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Title:
Night Detention Author:
tarotgal Characters:
everyone's favorite Slytherins, and the Marauders Comments:
Yes please! Night Detention "Can't believe we have to spend a whole night in
detention," Severus Snape muttered, out of breath from the brisk pace he and
Goyle needed to keep up with Malfoy. "Just because we were trying to figure out
Potters' secret." Lucius Malfoy nodded
but did not answer because of a few harsh coughs that seized him. But he did
not slow his pace a bit as they turned and climbed up yet another staircase out
from the dungeon. Goyle simply grunted in agreement between pants. Halfway up, Severus had to stop for a moment's rest. He
fought to catch his breath and pulled out a handkerchief to make a show out of
wiping sweat from his brow in excuse. He heard the footsteps of his companions
continue up the stairs, albeit slower than before. And he turned, closing his
eyes with the handkerchief raised to his face, giving into the strong tickling
sensation that was upon him. "heh-Kemshh! KuhCheshhh! KurCheshh!" He
sniffled and dabbed at his nose miserably. But in the silence after his sneezes
he noticed the sound of footsteps had stopped completely, to be replaced by a
few soft, dignified coughs and a number of harsher out-of-breath ones. The bright blond head of Lucius Malfoy popped out from
the staircase above and peered down at him. "You all right?" "Yeah." Severus tucked the handkerchief into his robes.
"Just this ruddy cold you gave me." He sniffed miserably, trying to clear his
hooked nose. Lucius raised a slim eyebrow, as if to question the
accusation. But instead said, "Well, come on, then," rather coldly. But still
patted the man's back reassuringly when Snape had caught up. They met the rest of their 'party' in the foyer of the
great hall; Potter's gang had already arrived. James Potter was pacing between
the two great staircases. Peter Pettigrew sat at the very base of the stairs,
eating out of a bag of cookies. Remus Lupin was asleep, lying on one of the
stairs with his head in Sirius' lap. Sirius Black was sitting on the stairs,
hand on Remus' shoulder, head bent down to watch the young man sleep. They
looked an odd, quiet, almost surreal group. But with the teachers nowhere in sight, Severus knew
Lucius would waste no time at all in changing that. Lucius delighted in
ridiculing them. And while such exploits never failed to bring a smile to his
face, Snape was much more concerned with what secrets the gang had. Secrets
they might have found out if Filch hadn't stumbled upon the whole lot of them
in the early morning hours. They were serving detention with the herbology
teacher, Professor Ovine, an old witch with tinted green skin and a preference
for plants over people. The rumor running round was that Professor Ovine was
very close to retirement, a suspicion justified by her increasing dislike of
her students and increasing harshness towards them. But Professor Ovine had not yet arrived. And Lucius
seemed to notice just as quickly as Severus had. He stood with his hands behind
his back, leaning against the wall, facing Potter. "I suppose you think you're
clever for getting us all caught?" Potter, surveying his own friends, shook his head. "Of
course I don't." Of course, it hadn't been at all clear who was to blame for
being found out. Peter had screamed, yes, and Sirius had been pushed nosily
against a suit of armor by and Severus,
but Lucius had been coughing when they hid and gave their location away.
And truth be told, if Snape hadn't been so eager to go exploring that night,
they would not have been caught at all. But if Lucius had to serve detention,
he was glad Potter's gang would be in the same misery. Goyle strode over to Pettigrew, snatching the bag of
cookies from him and beginning to devour them. Pettigrew started to object, but
Lucius seized the opportunity for an insult. "Should think you'd welcome a
chance to diet a little, Pettigrew Pig." And he sneered. Not a very good insult
considering Pettigrew was stout but not a piggy sort of fat, but Lucius was
just recovering from a rather strong cold himself and wasn't yet at the top of
his game. Snape, on the other hand, stayed out of the center of
attention completely, albeit uncharacteristically. His cold, rather Lucius'
cold he now had custody of, was making things a little difficult to handle. He
stood with his side against the wall, turned away from the waiting bunch and
pulled his handkerchief out as the tickle in his nose grew. A sniffle preceded
them, and he tired to keep them back as long as possible. But in the end, he
sneezed. "keh-Cheshuh! Kur-Chushh! keh-Chishhh!" He grimaced, gave his nose
a bit of a blow, looked up and around, and was surprised to find that no one
was paying any attention to him. The reason for this, Severus realized instantly as
Professor Ovine's voice, soft and breathy, spoke. "You'll be serving detention
outside on the grounds tonight doing some work for me. James, would you please
help me with these buckets? The rest of you may all start out the door right
now." Severus eyed Potter as the goody-goody graciously picked up the buckets
and tottered along behind the professor with their weight. Black
rubbed Lupin's arm to wake him, and Potter's gang was out the door followed by
the Slytherins. A strong shiver whipped through Severus' entire body as they
stepped outside and the great door behind closed. It was terribly chilly and
none of them had cloaks, which was a punishment enough until he realized they'd
be on their hands and knees on the damp ground all night. Professor Ovine explained. "You'll be doing some special
weeding tonight." She walked, tall and lanky, to stand in front of them..
