CH 50

The flames flared to life again and he was soon joined by Augusta and Amelia. Both of whom used their wands to banish their own soot and ash.

"Welcome; both of you!" he said, before he spun on his heel and walked away. "I've got my pensieve set up in my study..."

Leading the two ladies into his study while rubbing the palms of his hands together in glee, he said, "Alright. Harry sent me a letter and a memory about something that happened in the Great Hall this morning at breakfast." Looking to his wife he asked, "Izzy, can you show them the letter?"

Without a word Isabel handed the letter off to Augusta. With Amelia looking over her shoulder, she read:

Lord Greengrass, Lord of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Greengrass

It is with an angered heart I must write to you concerning an incident that occurred during breakfast, this morning, in the Great Hall at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Potions Master Severus Snape has, in a most vile manner, attempted to interfere with my betrothal with your lovely daughter, the Lady Daphne.

I find myself so enraged by the event I cannot put quill to parchment to describe it to you. It overturns my stomach. Instead, I have included my memory of the despicable act so you may judge for yourself the seriousness of the crime.

I ask that you witness the event for yourself. Then, as a concession to me, negotiate a time with the Dowager Lady Longbottom, Regent Potter, for her to view same.

Though the infraction by Potions Master Snape may be considered minor, as it is a betrothal between two Noble and Most Ancient Houses, I feel it sirius enough it must be dealt with by your good selves as members in good standing of the Wizengamot. I feel even Dumbledore, as Chief Warlock and who attempted to intervene at the time, is not worthy of judging this matter.

Have fun! Mr. Harry J Potter Head of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter

"Overturn, concession, negotiate, minor, serious misspelled, Wizengamot, Dumbledore," mused Augusta. "Why did he underline those words?"

"I believe I know," replied a grinning Cygnus. "Watch the memory with me and I'll explain."

The four adults then dipped into the memory and remained motionless for a while.

About ten minutes later, they all stood back up straight again and stepped back.

"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Augusta.

"Ha!" exclaimed Cygnus again. "Did you see what he did? He escorted that young, brown-haired Gryffindor witch into the Great Hall, sat her at the Hufflepuff table with young Susan and Hannah all facing the Slytherin table, whispered something to the three of them and young Neville that had them grinning like loons, and then went and sat next to Daph and Tracey, who were clearly waiting for him, at the Slytherin table facing them!

"He had it all planned out in advance!" he exclaimed again. "I don't know how he did it, but I know the boy tricked the Hat into sorting him into Ravenclaw instead of Slytherin. I'm sure of it! I even witnessed the sorting; and it was one of the longest I've ever seen or heard of!"

"Yes, but perhaps now you can explain why he did it to us lesser mortals," said Amelia. "Though I think I might have an idea." "It's the letter," said Cygnus. "Overturn instead of turn - concession, negotiate, minor, sirius - not misspelled serious Wizengamot, Dumbledore.

"Don't you see? We can use what he did. As Harry is a minor, Augusta and I can overturn the apology and use the incident to negotiate and wring concessions out of Dumbledore within the Wizengamot. His last line, have fun, tells us to do exactly that! And the name Sirius, for Sirius Black, being included tells us he hopes we can use it to wring concessions for Sirius's freedom!"

Laughing, Cygnus said, "Dumbledore is going to do everythinghe possibly can to save his precious spy. We can use this to get what we want out of him. He won't dare try and block us; lest we then formally challenge Snape. We've got him by the nads, and Harry gave him to us!

"The boy, in one fell swoop, negated Snape's influences within the school and hamstrung Dumbledore from blocking us! And he used the laws of the old ways to do it. It was a most guilefulSlytherin move!"

"Oh, my," Amelia softly said. "He did, didn't he?"

"On top of that, when I escorted Harry into Hogwarts last night, it was easy to see the rest of the student population were either just scared, or flat-out terrified, of him," said Cygnus, breathing heavily from laughing too hard. "Now, he's just given a verypowerful warning to everyone else that Daphne is not to be bothered by anyone - or else! And the faces on the boys sitting at the Slytherin table showed they well understood the message. That girl just became the safest witch in Hogwarts! No one will go near her now!"

After lunch, Harry had a class on Herbology with the Slytherins. So, he was able to share a table with Daphne next to a table shared by another Slytherin witch and Tracey. He quickly learned that Daphne had quite the in-depth knowledge of potions and potion ingredients, of which many of the plants in Herbology filled. Together, they had fun repotting bubotuber seedlings from trays into small pots while Tracey and her partner were repotting common dittany from small pots into slightly larger pots.

"Damn!" Harry said softly after sniffing one of the seedlings. "These things smell like petrol."

"Petrol?" asked Daphne. "Yeah, it's the fuel used by automobiles. You know, muggle transportation device with four wheels people ride inside of?"

"I know what an automobile is, Harry," she replied in a condescending voice.

"Sorry," replied Harry. "I just know that some magicals aren't all that up-to-date with muggle technology and the sciences."

"I daresay these would be quite flammable," he mused.

"They are," she replied. "But the pus you extract from the nodules on the fully matured versions of these have a wide range of medicinal purposes. In the raw state, though, you need to wear your protective gloves when handling them. The pus is pretty corrosive and can cause burns and boils on bare skin."

"Five points to Slytherin, Miss Greengrass," spoke Professor Sprout who had come up behind them, "for that wise and correct counsel on the safe handling of bubotuber pus. Well done." Before she moved off again.

Before long their chore was done and both were able to clean up their workstation and themselves. They were quickly dismissed from the greenhouse and the weekend was theirs.

After their final Friday class, Harry and Daphne approached the door to the office and personal quarters of Harry's Head of House, Professor Flitwick, and knocked.

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