring glances, and Snape’s expression was priceless, as if he’d eavesdropped every word they had just said.

“Oh. Right”, said Ron.

“Are you finished yet?”, asked Harry. “Because we need to discuss this”.

“Oh, and that won’t look suspicious”, said Fiddler with much than just a hint of irony. “All five of us getting up at the sime time clutching The Daily Prophet. Come on, kids, think a bit. Finish your breakfast calmly and discuss this as civilized humans”.

“Yes, Mum”, said Ron grumpily, but with a contradictory smile on his face.

“Yeah, sorry about that”, Harry said.

“All right. Now you can tell me why is that sacked Unspeakable so important”.

“They work in the Department of Mysteries”, said Hermione in a barely audible whisper. “And that’s where they used to keep Trelawney’s Prophecy about Harry and Voldemort---”, Ron winced. “Don’t be pathetic, Ron, you’re seventeen years old! Anyway, the point is Professor Dumbledore once told Harry they had another room in that department, one they kept locked at all times, and supposedly, therein lays a power which Voldemort--- don’t you dare to wince, Ronald Weasley! Which Voldemort fears more than anything.
»So ever since Fudge was forced to admit Voldemort was back, he’s been sacking Unspeakables out of the lamest excuses, so our theory is that he’s being ordered to do so”.

“Put under Imperius curse, you mean?”, asked Fiddler.

“, we, we reckon so”, said Harry. “You see, after the Death Eaters broke out of Azkaban for the second time, some of them banished and have not been seen since. We reckon that at least one of them got hold of our dear Minister and is now trying to clear the Department of Mysteries for a break-in”.

“But what of the Aurors?”, asked Fiddler. “Wouldn’t they do something?”

“Oh, the Aurors are mud these days in the Ministry”, said Ginny dismissively. “Half of them are in the Order and the other half is preparing to join it. Fudge gets such a tantrum whenever he sees one… Percy told me about it”.

“Screw Percy”, said Ron, angrily, and Ginny blushed, staring at her empty plate.

“We can go now”, Hermione observed. “The Hall’s clearing out”.

The five wizards rose from their sits and left the Hall walking towards nowhere in particular.

“So what d’you reckon happened to Draco’s daddy?”, Ron asked when they reached the gateway that led to the lake.

“Wouldn’t we all like to know”, said Harry bitterly.

“Well, at least you don’t get to see him wallowing around as if he owned the school”, Ginny said sensibly.

“Oh, yeah, that’s a relief”, Hermione mumbled.

“Who the hell is Draco?”, Fiddler asked.

“Oh, of course, you haven’t met him yet”, Hermione said, so they proceeded to explain her all about Draco.

They sat at the coastline of the lake, watching the Giant Squid’s sporadic budges.

“He’s a right little slimeball”, Ron said viciously. “And he used to have all Slytherin House wrapped around his finger. But of course, ever since his father ended up in Askaban he stopped bullying people around, because now daddy and his connections weren’t there to save his sorry little arse. But then the Death Eaters broke out and now he shows up whenever he wants to… He seems to believe graduation is meaningless now that everything’s been uncovered”.

“Yeah, it’s not like he was going to do anything with himself anyway”, Hermione said. “He only got good marks at Potions because Professor Snape would always favor him. But in the rest…”, she shrugged.

“Snape and Lucius Malfoy were fellow Death Eaters”, Harry clarified.

“Who?” asked Fiddler, because the name had stirred something in her memory.

“Lucius Malfoy”, Harry repeated. “Draco’s father”.

“I’ven hin him”, said Fiddler suddenly. The other’s reaction was immediate and alarming because it reminded her of Severus’ retort.

“What? When? HOW?”, they all asked in unison.

“Hey, hey, hey! Calm down for a bit! Yeah, I’ve seen him, he went to the hospital I used to work at and said his master had sent him to claim me. He didn’t seem in his right mind, you see… he started babbling and spitting all over the place… Shaking all around as if having a seizure… We’ve had a few of those… Usually on abstinence syndrome, so I gave him a shot and put him to sleep”.

“You what?”, Harry howled.

Fiddler couldn’t help to laugh then.

“What would you say, Harry, if I told you that you reacted just the same way as your dear Professor Snape?”

“I would cut my tongue on the spot, so please don’t say it”, Harry replied mortified.

“All right. I won’t. Anyway, the point is I asked two nurses to help the bloke to a bed and then I forgot about him. I won thn the ER so it’s easy enough to forget about a long haired blonde nutter. But when we did the night visit… The bloke was gone. And the funniest part is, although many people saw him come in, no one saw him get out”.

“He Disapparated”, Hermione said apparently to herself.

“Yeah, well, I know that now”, Fiddler replied.

“This is important, Fiddler”, Harry said. “Have you told Dumbledore?”

“No… but then again, I am pretty sure he knows. And I did tell Severus”.

“Severus?”, wailed Ron. “You call him Severus?”

“For crying out loud, kid, what’s with you and first names?”, Fiddler asked, “yeah, I call him Severus when I see him, which, as you surely noticed already, is not too often!”

“Oh… right. Sorry. It’s just that...”

“You hate him, I know”.

“Forget Snape”, Ginny said. “We really need to talk to someone in the Order now”.

“How long has been since you saw Lucius?”, Ron asked.

“Um… it was like four days before Severus came along”, Fiddler said, stressing the Potions Master’s given name, much to Ron’s dismay.

“So he was around Muggle Ireland…”, Harry mused. “I wonder if he’s still there”.

“Well, he hasn’t been spotted, that’s for sure, or this pile of garbage would have published the lurid news already”, Hermione observed, shaking the Daily Profet still in her hand.

“Yeah…”, Ron pillowed his chin on his fist hand and stared at the lake pensively. No one talked for a while until Hermione screamed, scaring the wits out of everybody:

“Merlin’s teeth! We’re late for CLASS!”

So they all got to their feet and rushed back into the castle, leaving Fiddler still on the grass, by the lake, thinking.






A/N.
TBC, I promise!!!

Please R&R!!!
Once again, thanx a million to mya rea reader Ian!!!

Disclaimer: All characters and HP universe belong to J.K. Rowling, except for the ones you don’t recognize. The plot as well is mine and solely mine!! No profit is being made!!!!