"This," she bent down and ran her hand through the lawn "is grass." Lucius snorted. "Oh, the fine learning never ends here at
Hogwarts. Even in detention, we get such a fine education." Professor Ovine pretended not to hear and continued. "But
amidst the grass are a number of weeds you need to notice. These are
Pollywags," she pointed out a red, leafy weed. "And these are Rahumas and Fiery
Nolups," she gestured at long, stringy green weeds and then small shoots of red
and gold. "They must be pulled out by the base to get them completely and
preserve the whole plant. The roots are just as important to get for many
potions." She then waved a hand dramatically toward the three large buckets.
"Pollywags in the red one. Rahumas in the green, and Fiery Nolups in this
special black one because--" "Yeiiii!" Goyle yelled, holding his wrist with one
hand and backing away from a glittering Fiery Nolup. The professor shook her head, but with a smile on her
face. "If you hold those too long, they will burn your skin. It's only a brief
burn and once you get blisters on your hands you'll barely notice. And the
Pollywags tend to jump when cornered, so it's best to sneak up on them." She
pulled out her wand and conjured up a large bubble with her face shining in it.
With this it was evident she would be able to keep close watch on them and
still go about any work she had to do inside. "As much as you can all around
the grounds until dawn, boys. And there are seven of you so I do expect some
overwhelming results in the morning. And she was gone, apparently stretching
out on one of the couches in the entryway with a good book. Every few minutes
she looked down at them all in the bubble, floating around. They all got to work rather quietly, none of them looking
at all happy about it. Severus had inspected Goyle's hand at first, to find a
few small blisters had appeared only and Goyle insisted he'd be fine. The burns
and blisters given by the Fiery Nolups were not only annoyingly painful but pretty
unavoidable. And the jumpiness of the Pollywags caused them all to spread out
over the front lawn, scampering forward on their hands and knees and lunging
and diving on them. But the most frustrating of the three were the Rahumas.
They, as Professor Ovine had failed to mention, made noise as they were plucked
out. In fact Potter and Pettigrew, the stupid gits, had made a
game of it for an hour or two straight, trying to find two that made the same
sound. There were clucks, shrieks, bells, cracks, crashes, booms, and even
meows as they weeded. The constant, unpredictable stream of sound was quite
annoying. They did, however, hide the sound of sneezes and coughs from Severus,
which he was quite thankful about. After a few hours, he noticed Lucius getting slightly
worse. He would stop, sit upright, and cough harshly. Or he'd pause to sniffle
and rub his nose with the cuff of his sleeve. In the midst of one of Lucius'
more strenuous bouts of coughing, Severus rose and addressed the bubble.
"Professor," his tone was snide and he tried to sound more needy than
frustrated. "Would it be possible to get some water?" In answer, a few seconds
later a silver tray with a large pitcher of ice water and a stack of goblets
pressed against the bubble from inside and then floated outwards. He poured
three goblets full and distributed to Lucius first, who flicked his eyes up
thankfully as he shook with coughs, his pale face flushed. Then gave one to
Goyle, who poured a bit over his hands before taking a drink or two. He didn't
drink much, himself. It felt bloody awful to swallow and the cold water only
made him feel colder. He had been shivering on and off since they had been
outside. And though scrambling to catch the Pollywags warmed him up, it was not
the sort of permanent warmness he longed for. His bed. A fire. Anything was
better than a cold fall night outside without a cloak. "heh-KIPshhuh!
Keh-Cheshoo!" Nose running, head spinning, shin crawling with goose bumps,
he turned back to the weeds and pulled. They had all been at it for some time when Severus looked
around and realized they were one short. Malfoy and Goyle were far out on the
lawn and near him, and he motioned them over, the Pollywags jumping far from
him as they came. "Where's Lupin?" he asked with a surly growl. As he thought
about it, he couldn't remember seeing Lupin for a long while. Had he gone in?
Had he completely skipped out of detention? Goyle shrugged in answer and grunted, "Dunno." But Lucius grew suspicious, craning his neck, looking around
the whole long. "Must be around the corner. Black's picking right there by the
corner, and Potter near there, too." Yes, maybe they'd already cleared all the
weeds in front here and were moving to the side already. But something didn't
seem right about that. Leaving Goyle to work, the pair of them made their way
over to where Black and Potter were working. Severus felt the tickle in his
nose act up again. Trying to be quick, he rubbed the back of his hand against
his nose and sniffed a few times. Lucius was the one to speak as Black and Potter stopped
weeding and looked up at them. "Having a time at that?" he asked snidely. "What do you want Malfoy?" Black growled, going for a
Pollywag which jumped on purpose in the Slytherins' direction. They gave a step back suavely, just in time. And Severus,
still feeling sneezey, turned nearly around as he took in a deep breath. "keh...heh-Kepchoo!
