Snape knew perfectly well why James had shown up here. No doubt he had somehow found out that Snape would be attending this party,and that Lily would be here too.
"That boy..." Slughorn shook his head helplessly. "Never mind, it's late already. Time to go back, children, or else we'll all be in trouble."
The little golden clock on his desk had already ticked past ten o'clock.
The students filed out in a line. Slughorn heaved himself up from his chair and accompanied Fabian down the stairs.
Back at the dormitory, once again only the two of them were there. Who knew what Mulciber was up to; lately he had been coming back very late.
Patrick Abbott couldn't hold back,he gave Snape a big thumbs-up.
"I just witnessed something amazing. A Slytherin mocking Gryffindor for blood prejudice! Tsk, tsk. You said it so convincingly,it was terrifying."
"Don't slander me. Right now I am absolutely the most supportive person in the entire wizarding world when it comes to Muggle-borns."
Snape replied irritably, fluffing his pillow into a more comfortable shape.
"Potter actually tried to come to the party this time. It's not as if old Slug hasn't invited him before." Patrick changed into his pajamas and climbed into bed. "Still, that party was really nothing special. I'm not going with you next time."
"Suit yourself." Snape swung his legs up onto the bed, lay back on his pillow, and gazed at the rippling glimmers of light on the glass window as the lake water shifted outside.
"Patrick, that poor girl who was killed more than thirty years ago,who do you think she was?"
"How should I know?" Patrick yawned.
"Then who do you think might know what really happened back then?"
"After so many years? Besides a few of the old professors, who else would? Maybe you could just ask the Headmaster yourself."
"Wait," Patrick suddenly sat bolt upright, instantly wide awake. "Even if people have changed, the ghosts have always been here at Hogwarts."
But then he flopped back down. "Forget your 'Little Tom.' How could you possibly use some thirty-year-old story to earn a prize medal today?"
"You never know. Besides, don't you think digging into old secrets is exciting?"
Snape pulled the curtains around his four-poster bed closed.
"We've got Care of Magical Creatures in the morning. Good night."
The next morning, Professor Silvanus Kettleburn, the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, led the small handful of students toward a crooked little shed at the edge of the grounds.
"Come along, children."
He was seated in a peculiar wooden chair that functioned somewhat like a Muggle wheelchair, except this one had four short legs that walked forward in alternating steps.
Back in third year, Kettleburn had complained to the students that if Dumbledore hadn't made this chair for him personally, he would have retired long ago.
Waiting for them by the ramshackle shed was the gamekeeper, Hagrid. By his feet was a low mound of earth.
As they drew closer, Snape noticed that beside Hagrid was a shallow pit. A spade larger than a dustbin lid lay discarded next to a wooden barrel, the mound clearly being the pile of soil Hagrid had dug out.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I'll also need your help pouring this barrel of Floo Powder into the pit," Kettleburn said, pointing with his only remaining hand.
Following his instructions, Hagrid hefted the barrel with ease.
With a whoosh, bright green magical fire flared up, rising nearly to Hagrid's height.
After the flames burned steadily for a few minutes, Kettleburn asked, "Now, does anyone know what magical creature we'll be observing today?"
Lily raised her hand.
"Go ahead, Miss Evans," Kettleburn said to her with a smile.
"Ashwinder," Lily answered. "When a magical fire burns too long without control, an Ashwinder is conjured out of it."
"Very good. Five points to Gryffindor." Kettleburn added, "The Ashwinder is a serpent with glowing red eyes. It slithers forth from the ashes of an unattended fire, then creeps into the shadows of homes to lay its eggs."
"There's one thing I must warn you about," he said sternly. "Never, under any circumstances, cast an Engorgement Charm on an Ashwinder. The consequences would be more than you can handle."
"What would happen if you did?" Snape asked.
"The Ashwinder would swell until it was thicker than your thigh. And then, suddenly, it and its massive fiery eggs would explode with a bang, setting everything around alight."
Kettleburn emphasized the point with a sweeping gesture of his hand.
By now, the Floo-fire had burned out.
Several thin, pale-grey Ashwinders wriggled out of the ashes, slithering toward the shed and leaving behind winding trails of ash.
"An Ashwinder lives only for one short hour. During that hour, it seeks a dark, hidden place to lay its eggs. Then its body collapses and crumbles to dust."
Kettleburn's walking chair shuffled toward the shed, and the students followed him inside.
He pointed to where the ash trail disappeared. "Patrick, help me move that haystack."
Behind the stack lay three blazing red eggs, gleaming in the cinders.
"If you don't find and properly deal with these fiery eggs in time, they'll ignite a house in no time."
Kettleburn drew his wand from his robes.
"Glacius."
A stream of icy air burst from his wand tip, and the scorching glow of two eggs instantly cooled into blue-white frost.
"Come on, let's get out." Kettleburn secured the frozen eggs with magic and hurried the students out of the shed.
Moments later, as they stood in the clearing, a piercing blast split the air. The wooden hut burst into flames before their eyes.
"Aguamenti." Kettleburn drenched the blazing shed until the last ember went out.
"You see? If you ever discover Ashwinders in a house, you must immediately find their eggs and freeze them with a Freezing Charm. If not, my advice is to leave at once."
He then used a Levitation Charm to hold up the two frozen eggs for the class to see.
"Of course, once frozen, these eggs become extremely valuable. They can be used in making Love Potions, or even swallowed whole to cure fever."
After class ended, Snape deliberately stayed behind to help Hagrid tidy up the lesson site.
"Hagrid," after filling in the shallow pit, he tried to strike up conversation. "Aren't those Ashwinders lovely?"
But Hagrid only looked at Snape with a mix of shock and pity, as though the boy were both mad and miserable.
What's with you looking at me like that? Snape thought, annoyed.
So he forced a casual tone: "My mum says that when she was a student, you were already the gamekeeper. When did you come to Hogwarts?"
"Oh, I've been here since 1940," Hagrid rumbled. "I remember your mum."
"That early? There's something I was hoping you might help me with."
Seeing that Hagrid did not object, Snape continued, "In the Hogwarts Trophy Room, I saw a medal for 'Special Services to the School.' Do you know how Tom Riddle earned it?"