Chapter Title: Monday from Hell

Author: Sam

Story: Harry Potter and Dumbledore's Army: 09 / ?

Chapter Setting: Monday, September 6, 1995: Hogwarts

Chapter Summary: Breakfast and History Class are just a sample of the trials Harry now faces.

Feedback: Please? I love comments.

xxx

Harry didn't think he'd be able to eat since the argument with Seamus Finnegan the night before. He plunked down on one of the long benches, back to the Ravenclaw table, and picked at his toast. Glancing at the head table, he noticed Stephen walk into the room and stop by Severus Snape. Harry narrowed his eyes. Stephen said something which had the Potions Master turning a frown up at the younger man. Snape said something back and Stephen actually smiled and moved down the table to his own seat by the one reserved for Dumbledore, who was not there at the moment.

With a puzzled frown, Harry turned back to his plate of crumbs, ignoring the movement around him as other students entered the Great Hall to sit down and eat, talk, and catch up on summer events. Soon Angelina Johnson, the new Gryffindor Quidditch captain, informed Harry of the team tryouts then moved on to Katie Bell further down the table.

The owls came in dropping papers and mail on the various students and Harry stiffened when he noticed that Hermione had received a copy of the Daily Prophet. Anger built quickly and Harry leaned forward to snap at his friend for her apparent disloyalty. He was interrupted by someone pushing against the back of his head in a gentle shove. Harry whirled, ready to attack the new target.

A grin on his pale face, dark eyes almost flashing in amusement, Seth Snape leaned forward. "Hey, Harry, do Ravenclaws ever get to mix with Gryffindors in class, or am I doomed to study alone?"

Surprise drained his anger as quickly as he'd felt it. He shook his head, pushing his shaggy black hair from his eyes. "Uh . . . we'll have a few classes together. And we can study together in the library or outside if it's nice. We don't go into each other's common rooms, so that would be out."

Ron looked up and asked, "you need help studying? You haven't even gone to class yet."

Seth slid onto the bench behind Harry, leaning his back against the Ravenclaw table as those around him looked nervously from him to Harry and back again. "Yeah, well, I always use a study group. Trust me. Studying with friends is a lot more fun than by myself. And Mum will leave me alone about socializing. She's always on me about needing friends."

Hermione looked up briefly from her paper and said "don't you want to make friends with the other Ravenclaws?"

"Yeah," Seth shrugged, frowning, looking like he really didn't prefer to do anything of the sort. "They're nice I guess."

She frowned but merely looked back at her paper.

Professors McGonagall and Flitwick made their way down the aisle between tables, handing out schedules as they went, Flitwick's small form nearly lost among the tall students. Seth pulled his legs in with a soft frown for the man he didn't yet know but accepted the schedule readily enough. Flitwick grinned back and continued on the way.

Harry, Hermione, and Ron looked over their schedules as Neville slipped into an empty seat on Hermione's other side.

"No!" groaned Ron. "Have you seen this? We've got History of Magic, Double Potions, Divination, and Double Defense Against the Dark Arts today. Binns, Snape, Trelawney, and that Umbridge woman. This is officially the worst Monday in history!"

Harry groaned in agreement as Ron lamented the continued delay of the Skiving Snackboxes his older, twin brothers Fred and George had advertised just that morning.

Fred squeezed in between Ron and Harry while George sat on the far side of Seth, eyeing the Ravenclaw in apparent amusement. "What's this?" George asked as Fred argued with Hermione about whether they might use the common room notice board to advertise their need of testers. George touched Seth with one finger then laughed at Seth's glare and stiff posture. "A Ravenclaw rulebreaker! Look here brother mine. We've a bird of a different color here, with prefects no less!"

Fred glanced over with an equally amused grin. "So it would seem. Rather be brave and true?"

"Ha!" Seth said with a shake of his head, dark hair swinging about his shoulders. "I checked the dining regulations, One and Two, and it only says luncheon and supper need be at one's own table."

