Chapter 18: Celebration of survival
The embers of the glowing sun were beginning to fill the nights sky, students’ exited voices filling the school. Even though the first task had ended several hours ago, the vibe it had bought still lingered between the children.
Some were dancing, some were introducing themselves to others, and Hogwarts had never been so alive in friendship.
The hospital wing was alive too, sadly. Many children where scared from the battle, but their enthusiasm, strangely, remained untouched. Even the seventh years with burns didn’t mind, they were too engrossed in the moment to care. Lucy was cooped up on a bed, sitting up and smiling happily. She was a hero and inspiration to them all, and Lucy couldn’t have been happier.
"Hey," a first year asked. "Can - Can I have your autograph?"
Lucy smiled at the trembling boy, who seemed more afraid of her than the dragon that had blown him off his seat
“Sure! Why not, but don’t let anyone else get one” she winked, and the boy relaxed instantly. She was secretly handed the paper and she did a signature, she’d made one up only days ago and the preparation had done well.
“Hey, Lucy, well done!” a Durmstrang applauded her as he smiled. He’d just helped his friend stagger into the hall with a faulty leg.
The boy trotted off and Lucy was left to gaze at the sight of the full wing. She felt more confident than she’d ever been, that rare confidence she’d always felt when she was sacred it had filled her, but the fact she’d slayed a dragon blew that out off her body.
“Lucy how’s your hand?” Madam Pomfrey asked as she took her hand meekly and checked it.
“Much better, thanks” she replied. After a check, Madam Pomfrey left, but Lucy wasn’t alone for long.
“Can you come out yet?” Shona bolted her the question. Lucy jumped out of her skin.
“How - ?” was all she asked as Shona then flashed her the magical stick “Shona! We nearly killed the entire faculty with an object from that room, I don’t think its wise to do it again”
Shona sighed and nodded in agreement. She put the stick away and waited for her reply
“I guess” Shona said blankly. She did a dance and Lucy picked up the golden egg beside her and was dragged out of the hospital wing by Shona, many clapping her as she closed the doors.
They swam through several fans all eager to get a sentence in to Lucy. Colin Creevy took repetitive pictures of her until Shona shoed him off.
“God!” Lucy said at Shona as they ploughed round the corner
“You’re a hit, Lucy! You’ve given us a great name”
“Us?” Lucy asked confused
“Oh ‘the gifted’” Shona expressed the words comically, “Nobody even cared about us before that! You’re the word of the town; even Hogsmeade is going barmy over us! Especially you, Lucky!”
They reached the dungeon, Shona describing how cool the fans where and how harry had wished her best in finding out what the egg meant. As they got further down though, Lucy got the suspicions feeling something was going on. First of all, there where a couple of students actually lingering in the hallways, Most times no one even dared set foot in this place except for the Slytherin’s, even then they only hurried out.
Secondly Lucy’s ears were picking up a faint vibrating noise, of what sounded like music being played at high volume. Last but not least, Shona was very bouncy.
“STOP!” Shona ordered and stood to attention. Lucy stared
“What are you up too?” she half laughed
“Close your eyes and hold your ears!” Shona said as she got out a piece of cloth.
“OK?” Lucy said as she was tied up, “You know if I was down here on my own and someone asked me that I’d be up Gryffindor common room by now”
Shona laughed as she steered her friend to her father’s room, and Lucy had the feeling whatever Shona was doing was going to see her never exit the detention rooms ever again.
Shona banged the door open and an odd silence entered Lucy’s blocked ears, as though 100 people were holding their breaths. Shona then proceeded to take her blindfold off
“Ta-da! I’ve decorated your daddy’s room!”
Lucy couldn’t help but laugh. The room had deliberately been given a red and gold coating of flags and signs. Party poppers lay on the floor ready to be used and Lucy dared not think what else the girl had decorated.
“This is fantastic! You know how many detentions you’ll get for this though?”
“All for a good cause,” Shona muttered and rubbed her nails, “Now all we need is a raving mock of students...mmm...”
At that moment, about 70 kids popped out of everywhere, screaming and yelling. Lucy cowered as some set of mini fireworks, but her joy was reaching max.
