The Badger And The Snake; Phan/Harry Potter AU

Six: The News.

A week after 'the Incident' - as Phil liked to refer to it - the small Ravenclaw boy walked up to the trio at lunch and said, "Hey, thanks for helping me out the other day. It means a lot to me." He still had a bruise on his eye. "I get into loads of trouble with Gryffindors, those slimy gits - anyway, I'm Connor."

The boy stretched his hand out to Dan, and the latter shook it.

"I'm Dan. And that's okay. I was being stupid, to be honest." Dan pointed at his newly repaired nose. "Didn't leave unscathed, either." Connor gasped.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to cause you trouble, honest - I just didn't want to be late for Divination."

"That's okay," Dan smiled. "I didn't want to be late either."

Later that day, Dan walked with Connor to Divination and got to know him better. He was actually quite funny and that day instead of sitting with Marcus, he sat with Connor and another Ravenclaw - a pretty girl who introduced herself as Lizzie.

"This perfume will be the death of me," Lizzie whispered when the professor was on the other side of the room, predicting someone's untimely death. "I suppose you've got a whole vial in your dormitory though, don't you, Dan? Trelawney is so far up your -"

Trelawney came over to their table to see their star charts. Every other night they had to record the stars in the same spot, which would (for whatever reason) predict their future.

Dan predicted he would lose a bet, while Connor foresaw that one of his prized possessions would be taken from him, and Lizzie pretended to see her life flash before her eyes.

The next period, the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom smelled vaguely of blood. Phil mentioned this to Louise and Dan.

"Old bat probably gave herself a cut grading all those bloody papers all night," said Dan. Louise agreed, snickering.

"30 points from Slytherin," said Carbonaries, strolling past the trio into the classroom, five minutes late.

Dan flushed. He had no idea how the professor had heard that.

The next day in Herbology, Professor Sprout wasn't there. She had a substitute, Professor Grubbly-Plank, another stout woman although not as short as Sprout or Flitwick.

Louise raised her hand.

"Miss, what happened to Professor Sprout?"

"None of your business, little girl. She is ill and does not wish to teach today. I will most likely be substituting for the next fortnight or so." Groans from Slytherin. "10 points from Slytherin. You will respect me."

"Yeah, if you can stand on your tippy-toes and look us in the eye," Phil whispered to Dan.

During lunch period, the three of them sat discussing what they thought had happened to Professor Sprout.

"Perhaps she's accidentally swallowed a Bezoar?"

"Maybe she fell off her chair and is in the hospital wing as we speak."

"Come off it, lads, she's obviously hiding so she doesn't have to teach us and fail us all later."

The three kept spilling theories, each crazier than the last, until finally Louise had the curiosity to say, "Let's go to the hospital wing and check on her."

"What?" Phil and Dan said in unison.

"Louise, are you mad? We can't visit an ill teacher," said Dan. "We'd probably get expelled."

Phil, however, had thought it over and finally said, "Yeah, let's do it. She is our Head of House, after all. Dan can say his favourite period is Herbology."

So they walked to the Hospital Wing, and met a weary old woman at the registration desk. Her uniform read "Pomfrey."

"Madam Pomfrey," Louise said, curtly, "Can we visit Professor Sprout? For just a minute? She's our favourite teacher and we just wanted to say hello."

Madam Pomfrey wore a grave look on her face. "My dear," she said. "Professor Sprout is no longer with us."