Chapter 19: Another Fighting Method 

The next day, Lucy hurried around her room and began packing her things away. She couldn't wait to get home for Christmas and was so happy that Snape had agreed it to be just them two. She would have nothing to worry about and she'd spend all the holidays with the person she felt safest with. She thought she even might go and visit Sirius. 

"You're excited to go home, aren't you, Angus?" Lucy asked and he purred in approval. "It'll be a nice change. I mean, last year we had the Yule ball and the year before that I went to the burrow then back to Spinners end when dad was with Jessica. We've never really had a proper Christmas..." 

"No we haven't," Snape said as he entered her room. "I think it's appropriate that we finally had a proper Christmas, as you described it." 

"I can't wait to go home and have nothing to worry about," Lucy smiled and slipped on a cardigan but Snape grabbed hold of her hand and stared at the back of it. "What is it?" 

"What you wrote yesterday on that piece of parchment is on your hand." 

"Yes, that's what Umbridge's quill does...it's a shame mine and Zuc's conversation ended up on my hand though. I didn't really want it on me." 

"Here — " Snape took a glass vial out of his pocket. "Just like last time, it'll heal it." 

Lucy drank the potion just as Snape fetched some bandages and bandaged up her hand. She thanked him before grabbing her wand and heading up to the seventh floor corridor where she met Fred, George and Harry. 

"Hello, Lucy," the twins chorused. 

"Hey! I was going to say that!" Fred snarled. 

"Me too," Harry said. "Anyway, shall we go inside? Everyone's waiting for us."

"Right you are," Lucy agreed and Fred and George pushed open the doors for them and Lucy as well as Harry walked inside and everyone cheered. 

"Welcome back, everyone!" Harry said as Fred and George stepped inside, closing the doors behind them. "I'm glad you could all make it." 

"We wouldn't miss it for a sale at Zonkos!" George laughed and Fred frowned. "OK, maybe we would..." 

"Now, this is going to be our last lesson before the Christmas break and I think we should train extra hard today — " Harry was about to complete his sentence when Lucy whipped out her wand. 

"Reducto!" Lucy said and Harry fell over. 

"What was that for?!" Harry yelled. 

"I was demonstrating the spell we're going to use today and to show you that I've been doing my homework by practicing all these spells." 

"Oh...well done, Lucy," Harry said as he got up. "Next time, can we use the death eater or knight to practice on?" 

"Of course, Harry." Lucy smiled. "And congratulations to Ron who really is our King for not letting the quaffle in! You helped Gryffindor win!" 

"Hey! What about us!" Fred said. 

"You two got yourselves kicked off of the team." 

"Hypocrite!" Ginny laughed. 

"Yes, maybe. But a good hypocrite. I got kicked off of the team for a good cause...I threw a spell at Malfoy, punched Goyle and kicked Crabbe in the shin!"

"What? Her? Beating up the Slytherins? Not in a million years." Zacharias Smith shook his head. "Don't believe it."

"I do! I saw it!" Fred called out. "I was there when the whole thing took place!"

"Me too!" Shona said excitedly. "She knocked the daylights out of those Slytherin scum!"

"You should have seen the look on Malfoy's face! I was waiting for him to say — " Fred began and George finished for him:

"Wait until my father hears about this!"

The whole group burst out laughing at George's impression then settled down and got into pairs, Lucy went with Shona and the two furiously threw the spells they had learnt in the room of requirement at each other.

"I msut say, you have improved with these spells," Shona said. "Reducto!"

Lucy blocked the spell. "Thank you. I think it helped a lot when I tormented the Slytherins, that really was a good lot of practice."

"Expelliarmus! Yes it was. Do you think — Reducto! — you've got what it takes to really — Expelliarmus! — beat Lord Zuc?"

"I think I have a better chance than I did a while ago, but I still need a bit more practice. I mean — Reducto! — I can't just say — Expelliarmus! — and have him fall over and that's the end of the ongoing struggle that we've had."

"So true..."

"I can't even beat you yet..."

"Reducto!" Shona screamed and Lucy fell over. "You've got that right..."

*      *      *

"OK, everyone you've all done fantastic." Harry said at the end of the lesson. "But like I said earlier this will be our last lesson of the term and we'll be meeting after Christmas to resume practicing all these spells."

"I think I need a bit more practice," Lucy said innocently and rubbed her arm where it still hurt from where Shona had knocked her over with a spell.

"We're all going to get better," Harry said to her. "But I know everyone has improved."

"Even me?" Shona called out.

"Yes, Shona, even you." Harry laughed. "So, I guess we'll see you all soon - Merry Christmas!"