“Wow!” screamed over the voices as more children flooded through the doors on cue. Shona held up her hand and they all went silent
“You have more control than any of the teacher here, McGuire” Dean Thomas laughed, sending a soft mumble of giggle throughout
“I just wanted to say...HAPPY SURVIVAL PARTY!”
At the words the party began as music filled the air again, Lucy shook her head but joined in anyway.
* * *
Snape strode from the highest of the ground, having had to help hide the dragon away. He had been healing students until his help had called from elsewhere, and he hadn’t stopped since Dumbledore had set out his orders. He nodded at the dragon tamers, whom were all talking in an odd foreign language.
As Snape entered the main entrance to the dungeons his eyes met an eerie sight.
Children.
There was a gang of them laughing and filling up the corridors, dancing away to some rotten tune. Snape might have questioned their doings, but what shocked him most was that they were a mix of houses. Some Ravenclaw’s, some Hufflepuff’s and Gryffindor’s. He sneered and ran over to them, keen to tell them off
"What are you doing down here?" Snape questioned eerily. The kids froze.
“There’s a no entrance zone, Professor” one sneered back, and Snape her the most foulest look ever
“You will spend time with me in detention. All of you, for your time wasting” he retorted, and the girl was defeated. The others looked at her as if to say ‘why say that?’. They shuffled off, looking very glum.
‘That got rid of them’ he thought smugly. He smiled slightly as he strode round the corner…
“Ouch!” a Beauxbaton student squeaked as he walked into her. Snape was even more confused; as he looked up he saw several other blue uniforms, all-starring at him holding alcohol.
“Oh dear, dear, dear...Drinking are we? This shall be very interesting for your Headmistress…” he hissed, hiding his absolute shock. They too were frowning, but Snape’s head wrinkled when he saw many more silhouettes of people partying down another corner.
He strode away from the kids and looked into every single room he could find. Whenever he poked his head around one, he was gasping to find that full-length parties were going on, and was to confused to stop them. Suddenly his attention turned to his room.
“My room!” he stormed to his place, his one chamber. His anger rose as he saw more and more students partying as though they where going to pile up on one another. He was about to put the key into the lock, but the door was open slightly. He cringed and prepared himself for the sight that was going to come before his eyes. He grasped the door with a cold grasp and slowly pushed it open.
Nothing could stop his blank expression turning to a pale colour. The students had turned his place upside down, and they where all shrieking. Some were jumping on his wooden table, others raving on his wooden/carpeted floor. He couldn’t understand. Lucy wouldn’t do this! Would she?
Then it struck him.
McGuire.
“McGuire!” He roared out loud, but no one heard him over the noise. He couldn’t see Lucy, he couldn’t pick out anyone, they all were a blur. He waded through the crowd, trying not to be trampled by the kids; he’d sort them later. But first he wanted to sharpen his teeth on McGuire.
Snape made it to his corridor, but didn’t actually expect that to be packed with students either. They were playing piñata with a wizarding twist; the piñata was alive with magic. Every time the person went to swing it, it would gallop out of the way and Snape bashed the kids aside as he stormed into his bedroom.
“She wouldn’t dare….” He told himself. But she did.
Well, there were only a couple of group of kids, but most where either snogging or talking about dragons. Snape slammed the door with so much force all the kids where shaken to the ground.
“Get out, all of you.” He said in a low voice. At once they all panicked out of the room, grabbing for the door. Snape didn’t move, he let them flow past him in fear. When they had exited, his head turned sharply to the sounds of giggling from his on suite.
He yanked the door as violent as the first, finding two other couples smooching each other and drinking. He stared at them and they walked out quickly, all except one boy, who looked as pale as Snape, but for a very different reasons.
“Move,” he spat. The boy did very cautiously. Snape showed his teeth and grasped the boys shoulders and chucked him out, but as he let go the boy held him quickly, “let go of me now!”
But he didn’t, instead he pulled himself closer. Snape had a feeling he was going to kiss him, but he didn’t. Instead he vomited all over him… Snape’s face drooped at the sound effects. The boy looked up, and only a python stare looked at him. The boy ran as fast as he could and out the door as Snape pulled a face at the mess.
The music bounced off the walls as Snape sighed in anger. He undid his black top and shook it off, not tying to touch it at all, leaving a lovely white top showing making him look like and angel.
He had expected McGuire to be somewhere he wouldn’t find him, but that idea hadn’t work. He stiffly shoved the garment off, back into a washing basket and rethought his plans.
