Chapter 32: When a Serpent Strikes

Common Room, Gryffindor Tower, Hogwarts...

Harry James Potter had not been having a good week. When he woke up one Monday morning he had suddenly become quite in-concomitant when it came to even the most basic of tasks. The green eyed wizard had not known what it was but he had been having a terrible time as of late. During Quidditch he had been unable to do even the most basic of moves. His broom had seemed to be out to get him. Every homework assignment he had somehow vanished or got destroyed. He had been working on a four page essay for transfigurations and Ron had managed to spill ink all over it before they got out the door to breakfast. He had tried his hand at a game of snap and ended up spraining his wrist from bad coordination. Hermione had said she would look into what was happening and spent a good deal of time in the library trying to find the answers.

Ron had been avoiding him not wishing to get caught up in whatever was plaguing Harry.

The young wizard had been on his own mostly. In a matter of days he had gone from being glorified hero that defeated Voldemort to the laughing stock of Gryffindor tower. There had been nothing that he could remember doing or coming in contact with that would be the cause of his current dilemma.

Harry sighed stretching out in his bed.

Within seconds, he heard what sounded like metal stripping and then his bed collapsed into pieces with him still lying in it. A few Gryffindors had witness the event and burst out laughing pointing and jeering about Harry's misfortune.

"Potter's broken his bed!" one exclaimed amid laughter.

"Gee Potter how much do you weigh?" asked another.

"Sod off." replied Harry red in the face.

The others continued to laugh.

Harry grumbled in frustration and scrambled to his feet. He made his way out of the common room as quickly as possible. He had to find Hermione so she could help him get back to normal. He walked rather briskly through the corridor trying to ignore the various finger points and snickers as he continued on with toilet paper stuck to his shoe.

The green eyed wizard had been searching for Hermione nearly all over the school by the time he realized that the witch had obviously been in the great hall. He braved the corridors once more and made his way to the great hall. If he could just hold it together then he could get some answers about what was happening to him.

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The Great Hall...

Harry had felt increasingly uncomfortable as every eye in the room fell on him. He had been so preoccupied when he was searching for Hermione that he had lost track of time and ended up arriving a good deal late to breakfast. The green eyed wizard had not being the center of attention as much as Professor Snape had believed and made his way toward his usual seat near Ron and Hermione. The Slytherin table broke out into laughter as they caught sight of the toilet paper stuck to his shoe. The Gryffindors had snickered as well. Hermione rolled her eyes. She recalled her own humiliation and had been more than empathetic when it came to Harry's plight.

"Don't listen to them Harry." she said "they're all just...stupid prats."

Harry treated her to a weak smile.

"Yeah Harry, they are stupid prats." added Ron attempting to sound supportive.

The green eyed wizard took his seat and had been treated to a bowl of rather watery and lumpy oatmeal.

Great now even the house elves have it in for me.

Hermione shook her head.

"You can have some of mine." said Hermione sweetly.

Harry gave her a grateful smile.

'T-Thanks Mione." he said softly.

"Don't mention it." replied Hermione.

Harry started to eat and found that his newly acquired oatmeal tasted like hot peppers.

"Oh come on." said Harry turning red and reaching for the nearest glass of milk.

Hermione studied him for a moment as he gulped it down.

The milk had suddenly become sand the moment it touched his tongue.

The other students broke out in a choirs of laughter unable to hold back at the sight that was Harry Potter with a mouthful of sand and his complexion completely red. Harry stood up and quickly spit out the sand as his green eyes scanned the room with murderous intent in his eyes. The only conclusion he could come to was that a Slytherin had been behind all of this but he didn't know who.

"Harry." said Hermione pulling him back down into his seat.

The green eyed wizard sighed.

"I have no idea why all of this is happening to me." he said in a defeated tone.

Hermione patted him kindly on the shoulder.

"It'll be alright Harry." she said. "I went to the library and I looked up what's causing your problem."

Harry's ears perked.

"Y-You did?" he asked hopeful.

Hermione nodded.

"It's something called "Nubes atra." she replied. "Otherwise known as "The Black Cloud jinx".

"The Black Cloud jinx?" asked Harry in disbelief.

"Blood hell!" said Ron not at all liking the sound of this. "What bloke did you piss off to get that put on you, Harry?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders.

"I-I don't know." he replied. "I haven't done anything...not to warrant a jinx...especially one like this."

"Well, someone has it in for you Harry." replied Hermione.

"You think Peeves maybe?" asked Ron. "He's known for pranks and such."

"I don't know." replied Hermione. "I doubt Peeves can do magic and this is definitely the work of a witch or wizard."

"What about Draco?" asked Harry glaring at the junior Malfoy from across the room.

"Before the war I would have put him as the first suspect on my list." replied Hermione. "But even then he did not have the smarts to pull something like this off."

Harry nodded.

"What about Snape?" asked Ron. "He's always had it in for Harry."

The green eyed wizard looked over at the staff table. Snape had been quietly chatting with Professor Flitwick. He seemed more or less his usual self not bothering to enjoy his meal with a scowl on his otherwise expressionless face.

