An Owl's Observations

Disclaimer: I own nothing. It all belongs to the wonderful J.K. Her brilliance brought us these great characters. I am making no money from this, and mean no copyright infringement. Just pretend that HBP never happened. This fic is only compliant with the first five books.

Chapter 1

I've watched them for two years now, ever since my pet came here to teach. The old one watches them too, his blue eyes twinkling as he repeatedly makes them work together. What he doesn't know is that they have been hiding everything from him. I cannot wait to see his face when they tell him.

I've always liked Severus, when no one is around he is a much different person. When my pet was in school here, he would visit the owlery. He would always bring treats for those of us that were up there, and he would always stroke my feathers and tell me how beautiful that I was. When he needs someone to talk to, he comes up there now. He shares his innermost feelings with me, just as Harry does.

In the beginning when they were still fighting, I would go down to the dungeons to visit him. At first, he was untrusting. But after I had visited a few times, he welcomed me, telling me how he knew that Harry would never see him the way he wanted. When I would return to my pet he would express the same sentiments.

The old one was always trying to push them together. His owner is always telling me about his plans to get them together. I wonder if the old one is all there sometimes, some of his plans are just ridiculous. I wonder if he would continue his plans if he saw how hard they both worked to get the other to fall in love.

It began when my pet came back to Hogwarts. He had only been out of school for a year, and in his last two years of schooling he had to work with Severus to destroy the Dark Lord. They had come to an agreement, but only between the two of them, they allowed no one to know that they were enjoying each other's company………….

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Harry smiled as he caught sight of the castle that he considered his home. After spending the last year traveling, he was more than ready to fall back into the routine of Hogwarts. During his travels he had seen many things, and he had been sure to take advantage of the rare potions ingredients that he had come across. As he walked toward the school, three trunks floated gracefully behind him. Two contained his worldly possessions, and the third contained every rare ingredient that he had encountered. He intended to make the trunk a gift to Severus, hoping that maybe it would give the man some happiness.

Normal life had been difficult for him to adjust to. He has spent so many years with dark wizards stalking him that he had trouble trying not to look over his shoulder all of the time. Ron and Hermione had thought that a long vacation away from where the problems had happened would solve it. It took a year, only traveling with a guide when he absolutely needed one. He spent a month with Charlie Weasley in Romania, that's where he had collected everything from the dragons that Severus would ever use in a potion and a few that had never been tried before.

He had roamed the pyramids of Egypt, uncovering new tombs. He had collected everything he could from there. Dust from a mummy, dried scarab beetles anything that he thought Severus would use. It seemed that for his entire year long trip, Severus was all that he could think about. He had sent Hedwig with letters once a week to Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Mrs. Weasley, and Severus. He had only received two responses from the potions master, but even though he had only heard from the man every six months he was looking forward to seeing him.

He had spent the past week at the Burrow, catching up with all of the news. Ron and Hermione had finally gotten engaged, Ginny was dating Neville and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were happily enjoying their grandchildren.

Now he was heading home, well the first place he had considered home. He walked through the large front doors of the castle and turned to direct his trunks to the floor.

The potions master watched the boy put his trunks down and then turn toward him. To Severus it looked like a light had been turned on behind the young man's eyes.

"Severus, it's so nice to see you," Harry said. "I was going to come and find you after I had put my trunks in my quarters, I'm glad that I don't have to levitate this down to the dungeons by myself." He turned back around and levitated one of the trunks up and over toward the potions master. "I brought you a gift," he said.

Severus watched as the trunk touched the ground gently, and then looked up at Harry.

"Go ahead and open it," Harry told him. "That way you'll know if you need a trip to Hogsmeade before you unpack it."

Severus just stood there so Harry came over and unlatched the trunk. The older man leaned down and lifted the lid. Inside the trunk was every potion master's dream. Vials of Dragons blood, scales from every breed imaginable, claws, feathers from birds that lived on the other side of the ocean, and just about anything that he had trouble importing or had to pay an outrageous sum for.

"I figured that since I was where I could get these things fresh, that you could use them." He watched the unusual play of emotions across the older man's face. "There are stasis spells on everything so that they stayed as fresh as they were when I harvested them."

Severus stood up, "Thank you, Harry. I think that I just might need to take a trip to Hogsmeade to collect some appropriate containers for this gift," Severus said.

Harry's smile could have lit the Great Hall, "You're very welcome Severus. I'm going to check in with the Headmaster." He turned and walked into the Great Hall.