Fire and Ice

Detentions

"Sit," Snape said, pointing to a chair furthest from his desk. The dungeon was completely deserted, and colder than usual. The room was so empty you couldn't even hear the echoes of student's voices from the other floors.

Shivering slightly, Ginny mutely sat where she was told to sit, keeping her head low and her pride squashed down.

"I assume you are no longer suffering from Measles?" Snape's curt voice boomed.

"Uhh, yes, I'm all better now..." Ginny muttered. So that's what 'Varti told him.

"Tell your classmate, Miss Patil, that I thank her for telling me."

"Yes, Sir," Ginny replied quietly, refraining from rolling her eyes Heaven-ward.

"For today's detention, you will be slicing newt eyes. There are precise instructions on your desk. Make sure you slice them exactly as the instructions command. I don't need to tell you the disastrous consequences if they are mis-sliced.

Nodding, Ginny dropped her satchel on the dirty floor and settled into her task, her eyes boring into the instructions sheet.

Hold eyeball in the air, 5cm from your eye-sight... slit vertically with a pressed, flat top knife... use a 45 degree angle when...

Sighing as loudly as Ginny dared in the presence of the Potions Master, Ginny began, ignoring the sight of Snape opposite her, reading something on his desk. He'd dragged a partition curtain around her desk, so she'd have no idea what she was doing behind the curtain.

Sighing again, she picked up the scalpel she was given. Luckily, Ginny had done more than her fair share of chopping when helping her mother cook in the Burrow, so she handled the slicing task easily.

She was nearly half-way through the newt-eye jar when Professor Dumbledore stumbled through the dungeon entrance, panting.

"Professor!" Snape yelled, rushing over to the Headmaster. Waving his wand maniacally in the air, Snape grasped the hands of his peer. "Is it done?" Snape cried. It seemed that Snape has forgotten that Ginny was in the corner of the room, silently slicing. Without disturbing the professor's reunion, Ginny gently placed her knife down and strained her neck to see what was happening, but Snape guided Dumbledore over to his desk, where the partition was covering her sight, so Ginny couldn't see anything. On the other hand, she could still hear.

"Let me regain my breath, Severus," Dumbledore said, without so much as a wheeze. Clearly, he had cast a spell to righten his breathing equilibrium.

"Yes, yes," Snape replied impatiently. It struck Ginny as odd that somebody- let alone a professor- would speak to the Headmaster in such disrespect. Suddenly, Ginny was hit by a de-ja-vu of Draco telling Ginny the same thing, the day they were locked in the classroom. It appeared that Snape and Dumbledore had some sort of informal alliance.

"Now," Dumbledore announced, pulling out a chair (Ginny heard the sound of a chair being scraped across the floor), and settling into it.

Quietly, Ginny began slicing the eyes again. If she was going to eavesdrop, she may as well work at the same time.

"Why were you out of breath and why did you stumble in, Headmaster?" Snape asked curtly, with a hint of annoyance.

"Why Severus, somebody told me that an entrance is nothing if it were not dramatic."

Ginny stifled a laugh.

"Well?!" Snape demanded.

"Severus, calm down. Everything went completely to plan. Nothing was ruined. The poor girl is still oblivious. Your cover isn't blown. You did brilliantly."

"Your cover"? Snape's a spy? Is Dumbledore referring to the work Snape does for the Order? Ginny was aware that Snape wasn't a "true Death Eater", that he was an undercover spy for the Order of the Phoenix, but something told her that what Dumbledore and Snape were discussing went further than the Order.

"Thank Merlin," Snape sighed, and Ginny imagined him sinking to his desk chair.

"But this is the last time, Headmaster," Snape warned. A silence was followed. Ginny assumed Dumbledore nodded.

"It was too risky," Snape continued, "and I could have been killed. Potter, Weasley and Miss Granger also."

What?!

"You know how much faith I have in that trio, Severus," Dumbledore replied softly.

"They're children! Children! When we arrived at the shack, they were nearly killed inst-"

"They are also very able students, wizards and witch."

"That's not the point, Headmaster!"

"Severus." The tone in which Dumbledore said Snape's name made Ginny's stomach curl inwards.

"Enough. You have done what I have asked, and as I have said, everything went fine. You are safe."

The chair scraped back.

"Now, if you excuse me, I am in much need for a good night sleep!" Dumbledore's chuckle echoed through the room, and Ginny caught sight of his midnight blue robes swishing through the door.

Shortly after, Snape followed, yawning, presumably off to his private chambers.

Ginny sat in her desk, stunned into silence. She didn't know what was more shocking: the conversation she overheard, or the fact that Snape completely forgot about her.

Finishing up the newt-eyes, Ginny glanced at the time. Quarter to nine!

Grabbing her bags, Ginny left the sliced eyeballs on Snape's desk neatly and ran through the door.

Before heading to the Slytherin locker rooms, however, she made a quick detour to the Gryffindoor tower.