"I-I don't know Ron." replied Harry. "Snape would be a likely candidate if he actually had a sense of humor...and a jinx entails wand waving."

"And we all know how Snape feels about wand waving." said Hermione with a sigh.

"Silly wand waving." added Ron.

They were back to square one. No suspects.

Harry sighed and turned his attention back to his plate. No sooner had he lifted his fork he had found himself getting a personal shower as water poured all over him from somewhere above his head. The wizard jumped out of his seat grumbling in frustration. Everyone in the great hall had been watching him, even Professor Snape saw fit to look at him with a raised eyebrow. Soaked, and utterly humiliated Harry Potter stormed out of the hall headed for someplace quiet with no one else around.

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Potions Class, Hogwarts...

When the time came around for Potions Class Harry had been dreading it more than usual. He had no idea how this "Black Cloud jinx" was going to effect his time in potions. One thing he had known for sure was that he had wanted nothing to do with any potion when he was under it's influence. He had considered skipping Potions Class but then he considered what Professor Snape would do when he caught up to him for showing disrespect. Unable to do much else, the green eyed wizard made his way to Potions class. Harry found to his very grateful surprise, that Professor Snape had decided to lecture that afternoon and that meant that they would be taking notes. Note taking had been far less dangerous than brewing a potion.

It seemed like everything was going well once class got underway. Halfway through it Snape had come up to him with a seemingly murderous glare. Harry had not understood why the Professor seemed to be so upset with him. The Professor seemed about ready to blow a head gasket as he looked over the boy's notes.

"Do you think this class is a game Potter?" he asked irate.

"N-No sir." replied Harry.

"Then why have you been pretending to take notes?" asked Snape.

Harry didn't understand.

"W-What are you talking about sir?" he asked.

"DO NOT PLAY GAMES WITH ME POTTER!" said Snape still very irate.

Harry looked down at his parchment. There had not been a single trace of his notes on any of it and he had written a great deal since class had begun.

"I-I'm not sir." replied Harry stammering. "I don't know what happened."

Hermione looked at him.

"He's telling you the truth, sir." she replied. "He's under some kind of jinx."

Snape whirled around on her so fast that Harry had hardly seen it.

"Did I ask you for your input Miss Granger?" he asked coldly. "Twenty points from Gryffindor for your constant chattering and ten points from Gryffindor for Mr. Potter's lack of respect."

Snape turned from them and made his way back to his desk. His black robes billowed behind him. Harry sighed and looked down at his parchment. He really had no idea what was happened to his notes. He looked the parchment over a few times and sat it back down. He lifted his quill and attempted to write his notes all over again only to have ink burst from the parchment and into his face painting him a lovely shade of midnight black.

Snape shot up from his desk and looked at Harry irate.

"MR. POTTER!" he said in a tone matching his expression. "You will stay after class and clean this mess at once!"

Harry sighed setting back down with his now soggy parchment.

"Yes sir." he replied.

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Transfigurations Classroom, Hogwarts...

Professor McGonagall found that Harry Potter had not been the only one having a bad time as of late. She had been teaching a relatively easy to maintain 7th year class of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. The afternoon had been quite pleasant and aside from concern for Harry Potter's unfortunate situation. McGonagall had sat down to her desk and began looking over a few parchments when there was a sudden and loud popping sound that rang out in her class.

The older witch listened as something flew above the heads of the busy students. It had been in the shape of a bumble bee but sparks could clearly be seen flying out of it. The transfigurations Professor quickly pulled her wand and vanished the thing. No sooner had she cast the vanishing charm, it burst and a string of vibrant letters formed across the classroom.

{MCGONAGALL SMELLS LIKE A TWO DAY OLD LITTER BOX}

The students looked up from their respective parchments and burst into immediate laughter. The older witch had become greatly annoyed when yet another "bumble bee" entered the classroom. She vanished that one quicker than the first. Just as before vibrant letters formed across the class room this time in red.

{YOU COULDN'T HIT THE BROAD SIDE OF A SCRATCHING POST}

Professor McGonagall had become irate now. As the laughter of the students increased. Another "bumble bee flew in followed by a couple of dragonflies and more popping sounded. The older witch brandished her wand with reckless abandon determined to rid her class room of these noise-making nu-senses. Letters erupted in yellow:

{MCGONAGALL HUFFS CATNIP}

She vanished another. Blue letters appeared:

{HERE KITTY KITTY}

The students continued to laugh as the firework flew about the class with McGonagall waving her wand as if she were an actual cat trying to swat at it. By the time class had ended the students had been in stitches and McGonagall had exhausted herself, her hair and eyes wild, her classroom a complete a mess with toppled desks and scattered parchments still falling as more fireworks filled her class room with the last bursting into green letters.

{GRYFFINDOR SUX}

The Headmaster's Office, Hogwarts...

