Chapter 10: Low Spirits, and Too High
By spring, Clancy was entertaining thoughts of killing Snape on a daily basis. She had endured as much as any woman could possibly be expected to withstand, and she had all but given up on the condescending bastard. She wished the whole Chamber of Secrets business were over, so she could be free of Snape for good. Their daily ritual had become intolerable: Either they argued or they stalked along in oppressive silence.
Resolving to focus her attention wholeheartedly on anything but Snape, Clancy rehearsed the choirs to perfection as she readied them for the Spring Concert. She tried repeatedly to convince Eloise Midgen to come out of her shell and sing a solo, but the poor girl still balked at the suggestion. Clancy knew the child's vocal talent would amaze the entire school, if only she could persuade Eloise to perform.
One afternoon, Clancy decided to speak privately with Eloise after class. "You're progressing quite nicely," Clancy told the girl. "Your voice is even stronger now than it was last term. Please, Eloise, won't you consider singing a solo for the Spring Concert?"
"I just can't, Miss Norgard," Eloise insisted. "My skin's looking worse all the time," she moaned.
"The bubotuber pus isn't helping?"
"No, nothing helps. There's no hope for me."
"You're much too young to give up hope, Eloise. You mustn't let your spirits flag. Surely, between Madam Pomfrey and Professor Sprout, there is some treatment that will work."
"They haven't been able to come up with anything," Eloise said sadly.
"Just a minute -- what about Professor Snape? Isn't he always brewing things and experimenting with potions?"
Eloise's eyes widened with fear. "I don't think Professor Snape would want to help me or anyone else. He hates us and calls us 'dunderheads.' All the Hufflepuffs are afraid of him."
"Yes," Clancy agreed, "I know first-hand how intimidating he can be, but I may decide to have a little talk with him, all the same."
The dreaded hour arrived, and it was time for Clancy to meet Snape at the foot of the stairs. She decided she had nothing to lose by bringing up Eloise's plight.
"Professor Snape, may I ask you something -- without having my head bitten off?"
"That depends on what you ask me," Snape responded suspiciously.
"I have a student -- Eloise Midgen -- "
"Yes, I know the girl."
"Then surely you must have noticed how much she suffers from her acne. Is there anything you could do to help her? Could you concoct some new potion, perhaps?"
"Offhand, I can think of nothing I would be able to do for her. If bubotuber pus isn't working, then she'd best learn to cope with her condition."
"I should have known you wouldn't be sympathetic. Please forgive me for troubling you," Clancy snapped.
Snape was taken aback by Clancy's reaction. He had thought that his response had been quite civil.
"I know what it is like to be different, Miss Norgard," Snape revealed candidly. "Whatever else you choose to believe of me, I can occasionally sympathize with others."
"I've yet to discover any evidence of it. You act as though you hate everyone, especially children, and ... me."
"Most of the time circumstances require me to focus my thoughts elsewhere. What you perceive as an abrasive manner is merely an attempt to spare myself the torment of having to suffer fools."
"Then you think me a fool?"
Snape paused to consider the question. "No, but it would make things much simpler if I did," he admitted, with a slight tone of chagrin.
As they reached her room, Clancy lingered outside her door. Tempted almost beyond her strength, she began to stare openly at the black buttons on Snape's frock coat.
"Have you never allowed yourself to become close to anyone?" she asked.
"More to the point, others have never allowed me to become close to them."
"Can't you see that you've created your own barriers?"
"I've had more than a little help from nature in that regard," Snape replied testily. "If anyone were ever to take up with me, she would have to possess the ability to see beyond the physical. Now, if you've finished with your impertinent probing, I will bid you good night." Snape turned to leave.
"One moment, Professor," Clancy called.
"Yes?" Snape said, turning back.
"You forgot to ward my door."
"The Warding Charm will be much more effective if you go inside, first!" Snape barked.
Unable to sleep, Clancy lay staring at the ceiling. The firelight from the hearth illuminated her bedchamber in a soft, romantic glow. It was cozy in there with just the three of them: Clancy and the pair of old maid witches, who were conversing loudly in the picture directly behind her.