Where is that coward?
After several interruptions from students bursting and being chased out, Snape decided it be best just to address them all. He marched out and shoved every child in his pathway out of his lane. This grew attention from the dancing crowds, who where beginning to get bad feelings. Snape stood in the middle and Snape aimed at the jukebox
“Expelliarmus!”
The jukebox died instantly, giving of a whirring tune before cluttering to the ground, silencing the students. Snape clenched his teeth and spoke to them in a very calm manner.
“All of you are in serious trouble. Where is McGuire? Shona bloody Louise McGuire.”
No one spoke, nor moved or even tried to breath in the air. The potions master was leaving his full terror to only one person; this was only scratching the top.
“She is somewhere in here!” he said again, but no reply. He rolled his eyes and mumbled to himself, “if she is not found I will personally keep you all in detention until you beg for utter mercy, even then you will still be punished. So, I shall ask again, where is she?”
The students slowly filtered away from a place not so far away from Snape. They pointed at a girl, trying not to look afraid, with a white hoodie and brown hair standing there. She gulped as she saw Snape smile
“SO,” he said, almost licking his lips in triumph. “McGuire wants to hold a party. But no, not any party, one that acquires such stupidity to hold it in a teacher’s own, personal, room. Why? I wonder, could you not have held this mongrel upstairs in Gryffindor common room, or even if you dared, Dumbledore’s office?”
McGuire didn’t say anything. Snape’s smile grew more evil and his teeth seemed to become razors in the light.
“I see,” He sneered, “ a simple room is not good enough for a McGuire, McGuire wants a special room, because she’s ‘gifted’. Well I shall point this out to you, McGuire; do I hold parties in your house? Do I bother you? Do I attack you mentally every single day?”
Snape was a volcano, but was keeping a very good job from letting his feelings overflow. No one commented until McGuire shook a little. Snape stood closer, the crowd behind the girl stepping back at a shocking speed
“Let me tell you this, you will not see the day of light again as long as I work here? Clear? I have had enough of you and your silly jokes, stupid friends and corny lies. You don’t deserve to be here, do you? Why don’t you go crawl back where you belong - ”
“AT LEAST I CAN LAUGH!” Shona retorted back. Snape snarled
“What?” He yelled.
“I can actually step out into the grounds and enjoy life! Unlike you”
“Your months of detentions have just got higher” he tutted in anger. “When will you ever learn to shut your mouth?”
“When I die, I never believe in silencing courage”
“Courage, how does this represent courage?” he snarled and grabbed the girl’s hoodie and proceeded to drag her away
“I don’t mean this! I mean shutting my mouth!” she replied as the slam echoed. But the door quickly opened
“All of you, get out!” Snape snarled before shutting the door again and dragging the girl down the corridors
“Where are you taking me?” Shona started to pull off the mans grasp
“To Professor Dumbledore, I’m afraid this is the final straw for you” he said happily. Shona continued to battle with him as Lucy strode up to them
“Dad!” She shouted at him but he didn’t listen as they approached the staircase of the headmaster
“Why couldn’t you make friends with the right people, Lucy?” he muttered as he pushed Shona up the stairs.
“Dad, let me explain - ”
He pushed McGuire into the office of the headmaster and followed, slamming the door quickly. He smiled as he entered, he was finally going to expel his worst enemy, his life would be complete. Shona lay on the ground, looking up at the headmaster who was partly indulged in a magazine called ‘kilts, and manly dresses: find your style in the wizarding word!’
“Severus?” He asked, he seemed more humoured than angry at his appearance. He knew the unloving friendship between the girl and the teacher and knew this story was going to be one of those days.
“Headmaster,” Snape started and looked at Shona, who got up slowly and watched Dumbledore’s expressions. “This girl has held a party in my dungeons without permission! Professor McGonagall gave permission for the students to celebrate in the Gryffindor common room, not the dungeons. But miss McGuire knew different, she had to bound down to my room and start some animal party”
“It was a survival party!” Shona urged, Dumbledore still smiling.
“She is breaking rules, Headmaster! She has broken too many now! She needs to be expelled!”
