c5

After the Rebirth

"So we are learning about potions, highly volatile, potentially exploding, poison gas expelling potions… in a dungeon?!"

Vanessa had just been told by Ace just where it was that they were going to be learning potions for the next foreseeable years, and quite clearly she wasn't happy.

"Well when you look at it from a safety stand point it sounds a little worse…"

"Sounds… sounds… little…. LITTLE WORSE?! HARRY JAMES POTTER!"

"Holy shit woman okay! It's dangerous as all fucking hell but I don't know what to do about it right now!"

"How about telling someone?"

"Who? I mean Dumbledore isn't going to do anything that his little pet Death Eater doesn't like and the heads of house don't hold enough sway and I certainly can't go the board of governors"

Vanessa looked thoughtful for a second as she tried to come up with something or someone they could tell about this and perhaps not risk getting blown up because of some stupid accident.

Her thoughts continued to scramble until she felt Ace stop next to her so by pure instinct she stopped and took half a step back so she was exactly at his side, though had she looked she would have seen the extreme displeasure currently rolling off her lover.

"So it's true, Harry Potter came to Hogwarts… I must say I'm surprised you managed to get into the house of the wise, you don't look that wise to me"

Vanessa looked up and saw a small blonde idiot that she didn't recognize that well, she knew he was a first year as she was sure she had seen him during the sorting.

"Hey Ace, who is that little blonde idiot?"

"I'm Draco Malfoy and who are you?"

The boy had snarled as threateningly as he could… which when faced with Ace and Vanessa really didn't mean much.

"Vanessa Weaver"

"I don't know any wizarding families named Weaver"

"My parents aren't magical dumbass"

"So you are one of those filthy mu…"

Whatever Draco had intended to say it was silenced as Ace almost blinked out of existence before appearing before the young Malfoy heir and threw him against the wall before placing his arm over the prat's throat, bringing some much preferred silence.

"If you want to keep your tongue then I suggest you don't finish that sentence…"

To emphasize his point Ace planted his wand right below Draco's jaw

"One cutting hex and your tongue is separated from your mouth, a tremendously painful experience I have been told"

Ace then leaned all the way up to Draco's ear before growling

"First and last warning you little shit, I even suspect that you have harassed Vanessa again and I. Will. End. You. Are we fucking clear?"

Draco nodded his head violently before a familiar smell of piss spread out through the dungeon hallways.

Ace made no sudden movement of disgust rather he just wrinkled his nose and gave the Malfoy Heir one final push before he retreated back to his lover's side and used a cleaning charm to remove what little piss got on his shoes.

"Anyone else feeling like being a smart mouth?"

It was a challenge and every first year who had witnessed what just happened understood that. Displaying a rare sense of genius everyone wisely backed off and allowed the two to pass and continue the path towards the Potions classroom.

"I take it there's history there?"

"You could say that"

"Going to tell me?"

"Later love"

The two reached the doors to the potions classroom and on pure instinct Ace leaned over and gave Vanessa a quick kiss before they entered the room, it was such a common gesture between the two that they didn't even notice they had done it… fuck where they going to be surprised the next time they entered the great hall.

Inside the potions classroom Vanessa's worries only renewed as she looked upon the horrid state of the room, looking up she could see what could only be a collection of various fumes that had managed to turn into mold.

"Are you sure this is safe?"

Ace gave a shrug "We blew up cauldrons in here last time, none of us died from that"

"I swear to god you don't care about your life"

Ace just smiled at her as he seated himself next to her on the second row and awaited the entrance of the lord of grease himself.

He didn't have to wait long before the doors slammed open and Severus Snape came marching into the classroom with his cloak billowing behind him.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making. As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the sense… I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death… that is if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach"

Snape's long triad had the intended effect on most every student, they were bloody terrified of the man and few felt like staying in the class and would probably leave given the chance.

The only students seeming remarkably fine were Ace and Vanessa. Ace because he already knew the man was more bark than bite and Vanessa because she had faced down much scarier prospects than a teacher that knew how to brew a bit of cough medicine.

As Snape took the roll call he stopped when he reached one particular name and the sneer that erupted onto his face was almost comical to Ace.

"Harry Potter… our newest celebrity. Let us see if you have inherited that empty head of your fathers. What would I get if I added powdered roof of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

"Draught of living Death"

"Where would you look if I asked you to find a bezoar?"

"Stomach of a goat is usually a good bet"

"That's five points from Ravenclaw for your cheek Mr. Potter. Now what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

"They are the same plant, also goes by the name of Aconite in case you were wondering. Got anymore attempts at my intelligence Professor Snape? Or do I have to remind you just how much of James Potter's son I actually am?"

"Fifty points from Ravenclaw for threatening a teacher and two detentions with filch starting tonight!"

Ace stood up calmly before he looked Snape squarely in the eyes and waited for what he knew was to come.

He could barely contain the grin when he felt Snape's legilimency probe against his shields. With practiced ease Ace led the probe to a secluded part of his mind fortress where he kept a certain batch of memories for times like this.

