Chapter 10: Unfortunate Circumstances 

Snape sat in his quarters with his elbows rested on his knees the next day. Luckily for him, he knew that Lucy slept in the Gryffindor common room the day that everyone arrived at Hogwarts then slept in the spare room in his quarters. If Lucy had seen Jessica Stone, she would have flipped out just like him...although she wouldn't have been as bad. 

He sighed and looked at the clock, Lucy would be here soon and he'd have someone to talk to. She always came to see him on the first day of lessons...

The time went by slowly: 7:00...7:05...7:30...Lucy should have turned up by now...7:40...still no sign of her. He groaned at the same time his stomach did, he simply couldn't go another minute without food so he headed down to the great hall. But on his way he saw Lucy patrolling a corridor, the rising sun glinting off her prefects badge. 

"What did Mr Filch tell you about the Zonkos jokes? Out of the corridors! Scram!" Lucy yelled at some third years and they scuttled out quickly, Snape smirked slightly; his daughter was living up to his expectations. And that he couldn't argue with. 

"Aren't going to kick me out are you?" Snape smirked as he approached her and placed his hands on her shoulders from behind, startling her slightly. 

"Oh, hi, dad." She laughed as she turned around. "You scared me for a minute there." 

"Are you trying to get away from me? I haven't seen you since we got off the carriages. Or are you too cool to hang out with your dad now?" 

"Dad!" Lucy whined. "You know I have prefect duties now!" 

"I know, I know. But you know, you can always come and see me." 

"I'm seeing you now, aren't I? Or am I hallucinating? It wouldn't be the first time." 

"Are you having visions again?" Suddenly, Snape was on the edge. Concerned. He needed to know if Zuc and Kingston were up to anything recently. 

"No, I haven't. Zuc seems to want to be nice to me for a while, he'll come back and bother me soon. I know him too well." 

"In the mean time, shall we head down to the great hall? I'm sure everyone's waiting for you." 

"I have prefect duties to — " 

"You are allowed to eat." And before Lucy could protest, Snape was dragging her down to the great hall. 

"Ah, there she is," Shona winked as Snape shoved her towards the Gryffindor table. "Alright, Snivs? You better get giving out detentions this year because otherwise Umbridge is going to get the award."

"Don't you believe it, McGuire," Snape replied and then headed off to the teachers' table. And there he spotted Fiona Wave (also known as Jessica Stone), sitting in the seat next to his. 

He paused. 

She waved at him innocently, then sat at the other end of the table in the empty seat. Jessica's heart sunk as Snape began to lousily eat his food. 

"What's up with him?" Shona asked, raising her eyebrow then gestured to Snape who seemed to be more interested in his cereal more than anything else as Umbridge sat down next to him. Whereas Jessica was desperately trying to get his attention. 

"And why is Umbridge's assistant trying to get his attention?" Lucy laughed, almost choking on her toast. 

"Told you he was good with the ladies. He was with Jes — " 

Shona stopped mid sentence and stared up at Fiona Wave and almost spat out her food. Fred and George looked at each other and Harry stared at Lucy, both shrugged. 

"Lucy-outside-now." Shona just about managed to say through gritted teeth. Lucy tried to take a bite of her toast but she ended it up carrying the thing in her mouth like a dog returning a ball to it's owner as Shona dragged her out of the hall by her tie. 

"Do you mind?" Lucy shrieked when they were out of the great hall, she now held the piece of toast in her hands and took small bites when waiting for Shona to reply. 

"No, not really. Anyway, if I was going to kill you, Snape would come along and yell: 'DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH MY DAUGHTER!'" Shona yelled, impersonating Snape perfectly. Lucy laughed. 

"But seriously, what do you want? I was enjoying my toast." 

"No, you were enjoying Fred staring at you. But we don't need to worry about him, what we really need to worry about is Umbridge's secretary." 