People began to file out and Lucy and Harry stood at the entrance and waved them all off.

"Have a great Christmas!"

"See you after the holidays!"

"Merry Christmas, Harry and Lucy!" Luna said as she left.

"Have a good Christmas, Luna!" Lucy and Harry chorused. When everyone had left (apart from Cho who was lurking in the corner) Lucy turned to Harry.

"I'll see you after Christmas, Harry, I might see you at the Order of the Phoenix Headquarters but if not, tell everyone I said hi." Lucy smiled and gave him a hug before she left to go to the potions classroom.

When she arrived, she saw that the potions classroom door was slightly ajar and when she was about to walk in, she stopped herself because she heard Umbridge's voice.

"Are you sure your daughter isn't plotting anything?" Umbridge asked.

"Certainly," Snape replied in a bored tone. "I would know if she was."

"Then where does she disappear to after school?"

"She's either here, with Miss McGuire or in the library."

"And you allow her to be an independent woman like that? If she was my daughter she'd be stuck in my office doing homework, after all, it is O.W.L year. She cannot afford to waste her education on wandering around Hogwarts."

"She finishes all her homework successfully and then does whatever she pleases."

"Yes, that is a good way to describe your daughter 'does whatever she pleases.' She has broken at least six of my educational decrees. I blame you for not being a good enough parent."

Snape remained silent and Lucy could almost see the grin of satisfaction on Umbridge's face.

"You better stop brainwashing her about the Tale of the Knights because it isn't true, you must stop saying such nonsense otherwise I'll have Dumbledore give you the sack. Do you hear, Professor?"

"Yes," Snape replied in defeat.

"Good, now start following the rules and keep your daughter under control." And with that, Umbridge walked out and as soon as the coast was clear Lucy walked in to find Snape with his back to her. He was looking out the window and his hands were behind his back, it looked as though he was in deep thought.

"I hate Umbridge too, if that helps," Lucy said quietly but Snape didn't turn around. "I don't like her at all. She accuses me of all the wrong things just because I'm not following her Ministry rules." Snape still didn't reply and Lucy's shoulders slumped."Are you ignoring me?"

"No." Snape finally said.

"Then what's wrong?"

"How's the Wizarding Army?" Snape asked, ignoring her question.

"It's fine, I've got better at using spells."

Snape finally turned around and Lucy didn't realise it until the last second that he had thrown a spell at her but she blocked it.

"Better reflexes, most certainly..." Snape muttered.

"Really?" Lucy asked.

"Yes...have you packed all your possessions upstairs?"

"I have."

"Good, the Hogwarts train leaves in half an hour so you better go fetch it so we can get down to Hogsmeade train station."

Lucy dashed upstairs and grabbed her suitcase, Angus' cage (which included Angus) and her usual bag. She then headed back downstairs where she found Snape standing there with the prophet under his arm and his briefcase in his hand. 

They made sure they'd got everything before slipping on their coats and heading down to Hogsmeade station where they found almost everyone boarding the train. Shona went and sat in a compartment with Harry and the others while Lucy followed her father into the teachers carriages and they sat down and waited for the train to move. 

Snape straight away folded out his paper and pulled a face. Lucy frowned but Snape lifted up the paper and pointed to the usual moving picture.

"Recognise him?" Snape asked. 

"Would never forget him..." Lucy whispered as the picture of Zuc on the front cover of the Daily Prophet moved like any photograph did in the Wizarding world. It then flicked to a picture of Lucy Snape and Shona which looked like a very recent one. "We've made the headlines again." 

"When don't we make the headlines?" Snape raised an eyebrow. "I want to read other news rather than about me." 

"You going off the Prophet?" 

"Yes." 

"Never thought I'd hear that..." 

Snape rolled his eyes and handed Lucy the newspaper which she opened up and read the article on Lord Zuc (which was sadly written by Rita Skeeter): 

Lucy Snape, Severus Snape and Shona McGuire they are now household names to the Wizarding world. We know they're the gifted. We know that they're plotting to take down Lord Zuc. But, are they really doing what they say they're going to do? 

It has come to the Minsitry's attention recently that the gifted aren't doing much about the recent attack of Anastasia Garcia who was in fact one of Lucy Snape's friends. We have discovered that Zuc has opened a portal as to which allows him to gain access to France. He is currently opening the other portals and is trying so desperately to get to England's.

Lucy couldn't even be bothered to read the rest of what Skeeter had to say, she just handed the Prophet back to Snape as the train began to move. 