'Enjoy living through my childhood dumbass'

And Snape did just that as he fell to the floor screaming in agony as he was forced to relive the entirety of Ace's childhood through his very eyes.

"Come on Love, he isn't getting up and I think I need to have a talk with McGonagall about a teacher trying to use legilimency on a student and a minor"

Vanessa smiled and hopped out of her seat and joined her lover as they left the potions classroom and a screaming professor behind, nothing of worth lost if you ask me.

Locating McGonagall wasn't all the difficult; a called house elf told them that she was currently in the process of teaching the fifth years Transfiguration.

The two quickly traversed the halls of Hogwarts and found themselves in front of the Transfiguration classroom, McGonagall's stern voice was heard through the doors… apparently someone hadn't managed to perform a transfiguration to standards.

*Knock* *Knock* (Honestly I didn't think Ace polite enough to knock)

"Who is it?"

McGonagall's voice sounded through the door and Ace opened the door and stepped inside before giving a court nod to the Deputy Headmistress.

"Professor McGonagall I have matter I wish to discuss with in your role as Deputy Headmistress, I'm afraid it can't wait"

"And what Mr. Potter could possibly be so important as to interrupt the fifth year's preparation for the OWL's?"

"The attempt of legilimency on a minor and a student, namely me"

"That is a serious accusation to make, to my office Mr. Potter and I shall contact Filius as he is your head of house, Miss Weaver you may return to class"

"I am not returning to that ticking time bomb, are you insane lady?!"

A silence befell that classroom as every student, including Ace, turned and stared with Vanessa with either awe or horror, no one had survived yelling at McGonagall and certainly not in that tone.

"Miss Weaver! My office, NOW!"

The two first years politely passed through the class until Ace passed the student that McGonagall was most likely just berating for not succeeding in his transfiguration. From his position it was visible that the fifth year was attempting to transform a dinner plate into a mushroom.

'The spell Ron somehow managed during his OWL, interesting'

Choosing to ignore the student Ace continued into McGonagall's office where he sat down next to Vanessa in the chair's in front of McGonagall's desk.

A few minutes later the door swung open and a rather irate McGonagall stalked into the office with Filius hot on her heels, a less than pleased expression on his face.

Once McGonagall had seated herself Flitwick continued pacing behind her chair as he mumbled a few things in a language the two eleven year olds didn't know but Ace suspected it was goblin.

"Now let us get to the bottom of this, Mr. Potter you claim that a Legilimency spell was attempted on you earlier today. Who performed the spell?"

"Severus Snape"

Filius' grumbling only escalated when the potions professors name was mentioned and he continued his fuming.

"That is a heavy allegation to make Mr. Potter, have you any proof?"

"PROOF?!"

The small charms professor roared at the top of his lungs causing the windows to rattle as his magic pushed against them.

"Severus is currently down in the medical wing being treated for a severe case of legilimency backlash, how's that for proof Minerva?!"

"I would happily supply a memory of the event for viewing if that helps"

"Thank you Harry that will certainly help… but I find myself curious as to how you recognized a legilimency attempt and even managed to repel it?"

Filius ceased his grumbling long enough to turn and stare at young Harry with pointed eyes demanding an answer, the charms professor was in no mood for games.

"Sorry Professor but that is my secret to keep for the moment, Professor Flitwick I will consider sharing it with you as my head of house and I place my trust in that it won't go further than yourself should that be the case"

The charms professor looked pensive for a moment before nodding his head in acceptance and then proceeded to pull out a vial for Harry to deposit his memories in.

Ace gently touched his wand to his temple before pulling out a thin white wispy line and placed it in the vial and took a moment to glance at the memory in fascination before handing it to McGonagall.

"In other matters… Miss Weaver I am highly disappointed in your choice of language, against a teacher no less"

McGonagall had leveled her best stare at Vanessa, the poor Transfiguration Professor had to do a few mental back-steps as she was met with an equal stare… one that held a great promise of pain should she even remotely attempt anything.

"I will use whatever language I wish when I find out that the room we are being taught Potions in is a ticking time bomb"

The venom in her voice was clearly targeted towards the faculty of Hogwarts in general as she felt that either the teachers here knew how the dungeon classroom looked and didn't do anything about it, or they had simply not cared to inform themselves about the teaching environment surrounding the potions craft, potentially explosive potions!

"Miss Weaver, what are you talking about?"

The small charms professor piped up from his position beside McGonagall's desk

"I am talking about how we are being taught potions a subject, that if I have understood correctly, involve potentially dangerous brewing methods that could result in poisonous gas leaking from the cauldron or perhaps the cauldron might explode. Not to even begin mentioning what the combined humidity from all those cauldrons must have done to the stone down in the dungeons, magic school or not I highly doubt you are protected from mold and its assorted ilk"

The two professors sat wide eyed and stared at the young Vanessa as the implications began turning in their heads, if any of it turned out to be true then there was a good chance that most of the muggle born would be taken out of Hogwarts.