"Join us for a cup of tea, won't you, dearie?" the crone on the left called down to her. "You'll be one of us soon enough, you know."
Clancy buried her head in her pillow to drown out their cackling. Trying desperately to fall asleep, she began counting sheep. She visualized fluffy white ewes jumping gracefully over a wooden fence, one after another.The 44th sheep turned black, with oily, matted wool. More black ones followed. The 79th sheep shrank in mid air, transforming into a tiny black button. Buttons began cascading over the fence in rapid succession. The 112th button reverted into a black sheep, wearing Snape's frock coat, but the frock coat was gaping open, with only loose threads attached where the buttons should have been. At last, Clancy fell asleep, completely unraveled, only to awake the next morning exhausted from her night of wool-gathering.
The atmosphere at Hogwarts changed to a somber tone in May, when two more students were attacked. The school governors held Professor Dumbledore responsible and convinced the Ministry of Magic to suspend him from his duties. The entire school was in a state of uproar, and the Spring Concert was abruptly canceled.
A few weeks later, circumstances turned completely around, and there was cause for much celebration. The Potter boy, Clancy learned, apparently did something remarkable in the Chamber of Secrets -- something that involved killing a large snake. The petrified students were restored to health, Professor Dumbledore was reinstated, and Gilderoy Lockhart was whisked away to St. Mungo's Hospital to be treated for memory problems.
Clancy was relieved to see the school term draw to an end, but disheartened that the choirs had missed their chance to perform. Now that she no longer needed to rely on Snape to protect her, she was free to enjoy her summer holiday. She would have the entire holiday to get him out of her system, and that was precisely what she meant to do.
At Dumbledore's suggestion, she took a room above the Leaky Cauldron, thereby enabling her to keep one foot in each of her two worlds. She would be free to explore Diagon Alley as well as Muggle London.
Clancy's holiday passed all too quickly. London had to be one of the world's most fascinating cities. The theatres and concerts alone kept her enthralled. Then, of course, she had to take in as many sights as her budget would allow. She even managed a quick trip back to California to wrap up Aunt Hilly's estate matters. But, even when she was with her friends there, Clancy felt strangely foreign. She was glad to return to Britain, secure in the fact that she had succeeded in wiping that demon Snape completely out of her mind! As the days grew close to return to Hogwarts, she thought of him no more than 25 to 30 times a day.
One task Clancy had to face before school resumed was a visit to a dentist. Her back teeth had been plaguing her for weeks. Tom, the innkeeper at the Leaky Cauldron, referred her to Mr. and Mrs. Granger.
X-rays revealed that Clancy had severely impacted wisdom teeth that needed to be extracted at once. After a double dose of Novocaine and a lavish quantity of nitrous oxide, Clancy was much too woozy to return to the Leaky Cauldron by herself. The Grangers assisted her into a cab, and Mrs. Granger accompanied her to the Cauldron to ensure that she would reach her destination.
At the Cauldron, Mrs. Granger led Clancy to an empty table. She settled Clancy, leaving her with a bottle of codeine and an antibiotic obtained from the chemist's shop adjoining the Grangers' practice.
Groggy, and out of sorts, Clancy attracted the sympathy of a kindly old wizard nearby, who concerned himself with her condition. "Here love," he said, pressing a drink into her unsteady hand. "This'll put you right. Best to drink it down straightaways, before your stomach can complain."
Clancy did as she was told. It didn't take long for her to realize that the cure-all she had just imbibed was alcohol. "Wha ... what was that?" she gasped, waiting for the burning in her throat to die down.
"The finest there is -- Ogden's Old Firewhisky!" The elderly gent tottered off, leaving her in a much worse condition than he had found her.
"Honi soit qui mal y pense," she barely had time to utter, before BANG! Her head hit the table, and she slid to the floor.
Upon regaining consciousness, she cracked open one eye. Clancy felt the room spin. She was seeing double. Leaning over her were two black, nebulous figures that slowly merged together to form the scowling countenance of Severus Snape.