Keh-Chushh! kehCheshh!" Wishing Lucius had talked to distract them, he
rubbed his nose with the handkerchief and turned back around. Potter muttered a short, "Bless you." But aside from
that, Black eyed him quite briefly then looked back at his weeds. Just as Severus was about to peer around the corner and
point out Lupin's absence, the missing face appeared for itself. Remus Lupin,
looking exhausted, crawled from around the corner with a handful of weeds
sounding like knocks on a door. "Forgot which bins were which, have you lads?"
he asked with a curious expression. Lucius didn't seem to have a god response, so quickly
Severus returned with, "Just wanted a better look at your piles. You're right,
Lucius. We do have twice as much." And he pulled the man back by the arm with a
snort. It was nearly four in the morning when Severus started to
feel the brunt of the task. His headache was worse with increasing congestion.
He was weary, tired, feeling much like Lupin looked but with the addition of a
sore throat and runny nose. "heh-Ketchhhh! Keh-Cheshhh! huh...heh..." he
panted into his handkerchief. "Severus?" "ker-Chuff!" he finished, rubbing his hooked nose
and sniffling. "Yeah?" and looked up at Lucius. The man crawled close, tossing his handful of humming
weeds into a nearby pile. "Are you all right?" Then, quickly, before Severus
could reply, "Could you use a short break?" Severus nodded his head quite
ardently. Lucius eyed the bubble a moment and pulled out his wand once its head
was turned away from them. With a swish and a few soft words, the bubble
floated off towards Potter and his gang. "Will float around randomly without
turning for about fifteen minutes," he explained, giving a stretch, beckoning
Goyle over, and lying back on the ground. "So take a bit of a break." They
enjoyed the break with a short nap and some relaxing stillness. When their time
was up and the bubble turned and floated back and forth between both groups
again, the Slytherins worked with a renewed spirit. They took a few more breaks throughout the night, but by
the time the sky began to lighten, they were all sore and exhausted. Severus
knew it was well against the rules, but as Professor Ovine had forgotten to
confiscate their wands and he sorely needed a few breaks, he didn't feel the
least bit guilty. Severus,
the worst of them all, was the one to approach the bubble and ask if time were
up when he saw the faint hint of sun poking out over the horizon. "It's
sunrise, Professor," he said, pointing out over the lawn. They'd managed to
nearly circle the castle and, perhaps unconsciously, were on the east side. The
bubble popped and moments later, Professor Ovine was out, inspecting the
overflowing buckets. They had started out large already, but as more and more
weeds were added, the buckets expanded accordingly. Finally, she let them go,
warning them that they'd be out there again if they broke any further rules. Trudging their way back in and watching Potter's group
head up the marble stairs to bed, Severus grew quite glad his common room was
down stairs instead of upwards. The dungeons grew cold around him, and he found
himself sliding against a slick wall for support as they walked down. His legs
were tired, body aching for rest, and his head pounded with fever and
congestion. "heh-Kepshhh! KehCheshh!" "Bless you," Lucius muttered, his voice hoarse. And
although he sounded rough, he sounded more mysterious and harsh than ill.
Severus gave a brief hint of a smile and allowed his eyes longer blinks as he
let the wall take him down the staircase. The
warm, green glow of the common room caused him to open his eyes again with a
yawn. His dormitory room seemed so much further away, and the couches in front
of the hot, healthy fire looked so inviting. Without a second thought, Severus
flopped onto one, head on a cushion with a silver snake embroidered upon it. He
coughed and pulled his arms and legs into himself for warmth. His eyes closed
with fatigue and the entrancing green flames of the fire. His nose felt runny,
but by now he hadn't even the energy to lift his arm to retrieve his
handkerchief. "huh...kehChushh! Chishuhh! hehKetchhh!" Miserably, he
rubbed his nose on his shoulder as well as he could. He heard his name being muttered, "Severus..." and pried
his eyes open to find Lucius draping a thick blanket over him, and pushing a
pillow under his head. "Mmm," Severus answered drowsily, feeling the blanket
tucked snugly around himself. "Thanks." His nose tickled again, fiercely and he
buried his face in the corner of the pillow, body shaking weakly. "heh...heh-Krushh!
Keh-Cheshuhh!" He paused a moment, raising his head just slightly, panting,
eyes tightly closed. "heh-KehCheshh!" He snuffled and coughed to clear
his voice. "Bless you," Lucius said again, giving Severus a soft pat
on the arm. "I, uh..." he paused long enough to give himself a second thought,
then started over again. "Will you be all right?" Severus, realizing that this was as close as Lucius would
ever come to an apology, acknowledged it with a "Yeah. It's ok." Lucius gave
him a nod and went off to bed himself. Severus knew it would be time for
breakfast soon, and could hear faint sounds of his fellow Slytherins getting up
to dress and take showers: Rosier, Wilkes, Avery, Crabbe and the rest. They'd
be clumping through the common room in no time. But with the fatigue Severus
felt, he was sure that as soon as he fell asleep there would be no awakening him
for anything. |