The Jarvey Who Lived To Annoy Snape
Chapter 2
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the HP books they belong to JK Rowling, I am making no profit from this it's all in fun.
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The boy released his grip abruptly, leaving her to scramble madly and eventually leap to the grass below and dart back beneath the bushes, just avoiding the stomping footsteps of the approaching woman.
"I said to meet me at The Leaky Cauldron at exactly one o'clock. One o'clock. Do you have any idea what time it is?"She demanded.
There was a pause before the boy named Severus responded. "No…" It was soft and defeated, a tone This Noble Creature grew nervous and confused at.
"It is one fifty. I waited fifty minutes for an ungrateful son who I risked my hide for. Completely useless."
Was this woman his mother? If so, why was her tone so disgusted? This Noble Creature rumbled uncertainly under her breath, starting when Severus snatched his book bag from the ground directly in front of her before following the retreating figure of his mother.
This Noble Creature stepped out hesitantly, shaking her fur and gathering her courage before loping quickly after the strange boy, ears retreating to lay against her head as she realized they were about to again enter the sea of humans. She hopped a few more steps before launching herself to briefly hang on the edge of Severus' bag before squirming inside.
She expected the boy to stop and shoo her away; she was still small but her weight had to have been felt. Fortunately the task of keeping up with his irate mother seemed to have all of his attention and her infiltration had been successful.
This Noble Creature wrinkled her small pink nose at the smell of dusty books, scratching at her snout to prevent the sneeze that froze the breath in her chest. The large books repeatedly tried to crush her throughout the journey and car ride, but she remembered to stay absolutely silent and bore the rough treatment, hoping that their destination would be more enjoyable then the shopping area or her previous home.
In a way, it was. From the moment they stepped out of the car and the boy picked up the bag again, she could hear nothing but their footsteps on the pavement and then the creaky groan of a door opening. Then the violent shifting of books sandwiching her as Severus jogged up a flight of stairs followed by the bag holding her being tossed violently onto something vaguely soft.
The shutting of Severus' bedroom door managed to partially mask her squeak of pain and indignation when the toss resulting in the corner of a rather large book jamming into her side. This Noble Creature squirmed and contorted herself before finally clawing free of the bag, freezing when her eyes landed on the dark haired boy.
His back was to the Jarvey and his bed, palms flat against an old door and stringy black hair curtaining his bent head. Hesitantly, she crept backwards, golden eyes darting around the small room at the cluttered desk in one corner and the dusty dresser shoved beneath a cracked window with yellowing curtains.
The reason for his strange behavior became clear a moment later when something large slammed against a wall downstairs. An angry bellow followed only to be echoed by a soft pleading voice. The smack of flesh against flesh made the Jarvey jump and shiver, freezing in place.
After a couple more seconds the arguing faded as heavy boots trudged across the floor downstairs before a door opened and then slammed shut shortly after and the sound of an old car sputtering to life filled the quiet.
When moaning sobs began to drift upstairs Severus banged the flat of his hand sharply against the door before spinning around. This Noble One watched in terror as he paced agitatedly across his floor, hissing under his breath while clenching and unclenching his pale hands.
Deciding that hiding would be her best option at the moment, the Jarvey again began to back away, shuddering when Severus' head snapped to her, his eyes narrowing menacingly."You."
"Please" the small animal squeaked out, eyes wide. Her golden eyes nervously watched the approaching hand, squeezing shut when his fist closed around her scruff before pulling her away from the bed and into his arms.
She panted, releasing high whines of fear and curling her bushy tail protectively against her underbelly. There was a brief silence before the boy exhaled loudly and the hand gripping her loose skin gentled slightly.
"I'm not him. I'm not a bully." Severus whispered, hesitantly lowering the Jarvey to be supported in the crook of his arm, the other running slowly through her ruffled fur, "even to beasts."
This Noble Creature didn't even tense at the term, instead holding herself rigid under the boy's strange motions. When he moved to sit on the bed, she dug her claws into the material of his robe, wondering at how he didn't yell out or scold her as Danny would have done. Then again, Danny had only tried to hold her a handful of times and his sweaty hands and rough manner had always ended up in both of them worse for wear.