"He's right," Hermione defended the transfer student.

"One?" George queried.

"Two?" Fred added.

Seth shot them a look which could only be labeled superior. "Yeah . . . Thing One and Thing Two. They're twin trouble-makers and rather destructive in the name of fun. Guess you missed Doctor Seuss's i'Cat in the Hat'/i then, mate. Pity that. You'd have learned a bit from that pair. Guess it's a muggle thing."

"Ah," Fred grinned widely. "We need to research this doctor and his cat, George."

"I'll say," George responded happily.

Harry watched as Seth relaxed suddenly, revealing just how tense he'd been with the twins. Harry wondered if the reason Seth didn't want to study with other Ravenclaws had anything to do with that nervousness. i'Is Seth shy or just defensive because of his connection to the Potions Master . . . or could it be even deeper?'/i Harry wondered.

"What's a Skiving Snackbox then?" asked Seth, breaking into Harry's thoughts.

"Oh that!" Fred laughed. "Well, you'll be needing one, so I should do my duty and tell you."

"We're the only makers," George added. "If you, for example, need to get out of a class early, you eat a sweet from the box."

Fred held up a hand. "Not the entire sweet, mind. Just half. Then, when you're free of educational troubles, you eat the opposite half."

Nodding almost sagely, George jumped in, "it's a different color so you won't mess up. Once you've eaten the cure side, you're free for a bit to do something really important."

"And they're immoral!" Hermione spat out. "Don't you dare corrupt Seth with your lack of respect . . ."

"Hey!" Fred raised both hands in a protective gesture, palms facing outward, "give it a couple weeks and you'll be begging for a Snackbox, Hermione."

Curiosity in his voice, Ron asked, "why?"

The twins shared a look and started helping themselves to Ron's breakfast.

"Well," said George.

"This is your fifth year, isn't it?" added Fred.

Harry listened to their description of how much work professors gave out to fifth years to prepare them for O.W.L.s. As Neville grew paler and Seth shook his head, the older Weasley's relayed tales of the students from their own class who'd had panic attacks, fainting spells, and other nervous reactions to the exams. Finally they merrily took a stack of toast off to their first class, Herbology, as they made plans to sell some extendable ears.

Hermione and Ron discussed the viability of the joke shop Fred and George planned to open. Harry tried to change the subject, but turned quickly when Seth pumped his fist in the air and said "yes! Friday'll be awesome!"

Ron turned and reached for Seth's schedule, and the other boy let him have it. "What?" Shock caused the redhead to squeak, voice pitching incredibly high. "You've got Double Potions before lunch then Double Potions again right before dinner. How is that awesome?" He looked at Seth as if the boy might be feverish or demented.

Seth nodded, grinning back, an odd look on the youthful features of a Snape. "Yeah, my favorite subject is Potions. That'll be cool."

With a shake of his head, Ron handed the sheet back. "You're nutters!"

"I've been told that before," Seth replied and glanced over his schedule once more. Suddenly, he frowned. "Wait . . . didn't Professor Dumbledore say my Mum was helping teach History?" His face twisted into a pained expression.

Ron and Harry looked at one another, but Hermione nodded. "Yes."

"Wait," said Ron, "who's your Mum?"

Seth turned an incredulous look on the taller boy. "Really?" He rolled his dark eyes and glanced up at the head table, where the Potions Master was rising to his feet in preparation of leaving the room. Seth turned back. "Well, certainly not the male Snape."

Confusion crossed Ron's face then his mouth and eyes opened wide in sudden understanding. "Oh, the iother/i Professor Snape." He shook his head. "That's going to be hard to keep track of.

"Yeah, I guess," Seth stood. "Well, I've got History first thing this morning, so . . ."

"So do we," Harry said. "We can go together."

The five students, as Neville joined them, headed for the History of Magic classroom, discussing what jobs they might want after graduation. Ron and Harry agreed that being Aurors would be cool, while Hermione mentioned expanding S.P.E.W.

