Lost and Found

Twelvish

Disclaimer: If I owned this, would I be writing on a website? NO!!! I'd be getting paid billions of dollars for this stuff. As it is... I'm getting paid five bucks a week for cleaning bathrooms. Woooo... (twirls finger)

A/N... okay, so no one reviewed. That is OKAY!!! I'm mainly writing this for my own benefit, as it won't leave my head... like that really annoying song... 'this is the song that never ends...' etc etc...

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Michael woke up slowly on a normal day. Today, there was a dull roaring in his ears.

"Ugh, I must have drunk too much at the... party..."

What party? Michael sat straight up in what seemed to be a... school eating-room or something.

Well... that accounts for the roaring.

"Uh," he mumbled. "How'd I get here?" No one ever said Mike was a morning person.

"Mountains... hike... thunderstorm... ohhh CASTLE! This must be one of the few ancient boarding schools. Honestly... why do parents still send their children to schools? Well, no hope for it. I've got to ask the Institutioner(1) for some food and and maybe a snekone(2) so I can let Kai know I'm fine. Man are those uniforms strange..."

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"... And then Snape took off ten points!" exclaimed an indignant 11-year-old Ron Weasley. "Just for looking at him funny!"

"Well, you did glare at him. If that's not looking at someone funny, then I don't know what is," Ron's best friend Harry Potter pointed out.

"Yeah... but still."

"Hang on. Who's that guy over there?"

"What guy? Neville?"

"No, fungus-head. The man in front of the doors."

"I don't see anyone there. Maybe Snape put poison into your pumpkin juice to make you hallucinate. he's really got it in for you."

"I hadn't noticed," was Harry's sarcastic reply. "Oh look! He's going to the head table. He's ... mumbling to himself."

"I can't SEE him Harry. Can anyone else? Nooo-"

"Snape's looking straight at him."

"He could be glaring at those Hufflepuffs over there. Or he knows you're hallucinating and is trying to creep you out and-"

"Shuttup, Ron. I'm not hallucinating. If me'n Snape are the only ones who can see him, I'd rather get to him before Snape rips his eyes out."

"I still think you're hallucinating."

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Severus Snape was having a pleasant morning. All of his essays had been graded, there were only two classes he had to teach and he'd taken numerous points from all houses (excepting his own, of course).

Yes, a very pleasant morning. His eyes narrowed at the sight of Potter and Weasley, their heads bent together.

What were they plotting? Potter pointed at the doors. In spite of himself, Severus looked...

... and nearly dropped his pumpkin juice.

There was a man there, but he was slowly making his way to the head table.

Severus looked around, but nobody else seemed to have noticed the intruder.

Well, except for Potter, who was trotting after the man. He leaned over and asked Professor Dumbledore whether or not he could see The Man.

"I don't think you've been getting enough sleep, Severus. There is no man. Just Harry."

Severus just grumbled and got up to yell at Potter.

"'Not enough sleep' the old coot says," he muttered. "I think he likes understating things. Does it for a living..."

Michael was stopped in his tracks by a small tung on his sleeve. Turning, he saw a little boy with green eyes looking at him earnestly.

"Excuse me, sir? Who are you and how did you get in here?"

Taken aback, Michael slowly answered, "I walked. May I speak to your Institutioner?"

The boy looked confused, but offered to bring him to the 'headmaster.'

"That won't be necessary, Mr. Potter," said Professor Snape, with an acidic glare pointed at Michael. "I don't now how you got this man here, but let me assure you, once I find out-"

"I walked here out of my own free will, sir. The Potter had nothing to do with it," interrupted Mike.

Severus just sneered. "Well, as only Mr. Potter and I can see you, I can only assume it was Mr. Potter."

"Sir that's not fair! I'm only a first year and I didn't know about this place until three months ago! I couldn't turn ANYONE invisible, let alone make it so only me and you can see them. I don't think even the seventh years could do that kind of magic, and-"

"Magic?! Whaddya mean, 'magic'?!" cried Michael, again interrupting an impending fight.

Snape rounded on Harry. "You brought a MUGGLE here?! You'll be expelled for this one, Potter!"

"I swear I didn't!"

"What's a 'muggle'?"

"Once we reverse this spell, I'm taking this man to the headmaster-"

"Excuse me, I just want to go to my next rest stop-"

"Sir, I swear-"

"Fifty points from Gryffend-"

"Please just a little food for-"

"SILENCE!!" yelled the headmaster. And, indeed, the whole hall got quiet. Mike was quite impressed. How had that old man gotten so loud?

"Severus and Mr. Potter, I would like to see you in my office. Bring along whomever it is you're talking to."

"Yes sir," came the two replies.

"Come on then, Mr... uh... what's your name?" said the boy.

"Michael. What's yours?"

"Harry. He," indicating Severus, "is Professor Snape. You'd better stick close to me, or the professor would probably let you get lost," he whispered.

"Oh, I have an amazing sense of direction. I doubt I'd get lost."

A snort came from Severus's general direction. "Come on then. Hurry up." The trio exited the Great Hall, completely unaware of the scene they caused. What gossip!

They were also quite unaware of the eyes that watched them.

Under all of the noise, a small voice whispered, I think we got it wrong.

He shouldn't be here...

No... he needs to be later...

Later...

tbc

(1) In Michael's time, the headmasters are called Institutioners. Not that there are many left, as most kids are home schooled.

(2) Snekones are the newest version of the telephone, can let you see who you're talking to. Pretty much what you'd see in Phil of the Future or something.