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76. Sirius announced
🕑 Added 2025-04-14 03:10:33 +0000 UTCJames whirled around at Lily's tone and smiled widely. "Lils, I didn't see you come in."
Lily almost gagged at his phoniness. Here was the same man who was always jealous when she bested him in class and who complained incessantly about her studying for her Charms mastery while they were married. "Either you leave voluntarily, Potter and take Black with you or I promise you, you'll be streaking down to the Black Lakes with your bums on fire."
"We're here on official business," Sirius announced.
Minerva stood up and said, "In that case you should have notified Professor Dumbledore or me that you we're coming."
Harry got up and marched up front to stand beside Lily. "You don't have any official business. You're just here to cause trouble."
"I see Snivellus has corrupted you already, made you hate your family, and your rightful house."
"Rightful house? Oh! You mean Gryffindor? Well, for your information the Sorting Hat told me it didn't believe it was a good fit for me. Dad has taught me the value of family – real family not the fake ones the headmaster stuck me with for eleven years."
"Aurors Potter and Black, I believe you've overstayed your welcome and you can leave at anytime," Minerva said crisply.
James and Sirius looked up at her in surprise.
"Yes, leave before I give into my great desire to set your bums on fire," Lily sniped.
They turned and trudged back out into the hallway obviously disappointed that they hadn't struck fear into anyone's heart, but neither of them wanted to test Lily's or Minerva's tempers. "Well, she always did favor Lily. Considered her like a daughter," James muttered.
As they walked out the door, the entire Slytherin table started to clap until a frown from Severus halted them.
It was a couple of days before Severus was able to talk to Blinky about secret hiding places in the castle.
After Severus had explained that he was looking for something that had been lost for a long time and if Blinky knew of a place where it might be hidden.
Blinky's face lit up and his began flapping his ears as he was dancing about. "Blinky knows of a place. All the elves do. We call it the 'Come and Go Room' because it is there sometimes and other time it does not appear. It is known by some students as the Room of Requirement because it only appears when you need it."
"And where is this room located?" Severus asked curiously. He found it strange that he never heard of it after being at Hogwarts for seventeen years as a student and a professor.
"Blinky knows it is located on the seventh floor across from the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. You needs to walk up and down in front of the wall three times and tell it what you needs and then the doors will open. It is very dusty and dirty, filled with broken stuff, extra stuff, and things the students have hidden there, but Professor Dumbledore will not let the elves clean it."
"Thank you, Blinky for your information. I will check it out the first chance I have."
"You is welcome Mr. Severus Professor Snape," Blinky said and popped out again.
Severus met Lily in the hallway between their classes, cast his Muffliato Spell and then relayed to her what Blinky had told him.
Lily shook her head. "I remember overhearing the Marauders talking about this secret room on the seventh floor, but I thought it was just another lie to lure curious people there so they could hex them."
"Apparently it does exist, but Blinky did say it is filled with an incredible amount of junk collected over the centuries. We are going to need help searching it and it will need to be done after hours so Dumbledore doesn't get suspicious."
"Would Luc and Cissa be able to help us?"
"I will fire call them and ask," Severus replied.
"Let me know what they say and we can plan the best time to search then."
Severus nodded and continued on his way to the dungeon for his next class. He was thankful that the Cerberus was finally gone from the school and there was no more danger of students being torn apart by it. He suspected Minerva had put her foot down – right in the headmaster's arse.
Harry and his friends were amazed at how quickly their first year was passing. It was almost Easter and they had about two months of school and their final exams left to look forward to.
"I'll bet your dad's final exam will be hard," Greg said as they were sitting out by the Black Lake during their free period.
"What do you mean, Greg? All of Professor's Snape's exams are hard!" Neville exclaimed.
"I don't think it will be harder than usual, but it probably will be longer though," Harry replied thoughtfully. "I think it will probably have questions about everything we've learned this year."
"I wonder what potion he'll have us brew for the practical part," Hermione said.
"Probably one of the harder potions we've brewed this year," Draco guessed.
"Merlin! I hope it isn't that potion for bee stings," Vince said. "I almost ran out of time on that one!"
"Mine and Parvati's work station is right across from Weasley's and Pansy's," Millie said. "They make so much noise it's hard to concentrate."
"Theo and I are planning on revising for potions for the whole week before our exam. We figure if you do well on the written exam, you'll do well on the practical no matter what it is," Dean said.
Theo nodded, but remained silent. Neither he nor Millie was looking forward to going home and being interrogated by their parents about Harry.
"All of you will have to come to Witches Moon and visit over the summer," Harry said. He hadn't asked his dad, but he was sure Severus wouldn't mind. "I think we're going to be spending most of the summer there. Dad has another house too, but it's too small for a lot of people to stay there."
"It's a big manor house with a lot of land and we can fly our brooms there," Draco said. He'd stayed with Severus several times at Witches Moon over the years. "It also has a huge library."
Hermione's eyes lit up at that. "I've read that these old manor houses sometimes have libraries that date back centuries."
