บท 238: The Eve of the Second Task

On the evening of the day before the second task, which was to take place in the Black Lake on February the twenty-fourth, Professor Snape came down to the Slytherin common room and asked to see Oleandra. Perhaps he wanted to make sure that she was fully prepared for what awaited her? Well, whatever it was he wanted, she wouldn't know until he spoke up, so Oleandra walked up to him and made her presence known.

If he wanted to talk about the Triwizard Tournament, Oleandra really wasn't worried about the second task, which would occur in the one place where she would be at her strongest. She might have been a little more concerned before her awakening as the Lady of the Lake, but even then, she would still have had the lake rune, which worked perfectly well underwater, as opposed to underground.

"Would you kindly fetch your sister?" Professor Snape said, going straight to the point.

Apparently, when he'd asked for Miss Greengrass, he'd meant Daphne, but since there was no way that he would lower himself to the point of calling a student by their first name, Oleandra had misunderstood.

"What do you want with her?" Oleandra couldn't help but ask, despite knowing better than to talk back.

"That is none of your business, Miss Greengrass," Professor Snape said, a hint of annoyance creeping into his voice. "Your sister. Do not make me repeat myself."

There was only one problem with that; Daphne wasn't here. She was off brewing the Bloodline Atavism Potion, but Oleandra had no idea which spot she had picked to do so in peace. The last time they had made the potion, they had used Salazar Slytherin's Scriptorium.

The only problem with reusing its facilities was that Oleandra had destroyed its opening mechanism beyond repair when she had first accessed the room. Salazar Slytherin's enchantments had since then sealed up the passageway like a badly healed scar, instead of repairing it properly. And since Dumbledore had the castle warded against Oleandra's Tree-Portation spell, there was no way to go back…

"Er… Let me take a look in my room—" said Oleandra haltingly.

"I do not care how you go about it," Professor Snape snapped. "Just fetch her."

It was only a few minutes until curfew, and Daphne certainly wasn't in the common room or the dormitory. Unless she returned soon, Professor Snape would immediately know. Oleandra returned to her room and pretended to search for a while, before sitting on her bed. How exactly was she supposed to fool Professor Snape without being able to tell a lie? ("You could hint that she's maybe in the bathroom," was Viviane's idea). As she was thinking, Tracey stuck her head through the doorway from the hall.

"Professor Snape's asking for you, Oleandra," said Tracey, interrupted Oleandra's thought process. "He doesn't look very happy."

Great; out of time, and now she had to deal with an angry teacher. Oleandra returned to the common room, where she found Professor Snape in the exact spot she had left him.

"I can't help but notice you've returned alone," Professor Snape said coolly. "I do not appreciate having my time wasted."

"She wasn't in our room," Oleandra said.

"I can see that," snapped Professor Snape. "If she isn't in her room, then where is she?"

"Er…"

The sound of stone sliding over stone arose as the secret door revealed itself, and a familiar face emerged from the doorway leading outside the common room. Daphne had returned at exactly nine; just in time. Oleandra blew a sigh of relief.

"She's right behind you," Oleandra said, pointing over his shoulder.

"Miss Greengrass," said Professor Snape, turning on the spot to face Daphne. "Care to share where you've been?

"The library," Daphne said without missing a beat.

"The library?" said Professor Snape coldly. "Madam Pince must have lost her edge if she's allowed fires to sprout up in the library."

"Sir?" Daphne said confusion. What did fires have to do with anything?

"Ashwinder eggs, Miss Greengrass," Professor Snape. "Red ash around your fingernails, and I can smell the sulphur from here. You have been handling Ashwinder eggs."

Daphne said nothing and maintained a neutral expression, though the tips of her prehensile hairs began curling and uncurling nervously. Oleandra tried to recall the ingredients necessary for the Bloodline Atavism Potion; Ashwinder eggs, who were laid in magical fires, were one of them.

"I'd been wondering who'd been raiding my personal ingredients cabinet," Professor Snape continued. "You see, I've placed a certain enchantment on—"

"Sir," Daphne interrupted. "I haven't been anywhere near—"

"Quiet!" Professor Snape snarled in seething anger. "You must think me an idiot if you thought I wouldn't notice! Two years ago, I found my cabinet emptied of the ingredients used for Polyjuice Potion and Ovid's Tincture, right after you'd asked me about it! And by the end of the year, you had turned yourself into a freak!"

"I—" Oleandra began.

"You'll keep your mouth shut as well, if you know what's good for you, Greengrass!" Professor Snape shouted. "And now, I find my cabinet ransacked again. Boomslang skin, gone. The ingredients for Polyjuice, missing again. And that's not all, a precious sample of Gillyweed has conveniently disappeared from my cupboard, right before the second task."

Professor Snape turned back to Daphne.

"Empty your pockets, the both of you," he said quietly. "Do not make me repeat myself."

Oleandra and Daphne reluctantly turned over their pockets, but to Professor Snape's annoyance, they contained nothing but lint. Good thing Oleandra had dropped off most of her things before going to bed…

"Good, very good," he said, his eyes narrowing dangerously. Turning to Oleandra, he added snidely, "you had better go to sleep, Miss Greengrass. The second task will take place at nine thirty tomorrow morning; it will be a busy day for you, and I am certain that you will not want to lose that which is precious to you…"

Oleandra could only watch helplessly as he grabbed Daphne's wrist, dragging her behind him out of the common room, and listen as her sister desperately pleaded her innocence. What else could she do? Attack him, just like Harry and Hermione had in the Shrieking Shack last year? He was her Head of House; he only needed to say the word to have them both expelled, and there was nothing they could do about it!

"He has a villain's mien," said Viviane, who'd been floating above Oleandra's shoulder the entire while. "Do you want me to teach you how to Transfigure him into something more fitting? A toad, perhaps?"

"I'd like that," said Oleandra miserably.