And Danny had never touched her so. She didn't know what to think of the smooth pale hand stroking her beautiful fur. Was this a precursor to a smack?
Severus seemed to ignore her tense posture and continued stroking her, pausing to scratch lightly behind her ears.
A noise she had almost forgotten how to make erupted from her throat and when Severus' hand paused she immediately ceased her strange combination of chittering and purring.
A splatter of liquid splashed onto her fur before sliding off due to the natural oils. The Jarvey hesitantly glanced up through the curtain of dark hair at the boy's face. His sallow face was contorted unattractively as his upper body shook with the sobs building in his chest and his eyes were squeezed shut against the tears that leaked from them, dried blood still lining his dark brow.
The grief and helplessness that seemed to emit from Severus called to her and at the same time made her weary. "Boy hurt?"
A parody of a laugh escaped him along with a considerable amount of spittle that had built from the effort of holding back his sobs. "Not hurt." He replied harshly, using the hand that had been stroking her to instead wipe harshly at his face. "I'm bloody pissed. I hate being here. I hate that man and I hate how she doesn't care enough about me or herself to just leave; to take me away from here and away from all this- this fucking bullshit. I just have to stay sane for two more weeks, and then I go to Hogwarts and I can just live there and never see this house or the people that live here ever again. Lily and I can be our own family since we'll only have each other."
The Jarvey understood everything that Severus had said and made the connection between his swearing and grief and the violence involving his mother that had occurred downstairs, but the words Hogwarts and Lily held no meaning in her mind and even the soft voice in the back of her mind was silent. She hesitated before leaning slightly into his hand.
"Severus good boy. Good boy who will let This Noble Creature go to this…" her mind whispered deafeningly in her ear for a moment with all possible word choices before she settled on one, "sanctuary with lilies and sanity?"
He snorted rudely at her but resumed his petting, gazing harshly at nothing in particular as he continued to contemplate escaping to Hogwarts. "They don't allow your kind at Hogwarts. And he… you would get me in trouble with him."
"This Noble Creature is quiet and wise. Severus will never notice." The weasel rasped hesitantly, withdrawing slightly as his starless eyes snapped to hers.
"Your name is ridiculous. Jarveys are a type of weasel, so why don't you just use another word for weasel instead of that long-winded title? Varius. Belette."
"Various? Is not many!"
"V-a-r-i-u-s. Varius. It's another name for weasel according to my bestiary book. Jarveys are supposed to be able to fight Basilisks, but looking at the size of you I doubt you could bring down a mouse."
"Belette will be human-given name since I not many things. I cans fight! I only two moon cycles old and shall grow large and even more vicious" the weasel exclaimed, straightening.
"I did not give you a name, you are not my pet. I merely suggested an alternative to the ridiculous one you insisted on calling yourself. If you're so sure that you can take care of yourself then be gone and go back to the wilds." Severus spat but didn't push Belette from his lap.
"Boy is best for Belette right now." She responded, but almost seemed unsure of it herself.
The dark haired boy wiped again at his red eyes and sighed, seeming to lose his anger suddenly before flopping back on the bed.
Realizing that now might be the opportune time to try and worm her way into Severus' good graces, Belette dipped her head under his limp hand and rubbed slowly against it, purring softly. After a moment his long fingers twitched and then settled on her fur, shifting half heartedly back and forth through it.
After what seemed like hours, the familiar sound of the boy's sleep noises whispered through the room. The Jarvey allowed her eyes to fall shut, snuffling Severus' palm briefly before leaning against it and for the first time in a long while, relaxed.
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Author's Note:
So here's the second chapter… not quite as long as the first but the next chapter will include Lily. I got the weasel names and some of the mythology from w w w dot beastiary dot com if anyone was curious. It actually mentions in there that weasels were used to slay Basilisks and this site isn't really connected or talking about the J.K. Rowling books or her beasts so I'm probably going to use that somewhere in this story even though in Harry Potter the Jarvey description doesn't really mention the Jarvey having that ability.
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