The next morning I woke up to a sense of a calmness. The memory of the night before had not yet set in. Then I remembered the fight, and what would be waiting for me in the Common Room. The calmness that was over me was suddenly taken over by dread.
I slowly rolled over and put my feet on the ground. The girl's dormitory seemed dangerously quiet, like the silence was pressing against my eardrums. I ran my fingers through my greasy black hair and stood up.
Procrastinating, I slowly made my way to the leather trunk at the end of my bed. I opened it up and took out my school uniform. Laying the skirt and shirt on my bed, I smoothed out the wrinkles. Then, I slowly undressed myself out of my pajamas and slide into my uniform. I walked to the other side of the room where a mirror hung on the wall and watched myself loop my tie around, tying it into a perfect knot. Looking at myself closer, I picked up a hair brush and ran it through my hair. After that, I could think of no other reason to remain in the dorm, so I reluctantly made my way down the stairs.
Waiting at the bottom to greet me was my Uncle and Draco Malfoy, as promised.
"Good Morning, Eleanor." Uncle Severus said in a teasing tone.
"Yeah..." I mumbled back.
"Isn't there something you would like to tell Mr. Malfoy?"
"No." I answered stubbornly. He forced a cough. I took a deep breath. "Iamnothelpingteachremedialpotions,IamtakingitandIamnotintheN.E.W.T.sclassandIwaswonderingify-ouwouldliketocometooneofmyremedialpotionsclassestowatchmebeafaulure." Draco started at me for a moment.
"What?" He finally exclaimed.
"I'm just one big lie." Draco then reacted in a way neither my uncle or I expected; instead of yelling at me or slapping me, he kissed me. He kissed me right there in the middle of the Common Room, under the shocked gaze of my Uncle.
"Oh, I'm so relieved!" He broke away, but then embraced me in a tight hug. "When you said that you were in the N.E.W.T.s class, you made me feel stupid, but you're not in that class, it turns out it's not me that's stupid, it's you!" He stepped back.
"Gee, thanks." He grabbed my upper arm.
"No, no! That's okay, because I don't care if I'm smarted than you!" He kissed me again. He broke away once more, and we both smiled. "Come one, let's go to breakfast" We turned around, only to be blocked by Uncle Severus. During the heart filled moment, we both forgot that he was standing there.
"Professor Snape, I-" Draco started
"Oh, no, there is no reason to explain yourself." He pushed us forward, towards the door. "You two need to go to breakfast." There was a pause, and Draco grabbed my hand. Together we went down stairs to the main hall. On the way out, I looked back to smile at my Uncle, only to find him smiling back.
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"We will practice the charm without wands first. After me please...Riddikulus!" Professor Lupin, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher explained later that day. Everyone in the class repeated the spell.
"This class is ridiculous." Mumbled Draco, making Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy and I laugh.
"Good, very good. But that was the easy part, I'm afraid. You see, the word alone is not enough. And that's were you come in Neville." Lupin continued, gesturing Neville Longbottom, a short, dark haired Gryffindor, forward to a shaking wardrobe that contained a Bogart.
"Ha!" Draco sneered. "This ought to be entertaining!"
"Yeah!" I laughed, "Longbottom is a failure at everything!
"Ha! I can only imagine how this is going to end!" Pansy added.
"Yeah! I bet you two chocolate frogs that he messes this up!" Crabbe laughed.
More criticizing comments were made towards Neville, until a comment was said by Professor Lupin that caught my ear and brought me back to attention.
"Snape will be forced into that vulture-topped hat, and that green dress, with that big, red handbag." A sea of laughter rippled across the room. Looking at Draco, I said,
"What is he talking about?"
"I don't know, probably something that will make Longbottom feel better when he blows up the wardrobe or something." Draco answered while Lupin's voice served as background noise.
"Now!" I looked up to see Lupin opening the wardrobe. Out of it came the figure of my Uncle Severus!
"Ha!" I laughed, "Really? That's what he's afraid of? My Uncle?"
"R-r-riddikulus!" Neville squeaked, making a whip-like cracking noise.
Suddenly, the fake Uncle Severus's appearance morphed. Instead of his usual black cloak, he dawned a long, lace trimmed dress. On top of his greasy, black hair sat a hideous, towering, moth eaten hat that had a stuffed vulture perched on top of it. As I looked at his side, I noticed he held a huge, red handbag. The class erupted into squeals of delight. I was the only person who seemed to get no entertainment from it.