Seth frowned. "What's that, then?"

"Oh," Hermione sounded excited telling her plans to a new audience. "The Society for the Promotion of Elvish Welfare. S.P.E.W. aims to help House Elves gain their freedom from oppression and slavery."

The Ravenclaw gave her an odd look, as if reconsidering her sanity, and said "and what did they say about this society? How many House Elves are on this committee?"

Hermione looked surprised. "Well, er, none actually." She fell quiet, lost in thought, and the quintet continued to walk towards their first class.

No one felt sure exactly how the teaching situation would work with Professor Binns having been given an assistant. Harry hoped that the new professor would be allowed to teach; even if she was a secret Death Eater, she had to be less boring than the ghost professor. And they might learn something about Voldemort's plans if they had access to a Death Eater.

Puzzled, Harry wondered why Dumbledore would let one in then realized she must have been cleared. He shook his head with a fierce frown. There was no evidence Mary Elizabeth Snape had ever been a Death Eater. She'd disappeared during the rise of Voldemort, but it seemed she'd gone to America to have a child and escape Severus Snape. Harry shook his head again, putting a hand to his head as it began to ache with his circular thinking.

As his fingers touched his forehead, Hermione pounced. "Is your scar hurting, Harry?" Worry threaded her words.

"Do I have to scarper, mate?" Seth asked, though he didn't sound the least concerned. In fact, he had his wand out and held ready by his hip. The long thin piece of wood seemed slightly gnarled and twisted rather than the smooth, straight wands Harry had seen other students using.

Attention centered on Seth's unusual-looking wand, Harry barely managed, "no, I'm fine . . . Seth, what kind of wand is that?"

Seth looked down at his hand then at Harry, opening his mouth to answer.

"iHem, hem/i . . . wands are not to be pulled in the corridors."

The group stopped walking and turned as a unit. Behind them, dressed in robes and her pink fuzzy cardigan, stood the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor: Dolores Umbridge. She smiled at the students, but there was something cold and calculating in her eyes rather like a fat toad studying a dragonfly. In her high-pitched, almost childish voice, she questioned "and what is your name, dear?"

Seth spread both hands, one which contained a long, featherless quill, and the other which was empty. With a puzzled frown, he asked in sugared tones, "Professor? To whom do you speak?"

The look of surprise on Professor Umbridge's face could have won comedy contests: her eyes seemed to bulge as she looked from Seth's empty hand to the odd quill and back. With a throat clearing "ihem!/i" she shook her head, childish curls bouncing. "Why . . . your name, dear . . . and what did you do with your wand?"

"Snape, Ma'am. My name is Seth Snape. And you wish to see my wand?" At that, he handed his quill to Hermione. "Here, Granger, hold this." She took it, studying it in fascination as Seth took his book bag from his shoulder and started going through it, murmuring, "wand . . . thought I put it in my trunk . . . only got history this morning . . ."

The other four stood, waiting and trying not to look too foolish in front of the passing students. Walking quickly by, Draco called "already in trouble, Potter?"

"Move along, please," Professor Umbridge called in response and Draco hurried down the corridor, laughing with Crabbe, Goyle, and Nott.

At last, Seth looked up and shook his head. "Sorry, Professor. I don't have my wand right now. I wasn't aware I needed it until noon."

"Well . . . ihem/i . . ." the older woman replied, a slightly surprised look on her face. Then a crafty-sort of smile crossed her features, and she said, "right. Turn out your pockets. Push back your sleeves. Smartly now, Mister Snape."

The sallow-skinned boy stood, leaving his bag open on the floor. Rather than do precisely what he'd been requested to, Seth slipped from his Ravenclaw robes and handed them to the stunned professor. "There you go, Ma'am. I'm running late for Professor Binns. May I go and get my robes later when you've finished with them?" He widened his dark eyes and twisted his hands together as if nervous.