"Why's that?" Lucy wondered and peeped into the great hall where they saw the whole Gryffindor table staring at them, Shona grabbed Lucy's sleeve and lead her around the corner so they were out of earshot as well as everyone looking. 

"Well, I'll stand here while you have a look at Umbridge's secretary. If you can't guess who it is, we'll play a game of guess who. Agreed?" 

"Whatever you say..." 

Lucy wandered back to the great hall and peeked inside, she looked at Umbridge's secretary who was still looking at Snape who was trying to pretend he wasn't there. She glanced once more time before headed back to Shona. 

"Well, I have a guess but you'll probably call me crazy...which isn't the first time." Lucy said and stared at her feet guiltily. 

"Go on, I won't laugh," Shona replied and Lucy raised an eyebrow but Shona gave her a look to continue. 

"Is it..." Lucy looked left and then right. "Jessica Stone?" 

"My thoughts exactly and to be honest with you, I don't think she's here just to follow Umbridge around, do you?" 

"Not really. Maybe she wants to go out with dad again?"

"Perhaps, it seems like the only apparent option that — " 

"Hey, Lucy." 

The two were startled, Lucy turned around to see Fred; his hands were in his pockets and he was going as red as his hair. Shona snorted and Fred gave her a look that obviously disapproved. 

"Hi, Fred," Lucy replied, slightly annoyed that Fred had interrupted her and Shona's conversation as it was pretty important. "You OK?" 

"I'm fine," he nodded awkwardly. 

"Look, Fred, not to be nasty but do you really have something to say or are you just purposely annoying us because we're talking about something important." 

"Aren't I allowed to speak to Lucy? Or is it against the law, Worthing?" Fred challenged, advancing on McGuire who bared her teeth threateningly. 

"Guys, please stop it," Lucy whispered standing in between them. "I really don't want you to get into a fight. Besides, I can get you in detentions!" 

"Come on, Lucy, lets go to defense against the dark arts...I haven't got time for this." Shona muttered, grabbing her friends jumper and dragging her off to their first lesson while Lucy desperately tried to finish her toast on the way. 

Fred stepped back and then headed back into the great hall, he wasn't going to let Shona get in the way of his and Lucy's relationship. 

*       *       * 

"I'm not looking forward to this," Lucy panicked. She really didn't want to encounter Umbridge again, even if it meant skipping classes. "I've never liked defense against the dark arts, but now I think I hate it even more." 

"It'll be fine, it's not as though the old bat's going to target you all the time!" Shona laughed and crunched on a sugar quill. 

"Don't you believe it," Lucy replied darkly just as the door swung open and everyone made their way in to the room.

Lucy and Shona looked at each other then at the desks. Umbridge stood at the front of the class, with her pink clothing, wearing a grin as all the children were taken out of their comfort zones. 

"Please, sit where you like," she beamed. Shona walked to the front, Lucy feeling a little pathetic for following her friend did so anyway and they sat next to each other. Lucy looked up and saw Fiona Wave giving her a weak smile while she took notes. Lucy didn't smile, she just glared at her. She would never forget her for trying to eat her dad. 

"Welcome, children. To your first defense against the dark arts lesson of the year," Umbridge smiled and Shona began taking out her wand but Umbridge's eyes turned to slits. "Wand away please, dear. You won't be needing it in this lesson." 

"Oh, OK..." Shona mumbled and shoved her wand back in her trouser pocket. Umbridge smiled then took out her wand and wrote on the chalk board by simply moving her own wand.

"Ordinary Wizarding Level Examination," she said as she wrote. "O-W-L-S or more commonly known as O.W.LS. Study hard and you will be rewarded, fail to do so and the consequences may be severe." She smiled then waved her wand, the next moment books were being placed on each of the students desks. "Your previous instruction on this subject has been disturbingly uneven. But you'll be pleased to know, from now on you will be following a carefully structured Ministry approved course of defense of magic." 

Lucy flicked through the books herself and suddenly became worried; there was nothing about defense spells in here and that's what she really needed to learn. If she didn't she'd be Kingstons, and possibly Zuc's, dinner...

