Buried History

Chapter 26 Peculiarities

A complete failure. Ron and Harry had not managed to weasel an answer from the Slytherin Quidditch captain.

When approached with the topic,he denied everything and sneered at the younger boys.

Harry and Ron had delivered the news to Hermione and she had been sneaking around for ingredients to make Polyjuice Potion since.

"We need to find out something about her. I don't care who it's from!" She shouted, exasperated.

Ron sat down, thinking. "What if Bornean-Rasp doesn't know anything?"

Hermione stopped pacing and stared at the redhead. "Ronald, you genius!"

"I- I am?" The youngest Weasley son stuttered.

"He may not know anything at all! However, we still need to find someone who knows something." She replied.

The boy with specs approached his friends and sat in one of the armchairs.

"Why not ask her ourselves?" Harry said.

The two other Gryffindors stared at him wide eyed.

"And how do you suppose we go around doing that? There's no way I'm going near Snape or anyone close to that evil woman, if you're going to ask her yourself, by all means, go right ahead!" Ron spurted.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Look, all I'm saying is that we have 6 days before we have to start studying for N.E.W.T.s so maybe we should get a move on." Hermione nodded, prodding him to continue. "And it doesn't have to be Snape. It could be anyone. Maybe another staff member."

"We have to get their hair, Harry. It might be a tad more difficult than you think." Hermione whispered. "Maybe we should wait a bit longer. We have to wait for the final ingredients to the potion anyway. Really tricky to access."

Harry nodded and his mind buzzed with plans.

***
Eliza had not yet fully recovered from the healing process. It had taken a lot out of her and she simply couldn't bounce back as she used to.

Classes had started once again and Severus was replacing her, teaching Mae at the same time.

Poppy nor Eliza had figured out what had rendered him so violently ill. It was left a mystery.

Class after class, the students filed in, were introduced to the new apprentice, reviewed certain potions necessary for exams and left.

It was routine, just as Severus and the rest of the teachers preferred it. Mae Barron, however, did not.

It wasn't until right before fifth period, that faithful Monday afternoon that something strange started to happen.

Mae was studying Severus' potion very intently, taking in all she could learn, when a demanding knock came from the classroom door.

Severus walked over to the door and opened it, to see who dare intrude on his work.

A Slytherin girl with flaming red hair and wily eyes stood there, a very cheeky smile on her lips. Her skirt was hiked a tad too high, the first three buttons of her white shirt undone, her tie nowhere in sight and her school robes hanging around her shoulders lazily. A shiny badge adorned her chest. Head girl.

The former Potions' Master sighed. "What do you want, Miss Knightley?" He drawled, the words rolling off his tongue lazily, clearly bored with the conversation already.

"Your godson is a prick, sir." She announced, the smile never leaving her lips.

Severus rolled his eyes. "Tell me something I don't know." He muttered.

The saucy redhead heard him however and was all too pleased in revealing what she had to say.

"A total pig, I tell you." She giggled, evil lacing it. "He snuck into the girls' dorm last night and had his hands all over Annalise Blackburn. When he had had enough, it was too late and the entire dormitory was aware of what had happened. I arrived just in time to see what was going on."

Snape was fuming. Why hadn't he heard of this sooner? "And why is it that I'm only hearing of it now, Miss Knightley?"

She placed a hand to her heart and gasped in mock offence. "Sir!" Head girl cried. "Don't you think I would have told you sooner if I could have?"

"No, I really don't." He replied frankly.

The girl pouted. "That hurts." She brushed an imaginary tear away. "Anyway, what I say is true. Malfoy threatened to do unspeakable things if I mentioned a single word to you."

Severus felt there was something off about the whole situation. She was too calm, enjoying herself far too much.

"Who set you up?" He demanded.

Knightley winked and sashayed from the room, her head held high. Over her shoulder, she said one last thing before setting down the hall.

"I'd keep an eye out on that boy if I were you, Professor Snape. He did bad things to poor little Draco when he found out. Things that were very..." She lowered her voice and the teacher had to strain his ears to hear her as she walked away. "Snape-ly."

He walked back into his classroom, utterly confused by what had happened. He heard a cackle from down the hall and didn't miss the gleam in Mae's bright eyes.

"Students, these days."

What was going on? They were both onto something. That much was for certain. But what?