"Tell me something I don't know," Lucy sighed and rested her head on the window. "I can't wait until we get home and we can forget about everything and enjoy Christmas — " 

"Severus. Lucy!" Jessica squealed as she opened the door and Snape as well as Lucy gave her looks of disgust. 

"Oh! Funny to see you here! Is it dinner time for vampires?" Lucy snarled in a sarcastic tone. "You're not eating my father again..." 

"I wasn't even going to touch your father, I'm here to talk to you though." Jessica tried to welcome herself in when Snape stood up and forced her out of the compartment. He slammed the door behind him and Lucy watched the silent conversation between them. Snape waved his arms about and Jessica took the abuse, she didn't say anything. 

Finally, Snape walked back inside and shut the door again. Jessica stood outside with her hands pressed against the glass. Snape ignored her and turned to Lucy. 

"She wants to come home with us, to 'protect' us." Snape sighed. 

"No! No! No!" Lucy protested. "She is not coming home with us! The last time that happened I was kicked out of the house!" 

"I agree with you, she's not coming over. She won't bother us until we return to Hogwarts." 

"Are you sure?" 

"Positive, I haven't seen anything yet..." Snape thought for a moment and his visions didn't include Jessica whatsoever. 

"Miss Wave!" A shrill voice said from outside their carriage and both looked up to find Umbridge talking to Jessica. The only reason why they could hear Umbridge's voice was because it was so high pitched and could shatter the glass...like the fat lady had tried to do in Lucy's third year. 

Umbridge looked into Lucy and Snape's carriage all of a sudden and sneered. She then said something to Jessica before she walked off, Jessica forced to follow along behind. 

"Lucy, listen," Snape said when the two women had disappeared. "Has it ever occurred to you that — " Snape shifted in his seat awkwardly. "That Zuc may not be defeated with spells." 

"Now that you mention it, I haven't." 

"Well, I was thinking the other day...Miss Stone and Kingston are vampires and they have learnt how to use spells, although I have no idea how. But Zuc on the other hand would never use magic. He hates it with every fibre of his being." 

"What are you trying to say, dad?" Lucy wondered. Snape stood up and reached up from his briefcase which was sat up on the overhead rack. He grabbed it, sat down and opened it up on his lap. 

"What I'm trying to say is that Zuc won't simply use spells, he'll be using something a bit more medieval..." Snape reached in his briefcase, took hold of something and then shut his briefcase. 

"The sword..." Lucy whispered and Snape handed it to her.

"McGuire let me borrow it..." Snape replied but Lucy raised an eyebrow. "OK, after a small — " (Lucy frowned.) "A big argument with McGuire, I managed to snatch it from her and protest it was for you."

"For me? Why for me?"

"It's yours. Your fight with Zuc, your sword."

"But it's not just me fighting Zuc, it's the gifted," Lucy used her fingers as quotation marks and changed her hair colour blond to demonstrate. 

"The gifted are just...the gifted. We make up the gifted but you're the centre of the gifted. You make the group, with you we have unity. Without you the whole operation would be a total mess and who would try and defeat Zuc with an old man who teaches potions and a  whiny teenage girl with a sarcasm problem — " 

"Hey! It's a good sarcasm problem!" Shona yelled as she slid open the door. "Oh, hey, Lucky. Thought Snape was talking to himself again." 

"Afternoon, Shona," Lucy said. "We were just talking about the gifted, care to join us?" 

"Yeah!" Shona cheered and sat down next to Lucy. "Oh, I see you've got my sword..." 

"Your sword?" Lucy repeated. 

"I found it in the hidden room, my sword." 

"OK, if we're claiming objects..." Lucy reached in her bag and pulled out the Tale of the knights. "My book." 

"Then I guess the orb's mine," Snape joined in and Lucy laughed at him for being so childish. 

"I still have the knife. What are you two going to do about that?" Lucy said. 

"Chop you in half with my sword!" Shona taunted. 

"But quite seriously, going back to the gifted." Snape rolled his eyes and handed Lucy the orb which she put away quickly along with the Tale of the Knights. "I suppose myself and McGuire are just here to help." 

"But...you two are better fighters than me!" Lucy protested. "Shona can still attack me with that Reducto spell!" 

"Like I said before, it's not all about magic..." Snape nodded to the sword. "It's all about Zuc's method." 

"But I still need to know magic." 

"And that you do, but you need to sometimes think how Zuc thinks...you know exactly what he's doing most of the time. You're the one who sees exactly what he's doing all the time. Not me. Not McGuire. You. That's what makes you the special one out of us three." 

"I must be the one to defeat Lord Zuc..." Lucy whispered more to herself than anything. 

Snape paused for a moment. "That you must."