Lupin seized the moment, and had another student come up to 'face their fear'. The Bogart continued to change shape, from a mummy, to a banshee, to a rat, and into other horrible things. Every Gryffindor took their turn, except for the mud blood Hermione Granger and Harry Potter (a.k.a. "The Boy Who Lived"), because when it was his turn, Professor Lupin jumped in front of him, making the Bogart (which was in the form of a leg-less spider as a result from Ron Wesley) turn into a floating, glowing orb.
"Forward Neville, and finish him off." Lupin shouted. Charging forward, Neville shouted,
"Riddikulus!" Making the Bogart yet again take the form of a stupidly dressed version of my Uncle, until it finally busted into a pile of smoke.
"Excellent!" Cried Professor Lupin, who continued his compliments by giving unearned House Points to every Gryffindor, including Harry Potter and the mudblood, who both had done absolutely nothing.
With that being the end of class, everyone began to file out of the room.
"Did you see that dress?" I over heard some one in a cluster of Gryffindors snort. The group snickered. The thought of the Gryffindor making a fool of my Uncle annoyed, if not angered, me. Was he not one of the greatest professors at the school?
"Ellie?" Draco wrecked my train of thought, snapping me back into reality.
"Huh?" I looked at him absentmindedly.
"Are you coming?" He questioned, for as I was thinking the whole class had left except for Draco, myself, and Neville Longbottom, who was delayed because he had dropped his books and was collecting them off of the floor.
"Go on." I answered, "I'll catch up." Draco just shrugged and went off. Slowly, I walked over to Longbottom, standing behind him. As he was straitening back up, I coughed the way my Uncle Severus did to get my attention on numerous occasions, making him jump and drop his books again.
"Wha-what?" He stuttered as he picked his books back up.
"What was the point of making a fool of my Uncle?"
"I have no clue what you are talking about." He said, nervously.
"Do you not know who I am?" I put my hands on my hips, copying the way Sarah Beth had stood as she had denied ever meeting me a couple days before the Hogsmeade trip.
"N-no?" He whispered, fear shaking in his voice.
"I am Eleanor Snape." I emphasized Snape.
"Fool of your Uncle..." He mumbled, obviously trying to put two and two together in his mind. "Eleanor Snape... Snape... Professor Snape is you Uncle!" He froze, his eyes wide.
"Yes, yes he is, and if you make a fool of him again, my wand might just..." I put the tip of my wand to his throat, "slip...I'm so clumsy that way... and something bad might happen." A maniacal smile danced on my lips.
"Ya- yes, sir!" He said, cowering.
"Now, go!" I barked as I put my wand back into my robe.
With a proud air around me, I pivoted and walked out the door. Spotting Draco's white-blonde hair a little farther down the corridor, I sped up my pace to catch up with him. After a minute or so, I was behind him in the hallway, as I had promised.
"What were you doing?" He asked curiously as I squeezed into my place between him and Crabbe.
"Oh, just taking care of some unfinished business." I replied while pushing a greasy strand of black hair out of my face.
"Okay." Draco seemed to accept the answer with no questions.
Suddenly, as we passed the door to Uncle Severus's office, it opened. The figure of Severus Snape stepped out.
"Eleanor, I was just looking for you. Since you missed class yesterday I am extending your class for today." Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy looked puzzled.
"What class?" Pansy questioned, hoping the answer would be embarrassing.
"She is helping him teach the remedial potions class." Draco said instantly. He winked at my Uncle and I.
"Oh, yes." Uncle Severus played along, "and she better come along." Saying goodbyes to Draco, Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy, I followed my Uncle into his office for an extended potions class.
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The next day in Defense Against the Dark Arts, we yet again practiced defense against Bogarts. As expected, only the Gryffindors volunteered to do anything. The same results happened as the day before, until it became Neville's turn.
As he stepped forward, the Bogart changed into the shape of a pale figure with long, greasy hair, but it looked somehow different from yesterday's. As I looked closer, I noticed that it looked different because it was not the figure of my uncle; I was starring at myself.
My cheeks burned as they reddened with embarrassment.
"Riddikulus!" Neville yelled. I couldn't watch. I covered my eyes, hoping to block this moment out of my life. Unfortunately, that didn't work. A sea of laughter hit me hard in the chest. Half my mind wanted me to remove my hands and see how Longbottom ridiculed me, and the other half wanted to go hide. So that's exactly what I did.
Turning around, I ran out the door, not daring to look back.
I ran through the hallway to the first 'safe haven' I could find: My Uncle Severus's office. The place that used to be a like a torturous dungeon was now a shield. I ran in and, curling up into a pitiful ball, put my hands over my face under my Uncle's desk. That is were, I decided, to hide until someone came to find me or until I died of embarrassment: which ever one would come first.