"Yes?" Umbridge asked as Hermione raised her hand gingerly. 

"There's nothing in here about using defensive spells," Hermione said. She was just as confused as Lucy and Shona were and possibly the rest of the class included. 

"Using spells? I can't imagine why you would need to use spells in my classroom!" 

"Wait hold on a minute!" Shona spoke up. "This can't be right, we've got to use spells to protect ourselves!" 

"But you will be learning in a risk free environment!" Umbridge protested. 

"Health and safety, much?" Shona muttered in Lucy's ear but Lucy had finally had it and raised her hand politely. 

"Yes, Miss Snape?" 

"I don't understand. Why will we not be using spells? We need to know how to protect ourselves," Lucy said. She needed this lesson more than she needed Ancient Runes or (even though she hated to admit it) potions. 

"My dear, why on earth do you need to protect yourself?" 

"Well, if you hadn't noticed. I'm one of the gifted and a certain evil person is out to get me!" Lucy changed her hair colour to red to show her anger and her power. 

"He is not out to get you!" Umbridge laughed and suddenly Lucy stood up so fast it made even Shona jump, she spilled her ink and faced Umbridge. 

"Oh yeah?" Lucy retorted, she un-did one of her shirt buttons and revealed the scar on her neck then pointed the remains of the scar on her face, then she pointed to her leg. "You think I got those scars being the clutz that I am? Or do you think I got them in battle? Do you think I want more? Well if your thick mind can't work it out, I don't want anymore and I want to know how to protect myself!" 

Umbridge ignored her comments and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't backchat me again, Miss Snape, I know you're a prefect and I know very well that your father is Severus Snape but that doesn't stop me giving you a detention." 

All of the students gasped and Lucy looked as though a vampire had just drunk all her blood. She looked close to tears and sat back down weakly, she didn't speak for the rest of the lesson. She was silent for the rest of the day. It was as though a dementor had sucked out her soul. 

"Don't worry about it," Shona whispered as they exited the classroom at the end of second lesson. "If you're that worried I'll do detention for you! I've got used to it now." 

Lucy shook her head and let Shona read her thoughts: my fault, my detention. 

They headed down to the dungeons where they saw Snape, standing there rubbing off his chalk board but Lucy walked over to him and fell into his arms. 

"What's wrong?" Snape asked, he knew Lucy was desperately trying to hold back her tears. 

"She got a detention with Umbridge, I told her I'd serve it for her because to be honest it wasn't her fault." Shona said as she sat down and put her feet up casually. 

"Did someone get her into a detention?" 

"No, it was her who said it. But you know, Umbridge wants us to learn defense against the dark arts without magic. Lucy got stroppy saying that she would never defeat Lord Zuc without spells so she got detention." 

"I see she inherrited her father's temper," Snape half smiled and then forced Lucy to look up at him and saw that she couldn't hold it anymore and was crying. 

"I've messed my life up so much this year!" She sobbed, trying to wipe the tears away. "First almost expelled and now this! I'll never know why Dumbledore chose me as a prefect." 

"He chose you because he trusts you and don't let a detention get in your way, you haven't been to school if you haven't got a detention." 

"He speaks the truth," Shona grinned and held up a bottle of pumpkin juice. 

"You won't get one again, I'm sure. Just try and control your temper next time — even though I totally agree with your actions." 

"OK, I'll try." 

"Don't worry, Lucky, it's not as though you've had as many detentions as me. I think I'm going in the book of world records for the amount of detentions I've had!" 

Lucy laughed slightly. "Lets hope this is my first and last detention."

"I hope so to," Snape muttered. 

"Wait a minute, Snivels! Were you hinting you've had detention before?" 

"Be quiet, McGuire." 

"I knew it! Snape's had a detention before!" 

"MCGUIRE!" And Snape threw some chalk at Shona who fell off her chair in surprise.