Headmaster Albus Dumbledore had been engrossed in quite a significant reading of some Muggle novel Hermione Granger had loaned to him. He had his usual set up of candies next to him to snack on while he read and found the book to be quite as pleasant as she had described it to be. He chuckled some at the rather unfortunate predicament the characters found themselves in. His blue eyes twinkled in utter delight. The Headmaster popped a lemon drop into his mouth quietly musing to himself. When all of the sudden the tangy lemon flavor gave way to something else entirely.

The headmaster's pallor rapidly changed colors like something out of an old Muggle cartoon and he looked up from his book. Fawkes had looked on with concern making all sorts of bird noises and flapping his wings. Dumbledore opened his mouth and flames shot out of it nearly singing everything on his desk. When the eruption ceased, He picked up one of the yellow candies and noted the small W logo in white on them. W for Weasley brothers products.

The old wizard's blue eyes twinkled in mischievous approval. Then he looked back at Fawkes in an effort to console the worried bird. The bird in question seemed to have calmed down when it's master treated him to a warm smile.

"I suppose I did have that coming." he said shaking his head.

The returned back to his if nothing had happened. Only this time he had been careful to avoid the candies altogether.

"It seems that boy hasn't changed much at all." he said fondly.

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The Infirmary...

Poppy Pomfrey had been up to her elbows in sick students when she awoke that morning to open the infirmary. It had been a curious site she noted as they had been only students from Gryffindor house. When she managed to get one of them coherent enough to speak they told her that apparently, someone had left an unopened and rather tempting box of chocolates unattended the in Gryffindor common room. The eager students helped themselves and had all ended up with gastritis. Several had been vomiting to the point where the common room was reminiscent of a Muggle horror film's split pea soup scene. It had been a good deal lucky the entire house had not taken it upon themselves to eat the chocolate and of those included in the lucky category had been Both Harry and Hermione who spent a great deal of time studying the effects of The Black Cloud jinx.

The med-witch had her hands full as many a Gryffindor student lost their breakfast and lunch all over her floors. Even more strange was that Professor Snape had taken leave for the afternoon on the grounds of personal business with Lucius Malfoy and could not assist her with making potions to ease the nausea of the students.

One such Gryffindor student found this a bit suspicious.

Ronald had been in a bad way since he had ingested the aforementioned chocolates and was fighting with all his might not to empty his stomach contents on the infirmary floor.

"Ahhh!" he groaned.

Poppy had been understaffed and running low on nausea potion. She had not understood what this had all been about as she checked Ron Weasley's temperature. She was sure that there was no bug going around and there had been nothing left of the chocolates to determine where they had come from or what caused all the students to get sick. The med-witch sighed. She had not seen anything so bazaar since the days the Weasley brothers attended Hogwarts and took it upon themselves to liberate their fellow classmates from Umbridge's rein of terror.

Ron couldn't hold back any more. He turned his head and hurled his guts for all he had been worth. His blue eyes widened in utter shock when he realized that he had vomited all over Madam Pomfrey's crisp white shoes. He gave her a sheepish grin and sank beneath the covers of his current bed. This was going to be a long night.

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Lucius Malfoy's Study, Malfoy Manor, Wizarding World...

Lucius had once again been relaxing in his decadent study sipping a well deserved glass of fire whiskey when there was a crackling at his floo. The handsome wizard strolled over to it not at all thinking anything of it and made to examined the source of the problem. He had been quite tired and in a hurry to get back to his relaxing. With a sigh he looked down into the fireplace. To his utter shock, the flames suddenly roared turning into a green color and a sudden blow came from out of it and struck him hard in the face.

The senior Malfoy stumbled backward landing without much grace onto his back. The blood had immediately begun to gush from his elegant nose as he held up his hands and tried unsuccessfully to catch it. It gushed all over his crisp white shirt.

"Bloody Hell!" said Lucius annoyed. "Really Severus...my favorite shirt..."

The smirking form of none other than Severus Snape appeared through the floo as his obsidian eyes took in the sight of his old friend a bloodied mess before him.

"Well you always did like the color red." replied Snape with a sneer.

Lucius rolled his eyes.

"Now that you've proven you can act the part of a barbarian...would you mind helping me up?" he asked.

Snape folded his arms across his chest.

"Severus come on..." said Lucius.

Snape sighed and helped his friend to his feet.

"I take it that you've regained your memories?" said Lucius tending to his bloody noise.

"Obviously." replied Snape emotionless.

"It appears you've learned a thing or two from Miss Granger." said Lucius with a smirk despite his pain. "I can't say that I remember you being so physical when it came to revenge."

Snape smirked at him.

With one last look at his friend Snape ventured back through the floo to his quarters in Hogwarts. The following day Lucius Malfoy received quite the surprise when he ventured into his office. Apparently, he had sprouted ears and a tail befitting a donkey. Imagine his surprise when he opened his mouth to give a speech and his voice came out sounding as a donkey's would. The gray eyed wizard had been further annoyed when snap shots of him having a donkey's head appeared in The Daily Prophet.

After all, Revenge was a dish best served cold and no body could serve it colder than Severus Sebastian Snape.