“Come nom, Severus, I - ”
“No, Albus, I know her too well, she did this on purpose”
“Severus I was the one who permitted the parties” Dumbledore corrected him. “And I gave Miss McGuire sole permission to set a party down in the dungeons as it was bigger, Shona McGuire said she needed the room.”
“No,” Snape stuttered, his plan foiled. “No! She held the whole school down there, not just a few hundred!”
Dumbldore chuckled and popped a sherbet lemon into his mouth and saved his page with his wand
“Severus, if it makes you happy, I did not give her permission to entre any of the rooms…But I did say she could use any rooms with permission from the users”
“I did have permission!” Shona urged both of them. “I had all the teacher signatures and permission! I said that why not hold a party for everyone, not just certain houses. I asked permission from everyone!”
“No...Not me though!” He was acting like a child now, he had McGuire in his hands but the grip was slipping fast.
“I asked Lucy, well, she signed it for me without knowing, and you did”
“No. I always check every single paperwork sign for, every cheque and paper; there is no possible answer to how you got my sole permission!” He almost tore the roof off.
“I was celebrating our success, trying to get us a good name as well as we made so much press commotion last year I thought maybe some good articles would do us good”
“You liar” he hissed and looked like he was going to rip her head off
“You might as well go, Severus, but I will say it was very unwise of Miss McGuire to have asked Lucy Snape” he muttered as he crunched the sherbet lemon and his face glittered as the sherbet filled his mouth, Turing his tongue with many flavours. Snape stomped out of the office.
“Thank you, Professor” Shona muttered as the man smiled
“Anything to keep this entertainment rolling” he muttered and chuckled to himself. Shona bowed in a funny way and walked out happily.
“Lucy” Snape said as pulled the girl aside. Lucy pulled a confused face
“Did you sign for Shona to have a party in my room?”
Silence followed, if he could catch McGuire out here his chances of infinity detentions was still there. Lucy seemed to think. And Snape waited on his toes for an answer. Lucy saw out of the corner of her eye Shona, who was shaking her head quickly.
“Yeah” was all she said, and Snape breathed in an annoyed defeated breath. Shona walked up behind him and calmly said:
“You know, it’s sad to put all of your own effort in finding mistakes in someone else? You know you’ll never get me” she said wittingly. Snape showed a crunched up face and the to look like they were going to have a race, Shona being the one running away.
“Happy gifted eh?” Lucy half muttered.
“Oh there they are!” Rita Skeeter screamed as she rushed up, scaring them all, “ how are you, good?”
Snape seemed to shift as if Skeeter formed a stench onto him. The girls both noticed this as Rita smiled at him slightly
“I was just taking these girls - ” Snape said quickly
“ - To the library” Shona said as well
“For revision for the next task” Lucy then added as well. Rita looked very happy with her news
“Preparing already? Well Lucy, you really are an underdog in this tournament!” she bubbled and strode closer to her “we’re holding a special meeting for the chosen few, an exclusive for the daily prophet, I would be thrilled if you could come”
“Yeah, I guess” she mumbled and watched as the woman’s face curled like a bulldog
“Good…” She grinned and looked at Snape again, who looked very awkward. Shona snorted slightly and Rita’s head shot to look at her. “So, your this ‘Mc girl’ I’ve heard about?’
“McGuire” she corrected Rita. Rita examined the girl before turning her nose up.
“Well, as I said, come to the great hall…Wait! All of you come! We shall get a scoop on the gifted! I can see it now! THE GIFTED’S JOURNEY…AN EXCLUSIVE TO THE DAILY PHROPHIT BY RITA SKEETER!”
She did hand expressions as her quick quotes quill wrote furiously. They all stared at her in her green leather dragon costume, and McGuire could have added she was the dragon at the first task, but kept her mouth shut.
Rita snuck a look to Snape, who seemed to comb his hair back and cough slightly as she smiled at him before she walked off, waving goodbye to them correcting her title every few seconds
“That woman is strange” Shona said, concluding their thoughts. Snape brought himself back to reality and collected his thoughts
“Come on Lucy, we’re going to tidy up my room” Snape said to her
“OK, just leave me alone” Shona said dramatically
“You can come as well, since you made the mess” Snape snarled and pointed her to go in front. McGuire huffed and walked in front with Lucy, the three working together to demolish the Gryffindor flags...But Rita Skeeter’s scoop was going to be a lot harder...