"Well!" Umbridge exclaimed then cleared her throat again. "iHem/i . . ." She looked at the exposed contents of the book bag then at the black and blue robes in her hands and back at the small group of fifth year students, "iHem/i, yes. Come get your robes after class, Mister Snape. I'll be done with them then." Professor Umbridge hurriedly rolled the student robed into a ball, gave Seth one last sharp look, and walked away with tiny, quick steps.

Seth rolled his eyes as soon as she'd turned her back. Squatting, he tossed the flap over the opening in his bag and gripped the straps, standing in a fluid motion. "Let's get out of here," he growled and strode down the corridor the way they'd been heading.

Upon reaching the classroom, Harry grabbed Seth to stop him passing right by. Seth turned an intense glare on Harry and the Gryffindor boy blanched as he saw the cold anger in the Ravenclaw's eyes; a few more years and there would be no distinguishing the father from the son. Harry swallowed and hissed "in here, Seth."

The group slid into the closest seats upon entering the vast classroom. As they settled their bags and took out quills and parchment, Hermione offered the featherless quill to the still scowling boy.

"Seth, you'll need your quill . . ."

"Huh?" Seth looked at her. His eyes fell to the object in her hand and a smile raced over his face, changing him once more into a friendly-enough teenager. "Oh! That . . ." He laughed and took the quill. "Thanks, Mione." As the wood touched his fingers the shape wobbled and blurred then steadied into the gnarled wand he'd been carrying before.

Ron's eyes widened and his jaw fell slack. "How'd you do that?"

"What?" Seth grinned. "Oh, simple illusion really. Mum taught me when I first got a wand. Says it helps prevent someone taking it." He slid the wand into his shirt sleeve, still grinning.

"But I didn't hear the incantation," Hermione frowned. "And we weren't taught that."

Seth shrugged. "Wordless magic . . . wandless, too. Mum's been teaching me since I started grade school."

"Grade school?" Ron asked, but stopped at Hermione's "wordless and wandless? That's really advanced!"

Professor Binns began to intone about Giant Wars, preventing any further conversation as the monotonous drone lulled the student into a near catatonic drowse. He went on lecturing, ignoring the slowly walking figure of Professor Mary Elizabeth Snape circling to the back of the room. When she stood behind the diligently note-taking Hermione and Seth, she called in a loud, clear voice, "five minute break to rest your fingers, get up and stretch, and compare notes quietly. And . . ." she turned her gaze over the class, perking up since she'd changed the routine, "I do mean quietly, else we shan't have another."

Surprised, a soft murmur began as the students turned to watch their new Assistant Professor.

She ignored them to place a hand on Seth's shoulder and whirl him around, quietly demanding, "Seth Eli Snape, this is your first class on your first day of school in a new country! Why the hell aren't you dressed properly?"

Seth blinked and turned a rather bored expression up to his mother, apparently not bothered by her shock and anger. "I did, but Professor Umbridge demanded she search my robes." He shrugged. "As I was running late for class, I let her have them. I'm to pick them up after class."

"Heavens above give me patience," she murmured, rolling her blue-green eyes ceiling ward.

Taking a deep breath, she leaned closer to her son and growled out harshly, "you are supposed to be keeping your nose clean and your head down, Seth. Avoid Dolores!"

"Avoid her?" Seth laughed and shook his head. "Mum, are you telling me I should avoid going to Defense class? Hey!" His dark eyes lit with amused hope, "if you give me a note but make it for history class, I'd be much obliged."

She smacked Seth upside the back of his head, causing Harry and Ron to drop their jaws in shock. "Insolent brat. You'll have me for detention if you're a smart ass." She straightened and smoothed her robes. Raising her voice, she called "Break over. Sit, please."

The class settled reluctantly and shortly the room filled with the drone of dates and names, the scratch of several quills, and the vain attempt of fifteen year olds fighting bored drowsing.

xxx

To be continued in Chapter Ten: when written