"Filius, could this be true?"

"I don't know Minerva… I will admit to fearing something happening down in the dungeons if one of the students made something happen due to being unsupervised but Severus is always within sight of each of his students, he would catch anything smelling off or giving the wrong color… or at least I think he will"

"You sound unsure Professor…"

"I will be the first to admit, Miss Weaver, that I have never been very fond of young Severus. His work as a potions master is certainly remarkable if not respectable but I have no preference for the man himself"

"Never the less… an allegation like this needs to be taken in front of the Headmaster, if you two would follow me"

McGonagall got up from her seat and walked towards the door with her two students; Filius followed along as he was their head of house and felt he needed to be present for this conversation.

They came to the statue that was guarding the Headmasters office and McGonagall spoke the password "Gummy bears" causing the statue to step aside and allow them entrance.

Inside the Headmasters office Dumbledore was currently in the process of going over some information he had received recently on the current movements within the Wizengamot, it seemed he would need to call in a few favors if this next bill was to be voted against… once more trying to make it legal for Wizards to kill muggles if they felt threatened… a load of shite as far as Dumbledore was concerned.

As the door to his office opened Dumbledore looked up and met the eyes of Minerva before discreetly nodding and then put on his best grandfather face to hide his rather foul mood caused by the information.

"Minerva, Filius, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Headmaster, a problem has been brought to our attention concerning the safety of the students"

Standing behind his head of house, Ace looked on with interest as he saw the eyes of Dumbledore and a steely look replaced the twinkling grandfatherly eyes from before. If Ace had to give the old man anything then it was his concern for his charges.

"And I assume young Mr. Potter and Miss Weaver brought this to your attention?"

"That is correct"

"Hmm… Mr. Potter, Miss Weaver take a seat"

With a wave of his hand Dumbledore conjured four comfortable looking chairs in front of his desk and his four guests sat down.

"Lemon Drop?"

Vanessa reached for one but was stopped by a look from Ace that told her it was a bad idea… those Lemon Drops had a bit more in them than just lemon essence.

"Very well then how about you tell me what is going on?"

Vanessa repeated her earlier worries in regards to the current condition of the dungeon classroom, throughout the entire thing it grew more and more visible on the Headmasters face that something was off.

"… and to round it off I already saw a great deal of mold in the corners of the classroom"

"Mr. Potter can you confirm this?"

"Yes sir I can"

"Hmm… Severus ensured me that the classroom was cleaned at least once a week and aired every other day to get rid of any potential dangerous fumes… if what you say is correct it would seem young Severus has lied to me"

Ace didn't believe it at first, was Dumbledore actually accepting that Severus might actually have done something wrong? What a day!

"What are we going to do Albus?"

"I will contact Horace and have him come take a look, he taught Severus and I am sure that no one is better qualified to see and judge the current state of the potions room. Horace was rather famous for keeping students for cleaning after each lesson"

"*Sigh* Yes I had to give my share of warnings due to his mania for cleaning"

Dumbledore chuckled at his Deputy Headmistress before his gaze turned upon Harry and Vanessa, he caught the glance of young Harry for a moment and saw something there… something that shouldn't be in the eyes of any eleven year old

"Now I was informed by Madam Pomfrey that Severus is currently down in the medical wing due to Legilimency backlash, what can you tell me about this Mr. Potter?"

Ace shrugged a moment before cracking his neck and then took his sweet time looking around the room and gave a smile to Albinnius and then to Fawkes.

"He attempted to read my mind with Legilimency so I let him to the part of my mind that I have reserved for intruders"

Three sets of eyes widened in surprise as Harry described how he dealt with Severus attack. Having Occlumency shields at such a young age was possible, unheard of but possible… but having an entire complete mindscape with a readymade defense at eleven? That was just plain impossible.

"Hmm… Minerva, Filius, would you mind giving me a moment alone with Mr. Potter and Miss Weaver?"

The two teachers nodded before smiling at their two students and then rose from their seats that promptly vanished, once they had left the room Dumbledore opened up a drawer in his desk and pulled out a package. Reaching over the table Dumbledore placed the package in front of Ace before smiling at the young man.

"I had intended to give this to you as a Christmas present but perhaps you will find yourself in need of its assistance much sooner, your father entrusted this to me many years ago and I am only happy to return it"

Ace reached forward with shaky hands and opened the package to reveal his father's invisibly cloak. He could feel tears stinging at the edge of his vision as he hugged the cloak, he had left it behind when he fled the Wizarding world the first time and he had regretted it ever since.

"Now Mr. Potter I believe you and I have a lot to speak about but first I must be sure, is Miss Weaver completely in your confidence?"

Not wishing to risk speaking in fear of his voice failing him Ace just nodded his compliance.

"Very well then… Mr. Potter I do believe you are the most recent victim of a Rebirth, would I be correct in that assumption?"